You’ll start this mission while talking to Udina and Anderson at the end of Citadel: Expose Saren. We suggest doing Therum, first, followed by Feros, but you’re free to do these three core missions in any order.

When you’re ready, head to the Pax system in the Horse Head Nebula and when you’re in the system with Noveria, save your game and land. As you come into port you’ll get a… frosty reception. Pun intended. It should be no surprise that the corporate tools that safeguard the secrets on Noveria are hostile to a snooping Spectre.

Once off the Normandy, follow the walkway until you’re stopped by a woman named Maeko Matsuo. She tries to play hardball with you, and only the last-moment intervention of Gianna Parasini keeps Matsuo and her cronies alive. Stick to the Paragon options for Paragon +2 and the Renegade options for Renegade +2.

Head inside and talk to Gianna Parasini, who will confirm that Matriarch Benezia passed through here recently, and last told, was at a complex called “Peak 15”. While you have a target and a destination, there’s a small complication - you need permission to leave Noveria’s port, and to get this you’ll need to talk to one Administrator Anoleis.

Noveria: Port Hanshan Plaza¶

Press on until you find an elevator, which will take you to Port Hanshan Plaza. When you arrive, press forward (west) and take the first right (north) to find Merchant Opold, a hanar merchant who will openly ask you to smuggle for him, starting the assignment Noveria: Smuggling.

Normally we’d link out this assignment to its own page and let you deal with it as and when you saw fit, but this assignment can actually affect the mission. Namely, you can use it to get the pass you need to leave Port Hanshan and set off in pursuit of Benezia. Return back to where the Normandy is docked and pick up Opold’s Package, but do not deliver it to the hanar yet; this will ensure you have more options available to you when you talk to Anoleis.

With that in hand, return to Port Hanshan Plaza and seek out Anoleis, who can be found in the “Administration Office” area in the southeastern corner of the map - just head down the first stairs to the left (south), then take another left (east) and pass through Parasini’s office. Talk to Anoleis and exhaust his dialog options. If you don’t have the merchandise Obold asked you to smuggle, your options here are fairly limited. If you do, however, you can pick “Opold asked me to smuggle.” and hand over Obold’s contraband to gain access to the garage. Opold won’t be pleased, but this does complete Noveria: Smuggling all the same.

If you don’t give Opold’s contraband to Anoleis, the whole conversation is something of a waste of time… at least as far as getting results directly from Anoleis goes. After you talk to Anoleis and achieve nothing, leave and Parasini will call you over and tell you to speak to Lorik Qui’in. This starts the mission Noveria: Lorik Qui’in, but let’s not muddle things by worrying about all the splinter missions for Noveria - they all are different means to the same end, anyways.

You don’t even need to talk to Anoleis or Parasini to advance things if you don’t want; you can talk directly to Lorik Qui’in and bypass the other two entirely. Either way, you’ll need to continue on to the Port Hanshan Mezzanine area to advance the mission further… assuming, of course, you didn’t just betray Opold to get access to the garage, in which can you can just skip ahead to the garage.

To reach the elevator leading to the Port Hanshan Mezzanine, you just need to make your way west from Opold’s shop - it’s a straight shot from the elevator leading down to the Docking Bay.

Noveria: Port Hanshan Mezzanine¶

When you exit the elevator into the Port Hanshan Mezzanine, you’ll be immediately hailed by an asari named Mallene Calis. Talk to her to start the assignment Noveria: Espionage, which, unlike Noveria: Smuggling, has no core mission implications.

You’ll also find Lorik Qui’in sitting around here. Talk to him and he’ll tell you about his spat with Anoleis, and how you could help each other: you head into the locked-down Synthetic Insights offices and recover evidence of Anoleis’s corruption and Lorik will give you his garage pass. As an added bonus, you may well get to murder some of the guards that harassed you in the Docking Bay, who apparently are working on the side as Anoleis’s goons.

Not a bad deal.

Ride the elevator back down to the Port Hanshan Plaza, then head to the southwestern corner of the Plaza to find the elevator leading to Synthetic Insights.

Noveria: Synthetic Insights¶

When you arrive, pass through a doorway and you’ll end up in a confrontation with a pair of ERCS Guards. Respond with “You’re here illegally.” (Charm 6) or “You can’t take us.” (Intimidate 8) to talk these two guards out of the fight (earning Paragon +8 or Renegade +9 in the process) or you’ll have to deal with them. A

A fight is inevitable either way, you can just use Charm/Intimidate to get these two goons to leave. You’ll still end up fighting several ERCS Guards and the odd Assault Drone. Many of your foes will be in the lobby, but expect a few tol be up some stairs to the north. All in all, these foes aren’t too dynamic; a guard in a room to the west will use technical abilities like Sabotage on you, but the rest are standard Soldiers. Expect health regeneration and Immunity on higher difficulties.

Kill them, then search the room to find a Locked Crate [Easy], a Weapon Locker [Easy] and an Upgrade Kit. Head upstairs and loot a Crate, then hack a door to the north [Easy], beyond which you’ll find a Wall Safe [Easy], a Medical Kit and a Technician Kit. With all that looting done, enter Lorik’s Office across a bridge to the south, wherein you’ll find a Secure Wall Safe [Average], a Medical Kit, and, of course, Lorik Qui’in’s Computer.

