Chapter 79. The Coming Storm


2158 CE, Freedom's Progress

"For the record, Lieutenant, I don't like this. Not one bit," their pilot muttered as he started the final approach on the snowy landing platform up ahead. Tali observed the entire process through a screen linked to an exterior camera and found herself agreeing. Despite this happening on her orders, Prazza had a point. She squinted behind her mask and tried to decide if the dots she was seeing on the screen were dirt on the camera lenses or people standing out in the open during a snowstorm. It was of little use. It already took a lot of imagination to see them as silhouettes. She simply figured that no one would be out in this kind of weather and concluded that it was dirt.

"All the more reason to keep your eyes open, Prazza," Reegar replied. Much like Tali, the quarian marine was observing their approach on the screens and trying to make sense of what little they could see in the snowstorm. "Did you get a signal yet?" Prazza shook his head. "Alright. Could it be interference from the storm?"

"Not when we're this close," Tali muttered. This was all wrong. They were an unannounced visitor flying straight towards a human colony and they hadn't gotten a reply or a warning to identify themselves yet. She was very quickly getting a very bad feeling about this entire ordeal. She pushed herself up from the seat and walked to the ladder that connected the pilot compartment to the rest of the ship. "Lieutenant, please ready your team. I think something's wrong here and we need to find out what it is," she said before climbing down. What could cause something like this? Even if the colony's communication equipment was broken, they'd at least see some activity or receive some sort of readings in response to their arrival. But there was nothing. That wouldn't be so strange if this was a Terminus backwater without any real authorities, but that wasn't the case. Freedom's Progress was an HSA colony. Humans were notorious for how seriously they took colonial security. It was in equal parts caused by their proximity to the Terminus Systems and the Attican Traverse and the raiders that thrived in those parts of the galaxy and the fact that their species had fought its most bloody civil war over this very issue not long before Tali had been born.

"On your feet marines," Reegar called form behind her and through the living quarters that doubled as the cargo storage of the old freighter. Instantly, the quarian soldiers shot to their feet and grabbed their weapons from the gun rack by the ramp. As they went through their mission-prep, Tali began to grow more nervous. Something had happened to Freedom's Progress; she could tell that much without even stepping of the ship. And whatever it was, there was a very high possibility that Veetor'Nara, the person her father had sent her here to collect, was caught up in it as well. Although she liked to think that her time running around with Reegar in the Terminus had made her braver than before, Tali felt her heart sink in her chest. If she couldn't bring Veetor back her father would-

She shook her head and stopped the anxiety trying to creep up on her by grabbing a shotgun from the weapon rack. It was heavy, yes, but knowing what the weapon would do with a single press of its trigger was exactly the confidence booster she needed right now. The last thing she needed was to appear uncertain, especially when it was her decision to charge into the unknown like this. She needed to own this, not just for herself, but for the marines she was putting into danger too.

"Ready when you are, Ma'am," Reegar informed her just as Prazza slid down the ladder and shared a nod with the other marine. While she didn't know a lot about either of them, she did have a feeling that the two of them went way back.

"Good. Let's find Veetor," she replied before pressing the button that opened the hatch of the freighter. Almost immediately a cloud of white blew into their faces. But after a few seconds of near snow-blindness, the visor of her environmental suit registered what was going on and picked the necessary filters to turn 'no visibility' into 'low visibility'. She took a breath and stepped onto the platform. After her, Reegar and the marines flooded out of the craft and took up positions. Obviously, they did a much better job at it than her. While they went through a practiced routine and didn't miss a single step in securing a perimeter, Tali simply stood on the platform, a shotgun clenched in her hands, and, contrary to everything she'd learned in the preparation for this mission or her pilgrimage, didn't move for cover. She simply looked around and took in their eerie surroundings.

Luckily for her, nothing happened until Reegar waved for her to join him by the crates he was crouched behind. As soon as she realized why he seemed so irritated, she snapped into action. In the event that someone was watching them through the scope of a rifle and pondering on whether or not to shoot, which was not all that unlike considering that they were landing without permission and showing up armed, he was trying to keep her head attached to the rest of her body.

After doing the smart thing of taking cover, Tali looked at the marine and when he peaked up to look around, so did she.

Unlike the other human colony she'd been on, which had been Eden Prime, this one didn't consist of enormous city centers and suburban neighborhoods that had grown over centuries of planned urbanization. It was far too small for that. It was simply a prefab city coated in a layer of thick snow that was only interrupted by the orange-glowing radiators placed on the paths that connected the buildings with each other and were fighting a losing battle against the rising snow. After she took in their immediate surroundings and spent a second pondering about how strange it was that almost all of the prefabs seemed to have their doors opened in this kind of weather, a chill went down her spine.

They weren't around anymore to close them.

It was the only explanation.

Tali swallowed and did what any quarian did best. Work with what they had. Since the radiators were still running and the snow hadn't piled up very high in the doorways of the prefabs, she figured that the colonists couldn't be gone for too long. With a blizzard like this, it wouldn't take more than an hour until the interiors of the small prefabs would be filled with knee-high snow. Since that wasn't the case, Tali concluded that there was a chance that whatever the reason for the ghost town she was looking at was, was still around. She clutched the gun tighter once she realized what that implied.

"Now I really don't want to be that guy," Prazza spoke through the squad intercom before sitting down and resting his back against the loading crane he was using for cover. He exhaled once, which Tali recognized by the way his chest moved, and then looked upwards for a second as if he was trying to see beyond the white carpet that covered the sky. Then he turned to her and Reegar. "But I really, really don't like this."

"You said that already, Prazza," Reegar muttered before rising to his feet. He stood out in the open for a second as if to test whether someone was around to shoot him. When that didn't happen, he jumped over the boxes and he took a few more steps forward. Still nothing happened. Apparently satisfied with his observations, he left the platform and walked to the closest building. Once there he waved for the rest of them to follow him. Tali and the other marines complied. When they reached him, Reegar gave her a small nudge with his elbow.

"What is it?" she asked before realizing that the lieutenant had briefly pulled her into a limited and otherwise muted squad intercom channel that excluded the rest of his fireteam.

"We're marines so we'll follow your orders. But I need you to be honest with me now before I send my team into the unknown like this," he said. "Do you have any idea how to find this pilgrim or why he's so important to the Fleet? Did your father tell you anything?"

"I-" Tali began before remembering her conversation with her father. As if he was standing right behind her and putting the words in her mouth or speaking through the speakers of her own suit, Tali's reply suddenly took a surprisingly authoritarian tone. "I told you everything we need to know, Lieutenant. Veetor's important to the Fleet and the admiralty needs him. Is that enough for you?"

Her father probably would've been proud. But Tali? Tali was just stunned that she could sound like that. While she was surprised by her own reply, Reegar seemed to process it. She felt his grip loosen on her arm, which she took as a good sign.

"Yes Ma'am," he nodded and continued in a calm tone. Normally Tali, like all quarians, was really good at placing emotions through the sound of a voice. But this time she couldn't do so. It was just pure stoicism. "No questions, just do and die. That's what marines are best at," he looked at the rest of his squad. If he'd taken it poorly, he wasn't letting it show. "So. How do we find Veetor?"

