Massive Disaster 5-27B (Patreon)

The walk through Port Hanshan was exactly as Zedd remembered it, down to the last minute detail. Honestly impressive, considering he hadn’t stepped foot on the planet in about a year or so, since the earlier days of the original launch of the VCA.

The scale of corporate power was immediate from the moment you stepped inside, the sheer presence of dozens on top of dozens of trillion-credit firms noticeable once you had eyes for that kind of thing. The last five years might have turned his startup into the Terminus equivalent of a megacorp, but Zedd knew exactly where his limits were.Both as a human-owned company and a corporation that wasn’t even half a decade old, not to mention one that couldn’t do business in Citadel space or Alliance space legally. No matter how much he sold within the Terminus or Traverse, he wouldn’t be anything compared to even the moderate-sized movers and shakers.If he had to be completely realistic even, Noveria’s combined wealth dwarfed his own operations thousands of times over. Combined. Zedd clicked his tongue as the elevator finally opened and all eight of them exited to take in the main building of Port Harshan from above. But still not a pushover on my own.

Even still, it got harder and harder to keep that same confidence the more he made his way around the place with the Shepard Squad. A building could not sneer, but Port Hanshan came incredibly close the way it was built to survive an orbital bombardment and a tax audit simultaneously. 

The overhead ceiling began to narrow, vaulted heights above them thinning as they passed through a secondary checkpoint. The second they entered the hall proper, overhead scanners blinked to attention, lights flaring red as a sharp alarm blared loud through the corridor.Before anyone could pull out their weapons, the sounds and sights died away to nothing as the rhythm of heels clicking on the floor overtook the former. “Welcome to Noveria, Spectre Shepard.” An olive-skinned woman in a blood-red dress stood in front of them in the hallway, a smile perfectly fixed on her face as she ventured out from a sleek marble-topped desk. “Gianna Parasini. Ignore the alarms, those are merely weapons detectors. Nothing to worry about.”“If they’re just detectors, then…” John paused for a moment, glancing down from where the klaxons had been blaring from. “Why the heavy ERCS presence? We had eight guns pointed our way on the dock.”

“We value the interests and the absolute privacy of our corporate tenants.” Parasini nodded. “It’s part and parcel of what we do here on Noveria.”“Uh-huh.” Jane raised an eyebrow at the woman. “I’ve heard illegal shit is also part and parcel of it, too.”“Illegal only really applies to Council space, Spectre Shepard.” Parasini’s smile didn’t fall once even as she tilted her head forward in another nod that wasn’t. “After all, investor confidence requires a secure environment.”

“Bullshit.”

That smile finally fractured as her attention finally fell on Zedd. “P-pardon?”“I said…” Zedd didn’t stop walking, gloved hands gesturing vaguely at the vaulted ceilings and armored glass lining the concourse. “It’s all B-U-L-L shit. Theater, a fugazi, it means nothing because, ultimately, it is nothing. You put a bunch of guys in heavy armor at the front door to make the shareholders feel warm and fuzzy just to make Noveria look and sound like a big scary spot when it’s just a glorified networking and R&D base. Someone pulls up with actual numbers and the right heavy ordnance, you could roll this entire plaza in minutes."

“I don’t know what you might have heard but I assure you, sir.” The woman managed to make the address land with all the force of a slur, vowels hard as the Hanshan ice outside. “Our security forces are highly traine—”

“Yeah, sure, sure, Benezia.” Jane stepped directly between them, cutting the corporate PR pitch entirely dead before the other woman in red could pick up any head of steam. “Matriarch Benezia. Did a certain Asari Matriarch come through here?”

Parasini blinked at the sudden question, gaze snapping back to the Spectre in front of her. “The Matriarch? She arrived several days ago, headed immediately for one of our research facilities.”Shepard stared, clearly waiting for the woman to continue. After a few seconds of nothing, the Spectre leaned forward with a grunt. “Which facility?”“It’s known as Peak 15, located off the Hanshan grounds.”Jane Shepard was not a figure of patience and she didn’t really waste her time in trying to show any now of all times as gauntleted hands slammed down on marble. “Where?”Unluckily for her, Parasini didn’t even flinch at that. “I’m not at liberty to share that information.” “And why not?” John took the chance to ask before Jane could do anything more than slam her hands down again, stepping up with more on his lips. “You know we’re here on Council business.”“I do know that.” The woman behind the desk smiled again.”However, Administrator Anoleis must approve any requests to leave the immediate Port Hanshan area. You’ll have to speak with him if you intend to meet with the Honored Matriarch.”

Anoleis. Zedd knew the name, the salarian that managed all of Noveria like his own personal fiefdom. Unsurprisingly for someone who had the life expectancy of a horse, the frog was notorious for being corrupt and downright self-serving to the point of parody.

“How ‘bout you take us to him?” Zedd leaned forward, an elbow atop the marble as he slid next to Jane Shepard. “We’ll get all that squared away then.”

