Landing on Illium was much less exciting than landing on the Citadel was. There wasn't a stand off or anything. Rigel was directed to a docking bay, then let onto the surface with next to no hassle.

The planet was remarkable. The sprawling metropolis Rigel walked through was so much to take in all at once. Hundreds, thousands, millions of people all lived together in this space, each contributing to the greater whole. Some more than others.

As he walked, Rigel took note of those that traded at the kiosks. How they looked down their noses at everyone around them and walked with an air of unearned arrogance, forever growing richer off the labor of those 'beneath' them.

It's like biting into a gold coin and finding tin just beneath the surface. Rigel thought to Nova as he watched a human woman dressed in elegant finery slap an asari in simple clothes.

The injustices here are less world-shaking than we're used to, but they're here all the same.

At least the Hive would just consume your soul as a battery in their dark rituals and get it over with. They wouldn't require decades of dedicated servitude, sapping away your vitality before throwing you out after making one mistake.

See if you can find any Eclipse leads. Rigel thought to Nova, hurrying away from the false perfection.

A marker appeared on Rigel's HUD, and he made his way towards it.

X

What is this place? Rigel said as he surveyed the seemingly-innocuous building from a high vantage point across the street on the patio of a restaurant. The building was situated in a plaza with several other shops around it. The store looked like it sold clothes, but Nova wouldn't have directed him here without reason. A bright purple sign that read 'Passion' glowed over the door.

It's the only public location where you can find Eclipse agents. For anything else I'll need to get into their private servers which I can't do without a hardline.

So we're here to get a hardline?

If you can find one, I'd greatly appreciate it.

"Will that be all, sir?"

Rigel turned and smiled at the asari waitress that had served him his food, the simplest sandwich they had on the menu. "It will. Thank you for everything." A swipe across his omni-tool paid his bill as he stood.

"It was my pleasure, sir. Please come again." the waitress said from behind a fake smile. Not that Rigel blamed her. He'd seen the crap she'd been taking from the batarian three tables down.

Are there any cameras on the inside? Rigel thought, having observed far less than he would have liked from the patio. All he had been able to confirm was two workers in the store; given its size, it would likely half at least twice as many.

Just over the entrance. My guess is they don't want any evidence of what happens inside.

Guess we're going in blind. Rigel lamented. Espionage had never been his strong suit. He'd helped Ikora's hidden on a couple of occasions, but he was a strike team man first and foremost. Shooting things until they stopped getting back up or experimenting with Hive rituals was far easier than subtle intelligence gathering.

Rigel took a set of stairs to the next-lowest level of the plaza and crossed the street to the clothing store. Keep an eye out for anyone sneaking up on me, will you?

Always do, Rigel.

A soft bell chimed as Rigel pushed the door to the store open. At first glance, it was exactly what it appeared to be. Racks with shirts and dresses hanging from them were placed strategically around the floor, shelves laden with folded pants and various other garments lined the wall.

"Welcome." a smiling asari said, approaching him as he fully entered the store. "My name is Jasez. Is there something in particular I can help you find?"

"I've been trying to find a hat I like but haven't had much luck. Do you guys carry any?" Rigel said with an embarrassed smile, doing his best to act shy.

It's not working.

I'm not a good actor, okay?

Rigel shifted, trying to subtly drop the act as he looked around the store, seemingly searching for a hat.

"We do. If you'll follow me I may be able to help you find something." Jasez, leading Rigel towards the far wall.

As he followed behind her, Rigel noted seven other customers – four asari all huddled around a dress rack together; a turian couple; and, surprisingly, a krogan looking at frilly dresses. There was an employee with each group, one behind the cashier, and one more standing by the door. Including Jasez, that made six. It wasn't clear whether or not they knew their store was a front for the Eclipse, but until he knew otherwise, Rigel decided to act as if they did.

"Do any of these appeal to you?" Jasez asked, motioning to a wall of hats of varying styles behind her.

Rigel looked over them and blinked in shock. He recognized two of the styles, a tophat and a fedora, the rest were completely alien to him. "Um…do you have a suggestion?" he said, realizing he'd been silent too long.

Jasez pursed her lips as she looked between Rigel and the wall. "Here." she said, grabbing something that looked like a bizarre mix between a santa hat and a pumpkin helmet and putting it on his head.

