Chapter 6-
"Right, I'll meet you all at the C-sec academy. Neo, let's go." Ruby said as she went to follow the Asari, but she stopped.
"She only requested Commander Rose, not you." The Asari said bluntly.
"She's coming with me, problem with that then tell Tevos that I won't bother." Ruby said harshly to the Asari in front of her.
"Wait one moment." She said, pulling out her Omni-tool.
"Oh, and tell her if there's another surprise waiting for me, then I've got better things to do." Ruby added as well.
"Surprise?'" Neo asked in curiosity.
"I guess I never really explained too much about the person that birthed me." Ruby said. She only told Neo the woman's name and not much else, deciding not to.
"She'll meet with you now, if you please follow me." The Asari said as she inclined her head before going.
"What do you mean? I know her name is Summer Rose, an Admiral in the Alliance but I don't know anything else." Neo replied as the two-started walking.
"That much is true. You know how she dumped me with my father after choosing to continue her career in the Alliance, she was only a Captain at the time when she had me." Ruby answered.
"After the attack on the colony Qrow was one of the first soldiers on the ground and he found me, half scared with a pistol in my hand and glowing red. Took a while to calm me down but eventually he did, what I didn't know was that one of the ships in the QRF fleet was Summer's ship and I was taken there instead of Qrow's under her order. She attempted to talk to me, but I made it seem like I was panicking to make her leave." Ruby said as she smiled bashfully at the memory.
"I see. But what does this mean about Tevos and the whole surprise thing?" Neo asked as she tried to move Ruby along.
"Right. Remember after Akuze we were on the Citadel on forced leave and staying at an apartment here. On one of those days I said I had a meeting with the council about Akuze?" Ruby asked as they headed up some stairs.
"I do. I said I could go with you, but you said it was fine and that it was a load of crap." Neo replied as she remembered the event well.
"That wasn't the complete truth. I was asked into a meeting with the Asari councillor and well, I couldn't get out of it, but I didn't think anything of it at the time, but I was asked to go alone, sorry about that." Ruby explained.
"When I arrived, I was seen quickly but with the Asari councillor was Summer, in casual clothes as she sat on the councillor's desk." Ruby finished explaining as they got to a door with two guards outside.
"Wait, so Summer and Tevos are…" But before Neo could finish her statement the door opened, and a voice called them inside.
"Ruby, it's a pleasure to see you again though I wish the circumstances were better." Councillor Tevos said as she welcomed Ruby and Neo into her office.
"Councillor." Neo said carefully as she wasn't sure how to act entirely.
"Commander Gelato, I was told to expect you to arrive with Ruby." Tevos said.
"Yes well, where Ruby goes I go." Neo said strongly.
"I know that well. Which is why I'm guessing she has told you how I know Ruby." Tevos stated.
"I was just getting to that." Ruby said as she turned to look at Neo, "Summer somehow got to know Tevos at some point, didn't really care but when I was asked to see her I was ambushed with Tevos and Summer, who I had managed to avoid quite well to this point, but I found out that Summer and Tevos were engaged at the time, and later married." Ruby stated.
"Wait. Your birth mother is married to the Asari councillor. How don't I already know this?" Neo exclaimed rather loudly.
"Because it was quite rather quiet my dear as only a couple people even got invitations to the event which was held on Thessia." Tevos explained for Ruby.
"Wait. When we had, shore leave and Qrow said we could go to Thessia, you rejected it and we went to Elysium instead. I knew you were avoiding your mother, but was that really what was going on?" Neo asked.
"Yes, it was, it was rather fortunate we were there." Ruby said as she ignored what Neo was getting at with what she avoided.
"I'm guessing you're wondering why I called you here, other than the fact that I wanted to check on you that is." Tevos asked as she steered the topic away.
"If you wouldn't mind. Not like we've got a crazy traitorous Spectre running around with an army of Geth." Ruby said bluntly.
"Right, well it's about Matriarch Benezia." Tevos stated.
"If you're worried about my ability to bring her in or do what needs to be done, you are sorely mistaken." Ruby said harshly, annoyed at the comment.
"No, of course not. I understand that you won't let personal feelings get in the way of the mission. No, it's about her daughter." Tevos quickly said.
"Daughter?" Neo asked immediately.
"Yes, she has a daughter named Liara T'Soni, my goddaughter. They've become rather estranged over the years, but she is a leading expert on the Protheans and while she is the daughter to one of your…targets I believe she will be of use to you, especially considering the Beacon you have encountered, and I am sure that her mother will want her for the same reasons, but I am not sure of what state of mind she is in." Tevos said.
