Mass Effect Kasumi Goto Ch 01

Okay, this is my first entry in what is planned to be at least a five part series, possibly more. I'm writing this for fans of the Mass Effect game series, and as such, am trying to keep it as canon as possible. This installment is mainly setting up the story and introducing characters, and as such, will have no sex scenes. Sorry in advance to any of you that are disappointed, but they will be there soon enough. Please comment and critique as you feel is needed. Thank you. Hope you enjoy.

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Kasumi Goto

-Master of stealth and infiltration-Skilled hacker and information specialist

-Operates completely off the grid-No criminal record

Kasumi Goto is not the most famous thief in the galaxy -- but she's the best. Trained in the arts of stealth and infiltration, she has "acquired" artifacts and information from all over the galaxy. Armed with her enhanced tactical cloak and superior technical skills, she is able to get in and out of virtually any environment undetected. After Commander Shepard helps Kasumi exact revenge on the man who killed her lover and stole his secrets, she agrees to join Shepard aboard the Normandy in preparation for an assault on the Reapers.

***

Within a matter of hours, Kasumi knew that she was going to be in a lot of trouble aboard the Cerberus ship. It was one thing to take a voyage from one planet or system to another (usually while stowed away illegally), but it was quite another to be on a warship, crisscrossing the universe searching for resources, signs of Reaper or Geth activity, or who the hell knows what. The Normandy SR-2 was a state-of-the-art technological marvel, with all the best of everything that the Illusive Man could throw his credits at. Every room on the vessel had something Kasumi could sell for quite a bit on the black market, not to mention some of the brightest military crew in the galaxy. Surely she could hack, steal, or otherwise get info from some of them that could make her rich. Good thing the thief kinda liked Shepard. She grinned to herself. Liked hell, she would love to get him in a dark room and ravage him. Too bad he was in a relationship, albeit a failing one at the moment, with his old squadmate Ashley Williams.

Shepard gave her a tour of the ship, with the first stop being the Galaxy Map, where he introduced her to his Executive Officer, Miranda Lawson. The XO was a knockout, genetically engineered to be the best. Kasumi also met Shepard's assistant Yeoman Kelly Chambers, a short-haired beauty with a bubbly personality. Popping in to the Research Lab, they met the Salarian doctor Mordin Solus. Moving on to the Armory, they met Jacob Taylor, the resident weapons expert, who immediately put a tingle between Kasumi's thighs.

Moving down a level, Kasumi was shown the crew quarters and asked if she wanted a bunk. After hearing that the bunks were shared, rotating among whomever was not on shift at the time, she politely declined. "I would rather find my own little niche somewhere," remarked the thief.

From the crew quarters, they moved to the Port Observation room, which had an entertainment center and small lounge area, complete with couches and a bar.

"I'll be spending most of my time here, I already have a feeling," remarked Kasumi.

Shepard replied, "No problem, but of course this is a popular spot for downtime. You'll need to share."

Gently laughing, Kasumi said, "But of course, as long as they know how to mix a Hesperian Sex Slave and do a slow dance, I'm all theirs!" Shepard shook his head, laughed, and motioned to the door.

Exiting the room, the two nearly bumped into a group going in.

"Thane Krios, Zaeed Massani, Crewman Sarah Patel, and Crewman Vadim Rolston, this is the newest member of our crew, Kasumi Goto. She is a retrieval expert and computer information expert."

The tall Drell spoke, "Although we've never been formally introduced, I do know of Ms. Goto. It is my pleasure."

"Well, those fancy words can only mean one thing," the scarred and obvious a mercenary barked, "You must be the thief. I'm Zaeed Massani, and I kill things. Thane here does the same, he's just a bit more reee-fined than I am. And he gets paid a whole hell of a lot more for it than I do. Huh, old buddy?"

Seemingly not put out at all by the older man's coarseness, Thane bowed and gestured the two crewmen into the lounge. "We are about to play a few hands of poker or sabacc, depending on Miss Patel's preference. Feel free to join us if you like, Ms. Goto. Yourself as well Commander."

"Perhaps later, Thane. Right now I'm trying to get her stowed away so we can head back to Omega. I have some more business with Aria. We should be there in about 24 hours or so. I may need one of you to accompany me, so try not to get too blitzed tonight?"

"No problem boss, I'll keep the Drell in line, well, maybe not a straight line, but we'll be there for you," quipped Zaeed.

"Okay, you old warrior. Crewmen Patel and Rolston, do try not to let those two take your entire week's check please."

Mentally reminding herself to find out exactly what both the Drell assassin, who she herself had heard of, and the grizzled mercenary, who she hadn't, knew about her, Kasumi allowed herself to be led down the hall.

