Chapter Four
Commander Shepard and that Asari tart returned back to the Normandy within the hour. XO Pressly had a scowl on his face when he saw Liara walk by. He thought that she was getting special treatment. He had worked very hard to get to where he was however he knew that he wouldn't be progressing any higher. He was one year away from being forced to retire. The Alliance was his life. He met his wife while serving his home world. Commander Shepard, there was a soldier's soldier. She was a regular miracle worker even if she rode him roughly. His drill instructors were more sadistic. Pressly could feel that there had been a change in the winds. They were nearing a precipice and Pressly wasn't sure there was anything to do to slow them down.
"Commander, I must thank you for allowing the crew a fine meal. I have forwarded the bill to your inbox. I was surprised that you had the credits to cover such an expense." Pressly said holding back some smugness. Shepard heard her onmi-tool ping with the sound of a new message. She let out a loud whistle.
"It's a good thing I signed those exclusive deal for finding rare raw materials with Rosenkov Materials and Eldfell-Ashland Energy. Even my Spectre pay check wouldn't cover this bill. Pressly, is there anything I should know before we shove off assuming Joker has my ship ready to go?" Shepard asked her executive officer.
"You have a conference call with Alliance Command that just came in to the communications room." Pressly advised her.
"Thank you Pressly. Tell Joker to get this bird in the air and make way to the Mass Relay. We will then make our way to the Citadel for some well-earned shore leave provided I don't receive some last minute orders from the Alliance." Shepard said as she then walked to the communications room. She walked over to the receiving panel and punched in her ID credentials.
"Commander Shepard, this is Admiral Steven Hackett, Commander of the Fifth Fleet." A grizzled voice spat through the room's speakers. Admiral Steven Hackett was a legend in the Alliance with more medals and commendations than any other active duty soldier.
"Admiral, it is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance." Shepard replied.
"Can it shrimp. Don't make me come down there and put you over my knee just like I did when you were six." Hackett barked out before letting out a big barrel chested laugh. "Zoe, I hate to be the bearer of bad news especially when your crew has earned a weekend leave. This is an emergency request. There are reports coming from the Armstrong Nebula of merchant ships and their protection details being knocked out of the sky. The few human outposts have all gone dark. Normally, we wouldn't send you out on such a call but we already lost two of our own escort ships. I also think you will be interested in the enemy. I'll tell you straight up; you will be facing Geth. I do not have an accurate number but expect at least a platoon." Hackett explained.
"Is there any hint of ties to the former Spectre Saren Arterius? He attacked Eden Prime with the Geth's help. He contracted out Shivka the Butcher to kill my newly acquired Prothean expert. The Butcher had Geth supporting him too. I am guessing Saren lent them out to him. At least the butcher is dead.
Hackett let out a whistle. There wasn't government in the galaxy who didn't want Gatatag Shivka dead. "There is no proof that I know of but my gut tells me that this is not just coincidence. Saren has to be involved somehow. After three hundred years, someone was able to convince the Geth to leave the Perseus Veil. Shrimp, if you can stop these attacks, I'll not only add one extra day of leave for your crew but I'll give you access you to the Alliance's own apartment on the Citadel. It is located in the Tiberius Towers which overlook the Silversun Strip."
"I make sure that we get it done as quickly and as quietly as possible." Zoe responded.
"I knew I made the right call. That stubborn bastard Mikhailovich wanted to send in his own units. They too would have been dropped out of the sky. I almost would have felt sorry for him if he had to write home to all the families of all the men his orders would have gotten killed. I swear retirement looks better every day Shrimp. It's too bad the Council swooped in and stole you from us. I wish I had the power to dishonorably discharge Mikhailovich and promote you to take his place. I swear the powers that be keep elevating career ass kissers to higher rank. Not a brain cell between them.
"Uncle, what about David? I think he would be a perfect candidate for the Admiralty." Zoe said.
"With his stellar service record, he would have already been an admiral under normal circumstances. Just like you, he crossed paths with a certain turian. It's his story to tell you if you don't know it already. Thanks Shrimp for taking on this assignment on. The galactic economy is dependent on the raw materials that are mined in that start cluster. Hackett over and out." The commlink went dead.
Zoe exited the communications room and up to the Galaxy map. She cleared out the old course and plotted a new course to the Armstrong Nebula. The computers estimated a travel time of around fourteen hours at FTL speeds. She then sent the new course up to Joker in the cockpit. She then opened up a ship wide broadcast channel.
"This is Commader Shepard. Orders have come down from Fifth Fleet Commander Admiral Hackett. I am sorry to say that all leave has been postponed until the completion of this emergency mission. We are being be deployed to the Armstrong Nebula to combat the Geth. They are attacking merchant ships and their protection escorts. We have already lost the SSV Kananga and the SSV Blofeld. We will not let another ship be torn out of the sky nor let another young soldier die to the likes of those flashlight heads. When we are victorious, the Admiral has promised the crew an extra day of shore leave. Shepard out." She could hear the whoops and hollers coming from all over the ship at the promise of an extra day of shore leave.
