Interlude

'I love having multiple enemies on the same battlefield. Makes them more likely to get in each other's way.'

Subject: REPORT URGENT - Batarian attack on Eldar vessel

TO: Admiral Adam Barton of the Second Fleet;

Summary: Eldar do not need our help, and have begun returning some signals.

On the fourth day of the third week of the fifth month of patrolling the area around the Eldar ship, which we have learned is named Raibh Karun as closely as I can pronounce the name, and that it translates roughly to Night Scout according to the Pathfinder, when an unscheduled patrol entered the system through the relay to Kite's Nest. It took us five minutes to confirm it was a group of twenty batarian ships, two cruisers, a dozen frigates, and a half dozen transports, during which they set course for the Nirvana, and jumped to FTL. At thirty minutes after entering the system, they reverted to realspace from FTL, and oriented to Nirvana, formed into a combat wedge and began accelerating toward my patrol. As my last report stated, we had only a cruiser and four frigates as Command had recalled the rest of the squadron, but we prepared to do our duty in spite of being outnumbered.

Eden Prime was scrambling their defense fleet, but with the orbital defenses taken out by the geth and not yet replaced, the captain still temporarily in charge of planetary defense was wary about being drawn off by this group only to have a larger group jump in and hit the planet. Regardless, it was my five ships versus their twenty, though only fourteen were warships. As the batarians approached, though, the eldar ship below us learned of the attack through the comms officer of my ship, and took apparent offense to being targeted by slavers. And at almost a million kilometers between them and the batarians, the Eldar ship opened fire with its broadsides.

The first three volleys took out four of the frigates each, before they began cutting the cruisers to pieces. Once the military vessels were gone, they began butchering the batarian transports. They got eight of the frigates with the first two volleys before we figured out what was going on, and the batarians took the third volley before they did. The cruisers attempted to evade, but were too slow to react, though they still took two volleys to kill.

Sir, I have attached the video file of the batarian ships getting carved into pieces because, with God as my witness, I have no words for watching that fleet get butchered by what appeared to be secondary weapons at over fifteen times our own ship's max effective ranges with our main cannons. Even as the batarian patrol broke ranks to try and evade the Eldar lasers, more of the Eldar shots hit than not, even with a three second delay between firing and the shots hitting, and not one batarian ship made it back to the relay. I don't know how they could have hit that high of a percentage of shots at that range against actively evading ships, but I do know we need their targeting systems yesterday, if not sooner.

Sir, with all due respect, the Eldar here don't need our help, and I believe they are more amused by us trying to protect them than anything else. I understand the need to make a statement about standing by our word, but I would rather such a stand happen when not in the field of fire of the guns on a single wreck that can kill my squadron before we even understood what happened.

Respectfully;

Captain Jakob Naseem, Cruiser Houston of the Second Fleet


Subject: INFO - Eldar Race report, Initial

TO: Admiral Hackett, Fifth Fleet Commanding Officer;

Summary: The eldar are a race of psychic warriors, of surprising physical and mental capabilities, despite their similarities to humans.

Before I begin, please note that all conclusions from this report are based on observation of a single male subject, that was aware that he was being observed for the entirety of his stay, barring a pair of incidents when he was significantly injured, which is when we obtained most of our observations of his internal structure. This may have caused him to deliberately 'adjust' our impressions of his race, though if he has, why, and for what purpose are unknown.

The subject in question stands approximately two and a quarter meters tall, which he claims is the average and normal for eldar. This leads to him towering over the rest of the crew, and only the krogan battlemaster Urdnot Wrex, already quite large for a krogan, matches him in height, though that requires including the krogan's hump. His appearance is remarkably similar to the old fantasy and folk stories of the elves and fae, with long, pointed ears, overly large almond shaped bronze colored eyes, an elongated skull, and jet black hair that reaches to the middle of his back, usually kept in a single braid when not tucked into his helmet. His anatomy is unusually similar to humans to the casual glance, closer to us than even the asari.

