Chapter 5: Home Invader

Things were a mess, in more ways than one. Despite their successes, Liara felt they were no closer to getting anything accomplished. They kept hitting VykurCorp, but they just kept turning up more and more layers to an ever growing conspiracy. In one respect that was progress, but in another respect it was just them fumbling around grasping at threads to a larger tapestry. They kept pulling and pulling, but it would take them forever to get where they needed to be at this rate. They needed a real breakthrough, a smoking gun, something to point to Orukuri's larger plan. What role did the Separatists play in it? What were it's ultimate goals? What was their target? What resources did they have? What was even the motive or trigger that set this all into motion? Needless to say, too many "Whats" for Liara's liking.

She decided to borrow a page from Vik's book, they needed to start connecting what few dots they had if they wanted to form a clearer picture. As an archaeologist, Liara looked at pieces of information she could find in order to create a window into the past. It allowed her to better see the lives and experiences of her subjects, to understand the ancient cultures and peoples that had been long dead just a little more. As the Shadow Broker, it really wasn't that different in the long run. It was just this time most of the subjects were alive and thus there was more readily available intel on them.

She pooled her resources together, got every contact online and had them send over the pertinent information she requested. Normally, she'd look over it all herself in private, but this time the task was too daunting for one asari. She gathered the rest of the team, set up a holographic imager in the briefing room, along with some chairs, prepared some datapads and had everyone settle in. It was time to really dig deep, find out just who they were dealing with and pinpoint what they were planning.

Vik was probably the most enthusiastic to start with, pouring over the collected information Liara had set up. VykurCorp was at the top of his evil companies list after all, so the chance to really dig into all their dirty secrets was appealing to him. Nel and Wrex didn't really like the busy work, but they didn't put up much of a fuss to their credit. Saya remained stoic as they did their research and Kayap, well, he mostly just tried not to make too much noise as he ate the lunch special of the day, pizza.

"How do you have so much dirt on VykurCorp and still not know what they're up to?" Nel asked, dropping a datapad back to the table.

"Obviously Orukuri is good at covering his tracks," Liara surmised. "It's possible not everyone in the company is aware of what he's doing."

"Even if they aren't, that doesn't make them clean," Vik argued, his eyes glued to his datapad. "All Corps have blood on their hands, it's just a question of how much really."

"Let's try to keep personal bias out of this," Liara cautioned. "We're not going to get anywhere if this devolves into a witch hunt. We need to start with people we know are connected to this, like Orukuri."

Liara tapped a control console and activated the holo-imager. A complete profile of Orukuri now hovered above them as the center of the table. His history, his personality profile, his net worth, even favorite vids, it was all there, everything Liara's people had on the turian.

"Everything about his involvement in this has seemed off from that start," Liara stated bluntly. "There's never been anything in his records that suggests he'd work to undermine his own people like this. He's a loyalist, his entire family have been proud members of the Hierarchy for generations. Why turn now?"

"Well from what we keep hearing, he thinks he's doing the Hierarchy a favor," Wrex recalled. "Like he needs to tear it down to make it great again. A sort of rise from the ashes deal."

"Yes, but why go through all this trouble? Why not launch a political career or throw his considerable weight around in an attempt to change things?" Liara asked succinctly. "This is an extreme response, putting himself at great risk to do all this. Why? There's nothing to suggest he'd go this far."

"Well, how about this," Vik spoke up. "His son died a year or so back, maybe he just snapped without his kid around."

Liara checked her own datapad and searched for what Vik was referencing. It wasn't that hard to find, it was under noted relatives. Zoltriax Orukuri was Spadvius Orukuri's son, a career soldier and proud of his service. He could've finished his tour with honors and settled in for a cushy job at the company that his father had secured for him. Instead, Zoltriax stayed in the military and proceeded to climb up the ranks, earning distinction after distinction. Nothing in the files suggested that his father resented him for his decision. Everything they uncovered said he was proud of his son's choice and fully supported him. They apparently had a good relationship.

Over a year ago, however, Zoltriax tragically died in a peacekeeping operation defending Turian colonists from mercenary raiders. He had been awarded the highest honors for his sacrifice and a grand funeral was conducted in his honor. Spadvius had been inconsolable for months after his son's death, but he eventually returned to work in due time. He didn't lose any paychecks or standing in the company for his extended absence, due in no small part to Company President, Alkatinian Vykurias. So, no resentment against the company either. As for anger against the Hierarchy, Nel pointed out that made even less sense.

"His kid died defending Turian lives, he sacrificed himself for the good of others," she firmly stated. "That's what is expected of soldiers in the Hierarchy. His son died a hero! It's the greatest honor a Turian can hope to achieve! That their death serves the whole. Why would Orukuri turn on the Hierarchy over that?"

"He could still feel resentment over his death," Vik insisted. "It fits the timeline anyway. His son dies, he spends months locked away in grief, maybe Balak approaches him at some point after or during that. He makes his offer to get some payback on the government that cost him his son and in exchange Orukuri will supply his army and upgrade the Covenant."

"An interesting theory," Liara admitted. "But it feels... incomplete."

"I'll admit, there are holes, we're missing something," Vik concurred. "But my gut says it has something to do with the son."

"Do we even know if this is all Orukuri's idea?" Wrex asked suddenly. "I mean, he could just be another fall guy, a proxy. He does have a boss he answers to after all."

Wrex meant Alkatinian Vykurias, whose family had been running VykurCorp since it's inception. He was one of the youngest in the company's history to hold the position and he had been pushing a more progressive bent. Under his leadership, they had been putting more funding into medical research and alternative energy sources, balancing out their budget so military expenditure and contracts weren't their chief source of revenue. Regardless, the military budget hadn't decreased and there was still a ton of credits pouring into relevant departments. Vykurias had, of course, placed Orukuri in charge of those departments. Which explained the mess they were now in and why Balak may have approached Orukuri specifically.

However, despite all that, it wasn't very concrete evidence to go on.

"Vykurias might be involved, but nothing so far suggests he is," Liara explained. "There's been no references to him in any of the back and forth concerning Orukuri's operations. He might be in the dark. Until otherwise, we presume he's not involved but do not rule him out. I'd have already spilled all the evidence to him if I thought I could completely rule him out."

"Fine, innocent until proven guilty," Vik agreed. "How about the Turians we know are involved? The Separatists are as much a part of this plan as any VykurCorp merc it seems."

"Xeltravius is an interesting figure in all this," Liara agreed, switching the holo-image to show the Separatist leader's profile instead. "Like all Turians he served in the military when he came of age. Unlike Orukuri though, he didn't stay when his time was up. Although he did ask to reassign years later during the Relay 13 Incident. He did not re-enlist for the Hierarchy though. He came back, and I'm quoting directly from his own manifesto, because he wanted to defend Turian pride from 'alien interlopers and degenerates.' During Shanxi, he was more heavy handed with the civilian population than most. He was discharged close to the end of the war for 'Conduct unbecoming a soldier' and 'excessive use of force.' So even back then he was more prone to violence as a solution."

"Sounds like he took more cues from the Krogan than his own people," Wrex noted with a chortle. "Funny for a xenophobe if you don't mind me saying."

There was a certain ring of truth to that. Xeltravius seemed a lot less disciplined and refined in his use of force. The Turians were warriors, yes, but brutality wasn't in their creed. Precision mattered more and they carefully calculated their use of resources. Xeltravius had that too, but his application was to a great extreme, as Liara quickly explained to the others.

"After his discharge he goes to ground," Liara continued. "But pops back up a year later leading his Separatist Cell. Most of the first members belonged to his unit on Shanxi. They then began attacking colonies, drawing out Hierarchy soldiers, who they then ambushed. Bombings followed, assassinations of Government officials, military outposts sabotaged, anything to weaken Hierarchy control of the outer colonies. All highly coordinated, all extensively planned in advance."

