Liara T'Soni, Omega.
Waking up is hard. Waking up in an unfamiliar place, when you're sleeping in a new spot, having worked half the night before, and being woken up early in the morning—it's agonizing. And a desire arises to kill whoever is doing it. At least hit them with Biotics.
"Wake up! Get up, I didn't think my older version was such a sleepyhead. Wake uuuuup," I was poked quite sensitively in the ribs. I barely managed to restrain myself from performing a leg sweep. With difficulty.
Li, of course. The Reapers invented mornings; I am absolutely certain of it. Fine, you need to be punished.
Throwing a pillow at Li, reinforced with Biotics. Not a "Throw"—I still need the pillow, and my younger version too. It hit its mark; Li fell right where she stood, and things felt a little better. Everyone has to suffer.
"You know as well as I do what I was busy with," I grumbled, getting out of bed.
Specifically, working through a terminal, controlling certain processes. Well, I stayed up late. Yes, I wasn't working through the Shadow Broker terminal, but through a much more modest coordinator's one. Just in case they intercept, hack, or something else. So I have to limit myself for safety's sake.
Besides, this specific terminal is quite modest; the encryption has speed limits and defense systems—thank you, Kasumi and EDI. Plus a self-destruct system; can't go anywhere without that. One right message can blow the device up. It's enough for current tasks, but categorically insufficient for anything more.
If we stay here, I definitely need to get a more powerful terminal.
The Shadow Broker can't go on vacation; the Shadow Broker is always on the line, any time of day. Moreover, there's a team of deputies who sell information "on behalf of." This is a feature of the organization—to say "Shadow Broker" during deals over comms. In the end, try to guess which one is the real one. The real one controls everyone and strikes the hands of particularly arrogant subordinates in a timely manner.
Especially since finding a position for something more complex is quite realistic. There's plenty of space in the towers of the lower tiers; if there's a will, you can find a place where no one is. Find a tower with no atmosphere or low atmosphere so the void-dwellers don't crawl around, and it's perfect. I had to deal with that too. So the night passed in work and searching.
I needed to gather rumors and information on Omega from informants and conduct several deals. Send agents to check a few things. And then morning came by internal time. There's simply no time to sleep. But I really want to. And then there's Li and the work from Aria. I need stimulants, otherwise everything will be a blur.
The younger one knows this perfectly well; she's just a bit bored. Which Li said while watching me dilute an invigorating mixture in water.
"I never would have thought I'd voluntarily go for this, twice over. First working with you, now working for Aria. I studied to be an archaeologist, actually. And so did you. How did we even end up living like this?"
Stretching and yawning, I remarked:
"I'm good at it, that's all. Working with secrets, finding new things, so I'm in my place. Well, and you decided your calling was to be a Commando," I snorted. "Let's go eat; the deal for Aria is soon, we need to be in shape."
Aria assigned us housing in a quarter where her subordinates live, including "supervised" Asari. Yes, the younger one remembered my words, and while I was working, she chatted with the dancers, bartenders, and Maidens at the reception. And she came to share her conclusions.
"The story is always the same: had a fight with parents, left for Omega, managed to negotiate a job with mercenaries in Aria's club. All the stories follow almost the same template. I'm sure it's because Aria has a good network of informants."
I snorted.
"On one hand, they're right, of course. Aria wouldn't have stayed in power without a network of informants and a good PKO and sensor complex on Omega. But I suspect other Matriarchs might easily ask Aria to look after their daughters. It's just logical."
More precisely, I don't just suspect; I know that's how it was. The Matriarchs, regardless of how they were treated, organized the lives of young Asari quite well, taking their aspirations into account.
Thousands of years ago, hormones drove young Asari forward. It didn't matter where; what mattered was that the Matriarchs, then and now, directed these desires to their own advantage and profit. Into conflicts, research, and many other places.
Illium itself, at the dawn of its history, was a world of absolute freedom precisely because an entire expedition of young and hot-headed Asari Maidens moved there with almost no Matriarch supervision. The world was wild and dangerous; researchers had to be ready for risk, which is why the customs in the colony quickly became quite aggressive.
Then, after a few centuries, the strongest and shrewdest matured, and Illium became a corporate world, though the traditions and orders remained the same. Where other races would have seen several generations change, Illium was ruled by the same people who formed the first gangs, taking power into their hands by force. That's how its traditions came to be.
But that's more of an exception than a rule; usually, colonies are controlled much more strictly. Actually, Illium became an example of how not to do things, as the local power was an opposition and a source of problems for the Matriarchs of Thessia for hundreds of years.
