Hello there,
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If you like how Shepard is a total genius badass, you should check Arrival : Ruptures to enjoy more of the same.
—
Horizon
"Kaidan, Ashley, stop talking out of your asses. I have a job to do, and I'll deal with Cerberus after the Collectors."
—
Horizon was a smashing success, but problems to solve were never over with Shepard.
Admiral Hackett had contacted him, saying a friend of his, Dr. Amanda Kenson, had discovered evidence of an imminent Reaper invasion deep in Batarian space in the Bahak system.
With the Batarians turning over a new leaf, a Systems Alliance spy caught in their territory would lead to a diplomatic crisis.
It was a system out in the galactic rim, most likely the closest system to the part of the dark space where the Reapers were hibernating.
Cutting it off would delay the apocalyptic machines.
In addition, Cerberus had sent some intel on the Shadow Broker, who Liara was hunting down for some reason, as well as more dossiers for new teammates.
As he was closer to Illium, Shepard decided to visit Liara first.
—
Illium
Docking in the planet known for its lax laws compared to the Citadel Council, Shepard, Garrus, and Grunt went to find Liara.
"I thought this planet's whole thing was to have lax customs." Shepard commented, watching as a literal wall of guards stood before them.
"Commander Shepard, I represent the corporations of Illium, with a warning for you to leave this planet." The asari, who seemed to be the leader, took a step forward and explained the situation.
Not this again.
"Why?"
"You cause mass destruction everywhere you go, and the corporations cannot have that." Commander Shepard-related incidents had a ridiculous insurance premium, and none of the corporations was willing to pay it.
The only option was to turn Shepard back, somehow.
"I have business here, so unless you are going to start shooting, beat it." He warned.
The Asari pressed her earpiece, talking to her superiors. "Yes, he refuses. I see." She activated her omni-tool. "I have just submitted my resignation form; have a nice day." The Asari ended the call and left the docks without another word while the small army she had brought watched, realizing that they were just abandoned against Commander Shepard and Garrus Vakarian.
Unsure of who to take orders from, the guards dissipated.
"Cowards. They should have fought." Grunt growled, looking forward to the fight.
Shepard patted the krogan on the back. "Fighting cowards is no fun, Grunt; it's a chore. I'll do it if I have to, but otherwise it's a pass."
"Guess you're right." The krogan slumped.
Another asari came, escorted by two mechs, but was not hostile. "Welcome to Nos Astra, Commander Shepard. We've been instructed to waive all docking and administration fees for your visit. My name is Careena; if you need information about the area, it would be my pleasure to assist you."
"Was it Liara who paid my fees?" He couldn't think of anyone else who would.
"Indeed. Liara T'soni is one of Illium's foremost information brokers, and she paid all fees on your behalf."
So the shy Asari maiden had matured enough to become so famous in a short amount of time. "Good for her. Where is her office?"
"Near the trading floor. I am sending the exact location to your omni-tool."
—
"They always say that Illium is one of the safest places in the galaxy, until you fall off the grid. Sign the wrong contract, join up with the wrong company, or walk down the wrong alley, and it's as dangerous as anywhere else. It's no safer than Omega."
"Garrus, you have my permission to clean up this place, if you want to." Shepard wasn't a fan of Illium either, but it wasn't urgent enough to intervene.
The turian made a whistle-like noise, equivalent to a human snort. "I'll pass. I don't think any sort of orbital bombardment can clean the filth of this planet."
"Shepard? So the news was true! What happened? No, wait, probably classified. Forget I asked. You'd just have to lie." Shepard turned to the voice, seeing the corporation agent he had assisted all the way back at Noveria.
"It's not a secret, and nothing can kill me, Miss Parasini." Shepard grinned.
"Can't argue with that. Please, take a seat; I remember owing you a beer for Anoleis." Parasini offered, and Shepard sat down with his teammates. She ordered three beers for them, an extra-large one for Grunt.
"What brings you to Illium? That you can talk about, of course."
"Just recruiting some teammates and visiting friends. I am hitting the Collectors." Didn't really matter if it was out; it's not like he would let anyone stop him.
"Damn, and here I thought dealing with corporations was tough work." Parasini's eyes locked on an asari, like a predator would focus on prey. "Hey listen, I just remembered something. I've got to go. Talk to you later?"
"And don't forget to drink your beer."
Drinking the glass empty, Shepard took the note underneath. Parasini was after a merchant smuggling schematics from Noveria and asked Shepard for help.
