A/N: Shorter filler chapter.
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The briefing room of the Normandy was somewhat crowded. Not only was the ground team squeezing in, but the students they had evacuated from Grissom Academy were in there as well. Lizzie felt a hollowness in her gut. Out of the two hundred souls aboard the station they had saved just five. It felt like a failure, no matter how many times she told herself the mission was successful. The students they did manage to save had expressions she recognised all too well - the expressions of people who can't quite believe their friends didn't make it.
Saren stepped up to the front of the room.
"Good work on Grissom Academy, all of you. The Collectors failed to deny us the jamming algorithm and lost a cruiser as well as significant infantry assets for their pains. I know it doesn't feel like it, but we can chalk this up as a win."
There was a momentary pause.
"We're headed to Arcturus Station to pick up supplies for long range operations. We'll have forty eight hours liberty on the station, then depart for Feros."
###
For an engineering student like Tali, Arcturus Station was like a dream come true. The station consisted of a central spire, referred to as the Spindle, that housed the offices of the United Fleet Command, four arms extending out to link to the main torus with a diameter of ten kilometres. Off the main torus branched tubes that connected to the eight sub-tori that were arrayed around the station, each one with a four kilometre diameter and providing docking facilities for the hundreds of military ships that passed through the station every day. The US, the USSR, the Raachok Union, Emaris, the Rannoch Federation and the Turian Hierarchy each had their own sub-torus, the other two used by visiting warships. The entire thing was studded with proton beam turrets, mass drivers, missile batteries and interceptor hangars, the enormous proton cascade column that made up the centre of the Spindle powering the entire thing.
It was when the Normandy got closer that she saw the signs of the war. At least half of the ships she saw were docked on the inside of the sub-tori, indicating they needed major repairs. A section of Dock Three was powered down, the inner section of the torus having stopped spinning and providing artificial gravity as repair ships clustered around a rent in the station's outer armour. The most ominous sight was the small armada of broken Collector ships hanging in space around the station.
On the other side of the observation deck, Saren and Anderson watched the scene.
"I'd heard Arcturus Station had been attacked, but I never expected them to actually land a hit."
Saren nodded in agreement.
"Based on what I've been hearing, it was a one in a million shot. Sometimes people just get unlucky. Plus, the Collectors lost forty six ships. It was a major battle."
Anderson shook his head.
"I don't get it. The Collectors sent forty six ships against Arcturus Station and every warship stationed there. All they did was throw forty six cruisers away."
Across the room, Sam turned to Tali.
"The Commander's right, Tali. These attacks seem pointless and wasteful."
Surprisingly, it was Kelly who answered.
"That's just the thing. It's like a magic trick, all about distraction and misdirection. While we're running round responding to attack after attack, we're not on the offensive and so the Collectors can get on with their real purpose unopposed."
Tali and Jack turned to Kelly.
"Um ... How did you know that?"
Kelly fixed them with what could only be described as a Look.
"I'm a xenopsychology student. Half my course is assessing alien behaviour."
They fell silent again, looking out at the station as the Normandy approached its dock.
###
Nari looked around, eyes wide with wonderment as she followed Lizzie and Garrus through the bustle of Arcturus Station's main ring. Each ring was composed of two sections - a zero G section and an inner section that spun to produce gravity of about half Earth's, with special capsules used to transfer between the two although in emergencies the spinning sections would stop to allow easier movement through the station. Behind them the five Grissom Academy survivors followed, Lizzie having been given the task of keeping them safe and occupied while Saren met with the emergency war council. Following the ease with which the Collectors infiltrated the Citadel the emergency council was currently residing in the Spindle, where if rumour was to be believed they generally weren't getting anything useful done, too busy hung up over politics while several high profile admirals had bypassed them entirely and were co-ordinating amongst themselves. But then again, that was typical. The Earth bloc races tended to look down on the Citadel races as being mired in pointless bureaucracy but when push came to shove Human, Raachok, Atavira and Seu'Seun could procrastinate with the best of them.
Sighing, Lizzie turned her attention away from the Spindle high above her head. No doubt the politicians were having fun up there.
She turned back to her entourage of kids.
"Any of you guys ever eaten at Subway?"
They exchanged blank looks.
"Oh we are going to fix that."
She led them up to one of the monorail stations and they boarded the station's mass transit system, heading for the trunk of Dock Five. The ride took about fifteen minutes.
Disembarking, Lizzie led them all to a familiar green-fronted store on the main thoroughfare.
