Chapter 23
Wow nearly 500 followers sweet! Let's see if can make it a full 500 with this chapter
My honeymoon was great everyone. If anyone is in nsw Australia and taking some time off or looking to go on holiday I recommend Deep Blue Hotel and Hot Spring in Warrnambool. Me and my wife had a lot of fun there, the hotel rooms were amazing and the hot springs alone were worth the trip. They had one large public spring, four private ones plus around thirteen ones outside that are made to look natural. Cave, rainforest, a stream going past two rock walls you can walk through and many many more. Good prices to use them as well plus a free to use indoor swimming pool.
Also, I've been watching a bit of Star Trek Voyager lately and it seems like it would make a good crossover in the future, I'm seeing a lot of parallels between Gamora and Seven of Nine.
ArguableReader This is why I love reviews, I had no idea you could use tech skills to get control of the grizzly turrents on Noveria, literally no idea. Thanks to someones going to have some fun.
Spectre of chaos thanks for saying my story was great until chapter 20-22. Sorry that you think revealing everything ruined the story but it was needed for where I'm going to take this story but I'll be reading the fanfic that you suggested to improve how I revealed things as you're right in that chapter does need some improving. Also as time goes on Callum's knowledge will become less and less useful. By the time we get to me3 I'm hoping that all the changes I've made makes Callum's knowledge irrelevant.
Edit, I read Terran (re)solution and it is quite good, but I will say that it seems the main reason it worked was because of the asari mind melds. A few chapters ago I said those can't be taken as definite proof as imagination is a powerful thing and it it is possible to trick the asari into believing something that isn't true. Also if they believe it is true then during the meld it will seem to be true to the asari even if it's not. this is the only way it makes sense to me that the council never ordered a meld to find out the truth between Saren and the Reapers. They never believed that Shepard was lying to them, only that they were being tricked by Saren and that the Beacon must not have worked properly. That the visions were the combination of a faulty beacon and facing an army of attacking geth moments before, an asari mind meld wouldn't change anything.
Story start
As the meeting came to a close Shepard had one more thing to say.
"It might be a bit late but as long as Liara is willing I'd like you two to undergo a meld sharing any memory that you have from this moment until the battle of the Citadel before sharing that meld with the rest of us."
"That may take some time Commander, depending on the individual and the level of the meld affects how exhausted I might become, plus how much information is transferred. You might recall that after our previous meld, I needed to rest. Unless we delay our arrival more than a day I'll be too exhausted to help should I meld with more than two people. Or at the very least I won't be as helpful as I would usually be, hindering more than helping." said Liara "But as I said before such evidence cannot be taken as absolute proof."
"Also, things might bit look quite different. Not only have there been small changes already but the details of the environment were usually quite rough." I added
"I'll keep that in mind, still it's an opportunity for me to find out how reliable your information is first-hand." replied Shepard
"I have no problem doing the meld if that's okay with you?" asked Liara getting to her feet
"I'll be fine with it." I answered as I copied her
Meeting in the middle of the room Liara took my hands. "Try to concentrate on the memories and...embrace eternity."
When her eyes turned I once again felt being drawn in by an asari meld. But it felt different than Gamora's less...personal, like she was holding me at arm's length.
Focusing I tried to run through everything that was going to happen. Our less than warm welcome to Noveria, how there was nearly a shoot-out shortly after we landed. The salarian asshole that was in charge, how his assistant had a quiet word and recommended we talk to a certain turian. How big the place was, how everyone was whispering and reluctant to talk to us. Speaking to that previously mentioned turian revealed that the salarian was the one up to no good and not the other way around and his office was being torn apart to find evidence.
From there it was how the assistant revealed she was actually there to investigate her supposed boss, the ambush in the garage and the long journey to peak 15 and finally the confrontation with Benezia and her death before talking to the Rachni queen and everything else along the way.
After that, I focused on how we headed back to the Citadel and how the Council locked down the Normandy and stopped us from heading after Saren despite finally knowing where he was. The events on Ilos, the uphill battle to make it to the council chambers before the final meeting with Saren and the battle with his possessed corpse, the near destruction of the Destiny Ascension. For a moment I thought the bond would continue but it soon came to an end.
After the meld ended it took Liara and myself a second or two to recover.
"Well how was it?" asked Shepard
"It was well enough, though the viewpoint was disconcerting at times. Also, my arms are not that thin." Protested Liara "As for the memories themselves they seem legit and a few years old however while parts of them are crystal clear other parts are faded. I recommend that you not use them for identifying where to go."
"Understood, now will you be able to meld with me now as well or should we wait?" asked Shepard
"One more meld should be fine. However, I would like to take a break after that...there's a lot of information in the meld." requested Liara
"That's fine, if you're feeling up for it I would like to do the melding with others starting with Garrus, before doing Wrex and Kaiden if you can manage it. But that's only if it doesn't tire you out, if we have to stop at me for now and do the others later on that will be fine." responded Shepard
"Thank you Commander, I'm not used to frequent melds and I fear that too many over a short time would tire me out." said Liara sincerly
When that was said Liara and Shepard engaged in a meld themselves, when that was done Shepard was quick to regain her composure.
"Tali, I want you to talk to Adam, turns out that the Council might want to lock the Normandy down next time we return to the Citadel. I want you to make sure that doesn't happen."
"Since we use the same bay each time we land on the Citadel the docking clamps always land on the same areas. If we can put something there to disrupt their connection the arm should automatically disconnect from the Normandy's airlock. If it doesn't we risk damaging the ship but only the outside layer, the ship will still be space worthy and airtight."
"Good, make sure it gets done." ordered Shepard "But the Prothean VI is still your priority."
"Couldn't we just not go to the Citadel?" suggested Ash
"That's not a good idea, if I refuse to return to the Citadel if ordered they'll think I'm going rogue. It's funny how they were willing to give Saren plenty of wiggle room but aren't willing to do the same with me. There's also the fact that the mako can't carry all of the ground crew and it looks like Joker might have do a risky drop-off on Ilos. My plan is to leave as much of the ground crew such as Wrex, Garrus and Solana along with what we have left of our marine forces such as Alice and Tristan on the Citadel. Myself and a few others including Liara and Tali will land on Ilios where Liara and Tali will stay behind with one more ground crew...probably Kaiden or Ash in case there are any hostiles left over. Aside from them everyone will either be already on the Citadel ready to help out when the attack starts or with me in the mako, those on the Citadel are either to meet up with the mako team or assist whatever defence force they can meet up with. If you can't meet up with us then don't, whether you're with them or us you'll still be helping out. No need to get yourself killed trying to reach us if you don't need to." ordered Shepard
After some more talking we all started to leave, well all but myself and Tali who was quick to approach me.
