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Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga, The Collector War	By : Veyron722skyhook Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 6240 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or it's characters. They belong to Bioware and EA. No money/profit is made by me from this.

Chapter List
- 18
- 19
- 20
Here we go! This chapter was very fun to write. Just to warn you though, I did have to shorten some of fight scenes before the boss battle. They make sense in game, i know. but in a film or book they just seem unnecessary and don't need to be explained in as much detail.
Should also warn you, the ending may not be what you expect. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Chapter 19
Stolen Memory
The sky car zoomed gently through the clouds of Bekenstein. It was quite a pretty planet.
"You clean up well, Mr Solomon Gunn. Hock won't know what hit him." Kasumi smiled to Austin. She then turned to Sarah. "And you're looking good too, Ms Alison Gunn. Hock won't be able to keep his eyes off you."
Kasumi was driving whilst Austin was sat in the passenger seat and Sarah in the back.
"I take it we're wearing these get ups for a reason?" Sarah asked as she finished sorting her red hair out.
"You'd look really out of place at a society party in armour. Don't you think? Especially a Helldiver." Said Kasumi as she looked at Austin. She then looked at Sarah. "You look great. You should wear this stuff more often."
"Hmm. My eyes are up here by the way, Kasumi." Sarah joked.
At this, everyone laughed. Even Kasumi found the joke funny.
"British humour. Always brings a smile to my face." She said.
"So, I assume Solomon and Allison Gunn are our covers?" Austin asked.
"The two of you run a small but talented band of mercs out in the Terminus Systems. Precisely the type of people Hock respects. Xun and I took the liberty of giving you a reputation. Papers, witnesses, article in badass weekly. Just don't start talking business with him, and you'll be fine." Kasumi explained.
"Remind me, Kasumi: What kind of man are we dealing with?" Sarah asked.
"Hock's a weapon's dealer and smuggler. He killed my partner and stole his graybox. Other than that, he's not so bad. Rich, charismatic, willing to crack open a man's skull to get at the neural implants inside." Said Kasumi.
"Leave it alone!" said Sarah as she once again stopped Austin from scratching the prosthetic mask he'd had to wear.
"I'm sorry. But it's so itchy. Kasumi, is it really necessary for me to wear this mask? My battle scars hurt less than this does!" Austin complained.
"Trust me, Shep. This is for you and your sister's safety. Your scars make you too recognizable. Outside Council space, it's not so bad. But we're in Council space. Last thing we want is Hock recognizing you." Said Kasumi.
Austin ultimately gave in trying to talk his way out of it. Kasumi did make a fair point after all.
"I guess I can't argue with that. Anyway, now's probably a good time to fill us in on the details." He said.
"You have been waiting patiently." Said Kasumi as she brought up several video feeds in front of him and Sarah. The first one showed the actual party and Donavon Hock himself.
"Our friend Hock is throwing a party for his closest friends. A couple dozen of the worst liars, cheaters, and mass murderers you'll ever want to meet, all bringing gifts as a tribute to the man himself." She explained.
Next, a new feed popped up. This one showed a gold statue of very familiar looking Turian.
"Our tribute is a lovely statue of your old friend Saren, rendered with loving detail and filled to the brim with our weapons and armour. I've also hidden your suit remover in there as well, Shepard. Shouldn't have any problems. You can both keep your pistols as long as they're concealed. They won't hassle you over side-arms." Kasumi continued.
Sarah cleared her throat embarrassingly. Kasumi seemed to somehow read her mind.
"You've hid yours on her thighs, haven't you?" she giggled.
"I'm not hiding them down my cleavage, Kasumi! I tired that a few years ago, it went badly wrong. I had to have an ice pack on my breasts for nearly a week. Sarah retaliated.
Austin simply remained quiet as Kasumi continued explaining the plan.
"Once inside, we'll make our way to Hock's vault door, somewhere in the back of the ballroom. Then we case the security and start peeling away the layers. The statue should be there, waiting for us to crack it open and arm up. Then we just waltz into the vault and take back Keiji's graybox. And I'll finally get a chance to say goodbye." She finished.
"This is starting to sound like something out of a James Bond film." Sarah joked.
Once again, this caused Austin and Kasumi to chuckle.
"Ha. Oh, you two really are funny together." The thief smiled.
"Sense of humour runs in the family." Sarah smiled.
"You've worked really hard on this. Keiji must have meant a lot to you." Said Austin.
"Was I that obvious? Keiji's graybox holds a lot of priceless, personal memories. It's all that remains of who he was. But the secret he discovered is dangerous. I wouldn't bring you here if it wasn't." said Kasumi.
"This ought to be interesting." Said Austin, eagerly.
"That's what I'm going for." Kasumi agreed.
The sky car touched down and the doors opened up.
"This is our stop." Said Kasumi as they climbed out and Austin locked the car. Not that there was much point, but it was still best to appear normal.
"After you, Mr and Ms Gunn." Said Kasumi.
As the group started walking however, something quickly occurred to Austin.
"Wait, just so we've got this straight, she's still my sister, right? Because if we have to pretend we're married, this is going to be very difficult." He asked nervously.
"Don't worry. Even in this sort of situation, I wouldn't force that sort of thing on you. You two are still brother and sister." Kasumi reassured him.
"What about you? What part do you play?" Sarah asked.
"Me? I'm just your brother's pretty Japanese girlfriend." Kasumi smiled
"I hope Liara doesn't find out about this." Austin sighed. He knew that even if Liara knew about this, she'd understand. After all, Kasumi didn't really fancy him anyway.
"Relax! Think of this as dress up." Sarah joked.
"Oh grow up, you two." Austin groaned as the two girls giggled.

