Once the trio returned to the police station, Kacey saw Pitne For outside alone, near some metal crates. If Samara's instincts were right, the volus knew how to enter the mercenary's base.
"Hello, Earth-Clan." Pitne For greeted the trio, "Did you speak to the detective?"
"Start talking." Kacey said firmly, "Why are the mercs after you?"
"I know nothing about any mercenaries, Earth-Clan." Pitne For insisted, "I'm merely an innocent merchant trying to make his way in life."
"Work with me." Kacey said, "The Eclipse are out for your blood; I need your help to break into their base. Shouldn't we work together?"
"Yes! You're right, Earth-Clan—I'm desperate." Pitne For replied, doubling down, "I've got angry mercs after me, and now this asari Justicar. Let's talk. I smuggled a chemical onto Illium that boosts biotic powers in combat. It is also toxic. I may have, um…forgotten to mention that to the Eclipse. So they are perturbed and want to kill me."
"What exactly is this chemical?" Kacey asked.
"It's called Minagen X3, and it's very, very…um, illegal." Pitne For explained, "Anyone with biotic powers who is exposed to it becomes more powerful. The higher your exposure, the more powerful you get. But too much of it, you die. That's the part that the Eclipse found disagreeable."
"What do you remember about the Eclipse base?"
"It's a series of docking bays where the Eclipse keep their private ships. They're well-armed, and they've got mechs. And they're all murderers. Every one of them kills someone as part of their initiation."
"I see." Kacey replied, "Sounds to me like you're a swindler and your actions have finally caught up with you."
"True and true. But I haven't survived as a merchant this long without being able to tell when there's a deal in the making…you want something."
"The Eclipse recently smuggled someone off-world." Kacey said, "I need the name of the ship she left on."
"I don't know about their people smuggling operations." Pitne For answered, "They must keep records in their base. I do have a pass card they issued me to bring my goods in. Well, I had to return that one, but I happened to make a copy."
Kacey cracked her knuckles. The volus hesitated before continuing.
"Take it." He said, "But be careful—each Eclipse sister commits a murder to earn her uniform. They are all dangerous."
"So, shoot every single one of them. Got it." Kacey replied.
…
"We aren't even in the place for two minutes and we've already been attacked." Kacey said.
They had barely even stepped out of the elevator before being attacked by two LOKI mechs. Once they were dealt with, the trio enter the next room where several Eclipse mercs were standing. Thanks to the exposure of the chemical, the biotic attacks of the mercenaries were becoming increasingly difficult to handle. Kasumi was lucky enough to use her invisibility tech to get the jump on the mercs, but Kacey and Garrus weren't so lucky. The asari mercenaries were making quick work of their shields, and it wasn't long before Kacey's shields broke. Kacey kept her back pinned against the pillar; only popping her head out to shoot at the mercenaries with the very brief openings they provided.
Garrus however, seemed to be fairing a bit better. Kacey noted how the turian shot only the mercs on the other side of the docks; leaving Kacey with the bulk of the enemy forces. She was tempted to shout him over to the front, but before she could a bullet narrowly scrapped by her face. While her scars had mostly healed by now, the bullet left a big horizontal line across the right side of her face, small, thin streams of blood slowly made its way down the lower half of her face. But before Kacey could fire at the merc who had scratched her, Garrus had already shot the asari six times in the head with his pistol.
"Are you okay, Kacey?" Garrus asked.
Kacey nearly jumped at the sound of her own name. While she had expected Joker to refer to her as such, she did not anticipate the turian sharpshooter calling her by her first name.
"Barely." She replied, "Why aren't you helping me with the mercs here?"
Garrus didn't get time to finish as more mercenaries came flooding in. Kacey pulled Garrus into cover as they opened fired on the pair.
"No more sniping, Garrus." Kacey said, determined, "Now get your assault rifle out and lets kick ass like I know you can!"
"You're right, Kacey. Let's finish this."
Kacey opened fire on the mercs, using a heavy concussive shot to knock the mercs back. Garrus opened fire, killing the mercs with surgical precision. Kasumi continued to do what she did best, assassinating and killing mercs without being seen. Once Kacey was sure that every mercenary was dead, Kacey led the pair through a small office, where they heard someone shouting.
"Oh Goddess! Oh Goddess, don't let them see me!" The feminine voice shrieked, "If they do see me, don't let them kill me! What am I doing here?"
"We might not see you, but we can hear you." Kacey said as Kasumi gave a light laugh.
Kacey opened the door, pistol in hand, and carefully entered the room. She looked around the seemingly vacant room, trying to find the source of the voice. Kacey then noticed a pistol on the floor. She took a few steps back then, once she saw a blue hand reach for the gun, aimed her pistol at the asari.
