What the hell did the council want now? Caius sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. He had just gotten back from a long six month mission involving some batarian pirates and an important Prothean artifact. With missions that long Caius usually gave himself the privilege of having a nice long and peaceful sleep in his apartment without a care in the world. So when his omni tool beeped with a message from the council wanting a meeting after only sleeping for six hours he was more than grumpy. Just to piss them off and to visit a friend he arrived at an apartment complex and pressed the buzzer.
"Yes?" Caius smirked at the camera.
"Rila I'm hurt that you don't recognize me."
"Oh Caius! Come on in." Caius chuckled as entered the complex. Upon entering her apartment he was tackled by a small asari.
"Uncle Caius!" Caius smiled as hugged the little asari close.
"Hey Kania, how's my favorite engineer hm?" Kania giggled.
"Great! I built the model ship you gave me, let me show you!" She scrambled off of him and when he stood up she grabbed his hand and pulled him to her room. Caius shrugged when he passed by Rila who was chuckling at the whole encounter. Once they were in her room she pointed at one of her many shelves that housed all types of ships.
"See! All by myself!" Kania said proudly as Caius inspected it with a humm.
"Impressive, you'll be the best engineer in the whole galaxy at this rate." Kania smiled broadly.
"You really think so?" Caius nodded as he sat down next to her.
"Of course, it reminds of how your dad built them. The technique he used was the same as yours." The three-year-old asari beamed before climbing on to his lap.
"Can you take me to the park and to your ship?" Caius purred.
"I can't right now I have a meeting with the council." Kania frowned.
"But you just got back." Caius sighed as he rubbed her head.
"I know and that's exactly what I said but as a Spectre it's part of my job to report to the council. If it's not too long maybe afterward we can go okay?" Kania nodded and touched his mandible.
"Not if you're too tired, you need your sleep. Mommy said we all need at least eight hours and I know you only got six." Caius chuckled and hummed.
" How did you know?" She smiled.
"You always let us know when your back but I know that you immediately go to sleep so you're not grumpy. If you don't count the time it takes you to get to your apartment which is about fifteen minutes from the dock and to here which is about five minutes. Oh! And the time it takes you to get ready which is twenty that was about six hours ago." Caius brow plates arched in surprise and he looked over at Rila who was standing in the doorway.
"Have you been feeding her some kind of super smart fruit?" Rila laughed and shook her head.
"Nope and it looks like I don't need to if I ever find one. Plus lunch is ready Kania. Do you want something too Caius?" He shook his head as he stood up and picked up Kania.
"Not a meal but I probably take a snack with me before I go so I don't pass out in the meeting." Placing Kania on his shoulders he walked out of the room with the giggling asari that was holding onto his fringe.
"I spared a few cookies for you that we made yesterday. They're over there!" Kania pointed at the counter and before he could reach for one she pulled on his fringe.
"No! Not yet! You have to eat a bite of my food first so you can have a little bit of a meal first! Dessert afterward!" Caius had winced at the pull but chuckled as he placed her down to grab a fork.
"Wait! I want to do it!" Caius hummed as he gave her the fork. Kania rushed over to her plate and picked up a chunk of meat with some kind of orange gravy on it and held it up to him expectantly. Caius purred as he took the fork.
"Thank you my dear" She giggled as he quickly ate the meat before the gravy dripped onto the floor. Rila smiled when Caius hummed at how tasty it was and started munching on the cookies.
"What did the council want?" Rila asked and Caius shrugged.
"I'm not sure but it better important if they're willing to wake me out of my slumber" He huffed as he finished off another cookie and Rila chuckled. Caius hummed as he took out a credit chip. Seeing this Rila shook her head.
"No Caius you already have given me-" Caius planted his hand over her mouth with a smirk.
"Now how many times have we've been over this hm?" As he removed his hand Rila sighed and accepted the chip reluctantly.
"Thank you…" Caius smiled before he checked the time on his omni tool.
"You are most welcome. I should head out now so the council won't be that angry that I'm a little late." He felt a tug on his hand and he looked down to see Kania.
"It's okay if we can't go to the park but I really want to…" With a smile Caius picked her up.
"I'll do everything I can to make sure we can go to the park and grab ice cream afterward" Kania beamed before she looked down at her hands.
"C-can I have a goodbye kiss? On the cheek?" She said shyly and Caius chuckled.
"Turians don't really kiss but just for you, I'll do it" He pressed his mouth plates to her cheek for a few moments before pulling back. The little asari's face blushed dark blue as she gave him a shy smile.
"Thank you Uncle Caius" He winked at her causing her to blush even more before setting her down. Rila laughed at that before she hugged Caius.
"Stay safe out there"
"I will, I'll see you around if the council has some mercy on me." Rila chuckled and Caius gave them a wave goodbye which Kania returned eagerly before leaving.
"So what did you call us here for?" Caius heard a familiar impatient voice as he walked up to where the meeting was held.
"We will tell you when-ah Spectre Vakarian. I'm glad you finally decided to show up" The salarian councilor said in an annoyed tone. Caius then saw his mother turn around along with his father and they looked at each other in confusion.
"I can understand the confusion but there's a reason we called all three of you here despite your...relations." The turian counciler drawled before the asari counciler continued.
"There have been a series of attacks against asari colonies. We thought they were either pirates or slavers but they seem to be too organized for. They don't take anything, only killing certain asaris before vanishing."
"We understand if you're hesitant about the importance of this investigation seeing as it's only targeting one race but with its type of organization and methods we feel it might be bigger. While working together we trust that you will be professional. The main reason we're disregarding that your family ties are because Commander you stopped the Reapers. Caius Vakarian is one of our best Spectres so your connections might prove to be an advantage."
"Do you have any leads at least?" Caius asked as he crossed his arms and the salarian answered.
"There has been some activity in the terminus systems that doens't follow the pattern of a typical pirate ship. It would be best to start there, other than that we don't have anything else since they typical vanish after their attacks."
"Alright;" Jane answered before the asari spoke.
"If we have any other leads we will contact you. This meeting is adjourned." As the councilors turned to walk away Jane smirked at her son.
"Caius I didn't raise you to be late to anything." Caius sighed dramatically.
"I personally call it fashionably late, plus that was my middle finger to them for waking me up after just got back from a mission that took half a year away from me." His parents snickered at that before Caius continued.
"On a more serious note. I suggest we take your Normandy since my crew deserve as much of a break as much as I do. How long do you think it will take to get everything prepared." Jane thought for a moment before answering.
"Two days at the most, it's been about a year since I was on the last mission so it will take some time to gather back the crew and to stock up." Caius hummed.
"We can split gathering the resources. I won't let you take all the credit just because it's your ship" He teased and Jane laughed.
"That would be one less of a headache for me so thank you. I'll send you what we'll need later on.'' Caius nodded before Garrus hummed.
"I'm assuming you have plans if you took a detour before coming here?"
"Yes I visited Kania and I promised her that I would take her to the park if the meeting ended early.'" Jane began to push him to go.
"You better go now. I know from experience how impatient children can be." Caius purred.
"What are you talking about? I was an angel." Garrus snorted.
"Sure you were, now go on to that sweet little girl before a turian passes out by hearing how much you're lying right now." Caius snickered as he walked down the steps, he was tired as hell but he was determined to keep his promise to Kania.
"Looks like it's going to be an exciting year Kanus so I hope you're ready." He hummed while glancing down at the orange gem as he stepped into the elevator. Letting out a tired sigh as he pressed the button to go down. Oh, it was going to be an exciting year indeed.