Tali opened her mouth just as engine roaring tore through the sky and three silhouettes passed over them. They were headed westbound, to the other end of the colony. She didn't even get a good glimpse at them, they were fast and the blizzard was very obstructive, but the noise alone was a dead give-away. She'd heard it a thousand times before on Eden Prime where she'd worked near a large military base.

They were human shuttles.

The newest Kodiak variant to be precise.

"I think we should start with wherever they are going," Tali said, back to her usual tone of voice.

Again Reegar nodded.


Two Minutes Later, 25. March 2417 AD, Freedom's Progress

"All squads, status update," Emily said through radio of her helmet as her own Kodiak's doors pulled open to reveal strong winds and snow-covered roofs. For this particular op, she'd levied the support of the Normandy's marine platoon in addition to the members of her own team. If they wanted to search an entire colony for evidence and survivors, she needed more boots on the ground than usual. Hence, five marine squads were dropping alongside them.

Once the craft was steadied and had lowered itself far enough, Emily jumped out and looked around. There was a lot of white but thanks to her HUD she could see their friendlies take up position in their vicinity, each occupying the highest vantage point they could find form where they'd first conduct reconnaissance and the start their search. One after another, all five squads, Alpha to Echo, started to reply. Meanwhile her own ground team was dropping.

With her were Lieutenant Callius, Garrus, Mordin and Jack. She had entrusted her fellow N7 Leng with the leadership of Alpha squad. She knew that he was an expert at commanding smaller human units in situations with next to no intel, so it only made sense that he'd be her XO on the ground and would start the search at the opposing end of Freedom's Progress main settlement. While she figured that Callius would be just as suited for the job, if not an even better one, the decision had ultimately fallen onto Leng because Emily figured that a human marine turned N7 had a better understanding of how to lead a human fire team than a turian who'd been in Black Watch longer than humans had even been around the galactic stage.

"Acknowledged," she said after the last of the squads reported that they were in position. "Start with recon and call in everything you think is out of the ordinary. Bravo and Charlie, you'll report to Alpha-Lead from here on out. Delta and Echo, you're with me."

Again she got brief acknowledgements. Then Emily finally returned her focus on her team. Callius, Garrus, Mordin and Jack had already taken up position on the corners of the roof and were looking at the settlement. Between the four of them it was the newest addition to their team that gave the first call-out.

"Ma'am, I think I've got a ship," the N7 spun on her heels and walked over to the young biotic.

"Where?" she asked before taking a knee. That had been fast.

"Two hundred meters out, by the central landing pad. You can barely see through a normal scope. But on thermal its engines are lit up like candles. I think it just landed. I marked it with my laser. Have a look."

Emily quickly flicked through the filters on the scope of her weapon and looked at where Jack's guidance laser was pointed. As soon as she reached the thermal imaging, bright red spot around the shape of an otherwise dark yellow ship showed up in her field of vision. Either they had just landed, which would explain why the minus fifty-degree blizzard they were standing hadn't cooled them down yet, or they were keeping the engines running to make a quick get-away. Both options were equally worthy of investigation.

"That's a ship alright. Good catch, Jack," Emily said before giving the lieutenant a pat on her shoulder after remembering what Huerta had told. The impression she'd gotten from her in the time between picking Lieutenant Nader up on the Lawrence and flying to Freedom's Progress as fast as Joker had made it possible was that all the young biotic really needed to make it somewhere big one day was a little push from someone she'd listen to. And if that someone was her, Emily would be damned if she didn't do it. God knew they'd need biotics like her when the reapers showed up and if she managed to shape her up into a decent officer along the way, well then that would be twice the win. After throwing a final look at the ship and seeing no immediate movement, Emily threw a glance behind her to the rest of her team.

"Anyone else got something?"

"Just empty buildings and our friendlies," Callius said first. She looked up from the scope of her sniper rifle, folded it up and switched to her Phaeton. Then she nodded, suggesting that she was ready to leave.

"Made similar observations as Lieutenand Callius," Mordin replied before rising to his feet as well, now standing taller than everyone besides Garrus. It was strange to see the doctor in his full black and orange STG armor and having him look ready for war like this. But that strangeness was probably Emily's fault for picturing him more as a traditional doctor and less as the elite salarian cover operative he used to be until recently. Realistically he had probably spent a lot more time int his get-up working missions like this than standing around clinics or labs in the coat he'd worn on the Normandy ever since they'd picked him up on Omega. He was after all an STG mission specialist who happened to be an omni-disciplinary genius and not an omni-disciplinary genius who's hobby happened to be going on covert operations whenever he felt like it. She was sure she'd process that eventually and get used to this sight if Mordin went on more ops with them.

"Garrus?"

"A lot of snow," Garrus muttered. "And probably a lot of ice crystals in my filters. But nothing interesting. Let's see who landed over there."

She nodded her agreement and radioed Leng.

"Alpha-Squad, be advised, we found something. We're moving east. There's a ship there. Report your progress up to now. Over."

"Alpha-Lead reads you loud and clear, Commander. I think we might have something over here too," Leng replied. "There's a bunker used to store demolition charges for mining just outside our perimeter. Looks like someone locked it form the inside. We'll try and crack it open alongside Bravo."

"Copy that. What about Charlie?" the N7 asked next.

"Charlie's setting up overwatch for Alpha and Bravo," the squad leader replied before returning to silence again.

"Copy. Delta?" Emily went on.

"Delta's got nothing yet, Ma'am. We'll move to the control hub now, see if we can get a read on the colony's drones. They must be around here somewhere."

"Copy. Echo?"

"We just entered the army barracks," despite being a very small colony, Freedom's Progress already had a small Colonial Watch, likely due to its proximity to a notorious pirate lane. "No sign of friendlies or fighting," the female sergeant on the other end replied. "But the weapon and armor racks are empty and someone tried to fire up Threat-Con Saber-One before leaving. Doesn't look like it got through though," Emily's eyes narrowed while Garrus opened the roof hatch of the prefab they were standing on. Saber-One was HSA military code for a hostile force breaching the atmospheric limit and landing on a human planet with the intention of an invasion. If the empty colony alone wasn't confirmation enough, that made it certain that Freedom's Progress had suffered the same fate as Cyrene.

That made the landed ship even more interesting. Not because she thought that they had taken the colonists. But because they might have witnesses.


Meanwhile, 2158 CE, Freedom's Progress

"Hold up. There it is again!" Prazza exclaimed as they marched through the interior of a living prefab. Instantly the quarian opened his omni-tool, put down his rifle on the table and sat down, ignoring the snow covered, half-eaten food in front of him. "See! I'm not crazy!" he insisted before lifting his omni-tool. While Reegar stared at it somewhat cluelessly, Tali instantly saw what the marine was talking about.

