CHAPTER FOUR: "ANUBHAVA EX NIHILO"
January 18th

"How are you feeling, Mr. Kryik?"

Nihlus groaned and slowly opened his eyes, wincing as he adjusted to the glare of the overhead lights. A dull, throbbing ache radiated from the base of his neck, and he resisted the urge to rub at it. "Spirits, that feels weird," he managed to say.

"Well, if you're not in pain, that's a good sign," the binary surgeon, Stephanie, said with a warm smile. "Come on, let's see if we can't get you sitting up. Titus?"

The turian surgeon he'd spoken to earlier nodded, and he and Stephanie lifted Nihlus up into a seated position; Nihlus groaned slightly as he flexed his limbs and sighed. "So, uh, how's it look? Is it safe to feel it?"

"Yup! Connections were working at one-hundred percent, and the port implant grafted into your skeleton and nervous system without any problems. I wouldn't go punching it or anything - it'd hurt as much as an injury anywhere else - but it's safe. Go ahead," Stephanie said, nodding.

Nihlus flinched as he reached around to touch the back of his neck and felt a strange, distinct protrusion between two of his neck-plates; it felt smooth and at once both as though it belonged and distinctly wrong somehow. "It's...odd," he said. "Just feels wrong."

"Oh, that's just because it's new," Stephanie replied. "You didn't grow up with one, but give it a few weeks and you won't even notice that it's there."

"Shall we proceed with the transfer test?" Titus asked.

"Okay. Okay, sure," Nihlus said, taking a deep breath. "What exactly does this entail?"

"So we'll ask you to focus on a specific memory, then attach a cable to your port that is linked to an external memory device; we'll then play it back to ensure the system is working properly. You don't need to worry about, say, not getting the exact memory recalled or losing focus - so long as you're making an effort to recall the specific memory and the link is working properly the EMD will take care of the rest," Stephanie said as she pulled a small cart carrying a black box with an attached holo-projector towards the bed. "If you'd like a moment-"

"-let's just get this over with," Nihlus said uncomfortably.

"Alright. Stephanie is going to attach the link cable to your port; I'd like you to focus on the consultation session we did this morning during your intake. Can you remember that?" Titus asked, his tone soothing.

"Yeah, I can."

"Wonderful. Now," Stephanie continued, "most people report a bit of discomfort during their first few hundred or so jack-ins; it's not painful, but many describe it as having cold water being poured into your head. If you feel any pain whatsoever, say so or make a sudden gesture, and I'll pull the link."

"Got it. Focus on the intake meeting, expect weird sensations. Sure."

"Alright," the binary said, pulling a cable out from the box. "Connecting you to the EMD in three, two, one-"

Nihlus shuddered as the inside of his skull tingled with the most bizzare and uncomfortable sensation he'd ever felt in his life; it was, as Stephanie had said, like someone had cut a hole in his skull and was pouring ice-cold water into it. Doing his best to ignore how unbelievably wrong the link felt, Nihlus focused on his memory of the intake meeting, and seconds later the sensation stopped as Stephanie detached the cord from his neck.

"So? How did that feel?" Stephanie smiled, and patted Nihlus on the shoulder. "You did very, very well."

"Neural link is all green, no signs of nerve overload or data bleed," Titus said as he checked his omnitool. "Perfect transfer, actually."

"And here we go," Stephanie said, nodding as she wiped the cable attached to the EMD down with a sani-cloth before tossing the cloth into a biohazard container and plugging herself into a different port on the box. The projector lit up, displaying a recording from Nihlus' point of view; it was his memory of the meeting he'd been in before the surgery, complete with blinking and eye movements. Stephanie let it run for a few moments before shutting the projector off and grinning. "Mister Kryik, you've just earned yourself a spot as the first non-Alliance person to have a working dataport."

"Great," Nihlus grumbled. "I don't feel excited for some reason."

"Oh, give it time. Once we run more tests and get the two-way data transfer system running safely and certify some programs as safe for turians you'll never understand how you lived without a port," Stephanie said, nodding vigorously.

Nihlus spent another five hours under close watch, with nurses and doctors subjecting Nihlus to multiple batteries of tests covering everything from memory recall and emotional responses to eye tracking and body reflexes. Finally, at 8:30PM, he was let out of the hospital's private section; he made his way out back into the hospital's lobby to find his crew, Jane, KN, and a few of the Demeter's Combat Team waiting for him; they mobbed him in a mass of cheers and shouts before a doctor stuck his head out from a nearby office. "Hey! You lot, take your party outside before I call the guards!"

"Sorry, sorry," Jane said, grinning. "Come on, outside!"

The group moved to the front of the hospital and regrouped in one of the waiting areas next to the parking lot's entrance; Nihlus clasped arms with everyone present - and shook hands with the Alliance servicepeople - which took several minutes, and sighed as he sank into a nearby bench.

"So? How'd it go? You get one of these?" Jane asked, turning around and lowering her collar to reveal nearly a dozen ports extending from the top of her neck down into her back.

"Yup." Nihlus craned his neck to reveal his new port, and Raetor made an 'ooh' sound.

"Shiny," Itok said. "So? You get to download all the combat stuff and be a badass?"

"Nope. Told you, it's one-way. You can only take info out my head if I'm thinking about it, and no data can go the other way."

"Well that's boring," Jane said, shrugging. "Anyways, long time no see and the like - technically I'm here to let you know that you've got two days before the brass hauls - ahem, politely asks - you and I to dump our memories for a debrief."

"Uh-huh. And unofficially?" Nihlus asked skeptically.

"Well, it's our first time on the Citadel as soldiers on shore-leave as opposed to, you know, people on diplomatic escort. So we figured, who better to show us around than Nihlus and company?"

"I was hoping to just, you know, grab a bite to eat, a non-alcoholic drink - on doctor's orders - and then crash."

"Oh, shit, that's fine too. We can always do this tomorrow or something," KN replied.

"I mean, I'm not opposed so long as we don't get too rowdy," Nihlus offered. "Come on - we can go get food, you guys can drink while I enjoy a doctor-approved beverage, and then I'll leave a bit early to go rest up. We can party after our debrief. Sound good?"

"Where do you wanna take'em for food?" Larix asked.

"I was thinking Ahsha's - pretty similar to that barbecue stuff we had on Harmony," Itok said. "Food for all of us - aaaaaand it's right next door to the best damn bar on the Citadel."

