Chapter 10
The Plan
Finn sighed as he lay reclined on one of the many boxes in the Merida's cargo bay.
"Bored; I forgot how dull it gets when things actually went according to plan." Mannon rumbled as he sat on the floor. "Half-joking; makes me miss the old days."
"You mean on the station or when we were running from Cerebrus?" Finn asked, staring at the ceiling.
"Nostalgic; nah, before any of that. Back on Dekuuna."
"I thought you hated Dekuuna."
"Clarifying; I was … dissatisfied with life on Dekuuna, not Dekuuna itself. Sitting in a tribe, listening to Elders tell long-winded stories ... that was boring. Life on Alkerion, on the other hand, was pure Celmaxadrine."
Finn sat up and let his feet hang over the side of the crate. "Alkerion; that's the space station in orbit around Dekuuna, right?"
"Correct. Knowledgably: it was a center of commerce, of business." To Finn's amazement, Darsan let out a sigh. "By the ancestors, I miss those days. Buying and selling stocks, investing in exciting new businesses throughout the galaxy, always knowing that I could easily lose everything. Wistful; I've never felt more alive in all my life, even when I saved you, Jake, and Mannon on Omega."
"Wow." Finn said, doing his best to sound interested; the business world had never held much interest for him, though he respected Darsan too much to say so. "Why'd you give it up?"
Darsan let out another sigh. It was surprising how human it made him seem. "Regretful; I didn't."
Finn opened his mouth to ask what Darsan meant when he heard the sound of the lift doors sliding open on the other side of the bay.
He and Darsan quickly hid as the footsteps approached their position.
"It's okay, guys; it's just me."
"Just being careful." Finn said, hopping onto his crate again. "Find anything of note?"
"Nothing we didn't already know." She told him, using a towel to wipe the pale foundation off her face. "We're heading somewhere inside the Krogan DMZ. I did get a confirmation signal from Trident; no message, but at least Liara knows what's going on now."
"Confident; indeed. Perhaps she will send assistance."
"Maybe. In any case, I'm glad that's over with." She said, walking behind a large stack of plastic barrels. "I need to get out of this thing before I burst."
Finn turned around to give her a little privacy. He would be lying if he said he didn't feel a little awkward after Mannon's earlier confession. Still, she didn't seem nervous about it, and if she was fine with it, he was fine with it as well.
"I hope the others are okay." Finn said, feeling the need to make some conversation.
"Teasing; are you missing milady, sweetie?"
Finn chuckled. "Yeah, I am, actually. I hope she's not worried."
"Why should she be worried?" Mannon asked as she tossed Scarlet's dress at Darsan, who caught it deftly and tossed it back in the wardrobe from which they had taken it. "It's not like we're stuck on a ship full of thieves who will probably shoot us out the airlock if they figure out we're down here. Oh, wait."
The lift opened again. Darsan and Finn quickly went to hide behind the stack where Mannon was still dressing. They quickly found new hiding places after she whacked the both of them with her pants. Noir and Jake appeared around the corner a few moments later.
"Uh, guys?" Noir whispered, glancing around.
"Ahem."
"Er, and lady." Noir hastily amended, holding out the Creator's Tear. "I got it!"
Finn hurried around the barrel and took the offered gem "You did? Way to go, Noir! All we need to do now is wait for pickup, bring this back to Ilium, and explain everything."
"Sarcastically; yeah, that sounds easy enough."
"Oh, come on, Darsan!" Finn said, playfully punching one of the elcor's massive forearms. "Things are looking up!"
"Yeah!" Jake hopped up on his hind legs and lifted a metal paw. "Right here, bro!"
Finn moved to high-five Jake. Unfortunately, the ship gave a massive shudder that made Finn miss; Jake's paw hit his other arm, knocking the Creator's Tear in the air. Mannon and Noir hurried forward to catch the falling gem, but ended up crashing into each other. As the gem continued downward, a flash of grey shot past One and caught the gem mere inches from the floor.
Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief as Darsan lifted his arm and brought the jewel in front of his unreadable face.
"Thank the Maker." Finn breathed. "For a second there, I thought-"
Darsan dropped the Creator's Tear. Finn stared as the gem fell, seemingly in slow-motion, spinning ever so slightly before it crashed to the floor and splintered into a thousand shards.
For a long moment, no one could say or do anything but stare at Darsan, who only stared back at them with his emotionless black eyes.
Jake was the first to find his voice. "The hell, man? What the hell did you do that for!"