"You said you needed to speak to me about something?" asked Tali
"Yes, at some point your father asks you to start sending geth parts to him. Unknown to you he starts putting them together and partially reactivating them in order to do tests on them. Unfortunately, the geth are able to fully activate themselves, well activate themselves enough to become a threat. Your father was on a small ship with some other quarians doing research with the goal of creating a weapon to beat the geth and retake Rannoch, they were completely surprised and overtaken by the suddenly working geth...there were no survivors." I said quietly "Not even your father."
"M-my father died...but why would he do such a thing? He should know better, we have laws against bringing active geth code anywhere near the fleet for a reason." asked Tali
"He said he promised to build you a house on the homeworld." I answered
"Keelah, I can't believe he..." trailed off Tali "...is it true what you said before?"
"About what?" I asked
"That geth and quarians might be able to resolve things peacefully." answered Tali
"Maybe, at least I believe so. There have been a number of changes but I think, I hope that that's not one of them." I responded
"...I can't promise anything but I'll think about it. I've been taught to hate geth for as long as I can remember, we all have. But maybe, just maybe there's a way to resolve things peacefully. Keelah, even saying it sounds crazy." said Tali nervously "But in the future we might be able to try, we'd have to start small though, a small vessel. The admiralty board would never approve a large vessel attempting to land on the homeworld, they wouldn't even approve a small one."
"You know if it worked it would be one hell of a pilgrimage gift. Tali Zora, the one who returned the quarians to Rannoch." I suggested
"It does sound tempting and if we do manage to survive landing on Rannoch even a flower or a rock would be seen as one of the best gift in years, perhaps even centuries." said Tali thoughtfully.
After I finished talking to Tali I headed back down to the cargo bay to finish the story and continue training with my new sword while she went to see Liara. I needed to get used to the new weight before Noveria. I was eventually joined by Gamora who ran through the forms with me.
A day later
It took around a day to get to Noveria, for the most part, that time passed well enough. I used a lot of that time finishing the Star Wars script. Also, it seemed most of the ground crew had realised that I didn't have any ulterior motives for being on the Normandy and things were slowly getting back to how they were before. I felt they were still a bit unsure about how to treat me now that they knew I was...from another reality. Well most of them were, Ash was still a bit cold but that was about it though. However, if I was wrong about what happens on Noveria that could all change, the crew could go back to wondering if I was either making things up or if I just was crazy.
I might have done a lot of good since I got here and I'm sure most of the ground could admit to that, but my admittance to experiencing all this before as a game certainly threw them all for a loop. No matter how much they might have trusted me beforehand, no matter how much good they knew or suspected I did, that would have still affected them. While I have given them plenty of proof for my story most of it was purely theoretical, aside from me knowing roughly what Shepard saw in her vision they didn't have any physical evidence that I was telling the truth. Hopefully, that will all change with Noveria. On Noveria one way or another things will change.
Sitting down I try to enjoy my breakfast, try being the operative word. I have no idea what it was, my nearest guess was that it was some kind of porridge/gruel. I'm sure it had the necessary nutrients but it sure didn't have the flavour. Next time I'm on the Citadel I need to remember to get some hot sauce or something to make the food more interesting.
While I was in the middle of the meal I was approached by Garrus who looked...apologetic?
"Hey, Callum." greeted Garrus "Do you mind if I take a seat?"
"Sure go ahead." I answered
Taking a seat Garrus seemed to sigh
"Listen, I owe you an apology. For one I haven't exactly been believing your 'story', I also was a bit of an 'ass' I think you humans call it when I realised how you looked at my sister at times." apologised Garrus
"Well to be fair she is your sister, it's only natural." I replied
"You had a sister yourself I take it?" asked Garrus
"A couple, probably won't see them again." I said sadly "Not much I can do about it though."
"If it helps, if Solana ended up with a guy like you I wouldn't mind." said Garrus
"I think we both know that's not going to happen." I responded, remembering how she made it clear she wasn't interested, at least for the moment.
"Oh I know, why do you think I was able to say it?" said Garrus with a slight grin before it faded "I also owe you a thank you. After our previous gathering in the comms, Solana managed to convince our mother to go get a full medical checkup. Turns out she has Corpalis Syndrome."
"Is that bad?" I asked guessing it was
"It causes severe neurological degeneration and there's no cure." answered Garrus
"I'm sorry to hear that." I responded
"Don't be." said Garrus "...well do be it's a serious disease but it could have been a lot worse if it wasn't for you. While she does have Corpalis Syndrome it's early stage. In fact, the doctor said that if she came in any earlier they might not have been able to detect it at all. Said it's a miracle that she came in when she did, while there isn't a cure it is treatable, you've just added years to my mother's life. Years that she'll be able to enjoy instead of either being stuck in a bed or stuck at home. On the negative side, she's now asking Solana all sorts of questions. I think she's going with the strategy that mum might have had Terreita, it's a disease that weakens a turian carapace, as well as other more...private illnesses, the kind only females get later in life."
"That could be awkward." I remarked
"Got that right, got out of there right as soon as they started talking about...things no son wants to hear." said Garrus
2 hours later, over Noveria (Shepards POV)
"Commander we have a problem." said Joker over comms
"What is it?" asked Shepard
"Noveria defence are threatening to blow us out of the sky." answered Joker
"Tell them we have Spectre clearance, then tell all ground crew to get ready and meet me in the comm's room." ordered Shepard
"Aye aye, captain. By the way, you've been meeting there a bit more than usual. Something I should know?" asked Joker
"Nothing that you need to know about." remarked Shepard
"Understood Commander." responded Joker
Regular POV
After my meal, I returned to the cargo bay to prepare for Noveria. Checking ammo blocks, adjusting grain sizes, ensuring the barrels were clean. Thee gun was operating properly so I went on to check my new sword, etc. Wrex was fiddling around with his shotgun, Ash was looking over the Mako modification with Garrus and Gamora was walking towards me.
"I thought you would want to know that I've finished a number of your drawings." said Gamora handing me a tablet
Looking over the drawings I was impressed, while they seemed to lack artistic design or inspiration they were quite accurate in appearance.
"Thanks, I'll send them with what I have written." I said thankfully. Since I had already finished the modified Star Wars script it wouldn't take long to get the message ready, and indeed it didn't.
After I sent the message the ships speakers crackled
"This is your pilot to all ground crew, our illustrious captain would like you all to get ready and to meet in the comms room as soon as convenient...if it isn't convenient still get your asses there." came Joker's voice over comms
Since my guns were already ready all I had to do was put on my armour. Despite that, I was still one of the last to get to the comms room.
"Now that we're all here I'll begin. As Callum predicted Noveria just threatened to blow us out of orbit and only backed off when they were told I was a Spectre, in less than ten minutes we'll be landing and they've threatened to impound the Normandy should I fail to prove who I am. From what I've seen and what Callum's said, meeting with the actual security will be even less friendly. More so because of just how many people will be ground-side and armed. I want everyone to remain calm but not let them take our weapons, if all goes the same way someone will get them to stand down." ordered Shepard "If it doesn't happen Wrex and I will have to use our charm to get them to stand down."