She turned to her XO. "Lieutenant Pressly, I need you to start finding landing drop zones for the Mako. Rayingri in the Gagarin system, Casbin in the Hong system, Antibaar in the Tereshkova system and Maji in the Vamshi system are all planets which have human outposts that have reported attacks. These four planets will be the targets for the ground team. Hackett also informed me that there were also geth ships attacking merchant vessels. That task is between you, Joker and the rest of the crew. Ping the entire goddamn nebula if you have too but I want those fucking geth ships blown out of the sky. Get it done or get off my ship." Shepard said hotly.
She turned to head down the stairs to deck two when she swore she heard Pressly mutter something under his breath. There was something about Pressly that irked her but she just couldn't put her finger on it. She would have to keep her eyes and ears open around him. Since they were heading into Geth controlled space, it seemed like a good idea to have a meeting of the minds with the resident tech experts but first she wanted a quick word with Liara who was currently setting up her office behind the Medbay. She gave a wave to Karin who was restocking the Medbay with the extra supplies they picked up from Arcturus.
She entered the back room and was amazed at what she saw already. Liara had four screens all linked together. Zoe was trying to figure out exactly what her lover was working on but the coding flying across all four screens baffled even her depth of knowledge. Zoe got another wicked idea. Zoe was pretty sure that Liara hadn't heard her come into the room. Those delectable tentacles were calling her name.
If you wanted to get into my jumpsuit, all you have to do is ask me. You are not as stealthy as the ship you command my love. Zoe heard Liara's sweet voice from inside her mind. Was this connection only one way? If it isn't, there were numerous benefits. It is funny when you are trying to figure things out love. You haven't stopped broadcasting since we sealed the bond. Yes, I will keep a digital eye and ear on Pressly. I felt the same animosity come from him. I will have to show you how to mute your mind. It comes naturally to Asari. I don't know how a human will respond. Can you give me five minutes? I would like to join your talk with Garrus and Tali but I am in the middle of a threat assessment for the Normandy's computer systems. I am quite the talented hacker.
Of course love, I'll be in the galley making a pot of tea. Yes I'll make a cup for you just the way you like it too. Two can play at this mental talking thing we have. Zoe walked over and gave Liara a kiss on the lips. Liara shivered as a wave of warmth flowed through her entire body. There is one place on this ship that still needs christening. Meet me in my cabin just after shift change. If I don't see you, we won't get another chance until shore leave.
Ok love I'll see what I can do. The results of the threat assessment came in and I don't like what I am seeing. I'll bring the results with me to the meeting. Maybe Tali and I can formulate some plan to fix a lot of these issues. We might have to hold off on the mission. Geth ships are notorious for overriding their opponent's controls. Most captains don't realize their cyber security has been compromised until their ship exploded because malicious code shut down the heat diffusion systems.
Zoe had a scared look on her face. Could that happen to us?
It would take an extremely gifted hacker to do it without having physical access to our networks, but it is still possible. I've got a few plans forming in my head which you haven't seen yet because I want Tali's input first. I'll teach you also how to mental partition your mind too.
See you soon love. Zoe turned around and made her way to back to the medbay. She could see Kaiden and Ashley sitting at the mess table sharing cups of coffee. Ashley was genuinely smiling once again. I wouldn't mind if you invited young Miss Williams into our bed. I think she could be a real dynamo. I am about to enter my maiden period of life. My sex drive might be too high for one human to handle.
LIARA! Just because I happen to agree with you doesn't make it right. I think it's still too soon for her. Second she is forbidden fruit. Both of us could get reprimands at best and at worst demotions. It would have to be well worth it Li. Third, I'm not truly convinced she is gay. On another note, stop stealing my best lines. It took me forever to come up with them. Zoe then put thoughts of hot tea in the front of her mind as she made her way past her crewmates and into the Galley. She asked the mess sergeant for one Earl Grey with honey and for Liara she got a Chamomile with a pinch of asari Jasmine.
She thanked the mess sergeant for the quick service. By the time, she made it back to the world's slowest elevator; Liara was standing next to the door with a printout in her hand.
"You were able to keep me out of your head for a little bit. I tried to get through but all I could see were cups of steaming hot tea. I was trying to get your attention by sending a memory from earlier today but you were able to keep me out. Training you will be easier than I thought. Thank you again love for the tea. The smell of Asari jasmine does wonders for weary eyes." Liara said as she took the mug of tea from Zoe's outstretched hand. "Is there anything we can do about this elevator? I pressed the button for it a long time ago and it still hasn't ar…" The elevator door opened up loudly.
"I thought a few grenades might do the job. I'll be able to write it off as Krogan Juggling. We will have a new elevator in no time." Zoe said.
"I think you actually could convince Wrex to be careless with a few grenades. Just make sure they are placed in the right spots to only take out the elevator. Then again, I thought the idea of more paperwork would have scared you away from the idea." Liara shot back.