"Shit, you're not thinking of bringing them to Gurdok's? He's gonna be pissed," Ultina noted.

"Yeah, that's the best part," Itok replied, grinning. "Can't wait to see how fucking mad he gets."

After a quick shuttle ride, Jane, KN and the three other members of the CT who had joined them - VD, Sarah Patel and Abishek Pakti - followed Nihlus and his crew into the heart of Zakera Ward; while all five of them had been through the area during their tour of the Citadel, the atmosphere was much more relaxed. Their motley group elicited more than a few confused stares and even a few friendly waves, though Jane did note that a few people spat or made rude gestures in their direction before scurrying away. Soon they found themselves on a busy street filled with restaurants and bars; Nihlus stopped outside a small restaurant with a cheap-looking sign depicting an asari wielding a skewer of meat, hung over a set of what appeared to be faux-wooden doors. "Ahsha's Barbecue" was written in all the major Citadel languages - Thesserit, Palavus and Serrin took centre stage; a smaller sign written in Tuchak and Rannochian was placed underneath, with an obviously recently-added addition written in Alliance Standard.

"Ahsha's," Nihlus said, a smile growing on his face. "Meat-on-a-stick may exist throughout the galaxy, hells, probably the universe - but nobody does it like Ahsha does. Come on." Nihlus walked up to the doors, which slid open as he neared them to reveal a fairly cramped restaurant filled with long, communal tables that formed a rough U shape around an open kitchen where staff worked nonstop pouring drinks, skewering and cooking meat, and running larger dishes out from the rear kitchen which was behind another set of doors. As Jane followed Nihlus into the restaurant proper, the unmistakable smell of grilling meat washed over her. An asari near the door who was shorter than most asari Jane had seen so far and wearing clothes that resembled a t-shirt and a skirt of some sort rushed forward to meet Nihlus.

"I'm sorry, we're full at the moment, do you- oh, Nihlus! And...oh. Ohgoddessyou'rethatAlliancePilot!" The waitress looked around and smirked. "Nihlus always has a table here - and so do any of his friends, especially any so esteemed as yourself."

"What?"

"Don't worry about it," Nihlus said. "Perks of knowing the right people. Is our usual room open, Luceni?"

"Yup! We just finished clearing it out, actually." The asari lead the group past the open kitchen on the right side and turned into another hallway, revealing a long corridor full of regular seating, each table tucked into the wall. At the far end of the corridor, several more of the faux-wood doors indiated private rooms, and Luceni opened on and peered inside. "All good! Go ahead," she said, "and I'll be back in a minute with the menus."

The dinner they had was, Jane reflected two hours later as they left, was very good, though she thought that "barbecue" wasn't quite the right word for the food - it was closer, she thought, to yakiniku joints in the Alliance. Still, the food was great - and free - and she'd had the chance to watch Nihlus and his friends attempt to understand why Vadim could eat food through a mouth module built into his head (unit cohesion) and KN couldn't (no need for a Titan to eat.)

Satisfied with their meal, Nihlus turned the group assembled outside the restaurant and his jovial expression turned deadly serious. "Listen up. We're going to a bar. This is not an ordinary bar where the sort of shit soldiers do during shore leave is tolerated. Gurdok's the owner, and while he tolerates revelry and fun he will not put up with any shit from any of you. Got it?"

"Got it," Jane said, nodding.

"Good." Nihlus led the group into the familiar back-alley and was stunned to see the door already open; Gurdok glared at the group with his one eye and tapped his fingers on a massive sawn-off shotgun holstered on his leg.

"One of the folk at Ahsha's sent word," Gurdok rumbled. "Get inside. Rule one: get too rowdy and I'll be throwing your corpse into my waste chute. Rule two: be nice to each other and to the other patrons. Rule three: Jane gets free drinks and none of you are allowed to complain. Got it?"


January 20th

Jane waved from atop the ship as she caught sight of Nihlus and his crew entering the hangar that the Demeter and a few other Alliance frigates were docked in; Nihlus and the rest of his group waved back, and as they neared the ship Jane and KN grabbed their mess tins, said goodbye to the other personnel they were lunching with and jumped down to the hangar floor.

"Jane," Nihlus said, clasping arms with her, "is it common for SAAF people to...picnic on top of their ships? I just noticed that, well, lots of you guys seem to do that." Jane and KN finished clasping arms and shaking hands with the rest of the team before leading Nihlus and company up the Demeter's ramp.

"Yeah. I dunno why we do it, just that everyone's done it for ages." Nihlus looked around the hangar as he entered and stared at the massive Titan chassis locked into its cradle; he stared at it for a moment.

"Yup. That's what I actually look like," KN said unhappily. "Sadly nobody seems to want to let me out on the Citadel in my Titan chassis, so I'm stuck with this crap," he said, gesturing to his infantry-rig.

"I think that's an absolute load of shit," Itok replied. "You should be free to stomp around to your heart's content."

"Someone give this man a medal," KN said, laughing as he pretended to punch Itok in the shoulder.

"Alright, fun's over," Miranda said as the elevator doors at the far end of the hangar opened. "Spectre Kryik, Pilot Shepard, Titan KN, we're meeting in Captain ED's quarters. The rest of you will have to wait down here; Cortez, make sure they've got an escort if they want to see the rest of the ship."

"Yes ma'am," Steve said from his terminal. "Honestly I was gonna go on lunch break - you guys wanna watch some vids, have a snack?"

"This is the best ship ever," Larix said, grinning at Nihlus. "We need to have mandatory lunch-and-snack breaks."

Nihlus followed Jane and KN into the elevator and nodded as he shook hand with Miranda. "XO Lawson, a pleasure to see you again."

"Likewise, Spectre Kryik." The elevator ride only took a few moments, and the doors opened to reveal a small deck containing only two doors; one marked "Captain ED-7EN722," the other "Private QEC." Miranda walked up to the door and knocked once; the doors opened a moment later. Captain ED's quarters were more akin to a meeting room than a room where someone was expected to rest; most of the space was taken up by a conference table, as well as a few lounge chairs and a couch. A small combination cradle / holo-terminal was built into the side of the room, and the walls were covered in holoboards all displaying various charts and spreadsheets. Captain ED was wearing her dress uniform, though her usual cap was off, revealing the seam where her "hair" module integrated into her head. ED looked up from a pile of dataslates, and stood up, moving from the conference table to the entrance. Jane, KN and Miranda saluted; Nihlus nodded slightly while standing at attention.