The statue was just being unloaded as they arrived at the entrance. To make sure he played the part, Austin had his left hand around Kasumi waist. While he wished it was Liara instead of her, he did admit that Kasumi did at least have very curvy hips.
"Just one moment, sir. There seems to be an issue with the statue." Said one of the Eclipse guards.
At that moment, Donovan Hock himself appeared in the doorway and walked down the stairs.
"Is there a problem here?" he asked in a South African accent.
"No, Mr Hock. Just doing a scan." Said the guard.
"I don't believe we've met. Donovan Hock." Hock said as he introduced himself to his 3 guests.
"I've heard a lot about you. Name's Solomon Gunn." Said Austin as he held his hand out. However, Hock didn't shake it.
"And I've heard a lot about you. You've been very busy lately if the extranet is to be believed." He said. He then noticed Sarah. "And I take it this is your sister?"
"Allison Gunn. A pleasure." Said Sarah.
To Austin's surprise, Hock then took Sarah's hand in his and kissed the back of it.
"Charmed, Ms Gunn." He said.
"Smoothie." Kasumi whispered.
"Shut up." Austin hissed. It took a lot for him not to tell Hock to keep his hands of Sarah.
"Sir, the scanners aren't picking anything up." Said the Eclipse guard as he finished his can of the statue of Saren. Hock looked at the statue, a hint of impress on his face.
"Hmm. I don't think our guests would come all the way here from Illium just to cause trouble. Do you?" he asked.
The guard simply shrugged and Hock turned back to Austin, Sarah and Kasumi.
"You may pass through, Mr and Ms Gunn, with my apologies. But I will ask your companion to remain outside. You understand, I hope." He said as he looked at Kasumi.
"Care to explain why my brother's girlfriend has to stand outside?!" Sarah asked sternly.
"I don't like the look of her, so she stays outside. Simple as that." Said Hock.
"No problem. You're the host." Said Austin politely. "Sorry darling. Seems things have changed." He said as he then kissed Kasumi full on the lips. This was only so that he remained in character. He just hoped that Kasumi wouldn't take this the wrong way, even with him fondling her ass.
"Enjoy the party." Said Hock as he went back inside.
"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" Sarah teased.
"I was acting." Austin replied sternly.
"Well, that didn't go as I expected." Said Kasumi, a bit surprised that Hock hadn't let her in.
"Any idea why he'd send you away?" Sarah asked.
"No. We've never seen each other in person, and no one knows what I look like. Just watching his ass I'm sure. I can't blame him." Kasumi replied.
"What do we do now?" Austin asked.
"We go on with the plan. You two will just have to do all the talking. I'll stay out of sight and stick with you both the best I can." Said Kasumi.
Both Shepards nodded and proceeded up the stairs with Kasumi bringing up the rear.
"We'll keep radio contact in case something goes wrong." She said as she activated her cloak and vanished from site.
"We need to find the door and case the security. We'll figure out the next step then." Said Kasumi over the radio.
Both Austin and Sarah made sure to stay close to one another to at least make sure that no one tried to suddenly flirt with them. After wondering around the party for a bit, they managed to find what they were looking for.
The door to the vault was protected by a laser barrier and there were also two control panels next to it. Austin had seen enough security systems as a Helldiver to recognize one as a DNA scanner, and the other as a voice system.
"Very nice. There's more here than I expected." Said Kasumi.
As they walked in, Austin looked at the gold statue of Saren. He couldn't help but be a bit uncomfortable at the sight of the statue, remembering the Turian whom it represented. His mind though quickly snapped back to the task at hand as Kasumi looked around at the security systems.
"Password protected voice lock. Kinetic barrier. DNA scanner – looks like an EX-700 series. Everything a vault needs to be impenetrable." She observed.
"This gonna be a problem?" Sarah asked.
"Please. Remember who you're talking to. We'll need to get a voice sample for the voice lock. Sarah will have to go chat up Hock for that. We'll have to find a password, too. DNA? Child's play. We should find plenty of DNA samples in Hock's private quarters. And the barrier? Cut the power. Never fails… if we can find it. Keiji could get through a system like this in his sleep. And I'm better. Let's get to it." Said Kasumi.
As the two siblings walked out, Austin noticed what looked like a power cable. Kasumi noticed it too.
"It looks like the barrier's power cable runs under the floor here. I'll set your omni-tools to scan for electromagnetic fields." She said.
Sure enough, the cable now became highlighted in orange, even as it disappeared into the ground and out of sight. The two siblings slowly followed the hologram through the party, being careful not to bump into everyone. Eventually, they found that the cable seemed to end just behind a small statue.
"One sec." said Kasumi.
The thief unlocked and pulled down the statue which caused a small panel to slide away, revealing a generator of sorts.
"That should take care of the barrier." She said as she short circuited it and the orange hologram of the cable disappeared.
With that sorted, they now only had the voice and DNA scanner left. Austin noticed nearby locked door. He could immediately tell that this might be important.
"That door goes to a security room. I'll take care of lock." Said Kasumi.
A few seconds later, the door unlocked and opened.
"There we go."
Sarah then saw this as a good opportunity to get the voice recording from Hock.
"Austin, you can handle this. I'll go and help Kasumi get a voice print from Hock." She said.
"Just be careful what you say, Sarah." Said the Helldiver cautiously.
"Like I said, he looks at me wrong; he'll get more than just a slap from me." Said Sarah.
"Alright. Good luck." Said Austin as he disappeared through the door and Sarah went to go and talk with Hock.