I really wish this place had cameras right now so I could take a picture of this.

Don't make me bring up the disco ball incident.

What disco ball incident? I think you look absolutely fantastic in that hat. Nova said, rushed.

Smirking to himself, Rigel looked at the absurd hat in the mirror. With his robes and the hat, he looked like a clown pretending to be a soldier. "I…"

"It's not working for you?" Jasez said with an amused smile. "That's alright. Let's try something else." She pulled the hat off his head and went back to the shelves on the wall.

I just found a place where I can break into Eclipse's secure broadcast channel. Nova broke in excitedly. Do me a favor and distract everyone.

Are we talking 'make a fool of myself' distraction or 'explosion' distraction?

Just get the cashier's attention away from the monitor behind her. Nova said, shimmering into existence in a dress wrack to remain hidden, her new red shell blending in with a red dress.

Jasez returned holding another outlandish hat that looked like a stylized squid full of frills and bows. "What do you think?" the asari asked as she put it on Rigel's head.

Internally, Rigel was thinking he looked like he was trying to emulate Medusa. Outwardly, Rigel scratched his chin and turned away from the mirror, saying, "I need a second opinion."

The turian couple had finished their shopping, their choices placed on the counter in front of the cashier as they waited to pay.

"Excuse me?" Rigel said as he strode up to them, drawing their attention as well as that of the cashier. "Does this hat make me look–"

"I don't care, human." the male said, lifting his head and turning back to the cashier dismissively.

"Well that was rather rude." Rigel said, leaning into the counter next to the turian. "I just wanted to–"

"Remove yourself from my presence or I will remove you." the turian said without looking at Rigel.

Rigel raised an eyebrow, turning to the female. "Have you been giving him enough action? He seems pretty–"

The male turian turned and punched Rigel in the nose. "You disgusting human!" the turian bellowed, following the punch up with another.

Rigel let this one connect as well, noticing the cashier's wide eyes as she moved around the counter to separate the two of them. The turian had flown off the handle with far less prompting than Rigel had anticipated. There must have been some truth to his insinuation.

Unbeknownst to all but Rigel, a small, floating red ghost maneuvered up to a monitor on the wall, a beam of pale light connecting the two.

"I just–" Rigel's head snapped left. "Asked her–" Rigel's head snapped right. "A quest–" Rigel doubled over as the turian punched him in the stomach.

Got it. You can kick his ass now.

Sure took your time.

Consider it payback for bringing up the disco ball incident.

Rigel planted his foot and rose back to his full height, sending an uppercut into the turian's outstretched chin as he did. The turian lifted off the ground a few centimeters before falling to the ground in an unconscious heap.

Rigel turned to apologize to the female when three figures burst into the shop.

"Freeze!" an armored asari with a badge pinned to her chest yelled, leveling some form of weapon at Rigel.

"Hey he started–" there was a blue flash, and Rigel fell over, convulsing as electricity coursed through his body.

X

This is your fault. Rigel said, shoulders hunched up as he sat staring at the blank wall across from him

You're the one who punched the guy.

You told me to.

No. I told you to kick his ass. This is definitely your fault. Nova sounded far too amused with the current situation, causing Rigel to grow even more irritated at everything.

Why couldn't I just fight past them?

If they'd seen your shield, they'd have asked questions we don't want to answer.

But I wouldn't be sitting in an alien prison.

Rigel, we're trying to avoid making enemies of strange alien species we haven't interacted with enough to really know them.

I'm going to Nova Bomb my way out of here.

No you're not. You know all the reasons why that would be a terrible idea.

At least it would be fun.

There was a sharp hiss as the door to Rigel's cell opened.

Rigel raised an eyebrow when he saw who walked in. "You're not the person I expected to interrogate me."

Tela Vasir shrugged as she walked over and took a seat on the bench next to Rigel. "I saw 'em haul you in and got curious. Then I heard where they hauled you out of and I got really curious."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Rigel said, leaning back against the wall.

Tela gave him a flat look. "Are we really gonna do the whole 'I know that you know that I know' thing? You don't strike me as the kind of guy who likes wearing hats."

"Maybe I'm branching out? Venturing outside my comfort zone?"