In Liara's mind that made him a far more dangerous opponent in some ways. He had a lot of experience leading in the field. He knew the Hierarchy's tactics and he had effectively altered them for use in guerilla warfare. The major concern for her though was how ruthless he was, which meant whatever he was involved in would involve a lot of people dying. They couldn't let that happen.

"Didn't Nel say her people beat them though?" Kayap asked. "How'd you stop him last time?"

"Scorched fucking planet, Kay," Nel declared proudly. "We used their own bullshit tactics against them. Leaked faulty intelligence that a major Military muck-a-muck was going to be heading through their space. They tried to ambush them with the majority of their little fleet, ended up attacking an empty ship before we jumped in with several dreadnaughts and battle cruisers. Boarded their capital ship with Special Forces, took it before they could wipe their datalogs. We then used that to track them back to their main base of operations and boom. Bombarded them from orbit like the little traitorous fucks they were."

"Excessive, but it did work," Vik relented. "At least for the time anyway. Everyone said the assault basically exhausted them. Xeltravius was believed to be either dead or so broken he couldn't fight back. Conspiracy boards always claimed he survived and he was rebuilding. Course, no one imagined he'd ever be the same kind of threat he was before."

"Obviously that has changed thanks to Orukuri," Wrex observed. "That and the Blood Pack stepping in to boost their ranks. Still seems a bit weird that Xeltravius would team-up with krogan, given the fact he hates us as much as any turian xenophobe."

"Desperation must play a factor into it," Liara surmised. "The devastating losses his cell endured could never be replaced this quickly. To get what he needed in order to deliver a proper fight to his enemies, he had to make peace with some ancient foes. Perhaps he justifies it because Orukuri shares some of his beliefs. Either way, we won't beat them the same way as before. Xeltravius has clearly learned from his mistakes of the past. He's more cautious, we learned that much during his transmission. He won't move until he's ready or certain of his success."

Saya, who hadn't made an effort to butt in so far, finally wrote something down on his omni-tool. He showed it to the others. It was a rather simple conclusion on everything. "Only One Shot For Them." Nel instantly agreed.

"Yeah, he's right, they know they're going to get wrecked if they move too fast and get too much heat," she insisted. "They're going to put everything into a single operation, that's what they're building towards and the Blood Pack are going to be helping them. Like, boots on the ground helping them I bet."

"They do seem to be working pretty closely with each other," Vik concurred. "Both times we encountered them, they were working or conspiring with the Blood Pack. So, if that theory holds true, I imagine Trox has a role in this somehow."

Liara nodded, she remembered from the summit that Balak wanted to save Trox's force for other, more important operations. What Orukuri was planning with the Seps seemed to fit that bill. She turned the holoimager to show Trox's profile, his hologram clad in his battlemaster armor.

"From what I've gathered he's a biotic prodigy," she began. "Probably could've taken over his whole clan, had the Chieftain not cast him out. He worked as a freelancer for a few years, then the Blood Pack took him in. Normally they try not to recruit too many powerful biotics, they have a tendency to take over their chapter. But Trox was recruited by a krogan named Kreave, who had an obsession with biotic powers despite having none of his own."

Liara already knew why that was though, as Nel pointed out herself.

"This is the guy Shepard says had a freaky man-crush on him, right?" She asked.

"More or less, but he's dead now," Liara explained. "Trox was left in charge while Kreave was in combat beyond the wormhole. It was only natural he took over the chapter after his former boss' death. There are very few biotics left in his group that can surpass his skills, so no one is going to challenge him. From what we've seen he's capable of some massive destruction. However, I think he has been holding back because he didn't consider us too much of a threat. That might have changed after the stunt we pulled at the excavation site."

"He's an angry little whelp trying to fill the shoes of his dead leader," Wrex huffed. "He's gotten this far relying on brute strength alone, but he's no strategist. I saw it when I was sneaking among his goons. He's muscle, pure and simple. And if he is trying to unite the other chapters to regain some of their strength, he's going to need a lot more than what he's got currently got on offer to pull it off."

"Which means he probably has some sort of leverage on his side," Vik suggested. "Promises of plunder? Credits? A ton of Covenant weapons would probably be enough."

"Or just a chance to get back at the turians and kill a few?" Nel suggested.

Vik thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Yeah, that would be a good sales pitch for a violent angry Pack member," he surmised.

"Let's not forget the other mercenary group involved in this," Liara interceded. "The Eclipse Sisters were brought in for their access to biotic enhancing drugs. But they don't seem to be more involved beyond that."

Liara switch the holographic image to a profile of Eclipse leader, Varna.

"It wasn't difficult finding her record," Liara said as she scrolled through the images in the file. "Her mother died when she was young and she was taken in by her father, a low-level turian drug dealer. Their relationship was not a happy one, evidenced by the fact she killed him with one of his own hypodermic injectors... stabbing him several times in fact."

Everyone got a good look at the crime scene photos on their datapads and instantly wished they hadn't.

"Spirits, someone has issues," Nel grimaced.

"Seventy years in and out of detention centers for various offenses," Liara continued. "Eventually she joined up with the Eclipse Sisters, but was a low ranking operative. The only reason she managed to take over is pure luck. She was off planet when Shepard arrived and decimated their ranks. There was a brief power struggle among the remaining members, she came out on top and assumed control. Near as we can tell she's been recruiting whoever she can from various Asari gangs and mercenary groups she used to run with to rebuild things."

Saya was quick to type down his own assessment and present it to the others. His screen simply read "Bottom of barrel." Everyone instantly understood what he meant.

"The frog is right, she's the weakest link in this chain," Nel declared. "She's in over her head and her organization is still recovering. I say we hit her interests hard, draw her out and see where she can lead us from there. We find put where these biotic enhancements they're selling are going, we find out more about where the Seppies are."

Liara nodded, seemingly impressed for once by one of Nel's ideas. It could work to their benefit to try and knock Varna's drug smuggling out of the equation quickly. However, as she took the idea in, Liara also noticed Vik looking a bit more thoughtful, more concerned.

"Vik, what is it?" She asked. "Not a fan of Nel's idea?"

"No, actually I think it's a good thread to pull," Vik admitted.

Nel chuckled.

"Holy shit, that was a compliment!" She grinned, suddenly placing her hand on the quarian's forehead. "You sick, Bucket? You didn't get a suit rupture or something did ya?"

Vik moved her hand away, looking rather annoyed as he did.

"I'm simply concerned we're overlooking the biggest issue here, the bioweapon itself," he clarified. "We can go after any of these targets and we'd probably get some answers, but not the big one. The one that's tied to all of this, the bioweapon. What is it? Why is it important? What are they intending it for? We know it's a key part of their plan, but the question is what does it do?"

"I'd like to know myself, Vik," Liara admitted. "But right now the only people who have those answers are a little out of our reach at the moment."

"I'm not so sure," Vik said skeptically. "Supposedly this bioweapon was stolen from a secret salarian lab the Covenant raided."

"That was what sent Kirrahe to Tuchanka in the first place, yeah," Wrex answered.

"Then maybe the answers we want aren't with any of our enemies," said Vik, "but with him."

He pointed right at Saya, who to his credit didn't flinch in the slightest at the accusation.

"The STG got called in to investigate the lab attack, they have to know something," Vik claimed.

"Kirrahe told us everything he knew, I'm sure of it," Liara informed Vik.

"The STG are spies, infiltrators and black ops soldiers," the quarian countered. "Their secrets have secrets, wrapped up in mysteries and riddles and even more secrets. If Kirrahe didn't know anything then he was either lying or his superiors know something and didn't tell him. More specifically, I'd like to know how the Covenant found out about that lab in the first place."

"You think there's a mole in STG?" Nel said, snorting derisively at the idea.

