"I've hacked part of the systems... it's not as simple as I'd like; someone really skilled clearly set up the system."
Tali's voice came through after almost five hours of waiting.
"So I can't do much from this terminal, but I can tell you where else to connect the transmitter so my capabilities become significantly greater."
"And where is that?"
"I'll guide you. By the way, the Asari next to you is a con artist. She gains the trust of pirates and, after a successful raid or deal, eliminates them after robbing them. She usually only uses youngsters who don't know about her yet. She pretends to be a slave... and more experienced pirates place bets on how quickly she'll finish off the next 'master.' Though sometimes she participates in raids herself..."
The girl didn't have time to react to my actions before she was pulled toward me, and an Omni-blade entered her heart.
"It's not good to lie..."
The Asari's eyes closed; I deactivated the blade, and she simply fell to the floor, after which a short search of the Asari and the apartment showed that there was nothing else useful here.
"Okay, enough playing search. I'll guide you, and you do exactly what I tell you."
** Two hours later. **
The path to the security room, where the accomplices of the one who runs the station—well, nominally runs it, since he doesn't actually decide anything—had settled, took a full two hours. And all because one couldn't...
It was simply a matter of shooting everyone; it was necessary to move quietly, without being seen by too many pirates.
Of course, sometimes an Omni-blade had to be used, and once I even deployed a pistol. However, I still made it here and was now preparing to storm the room from which much more could be accomplished.
"Ten sentients inside: five Batarians, two Asari, one Turian, and one Quarian."
The girl spat out the last word with particular contempt.
"They don't know about you, but they all have weapons, so you won't deal with them quickly and easily—at least, not if you want to keep the terminals and everything else intact."
I thought about it.
"Any way to lure them out?"
"Not an option."
She shook her head.
"But you know, I have a suitable way to deal with all of them..."
I cast a thoughtful glance at the door to the room.
"Yes?"
"Stasis... if I make the power strong enough, it will cover them all, so on your mark, you open the door and..."
"I won't be able to open the door. You'll have to figure out how to achieve that yourself. It's lucky enough I was able to connect to the cameras they have in there."
"M-da..."
I frowned thoughtfully.
"...fine, I'll handle it."
I spent a few minutes concentrating to cover the entire security room with Stasis, then approached the door. Fortunately, Tali, at my request, had faked the recording by pulling the necessary fragment from the archives, and I knocked on it.
"Delivery!"
And I was right; combined with the faked image, it was enough for them to open the door, after which the entire room was covered in Stasis.
"Idiots..."
Shaking my head, I dragged the pirate-statue standing in the doorway inside, then turned back to the door.
"Ah... so that's why you couldn't hack the door."
The door control panel had been smashed, and it was clear it could only be opened and closed manually.
Realizing this, I closed the door, then waited for the Stasis to end—or rather, for the moment it was just about to expire—and reapplied it to everyone except one. And that last one, I put a bullet in his head as soon as the Stasis dropped. For this, of course, I had to drag one away before applying Stasis to the others, and naturally, I inserted a transmitter for Tali, who immediately got to work.
About an hour of tinkering later, all the guards were dead, and I was calmly waiting for Tali to finish her work.
"Okay, there's good news."
"What is it?"
"I can lock down all the station's rooms from here, including the hangars. But I need a pretext..."
"A pretext?"
I looked around as if searching for that very pretext Tali needed so as not to cause tension among the majority of the pirates.
"Station decompression? Let's say a saboteur infiltrated and damaged the station, and now they're being hunted? Describe a Batarian, or an Asari Huntress who snuck in here to do her top-secret business, and voila..."
I smirked.
"Good idea."
She nodded, and immediately the sound of a siren and the locking of pressure doors echoed through the station.
"Attention. A sabotage team has been detected on the station. They have blown up one of the compartments, causing an oxygen leak. To catch the filth who did this, a quarantine is being established on the station!"
"So, can you vent the air from the compartments where there are no pirates with helmets?"
"I can... but scanning all the rooms will take too much time."
"Understood, then we need to get to the control room, where we can do absolutely anything."
"Lead the way, my love..."
She whispered the last words, sounding very embarrassed, while I only gave a quiet chuckle at that.
** Five hours later. **
I sat in an extremely plush chair and watched the monitor, which displayed the agonizing deaths of pirates from various sections. And this sight gladdened my black little soul.
The pirates were dying, the former slaves remained safe—relatively safe, anyway—though I would still have to reach some of the slaves personally. But I would handle that, and the corporation mercenaries I summoned would deal with those holed up on the ships, provided the pirates didn't blast the hangar doors and try to escape.
