Chapter 37. Organic or Synthetic

Victoria's flight in some century went as planned; on the second day we were already on the border with the systems of the Azari Republics and were approaching the satellite of a gas giant, on which our target was located. It is worth noting that she dug in here well and did not forget to place satellites on the approach to the system. If it weren't for the camouflage system, we would have been discovered long ago.

By the way, about "us". Aria's fighters turned out to be understanding and did not go as far as going into outer space without a spacesuit. They didn't go near my laboratory-workshop, they were generally afraid to approach Samara's fenced box in the medlock... well, I played it safe a little and installed retractable turrets there that take aim at anyone approaching the box closer than ten meters.

In general, although the ship was unusually crowded, it was more or less calm. Aria's fighters satisfied their destructive tendencies in the ring in the gym and shooting range, organized in one of the large rooms on the lower deck, which I planned to use as a hangar for military equipment. I had to assemble a portable mass field generator and arrange the mass field emitters so that they wouldn't hit the walls, just in case, but it didn't take much time.

In general, the flight was calm. Almost...

-...and she just ran away with his loans, can you imagine? And I said it, but no, who will listen to old Glasis... - the turian continued to pester me in my ear for the third day of the flight.

"Listen, have you ever been told that your tongue is too long?" I turned my gaze to my "neighbor" who occupied the co-pilot's seat.

-Yes, Aria spoke. She even wanted to cut it off for me, look." The turian stuck out his blue tongue from his mouth, which actually had a noticeable scar half the width of his tongue. -So, it seems we have arrived.—.

The desired planetoid actually appeared on the screens, but where exactly the base of the Eclipse sisters was located was unknown, so it would have to be scanned. As soon as we launch the scanner, our presence will become known. Not that this is a problem, I don't think Stokk forked out the money to install air defense for the temporary base, but she will still have to act quickly, because she will try to escape. Fortunately, all 28 of Aria's fighters were ready when approaching the star system, and my mechs were put into combat readiness mode. And the best thing is that, in order to begin to act immediately upon landing on the planet, everyone gathered in the hangar. Yes, even my "WF-2" was there, controlled remotely. And Glasis went there, leaving me in blessed silence.

Having turned off the camouflage, I immediately started scanning the small planetoid, detecting activity at the pole, in a large crater. Well, the scanners also showed the approach of several fighters manufactured by a private Azarian shipbuilding corporation. Hmm, smuggling or direct trade with Termina systems? It doesn't matter, the automatic defense system intercepted the launched torpedoes and passed through the hulls of the ships without noticing resistance, leaving only piles of twisted rubbish. It's a pity, the boats were beautiful.

As I expected, there were no air defense systems at the base, and seeing the quick reprisal against the fighters, Stokk did not dare to try to escape on a transport ship. So I left Victoria next to the empty Eclipse transport ships. They probably used them as cargo carriers.

Having parked my frigate, I headed to the airlock located on the captain's bridge, deciding to shorten the path and not go into the hangar. Moreover, Aria's fighters have already assessed the perimeter from the outside and are now putting explosives on the gate to a residential complex, previously owned by the company producing and processing gas National Energy Galia-3 from the gas giant in which our target is barricaded.

True, due to the lack of an exosuit, which was now with everyone outside, I had to use biotics, surrounding myself with a dense barrier that did not let air out. Well, when jumping, give yourself acceleration in the right direction towards the ground, otherwise you would fly into outer space.

He landed without any problems, and reached the group by shooting himself with a biotic charge. I had to stop ten meters away from the others so as not to hit anyone with the kinetic wave when exiting the jump, but this did not cause any problems. But such a calm use of such powerful biotic techniques clearly impressed everyone. Even Brock nodded respectfully, not forgetting, however, to monitor the situation.

When the segments of the exosuit came together and enclosed my body in a sealed, safe environment, I heard the squad talking over the intercom.

—Lok'k, how much longer?—.

"One minute... that's it, move twenty meters away from the complex," the salarian gave instructions to the mercenaries who hastened to scatter and take up positions for shooting. I decided to hide behind a biotic barrier, covering myself with a transparent purple hemisphere.