A well-trimed brow rose his way. “You do not simply demand a meeting with the Administrator.”

“Who’s demanding?” A hand slid something free from his chest pocket, a featureless black card held between his index and shining beneath the white lights of the hall. “I’m simply making a well-reasoned request.” With a slight flick of his wrist, he sent the card on a direct path to Parasini’s chest.

The woman caught it in between both hands, only fumbling slightly before she finally looked down at the magnetic strip.

There was a lot that Zedd hated about Noveria, so much about this planet that got under his nerves. It was an entire collection of the same type of people he had hated hob-nobbing with in New Abraham those first nine months and exactly the same kind of person that would work for and at ExoGeni. 

Unfortunately, as much as he hated this planet, he unfortunately understood networking. 

All his time spent moving through the Terminus had him engage with a lot of markets; white, gray, and black. Right now, buried within Noveria’s labyrinthine digital infrastructure, Zedd had investments spread through six different subsidiaries, three shell companies, and one highly classified private research lease. 

Nothing illegal. 

Well, no… It is ADAM’s pet project, so…Well, nothing provable, anyway.

Thing was, when you needed access to things like this, it helped to already have it.

“Before you argue…” Zedd tilted his head at the card. “Run the clearance.”

Parasini’s mouth opened for a moment, an argument clearly on her lips. Yet, she bit down on it all the same as she slotted the card into the terminal in front of her.  

A second later, the terminal chimed back at her; a loud resonant ping that — judging by the look on her face — was far from normal. “Tier One.”Zedd smiled her way. “Tier One.”

Parasini looked up, a new courtesy replacing the old; rigid, terrified and tight in the face. “Right this way, sir.”

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

The walk to the executive lift had a new silence to it; Zedd taking the lead as Jane Shepard stared daggers into his back. It wasn’t anger this time.

No, just Jane Shepard’s own specific brand of curiosity.He could tell the difference already, and that was its own thing to worry about.The elevator car was paneled in brushed steel and mirrored glass, ambient temperature precisely climate-controlled and perfectly comfortable as Zedd watched the floor indicator tick higher and higher up. Wrex’s massive frame unsurprisingly took up the majority of the already oversized elevator, red hammer entirely out of place against a corporate aesthetic of the most sterile kind. 

Administrator Anoleis’s office was as absurdly large as Zedd expected it to be, the whole of the space dominated by a curved glass desk that probably cost as much as ExoGeni had spent in half a year on the whole of Feros. A salarian sat behind it, the frog-like alien steepling long thin fingers together.

“Spectres.” “Spectre.” Anoleis didn't react to Jane’s correction past a surprisingly slow blink for one of his kind. “I hear you wish to access Peak 15. The weather, terrible. The roads, impassable. Liability of allowing armed military personnel into a restricted corporate sector, astronomical.”

This fucking guy. It was clear as day to Zedd what the alien wanted; the salarian a simple tollbooth ready and waiting for the appropriate amount of zeros that could move the hand blocking their path. 

“To arrange some sort of…” The smile Anoleis wore was thin and oily, nothing of the expression reaching his large dark eyes. “...mutual understanding regarding the administrative costs of opening the garage doors—”

A gloved palm laid itself flat on the glass desk, the salarian blinking up again as Zedd stood over him. Those same eyes blinked once more as the hand rose, leaving a black card resting on top of the administrator’s datapad.

“Victory Innovations.”

Anoleis read aloud the name embossed in silver on the back of the card, pupils dilating while that oily smile developed a hairline fracture. “Ah… Mr. Victors, an honor to receive a visit from a Tier One account holder today. Normally, you send your representative. I... I was not informed you had arrived..""You are now. Open the garage."

Things changed so fast it was almost embarrassing, the entire theater of bribes, tadministrative denials, and procedural constipation collapsing in real-time as Anoleis rose to his feet. “It seems that the weather is, ah, clearing up nicely. Please, do not let me delay your work.”

Zedd snatched the card back, sliding it into his coat pocket with a roll of his eyes.

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

Not ten minutes later, they were standing in front of a blast-proof steel door easily tall and wide enough to let a small army of krogan charge their way through. 

As they stood in the sub-levels of Noveria, the path hissed open for them, the corporate executive vehicle corridor descending steeply beneath Port Hanshan and toward the deployment bay where the Mako was waiting for them.

“How the hell do you have a private lab on Noveria and you don’t bring that up?” Jane fell into step beside Zedd as they walked down the ramp. “Seems like useful information you could have shared with the class.”

“Shep, that’s my business, not yours. Like, literally. My business. ” Zedd adjusted the cuff of his overcoat.“Just answer. You’re a consultant, right?” Jane Shepard bit the words out. “Now consult me on my question.”“Not sure that’s how that works, but okay…” Zedd allowed himself a sigh. “Look, I only have it to keep up appearances and to let a… a friend of mine do some work that he can’t really do in my other bases. Besides, I don’t even pay for the Tier One. I’m not made of money. Two hundred billion credits for a year lease? Fuuuuck no.”“Then why are you a Tier One?”

