Chapter 80. Inner Workings


Ninety Minutes Later, 25. March 2417 AD, HSASV Normandy

Despite the success of finding Veetor's recordings, the ride back to the Normandy had been silent, at least for Emily. While some of that was related to her reviewing the footage of the attack prior to the debriefing she was headed to now, there was another reason.

The geth they had found.

She could've followed Tali's advice. They had carried more than enough charges to blow the bunker sky-high and destroy all the platforms that Veetor had seemingly stored in it. Nothing would've been left and in addition to making a nice little fire, it would've ended the lines of questions going through her head and ensured that nothing bad could come from the synthetics. That's all it would've taken; a couple demo charges. Then she could've continued their hunt for the Collectors with the same singlemindedness she'd been stuck in ever since waking up on Cronos Station.

But she hadn't.

Instead she'd done what a good soldier does and relayed the discovery to her superiors, in this case the assembly of leaders she was going to talk to in a few minutes. Between all of them, they had quickly decided that the geth had to be secured, not destroyed. Harper had told her so not five minutes after she'd first called it in. Therefore the geth had remained intact and now here she was, asking herself all kinds of questions while walking through the interior of the Normandy that was now locked in an orbit around the colony. They were waiting for the rest of their forces to show up and secure the geth before moving on. Otherwise they'd already be through the relay.

She sighed and went over her thoughts again to assure she'd recount all of them during the debrief.

First the obvious, how had Veetor managed to pacify a dozen geth?

And why had he stored them in the bunker?

How had no one in the colony noticed what was going on?

When had this started?

What had Tali meant when she had talked about a migration and where else was this happening?

And why? Was this connected to the threat looming just outside the galaxy? Another attempt of the Reapers to use the geth to soften the Milky Way up for invasion?

She pulled in a breath and pinched her nose.

Blowing the platforms up would've been easier but the point where she would go ahead and destroy something as abnormally as geth peacefully standing in a human bunker managed by a quarian pilgrim because 'it couldn't possibly be connected to her mission' and 'was far too dangerous to be kept around' was far in the past. She'd been kind of forced to see things through a different perspective ever since the prothean beacon on Eden Prime. After seeing what could be in store for them in the near future and getting to know just a small part of the intricate plan the Reapers had set in motion to ensure that the galaxy developed the way they intended, she'd become a bit more cautious before saying that something's surely not connected to the rest of her mission.

Emily wiped her hand over the lock of the conference room and stepped inside. As soon as EDI registered her presence, the lights dimmed and several holograms assembled themselves. Clearly they had already been waiting. As before there were General Arterius, Director Harper and Major Kirrahe.

"Hello, Commander," Harper began. "Before we get down to the obvious, I'd like to congratulate you on your findings. I'm sure that by seeing how the attack actually transpired, Doctor Solus will be able to help us understand and counter what the Collectors are doing to achieve this kind of result," he said before getting up from the chair he'd been sitting in and walking a few steps until the projector on his end blended the blue furniture depiction out. He looked at his turian and salarian counterparts and pulled a cigarette case from a pocket of his suit. "Now. I believe I speak for all of us when I say this. We were not expecting you to run into geth during this mission."

"Only heard rumors of them leaving the Veil," Kirrahe added. "Considered it Terminus gossip. Never expected them to enter Attican Traverse."

"Let alone show up in human territories," Arterius finished.

"Yet here they are," the N7 said before folding her arms.

"Yet here they are," Harper repeated before pulling on his cigarette, taking a short break and then exhaling a cloud of smoke that was quickly filtered from the hologram by the projector recognizing it as an obstacle. "I know you won't like hearing this, but after some consideration, we've come to a conclusion," he nodded towards Arterius.

"Our mission is to stop the collectors and figure out why they chose now of all times to attack Council Space again," the turian general explained." Therefore we've decided to make the geth presence on your colony someone else's problem."

"Geth motives for leaving he Veil reasonable to assume," Kirrahe went on. "Could be related to Reapers or Migrant Fleet. Collectors however present unknown variable as of now. Can only assume reason behind their attacks and speculate about possible allegiance to other groups. Until full scope of their motives is understood, can't afford to shift focus of your mission. Normandy and crew too valuable of an asset to invest into calculatable risk factor as long as uncalculatable exists."

One question shot through her mind and she spoke it out.

"Since when do we consider the geth a calculatable risk?" Emily asked. "Isn't that the same mindset that resulted in Eden Prime?" She didn't mean for it to sound like an accusation but after finishing her sentence, she realized that it kind of did. But it was too late to take it back now. The three looked at each other.

"I understand that this looks like we're giving this a lower priority by not letting you handle it," Harper injected. That wasn't entirely what she was getting at, but he went on before she could correct him. "And in a way, you're right. Like Major Kirrahe said, the three of us weighed each threat-level and decided that there are more unknowns to the collectors than there are to the geth. However we're still not taking this lightly. Far from it. I already spoke to an old friend of mine. He will divert skilled operatives to make sure that we understand why the geth are coming to our shores." An old friend of his? Considering she knew next to nothing about Harper other than his name and the organization he ran, that wasn't really saying a lot. But given his liking for secrecy, she could already see where the questions 'who' would lead her. "They will handle this mission. Meanwhile we need you to continue yours."

"You won't have to worry about that," Emily replied before looking at Arterius. "As soon as your fleet gets here, I'll head off to Tuchanka to see Urdnot Wrex and continue to expand my team." There was a second of silence and the look the three of them shared already told Emily that she could scrap that plan. "I take it I'm not heading to Tuchanka?" she guessed.

"Not yet," Harper nodded before taking another pull from his cigarette. "I know it'll put you out of position, but you're requested back on the Citadel. The Council wants to talk to you."

"About the collectors?"

"Them too," Arterius said. "But also about the geth. I already talked to Councilor Sparatus. They've got some questions for you."

"I thought you said we'd let the geth be someone else's problem?"

"We did," Arterius nodded. "But," he began.

"But Council has wanted to see you since day you woke up. Tried holding them off," Kirrahe chipped in. "Succeeded until recently too. However can only go so long until your return has to be addressed and registered. Might've gone MIA for two years. But still a Spectre and still a Council agent. Near-death experiences don't revoke status."

"Alright," she nodded before looking at Harper. "They get that we're on a time sensitive mission, right?"

