Their escape from Omega could be called anything but stealthy. The heavy pounding of feet as Wrex jogged along echoed in the corridors and alerted anyone nearby to their presence. They didn't stop until they reached the docking bay where the Wildcat waited for them. Wrex huffed and dropped into the pilot's seat while Amala closed the hatch behind them.
"Get us out of here, EDI."
"We have clearance. Leaving now."
Amala watched as they cleared the station before finally releasing her breath. She poked Wrex with her foot.
"Getting soft, old man?"
"Look at me! Do krogan look like long distance runners?" Wrex growled back, still huffing.
"Shepard, the omni-tools?" Mordin asked.
She pulled the package out from where she had tucked it into her armor and tossed it over to him. He tucked it away, went into the back, and retrieved his medical bag. When he returned, he addressed the turians.
"Might be slightly uncomfortable; a volunteer?"
Garrus took a step towards the salarian.
"Excellent! Remove glove off of the hand you don't wish to type with."
He stripped off his left one and offered his hand to Mordin. He sanitized the site and applied a little topical deadening agent. With a careful touch, he inserted the implant just under Garrus's skin. A slight twitch of his fingers was the only sign he gave of discomfort. Mordin pulled up the interface and chose the sync function. Garrus put his free hand up to his ear and shook his head.
"Mordin, I think something is wrong," Amala said.
He typed up a few diagnostic commands and what he saw caused him to shake his head.
"Omni-tool unable to fully sync with his translator. Appears to be causing a feedback loop."
"I should be able to correct that. Place his arm with the implant near my IR port," EDI chimed in.
Amala and Mordin guided him until his arm could be placed near the port. Whatever glitch there was EDI should have been able to sort out quickly but the minutes dragged on.
"EDI, talk to me."
"I've shut down the omni-tool's syncing program. If Garrus is willing, I believe I can use that program to gain access to their translator. Once I have access I should be able to get through the encryption and fail safes around it and download the full language for our use."
Garrus gave a nod, but Saren moved up and barked something out while placing one hand over his shoulder. Garrus shrugged and held his arm in place and nodded again. Saren released him before saying one last thing to him.
"Mordin, get all the emergency supplies. If the implant goes we need to be ready."
"Detonates?"
"Yes," Amala growled.
"I will wait until Doctor Solus returns."
Mordin rushed into the back of the ship, returning in a matter of moments with the rest of the ship supplies. Amala rested her hand on Garrus's arm, pulling his attention to her.
"You don't have to do this; given enough time EDI will be able to create a mostly working template for your language," Amala said.
He nodded and gave her that quirky turian smile thing. Mordin pulled out medi-gel and bandages and laid them within easy reach.
"Ready, EDI," he stated.
"Beginning."
Wrex lumbered to his feet, his eyes watched the turian standing in front of the main console of the ship's computer. Mordin handed some bandages and medi-gel to Amala where she stood on the side that Garrus's implant was located. Garrus stood patiently as he resolutely stared out the window, watching the stars go by. He closed his eyes now and then and took a deep breath.
"Finished," EDI said with a note of satisfaction in her voice. "It took me longer than expected to break through the encryption without triggering any of the fail safes, but the good news is we now have a working copy of their language."
Garrus's breath escaped him in a whoosh when he stepped back from the console. Saren and Nihlus watched as he pulled up the interface on his tool for the first time.
"Good job, EDI. How can we update my implant so I can understand them?"
"All commercial and military grade translators allow upgrades to be accomplished easily. One moment. There - I pushed an update to all of your translators."
"That's it?"
"Yes, they all allow what they refer to as 'updates on the fly'. I merely obtained the frequency that is used and passed on the new information."
Amala looked over at Garrus, expecting him to say something. But the turian remained silent.
"Were you laughing at me this morning?" she asked him.
One mandible quirked outward before he replied, "Yes."
His voice was deep with a reverberation to it. She laughed, glad that something had gone right.
"Good; I was hoping that was what it was."
His mandibles went slack for a moment. "You understand me?"
She grinned at him. "Yep."
"Good, everyone knows what everyone else is saying," Wrex growled. "How about we head to Korlus?"
Amala cuffed Wrex on the shoulder. "Saren and Nihlus still need their omni-tools."
"After Doctor Solus puts the implant in, if you would put your implant near my port I can take care of the sync now that I know how to bypass the encryption. We don't need access to the language, but the tool does, in order not to cause any distortion. It will also allow the interface to appear in your written language as both were on the translator."
"I'll go next," Nihlus said, stepping forward.
Mordin quickly inserted the implant and Nihlus took the spot that Garrus had so recently vacated.
"What should we call you?" Amala asked.
"The names are our own," Saren growled out. "They let us keep them in an effort to get us to cooperate. I am General Saren Arterius, Commander of the 12th Legion."
"Nihlus Kryik."
"Garrus Vakarian."
