Chapter 21
As expected the last chapter cost me some followers and while it was a bit rushed and off at places I was at a loss how to fix it and it would have taken another week to fix it. As it was too long already since my last chapter I felt it was better to publish it sooner.
Next chapter will be ice cold as it will be on Noveria
Johnthekind, TheLastFedaykin, edboy4926 thank you for reviews
JeSauce here is the next chapter
Darlok, deacon94 and Zandaino-Nova-Ari thanks for holding in there, hope the story continues to be worth while
Rios I am back and glad for it
Torito05 I will keep considering your ideas as they are good
Vyktor things are changing and will be changing a lot, there's a big one starting at the end of this chapter
And lastly but most important Blaze1992 the improvement was all because of you buddy, thanks again for your help
Story start
The next few days were tense as we made our way back to the Citadel, the whole crew noticed but I'm guessing Shepard ordered everything to keep silent on what happened in the comm room. Everyone still noticed something was wrong, how suddenly the whole ground crew seemed reluctant to talk to me. Almost hostile in some cases. Even Gamora seemed...distracted, I only hoped that some down time would help to resolve some of that tension.
Not that I could blame them, any of them. I had kept a massive secret from everyone, even if I had my reasons. Part of me was glad that I was found out when I was, their reaction was bad enough as it was, what would have happened if they found out during just before Collector base if I was there...or worse during the Reaper invasion. I can't imagine finding out that someone you thought was a friend knew that such a horror was coming and never said anything. In fact it might even be a good thing that they found out when they did.
When we arrived on the Citadel, a pair of non-descriptive van arrived. In fact, they looked like an ordinary delivery vehicles, two out of thousands that looked pretty much identical to them. When they landed in the cargo bay the salarians were quick to disembark, the salarians still in med bay carefully carried down, with how quickly it happened it was almost as if they were ready to move hours ago. Which considering that they were the STG and the how quickly salarians can process information I wasn't surprised.
Before we disembarked Shepard addressed the entire crew.
"For any crew not on duty feel free to explore the Citadel while we receive supplies. However, be aware that in eight hours we will be disembarking be sure that you are back on board by then."
By chance when I exited the Normandy there were already some of the ground crew there including Shepard, Liara, Gamora, Kaiden and Wrex. As soon as everyone saw me a sort of tenseness filled the air, except for Wrex who as usual didn't give a fuck or at least that's what it appeared.
"I'm off to talk to a turian general that owes me a favour, the rest of you enjoy yourself just make sure you're back on board within eight hours." said Shepard before she entered the lift with Wrex and Kaiden.
I waited for the next filt along with Liara and Gamora, though to call them lifts wasn't exactly accurate, while they certainly acted like the lifts on earth that I was used to they functioned differently. Unlike those lifts I remember the lifts on the Citadel there were more than one room or 'carriage' per lift, it was more like a train track or gondela. While it looked like there was only one path up and down in actuality their were multiple passing around or over each other in a sort of circle while allowing the main stops to happen. In a way it made sense, image if there was only one compartment going down per lift. Even if each docking bay had their on lift it would take ages for a crew to disembark via the lift.
So instead of having to wait at least ten minutes to half-an-hour the next lift was only two minutes away or less. When the lift arrived we all climbed aboard.
"What are you two going to do with your time off?" I asked on the way down, my question seemed to confuse Liara.
"Don't you know?"
"Know what?" I asked confused
"I'm sorry I though you knew." said Liara "Yesterday we both received an email saying our order was ready, I assumed that you got the same message."
Checking my emails I quickly found on from Qorach custom guns and armour saying my order was ready for pick up. I must have been so distracted over the last few days that I didn't notice.
It took some time and a couple of lifts plus stairs, a lot of walking and even one or two wrong turns but we made our way to Qorach custom guns and armour. On the way it looked like Liara wanted to ask me something before deciding against entering we were immediately greated by Yarrick
"There you are, I was wondering when you were coming in. We have your order right here." said Yarrick pulling out a box
Inside were three objects, two looked like rapier hilts with a guard and a much longer hilt with the pommel and guard from a claymore. On the guard near the hilt were triggers, almost like the trigger o a gun.
"We had a lot of difficulty making these, first I was wondering how we could flash forge a blade large enough to be used as a sword and how to deconstruct it later. Thank the spirits I thought to do some research on swords beforehand." said Yarrick
"What do you mean?" asked Liara
"The qualities to make a good knife or dagger are completely different to what a good sword needs. For example a knife needs to be hard and sharp, a sword on the other hand needs some flexibility in its core. Without that flexibility, it can shatter if it doesn't cut through something, something I imagine you wouldn't like to happen in the middle of a fight. It still would have been useful as a blade but the risk that one day you'll hit something and instead of going through it like expected it will shatter. Once I understood the difference I came up with this." said Yarrick
Picking up one of the hilts, the one with with the claymore guard Yarrick presses the trigger. From the hilt springs a telescopic blade, each layer holding another inside of it until it was fully extended.
"The core is a titanium and alloy mix. Strong yet flexible, from this core will spring the actual omni-blade...just let me turn off the safety."
Twisting the pummel an orange-red blade springs out of the telescopic core surrounding forming a double-edged sword, the blade was roughly an inch long on each side, the centre or core was about the same. The telescopic core was the spine of the sword, the omni-blade was the edge.
"I thought you said what makes a good omni-blade would not make a good sword?" asked Gamora curiously
"That's only on large scale, on a small scale it's different. Instead of one single solid piece of omni-blade it's two much smaller layers around a core, in a way they counteract each other. The core is flexible, soft yet resistant to damage, the outside is completely rigid and solid yet susceptible to breakage but unlike if the whole blade was flash forged only a large chip would form if it was unable to cut through a target.
Maybe larger a larger chip than what would appear on a traditional sword but significantly less than if the whole sword snapped into two pieces, one supports the other. It is essentially a traditional omni-blade formed around a rod, the rod reinforces and supports the edge and the flash forged edge is far sharper and harder than any traditional blade would normally be. Without the flexible core it would be too hard but with the core it's perfect, without the edge it is merely a blunt core. As I said before a large omni-blade is too fragile.
The material used to make the blade is also stronger and sturdier than what makes up the usual omni-blade. To keep it in it's proper form we have a mass effect field around it, you can adjust the field later if want to change the blade shape and size from thick and short to wide and narrow. You can even make it blunt but I wouldn't use it for sparring though, the blade would still be bloody hot.
When you're finished just pull the trigger again and the blade will be pulled back into the core before the whole thing folds back up." finished Yarrick as he demonstrated it before handing it over to me
Making sure it was pointed away from anything important a pulled the trigger. The sword only took a few seconds to fully form, around the speed it would take to form a normal omni-blade. Something I was grateful for, if I was ever surprised I could pull it out, press the trigger and it would be ready mid swing. Another thing that occurred to me was
'Holy shit this is like a cheap lightsaber.' I thought to myself.