The interference of the storm and of another undefined obstacle that blocked up about ninety percent of the signal's strength made it hard to spot unless you were looking for it, but someone on Freedom's Progress was transmitting a looping message on a Migrant Fleet channel. The content was of course complete gibberish, ninety percent of a message missing tended to do that, but it was there nonetheless and given the near religious zeal with which quarians guarded their encryptions, it was highly unlikely that this was the doing of a non-quarian.

"It's Veetor," she muttered. "It has to be," she added more confidently.

"Where's it coming from?" Reegar asked before wiping away some snow that was collecting on the visor of his mask. Recognizing the source of the problem, one quarian marine quickly pulled the window that the snow was blowing through closed. Reegar nodded his thanks and looked at Prazza.

"Well," the sitting marine replied before looking at Reegar. "I was kind of hoping she'd figure that out."

Both marines looked at Tali.

"Me?"

"You're good with tech stuff, aren't you?" Prazza said. "Or at least that's what Lieutenant Reegar said."

She looked at the red-armored marine, he simply shrugged. "You are good with tech stuff, Ma'am," he insisted.

She considered the omni-tool display for another second and then opened her own to find the frequency for herself. Next she ran it through a set of signal scanners that were filtered by categories like distance, interference and encryption among other things. While none of those helped the gibberish make more sense, fine tuning each of these categories allowed her to get some more readings on the point of origin of the signal and possibly send a reply to determine if she was right. If she was, the signal should change. If not, well they probably had to go out into the storm again and hope that they'd be lucky and find Veetor somehow. But they weren't there yet. She adjusted the perimeters a bit more, landing on a location west of them in the same direction that the human shuttles had flown, and then looked for the strongest transmitter that she could find. It happened to be the comm tower of the colony. That was another perk of having worked on a human colony before and being bored half the time because of how quickly she'd finished the repair jobs she'd been given each day. She'd played around with comms a lot back then to try and find ways to access the extranet without her bosses knowing. Therefor getting through the encryption of the tower of this colony really was child's play. She sent the message, waited for a few seconds and then couldn't help but grin at the change she was noticing.

"I know where to go," she said quietly.

"What was that?" Prazza asked while turning his head.

"I said I know where to go," Tali repeated.

"That was quick," the marine observed before getting up.

"Told you she was good with tech stuff," Reegar said with a shrug before asking her to send them their new direction. She complied and the quarian team once more stepped outside into the storm. At this point it was honestly hard to tell if the weather was getting better or increasingly worse and Tali was simply thankful for the fact that quarian environmental suits had a lot of build-in heaters. As the indicator on her HUD showed, they were quickly reaching temperatures that went below what was universally considered 'arctic' conditions, which made her curious about why human settlers would pick a world like this. While they came from a rather cold planet, at least when compared to the nearly unanimously tropical or arid homes of the other space faring races of the galaxy, Freedom's Progress still seemed like an odd choice for human settlers. She'd been told that weather anomalies that were basically unheard of on Rannoch or the other humid and warm home worlds of the galaxy like harsh winters, large snowfalls and even large bodies of water just freezing over were disturbingly common during an Earth winter. And she also knew that they appreciated and even wished for by a large part of the population in combination with a certain religious holiday. But she still didn't think that anyone, not even humans, could consider a planet with this kind of weather as desirable, let alone worthy of colonization.

So why exactly had they chosen Freedom's Progress?

She shook her head.

It wasn't important right now.

What mattered was that they found Veetor and got off this colony, preferably before whoever the Kodiak's had dropped off found them and started to ask questions.


Meanwhile, 25. March 2417 AD, Freedom's Progress

"Looks like the hatch's locked, Ma'am," Jack offered after inspecting the dark-green metal hull of the ship. If one could even dare to call it that. To Emily's amateur eye, it looked more like a piece of junk someone had strapped engines to and forced to fly.

"Does it have an IFF tag?" she asked before moving into the shadow of the craft where they were shielded form the worst of the blizzard for as long as the wind didn't turn.

"Negative," Mordin muttered before the scanner of his omni-tool brushed over the exterior of the ship and then towards the ground. "Parts of snow on the platform show abnormalities in layer density. Depth compression faint, but noticeable. Suggests force exerted by exterior third party," he lowered his omni-tool and looked at them.

Just like Emily, they were dead silent because none of them

"You're trying to say that someone recently walked around here, aren't you?" Garrus figured after a few seconds of looking at the ground.

"Exactly," Mordin said before clapping his hands together. "Judging by differences in compression and distance between anomalous spots, I would assume six distinctive individuals. Shape of compressions suggest quarians. Surface may have recovered due to storm, but pressure points still there. Pursuit possible. Volunteer to lead formation," the salarian finished before drawing his submachine gun.

Well. That was probably the most scientific way to say 'guys I found some quarian footprints that we can follow' that Emily had ever heard.

But she'd take it.

"Lead the way, Mordin," she ordered before they fell in line behind the tall salarian who was splitting his focus between following the trail his omni-tool was high-lighting and scanning their immediate surroundings for anything that could be a threat to them.

"What are quarians doing here?" the biotic lieutenant wondered out loud.

"Probably the same they always do," Callius replied.

"Meaning?" the other turian on her team inquired.

"Scavenging and stealing."

"You don't like quarians, do you?" Garrus said.

"I don't like free loaders. It has nothing to do with the way they look or if they have to wear a suit or not."

"Some do street-crime. But they're not all like that."

"A C-SEC officer who defends quarians? Never thought I'd see the day."

"We are a dying breed," Garrus replied before both of them drifted into silence. After a few more minutes of following Mordin, which was filled with similar chatter because as things were, there wasn't a whole lot for the squad to do right now, Emily's attention was drawn by a radio transmission.

"Commander," Leng said. "We cracked open the bunker. But there might be a problem over here."

"What is it Alpha-Lead?"

"Remember how I said that this thing's supposed to hold demolition charges for mining?"

"I do."

She didn't like where this was going.

"Well. It's not," there it was. "Right now I'm looking at about a dozen deactivated geth. Some are damaged but at least half of these guys are just lacking their power core. I know it's not the Collectors, but I think you should still come and take a look."

Their formation immediately froze in place at that. For good reason too. All of them had made that experience before. Her mind raced and if not for the insectoid Seeker they'd found on Cyrene and Cerberus' intel on the collectors, she'd now start to wonder if the geth were after this attack on humanity too.

But 'luckily' Cyrene had already been abducted and they already knew who was doing this.

Still.

Geth on a human colony?

That was worth looking at.

"Echo. Divert from the barracks and secure the ship. Alpha-Lead, hold your position. We'll be over there right away."

"Echo-Lead copies."

"Alpha-Lead copies," Leng began and then he suddenly shouted, his radio still turned on. "Hey! Stop right there! I'll fucking shoot you, you hear me? I said stop! Good! Now lower your weapons!" there was a second of silence and then the N7 reported back in. "Commander, I've got a bunch of quarians too now. If I were you, I'd double-time it."

Yup.

That sounded like a good idea right about now.


