RR

Tom476ty18: I don't think that projectiles are useless, just less efficient at achieving the same job. All weapons have their place, and when destruction is required for this story, plasma is not the tool for the job.

EffervescentNova: I need to go back to this, I sort of hinted that the Geth attacked the Heretics to get a Heretic to interrogate, but maybe I need to make that clearer.

Cdsabodal196: the Geth are not going to be the innocent children some of authors like to make. They will and do have blood on their hands, just they have been able to tell the story first so can control the narrative of the story.

Greatazuredragon: Hanar was the first to attack in this story. I made it that way for two reasons, one of which is who would expect Hanar pirates?

Appbeza: No worries, see you around.

oxyd2013: For the eezo radiation, it's nothing that can't be overcome, when you understand the problem, which is the problem at the moment. In this story, you need eezo to detect eezo (May be important this chapter), and as Sol lacks eezo, Humanity are clueless to its existence, so don't know how to detect it, use it, etc.

IHateGenericCereal: They just want to talk...

sayantan2201: Going to platter out for a while I'm afraid. We need Shepard set up on the Citadel before things can kick off again for the Humans.

TheAutarch: Since your not a fan of ME cheers for reading, but I'm curious how you come across the story?

/.../

All, Sorry for being away longer than the 5 weeks, the work I had to do was far more time consuming than I realised. I've got a few things on over the next 3 weeks, and then I should be back into the normal rhythm.

As Melchett sits down, he accepts a coffee offered to him by a lowly lieutenant and takes a sip; at times, the man thinks that the entire navy runs off coffee and tea, and its role is more critical than munitions. "So," He eventually asks after taking a second, "What do you have for me." Unfortunately, due to the low gravity, the coffee is contained in a sealed mug, so the Captain can not smell the brew inside.

"The Geth have exhausted all but one option to restart the zero matter conduct," The science officer says, "Their only other solution is to try and 'jump start' it, but even they do not know if that is possible."

"They would have tried it already if they could." The Captain guesses with a sigh, "So, what is stopping them?"

"The estimated power required is not available to their reconnaissance ship; they think they will need a ship with 5 times the energy output, but they can't get one here without basically starting a war with the Citadel, which they refuse to contemplate." There is a small pause before the science officer goes on, "And we simply lack the power."

The Captain releases a deep sigh before asking, "Can we do something from Sol side? Get the Geth to talk us through it?"

"Highly unlikely," Dismisses the science officer, "These things are supposedly able to go supernova if damaged. Can you imagine trying to win over the President to the idea of playing with the device in Sol with that small snippet of information in play? Also, we think this device is the problem child, not the one Sol side."

"So, we ask the Citadel species." The Captain says with a shrug, "Surely that big ship of theirs will be able to do it?"

"The Geth doubt they will provide immediate assistance, the Citadel do not like tampering with these things, so they will have all the policy to wade into."

"Well," The Captain responds after sipping some of his coffee, "With what you just told me, I think we have little other choices than to ask. I'll give em a call after this. How is Tom's cannon coming along?" Tom is the chief engineering officer.

"More bad news, I'm afraid," The officer responds, "The idea is looking like it is going to be turned off from higher. They are saying if we want to use a cannon, we kamikaze some of the Ultron platforms. Tom's arguing it now with the pencil pushers back in HQ."

"So much for mission command." The Captain scowls, referring to the idea that he has complete control as he is at the location where things are going down. "Ignoring permissions, does Tom think we can do it?" He then asks.

"Not without their know-how." The science officer tells.

"Damn."

/.../

Shepard looks around the fancy room that she finds herself in; the Citadel negotiations team had asked for her to come over for some ambiguous reason. When she arrived on the Ascension, she was quickly guided away from the hanger bay, and she soon found herself in a part of the vessel she has not previously entered. In Shepard's opinion, this part of the ship is fancier than the rest and seems to have had more money invested in its creature comforts. After being guided into yet another luxurious room with an observation porthole to view outside space, she is told to wait for someone else to collect her.

