Therum was definitely a place that Shepard wouldn't mind never coming back to, but with the news that Liara was somewhere in the Knossos system, it was the only place that made sense for her to have been as the other planets in the system were non-habitable to say the least. This was supported by the weird readings the Normandy had picked up as he, Wrex and Garrus landed in the Mako. The other teams were on standby but fitting more than three in the armoured exploratory vehicle was not possible and with the possibility that this Liara was possibly working with the Geth meant Shepard did not want people on the ground unless it could be avoided.
They had landed near one of the mining sites that littered the surface of the planet in the hopes of getting some more information, but the place had been eerily quiet and the mine shafts deadlocked from the inside, putting Shepard even more on edge than he had been before. With no other options, they had continued through the crags and caverns towards where Joker had pinpointed the signal, only for a Geth ship to come out of nowhere and deploy a pair of heavy Geth walkers in their path. Luckily Shepard was a good driver and the Plasma the things fired was slow enough for him to dodge whilst Garrus blasted them with the Mako's heavy armaments.
Shepard remembered shouting down his commlink to about where the damn thing had come from, the poor pilot only able to apologise and state that the planets magnetic fields were throwing off the sensors and if the Geth kept low to the ground there was not a lot he could do. The threat of the Geth was most definitely real now and Shepard knew that they had to hurry if they were going to get to Liara in time, whether to rescue or deal with he still didn't know.
The Geth now knew that trouble had arrived and when they reached a small refinery that was between them and the signal source there were turrets and a large group of Geth waiting for them. That had been a more challenging fight than any he had experienced thus far since Eden prime and if it hadn't been for Wrex's suggestion of flanking the refinery walls, using a smaller, less well defended gorge to the side they would probably have taken some real damage to the Mako. Searching the refinery after dealing with the Geth had revealed the expected but still sorrowful news of what had happened to the refinery staff, butchered to a man in the command room they had all obviously fled to.
With the refinery secured, Shepard called in the back up teams, who would secure the site, collect the dead of both sides for alliance R+D analysis and cover his back from any more Geth reinforcement drops. Hopefully Tali would be able to get some information from the dead Geth about whether they were here to protect or kidnap Dr T'soni. The Geth obviously had used the time he had spent taking the refinery to reinforce their defences as Geth walkers continued to litter towards a large encampment they had picked up on the scanners. The things were ill suited to a more direct approach that Shepard had come up with, namely charging them down with the Mako and knocking the over before unleashing the cannons.
The tactic even worked on the colossal walker that was waiting for them with a group of rocket troopers at the access tunnel to the site, it's larger size making Iran even easier target, though Shepard did not want to know what the things main armament could do to the Mako if they actually hit it. The colossus seemed to be the Geths final line of defence against the Mako, the only thing Shepard encountered from then on were Rocket troopers before they had reached a rock fall at the base of the camp which made it impossible to continue further except on foot. Not that Shepard minded the change of pace, Wrex had been getting impatient to tear things apart anyways...
Time skip:
Jumping Geth snipers, another armature and enough troops to keep even Wrex happy, that is what had awaited them at the excavation site entrance. For the first time Shepard really appreciated the Mako's armaments, the walkers were a lot harder to kill with just basic infantry weapons and biotics. Wrex had gone down to a direct hit to the chest by the Armature, but by the time Shepard had finished the thing off with warp spikes the Krogan regeneration had kicked in and Wrex had just needed a shot of medi gel before he was up on his feet and griping about missing the rest of an awesome fight. With no sign of what had happened to the excavation team on the surface, they had to descend below, Shepard only thankful that the cramped tunnels meant it would make it very unlikely they would face another walker down here.
They didn't, just more Geth infantry as they descended further into the ground than Shepard ever really wanted to, as they followed the excavations of a massive Prothean tower all the way to its base. It was there they found Liara T'soni, though judging by her state of being suspended inside some kind of mass effect field behind a barrier, she was not at her most comfortable or presentable. As Shepard approached her eyes lit up and she started shouting once more.
