Shepard hailed two cabs to retrieve them, Kara and Rocket taking one, everyone else filing into the other. Shepard opened the door, and slid into her seat, and gazed down at the interface before her. She activated the self-driving option, and selected the docks where Samara was spotted as her destination. She turned to face Thane, who was sitting in the passenger seat. "You said you want to make the most of the time you have left. Are you dying?"
"Yes. but my mortality doesn't concern me as much as the fates of your missing colonists. I intend to make the most of what time I have left, Shepard."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Shepard asked, concerned.
"Giving me this opportunity is enough."
The rest of the car ride was silent as they sailed through Illiums skies, before the vehicle angled down, coming in for a landing on the docks. Shepard spotted a police line as she angled the sky car for a landing. Once she felt the vehicle settle on the ground, she opened the door and climbed out, along with Tali, Garrus and Thane. She shut the door, and spotted Kara and Rocket's cab land, and she waved for them to join her.
As Kara moved to follow Shepard, she overheard a pair of noteworthy conversations. An Asari on a phone call lamenting the loss of a treasured locket, and a Salarian, worrying about the disappearance of some kind of Salarian pedigree. She pushed them out of her mind as she looked at Shepard, who halted as an Asari police officer approached her.
"What's going on?" Shepard asked.
"The docks are closed off. Some Justicar showed up and is tearing the Eclipse sisters there a new one. Until things calm down, no one is allowed through here."
"I need to talk to that Justicar."
"Tough luck. Like I said, nobody is allowed through."
"I'm a Spectre. I'm going in."
The officer scowled, but relented. "Fine, but watch your back. Every Eclipse sister has to commit a murder to earn her armor."
Shepard nodded in acknowledgement, before walking through the police line followed by the rest of her team, much to the chagrin of the officer. Shepard passed through the door guarded by a pair of Asari, and saw that the room she entered was stacked floor to ceiling with crates. Which could be carrying anything, considering how loose illium's corporate regulation laws were. She turned right, and followed the hallway a short distance, before Kara spoke up.
"The elevator ahead of us is on its way down, and it's occupied."
Shepard nodded. "Can you tell how many people are in it?"
Kara paused, her fur twitching as she focused on the elevator, trying to drown out everything else. "More than one."
"Alright, get to cover, but check your fire. We don't know who's in the elevator."
The rest of the team confirmed the order, and they took cover behind crates and barrels as the elevator approached. "Don't fire unless I give the word." Shepard muttered as it came to a stop.
The doors opened, and four Asari clad in yellow armor practically bolted out, their chests covered in the Eclipse's signature black sun. Shepard waited for the elevator doors to close behind them, then roared, "Open fire!"
A split second later, the Eclipse mercenaries were ripped apart by a combination of plasma and bullets as Shepard's team opened fire on them. Not one of them managed to get a single shot off. Shepard stepped out of cover and approached the elevator.
"Does anyone else think they looked a little panicked when they came off the elevator?" Garrus asked as Shepard opened the elevator doors.
"Now that you mention it, they did act strange. "Tali commented. "They didn't even bother to make sure the area was clear."
Kara knelt, and removed the helmet of one of the deceased Asari. Serina hacked into the helmets communications suite, and patched the rest of the team into the Eclipse's comm network. Shepard could immediately hear panicked shouting flooding the merc's comms, and several references to a Justicar. Samara was ripping them a new one from the sounds of things.
Shepard stepped into the elevator, followed shortly by the rest of the team. The shouting on the comms quieted down as the elevator ascended, indicating that Samara had almost entirely wiped out the Eclipse forces by the time the elevator stopped.
Kara stepped out first, then moved into the docking bay ignoring the corpse of an Eclipse mercenary laying against the wall on her right. The rest of the team was close behind her, and swept the bay, before they spotted two Asari in an enclosed room overlooking the bay, one clad in Eclipse armor, the other was presumably the Justicar they were looking for.
Shepard watched as Samara lashed out at the Eclipse merc, sending them crashing through the window overlooking the bay, and careening face first into a bundle of crates. The Justicar leapt through the opening, using her biotics to glide elegantly to the spot the merc landed.
Now that they were standing directly in front of her, Shepard could now hear what they were saying. "The name of the ship. Your life depends on it." Samara said calmly as she placed her boot on the back of the mercenary's neck.
"Go to hell." The Asari spat defiantly.
Samara hesitated for a moment. "Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess." She adjusted the weight on her leg, crushing the merc's neck.
With the last of the mercenaries dealt with, Samara turned her attention to the newcomers. "I see six well armed individuals before me. Are we friend, or foe?"
