Once everyone apart from Tali is accounted for, Jane starts the crew on the pre-flight checklist while she heads down to her cabin to check inside her cabinet. There she finds Tali bent over a table with a book on runes open with a finger resting on one of the runes, her other hand is carefully scribing the rune with a quill onto some parchment, joining several lines of nearly identical copies of the same rune.
Jane waits until she lifts her quill before saying "Tali!"
Tali jumps and jerks her quill down onto the paper as she pushes herself up, "Jane, don't do that."
"Sorry to interrupt your study session, but you're needed on deck as we're about to leave."
The quill clatters to the desk as Tali stands up, "Why didn't you send me a message?"
Jane just looks at her and then looks around, to which Tali sags slightly, "Oh right, expanded space."
"I'm just glad that you weren't in your cabinet."
"Oh?"
"Let's head up to command and I'll tell you on the way." – They both leave the cabinet and head up to command – "If someone knocks on the door outside, anyone who's name is in the ward book will hear the knocking. If you're not used to it, it can be very disorientating, so I'd rather we do it when I don't have to worry about leaving you behind."
"Thank you Jane."
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"Helm, set in a course to Knossos via the Artemis Tau Relay. Pressley, see what you can get me on the planet Therum. Ground crew, Garrus, and Wrex, meet me on the vehicle deck."
A chorus of "Yes captain!" came from the crew.
"Pressley, did you have time to run the stealth system test?"
"Yes, captain, however I wasn't sure whether to believe the report so we were scheduling a second test for tomorrow."
"What did the report say?"
"The engineer said that the ship disappeared sir."
"Ah, good then it worked perfectly. The calibrations?"
"Apart from a minor dip in our fuel supply consistent with the amount used in the test, everything came back identically."
"Inform engineering that I want them to monitor the eezo core whenever we use the stealth system. I want to know if and when it is affected. Tali, make a note that we need to check for Alliance upgrades in the fuel cells next time we're docked."
"Yes captain."
The two of them then head down to the vehicle deck where Kaiden, Ashley, Garrus, Wrex, and the Squad of Marines that are currently on rotation for their ship are waiting for them. There is also a Turian lounging in the old quartermaster area.
"Good evening everyone, I hope you enjoyed your shore leave. We are currently heading into the Artemis Tau cluster in order to rescue an Asari researcher. When we make landfall the Marines will be securing the ship, Wrex, Kaiden, Ashley you're squad 2. Garrus, Tali and I will be squad 1. On the wall over here is the portkey programmer, remember it as you will need to use it whenever we go groundside. This is your emergency evac.
"Finally, for those that are new to Systems Alliance vessels, doctrine says that there is to be no sleeping inside expanded spaces. To clarify, this means spaces like the cabinets that can be closed off. If we every have to do an emergency dive and you sleep through the warning. You. Will. Die. Whether of starvation or old age depends on the space your in and your ability to farm. Assuming a quick rescue that only takes 10 days for relief to arrive, under standard doctrine you would be trapped for 36 years, and I know that none of you are privates straight out of academy. If we have an asari on board, that 10 days will be 576 years for you inside."
Wrex grunts, "I get it, don't sleep inside an expanded space unless I want to be bored out of my skull for far too long."
Garrus nods, "It is understandable you would give the warning. I was given to understand this wasn't a Systems Alliance vessel."
"It was built by the Turians, Systems Alliance, and the IHA. The additions that the Systems Alliance provided are only accessible to those with the right training. This is because they can be dangerous to the user if not used correctly. Such as the warning I just gave you all, or the eezo core evaporating because nobody knows to keep an eye on it. The only thing it doesn't have that's standard on Systems Alliance ships is a Quarantine chamber where magicals can sleep without fear of contracting Prothean Syndrome and dying."
Williams asks, "What happens if you need to use the Mako?"
"Ah, good point." – Jane pulls out her portkey programmer – "Tali, could you look up how to configure a two-way portkey, as I think I can take the coordinates from an existing portkey with this."
Tali looks at her datapad for a few minutes, "Yes, it seems to be possible. You can also set an activation phrase or a timer."