As a result of this whole story, the fact that Matriarchs control the aspirations of the young is something as ancient as Asari society itself.
It's just that usually, Asari don't ask themselves this question until they have children of their own. And the question arises: what to do with young forty-year-olds who have ants in their pants. Batarian slavers don't add any kindness to the mix, especially since there are plenty of Matriarchs who have gone through the Hegemony's camps. And placing a daughter in an organization where she will be trained, looked after, and allowed to realize her thirst for risk is simply the right thing to do.
The younger one, having heard this, asked:
"And how long have you known about this?"
"A few years," I answered her honestly. "I was looking for material to blackmail a Matron and stumbled upon the pattern. Well, then I just read some history and asked some Matriarch acquaintances. They don't even hide it, seriously. They even praised me for having a mature outlook on things."
"We just don't ask," the younger one giggled. "Well, shall we go?"
After eating at a local restaurant "for their own" (a perfectly decent establishment; the owners clearly didn't find themselves in a dumpster), we headed to work. I went to a deal with mercenaries, to learn according to the cover story, and Li went to work as an assistant administrator in one of Aria's establishments. Simultaneously adding tracking equipment when no one was looking to listen to rumors. And then we'll share what each of us heard.
It would be strange if a pair of Asari Maidens only sat around, spent money, and didn't work, didn't hit the clubs, and generally didn't engage in anything characteristic of the youth. Aria herself would get interested in what we were up to.
No, better let them see that we're not just paying, but are also busy. And data from informants can be received on the terminal in free time; I'm doing that anyway. Besides, as an administrator for Aria, I'll have quite broad access once I show that I can do the job and do it well. Which is also very useful.
Aria has plenty of such negotiators; mostly they are Asari, young and cute. So I'll fit into the team perfectly.
What happened during the deal? A "latest development," a crude synthetic analog of Medi-gel. To produce normal medicine, you need some kind of algae from Human worlds. Well, here they churn out synthetics with hellish side effects. The more severe the injuries, the worse the side effects will be for the one being healed. And they produce this substance here, on Omega.
And the Turians—the buyers were their mercenaries—take even such medicines, clearly not for no reason. They aren't the only ones buying, but the Turians are the main importers.
Likely, at least part of it will go to Palaven. I wouldn't want to inject that into myself, but I'm not on the capital world of the Turian Hierarchy. So saying that is a bit hypocritical.
The deal was conducted by a local team and a mercenary squad. We were there on Aria's behalf to oversee the process. In case of a fight, we were supposed to stand by the wall, creating a biotic dome, while the clients settled it themselves. Personally, under no circumstances were we to get involved. On the other hand, firing in our direction would end very badly for the perpetrators.
And so my days on Omega went. Deals during the day or waiting for a call at the terminal, working with information on it in the evening.
Between deals, I leave cameras, listening systems, and other beacons here and there. Here on Omega, the Broker's agents exist, but not everywhere. And their access isn't everywhere either. Those living in a specific block will raise questions if they appear in another. A mercenary trying to sneak toward the corporates will have problems. Better let them stay in their place. Especially since there are results, somewhat unexpected.
Thus, by the fifth deal (two weeks later), the camera caught not the Collectors, but Salarians. And this is very interesting and intriguing.
The Salarians, for their part, have done a lot to help the Turians. They sent scout teams through the Mass Relays of the Orion Arm, soldiers to Palaven. They deliver supplies to the Turians, thanks to a large number of low-observable ships. They took on the role of military intelligence and saboteurs.
And parallel to the search for Covenant worlds through the Mass Relays, they created a network of intelligence and spies, thanks to which the Broker herself learned about the Humans on Eden Prime. The Salarians are trying to understand where Human territories and their points of interest are located. Not using the STG directly, but mercenaries and pirates who are offered to establish bases and monitor certain worlds for a fee. And among this contingent, finding informants is as easy as pie.
The task for the mercenaries was simple: find the Covenant and relay the coordinates of their worlds for counterattacks to the Citadel government. How successfully this task was completed is still unknown. Still, this information is for intelligence agencies, it's expensive, and among intelligence agencies, few are ready to moonlight for the Shadow Broker. Sometimes such individuals are encountered, but there are very few willing. All that remains is to make guesses and use other sources of information.
Or here, on Omega. Sitting on another day, watching video on the terminal downloaded from a camera.
"Um, where are they going?" the younger one asked, looking over my shoulder.
An interesting question. The video shows an old, rusty, shabby hangar without even an atmospheric shield, just an airlock. Debris and crap in the corners, old containers, the catwalks on the third level have successfully collapsed.
