Chapter 5
I do not own Mass Effect 1,2,3 or the Legendary Edition
I do own my own life and likeness
Thanks for the support everyone.
Story Start
Coming into land on the Citadel Joker was transferred to alliance operatives and told to land at dock 422. After doing that Anderson appears near the airlock
"There you are, now I need everyone here to come with me to see Ambassador Udina at once."
"What about Jenkins? " asked Shepard
"Jenkins is already being carried down to the cargo bay with Dr Chakwas assisting as we speak." answered Anderson "Now let's go."
Exiting the Normandy I catch a glimpse of a large, white hover van flying to the back of the Normandy and as we enter the lifts I see it leave. The lifts took us to C-sec Academy where we headed towards the Presidium and the Council Embassies where the asari nodded us through. Walking up the steps I noticed that there were a lot more doors and rooms than what I remembered, but that made sense. Before the only Ambassador species, you could talk to were, humans, Elcor and Volus. With the number of species and planets, there were in the Mass Effect universe there just had to be more ambassadors than just these. Though I couldn't understand which species were using which rooms as each room had writing in the language used by that species above the door along with their symbol or flag. We soon reached a door that read
Ambassidor Udina-human
Next to his name was the symbol of the Alliance. It seemed both smart and respectful, their names and titles were written in their own language instead of simply being written in asari, turian or salarian. However, having a symbol allows someone to recognize which room belongs to who without scanning each room with an omni tool to translate the language. Instead, you look for the symbol, then check the inscription to make sure you have the right room.
Entering the room we were immediately exposed to shouting, it was obvious that each of the rooms had soundproofing technology
"This is an outrage! The council would act if it had been a turian colony!" shouted Udina
"The turians don't build their colonies near the terminus ambassador." shot the turian councillor Sparatus
I never liked any of the Council, they barely ever helped except when they had something to gain and even then what they expected in return far outweighed whatever help they gave, on top of that there were a number of times that they came off as racist or at least condescending to other species. While I didn't exactly want them to die...from what I heard their would-be replacements were just as bad, I wouldn't be going out of my way to help them. I needed the Destiny Ascension to survive not them and the number of bodies that can be laid at their feet from the Reaper War was just astronomical, bodies that could have been reduced if they had just for a moment listening. At the very least the asari could have used their beacon to check Shepard's claims about the Reapers, I don't understand why they didn't. I'm also sure that the turians and salarians could have also done their research as well and found some sort of proof. I wouldn't have put it past either one of them to also had a hidden beacon, especially the salarians, instead they berried their heads in the sand.
No, it was apparent the way to prepare, don't waste time talking to the Council you'll never convince them. Instead, we just needed to go directly to the species themselves and convince them that way they couldn't suppress anything, doing that also made the Council look useless and redundant which would also piss them off which I just loved. There just had to be more evidence of the reapers existence, when the dinosaurs went extinct there was evidence on what caused it, with the number of species that the reapers killed or harvested there just had to be signs of orbital damage or something despite how hard they tried to clean up after. The Kepler Valley and the dead floating reaper are just two examples.
"And where else can we live! The council was more than happy for us to settle there, you all but pushed us as it provides your own colonies with more protection as our own act as a buffer and provides pirates with easier targets. But despite that, you refuse to allow us to build more ships in order to protect ourselves!"
"We have been over this before, the Treaty of Farixen and the limitations of ships are there for a reason. A reason that keeps the peace, if broken there is no telling how much damage it could do, besides humanity signed that treaty when they joined the council thus agreeing to it." said Tevos
"A treaty that we had no choice but to sign." argued Udina
"Let us not get logged down with the past, it is unfortunate but there is nothing we can do, perhaps if we had prior warning we could have sent a fleet to Edem Prime beforehand." said Tevos
"And what about Saren? Surely you can't ignore a rouge spectre! I demand action!" said Udina
"You don't get to make demands of the council." shot Sparatus
'Of course not, after all the only ones that get to make demands or even unreasonable demands is the Council and God help you if you decide to say to say no.' I thought to myself
"Citidel security is currently investigating your charges. We will hear their findings at the hearing in an hour, not before." said Valern, speaking for the first time before all councillors logged off
"Captain, I see you brought half your crew with you...including your 'new' recruit." said Udina, his anger at the Council transferring over
"Just the ground crew, in case you had any questions." replied Anderson
"Hmph, have the reports. I assume their accurate?" asked/stated Udina
"They are. It sounds like you've convinced the Council to give us an audience." said Anderson
"And they were not happy about it. Saren is their top agent, accusing him of treason is a surefire way to ruffle their fetheres." said Udina
"Saren attacked a human colony and tried to blow it up and could do the same to other Council has to listen to us!" Exclaimed Shepard
"Calm down Commander, you've already done enough to damage your chance to become a Spectre. Don't make it worse." warned Udina "Eden Prime was your chance to prove that you could get the job done. But instead, Nihlius is killed and the whole point of the mission was destroyed."