Austin took his pistol from out of his jacket as he readied to breach the next door. With the original one closed, no one would hear the shots.
The door opened. There were two guards in the room. They reached for their own guns, but Austin was way too fast. Two quick shots, and they where did within minutes.
With the coast clear, Austin began looking around. He found a data pad and read it.

"—Nance:
I have that problem, too. So many passwords around here, can't keep them straight. The password for tonight is *PERUGGIA*, so it's not even that easy to remember.
It's not a big deal. That voice scanner means the passwords only useful to Hock, anyway.
After this party, want to grab some beers? Let me know.
-Samuels

"That was easy." Austin thought as he finished reading.

Sarah was now to ready to start getting Hock talking for the voice print. Kasumi was hidden just behind a nearby pillar.
"There he is. All you need to do is keep him talking long enough for me to get a voiceprint. Pull out the charm on this one, Shep. Whenever you're ready." she said into Sarah's ear mike
Sarah nodded to Kasumi and the thief activated her omni tool.
"After you." she said.
"Ms Gunn. Good to see you. That scene at the door hasn't soured you and your brother's evening, I hope." said Hock as he took noticed of Sarah and shook hands with her.
"Think nothing of it" said Sarah. "Oh yeah, real smooth, Sarah." she groaned in her head. What had she been thinking by saying that?
"I'm pleased that you weren't offended. Now, if you'll excuse me." said Hock as he turned back to the other guests.
"Not nearly enough of a sample. Keep him talking." said Kasumi.
"Oh, I know!" Sarah thought as she quickly thought up a few good things to say to Hock.
"I was hoping to have a little more of your time." she said.
"You have my attention. Use it wisely." said Hock.
"I think we might have a few rivals in common. I'd like to find out if that's the case." said Sarah.
"No doubt you and your brother have built up an impressive list of enemies." said Hock.
"It's one of the costs of business in my line of work." Sarah smiled suggestively.
"Let's have a date after the party. Discuss the possibility of an accord." Hock smiled at her.
"Great. He's ogling me." Sarah groaned in her head.
Hock then turned and seemed to address everyone as he spoke.
"People these days want comfort, entertainment, love. They don't see that the galaxy is fragile. They only have to worry about simple luxuries. Why? Because people like me – and you – are doing the terrible things that keep the galaxy spinning. This party is for us. The Cleaners. The support structure for the galaxy's gleeful delusions of peace. This part is for us. The cleaners. The support structure for the galaxy's gleeful delusions of peace. May there always be a market for the things we do."
Everyone clapped and cheered. Hock simply nodded to them.
"I said get him talking, and you got him talking. We've got enough of a voice sample. Let him go." said Kasumi.
"I'll look forward to speaking with you later, Ms Gunn." said Hock as he turned back to his other guests.
"Dream on, you bastard!" Sarah thought.

A minute later, Austin came out of the door.
"Got something?" Kasumi asked.
"The password is "Perugia." Austin replied.