The explosion was enough to turn the gate and open it enough for even a krogan to squeeze through, but in my opinion this is not enough, and it is dangerous. If they are waiting for us on the other side, and judging by the cunningness of Stokk, she is not a fool and they are definitely waiting for us, we will find ourselves right in the palm of our hand and when we try to penetrate, they will shoot us like targets at a shooting range. In short, a larger passage is needed, and I created it with a concentrated biotic charge, which I threw towards the gate of the complex, where it exploded, sending fragments of the gate and wall deep into the premises. And judging by the screams, moans and swearing, if he didn't kill someone, he definitely maimed him.

Without waiting for an order and taking advantage of the moment, all nine krogans, led by Brock, split into threes and ran inside, taking the first fire and forcing the defenders to hide behind cover and giving the rest of the squad the opportunity to run inside and take up positions.

"If possible, do not shoot asari in the head!" - transmitted over the intercom.

Of course, I'm not in charge here, but no one will quarrel with the captain of the ship, on which they still have to fly back, and I still need asari bodies for experiments, and preferably with a whole brain.

It turned out to be quite easy to push through the defenders' defenses; there weren't very many of them, about two dozen asari. But their support was quite numerous and dangerous. Several dozen furs from FreeMan Armory, copies of mine, which seem to have previously acted as goods. Fortunately, we didn't have time to activate everyone and I was quickly able to get to the control terminal. Of course, I tried to hack them anyway, but apparently the firmware of these mechs was changed and it was faster to gain access to the terminal than to hack everyone remotely.

 It became dangerous when the ATG-45 Geyser, a tank developed by FreeMan Armory for the armed forces of the Azari Republics, emerged from a large box and broke through the wall. Thanks to the experimental design of the synergistic work of three mass cores, this tank not only has an exceptionally strong kinetic shield, but can also change its configuration from standard to "cyclonic", which greatly increases energy consumption, but allows it to remain under heavy fire for longer. And the best part is a system of mass compensators that regulate the weight of the tank, which allows it to operate with equal efficiency on planets with different levels of gravity, or to firmly gain a foothold in a position turning into a stationary defense system. Yes, on the same Dekuun, the home planet of the Elcors with monstrous gravity, Geyser can fly like a standard shuttle! That's right, the lighter weight and ion engines coupled with crawler tracks allow this beauty to feel equally at home on the ground as in the air. It was called a geyser because of its main weapon, which shoots high-temperature molten tungsten, cutting the plating of modern frigates and cruisers like butter. Actually, this is a prototype and my attempt to strengthen the military power of the asari in the remaining time before the start of the Harvest. While there was time, he designed models of several combat vehicles, birds and furs and handed them over to the FreeMan Armory development department upon arrival in Thessia, so the corporation simply would not have had time to begin serial production of such equipment. So what the hell is my corporation's cutting-edge technology doing in the hands of smugglers? Where are the FreeMan Armory security service even looking?!

 In general, the situation was dangerous and although my thoughts were racing in my head like frightened pyzhaks, I got to the tank in a second, where I found a hidden panel from memory and while the Eclipse sisters were trying to figure out the controls of the machine and aim the Geyser guns at the Glasis group, I connected the system of his armor directly to the tank systems through the port and intercepted control. It was not difficult to isolate the internal systems from the control of two asari screaming at each other and swearing in the cockpit, but the main caliber of the tank came in handy. Two heavy furs that jumped out of another loading bay were an unpleasant surprise for everyone, but not for long. The Geyser's salvo left them with only a melted pile of hot metal.

"Phew, well, that's all." Glasis's cheerful voice reached me.

—That's not all, Jena Stokk is not here, but I have questions for her. This creature has a ton of my weapons, I wonder who the buyer is.—.

From the suppressed rage in my voice, the krogans growled approvingly, and at that time I was pointing the tank's cannon at the wall, so as to create a direct path straight to the room where most of the group of sisters of the Eclipse were holed up. They also acted as something of a command center and communications center, judging by the numerous equipment. Well, Jenna Stokk herself was there, trying to unlock the door to her personal small flight hangar with a single-seat custom-built ship. All this was clearly visible to me through surveillance cameras, to which I gained access by penetrating the internal systems of the complex.