"I didn't say mole, but there could be a leak," Vik suggested. "And the only way we'll know anything for sure is if we start pushing for answers. We need to know what the Covenant stole and why if we want to have any hope of stopping Orukuri."

It was then that Saya started tapping his fingers harder on the desk, cutting Vik's little rant short. He didn't seem angry or upset, just contemplative. When he was sure he had everyone's attention, he typed something up on his holographic screen.

"Don't know anything about bio-weapon," it read. "Never told specifics. Know where answers might be."

Saya uploaded something to the holo-imager. When it was done he switched the image to the recently installed file. It showed the salarian homeworld, Sur'Kesh. It closed in on a specific building close to the capital, spartan in it's appearance, like most salarian architecture. It was a series of blocky sections connected to one another, with a large rectangular pillar standing tall in the center. Liara recognized it instantly.

"STG Headquarters?" She said, somewhat in shock. "You're not suggesting what I think..."

Saya had typed up his response before Liara had even finished; "I am." The implications of the text were not lost on anyone.

"You want to break into your own fucking house?" Nel said, equally as shocked as Liara was.

"I don't think Kirrahe is going to like that idea," Wrex informed the salarian. "He is still your commanding officer, you report to him. He won't authorize this kind of mission."

Saya just typed up another direct and simple response.

"Kirrahe wished to continue investigation of Covenant attack," the screen read. "Bioweapon reason for attack. Need to find out why and to what end. Answers only at HQ."

"It would be in a high security server," Vik warned him. "Off the grid, isolated. You'd need direct access and clearance."

Saya type up a quick response on his screen.

"Can get clearance. Know layout. Just need good hacker to help." The screen read, before Saya then added. "Up for challenge?"

Vik looked surprised at the invitation and a bit lost for words.

"Well, Coda could help me with the greater security," he surmised. "And I'd be lying if I said I didn't want a crack at something this big. I mean, this is the kind of street cred a hacker could only dream of. A high security salarian server? An STG Server to be precise. I can give it a shot at least."

Saya looked to Liara, waiting for her say. It was up to her if they went through this. To say she had concerns would be an understatement.

"You realize what happens if you get caught, right?" Liara asked him. "This is treason. They'll kill you."

Saya looked at her unwavering as he typed in his reply methodically.

"Sedition technically," he wrote first. "Salarians not at war with Shadow Broker."

Liara just crossed her arms at the snark, prompting Saya to write a more direct response.

"Broken plenty of laws already with you," it read. "What's one more?"

Liara sighed, knowing this was inescapable. Like everyone else she wanted to know what they were chasing here. As much as she hated to admit it, this sounded like their only real option. Other than fumbling around in the dark for weeks, and by the time they found them it could be too late. They needed to get answers now.

"Okay," she relented. "Let's set course for Sur'Kesh."

How long had it been since he was back here? Four months, five? Saya was sure it couldn't be more than six. He had been on so many missions in the colonies, working out of various branches with Kirrahe, he had completely lost track of things. Taking on the assignment with T'Soni hadn't helped. For a moment he wondered if it would feel familiar at all. The second he touched down and breathed in the air though, his concerns evaporated.

Sur'Kesh was a blessed world for the salarian people, rich with green jungles and cool waters. It wasn't always the most comfortable place. There were some days that were more humid than others and the rain was non-stop for a good chunk of the year. It was home though, his home. Well, more specifically it was home because it was where STG HQ was located.

Liara's concerns about this mission were warranted, he was taking the biggest risk of his career and he knew it. Even Kirrahe wouldn't be able to get him out of this if things went south. The thing was though, Vik was right. He had taken a long time to voice it, but he was right. Saya had actually been considering the problem himself for a little over a week now. They knew very little about what this was all about. His involvement in this started when the Covenant attacked that Salarian lab and stole something from it. Neither he nor Kirrahe were told it was a potential bio-weapon that was taken, just that the lab had been attacked and something of value was stolen. They knew it was biological in nature of course, but they were fed no further details. For a time that was sufficient.

That time had past. When this only related to Salarian interests concerning krogan getting their hands on something from one of their biological facilities, that was an internal matter. As the scope of the events began to build out from that, the raid on the lab simply became the catalyst for something far worse than originally believed. Turian lives were now at stake because of a bioweapon developed from the work of their scientists. Yes, it had been taken by force, but that didn't change the fact they played a hand in it. This was an external situation now, one that had far reaching consequences. They couldn't wait for the red tape to clear, Saya knew enough about their bureaucracy to know that by the time they got their answers it could be far too late.

They needed to know what made this stolen bio-agent so important and why Orukuri needed it so badly. They also needed to know how Balak and the Covenant had found out about it. Saya suspected a mole himself, ever since he'd been informed of the raid at start of this assignment. If he had such suspicions, he didn't doubt that the STG had their own. If they wanted answers for all these questions, they needed to get into STG HQ, simple as that.

Thankfully, Vik had brought the subject up himself, so Saya didn't need to come up with a convincing argument to go through with all this. He didn't need the quarian to figure out how to break into his own "house" though, he had been thinking up ways on how to breach HQ security for years now. It was a hobby of his in the academy. If you could outwit Salarian security measures, you could outwit anything. It just made sense to study ways to fool foolproof systems. He even considered writing something to the department chiefs about how to cover potential holes in their net. Other things got in the way though sadly.

If nothing else, maybe he wouldn't have to if everything went right tonight. Or wrong, there was still a high probability he'd get caught while snooping around in there. The knowledge they weren't entirely secure would lead to some major security revisions. Really this was a win-win in a sense. No matter which way this went down, the Chiefs wouldn't be able to keep ignoring those holes for much longer.

Getting inside the HQ was the easy part actually. Sneaking past he perimeter sensors was hardly a chore when you knew all their blind-spots. Climbing to the roof was as simple as finding some footing in the architecture and pulling yourself up. There was some external piping he used to shimmy up halfway, ledges provided the rest of the way. The one tricky bit came next, it simply required some outside help to be viable.

When you lived on a world like Sur'Kesh, environmental controls were a big deal. That's why HQ had so many cooling systems to keep humidity inside to a minimum. This worked through tech similar to heat sink technology, climate control exhaust pods in designated places throughout the facility. They let out their excess heat when they got over saturated. If a pod needed repairs, they opened it up and performed maintenance. If someone wanted to get inside HQ, all they'd need is the code for one pod's maintenance mode. The pod would rise up, open wide, a single person could then climb inside and snake their way through the climate control vent below and into the building proper. All one needed was access to the climate systems, which were low priority because everyone seemed to think no one would get this close.

Saya approached one of the pods, currently locked up tight. However, with his Omni-Tool synced up to Vik's computer, he only had to wait while the quarian tapped the system wirelessly. Given his skill, which even Saya couldn't doubt, this was practically child's play to Sajee.

"Alright, Saya, I'm connected" the quarian himself reported through Saya's comm. "I'm introducing your little systems glitch now. Get ready."

Within seconds, the pod began to rise up and then opened wide. Saya moved quickly, the system would reset automatically when it realized the error. He crawled inside the pod and forced open the exhaust port at his. Forcing himself through the newly made hole, he was suddenly thankful that evolution had provided his species with very nimble and slender bodies. It was a tight fit, squeezing through the vent, but before long he was out the other side. The pod closed up shortly after he landed on the small catwalk in the maintenance area. He didn't see any guards, but he activated his cloak all the same.

"Good, you're in. Your feed is coming through just fine," Vik reported. "I can see everything you can."

But not everything he needed to, Saya thought. This mission wouldn't get far if they had no actionable intel on what was happening inside. Only way they were going to get more eyes and ears was through HQ's own security feeds. It was why he had picked that particular climate control pod. Its inner maintenance area was very close to a security post.

