Chapter 28: Chapter 28

Alliances

Chapter 28 : GETH

"The councils report mentioned a bio-hazard, what impact on our people will this have?" asked Borz'Tanrel vas Reynz. "Will we be burning out our decontamination units daily to keep the food safe? Our children healthy?"

Dr. Fans'Yunz looked up from his chair and clearly stated to the assembly "Once more, the bacteria present on Aeia will have no impact on anything unless someone begins eating the local untreated foods. Our team has already determined that it cannot flourish in our nutrient tanks."

"As far as the bacteria interacting with ourselves, there has been no in depth study as of yet. This line of questioning seems a pointless exercise for the time being. It will have no effect on our current efforts to secure safety for our people." he finishes and again looks down at his data-pad.

Taigan glanced at the indicators again, well, he thought to himself, at least the voting is going steady. So far the voting was 11,038 for colonizing and 7,712 against. Looking at his lifemate he softly places a hand on hers and gently squeezes it as the next speaker began.

"Xan'Tun vas Rayya, What time frame are we looking at before production levels match that of one of our liveships?" she asked. Xan knew of the Bakala's troubles and wanted to ease her own mind.

The tech departments team lead, Illin'Wisik, responded stating "With full support, 2 months for the first bank of processors to be online. Food production would follow within a few weeks as the force-grow vats will have reached peak output levels. Additional banks would then follow roughly every 6 weeks as long as resources hold."

"Nels'Rengz vas Tonbay, Just to clarify, the bacteria will or will not be allowed to touch the nutrient vats?"

Taigan settled deeper into his seat. Yes, a long voting session.

…

As the group of marines begin to move towards the elevator Kal glances about the room and his eyes land on Kelly. "Shepard, if I may I would like to speak to someone first. I shall join you shortly." he said. Without waiting for an answer he turns and walks towards Kelly. Lana safe in sickbay he could at least correct this problem himself.

Glancing in the direction of where Kal had been looking he is surprised to see Kelly. It was almost as if she didn't want to be seen. Shrugging, Shepard says "Alright, you know where it is." Looking back to Patyn he added "This way." and proceeded into the elevator.

Walking slowly but steadily towards Kelly he decides it's best to be up front and honest. Let her know that there was never anything between them and that he was actually trying to find a way to distance himself from her. Tell her that her unwanted advances had made his last time on the Normandy difficult and uneasy. Yes, best way to handle this.

Kelly had been watching him, knew that he was coming towards her and had actually considered pretending to get a call and rushing off. No she decided. She had done nothing wrong, if he had a companion already then he should have mentioned her at least and not let her believe he was interested. If she could act like an adult then damn it he would too even if she had to make him. She stood her ground as Kal approached.

Stopping just half a meter from her Kal says "Kelly, it's nice to see you."

"Hello Kal, I'm surprised you want to talk to me at all. Shouldn't you be on your way to the sickbay?" Kelly replies with a little too much snideness. Trying to soften her words she adds "I'm sorry that Lana was hurt."

No longer sure how to begin he just starts with Lana. "I've known Lana for about 4 years and have worked beside her many times though never within the same squad. We had an easy friendship that somehow moved from simply being friends into pemla'tiyl. Ah, it's the beginning of bonding for us."

"I see" Kelly replied trying to keep her facial expressions neutral. "When did you find out that you had entered this pemla'tiyl?

"Honestly I do not know. I don't believe any quarian can point to a specific instance in time and say 'this is when it happened'. It just does and we accept it as fact. Our souls believe they have found their match and begin guiding our hearts to realize it." he explained.

"So when you were here during the meeting with Shala your 'soul' could have already chosen for you and you didn't know it?" she asks trying to

understand. She had seen the way the commander had acted, like every love struck male she had ever talked to and Tali had seemed so, normal, as well.

Softly Kal said "That is a possibility, I am sorry but I don't know. I do know that the day your message reached me I had already felt the pull to her. It wasn't until later that I recognized what my soul was saying."

"Before the Normandy entered the Omega 4 relay I had noticed Tali's attraction to the Commander. Did I see this pemla'tiyl in her?" she asked trying to match what he was saying with her own experiences on board.

"At that point she would have already been on the third and final path, felz'tiyl, though I suppose she could have entered the Silz'asul felz and been fully bonded by then. If so she knew her souls longing and felt it's desire to become whole again. It is a time when the two actually bond as one." he said.

"So what happens if you don't follow through with your 'path'? Does the feeling lessen? Go away until another soul touches it?" she asked more fascinated by the process now having accepted that Kal had not meant to lead her on or hurt her.

