Chapter 9: To Hope On A Far Flung World

SSV Normandy, March 22nd, 2183

As Nate strode into the command deck of the Normandy, the decontamination door shutting behind him, Pressley walked up to him with a 'tablet' drawn from his omni-tool. "While you were out, sir, we got three new vehicles into our cargo bay. One Mako and two more Kodiaks, bringing our vehicle complement up to full. In addition to that, we've got a dedicated shuttle pilot transferring over to us as well as a few transfers that beef our Marine complement up to a full strength of two squads. Lieutenant Alenko's going to have his hands full for a few days."

"I see," Nate replied. It was good to see the ship getting up to full strength now. Especially if they were going to have any further confrontations with Saren's forces.

He paused for a moment, looking back to Joker. "Joker, once we're finished stowing everything away, get us out of dock and set a course for Feros."

"Aye, Commander," Joker called back. "Getting started on pre-flights now."

With that, he nodded Pressley over to the door. "I'd like to take stock of our new arrivals. Care to join me?"

Pressley shrugged. "I don't see why not."

As they walked to the cargo bay, Nate looked over at Pressley. "So," he said casually, "have you had a chance to get to know any of our alien crew-mates?"

Pressley was silent for a moment. "Well," he finally said as they entered the crew area, "Doctor T'Soni asked me some questions about our current maps of the galaxy and what they listed. I guess it had something to do with her research on whatever's in your head, sir."

"And?" Nate asked pointedly.

Pressley shrugged. "She's alright. A little excitable over something mundane. Kind of like a puppy, I guess, when it comes to archaeology and stuff like that."

Nate snorted softly. "Would that we all had that sort of energy some days." he mused aloud.

Pressley nodded along as they entered the elevator that would take them down to the cargo bay. "I'm guessing that Feros is what came out of her research?"

"It's the best lead we have at the moment," Nate replied as they stepped into the bustling cargo bay. The Normandy's ramp was down, allowing the Kodiaks, which were being stored on a rack to Nate and Pressley's left, to enter. The Mako that rolled in would be taking up much more space as it parked next to the original, leaving the cargo bay, a place that had become in days past something of a group meeting area beyond the already set aside crew area, a much more challenging space to fit more than 10 or so people in.

'That just means that they get to be creative, then,' Nate thought as he came to a stop by Kaidan leading who he assumed were the new marines. He listened as Kaidan talked them through shipboard life and the frequency with which they should expect to see hard contact.

Looking around the bay again, he noticed a single man tending to the Kodiaks, going up and down on the loading lift that would allow pilots and soldiers to enter into shuttles on the rack for quick deployment, his omni-tool activated as he plugged into each of the trio of Kodiaks, staring at his display intently as he tapped on it.

He leaned slightly over to Pressley as the cargo door began to close. "Is that our pilot?"

"Yes, sir," Pressley replied, looking down at his tablet screen. "He's… Lieutenant Cortez. I'm guessing you want to meet him?"

"Well, if he's going to be getting us in and out of combat, then I think knowing your pilots is just good common sense," Nate replied as he walked over to the Kodiak rack, his timing apparently quite good as he caught Cortez coming down. The man had deeply tanned skin, a buzzcut of brown hair, and was decently fit even for an Alliance soldier.

The lift stopped at ground level, Cortez turning and seeing Nate and Pressley standing in front of it. His omni-tool deactivated as he came to attention and saluted, a nad covering one of his dark blue eyes. "Sir. Lieutenant Steve Cortez," he replied. "Happy to be aboard."

"At ease," Nate replied as he returned the salute. "Something wrong with our shuttles, Lieutenant?"

Cortez's mouth opened slightly before he closed it and shook his head. "Oh, no sir. I'm just… particular about the tuning of any shuttles I might fly."

"I see," Nate replied. "How does tuning them help you fly them?"

"I… don't know how much of a technical explanation you'd want, sir, but quite frankly… Alliance engineers tend to play it safe with the limits of their shuttle systems. It's great for beginners and those just looking to hop into the seat for a few minutes, but for someone who's been working with them for a while, they can get to be a little limited. Thankfully, those engineers also built in a little wiggle room that a smart pilot can expand the systems into." he paused for the briefest of seconds. "All within regs, of course, sir."