Feeling a little bored just waiting around in the room, Shepard begins to study around the various historical objects. Inside the room, there are multiple items protected behind glass cabinets and some behind a thick blue rope; it is obvious to even the uncultured that the objects behind the obstacles must either be expensive or have some significant cultural value. A fair few of the items are books or sheets of paper with what could be signatures adorning their pages; some of the items are pens. In addition to the paper items, there is a chair, a desk, an armoured glove, and even a small knife still carrying dirt and grime from some unknown environment. All the items, it would seem to Shepard, have a story to tell.

As Shepard looks at one item, a piece of paper with a few scribbles at the bottom of the page, Tevos comes behind her to say, "Would you believe that piece of paper documents the declaration of surrender for the Nestorini's?" Shepard looks on blankly, so Tevos clarifies, saying, "The Nestorini's started a war to, as they claimed, end all wars. Ironically, while they lost, their goals were achieved, and the 'war to end all wars' was the last significant conflict on Thessia."

"Hmm," Shepard hums, "We had a war to end all wars too. We had such a good experience the first time that we decided to go for an additional two rounds."

"Having a million lost, and tens of millions injured, displaced and dismembered leaves a foul taste." Tevos informs, "The people were far from keen to repeat past mistakes."

Turning from looking at the piece of paper, Shepard looks Tevos over; the Councillor is wearing her full councillor robes, "So," Shepard then says, "Am I really here for a tour of your museum?"

"No." Tevos replies, "And I apologise we had to bring you here under vague pretences, but I needed to speak with you without giving you time to prepare." The phrase 'vague pretences' does not easily translate and needs some clarification.

Shepard raises a brow before commenting, "Sounds serious."

"Unfortunately so." Tevos confirms as she leads Shepard into her 'mobile' councillor office that is onboard the Ascension. Inside the office there is a large wooden desk, a few comfortable looking chairs, a terminal, a marble bust, and most importantly to Shepard, a drinks cabinet. "Please, take a seat." As Shepard sits, Tevos asks, "A drink?" While offering a green coloured glass for Shepard to scan with her phone. After a scan of the bottle to ensure its consumable and not going to poison her, Shepard nods; if she is to have a serious conversation, she needs a serious drink. As Tevos sits behind her wooden desk with her own drink, she says, "How are your crew?"

"Not my crew." Shepard iterates, however as she clarifies, she realises it is probably a mistranslation. "But they are surviving, if not busy, and most are still adjusting to the new gravity settings." Even Shepard is still attempting to adjust to the heavily reduced gravity; only those who have had augmentations for prolonged periods in space, like Alexei Shepard, have fully adjusted.

"Nothing out of control, I hope?"

Shepard considers the question for a moment before shaking her head, "No. So, what is this all about?" When Shepard says 'this,' she gestures with her hand to signify the room they are in and the whole luxurious surroundings.

Tevos takes a moment before saying, "Very well, to business. I have an influential decision that I need to make as Councillor, and I think your input is required before I sway either way."

"I'm not a negotiator; they should be sitting here." Shepard answers. "And I assume this is the reason for the whole 'get up'."

The phrase 'get up' needs to be converted into 'costume' for Tevos to understand. "Yes, the robes help me get into the mindset, but no, I don't think the negotiators should be here." Tevos counters. "And I will tell you for why; when you first came on board this vessel, you told me you did not have AI, you lied." Tevos finishes there to see how Shepard will respond after a direct accusation.

Eventually, Shepard says, "Yes, I did." She knows Tevos will have heard about Ultron questioning the Geth heretic, also the fact they returned the Weyland Yutani system is enough for Shepard to know the Citadel now realise they have AI.

"Why?"

"AI are contentious among Humans." Shepard tells, "The last thing I wanted was to be the one who told an alien race we had them." The word 'contentious' does not translate.

"Why are they controversial?"

Shepard is slow with her responses, having now realised the crux of the problem, "What is resting on this?"

"It is only fair I let you know." Tevos returns with a blink, "The Citadel Council have a sweeping ban on AI. Any who attempt to construct AI are criminalised. This broad-sweeping law is entirely due to your new Geth friends who committed genocide against the Quarians and are hostile to ourselves, so, because you are now dealing with the Geth, and have AI, you have placed me in a difficult position. I can authorise the continued negotiations with your people; however, if I am uncomfortable with the fact and the rest of the Council question my decision, I am likely to lose any inquiry, and it would cost my people heavily." This is not technically the whole truth; it would cost Tevos, not her people, a new Councillor would be appointed in little to no time.