That however made me think of something else
"...How much does this all cost?" I asked with some worry getting a sign from Yarrick. While close I haven't yet completed my next movie script, I only have the left over from my first script plus what I'd saved over...around five weeks? That we'd been hunting Saren that I'd been with Shepard I had just over 4,650 credits.
"Let me guess low funds?" asked Yarrick, getting another sign when I nodded
"The good news is that these have a lot fewer electronics and tech in them than standard omni-tools carry, the only real tech going into them are high-quality fabrication units, a small cleaning program and a VI to warn you when they need a full cleanout. But there's also a lot of work and material gone into them, for your one it will be 4500 credits, for the others it will be 2800." answered Yarrick
"Why the differences in prices?" asked Gamora
"Callum's blade uses significantly more material to form the blade due to it being double-sided, we encountered some problems making sure it could form the blade quickly enough and be able to store that material. The rapiers however use a lot less and are a bit more simple they also only have one fabricator while Callum's has two, one for each side." answered Yarrick handing Gamora and Liara a handle each.
"I can pay for that...just. I'll also get 150 credits worth of arrows." I said relieved, it may use up all my funds but at this point it didn't really matter "What about you two?"
"While we were not on the best of terms even before this all started my mother is still a matriarch." answered Liara "Some of the digs I have been on were at least partially financed by me, I should have no problem paying for this."
"What about you Gamora?" I asked
"Shepard has been giving a small stipend for anything I need. However I do not believe it will be enough for this." answered Gamora
"Would it be okay if it was put on my tab?" I asked getting a sign from Yarrick "I promise that I'll pay it off soon."
If I buckled down I could have the rest of the Starwars Script done and of to a producer by the end of today. Plus a few days to a week for them to get back to me.
"Normally I'd say no, no weapons or hear that hasn't been paid for. But as you share the patent with us it's not like you can run off without paying, we'd just take it out of your share from the next order. Though we were intending on using our share to invest in the company so it can grow. Pity that I don't think many people will be interested in melee weapons like yours though." said Yarrick idly "I know a few CQC turians that might be interested but that's it, and while some asari like their swords they tend to buy from their own companies that have been making swords for huntresses for centuries if not more."
"What about an armour version of it?" I asked thinking of tech armour, the only response I got was Yarrick slowly blinking at me
"...you know at times I'm not sure whether I should be grateful for meeting you and hearing all these ideas of yours or annoyed and all the time it takes to make them happen. But still, if we can make it work its value would be limitless. It can be used as a last resort, to recover or temporarily repair armour in the field until a replacement is possible, have it just over or under the kinetic barriers to block shots, adding important protection where needed the most." said Yarrick finally
"Though we don't have enough people working here at the moment though, Sheita has a niece that will begin her pilgrimage soon. Maybe we can have her do some work here, Spirits knows there's not many places where she'll get fair pay elsewhere."
"Maybe delay have her delay the Pilgramage, at least for a bit. With Saren and the Geth out there the mobile nature of the fleet just might make it the safest place to be at the moment." I said, last thing I wanted was that niece to be caught up in a battle as soon as she arrived on the Citadel.
Yarrick and Shieta's shop was reasonably fortified due to it being in the Wards and an armour and gun shop. They were also well armed because of that fact and from memory it was manly the Presidium that was hit the hardest. Down here they should be far away from the worst parts...hopefully. Especially if we could raise the readiness of C-Sec before the geth came through the miniature relay.
"Maybe, but quarians tend to dislike delaying it for too long. Can send the wrong message about their working habits." responded Yarrick. Implying that any quarians that unnecessarily delayed their pilgrimage could be seen as either lazy or self-centred.
When we left the store, our purchase in hand or in this case on our persons I wondered what to do even if we arrived back at the Normandy well before our eight hour deadline we had a least five hours to fill.
"Does anyone have anything they'd like to do or any ideas on what to do?" I asked "Seems a bit of a waste heading back to the Normandy so early."
"Perhaps we could go get a meal?" queried Gamour surprising me "It would be...my shout I believe the term is?"
Seeing my surprise Liara answered Gamora
"It is. During or 'girl time' Shepard took us to a little bar/restaurant, as Gamora didn't have any credits so Shepard said she would pay for her or 'shout' her."
"I will admit I did not expect to enjoy myself as much as I did. I had only gone along because I thought it was expected of me. Instead, I learned that food can not only be eaten for it's nutritious value but for actual enjoyment." said Gamora
"She had the cheesecake, it was...interesting to watch. I think we almost got thrown out, especially after Tali had the drone attack that news reporter." said Liara
"Sounds good to me, lead the way." I responded. I would be good to have a decent meal after eating only basic rations for the last few weeks.
With Liara and Gamora leading the way we made our way back to the Presidium. Getting lost and turned around a few times we had to ask a nearby Avina to get back on track. Man I hated that VI, also...why was she naked? I know there was nothing to see but the casual and implied nudity for something that was supposed to be family-friendly threw me for a loop.
In the end we only had to ask for directions two more times before we made it to the small restaurant called Galaxies Edge. Despite it's fancy name the inside looked to be modelled after a typical earth pub. At the entrance, we were immediately greeted by a human host.
"Let me guess after more cheesecake? asked the man upon seeing Gamora before turning to me "Welcome to Galaxies Edge where we bring food from all corners of the galaxy to your table, here are your tablets. When you are ready please make your order, if there are any questions please come and see me."
Grabbing a tablet each we go to find a table, there looked to be about eighteen tables in total in different sizes and shapes. As we passed a few of the other patrons of the restaurant we seemed to gather a bit of attention courtesy of being with the only known green asari in existence. One young asari girl who looked to be around 12 year old human girl but was likely at least double that point at her only for her mother to slap her hand down and shush her.
Taking a seat at one of the smaller tables we sit down and I immediately encountered a problem.
"How do I order?" I asked holding up the tablet confused
"Oh, of course you wou-." started Liara only to stop "You simply ask to order in your own language, the tablet then uses that language to know what language to display the menu in."
"I'd like to order?" I asked tentatively
Sure enough the tablet displayed the menu in English. The menu was divided into multiple sections and I could change it to either by menu type or by species of origin.
Usually, at times like this I would go over the menu over and over again, however this time I decided to skip all of that and order a chicken burger with chips.
"I'll have the cheesecake." said Gamora
"Is that it?" I asked getting a look from Gamora
"What else would I need? The cheesecake is a delightful treat." said Gamora
"Maybe something to fill up on first?" I suggested "So you can enjoy the cheesecake for longer without feeling hungry."
"That is a good idea, I admit last time I may have been too...overzealous in my consumption of cheesecake." answered Gamora "What would you suggest?"
"I too admit that I would like to try an earthen dish." said Liara "As the Normandy is primarily human crew I think it would be a good idea and help increase my perspective of your race."
"Let me look through the menu." I said having a quick look
There was only one thing I could think off without spending too much time on it.
"How about the parma?" I suggested "It tends to be a great dish for most people."
"Then a 'parma' for each of us then." said Liara
"Actually in most cases the parma is larger than an average single meal, I suggest maybe splitting the meal, I can ask if you want. Even if you are still hungry you can still order something else afterwards."
