Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my Mass Effect - MechWarrior/BattleTech crossover. Thank you for your patience, I greatly appreciate it, as well as your support.
I've done some revising and reworking of this chapter in order to allow it to fit with the rest of the story line. There will also be some major changes to what I had originally planned for after this chapter.
Also, I would like to address a concern that I got from a reviewer. There won't be any 'kowtowing', as he put it, in this crossover. I am working with a beta-reader that will point out any of that, should I drift into that territory. Still, for the reviewer in question, please be more polite about pointing out problems like that in the future.
Either way, thank you for your support, and I hope to see you in future chapters. As always, leave a review and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect or MechWarrior/BattleTech franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of BioWare, Electronic Arts, FASA Corporation, FASA Interactive, Catalyst Game Labs, Piranha Games Inc, etc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developers and publishers. Any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to it's original composers and/or artists.
New Avalon IV
Mount Davion
June 18th, 3018
Commander Shepard toweled off after his hot shower, threw on his recently cleaned dress uniform, and heaeded to the mess hall. Three days had passed since arriving here in the Inner Sphere, and so far, things were going fairly well, even considering the detainment at gunpoint here on a foreign capital world. He wondered what Primarch Victus would think of this.
Once Colonel Ardan Sortek had confirmed Shepard's story, the Colonel had them moved to "the Guest Huouse" on Mount Davion, probably a gated community for the wealthy. Shepard and the most senior Normandy crew members were staying here in the large Guest House's many bedrooms, while the remaining crew would remain in the Normandy for now. Still no word about getting an audience with the First Prince, though.
Shepard finally entered the Guest House's main living area. The interior was mostly decorated with exotic woods, with the tan-brown colored wood giving the interior a warm and welcoming feeling. Columns and bars of steel stood rigidly in place, cleverly covered with wood to match the decor. Windows were installed into the angled roof and the walls to allow sunlight to enter the structure. Meanwhile, most of the upper floors had three bedrooms and five bathrooms, and the lower floors held this main living area, the kitchen, gym, a swimming pool in an outside. The Guest House even boasted wo entertainment centers, plus a shooting range in the downstairs basement. In Shepard's eyes, the Guest House was like a mansion, one out of dozens of buildings on the entire estate.
Here in the main living room sat a single man, a small mug of coffee in his hands as he watched the rising sun. The man wore a gray, three piece suit with a black colored tie, along with polished, black dress shoes. His facial features were well sculpted, and he had bright, energetic blue eyes, though they also bore the sadness that came with responsibility and tragedy.
Shepard could tell that the man was a soldier, as even when he was relaxed, his shoulders were tensed, as though he was ready for a fight. He also spotted the tell-tale bulge of a concealed weapon in the man's jacket.
The man looked up towards Shepard, beaming. "Ah, hello," he said in an accented, but musical, voice. "Thank you for joining me."
"Sure thing," Shepard remarked as he descended the stairs. "You don't mind if I make some breakfast?"
"No need. I made breakfast for you already." The man pointed at the counter, where a fully prepared breakfast waited.
Shepard blinked. "Oh. Thank you."
"It was my pleasure."
Pleased, Shepard walked over and grabbed his breakfast, then sat down and introduced himself. "I am Commander John Shepard. And you?"
"Hanse."
"Like, the First Prince?" Shepard asked
"You know how it is," Hanse replied warmly. "The moment a royal couple names their child, the name spikes in popularity."
"Makes sense."
As the two men ate, Hanse continued, "You know, I've never really thought that the Multiverse was real. If someone told me that there would be people from another universe on New Avalon, I would've laughed at them. Now I know better."
"Life is strange," Shepard admitted.
"That it is."
Shepard started to get the feeling that this man was a little unusual. Following his gut, he asked, "So, you live here?"
"I do." Hanse took a bite of scrambled eggs before continuing. "Mount Davion is a very busy place. There's always something to do around here, such as practicing at the Gauntlet. And I must ask: where were you born?"
"Earth."
"You mean Terra?" Hanse asked
"Yes, but I was born in the ghettos. I had to survive on the streets. Learned to take care of myself."
Hanse winced "That's rough."