Zedd slid his attention over to the Commander. “Well, they just gave it to me.”“...how?” Jane Shepard somehow managed to make curiosity sound like an insult. “That makes no sense.”“I mean, it kinda makes a lot of sense when you take into account they’re trying to get my guard so they can do corporate espionage for the STG through deniable corporate channels, of course.” “What.”“Yeah.” The snort Zedd let out was loud enough to echo as he slid an index under his nose. “It’s kind of a whole thing. Being under the umbrella of the law kinda makes people forget exactly how devious corporations can be. I don’t really mind. They could probably hammer away at any of my proprietary builds and crack something close in maybe a decade, if they were lucky.”Zedd grunted, arms stretched high over his head. “Either way to answer your question, Shep, I have a private lab in a lot of places.”

“Ugh.” Ashley made a small noise from the back of the pack and the back of her throat. “Of course you do.”“Class resentment is not a good look on you, Williams.” Zedd glanced over his shoulder to see Ashley glaring back at him. And that’s a shame cause you’re, uh…” He clicked his tongue. “Not bad.”That glare only deepened. “Don’t talk about my looks.”“I say it like I see it, and I’m saying you should think about letting your hair down on the ship once in a while.” Zedd turned back to face forward, fighting back the urge to cackle. “That tight-ass bun can not be comfortable.”“...god, I hate you.”Zedd didn’t bother hold back anymore, still cackling out loud as they reached the deployment bay; the Mako sitting there waiting for all of them.

“Get in.” Jane’s order came curt as ever as she climbed into the driver’s seat, her brother taking the position of co-pilot.

It was an absolute nightmare of overlapping armor plates, elbows, and heavy weapons, the back cabin was meant for six human marines. Five people and a fucking krogan was not the standard as Zedd found himself squashed between the cold steel of the rear bulkhead, Tali’s environmental suit, and the unyielding wall that was Wrex’s shoulder plating. 

Ashley, Kai, and Liara managed to find more comfort, the three wedged together on the opposite bench — knees practically interlocked as they buckled up.

Soon enough, the primary garage doors directly in front of the Mako grinded their way open, the rumble from Wrex almost matching it decibel for decibel. “Finally.”

The Mako dropped out of Port Hanshan’s protected garage; nothing but blinding white for a full five unimpeded seconds.

The valley outside of Port Hanshan was a meatgrinder of ice and wind as the Mako’s heavy tires slammed into the snowpack. Suspension screaming a high-pitched protest as Jane fought the steering yoke, the entire world flattened into a single sheet of screaming frost. 

“Zedd…”He blinked up as Tali tapped the side of his leg. “Hm?”

“Your weapon….” She pulled her hand back, voice filtered through her mask over the roar of the Mako rushing through the snow. “I was reviewing the telemetry from Feros. The shield disruption from your gun… it’s staggering. How is it…?"“So strong?”“Yes?”“Well, the Full Stop’s not throwing solid slugs for one. All just directed energy shaped into packets of force.” Zedd leaned his head back against the bulkhead. “Kinetic Emissions Packets or KEP, for short. Because it’s directed energy, the shield can’t just deflect it, so it has to take on all that kinetic energy, which usually means a cracked shield.”

“That’s…” John glanced back over his shoulder from the co-pilot seat. "That's incredibly efficient."

"I could just make it blow things up," Zedd shrugged at that. "But this is cleaner."

"That is fascinating," Tali said the words in a sigh. "Directed energy in a localized platform, that’s just—"

“Crazy, I know. How ‘bout we talk about upgrading your drones when we get back to the Normandy?" Zedd laughed, cutting Tali off before she spiraled again.”My treat.”

"Nothing for the rest of us?" Ashley raised an eyebrow.

"Ugh, I would, but uhh, it’s just…” Zedd let a smirk pull at the corner of his mouth. “Alliance rules, y'know?"

“Visibility’s trash!” Jane yelled back at them as she pulled another turn. “God, I hate this planet.”

Wrex leaned forward, shoving his massive head right between John and Jane’s seats. He was grinning wide enough to show all his teeth. “I like this planet.”

Jane grunted, shaking her head. “You like every planet where something might shoot at us.”

“No,” Wrex chuckled like a chainsaw. “I like every planet where I get to shoot back.”

The Mako’s central display chirped with a sharp ping.

Then again.

Then every single warning light on the forward console bloomed a brilliant red as Jane Shepard slammed the brakes and twisted the vehicle into a sharp turn. 

Out of the raging storm, dark shapes unfolded from the snowline, the whiteout shifting as a Geth Rocket Trooper rose slowly from behind an ice ridge, leveling its launcher like it had been waiting in the sub-zero hell for hours.

Zedd’s eyes went wide, his grip tightening on the grab-rail as the first rocket came screaming through the white.

“Oh f—”