"Right, we'll look up how to do that then. If I need you guys then I'll send one of the packing straps back with 'Squad 2 go' as the passphrase. As I can't think of any one that's going to have defenses against portkeys outside the Systems Alliance, it should be fine."
Wrex shakes his head, "What happened to just charging at the enemy?"
"Don't worry Wrex, I've commissioned a training cabinet for the ground crew to use, it will have a variety of situations built in. My favourite of which has to be playing a lone marine in the aliens film, armed only with a sword. While I remember, You and Garrus should prep for brief EVA if we can't land and you need to use a portkey to us. Doctrine in that case is to set the coordinates for geo-stationary orbit so that we know the ship is there. It's quite unpleasant being unable to breathe for 30 seconds, I have ordered Alliance issue Isolation Suits for both of you. If we do any missions on Alliance worlds, you'll need them or be left behind. We cannot risk killing 20% of the population just by turning up. Eden Prime and Shanaxi are both exceptions to this, though if you want to visit the other realms, you'll need those suits. I'd also recommend leaving your electronics behind as they will break while you're there."
"Is there anything else commander, or are you going to teach us to suckle at nipples as well?"
"If you don't already know how to do that, then there's no hope for you."
Wrex laughs.
"Well that's it before we get to the planet and have more information."
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Jane and Tali walk over to the merchant that's looking after the stores, who scrambles to get up.
"What can this humble purveyor of goods do for the captain of this fine vessel."
In Turian Jane replies, "You can cut the servile act, there's no way that is your true nature."
She laughs, "Well done Hunter, though it works well on humans… and occasionally Quarians too."
"Tali is my personal aide, and my apprentice."
"I see, I will inform my nest mate."
"Where is your nest mate, may I ask?"
"He is sleeping in the expanded space where we keep our stock. That way there's always one of us available."
"Ah! That is acceptable when we are docked. However, while we are travelling everyone should sleep outside the expanded spaces. You know of Dive Ships?"
"I have heard of them, I have yet to experience travelling on one."
"Suffice to say that if we have to perform an emergency dive, it would likely prove deadly for anyone in an expanded space. There is always a 20 minute window for people to get out, but sleeping people can just miss the alerts. If you are uncomfortable with hot bunking, see my aide or Lt Pressley to have a VIP cabin assigned to you. Be aware that as you are not part of the crew, you may be charged for the privilege."
"We will hot bunk. Just so as you are aware, we are only managing ships supplies for you. Weapons, Armours, and Luxury goods will need to be bought from ourselves. The ambassador felt that it would remove any temptation or issue with authorisation if we did that. We are of course providing receipts to the bursar for this service."
Jane nods, "Given the last quartermaster, I can't fault the reasoning. I hope to be making frequent trips into Alliance Space, as well as Turian Space. I'm sure that the Citadel will be a frequent stop given my rather public nature as a spectre."
"Yes, indeed. It is our hope that you will be berthing overnight at ports with a dock so that we can trade for more stock. This brings me to the subject of licences. The arms and armour manufacturers of the galaxy have legal protection to prevent merchants from buying and selling their products as new or refurbished. As you can probably imagine, the used weapon and armour market is somewhat, suspect. Limited licences are fairly cheap to come across, and the occasional merchant will sometimes have one for sale if they themselves have an unlimited licence. They get a percentage of the commission that the manufacturer takes every time we use that licence. Unlimited licences will allow you to appoint us to buy and sell items covered by that license on your behalf. You will also gain the commission that would have been paid to another. Though, to get those you will need to negotiate with the manufacturers or one of their factors yourself."
"That sounded confusing."
Tali shakes her head, "It was simple, they are only allowed to sell stock that they have licences for. If you want them to sell more things, you need to get them a licence for it. You can buy two types of license, the first is from the manufacturers and allows you to make the second."
Jane drops into immature English for a moment, "Right, so new licenses mean more types of shiny I can buy. Me like shinies, me buy more licenses."
The merchant looks at Tali, "Tell me that made sense to you."
Tali nods gravely, "Unfortunately it did. It's an immature way of speaking, but it does make sense even if it doesn't translate."
"Well, I can address that in the Commanders lessons."
Jane switches back to Turian, "Huh, lessons? Oh I forgot about those."