"That would be agreeable, despite your suggestion I would like to leave plenty of room for cheesecake." said Gamora
Standing up I head back to the host.
"Can I help you?" he asked
"Yes, I was wondering how big the parma was?" I asked
"The parma?" asked the man confused "Oh you mean the chicken parmigiana, that's one of our favourite human dishes for most species. Aside from an occasional turian that is, as for its size it almost fills one of our larger plates."
"Would we be able to split it?" I asked
"That should be no problem, though it will carry a three credit surcharge for extra plates and time as well as five more credits for extra chips." answered the host
"Good, in that we'll have that along with my order." I requested "Plus whatever else they want to order."
"No problem, give us fifteen minutes and your order should be ready." said our host typing in a few things
Turning away I retook my seat at our table.
"The meal should only be only fifteen or so minutes away."
"What should we do in the meantime?" asked Liara
"We could make small talk?" suggested Gamora "I understand it's expected in this sort interaction."
"What would you want to talk about?" I asked "That we couldn't talk about on the Normandy?" Hopefully they got the hint
"I understand you are writing your own vids?" asked Liara
"I am." I answered
"May I ask what they are about?" asked Liara curiously
"The first was about a crew so close that they were all but family and were all into fast cars both to race and for hiests. It's hard to describe why it's so interesting but it has a lot of drama and fast pased skycar scenes. The other one is a lot easier to explain, it's about a galaxy far far away. One day a drone army starts to invade a planet. Two jedi, a sort of galatic peacekeepers were sent to the invading army in order to try and talk them down unfortunately that didn' happen."
As I continued to explain Star Wars, the Jedi...everything. I got to the point were they had just arrived on Tatooine when our food arrived. Taking a bit of the burger I almost cried as some garlic sauce dribbled down my chin. The chicken breast was grilled to perfection, the garlic mayo was heavenly and to top it off the tomato was nice and juicy and the lettuce was fresh and crunchy. How the restaurant could hold all the ingredients needed to make this dish as well as dosens of others, probably some off sight storage if I had to guess. The burger came with the typical pub styled chips which were a lovely golden colour, crisp and crunchy on the outside, soft and goowy on the inside.
Stopping for a moment I looked at Liara and Gamora. While Gamora was already digging in Liara looked a bit more hesitant. I guess to her it looked a bit...messy, with its chicken base, tomato sauce with some basil or spinach leaves thrown it and covered with cheese with a side of chips.
"Trust me it's good, then again I don't know much about asari taste buds." I said trying to reassure her
Taking a bite Liara's eyes widened and she was quick to have a second.
"Despite it's outside appearance it's quite delicious. I've never tasted anything like it." said Liara
"It is even better than the lasagna that I tried on Pinnacle station." agreed Gamora
"You think that lasagna was good just wait till you try some of mine." I responded taking another bite
"You would cook for me?" asked Gamora surprised "I understood that it was typically the female's job to cook and clean?"
"It varies, I feel that most cases the duties should be split. If someone could cook better than someone else then they cook while someone else does another duty." I said
"Like how Garrus provides sniper fire while Ash covers with assault fire?" asked Gamora
"Pretty much." I agreed
As we continued to eat it wasn't long until someone else thought up another or in this case brought up a previous topic of coversation
"I'm interested in hearing more about this 'Star Wars' of your's how well is it going?" asked Liara "I would love to see such a unique story in person."
"Not as well as I would have liked." I responded "A big part of Star Wars is the unique species in it, unfortunately my drawing is shit so I can't draw them correctly."
"If you like we can meld and you can show me what they should look like? N-not that kind of meld." offered Liara stuttering "As an archeologist, I've had to occasionally draw my findings when even scanning wasn't an option. So my drawing is somewhat decent."
"I can do it." interrupted Gamora
Sharing a look with Liara I asked
"You sure?"
"Of course, all I would be doing is recording what I see onto another surface, it would also allow me to repay you for all you've done for me. If you like we could do the meld now?" offered Gamora
"Thank you but no. Let's wait till later." I suggested
A suggestion that seemed to please Gamora greatly
"Thank you." said Gamora sounding pleased with herself
After we finished our meal we ordered dessert, Gamora of cause went with her cheesecake, Liara went with an asari dessert that looked a lot similar to a sundae but with a green syrup topping. As for myself I went with a blueberry crumble with ice cream. All in all it was quite an enjoyable evening and I felt reassured in the knowledge that even if the rest of the ground crew was frosty towards me at least my friendship with Liara and Gamora was still there."
As Gamora ate her cheesecake she seemed to nearly shudder in delight. An action that seemed most unlike her.
After we finished we headed back to the Normandy we took our time getting their and took the scenic route. Despite how much extra time we took still arrived nearly two hours before the deadline for take off.
"When would you like to meld?" asked Gamora as soon as we were aboard the ship getting a look from Liara.
"Can we, can we it someplace a bit more private?" I asked hopefully. While I knew asari had more than one type of meld and the one we would have was not intimate I still didn't want to do it in front of everyone.
"Of course." replied Gamora "Where would you like do it? The showers, elevator or cargo bay all should have adequate privacy."
"...the elevator should be okay." I said hesitantly after some thought. Doing it in the showers would just create gossip, the cargo bay was barely more private than the mess hall. That only left the elevator, with how slow it went it should give us enough time to do the meld without being seen...hopefully.
"I-I think I should head off to my quarters, I believe I am close to finding the identity of my father." excused Liara
"Already?" I asked surprised
"As I said before, there aren't many matriarchs on Ilium. In fact I think I might have found her but I've received no response so far." said Liara sounding conflicted
"If it helps, what I know of your father made me think she was good with actions, less so with words, feelings and emotions. If it is her she's probably scared." I offered
"Scared, why would she be scared?" asked Liara confused, Gamora as well.
"Her hundred-year-old daughter suddenly initiated contact with her. A daughter that as far as she knows doesn't know anything about her and a daughter she's barely had any contact with. She's probably worried that you might hate her, what you might have heard about her and worried that she might say the wrong thing." I offered
"What would you suggest?" asked Liara
"That you need help beating your little wings." I suggested "I partly remember having a conversation with you on the Citadel, how your mother was coddling your father just knew you would make a storm with your little wings." I suggested
"Thank you, I have to admit the thought of talking to my father for the first time has me a bit nervous." said Liara
"That's probably just how your father feels." I said
"I see, then what you said before makes sense. Thank you, I know if the situation was reversed I would be nervous." said Liara as she left for her quarters near the med bay
Speaking of nervous I was becoming quite nervous myself as Gamora and I entered the elevator by ourselves. In hindsight it might have been a good idea to have Liara chaperone what was about to happen next.
"Relax and let our minds become one." said Gamora as she closed the distance between us.
Placing her hands over my arms she pulls me close as her eyes turned pitch black and her forehead came to rest on mine.
What happened next was indescribable, I knew the theory behind an asari mind meld but nothing could have prepared me for the real thing...the pure serenity it created.