Download the data and leave, only to be accosted by Kaira Stirling, who is itching for a fight. Say what you will and she’ll get what she wants. Kaira, a Vanguard, presumes to be a match for Shepard. Dispel that delusion by hitting her goons with [Sabotage] at the start of the fight; two are keen to use sniper rifles and will target you immediately, so use your ability and duck behind cover, which should be enough to frustrate their initial attempts. Follow up with Damping and Overload, the former to hinder Kaira’s biotics and the latter to take down their shields, then start picking off your enemies as they leave themselves open, using Lift if any of them start getting a bit too bold for your liking.

Once this initial group is dead, head back downstairs and mop up the final two guards, who are keen on using their sniper rifles to cause you trouble. After defeating them, ride down the elevator.

Once you’re back in the Port Hanshan Plaza you’ll be met by Parasini, who asks you a redundant question before requesting you meet with her before speaking to Lorik. Just gotta make things more complicated… You actually have three options here:

Give Data to Anoleis¶

Not surprisingly, Anoleis would love to have this sensitive data. He’ll offer you money and the pass you need to get into the garage (the amount of credits and XP you’ll get for this are variable - it counts a mission objective and will scale to your level). You’ll also get Renegade +9 for dealing with the crook.

Alternatively you can pick the dialog option “I’m not here to arrest you.” (Charm 4) or “You’ll do what I say.” (Intimidate 8). The former of these options is less rewarding than passing no Charm check at all, as at least that way you’ll get some credits and Renegade +9. The Intimidate check initially isn’t that impressive either (and it requires a hefty 8 ranks in Intimidate!) as it doesn’t leave you with any credits, either, but it does score you Renegade +9 and lets you keep the evidence against Lorik, which you can then use to negotiate with Lorik.

Give Data to Lorik¶

To resolve this mission in any other way you’ll need to travel to the Mezzanine, where Lorik and Parasini now lurk. If you want to give the data to Lorik, there’s no need to even bother with Parasini, just talk to him and he’ll offer you 500 credits for the data. This is the best you can do without sufficient Charm/Intimidate. Alternatively, pick “You owe me.” (Charm 8) or “Anoleis would pay more.” (Charm 7) to wring 750 credits out of Lorik.

Convince Lorik to Testify¶

If you want to convince Lorik to testify against Anoleis, you’ll need to first talk to Gianna. Exhaust her dialog options and agree to help her - nothing overly interesting happens here, and she’ll return to her office in the Plaza afterwards. Still, you need to go through the motions to get new dialog options with Lork Qui’in.

Talk to Lorik Qui’in after Parasini and you’ll be able to pick the dialog option “Testify against Anoleis.”. The turian is rightfully opposed to this, not wanting to make a public spectacle out of the matter, especially a spectacle where he’ll be a prominent figure. That can’t be good for business. You’ve no choice but to pass a Charm/Intimidate check here - failing to do so restricts you to simply handing over the data (see Give Data to Lorik above).

Pick the Charm option “You’d be a hero.” (Charm 5) or the Indimidate option “Damn right I will.” (Intimidate 5) to convince - or strong-arm - Lorik, earning a whopping Paragon +24 or Renegade +25 in the process.

After you’ve convinced Lorik Qui’in to testify, find Giana Parasini in her office and tell her “I convinced Qui’in.”. You’ll get your pass, Anoleis will get arrested, everybody is happy. Well, everybody who even remotely deserves to be, anyways.

Get Gianna Parasini Fired¶

There’s one more way to deal with these suits and get the garage pass you need. First, talk to Gianna Parasini and exhaust her dialog options. Whether you talk to Lorik Qui’in afterwards and mine him for Paragon/Renegade points is optional, but doing so doesn’t affect this outcome whatsoever aside from getting you bonus points.

Once you’re done in the Mezzanine, head down to Anoleis’s office and talk to the shifty salarian. Inform him that “Gianna is investigating you.” and he’ll decide to take drastic action to ensure he retains his job. This will net you Renegade +25, and after a scene you can go check out the aftermath and loot the bodies to get the garage pass you need. After you have the pass, Makeo Matsuo will question you about what happened, but your responses here don’t really matter.

Noveria: Garage¶

You should have secured a garage pass, one way another. Make your way to the garage, which requires you to head up the stairs along the southwestern edge of the Port Hanshan Plaza. Continue past the elevator leading up to Synthetic Insights and up the stairs near Lilihierax. Talk to the ECS Guard near the door to gain access, then enter the garage to discover that Benezia left a present for you in the form of two Geth Destroyers and a Geth Stalker.

Wipe them out, loot an Upgrade Kit to the east, then talk to Makeo Matsuo if you wish. When you’re ready to finally leave Port Hanshan behind, continue north and hop on the Mako. Drive through a short tunnel and you’ll find yourself outside on the winding path of Aleutsk Valley.