Chapter 6 - Debriefings and Complications

A/N - Another shout out for my beta, for putting up with the sheer number of grammar mistakes and poor word choices. Also for putting up with my requests that they hurry up and finish so you all can get to enjoy more of the Pathfinder's antics.

Put up a poll on my profile, asking what kind of training he should do next. It will be up until I get 'enough' votes, or need an answer for further story missions. Head on over, toss a vote, help the Eldar decide how to focus his future training.

'Blood for the BLOOD GOD!' - Most common chaos battle cry.

Edit (26 Oct 2017): fixed some grammar mistakes, typos, and a lore problem.

Anderson stood in the mess hall, staring into the medical bay of his frigate, and rubbed his forehead. Commander Jaclyn Shepard stood beside him, watching her twin with barely contained impatience. Dr. Chakwas had her hands full even with the ship doctors from the patrol fleet, trying to keep two severely wounded individuals, Jenkins and Nihlus, stable, while also trying to figure out what happened to Joannis Shepard. They were currently sitting in the Normandy, which was docked at the spaceport where the beacon had been moved by the geth, though for what reason, Anderson could only guess.

Anderson and Jaclyn were the only two in the mess hall, with most of the crew either busy helping move extra supplies from the local garrison to the ship, including a few handfuls of geth weapons that they had scavenged from the last few fights, or helping clean up the signs of combat. The rest of the patrol fleet, arriving a half hour after Joannis had been rendered indisposed by the beacon, were busy either securing the star system or helping the colony.

Anderson shook his head. "What a mess. How are you holding up, Jaclyn?"

Her immediate answer was a flicker of her biotic aura, before she took a deep breath. "Been better, sir. Not enjoying not being beside my sister. Feels weird, being awake when she is unconcious. Want to be in there beside her, but the docs need the room I would be taking up. How is the colony doing?"

He knew she was trying to distract herself from her twin's condition, and sighed. "The civilians are mostly fine. They had enough warning to get everyone under some kind of cover. Civilian casualties are ridiculously light, considering we think the geth dropped at least a thousand troops, and had air superiority for at least ten minutes before the ships pulled out.

If you mean the local garrisons, though…"

He glanced at a datapad in his hand, and sighed again. As the highest ranking office with the most time in grade, he had the responsibility of reporting to command exactly how bad it was. And it was bad. "The 212th is literally gone. Other than the wounded marine you found in scientist camp near the dig site, and Chief Williams, we have enough casualties in their area of operations to account for the entire unit. All two hundred and forty eight of them.

"The other three infantry units aren't much better. The 213th is at a quarter strength, and the 214th and 215th are both at a third, and that includes the critically wounded that might not be fit for duty again. And no one above the rank of service chief survived from those units.

"The 1152nd Armored was also wiped out, all twenty makos gone as well as their barracks, hangars and service structures, most in the initial air strike that wiped out most of the main military facilities. If it wasn't for that early unknown sensor contact…"

He shuddered at that thought, they would have been hit while trying to scramble everyone, or even while they had been unaware. Eden Prime wouldn't have had any Systems Alliance defending it, and the civilians would have been relying on smuggled guns and whatever they could grab from the wreckage. The geth would have likely massacred them all. So, for that, their… unexpected guest could at least be thanked.

That thought made Captain Anderson glance at the mess hall holoscreen, but the unknown was still where he had been, right beside his vessel. It had glided in and parked in the landing bay next to the Normandy, and then the two had stopped moving. He had even put most of his weapons away, though he still carried that strange over-under handgun and his sword. He still wore that camouflage cloak, though now it wasn't blending into the surroundings.

Still, the video feed reminded him of the real reason he had come down, and turned to Jaclyn. "I need your report on the mission. I know you would rather wait and do it with your sister, but command needs it ASAP."

She gave him a reluctant nod. "Video, typed, or verbal?"

He gave her a sympathetic pat on her shoulder, glad she was out of her armor, even if she still had her Talon side arm. "Verbal, at the table, though I need your helmet camera's recording."

She immediately brought up her omni-tool, and sent the requested file, as they headed to the table and he continued talking. "Most of it is pretty cut and dry, especially with the recordings. While I will need a written report later, we can just hit the 'high' points with the verbal. First, Jenkins. What happened? Two minutes off the frigate and he comes back looking like he got bombarded and then run over by a hovercart."

