I don't own Mass Effect. Bioware does.
By the time their stay came to an end, Jane and Saren packed their luggage before bidding farewell to Jane's grandparents before they made their way to the spaceport. Quickly getting their contact information, she promised to keep in touch before they left. Saren informed her they would head back to the Citadel to gather their equipment before going out on their first mission together. Once they arrived at the spaceport, they boarded a civilian transport.
"I'm glad we could find them," Saren said.
"Same here," Jane agreed.
Saren and Jane found their seats and tucked their luggage underneath their chairs.
"It's nice to have some family, even afar," Saren hummed, putting his luggage overhead.
It was only a while, but the transport soon took off from the spaceport. Saren leaned back into his seat and took a nap on the way back to the station. While the transport made its way to the Mass Relay, Jane staved off any boredom by turning on her puzzle game in her omni-tool.
Several hours later, Jane shook Saren awake when they arrived back at the Citadel. The turian Spectre shuddered as he snapped his eyes open.
"Right. Back home again. Say, do you need a break before we head out? We do have quite a bit to cover," Saren mumbled.
Jane checked the time in her omni-tool and double-checked the calendar. They had visited for two weeks, and Saren had left an open schedule ahead of them in case there was some unforeseen event that occurred that delayed them.
"What movies do you prefer?" Jane asked as she pulled her luggage out from underneath her seat.
"I do enjoy good humorous vids and the ones that try to have some fun. Self-satirical, if you understand," he answered, stretching his arms.
Jane and Saren disembarked the civilian transport and made their way out of the docks. After that, Jane browsed through the available movies in her omni-tool.
"It's been a while since I have watched a vid, so I wouldn't know what's on right now," he added, looking over her shoulder.
Jane scrolled to the website of a theater that showed old vids and took notice of one particular title Spaceballs.
"Heard of this one before?" Jane asked.
Saren raised a brow as he looked at the cover art.
"No," Saren admitted, "I really haven't divulged into much of human culture."
"I remember hearing an inmate mention it years ago," Jane replied.
"Did they say how good it was?" Saren asked.
Jane took a moment to recall the memory hidden inside her head.
"Well, they did mention it fit within the category of 'dumb humor'," Jane answered.
"We've still got a few days, I suppose," Saren shrugged, "if it is bad, we can always wash it down with something better."
Saren took a moment to examine the coordinates of the theater in question before he and Jane sauntered through the wards. Saren decided to look up the films on his own, scanning the lists of good human comedies.
"Hot Fuzz?" Saren pondered.
Jane took a moment to examine the title.
"I don't think I've heard of it before," Jane admitted.
"Comedy police film. Sounds interesting," Saren commented.
"I guess that's another option," Jane nodded.
An hour later, the two were at a small theater showing retro human vids. Jane very much enjoyed the film, though Saren found it more confusing than anything. Well, the references in the movie confused him above anything else.
"That was…interesting?" Saren muttered to himself, "I don't even know how to describe it."
By the time the vid ended, Saren and Jane stepped out of the theater, the turian Spectre noticing her content expression.
"I thought it was hilarious," Jane commented, "of course, I can understand some of the references. No offense."
"None taken. We've still have the rest of the day to ourselves. You up for another vid?" Saren asked.
Saren gave Jane a chance to look through his list of vids he took interest in, taking her time to decide which one would also interest her. The Spectre thought long and hard, before a sudden idea dawned upon him.
"Say, what genre would you say Spectre work would fit under?" Saren pondered.
"I guess I could fit it along the lines of action, sci-fi, or spy thriller," Jane assumed, placing her finger on her chin.
"Spy thriller? What'd you recommend?" Saren insisted.
Jane tapped into the spy thriller genre and scrolled through the list in her omni-tool. Half an hour later, they found a listing for a James Bond flick and watched it. It was strange seeing what Blasto would've looked like had it only starred one species and one planet. Still, he very much enjoyed the vid from start to end. Yet, the way Saren saw James Bond use methods to win women over in uncomfortable manners kinda rubbed him the wrong way. It seemed unrealistically easy, almost in a way where the woman simply told the titular protagonist, 'Hey! Our planet is on the verge of political/environmental crisis, but let's fuck!'. He would have to remind himself to see if there were spy thrillers just as competent as the flick they were currently watching later.
"A strange, yet fun experience. 'Spy flicks', you called them?" Saren hummed.
"Yeah," Jane nodded.
Saren's mandibles flexed into a grin while he placed his hand on Shepard's shoulder. They both scrolled through the list of recipes on their omni-tools, as it was almost dark. Maybe they should head back home soon.
Before long, their brief break came to an end.
Jane looked over her assault rifle, checking it as Saren had taught her. The two were on Saren's personal shuttle on the way to their first set of missions together. She had a sense of determination to ensure her weapons were properly maintained along the way.
"We'll be arriving in fifteen minutes. Ready?" Saren asked as he walked up to her.