"Friends. I'm Commander Shepard, and I need your help. Human colonies are under attack, and I was hoping you could help us put a stop to it."
Samara's gaze drifted downwards, and she looked almost remorseful. "I would like to help you Commander, but I'm already on my own mission, and I can't afford to allow my quarry to escape."
Kara was about to say something, when she felt the elevator behind them begin to descend. Someone had called it. Shepard noticed her turn her head. "What is it?"
"Someone's called the elevator."
"Can you see who it is?" Shepard asked.
"Already on it." Serina said over the comms. The elevator to the docking bay had been equipped with a security camera, and much to her amusement, Serina didn't encounter any resistance to her hacking attempt.
She took a moment to look at the elevator's occupants, then pushed the recording to the rest of the team.
Shepard recognized the uniformed Asari she spoke to as her team arrived, accompanied by three other officers. With the elevator out of the docking bay being the only way out, Samara and Shepard's team both had no choice but to wait for the elevator to arrive.
The doors opened, and the detective's eyes flashed between each member of Shepard's team, before settling on Samara.
"I hate to do this ma'am, but I've been ordered to take you into custody."
"On what charges?" Shepard asked.
"My higher ups are worried a Justicar might cause an "incident" involving other species on Illium, and they don't want to risk that kind of political shitstorm."
"My oaths require me to surrender myself into your custody for two hours, after which I must continue my mission."
"I won't be able to release you that soon."
"You won't be able to stop me." Samara replied coldly.
Kara interjected. "Maybe we can help you with your mission. You asked that mercenary for the name of a ship. We could find that out while you're detained."
Samara nodded. "I would appreciate that."
Shepard removed her helmet and scratched her head as the officers and Samara took the elevator, leaving her team to plan their next move. "How are we gonna find out what ship Samara's target left on?"
Rocket hopped off Kara's shoulder, and ran to the corpse of the merc Samara killed in front of them, and began to search the body, looking for any leads. After finding nothing, he let out a frustrated sigh.
While everyone tried to think of what to do next, Serina decided to see if the Illium police forces could offer any clues. She used the local extra-net system to patch into their networks, and easily bypassed their security measures.
She sifted through their files, and after two seconds (an eternity to her) she found something interesting. "I might have a lead. A Volus merchant named Pitne For is a POI for the murder of his business partner, Dakni Kur, by the Eclipse. We passed by him on our way here, and he's currently being held by Illium law enforcement. He can probably point us in the right direction."
"Good find Serina. Alright everybody, let's move quickly. Samara can't wait too long."
Shepard stepped back out onto the landing area, and winced as the afternoon sun threatened to blind her with its radiance. She entered the nearby police station, and approached the by now familiar Asari detective, who buried her head in her hands as she saw Shepard approach.
"Is there a problem?" Shepard asked, bemused by the detective's exhaustion.
"First a Justicar shows up, and tears apart an entire hangar bay, then a Spectre waltzes into my precinct. No offense, but people like you tend to leave really big messes behind for people like me to clean up."
Shepard smirked. "Then I'll try to get out of your hair as soon as possible."
The Asari sighed, and leaned back in her chair. "I'm Detective Anaya, and I was investigating the murder of a Volus merchant, then that Jusicar showed up."
"Maybe I could help with your investigation. I need to speak to Pitne For, he might know where I can find the area the Eclipse are operating out of."
Anaya shrugged. "If you think you can get him to talk, go ahead. He hasn't said anything to my people." Anaya stood, and gestured for Shepard to follow. "The rest of your people will have to wait here."
Shepard turned to gaze at her team. "Try not to cause trouble while I'm gone." She smirked.
Rocket shot her a mock salute, while the rest of the team simply nodded.
Shepard followed Anaya to one of the interview rooms, and asked her to wait there while she escorted Pitne For. Shepard settled into the chair, and folded her hands in front of her face, supporting her head with her thumbs, and closed her eyes, meditating.
After three minutes, Shepard's eyes snapped open as she heard footsteps approaching the room, and she turned as the door opened.
A rotund Volus stepped through, his enviro-suit hissing with every breath as he climbed into his seat across from Shepard.
After several seconds of silence, with the only sound being the breathing of the room's occupants, Shepard sighed. "Alright, if you're not going to say anything, I'll start. Your business partner Dakni, was murdered by Eclipse mercs. Now I don't know why they'd do that, but I can guess they probably think they had a good reason. And, if problems with the Eclipse isn't enough for you, that Justicar everyone is worrying about needs information the Eclipse have. And she doesn't know where their base is, but I'm guessing you do, which means when she's free, she's going to come looking for you."
