Thane has revealed that his estranged son, Kolyat, has taken a contract on the Citadel as a hitman. Thane needs to find his son and stop him from making the same mistakes Thane made so long ago.
Acquisition[]
Kelly will say that Thane wishes to speak to Shepard. Thane has been contemplating his mortality and has checked in on his only remaining family member, his son, Kolyat. Kolyat apparently wants to practice the same profession as his father, which greatly troubles Thane. He asks Shepard to go to the Citadel to stop his son from becoming like his father.
Preparation[]
Like Samara's loyalty mission, this is a "no combat" mission, and as such provides substantial experience, cash, and morality rewards with no risk; thus, it's recommended that you undertake this mission as soon as convenient after you receive it. Garrus's loyalty mission is also on the Citadel and also requires talking to Captain Bailey, so showing up with both Thane and Garrus in your squad can make for some efficiencies. The choice of the third squadmate is largely irrelevant as they have few if any lines and do not even appear in most cutscenes.
Walkthrough[]
Go to the Citadel and select Thane as one of the squad members.
Finding out the target[]
Talk to Captain Bailey at C-Sec and ask about Thane's son. Bailey checks and finds that a local petty criminal named Mouse was seen talking to a drell. Mouse was a poor kid who grew up on the Citadel. He is also selling VIs of Shepard. Mouse can be found on Level 28 near Rodam Expeditions. Mouse recognizes Thane. About a decade ago, Thane used Mouse when he was a child to gather information on his assassination targets. Shepard can convince Mouse to say who hired Thane's son by:
- Renegade interrupt (+5 Renegade)
- Charm (+5 Paragon)
- Intimidate (+5 Renegade)
- Paying him 3,000 credits
Mouse will reveal that Elias Kelham, a small-time criminal who got big after the geth attack wiped out many crime bosses, hired Kolyat for a hit.
Note that in order to find out about the Shepard VIs, Shepard needs to ask about them before asking about Kelham. Shepard can ask for a copy of the VI, for Mouse to stop selling them, or for a cut of the profits. None of the choices has any effect on the game and the player never gets to see the Shepard VI.
Go back to Captain Bailey to ask about finding Kolyat. The situation is awkward for the C-Sec captain, because he and Kelham have an arrangement—Kelham bribes Bailey and he looks the other way. Nevertheless, Bailey is willing to help Shepard by arresting Kelham and providing an opportunity for Shepard and Thane to interrogate him. You must now try to make Kelham confess before his lawyer arrives.
- With a high Renegade score, Shepard can Intimidate Kelham to an instant confession ("I'm a Spectre. Start talking."). In this case, unlike the below instance, it doesn't matter if Shepard was actually reinstated by the Council.
- Shepard can beat Kelham three times (Renegade interrupts following Kelham's responses to questioning) to make him confess in time. The confession can only be gotten if Kelham is beaten all three times consecutively. Otherwise, he remains defiant if beaten once or twice.
- Advise Thane to play Good Cop, take the first Renegade interrupt and avoid the second and third, instead using Charm options to get the confession before the lawyer enters the room. Kelham will be angry at being manipulate, but nothing can be done about it. He asks for the name of the one who sold him out; Shepard can mock him one last time or sell out Mouse (Renegade) before his lawyer "kindly" advises him to shut up as they leave.
- If Thane was advised to play Good Cop or Bad Cop, and Shepard uses Charm ("We'll sweeten the pot.") or Intimidate ("You really should talk to us.") for the last dialogue point, the advocate will enter the room and interrupt Shepard before the Commander can convince Kelham. Using Charm/Intimidate fully and still getting the confession therefore requires Shepard choose the neutral option ("Plan?") when Thane asks how to approach Kelham's interrogation.
- If Kelham's advocate interrupts the interrogation before Kelham confesses, Shepard can still use their Spectre status (only if actually reinstated by the Council) or make a deal which either blackmails his lawyer that Kelham was bribing people or threaten everyone in the room with a firearm ("I am done negotiating"). The advocate will either be powerless to stop Shepard or advise Kelham to make the deal.
Eventually Kelham will confess to ordering the hit on Joram Talid, a turian running for local office, whose platform is based on anti-human sentiments as Bailey reveals.
Following Talid[]
Bailey arranges for transportation to where Talid is. Thane tells Shepard to shadow Talid from above from the catwalks. Shepard should go to the right to find a datapad that will provide the heavy pistol upgrade. Then Shepard can update Thane on Talid's location. The majority of the mission will consist of moving close to Talid, updating Thane on Talid's location, and then waiting for Talid to move again. In Mass Effect Legendary Edition, a large blue box centered on Talid's "talk box" was added, making it easier to spot him from the catwalks.
Talid is easily spottable because of his krogan bodyguard. If Shepard is too far away, Thane will say he's losing sight of Talid. There is also plenty of time to regain sight of Talid if Shepard loses him. If Shepard does not update Thane on Talid's location, there will be a cutscene in which Kolyat murders Talid and Thane laments that his son's path was inevitable. The mission will be considered complete, but Thane will not be loyal.
After the fourth update, Talid waits outside a store while the krogan bodyguard goes inside. Then the two will run into a nightclub. Talid then meets with a group of krogan.
Shepard will then encounter a stock boy, Jim Reynolds, up in the catwalks. Shepard can use a Renegade interrupt, Charm, or Intimidate, to get past Jim. The Renegade interrupt is 5 Renegade points, the Charm option is 5 Paragon points, and the Intimidate option is 5 Renegade points. If Shepard does not choose one of these options, the player will be given more Renegade interrupts, Charms, and Intimidates, until finally Shepard knocks him out for zero morality points. Sometimes, the encounter with the stock boy will not trigger, but Shepard can proceed onwards and complete the mission. The catwalk part of the mission is over.