"We all make sacrifices in wartime. I'll trade paperwork for a new elevator any day." With talk of blowing up an elevator, the two riders didn't realize they had arrived in the cargo bay until the door slid open. Liara walked over to Wrex and asked the krogan if he was carrying any grenades. Zoe turned down the corridor and headed to the engine room. She saw Chief Engineer Greg Adams at one of the engine control terminals.
"How is the newest member of your department fitting in Adams?"
"Honestly Commander you must have the Midas touch and a heap of good luck because you picked another perfect fit for the Normandy's crew. Tali is a godsend. In just a week, she has done the work of three of my other guys. She has also increased the engine's output levels twenty five percent and its efficiency thirty five percent. We can go farther and burn less fuel in the process. I have put in the paperwork for an unofficial commendation. I wish I had three more of her." Adams said jovially.
"Are you two available for a brainstorming session I am putting together? I am looking into ways to protect the Normandy from the Geth. As you know, our next mission is taking us in to Geth controlled space. I just want us as prepared as possible." Zoe explained.
"I believe we can spare a few moments. We are just running routine maintenance. I will have to readjust the schedule thanks to Tali's upgrades. If she keeps this up, I'll have to transfer to an older ship with more problems because I'll be too bored here." Adams said.
"I'm going to grab Tali. Why don't you held to the shuttle bay and meet up with Garrus and Liara" Adams agreed and turned away to head to the shuttle bay. Zoe walked over to where Tal's workstation was located.
"Chief Engineer Adams says that you are really fitting in well down here in the engine room Tali." Zoe said.
"Oh Shepard, I didn't hear you coming which is strange because the ship is so quiet. I must have been lost in thought." Tali said sadly.
"Tali, is everything alright? Is there something I can do to make you smile?" Zoe asked.
"I'm ok Shepard. I guess I am not used to how quiet your ship is. Every ship in the Migrant Fleet is patched together with whatever we can find and they aren't the quietest vessels ever made. I'm feeling a little homesick. It should pass soon. Is there something you needed? Tali asked.
"I came to invite you and Adams to a brainstorming session in the shuttle bay along with Liara, Garrus and myself. Our next mission takes us into Geth controlled territory. I need the Normandy at a level of peak performance. I think there is nobody better who can give us an insight into the Geth." Zoe said.
"I would be happy to attend." Tali said. Tali followed Zoe back to the shuttle bay. She could see Garrus, Liara, and Adams standing next to the Mako waiting for them.
"I talked to Wrex about Krogan juggling and he couldn't stop laughing. He then said that he should go into either the home remodeling or heavy machinery repair." Liara announced. Adams, Garrus and Tali had looks of confusion on their faces.
"I was joking earlier about blowing up the ship's elevator and then writing off the accident as Krogan juggling practice. Anyways, thanks for coming everybody. As I explained we need every advantage we can find to fight the geth. Tali wrote a paper on the Geth's ship to ship jamming technology was a good read even if she had to self-publish it." Zoe said.
"You… you… you read my work? I didn't think anybody would have read it. The Admiralty Board didn't give it a first glance let alone a second. My father didn't even read it. He is one of the best minds when it comes to the geth."
"I do my homework on any enemy of mine. For those of you who weren't able to find it see Liara. She was the one who came across the article. What it boils down to is using some of the engine's power to effectively boost the ship's hull shielding. It would look like the ship would be covered in a giant biotic barrier that could stop any enemy attempts of hacking and jacking control away from us. I am assuming though that your proposed solution to fighting Geth ship to ship jamming was modeled off of Quarian ship designs right?"
"Yes, but I should be able to easily redesign something for the Normandy. Your ships are rather straightforward. The issue with any ship is falls down to power distribution and energy management. This experimental Tantalus drive core is quite remarkable I should have no problem making such upgrades." Tali said.
"Forgive me for asking a dumb question but is all of that extra work necessary. We are on one of most stealth vessels in the galaxy. I wouldn't want to tax an experimental drive core if we don't have to." Adams said. To illustrate her point, Zoe activated her onmi-tools experimental cloaking prototype. She started to walk around the room until her cloak ran out of power.
"I saw every one of you tracking each step I made even though I was trying to not make a sound. Nothing truly runs silent. There are ways to track and discover even the most invisible ships in the galaxy. All galactic travelling ships need to use the mass relays. Sensor and tracking buoys are deployed around most of them already. Who knows what the Geth were able to do to the ones in the Armstrong Nebula? I am planning to be ready when we get discovered. Garrus, that's where you come in, have you had a chance to evaluate the ship's weapons systems." Zoe asked.
"The Normandy is equipped with what I expected. A GARDIAN laser defense system with automatic targeting can handle almost any enemy out there. There isn't much I can do in that department. The lasers don't need any more power unless we upgrade which come with a severe pricetag isn't worth it because of our superior stealth systems. Not to mention that Joker is one of the best helmsmen in the galaxy. They may or may not find but my money is on Joker to out fly them." Garrus said.
"So there is nothing more superior right now then our GARDIAN lasers available on the market?" Zoe asked.
