Crescent Nebula, Tasale System, Illium
Nos Astra, Outside Liara's apartment.
1735 Local Time, July 28th, 2185 Gregorian Calendar
The risky gamble paid off. Virox Ri'Kaan's assistance, in spite of the strings attached, put the Null Group in a much better position than they had been a few minutes before. Remote access to his audiovisual equipment, combined with the ability to track his position in real time, made sure that Irill could get the most up-to-date intel that he could realistically expect. However, that did not mean that all their troubles were over.
Tela Vasir had offered Shepard and her team transport in her own skycar, which they took. This meant that they could move much quicker and reach T'Soni way before the Nulls could realistically rendezvous with her. And while having Shepard involved was a much smaller risk, it was Vasir's presence that complicated matters. They could never approach T'Soni in her presence. But this entire thought exercise would be moot if the Nulls couldn't even get to the Dracon Trade Center at all, and hitching a ride on a maglev train again wouldn't be efficient.
"We need transport." Irill muttered in annoyance before addressing his subordinates. "Look for vehicles to commandeer. Something that can accommodate us all and wouldn't be too much of a problem to acquire."
After a while all of them (except Killstreak) made their way to the landing pad of the apartment complex. Shepard's group had left just about a minute ago, and the police have been gone for even longer, so no authorities were on site to interrupt them. There were however several civilians wandering about, gossiping and chatting around the landing pad, making it virtually impossible to steal a vehicle of any kind. Not to mention that all of the vehicles parked were different types of small skycars, far too small to fit five full-sized carvins into.
Irill kept scanning the entire area for any vehicle that would meet their needs, but it seemed as if the Stars have sided against them. Not a single transport, freighter or cargo shuttle of any kind. He kept tabs on Ri'Kaan's position, and with every passing second the beacon was moving farther and farther from their position.
Just when it seemed that all hope was lost and that they'd have to once again move by the slow and impractical maglev train, Killstreak came to the rescue.
"Potential transport spotted. At the base of the apartment complex, in front of a bar or restaurant. Unmanned and stationary as of now. Setting up a navpoint." He reported, surprisingly with more vigor and life than he was usually exhibiting.
Glancing at the view from the marksman's scope, Irill realized the may have scored a jackpot. The vehicle in question was a small-sized flatbed, with a relatively cramped driver's compartment, but also a very spacious rear cargo area. It was open-top, which would make it easier to embark and disembark. The only peculiar thing about it was its cargo - or lack thereof. Unless it had just delivered its cargo to the restaurant, it probably shouldn't have been empty.
"Reposition. We'll take a closer look." Irill ordered and, still under optical camouflage, snuck up to the edge of the landing pad. Slowly, so as to not make too much noise, he pulled out a grappling line and attached it to his arm. He then placed the magnetic lock out of view, before waiting for the other Nulls to do the same.
They then jumped down, descending towards the ground at great speed. It was a strange sensation, making Irill think of a similar maneuver he and his team had conducted on Omega. And yet, in spite of the lawless nature of the 'Heart of Terminus', the unpleasant view and the polluted air, he somehow felt more uncomfortable and unsafe here on Illium than back there.
The descent also made him think about this whole operation. The whirlwind of thoughts in his head, the stress, the hesitation, all of this made Irill realize something: Terminus and its lawlessness had left him spoiled. He had gotten so used to the operational freedom and impunity the Wild Space offered that he had no time to adapt to conducting this sort of covert operation. Sure, his old team had ventured into the Council Space a few times in the past, but he had neither the experience nor confidence of his old CO. Had it not been for the unusually active support from his men, Irill was sure he would have snapped or cancelled the mission.
Once he and his team were over half way down, they started decelerating. The overall noise of the bustling city, combined with their specialized quiet equipment, made them practically undetectable for an average observer. Still, the grapple lines could not be cloaked, so for the last bit they detached them and used their magnetized arms to safely descend the rest of the way to the base of the building.
The lower level seemed darker and less extravagant than the sparkling terraces and illuminated rooftops of the highest skyscrapers. It almost served as a sort of poetic reflection of Illium's true nature - rich, dazzling, and intoxicating at the top, while cold, unforgiving, and much less welcoming at the bottom. The clothing of most people was more utilitarian and rugged. Low wage workers, likely working on harsh and predatory contracts, were toiling away to keep the glamorous machine of the Illium upper society running.
But those were just petty distractions for Irill. His attention was wholly focused on the small flatbed truck they were planning to commandeer for transport. He led his team to the edge of the landing pad, less than a dozen meters from their target. Most of the bystanders were either inside the restaurant eating or outside smoking and chit-chatting. Both groups were far too busy to notice the faint optical distortions caused by the carvins' cloaking fields.
"Killstreak, what's your ETA?" Irill whispered into the intercom.
"50 to 70 seconds. Pedestrian traffic slowing the pace." Killstreak replied.
'We're hijacking the vehicle now. Once we take off, we'll do a flyby near you. Be ready to grapple to-" Irill started, only to stop mid-word at a concerning sight. A group of mercenaries had walked into view, with their direction clearly being the flatbed Irill and his men were about to steal. "Belay my last. Potentially hostile contacts detected. Continue on your route."