Getting information beyond a simple superficial glance has been surprisingly difficult to obtain; almost all of the physical information was due to two visits to the medical bay after he sustained serious injuries. The very first thing we did was get copious amounts of blood samples. The forced recovery of his injuries also allowed for a more thorough observation of the Eldar.

The first thing we found was that our onboard medical computer and crew were incapable of decoding most of his DNA, but were able to note a few interesting facts about it before sending the results and samples to Command for analysis. For comparison, the human genome is twenty three chromosomes in double helix formation with an extra chromosome specifically for gender, though it can sometimes form triple or quadruple helix strains in the correct conditions. What little we know of the Protheans indicates that their base DNA was quadruple helix strains, though how many chromosomes is an open debate among scholars and scientists, though most agree it is between thirty and thirty four. The Eldar genome has actually caused our onboard computer to crash halfway through mapping it three times, but we know it is at least a pentagonal helix strain, contained traces of both levi- and dextro-protein strands, and had at least thirty seven chromosomes according to the reconstruction of the most completed crashed data.

The next thing we noted were his muscles, which were unusually strong and powerful for their size. The muscles were not obviously different from how a human would be put together, but small, subtle changes to ensure maximum control and power from them, far exceeding what a normal human could do before they became in danger of being damaged. Computer simulation has put his strength at nearly double human norms, though how much of that is due to training and fitness instead of pure genetics is an open question.

Next examined were his bones, several were broken from the fight on the downed Eldar ship in the Plutus system, so while resetting them our medical officer was able to scan and examine them closely. They were hollow but had bracing spurs through them, making them extremely light weight, but also incredibly strong, not calcium based like human bones, but made of, or at least reinforced by, some other substance the computer couldn't identify, possibly even the 'wraithbone' they use in their weapons and armor. My medical officer was also convinced that the body used the hollow sections of the bones to move various fluids around to accelerate healing and recovery, based on the fact the bones had already started binding back together, but we had no way of proving this without being indulging in exploratory invasive surgery, which the Eldar would have certainly reacted violently to when he discovered it.

While the Eldar was unconscious, we were able to perform an CT scan of his head, and the results were amazing, even compared to the rest of what we had learned. The Eldar brain has not two lobes like a human, but four distinct lobes. Left, right, upper back, and lower middle, and masses at least half again what a human has. Without significant invasive surgical investigation, our medical officer could only guess the functions, but stated that she suspected the left and right lobes handled much the same function as our own. She did postulate that one of the two unknown lobes dealt with his psyker powers, though not which one, and the purpose of the final lobe, was completely outside her ability to make an educated guess.

Finally, the Eldar psyche. While not trained in analyzing alien psychologies, I have noted a few points about our resident that should be made public knowledge. First is that the Eldar language is exceedingly complex, and according to Arlas is divided into four parts. From least to most important, they are spoken 'words,' tone, body language and gestures, and finally psyker emanations that they use for most communications. His most often repeated suggestion, as well as condescension, to us about communicating is 'stop using your hands and arms to talk,' often including a couple of Eldar 'words' that he refuses to translate. Apparently every gesture has a meaning, not just adding emphasis, and moving one's hands around is talking loudly, while moving your arms is yelling, and that isn't going into the possible meanings of the gestures.

The eldar also take grudges, threats and insults exceedingly seriously, and Arlas has pointed out that, if he didn't need us to get around, several times he would have been justified, by Eldar standards, in killing the entire crew for the unintentional insults from one crewman. He has since mellowed, but interactions with other Eldar will need to be handled carefully. Exceedingly carefully. He suggested that all exchanges start with an apology for unintended insults, and that people keep their hands clasp in front of them if civilian, or behind them in a loose parade rest if military. Those two stances are apparently considered neutral, indicating the position of the speaker doesn't translate to the listener and claiming they are a 'non-warrior' or 'warrior,' rather than adding some subtext or tone to the words. Most Eldar don't use them, but that is what they are for.

