Chapter 7: The Engineer

Engineering, SSV Normandy 1305 Hours

The Normandy's elevator touch the floor of the Engineering, William walked away from the elevator and hurriedly got inside the Engineering.

"What? No-no, you cannot do this without an expert. It could make all system go haywire!" Male voice has been heard by William

"My commanders have already demanded the Reaper drive core back within this week. You and your assistances need to decided what to do with it."

William rushed in to the Engine room, Professor Hix was there arguing with his engineers.

"Hey, calm down! What's this all about?" William walked between them, calmed the situation down

"Commander, I'm glad you are here. We need you to resolve this." Engineer Pesolov spoke while his assistances saluted

"I have finished my drive core upgrade plan for the Normandy but only question remains. Which one do you want? The Reaper core or mine?" Professor Hix explained

"What's the difference between your upgrade and the Reaper one then? William questioned

"If you replace your drive core with the Reaper one, your ship's performance will boost to 200%! Plus ability to travel outside the galaxy. But be caution, I recommend that you should aware of the side effects. The core can be overload and tear the Normandy to pieces while in traveling in FTL speed." Hix showed the data on his omni-tool

"What about yours?" William asked

"With my upgrade, the Normandy will be able to travel to outside the galaxy but its performance will not enhance much. From my calculation the Normandy's performance will boost for 110%."

"Tell me it doesn't have side effect to the Normandy, Sensei Hix?" Engineer Ichigawa asked seriously

"There will be a side effect but less than the Reaper one. The worst the Normandy can get from my upgrade is... System failure."

"I know he would say that, amigo." Engineer Garza touch Ichigawa's shoulder as he looked a bit upset.

"Commander we can avoid this by having another expert engineer on our ship. When you upgrade the ship, I'll try my best to keep the Normandy at the status quo when the upgrade complete." UDI advised

"Thanks, UDI." William replied" Do not worry, gentlemen. I'll get you another engineer. Now dismissed." William ordered his crew.

William put his omni-tool up, brought another dossier up.

Dossier: The Engineer

Name: Geia'Xen vas Rannoch

Date of Birth: 25 June 2195

Allegiance: Quarian Marine

Service Record: 2205 Learned engineering from Admiral Tali'Zorah and Admiral Daro'Xen

2213 Completed her Pilgrimage and became the crew of the Moreh

2218 Has been reassigned to Experimental Combat Branch in Rannoch

As his task was done. William walked away from Engineering and headed up to CIC.

CIC, SSV Normandy 1330 Hours

As the elevator arrived at the CIC, William left the elevator and walked to Galaxy Map at a speed.

"Commander? Why are you in such a hurry?" His yeoman asked

"We are going to Rannoch. Karl, Bring Admiral Vega and President Rann to Comm Room immediately!" William ordered

Karl tapped his terminal while William finished pointing the destination and ran to Comm Room. Quickly, he arrived and walked into Comm Room hurriedly. The Admiral and the President were there already.

"Commander, I'm sorry to interrupt both of you but I need you to help me on my mission." William spoke

"Slow down, Commander. Let's see what your need is." President Rann spoke, William could see her beautiful face without the breathing mask because of her location on Rannoch.

"Admiral, I may need to go to outside the Council Space again." William requested

"Again? Tell me where are you heading, soldado." Admiral Vega asked

"Rannoch, I have a crew to recruit there."

The quarian President quietly considered William's request.

"Commander, I'm afraid to say this but you should avoid visiting my homeworld at the moment."

"Why?" William asked

"There are protesting throughout the planet. And it seems like the protesters are getting more violent. Tourism Ministry has already given the warning to the visitors to avoid Rannoch for a while until the situation is under control."

"This is unbelievable. Why are the quarian protesting?"

"Our new military strategy is upsetting them. But our Admirals have decided what to do yet. Don't surprise for that, Commander. Emotional is our race's native trait." The President explained

"Do you mind if I'd like a know your new 'strategy'."

"Huh, I do need to tell you, don't you?" She sighed with little upset face " One of our Admirals wants to use the geth in combat as auxiliary role. Other Admirals don't agree with them. As they fear it could upset our people. The government tried not to let this go public but from an unknown source, the news had been leaked to our people. Our Marines are busy fighting with the Enclave, and if there is any aggressive action happen, we may need gendarmerie from your race to keep order." The President spoke to Admiral Vega

"The riot police are on your way, Madame President. I'll call the nearest outpost." Admiral Vega promised. In all sudden, William got an idea to get him to Rannoch.
"Admiral, if I should not go alone, may I go with our riot police, sir?" William asked his superior

"So, Poco Loco." Vega sighed before answered "Looks like I cannot keep you from getting there. Go with the police. They will be transported in SSV Da Vinci. Contact them when you get there and Shepard… You need to remain in one piece. You are an important war asset for us. Dismissed." The Admiral and the President hologram faded away.