"I told Councilor Udina what you're doing at the time. But they still insist that you make a personal appearance in the next week. No message traffic, no encrypted channels or holo-meetings. Face to face only," Harper replied. "Whatever they want to tell you is important enough to not even tell me and considering my security clearance had to be created specifically for my position," he went on before trailing off. "You might want to go there without making detours. I don't think we'll be able to convince them to delay the meeting much further."

"So they know that I'm busy but they just don't care? How does that make sense?"

"I'm afraid that you're asking the wrong people, Shepard," Harper shrugged. "If any of us understood Council politics, then we wouldn't have to have this conversation right now. Make your way to the Citadel, if anything else comes up that'll require your attention, I'll reach out and explain to Councilor Udina why you missed your appointment."

"As will we to our respective Councilors," Arterius added. "Our ETA to Freedom's Progress is two hours, so you might as well start preparing for your departure."

"Understood. In that case I'll tell the marines on the ground that they can start thinking about packing things up soon enough," Kai would be glad to hear that. As her XO during the OP, the N7 had insisted to hold down the fort with the marines on Freedom's Progress while her team travelled back to the Normandy for the debriefing, despite him hating guard assignments just as much as every other soldier in the history of soldiering.

"And please assure that Doctor Solus begins working on figuring out how the collector attacks work right away," Harper said. "The sooner we understand how they do it, the sooner we can roll out counter-measures."

"No need for assuring that," Emily replied. "He went straight to the lab when we got to the Normandy. Didn't even take off his armor or grab a bite to eat beforehand."

"Then assure that he does eventually," Kirrahe injected. "Solus can become," he paused as if to search for the right word, "caught up in his work in an unhealthy manner at times," why did this remind her of Liara? "Won't affect his performance during combat mission. Solus too cautious and professional to risk impacting mission effectiveness. But might affect his health in the future. Salarians prone to overexertion at his age. Mind as fast and sharp as always, but body no longer able to keep up. Exertion now could affect his health later on. Reduce life expectancy. One year, two years," Kirrahe said before nodding. "As his former commander, request that you keep that in mind."

"I'll keep an eye on him, Major."

"Appreciate it. Would be shame if we lost mind as brilliant as him earlier than necessary due to self-inflicted physical stress. Especially in face of Reaper threat."

Speaking of. She looked at Harper.

"Now that you mention the Reapers, there's something else I'd like to know," the N7 said.

"Anything, Shepard," the man replied. She was sure that he didn't actually mean it, one could probably burry a city under the amount of secrets someone like the director of Cerberus kept, but she'd try her luck anyways.

"How's the task force you sent Doctor T'Soni to doing so far? Have they made any progress yet?"

She had the faint hope that the answer would be 'yes' and that she could collect another member of her old team again but realistically speaking, she saw the answer coming before Harper said it out loud.

"No. Not yet. As I understand, they've only picked up operations a few hours ago. As I'm sure you can imagine, organizing a task force coming together form all of Council space takes some time."

"Understood," she said before looking at each of the three. They were silently waiting for her next move, even Harper. "That'd be all form me."

"We've got nothing to discuss either at this point, do we?" Harper threw into the room.

"Not on my part. We'll secure the bunker and then linger around the Traverse for as long as it takes the Normandy to get to the Citadel and back. Maybe we'll have a lucky catch," the acting Blackwatch commander said.

"Nothing to add either. Will look into geth migration you mentioned as soon as possible," Kirrahe added, "but have to take care of something first. Afraid that I can't share any details, but pressing matter requires my attention. Wanted to inform you nonetheless."

"Then we're done here," Harper said. "Good luck on the Citadel, Shepard."

Considering how the last times she'd been there had gone, she'd need it.

"Thanks."


Twenty Minutes Later, 2158 CE, Citadel, Office of Chancellor Valern

"Contacted Shepard. Should head out to Citadel by day's end," the hologram of the STG major informed him.

"Understood," Valern nodded, not bothering to use his Councilor persona for this conversation. Kirrahe was one of the operatives who knew about both his past and the true identity of Councilor 'Idril'. Much like Valern himself, Kirrahe had worked for the late Cozek when he had still been an active STG officer and not played the act of Councilor. "Managed to learn anything more about geth discovery?"

"Negative. Director Harper insisted on handling issue himself. Refrained from giving more details. Didn't push matter."

Valern put a hand in front of his mouth and looked at his desk. Like everyone else in the highest echelons of the Citadel Council, the information that geth platforms had apparently traveled to a human colony far outside the Veil was bringing up bad memories of the invasion two years ago. Everyone was on edge, fearing a second incursion similar to Sovereign's attack. But at the same time, no one was taking action. They were still preoccupied with the task force they had set up, the one that was investigating the possibility of a Reaper beachhead being set up on the galactic rim of batarian space.

"Can push if you want to," Kirrahe offered after presumably noticing that Valern had gotten lost in thought.

"Don't. Director Harper experienced intelligence officer. Inquiry would risk alienating his trust," Valern replied quickly before folding his hands together. "Observe for now and report back on the matter when humans are ready to reveal more details on their investigation."

"Understood," Kirrahe nodded. "What of the other matter? Mentioned that you required my assistance with sensitive situation," he asked, prompting Valern to type on his terminal.

"Known you long time, Kirrahe," the councilor said as he got up and wiped his omni over the cameras of his office, putting them into a prepared loop and erasing the footage of the act of doing so.

"Correct," Kirrahe replied while observing him.

"Believe that I can trust you," Valern went on before glancing out the windows and then subsequently closing the blast-shields that acted as blinds.

"Would think so after dragging you off Pilandrus-5," the major said.

"Messy op," he remembered. He still had the harpoon scar on his torso.

"Messy indeed," Kirrahe confirmed. Now they were standing face-to-face, or rather face-to-hologram-face. "What's going on, Valern?"

"Have been briefed on situation on Sur'Kesh?"

"Referring to increased public unrest in Xeltez province and subsequent crack-down of dalatrass security forces?"

"Yes," Valern said. Normally a few demonstrations weren't out of place in Xeltez. Parts of the region had suffered from civil unrest and strikes due wide-spread poverty at the hands of drying up mines for the last three centuries. However as of lately, things had gotten worse. Maybe there had been one stone throw to many or one shout to loud, but for a reason no one seemed to entirely understand, things had escalated beyond their usual scope.

