Lair of the Shadow Broker (mission)

Cerberus has delivered information on purchases the Shadow Broker has made recently. It may provide the information Liara T'Soni needs to track down the Shadow Broker's location.

Acquisition
A message is sent to Shepard's private terminal from Cerberus:

On the galaxy map this mission is titled Give Liara Intel.

Meet With Liara
Head to Illium and talk to Liara in her office above the trading floor. Liara is ecstatic about the information as it contains some hints about the Shadow Broker’s location in a conversation between Shadow Broker agents. However the message also contains information that Feron, Liara’s former drell partner, and apparently he is still alive. Respond to that any way you choose, and then Liara will express that after two years, she didn’t know, and looks at Feron’s dog tags on her desk. Liara then gives some of the backstory for Shepard about how even through Feron betrayed her, he still sacrificed himself to save Liara and Shepard. Liara then walks out to begin forming a plan, and invites you to use her terminal for any local intel.

Currently there is no intel available so head over to the car port near the police station, and take a cab to Liara’s apartment.

Liara’s Apartment
When you arrive, you will find the police are investiaging the apartment and lead by a Spectre, Tela Vasir. Tela dismisses the Illium cops and then the conversation will differ slightly if Shepard’s Spectre status was reinstated or not. Talk to Tela about the attack and what happened. Apparnelty someone shot at Liara, and even with that, she still stuck around for some reason. Tela currently doesn’t have information about her current location however, nor did the cops find anything more. Tela says that they couldn’t find anything, but she invites you to look around for anything that they may have missed.

Investiage the apartment by looking at specific things.
 * Bullet Holes in Window: Tela will say that the rife used to do that wasn’t standard issue, and while Liara’s Kinetic Barriers stopped the bullets they still penetrated the glass.
 * N7 Armor: A piece of Shepard’s armor that Liara recovered.
 * Degree Certificate: Apparently Liara got a doctorate from the University of Serrice on Thessia. Tela mentions that she’s getting her worth out of that degree.
 * Picture: on the upper level is a photo album that changes from the SSV Normandy to a Prothean dig site. Tela comes up and Shepard mentions that Liara did leave a message.

Investigate the Prothean relics around the apartment.
 * Relic Top Level: Nothing of note apart that its apparently worth a fortune.
 * Relic Near Door: Nothing of note. Apparently Tela thinks it’s ugly.
 * Painting: Tela mentions that it’s not Thessia, but Shepard recognizes it, Ilos.
 * Relic: Bottom of stairs: It contains a backup disk. When played, it shows a recorded conversation between Liara and one of her contacts, Sekat. He apparently has nailed down where the Shadow Broker is and he can narrow it down to a cluster, maybe a system. He asks Liara to come to his office at Baria Frontiers in the Dracon Trade Center.

Dracon Trade Center
When the team arrives, Tela mentions that the Frontiers office is on the third floor. When the squad gets to the top of the stairs, the building explodes. Three floors of the building were taken out to make sure that Liara didn’t get the information she wanted. Tela takes off in the skycar to seal off the building from the top, while Shepard the squad work from the bottom up. Get moving. There are some civilians outside, but they have no information as to what happened, so proceed inside.

When you get inside, the building is a mess from the bombs. There is an employee of Baria on the floor to the right, Tela mentions that Shepard shouldn’t count on Liara’s contact surviving that blast. There is also a locker here with some credits. The elevator on the left hand side of the atrium is locked down and the building’s security isn’t responding. Tela mentions that it was professional based on the lack of security and police response. Head up the stairs to the right to proceeed grabbing the Medi-gel from the Medical Station along the way.

The next plaza contains the salarian embassy on Illium, Nezo Transportation, both currently locked down, a PDA with some credits, and another medical station. Examining the dead employee reveals that he was killed, not by the explosion but by gunfire. Shepard relays this to Tela, who is surprised and mentions that this was more than explosion after all. Head up the stairs in the center of the plaza to find and ATM with more credits. Off to the right are some power cells, near Exsolar Shipping. Off to the left, a bomb that wasn’t armed but it isn’t military grade. Tela mentions that they use hardware like that when they don’t have time to plan. Head into the Baria Frontiers Office just past the unarmed bomb.

Examine the log book to find that Liara signed in just a few minutes ago. Head inside and start exploring. When you get near a curve, the squad is suddenly blinded by a flash and now you’re under attack. Shepard radios to Tela that they are pinned down, she replies that Shepard should say hello to the Shadow Broker’s private army. You are attacked by three Shadow Broker Agents and a Shadow Broker Heavy, there is plenty of cover so make use of it. In the next room, less cover and more enemies, three Agents, and a Shadow Broker Vanguard. Take them down as quickly as possible because they are a big threat, especially that Vanguard.

