Aboard the Quick Capital
East Leeds Smog Cloud
Leeds System
Right now, all Decimus wanted to do was punch that useless rotund methane breather of a captain of his for getting the crew into this mess. Having finally arrived in human space, their captain, Doran Vor, had greedily decided to have the ship go through conventional FTL and bypass the trade lanes to reach the New London jump gate, despite all warnings by Bretonnian authorities not to due to navigational hazards.
Well, they were stuck in the middle of one now for sure. They hit the massive smog cloud on the way to the jump gate and quickly got lost in it. It was worse than a damn nebula, at least radiation wasn't a problem they had to deal with there. All because Doran wanted to save some time. The worst part was that as navigator, it was now his job to try and find a way out of this mess.
Honestly though, he was hoping for a police patrol to stumble by and lead them out. It was kind of their best bet right now, seeing as their sensors could barely read anything in the Spirits damned smog.
"Decimus, have you find us a way out of here?" Doran wheezed again, for what had to be the hundredth time.
"No sir." Decimus replied, his anger at his superior only barely contained. "I think we may have entered a pocket of rather intense radiation. It's blocking a lot more of our sensors, and our range is rather limited with them. I would also advise against moving forward any further. From the looks of things, the radiation only gets worse the more we travel into it, and it could actually be enough to cook us inside the ship."
'"So you are saying our best hope is to deploy our distress beacon and hope for the best?" Doran asked.
"Yes sir. While the Bretonnians wouldn't recognize it, any other Citadel ships would, and would hopefully inform the authorities." Decimus said. What was left unsaid though was if the beacon could even be picked up from this deep in the smog. He could only pray to the Spirits that it could.
It was a grueling half hour after deploying the beacon before Decimus started to pick up some contacts on his sensors. "We have contact, sir!" he exclaimed excitedly. At least now he knew that he wasn't going to die in here with that wretched captain of his. He didn't care if he was going to be stuck on new London, he was going to take all the dextro food he could and wait for the next Citadel ship to stop by and hitch a ride on it.
"Open channels" Doran ordered. "I shall convey my thanks to them myself." the comm officer quickly complied, and Dorlan took a deep breath, likely trying to sound more authoritative than he actually was.
"Greetings Sirius clan. I am Doran Vor, and we thank you for responding to our distress signal." he said, more humble than Decimus has ever seen him. Likely this was the voice he reserved for his clients.
"I'm getting no response from them, captain," the comm officer replied. "Maybe they didn't get the message?"
"Well, try again." he ordered. "Greetings Sirius clan. I am Doran Vor and my crew and I thank you for responding to our distress signal." he said again.
"I'm picking something up. Translating." the comm officer said again.
"Received, Captain Doran. We're making our way there." said the contacts.
"Captain, reading four contacts coming in fast." Decimus reported. They finally hit sensor range at least.
"Good." Doran replied.
"Captain, something's not right." Decimus reported after he could make out the vaguely avian shape of the incoming ships. "Those don't look like Bretonnian vessels."
"What?" Doran said incredulously. "I mean, so what? So long as they help us get out of here, I don't care."
"But they might be-" Decimus tried to say, at least until a brief weapons fire barely grazed the hull, triggering alarms throughout the ship.
"Cut your engines, Captain." the leader of the patrol said. "And prepare to be boarded. Resist, and we'll end you."
"Understood." Doran immediately complied.
"Captain, I'm reading two of them making their way to the ship. Orders?" Decimus asked.
"We comply, Decimus. This isn't the first time I've been robbed. Better to surrender and let them take what they want." Doran replied calmly.
"But sir, only two of them are coming aboard from the looks of things. We can take them on." Decimus replied confidently.
"And then we get destroyed by those two other ships, and if we don't we die in the smog. Better to comply, Decimus. Better to comply and live to make another profit another day." Doran replied, a lot more calmly than Decimus would have ever pegged the volus.
"All right sir." Decimus replied in resignation.
Soon enough, Decimus read that the two contacts were now right by the two airlocks of the ship.
"Captain Doran, unlock your airlocks." the leader of the pirate patrol ordered.
"We are complying." Doran said as he pressed a few buttons on his console.
Soon, two humans entered, each brandishing a rifle.
"Señor, we have the ship. Crew is compliant." said one of them with some sort of cybernetic device where his right eye would be.
