Mass Trek

Chapter 25: Reunion

Vera was surprised at suddenly being joined in the Normandy's brig, albeit the Salarian was not placed in the cell with her but the one next to her where the guard could keep an eye on them both simultaneously. Her glimpse of him was brief as his stunned body was dragged past her cell, but it was enough to know that he looked familiar, though she couldn't place her finger on it yet.

~Mass Trek~

Garrus still couldn't believe who he had found in the last Turian cell; this person was one of the last people he'd expect to be rescuing from a Cerberus facility. He kept his back to her until she had made herself decent with one of the lab coats being handed around by Tali. When he did turn to face her, his features were hard with fury.

"What the hell are you doing here, Solana?" he growled. "Last I heard, you were on the other side of the quadrant chasing pirates."

"That's the official story," his younger sister replied as she pulled the lab coat tighter around her. "My team was actually investigating whispers about Federation operations at the fringes of Asari space." She gestured around them. "Obviously, it was only Cerberus, though the ship that captured us was a Federation design."

"Two nacelles beneath a saucer? Named River Styx?" Garrus asked. "It was just destroyed in orbit."

Solana shook her head. "No. This one had four nacelles, a pair above and the other below. And the saucer was really thick."

Garrus frowned. His knowledge of Federation starship classes was hardly all-encompassing. Fortunately, Shepard had been within earshot and was easily able to identify it, "That sounds like a Constellation-class." She turned to Solana. "Commander Shepard of the Federation starship Normandy."

"Solana Vakarian, Garrus' younger sister. What is my big brother doing running around with you and not doing his boring job at C-Sec?" Solana asked with the Turian equivalent of a wry smile. "Especially with a hero like you. The Batarians have to still be seething about Bajor."

"I'm not surprised you haven't heard. I've been appointed as a SPECTRE by the Citadel Council and tasked to apprehend Saren Arterius. Garrus has been assigned to be as the Council's representative," Shepard explained. "Did the ship that captured you look old or new?"

Solana shrugged. "Not sure. I was more concerned about the amount of phaser fire it was hitting us with. Why?"

"The Styx was a relatively new construction, but not at a Federation facility. We can only assume it was built by Cerberus. If they have the capability of building ships of that size, it is a serious threat to the security of Council space."

"My superiors will have to be informed immediately," Solana declared. "Garrus mentioned the ship in orbit was destroyed. Your handiwork?"

"Matriarch Aethyta and her crew aboard the Overdue Progress helped me disable it, but it seems that the activated a self-destruct rather than allow themselves to be captured."

Solana exhaled with a series of clicks, apparently some sort of huff. "Not sure one of our commanders wouldn't have done the same." Her face lit up with sudden realization. "I almost forgot! We were… uh, pulled off somehow. One moment we were on our ship, the next we were in their brig. Do you know how that happened?"

Before Shepard could answer, her comm badge called out, "Overdue Progress to Commander Shepard."

Shepard tapped her badge. "Go ahead, Matriarch."

"Is everything alright down there? Mister Alenko informed me the dampening field was down."

"We're fine down here, so long as the mechs don't attack before we can evacuate the Cerberus prisoners."

"Prisonsers?" came Aethyta's reply full of incredulousness. "How many?"

"Just over a hundred," Shepard replied as she glanced at Wrex. The krogan nodded his agreement with her count. "They all appear to be citizens of Council-space."

"Are there any injured?"

Shepard glanced at Tali, who shook her head. "No injuries," Tali reported. "Only slight malnutrition and dehydration."

"Did you get that, Matriarch?" Shepard asked.

"Loud and clear," Aethyta replied, the relief evident in her voice. "I should have enough room onboard to transport them to the Citadel."

"Then we'll coordinate the Normandy's transportres for the evacuation to the Progress."

~Mass Trek~

TIM: A disappointing development with Heart.

AgentLawson: We could still intercept the Normandy. The Athens should be more than a match for Shepard's little ship.

TIM: No. Let's not tip more of our hand to the Federation. Shepard has already informed Hackett of the Styx. The damage is done. They will only find Heart's work when they hack the computer. Let them enjoy this victory while they can. There will not be more like it.