She quickly and succinctly described their advance from the frigate, how they had come across the path, and how she had indicated, through hand signs, danger ahead, and ordered Jenkins to cover to support the rest of the squad's advance. And Jenkins had walked instead of storming to the cover, as was proper among the N class operatives. Anderson nodded, and added a note of seeing about adjusting basic training to teach recruits how to properly cross possibly hostile areas. Especially areas where enemy snipers might lurk.

"Next point, Nihlus. Spectres don't usually come back from missions with bits of pre-fabs sticking out of them."

His comment got a flicker of a tiny grin from her, before she described the last fight with geth units, and how the area had been cleared, and the group had dispersed to find the last of the demolition charges, Nihlus in particular heading to a security substation in the landing port. How the juggernaut and rocket trooper had blown out the wall to get him, and the resulting fire fight until Ashley had started doing her best to plug holes with medi-gel and using omni-gel to immobilize the pieces that had impaled him.

Anderson simply nodded, and waved the Chief off as she entered the room and started toward them. "Next, Joannis. How did she get alone to interact with the beacon?"

Jaclyn flushed with anger, but Anderson knew all of it was for herself. "I received word from Alenko that he had found a survivor in the security substation, though he was fading fast. We had just cleared the last of the husks from the landing pad the beacon was on, so she dismissed me to go, as I could get there faster than here."

She paused, looking at the medical wing with a frown as the doctor from one of the patrol fleet said something to Dr. Chakwas, who quickly headed over to Joannis. Jaclyn forced herself to stay sitting as Dr. Chakwas frowned, before saying something, but didn't look overly concerned by whatever they had noticed. Anderson coughed to get Jaclyn back to the briefing. "So, you got to the shack and...?"

The N7 operative shook her head, before brushing her hair back and answering. "I found Lt. Kaidan Alenko trying to keep a local security guard lucid and stable, but he had been shot at least four times, and wasn't completely awake or aware. He managed to tell us about a turian attacking the station, and how he had said that 'when you get to your filthy hell, tell them Arterius sent you,' before shooting the other guards in their heads. Only reason he wasn't was because he was half buried under a fallen terminal, but this Arterius still shot him in the gut twice. His light civilian armor didn't do anything to stop the rounds.

He heard Arterius then ordered the mechs to wipe and destroy everything. At that point the security guard blacked out, but came to during our big show down with the geth. The demolition bomb had been placed in front of him, protecting him from most of the errant rounds, but also meant Alenko didn't find him until after disarming the bomb and he started checking the bodies."

She took a quick drink from her glass. "The security guard had managed to pull a streaming copy of the security tapes onto a stand alone OSD before the geth had come in, so we got a copy of everything until the Geth performed the wipe. The guard managed to point me to the OSD, which he had either tossed behind one of the terminals or it had gotten thrown there while the geth had attacked the station, and then passed out again. The lieutenant couldn't keep him from expiring soon after. Too much blood loss and trauma according to lieutenant Alenko. At that point, I heard Joannis scream in pain, and ran back out to the beacon to see her floating in front of the beacon and the unknown just watching from the side. As the noises from the beacon reached their highest, the unknown shot the beacon once, causing the it to drop Joannis and deactivate."

Anderson had been frowning for nearly a minute at this point, but before he could get her to go back to confirm something, his omni-tool chimes an alert. A priority message, from one of the ground teams. He sighed, and ended the recording of the debriefing. "Sorry, Jaclyn, we will have to do this again later."

He answers the channel, letting his irritation into his voice. "What is it?"

The security detail on the other side sounded a bit nervous. "Sir, the unknown just… have to say 'attacked' servicewoman Draven. Need orders."

He blinked, and immediately turned to the view screen. Which showed the unknown still leaning against his vessel, having not moved. He growled, and stalked to the elevator, heading for the hangar. "Private, on my way, don't attack unless he draws on you. I don't want to start an incident with an unknown race.

Jaclyn, stay here, keep an eye on your sister."

He entered the elevator, and grumbled at the speed. Why it took longer a minute and a half for the elevator to crawl from the mess hall to the hangar, all of seventeen meters, he would never understand. Sure, engineers could talk about safety standards, conflicting eezo fields, and loose magnetic plates all day, but it still didn't explain the slow speeds. He stalked out of the hangar and onto Eden Prime a minute and a half later before looking around for the problem. Servicewoman Talitha Draven was on the ground holding her head with Caroline Grenado checking on her, and all five of the security detail were pointing their Lancer rifles at the unknown, as was lieutenant Alenko. The unknown was still leaning against his vessel while sitting on a crate, seemingly unconcerned with the multitude of weapons pointed at him.