In the Starboard Observation room, a regal Asari stood gazing out the expanse of space. Introduced as Samara, a very soft spoken yet obviously powerful Justicar, welcome was given to the young Japanese thief. Also housed in the room was the ship's library and comfortable looking couches to lounge in. Moving out of the SBR, they entered the mess hall, meeting more crewmen and the cook, Mess Sergeant Rupert Gardner. Shepard pointed out Miranda Lawson's Executive Officer Quarters, rows of escape pods, and the main battery room, and then directed Kasumi to the medical Bay.

Upon entering, Kasumi was greeted by Dr. Karin Chakwas, a career Alliance doctor, who followed Joker to the employ of The Illusive Man, in order to assist Shepard and his crew in ridding the galaxy of the Reapers. After agreeing to report back for a series of tests to check her health, Kasumi left with the Commander.

"So, she followed you and Joker blindly here. You must be hell of a commander to instill that kind of loyalty there Shep."

The soldier glanced at her as they went to the lift. "I'm not sure myself why anyone has agreed to follow me into this, you included. This may very well be a suicide mission."

"Well, who said I was following you? I might just rob this ship blind and retire early! But no, you have something Shepard, something that instills trust, that and a feeling that you are doing right. And who doesn't want to do right, somewhere deep in our little footsies, we all have that feeling, hmm?"

Shaking his head, Shepard pushed the lift's buttons to move down to the Engineering level. In the Port Cargo room, no introduction was made to the Krogan housed inside, just that his name was Grunt. In the opposite cargo room, it was explained, Zaeed made his lodgings.

Entering the main Engineering deck, they noticed a good-natured argument between a young man and young woman.

Exasperated, the shapely young woman exhaled. "No it is not. You are lying. I don't believe you. You are so full of shit."

The man said, "It's true, I swear it. It's easily 12 inches long. I'll show you!"

With that, the engineer reached into his pants and pulled out a black object. "See, I can extend the wrench so it can reach farther, then collapse it back to the smaller size!"

"These are two of the finest young engineers I have had the pleasure of serving with, Miss Gabriella Daniels and Kenneth Donnelly," remarked Commander Shepard.

"Och, where are me manners? I might be in love with ye, just to warn ye. Verra nice to meet you ma'am."

The female engineer slapped her counterpart on the chest. "Ignore him, every female that comes through, his Scottishness seems to multiply! Oh, bring me some haggis and say hi to Nessie for me, I can't help meself, it's a woman!" Laughing, she put out a hand. "Please, call me Gabby, and this one goes by lunkhead, meatwad, whichever."

The man straightened himself and proudly crowed, "I prefer Mr. Meatwad thank you very much."

"At ease you two, try to act like adults, okay, mainly you Donnelly. Kasumi, watch out, they may try to entice you in a card game, careful, they're shysty!"

Bristling with indignation, the pair verbally attacked the now grinning Commander. "Shysty? Shysty! You came in our perfectly nice game and worked some voodoo magic to take our money!" "Yeah, we just wanted to have a friendly game of poker, and you made it cheap and tawdry!"

Taking their leave, Shepard and Kasumi went back to the lift. "Farther down in engineering is where Jack stays. She's a bit antisocial, so approach her at your own risk."

"Consider me forewarned. Anyone else important I need to meet?"

"Tali, well, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, is around somewhere. She's a Quarian and is normally down in engineering, not sure where she is. Also, we have a Turian, Garrus Vakarian, who hangs out in the main battery room most of the time, working with the heavy armament. Of course, you haven't met our pilot Joker yet. Also, we have one more 'crewmember' that is a bit, erm... different. His name is Legion"

"Legion, haha, like in the Bible? What, does this guy have multiple personalities?" asked Kasumi.

"No, but close, Legion is a Geth. He has a lot of programs that make him who he... is. So he called himself that and it stuck. He is on our side, long story."

"Alrighty then Shep, quite the collection you have here. Remind me not to bring any friends around you I want to keep, they'll be yours in no time and I'll be left with no one!"

"Right. So, we have 54 on this ship. 32 crewmembers plus Miranda. 8 soldiers that mainly do light guard duty when traveling. Joker, the Doctor, Garrus and Tali technically came with me, and then the 8 of you that were recruited for this mission."

Suddenly, a computerized voice broadcast in the lift with the two of them. "Commander, you have an incoming message from the Illusive Man. Shall I patch it through to the Communications Room?"

"Go ahead EDI. Would you tell Miranda and Garrus to meet me there?"

"Miss Lawson is already waiting for you there. I will notify Mr. Vakarian at once. Anything else sir?"

"No EDI, that's it for now."

Kasumi pursed her lips. "Pretty advanced sounding VI there, Shep."

Shepard commented, "She's more than just a VI, she's the heart and soul of the Normandy. Oh, and she's actually an AI. So yeah."