AgentLawson: Now that the Federation knows about the Styx, they will be on the lookout for more like her.

TIM: Naturally. Our Ship-building efforts are limited. Including the Athens, we only have newly constructed vessels. Let Starfleet fret and guess our numbers.

AgentLawson: Why haven't we built Akira-classes or some of the newer ones?

TIM: They're on the way, though the designs have been hard to come by.

AgentLawson: I have just been informed that the Overdue Progress has destroyed the base.

TIM: We have to respond to this. There's a Section 31 ship sneaking around the 8Persephone system. Looks like a refit Oberth-class. Destroy it. No survivors.

~Mass Trek~

"I read your report, Commander. Excellent work, though Mikailovich is going to have a stroke if he ever hears the Asari got their hands on the original Constitution-class plans," Hackett informed Shepard with a wry smile on his face. "That's going to keep me grinning for a while."

"I would think Admiral Mikailovich would be more concerned with the fact that Cerberus has ships that are technologically on par with ours," Shepard pointed out. "And that it's better for the Council people to be ready for such a threat."

"Let me handle Mikhailovich, you get back on course hunting down Saren. Lord knows I kept you from it long enough."

"Aye sir."

"Good luck, Commander. You and your crew have my thanks. Hackett out." The Starfleet Command emblem replaced the Admiral's image with the words 'transmission ended' scribed beneath it on the screen.

Shepard leaned back in her chair and finally allowed herself to relax. It had been a long few days for her; hell, for the entire crew. They all needed a break, but Saren was still out there; still working towards the return of the Reapers. For that, Shepard knew, he needed the Mu Relay.

Everyone had a rough idea of where the Mu Relay had been, but a supernova had moved it elsewhere. Where it ended up was anyone's guess, which was why Benezia, under the influence of whatever Liara and Shepard had helped cleanse from her, had sought the information from the Rachni Queen; the Rachni had stumbled upon it but not activated it. Shepard had rushed the intel to Anderson once Benezia had revealed it to her. She could only guess what he had done with it.

Perhaps it was time to give the good Admiral a call. She tapped her comm badge. "Shepard to Bridge."

"Bridge here, Commander. Petty Officer Peters reporting."

Shepard frowned. Usually the shift bridge officer responded to her. "Who's at the conn?"

"Joker is about to be relieved by Mister Presley, ma'am. They're in the middle of turn-over now."

"Okay. Open channel to Admiral Anderson on the Ilea. Transfer to my quarters when you have it."

"Aye, Commander."

"Shepard out."

She waited a few minutes, then checked what time it was on the Citadel. It wasn't late; it was early evening. She frowned. Peters was a capable enlisted man. What was taking so long?

"Bridge to Commander Shepard."

"Go ahead Peters," Shepard replied.

"I apologize, Ma'am, but I was not able to open a normal channel to the Admiral. He is responding via text only."

"Route it to my quarters, Peters. Thank you." She sat up and engaged the table-top terminal.

: Can't talk right now- text only.

Shepard pursed her lips. What the hell was Anderson doing that he couldn't use visual and audio comms? She shook the nosy thoughts from her head as she set to typing her reply.

: Respectfully request update on coordinates sent in last transmission.

: I was wondering when you'd ask. I have the coordinates under surveillance.

: May I ask how and by whom, sir?"

: Sorry, no. I don't like keeping secrets from you, but it's for the best. Let's leave it at, 'I have it covered,' for now.

: Understood. Enjoy your evening, sir.

: Take some downtime when you get back to the Citadel. The council wants a full report from you, in person, about the Cerberus threat and God knows you're going to need some more downtime after THAT, especially since Udina will be there.

: And the Consort offered her services. She comes highly recommended and has a degree in human psychology. Yeah, I was surprised too.

: One more thing. Castis Vakarian called. He's Garrus's dad and wants to talk to YOU. In person. Without Garrus knowing.

: Acknoledged, sir.

has logged off/channel closed

Shepard logged off and leaned back into her chair to think about what she just read.

