CE 2186…1630 hours…July 17…Purgatory, the Citadel
"From there we all were admitted in the nearest hospital for a week or so, some of us longer than others." Garrus finishes, taking in another gulp of his brandy before continuing, "Once we got out and met up with all the others we decided to meet at a club called Cthulbe, as it was nearly unscathed from the attack from it being a newer place."
"The rest of the station wasn't so lucky; everyone here knows it took them till a couple months ago to finish Tayseri after those Colossi got done with it. Ash and them barely got out of there themselves when the Colossi made it to the safe zone, but a lot of good C-Sec guys were taken down holding them back." Jason says sadly.
"The only reason the rest of the station was in better condition was because of Jason's group at the defense station. They were able to get the turrets back online and they decimated the geth that weren't retreating."
"Bailey was the only one injured severely after our fight with the Warlords. The Behemoth had locked them inside of a burning building, and since Bailey was the only one without armor with a breather mask he got a lot of smoke in his lungs before Sakkara could get them out of there." Jason says, "So we were able to get the turrets up in no time, and between me, Tali, and Emil we were able to get the rest of those turrets in the repair room running and set to keep the crazier geth at bay from the station especially."
"I selected Captain Anderson as my candidate for a seat on the Council." Samantha says.
"Not that it must have mattered, since this Udina man is in power now." A strong yet feminine voice states.
Everyone in the turns their attention to the source of the voice, finding a gorgeous, fit figured woman in a skin tight, light blue cat-suit of sorts that covers her whole form and has a strange glowing red symbol on the left chest. She has bright blonde hair that is tied into a pony tail that group at Shepard's table can see hangs to her mid back. She stands there, one hand on her hip as she looks seriously at Shepard's group.
"Ms. Aran, I am glad that you responded." ALI states almost happily from Jason's helmet causing James to jump.
"You said this was important," she says firmly, her serous countenance not fading, "I didn't come to get involved in story time."
"That's right." Jason smirks, "If we keep goin in order of appearances you come next, Samus."
"Yes, and you can handle telling the story, the Gears are…" Samus begins.
"I'm sure Marcus can handle anything that's goin on." Jason interrupts.
"Go ahead and pull up a chair," Garrus motions to the edge of the table next to EDI, the couch surrounding it full with the various others that have sat there, "I am not letting you escape now that you've been roped into this trap ALI's set up."
Samus stares firmly at the turian, her blue, slightly green eyes piercing the turian, causing him to let forth a nervous chuckle. Then she looks to the up to a human male propped over the balcony, "You!"
The nervous man looks from left to right then points to himself.
"Get me a chair and a drink, and none of that fruity asari stuff." She orders, her stony manner seeming to posses the man as he scrambles to find a chair from the bar above.
Jason, James, and Joker laugh aloud. Samantha and Garrus chuckle as Aria seems to be sizing Samus up, a devious smirk on the asari's face.
"Man, the way you "indoctrinate" people so fast I'd think you were a Reaper." Jason says through a laugh.
"Shit, she may be one, considering where she's from…" Joker says with a cheesy grin, "not to mention she's always as cold as one."
Almost to prove his point stares coldly at the pilot, her icy glare seeming to cut daggers into the man before a slow smile begins to form on her face.
The man stumbles down the stairs with a chair in his arms as he leads a waitress over to Samus. He quickly sets the chair down. He turns to the waitress and takes the drink from her as Samus sits down, he turns back and she takes the drink.
"Thanks." She says to him.
He gains a goofy grin as he stares at her, his gaze slowly making its way to her chest. Samus notices this and sends the man away with the wave of her hand and a hard glare.
"What do you mean "where she came from"?" James asks, "I didn't know tough women were planet specific."
Jason chuckles, "More like dimension specific…"
"What? You mean…"
"To prevent any other spoilers beyond this point…" ALI says, her voice once again from nowhere suddenly as it causes James to jump once more.
"Mierda, do you think Cerberus has another one of those bodies so that she will become a little easier to remember in a conversation." He interrupts.
"As I was suggesting," ALI states flatly, "I believe we should start the story now, or we may explain away more crucial details to the story."
"Well then," Samus leans back, "You first Jason."