"Wait! Stop!" She shouted, standing up, "I didn't fire my weapon once! I pretended to because the other Eclipse sisters were watching, but I didn't really shoot. I'm not one of them! I'm new! I thought being Elnora the mercenary would be cool…but I didn't know what they were really like!"
"'Each Eclipse sister commits a murder to earn her uniform. They are all dangerous.' I couldn't risk it."
"You chose your side, Elnora. You lost."
"Screw that, bitch!"
Elnora attempted to shoot Kacey, but her shot missed. Kacey, Garrus, and Kasumi shot Elnora, killing her. After ensuring that the room was devoid of any more mercenaries, Kacey led her small team up the stairs and into the next room, where they found Eclipse mercenaries and LOKI mechs.
Kacey and Garrus took cover behind some metal crates and opened fire on the mercenaries. Garrus primarily focused on the mechs while Kacey (with help from her incendiary bullets) took down as many mercenaries as she could. Kasumi then disabled some of the mechs then continued to take down the mercenaries from behind their lines. Kacey was then forced to switch over to her pistol after running out of thermal clips for her assault rifle, and carefully picked off the last of the mercs with it.
Kacey darted to the other side of the big, vertical docking bay and climbed up the stairs as fast as she could. She then pulled out her grenade launcher and fired it at a group of mercs before switching back to her pistol and opening fire on them. Garrus continued to fire on the mercs with pin-point accuracy. Kacey fired another heavy concussive shot to finish of the last of the mercenaries. After running past the dead mercenaries, Kacey ran up a staircase with a door and opened it, then continued to run up more stairs.
Once the trio got out into the top docking bay, the sound of rumbling engines forced the trio to dart into cover. Kacey briefly poked her head out to see a gunship, flying Eclipse colours, flying around firing its machine gun.
"Oh great." Kacey complained sarcastically, "Another stupid gunship."
Both Kacey and Garrus fired heavy concussive shots at the gunship, then using incendiary bullets to burn through the ship's metal plating. Kacey found more thermal clips near her on a terminal and reloaded her assault rifle and fired more rounds into the gunship, with the odd concussive shot to boot. Once the ship was destroyed, Kacey breathed a sigh of relief before continuing into another office room, and found a voice recording on a computer terminal.
"Well its official—" Elnora's voice pierced through the air, "little baby Elnora is finally a full fledged Eclipse merc! I earned my uniform last night when I killed that ridiculous volus. Up close, exploding rounds. Blew the little bastard's suit wide open! Ha! I can't wait to see some real action! Next time I go home, my friends are going to be so jealous!"
"Well, that solves that mystery." Garrus said.
"We better drop it off with Detective Anaya when we head back." Kacey said as she took the recording.
…
After killing more mercenaries and climbing more stairs, Kacey found herself in another office area. She walked over to where a lone datapad was left lying.
"This looks like a shipping manifest." Kacey mused, "It shows that Pitne For sold 2000 units of Minagen X3 to the Eclipse. Along with 600 units of red sand."
"That proves the volus is a criminal." Garrus mused, "I'm sure Detective Anaya would be interested in this."
"We'll give it to Anaya we head back." Kacey said.
Kacey led to pair through another door and down the hall, where another volus was standing by a machine. The scarlet haired commander watched as the volus swayed from side to side. She assumed that he was under the influence of one of Pitne For's drugs. The volus turned and bumped into Kacey, and staggered back, barely managing to keep his balance. Kacey crossed her arms as the volus struggled to get his words out.
"I am a biotic god!" The volus said, clearly out of his mind, "I think things—and they happen! Fear me, lesser creatures, for I am biotics made flesh!"
Kaidan snickered, "Is that actually what they said?"
"Yeah!" Kacey laughed, lightly tapping Kaidan's thigh with her foot, "He was high. Like really high. I couldn't stop myself from laughing."
Kacey struggled to hide her laughter while Kasumi openly laughed. Garrus snickered.
"You need help." Kacey said through stifled laughter.
"You need help!" The volus snapped back, "You stand before the mightiest biotic ever! Yes, the asari injecting so many drugs into me was terrifying. But then I began to smell my greatness."
Kacey shook her head as the volus continued his drug induced tirade.
"They may laugh when I fall over, but they don't know what I know in my head—that I know that I am amazingly powerful. Fear me!"
"Are you part of Pitne For's trade group?" Kacey asked.
"When I was a mortal, I worked for Pitne. Poor soul is probably terrified that I have not returned."
"He hasn't reported your disappearance." Garrus said, "Probably so his departure won't get delayed."
"Pitne picks his money over his friends. Nice." Kasumi mused.
"Bah! I will wreak a just revenge upon his people! But first…the leader of these mercenaries is in the next room. I shall toss Wasea about like a rag doll!"
"Shepard, this guy couldn't tie his bootlaces much less fight." Garrus said.