"That wasn't her fault. Nihlius was the one that insisted on going ahead alone and no evidence proves that it was Shepard's fault even if her proximity had set it off it would have done the same thing when we tried to load it onto the Normandy. "
"That's not going to stop her from being blamed. If C-Sec doesn't turn up any evidence then the Council may just use this as an excuse to keep you out of the Specters." said Udina "Captain, come with me we need to go over a few things before the hearing. Everyone else is to meet us inside the Citadel Tower in less than an hour...do not be late! All except you Private, your recent recruitment and the circumstances behind it is something that can be used against us. However, I have issued you with the license to carry a weapon as allowed as a military employee. I've also gotten your permits to the Presidium and the wards." said Udina before turning to leave
"Excuse me ambassador I wondering if I could ask you something?" I ask
"What?" replied Udina shortly
"How long has C-Sec been investigating Saren?" I ask
"And why do you want to know that?" asked Udina
"Well, Shepard only learned about Saren about 15 hours ago, even if the Council had been immediately informed it still would have taken time to assign the case to someone. Added in that Sarens a Spectre then a lot of what he does would be classified. To view those files the detective needs permission, to get that permission they themselves need to be reviewed to see if they are suitable and trustworthy enough. If they aren't then they need to assign a new detective, in total the total amount of researching could have been 10-12 hours at most to a minimum of 5 hours or less and who knows how many of those hours were actually properly used and not dealing with red-tape?" I said
"...I can see why you wanted him to join the Normandy. You've got a sharp mind Private, thank you for bringing this to my attention it will come in handy later." said Udina before leaving
"Hmm it looks like you can even impress the politicians." jokes Shepard "well we have an hour, how about we have a look around the Presidium?"
And indeed we did, we talked to the asari receptionist for a bit, met Avina had a long chat then went to look at the Krogan statue and then wound up in the consort chambers.
"Welcome my name is Nelyna. Sorry but I don't recognise you as one of our expected client's today." said the asari apologetically "Would you like to book an appointment for the future?"
"You mean we can't just go in?" asked Shepard
"Sorry but I'm afraid not, you see there are many who wish to seek the Consort's services but as she is only one person it does take time to get to everyone. If you wish to make an appearance however she will make every effort to see you. There is also the option of merely seeing a consort acolyte which has a much shorter wait time depending on what services you are after." answered Nelyna
"And what services do you offer?" asked Shepard
"It is different for every acolyte. Some soothe their patients with songs or words. Others deal with pleasures of the flesh, I myself deal with touch. I can find each not and tension in your body and ease it." said Nelyna
"So it's like a traditional courtesan, there might be pleasures involved but the best ones entertain in other ways. They were common in ancient Greece and the Italian revolution I think? Anyway, some of them only slept with their clients, the more successful ones gained education and knowledge that was uncommon for most people, let alone women of that era. The more successful ones were sort out for advice, about when to plant, harvest, go to war or make a deal. Anyone from a farmer to a king or general would want their advice. It's like a combination of a call girl, a Japanese Geisha or entertainer and a councillor or therapist." I said surprising Nelyna
"That is an apt description Private, forgive me I was unaware that humanity had such people in their past."
