Carbon Life

by HR Ringer

  Traynor schooled her voice and casually asked, “This guy have a name?”

  “Never heard his name spoken by anyone,” she answered. “Sorry…”

  Traynor had heard enough – she placed a fingertip on the credit chit and pushed it across the table towards Sy’Efetin. “Thanks for speaking with me.” She finished her drink and stood to leave. A hand hesitantly touched her elbow as she moved past the waitress. “If you find K’ath, please… tell her I asked about her… hope she’s safe.”

  Sam turned towards Sy’Efetin. “I’ll be sure to do that.”

  After using a different elevator to go back up nine levels, she had carefully walked back to her shuttle. Once inside, she set all the exterior sensors to monitor for movement as she shed her weapons and armor in favor of her SDU. She inserted her mass generator and combo barrier/cloaking generator into their shelf brackets, then entered all the new information just learned concerning K’ath Din’sari into the data-searching program. Leaving the computer to process the data, she clipped a Suppressor to her belt, then left the shuttle long enough for a quick walk to the nearby Alliance owned tavern, there to relieve herself and get a bite to eat and something to drink.

  When she returned to her shuttle, she was disappointed to discover the search program had failed to pinpoint where K’ath Din’sari had been taken by the STG agent – the program had, however, provided another avenue for her to investigate. It would seem that Din’sari, having grown increasingly dissatisfied with the way things had turned out, had gone to see an agent of the Shadow Broker in the few days prior to her forced departure from Omega. Traynor contemplated this revelation. If the Shadow Broker was now in the loop regarding this artifact, the Blue Suns might be forced to sell it sooner rather than later, just to remove themselves from any unwelcome attention by the Broker. ‘Guess I need to pay this agent a visit…’

  Chapter 20: Crunching Data

  I can’t begin to tell you the things I discovered while I was looking for something else. – Shelby Foote

  * * *

  Foundations: The ‘undersides’ of the Citadel Wards, between the inhabited superstructures and impenetrable outer hull.

  xīlā shǒu lǐ jiàn [ 希拉手裡劍 - hira shuriken]: (literally: sword hidden in user’s hand) – Four-to-six-bladed Japanese throwing star

  * * *

  Traynor entered the building where Jipaw Zilorno, the salarian agent for the Shadow Broker, worked in relative obscurity. Sam had researched Zilorno, knew he had a krogan bodyguard with him at all times, so had armored up; her heavy handgun was an M-358 with an armor piercing mod activated – she was taking no chances with any potentially close encounter of a krogan kind. She had also readied her omni-tool with its kinetic shield hacking program; all she had to do was activate it, whereupon it would cycle through the 135 shield frequencies used by the krogan; once discovered, it would then hack the generator and reverse the shield polarity, causing its generated field to rapidly collapse, suffocating and killing whoever was unfortunate enough to be using it.

  She was instantly glad that she’d taken precautions as she approached the segmented door; the krogan bodyguard was standing outside in an attempt to dissuade anyone from entering the broker’s office – apparently, the agent did not wish to deal with the general public today. She activated her omni-tool’s hacking program; when it trilled a response, all she needed to do was goad the hulking beast into activating his kinetic barrier to kill him.

  “I’m here to talk to Jipaw Zilorno,” she announced to the krogan.

  His response was a growled “You’re not going to see him today, human. I strongly suggest you turn around and leave before I toss you out the nearest window.”

  Traynor crossed her arms and stood her ground. “Not a very friendly reception from someone that’s supposed to be in business to serve the public. Is this how you greet everyone that comes up here to see the Broker’s agent, or is it just me?”

  The krogan had never had anyone challenge him this way, least of all a squishy human. “I don’t believe you understood what I said, human, so I’ll say it again, slowly this time. Leave. Now!”

  Traynor smiled back at him. “Not going to happen, ugly.”