Anderson sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose, before marching over to Kaiden. "Lieutenant, report."

Alenko stepped back, behind the line of marines, and kept his pistol aimed. Anderson noted the unknown's head turn slightly toward him. "Sir, I was with the marine detail, doing final checks on the perimeter before turning it over to Corporal Palnik, when servicewoman Draven suddenly screamed. None of the marines or myself saw the unknown move, but he was suddenly behind Draven, one hand on the back of her head. Once he let go, she collapsed, and he walked back over to his seat, and hasn't moved since. Servicewoman Grenado has been checking her."

"I did not attempt or desire her injury. I simply required some minor assistance, which she provided."

The voice was surprisingly... flat and monotone, though slight inflections made the evenness of the delivery that much more unnerving. All of the heads present turned, and stared at the unknown. "You understand me. Good."

Everyone blinked at that statement, before the unknown turned his head back toward Anderson. "Now, you are in charge correct?"

Anderson blinked at the rapid change in conversation, before trying to regain control of the situation while still being polite. "I am Captain David Anderson, in charge of this vessel. As the ranking Systems Alliance officer, I formal offer greetings on behalf of the Systems Alliance, and hope that there can be peace between our peoples. But what did you do to my enlisted?"

The figure had been in the process of jumping down, but at Anderson's statement, they had froze in place. The only noise was the sound of protesting metal as the crate the figure had been sitting on slowly deformed under the pressure of their grip. Anderson could feel their eyes boring in his despite the helmet and wondered what he had said. After a moment, the figure seemed to relax slightly, and finished jumping down. They landed lightly but gracefully, their movements almost like a dance as they wove between the marines. They moved so fast and fluidly that Anderson heard several of the marines swear as they tried turned, trying to keep an eye and their weapons on the unknown.

The unknown stopped in front of Anderson, making the captain suddenly realize this being was almost a head taller than him. While his voice remained as emotionless and even as before, Anderson could feel anger radiating off of him. "We shall see, mon-keigh."

The figure stepped back, and gave a strange bow, before straightening, though Anderson couldn't shake the feeling he was being mocked. "I am Arlas of the Eldar race, of Craftworld Ae'Imedra. I presume you desire to present me before your… leaders?"

Anderson stared in confusion at the… Eldar, he had called himself, wondering how he knew that. Most of the crew had no idea about the beacon, let alone the second orders. After a moment, he realized it was obvious that someone would want to talk to the Eldar, and nodded. "Yes, assuming you are not going to assault any more of my crew."

He watched the eldar nod. "Very well, I will have my ship land in your ship's hangar bay, and I require to stop by the ice planet. I wish to determine the status of my primary ship and its crew."

Anderson nodded, before watching the ship gracefully back into the Normandy's hangar, the eldar stalking up into the bay behind his ship. He watched the eldar for a moment, before waving to Lt Alenko. "Stay near him, just to keep him out of trouble and keep the others away from him. And try to politely keep him out of any sensitive areas."

He watched the lieutenant jog after the alien, and shook his head. "Marines, back inside, two by the ramp, two by the stairs in the CiC. Once offworld, the ramp pair are relieved until the next shift. Gernado, is Draven able to be moved, or do I have to turn the mess hall into a temporary med bay?"

Servicewoman Draven answered his question. "Just a headache and some dizziness sir. I can work."

He gave the woman a calculating look before nodding his head. "Alright, but let your section chief know about the incident."

Anderson watched the two head up the ramp, before sighing and heading back inside. As he got to the top, the ramp sealed shut with a hiss, and the security detail headed for the lift. A quick look around showed Lt Alenko at the back of the eldar ship, his face carefully neutral. As Anderson walked past the vessel, he couldn't help but notice that it floated nearly three meters off the deck, instead of resting against it like he expected. He wanted to sigh in frustration, but he had been sighing enough already, and more would disrupt the morale of the crew. So instead, he simply diverted to Alenko, to see what was going on.

Alenko reported without needing a prompt. "Came into the bay, jumped up into the back of the vessel, and then sealed it, sir."

Anderson stopped and looked up, before looking back at Alenko. "You mean to tell me he physically leapt three meters into the air?"