So, calmly aiming the Geyser's cannons in several salvos, he punched a passage straight through, where the krogans rushed, covered by the rest of the squad.

No matter how the asari prepared, they could not resist such decisive pressure and overwhelming firepower, and therefore, after a small attempt at resistance, they laid down their arms. The end to the confrontation between the mercenaries was put by one of the salarians by "spitting" from a tooltron at an asari who jumped out of a biotic jump next to him with an incendiary mixture that began to melt through the armor of the heart-rending asari screaming. I had to pour coolant on her from the sprayers in the exosuit's vambraces, which caused a thin crust of ice to form on the melted armor. Don't spoil the experimental material too much.

As soon as the emergency systems blocked the holes in the hull with mass fields and restored the air supply, one of the turians hurried to take off his helmet. - Well, well, who do we have here? Jena? How long have you been running around the galaxy? How are you, how is life?—.

-Glacis, still charming. Are these your friends? "Are you just here to chat?" answered one of the asari, also pulling off her helmet; anyway, her shield had already been removed.

While they decided to scratch their tongues, I got to the main terminal, the security of which I hacked casually, which caused a hesitation for the talkative asari and began to quickly search for information. Along the way, I turned off the jammers installed in this complex by Eclipse and sent a transmission to Benezia about the smuggling of weapons and military equipment of our production, as well as the coordinates of this transshipment point and several others found in the main terminal. After my data, heads will roll among company executives and the internal security service, perhaps literally. But I never found out the final seller, several gangs don't count, the volume of trade there was scanty and the goods, although illegal, were no longer new and not even necessarily of my production.

-Come on, Glacis. There are tens of millions of credits worth of goods here. Let us go, out of old friendship, I won't tell anyone anything." At that time, the asari almost fawned over the leader of the mercenaries, Aria.

—The offer would be tempting if not for one thing: the dead don't need money.—.

-Come on, who will know? Aria? This bitch doesn't have long to sit on Omega.—.

"Who's talking about Aria?" the turian asked ironically, turning his gaze to me, who was also sporting an open face.

"Aria asked me to bring you to her." At the word "asked," some of Aria's people wanted to be indignant, but a plasma cannon on the back module that accidentally passed through their ranks interrupted this impulse. "And most likely you will face execution at her hands." Demonstrative and extremely cruel. Or you can tell me who the buyer of all these weapons is, my weapons, and you will die quickly. Well, or be stubborn and I will show you what suffering really means. Choose.—.

From such an attack, Jena fell into a stupor for a short time, and then sent her to the tail of Warren. Well, okay, we won't be offended, I'll just keep my word. The speech of the dispersed smuggler was interrupted by a shot from an expansive cartridge in the collarbone. These are prohibited on the territory of the Citadel Council, but in the Terminal systems they are possible and are very popular among many mercenaries, from whom I adopted this trick. In general, it is not the cartridge itself that is so special, but the configuration of the biotic field that "encloses" the cartridge. During a collision, the biotic field "unfolds" and if it hits the body, it cuts the insides and soft tissues into mince, increasing the damage and giving an indescribable palette of pain. So Jena felt all the consequences of such a shot. Still, her shield was knocked down, and the guns in my bracers were powerful and easily penetrated the standard armor of the Eclipse sisters.

 And then, while one impudent asari was writhing pitifully howling on the floor and trying to fill the wound with a fixing gel, I downloaded everything I could from the main terminal, returned with the furs to Victoria, from where I took the coffins, which I use as stasis capsules, and forced the surviving Eclipse sisters to put them there their dead sisters. But when they were laid down, my mechs shot the rest and again loaded them into coffins, which were delivered to the ship. After such a demonstration of cruelty, Aria's mercenaries began to really fear me, and Glasis became more careful and was in tension when around.

At the end of preparations for the return, Jena almost died from her wounds. She definitely had time to pass out, so she had to spend the nanites that patched up her body on her. Well, since I used them on asari anyway, I decided to practice the interrogation methods used by airborne asari. Moreover, when any wound quickly heals allowing for more and more torture, such a demonstration has an extremely depressing effect on very, very many people. True, on the periphery of consciousness something reminded me, like I had clearly forgotten something. Well, okay, if you forgot, then it's not that important.

