SSV Cambrai, Silean Nebula
Day 2, 1020
"Captain Murphy."
"Admiral Singh."
"Just checking in on your favourite rag-tags, or is this business?"
"It's always business, captain. But I won't deny a certain curiosity - how did your… freelance operations pan out?"
"Reasonable success. Material gains, no casualties."
"Good, good. One question?"
"Shoot."
"If there were no casualties, why do you appear to be sitting in a hospital bed?"
"Err… no fatalities, sir."
Murphy glanced down guiltily, not meeting the hologram's eyes. On the far side of the med bay, Alicia turned around from her work - the doctor was enjoying an enforced lie-in - to smirk at him, with a 'told you so' expression.
"Carter, give us a little privacy?"
"Aye aye, sir. Knock when you're done."
The medic shuffled slightly, sliding out of her seat and setting her papers down, before marching off through the med bay doors. They shut behind her with a small thud, leaving Murphy alone in the room.
"Took a bullet on the way off Yasilium," Murphy muttered. "Clipped an artery. I've had worse."
"I'll bet…" Singh murmured, wryly. "The operation was a success, though?"
"Yessir. Several tonnes of iridium airlifted, and passed on to friendlies. Should be filtering down to the fleets and various manufacturing plants over the next few days."
"I'll take your word for it," the admiral frowned, as if he didn't, in fact, take his word for it. "And Kahje?"
"Team got in and out with a little trouble. One man wounded, one shuttle damaged. They confirmed the damage from the strike, though, and the Reaper presence. Hanar ships are moving in to check for survivors and mop up remaining hostiles."
"How soon will your team be back with you?"
"They're… catching a ride out with a hanar vessel," Murphy replied, warily. "Yet to set a rendezvous. Why?"
"Business," Singh shrugged. "Make your rendezvous on the Citadel. There's a bay clear on Kithoi Ward, I'll pass the details along."
"Understood, sir. And what's our business, once the team's back?"
"There's a Third Fleet task force docking on Kithoi Ward to take on supplies. Cruisers Nairobi and Pretoria, plus a frigate wolf pack."
"Decent chunk of the fleet… target?"
"The Silean Nebula."
Murphy blinked. The Cambrai was on her way out of the Silean Nebula as they spoke.
"Your own operation on Yasilium, I suspect, confirms what we've been thinking for a while," Singh continued. "The Reapers are closing on the asari home sector. Thessia, Cyone, Nevos. The elcor homeworld of Dekuuna, too. This is a valuable cluster, captain."
"Indeed… so why are we only sending half a dozen ships?" Murphy frowned.
"Can't commit the whole fleet. We're still tied up in the Exodus Cluster, ground war's getting hot on Terra Nova and Eden Prime. But, we're also one of the only fleets still mobile, so they need our ships down there."
"What's the MO?"
"Prop up the asari before the storm hits them. They've been supremely successful at waging guerrilla conflicts in their outer colonies-"
"Whole race of biotics, go figure."
"Quite. Now, nobody's supposing that even the asari can hold off a Reaper siege. They don't have the fleet resources humanity does, let alone what the turians had, and it didn't do either of us much good. Our job, rather, is to make sure they're well equipped on the ground and able to prosecute a drawn-out conflict."
"Shipping in supplies, then?"
"Arms and armour go in," Singh nodded. "Anything useless to them but useful for us, on the other hands, comes out."
"Such as?" Murphy frowned.
"Well, your operation on Yasilium was a start. Asari manufacturing plants won't survive a Reaper assault, but we can make use of that iridium. The captain of the Nairobi has a plan in formation, too, focusing on abandoned fuel rigs in the sector. The asari fleet's all gone, and what remains won't last long, but we could use whatever supply of H-fuel we can get our hands on."
"Sounds like a hatchet job," the captain muttered, uneasily. "Stripping the corpse before it's dead."
"Not quite so vulgar…" the other man retorted, with a slightly reproachful expression. "There are resources in that system that the asari won't be able to use, but which we need. Likewise, we have supplies they need, and a means to deliver them. Two birds, one stone."
"…understood, sir. What's our timeframe?"
"Twenty-four hours on the Citadel," Singh concluded. "Take on whatever supplies you need, and pick up your team from Kahje. Check in with the quartermaster on the Pretoria, too. They're carrying a shipment of arms for your crew, in addition to the supplies for the asari. Some parts and pieces, as well as some more specialist items your men might be able to make use of."
"Appreciated, admiral. Anything else?"
"Negative. Get yourselves in fighting condition, then set out with the rest of the vanguard. I'll try to maintain communications, but failing that, Captain Fofana of the Nairobi has overall command of the task force. He's a good man. Reliable."
"Understood. Cambrai out, sir."
The hologram nodded, and flickered out with a bow, leaving Murphy truly alone. Slowly, and grumbling slightly at the discomfort in his shoulder, he reached up behind his head and rapped his knuckles on the med bay window. A pair of boots clacked across the crew deck, rounding the corner, and a few moments later Carter stepped back into the room, shuffling quietly back over to her desk.
Murphy just reached for his omni-tool, lying at the side of his bed rather than on his arm. He tapped a handful of addresses in, pulled it into his lap as the comms screen opened, and sat back waiting for the faces to appear on the other end. Two humans and a krogan popped into view after a few seconds, with various mutters of 'sir' or 'captain'.
"Alright…" he began, wearily. "Akito, we got our destination. Kithoi Ward on the Citadel. Specifics incoming, but tell Lieutenant Jade to get her team there for rendezvous in the meantime."
"Understood, sir."
"Dax?"
"Mm?" the krogan grunted.
"Friendlies are at the rendezvous with a big supply of arms and armour. Some of it's for us, some of it's for a supply drop. I need space cleared in the hangar bay for the latter, and space in the armoury for the former."
"New toys?" Dax muttered, with a toothy grin. "Lucky me."
"Quite… and Andersen?"
The third figure on the screen glanced up absent-mindedly - he'd been working away at something outside the frame, and only now started to pay full attention.
"Captain?"
"I'm bloody bedridden for the time being," Murphy grumbled, "but I've got business needs seeing to. Care to attend to it for me?"
"Depends what it is," Andersen smirked, folding his arms.
"Get a cab over the wards. Go pay Shalta General a visit."
Andersen's smirk faltered, then dropped entirely. After a moment, it was replaced by a nervous smile, and a weak nod.
"…will do, sir."