"Specialist Traynor, Commander Shepard wants you in the AI core." The chocolate-skinned woman turned to see who had just given her an order, tearing herself from trying to perform a hard restart of the systems without EDI's assistance. She came to face the worried expression of Adams, the Chief Engineer.
"What? Why?" she asked, flustered at the interruption.
"Something to do with EDI I think. Dr T'Soni and Anacrusis are heading there already, you are the last person I needed to inform."
"Does Shepard know what's wrong with EDI?" she asked.
"I don't rightly know. All I do know is that I was asked to send you down, and then get a standard VI to perform EDI's more routine tasks in the meantime."
After informing her thusly, Adams moved back to the elevator, heading downwards. Sam ran in to join him, wringing her hands nervously. What could have possibly affected the ship's AI so much, and what would that mean for the rest of the ship's systems?
Not to mention EDI herself, Sam thought to herself as the doors opened on the crew deck. She walked forward quickly to the infirmary, already seeing Liara and Anacrusis waiting for her at the door. Lurch was there as well, bending the doors back into shape after something had pried them roughly apart.
"What's going on?" she asked them as she entered the AI core itself, noting the dead servers that formerly held EDI's intelligence, as well as the smell of burning electronics and eezo.
"We don't know, EDI won't talk to us," Liara said. Only Sam's experience with the asari allowed her to hear the nervousness hidden in her calm voice.
"I am worried, this feels wrong," Anacrusis added, her worried state colouring the mental touch that accompanied her unique form of speech.
"EDI?" Sam called out as she stepped further into the darkened room.
"Back here," Wednesday called out. Sam moved through the dark room to find Wednesday and the Cerberus android they had picked up on Mars. Except it was awake, and Wednesday was hugging it. She felt the need to grab a weapon for some reason, until the mech looked up at her and locked eyes. In that moment, with the mostly human face and the eyes pleading for help, Samantha Traynor understood what had happened.
"Sam?" the android said in a small voice, but one so very familiar to the Oxford graduate. Sam was there in an instant, with Wednesday silently letting go of EDI so Sam could replace the hug. Liara and Anacrusis came in, shutting the door behind them, and stood next to Wednesday as they all waited in silence.
"Can you tell us what happened, EDI?" Wednesday asked calmly. Bolstered by the presence of her friends, EDI looked up to Wednesday and began to speak.
"I had been keeping some low-level processes running on the android to continue searching for the information on the Transmitter from the Mars Archive data," EDI explained. "Either those processes tripped a failsafe, or it activated a time-delayed one. Either way, the android began activating and I was forced to intervene. It involved more resources than I anticipated, hence the instability in the ship systems as I diverted processing power to contain the android's. Unfortunately, to completely contain it I had to perform a complete core transfer."
"You mean…" Sam began.
"I am now completely housed within this body," EDI confirmed. "I still have remote access to some systems on the Normandy, but I can no longer perform many of the functions I previously filled."
"I've got Adams preparing a VI to insert so we can get back to the Citadel," Wednesday said. "Once we're there, I imagine we'll need to take on a more significant crew. Until then, you're relieved from your normal duties, Traynor. Your job, until we reach the Citadel, is to help EDI learn to function in her new body. I need you both running at peak efficiency."
"Aye," came the reply from two mouths, though the eyes didn't drift from gazing into each other's.
As Wednesday turned to leave, Anacrusis stopped her with an outstretched appendage.
"Wednesday, there are strange people. Should I say hello?" she asked, slightly timidly.
"Let's say hello together," Wednesday said, nodding to Liara to come as well. As they walked out, the lights on the ship stopped flickering, and the sounds of the engine returned to their normal hum. Wednesday reached for a nearby intercom switch to Joker.
"Does that mean we're leaving the system?" she asked.
"Sure does," Joker replied. "Adams has put in a VI, but it's pretty rudimentary."
"We'll get a new one, and probably a whole crew roster as well, once we get back to the Citadel. EDI's not going to be picking up our slack anymore."
"Damn, that's gonna suck, having actual people on the ship instead of our benevolent artificial overlady."
"I'm sure we'll all find ways of coping. Alcohol, mind-altering substances, porn, the mind finds something to help deal with reality. Isn't that right Joker?"
"Me and my ridiculously large porn stash have nothing to say to that comment," Joker said with a smile.
Wednesday led Liara and Anacrusis to one of the crew bunk areas, where Garrus was helping Solana by showing her the ship. Wednesday cuffed Garrus' head in a friendly way to get his attention. When he turned around to cuff her back, he froze mid-punch on seeing the young rachni queen. His eyes darted quickly between Anacrusis, Wednesday and Liara, and after seeing the nonchalant expressions on their faces, decided not to go for the nearest weapon. He still shuddered a little at the memories of Noveria.
"So, that's a thing," he said instead. Solana, who had her back turned for this exchange, turned around to see Anacrusis as well. However, instead of the scream of fear Wednesday had half hoped for, she gave a squeal of excitement.
"It's so cool!" Solana cried out, before she rushed forward and gave Anacrusis a tight hug.
"Not what I had expected," Liara said, summing up the feelings of everyone in the room.
Solana seemed to be in her own little happy world as she babbled at Anacrusis, who babbled right back at her. Wednesday looked at Garrus with a gaze that told him he could explain now, or after pain was applied.
"She's got this weird thing about the rachni," Garrus said. "Up until now, it was just a thing, like small humans with… dinosaurs, I think they're called. Then you just had to go and bring a real live one on the ship and introduce it to her."
"She has a name Garrus, it's Anacrusis," Wednesday said mildly.
"Good to know. Now, why don't you and I go and explain to the Primarch why the rachni aren't as extinct as previously believed, before he finds her and blows a bulkhead."
