The Red Moon Collection - 2 - Three Phantoms

Chapter 25

MSV Hyperion, in orbit over Yamm, Kalabsha System

"Excellent work, Agent," Tevos said diplomatically. "Though it is unfortunate that you were unable to bring Antarian to justice alive."

Will looked over to the salarian as they stood side by side in the enclosed bunkroom. The Council's holographic image wavered slightly as it projected from the holopad on the table.

"I agree," Vayren replied. "But, as I said, it was unavoidable. He could have vanished completely had he escaped. Given the potency of the explosives that we disarmed, it is clear that he intended to leave no evidence of his estate and no trail to follow. Fortunately, we were able to pull a large amount of data from the internal network of his estate. Finances, current and future operations, and so on."

"Good," Councilor Sparatus commended. "We expect a full report within the next three days, Agent Vayren. Once it and the data you mentioned have been analyzed we will determine a plan for the cleanup operations. "

"I will deliver it as soon as possible," the Spectre assured them. "And I plan on returning to the Citadel within three days."

"Good," Valern acknowledged. "We already have several issues that need looking into. There are also a handful of inactive assignments remaining on Agent Corsin Rentarius's docket. We would like you to evaluate them upon your return."

Vayren bowed his head lightly. "Consider it done, Councilors."

Tevos donned her politician's smile and nodded her head in return. "We will be in touch. Good day, Agent."

The transmission ceased seconds later. Will snorted and glanced over to Vayren once again, but was given a response before he could even speak.

"They will never acknowledge you," Vayren informed him regrettably.

The salarian stepped forward and collected the holopad to hold under his arm. He turned to face Will and let out a small sigh.

"For that, I apologize." Vayren extended a hand. "But that does not mean I cannot acknowledge you and the rest of the crew."

Will let a small smile rise on his lips as he reached forward and took the hand, shaking firmly. "Thanks, Vayren."

"Please, Captain, you don't owe me any thanks. I should be thanking you." The Spectre retracted his hand. "Agen-" He cut himself short. "Corsin and I could not have completed this assignment without your help."

"It was an honor to be a part of the mission." Will gave him a bittersweet smile. "I hope things get better on those worlds Antarian manipulated."

Vayren met his gaze. "Indeed. I wish we could have stopped him sooner."

Will crossed his arms and leaned back against the table. He could see something different Vayren's eyes, but he wasn't sure just exactly what it was.

"You... doing alright, Vayren?"

The salarian's gaze fell wearily to the floor. He let out a small sigh and opened his mouth just slightly before speaking.

"I was just wondering when this day would come," he answered.

"Which day is that?" Will asked quietly.

Vayren looked back to him. "His method was unforgivable, but what Antarian said was true. When it comes down to it, he was following the Council's orders." He shook his head. "I was able to recover some of his case files from the data we collected at his villa. He was tasked with stopping the entire planetary invasion of an asari colony with only weeks to find a solution."

Will raised a brow. "I thought you stopped plenty of wars with the STG."

"We did," the Spectre affirmed. "But we had months, years, to orchestrate our solutions."

"So what are you saying?"

Vayren remained silent for a long moment before responding. "Someday I might be in the same position he was. And I may not know all of the details, but... I'm not sure what I would do."

"You'd find a solution." Will nodded to the salarian. "You're a Spectre, after all."

"I also looked into Corsin's service record. Well, that which is declassified, of course." Vayren raised his brow in bewilderment. "Some of the choices he had to make... the people he had to sacrifice..."

Will nodded in understanding. "When it came down to it, he made the choice a real Spectre would make. You think Antarian would have done the same he did thing on Lorek?"

Vayren shook his head. "No."

"Would you?" Will eyed him curiously.

The salarian stared into nothingness. "Yes." He looked over to Will. "Without hesitation."

Will smiled lightly. "That's why you're the soldier, and I'm the scoundrel."

Vayren chuckled briefly at the notion. "Scoundrel? Hardly. Like it or not, Captain Hume, you and your crew do more good than most in this galaxy."

"Aheh," Will glanced to the side. "You caught us on a good week. We've made more than our fair share of smuggling runs."

The salarian crossed his arms. "I'll forget I heard that. Just this once."

"Right, well, if you ever need a ship and guns you've got our number," Will reminded him.

"I will keep that in mind." Vayren smiled and raised his omnitool. "I put in the requisition order for your payment a few minutes ago. It should be transferred to your account within the next standard day."