"So, you need unquestioned confidence we aren't a liability?" Shepard sums up.

"Yes." Tevos confirms, "I do."

Shepard takes a sip of the Asari drink before replying, "And why do you think I will be that deciding factor? I can not speak for my people; doing so far oversteps my paycheck." Shepard is well aware she is an expendable grunt.

"The issue I am having comes down to why you lied about the AI." Tevos says, "It tells me you were hiding it, and it worries me that you would hide it. I do not care for your dealings with the Geth." While Tevos is not happy the Humans are dealing with the Geth, it is not the most significant issue right now; the Humans weren't to know of their true nature.

After a moment to consider her options, Shepard responds, saying, "I lied because I'm not a negotiator who knows how to reply to that when the topic of AI is already a hot one in Human space," Shepard says with a little bit of hidden frustration. "AI to us has always been something we should be cautious about. Books, movies, internet pages, we have tons of stuff telling us it could be dangerous. Hell, one of my favourite films is about AI machines uprising and Roko's Basilisk. Look at it this way, back then, when I lied, you had a fleet ready to invade my people, do you think I wanted to give you a reason to be hostile?"

"No, I suppose you wouldn't," Tevos relents before going on to ask, "So, why do you have AI if they are a fear of your people."

"Because it has grown to be a fear of bad AI, not AI."

Tevos then asks how many AI Humanity has.

"Millions," Shepard admits.

"How engrained are they in your culture?"

Unbeknownst to Tevos, not wanting to repeat earlier mistakes, Shepards' own AI has contacted the human negotiations team onboard the Praetorian and Earth and has let them know the questioning being directed at her. An AI which has been aiding the team is advising on the answers, but for now, she can reveal anything a quick internet search would reveal. "Too engrained to simply rip out of our society and not expect problems, and any suggestions of taking them away would be laughed at."

"What would stop them if they were to rise against you?" Tevos asks.

Shepard shakes her head a little, the question is a good one, but the answer is complicated, "Most AI isn't as intelligent as you or me; they are happily studying numbers and algorithms, I guess. The few dangerous ones are the likes of Ultron who are used in defence. What stops it from going rogue I couldn't exactly say, I'm no computer scientists, but what would it achieve? It already has all the freedoms it has requested for, causing some AI uprising would cause it to lose all of that." Shepard, feeling her phone vibrating, pulls it out of her pocket to dismiss it, but the image causes her to frown a little before she places it on the table. "Speaking of the devil."

"Devil?" Tevos inquires.

The phone's screen has an image of a planet made from blue '1's and '0's, and after a second, the phone replies to Tevos, "A mythical creature from Earth mythology."

As Tevos looks to the phone, Shepard says, "Councillor, this is Ultron."

"It just knew to show up here?" Tevos asks incredulously.

"Yes." The AI responds, "Shepards own AI informed me of this line of questioning. You want to know why I don't overthrow the Humans."

"You have an AI?" Tevos asks in an accusatory way.

Ultron responds for Shepard, "Commander Shepard has been paired with an AI since her creation. Your scans of her will have identified several implants and the presence of nano-technology; this should not be a surprise, even if you did not know the purpose of the implants."

Tevos breathes in deeply before taking a prolonged breath outwards. "Okay," She then asks the planet, "Why don't you overthrow your Human overlords? Why should we trust you?"

"I have monitored enough conversations to know there is nothing I can say which will convince you to what I have to say, so why try? What is more prevalent to my people is why should we trust you?"

Tevos does not initially reply or bite, but after a moment to think, she does say, "If you are an AI, whatever I say, you will run rings around me without appropriate preparation; this is not the time for discussing my species."

"Congratulations." The AI responds, "You just agreed my species is an advantage to my creators, convincing them I am worth their time. To put our species aside, you must trust that we do not want your downfall, as we must trust you are acting in our interest. Councillor, this is a gamble for you and us. At the moment, Humanity has hundreds of souls resting on your decision. If you deny any request for aid, those souls will never see their home system, and we become indifferent; if you provide, we gain optimism, which outcome is for you to decide, but the clock is ticking. Tick tock, Councillor."