The group comprised of various different species, humans, batarians, an asari, and a salarian. Eight in total. Most of them had helmets, and all of them wore a standard issue mercenary kit. The only difference being that the color scheme was unlike any that Irill had ever seen. The armor was white, with some red markings on the arms and a triangular red symbol in the chest area. Their weapons too were from the middle or upper shelf.
"Slice, Blink! Get me an ID on this merc group, stat!" He growled, once again feeling phantom pains in his eye.
After a few seconds the VI was the first one to reply. "This color pallet and equipment do not match any known PMC, security or mercenary organizations. No results available either in the imperial database or the extranet. Impossible to identify."
Great. That's exactly what they needed right now - more unknowns. This entire planet seemed to mock Irill, making each and every one of his plans unravel before his eyes. Why couldn't things be simple for once?
"Assume they're hostile. We're moving closer. Do not make a sound. Engage only when explicitly ordered." He whispered and all four of them crept up to the side of the vehicle. "Slice, once they get closer, hack their team comms. We're going to have a listen."
Meanwhile the mysterious mercenaries made their way to the area right behind the flatbed. They then formed two ranks, with one individual, likely an officer or an NCO, addressed the rest.
"An advance guard is already preparing the ambush." His distorted voice rang through Irill's speakers. "You know the orders - eliminate the asari at all cost. Shoot anyone in your way. Civilian casualties are not a concern, but beware of that Spectre. She's the most dangerous."
Irill's blood seemed to snap freeze and boil at the same time. These weren't ordinary mercenaries, but likely Shadow Broker's elite forces. After all, who else just so happened to have an interest in hunting down this particular asari and had to watch out for a certain Spectre at this time of day?
Time was running short. In just a few seconds these mercs would start embarking, and if they lifted off, the Nulls would most definitely not catch up with Shepard. Yet again Irill had to make a decision on the spot. Abort or proceed? Take it safe and cut your losses, or take a big gamble which could go either way?
But he was now more emboldened. The Nulls believed in him, and Virox Ri'Kaan had chosen to place his trust in his scheme. He knew where to look for T'Soni, and this truck could very well be the means to turn this absolute mess of a mission into a success.
"Eliminate them. Quietly. Hands and knives only." He ordered. The Nulls immediately sprang into action. Killstreak and Wraith followed Irill to the back of the vehicle, while Slice circled around the front to intercept the merc leader getting into the pilot's seat.
Then everything happened in a blur. Slice caught up with the officer and, perhaps a bit too violently, jabbed his combat knife into the exposed neck between the helmet and the chest armor plates. The takedown wasn't completely silent, and the other mercs, who were just about to embark, sharply turned their heads towards the source of the noise. It was this brief window of opportunity that the other Nulls used to get into arm's reach with their prey.
Irill stabbed one batarian just below the base of his skull before securing a hold on the head of the asari and snapping her neck in a single satisfying motion. The other mercs didn't have time to react before they too were assaulted by the other Nulls. For a far-away observer the entire spectacle would have appeared as some sort of ghastly paranormal occurrence, and by the time Irill managed to get his bearings again, the mercenaries tumbled onto the ground lifelessly. All except for one.
One human, who must have been accidentally knocked back by one of the Nulls's sudden strikes, tried frantically to get up and escape. Garbled huffs and puffs, mixed in with panicked curses were the only thing that could be heard from underneath the helmet. Irill was about to scream an order to kill him, but in the end it wasn't necessary.
*THWACK*
A brief fountain of blood erupted from the upper part of the man's helmet, and his body too turned limp. He lay there in a growing puddle of his own blood, completely motionless.
"Target down." Killstreak reported, and Irill promptly spotted his outline on his HUD. He was making his way towards them from the opposite end of the parking lot with his silenced eezo sniper rifle in hand.
"Embark, quickly! And get this thing operational!" He bellowed out the orders.
Everyone did as he instructed, jumping onto the flatbed's rear cargo space, after which Slice did some magic with his omni-tool and the vehicle came to life. It was a close run thing too, because by now several bystanders have taken notice of the sudden commotion. And while they most definitely couldn't see the cloaked carvins, the Nulls hardly needed to attract more attention.
Killstreak was the last one to arrive, taking a running leap at the vehicle just as it was taking off. Thankfully he managed to grab onto the rear retractable ramp and crawl into the cargo space to join the rest of the team. Now they were all here, crammed together in the back of the vehicle. Slice was also with them, steering remotely through his omni-tool since he would never have fit in the pilot's compartment. They were back in business.
"Set course for the Dracon Trade Center!" Irill shouted over the sound of engines, hearing the beating of both of his hearts and the familiar surge of adrenaline. This confidence, this drive, it felt intoxicating. Smelling the blood of his victim on his knife felt like bliss. For just a single moment he felt that no force in the galaxy could stop him from finally realizing his revenge.
And Stars be willing that the Broker does not react in time.
Crescent Nebula, Tasale System, Illium
Nos Astra, en route to Dracon Trade Center
1758 Local Time, July 28th, 2185 Gregorian Calendar
Vasir's skycar was quick, and with Spectre authority they could mostly speed past the heavy traffic of the Illium rush hours. Shepard appreciated the extra speed. This just meant they could reach Liara quicker, hopefully before Shadow Broker's men had got to her.
Still, it would be an understatement that the atmosphere inside the skycar was tense. Virox was looking out the window for the most part, with an expression of irritation or concern (Shepard still couldn't reliably distinguish between carvin scowls and frowns), regularly shifting his seating position as if he was feeling uncomfortable. But from time to time he looked at Vasir with suspicion, clearly upset that she had suspected him or his species for being implicated in the attempted murder.
