Chapter 8: Knowledge Shared
Aboard the Normandy
Yang
Liara was impressed by how quickly Yang was picking up on controlling her biotics, as only after their session on Feros and a few hours aboard the Normandy, she was already able to perform the simple lift or pull ability with almost no worry. Liara did have to erect her own biotic barrier a couple of times, stopping any damage to the ship itself.
"That's enough for today." Liara said as she looked at the clearly fatigued human. "We'll get you some food and then you can rest. You'll need to be in peak condition if Shepard decides to bring you along for the next mission."
Choosing immediately to take a seat on the ground to begin her rest, Yang laid back on the metallic floor and looked at the ceiling. "Another planet right? Gods, I haven't even had time to read up on anything. I'm going in blind around every corner Liara."
"You'll have time. Once you've rested you could use a terminal to do some research." Liara suggested.
"You don't need to worry about that." Tali said, coming over and offering Yang her arm back. The prosthetic interlock back onto the connection point and Yang moved her fingers and clenched her fist tightly. "I messaged Shepard about getting her an omni-tool."
"Yes, that would work." Is all the Asari said.
"The sooner the better. I always hated homework, but I hate not knowing anything about where I am." She pushed herself to her feet and looked the arm over, before activating it and her remaining gauntlet. Tali made a noise and looked closer while Liara was examining them the same but appearing less interested. "Well you didn't mess with it, so thanks." Yang said, smiling and deactivating the weapons.
"I made a copy of the scan, I'll send that through to you… it's rather advanced considering you said people from your world hadn't made it to space yet." Tali commented.
"State of the art military tech." Yang boasted.
"While Tali is impressed with your tech, I find it more impressive that you've grasped biotics so quickly." Her eyes narrowed. "Are you sure you aren't lying to us?"
"I swear, I'm not lying about anything." Damn, I thought I was earning some trust here. She sighed and looked right at Liara. "Its similar to-"
"Shore teams to the comm room. Shepard wants to speak with you." Came an unfamiliar voice over the ships comm systems.
Yang watched as Garrus and Wrex made for the elevator, Liara and Tali headed over too, even the human that had been watching her practice. Screw it. "Hey Liara, should I come?"
Liara looked at Garrus who just shrugged. "Sure, you were with us on Feros, and if Shepard doesn't want you there then she can always tell you to leave."
"Sounds… encouraging." Yang answered, joining the four of them in the elevator. Wrex was a hulking being who took up a large area by himself. Garrus was tall, not nearly as tall as Wrex or as wide. Yang, Liara, and the human were similar in size while Tali easily took up the least room.
Following the group of aliens to the comm room, Yang found that most of the seats were already taken. Moving with Liara and Tali, Yang found herself the target of a familiar voice.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Maulden's sour voice spat.
Turning to look at him, Yang just flashed a smile before laying eyes upon Shepard. "Hey Shepard, is it alright if I take part in this meeting?"
The Commander looked to Yang and then to Maulden. "Separate sides of the room, no smart ass remarks." Shepard warned, then motioning for Yang to approach.
Oh, what have I done now? Though she was handed some small device and looked it over cautiously.
"Tali requested an omni-tool for your educational purposes." Shepard said plainly.
"Right, she mentioned that. Thanks." Yang said, going to Tali and handing it to her.
"I'll install this for you later." She whispered as the rest of Shepard's crew took their seats, the couple she hadn't yet met looking at her curiously.
"I just received a transmission from Admiral Hackett of the Alliance about an increase of Geth activity in the Armstrong Cluster. Drones have identified four Geth outposts and he wants us to take them out." Shepard said as she looked around. Yang heard Tali move a little and flicked her eyes to the Quarian.
Of course she'd be interested in the Geth.
"Did he mention what the Geth are after?" Ingersoll asked.
"Negative, it's all just speculation at this point. But given their assault on Eden Prime and encountering them on Feros, the Alliance is being cautious. Hackett wants us to take care of them before they make any moves against human colonies or if they are there gathering data, to erase them and the data they've gathered." Shepard explained.
"Sounds simple enough, so why did you bring us in here? Thought it would be a straightforward mission." A human male said.
"It would be, but we've also got to stay on Saren's tail. The council expressed concern about Geth reports of interest on Noveria, a research colony."
That seemed to answer the man's question as everyone came to an understanding on the problem. Forsake one for a while and let the other advance, but which one. It was clear that Shepard was at a crossroads, but Maulden had his eyes set on the Armstrong Cluster.
"If human colonies are in danger let's head there first. Besides, isn't Noveria outside of council space? Let the colony deal with that problem until we've dealt with ours."
Maulden's stance on the matter was echoed by the other female human and Wrex, who had some sort of hatred for the council. Something to probe him about later. Yang noted as she listened. Most were for going for both, but Shepard couldn't decide on where to go first.