And inside a place like this is a completely unusual, intact, and new ship, clearly a Salarian transport. Without identification marks, not the newest model, but spacious and armed. Most likely a decommissioned military model. Checking the lists—yes, I'm right. The model isn't the most reliable, but it's well-armed, which is why such machines are quite common among Salarian and Turian mercenary groups. Meaning it won't attract unnecessary attention.
About a hundred sentients are being loaded into the ship under Salarian supervision. Among them, only Volus, Krogan, and Hanar are missing—and Geth, of course. Otherwise, everyone is there: Asari, Drell, Turians, Salarians, a few Quarians, two Elcor, and Batarians. None of them look wealthy or well-equipped, nor healthy for that matter. There are even a few Vorcha here.
"Yes, I've heard about this. And I have no idea where they're taking them."
The situation is familiar, but I have no information on why they need them.
"You don't know?" Li was surprised. "You know everything. Well, you knew everything before this."
I sighed.
"This is my personal pain; I've tried searching, but unsuccessfully. The Salarians have been doing this for more than a year. They gather void-dwellers from Omega and other worlds or stations and take them somewhere on their ships in an unknown direction. There they transfer them to other ships and fly further; I've never been able to understand exactly where. The main theory: it's about a particularly dangerous mine with a high mortality rate. Or a wild world where there are predators."
Li frowned.
"And no one returns?"
I nodded.
"No one. And that's even stranger. Elcor would be useful for mines, possibly Quarians or Vorcha—they breed fast. But they grab everyone indiscriminately. They even tried to pull something similar on Tuchanka, but the Krogan didn't appreciate it and slaughtered the collection teams. Also the fact that they transport with transfers so it's impossible to track where. And that already means a government group is working, or they are mining something very, very valuable if such a route and transport costs pay off."
The younger one pondered, examining the recording. The ship, and the Salarians, are very ordinary. No identification marks, equipment and armor aren't the newest, no gang colors or emblems. Not young and not old, without special features. Almost.
"They're soldiers, right?"
Another nod.
"You noticed how they carry themselves too? And it's like that in everything. I tried to find out, including through void-dweller agents, but they said very little. Recruiters offer work. Cheap, but with full support. Among the void-dwellers, there are plenty of willing takers; it's better than eating rats and Vorcha in the vents of Omega. Then they load them onto these ships, and no one sees them again."
"Well, I don't think they'd want to return," the younger one smirked sadly.
And that's also a fact; so-called void-dwellers are on all large stations. They are found on the Citadel too, but they are especially numerous on Omega. Criminals, debtors, fugitives, the poor who are needed by no one and have nothing to pay for a ticket to a populated world. They don't always have documents, which means these sentients simply don't exist.
On Illium, they would be sent to work cheaply and with a life contract, but on Omega, they are interesting only as test subjects or very cheap labor. Or as targets for hunting enthusiasts—those are found too. Characteristically, most often these are Turians. Batarians aren't interested in void-dwellers; they prefer slaves from among wealthy sentients. A void-dweller is trash, but the daughter of a famous Matriarch or a Salarian Dalatress is real merchandise.
The real horror starts if children are born to these tunnel rats, often unsocialized and wild on the level of the Vorcha. Free labor, in short, for whom absolutely no one feels pity. Many simply don't know about them.
"And they continue to take them out, hm. And what about Aria?"
Pff.
"What about Aria? These tunnel rats don't pay her for protection; actually, no one counts the void-dwellers. Aria doesn't even care about Ardat-Yakshi on her territory; what does she care about these sentients? But I'm still thinking about how to track the path. Need to somehow plant a beacon on the ship at the transfer point. But that's not our current task."
"Yeah, we're trying to find the Collectors," the small one nodded, "and so far there's not even a scent of them."
Well, yes. With Aria's backing and her subordinates, we help in making deals. Yes, Asari Maidens are needed not only as dancers and escort; we also make decent traders—we're cute. Well, and in case of anything, we'll help in a fight with Biotics. This work gives access to many districts of the city; the main thing is not to be afraid to get your hands dirty. Li might not be ready, but I have experience. And in the process, an intelligence network is being established.
Of course, to retrieve recordings from cameras, you need to be nearby; the station is huge and there's rarely an opportunity to normally connect equipment. So the camera triggers on movement or receiving a control signal. And the battery lasts longer. But the useful data in total isn't that much. You can't get into production facilities that easily; all that's left are deals and monitoring old hangars. Not so old, by the way. They often aren't cleaned, but if you look closely, they are kept in working order.
