Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.
Chapter 6
=DC=
Part 2
=DC=
27.04.2183 GS
Citadel Tower
The Citadel
Widow Nebula
Shepard really shouldn't have been surprised that even working with the Council would entail a lot of the "good", old fashioned, hurry up and wait. After the end of all the debriefings they had to suffer, the Normandy crew found themselves with eighteen spare hours until they waited for the arrival of their Council liaison and diplomatic representative. Nevertheless, neither Shepard, nor Vasir let them waste that time, and they spent it requisitioning as much useful gear and provisions they could get their hands on, including decent food for multi-species crew, especially for Turians and Quarians, who had to subsist on MREs. Admittedly, nowadays both the human and alien military rations were usually more than eatable and nothing like the horror stories of ages past still persisting among of everyone's military, yet usually everyone preferred freshly cooked meals.
For the time being, the Normandy's crew continued to include an irate, always hungry Krogan spoiling for a fight, two squads of CDF marines, who got rotated for fresh ones after the casualties suffering while supporting Vasir on Therum, the Quarian kid, Vasir herself, obviously…
"I'm wondering if we'll get an Elcor or Hanar next…" Shepard muttered to himself while going over requisition forms. A particularly bright side was that he had more than enough time to straighten out the snag that put the Normandy and her regular crew as no longer part of the Alliance military, which turned out to be somewhat more involved than Anderson suggested. Dealing with that frustrating bureaucratic snag required a trip to the Embassy, contacting the Alliance Military's Personnel Department and filling up over a hundred forms.
The reward for that job? Shepard had to spent the rest of the day struggling with CDF, Alliance and the civilian side of the Citadel procurement network to ensure that his ship and crew would be as ready as possible for the next engagement with Geth and potentially compromised Matriarch and her bodyguards. That included some expensive armour mods to protect against Biotic attacks along with a selection of gear to non-lethally subdue Asari and keep them from Biotically tearing a ship from inside out…
"Where's our liaison anyway?" Vasir grumbled from nearby bench, where she lounged while dealing with her side of the requisition game, concerning some restricted Spectre gear.
"I've been here for the past three minutes." A dark purple Hanar, who had been floating nearby announced.
Shepard wasn't sure, however there might have been a hint of amusement in the odd alien's artificial voice.
"I'm Hunter in the Shadows, Citadel Diplomatic Corps, it's nice to meet you, Spectre Vasir, Commander Shepard. Shall we go? I do have some issues to brief you on."
"There's a transit station nearby, it should bring us straight to the Normandy's dock. Let's go." Vasir jumped from her seat, acting all business. "I thought you've retired?" She asked the Hanar.
"This one has merely chosen a less strenuous way of life for his twilight years as they say." The Hanar glowed with inner light as he floated propelled by Biotic fields.
"A Biotic Hanar?" Shepard asked in surprise.
"There are some of us able to use the Enkindlers' blessing." Hunter in the Shadows explained.
"That's the least of his skills." Tela chuckled in amusement. "Our bad boy here is anything but a stereotypical Hanar."
"This one blushes from the praise." The Hanar shook with what might have been amusement of his own, or perhaps even laughter.
=DC=
27.04.2183 GS
SSV Normandy
Widow Nebula
As soon as everyone was on board and the supplies secured for transit, the Normandy departed. Less than a minute after she made her way out of the traffic lanes heading towards or leaving the Citadel, five Turian Frigates led by a light Asari Cruiser detached from a nearby CDF battle group and fell in formation behind the stealth ship.
"Shepard, we're linked in the CDF battle net, now plotting course. For the time being, we're acting as a squadron leader." Joker announced.
"There's a Matriarch Aethyta on the comm for you."
Shepard and Vasir looked at each other.
"Matriarch Aethyta, Lieutenant Commander Shepard. To what do we owe this honor?" Shepard asked in his best diplomatic tone, while Tela was busy tapping on her omni-tool, checking if the Matriarch had successfully passed mental screening.