Meanwhile, 2158 CE, Freedom's Progress

"Alright, easy, we'll lower our guns and you lower yours. And then we talk," Reegar offered while Tali hugged her shotgun, trying to overcome her surprise and speak up to explain the situation herself. But somehow the combination of a squad of armed humans, one of which wore the onyx-black armor of their special forces, and the rows of geth standing in the opened human bunker behind them was making it hard for her to snap out of it. Her mind was racing too much for that.

While the snowstorm made it hard to tell, a longer look at them left here certain. These platforms were similar to the ones she'd encountered before, the new kind that seemed to migrate out of the Perseus Veil and that she had hired Vega to track down for them.

"Okay. You first," the onyx-black armored soldier insisted with a shrug.

"Fine," Reegar said before complying. A second later, the marines did the same. Now there was just Tali and her mind was too occupied right now to comply. Luckily the soldier next to her understood what was happening and pushed the barrel down for her.

While the humans slowly held up their end of the deal, or at least the ones they could see did, Tali's mind kept jumping to places.

Why were the geth here?

And how had they managed to deactivate them like this?

Had this something to do with Veetor?

Was this why she was supposed to make sure he got off the planet in one piece?

Had he found out something about them?

"What are you want here?" the human in charged asked before nudging his head to the opened bunker. "And what the hell are your toys doing in there?"

"How should we know? It's your bunker," Reegar replied before addressing Tali through the isolated intercom again. "Is this why we need to find Veetor? Does he have something to do with the geth migration?"

She switched channels and responded.

"I don't know," she admitted before the N7 retorted.

"Yeah. But our colonies usually don't come with geth. Or quarians," the human said before knocking his fist against the shoulder pad of the soldier to his right. "Take your fireteam and search the bunker. Figure out how they got here. I'll handle these guys. If the geth do something funny, light 'em up."

"Yes, Sir," the soldier in grey-and black and snow-covered armor replied before he and three others broke off from the formation in front of them and walked to the bunker entrance. Tali's first instinct was to insist that they wanted to search the bunker themselves. After all there was a good chance that Veetor was inside. But something told her that provoking the humans like that wasn't a good idea. They were already on edge as things were, probably because the entire population of the colony was still no where to be found. If she pressed now, things might escalate further.

"So," the human went on. "Care to explain what the hell you are doing here?"

"We-" Tali began before hearing a distinctively quarian shout from within the bunker.

Oh no.

Tali turned her head and saw exactly what she'd feared.

"Move it!" another marine shouted before shoving a quarian out of the bunker. It had to be Veetor. "This one was hiding in the bunker, Sir. Looked like he built himself a makeshift surveillance system back there. He's got cameras all over the colony. Looks like a damn stalker den in there." The N7 looked at them. Tali could picture what he was thinking right now and it probably didn't look good for them.

"Explain," he demanded, looking at her probably because she'd opened her mouth just before Veetor had been found. She wanted to look to Reegar to handle this but deep down she knew that the lieutenant was just as lost as her. She tried to create a coherent story in her mind about how they didn't know Veetor and how they'd just happened to arrive in the system and noticed that something was wrong but she struggled with it. She wasn't a good liar and the fact that Veetor was resisting his human captors didn't help ease the pressure either.

"They took everyone! We have to leave! Now!" he suddenly shouted before trying to get to them despite the human marine pressing him against the wall of one of the prefabs.

"This bosh'tet will get us killed, won't he?"

"Not now, Prazza," Reegar growled.

"Why aren't you listen to me? We need to go!" Veetor shouted.

"Still waiting for an explanation," the human reinforced while Tali found herself overwhelmed by all the input she was getting.

"There's another squad setting up on the roof across from us, Lieutenant," another quarian chipped in. "What are we going to do?"

"Relax. We just need to-" Reegar began before everything went to shit.

"I said stop that!" a human marine shouted before Veetor shoved him back. In response, and probably due to his training, the marine smashed his rifle against the quarian's mask and cracked the glass. While a blow like that would've just knocked other people out, it could very well kill a quarian due to their compromised immune systems now being introduced to all kind of nasty alien germs.

Needlessly to say, Reegar's men reacted poorly with Prazza taking the prize for 'worst possible reaction'.

"What the fuck are you doing? You'll kill him!" Prazza shouted before taking a step forward. Instantly the N7 raised his rifle again.

"Stay back. I'm warning you," he demanded.

"Or what? You'll shoot me?" Prazza gloated before taking another step.

In response the N7 lifted his weapon.

She wanted to interrupt this, say something to make it stop.

But she couldn't seem to form a sentence with how fast things were happening.

"Yes," the N7 responded coldly. "That's exactly what I'll do."

"Not if I get you fir-"

"Stand down, Prazza!" Reegar suddenly roared before grabbing the marine by his arm and yanking on him hard enough to make him fall to the ground. "You're done! You hear me? You're fucking done! Stay. Down," he declared before letting go of the arm and stepping forward with his hands raised. "No one is shooting anyone, alright? Truth is, we don't know what this guy's doing here. We were just told to extract him. We don't know what happened to your colony, we don't know why there are geth here and we don't know why he put up all the cameras. We just know that he's going to need treatment now that you compromised his suit. Otherwise he's going to die."

The N7 paused for a moment as if he had spotted something behind them, which now that the storm was slowly dying down was actually possible again. He lowered his gun ever so slightly and, just a second later, entirely.

Tali wondered what was going on, but the new arrivals announced themselves before she turned around.

"What's going on here?" a female voice called. It was vaguely familiar, prompting Tali to turn her head around. And while it had been two years and they'd only met very briefly, she instantly made the connection.

After all, one tended to remember the people who saved their lives.

"Shepard?"


Meanwhile, 25. March 2417 AD, Freedom's Progress

"What's going on here?" she demanded as soon as she saw the stand-off Leng's squad and the quarians were locked in. Two of the latter were on the ground, one in front of his buddies and another, who was holding his mask, next to an Alpha-Squad marine.

She didn't know any details yet, but this situation needed defusing right away.

"Shepard?" the quarian asked as if she was familiar with her before Emily could say another word. The gears in her head started to spin but just as they made the connection, Garrus, who'd spent much longer by her bedside than her, said it out loud.

"Well. I'll be damned. Tali'Zorah," he remembered, prompting the young quarian to look at him instead.

"Detective Vakarian?"

"The one and only. Well if you exclude my dad. Or his dad. But enough of that," Garrus responded. "What are you doing here? What happened?" the turian asked before folding up his weapon.

"Familiar with each other?" Mordin said. He'd somehow managed to sneak up right to her side without making a sound.

"Yes. We met on the Citadel," Shepard explained. "Saren tried to have her killed because of some information she had," and a Section 13 specialist tried to leave her for dead too after getting it. But she'd omit that part for now.

"Trustworthy?"

"Yes. I think so."

"Understood."

After Mordin folded up his gun, so did Callius and Jack. Then the other marines and Leng followed. She turned to look at Tali while the quarians did the same thing. "Back to Garrus' question. What are you doing here, Tali?"

"We-" the quarian began with a stutter before catching herself. "We came here looking for Veetor over there. When we landed, we found your colony like this. I swear, we have no idea what happened her." she said before looking around.

"I know that you don't, Tali."