Tela sighed, leaning back against the wall. "You didn't have your helmet or any weapons when they dragged you in, so you stashed 'em somewhere. Then there's the fact that they somehow managed to drag you in, which means you let them."

Rigel tilted his head. "I mean, they did taze me. I was kind of out of it after that."

"So you went in there looking for a hat?"

"Maybe."

"You somehow managed to find an Eclipse front that took me two weeks to track down the same day you landed here, then walked inside looking for a hat? You expect me to believe that?"

"I've seen stranger things in my time."

Tela closed her eyes and took a deep breath, standing up and facing Rigel. "Okay look, the camera's in here are off until I leave the cell. One of two things is going to happen. Either you cut the bullshit and tell me what you got from Passion or things get ugly."

Rigel raised his eyebrow, standing up and looking Tela in the eye. "I don't think you understand what will happen if things get ugly."

Tela met his gaze unflinchingly. "That's why I don't want things to get ugly. If you help me out, I might be willing to get you out of here."

Thoughts?

Well, it gets you out of there without me having to transmat you or you breaking things. The less questions asked the better in my opinion.

"How about this, we walk out of here and I'll share everything I picked up. We can tag team it from there or just go our separate ways. Sound good?" Rigel said, smiling slightly.

Tela returned the smile, backing off and slamming her fist into the cell door, pounding on the metal twice. The door slid open and Tela motioned for Rigel to walk out.

Thoroughly enjoying the situation, Rigel walked through the door, right past the guard stationed by his door.

The guard made to stop him only for Tela to wave her off. "He's with me. Clear him of everything on your end if you don't want a shitload of paperwork to get transferred to you."

The guard watched numbly as Tela and Rigel strode down the hall.

Tela had to wave off a few more officers, but soon enough she and Rigel stood outside the police station.

"So where's your gear?" Tela asked curiously.

"Wait here a second?" Rigel said, waiting for Tela to nod, confused, before walking into an alley.

Nova?

Ready. Which ones do you want?

Helmet, Ace, Empty Vessel, and my knife.

Transmatting.

Many thanks.

Rigel watched as three objects appeared in a splash of ethereal light. Ace and its holster settled against his leg; his helmet encased his head; and Empty Vessel came to rest against his back, its strap already slung over his shoulder.

Rigel walked back out of the alley, enjoying the way Tela's eyes widened.

"You stashed your stuff behind the…You knew I was going to bail you out." Tela accused, her eyes narrowing.

Rigel shrugged as he walked past her. "Who can say?" He wasn't going to correct her. The expression she was making was too amusing.

Tela caught back up to him in a few hurried steps and said, "So what did you get from Passion?"

Summoning his omni-tool on his arm, Rigel flicked through a few screens and sent Tela a data package like before, this one containing what Nova had pulled from the Eclipse front.

Tela's eyes zipped back and forth across her omni-tool. "You somehow got into their private network, didn't you? They're going to know they were breached."

"Hence why we should act on this intel as soon as possible. Wouldn't you agree, spectre? There's a lot of interesting information there. If I remember correctly, there was even something about an 'M Research Lab." While Rigel would have liked to hit some of their weapon stores or other holdings, the Mutagen X3 was his top priority.

"My car's across the street." Tela said quickly. "We should be able to get over there before they start evacuating." Tela broke into a full sprint towards her car, forcing Rigel to match her pace or be left behind.

Tela fell into the car and was already fiddling with the controls as Rigel ran around to enter the other door. No sooner had he sat in the car than it was moving, tearing through the air towards the location of an Eclipse-owned warehouse near the docks.

"You seem to have a talent for giving me a headache." Tela said as she swerved between other skycars, taking shortcuts between buildings and under bridges. "I looked you up, you know? There were quite a few humans named Rigel, but not one of them showed up as a match with your facial features."

"Are you going somewhere with this?" Rigel asked, ready to defend himself if need be.

"Just getting a point across. Keep going after the scumbags and you and I will be best friends. But if I find out something about you that paints your actions in a different light…"

"Well, I appreciate the warning if nothing else. You don't have to worry though. You won't find anything about who I am or where I came from unless I tell you myself." Rigel said with certainty.

Tela shot him a quick glance out of the corner of her eye. "In that case, care to share?"