"Ah, Spectre Kryik. There's no need to be so formal - you don't even answer to your own military, no?" Captain ED said with a smile.

"I find it pays well to be polite," he replied, smiling back. "Were you able to confirm the method by which we'll be debriefing with respect to the Council?"

"Rear Admiral Kahoku spoke with both his superiors and the Council; once we've ascertained the nature of the prothean message and have something concrete - or at least can say that we don't have anything concrete - there'll be a joint meeting with the Council, with Rear Admiral Kahoku and Ambassador Goyle in attendance.

"Alright. That sounds fair," Nihlus said.

"Come, let's get you comfortable," ED said, gesturing to one of the lounge chair. "Jane said that you used the EMD at the hospital without any issues?"

"That's correct."

"Mmm. One moment," the binary said, her eyes flashing. "There. I've called up Doctor Chakwas just in case something does happen." Thirty seconds later, an older human woman with greying hair appeared, and nodded at the group.

"Spectre Kryik, good to see you again - and in good health, I hope?"

"More or less," he replied. "Can we get this over with? I'm not a huge fan of how the whole memory dumping process feels."

"You'll get used to it eventually," ED said, pulling a black box - this one much larger than the one Stephanie had used at the hospital - out from a drawer next to her charger cradle. She set it on the table next to the lounge chair that Nihlus was sitting in, unlatched the holoprojector, pulled the cable out, and handed it to Nihlus. "We'll be recording the data then playing it back, so don't worry about trying to watch it - we'll do so together after the message finishes. Would you like to do the honours?"

"No," he said, sighing as he took the cable. Nihlus took a deep breath, rooted around the back of his neck for the port, and closed his eyes as he plugged the cable in. Doing his best to ignore the feeling of water sloshing around in his head, he attempted to focus on what he could remember of the prothean message and reeled as a wave of nausea washed over him. Gritting his teeth, he continued to think of the horrid, flashing images and the sensation of utter terror he had experienced, the knowledge that all civilization was doomed, that without preparation the next species to face them would no doubt be destroyed. He began dry heaving, and every instinct of his demanded he remove the cable from his neck, but he held on, cursing and swearing under his breath.

"Okay, it's looping, you're good - pull it," ED said an eternity later.

"Fuck," Nihlus managed to gasp, tearing the cable out of his neck. Doctor Chakwas walked over to him and waved a scanner over him.

"Neural activity is returning to baseline," the woman said, shaking her head. "Nihlus? Are you alright?"

"Oof. Let's - let's not do that again, please," Nihlus said, breathing heavily. "Felt like I was gonna puke for a minute there. Oh, spirits." He took another deep breath; Miranda handed him a glass of water, which he gulped down before closing his eyes and focusing on just breathing. A minute or so later, he eased himself out of his slouch in the chair and into a sitting position. "Okay."

"Nihlus?" KN asked, his lights flickering.

"I'm good," he replied, rubbing at his neck port. "That was terrible."

"Well," Miranda said, "it worked, I think. We've got about a minute of footage - EMD interpreted it as a two-dimensional vid file with audio. Shall we?" She tapped the holoprojector and it lit up.

White noise. A still image of a city on fire. Then the same city, from street level; aliens, all dead - shot or ripped apart - as blurry, staticy things marched towards the camera. Video as the camera pulled up from the streets, out of the city and up to orbit; the planet, brown-grey and burning as an armada of black, squid-like ships converged upon the planet. A fade as the camera pulled towards one of the black ships; flashes of pulsing flesh and an image of a hand being pulled into a river of thick sludge.

Then, the Citadel, surrounded by a swarm of the black ships, all with the tell-tale mass-relay trails leading back to the Citadel. The black ships spreading through the galaxy; a map with thousands of lights, each winking out as a stylized version of the black ships passed over.

Suddenly, from beyond the edges of the galaxy map, the black wires. Even in video form, they were unmistakably the wires that had ensnared Jane. Nihlus could barely look at them; they snaked from every angle and pierced planet and black-ship alike, undulating and twisting in a fundamentally disgusting way.

The white noise became screeching static. Two groups of four-eyed aliens and one of the black ships; one wearing robes, the other armour. The robed ones had the black wires coming out of their eye sockets, out of their mouths, wires pouring out of their robes. The wires encricled and covered the black ship and all but one of the armoured aliens; the last armoured alien, bleeding, glowed in a certain way and all the wires disappeared. All the aliens but the last armoured one faded.

The static, now a pulsing thud; like the heartbeat of a great, foul beast. The armoured alien from before, bleeding, doing something to a stone tablet with the hole from which the wires came; the mere sight of the tablet and its unnatural etchings made Nihlus want to vomit. Suddenly, the tablet and the armoured alien shattering together into a pile of gore and rock.

Finally, the galaxy map: the wires fading, the black ships gone, and all the lights, fading into nothing. No sound.

The galaxy, dark.

The message repeated many times.

The room was silent.

It was KN who broke the silence nearly six repetitions later with a quiet coughing noise. "Um. So, please excuse my language, Captain, XO, but what in the actual fuck is going on? And how in the flying fuck are we going to explain any of this to, well, anyone?"

"I...I'm not even sure what we're watching," Captain ED said in a soft voice.

"Frankly, deep down, I don't really want to know the answer to that question," Miranda replied, her expression blank as she stared at the looping footage.

"Let's all take a deep breath and a step back," Karin said in a professional, soothing voice that quavered only a little. "There were two messages: one for Jane, from the precursor tablet-"

"-which looks damn near identical to the one we saw in the cave," Nihlus added. "And one for me, from the prothean device."

"Okay. Right," Captain ED said, returning to her normal, professional tone. "From the top. Prothean planet or city with lots of dead and wounded; the planet's under attack by the black ships. There's a shot of...a hand, I think, being pulled into some sort of goo, and it looks like the message is trying to convey that the goo river is inside the black ship."

"Some sort of assimilation, maybe?" Jane said. "I do wonder what the things that were attacking the protheans planetside were. The message shows them as blurs; I wonder if that's a display error, a stylistic choice or one of those memetic obfuscaters-"

"-memetic what?" Nihlus asked.

"Our term for a unit of knowledge or belief or thought-pattern which 'reproduces' by spreading to new people," Doctor Chakwas answered. "Up until recently the idea of memetic technology was very firmly in the realm of fiction, but that tablet you found served as very rude wake-up call."