"Good," she nodded. "We walked around for a bit and then I managed to locate his signal, but your marines over there were faster than us. And when they found the bunker full of geth-" Shepard glanced at the platforms standing in perfect formation inside the opened bunker, "things kind of escalated."

"Alright," she nodded. "Kai?"

"Found a bunker full of geth while looking for signs of the Collectors. The quarians showed up. Guy over there," he said before pointing at the quarian with the marine, "tried to make a run for it after we found his stalker den. And this one," he went on while nodding at the one sitting on the floor, "was looking for a fight before his LT knocked some sense into him. Then you showed up. Situation's all cleared up now."

"Stalker den?"

"He apparently built himself a surveillance system for the colony. Don't ask me why. I've got no idea." Leng explained.

"And neither do we," Tali said.

Emily took a look at the bunker. Then at the quarian on the ground and saw that his mask had been cracked and quickly fixed with still glowing omni-gel.

"Come on," she said to Tali before walking over to him. When the young quarian hesitated, she repeated her inquiry with a wave of her hand. "Let's talk to him."

Tali nodded and followed her.

"What's his name again?"

"Veetor."

"Veetor, can you tell me what happened here?" Emily asked.

He looked at her but stayed silent. She got it, he was probably pretty pissed at humans right now.

"Veetor, my father sent me," Tali muttered next to her. "He told me to bring you back to the fleet."

"Admiral Zorah?" the quarian whispered. His speech was slurred. If she had to guess that was probably due to the dozen or so medicinal drugs that were being pumped into him right now due to the suit-rupture.

"Yes, exactly," Tali confirmed. Right. She'd forgotten all about who Tali's father was. "What were you doing here? What's with the cameras?"

Veetor glanced at Tali, then he nudged his head at Emily. "They are listening."

"They are on your side," Emily responded quickly, trying to get on his good side. If he had really built himself a surveillance system and managed to avoid being abducted, there was a chance that what little he could give her was already worthwhile. "Listen Veetor. Can you to tell me what happened to the colonists?"

Veetor hesitated for another second. After a reassuring nod from Tali however, he gave in.

"They took them," he spoke quietly. "All of them. I watched it happen from the bunker. Recorded everything."

"Why were you recording?"

He stayed silent. Then he suddenly grabbed Tali by the arm and pulled her down.

"We need to go before they come back!" he shouted. "They'll take us too!"

"No one's going to take you. You're safe now, Veetor," Tali responded.

"Safe? No one is safe! The swarm finds you! And then they take you!" he declared, bringing Emily back to Mordin's theory. "We need to leave. Now. If they come back-"

"You can leave soon enough, Veetor. As soon as you tell me about the attacks and the recordings," Shepard offered.

The quarian stayed silent again and then his head tipped forward as if he was in a trance. It meant nothing to Emily but Tali seemed to recognize something it as a bad sign. She opened a pouch on Veetor's suit and pulled out a small injector that she stuck into one of the ports on the gauntlet of the quarian. It seemed to give him a jolt.

"You'll hear about the attacks," Tali offered. "But not from him. Not now at least. We need to take Veetor back home. He's fine for the moment because he's swimming in immune boosters, but as soon as they stop working, he could die if he doesn't get treatment."

"I've got a doctor on my ship."

"I appreciate the offer, but he needs a quarian doctor. Everyone else would just make things even worse. I'm sorry Shepard, but we have to go."

"Tali, an entire colony just went missing. We need to understand what happened here," Emily countered. She really didn't want to say 'I can't let you leave like this' but if the situation shaped up in a way where she had to, she would. She didn't want Veetor to die, but she also needed to hear what he had to say about the attacks. There had to be a middle-ground here. She saw the grey box on his belt and snapped into action.

"Can you give me his omni? And the recordings?" she asked after remembering what Leng had said about the surveillance room. The quarian seemed unsure of how to reply, so Emily tried to give her another push in the right direction. "This isn't the first time this has happened, Tali. This has been going on for nearly two years. They've taken countless of humans and he's the first witness we have. Please. I need something. Even if it's just his omni. Otherwise I won't be able to stop this from happening again and again."

"I understand," Tali said before she pressed a button on Veetor's wrist and opened up an orange interface, Veetor's omni-tool. She typed something in and Emily suddenly found herself with full access to the surveillance network that Veetor had set up and the latest recordings that he had saved about ten times in a row. Then the quarian pulled a small grey box from Veetor's belt and handed it to her.

"I know it's not much, considering you saved my life back on the Citadel," she said, almost shameful. "But-"

"Thank you, Tali."

She opened them and looked at the images, pausing when she saw a tall, brown, insectoid biped enter the frame of one of the cameras. It was a collector, surrounded by a small swarm of Seekers that climbed along his carapace and chittered while the alien stared at the human lying by his feet. After a moment of consideration, he grabbed the woman by her arm and pulled her up and then, like in a bad horror movie, unfolded wings on his back and flew out of sight alongside the smaller Seekers.

The sight alone gave her chills.

There were more recordings like this but despite her curiosity, she lowered the omni-tool for now. There'd be time for reviewing later. Right now there was another question on Emily's mind in regards to the geth.

"There's one more thing," the N7 said right as a red-armored marine jogged over to Tali to help her get Veetor back on her feet. She kneeled down and looked at the damaged mask. "Veetor, there are a lot of geth here. Did you bring them?"

"Me? No, no," Veetor shook his head before suddenly falling forward. Emily and Tali grabbed him and he shook his head. "It was just like on Talarila," he explained with a slur while looking at. Unlike the N7, she seemed to know what he was talking about. "They came on their own, searching for something," he went on. "I think they were called here," wait. What? "They talked. Or tried to. I wanted to listen. I did! But I had to shut all of them down. If the humans had known that I was keeping them here, they would've-," the eyes behind the visor suddenly widened. "Don't leave them here, Tali'Zorah! They're too valuable!"

Tali and Emily shared a look.

"Talking geth?"

"It's probably the medicine talking," Tali offered, sounding somewhat unsure. Had she just lied to her? Emily felt like that was the case but she didn't press the matter. "Like I said," she went on, sounding more confident now, "he's swimming in immune boosters. They tend to make you a bit strange."

That seemed to set Veetor of.

"They can't stay here. They can't have them," the quarian with the damaged mask declared before trying to get to his feet. He stumbled a bit but with the help of Tali, the red-armored marine and Emily, he managed to get up. "We need to take them back to the Fleet."

"Veetor, you know that we can't do that."

"We need to, Tali'Zorah. Ask your father. The humans can't have the geth. They'll just- . It'll start agai- argh!" he suddenly shouted before grabbing Tali by the shoulders and staring at her. "They can't have the geth, do you understand? They don't know how dangerous they are!"

Emily observed the scene. Since the marine didn't intervene, she also chose to stand down.

"We don't want the geth. We just want to know how they got here. You didn't bring them. So what? Did they just show up?"

"Yes, yes," the drugged-up quarian replied.

"When did this start?"

"Since I found the-" he began before falling unconscious.