Two minds, two existences perfectly intertwined to the point it was hard to tell where one ended and the other one began.
For a moment, a mere moment I knew everything about her, how she started out as a blank slate, an empty book and how much she grew since then and how she has been slowly filling that book up. How a part of her was afraid that she'll be seen as nothing more than a drone. How a larger part was afraid they were right.
We weren't the only ones there though, there was another presence, much older, ancient in fact and was much more powerful...the Thorian. How I knew that I wasn't sure, my only guess was that Gamora was somehow...translating for lack of a better world, that information. The Thorian didn't seem to do anything, it just seemed to loom in the background like it was observing or studying me.
Remembering that we were doing this for a reason I tried focussing on Star Wars. Picturing the different characters and species as well as a few key scenes. I mostly tried to focus on the first Star Wars, the Phantom Menis but I was pretty sure bits of the other movies slipped in, Chewbacca, Han and the Millennium Falcon definitely did.
I was just going through everything and working out if there was anything else I should focus on when
"What are you two doing?" interrupted a voice causing the meld to break
Looking in the direction of the voice I could only think of one thing 'shit'
Right in front of the very open elevator doors were Ash and Solana. To make it worse we had also gained the attention of everyone in the cargo bay. Which, while wasn't a lot it was certainly enough to insure everyone on board will hear what's happening before the day ends.
I wasn't sure which one had asked the question but they both looked like they had the same expressions. Trying to work out if they should be getting angry and having a go at me or not. Something had happened and they wanted to know what it was, why it happens and more importantly was it something I should have been doing.
"Just a meld." I answered
"And why were you doing a meld and why were you doing it in the elevator?" asked Ash
"Callum wanted to do it somewhere more private than the loading dock of the Normandy." answered Gamora making me wince
'Damn it Gamora context!' I thought to myself before I hurried to say something before Ash and Solana decided to go with the angry option. Things were bad enough between everyone and me as it was.
"I mentioned that I've been having trouble drawing characters for my movies. Liara suggest doing a asari meld and then getting them to draw it, Gamora offered to help. I just didn't want to do it where everyone would see and start talking about it." I explained making Ash and Solana share a look
"You should have just done it in the mess hall, that way it wouldn't look like you were hiding anything. Not like that's anything new to you." shot Ash making me wince again
"Couldn't you just draw the characters yourself?" asked Solana wanting to change the topic
"I can't draw." I answered simply
"You can't be that bad." pressed Solana
"When I was in high school I tried drawing a guy surfing a wave. I ended up with a bird head and a flying man, and that's as good as it got." I responded "Which is weird as my grandparents on my mother side where painters and sketchers."
"Okay then." said Solana as she and Ash entered the elevator
However, before the door fully closed Solana couldn't seem to resist making one more comment "Also, don't look so worried. From the girl time we had on the Citadel the last time we both know that if anything inappropriate happens between you two it was probably started by Gamora."
"Women, I don't think I'll ever be able to understand them." I thought out loud, even the almost total familiarity I had with Gamora mere moments ago was beginning to fade. "Also, what were they talking about?"
"During the 'girls time out' I made it clear to the other females my intentions towards you in order to find out any rivals I might have. Much to my surprise instead of becoming hostile they seemed eager to talk about it in great detail, some of them even going so far to give me advice about how I may capture your attention. Now if you don't mind I think it would be a good idea to start work on your drawings immediately." said Gamora
"Sure." I agreed, I really wished I knew what happened during that girl's time out, but then again maybe it was for the best I didn't.
While she went off to grab a tablet I continued to try and finish the Star Wars giving myself half an hour to try out my new sword when I felt like I needed a break. Unlike the rapiers used by Gamora and Liara which mainly used light, fast and sharp attacks my claymore was primarily about heavy attacks. While my new sword was lighter than my old one it was also significantly sharper, shape enough I hoped to make up the difference.
Eventually, the eight hours we were given to either explore the Citadel or to simply relax came to an end and soon...
"This is Commander Shepard, shore leave is coming to an end. If you know of anyone who is unaccounted for please seek to inform your department heads at once as we will be taking off within half an hour. Also all ground crew please report to the communications room immediately." said Shepard over comms.
It turned out that the only ground crew in the cargo bay was myself, Gamora and Tali who had been in engineering.
"Did you spend any time on the Citadel?" I asked Tali, trying to stop an awkward elevator ride from happening.
"Some." said Tali, sounding much better even if her tone was a bit cool "But as the best time to do work on the drive core and make adjustments is when it is docked I spent most of my time in engering."
When the elevator arrived on the second deck we made our way to the communications room. By the time we got there everyone was already sitting, not that I was surprised with how long the elevator too. The irony that the one time I needed it to go slow it didn't was not lost on me. Finding a seat Shepard started talking
"First of all, Callum, I've told Anderson and Hackett you're not a Cerberus spy. I'd still be careful of your actions from no on though, best I could do was imply that you used to work for a foreign intelligence such as Cerberus or the Shadow Broker who quit a few years ago and are using your remain contacts to help out." said Shepard "Second I also talked to Anderson about upping security, especially around the Presidium."
"What did you tell him?" asked Kaiden
"The truth." answered Shepard making me worried "Or at least part of it, I did see the Citadel after all which includes the Presidium after all. Maybe I said I saw a bit more of the Presiduim than I really did, who can say?" asked Shepard with a smirk
"I also I brought up the fact that we don't know how long Saren has had the geth working for him and he could have been smuggling geth parts onto the Citadel for months if not year's and resembling them."
"Shit!" I said suddenly as I remembered something
"Something the matter?" asked Shepard looking at me
"No, at least not now. Tali after the meeting I need to talk to about something." I said, thinking about how in a few years her father will do exactly that. It may not be important now but I couldn't take the risk of forgetting it only for it to happen later.
Unfortunately, as always the Council don't want to listen. Thankfully I know someone who does, as I said before I know a turian general that owes be a favour."
"Is that the one that we saw in Cora's den?" asked Ash
"The same." answered Shepard
"Did you get a certain trinket from the Consort?" I asked
"Yes, is it important?" asked Shepard
"...not really." I answered after some thought "Though Liara would definitely like it, there's an orb on...Eletania, the next system to Feros I think it was. But all it really does is give you some memories of stone or caveman hunter. I was planning on bringing it up if I needed help convincing you that I was telling the truth."
"Do you know where it is?" asked Shepard
"No, only that's on that planet amidst some mountains." I answered
"Then we can leave it for later, it's too far out of our way for now." responded Sheperd "Anyway I talked to the general and while he said he didn't have the power to increase security he could have a few 'special opps' have their down time on the Citadel for a few months and arrange a 'parade' to show case Turian military to 'reassure' the public."
"But parades aren't allowed to carry live ammunition." argued Garrus
"Which is why they'll be 'forgetting' to do that. When Saren steps through that miniature relay he's going to dealing with a lot more than he bargained for. I doubt they will be able to completely stop Saren but they'll at least be able to slow him down and give the Predium time to start evacuating before they are forced to pull back until they get reinforcements from either C-sec or any friendly armed forces.