—
After helping the law enforcement see justice done, Shepard went to find Liara.
"Have you faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have. I'll make it simple. Either you pay me, or I flay you alive. With my mind." Shepard stood by the door, and Garrus nudged him with his elbow, both friends grinning at seeing the shy and reclusive asari maiden threaten a man.
"Shepard! Nyxeris, hold my calls." Liara's secretary gave a shallow bow before leaving.
Surprisingly, Liara hugged Shepard, and he returned it with a bit of apprehension.
"Threatening to flay a man with your mind, Liara? Wrex would be proud." Shepard was still grinning, and Liara blushed at being caught.
"I was just bluffing so he would take me seriously." She confessed before getting to the actual matter. "Glad to see you are alive, Shepard, but how?"
Shepard took a seat, explaining his circumstances.
"I see. Unsurprising, considering it is you."
"Before we discuss anything else, where is your mother?" Hopefully, the asari matriarch had not left Illium like Thanoptis had.
"Why?" Liara asked, suspicious as to why Shepard would ask about her mother of all people, considering their past.
"I came across Rana Thanoptis on Korlus, working with the krogan warlord Okeer, educating his clones."
"Ah, her. My mother is safe; she is in my penthouse right now." Liara relaxed.
"As long as she stays out of trouble. What have you been up to these last two years?" Shepard didn't really feel like chasing Benezia across the galaxy again and asked Liara how she came to be in her current position.
"Yeah, I've heard of your fame already. Listen, do you know where I can find Thane Krios, a drell assassin, and Justicar Samara?" With Illium corporations bitching, Shepard wanted to leave the planet before getting entangled in whatever bullshit they had going on.
Liara checked her console to see what she could find. "For your mission against the Collectors, I assume. Thane Krios was last seen heading after Nassana Dantius; I am sure you remember her."
"The diplomat on the Citadel with a slaver sister." He should probably kill her, just to let people know no one could fool Shepard.
"Yes. Her business habits made her a target, and she is hiding in her tower right now; you might wish to look there. As for Justicar Samara, Detective Anaya of Illium Law Enforcement is your best bet." Nice, now he didn't have to track those two from scratch.
"One last thing. Why are you after the Shadow Broker?" The Shadow Broker wasn't exactly your run-of-the-mill target, and going after him for business wasn't worth it most of the time.
Whatever Liara's reason was, it must be personal.
"He tried to sell a body to the Collectors, claiming it was yours, and somehow fooled them into believing it. I intercepted the transaction, but the pod containing the body was destroyed in the firefight. I had feared the worst, but you weren't even dead in the first place." What kind of tech could the Shadow Broker possess to fool the Collectors?"
"Here, Cerberus had some intel on the Shadow Broker, and as soon as I am done with the Collectors, I'll help you find him. By the way, you should check your secretary; something about her sets me off." His instincts flared up when he saw Nyxeris, and his instincts never led him astray.
Liara narrowed her eyes. "Is that so? I'll look into her."
—
Dantius Towers
The towers were flooded with Eclipse mercs Nassana had hired, and Salarian workers stuck around various rooms that the team saved. Their opinions did not paint a pretty picture of Nassana Dantius, and if the assassin did not kill her, Shepard would.
"Fine, I'll kill them myself." The krogan that just came out of the elevator with two salarians growled and earned a laser bolt through the head for his trouble.
The Salarians didn't fare any better.
The elevator took them to the upper floors, with one Eclipse merc talking to someone rather confidently, refusing reinforcements and promising to handle the matter himself.
"Oh shit." The merc dropped his hands to the sides in despair.
"Any signs of the assassin?" Shepard asked, and the cocky merc answered easily, all his bravado gone.
"Nothing. We haven't seen him at all, except for the corpses he leaves behind."
"He is good then." Garrus wasn't sure about recruiting an assassin in the first place, but if he went after people like Nassana, then Thane Krios was good enough in his books.
"Alright, leave your comms behind and get lost before I send you down the expressway."
"O-okay." The mercenary pulled his helmet off and ran like a bat out of hell.
"You should have killed him." Grunt watched the human run, and Shepard chuckled. The krogan was getting impatient.
"Sometimes you leave survivors, just so there is someone to tell what happened."
Taking an important-looking storage disk from the ground, Shepard unlocked the door and found the area chock-full of Eclipse mercenaries and mechs.
"Now this is what I am talking about." Grunt shouted, rushing to bash a Salarian to the ground.