Alenko had a look of mild disapproval on his face, but nodded. "Yes sir, without a biotic aura, either."

That earned a reflexive sigh of annoyance from Anderson, which at least removed Alenko's frown for a moment. At least until he grimaced slightly in pain. Anderson gave him a sympathetic nod. "Implant flaring up again?"

Alenko frowned harder at being caught, but nodded. "Yes sir, but I can-"

Anderson cut him off with a slash of his hand. "No, you go get that treated. Knowing you, you have probably been flaring since before the mission ended. I can wait for our visitor. Not like we can move with his vessel unsecured anyway. That is an order, soldier."

Alenko reluctantly nodded, and Anderson made a quick call from his omni-tool. "Jaclyn, to the hangar. Yes, I know you would rather wait for your twin, but I need you down here. ... No, I just released Kaidan to get something for his migraines. ... Yes, I have the unknown on board, as well as his name, race, and the name of his homeworld. … That is why I need you down here. … No, no need to armor up, besides, from what chief Williams told me and I saw on the videos, armor didn't seem to do much to slow him down."

A voice from above him interrupted. "You do not need a guard. Especially not one of the twins while the other is injured. What do you need, Shipmaster Anderson of the Systems Alliance?"

Anderson looked up, and spotted the eldar sitting on the edge of the rear bay of the vessel. "Nevermind Shepard, unless you just want to keep me company."

An outsider would hear that Jaclyn Shepard had a choice but in reality it was actually a code phrase that meant the opposite. He killed the comm line, and looked up to see the armored figure shrugging at him. "Your choice, Shipmaster Anderson. Now, what do you need? You are clearly standing outside my vessel with a reason."

Anderson had the feeling his 'guest' was being entirely sarcastic, despite the complete lack of emotion in their voice, and only tiny inflections, often on the wrong syllable, but he quickly discarded off the feeling. "Several things, actually. First and foremost, we need to secure your vessel before we can leave. Second, this is my vessel, and we need to discuss rules. Third, I am attaching a guard to you to prevent anyone from causing an incident."

The eldar looked down at him, before nodding. "That is agreeable. My ship is already secure. I see no harm in an escort if they are not inside my vessel. What are the rules you mentioned, shipmaster?"

Anderson glared at the eldar, but kept his voice level. "It is captain, not shipmaster. First, don't attack the crew. Second, don't go where the escort says you can't go. Third, if I tell you or your escort asks you to leave an area, you leave. This is a warship, and I would rather not risk you getting killed before you can meet our leaders."

Arlas simply sat unmoving, as he replied with that emotionless voice of his. "As I said, this ship is secure, and can not move without either my or my second-"

The eldar used a word from his own language, apparently not finding one that he liked in the human's, before continuing like he hadn't swapped languages. "- allowing the movement. I doubt your primitive attempts to move my vessel will succeed, regardless of what you do unless you damage my vessel. As for the other rules, I see no reason to object, though if someone attempts to force entry onto my vessel, I can and will return the largest pieces back to you. And I have no wish to meet your leaders. I am a scout, here to see if it is safe for the rest of my craftworld. Being given lies and fabrications by your leaders will not assist in that objective. Travelling on a warship is likely the best chance to complete my assignment."

Anderson simply stared up at the Eldar, before pulling up his omni-tool. "Joker, Anderson. Get us into orbit, and set a course to the planet Nirvana. Our new guest wants to see something there. Take it easy, at least until orbit."

He cut the comm as Joker acknowledged the order, and brought up a different screen on his tool. The screen displayed a schematic of the Normandy, and when he tapped on the display, it zoomed in to the hangar. He tapped a few keys, and against at least four regulations that Anderson knew of, cut the mass effect safety field in the hangar by half. That meant things would have closer to their normal mass, and would strain against restraints and slide around the bay if not secure. Regulations required things to be lashed down enough to resist movement while they had no reduction of the mass, so the only thing that should have moved was the vessel idly floating above him.

Instead, he watched the eldar simply stare down at him, not moving even a fraction of a centimeter, while four crates, several weapons, and the mako began sliding about the bay. Anderson glared at the loose items, before restoring the mass effect safety field and looking up at the unmoving vessel, actually looking it over for the first time, and the first thing that struck him was the fact it barely fit in the hangar. Next was the shape, an inverted triangle, with two gentle concave indentations to either side of the cockpit, under which was a massive barrel. On each wing was a scoop and grate covering them, and further from the cockpit were two point weapons, probably for engaging other fighters. He could see two fins above the six massive engines on either side of the lander's bay door. Anderson realized had distracted himself and turned his attention back to this eldar. "Alright, you vessel is secured. Now, how did you do that?"