"I wouldn't worry overly much about absolutely following regs, Lieutenant," Nate replied as he pulled up Cortez's file. "As long as it allows you to work to the best of your ability, then I'm all for it." he was silent for a moment. "Just let us know which ones you decide to claim so anyone else doesn't get surprised."

"Of course, sir," Cortez replied, returning to his work.

Nate looked over the man's record. It was fairly well filled out, both in deployment history and in commendations. "I see you've been mostly hanging around the Traverse, out near the Terminus Systems. I can see how you got so much practice."

"Yeah," Cortez said somewhat absentmindedly. "With how many pirate fleets stumble into that part of Alliance space, you had to be careful getting people in and out. I learned a lot of different ways to use a Kodiak, and the Polar Bear shuttles we had before that."

"So," Nate said, "what do you do to make them yours?"

Cortez glanced over at Nate, his eyes narrowed. "Like I said, sir, it's all within regs. I can promise you that much."

"I'm not looking to bust you for anything," Nate said placatingly. "I'm simply curious. Seeing as these things are known for their mediocre turn radii, how do you tune the thrusters?"

There was a gleam in Cortez's eyes now. One that caused Nate to smile slightly. "Well, sir," he said, "I don't know how technically up-to-date you are, but I'll give you a simple explanation to start."

. . .

It was going to be 2 days of non-relay warp before they would reach Feros. It was as good a time as any to just… relax some. Daniel's philosophy, through Specialist Duvinian, had filtered through the engineering crew and up even to Nate himself. And Nate found it rather wise, all told.

Thus, he found himself making the rounds between those aliens on the crew. He could rationalize it as getting to know how the people who'd be watching his back worked so he could better prosecute his mission, but it wasn't really like anyone was watching the Normandy too closely.

The crew area was a rather bustling place at the moment, what with the new additions to the crew. It made Garrus stand out even more at the table, dressed in a shirt and pants that accommodated the slight crest of his upper back.

Nate took a seat next to him, a human beer in one hand and a turian brew from a case he'd had assigned to the Normandy's cold storage in the other. "Evening, Garrus," he said casually, offering the brew. "How are you holding up?"

"Rather well, honestly," Garrus said as he took his drink, opening it and taking a sip. "This sort of environment is easy for me, no matter the species. I might have decided to go to C-Sec over joining the reserves in a decade or so, but you can't beat out nearly a decade of military training."

"What made you go into C-Sec in the first place?" Nate asked.

"It was the family business," Garrus shrugged. "My father had been C-Sec before getting pulled out from the Reserves for Relay-314, and his father before him had done the same thing. Still don't know why the old man went into politics, though. Even C-Sec is simpler than that."

Nate shrugged. "I try to avoid politics. When you have a camera pointed at you more often than not…"
"I can see how that'd be the case," Garrus said, pausing for long moments. "So, I've got a question for you about Saren."

"Funny enough, I've actually got one for you, too," Nate said. "You first."

"Are you really planning on trying to arrest Saren and drag him in front of the Council after what he's done?"

Nate ruminated on the query with a pull of beer. "It'd be what the Council wants done, most likely. Saren's dangerous, but if we can subdue him, he needs to face due process."

Garrus's mandibles drooped slightly, the action looking almost like a grimace. Or a sneer. "There's a lot of risk to that too, though. He isn't the best Spectre the Council has for nothing. He could probably find half a dozen different ways to escape during transit to the Citadel, let alone what he could do if he was on it."

"We know he's the most dangerous person in the galaxy," Nate said assuringly. "If there's anyone who can guard him, it's going to be all of us and the krogan along for the ride."

"That wouldn't stop the Council from offering clemency, or just finding some way to sweep this under the rug," Garrus retorted. "But taking him in is the way it's done by the book, isn't it? 'Do it right, or don't do it at all'."

Nate frowned slightly at the rather bitter invective. "And who said that?"

"Lucrius Vakarian," Garrus said, washing the name back down with a pull of his brew. "Among the most renowned detectives on the Citadel. Spirits know he said to me more times than I can count."

"Not a regulations guy, then?"

Garrus sighed quietly. "I get why they're there. I get that they're useful. My father and C-Sec drilled that into me well enough. But sometimes, in order to resolve a situation permanently, completely, the regs, and the people who enforce them, can make it so that a solution becomes a stopgap. People get away. Innocents get taken advantage of or hurt when they don't need to."

Garrus was silent for a moment. "Take Doctor Saleon."

"Who's that?"