It will hopefully also stop Saren from sending his forces out but instead keep them nearby which will help prevent civilian casualties. Unfortunately this will also mean that any armed forces on the Presidium, aka us will have a lot more geth to deal with."
"But how long does a parade usually last?" asked Ash "If it goes on for too long people might start asking questions and if Saren realises what's going he'll simply send more geth through or worse put a bomb through first and then send his army to mop up."
"The relay would be too fragile for Saren to risk that, though he might do some of bio or chemical attack, they're illegal but that wouldn't stop him and with the bulk of his army being geth it won't really hamper him afterwards. As for the parade Turians love them. The smaller one's usually last at least one day, if ones on the Citadel they could probably stretch it out for a week before someone started asking question, bit more if they also did ones on each arm of the Citadel too, people would start getting annoyed but they'll just think we're going overboard or someone in the upper ranks wants to impress their boss and put too many days down for the parade." answered Garrus
"I've also talked to Anderson to see if we can do something similar." added Shepard "Though at this rate it will look like the Alliance and the Hierarchy are having a dick-swinging contest but as long as it works that's all I care about. Speaking of which, Callum do you think it will work?"
"I think so, all I saw was the aftermath of the attack but from what I know the main problem was that the attack took everyone by surprise and C-sec wasn't equipped to deal with it. On top of there was also an army of geth incoming from the Relay alongside Sovereign to provide reinforcements so they were constantly on the backfoot." I answered
"I see." replied Shepard thinking "Listen I've I've been going over the data drive that you gave me, I want you to go over the enemies that we'll encounter during the Reaper invasion, just in case you missed something and so everyone else knows. then I want you to tell me anything I can use to prove and then finally I want you to go over everything that happens on Noveria, everything. You lost quite a bit of trust, this is your chance to get it back. If the information you give us is good then everything fine, if its not though..."
"Okay, the first and most common are the usual human husk." I answered "However, they don't do the emp pulses anymore and they are also weaker though the guns might just be stronger. They are also a bit faster. Second we have the canables."
"I'm guessing there's a reason they got that name?" asked Garrus
"Yes, they can eat anything nearby in order to heal themselves and bulk up on armour." I answered
"Hows that possible?" asked Ash
"I'm guessing that its a modified version of the same technology used to turn people into Reaper parts. Unlike the husks we've seen so far they used to be batarians and have a gun grafted onto their arm. Then we have the Marauder, a turian husk. Unlike the others so far they can pull off strategies and direct the other husks. They also are able to use normal mass-effect weapons in the...game they were shown to only use assault rifles but I doubt they wouldn't pick up a more dangerous weapon if they saw one or switched things up.
Getting into the heavies we have the Ravager, a rachni husk. It has two cannons on either side and a few bulbous sacks that can explode but when they do they release a swarm of smaller rachini, about the size of face hugger or a rachini engineer."
"A what?" asked Tali
"A facehunger, it's an alien from the movie alien." I answered
"You named a movie about aliens...alien?" asked Tali stupefied "That's kind of...dumb not to mention a bit racist."
"It was a long time ago, when when the idea of other life wasn't really taken seriously. After the Ravanger we have the two biggest threats. First a Banshee, an asari husk though there is some evidence that they prefer Ardat Yashi." I said probably mispronouncing it but still getting a gasp from Liara."
"What's this Ardat Yashi?" asked Shepard
"Loosely translated it means 'demon of the night winds'" answered Liara "My mother warned me about them when I was young, well younger and reminded me once again when I venuted out for my first time. They are asari with a genetic disability."
"That doesn't sound so bad." remarked Ash
"Melding with them will kill you." I explained "Worse it's addictive to them and each time they do it they get stronger."
"So let me get this straight...fucking someone do death...makes them stronger?" asked Ash in disbelief
"Melding, I've said before the physical part is not needed even if for that sort of meld they are commonly used together." said Liara sounding a little annoyed.
"Ardats are one of the most dangerous things out there, both on and off the battlefield" growled Wrex "and coming from me that means a lot."
"I'm guessing your speaking from experience?" asked Shepard
"A few centuries ago I got drunk on way too much Ryncol, there was an asari that was showing a lot of interest in me. When she started the meld I immediately new something was wrong. Ripped that bitch in half, just not the way she wantednme to." said Wrex with a chuckle getting dry looks from most of the women in the room, manly Shepherd, Ash and Solana.
"All jokes aside they can be quite dangerous, especially in situations where you don't see them coming. They can also be incredibly persuasive. There's a asari Justicar called Samara who has daughter that calls herself Moridith, she got an entire town to worship her and to use their bodies as meat shields when her mother came." I said seriously
"And these Banshees, how big of a threat are they?" asked Shepard keen to get back on topic.
"Remember that geth tank we had to deal with on foot when we picked up Liara?" I asked getting a nod "Well if they went head to head I'm not sure which one would win, though my money would be on the Banshee, though that could just be due to how the Banshee likes close combat and the tank doesn't.
A Banshee looks like some grabbed an asari, stretched it out and filled their stomach with gas and tubes. They have razor sharp talons, impossibly strong barriers and are constantly using charge to get close to you. When they do they'll shove their arm through your chest and then back with ease." I described making a few people turn green "Then they'll caress your head, which in hindsight may mean they have the ability to get stronger with each kill."
"How does that work, I've been running it over in my head and it still doesn't make sense?" asked Ash "If these 'night demons' get stronger then why doesn't every asari?"
"Liara?" I asked carefully looking at her
Frowning Liara answered "I'm not quite sure and as far as I know not much research has gone into why but instead has gone into how to cure. In melding, no matter if it's a mother teacher her daughter or something more intimate there is always a sense of giving or sharing. From what I know of Ardat Yakshi there 'melds' are much more violent, nothing is given only taken."
"So not only are they incredibly dangerous they might be able to become even more dangerous." said Shepard signing "Callum, any chance this is only done to these Ardat Yakshi? Not asari in general?"
"I can't say for sure commander but if I had to guess it will be similar to the rachni. The Reapers may prefer them as it's less work for them but I'm pretty sure they would be to make them have the ability to it even if they were asari wasn't an Ardat yakshi. The last husk is called a Brute and is a fusion of turian and krogan. There incredibly tough, it's like their whole body is pure iron and bullet proof. Despite that they can charge unbelievable quickly, a normal charge that is, not a biotic charge. They also have a massive claw that could cut a geth prime in half easily and can be used as a shield. Facing on is like facing two krogan at once or a yahg."
"Between the Brute and the Banshee which one do you think is the bigger threat?" asked Kaiden while Wrex looked slight insulted that something could be as tough as 'two' krogan.
"In all honesty probably the Bashee, it can just close the distance so quickly. The Brute maybe tougher but at least if you see it coming it's slow enough to get a few hits in before it starts to get into charging range. With a Banshee, first you hear it, then it's directly in front of you." I answered truthfully
"The Brutes are the reason why your guns have that overcharge feature aren't they?" asked Shepard
"Yes." I answered truthfully "The run-of-the-mill weapons don't do much against a Banshee or Brute. It's also why I suggested to Yarrick and Sheita to have adjustable grain sizes. Something that's good against a Brute would be unnecessary overkill on a human husk. Something thats good for mowing down waves of husks will be nearly useless against a Brute."