The eldar shrugged, a surprisingly human gesture and then lept down. Anderson watched as the eldar took the three meter fall with barely flexed legs, indicating either some absurdly powerful muscles, or that his suit did more than it appeared at absorbing impacts. "Gravity tethers, usually used to dock it in locations where the curious would not look for it."

The eldar seemed to stare at Anderson for a moment, before walking around the vessel, idly pointing out things as they talked. "The vessel is a landing craft. Designed to move troops from orbital vessels to ground combat theatres with aggressive and significant hostile presences, before returning to its vessel to duplicate the procedure. This particular model is modified for extended patrols in unknown space. It is able to move up to fifteen individuals in addition to a hovercraft and is armed to counter whatever is blocking the vessel form landing. It also can stay on station and provide heavy air support."

He, and by now Anderson had seen and heard enough, despite the almost monotone voice, to guess the eldar's gender despite not seeing the face, turned back to him as he finished pointing out the weapon points. "Perfect for a warrior who might find himself wandering far with no other ship. Mostly useless for a diplomat. A larger vessel for long ranged movement and a smaller for landings and meetings would be far more sensible."

Anderson quickly realized that the eldar was revealing a lot of information, but what he wasn't saying was equally important. "Fair enough, I will pass along your… request to remain, but it will be up to my superiors. And they will want to… learn more about you and your people before they would even consider such an agreement."

Anderson frowned up at the large landing craft, before turning back to Arlas, with a question. "What kind of weapons do you use? If they require ammunition, replenishing unusual types of projectiles will be a problem."

The eldar simply turned back and nodded slightly. "I have the means to provide additional ammunition to all of my weapons. As for what types of projectile weapons, I have plasma, laser, and projectile based weapons, as well as a few your people wouldn't recognize as weapons yet. But, you have things to be doing in the present, shipmaster. And questioning the new alien is one for later."

Anderson gaped at the alien as he ran a hand across the vessel, just barely able to touch the bottom most points of his 'Raider' without stretching. The only thought running through his head was, How did he know that?

Then the alien turned, nodded to him, and tapped the side of his helmet, before heading up to the nose of the craft, and idly picking up one of the unsecured weapons, snapping Anderson out of his startlement. He turned to the lift, and hit the call button, while bringing up his omni to send out a page. "Requisitions Officer Rowley, this is the Captain. Report to the hangar, you have loose equipment littering my bay. Then report to me in the CiC."

Anderson pushed the button for the second floor, bypassing the weapon systems, weapon range, and gym deck, before leaning against the wall, enjoying the feel of cool metal against his forehead. It only lasted a minute, and by the time the elevator doors opened, he was the picture of a captain in full command of his vessel. He was most certainly not a confused man trying to figure out what his command or that alien wanted or what he was going to do now that his mission was in shambles.

Arlas finished doing the mental exercises that would eventually expand his psychic abilities, and stood up. He had done them twice in the last few hours, and was deciding what to do. A simple relaxation of his mind allowed him to 'sense' what was going on in other parts of the ship, but to truly understand these mon-keigh (he was using the second lightest meaning of the word), these humans he had found, he would have to interact with them. He was an outcast and used to moving among them when necessary, so it wasn't as much of a problem for him. But he could fully broadcast his intentions and emotions, and it seemed not one of these humans could even dimly sense him. Of course, that did give him the opportunity to enjoy himself at their expense…

He jumped down to the deck of the hangar while contemplating how best to amuse himself. A glance showed one of the female humans nearby in what he guessed was a 'casual' outfit, despite its coarse makings and lack of colors, along with another one near the elevator in their idea of armor. Heavy enough to make them too ungainly to dodge, not heavy enough to stop even lightest of rounds, or even provide decent coverage. Their shields altered that formula a bit but not enough in his opinion. After all, that one… turian, according to his new language, had been impaled by building material in spite of his shields and armor. And he had been at least four meters from the explosion, more than enough to dodge, though that problem might have been because of biology rather than equipment.