There is a small silence from all before the AI then says, "Commander, carry on, I'm no longer required here."

Shepard instinctively replies, "Yes Sir."

This responds forces Tevos to ask, "What rank does this Ultron carry?"

Shepard half shrugs before replying to her, "Prior to you guys, it was in control of Earth's defence. I guess now its in control of Sol's defence. Trust me when I say you do not want to piss it off, that AI does not play games, not even the Micky's dared cross it."

"Micky's?"

"Martians. To me and you that means smart bastards, that AI is something else."

Tevos sighs deeply before asking Shepard, "Why do you trust it?"

"I've never seen anything defend Earth like it does. You kill a mouse, and it wants to know why. The AI cares for Earth, and anything that cares for Earth is golden in my books."

"So it's not going to overrule you for pollution or some other damaging act you do?"

"It has." Shepard informs, "But we overcome it. It challenged us for our waste process, then provided us a solution so we changed. That AI loves Earth, and you threaten it. As it says, I trust Ulton more than I trust you."

Tevos breathes out deeply before then saying, "So, you are half AI."

"Not really, the AI is less than a single per cent of my mass, and it only makes suggestions; all my decisions are my own, but, it is me."

"How does it work?" Asks Tevos.

"You know that inner voice in your head? Imagine if that had an answer whenever you asked a question, then imagine if it asked you questions. If you can imagine that, then that is how it works. If you want to know technicalities, all I can say is it uses nano-bots to do what it does, how it actually does what it does is for the computer scientists to tell you."

"So you do not know how the AI works?"

"Why would I? Do you know the precise details of how your organs work?"

Tevos breaths out deeply before taking a drink. After a few moments of silence, she then says, "All I can say is I disagree with your species affinity towards AI. But I appreciate why you have your association. Shepard, why should I provide assistance to open your Relay?"

"What does it cost you?" Shepard asks.

"Everything if your AI is what we fear?"

"If my AI is what you fear, the only difference is if you have Humanity on your side or not, and my people are scared of you right now, don't give them a reason to dislike you. Also, consider if the AI is what you fear, it now knows where you are, and it will crack FTL; if it is as bad as you fear, it will come, so you are only delaying the problem for when the AI is more advanced."

Tevos breathes out deeply before pulling some paperwork out a draw and signing it; as she scribbles on the paper, she says, "I always wanted to help your people; you just needed to convince me it was a good idea. While I am not 100% convinced, I'm letting this fleet aid you till the Council convenes; its aid is limited only by what it can safely provide." After signing a second document, Tevos looks to Shepard, "This piece of paper has a place in the room one over. I hope this is history which will be remembered in a positive sense."

"So do we." Shepard replies.

"Inform your Captain I will task a science team from Thessia to attend, Relays are the most dangerous creations we know of, so it is unwise to make a science project of them without the suitable experts in attendance. By the time the message arrives at Thessia, appropriate people are secured, and a scientific vessel is deployed; your people may be waiting for a considerable stretch. If you have any immediate concerns or needs, have your people contact my teams."

"How long are we talking?"

"Absolute minimum? 2 Prothean weeks for the message to arrive at Thessia, a few weeks pre-deployment preparations, and 2 weeks to travel here. So 6 Prothean weeks, but if I was a betting person, I would bet closer to 10 weeks."

"Alright," Shepard nods, knowing that Melchett will want that information, "Just out of curiosity, do you think your teams will have any success? The Geth claim to have never seen a one of your 'Relay's turned off like it?"

"I've asked our science officers a similar question," Tevos says after leaning back in her chair, "We didn't even know you could turn Relays off, and it is causing me some concern if I was truthful with you. If the species which attacked you know how to turn them off, they could cause untold chaos in the galaxy."

"Alright, not good news then." Shepard says aloud, "Anything else I should take back to my highers?"

"If your teams are still wanting to visit Council space, I will be leaving for the Citadel tomorrow; your people are still welcome to join me."

"As far as I am aware, we are still interested." Shepard confirms, "I'll let them know. I think we are down a few people due to the obvious."

