Chapter 32. Escape and new business

In fact, almost everything was ready for the hijacking of Victoria and the escape from Thessia: things were packed and waiting to be picked up, the necessary asari at the orbital station were bribed and, when ready, they would remove the blockade from Victoria (well, they don't know that this is a full-fledged combat ship, and not a personal the yacht of a rich child suffering from gigantism, and no charges were brought against me), and the time was chosen so that my mother just went to her spiritual sermon. One of the main aspects of Benezia's work is that she mentors young and not-so-young asari as a spiritual mentor. I even recorded a video message for Liara, deciding to be careful and not warn the young asari who was capable of betraying my plans with characteristic emotions. In general, everything turned out just perfect, if not for one "but".

Shiala correctly calculated that I would not run away without Samara and placed 24-hour surveillance on her, and it's already quite difficult to take a patient out without permission in this condition. We had to organize a couple of sabotages in the hospital where the justicar was: spoil the emergency medications, and even in such a way that they would have time to notice it and not have time to replace them, and make Samara have a seizure. Well, and at the same time not to arouse unnecessary suspicion. Fortunately, the latter was easy to organize, causing the prosthesis to close, which began to stimulate the nervous system, which is why the muscles of the torso and back began to involuntarily contract. Of course, on the one hand, it's a little wrong to use your mentor this way, but who cares about her the most? I think Samara will forgive me for this little episode.

When they wanted to transfer Samara to the nearest hospital with unspoiled drugs for an operation to remove a "faulty" prosthesis, I intervened and hijacked a medical shuttle, landing doctors at the spaceport. And then I loaded into Victoria, where Erada, who managed to get onto the ship, was waiting for me and, having received permission from the dispatcher, left the dock without any problems, leaving Tessia.

"Now we are officially criminals," the turian woman grinned, sitting down in the next chair while I controlled the flight.

There was silence for several tens of seconds until we began to approach the repeater.

"Take control, we're approaching the site," he warned his fussing partner, who activated the control panel in the co-pilot's seat.

At this time, I headed to the hangar where from the stolen medical shuttle I took out a half-meter metal blue-white cube, whose body was crossed by the contact lines of the segments. I placed it there during the theft.

As soon as a command was given via the instrumenttron, the internal mass core of the cube began to work and reduced the weight of the object, four repulsors on the lower edge were activated and lifted the cube into the air, facilitating transportation, and the upper part separated in the form of a small platform connected to the main part by servos, which itself was divided into two equal parts with illuminated indentations in the form of palm prints. As soon as I lowered my palms onto them, my hands entwined segments of the construct, which began to spread throughout my body. As a result, after a few seconds I was equipped with a standard blue-and-white combat exoskeleton in the form of four main repulsors in the limbs and an omni-emitter in the chest, capable of delivering a plasma charge three times more powerful than a regular repulsor.

This is one of my exo-suits, the third one in a row. The first exo-suit "Freeman-1" or "F-1" named after my creator has long been collecting dust as an exhibit and is now together with its older brother "War Freeman-2" or "WF-2", my The main exo-suit is waiting for me to pick them up on board a truck hidden on an asteroid near the relay.

"We're here," Erada's voice came from the speakers.

"Got it, I'm moving out," he answered, contacting the pilot's room via comlink.

Without waiting for the hangar to fully open, he habitually activated his repulsors and flew at full speed into the connector no more than half a meter, barely missing the edges. After all this time, being back in the darkness of space, protected only by a pressurized suit, was...refreshing.

However, not allowing myself to be distracted, I flew to a piece of space stone visible in the light of Parnitha, in the boat of which, judging by the report of the hired carriers, a transport was hidden. Before I could finally discover it, I had to fly around a small asteroid several times before I decided to check the strangely shaped stone. As it turned out, Erada's people covered the truck with camouflage fabric, because what I took for a stone turned out to be the desired object. A yellow lightning truck with cargo compartments on the sides.

"Avon, are you coming soon?" my partner contacted me when I was checking the serviceability of the ship's systems. —I detect seven...eight approaching objects the size of frigates. Correction, one of them is a cruiser.—.