Once they are down, move your squad up and then get to the terminal in the side room for more credits. Keep moving and you will encounter more Agents, and another heavy. Use the cover to take them out then round the corner to be attacked again, this time by more Agents, Heavies, and a Shadow Broker Engineer (salarian). Keep moving from cover here, as the Engineers have Combat Drones and the Troopers have Flashbang Grenades. When the enemies are finally down, there is a terminal with more credits in the side room, and a medical station in the cafeteria at the end of the hallway.

Head around the corner to see the stairs blocked by fire, don’t try to go into it, as it won’t be a good result. Shepard radios Vasir about it and she says to find a switch to active the fire suppression systems. It’s in the side room, the Maintenance Console, and there is a crate of eezo here as well. Once the suppression systems are active, don’t leave the room as the machinery is salvageable, more credits, then leave. Tela mentions that she is on her way down, so move up to meet her.

On the upper level, be prepared for more combat with three more Agents. Use the limited cover to take them out, and have your squadmates flank, then head into the room they were guarding. Inside is a research terminal, Heavy Pistol Damage, grab it and keep moving into the next room and grab the credits from the wall safe. Open the door to continue.

Inside you see Liara’s contact being shot by one of the Broker’s Agents, then Tela shooting the Agent, who falls dead when Shepard and the squad enter. Vasir mentions about Liara’s body, then Liara herself emerges wielding a pistol at Vasir. Defuse the situation but Liara mentions that Vasir tried to kill her. Shepard and the squad pull their guns, and Liara give the story, about how Vasir signaled the Shadow Brokers Agents, and how she broke into Liara’s apartment. Vasir then killed Saket and took his data, which she probably still has on her.

Then Vasir tries to get away, by using her biotics to shatter the glass and calling Liara a pureblood while she’s at it. However Liara throws up a barrier to protect the squad and Vasir makes a run for it. Shepard tackles her, and then they fly out the window. Vasir cushions their fall with her biotics and has a small scuffle with Shepard. Then Liara leaps out of the office, also using her biotics to cushion her fall while the squad watches. Vasir, now outnumbered, then makes a run for it, blowing past two Shadow Broker Agents in the process. The squad rejoins Shepard in the plaza, and at the at moment form the Eldfell-Ashland Energy office, more Agents emerge allowing Vasir to escape. Pursue her.

Pursue Vasir
Take out the Agents with haste, there are two Agents and a Heavy to deal with, so keep to cover. When they fall, more Agents and a Vanguard emerge, so use the fountain in the center for cover. It not only provides effective cover, but allows for a wide field of fire. When they all fall, head down the stairs and into the atrium. Inside, grab the cover provided by the bench to your left, and take down the ten or so Agents, the heavy, and the Engineer that try to stop you. When they are all finally down, head out of the door to find Liara and Vasir engaged in a firefight. Vasir calls her skycar and then jumps into it. Liara then gets into hers, followed by Shepard. You can only select one squad member to come with, so remember that Liara is a biotic so pick carefully. When you select your squadmate, hope you have that driver’s license handy as now you have to pursue Vasir through the skies of Illium.

Sky Way Chase
When you get control of the skycar, use the left stick to navigate, the right to steer, and the left trigger to boost. Keep following Vasir through the skies, and watch out for the traffic, and every other obstacle. Above all, don’t lose Vasir. Just keep in mind that boosting reduces the amount of control you have.

Liara will be commenting the whole time, which Shepard usually replies to, and the conversations are usually funny. Sometimes however, her conversations help with direction. After a period of time, Vasir will start dropping proximity bombs, so avoid them, least you lose speed. Then Liara mentions that Vasir has reinforcements, and Shepard asks if the car has any weapons. “It’s a taxi, it has a fair meter,” so that would be a no. Keep following Vasir and try to avoid a head on collision. Then you are treat to a cutscene where Vasir tries to ram Shepard and the squad out of sky, while dodging traffic, but only succeeds in colliding with another skycar, and damaging hers. She crashes on a building, the Azure Hotel, and is approached by a LOKI Mech, which is then destroyed. Sheaprd and the squad see the crash and land their intact cab on the top of the building to pursue Vasir, who radios for backup.

Rooftop Chaos
You now have Liara as a squad member. She is armed with Heavy Pistols and Submachine Guns. She also has her class Power Asari Scientist, Singularity, Stasis, and Warp, which is unlocked with Singularity at level two.

When you regain control, grab the med-kit from the car while Liara makes a note about Vasir’s car and how she can’t have gotten far. Head up the stairs only to be ambushed by three waves of Shadow Broker Agents and Engineers. The first wave will be to your front, the second and third off to either the left or right on the upper platform, or behind you on the lower platform, so plan your cover appropriately. However, the subsequent waves will not appear until the previous one has been eliminated. Also, keep an eye on your ammo, as it might be running low by now. Waves on the lower platform will be a little more difficult because of the skycars on the lower platform. There will be six waves in total so once they are all down, move around and grab thermal clips, as your ammo might be low. Near the door that the first wave blocked is a bank terminal, access it for some more credits.

