Chapter 34
Sam took the cup and infused the hot water for her tea. Three hours had passed since 'Jack' arrived on board. Both commanders had vanished with her upstairs, probably to inform her about the whole situation. Sam had returned to Liara's office to continue her work on the translation. She and EDI had little success thus far. The idea to use the existing results of the cerberus scientists had accelerated the process. The matrix worked almost perfectly and had begun to transform a first part of the unknown signs. But now she was exhausted, the work had been complicated and she needed a break, so she left the office for some rest and looked out for the commanders to report. When she leaned onto the counter and took a deep sip and closed her eyes the silence didn't last long. A voice from behind her disturbed the peace.
"Hey sweetie..."
Sam turned and spotted Jack's face, grinning in amusement. The biotic had placed herself at the other side and leaned over the counter to support her head on her arms.
"So you're the new toy? You took Kelly's part..." the tattoo lady said.
Oh no..I'm NOT Kelly...
Sam's expression faded to anger, she dropped her cup. Everybody compared her to the old yeoman, that's was so sucking. She harrumphed once then answered. "No, I didn't take Kelly's part or role. I'm the comm specialist on board..."
But Jack interrupted before Sam could go on. "...and you're the new pastime for our great commanders, I know." she laughed and took an extensive look at the pissed specialist then said. "Well they have excellent taste...as usual... I just remembered that night in the bar on Omega with all those asari strippers..." she twisted her eyes.
asari strippers? Omega?
Jack shot her a conspiratorially smile." Yeah...that was a pretty cool night...6 asari and two commanders..."
"Aha..." Sam murmured then grasped her tea and went back to the office, she needed a distraction now, at her back she heard Jack laughing.
The shadow broker gave her a surprised look when she stepped in and went directly to the terminal without commenting.
Sam took a deep breath and thought about the statement. Of course, she doesn't have the right to be angry about their old stories and sex affairs, but the way Jack told it and calling her a 'toy' hurt her. She doesn't want to know about those former things. She knew about their reputation before she got involved with them and was aware of the fact that they were not 'angels' in this respect. But being compared with Kelly and remembering the question she actually wanted to ask a few hours ago upstairs, she felt sad and angry. What was she? Just a love toy? A distraction to have some nice time during the war? They said they never have let anyone come so close that evening.
She focused back on the display and checked the status when the door to her left opened again and Jennifer entered the room. She gave her a short glance then watched the dates of the progress.
"Hey baby, anything new?" Jennifer placed to her right.
"Not yet, commander." Sam responded businesslike, still focused on the display.
Jennifer's reaction at the cool answer was a frown. Before she could say anything, the door slid open again and Jane arrived, obviously in a good mood, she whistled along.
"You finished with Jack?" her sister said.
"Yeah... I told her she should keep her eyes open..." the redhead told as she went to to Sam's left to get a view of the display.
"Did you give her PTK?" Jennifer inquired.
"No, we'll do it ourselves..."
"Fine..." Jennifer said and smiled.
PTK? What is that?...
Sam hated the military slang, for everything the damn army had its own code. She knew some, the ones they learned in basic training but not many of the rest. In the lab they always talked like normal people, so she asked. "What does PTK mean?"
"Permission to kill..." Jane answered and laid a hand on the specialist's butt.
Oh no...
Sam shoved the hand away, remembering the 'love toy' and said. "Unfortunately you don't have a PTF or a PTT right now..."
Both looked at her with incomprehension then Jane questioned. "What's wrong baby?"
Liara got curious and turned, apparently this was more interesting than her monitors.
"How many 'love toys' have you had?" Sam asked, still in businesslike style. She was pissed and she needed to know.
"Oh that's an interesting question." the shadow broker commented with a broad smile.
Jane groaned and responded. "Not now and not here Samantha...We'll talk later..." she placed her hand on Sam's shoulder, squeezing it lightly.
"Li, keep focus on your work!" Jennifer shot to the nosy asari.
"Well it's not as exciting than this here..." Liara answered with a grin.
"We are not discussing it now!" Jane declared with a firm voice.
Sam still held her focus on the terminal when Jennifer said. "Did Jack tell you any shit? Forget it! It's nonsense." then she stroked the specialist's upper arm. "...baby?"
Sam turned and made a serious face. "We will talk about it!"