Slinking down from the catwalk, Saya moved to the exit, his mind set squarely on his target. He entered the darkened sterile hallways of the facility proper. It was late at night, practically a skeleton crew in most of the level one security areas, making getting around this place just a bit easier. Hugging the wall, he crept up to the security post. Thermal imaging on his visor told him there was a single guard inside, currently glued to the screens in front of him. The door was unlocked, but opening normally would create too much noise for Saya's liking. Even with his cloak activated, no salarian would look at a door opening and think it was just a simple systems glitch or the wind. He needed a distraction.

Saya pulled a long telescopic chord from his pack and stuck it into the door slit. He brought up the fiber optic's camera feed onto his omni-tool to get a better look at the inside of the post. Scanning it around, he located the server tower and connected to the system wirelessly. Then, all he had to do was introduce a small glitch to the systems. With the flick of a command, suddenly the screens the guard was looking at began to flicker wildly, electronic static taking over some, lost feeds to others, a few showing some of the guard's extranet history. He really liked funny Varren videos it seemed, Saya supposed it could've been way worse.

The guard, now incredibly annoyed and distracted with trying to reboot the system, would not hear the door slide open as Saya activated it's manual control. He had to physically open the door himself by placing his hand between the crease and pushing. Crude, maybe, but he was a lot quieter than the automatic system and he didn't want to leave anything to chance. The guard was still distracted as Saya moved towards the server junction near the back of the room. He was already making a call to technical services.

"These glitches have been happening for months now, why has no one gotten on it?" He asked. "I shouldn't need to reboot my feeds every two weeks. This is the most haywire it's been. ... No, I can fix it myself, but seriously, someone needs to get on this."

Saya would store that bit of information for later. If HQ was having glitches, it could tie in to how the intel on the lab leaked. For now, he needed to get Vik his feed. Attaching a small transmission drive to the server junction was all that was required. Once plugged in, Vik only had to log in to get what he needed.

"Feeds are up," the quarian reported. "Okay, let's get to work."

Saya moved to leave, exiting via the back door in a similar matter to how he entered. There was no sense in doubling back, he knew where he needed to go next and he wasn't about to waste time getting there. He had a lot of security checkpoints to bypass and guards to avoid. Hopefully, all that time thinking about infiltrating HQ would pay off tonight and that the answers they all wanted were somewhere inside this place.

Vik didn't normally like people crowding him while he worked. The circumstances of the mission, however, forced him to leave his usual comfort zone behind. He was using Liara's terminal, the one connected to the awesome computing power of the Shadownet. He needed that in order to be Saya's extra pair of eyes and ears. With the stakes so high, everyone was deeply invested in the operation's success. So for now, he accepted the fact everyone was huddling around him trying to keep appraised of the ongoing infiltration.

Thankfully it was going well, Saya already seem to know where he was going. Vik had a basic outline of what the inside of the complex looked like, but he barely needed to tell Saya anything, save pointing out potential roadblocks to his forward progress or the status of patrols. It made sense, he knew this place, or at least a sizable portion of its layout. While they couldn't really see him on screen with his cloak on, they were able to watch him move with surprising speed through the halls. Vik would point out a patrol, and then Saya would shift his path, seemingly capable of finding another way forward all on his own. It was a bit unnerving, as Nel so bluntly pointed out.

"I'm not the only who's a bit weirded out by the fact this is all his plan, right?" She asked.

"You mean the fact it feels like he's been thinking about how to sneak into his own agency's headquarters for a considerable amount of time?" Vik asked in return in response. "That's probably because he has. Saya is methodical like that."

"Salarian brains are always on constantly," Wrex grunted. "They never stop thinking at a mile a minute. It doesn't shock me that he's thought this over. What surprises me is how quick he was to suggest it."

"I'm more surprised he wanted me to run Ops for him," Vik stated. "I thought he didn't like me."

"Saya might not be the warmest of personalities, but he does recognize skill and talent," Liara reminded the quarian serenely. "Clearly he has more respect for you and your abilities than you thought."

Vik supposed he was happy to hear that. If nothing else, Saya recognized he was a valuable member of the team. That was nice to know, he wasn't going to deny that. At least he knew the salarian cared somewhat.

Another security patrol appeared on the camera, rounding from behind a corner. There were two of them, they appeared to be talking to one another, although keeping their eyes ahead of them. They were still heading in Saya's general direction. Vik quickly contacted him.

"You got two headed your way," he warned.

Vik expected Saya to change directions again, take a different route. He could barely make his outline out on camera though and he saw that the salarian was not moving this time. In fact he was headed forward. For a minute, Vik wondered if he had heard him right. Looking through Saya's camera feed, he saw the salarian jump against the wall towards the ceiling. The feed then looked back down to the floor, where the agents were walking.

Near as Vik could tell, Saya had split his legs apart enough that he had managed to plant his foot on either side of the corridor's walls. Allowing him to more or less remain suspended above the hallway. The patrol passed beneath Saya's legs and never knew he was there. About a few seconds later, after they had passed, Saya's feed dropped back to the ground, rolling along the floor to cushion the sound of his landing.

"Part of me wonders if he's just showing off at this point," Nel huffed derisively.

"He was nominated for the Spectres before he lost his voice," Liara reminded her. "He's simply more capable than most of us in this type of mission."

"Where is he going anyway?" Kayap asked.

"Lower levels, data analysis," Vik explained. "If you want to find out what the STG knows about that bio-agent and who might have leaked it to Balak, thats where you got to start. Security is only going to get tougher though."

"All the more reason to keep ahead of him on camera," Liara reminded him. "Where's he heading now?"

Vik took a look at the layout and deduced his path. Where it lead though, well, part of him wondered if maybe Nel was right. Maybe Saya was trying to show off a little.

Briefings at STG were always done in the dead of night. Fewest possible people working in the walls at that moment. Fewer chances for leaks to get out that way. The doors were usually locked tight, but not for Saya. While he didn't have the codes, there were subtle ways to get in for him. Leveling his Shiakala to the door's locking mechanism. He activated the electrical shock impulse and cut it close to lock. The system shorted out, back ups would take over soon enough, but Saya was able to push the door apart long enough to slink inside with minimal noise.

He was now in the amphitheater, where a few high level members of STG were already deep into their little intelligence briefing. They were pouring over a ton of data at a mile a minute. While Saya tuned it out as he snuck through the mostly empty seats, he couldn't help but overhear everything.

"What we're getting from this mostly is that a lot of traffic between the Blood Pack and the Eclipse Sisters, more than we'd be normally comfortable with," the chief analyst explained. "As far as we can tell, the primary Eclipse organization is unaware of any of this. However, we can't assume that they are completely uninformed about what the branch is doing."

"Whether they approve of these talks or not isn't important," claimed another agent. "What bothers me is what they're talking about and why this increase in chatter now? Is this a power play? Are they teaming up to go after the Blue Suns?"

"None of the chatter suggests that," the analyst assured. "It does suggest that the Blood Pack is looking to unite its disparate branches. Given the beating they've taken lately, that isn't surprising. Talking to the Eclipse Sisters is. However, it makes a strange sort of sense when you remember how their own numbers have been decimated in the past year."

"Both groups also share the same reason for their shared troubles," another of the Agents recalled. "Could they be going after him?"

"Perhaps, but given our own information we think their designs aren't revenge based," he analyst assured. "Everything suggests we're looking at a more unified Pack, one that could help the Sisters reclaim their place in the Eclipse hierarchy."

"So this is possibly a more short term alliance? A way to facilitate this... restructuring of the Blood Pack?" The first agent asked. "They must be hurting to turn to a bunch of asari for help."

"Krogan leadership numbers are dropping rapidly," the analyst explained, switching to another data table. "Our last projections put their recruitment down by twenty percent from last year. A consequence of Clan Urdnot becoming a more unifying force, offering better stability among the clans. More krogan are finding reason to stay on their homeworld rather than joining a bunch of mercenaries. As a consequence, there are fewer and fewer veteran krogans in the pack. Many branches have been wiped out altogether or disbanded, no experienced warriors to keep them running. On the flip-side, Vorcha recruitment is at an all time high. The branches are desperate to keep their fighting numbers high. At this rate, the krogan are going to be outnumbered by their own attack dogs."