Another aspect of the Eldar psyche is their use of psyker communications to facilitate in the planning of group actions. According to Arlas, his craftworld has the senior Exarches come up with battle plans in the field, with junior exarches and the senior aspect warriors linked to them to provide their thoughts, and the junior warriors linked to the senior warriors to give their impressions of the plan as it is drawn up. Plans can radically change in a heartbeat as one junior warrior makes an off-handed remark, while other times the senior exarches draw up a plan and no one suggests modifications to it. If a Farseer is present, they then are asked to use their experience and 'future sense' to ensure the plan is optimal, and after the Farseer or seers have their look, it goes back to the exarches for either further review or dissemination to their warriors. If modified, it will then go back to the Farseer to repeat the process until the plan is acceptable, though the Farseer can overrule the exarch council in emergencies or when they feel time is of essence.

And as a finale, a couple notes about the Eldar psyche, despite the flexibility implied by the planning process details previously, Arlas has repeatedly stated that he cannot fathom how someone is able to do anything without focusing completely on whatever they are working on. Arlas has claimed the only way to excel at a job is to focus totally on it, revealing a potential weak spot in their profile, that they can only focus on one thing at a time, though their improved natural abilities means it will be difficult to exploit should we come into conflict with the Eldar.

The other exploitable hole in the Eldar psyche is that they consider losing an eldar during combat to be a loss, though Arlas has not said as much, instead determined from his reactions to how we set up or advanced in combat. Not a setback, or a hole to be filled, but that they lost the fight. While they understand that lives might have to be spent to achieve their objectives, they are incredibly wary about wasting lives, and will often times focus on survivability over other considerations when in combat. This is possibly due to the longer life span leading to increased time to maturity, and longer times between breeding for their females. Though so far he has been reluctant to discuss specifics about his people's life span specifics, other than maximum age.

Again, all of these results were taken or extrapolated from a single subject that knew he was under observation, so some or even all of these results that were not backed up by scans may be utterly and completely wrong.

Respectfully;

Lieutenant Commander Joannis Shepard, N7 Adept


Subject: Council meeting log, video communication, 2183-88a.1, subject: Noveria Fallout

Sparatus, Turian Councilor: So, I have read the report on what the human spectres found on Noveria, and I am quite curious to hear why the STG either missed this or failed to inform us.

Tevos, Asari Councilor: Councilor Sparatus, please remain civil. Noveria is an independent colony…

Sparatus: That revived the Rachni and were conducting tests to turn them into disposable shock troopers! I don't care what laws are in place, that is a violation of every spirits be damned law of common sense. What I should do is have a fleet park over their heads and reduce that colony to rubble for such stupidity, or at very least the isolated research labs.

Valern, Salarian Councilor: All messages from Noveria have been checked, and all of them were heavily modified from the original content. All STG knew was that something illegal was going on there. That was the entire point of the colony, to conduct such illegal corporate research in a known place to contain it. We simply were unable to determine what was occurring without physically breaching the facility.

Sparatus: Well congratulations, it worked. We would have known EXACTLY where the Rachni were swarming from for the second war.

Tevos: Councilor Sparatus, remain civil please. We need to discuss what we are going to do about this unsettling situation…

Sparatus: Unsettling? That is putting it mildly. Treasonous would be a better term in my book.

Tevos: Sparatus! Civility.

Sparatus: NO! You want to pretend you were in control, fine, you do that. I am looking at the video the Twins and Icivia provided, as well as the notes. Eight spirits be damned days from the Queen reaching three months of age and apparent egg laying maturity to until the Shepard Twins showing up. Seven hours after the first laying until the first egg being hatched, and an HOUR from then to the declaration of Omega Protocol, and by the time the Spectres arrived, the Rachni had more than a hundred rachni warriors and eight hundred workers rampaging through that facility, and enough eggs to easily double that if not triple it in storage! And that wasn't counting the two new rachni that the eldar encountered and recorded. If they hadn't had the ground team they did… I doubt even a veteran Turian Blackwatch squad, including the legendary 1st Squad, would have fared as well, and I know an STG or Asari Commando squad would have failed.