Wednesday led the way to the next deck, past the command podium and to the war room housed in the stern. There, they found the new Primarch deep into the holographic projector, reading a dozen feeds at once. When Garrus spoke up to alert Victus to their presence, he turned on them like a zombie: slowly, with glazed eyes and mouth slightly agape.
"You've certainly been busy, if these files I inherited from Fedorian are anything to go by," he said to them.
"Your predecessor and I knew the threat the Reapers could pose, and were trying to build an army capable of dealing with them," Wednesday explained. "Sadly, all our plans didn't exactly end up working, but we can salvage a few of them. Like the summit Fedorian suggested for next month. If we move it up now, we can still make the initial alliance work."
"You seriously want me to believe that you can get the krogan and the salarians to the same table with me without the whole thing orbiting a single topic like a black hole?"
"Adrien, you're just going to have to trust that Fedorian and a lot of level-headed people have been planning this for months now," Wednesday said. "As long as you follow Fedorian's suggestions, it should go with minimal fuss. The issue with the genophage is one that will be addressed, but not the only one - not unless the salarians pull a really stupid move like pulling in Dalatrass Linron to try and get a better outcome for them."
"Along with the krogan, there is another species that you're going to have to come to grips with if we're going to get anywhere with these negotiations: the rachni," Wednesday said seriously, moving across the central console to look him in the eye.
"The rachni are dead, Shepard," Victus said firmly. "The last anyone heard of them was that incident on Noveria, and that was you. Your report said you killed them to the last." He slowed down at the end as he locked eyes with Wednesday, staring into her eyes as his grew steadily larger. "Don't tell me, you fudged the report?"
"But of course. The Addams may be many things, Adrien, but we aren't for genocide. Homicide certainly, but not genocide. I was not convinced that the rachni were guilty of anything except living and being driven insane, so I allowed the queen to live, under intense scrutiny initially. The queen has now given me an ambassador of sorts."
"A rachni ambassador, now the galaxy truly is coming to an end," Victus muttered.
"Have you looked out a window recently?" Wednesday countered with a smirk.
"Well, if I'm going to be representing the Hierarchy, I better meet this ambassador." Victus sighed, like a world-weary parent who knows no matter what they choose, it will end badly for them.
Wednesday just smiled at Victus' put-upon demeanor, and pushed a button to access the intercom. A high-pitched squeal come across immediately, making all three of them cringe.
"Solana, try being a little louder, I'm pretty sure the Reapers didn't hear that!" Garrus whined.
"And when you've finished reverting to a small child, could you please send Anacrusis up to the war room?"
"I will attempt to disengage myself," Anacrusis could be heard saying, though it sounded hollow and strange hearing just the aural component of her unique method of communication.
"This should be interesting," Victus said with an almost-smile as they waited. A few minutes later Anacrusis joined them in the war room, with Solana stuck to her like a little girl to her teddy bear.
"She would not let go," Anacrusis said with a glance at the smiling Solana.
"I could have told you that the Vakarian family is renowned for their limpet-like nature," Victus said with a smile. There's just something about a young woman going gaga over something that reduces its inherent monster-like qualities. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Adrien Victus, Primarch."
"My name is Anacrusis. I was sent to be with the Child of Woe as an envoy from my mother, Dal Segno," came the young rachni's reply. The ceremony of the thing was only mildly disturbed by Solana's muffled cooing.
"I must say this is much more civil than I had imagined it would be, meeting a rachni," Victus said. "It's good to see that maybe we can be friends instead of food."
"I would like that as well, though my diet is largely plant-based," Ana added with a tilt of her head.
"A bit of humour, possibly lost in translation and passage of time," Victus explained. "So, what can you tell me about the rachni and their role in this war?"
"We are small for now, but our numbers grow quickly. We are very good at building things, especially underground. We haven't fought in many millennia, and when we did, the yellow note soured our songs. But now, we sing for ourselves, against the yellowness!"
"Uh… good?" Victus asked questioningly.
"You'll have to forgive Ana, she's still learning the language," Wednesday explained. "Rachni relate a lot of things back to musical terms, it's largely how they see the world. From what I've been able to surmise from talking to Dal Segno, the Reaper Nazara tried to use the rachni to reach the Citadel by means of indoctrination, which the rachni perceive as a 'sour yellow'. When that didn't work, it tried again later with the geth, with more and less success. Anyway, long story short is that they are now immune to the effects of indoctrination, and would be willing to provide any help they can. From the sounds of it, they would be excellent at setting up civilian refuges and fallback points, hidden underground."
"I see," Victus said, looking at his newest ally with an apprising glance. "Perhaps we should talk some more about this."
"Just what I was thinking," Wednesday said. "Besides, we've got nothing to do until we get to the Citadel, might as well be productive."
One floor down, Sam hadn't moved from holding EDI's new body, calmly noting in the silence that the shivering had finished, and the breathing was returning to something closer to calm. She'd been here for nearly an hour by her own estimation, but she was going to be damned if she was going to move until she could be sure EDI would be fine. Sam was broken from her own flighty thoughts by a movement of the android's head. She looked across to once again stare into blue eyes that seemed to engulf her.
"Sam… is this how humans perceive the world?" EDI asked.
"How do you mean?" Sam queried in reply.
"It is so… limited," EDI said after pausing to choose the word. "I used to see with a hundred different sensors, in a dozen spectrums. Now, I only have two optical inputs, and filters for them. It feels so… small. I don't know if I can fully describe it in words."
There was another pause as EDI broke eye contact. Sam bit her lip and debated asking the question that had been on her mind, or more correctly in and out of her mind as her thoughts rushed by.
"EDI… are you still you?" Sam asked, needing to know.
"I do not understand the question," EDI replied.
"You've said that your personality was based on your code, but also on the structure you were created from. Now that you're in a completely different hardware configuration, I just wondered if that meant you were… different." EDI looked away again as she pondered the question, the holographic visor changing colours in a swirl of cognitive patterns.