"Hey Veetor, stay with me. Since you found what?" Emily inquired before realizing that the glow of the eyes behind the damaged mask had vanished.

He was out for good.

"We need to leave," the quarian marine that had joined them observed. "He might not make it if we stay much longer."

"I understand," Emily nodded. Like I said. You're free to go," the quarians took that as their que to get up and start carrying Veetor away. After they'd made a few more steps, Shepard called something after them. "But if there's a threat here, Tali," she said, "then I need to know now."

The younger quarian woman looked back. It seemed like she hesitated.

"We both know what the geth are capable of. So please. Tell me what's going on here," Emily reinforced.

"I understood just as much of what he was saying as you."

"But you know about Talarila, right?" Emily called after her, prompting her to stop.

Tali glanced back at Emily.

"They're leaving the Veil, Shepard," she said, her accented voice quivering ever so slightly. "It started just after their attack on the Citadel and now they're showing up in random places all over the Terminus. Like Veetor said, it's like they're looking for something. Or like someone is calling them to these places. We're calling it a migration," Tali explained. "That's all I know," she looked at the bunker. To Emily it seemed like she was fighting with herself to make a decision. After a few moments, she spoke up again, this time quieter and more determined. "They're too dangerous to take back to the fleet. You can have them, if you want to. But please. Do both our people a favor and destroy them while they're still deactivated. Veetor's right about how dangerous they are," she took another breath. "But I don't need to tell you that. You saw it yourself on Eden Prime," there was one final glance from Tali. "I'll reach out to you when Veetor is stable. I promise. Good luck, Shepard."

"You too, Tali."

Then the quarians carried Veetor away. When she saw one of the marines get in their way, she spoke through the squad-intercom of all teams.

"It's alright. Let them go," she ordered while looking at the small box in her hand and then at the otherwise empty, snow-covered colony. "We got what we came for."


Three Hours later, 2158 CE, Menea, Installation 237

Liara had worked for the Hierarchy before, so the prospect of standing in a turian lab again was exciting to her. Back then she had proven her theory about the protheans to be true, so who knew what she could do now? Especially when she was part of such a huge task force?

They could work miracles!

As they, Operative Lawson who was supposed to accompany her and Liara herself, stepped off the transport, she marveled at the circular landing platform that they were standing on, particularly because of the fact that she understood just how much effort had gone into the atmospheric projectors that made it possible for her to breath without a mask despite standing on the surface of a celestial body without an atmosphere, but also because the entire platform, and the atmosphere on it, suddenly started to move downward. She didn't know whether it was her obsession with the protheans, who had a love for subterranean installations themselves, the idea of how many different fields of science had come together to built a place like this, or the prospect of being minutes away from finally working on a new project, but Liara was bursting with excitement to the point where she had to articulate it.

"I can't wait to get to work," she whispered faintly.

It lasted about as long as her companion needed to speak up.

"I'm glad to hear it. But you'll have to wait a bit longer," she said in her strangely accented voice while an STG team that had arrived with them silently passed by. Trailing just behind them was a red salarian in a lab coat that she assumed to be part of their detachment. "I just heard from General Koryak. There'll be a briefing for the new arrivals first," Lawson said, the last part of her sentence drifting off. Liara looked at the dark-haired woman and then trailed where she was looking at. "Speaking of," she said as she spotted a group of human soldiers who seemed to have even more luggage then them. They were clad in green uniforms and they were four in total. One was dark-skinned, the same way the late Captain Anderson had been. He was however much bigger than the now deceased first human Spectre. The other two were unremarkable, at least by human standards. They had brownish-black, short hair and lighter skin, kind of like Lieutenant Alenko. But very much unlike him, they had beards and at least one of them had his arms covered in tattoos depicting everything from flames and skulls to a triangle a lightning bolt going through its center. And then there was the tallest of the bunch. Unlike his companions, he was clean-shaven and had short, perfectly cut blonde hair that did a good job at highlighting his sharp facial features. If not for the reddened complexion that suggested he'd been out in the sun for too long recently and the wrinkles that were starting to form on his brow, he easily could've passed as one of the soldiers that she'd seen on HSA recruitment posters. After one of the dark-haired soldiers said something Liara couldn't hear, he looked up and met the glance of Operative Lawson. He handed his tablet to the tattooed soldier and walked over to them.

"Can I help you?" he asked politely enough before folding his arms. It seemed like he'd taken Lawson's look as either a challenge or an invitation.

"I take it you're here for the same reason we are?" she asked.

"I'm here because someone sent me here," he replied. While she was by no means an expert when it came to human aging, she got the impression that he was older than most of the Normandy's male human crew. He looked like he had about ten years or so on Alenko, which if her memory served her right would put him somewhere in his forties. "That's all I can say to that."

"Admiral Hackett?" the woman seemed to guess.

"How'd you know?"

"Because I'm the one who's will lead the human compartment of this operation, Captain. And as you will come to find out, knowing is part of my many strengths," she said. While that was new information to Liara, she instantly recognized that it made sense. Lawson seemed to be high-ranking, otherwise she wouldn't have worked on Shepard's resurrection. Sending someone like that as her escort would've been a bit overblown. However sending her to be part of the leadership of the task force? That made sense. "Miranda Lawson. A pleasure," she said before offering a gloved hand.

"Yeah. Real pleasure. Tore Haugen," the man introduced himself with a quick handshake before turning to Liara. "You're Doctor T'Soni, aren't you?" he asked while looking at her with pale blue eyes that weirdly enough reminded her of the late Saren Arterius and his still living older brother.

After a second of wondering how he knew that, she replied.

"I am. You heard about me?" she replied while the platform came to a standstill. He nodded. "How?"

"Homework," he replied. "It's a long flight from Terra Nova and Admiral Hackett told me that it'd make sense to read your thesis as mission prep. So I did. I have to say, considering that you had no idea about the Reapers back then, you really hit the nail with your conclusion." First General Arterius and now him? She wasn't sure if she should be honored or horrified that her doctorate paper was shaping up as the piece of literature special forces operatives read before heading off to fight the galactic cataclysm she had predicted.

"I simply looked at the evidence in front of us," she replied humbly.

"And refused to listen when the entire galaxy told you that you were wrong. That takes a spine," the soldier offered before looking at Lawson and the insignias on the body glove she wore for a uniform. "So. What's your deal?"

"Excuse me?" Lawson replied.

"She's the reason we even know what's going on. My team and I are door kickers. Those STG guys over there are probably smarter than all of us combined. So. What about you? What's your qualification? Other than being black-ops and in charge, obviously. You already mentioned that part," he said with a hint of what Liara assumed to be annoyance.

If Lawson thought of it the same way, she didn't let it show.

"You could think of me as the flexible element of this operation," she said. The reply sounded far from humble. "I can fill every role this operation might require, be it as a scientific advisor, an intelligence officer, a covert operative, a pilot or a team leader. Depending on how this mission goes, you might even find your team under my command in the future," Captain Haugen seemed to narrow his eyes slightly at that statement.

"A real all-rounder, huh?" he asked and Liara got the impression that Lawson had just antagonized him in one way or another. What followed would best be described as a very polite argument.

