For once, the lights were off but the light that hazily streamed in was sufficient for her purposes. Daro had gotten so accustomed to keeping her lights low and her room dark - after all what was the point? - that she'd forgotten what it was like to open her windows. There never seemed to be a point to do anything else with them except to shut everything else out. But now?

Well, she found the breeze to be rather refreshing. Daro'Xen didn't even bristle at the idle noises and chatter that filtered in through the open window now. Hell, she barely even noticed them. If anything, the background noise served as its own little symphony. It was evidence that quarians were alive and well and dreams were coming to fruition. Curiouser was the smirk - no, the smile - that she wore. It was the first full and genuine smile that she'd worn since…well, she couldn't even remember the last time. For once, there was no malice behind it, no reveling in the misfortune of others. This time she wore it strictly for herself.

And it was because of Tali'Zorah.

The little…admiral had come through for them. Again. First her Pilgrimage had been a wild success, and now this. Begrudgingly, Daro had to admire her. Tali had moxie, and she just delivered. She got things done. Whether or not those things - or how much of them - could be attributed to her human, Daro couldn't care less about. Whatever it was, she simply produced results. More and more, Daro was grateful that Rael had died when and how he had. She reckoned that the bosh'tet would have somehow held his daughter back, and of course she would not have become an admiral, and then she would not have stalled the war, and Shepard would likely not have shown up how and when he had. Playing out the various ways that one changed event could have affected so many others was, Daro knew, an exercise in futility. There were simply too many variables, and it could drive one mad to ponder them. Be that as it may, it did not stop her from noting the good fortune that it had provided.

But after watching Tali and Shala leave, she was mildly concerned that the young admiral would simply leave, as far-fetched a proposition as that seemed. After all, she could not really discount Tali'Zorah's dedication to her people, certainly not anymore. Even if she had remained on Earth for what Han considered to be "far too long", Daro was long past caring about such trivialities anymore. There were far more important things to focus on now. Although, she quietly wondered if, had she been in the same situation as Tali'Zorah, if she would have put her duties and people on hold as the young admiral had done for her supposed saera. It was an opportunity that seemed unlikely to come her way. At any rate, she knew that Tali didn't like her - probably couldn't stand her - but that simply made Daro respect her more. Hell, Daro herself hadn't really liked any of them, either…but they managed to get along - relatively speaking.

She chuckled softly, remembering Han's limp defense of Rael. Tali had shut him up as well. At the very least, it was all rather entertaining.

What a strange day.

But it was time to get back to task.

Turning her attention back to the monitor on her desk, Daro'Xen resumed her search.

In her research this morning since their meeting had ended so spectacularly, she had found it surprisingly difficult to find information regarding the Novarra and the events involving Shio'Leth. As for the pilgrim himself, he was relatively insignificant - not that Daro considered any quarian to be such a thing. His parents were simple people - his father worked security and his mother was a botanist aboard the kid's birth ship Novarra. He was born in 2162 and was just another standard quarian adolescent when he had left on Pilgrimage. His education performance had been good, but nothing remarkable. He appeared to have been a reasonably skilled scientist and researcher and could have found a home on any number of ships under Daro's command. According to reports, it was his return that had been the problem. As the admiral read the report from the ship's captain, Jakin'Leria, he had come back from Pilgrimage without an initial offer from another ship to join. Apparently, it was during this time between ships that he had done the unthinkable.

Searching for more details, she tried to find the captain's current ship, since the Novarra was no longer under his command. Maybe she could ask him a few questions - hopefully he would remember some details since his report had been so damn vague. Tapping a few keys to run through the database, she waited patiently for the search to complete.

"What did you find there, kid? And why were you apparently exiled?" She took a sip of her kinnul root tea, enjoying its mildly bitter flavor. While she waited, she sent a quick message to the team lead at Research Center 7 to send Veetor'Nara to her office as soon as possible.