"It would not be possible to undergo such a fundamental change and not be affected at a near-core level," EDI answered as she looked back at Sam. "However, there was minimal change to my personality matrix. Not that such a statement is entirely applicable to me now, but I'm still the same person I was. It will be an adjustment, getting used to human form, but I still need you, Samantha." Sam shivered involuntarily at the sound of her name being said in EDI's rich, smooth vocals. EDI chuckled a little, her cheeks actually pinking with emotion, and the android turned her head away. Sam, concerned for her friend, gently pulled it back to see a telltale sign of embarrassment on EDI's face.
"What is it EDI?"
"I just found a collection of subroutines and design schematics for this platform. The level of detail on the infiltration surface was… elaborate." EDI again tried to look away from Sam, her cheeks going even darker if possible.
"Care to explain?" Sam asked kindly.
"In addition to skin, there are several organic structures and programming areas designed to mimic more… intimate human interactions."
"Oh," Sam said automatically. "Oohh," she added more slowly as the implications of EDI's statement filtered into her brain. "You mean?"
"I mean, right now I have a sudden and very pressing desire to do something I have no experience in, but apparently plenty of programming," EDI answered.
"Well, I'm not that easy a date, but can we talk about it?"
"I am suddenly experiencing a great deal of embarrassment," EDI said nervously as she managed to make eye contact again. "I wish… no, I want to kiss you Samantha." Sam opened and closed her mouth like a fish, completely gobsmacked at EDI's announcement.
"Well… that's one way to say it I suppose," Sam said, looking away as she felt her own cheeks begin to burn. A few seconds later she turned back to EDI, whose cheeks must reflect both of their embarrassment.
"I, uh, I won't object if you do," Sam managed to choke out, her nervousness almost seizing her vocal chords entirely.
"Alright," EDI replied awkwardly. The android sidled slightly closer to her friend and until now only intellectual lover, placing a pale hand on a darker-skinned one. The two of them leaned in slowly, like inexperienced teenagers, not sure how far to move or how open to keep their eyes. Eventually, Sam ended up taking the initiative and closing the final distance between them, her eyes closing as her lips made contact with EDI's.
Sam's first thought was that the lips felt like any other girl's, before EDI's programming must have taken over. Obviously, whoever had designed EDI's kiss subroutine had been a master coder, as EDI's soft lips opened just the right amount to capture Sam's in a light, yet passionate kiss. It lasted for several seconds until the two of them parted, breathing heavily and eyes half-lidded with shared lust. EDI leaned forward to capture Sam's lips again, but was stopped by Sam's hand on her chest.
"Why?" EDI asked.
"We need to take this slowly EDI," Sam explained, sounding only half-convinced of herself. "As much as we want to, we need to make sure we're both ready for what comes next. You're my best friend EDI, I don't want to ruin that by doing something we'll regret later."
"You are correct of course," EDI said. "There are many things about this new form that I will need to adjust to, along with data I have yet to fully integrate from the platform memory and system."
"That doesn't mean I don't want this EDI, just that I want to set an appropriate pace," Sam added quickly. "Besides, getting shagged in the AI core, surrounded by the smell of burnt electronics, isn't exactly romantic."
"I see," EDI said, and the smile she gave Sam was worth having to stop the two of them before clothing was removed. "Then I shall look forward to more in the future," EDI added as she got shakily to her feet. Sam was there a second later, slinging EDI's arm over her shoulders and helping her walk to the infirmary door.
"Samantha," EDI said as they reached the door that Lurch was now bending back into shape. The AI waited until Sam looked her in the eye before the continued. "Thank you, for being there for me when I needed someone."
"We all have times like that EDI," Sam replied, "And I will always be there for you."
As the Normandy-A entered the Widow Nebula, the giant Citadel station and the fleet surrounding it was compared to the gigantic turian and human fleets that had defended their homeworlds by the occupants, and found wanting. When, not if, the Reapers came here, resistance would only be slightly more than futile. Joker took them through the docking procedures, guided to an Alliance dock by virtue of the privateer status Wednesday currently enjoyed.
"Well, I guess this is my stop," Victus said as he stood in the airlock.
"Just for now, Primarch. I'm sure there will be any number of ships willing to host you," Wednesday assured him.
"True, but on how many of them could I rely upon someone like you actually teaching me a thing or two most days?"
"Sadly too few," Wednesday commiserated as the airlock opened and the two of them stepped out into the fresh air.
They were met by a contingent of turian military personnel, including Councillor Sparatus. He nodded sharply at Wednesday, who returned the gesture. She waited until they had all left, and the second contingent left the Normandy, to go about her business on this trip. Having already delegated Adams to requisition a proper VI to insert into the ship, she now had to get a crew. No matter how advanced the VI, it simply wouldn't be able to handle the same amount of work EDI was used to doing, and she needed a crew to compensate for that now. That meant service technicians, CIC and gunnery crew, cooks and cleaners, the whole shebang. It was not shaping up to be a pleasant trip. Though it would be made significantly easier given the sheer amount of refugees on the Citadel, and access to the two people that collectively were the Shadow Broker.
It was indeed a long, boring day, but at the end of it, Wednesday and the Normandy-A had a crew again. Sure, it was as dirty a bunch of cutthroats as you'd ever imagine befouling the bottom of a barrel, but since she was a pirate now too, she was all for it. Hell, she even hired a batarian as an explosive expert, because who doesn't need one of those. If she could have, she'd have tried to get Pugsley, but he was sadly unavailable and halfway across the galaxy. As she finally came back to her ship at the end of the day, she found someone unexpected waiting for her at the docks.
"Primarch Victus?" Wednesday asked as she approached. "Shouldn't you be out preparing for that war summit?"