"Can you hear me out there? I am trapped and need help." Shepard knew from the pictures he had been sent that this was Liara, and unless this was a very, very elaborate trap it was unlikely she was with the Geth that had been stationed here.
"Dr T'soni I presume? Are you okay in there, no injuries? Are there any Geth in there with you?" Liara shook her head and though worried also seemed slightly excited by the prospect of the Geth.
"This thing, it is a security device of some kind, I presume it is Prothean. I cannot move at all, so I will need you to get me out all right? I don't think there are any Geth here, I was exploring the ruins when warnings of Geth above came. It's how I ended up in here, I was trying to hide in here, and activated the towers defences as I knew the barriers would keep them out. Obviously I tampered a little too much and well here I am. A couple of Geth have tried to get in but they have made no headway with the barrier. Can you believe it, Geth! Beyond the veil." Definitely an excitable one, even in her current condition, though Shepard knew he still had one more question to ask.
"I am Commander Shepard, Council Spectre and I am hunting an ex-Spectre called Saren who is commanding the Geth to bring about the return of the reapers. Your mother Benezia is known to be working with them and that is probably why they are here. So the question is, are you with them or not?" The introduction and revelation about her mother seemed to throw Liara for a loop and it took her several seconds before she seemed to process his question.
"I am not on anybody's side, I have no idea what you are talking about. I haven't spoken to Benezia in years, decades in fact. We are nothing alike! I promise I know nothing of what she is up to, please just get me out of here." She seemed genuine enough and Shepard could always question her in more detail later.
"Okay, so we just need to get through this barrier to get to you. Any ideas of how to do that Liara?" She shook her head minutely, which seemed to be as much movement as she could manage.
"It's a barrier curtain, I knew it would keep the Geth out and keep me safe. There is no way to deactivate it from the outside I am afraid, so getting in will be a little tricky. But be careful commander, there was a Krogan with the Geth that were trying to get in before, he seemed to be in command of them." The news of a Krogan was troubling, but given Wrex's eager look Shepard doubted he would have to actually deal with it himself. Looking out over the excavating equipment Shepard saw a mining laser set up facing the tower, aimed a few floors below Liara's position. There were a few Geth guarding it, but Shepard had the high ground and better cover, meaning they weren't much difficulty to deal with.
They blasted through the tower base with the laser and worked their way up to Liara's position on a Prothean elevator, which thankfully Garrus could work with his limited knowledge of Prothean symbols. Coming to a stop on Liara's level, Shepard stepped towards her as she turned her head in obvious surprise.
"Wha, how did you get in here? I didn't think anyone would be able to get past the barrier." She was obviously scared at this point given his earlier mention of Benezia, so Shepard decided to not make things worse.
"That's not important, what we need is to get you out of here before anymore Geth arrive." Liara perked up at this and tilted her head to her left.
"Yes, I think I have seen enough of the Geth for the moment, the button over there should shut down my containment field." Shepard nodded and headed over, a few taps on the keyboard releasing Liara to the floor with a quiet thud. She stood a little unsteadily and brushed herself off before turning in his direction and smiling slightly. "Thank you Commander, I was worried I would never make it out of there or if I did it would be at the hands of the Geth. Now I think the central ring you came up on is an elevator for the entire tower, so it should be able to get us out of here. Come on!" They hurried onto the elevator and Liara approached the console before typing away at the screen with a speed and confidence Shepard could not have imagined. She started talking as she turned around as the elevator started moving, her face set with worry.
"I still do not understand why the Geth would be looking for me, you told me that Benezia was working with the one that controls them, but why come after me? She knows as well as I do that we are not remotely close anymore." The fact that Liara was using her mother's first name in such a cold tone reinforced the story she was telling about the distance between them, but if they were not close, then why was Saren targeting her? It was Garrus who suggested that it was due to her knowledge of the Protheans, which he could then use to find the conduit, an idea that did make the most sense out of what they knew thus far. Any further talk was curtailed by the shuddering of the ruins around them, obviously the mining laser had not been the best plan after all. Reaching for his communicator, Shepard barked out his orders.