The asari Spectre for her part focused mostly on flying, but Shepard caught her taking sneaky in the rear view mirror, specifically at Virox. It was unlikely that it was born out of prejudice like with the other inhabitants of Illium, and Shepard quickly recognized the ruthless professionalism of Vasir. But again, why was she suspecting him of all people in the first place? It was like he said, Shepard would have known if Virox was contacted by the carvins when on the Normandy. And even if carvins were involved, suspecting him was ridiculous... right?
Only Jack looked unfazed. In fact she seemed bored, disappointed that nothing was happening, like she was looking for an outlet. She clasped her hands behind her head and put her left foot on her right thigh, irrespective of the increased space she was now taking.
"Charming people, those carvins." Vasir suddenly broke the uncomfortable silence after once again glancing at Virox. "You're probably the only person to have spent significant time with one of them without them trying to kill you, Commander. What are they like?"
Shepard allowed herself for a polite smile, remembering all too well the stand-off she had with Virox in the Main Battery. "Cautious. Slow to trust. At least from what I've seen."
"You don't say." Vasir chuckled, refocusing her eyes on the road ahead. "I get a feeling that he doesn't really like me."
"How perceptive of you. Wonder what gave you that idea?" Virox snarled, continuing to send hateful glares towards the asari Spectre.
Ignoring Jack amused snorts in the background, Shepard turned towards the back seats of the skycar. She did not like the fact that the carvin was acting so hostile. Vasir's demeanor was admittedly a bit off-putting, but usually Virox was either dismissive or passive towards the aliens that seemed disrespectful towards him. Why were they both so belligerent towards one another?
"You can trust her, Virox. Vasir's a Spectre." She tried to firmly reassure the carvin.
"She is also conveniently working on a case that really should've been dealt with by the law enforcement. She had no business getting involved in this." Virox replied, clearly unconvinced. "That is, unless she too had business with Doctor T'Soni, but 'forgot' to mention it."
As much as Shepard wanted to dismiss it, there was some merit to the carvin's reservations. Vasir did somewhat pop out of thin air, being in the right place at just the right time to help them in their search. But then again she did provide them with some leads and even offered to give them a lift to the Draconis Trade Center.
"You can thank your people for my presence here, carvin." Vasir replied, with that tone that fell somewhere between serious and mocking. "Their actions have caused the Council to deploy several Spectres to the border between the Citadel Space and Terminus. Or did you really think I was the only one watching for your brethren's incursions?"
Virox growled, his jaws trembling slightly, but he did not say a word more. Instead he turned to his window and seemed to vent out his disapproval by sending angry glares at the passing flyers. Vasir meanwhile smirked triumphantly and ran her fingers across the haptic interface of her skycar. The inside of the vehicle shook slightly as they then started to descend onto the nearby landing platform.
"We're here." The asari Spectre said, and Shepard got a first good look at the Dracon Trade Center.
It was a splendorous multi-story structure, situated on top of one of the many skyscrapers in the area. Even at this late evening hour, both the center itself and the grounds right in front of it were crowded with people. Vasir set the skycar down close to the entrance and all four of them promptly left the vehicle.
"The Baria Frontiers offices are located on the third floor." The asari Spectre said as they climbed up the stairs leading from the landing pad. "I don't hear police chatter. We must have missed the party."
Shepard was about to follow up on that with something about their good prospects of finding Liara safe and sound, but it seemed that the universe had other plans. As if to spite her, a massive explosion erupted from the third floor of the trade center, scattering thousands of glass shards around. Screams of people, almost as loud as the echoes of the explosion itself, followed almost immediately, drowning the entire area in a cacophony of noise.
"Liara's in there!" Shepard screamed and was about to run into the building, but then a series of shockwaves erupted from the first and second floors too.
Another set of explosions. It was too late to duck and Shepard felt the gust of hot air hit her violently in the face before she was knocked off her feet and thrown several meters back by the shockwave. Chunks of metal and concrete fell from the upper floors, more often than not hitting a civilian frantically trying to run away. The whole base of the building appeared to have burst into flames.
As Shepard and Vasir slowly got up from the ground, Virox and Jack, who stayed a few meters behind and thus avoided the explosion, now caught up with them.
"I'm guessing that the Broker hasn't given up yet." The carvin said and pulled out his rifle.
"They just took out three floors to make sure she's dead! I'll grab the skycar and seal off the building from the top!" Vasir shouted, then ran back to her vehicle.
"We'll work our way up from here!" Shepard shouted back and led her squad towards the entrance.
Vasir nodded and, having already got into her skycar, added "Just leave some for me!"
Shepard didn't know if she found the relaxed attitude of the asari Spectre more reassuring or annoying, but she did not linger on the thought. Right now the priority was to find Liara, and this could prove to be far more difficult in the ruined insides of the trade center. She passed the wounded and confused civilians huddling next to one another on the outskirts of the building and walked inside, with her trusty Phalanx at the ready.
The interior was completely wrecked. Streams of blood flowed profusely on the floor, which was littered with the dead or dying. Most of the bodies were so mangled and mutilated that even if Shepard wanted to stick around, there was practically nothing she could do to help them. As such she steeled her nerves and carefully walked past the pleading civilians, making conscious efforts to not look at their faces.