Volus were hard to read, thanks to their enviro-suit, much like Quarians. But Shepard still managed to catch Pitne's discomfort as he shifted in his seat. "Who are you?" He asked, his fear growing increasingly transparent.
"I'm a Spectre. Who also wants to have a chat with the Eclipse. You can keep playing the quiet game if you want, but you and I both know that you are in way over your head here."
"Over my head? Is that meant to be a joke about my stature, human?"
"No, it's me saying that a lot of powerful people are very pissed off at you, and I'm the only chance you have of coming out of this alive."
Pitne looked down at the table. "Alright. My endeavors as an entrepreneur, brought me to Illium, where I sold a shipment of Red Sand to the local Eclipse sisters, which I might add, is perfectly legal in this system. Me and Dakni delivered the shipment to them, only to find out later that our… supplier hadn't disclosed to us that they had the dosage incorrect, which led to an… unfortunate misunderstanding."
"Did you deliver the shipment directly to them?"
"Yes. They provided me with an access key to their base, and retrieved said key after our business concluded. Unbeknownst to them however, I made a copy. The good detective should have it somewhere in evidence. If you really are a Spectre, she should be more than happy to give it to you."
"So the key will get me in, but you still haven't told me where I'm going."
The Volus lifted his arm, and activated his Omni-tool. Pitne sent the directions to the Eclipse's base to Shepard, and she nodded to him in thanks. "I'll tell Detective Anaya you've been a good little boy."
Pitne For glared at her as she left the interrogation room, a smirk on her face.
Shepard stepped into the the stations lobby, and had Detective Anaya give her the key to the Eclipse base. She briefed the rest of the team, and they took the elevator to the 15th floor of the docking district.
While Shepard was following the waypoints in her HUD to their destination, Kara addressed Thane. "The file we had on you says you were trained by the Hanar to be an assassin as a child."
"Your file was right. The Hanar saved my species from extinction, and in return, we pledged ourselves to their service." Thane replied.
"And you're at peace with that? Having your life dictated by others?"
Thane dipped his head in thought as they walked. "Thinking about what could be only distracts from what is."
"True, but that doesn't stop anybody from doing so." Kara responded. Thane didn't reply, but Kara believed he agreed with her statement, if his body language were anything to go by.
"What about you Kara?" Tali asked. "When did you join the military?"
"The minimum recruitment age for the Expeditionary forces is 80 years. I enlisted when I was 84, almost seven centuries ago."
"Why's the age limit that high?" Tali asked in disbelief.
Kara shrugged. "A number of reasons. We're not on equal footing with any other species. In fact, most are so…" Kara paused, trying to think of a way to diplomatically convey her thoughts . "Less advanced than mine, that they don't even register as a threat. As far as the military is concerned anyway. Couple that with the facts that our civilization exists on a separate plane of reality, and AI are so prolific, that the need for recruits isn't really as pressing as it is for your species. Even so, the number of active duty personnel numbers in the quadrillions."
Shepard stopped in her tracks. "Quadrillion?"
"Last I checked, yes. My species has existed for billions of years, not a few hundred thousand. And with our medical technology being as advanced as it is, we've eliminated two out of the three causes of death: disease, and aging. The only way a Hunter dies, is violently. Exceptionally violently. Which is why we live in our own pocket dimension. Otherwise, our presence in a galaxy like this would be a threat to the sovereignty of younger species."
"Wait, so if death is that rare," Garrus started, "Does that mean most members of your species are…" Garrus couldn't even finish his train of thought, as he tried to ponder just how old most Hunters would be.
"Incomprehensibly ancient." Kara said on his behalf. "The oldest of my kind were alive when the dinosaurs walked the Earth."
Garrus shook the stunned look on his face, and re-booted his brain. "Anyway, back onto topics us mere mortals can comprehend. Rocket, buddy, why'd you join up?"
Rocket looked up at Garrus, and shrugged. "Ain't much else a guy like me could do, bein' the way I am. I spent most of my time as a bounty hunter, chasing guys worse than me. Eventually, luck, fate, whatever, made me fall in with a good crowd." Rocket said, thinking fondly of the Guardians.
Garrus nodded. "My turn I guess. I'm a Turian, military service is mandatory, end of story." Garrus looked at Shepard. "Why'd you join the Alliance?"
Shepard came to a stop as they reached the final waypoint. "Sorry Garrus." She said, a smile in her voice. "You're gonna have to wait, this is the place."
'Aww, and we were just gettin' to know each other." Rocket grunted. "Now we can finally shoot some people."