"Yes, and the first one will be about the importance of introducing yourself and asking for the conversation partners name in order to both gain a more personal relationship as well as allow you to find out if they are already known to you by reputation."
"My apologies Nest Mother, this Hunter meant no offence. May this Hunter enquire as to your name?"
The Merchant laughs, "I am no Nest Mother, I am a purveyor. Good attempt at buttering me up though. I am known as Aedinia Suldos, my nest mate is Septieus. Your language use was also that of an adolescent. I can see why I was asked to provide these lessons by the Ambassador."
"Why hasn't anyone commented on it before?"
"You were human, the fact you were speaking our language was enough. You are now Turian, it is no longer enough."
Jane droops, "Oh."
"On the positive side, choosing to wear a face mask at all times helps you, as it forces others to use body and language cues rather than crest and mandible cues when interacting with you."
Tali pats Jane on the head, "There, there, it will be all right."
Jane just pouts, using her body language to show it on top of her expression.
"You seem to be well versed in the English language for a Quarian."
"I have Systems Alliance citizenship, they have ways of teaching their citizens English in seconds. That includes all aspects of the language, including body and tone."
Jane slips back into English, "You're both ganging up on me now, so I'm going to go and do my reports."
Aedinia laughs, "Go and do your job, I will arrange with your aide when your lessons will be scheduled."
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A couple of days passed in a frantic bevy of activity, as Jane found her time completely filled with teaching Tali, learning from Aedinia, starting to learn Quarian – or Keelish as Tali insisted it was called, and dealing with being captain, while Pressley switched to sleeping during her shift, of the ship. To cap it all, Tali was sharing the bed with her because, in her words, 'There are not so many people in this room that we need to use the floor, besides we're both in suits so what are you worried about?' It was just before they were due to make it to the planet that Tali noticed something.
"Jane, this package is buzzing."
Frowning she summons it to the computer terminal and opens it. Inside there are two mirrors, one of which is buzzing, a letter, and a miniaturised cabinet. Touching the mirror, the face of Juvetana appears in the glass.
"Nest Mother, it is an unexpected pleasure to see and hear you.", Jane tries to use the inflections that an adult would use when addressing their nest mother.
"Jane, it is good to see you. Though the letter I received needed translating before I understood what this was. How are you?"
"I am doing well, the ambassador to the Citadel has assigned me a tutor to correct my knowledge of our culture and language."
Juvetana laughs, "Indeed, when I gave you that mark I thought it was merely symbolic. I was most surprised to get an exanet call asking me if I had given it to you and why. Who is that I can see moving around?"
Jane turns the mirror so that Tali can see into it properly, "Nest Mother, I would like to introduce you to my apprentice Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."
Tali nods her head with her fingers held to her clavicle, "Ship mother, may your berth be ever safe, and your engine never fail."
"I am sorry Tali, but I do not have a translator on my end. Jane, she looks like a fine nest mate for a Hunter such as yourself. Maybe you can even attract a male so that you can share eggs."
Jane blushes hotly, while Tali sounds confused as she replies in English, "I do not understand, we are merely sharing a large berth so that others are not disadvantaged."
"Thank you for that Tali, though my English is, I think they say rusty. Jane, you are very much the beacon of what the council is supposed to stand for. You're now straddling three cultures, will you be aiming for 4?"
"Mother!" Jane says in a scandalised voice.
"Captain to the bridge, planet approach in 30 minutes."
"Go make the Galaxy a safer place to live. And do pop by for a visit soon, your egg mother says she wants to introduce me to her clan."
Jane almost drops the mirror as Juvetana closes the call.
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Dear Jane,
Please find in this package, two mirrors and the training cabinet that you requested. One of the mirrors has been sent to your mother, the other has been sent by dive ship to your Turian mother. Please make good use of them.
Inside the cabinet is a gift for your apprentice from the Swords Mistress. She has also ensured that there is a program for practicing your katas against opponents. She wishes to see that you've made progress while you're away.
I'm afraid that we were unable to get the suits you asked for, though the Lumina (My apologies to your apprentice if the name is incorrect, it's what the translator gave me) has agreed to produce them for the stated upgrades and sponsorship, so please find some appropriate payment soon.