"Which of you is Captain Doran?" asked the other, taller one.
"I am, Sirius clan." Doran said, waddling forward. "The cargo bay is down there. Take what you want."
"You will follow our ships and make no sort of communication whatsoever. Any of you leave our sight, we blast you." the taller one said.
"Spirits, this isn't a robbery, it's a hijacking," Decimus muttered to himself as he slowly got the ship to follow the two pirate ships to Spirits only knew where, deeper into the smog cloud.
Neural Net Update
Thessia
Controlled by: Asari Republics
System: Parinthia
Radius: 5,940 km
Orbital Distance: 0.94 AU
Orbital Period: 0.9 years
Terrain: Terrestrial
Temperature: 25C
Surface Gravity: 1.1 g
Mass: 0.947 Earth Masses
Population: 5.5 Billion
Ships for sale: Compiling
Commodities For Sale: Eezo (restricted), Luxury Food, Entertainment Media, Alcohol
Commodities Buying: Consumer Goods, Luxury Goods, Gold, Silver, Niobium
Weapons for Sale: Compiling
The asari homeworld, Thessia, is the heart of the largest economy in the galaxy. The planet's eezo reserves are so vast, they affect its price across the galaxy. Names for the planet range from "the crown jewel of the galaxy", to "the beating heart of galactic love". Thessia is uniquely home to a wide variety of republics instead of a single government, and has long been free of external or internal wars.
Athena Nebula Mass Relay
Parinthia System
"That was rather uneventful." Perkins commented as they completed their transition into the Parinthia system, home to Thessia.
"Were you expecting something, Perkins?" Aela commented.
"Pirates for one thing. Attempts to steal my ship for another." Perkins replied in a rather nonchalant tone. "I mean, the list is certainly longer than that, but those are the two rather large ones I really expected to happen in one form or another."
"We're in the middle of civilized space, Perkins. Neither of those are going to be happening anytime soon." Aela commented. "Though, as I continue to review my report to the University, I think they'll end up sending us to Ilium to chat with my friend regarding what I learned back on New London, about the Dom'Kavash."
"Not that I wouldn't mind seeing more of your handsome face around," Talia purred. "I'll be picking up some eezo here anyways, so if both of you need a ride to Ilium after whatever business you've got at the University of Serrice, then I'd be happy to take you."
"Thank you," Aela aid, genuine thanks in her voice. Though the whole flirting with Perkins thing was was still very awkward for her. Perkins still didn't seem to mind, though.
"I'm going to go check on my ship. Make sure she's all ready for flying in atmo." Perkins said as he left for the cargo bay.
"And I'll go help him out. I'd love to hear more stories from the Sirius sector." Talia said, following Perkins.
"Is she always like that?" Aela asked the engineer, Lia, taking advantage of the absence of Talia.
"For as long as I've been a member of her crew, yes." she said a little exasperated. "Though I've never seen her dedicate this much attention to one person though. This one might be serious."
"What happens if Perkins will finally acknowledge her?" Aela asked.
"I dunno." Lia responded. "I don't normally mess with the affairs of my Captain, though I imagine it'll end with a really really long session in her bedroom. Or Captain's chair. Or engine room. Actually, I imagine she might kick us all out of the ship for a while."
\
"So!" Aela said, trying to change the topic. "Thoughts on Perkins' Crusader huh,? I'm sure you've taken a look at it. Maybe even scanned it a bit, too."
"It's absolutely wonderful!" she said animatedly, probably because this triggered into her love for engineering. "It manages to compress a very efficient fusion reactor into such a small package, and its engines manage to achieve some very interesting results too without making use of anti-matter or mass effect fields. And it all runs on the same fuel composition we make use of, which makes sense as the H-Fuel is a relatively stable and common fuel source. Not to mention the weapons on it. I can't even begin to understand what's going on in them. Though what I'm most interested in is the hull composition. If we could take that and combine it with increased density through mass effect folding, I think we could create hulls stronger than anything before! This might be enough to give back to the Fleet!"
"Congratulations." Aela replied. Honestly, she kinda glazed over the explanation a bit. She had already heard all that before. "I'm sure the Fleet would love to see something that will win Rannoch back."