"I don't know if that's a good or bad thing," another agent observed. "Only thing worse than a united Krogan pack, is a Pack run by Vorcha. Do we have a timeline on any of this?"

"It depends largely on how this whole restructuring attempt works out," the analyst claimed. "Best case scenario, there's a lot of infighting that ends up with them all killing each other. Worst case, they actually pull it off and become a more organized mercenary company. And this Trox character might just be able to pull that off. He's already started to get an influx of Vorcha from other branches. It has bolstered his ranks sufficiently."

"And if the Sisters keep helping him with these smuggling operations, he'll garner even more goodwill among them," another agent reasoned. "We need to get ahead of them on this. Take Eclipse out of this equation."

"The Sisters have gone to ground," the second agent reminded him. "They're not on Illium anymore, they've abandoned it. We're trying to triangulate their new base of operations, but they got a wide range it seems. It will take time to pinpoint them."

It was all interesting stuff, to be sure. As expected, the STG had not been idle. They were working the same angle Liara was. They were a little behind on some things though, namely the connection this all had to Orukuri. Regardless, it was probably something extra to keep an eye out for when he got to his target.

However, info on the Blood Pack was not why he was in here. He was here because it was the quickest down to his real goal. Well, the quickest way if you knew what you were doing. Using the conversation between the agents as a cover, Saya crept over to a small wall panel and opened an electronics box. Connecting to its system via his omni-tool, he passed control to Vik. The quarian bypassed the security in seconds, allowing Saya to get the thing to unlock. Once it did, a maintenance hatch opened to the left of him.

This was more or less a straight shot down to data analysis. A few feet of creeping through wires and assorted cables, he'd be able to break into the ventilation above the room and then into the room itself. He squeezed inside and forced the door behind him to close, leaving his fellow agents to continue their briefing. Silently, he wished them luck on their end of the investigation. However, he suspected it would be moot soon enough. He had a hunch they'd be taking the Eclipse Sisters out of the equation for them soon enough.

The inside the data vault was cramped and constantly cooled. With all the servers inside constantly compiling information, one could ill-afford an overheating issue. Saya didn't mind the freezer air, his suit kept him insulated. He had far greater concerns than being a little chilly. He carefully removed the venting panel, bringing himself up into the tube proper. He couldn't risk even a single screw falling to the floor. The room has sensors in every tile. The smallest bit of pressure, without formal authorization from the security system beforehand, and every single alarm in the building would be tripped. Combat Drones would be activated and the vault itself locked down. He'd be as good as captured.

To avoid all that, he'd need to stay off the floor. Not easy to do, but it was manageable. He let himself hang from the open vent, dangling a few good feet off the floor. He then swung himself to and fro, before letting go and flinging himself to one of the servers. He grabbed onto the top and felt his body slip a little. He struggled to get a proper footing on the side of the server, forcing himself up. He had misjudged the distance only slightly, it had nearly cost him. He'd have to be extra careful from here on out.

Scanning the vault, he eventually spotted what he was looking for, a data port in one of the corners. Slinking along the servers, he made his way towards his objective. It was going to take another jump to get to it, but it was doable and he was in a far better position to attempt it this time. He prepared himself first, eyeing where he wanted to go and what he'd use to support himself. Launching himself from the server, he flew at the dataport's server tower, grabbing onto a large handle like piece on the side. He planted his feet squarely on the server's side.

Using similar bits of the dataport's construction, he descended to the interface, minding his footing along the way. Hang off slightly from the side now, he reached over and plugged his hack tool into the port. With the connection established, he used the same hand to activate his omni-tool. Now he could see everything that Vik was able to pull from the files. It didn't take long for the quarian to find what they were looking for.

"They got a lot of intel on this case," he observed. "I'm patching Liara through to your headset, Saya. Just a minute."

While he waited, Saya looked at the contents of the first batch of files. There was a lot of genetic and chemical science jargon, a composite of some kind of genotype, pictures of some sort of biological containment case and virtual depiction of a microbe. Liara voiced Saya's own questions for him.

"What am I looking at Vik?" She asked.

"Research notes for our bio-agent," the quarian explained. "It's labeled NA-VH0S3. They just call it 'Strain-S3' for short. Discovered by accident by scientists trying to make a pesticide treatment for a colony that was having problems with some rather voracious insect life. Locked in storage seal when the results got back to the STG."

"But what does it do?" Liara asked.

"That appears encrypted, Coda and I can work on that," Vik assured them. "But I can speculate right now based on where they locked it up."

The image on omni-tool changed to that of the facility that the Covenant raided, the salarian lab where the agent had been stolen from in the first place. There were pictures of the damage the raid caused, walls blasted out, doors blown in. Saya had seen these pictures before during the briefing, never in the context of what Vik revealed, however.

"The research lab in question researches one thing only, deadly biological and chemical strains," Vik stated. "Viruses, chemicals, bacteria, poisons, parasites, they cover the works. If it is designed to tear you apart from the inside out, they got it in their vault. They're still trying to figure out how the Covenant even found out about it. The place has a cover as a government research firm. The average person thinks they make gene therapies. They do, it's just a lot of it is for stuff they have on hand that no one else does, just in case."

"And this pesticide, whatever it was, it did something bad enough to warrant getting locked up there," Liara reasoned. "Did they at least find a counter agent for it?"

"Doesn't look like it, sounds like they just wanted to bury it and hope everyone forgot about it," the quarian replied. "Not exactly comforting to be honest. When something is bad enough to scare the STG, that usually means you should be concerned too."

Vik was right, STG did not spook this easily over something so small. It explained why they didn't tell them what this bio-agent was for. It explained why they put Kirrahe on the mission, a career soldier who does the job with minimal questioning. In this case, there was only one real reason they would be scared like that though. Whatever this agent did could potentially hurt Salarian standing in galactic politics. Their scientists created it, they locked it away in response. No one could know about it, ever. It had to remain buried. For whatever reason though, this little secret got out. They needed to know how, something Liara and Vik were way ahead of him on.

"Who had access to this information last?" Liara asked the quarian insistently. "Specifically within the timeframe leading up to the raid."

"Hold on, I'm bringing up an itinerary now," Vik answered dutifully. "Okay, we might have something here. The files concerning Strain-S3 were subject to a routine data compiling and transfer procedure. It was handled by a Data Technician named Poran Uyor. About a month later our raid happens."

"Why haven't the STG investigated this angle?" Liara asked.

"It's buried deep in the access log, maybe they haven't discovered this yet," Vik suggested. "Also it seems they're investigating other leads at the moment. The current theory is it was someone from inside the research lab that leaked information, not STG."

"Then I suppose we'll have to look into this for them," Liara stated. "Saya, find Poran. If he is a mole maybe he's our key to finding out more about this bio-agent."

Worth a shot at least, and he likely worked in this department as well so it wasn't too far out of his way when you thought about it. The problem for Saya right now was what to do when he actually found him. Well, that and getting out of this room without tripping the floor sensors, but he preferred to think a few extra steps ahead. He'd obviously have to look on his computer for any proof Poran was a mole. After that though, what was their next course of action?

He'd leave the connection to the dataport active, give Vik more time to sift through the system. With any luck he'd uncover more about this Strain-S3 and hopefully some other interesting tidbits Liara was no doubt asking him to look into. She was the Shadow Broker after all, you didn't pass up the chance to gain as much information as you could from a previously untouchable source. Knowing her, it was most likely only related to their current mission. He'd be less than enthused with this whole operation otherwise.