"There have been rumors about being able to element zero cores into some sort of laser cannon. I don't think the rumors are true at least not yet." Garrus explained.
"It doesn't even seem feasible without dumping an exorbitant amount of credits into R&D. I would be second in line Garrus. I'd be right behind you. That cannon would put a serious hole in even the Destiny Ascension. Our current weapons should be able to defend us if we get detected. Adams, what's your take on all of this? Are we able to make these upgrades and still have the Normandy at full power if necessary?" Zoe asked.
"I've being looking at this from another way since your cloaking demonstration. Say they detect us; their normal tactics are to jam our communications and sensory arrays. Forgive the outdated analogy but short of them shooting a harpoon at us so that we are tethered to them, if we remain radio silent and have the stealth systems active then how are they able to hack us? The Normandy is quite secure in its cyber security." Adams inquired.
"Forgive me Chief but you are wrong once again. At the commander's request, I performed a threat assessment to the Cyber Warfare & Defense Suite. There are numerous ways for the geth to hack the ship even if we are running radio silent. Any external sensor is a vulnerable point in the eyes of the Geth. To be completely safe from external hacking attempts, you would have to render Joker and the rest of the flight support crew blind. The best solution is to overhaul the entire system. Since we don't have the time or money to do so, I have taken the liberty of designing some anti-virus boosting software. It will work for now but I would consider overhauling the system when we get the first chance."
"Go figure, never let government contractors ever build anything. Let us place our soldiers' safety into the hands of the people and companies who low balled the government." Garrus said. There were sounds of agreement from around the circle.
"Tali, let's work on your idea. I would like to implement it but I don't think there will be enough time properly field test it first. Let's at least start making designs and blueprints. Garrus, just keep an eye out of the GARDIAN system and make improvement where you can. Adams, I want to thank you for the input. You'd be surprised how many don't ask the stupid questions and then have to suffer the consequences for not asking them. Keep me informed of your progress with our experimental engine. Liara, I want you to make this ship as impervious to cyber-attacks as possible. Give me a list whatever you need and I'll find the funds that you might need." Zoe said as a pinging sound came from Liara's omni-tool.
"I am afraid you are going to have make another course change. In our haste leaving Therum and the Artemis Tau cluster, I forgot to deactivate and collect my relay and system monitoring buoys. They picked up an Alliance emergency distress signal coming from the Athens system within the cluster which my ship's VI just alerted me." Liara explained.
"VI, I need an emergency word with Admiral Hackett." Zoe called out.
"Right away Commander. I should have him by the time you reach the comm. room." The ship's virtual intelligence responded.
"Everyone return to your posts immediately." Zoe said as she and Liara ran towards the elevator. Zoe punched the button hard but the door still took forever to close. Three minutes to go ten feet was outrageous. Liara went back to her new office as Zoe charged up the stairs and into the communications room. The VI must have already opened the commlink to Fifth Fleet Command.
"Shrimp, what's going on? I just talked to you about an hour ago. It's meal time here." Hackett said somewhat annoyed.
"I just picked up an emergency Alliance distress signal coming from the Artemis Tau cluster specially the Athens system. Who from the Alliance was in that sector? I thought I was the only one." Zoe said worried.
"As far as I know your ship was the only ship of ours anywhere near that nebula. I am as in the dark with this as you are. I will put the order out to hold all shipments in the Armstrong nebula for the immediate future. How soon can you clear up this emergency?" Hackett inquired.
"Factoring in travel time, about a solar day. As soon as I know something you will know it." Shepard said.
"Good, keep me informed Shrimp. Hackett out."
"Joker, cancel that last course I sent you. Take us back to the Artemis Tau Cluster. Target is the Athens system. I want us there ASAP. We've picked up an Alliance emergency distress signal."
"Aye Aye Shepard." Joker fired back.
Joker and Pressly were able to triangulate the distress signal to the planet Edulos in the Sparta System. There was nothing Pressly could dig up in the Normandy's codex about the planet. According to the Alliance databanks, there hasn't been an official survey until the Normandy arrived. That was all well and good; Shepard was questioning why in the Goddess's name who somebody be on this planet let alone set off a distress beacon. The outside air was a tolerable negative one degree Celsius. Even with these hard environment suits, a soldier could still feel the cold.
The Mako had no problem on the surface so Edolus. It was relatively flat. Tali was keeping watch over the engines and shield systems while Garrus manned the weapon systems. She brought Wrex along because she wasn't a big fan of odd numbered groups and it was always funny trying to see Wrex fit in the tiny cargo area of the Mako.
"Commander, Chakwas here. There is something eerily familiar about the surface you are travelling on. It's the same kind…" Karin couldn't finish as she was interrupted by Garrus.
"SPIRITS!"
"What's the matter Vakarian? Ain't you ever seen a thresher maw before?"