"If you want to say it like that then yes, a real all-rounder," the operative replied. "But me? I just consider myself exceptionally talented compared to most other people. My abilities are the product of effort, a gifted nature and good genes."

"Hm," the human shrugged. "Where'd you test your genes? During the Blitz?"

"No, I didn't fight during the Blitz."

"Eden Prime?"

"I'm afraid that my previous assignments are classified beyond an ASOC security clearance, Captain. So please, just take my word for it."

"Classified, huh? Thirteen then?"

"No, I'm not a specialist either," involuntarily Liara's mind went back to her encounter with them on Noveria. As soon as she recognized what was happening and saw her mother getting shot all over again, she blended it out. She'd gotten quite good at that in the last two years.

"Alright. Could've probably figured that much," the captain replied.

"How so?" Lawson said.

"Because those guys usually don't think that they're better than everyone else. It's kind of something they have in common with us spec-op types. You know, the whole quiet professional attitude. I'm sure you've heard of it."

"I have and if they are that way, then that's their loss. And yours too, if you feel the same way," she shrugged. "I for one don't see a point in hiding my talents or selling myself below my value. I know that I'm the best, why talk around it?"

"Because no one likes arrogance?"

"Then consider it a healthy sense of self-worth."

"Alright. Whatever you want to call it. A word of advice though?"

"Indulge me, Captain," Lawson said politely but with a sharp smirk that could cut the tension between the two of them if it tried.

"I don't care about your practice or your talents or your strengths or your genes or whatever. I care about hard facts like experience and actions and until you give me something to work with, don't expect my men or me to follow your lead based solely on you saying that you're the best. That won't cut it," he said calmly. "Oh. And before you try it, practiced answers and question dodging won't get you anywhere with us either."

"We'll see about that," Lawson replied with a smile before walking away to where a turian officer was already waving for them to get over. "Have a pleasant day, Captain Haugen," she called.

"I will," he muttered. Then he looked at her for another second. "Watch your back around that one, Doctor," then he was gone and Liara was left alone. She looked back at her luggage, found it being hauled away by turian workers and then up ahead to where Operative Lawson was quickly putting more distance between the two of them. Since they had arrived together, Liara decided to catch up with her. When she did, she saw that the human woman looked unphased by what had just occured.

"I know what you're thinking," the Cerberus operative said.

"You do?"

"You think I handled it poorly."

"I wouldn't say-" Liara began before catching herself falling into bad, old habits. She had no reason to hide her opinions anymore. She thought back to the Normandy and Shepard and gave her honest impression. "In my experience, special forces officers like the captain usually don't like being withheld information or being told to simply do something without understanding the bigger picture. Especially not form people who don't belong to their personal hierarchy. You could have gone for a less authoritarian approach. Especially in regards to assuming a leadership position over him and his team based on nothing but statements about your own superiority."

"Wasn't that hard now, was it?" Miranda said with a smirk while they passed a turian guard clad in a uniform Liara found strangely reminiscent of Blackwatch, with the exception that the golden Mexta had been replaced by the silver image of a setting sun and the palavani letters 'SLD' that were written underneath. "If he doesn't like being told what to do, he's in the wrong profession."

"Still, you might have antagonized him more than necessary. It could make working together harder than necessary."

"You haven't been around human soldiers a lot, have you?"

"Outside of the Normandy and Lazarus? No. Why?" she replied while walking deeper into the complex. Like the other secret turian military installations she'd been in before, it was a maze of dark-grey, military steel corridors that would be a nightmare to navigate, let alone capture, without the helpful indicators of where which room was located and which particular turn lead to it.

"if you'd be familiar with our kind, you'd know that I'll have no problem with getting someone like Captain Haugen to do what I need him to do. ASOC or not, at the end of the day, he's just another soldier. And like every soldier, he'll be painfully predictable. That makes him easy to guide if you use the right incentives and give him what he wants."

"Which would be?"

"A grand mission with a greater purpose. Him against the odds and the world, fighting for glory, honor, country, family and god against a terribly evil foe looking to take all that away from him. In short, a chance for him to be the perfect hero he's dreamed of being for so long," the operative said with an exaggerated voice and a smirk. "You see, that's how people like the captain see themselves. Once you understand that, it's easy to get them to do what you want."

"Sounds like manipulation," she said before they entered the briefing room, which was a large oval that consisted of a larger row of seats at the edges of the room and a smaller table with only five places in the middle. One was already occupied by a brown-skinned turian with rough-looking yellow tattoos, the others were still empty.

"Because it is," Lawson admitted with a smile. "You things up fast, Doctor. Stick around and you might learn how to do it yourself," then she walked away and took a seat at the smaller table as if standing in the center of attention was the most natural thing in her world.

Liara sighed and simply hoped that that particular line hadn't been the operatives first attempt at giving her 'what she wants' to get her to do what she wanted. Goddess knew that nothing would ruin her working experience quite like someone with a very high opinion of themselves trying to outsmart and manipulate her while they were supposed to be allies. That would be incredibly annoying and tiresome at the same time. Especially when Liara had made that experience several times already in the first century of her life.

After looking around the room and noting that members of all four Council races were present but none of any associate species, not even the volus, Liara sat down and waited for the briefing to begin. If the chairs in the center were anything to go by, three people were still missing. She wondered when they'd show up.

"Fascinating, no?" someone to her left said.

"Sorry?" she replied before turning to its source. It was a salarian with an almost entirely red complexion, except for a few lines of dark orange that dotted his crest and finished at the tip of his horns.

"When I was born, your people and mine hated the idea of the humans showing up and getting cozy with the turians," he said in a very unsalarian manor. She'd never met a member of the amphibian species that talked so slowly or descriptive. It was kind of jarring, honestly. "Yet here we are, coming together with them to stop the Reapers," he finished before offering his hand and flicking the nametag on his labcoat. "Sorry. How very rude of me. My name is Janon."

She looked at him with a questioning stare.

"Janon? As in the Vaelo piece?"

"Oh. So you're familiar with that particular part of my culture?" he asked with a hint of surprise in his voice before offering an explanation with the wave of his hand. "My parents weren't exactly creative after their third clutch of eggs. So yes. Janon as in the Vaelo piece. And you are?" he said before looking at his still offered hand and smiling.

"Oh. Of course. Doctor Liara T'Soni," she said before shaking the hand. In the process she noticed the tattoo that covered most of its back.

Unlike with the Vaelo piece, which had come to mind instantly due to it being one of her late mother's favorite games, the trickle of gold and black ink that looked both purposeful and accidental wasn't immediately familiar to her. Due to some similarities to the native tongue of Sur'Kesh's dominant culture, she assumed that it was writing but neither her contact lenses nor her mind could seem to fully translate it in the moment. She was half-way sure that one of the words was 'wanderer' and the sentence below could mean 'a blossoming flower' or something along those lines, but the random spouts of black in between those words and sentence fragments didn't make any sense to her. She wanted to ask but felt like that was hardly something you could bring up after just having met. Especially in this setting and especially with how personal tattoos were to some salarians.