  She waited; as he lowered his head to charge her, she activated her mass generator and jumped straight up, easily clearing him as he bellowed in anger and ran through the spot where she had been standing mere moments before, resulting in his full-force collision with the wall behind her previous position… this sat him down on his ass, a position he had a bit of a problem recovering from. Resetting her generator as she touched down, now behind him and in front of the door he’d been guarding, she said, “Thanks,” over her shoulder as she entered the Shadow Broker’s office, closed the door and hacked the lock to prevent the krogan from gaining entry. Turning quickly at the sudden noise behind her, she came face to face with a salarian, Jipaw Zilorno no doubt, pointing a pistol in her direction.

  “Why is everyone here so damned unfriendly?” Traynor asked, hands palm outwards to show they were empty. “Aren’t you supposed to be in the business of buying and selling information?” Zilorno jumped as an enormous ‘Wham-m-m’ sounded through the door, no doubt the result of a massive fist hitting it from outside. Traynor smiled at the salarian and added, “I think that krogan feels like he let you down… I’d have to agree. Perhaps you need a bodyguard with an ability to think before he acts.”

  Zilorno lowered his weapon. “Who are you? What do you want? I’m very busy, so hurry up, speak.”

  “Who I am is not important; what I want is.” Traynor cautiously crossed her arms. “I’m looking for an ancient artifact, stolen by a batarian pirate, sold to the Blue Suns. I need confirmation they have it, or if they do not, I need to know who they sold it to.”

  Zilorno laughed. “Surely you cannot be serious. You look like a mercenary. I seriously doubt you have the required financial resources necessary for me to divulge that information, human. I’m not in business to give information away. You’re wasting my time, which is also costing me money. You can show yourself out. I’m sure the krogan will only…”

  Traynor interrupted the salarian by quickly taking two steps forward while reaching for his throat and his pistol; the pistol discharged as she shoved it aside. Her grip on Jipaw’s wrist tightened until his fingers released their hold on the pistol’s grip, allowing it to clatter to the floor. Her hold on his neck tightened just enough to cause his vision to go gray at the edges from lack of blood flow to his brain.

  “I didn’t ask you how much money this is costing you, because I don’t care. All I need are answers to my question about who is currently in possession of an asari artifact, illegally sold on this station.” Traynor pulled the struggling salarian towards her until they were eye to eye. “Do the Blue Suns have the figurine?”

  Another enormous ‘Wham-m-m’ sounded through the door from the hallway. Coughing and gasping as he struggled to draw a breath, Zilorno glanced at the door, then looked at Traynor. “I’ll tell you nothing, human,” he gasped out. “The Shadow Broker pays me to be discrete.”

  “What would the Broker say if he learned a 65-million credit transaction took place in a tavern near here without the proper transaction fees being remitted to Aria T’Loak, and worse, that you were informed about it by one of the people involved? Do you suppose you would still be doing business for the Broker here on Omega?”

  Zilorno suddenly looked nervous. “Aria wasn’t paid?” Nervousness changed to suspicion. “How do you know this, human? Why are you even interested in this?”

  Traynor let go of the salarian’s throat and pushed him back until the pistol he’d dropped was at her feet. Pointing to the chair behind his desk, she said, “Sit. Stay.”

  As he complied, she quickly retrieved the pistol and said, “I'm not a merc, nor am I in business to give away information... I am involved because the sale of rare historical objects is illegal in most of the galaxy. The object I’m looking for
is an ancient asari figurine, very rare, and easily worth twenty times what the Suns paid Kryllê Ghydgryz.”

  The nervous look in Zilorno’s eyes gave way to grudging admiration. “Well played, human. Few of your kind would stand up to a krogan; fewer still would attempt to face me down in my own office. Perhaps we can come to a mutually beneficial… arrangement?”

  Samantha moved up beside Jipaw’s desk and partially sat on its edge; this allowed her long cloak to fall away from her lower leg, revealing the black armor shin guard and the sheath with its heavy knife fastened around her calf. She set the salarian’s pistol in the middle of his desk with the muzzle facing him and replied, “Personally, I don't care if Aria T’Loak receives her transaction fee or not, and I certainly don’t intend to tell her. I just need to learn who has the figurine and where it might possibly be.”