"Away team, get back on the shuttles and get back to the Normandy. Joker, lock onto my signal and get here on the double, that's an order." Joker replied instantly, obviously understanding the urgency if not the premise of the crisis.
"On my way Commander, luckily the atmosphere here is light enough for the Normandy to descend into it directly. Eta 8 minutes." Jokers signing off was accompanied by another shuddering of the earth and Wrex growled to himself.
"If I die down here now, I am going to kill him." A sentiment Shepard shared, but would not voice it as it would no doubt make Liara even more nervous. The elevator made good time to what seemed to be the top floor, but the quaking seemed to have knocked out the barriers as strolling through to meet them was a Krogan flanked by half a dozen Geth. As the Krogan came to a stop in front of them it called out.
"Surrender, or don't. That would be more fun." Shepard lamented the bloodlust of Krogans at this point, but he had to try reasoning with him to get them out of here in one piece.
"Just in case you hadn't noticed, this whole place is coming down around us. If we fight here none of us will survive!" The Krogan merely chuckled.
"Adds to the excitement, doesn't it? Thanks for getting rid of those pesky energy barriers for us. Now hand the doctor over." Liara shook her head as she started to glow the tell-tale biotic blue.
"Whatever it is you want, you are not getting it from me." Shepard grinned, any doubts he had about the young Asari were gone at this point.
"I think the lady would prefer to stay with us at this point, thanks for asking though." The Krogan shrugged.
"Doesn't matter, Saren wants her, and what Saren wants, he always gets. Kill them all, spare the..." The Krogan didn't get any further as he was hit by a sabotage from Garrus and a warp spike from Shepard, just before Wrex slammed into him with the force of a small car. Liara was not silent though, throwing two of the Geth troops into a wall even as they began to react. All in all, it was a fairly easy fight, Shepard throwing the recovering Krogan into a wall and allowing Wrex to get him with his shotgun whilst Garrus sniped one of the Shock troops. Geth plasma spat and flickered on his shields, but Shepard had spent quite some time with Tali tinkering his shields so they were more resistant to Geth fire and he was able to move into cover without taking any direct hits to his armour.
Thirty seconds later the enemies were down, but there was no time to check the bodies, the shaking was getting worse and he could see outside the ruins the excavations were collapsing. They ran and Shepard wasn't entirely sure how they got out without being hit by falling debris and killed, but they made it to the entrance and outside even as the last of the tunnels collapsed behind them. Breathing heavily, Shepard's relief was cut short by Garrus' call from behind him.
"Commander, I don't think we can stop running just yet..." Turning to look at Garrus Shepard saw what he meant, the top of the mountain they had just been inside was spewing lava down towards them at an astonishing rate. Joker better not have been kidding when he said eight minutes...
Time skip:
Alliance dock:
Being in the heart of what was in effect an erupting volcano had been probably the most interesting mission report he had ever had to write and then to top it off he had to report to the council. Whilst they had been pleased that he had rescued Liara from the attempted kidnapping by Saren and her mother, the Turian had been very clear with his disdain of the destruction of the Prothean ruins, like Shepard would have had any way of knowing the mining laser would have set the volcano off. Shepard weathered the scathing remarks with practised ease, Alliance command had its own set of politicians and bureaucrats that thought that they knew the best way to complete missions without any ground experience.
The payment the Council had given him for the mission had been more than enough to cover the wages of his non alliance crew as well as a significant down payment on the 1 million credits he had agreed with Ambassador Udina for the purchasing of the Ontario from the Alliance fifth fleet. It was less than a fifth of the normal selling price for a ship in that class, but considering that Shepard had cleared it and obtained it for them he assumed that had been factored into the price. Udina had met him at the dock as he disembarked, with a half dozen marines and a young woman that Shepard didn't recognise, with short cut blonde hair and an athletic thin figure that was highlighted by the military dress uniform she had regulation perfect.