"Aye aye!" William saluted while he walked away from the Comm Room and into the CIC.

The Normandy, slowly contacted with the Mass Relay before it vanish in wide space.

Cockpit, SSV Normandy,Rannoch orbit 1500 Hours

"Commander, Here it is, Rannoch." Steve said to his Commander who was standing on his side.

The Normandy slowly floated towards the sandy planet named Rannoch. Several ships were guarding the planet. The planet looked greener than he recognized. At that moment, William recalled some of his memory about Rannoch.

"Hey, why Rannoch looks so green. Last time I visited the planet was still sandy and dry. I was still a kid that time."

"Well, the quarians rediscovered their ancesters' technology about soil remediation and developed it. With helps from the geth and Liveships' plants, this is the result." Steve explained

Moments later, Steve noticed something on the monitor. He tab and turned to his Commander.

"Sir, contact from the Da Vinci. Captain Dhatri Volu would like to talk to you, patching him to the Comm Room." Steve tapped on his terminal again but there was no response from William. "Commander? Did you hear me? I said the Captain of the Da Vinci would like to talk to you" Steve turned to William

"Oh, sorry. I was thinking about my dad's adventure there, on Rannoch. He made something that seemed impossible." William made an excuse.

"Yeah, I've heard a lot about your daddy's adventure. Especially one about the peace between the quarian and the geth. Think of it, organic and synthetic cooperate and live together peacefully! It's a pity the geth cannot remember anything about their past. By the way, you don't want the Captain to wait, do you?" Steve looked at William with smile.

William did not response but quickly sprinted to the War Room. Seconds later, William reached the Comm Room and saw two holograms standing.

"Sorry for the waiting, sir" William saluted the officers

"At ease, Commander. I'm Captain Dhatri Volu, Captain of SSV Da Vinci and this is Colonel Olaf Lindberg, the CO of the 2nd Batallion, 18thAlliance Gendarmerie Division." The Indian, average height man in Alliance's uniform introduced the blond haired, armored man beside him.

"Commander, I've been informed that you will face the chaos of protesting with my men on the ground. Are you sure you want to do this?" Colonel Lindberg briefed "The situation below is brewing and shifting fast. We also get a report that the terrorist named Seraph is trying to cause trouble to the protesters at the Parliament, the most populous location."

"Did you get informed who's the leader of the protests?" William curiously asked

"Yes, Tali'Zorah vas Rannoch. She was the overseer of the Project VITA, the project that revived the geth. No question why she leads the protesting. She loves her robots much." Colonel Lindberg commented "And Geia'Xen vas Rannoch, another leaders. She is Tali'Zorah's right hand and her apprentice. She's also only daughter of Admiral Xen too. So, no question why she is with her. My men will keep the protesting as peaceful as possible. I just pray the Lord to not let anything bad happen." Colonel Lindberg answered

"One more thing, Commander. The quarian government is not allowing foreign ships to land at the moment. So, we'll use shuttles to deploy. Da Vinci out." Captain Volu dismissed before the holograms disappeared.

William then shouted to the speaker above him. "Quinn, prep the shuttle. We'll go on the ground by shuttle." He walked away from Comm Room, quickly went down to the Shuttle Bay. The shuttle left the Normandy shortly, headed to the planet Rannoch with hurry.

Parliament Square, Pornach ,Rannoch 1615 Hours

William, Liara, Jerome and Colonel Lindberg stood behind the square before the Parliament. The square was filled with mass of quarian who came to protect the right of the geth. The protesters were unarmed and had only banners.

"Geth has the right to refuse the war!" One of the protesters shouted

"History will repeat itself!" Another protesters yelled

Meanwhile William and his team were with the riot police behind the barricade, before the grand Parliament, discussing the security matters.

"Commander, I've never seen quarian protest like this before. The mass gathered here to protecting the right for robots." Jerome commented on the protesters
"Don't call them robots, J. The geth are more than ordinary robots. If the geth did not help the quarian, the time will take longer to rebuild the planet like this."

After answering to his teammates, William walked to holomap behind him. Colonel Lindberg was with another officers, were discussing.