"Tali! Boost the shields. Everybody hold on! I'm taking evasive maneuvers." Shepard cried out. Thank the Goddess for magnetic restraint systems. Shepard drove the Mako in a way that the designers never intended it to go. She had up on one side then had Garrus fire the cannon on the side of the ground where the wheels were. The whole Mako was barrel rolling through the air. Shepard maintained the roll by using the thrust rockets with precision timing. Garrus was able to get a cannon round off thanks to the tank's automatic targeting system.
"I'm going to pull the Mako behind that little hill. I'm going to hop out and then Wrex is going to take my place either that Wrex or you can always come with me."
"It's been a long time since I killed a Thresher Maw on foot. You're on Shepard. Loser buys the first round of Ryncol." Wrex said with chuckle.
"You can have that gasoline and goat piss swill all to yourself, I'll stick to my mojito because I have no intention of losing." Shepard said as she pulled up behind the mound of dirt. She and Wrex hopped out the back of the Mako. Garrus took control of the driving. He set the weapons to full automatic control. He gunned it out from behind their hiding place. They didn't want to give an opportunity for the Thresher Maw to burrow back down into the ground and launch another sneak attack.
The mound was about 90 meters away from the Thresher Maw according to her sniper rifle's built in range finder. She had activated her cloaking shield as she lay prone. She saw The Mako just making circles around the Maw. Shepard loaded her rifle with polonium rounds. They were extremely toxic against large organic creatures. She slowed her breathing and steadied her hands. She took one last look down the barrel of her rifle. She was ready. The Mako made one last past in front of her. Just after the Mako left her vision, Shepard squeezed the trigger. The polonium round impacted the Maw in the center of its head. An explosion of inky black blood rained down from the massive exit wound. The maw slammed down in the ground hard before the unseen bulk of its body pulled the maw back under ground.
"I was this close to winning that bet Shepard. I think you owe me a drink anyways. I was the only one who was running straight for the maw. You sat behind and just pulled the trigger." Wrex said sarcastically.
"The bet never had that type of stipulation. First one to take down the bastard wins. You just took your sweet time. Besides, Tali and Garrus are having to patch up the Mako after that caustic maw acid ate through our metal plating. Those two are the ones who deserve the drinks and I will gladly pay for them." Shepard shot back with a smile.
"Fine, you couldn't afford the finest Ryncol anyways and this Krogan only drinks the best."
"You earn it and I'll gladly pay for it. Come on it's going to be awhile before they are able to pick us up. We are only about forty five meters from the beacon. Beat me in a foot race and you can have that expensive bottle of ryncol all to yourself." Shepard said as she took off running while laughing all the way.
"No human has ever beating a charging krogan in a foot race before and I'm not going to be the first one." Wrex said as his adrenaline kicked in. He shot past Shepard. She wasn't going to tell him that she wasn't going full out. There was a footlocker hidden in the shuttle bay full of the finest ryncol. She knew that one day it would have come in hand.
It took less than thirty seconds for the two squad mates to reach the beacon. There was an M-29 Grizzly with severe damage to the outer plating. A few small plumes of smoke were escaping which meant there was a fire somewhere in the belly of that old beast. What the Grizzly lacked in agility and speed, it made up for in firepower. The only way a Grizzly could been taken out by a thresher maw was by a sneak attack with the maw striking the exhaust tubes with an acie spit attack.
There were four bodies lying on the ground outside of the Grizzly. The Alliance had a policy that no soldier was left behind. She had to identify the victims so that their next of kin could be notified. It was a sobering reminder of the realities of her job. It wore on her more than she would have liked to acknowledge. Her enlistment contract was coming up for renewal and lately she was having serious second thoughts about renewing her contract. Somehow the thought of motherhood had crept into her head. She wanted to be a mom more than she wanted to be a soldier. The problem was that she doubted the galaxy would ever let her step way from its problems. Since nobody else was willing to fix them, it had to be her. Yet the thought of holding a little girl in her arms was a hard image to hide away. Reality set back in as she reached the first body.
She rolled the body on to his back. The name plate said D. Cooper. Every soldier wore ID tags. They were probably under all that armor. She didn't feel like taking off all that armor herself.
"Shepard, this distress beacon is so generic that I'd wager none of the serial numbers match each other. These soldiers didn't activate this beacon and we weren't the first ones who responded to it." Wrex said.
"I had a feeling it was something like that. The grizzly is normally one hell of a fighter. It's one weakness is its speed. I am guessing that a secret strike from behind shut down the propulsion system leaving the crew dead in the water." Shepard surmised. "Shepard to Normandy, please rendezvous with us here on the ground. We have four Alliance casualties. I need Chakwas and a few volunteers to assist with recovery. We will need ID confirmations as well."
"Roger that Mako. ETA about five minutes." Joker replied back.
Zoe made her way over to the next body. There was a bubbling black mass where the stomach used to be. She was no expert but it looked like a maw acid strike to the gut. Nothing the Alliance made standard issue could withstand maw acid. The name plate read V. Valenzuela. There were a few Coopers in the Alliance but a Cooper and a Valenzuela together in the same unit. These men were under Admiral Martin Kahouku. Uncle Marty was her father's best man when he wed her mother. She didn't even have to look at the other two bodies. She already knew that Neville Arlington and Sebastian Roxbury were also among the dead along with Victor Valenzuela and Dennis Cooper. They were known as God's Warhammer; the deadly tank crew the Alliance had.