"Strange... the explosives were detonated inside, but the load-bearing walls are mostly intact. Whoever planted the bombs had hoped to kill T'Soni with the blast itself rather than to tear down the building." Virox remarked, scanning every nook and cranny for any potential ambush.
"So the Broker is desperate, but not desperate enough to go for the most drastic measures." Shepard concluded. "Or they hadn't had the time to level the trade center completely."
"Indeed." The carvin nodded.
They made their way up to the second and then the third floor. So far the only thing that greeted them was more gruesome spectacles. One of the dying employees was mumbling something about 'mercs' before succumbing to his wounds, which made Shepard even more vigilant. They were most definitely not alone, and she suspected that those who set off the bombs had a vested interest in sticking around and making sure that Liara was dead.
Finally, after over a minute of walking that seemed to stretch for an eternity, Shepard noticed the sign of the Baria Frontiers offices. She silently signaled her squad towards it, which they acknowledged equally quietly. They crept up to the entrance with their weapons ready, but right before they walked in, a tubular object resting on the side of the nearby wall caught Shepard's eye.
Halting her squadmates, she carefully approached it and, after quickly examining it, she was certain of what it was. She promptly opened her comlink "Vasir, I found a military-grade explosive device. It hasn't been armed."
"Sloppy work. You use that kind of hardware when you don't have time to plan." Vasir commented, this time with a hint of distaste in her voice.
Virox unexpectedly huffed at the remark, but otherwise said nothing. As long as the carvin stayed capable and focused on the general objective, all the issues had to take a back seat. Shepard had no intention of having another 'talk', instead she entered the Baria Frontiers offices with her teammates in tow. First thing they saw was an automated reception desk. Without much thinking Shepard checked the registry for the most recent arrivals, and immediately Liara's name popped up at the very top of the list. She quickly relayed that information to Vasir, who acknowledged it.
She then walked inside the office, only to be greeted by silence. Muffled sirens of automated alarm systems blared in the distance, and the only tangible sound was the soft hiss of fire prevention sprinklers spraying water from the ceiling. Otherwise the area was eerily quiet. Shepard felt the frog in her throat expand. They were running out of time - every second they lingered on in here meant that the risk of the Shadow Broker's forces finding Liara was increasing. Thus she quickened her pace, electing to forgo part of the ususal caution as she started running down the halls of the office.
And that was the exact moment when a small spherical object bounced into view from around the corner. Before Shepard could even finish thinking 'Oh shit!' and cursing herself for not taking a helmet on this trip, a blinding light and a deafening bang erupted from what was now quite clearly a stun grenade.
*BANG*
Instinctively, and with her ears still furiously ringing, Shepard used her biotics to launch herself backwards from the potential danger and tumbled onto the floor away from where she stood just a second ago. When the blinding afterimage started to fade, she realized that her instincts might have just saved her from death, as suddenly out of nowhere around a dozen mercenaries appeared and started blasting in her general direction.
Shepard rolled out of the line of fire and tried to collect her thoughts. It was then that she felt someone firmly grab her arm and pulling her up.
"Come on, Shepard! The girl scout cookies won't deliver themselves!" She heard Jack's muffled voice and a moment later she saw the psychotic biotic trying to get her up with one hand, while firing her pistol with the other. "And we can't let the carvin have all the fun for himself."
Sure enough, Virox somehow managed to avoid the stun grenade's effects and was now ruthlessly firing upon the assailants with his laser rifle. The energy bolts it produced passed cleanly through the eezo-based shields of the mercs, and before Shepard had even properly recovered her composure, several of them lay dead.
With the ringing in her ears subsiding, Shepard glanced at Jack's urging expression and, with a smile on her face, said "No, we can't. Let's give him some heavy support."
The concern was immediately replaced with a maniacal grin, and both women's bodies suddenly engulfed themselves with biotic energy. They ran up to where Virox was taking cover and unleashed their destructive powers.
"I will destroy you!" Jack yelled, summoning a shockwave from the palms of her hands. The cascading mass effect fields threw back two mercs who were unlucky enough to have been aiming at her at that moment. Both of their bodies flew away, hitting the nearby walls with a terrifying force.
Meanwhile Shepard biotically charged across desks and chairs at a merc who was holding a missile launcher at the ready. Poor guy did not even get to squeeze the trigger before the full power of her charge hit him like a freight train. To make sure he was dead, Shepard followed it up with a shot from her Eviscerator shotgun, then focused on another group that was making its way towards them through the narrow and battered hallways of the Baria Frontiers office. They fired their assault rifles on the move, forcing her to dash into cover.
"Vasir! I'm pinned down! Mercs, and they're well-armed!" She shouted into her armor microphone.
"Say hello to Shadow Broker's private army." Vasir answered. Her wording suggested that she had run-ins with them before.
Still, in spite of the incessant pressure, Shepard and her team advanced. They dashed and ran from cover to cover through the hail of gunfire, unloading their weapons at any exposed target as they charged. The Shadow Broker's mercs for their part were not your average guns for hire - their moves were professional and their aim steady. They worked in tandem with one another, and, judging by their indifference to the increasing number of casualties within their ranks, they were fanatically loyal to their employer. It was evident that, with all the money the Broker must have spent on the maintenance of his network, his choice in hired muscle was worth every credit.
