Date: 4/15/2210
Ria yawned sleepily as she tapped her omni-tool, shutting the extrenet window she had been reading for some time. Her attempts to learn more about the SR3 program had yielded little that she didn't already know: The SR3 program had began in 2204 with the purpose of building upon the 2183 co-op project between the Turian Hierarchy and the Systems Alliance that had created the Normandy SR1 and encourage continued cooperation between the two races. Over the course of the project five ships were created the Resolute, the Berlin, the Champion,the Ardennes, and the Invisible.
Based on elements of both the Normandy SR1 and SR2's design, these often served as vessels for Spectres or to carry out black-ops missions. As a result these ships do not belong entirely to either the turian or human governments, resulting in the the crew of each ship consisting of members of both races.
I suppose I will find out more, soon enough. Ria thought, disappointed by her lack of success. Not that she hadn't expected this would be the case, but had tried nonetheless to try and stave off the crippling boredom she had faced due to being stuck to Garrus' office for the past forty-six hours. She, Laura, Tarran, and Kel had been confined, for their own safety, in the turian's office for nearly two days while he arranged getting them access to a ship and the supplies they would need.
Checking her messages Ria, unsurprisingly, found that she had received no new updates besides those Liara had sent nearly a day before. At least that info gave me something to go on. The asari, despite her immense array of contacts, spies, agents, and other resources she could call upon, had found very little concerning Cerberus's movements; or at-least not within the past two days. However, she had managed to intercept a transmission that indicated that Cerberus was deploying many of it's agents to Omega. For what purpose, the transmission had not said, but for now it was the only real lead they had, and Ria intended to take it.
Closing her inbox and looking up from her the now blank display of her omni-tool, Ria took note of how the other three were occupying their time. Laura sat to her left, methodically dissembling, checking, cleaning, and reassembling their weapons. Leave it to Laura to find something practical to do when the rest of us aren't.
Looking away from the human her eyes fell on Tarran, who sat facing the door with his back to the wall, a gun and a knife laying where they could be retrieved within a moments notice. Despite Garrus having placed guards outside the door, Ria found herself more comforted with Tarran's own vigilance then their presence.
Lastly her gaze fell upon Kel, who lay curled in a chair with his arms wrapped around his legs as he dozed softly; much as he had done for the past two days. How little rest he managed to get while being hunted by Cerberus, she wondered, from what he has told us, Kel was chased practically non-stop for days. Its a miracle he even lasted as long as he did. Ria felt for the young quarian, who unlike her hadn't benefited from the extensive training and preparation that might have better prepared him for this kind of danger. Then again, its unfair to expect any other quarian to be as prepared as she was. After all, no other quarian is the daughter of Commander Shepard and Admiral Tali'Zorah.
Ria jumped as a high pitched beeping from her omni-tool broke the quarian from her reflection. Answering the incoming call, Ria was greeted by Garrus' voice. "Hey kid." He said in greeting, the quarian surprised by how utterly exhausted he sounded "It took calling in a lot of favors and excessive misuse of authority; but I finally managed to take care of all the necessary arrangements. I have sent for a skycar to take you to the ship-docks. I will be meeting you there."
"Okay, I will make sure everyone is ready" Ria said before the call ended. Well...here we go
. . . . .
Arriving at the docks half an hour later, the four exited the skycar to find there Garrus already waiting for them. As the tone of his voice during the call had suggested, the turian looked absolutely fatigued. After exchanging short greeting, the turian led them through the docks, before coming to a stop before a door leading to a enclosed hanger.
After swiping a ID card through a scanner and entering a ten digit code to unlock the door, Garrus turned to face them. "Well, I guess this is the part where I am supposed to delay for a bit and build suspense" the turian said with a small smile, "But we all know that would be incredibly cliché and predictable, so I am going to skip that part."
With no further delay the turian opened the door and entered the hanger, Ria following with the others filing in close behind. Ria had to stifle a small gasp as the ship came into view, becoming vaguely aware of similar reactions from her friends. The ship appeared to be very reminiscent of the Normandy SR2, nearly identical at a passing glance. However, closer examination revealed several key differences. For one it was sixty percent the size, closer in size to that of the SR1. The ships hull painted a dark, nearly black, gray; and the "wings" were more swept back, giving the ship a more streamlined appearance.