Shepard had no idea if the council wanted a public or private briefing on what she had learned on Cerberus' capabilities. Was this something they wanted out as common knowledge or kept under wraps to keep the public from panicking? Aethyta probably would want the Asarin Republic to be ready for further Cerberus attacks, but knowing that Cerberus had the technological capabilities to take you from your bed without stepping foot inside your home was frightening enough, and that's without the knowledge of the experimentations Heart did.

She had heard of the Consort and about her lengthy list of clients. As for what the Consort provided was so wrapped up in secrecy it was ridiculous. Shepard could only assume it was some sort of counseling service is she factored in the degree in human psychology; maybe the Consort had degrees in the psychology of multiple species.

Her thoughts moved on to the next thing Anderson had mentioned; Castis Vakarian. Shepard remembered Garrus had mentioned some animosity that was between him and his father, some of which had stemmed from Garrus' attempt to become a SPECTRE. But why would Garrus' father want to meet with her? What did he wish to discuss?

Anderson's suggestion of downtime on the Citadel just amplified how much the crew needed shore leave. Maybe she should take the opportunity to go shopping; she had received a statement of funds from SPECTRE Requisitions. Apparently, she was rather popular and there had been several significant donations. She could afford quite the shopping spree, though a part of her only wanted to drink herself into a stupor.

And she also had to deal with Vera. The stowaway was a citizen of Council-space and was entitled to all her rights under Citadel law, which was backed up by the Shanxi Accords which ended the First Contact War. The Federation would have jurisdiction if she had been found in Federation space, but only was a plaintiff now because the Normandy had been in Council-space. And although Heart, or rather "Saleon", was being held onboard the Normandy he was also under Citadel jurisdiction.

She hated politics.

The only saving-grace of her current situation was the bathtub in her personal bathroom; she was the only one to have one as a privilege of being the Commanding Officer. It was not luxurious as the Normandy still needed to conserve space, even if she was of a more comfortable design.

And Shepard still had her strawberry scented bubble bath.

~Mass Trek~

Liara looked over the Cerberus data Shepard had recovered. The amount of information was staggering, but only damning of Saleon/Heart and not the organization that housed him; no mention of fleet strengths and movements, list of other Cerberus facilities, or even a list of personnel that hadn't been stationed at the facility. There was no record of operations, interests, or even where they got their resources. The only comfort was that she had been able to collect and cataloged the 'good' doctor's horrendous experiments in a way that a Citadel prosecutor could easily build a solid case against the Salarian.

Liara stretched in her chair. It was getting late; actually, it was rather early, as she discovered with a glance at the time. She forwarded her findings to Shepard, along with an apology that she could not find any intel on Cerberus in the computer and a promise to keep looking in case she missed something.

She logged off of the console and stumbled towards the small sonic shower as she shrugged out of her jumpsuit. Her undergarments followed before she stepped into the contraption and turned it on. Despite its name, she heard almost nothing as the contraption scoured her skin free of contaminates. She missed actual water, but it was nice not having to dry off or worry about exhausting her supply of hot water.

Once clean and the shower was powered down, she groggily made her way to her bed and collapsed into it without donning the pajamas she usually wore. Once under the covers, she dropped into blissful sumber.

~Mass Trek~

Adams and Tali huddled over a console in engineering, the blueprints of the Overdue Progress before them with all their alterations marked upon it. Both had spent hours of study and speculation on this project.

"That quick fix on the phaser couple won't last," Adams pointed out. "I didn't want to say so to the Matriarch, but the coupler was pretty shoddy to start with. They'll need to replace the entire bank, if not all of them."

"What about the shield emitters? We've already beefed them up a considerable amount by applying Captain Montgomery Scott's recommended alterations that he did on the Enterprise, but what if we adjust the phase inducer for this frequency-"

"It'll burn out the instant we turn it on," Adams interjected in a sad tone. "That frequency was only possible after the massive refit before Admiral Kirk took her out for his second historic five-year mission. Good research, though."

"Well, then what about the main deflector? If we add a harmonic coupler to it, we could boost the forward shields with the resonance induced from normal deflector operations," she suggested. "It wouldn't even affect the deflector's efficiency."

"Except if they needed to do anything else with the deflector, or if they burnt it out." He rubbed at his eyes in an attempt to clear away the exhaustion he felt. "We could also install a decoupling unit, but then we'd might as well rebuild the entire deflector assembly." He stood up straight and stretched his back, which resulted in pops that both of them heard.

