Jane and Tali both portkey back to the Normandy, Liara slung over the Commanders shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Joker, take us to another planet in the system. We can't leave the system just yet."
As they walk to the captains quarters, Jane can hear the tell-tale hum of the eezo drive activating, allowing them to cover in minutes what would take months without it. Of course, in system it was dangerous to use FTL travel as there was too much debris large enough to ignore the shields. It was only a few minutes later that Jokers voice informed the crew that they were now in orbit around Zakros. As soon as she hears that, Jane takes Liara into her personal cabinet and puts her to bed, before pulling a strand of memory out of her head and pushing into Liara's forehead.
"That should deal with the language problem."
"Jane, I thought you said that it was illegal to do that."
"What I said is that it's illegal to use those caps for that purpose. That's why they've got the safeguards. It is also illegal to use legimancy on someone without their permission, or as an authorised part of your job. Same with obliviate. What I did is something that warrants an investigation under veritaserum, and if I'm found to have acted immorally then I would face far more severe charges than normal magicals. As an N8 I'm all but immune to that particular law, much like spectres are immune to a whole host of laws in citadel space.
"You can think about it like this, memory modification is a very precise and damaging career. Because of this it is heavily regulated, and only those who have the correct qualifications are allowed to do it as part of their jobs. One branch of healing that our magical healers can go into is all about going into peoples minds and helping them come to terms with trauma in their pasts. There is a branch of law enforcement that is allowed to use memory erasure, though they are now a specialist unit where in the 20th century they were a major part of magical law enforcement. They also do double duty with detecting memory modifications, and if Liara reported me would be the ones to examine her memories to see what I touched or damaged."
"Have you ever done that to me?"
"I swear on my life and magic that I have never read or altered your memories." A glow surrounds Jane as she completes the oath.
"You didn't need to do that."
"I did. If I didn't then there would always be that niggling doubt that I lied to you. Come on, lets let Liara sleep and we can set up the training cabinet in the captains quarters to see if it's safe for the crew to use."
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
As they enter the Training Cabinet, they find themselves in a small room with two doors, side by side, in the far wall. To the left is a table that runs the length of the room, and on the right is a stone bench. The whole place has been decorated in frescos that show people and aliens training with a variety of weapons. When Jane sees what's on the table she freezes and stumbles when Tali walks into her back.
"Go on Tali, I think that's for you."
Tali curiously goes over to the table and looks at the exquisitely crafted bronze sword that's sitting on a sheet of parchment. Despite having no ornamentation she can tell that it far exceeds anything she's ever seen that's made by hand, yet her omnitool can detect no tool marks. The parchment beneath it reads,
To Jane Sheppard's apprentice, this sword is for you even though you haven't earned it yet. Be sure to get your Master to train you as I will be testing you when we meet.
Swords Mistress of the Yewglisten Clan.
While Tali was examining the sword, Jane walks over to the doors. The one on the left reads 'Observation' while the one on the right has script in the Sidhe tongue.
What lies beyond this door is limited only by your imagination. Grasp the handle and will your dreams to be true.
"They didn't." she whispers before grasping the handle and thinking of the house her family lived in before her father took her away. As she turns the handle and opens the door she can tell just by the sound of aquarium that it's her home on the other side. Closing the door she takes a deep breath before asking for the control centre for the room.
This time she opens the door and pokes her head round. As soon as she sees the boulder of glowing green rock as tall as she is she slams the door and sags against it, hyperventilating.
"Jane, are you ok?" Tali asks with concern.
"Oh, yeah, fine. I've just discovered that they've put enough magicite in this thing to enact Mars Protocol on just about any planet."
"That's the one where they, oh my. Are you sure it's safe?"
Jane starts to laugh hysterically, much to Tali's distress. When she calms down she explains, "It's about as safe as a well shielded Nuke."
"Oh, well that's ok then." Tali says in a tone of voice that suggests the exact opposite.
