Chapter 25. "Dirty" element

"How are you feeling, Ivon?" I was distracted by the question from Victoria Samara who entered the medical unit.

"Excellent, the soft tissues have completely regenerated, the cracks in the bones have healed, and there aren't even traces of the burn left on the skin," he answered without distracting himself from looking at the results of his biometrics.

Although the cool asari fingers that began to probe the skin of my naked torso at the site of a recent burn came as a surprise to me.

— Amazing, simply phenomenal regeneration. I have only seen this among krogans.—.

The jump from orbit did not pass without a trace for me; my armor was not designed for such tricks. At first, when I was on the ground, the painkillers and stimulants injected into the armor by the autodoc allowed me to ignore my condition while doing the investigation, but when I returned to the ship to check my condition more carefully and replace the damaged armor with a spare set, an unpleasant surprise was discovered. To begin with, some modular parts were deformed and became stupidly jammed or fused, and had to be broken. Well, inside everything turned out to be even worse, the underarmor fabric in some places, including on the chest, arms and hips, was welded to the skin, I had to cut it off and Samara helped me with this. And of course, it's also not worth talking about the condition of the bones, cartilage and joints, fortunately there were no fractures, and the rest was handled by the inpatient medical complex, modeled, among other things, according to the peculiarities of my physiology. Oh, yes, the most important and dangerous thing: overstrain of my nervous system and many burst vessels and capillaries. Any more and I would have had a stroke due to the forced use of biotics.

Naturally, there was no need to talk about further investigation in this state, but at least I was able to help Samara remotely. But the case turned out to be on a large scale, smuggling was a zero element. Moreover, everyone was involved in this: the head of the Security Service of Nar-Rais, several local mining companies, prosecutors, judges, I'm completely silent about local criminal gangs, and most importantly, the Matriarch looking after the city. While I was resting for a week, Samara cleared out all this mess with the help of local security officers and taking all suspicious individuals into custody. She completely shot the matriarch, as well as the most influential businesswomen, they caused too many problems. And the rest will be dealt with by representatives of the regions of the planet; the justiciar has already done the main work for them for a whole week, wandering around the city without stopping. Well, while I was resting, I finished inverting Victoria, got a comfortable leather pilot's chair with a massage function, and finished repairing the armor.

"So Samara, what is our next goal?" still turned to the asari who continued to examine my body in places where there had been terrible wounds relatively recently. "You know, you are a very beautiful asari and in a different situation I wouldn't mind your attention, but I have a girlfriend. Although if you think about it, you can agree on a threesome...—.

At my words, the justiciar barely smiled and, taking her hands away, headed for the exit, throwing it in the end. -Alfalfa. Most of the illegal zero element came from it.—.

***

Panamar system, planet Lucerne. Two weeks later.

Lucerne is one of the oldest industrial asari colonies. The planet was initially not very hospitable due to the too arid climate and strong temperature changes and, as a result of severe sandstorms, over hundreds of years of work and development, it became the industrial regional center of the asari sector and the supplier of a large part of the zero element. But it was like that before. Hundreds of years of intensive resource extraction have completely devastated the planet and there is simply no zero element left on it, and the one that remains is too dangerous and expensive to extract. As a result, the resource-extracting companies dispersed, took away their capital, and the unfavorable position on the galactic map and disgusting climatic conditions did not allow the planet to repurpose itself. Time passed, the asari dispersed in all directions, leaving only the most stubborn or too poor to get off the planet. Lucerne fell into decay and became a breeding ground for crime in the asari sector... Well, at least that's what Samara told me, but we have to find out where the zero element came from on the devastated planet.

"They don't even have an orbital station here." Will you leave Victoria on the asteroid?" the asari frowned as she examined the planet through the observation panel.

-For what? There is no station, we'll land you on the planet. After all, Victoria is not a dreadnought or even a heavy cruiser," he grinned at the sight of skepticism on Samara's face.

After contacting the local port and asking for a large enough area, I slowly descended onto the planet, creating a large dust cloud upon landing. And only when we touched the ground did the asari allow herself to relax, releasing her grip on the back of the chair. So what? Landing a large ship is, therefore, quite difficult, and on Victoria, all the control is in fact on me alone, so the reaction of the justiciar is not surprising.