As the voices began to rise, Yang called out. "Why don't we just take care of both at the same time?" Shepard looked at her with a tired expression while a few of the others glanced her way and shook their heads. "Did I say something stupid?"
"No, but the two systems are quite the distance away. It will take time and fuel for us to do both, not to mention we don't know what to expect and what squads would be best suited for each." Shepard answered, standing up and taking a step towards the centre.
"Shepard, you're a spectre now, the cost of fuel and repairs would go to the council. And since we know the Geth are working with Saren, who the council now wants, you could simply say we needed to investigate another lead." Garrus commented.
"So long as we get to fight something, I'll be happy." Wrex grunted, leaning back in a seat that Yang thought was far too small for his frame.
Shepard looked to Yang again and held her gaze for a moment. Yang stood tall, wondering if Shepard was actually considering what she'd said. Saving lives before they were in danger was something that Yang wanted to do, and if they could simply drop off one team then the other could… Shit, Shepard said the Geth were on four planets. That means… five with Noveria. Feeling a bit embarrassed since she wasn't used to calculating planets into her plans, Yang's stance shrunk a bit.
"We'll have Joker drop the primary team off on Noveria. Liara, Garrus, Wrex, Maulden and I will investigate Noveria while Lieutenant Alenko will command the remainder of the team on the Normandy. Alenko, you'll have the others at your disposal for dealing with the Geth on each of those planets. I want it done quickly so you can back us up if anything goes wrong on Noveria."
"Damn, I get to lead the ground team. Hope you lot don't mind following orders that come from the rear." Ingersoll said.
"Joker, set our course for Noveria and then plot a secondary jump into the Armstrong Cluster. The rest of you are dismissed. Get some rest and prepare. Yang, don't overheat your weapon this time." Shepard warned before leaving the room.
She has to try harder than that to embarrass me. Yang thought as the team slowly left. Throughout the meeting she had learned the names of two other humans, Kaidan and Ashley, with Kaidan being a similar rank to Maulden. She only hoped they didn't share a similar personality.
Yang went back with Tali since out of the few people she'd interacted with and given an opportunity to work on trust, Tali had succeeded and seemed to be more technically minded. She let the Quarian look over Ember Celica too so she would have some extra knowledge about Yang's equipment should it need repairs.
Shepard also came by to speak with her about getting some armour and what her preference would be. Yang was rather insistent that she didn't need any armour, that she preferred to have freer movement, though when Shepard mentioned that many planets don't have hospitable environments for humans to survive on and Tali backed her up, Yang changed her tune a little. If it was to save her life then she'd wear the armour and helmet, but she wouldn't cut her hair, that was still going too far for her. There were plenty of ways to tie it up, though Shepard voiced her doubt with such a mass of golden locks.
Tali suggested that Yang have a similar armour to Liara's since they were the same height and had similar builds. Light armour, far lighter than the one Shepard had originally made Yang wear back on Feros just a short time ago. Tali just finished up with examining Yang's bracelet when Shepard spoke again.
"Back on Feros, I want to thank you for saving Liara like you did."
"It wasn't a big deal, not the first time I stopped a potentially killing blow by putting myself in the way." She grinned, thinking back to her second encounter with Adam.
"You might not think it's a big deal, but that blast from the Armature should have killed you, Yang. I had that armour looked over, the shield system was fried." Shepherd's gaze hardened. "How did you survive that, I know Doctor Chakwas said you're built differently from the humans in this galaxy, but I still feel like that should have been the end of you."
Tali was listening to what Shepard was saying and turned to Yang with her eyes appearing to be faintly glowing beneath her purple visor.
"Built differently huh, I don't know if Chakwas was right, but if I have more efficient muscles and bones, then I'm an asset to the team." Yang responded with a chuckle. "But it wasn't that that saved me, and the shielding in the suit did help a bit." She looked at Tali and then around the engineering deck where they were standing. I wonder. "Do either of you have an aura?"
Shepard and Tali looked at one another with Yang only really being able to read Shepard's expression. Confusion was there, though it wasn't without a hint of curiosity.
"I'll take that as a no. On Remnant, humans, Faunus, even animals can have an aura. Though the creatures of Grimm don't have auras since they are soulless creatures. What saved me was my aura, something that all huntsmen and huntresses have unlocked and learned to control over years of practice. But not everyone is able to use it, some are just unable to activate it, be it a lack of strength or knowledge." Yang explained, noticing that Shepard was focusing on her completely. Interested? Good.
"So this aura is like a barrier, like the shielding in armour that protects the individual, or the shield generators that protect the ship from damage?" Tali inquired with Yang nodding.