"Huh. That's the name of the man who stole the Mona Lisa. Nice. Now, I just take the voice sample we got from Hock, and… Got it! Now we can crack that voice scanner." said Kasumi.
As the group headed back to the vault entrance, they spotted a locked door. There was a guard standing in front of it.
"Mr Hock's private rooms are off limits to guests without security clearance." he said.
"I apologise. I'll go elsewhere." said Austin apologetically.
"Enjoy the party." said the guard.
"Private rooms? We need to get in there! That's the best place to find Hock's DNA." said Kasumi.
There wasn't any way they'd be able to get in through the front entrance. However, as they went outside, Austin did see a way in. Making sure no one was looking, he and Sarah jumped over the railings. They landed on another bit of the building. Two guards were watching the area just in case.
Austin and Sarah took out their pistols and Kasumi did the same as she uncloaked.
"Deal with them quietly. We don't want them to know we're here." Austin whispered.
Kasumi nodded and cloaked again as she snuck up on the closest guard. Austin and Sarah meanwhile snuck up behind the other. Austin quickly grabbed the guard's helmet and gave it a violent twist. At the same, Kasumi uncloaked right behind the other one and did the same thing. With both the guards dealt with, they now had a quiet way into Hock's private rooms.

"Look for anything we can get usable DNA from. Just make it quick and quiet." said Kasumi.
The three split up and began looking in separate places of the room.
"Aha!" said Austin.
"Found a sample?" Kasumi asked.
"Nope, a credit chit!"
"No hair, no skin flakes." said Sarah as she examined the bed.
"The house keepers must be thorough." said Kasumi.
Austin then examined an empty wine glass.
"What about this?" he asked.
"Not a great saliva sample, but it's still useful." said Kasumi. "We're going to need more than this for the scanner, though."
Austin then noticed a cigarette tray and examined it.
"Empty. Too bad. A cigarette butt would have been a good source." said Kasumi
"I can't stand smokers. Disgusting habit!" said Austin
"You and me and me both, bro." Sarah agreed.
The N7 marine then noticed a pile of papers. Unfortunately, those too didn't have any DNA.
"Hmm. No DNA, but… looks like Hock's been trying to crack Keiji's graybox. Looks like he's missing something. He hasn't cracked the encryption yet." said Kasumi.
"What about these swords?" Austin asked as he indicated to a small glass exhibit containing some old swords.
"The cleaners don't dare touch treasures like this. We can get some skin cells from the dust. It's probably contaminated, though. We should find another sample." said Kasumi.
Sarah then noticed a nearby datapad and looked it. It looked as though it had only recently been placed there.
"What about this?" she asked.
"We can probably the Hock's DNA off the datapad. He seems to have obsessed over this." said Kasumi.
"That should do it. Let's get out of here." said Kasumi.
As they were leaving the room however, Austin hand accidentally brushed holographic alarm clock next to Hock's bed.
"Good morning! Time to wake up!" it said as it buzzed.
"Sorry!" Austin said quickly as he turned it off.
"You're just lucky no one heard that." Sarah hissed.

