Mass Trek

Chapter 4: The Plot Thickens

Shepard glanced over Adam's and O'Brien's work. "I'm not much of an engineer, but even I can tell you guys are incredible at this. Look at that. Perfectly seamless."

"This is perfect!" Tali almost squealed. "Thank you so much!"

"Just let us clear away our tools and we'll sanitize the interior," Adams told Tali. "Then you can step inside and frolic all you want."

Ashley tapped the final command into the replicator. "Alright. I've made a new menu for Tali. Basically the same as the Turian food, but free from anything harmful." She suddenly sighed in annoyance and did a few quick rotations with her shoulders.

"Chief, you okay?" Shepard asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Its... uh..." She glanced around, leaned in, and whispered the rest. "This new bra, Commander. My apartment on Eden Prime was destroyed and I had to buy a whole new wardrobe when we got here. I knew I should have gone with that Cardassian tailor."

"What's wrong with the bra?" Shepard asked.

"It fit fine when I tried it on, but now... it's not sitting right."

"What's a bra?" Tali asked, also in a whisper.

"It's an undergarment that supports breasts," Shepard replied. She glanced over her shoulder to check for any male ears. After she found that O'Brien and Adams had cleared out, she turned back. "What do Quarians wear as undergarments?"

"Undergarments? Well, none, actually."

"What?" Ashley asked.

"Undergarments are a waste of material that could be used to make or repair our bio-suits. My suit has a soft frame to support my breasts."

"Well, you'll be the only person in this room, so you don't have to worry about taking off the suit in here," Ashley reminded her.

"Commander?" Adams called from the outside.

"Yes?"

"We're ready to sanitize the room. You may want to come outside. I don't think even Miss Zorah should be in there when we do this."

The three girls stepped out of the room and the small airlock doors closed after them. Adams activated the purge and they waited the thirty seconds until the computer reported that the room was clear. Adams then programmed the life support system to match the conditions in the room to that of Tali's suit.

"Okay, we're done here. Just step into the sanitizer and it'll be safe to enter the room."

"Thanks, Adams," Shepard told him. "Now go enjoy what shore leave we have left."

Adams and O'Brien left as they talked about the latter's holosuite programs. Tali stepped cautiously into the sanitizer and the doors closed behind her. Shepard could hear a hissing sound, and then inner doors open and shut.

Shepard and Ashley waited a bit before Shepard tapped her comm badge. "Shepard to Tali'Zorah,"

"Tali'Zorah here."

"How is it, Tali?"

"Fantastic Shepard. Uh... what is this tall, open box in the corner?"

Ashley smiled. "I set up a field sonic shower in there. I figured you might feel like getting clean."

"Sonic shower?" Tali asked.

"It cleans you without using any sort of liquid," Shepard replied. "You shouldn't hear anything. Try it when you've got the suit off. And remember to have the computer set an alarm for you. Adams wants you in Engineering at 0800 tomorrow."

"Thank you Shepard and Chief. See you tomorrow."

"Good thinking Chief," Shepard told Ashley as she ended the call.

"She's a nice girl," Ashley replied. "She's also been through a lot."

"You wanted to help her," Shepard added. "I feel the same."

"So, she's going to join our little crew?"

"She's our only source of intel on the Geth. Plus, she's got combat training with those plasma weapons. What were they, a shot gun and pistol?"

"Right on the nose, Commander," Ashley replied. "Any word on the relief fleet?"

"The Eighth fleet will arrive in sixteen hours with relief vessels. The fleet will also scour the region for that mother ship's warp signature."

"Will we be able to recognize a Geth warp signature?" Ashley asked. "We haven't encountered them before."

"Then they'll look for the one out of place," Shepard replied.

"Anderson to Shepard."

Shepard tapped her comm badge. "Shepard here, sir."

"Report to the conference room on the double."

"On my way, sir. Later Chief."

~Mass Trek~

Anderson was alone when Shepard arrived. His gaze unfocused out towards the deepness of space. Shepard waited a few moments before she interrupted the Captains thoughts. "Captain?"

"Things are coming to a head with the Citadel Council," Anderson informed her. "They've looked over our reports on the incident on Eden Prime. And they're not happy."

"Have you forwarded Miss Zorah's evidence?" Shepard asked.

"Not yet. They're sending a C-Sec officer to bring you before them."

"C-Sec? They don't have any jurisdiction outside the Citadel," Shepard thought aloud.

"They say they don't want to risk you killing another Spectre."

"Me?! It was Saren! I saw him!"