It took longer than normal for everyone to disembark the Normandy as only half of the ground could fit in the decomposition bay at one time, when we were all outside we started heading for the front door. However, our welcoming committee was a lot more hostile than I remembered and a lot larger.
There were over a half-a-dozen drones hovering in the air and eight fully armed security officers, one of which was a blond which I recognised.
"Halt!" ordered one of the officers, a woman with long black hair all tied up and out of the way. Who if I remembered correctly was the person in charge.
"What seems to be the problem?" asked Shepard nonchalantly
"You made an unscheduled landing, then you bring a small army ashore that's armed to the teeth...why would we have a problem?" asked the leader asked sarcastically
"I don't like this." said the blond woman angrily "I say we should lock them up and find out what's going on later. A frigate coming out of nowhere supposedly carrying a Spectre before a force armed to the teeth comes out? I don't buy it."
"I am Spectre, here's my confirmation codes." responded Shepard activating her omni-tool
"Load of horsecrap, I never heard of a human Spectre." shot the blond
Putting a hand up to stop her, the leader seems to check the codes Shepard sent her.
"It seems the codes are correct, she's a Spectre all right. Never knew humanity had a Spectre when did this happen?" asked the leader curiously
"A little over five weeks ago, maybe a bit more." answered Shepard "Name's Shepard, I'm a Commander for the Alliance military."
"Well Shepard we've been having some communications problems for some time, some comm buoy needs fixing or replacing. Might explain why we didn't hear anything. Names Maeko Matsuo by the way."
"Shouldn't that be fixed by now?" asked Tali "Shepard becoming a Spectre is almost to the point where it's becoming old news."
"Let's just say a lot of companies here like as much privacy as they can get. They also don't want to fork out to fix things when they don't have to. Also, most of them have private ones for company business only. You and your team will be welcome here as long as you don't start anything, but you will however need to hand over all your weapons. Only Noveria security personnel are allowed to carry arms."
"About that, I don't think we will be handing over our weapons, I'm 99% percent sure we'll end up needing them sooner or later." replied Shepard
"I'm sorry but you need to hand over your weapons." repeated Matsuo, a slight edge returning to her voice "They'll be returned to you when you leave."
Fingers once resting started to head towards triggers
"Still saying no." said Shepard
"I'm only going to ask this one more time." warned Matsuo, around her guns once again raised as the conversation went one were once again raised "Hand over your weapons."
"Give me thirty seconds and I'm pretty sure that will change." responded Shepard
"Oh really!" shot the blond before leveling her gun "Care to take that bet?"
Before things could escalate any further voice sounded out over the loudspeakers
"Stand down Captain Matsuo, Spectre's are authorised to carry arms on Noveria according to Council law, their 'teams' are also allowed to do the same."
"Understood, you and your team may proceed. I hope the rest of your visit will be less confrontational, Parasini-san will meet you upstairs." said Matsuo gesturing to her team to stand down
"You lot better behave yourself." warned/threatened the blond
Ignoring her Shepard continues through the doors, the rest of us following her. The drones disengaged and went their separate ways, some staying in the docking bay, others going elsewhere. The security forces did the same shortly after, though they still gave us cautious looks as we left and their guns weren't completely lowered.
The next room had a much more welcoming atmosphere, a gentle water fountain in the centre of the room water flowing over shallow steps took up most of the space. The walls of the room were plain but were still somehow decretive what with its lights and plants. Two one side was a seat and a console, and on the other was a food and beverage kiosk. Walking up the stairs we entered what looked to be the reception area. There, waiting for us was a woman in a pink dress that looked to be of asari design.
Before we could get close one of the pairs of scanning drones went off as soon as one of us touched the blue light.
"It's just our weapon detection systems, don't worry." said the woman turning the alarm off "I am Gianna Parasini, assistant to Administrator Anoleis. We apologise for the incident in the docking bay."
"That's fine, we did arrive unexpectedly after all." replied Shepard
"I'm glad that you understand that our security chief was merely doing her job." said Gianna sincerely "One of my duties is the orientation of new arrivals. Do you have any questions?"
"We understand that a Matriarch Benezia might be found here, can you tell me if that's true?" asked Shepard
"Why yes it is." answered Gianna surprised "She came through here less than a week ago."
"Where is she now?" asked Shepard, already knowing the probable answer.
"As far as I she left for peak fifteen with her acolytes and she is still there." answered
"How many and what did they bring with them?" asked Shepard
"It is difficult to say, there were about twenty to thirty, forty at most. As for their gear, all they brought with them was personal gear and armour as well as a number of crates. Since Lady Benezia is an important shareholder of one of the companies, Binary Helix they were allowed to pass with little concern. I must ask is Matriarch Benezia in some sort of trouble?" asked Gianna
"We are not sure." lied Shepard "We are currently after a fugitive, we believe Benezia has had contact with them and may even be working with them, if under false information, blackmail or even free will we're not sure."
Pointing at Liara Shepard continues "This is Liara T'soni, daughter of Matriarch Benezia. When we found her she was under attack from said fugitives' forces, whether they were to apprehend her, protect her, hold her in a deep dark cell or just kill her outright we don't know. Maybe they even said I killed her or am holding her captive. What I do know is if she is either an unwilling participant or has been hoodwinked it changes things, if she just wanted her daughter out of the way and out of danger than a lot less changes. Either way I need to speak to her to find out which is which before I do something I might regret."
"I see." replied Gianna even though it was clear she didn't "Unfortunately you won't be able to speak to her, currently all communication with Peak 15 ceased shortly after Lady Benezia arrived.
"In that case I'll need directions on how to get there." responded Shepard
"I'm afraid that won't be possible either, you need Administrator Anoleis permission to do so." said Gianna
"Of course I do." sighed Shepard "And where can I find this Administrator Anoleis?"
"You can find him in the main level up ahead. Just take the elevator up ahead and head left once you exit." answered Gianna "You can also find me there should you have any other questions or need any help transversing the legality that is on Noveria, I'll be heading there as soon as I'm done here. Also, I must as that you respect the privacy of each and every individual and cooperation currently on Noveria as much as possible during your stay here.
To help you here is a map displaying the areas accessible to the public. They include the main floor, cafeteria, bar and other forms of entertainment...mainly a small cinema. We have a hotel should you wish for suitable accommodations during your stay here. There's also a selection of hot springs for you to enjoy as well as a indoor heated pool should you be interested. Private or restricted areas are clearly marked and if you find yourself in an area that is not marked then there is a good likely hood that you are in an area that you shouldn't be."