The ruling vassal state, the appropriately named Fiefdom of Xeltez, had gotten fed up with the situation and in a move that he suspected to be fueled by political pressure, done something that broke Union law but was perfectly legal within the confines of the older legal codes that the dalatrasses still clung to. The levy troops of the Duchy had quite literally beaten their working populace back to work while the official Union administrators had been negotiating a deal with their representatives. Needless to say, the resulting discontent had spread like a wildfire across the rest of Xeltez and was now also starting to spark dissent in the bordering regions, one of which happened to be the Duchy of Raeka with who's leader Dalatrass Linron had tried to bind Valern with a mating contract two years ago.

And that was precisely where the problem for him had surfaced.

Dalatrass Raeka had reached out to him.

But it hadn't been in a plead to get the Union to help her own levies to crack down on them. It had been with the request to help her topple the reign of the overarching problem causing this unrest; the Linron Dynasty. She wanted to get other minor dalatrasses to join her in a coup-de-tat against what was one of the most powerful dynasties of salarian society and, to level the odds and reduce the chance of an armed end to this attempt, she also wanted him to get the Union on board when the time to strike arrived.

That offer alone was explosive and had the potential to rip a crater into Sur'Kesh's political landscape that would take generations to heal. Normally he would've simply told all of them off and referred to his neutral stance as a Union official and insisted on no one overthrowing anybody.

But the glance that he had caught of a teal salarian going about his business in one of the salarian merchant docks of the Citadel mere days before the call of Raeka had made him worried that this was the exact situation that the League member had referred to. Every time he had managed to sneak into Valern's office, he'd gone on about how there'd be a number of choices that could potentially alter the course of salarian society and unroot the dalatrasses that the League hated with such a passion. While he doubted that the teal salarian had been 'his' teal salarian, the sight had made him remember and from that point on it hadn't taken too long to consider that maybe the stone too much or the shout too loud had belonged to someone working for STG's ancient rival.

If he'd been approached, then he'd be certain.

But since that hadn't happened, there was doubt in his mind as to what he should do. He didn't like the way his society was ruled but if the League chose to make their move while the galaxy was possibly just months away from a Reaper invasion, then what he considered to be the good of his people would have to take a step back for the good of the galaxy. While there was no ideal time to risk civil war to cause lasting change, right now was particularly bad. So in short, Valern needed to know if this was the League's grand plan or just a coincidence. And since he could hardly go there himself that only left him with one option.

Send someone he could trust.

"Have been briefed," the STG major nodded.

"Will agree that situation is highly volatile, no?"

"Yes."

"Would you believe if I said worst is yet to come?"

Kirrahe looked at him.

"How?"

Valern chose his next words carefully. It helped that he knew that Kirrahe was a bleeding idealist and burning Union patriot who'd jump at the chance to serve the Union in whatever capacity he could.

"Escalation level unprecedented. Gave me reason to investigate. Came to conclusion that situation might be artificial. Engineered to create instability. Suspect third party at work."

"Hm," Kirrahe hummed. "Reapers?" he was quick to say. It made sense he'd jump to the conclusion considering what they had talked about before.

"Potentially," he lied with practiced perfection, keeping his suspicion, and the knowledge that the League of One still existing, a secret. He was confident that Kirrahe wouldn't pick up on it. Valern had always been far better at lying than the major. By STG standards Kirrahe had only ever been a mediocre spy. His talents were more on the martial aspect of their profession. "Need someone I can trust to travel to Xeltez and search for signs of engineered civil unrest."

Now it was Kirrahe's time to put his hands in front of his mouth and stare into the distance, thinking.

"Will interfere with my assistance of operation to stop collectors," he said. "What about Spectre deployment?"

"Situation on Sur'Kesh more pressing," Valern replied. It sounded like was valuing the human lives at stake less than the salarian ones, he was aware of that. He also knew that he was using his old comrade's false suspicion to make the threat seem more related to the Reapers than it was, which was a basic form of manipulation. "Besides, don't trust Spectres same way I trust you."

From an outside perspective, this probably seemed rather selfish. If this ever came to see the light of day, it would appear that he was deceiving Kirrahe and distracting him from another assignment to satisfy his curiosity regarding the League. But in all honesty, Valern was simply doing what he always did always did. Access the risk and the potential consequences and draw a logical conclusion based on which decision would result in less deaths. If the numbers continued to grow, millions of humans might be abducted. But Instability on Sur'kesh and the inner salarian colonies in face of a possible Reaper invasion could kill far more people. The turians called it the ruthless calculus, the asari called it cold-hearted rationalism in the face of a crisis and the humans would probably call it pragmatic decision-making but to STG operatives like him it was simply an effective way to make a decision without morality weighing in on it. A simple mathematic comparison.

Besides, it wasn't like he was pulling STG's support from the operation. He simply happened to borrow their leading operative for the time being.

"Numbers speak for themselves," Kirrahe muttered again, probably after doing the same equation in his head. "Very well. Trust your judgement. Will delegate responsibilities to XO for the time being and travel to Sur'Kesh. Advice on what I'm searching for?"

"Trace beginning of riots in Xeltez. Go to where it began. Speak to miners, levy troops. Figure out what prompted escalation. Or who," Valern suggested. That's what he would've done if he could just pack his bags and go to their home world to investigate for himself.

"Understood," the major nodded. "Dismissed?" he asked.

"One thing," Valern replied.

"What is it?"

"Appreciate your faith in me. Won't come to regret decision."

"Know I won't. And no need for appreciation. If not for your position, would also help me if I made similar request."

"Understood. Dismissed."

The major nodded and then his hologram vanished.

Valern sighed.

He lied everyday, it was part of his profession and he didn't mind it one bit. In fact, the thrill that each successful deception gave him was something he rather enjoyed.

But manipulating his comrades under false pretense?

That would never get easy or enjoyable.


Meanwhile, 2158 CE, Menae, Installation 237

"Therefore, it is critical that we locate the beacons," he finished, the image of Balak still frozen behind him. Before now, he'd talked about history of the discovery of the Reapers, shared what was known about them, gone over every last event related to them and given a detailed description of what would be their biggest threat besides actually having to engage something like Sovereign; indoctrination. Now, after explaining what events had led to them sitting here, Nihlus was outlining their actual objectives. "To that end, intelligence operatives from all of our respective governments are currently active all over the Terminus Systems. The Hegemony might've locked Council Space out, but there's still traffic between them and the Terminus. After all, the slaves they are using to construct these beacons have to come from somewhere," the SLD general explained before pressing a button on the large hologram projector built into the table of the room. Balak's face vanished and was replaced by a map of what could be considered batarian space. After a wave of his hand, dozens of red dots flashed in a number of the hundreds of systems that the Hegemony claimed as their own. "These are the beacon sites we've identified as of now. Besides the ones Balak knew about, we've learned of similar spires on thirty-four planets. And yes, that includes Khar'shan."