"I know, Shepard," Anderson assured her as he turned to face her. "I know. But they can't believe that one of their own would betray them." Anderson moved to his seat. "The Normandy will go to the Citadel once the C-Sec officer is aboard. Our orders are to cool off the Council by any means possible. Starfleet wants to avoid a war."

"I understand sir."

"Turian vessels are not as advanced as ours, but their warships are built for precisely that- war. We don't have a lot in that luxury. Even the Galaxy-Class vessels aren't built solely for war."

"The Normandy is," Shepard pointed out.

"All Defiant-class vessels are. They were built to combat the Borg, for heavens sake. And the Akira-classes are entering the scene in force."

"Even though most of our fleet is not built specifically for war, we could take the Citadel on and win. We did a hundred years ago. And a Galaxy-class can match a dreadnaught."

"Our job isn't to determine if we can win a war with the Citadel," Anderson rebuked. "Starfleet isn't a warmongering machine. Our orders are to stop an all out war anyway we can. And this business with Saren is going to strain that."

"We'll succeed, sir," Shepard promised.

"Once we are at the Citadel, we will meet with Federation Ambassador T'Vran and the IHC Ambassador Udina."

Shepard blinked. "IHC, sir?"

"The Independent Human Colonies is a government of colonies inside Council Space settled by Humans after the First Contact War. I'm not surprised you haven't heard of them, Commander. They're barely a footnote in history and their name is only to mock the Federation."

"Why did they leave?" Shepard asked.

"Pick a reason. The ban on genetic enhancements. The Khitomer Accords. The Prime Directive. They left the Federation and let old wounds fester. The environment of the IHC allowed the creation and growth of Cerberus."

Shepard's eyes widened briefly. "The pro-human terrorist group?"

"Rumor has it they've provided the IHC with ships for their fleet in exchange for looking the other way," Anderson replied.

"Where did they get the ships?" Shepard asked.

"Starfleet Intelligence figures they bought or stole ships from scrap yards or have salvaged derelicts. The Confederate Fleet is a ragtag fleet of ships, and not just old Federation ones either. Klingon, Cardassian, even a few Romulan. I know," Anderson added as Shepard blinked in surprise. "I was surprised too. The IHC is a significant enough presence to warrant an embassy on the Citadel."

"Do you know the military strength of the IHC?" Shepard asked.

"They've amassed enough ships that they've scared off a lot of Batarian pirates." Anderson rubbed his forehead. "As much as I admire their tenacity, I don't admire their choice of Ambassador."

"You've met Udina?"

"Yeah. During my visits to the Citadel. He's an IHC politician. They scheme more than ours do. I wouldn't be surprised if he had Cerberus ties."

"But why is he meeting us?"

"He's claiming that, 'Federation blundering is placing a black mark on the good people of the colonies.' Direct quote."

"So he's being a thorn in our side," Shepard translated.

"More or less."

Shepard sighed. "How long until the C-Sec officer gets here?"

"Tomorrow."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "So soon? How far is the Citadel from here?"

"It's on the border of the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants."

"Then how-"

"The entirety of Citadel space is covered by a web of Prothean transwarp conduits," Anderson explained. "Their system of Relays connect each their territories together into one alliance. The closest Relay is a half a day away. It's guarded by one of our battle groups."

"Why haven't we found more of these?" Shepard asked.

"We've found four. One is buried inside Charon."

"Pluto's moon?"

"The very same. They only work when they are connected to the network."

"Why didn't I know about this?" Shepard asked.

"The Federation decided that this is a need to know basis. If the Marquis knew then they'd stop at nothing to find more and use them against the Cardassians," Anderson explained. "It's bad enough that Cerberus is operating with the network."

Anderson picked up a data pad. "You'll need to meet the C-Sec officer at the docking port when he comes in. He's coming in on the Volus freighter Obit."

"What's his name?" Shepard asked.

"Vakarian. Garrus Vakarian."

A/N: Okay. I hope that answered some questions raised. I know that there isn't a lot of forward movement in this chapter, but the next ones should move along nicely... I hope.

The reason I made up the IHC is that I felt that there would be quite a few people who would leave the Federation for some reason or another and the Citadel Council would have been happy to accommodate the emigrants.

I imagine the IHC do not follow the treaties made by the Federation. So they might be try to develop a cloaking device but it won't be able to fool Federation sensors because the Federation has been working on ways to detect cloaked vessels (like the Romulans or Klingons) which would have much more sophisticated than anything the IHC would have developed. It would be interesting to see how Shepard would battle a cloaked IHC vessel... if that is something you all would like to see it.

Until next time.