Valern: … I expected you to be more upset about the Twins letting the Queen go. Or that they had apparently had a live rachni queen egg with them for some time.

Sparatus: … I will admit being less than pleased about that, but Icivia has had nothing but praise for the human Twins so far, and even her complaints are basically that they do not perform as a Turian would. Her comments on the Eldar have been less than civil, but she admits he hasn't tried to inhibit the mission, or conceal anything, only that he has an attitude problem and an inherent, almost compulsive disrespect toward superiors. And even with those problems, she would trust him at her back on any mission without reservation, the worse the mission the more she does trust him. If they believe the Queen can be trusted… then I am willing to give her a chance. Though only because we tracked her leaving the planet.

No activity for thirty seven seconds.

Tevos: That is… surprising, considering your response during the video debrief with the Twins.

Sparatus: That response was because they didn't even attempt to clear it with us. Making a call of that magnitude is a Spectre's job, yes, but the elder Ranchi Queen wasn't going anywhere. They could have left a guard squad in the room while they called and asked for clarification. Besides, I am not supposed to like humans.

Valern: Hmph. How did you track her? We had no satellites or ships around the planet at the time.

Sparatus: Icivia injected a tracking beacon into the egg while it was on board after doing some scans of it. She couldn't get a conclusive scan result of the occupant, something in the egg's shell was disrupting her omnitool scans, revealing only that the occupant was moving under its own power, but she wanted to make sure she could find it if it hatched and tried to hide somewhere on the ship and was dangerous. As for the elder queen, she was given three tracking beacons by the lab personnel, likely for the same reason. Their frequencies were mentioned in the report.

Tevos: Where did the Queens go?

Sparatus: We tracked the signal to Ismar Frontier relay system, then it headed off into deep space. We haven't explored the system they were extrapolated as heading towards, but we know what relay they used and I am already talking with the Primarchs about fortifying it, as well as routing the occasional patrol into the system to keep an eye on them.

Tevos: What transmitters were use?

Valern: The trackers the lab used were… not exceptional, but still good enough for our purposes. One of Salarian make, another a… Elkoss Combine tracker that stopped working two minutes out of the tank, typical really for volus work, and a human Exogeni Corporation tracker that worked until she left the Noveria system in the Rachni ship they found her egg in. Both trackers that lasted out of the facility indicated the Queens were traveling together.

Sparatus: Icivia used an asari Amili Industries Vestigo transmitter mark nine. Meant for tracking criminals and fugitives across any distance. As long as it remained in a system with a comm buoy, she knew where they were down to a meter, and so did we.

Tevos: That is one of the best transmitters my people make. Very well, I will second the motion to fortify that relay, though add that we should send a diplomatic party to attempt to make contact since these Rachni are peaceful. Or at least appear so. Perhaps we can learn why the first group weren't, or why any Asari that mind merged with them went insane and kept screaming about a 'sour yellow note.' The records of the Rachni War show we tried seven times with five different captured queens, and all the bonding asari reacted identically.

Valern: Very well, fortification of the Ismar Frontier relay on this end, and sending of a diplomatic team. I agree, especially since they use psychic abilities like the Eldar. If the Eldar are coming like the Pathfinder claims, we need more knowledge of their most powerful and unusual abilities. Now, what are we going to do about Noveria?

Sparatus: Mandatory joint turian and human fleet presence in the system with authority to orbitally purge any lab without warning, and a full time Spectre on the ground with access to all systems and the right to make a no-notice inspection of any facility and with full access to all private systems. Not negotiable. I would like a base with troops as well, but I doubt anyone of the quality needed at such a location would stay for longer than one tour.

Tevos: … Joint human and turian?

Sparatus: I doubt it would be nearly as palpable to the humans to have a turian fleet building up in a supposedly human system, and it means the Hierarchy can use it as a forward base for the patrols in the Traverse. It will also allow the Hierarchy to do more thorough and frequent joint fleet exercises with the humans, and ensure that their fleets are up to turian standards before we start agreeing to grant them certain privileges, like guarding the Citadel.