Shepard waved the rest of the crew onwards, after a week of almost constant flight, missions and surveillance all of them could do with a few hours shore leave to relax and recuperate before they went out once more. Tali, Wrex and Liara stayed with him whilst Garrus lead Ashley and Kaidan towards C-Sec with Dahlia in tow, they were to see what Pallin had made of the Dantius information they had found as well as to formalise the deal that Shepard had made with the woman. Dahlia, who upon realising who he was and his history with slavers, very quickly came clean about the three times she had taken part in slavery operations as part of that pirate group. After that she had agreed to every demand of information, contacts and assistance he had asked of her to avoid being handed over to C-Sec, even volunteering some information she thought he might find useful about other pirate groups in the traverse.
Dahlia had desperately claimed that her sister had enough contacts on the Presidium and in C-sec that she would not see the end of the day if she was lucky, she would see the end of the next century in some dark hole if she wasn't. As such, with a pang of conscience as well as computerised results from two separate lie detectors showing the woman was being sincere in every respect, Shepard had conscripted her to his personal detail, it would be there that if she was lucky she would earn a Spectres reprieve, something that a Spectre could use to effectively wipe the records of his closest allies if they had distinguished themselves in his service. Shaking off the mental thought pattern as Udina coughed and stepped forward in his usual imperious manner, Shepard focussed on what was being said.
"Shepard, whilst you were retrieving Dr T'soni I forwarded your scanning data to the exploratory fleet and Vice admiral Stukov asked me to escort Ensign Waters here to explain a proposition he has. Now if you two don't mind I have more important things I need to attend too." And without another word of explanation Udina turned on his heel and headed back towards the lift array with his bodyguards following behind him. Looking at the blonde who was still stood nervously at attention Shepard realised quite how young she was, he wouldn't be surprised if this was her first time out of the academy.
"If we keep picking up strays like this Shepard, I won't have anywhere left to put my trophies." The loud and blunt comment from Wrex brought a small smile to Shepard's face as he watched the girls eyes dart over to scarred and hulking Krogan, obviously unsure of whether to speak or not. To his surprise Tali spoke up in a rebuking tone before he had a chance to.
"Wrex, I wouldn't make the Commander choose between another person and your macabre pieces of gristle, you won't like the choice he makes. Besides, you didn't think I was much to look at at first." Tali left the end of the sentence hanging, the originally shy and socially awkward girl already surprisingly comfortable with baiting the grizzled bounty hunter. Liara also looked similarly out of place, but considering she was still recovering from her accidental imprisonment as well as the news of her mother's plotting it was to be expected. Raising his hand to stall the argument before it could truly develop, Shepard gestured to Waters impatiently.
"Ensign, if you wouldn't mind letting me know why you are here, I have a lot of things to do in the next few hours and trying to cater to the ambassador's mind games is not one of them." He mentally winced at the tone of his voice as he said that, the lack of sleep he had had over the last two days was affecting him more than he thought. Luckily the girl simply pulled off a textbook salute before speaking in a hurried tone.
"Yes sir, apologies sir. I am Ensign Kate Waters of the exploratory first fleet. Vice Admiral Stukov wished me to relay his thanks for your surveillance work over the last few days, the data you have collected has made up for the loss of two of our ships to Geth and pirate activity in the Traverse." The girl paused and it was only when Shepard coughed and waved his hand that she seemed to realise that he was still waiting for more information.
"Sorry sir, I thought that the Ambassador had already forwarded the Vice Admiral's request and this was just a formality. Admiral Stukov had noted that the Normandy had no assigned technical specialist for the scanners and communications systems it houses, due to it being classed as a military rather than exploratory craft. As such, he would like to attach me to your crew to fill this role as well as to serve as your personal aide... Only if you wish for me to join you sir of course, the Vice Admiral would not wish to try and impose on the hero of Elysium and humanities first Spectre."