Now head to the left side of the platform and go into the glass walled room, it’s the only one with a green door sign. Once you get inside you hear a conversation, but bypass the wall safe on your right first and the med-kit ahead of you. Then head into the room where there is a patron on the ground, but talking to him accomplishes nothing, so talk to Liara about the video. She will provide some information about the hotel and its name.

Head out to Vasir’s car where Liara will note that there is a blood trail, Vasir was wounded in the crash. There are some power cells in her car and access the broken panel for a Damage Protection Upgrade. Follow the blood trail until it reaches another room. Inside there is a lot of dead bodies, but some more interesting things. In the room on your right is a Weapons Locker, so switch weapons if you need to, and a med-kit. In the main room is a Medical Station and a personal datapad with some credits, grab both before leaving.

When you exit the second door, the blood trail leads to Vasir, who si still waking and trying to blend in. However Liara bulls a gun and she stops. Vasir then grabs a hostage, then she puts her gun to her hostage’s head. With a few Paragon or Renegade choices you can avoid hurting the hostage. Shepard talks to Vasir while Liara biotically levels her with a table. However if you don’t you lose your power cells, or you have to wound the hostage. Either way it leads to a fight with Vasir.

Vasir has barriers, armor, and health, and while you outnumber her three to one, keep on your toes. Vasir will use her biotics to charge around the battlefield, making her sometimes hard to hit. When you damage her enough, about half of her barriers, she will jump out of the fight leaving you to deal with Rocket Drones, and more Shadow Broker Agents and Engineers. Keep in cover during this fight as they will use Combat Drones, and the rockets from the flying Rocket Drones can be hazardous to your health.

When you defeat the first wave, Vasir makes a reappearance, so watch out and employ the same tactics as before. Keep her on her toes, keep shooting her, and when her barriers are gone, she’ll jump out again. Deal with the second wave of Rocket Drones, Engineers, and Agents. Just remember to keep in cover. When you defeat this second wave, Vasir drops back in, but this time she won’t run. She will still continue to charge around the battlefield, so keep on your toes, and once her armor is down, use any power you have to tie her up and then proceed to let her have it.

Once Vasir is down, you are treated to a cutscene where Liara takes the disk and find the information they need, and Vasir continues to protest. Shepard asks why Vasir betrayed the Council, and she will rebuff saying that she didn’t like Saren did. She got information from the Shadow Broker for years, information that saved lives, and doing a few things for the Broker, like killing a few people, she’ll gladly pay that price. Shepard can rebuff Vasir, but she reminds Shepard of why the Spectres exist, to do the Council’s dirty work. Then she brings up Cerberus and how Shepard is allied with them. Respond to that and Vasir will mind Shepard of a few of Cerberus choice experiments and says that Shepard had better look in a mirror before Shepard can compare to Vasir and what she’s done. Then Vasir takes her last breath.

Shepard heads back inside where Liara is examining the disk. Apparently the Shadow Broker really wanted Liara dead, and didn’t care about the collateral damage. Shepard arrives to inform Liara of Vasir’s death, and Liara forwards the data to the Normandy. You can use a Paragon interrupt to convince Liara that they will rescue Feron in time. If the interrupt is taken, Liara remind Shepard of their past, and how Shepard saved her on Therum, and fought the Krogan Battlemaster while she cowered in fear. She talks about how Shepard always helped her, and how she is still leaning on Shepard. Is that a good thing? Yes because that is what friends do.

She goes on to talk about how they will get there and how the Normandy’s stealth systems will keep them from being detected. Because the Broker’s agents are still fighting through Illium, and with a bit of luck, they will be able to escape without being noticed. A second Paragon interrupt will have Shepard bringing up how they killed innocent people. Liara responds, then Shepard reminds Liara about how she went after Vasir without a second thought, and aggressively. She then brings up Sekat and how she put him in harm’s way with the stakes involved and how she got him killed. However, things will be simpler now, get to the Shadow Broker, get Feron, and get out.

The Shadow Broker’s base has finally been located on the stormy planet of Hagalaz, Liara has asked for assistance in finishing the Broker off for good.

Mission Summary
"Shepard has defeated the Shadow Broker. Eliminate Cerberus information leaks as Liara T'Soni takes over. The asari's relationship with Shepard should be watched closely."
 * Debriefing
 * Experience: (1248)
 * Upgrades
 * Titan Pulsar
 * Ablative VI
 * Credits: 100,500
 * Cerberus Funding: 45,000
 * Credits Found: 55,500
 * Resources
 * Element Zero: 1,000
 * Palladium: 4,000