An asari named Mallene Calis has asked you to wiretap Rafael Vargas. She gave you a device that will hack into his personal network as you speak to him.
Acquisition[]
When you first get to the Port Hanshan Mezzanine on Noveria, an asari named Mallene Calis will call you over. In talking with her you discover she works for the Armali Council and she is trying to obtain information about Binary Helix concerning their biotic engineering.
Walkthrough[]
This assignment is mostly a means of obtaining morality points for your chosen alignment, so engineer your responses as you see fit.
Rafael Vargas, a salesman for Binary Helix, is elsewhere in the bar. Calis asks you to approach him as a potential customer and to distract him by talking business with him. She will give you a device that can inject monitoring viruses into Vargas' personal wireless network. All this device needs is for you to take it close enough to one of the company's businessmen and keep him distracted while it does its thing.
Calis explains that Vargas is a shrewd businessman and will be able to tell if you are wasting his time. She has already tried to distract him and failed. However, he has a "tell" when he becomes uncomfortable; he rubs the back of his neck. Calis suggests pressing him when he does this to keep him off guard.
Paragon Routes[]
- Do not agree to help Calis. This will get you 8 Paragon points versus the 2 you will get if you help her and reveal the plan to Vargas, but you will not receive experience points.
- Agree to help Calis, but before talking to Vargas, tell her you quit. This will earn 2 Paragon points and experience points but no payout.
- Agree to help Calis, but tell Vargas what she asked you to do. He will thank you, saying that knowing this will allow Binary Helix to feed the Armali Council false information, and leave. Return to Calis and tell her the truth, that BH have been alerted. When she asks why you did this, tell her she's a criminal and that doing this is more of a punishment than an arrest or a slap on the wrist. Calis will hurry off, saying she has to go offworld before she's caught, earning 2 Paragon points and 50% more experience points, but no payout.
Renegade Routes[]
- Agree to help Calis, talk to Vargas and watch for this "tell". When he does it, press him further on the issue to distract him. The Charm and Intimidate options in the first persuasion check have no point requirements, but modify the requirements for the second check: 6 Charm or 8 Intimidate if following through after the first Charm option, and the reverse (8 or 6) if following through after the first Intimidate option. Subsequent checks require more, but passing them is not required to succeed in hacking Vargas's personal network. Keep him talking until the device beeps. Once it beeps, excuse yourself and return to Calis for 500 credits, the 50% higher experience points, and 2 Renegade points. Charm or Intimidate her for a larger payout (750 credits).
- Agree to help Calis, but tell Vargas what she asked you to do. He will thank you, saying that knowing this will allow Binary Helix to feed the Armali Council false information, and leave. Return to Calis and tell her the truth, that BH have been alerted. When she asks why you did this, tell her that both her and Vargas are irritating and that one corrupt corporation is as good as any other. Calis will hurry off, earning 2 Renegade points with the higher experience points amount, but no payout.
- Agree to help Calis, but tell Vargas in the second option what she asked you to do. Then, when you go back to Calis, lie to her that it is done (no Charm or Intimidate required) and she will give you the reward, with the possibility to persuade her for the 750 credits (2 Charm or 4 Intimidate required). This will give you a chance to reap the same reward without having to go through the distracting as well as earning you 9 Renegade points.
- Alternatively, if you attempt to negotiate with Vargas but fail, you will still have the option to confess about the spying. Vargas will express disappointment, but the same dialog options and rewards from Calis will be available as when telling Vargas the truth immediately, including the option to lie to her followed by the opportunity to persuade her to award the higher payout.
Trivia[]
- Although hacking Vargas's personal network only requires passing the first two persuasion checks, it is possible to continue to pass additional checks in the conversation with him. The third check requires 9 points in the morality skill that matches the path chosen in the first check and 11 points in the other morality skill. The fourth check requires 11 points in the matched skill and is impossible to pass with the other skill. Passing these checks unlocks additional flavor dialog but does not have any impact on gameplay.