He didn't think it needed saying that disabling the spires on the batarian homeworld would be a nearly impossible task.

"Since we don't know how much time we have left until the Reapers decide to use the beachhead they've been creating and it's also fairly obvious that we won't be able to destroy beacons on batarian core worlds without triggering another war in the Skyllian Verge, we are working under the assumption that we won't succeed at physically destroying all of the beacons," the turian continued. "Therefore, it is also critical that the scientific department of this operation finds out if these things are connected and determines if we could exploit that connection to destroy all of them in one go. To do that, we'll obviously have to do some on-sight reconnaissance on some of the minor worlds affected by these structures. This is where the strike team compartments will come in. While our scientists will do their best to safely study the phenomenon and the beacons, you will be sent to affected colonies with probable chances of a successful infiltration and return." He sure was sounding reassuring, wasn't he? If he was just talking to soldiers from his adopted homeworld, he wouldn't worry about making this sound like half of them would die, his fellow Oma Ker didn't fear things like death, they just cared about victory. But as things were, he was working with a task force from all over Council Space. It was safe to assume that at least half of the people in front of him weren't as prepared to die for the greater good as legionnaires from Oma Ker. "Once there you will take the readings that our scientific staff requires and then, upon completion of your reconnaissance mission, destroy the beacons and extract."

While that sounded simple enough, the numerous times where he'd fought against batarians told the former auxiliary commander turned SLD general that it wouldn't be that easy once they were actually there. The vast majority of their people were arrogant morons, their culture was a despicable mess based on slavery and their corrupt and tyrannical government deserved nothing less than an orbital strike right on top of their heads so that they'd at least feel a fraction of the suffering they'd caused with their action.

But spirits be damned if that combination didn't mean that actual Hegemony forces didn't put up a hell of a fight if they felt like their pride was at stakes, which was pretty much all the time.

"Obviously our main objective will be to outright deny the Reapers access to the galaxy. However I don't think I have to stress that that will only be possible if they're still far enough in Deep Space to get lost without the beacons. Since we can hardly work based on that assumption, the second main objective of this task force is to delay the invasion, disturb their plan as much as possible and gather as much intel as possible without exposing ourselves to the effects of indoctrination. To that end, we will have to adhere to strict limits on the time spent on-site and follow a scorched earth policy. We don't stay longer than we have to, we leave nothing behind that could expose others to indoctrination and most of all, we don't take anything with us," Nihlus' eyes narrowed before he continued on to the last part of his briefing. "Violations of these guidelines won't just get you kicked off the task force and sent straight to quarantine to look for signs of indoctrination, it'll also endanger everyone around you to have to go through the same procedures and risk civilization as we know it," the turian let that sink in for a few seconds. Then he continued. "So please. For all our sakes. Follow these guidelines."

When his warning was done, a strange silence settled in the room.

Everyone had gotten briefed about the dangers of what they would attempt and agreed, otherwise they wouldn't be here. But if he were to take a guess, it was only now that they were here that most of the task force understood what exactly they were up against. He'd struggled with it too. Luckily enough, he had profited from the fact that he wasn't the first turian commander faced with comprehending the Reapers and explaining it to others. Nihlus had been able to draw from the experiences of the acting commander of the Blackwatch, General Desolas Arterius. That had made things a lot easier for him. But unlike him, a lot of the task force members probably hadn't gotten that opportunity. Sure, a lot of the military compartment was made up of Virmire veterans and a lot of the scientific staff had been involved in the expeditions to Virmire and Ilos. But other than that? They, just like Nihlus, hadn't even come close to anything Reaper-related. They hadn't chased them the way Arterius had, hadn't talked to one like Shepard had and most definitely hadn't seen the effects of indoctrination firsthand like these two either. Out of the entire task force, there were two individuals that came close to those experiences. First there was Doctor T'Soni, who had nearly as long of a history with the Reapers as General Arterius and secondly, far away from that practical experience, there was an ASOC soldier by the name of Tore Haugen who, by sheer coincidence, had happened to stand next to Shepard during her by now meticulously analyzed conversation with Sovereign. Besides them, not one of his task force members, not even the leaders, could claim to have prior experience with the Reapers. It made Nihlus uneasy. But he knew better than to let that show. As the face of the task force, he needed to radiate the most confidence. If it seemed like he didn't believe that their mission was possible, why should they?

He put up the most determined face he had in his repertoire and addressed the room.

"All of us were handpicked from the entirety of Council Space because we're the best in our fields. The best scientists, the best soldiers, the best intelligence officers and the best pilots. It took us years to master our crafts, but we did. Through hard work and determination, all of us have done things most considered impossible. We went on when everyone else told us that we hit the wall, that what we were doing wouldn't achieve anything. And then we proved them wrong. For that reason, the galaxy has put its fate into our hands," he declared, his voice flanging through the oval briefing room. "We won't fail them. Get to your coordinators, they'll start handing out assignments right away."


Meanwhile, 26. March 2417 AD, Cronos Station

"Alright. Thanks for the heads-up, Director. I'll get back into costume," the specialist by the callsign of Lancelot responded after Rei had told him that Commander Shepard was back among the living and headed to the Citadel. "I take it the rules of engagements are the same as two years ago?"

"Exactly. You may only interfere if Shepard's life is in imminent danger. Other HSA personal, her squad mates and civilian bystanders don't count," Rei replied. It was a necessary precaution so that the specialist stationed at the HSA embassy didn't risk being burnt unless it was absolutely necessary. While pretty much every organization and government, be it from Council Space or elsewhere, had spies on the Citadel, it'd make for very poor press if word got out that the newest member of the Citadel Council still felt that it was necessary to have a covert operative of the highest level active on the station. Or rather as of right now, two. Callsign Lancelot wasn't alone on the Citadel, or even the Presidium, and while his assigned post couldn't be different from that of his colleague currently working undercover in a private military company, it still meant that Rei had to consider that either of them being exposed could also lead to the other's mission failing. They were after all both pieces of the dead-drop system put in place on the station that connected them back to the rest of HSAIS and Section 13.