Regards
Archmagi Minerva
P.S. I'm now pregnant with Hogwarts so don't be surprised if I pay you a visit at some point.
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Jane stared with dismay at the image of the planet below them as it continually gained in resolution. She'd been hoping for a dust-ball or something similarly inhospitable, hell, even vacuum would be better than this. Where earth was blue and green, this was glowing red and brown. Looking at the files the brown was also disappearing quite rapidly.
Pressley's voice breaks her inspection, "This planet was used for mining by various less than legal human mining companies. The conditions were harsh but bareable. Around 20 years ago the whole planet became seismically active and the low lying land was inexorably consumed by magma flooding up from huge fissures. There's a note that the IHA suspects that someone was conducting some sort of illegal research underground and something went wrong. 5 years ago, one of the last remaining mining companies broke through into a cavern that contained a Prothean structure. Dr T'soni and a group of archaeologists arrived to investigate the find while the miners continued to work elsewhere. A couple of year ago the last of the miners cleared out leaving only archaeology crew desperately trying to understand and document the structure and equipment inside before the lava overtook the place.
"We are reading a massive amount of energy usage at this point here, so we're assuming that it's the most likely location for Dr T'Soni and her team. However, our reconnaissance drones can't find anywhere to put the Normandy down nearby. We have also detected a Geth ship in orbit, so we'd be hesitant to land without confirmation that any air defences have been dealt with. This area here looks like it was the landing point for haulers taking away ore for processing. There's too much debris to land there at the moment, but if you can clear the debris and any Geth defences, we can land there under cloak and have a fixed location for emergency recall."
Jane shakes her head, "This would be so much easier if we had a shuttle with a dive drive, but it wouldn't fit in the vehicle bay. OK, here's the plan, find a point on the back side of the planet. Actually, fuck it. Is there anywhere we can land? It doesn't need to be close. If so, have Joker touch down and program the portkey writers. The marines can secure the area while you drop us off with the Mako and return to that landing point. That's what we're doing, make it happen."
"Yes Captain."
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The plan went perfectly, right up until they got to the mine. The Geth ship dropped off a few reinforcements, but Tali assured Jane that they probably don't have many of the platforms they were dropping. Even if the 10 mile mining track was often only just wide enough for the mako to have all 8 wheels on the road at the same time, with a sheer cliff on one side and lava of an unknown depth lapping the shore on the other. It was clear that the location they'd been dropped used to be a mine until it became too dangerous to mine there. While clearing the landing point wasn't exactly a doddle, once they found the route over the hill into the compound. It was very much a case of routine clearance. The massive flood barriers that the miners fitted to buy time for an evacuation proved to be equally good at being shields against gunfire.
No, the problems started after they passed the ore pre-processing facility at the base of the mountain the mine was part of, shortly after that they came across a dead fall where there was only space for Humanoids to pass through. They port keyed in squad 2, before they entered the mining camp. Correction, before they entered the fortified mining camp. From there it was a slog moving from cover to cover up the switchback route up the mountain to the entrance to the mine. What should have been a fairly open mining camp was now a fortified nightmare, where the geth had brought up the barriers that were once protecting the processing facility from lava. These were now arrayed in a protective layout that would provide clear sight lines on anyone trying to make their way into the mine.
Tali looks towards Jane when a stream of curses come from her mouth, her Master is currently looking through the scope of a sniper rifle while Garrus is on the other side doing the same.
"What's going on?"
Garrus replies, "While the commander is being more colourful about it, the Geth have turned that into a nightmare to attack. Probably after reviewing the commanders defence of Elysium and her work on Eden Prime. Personally, I'm glad we've got squad 2 over there, otherwise I would be inclined to say it's a suicide mission."
Has he finishes the sentence, the Geth ship swoops down and drops a large Geth platform in the middle of the camp, and seconds later a second one back where the Mako is parked.
Jane snaps out, "Battlemaster Wrex, you have squad 2, protect the Mako. Tali, look after my gear and take out any stragglers while I'm gone. Garrus, remind me to introduce you to Sod and his laws, or as the Yanks call him, Murphy."