Will grinned and crossed his arms. "Taking that bastard down felt so good that I almost forgot about that part." He motioned toward the Spectre's holopad. "Need to make any more calls?"

The salarian shook his head. "No, not now."

"Great." He reached down and tapped a command into his omnitool. "Hey Shansa, we're done with the comm buoy."

"Finally!" She teased. "Setting course for Omega."

"I should get started on my report," Vayren stated as he turned to the briefing table.

Will nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'll let you work."

He turned and walked to the door. As Will tapped the console to open it, he glanced back over his shoulder to Vayren. The salarian was already intently focused on typing away at his holopad while he stood at the table. Will smiled to himself and stepped into the hall before turning and walking to the cockpit. Shansa jumped up from her seat with a beaming smile as he approached, having clearly heard him coming. He couldn't help but meet her eyes and smile back.

"Was I awesome or what?" She boasted.

"You were pretty damn awesome," he answered with a grin.

Shansa shrugged casually and leaned against the bulkhead of the door. "Yeah, you know, I don't like to brag or anything..."

Will laughed and gave her a small hug. "You did good, Shan."

"You too, Will. I'm really glad we finished this," she said as they parted.

A small frown spread across her face to match her much more serious tone. Will nodded in agreement and closed his eyes.

"You and me both. I mean, Kallux's leg is probably fine by now, damn krogan, and Eleena's probably not even gonna have a scar, but..." He took a deep breath and opened his eyes once more. "You okay?"

Shansa shrugged gently. "I kinda miss Corsin."

Will chuckled softly. "It's funny, isn't it? If he was still here he'd probably be leaving in a day or two." He shook his head with a regretful smile. "I wish he could've seen this to the finish."

"Yeah. Me too." She crossed her arms and sighed. "So... where to after Omega?"

He leaned against the wall beside her. "Well, Vayren insisted on taking civilian transport back to the Citadel, which apparently we are not, so I guess we can go wherever we damn well please."

"How does nowhere sound to you?" Shansa raised a brow. "At least for a few days."

"Glad you suggested it," Will answered. "Because I need a goddamn day off."

The pilot eyed him silently with a playful grin.

Will glanced over and looked her up and down. "What?"

"Got any 'special plans?' Ya know, some quality time with a certain purple, foul-mouthed engineer?"

He answered slowly in an attempt to avoid suspicion. "Why would you think that?"

Shansa smirked and put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, I've know you since we were, what, ten? I like to think I've got a handle on what makes you tick. Plus, I've seen the way you guys have been looking at each other."

Will smiled sheepishly. "I was... a little worried you might get jealous."

"Pfft!" She laughed and pulled her hand back. "How many times do I have to tell people I'm not interested in shacking up with my pretty-much-brother?" Shansa shook her head in disappointment. "Reel that ego in, William."

"It's not my ego!" Will raised his hands defensively. "You can't tell me you never think about how-"

"Ah!" Shansa raised a finger to silence him. "Enough! Trust me on this one, Will: do not want to dig yourself this hole."

He let out a sigh and turned to walk back down the hall. "Bah! Go fly the ship or something."

She giggled softly and turned back into the cockpit. "Later, Will."

As he passed by the crew's quarters the laugh of a familiar krogan caught his ear. He stopped at the doorway and looked in to see Kallux standing behind Tul while the quarian sat at his computer terminal.

The krogan put his hand on the chair and laughed again. "You sneaky little pyjak!"

"Uggh, must you use that analogy?" Tul asked as he tapped away at the computer.

Will stepped into the room and approached the pair. "What's goin' on?"

Kallux glanced over his shoulder with a grin. "Tul's been going through all the data we pulled from Antarian's private network."

"Anything interesting?" Will raised a brow.

"Oh yes," Tul answered gleefully. "It looks as though his ship, the Pride of Kalabsha, had been sold a few days before we arrived. Part of his plan to disappear, I assume. It left from the villa a few hours before we arrived to be delivered to its buyer."

Will nodded, intrigued. "Who is?"

"It was some well known slaver," Kallux muttered irritably.

"Exactly. Was. Until I found his personal encryption algorithms," the quarian said with an audible smirk.

"Okay... did he have really good encryption? What does that have to do with anything?" Will asked, slightly confused.

Tul hemmed and hawed momentarily. "Not particularly. But I also found his list of contacts: the people who receive these encrypted message."

"He found the channel Antarian used to send messages to his ship," Kallux elaborated.

