"Sir!" Kal'Reegar jumped up from his seat in the passenger section of the transport when he heard the pilot shout; absentmindedly carrying his ML-77 missile launcher with him to the cockpit.
"What is it?" He asked as he plopped down in the co-pilots chair.
"The Geth ships sir, they're headed for the Relay. Should I lay in an intercept course?" said the male Quarian pilot; adjusting the readout of the ladar
"Do it." said Kal in a stoic manner. "We need to find out where they're going."
"Yes sir, plotting course. ETA to relay, nine minutes" replied the pilot.
"Why would a few Geth ships come this far from the veil just for an expedition?" Kal thought out loud. "And why now?" A moment of silence followed as the pilot double checked his estimation of the Geth ship's course. Kal sat deep in thought. The Geth, the true Geth, haven't had any activity in the galaxy in centuries. Their sudden emergence from the veil proved to be quite a mystery.
Several minutes passed as Reegar eagerly awaited the Geth's next action. He could hear his squad talking amongst themselves behind him in the passenger compartment. Apparently they heard that they would be possibly following the Geth through the relay, and to where, only the ancestors themselves knew.
"We're approaching the relay sir. The Geth are powering up their drive cores." said the pilot, not looking at anything but the flight controls and occasionally the ladar.
"Alright, scan them. Match destination and follow them through." Kal leaned out of his chair and yelled to the back of the transport. "Buckle up back there! We might be hitting some turbulence!" The Quarian transport managed to make visual contact just before the Geth frigates jumped into FTL through the relay. The Quarian pilot followed suite; flying close to the relay and charging the drive core before zooming out of sight in the blink of an eye.
"Brace for deceleration!" The pilot warned. Surprisingly, the managed to drop out of FTL in clear space. The Geth ships immediately appeared back up on the transports lader. However, they were already way out of visual range.
"Coordinates." Reegar demanded. "Where are we?" The pilot followed the order and taped a series of buttons which brought of the coordinate codes on the holo-screen.
"The Hawking ETA sir." the pilot replied in puzzlement. Reegar gathered himself then said the first thing that came to mind.
"Check the Geth's bearing, find out where they're headed."
"Yes sir." replied the pilot, once again punching in a series of codes. "The...Mu relay sir."
"The Mu relay?" Kal questioned. "There's nothing of interest through there but Ilos." The pilot turned to Kal and gave his own input.
"According to data recovered by Commander Shepard two years ago, Ilos is a reliquary of Prothean technology."
"I'll be Keelah damned..." Reegar cursed to himself. "Stay with them. I doubt they're headed to a Prothean world for some simple field trip."
Commander Shepard had just finished briefing his team on their new mission to stop an old enemy and was now making rounds to get the crew's opinion on the task at hand. He had already spoke to Mordin who was too involved with analyzing the data he took of Sovereigns energy, and Jacob wasn't exactly in the best mood; just giving the ole "I can't believe this is happening" talk. With those two of the list, it was time to have a chat with their newest addition to the crew. The Asari that Zaeed apparently, wasn't very fond of.
The Spectre walked into med bay just after the hatch hissed open. The Asari was sitting on the edge of a medical bed, swinging her legs back in forth with her head staring up at the ceiling. Obviously she was bored. As Shepard walked closer she turned her head to him with annoyance in her expression.
"Bout time, a girl can only take so much of staring at an old, liver-spotted human all day." said Aranya sarcastically.
"Pleasure was all mine dear." replied Chakwas with an evil smile.
"Who are you and how did you end up with my crew?" Asserted Shepard.
"Straight to business eh chief?" said Aranya with a grin. "Fine, we'll skip the foreplay then." Shepard turned his head to Chakwas with his brow raised as if hinting at a question. Chakwas only shrugged as the Eclipse veteran continued.
"Major—former Major Aranya of the Eclipse." said the Asari. "I'm surprised Zaeed hasn't told you all about me."
"Yeah...I'm surprised too..." said the Spectre, averting his eyes for a brief moment. "What exactly is your history with my crew member?"
"Oh nothing much, we just used to screw each others brains out." she replied sarcastically which seemed to be her usual manner. Shepard was becoming rather fed up with the vulgar individual.
"Uh huh..." shrugged the Spectre. "And how did you end up here?"
"I led the team that captured Zaeed, helped em escape, here I am." she replied.
"I'd like a more detailed description than that." Shepard demanded.
"Too bad." Smirked Aranya. "That costs extra."
Shepard smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand in frustration. "I'm starting to wonder whether your an mercenary or a prostitute..."
"I can be whatever you want me to hon." Aranya said with a chuckle. Shepard eventually gave up on poking her for information and decided to engage in more serious matters.
"Well if you want to stay on this ship, then you're going to have to work for it." Shepard retorted sternly. A wide smile grew on Aranya's lips as she jumped off the medical bed and sensually walked over to the Spectre; running her finger up his chin to his lips. Shepard was nearly unsurprised by her act, as her mannerisms pointed out what kind of person she was.
"I'll do more than work for it..." she said seductively. Shepard reacted by grabbing her hand and harshly pulling it away from his face.
"Give me one good reason to keep you around or your next stop will be the airlock!" Shepard snapped to her face. She wasn't the least bit shocked by his outburst.