Rigel smirked under his helmet. "Not now, but I might depending on how things go. There's a lot of variables that'll determine how open I am. I'm told you asari live a long time, you can afford to be patient."

Tela shrugged. "Fair enough." Her eyes narrowed, refocusing as they neared their destination. "How do you want to do this? They'll expect that we're coming so we'll be facing heavy resistance. Air cover won't help because the warehouse has no ceiling windows. Do you want to breach from the roof or ground floor?"

"If we go in through the roof they'll have an easier time escaping; splitting up will just let them pick us off. I'll lead the way through the front and draw their fire. You follow behind me and pick them off while I distract them."

"We don't know what we're up against here. You might be taking fire from a force of twenty or more guards."

"There were far more in that warehouse on Omega. Trust me. I'll be fine. Just keep your eyes peeled. You're the spectre, you'll probably notice details I wouldn't consider as being important." He was still new to this universe after all.

Tela fixed him with a calculating look before giving him a sharp nod. "Let's get it done."

The skycar landed haphazardly, Tela too focused on speed to land the car without it scraping across the ground.

The moment they touched down, Rigel was already moving. The door popped open and he leapt from the vehicle as it was scraping across the ground. Empty Vessel was unslung from his shoulder. He came to a stop a fair distance from the door and launched a grenade from Empty Vessel's tube, the round making a satisfying whump as it left the barrel. The door was blown off its hinges as the grenade detonated directly in front of it.

Rigel dropped new munitions into Empty Vessel then sprinted through the opening, not waiting for Tela.

"Fire!" an authoritative voice commanded from above him.

Rigel looked up in time to see a group of asari in Eclipse colors angling weapons over a railing on the floor above him, the muzzles of their rifles spewing fire and blue energy as they opened fire on him.

Rigel sprinted for cover, his Light barrier already in jeopardy of bursting from the focused fire of a full team of rifles. As he dove behind a support column he fired the shell loaded into the Empty Vessel, aiming directly above the asari. He triggered the remote detonation when the round was right above their heads, blasting them out of formation. Their shields and barriers kept most of them alive, but the one who'd been standing directly under the explosion was missing her head.

Rigel swiftly slung the Empty Vessel over his shoulder and drew Ace as the asari's concentrated fire abated. They were still trying to recover from the blast when Rigel spun out of cover and leveled Ace at them.

He dropped two before they could react, raising an eyebrow beneath his helmet as the last three dropped before he could target them.

Tela strode through the destroyed doorway, her rifle lowering as she saw no more threats. "You sure know how to make an entrance, Rigel. Stick with that launcher of yours. Take out their shields and barriers and I'll clean 'em up for you."

Rigel reloaded Ace before holstering it. He slid the Empty Vessel back around and slid a new round into its tube. "Works for me. Stay back a bit. My barriers can take more hits than yours."

"I'm a spectre. I have the best kit money can buy."

"I know." Rigel said, taking a running start to clamber up the side wall then push off of it to grab the railing the Eclipse troops had just been shooting over. He wasn't sure if Tela knew about his ability to glide, and he wasn't going to reveal it if she didn't.

As Rigel took a glance around the corner of the hallway leading deeper into the facility, Tela coated her body in her biotics and leapt into the air, grunting in exertion. She landed on the opposite side of the hallway and motioned with her head.

"After you."

Rigel nodded, spinning around the corner and sprinting down the hall.

Keep an eye out for traps, would ya, Nova?

I've already disabled three. Just keep going and let me handle it. I'll stop you if there's something I can't hack into.

The hall ended, opening into a large common area that looked something like a mess hall. Tables had been overturned for cover, several asari wearing Eclipse armor were behind cover with their weapons aimed down the hallway.

Rigel fired Empty Vessel towards the largest cluster of Eclipse before rolling to the right, seeking cover behind an outcropping in the wall. Rigel heard screams as his grenade detonated, chambering another round even as his barriers deflected shots that reached him behind his limited cover.

Four snappy, precise shots rang out and the Eclipse mercs that were hit by Rigel's grenade fell over dead. Tela maneuvered to the left of the hallway she emerged from, moving opposite and parallel to Rigel, her rifle clapping shots at the remaining Eclipse personnel.