"Yes," Jane nodded just as she finished tuning her assault rifle.
The two were heading into the Artemis Tau Cluster for a small, safe, yet testing first mission for Jane. They were heading for a small pirate camp that traded illegal tech. The instant the shuttle entered the cluster, they traveled to the planet in question. Sharjila was a plain, rocky planet with no outstanding fauna or flora, and was deep within the Attican region. As they entered low orbit, Saren took their ship off of autopilot and took control of the vessel. Swooping down low, he took to the mountain ranges around the base to keep them out of visual range and radar detection. Once they landed, the turian Spectre killed the ignition and gathered his weapons, compelling Jane to follow suit.
"Don't forget to seal your suit. The atmosphere here isn't exactly hospitable," Saren reminded as he put on his own helmet.
Jane pulled out her helmet from a display and placed it over her head, ensuring to lock it into place. The two hastily exited the airlock into the surprisingly windy atmosphere outside.
"The pirate warehouse is just over the hill," Saren instructed, "follow close, and remember to keep a low profile."
Saren and Jane quickly climbed over a hill to get a good view of their target. It was a large prefab, otherwise designated to mobile labs or medical facilities for colonists. Saren led Jane through a boulder maze after they descended the hill, creeping closer to the prefab while scanning for any patrolling guards. The area nearby had some sniper towers, but plenty of rocks on the way down to keep themselves out of sight. Saren and Jane took cover by a rock as they saw a couple of patrolling pirates walk by.
"I'll start with those guard towers," Saren instructed, "cover me while I take them out. Got it?"
"Copy that," Jane nodded.
Saren raised his rifle, and shot a few well placed rounds into the helmet of the guard, causing them to topple over while attempting to seal the breach in their suit. Jane quickly popped up from behind cover as a few guards approached to investigate. Her practice at the firing range had clearly paid for itself as she easily took down both with minimal wasted ammunition.
"Excellent shot, Shepard," Saren chuckled softly.
Hostile gunfire began to increase, prompting Saren to cover both in a biotic barrier. Finishing off the other two tower guards with relative speed, Saren turned his attention to the other pirates who now began to fire back. Spotting a heavy trooper, he advanced out into the open to intercept. The pirate fired off his rocket launcher before Saren flung the explosive back with his biotics. Jane followed closely behind, providing cover fire for him. With the extra fire taking out any stray pirates, Saren charged at the heavy trooper. Ramming a blade into his opponent's faceplate, Saren drew the blade out and let the air hiss out of the heavy trooper's helmet before picking up their weapon and firing at another half-dozen pirates as they exited the warehouse to investigate the source of the commotion. Before long, both Saren and his protege managed to clear the path for entry. The two entered the front airlock and awaited the sanitation cycle to end. Saren pulled off his helmet and put it on a shelf.
"Careful," he told Jane, "they probably know we're here by now, meaning they'll be setting up inside if they're smart."
Jane nodded while she removed her helmet. Saren pulled two grenades of different types from his belt.
"You know what this is?" Saren asked.
Jane took a moment to examine the grenades in Saren's hands.
"This one is a concussion grenade, more commonly known as a flashbang. It'll leave you temporarily blinded if you look in its general direction, and it'll leave your ears ringing, but doesn't really do much to hurt you otherwise. The other one is an EMP grenade. It'll fry electronics temporarily or permanently until repaired depending on what type it is," he explained as he handed Jane the flash grenade, "like any other grenade, pull the pin and throw it. The grenade of course, not the pin."
"You got it," Jane acknowledged as she clipped the grenade onto her utility belt.
Walking through the front area, the two took cover by the door while Saren hacked the lock. Quickly cutting through, they were quickly met by returning fire from roughly eight pirates inside.
"This was what I was talking about earlier. Ready?" he asked, pulling out the EMP grenade.
Jane pulled out her concussion grenade in response. Both tossed their respective grenades in, waited for the following explosions, and ran in to the closest forms of cover, gunning down four pirates on the way in. When the smoke dissipated, Jane scanned the area to ensure the coast was clear. She narrowly ducked down after another hail of fire flew overhead. Jane and Saren quickly popped back out again to lay down counter-fire.
"I'll cover you. Get to that pile of crates to our right and try to flank them," Saren advised, slipping in another thermal clip into his rifle.
Jane nodded before she burst from cover and sprinted to her right with Saren following close behind her. Sliding into cover, she waited until Saren ceased firing to allow the pirates to leave cover. While they were distracted, she moved to another set of cover and fired as she proceeded to flank the guards. Catching them at two angles, Jane and Saren whittled down all but one more. The asari among the group put up a barrier and used her biotics to leap up to the catwalk above.
"Saren," Jane asked, "how do you deal with adversaries with biotics?"
He watched as the asari continued to retreat.
"Try to stick to corners, don't give them a chance to use their biotic attacks on you. Additionally, don't stand in areas where they could incapacitate you by throwing large objects at you."
