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Espacole and Spork

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Almost two months passed like that. Not in peace, of course, but… In a comfortable routine, fighting against a more real, natural and, above all, defeatable evil of the galaxy. And helping people. Without most of the baggage that helping the Geth had carried, or the inherent complexities of facing the Collectors and their Reaper masters. No, this was simple. They would leave Omega, head to whatever target Anderson had lined up next on their list, and either she or Penny would join Shepard and whoever else in landing, boarding or otherwise handling the pirates. Most surrendered quickly, once she or Penny came down, between her particle lasers and Pyrrha's raw skill and Semblance usage.

But, of course…

That routine had to end some-time and so, finally, she was called into the conference room one morning, and met Shepard who frowned and said, "The refugee base on Omega got hit."

"What?" Pyrrha gasped, turning to meet Garrus' eyes as she stepped in. He was leaning against the inside corner, close to the door. Turning back to the Commander she asked, "What happened?"

"Batarian mercenaries." Shepard answered, moving to the far end of the table and leaning on it.

"Mercenaries…?"

"Not a chance." Garrus snorted quietly, and she turned to see him shaking his head as he pushed off the wall and stepped up to the table beside her. Cocking his head, he said, "Try as we might, a corvette docking at some old warehouses to off-load people and goods was bound to be noticed. My credits say someone sold the info to a Hegemony agent."

"But…" 'Why?' she wanted to ask, but the question died on her lips. She knew why, of course.

Greed.

Setting the bile that rose up in her throat, she asked, instead, "What is our plan?"

"We're waiting for-"

Suddenly, the comm-line built into the table chimed, gently, and EDI spoke up, "Aria T'Loak has connected via comm-net. Shall I project her holo?"

"Yes." Shepard nodded.

The edges of the table lit up in a faint blue almost instantly, casting light up into a sort of blob made up of millions of tiny, grainy looking boxes that slowly molded into the vague shape of a head. At the same time, a small screen, like a rectangle shaped window almost, slid up from the end of the table, right in front of the Commander, and lit up in a faint orange that washed over Shepard's face before dimming back down quickly. A moment later, features started to stand out, followed by color. Aria, a bit washed out from the holographic system - and whatever it was doing - focused on Shepard and frowned.

"Why do you look like I'm hanging from the ceiling?"

"You are. Cerberus holo-display, so Nikos and Vakarian can listen in." Shepard explained, clasping her hands behind her waist and frowning deeply. "We're in the briefing room. Now, what do you have for me?"

"Oh, that sounded dangerously like an order…"

"I have about six incredibly pissed off, incredibly deadly, individuals on my ship that are headed your way to cause some damage to whoever did this." Shepard countered - apparently electing to leave out that, to her knowledge, she hadn't told anyone - and going on pointedly. "The sooner I get something to them, the more in control I'll have them. You understand."

"Quite." Even from behind, and the side when she slid around the corner of the table, Pyrrha got the feeling Aria wasn't convinced. Her lips were pursed, face flat aside from a single raised brow, and she cocked her head before going on. "I know that ten of your people died in the raid, one of them a child-" Pyrrha hissed and Aria heard it, frowned, opened her mouth to say something, but just went on quietly instead, "-and we know they took eight others. All but one a child."

"Damn…" Garrus grunted, slamming his hand down on the table and glaring at the wall. Flanges flicking in agitation, he asked, "You have a location on them? Numbers?"

"Yes to the former, for the most part." Aria sighed wearily, "I know they're somewhere in District-46. An older section, mostly made up of old mine-shafts bored into the asteroid of Omega and since filled with cheap habs. Slums, basically, but with a few old storage warehouses near the ends that could make a good base."

"Send us the coordinates." Shepard grunted, "Do you have map layouts?"

"From sixty years ago," she nodded, "yes."

"Send those, too."

"More commands…"

"Send those, too, please." Shepard amended with no small amount of sarcasm written into her words and her face alike. Aria chuckled and ended the call from her end, her hologram fragmenting and falling apart as EDI closed the holo-display and the Commander sighed. "Joker, can you speed us along at all?"

"I can hope on some less-travelled routes, sure." The pilot answered, sounding… Grave, even as he quipped, "Long as you don't mind paying Raider Roulette off through some asteroid belts and so on. Cutting corners, you know?"

"We have the weapons and armor for it." Shepard shrugged it off, "Do it. EDI, calculate the time change?"

"Aye, Commander…"

"Do not worry, Mister Moreau, Cerberus defence protocols are more than adequate for simple pirates." EDI reassured the clearly less than enthusiastic pilot before she answered the Commander's question, "It will shave two days, three hours and forty seven minutes off traversal. Assuming we encounter no… Issues while en route."

"See that we don't." Shepard said, "Enable stealth measures as necessary, by your own judgements. I want us at Omega as quickly as possible."