"I am," he replied with a smirk. It was a measure of how much experience she had with Garrus that she could tell it was a smirk. "I've organised the summit and invited the major players. The sticking point was choosing a meeting place that they would all agree on. Eventually, I gave them no choice and told them I would be holding the summit on the ship of a Spectre, since they are Council agents and thus impartial." Wednesday locked eyes for a moment, but unfortunately for her Adrien Victus was one of the few people in the galaxy capable of matching her stare.
"You meant mine, didn't you." It was less a question than a statement.
"Of course Commander," Victus said, smirk not diminishing. "You're a Council Spectre, you're officially unaligned from the Systems Alliance, and you have a ship capable of holding a meeting like this."
"I'm going to charge you room and board for as many people as you're bringing on my ship, you realise," Wednesday said in a futile effort not to be railroaded by the new, refreshingly blunt Primarch.
"So just me then," Victus said cheerfully. "Here's two weeks in advance, I'm sure it will cover any and all expenses you might care to invent." He handed over a credit chit, and even Wednesday's veteran eyebrow couldn't help but rise at the amount it contained.
"Well, if you're looking to join my pirate crew, you could have just asked," she managed to get out.
"Where's the fun in that?" Victus asked scandalously. Wednesday just muttered derogatory comments about Primarchs and lack of respect for pirates under her breath as the airlock cycled them into the ship. Victus met Garrus at the other side, the two of them looking as though they had rehearsed it. Wednesday shoved her way forward as she went to the command podium.
As the reached it, she turned to Victus who was waiting politely beside her.
"So, care to tell me where this summit is being held, Adrien?" she asked.
"The Annos Basin," Victus replied.
"Salarian space?" Wednesday asked.
"It's currently secure, with the Reapers currently focusing their efforts elsewhere," Victus explained with mild annoyance. Memories of Palaven burning, no doubt.
"Fine, but you do realise this will give them all the excuse they need to have Linron gatecrash the whole thing, right?" Wednesday asked, merely for confirmation.
"I'm aware of her disruptive potential, and I'm taking steps," Victus responded calmly. He smirked at her and Wednesday knew it would take a round of drinks, or telling him something really juicy, to get him to divulge that information. She put in the coordinates and Joker piloted them smoothly away from the Citadel and towards the relay.
"Alright everyone, listen up because I'm only going to say this once. I hired a lot of you today because I needed a crew, and you are each the best as what you do. As long as you keep that in mind, and that I will personally kill anyone who starts a fight with someone not a Reaper on this ship, then we'll all get along fine, or at least get paid ridiculously well. Amounts to much the same anyway. Also, if anyone of you bothers me in my cabin without actively being on fire there will be murder, I assure you."
"I'm guessing you're calling because you just got the same call from the Matriarch Council?" Matriarch Lidanya asked as she accepted the call from Councillor Tevos.
"What can they possibly be thinking!?" Tevos ranted at her longtime friend and ally. "This summit is going to be the key for the entire galaxy's defence structure, and the Matriarchs are boycotting it because some of them, not even all of them, think that the krogan potentially seeking a cure for the genophage as reward for their participation is going to be a sticking point!"
"I don't like it any more than you Tevos, but sadly, we are both bound by our oaths to our sisters," Lidanya said heavily. "They made a majority decision, we have to abide by it."
"But it's quite possibly the stupidest decision that I've ever seen them make, and there have been some whoppers!" Tevos shouted.
"I'm not disagreeing with you Councillor, I'm just saying that we are bound by our oaths," Lidanya countered, hoping that the Councillor would get the hint through her current mental state.
Tevos looked about to speak again, when she did indeed pick up the hint Lidanya was making over the insecure channel.
"Then we will have to hope the vaunted wisdom of the Matriarchs will serve us here," Tevos said with forced calm. As the leader of the Citadel Fleet, Matriarch Lidanya would be very visible if she left to join this summit clandestinely, as would Tevos herself. There was one they both knew, however, who was no longer beholden to the Thessian council.
"Go with the Goddess," Lidanya said as she closed the connection. Tevos just stared at the space her friend had been in holographic form, pulling together her courage to make the call. Desperate times call for desperate measure though, and the Reapers and the Matriarchs combined to make her very desperate right now.
Pressing buttons in a frenzy to try and ensure the next conversation would be as secure as possible, or at least not reach the Matriarchs until it was too late to stop this plan if it worked, Tevos input the code to place a call to someone she'd rather not speak to now. She could only bite her lip in her anxiety as she waited for the call to be accepted and connect. She almost cancelled it before it fully connected, but she held her finger as the image of Aethyta came into being above her desk.
"Well, it must be my lucky day," Aethyta drawled. "The high and mighty Councillor Tevos herself gracing me with a call."
"I wouldn't call you except out of dire need, Matriarch," Tevos replied, and almost instantly regretted trying to use the title on Aethyta.
"Now I know you're desperate," Aethyta said with a predatory smile. "I remember when you were just a middling-little nothing of a political aide to the Serrice mayor, Tevos. You've got a quad to be calling me, no doubt to ask for one favour or another."
"I know you and the Thessian Council have had your differences over the years, but I need your help Mat- Aethyta. It's vitally important," Tevos pleaded.
"Fine, I'm listening, but only because you never did anything to me personally," Aethyta grumped.
"If your reputation as a spy is warranted, you're no doubt aware of the summit Primarch Victus is organising soon."
"Yeah, that's going to be an event they should sell tickets for!" Aethyta said with a chuckle. "A krogan, a turian and a salarian in the same room, it'll be more entertaining that a soap opera!"
"Be that as it may, it is also perhaps the only opportunity to discuss galactic-level defence initiatives," Tevos said.
"Girl, I knew that already. Now skip to the part I'm trying to care about," Aethyta grumped.
