Chereads / The Dragonking of Nirn / Chapter 254 - Keiji Okuda

Chapter 254 - Keiji Okuda

Vincent praised his team once they were in casual clothes as they were all sitting around a table with the others eating when he says, "We have to repeat that singularity grenade combination."

"Let us not. It is quite dangerous already with you needing to get close and personal," says Liara not wanting to put Vincent at more risk while in battle as he already is.

"Don't worry about me, woman. I am unkillable," says Vincent sounding more like boasting for the unknown while stating a fact for the ones that know.

"Anyway, we should hope that Jacob heals fast from his injuries," says Vincent as he felt sorry that he couldn't just patch him up without revealing who he is.

"He will be back in no time. He is too stubborn to die, I speak from experience," says Miranda as she was sitting at the table with them.

"What were you in a relationship with him before?" asks Vincent curious about that now.

"You could say so. It wasn't something serious but it helped to relieve some tension once in a while and I won't say more," says Miranda as Vincent laughed at that.

"That reminds me of someone I knew. She was like that as well. She always needed to release all tension after returning from a mission," says Vincent as he was talking about Aela.

They continue to talk about the mission until it was time for them to rest their eyes as they were under pressure on that mission because of the civilian targets they needed to save.

It was a mental and physical task that Vincent had experienced more than once in his life even with his body never being able to surrender but his mind was another thing.

He was sleeping beside Liara as his arms were around her waist laying like spoons beside each other with Fenris and Ser Jorey sleeping at their feet. Provus and Ishly were sleeping on different beds in the Cargo Bay with them.

In the meantime on the first deck, Titania was about to go to sleep while going over the reports which Garrus and Vincent handed to her about their approach of fulfilling their mission and killing the Collectors so she could find better ways to deal with them.

She was also thinking about Ashley when Tristan enters her Quarter and finds his sister half-naked sitting on the couch while Kaidan seemed to be sleeping on the bed.

"You should be asleep," says Tristan as he was on the night shift with Zaeed to make sure that if something happens they can answer.

"I was going over Garrus's and Vincent's reports. They have vastly different approaches with Vincent being direct while Garrus using precision," says Titania as she wasn't ashamed of her brother seeing her like that.

"Why did you want to talk to me?" asks Tristan confused as he didn't know about the crew meeting Ashley.

"I met Ash on Horizon. It seems she was promoted," says Titania informing Tristan about it.

"How is she doing?" asks Tristan curious about it.

"She must be having a headache at the moment because of Vincent," says Titania with a smile on her face.

"What do you mean?" asks Tristan not understanding what she meant.

"Vincent shot at her with a rubber ball knocking her out. He scared all of us since we thought that he killed her at first because she just fell over. He even shot me which made me almost lose the strength in my legs because of the indifferent look he gave me when he pulled the trigger," says Titania as she placed the notepad to the side before grabbing her glass from the table.

She takes a sip from her whiskey before she places the glass down again while asking, "Did you two really break up because of me?"

"We had the chance to bring you back and we took it. Even Vincent told me that I should have let you rest in peace back then thinking that it wouldn't be you that would return but he was wrong as well," says Tristan avoiding to answer his sister directly.

"So you did break up because of me. You know I always thought that you would never leave each other's side," says Titania reading between the lines as she felt bad about being the reason for them to separated from each other.

"You shouldn't worry about that. We can't be together right now but that doesn't say that I can't be with her in the future when all this shit is over," says Tristan as he leans back before saying, "In the meantime, I will have some fun with our Cerberus Spy. She seems to have some personal interest in me."

"Just keep it simple be fuckbuddies. I don't need some more drama on this ship with all the drama already on it," says Titania as she stood up from the couch and yawns before saying, "Anyway, I should join Kaidan and get some sleep."

"And I will get something strong to burn this picture out of my memory and replace it with that of another woman," says Tristan as he left Titania's Quarter with the intention of getting drunk.

A week passed since the incident on Horizon and everything was quite calm too calm for Titania who was already seeing zebras everywhere while helping some of the crewmembers with their personal problem.

They found the person that sold out Garrus and his crew as well as helping Zaeed with his personal mission of taking out the leader of the Blue Suns before it was Kasumi's turn.

"So you want some Graybox?" says Titania confused since she didn't know what a Graybox is.

"Yes, everything on it belonged to my late partner. I want it back since the information in it can be quite dangerous in the wrong hands," says Kasumi as Vincent was listening in on the conversation since they are talking in the canteen.

"I would like to join this mission," says Vincent to Titania as he sat down at their table.

"Why would you like to help me? You are always ignoring me or observing what I am doing," says Kasumi confused and curious at the same time.

"Yes, why would you like to help Kasumi?" asks Titania as she was suspicious of Vincent wanting to join them.