"It was," Shepard agreed. Continuing to follow his instincts, he asked, "Where were you born?"
"This city."
"Is that so?" Before Shepard could press the topic, though, James Vega wandered into the room.
The Marine was dressed in his casual outfit, a T-shirt and some dark blue pants. He called out, "Hey, Shepard. Found some company, I take... it..." He trailed off as he spotted Hanse. "Well, I'll be damned."
"What is it?" Shepard asked.
"Commander, that's the man I was telling you about. That's Hanse Davion, the First Prince of the Federated Suns!"
Shepard's eyes widened and he quickly turned to stare at Hanse again. "You're the First Prince?"
When Hanse nodded, Shepard frowned and said, "And here I was thinking you were one of Sortek's men. Why didn't you tell me?"
"And miss the look on your face?" Hanse cracked another smile. "Besides, it allowed me to speak to you, just man to man. Not Prince to Commander."
Shepard hardly knew what to say. Then he heard footsteps, and he looked up to see Garrus and Nyreen descending the stairs. And they weren't wearing their armor, either, or even civvies. Nude Turians... that was a first for Shepard.
On the left, Shepard could see Garrus' powerful, muscular form. Hard plates of keratin, like the horns of a goat, were present on Garrus' upper chest, as well as between the joints of his arms and legs. Where flexibility was needed, there were thick, tough scales that ranged from olive gray to a shade of light brown. Powerful muscles rippled underneath the Turian's scaly skin as he walked down the stairs.
Nyreen was also beautiful, in an exotic way. To Shepard's surprise, he could clearly see two bulges on Nyreen's chest. Huh, he thought. I guess female Turians have breasts after all. He could see that she had plating on her chest that was similar to Garrus', as well as a pair of extra plates on the tips of each mammary gland, for what reason he couldn't guess. Between her body plates were scales that were thinner and smoother than Garrus'. While she was fit, her muscles were hidden by a layer of memory fat under her skin, giving her scaly skin a soft and smooth appearance. Beyond that, she had the usual widened hips, shortened height, and round head typical of Turian females.
Garrus looked around to see Shepard and Hanse looking at him and Nyreen, who yawned as she slowly woke up. "What?" Garrus asked groggily. When he saw Hanse's curious expression, he looked down and said, "Oh… uh... sorry about this."
"It's no trouble," Hanse assured him. "I take it that's normal for your species?"
"Yes," Garrus replied. "Nudity isn't the taboo in Turian society that it is in Human society. Mostly because our reproductive organs are retracted when we aren't mating."
"Fascinating. And what's with the bodily plates?"
"Palaven has a weakened magnetic field compared to Earth, or New Avalon," Shepard explained. "Turians, and any organisms from their world, evolved chitinous plates similar to that of a goat's horns. The plates have trace amounts of thulium, which helps absorb radiation."
"Interesting," Hanse remarked. "If that's how nudity is in your society, then I won't complain. Just don't do it all the time."
"We'll do our best not to," Nyreen agreed. Turning around, she and Garrus went up the stairs, before going inside. Shepard noticed how Nyreen had wrapped an arm around Garrus' waist.
"I think the two are married," Shepard commented.
"My guess as well," Hanse added.
Shepard stared. "You saw it, too?"
"My father and mother would do the same thing. I might've been a young, and fairly loose, man at the time, but I still observant. Rest assured, I won't bother them about it."
"True," Shepard admitted. "Still, if they are married, which wouldn't be surprising, I wish them well."
"As do I."
A few minutes later, Garrus and Nyreen came back, fully armored this time. Garrus motioned to Hanse and asked, "I meant to ask earlier: are you the boss of this place?"
"First Prince of the Federated Suns, to be precise," Hanse clarified.
Garrus and Nyreen gawked at their human host, their mandibles flaring outwards and brow plates raising in the equivalent of a human's eyebrows going up. "Oh... uh... I see," Garrus siad awkwardly. "Do I need to... uh, bow?"
"No. I wanted to speak to all of you in a casual manner." Hanse gestured toward the kitchen. "Once we've all had breakfast, we'll get down to business."
Within the next hour, everyone else got up and joined Shepard and Hanse, including some crew who were bunking in the Normandy such as Javik and Xavora, then EDI and Bray.