Tali and Garrus watch as Jane then releases all the maglocks on her gear allowing it to fall to the floor, along with her armour. Once she's only standing in her isolation suit, she takes a bronze sword out of her bag along with a pair of leather shoes, which she slips onto her feet. Finally, she pulls a bag out of the pouch.
"This is an order, do not follow me. This is Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, it completely blocks out the electromagnetic spectrum. These shoes are silenced so no one can hear me." With that she turns off her suits speakers and communicator.
They watch as she makes it to the edge of one of the barriers before throwing the bag into the centre of the compound, then a wave of darkness covers the area and she's gone. The only thing they can do is watch and listen to the slight sounds coming from the darkness. 15 minutes later Jane saunters out with only a few tears on her suit for whatever occurred in there. They both watch with varying levels of disbelief as she walks back to their cover, her sword held loosely in her hand.
"Ohh, I needed that. Thank you for watching my gear, it was much easier only needing to look after my suit. Damn, they managed to tag me I must be getting rusty. Tali, remind me to reinfect myself later."
Garrus recovers first, and with a growl says, "Commander, are you going to explain that?"
"Nope, the darkness should dissipate in a moment, then you can make your own judgements."
Indeed, shortly after Jane finishes getting her armour and equipment back on, Squad 2 comes back with the odd wound and marks on their armour from weapons fire. At the same time the darkness drops to reveal a swamp where there used to be a level camp, destroyed Geth Platforms litter the area. All showing wounds consistent with a sword.
Wrex whistles between his teeth as he views the scene, "I don't know how you were able to do this runt, but I'm impressed."
Jane sighs, "By having a teacher with thousands of years more experience that I do teaching me sword work until I was acceptable."
"Are the asari aware that your species can live so long?"
Jane laughs, "They are, though I would bet that most of them don't believe it. If I become an N8 I can expect a similar lifespan. I want your squad to hold the entrance while we clear a beach head in the mine. Once we have, pick someone to take the Mako back to the Normandy while the other two hold the tunnel. We'll all portkey back to the Normandy."
Wrex growls at that last statement. Kaiden, on the other hand, says "Permission to speak freely commander."
"Go ahead Lieutenant."
"Why have you suddenly placed Wrex in charge of the squad?"
"Wrex, how much battlefield experience do you have as part of a squad?"
Wrex looks thoughtful for a moment, "Around 300 years since I turned my back on Tuchanka. Too much to recall before that."
"Lieutenant, how much do you have?"
"I'll shut up now sir."
Wrex smiles, "I could ask why I'm not in charge Sheppard."
"Tell you what, I've got the training cabinet that I requisitioned, I'll set a solo benchmark time on my final test mission. If you can beat that, then you can be in charge."
Wrex scoffs as though it's a foregone conclusion.
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Jane leads her squad down through the mine, the occasional Geth seemingly more akin to sentries than a defensive force. When they get to the first shaft, they can see a shimmering blue forcefield at the end of a passageway that shows none of the wear of the tunnel that they've just come down. A wide gallery leads away from the shield with no lights or signs of being used recently visible.
Tali raises her omnitool and points it at the tunnel, "I think this was cut after they discovered the ruins, my scan says that the tool marks are coming from the wrong direction. The other tunnel appears to be a depleted seam of whatever they were mining here."
Garrus nods, "It makes sense, if they can get up and down inside the ruins, then it's better than getting in the way of the miners."
Jane just laughs, "It's an academic question guys, one you can ask the VIP once we get her back to the ship. For now, our only way is using the mine elevator. Unless you fancy walking potentially miles in the darkness just in case that tunnel leads where we want to go." Putting action to words she opens the elevator and walks in. Once the other two follow her, she presses the down button and the elevator descends quietly. The elevator passes multiple galleries, but Jane makes no attempt to stop it from descending until it reaches the bottom of the shaft. There they find a walled off alcove that looks like part of the ruin structure, but without a shield over it.
"I guess we keep going down then."
"Why down?" Garrus asks
"Simple, the miners found the place, it obviously wasn't here otherwise there would be computers and the like for the archaeologists. That means it must have been elsewhere. Given that miners don't dig new shafts unless they've already mostly mined out the current level, or they have more people than can mine at the current face. The fact this was a small, barely legal mine the first place would suggest that we need to keep going down until we come across the archaeologists equipment.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that? It was like 5 minutes reading on wikinet to learn that."