It was true what the girl had said of course, neither Pressley or Joker specialised in the auger equipment beyond what they needed to complete their own duties, but Shepard wondered how much of this offer was actually the Alliance trying to help him with his mission and how much was it trying to minimise the number of aliens that he ended up recruiting to join him on their top secret cutting edge frigate. With no idea how long he might have before he was needed again, Shepard decided that he could make this decision whilst on the way to his next task.
"Walk with me Ensign, we will discuss this on the way to the Wards, I have business to take care of there. Are you armed?" Waters nodded quickly before indicating the pistol at her side.
"Are we expecting trouble sir? Should I change into my combat gear before we leave?" She gestured off to the side where Shepard saw a suit of armour and a small rucksack were leant against the side railings, obviously all of the equipment she had given she had assumed that he had already agreed her assignment.
"Better to expect it than be surprised by it Ensign, you shouldn't need your equipment though, get it aboard the Normandy for now. If any firing does start then just get behind me and the big guy." He thumbed an indication over to Wrex who merely grunted before going back to grumbling under his breath. Waters nodded and saluted again before moving over and grabbing her stuff before heading to the airlock with the Normandy, one of the crew who had elected to stay on guard of the ship as a skeleton crew moved with her to authorise her access. Turning to his team Shepard spoke his plan to them.
"Now we need to find someone to fix up the Ontario, from what I know most of the engineering companies that do operate on the citadel are in the lower wards, so we will head down there and keep our eyes peeled. Wrex, you are to keep an eye on the Ensign and make sure whatever happens she gets back here unharmed. The last thing we want is to have to explain to Alliance command how we got our newly assigned tech specialist killed before formally accepting the transfer..."
Timeskip:
They made good time down to the lower wards, though the initial three shipbuilding companies that they had found had been far too expensive according to Tali and Wrex. Shepard trusted their judgement as the two had much more ship experience than he did, though at this point he might need to bite the bullet and spend the extra credits if he was to achieve anything else this evening. Waters had been surprisingly informative about the different companies and what sort of modifications they might make to the Ontario, she had been first in her class at the academy both in interstellar communications and ship technology, and so had relatively up to date knowledge on the development fields in civilian grade shipping equipment.
The fact that she had joined the exploratory fleet was a bit of a surprise, many people in her field had callings in the military fleets or on private contracts. When he had asked why she had chosen to do so she had merely reddened slightly and looked away before stating she had been following the example of someone she looked up to. Deciding it wasn't worth digging into for the moment Shepard had contented himself to listening to Tali and Wrex argue about ships, with Liara joining in with slowly increasing confidence as the pair responded to her remarks intelligently and with no hint of derision.
The nice atmosphere was shattered by the sounds of shouting emerging from a doorway up ahead, followed by the sight of a Quarian being thrown bodily out of the door into the walkway, a grizzly looking Turian armed with a heavy pistol stalking out with two more Quarians quickly moving out of his way to try and stand protectively in front of the downed Quarian who was cradling his left arm which was obviously broken.
"You thought I wouldn't notice two non-paying tenants living in my building space rat? Thought you could get away with only paying one person's rent?" The Turian was almost frothing at the mouth at this point, waving the pistol dangerously in the Quarians direction. Before Shepard could do anything, Tali was marching forwards her posture displaying her anger.
"What do you think you are doing pig? Try picking on someone who will fight back." The Turian turned sharply and growled when he saw Tali, pointing the pistol at her and cocking the weapon.
"Thieving scum like you shouldn't argue with your betters, I should..." Suddenly the Turian found himself looking up at Wrex's face whilst the Krogan grasped his arm in an unbreakable hold, the stone cold fury on Wrex's face a clear contrast to the sarcastic biting humour he usually employed. Shepard noted as well with a bit of pride that Waters had her pistol drawn and ready whilst Liara had summoned a barrier between Tali and the pistol.