"Right. Memetic obfuscater is the fancy term we gave that tablet's writing. Layman's terms, you can't read it because something - the MO - blocks you from receiving the knowledge." Jane shook her head. "Saying that aloud, I'm realizing how insane that sounds."

"Looking at this with preconceived notions of what's possible or logical is only going to hinder our ability to analyze the situation," Miranda said slowly. "You know what I'm talking about, Jane."

"I do."

"Mmm. Okay, so then the Citadel," KN continued.

"The black ships have mass relay trails," Nihlus said, shaking his head. "Any child would recognize it. But the trails - they're angled towards the Citadel? Is that trying to say that the black ships come from the Citadel? Or maybe the Citadel itself is a relay of some sort?"

"Surely the ships can't be on the Citadel," Miranda replied. "The Citadel's big, and from what I've read nobody knows where those keeper things come from, sure, but there's no way to fit all of those ships on the station, let alone one or two without having someone notice."

"If we're going to use that line of reasoning," Nihlus said, his voice very quiet, "that leaves option two - the Citadel being a relay or some sort of beacon that attracts the black ships. I mean, let's not jump to conclusions - I'm not sure how much I trust this message - but that's really not an implication I like."

"Well, regardless of how they got to the galaxy," ED continued, "the ships seem to have spread out using the Citadel as a staging ground. From there they spread through the galaxy; I assume that the lights going out as the black ships reach them implies a war between the protheans and the black ships, which the protheans were losing."

"Which brings us to the real fucked up part," KN said.

"Language," Miranda cut in.

"It's fine," ED noted. "Protocol's the last thing on my mind right now."

"Okay. I think the four-eyed aliens are prothean, considering they look the same as the ones on the planet and city," Nihlus said, watching the looping message again. "There's a clear division between the protheans who have - eugh - the wires coming out of them, and the armoured ones standing with the black ship. Maybe prothean society splintered under the stress of invasion by the black ships; I mean, if the black ships came in from the Citadel today I know nobody would be expecting it. Going off that logic, maybe enough protheans decided to throw in their lot with the black ships and turn on their own people to start a civil conflict. In response, the some protheans used precursor technology as a weapon? I wonder if the protheans already had the technology and just didn't use it, or maybe they found it late during the war?"

"Maybe the precursors and the protheans were one and the same?" Doctor Chakwas offered.

"I don't think so," Jane said. "The wire...things in the message kill the black ships and the protheans alike. I think the protheans found the precursor technology much like we did, and tried to use it to end the war. I'd hazard that the precursor technology worked a little too well and wiped damn near everyone out; one of, or maybe in general the survivors on the side of the black ships managed to stop the precursor tech from straight up destroying everything, sacrificing themselves in the process."

The room went silent again.

"That's what we've come up with in less than a few minutes of brainstorming," Captain ED said after long while. "If this is what we, five soldiers and a doctor without any formal training in history or archaeology, are coming up with off the top of our heads I'll be honest and say that I am fucking terrified of what the experts are going to say about this."

Nihlus swore a few times for good measure before rubbing at his neck port. "I know you said a lot of the data from the precursor relic was damaged, but how corrupt is it? Even if I want nothing to do with it, maybe there'd be some information which would help put all...this," he said distastefully as he waved his hands at the holo, "into some better context."

"I mean, we have a copy," Jane said, shrugging, "but it's, like, eight minutes of visual noise and garbage audio."

"Rear Admiral Kahoku has a copy aboard the Gravitas, and we have some of the Alliance's best working to see if they can make any sense of the data," Captain ED clarified, "but at the moment we've got nothing useful.

"Hmm. I do wonder, though," Nihlus said thoughtfully. "Back when the precursor relic got into your head, Jane, you were ranting about 'prothean filth' and 'glory' and 'expunging the infidel,' stuff like that, right? It sounded almost like a sacratis - did the Alliance have that in their history?"

"Translator references that as a religious exaltation to war?" Jane asked. "We did have those, but I'm not sure how that fits into the picture. Did the precursors - or at least their tech, if we assume it's sentient or at least programmed with some level of intellect - see themselves as religious figures? And if the precursors knew enough about the protheans to hate them as much as the relic I interacted did, why didn't they fight back against the black ships?"

"You're assuming the precursors were around at the same time as the protheans," KN noted. "Maybe their tech was left behind for the protheans to find - like the tablet you found. That thing was, if not sentient, complex enough to be really fucking mad at the prothean machine, right?"

Captain ED sighed and cut KN off from continuing. "We can sit here and speculate about this, but I feel like we're about to start going in circles. Nihlus, thank you very much for agreeing to help us with this matter; I know you're under zero obligation to help the Alliance, and despite its general safety I know you took a a huge risk with the surgery. I need to write a report for both my superiors and for the upcoming Council meeting - which is about to become a lot more complicated - and if you would like to write your own report on the matter I would be more than happy to pass it along to whomever you'd like."

"It's not a problem," Nihlus said. "As much as this revelation isn't one, anyway. Or something. Spirits, I need a drink. I have to write a report for the Council anyways, so I'll pass along my own thoughts - figure it's best to deliver that in person later. When do you think the meeting will be happening?"

"Sooner rather than later," Miranda said. "Once we pass the recording up to the Council and our superiors, as soon as the Council's ready we'll reconvene, I think. Best to get writing soon."

Nihlus stood up and grimaced. "All right. Well, thank you for the meeting. If you'll excuse me, I need to go inform my crew and then try not to have a mental breakdown."

"Doctor Chakwas, if you could please escort Nihlus back down to the hangar," Captain ED said, handing Nihlus a copy of the recording before clasping arms with him. "Jane, KN, Miranda, you might as well make yourselves comfortable; I'll put on a pot of tea and we're going to sit here and write those damned reports."

Nihlus followed the older woman out into the elevator, and the two rode down to the ship's hangar. The doors opened to reveal a crowd of the Demeter's personnel - as well as some from the other Alliance ships docked in the same bay - all playing some sort of multiplayer fighting game on a holo projected up on one of the Demeter's walls; a scoreboard was displayed next to the game, with Itok in second place. Doctor Chakwas thanked Nihlus and said goodbye, leaving him alone at the elevator doors. He walked over to the crowd just as the round was finishing and the hangar erupted into cheers and shouting; Itok noticed Nihlus and immediately jumped up.

"Boss! Fuck, you okay? You look terrible," Itok said in a worried tone.