The thief laughs and replies, "You never cease to amaze. Resurrected after two years of being dead. Bringing alien races together to fight the end of the galaxy. You have a pet Geth, and an AI running your ship. This is going to be fun!"

"Also Commander," EDI spoke again.

"Yes EDI?"

"I believe we have a solution as to where Ms. Goto can make her lodgings. The Port Observation room is not being fully utilized at this time. Half of the room has been closed off and used for storage of foodstuffs. I have taken the liberty of speaking to Mess Sergeant Gardner, and he has agreed to change the location of these items to open that area up."

"Thank you EDI." Turning to Kasumi, the soldier said, "Well, there you go, you can have your own room and you can close it whenever you like for privacy. Does that sound okay?"

Kasumi smiled and replied, "That sounds wonderful. Are we going to be on Omega long? I can arrange to have a few things shipped there immediately that I would like to have with me, if that is okay? I won't take up too much room, just a few sentimental pieces and some books, stuff like that."

"Sounds good, go ahead and get them to Omega, we'll get them loaded while we are there. I should go."

***

Parting ways with Shepard, Kasumi decided to return to the PO room to stretch out, maybe talk to the Drell and see what he knew. When she got there, she passed Crewman Rolston leaving.

"Done already? Seems quick for a card game," she asked.

"Nah, I'm on shift in 8 hours, wanted to write a letter to my family. They just got relocated to San Francisco and I just want to say hi and I love them. Tell them that I'm okay and stuff, you know?"

Kasumi smiled at the man and as he turned into the Crew Quarters, she decided to go incognito. Activating her tactical cloak, she entered the PO room, the door closing behind her now invisible form.

Looking up, Zaeed scowled. "Somebody needs to fix those door sensors. Every time someone sneezes in the fucking hall, doors open. Heh, maybe Garrus can calibrate it."

As the two humans laughed and the Drell had a low chuckle, Kasumi studied the situation. After watching for a few moments, the thief saw that the trio was playing sabaac, the game played galaxy wide by traders, miners, and pirates. It seemed that Thane was winning, with the mercenary in a close second, and Crewman Patel, obviously unfamiliar with the game, losing quite badly.

"Zero, 2, 3. The Idiot's Array. This game is over." Thane placed his cards onto the table. Groaning, Patel threw her cards on top of his.

"If the cards hadn't shifted right at the end there, I would have called you with my -22, and at least made the loss not quite so bad. Instead, I get a 12. Pfft." The young brunette sighed. "Damn, there goes half my paycheck on those credit chits to you two bozos."

A silent look passed between Massani and Krios, unnoticed by Patel. Thane cleared his throat quietly. "Maybe something can be arranged that would negate the issue of owed monies, perhaps?" Zaeed looked quickly to the young female, a glint in his eye.

Swallowing audibly, Patel straightened her back and seemed to strengthen her resolve. "And what, pray tell, would such an arrangement consist of?"

Zaeed leaned towards the crewmember, within inches of her ear, and in a low-voiced growl, "If you're willing, perhaps you would like to join the two of us in my room and see what kind of 'array' we can get into? Either way, don't worry your pretty little head about the credits here, we're not going to try to collect those. This is just an invitation to, how do I put this? Oh yeah, come get fucked by the two of us, dearie."

Turning her head to face the grizzled mercenary, she purred, "What, you think I was here to play cards?" Patel pulled his head to hers and kissed him deeply. Pulling away, she stood up and started walking to the door. Turning her head back, she said, "Well?" and walked out the door. The human and the Drell quickly stood up to follow.

Kasumi, with a grin, hastened out the still open door, wondering to herself how she would be able to get into the room with the three of them. She really wanted to see how this would unfold. After Patel excused herself to go "freshen up", the two males walked to Thane's lodgings in the Life Support Control Room for a short conference. Kasumi used this moment to head to the lift. Taking it down a level, she stepped out, took a quick glance around, and activated her cloak. Heading to the Starboard Cargo Room, she studied the lock. Needing only a few seconds of tech expertise, she was into the room nearly before the lift door closed and started travelling upwards.

Finding herself in Zaeed's lodgings, the young Asian looked around for the best possible vantage point that was not going to get her exposed. Seeing what looked like a possibility, Kasumi nimbly jumped up and displaced what she had correctly identified as a concealed access hatch. Pulling it open, she pulled herself up and into the crawl space above the room. Looking around with her enhanced night vision, she smiled. Give her two days, and she would know every secret the ship had to offer, and no more worrying about how to explore her voyeuristic nature without getting caught. Reaching down, she pulled the hatch closed, just as she heard the door lock being disengaged. Checking to see that her cloak was still engaged, she turned to the scene below her.