"Ya...but later..." the redhead sighed.
"Commander, we are reaching the meeting coordinates for the rendezvous with Urdnot Wrex." EDI reported.
Jane thought a moment then ordered. "EDI, inform Jack, Garrus and Braddock to meet in the conference room in ten minutes. Is the shuttle on its way?"
"Positive, Commander. One shuttle already started when we got in range to the primarc ship." The voice of the AI responded.
"Fine I'll go down..." she faced her sister then left.
Jennifer turned to Sam and whispered. "Baby we'll discuss this later upstairs..." then pointed to leave. "First we go and see what Wrex wants from us..."
…
The conference room was filled with Sam, Liara, Jack, Jennifer and short time later by Garrus accompanied by EDI and Braddock.
"Hey Vakarian, you alright? You look like shit, boy." Jack greeted the still stricken turian.
Chakwas had allowed him to leave the med-bay and he looked better now, but from his careful movements and his expression Sam could tell his wound was still limiting his actions, he won't go on mission so early again.
"Jack, charming as usual..." he shot back and laughed. "Good to see you...crazy girl.."
Then Miranda appeared in front of the door and held an offended face while addressing Jennifer. "What is this meeting about and why wasn't I informed?"
Oh how does she know?
"Juhhuu Cheerleader..." Jack shouted from the back and waved with a grin. "This is not for bitches...Only for cool staff." and twinkled twice.
"Shut up Jack!" Jennifer ordered.
The former cerberus officer shot an angry look to the grinning woman then she turned to the commander again. "Why is Jack participating and not myself?" she reproachfully asked.
"Because we decided that way!" was the grumpy answer from the black haired. Lawson held eye contact for 3 seconds then turned and left, apparently she accepted that answer and the tone of Jennifer's voice made clear, there was no room for discussion.
That will cause more trouble...
Jane arrived two minutes later, followed by a very angry krogan and an also visibly tense primarc. Wrex stepped like a berserker into the room and took a place around the table next to Sam, which made her nervous. The krogan was in a bad mood and she decided to switch and moved to another position. She went to Jennifer's right side, earning amused looks from everyone.
When the door closed and locked, Jane addressed the warloard: "So Wrex, just tell us what's wrong..."
"It's the damn dalatrasse... " impatiently the warrior started and made a fist. "She's sabotaging our efforts for the cure..."
"OK Wrex, calm down.. What exactly? You have Maelon for. .." Jane put him off.
"Let me explain..." the primarc took word and nodded to Wrex. "Maelon is dead. He did everything to finish the cure, but in the process we were attacked several times and unfortunately the last attempt succeeded."
Dead? Oh...
Sam thought of the poor salarian. When they got him from Halegeuse, Jennifer had lied about the circumstances and now he was dead. If they haven't forced him to leave his new life and identity, he would still be alive now.
"We couldn't tell that the assassins were STG agents but I'm really sure about it." the turian went on." The modus operandi was unmistakable..."
Wrex cut in and shouted. "'Of course they did it...That's not everything... They have blown up the shroud!"
"The shroud?" Jennifer asked.
What is the shroud?
Sam focused on the pad she had brought with her and checked the net for information on Tuchanka.
"We needed a possibility to share the cure on the whole planet at the same time, Wrex doesn't want vaccinations..."
"It takes too long! Every krogan must get it right now!" the warlord insisted and hit the table with his fist.
In the meantime, Sam had gathered information on that mysterious shroud. A kind of weather installation built by the salarians to regulate atmosphere and climate on the planet when they used the krogans for their own purposes.
"Maelon said they used that installation in the former times to infect the krogans secretively with the genophage..." Victus went on.
"Deceitful bastards..." the krogan commented.
"...and because of that we wanted to use it again for the cure, but 18 hours ago we received a message from Tuchanka that it was destroyed by a bomb..." the turian went on.
The redhead sighed and said. "So Wrex...you'll have to make due with those vaccinations..."
"No Shepard, that's not an option!" He barked immediately.
"There is another way..." the primarc told.
"What do you have in mind?" Liara took the floor for the first time. The asari quietly had listened to the conversation while operating her data pad the whole time. Jack, Garrus, EDI and Braddock remained silent.
"Well, there are some kind of special dropsondes, they could release the cure into the entire atmosphere...we just need to modify them..."