"What do the other two think?" Ruby asked, no one needed to be asked what she meant by that.
"They believe she is a part of Saren's plan and would like her apprehended and interrogated to discover where her mother is." Tevos answered honestly.
"Right, we'll make her a priority. Got a last known location?" Neo asked.
"The Artemis Tau cluster but I'm sorry that I don't know any more than that." Tevos answered.
"Right, thank you for the information. Is there anything else?" Ruby asked. But as an afterthought Ruby asked, "How's Nihlus?" She asked softly.
"He's stable but doesn't show any signs of waking up for the moment. And no, I wanted to make sure you were alright and pass this information on. And please keep Liara safe." Tevos answered softly.
"Right, well thank you councillor we should make our preparations for the upcoming mission. It was a pleasure Ma'am." Neo said as she inclined her head and started to head out alongside Ruby who did the same but simply didn't speak.
"And Ruby, be safe." Tevos said as they left.
"So, Summer and Tevos huh?" Neo asked as they headed out.
"Yeah, I know, was a little weird. When I met Benezia she put me into contact with Tevos and at the time I didn't know. She was the one that brought me to Thessia to meet the head Matriarchs." Ruby said.
"At ten? But why?" Neo asked.
"Because I could control Biotics without a chip as a human. But also because of how my eyes acted." Ruby replied, "Do you remember Akuze?" Ruby asked.
"Of course, I do, almost every night." Neo said softly.
"Sorry to bring it up. Do you remember when it attempted to attack you?" Ruby asked.
"Of course, you went all crazy with your biotics and it exploded before it even got close, your eyes were a little freaky though as they glowed brightly." Neo said as she remembered the event perfectly.
"Yeah well, apparently, there's some legend in Asari culture about someone who will be born with naturally silver eyes and will have almost unlimited power in pure strength and biotics will come naturally to this person. And supposedly they will protect the galaxy against this threat that is called Messorem in the Asari language." Ruby said, a slight infliction on her tone when she used the Asari word.
"What does that mean?" Neo asked.
"You know, I never thought to look it up." Ruby said as she laughed at the thought that she never bothered with it.
"Right of course you didn't." Neo said as she rolled her eyes at Ruby as she knew how forgetful Ruby could be at times. "Hey, is that Admiral Kahoku?" Neo asked as she spotted the man getting rather angry with a terminal.
"Yeah it is, he doesn't look very happy there admittedly." Ruby said as she spotted him. "Come on, let's go see him." Ruby said as she started walking over to him.
"Admiral." Ruby and Neo said as they saluted the man.
"Commander Gelato, Commander…Spectre Rose. It's a pleasure to see you again. It seems you have been doing well, all things considered." The Admiral said, as he returned the salute but moved to shake their hands.
"It's been a while since we've seen each other, I think it was shortly after Akuze where you led the recuse team." Neo said to the man.
"It has been quite a few years, but life is clearly treating you well after everything that has happened." The man said.
"We know, though I guess it's only picking up once more now." Ruby answered.
"Seems so, a rouge spectre if I'm correct." He stated.
"That's right, we've got an idea where to start but we'll get there. We always do." Neo said.
"Of course, you two are the best soldiers I've ever seen...listen, I know your busy and I have no right, but could I ask you a favour?" The Admiral asked.
"Of course, you can, I'm guessing it has to with your angry glares at the terminal there." Ruby asked, chuckling a little with Neo.
"Yes, it is, I've been trying to get a meeting with the council, but I've been unsuccessful so far." The Admiral stated.
"What is it?" Ruby asked.
"I sent a recon team into the Sparta system to investigate suspicious activity in the area, but we lost contact with them shortly afterwards. I've heard nothing from them and I've got no one else I can send. I'm looking to the council for aid but I'm struggling." The Admiral said, clearly tired with how he had gotten nowhere.
"It's alright Admiral, we'll find the missing marines and recover what we can. We promise, we know what it's like out there." Ruby said honestly, as she already made it a mission to find out what had happened.
"That's right, no man left behind Admiral." Neo said as she knew just how important this was to the two women.
"Thank you so much, please let me know what you find." The Admiral requested.
"Of course, we will be in touch soon." Ruby said, saluting once more before the pair left the Admiral.
"Back to the Normandy? It's been a long day and I'd like to just relax." Neo said.
"Let's go." Ruby said, and the pair started to head back to the docks.
"Should we send an update to Wrex, Garrus and Tali?" Neo asked.
"Let them know we're going after Saren and ask them if they want to get involved, we'll see what Roman has come up with." Ruby said as they headed into a taxi to take them to the docks.