The group quickly went back the way they came. They couldn't risk going through the door since that would raise questions, especially with the guard outside. When they got back to the vault, the barrier was down. All they had left now where the voice prints and ID panels.
"DNA identification affirmed. Welcome, Mr Hock." said the first scanner.
Kasumi then turned to the other one.
"Password required." it said.
Kasumi activated her omni tool and played the recording she'd got of Hock's voice which she'd now configured to speak the password.
"Perugia." it said.
"Voice ID accepted. Welcome, Mr Hock." said the scanner.
Almost instantly, the door opened.
"I'll check for security cams. You two go ahead and get dressed." said Kasumi.
While Kasumi sorted out the security cameras in the elevator, Austin and Sarah walked up to the statue of Sarah. Both siblings activated their omni tools. A small compartment on the base that the statue was stood on opened up and Sarah's N7 Defender armour and Death Mask slid out.
Austin unzipped his suit's jacket and trousers and pulled them off, revealing that he'd been wearing his suit mesh underneath it, much to Sarah's annoyance since she would have to take her dress off and strip to her underwear briefly.
"Oh, that's not fair! You wore your suit mesh under that?!" she said, shocked.
"I had to. At least you weren't hot in yours." Said Austin as he folded up his suit
"At least you don't have to strip naked!" Sarah complained as she unzipped her dress.
"Stop arguing, you two. We don't have much time." Said Kasumi as she risked a quick glance at Sarah's black bra and panties.
"You sound like our mother when you say that." Said Sarah as she started getting her armour on.
The golden statue of Saren then seemed to change from as the several arms of a Helldiver suit remover appeared out of it with bits of the statue attached to them.
"Good old Dell." Austin smiled as his suit was slowly built around him piece by piece.
After a few minutes, the final piece was in place and Sarah put her Death Mask on. Austin then opened the compartment on the statue's base that contained their weapons. Kasumi took her SMG and pistol while Austin threw Sarah's N7 weapons to her.
Once everyone was armed up, they walked into the elevator, Sarah and Austin banging fists as they did so. The doors closed, and the elevator began its decent into Hock's vault.

The doors opened and the three comrades found themselves inside a massive room filled with all sorts of rare artefacts and treasures. Among them where some very famous ones such as Michelangelo's David and the head of the original statue of Liberty after it was damaged by terrorists many years ago. The statue had obviously been rebuilt shortly after, but this one was a brand new different version. The original one had been left in pieces, one of which was now right in front of them.
"So this is Hock's vault. Very nice." Said Kasumi as she looked around impressed by the vault.
"This scanner will hone in on the graybox. It's not far."
The scanner started beeping and got either faster or slower depending on how close they were to the graybox. As they got closer, Austin spotted an interesting looking pair of SMGs on a nearby table.
"That's a Kassa Locust. No, THE Kassa Locust!" said Kasumi.
"The gun that killed two Presidents. Gorgeous." Sarah smiled as she picked up one of them.
"It even comes with a perfect copy, too. I'm sure Hock won't mind if we borrow these." Kasumi smiled naughtily.
Kasumi took the other Locust for herself. Then, on another nearby table, Kasumi saw what she had come for.
"Oh my god. There it is!" she said as she activated her omni tool and began moving the files and memories to her own graybox.
"Don't bother Ms Goto. Its code locked." Said a familiar voice.
Sure enough, a large hologram of Hock's face appeared at the far end of the vault.
"I had a feeling that was you at the door. I knew if it was really you, you'd get through anyway." He said.
"You know me. I don't like to disappoint." Said Kasumi.
"I need what's in your graybox, Kasumi. You know I'm willing to kill you for it. I'll admit your skills are impressive. You, a Helldiver and an N7 marine got into my vault like I'd left it open. But you're still going to die screaming, just like your old friend." Hock taunted.
Just before he could finish however, Austin suddenly activated his shoulder plasma cannon and fired a shot at a nearby antique vase. The antique smashed to pieces immediately due to its fragile state.
"No!" Hock yelled.
"Have we got your attention?!" Sarah taunted.
"Ha! That shut him up." Kasumi laughed as the download finished.
"Kill them!" Hock yelled.
Almost immediately, the door at the far end opened and several Eclipse troopers came in, guns blazing. Austin, Sarah and Kasumi all went to cover and returned fire. Kasumi in particular put the new Kassa Locust to the very good use on the mercs while Sarah fired upon the heavy troopers with her N7 Typhoon. Like her brother, Sarah too preferred a light machine gun over her other weapons. The Typhoon in particular was her favourite. Austin meanwhile just stuck with the weapons that Dell and Sill had given him. In fact, he too had taken to nicknaming his M-76 Revenant, Revan, just as Sill had.
A fierce fight raged within the vault. So fierce in fact that nearly every single shot either hit an Eclipse merc or one of the antiques. Austin couldn't help but smile a bit as he thought of what Hock's expression would be if he saw this now.
Finally, Austin delivered the last killing blow to Chief Roe and the vault was clear.
"Checking blueprints…" "There's a landing pad to the east. Let's get out of here." Said Kasumi.
"Joker, send the Hellhound in. Now!" Austin said into his comm.

