The Firefly (Mass Effect Andromeda)

Chapter 52

Time passed. The investigation was fruitless. No one had seen anything. Lyora and Nunok had come up with a list but there were a lot of people on the Nexus who likely had the capability to hack. They'd interrogated a few but no one had admitted to anything.

Two weeks passed.

Olivia was worried about Scott. He was barely eating, never sleeping. He looked haggard, and they seemed to hit one dead end after another. Tann was pressuring him to get back out in the field and he was dragging his heels.

She paced the halls outside of Lyora and Nunok's lab. It was the middle of the night and she'd been there long enough the day before. Yet she couldn't bring herself to go back to her own room, or to Scott's and see his disappointed face.

And then a woman came running up to her. She was little more than a kid really, could only have been about eighteen. She had a short blue bob and wide dark eyes. She looked all around her, as if frightened that someone was watching. "You're her, right? The Firefly? I keep hearing people talk about you."

"I guess so." Olivia said, backing up a step. "Why?"

"I saw her. The Pathfinder's sister. That day at the rally." She hesitated.

"What?" Olivia burst out. "Why didn't you say anything? What did you see?"

"I didn't want to get into trouble." The girl was biting her lip nervously. "I was just going to keep my head down. I still have family in cryo. I don't want anything to happen to them."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"She went to the dock that day. I was down there too. Maintenance work. No one saw me."

"What did you see?"

"He shot her with a dart gun." The girl stammered. "He put her in a shuttle and it left."

"You're sure?" Olivia pressed. "She went on a shuttle? Did you recognise the man who shot her?"

The girl flinched. "I'm not telling you my name, and I'm not going on the record." She took a breath. "It was the man who works in the big office. He works with the colony director."

"Dark hair, entitled attitude?" Olivia asked, her heart sinking. She called up a picture of William Spender on her omnitool.

The girl nodded. "I don't want any trouble." She murmured. "So you didn't hear this from me, alright?" Before Olivia could answer, she was running off and vanished.

Spender. That was a bad sign. Drack detested him, she knew. There was bad blood between him and the Krogan from the uprisings. Drack had told her once that he was sure Spender had done bad things, illegal things, during that time, but he had no evidence.

Sighing, she turned around and headed back to the lab, calling Scott and his crew to come and join them.

Bleary eyed, everyone sat around waiting for Olivia to start. She glanced away, gathering her thoughts and then explained what the unknown girl had told her.

The room exploded into noise, everyone talking and arguing over each other with plans.

She glanced at Scott. "What do you want to do?"

"I want to tear him limb from limb. But I'll settle for putting pressure on until he tells us where he sent my sister and why."

They stormed their way into the main office, finding him still there, working through the night.

"Where's my sister?" Scott shouted, hands balled into fists. Spender flinched, looking away, saying nothing.

"This is absurd." Addison exclaimed. "You're being ridiculous, Pathfinder! When was the last time you slept?"