"Business as usual then," the man replied, letting slip his native Horizon accent. A linguist might have been able to define it more clearly and explain it more in detail than him but to Rei it always sounded a tad like a Russian accent. If he were to guess, it probably had something to do with the nationality of the first settlers of the colony, after all, back when Horizon had been settled, there had still been nation-states on Earth and not just the HSA's Earth Administration. Lancelot scratched his neck and looked at him in expectation, prompting Rei to stop thinking about the demographic and linguistic background of the colonists of Horizon. "I don't want to be rude, Sir, but if there's nothing else, then I've got places to be," Lancelot said.

"No. That'll be all Lancelot," the asian man replied. "Stay busy and keep your head on a swivel."

"Roger that, Sir. Signing off," and with that the hologram disappeared. Rei took exactly one breath before dialing in the next contact that he had to chat with. Technically, he'd already be done for today, but just like in the old days, Jack had added something to his plate. Or rather passed on something that Shepard had added to Jack's plate. While he couldn't claim to be a fan of the person he was about to call, he had to admit that Doctor Archer's program, or rather the staff that had worked on it, would come in handy. The issue that had been passed on to him had to do with understanding geth and their actions. Hence, who better to call upon than the engineers who could probably be considered humanity's leading experts on artificial intelligence?

The call dialed for a few more seconds and then it got answered.

"Director Rei. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Doctor Archer asked with the exact tone of voice that Rei disliked him for. The two of them only really knew each other from the monthly meetings that the leaders of all the departments stationed on Cronos Station had to attend and as far he was concerned, that was more than enough.

"To the sit-rep that just passed my table," Rei responded. "In both our interests, I'll make this brief. I'm requesting a temporary transfer of two of the members who worked on the CDI Program."

"And by request you mean that you'll ask nicely first and if I say no, you'll pass me over, go to my boss, wave your badge and flash your rank insignia and make him do it?" Archer retorted.

Every fiber of Rei wanted to say 'yes, that's exactly what I'll do', but he resisted. This would go a lot more smoothly if he stayed civil.

"We've encountered a situation that requires the expertise of these two individuals," he said before sending the prepared message from his terminal. He heard Archer's terminal ping as it received the message and saw the man frown. "In the interest of time, I decided to simply talk to you instead of going the long way you just described. You're their direct superior, if you give the green-light, I can have someone pick them up in thirty minutes."

"Robin Wigmore and Aidan Ardrey," the man muttered as he read over the message. Then he rubbed the back of his hand against the patchy stubble beard he always seemed to have when Rei saw him at the meetings. He stayed silent for a few more moments and then typed. "You're in luck, Director. They're back from their mission on the Normandy and I don't actually have given them anything crucial to do yet."

"That's good to hear," Rei nodded while leaning against his desk.

"I'm sure it is," Archer replied. "How long will this assignment take? Given the current situation, I'm sure you understand that I'll hardly enjoy working without these two."

"I don't know, not at this stage," the director replied.

"Splendid. Just splendid," the head scientist replied before rubbing his face with both of his hands. "Alright. Fine. Yes. I'll sign their transfer and handle the paperwork. Send your people over."

"I appreciate it, Doctor."

"I'd much rather see you show your appreciation by giving them back to me in one piece, Director. Losing them would impact my work."

Rei raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever gave you the impression that I would put them in danger?"

"Section 13's not exactly famous for being a low risk working environment, Director. As I recall, your operatives have a habit of being nuked, spaced, shot, stabbed, violently dismembered and or messed up by alien artifacts that people with their limited intelligence should not even be let near to in the first place," Rei discarded the disrespect and just stuck to his silent opinion. Doctor Archer was and always would be an arrogant man with no filter and no appreciation of others. He watched the man pinch his nose and exhale. "I swear to god, requests like these are going to be the death of me eventually," wouldn't that be a damn shame? "I'll send you the finished documents. As I'm sure you know, you'll have to sign them and pass them up to my superiors."

"I will," Rei nodded. "Thank you, Doctor Archer," he repeated.

"Like I said. Less saying, more showing," Archer sighed before unceremoniously cutting the feed and causing the hologram of a man with what was most likely the least likeable personality on the entirety of Cronos Station to mercifully vanish from Rei's office.

Still, it had gone better than expected.

He typed up an order to the specialist he'd previously singled out to due to the lack of an assignment and hit sent. The fact that she was the partner of the operative who'd formed something of a connection with the engineers he was requesting just happened to be an added bonus.

One more situation handled, at least for now.

Just a dozen more to go before the night cycle.


Thirty-Two Minutes Later, 26. March 2417 Cronos Station, Naval R & D Department

Yo-yo looked at the signs on the doors and off-mindedly stepped out of the past of the researchers walking through the corridor of this part of Cronos Station.

343, 345,347,349.

351.

"Here we are," she muttered to herself before coming to a halt. While she had asked herself why she'd been asked to walk all the way down here when nearly every room on Cronos Station could be reached from the communication hub that set right under Section 13's department, she had to admit that the walk had had the added benefit of seeing other parts of the station for a change. She usually didn't venture too far outside of HSAIS's portion of Cronos Station. That was more along the lines of things Morneau tended to do. In fact it had been that habit which had actually led to him meeting the engineers she was supposed to find here. Aiden Ardrey and Robin Wigmore. He'd subsequently spent the better part of three weeks with convincing HSAIS top-bras to allow them to tinker with his gear for the sake of 'increasing operative survivability through the use of unorthodox and unexplored armor modifications in response to new weaponry encountered in the field'.

She remembered that phrase so clearly because she'd helped him come up with it.

It had been after yet another incredibly close but at the same time miraculously injury-devoid brush with death at the hands of a new type of acid ammo mod that had melted his armor down to the undersuit. After five drawn-out review boards, he'd been convincing enough and ever since then, Morneau, with the help of these two people, had turned himself into something of a guinea pig for the continuous improvement of specialist armor.

Given how often he was down here to fix the entire armor or parts of it, it was safe to say that he was the perfect guy for the job. How one person could trash as many hardsuits as him without ever actually getting seriously hurt or dying in the process? She'd stopped trying to understand that the second time she'd thought he'd died on her. Her conclusion was simply that he had the worst kind of luck to always get hit with strange and exotic weapons but also the best kind of luck to make it out alive of those situations with nearly no scratches on him.

But enough of that.

Yo-yo looked at the half-opened door and, after seeing no obvious signs of a bell to ring or a sign saying 'do not disturb' decided to instead knock on it. It felt like the polite way of doing this.