"You have hotsprings but no one wants to fix your comm buoy?" asked Ash incredulously
"This is an ice planet." reminded Gianna "The hotsprings are easily one of the most lucrative businesses here, majority of the people that live here spend at least a few hours there a week, and those staying here temporarily spend even more time there."
"Thanks but I don't think we'll have time to try them out, I'll go see Anoleis and see if we can get something worked out right away." said Shepard "As for the privacy I'm only here to speak to Benezia not to look into one company or another."
"Very well...also if you're thinking of returning to your ship to either land nearby or do a shuttle drop I would advise against it. Noveria is known for its high wind speeds and icy cold winds that can kill an unprotected human in minutes, our docking bay has been strategically placed and engineered in order to provide a safe landing zone. The area that you wish to see has been having a particularly bad storm for the last two weeks, we believe that may have something to do with why communications with Peak 15 are down. They may or may not also have additional air defences." informed Gianna
"Thank you for the heads up, it may or may not have been useful." copied Shepard
As Gianna left so did we, as we made our way to the elevator we past some more drones and decorative plants.
Even though the elevator was quite was large it still took two trips to make it up. Shepard went first along with Garrus, Ash, Solana, Liara and Tali. I went next with Wrex, Gamora and Kaiden. During our trip up a message played out over the loudspeakers.
"Welcome to Port Hanshan, the galaxy's most respected site for independent scientific research and development. For your own safety and to protect the privacy of others you are required to obey any and all directions given by our illustrious security personnel. Should you have any questions, our friendly and helpful administrator staff is always available. Thank you and please enjoy your stay."
"I feel like I was just read a disclaimer and unwittingly agreed to it at the same time." remarked Kaiden
"What's a disclaimer?" asked Gamora
"It's usually something along them saying someone does or doesn't own something or will or won't take such and such responsibility. They've basically just said that if something happens and you get hurt than it's not their fault or problem if you didn't do everything they told you to do and by exiting the elevator and staying on this port you are agreeing with that. It's a really shady way to limit their responsibility should something happen."
Exiting the elevator we rejoined the rest of the team and made our way to Anoleis's office past some armed guards, a large room empty room that surved no purpose I could see before finally made it to the front desk where we found Gianna already seated. The main level was similar to the reception area, plain walls that somehow looked nice broken up with the occasional plant, light, paintings or even actual boulders or were they actual parts of the mountain pocking through the floor? Plus there were a couple of water fountains on the walls and a wall of thick glass windows desplaying a snow storm raging outside.
"You got here quick." remarked Shepard
"I could say the same to you." replied Gianna "But the simple answer is I took the staff entrance and headed straight here."
"That makes sense, anyway I need to speak to Administrator Anoleis." asked Shepard
"I'll see if he's free." replied Gianna before pressing a button out of sight "Administrator Anoleis? Commander Shepard is here to see you."
"Send him in, no more than two others." said Anoleis quickly
"Send her in, Commander Shepard is a woman." Gianna corrected politely
"Yes yes, send her in. I have little enough time to spare as it is."
"Right away." said Gianna taking her finger of the button "Administrator Anoleis will see you now."
"Garrus, Ash your with me the rest of you wait here." said Shepard before walking in while we stayed were we were.
Five minutes later they were back out and none of them looked happy.
"How'd it go?" asked Kaiden
"Holly shit that guy is an ass." said Ash
"That bad?" asked Solana
"He spent half his time acting like he had better things to be doing and the other half time telling us he had better things to be doing." answered Shepard "The only upside is I'm pretty sure he's like that for everyone but it's still a no go for the garage pass."
"I might be able to help with that." whispered Gianna quitely
"How? You said getting dropped off by the Normandy would be impossible." asked Liara, her face showing a mix of emotions as everything seems to be playing out similarly to how it was shown during the meld.
"Anoleis isn't the only one with a garage pass." informed Gianna quietly "Go see a turian named Lorik Qui'in, you should be able to find him at the port bar...I'm sorry but I can't say any more."
"Thanks for the intel." said Shepard equally softly
"You're welcome spectre, it is of course part of my job to answer the questions of all newcomers." said Gianna significantly louder, going from whispering to talking normally.
With that, we headed for the door. Before we got there Shepard thought of something.
"Before we leave could I have Captain Matsuo contact info?" asked Shepard suddenly
"Of course." answered Gianna before sending the information over by omni-tool "May I ask why?"
"Let's just say that I feel I might need the connection later." remarked Shepard, dodging the answer
With that, we left the room and headed to the bar. On the way there we stuck out like a sore thumb, every time we came close to a group they would instantly stop talking and after we had passed them the whispers would start.
"They're very eager for us not to hear anything aren't they?" asked Garrus "It reminds me of a case a while back, I walked into a room of lawyers that were defending a suspect I apprehended. Everyone went quiet until they knew I was out of earshot then they started to chat like you wouldn't believe."
"Are you sure they weren't just stunned by that awful cologne you used to wear?" asked Solana
"Mum bought me that!" defended Garrus
"And she bought it for you to spray it on, not pour it on." shot back Solana "It's just like when a girl puts on a lot of cheap perfume, it doesn't work and why anyone thinks otherwise is beyond me."
Comments between Solana and Garrus kept passing between them until we arrived at the elevator that would take us to the restaurant and bar level. The journey short as it was, was full of fountains, plants and security that kept reminding us how lucky we were to be 'allowed' to keep our guns.
Making it to the elevator we once again climbed aboard in two groups and made it to the next floor.
The first thing I saw was a massive rock in the middle of the room, which again might very well just be a part of the actual mountain this port was built on peaking through . The second thing was Shepard talking with an asari that looked pissed off, by the time we exited the elevator she was walking away.
"What was that about?" asked Kaiden
"Let me guess, a snotty asari want you to do her dirty work?" growled Wrex
"That about sums it up." agreed Shepard "She wanted me to see if another company was using their tech illegally. But as that would mean hacking them, thus allowing them to steal whatever they want at the same time so I said bullshit and fuck off. Also, she started off insulting me, why someone would think I'd be willing to help them after they just insulted me is at the very best idiotic."
Continuing on we came to a table with middle-aged turian sitting holding a glass of turian brandy.