This time Samara took me with her without any questions, although it was not clear where to go. In the data of the crime syndicate that we uncovered on Partanella, we found only a mention of Lucerne. Without names, without addresses, without any details other than the quantity of the supplied zero element, this was in complete order. Eh, the situation is in turmoil.

- Observe, first of all, watch the inhabitants of the planet and track their reactions. Try to become part of the crowd and understand what is eating them," Samara instructed, seeing my confusion.

-Become part of the crowd? That's why you dressed me up in a simple spacesuit?" he asked Samara, pulling the hood deeper. -It's clear.-.

We left Victoria far from fully armed. The simple pistol on Samara's hip and the submachine gun on me did not attract any attention at all, since carrying weapons for personal use among the locals was a matter of course. Why, I saw a couple of asari with homemade shotguns, and one with a machine gun, and this didn't surprise anyone. And the mood of the local residents really was depressed, I really felt the melancholy, fear, despair and powerlessness in the air. This became especially noticeable when we went quite far from the spaceport, mingling with the crowd.

The justiciar and I walked around the city for several hours and I managed to see enough of everything. Drugs, prostitution, hunger, poverty. We have prevented several rapes and murders, but this is a drop in the ocean. What happened to this planet to create such a criminal situation? And against the backdrop of general hopelessness, dusty streets and flimsy huts, the center of the local city sparkled with the lights of advertising, the light of the engines of scurrying aerocars and the shine of skyscrapers.

"Let me guess, should we go there?" he got ahead of Samara, who wanted to say something, nodding towards the center.

- That's exactly right. Let's go." The asari just nodded at my conclusions.

In the center the situation turned out to be completely different. Prostitution and drugs were still present, but there was no poverty, and everything looked somehow more civilized. And what distinguished the poor areas from the central one was the frequent passing of security force patrols. Well, or someone similar to them. And when a sandstorm began towards evening, the separation became more obvious, emitters jumped out along the edges of the central area and covered the entire rich part of the city from the storm with a kinetic shield. While the poor had to huddle in their huts waiting out the storm, wealthy citizens did not even pay attention to this, continuing to go about their business as if nothing had happened.

"Do you think we'll learn anything there?" the asari asked, following her gaze.

- It's worth a try. Those who consider themselves superior to others usually try to demonstrate this." The justiciar looked away from the cylindrical extension sparkling like a star on the tallest skyscraper. —And usually they really have many answers.—.

Entrance to the building itself was limited, but getting to the club on the skyscraper was not difficult; the nearest taxi quickly brought us to the entrance to this establishment.

"I already like this place," he shouted from behind the loud music, watching as a half-naked asari in a tight suit with an open ass and bare breasts danced invitingly around the pole.

True, I was not allowed to enjoy the spectacle; first Samara pulled me further, and a little later a couple of armed asari approached us with a demand.

—Fairy wants to see you. Now." The asari played with the trunk, as if hinting that we had no choice.

Samara looked at all this with a stony face, only raised an eyebrow and cast a pitying glance at the girl, saying, "Naive fool." I looked at this fool as if she were suicidal, but she hardly saw anything under the hood.

However, to my surprise, the justiciar agreed to the demand and we went into a separate room overlooking the club with serious protection from five armed asari with a clearly military bearing. But these girls were protecting another asari in loose, very revealing clothes, enjoying a massage from a hanar. But what kind of massage is this? His tentacles slid over the girl's body, entwined her curves, and he essentially simply groped her.

And anyway, what did the hanar forget on such an arid planet?

"We'll have to hand over our weapons," the asari who brought us grinned.

—Stop it Sitney, she's a justiciar and a powerful biotic. If she wanted, we would already be dead," interrupted the subordinate asari on the couch. —She is the weapon.—.

Samara just smiled weakly and almost instantly created a small one in her hand, but powerful enough to undermine everything here for the Reapers if her stability, singularity was disrupted, forcing the insolent guard to recoil.

-Impressive. And yet, what made the justiciar come to Lucerne? - Fei was not embarrassed by the demonstration.