For some reason there were plenty of explosive canisters lying around, and Shepard made a game of killing as many mercs as possible with each throw.
"All units, Shepard is attacking the tower. I repeat, Commander Shepard is attacking the tower. I don't know about you all, but I am getting the hell out of here." The Eclipse comms lit up.
"Smart guy."
They barely killed half the mercenaries before the rest ran for their lives. Checking another locked door, Shepard found more salarians, with one too stressed to remember not to point a weapon at Shepard.
"Answer me, dammit." Nassana's voice came from the comm station, and Shepard answered it.
"It's about time. What's going down there?" The asari demanded, impatient.
"Hey Nassana, it's me, Shepard. Did you find the assassin yet? I need to talk to him." Then again, Thane seemed too good for Nassana's mercs to find where he was.
"Shepard? What are you doing here?"
"Looking for the assassin. I was going to ask your mercenaries, but they all ran away."
"Damn it." Nassana ended the call with a curse.
—
With mercs running, the only defense units in the tower were LOKI and FENRIS mechs, as well as rocket drones, not a challenge for soldiers of their caliber.
"First you're back from the dead, and now you are here to kill me." She accused Shepard, who didn't even react to the mercenaries pointing their guns at him.
"Not really. If I wanted to kill you, I would slam the cruiser on this eyesore of a tower just to spare people the agony of looking at it." The tower was nothing more than a monument to Nassana's arrogance.
Knowing that Shepard would actually do it, Nassana decided to be pragmatic. "How much will it take you to go away?"
"An orgy with your mother." Shepard winked at the furious asari.
While Garrus and Grunt chuckled, Nassana didn't find it funny. "Screw you, Shepard."
"No thanks, you are not my type at all." Shepard shot back, which infuriated the asari more.
"When I am finished dealing with this nuisance, you and I are going to …. who?"
Shepard watched with a calculating gaze as Thane Krios dropped from the ceiling and killed the three guards with cold efficiency halfway through Nassana's sentence before batting the asari's pistol aside and putting his own to the blue alien's abdomen.
The drell assassin pulled the trigger and then gently laid down his dying target on the desk, joining Nassana's hands on her chest. Taking a step back, Thane brought his own hands together, praying, and with what little he knew of drell culture, Shepard waited for him to finish.
"Thank you for waiting, Commander Shepard. Prayers for the wicked must not be forgotten." The drell thanked Shepard.
"Nassana, or you?" He asked, since the drell did give Nassana a quick death, he was unlikely to be praying for her.
"Me." Thane holstered his pistol, leaving Nassana. "The measure of an individual can be difficult to discern by actions alone. Take you, for instance. All this destruction… chaos." Thane walked around the desk, looking at the setting sun of Illium.
"I was curious to see how far you'd go to find me." Thane stood before the desk, looking at Shepard's eyes. "Well… here I am."
"What can I say? Gunfire isn't exactly discreet."
"Indeed. Nassana had become paranoid. You saw the strength of her guard force. She believed one of her sisters would kill her. You were a valuable distraction." So Thane had used the opportunity presented to him, rather than be inconvenienced by it.
"What can I say? You're welcome. Don't know if you heard, but I am going after the Collectors, and you were recommended as a highly talented infiltrator and assassin." Shepard didn't really care that Thane had used him as a distraction.
"Attacking the Collectors would require passing through the Omega 4 relay. No ship has ever returned from doing so, but then again, you build a career on achieving the impossible on a daily basis."
"This was to be my last job." Thane slightly turned his head. "I'm dying."
"Kepral's Syndrome?" He knew that the drell as a whole suffered from a respiratory disease caused by a naturally occurring mutualistic bacteria that was harmless under arid conditions.
Seeing as Kahje, the hanar homeworld, was an ocean world, it led to the current predicament they faced.
"Indeed. Low survival odds don't concern me. The abduction of your colonists does."
"You know, we pilfered a lot of tech from the Collectors, and with their record of conducting experiments on the races of the galaxy, we might just find something after taking their base of operations." He was sure the Collectors must have at least experimented on a couple of drell, as they seemed to be doing to other races.
"Perhaps. The universe is a dark place. I'm trying to make it brighter before I die. Many innocents died today. I wasn't fast enough, and they suffered. I must atone for that."
"You can't save everyone. Nobody can. All you can do is to keep at it, rather than punishing yourself." Shepard advised. Thane's thinking would only drag him to a place with no return.
"Wise words. I will work for you, Shepard. No charge."