"Colonel, are you really sure your intel is accurate?" William asked the Colonel

"Yes, security camera has this record before this so-call "Seraph" shot it. Luckily, the record survived. 24 hours ago this turian got inside a building with suspicious looking. He did not come with good purpose for sure. " Colonel Lindberg showed the record from the omni-tool.

A turian in blue armor with helmet crashed the door and ran into a room hurriedly. The record was blurry and very short. The turian used the pistol to fired the camera after he spotted it. William turned to Liara and asked about the identity.

"Do you know any of this Seraph?" William asked
"My information doesn't have anything about this Seraph. This is too strange. Even the most secret information of STG operation, I have. But this is just petty thief. How can this guy slip away from my watch?" Liara tapped on her omni-tool

William tapped his omni-tool and found the NavPoint in the video. William tapped again to reveal location. Suddenly, he exclaimed.

"Damn, the NavPoint points me to the building behind the square. He must has been there for sure!" William exclaimed

"What? Then we cannot waste time here. Go, there's the entrance!" Colonel Lindberg pointed at the door behind the mass.
"What about you?"
"Have no worry here. We'll do our best to keep order here."

William quickly ran to the door behind the square but before he could reach the protester kept him from reaching.

"Where do you think you are going, human?" Another quarian blocked him from reaching the door

"You think you could slip behind us and kill us like the geth that going to die?"
William kept quiet before he spoke

"There's sniper up there and surely he's aiming for someone here!"

"Bah, you human always a liar. Now go back or you want some troubles?"

Suddenly, a female quarian approached from the alley with her followers followed from behind.

"Ah, Madame Zorah, we are glad you are here."
"Good to see you too, Rill. Why are you standing here and who is this human. Wait… You and your asari friend look familiar…"

"I'm Commander William Shepard of the Alliance. Here to keep order."

"William! Kee'lah… Come, come here my child!"

Tali walked closer to William and touched his face. Tali's face was beautiful even for old quarian. She had almost no crowfeet on her purple-ish face and her glowing eyes were as beautiful as she was thirty years ago.

"Look at you, so handsome like his father. Last time I met you was at your parent's apartment. We went to congratulate you from graduating the N7 test. Now you wear the N7 armor proudly."

"Where is your husband, Garrus?"

"He's at home, practicing his marksmanship as he always does. Luckily, my home is far, far away from this busy city. Nobody can hear his gunfire."

"Ahem, Tali?" Liara talked

"Liara! You are here too! You never look old."

"You too, Tali. For the one who had been in the mask for most of her life..."

"Em, I need to get inside the building. I'm with the riot police over there. We need to check if there is anything dangerous." William interrupted the ladies

"Sure. Rill, let them in. He can proceed to anywhere freely."

Two quarian stood and looked at each others' faces before stepped away from the door. While William and his team were getting in, a young, quarian girl ran to Tali's front. She seemed to have urgent thing.

"Master Tali, the mass is waiting for you to give the speech."

"Geia, I shall go soon." Tali replied

"Wait! Geia'Xen, is that you?" William shouted to call the girl

"Yeah, I'm Master Tali's apprentice. What do you want from me?" Geia asked

"Hey erm... I did not expect to meet you so soon."

She puzzled a bit with his words, scratched her head

"Ah... Let Master Tali deliver the speech first and we will talk."

Tali and her followers walked to the stage and prepare for a speech. Meanwhile, William rushed to the building. It was dark building with narrow stairs in front. There was a broken security camera above.

"The terrorist must be here." He presumes "UDI, where is the Seraph?"

"There is a turian life sign on the top floor of this building." UDI said "He appears to crouching and aiming a sniper rifle."

"Then we cannot waste more time!" William yelled

The team rushed to upstairs. Shortly, they reached the top floor. There was a door in front of the stairs. Impatiently, William smacked the door.

"Put the weapons down and put your hands up!" William pointed the pistol to the turian in front of him. Instead of doing what he said, the turian turned his head, put his index finger up and hushed him.

"Can't you hear me? Put your weapon down or I'll shoot..." William yelled but got interrupted by Liara

"Wait a minute..." Liara stood still for a moment "So is the Seraph's true identity? Come on. I know it's you. I can remember the scratch on your helmet."

The turian nodded, he put his rifle down and took his helmet off. The old, scarry turian face looked familiar to William. Shortly, William reconized the face as his father's best friend, Garrus Vakarian.