"Any other husks that you know of?" asked Shepard
"One, Harvester though there could be more. I never saw any other husk species though that could be because some of them weren't suitable such as the volus or were only used for certain situations like hana husks would only really be useful on the hana homeworld or aquatic environments. The Harvester is a large husk of some animal from Tuchanka, it fills the role of gunship and dropping off reinforcements. They also breathe fire and when the die they explode."
"They're called Harvesters, the husk name is the same as the species name." interrupted Wrex
"That's all the husk types you of?" checked Shepard getting a nod from me "In that case tell me about the Reaper evidence and where we can find it."
"The first one we will come across is a VI on Ilos, it had a lot of information to prove the existence of the Reapers. Unfortunetly, it was running out of power and according to the council when they went to check things out it was nowhere to be seen. I don't know if the fact it ran out of power caused it to break down or the fact that with how long it usually takes for the council to respond someone went in and nicked it." I answered
"Tali, Liara think you can rig something up to provide power?" asked Shepard
"It's possible." said Liara "If we can rig up a spar core then maybe. It will have to be low powered to not risk overloading the circuits though."
"It will also have to be universal, whatever interface they'll have will be drastically different to ours." remarked Tali
"As soon as the meeting ends I want you working on it, what else?" asked Shepard
"Like I said before there is likely a prothean bunker on Eden Prime, not even the asari councilor can argue against a living prothean. Asside from that there is also a Prothean beacon on Thessia." I answered
"There would a number of beacons on Thessia, what is special about this one?" asked Liara confused
"Not like this one, it's hidden in a statue of Athame and only the higher up asari know anything about it. It has more on the Reapers than even the ones on Eden Prime and Virmire has. It even has a working Prothean VI when it's fully activated and knows that the Citadel is the Crucible need to defeat the Reapers plus I don't know what else." I answered
"Hold on, hiding a beacon is incredibly illegal...why would my people do such a thing?" asked Liara
"As he said this beacon sounds quite special, maybe it was too good to pass up?" suggested Solana softy
"But still to do such a thing...sharing Prothean technology is one of our most important laws that we have?" asked Liara shaken
"It doesn't matter why, what matters is where. Where is this beacon?" asked Shepard
"I don't know, all I know it is a temple on Thessia. If I saw it though I probably recognize it." I answered
"Why haven't you been looking, I have to imagine most of these temples would be recorded on the extranet somewhere? Couldn't you just go through them?" asked Kaiden
"Thought about it, but for two reasons decided not to...well three reasons. One there are ton of temples dedicated to Athame and I don't even know what city it's in, two it has government military funding. If I kept looking up every single temple that had a statue of Athame there was no way I wouldn't raise a red flag. The third reason is that once they realise I have contact with Liara they'll send asari hit squad after both of us, maybe even the rest of the ground crew." I answered
"M-me?" asked Liara "Why me?"
"Benezia was one of the Matriarchs to know of the beacon, at least from what I know that is. They would have assumed Benezia told you and you told us." I answered
"My mother knew of this? Why didn't she tell me?" asked Liara sounding a little betrayed
"The same reason why your father all but agreed to spy on you later one, they both were afraid that 'some crusty matriarch' would send a hit squad after you." I answered
"It makes sense, a secret this big is too important to trust to a large number of people. If they did someone would have talked by now, no I'm guessing only a few know about this beacon and they're sworn to secrecy on pain of death as soon as they learn of it." explained Shepard
"Also from my experience while the typical asari is usually quite friendly some of the older ones seem to be abit...entitled." added Garrus
"What other evidence do you know of?" asked Shepard
"Well the Reapers have been routinely devastating planets, when the dinosaurs went extinct on earth there was evidence of asteroid bombardment. Despite how careful the Reapers are there is no chance that that they could remove all evidence of their attacks. A more difficult possibility is to try and determine either the age of the Relays or the Citadel itself, there was also a Salarian and Volus on the Citadel looking into the Keepers. Unfortunately by the time they realized what they did every 50,000 thousand years the Reapers were all but on our door step." I said
"I met the salarian I even scanned a few keepers for him, what else?" asked Shepard
"The other ones are a lot more dangerous. When Sovereign attacked and was destroyed, I'm not sure if I said it before but the Council started to dismiss is a geth superdreadnought or something." I responded
"Hold on, while they might look somewhat similar Sovereign is completely different in design to the geth. How could they possibly mistake the two?!" asked Tali shocked
"Honestly...I have no idea. But it might be due in part to most of Soverign's corpse vanishing, either due to multiple agencies grabbing pieces of it or the keepers cleaning up. The thing is the Councilors kept insisting that it was of geth design and that it took them a significant amount of time and resources to make. To my knowledge, there are at least two dead Reapers, one of which as I've said before is called the Leviathon of Dis and is on the batarian homeworld. There's also another dead Reaper floating over a planet, I don't where exactly but I do know that the Keplar Valley on Tuchunka was formed when one of the shots meant for that Reaper missed. If we can show that Sovereign was not a once-off like the Council suggests and that the other examples far predate the geth them more people will start to believe or at least prepare for the Reapers but as I've said before even dead Reapers can indoctrinate others. The second anyone gets onboard them they will start to become indoctrinated, the only way they can safely be inspected or analysed is through probes or drones."
"And with how eager everyone would be to explore a Reaper and how they wouldn't believe the danger of indoctrination they'll go rushing on board as soon as they could." said Shepard "Tell me, as far as you know do anyone on this crew ever become indoctrinated?"
"Maybe, when the Reapers come you saw a boy hiding in a vent, that boy was exactly the same as the form that is used by the intelligence aboard the Citadel. Also, you started to have dreams." I answered "Because of that there were some theories that the Reapers were attempting to indoctrinate you."
"Dreams?" asked Shepard
"Yes, dreams of an ashen forest full of oily shadows." I answered
"You said that before." said Tali "That was how the rachni perceived the received the Reapers?"
"It is." I answered "There is some evidence that Shepherd might I've been going through the start of the indoctrination process, or at least that's what some people thought. I don't know myself." I answered
"Do you think I might be indoctrinated right now?" asked Shepherd "Or even close to it?"
"No, at least I don't think so. The only times you were at severe risk of indoctrination were on board the dead Reaper when you need to grab IFF signature in order to get through the Omega really and the collector base...plus the time you took a Reaper down on foot. Without those, I don't think there's much chance of you becoming indoctrinated." I answered
"And as far as you know there is no cure aside from the Thorian." mussed Shepard "Is there a way to block it?"
"Dr Bryson was able to erect a field around a piece of Soverighe and a Leviathon 'pearl' both seemed effective but I don't know how or why. I don't even know for sure how the Reapers really indoctrinate people, just the conditions it could happen in. Whether it is by nanites or something else I don't know but I do believe the loud fog horn like below the Reapers make is a part of it."