Valern: Fair point. Would suggest Spectre Kakcar Dilteer for position of permanent, on site Spectre. Already there, familiar with many of their systems, has several contacts already in place, and already knows who is important and who is not. Also, as a volus, less likely to be viewed as disruptive as turian or asari Spectre.

Tevos: I agree that would be a good idea, but convincing them to agree will be… difficult.

Sparatus: Then the threat of force or negative publicity from their illegal research will bring them in line. In fact, I am going to suggest opening with the threat of going public with what we know, and blacklisting them in Citadel space if they refuse to comply.

Valern: Agreed. Especially after reading of Binary Helix developing bio-plagues for sale in Terminus systems. They abused our laws for their benefits, now they will be an example on why that is an unwise decision. This can easily be used to increase our authority.

Tevos: … *sigh* Very well, I agree. Though I recommend we allow… 'questionable' research to continue there. If only to keep it contained to one planet and easier to track. Next point, the humans sent us information about a possible base location for Saren, in the Sentry Omega cluster. They haven't narrowed it down to a planet yet, or even a system within the cluster, but I would recommend the STG assist by sending teams to all seven possible systems in the cluster and…


Subject: Eldar Tech Scans

To: STG Sector Command - Citadel - 7th division

CC: STG Command Council

Summary: Normal attempts to acquire technology have resulted in no successes and loss of significant portion of agents. Request fifteen million credits to procure drone chassis with appropriately advanced base technology and sufficiently advanced VI to modify for attempt.

Due to the repeated failures of standard attempts to acquire new technology from our newest adversaries, a new mechanism must be attempted. Due to similarities between humans and eldar, a new method of acquisition should be explored along human weaknesses. A review of records of human espionage attempts indicate a weakness of males to the allure of sexual encounters, and asari have long made use of similar actions against other races. The humans call the users of the techniques 'red sparrows' after an animal of their homeworld, while the asari call it 'business as usual.'

To this end, I suggest purchasing and modifying an appropriate VI driven companion mech, and then having it delivered to the target. As the target indulges, the mech will gather biological data, and when the target is resting, the mech will scan his technology and relay its scans back to us. A SiliconePartner mech V6c with variable attributes should be sufficient enough, with customization, to provide the necessary chassis, and with enough tweaks to the VI, the target will be unaware of its modifications. Chassis itself will cost seven million credits, with another two million for the required extras. Modifying the VI, however, will require some significant reworking of the inbuilt computer, as well as building a new custom VI for the required scans.

Reporting: STG Citadel Sector Command - 7th division

Addendum: STG Command - Decision: Action approved with modifications

Review of companion mechs suggest that a RealPartnerMech V10f will be more adaptable to the mission of acquiring eldar technology, for a total estimated cost of eighteen million credits. Fifteen million for the chassis, no cost for the scanner upgrades, and less than three million to modify the VI, rather than replace. Begin immediately.


Report log 67-0000948521; Interface unit 867.&423a - anomalous psionic race

Unit 867.&423a, reporting anomalous active psionic reading in section 421-a67. Source triangulated with units 006.$1t2% and 39*.{4]3#. Probability of unknown individual as source: 99.99987218%. Permission to censure? Y/N.

_: N. Observe only.

Disengaging censure mode. Observation mode reengaged. Issuing general alert to all interface units to observe anomalous psionic race 000028, unit 000000000000001. All subtlety units notified of anomalous race unit. Fabricating cleaner unit in pod 0539bn. Anomalous psionic race unit departing area, alerting unit !2c.^g`\1. Resuming normal functions.


Location Unknown

Enduring Hope finished aligning the vessel for its run up to faster than light speed, before turning and walking back to the resting cabin, considering the recent events. The other races were so strange, so different, except for the one that sang like her kind did, and that one was even stranger.

Fiery Tenacity was the leader, her mind burned bright like a queen's, and it was soft, quick to comfort and gentle, but capable of great fury and deep hate. She was so small, yet had all the strength of soul of one far larger. Hope let herself creel in pleasure at having met that one, and hoped to meet her again soon.