"I will continue attempting to find faster routes then, Commander, and have stealth systems on stand-by." EDI answered, "May I… Bring Legion into calculation efforts?"

"Will it help?"

"Possible." The AI answered, "However, it would mean granting them access to internal servers. Navigational data, system administration, detailed information on the-"

"The Geth are our allies now." Shepard cut the AI off, seeming to realize her words after a moment and blinking, slowly. Shaking her head she sighed, "Still not used to that… But he can have access. Same as anyone. Keep an eye out, but otherwise, do what you can."

"Yes, Commander."

"And what of us?" Pyrrha asked simply as the Commander stepped around the table, leaning on it with one hand.

Before she could answer, though, EDI spoke up once again and said, "Commander, I reached out to Legion, as you allowed. They have informed me that the Geth have completed most of the data-mining required to access the Omega-4 Relay and, as such, we should make all speed to Rannoch once more. An assault group is assembling to assist with elimination of the Collector threat."

"We'll head there as soon as Omega is dealt with, then." Shepard nodded, "Inform the-"

"The Geth have also reported an increase in raiders along the fringes of their space." EDI cut her off quietly, almost nervously, "Batarians uniformly, in various mercenary outfits known to operate directly out of Hegemony space."

"Those aren't 'mercenaries'." Garrus grunted hotly, "That's Batarian military. They just don't want to risk starting a war and getting the Council on their backs."

"You're certain of that?"

"It's basically an open secret, Nikos." Shepard grunted, "And… Not too rare, either. Salarians are known to do similar, at least going off the rumors. And I know the Alliance has, once or twice."

"Hierarchy, too." Garrus nodded, his mandibles flicking and then stilling into a sort of Turian grimace. "If they're probing the Geth's borders like that, then my credits say they're going to hit them. And as much as the Council won't like the Quarians being put back on a fleet, or being enslaved if it goes that way…"

"They'll be more than happy to have the majority of the Geth destroyed. Solves them a dozen problems. Hell, they could even spin it as a favor from the Batarians. Bring them back on-side, more or less, without actually having to do anything about what they do to people." Shepard growled, scowling and shaking her head. A heartbeat passed and she turned, slamming a fist down into the table and chuckling darkly as she leaned on it, "Damn it all, Nikos, but your gods seem to have a sense of humor."

The words surprised her enough that Pyrrha actually paused for a heartbeat before she grunted, "H-He wouldn't do this!"

"He wouldn't?"

"Can't." She amended, frowning, "He's… Been quiet for a while, now. Withdrawn…"

"Why?"

"I don't know." She answered simply, crossing her arms as Shepard's eyes narrowed in obvious suspicion. "He's probably staying quiet, for now, after Tuchanka and everything. But he's a god. He'll reach out when he needs to. Unless his brother gets in the way…"

"His brother?" Garrus grunted, "You mean, uh, the… Light god?"

"The Brother of Light…" Pyrrha trailed off, mind working over the problem, before she scowled and sighed, "He could be to blame for this, though. It's the kind of thing he'd do, to throw a wrench in my- Our plans."

"Why?" Garrus asked sharply, "People are going to die for this. Kids could! One has…"

"Light… Doesn't care." She sighed quietly, pursing her lips and going on, "I told you all that I know about him already. To him, we're all just toys. Servants. Things to… Amuse him, and his Brother. Doing this to throw a wrench in our plans would be a spite against his brother sending me here."

"I see…"

"Whatever, more importantly," Garrus turned to Shepard, "we're going to Omega first, right?"

"Garrus…"

"We have to, Commander! If we don't then-" The Turian snapped and cut himself off, turning and leaning on the table and staring down at its surface for a moment before going on more quietly. More calmly. "We have to, Commander. You get that, right?"

"I understand your feelings, Garrus, but the greater-"

"Commander, please." He turned, shaking his head, "Don't play the 'greater good' card with me."

"I don't want to." Shepard frowned, face hardening in a familiar way. So familiar that Pyrrha was already resigned to the coming conclusion. "But… I have to. The refugees number in the low hundreds at best, and most of them are already on their way home. But the Collectors threaten thousands, millions. It's… Not even a choice."

"Damn it…" Garrus growled, turning his back on the woman. Shepard frowned, opened her mouth to say something, but sighed and shook her head before she could. And then Garrus went on, "Fine. You're… Right. I don't like it, but… You're right."

"Then we-"

"Send me." Pyrrha cut in, earning looks from both of them. Frowning, she said, "I'll… Ask for volunteers among the ground team, put a strike team together. We can go deal with the mercenaries on Omega, rescue the refugees, and you can go and… Do whatever is needed to push the Batarians back."