Rigel launched another grenade into a group of three Eclipse, leading to three more precise shots from Tela.

The remaining mercs wised up to the strategy, scattering all around the mess, some even fleeing down different corridors leading away from the central hub.

Noting the grenade launcher would be too slow now that his targets weren't grouped together, Rigel switched back to Ace, unloading its magazine to drop two mercs and lower the shield on another, letting Tela finish her off.

Tela took out the last merc, emerging from cover and popping the thermal clip out of her rifle. "We need to stop those runners before they wipe all their drives."

Rigel reloaded Ace and emerged from cover.

Nova, we need the location of their data hub or somewhere else we can steal their files.

Left hallway. There's a lot of power being routed there. I think that's our best bet.

"On me." Rigel called to Tela, sprinting down the hall. As he turned into the hallway, he caught sight of a lone runner that had escaped the mess hall at a security door, messing with the control panel. Rigel lined up a shot with Ace, but she was too far away for the hand cannon to drop her before she got the door open.

Tela, who had been running beside him, came to a jarring stop and lifted her rifle, opening fire on the merc.

The merc's barrier glowed bright as it deflected Tela's shots. The door slid open and the merc moved to run through but her barrier popped, letting Tela's next shot tear a hole in her chest.

Rigel heard shouting from the other side of the now opened door as he sprinted to close the distance. With a hiss, the door began to close once more. Rigel slid through just as the door was about to close and raised Ace at the merc who'd closed the door, her eyes widening as she frantically fumbled to get her rifle up.

Three point-blank shots later, the merc's barriers burst and she fell.

Rigel stood, not seeing any other occupants in the room, and opened the door for Tela.

Tela walked into the room with her rifle up, scanning for threats, but not finding any.

Rigel closed the door behind her and began surveying the room. There was a large, central console with half a dozen monitors over it, all activated and showing different diagrams. Behind the console were five, upright vats filled with a red, cloudy liquid. It took Rigel a second glance before he realized there were people in the vats.

"Goddess." Tela breathed, lowering her rifle as she jogged over to one of the vats. Inside was a naked asari, an oxygen mask covering her mouth, its tube running up to the top of the vat.

Two other vats also housed asari, with the last two containing humans – one male, one female. All were unconscious, their bodies limp as they floated in the fluid.

Rigel ran to the console in the center room.

Nova? What the hell is this?

I'm already looking.

Rigel looked down and saw Nova had materialized at the console, sifting through the available data as fast as she could.

"We need to get these people out of here." Tela said, turning around and marching back towards the console. Her eyes paused on Nova as she noticed her. "What's that?"

"Hacking drone." Rigel quickly supplied. "I'm trying to see what these things are."

Did you just call me a drone?

Would you prefer artificial intelligence capable of hacking into spectre files? I'm not risking her taking shots at you even if they'd probably only tickle you. Focus on figuring out what's going on here.

I just sent a data package to your omni-tool.

Nova floated into Rigel's robe then disappeared, trying to sell the fact that she was a drone he'd deployed.

Rigel pulled up his omni-tool and Tela looked over his shoulder as he sifted through the data Nova sent him. His mouth went dry as he progressed through the data.

It was mostly research notes, dating back to almost a full month ago. The researchers were trying to find a way to create biotic supersoldiers. They'd received a massive shipment of Minagen X3 from Omega and were able to increase the breadth of their experiments far sooner than they'd anticipated. They would kidnap asari and humans with biotic potential and administer various solutions made from the drug, attempting to determine the cause of fatal exposure in the hopes of counteracting it. To draw comparison, they'd also kidnap humans and individuals of other species without biotic potential like volus, turians, and salarians and administer the same experimental serums into them, taking note of any differences in how it responded to different subjects.

When a subject died, they would kidnap another and try a different formula. They'd been experimenting for weeks now and were close to a breakthrough. The current batch had lasted the longest of any to date, but they were showing signs of overdosing and would be dead soon. With a couple more weeks of testing, however, the lead researcher theorized she could have a non-harmful, permanent biotic booster ready for field testing.

"I did this." Rigel said, his voice wracked with guilt. "I…I'm going to kill them all." The quivering tone was replaced with steel as Rigel clenched his fist. "Tela, take the data and start putting together a list of any other facility that might have been working in tandem with this one. I'll see you later." Rigel said, copying all the data and sending it to Tela.