"Well, Callum here apparently knows a lot of strange facts and knowledge. Despite that I'll have to pass." interrupted Shepard
"That is unfortunate, we do like new customers...I'm sorry yes Sha'its?" asked Nelyna suddenly "Huh, it seems that the consort wishes to speak to you. You may go in but please have your friends wait here, is there anything that you would like?" asked Nelyna looking at each of us
"I'm good thank you." answered Ash politely if a little harsh
Kaiden didn't seem to know what to say, instead he just looked between Shepard and Ash
"I'd like to hear some traditional asari songs." I answered making Nelyna beam
"Excellent, if you take a seat someone will with you shortly." said Nelyna
As Shepard continues on I find an empty couch, not knowing what to do Ash and Kaiden join me. Turning off my translator when an asari sat down I listen to the natural voice of the asari. It was hard to describe, it had sort of an echo to it but also like it a sort of human-like sound quality to it. Like there could have been a language on earth that sounded somewhat similar, Asian, Africa, Indian, Japan...it was hard to place but still enjoyable. Partway through Shepard came back, instead of interrupting she just listened.
After the song ended Shepard finally spoke: "Okay that was nice but we should head to the tower now so we're there early."
"So what did this consort want?" asked Ash
"Apparently someone's been spreading rumours about the consort and she would like me to talk to him and get him to stop. But that can wait till later." said Shepard exiting the consorts chambers
The path we took to the Citadel Tower would take us right pass the miniature relay, something I fully intended to take advantage of.
3...2...1
"Fuck!" I swore suddenly, catching everyone by surprise
"What's wrong?" asked Ash
"I just got a massive headache." I answered, rubbing my forehead in fake pain as I start walking forward again
"How bad is it?" asked Shepard
"Abit better now, but it was really bad next to the..." I said before trailing off and looking back at the beacon "Hold on a second." taking a few steps back towards I once again wince in fake pain
"Yep, that thing is giving me a headache."
"Are you sure? I thought it was just a monument to the relays or something." said Ash
"Kaiden, you feeling anything?" I ask
"Well now you mention it, I am getting a tingling in my teeth." said Kaiden
"I wonder what's causing it?" asked Shepard
"Since it's only me and Kaiden I'm guessing it might have something to do with element zero." I answered
"And why would a relay model have element zero?" asked Shepard
"Maybe it's not just a model. Maybe there was a brilliantly smart Prothean child who built a small working-ish relay like Sheldon in the big...you know never mind that's beside the point. But maybe it was put here as some sort of reward or honour like 'best design or device built by a uni-student gets to be displayed in the Presidium for a year' and this is the last one placed before they vanished. It could also be the evacuation protocol of the old Prothean government. If the Citadel was ever overwhelmed they would come here in a shuttle, type in a code and then zooom. Safe on a distant planet. Though it could also be an early prototype to the relays that they eventually built or their next level of transport, planet-to-planet relays."
"If I didn't know any better I'd say you were some sort of conspiracy nut. As it's probably the first one, it's been here for years and if it was working there's no way someone wouldn't have set it off with their I'm omni-tool by now. On top of that, I'm sure someone would have done a detailed scan of it by now. Now let's get to the tower." said Shepard
Coming to the foot of the tower, Shepard turns to me. "Okay I have no idea how long this is going to take, how about you keep exploring while we talk to the Council." suggested Shepard
"Sure thing." I answered, after they entered the doors I went off to the ward looking for a certain shop. Eventually I found it, inside was a Turian standing at the counter he looked somewhat older than Garrus
"Qorach custom guns and armour how can I help you."
"Hello, I'm hoping to get a gun custom made." I said
"What from scratch?" asked the Turian, his mandibles moving in confusion
"I'm sorry I thought you did that here?" I asked 'did I fuck up.'
"We do but we mostly work with modifying existing weapons and armour, paint jobs, new barrels, celebrating, upgrading etc. We also deal with historic pieces like a father who wants to restore and/or upgrade a unification age rifle and take his kids hunting but it's not often someone asks us to make a gun from the ground up. Are you sure you don't just want to buy a standard weapon? It will be a lot cheaper." said the turian quietly
"I'm sure, I picked these up on Eden Prime." I said showing him the heat sinks I'd recovered, I might have given up my bow and gear but I kept 5 clips in my pockets
"Eden Pri... shit, I saw that on the news. I'm sorry you had to go through that." said the turian genuinely
"It's fine, anyway I think they're some form of a removable heat sink. Their guns were using them and they weren't overheating on their own."