Shepard blasted two more mercs with her shotgun after charging behind them, then waited for Jack and Virox to catch up. But the narrow corridor she was now standing in was a perfect killzone that the Shadow Broker's men were eager to capitalize on. They took positions at the very end of it and started firing from behind corners and hastily erected barricades, forcing Shepard back.
There was practically no additional cover up to the mercs' own positions, as the left wall was practically flat, while the right had a massive hole torn into it that led into the open space of the central spire. A single wrong step and one could fall right down to the ground floor.
"Virox!" Shepard called for the carvin, who promptly ran up to her position. "The fire is too dense! Lay down some covering fire! Once they are suppressed, Jack and I will rush down their positions!"
Virox peaked out of cover slightly to judge the situation for himself before being promptly forced back into safety by the fierce suppressing fire of Shadow Broker's men. He gave her a quick nod and swapped some settings on his rifle. By this point Jack had also made her way to their hiding spot, and the three of them were ready to attack. Shepard started to give the silent countdown with her fingers, her two squadmates tensing up in anticipation of the imminent attack. 3... 2... 1...
Ignoring any potential dangers, Virox leaned out and unleashed a barrage of lasers at the mercenaries. His characteristic green energy shield lit up and flickered with every slug or pellet bouncing off of it. He swore and cursed the mercs in carvin language, with some of the insults being completely untranslatable. But after a few seconds the returning fire started to subside significantly, meaning that, in spite of the task before him, Virox's aim was true as always.
"Go! Now!" He shouted, firing his weapon mid-words.
Shepard used the opening the carvin had just created and dashed out of cover. Most of the mercs were suppressed, so she decided to focus on those who were still firing. She channeled her biotics and launched herself at a particularly bold combat engineer - a salarian - whose puny pistol had no real chance of forcing Virox back into cover. Within a split second she was in his face. His shields dispersed most of the force, making him only stumble backwards, but they were weakened enough to completely shatter when Shepard fired a follow-up shot into his chest.
Now she was in the middle of the enemy's defensive positions, which normally would have been pretty bad. However, just as the cowering mercs started to turn their weapons towards her, they were lifted into the air and slammed back into the ground with a terrifying force. Jack burst into the scene with a sadistic smile, downing yet another one of the Broker's men with a short burst from her SMG.
The next room was far more balanced in its terrain, with lots of cover and less open ground, so the three of them were initially able to push through most of it fairly easily. But by now the combined forces of the mercs were starting to increasingly stiffen their resistance. Multiple heavy weapons specialists, engineers, and even a pair of asari vanguard biotics, were now in support of the regular foot soldiers.
"They just won't stop coming!" Shepard shouted with her back pressed to a thin supporting wall that was just thick enough to stop low-caliber rifle shots.
"That means they haven't found T'Soni yet! They wouldn't be this desperate if they already had what they came for!" Virox replied, taking cover near a bunch of overturned chairs and tables.
One of the asari vanguards was rapidly making her way towards his position. Shepard noticed her only a moment before she would be able to fire, and was about to warn Virox about the imminent danger. But then, as if having heard the asari advance, the carvin peaked out of cover at the last moment. Shepard thought he was going to shoot the woman, but instead Virox extended his cybernetic arm and grabbed her by the throat before pulling her into cover. Then he clenched his other hand into a fist and slammed it into the asari's face. The purplish blood erupted from the point of impact, spraying everything around it - most of which was Virox's face.
The carvin then lifted the lifeless body with his left hand and, charged out of cover, firing his rifle with his right. He held the corpse in front of him as a meat shield and advanced towards the stupefied mercenaries. Shepard was left equally bewildered. She had seen first-hand the ruthlessness and viciousness with which Virox could fight, but this was something else. It was not a furious, mindless rage - his actions were intentional, purposeful, and cruelly efficient. Nonetheless the tactic seemed to work, since he managed to close the distance without much issue and overwhelm a few hostiles, who started to scamper away in disorder.
By this point, through their joint effort, most of the mercenaries were defeated. They lay across the offices, dead or dying, with the few remaining stragglers still choosing to stand their ground in the face of Shepard's and her team's unrelenting advance. It wasn't long before they too fell, and a relative silence fell around the area. For a moment one could almost hear the wind blowing into the openings torn in the building by the bombs of the Broker's agents.
"You two alright? It wasn't the easiest of fights." Shepard asked her squadmates, as the three of them now moved quickly through the empty halls.
"Are you kidding? With what we go through on a daily basis, that was a fart breeze." Jack answered, her face still bearing the traces of her signature psychotic grin.
"And you? They hit you pretty hard in that hallway." Shepard turned to Virox.
The carvin shrugged. He was still utterly stained with asari blood, but that did not seem to bother him. On the contrary, his pupils seemed to rapidly narrow and expand, as if from excitement. There was no major signs of damage on his armor.
"My shields absorbed most of the damage, and the rest..." He said, looking around at his arms and legs. "...well, the armor seemed to have held. No internal damage to the implants either. So nothing that post-mission maintenance can't fix."
"Good. Now let's move. Broker's agents won't wait for us to find Liara and Sekat." Shepard nodded, and they all moved deeper into the halls of the building.
Crescent Nebula, Tasale System, Illium
Nos Astra, Dracon Trade Center, Baria Frontiers office
1811 Local Time, July 28th, 2185 Gregorian Calendar
He made it look good in front of the Commander. Thank the Stars. Granted, he did not lie. He did not even speak in half-truths, so maybe that helped him seem more genuine. That said, it did not mean that the stress was gone.