"Door's open. That means you can come in," a man replied from the inside. He sounded Scottish.

She complied with the instructions, stepped through the half-open door and found a cluttered lab with two inhabitants. One was a woman with dark-blonde hair and the other was a man with brown, short, curly hair. Both wore unmarked naval BDUs and lab coats and seemed to be preoccupied with a red-orange sphere being projected from a white podium standing on the table in front of them.

While she had looked through their files on the way down to know who she was looking for, in retrospective Morneau's description would've been more than enough. At least from the first impression, they seemed to be exactly like he'd described them.

"Hi," she greeted, causing both of them to look up.

"Hi," the replied in unison before studying her with their eyes. The woman lowered the tool she was holding and the man set down his tablet. They looked like she'd just disturbed them doing something they probably shouldn't be doing and also gave off the impression that they hadn't figured that she was the one knocking.

"Robin Wigmore and Aiden Ardrey?" she asked, if only to interrupt the awkward silence that was forming in the room. She got the impression

"Yes. That's us," the woman was the first to speak up. "You're Daniel's partner, aren't you?"

Okay. So how exactly had she figured that out?

"I am. How'd you know?"

"Educated guess," Wigmore replied before walking around the table.

"By that she means that he talks about you exhaustingly often," Ardrey added dryly before doing the same thing and instantly getting an elbow jab to the rips from his colleague for his troubles. "It's like you're his only social contact or something. Well, you and that Redford bloke."

"He does?" the brunette specialist asked with a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk.

"He doesn't," the woman responded. Yo-yo's expression didn't change and once Morneau got back from chasing the Shadow Broker, he'd hear all about what she'd just been told. "At least not exhaustingly often. He just mentioned you a couple of times and since we don't get many visitors from your upstairs, I took a shot in the blind. Looks like I was right," she leaned against the cluttered table, somehow without making anything fall down, and went on. "Did something happen to Daniel?" she suddenly asked. It caught Yo-yo off-guard but as soon as the engineer had asked the question, she got why she might think that. Like she had said, they didn't get a lot of specialists down here.

"What? No, no. Morneau's fine," she replied quickly and to the best of her knowledge. While they hadn't talked since the day he'd left for his assignment, being undercover kind of made that impossible, she did get regular updates on his welfare. That was one of the perks of Section 13 being as small as it was. Everyone kind of knew everyone and all of them understood worrying about your colleagues so, despite the technically strict 'zero-information-spread' policy, they were at least informed about the status of their colleagues. "I'm actually down here for the two of you. Something's come up in our upstairs that requires your skills," she added, mimicking their own term for Section 13. It was something she found made it easier to talk to people you didn't know. If you used their language, they felt that you were more familiar than you were and that could get you a long way.

"It did?" the man asked.

"Yes," Yo-yo nodded.

"What do you need us to do?" Wigmore questioned immediately.

Yo-yo looked to the opened door. "No offense to you or your department, but the details will have to wait until we're upstairs."

"Alright," the woman replied before looking at Ardrey. "You got anything to do?"

"If I did, I wouldn't have helped you with your little experiment, would I?" Ardrey replied with a shrug.

"Fair enough," she said before looking back at Yo-yo. "If you get us a transfer pass, we can head out anytime."

Yo-yo reached into the cargo pouch of her own BDU pants, which matched the grey and black digital camo of the marines and pulled out two freshly authorized, bright-red transfer passes for HSAIS's part of the station. Unlike someone with Section 13's security clearance like Morneau, the two of them couldn't just stroll from one department to another without someone asking. "Doctor Archer already signed your transfer," she said before holding out the passes by their lanyards. "So whenever you're ready." They grabbed them and then left the lab.

"Must be quite the something for you to already have those ready," Ardrey observed as they walked back the way Yo-yo had come. He adjusted the lanyard around his neck and looked at the red plastic pass. "Usually it takes quite a bit longer to be cleared for other parts of Cronos."

"It does?" Yo-yo replied.

"It does," he confirmed. "Not everyone can just walk around the place like you lot," he explained. "Around here, that red dagger on your sleeve's basically a VIP pass." Hm. She'd never thought about it that way. "Anyways, how come we got picked for that something? Does it have anything to do with the deal Robin and Morneau made?"

"You ask a lot of questions, you know that?" she countered before they left the R and D department behind them and headed for Cronos Station's internal transit system.

"Comes with the profession," he shrugged. "So. Does it?

"No. It's got nothing to do with Morneau," Yo-yo clarified while wiping her watch, which doubled as her security pass, over one of the call posts of the transit system. Now they just had to wait. She leaned against the railing and looked around. They were pretty much alone, so she'd give them some details now to end the string of questions she was sure would follow if she kept deflecting. "We found something on a colony out in the Traverse, something that shouldn't have been there," she said. "I won't go into any details right now, but you got picked because it's kind of related to something you've worked on in the past."

"That really doesn't narrow it down," the blonde engineer replied. "We've worked on a lot of things since we got here from UMT. Electronics, armor plating, virtual intelligence interfaces, you name it, we fixed it one time or another."

"UMT, huh? So the two of you are from Arcadia?" Yo-yo said, picking out the one part of her sentence that wouldn't require her to circle around the fact that they'd be asked to pick apart a bunch of geth in a few minutes.

"I am, Aiden isn't," Wigmore said before looking at her lab partner.

"Got sent there on a scholarship," Ardrey added. "Originally I'm from-"

"Scotland?" she guessed.

"Aye. How could you tell?"

"The accent's pretty hard to miss," she said with a shrug.

"Only when you're from Earth," he replied. "So what about you? Where'd you come from before HSAIS offered you a job and dragged you off the marble?"

"Hawaii," she responded.

"As in the pacific islands?" he replied.

"Unless there are any other secret Hawaiis I haven't heard of, then yes. Hawaii as in the pacific islands."

"You left Hawaii for Cronos Station?" Ardrey exclaimed with enough disbelief to make her chuckle. "Sunny weather, sandy beaches, surf boards and volcanos. I mean don't get me wrong, I love the Highlands, but your place is basically paradise. How'd they sell that one to you?"

She thought back to the day Alec had shown up on and gave her response.

"Some pretty convincing arguments," she replied. "And besides, not everyone likes surfing. Or beaches."

"You're sure you're from Hawaii?"

"Yup."