"Hmmm hey honey can you come look at this?" called out the turian
"Yes Yarrick?" asked a female quarian, coming out a door behind him
"This is my wife Sheita, Sheita this is..." started Yarrick before realising he didn't know my name
"Callum."
"And Callum found these, he thinks that they might be some sort of removable heat sink or something." finished Yarrick
"Hmm." said Sheita, rolling the thermal clip in her hand "And what exactly do you want to do?"
"I'm thinking of using these in conjunction with regular sinks. Have the removable heat sinks hold the heat before transferring them to the normal sinks." I said
"That could work in theory." said Sheita "The removable ones could hold a lot of heat, heat that would be constantly be transferred to the normal heat sinks, it would still eventually overheat though and when it does it could take a lot longer to cool back down than a regular mass effect weapon."
"What about some sort of heat purge, have it open up like every other mass accelerated weapon when it overheats?" I asked
"That could work." said Yarrick
"Yes, but it will be completely different to how every other weapon does it. Most weapons have a lot of hollow space, it is what allows the guns to fold up. When a mass accelerated gun overheats the excess goes into this area, opening that area vets the heat. With what your suggesting however that won't work, sure the removable sinks might cool slightly faster but only by a matter of seconds. We'll need to think of someway to remove that heat, would...no if it cools too quickly something will crack and break. What about some sort of metal or martial that heats and cools fast, when opened the removable heat sinks transfers the heat there instead of the normal sinks..yes that might work." said Sheita, murmuring to herself as she goes to the back rooms
"Well she won't be returning to the real world anytime soon." joked Yarrick "But seriously it's going to be pretty expensive, at least 4000 credits to nearly 8 or 9000 credits, you can get quite a nice gun for that price so if your having second thoughts tell me know now as it will be impossible to stop her later on."
"I'm sure." I respond
"Okay, also what weapon were you actually want by the way? We got so caught up in the details I forgot to ask." said Yarrick
"A pistol." I answer
"That would work, a pistol generally has a much slower rate of fire than a assault rifle. Also it goes without saying that this gun won't be able to fold up like most guns do." said Yarrick
"That's fine, I don't really like that function anyway, I'd rather it be more sturdy and resilient than taking up a smaller amount of space." I answered
"Good to hear, other than that what else do you want?" asked Yarrick
"I want the grain sizes to be bigger, as big as you can get them without having to vent every 3-6 shots. I also want it to hit harder and slower than other weapons." I said
"Hmm, so you want something that's more suited to going through thick armour than efficiently getting rid of shields. I have to ask...what exactly are going wanting to do with it?" asked Yarrick with a bit of concern
"I recently was recruited to the Normandy by Captain Anderson, we're going to try and go after the geth, here." I said sending him credetials
"Oh good, sorry but I worried there for a moment you might be going on a shooting spree. Not that we would have made or handed you the weapon without checking that you had the credentials to carry one on station." said Yarrick relieved
"I also want an overcharge function where it ramps everything up to the point where it overheats in just a couple of shots." I said
"Hmm, okay I'll get a variable setting made. One can be for sustained battle in case in a position where you can't vent, one that produces high damaging rounds where you'll need to vent after say 6-10 shots, a ramped-up version of that. The main setting I'll try to make it so that you can get off 10-20 shots before overheating, this all depends on how good those removable heat sinks are though. At worse with what your asking you'll only get 6 shots off at max without overheating, not that I think that will happen but there is a risk you'll end up with a useless weapon and an empty credit chit. We'll do our best but you have to know that's going to be a risk, we'll add frictionless materials, higher grade and a greater number of heat sinks. A high calibre barrel, rail extension, scram rail if we can fit it in, for that 1 shot I'll add a hyper rail, its a little known or used mod that completely overclocks everything, because of that it's rarely used but it sounds like what you want. We'll experiment with those mods that I mentioned before and others to get the best results, there of course will also be the HUD/VI mod that will link a camera on the gun to your helmet visor optics so you can get accurate shots while wearing a helmet with little trouble. When do you need it by?" asked Yarrick
"As soon as possible, sorry but I don't know how long I'll be on the Citadel. We might even be leaving before the end of the day." I said apoligeticly
"You're luckily it's a lot easier and quicker to make guns than it used to be otherwise you'd have no chance. Considering what you've been through and what you're going to use it for we'll start work on it now. However, it will cost a bit more since we'll be putting our work for other customers aside. Also, if the gun does work like you said I'd like to forward the design of both the gun and the removable heat sinks to a military friend of mine."