He stepped onto the elevator and pushed the top most button, wondering why the humans had a 'mess hall' and didn't just clean it was beyond him. He knew what they meant by medical, almost as bad as an ork painboy, but what a CiC was, and why it was spelt that way was beyond him. He knew he wasn't going to be allowed on the 'Weapon Systems' deck though he was confused by what a gym was; his current procured memories didn't provide enough information. A farseer might have been able to psychically acquire an entire language, with context, from several beings at once at range, but all he could do was get parts of it from one after nearly touching them.

So he was a bit surprised to step out of elevator into a surprisingly clean hall, instead of a mess. He examined the room, ignoring the dozen and a half humans in it staring at him, before noticing a staircase to both sides. The captain's mind was further above him, so Arlas headed for the stairs ignoring the stares and shock from the crew members in the not-mess hall. Of course, he was wearing only his black and red chest plate and helmet, as well as his dark grey mesh bodysuit, so perhaps he shouldn't have been surprised.

When he arrived at the next landing, and the entire crew of that room turned, Arlas sighed in the privacy of his helmet, and made a note to wear the greaves when dealing with the prudish mon-keigh. They apparently hadn't reach the emotional maturity to not let lust consume them at any given second. A glance to the back of the room where he could feel the captain, showed another armored human outside the door blocking the entrance. He frowned at the sight until he opened his mind a touch more, trying to see how far from the ship they were, and heard the spirit crew.

He turned and headed for the cockpit just as someone started speaking over the ship systems. "Joker here, would someone let our alien freeloader know that we have arrived over his wreckage? In case he wants to yank the rims or something?"

Arlas had lengthened his stride, quickly closing the distance to the pilot who he could hear further down the main chamber. The entire structure made little sense to him. The ship was tiny and contained no divide walls he could see to isolate a hull breach, and yet these humans acted like it was an impressive vessel. Many felt pride just from getting to serve on it, and some had minds that felt aged and experienced for a human.
The outcast eldar was vastly amused to get right behind the pilot as he spoke of whatever rims were, and then tap him once on the top of the head, hard.

The unnamed pilot immediately yelped in pain and flinched away from the hard tap. "Ouch. Dammit Morkopl, I told you holyhell!"

The pilot had turned, and looked up into the black and red colored helm, with glowing dark red optics. The human clearly hadn't expected him to be actually in the room, much less immediately behind him. He frantically looked around but relaxed when he spotted the escorting marine a bit further down the hall, before glancing up and down at Arlas. "Um, don't know if you noticed, but you seem to be half dress. Uh… sir."

Arlas was projecting amusement that no one could sense, sadly. It would make playing jokes on the crew more enjoyable. "I am dressed appropriately for the situation. You are being prudish, possibly borish, maybe even disrespectful. We can leave, I have already confirmed what I need."

The pilot gaped at him as the eldar turned and walked away. And it was true, all he had needed was to reach a distance where he and the spiritseer could converse psychically, and with the Raider providing a booster, he could reach hundreds of thousands of kilometers with his thoughts instead of just a couple kilometers. The orders relayed were simply: keep what was left of the ship safe from interlopers, stay 'alive' for a given value of the word, and repair what they could. He had a vague idea of using some of the local materials to try and repair the ship, but had no idea where to find another wraithbone seed large enough for a proper sized ship other than the one inside the Raibh Karun that had formed the ship.

As Arlas headed back to the stair with the slightly bemused marine following, the captain came out of his conference room. His expression was neutral but the projected emotions proclaimed he was not happy. That such an emotional emotional state like that existed was odd to the eldar, but these humans were blessed with less intense feelings, like their relatives back in the original universe. Arlas dismissed his curiosity and desire to know and turned to the captain. "Captain Anderson. I have done as I needed, and we are free to leave."

Now the human ship master was radiating confusion as well as his other emotions. "But we just…"

Arlas was glad he had decided to keep with the nearly monotone voice, as he had been carefully lifting what he could from the humans while coming up. It made an amusing game, even if he didn't get much from it but practice. "I contacted my remaining crew before coming to the… bridge, I believe the human term is? Either way, they replied they have their situation well in hand, require neither outside help or interference, and will repair the ship as best they can. Attempts to approach will result in their firing upon the interloper, though you may get as close as two kilometers on the ground, or fifty kilometers in the air."

The confusion was now consuming the human captain, as was his curiosity. "So, you ship made an unpowered crash landing upon a world with minimal atmosphere and extreme cold, is missing multiple sections of hull, and require no help?"