"Never mind about that for now, can you think of any other evidence?" asked Shepard
"Just one, there's a planet called Namakli where there is a wall painting of a Leviathon which looks quite similar to a Reaper, in fact the layout of the council chambers also looks like a Reaper."
"Finally tell me what I should expect on Noveria." said Shepard "Don't leave a single thing out."
"Well as soon as you get into orbit Noveria will threaten to shoot us down." I started to explain
"That sounds like a usual response from them." inputted Garrus
"Noveria, I never heard of that planet before?" asked Kaiden
"You know how some say that Ilium is just an Omega with a nicer coating?" asked Garrus "Or how Spectres are able to do what they want as long as they get the results needed? Well it's a lot like that, there's a lot of research going on Noveria and most of it isn't quite legal and the rest of it certainly isn't but as it is outside Citadel space normal laws don't quite apply there...as long as they don't make it too obvious."
"What happens next?" asked Shepard "Do they allow us to land or not?"
"Once they find out your a Spectre yes, though they're not sure about there being a human Spectre. When you land there will be three 'cops' I suppose two human, one turian. The human woman with blond hair will be a problem later." I explained
"Why?" asked Shepard
"Dirty cop, the salarian running things...the manager has been dipping from the till."
"The till...dipping?" asked Liara confused "I'm sorry I do not understand that expression."
"I too have not heard of this term before." agreed Gamora
"It means that he's been taking money he shouldn't from the company." explained Shepard
"That's right." I agreed "There is also a white-collared detective investigating him, she's wearing a pink dress and has managed to become a secretary, assistant or something. She can also tell us that Benezia is there at peak...15 who they've recently lost contact with and has been there for sometime."
"Don't they know that Benezia was a part of the attack on Eden Prime?" asked Solana
"I don't know, also I wouldn't put it past Saren to have his geth filtering what messages make it through. I vaguely remember a salarian complaining about extranet connections. The biggest problem is that getting to peak 15 is going to be quite hard."
"Can't we just get Joker to drop us off in the mako?" asked Shepard
"No, unless things are different there should be a blizzard going on. Also, the entire planet is basically ice and the pathway is only just wide enough for the mako at points. If you try a drop off things are going to horribly bad, in order to get to peak 15 you're going to need to get a garage pass."
"And how do we get that?" asked Kaiden
"A few choices, one dob the white collar into the manager. Or you can help a turian who is having his office raided by dirty cops looking for some proof he has on the manager's dirty deals. When you find the evidence that blond cop I mentioned before will start a fight. After you deal with her and her friends you come face to face with the white collar detective who'll want you to convince the turian who owns the evidence to testify against the salarian. Apparently, his bosses have heard what he's been up and they're not happy. There's also an asari that might try to convince you to spy on a competitor company.
When you get to the garage though you'll come under fire from multiple geth, Benezia used her power as one of the top investors in...binary helix I think it was to bring in crates full of geth. Finally, you can reach peak 15 on some very icy and narrow roads with a few geth along the way. Then you come to a building were the road ends...sorry commander I'm trying to remember what happens next." I said trying to think
"Take your time." responded Shepard simply, crossing her arms
"The building is full of geth, a few Primes maybe even a krogan or two. Once cleared you can start getting to the actual peak 15, both the power and the VI are out and they's also a pair of turrents stopping anything from leaving that you might want to take out before they start shooting you. Okay, let's see whats next?" I thought to myself "Going further in you encounter more geth and the first rachni soldier. It has two clawed tentacles and spits acid. I also remember there being snow so it could be on the roof or somehow the snow started piling in."
"You don't remember?" asked Ash calmy, if a little snidely
"I did this about...five or more years ago, I can remember a lot of the big stuff and I've used a lot of time trying to remember things that I've forgotten. What I know for certain though is you'll need to manually restart the VI, the power and get the train, tram or whatever it is to where Benezia is where they'll be some survivors including a very traumatized volus.
However some of them will shoot you in the back, there's an asari that Benezia's informant and the local guards are also on her payroll. They don't know about her being on the run or part of the reason why the rachni are attacking, there's also a lot of running around and the place is like a maze, there is something about a virus or something as well. Finally, you'll be facing Benezia herself, facing waves of asari and geth as well, the rachni queen will be there too in a glass cage. When Benezia is the only one left she is able to temporarily break free and give you the coordinates to Ilos. After that though she'll fall back under Reaper control."
"How many asari will there be?" asked Shepard
"I think all of them, every asari under Benezia's control. After that I don't remember seeing any asari in Saren's forces." I answered
"Gamora how many asari do you remember being under Benezia's command?" asked Shepard turning to her.
Thinking carefully Gamora answers
"From my inherited memories it could be close to fifty."
"That could be bad, asari commandos are some of the strongest and well-trained armed forces out there. I'm not sure how well we'll do against them, krogan, geth and rachni thrown in." mussed Shepard
"Actually commander it might not be that bad." said Liara making everyone look at her "While I never wanted to become a commando Benezia insisted that I go through some off there training in order to defend myself. One of the first things they taught me was that an asari's greatest weapon is not their biotics or their weapons but their mind. No matter how strong an asair's biotics are without the discipline or mind to use them they won't be as effective as they should be. From what Gamora said before most of them are fully indoctrinated, their minds have probably deteriorated even further by now. I believe they might no longer be able to as well as they once did."
"If that's the case then we might have a shot, Callum take us through the lay out." ordered Shepard
"It's a large square room with the cage in the centre, there is an observation platform in front of and behind the cage and up a short flight of stairs. Arround the room is a wide walkway, if I had to guess its roughly twenty to thirty metres from one side to the other." I answered
"Any good sniper nests?" asked Garrus
"Not that I know of, though there are a number of crates and canisters though." I answered
"I'm curious on how the Rachni managed to get on Noveria?" growled Wrex
"Binary Helix found a lone egg on a rachni ship. When it hatched they found out that it was a Queen." I answered
Hold on, they found a rachni ship, brought back an egg...and then hatched it?" asked Tali astounded at the stupidity
"If you think that's bad they have the great idea to separate any egg the queen lays in the hope of creating an army of rachni. Unfortunately, it turns out that they need to be close to the queen in order to develop properly. Every rachni aside from the queen seems to be insane and will attack anything, in order to get rid of them all we'll need to initiate a neutron purge. Something that we can either do before or after, I also remember a back entrance somewhere that will allow you to buy pass most of the fighting or at least the guards under Benezia's payroll."
"It that case the best course of action would be bring everyone one with me, it might cause more hostility and suspicion from security but I'm not going into a scenario where I'm going against a small army of asari commandos with anything less than everything we go. We're going to split into three team, Gamora, Wrex and myself will be going up against Benezia, we want to take her alive so we're going to need biotics and the muscle to do so. Callum, Solona and Kaiden, you will be our second team. Final team will be Liara, Ash and Garrus, we are going to play it just like we did with on Feros with the Thorian, keep an eye on your team and the team next to you. Once we have dealt with the vast majority of enemy forces we'll get Gamora to attempt to free Benezia from Soverigns control. If she is able to break free temporarily like Callum says she will we'll do it then, if not we knock her out or restrain her and hope it works." said Shepard "Once the process is done we'll knock her out anyway, if she wakes up herself then we've done it, if not I don't know what more we can do."