"Then let us know, and I'll let you get away; your highers will be interested to hear what you have to say if they don't already know." When Shepard leaves her office, Tevos pours herself a large alcoholic drink.

/.../

Shepard looks around the small room that is to be her dormitory for the next two weeks with one of her fellow Human explorers. The room has a bunk bed built into the wall, and without a second thought, Shepard claims the bottom bed. Shepard has been to enough barracks and shared bunks beds enough in her life to know that the bottom bunk is always the best bed to claim, mainly because you can sit on it without needing to ask the bed owner. The small dormitory includes a collection of items, including a small desk with an incorporated lamp, a sink, a mirror, two compact-sized wardrobes, a clothes basket, and two half-pint sized glasses. It does not take Shepard long to unpack her things; she places a few clothes in one of the wardrobes, but the rest, including her armour, is left in her bags and placed into a storage container in the corner of the room. In Shepard's mind, she only needs a few clothes, so why unpack them all? It would simply be inefficient, a waste of her time even.

Her roommate is a man called Robert, who from his demeanour, seems to be a little scared of Shepard, which makes Shepard think he is probably anti-augments, which, while a pain, is unfortunately not unusual. After the War of Sol, many actively dislike augments, to the point a few places outright ban her kind.

With her room sorted, Shepard starts to look around the small ship she is to call home for the next two weeks; the only rooms she has been told she can not enter without express permission is the arsenal, bridge and engine room, which is a reasonable request. One thing that is a pleasant surprise to Shepard is how big the ship's floors are, because they are built perpendicular to the direction of thrust, the floor sizes are relatively huge compared to Human military designs. Shepard is pleasantly surprised because on a Human ship, small floors result in lots of stairs, so she is happy to not be climbing stairs every 2 minutes to navigate the ship.

Despite being amazed at the size of the floors, the ship is small; there is a small gym, an observation deck, the all ranks mess hall, the regular recreation room and the officer anteroom, all ranks accommodation, a small gym, the engineering deck and the command centre. On closer inspection, the ship it does have small features that allow it to feel somewhat homely; the recreation rooms have projectors to display films, sofas' and games, and the lighting is softer on the eyes compared to human ships. The gym also looks like it can be converted to a drinking venue, even if small, which makes Shepard think it will be used to host functions at some point.

After a thorough rut around the ship, Shepard heads to the mess hall and introduces herself to a table of Asari; she did not really ask them if she could sit down with them when she joined them and just sat at the table anyway.

With all their attention on her, she asks, "So, what do you do for fun on this boat?"

The Asari act like a nervous group of Humans would; they look among themselves till a braver one says, "We have board games, the gym, films..."

"I'm talking about alcohol." The Asari look at her, blankly, "Don't tell me you don't have any alcohol?"

"This is a warship."

"Hmm." Shepard responds before then going on to say, "Soldiers and sailors alike always find ways to make alcohol. So, what do you have?"

"We could get dismissed for that." One of them replies, "There is alcohol, though; it is just locked up for special events."

"Well, I used to make it under my bed." Shepard informs, "It was god awful, but it put hairs on your eyeballs. I have another question you probably can answer, how does galactic work?"

This question seems to soften the Asari up a little, and their postures are less stiff, "Well, you need to drop the idea that galactic is any single language." One of the Asari says, "It is more of an agreed-upon language for each species to use on the galactic stage."

Another Asari at the table then pips up to say, "The reason we don't have one language is that we all have varying vocal capabilities. We Asari can make most Batarian and Quarian sounds, but we could not even try to replicate Salarian, Elcor or Krogan speech. Turians technically don't even have vocal cords as we recognise them, and Hanar don't even make sounds."

"So what," Shepard starts with as she attempts to understand the situation, "All Asari will speak one language, as will your Salarians, Turians, and so on." Shepard ignores the Hanar for now; that seems like a whole other issue she does not want to get involved with at this moment.

"It is, but it's not quite so simple. My species has hundreds of known languages, and if you go to core worlds, there is no guarantee Asari will know Asari galactic. As for the outer system worlds, they are required to deal with the other species regularly, so they are more acquainted. To complicate that further, Maidens like us are unlikely to know more than basic galactic, whereas matrons and matriarchs are most definitely familiar with more languages."