"Kasumi wants the Graybox but the person she wants to rob has an artifact of mass destruction in his possession which the Empire can't allow him to have," says Vincent seriously as Kasumi and Titania looked at him waiting for his explanation.

"It is called a tainted Qunari better known as a Darkspawn Ogre," says Vincent as Kasumi was clueless while Titania heard the word 'Darkspawn' before.

"Darkspawn, I know that I heard that word before while staying on Nirn," says Titania before she remembers something.

"Isn't it a disease that spread once in a while on Nirn?" asks Titania as Vincent shakes his head.

"Darkspawn are monsters that are tainted or corrupted by the taint which is like a virus if it ever enters your body. Thedas was known to have Blights which stopped once the Empire exterminated the Darkspawns for good," says Vincent not wanting to remember how many people they have lost in the Deep Roads.

"What is the problem then?" asks Kasumi as Vincent smiles at her innocence.

"If the Ogre is allowed to break free of his imprisonment by accident the whole planet it is staying could fall to the Blight. All the people on that planet will be like Husks and attack everyone that is sane and the women will become Broodmothers," says Vincent as he turned serious again.

"I don't like where this is going," says Titania as Vincent had a disgusted expression on his face.

"You won't, I had to kill many of them myself. The women are repeatedly raped and feed with tainted flesh until they turn into something like this," says Vincent as a hologram of a Broodmother appeared on the table.

This made some stomachs turn just from seeing that as Vincent pulled the next hologram and says, "They can produce a lot of warriors depending on their race. We only know of those four which are Hurlocks made from Human Broodmothers."

"The next are Shrieks produced by Elven Broodmothers. Then the Genlocks from Dwarven Broodmothers and the last are Ogres from Qunari Broodmothers. So imagine to have a fabric that can produce endless soldiers for you that's what a Broodmother is for the Darkspawn," says Vincent as he was disgusted just remembering the Deep Roads.

"And if that Ogre somehow escapes..." says Titania as Vincent nods.

"They will repopulate on that planet and destroy everything else on that planet and if some poor souk gets infected by the taint and travels to another planet it could be devastating," says Vincent as Titania had now an ugly picture in her head.

"Why hasn't the Empire informed the Alliance about that or the Council?" asks Titania angry as Vincent could understand her anger.

"What do you want the Empire to say 'Hey can you give us that Ogre back it is a dangerous item which can destroy whole civilizations in mere months if it is loose.'. Do you know how that will sound like?" says Vincent as Titania was holding her head.

"It would sound like a perfect weapon for the Empire to use against us," says Titania as Vincent nods.

"Exactly that's why we sent one of our agents to deal with it but he was killed before he could finish his mission," says Vincent as he looked at Kasumi.

"Why are you looking at me?" asks Kasumi confused as Vincent sighs since the next sentences were quite difficult to say.

"You knew our agent quite well, Kasumi Goto. That's why I was avoiding you the whole time," says Vincent as he has a sad expression on his face.

"What do you mean?" asks Titania curious and suspicious of what Vincent was going to say next.

"Keiji Okuda was the agent we sent out to get the Ogre back to the Empire without much attention but he failed. That's why you also know about Nocturnal. He must have prayed to her for good fate before a mission," says Vincent as Kasumi didn't want to believe it while Titania was confused.

"That can't be true! He was born and raised on Earth!" shouts Kasumi furiously while hitting the table with her fist as Vincent looks at her seriously.

"He lived for a while on Earth with his father and mother as they monitored Earth with other agents to make sure that we stayed hidden from everyone's radar," says Vincent as now Titania hit the table and looked at Vincent seriously.

"Are you saying that there are spies on Earth overwatching us," says Titania in a scary tone as Vincent nods not scared at all.

"Yes, the same can be said about every other civilization in our Galaxy except for the Asari since they would know that a spy is between them," says Vincent as Kasumi was holding her head.

"Was our love a lie as well?" asks Kasumi herself as Vincent sighs at that.

"It wasn't, that was his last mission because he wanted to retire from his duty as an agent to be with you. It was an easy mission but something went wrong and he died," says Vincent telling Kasumi the truth about Keiji when he looks at her.

"So I want to get revenge for one of my agents and retreat the artifact before it could do damage to everything around it," says Vincent as Titania looked at him seriously.

"I will have to inform Fleet Admiral Hackett about this now," says Titania as she stood up.

"Do so but he won't be able to find the spies even if he tries," says Vincent making Titania sigh as Vincent smiles at her and he says, "We have had spies for over a century on Earth and you didn't notice it. It is impossible for you to find them even I can have a hard time if they are protected by Nocturnal."

"I give up. Let's just get this behind us," says Titania holding her head not wanting to think about it as she walked away to get their last crewmate for this mission.