"Lorik Qui'in I presume?" asked Shepard
"Yes and you are? By the way, feel free to join me though you might have a problem fitting enough seats to this table to fit your entire group." remarked Lorik Qui'in
"That's fine we'll stand, I'm Commander Shepard and this is my team." answered Shepard
"Oh I know, but it's polite to ask non the less. How can I help you?" asked Lorik Qui'in
"I need a garage pass to get me to Peak 15, I heard that you might be able to help me with that? I also heard that Administrator Anoleis has been less than good." answered Shepard
"Heard about that did you? Well it's true, I'm the manager of the local synthetic insights at least for the moment." said Lorik Qui'in
"What do you mean...for the moment?" asked Tali
"Mr Anoleis has accused me of corruption. He has forcibly closed my office and is currently looking for proof to back the claims." started Lorik
"But in actuality, he is the one who's corrupted and what they are really looking for is the proof that you have to prove it." finished Shepard surprising him
"How did you...nevermind you're right. The people they have searching my office are on Mr Anoleis's payroll. I've have two copies of the evidence against him, one is currently locked up in my safe, the other is on my computer. I need you to retrieve one of them for me before they get rid off them both. With a group the size of you plus yourself being a spectre you shouldn't have any problems." said Lorik "By this time they've probably wiped my computer or introduced a virus of sort that will delete the information I have against Anoleis as soon as I try to access it leaving only the copy I have in the safe."
"Sorry I don't know much about hacking but shouldn't they already have both already? Whenever Tali has problems hacking something she just uses omni-gel?" asked Ash
"It's a bit more difficult than just pouring it on." interrupted Tali "You have to know where to put it."
"It also wouldn't work regardless, some of the safeguards and technologies we have are beyond state of the art. In other words, we've patched that particular vulnerability, something that Anoleis wasn't expecting. He expected that his men would simply be able to stroll in, do a little looking find it and then walkout. While making sure I didn't have any copies hidden in the office.
Instead, they've spent days trying to get it open without success. The only way they can get it open is either knowing the code, hacking it or should that fail simply blow the safe. That last one would attract more attention than Anoleis can deal with though."
"You've solved the vulnerability to omni-gel?" asked Tali surprised "How? That almost a universal problem, people have been trying for years to do that, the only thing they could do is make it harder to place the omni-gel in the needed places or make it fry and dead lock the safe if it was detected."
"I can't go into details of how it works." Dismissed Lorik with a wave "But it will completely change security as we know it. A few like me were given prototypes and early models to test for any weakness before they are sold on market, we estimate that in less than six months almost everyone will be using the new security systems."
"So the chances are the information is still safe." said Shepard "One copy at least."
"Has to be otherwise Anoleis would already made his next move and made up one reason or another to kick me off the planet. Either he hasn't found either copy or he's found one and is afraid there might be another copy. Eventually, they will be able to break through and get rid of both copies or Anoleis I need to get there before that happens. On the plus side this has been one hell of a test and as long as Anoleis doesn't frame me for something my superiors will be quite happy. Here is the code you need to unlock the safe." Lorik handing a small tablet over
"You're not spending it to us via omni-tool?" asked Shepard passing the tablet to Tali.
"Omni-tools can be hacked, I've had three hacking attempts today alone, one of them was when that asari you were talking with before wandered over here while she was seemingly engrossed in doing some work on her omni-tool. The tablet however as any and all forms of connection removed except actually plugging the damn thing in. Thing is completely unhackable because there's nothing there to hack."
"Hold on." interrupted Tali scrolling through the tablet "I'm not seeing any codes here, just a bunch of documents."
"Company policies, regulation of workplace relationships etc. They're work documents but nothing too important should they go missing." answered Lorik
"And what? The code is hidden in one of them?" asked Kaiden
"The code is them, write the total number of pages of each down one after the other and it will give you the code you need to unlock the door." answered Lorik
"You have certainly put in a lot of safeguards in." remarked Liara
"We are one of four companies that are allowed to even look into artificial intelligence, and because of that we have to take security seriously, very seriously for one reason or another. And those safeguards are the only reason why Anoleis doesn't already have the information he wants, once you have the drive bring it back to me." responded Lorik
"And then what?" asked Shepard
"Then I can get Anoleis to back off and get my office back." answered Lorik
"And then what?" repeated Shepard "He's already gone this far, he's already tipped his hand he can't stop now. He might back down for now but as soon as he see's an opportunity he'll take. If not he'll become desperate enough to make one, there are two hands and two big red buttons to push and only one prize. Sooner or later he'll crack."
"It sounds to me like you might have a better idea, well what is it?" asked Lorik
"Let's just say that I know for a fact that Anoleis's bosses have heard about his corruption and they aren't happy. It's my understanding that they would be okay with a little corruption here and there except it's starting to affect their profit margins. Because of that, they have someone looking for evidence against Anoleis. Let's just say I know who that person is." answered Shepard
"And what's in it for me?" asked Lorik
"Well for one you get your office back, two you never have to worry about Anoleis again and three I'm pretty sure the powers that be will be happy with you plus anyone and everyone that he pissed off over the years... that's a lot of favours you can call in."
"...fine but this better not come back to bite me in the scales." warned Lorik "Here are the directions to my office plus pass you need for the elevator and to get there."
"Trust me it won't." said Shepard before walking away
"Is anyone getting a sense of deja vu?" asked Shepard
"Deja vu?" asked Gamora
"It means you have the sensation that you've seen or done something before but you know in fact that you haven't." answered Kaiden
"You know what...I'm getting that same sensation." said Garrus
"Now that you mention it, this does seem familiar," said Liara "Like I have indeed seen it before."
"Yeah... awfully familiar." chuckled Wrex. The hidden meaning in their words not lost on anyone.
"Well according to the map his office is in this direction, let's head there, get the information and get out so we can get to Peak 15." said Shepard before heading for the elevator that would take us to Lorik's office.
Copying the pass so that Kaiden would have a copy of the pass we once again split into two groups, having to split up each time we got to an elevator was starting to get old.
Exiting the elevator we made it to Lorik's office where two officers, one human female and one turian male were standing guard outside. They became quite nervous when they noticed us, especially when they noticed just how many of us there were.
"Hold on this office is closed, you're not supposed to be here." said the woman while the turian didn't know if he should be going for his gun or not.
"I think we both know that neither one of us is supposed to be here. Same as we both know that you are on Anoleis payroll and looking for the Lorik Qui'in has against him."
"Wait a minute." started the woman
"I'm not finished." interrupted Shepard holding up a hand "I'm guess since Anoleis doesn't want to draw attention there is only a handful of people here, the two of you here and what three in his office?"
The two guards didn't answer but started to look more worried.
"That's five people, six or seven at most against me...a spectre, two asari, a turian sniper, a krogan warlord, a quarian that can hack everything you have, two more human biotics and two more frontline fighters. That's not only double what you likely have back there but also a lot more deadly...things won't end well for you if we square off and why would you want to? At the moment we're here for information about Anoleis not you, at the moment you're just in the wrong spot at the wrong time. Maybe you're Anoleis is paying you under the table or maybe I got that wrong and you're here legitimately. Either way, this can go few ways, one we settle things right here but that sounds messy, two you decide that either Anoleis isn't worth dying for and you don't want him to drag you down with him or three you decide that dealing with a Spectre is way above your pay grade and your Captain needs to be informed. One way ends in a lot of trouble for you, the other, well you might lose your jobs if there's any evidence against you but Anoleis is the big fish, do you really think anyone cares about one or two guards unless they have to? While the last one allows you to keep your job and stay out of trouble...so which will it be?"