"Shepard to Chakwas, please go to channel nine and then radio me back." Shepard said as she switched channels on her radio. Channel nine was reserved for secure communication.
"Chakwas here Commander go ahead." Karin said through the radio.
"I'll need DNA to confirm but they are all al Uncle Marty's men. God's Warhammer was struck down by a thresher maw. The men were lured there by a fake distress signal from a generic untraceable beacon. This was either a sick joke or some sort of evil experiment. I am grasping at straws here Doc." Zoe said worried.
"We will be there soon to recover the bodies. Do you want to break the news to Martin yourself or would you let the Brass handle that." Karin inquired.
"I would rather he not be informed at all. This seems to be to a set up. His stubbornness is legendary. He would end up getting himself killed because he stuck his nose in where somebody didn't want anybody to look. I believe he is on the Citadel for that two weeklong conference on something I can't remember exactly what. I will meet up with him after we finish the Armstrong Nebula mission. Tell the crew that this mission just became classified." Zoe intstructed.
"Roger that Commander, I will inform XO Pressly of the status change. We will be there shortly. Chakwas over and out." Karin said before closing the channel.
Love, I'm sorry to inform you that someone on the Normandy just sent an encrypted email off of the ship. It is quite possible that word of the discovery has just left this ship. I wasn't able to stop it in time. I was able to narrow down where the message originated. Somebody used the secure workstation in the Medbay to send off the message.
It couldn't have been Karin. I can't believe that she would ever betray me. There was a long pause in between thoughts.
We were both right love. Karin's workstation was hijacked by malicious code. Somebody was using an untraceable remote desktop application. Tracking down whoever send that email just got harder.
Scan the entire ship's surveillance system. Make a list of anybody on an omni-tool. They just became suspects. Where did the email go after it left the ship? Were you able to track down a destination?
Yes, but it's not looking promising. It tracks back to an email address for a company called Blue Reclusive SRI. It's some sort of money laundering operation based on Noveria.
Li, don't take everything you find at face value. A bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy says that your company doesn't even exist. Maybe there is hidden meaning to that company name. Hell it's probably an anagram. Try running it through an anagram…
You were right love. Out of the almost forty thousand possibilities, one stands out in my mind. It is an anagram of Illusive Cerberus. Aren't there rumors about a secret black ops group inside the Alliance called Cerberus?
There are rumors but I don't know if they are true or not. I bet they are though. It was probably started within the Alliance but is more than likely outside of the Alliance's purview now. Keep up with figuring out who sent that email. I would like a name as soon as possible.
Be safe love.
"Shepard, are you there?" Wrex seemed to have been trying to get her attention for a few moments. "Hey squishy pyjack, I'm taking the helm away from Joker."
"Do that and I promise, you will be on the first flight to Tunchunka. I know you are thrilled about going home. Have the toxic gas clouds finally dissipated over your home world yet?" Shepard shot back.
"That's a low blow Shepard for someone who is likes to play by the rules… most of the time."
"Threatening to take over my ship away from Joker merits a drastic response. If you were in my shoes you would have told me to go to hell. Now do you want that bottle of ryncol or not." Shepard knew that mentioning the ryncol would have gotten Wrex to shut up. She could see the Mako was finally repaired and was making its way over to them. "Shepard to Garrus, we are waiting for the Normandy to land here. We have four dead Alliance marines here. We don't have the right equipment or the room to be able to transport the bodies back to Alliance Command."
"Roger that Shepard, we will be with you momentarily. Whoever designed the armor plating never took into account thresher maw acid before. More than likely, the Alliance just went with the cheaper armor. Is there funding for the good stuff. I believe Kassa Fabrication just put out a new set of Tank Armor mods."
"Send me a request and a price quote but you might have to play some quasar to raise the funding."
"Shepard, you know I am terrible at that game. Even with that gift from Doran, I ended up losing my shirt.
"It was only luck that kept you from losing Shepard's shirt too. Although I wouldn't have minded seeing Shepard without a shirt, you Garrus are nothing but hard lines and scars. Beauty comes with curves." Tali chimed in. It was lucky that they were on radio instead of talking in person. Shepard was blushing hard she heard Tali's comment. Tali was right because Tali had curves.
"Let's keep this civilized people. I can see the Normandy making its approach. Let's mount up and get out of their way." Shepard said as the Mako pulled up. Garrus opened the hatch and switched back to the gunner's seat. Shepard climbed back into the Mako with Wrex on her tail. She got back into the driver's seat and was about to drive towards the Normandy when she looked at the digital map. There was an anomaly to the north east of their current location that the Normandy's computers couldn't identify. "Shepard to Normandy, we are going to investigate the anomaly we are reading on the surface map. It should take no more than twenty minutes." Shepard instructed. Joker radioed back his receipt of the order. It took the Mako five minutes to reach the anomaly they had spotted on the terrain map. It looked like an ancient escape pod or early space vessel. Zoe pulled up alongside the capsule.