"No, really, magicite powers its own protections. Take your own suit as an example, there's two fragments of magicite that would be enough to kill any natural born magical if they handle it with bare skin. Non-magicals would develop a magical body, assuming that it wasn't large enough to just evaporate them before they did. However, a fragment the size of the flakes in most of our equipment only radiates magic a few cm through air, and even less through other materials. Anything with even a little iron in it blocks the magic completely. I don't know if you've examined your new suit, but there's a very fine steel weave running through it. Enough to act as a magical faraday cage but not enough to add appreciable protection or stop spells from hitting you."
"Why not spells?"
"Consider radio waves compared to a laser or a lightning bolt. Something that can stop unfocused electromagnetic waves won't help much against focused waves."
"Changing the subject, what do those buttons between the doors do?"
"Put your hand on the handle and think about a room with the manual for this cabinet in it. While you're doing that, I'll move this to the corridor outside the sickbay."
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
It takes Jane nearly 2 hours to get Tali out of the room with the manual, apparently Minerva, Septima, and Bathsheba had worked on it together so it was highly technical, detailed, and had the math right there. Once she's persuaded Tali to continue researching the basics before diving into the really complicated stuff, Jane presses #10 for the hardest difficulty level. As she enters the door she sees a sign on the wall.
Everything that you need will be provided on the otherside of this door. Do not take anything you're not prepared to be destroyed. The only way out is to succeed or in a body bag ß.
When she turns to the left there's a door with a sign that reads "A Body Bag". Poking her head around the door she finds a comfortable sitting room with a bed against the far wall, on the ceiling is a sign that says "I'm sorry, you died. Better luck next time."
Shrugging she leaves and gets changed into civvies before sauntering back with her sword in her hand. This time walks through both doors on setting 10, with a few crew members following her into the cabinet, as the novelty of seeing the captain not only out of her suit but also carrying a sword is too much to ignore.
As she steps through the second door she's standing on a large asteroid underneath an atmospheric shield, above her is Mars hanging in the sky, a couple of settlements visible on the night side of the of the planet.
"Well, this isn't Aliens. What's this?"
The this in question was a bunker with a bulkhead door, on the left was a ledge that had a weapon harness and a pistol. On the right was a description of the premise. "You are a UNC Marine on Phobos for failing to follow orders… blah blah… interdimensional portal… blah blah… Fight your way through to get free… Oh and the ship the Heavy Marines came on is broke, don't bother. 100:1 time dilation starts as soon as you enter the bunker."
"Sweet, a new scenario, and a ranged weapon."
Jane lets her magic fill her for the first time since she first boarded the Normandy, but keeps it simmering just beneath the surface of her skin. Spreading out a faint mist around her she opens the door and leaves the pistol behind.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
For the people in the observation room, they got to see snippets of Jane's journey through the map, sword in hand and laughing like a dervish as she cuts her way through demons and zombies. Dancing around weapons fire like she knew where it was before it left the barrel. This is because every time someone opened the door, inside or out, the room returned to normal time. By the time she finishes shortly after an hour has passed, just about everyone except Tali, Liara, Joker and Lt Pressley have been in to watch.
A plaque with the title 'Solo lvl10' on the back wall of the observation room quietly records – Jane Sheppard 100% 3 Days 14 hours 32 minutes – Melee Only, No Armour.
As Jane walks to the exit there is a stampede out of the observation room to watch her leave. As she opens her own door, the grime, blood, and gore all vanish as she crosses the threshold, though the cuts and tears in her clothes don't repair themselves.
"Huh?" She says intelligently as she sees so many people around, "Aren't most of you supposed to be on Duty? I think I left something inside, I'd hate to have to discipline anyone that was found lollygagging on their watch."
When she comes back out most of the crew members have disappeared, however her way is blocked by Wrex.
"Wrex?"
"I watched you. For now you are more skilled at war, I will test you."