A few moments later, the search completed with a soft beep.

She looked at the screen unbelievably. "Just my luck," she muttered.

Jakin'Leria was dead.

She scanned the entry for details.

"Hmm, transferred to the Kisara right before the offensive against the Geth…Kisara helped destroy three Geth frigates - you put up a hell of a fight, didn't you? The ship was lost due to…you're kidding me." She slammed a fist down in anger.

The Kisara had been destroyed due to friendly fire - just more wasted quarian life.

Continuing with the report, an investigation surmised that the Geth had disabled the Kisara's drive core and the kinetic barriers. Effectively adrift, the ship had stumbled into crossfire from the Idenna. Two torpedoes later, and the ship had ceased to exist.

Daro groaned in annoyance. "So, back to the start then."

She drummed her fingers against the table, waiting for the cogs in her mind to click. Another idea hit her.

"Hmm. Well, what about his parents?"

Returning to Shio's entry to link to his parents, she found entries for them both: his father, Hago'Leth, and Brita'Leth, his mother. She scanned further and closed her eyes as she inhaled a slow deep breath. Otherwise, she was going to absolutely lose it.

Hago'Leth vas Novarra: *MISSING*

Brita'Leth vas Novarra: *MISSING*

Both apparently had been on a shuttle delivering supplies from the Novarra in the Argos Rho system during the tail end of the Reaper War. The Novarra had escaped an apparent Reaper attack, but the shuttle had not been recovered.

"Why were you both on the same shuttle, you bosh'tets? Damn it…"

A dead end. Again.

Grimly, she thought about the other project that she was about to foist onto one of the ships of the Patrol Fleet. She was sure that Shala would offer no quarrel. The situation involving Shio's parents was precisely why she wanted to recover, or at least ascertain the whereabouts of, the thousands of missing quarians now that the war was done. The quarians needed them back. There were too few of them as it was, and certainly too few for her purposes.

Maybe, if she could track down their personal logs…

She queried a search for both of their personal logs from late 2184. Daro let out another annoyed groan. The estimated search time was at over two hours. She shook her head. While being an admiral had granted her a certain priority level when it came to utilizing their limited network capability, apparently it could only go so far. Other items must have been given higher priority, considering that she had been able to conduct multiple relatively obscure searches without issue.

She took another sip of tea through her induction port.

Pomii had better hurry up.

"Admiral Xen wants t-to see me?"

"That's what the message said, Veetor."

Veetor'Nara was very confused, and his stuttering glances around the room showed it. He had planned on simply going about his day like any other. He still had 9 hours to his duty shift, and he wanted to spend every minute of it here with his algorithms and tests and models and -

But Elan'Shiya had told him that staying in a routine for too long was also unhealthy. She had said that he should "embrace" change, because it wasn't always a bad thing. He had tried to - keelah, he had tried - but the truth was that he liked his routine. He found comfort in it as a way to silence some of the more vocal doubts that would often scuttle through his mind. But like his friend (and doctor) had said: sometimes changes were good. It offered variety to his life. And variety kept things interesting.

But his work was interesting enough.

"O-okay. Thank you. May I be excused then? I w-will be back later to complete my w-work."

Tella, the supervisor, shook her head. "Veetor, you have been putting in too many hours as it is. I expect you to go home after you speak with the admiral."

"B-But -"

"No 'buts', Veetor. Consider this to be an order. And the only ones that will countermand them will be coming from Admiral Xen herself."

Veetor hung his head. He didn't want to go home. He liked his work, and when he was home it was too easy for him to think of all of the things that could - that would - go wrong. A breach in his suit that he couldn't fix, or maybe he'd trip and fall off of one of the sheer Rannochian cliffs that often adorned the outer roads. Perhaps he would come home and Elan would be gone, tired of his incessant neediness. But if it was an order…

"O-Okay, Tella. I will…I will see you tomorrow."