"Feisty one eh? I like it when the ones that play hard to get." Aranya pulled her hand away then turned to a more serious tone. "Well I know my way around a weapon. Shotguns are nice but I have a bit of a thing for sniper rifles. Nothing like watching your enemies eyes through the scope as that single shot sucks the last bit of life from them. My biotics are a little rusty but I'll manage."
For some reason Shepard found his thoughts drifting back to Aria, who strangely, he thought would make a perfect match with this crazy woman. Shaking off the thought Shepard remembered that with Grunt gone, and Legion 'kidnapped' in a strange sense of the word, they were done a Shotgun and Sniper expert and this Asari, being a former Eclipse Major, would make a good addition to the team.
"In that case I could use you on my team." said Shepard. "Follow my orders and you'll have no problem adapting."
"Whatever you say chief." replied Aranya. "So...who do I have to fuck for room on this ship?"
"Port cargo on deck 4 is free. Get settled in and don't cause trouble with Zaeed, his room is just across the hall from it."
"A room across from Massani huh? Guess this will be a little more interesting than I thought." said Aranya as she walked out of the med bay.
"Where did you find that woman?" Chakwas interjected, shaking her head.
"If I didn't know, I'd say a back alley somewhere on Omega." Shepard replied. "I'm going to see how the rest of the crew has settled in, take care Doctor." Chakwas nodded and turned back to her desk as Shepard proceeded out of the med bay. Thoughts of the mission came back to him which raised a question in his mind. The log entry from the Bermuda said they were working with Sovereigns energy for over 6 months. He wondered, did Miranda know? Turning his attention to her office just across the room, he decided now would be a good time to investigate.
When he stepped inside, he saw Miranda working at her terminal behind her desk. Same place he expected her to be. She greeted the commander in her usual former manner.
"Commander, something I can do for you?" Shepard slowly took a seat with a suspicious expression.
"I'd like to talk...about project Black-heart. Did you know Cerberus was working with Sovereigns recovered energy?" Miranda shook her head without the slightest bit of deception in her face. She seemed to not have a clue.
"Honestly commander, I didn't. I've been going over the data, I'm just as surprised as you are. Though I guess I shouldn't be when you consider the Illusive man's methods."
"Maybe I jinked it when I said he'd want to grow his own Reaper." said the Spectre; resting his chin on his closed fist. Miranda fought to hold back a chuckle but failed miserably.
"It would seem Cerberus doesn't—didn't appreciate me as much as I originally thought. What a waste of my life. I'm sorry Shepard."
"There's nothing to be sorry about Miranda, none of this is your fault. You joined Cerberus with good intentions and you left on even better ones." Miranda cheered up slightly from his words. Happy to see that he didn't hold a grudge against her for being a former Cerberus operative.
"We can't do anything about the Illusive man right now, but we can stop Sovereign before he finds a way of Ilos. If he finds a way..."
Somewhere in dark space; beyond the Milky way galaxy...
"NAZARA, YOU'VE REEMERGED."
In the dark forests of Ilos...
"HARBINGER, I HAVE REVISED OUR PLAN OF INVASION. I WILL COERCE THE SYNTHETICS TO OUR CAUSE, FOCEFULLY."
"THE CITADEL IS NO LONGER A FACTOR IN A GRAND DESIGN. WE NEED THE HUMANS. THE'RE POTENTIAL EXCEEDS ALL WHO CAME BEFORE."
"WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME DO?"
"PROCEED AND RALLY THE SYNTETICS. WE CONTINUE THIS EXCHANGE AFTER YOU HAVE DONE SO.
"SHEPARD WILL PURSUE ME. WHAT SHALL I DO WITH HIM?"
"...PRESERVE HIS BODY IF POSSIBLE. HIS IS UNIQUE. THE KNOWLEDGE WITHIN HIS MIND HOLDS GREAT POWER.
"VERY WELL."
"THIS EXCHANGE IS CONCLUDED."
Hawking ETA cluster...
"The Geth ships have passed through the relay sir, orders?" Kal'Reegar sat firmly in the co-pilots chair.
"Hold position, open a channel a secure channel to the Neema." The pilot responded and activated long range communications array.
"Admiral Gerrel, this is squad leader Kal'Reegar. The Geth ships have passed through the Mu relay. It's a safe bet they're heading for Ilos. The world is full of ancient Prothean tech. They could be going to dig up some old weapon or worse. Request permission to pursue."
"Granted squad leader, observe and report back with your finding but do not engage. Good luck out there, Keelah Se'lai."
"Keelah Se'lai Admiral." The communications channel was cut and Reegar ordered the pilot to engage the mass effect core and prepare to jump through the relay.
"Here's goes nothing..." Kal whispered to himself. The Quarian transport flew close to the relay as the energy transfer began. Shortly after they were thrown into FTL; emerging on the other end almost immediately.
"Status report." demanded Kal.
"We're through sir. Picking up a single planet in the system."
"And the Geth?"
"The Geth frigates have entered low orbit around the planet. They're deploying dropships." the pilot responded.
"Take us planet-side but keep us out of range of their sensors." Kal turned to his squad who looked up toward the helm expectantly. "Lock & load marines! Might just get to kill some Geth today!"
Vel'Lara vas Neema nar Rayya was the only marine in the passenger compartment of the transport that didn't erupt in cheers. Instead she was struck with fear as she thought to herself.
"Keelah...well, I guess it was only a matter of time. Ancestors protect me..."