  Samantha had braced her left hand on the desk near the pistol as she rested her right hand on her thigh and continued in a neutral voice, “The Suns cannot afford to sit on that artifact after paying so many creds to obtain it. It isn’t just the credits the pirate received… there’s also the finder’s fee they paid Ugrolya Rarfenak. Conservatively? I’d estimate that would be just under two percent of the sale price. That is a serious amount of money, for any race.”

  The salarian watched this human warily. She could have easily killed him with the hand that had gripped his throat, which meant he wasn’t a target. “I tell you what you need to know, you leave in peace?”

  “That’s the plan.”

  Zilorno took a deep breath. “Word of this meeting cannot get back to the Shadow Broker, human. My life would come to a sudden, violent end.”

  “I have no interest in seeing your life at risk, Jipaw Zilorno.” Traynor activated her omni-tool, entered a number of commands, pressed a control to execute her instructions then powered the tool down. “I just eliminated all digital records for this area from half an hour before I arrived. Everything will resume right after I leave the building.” Traynor smiled at the salarian. “Station records have been modified to show a power outage, including backup generators, in this sector for that time period. It should keep you and your bumbling body guard safe from retaliation. Now, about that figurine?”

  Zilorno sighed. “The Suns are in possession of the artifact… I do not know where it is being kept. It may still be on the station – they do run the Gozu District, after all. When they decide to move it, odds are it will be shipped by way of Cartagena Station in the Nemean Abyss.”

  “You met with a batarian female a few days ago… she’s now missing. Hasn’t been seen since that day. Your doing?”

  “No. She was healthy when she left. Unhappy, but healthy.”

  “Why was she unhappy?”

  “She came to me after been stiffed out of her ‘finder’s’ fee for the sale. She should have been paid by Ugrolya Rarfenak… his greed apparently overcame his common sense,” offered the salarian. “I know I wouldn’t complain about a seven-figure payday.”

  “Sounds like a pirate in the making,” Traynor agreed. “Anything else?”

  “That’s all I know, human. Most of that information came from the female. I didn’t ask for her name – safer for her, safer for me.”

  Traynor stood up, picked the pistol up from the middle of the desk and said, “I’ll just leave this by the door on my way out.” She smirked and said, “Safer for you, safer for me.”

  Sam hacked the lock and opened the door, surprising the krogan bodyguard in the hallway beyond. With Jipaw Zilorno’s own pistol pointed at his head, Samantha said, “Your boss and I have an agreement. You’re kind of useless, and I’m leaving.” Briskly walking past him, she shoved the gun into his belly and engaged her cloak. “It’s been a pleasure…” she called over her shoulder as she left the pair behind, then departed the building by a different route than the one she’d taken to arrive. Time to leave Omega, after she talked to Xiùlán.

  * * *

  Samantha placed a call to Xiùlán from the secure terminal inside the shuttle. While waiting for the connection’s establishment through the comm buoys, she idly looked through the results of all the searches she had completed during the past several weeks. Sammy abruptly sat back upright as the comm system came online. “Sà mǐ! What have you been doing all this time? How are you?” Hearing Xiùlán’s voice, even with the flanging delay created by the light years between them, was music to her soul, instantly relaxing her even as it brought an intense, sad feeling of longing.

  “Didn’t you know?” Traynor answered with a smirk. “I’ve been on leave here in the vacation capitol of the Terminus. And how have you been, my love? Have you had any better results tracing the path of this artifact than I have?”

  Xiùlán replied, “I’ve not had the benefit of your expertise at cracking encrypted computer files, so I expect you are further along than I am… That said, I’ve discovered some interesting chatter between a Blue Suns unit on Omega and an outpost on Illium.” Yuán turned away slightly as she referred to another readout, then looked back. “The group on Omega wants to transfer some special…” here she imitated quotation marks with her fingers, “…apparatus – I can only presume they’re taking about the artifact.”

  “Sounds promising,” Sam replied thoughtfully. “Moving an asari relic to Illium makes more sense than leaving it on Omega, although…” here Traynor allowed herself to smirk, “…Illium is really no better… just has nicer clothes and makeup than Omega.” Pausing briefly to glance at her notes, she asked, “Did you happen to come across the STG agent’s name? Initials are apparently ‘W.P.’; you may need to look for ‘P.W.’ instead.” Sam briefed Xiùlán concerning her visit to the Shadow Broker’s agent after talking to a waitress in the bar where K’ath Din’sari had recently been employed. “I’m fairly certain this agent is responsible for Din’sari’s disappearance.”