"Look, Wrex. Keep the macho shit for someone that cares. If you want to play, knock yourself out when we're not in FTL. There are different missions available, difficulty level is 1 to 10. 1 being the top button and 10 being the bottom. If you're going to skip everything else, I'd start at 6 and work your way up. Now unless you want a deathmatch in there, I want to get something to eat and drink while I luxuriate in my bath."
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
Liara wakes up in an unfairly comfortable bed to the sound of someone singing a song from the sound of music. Who ever it is has a beautiful singing voice for human. After failing to go back to sleep, she finally opens her eyes to see a very human bedroom with sunlight streaming through the window. Startled, she rolls out of bed to try and discern if there's any threats in the area. Not sensing anything, she readies her biotics as she makes her way out of the door into an on-suite bathroom. Turning around she sees another door behind where she rolled out of bed. Cursing herself for not looking, she pads over to that door. Opening that door leads to a hallway with the singing coming from a door further down. There is a set of stairs leading down on the other side of a flimsy wooden barrier.
Carefully making her way down the stairs, she comes to a main room where there is a Quarian sitting at a table containing a paper book. Involuntarily she gasps as she sees the wall sized bookshelf full of books just sitting there. The only other time she's seen any sort of books been in the Temple of Athame on Thessia during one of her childhood rites of passage. Those had been strictly off limits to anyone that wasn't part of the temple.
The Quarian turns around, "Good day, there is a kitchen over there if you want to do yourself something to eat, or you could head out to the Normandy through that door. Be aware that if you leave this cabinet, you will need myself or Commander Sheppard to let you in again."
"This isn't a fevered dream or kidnapping?"
"Most certainly not, you tried to get the English language from Commander Sheppard, I believe you are currently able to understand English as that is what we have been conversing in for the last few minutes."
"But how, her mind was so… vast and. I obviously succeeded in getting the language, but I swear I couldn't."
"The how's and why's are between you and Jane, I am merely her apprentice."
"I, thank you. I am Liara T'Soni."
"Well met Liara, I am Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."
"I'm just going to poke my head out of the door, and then find a refresher station."
"There should be one in the room you woke up in. The seat shaped thing lifts up to reveal the toilet. There should be a lever on the side to flush water when you've finished. The taps turn easily in one direction to turn them on."
"Water for a refresher?"
"It is apparently common on Systems Alliance ships. I looked at the one in the crew quarters, and chose to use the one in here."
"But your suit…"
"Transmits feelings directly to my skin, water is much preferable to the sting of ultrasonic jets of air."
"It's easy to forget just how good your people are at engineering."
"Thank you. If you don't mind I wish to return to my studies of Systems Alliance Engineering."
Liara looks at the book open on the table, "How is writing symbols engineering?"
"They are aether circuits, much like the circuits we use for computers and most of our own technology, these circuits do the same for aether."
"I heard that Systems Alliance technology was all but incomprehensible to council scientists."
"I confess that I am concentrating on these so much because I am uncomfortable with the ideas behind the freeform aspects of their technology. I am also still processing the revelation that souls actually exist. I would like to be able to take this back to the Flotilla as my pilgrimage gift."
"But still, I would have thought you would have been elbow deep in the bowels of the ship."
Tali waves a hand around indicating the room that they're standing in, "These cabinets are made using runes, there is a book on the shelves that's all about them. I could look at the contributions that the Turian and IHA have made to the ship, but that wouldn't help me understand possibly the thing that would have the most benefit to my people. Not only are they restricted to Systems Alliance citizens, they are also not digitised and by custom are not allowed to be. When I feel up to it, I'll even look at the books on Arithmancy. Though they always give me a migraine trying to fit the math they use into what I already know of math and physics. I tried using my omni tool to help with the math, and it crashed to the point I had to manually reboot it."