Noir fell to his knees, trying unenthusiastically to gather the shards back together as Finn struggled to find his voice.
"Darsan!" Mannon said, anger evident on her face. "You'd better have a very good explanation."
"Matter-of-factly; it was a fake."
Silence fell over the room for a few more moments.
"A fake?" Finn asked, finally managing to speak.
"Annoyed; I spent over a decade as a jeweler. Believe me; it's nothing but glass."
Noir stared at the shattered chunks in his three-fingered hands. "But … if this is a fake …"
"…where's the real one?" Mannon finished.
They stared at each other until a loud chime indicated the ship's intercom had been activated. "Noir, Amber, and Azure, report to the observation lounge immediately."
"That was Lady Scarlet." Noir said, looking quickly between Finn and Mannon. "They know!"
"Of course they don't know." Finn told him. "Calm down, man; if they knew, they'd be down here to get all of us."
Mannon nodded in agreement. "He's right. It must be something else."
"So what should I do?" Noir asked, wringing his hands.
Finn grabbed Noir by the shoulders and looked him in the eye. "First, take a deep breath. If you try to talk to her like this, she'll know something is up."
"O-okay."
"No, seriously; take a deep breath. In!"
Noir took a deep breath.
"And out."
Noir let it out slowly.
Nodding, Finn said, "Now, go to the meeting with Jake. He'll be able to relay anything he sees to us."
"R-right." Noir took another shaking breath and let it out slowly.
"Right." Finn patted him on the shoulder. "You got this, man. Once this is over, you can help Kyra with the engines; no more field work unless you just really want it."
Nodding, Noir said, "Okay. I got this."
"Excellent. Jake?"
Jake had just managed to shimmy his way back into his makeshift faceplate. Looking up, he said, "Ready to go."
Sighing, Finn knelt down and twisted the faceplate until it was no longer upside-down. "There … and good luck, bro."
"Hey! With this disguise, I'm invisible!"
As Noir and Jake walked back to the lift, Darsan asked, "Curious; why do you suppose she's calling him up there?"
Noir was still wondering that himself as he stepped out onto the observation deck. Located near the top of the ship, the Observation Deck was really little more than a big round room with a table and some chairs. Monitors cleverly placed in the ceiling gave the illusion that they were windows, beyond which lay the cosmos fantastique.
Most of the other members of Siren's Call were already seated; Scarlet sat in her usual seat, talking casually with Violet and Auren. Auren, now wearing a pair of short denim shorts and a flannel shirt tied across the chest, was animatedly telling them some story about an old boyfriend that had them laughing. Amber sat a chair away from the group, her eyes puffy and red. Noir could only guess her talk with Azure had not gone well.
"Not that I'm complaining, but where is Azure?" Noir asked as he sat down between Violet and Amber.
Amber sniffed loudly, but didn't say anything.
Violet put her hand on Noir's arm, saying, "Best not mention her right now."
"But the meeting-"
"I will fill her in on the details later." Scarlet said, rising from her chair. "For now, we have much to discuss. You have followed me faithfully for years now, all of you. I am not exaggerating when I say you have been more a family to me than any I've had from birth. For years, you've waited patiently and helped me prepare for what is to come, and now it looks like what we've sought is within our grasp. It's time for you to know the truth."
Noir shuffled in his seat, now extremely interested; they had always known they were after a treasure, but Scarlet had been extremely tight-lipped about the whole thing. If Violet hadn't assured him that Scarlet was on the level (and if Noir hadn't already had a childhood crush on their mysterious and beautiful leader), Noir might very well have left with Kyra.
Jake sat on his hindquarters and peered over the table as the center receded, revealing a hologram generator. After a few moments, it began to project a strange symbol.
"Does anyone know what this is?" Scarlet asked, one eyebrow raised.
After nothing but silence followed the question for a few moments, she continued, "This is the symbol of an old salarian organization known as 'The League of One'. Known only to the highest members of the salarian government, the League of One was a group of salarian spies and assassins with an unprecedented level of skill and influence."
"Like Spectres, or the STG?" Auren asked, sounding a little bored.
Scarlet shook her head. "Better. These salarians carried no rank, and only the most powerful were privy to their identities. The only sign of their true identity was a single medallion given to each of the twelve members upon induction. These were the kind of agents who could single-handedly stop a war before it happened ... or start one if need be."
"I can't see the Council letting any race, even one of the big five, have a group with that much power." Violet said thoughtfully.