"It is my utmost pleasure to meet you, Doctor T'Soni," the salarian said before inspecting the room and its inhabitants again.

"I take it you're with STG?" she assumed after remembering that she'd seen him arrive with them. In response the salarian cracked a smile and for a second it seemed like he wanted to laugh out loud because of how ridiculous that sounded. But he stopped himself.

"No. Far from it, actually. I was recommended by a friend of mine. A Spectre. I'd tell you his name, but he'd probably kill both of us for it," he chuckled while tracing something on the opposing end of the briefing room. She looked up and realized that he was looking at the STG agents. His gaze was vigilant and it stood in a harsh contrast to his friendly demeanor. "Who knew my interest in extra-galactic signal streams would ever get me into a secret turian base. Being here. It's exciting, isn't it?"

"Most definitely," Liara replied just before two more seats at the table were filled, one by an asari and the other by another salarian. She looked at the salarian's hand again now that it was resting on his lap and her curiosity got the better of her politeness.

"I'm sorry but I have to ask. What does it mean?" she asked.

"What does what mean?"

"I can read the wanderer and the blossoming flower," she said while looking at his hand. "But what about the rest? I've never seen this salarian language before. It's not from Sur'Kesh, is it?"

"First Vaelo and now languages. You know an awful lot about my people, don't you?" the salarian countered in a mixture of distance and amusement.

"I'm a xeno-archeologist. Studying existing languages is one of the many ways we try to understand non-translated ones," she replied. "If you don't want to tell me, then that's alright. I just had to ask. I apologize for the intrusion," she added quickly.

"Don't. It's quite alright," the salarian assured her. "It's an excerpt from an old text. One written by the monks before the Breaking of the Wheel," he used the finger on his other hand to trace each word as if to make sure that she actually learned what each of the symbols and syntax signs meant before translating. "The weary wanderer will walk the path until the Jeshesh blossom," he began before pulling on his sleeve and revealing the rest of the tattoo, which went up all the way up to his elbow. "When the Jeshesh blossom, the weary wanderer will rest forever and another will continue his journey until the Jeshesh wither. Then he too shall rest and another will follow his stride until the Jeshesh blossom again and the cycle begins anew. For that is the path and the essence of our journey. As the Jeshesh blossom and the Jeshesh wither, all ends are new beginnings. Thus there shall be no end to our journey or to the weary wanderer."

"What does it mean?" she asked, again overwhelmed by her curiosity.

"It describes the Wheel of Life," the red salarian replied. "Like the Jeshesh, we may wither and die. Some quicker than others. But like the Jeshesh, there will always be a new life from a past life," he cracked the faintest smile and then he suddenly chuckled. "Not bad for something I had done on Omega, right?"

"I guess not," she replied before restraining herself from continuing the conversation. She'd read about the Wheel of Life. Just like with languages, she found that studying religions was a good way to learn about cultures and also understand the fragments left behind by those who were no longer around to explain the entire story. But unlike with most other big religions, followers of the old salarian faith were so rare that she had yet to actually have the pleasure of personally talking to one.

Goddess.

If the briefing could just be delayed for ten or twenty more minutes. Maybe because someone was running late or what not. There were so many questions she'd like to ask this Janon and she somehow doubted that she'd manage to squeeze all of them in what little time remained until-

"Can I please have your attention?" the brown-plated turian suddenly called.

Well.

Until that.

She leaned forward in her chair and focused.

Her curiosity would be satisfied later.

Now she needed to focus.

So she did.


Codex: The Breaking of the Wheel

The Breaking of the Wheel is the term that the most devoted of the remaining followers of the Wheel of Life faith, an old salarian creed that lost most of its social and religious influence before the Krogan Rebellions, use to describe the cultural revolution that went through the Salarian Union in the wake of the Council's victory over the rachni and that wiped away the power the Monks of the Wheel held within their society and dwindled the number of followers that the religion had from about half of the salarian populace to a now miniscule fraction.

Based around the concepts of reincarnation, the cyclical patters of life and nature and the core-belief of a path and a journey that will continue in a manner similar to the life cycle of the Jeshesh flowers of Sur'Kesh, which exhibit characteristic some might associate with biological immortality and follow a predictable pattern of growth, blooming and hibernation (or rather limited withering), the Wheel of Life and its central figure of the Weary Wanderer became more of an afterthought to most salarians. After the horrors of the Rachni Wars and the Krogan Rebellions, the latter of which reduced the number of its followers, many of which belonged to the Lystheni sub-species and thus served in the frontline battalions of the Union's military, the creed and the monks who practiced it were subjected to what the Union called a step into the future and its followers called a spiritual purge. While temples and monasteries became schools or museums and Jeshesh gardens were uprooted to make way for farmland or other agricultural endeavors, the salarians who actively but peacefully resisted this cultural shift, lead by the Monks of the Wheel, were pushed to the edge of society and became pariahs, living under the threat of being reeducated if they dared to publicly speak up against what was happening.

Although the Union has since loosened its grip on the Wheel of Life followers and apologized for the actions of its long-gone government officials of the time, there has been no noticeable resurgence in the popularity of the religion, which the hardliners who still support the actions of the then-ruling Dalatrasses take as the sign of having made the right decision for the salarian people.

As of 2417 AD, there are estimated to be less than three billion followers of the Wheel of Life in the entirety of the Salarian Union, making them a minority in the roughly twenty billion registered followers in the entire galaxy, most of which are turian and asari.

During a poll taken in the core worlds in 2416 AD, it was discovered that 459122 HSA citizens shifted their creed to that of the Wheel of Life since First Contact, making it the second-biggest alien religion in human society after the asari Faith of Athame.


A/N:

So.

I'm back.

And I'm not sick. (yet. let's see what happens with that)

Now. I figured I'd give the lot of you (hopefully) sitting in self-induced quarantine something to read, so I actually sat down today and yesterday and churned out a chapter... before then I really didn't write a lot. I had a lot on my plate and as things are shaping up right now, it's probably going to get a lot worse in the next month (as you are probably aware, the general consesus in regards to corona is that Germany's two weeks behind italy and well... if we're in for what they went through in march during april, then it's going to get a bit interesting soon enough.

So before we talk chapter, let me just say that I hope that you and your folks are still healthy and staying safe.

OK. Enough of that depressing subject matter.

Let's talk chapter.

We crossed Freedom's Progress of the list and I'm slowly linking the subplots together. I feel like every connection that was made in the chapter was fairly obvious. I also hope that you enjoyed by dive into salarian fringe religions... it's actually something I worked on for the Anthology Story "On Wings Of Glory" (which I promise I will release eventually. Maybe even this year. It's just not QUITE there yet.)

Other than that, what can I say?

Haugen's gonna have to deal with Miranda... who this time around probably won't have the advantage of Shepard cracking her shell.

As will Liara.

So yeah.

That's gonna be fun.

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.

.

not.

Up next, probably something! Let it surprise you!

Review and let me know what you think.

For the record we're at 655 reviews, 1036 favorites and 1136 follows.

See you around next time.