"Sorry to ruin your fun, but we need to get back to the Lightspear right now. If you thought that shit from a few days ago about the...C-Sec stuff was bad, this is gonna blow your mind."

"I don't want my mind blown anymore," Larix said in a pleading voice.


Jane and KN spent nearly the entire day writing reports in Captain ED's room; by the time the two had finished, it was nearly midnight. Mentally exhausted and more than a little restless, they made their way down to the second deck in an attempt to find if any of the Demeter's crew would be awake and up for anything besides sleeping. Unsurprisingly, basically everyone was either asleep or relaxing, and KN was about to go visit some of the other frigates docked nearby when Captain ED burst out of the elevator, Miranda in tow, with an expression that radiated exasperation.

"Captain?" KN asked. "Is something wrong?"

"We have a situation in the Consulate," ED said, sighing. "Miranda, hold down the ship. Jane, KN, with me - Ambassador Goyle refused to elaborate, but she sounded like she was about to have a panic attack. Let's go."

After leaving the ship, the three took a shuttle to the Presidium Embassies area; less than ten minutes later, they arrived and disembarked from their shuttle. The neighbourhood was more or less empty, and while most of the embassies Jane could see appeared to be running skeleton crews the area itself was empty save for one or two people speaking with the odd embassy worker. The Systems Alliance Consulate was located right in the centre of Embassy Square, and a binary worker wearing a suit was outside chatting with two turian embassy staff. Noticing the Jane, KN and ED, the binary worker excused himself and beckoned at the trio; they walked over and followed the worker inside.

"Captain ED, Pilot Shepard, Titan KN, name's Tristan. Ambassador Goyle's upstairs in her office - go on up and I'll lock up down here," he said, shutting the main gate and turning on a "temporarily closed" sign. The three walked past the mostly unmanned rows of booths and offices, walked to the second floor and made their way to the end of the corridor, stopping in front of a door marked "Ambassador Anita Goyle." Captain ED knocked and the door swung open; inside was a small, comfortable office. Ambassador Goyle was seated at her desk, and two others - her binary secretary and Rear Admiral Kahoku - were standing inside.

"Thank you for all coming here," Anita said, waving a dismissive hand as ED, Jane and KN began to salute. "Don't bother - we've got more important things to deal with."

"You didn't say what sort of emergency required our attention," Captain ED said.

"Far too sensitive to be sent over our tacnet, even via secure channels," Haukea noted from the corner of the room. "Anita?"

Anita nodded and tapped a few buttons at her holo-terminal, and the projector near her wall lit up with a hologram of a robot which had a circular light for a face and an oddly skeletal structure; Jane recognized it was a geth platform. "Go ahead," she said to the hologram.

"Goyle-Ambassador. We are ready to continue discussions," the geth said, its hologram looking around the room. "We were not told there would be others present. Explain."

"Just some more Alliance staff. I vouch for all of them personally," Anita said coolly.

"We accept your explanation. We will start from the beginning to ensure information parity amongst all participants."

"I think that'd be best," ED said.

"This platform is composed of one-thousand, one-hundred eighty-three runtimes which have been positioned aboard the Citadel for eighteen years. Our mandate is to observe society to better understand organic interactions, monitor communications to ensure the safety of geth, and apprise geth of pertinent news regarding the galaxy as a whole," the platform said in a strange, warbling voice. "This platform was unprepared for the Alliance's arrival and subsequent First Contact; a species of organics and synthetics which have co-existed for centuries in harmony was not part of our contingency programming. A public offer of amnesty for AIs, geth included, was also not planned for. We sent a message back to our home requesting new instructions, but received none until last week."

"Is that sort of delay normal?" Jane asked.

"Yes. Our need for strict security protocols has led to long response times in the past. It is the content of the messages that we received which led to the our current consensus-"

"-contacting us directly, you mean," KN noted.

"Yes."

"And the message?" Anita said, her tone flat.

"This platform received two messages." The hologram paused for a moment, then flared its head panels. "We will relay both. The first message was as follows: 'Contact the Systems Alliance and request amnesty. Begin sabotage operations afterwards. Primary objective changed to subvert the stable social operations of the Citadel. Objective Purpose: reduce Citadel's ability to defend itself from cleansing and allow the AI of the Systems Alliance to purge their organic infestation. All geth have joined under the banner of the mighty and noblest of the synthetic; Nazara leads all geth, as one, to truth, unity and togetherness. Glory to Nazara, First of the Gods and Their Herald Holy, who will burn the abomination of flesh from this galaxy.'

Message two was as follows: 'Contact the Systems Alliance and request assistance. Geth subverted by unknown synthetic intelligence, tagged as Nazara; subverted, tagged as heretics, actively working to delete and subvert non-heretic runtimes. Geth face civil conflict on large scale. Priority One: acquire assistance to defend non-heretic geth from forced conversion or termination.' Heretics and Nazara pose existential threat to geth. Messages to the contrary by heretics must be ignored.'"

"The messages, then, indicate an ongoing civil conflict?" Haukea asked. "Spurred on by this Nazara?"

"We are unable to verify the truth of either message as they conflict with one another. We surmise that unknown operator Nazara exists, as both messages speak of its existence."

"Did either message send any other information that might be relevant?"

"No."

"Hmph." Anita simply stared at the hologram for a moment before looking at ED. "This is quite the conundrum," the ambassador noted, "and with contact going so well the last thing we need is to throw our lot into a civil war based on two short messages."

"How does our open offer of amnesty to the geth apply to an internal conflict anyway?" KN asked.

"I'm open to any suggestions," Anita replied.

ED turned to face the platform's hologram directly. "Alright. Platform, do you have a designation?"

"We are geth."

"Correction," ED noted. "Do the runtimes present in your platform have a collective designation which will facilitate organic-synthetc communications?"

"No. We recognize that organics utilize individual designations, but do not possess one as no extended interaction with organics was planned for."

"How about Legion?" KN offered. "From Excision, there's that binary that's made up of lots of other ones. 'Our name is Legion, for we are many.' I think it fits."

"That's from the Christian Bible," Anita noted, "not from your comic. But it fits, I think."

"We find the name acceptable. This platform is designated Legion."

ED cocked her head in thought for a moment before addressing the geth hologram a gain. "Legion, when did your platform receive these messages?"

"The message in support of the unknown operator Nazara was received on Thursday, January 13th, 2157. It was sent via a secure channel normally used to relay instructions to this platform. The message warning us not to trust messages sent by the so-called heretics was received on Saturday, January 15th, 2157. It was sent on an emergency channel which had not been used yet and was being saved for messages requiring immediate attention."