"You should go back inside before I decide to relieve you of your arm as well as your weapon, split faced cocksucker. I might do so anyway, you did just threaten a Spectre crew member in front of said Spectre." The Turian shrank in on himself a bit before nodding slowly, Wrex taking his pistol roughly before bodily pushing him back towards the door. The Turian turned at the last moment however and pointed at the Quarians, some of his former bravado returning as he made a rude gesture.
"Don't even think about coming back space rats, and I will make sure the other landlords will not let you in. Not even your fish faced brute will help you there." The Turian was inside before anyone could respond, which given the angry blue aura surrounding Wrex was probably the best outcome for all of them. With the situation mostly diffused Shepard made his way over to the injured Quarian, noting the nervous looks the other two Quarians cast in his direction as he knelt down, holding his omni-tool up to scan the Quarian. The results surprised him slightly, the Quarian was definitely suffering from malnourishment and a slight infection as well as the broken arm, though the infection seemed to be in its final stages, which for a Quarians inhibited immune system meant that it had been affecting him for a while.
"Luckily it is a clean break, no bone fragments or tissue damage that we need to concern ourselves with." Applying a splint made from some nearby scrap and a bandage from his first aid kit, Shepard then applied a dose of medi-gel to the Quarian's arm port whilst Tali finished talking to the other two Quarians in the Quarian native language. Judging by the slowly increasing volume and tone of Tali's voice, she did not like what she was hearing. Waters stepped up beside him at this point and started speaking quietly so as not to interrupt the conversation.
"The Quarians are saying that they are trying to complete their pilgrimage sir, but they were robbed by a group of humans within hours of landing on the Citadel and therefore had no way to pay for food or accommodation. The injured Quarian, who they refer to as Kilya no ship, is one of the Quarians that left the migrant fleet almost two decades ago, he runs a small scrap goods and second hand equipment store in the lower wards. He offered them a place to stay whilst they tried to find work, but the general attitude on the Citadel towards Quarians is... I don't quite know the word but I know some of the parts of it are rather distasteful to say the least." Shepard was impressed at Waters translation, most humans would at best learn one of the main council race languages and rely on their translators to suffice for the rest. The injured Quarian was equally surprised, speaking up as Shepard helped him a little awkwardly to his feet.
"You know the language of the Quarians, Kelish human? Most of your kind do not even acknowledge our presence here, let alone take the time and trouble of learning our language." Kilya had been rather loud with his comment causing the other Quarians to turn and stop speaking whilst Waters nodded with a small dusting of red colouring her cheeks.
"I have complete knowledge of all three Council languages and several of their more minor dialects, working knowledge of Kelish and Krogan along with a smattering of Volus, Prothean and Hanar languages. I apologise if any of my translation was incorrect, I have not had much chance to use my understanding of Kelish outside of the academy class." Shepard's respect for the young Ensign went up another couple of notches and he could now see how she would be useful on the team. Something that Tali had mentioned the first time he had talked to her on the ship suddenly sprung to Shepard's mind, which could save him a load of time and effort in the long run. He gestured at the two non-injured Quarians whilst Liara spoke quietly with Waters, something about the Protheans from the sound of it.
"Are the pair of you capable of crewing a ship? Are there anymore Quarians you know that have experienced similar difficulties?" Tali scoffed at this and gestured around, but her tone was surprisingly light and warm as she replied.
"The lower wards are filled with Quarians Shepard, it is the only place most of us can afford to stay in whether we have left the fleet or not. Also, we are not really welcome on the higher levels, most of the other races see us the same way the Turian did there." One of the two young Quarians nodded and spoke up after Tali had finished speaking, Shepard thought it was a she, but for the most part Quarians were thin and lithe enough it was hard to make out distinguishing features easily.