"This is the Invisible, the newest of the SR3 class vessels." Garrus explained, turning to face them. "The ship is fast, quiet, and is equipt with state of the art stealth technology. If any ship can get you where you need to go faster then Cerberus, its this one."
"I assume we are going to need more then just the four of us to pilot this thing." Laura asked, voicing one of Ria's own . ?docid=28890495
"I have handpicked a crew, including a pilot and tactics adviser. They have all been briefed on the mission," Garrus answered, before turning his attention to focus on Ria to add "and have all agreed to follow your lead."
"Me? Lead?!" Ria exclaimed, finding herself at a loss of words.
"Of course, its your mission. It only makes sense that you are the put in charge."
"But I don't have any real leadership, or even military, experience. If I lead I am more likely to get us all killed then not. You are making a mistake, putting me in charge."
Garrus shook his head. "I wouldn't have put you in charge if I thought you couldn't. From everything you have told me, you already have proven your leadership abilities on Horizon and here on the Citadel." Garrus smiled encouraging, adding "Besides, I didn't plan on you having to carry the weight of this all by yourself. One of the Invisible's crew, a salarian Lieutenant by the name of Jalin Kalerihn will serve as your tactics adviser and will help lead your team during combat. He has extensive combat experience from his time spent in the salarian STG, and I trust his judgment."
Ria nodded slowly in acceptance, still unsure if her leading was the best idea. Ria glanced back at Laura and Tarran, who nodded in support, their expressions of encouragement saying more then words could. Well, if they I will be able to...then I will. Gathering up what confidence she could manage, Ria turned back to Garrus and asked "How well equipped is the ship in terms of supplies?"
"The ship has been stocked with food and medical supplies; along with weaponry and armor your you and the other crew-members; all of which have already been loaded onto ship."
"How did you manage all this in less then two days?" Tarran asked after his father answered Ria's question.
"Its like I told Ria before, lots of favors and misuse of power." Garrus said with a laugh.
"You're going to take a lot of heat for this, you know that. No one is going to be happy about what you are doing" Tarran commented with a grimace.
"It doesn't matter now, its far too late to turn back. Besides, I have never been one to follow the rules. What is important is that I have given you the ability and a chance to help stop whatever Cerberus is planning. I have faith in all of you, and I am just glad I did what I could to help"
Ria blinked back tears, touched by the extend of the turian's faith in them. "Garrus, I don't know how to thank you."
"You don't owe me anything, really. This mission will be more dangerous then anything you have been prepared for; I just made sure you had a chance. The only thing I ask is to promise me that all of you will be careful. Oh, and make sure blow up Cerberus agents or two for me."
"Just remember Garrus, we have the easy part," Ria said with a laugh."We are going to be facing one of the most dangerous groups in the galaxy, have to stop them from reaching goals we don't know anything about. You are going to be the one who has to explain to my parents about all the dangerous things I will be doing, and how you helped."
"Ya...explaining this to your mother is going to be fun," Garrus replied soberly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I better go make sure no one tries to stop you from leaving the station at the last minute. Lieutenant Kalerihn will waiting on-board to explain everything else you will need to know before setting off."
As Garrus turned to leave, Tarran called out to him "Dad, thank you..."
Looking over his shoulder, Garrus replied somberly. "Keep them safe Tarran, spirits know they will need it."
"I will" Tarran answered softly, stepping back to stand at attention as his father drew out of sight.
"Well then" Ria said, pushing aside her concerns and apprehension the best she could to focus on the task at hand. "Lets go see our new ship, shall we?"
. . . . .
With a faint hiss the elevator doors opened to the Invisible's CIC. It looks exactly like the Normandy's Ria thought, remembering when as a small child here parents had shown her around that legendary vessel. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised given the SR2 served as the basis for this ship's design.
Stepping out of the elevator, Ria found herself greeted by a salarian wearing black and gold armor. Waiting until Tarran, Laura, and Kel had vacated the elevator, the Salarian greeted them. "Lieutenant Jalin Kalerihn, at your service" the Salarian said, speaking in the fast-paced rate indicative of his race. "As you must have been informed, Director Vakarian has instructed me to assist you with all the matters necessary in the completion of this mission, and to advise and assist you in leading this endeavor."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant Kalerihn."
