The My Fair D.A.M.E. Project
Chapter 4
Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is for amusement only.
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After a long day of interviews, discussion with his team, reading Dr. Chakwas' medical reports and doing minor public relations work, John found himself sitting at the desk in his office staring at the still yet undone pile of reports that had been interrupted just that morning. He sighed and reached for the top report when the door chime rang out and caused him to jump in his seat. He muttered a mild curse under his breath and called out, "Enter."
He looked less surprised to see his girlfriend, Ashley Williams, standing in the doorway. She was dressed in casual civilian clothes and smiled knowingly at John. "Don't even touch that report. We're going to dinner and then you're going home and straight to bed. It's twenty two hundred hours and we've got that meeting with the Council first thing tomorrow morning."
John moaned in horror. "That's just lovely. They're butting in now?"
"What? You didn't get the memo?"
"There was a memo?"
"Yeah… four hours ago."
John checked his inbox and sighed, again. There was a whole slew of memos. One for the meeting with the Council. To discuss the findings, status and final judgements regarding the newly arrived 'guests'. Several more regarding public media requests for information about the arrivals. One bill from C-Sec regarding a destroyed prison uniform. John resolutely shoved the image of just what that woman had done to the uniform from his mind and closed his inbox.
"Alright then. Dinner, sleep and then tomorrow's sideshow circus special," he grumbled good naturedly at Ashley. Ashley barked out a short laugh and pulled John out of his office by his arm.
"Come on. The team's waiting at the Flux. They were still laughing at Garrus' description of the interviews. I wanna know what he's not telling us." John laughed and locked up his office. A few rounds of laughter with the team would certainly be of use, he mused.
John sat awkwardly in the chair of the conference room, listening to Dr. Chakwas go over the significance of some of her more unusual findings from the previous day's medical scans. The Council, as usual, was disgruntled at having their hard earned peace and harmony disrupted yet again. John mused that someone should inform them that the universe was out to get them. He then pitied that messenger. He tuned back into Dr. Chakwas explanation, reminding himself that this was important.
"Of the four males, only one is clearly definable as human by DNA scan. The other three have similar DNA structures with some very distinct and obvious differences. Their physical differences also lend credence to the summation that they are in essence not human. They also do not match the DNA records of any race currently held in the Citadel medical libraries. I have sent copies on to the various known medical libraries in association with the Citadel in hopes that we'll find a stray record that has not been copied over yet."
John spoke up at this point, "According to yesterday's interrogation, their races are each respectively called the Qunari, the Dwarves and the Elves. They were unable to offer any explanation regarding the medical differences between themselves and humans other than the obvious."
Dr. Chakwas nodded in thanks for the clarification and then continued her report, "All four of the females that we have in custody are human. One is in perfect health, within the expected standards if one ignores the expected regulations regarding vaccinations and operations done during early childhood. Another is also in excellent health with the same standards, with the additional note that she bears an unusual parasite-antibody symbiosis in her bloodstream that we are still analyzing. The human male also bears the same symbiosis and his is being analyzed in comparison.
The other two women are notable in that they both bear the same genetic markers that denote biotic capability in humans. The elder of the two has an unusual energy reading that appears to be an altered form of biotic energy. The readings have been sent to the biotic studies labs for further comparison. The energy appears to have a radiation like effect on the woman's body. The extent and purpose of the effects are still being determined. What's more, her state of health is debilitated though recovering at the current moment. This morning's check up showed a rise in healthy symptoms and a decrease in fatigue and nausea.
The other woman in addition to having a lesser degree of the radiation effects, while not having the same energy reading, is notable in that she's less than one month pregnant, and the child has yet another strange energy reading. Also similar to biotic energy fields, but different from what the elder woman displays. DNA comparison shows the child's father is the human male that we have in custody."
John started and sat upright, "What? But he's engaged to the human female named Dana Cousland, not to the 'mage' Morrigan."
Dr. Chakwas blinked at him and then down at her report. "Interesting. I'll see if the energy readings has anything to do with the symbiotic process occurring within their blood stream and whether it's sexually transmitted. With any hope, it's not detrimental and infection of the mother will cause no issues."
John slumped back in his seat and went back to looking at his copy of the medical report. These people just kept getting more confusing. The Asari Councilor nodded at John's input and then turned back to Dr. Chakwas, "Is there anything else?"
Dr. Chakwas shook her head, "That's the last of it, councilors. I must say that there's some interesting readings here that should make for lengthy research opportunities. I would like to be kept abreast of the findings."
The Asari Councilor nodded in response and then turned to John, "Commander Shepard, what were the findings of yesterday's interrogations?"
John stood in front of his chair and picked up his copy of the assimilated data he and Garrus had gathered the day before. "To start, it is now my belief that these people, while eccentric and unusual, are not a threat to the Citadel, nor did they ever intend to be. Dana Cousland is their chosen leader. She acts essentially as a captain over what we would consider a special forces or black ops squad. Her second in command would be the human male, named Alistair. They bear the rank of Grey Warden, who from what we were able to determine was a special group of 'warriors' whose sole purpose was to hunt down a series of creatures titled Darkspawn. It was explained to me that the Darkspawn are perversions of life and generally caused violence and death where ever they were found.