Thane looked at the diminutive Raccoon. "You enjoy violence?"
Rocket shrugged. "What can I say? I got a lot of anger to work out."
Kara took point as they entered the Eclipse base. Rocket, and her rifle were resting against her shoulder as she advanced down the entry hall. Serina had shut down their surveillance equipment and communications, meaning that the team wouldn't have to worry about being surrounded.
She came to a halt, and swung her rifle to aim at the door to her 11 o'clock. She could feel three sets of footsteps coming from behind the door, and the weight of their feet hitting the ground made it clear they were weighed down by what could be weapons and armor.
She kept her claw hovering millimeters above the trigger, ready to fire, and the rest of the team readied their own weapons.
The doors slid open, and Kara recognized their armor's markings almost instantly, and sent two rounds hissing into the Asari's heads before they could even register she was there.
The third person Kara felt moving was several steps behind the two Asari killed, leaving them out of the line of fire. Kara heard a cry of panic, then the person retreated, fleeing to another room.
Kara stepped over the bodies and moved into the room the person fled to. Shepard looked at her, bemused. "What's in there?"
"Someone fled into this room. I believe they're Eclipse."
"What're you going to do?"
"Kill them. Detective Anaya told us every Eclipse sister commits a murder to join the outfit, so I plan on taking care of as many of them as I can while we're here."
"Fair enough." Shepard muttered.
As she was turning to leave, Shepard saw an Asari clad in Eclipse armor jump up from behind a desk. "Wait! I-" Before she could finish, Kara fired a bolt into her skull, killing her instantly.
Kara rejoined the rest of the team, and they entered the elevator to the main cargo offloading area. "I'm surprised we haven't run into many Eclipse." Tali commented. "Isn't this supposed to be their main operation? Are you sure Pitne didn't try to trick us?"
"Yes, but if they have a bunch of Eclipse running around, they'll only draw more attention to themselves. If they want to keep this a secret, they'll have to keep their security light." Garrus answered.
They pushed further in, encountering little meaningful resistance. Kara commented that shutting down the Eclipse's security and communications probably sent all of them to the offloading area. Which would explain why Shepard's team had barely encountered anyone.
Shepard hoped that wasn't the case, but it probably was. They opened the door in front of them, and came to an L-shaped hallway, stacked with crates of Red Sand. Standing at the end was a Volus, who, if his teetering was anything to go by, was intoxicated.
Shepard approached the Volus, followed closely by the rest of the team. The Volus turned drunkenly as they drew closer. "Who are you?"
"I'm-" Shepard started to say.
The Volus waved a hand dismissively. "Nevermind, it doesn't matter. Tremble mortal, for you stand in the presence of a biotic god!" Biotic energy swirled around the Volus as he shook his fist at Shepard.
Kara sniffed the air. "He's high on Red Sand."
"High!" The Volus huffed indignantly. "I am enlightened!" He waddled toward Kara drunkenly, and stared up at her in anger. "Fear me!" He shouted.
Kara placed her hands on her knees and leaned over. "You're adorable." Rocket snickered.
"Adorable!" He shouted. "You have insulted me, and for that, you shall be punished!" The air around the Volus shook, and he pointed at Kara, sending out an orb of Biotic energy that petered out harmlessly mere inches from the Volus's finger tips.
"Feh. You are not worth destroying." The Volus grunted as he waved a dismissive hand at Kara.
"Are the Eclipse up ahead?" Shepard asked.
"The Eclipse… When they strapped me down and drugged me with Red Sand, it was terrifying. But they have awakened their doom!" He looked down the hall. "You shall help me destroy them. But leave their leader to me. Wasea's blood is the final key to my ascension!"
Rocket snickered. "I love this guy. As amusing as it would be watching him try to fight, he needs a nap."
"I granted you mercy once, lesser creatures! Do not incur my wrath by disobeying me! Charge!" Kara leaned over, and pushed the Volus over. He must have passed out before he hit the ground, since he didn't react to the fall whatsoever.
"Looks like you broke him." Tali chuckled as she readied her shotgun.
"What're you laughing about? You heard the man, charge!" Shepard said sarcastically as she approached the door the Volus had looked to.
Shepard stacked up by the door, opposite Kara. "Alright everybody. Most of the Eclipse are holed up in here, so Kara, you head in first and keep them busy while the rest of us get in position. Thane, while Kara has them distracted, you hit their left flank, Rocket, take the right. Everyone else, we'll take cover and provide support."
Kara pulled out her sidearm and her plasma spear. She activated the weapon, and it glowed an angry white. "Ready?"