For Hanse, it was something out of a dream, to see so many alien species peacefully co-existing in here. If only the other Great Houses could do the same, he thought as he drank his second, and last, cup of coffee. Once the others had fully eaten, Hanse cleared his throat. Everyone got comfortable on assorted couches and chairs with only EDI still standing, arms folded casually over her metallic chest.
"Now, everyone, let us have aen important talk," Hanse told the small crowd. "Since your arrival, we've been studying the information that Mr. Vega was kind enough to share with us. Much of what you've shared is impossible, yet, it all makes sense in a very strange sort of way."
"Trust me, the same goes for us," Shepard commented.
Hanse nodded at Shepard's words. "None of you should exist, yet here you are all here in this room, speaking with me."
Before he could continue, though, Javik got to his feet, his hands outstretched. "Perhaps I could read your biomarkers, Hanse?" he asked. "Then we could understand one another better."
Shepard cocked his head. "Is that the same thing you did to me after the Eden Prime mission?"
Javik kept his four eyes on Hanse as he answered, "Correct, Commander."
"Mind if you elaborate?" Hanse asked Shepard.
"Javik has the ability to perceive the experiences and memories of an individual through touch alone," Shepard explained. "His species, the Protheans, were all born with that gift."
"It is so," Javik told Hanse. "We evolved as hunters, reading a thousand details in our environments. Complex ideas could be absorbed within seconds. It proved highly conductive to our survival, and to our empire when we reached the stars."
Hanse gave the Prothen a careful look. "I... see." After a moment, relented, "Very well, give it a try. I admit, I'm curious."
"Whatever you don't wish me to see, I won't," Javik reassured the First Prince. "I only see the information that you permit me to see." With that, Javik took a hold of Hanse's arms, his eyes closing.
The First Prince didn't feel odd, but he could tell that something superhuman was going on, something truly alien. After a few seconds, Javik released him and said, "Hanse Davion, you are a remarkable man. You've lived through military campaigns that would earn your government the respect of my species."
"What did you see?"
"I sensed courage and honor within your actions. You have made mistakes, but you haven't let them overwhelm you. I also sensed a deep seated sense of loss and regret inside of you. You are a man acquainted with tragedy."
Shepard noticed how Hanse's demeanor changed when Javik mentioned that he was a man acquainted with tragedy. The man's face had hardened, his fists clenched, and Shepard thought he saw a tear forming in the man's eyes. "Is something wrong?" Shepard asked.
"No," Hanse replied. "I'm fine." Looking at Javik, he said, "You have a wonderful gift, Javik. And you were right about me just now."
"How so?" Shepard asked.
As an answer, Hanse drew something from his suit pocket, a photograph of him standing next to a woman at the leg of some BattleMech. "This was taken after a mission of mine," Hanse told the others. "I was with another woman, Dana Stephenson, on a mission at Halstead Station. I'd just proposed to her before the battle, after which we went to work there, she and I finding by my side. Things were going well, until we were ambushed.
"We were just about to get away when -" For a moment, Shepard watched, much to his surprise, as a few tears streamed down the First Prince's face. "This bastard of a MechWarrior came and killed her, stomped on her cockpit and crushed her to death in an instant. That enraged me to the point where I killed him, and all of his lancemates. We were outnumbered, however, and my friends had to pull me out of my initial shock so that we could retreat.
"After that, I grieved for her in the only way I knew how. I took part of the ferro-glass that was part of her cockpit and made it into a statue of myself and her, imbuing the engagement ring I made for her into the base of the statute. Since then, it's served as a reminder of what I've lost, as well as what I need to do to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else again."
"You want to honor her," Shepard guessed.
"Yes, I do," Hanse nodded. Wiping his eyes, he put the statue onto the small table in front of him and said, "Now that you know a little about me, I'd like to know more about you."
"It's a long story," Shepard said. "I think we should get comfortable." Once Hanse was comfortable, Shepard told him about his past, from the day he was assigned to the Normandy, to when he destroyed the Collector Base, to the current war against the Reapers.
When the topic of the Reapers came up, Shepard watched as lines of cold, hard rage hardened on Hanse's face, while his right hand clenched into a fist.. "Those cold hearted machines!" Hanse snarled. "They should've been annihilated down to the last one!"