"I am Seratha nar Hrroth, and this is Kiaran nar Hrroth. Thank you for your help with the Turian Krogan, many would have just walked on by. In regards to your question human, both of us are capable of being ship's crew, I have experience with navigation and engine systems whilst Kiaran was part of the ship repair crews back in the Fleet before we went on our Pilgrimage. Why do you ask? I will admit that having inconvenienced Kilya as we have we would not wish to cause further trouble for him or any other of our brethren on this station, so if you know of a job that is not overly dangerous or illegal, we would happily take anything you have to offer." The fact that Seratha had indicated that Kiaran had experience with repair was an unexpected bonus as if they could find a few more with similar skills. Turning to Tali he could already see the wheels turning in her head even before he spoke.
"Tali, take Kilya to Dr Michel on the upper wards and get her to give him a more thorough treatment, make sure she knows you are with me. Seratha, is that right? I am Commander Shepard of the Council Spectres and I am in need of a skilled crew. I want you and Kiaran to gather any other Quarians you know who need work who have cleanish records, I want enough to form a crew for a small cargo hauler and if possible a ship repair team as the ship I am thinking of has suffered some battle damage. Do you think that will be possible?" All three Quarians obviously hadn't realised that Wrex had been speaking the truth when he had spoken about Spectres before, all three Quarian's body language shifted to a little apprehensive and awed. Seratha looked over at Kiaran and the two seemed to have a silent conversation as their bodies shifted subtly. After a few moments Seratha turned back to him.
"Apologies Spectre we had no idea it was you, we had heard rumours of a human Spectre being appointed but actual information is a little hard to obtain down here. I would just like to state that we have little combat experience beyond our basic training for our pilgrimage, so if you are hoping for a combat force to aid you..." She trailed off and Shepard realised that he had perhaps given the wrong impression with his introduction, raising his hands and shaking them negatively.
"No, no I was not expecting any of you to serve on the front lines. I already have a frigate called the Normandy and several combat teams including this one here, so there would be no expectation for you to be involved in that in the slightest. I merely wish to have a second ship that can serve as a transport for any equipment, resources or people that I find during my investigations that we can then sell or return to its owners." There was an obvious slump of relief in Seratha's posture before she straightened once more and pulled a rough Alliance salute, something that Kiaran copied a moment later.
"In which case Captain Shepard vas Normandy, we would be honoured to join your crew and serve under you. Keelah se'lia, this is the best news we have had in months. How many more crew do you think we will need, six or seven? Then we have the repair crews and of course people to load and store the equipment and materials..." The young Quarian seemed to have quite the analytical mind and a good grasp of logistics, so Shepard left Tali with them to ensure they didn't go overboard with the planning and also to ensure that the Quarians would know where to go once they were done. With his biggest problem solved, Shepard turned back towards the elevators to the upper wards, time to see if there was anybody else who had relevant work or information for him to use.
"Cute Shepard, now we are going to have Tali in an endorphin rush for weeks. Do you want me to see if I can get a Krogan merc team together whilst we are here? Might as well go all out if you want to make this a properly multi-racial mission." Shepard chuckled at Wrex's dry comment, whilst it was obviously in jest, the mental image of the look on Saren's face when a dozen Krogan like Wrex tore through the Geth to get to him was definitely worth it...
A/N: So Shepard expands his team to more than just one ship. In many ways the thing that I think would have been a great addition to the Mass Effect series would have been an Assassin's creed type fleet, which you could send on missions to earn money, resources and special equipment. Same with the fable like thing of buying property and shops, but I imagine if they had actually had that in game there would have been far too many people playing property mogul to actually complete the game.
The Quarians are honestly the race I trusted the most throughout ME 1 and 2 and I apologise for those that aren't their biggest fan but I like to think my reasoning for it is fairly solid? It also lays the groundwork for some later story plot that I hope people will like. Next is Feros and that is going to be a 'fun' chapter to write. What do people think? Yay? Nay? Review and let me know.