Tali shakes her head, "Maybe because we thought you'd seen something we hadn't."
"Look, Tali, sometimes the most intelligent things you can do is a few minutes reading before going into a situation."
"But I did hours of reading."
"Did you read about what or why?"
"I read up on how different species did mining."
"What's the most common mining drill?"
"They don't use drills, and the most common mining laser is the Hammer Industries MG1473, it's a modified Gardian point defence laser."
"How would that information help you to rescue our VIP." – Tali's head hangs – "Look Tali, you're an engineer first, scholar second. Even when I teach you to fight that will always be where you've come from. Take Garrus here, he comes from a law enforcement background. He's familiar with weapons and combat because of our society. But that's not the way he thinks, and it never will be. If we find out that Dr T'Soni is trapped behind a rockfall, then I'll be glad of your research. Don't try to be me, Garrus, or anyone other than yourself."
Garrus nods, "Jane's right, you're on this team because of your skills, not because you've got someone else's skills. It is telling that Squad 1 doesn't have any warriors apart from Sheppard, while our backup, Squad 2 does."
Jane smiles, "Come on, let's get moving. The Doctor isn't going to save herself. As a side note, I also allow my people to be a lot more informal than other military commanders would. It encourages people to actually tell me their ideas rather than just saying 'Yes Sir'. Oh, and when we've enchanted your bag to be bottomless, you'll be managing the Port Keys on missions."
"Jane!" Tali calls at Janes back before hurrying to catch up.
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As Jane predicted, a short distance away there's another lift that goes through a shaft in the floor, and another gallery leading off into the distance. As the lift drops into a natural cavern with more of the entrances with shields over them, Tali notes while tapping on her omnitool, "I think this mountain formed over the Prothean Ruins."
"It wouldn't surprise me, planets don't become tectonically active like this in 50,000 years. Even if weird illegal experiments were being done."
"Is that more knowledge from wikinet?"
"It is."
"How can I access it?"
Garrus nods, "I would like to know as well, as it sounds useful."
Jane is saved from answering by the control panel starting to spark, and the walkways put up around the ruins showing signs of damage from explosives. Carefully making their way down, jumping from walkway to walkway where necessary, their descent stops when a voice calls out "Hello!"
Turning they see a young asari suspended in a bubble of force behind the blue forcefield that covers the entrance to the ruin.
"Good some part of the day, I'm Commander Jane Sheppard. May I enquire as to who you are?"
"Jane Sheppard, that's an unusual Quarian name. I'm Dr Liara T'Soni."
Jane looks over at Tali, "See?"
Tali shakes her head, "But you don't even have the same number of fingers, let alone foot structure."
Liara sounds exasperated as she says, "Excuse me, but I'm rather stuck here."
Jane smiles brightly, "Yep, though that's not actually a problem. Before we come through the barrier, is there anything you want us to retrieve from this side?"
"But the Geth and the Krogen with them have been trying for days!"
"They don't have magical transportation, and if that fails, transfiguration"
"I have extensive notes on one of the computers, if you could retrieve the core it would save years of work."
"Tali, find the computer and grab the data. Garrus, go with her. I'll keep the High Ground. And Tali, no speculating on the other ways we could get the good doctor out until we're on the other side of the force field. Remember that Geth are digital life forms."
"Yes Jane." Tali says looking speculatively at the Mining laser.
While Tali and Garrus are making their way down, Jane heads back up slightly before lying down with an eezo sniper rifle that she uses a light cooling charm on. Sure enough, once they get low enough, the Geth are able to sense Tali and Garrus' presence and activate. ½ of them get taken out before they are a threat to either of her squadmates, the rest are an even split due to cover and the ongoing firefight.
With the Geth sentries taken care of, locating and extracting the data is easy. Tali also picks up the personal effects of the Archaeologists when she spots a row of lockers in a shack. Once they're back at the forcefield Jane grabs a piece of rubbish from floor and uses her portkey programmer on it before holding it out.
