BACKROOM DEAL

"Tempest successfully docked, Pathfinder," Kallo exhaled softly with a pleasant sigh. He turned his large amphibious looking eyes over to his co-pilot, Suvi.

The short hair blonde flashed him a grin. "It feels good to be back. Can't wait till we finally have a place to call home."

"What?" Kallo teased as he rose up from his seat gingerly. The plush leather didn't flinch from his form. "Give this up?"

"Maybe they will let you live in here instead of an outpost," Celeste chimed in playfully as she made her way over to the hatch. She had to agree with her Salarian pilot though. It felt great to be back. Throughout all the discord on Kadara while hunting down the Archon and learning more about Meridian, she really wanted to take a step back for a breather. Pausing at the door, she turned her head to notice that none of her fellow crewmates were making their way out yet. This made her hesitate longer. Guilt overcame her. Maybe shore leave was not the best option right now.

"Something the matter, Ryder?" Suvi's delicate voice called out to her.

Celeste bit her lip as she looked back at the science officer. "No, Suvi. Just a lot on my mind. Trying to make a plan on what to do first," she laughed light heartedly. Anyone could tell it was forced as she exited down the breezeway towards the docking bay's entrance. As she took each step, she tried to think about what all she needed to do to make her time beneficial. She really didn't want to run into Director Tann unless she needed to. The doors slid open to grant her access to the docks. The noise of chattering came from the vast open area as many species gathered from recent arrivals or taking breaks from their tasks. Keeping her head down, she kept her direction towards the station's tram that would take her over to the Hyperion. Refuge back in her old ship would be a warm welcome and she wanted to see how her brother was doing.

A pair of troubled Salarians caught her eyes over near the Culture Exchange office that was directly across from where she was. It was two males she assumed and one was a dark orange color and the other was more of an aqua. They cautiously looked around as people walked by before returning to whatever the topic was of discussion. Casting her glance to see if she would be conspicuous, Celeste nonchalantly changed her direction to head closer to the Culture Exchange office. The excuse for her being near them if they caught her lingering was that she was off to see the Angaran ambassador. Fortunately, the pair ahead had their heads faced away so they didn't notice her incoming proximity. "I don't like the idea of them being here." The orange one's voice picked up.

"I had no idea. Are they stowaways?" The aqua one scratched his head.

"You were responsible in cryo, Apik!" The orange one shouted back heatedly.

"How did they get on Ark Paarchero? Did our Pathfinder know about this?"

"They were not on the manifest, Jasarf!" Apik snapped back defensively. "Raeka's dead."

"That's convenient." The other sighed. He then turned his head to see Celeste was looking at them as she approached. He reached out and nudged his colleague and the two obviously became quiet. They gave one another weary glances as Celeste seemed to have walked past them.

Celeste didn't like where the conversation was going. It had something to do with the salarian ark she just saved and some kind of data that perhaps Raeka was hiding? She already had a pit in her stomach knowing that she chose to rescue the Krogan scouts over her. Stopping in midstride, she turned and saw their large eyes watching her. "I'm Celeste Ryder, the human pathfinder. I was the one that rescued your ark from the Kett." Walking closer, she smiled at them politely and hoped that they would grace her with whatever news they were discussing.

"Oh it was you?" Apik spoke up quickly. "Thank you. Jasarf and I were assigned to cryo. We-we were just discussing a small technical issue. None of the importance at all." He rung his hands in a nervous tick.

Celeste took quick notice. "I see…." She then shifted her attention over to his friend. "So, I mean. I can help you two. With whatever issue you have."

Jasarf looked at his friend for any indication of what to do but then shook his head. "No trouble at all. We have alerted Director Tann and he has resolved it."

"That's enough, Jasarf!" Apik hushed him harshly. He grabbed his friend's arm and pulled him away. "We have matters to attend to. Thanks again, Pathfinder!"

Celeste groaned to herself watching the puzzling Salarians walk away. "Why did I even bother?" With a huff, she made a beeline to the transport to go straight to the director's office. Their discussion troubled her mind and she needed to see what was going on. The additional task frustrated her, but it was her own fault and she knew that. How was she going to accomplish anything with the additional worlds if she was being diverted in every direction?

Jarun Tann groaned loudly to himself and rubbed the ridges of his eyes with his fingers. His head buried against the desk counter just inches away from the terminal. It was only an hour ago that he received notification from the cryo maintenance that they made an alarming discovery. Everything was running smoothly for him up to his point. Any non-critical issues on the Nexus were being handled by Kesh and their Pathfinder was really setting the groundwork for the outposts on the chosen worlds. After dealing with the turmoil of the mutiny awhile back; everything now was smooth sailing. All he had to do was to sit back and bask in his achievements.