"...fuck it I'm out of here." said the woman before raising her voice "Anyone who doesn't want a fight with a Spectre and her team come with me, anyone who decides otherwise can stay here and deal with the consequences."
With that the guards started to leave, seven in total. Some left faster than others a couple even looked like they wanted to put up a fight until they realised that at that point there were only four still left in the room.
"Good that's one less thing to worry about." said Shepard looking around the place to make sure there wasn't someone hiding around a corner.
The Synthetic Insights office was like the rest of the building so far, say what you want about Noveria and the corporations there they certainly have enough space to go around.
"Speak for yourself, I wouldn't have minded throwing a few dirty cops around." said Wrex
"Well the day's still young." replied Shepard "Now come on, if Lorik's office should be the one on the next level."
Continuing to Lorik's office we found that not everyone had left. At the desk was a quarian male in a plain brown suit, less ornamait then Tali's though he looked to be around the same age.
"Hold on I nearly have it, it looks like Lorik Qui'in hid a file in some of the start-up processes, it's nearly invisible but looks like there's a command to..."started the quarian before looking up. "Oh...oh."
"Oh is right." sad Shepard
"What...what do you want?" asked the quarian fearfully
"I'm here for a copy of evidence proving that Anoleis has been collecting money from where he shouldn't have been." answered Shepard
"W-wait what but Administrator Anoleis said Lorik was the one stealing money, that he made some of VI virus to steal and channel funds into a hidden account and that he needed my help to find the proof."
"Sorry kid but that's a pile of varren shit." growled Wrex "Anoleis is the corrupt one."
"I-is this true?" asked the quarian looking at Tali
"It is, at least from what I know that is." said Tali
"What ship are you from?" asked the quarian
"The Rayya, I'm Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." answered Tali
"Zorah?...You're the admiral's daughter!" exclaimed the quarian
"That's me." said Tali, sounding just a bit annoyed at being referred as the 'admiral's daughter'. Especially because none of the Normandy's crew treated her any differently.
"If it makes you feel better you can stay with us until this is all sorted. Anoleis says this is evidence against Lorik, Lorik is saying it's evidence against Anoleis. Either way it's evidence against someone, that someone will be taken down and we can all go our separate ways." offered Shepard "What your name?"
"Loma, Loma'Tosal nar Geedarum." said the now-identified quarian
"Well, Loma how about you wait here while Tali gets the safe open?" asked Shepard
"She won't be able to." said Loma instantly "Something's with that safe, no matter what I do I can't get it open. I even used half a litre of omni-gel but nothing works I'm not even sure its a real safe and not a decoy."
"Oh it's real, all you needed was the code to open it." remarked Shepard as Tali used one hand to hold the tablet and the other hand to type the code in."
When Tali managed to get the safe open to grab the large black box that was the data disk we started to leave, when we were stopped by miss blond and about fifteen other cops one of which was a krogan and some I recognised from the group that left earlier.
"I told you to behave yourself, now I hear that you're going around threatening cops and poking your nose into places it doesn't belong." said the blond angrily
"It was only a threat if they were being paid under the table, if not it was a suggestion that maybe they should go see their Captain." responded Shepard
"Oh yeah, well I have a suggestion of my own." said the blond aggressively "You give me that information and get the hell off my planet and I'll let you live, if not I think you'll find that there are a lot more people on our side this time. You may be a Spectre but the companies here have a lot of pull especially when I tell them you've been poking around in offices stealing secrets, hell I'm barely even lying."
"I've got another idea." offered Shepard before activating her omni-tool and pressing a button "Captain Matsuo this is Commander Shepard, I'm here in the Synthetic Insights office with evidence against Anoleis surrounded by cops on his payroll. The leader seems to be the very angry blond that you were with earlier."
The blond went from confident to shocked and Captain Matsuo's voice coming up over the omni-tool didn't help.
"Stand down immediately, I repeat everyone stand down that is an order!"
"Captain Matsuo!" started the blond, protesting the order
"Sergeant Stirling-san, you and the others know full well what happens to those that take money on the side, I'm made my feelings on this issue clear many times before. At best most of you'll be fired should any of this prove to be true, make it any worse and I'll do my best make sure that everyone is black-listed from every single security firm this side of the Terminus." warned Captain Matsuo
When she finished a few people near the blond whose name turned out to be Stirling, not that I really cared (nor did I think anyone else did) started to shift about awkwardly. Stirling herself didn't seem to seem sure of what to do. After a few tense seconds, the krogan started to walk away.
"Hey where do you think you're going!" demanded Stirling
"I'm going to wait by the elevator." said the un-named krogan gruffly "In case one of you idiots starts something, this has been a good side gig but it's not worth dying over, especially if I'm not getting anything. I don't know about the rest of you but my life is worth more than that."
After the krogan left more and more started leaving as well until Stirling was left with only three of her friends. It seems the fact that even if they won against us they would have to deal with Captain Matsuo and what I imagine would be a very thorough investigation made them rethink their desitions. Even if they beat us which would be hard, the numbers were more or less even at the moment but we had better guns and probably more more biotics. Even if they managed to somehow managed to destroy the data drive plus the copy that was still on Lorik Qui'ins computer they still had to deal with the fact that a Spectre accused them of being under Anoleis's payroll and then them killing that Spectre. Matsuo, from what I vaguely remembered of her and what was just confirmed didn't like security forces being on more than one payroll, she would have every single person here investigated. Information against Anoleis would be well hidden, people on his payroll on the other hand would be much easier to find.
Less than eight minutes later the elevator dinged and eight more security officers joined us, this time led by Captain Matsuo.
"What's going on here!" demanded Captain Matsuo after she joined us on the second level
"Captain, the Spectre here has been going around threatening our officers and breaking into offices. I came here to suggest he should hurry up and leave." lied Stirling
"And you." said Captain Matsuo turning to Shepard "What do you have to say about this?"
"A complete lie. I'm here to recover information that shows your Mr Anoleis is corrupt." argued Shepard
"Commander, not to be disrespectful but Noveria was settled for a reason. As long as the public order isn't disturbed the Executive Board doesn't care what goes on, I fear that any evidence you're talking about will be useless in the long run and Anoleis-sama will do his best to make life difficult for you in the long run." replied Captain Matsuo
"And what if I told you that the Executive Board have decided that Anoleis has rocked the proverbial boat more than they'd like and have sent an internal investigations agent to collect information against him. They're not happy with how he's affecting profits and how he's scaring away customers." said Shepard much to the disbelief of Matsuo and the worry of Stirling
"Can you prove this?" questioned Captain Matsuo
"I can take you to the agent themself." offered Shepard
"Do it, I'll come with you along with two others along with Sergent Stirling. One from your forces and one from mine, the rest will wait here until things are decided." ordered Matsuo giving Stirling a look
"Callum you're with me." said Shepard
"Bruclea follow me." said Matsuo to a nearby turian "Everyone else as I said will remain here and I don't what to hear of incidents when I get back is that understood?" asked Matsuo forcefully.