Shepard nodded, and Kara burst through the door, the thirty Eclipse sisters in the room had their weapons ready, but Kara was faster. She fired off three shots, the first hit its mark in the shoulder, the pain of the plasma searing her flesh and bone incapacitated the Asari, while the second and third impacted their targets in the head and chest, kill shots.
Kara reached the other side of the massive room in three steps, her shields taking only a handful of hits as she charged, and engaged the Eclipse in CQC. She'd killed another half a dozen of the mercenaries by the time Shepard, Tali and Garrus entered cover.
Thane took advantage of Kara's distraction, and killed another three Eclipse sisters with expert precision as he moved around their left flank.
Rocket jumped from crate to crate with his animalistic agility, sending rounds that ripped through the Eclipse's barriers and burned through their armor, leaving behind charred bones and molten flesh, chalking up another six kills, leaving just a dozen Eclipse sisters left.
Kara spun to the right, and lashed out with her spear, decapitating a merc that tried to attack her from behind. She felt the air tremble, and she turned to face the threat, just in time to see a searing ball of plasma strike the Asari in the head. Kara took a split second to turn her head to look at Rocket. She dipped her head in thanks, when she suddenly felt an invisible hand yank her into the air.
"You motherfuckers! I will destroy you!" An Asari shouted, a split second before another invisible force struck Kara from behind, flinging her effortlessly across the room, sending her crashing into a wall, hard enough that Kara left a sizeable dent in the metal wall.
Shepard, Garrus and Tali combined their fire on the Asari that attacked Kara. Her barriers managed to withstand the assault for a split second, which was just long enough for her to dive back into cover.
Shepard thought she caught a glimpse of Thane, and a moment later, three Asari were yanked into the air, helplessly floating above the crates they'd been using as cover. Shepard and her two comrades quickly took advantage of the opportunity Thane created, taking down another three mercs. Seven left.
Kara had recovered by then, and she snarled, baring her fangs, before charging into a cluster of crates. She slammed into them with all the force of a Rhino slamming into a cardboard box, and she trampled two of the Eclipse sisters that had been hiding there. She spun, and the resulting movement sent her tumbling to the ground, but it was a calculated move. As she lashed out with her right hand, her claws killing the other two.
Her massive hand struck the first with so much force, her skull simply exploded, like a watermelon struck with a sledgehammer, and Kara's hand kept going, the claws cutting through the second Asari's throat.
Kara fell onto her back, and used her momentum to spin around, coming to a stop with her legs and her now bloody right hand beneath her.
Three left. Now that they had the numbers advantage, Shepard's team advanced as a whole on the cornered mercs.
Wasea, the Asari in charge of this operation, grit her teeth, and glared at her two subordinates. "Put your weapons down, you morons." The two Asari looked back at their CO, visibly surprised, but grateful they weren't being forced to fight to the death. Thethree of them threw down their weapons, and raised their hands as Shepard's team approached, their weapons still ready.
"Who the hell are you?" Wasea growled at Shepard as the human approached her.
"Somebody you shouldn't mess with. I want information."
"About that Ardat-Yakshi?"
"The what?"
Wasea shook her head, annoyed. "The Asari I smuggled off-world. Everything went to hell after we helped her. Should've just fucking shot her when I had the chance."
"What ship was she on?"
Wasea pointed to a datapad on the desk behind Shepard. "It's all on there."
"What are you going to do with us?" One of the Eclipse mercs asked.
Shepard regarded the three of them with a thoughtful gaze. "We could kill you, but Detective Anaya would probably want to have a chat with you."
Before Shepard could give the word, Kara and Rocket both drew their non-lethal weapons, and fired on the three, putting them down. "How long are they gonna be out?" Garrus asked as he glanced down at them.
"They should be out for a good hour or so, long enough for Anaya and her people to scoop them up." Kara said as Shepard retrieved the datapad.
"Alright, we got what we're looking for, let's get back before Samara wrecks the station."
Kara moved to follow, but she paused just long enough to pick up another datapad. She skimmed through it as she followed Shepard, and she saw that it looked like a documentation of ancestry. Salarian ancestry, to be specific. She felt Rocket running up behind her, and she turned her head as he climbed up onto her shoulder.
She saw that he was holding another datapad, and he pressed one of the key's, activating an audio recording. The Asari that tried to hide earlier was speaking, apparently giddy over having murdered Dakni, and being accepted into the Eclipse.
Rocket looked up at Kara. "Good thing you shot her."
Kara simply hummed in response as they entered the elevator.