"Thank you." Lia said happily. "Though, I must still pass my condolences to you. I understand what it's like having a man snatched away from me…" she sighed.
"I keep telling you all, it isn't like that." Aela exasperatedly exclaimed. "We're just employer and employee. He guards, I dig. That's it. He's loaded, he just wants the adventure of seeing things he's never seen before."
"I'm sure." Lia said in annoyingly sympathetic tone. "Well, we'll be at Thessia soon. I expect we'll be docked here for a while, as our Captain processes her eezo export papers for Ilium."
"If we're headed there, I'll be sure to tell you guys." Aela said. "It's my gateway to the Terminus systems, and chances are, my next dig will be there anyways."
"And if all else fails, it was nice meeting you Dr. D'Avo." Lia said extending her arm.
"Please Lia, call me Aela." she replied shaking her hand. It was good that she found a friend aboard the ship.
Serrice Spaceport
Thessia
If Aela was honest with herself, she was only slightly smug as they entered atmo and she saw Perkins' face visibly smile in awe of the city of Serrice. Designed in the very best of asari style, with chrome towers that gracefully soared to touch the crystal clear blue sky interspersed with well tended gardens that hosted plants from all over the planet, Aela was personally very proud of her home city and how it seemed to capture what she thought was the best of asari architecture and planning.
"Now that's a sight," Perkin breathed out as the ship descended into the spaceport. "Nothing at all like New London."
"You mean the fact that we have some actual decent weather?" Aela replied.
"Haha. You know New London does have days with good weather too, " Perkins snarked back.
"What, once a year of just cloud and no rain?"
"...Maybe."
Aela just laughed at that, pleased with her triumph over Perkins, just in time to feel the gentle bump of the ship landing on the spaceport.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Thessia, home of the most beautiful women in the galaxy, and largest source of eezo. " Talia announced over the intercom. "Thank you for flying AirTalia, and I do hope you fly with us again."
"Come on, I'll show you the way to the University." Aela said as she led Perkins to the ship's exit.
"What about the Crusader?" Perkins asked.
"I'm sure that we can leave it here in the very capable hands of Captain Talia for a few hours. They'll be busy here handling eezo negotiations with the customs officers, which gives us time to go to the University to check on my own project." Aela replied as they arrived at the airlock.
After a brief moment in the decontamination chamber, Aela found herself on Thessian soil once more, while she found Perkins just standing still in the airlock.
"Come on," she said a little annoyed. "What are you waiting for?"
"Savoring the moment, dear," Perkins said in that annoyingly Bretonnian tone of his. "With a occasion as momentous as this, me being the first man to set foot on truly alien soil surrounded by a completely foreign culture, I've got to savor it," he said after taking a rather theatrical deep breath.
Aela just grumbled a bit and let Perkins practically preen himself over the situation. Honestly, sometimes she thought he just did this to annoy her.
"Welp, enough of that," Perkins said suddenly. "Let's go."
Aela just sighed as she led Perkins towards the nearest fast transit station. Goddess, she hoped that at the very least her dig went well enough without her.
The University of Serrice was considered by many to be one of the best Universities, not only on Thessia, but within the entirety of Citadel space. Having several millennia's worth of tradition helped, but they were also host to some of the CItadel's finest minds, from all walks of life. It was not uncommon to find a professor from another race here in a permanent teaching position, imparting some of the finest points of their specialties into the next generation who would shape the galaxy.
It was Aela's home as much as anything, and would always be something she would keep in a special place in her heart. Just seeing the familiar university grounds as they approached via aircar released a feeling of homeliness in her heart
Perkins whistled at the sight. "Rather posh looking, isn't it?"
"I think you're just associating all the chrome and gardens with 'posh', Perkins." Aela responded. "We have a rather extensive scholarship program that any and all Citadel races do participate in."
"I'm just saying, I'm getting a very Cambridge feeling from this place." he replied back as they landed.
"Come on, let's go before classes are dismissed and you become the number one crowd attraction here." Aela said.
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Perkins said, once again living whatever his imagination had in mind.
Aela just gave him as harsh a stare she could manage, and it thankfully mollified him enough to follow her into the main faculty building. That was something she definitely had to do more often.
Aela just knew the moment she entered the Archaeology department that her colleagues would immediately flock to either her or Perkins, and ask all sorts of questions.