He climbed back up into the shadows, away from the floor. Reaching out to a supporting beam in the rafters, he pulled himself up onto it to perch himself over the edge. He spotted his way out, the cooling vent. He slinked over through the various support beams to reach the vent. Prying it off as careful as the one before, he squeezed inside. It was only now, so close to the searing cold that kept the vault below zero, that even his suit was not able to keep the chill out. He did his best to ignore it and slink himself through the cramped space.

It took about a minute to really get through the cramped corners of the vent. He finally popped out the other side to find himself on a ledge overlooking the adjacent room to the vault. As he placed the vent cover back quietly, however, he noticed something wrong. His arm, it was more clearly visible. While he didn't let that prevent him from continuing to cover his tracks, he still realized what that meant.

His cloak was gone.

"Why can we see his arm on his feed?" Nel asked, sounding way more concerned than she usually did. "Did the cold short the cloak? Is he out of power?"

"Give us a second, Coda is sending in intel from the system on this level," Vik assured her.

The data came in just then and Vik quickly looked it over. The answer to the problem became rather clear. However, it also told them there was no easy fix.

"Keelah, they have a cloak scrambler installed in the lower levels," Vik growled. "It came online three weeks ago. That's why Saya didn't know about it in advance."

"So... what? He's gotta do the rest of the mission old school?" Nel asked. "Keeping away from bright lights? Staying out of sight?"

"The cloak scrambler is a multi-unit system designed to set up a wide field that prevents cloak tech from working," Vik explained. "It would take hours for Saya to shut each device down. We don't have the time. He doesn't have the time."

"Saya is an accomplished STG operative, he'll adapt," Liara assured everyone. "If anything, this means we have to step up our game. Vik, keep an eye on where he's going. He needs to be updated on everything. Nel, we need to move up the time table of extraction, prep the shuttle. I want you down there to pick him up the second he's clear."

"I'm gone," Nel responded jumping up and headed for the door. "Just be ready with that distraction or I'm not getting anywhere near the place."

"Coda has been installing it since we first got plugged in," Vik promised. "You'll get your window, just go."

Nel nodded and left the room in a run. Their plan had been knocked for a loop, but they needed to maintain course. They were too close to answers now. Liara turned back to Vik to monitor the situation alongside him. As she did, another data packet got transfered up from Coda. Liara opened it, realizing why the Huragok had deemed it so important.

"Our data dive has found some intel on Varna and her Eclipse Sisters," she told Vik aloud. "The STG has pinpointed hotspots concerning their smuggling routes."

"Can that help us find out where she's operating out of?" Vik asked.

"If I can cross reference it with the intel I'm getting from the ShadowNet on the Eclipse Sisters movements, maybe," Liara informed him. "Right now though, we need to find Poran, get our data and get Saya out of there."

"Won't be easy, there's more people working down here than up top it seems," Vik cautioned. "And without a working cloak... it's like Nel said, it's like he has to fall back on the basics."

"He'll pull it off," Liara once again assured him. "We just have to keep being extra pair of eyes and ears and we'll get him home safely."

"Well," Vik corrected. "More like out of HIS home safely."

The lack of a cloak was a bit shocking at first, but Saya just told himself to get over it. There was nothing he could really do to fix it apparently, so he just had to accept it. The mission took priority, complications be damned. He had to fall back on his basic training, they always told him there'd be days when his tech would fail and he'd have to rely on instinct. Strange how that advice was now being used to help him continue infiltrating the very organization he worked for.

For the moment, he tried to stay above ground as best he could, slinking along the side upper ledge in the room he was in. The architecture played to his advantage for now, but he expected that he'd run out of road eventually. When that happened he'd have to go low, but why make it difficult on himself sooner rather than later.

As he slunk among the shadows above, he overheard something below at one of the data terminals. It was a pair of analysts, burning the midnight oil it seemed. One had a cup of something in one hand, hunching over his friend's shoulder as he sat at the screen. They were playing an audio recording of some sort, one that they seemed to keep rewinding.

"The transfer is complete, when is the next?" Said one voice.

"Preparations underway," a second voice answered. "Pick up at temple, second at third crossing, third at farm. Fifth rotation quarter."

The analyst rewound the clip, playing the second voice again. Said voice was altered significantly, further disguising the person speaking. They didn't seem concerned with that so much as the code.

"I don't like it when Krogan use code," the first analyst said. "It means we're losing our touch."

"More than likely it is not their idea," the analyst on the computer claimed. "They suspect we're in their transmissions, so the Eclipse Sisters are being more careful."

"It can't be too literal, they wouldn't throw us clues like that," suggested the first analyst. "There must be a meaning behind the words, but symbolic. A unique rock formation, natural landmark, some kind of structure that's a metaphorical stand-in."

"Too many of those things in the target area to honestly narrow it down," the salarian on the terminal informed his companion. "I think I might have something else on the recording. Listen carefully."

The analyst rewinded again and played the soundbite again.

"Pickup at Temple, second at third crossing,"

"Did you hear it?"

"Hear what?"

"I'll slow it down," the analyst at the computer stated. "Listen, right after they say temple."

"Pickup... at... Temple..."

Saya barely picked up on what the computer tech was trying to show his friend. Some kind of sound in the background, barely audible with the voice all messed up like it was. Something like a tweet or a chirp.

"A bird?"

"If it's a unique species, we might be able to narrow down where it's located in our search pattern," the computer tech claimed. "At the very least, it suggests some kind of forested area."

"I'll get more audio analysts on this," the first agent said, standing straight once more. "If we can isolate and clean up that sound we can start comparisons. Might take a while to call them in."

"I'll wait, I got a few more files to sift through anyway," the computer tech explained. "I might find something even more distinct if I keep combing. It will probably take me all night, but I'll find something."

"This is why they pay you the big bucks, pal," his friend said, patting him on the shoulder.

As the first analyst walked away to find a commlink, sipping his drink as he did, Saya continued to slink along the darkened upper ledge. However, he soon found he didn't have much more ledge to use. Worse yet, Saya had a waypoint update from Vik. The quarian had uploaded Poran's cubicle, the most direct path was through a door below him where the two analysts currently were. The one with the drink was making some calls on a comm. terminal nearby as his friend continued to work. They were both busy, but getting by them would still be a challenge, especially getting through a door with minimal noise.

He'd have to be careful about this, planning out his route to his exit in advance. He spotted a large desk in the middle of the room along with some computer terminals off to the right of the door. He could probably use that to cover himself. Thankfully there weren't many lights on in here to begin with, so he still had some shadows. He just couldn't let himself be seen.

He dropped down as quietly as possible, rolling along the carpet to cushion the fall. He quickly moved behind one of the desks as the analyst at the computer turned briefly. He had probably heard the faintest sound just out of range. Noticing nothing, he went back to work. Probably thought his friend had just made a noise or something. Saya slowly but surely slinked away, letting them continue their work uninterrupted. He moved to the door proper, hiding behind one of the terminals. This was the real challenge, the door could be bypassed, but it would still make noise when it opened. That was fine when there weren't many people paying attention, not so much when there were two people in an otherwise very quiet room.

He'd need to rely on some of his tech, he just hoped whatever jamming signal had disrupted his cloak wasn't doing the same to all his infiltration gear. His omni-tool had a masking application, one designed to keep things quiet. It created a field around him that blocked soundwaves, however, it was not designed for longterm use. He only had like three activations before he needed to let it recharge. He didn't like using it too much for fear of becoming reliant on it for that reason, his cloak at least had a longer battery life and there weren't many people who had anti-stealth technology. Seeing no other option here though, he decided to use it.