"It's possible that we'll encounter Benezia on Noveria. First, I want her back, alive if at all practical, stopped anyway if not. I'm not trusting you to deal with a Matriarch of her capabilities, compromised or not, on you own. At best you'll be able to take her down hard, in which case we won't be able to use her as a source of intelligence. At worst, she'll smear you all over the area you might be unfortunate enough to encounter her in." Aethyta spoke in a tone most people used to explain things to small children.
That by itself was more than enough to get Vasir silently fuming.
"I see. It's good to have you backing us up, Matriarch. Normandy, out." He grimaced. "Alenko, get me the Ambassador's office. Vasir, I trust you're checking if she's legit as well?"
The Spectre nodded, before raising a hand indicated that she needed silence. "Councilor Tevos, Spectre Vasir, we're just encountered a political complication…" She hurriedly explained Aethyta's presence on an Asari Republic's cruiser attached to the CDF.
"I wish I could say that I'm surprised." Came the exasperated response. "She's been calling all kinds of favors and raising hell ever since our specialists cleared her earlier today." The Asari Councilor explained. "It might be for the best that she's with you and not causing trouble either here or on Thesia."
"Rules of engagement if she compromises our mission?"
"You're already set up to non-lethally take down Asari in case of running into Benezia, are you not?"
"That we are, Councilor."
"Then there is nothing to worry about. As a Spectre you can overrule any orders Aethyta gives on the CDF assets with you barring that Asari cruiser. I'll make sure that your heavy backup will be Salarian or Turian, no Asari units included, just in case. Do try not to cause any more political complications than absolutely necessary, Tela. May the Goddess watch over you all."
"Did I mention that I loathe almost every single Matriarch I've ever met?" Vasir grumbled.
"Multiple times. Joker get us en route to Noveria ASAP."
Shortly before they hit the Relay, Shepard and Vasir headed for the conference room to speak with Hunter in the Shadows. They found the Hanar floating in the center in the small round room talking with Lieutenant Karsis – the officer in charge of their new CDF contingent, who was the same man they met at the docks when they returned from Therum. Nearby sat a bald, dark skinned man in fatigues showing Sergeant stripes. That was Jacob Taylor, the NCO who came along with the marine replacement meant to boost the Normandy's ground compliment back to a reasonable level – two squads worth of them, who were unfortunately a mixture of veterans and greenhorns straight from their first ground-side deployment to get them seasoned up after boot-camp. The only saving grace there was that Taylor himself was another survivor from Eden Prime's garrison and at least according to his file had some classified special forces background.
Jacob sat besides Williams and the two of them were animatedly speaking about the Geth attack and its aftermath.
"Captain on Deck!" Vakarian looked up from his omni-tool when the door opened and snapped at attention when he saw Shepard and Vasir enter.
"At ease. Are you getting back to your habits from the military?" Shepard asked their C-Sec liaison.
"You know what they say, you can get the Turian out of his Legion, but never the Legion out of any good Turian…" Garrus shrugged.
"Now that we're all here, our Diplomatic Corps Liaison has a briefing for us." Shepard nodded at the Hanar and made his way to one of the free seats. "If you will, Hunter in the Shadows?"
"This one is eager to enlighten you all." He glowed brightly underlining his words. "This one has both good and bad news. First the good news; The Citadel's Diplomatic Corps did its due diligence and we do have permission from the Corporate Court at large to conduct investigation on Noveria. This ones colleagues made it clear to certain personages and organizations that the independence of the Court itself is a useful legal fiction." There was no mistaking the glee radiated by the Hanar for anything else. "The bad news is as follows, the Corporate Court are in the process of investigating their people running Noveria, especially what passes for its capital city, Port Hanshan. While this one do have authorization for our Spectres to operate freely, the Manager in charge of Noveria for the Noveria Development Corporation can technically stall us legally while he seeks clarification and confirmation from his corporate superiors. If that is the case, this one has the contact details for a Corporate Court Internal Affairs operative currently investigating Administrator Bel Anoleis."
"What does that mean for our operation?" Lieutenant Karsis asked for clarification.
"This means that we can't go in guns blazing no matter how tempting it might be. On the other hand, we do have other levers to use and in case that we meet armed resistance, it should be clear cut that they're in the wrong so we can dispatch any such obstacles." Vasir looked too pleased for comfort at that prospect.