CE 2183…2200 hours…August 19…Cthulbe, The Citadel
Jason Shepard,
Your actions on Virmire were greatly appreciated. In light of the Reaper threat the Salarian STG has received word from Councilor Valern to mobilize a STG unit to search through dormant relays for possible species to give us an edge in the war we may eventually wage with the Reapers. We were ordered to try and form diplomatic relations with intelligent species rather than forced ascension to avoid uplifting a species like the krogan. The Special Task Group doesn't usually handle politics, and since you showed massive charisma in talking down Urdnot Wrex on Virmire in our squad's report we assumed you would make an excellent fit. We would also like to note that we sent a select few survey teams through a few mass relays five months ago after they temporarily activated and they reported strange readings from the planets named Aether and Sera by their inhabitants. At the time they were odd, but after the battle of the Citadel, they are very similar to signals emanating from the Reaper Sovereign. Please reply immediately.
Salarian STG HQ
"When did you get this?" Sam asks as she hands him back the data pad.
"About thirty minutes ago, I figured I'd show you before I accepted." He answered from his relaxed seat across from her.
He quickly hits the reply icon on the pad and sends the message.
"You're going to accept even though you may have to go alone? Ashley, Kaidan, and I have been assigned to kill geth, we can't go with you, and Wrex is already on his way back to Tuchanka."
"I'll have ALI." he reassures jokingly.
"Jason is correct; it is unlikely that the STG will leave me on the Normandy considering my value to Jason's combat ability." ALI says through Jason's helmets comm..
"Can we really trust the STG; they may just want to study you and your Cerberus tech. I mean a human with Matriarchal level biotics and enough technical enhancements and abilities to crash a third of the Salarian Union can't be something they want walking around, especially with the technology originating with a near unknown anti-alien splinter group." Garrus says seriously as he leans forward staring directly at Jason.
"I gotta agree with Garrus, Jason. Just because Kirrahe's group was helpful doesn't change the fact that they are a militant group. You need to take someone other than ALI with you." Kaidan states from his seat next to Garrus.
"You all read the message; the Reapers are messing with species beyond dormant relays. We've all seen indoctrination first hand in one form or another. I don't trust these guys any more than you do, but I refuse to risk ignorin this just…" he stops as there is a beep from the data pad.
Jason Shepard,
Thank you for accepting. We understand that this contact must be sudden. We will try to make this as comfortable as possible, we will assign the unit from Virmire as your STG escort, your AI will be moved to the designated ship, and you may bring five other members of your liking. This mission is not going to be a safe one, but your team will be well funded and you will receive the best possible equipment for your squads. Head to bay D24 tomorrow morning and one of our operatives will lead you to the shuttle provided.
Salarian STG HQ
"That's not creepy that they knew what we were talking about." He laughs as he hands Garrus the data pad.
The turian looks it over, "Well at least you won't have to go it alone. This says he can take five people with him, though the fact that they're obviously spying on us is unsettling."
"I agree, but I trust Captain Kirrahe enough that I won't object much." Sam says with a sigh.
"So who all are you taking?" Garrus asked as he glanced around, picking out all of the crew members and Sam's Blitz allies from the crowd.
"Hmm…" Jason twists his seat around. His eyes scan the bar where he sees Agaric, Nula, Emil, Tali, and Sakkara. The five are sharing some conversation and some drinks as they watch and occasionally giggle at Ashley Williams drunkenly dancing on the dance floor with random patrons, a drink in her hand. "I'll just take the ones at the bar; Tali wouldn't let me leave without 'er if I wanted to. Might as well leave you here Garrus, gotta leave Kaidan here some backup against all that female energy." He ends chuckling.
Garrus and Kaidan chuckle and Garrus leans back in his chair as Sam cuts her eyes at him, a smirk on her face.
"Ok…" there is a grouped gasp that comes from the dance floor that interrupts Garrus, causing Jason to turn to sound. He sees that Ashley has collapsed on the dance floor, passed out from all her drinks that night.
"I guess our parties over, you three go grab Ash and we'll head back to the Normandy after I go ask the others if they are willing to go with Jason tomorrow and offer them somewhere to stay tonight." Sam says as she pushes herself up from the table.
"Got it." The men say in unison as they too get up and head towards Ashley. Garrus and Kaidan pick her up by her arms as she mumbles incoherently while they guide her through the doorway. Jason leads the three, making sure to clear people from the way as they go out in to the ward.