"Yes ma'am." first look said the security officers, some more reluctantly than other.
Heading to the elevator we entered and climbed down. Exiting the elevator, we immediately saw a certain pink wear dress wearing individual.
"I heard there might have been a problem at Synthetic Insights?" asked Gianna looking between us, what happened next caused her eyes to widen.
"You could say that, the Commander seems to think that the Executive Board has sent someone to investigate Anoleis-sama and she says she can take us to them Parasini-san." said Matsuo
"Oh really?" asked Gianna "And in that case may I join you?"
"Why would you?" asked Shepard with a smirk "You're from internal affairs are you not, white collar crimes and the like? Well I have the information you need and Lorik Qui'in has agreed to testify in exchange for some future favours of course."
"How did you...no never mind it's not important." dismissed Gianna "It's true I was sent here to investigate Anoleis by order of the Executive Board, I have no idea how you knew that but it's true."
"You bitch! Everything was going fine until you got here, ever heard of loyalty!" spat Stirling
"That's enough, whether Anoleis-sama was corrupt or not you and the others have still been accused of outside employment. You can either make this difficult and face charges or submit to a two-week paid leave of absence where you'll be investigated for proof of double payments." said Captain Matsuo
"Don't bother." snarked Stirling before walking away "This place doesn't deserve me."
"Hold on, that's it? She nearly causes a shoot-out with a Spectre, has been getting paid under the table to bully and harass people for who knows how long and that's all she gets?" asked Shepard
"As I said before as long as it doesn't affect public order the Executives don't care what happens. Firing ERC officers that have been caught getting paid on the side is something that is completely due to me and my feelings towards the matter not due to any company policy on Noveria that I need to fulfil. Now if you don't mind I need to go and have that conversation another fifteen times." said Captain Matsuo before turning around and reentering the elevator.
"I still have no idea how you knew I was an internal investigator but you just saved me months of work but I'm guessing that you didn't do it from the goodness of your heart." said Gianna
"I didn't, I still need a garage pass. I also need our mako dropped off as well as access to a second vehicle as the mako won't be able to hold all of us." requested Shepard
"Done, I'll have the garage manager organise the pickup and drop off of your mako. As for a second vehicle, there are a couple of grizzles as well as a few more ground vehicles but those are more for transporting supplies and resources to areas the shuttles can't normally but they're only lightly armed." offered Gianna
"That's fine, our mako and one grizzly should be enough to transport everyone to Peak 15." agreed Shepard
"Give me half an hour and I can make sure that your mako is in the garage and ready to go." said Gianna
"Do you mind if we head to the garage now?" asked Shepard
"I guess not, but why? You'll be waiting there for some time?" questioned Gianna
"Let just say I want to make sure there aren't any surprises." answered Shepard
On a hidden space station a long way away
Two figures are thrown to the ground, their faces hidden by heavy cloth bags and their hands bound.
"W-who are you?" asked one fearfully
At once both hoods were torn off revealing two asari. One young and one older, both have their arms cuffed behind their backs.
Taking in their surroundings the asari realised they were in a dark room surrounded with heavily armoured individuals in white and gold armour. Before they could say anything a hologram of a man smoking a cigarette appeared, a man with glowing eyes.
"W-what do you want with us?" asked the younger asari fearfully
"I need your help to do something very important." answered the man
"And what makes you think I'd help a terrorist organization?" spat the older asari
Behind them, one of the armoured individuals raises the but of their rifle to hit her only to be stopped by the hologram.
"So you've heard of us?" asked the hologram
"Saren was worried that you or the Shadow Boker would try causing problems for him. If you're looking for information on him I'm afraid I can't help you, and even if I could I wouldn't."
"You were found with the survivors of Zhu's Hope, as you know the Council is currently forcing them to resettle on another planet. Despite being the ones to make them move, they are willing to provide very little, help us and I'll make sure they have the resources they need to fully recover plus excess to make sure they don't struggle."
"And how do I know you'll actually do that?"
"Miss Shiala, Cerberus is a humanity-first organization, Zhu's Hope was and is a human colony. Why would I lie about helping them?" questioned the hologram
"It doesn't mean you won't, you also haven't said what I have to do in return." replied Shiala
Taking a long drag, the man answered
"Before that I think introductions would be best. I'm the leader and head of Cerberus, most of those who know of me refer to me as The Illusive Man, though I hear some have shortened this to Tim. And your Shiala, the only individual that I know who has recovered from indoctrination and she is Rana Thanoptis, a scientist that was working with Saren to investigate the process known as indoctrination. I'm guessing you can see where I'm going with this." said Tim taking another puff
"You want to weaponize indoctrination." realised Shiala
"I won't lie and say it hasn't crossed my mind but the same I intell that gave us you two also made clear that it would be much too risky to do something like that. What I have in mind is something quite different. What I have in front of me is an opportunity I have two asari, one has been indoctrinated but was then cured while the other has been exposed enough for the process to start." responded Tim
"Y-you want to dissect our brains." said Rana fearfully "Just like Saren did."
"Also wrong, Shiala is one of a kind and an asset we can't lose. As for you I doubt the indoctrination has altered your brain enough where a direction would return any useful information that couldn't be gained from other methods. No I have two goals pertaining you two, one is to try and replicate a cure using what we can learn from Shiala, the second is create a way to detect indoctrination and how severe it is through Rana." responded Tim
"But you still need brains. How else will you tell what's different about hers or how mine is changing." protested Rana
"And we do, but already have that sorted. Commander Shepard and the rest of the Normandy have located Matriarch Benezia and the rest of her acolytes. I have people in place to retrieve anyone that falls." answered Tim
"Those 'acolytes' were my friends, my family. You speak of chopping up and expect me to help you?!" questioned Shiala, anger appearing in her voice making Tim sign and extinguish his cigarette
"We both know that very little of who they used to be remains intact by this point, if we had a cure to test then maybe we'd be testing that instead, assuming we could get there in time. As it is though the only cure that we know of is spores from the Thorian. A resource that is not only limited but it will be quite difficult to procure more in the amounts we need. It's also an incredibly fragile resource, there is only one Thorian, should it die so does the only source of the cure, no another solution is needed."
"And why should we help you?" repeated Shiala "All you've told us is how valuable we are and how much you need us. Not given us a reason to help you."