"Depending on the circumstances, your conclusion might be right, Spectre. That why, this one will accompany you. If this one tells you that it's all right to shoot people, they you can gleefully shoot people." The Hanar declared.
"Well, that's different." Sergeant Taylor muttered. "I might actually like this assignment."
"What's the issue with your previous one, Sergeant?" Garrus asked.
"The previous one was all right until it began raining Geth. The one before that? Too much red tape tying up our hands."
At that Garrus grumbled in commiseration.
=DC=
Part 3
=DC=
28.04.2183 GS
SSV Normandy
en route to Noveria
The journey to Noveria allowed Shepard just enough time to fully catch up with the paperwork surrounding the new additions to the crew. It also let him get a bit of shut-eye and equally importantly, an opportunity to catch up with his people and have a word with the newcomers. John embarked on his friendly tour of the Normandy from the cargo hold.
The largest open space on the ship currently crawled with Citadel personnel and a few token Alliance crew members. Ashley Williams, the Gunnery Sergeant they picked up at Eden Prime was at the far left corner, working on maintenance on arms and armor along with a couple other marines. Every few moments, she glanced around, giving wary looks to the aliens spread throughout the hold.
To the right, Garrus and a number of Turian marines crawled all over the Mako, calibrating and upgrading it with add-ons picked up on the Citadel. Wrex leaned on a nearby wall and did his best to drive them insane. As if that wasn't enough, a squad of Alliance marines and a group of their Turian counterparts did their best to outdo each other during their early morning physical regiment. At least they had adult supervision in the form of Sergeant Taylor and a Turian NCO, so hopefully no incidents would warrant John's attention. Hopefully.
Shepard's first stop was Michael Simmons, Normandy's Requisition Officer, not to be mistaken with an Alliance Quartermaster. While the SA could produce equipment competitive with the high end galactic standard, there were still relatively few factories able to do it and demand was far out of reach of current production numbers. That combined with the break-neck Alliance expansion, meant that more often than not, troopers had to make do with relatively low quality mass produced arms and armor. The alternative was to seek to buy high-end gear from the open market – either as limited production licenses or the equipment itself. That was where Requisition Officers attached to many Alliance ships and bases became invaluable. They managed production licenses and third-party equipment acquisition for the soldiers of their unit; acquisitions which troopers had to as often as not purchase with private funds and thus one of the most important jobs of those Officers was to ensure there would be no legal entanglements.
"Lieutenant Simmons." Shepard greeted the Normandy's Requisition Officer.
"Commander, what can I do for you?" The young LT looked up from the data-pad he had been reading from.
"How is our equipment situation?"
"A mixed bag, Commander." The LT responded. "We've got some interesting schematics to play with courtesy to our Turian friends, however most of the designs they provide aren't directly useful to Alliance personnel. Their hardsuits, while better than what we have available, are obviously not suitable to be worn by other species. However, we've been able to upgrade the barriers of our marines by significant margin thanks to what the Hierarchy supplied and our brand-new fabricator." At that, Simmons used his data-pad to point at a massive slab of metal nested in the corner beside the elevator.
"We've been replacing the kinetic barriers of our standard Alliance armor, as well as upgrading our small arms with better rails and heat-sinks. My preliminary estimate is that our weapons will hit at least twenty percent harder, shoot a lot longer before overheating and the marines will enjoy increased barrier strength…" The Requisition Officer consulted his omni-tool. "between thirty and sixty percent depending on the hard-suit type. In addition have the licenses necessary to keep the gear of the new crew in fighting shape as long as we have enough fabricator stock."
"That's excellent news. Keep the good work, Lieutenant."
"I will, sir."
Next, Shepard went to visit Williams and her minions. They were working on upgrading weapons and hardsuits with the new equipment.
"How is it going, Gunnery Sergeant?"
"Sir!" Williams nearly jumped and barely managed to keep the equipment she held from spilling all over the armory table.
"At ease, Sergeant. You're overseeing upgrading our marine's equipment, I see?"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"At ease. I don't bite. How long before you're done?"