The findings on the arriving ark did a complete three sixty. When he was told of the ship's arrival after fleeing from the kett, Tann spent hours in office writing and preparing for this epic speech. He would start off welcoming all of his salarian brethren. It was good to have more on board and less krogan. Almost would feel like home to him. He rose up from his position and nestled his back up against the soft cushion of his desk chair. "There is no way the salarian government would allow such a thing!" He blurted out angrily as he moved his eyes back to the message on his screen. "Had to be a mix up!" He felt the anger boiling in him and he took a breath to repose himself. "This is an easy fix. Keep them in cryo." A smile. "No one will want them out," He grumbled happily to himself. "Once the outposts are secure, we will send them to a more deserted one. Eladeen with those miserable krogan. Better off together…." He scowled. On one hand, the mutiny worked out in his favor. The krogan were out of cryo earlier than scheduled, yes, but he rid himself of the pestilence. Nobody could trust them anyway and if Morda had her way she would try to annex much of the station. That's all he needed…another krogan rebellion on a small enclosed space. "For their lousy self-righteous right…." He chortled. His body relaxed as the earlier tension escaped him. Somehow diverting his focus on the krogan completely eased him from the alarming news.

"Director Tann," His assistant's soft voice came through the intercom. "The human pathfinder is here to see you."

"That's odd….," He shifted his eyes down the steps to where Celeste was waiting for his attention. He didn't like unscheduled meetings. No planning. He felt so out of control and that is a feeling he never relished. "Send her in." He turned off his terminal and took a breath. Whatever the meeting was for was probably nothing. He hoped an update. Seeing her walk up the stairs, he rose up from his desk with an overly large smile. "Pathfinder! There you are! It is so good to see you."

Celeste was taken aback by his peculiar greeting. "Director Tann."

"Thank you again for delivering Ark Paarchero. A wonderful day for us all. I can't thank you enough." His words became bitter, "Though, I see we had to sacrifice our own pathfinder for the a few krogan…"

"It was a tough call all the way around, Director." Celeste sourly shot. She didn't like the idea of the racism that most salarians had to the krogan still.

"I can see why you sympathized to them…you have one of them on your squad. He must have threatened with some kind of violence." The salarian grumbled.

"With all due respect," Celeste gritted her teeth. She was trying her best not to punch this guy in the face. "Drack is a member of my squad and he was there, yes. However, my call is my own. If you do recall as well, I do have a salarian pilot on my staff as well. He was aware of the choice I made." This is why she didn't want to speak with Tann. Every visit increased her blood pressure to probably a level that Lexi did not want. She had to redirect the focus of the meeting as to why she was really there.

Tann waved his hand up in the air. "I don't have time for these arguments. I know we all have our opinion," his voice still low. "Did you have any updates for me?"

"Actually I do," Celeste sighed. The few moments of exchange already exhausted her. No wonder Kallo still felt lonely despite having Tann around before their ark was found. "I overheard two of Paachero's workers talk about some type of discovery. They said they sent the issue up to you."

If Ryder could understand any salarian curse words then she would have heard every one that Tann was silently muttering inside his head. He always kept himself restrained so no one would ever get that from him. His face twisted and he walked around her feigning to be casual. "I have handled it. I assure you."

Celeste was not moved. She crossed her arms and stared at him. "Enlighten me."

He already anticipated this and managed to concoct a deviation. "It is a security matter. Speak with Kandros if you would like but it is not Pathfinder business."

"You really are doing this?" Celeste looked at him exasperated. Throwing up her hands in aggravation, she stomped down the steps. "Fine."

"Have a pleasant day!" The secretary at her desk waved as she exited.

The trip to where Kandros was located on the Nexus seemed further than usual. Celeste silently prayed that he was at his post and she wouldn't need Sam to track him down. The blue painted face Turian lifted an eye ridge at her unusual gung-ho approach. A small smile spread on his undetectable thin lips and his avian eyes looked right at her. "Let me guess. Tann."

"Don't even mention his name," Celeste groaned. "Who the hell put him in charge?"

Kandros didn't even miss a beat on a reply, "He did. Though Addison confirmed the chain of command. I don't think the Initiative planned on so many high levels being killed all at once by the scourge." He pulled out his omni-tool and activated the link between it and the console before him. Seconds later, a holo image of Havarl appeared. "Strike teams infiltrated more Remnant sites with the help of the Angaran." He tapped his omni and then the image switched over to Eos. "We are losing some ground on Eos and I don't like the odds right now especially with a new outpost." He paused and she knew that he was going to bring up the fact that she focused the outposts more on scientific research instead of military defense. One choice, he often voiced his disagreement on. His mandible flickered a little and then he continued, "I'm calling all the team leads to come up with a new strategy." She was thankful that he didn't bring it up again. It was another argument that she didn't want to get into right at the moment.