Tali wasn't willing to give up yet. "We need to figure out something that will give them an edge. You know what Cerberus did."

"With Heart, yes. But we have him now and he's going to rot in a dank, dark prison," Adams declared confidently. "Unless the Council still uses the death penalty."

"I think that's what the SPECTRE's are for," Tali mumbled as she leaned on the edge of the console controls and arched her own back to stretch the sore muscles before she straightened up. She took a step back from the plans to drink in the whole of the Constitution-class' beauty. The design was extremely aesthetically pleasing to her; if her fleet had such a vessel, she would have double-timed it back to the Flotilla once she had found anything useful on her pilgrimage.

Then a thought struck her as she eyed the engineering hull. "What about boosting their structural integrity field emitters? They were cut pretty nastily during their first battle with the Styx."

Adams squinted at the section where the hull had been breached during the battle. "I like it. What do you have in mind?"

"Well, if we add a booster to the emitters, powered by some batteries, they'd be able to withstand a heavier direct hit to their hull."

"Scratch the battery; that'll just add way too much mass," Adams explained as he stifled a yawn. "The Progress' fusion reactor is robust enough to power the boosters. Good thinking, anyhow. Let's type this up when we're rested and submit it to the skipper."

Tali glanced up at the Chief Engineer. "We go on shift in two hours."

Adams glanced at the time. "Damn. I'm going to wreck my stomach with all the coffee I'm going to need to stay awake."

"I haven't refilled my stim-packs," Tali moaned. "I'm going to need… what do you call them… cat naps?"

"Nah, we can spare you. Go to bed," Adams ordered as he stretched again. "I might just do the same. Benefits of being the Chief Engineer include the option of delegating responsibilities so you can recover from working all night."

~Mass Trek~

Solana momentarily marveled over the amazing technology of the replicators as she felt he fabric of the Turian military fatigues she was now dressed in. However, there was a more pressing matter she had to attend to. "You like the Commander."

Garrus attempted avoid the conversation. "Do you want the bed or the cot?" he asked as he set up the latter.

Solana laughed. "You can't fool me Garrus. I can smell it on you. You want to rip off her clothes and pound her raw. Has she asked you about your reach yet?"

Garrus glared at her. "I am not having this discussion with my younger sister," he growled, intent on making it clear he serious.

Solana wasn't fazed. Instead she smirked at him. "You want her so bad I'm surprised she doesn't smell it. Spirits, Garrus! Make a move!"

"I don't interfere with your love life."

"You haven't been with a female in years, Garrus. The job got the better of you and pulled all your attention. It was beginning to look like you castrated yourself or something." She held a giggle back at the sight of his sour face. "Okay, I had my laugh. In all seriousness, you need to act. What if this thing with Saren gets one of you killed? Or someone else beats you to the punch?"

Garrus blinked back his surprise and sat down on the foot of the bed. "You would approve of a turian-human union? Especially with a Federation officer?"

Solana sighed. "Father confided in me a while ago. He told me one of the problems with the Hierarchy is that they're so focused on competing against the Federation that they're losing the opportunity of cooperating with the Federation and exchanging tech. Imagine Turian vessels with weapons and shields on par with Starfleet, or even the transporter technology!" She sat down beside him. "And she's a great soldier; I heard about Bajor."

"She's my CO," Garrus pointed out. "Even by our standards, that's off-limits."

"And you're going to let that stop you?" Solana countered as she reached over and turned his face towards him. "And what if she is the one?" She asked as she traced his mandible.

"Not until the mission is over," Garrus declared with a note of finality. "I can keep her safe until then."

"Against Saren Arterius?" Solana asked incredulously. "He's one of the most dangerous SPECTREs there are. He's got enough biotics to make Matriarchs think twice about challenging him."

"It's not just me protecting her. Wrex, Alenko, Williams, Liara, and Tali are there too. We've already done so much as a team."

I don't think Saren's going to go down without taking one or more of you with him," Solana admitted in a sad tone. "At least tell her how you feel sometime soon. Please?"