Activating the field, Saya moved to the door and began running a bypass. All sound in his immediate vicinity was muted. Within the small bubble of the field, silence reigned. It would only last a few seconds before said bubble popped, so to speak. Saya had to work fast bypassing the system, not easy when you wanted to be sure the internal security didn't set off alarms when it noticed you were trying to unlock something you shouldn't. Luckily, Saya managed to finish in time, the door opened, muffled by Saya's field. He entered it just seconds before the silence ended, the only sound that of the door just closing. Suspicious no doubt if either salarian heard it, but they'd soon turn back to their work as long as Saya was well out of sight.

The next room was a series of offices and cubicles, the place where all the data junkies, hackers, analysts and other techies resided. Normally it would be staffed with several dozen salarians. Tonight, there were about five. All of them glued to their screens. Fine by Saya, it would make sneaking all the easier. He just had to stay in the shadows and out of sight.

He slunk along the darkened corners of the room, keeping an eye on the few salarians still at their desks. Some people would probably say, just knock them all out and move on. That was stupid, you didn't leave bodies if you could help it, live or dead. More importantly, even your average code monkey at STG had some form of combat training, specifically with a gun. Even if you didn't ever use it, you were expected to be able to handle a firearm. Just in case for whatever reason you ended up in the field. If something went wrong, if someone spotted him knocking out people, they'd sound an alarm or start shooting. No, the only through this was being like a ghost. He was never here, this night was normal, nothing of significance happened and it was boring for all involved. That's what the internal memo tomorrow had to read. Well, save for the one distraction Vik was hopefully setting up for his exfiltration.

Saya was partially stopped in his tracks when one of the data analysts got up from his chair, stretched about a bit and slunk over to a small water fountain set up nearby. Hiding behind a small plant, Saya watched as the man took a sip of water and rubbed the excess off his mouth as he stood back up. He then trudged back to his desk just as a call came in for him.

"Yes..." he began. "No, no I still got some things to compile. Another hour maybe. ... Sorry, I know, it wasn't my choice. ... I'll finish up as fast as possible and rush over. I swear."

Saya let the distraction serve him, he quietly sprinted past the analyst to the next series of shadows in the darkened room. He reached a corner of a small office, not just any office though, the one he was after. Poran's. It was a rather nice office, window walls, sparse interior. Inside he saw the salarian in question, standing over his desk and typing a few things. Then he just nodded a few times and turned to shut the light off as he kept his computer running. He then turned for the door suddenly. Saya moved back into the shadows as the salarian left heading for parts unknown for the moment. Saya grabbed the door as Poran left, keeping it from closing and then slunk inside. The darkness of the office covered him as he made his way to Poran's computer. He plugged another of Vik's connections into the terminal and let the quarian go to work. It didn't take long to get answers.

"Good news, bad news," he reported. "Poran's not a mole, but he did put the files in question on his own terminal. Apparently, he was a bit concerned about data corruption and the security of vault. He moved them to his office server for further analysis, he didn't even know what he had. Unfortunately, that means this is likely how the information got out."

"Do we have an idea how?" Liara asked.

"I've logged Coda in, he's already pulling up log entries," Vik elaborated. "I'm seeing traces of some kind of batarian phising program used to find pertinent data. It got into Poran's home computer, then his omni-tool then his work terminal if I'm reading the path right. That fed information back to Balak no doubt before it erased itself to cover its tracks."

"That sounds far too coincidental for my liking," Liara reasoned. "This seems targeted."

"It most likely was," Vik concurred. "My guess, Orukuri wanted dirt on the salarians to help in his cause and asked Balak to get it for him. I've been seeing similar attempts in salarian logs as I've combed the system. They were all stopped though, only this one got through. They've be targeting STG for a while, Poran just inadvertently gave them an in. They must've discovered the data on the salarian bio-lab in the cache, gave it to the Covenant and had them raid the base for Orukuri. No doubt securing VykurCorps' cooperation with their little cabal."

"Can you pull anything else from the computer?" Liara pressed stoically. "Anything we can use."

It took a few seconds, but Vik eventually had an answer.

"Hmm, Poran has been trying to do some extra credit work in his downtime," the quarian reported. "He's pulled files on the Eclipse Sister connection to the Blood Pack. Unauthorized, but he's made some headway on his own. He's run a profile on one of Varna's associates, an asari smuggler who's been on a few watch lists named Deinu. She's apparently been zipping back and forth, but he thinks he's starting to pin down that route. He might be up for a promotion if this works out... so long as no one finds out he put classified files on his work server of course."

"We could use that information for ourselves," Liara reasoned. "Can you download it?"

"No, only the preliminary notes are here, he does not want anyone stealing his glory it seems," Vik explained solemnly. "It's all on his omni-tool, thats where he's uploaded it to. You want that intel, Saya is gonna have to get Poran's omni-tool from him."

"You heard him, Saya," Liara stated. "Find Poran, get his omni-tool and get out. This might be what we need to make some real head way on this link to Orukuri."

Saya just nodded in response and made his way out of the office. He slowly opened the door as quietly as he could with his hands and then went after Poran. He couldn't have gotten far after all. Saya turned the corner and found another door leading out of the office area. Bypassing it quickly and moving through it before anyone could really register the sound, he found himself in another hallway. As he made his way down it, Vik piped in.

"Poran's in a rec room further down the corridor you're in," he reported. "He's getting himself something to drink and eat from the vending machines. Apparently he has a bit of a sweet tooth. One other guy in there, might want to wait until he leaves to move in on Poran. Once you have the omni-tool, I can direct you to the nearest exit and get you out of there."

Good, thought Saya, this was almost over, he just had to keep focused and get that data. He just had one other salarian standing between him and the target. Saya spotted him through the large window in the hall as he approached. Just another late working analyst taking a break from watching his screen for who knew how many hours. He was just having a hot caffeinated drink though, not stuffing his face with snack cakes and whatever new flavor of Tupari was being peddled that month. Problem was, there was a lot more light in that room than Saya was prepared to deal with. It wasn't like it was lit up like the sun, but he wouldn't be able to really sneak in there. He had to come up with a plan, one that would remove both the lighting and extra pair of eyes problem he was facing.

He came upon the solution when he saw the power switch in the back of the room. He switched his visor to a different vision mode, one designed to see electronic currents through walls. He traced the now glowing wire until it came to a junction box embedded in the wall near him. That could settle the lighting issue, but now he needed to deal with the other guy in the room. He wouldn't be able to handle that on his own, not unless he wanted to risk a scuffle. Saya chose to rely on Vik's skills instead. He focused in on the salarian having his hot drink and typed a message back to the quarian.

Call Him Away

Saya reasoned Vik, for all his eccentricities, was smart enough to get the gist of what he wanted. He could always clarify further if he didn't. However, his faith was rewards with an almost instant response.

"Gotcha, I'm coming up with something now."

About ten seconds later, the analyst's breaktime was interrupted by a beeping on his omni-tool. He grumbled under his throat for a moment, grabbing his drink and heading for the door. Saya pressed himself behind into a small alcove in the hall to avoid his gaze as he exited the rec room and headed back to the data cubicles.

"I found his contact address on the network through a facial scan and sent him a message about getting his reports to his supervisor," Vik explained. "Should take him about an hour, plenty of time to do what you need to do."

Vik was indeed fast on the uptake, but now it was down to him again. Saya took his Shiakala out and placed it against the wall where the junction point was. He forced the blade through the crease in the panel and then activated the electrical current. The shock shorted out the junction point and every light in the break room, along with the corridor, shut down.

Saya could hear Poran's irritation at this, but looking through his night vision, he could also see the careless techie still wanting to finish his snack. Saya promised himself to make this fast, no sense in dragging it out. He snuck into the break room proper now. Slowly edging towards his target. Poran just kept muttering to himself, wondering when the backups were going to activate. Not soon enough, if Saya was correct.