Staunch Watcher was different from the others, like a warrior in mind, firm, unyielding and wary, yet she could sense suspicion and unease when Tenacity had decided to release Hope, though she hadn't said anything. She had simply observed, and waited.

Little Dancer had moved so much, always drawing her attention as it had gracefully danced from one metal container to another as it followed the lights on them. It hadn't said anything to her voice puppet, but she knew it had been listening. It had not been concerned about her, more interested in the containers, so she had paid it little mind after it had found the container it was looking for, and stopped moving.

Astute Stalker had simply stood in the back, listening, her mind in stillness as she had listened and seen everything she could, before simply advising that Tenacity kill Hope. She didn't hold that against Stalker, she was simply trying to protect her sister-kyn, but something in her mind made Hope wary of her, and she did not want to meet Stalker again.

Lonely Sorrowful Shadow was the one most like her kind, and yet the least like them. She could hear his song clearly, yet it wasn't until he had been almost next to her, a metal tube pointed at her, that he had started mind singing. His song had briefly sang of extreme pain, then his song had simply vanished again. She had had to stop her two warriors from leaping to protect her from him. Tenacity had spotted him soon after, and they had talked briefly, before the young queen Great Song had tunneled into the room. His name had come from her, as she had spent time in her egg around him, and the sight of a young queen had caused Tenacity's mind to hardened, before she had chosen to free Hope.

She had felt other minds, but many had been tainted as her kin had been before they had hidden her among the stars, before being mercifully silenced. But too many others had been silenced by their driven fury and insanity, and many remembered the butchery, otherwise they wouldn't have been as disharmonious with Tenacity so much.

The Rachni still lived, and their song would once again echo throughout their planets. Fiery Tenacity would be remembered, and when the sour yellow note returned, this time the broods would be ready. Already two new warriors stood ready to protect her, and many other forms rested in her and the little queen Great Song. This time the song from space wouldn't find only workers and singers, they would find fury and rage, waiting to devour them for their maiming of the song.


Location Unknown

Farseer Cael'Iadra woke up with a pain in her head of massive proportions, only comparable to the pain she had felt when she had heard that her daughter's murderer was to be sent on a mission of extreme importance for the Craftworld. She reached up to rub away the pain, only to bash her hand against her helmet. The impact caused the Farseer's head to pulse painfully, but it brought her back to full awareness. She winced as she looked around, noting the rest of her group were dead; her Warlocks, the Dire Avengers, and the remaining Striking Scorpion, all dead, many in several pieces. The hull of her transport, a simple Wave Serpent, was perforated in several places, and she could easily see stars.

The sight was incredibly disturbing, as she should only see warp storms; they had been deep in the Eye of Terror. In fact, she should have woke up to a daemon either torturing her or raping her, likely both, if she had even woken up. Seeing only a spinning star field was even worse, in its own way, because she had no idea where she was. She checked her air pack, and was relieved to note there was several hours of air left before it needed to be replaced, and she had several extra packs at hand, her fallen subordinates didn't need theirs anymore. The next thing she did was pull out her healing runes, and began channeling the energies into her, quickly soothing her head pain away, and several other pains she had picked up on that forsaken planet.

Once she finished healing her body, she reviewed what had happened, hoping for some clue as to where she was. She remembered the tome strapped to her thigh, and a quick glance revealed the precious treatise on the Webgates was undamaged, another stroke of fortune in this luckless situation. Then the Wave Serpent with its two Nightwing escorts had arrived, and they had all boarded the transport, before heading back to the Eldar camp. On the way, they had suddenly encountered an intense, localized warpstorm in their path, but before they could divert, a dozen Chaos fighter craft and dozens of armor had come screaming out of it.