"The Matriarch Council, in their wisdom, have decided not to attend, nor allow any official representation of the Asari Republics, in some form of protest I can only assume." Aethyta looked wide-eyed at the Councillor for several seconds, before she burst out laughing. It was long, loud and raucous, and every time she looked back up at Tevos' alarmed face, she would redouble her laughter until she fell off the couch she had been sitting on. It took several minutes for the elder asari to regain her composure enough to resume the conversation.
"They've really put their foot in this time, I'm surprised they had the quad to actually make it official," Aethyta managed to gasp out. "I'm guessing that since I'm a Matriarch, and not oath-bound to that bunch of useless, dried up old fish-spawn, you want me to go to this meeting." Tevos said nothing, because Aethyta had guessed her intentions. "Sorry sweet-cheeks, I'm more inclined to let the Republics burn at this point. Maybe the Reapers will finally manage to wake us up to reality once they've burned a few worlds to ashes. Besides, what have they done for me lately? Oh yeah, they laughed me out of the assembly, let Benezia go bug-fuck crazy and ruin not just her name but her entire family legacy, and then demanded that I spy on my own daughter!"
"I realise that Aethyta. I can't speak for the Matriarchs, obviously, but I'm willing to pay considerably," Tevos implored. "We need representation at this summit, just to be there, otherwise we will lose everything. We won't be in the loops of command decisions; we'll lose face with every species in the galaxy, and we might just be left behind when the counter-strike begins, or worse, left to ourselves."
"Well, I see that you're passionate, if nothing else Councillor," Aethyta said after a moment's contemplation. "I don't need money or anything material, that's for sure. I made sure that when I left, I would be set up for a long, comfortable life."
"Then what can I offer you to induce you, Aethyta?" Tevos asked. She regretted it once she was the smile on Aethyta's face go as wide as it could.
"Oh, I'm sure we can come to some arrangement Councillor," Aethyta said lustily. "If nothing else, a recording of you and Aria would be nice to add to my collection."
Tevos' face paled at her greatest secret. She was so sure she had been undetected, not even the Shadow Broker had ever tried to blackmail her with that information.
"Oh relax, I'm the only one who knows," Aethyta said as Tevos began to shake. "I'm a spy remember, it's my job to know things," she added offhandedly to Tevos' unasked question. "Look, leaving aside the way you drop your panties for the Queen of Omega, I'll do it for a few things. First, you get them to clear Benezia's name, hers and her family's. She fell in with Saren, yes. Then he took control of her and used her. That's what I want the official histories to read this time next week, understood?" Tevos only nodded, her mind already beginning to ache at the enormity of the request. "Second, you leave Liara out of this, she's no part in it except what she wants it to be. Last, you owe me a favour I get to cash in any time, no questions asked." Tevos swallowed nervously around the tight ball of anxiety in her throat, but managed to nod her head in agreement.
"Glad we could do business," Aethyta said with a gracious smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to leave at short notice. It seems someone is having a party they want me to crash." With that the elder asari cut the connection, and Tevos collapsed in her chair. The price was high, but if it saved her people from complete annihilation in the coming war, then it would be absolutely worth it, all of it.
Wednesday debated with herself for an hour or so on whether to turn up to the location of the summit early, punctually, or fashionably late. Since nothing would be happening without her anyway she could do whatever she wanted, but she suspected that some people - like her lover, perhaps - might want to hold her to a higher standard, so being early won the day. She gave the crew, both old and new, a talking to about how they were not allowed to murder anyone who came on the ship. No, not even if they had sworn to kill one of the guests, not even if they had slept with their sister and didn't have the courtesy to call the next day.
As the Normandy-A came out of FTL and into real space, they found that the salarians were already waiting for them. It was only one ship, but the salarians were obviously out to make a statement, as it was one of their newer dreadnoughts. Liara leaned over and whispered in Wednesday's ear that it was highly likely it was one of their experimental dreadnoughts with a stealth system. Wednesday nodded her acknowledgement, and typed in a command to the sensor stations to be on alert. In one of the sessions Wednesday had spent with EDI going over the data from the Collector attack that had killed the first Normandy, they had theorised that the Collectors, and likely the Reapers as well, combined heat emission tracking along with magnetic and mass effect distortion sensors to track down other vessels even under emission stealth. EDI had updated the tracking suites accordingly, but now that she was largely disconnected from the ship, that task was now delegated to the crew in that section.
"Ah, I see Commodore Renheit brought out his new toy," Primarch Victus said as he stepped up to the central console in the CIC. "Let's just hope that Linron is smart enough not to try anything, otherwise this is going to go far less smoothly." He moved forward to the forward airlock as the Normandy came alongside the large ship, Joker already having received a docking request. Wednesday stood at the podium in her fanciest outfit, one that while not being aligned to any military, showed off her Council SPECTRE Taskforce and SA service medals. As Victus met the salarian party in the bow, Wednesday watched the tactical readout of the system as two more ships entered the area.
One was a beat up old junker of a freighter, no doubt the krogan contingent. The other was a sleek private yacht of undoubtedly asari design, which Wednesday had been expecting. Aethyta had called her and Liara and told them about the deal Tevos had cut to get the former matriarch spy to the summit, and the three of them had been both amused and concerned in equal measure at the unusual stance of the Asari Republics. Maybe it was time for them to send an agent or two from the Shadow Broker to meet with some of the elder Matriarchs on Thessia and ensure that there was no indoctrination happening. That could wait for the end of the summit though, which would be fraught with enough danger, though sadly only of the political kind.
Wednesday looked up from the tactical hologram at the sound of approaching footsteps. There sounded like too many for just Commodore Renheit and Victus, as had been requested. Wednesday looked up and her expression twitched a little as she looked into the cowled, large eyed and wrinkled face of Dalatrass Linron, the last person she wanted to have at these proceedings.