Managed to find several new Blood Pack points where they recruit Vorcha and churn out synthetics. Not to mention slavers and many others.
"I think if Omega were blown up, drugs and various filth in the galaxy would noticeably decrease."
I only snorted.
"It's not that simple. If desired, drugs can be grown on any oxygen world, not necessarily a populated one. In any case, we'll keep looking."
***
Another day, on which I departed for the antennas. Li stayed home, and I need to work. Especially since I've entrenched myself here quite well over the month.
Here, in the depths of the station, after killing several mutants, I managed to organize a decent point for working with information. Not just a terminal, but almost a full-fledged computing center, albeit a small one. There's almost no atmosphere in this tower; even Vorcha won't survive; I have to walk in a suit. But it's even better that way; void-dwellers won't crawl in and strip it for scrap metal. And they won't snitch, as selling information about gang movements for food is habitual for them.
Essentially, my new base is an almost abandoned spire performing only technical functions. All that remained was to find a secluded spot among old containers that no one is interested in and set up. From here, I can fully work as the Broker.
Dragging equipment here isn't that hard; pay the same smugglers, and they'll unload a number of servers, generators, and terminals where you say before loading.
Later, though, I had to carry all this cargo on my own shoulders through several blocks for conspiracy, but I knew what I was getting into. I've done this before; I have experience. And everything was fine. The main thing is to look into all secluded spots and check the area for tracking devices. A bullet or a biotic strike awaits lonely idiots; no one likes being watched. And with the new terminal, I was able to almost return to a normal work rhythm.
Until a message came from Li.
"Liara, Aria's people are looking for us here along with some mercenaries. I'm retreating toward the spires, many enemies."
Riiiight. Connect to the cameras. Unlike the previous beacons, with this computing center, I can see much more in some places and in real time. What's happening?
And indeed, Aria's people are searching the house and trying to crack my home terminal—that's where the alarm signal came from. And they're searching the office space too. More precisely, some mercenaries are searching; Aria's people are just standing nearby and watching. A familiar situation, the same thing I did when concluding deals. A sufficiently weighty accusation came from the mercenaries for Aria to allow an investigation on her territory under supervision.
Not good. Not good at all. Detonate.
From another camera, you can see how the contents of the room, including the mercenaries, went out the window along with the window itself from the tenth floor. Let's continue.
Where is Li? Moving along the outside of the tower on the border of the wealthy blocks, trying to escape. And there's a car with mercenaries; they're pursuing her.
That's a mistake on your part; I managed to hack a few things. Take a taxi and ram them. Not many know how to force a taxi to change course to a desired one, but these machines have police priority codes, or a Spectre has their own. Enter the code, the course, and fly, ignoring the rules. And if there's a connection and the criminal is using autopilot, you can intercept control of the car, which is convenient for an arrest.
And whether there's an obstacle there, the automation under a priority code will care little. If I meet Thane, I'll say thank you. And you too, Garrus.
The cars collided in the air; the taxi, ignoring the demands of the panicking passenger, rammed the mercenary car from below. Smoking and scattering parts, both machines plummeted down.
Incoming message to the home address—not the real one, of course.
"You shouldn't have meddled in my business. Just because I was asked to look after you doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. No one meddles in Aria's business, no one outtalks Aria. No one. You forgot that. Soon you both will find out why. Aria."
So she noticed, herself or the mercenaries helped. It's not impossible; any tracking device can be found, and then you can understand who placed it and why. And let's be honest, I'm worse at this than specialists with decades and centuries of experience. But the fact that Aria reacted so sharply is unpleasant. But options still exist. Need to get the younger one out.
Where is she? Entered another building, a half-kilometer tower hanging from the ceiling. Walked along a technical bridge and entered the building through an airlock. Is it safe here? We'll find out now.
So, the elevator is working; mercenaries are riding. An elevator isn't a problem; it's controlled by automation. Fingers raced across the keyboard until the elevator got stuck between floors and then headed back down, ignoring the mercenaries' button presses. Excellent. Connect to the intercom and tell Li:
"Elevators are blocked. Move toward technical passage three; no one is there yet. I'll tell you where next."
Judging by how Aria's mercenaries are moving, someone is tipping them off from that side too. Not good, but since we're sitting in the same network, I'll have to endure. Which, however, doesn't stop me from looking for the opponent and making things unpleasant for them.
A couple more accidents later, I had to ram the passage Li came through with a car, and dozens of meters of the section bent with a screech, striking like a hammer into the building and causing extensive decompression there.