"Please, I prefer if you just call me Jalin. Most of the crew does." the salarian replied warmly.
Nodding Ria continued. "Okay, if I may ask, what can you tell me about the Invisible? I couldn't find much in terms of the ship's specifications and combat capabilities."
"Ah, glad you asked. While the ship was designed with inspiration drawn from the Normandy SR2, the SR3 class frigates were created with a more heavy focus on speed and stealth capabilities. The smaller size and the many improvements on the Tantalus Drive Core allows for greater speed and maneuverability then the SR2. The stealth drives have also been greatly improved upon, allowing the ship to remain undetected at closer proximity to enemy scanners and for longer periods of time."
"What about the offensive and defensive capabilities of the ship?" Tarran asked.
"The Invisible is equipt with two Thanix cannons and Javelin missiles. However, both of these are scaled back due the the ship's smaller size. Same goes for the shields. After-all, the Invisible was created for scouting and black-ops missions, not for frontal engagements."
Before Ria could ask her next question, a synthesized voice emanated from the ship's loudspeakers. "Lieutenant Kalerihn, you have yet to introduce this platform."
"Yes Core, I was getting that that," Jalin replied with a sigh, shaking his head with bemusement. "That voice you heard speaking was the Invisible's resident geth consciousness, who the crew likes to call Core. Core runs and cyberwarfare systems and provides tactical analysis during ship to ship engagements."
The geth's voice once more spoke once Jalin finished. "It is a honor to meet you, Creator-Ria'Shepard."
"Nice you meet you too, Core" Ria answered, before asking. "How did a geth end up on a Human and Turian designed ship?"
"Due to the effectiveness of the Artificial Intelligence unit EDI on the Normandy SR2, it was deemed advantageous to employ AI support all of SR3 class frigates. Rather then create new AI for this purpose, Director Vakarian enlisted several geth consciousnesses to fill this role."
Ria nodded in understanding, to which the geth replied "If you are interested we would be willing to answer any other questions you may have at a later time, Creator-Shepard."
"I would like that, Core" Ria said with a smile. Looking back to Jalin, the quarian asked "Is there anything else we need to know about the ship before we can start?
"The ship's facilities and living quarters are fairly standard, crew quarters, kitchen, armory, conference room, engineering, and medical facilities are all present on the ship. The only non-standard room is an observation deck that doubles as a lounge for the crew, similar to that found on the Normandy SR2. Besides that there isn't anything else... well, a few minor things, but not necessary for time being." Jalin answered. "We should be able is disembark soon, I will inform you as soon as we have clear..."
"Jalin, we just received clearance a minute ago!" a voice shouted from the helm, cutting the salarian off.
"Thank you Talena" Jalin answered into his omni-tool, irritation clear in his voice. "Would it kill you to use the ships communication channels rather then shouting?"
"I could, but its more fun to shout; I know how much you hate it when I do." the feminine voice replied over the COMs with a laugh. "Talena, out."
"That was the ship's pilot, Talena." Jalin said in way of explanation. "You will have to excuse her behavior, she can get very abrasive at times. But shes a good pilot, best to have come out of Palevin in a decade, which is quite the complement given the extensiveness of Turian naval training."
"Can't be worse then what my father had to put up with" Ria laughed, feeling a bit of her previous apprehension fade away.
"Indeed, I have heard storied about Flight Lieutenant Moreau's "exploits"" The salarian laughed. "if you are ready, we can set off soon. Once we pass through the Charon Relay it will be nearly forty hours before we reach Omega, so you will have plenty of time to get acquainted with the ship"
Ria turned to look at her friends "You ready to do this?"
"Ready to begin a mission, filled with almost certain peril and no clear leads for us to follow? Sure, why not" Tarran quiped in answer.
"I am as ready as you are" Laura said with a nod.
"I-I am ready as well" Kel nervously answered.
"All right then" Ria said, stepping up to the CIC. "Set a course for Omega." Ria closed her eyes as took a deep breath, pushing aside her doubts and fears to focus on the path that lay before her. Opening her eyes, the quarian gazed over the galaxy map."Talena, take us out."
. . . . .
After successfully making the jump through the Mass Relay, Ria stepped down from the CIC. "Core, whats the ETA on reaching Omega?"
"38 hours, 53 minutes; with a possible variance of 21.78 minutes," the geth replied.