"I'm guessing both of you are familiar with Saren's flagship Sovereign?" asked Tim getting a nod from both asari "And have an idea of how powerful it is and it's ability to affect minds?"
Getting another nod Tim continues
"What if I told you there are many more of these vessels out here? That Sovereign is just one and Saren is just a puppet being used to bring back a race that is responsible for the destruction of dozens if not hundreds of galactic civilizations." said Tim lieng abou
"I'd question if you lost your grasp on reality. I might not know where Saren's flagship came from or how old it is but there is nothing to suggest are more of them or that they are responsible for the downfall of the Protheans." responded Shiala, a slight smirk on her face for the opportunity to insult the man who held her captive, only for that smirk to vanish seconds later.
Liara T'soni might disagree with you there." responded Tim causing Shiala to react violently.
Despite her hands still being bound Shiala lunged forward, her biotics flaring.
"If you harm mistress..." started Shiala only for one of the individuals behind her to finally react.
Snapping their hand down a stun baton appeared in one of their hands which they then drove into Shiala's back causing her to scream.
"That was unnecessary." said Tim, though to who it was uncertain "Not only am I not here but I have no intention of coursing her harm."
"Then why bring her up?" asked Shiala panting
"So you would take this seriously. There is a threat out there and there are many other things that need my immediate attention and I have little enough time to attend to them. I also brought her up because of this." off to the side Tim seems to press a button and a voice starts playing. A voice Shiala easily recognized despite it having been many years since she heard the voice in person.
"To be perfectly frank commander I have heard nearly every theory out there, the problem is proving them. The Protheans arose from a single world and formed a civilization that spread further than Citadel space. Then suddenly they seemed to vanish leaving barely any evidence that they were there, it's as if someone went around and removed as much evidence as they could. Also I believe that it is not the first time either, I believe that other races came before and each race built on what the previous race left behind. Even the Prothean's greatest achievements the relay's and the Citadel wouldn't have been possible without the race before them."
"What makes you think there were species before the Protheans?" asked Shepard
"There is little evidence to prove the existence of the Protheans or their culture and history and there is even less on the species that came before then but eventually clues started to appear and I developed a hunch that something was causing galactic civilations to vanish. The question is why? Is it deaseses? Did the civilisation just grow too big to support itself or did their technology or food supply suddenly failed and they couldn't recover?" asked Liara outloud
"It's because of an ancient race of machines called Reapers." answered Shepard bluntly
"What? How do you know this? Where is your proof?" demanded Liara
"Prothean beacon on Eden Prime downloaded it onto my brain before it exploded but I still can't make much of it out. Also, Tali here managed to download some data from a geth unit and the existence of the Reapers was apart of that." answered Shepard
"That's too bad, Prothean beacons are incredibly rare. The exact number is a secret to only a few, but every time one is found the technology of the Citadel races improves. To gain one is worth almost any cost, even if the beacon is broken or highly damaged as it likely was in this case. But Commander you must have an incredible mind and willpower, Prothean beacons were designed to implant information directly into the brain, not just in writing or information but images and feelings as well. However, they were made to work for Protheans, not other species, even my own species with our ability to mind meld it can be dangerous and not to be taken lightly. Again it is quite the impress..."
Before the message could play any further Tim cut it off
"As you can see both Liara T'soni and Commander Shepard believe in the threat of these Reapers and they have had the most personal experience on the matter and believe they are a valid threat and your own experiences should confirm this and how Saren is trying to bring them back."
"Since Saren is such a threat then why aren't you trying to take him out?" questioned Shiala
"If we knew where he was we would, however as I said Saren is nothing but a puppet. Stopping him won't stop the Reapers, all it will do is give us time to prepare, time we need."
"But what are you going to do with us?" asked Rana having enough "What happens to us."
"That depends on you." said Tim before making a motion. In response, two figures move forward and snap a thin cable collar colors around their necks. "Those will stop you from having any ideas, from here you'll be taken to a second site where you'll be enough information to come to a decision and two days to come to it. Should you agree to help then you'll be taken to a facility where you're every need will be met, and you won't have the freedom you want but you'll be more than comfortable. Should you say no you'll be taken to another facility, this one not so comfortable. In fact you'll spend the majority of your time strapped to a table."
"Why even give us the option?" asked Shiala
"Because despite what you might think I believe that if someone is responsible for saving half the galaxy they should be given certain...comforts at the very least. And that's exactly what you'll be doing should we succeed, imagine how many Benezias will be found and even cured? However, if that's not enough for you and you don't believe that there is also the fact that undue stress will affect your brains which will in turn affect how long it takes to get the cure." said Tim adding an alternative perspective.
"And how long will it take to get the cure?" asked Shiala "How long will we be kept in a gilded cage?"
"Two to three years at most, should it be any more that I fear the Reapers will already have arrived and it won't matter. I know how asari view time differently, two or three years can just be considered some downtime or a long vacation which is what I'm offering." answered Tim
"Why even give us the option, why not just force us?" asked Shiala
"The two of you could be responsible for countless lives saved, despite what you think of me I believe that's worth certain...comforts. If that's not believable then my specialist has advised me that the less stress you have to deal with the better the research will proceed, that it will affect you're brain pattern and make it hard to tell what changes are due to stress and what isn't. That said some research is always better than none and if the difficult path is the only one we have I will take it.
You deciding to help also means we don't have to worry with escape attempts. Also, as I said before I'll be willing to support Zhu's Hope or whatever colony the survivors end up forming. I'll also provide you with enough credits to last you at least three to five years without further income should you be sensible. As for you Rana ill also include enough of our Thorian spores to cure if we haven't already found a cure and used it on you. Should that be the case you can expect more credits. That's enough for now, you have two days from now to decide. I hope you decide wisely." said Tim before hanging up
Notes
I tried to make Tim a good mix of cannon, how I saw him, willing to be nice if it suited him and just being an ass. Hopefully I wasn't that far off.
As far as I know the Council didn't say that Saren was behind the attack on Eden Prime which to me was quite a stupid thing to do because as far as I know he could have gone into any place still saying he was a Spectre and most wouldn't have known any better. Also, no one on Noveria seemed to know about Shepard being a Spectre, Saren or Benezia being on the run. Part of me believes that if Saren was making the geth interfere in communications, things might make more sense. Either way the Council are still idiots, they say Saren had lost his advantage and stripped of his statis but keep that fact hidden, its like banning someone from a pub but not telling the bouncer. Also, from what I understand he and Benezia almost owned Binary Helix. Considering that they tried making an army of rabid rachini I didn't want to think about what else they were up to.
I had a couple of goes getting Lorik's information, one of them had a krogan come in with blonde. I think it might have been because Wrex was with me but I don't know. Also ps, it turns out that blonds are going extinct in mass effect please help save the blonds by making your shepard blond and hooking up with as many people as possible.