What she didn't expect was the rather large number of assistants and students in the faculty room, as they all quickly dropped what they had and crowded around him, excitedly interrogating him for any scraps of knowledge about humans.
Perkins naturally managed to calm them down enough to get them to ask their questions one at a time, instead of all at once.
Aela just let him be for a while. He could handle things while she went and talked to her good friend, Dr. Faen Coralis.
"Aela!" Faen greeted happily. "It's good to see you. How are you? How was meeting the humans?"
"I'm fine, thank you." Aela responded kindly. "And the humans were… interesting, to say the least."
"Like that human outside the door, then?" Faen replied. "He looks like he's answering the questions of the students in good spirits."
"I'm convinced that it is a matter of Bretonnian pride that nothing should faze them," Aela replied. "No matter how unusual a situation, they will probably face it with a smile and a wave."
"So a cultural thing?" Faen asked.
"Yes, like how the Turians tend to be martially focused." Aela replied.
"I wonder what it was that shaped their culture to be like that?" Faen mused to herself out loud. "But that can come later, come in, have a seat," she said, offering up her hospitality to Aela. "What can I do for you? Especially after your long absence from here, I'm sure you have many questions."
"Thank you," Aela said after taking a seat. "How went the results of my dig with the others?"
"Nothing too groundbreaking, though we did indeed find some new glyphs in that pot you found. We're still working on figuring out what exactly it means, but we suspect that it involves destruction of some sort, though Goddess knows why," Faen replied. "Other than that though, your team found a good number of well-preserved artifacts, but nothing particularly noteworthy."
"Oh." Damn. She was sure they would've found something particularly interesting there that time.
"I'm sorry, I know you were hoping for something big, but… well, you know how it goes." Faen said apologetically.
"It's all right. Though, I do have another question." Aela asked, a little resigned at what fate handed her regarding her earlier dig. "Do you know where Dr. T'Vedri is?"
"Last I heard, she was on Ilium trying to get some corp to sponsor her next expedition for her next dig for those really ancient crystals she found." Faen replied. "Why? I mean personally, while ancient, those crystals and whoever made them aren't anything particularly special. They just look like a very well preserved bronze age culture that somehow died off and was preserved by some fluke."
"Take a look at this." Ala said as she uploaded her own scans of what she found in the Bretonnian Museum. "I found them while being toured around the Sirius sector."
"Hmm, very interesting. Deeper scans, show crystal matrix structures? These were data storage devices of some sort?" Faen asked, her eyebrows scrunched up.
"From what the humans tell me, yes, though they've never figured out how to read them." Aela replied.
"So the creators of these crystals were spacefaring?" Faen asked in response.
"Yes. It's amazing isn't it?" Aela responded. "I have to find her and get her opinion on this. If we could find whatever the equivalent of a beacon these… Dom'Kavash had, imagine the sort of advances the galactic community could glean from them."
"Right. You should make for Ilium then and join Dr. T'Vedri in trying to get a sponsor. The university board isn't the most generous group around right now."
"I understand." Aela replied. The university can be rather stringy at times, and even with something as potentially groundbreaking as this, it might be best to go for private sources of funding.
"Well Faen, I should go rescue Perkins over there from the hoard of students asking him all sorts of silly questions."
"You go do that, Aela. Good luck!" Faen said after giggling a bit to herself.
She wasn't too sure what Faen found funny, but just attributed it to her general bubbly attitude as she left Faen's office to find Perkins still answering questions.
"How does anyone even live on Leeds?" one of the students asked, a little bit of horror in her voice.
"A lot of them say it could be worse. Having not had the pleasure of living there, I fail to see how it could get worse, so I have no idea." he replied with is trademark smirk, which somehow got a few chuckles from the crowd.
"And that ladies was the last question I'll be answering. Take care, and I hope to have left you all with a good impression of humanity in general ." he said as he bowed out and left the faculty room, waiting for Aela to catch up.
"How was the interview?" Aela asked.
"Quite civil. I liked it honestly." Perkins replied.
"Well, we're headed to Ilium next, so we best inform Captain Talia of the plan." Aela responded.
"What about her processing those papers you mentioned?" Perkins asked.
"That should take a while, so we can stay here in my apartment in Serrice for the night," she responded. "From here, I think things will only get more interesting."