"I, I think I'm going to have a look outside that door now." Liara leaves the conversation before she develops another headache. At least her study of Prothean ruins is firmly rooted in science they understood, even if it was far in advance of their own.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
Liara was standing in the shower in the on-suite bathroom luxuriating in the gloriously hot water cascading over her skin. Something that she hadn't been able to indulge in since she last left Thessia. She turns her head when the door opens slightly to reveal an unfamiliar human.
"Sorry to barge in, you didn't answer when I knocked."
"I oh, um. Who are you?"
"Sorry, I'm Jane Sheppard. N7 and Council Spectre."
"You, look different to how I imagined."
Jane laughs, "I'm not wearing my suit."
"That would do it. Is it not problematic wearing the suit all the time?"
"Not at all, in fact I would go so far as to say being able to pretend to be a Quarian is often quite advantageous."
"Why would you say that?"
"Given the marvellous job the Citadel council has done in demonising the Quarian people for a mistake that any of them could have made. Exacerbated by laws that they themselves put in place for no apparent reason. The Quarian people are considered little more than roaming gypsies doing nothing other than sponging off the other species. Nothing could be further from the truth, as they are the pre-eminent engineers of council space with an understanding of physics and electronics that surpasses even the Salarians. However, that propaganda means that for the most part they go unnoticed through council space."
"But, everyone notices the Quarians."
"No, they see the suits. They don't see the people. They'll hurry them out of their stores, off their ships, and out of public places. Unless they need them. Even then, they tend not to engage in any sort of conversation. It's one of the reasons I've started learning Keelish from Tali. I don't want to be noticed if I'm not calling attention to myself."
"But why? Even I've heard of your exploits on Elysium."
"Precisely."
"What do you mean?"
"If I'm discretely trying to get information, having my face known by just about everyone that's had any contact with human media just gets in the way. Same as I bet you think I'm a member of the IHA."
"You're not?"
"Nope, I'm Turian and proud of it."
"But you're human."
"I am, however I was adopted by Nest Mother Juvetana before I left Mindor. This predates the formation of the IHA by a few years. So when I said that I would rather be sponsored by the Turians than the IHA, the Hierarchy seems to have jumped at the chance."
"But, how? That's not…"
"Your thinking in terms of species not nations. The Turian people are represented by the Hierarchy to the Citadel Council. However, the Hierarchy isn't all there is of the Turian people. I would imagine the same is true of all the other species. There's even a smattering of different Turian languages out there, but the most common is what everyone calls Turian. The actual name of the language more correctly translates as language of the people of the Hierarchy. Much English translates as Language of the angles if you go back to the roots of the language and the Anglo Saxon invasions. But that's by the by.
"The reason you woke up in my cabinet and not in the sickbay is that I need to ascertain two things before we go underway. The first is that you haven't been knowingly working for Saren, or your mother since she joined Saren. The second is whether you wish to stay on the ship with us or be dropped off on the Citadel, and we call you when we need help with Prothean stuff. Fair warning, we are going to be going after a lot of Prothean stuff since I got the contents of a beacon shoved in my brain."
"Why would you need to know if I want to stay on the ship?"
"Because you will need to wear an isolation suit due to the emergency dive drive on the ship. I can save you if you are, but you wouldn't survive long enough for me to save you if you weren't."
"What?"
"I have a book on the bookshelf that you can read, the short answer is that asari can't survive without eezo under normal circumstances. Eezo evaporates in the presence of sufficient environmental levels of magic as the physical laws that allow it to exist stop working. The emergency dive drive will take you into an environment that far exceeds those levels."
"But how do asari travel around your planets?"
"They don't, the first asari ambassador died shortly after leaving Shanaxi on a dive ship. The second was accompanied by a goddess and she was able to save them. The third," – Jane swallows and blinks back tears – "The third was saved from being enslaved by the arrival of my mothers ship at Mindor. She was a mercenary hired to guard a mine from nosy colonists not from batarian slavers. She was one of my instructors at Sandhurst. I know of another 4 asari that have undergone the same process. Though I couldn't tell you who they were. I'm technically not even supposed to tell you, as the details are classified. But you need all the facts before you can make an informed decision."