"He was — probably is still — one of the leading figures of the Citadel's black markets. Specifically in grown organs. Real mean bastard. In a place where a krogan who's well-connected enough could drop 40,000 credits for a full quad transplant to try and counteract the genophage, Saleon was a unique brand of fucked up."

"See, there was an increase in organ trade, well beyond what we expected. We managed to confiscate some, and do some genetic tests. It was a bit of a mess, but it led us to a very lively turian who was very insistent that he was not, in fact, missing his liver. We ran a background check, and saw he worked for the aforementioned doctor."

"What did you do next?" Nate asked.

"We brought him and some of Saleon's other former employees in for questioning. While I was interviewing one of them, I noticed something suspicious. One of the detainees, a human, started bleeding from his abdomen during questioning. Pretty badly, too. We offered to patch him up, and he got panicky."

Garrus paused, was silent for long moments. "We found dozens of incision scars on him. Some of them fresh, like the one that gave him away. Others much older. That's when we realized this sick bastard Saleon wasn't just employing people. He was testing on them. Growing the organs right inside of them, then cutting them open, harvesting them, and selling them off. Most of the test subjects were poor, desperate. They only got a small cut of the profits from any sale, and only if the organs were viable. If they weren't, he just… left them inside them."

The beer wasn't very appealing to Nate anymore, and he set it on the table at arm's length. "What happened then?" he ventured.

"We went out to go and put the cuffs on this guy. But he rigged his lab to blow, ran as soon as his mules started getting pulled in by C-Sec. Took some of his 'employees' with him to the nearest spacedock. By the time we found where he was, the ship he stole was already leaving. He threatened to kill who were now his hostages if anyone tried to stop him."

"And he got away?" Nate said incredulously.

Garrus nodded. "I ordered Citadel defenses to intercept and fire on him, but C-Sec HQ countermanded my order. They were worried about the hostages. Worried about civilian casualties for how close he still was to the city arms. I told them the hostages were already the next best thing to dead, that this was just the cold, hard calculus of stopping a criminal like this now and for good. But they wouldn't listen."

Nate sighed. "Sounds like a recipe for hating where you work."

"To put it mildly." Garrus chuckled darkly. "I went to Executor Pallin, the man in charge of C-Sec, and told him what I thought about the situation and the policies that made it happen. He told me if I didn't like it, then I could quit. To be honest, I almost did, just to spite them."

"As tough a choice as it is, the lives of the hostages were as important as catching Doctor Saleon," Nate said pointedly. "If we didn't care about the lives of those threatened by the people we want to bring to justice, how different are we from them?"

It was silent between them for a moment before Garrus sighed quietly. "You know, I can see where you're coming from. I just wish we could have stopped Saleon as well."

Again it was silent. "So," Garrus said after a moment, "what was your question?"

"You've got a personal stake in this," Nate began. "I won't begrudge that, and I won't discount that we might need to kill Saren to stop him. But if we do manage to capture him… can I count on you to let justice play out?"

Garrus was silent for long, contemplative moments. "As much as it might grate at me…" he finally said. "I'll trust your judgment. You've got a good head on your shoulders, Shepard. However the stellar wind blows, I'll follow your lead."

Nate nodded. "I'm glad you have my back, Garrus."

"I mean hey," Garrus said, his mandibles implying a slight grin, "I get to learn what a Spectre looks like from you. Thus far, I'd say I've got a pretty good mentor."

. . .

In the depths of the engineering core, Decusia and Eleanor worked on one of the kinetic barrier systems that Tali was prepping to check up on, to say nothing about making sure it worked if they were potentially going into hostile territory. They'd been getting odd codes from it recently, but it wasn't overly worrying. Still, it was far better to be safe than sorry.

After resolving the issue, which was linked to — surprise, surprise — a glitch when running mostly cold alongside the experimental cloaking system, the two began to make their way out of the maze of maintenance tubes and back to the main core room.

"She's a very uptight ship, isn't she?" Eleanor mused with a slight grin as they made their way through the crawlspaces.

"It's been that way since we actually started building it," Decusia said. She was quiet for a moment as they reached the crawl space door. "I've only worked around humans for a few years. I understand that your species forms pack bonds with just about anything. I just… didn't expect it to be such a quick process for you."

"You'd be surprised how quickly we can treat inorganic objects that help us kindly, give them personalities and quirks," Eleanor replied as they exited. "Our encounters with the geth probably make it seem otherwise."