"Thank you Core." She nodded, turning to her friends. "I am going to have to take some time to familiarize myself with CIC's interface; which I do not expect any of you would like to just stand and watch me do. I know I wouldn't."
Tarran nodded. "In that case I will head head over to the armory and run inventory on what weapons and equipment we have. After which I will head down to the cargo-bay and familiarize myself with the shuttle."
"That would be a good idea; don't want you crashing the first time we have to take it out for a spin" Ria laughed.
"Tarran, I could help with inventory if you want, or I could go take a look at the weapon's systems" Laura offered.
"Whatever you would prefer" The turian answered, taking his leave and heading for the elevator, Laura following.
"Kel, what will you be doing?" Ria asked, turning to the other quarian after the other two at left.
"Well, uh, I am not really sure." The quarian stuttered, lowering his gaze as his hands grasped one-another. "My parents are both ship-mechanics, so I do know a bit about engineering... so I suppose I could help out there, if you think I am able."
"Kel, as a quarian I can safely say that "knowing a bit" about engineering for our people mean "very knowledgeable" by other races' standards. I am sure you will do fine."
"Uh, thank you, Captain." Kel nodded.
Captain? That's going to take some getting used to, Ria mused as Kel left. Returning to the CIC, she began to fiddle with the controls, asking Core for questions regarding the interface periodically. After an hour had passed Ria decided that she had learned enough about the CIC's interface (not that boredom didn't play a role in this decision) and decided to take a look around the ship.
After a moment of hesitation as she considered where to go first, the quarian stepped into the elevator and pushed the button that would send the lift down to engineering. Stepping off the Elevator a few minute later, the quarian made her way to the doors leading in engineering. Walking into engineering, Ria was shocked to find the room deserted but for Kel, who, from sounds coming from further back, undoubtedly working behind some of the machinery.
"Core?" she called out questioningly
"Yes Creator-Ria'Shepard?"
"Why isn't there any other engineer's assigned to this vessel? There is no way Kel is capable of doing it all on his own."
"Excellent question. In addition to providing tactical analysis during ship combat and helping run several of the Invisible's system, we also serve as one of the engineer's on the ship. In addition to ten maintenance drones that we can allocate to each 30 of our 2617 programs to, we possess a mobile platform for dealing with more complex task," the geth replied.
"Do you normally handle all the repairs and other engineering work on your own?"
"No, normally two other engineers are assigned to the the Invisible. However, Director Vakarian judged that knowledge and skill of Creator-Kel'Valah's and yourself wound be sufficient enough for additional engineers to be unnecessary."
Ria nodded in understanding "Where is you "body"?"
"It is at this time within a storage-pod at the other end of engineering." As he spoke the interior lights of the aforementioned pod lit up, revealing a simple silver and blue Geth mobile-platform. "Normally it would be active, but we deemed it necessary to give Creator-Kel'Valah time on his own to become familiar with the Invisible's engines."
"Thanks for the clarification, Core." Ria thanked.
"It you have further queries, feel free to ask."
After the geth "withdrew" from the communication channel, Ria headed further into engineering, still seeing no sign of the other quarian. "Everything alright, Kel?"she called out.
A loud thud, followed by a muffled cry of pain echoed from behind a several large coolant-pipes. Concerned, Ria started to ask the other quarian if he was alright, but fell silent as he shouted "I'm okay, I'm okay. I was just a bit startled, bumped my head." A couple of seconds later, Kel came into sight; the small quarian crawling through a two foot small gap between the floor and a section of the pipes.
"Sorry for surprising you, was just coming down to check on you and see if you were having trouble getting settled in" Ria explained, moving to lean against one of the guard-rails blocking off the drive-core.
"Y-yes, I haven't been having much trouble. I use to help my parents with repairing and modifying ships all the time when I was younger, even despite all the time I had to spend practicing after my biotics first manifested when I was twelve."
"I was curious about that, actually. I knew biotics among our people have become more common since we returned to Rannoch, but have never met any myself...well before meeting you, of course."
"Well... yes, uh, while biotics amongst our people are non-unheard of, we are far fewer then those of any other race, even when taking our race's fewer numbers into account. From what I understand, during our exile there almost no quarian biotics; if the type of accident that would cause a eezo exposure and thus development of biotics was to occur on a ship within the migrant fleet it would almost certainly mean the deaths of that ship's crew." the young quarian explained, moving to sit down against a wall across from Ria.