"Indeed." Scarlet told her. "When the salarians joined the Council, as a measure of goodwill, they gave the Council access to all of their top secret information, including the identities of the League of One. Over the years, the League had accrued some pretty nasty enemies among over a dozen different races, and as you might expect, their identities slipped out fairly quickly."
"Bet they loved that." Noir commented.
Scarlet nodded. "The upper cabinet of the Salarian government was assassinated shortly after the exposure of the League. No one questioned who was responsible. They sent their best out to bring in the rogue group, but only two of the hunters returned, with no evidence of the League. Occasionally, a medallion was found, but no one ever confirmed whether or not the League was eliminated. No one had any proof that they even still existed ... until I found this on an archeological dig in the Silean Expanse."
She carefully set a small medallion on the table. Moments later, a salarian appeared on the projector. He wore a fine suit and carried a walking stick with a crystal orb on the grip. He was uninjured, though it was clear he was very old.
After a short spasm of coughing, he said, "I awoke this morning coughing up blood. I didn't want to admit it, but I'm afraid my end is nearer than I anticipated. I'm not sure who I'm making this message for; most of the others are dead, and any still alive are no doubt facing the same fate as me at this point. Still, I suppose with mortality comes the desire to be remembered. As such, my name is Geral Mkrobi, scientist, surgeon, and unbeknownst to all but a select few, Leader of the League of One."
He lifted a hand, showing a medallion with the League's symbol on the front. Coughing again, he continued, "We were once the hidden hand of the salarian government, Sur'Kesh's greatest agents, and symbol of the strength of the salarian people until we were betrayed by our own government. When they unveiled us to the galaxy, we decided to set up a bit of a retirement ... after getting our severance from our former leaders, of course. It was easy, really; with all our contacts, all the information we had acquired over the years, we went on a burglary spree across the galaxy; cultural artifacts, prototype technology, Prothean technology, and more credits than the annual turian military budget ... everything we could get a hold of, we gathered here, in our base."
"The plan was simple; we would wait in our sanctuary until the danger had passed, then spend the rest of our lives living as we pleased. After five years, we all set out on our own path, all save myself; I remained here to guard the sanctuary. Every three years, the others would return on the same day to replenish their funds."
A small smile graced the old salarian's face. "We took to calling it Miiraka. That's old salarian; it doesn't translate well these days, but it basically means 'the feeling when walking home from a hard day's work'. I've spent most of my life alone; never really cared much for people. Still, I have to admit, I looked forward to Miiraka; it was good to see everyone again, and to hear of all their stories. Toben got back into Archeology; he was always talking about some ruin he had found, or showing off some rare artifact he had discovered. Haaris took a job cleaning the mirror pools on Sur'Kesh; used to tickle him that he could work so close to the capital without the politicians suspecting the truth. Grym ended up joining the Eternians; I still listen to the recordings sometimes when I think about the past."
His smile faded as he continued, "Kaalinor was the first to go; an accident in one of the high gravity races he loved so much. We were saddened by his loss, but thought nothing of it at the time. Then, almost a year to the day, Grym was found dead in the pool of the hotel he and the band were staying at. Medical analysis showed it to be an overdose of Blue Rose. It wasn't until Haaris died, again, almost a year to the day, that we began to suspect we were being targeted.
When we met at the next Miiraka, we contemplated the identity of our attackers; some thought it an overzealous asari Justicar, others thought it might be some turian general we had worked against in the past, still others thought that it might be some treasure hunter out to find our fabled loot. Yanis thought it might be some Spectre out to make a name for him, her, or itself. In truth, we had nothing but speculation to go on. Nevertheless, we decided that if we were to die, we would make sure our elusive foe would not get his hands on our legacy. To that end, we decided to leave our medallions on different, under-developed worlds using the utmost secrecy. You see, the medallions are more than simple medals; they each contain part of a heavily encrypted code that pinpoints the location of this sanctuary. If you are seeing this, then you no doubt recovered the Eye of Giraal from the Midoccans. In finding this message, you've proven yourself to be resourceful and perceptive, two traits valued by the League of One. Continue in that, and you will no doubt find the location of our legacy. You may claim it as yours, to sell or keep as you desire, as I'm certain I will no longer be in any condition to care; whatever choice you make, I only ask this in return."
He coughed again and straightened up as much as he could. There was both pride and humility in his voice as he said, "Whether you view us as heroes, villains, or scoundrels, the shape of the galaxy would no doubt be much different had we never existed. Please ... remember us."