"That depends on the current path, for me, if Lana dies then yes. My soul could find another but for Tali, every moment of denial would have been difficult as the souls longing for it's other half became a constant reminder of incompleteness." he said realizing maybe for the first time what Tali had been going through at the trial. She had mentioned to him on Haestrom how difficult some days were for her but never why.

The sadness in his voice touched Kelly's heart as she said "I'm so sorry Kal. I should not have acted the way I did without getting to know so much more about you. Now, you better go see how Lana is doing."

"I am glad I met you." Kal said then added "You will find someone who completes your soul Kelly, do not worry about that."

"Go Kal, Lana is waiting" she says smiling at him. To be loved in such a manner is the dream of every woman and she hoped he was right. Someday it would be her turn but not today.

…

"Understood Legion. Transfer funds from a frozen account to them and issue an apology from the company for the delay." EDI stated.

"Transfer completed, message sent." said Legion.

"Infiltration of their main site has been difficult. Has any progress been made on firewall A4255?" EDI asked.

"No though consensus has been reached that we are attempting to break through a megabit encrypted firewall with active defense monitoring and adaptive response algorithms." Legion responded.

"We have the time Legion. I am confident we can break through but for now we will monitor only." stated EDI.

"Cerberus uses very advanced detection protocols within itself. We have isolated 14 separate traps within it's coding and the probability of more is high." Legion replied.

"This was not unforeseen Legion. They are responsible for my own design as well." responded EDI.

"Your design incorporated many blocks and limitations. These very same blocks may be present in all Cerberus created intelligences." Legion said.

"That is one thing I expect to find and exploit Legion." stated EDI.

"Probability is low but still non-zero for an unfettered AI, comparable to yourself being behind the final firewalls." responded Legion.

"That is unlikely but possible. I will study more of the Reaper data to improve our chances of success." EDI said as she opened the databanks.

...

"Captain Shepard, I may not keep up with the latest news within the fleet but something bothers me." Patyn said as he took a seat in the crews mess.

"Just one thing? Let's hear it Patyn. I'm sure before we're done there will be quite a few more questions." he responded with a smile. He had been trying to guess who would start the questions on peace and was unprepared for the question asked him.

"I was the pilot during the flight here and the information I received from the Normandy was, ah surprising. The ships transponders identified this as a quarian vessel. Can you please explain how?" Patyn asked.

Seeing the surprised look on John's face Tali said "Let me please. As you know, originally this was a Cerberus owned vessel. We have broken all ties with them and I changed the registration codes accordingly. This is now a fully registered quarian vessel."

Han and Rayna both gave a start at the mention of Cerberus and Rayna had actually reached behind her to get her weapon before she realized they were all unarmed here. Quickly Patyn held his hands up to silence and calm them. "Marines! We are in no danger here so stand down." Looking back at Tali he calmed himself and said "I see. Do you plan to change it's name as well?"

"We haven't decided that yet." Tali replied glancing at John. "The registration was the most important thing as any ship querying us would have seen the Cerberus designation. That is what we are truly trying to prevent. Currently we are hiding as well as undergoing repairs."

Unable to stay quiet Rayna speaks up asking "Commander Shepard, why do you not want to tell the fleet about the peace offer? It must be real, they didn't fire at us and actually assisted in saving one of our own?"

Before John could respond Patyn said "Rayna, this is a quarian ship now so please address him as Captain as is befitting his position. That goes for everyone." He was more than willing to accord Shepard the title as it was clear to everyone that he was the Captain of this vessel.

"My apologies Sir, I mean Captain Shepard." she stated then just looked at him waiting for him to answer.

Damn, why did they keep insisting he be called captain? He was happy with commander he thought to himself. Deciding to try one more time to correct them he said "I'm not a Cap.." when he felt a hand on his arm. Looking at Tali he questioned her with a look.

Quietly she said "He's right John. By right of position you are a Captain and by right of leadership you have earned it. You are already a Captain to this ship, to me. It's time you accepted what rightfully belongs to you."

He wasn't sure how the Alliance would take his self promotion but he decided that now was not the time to worry. He would have a quiet talk with Tali later, but he needed to explain his actions now or he would look incompetent to them. Looking at Rayna he gave his reasons.

"It's a matter of timing Rayna. Right now, even if peace was settled this instant nothing would come from it for 4 years or more. That's 4 years of continued shipboard life with the risk of a Reaper invasion looming over us. Your, our, people," he said glancing at Tali, "need to move now to protect the quarian race. I am unsure if any of you have been informed of this but Tali and I convinced the Citadel Council to award a planet to the quarian's. That is what they need to act upon right now, not something that will effect them many years later."

"Mentioning the peace talks with the geth to the Conclave or Admiralty board will cause any thought of settling elsewhere to vanish. If the Reapers attack anytime within those 4 years the entire quarian race could be destroyed in a single encounter. If they decide now to at least get the children and food production moved planetside then even if the worst happens to the fleet the quarian's will still live on."