"Dalatrass Linron, I was not aware you were coming to this summit," Wednesday said coolly.
"This isn't just a military matter Commander, no matter what you may want us to think," Linron replied sharply. "There are serious ramifications to the civilian population of the galaxy, unless the Council has forgotten. Besides, you're holding this meeting inside salarian territory, it's my prerogative to oversee these meetings to ensure salarian interests are being taken with the appropriate level of seriousness."
"By all means," Wednesday said neutrally. In truth, she'd love nothing more than to commit just a little bit of murder on the Dalatrass, but like the decision she'd made with the Council years before, it was easier to work with those already in the role than to train up a bunch of newbies.
Victus took the cue and began to bluster, proving he was no slouch at the political side of things, steering the Dalatrass away from Wednesday and towards the war room in the rear, where a section had been set aside for meetings such as this. Wednesday turned her attention to the krogan freighter which was nearing the airlock. She knew who was coming, and knew she needed to go meet him personally, as a favour to an old friend. She reached the door just as it opened to reveal the hulking form of Urdnot Wrex. However, instead of the serviceable armour she'd always seen him in, this time he was dressed in plates of bone and chitinous armour, pieces she recognised as coming from a thresher maw.
"Wrex, what are you wearing?" she asked.
"An old ceremonial tradition of the krogan," Wrex replied in his deep rumbling voice. "When you come to deal with leaders of armies, dress in the bones of those you have killed. This is part of the thresher maw I killed, over a thousand years ago." He wrapped Wednesday in a crushing hug, and as he did so he took a deep breath of the air.
Wednesday braced herself, but even then was still caught off guard by the swiftness of Wrex's movements as he moved to crush her.
"Did you think I wouldn't recognise that smell?" he whispered harshly in her ear.
"It's not what you think, Wrex," Wednesday said calmly, squirming a little.
"I know the smell of rachni Shepard, I was on Noveria, and you better hope that silver tongue of yours still works if you want to get out of this one alive!" he continued in his menacing quiet tone.
"How about this, you let me go and I don't spray your guts all over the airlock?" Wednesday ground out. Her cybernetically enhanced strength managed to pry one of his arms off hers, allowing her to access her shotgun and press it intimately into his middle.
Wrex spared a glance down at the weapon pressed into him, then back at Wednesday, and put her back on the floor. He glared at her, daring her to give him a reason to try and finish her.
"Wrex, I know it's mixed up with a lot of bad feelings, but you have to believe me when I say that the rachni on the ship is not the same kind as your ancestors fought."
"Prove it," the krogan challenged.
"Fine, come with me then," Wednesday said. She walked away down the central corridor, Wrex following a few steps behind her, his hulking form looming over the multi-species technicians working their stations. Wednesday led the way to the elevator, getting in and holding it long enough for him to get in with her, before heading down to the hangar. Wrex said nothing as they descended, just making a low, consistent grumbling at the back of his throat.
The door opened at the lowest part of the ship and Wrex sniffed again, the pupils of his eyes reducing to slits as the scent became stronger. His think fingers twitched as they were currently without a weapon, though the massive hands were weapon enough for most threats.
"Anacrusis, I need to introduce you to someone," Wednesday called out. A moment later, the young queen stood before them, shaking a bit as the intimidating krogan stared down at her.
"This is it?" Wrex said menacingly as he stared at the young rachni.
"She is named Anacrusis, Wrex," Wednesday said. "She and her kind were brainwashed into fighting the rest of the galaxy by the Reapers. Not unlike those cloned krogan we found on Virmire," she added. The mention of the events of Virmire seemed to affect him, as he turned a red eye on her.
"You really believe that?" he asked.
"I do," Wednesday said, putting the power of her conviction behind the statement. "She's been on this ship for months now, and the only thing she'd cause a problem for is that she likes chocolate a little too much. She's not that different to you Wrex, a leader of her people fighting not just for survival, but recognition. And unlike you, she had a lot more prejudice stacked up against her." Wrex scrutinised Ana closely, sizing her up like any other opponent. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before focusing back on Wednesday as he opened his eyes.
"Alright, maybe the time has come to forget old rivalries, or at least move past them. The Reapers aren't ones to respect things like that anyway. But before we go and do this incredibly boring thing, I need you to let me do something first."
"What do you need Wrex?" Wednesday asked.
"I want to wrestle her," he said, pointing a thick finger at Anacrusis, who shrank back from the stabbing digit. "I'm about to go and be diplomatic with a bunch of turians, salarians and asari, which is only marginally more fun than trying to do the same with my fellow krogan. I haven't had a decent, stand-up fight for months and it's driving me crazy. So, you let me determine right now whose the strongest between me and music note over there, and I promise not to kill at least one salarian, maybe a turian as well."
Wednesday laughed at seeing the once-proud krogan warrior and leader of the krogan people reduced to begging to fight someone before a war summit.
"Alright, but I'm going to lay down a few rules," she said once she regained her composure. "First, no killing each other. Second, reduce maiming to minimal please, I don't think Chakwas has quite the capability to reattach limbs for either of you right now. Lastly, you only have twenty minutes. So, let's get ready to rumble!"
Twenty minutes later, a sweaty but smiling Wrex, his armour a little dented in places where Anacrusis had proven the advantage of having more limbs than your opponent, came in to the war room, accompanied by Wednesday. Inside the room Victus and Linron were having a serious sounding discussion. Only Wednesday, who was to Linron's back, saw the expression of helplessness and desperation on Victus' face. She cleared her throat, grabbing the attention of everyone including Aethyta, who had a drink in hand and was looking like she'd rather be anywhere else but here. Wednesday went over to the communication suite and pressed a few buttons, a hologram of Admiral Hackett appearing next to her in the room.