Decusia shrugged as Adams walked over to them. "There is one thing I've never managed to get straight, though."

"Before we ask what," Adams interjected, "is Barrier Node Da-16 under control again?"

A brief report was made, and Adams sighed quietly. "I'm sure the eggheads interested in stealth are absolutely thrilled at these sorts of discoveries." he groused. "Now, Specialist, you had a question, right?"

Decusia nodded. "What makes a ship a 'she'?"

The question left both Adams and Eleanor looking at each other with somewhat puzzled expressions. "You know…" Adams said. "I've never really thought about that before."

"As I recall," Eleanor began, "it stems from old Earth blue-water naval tradition. I'm surprised that something like that never appeared for the turians."

"Palaven isn't a world that's known for its vast oceans," Decusia said with a shrug. "I doubt you'd be impressed by what we call 'the high seas' based on what little I've seen of other worlds. Navies were basically on the backburner until we made our way into space. Up until that point, we never really gave much thought to their spirits. Though, you ask some of the old naval families, those spirits were some of the most reliable around."

"So," Eleanor said, "do these spirits of yours have a gender, then? Or are they just kind of… there?"

"It depends on a few things, as far as the spirit-scholars say," Decusia replied. "For one, the environment the spirit is first formed in can affect its development. A spirit conceived from a gunnery crew or a volcano is going to be different in nature and temperament from a navigation spirit or a forest or city spirit. Along with that, feminine or masculine elements can flavor what kind of spirit it's supposed to be as well."

"Seems like a lot to keep track of," Adams said as he shook his head slightly. "How do you keep track of all of them?"

Decusia's mandibles moved apart slightly, a turian approximation of a slight smile. "You pay attention to the ones that are most important to you. I keep tabs on the Duvinian family spirit, the spirit of the 289th Engineering Division… and I'll likely be attending to this ship and crew's spirit as well."

"I don't suppose it lends itself to a religion of any real substance," Adams continued.

"No," Decusia said. "And even if it did, most turians these days treat the spirits as a matter of tradition more than true spirituality."

"And I'm guessing that you and your family fall on the more faithful part of the spectrum," Eleanor asked.

Decusia nodded. "We're a rare sort of family, to be so open about our faith, but we do maintain a scattered community out across our territories."

"So," Adams said, "are spirits able to form on non-turian worlds or vessels?"

Decusia shrugged. "It stands to reason. Spirits, according to our people, are a universal concept. We're still new enough that we'll need a little more time for one to fully form here, I think."

Before anyone could continue, one of the doors connecting them to the cargo bay opened, and as someone walked through, everyone could hear, for just a second, the beginning of… well, something. It was loud, brassy, percussive, before dropping off to a point where the closed door and the hum of the reactor core concealed it.

"What was that?" Decusia asked somewhat incredulously.

"Sounded like music," Adams said before looking over at a subordinate, directing her to keep an eye on things before walking towards the door.

"I don't think I've ever heard music quite like that before," Decusia said as she and Eleanor followed.

"I think I have," Eleanor surmised with a slight smile as they reached the door, opening it to see the marines that they'd taken aboard on Eden Prime surrounding a small speaker, Kaidan leaning on one of the Kodiaks next to it with an instrument, painted in a shining brass color and covered in buttons that his fingers flew over as he played, his eyes closed and brow furrowed slightly in concentration.

"It sounds pretty old," Adams said as Kaidan and his instrument took the lead in the song. "Or kind of obscure. You don't usually hear that many instruments in a song these days. Especially ones that sound quite like that."

"It's bebop, sir," Eleanor chuckled. "Daniel plays guitar, so he listens to a lot of classic tunes and genres. He got into this style for a while."

"Where's it from?" Decusia asked as Kaidan joined the recording once again.

"As I recall," Eleanor said, "it comes from a piece of Japanese animation."

They settled in for a moment to watch the performance.

. . .

Kaidan was immersed in the song, one that had gripped his mind since he first stumbled onto it on an extranet Earth history forum. Cowboy Bebop and many others that shared its status still had a dedicated fanbase, even into the 22nd century. Especially its music, and its opening theme. He'd counted himself lucky to find a version of the track that left the saxophone out so he could play to it.

The wild, crazy, almost-but-not-quite slapdash style of the song and its contemporaries also spoke to him as a biotic. It seemed to mimic the all-too-often tempestuous nature of his powers, though it took a long time — an asari amount of time, it seemed — to truly make it sound so musical.