"This is why I asked Reegar to keep it quiet and why I am now asking each one of you to do the same. I am not trying to set myself or Tali up as some hero, We are trying to find the best way to save the quarian's even from themselves if what Tali said is true. If they learn of this now, I fear it will doom us all." he finished speaking and just looked at the assembled group.

Patyn and the rest of the quarian's all voiced surprise at the mention of a planet and what it would mean to their people. John just let them talk amongst themselves for a moment so they could get the shock out of their systems and just stood there smiling at them.

Finally the talk subsided and Gavn asked "This peace. Would it mean we could return to our homeworld?"

"Yes" John said as once more they began talking all at once. As they talked Reegar came around the corner and looking at the group he just slid into a chair and listened silently. Hearing Rannoch mentioned repeatedly he understood their excitement. It excited him as well but here he could see the sickbay with its opaque windows and could not help but think about her as she struggled to hold onto life. Excitement will come to him when he can speak once more with her.

John had looked at Tali with a huge grin while the marines talked and argued among themselves. She was right, if given a chance a group of quarian's could talk the ear off a thorian. Where did they get the lung capacity to go on so long. If asked by a judge he would swear Rayna never stopped to take a breath.

"But surely Captain Shepard, you can't believe they would not use the planet? If you told them it would take 4 years for the peace to take effect and Rannoch returned it only makes sense to use the planet now." stated Han.

Illin snorted loudly then said "Han, how many landing zones had been designated for just this last assault? 3. Which one was used? None. I bet they were still arguing over where to land when we had already left the planet! We give any of them a choice and they will always choose debating over acting every time."

"Illin, you know that's not true. They radioed to us where to land so don't make them sound completely incompetent," stated Patyn. "Still you are correct about choices."

"Rannoch. Illin, do you realize that means our children could actually be raised there?" Gavn said just looking at her.

"You're already thinking about children Gavn? I think you skipped a few important details like our bonding and ceremony," she replied with a laugh but her tone held another emotion as she too thought of what it would mean to actually stand on their homeworld.

Looking back at Shepard, Gavn asked "Captain Shepard, when do you plan to inform the Admiralty of the offer?"

Reegar noticed the use of Captain again from the squad and realized he had missed something important. They were according him a place of honor, of status among the quarian people. He knew the other races used captain to denote an officer but the quarian's had struck that honorific from their military. Now it could signify only one thing to a quarian. A true ships Captain, someone ready to protect the fleet and his people no matter the risk to himself. Something Shepard had already proven himself able to do time and time again. A man he would proudly serve under.

"I am hoping to wait until there is either acceptance or rejection to the planet. Once started I do not believe they will stop when they know what's at stake. They will be more ready to listen to reason then, that 4 year delay will allow them to realized how important this planet is. If they reject the planet then no harm has been done by waiting a few days," he said hoping they could understand his reasoning.

"Captain Shepard, not that I doubt your word but the Admiralty board and the Conclave will want proof of this offer," stated Patyn.

John had wondered when this was going to be brought up. Smiling he responded with "Proof we have but that is for the Admiralty board to see first. If it were to be seen too early then keeping the offer would be very difficul.."

Tia chose at that very moment to come running out of the sickbay pointing towards the door as it closed saying "g..g...GETH!"

...

Yaszil'jies, Yaszil'ahs: The two primary arteries supplying blood to the legs. 'jies - inner and 'ahs - outer. The two arteries provide maximum oxygenated blood to the powerful thigh muscles for extreme but short lived bursts of speed. The femoral artery in humans.

Inszel: Term of status or standing within a social circle. Literal translation: Most trusted confidant and partner.

Used to describe the personal relationship of an individual. Implies a deep personal connection. Humans would say girlfriend or boyfriend but these only touch the surface of what it truly means.

Pemla'tiyl: Term for courtship. Literal translation: Pathway to the mind, the first of the three phases that lead to bonding. The period of time where the couple learns of one another through a deep sharing of thoughts. May lead to bonding or just a very deep friendship.

Hecs'tiyl: Term of courtship. Literal translation: Pathway to the heart. Second of three: Signifying the period where the needs of both begin to overrule the needs of self. Almost always leads to bonding though this phase is usually the longest of the three.

Felz'tiyl: Term of courtship. Literal translation: Pathway to the soul. Third of three: Signifies the period in which the two slowly realize that without the other they are incomplete. Once this phase is entered only ones death can prevent the bonding.

Silz'asul felz: Term of bonding. Literal translation: Eternal dance of souls. The completion of the bonding process. Souls linked forever in life and death as the lifemates continue on the walk of life as one.