"Many have tried," Javik told him. "None thus far have succeeded. My people came close, but it wasn't to be."
"Well, us Humans will be the first, along with your friends races," Hanse finished. Looking at Shepard, he said, "If you ever find a way back home, Shepard, I will aid you however I can, if you can help me with a few things first."
"Like what?" Shepard asked.
"The information that Vega shared with me clearly showed the locations of data caches that can restore the technology we had during the Star League Era. If you, and the others, can help the Federated Suns recover that information, then I and all my people will be forever grateful."
"What's the catch?"
Hanse got up from his sofa and walked into the kitchen. Opening a cupboard, he pulled out a bottle of whiskey, as well as some drinking glasses. Walking back over, he said, "In my family, it is tradition that, when we make pacts of this gravity, that we seal it with a drink." Pouring some whiskey into each glass, he handed one to each member of the Normandy crew, aside from EDI.
"Thus, Shepard, I offer this pact to you and your crew. Swear to me your allegiance as a citizen of the Federated Suns. Offer to me your assistance in recovering the lost technology of the Star League, and I will forever remember your contribution to the Inner Sphere."
Shepard knew that this was a major decision. He was still Alliance, first and foremost, but now that they were in another universe entirely, he knew there was possibly no way to return to them. I'm between a rock and a hard place, he thought. In this case, I know what to do. He declared, "I accept your offer, First Prince." Turning to the others, he asked, "And what of my crew? Will you join us?"
"Damn straight, Loco!" Vega cheered. "I'll follow you to the ends of the galaxy."
"Same here," Nyreen added.
"I've been with you from the start, Shepard," Garrus added. "Count me in." One by one, the other members of the team agreed to stay with Shepard. "We've all accepted," Shepard informed Hanse.
"Excellent." Hanse beamed and downed his drink in one gulp. Shepard nearly choked on it, as he found that it was incredibly strong for even him. Garrus coughed once he'd swallowed his drink, while Grunt didn't even flinch. Following this simple ceremony, Hanse put his glass down and said, "I know Sortek's already given you the welcome, but for formality's sake, welcome to the Federated Suns." Reaching over, he shook Shepard's hand.
"Thank you, sir," Shepard said warmly.
"No need to call me sir," Hanse corrected gently. "I prefer a laid back tone when around certain people. Just call me Hanse."
"OK, Hanse," Shepard said. "So, what are your plans now?"
Hanse's smile faded, and he became a bit more stern despite his earlier words. "We won't discuss the details here. Too many eyes and ears are listening in."
Shepard nodded. "Any place where we can talk it over?"
"Yes," Hanse offered. "My office is expertly swept three times a day for bugs. We can freely discuss it there. If your AI wishes, she can perform a scan to make sure we're talking privately."
"I may do so if you wish, First Prince," EDI said. "And for reference, you may refer to me as EDI."
"Thank you, EDI," Hanse said. "Also, how many bugs have you detected in here?"
"Fifteen," EDI told him. "All of which appear to be audio bugs with internal data storage devices. I have collected all of them." She handed Hanse a small basket filled with the captured devices.
"Damn." Hanse frowned. "I'll have to talk to the 1st Davion Guards CO to make sure this doesn't happen again." Getting up, he said, "Shepard, if you, Vega, EDI and two others could come to my office?"
"Won't the rest of your staff notice any of my other crew members?" Shepard asked.
"Everyone has been sworn not to discuss the details, from the guards to the staff and workers here," Hanse assured him. "No one will question why you and the others are here." With that, he got up and led the way to his waiting office. Shepard motioned for Garrus and Wrex to follow him, Vega and EDI as they followed the First Prince. Garrus is good at tactics, while Wrex has a strong eye for long term strategy, something you have to have as a Krogan Chieftain. Besides, they can talk shop with Hanse while Vega shares with him the invasion vectors for the future Clan invasion.
The group stepped aside and proceeded along some paved paths through the grass until they reached and entered the main building on the estate. Inside, the group waded through staff and personnel, with Garrus, Wrex, and EDI drawing funny but silent looks the while time. The group pushed deeper into the well-decorated building until Hanse motioned for them to stop. The First Prince placed his hand on a hidden scanner, opening cleverly hidden door.