"What in hell is going on? How did this happen?" Amala asked.
Saren took a deep breath.
"When the people calling themselves asari first made contact with us, it was peaceful. We found out that they were searching for remnants of an ancient race they called the protheans. From their description, it sounded like some relics that we had found on our own planet. They wished to see them. We told them perhaps later. Their persistence only caused us to resist more. The next time they returned they brought more ships and before we knew it, they had destroyed our few spaceships and all of our satellites. They've held the orbit since then."
"Why didn't they just bomb you?" Wrex asked.
"Because they didn't want to risk destroying the very things they wanted from us. We had never told them where we kept them. They've sent teams for ground strikes, but the natural radiation of our planet and resistance from our own people makes it challenging to them. And now there is a new species involved in the war."
"EDI, can you bring up pictures of all known galactic species?"
The screen in front of them flickered as picture after picture was added, creating a kaleidoscope of galactic life. Saren skimmed across each picture until the one he had waited for popped up.
"That one," he growled, pointing to one of the pictures.
"Figures," Amala muttered. "Batarian - the species that humans have been the most in conflict with. Their society is based on a caste system and slavery is a core tenet of it."
"Problematic. Known to use mental implants for complete control of captured individuals. Aggressive and considered hostile by most other galactic species," Mordin added.
"That is the very reason I've always wondered why they are still being considered for a Council spot. Of course, it makes sense now, what with the asari basically enslaving the turians."
"What you call breeding colonies are in reality prisoner camps. In the initial attacks, they captured our people and placed them in these camps. They have tried to learn where our artifacts are, but they are closely guarded secrets. Even I don't know where they are. We had hoped this would protect our people, but it hasn't," Saren snarled.
"Wait, you said the artifacts were located on your planet?"
"Yes."
"Mordin, where did the salarians find theirs? Ours was on a nearby planet; we had to have space travel to get to ours."
"Ours also on a nearby planet."
"So, only the asari and the turians had prothean artifacts on their world? What does that mean?"
"STG believe that the asari home world has the most prothean relics of any known species. Correlation between location and quantity? Location and quality?"
"And they probably wanted to know if maybe the turians got something they didn't."
"Exactly. Asari domination of galactic civilization most likely due to this."
"So no one will stand up to them?" Saren snarled as his eyes narrowed at Amala.
Amala shook her head. "Our best chance lies in forcing the galaxy to see that you aren't the stupid creatures that you have been made out to be. Once that is established, the asari have to free you or the very laws they made will bite them in the ass."
"You think it will be that easy?" Saren asked.
"No. After we deal with Wrex's problem, I will contact someone I know in the Alliance and begin working that angle."
"I will see what I can uncover through old friends and contacts in the STG," Mordin added. "Will send you any information I find."
"Thanks, Mordin," Shepard said, then she turned back to Saren. "I have to ask, why aren't there more of you, you know, being sold as pets?"
"Most of us would rather die than become the submissive creature they want."
"Then how come the three of you aren't in worse shape than what I found you in?"
"Nassana was given orders to break me, as I was the highest ranking military person they had ever captured. She, however, preferred to keep me livelier as she put it."
"And when she failed in her orders, I was sent in. I guess they figured I would just leave you or kill you."
Saren nodded. "And Nihlus taught me how to survive Nassana's attentions."
"I had been with Nassana for a few months before Saren showed up. If I played the part, I found she would get bored with me quickly. I just passed on what I learned," Nihlus said, shrugging his shoulders.
"You did more than that," Saren said softly to Nihlus.
Nihlus flashed a smile at Saren before ducking his head.
"I was removed from the camp I lived at because I was considered a trouble maker," Garrus interjected. "I had only been in their 'care' for a few days before you showed up. I must admit, I thought I was hallucinating seeing one of my people with a gun," he added with a grin.
"Is there any way to contact your government?"
"With the loss of our satellites, we only have short-range radio now," Saren replied with a shake of his head.
"I would need to be in the system in order to send a message and have them receive it in a timely manner," EDI said.
"And they have the whole system blockaded," Amala said with a sigh. "We enter it and we would get blasted."
"I am finished with your omni-tool, Nihlus. You may step back."
"Thank you, EDI."
"Besides a backup form of communication what can these omni-tools do for us?" Saren asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice.
"They are basically mini-computers. Once you all have one installed, I can share some of my programs. My tactical cloak, hacking programs, and I even have an emergency beacon that sends an alert to EDI. Trust me; they are quite useful for many things. But the choice is yours."
Garrus looked up from his omni-tool interface. "I can see why everyone uses these things - so many applications and with her combat programs it can give you an advantage in lots of different situations."
"Fine. Go ahead Doctor Solus."
"Mordin is just fine, General."
"It's Saren until my feet are once more on Palaven and I can lead my troops again."
~Great big thanks to Mordinette for all her help! And thanks to my readers, glad you are enjoying this!~