"I will tear her apart! My biotics are unstoppable!"
"Wasea will tear you apart." Kacey snickered, "Take a nap—you'll feel better."
"Are you mad?" The volus said, "I'm unstoppable! Feasting on her biotic-rich blood will be the last step of my ascension to godhood!"
Kacey lightly tapped the pack on the back of the volus, which tipped him over.
"But…great wind! Biotic god!" The volus said, delirious, "I'm…I…what was I saying? I'm…tired. You…may be right. Yes, I'm tired…I'll nap. Destroy the universe later…"
The volus stumbled away. Kacey once again struggled to contain her laughter.
"So much for godhood." Garrus quipped.
Kacey was gestured for the pair to follow her down the hall towards the mercenaries' leader, in the vain hope that they were successful in finding the information before the day was done. As they entered, Kacey saw an asari drinking a dark liquid from a glass while looking at a datapad. Kacey suspected that the information they need was on that datapad.
The asari noticed the trio, and put her glass down alongside the datapad. Kacey eyed Wasea carefully.
"Everything's gone to hell since we smuggled that filthy creature off-world." Wasea said, "First a Justicar shows up, now you. At least I can take pleasure in turning your head into a pulpy mass."
Wasea threw a pack of red sand at the trio. While Kasmui and Garrus dived away from the pack, Kacey merely stepped aside, drew her grenade launcher and fired to grenades at Wasea, while Kasumi sneaked up on Wasea. Garrus overloaded Wasea's shields while Kasmui pierced a small blade into Wasea's neck. Kacey shot Wasea in the head to be sure.
Kacey then ran over towards the datapad and flicked through it, finding the information she was looking for.
"The AML Demeter." Kacey mused, "This must be the ship Samara's looking for."
…
"Samara?" Kacey said as she approached the Justicar, "I've got the name of the ship. Your fugitive left here two days ago on the AML Demeter."
"Shepard, you impress me." Samara said calmly, "You fulfilled your part off the bargain, and I will fulfil mine."
Samara stood up and turned to face Detective Anaya.
"I am ready to leave immediately, if that will satisfy your superiors, Detective?" Samara said to Anaya.
"You're free to go, Justicar." Anaya said, "It has been an honour having you in my station. And it's nice you didn't kill me, too."
"The Normandy is docked near the main trading floor." Kacey said, "I'll see you aboard."
"I must be sworn into your service, so that I am never forced to choose between your orders and the Code." Samara said.
"And this next bit? It was a little bit awkward; I must admit. I've never expected to experience anything like that in my life. It was an honour, but it made me a bit…nervous."
Samara got down on one knee, her head hung low. She closed her eyes as Anaya stood up and Kacey wondered what the Justicar was doing.
"By the Code, I will serve you, Shepard." Samara said, "Your choices are my choices, your morals are my morals. Your wishes are my code."
Samara glowed with a blue biotic aura. Kacey felt a bit nervous. Anaya looked at Kacey, eyes wide.
"I never thought I'd see a Justicar swear an oath like that." Anaya said.
"If you make me do anything extremely dishonourable, I may need to kill you when I am released from my oath."
"I am honoured." Kacey said, "I can see that this is a very important act, Samara. Thank you."
"Truly, the life of a Justicar can get lonely, I admit." Samara said, "I am looking forward to serving with a company of honourable heroes."
"Thank you for getting Samara out of my district." Anaya said, "I can tell my granddaughters about meeting a Justicar. And you've just upped my chances of living long enough to have grandkids."
"I have proof that Eclipse killed the volus merchant and that Pitne For smuggled in red sand and illegal weapons tech." Kacey said as she handed over the datapads.
"I'll send some officers to arrest him and his cohorts." Anaya said, "But I can't verify the volus murder. It would be inadmissible."
"I vouch for Shepard and any evidence she brings forward." Samara said.
"I accept the judgement of the Justicar." Anaya said, "Thanks, Shepard. I wasn't sure about trusting a stranger—and a human, at that. But you came through. Never heard of this Elnora. Sounds like she was just starting her career. Good thing you cut it short."
…
"Welcome aboard the Normandy, Samara." Jacob said, shaking Samara's hand, "We've studied your profile extensively. With your skills, I think you'll be an excellent addition to our team."
"Thank you." Samara replied politely, "From an organisation such as yours, that is high praise indeed."
"I've seen Samara's biotic powers at work." Kacey said, "They're substantial."
"We still don't know what we're going to find when we hit the Collectors." Jacob said.
"I will be prepared for whatever we encounter." Samara replied.
"Where should we put you?"
"A room that looks out on the great empty void of space would be most comforting." Samara replied.
"Jacob, can you show her to the Starboard Observation Deck on Deck Three?" Kacey asked.
"Of course, Commander."
"Thank you, Commander." Samara said, "I must meditate on the day's events."