"Here we are," Hanse announced once the party assembled in the hidden chambers beyond. "Take a look around. We'll get down to business once I'vfe settled a few other matters first."
Shepard casually scoped out the place. The room was fairly large and had walls decorated with exotic woods and decorated wallpaper to give the room a warm feeling. Parts of the room were sectioned off using cleverly raised sections of wood, giving those areas a distinct purpose. Hanse also had a private a library in here, along with a recreational area that was sealed off with what looked like tempered glass, plus a smaller desk near a television screen. The main room, meanwhile, had a strategy table with a holographic map of the Inner Spher marked with strategic notes, as well as a large, walnut brown desk where Hanse was currently busy finishing some work.
With a jolt, Shepard suddenly realized someone else was in here, too. "Hanse," Quintus saluted.
"At ease," Hanse replied without looking up from his work.
Vega pointed at Quintus. "Hey, I know you. Quintus Allard! You were at NAIS a few days ago."
"I certainly was," Quintus said. "Officially, I have no recollection of that day, but unofficially, I was there. You gave us quite the surprise, Vega."
"Sorry 'bout that."
"No harm done," Quintus reassured him.
"Not bad," Garrus remarked as he felt the walls. "Not bad at all."
"Wonder how strong this place is built," Wrex said absentmindedly. "Not as tough as a Krogan hospital, at least."
"It has distinct visual appeal," EDI observed. "And now, my scan for hidden bugs." She took a moment to scan, then reported, "No bugs detected. Hanse, your bug sweepers have done their work well."
"We hire the best," Quintus said with a pride smile.
Hanse typed a few more notes into a noteputer, then looked up. "That settles my work. Now for our business, Normandy crew." He got up and made his way to the holographic table. He reached out to fiddle with its controls, then gasped in shock when the holo-map flickered and went out. "Damnit!" Hanse shouted, hitting the thing with a fist. "That's the thirtieth time." Walking over to his desk, he pressed a hidden button and said, "Send Technical Team 4 up here, please."
Moments later, a squad of techs arrived, escorted by two armed guards. "Uh oh. Malfunctioning holo-table, eh?" the Chief Technician asked.
"Yep." Hanse confirmed. "Flickered when we turned it on before it went out."
"No sweat. I'll sort it out." The tech knelt by the table, opened up a maintenance panel, and scanned its contents with an expert eye, his toolbox by his side. Then he cracked a grin, tapping something in the table's mechanical guts. "I found the problem, First Prince. Looks like one of the power cables was loose." He drew a tool from his box, worked his magic, then got up and shut the maintenance panel. "Give it a try, First Prince."
Hitting the controls, Hanse smiled as the holo-map reappeared, this time quite brightly. "There we go. Great work."
"It was my pleasure, sir," the Chief Technician said with a salute. He and his fellows then took their leave.
"He could have fixed that even faster with an omni-tool," Shepard noted.
"One of your noteputers?" Hanse asked. When Shepard nodded, he said, "What a marvelous concept. You could make your own tools without having to bring a bulky toolkit along."
"My agents would also benefit as well," Quintus added. "Such as when we sweep rooms for bugs."
"I'll be sure to send some to NAIS for study," Shepard told Quintus. "Do you think your techs could reverse-engineer new models for your people's use?"
"Not to worry, Commander," Hanse said with a smile. "The NAIS is my realm's pride and joy."
Hanse fiddled with the hologram table's controls and displayed a few files. "Thanks to Vega's data, we found three SLDF caches that have escaped destruction or looting during the Succession Wars." Hanse pointed at the files. "The first, and most obvious, is Helm, with New Avalon and Graus being the next ones. You also mentioned an unnamed Memory Core out in the Deep Periphery, yes?" That last part was directed at Vega.
"That's right," Vega confirmed. "A mercenary company called Mason's Cavaliers went out that far into the Deep Periphery. It might be a Memory Core that the Clans left behind. You've learned enough about the Clans from me, right? Normally, you wouldn't learn of them until 3050."