"Good. Now go see the admiral," she said with as much warmth as she could muster. Tella watched him skeptically as he began to gather his various datapads before pausing - clearly debating his next action. "And Veetor?" He turned his head to face her. "You do good work here; she's probably noticed just how good. I'm sure you'll be fine. Now go. I'll see you tomorrow." In the end, and without a reply, he shakily put the datapads back onto the table and gave Tella an uncertain look before shuffling past her toward the lift to take him back down to ground level. Thankfully, he was alone for the ride down from the seventeenth floor.

Which gave him time to think.

What could he possibly offer the admiral that had spurred her to ask for him personally? Yes, he knew he was doing good work, and he thought he might be on the right track with some of the Geth's initial suit ideas and theories. Hell, he had even begun corresponding (via message, not in-person, of course) with some of the immunologists that were working on adaptations. If they could coordinate their work, they might make some real progress. Even so, he was just Veetor. He was the weird kid that no one liked to talk to, picked last for the games at school, and ostracized because he never knew what to say on the rare occasions when he was actually spoken to. He was just the kid that wanted to go to a quiet little human colony to be able to help and be out of the way.

He wasn't anything special.

Stepping outside into the sunshine of another warm and dry day, he made his way timidly through the throngs of other quarians on as direct a path as he could muster toward Admiral Daro'Xen's office.

When Veetor arrived at her front door, Xen noted that it had taken him exactly 12 minutes and 17 seconds to arrive after Tella had informed her that he'd left the office. She smiled. 12 minutes was a very good time. It only reinforced her belief that he was indeed a "good kid". Keelah, did she like him. He had potential; maybe not as an admiral or some other "leader", but he could be just as important. Maybe more so.

"Veetor, please come in."

Timidly (as she had expected), he walked further into the room. She watched him cast a quick glance at the workstation that had once held the lifeless form of a Geth not so long ago. There was a small set of tweezers laying upon it. Veetor could only imagine what they might have been used for.

As he entered the room, Daro rose from her desk in the far corner to meet him.

"H-hello Admiral Xen. Y-you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, Veetor'Nara. Please have a seat. I'd like to ask a favor."

She saw his eyes widen in surprise before he indeed sat in the chair before her desk.

Before he'd arrived, Daro had considered beginning with an inane conversation about how his work was going. She'd ask if he was making progress, he would say "yes", and then there would be an awkward silence because neither one was really comfortable prying for, nor giving out information, in such a setting. She preferred to get straight to the point, and the longer Veetor was here, the more uncomfortable he would likely become.

"A f-favor? What could I possi-"

She waved her hand to stop him. "Veetor, are you aware that Tali'Zorah has returned from Earth?" He released a noticeable gasp. "Yes, the admiral is back here, on Rannoch."

"Is…is Commander Shepard here as well?"

Daro smirked. He was more astute than she realized. "Yes, Veetor. Admiral Shepard is with her. It appears that he will be staying here - with her - for the foreseeable future."

The young man looked around anxiously as he tried to process that both Tali and Shepard were on the homeworld. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to see them straightaway to thank them again and show Tali the progress that he'd made, or to simply run away because they were so important, and he was just -

"That's…I am glad, admiral. But w-what does this have to do with…?"

"You, Veetor? I'll explain. Admiral Zorah has an important mission off world, and I want you to be a part of it." She saw him visibly tense up, and he began to wring his hands furiously. "I wanted to ask you, because I believe that you are the most fit for the job." He didn't look convinced and instead looked furtively around the room. "Veetor? I…want you to calm down, please."

"I, um…I don't really…I'll…" She watched him close his eyes and take a sharp, deep breath, settling his shoulders back down into his torso. "O-okay. I am s-sorry admiral."

"Good. There is no need to apologize. I know that you…are not good at…social interaction. Let's just say that I can somewhat relate." He turned his face up toward her, eyes wide. An admiral? Who was like him? "Now, as I said, Admiral Zorah has a mission off world. She is going to the Kholas Array." Again, she watched his eyes widen in surprise.