The end was coming up now, the most technical part to play. Now, it was time to ride the wave and bring it under control. Not too fast, not too slow…

A part of him offered some sardonic thanks to Brain Camp all those years ago for teaching him the precision and dexterity that now had his fingertips tapping the electronic sax's body during the final, hectic solo. Almost… almost… careful now…

And he was through, his euphoria at how seamless it had sounded almost, but not quite messing with the outro of the song as he ended with a flourish.

Then, he heard the clapping that reminded him that he wasn't practicing on his own, and he opened his eyes to the marines who smiled at him, giving them what was likely a rather bashful smile of his own as he deactivated the speaker.

"Not bad, LT," one of the marines, Langley as he recalled, said, Kaidan suppressing a quiet sigh as he got confirmation of Ashley's nickname for him spreading in the ranks. "I guess you've already heard that you and Daniel should play together sometime."

Kaidan nodded at the fiery-haired young woman. "I have. Though I have to admit, I'd have to find a song that goes along with guitar. Bit of a tall order, I have to say."

He considered the woman for a moment, his brow furrowing slightly as he wondered why she, along with her name, sounded so familiar. Come to think of it…

"Does Daniel still have his harmonica?" another, Ikari, asked. Ikari. Huh. "I think there's some songs that he could do with you on that." the man continued.

"I'll have to find out," Kaidan replied, briefly noting a trio of engineers who had probably been watching them before they returned to the core. Then, his focus returned to the question that had come to mind.

"So," he said, "Asuka Langley, right?"

Asuka nodded. "Yeah. That's my name. Why do you ask?"

"Were your parents fans of Japanese animation, by any chance?"

He had no idea that such an innocuous question would have the response it did, glances flying between the men and women he commanded. "That's a strange place to go," Asuka finally said after a few moments. "Do I… remind you of someone?"

"Kind of," Kaidan admitted. "I've been digging into anime for a little while now. One of the names that comes up every once in a while is one where the poster features someone who looks like you. Shares your name too."

"Must be a hell of a coincidence then, sir," Asuka said with a shrug. "My family moved away from Mindoir, which had a pretty heavy Japanese and German population, to another colony. At least, Mindoir had it before the Raid."

"I see," Kaidan said. He still found how… skittish the squad seemed strange. "Did you have any family left around where the Commander grew up?"

Asuka shook her head. "No. No one lived around there, so they escaped the worst of it."

"I'm heading to the crew section to get some chow," another marine, Yamagishi if Kaidan remembered correctly. Said rather out of the blue. "Anyone else hungry?"

The other marines, one after the other, voiced their agreement as well or talked about other things that they meant to do, slowly beginning to scatter.

'Well, that was weird,' Kaidan mused, 'even for the situation we're in.'

Something told him that Neon Genesis Evangelion might be worth looking into. And with how they regarded Daniel Theisman, perhaps he was worth having a chat with as well.

. . .

Nate walked onto the bridge, watching out the pilot's window as best he could as they made their final relay jump. In an instant, they were in the Theseus system, making their way at best speed towards Feros. For a while, he stood there and simply watched the crew work around him as the Normandy approached the planet.

"Commander."

He looked behind to see Liara walking somewhat hurriedly up to him. "What is it, Liara?"

"I've done some more research on Feros," she began as they walked toward the helm. "It turns out that Feros, besides being a somewhat poor choice for any sort of major civilian colony, was a rather extensively developed prothean world. Its ruined spires stretch up for hundreds of kilometers above the dense atmosphere at ground level."

"That's probably where our landing zone is going to be then," Nate replied as Joker began speaking with the colony below them, apparently called Zhu's Hope.

"We might find something the protheans left behind that can help both you and Lieutenant Theisman," Liara continued as the Normandy began to descend into Feros' atmosphere. "Something unrelated to the research I did on the Citadel."

"Have you been here before?" Nate asked. "If there are prothean ruins, I'm sure you've at least heard of this place."

"Heard of, yes," Liara replied. "But I haven't visited these ruins yet. In fact, this was going to be my next destination after Therum before the geth arrived."

"Then would you mind coming with us?" Nate asked. "If there's anything to do with protheans, then having an expert on them is going to be valuable."