"Wait!" Tela called, grabbing Rigel's arm and leaning in close. "I get it, you're angry and want to kill these fuckers. I do too, but we need to get out of here. We already got what we came for. There's too many Eclipse left in the facility and they've had enough time to organize now that they know we're here. They've probably called for backup that'll be here any minute. We'll get these bastards later on our terms."

"Tela, please let go of my arm." Rigel said, his eyes unfocused, his every muscle tense.

Tela stared into his blank helmet and sighed, releasing her hold on his arm. "I'm going back to my car. I'll wait for five minutes or until Eclipse backup arrives. If you're not there by then, I'm leaving."

"Don't wait on my account. I'll be fine." Rigel pressed a button on the command console, flooding the veins of the victims in the vats with a lethal dose of potassium the researchers had kept in place in case any of the subjects woke up and went on a rampage. They were too far gone to save. It was this or another two days of unconscious torment as their bodies ate themselves. Not even Rigel's strongest Well could save them now.

Tela took one last look at Rigel and shook her head, running down the hallways back the way they'd come.

Nova, Where is the largest concentration of organics in this facility?

Go back to the mess and turn left. They've all gathered into a hangar and are setting up defensive positions inside it. The ghost's voice was as devoid of emotion as Rigel's. Where Tela ran down the hall, Rigel walked, taking his time to load his grenade launcher and hand cannon, stoking his power to the boiling point.

Rigel opened another security door and immediately came under intense fire from all directions. There were easily over fifty Eclipse mercs in the hangar. Two of them had even entered large, bulky mechs and were firing massive cannons towards him. Rigel didn't notice. He'd seen far more impressive forces fall before what he was about to do.

Beneath his helmet, hidden from his attackers, his eyes began to glow a piercing violet as the Void within him bubbled to the surface. Rigel threw his arms wide and roared. An explosion of pure nothingness expanded out from him, devouring the walls and floor beneath him, but he did not fall. Rigel floated in the air, Violet energy swimming about his form, merging with him and flowing out of his skin like a viscous snake slithering out of and around his body.

Many of the Eclipse mercs stopped firing as they beheld the sight before them, not believing their eyes as their bullets literally vaporized inches before making contact with Rigel's form.

"Pray to your goddess for mercy." Rigel said, floating forward slowly, causing several of the mercenaries to take wary, backward steps. "For I have none."

Rigel's form vanished in a flash of purple energy, reappearing amidst a group of seven asari. Another violet sphere emanated out from him, engulfing and atomizing the asari as quickly and easily as it had their bullets.

Another flash and Rigel teleported to another group, holding his hands out to unleash a torrent of violet chords, wrapping around the asari and eating away their flesh.

Another flash and Rigel appeared directly above one of the mechs, a large, slow-moving orb of pure Void firing from his hand to dissolve the mech completely.

With each flash of light, more asari fell. Those still alive dropped their weapons and fled, trying to escape the walking nightmare that had entered their world. Each one of them ran directly into Rigel as he teleported in front of them, grasping their necks with his hand and allowing the void to eat away the connection between their heads and their bodies.

Soon, no one breathed in the Eclipse hangar save for Rigel himself. The Void slowly retracted back into his skin; his feet made contact with the ground once more. Rigel beheld the destruction he had wrought and felt nothing. Distractedly, he unslung Empty Vessel and fired it towards a collection of fuel tanks, causing them to explode and catch the hangar ablaze. Rigel turned and left the hangar without saying another word.

X

When Rigel exited the building, he was surprised to see Tela's skycar still parked where she'd landed it.

"What are you waiting for! Get in here!"

Rigel hurried over and climbed into the passenger seat. Tela took off the moment he was seated.

"You're lucky, Rigel. Another couple of seconds and I would've left."

"You said you'd leave in five minutes. It's been seven minutes twenty-three seconds." Rigel said after getting the exact time from Nova.

"I lost track of time." Tela said, her eyes fixed forward, hands unmoving from the steering wheel.

"Thank you."

Tela grunted, flooring the accelerator and hastening their flight from the burning Eclipse holdout.