"Yes, the descendants of the SLDF-in-Exile that you've mentioned," Hanse said. "I must thank you again of warning me about that decades in advance. And I also know Mason's Cavaliers."
"You do?"
"Yes. When it was still Nikolai's Cavaliers, Mason's father, Nikolai, assisted us at Halstead Station. He was KIA a couple years ago courtesy of some mercenaries. His son, Jake Mason, leads the merc group now. He's got serious talent as a mercenary commander."
"I see." Hanse glanced at the digital files again. "So, what do we do about the Memory Cores?"
Quintus grunted. "Good question. Our best bet, at reversing the technological degradation of the Inner Sphere, is by recovering those Memory Cores, and bringing them back to NAIS for analysis. The only problem we have is that, evidently, ComStar, will try to destroy those Memory Cores if they find out what we plan to do with them.
"The Great Houses will also be on the lookout for those Memory Cores. If they find them first, they'll gain a major technological lead. So we must do this discreetly."
"The Normandy could do it," Garrus suggested.
"How so?" Quintus asked.
"The IES system," Garrus explained. "Engineer Adams can give explain it in detail. The short answer is, the IES stores the thermal emissions of the WarShip, or DropShip, inside heat sinks in the vessel's hull. For a few hours or so, we can go through space without anyone noticing us."
"I take it you have to vent that heat eventually?"
Garrus nodded. "Right. If you remain in IES mode for too long, you run the risk of cooking the crew inside of the hull. So you vent it every so often, which totally gives your position away, like a signal flare. Going FTL can also overwork the IES system and force it to discharge automatically."
"That reminds me of the Emergence Signature that our JumpShips create when they exit Hyperspace."
"It does," Vega said. "The only other problem that we have is long range FTL flight."
"Why is that?" Hanse asked.
"Fuel," EDI explained. "The Normandy's engines were designed to inject high energy anti-protons into a reaction chamber filled with H2/O2. During our fight against the Collectors, we upgraded them to use metastable metallic hydrogen. While it his more efficient with anti-protons than the aforementioned method of propulsion, we still have to worry about fuel consumption over long periods of time."
"Interesting," Hanse noted. "How much more efficient are they compared to standard Fusion Ramjets?"
"They are roughly 220% more efficient than standard fusion torch engines," EDI stated. "However, my analysis indicates that the Federated Suns does not have the manufacturing equipment to manufacture anti-matter. Typically, anti-protons are manufactured at massive solar arrays orbiting energetic stars, though this makes them a target in war time."
"That is a problem," Hanse conceded. Leaning on his hands, he said, "That means that, if we plan to use the Normandy to recover the memory cores, we can only do it with one. The others will have to be recovered using more conventional methods."
"That's what I was thinking," Quintus agreed. "Hhmm… You know, I think I have an idea that might work out well for both parties involved."
"I'm up for ideas," Shepard said. "What do you have in mind?"
"We could attach a Docking Collar to the Normandy," Quintus suggested.
"That sounds like a plan," Hanse agreed.
"Uh, the trans-dimensional human is lost here," Shepard told him. "Is there something I'm missing?"
"Yes," Quintus explained. "Most DropShips have to dock to a JumpShip using a Docking Collar. I'm sure any typical Docking Collar has all the equipment necessary to allow a JumpShip's hyperspace field to envelop the DropShip, allowing for safe, inter-system FTL flight."
"That's a brilliant idea!" Shepard cried happily. "If we attach a Docking Collar to the Normandy, we can have the Normandy use the JumpShips we have at our disposal to cross long distances."
"Agreed," Hanse said. "However, you'll need your thrusters for any travels to any planets in a system you're in, and that takes a few days or so."
"Well, we won't have to do that either," Garrus added. "Do the two of you know about Element Zero?"
"I've read up on it," Hanse answered. "Some exotic form of matter that can reduce or increase the mass of a volume of space-time depending on the polarity of an electrical current run through it. Correct?"
"Yeah, that's right," Garrus said. "The Normandy is equipped with the Tantalus Drive Core, which is a modified Element Zero Core. We use those for in-system FTL flight, or for crossing inter-system distances no more than a few light years. We can get to a planet in any system in just a few seconds."