"First a Frenchman who hardly speaks French and hates wine and now a Hawaiian who doesn't like surfing or beaches," the man muttered. "Does Section 13 intentionally pick the odd balls? Is that like one of the requirements?" he asked her.

"You're being silly again, Aiden," Wigmore suggested. "Don't mind him. He gets like that sometimes."

"You only say that because you're not from Earth, Robin. If you were, you'd understand why this is so bloody strange. It's like being an arcadian and not celebrating Landing Day."

"Like I said, don't mind him," the dark-blonde woman repeated.

"I won't. I'm used to much weirder," Yo-yo replied before glancing to her left and seeing the tram approach. They still needed to kill some more time so she decided to ask the question that had been on her mind this entire time. "Say. How did the whole thing with Morneau and you guys start anyways? I mean I was around to see him go from one reviewing board to the next to get someone to greenlight the idea of you fixing and improving his armor and getting data from our missions. But he never actually told me how you met."

"Hah. Of course he wouldn't mention that part," Robin replied as the tram came to a stop in front of them and the doors of the automated cabin opened. "Although I guess it makes sense to keep that to himself if he had to get through a couple of HSAIS reviewing boards."

Alright. Things were getting interesting.

"Okay. Now you got me curious. How exactly did you meet?"

"It's kind of a long story," she responded.

"The ride's going to take a couple minutes."

"It's still a bit complicated though and I really don't know if I'm the one who should tell it-"

"Christ. Could you dodge any harder? Just say it already," Ardrey exclaimed with a laugh. "The sleezy bastard hit on her."

Yo-yo snorted in amusement. Alright. Yeah, she could see how that wouldn't make the best impression when proposing an exchange program between different departments. Still, this was too good to interrupt now.

"Okay. Yes. Our initial meeting might have had nothing to do with how things ended up," Robin said after a few seconds of silence. "But that topic's been water under the bridge for years now," she added. "Or rather it's never been a topic to begin with."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that one," Ardrey repeated. "With how often he seems to break his armor, you have to wonder if he does it intentionally, so he's gotten a reason to show up in our lab, don't you?" then he looked at her. "Does he?"

"Oh no," Yo-yo replied. "Morneau's just got very strange luck. It's like he's a homing beacon for exotic and deadly things but whenever they actually hit him, he walks it off like he's the luckiest guy in the galaxy. Or at least that's what I chalk it up to. Whatever the reason, it's definitely not because he's still carrying a torch for you. I've known the guy for fourteen years now and if there's one thing I can tell you, it's that he's definitely not the type who gets attached like that. Hell, come to think of it, I don't think he's ever even been on a second date since he moved to Cronos. So you probably dodged a bullet there," she figured.

For a reason she couldn't place, Wigmore shot her a strage look for the entire second it took Ardrey to declare 'See? That's what I've been telling you all this time!'.

What an odd couple of engineers.

This would be fun, wouldn't it?


Sixteen Hours Later, 27. March 2417 AD, Citadel, Presidium

It had taken four days, two dead-drops with Lancelot to get his hands on classified HSAIS files and a couple of all-nighters but after staring at the screen of his terminal for what had felt like years, he'd finally put together the dossier of Donovan Hock. Now that he was at the point where the resume he'd put together made enough sense of the man's criminal and public career that he could actually take a shot at understanding how it came to be that someone as eccentric as him was an agent of the Shadow Broker, Morneau was starting to feel the nights of sleep he'd skipped.

Maybe he should follow his girlfriend's advice and actually start drinking coffee. He usually only did that during assignments but-

His brain caught up with the mistake instantly.

He was on assignment and Wong wasn't his girlfriend. She was Solomon Gunn's girlfriend.

The specialist closed the terminal, pushed himself away from the desk and looked at his watch. He'd hit the point where he lost focus. If he'd been around people just now, he might've blown his mission to bits thanks to nothing but his own sleep-deprived stupidity.

It was time to lay down.

He got up from the desk and glanced at his watch. Five hours would have to do-

He caught himself again.

Tomorrow was a weekend day in the Citadel Calendar.

Daniel Morneau might've worked on off-days, but Gunn and the Final Wave didn't unless something very crucial came up and since that wasn't the case, he might as well sleep off his stupidity.

He left the home office he'd set up in one of the rooms that he'd swept for surveillance equipment, walked through the hallway of the apartment and fell face first into the cushioned bed of the apartment the Wave had rented to him and without going through his usual rituals of putting things into boxes, dozed off next to Wong, who was once more staying the night.

The little slip-up in his routine turned out to be a mistake as soon as a disfigured, blue creature leapt at him with razor sharp cybernetic claws and in their struggle to kill the other, sent both of them flying off an instable alien bridge alongside another specialist.

He shot up instantly and scanned the room, his breath ragged and his hair sweaty.

Not Akuze.

But not Cronos either.

He reminded himself and rubbed the sleep terror from his eyes.

The Citadel.

The Final Wave.

Solomon Gunn.

Deep breaths.

This usually didn't happen during assignments.

He shook his head and decided to sort things out right now.

Put it in a box and don't-

"Hey. Everything alright?" a sleepy voice asked next to him. "Solomon?" Wong repeated when he didn't reply.

-don't let it rule you.

He closed the lid in his head and looked at her.

"Yeah. Everything's fine," he replied before wiping the sweat droplets off his brow. "Just a bad dream, that's all. You can go back to sleep if you want to," he added more quietly before feeling Wong's arm wrap around him.

He'd had had this dream plenty of times before. But this was definitely a first.

"You don't look fine, Solomon," she whispered. "I get it. If you're not ready to talk about it, then that's okay. But I want you to know that whatever's going on, you can talk to me."

He paused for a second, rubbed his chest where he felt the cold necklace and then, contrary to what the specialist in him was screaming at him not to do, cracked ever so slightly.

"If you do what I do, you lose some friends along the way and pick up a couple of demons instead," he muttered. "Most you move on from. Part of the job and all. But some stay with you, no matter how hard you try and shake them," he exhaled a long breath. "That was one of 'em."

"What was his name?" the journalist asked quietly.

"Alec," Morneau replied instantly before being caught and subsequently highjacked by Callsign Magic. "He was a buddy of mine from the marines," he lied before making the calculation in his head. "Died a couple years back, just before I got out."

"Mhm," Wong murmured, seemingly unsure of how to react. He didn't mind, it played into his hand after the colossal fuck up he'd just allowed himself. "Did you know him well?"