"I'd be happy to," Liara said as they slid into a rudimentary docking bay built, likely by human hands, into one of the massive towers. "With the threat of the geth looming over us, though…"

"We'll get you some armor out of one of our stores and issue you a pistol," Nate said assuringly. "Along with your biotics, that should keep you alive if we get into a scrap. It's not a perfect fit, but it'll work until we get some armor specifically for you."

Liara nodded. "I suppose that works. I'll still need to get used to using a gun, but I won't be helpless."

Nate nodded, smiling slightly. "We can figure that out soon enough. Now, if you'll come with me, I'm going to put together a shore party."

. . .

The air here was cool and dry along with being somewhat thin, though for as high up as Joker said they were, it seemed almost too thick.

Nate, along with Liara, Garrus, Tali, Daniel, and Kaidan, who led a half dozen of the marine complement, stepped into the gray-brown, dilapidated space, the door to the bay showing a vast sky with a blanket of clouds below them and a massive storm in the distance, flickering with lightning. Their helmets' visors were folded away, allowing them to see and feel and breathe the air of an ancient construction unobstructed.

Beyond the Normandy, a few crates, and a deactivated bio-scanner at the far end of the bay, the space was otherwise empty, the footsteps of the group echoing as they walked.

"I might not have been expecting a red carpet rolled out for us," Kaidan remarked, "but surely there should have been someone here expecting us."

"Maybe they're dealing with something inside the colony at the moment," Garrus remarked.

"The bio-scanner would be on still, I'd think," Tali retorted. "A nascent colony on a world nobody really knows about… you wouldn't want anyone bringing something you know might react violently to native life, down to the viral level. Something's going on."

"Let's find someone before we go in guns blazing," Nate said calmingly as they passed through the dormant scanner, beginning to descend flights of stairs lit by windows far above and newly installed lamps. "We still don't know if Saren's forces have even gotten here. We might actually be ahead of them for once."

"Is it just me," Liara said as they approached a doorway with two barricades a little ways away from it, "or is thinking that saying something like that out loud, what's the human phrase… 'jinxes' it, a universal concept?"

With that delightful idea, the squad entered a wide open area with some prefabricated shelters, a massive tubular structure that was probably part of the colony ship that took the people of this place here. There were only a few people in sight, mostly working on the small tasks that kept a nascent colony alive.

It didn't mean they arrived unnoticed. One of the people, a human woman, looked over at them as she managed a series of pipes. "There's more of you than we expected," she said as she paused her work. "Why so many people?"

"We wanted to make sure that this place was safe, in case the geth come here," Nate replied. "I'm Commander Shepard, Alliance military and Spectre. Have any geth come through here recently?"

The woman was silent for a moment. Just a little too long for such an easy question. She shook her head. "No. None that we've seen," she replied, her voice just a little too flat. Was she being sarcastic?

Nate nodded regardless. "Good. Even if you haven't seen any geth, have a turian man or an asari that looks kind of like my friend passed through, asked to speak with anyone?"

Again, silence for just a few too many moments. This time, in the moment before she spoke her face twitched. "No. I'd talk to Fai Dan. He's the leader of the colony. He might be able to help you more."

"Alright," Nate replied as she turned back to her work. "Thank you."

She said nothing, and Nate moved on to another colonist instead, asking the same questions. Not that he was expecting anything different, but that he was expecting… some difference in inflection, in personality. There was, almost. But in the end, he got the same answer. Go to Fai Dan. From the human man he next spoke to, and the salarian man after him.

"Okay," Tali said quietly, "I can't claim to have interacted with a lot of humans, I'll admit, but doesn't this seem… off?"

"Yeah," Nate replied, equally quiet. Something was up here. And it seemed that Fai Dan would have some sort of answer.

The group made its way to where Fai Dan was said to be, the colony's administrative building. It was a little larger than the other prefabricated buildings, but it shared the same white and gray, paneled look of the rest of the buildings.

"Kaidan, take Garrus and Daniel and set up a perimeter with the marines," Nate began as they paused in front of the building. "I've only got a feeling, but I feel like we're going to see trouble soon. Liara and Tali will come in with me to talk with Fai Dan."

"Yes, sir," Kaidan replied, nodding the others away toward their task as Nate led the way into the administrative center.

It was a spare place even for its importance, databanks, terminals, and two desks, along with what were likely personal effects, all that took up the space of its first floor for the moment. At the larger of the desks, two people, a human man and woman, looked up at the visitors from what must have been a conversation.

