'Zymandis?' Bau scrambled to activate his hacking gear. Flashing his Spectre rosette at the C-Sec guard by the hanar embassy, Bau unhooked Electric Eye and jacked into a nearby info terminal. 'Are you sure? Soul name, "Regards the Works of the Enkindlers in Despair". In hindsight, that name...actually, I should have seen that coming. One moment.'<br/><br/>The Sidereal's eyes glazed over, his mind utterly focused on the digital world. For a few seconds, all seemed well. Until the terminal exploded. Coughing, dazed, and bleeding from his datajack implant, Bau held his head in his hands. John called for a paramedic, only for the salarian to wave it off.<br/><br/>'I'm fine, Commander. My minion VIs took the brunt of the overload. There's definitely something malevolent in the systems, something ancient and something terrifying. I--I could barely process the slightest glimpse of it before it kicked me out.'<br/><br/>John cursed. 'What else can we do? Do we have any other Exalted or Spectres on-site?'<br/><br/>Bau shook his head groggily. 'N-no. Don't think so. Gah. Sorry. Wiped out my whole suite of e-war software. Can't restore my files unless I'm hardlinked back to my HD on the ship. Not unless you want me to spend ten hours downloading it off the blacknet.'<br/><br/>At that moment, an old acquaintance took the opportunity to decloak dramatically. 'Good thing I'm here to save the day,' said Kasumi Goto. 'Oh, hey, John. Liking the new rank pins.'<br/><br/>'You!' Bau exclaimed. 'Consider yourself under arrest f--'<br/><br/>'Oh for the love of Gygax,' Kasumi breathed, 'is now really the time? Can we handle that loose end<span style="font-style: italic">after</span>we bust Zymandis?'<br/><br/>'Seconded,' grunted John. 'By two-thirds vote, the motion passes. Let's see if we have a little more luck closer to the source.'<br/><br/>Ignoring the C-Sec guard's protests, the three moved into the office building. 042 broke its own cloak as soon as the front doors closed. The geth was once again in its smaller, more maneuverable jade platform, fitted with its cloak, extra body heatsinks, an in-built cyberdeck and datajack, its megaton hammer, and one of its wrist-guns, suppressed for the the mission. Some of the embassy building's clerks and other personnel poked their heads out to see what the explosion was about, but with another wave of the Spectre rosette, a reassuring smile, and a bit of confident swagger, John defused the situation. Or terrified the others into silence. He didn't care, but either worked. Silently, Kasumi signed the coordinates for Zymandis' offices with a quick series of hand gestures--two floors up, end of the hallway.  For the sake of maintaining secrecy, John switched to an old language that modern translator systems almost never picked up. Chakobsa was an old Terran hunting dialect, long dead and used by Alliance Special Forces for just these sorts of occasions--perfect in case anyone was listening in.<br/><br/>'Three, One. We're moving in on the mark. Just ran into Kasumi, too. She, Bau, and 042 will hit our little anomaly from this end. Your call on whether you want to handle your side from cyberspace or meatspace. Commencing in thirty seconds.'<br/><br/>The second they got to the door, John heard a voice from the other end.<br/><br/>'By the Enkindlers, so many questions. This one did not expect a Spectre Inquisition.'<br/><br/>If that wasn't a straight line, then his name wasn't John Jose Augusto del Pilar. He hoped Esone was ready, because the counter had elapsed. Slapping the door button, John tossed the flashbang in. After hearing a muffled crack further inside, he took point and moved in.<br/><br/>'NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPECTRE INQUISITION!'