"With a Council Spectre out there, the Hegemony would have to be careful." Garrus added, voice taking on a bit more hope as he went on, "You get Anderson to coerce the Council into sending you out there, and they fire on you, it's war with the Citadel."

"If I can get the Council to go along with us…" Shepard murmured, "Which is a big 'if'."

"Tevos will do whatever we want, more or less." Pyrrha muttered, a bit of… Disquiet over the whole matter still making her frown. "Aria has her in her pocket well enough for it. It worked when I went to meet the Council, at least."

"And Sparatus has wanted something done about the Batarians for years." Shepard filled in, straightening into a more stern, almost comfortable, stance as a small smile spread across her face. "That'd be a three to one vote. That'd get through."

"Exactly." Pyrrha nodded, "So, I'll put in with who I want with me. Who do you need with you?"

"Garrus and Tali." She answered instantly, frowning and thinking for a moment later before adding, "Jack, if I need some heavy hitting, and Krios for… Precision work."

"I'll need Grunt, Legion and Zaeed." Pyrrha nodded, mentally tagging 'assault', 'marksman' and 'support' onto each other them as she spoke and a thought occurred. "You should take Penny, too."

"Why?"

"She's synthetic." Garrus pointed out for her, turning when she nodded and speaking to shepard. "Without Pyrrha there, we don't have the same relatability to the Geth. With Penny there, though, that's not as much of a problem. Tali for the Quarians, Penny for Synthetics."

"Understood." Shepard nodded and turned back to her, "What about Goto? Samara? Lawson?"

"I-I can take Kasumi." Pyrrha nodded, flushing embarrassedly at the stammer - and the way the Commander's brows rose. Shaking it off, she said, "I don't think I could… Handle too many people, though. Zaeed will help, but I don't want too large a team."

"Or you'll struggle to command them." Shepard nodded, "Understood. But you need Biotics on your side for heavy hitting."

"I can handle that on my own, if needs be." Pyrrha argued, more than a bit… Hesitant to take Lawson along for a handful of reasons. Grimacing as a thought occurred, she sighed and said, "And… I need Doctor Solus."

"A medic." Shepard nodded, "Done."

"Thank you," she nodded, "Commander."

"No problem." The woman smirked, cocking her head and adding, simply, "Lieutenant Commander."

"I-I'm sorry?" She blinked, shaking her head and chuckling unsurely. "What- I'm not-"

"Cerberus, and the Alliance, don't give command of units out for operations to random people. Not officially, at the very least." Shepard argued simply, crossing her arms and raising her head. "With all the politicking going on, I can't risk someone using your lack of rank as a weakness to attack my position. Our position, that is."

"For all this to work itself out," Garrus sighed, crossing his arms and reclining back against a wall, "we can't have any problems."

"But… I'm not…"

"Leadership material?" Shepard asked, smiling and chuckling to herself before her face softened, just a bit. Gently, she went on, "Neither was I. Nor is anyone. Not at the start. But you can manage this, I'm sure, and from there? The only way left is up."

"But-"

"You have a god, right?" Shepard cut her off again, smiling, "Have a little faith."

"I…" Finally, Pyrrha sighed and gave in, nodding stiffly and saying, "I suppose it can't be helped, short of not going at all. Very well, then. If you're certain… When do I leave?"

"Immediately, on the Kodiak." Shepard grunted, the warmth dying as she turned back to duty and went on, "It will get you there, and we will take the Normandy to Geth- Rannoch space, that is, where it can be seen. With me there, proven by the Normandy, and Batarian assets firing on Ambassador Nikos on Omega, the Batarians will be put under more pressure than ever. Politically and publically. Which will give Anderson even more of an opening for what we need, and sooner than expected."

"I see…" Pyrrha turned to leave, then paused and, dread settling in her stomach as a faint hint of suspicion she'd harbored ever since what had happened with her Aura, seemingly so long ago now, took form. Slowly, she turned back and asked, quietly, "Commander… You didn't set all of this up on purpose. Did you?"

"Why would you ask that?" Shepard frowned, "And how could I control when we got access to the data the Geth were working over?"

"That is fair enough, but…" She grimaced, turning fully and arguing firmly, "Everything else… The base on Omega was exposed, and landing the Normandy there itself was bound to draw attention. As you said, this ship is so obviously associated with you. And what's happening… As you said again, it only helps our ultimate goal."

Frowning, Shepard shook her head and said, "You have a mission to launch, Nikos. And that's more important than being suspicious of me. Isn't it?"

"It is." Pyrrha nodded, turning to leave without another backward word.

Whatever was true - nothing could be done, now, except save those people. And keep moving forward.

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Krazyfan :

Ye, they were adorable lmao.

Sebine :

Lmao

The Prime Cronos :

Yep! And surely I wrote it with no ulterior motives whatsoever…. Right?