Chapter 20
Kasumi stepped out of the shower and put on a human unisex jump suit she had found. She guessed Garrus had it for human prisoners he picked up. It was a little big on Kasumi but it was better then her old blood stained clothes. She then made her way to the room she had claimed as her quarters for her stay on the Victory and tried to sleep. She tossed and turned for a while unable to get her brain to turn off. She just kept thinking about everything that had happened recently. At last her body won and she drifted off to sleep.
She didn't know how long she slept but she was awoken my the voice of Maelon coming over the ship's speaker system.
"Urgently: Ms. Goto, would you please come to the cargo bay. please come to the cargo bay right away." The voice of their Elcor guest said over the com, pulling Kasumi out of her state of sleep.
Kasumi yawned and slowly got up. She made her way to the cargo bay where she found Maelon and Adril waiting for her.
"Good you are here." Maelon said. He spoke in the quick almost cold manor most Salairians did. "I hate having to repeat myself so I wanted to update you both on the Turrian's condition at the same time."
"His name is Garrus." Kasumi said pointedly crossing her arms across her chest.
"His name doesn't matter to my job. I find that many people give false names any way. There is no reason that his name should matter to me. Now do you want to know about your friend's condition or not?"
Kasumi looked like she was about to say something that would take things off track again but Adril butted in and spoke before she could.
"Gratefully: Yes please tell us how he is doing."
"Well I am pleased to tell you that I have repaired the bones and with some rest he should make a full recovery. He will however walk with a limp and may even need a cane for a while because of pain issues while his bones finish healing. Still I believe he will have full function in a few weeks time." Maelon said seeming rather pleased with himself.
"Well that is good news, thank you." Kasumi said taking a breath. She was too pleased with this news to continue the earlier argument.
"Yes it is." Agreed Maelon. "If you had waited to get him attention or had taken him to a less skilled doctor the internal bleeding would have killed him. You did well bringing him to me in such a timely fashion." He didn't mean to brag, he was just stating facts the way most members of his race did. It just so happened that in this case the facts made it sound like he was bragging. His voice then became stern. "Now would you mind telling me where we are and why my clinic was attacked shortly after you showed up there?"
"That is kind of a long story." Kasumi said.
"Well I have time and I believe I have a right to hear it." Maelon said still sounding very stern.
"Okay, but I warned you." Kasumi said with a sigh. She then proceeded to tell him the whole story. From the time she was hired to steal the statue, to here showing up at Maelon's clinic to get help for Garrus. When she finished Maelon was silent for a few moments, he was thinking.
"I believe I can help you understand where we are." He said at last.
"Really?" Kasumi asked in disbelief. "Because I have no idea."
"What you have been describing seems consistent with the ship entering it's own pocket of space time. I would say that the device you have is some sort of space folding engine left behind by a long dead race."
"Confused: Are you sure?" Adril asked. "This all seems highly unlikely to me."
"I have studied the theories." Maelon answered. "It fits the facts and many races believe it is possible. It is simply that no one has been able to figure out how it would be done before now. It seems some other race did."
"Okay, well I guess that makes sense even if I don't really understand what you are talking about." Kasumi said.
"Would you mind showing me this genetic data you say you found?" Maelon then asked. "I may be able to tell you what it does. My background is in genetic research."
"Okay, it would be nice to know why so many people have been trying to kill me." Kasumi replied leading Maelon to the computer console at the other side of the room. She then copied a file from her omni-tool and brought it up the computer's display. Maelon only had to look at the screen for a few seconds before he started pacing back and forth, shouting, and shaking his fist in the air.
"No! No! NO! Didn't we do enough damage! Haven't we all suffered enough?! Was everything I did for nothing?! What is wrong with them?!" He was shouting to himself.
Kasumi stepped in front of him and up out her hand to stop him. "Maelon Calm down. What are you talking about? What could be so bad? What is this data?"
"We have to get to the Citadel so this can be exposed." Was all Maelon said.
"Oh no way are we going to the Citadel." Kasumi responded shaking her head. "Do you have any idea how many warrants both C-Sec and Earth have out on me?"
"This is more important then your freedom!" Maelon spat at her.
"What is so important, what is this data?!" Kasumi demanded.
"It's the Genophage." Maelon answered and he was almost ranting now.
"Wait, I thought they made a big deal about destroying all Genophage data. The Spectres oversaw the whole thing." Kasumi said shocked.
"It seems someone hid a copy of the data. And now they are not just going to begin again, they are going to wipe out the inter Krogan race."
"Wait, What?" Kasumi said clearly confused. "I thought the Genophage only caused a low live birthrate, it didn't kill everyone."
"Yes but look at this sequence." Maelon said pointing at the screen. "This will cause every birth to be stillborn. There will be no new live Krogan births if this is deployed. That is why we have to get to the Citadel and warn them before it can be deployed."
"How can you be so sure?" Kasumi asked.
Maelon then became quieter and looked down at the floor. "Because to my shame I worked on the Genophage modification project. We went to a lot of trouble to avoid this result. Yet now someone has done it any way. Now everything I did to make up for my sins is for nothing, the Krogan will be destroyed just as they were starting to recover from our thousand year mistake."
"So you are 100% sure that is what we are looking at." Kasumi asked.
"Yes. I know my work when I see it." Maelon said.
"Then we will have to go to the Citadel." Kasumi said finally after giving the matter some thought.
"Concerned: But Kasumi what will happen to you?" Adril asked.
"I will try to keep myself hidden." Kasumi answered. "But if they find me they find me. If Maelon is right the fate of the inter Krogan race is in our hands and I can't buy my freedom at that price. I'll go set a course for the Citadel."
"Thank you." Maelon said. " I will do everything I can to make sure you are not punished because of this. My sins are much greater then any you could list and you are helping me redeem myself so I will help you redeem yourself."
"Thank you." Kasumi said. She really didn't know what else to say and she then left the cargo bay and made her way to the cockpit. She didn't know what the future would hold for her now but at least she had a good idea of what was going on and what the stakes were. Now she just had to hope luck was on her side. It seemed her past was catching up with her and despite Maelon's words there was going to be a price she had to pay.
Well that was chapter 20. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for your time and please leave a review.
Well not much to change, sorry the chapter was so short. Thanks for reading.