***

Termina systems, satellite of the gas giant DHK-43, hangar of the residential complex of the gas production company National Energy, cabin of the ATG-45 Geyser. Three days later.

If at first the two asari mercenaries were glad that they were only locked in the cockpit of a tank, then at the end of the first day they began to shake with panic, and in the middle of the second, claustrophobia began to appear. There was no food or water and seditious thoughts of suicide were already entering their heads, but they didn't take the weapon with them into the cabin, deciding to throw it away rather than waste precious seconds to hide it and get to the tank faster. Now they of course regretted it.

Fortunately, there was a supply of air and they would sooner die of hunger and thirst than it would run out.

"Betsy, how much..." one of the asari asked in a weak voice.

"Now... I'll see." The same weak voice was heard, and then the complete darkness was broken by the glow of the instrument, on which the asari looked at the date. "Three days... have passed."

Oh yes, it was the opportunity to contact their own that allowed them not to go completely crazy, but to obediently await help. And this help came, but not from those they thought about. First, the internal lighting started working, blinding the two women who were accustomed to the darkness, and then figures appeared in the parting passage. But not in the yellow armor of their group as they expected, but in the standard uniform of asari commandos.

- Well, well, living witnesses. Great. Matriarch Benezia is very interested in how all this equipment ended up here and, more importantly, what her son was doing here and where he was going.—.

***

Heavy frigate Victoria. Lower deck, technical room.

As Shaira said, skin the criminal once and the others will tell everything. It was enough for Jena two times when I removed her skin with biotics, and then grew it back with the help of nanites and removed it again. Before this, of course, I still had to practice, otherwise I often tore off or accidentally crushed limbs and even more often grabbed meat with the skin, but I'm learning quite quickly.

It took me a little over six hours to "talk" with Jena, at the end of which I had a name, and one asari had a completely healthy body and several phobias for the rest of her not very long life. Before leaving, Stokk brought out all the nanites so that they would remain a secret for now, Jena herself has no idea how I restored the integrity of her body over and over again, which made her a little crazy. Anyway.

They were already waiting for me at the exit.

"After your "conversation," is there anything left of Stokk?" asked Glasis, leaning against the wall, and his voice did not contain the former relaxation and playfulness.

"Alive and completely unharmed." He nodded towards the open door, through which a whole asari could be seen, tied to a chair, quietly muttering something and crying. -Well, relatively speaking. Physically so exactly.—.

-It was worth it? Did you find out what you wanted?—.

Oh, it sure was worth a few hours. As it turned out, the Shadow Broker has been interested in the technologies of my companies for a long time and he was also Stokk's main client. On the one hand, you can understand it, business is business, but it definitely won't add love to it.

"You know, I have no idea what you've been through and what you're trying to achieve, but I think something strange is happening to you," the turian's voice distracted me as we were already ascending the elevator to the captain's bridge.

-What are you talking about?-.

—The fact that the child of one of the most influential and richest matriarchs, who grew up on Thessia, should not execute his compatriots in cold blood. Boy, have you seen yourself in the mirror? Your look makes me want to run away. Even Brock's krogans feel uncomfortable around you, and they've seen all sorts of crap," the turian managed to answer before the doors opened.

Hmm, it's true, as soon as I crossed eyes with someone, the seasoned fighters of Aria looked away and tried to become less noticeable or hide somewhere. Yes, I myself thought about my actions. When did it become normal for me to kill unarmed people in cold blood and torture them? When did I begin to look forward to the opportunity to conduct several experiments on intelligent test subjects, even if they are now in an inanimate state? Why has now the value of the lives of many intelligent people fallen so much in my eyes and why does the awareness of such changes not cause rejection for me? Perhaps this is how my nature influences me. Still, I am not entirely organic, and synthetics have a different perception of the value of life and the norms of public morality. Am I really becoming closer to synthetics than to organics?

My thoughts were interrupted when I glanced over the dark bulkheads of Victoria, the surface of which was polished until I could see my reflection in them. But instead of my own face, I saw someone I no longer remember. Ultron appeared in all his splendor and satisfaction was visible in his cold visors replacing eyes.