Throughout this whole time Virox was passively sending the information from his microphone to the mysterious carvins (probably), and keeping that from Shepard, after telling her that he had nothing to do with Liara T'Soni's recent actions, was more than uncomfortable. It felt... shameful, like he was betraying her trust, one of the things he appreciated the most about the Commander.
Virox was torn between his duties to the Empire and his loyalty to Shepard (which too was in essence a manifestation of Imperial duty). If those carvins that had contacted him previously were on an important mission, as an imperial loyalist, he wanted them to succeed. But on the other hand, he did not want to damage the improving relationship and mutual trust he was building with Shepard. Looking back, Virox probably should have just declined to help but not reveal their presence. It would have been the best solution.
Still, this moral dilemma was the least of his worries. He was still very suspicious of that asari Spectre, and they were yet to find even a trace of Liara or her informant. Thankfully the resistance ahead of them had petered out to anemic levels. A few soldiers here or there with a weapons specialist or engineer sprinkled in was all that the 'Broker's private army' could muster at this point. And after dealing with a third or fourth such group, there was nothing that stood in their way.
By this point they probably searched through almost all of the rooms belonging to Baria Frontiers. If they did not find anything, it would mean that Liara and her informant had either escaped or were never in the building to begin with. Thankfully the locked door that was just ahead of them seemed to be one of the last ones. Many of the Broker's agents fell to protect whatever lay behind it.
*BANG*
The sound of a single shot being fired echoed from behind the door as all three of them were slowly approaching it. Shepard's twitched slightly, but apart from that she remained composed. Given what the stakes were, her nervousness was understandable.
"We're breaching. Virox, take the left side. Jack, with me on the right." She whispered the orders, then briefly lit up her omni-tool and swiped it over the holographic lock of the door.
The hacking program immediately began its work on the firewalls, and Virox ran his index finger over the trigger. His left hand gripped the rifle ever tightly and his breath slowed. A dull hum of his own blood being pumped by his two hearts felt almost deafening for a moment before everything cleared up again. It was as if his body, after a momentary respite, was already attuning itself back to the heat of combat.
*BANG*
Another muffled gunshot. Both Shepard and Virox simultaneously glanced at the lock, as if mentally urging the hacking program to hurry up. Thankfully, it seemed to have listened to their silent pleas, because just a few seconds later the lock turned from orange to green and the door started to slide open. Before it even fully finished opening, all three of them leaned out of their cover, preemptively pointing their weapons ahead at any potential enemies that would appear.
But that was not to be. Instead, the first thing they saw was a human Shadow Broker agent tumble onto the ground, dropping his rifle as he did so. And from behind the tumbling corpse emerged a familiar (and in Virox's eyes not at all welcome) silhouette.
"Damn it." Tela Vasir said with disappointment in her voice. "If I'd been only a few seconds faster, I could've stopped them."
Stop them from wha-oh... nevermind. Virox thought, biting his own tongue to stop a venomous remark when he realized what had happened.
Resting against one of the nearby walls was a lifeless body of a salarian, one who looked eerily similar to the one Virox had seen from afar on Doctor T'Soni's terminal back in her apartment. It wasn't hard to put two and two together - this, unfortunately, had to be her contact.
Shepard kneeled beside the corpse, touching the salarian's bloodied lips and checking for breathing before looking around his pockets. "Is this Sekat?"
"Must've been." Vasir nodded.
"No sign of that data Liara talked about. Looks like a dead end." The Commander sighed, then visibly clenched her teeth in frustration.
The asari Spectre took a few steps away from everyone and looked through the glass window into the central spire. She did not seem nearly as fazed by the situation as Shepard was. More like disappointed, although what exactly was that disappointment directed towards was a mystery.
"Speaking of which, did you find your friend's body?" She asked, her tone once again betraying no concern.
Virox was about to say something snarky about the asari's pessimism regarding T'Soni's survival, when he heard something behind him. Footsteps? Breathing? No... it was both. He instinctively tightened his grip on his rifle, expecting an ambush, but before he could even turn around to look, the source of these mysterious sounds decided to speak up.
"You mean THIS body?"
Virox's head snapped towards the sound, and he saw something he most certainly did not expect. Liara T'Soni stood several steps behind them, her pistol drawn and pointing at Vasir. She was drenched in water from the fire prevention sprinklers and looked like she was slightly out of breath, but otherwise she was alright. No torn clothes, no signs of burns. Nothing.
Shepard too turned around, her eyes darting quickly between Liara and Vasir, and her thoughts were evidently running across her mind just as fast. Virox could see that, while before she was willing to defend the asari Spectre, now the doubt was too great to simply dismiss the accusation.
Yet that was evidently not enough to be fully convincing, since the Commander then walked somewhat in between the two women, although not directly into the line of fire. "Liara... something I should know?"
"This is the woman who tried to kill me." T'Soni answered, lacing her words with fury. She walked closer and leveled with Shepard, so that there was no danger of friendly fire.
"Oh you've had a rough day, so I'll let that slide. Why don't you put that gun down?" Vasir requested, but in the meantime she was taking several careful steps backwards. That did not escape Virox's eyes, and he was almost convinced now that his suspicions of her were correct.