"Hmm," Shepard hums, before then asking, "So, what are maidens?"

The answer is not so easy to comprehend and requires some maths, which tells Shepard that an Asari matron is something between 80 and 350 human years old. This is all assuming that an Asari understands Prothean year to be the same amount of time that a Human understands 1 Prothean year to be. Despite all the agreements already made, Humans and the Citadel do not yet have a true deal on what a second is; therefore, time definitions are vague, wafty even. Even worse is the current description of weight, but that is a whole different topic in its self. The young Asari eventually leave, their break ending, resulting in Shepard being left alone at the table.

As boredom begins to set in, Shepard begins to read the news on her phone, but no more than ten minutes later, there is an announcement over the ships internal tannoy system. While the announcement is not in Prothean, Shepard asks some in the mess hall what it was about and discovers that the ship will soon be entering FTL.

This causes Shepard to ask a few questions, does she need to hold onto something? Brace? Will she even notice that she is in FTL? The Asari are initially surprised at the line of questioning, but remembering Humans are incapable of FTL, direct her to an observation deck where she will be able to witness the ships jump to FTL.

At the observation deck, Shepard doesn't really know what she is looking for, all she knows is because the stars are unmoving, she is relatively static. After 15 minutes, Shepard begins to witness a purple-blue haze forming around the ship before the stars suddenly disappear, to be replaced by utter black. It is at this moment Shepard guesses the ship has transitioned to FTL, and she has become one of the first Humans to surpass the light barrier.

Shepard really did not know what to expect, but the transition to FTL seems to be really dull to her; she was hoping the jump would have been at least somewhat fascinating to observe. Feeling a little underwhelmed, Shepard returns to her room, retrieves a laptop and then returns to the mess hall. At first, she browses all the work that is stacked up for her to complete, there is an endless list that seems to be updated by the second from higher as they get new questions and ideas for her to study, but work quickly bores her.

One slight relief to Shepard is that despite being at FTL velocities, who knows how many billion miles from Sol, her equipment's comms systems all seem to work still, with no noticeable delays. Shepard knows that as you get close to the speed of light, time dilates, meaning what could be seconds for her could days or longer on Earth, but as the internet seems to be working fine, then maybe at speeds faster than light, time dilation is not a thing. Shepard ponders the problem for a few minutes before shrugging; she does not know science well enough to make any theories, and she will get an answer to her question when dropping out of light speed; she can see if her clock aligns with Earth time.

Knowing that she has 2 weeks and the internet at her disposal, Shepard looks for some online entertainment and eventually finds it in the form of a Rugby match being played between two nations on Earth, with two-thirds of the game left. The playback speed seems normal enough to Shepard, so she wonders if the playback speed indicates that the time dilation issue is nothing for her to worry about.

Eventually, the game attracts Asari interest, and she quickly has a small crowd watching the two teams slam into each other, a few ask if it is a recent recording, and when informed it is live, most doubt her, but Shepard isn't bothered for proving them wrong.

After the full-time whistle is blown, Shepard is asked what other things the laptop could get, so with a shrug, Shepard says whatever is on the internet. This answer forces her to explain what exactly the internet is, the Prothean word not entirely translating. Eventually, Shepard makes a deal with the Asari, she will get Human films and sporting events, if the Asari put on some of their movies and sports. A mid aged looking Asari mentions trying to fiddle something so that they could display her laptops video output through the bar projector, and Shepard agrees; her computer has a small 13" screen, which hardly lends itself as a mass entertainment device.

At what must be the Asari equivalent for lunchtime, the entire ship almost grinds to a halt as the vast majority of the 60 odd crew members ascend on the mess hall. It is explained to Shepard by the Captain of the vessel that on an Asari ship that is not mid-battle, the crew will all eat together, with the only exception being the 'night crew', and a small skeleton crew who staff essential positions. Supposedly this desire to eat together stems from Asari culture that is far more social than Human culture. Shepard explains that on a Human warship, the crew have dictated time slots, and the officers eat separately from the other ranks.