Arlas was glad for the helmet, and nodded. He was truly enjoying the feelings he was getting from the crew and captain. The captain shrugged after a moment, clearly giving up and nodded. "Fine then. We are done here. Joker, get us to the Citadel. We have people, beacons, and evidence to hand over!"

Arlas tilted his head to the side very slightly, allowing himself a question. "Evidence?"

Anderson stared at him for a moment before nodding. "Follow me please. You were involved, so you will likely be asked questions about what happened, what you saw and what you were doing there in the first place."

"Crashing, machines, and killing. In whichever order suits your needs."

His emotionless but pithy got a flicker of amusement from the captain but no response. He led the way down the stairs, ignoring the whispers as they left and led the way straight into the room opposite of the medical room. Anderson stepped around a desk and took a seat, waving his suddenly glowing wrist at the display on it and then tapping on something. Arlas took a seat as he waited, earning a glare from the marine and confusion from the captain as he started to wave toward the chair. "There was a chair. Therefore, I sat. If I was not meant to sit, there would be no chair."

The captain actually allowed himself to smile, before waving at the marine. "Private Olgan, wait outside."

After the marine stepped out of the room, radiating discontent at the order, the captain continued opening his orange glowing wrist technology. "All I need, in regards for evidence, is what you were doing on the planet, and why you were fighting the geth, sorry, machines."

Arlas shrugged and gave a clinical description of his reversion to real space, describing it as an 'uncontained failure of the reversion mechanism' just to see if the captain would roll his eyes. He did not and gestured for the eldar to continue. Deciding to be professional instead of amusing himself, he gave a clinical, technical, but understandable description of the fight and the events leading up to it, as well as his actions during it. He knew most of it was already known, but Anderson was apparently trying to ensure every aspect of the fight was covered. He found it quite curious.

Before he could finish the fight where he met up with the linked humans, however, the pilot pinged the captain. Anderson sighed and tapped the glowing wrist thing. "Sorry, please wait one moment.

"What is it Joker?"

The pilot was quick to respond. "Sir, the hospital ship just arrived around Eden Prime. I can micro-jump us back, to drop off the extra docs and Jenkins."

Anderson nodded out of reflex, despite not being able to be seen by the pilot. "Do it, and let the doctors have whoever they need to move him over. Have Commander Jaclyn oversee it. Once Jenkins is handed over, head to the Citadel, best speed."

Arlas waited until the pilot confirmed his orders, before inserting a couple questions of his own. "What is the glowing orange device on your forearm? And what is the Citadel?"

Arlas ignored the feel of the ship pitching about as he waited on the human. Captain couldn't reply before Arlas felt the ship lunged forward, and he reflexively grabbed the edge of the desk. Anderson had a confused look, but as soon as the eldar realized he wasn't actually moving he let go of the desk. The human stared for a moment before hesitantly asking, "Are you alright?"

Arlas took a few seconds to respond before carefully nodding. "Yes, though it seemed as if the ship lunged for a few seconds there. What was that?"

Anderson stared at the eldar for a moment, before apparently dismissing his confusion. "Us going to FTL, sorry, faster than light. As for this," he waved his arm with the orange glowing device, "it is an omni-tool, basically a small computer with a variety of uses. And the Citadel is the center of civilized space, the heart of the galactic civilization. Built by our predecessors, the Protheans, and claimed by the… actually, you will likely get a full history, whether you are a scout or diplomat or even desire it, when we arrive."

Arlas gave an emotionless snort of disdain that he doubted the human would be able to understand before standing up. "Anything else, ship master?"

Anderson looked up and nodded. "Two things. First, it is captain, not ship master. Second, if that under suit is all you are going to wear, keep your... hip and thigh armor on. Last thing I need is someone starting an incident because of hormones."

Arlas let himself give a dry chuckle, which seemed to shock the captain more than anything else he had done or said so far. "Very well, captain. I believe I can manage that. If you need me, I will be in my vessel."