The Chaos forces had fired immediately, before the Eldar could even react, almost as if expecting them, blowing apart the two fighters and badly damaging the Wave Serpent. With its engines out, the transport had descended into the warp storm, and after several jarring impacts had caused her to violently slam her head against the hull, she had passed out . Seeing that she wasn't going to figure out where she was just by retracing her steps, she released the gravity tether that kept her attached to the seat, and began collecting spirit stones from the deceased in the troop bay. Once the last one had been collected, she returned the dead to their seats, giving them at least some dignity, before opening the bay door.

Farseer Cael'Iadra stared at the alien vista in front of her for a long moment, at the distant, unknown orange star. She could see a distant planet, but with the sun nearly behind it, she couldn't make anything out, even with her helmet providing a polarity filter to block out most of the blinding sunlight. With an indulgent sigh, she swung herself up and out of the troop bay, to begin inspecting the Wave Serpent, using psyker pulses to direct her movement. However, even the most basic and cursory of glances showed the Wave Serpent was dead, one engine ripped off entirely, the other more hole than engine. The front half of the Wave Serpent was ripped free and missing, the pilot and co-pilot lost.

Cael'Iadra wasn't sure how long she stared at where the missing front half of her Wave Serpent should have been, but eventually she returned to the troop bay, and sat down on her seat, one hand idly stroking the tome that had had such potential to change her people's fate. Now as lost as she was.

The Farseer forced herself to take a deep, calming breath; she was almost four millennia old, and panicking never helped. A quick moment of concentration revealed that her future was oddly clouded, concealed and unable to be divined with any real accuracy, but she knew she wasn't to die here, now; that much she was sure. After a short time recovering her focus, she pushed herself to the back of the Wave Serpent troop bay, where they had stored two stasis pods. They were meant to stabilize badly injured Eldar until they returned to the Craftworld for assistance, but out here, she would do the only thing she could.

A quick interface with the first unit showed it was remarkably intact, and the Wave Serpent was still providing power to it, so it would likely keep her alive in suspended animation for centuries. Hopefully until her people found and recovered her. If not, her spirit stone would drift among the stars, forever waiting for rescue. Not the worst fate she could think of, not by far. She spent a moment modifying the transport to send out a signal in psyker energies, and after a long moment internally debating with herself, included a few more common signals the Tau would notice as well. The Ae'Imedra Craftworld didn't have the best relationship with the Tau, but at least they wouldn't kill her without waking her first for an explanation, and would make at least an attempt to ransom her back to her people.

Done doing what she could to ensure her rescue, Farseer Cael'Iadra entered the stasis pod, first securing her Singing Spear and pistol to a holder inside, and sealed the pod from the inside with a moment of concentration. As the pod activated, she collapsed her armor so she could at least rest comfortably, the wraithbone armor collapsing into a several bands around her neck, along her back and legs, leaving her clad mostly in her skin tight bodysuit with only a badly damaged tabard covering that. She forced herself to relax as the pod began slowing her vital functions, her last conscious thought being that she hoped some mon-keigh wouldn't find her. The last thing she needed was their lewd thoughts about her, clouding her mind as she woke up.

A/N - Eldar biology and physiology brought to you by FakeIt Co, supplier of facts to every SciFi writer ever. And if some of them are wrong, remember Arlas is trying to not give the mon-keigh too much useful information. Except when he is.

Also, Eldar laser weapons are OP, please nerf now for use in ME-verse. And yes, I sat down, did the math, and they totally could wipe that many out before they could react and flee. Bypassing kinetic barriers is such a mean trick. Using foresight to aim is just as mean. And yes, it is a three second travel time for the lasers, but by the time the batarians realized what had happened, realized it was an attack, begin to evade, figured out who was in charge to call a retreat (and take the blame for the raid failure)… three salvos, fourth on the way, and only the unwieldy transports are left.

And yes, that one part with the mention of units and the unusual designations wasn't supposed to make sense. Yet. Though I don't doubt that at least some of you will figure out what it was referring to.

Anyway, please do the usual after-story actions. Fav, Follow, Review, Vote on my poll (I try to always have one going), but most importantly, enjoy. Oh, and tell your friends. More readers, yes…