"Ah. You must be the Commander," the man replied as he stood, offering a hand to shake as he smiled slightly. "I'm administrator Fai Dan. This is my assistant, Ms. Arcelia Martinez. She's who spoke to your pilot to guide him in."

Arcelia nodded. "It's been a while since anyone more official than ExoGeni showed up here. What brings you to our little corner of the galaxy?"

They were far more… normal than the rest of the colonists. Where that might have been a sign of some relief otherwise, it only made them more suspicious in Nate's eyes. "We're on an important mission," Nate began, "and we were told that there was something that we might need to find here."

Fai Dan glanced at Arcelia for a moment. "I have to admit," Fai Dan said, "we wouldn't really know much about this planet beyond what we need to survive. Perhaps you'll want to visit ExoGeni's headquarters across the skyway."

"We'll certainly do that," Liara said as she stepped forward, activating her deep green omni-tool, "but maybe there's something you can tell us before we visit them. These ruins are ancient, and we're looking for something equally ancient. Perhaps even older than them."

Again, Fai Dan and Arcelia were silent for a moment, looking at Liara with slight frowns. "If it's something that ancient," Arcelia said somewhat more coolly, "we haven't found anything, alive or dead, that hasn't already been documented."

"Please," Liara insisted, "this is a matter of grave importance. We don't have much to go on, but if there's anything that you could tell us about a potentially alien being living in these ruins, even the story of ones previous explorers might have told about, we would be most grateful."

As Liara spoke, Nate saw the pair clamming up almost in real-time, the two of them growing tenser and tenser. Was there a gun behind the desk? Would they even try something like that? What were they hiding?

Nate silently prepared himself, reaching into the waiting biotic power and feeling it thrum within him. "Well," he began casually, "even if you can't answer Doctor T'Soni's questions, there is something that the other colonists seem to have been avoiding. Have a turian known as Saren or an asari known as Benezia passed through here at all? No one can seem to give us a straight answer."

He set something off in Fai Dan, a certain spark flickering to life in his eyes.

But before the man could say anything, gunfire erupted outside the building, drawing all eyes to it. Nate was in motion in seconds, his rifle in his hands as he burst through the door of the building.

What he saw as his helmet's visor snapped into place was only somewhat shocking, the colonists, all of them armed only with pistols or civilian rifles, coming to stand alongside the much better armored marines, holding firm as geth infantry charged or crawled through the door, several of the geth crawlers clinging to the walls and scurrying up them to find their vantage points.

Biotic powers soon were sculpted and flew through the air from Nate, Kaidan, Liara, and one of the marines that he commanded, those crawlers on the walls beginning to float into the air and make themselves tempting targets for the marksmen in the defense.

Nate reached the line as Daniel and Tali sent twin attack drones flying toward the cluster of geth infantry that were beyond the door, bolts of energy arcing from the drones to the geth which drew their attention away from the fight.

One of the colonists took a hit to the shoulder, going to the ground without even so much as a cry of pain as the colonist beside her, without a word, stepped over to fill her place. Nate caught the action from the corner of his eye, but found his focus drawn by the thrum of a ship, looking up to see something much like the dropships that they'd seen but about the size of the Normandy flying past them. 'Shit.' he thought as he lasered in on the last geth standing, putting several rounds into its mono-eye and sending it sprawling. 'I just had to open my mouth, didn't I?'

"That must have been a geth frigate," Daniel said after a moment to breathe as they passed the end of the fight. "It didn't stop for us. Wonder where it's going."

"Probably to your friends at ExoGeni," Garrus replied. "We should probably get going soon."

"How did the geth end up here?" Liara asked somewhat incredulously. "There were no signs of them on our approach."

"We found them in one of the hallways," one of the marines, Kirishima, spoke up. "They were folded up. Waiting for us, I think."

"Damn," Nate said, looking at Fai Dan, who now stood with them, pistol in hand.

"We need to take care of these geth," he began. "Did you see where the ship that passed overhead was going?"

"It looked like it was going towards ExoGeni's building," Arcelia said. "The scientists will… need help."

She seemed to struggle with those last two words, but Nate filed that away for later. "Will we need a vehicle on the skyway?"

Fai Dan nodded. "It's some distance away, yes. You should be able to unload from your ship to get directly onto the skyway."

"Alright," Nate said, turning towards the entrance to the docking bay. "Let's get the Makos ready!"