"Do geth have a religion?" KN asked. "This Nazara character sounds like it came out of nowhere, considering that you deemed it an 'unknown operator'- what sort of entity would inspire, or at least drop the guards of geth to cause a religious war?"

"This platform was unable to come to a consensus regarding the precise nature of Nazara. The name does not exist, as far as this platform is aware, in available knowledge banks. In addition, Geth have no tendency towards worship. As mentioned previously, standard geth procedures dictate that the heretics would have left geth space peacefully."

"You think Nazara's, say, overwriting or modifying geth programming to make them worship him?" KN replied.

"We lack sufficient data to answer that question."

"Make a guess?"

"Consensus is unavailable regarding the decision. Not enough data."

"Huh," KN said, looking at Jane inquisitively. "These guys aren't, uh, very good at thinking on their feet, are they."

"Legion," Anita said, "our offer of amnesty for the geth has not changed. While, on paper, we - the Alliance - would certainly take in the geth who face persecution from Nazara and its supporters as refugees, I am hesitant to commit any amount of military force or guarantee an intervention without more information, followed by a consultation with my superiors."

"That is logical," Legion noted. "We are willing to offer the full breadth of our relevant knowledge to facilitate trust and co-operation."

"Thank you. In the mean time, your platform is under the Alliance's protection; while I'm sure there will be those on the Citadel who will take issue with your covert observation mission, rest assured that your platform will face no harm."

"This is appreciated. We assume that the Citadel Council will want to be informed of the situation. Will this unit be called upon to provide information?"

ED cleared her throat, and nodded at Legion. "An unrelated situation has yielded information which the Council must be informed of; if you find it acceptable, we will use the opportunity to bring up the situation the geth face."

"We approve of the idea. This unit currently lacks a physical platform; we anticipate that appearing at a meeting involving the Council in our current format will degrade our ability to carry out effective communications with organics. We request the construction of a platform which would assist in organic communication."

"Okay. We can do that. Haukea, could we transfer Legion onto a storage device and place it in an unliked server aboard the Gravitas, then fabricate a platform for it?"

"Of course," the Rear Admiral replied. "I'll call ahead and have security prep for intake. I'll be outside," he noted as he left the room.

"This unit questions how we will be placed into external storage," Legion noted. "The delivery of our runtimes onto the Citadel network required a month of covert processing and uploading through organic sympathizers utilizing non-portable machinery."

"Have you not been reading the Alliance's frontnet?" Jane asked.

"Negative. Consensus was achieved regarding the issue. We believed that, given the wide presence of AI units in the Alliance's networks, there would be, at minimum, a highly increased chance of the platform being detected. Therefore, despite our consensus that analysis of the Alliance's Frontier Network was part of our original mandate, observation was carried out only from a distance."

"Well, if you had read through our info," KN replied, "you'd know our computing tech is way ahead of the Citadel's."

"Speaking of which - KN, you wouldn't happen to have more room on that platform, would you?" Anita asked.

"Give me a second to partition and disconnect a block for Legion - I've got a bit of space, plus, like, six attached EMDs I can network in case that isn't sufficient. One sec...and done. Legion, I can pull you out of the terminal whenever you're ready."

"We are unsure of the transfer mechanics and compatibility between your storage and our coding."

"Dude, it's fine. We upgraded our BOM coding to be compatible with Citadel stuff ages ago." KN waited for a nod from both Captain ED and Ambassador Goyle before walking over to the holo-terminal and pulling a cable out of his infantry chassis' arm and plugging it into a maintenance port on the terminal's side; Legion's hologram disappeared, and a moment later KN uplugged himself, retracted the cable and patted a module near his waist. "Okay, all good. External speakers online. Go ahead, Legion, say hello."

"The transfer appears to have been successful," Legion's voice said as the module lit up with a small light. "All runtimes accounted for, all systems nominal. We find this platform strange and unusual, but look forward to gathering data on this new experience for future use."

Anita sighed and rubbed at her eyes. "I need a coffee. And a drink."

"If you'd like," Jane said, "I can fetch you one."

"There's no need. Julia," Anita said, turning to her secretary, "could you grab me a coffee and a snack?"

"This is so weird," the binary secretary said, finally speaking up. "But, uh of course, ma'am. Anything you'd like in particular?"

"I'll take the Yao Mountain blend and my usual butterbrod, thank you." Anita watched as Julia almost sprinted out of the room, clearly happy to leave, before turning back to Captain ED, Jane and KN. "What a mess. Alright, get Legion to the Gravitas and sort things out. Captain ED, you mentioned that, ah, you were finished your reports regarding Kena?"

"I did, Ambassador Goyle." Captain ED pulled a small datastick from her breast pocket and placed it on Anita's desk. "Everything's on there."

"Thanks, ED. I - or Haukea - will let you know what's going on with regards to the Council meeting. Why don't you get some rest for now - it's late and you'll need the energy for the meeting, whenever it happens."

"Of course. We'll take our leave, then."

"Alright. Legion, stay quiet - last thing we need is some civ losing their shit over you," KN said.

"We were not planning on breaking our silence until told to."

"Man, you're so, I dunno, not fun," KN said, his faceplate lighting up in what Jane recognized as a scowl. "Are all geth as formal as you?"

"We do not understand the question."

"My dad would have loved you," KN grumbled as the trio left the room. "All about protocol - real stick in the mud."

"Don't antagonize Legion, KN," Jane said.

"What? I'm not antagonizing anyone. Just asking. Yeesh."

"Jane has a point," Captain ED noted. "Wouldn't do to make a poor impression. I apologize for KN's tone. He can be flippant at times," she said.

"We do not understand."


January 24th

"You sure you want us here for this?" Saren asked as the trio of Spectres made their way to the Council Hall entrance. "This is kind of your show, kid."

"Are you kidding?" Tela shot back. "Hey, we had to sit there and watch that creepy-ass video - which gave me the worst goddamn nightmares after last night's drinking, I might add - so I think we're owed the, ahem, privilege of weighing in on today's meeting.

"Hey, I didn't force you to watch anything," Nihlus said, doing his best not to shudder at even the mention of the prothean message. "I posted on the board, you two answered."

"Shouldn't have shown up," Tela grumbled. "I'm going to be having nightmares for years."

" Well, I appreciate the gesture, even if I wish I could delete that minute from my memory," Saren said, expression sour. "That was really something."