"Garrus Vakarian?" William exclaimed

"Liara, I know you really want to hug me but I have to make sure my wife is safe. And William, glad to see you alive and kickin'." Garrus welcomed his old friend and his friend's son

Liara walked close and sat down. William walked to the door and close it.

"What do you mean, make sure your wife is safe?" Liara questioned

"You know, Liara. Having a wife as a protesting leader is not so easy. Just like Aung San Suu Kyi, she needs a bodyguard and that duty is for me."

Suddenly, Garrus spotted something on another rooftop. He quickly grabbed and aimed his rifle. A second later, a shot was fired silently. William ran to Garrus to look at the target. It was batarian, his head had a hole between the forehead and his body lied on the rooftop.

"What was that?" William ducked

"A Batarian raider, they are here to take someone here for ransom. I cannot allow it to happen." Garrus spoke worriedly

Expectedly, Tali started her speech. Garrus, quickly aimed at the stage to find possible threats to his wife.

"Brothers! Sister! We all know that our Admirals are about to use the geth as their tools to this ravaged war. I do not resist the Militants' decition but this is unacceptable! This will lead to our most feared event, war." Tali spoke to her followers

Garrus spotted another batarian aiming the Kishock to the stage. Garrus quickly ended his life by firing another shot at his torso.

"So, back to our conversation. William. I know all of this because I'm not an ordinary retired soldier. I'm actually a Frumentarius Agent. An agent send by the Primarch himself to observe and protect anything that benefits the Hierarchy." Garrus told his story

"I'd like to hear more of your story but I need to know more about the Raiders." William said

Garrus tapped his onmi-tool and brought up the information.

"Their leader, Galek Fexok, is hiding somewhere in the city. I'll keep the raiders away but you need to be quick. My rifle alone cannot hold the line forever."

"Should I tell your wife about this?" William asked Garrus
"If you sure you will not make people down there panic, you have a right to try, kiddo." Garrus spoke and continued to listen to her speech.

"All we can do now is to be calm. Geia has already gone to the Parliament to sent our word to the Ministers. We shall prevail, brothers, sisters. It's all I can say for now." Tali stepped down from stage.

The speech ended, but suddenly, the deep male voice was projected from the amplifiers.

"Tali'Zorah, listen carefully if you care about your pupil's little life. We need you to disperse the protesters throughout the planet immediately. Your pupil, Geia'Xen and the massege to your Admirals is in our hands. If you do not believe us, then listen to her." The voice said

"Help! Master Tali! Help I'm at the…." Tali heard the female voice which she remembered as Geia's voice.

"Bosh'tet! If you ever dare to hurt her, you're death. You hear me!" Tali shouted

"Then abandon your plan. We will release your pupil. But be aware that my raiders are ready to start a massacre here. You have an hour to think what to do. I hope there will be no bloodshed today."

William shortly stood up and prepared to leave

"Damn it! That must be the Raiders. Garrus, watch the ground here. Don't let any one get hurt."

"Got it. One more thing. I hide my sky-car on the top floor, cloaking. I'll unlock it for you. Find where this bastard's hiding and kill him for me." Garrus touched the omni-tool

"Thank you. And actually, I have a score to settle with him too." William replied

Swiftly, William and his team left the room. William spotted a ladder on the right. He did not hesitate to climb it. The team reached the rooftop and saw the red sky-car parking. It was very nice and sporty.

"Wow! XL-666 Super Series, the nicest car in the galaxy! Who's gonna drive this beast?" Jerome commented

"I'll drive. Aunty, get some information about the raiders for me." William entered the car

William tapped few buttons at the console and the car rose from the roof. The car headed to the vast metropolitan area of the great city of Pornach.

Downtown, Pornach, Rannoch 1700 Hours

After a long while, the car arrived at the downtown. But the William's teammates inside the car were getting boring.

"Commander, how long 'till we get there? I need to kill some batarians now!"

"Liara, anything on your screen?"
"30 minutes ago, my agents spotted a group of batarians brought a local woman inside the Legion Tower. The tower was built to be a memorial to Legion, the geth who sacrificed himself to save all geth." Liara explained "The tower was the place for scientists to work in the Project VITA. After the Project was successed, the scientists left the tower and the tower itself is abandoned since."

"So, no one is inside except the batarians. Good, I don't want to make any single quarian panic." William commented "Can you give me the NavPoint?"

"Right away." Liara tapped her omni-tool

The NavPoint appeared on the car's monitor. William touched few times before the car turned away from the busy downtown. 15 minutes later, the car arrived on the south-west side of the city.