'Huh, didn't see that coming.'
"Sure, as long as you also send it to me, the Alliance Navy and the Quarian heavy fleet as well." I stated much to Yarrick's surprise
"You know about the heavy fleet? I'm surprised, not many people really know anything about the quarians. I'm actually kind of worried." said Yarrick softly "Sheita gets enough flack as is, and after a geth attack, well I'm afraid its just going to get worse."
"The geth were made 300 years ago, Eden Prime was the first attack since then. Quarians shouldn't be held accountable for attack that happened so much later than their actions." I said "Maybe it's time for the council to help for their actions or in this case there inactions." though I knew the geth weren't as bad as they currently looked I couldn't just say that
"Thanks, anyway leave it with us and we'll get back to you." said Yarrick
Leaving the store I went towards the location where Tali would be meeting Fist's men, not that she knew they were Fist's men. But since either one would kill her it didn't really matter. I also couldn't take the chance that Shepard would be late, Tali knew how to take care of herself but there was good chance there would be too much for her. Plus I'm pretty sure she would still have been recovering from those chemical or radiation rounds, anyone that used ammo blocks that gave people radiation poisoning were just sick bastards.
Arriving at the spot I waited and waited until I saw two son of a bitch salarians start hanging around in the corner. Seeing a large empty alcohol container I started to act, soon after that Tali and a female turian showed up. I have to say to me the female turians are one of the most attractive. In my first play through I romanced Liara and stayed faithful, I know it was only a game to (at the time) but I was raised to believe that some things are important and to be faithful, sure some relationships end but you don't mess around other people during it! That was asside from the time I accidently slept with Jack, seriously BioWare she just admitted that her last boyfriend died trying to save her, I was being compassionate! Not trying to get in her pants damn it! Anyway, I wanted to do a second playthrough with Tali as my romance option but never got around to it and in Mass Effect Andromeda my romance option was Vetra, and I have to say that one was my favourite. Maybe I just had a think for female turians.
And in my eyes the female turian next to Tali was very attractive, of course looks weren't everything though. She was wearing typical turian medium armour with blue armour and blue face marking...in fact she looked very familiar. I just couldn't...wait, was Garrus a chick?
Red vs Blue Effect
Shepard was about to go mental, these idiots would just not shut up! She don't know why the Captain felt that they'd be useful all they've done so far is give her a headache, she didn't want to even begin to remember what happened in the council chambers. I mean...no remain calm Jane, this will all be over soon. Turning to face her team and them she started talking
"Alight everyone, there's a guy in here named Harkin who might know where a turian named Garrus is, any question? No, good." said Shepard ignoring every raised hand
"I just want to see some space strippers." said the guy in yellow before the door opened
Entering the gentleman's club Shepard had a quick look around, really what men found attractive about these places she'll never know. Look tits! Lets loose all reasoning and mindlessly drool! It was actually pathetic, and not in a dog or cat with their head stuck in a paper bag funny sort of way. What was unusual though was one of the dancers on the stage, she was wearing normal strippers clothes but she had this weird yellow helmet, in fact it looked just like...
"Sis! What the hell are you doing!" shouted the guy in yellow...Griff maybe
"Bro? Sorry, can't talk now. I think the manager wants me do some extra shifts in the back."
"DAMMIT! Stop embarrassing the family!"
HAHAHAH cliff hanger! But thanks again for everyone's support
For the better quality guns in mass effect you get 2-3 upgrades only . 1 of those are the ammo type while the other 2 are mods to the weapon. This doesn't make much sense to me so I'm going to go further and have it more like call of duty where you can completely customize your gun and have as many mods as you want as long as they don't interfere with the other (no grenade launcher and recoil grip, or shortened and long barrel for example).