  “Where do you think this W.P., or P.W… would take a batarian female with limited job skills? Din’sari had to have left Khar’shan for a reason. Money?” Xiùlán slowly shook her head. “She’s sure as hell not going to get rich working as a waitress.”

  “Unknown.” Traynor thought for a few moments, then began speaking as if thinking out loud. “Opportunities for females on Khar’shan are limited. Education seems to be male-centric. Perhaps…” Traynor thought some more. “…opportunities… she may have been trying to… perhaps she was simply attempting to earn… I dunno, Xiùlán. It doesn’t seem possible, but maybe she was working in order to attend school off-world. Wouldn’t be the first time, and it’d explain her frustration with the turian broker, Rarfenak.”

  “If that is truly why she left Khar’shan, then my gut says her next stop would be the Citadel,” Xiùlán replied. “Perhaps we need to search for recent arrivals, concentrate on any salarians accompanying batarian females. There cannot be that many arrivals fitting such limited criteria.”

  “I’m on it. I’ll call you back as soon as I have some results.”

  * * *

  Samantha’s search of passenger arrivals on the Citadel proved more daunting than it would appear at first glance. An entire evening had to be devoted to searching for an exact combination of a salarian male and a batarian female disembarking together. There were many ports of entry, with tens of thousands of people merely transferring from one ship to another.

  Sam widened her search criteria to include private vessels, either chartered or owned by an individual salarian or by a quasi-government organization; again, the sheer number of people traveling in this manner slowed the search considerably.

  Finally, after 29 hours, Sam had her answers… K’ath Din’sari had passed through customs at the Echo Ward port of entry; she had been accompanied by an unnamed salarian. The reason for not recording his name became crystal clear when she ran a back-trace on the small corvette’s registration. It belonged to the salarian Special Tasks Group, which explained the difficulty in tracking the name of their operative. He had purposely obscured
his identity in order to keep his client safe.

  Traynor had the ward on the Citadel, but it was an immense area to search for one lone batarian. Looking at hiring records for the 22 hours after K’ath’s arrival turned up exactly what Traynor expected – a bar named Krieger’s Tavern, located in the outer section of the arm, surrounded by a batarian enclave. Good place to go if one hailed from Khar’shan… not so good for other races. Traynor sent all the information she’d gleaned to Xiùlán, with the suggestion that she travel to the Citadel as soon as she could and that she be on her guard while she was there.

  * * *

  Yuán had hitched a ride on an Alliance destroyer-escort that was being reassigned to the small detachment patrolling the Widow relay. The ship had docked briefly at the Alliance secure docks on the Citadel, both to take on additional provisions and to allow Xiùlán to leave. She carried her equipment bag to her assigned berth in the ‘O-R’ housing area, where she changed into her deep jade trimmed black armor.

  With a shotgun docked on her backplate, along with a combo barrier/cloaking generator and a mass generator, she strapped on her boot knife sheath and slid the 25 Cm. straight blade into place, the handle conveniently placed to allow quick extraction. Donning a deeply hooded black leather duster, she set out for the nearest transit hub, entered an aircar and set its destination computer for Krieger’s Tavern in the Echo ward – it’d give her a chance to observe K’ath Din’sari for a bit before surprising her inside her apartment.

  As the tavern was in the outer reaches of the Citadel’s fifth, or ‘Echo’ Arm, the trip there took almost ten minutes. Stepping out of the aircar in front of the tavern, Xiùlán pulled the deep hood over her head, walked up to the door and entered; the denizens inside all gave her odd looks as she stood in the doorway for a few moments, no doubt because she was a human entering a batarian centric establishment. She stepped forward to allow the door to close, then walked with a hint of a swagger to the rear most table in K’ath’s area of responsibility and took a seat, her back comfortably towards the corner.