"Exactly, those that have it can coat themselves, their weapons, even their armour with their aura. More practiced users can also only activate their aura on the part of the body that is going to be struck, but since that Geth thing was firing… whatever it fired at me, I activated my aura all around my body."
"You mentioned these Grimm being soulless, and for that reason they don't have auras?" Shepard was searching for some clarification, of which Yang happily gave.
"Aura is the manifestation of one's soul and can be used for a wide range of abilities such as defence, offence, healing, Dust usage, climate protection. That's why Grimm don't have an aura, they lack souls." Yang confirmed, glad she was able to share some of her world and knowledge with Shepard and Tali. She turned to Tali and spoke again. "There is a reason I think that the Geth might be alive, sentient, and have souls. My friend Penny, she was… I think a synthetic lifeform, like the Geth and she could generate her own aura just like me and my friends. Even though she was created in a lab, she was alive, innocent."
Tali didn't respond to Yang's words, but she did lower her head and took hold of the bottom of her visor where her chin would probably be. Shepard nodded along though, gaining a little more of an understanding of Yang. What she was and what she was capable of doing, surviving.
"Healing sounds helpful, to what degree does having an aura help with that?" Shepard's question caught Tali's attention too, fiercely so.
"It depends on the individual. Some people have more aura than others, some recharge the aura they lose faster. I have a friend called Jaune, he kind of sucks at fighting, but the amount of aura he has is insane." If only he knew how to use it more effectively though. Even with Jaune's use of his aura to boost others abilities, he still didn't know how else to use it.
"What is your healing factor like Yang? Could you survive a gunshot?" Shepard asked.
"Umm, maybe? I haven't been shot before, though I have been stabbed." She lifted up the alliance uniform top to show the two women the scar left from where Adam's blade had entered. "Happened maybe a bit over a year ago? Sword went right through." She turned, showing them the exit scar felt a little strange showing it to two people who were little more than strangers, but Yang knew it was a way to develop a relationship with them.
"And how long was it until you were back in fighting condition?" Shepard quickly followed up.
That question had Yang a little stumped so she thought about it. "Maybe, two weeks, three tops." Shepard's mouth opened while Tali said something that Yang didn't understand.
"Keelah."
"That's… incredible." Shepard eventually got out.
"That's nothing," Yang claimed. "My friend Weiss got impaled by a spear! She was back to fighting at full strength within minutes."
"Impossible," Shepard claimed.
"How?" Tali wanted to know.
"I mentioned my friend Jaune earlier right, the one that still can't fight well." Though compared to the normal human who would get shredded by a beowolf, he's incredible. "He used his aura to somehow boost Weiss' aura which affected her healing. We all thought she was done for, she would have been if not for Jaune." And that wasn't just being nice, without Weiss in that fight, things would have turned out much worse for Yang and her friends.
Both women were silent, Shepard with a look of disbelief and Tali, unreadable. Though Yang did try to watch her body language, to no avail. She waited for more questions to come, but Shepard said she needed to think some things over and prepare for their mission on Noveria, leaving Yang and Tali to their own devices.
And their choice of activity was to teach Yang how to use her omni-tool so she could go off on her own time and research the histories of the Milky Way. Tali still had many questions about Yang's aura and what capabilities she had with it, but Yang let her know that she could ask questions later, for now she wanted to focus on getting to know where she was. So, with Tali's curiosity unsated, Yang went back to the crew quarters and to her bunk bed.
She heard the announcement that they were arriving at Noveria but didn't stir, all of her focus was on the omni-tool and the videos or papers she was reading. She did at times have to go and find Tali after she got herself lost in the omni-tool's layout and menus, and after the third time she just decided to stay down in the engineering deck with Tali and Engineer Adams, both of whom suggested things that Yang should read and watch videos about.
Tali mentioned searching for information about the Geth, which filled in a few blanks that Yang hadn't heard Tali talk about. Adams suggested reading up on humanity in general if Yang really didn't know. Highlights she found were the two world wars, the First Contact War with the Turians when they were activating a relay, whatever that was. It was the First Contact War that held her attention more than humans fighting humans, the Great War on Remnant was similar enough to what these humans from Earth had been through.
Reading deeper and finding that Turian and humans had animosity between the two species wasn't surprising, humans and Faunus rarely got along on Remnant and they were far closer than Turians and humans. Xenophobia against humanity huh? Sounds like I might be treated more like a Faunus in Atlas in this galaxy. Her kind were the newest of the council races given an embassy on the Citadel, and a lot of the articles and videos revealed mistrust of humans, even Adams' confirmed them.
"Many of the other species see us humans as aggressive, a bad reputation to have being the new kids on the block," the engineer stated. "You should read up on the Batarians next, they took more than a slight offence when we started to colonise the Skyllian Verge." Adams gave a whistle, shaking his head after.