"Makes sense. Though that doesn't explain rapid increase in quarian biotics. I didn't think there had been any large-scale eezo exposures."
"There haven't been, at-least not in the traditional sense. During the fighting between the Geth and our people during the Reaper war; so many ships of both sides were destroyed in orbit over Rannoch that large amounts of eezo were released into the atmosphere. While in a far lower concentration then the exposures in recent memory, the eezo released over the planet was so widespread and lasted for such a long period is resulted in the development of biotics amongst "many" of the children born after we resettled Rannoch, myself being among their number."
"It must have been difficult growing up, after your biotic potential was discovered."
"It wasn't so bad, I wasn't feared or mistreated as many biotics are. But it was a lot of pressure growing up, everyone I knew expected me to dedicate myself to learning how to control and use my biotics fore the betterment of my community and our people as a whole. What little time I didn't spend practicing with my biotics was spent helping my parents repair ship engines."
Ria nodded in understanding. "Well, I am glad you're here Kel. Not only am I sure you biotics will be helpful to the mission, its nice to have another quarian on board."
"Yes...um, thank you." Kel stuttered, standing up. "I better get back to work, need to fix that coolant-pipe. The liquid isn't cycling through as fast as it should, could cause heating problems if too many systems are used at the same time."
"You need any help? I have time to spare and I know a bit about ships," Ria offered, "besides, I have some time to kill."
"Uh, sure, I guess." Kel answered as he ducked back behind the coolant-pipes. "It will go a lot faster with the two of us."
Smiling, Ria activated her omni-tool and followed the smaller quarian. Lets see if I can remember what mom taught me about ship-repairs.
. . . . .
It took about a hour for the two quarians to finish their repairs, after which Ria decided to take her leave. Heading out of engineering, she was surprised to find Laura waiting for her. "I thought you were helping Tarran with weapons inventory?"
"I was, but he seemed like he would handle it better on his own, I was getting in a way mostly. You mind if I have a word with you about something?" she asked after her quick explanation.
"Whats up?"
"I don't think you should have let Kel join us on this mission, or at the very least not on any ground deployments."
Ria nodded slowly, "Go on,"
"Hes too inexperienced, he is going to get himself or someone else hurt. Killed. He shouldn't be here, for his own safety and ours'"
"He survived being hunted by Cerberus for several days, I think that speaks for something regarding his capabilities."
Laura sighed "Ria, we both know that was likely luck more then anything."
"I am not so sure. Besides, even if you are right, he was able to help us against those Cerberus agents." she countered.
"You didn't see what I saw" Laura said somberly, sighing once-more before continuing. "I was next to him when that fight started; he froze up and began shaking uncontrollable as soon as those Cerberus agents opened fire. Yes, he did help and overcome that, but not until later into the fight. Next time he might not have that time to overcome his fear, in which case he would be a easy target; endangering himself and us."
"I understand your concerns, but if he wants to help I am not going to stop him. Kel wants to help, despite all the danger, and despite his own fear and inexperience. Besides, I think he can help, even if he himself doesn't have any faith that he can." Ria put a hand on Laura's shoulder. "Trust me on this, Laura. Have a little faith."
A moment passed before the human sighed and nodded in acceptance. "Okay. I don't agree, but I will defer to your judgment on this.
Ria dipped her head in thanks. Parting ways, the quarian made her way to the armory. Upon entering, Ria found Tarran still in the process of running inventory on their weapons and equipment. Looking up from his work, the turian nodded in greeting before returning to gazing between data-pad held before him and the assortment of weapons and equipment scattered throughout the room.
"Hey, just coming down to find out what sort of weapons and equipment we have" Ria said, moving to stand at the other end of the table across from him. "Though if you haven't finished yet, I can come back later."
"Actually, I have already finished with the weapons. Working on taking stock of grenades and special ammunition."
"Okay then, what weapons do we have access to?"