"What is this district? It has a lot of eh… "workers"." Jerome pointed at one of many rooftop.

"This is Gethar District. It contains hi-tech factory and office zones. So you will see a lot of geth here. They cooperate peacefully with the quarian. But they mostly do "physical" jobs like courier or laborers and more. I heard only "intellectual" jobs they get is clerk."

"We should prepare for our arrival." William alerted the team " UDI, bring up the tower schematic for me, please?

Suddenly, the tower hologram appeared on the monitor. The tower's look was metallic and had some hi-tech look on the roof, there was also the gunship on the roof too. There was a lot of red spots which represented the hostiles.

"Commander, the tower is heavily guarded. I recommend using the overpass from the Edrus Building. But beware. The building is an office and your presence might make the civilian panic."

"Damn. UDI, is there a way to get to there unnoticed?" William asked

"You can also get in to the building by taking the sewage below the tower. The nearest entrance is here." UDI answered

The blue spot was deployed on on right side of the building, represented the sewage's entrance. Hurriedly, William brought the car away from the main lane and closer to the tower.

Legion Tower Perimeter, Pornach 1730 Hours

The car landed on the dirty, putrid ground. William left the car and notice the Utility Room in front.

"There it is. Let's get there and help the hostage." William said to his comrades

The team walked inside the dark, dirty room with control panel and pipe. There was a manhole on the ground. William walked closer and opened it. The smell from sewage system disturbed the people who smell it.

"Shit. Commander, tell me we are not going in!" Jerome used his hand to close his nose

"Cool down, J. Aunty, do you have the breathing mask for our prince?"

"Sure." Liara threw the breathing mask to Jerome

Jerome put the mask on his mouth and nose. Quickly, he breathed again normally.

"Thanks, Commander. Now shall we go there?" He asked

William put his helmet on and Liara put her mask on before they answered in unison.

"Let's go."

The team climbed the manhole down to the dirty sewage system of the city of Pornach. Sewage below was very long, maybe too long for William to remember which door led to the Legion Tower.

"Is there a map for this sewage?" William put his omni-tool up but he only saw "no data available"on it.

"I'm afraid no. No one ever made the map for place like this. The quarian maintains the sewage system using the geth. Maybe we will meet the Geth along the way but do not shoot them. They will ignore us." Liara said

The team continued waking slowly and clumsily. Suddenly, William spotted the light from his far front.

"Halt!" William drew his pistol.

The light came nearer and nearer then William saw the light spotter, a geth. William lowered his pistol and started talking with a geth.

"Um, hello. What are you?"

"My identity: Maintenance 01010100010. In organic language, Fixer. My purpose: To maintain and repair the sewage system." Fixer introduced "You should not trespass in the restricted area. Please leave at once."

While William drew his gun back and prepared to shoot but Jerome used his hand to keep him from pointing the gun.

"Wait," Jerome forbid his commander "Commence Protocol Alpha 01001!"

"Protocal Alpha 01001, commencing. Access denied. Identity and access code required."
"My identity: Tali'Zorah vas Rannoch, access code: Rael." Jerome said

The geth stood still for awhile, processing. Suddenly, it spoke with difference tone.

"Protocal Alpha 01001 started. Greetings Creator Zorah. Which place would you like to be?"
"Legion Tower, please."
"Processing route. Please follow me." The geth turned away from William and walked forward.

The team quickly followed the geth. William was surprised and curious at the same time. He did not hesitate to ask Jerome.

"Jay, how the hell did you do that? Spoke with a geth?"
"My uncle was a scientist at Project VITA. He often told me about the protocol and command code. I did not interest it at first but it is very helpful now."

"What did you say to it?
"It's a protocol for the navigator. The geth is very versatile, they could do almost everything with single command for their masters. With right command, this geth could be even a suicide bomber."

William stayed quiet while the geth navigated them through the sewage. Shortly, they reached the door which lead to the Tower.

"You've reach your destination. Any further command?"

"Terminate Protocal Alpha 01001." Jerome commanded
"Terminating, commencing default Protocol." The geth stood still again "Scanning… 153 unclean spots found in the sewage. Processing to clean." The geth walked away from William

The team stood awhile, waiting for the geth to be away from them. Shortly, the geth was gone.

"Let's go, we have VIP to rescue." William opened the door

They entered into the dark, dirty and narrow passage. Suddenly, lights came from flashlights on the guns, giving some visible area for William.