Hanse gave a long, low whistle at that, while Quintus' eyebrows went up. "Damn, that is fast," Hanse admitted. "A DropShip equipped with a similar Element Zero Core like that could make the distance in just as much time. It would certainly open up more options."
"Why not combine it with a WarShip?" Wrex suggested, breaking his silence at last. "Or even a JumpShip? You wouldn't need to stop at Jump Points all the time, and you could use pirate points with ease."
"An interesting prospect," Quintus remarked. "Either way, that gives us a major advantage. Combine this with your IES system, and you'd be able to get to the memory core in question without alerting half the Inner Sphere in the process."
"The only question is which one to choose," Hanse pointed out. For a few seconds, he tapped a finger idly against the holo-table, then he reached a decision. "Shepard, I think we should have you recover the Helm Memory Core, while other groups from my Federated Suns task forces recover the Graus and New Dallas Memory Cores. You might not recover all the technology there, but even grabbing just the Memory Core will be sufficient. Can you do it?"
"Yes," Shepard replied after examining the map for a few seconds. "I'll figure out the how later. If Joker could get us through the Omega-4 Relay unscathed, then we can get to Helm."
"Good." Hanse nodded. "Quintus, how long do you think it would take to attach a Docking Collar to the Normandy?"
"Given the fact that we're working with what EDI informed us was a mixture of alien and human technology," Quintus replied, "as well as conducting repairs on the damaged armor… I'd estimate one year, my lord, to attach a Docking Collar. After that, it would be a couple months or so to get to Helm and recover the Memory Core."
"That's reasonable," Hanse said. "Besides, we have until 3028, if Vega's reckoning is right, to recover the Memory Core in question. Can it be done here, at New Avalon?"
"Possibly. I'd have to check, but I think so."
"Excellent. Have our top technicians speak with Engineer Adams about that. He's the expert on the Normandy, so he'll know what's best." Turning back to the holo-table, Hanse said, "Speaking of Element Zero, I wonder if there's any in the Inner Sphere to exploit. How else could we use it?"
"I know how," Wrex offered. "If we worked with Liara on this one, we could develop biotic amps for your soldiers."
Hanse nodded. "I heard about those amps. To think that, with a little 'ezzo', one could lift a tank with telekinesis... It's something out of a dime novel. Buck Rodgers stuff."
"Tell me about it," Shepard commented. "Also, what should we do in the meantime? We could get a lot done in a year's time."
"I could learn how to use a BattleMech," Garrus suggested. "I could kick so much ass in one of those.."
Shepard cracked a grin. "You'd just spend all your time calibrating its weapons in the 'Mech bay, wouldn't you?"
Hanse gave Garrus an appraising look. "You're trained to repair combat vehicles?"
"We had a Combat Vehicle, the Mako," Shepard explained. "Garrus was at the console for it without fail, calibrating it all the damn time."
"Well, someone had to do it," Garrus said defensively. "What if we broke down? We couldn't catch Saren with a busted axle."
"I'd be surprised if he could calibrate a BattleMech," Hanse commented. "It usually takes whole teams of technicians to make sure they run properly. My BattleMaster, for instance, usually needs around five people to service it. Still, your proposal is quite… interesting. We don't have the capability to manufacture completely new neurohelmets, but NAIS reported that they might be on the verge of a breakthrough there. We can do your neural scans alongside modified neurohelmets and calibrations for each species as part of that work."
"We'll need Mordin and Chakwas to help them out with that," Wrex added.
"Sounds like a plan," Hanse agreed. "I'll see to it you get your own 'Mech to pilot, calibrate, and love, Garrus Vakarian."
Garrus thrust up a fist. "Score!"
Everyone shared a quick laugh before getting back to work. So far, all is going well, Shepard thought. Already, he could hear the clock ticking towards that one infamous date in his mind: March 3050, when four invading Clans took the coreward Inner Sphere worlds by storm with amazing mechs and even better pilots. We'll show the Clans that the Inner Sphere is more than ready to fight against them.
And with any luck, Shepard's own galaxy would also have some new toys to repel an entirely different invasion, too. The Clans were terrifying, but at least they were human. The Reapers... well, that was a different story. A story Shepard dearly hoped to write the last chapter for.