"Welcome to Subway, where sub sandwiches are the food of gods and military eat half price. There's one of these on every capital ship in the US Navy."
Garrus looked at her sideways.
"You're very fond of sandwiches, aren't you."
Shrugging, Lizzie led them into the store. As the bulkhead opened the smell of freshly baked bread washed over them, the hardened US SEAL pausing for a moment in the doorway and just revelling in the aura. The Raachok behind the counter nodded at her, his green and black Union Navy uniform complemented by his Subway cap.
"How can I help?"
She nodded at him.
"Hi. I'd like a footlong hearty Italian bread BMT with bacon and pepper cheese, double all the meat and cheese and toasted please."
Humming to himself, the server layered the meat up on the baguette, being extra liberal with the bacon, and popped her Sub in the toaster oven as she briefed the rest of the group.
"It's simple. You pick what kind of bread you want, pick what size you want, choose your meat and cheese. Just make sure you get the right amino acids."
While the others agonised over bread, she smiled at the Hanar behind the salad counter.
"This one is happy to serve the brave Lieutenant-Commander."
"Thanks. I'll have lettuce, peppers, red onion, jalapeños and ranch mayo sauce, please."
The Hanar treated her to an impressive display of dexterity as he simultaneously responded to each of her selections with one tentacle, then sliding her Sub down to the Quarian behind the till.
"Would you like a drink, ma'am?"
She selected an extra large cup.
"I'd also like two packs of Roethman's prawn cocktail crisps and three white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies, please."
The girl behind the checkout raised an eyebrow.
"Biotic."
"Ah, of course. My apologies."
Jack came up beside her, greedily eyeing the stack of food that her Sub had just been added to.
"I'm surprised you've never been to Subway before."
The teenager shrugged and leaned against the counter.
"They don't have any on Rannoch."
Lizzie turned fully to her, interested.
"You grew up on Rannoch?"
"Yeah. The Zorah family adopted me when I was three."
"What about before then?"
There was a brief pause as Jack looked down at her hands, which had involuntarily clenched into fists.
"Pragia."
Lizzie stiffened, the word bringing up memories she'd rather forget, along with one she would always remember of Garrus riding to the rescue. In hindsight, that was probably the moment she started thinking of him as more than a friend.
"How much do you remember?"
Jack initially made to respond angrily, but then seemed to deflate.
"Enough."
"You made it out though. You're living a good life."
That one brought a flare of anger.
"One hundred and ninety seven people I know just got slaughtered by the Collectors. Fuck your good life."
Lizzie responded in her calm voice, the tone Garrus called 'talk the jumper down'.
"You want to stomp on the Collector's dicks? On Cerberus's dicks? You keep living a good life. You show them that you're more than they are. That's how I beat the ones that get away."
Jack blinked at her.
"How's that working out for you?"
She sighed and slumped against the counter, dimly aware of Garrus paying for the subs.
"Sometimes the moral high ground's a bitch to take."
"Amen to that."
She playfully punched the teenager on the shoulder.
"On the bright side, you and the Scooby Doo gang nuked a bugmobile from the inside. That's some premium dick stomping right there."
Jack snorted, the melancholy of the moment lost.
"Come on. I'm hungry as fuck."
###
Inamorda walked into the lab, slightly unnerved by the deep red pulsing lights. Since Wrex was ... otherwise engaged on Arcturus Station, he had assigned Inamorda to make the inspection for him.
An Orkalas met him at the door, wearing the white armour of Fortack's scientific division.
"This way."
Inamorda followed the Orkalas scientist through the lab, past hundreds of eclectic devices and to the enormous central chamber that contained the catalyst to the Krogan's top secret technological renaissance. Fortack slid out of the cockpit of the stone ship, rubbing a smudge of dark red fluid off his crest as he walked over to Inamorda.
"Six years we've had that ship and we're still learning new things about it daily. Whoever built that thing was one smart bastard, I'll give them that."
Inamorda nodded at the self-proclaimed Lord High Researcher.
"Hello Fortack. What have you got so far?"
Chuckling to himself, the scientist led Inamorda to an elevator.
"Better hang onto something. We're going down four kilometres."
The elevator ride was surprisingly quick, plummeting the distance in about two minutes. When they reached the bottom and stepped out, Inamorda definitely hadn't been expecting what he saw.
"May I proudly present the INTS Kalros."
Inamorda gaped at the two kilometre long dreadnought sitting in the hangar.
"You built this?"
Fortack nodded with pride.
"The first of the Tuchanka class battleships. The Krogan are back in business."