"Why do you seem to be insistent on me making a decision now?"
Jane sighs, "Because we don't have time to take you to Shanaxi where you can talk to people that have gone through it. We've received a report that the Geth were moving to attack a colony on Feros. As it's not a Systems Alliance planet, this is the only ship that can respond in a timely manner. I also want to corner your mother before she moves on from Noveria. But lives come first."
"Before I decide, I want to know why you can save me."
"When you get out of the shower and dressed, talk to Tali while I'm cooking and ask her about magical oaths and contracts. There should also be a book on the shelves you can look at too to corroborate what she tells you." Jane turns and leaves the on-suite leaving Liara to think as the hot water cascades off her crests and down her back.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
Jane is still cooking by the time Liara makes it downstairs and starts talking quietly to Tali about oaths and contracts. They pull down the book that Jane referenced and find it's about the Ecology of the different realms on the planets in the Sol system. Including a handy table in the first chapter showing aether density and time dilation. Near the back is a short section on alien races, and a page is dedicated to asari. Specifically about how unshielded travel to realm:16 allows them to survive long enough for their body to heal without eezo. It's quite grizzly reading and it makes it clear that if Liara ever feels pain across her whole body from aether exposure, her only chance of survival is to get to realm:16.
In her mind Liara tries very hard not to take the whole 'there's this environmental thing that will just straight out kill you because you're from a species that is naturally biotic' personally. She tries comparing it to eezo exposure for those who aren't biotic, where a little has very little effect, but a lot either leaves you biotic or dead.
When Jane comes out with two plates full of mouth-wateringly scented food, she looks at Tali apologetically, "I'm sorry Tali, but I don't have anything that's safe for you to eat yet."
"It's ok, I'm used to it."
Jane laughs humourlessly, "That's just it, you shouldn't be. It should be as easy to get suitable food for you as it is to get for turians." – Jane takes two scrolls and a black quill out of her pouch – "Liara, while you're eating, can you read over these two scrolls. You only need to sign one."
The tips of Liara's crests bunch together, much like a humans eyebrows would when they're confused, and her expression takes on a very human confused look. With one hand she unrolls one of the scrolls and reads it.
I the undersigned have never knowingly worked with the Ex-Spectre Saren, the Geth, or Matriarch Benezia since they started working towards the return of the Reapers or made contact with the spaceship that Saren is currently using.
If I willingly sign this despite knowing the above statement being false then I agree to forfeit all memory of Jane Sheppard and the ship and crew she travels with.
The second scroll reads more simply but with future implications.
I the undersigned promise to never knowingly communicate any of Jane Sheppard's secrets unless I am released from this contract by Jane Sheppard, her Apprentice, or an Arch-magi or other magical of similar or greater ability.
I agree that if I am close to breaking the above clause I will remember this contract in its entirety.
If the undersigned knowingly breaks the contract then their memory shall be forfeit.
"What are these?"
"Very basic magical contracts, non-magicals can't make binding magical oaths so contracts like this are commonly used. They also need to be signed using a blood quill, or in your own willingly spilt blood. I'd suggest the blood quill, it does the same thing without the wound."
"But, it can't do that."
"You're sitting in a magically expanded cabinet eating food cooked on a magical cooker after having a shower using conjured water, but this is where your disbelief kicks in? Fine, Tali could you pass me a scrap of parchment please?"
Tali grabs a sheet from the desk and passes it over to Jane, who scrawls 'I the undersigned agree that if I swear within 5 minutes of signing this contract I shall be turned pink for the five minutes after swearing.'
"There you go, sign that with the black quill, and swear."
Nonchalantly Liara signs the scrap of paper and then shakes her hand at the feeling of a scratch on the back of her hand,
"Ow, Azure that hurt." She swears in Thessian, then starts swearing a storm as her hand turns bright pink.