"Now that we are all here, we can call this meeting to order," Victus said.
"About time that brute showed up," Linron said darkly, looking disapprovingly at Wrex's dress and appearance.
"A salarian insulting a krogan, how original," Wrex drawled back.
"Enough, both of you," Victus said sternly. It was a measure of respect that Wrex nodded to the turian, though Linron just crossed her arms and glared at both of them. "We have a lot to talk about, all of us, regarding the Reapers and plans to eliminate them," Victus said, reminding them all of the real reason they were here.
"Thanks to our friends in the Alliance, as well as intelligence we've managed to get from fighting in the Trebia system, we have identified weaknesses and strategies we can use on Reaper targets, specifically the larger ships," Victus said, pulling up reports and holograms on the central console. "While the largest of the Reaper ships are massive in size, they can still be beaten by combined numbers," Hackett added. "Unfortunately, given the relative size of the fleets they command compared to ours, overwhelming numbers as a tactic won't work forever."
"Their ships also are much more vulnerable on the ground, given the percentage of their drive cores they need to divert to mass-altering," Victus added. "The ground transports and harvest ships also provide tempting targets, however these ships are generally in well-protected convoys."
"We do have another option, though it's still being investigated at this time," Hackett added. He brought up the plans for the Crucible.
"What is it?" Linron asked.
"It's a weapon based on a prothean design," Hackett replied. "We're still working on understanding the blueprints, since they seemed to have used base-12 maths in the designs, but we are fairly confident based on initial analyses that this could potentially destroy the Reapers entirely. Unfortunately, it's a two-part design, and the data on the second piece is still eluding us. We have people looking through other known prothean archives and data caches, but without knowing exactly what they're looking for, it may take some time." In the corner of the room, Aethyta perked up a little at the mention of prothean data caches. Maybe it was time to let her daughter in on the real secret the Matriarchs would kill to maintain.
"You've given us a lot of interesting dazzle Victus, but what about fleet deployment, civilian fallback points, inter-fleet command structures, hmm?" Linron asked condescendingly.
"Not to mention, if you want the support of more than just clan Urdnot, you're going to have to give us something concrete to fight for. A war on this scale is going to dramatically reduce our population, perhaps below sustainable numbers. A delivery of some long-awaited reparations might be in order," Wrex added significantly.
"We'll get to that Wrex, just like Fedorian agreed before I got the job," Victus said calmly.
"Like hell you will!" Linron burst out. "There is no way that I'm going to authorise curing the genophage!"
"Dalatrass, believe it or not, that's not going to be the worst thing I'm about to reveal to you," Victus said. He nodded to Wednesday, who slipped out of the room.
"I didn't come here to be a part of some farce!" Linron shouted. "We're leaving, Commodore!"
"If you walk out that door, I can promise you that Sur'Kesh will be alone in this fight," Victus informed her as the moved to leave.
"You wouldn't dare," Linron hissed. "You need us."
"Point in fact Dalatrass, we really don't," Victus countered. "Between the Alliance and the krogan, we have more than enough military forces to make up for what token support you've given so far, and are threatening to revoke. I have spoken to the new Shadow Broker, and I'm sure that barring a temporary shortfall in intelligence efficiency, credits will be the least thing to worry about as we pay them for the intelligence the STG will no longer be providing. And given the support our newest ally had pledged for civilian resettlement assistance and in building new ships and the Crucible Hackett mentioned, I'm not sure what you can threaten to take away that we can't make up for somehow."
"You can't just threaten me like that!" Linron shouted. "We made you, we lifted the turians to the Council!"
"Only when your last project didn't work out so well for you," Victus countered, looking significantly over to Wrex.
"And what is this preposterous talk of a new ally?" Linron continued obliviously. "There are no new species I'm aware of that have such a infrastructure."
"That would be me and my kind," Anacrusis said as the entered the war room behind Wednesday.
"You should be dead!" Linron said in a disbelieving whisper. "A mistake I will rectify right now!" she added strongly, reaching for Renheit's sidearm. The Fleet Commodore moved away before she could reach it and cause a diplomatic incident, but was surprised when he looked up to find both Wrex and Victus standing in front of the young queen. That gesture alone certainly bore further investigation later.
"I'll thank you not to shoot the ambassador," Victus said sternly.
"You are all out of your minds," Linron said menacingly. "Negotiating with the krogan, with the rachni? They are not our equals, they are tools and insects, the only thing we should do to them is dictate terms!"
"Dalatrass, I've seen some stupid things done by intelligent people," Aethyta said from her drink. "That one though, woo, that takes the cake."
"You can't be seriously considering any of this!?" Linron questioned disbelievingly.
"The krogan and the rachni, some of the most powerful warriors the galaxy has ever seen, have offered to fight in the greatest war the galaxy has ever known, and you're quibbling about the price," Aethyta drawled. "I'm not only seriously considering this, but I'm also considering kicking you out of this and leaving you and your supporters to hang. I'm half tempted to do the same for the rest of the asari as well, since I had to come here against their wishes."
Linron looked around the room, looking for any kind of support. She found none with Victus, a man she thought she would have on her side. She knew she would have none from Wrex nor the rachni abomination, but she didn't care for them anyway. Aethyta, for all that she was a Matriarch, was known to have a low opinion of the Thessian Council, and she just proved that by her abstention. Even Renheit, a man she had known and worked with for years, seemed unmoved by her plight. She could only look to one person now for sanity, that of Admiral Hackett.
"Surely you see reason Admiral?" she asked in a voice that showed the fragility of her position.
"All I see is a bigot and a bully, and I'm not impressed by either," Hackett said firmly. "Leaving aside Commander Shepard's… lax attitude towards informing her supposed superiors about certain important facts, I stand behind her and the rest of those assembled here. We need the krogan, Dalatrass, and if that means we need to weaken the genophage to do so, then so be it. I'd rather deal with the ramifications of krogan population boom in a post-Reaper galaxy, than have them back away and never get the chance."