While the two asari were exchanging remarks trying to extract more information from each other, I stood behind Samara's shoulder and did not flash at the same time breaking the protection of Faye's instrument. So it's not surprising that the hanar was able to quietly reach out to me with one of its tentacles, trying to remove my hood. Well, I didn't stand on ceremony and swung the instantly formed rezotron blade, almost cutting off part of the jellyfish's tentacle, forcing the guards to aim their weapons at us.

"Don't go where the hanar don't ask," he muttered, looking at the impudent xenos with hostility.

—This humble entrepreneur apologizes for his curiosity. This entrepreneur hopes that the justiciar's companion does not hold a grudge against him," the translator translated the hanar's bioluminescent blinking.

"I'll still look around myself," Samara interrupted us, returning to the interrupted conversation.

-Please, justiciar. It is an honor for us to receive you in Lucerne." Faye nodded sedately, nodding to the guards so that they would let us go without any problems.

Well, we didn't linger any longer.

However, at the spaceport we discovered an interesting picture: an old batarian was constantly looking around and hovering next to my ship, pretending to be working. But that's exactly what he was pretending to do, and extremely ineptly. If there had been any decent security at the spaceport, he would have been escorted out long ago. And when I was about to shoot another impudent thief, Samara went in his direction, cutting off my attempts at the root.

"Did you want something?" the asari softly asked the rather nervous xenos.

-A...you...I, um...but...—.

The xenos didn't say anything worthwhile, so I had to take him inside the Frigate, where I finally threw off the annoying hood, and Samara was able to extract information from the batarian, who wanted us to contact the asari government and request help.

So, the situation turned out to be quite murky. After Lucerne became uninteresting to the Asari Republics and fell into disrepair, after some time a hanar arrived on the planet with ships filled with equipment and specialists from different races, and then everything began to change. Hanar was able to find huge deposits of the zero element on the planet that the asari had missed (perhaps this was helped by modern equipment) and began building ore mining complexes, and the local residents finally had work. And it seemed that the planet began to recover, only on the quiet the hanar took possession of the only major spaceport of Lucerne with the help of mercenary ships, and after, controlling the outer space of the planet, the hanar actually captured Lucerne. When there was a smell of something fried, it was too late and the hanar mercenaries were already openly taking local residents into slavery, transporting them to underground cities, where the extraction of the zero element took place.

If something similar had happened on a planet located closer to the central worlds of the republics, then nothing would have worked out for the jellyfish, but so we have what we have.

"My girl, my daughter, they took her." The batard became completely unstuck when he finally finished his story.

-Bakhar, we will find her or take revenge. "I give you my word," Samara said softly, but surprisingly her words had an effect.

Batard really calmed down and clasped his shaking hands with hope and stared at the justiciar.

***

We stayed on the planet for another week, observing and assessing the situation. Society was divided, some took advantage of the situation to collaborate with alien criminals and parasitize on their people, while others drowned in poverty and eventually broke down. When we get rid of the traders of the dirty zero element, it will still be a long time before order is restored here and the planet begins to prosper again.

We were also able to discover one of the underground cities and even managed to penetrate it unnoticed by conducting reconnaissance. The sight of the exhausted asari mining the zero element awakened a whole ocean of anger in me, I barely managed to restrain myself so as not to destroy everything there to the ground. Only the understanding that this would warn the hanar and give him time to gather his forces and equipment prevented me from breaking down.

And already in the evening of the same day, after returning to Victoria, it was decided to act.

The plan was as simple and clear as possible, Samara makes her way through the main entrance to the Fairy Tower, as it was popularly called, and I, in light armor equipped with tactical camouflage, enter through an additional passage in the basement and, as quickly as possible, get to the hanar's living quarters where I will finish off the jellyfish decapitating a local group. Well, it wouldn't hurt to look into the server room; there should be a ton of information there.

"Pfft, Samara is in her repertoire." He grinned at the sight of the aircar, launched by the asari biotics a second ago, demolishing the doors and guards of the tower. -Well, I won't get distracted.—.

It turned out to be incredibly easy to get inside, there was practically no security on the way, and the electronic protection of the internal systems did not become an obstacle at all. I intuitively understood how best to get around it. So, checking the existing building plan obtained from the internal systems, I quickly enough climbed to a place located in the center of the skyscraper.