"Stick together and watch your back. We don't want anyone to ambush as from behind."

The team then moved more carefully and silent. Not too far away, William noticed the elevator on his front. He quickly ran to it and push the up button.

"Expect heavy resistance there, people! The batarian will give no quarter to us." William yelled to his squad

Shortly, the elevator arrived. William were the first to get to the elevator then followed by Liara and Jerome.

"UDI, what's the hostage's location?"
"The hostage is at 58th floor but as expected, the floor is swarming by the batarian raiders. I recommend you to take elevator to the top of the tower and then walk to downstairs. The top floor is the safest place except here."

"Thanks," William push the button on the top.

The elevator slowly and steady elevated up. There was some high pitched noise from the machine outside.

'The speed of this elevator reminds me of the old days when I worked with your father. We often talked about the personal things and sometimes bantered at each others." Liara told the story while the elevator was moving lazily

"Well, I might not good at banter like dad but can you give some Intel 'bout this Raider. How can they get in to the planet unnoticed?"

" I found nothing about the raiders in the immigration but 2 weeks ago, my agents reported about the batarian smugglers ship landed secretly into the place called Junkyard. Junkyard is the remnant of old quarian settlement before the Morning War. The place is abandoned and make the popular spot for smugglers."

"The ship must have the best stealth technology available to get into the planet secretly."

"I guess the Enclave support them with tech. But this is unlikely. Aside from STG and our ship, I found no one possesses tech like this in the Galaxy." Jerome guessed

"Maybe the Enclave has secret lab somewhere… Or they have spies inside to steal technologies from us." William replied

"And they need to be eliminated." Liara said

"Exactly my thought." William spoke. The elevator stopped, the door slowly opened to the outside. Immediately, William drew his gun as he saw two batarian repairing the gunship on his front.

"Can we do anything with that girl? The bitch slapped my face! Luckily I knocked her before she shout to anyone."

"No, boss says we cannot harm or do anything. Just wait until the ship arrive and we can finally get the hell out of this shitty place"

"Ahem, sorry to interrupt you." The batarian turned to the source. They saw 2 humans and an asari aiming the guns at them aggressively. " Three-to-two, buddies. Drop your weapons down and answer the questions for us."

The two looked at each other before dropping their assault rifles. William walked closer and he interrogated them.

" Where is Geia'Xen?!" William yelled at them. The batarian said nothing but silence. Suddenly, William fired his pistol at the ground " I'll gonna ask you nicely one last time. Tell me where Geia'Xen is or the people down there will see the two batarian corpses fell down from the building." William pointed the ground below the building

"You mean the... The girl? She is at the Boss' office, 58th floor. The boss is going to send her to the Enclave soon when the ship get us. That's everything we know about her!"

"Thanks for the info. Now stand at the edge and turn around." William ordered. The batarian did nothing. Suddenly, William fired another shot to the sky, made the batarian panic. " Now stand on the edge!" Shortly, the batarian walked to the edge of and waited.

"William, you are not gonna…" Liara asked
"No, I am not." William said before he nodded to Jerome. The two gave a couple shots of electricity from their omni-tools to the batarian, made them unconscious.

"Before we go, we should take a look at that gunship." Jerome pointed at the gunship

William and Jerome walked to the gunship. Jerome looked at the engine while William looked at the cockpit. After a short while, Jerome shouted to William

" Hey, I drained the fuel tank. This should prevent anyone from using it"
"I just got some information about the location from the gunship too." William walked to Liara and brought his omni-tool up. A lot of locations appeared on his omni-tool, Illium, Khar'Shan, Tuchanka and more. But the place where the gunship was heading next noticed William.

"What's this? Next destination, Thesaurus: Send the girl to Phaedrus Research Station. Achilles will be there."

Liara looked at William's omni-tool closely.

"Thesaurus, desert planet. Only few people live there. And it is in the Enclave territory too. Perfect place for building secret lab."

"Commander, Geia is our last crew to recruit. We can go there after we recruited her." Jerome informed his Commander

"But Professor Hix asked me to return the Reaper core to the STG after we get to her. So, we will do that later. But Achilles. Who is this Achilles?"

"Looks like this Achilles is the false identity to hide the real identity for security reasons. Maybe he has disguise too. I will have my agents identify him as fast as possible."

"Appreciate it, auntie." William turned to the door behind. "Let's waste no more time here." Soon, the team quickly walked down to the main building. The stair to floor was dark but the emergency light gave them some brightness, William spotted few portable generators on the ground.