"Right," Jane nodded.
They rushed up a set of stairs onto the second level to try and get at the last hostile present. Saren held his arm out to prevent Jane from advancing as a shockwave rippled through the entrance to the second level. Peeking through, the two pushed for another set of cover.
"She's really persistent," Jane whispered, "does she even have limits?"
"Try to keep in mind that biotics are physically taxing on the body. Unless you have a biotic amp that is capable of venting ridiculously fast, or are just physically capable of constantly using them, you have a minimum of seven and a half seconds and a maximum of twelve seconds to retaliate until a biotic is capable of using their powers again."
Jane nodded to Saren. The turian Spectre fired at the asari guard to take a bit off of her barriers before returning to cover. He continued to attempt to provoke her until she threw a lift. Quickly countering her attacking with a flash of his own biotics, the two quickly returned fire. Emerging from their cover, they began to advance on her, firing as they approached to keep her down until they could finish her off at close range. With their adversary out of the way, they could now continue on with their objective.
Entering the manager's office nearby, the two found an active terminal near the back of the room. Looking over the supplies, Saren hummed cheerfully as he looked at the results.
"Looks like they do have a shipment downstairs," Saren said, "we'll take it to the Citadel for further analysis. We'll head back to the shuttle so we can move it closer and start moving the illegal tech into our shuttle and copy files. Once we're done, I'll show you how to utilize the explosive charges Spectres have access to."
Jane nodded before she set off to download the files from the terminal. Hastily returning to the shuttle, they touched down at the warehouse and loaded a few crates onto the ship.
"We can look at the contents later after we scan them. For now, let me show you how to use these," he told her, pulling out what looked like an octagon-shaped metal disk with a small screen facing the front.
Jane plucked the disk from Saren's hand and examined it. Saren showed her how to use the device as a time bomb, a remote detonator, and a proximity mine before showing helping her step-by-step to set one on her own. With help from his instructions, Jane set the disk up as a remote detonator before she planted it on a pillar of the warehouse.
"Ok, it's set," Jane announced.
The two finished setting explosive charges around the building before hastily returning to the shuttle. Circling the facility overhead to do one last fly-by, they watched as the explosives ripped the place apart. Jane reclined into her seat while she sighed in relief.
"For your first mission," Saren complimented, "you have done well, Shepard."
Saren quickly set the autopilot before heading to the storage area. He quickly set to work scanning the reinforced crates' contents. While he did so, he read the details on his datapad. Luckily, the intel they raided the warehouse with was solid, and the devices they just stole were not mega-ton explosive devices that would reduce them to ashes. It was definitely Prothean tech, but he didn't want to touch them until they could get them back to the Citadel where they could have them better analyzed with professionals and proper equipment. Satisfied with his findings, he returned to the cockpit and sat back down in the pilot's seat.
Hours later, the shuttle arrived at the Citadel and Saren landed his shuttle in the Spectres' docking bay. With the help of four others, Jane and Saren had the crates lifted into the lab for analysis. Finishing up, Saren pulled out his omni-tool to quickly write a report on the mission and Jane's capability in the field. The lab quickly sent him a report on the Prothean devices inside, briefly describing their outward appearance. Focusing his eyes on Jane, Saren gestured her to stand from her seat in the lobby and approach him before he showed her the lab report.
"Those containers held components for a Prothean beacon. They contain data and directly interface with the user's nervous system opposed to providing a control panel," Saren explained, "more often than not, the beacons require a very resilient nervous system in order to interface without causing brain damage or worse."
Jane placed the pieces of the puzzle together in her mind so she could understand the issue better.
"Do you know anyone who can withstand these beacons?" Jane asked.
"They're essentially computer terminals," he answered simply.
"Like…an ancient computer?" Jane clarified, fluttering her hand sideways.
Saren glanced away and nodded.
"Yeah. However you say it."
Saren reviewed his report for a moment before he sent it to the Council. The two up and left the academy.
"Now, believe it or not, us Spectres are still organic individuals," Saren continued, "we're not super soldiers grown in labs. We're people, just like every other man, woman, and child alive. We'll take a day's rest before we move on to the next mission."
"Right," Jane smiled at Saren.
With no one else paying attention to them, Jane took Saren's hand into hers. For some reason, the turian Spectre couldn't help but blush at the sensation of her soft skin.
"Do you think this would ever be seen as normal? You and I together?" Saren asked as they walked on.
"I hope it will someday," Jane answered softly.
"I expect I'll get some backlash for my sudden change in political opinion, but…maybe I won't be socially ostracized or lynched by either turians or humans respectively. Maybe it'll just take another year or two."
Jane nodded while she and Saren meandered through the wards on their way to the Presidium. It was only a small mission, but there was enough to take up the rest of the month and Jane's training.
"So, we've got a day's rest. What'll it be?"