"Everyone touch this... Go Rescue!" As she says the activation phrase, the three of them disappear only to reappear behind Liara.
"No, no, no no, don't leave me here. Please, can you still hear me. Don't leave me."
"Don't worry Liara, we're behind you. Tali and Garrus are just getting their stomachs under control again."
"What, but how?"
"Magic. I had three or four things to try that would have left the structure intact before I needed to ask Tali."
While she's recovering, Tali walks over to the edge of the chamber and looks down, "Thought so. Dr T'Soni should be glad there weren't enough Geth here for them to be smart enough to get a clue."
"What do you mean?"
Liara calls behind her, "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm still stuck. That button over there should shut down this field."
Jane looks back at Liara, "Liara, what else will using that button do?"
"I don't know."
"Then why would we fiddle with unknown technology?"
"Because it's the controls that I used to activate the defences. I must have pushed a wrong button or something and activated this defence as well."
"Look asari are all natural biotics, aren't they?"
"We are."
"Do you have enough control to pull a pipe to you so that you're touching it, without killing yourself?"
"Uh, I think so."
"Good," – Jane programs the pipe into a portkey to land on the floor that Tali was just looking at – "pull this to you and once it's touching you say 'Out'"
Liara slowly pulls the bit of rubble towards her and, once she can feel it against her uniform, says "Out" in Thessian. There is a moment of disorientation as a hook pulls her navel and then spins her round rapidly. Then she's standing on a floor trying not to throw up.
Back in the area with the controls, Jane says to Tali, "What was it you were trying to say?"
"Only that there's at least one more level below us, and it's completely dark down there. So I don't think the shield activated. That means we could have used the mining laser to go through the floor of the cavern into the ruins down there."
"Why did you think it wouldn't be active?"
"It was just a guess, but many shields won't activate if there's something blocking the location they're suppose to be covering. So it stands to reason that if the cavern formed around the structure, then anywhere that the rock would have formed wouldn't have formed completely smoothly."
Garrus nods, "Makes sense. I wouldn't have thought of it though. What was it you were saying about Geth and intelligence."
Liara recovers her faculties enough to activate the mechanism, lifting the floor up to their level as Tali replies, "You have to know a little about the history of the Geth. When my people made them, they weren't supposed to be intelligent. Instead they were helper robots that made life easier by doing the mundane tasks that we hated doing. Cooking, Cleaning, Farming, that sort of thing. Because of this they were designed to be interconnected, able to share data to avoid trying to do the same task as another Geth. Over the years we made the programming more and more efficient so that they didn't need to refer to us for directions as often."
"That sounds like it was skiting close to the law."
"It was, but we weren't doing anything illegal as we weren't trying to make AI. But it's this interconnectedness that allowed them to reach the tipping point, as it acts as a collective unconsciousness that each unit can use to increase the amount of processing space for independent thought."
Their conversation is interrupted by the sound of a hand hitting glass as Liara slaps Jane, "You azure, what in goddess name was that?"
Jane replies coolly, "Port key, now if you don't mine we were getting some valuable intelligence about the Geth. Is there anything on this side of the barrier that you'd like to take with you?"
"What about the Geth and the Turian they have with them?"
Tali speaks up even as Garrus nods in agreement with Liara, "They were unable to make their way into this area before we arrived. Given that we have not opened a new way in, I do not feel that they are an imminent problem. Additionally, given that the Commander took out a large number of Geth, as well as a Goliath, with only a sword. I feel I am justified in trusting her to keep me safe."
Garrus sighs, "I had forgotten about that. Was that something that you learnt in N7?"
Jane shakes her head, "Goddess no. It's no secret I was selected for N8 training before I 'failed' one of the tests. Which I suspect now was a political move because someone put my name forward as a spectre candidate. Anyway, sword use was one of the things they started me on, and the instructor was impressed enough that she made sure I continued it during N7. That and creative uses of magical items, such as those two pranks."
Liara starts becoming frantic, "How are we going to get past the Geth and Krogen?"
Jane pulls out a silvery grey potion and holds it out to Liara, "Drink that, try not to taste it."
Liara drinks it down in one swallow and grimaces even as she feels herself calm down.