"Then what commander?" asked Ash
"We work on how to smuggle her out." replied Shepard "Garrus I want you to modify the mako some how to hide her."
"I could make some space underneath the seats, won't be comfortable but it should work." said Garrus
"Do it, Liara have you managed to get a hold of your father?" asked Shepard
"Yes commander." answered Liara
"Good, tell her to meet us as close as she can get to Noveria. We can drop the mako off on some planet on the excuse of scanning for materials and hand her over then. Now any more question about Noveria from anyone?" asked Shepard
For the next thirty or so minutes I answered whatever question someone had, from how many rachni there was likely to be, what sort of tactics we would likely to face to what the environment would be like. I could tell there was still a lot of scepticism but it seems like they were doing what Shepard had said before, treating it like any other intel until they saw for themselves whether that intel was reliable or not.
Elsewhere
Far, far away overlooking a red sun a man sat. In one hand was a cigar, partly smoked, in the other was a tablet with a glass of bourbon nearby.
For what must have been the hundredth time a voice recording starts 'My name is Callum Maclean, born in Australia, February...1994.'
"You can't be taking this seriously?" asked another voice "This is can't be more than a delusion or pure-faced lie on his part with a few facts thrown in to make it believable."
Taking a drag of his cigarette the man answered simply "He knows my name."
"...what? That's impossible, not even I know your name." stepping forward the owner of the voice is revealed. A black-haired woman wearing a skin tight black and white catsuit which pronounced her rather large 'assets.' There were many out there that made the mistake of spending one to many seconds paying attention to them and not what she was really doing.
"He also knows that I had history with Saren." continued the person known to most as the illusive man
"How is that possible, I thought you removed all traces of your past?" asked the woman surprised
"I did, there are barely five people in the entire universe that know the man I was is the same person I am now...and that includes me." answered Tim "Luckily for the operator assigned to listen in on the Normandy he passed the message up to me before my name came up else he would have temporarily been a sixth person.
"But what he's saying is impossible, there's no way it can be true." argued the woman
"Your right Miranda, but everything that he says that we can confirm to be true has been proven to be true. Even the things that we can't confirm sound plausible, such as the Collectors being Prothean in origin. As with every other ground crew Callum was investigated, nothing that we learned even suggested that he had this kind of intel. Even now after a much closer look nothing is showing.
Either he had some how gained access to an intelligence agency comparable to ours or the shadow broker then he is telling the truth. He also know the identity of the shadow broker and has given us an idea of his location. But the most damning evidence that he's telling the truth is what he just reported." taking another drag Tim continues
"I spoke with one of our contact on Noveria, our best one there. He was able to confirm that there are a number of corrupt security officers and that Administrator Bel Anoleis has been taking credits that he shouldn't. With some difficulties they were even able to confirm that he was under investigation and as you know a recent report had already started that Benezia was there. But when I asked if any turian's office was being searched he was surprised. Turns they started to raid the office of one Lorik Qui'in looking for 'evidence of corruption'...five minutes before he called." crushing the cigarette Tim finishes
"Either Private Callum has a network that we know nothing about and can somehow see the future or he is somehow telling the truth." raising a glass of bourbon he takes a sip before gently swirling the glass "Of course I'm not saying we believe everything he says without trying to confirm it on our own, quite the opposite in fact."
"Do you want me to get an extraction squad together?" asked Miranda
"...no, at least not now. We both know Shepard won't stop at anything if one of her squad is kidnapped. We can't afford her to become extracted at such a critical point. There's also the problem Callum might recognize anyone we send at him. Besides it might not even be needed. Thanks to a well-hidden bug we already know a great deal of information, that said if they do another detailed scan they'll either find the bug or its fail-safe will activate when it can no longer hide itself and it will wipe itself so nothing leads back to us.
Callum said he wrote everything that he knew and secretly gave it to Shepard hidden in a present. To do that he must have written it out somewhere else first, my guess is his omni-tool. He might still have a copy of it there and even if he tried to delete it he doesn't seem to have the technical know-how to do a full wipe. We might be able to recover some information. The next time he's on the Citadel I want one our agents to recover it. Without being detected or causing a scene that is, under no circumstances should he or anyone on Shepards team be harmed. Also, I have a project I want you to run personally." said Tim, handing over a tablet
Taking it Miranda scrolls through the information
"How much of a priority is this?" she asked
"Top priority, if there's anything you need let me know. You'll also need have the two asari retrieved as quickly and as unharmed as possible. One is confirmed to still be on Feros while we have not yet tracked down the second." answered Tim
"I'll get onto it right away." said Mirander before leaving Tim alone in the room.
Taking a long look into his glass the man once know as Jack Harper contemplated
Some of the things his future self didn't make sense. While the ends justified the means to throw away so many lives with so little return didn't make sense. Could he really be become indoctrinated?
A large part of him said that was nonsense that if that was the case surely he would know, that he could tell.
'Desolas didn't know, Saren didn't know.' said a little voice 'A madman doesn't know there crazy, to them they're the only sane ones left.'
'Miranda has to succeed.' thought the illusive man to himself 'No one can jeopardize humanities survival...not even me. Perhaps it was time to consider his own replacement? Something that was always coming, just not this soon...but who?'
'There were few that could the job, one of which just left the room. Miranda might lack the stomach to do some of the darker things that might be needed to ensure humanities survival but maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. Though if that was the route he was taking he'd need to deal with her father and him getting his legacy.' thought the illusive man 'If Henry can't be happy that one daughter is looking to be bright woman in own right who in all likely hood will be running her own business at some point and another daughter who will be running Cerberus then he'd make sure that it was Henry's problem and his problem alone.
Pressing a button Tim calls his secretary "Kes I need you to bring me all reports on both current and past Cerberus activities."
"Of course sir, at once." came the secretary's immediate reply.
If he was becoming indoctrinated or his judgement had somehow been compromised then the evidence will be found there.
Another big chapter, bigger than I intended it to be that's for sure. I was going to do another red vs blue omake but chap too big as it is so will do it next chapter instead.
For everyone wondering no, Cerberus or at least the illusive man will not become good guys so don't worry. Tim will be the asshole we all know, the only difference between Tim cannon and mine is that he knows know he could be indoctrinated or at least on his way to it and will actually be putting humanity before himself like he keeps saying he does.
Finally, the next chapter might take some time, I looked at the walkthrough and the is a lot going on. Enough that I want to write it as I play it if I can, the problem with that is I still have virmire plus a bunch of missions I want to do before I need to head to Ilos such as a few cerberus missions, Tali, Garrus and Wrex missions etc.
Also, and I have no idea how but I romanced Ash, I was just talking to her and then she suddenly started talking about our future or something so I've been avoiding her as I'll only go with liara or tali for this run