"Knew him long," he replied. "He was friends with someone I looked up to a lot back in the marines. That didn't exactly make things easier when shit went sideways."

"Sounds like you blame yourself."

"Yes and no. I spent a long time thinking I had to. But then I ran into the guy's daughter and she obviously had a lot of questions about it what happened," he remembered. "That talk was," he paused. "It wasn't exactly the easiest conversation I ever had but back then, it seemed like it made things better. Damn demon stuck around though," which he'd obviously chalk up to the fact that the Reapers who'd killed Alec were still very much out there and that he also remembered exactly what he and Redford had agreed to after Akuze. Hence, he knew that he wouldn't get rid of this one until he saw that matter through to the end.

"Did you ever talk to her again? Maybe another chat would help," Wong suggested.

"Ran into her a couple years back," Morneau responded. That was technically the truth, if one ignored the weird contraption that had trapped the N7 or the fact that she'd been pretty much dead and that he had just blown up an Eezo refinery. "Didn't seem like the right time back then," nor had it been possible.

"You ever thought about reaching out?"

"Yeah but I never did," kind of hard to follow up on a conversation when the other party was trapped inside a stasis field. He exhaled and laid back down. Wong followed. "It's my fight, no one else's. No need to drag anyone else into it."

"You know you're not alone anymore, right?"

It sounded nice for a second. But then he reminded himself that Wong didn't even know the real him, nor would she ever.

He looked at the clock, exhaled and closed his eyes.

"I know. Thank you."

Day 176.


Codex: Arcadia

Founded in 2117 AD, Arcadia, alongside Terra Nova and Horizon, was one of the three colonies established prior to human unification under the banner of the HSA. Compared to the unpleasantly humid and hot all-year heat of Terra Nova and the shifting and at times unpredictable climate of Horizon, Arcadia was the most 'earth-like' and stable human colony up to the discovery and subsequent settlement of Eden Prime in 2151. As such, Arcadia, despite its comparatively cold climate of a yearly average temperature of 7° C and slightly higher gravity of 1.4 G quickly became the most attractive of the three colonies, at least in regard to quality of life. While people migrated to Horizon and Terra Nova for work or to escape the overpopulation, pollution and wars that burdened Earth in the early 22nd Century, people who migrated to Arcadia did so because they could afford living there. Due to this, Arcadia, despite being the middle-child, remained the least-populated of the original three colonies. Where Terra Nova became a refuge for settlers and Horizon turned into the second-largest industrial center of human space, Arcadia profited the most from the rapid technological advancements that rocked human society after the discovery of the prothean ruins on Mars. In many ways, it became the inspiration for the HSA's 'model colony' of Eden Prime. A pristine and futuristic urban paradise where technology and wealth seemed to reach a new height every day.

With a population of nearly two billion people at the turn of the 25th century, Arcadia ranks fourth on the list of most inhabited human colonies, only outclassed by Earth, Terra Nova and Horizon and ranking just before Eden Prime. In addition to its wealth, Arcadia is also renowned for the prestigious universities that litter its surface, nearly all of which are the leaders of their fields within the confines of human space.

After three centuries since the first Landing Day, the day the first colony ship touched down on the planet's surface, Arcadia, more than other early human colonies, has formed a distinctive culture made from a blend of the traditions of its original settlers and the new habits of the generations of people born on it without ever having been to Earth before. (See Codex Entry 'Arcadian Culture') Whereas the majority of Terra Nova fully embraced the HSA and its values due to the role the early HSA played in the stabilization of the refuge-based colony and its eventual prosperity and Horizon remains deeply influenced by the Independent Fringe Systems administration that governed it during the Fringe Wars, Arcadia, despite being a founding member of the HSA, has remained remarkably unpolarized by the cultural shifts caused by the abolishment of other human governing bodies. This also expands to the remainders of UN and JDI influence as observed on Earth or Mars. In many ways, the planet could be viewed as an example of how human society could have eventually developed if not for the funding of the Human Systems Alliance on 05.05.2151 AD. Although this claim is still a hotly debated topic in the field of sociology, some scientists, human and non-human alike, argue that the 'dreams of a human hegemony over the Attican Traverse', a phrase that has existed ever since the closing days of the Skyllian Blitz, wouldn't have surfaced if human society had developed more in the lines of Arcadian Culture than the more aggressive ones of Earth, Terra Nova or Horizon.


A/N:

What? An update within a week?

That's right.

Due to shifting units as of tomorrow, I was home a week to see if I get sick before meeting a whole bunch of different people. (Spoiler, I didn't.) ... needlessly to say, I decided to give the lot of you something to do while I (hope) you continue to stay at home (and healthy. If you're not, I hope you get well soon!)

So yeah, thanks to that policy I had 7 days of downtime, which resulted in...

ANOTHER SET UP CHAPTER. YAY!

We actually got to one thing I talked about all the way back in the 60-ish chapters, namely the role that I actually introduced the two navy engineers who made EDI for. They'll be part of the whole Geth Migration plot and while I realise that right now there are some characters who seem to be strangely MIA (Kaidan, Redford, the missing ME2 squadmates and a couple more) ... there's a reason for that. I didn't forget about them, they have a role to play.. we're just not there yet...

We are however getting to the point where things will slowly pick up speed.

Right now the plan is for the arcs to conclude in the following order. (which I don't think I'll shift)

Firstly, the Shadow Broker plot is going to be resovled. This will happen before the Collector War.

Then we'll get to the end of ME2's main plot, I'm sure you can guess where that will happen.

And then, like in canon, we'll cross off Arrival.

In between there, we'll get deeper into the geth plot and... something else you can look forward to and then. In my current plan which is very loose, SV:ME 2 concludes with Chapter 96 and then, after three interlopers, we're off to Mass Effect 3.

So (right now, again it might change) we still have about 19 chapters left before everyone and everything, bolted down or not, is going to get harbingered to kingdom come. I think I already said this WAY back when SV started, but I always felt like the canon didn't kill nearly enough named characters considering that it's a war for the galaxy's survivial.

So yeah.

Enjoy the peace (and cast) while it lasts. A lot of them won't be around when we hit 125 and SV ends. (Even if that's probably going to be another few years, it's crazy to talk about it like that, isn't it? We're officially nearly two-thirds through a story I started to write to improve for an english exam I wrote over three years ago...)

Okay. Enough nostaliga!

For the record, we're at 658 reviews, 1038 favorites and 1140 follows.

See you around next time.