"What the fuck?" growled the krogan standing in front of the entrance to his owner's apartment at the sight of the empty elevator arriving. —Goub, check.—.

"Check it yourself, Korlus, I..." his salarian partner was indignant, but under the evil gaze of the lizard he immediately faded away. "Okay, I'll check, but you cover me."

Well, while the two xenos were talking, I, being invisible, calmly walked up to them and put the barrel of my "Gef05" - a large-caliber pistol manufactured by "FreeMan Armory" - to the frog's head. The salarian didn't even have time to be really surprised by the hand that appeared out of thin air, when his brains painted the walls. But the krogan quickly got his bearings and almost pointed the needle gun at me, but I was faster. A strong blow to the open throat passed through his other skin, causing a painful spasm and forcing the lizard to open his mouth, where a grenade flew a moment later. And then a blow to the lower jaw to "batten down the hatch" and a powerful kick, enhanced by biotics, towards the door and the krogan opened the passage with his carcass. Or rather, he made a new one using a swallowed grenade.

"How interesting." He looked around the interior of the apartment.

Quite large, I would even say huge, the hall resembled a box, on the edges of which there were quite cozy rooms with transparent walls. And in each such room there was an asari. Dozens of naked or half-naked asari looked at me with interest while I tried to comprehend what was happening.

—That Hanar bastard collected asari? Like some exhibits or toys?—.

My outburst of anger made the girls recoil in fear, and I headed to the terminal in the center, suspecting that it was there that I would be able to unlock the doors of these "showcases." I had to step carefully, somehow I didn't notice right away, but instead of the floor there was water and apparently there was quite a lot of it. At least the floor below was connected to this and equipped with a water tank. Fortunately, there were paths connecting the "showcases," the exit and the terminal.

And when I had already reached the terminal, I heard the click of a removed fuse behind me.

"Die, babe..." I didn't let the asari finish, turning sharply, knocking the weapon out of his hands and grabbing Faye by the throat.

"If you want to kill someone, kill them, don't talk," he said mockingly to the woman glaring at me.

But she quickly quieted down and instead grinned evilly. —You'll die anyway.—.

And a second later, something squeezed my arms and neck and abruptly pulled me into the water.

Did I mention that one floor is allocated for the tank? I was wrong, there were at least two floors completely filled with water and in it, in this water lived a fucking intelligent jellyfish. Hanar dragged me into his habitat and actually showed me why they are far from defenseless despite their appearance. Under the pressure of the tentacles, the armor began to deform, and air stopped flowing into the lungs due to the constriction of the throat. If I had been wearing my standard armor, nothing would have worked for him, but the light one relied more on the kinetic shield and tactical camouflage than on the strength of the material. I really felt like the hanar was gloating, but he didn't foresee that I was a biotic.

A powerful biotic wave stunned me, threw the jellyfish away from me and tore off several of its tentacles, and the subsequent blow sent it to the side. That's where I found him, next to the shocked asari, who was trying to stop the bleeding from the jellyfish's wound.

"Kha-Kha, bastard, kha." he wheezed when he was finally able to calmly take off his helmet and breathe in air; apparently the hanar was able to damage the air supply system.

-Stop, don't kill this hanar. This hanar will tell..." the xenos tried to bargain, but only blinked convulsively when I tore the implanted translator out of him along with a piece of flesh.

"Oh no, I will kill this hanar and this hanar will die long and painfully, believe me." He smiled in anticipation, putting the barrel to the head of the asari covered with biotics. —We'll just get rid of the witnesses.—.

Well, then, with some kind of perverted pleasure, I tore out these very tentacles from the xenos' tentacles lashing in spasms, until I finally blew up the remaining stub with a shot of plasma at point-blank range. And only a little satisfying his impulse, he deigned to free the captive asari, among whom was the daughter of the batarian we met.

And then, using the terminal's direct access to the extranet (which the local population did not have, the hanar completely isolated the planet from the extranet, controlling all outgoing information flows) sent an urgent request to the asari armed forces on behalf of Samara and went to help the justicar finish off the tower guards. But just recently I was, albeit not quite an ordinary, but peaceful boy and the heir to a huge weapons company. However, the change is quick, to say the least.