"Wrex is up for it, something about a worthy fight. Garrus is interested because he'd like to get away from C-Sec and all the red tape. Tali wants to help us because of the Geth, she wants to find out why they've left the Veil and see if they're a threat to her people." Neo explained as they exited the taxi while scrolling through her messages.
"Well let's see what they want." Ruby stated, inclining her head towards Roman and Qrow.
"Commander's, we've talked about what to do about a ship. Captain Qrow has stepped down from command of the Normandy and the Alliance and Council have agreed for you to command the ship for your mission." Roman explained.
"Wait. Qrow, are you sure?" Neo asked immediately.
Qrow was about to answer but Roman cut in, "It's already been decided. I've forwarded all relevant intelligence to you already, so far the only lead is Liara T'Soni…" Roman started.
"We already know, we've spoken with the Asari Councillor. You'll get reports as and when you are deemed to have sufficient clearance." Ruby said as she effectively dismissed the man who only frowned but left them alone.
Once they were sure Roman was gone Ruby immediately turned to her uncle and said bluntly, "You've been shafted by them."
"I know, we all know that but not a lot we can do. To be honest I knew the Normandy would be my last command like this, they've just been finding a way to do it and now they have. I don't care, I've got people in my corner and I'm still a soldier. But you, you kid need to stop Saren. I wasn't able to before but now you can, don't make me lose the Normandy for nothing." Qrow said as an uncharacteristic display of affection he hugged the two women before heading to the elevator.
"Oh, and kid, you get a scratch on her I'll kick your ass." Qrow called out as the elevator closed.
"So, uh, did we just get a ship?" Neo asked.
"Yeah…yeah it seems so. Um, right. Would you like to contact the others and get them on-board? Oh, and have Garrus and Tali bring food for themselves, I'll reimburse them for it." Ruby said. "Right, uh, think Qrow left some booze in his quarters…our quarters?" Ruby asked smirking.
It took several hours to get everyone back onto the ship alongside their new guests to board and get settled alongside getting resupplied at the Citadel as best they can with new gear and armour.
Finally, after everything was prepared Ruby and Neo stood behind Joker as they were preparing to launch and make their way to the Artemis Tau cluster.
"Commander's, would you like to say a few words?" Joker asked.
Ruby thought for a minute and looked at Neo, the pair debating who would speak before finally deciding that Ruby would speak.
"Put me through to the ship." Ruby said and once she received a nod from Joker she started speaking. "This is Commander Rose, I know Captain Qrow's sudden departure was unexpected and perhaps unwelcomed by people, but the fact of the matter is that it's happened, and we need to move on." Ruby said.
"We've got an important mission, to hunt down and either apprehend or eliminate the rouge Spectre Saren. It's dangerous, I won't lie to you, but it is important that we do this. Not just to protect other human colonies but the Galaxy from him, who knows what he could do with an army of Geth at his command. We will stop him; I promise you this." Ruby said firmly.
"I'd like the ground team to report to the briefing room please, and could any member of the crew who hasn't had their medical done by Doctor Goodwitch, please see her as soon as possible." Ruby finished up as she nodded for Joker to cut the connection. "Take us out, Artemis Tau cluster please. I'll have a more precise location shortly." Ruby ordered.
"Commander, I like you informing crew to complete the medical though I have not seen you yet." Doctor Goodwitch said as she came up behind the two.
"I'll come and see you after I've briefed the ground team." Ruby said.
"I'll make sure she sees you doc." Neo answered with a smile.
"See that she does." The doctor said before leaving them to go back to the med bay.
"Right, briefing time." Ruby said, sighing at now being passed command of a ship but at least Neo was there with her to help.
"Go and see the Doc, I'll handle the briefing." Neo said as she stopped Ruby outside the door to the briefing room.
"It's alright, I'll see her afterwards." Ruby said but was blocked by Neo.
"No, go now. Sooner, you get it done, the faster we can work on finding Liara." Neo said and watched as Ruby just sighed as she moved away.
"Right, let's get right into it." Neo announced as she entered the room.
"Where's Commander Rose?" Williams asked.
"Medical, she needs her check-up." Neo answered fluidly. "Any other questions?" She asked but received head shakes in return.
"Right, as you know our mission is to hunt down and either capture or kill Saren. To do this, we're following any lead we can. Currently the only lead we've got is that Matriarch Benezia, who is in league with Saren, we have an idea where her daughter is and we're going to retrieve her." Neo said as she laid out their plan for the moment.
"Is the daughter working with Saren as well?" Kaiden asked.