"Thinking more clearly now?"
"I am, but I'm feeling tingly all over."
Jane nods, "You're magic exposure is a little too high at the moment, so we're going to be here until you stop feeling tingly. Wrex, we have the VIP evac to the Normandy and Kaiden, tell Joker to warm up the engines. We'll be around half an hour or so.
"Now, Liara, is there anything from inside the structure that you want to take with us?"
"No, I don't believe so. Everything is built into the structure, it's why we were still here."
"Ok, Garrus, Tali, if you want to return to the Normandy feel free. I'll stick around until it's safe to return with Liara here."
Garrus nods and snaps his emergency port key.
"Well, as we're stuck here for a while I might as well get the uncomfortable talk out of the way now. What do you know about Systems Alliance Dive ships?"
Liara shakes her head, "Not a lot, only that we're not allowed passage on them."
"There's a reason for that, they will kill you. What we've discovered is that eezo relies on some very fundamental physical laws to be true in order to exist. As soon as those laws change it starts to unravel. In environmental concentrations above 5% aether eezo just will not exist. The tingling that you can feel is the eezo in your body reacting to the magic in the portkey and the potion you just used. After the tingling, you'll feel aches all over your body, then increasing levels of pain until you just die."
"That's, horrifying."
Jane nods, "The Normandy has a Mass Effect drive, so you will be safe during normal operations. However, like all Systems Alliance vessels it has an emergency dive system."
Liara shudders, "What happens if you use it?"
"Normally, you'd die. There is a setting that can be used where you'd survive, but it comes with massive complications for everyone. We have a way that we can save you, while also preventing the complications for the rest of the crew, but you will need to wear an isolation suit at all times while on board. You'll also need to keep the mask on you as well, though you can just carry it."
"This is starting to sound less and less pleasant."
"Good, it's serious business. We came to rescue you because you were already on the short list for Prothean experts and we need a Prothean expert to help translate a memory dump that was forced onto me by a beacon. We are also pursuing a rogue spectre who is searching for the conduit. Additionally, your mother is working with the same spectre. I would like you to come with us so that we have you on hand if we come across Prothean stuff we don't understand. However, we can also take you back to the Citadel and deal with latency if we have to."
"You think the spectre sent the Geth after me?"
"I do. Probably to capture you for your knowledge."
"I… probably wouldn't be safe on the Citadel, not if my mother is working with him. How about a Systems Alliance world?"
"He attacked Eden Prime 10 days ago with the Geth."
Liara collapses to the floor before the magic of the calming draft supresses her emotions again, "I, really have nowhere else safe to go."
Jane takes her faceplate off and says gently, "I am given to understand that your species can learn languages at a touch."
"We can."
"I want you to learn English, and then read and sign a magical contract. Before you continue, you need to know that magical contracts are very much literally binding. You cannot break the terms without incurring the penalties. The one I'm going to have you sign is about past loyalties, it does not impose any obligation in the future. If there is something that will cause the conditions to trigger, we can talk about it, and if it's acceptable add it as an exception in the contract. There's a whole bunch of paralyzed Salarians who can attest to that."
"I can do that."
"Then I give you permission to do what you need in order to learn English from me."
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Liara takes off a glove and reaches up to touch the Commander's cheek, as she does so everything becomes brighter as she says "Embrace Eternity". She knew what she was expecting, what adult asari didn't, as melding was part of the way they bonded with their parents. This was nothing like she expected, the whole thing was far vaster than even her mother, a matriarch nearly 800 years old. It was also, too, organised, and there were parts that just seem to disappear into nothing.
With a wrench she pulls herself away before she finds herself swallowed like an insignificant insect. As she comes back to reality she presses back into the wall behind her and stares at Jane even as tears fall from her eyes.
"It's ok, it's ok." Liara becomes aware of Janes voice along with the translation from the omnipresent aural device that she wears.
"What, how, you shouldn't, it can't be." Not even the magical calming draft could overcome her disquiet from the experience.
"Shh, shh, sleep now and we'll talk again when you wake up."
Liara finds herself falling asleep, where she dreams of sitting at a desk in a classroom with a human teacher teaching her to speak, read, and write using quills and pens.