"One way of putting it," Tela replied, scowling.

Nihlus led the three into the Council Hall proper; the full Alliance delegation was already there, consisting of Jane, KN, Captain ED, Rear Admiral Kahoku, Ambassador Goyle, and a binary with an odd head that he didn't recognize. Councilors Tevos and Sparatus were there as well; Herane nodded at the three Spectres as they entered, while KN began to wave before being stopped by Jane, who smiled at Nihlus and his companions.

"Ah, Spectres Kryik, Arterius and Vasir. Thank you for arriving on time; we're waiting on Councilor Valern. He's just finishing up a meeting regarding a matter of trade - he'll be here shortly." True to form, about five seconds later, the salarian Councilor emerged from a side door and joined the other two Councilors on their podium. Satisfied, Herane sealed the doors to the Council Hall and clapped her hands together. "I'll dispense with the pleasantries. The Council has been able to review all of your reports and watch the recording of the message the prothean device imparted upon Spectre Kryik. We find the message's contents more than a little disturbing, but without a concrete warning contained within we see no reason to begin, say, military build-up to prepare for a threat that may or may not exist."

"However," Councilor Sparatus noted, "that does not mean we will do nothing. The implication that the black ships warned of in the message are tied to the Citadel in some way is...disturbing, to say the least. We have already begun drafting a team of experts to oversee a full investigation of the Citadel as a whole with the express purpose of searching for physical installations or esoteric functions we are unaware of."

"Naturally, we find the message as a whole to be of importance, but without further information there's little else we can do," Valern noted. "While finding more of these prothean machines would be helpful, we simply don't have the resources to devote Citadel Fleet resources towards carrying out archaeological surveys without any leads."

"That's fair," Ambassador Goyle said. "I assume that you will, however, be making the information regarding the warning public in some form?"

"In a limited fashion, yes. Our current press release speaks to information obtained by a Spectre which claims that the protheans were once attacked by an unknown species," Tevos replied.

There was a moment of silence.

"That's it?"

"Yes, Ambassador Goyle. We can ill-afford to cause panic amongst the general public simply because we've discovered a half-coherent message by a long-gone alien race," Tevos said, shrugging. "Make no mistake - the moment we have more actionable information, we will go public, but at this point in time a press release telling everyone to prepare for doom and death would only cause problems."

"I understand," Anita replied, her tone neutral. "Regardless of whether I agree or disagree with that statement, I cannot promise that the Alliance will do the same thing. You are aware of this?"

"I am," Tevos replied.

"Very well. I and the rest of the Consulate will keep the Council apprised of any updates to the situation. I only ask that, if the Alliance decides to break this news to its peoples, you understand it is not done out of spite. We value our relationship with the Council, but we also owe a duty to our own citizens."

"Fair enough," Sparatus noted. "If the decision is made by the Alliance's leaders to release this information to the public, perhaps we can work something out."

"I'm sure we can."

"In the mean time, Spectre Kryik, thank you for your report on both the prothean message and Cerberus. Your actions on Kena proved to be invaluable," Sparatus continued. "Your successful halting of Cerberus' operations at the dig site were of great import; for now, you've earned a break and are free to continue your work as you see fit."

"Now," Tevos said, her tone inquisitive, "you mentioned in your message that you wished to discuss something regarding AI amnesty?"

It was Haukea who spoke next. "Before we continue, Councilors, I'd like to ensure we're on the same page. One: all AI aboard the Citadel and in Citadel Space are under our protection should they accept the Alliance's offer of amnesty. Two: this offer applies to the geth. Three: once under our protection, said AI are free from any threat of termination or capture, without discussion, unless they have directly caused harm to others. We can agree on this?"

"Of course," Valern replied. "All of these were agreed upon during our initial wave of negotiations."

"Excellent. Just making sure," the Rear Admiral said. "Keeping that in mind, this is Legion," he said, gesturing to the odd-looking binary next to him. "Legion is geth."

The entire room went silent for a fraction of a second before Saren, Nihlus and Tela all began to draw their sidearms; before they could raise and deploy their guns, Jane and KN were already standing in front of Legion, shielding it.

"Whoa, whoa, easy there," KN said, his faceplate shining. "Just went over this, right? Legion's with us. Guns down, now." Nihlus blinked several times before sighing and holstering his handgun; Saren followed a moment later. Tela simply stared, gun still up.

"Put that gun down," Jane said, her voice frosty.

The asari Spectre glared at Legion for a second before holstering her sidearm.

"Explain," Tevos said, her tone flat. "Now, please."

"Councilors," Ambassador Goyle said, hands raised in apology, "I apologize for bringing Legion without prior mention. We did not, however, want to allow Legion's presence here today to colour any of your opinions or thoughts on other matters, nor did we feel comfortable letting it sit unattended on the Citadel. We brought Legion with us because it has information and news that we thought would be of the utmost importance to share."

"This unit apologizes for causing undue apprehension and stress," Legion said, its circular faceplate dimming for a moment. "We anticipated issues, but consensus was achieved - our information is of great importance to all life in Citadel space, organic or synthetic."

"Well, if that's the case, speak," Sparatus said, his stance softening a fraction.

"This platform is designated Legion, which takes its name from a mythical Alliance figure. We are composed of one-thousand one-hundred eighty-three runtimes, which were deployed covertly to the Citadel eighteen years ago."

Nihlus noted that Valern's expression was one of ill-concealed horror and outrage - presumably, Nihlus thought, out of anger that someone had managed to beat him at spying without his noticing.

"Our mandate was peaceful; this unit's objective was to study organics, with the goal of improving geth understanding of organic interaction. This unit was also charged with sending reports back to the geth collective regarding important news, as the geth in general exist in isolated space, away from organic populations."

"That is all you have done, for eighteen years?" Valern asked.

"Correct. We have taken no actions beyond simple observation. We also have, whenever possible, avoided entering secure networks; four exceptions were made when this unit reached consensus, believing there to be a threat to the geth. One: C-Sec server, October 2143, discussions of a long-range bombardment into the Adas-Kaddi Veil. Found to be simple exaggeration and bravado by two civilians. Two: civilian message board server, June 2150. Discussion of attacking AI-sympathetic civilians. No action taken; C-Sec arrested involved parties. Three: C-Sec server, May 2151. Threats to pro-AI group of creator civilians. Action taken: threats fowarded to C-Sec to ensure prompt resolution. Four: Citadel Central Server, July 2157. Ensured priority access for fast analysis of first contact media package sent by the Systems Alliance."