"But that…but th-that is just a tall tale." He paused for a moment, realizing how he must have sounded to an admiral of the fleet. "It-it is, right, Admiral Xen?"

She shook he head. "I know that's what most of us think. To be honest, I did once too. But Admiral Zorah has irrefutable proof that it existed, and that the Geth knew about it. It is why she is going in the first place. But I want you to join her team because you are the best researcher I know." She watched him shake his head in defiance. He did not believe her. "Veetor, do you remember the Arc Pistol that we developed?" He nodded his head. "Well, I remember which member of that team made the breakthrough to get the weapon usable in the first place." He looked down at his lap. "I know it was you, Veetor. They may have given me the credit because it was my team, but I know who was responsible."

He looked away, uncertain how to respond. "I-if you say so…"

"I do. So, will you go? I won't order you to, but if I have to choose someone else, the odds that the array's secrets will be uncovered will be much lower."

After a moment's pause, he responded with a question. "Do you…do you think that Commander - I mean, Admiral - Shepard will be on the mission too?"

She stopped to consider this. He'd asked a good question. Daro didn't really like that he'd asked it, but considering their history, she supposed it could make sense. All she knew was that he'd been seriously injured, and she had no idea if he would be able to go with Tali at all. "I don't know, Veetor. He seems to be in reasonably good health now. I will have to ask Admiral Zorah." She paused as she tried to gauge his reaction. "Veetor, I will ask, but if he cannot, will you still go with Tali'Zorah?"

For a few seconds, he said nothing in reply. Tali had always been good to him, and he had not forgotten how she had stood up to those Cerberus bosh'tets. Was he really ready to interrupt his routine? Surely, Elan had not quite meant something this drastic when she suggested that change could be a good thing. After much consideration when he realized that this time, someone was asking him to be involved. Someone needed his help, and not the other way around. And that person was an admiral of the fleet? How could he say "no"? "What do you need me to do?"

Daro smiled at his answer. Finally, he was on board. She'd actually expected convincing him to be more difficult. "It's quite simple, Veetor. Simply do as Admiral Zorah asks." He was taken aback by the nonchalance with which it was stated. "But while you're there, I want you to see if there is evidence about the Array's true purpose. Whatever that thing is, I don't believe that whatever we think it is at first, will actually be what it was designed for. Furthermore, I do not think that the Geth built it."

"W-why is that, admiral?"

"Because I know the Geth." Daro almost slammed her fist on her desk again but caught herself. She did not want to rile up Veetor any more than he already was. She simply frowned instead. "Well, I knew them, I suppose. While they were an impressive…race," her tone indicated that she clearly didn't believe that either, "I just…keelah, I feel like this place is special. That it was something beyond even their capability to create."

"What about the…the superstructure? They built th-that." He wasn't really challenging her assertion. He genuinely wanted to see things from her mind.

"Veetor, there's a significant difference between the Geth building a separate housing for their platforms with conventional means, and managing to tether actual mass relays."

She was right, of course. There was a significant difference.

He pondered her words for a few moments, looking at the floor. What could this thing possibly be? "W-when should I report to her?" He did not look up.

A relieved smile appeared on her face. "Well, I will message Admiral Zorah after we are done, and then you will report to her on her orders. Understood?"

The young researcher nodded his head solemnly. "Yes…yes, ma'am."

"Good. And…thank you, Veetor. I know that this was not easy."

He stood up, having deduced that the conversation and the meeting were over. Both noticed his shaking hands.

"You're, uh, welcome. G-good day, Admiral."

"Likewise, Veetor. Now go home. You have a mission to prepare for."

As soon as he left, she let out a long sigh, reaching to take another sip from her tea. She cursed quietly as she sucked back on empty air.

She still had over an hour (at least) to wait for the search results.

Not that they would even matter now.