"So... and what's the problem?" Jennifer irritatedly inquired. She had crossed her arms and got more and more annoyed by the course of things.
"For this dimension they need special ones, the ordinary ones wont work..." Liara said and looked to the turian leader.
"That's right..." the primarc nodded."Unfortunately the research in this subject is mostly done by the salarians and we can't ask for their support."
Jane's eyes fixed onto the krogan warloard when she supported her arms on the table. "You seriously want us to attack another facility of the salarians? Wrex you must be kidding!"
"Shepard we can't do it!" the krogan directly answered.
"By now they suppose we did the assault on Sur Kesh...That already has caused enough diplomatic problems..." Jennifer added.
Oh really... I didn't know...
Sam wondered about the prudence of Jennifer, normally they would love to kick some salarian asses, no matter the consequences. If they refuse to do so, the trouble was serious, she should ask about that later.
Add it to the list Sammy...
Liara had checked her pad then finally said. "Perhaps there's another way...according to my information, we could find something similar on the black market..."
"What do you mean similar?" the redhead asked with a pissed face.
"The warheads the salarians used in the rachni wars to burn out the nests and huge dens could be modified ….They were designed to unleash a huge amount of nuclear radiation and neurotoxin..." Liara explained. "They are not used anymore, but some still exist and are traded on the black market at high prices."
"If we let them detonate in the atmosphere, we could share the cure across the whole planet..." the primarc muttered.
"EDI is that technically possible?" the redhead requested.
"Positive. According to my information on the constructions plans of the …."
"Ya ya...Fine." Jennifer remarked and stopped the statement of the AI. She was just like her sister angry and bugged about the whole case. "So go and get your warheads..." she started but then Victus stopped her enthusiasm.
"I can't do it as I'm officially the primarch of the turian hierarchy..." he explained.
That was true, Sam agreed. Illegal trading was no option for a high rank politican and the blacketeer won't deal with him anyway, so Wrex had to take the part.
All attention went to the krogan warlord, after a short break he declared. "Nobody is trading with me...anymore." he quietly said and dropped his head.
Jane gave him an evil glance. "Did you cheat your trading partneragain?"
"The price was outrageous" Wrex lifted his head. "...the guy was cheating me. I had to kill him..." the krogan defended himself.
"Oh crap!" the redhead cursed. "So we must go and get you the damn warheads..." she said with a angry voice.
"You asked for help and support for your home world..." the krogan just answered.
Silence filled the room, everybody waited for a decision from the commander. Both sisters exchanged looks then Jane growled. "Where...?"
"I'll check my network...but maybe on Omega..." the asari said.
….
After finishing the meeting, all except for Wrex and the commanders had left the room. They had insisted to 'talk' about the details in private and Sam was on her way to the cockpit to see Joker for a banter. She could gain more information on the past of her commanders from the flight lieutenant.
"Samantha? " EDI's voice sounded from the loudspeaker.
"Yes EDI..." Sam responded.
"I have to inform you that the matrix has successfully translated a minor part of the message."
"Oh great news, we'll meet in Liara's office..." Sam stopped and turned, she could gabble with Joker later.
"I'm already there..." The AI reminded her. "And I'll inform the commanders."
Sam hurried and when she arrived in the office, the asari was already standing in front of the terminal and shook her head.
"What is it?" Sam curiously asked, she was really anxious about the upcoming results, but the reaction from the asari didn't promise good news.
"Hmm..see for yourself..." Lira told and pointed to the display.
Sam read a few lines until Jane and Jennifer joined them.
"So what do we have?" the redhead directly asked. "Hopefully something good..." then both started to read the translation, too.
3456.13.987 G.C.
1. scholar Tetrod
We found the information, embedded in a kind of time capsule. First studies revealed an age of 65.000 timeunits. It contains directions and construction plans for a huge device. We couldn't specified the function, but supreme command believe it to be helpful against the harvesters. Time presses, our fleet is decimated by half, the enemy is overwhelming.
...end of line...
Everybody looked at each other then finally Jennifer said: "What the fuck is this...?"
Notes: It last some time but I hope you enjoy the chapter. The problem with the cure opens some new possibilities, perhaps a trip to a lawless space station, who knows ;). Thx to Scarletbones :)