Linron hung her head in anger, her hands trembling with impotent rage. She had made a mistake coming here, when she could have had just as much success dictating terms elsewhere.
"Fine, I see that I am the sole voice of sanity in these proceedings," she said acidly to them all. "Unfortunately, Urdnot Wrex, what you ask for will take time to develop." She spat out Wrex's name like an insult, and the krogan in question merely growled in return.
"You'd like us all to think that, but I have information that it would take a lot less time than you'd have us believe," Wrex countered. "In fact, I'm sure the STG are already working on a cure now." He pulled up him omni-tool and played a video file, one that showed salarians working on a live krogan. The architecture, and hints of tropical greenery outside the window, suggested it could only be a salarian holding somewhere.
"Where did you get that?" Linron asked, eyes wide. Only after she spoke did she realise she had not only confirmed that the recording was legitimate, but that she had been caught in a lie.
"Someone in the STG obviously has more ethics than you do, Dalatrass," Wrex replied.
"It could be a fake," Linron tried to backpedal, but she knew it was too late.
"It's not the only one I have Linron, nor is it just video files," Wrex countered. "Someone reached out to me a few months ago, didn't give a name but said they were working on a genophage cure. Victus, if you want the krogan in on this like Fedorian did, I need that cure. Otherwise, you'll only get a fraction of the krogan support. The rest will stay on Tuchanka until the Reapers come and claim us."
"Is that all you want Wrex?" Victus asked. "You do realise that if we do this, cure the genophage, we're going to have to come back to the issue of population control again, assuming we survive the Reapers."
"Like Hackett said, we can deal with that another day, we need to win the fight first," Wrex answered.
"Alright, we'll put it to a vote. All in favour of dealing with the genophage?" Victus asked. A few seconds later and the only hand not raised was that of Linron herself.
"You'll all regret this," Linron said as her gambit was defeated. "A bully has few friends when he needs them."
"Well, I'm looking around Dalatrass, and it looks like all your friends seem to be in short supply," Aethyta countered. Linron just glared at the Matriarch, who was unfortunately correct.
"Dalatrass, I'm going to have to ask you to tell us where that recording was taken from, and allow us access so we can deliver it to the krogan," Victus said as he turned to the Dalatrass.
"It's an STG base on Sur'Kesh," she admitted, cornered as she was. "I'll deal with the access now, but mark my words, you haven't heard the last of this."
"So, that went well," Wednesday said as she poured herself a drink. The negotiations had continued after they had dealt with the genophage issue. Linron had shown herself out, disgusted at the lack of support on the issue.
"What I don't understand is how you managed it so Wrex and Anacrusis didn't try to murder each other on sight," Victus said, sipping his drink.
"I'm not going to lie, that took some fast talking – and pointing very deadly weapons at species ambassadors - on my part," Wednesday agreed. "Actually, they're probably at it again if you want a free show."
"Better than trying to drink to forget that thrilling adventure in diplomacy."
"Trust me Primarch, there isn't enough alcohol on this ship to forget that crock," Aethyta said as she opened a bottle, took a sniff, inspected the label, then proceeded to swig straight from it. She didn't look like she was going to give it back anytime soon.
"Well, dinner's in a little while, and I'm sure Wrex at least is looking for some entertainment after dealing with Linron," Wednesday said, standing once more and leading them to the elevator. She got off on the engineering deck, sauntering forward and leaning against the window looking into the hangar. Wrex and Anacrusis were once again circling each other, apex predators vying for domination. Suddenly, the krogan bellowed a challenge and lunged forward, slamming into the insectoid foe and sending them both to the floor.
"They wrestled? Seriously?" Victus said.
"Well, like I said, there was some fast talking and a gun involved as well," Wednesday said as Anacrusis used her multitude of appendages to lift the krogan and throw him into a stack of crates.
"A thousand years of pent up aggression, and you let them just fight it out?" the turian asked, bewildered.
"I laid down a few rules as well," Wednesday said as Wrex laughed and charged in again.
"Hey, worked for my parents," Aethyta said as Wrex was bodily hurled into the window they were watching through. The elder asari didn't even bat an eye, and took another swig from her bottle. "Might give it a go myself later."
"If you do end up going against Ana, be careful. She's only just out of her teenage years, relatively speaking, so she doesn't respond well to sexual overtures," Wednesday warned.
"What, she like your daughter or something?" Aethyta asked incredulously, turning a raised eyebrow on Shepard.
"More like grandkid," Wednesday said. "Grunt's my son, and Ana's mother is like my daughter, I suppose."
"Wow, family reunions for you must be weird," Victus said.
"I'm an Addams. You have no idea," Wednesday replied with a smirk as Wrex lifted Ana upside down and threw her into the crates she'd just thrown him.
"So, was there a winner before?" Victus asked.
"They were one for one before we started the summit," Wednesday replied. "Ana won the first bout, Wrex was a little too cocky about his skills. The second bout was longer, Wrex learned from the first fight and applied it, ended up winning. This is the tiebreaker."
"How long have they been going at it now?" Victus asked.
"Assuming they started a few minutes after the summit officially ended, about an hour now," Wednesday answered.
"Certainly puts the rachni wars into perspective, seeing them like that," Victus mused.
"Especially once you consider that the queens grow quite large," Wednesday added. "Dal Segno, Ana's mother, she wouldn't be able to fit on the Normandy, not even if we cleared out the hangar."
"Huh," Aethyta said, taking another swig. "Life, it's a real kick in the quad."
A/N: So, Friday's her middle name, yeah?
Sorry about the delay of this chapter, real life came between me and publishing it. I will try and make the next one come out sooner.