"Not to our knowledge. We're going to retrieve her and go from there. If she is then we'll hand her over to C-sec. However, our intelligence suggests that she hasn't been in contact with her mother for several years, so we believe that she may be hunted by her mother or Saren." Neo answered easily.
"Right then, any ideas where she is?" Tali asked.
"Nope. Closest we've got is Artemis Tau cluster, but we should have something more definitive soon." Neo answered, "Is there any more questions?" Neo asked.
"Right then, a couple questions really. Combat experience?" Neo asked as she received various answer about everyone's experience.
"Now the last bit is, has anyone deployed in a Mako before or a suborbital drop?" Neo asked.
"I've done it when I was in the military." Garrus stated.
"I have." Wrex grumbled while Williams and Tali said that they hadn't.
"Right, part of our deployments will involve this type of deployment. I want you to be warned about it and make sure you will be alright with this." Neo explained to them all and receiving nods from them she dismissed them saying, "Right, you have free reign of the ship but within reason. As this is currently a Spectre vessel you'll be fine, any issues please see either Ruby or myself." Neo said as she dismissed them all with Williams and Kaiden saluting her.
"Right, how have you been sleeping?" Doctor Glynda Goodwitch asked as she sat back down with a clipboard.
"And this has relevance how?" Ruby asked sarcastically as she continued dressing.
"Because it's for your psychological profile." The doctor stated easily.
"I had one barely a month ago, use that." Ruby said as she wasn't happy with this turn around.
"I need a new one. All my reports on your health go straight to the council and they need an updated report." Doctor Goodwitch stated.
"Shit." Ruby mumbled as she realised what that meant because Summer would surely get these reports. "And how much I sleep matters how?" Ruby asked once more.
"It doesn't. Councillor Tevos has given me a list of questions regarding your health that she would like answered." Glynda explained.
"You realise what this is right?" Ruby asked as she finished dressing and stared down Glynda.
"It was a beautiful ceremony you know? You should have come to it. Your mother missed you dearly." Glynda said softly as she stared back.
"Don't. She's not my mother, never will be. I sleep just fine, you can tell Tevos to stick that list up Summer's ass." Ruby said angrily and made to leave but Glynda stopped her.
"I'll just ask Neo then, she'll tell me." Glynda said causally as she turned around.
Ruby stopped dead in her tracks, closing her eyes. Glynda knew what Neo thought of the situation with Summer. Also, the fact that Neo was pretty much unable to lie to the doctor about anything.
"I get a couple hours, three at the most whenever I try to sleep. Sometimes I take tablets to sleep though I take more than the prescribed dose to get a restful night when my body needs it. What other questions have you got?" Ruby asked softly, sounding purely defeated.
"Nightmares, do you still get them?" Glynda asked as she made note of what she was told.
"Every night I try to sleep without tablets." Ruby stated.
"What are they about?" Glynda pushed.
"Mindoir, Akuze, Elysium and Torfan. It varies but it's always one of those." Ruby answered.
"Anything in particular about them?" Glynda followed up.
"Sometimes watching the events play out, or maybe changing things that played out." Ruby answered softly once more.
"Ok, thank you Ruby." Glynda said softly as she put her hand on Ruby's arm softly for comfort.
"Is that all?" Ruby asked.
"Yes, thank you." Glynda said as she watched Ruby walk out of the medical bay as she typed up her report on what she had learnt.
Ruby headed straight towards her new shared quarters, she had plans on what she wanted to do between now and getting to wherever Liara was.
Bringing up her Omni-tool she pulls up the Artemis Tau cluster and did a systematic search of anything relating to the Protheans that and she discovered about a planet containing ruins and some further digging she found a request for permission to look into the ruins by Liara T'Soni.
"Joker, set a course for Therum in the Knossos system please." Ruby messaged Joker briefly before changing her search parameters.
Finding what she was looking for she uploaded it to her terminal and sat down in front of it to start reading what she had found.
It was about an hour later then the door opened, and Neo walked in, "What are you up to?" Neo asked as she leant against the back of Ruby's chair.
"Reading Liara T'Soni's scientific papers about her studies of the Protheans. It's rather interesting, she believes that there was a race that came before the Protheans and were wiped out in similar fashion to the Protheans but there's even less evidence of them existing." Ruby explained cheerfully as she looked up at Neo. "What about you?"
"I was making sure the crew were settling in and that the ground team were all set for gear. Which they are, I hear you've found where Liara is." Neo said.
"Yeah, she's on Therum as she requested for permission to search the ruins there. Plus, it's the only planet in the cluster that has Prothean ruins." Ruby explained.