About twelve hours after dropping off Jenkins, Jaclyn received a call from Dr. Chakwas, informing her that Joannis was finally awake. She had been meditating in the gym, unable to stay calm in the cabin she shared with her twin, and pacing the various halls of the ship had been only upsetting the crew as she radiated annoyance and fury. Being without her twin always made her feel punchy, at least more so than usual, but when her twin was injured and she was fine…

She had been relieved to hear that Joannis was finally awake and quickly walked to the elevator. One infuriatingly long elevator ride later, though it only took a couple minutes to get her to the mess hall, and she headed for the medical bay. She immediately spotted Dr. Chakwas and that one soldier from the planet, Ashley Williams, talking for a moment before Chakwas headed for a table in the mess hall and Ashley leaned against the nearby wall. Jaclyn headed for the doctor, pausing only to note that her sister was speaking with the captain through the med bay window. The turian, Nihlus, was still on his bed, but the extra pieces had been removed from his armor, and he seemed to still be unconscious but was breathing fine.

But she wasn't worried about the turian, she was concerned for her sister, though a few minutes of watching her through the glass, talking with the captain convinced her that her twin was mostly fine. Unhappy about something, judging by how much her arms were moving, but she hadn't crossed them yet, which meant Jaclyn didn't have someone or something to kill. The captain appeared like he was going to talking to her for a while, likely getting her information about the engagement to append to the report. Seeing that her sister didn't need her immediately, Jaclyn turned and headed to the doctor.

Doctor Chakwas was an older woman, though with humans now living to the one hundred fifty mark regularly thanks to gene mods and medicines and one hundred without the mods, actually guessing someone's age was a difficult proposition. She was a down to earth woman, and one of the few doctors Jaclyn had no issues going to when she was feeling below the weather, which was more than most other doctors could say. Almost like having a mother on the ship. Still, she took a seat opposite doctor Chakwas, and nodded to her. "Doctor. How is Joannis doing? She looks fine, but irritated."

The doctor smiled. "She is fine, though she was having odd eye movements right before she woke up. The irritation might be because the captain is informing her about the colony, or the main culprit."

Jaclyn shrugged. "More likely who was responsible. A shame that security guard didn't survive, he could have pointed a solid finger at this Saren Arterius. Kind of hard to find turians with their quills on the sides of their heads, and also a fake left arm. That he is a Spectre with history with the captain is only going to make this harder. And the security footage is spotty at best. Modest quality, bad angle, no sound..."

She didn't feel at all guilty discussing the details. The problem started with the fact that people could do a basic extranet search just fine on their own, and several marines had been present when lieutenant Alenko was first debriefed. When the lieutenant had dropped the name the security guard had mentioned during the debrief, the captain had responded with the first name reflexively and the marines had been paying attention. A basic search of the name immediately brought up a massive list of sightings, reports, forum posts, and other information about Saren Arterius, including the fact he was a Spectre and an absolutely ruthless bastard to everyone that wasn't a turian. While the results hadn't been formally recognized by the Council, it had gotten the rumor mill cranking. Sadly, the mill had gotten most of the details wrong, and to stop people from sending bad information back home, the captain had shut down outbound comms without his expressed permission, and then set the record mostly straight.

So now she was sitting here, idly talking to the doctor, before the captain finally finished the interview, and dismissed Joannis. Once he left, Joannis left the med bay, and paused to talk to Williams. It was only a few sentences, a comforting hand on the shoulder, and then a smile and a quick exchange of salutes, before the gunnery chief left in a far brighter mood than she had been waiting in mere moments before. Joannis watched with a quiet smile, and Jaclyn could only envy her sister's ability to calm and soothe people with so little effort. She could rile them up and make them panic, but neither was really whole without the other. Just seeing her sister was balm on her worries.

Then her twin came over, sat down beside her, and the galaxy was right again. Not a word, not a glance, she just sat down, and suddenly everything was just… right. She let herself close her eyes and just bask in the feeling, knowing it was going to be lost soon, as they returned to reality and began trying to figure out why a council Spectre, with geth assistance and the largest vessel she had ever heard of, had attacked a human colony world for a prothean beacon and then just left it there. And then she heard someone chuckling softly, and opened one eye to glare at the doctor, unaware that she had leaned over to bump her shoulder against her twin's.

The doctor met her glare with an amused stare. "I do believe that is the most calm Commander Jaclyn has been since she has gotten back on the ship, Joannis."

Her twin had the gall to laugh at her, causing Jaclyn immediately began plotting revenge. But she did admit it was nice to finally relax. Her twin couldn't resist ruining the moment however. "Come on, we need to get up to the bridge. Captain wants us to tell Joker to bring us in, and then wants the ground team ready to meet with Ambassador Udina, in our blues, not armor. Not that we need them to be dangerous. The captain went to inform the alien about our arrival.

"Now let's go get ready. We might be in for a busy day."