"Portable generators, these pieces of electronic give us a lot of benefits to us. I wonder what will Galaxy like if Miss Lawson did not developed this." William asked his teammates

"Huh, rebuilding the Galaxy will be a lot harder if we cannot gain access to electricity. And we would still be in the stone age." Jerome commented

After several minutes of walking, William noticed sign on the wall.

"59th floor. UDI, what's beyond this door."

"Commander, a group of batarian raiders is patrolling on this floor. I suggest preparing your weapons and expect some resistance or if you prefer quiet method, you can go down a floor and rescue the hostage."

"But the raiders here will back the force at the 58th. Let's hit all of them at once." William planed " J, You and your drone will hit the raiders here. Liara and I will get down and handle the raiders below, got it?"
"Aye!" Jerome put down his turret drone before tapped at his omni-tool to activate it. Meanwhile, William and Liara ran downstairs quickly to the 58th floor. In no time, they reached the door to once the Overseer's office. Suddenly, the gunfire and screaming sound from above was heard by William and Liara. He gave signal to Liara.

"Aunty, open the door with your biotic."

"Stand clear!" The glowing purple energy came out of Liara's hands. Shortly she unleashed her power to the door and made a big clash.

"Shit! We have intruders on the 59th and the 58th floor! Send someone there now!" One of the raiders yelled. But a round of gunfire stopped the raider. William sprayed his assault rifle to several raiders in front of him, followed by several Warp from Liara. There was only few cover in the area so it was easy for William to hit the foes. Several seconds later, the raiders started to ran away

"We can't stand against them! Get back to the Boss!" One of the raiders shouted and seconds later, the raiders was gone from the area.

"That was easy." William commented while holding his rifle "Jerome, are you finished with raiders?"

"Roger, area secure. Botsy helped me a lot with clearing the raiders. I'll rendezvous with you down there. Should be fast, the stair is on my side. Dismissed." William ended contacting with him. Couple minutes later, William heard footstep from his side. The footsteps was coming down from the stairs. As expected, Jerome, with his turret on his back walked down normally from the stairs.

"There you are!" William exclaimed "Come on, let's get our VIP."

"Commander, I think we need something to hold the raiders from lower floors. My turret can do that but we will have to fight on our own to get to the hostage. Your call." Jerome suggested.

"My dad always says I have to trust my own guts and my teammates' guts to make the operation success." William put his hand on Jerome's shoulder "Put the turret down. They will have back up for sure."

"Aye," Jerome placed the turret on the floor, faced the stair and walked away from the turret.

After a few minutes of walkings, the team reached the big metal door.

"UDI, is the hostage there?" William

"Yes but also five batarians too. I recommend that you should prepare for bargaining with the hostile when inside."

"No time for "bargaining," William turned to Liara "Breach the door, I'd like to surprise them."

Liara then stood in front of the door, her hands glowed in purple. She breathed heavily while moving her body little backward. A moment later, The power had been unleashed. The power was enough to smash the metal door and bounce slightly forward. William used his Adrenaline Rush and ran into the room. The batarians were wearing green armor, with shotguns in their hand, except the leader, Galek Fexok, was holding the pistol on Geia's neck. She was sitting on the chair with her hands behind. The bullet quickly came out of William's guns and hit the batarians' heads. He used his last moment of the Adrenaline Rush to shot at Fexok's chest, wounded him and knocked him to the ground.

"Jerome, secure the Fexok and see if he's alive or not. Aunty, see if the turret is still operational." William rushed to Geia while ordering his teammate. The girl was lying on the floor but conscious. William removed the handcuff from her hands and grabed her arm to make her stood up.

"Keelah, I though I no body was going to come and save me. Hey, I remember you, you were with the human police. Did Master Tali sent you?" Her voice was shaky but also with grateful voice.

"Commander," Jerome interrupted "I stabilized Fexok's wound, put the handcuff on his hands. This should be enough for interrogation." Jerome reported to his Commander

"Is he conscious?" William turned to Fexok

"He grunts when I stabilized his wound, so I think he is."

"Thanks, I'm gonna make him spill every secret he knows. Now get the girl outside and call the Colonel, tell him that we got the terrorist in our hand." William ordered Jerome.

Jerome and Geia walked away and left the room. William then moved to the floor where Fexok was laying. He grabbed his back, made him sit on the chair and started interrogating.

"Hhmp, I'm wondering why this grand bounty hunter fell so easily to me?"