"You might want to calm down and wait for it to wear off in five minutes, otherwise it will just keep applying the pink until it's five minutes since you signed the contract." There is only a slight amount of humour in Jane's voice as she says that. However, Tali's shaking shoulders tell a different story.
Liara notes that five minutes seems to be just long enough to get the point across as she tries to finish her food without flinching every time she sees one of her hands. The very slight tingle she can feel goes away when the pink does.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
Liara shuffles in her chair in the communications room uncomfortably in her new suit while Commander Sheppard paces the floor in front of everyone. She's trying to keep her mind on the debriefing, but her mind keeps going back to the contract she signed to keep Janes secrets. As an asari, the biggest one being that she can read minds with only eye contact. The way that her thoughts betrayed her as Jane brought up memory after memory of the last year, not going into detail just enough to see if the Geth, her mother, or Saren were part of them. The most disturbing part of the whole process wasn't the past, it was the look at her accidental captivity and the details of what the Krogen had been saying to the Geth.
"Finally, Liara has agreed to accompany us on the Normandy. She will be accompanying squad 1 as a Prothean expert. Our next destination is going to be Feros where the Geth are attacking a colony. I would like to remind our non-Alliance crew members that sleeping in expanded spaces is against ship regulations. I'm also adding to that, using the training cabinet with the presets until we have ascertained which training settings do and don't have time dilation. On a side note, Wrex did you enjoy your jaunt into the cabinet?"
"Stupid giant horned demon that throws plasma." He grumbles
"So you enjoyed yourself then."
"Only got 15% completion."
"I'm sure that at our next stopover you'll be able to improve on that, and also watch some other poor sap not even come close. Also, try the other settings I think Tali's been drawing up a list of what they are."
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
Liara looks around her cramped quarters while stretching her arms as Joker's voice comes over the comm, "All hands, we are on final approach to Feros colony, last chance to see the Prothean spires on approach."
Quickly stowing the chair she hurries out to the viewing window by the pilots chairs and watches the interlinked towers come into view. She knows that any usable technology has been stripped from the towers hundreds of years ago, but it's still amazing to watch.
"It's certainly an interesting sight, I wonder why they put the colony in the tower rather than on the ground." Liara jumps at Janes voice behind her.
Once she's recovered she turns back to the window, "It's the dust. It's so thick that it clogs filters and lungs faster than they can be cleaned. It's why nobody has landed a colony here before, though there have been plenty of treasure hunts in the past. As a general rule, planets like this, they only have the treasures left that are behind locked doors. From the journals, that's what ExoGeni setup this colony for. To have a permanent presence that scientists can use as a home base while they make forays into the dust layer using sealed suits and equipment."
"You'll want to arm and armour yourself, if you have any that is. How's the suit?"
"Surprisingly comfortable, thank you. Though the helmet is a little cramped, that probably can't be avoided unless I custom order one though."
"Don't worry, I've got an asari suit on order, I just didn't expect to need one this quickly."
Jane walks off to get into her own suit and armour. Liara herself sends one last glance back at the pylons reaching into the sky before going to put on the armour that she bought with her signing on bonus.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
As the Normandy docks, Squad 1 is ready at the airlock, only Garrus is left without a quarian style isolation suit. As the pressure in the airlock equalises Jane activates the particulate analysis program on her omnitool. When the door opens she steps forward taking the lead before stopping abruptly as some of the scans turn red.
"Squad 1, back in the airlock. Dr Chakwas we need quarantine around the airlock for Garrus, and an air sample analysis. Sorry Garrus, there's something odd in the atmosphere beyond the dust particle. Until we know what it is it's isolation and EVA only.
"Marines, Squad 2, Isolation protocols, guard the approach to the Normandy. Nobody comes on without my express permission. Liara, you've just been promoted to a full member of Squad 1, don't you feel lucky."