Of course, they could escape, but so far none of the pirates had tried, all because the "station head decided to gift" everyone stuck here a lot of free booze. So everyone was busy fighting the green serpent.
"Tali, how are we doing?"
I turned slightly toward the girl, who had moved onto the station with me and was now working on hacking the systems so that all the funds belonging to the once truly influential manager of this station would pass into our possession.
"Not bad, another couple of hours and everything will be in our hands."
"Excellent. By the way, I've picked out a ship for us..."
"Let me guess, the former manager's ship?"
There was a hint of mockery in Tali's voice, telling me it couldn't have been anything else.
"Exactly."
"I knew it. And since you've already decided, we should free the slaves and transfer them to the ship... You can handle that while I keep working..."
"And leave you here alone? Not that I expect big problems, but still, I won't leave you alone."
"Pff..."
Tali clearly liked that I didn't leave her alone in conditionally hostile territory...
** A few hours later. **
"I'm finished."
Tali stood up from her seat and stretched, giving me a view of her beautiful body encased in her suit.
"You did well. Our mercenaries haven't arrived yet, but we can start partially evacuating the former slaves to the ship."
"Uh-huh, and if you think I'm going to sit on the ship while you run around the station saving everyone, you're very much mistaken. We'll be hopping through the station together."
"Whatever you say, dear."
Tali turned away from me, clearly embarrassed by such an address.
"If you think your words will make me give up the idea of going with you, you're very much mistaken. I certainly appreciate your concern, but you've already taken me on combat missions, and I performed well there. So..."
She didn't finish, and I only sighed, as she was right, but at the same time, I didn't want to drag her into battle.
"Fine, only..."
"I'll be careful."
She walked up to me and leaned her face shield against my shoulder.
"I promise, you won't regret agreeing to this."
"Let's go then."
Walking through the base together was more fun, and destroying opponents who realized it was all a setup was much easier. Of course, if we had a few more biotics with us, everything would be even simpler, but right now my whole team was undergoing advanced training courses. Tali was supposed to as well, but I simply couldn't do without her, as I just don't know how to hack systems the way she does.
Of course, it wasn't without trouble; there were still quite a few pirates, so my armor was gradually becoming covered in nicks. A couple of times it was even breached, but the armor's automation handled it quickly, using a Medi-gel so I wouldn't have to worry about my health.
"Good day..."
I opened the door and politely greeted the first group of former slaves.
"Spectre operation. If you are here against your will, I will deliver you to one of the colonies where there is a program to help those freed from slavers."
"Really?"
A small human girl stepped forward, and I barely restrained myself from swearing, as seeing such a thing was extremely unpleasant to me. It immediately made me want to kill the pirates as slowly and painfully as possible.
"Anna!"
"Don't worry..."
My voice was warm as I addressed either this girl's mother or simply the one who had taken responsibility for her.
"Anna, right?"
I crouched down and patted her on the head.
"It's almost over. Now we'll lead you to the ship I requisitioned from the former station owner, after which I'll free the other captives and we'll head to a very good colony. It's called Limis; it's full of green forests."
"Is there a sea there? I want to see the sea..."
"Of course there is. Even though the planet is mostly forest, it has seas. When we approach, I'll contact the colony government, and they'll place you in a good spot where there's both sea and forest."
"Mama..."
The girl turned to her mother with tears in her eyes.
"...can you imagine? Forest and sea! It must be very beautiful!"
"Yes..."
The woman patted her daughter's head.
"...it's very beautiful, and soon you'll be able to see it all yourself."
"Now, let's get to the ship together, and I'll take you to your destination."
Of course, they tried to ask me a few more questions, and one Asari started demanding that I abandon the others and deliver her specifically to where she pointed, but I didn't care about her demands. So a pistol pressed to her forehead made her shut up. Not just her, for that matter.
A few more trips and we had loaded everyone we could find onto the ship, which smoothly left the dock. Unfortunately, I couldn't fly away immediately, as I needed to oversee the mercenaries and then activate the self-destruct system, as well as the bomb.
** Some time later. **
"Attention Limis colony, this is a Spectre, identification code..."
Naturally, I didn't give my own identification code, but the one Tevos had issued me so I could work without telling enemies I was alive.
"Requesting reception of captives freed from pirates."
"Limis colony welcomes the Spectre; please accept the landing corridor."
"If it's not too much trouble, could the victims be placed in a sanatorium on the coast?"
"Ahem... I'll check with my superiors."
The guy negotiating with me clearly contacted someone, then sheepishly refused. But that didn't suit me.
"Wait a moment..."
After these words, I contacted Oriana and explained the situation, after which, literally ten minutes later, the stunned guy, whose boss had called him back, assigned me a corridor that allowed me to land as close as possible to the required location.
***
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