Will grinned much like Kallux as he understood. "Ahh..."

Tul'Sorrin nodded and put on narrative tone. "And so, they will receive a message from 'Antarian' informing them that the buyer has requested the ship be delivered to a port on Omega instead of Bekke. The skeleton crew will dock the ship at a berth that Kallux and I reserved, leave the root systems access in a specified drop location, and never return."

Will laughed and shook his head. "You son of a bitch! What's the plan, then?"

The three of them exchanged curious looks, each waiting for the other to make a suggestion.

"Well," Tul finally began, "one of us should keep an eye on it, at least."

"I've already got all the ship I need," Will admitted. "And from what I saw of that thing on Neidus, a corvette doesn't provide the space we need for transporting goods or passengers. Probably doesn't even have room for a shuttle." He reached over and gave the wall of the Hyperion a loving pat.

Kallux nodded to Tul'Sorrin. "How 'bout it, Tul? You had your station destroyed, right? It'd only be fair."

The quarian looked over his shoulder to the others. "I- uh..." He shook his head. "I'd rather not. I like it here on the Hyperion."

"Aw, shucks." Will leaned back against the wall and looked to Kallux. "What about you, big guy?"

Kallux shrugged. "I guess I could hold on to it. Probably doesn't need more than three bodies to run the systems. Plus, I'll need something get around in as I assume you'll be keeping the Kodiak." He chuckled and nodded from side to side in consideration. "RMC's gonna need a 'flagship' anyway, right?"

Will laughed. "I can't think of a more poetic way to obtain one."

Tul'Sorrin glanced between the two of them. "Wait, what? Did I miss something?"

Kallux and Will shared a quick looked as they both simultaneously realized that Kallux had not informed the rest of the crew about his upcoming departure from the crew.

"No, you didn't miss anything," the krogan answered with a sigh. "I just haven't told you yet."

Will smirked and backed away. "I'll let you bring Tul up to speed. I've got people to check up on."

Kallux reluctantly began prefacing his upcoming change as Will hurried out of the room and toward the cargo bay. Over by Tyrixis's armory station stood Eleena, T'lees and the doctor. Tyrixis had her medical supplies spread out on her workbench as she knelt beside Eleena. The asari had her shirt gripped and held up to expose her midriff as she looked off to the side with an annoyed expression.

"It's fine," she complained as Will approached them. "Seriously, the medi-gel was enough."

"Medi-gel cannot remove shrapnel," Tyrixis argued in a focused, monotone voice.

Will came to a stop a few feet away to see that the doctor was scanning Eleena's torso with a small device as the asari tapped her foot impatiently. Eleena's wound was clearly fresh, but half-sealed already from the application of medi-gel. At last, Tyrixis lowered the scanner and stood.

"It looks clean," she declared. "But you should have allowed me to inspect the wound before sealing it. If a piece of debris had been inside, surgery would have been required to remove it."

"I hear a lot of 'if' and 'would have,'" Eleena remarked as she lowered her shirt. "Not a lot of 'is' or 'will have to.'"

"But of course. There's no reason to listen to me." The doctor sighed and turned to place her med-scanner back on the table. "You are free to go."

Eleena stepped past Will as she headed for the rear compartment. "I'll be in the engine room."

He smiled and watched her go before turning back to see T'lees step up for her turn with the doctor. Tyrixis raised her chin slightly and narrowed her eyes as she leaned forward to inspect the asari's eye. She reached forward to gently grasp the eyepatch T'lees wore before lifting it up and pulling it from her head. Will and the asari both winced as it happened, but for different reasons. Scar tissue had already formed in and around her empty left orbit, with a few long streaks reaching so far up and along the side of her head that they nearly touched the base of her scalp. While the wound was not that of stomach-churning gore, it was a tad unsettling. Will straightened his face and posture quickly after seeing the wound, and T'lees did the same, having winced from the pain in her still-tender flesh.

"You are very fortunate," Tyrixis informed her. "If the shrapnel had traveled much further, you would have certainly been killed. Your wound has healed quite well, however."

"Yes, I feel ever so fortunate," T'lees mused wearily.

"You did well earlier," Will said, hoping to ease the pain. "Glad you were there."

The asari's single eye looked over to Will as Tyrixis carefully placed the eyepatch back into place. "I am glad you appreciate my efforts, Captain. However, I am sorely out of practice. I have already reestablished my weekly training schedule and will be back to my full potency in a matter of months."