The trio made their way out of the vault and into some underground tunnels. They were filled with a lot of vehicles and machinery. As the neared the tunnel that would take them to the landing pad however, the stone doors suddenly closed.
"They're out of the vault. Seal them in!" came Hock's voice over the loud speaker.
"Damn it! We have to find another way!" said Kasumi.
"Austin, can't you just punch through the wall?" Sarah asked.
"My armour's not strong enough to do that. Besides, these walls are concrete. I'll just break my wrist." Said Austin.
Fortunately, there was another way out. Unfortunately though, it was crawling with more Eclipse troopers. Another gunfight ensued as the trio battled their way through. Things started to get a bit harder when the Eclipse soldiers started using heavy mechs as well. Though this made things a bit more challenging, it was still nothing that the three couldn't handle by working together.
Once they'd cleared another room, they found themselves in a dead end. On the far side of the room where several large fuel tanks, and they look flammable.
"It'll take heavier weapons than that to blow those tanks." said Kasumi as Sarah fired a few shots from her Typhoon which hardly made a dent in the tanks.
Austin however wanted to be sure. He activated his plasma cannon and fired a shot at the tanks. It left a mark, but still nothing happened.
"Didn't she just say…?" said Sarah.
"I just thought I'd try. Plasma packs more of punch." said Austin.
"What about this?" Kasumi asked.
Austin and Sarah looked round to see a massive tank a few feet away from the fuel tanks. The tank had a massive gun on the top.
"Well, only one way to find out." Austin shrugged as he climbed up onto the tank and activated gun. A large beam shot from the gun and the fuel tanks completely exploded as the beam hit them. When the smoke from the blast had cleared, there was now a massive hole in the wall.
"That got it." said Kasumi.
"What the hell are you people doing down there?!" came Hock's voice over the speakers.
More Eclipse mercs quickly flooded into the tunnels. Austin and Sarah unholstered their weapons again and went to cover.
"Kill Solomon Gunn! But spare his sister. Bring the girls to me!"
"Over my dead body!" Austin yelled as he fired a plasma shot at the heavy mechs head, causing it to overload and explode in a small mushroom cloud explosion. This managed to make things easier for Sarah and Kasumi as the blast took out half the topers.
"Don't fight me, Kasumi. You know what happened to your boy toy when he fought back." Hock taunted.
"You don't talk about Keiji like that! Murderer!" Kasumi yelled as she shot down two Eclipse vanguards with the Locust.
"Keep them busy. I'll take care of this myself." said Hock.
Austin, Sarah and Kasumi finished off the last of the guards and made their way for the door.
"Take it slow. I imagine Hock's got a surprise for us. We're not out of the woods yet." Austin advised.