"I want you three to secure a triangular perimeter of fifty meters each. We have already faced a thresher maw today. I don't want any more surprises." Garrus, Tali and Wrex all voiced their comprehension. "Move out." Zoe ordered.
Zoe was first to arrive at the capsule. It was rather small that even a volus would feel crammed in there. She waved her onmi-tool over the capsule. She was running diagnostic scans to estimate its age and who might have built it. She couldn't believe what her omni-tool was telling her the capsule was over five thousand earth years old. It was also telling that the capsule was possibly early Asari technology. She kneeled down to assess if there was any chance of opening up the capsule and salvaging anything that was inside.
She found the ancient Asari design beautiful in its simplicity. She pulled out her trusty combat knife and popped off the power panel. A few commands to her omni-tool and a jolt of electricity shot out. It was similar to an old CPR machine. She aimed her shockwave at the capsule's battery cell. Even after five thousand years, a little bit of electricity works its illuminating magic. The capsule roared back into life with flashes of light and chirps of sound. Her omni-tool seemed to be trying to interact with the capsule. Zoe pulled up a few security measures to prevent against any intrusion. Five thousand years or not, nobody was breaking through her firewalls.
A series of commands later, Zoe heard the hatch to the capsule unlock. She pulled open the capsule door. There was a hiss of pressurized air that escaped from hatch. It surprised her that even after about five thousand years, the Asari build things to last an eternity. She was right. This wasn't any sort of escape pod. This was some sort of data cache. She had no idea why this capsule was here but she intended to find out. Inside the capsule, there were no internal computers or anything that would be able to hold untold amounts of data. There was a medium sized storage metal box that was secured down by a strong magnet.
Zoe shifted back to the power control panel. She fired another overload into the panel more powerful than the last one. She needed to fry the internal wiring to the capsule in order to override the magnetism that held the box in place. What she wasn't counting on was that her overload would have started a fire within the wiring. She acted quickly, the box still carried a magnetic charge but Zoe was able slide her combat knife up under the box and popped the box up free and clear. The smoke started to fill up the capsule. Zoe had the box in hand as she pulled back, the fire erupted. Her three squad mates came running when they saw the smoke billowing out the capsule.
"SHEPARD! Are you ok?" Tali screamed through her vocal communicator.
"I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine." Shepard said as she slowly got back to her feet. The box was surprisingly heavy for such its small size. She lugged it over the ground and over to the Mako. She told Wrex to load it up into the small cargo area then told Wrex to climb up on the roof of the Mako. A chill rain down her spine when she saw his full smile, he couldn't have been happier. They arrived back at the Normandy within five minutes. By then, the rest of the Normandy's crew packed up the dead and set charges to both the Grizzly and the untraceable distress beacon. Shepard drove the Mako up into the shuttle bay into its docking port.
Ashley, Liara and Kaiden were waiting outside in the shuttle bay near the armory. They were stunned to see Wrex riding on top of the Mako with a huge smile on his face boasting that this was the only way he wanted to enter to battle again. Wrex jumped off the Mako and landed hard on the titanium plate deck. The extraordinarily strong deck shook with the krogan's excessive bulk. He went to his storage locker and started to remove his gear. Apparently krogans had no shame. Kaiden couldn't help but sneak a peek at the naked krogan. He struggled to keep his jaw locked closed instead of on the floor. Wrex was huge bigger than Kaiden's fore arm and just as thick. Kaiden was gay but still hadn't told anybody on the Normandy yet but he was sure others had their own suspicions.
Kaiden knew he wasn't the only one who gay on this crew. Of Shepard's crew, he was pretty sure only Wrex was straight. Then again, Wrex was the uber male species of the galaxy. Who knows what really goes on behind a krogan's closed doors. Kaiden wouldn't mind finding out. He knew that both Ashley and Tali carried torches for Shepard but Shepard was already taken. She tried to hide it from the crew but Kaiden's workstation shared a wall with Shepard's cabin. He had seen Liara sneak in last night. He didn't hear anything but a few muffled thumps. The Alliance wouldn't take these liaisons lightly if word ever got out. Luckily, Shepard was protected by the Council for the time being. Speaking of his commanding officer and personal friend, she was the last to get out of the Mako. Tali and Garrus had followed Wrex over to the storage lockers. They at least had common decency unlike their krogan counterpart.
"Skipper, what went down on Edolus?" Ashley asked with a concerned tone.
"At this point Ash, I can't say exactly with one hundred percent accuracy what happened down there. It looked like those marines were lured there by a fake distress signal which was set right on top of a thresher maw's nest. Their Grizzly was rendered stationary with a direct hit to the propulsion unit by the maw's acid spit. They were sitting ducks. The maw's acid chewed right through the armor plating. They were all under the command of Admiral Martin Kahoku. I would like to personally break the news to him myself. Until then, I am issuing a blackout to all personnel."