I also turned off life support in several sections and blocked the compartments, as someone is crawling through the vents. Void-dwellers, who would have doubted. They've really hemmed Li in.
However, the younger one isn't that bad. She's fending them off quite decently with Biotics and shooting back, and I'm helping. Block here, redirect there. She can't use the elevators; if I can remotely control them, the enemy informant likely can too. She has to run. That's a problem; Li is getting tired. But everything was fine for more than an hour and sixteen levels.
Until in the distance, among the spires, a ship appeared. A Salarian transport. And this is not good at all. Did Aria hire Salarian mercenaries? Or are they the authors of what's happening? In any case, I need to get Li out, and fast.
"Drop down another six levels. There's a Vorcha camp there; we'll distract the enemy with them."
"Understood," the Maiden said, breathing heavily, and ran toward the stairs.
At this time, the ship hovered near the tower, offloading a squad. Salarians. The same ones who were taking sentients somewhere. Moreover, Aria's mercenaries backed off and are only blocking the external exits, not going in themselves. Observers, damn them.
A problem, but solvable. But the ship is a larger-scale problem. A standard escort, but armed, and if Li tries to break out along the outer surface of the tower, she won't get far. Good thing Li has an oxygen mask, and a light suit on Omega always comes in handy. Need to think about how to solve the ship problem.
And then the lights went out in the tower where Li was. All of them; the cameras also turned off, as did my access to the systems of this specific tower. An EMP hit, or they burned the system otherwise.
From anger, I glowed with Biotics on pure instinct.
What a simple and disgusting filth—to turn off the tower's power! Simple and unsolvable. Since the power station is working, I broke the secondary cable myself with the car ram; the main one was disconnected in the panel physically, by hand. And you can't power the building back up by pressing keys.
Great. All that's left is to watch through external cameras as the Salarians emerged half an hour later, carrying a stunned Li. They boarded the ship, loaded the tunnel rats, void-dwellers, and flew away. I growled.
Amazing. Just agreed to Benezia's request, and in just a month, the younger one has already been stolen. That was fast; I need to find her.
Li was taken away, and for now, I have to wait. Simply because as soon as I crawl out, the hunt will begin. On the bright side, my tracker is on Li's Omni-tool, just for such a case. And again, thanks to the Normandy team—in this case, Kasumi Goto, the Human thief who taught me how to do such things. It's saved me more than once; it will help now too.
As long as there's battery charge and a connection to the network, I can track her. And so, that's what needs to be done. Carefully—sooner or later, the device's activity will be noticed. But it's a chance. And so, sorry, Li. But for now, you'll have to be in captivity while the Shadow Broker works. Cynical, I know, but otherwise, you can't outplay the Matriarchs. Going head-on is simply too dangerous; it's a bad idea.
Like hacking the systems of Afterlife—that's also a very bad idea. Aria is definitely no fool; she has her own data center and a team of professionals monitoring the city's systems. You can cause local trouble at the base of the station's "leg," but in the wealthy quarters, it's undesirable; they'll track it and there will be problems.
Thinking about the situation now, my actions look like industrial espionage. No wonder Aria went ballistic. And it doesn't matter here whether she noticed the problem herself or the Salarians came to her. Once they came to her, Aria couldn't not react. Shitty. Need to leave and unnoticed, and then get the little one out. I'm no Garrus to start a "one against all" war. Though Archangel himself didn't exactly manage in that situation. And earned a scar across his whole face.
"Need a team, always need a team," escaped quietly while I watched the situation through the terminals.
For now, there's only me and Joker. Li... we'll see how she proves herself. I need to get her out first, but with Mom's squad, we'll manage. A message to the Boundless Will has been sent; we'll intercept. Hmmm. What if? No, too early; I don't know exactly where they took her yet. Need to get off the station first, then decide.
For now, let's not rush; need to understand what's happening, where we were sold out and to whom. Fortunately, there are informants on Omega.
"Yes, Liara, field work isn't your thing. Either Cerberus finds you, or the Broker, or Aria."
In general, the conclusion is as follows: I messed up and the Salarians noticed me, after which they came to Aria. The Queen of Omega told them to deal with it themselves but not to touch her competitors. And she sent observers but ordered them not to get involved themselves, only to watch. As if she has nothing to do with it; we got into this ourselves.
And then the void-dwellers from below, the paratroopers from above. Void-dwellers, regardless of how you treat these rats, feel perfectly at home in the ventilation and other shafts, nda. This isn't like crawling through vents from Cerberus. Li was simply cornered.
Need a plan. A good plan. And a ship and a team so as not to expose the Throne. So, let's see what we have in the dossier list...
***
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