Tip: If you're replaying the mission and would like to complete it as quickly as possible, then when the krogan bodyguard goes in the store give Thane one last update on Talid's position, wait for the krogan to exit the store, and then you can proceed as quickly as possible to the stock boy and thence through the door to the final encounter. By moving quickly you will trigger the final cutscene before Thane notices you're too far from the target.
The Reunion[]
Kolyat is waiting for Talid. He wounds the bodyguard and pursues Talid to his apartment. Shepard and Thane chase after Kolyat. At Talid's apartment, Kolyat is ready to execute Talid when Shepard, Thane, Bailey, and a C-Sec officer arrive. Shepard can use a Paragon interrupt to distract Kolyat and disarm him. If not, Shepard has the more extreme option of wounding Kolyat, or the very extreme option of killing Talid for being criminal scum.
Kolyat is angry at Thane for only just now caring about him. Shepard and Bailey then give Thane and Kolyat the opportunity to talk more in private. Back at the C-Sec station, Bailey tells Shepard he's been looking into the archives and found a series of murders ten years back where the primary suspect was a drell. Shepard tells Bailey not to pursue it.
Shepard, Thane, and Bailey then talk about what to do with Kolyat since he attempted committing murder. Charm for 5 Paragon points will convince Bailey to have Kolyat do community service. Intimidate for 5 Renegade points will cause Bailey to privately employ Kolyat. Doing neither sends Kolyat to prison.
Email[]
Captain Bailey will send Shepard the following message after the mission only if Thane and Kolyat got to talk with each other. It's titled "Update on the kid".
The message will be the same regardless of Bailey's decision on Kolyat.
Bugs[]
- There is a bug right after you click the Charm option when talking to the stock boy, you will be trapped in the cutscene and must restart the game. This is avoided if you update Thane just as the politician is going to the next zone, if you go too far ahead this glitch occurs. This can also be avoided, yet still give you Paragon points, by picking the neutral response first, then picking 'I'm Lost' as the next response.
- While talking with the human inside the room just after the target shakes down the bartender, your game could be "frozen" because of Thane's dialogue. It interrupts the sequence of choosing a dialogue option causing you to be unable to continue or exit the chat with the human.
- While interrogating Kelham, three Renegade interrupts are available to the player, all of which encourage Shepard's fists to do the talking. This is the case regardless of who between Shepard or Thane plays the "good cop" and "bad cop". According to the Prima Official Game Guide, when Shepard is the good cop, there should be Paragon interrupts available in which Shepard "offsets Thane's ruthlessness"; presumably, each interrupt occurs just in the nick of time. Since no such options are present, this may be a bug. Alternatively, the interrogation sequence may have been intentionally streamlined during development.
- There is a bug near the end of the follow sequence in the subtitles where all of the things spoken are labeled as Shepard speaking even when it is actually Thane speaking. The words are correct though. In addition, Shepard's mouth moves in time with the incorrectly labeled dialogue.
- It is possible when updating Thane about the targets position that the audio between Thane and Shepard will not play. This does not affect game play, however the player will have to wait until the target continues on.
- Right before entering the room where you talk to the stock boy, the game can switch to the cutscene you get if you lose the target just as you update Thane on the target’s location. The audio of the update can still be heard despite the screen saying you failed the mission.
- When doing both Garrus' and Thane's loyalty missions, do not talk with Bailey about both at the same time. A bug will kick in and prevent you from completing Thane's mission after you complete Garrus' mission. The bug can be bypassed by leaving the Citadel, traveling to another cluster, and then returning.
- There is also a bug where the cutscene with the stockboy doesn't trigger, he just stands in the room ignoring you and you're unable to talk to him.
Mission Summary[]
Thane stops Kolyat: Thane has dealt with his son. He should be clear of any further distractions from the mission.
Kolyat kills Talid: Thane's failure to find his son leaves him distracted. He may not be at peak efficiency.
Thane's personal matter revealed troubling issue with Citadel politics. May have to support Elias Kelham and similar criminals to counteract anti-human bias. Bailey at C-Sec offers a possible recruiting opportunity.
- Experience: 750 (937)
- Credits: 30,000
- Cerberus Funding: 30,000
- Upgrades:
- Powers:
- Thane: Shredder Ammo
Trivia[]
- During the first moments of the catwalk sequence, after the first set of doors, Joram Talid stops to speak with a turian and a krogan. This krogan uses Urdnot Wrex's head model.
- In the conversation with Bailey that starts this mission, he may quote voice lines uttered by the VI of Shepard that Mouse apparently sells. Both lines are obvious parodies of things the Commander may have actually said in Mass Effect, including one line they may have uttered about killing people on their way to "real problems" if they confronted Lord Darius on Nonuel.
- When in the bar watching the shakedown, one of the dancers at the dance floor has an asari head on a human body.
- Several times during the catwalk sequence, the dialogue subtitles erroneously identify the speaker as Shepard when Thane is talking.
- During the confrontation with Jim Reynolds the stock boy, the line Shepard delivers after taking the third possible Renegade interrupt is "Boring conversation anyway." This is likely a reference to Han Solo's exact same line in Star Wars. The line is used in a similar context: trying to convince someone not to "blow the whistle" and resorting to violence on failing.
- In the confrontation with him, Jim Reynolds the stock boy can reference Chorban from the first Mass Effect game after the "It's not important" dialog choice, accusing Shepard of working with him to disturb the keepers, which ironically was something Shepard may have done in the previous game.