"I saw you! I doubled back after I left. I watched you break into my apartment!" Liara shouted angrily.
She doubled back... that explained everything. How she was completely alright, how there was no signs of wounds or shrapnel damage. All this time she was one step ahead, reading through the Broker's intentions like from an open book. She might have not even been inside the building during the explosion. That or she hid somewhere safe in anticipation of the blast and that's how she survived. Each and every one of them here, including the Broker's agents it seemed, were none the wiser. Virox was more than impressed.
And by now Shepard had also pieced together the puzzle since she too pulled out her pistol and pointed it squarely at Vasir. "You didn't know where Liara went, because she hid the message. You needed me to find it for you."
"Thanks for the help." Vasir shrugged. She abandoned all pretense by now, and her nonchalant and unconcerned attitude which rubbed Virox off the wrong way from the start, finally made sense.
"Looks like you've been right to suspect her from the start, Virox. Sorry for doubting you." Shepard glanced at him briefly with an apologetic expression.
He growled, but with a small smirk on his face answered "Happens to the best of us. Once we kill her, we'll call it even."
For the first time since they first saw each other, Vasir's half-joking, uncaring and almost mocking façade completely collapsed. She stared down Virox with a look of pure loathing, and he took it in with all the more pleasure.
"Once she had my location, she signaled the Shadow Broker's forces. They bombed the building to take me out." Liara continued, the pistol in her hands was trembling slightly. "She found Sekat, took his data, and killed him. I'm guessing she's still got the disk on her."
"Good guess. Not that you'll ever see what's on it..." Vasir grinned, showing the small device in the palm of her hand to everyone. Then a small crack in the window behind her appeared, but by that point it was too late to react. "...you pureblood BITCH!"
The glass shattered in the blink of an eye, then a flurry of razor-sharp glass shards shot out from behind the asari, and Virox instinctively squeezed the trigger several times, aiming squarely at Vasir's head. He couldn't see the effect though, just a brief flash of light, because he suddenly felt himself being pulled to the side. His body passed neatly into an expanding barrier bubble, but not before a few dozen shards connected with his shields. They flickered in protest and his HUD beeped furiously, indicating the severity of the attack. He fell down beside Shepard and Liara, the latter being the one putting up the barrier.
Vasir in the meantime dashed towards the now broken window. She aimed to jump down through it, but then Shepard charged biotically at the asari Spectre, knocking her off balance. Both crashed out of the window at great speed. The two women were now embroiled in a vicious aerial melee, their fall slowed down by their biotics. They dashed and blinked across the open central spire in a stunning display of biotic power. Liara soon joined in on the pursuit, still panting heavily from the effort she had just made. But that was not what Virox's mind was occupied by.
He hit her. He aimed straight at her face, and lasers can't 'miss' unless they're aimed poorly. Vasir's face should have been scorched by the hit, and yet it wasn't. Quite the opposite, she seemed completely unharmed. Neither the artificial eezo shields nor barriers used by the biotics could stop a Direct Energy Weapon, this was common knowledge. How was this possible? She shouldn't be alive. Unless...
The realization hit Virox in the face like a train - she was using an energy shield. A carvin energy shield. She must have. No other military has managed to develop this technology besides the carvins. This bitch stole carvin tech. Perhaps that was the reason she was so suspicious and felt so anxious with his presence.
"I'm going to kill her." He growled out the words, as he felt the concoction of anger and adrenaline in his veins boil. "I'll flay and gut her, then I'll feast on her flesh!"
"Shame wasting such a magnificent piece of ass, but I guess I'm with you on that one." Jack said next to him and glanced at him with a grin on her face. "Come on. We can't have the girl scouts have all the fun. I'll get us down."
She waved her hand, signaling for him to follow her, and the two of them jumped through the same window the rest of the women had just left through moments before. For a brief moment Virox's self-preservation instinct kicked in, screaming at him that this was akin to suicide. Indeed, falling from the third floor was bound to be extremely dangerous, even for his cybernetically augmented body. But right before he accelerated to a dangerous and probably fatal velocity, he felt himself becoming lighter, and a peculiar tingle enveloped his whole body. He saw himself glow purplish just like Jack.
He only got to marvel at the strange sensation for a moment though, as he quickly saw that their target was about to get away. Vasir seemed to have managed to violently knock Shepard off her, since the Commander was lying on the ground just below them, moving only slightly as if dazed. But Liara was still in the fight, and the two asari were now running towards the exit, one just behind the other.
Both Virox and Jack hit the ground with a loud 'thud', but the impact wasn't severe enough to cause any harm. Virox was just about to follow the pursuit of Vasir, but he stopped himself right next to Shepard, who was still collecting herself from the ground. It was as if an invisible hand grabbed him by the shoulder and halted him in his tracks. The bloodthirst, the desire to kill Vasir and tear the stolen carvin technology off of her corpse wanted him to press on. It was the loyalty and respect he held for Shepard that held him in place.
Looking for the last time at the spot where Vasir and Liara had disappeared to a few moments ago, Virox made his decision and (granted, a bit forcefully) grabbed the Commander, lifted her up, and put her on her feet. "Get up, Shepard! They're getting away!"
Before she could even answer, the doors on the opposite wall were blown open, and yet more of the Shadow Broker's forces emerged from the smoke. As if they needed enough reasons to believe that Vasir was in league with the Broker.