Both Austin and Sarah looked around, scanning the area for enemies. For a moment, everything seemed clear. Just as the two siblings relaxed however, a faint humming sound suddenly sounded from under the landing pad. It got louder and then a gunship suddenly flew into view.
"Incoming! Get down!" Austin yelled as the gunship opened fire on them with its gun and they all went to cover.
"You could've done this the easy way, Goto. Allow me to show you the hard way." Hock's voice echoed front he gunship.
More Eclipse mercs soon joined the fray as the gunship layer down surprising fire.
"This is bad!" Austin yelled as he rolled from his previous cover to a new one as the gunship's firepower compromised him.
"We've had bad before!" Sarah replied back as she briefly popped out of cover and shot down two Eclipse heavy's with her Typhoon.
"This is worse." Austin finished.
"Got a plan at all?!" Kasumi shouted from where from an Eclipse trooper had her pinned.
Austin thought for a moment before he set his plasma cannon to automatic and it shot the trooper surprising Kasumi, allowing the thief to move to new cover.
"You two, take care of the Eclipse. I'll deal with Hock. I've got enough firepower to take that ship down!" he ordered.
"Roger that, Major." Sarah replied in agreement as she went over to join Kasumi while Austin moved to try and get a better shot at Hock's gunship.
"What did you tell your friends, Kasumi? You're doing this for love?" Hock taunted as his focus shifted to Austin.
The Helldiver returned fire with two plasma shots, which Hock managed to dodge. These however hadn't been intended as an attack. They'd merely been so Hock would move the gunship into a better shooting angle for Austin. The Helldiver let his Revenant loose on the gunship as it flew into view. Unexpectedly however, the shot's impacted on the gunship's shields. Austin hadn't counted on this. Gunships like these often just had armour. Hock had obviously made some upgrades, clever. Austin fired both his Revenant and plasma cannon at the same time, which managed to wear the shields down a lot. Before he could finish Hock off though, the gunship vanished from sight.
Sarah and Kasumi meanwhile were working well together against the Eclipse. Kasumi's tech skills coupled with Sarah's soldier and N7 training where making them a match for their opponents.
"Not bad shooting, for a thief." said Sarah as she threw a grenade out, which obliterated a nearby fuel tank and set several Eclipse soldiers on fire.
"You're not so bad yourself. You certainly live up to the expectations of being the sister of a Helldiver." Kasumi smiled back at her as she used an overload on an Eclipse engineers shields, allowing Sarah to finish him off.
Hock's gunship flew into view once again. Austin's HUD annoyingly told him that the gunship's shields had charged back up.
"Even if you escape, I'll scour the galaxy for you!"
"Not if I can help it!" Austin yelled as he once again opened fire. Despite his best efforts though, he couldn't wear the shields down quickly enough before they repaired themselves.
"If I can get to the ship, I can take down the shields!" Kasumi yelled to him.
Austin immediately understood now. If all the Eclipse mercs where out of way, Kasumi would be able to get to Hock. The Helldiver abandoned his attack on the gunship and retreated back to where his sister and the thief where. Despite Hock firing at them, they soon managed to gun down the final merc and the landing pad was clear.
"Got a clear shot! Here we go!" said Kasumi.
The thief ran out of cover as Hock attempted to shoot her. Kasumi jumped up onto some nearby pipes. Austin and Sarah where amazed by her speed and agility. Austin had never seen a non-Helldiver move like that before. Kasumi then jumped up onto the net level of pipes and ran at the gunship. Just as she reached the end, she jumped at it. She landed on the gunship's cockpit and activated her omni tool.
Her overload immediately shorted out the shields and the gunship briefly spun out of control before Hock managed to regain control of it. Kasumi slid down the windshield to the very bottom. Hock glared at her from inside. Kasumi then gave a mocking salute and jumped off. She flipped in the air like a gymnast before she landed back not he pad. Both Austin and Sarah where left speechless by this.
"Helldivers could learn a lot from her." Austin thought.
"Shields down! Let's tear that thing apart!" said Kasumi.
The two Shepards smiled and popped back out of cover for a clear shot at Hock. The contestant gunfire quickly caused several bullet holes to appear in the gunship. The combined force of an M-76 Revenant and an N7 Typhoon was just immense
"No one escapes from Donovan Hock!" Hock yelled from the gunship.
Sarah holstered her Typhoon and picked up a rocket launcher from one of the dead Eclipse mercs.
"Well we do! This is for trying to flirt with me!" she yelled as she locked on and fired.
The rocket zoomed towards its target. Hock attempted an evasive manoeuvre, but it was in vain. The rocket simply altered course, still locked onto its target. The gunship exploded into loads of pieces as the rocket hit's target head on. There was no way that Hock could've survived that in any way.
The three came out of cover and took a moment to catch their breath.
"Good moves, Kasumi. That was very impressive." Austin panted.
"I try." Kasumi simply smiled.
The Hellhound dropship then came into view and slowly set down on the landing pad. Austin, Sarah and Kasumi didn't hesitate to get in and the dropship quickly took off again.