Will furrowed his brow slightly. Tyrixis turned from them and began collecting her supplies in the medical bag at the end of her workbench.

"That's... good? I mean, I guess you'll want to keep safe." He watched as she averted her eye.

T'lees looked back after a few seconds. "I was hoping, Captain, that you might permit me to stay on board for a short time."

He crossed his arms. "You're not ready to get back to Thessia with that fresh pardon?"

She shook her head gently. "I spoke with Agent Vayren. He cannot issue a pardon to the Thessian authorities. He can, however, ensure that the Council government will not enforce any extradition orders."

"That's something, at least," Will admitted. "But I'm not sure how crazy I am about having a fugitive on my ship."

T'lees took a step toward him. "Captain... Antarian controlled all of my accounts. He emptied and closed them just before you found me, which is how I knew he was preparing to kill me." She shrugged and looked up to him hopefully. "I have nowhere to go, and if I did, I wouldn't have the credits to take me there."

Will looked to the side as he considered the asari's situation. She had already proven herself to be a competent fighter and they would soon be losing Kallux, their greatest combat asset. He let out a deep sigh and dropped his arms back to his sides.

"Alright. You can stay, but there are gonna be some rules." Will looked back to her. "No weapon brokering, for starters."

She smiled warmly. "I will abide by your rules, Captain Hume." She reached forward and grasped his hand diplomatically. "Thank you. I am truly in your debt."

The asari bowed her head gratefully before turning and walking to the forward hall on light, wisp-like footsteps.

"I would not have allowed her to stay," Tyrixis mentioned quietly as she finished packing her equipment. "The commandos may pick up her trail again."

Will looked over to the turian. "It took them half a century to find her before, I think we'll be okay."

She did not respond. Tyrixis slid the medical pack over her shoulder as she turned back to Will. He cleared his throat to ensure that she would not walk off immediately.

"Hey, doctor, I wanted to thank you for sticking around." He gave her a half-smile.

"We had a mission to complete," she said coldly.

Will nodded in agreement. "And now?"

Tyrixis looked downward. "I will leave when we arrive at the next port. My father will need to be told that his son is dead, and then I must bury him."

He eyed her in silence for a long moment. "Did Antarian's death make it any easier?"

The turian continued to stare toward the floor. Her right mandible fluttered lightly, then assumed its normal position.

"Yes. It did."

She said nothing more before turning and marching to the forward hall. Will stood and watched until she had stepped through the door and out of sight. His eyes lingered after her for a few moments, worried, before finally tearing his gaze away and walking to the engine room door. Will stopped in the doorway and placed his hand on the bulkhead as he saw Eleena facing the eezo core, working on her omnitool. Her tapping fingers slowed as she heard him come to a stop. The asari turned her head just far enough for her eye to catch a glimpse of him over her shoulder.

"You just planning on standing there?" She teased with a smirk.

Will grinned to himself. "Well I didn't want to interrupt."

She shut her omnitool and spun on her heel to face him in one motion. "Think I'd rather look at FTL core readings than talk to you?" Will raised a brow as she paused, waiting for her to continue. "It's a close one, sure, but I've had plenty of engineering in my life already. Only a little bit of you so far."

Will smiled and stepped up to her. "That sounded damn near romantic."

"Shit, don't tell anyone," she joked with a small grin. "How are they doing, anyway?"

He let out a sigh of consideration. "Well enough, I guess. I think they're just glad we caught him before... before anyone else got hurt."

"I'll second that," Eleena muttered. "And talk about stress. I'm not so crazy about these month-long missions."

Will grinned slyly. "You haven't seen the payment yet."

The asari gave him a reminding push on the shoulder. "As long as a cut goes toward those fusion couplings I've been bugging you about, I'm happy."

"You can pick out whichever you want," he answered. "We'll arrive at Omega within twelve hours."

"Perfect." She raised a brow. "Until then?"

"I might head up to the loft. I need a decent night of sleep," Will said with a sigh. "Wanna join me?"

"Eh, I'm not tired," she answered with a shrug.

"I didn't say I'd be going to sleep right away." He turned for the door and glanced over his shoulder. "I think I need to unwind first. Maybe reward myself for all this hard work... relieve that stress you were talking about."

Eleena narrowed her eyes knowingly to his mischievous half-grin and reached back to turn off the FTL core's external data feed. She wouldn't be back to use it for at least an hour or two.