The two women, whom Dr. Chakwas identified unusual energy patterns with, were described by all parties as mages. Some of the ah… 'spells' that were described to us were reminiscent of biotic capabilities. Unfortunately, their connection to what they call the Fade, or the land of dreams, is strained to the point of breaking here and thus disabling their ability to do magic. It is stated that the thinning of this connection is the expected cause of the elder mage's poor health. They did not speak of the other mage's pregnancy.
The others are each respectively known as two warriors, a bard and an assassin. They each have their own set of quirks and should be watched closely as they are integrated into day to day life.
I say integrated because, as the investigation continues, it is becoming rapidly apparent that returning them to their home is not only beyond difficult to do, but might be detrimental to the technological development of their world. The investigations dated their world's status to what essentially is preindustrial. Horse and buggy and oil lamps, Councilors. That being said, they appear to be quick to learn and can, with assistance and some rehabilitation, be integrated into our society with only a few minor issues.
As for how they got here, they confirmed that they found a mass relay hidden in a set of catacombs on their planet sealed behind a metal door. The glyphs on the door were drawn out for us by the two mages. They match some of the language of the keepers. The relay's size is also comparable to the miniature relay that resides here in the Presidium where they arrived."
With that, John sat and waited for the inevitable questioning to begin. The Turian Councilor turned away from the window he'd been examining and pinned John with his usual glare. "If they're no trouble, then explain why they attacked you yesterday."
John nodded and spoke, "They were, initially disoriented from the relay travel as they've never traveled at such speeds before. This brought about what they agreed was a series of bad judgement errors when their leader mistook my aggressiveness as an attack on her fiance. In their understanding it was attempted self defense on misguided knowledge."
The Turian Councilor frowned and turned back to the window. The Salarian Councilor spoke up at this point, "So, these people have no understanding of our current technological state whatsoever?"
John shook his head, "No, Councilor. Some of the guards concurred with this assessment as they had to um… coach the prisoners in the use of the cleaning and waste disposal facilities." The Salarian Councilor blinked and then nodded his understanding.
"And you say there's no known way to return them?"
John nodded, yet again, "The investigation is proving difficult in finding the return path of the relay used through the diagnostic software connected to our end of the relay. We believe the relay on the other end malfunctioned and did not connect properly. The C-Sec officer handling that end of the investigation says some of the scientists believe that the sending relay had been queued up for use and then never activated. Over time the queueing instructions had decayed and then when activated by the presence of the detainees, malfunctioned. It had lost the chosen destination relay and so deposited them at the central processing relay. The return path information would have already been sent ahead to the appropriate receiving relay before the queue decay and the ensuing malfunction. So by that understanding, there's no way to know where they came from. Secondly, as I stated previously, their exposure to our technology could have detrimental effects on their societies' developments."
At this the other two councilors turned and looked at the Asari Councilor who only shook her head at them. The Turian Councilor turned and addressed the room at large. "We are going to go and deliberate on the prisoners' status and what should be done about it."
Once the Councilors had disappeared through a door in the back of the conference room, John flopped back in his chair. "Why did I agree to be a spectre again?" he muttered to no one in particular.
"To save the Universe from Saren and the Reapers." said Ashley.
"To be allowed to chase down all the spacefaring criminals at your leisure." snarked Garrus.
"To shoot at things and not get yelled at." spoke Wrex.
Tali looked at the others and then at John. She spoke up with obvious sarcasm, "You mean it wasn't for the free ship?"
John snorted a laugh and then shook his head at Tali. "Now there's priorities," he chuckled.
And just like that, everyone finally relaxed and started trading jokes, most at the cost of the Commander himself. An hour passed and they didn't feel the loss of it for the companionship and the calm moment it provided. But it was over too soon as the Council reemerged from the back chamber and took their places at the head of the table.
The Asari Councilor spoke again, "Commander Shepard, it is the agreement and decision of this council that any attempt to return the detainees is a waste of resources and a reckless endangerment of a developing planet. We are also of the agreement that their integration into a peaceful non-weapon bearing society would be an even larger waste of resources. Namely their skills and tactical knowledge as fighters. They are hereby assigned to you as a special forces group under your command in addition to the forces you already have. Additional funding will be routed to your spectre account to handle the extra personnel. If they express a wish to no longer remain under your command, then when you deem them safe enough to do so, they may be reassigned to a border colony as security detail. Any questions?"
John Shepard, spectre and lieutenant commander of the Alliance Navy, blinked in surprise. And here he thought he was done with surprises for the year. "They're being assigned to me?"
"Yes, Commander."
"You do know that I'm not the best choice for babysitter on the Citadel right?"
"We disagree, Commander. We think you'll make an excellent babysitter."
John frowned at them and then nodded. "Orders acknowledged. I guess I better go brief my new… teammates." He shared a brief 'what in the universe just happened' look with his companions and then left the conference room with his team on his heels. He forwarded orders and codes for their release and to have them taken to his office. It was going to be rather chaotic, he thought mulishly.