On board the Hellhound, Kasumi was examining the small device that had the graybox files now stored in it. Austin and Sarah where at a small terminal so that they'd be able to see and hear what she would as well as she examined the files and memories. Austin nodded and Kasumi inserted the device into a small slot not he wall. A holographic projection appeared over Kasumi's eyes and she almost seemed to black out as her head went limp.

Kasumi opened her eyes to find herself in a holographic reality. Stood in front of her, was Keiji.
"Kasumi. If you're seeing this, it's because I'm dead. The information we found is all here. It's big Kasumi. If the Council ever got wind of this… the Alliance could be implicated. Kasumi, I… I encrypted the information to keep it safe. And I uploaded the encryption key to your graybox, so now one could get the whole package." he explained.
Kasumi walked around a bit and opened one of the memories. The memory showed her and Keiji kissing before she then threw him down on the bed and they began making love. Kasumi smiled as she watched the romantic sight.
"But if I'm dead, and if anyone knows about this… then I've made you a target, my love. I'm so, so sorry." Keiji continued.
"Keiji…" Kasumi sighed sadly.
"I know you, Kasumi. You'll want to keep these memories forever. But you don't need some neural implant to know I'll always be with you." said Keiji "Please, Kasumi. Destroy these files."
Kasumi immediately reacted to this with shock and ran to where the hologram of Keiji still stood. "There's nothing more I can do to protect you."
"I… I can't do that! This is all that's left!" Kasumi said, almost on the point of tears.
"Goodbye, Kasumi. I love you." Keiji finished as Kasumi hugged him.

The hologram around Kasumi's eyes vanished and she came back to reality.
"Is there any way we can just destroy the information?" Austin asked.
"No. Keiji's a master at encrypting files. He laced the information into his memories. You can't get one without experiencing the other." Kasumi sighed.
Austin gave a very heavy sigh. He hated to do this, but he had no choice. He could only hope that Kasumi would understand.
"You heard him, Kasumi. He'd want you to destroy the information save yourself." He said.
"Sarah looked surprised at Austin for saying this, but she didn't say anything. She could tell that her brother took no pleasure in this, and she understood why he had made this difficult decision.
"I know. I just… I can't! This is all that's left of him." Kasumi whimpered, her voice cracking as a tear streaked down her cheek.
"If it makes it easier, I'll help you do it." said Sarah as she put her hand reassuringly on the thief's shoulder.
"I… okay. Just help me get it over with, please." Kasumi sobbed, just managing to regain her composure.
Sarah held Kasumi's hand as the thief pressed the buttons not he holographic display. Kasumi gave on last look at Keiji's face before the image crackled and finally went blank. The files were destroyed.
"Th… thank you." Kasumi whispered as she sobbed into Sarah's shoulder.
"There, there. It's alright." said the N7 marine gently as she hugged Kasumi too her. The two sat down together while Austin sat down separately.
"I'm sorry, Kasumi. I really am." he wanted to say it, but he ultimately felt it'd just be better to let Kasumi be. Given time, she'd come round.

Don't be angry at me for making this decision. Please be assured that I had good reasons for doing it. Reasons that you'll hopefully find out soon. Kasumi is eventually going to be paired with someone as the story progresses. This helps here get over the loss of the files.
Would also like to say, maybe later after the next chapter there will be another sex scene. This one will involve Kasumi, but it won't involve Shepard being with her. It'll be more that Kasumi watches Shepard having sex with Liara and get's turned on by it. Well, you know what I mean.
Hope to see you soon. Next chapter will involve recruiting Thane. If there any Thane fans reading this, I'm very sorry that i've delayed his recruitment for so long. I'm hoping also to include the Shadow Broker hacking mission for Xun just before Shepard heads out to recruit the assassin.
Farewell for now! Please do leave your opinions on this one. You know how much they mean to me.
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Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga, The Collector War