"We have only four hardsuits left to go through and as many weapon load-outs. Four to five hours tops, then we'll have to test everything again just in case. I believe we'll have it all squared before we arrive at Noviera."
"Excellent work, Williams. Do remember to get some rest before we're to deploy ground side. I'll leave you to your work."
"Sir!" Ashley saluted, still holding a diagnostic tool.
At least she was busy, not allowing her xenophobic tendencies cause an incident so far. However, she was one to watch just in case.
"Now, gentlemen and lady," Shepard addressed the Turians crawling all over his Mako. "Keeping yourselves entertained I see?"
"If we're to deploy on this piece of junk, we'll have to rebuild the damn thing." Garrus moaned in a decidedly exaggerated manner. "And keep you away from the driving wheel."
"You haven't really seen me drive." Shepard exclaimed in mock-offense.
"We've heard the rumors." The female Turian in the group pipped up. While her voice had the distinct flagging quality of all Turians, it was still softer than those of her male counterparts.
"Seen the videos from Elysium too." Another Turian added.
"I'm never going to live that down, am I?"
"You attempted to run down a Batarian platoon with that industrial monstrosity and hit everything but them." Garrus chortled. "That video was on the top charts on the Extranet for weeks."
"That's no excuse to mutilate my Mako. What exactly are you doing to it?" Shepard wisely changed the topic.
"Calibrating the guns so even you can't miss moving targets from the weapon control station." Garrus explained, amusement clear enough to be picked up by the translator.
"We're also modulating the kinetic barriers for better protection, especially when impacts at low speeds are concerned." The female Turian added with something that might have been a smirk.
"Let's not forget the suspension. We've all heard the rumors about your deluded APCs. We don't want to risk hitting our fringes in the roof when we go over rough terrain.
"Those rumors are blatantly false! A well maintained Mako is one of the best troops transports the Alliance has."
"My fringe hurts at the mere thought." A fanged grin appeared on Garrus' face. "My ass too for that matter."
"Pyjaks. You won't last a day on Tuchanka." Wrex rumbled in amusement.
"That's all right. You can keep it all for yourself, Wrex." Garrus shot back.
"Bah, as if I want anything to do with that wretched place!" The Krogan grumbled, all traces of amusement gone from his voice.
"There's story behind this, isn't there?" Shepard noted.
"Obviously!" Wrex grunted in irritation and absent-mindedly touched the scarred side of his face. "However, that's a story you haven't earned Commander."
A few minutes of back and forth conversation later, Shepard headed for the Engineering. The place was cramped with new stations, Turian Combat Engineers, couple of Salarians and a distinctly uncomfortable looking Quarian kid who had almost everyone's attention.
"It might work…" Tali fidget under the attention. "We're basing those attack programs on what my people have been using for centuries and updating them with recent combat data."
"We're using better hardware to deploy them. Stronger signal, longer effective range. Micro drones to jamm Get networks in the field option…" A Salarian talked faster than anyone could properly follow and as he got up to speed, his sentences became shorter, clipped and practically incomprehensible.
Shepard silently watched the scene with bemusement, when Chief Engineer Adams came to stand beside him.
"When I got my domain invaded, this wasn't what I expected, Commander.
"Are they disruptive?"
"Only when they go on a roll. However, they're helping with maintenance, and it isn't like the Turians lack knowledge about the Normandy. The same goes for the Salarians. I won't bet against the STG knowing everything that is to know about our girl before she exited the dry-dock for the first time."
"If they become too much of a hassle, I'll find them another place to set up shop."
"It's not like there's much available space left. We're operating at full capacity right now, Commander."
"I'll keep it in mind. Perhaps we can set them up in a corner of the mess hall?" Shepard wondered aloud.
"It's your call. If our guests become a problem, I'll call you to sort it out, Commander."
"Fair enough. How's the Normandy?"
"She's operating at one hundred percent. That said, I'll appreciate, if you manage not to get her shot up." Adams pleaded.
"I'll see what I can do. Unfortunately, the Geth do get a vote as well."
"Pity that."
=DC=
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