"It's always entertaining watching you work things out." Neo said as she smiled warmly down at Ruby, their eyes meeting.
Ruby didn't reply as she just continued to look into Neo's eyes until they suddenly changed colour from brown to pink causing Ruby to giggle at seeing the silly face Neo was pulling as she changed her eyes.
"You've got to tell me how you do that." Ruby stated as she shook her head and looked back at the terminal.
"A magician never reveals her secrets." Neo said as she wicked towards Ruby before heading over to the bed.
"Damn you." Ruby said jokingly as she started reading another of Liara's papers.
"Come to bed Ruby, you haven't slept in quite a while and I'm lonely." Neo called out from the bed as she laid down on it, looking up at Ruby expectantly.
"I'm not tired, I want to read up on what Liara has actually written to try and understand her." Ruby answered.
"Why not read it on your Omni and let me cuddle you?" Neo asked sweetly, looking up pleadingly towards Ruby.
Ruby sighed as she opened her Omni and wandered over to the bed, stripping down to her underwear to join Neo in their bed.
"Thank you." Neo said softly as she wrapped her arms around Ruby while Ruby put one arm around Neo to bring her closer as she felt Neo settle against her.
Ruby sat there reading more of the research paper until she finally felt the lure of sleep from feeling Neo's soft breathing next to her.
Closing her Omni, she settled down next to Neo before finally giving in to the temptation of sleep as she unconsciously brought Neo closer to her.
Ruby opened her eyes to discover she was in the blackness of space once more, looking around she attempted to find out just where she was exactly, but she spotted someone familiar.
"Javier." Ruby said respectfully as she inclined her head to the Prothean woman.
"Ruby. That woman, the Asari you are going after she is rather smart, isn't she?" Javier asked as she referred to Liara.
"She is…wait, how do you know about her?" Ruby asked suspiciously.
"All of our kind are interconnected with pass lives, if you think of it we all know." Javier answered.
"So, if there are loads of you from each cycle then why are you the only one talking to me? Surely all their experiences would be helpful to know." Ruby asked.
"You are correct, but it was considered best that only one person, the one from the cycle before to communicate with the newest warrior so to not overwhelm them and I have all the knowledge of the past warriors." Javier answered calmly.
"Right. And we're called warriors, was everyone a warrior, a soldier?" Ruby asked as she was curious about the name.
"No. Some were great scientists, the one who created the Conduit was a silver eyed warrior." Javier explained.
"Wait, is that you?" Ruby asked sounding excited.
"Sadly not, I was a soldier. The war with the Reapers lasted over a hundred years and there were several warriors in that time." Javier answered.
"So, does that mean you know what the conduit is?" Ruby asked.
"It was a means to delay or stop the cycle completely however with this new vanguard you will need to fight to stop the cycle." Javier said, not revealing much about the Conduit.
"Right. Was there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?" Ruby asked as she was suddenly unsure why she was here again and annoyed at how unhelpful that answer was.
"I wanted to share something with you, it was one of my last battles before I died. I want you to see just how bad it is going to get." Javier explained to her.
"I'm ready." Ruby said as she stood up strongly.
"You are not ready for this." Javier said as she reached and grabbed Ruby.
She was thrown into the memory as she was standing beside Javier watching as the woman was wearing the same armour she had on now but with a type of particle rifle in her hands alongside a group of Protheans.
"Fire at anything that moves!" Javier yelled to her team as doors opened and bug like Protheans came charging towards them.
'What are they?' Ruby asked as the memory played out with Javier firing at the bugs.
'Corrupted Protheans, like the husks you fought before but Protheans. They are still around today, known as the Collectors." Javier explained.
'Wait. I thought they were a myth?' Ruby asked in surprise.
'No, they still exist and are still working with the Reapers now though they are in habitation for the moment.' Javier answered though the anger was clear in her voice.
'I see. So, the husks are corrupted humans, working for the Reapers?' Ruby asked.
'Yes. The point of this memory was to show you how anyone and everyone could turn against you, that is the power of the Reapers indoctrination.' Javier said as the memory ended.
They returned to the blackness of space around the pair as they were pulled away from the vision as Javier was preparing to launch a grenade into a large group.
"Was there anything else?" Ruby asked, already thinking about what she had learnt.
"For the moment there isn't, not yet." Javier said as she vanished from Ruby's view.
A/N
Another chapter down, also bonus points if you know what Messorem means, it's a Latin word and is the title of the sequel to this whenever I write it.
Not much to say really, just a sort of filler chapter with not much happening. Anyway until next time, thank you for reading.