Can you clear Synthetic Insights without killing any guards?

During the Lorik Qui'in quest on Noveria in the first Mass Effect, you enter the Synthetic Insights office with a warning that there'll be guards there, but that you can scare them off if you threaten to report them for accepting bribes to Matsuo.

I opted to do that instead of fighting them. When you enter the offices, two guards stop you ,and there's a blue ("Charm") dialogue option which makes them go away. But as soon as they walk out and the conversation ends, my characters pull their guns out, and more guards come charging down the hallway.

Is this a glitch? Or is it inevitable that you have to kill some guards in Synthetic Insights?

Solution 1:

You can persuade the first guards you encounter, but the remaining guards are hostile and cannot be talked to at all. Since Mass Effect provides no stealth options, killing them is unavoidable, assuming you want to complete the quest by going through Synthetic Insights.

There are a number of other ways to proceed, however. In particular, you can

Report Opold's smuggling to Anoleis. He then gives you a garage pass and effectively bypasses the entire questline altogether. This does not require killing anyone, and Opold isn't even all that upset about it if approached after the fact. However, this does have the effect of stymying Parasini's investigation.