"Kandros, I'm not here for an update." Her mind flashed back to the reason why she was here. She had to remain on track or her shore leave would end quicker than she hoped and she wanted some time to spend with her brother.

The turian cleared his throat. "What is the business then?" She could tell that he was a bit offended by simply ignoring the quick update.

Celeste sighed. "I appreciate it," She apologized. "I just have a lot going on right now."

"Don't we all."

"I heard mention of a discovery on Arc Paarchero. Care to elaborate?"

Kandros' eyes studied her for a second and then he moved closer into his station and further away from the busy hallway. His voice lowered, "What did Tann tell you?"

"Nothing. He sent me to you. I overheard two salarian cryo workers arguing about finding something. They wouldn't tell me either. I assume that the kett would have scanned all the cry pods when they boarded and I didn't see anything on the flagship. So just what the hell is going on?" Her tone more serious, "Please don't send me off to someone else. I'm tired of being dragged around."

"Tann did mention it to me, but I already knew. He didn't like that."

"I thought he was supposed to know everything."

Kandros chose his words carefully. "He wants to act like he does. This was under a direct order by Jien Garson. Since it was a matter of security, the information came to me. Of course after Sloane was exiled."

"So this data," Ryder was on pins and needles. "It never reached Tann at all?"

Kandros shook his head. "None of it."

"So what is going on?"

"I can't tell you." He spoke quickly as he looked around. Celeste went to protest but he shoved a data pad in her hand. "Let's move on. Take a look at this." He gestured towards the pad with his eyes.

Celeste followed his gaze and read the report, "POD PK589 AND PK439 WILL BE ASSIGNED. JIEN GARSON." She lifted her chin back up to look at him. "I don't understand. Just looks like a manifest for assignments."

"Those two pods are not salarian," Kandros whispered. "It was a backroom deal. I'm not positive of all the details." He used his talon to swipe over to the next page. "Look here."

One word sprouted from the jumble of words. One word that all she needed to see. "BATARIANS." Her jaw dropped and she looked at up him for some sort of explanation. It didn't make any sense. On the Citadel, she never had the pleasure of running into any of the four-eyed aliens since they closed their embassy. Throughout her field trips for her studies in the Milky Way, she was lucky enough not to cross paths with them. She heard tales of those less fortunate. Slavers, mercenaries, pirates were the most descriptive terms for their trade. Not trustworthy and violent. She probably figured her dad ran into pockets of them as a N7, but he never spoke about his missions. The batarians were not a council race and probably one of the most uninvited guests for the Initiative despite for the Geth. So why would suddenly there be two?

"There's more on the Keelah Si'yah." Kandros' got so close to her that she could feel the Turian's warm breath hit her skin.

"The Quarian ark?" Andromeda shook her head. This news was opening a whole new can of worms for her. It was bad enough dealing with the kett, but now they are going to be dealing with batarians. As if the salarian and the krogan relationship was bad enough; now they would be plagued with the humans and the batarians. "So what's the plan on this?" She handed the datapad back to him.

"Tann's call. It's above my authority."

She noticed that his mandible quivered as if he was aching to ask her something. "Go ahead." One more task she had to add to her ever growing sheet.

"Tann wants them to stay in cryo."

Celeste lifted an eyebrow. "You want them out?"

Kandros squared his shoulders back in a more militaristic posture. "I hate to admit it, but our strike teams need them. They have brute strength and are resilient. It's bad enough without having the krogan around."

"They may not be willing to help. I don't know what the terms are for that deal you were talking about. They may look to us for whatever our part of the bargain was," She replied, being devil's advocate.

He nodded his head in agreement. "A risk that we should take."

"I'm heading to Eladeen and if I can convince Morda…" In her mind, dealing with the krogan may be the best route. Drack could soothe down the anger. At least she hoped he could.

"With all due respect, that will take time. Morda left the Initiative I heard on bad terms. I was on Eos when the mutiny happened. You won't be able to just walk right in there and ask for the krogan help again. Not while Tann is in charge. We don't have that kind of time."

Celeste rubbed her temples. So much for shore leave. She knew every argument that Kandros was making was true. She had a duty to make sure that planets were vital for settlements, but until they could get a solid foothold, she had to make sure the people they place were fully protected. Batarian aid could change the winds of the battle just right enough…. "Tann?" The name tiredly fell out of her mouth.

"I'm sorry, Ryder. You could make the argument to him and you have the authority to override his for cryo release."

"You owe me," Celeste grumbled. Back to Director Tann's office it was. "I should just camp out there…" She huffed under her breath as she turned to head back the direction she came. She could almost hear the turian mutter "good luck" back to her.