— Turn on the invisibility mode, head for the repeater and get ready to jump. "I'll be there in a minute," he answered, activating the truck's engines at full speed, not caring about warming up and feeling how the ship's systems hummed strained.

When I flew into the hangar, the approach of warships of the Azarian fleet was not only registered by the poor sensors of the truck, I recorded them visually, which means that they are very, very close.

-Ivon! They're trying to contact me," the turian informed me as soon as I got up.

—Ignore, head for the repeater.—.

"They'll start shooting at us!" my partner was indignant.

—Victoria's shield can't withstand even that.—.

"The balcony!"

In order not to further waste precious time on bickering, I simply sat down in the next pilot's seat and, removing the helmet, put on Victoria's neurocontroller, taking my ship under direct control.

Of course, the asari's attempt to escape was noticed and one frigate fired a shot as a warning, but noticing that we did not understand the "hint" the rest of the frigates began shooting at Victoria, trying to damage the engines. The attack shield held up perfectly, and sank much more slowly as we gained distance. One ship even tried to hit us with lasers while we were in the zone of their destruction, but the hull withstood the blow with honor, acquiring a small scratch, which will not affect its combat effectiveness at all. When we moved away enough, the cruiser tried to hit us with its main caliber, but due to the active camouflage system, it could not aim accurately and missed, and then we reached the repeater and jumped into a mass jump, finally breaking away.

"It... was dangerous." The turian swallowed hard when we were finally safe.

- Not at all. I'll bet any of my Freemans that they were only trying to delay us. It was probably my mother who sent for me.—.

"They shot at us Ivon," Erada gave me a serious look. "We could have been seriously hurt, even killed, no matter how small the chances were." No one is safe from accidents.—.

—To break through Victoria's shield, you need a direct hit from the main calibers of at least three Azarian cruisers. "Don't worry, we were safe," he answered, getting up from the pilot's seat. -Take control. I'll go connect Samara to her medical box, and then bring in our things.—.

Well, I left Thessia again. I can't wait to get back to fighting crime. Wow, I myself didn't notice how accustomed I was to such a life and how much I missed it.

***

Athena Nebula, Tomaros system, planet Lucia.

Lucia is one of the first inhabited asari worlds, located in the same nebula as the asari homeworld. Such an ancient colony has a rich history, for example, it was after the attempt to capture Lucia that the Citadel Council declared war on the krogans, and it was the date of the attack on this asari planet that is listed in history as the beginning of the krogan uprising, although their expansion lasted several centuries and Lucia was only the last straw, because if The krogans captured it and would have used it as a springboard for an attack on Thessia. In general, no matter how much I love the asari, Lucia is an example of their indecisiveness and excessive caution. That's why, among other things, I didn't tell my mother about the Reapers; she would have been mulling over the topic for another 100 years, when she should have been preparing a thousand years ago.

Now Lucia is a green garden planet with a population of two billion inhabitants. The atmospheric pressure on it is slightly higher than on Thessia, and the temperature is moderate and suitable for comfortable living. Well, it was also on Lucia that I was ordered to appear in a message from the temple of justiciars. Of course, I don't obey them, but I still wonder who needed me. It was so interesting that I had to return after jumping through the relay and hide literally right next to Tessia. On the other hand, no one expects such a move.

Eh, outlawed again. I had to hide Victoria in the asteroid field that conveniently encircles the star system.

"No, it can't be!" I was distracted by the turian woman muttering and screaming from time to time.

Well, yes, Erada categorically refused to stay on Victoria and went with me in the shuttle to the planet. Well, while I was driving, my partner decided to delve into the extranet, apparently she dug up something interesting.

—+₽@₽%#&!!— he winced at the growls of the turian woman, accompanied by the chatter of her mandibles.

It is clear that she uses obscene language there in Turian, but my translator does not translate it, there is still a children's firmware that censors and skips obscene language. You need to remember to update the translator and patch it to the adult version.

-Look at this! The dangerous criminal Erada Nakris stole a prototype combat frigate from the FreeMen Tech company. They blamed everything on me!" the turian woman showed the breaking news column.

-Yes, sorry about that. "Something will have to be done...to fix this somehow," he answered to his partner, but she was already immersed in her instrumenttron.