So that's exactly what she did, searching up Batarian and getting images and information. They were humanoid, though with four eyes, images showed them having sharp teeth too, and their noses. She found them very interesting though as she dove further into the information she began to understand why Adams said they took offence. Humanity had apparently started colonising in the same system as them, and when the Batarians called for the Council to interfere, they refused to do so. In response they closed their embassy and cut ties with the Council and the other species under the joint banner that was Citadel space.
Shortly after that, raids began on human colonies, butchering and enslaving the humans on those worlds. Yang felt sick, she recalled the brand on Adam Taurus' eye and wondered if the humans taken were given similar treatment, but she imagined it would be worse for them. She gave Adams a disgusted look with the man closing his eyes and grimacing.
"The Batarians are humanity's biggest threat in terms of expansion. Council won't step in and help us since it's on the fringes of Citadel space." Adams informed her.
Yang's knowledge and opinion of this galaxy was beginning to form, but she needed much, much more time to feel out this massive new place. Moving from the island of Patch to attend Beacon Academy in Vale had been a big change, a remote town to one of the four great cities of Remnant. From there she had been to many other places, Menagerie, Mistral, Atlas, and now she found herself here where humanity was disliked on many fronts.
She studied more, learning about the Citadel races, Asari, Turians, Salarians, humans, but there were so many more that she didn't know. The Hanar were like tall walking jellyfish, yet intelligent and capable of space travel. Elcor were massive four legged beings that were stated to have incredible strength, but moved rather slowly. The Drell who appeared reptile-like, with a key point being that their species had been rescued from their dying homeworld by none other than the Hanar. Kindness comes in all forms, this would have made Ruby happy. Yang thought as she continued on.
Another species similar to the Quarians in terms of them having to live in a suit was the Volus. Yang turned her attention to Tali for a moment who was busy doing something on a console. Short and round, Yang's first thought of them being physically incapable was proved correct, but they were good with trade and commerce.
Yang recalled seeing one of those Salarians on Feros though never got a chance to speak with him. They were the second species to find the Citadel and together with the Asari formed the Council. Salarians apparently had a reputation for being the scientists of the galaxy, even with how short lived they were which surprised Yang and made her feel pity for the much shorter lived species.
The Turians were known for their militaristic and disciplined culture, and served as the military might of the Citadel forces. I wonder if that's why Garrus was so good with his rifles. I should probably see if he'll teach me sometime. Yang knew she couldn't rely on Ember Celica forever, they could be damaged or destroyed, she needed another way to fight in this galaxy. Given a seat on the Council after defeating the Krogan… biological weapon… genophage? Catching her interest, Yang searched the extranet for Krogan history centered around the genophage.
Created by the Salarians and used by the Turians during what history referred to as the Krogan Rebellions, Yang found it hard to figure her feelings out regarding this matter. The Krogan had refused to withdraw from an Asari colony and the Council races were forced into a war against their previous saviours. I'll have to read the Rachni Wars too. Krogans could reproduce at insane speeds, with females laying up to a thousand eggs in a year. Could, being the keyword as the information on the genophage and the sharp decline and ultimate defeat of the Krogan. A thousand eggs a year? But Wrex is huge, how the hell would a single female be able to carry that many eggs? She wondered, considering that perhaps it was just the natural biology of another species, or that it was simply an exaggeration.
When she finally came across what the genophage actually did to the Krogan, she felt sickened. Their ability to repopulate was reduced to extreme measures, causing their defeat in the war and for more than a millenium continually helped with reducing their overall population, resulting in the Krogan species potential extinction in the near future.
"Hey, why the hell haven't the Salarians or Turians helped the Krogan repopulate?" Yang asked while looking from Adams to Tali. The two shared a look, but neither of them got to answer.
"We've arrived in the Vamshi system," Joker said over the comms. "Lieutenant Alenko wants everyone geared up in the cargo hold, you're getting dropped in the mako."
Yang sighed at being interrupted, and then again as she couldn't turn the omni-tool off. "Tali… help, please." She begged, hands together. This made the young Quarian laugh before teaching Yang how to turn the hologram off.
"People are scared of what the Krogan might do if they are able to grow at such a rate once again." Tali answered, walking towards the mako. "You better hurry and armour up, helmet too."
Meaning the planets here might not be livable for anyone… great. Yang suited up quickly, and begrudgingly tied her hair up and stuffed it in the helmet. Thankful it didn't annoy her or block her vision, so she went back to the cargo hold where everyone was to be gathering. She only really knew Tali so stood near her while the others checked out her armour. Unfortunately for Yang, it wasn't her style or colour mix, it was apparently the standard black and grey. Land somewhere civilised would you Shepard, I need some custom.