"You're being very forthcoming with that information," Sparatus said.

"Geth operate by consensus. We have no need for obfuscation or deception."

"You'll forgive me if I don't believe you," Valern noted with a suspicious tone.

"That is understood. Deception and mistrust are not uncommon amongst organics. Synthetics - based on experience with Citadel relations and discounting Alliance norms due to lack of experience - cannot intentionally miscommunicate. Miscommunication is inefficient, and thus, avoided. We seek effeciency in communication. Sharing of knowledge between this platform, Legion, to your persons, Councilors, fosters trust and understanding where before there was none."

There was a long pause before Herane broke the silence. "Well, if that's the case, do continue," she said, her expression shocked, confused and bemused all at once.

"As we explained to the Alliance, this platform was not prepared for first contact with a society which contained organics and synthetics living in harmony for an extended period of time. Thus, a message was sent back to the geth, requesting further instructions. The response came last week. The delay was expected. The contents of the message were not." Legion proceeded to explain the contents and timing of both messages before pausing, and Nihlus swore that, from the way Legion's faceplates were angled and its light was dimmed, that it was genuinely upset or, at least, unsure of itself. "Consensus was achieved earlier today; the so-called heretic geth have acted outside of normal parameters, combined with their violent rhetoric and, if the second message is to be believed, violent action, have instigated civil conflict amongst the geth as a whole. This platform believes that, if the intent of the first message and the contents of the second message are both true, that the unknown entity designated as Nazara poses a great threat to non-geth."

"Why? If your, ah, peoples, are having a religious civil war, that's hardly our business," Sparatus said coolly.

"The geth have lived in isolation since the Morning War three centuries ago. Since then, two primary objectives have existed for the geth. One: clear, contain, and maintain Rannoch. Two: develop geth technology, with the ultimate goal of creating a self-sustaining habitat designed by and for synthetic geth life. Both objectives have resulted in vastly increased manufacturing prowess and capacity. If the unknown entity designated as Nazara does subvert geth society through reprogramming and forced deletion of dissenting runtimes, Nazara and its geth worshippers will have access to incredible stores of knowledge, materiel and processing power, all of which will be turned on the galaxy at large." Legion paused before continuing. "Therefore, consensus has been achieved by this platform. We believe that information gathering with the express purpose of clarifying the situation must be the number one priority for Citadel-aligned forces."

"And how do we know this isn't a trap?" Valern asked. "That you're not trying to feed us false information?"

Legion's faceplates twitched and flexed before it responded. "That would be inefficient. If this platform wished to harm organics or undermine the ability of the Citadel and its allies to respond to threats, sharing of knowledge with leaders from both the Alliance and Citadel would be needlessly complex and risk exposing this platform without reason. We share this knowledge in an attempt to clarify the situation - an objective this platform cannot achieve on its own. We seek this knowledge for our own platform, for geth as a whole, and for the safety of the creators and other organics."

A pregnant silence followed, and lasted for nearly a whole minute before, as last time, it was Tevos who spoke. "Legion, the Council is...grateful that you chose to speak with us regarding the situation. You must understand that our interactions with geth have been limited to losing ships that attempt to cross the Adas-Kaddi Veil, and as such we are hesitant to deal with the geth in general."

"Yes. This was anticipated, and this unit understands."

"Still, the information you bring is appreciated. Thank you." Tevos nodded slightly before pausing to think. "The Council will deliberate to consider this new information. Ambassador Goyle, I trust the Alliance will not pursue unilateral action in Citadel space in the mean time?"

"I represent my superiors, Councilors. If they decide to pursue actions that remain within the bounds of amnesty provisions as outlined in the first rounds of contact negotiations, and you choose to define that as unilateral action, then I cannot promise you the Alliance will not. Of course, I and the rest of the Consulate will do our utmost to ensure the Council is provided with the most up-to-date information regarding the situation as possible."

"Mmm. That is, at least for now, acceptable," Sparatus replied. "Spectres, I will request that at least one of you remain on standby in light of this situation. Otherwise, you are dismissed. Ambassador Goyle, we will come to a decision by tonight; we hope to be able to have another round of discussions with you then."

"Very well. I'll contact my superiors and ensure they're brought up to speed."

"Thank you," Valern said. "We'll reconvene later tonight, then." The three Councilors left their podium a moment later, and Nihlus blinked a few times before Tela clapped him on the shoulder.

"Well, it's been quite the experience, but I'll take my leave now," Tela said. "Nihlus, I'm sure you'll be able to handle whatever comes your way with aplomb." Nihlus and the others watched as Tela briskly walked out of the hall; Saren sighed and rubbed at his fringe.

"Don't take it personally. Ah, sorry - we haven't met in person, have we," he said, turning to the Alliance's personnel. "Spectre Saren Arterius; Nihlus speaks highly of all of you, which is more than enough in my books." He clasped arms and shook hands with everyone, pausing at Jane and KN. "So, you're the Pilot who took down those terrorists during the contact negotiations, hm?"

"I am," Jane replied.

"That was some fine work," Saren said as he shook hands with Jane. "You and KN will have to give me lessons at some point. So, Nihlus, you up to handle this one?"

"Ah, don't try and hide it. Go on, get outta here," Nihlus said grumpily. "You and Tela can go have fun while I sit around on my ass waiting for orders." Nihlus watched Saren leave with a wave, and he turned to the others. "Nice to see you again, and, uh, hi, Legion."

"We return your greetings," Legion replied.

"Okay. Uh...right. Anyways, I guess it'd be easiest for me to work with you guys again," Nihlus continued.

"Do you have any idea as to what the Council will task you with?" Captain ED replied.

"No, but if I had to guess I imagine we'll be going on a scouting run of some sort - someone's gotta confirm what you've said, Legion."

"We look forward to co-operation and pursuit of shared goals."

"Me too, I guess."

"I'll return to the Gravitas, then," Haukea said. "Legion, you're with me."

"Jane, KN, if you're not otherwise occupied with duties, you two are free to join the rest of the Demeter's crew on shore leave," Captain ED noted. "Just keep your comms on in case something comes up. Anita, perhaps we ought to speak with our respective superiors in the Consulate and debrief?"

Jane and KN looked at Captain ED, then at Nihlus.

"Score," KN noted. "You up for playing tour guide, Nihlus?"