Since now Erada can't show off her face, and I'm generally the only representative of my species, I had to resort to machinations. Having hacked the digital system of the spaceport, I reserved a shuttle parking spot for the deputy chief of security of the Aramali Council and his subordinate. "Aramali Council" is a subsidiary of the asari industrial association, producing some of the best instruments and bio-amplifiers, an extremely elite product that is not available to everyone, like FreeMan Armory equipment. They are a direct competitor of Binery Helix and have a chain of stores in Lucia, but they do not have a large branch here. In general, the "Aramali Council" served as an excellent cover for two not entirely law-abiding individuals, however, if someone had sent a request to the local branch or carried out a minimal check, they would have quickly discovered that the data was false, but who would do this? Although even so we had to wear helmets, unnerving those around us with our menacing appearance. It's good that I was equipped in the "F-3", and not in the "WF-2" loaded with guns to the eyeballs.

They told me to come to Lucia, and they even named the city, but that's all, where to go next I don't have the slightest idea, after all, there is no temple of justiciars on Lucia. On the other hand, the message was sent just less than a week ago, so in a good way, whoever sent it should still be on the planet. Deciding to try my luck, I sent a message to the temple contact and a couple of minutes later received the address of a house in a residential area of ​​the suburb, a twenty-minute flight from the spaceport. All you have to do is catch a taxi and get to the place.

"What I didn't miss was the soul of the armor." Maybe you can make me a suit as cool as yours?" my partner chirped joyfully as soon as she climbed into the taxi controlled by the VI and took off her helmet.

"I've already improved your equipment, reduced the weight, increased the strength, mobility of the armor and the capacity of the kinetic shield three times." I glanced sideways at my partner, although this is not visible under the mask. -And put on your helmet, you are still wanted and we are heading to an unfamiliar place on a suspicious tip. I have no idea what can await us there.—.

- Well, no, I believe in your anti-search program, which prevents surrounding cameras from recognizing my face. And if something can break through my kinetic shield, I'm afraid the helmet won't save me," the turian waved it off.

-Well as you know. You are an adult, five years older than me. If you die, don't blame me.—.

"Oh, so you care about me so much?" my partner leaned on my shoulder with folded hands. -This is so cute.-.

So, while talking, we reached a very nice house with its own garden. But his door was open, hidden in a niche in the wall, and was in no hurry to close.

After exchanging glances with Erada, he voiced a plan of action. "I'll be the first to check what happened there." You follow me on command. And for the sake of the goddess, put on a helmet," after which, trying not to make unnecessary noise, he moved inside, carefully monitoring the indicators of the sensors.

Inside the apartment there was destruction, on the floor in the living room there were fragments of a vase and overturned earth with a dead flower, and the paintings were hanging crookedly, as if someone had tried to throw them off, or was holding on to the wall while running. And that's just what immediately caught my eye, it was such a mess there. And also water. Entire puddles of water glistened in the corridors, completely unmasking them as they moved. So, no longer hiding, I went further and found the reason for such a disorder. Near the full bathtub she was sitting...there was a tied up corpse of an asari in a sitting position, and judging by the edema and swelling, she died from lack of air during this week, three to five days ago.

Simultaneously with the signals from the armor's sensors, I began to form a biotic barrier from my back, so that when a wave of dark energy overtook me, instead of throwing me aside, it powerlessly crashed against a transparent purple field. But I didn't flinch and responded with a volley of plasma from both hands, which the asari in a stylish cloak over an armored suit with red marks around her eyes could hardly contain. Apparently she is a strong biotic.

Before the asari could say anything, a turian woman appeared behind her and pressed a pair of thin, sharp retractable blades made of a polymer material with good conductivity of dark energy to the blue neck. Such blades, enveloped in a mass field, acquire greater strength and are capable of cutting even the medium armor of the same turians without any problems. They were popular before the creation of the rezotron, and even now someone uses them, and in the same protracted battles at a short distance they are more convenient, but in my opinion the rezotron is even more convenient. The rezotron blade, although disposable, cuts everything and a normal soldier only needs one precise blow to finish off an approaching enemy, and if necessary, the blade for the subsequent blow is formed quite quickly. Anyway.