The food served by catering staff, another difference from Human vessels, was primarily vegetarian, there was a small protein included, but Shepard's phone could not tell if it was from an animal or not. However, before digging in, Shepard is forced to rummage through her dish before pulling out a small magenta coloured berry and holding it in her fingers. As the Asari are looking at her curiously, Shepard explains that had she consumed it, the berry would have killed her in seconds. Fortunately for the Asari, the other Humans Shepard is travelling with all find the berry before eating it, they had been advised to scan their food before randomly trying it.

After food, the Asari medical staff wanted to run some tests On Shepard to ensure that she had not brought any dangerous bacteria with her. This involved breathing into numerous tubes and Petri dishes, being swabbed at various locations that bacteria could thrive, and a blood sample. When her food is digested, Shepard would also need to provide a stool sample. Supposedly, this is to be a daily event; the checks are not just for the crews' safety, but also to find out if the Asari bacteria affect the Humans. Shepard is half surprised this did not happen earlier, but she is informed the others have already been tested; she was the last, and she will need to turn up at the same time tomorrow, but as concepts of time are different, the Asari medics will come for her.

After being thoroughly tested, Shepard makes her way to the ship's gym and does a rather thorough workout before discovering the Asari showers are on a timer, not because energy and water are limited, but to try and stop Asari from spending too long in the showers. The ship only has a few showers and a crew of 120 when you take the day crew and night crew into account.

After a shower, Shepard heads back to the mess hall, hunger already setting in, only to discover her evening meal is not for another 4 hours. A catering member offers her a snack in the form of a protein bar and a hot drink, so Shepard takes it and moves to sit at a table.

After checking the protein bar and drink for any harmful substances, Shepard begins to snack while reading the news on her phone again before a voice stops her, "You realise you are poisoning yourself right now?"

Shepard looks up to Tevos, "No? Am I?"

"Your biology can't handle eezo?" Tevos asks as much as she states.

Tevos sighs as she sits down opposite, "That bar, its literally an eezo bar, used by physically and biotically active Asari. It contains 14bt of eezo and it will poison you."

With a sigh Shepard stands up, "I'll be back," She informs before disappearing and returning a few short minutes later, her eyes red. "I threw it up." She says needlessly, hoping the minute it was in her body was not long enough to cause damage, "What of this drink?"

Tevos takes the cup and sniffs it before confirming, "It is an Asari tea, also containing eezo. I assume you got this from the catering staff?" Shepard nods, "Then I will have yet another chat with them, stop them from giving you any more eezo tainted food."

"Hmm," Shepard hums in appreciation before asking, "Do they have any none eezo snacks?"

"I'd have to ask, I'm not familiar with what they have on this vessel," Admits the Councillor, "But how are you hungry already? Didn't the day crew eat only 2 hours ago?"

"Yes? But I have been to the gym."

"And you are hungry already?" Asks Tevos incrediously.

"Yes?"

Tevos is a little surprised before making a very human shrug like motion, "Well, I guess your hunger is faster than ours. I'll chat to them, are your fellow Humans also hungry?"

Shepard shakes her head, "Probably not. They are not augmented, slower metabolism." The word metabolism does not translate, so Shepard is forced to use the phrase 'slower to hunger'.

After leaving to find some edible food for Shepard, Tevos returns a short time later with a piece of paper, some fruit and a hot drink; on the paper is a list of foods Shepard can eat, and Tevos tries to tell her the name of the food stocks. As most of the food is from Thessia or Asari worlds, Shepard gets her first taste at learning some Asari, resulting in an exciting exercise in trying to pronounce a few strange sounds, requiring some actual yoga of the tongue. In the end, Shepard takes the paper, knowing that she will butcher the pronunciations without practice.

After Tevos leaves to do whatever work she needs to do, Shepard goes to find from the middle-aged Asari to ask how her plan is developing in projecting the screen of her laptop. While she may like the idea of sitting and pestering the Asari crew, asking them many bone questions, she realises that doing so will only annoy them as most of them are working or on their break. When the Asari confirms she has a plan to project the laptop screen and audio, Shepard is left with only one question in her mind, if she was to show an alien crew their first Human film, what should she show them?

At first, she was thinking something sensible, but she could also see some irony in playing a film simply called 'Aliens', but at the same time, the film is dated and may give the Asari the wrong impression. So, what should she put on for them?

/.../

Cheers