"Understood, Commander," Kaiden and Ashley both responded.
"Thank you for your understanding guys. Please report back to your posts and start prepping for our mission to the Armstrong Nebula. Dr. T'soni, would you remain behind for a moment?" Zoe said as she saw Karin giving her a subtle nod that she wanted to speak. Liara nodded. Zoe waved Karin over to the Mako as she climbed back inside. Liara would have been confused if she didn't have the inside track to Zoe's inner most thoughts. Karin was no stranger to tight quarters but it had been some time since she was in a front line troop transport vehicle. Zoe closed the hatch to the
"You looked like you needed to speak urgently to me Karin. I take it you found something." Zoe inquired.
"Yes, I believe insidious is a better word to describe my findings. Now, there are few things in the galaxy more painful than exposure to thresher maw acid. Those soldiers would have felt intense pain either by absorption through the dermis or intense scarring of the lungs from inhaling the toxic vapors the acid gives off. I found neither the burns from skin absorption or scarring in the lungs meaning…"
"…that they were already dead before the maw could finish them off. The plain we found the scene on was very flat and all we could find were our tracks and the tracks of the Grizzly." Zoe said.
"As I could have told you if you hadn't interrupted me, the marines were killed by an expert marksman from a considerable long range. The exit wounds could have fooled most examiners at first glance as maw bites. This was a very powerful rifle you are looking for. Yes, Zoe, to answer your unasked question, the marines were under the command of Uncle Marty." Karin said sadly. As a teen Zoe looked up to her uncles as much as she had to her father.
"Shit, this just keeps getting worse. Karin, somebody hacked your workstation and made it look like you sent a highly encrypted email while we were on Edolus. I know for a fact that you were by Joker's side at in the cockpit. You are a genius when it comes to medicine but absolutely pants when it comes to computer systems and writing sophisticated encryption programs. I believe we have a mole inside our ship." Zoe said.
"I've narrowed it down to one name love and you already had suspicions about him. He may not have an omni-tool but that datapad of his never leaves his hands. I subtly got control of it and was able to figure out that he sent the email. I would advise not confronting him just yet. He might lead us to whomever he is working for." Liara said.
"I didn't think Charles was capable of serving for anything other than the Alliance. He probably has the Alliance's logo tattooed right above his rectum." Karin said with a smirk.
"I don't think he would go outside of the Alliance let alone to another species. I felt that wave of intense dislike radiating off of him when I was first brought aboard. He is most likely reporting to someone high up in the Alliance. I would advise caution around him and the people who work directly under him. He holds a lot of influence over most of the crew being that he helped Anderson in staffing the ship. I am pretty sure Pressly has eyes and ears all over the ship which is why I wanted to hold this little meeting here despite its tight quarters." Zoe said.
"Why would you want to hold this meeting here if you only wanted to hear my findings we could have done that back in the Medbay." Karin said.
"It is because of this," Zoe said she pointed to the shiny metal box secured in the cargo hold. "I found that inside of a capsule a few hundred meters northeast of the beacon. It was the anomaly our surface scans picked up during our first orbit around Edolus. My omni-tool was able to approximately date the capsule that the box as being around five to seven thousand Earth years old and was identified as being early Asari technology." Liara perked up when she heard about what Zoe's omni-tool had discovered.
"What you are looking Zoe is an ancient Asari data capsule sent out by one the first Asari matriarchs. These are priceless artifacts to my people. The knowledge that resides within is protected by mechanisms that haven't been used in thousands of years because they are very hard to crack without destroying what on the inside. Zoe, I want to open this in your cabin. I need the privacy and calmness your cabin provides." Liara requested.
"You shall have whatever you need Li. Be careful though if what you say about the box is true then you have your work cut out for you. I will personally escort you and the box to my cabin and seal you in. Nobody but you could probably break my encryption anyways." Zoe said as she released her sniper rifle from its magnetic holster. The rifle extended automatically as it left the holster. She opened the hatch to the mako and climbed out. She walked over the armory and stored her rifle and side arm with Ashley. When she returned to the Mako Karin and Liara had exited the tank and they had made their way to the world's slowest elevator.
The elevator ride aside, they parted ways with Karin as she headed back to the Medbay They didn't run into anybody on their way back to Zoe's cabin. Liara asked if Zoe could look after the box while she ran back to her office to get a few things. Zoe was tired it was closing in on a twenty hour day. She was supposed to drop off her armor down in the armory so that Ash's apprentice could look over and clean it but she was just too tired to strip down in the cargo bay. Her armor and her clothes were strewn all over her cabin as she made her way to the bathroom. Under a minute later, she was under the stream of hot water. It soothed her tired muscles and made her feel sleepy. She left a note for Liara about how to set up the cabin's security system. She didn't want her lover to stay up into the wee hours but there was nothing she could say that would stop Liara from trying to solve a mystery. She told Joker to resume their trek to the Armstrong Cluster and that Pressly was in charge if any problem arose.