"how did you find me?" Fexok asked with shaky sound

" It was the Shadow Broker who gave me your location. And what about you? How did you secretly land on this planet without anybody aware about your presence?" William answered

" How did you know that? I though the Quarian Authority knows nothing about my presence… It's the Broker again, isn't it?"

"Yeah, now tell everything I want to know and I will ensure your safety."

"Hhmp, the stealth drive in my ship, a gift from the Enclave. They asked me to kidnap the girl and send her to them. That's all information the Enclave gave to me." William raised his eyebrow with doubt.

" And what about this Achilles, do you know him?"

"Him? I don't know his real name but I think he is a high-ranking officer in the Enclave. I swear this is all truth!" Fexok begged " Now please just let me go."

"Hhmp, not today, raider." William grab his pistol and used the pistol handle to knock him " I hope you will wake again in prison." William walked away from the lying body.

William left the room and walk back to the stairs where Jerome, Liara and Geia were waiting for him, sitting.

"Commander, what did you get from that bastard?" Jerome asked his Commander

"Well, at least we know that our next target is the Achilles. After we return the Reaper drive core to the STG we will get to him."

"I'll try to Identify the Achiles as fast as I can. Meanwhile, my agents have recovered some blueprints for ship upgrade. I'll send them to the Lab. The Professor will be pleased to see them. When you have enough mineral and credits, pick one and the crews will install right away."

"Appreciate it, Auntie. And Geia, I don't want you to do me a favor now but are you willing to work for me?"

Geia went silenced for a minute before the word came out of her refined mouth

"Alright,I will join your crew but I need sometime to tell my parent and Master Tali- oh grab my mask too."

"Jay, bring the girl back to the protest site. I'll stay here until the gendarmerie come. We'll see you later." William said to his team mate before they left them.

Engineering, SSV Normandy, 2200 Hours

The Normandy's elevator stopped at the Engineering floor. William left foot stepped out of the elevator along with his right foot. He stepped inside the Engine Room and saw his engineers were talking with Geia.

"Geia? When did you arrive? The Ensign didn't report anythign me. And where's Engineer Pesolov?"

"Oh, I've just arrived here and finished the ship tour with your Ensign." Geia looked at the Normandy's engine. " Your ship impressed me, especially the engine. I've never seen any ship engine as large as this." She pointed at the metallic, gigantic ball-shaped engine.

"Hey, just in case you haven't heard about it yet. We are about to upgrade this baby and we need your help. I fear that Engineer Ichigawa's inexperience would make the ship's system haywire." Engineer Garza teased her fellow-engineer

"Hey, at least I've never made anything explode!" Engineer Ichigawa replied
"Really? Finally some real work in the ship. Let me know when do you start." Geia jumped with joy

"Hey, you haven't answered about your Chief's location yet." William questioned his crews

"Oh, he's downstairs, talking with Professor Hix about the upgrade. You should get there quick." Ichigawa pointed his finger to sub-level

"Thanks, now get back to work!" William ordered his crews.

"Aye aye!" the engineers replied in unison

William left the room and headed downstairs to the subdeck. William reached the dark room where he saw the Professor and Engineer Pesolov were talking to each other.

"Professor, Engineer, did I interrupt you?" William approached them

"Ah, Commander, we were waiting for you. Our newly recruited engineer has a lot of potential and skills. She will be useful to all of us. The upgrade will start right away after we prepare some material. By the way, she has got scars and bruises. What happened when you were on Rannoch?" Engineer Pesolov commented about the new crew member.

" She was captured by the Batarian Raiders but luckily I rescued her and their boss is now behind the bar." William told his story on Rannoch

"I'm glad to hear this, Commander" Pesolov commented

"One more thing, Commander. The Reaper drive core needs to return to the STG within this week too, Commander." Professor Hix reminded his Commander

"So, our next destination is Sur'kesh?" William turned to Professor Hix

"No, we are heading to the STG's new research space station, Solus Station. I suggest we should leave Rannoch immediately." Professor Hix answered

"Good, if there is nothing left then I suggest all of you should get back to your post and prepare for the next task. Dismiss." William headed upstairs and walked to the elevator

Before he could enter the elevator, UDI interrupted him with the urgent massege.

"Commander, Admiral Vega is waiting for your presence at the War Room. He'd like to discuss your next move." UDI reported

"Got it, I'm heading to it." William got inside the elevator.

The Commander pressed the CIC button and he was moved vertically up by the elevator.