The second Poran turned his back, Saya lunged. With his sword out, he moved the blade onto Poran's shoulder lightly and activated the current. The jolt of electricity was more than enough for his purposes, Poran fell into Saya's arms like a sack of rocks. Putting his weapon away, Saya quickly disengaged the data drive on Poran's omni-tool and pocketed it. Then he stuffed it into his satchel and dragged the still unconscious salarian to a seat at a nearby table. Saya set Poran down so he wouldn't fall off the stool and then he prepared for one final touch. He opened up a connection on the omni-tool for Vik. He had the data, but there was another little matter to attend to, educating their accidental leak.

"Uploading complete," Vik reported. "When he wakes up, he'll have a little text message from the Shadow Broker herself telling him about his screw up and how he better start playing ball. Hopefully he'll get the message about keeping intel secure."

"If not, at least we can keep an eye on him now," Liara added. "Time to get you out of there, Saya. Nel is already waiting for the signal for evac. Vik, guide him out."

"Sending a waypoint signal to you now," Vik stated. "Follow the yellow line to freedom."

Saya watched as a yellow line indeed appeared on his visor, leading out the door and down the hall. It only existed in the virtual sense, but it was a little better than following a dot or otherwise. He quickly got underway, following the line through the dark to his exit.

The line led to a small fire exit. Saya had to disable the alarm so it didn't alert them all to where he had left from. He now found himself in the parking complex behind the HQ. He was out, but not home free yet. Nel could try right now to fly in on the shuttle and pick him up, but she'd more than likely be spotted in restricted airspace. That was where Vik's distraction came in. If the quarian was on schedule, he'd be hearing it... now.

A general alert started to sound, loud and piercing. It was the alarm for a lower level reactor leak. That meant radiation, never something you wanted to be close to. A general evacuation of the lower levels of the HQ would now be in effect as things got sorted. Everyone would be far too busy to notice the shuttle craft rushing in to land on the top of the parking complex. Saya made a mad dash for the roof, where he soon spotted the craft coming in. He also saw two guards moving in as it approached.

Damn, he hadn't expected this. He needed to work fast. As the guards moved towards the shuttle, weapons pointed up at it, Saya rushed in from behind. Before they could do anything, or report anything, Saya clocked one of the guards from behind with a blow to the head. Before the other could even turn to see what happened, Saya delivered a quick strike to his head, knocking him out.

Nel came in close, she did not land. The door was just open. Saya rushed to the shuttle and jumped into the waiting hatch. The doors shut tight behind him and the shuttle instantly took off. Saya steadied himself as they flew back off into the sky, leaving STG Headquarters far behind. He could hear Nel laughing slightly from the cockpit and he turned to see her looking back and grinning at him.

"Congrats, bud," she said chuckling. "You got away with treason. Or sedition, whatever, I'm not big on semantics."

Saya just looked at her stoically, but she could tell he didn't appreciate the joke. To her credit, Nel laid off pretty fast. Truthfully though, she was right, he had just gotten away with committing treason. Vik would erase every frame of his unauthorized visit to HQ. The guards would wake up with headaches but no clear image of an attacker. Poran would keep his mouth shut lest he lost his job and probably earned time in a cell himself.

He had stolen from his own organization on behalf of the Shadow Broker. Yes, it was for a good cause, it was his idea, but it was just that. The fact was though, of all the dirty things Saya routinely had to do in his life, this was just one other thing on the pile. STG would re-evaluate their security and they'd let this go eventually. With any luck, this little breach of protocol would yield benefits further down the road. A little guilt at using his skills against his co-workers was a small price for the safety of the galaxy in his mind.

He just hoped it was indeed worth said price.

Nel got back to the Lucen in rather high spirits. Saya had pulled it off, much to even her surprise. The frog was good, but she hadn't expected it to go as smoothly as it did. Hiccups, yes, but they had gotten away Scott-free. No one was seriously hurt, a leak was closed and they were one step closer to finding out what Orukuri was planning with that bio-agent. Hell, they were even closer to tracking down Varna and her crazy band of merc sisters. They had more than a few reasons to celebrate.

So how come when she and Saya exited the shuttle, Vik and Liara were there to greet them... and they didn't look happy. They in fact looked disturbed more than anything. Saya presented the data from Poran's omni-tool, handing it to Vik.

"I'll get Coda on this as soon as possible," he said, sounding a bit sullen.

Nel could tell something was up, Liara wanted to say something. It was written all over her krinkled blue face as she bit her lower lip. True to form, Nel wasn't about to sit and stew while they tried to find the right words.

"Alright, out with it," she demanded. "Why you looking so glum? Someone die?"

Liara just sighed, looked briefly at Vik and then relented.

"We cracked the encryption on the Strain-S3 file," she explained cautiously. "We know why the STG locked it up."

"We also now know why Orukuri wants it," Vik added, sounding just concerned.

"What's it do?" Nel asked eagerly. "Zombie plague? Makes you piss blood? Kill your sex drive?"

Vik was not laughing at any of that, hell he didn't even get angry. He kept the same look of horror and abject dread as ever. Even through a helmet and clouded visor, it was very easy to see that.

"Remember when we pointed out Strain-S3 was originally designed as a pesticide for a specific colony?" The quarian tried to recall. "Well, the thing is, it was for an invasive species of insect. I'll spare the hows and whys of how it got there, but the point is it wasn't your average bug. They made the spray to attack it on a genetic level, they thought that would keep it from doing any harm to the environment but..."

Vik paused for a moment. Why was this so hard for him to spit out, Nel thought. What was the big deal? It only became a bit clearer, when Vik managed to finish.

"They didn't take into account the insect's biology," he finally clarified. "Specifically, it's amino type."

"What?" Nel responded in confusion.

"The pesticide did work as intended," Liara picked up quickly and firmly. "But not for the reasons they thought it would. Somehow the bio-agent latched itself onto the amino acids of the test insect's DNA and... ripped it apart."

Slowly things began to click and Nel's own confusion turned to one of horror. She looked at Vik again for confirmation and asked the question now burning in her mind.

"What was the bug's amino acid type?" She asked.

Vik answered the one word she did not want to hear.

"Dextro," he confessed. "The insects were dextro-based. The salarians had inadvertently created a bio-agent that attacks dextro-based lifeforms and only dextro-based life-forms. And when STG found out, they shuttered it, because they knew what that could mean."

Nel needed a moment to gather her thoughts, it was all a bit too much.

"Are you saying-"

"The Agent is just a component," Liara tried to reassure. "They never weaponized it, nor intended to. They locked it up along with all the research to prevent exactly that. In the state they left it, it's still just a pesticide at worst, no more dangerous than any other. Refined, however, that could change."

Nel had to sound it all out just so she could make sense of it.

"So Orukuri has a potential deadly biological weapon that can be used to kill turians and quarians," she slowly reconciled. "And he's giving it to the Seppies."

"That is the long and short, yes," Liara confirmed.

Nel could only really respond one way.

"Well, fuck."

AN: We've had too long without an update on either story, so I decided to give you guys this. I hope you all enjoyed something different for this go around and liked the exploration of Saya's character as well as his place of work. You might recognize some call backs to a certain Tom Clancy game of note. Those are more or less deliberate. Saya is the ninja of the group and if I was going to pull inspiration from any other franchise it would be that one. I think the more important thing though was just showing everyone that Liara isn't the only one on the case here. There are other people working on this from other angles. She's not really alone, but she is kind of a rogue element regardless. That is what the Shadowbroker is after all.

I hope this was fun and I hope you forgive me for taking longer than usual to get this all to you. But as a special bonus, if you head to my profile page, you will find some new links to some more audioworks by Hellfox83 waiting there. He's made some awesome stuff recently and I'd love for you all to give it a listen. Seriously, it is some amazing stuff. You should find the links under his section where all the old ones are. I'll make sure you can see them, although it might take a while for them to appear since I've only just updated it.

Thank you as always and if any Tropers are here, do feel free to spruce up the TvTropes page when you can. It has been looking rather sparse honestly. Thanks in advance.