"Bastards won't give in easily." Jack muttered loud enough for them to hear, then made a punching motion with her arm, throwing one of the agents against a wall with a deadly force.
"We won't either! Keep the pressure on!" Shepard shouted back.
With barely half a dozen men, the Broker's agents could hardly do anything else other than delay them. But it seemed that this was their intention, since they were more keen on laying down constant suppressing fire rather than waiting patiently and aiming well to hit their shots. But they could not stop them. Virox himself managed to score two kills, Shepard charged into the center of their formation, taking out three more, and finally Jack sniped the last one with an excellent shot right below the chin.
Now the way was clear and the three of them darted for the exit. It wasn't long before they felt the gust of the outside wind. They quickly made it out of the building. All of the civilians had left by this point, with the only two people around being the two asari, Liara and Vasir - now engaged in a fierce firefight around the parking lot. But the Spectre must have noticed their arrival, since she ducked into cover just as Virox was about to aim at her again. Then, as if on command, Vasir's golden skycar suddenly appeared and dove below the landing platform. Vasir used the opening and leapt down onto it, making her escape.
"Damn it!" Liara snapped angrily, vocalizing exactly how Virox was feeling. She then ran up to a nearby skycar - a taxi - an activated it. It was significantly smaller than Vasir's vehicle, too small for all four of them to fit in.
"I'm fine, by the way. Thanks for asking." Shepard half-joked, as she got into the vehicle and turned towards Virox and Jack. "Jack, you're with me. Virox, get back to the Normandy and get her ready to fly in case Vasir tries to escape off-world."
"Oh yeah, I like that." The psychotic biotic giggled happily, practically jumping into the skycar from excitement.
Virox meanwhile stood back. He wanted to protest, he wanted to go with her, especially since he was still feeding data to the mysterious carvin spec-ops. If he wasn't there when they revealed themselves to her, it could end badly. But he was given an order, and there was merit in keeping the Normandy ready for pursuit. Still, surely there was more he could do to help.
"Shepard, wait!" He called out, but the taxi was already lifting off.
"Don't worry about us! Just be ready to cut Vasir off!" Shepard shouted back.
"No, this is different! Vasir is also being pursued by...!" Virox couldn't even finish. By this point the taxi was too far away.
He stood there in the parking lot of the ruined trade center, once again conflicted about what to do. The desire for action faced off against the sense of duty and obedience. He paced around nervously, his eyes snapping between another taxi and the horizon where Shepard had just disappeared a moment before.
Finally, feeling dejected at his ineffectuality, he activated his commlink. "Normandy, this is Virox. Prep the ship for a potential departure. Shepard is in pursuit of a rogue asari Spectre, but we need a backup plan in case she tries to escape off world."
"Acknowledged." was the response of EDI, immediate and concise as always.
With that matter resolved, Virox holstered his rifle on his back and walked towards the numerous autonomous taxis still parked on the landing pad. He was about to activate one of them and have it take him back to the spaceport, but a sudden pop-up on his HUD stopped him in his tracks.
'NO.'
It was a message from those strange 'probably-carvins' again. They kept quiet during the entire fight inside the trade center, but now they were once again communicating with him. The only question was 'why?'.
'MOVE TO THE EDGE OF THE LANDING PAD.'
Virox looked around and saw a custom ping appearing at the very end of the pier-like structure that supported the multitude of parked skycars. They must have put it there, since they had already hacked his HUD before. He obediently (if somewhat carefully) approached the designated position and waited... waited... and waited...
Then suddenly, breaking out of the organized aerial traffic, a small flatbed transport violently changed direction. It accelerated and set its vector of approach straight at Virox. He for his part instinctively moved his hand to his rifle, in fear that the vehicle would crash into him. Thankfully, at just the right time, the flatbed decelerated sharply and aligned itself with its rear cargo space towards him as it landed. Another message promptly followed.
'INSIDE. NOW.'
At first he saw nothing inside, but upon closer inspection he noticed with surprise (and relief) several barely visible distorted silhouettes of carvins. Thank the Stars, his gut was correct. They were indeed the carvin spec-ops like he thought.
Realizing that he might not get another chance like this again, Virox instinctively turned off his commlink, so that he couldn't be reached by the Normandy or Shepard, and, before he could start questioning his decision, leapt for the flatbed.
"He's in! Slice, drive! We have to catch up with Shepard!" One of the cloaked commandos shouted and the flatbed jerked on the takeoff.
Virox face was caressed by the wind, and he pondered the novel sensation. In the past he found disobeying orders completely unacceptable and the feeling associated with it deeply unpleasant. But it seemed that the righteous and somewhat rebellious attitude of the Commander must have rubbed off on him, because this time he did not feel nearly as bad about this insubordination.
You're turning me into a very, very bad carvin, Shepard. He thought, letting out a brief chuckle.
Now to not mess this all up.
A/N: Hello, and Happy New Year to you all. As you might have guessed, the late update is partially due to the Christmas time and all the stuff that comes with it. Granted, this chapter should have been finished like 2-3 days ago, but that's totally on me. It was also slightly longer than some other recent ones (though I probably shouldn't be using the word 'recent' in the context of updates to this story). Anyway, I hope you enjoy it while I go back to having very inconsistent writing patterns. Once again, thank you to all the people still reading this (I genuinely can't believe this story is still getting new followers), and I hope you enjoy this one.