"Well, for assault rifles we had a two dozen M-8 Avengers, a dozen M-15 Vindicators and Phaetons, and two M-76 Revenants. For close range weapons we have half a dozen M-23 Katana, M-27 Scimitar, and M-22 Eviscerator shotguns. For long range we have a couple M-92 Mantis and M-97 Viper sniper rifles. Lastly for small arms we have ten M-9 Tempest submachine guns, thirty M-3 Predator pistols, and a dozen M-6 Carnifex heavy pistols."
Ria nodded before gesturing at two closed cases sitting on the table before her. "Whats in these?"
"Those contain some sets of armor my father acquired for us. Quarian armor to be precise, one of them is for you." Setting down his data-pad, Tarran pulled one of the cases towards him, releasing the clasps with a quick movement, and opened the case.
Inside was a suit of dark gray armor, designed to be worn over top of her exosuit. At first glance the armor appeared unadorned, but Ria then saw that a green on white stripe ran down the length of the right arm. Looking up, Ria gazed questioningly at the turian. "That looks a lot like..."
"Like the design worn by Alliance N7 operatives" Tarran answered, finishing her sentence. "It was my father's idea. He thought that you would want to wear something into battle that reminded you of your father and perhaps give you a bit of luck."
Ria ran did not answer immediately, instead running a hand over the pattern before speaking, lost in reflection. Father, I promise to do everything in my power to stop Cerberus, just as I know you would do in my place. At last she spoke, asking "Then why is a it green?"
"Mostly to match your suit I think, and to give it a more personalized spin."
"As if I needed another thing to thank him for," Ria chuckled, closing the case. Silence reigned for several seconds, before Ria moved to leave. "Well, I should probably head back to the CIC. Make sure to let Kel know that we have armor for him." she said, making her way to the door.
"Will do" Tarran answered as he retrieved his data-pad and returned to cataloging the remaining equipment stored in the armory.
. . . . .
Returning to the CIC, Ria spent the next couple of hours reading status reports from various parts of the ship and continuing to further familiarize herself with the CIC's interface. As time passed Ria began to feel increasingly tired, until eventually it became a struggle just to keep her eyes open.
"Creator Ria'Shepard, we still have a time period greater then thirty-five hours before we reach Omega. As your prescience is not critical for operations at this time, we recommend that you take some time to sleep rather then continuing to operate at limited capacity." The geth suggested over the ships communicators when it seemed the quarian could not stay awake any longer.
Too tired to even argue Ria took the elevator down to the 2nd deck and made her way to the ship's captain's quarters. Opening the door, she found herself in a medium sized room furnished with a desk, several empty shelves, and a bed; the standard setup for officer's quarters on a ship.
Despite her exhaustion Ria took a few minutes to look around the cabin; discovering, much to her surprise, that a portable decontamination unit had been installed in a corner of the room. So I can actually remove my suit without getting sick, like I can at home... I guess Uncle Garrus did think of everything.
Fiddling with the controls for a moment Ria turned on the decontamination unit, waiting for it to finish running before dropping herself down onto the bed. Reaching up to her face, she unsealed her mask and removed her helmet, setting them on a bedside table to her left before lowering her head to lay fully on the bed. Sleep began to envelope her, pushing aside her worries and fear as her exhaustion that had built over the past few days finally took its toll. With a smile, the first not covered by a mask since her Pilgrimage had begun, Ria slipped into a deep, peaceful sleep.
Author's note: Hope this chapter makes up for the shorter then usual one last week. Well, now that two more characters have been introduced, we almost have a complete supporting cast for Ria's plot-thread. As you might have been able to guess, I took a page out of Mass Effect 1's book and had each of these characters filling the role of one of the six classes.
While Ria is more of a mix between a Soldier and a Engineer in terms of skills, I tried to make the other characters fit each of the different classes. For those who are wondering, here is the break down.
Soldier: Laura
Infiltrator: Tarran
Sentinel: Kel
Engineer: Core
Vanguard: Jalin
Adept: ? Ya... the Adept hasn't been introduced yet.
Secondly point of news. I have been considering posting bonus content, such as character bios, bonus scenes, and other content. However, due to the rules of I would have to do so on another site. I am considering doing to on my deviantArt page, but haven't really made up my mind yet. Just something I am considering.
Lastly, I would like to make a quick announcement. I am going to be leaving for a two week vacation on Monday; and will not be back until August 21st . While I try to get a chapter or two up during that time, but I can't make any promises... so don't expect regular updates to return until the 27th .