"Give up, lady," the partner grinned, running her tongue along the blunt part of the blade.

"Erada, be more careful." He lowered his gaze a little lower than the girls' faces, which provoked the turian to lower her gaze and, judging by the fluttering mandibles, she did not like what she saw.

Well, yes, when you aim a weapon at the dense heart, there is little pleasure in it.

"Not bad." The asari grinned, putting the large-caliber pistol into her holster as a gesture of goodwill. —Ivon T'Soni and Erada Nakris, I suppose, I suggest we talk in a more...calm place.—.

After my gesture, Erada also put away her blades and moved away from the woman, which caused the asari to grin. - Well, let me introduce myself, Justiciar Cynthia Santor.

***

After leaving the house, the three of us headed to the spaceport, from where we flew to Victoria. As it turned out, by "safe," the justiciar meant my frigate, and at least out of respect for Samara, I did not refuse. Along the way, Cynthia explained what she was doing in the apartment. The justiciar went to Lucia a week ago from another sector of space, then sent me a message, and arrived literally a few hours ago, immediately heading to the killed asari. Well, then she didn't know about her death.

While examining the crime scene, I found out that the murdered woman had been tortured from three to five days ago, presumably to extract information, and not out of pure sadism or as an act of revenge. The neighbors did not notice anything suspicious due to good sound insulation in the victim's house and, apparently, the killer achieved his goals.

"Beautiful bird," the asari whistled when Victoria appeared among the flying asteroids. —Perfect for my purposes.—.

"What goals?" he frowned at such an impudent statement.

-I'll tell you on board. If you don't mind." Cynthia smiled charmingly, her intonation making it clear that "we don't mind."

And only when we reached Victoria and took seats on the captain's bridge, we stared expectantly at the justiciar.

"What do you know about Arisha's daughters?" asked the asari, looking at us with a concentrated look.

Strangely enough, Erada answered. —This is an extremist group of asari with extremely radical nationalist views, if I'm not mistaken. They consider the Asari to be a superior race and should occupy a completely dominant position in the governance of the galaxy. Fanatics.—.

-You said it right, they are fanatics. Perhaps you have heard about...ardat-yakshi? - Cynthia clarified and judging by Erada's face, she has no idea what they are talking about here, but I even leaned forward. —The daughters of Arisha believe that Ardat-Yakshi is the next stage of evolution that should elevate the asari above all races in the galaxy. They worship Ardat-Yakshi as gods in the flesh and have recently committed a number of raids and thefts. Their actions seem haphazard and senseless, but if you look from the outside. Thousands of tons of plutonium and polonium from processing plants, dozens of rocket engines, shells of disintegrator torpedoes...

—They are preparing nuclear and chemical bombs. For what? "Do they want to stage a terrorist attack?" asked the asari, nodding at my conclusions.

—That's right, but a terrorist attack is just a means to achieve the main goal, sabotage to divert attention. Their main goal is to free Ardat-Yakshi in one of the monasteries; the killed asari had previously worked in one of the monasteries containing Ardat-Yakshi and knew its exact position. And I think you know how dangerous even one such individual is in itself." The justiciar came close, completely forgetting about the turian.

"As far as I know, Ardat-Yakshi keep yakshas in monasteries "voluntarily." I expressed in my voice how I feel about this practice.

—This is not an ideal solution, but you yourself know that there is no better solution. And let the Ardat-Yakshi live in monasteries voluntarily, but if they are freed and treated like deities, you know, many simply will not be able to resist," the justiciar shrugged. —In general, the threat has become too dangerous and I need a warship and Victoria is one of the best options. I would confiscate one of the frigates in the service of the navy, but they are needed to protect our worlds and I do not yet know the exact purpose of the terrorist attack, so removing a combat vessel from the fleet is not a good idea. Well, will you help?—.

"Of course, where can I go?" he raised the corners of his lips in a weak smile.

Eh, almost like the good old days, again I'm working in tandem with a justiciar. True, the task is now much more dangerous, and I am much more experienced and cynical, and the justiciar is now different, nevertheless, the fanatics certainly do not have the slightest chance.