"And then he slipped and fell into the ravine, getting mud all over his clothes," said Hannah, and Arus started laughing again, slapping at his knee as the two of them shared a drink of water and swapped stories. Twelve days had passed as the ship made its way slowly through the system, and they had long since run out of historic topics to talk about, with Vakarian learning about the Robotech Wars and the M51 Galaxy, while Shepard learned of the Rachni War, the Krogan Rebellions, and just about every other major event in the last three thousand years of galactic history.
"Oh my, your son must have hated that," responded Arus and Shepard just nodded in response, before they both leaned back in their chairs and sighed a bit.
"Ah, children, the greatest joy a parent can have, right?" asked Hannah as she sipped at her water, and Arus nodded.
"I wouldn't trade Garrus and Solana for anything," he admitted, and they sat there in silence for a long moment, mentally enjoying that glow that came from thinking of one's family. When Arus was just about to ask a question regarding Hannah's again, he was interrupted by a loud beeping sound on his wrist. With a flicking motion, a small control board appeared above his hand, and he pressed a few buttons to cause a wall display to turn on, revealing the face of Command Kryik.
"Hmm, it seems you two are doing well," commented the turian in charge, and Arus smiled at him, giving him a quick salute as he rose to his feet, one mirrored by Hannah as she set her water bottle aside and did the same.
"It's been a productive time, Commander. I would gather though, our time is at an end," said Lieutenant Vakarian, causing Nihlus to nod in response.
"We'll be landing on Shanxi in a few minutes, and I would like Mrs. Shepard to come to the bridge, if it wouldn't be too much trouble," said the commander, before the holo folded in on itself and vanished. Looking at that wall for a moment, Shepard sighed and pulled at her clothing, trying to get a few wrinkles out of it as she made her way to the door.
"Well, we both knew this was going to be temporary, but I want to thank you, while we have this moment. You've been very helpful learning about galactic history," she said, offering Arus her hand. The turian, after a moment's hesitation, took the offered appendage and shook it, in the way she'd showed him that first day, before gathering up his own things.
"Not like you didn't give as good as you got. I'm sure I'm going to be in for a long debriefing because of this time with you. Mind, this probably also made my career," he noted as he slung a pack across his back, Shepard doing the same, and then marching out of the quarters to find an honor guard of turians waiting for them. Smiling, in a non-threatening way, Shepard motioned towards the nearby lift, and only looked a little apprehensive as the thing made its way, slowly, downwards to the command level.
After what felt like hours, mostly thanks to the elevator, the group arrived on the bridge to find it a bustle of activity. At every station there seemed to be a commander watching over the shoulder of the junior officers, usually offering some suggestion or another that the younger turians were far to disciplined to tell their superiors were just common sense. Worse of course, were the group of three of them standing at the back, over the main holodisplay, which currently showed a picture of the planet, and two scaled up versions of the ships so they could be seen orbiting it.
"Ah, Shepard, there you are," said Kryik as he stepped away from his two fellows, and gestured for her to join him at the viewing area above the main display.
"Indeed. I see we're here," she commented, looking down at the display.
"Yes, though we've found something odd in orbit. You said this was an agricultural colony, mostly farming, with only your own frigate as a defender. Yet there appears to be something rather a bit larger hanging in the skies," pushing a few buttons, the model of the planet grew closer, before focusing in on a vessel.
It looked odd to the turians. Once again, it lacked the straight lines of the warships they were used to, instead having smooth curves for edges. The design itself was odd as well, larger than the Phoenix, about on par with an average dreadnaught, and with many small protrusions on it that Shepard had identified as either reflex weapons or missile turrets. The overall shape was of a long shaft sticking out of a wide rear section, which had several engines on the rear. The oddest thing of all though was it's location. Where they knew mass like that had to be kept in space, since it was difficult at best to launch it from a planet, this this was hanging on about a mile off the planet's surface, far deeper than anything that size should have been able to go.
"That's a cruiser, probably for the politicians come to meet us here," she said, moving her hand over the control, and zooming in on a small section on the front of the hull.
"Not a number I recognize,however," she admitted, before pointing to what was obviously writing, though it wasn't in a script the turians knew of course, and was hard to read anyway due to the holo displaying it as just orange without the coloring.
"Can you open a communication line with the Phoenix?" she asked at last, and Kryik nodded towards one of the waiting cadets, who quickly brought up the flat screen hologram display that then showed the face of Captain Archer.
"Ah, Shepard, was wondering when you'd get around to talking to us again," said the captain.
"Eh, any time away from your ugly mug is good time," she said, causing the captain to chuckle as he pushed a few buttons in front of him.
"Yeah, yeah. Okay, Shanxi control says you guys can set down in a landing facility they set up for you on the north side of the colony. It's already got a crowd of soldiers around it," said the captain, who's face slid over as the planetary map grew next to it. Slowly the map zoomed in on the colony, and then began to crisscross it, before finally focusing on a large structure surrounded by armored forms.
"I think this is it, Sir. There appears to be several of those robotic forms around it, like the one that was repairing the relay, but smaller," said a nearby cadet, and Shepard smirked a little. She'd realized, halfway to Shanxi that none of the turians had any idea how large Terrans were normally. Rather than let that fact slip, she kept it to herself, figuring it would be good for a laugh right about now.
"If it's got about fifty guys around it, that's the one. Just set her down there, from what I've been told, Representative Hayes is waiting for you went you land," said Archer, before flicking his screen off, causing the square where his head had been to go blank. Either he wanted to see the faces of the turians too, or he just wasn't paying attention, which suited Shepard find as she felt the ship enter into the gravity well of the planet.
Oddly, the trip down was smoother than she was used to. Sure, antigrav boosters and the like allowed for Terran ships to hang in an atmosphere, but the act of moving tons of air out of the way tended to result in a rather bumpy ride, not to mention Terrans usually turned off the ships gravity when diving, which meant a longer spiral path down. The turian design apparently didn't need it, the ship slipping through the sky like the arrowhead it resembled, closing in on the colony in a maneuver that should have taken at least half an hour in less than five minutes.
The landing left a bit to be desired in and of itself, but that probably had more to do with the landing facility itself. The people of Shanxi, upon hearing about the visitors coming, had done their best to follow the instructions on how to build the place, but having less than two weeks to slap it together from farm parts had resulted in structure that, while it was large enough, wasn't shaped entirely right, causing the ship to shudder to a halt, rather then gently glide to one, as the outer right thruster scrapped against a bit of scaffolding.
Luckily, other than the scratch, the landing was handled without much of a problem. Commander Kryik was quick to congratulate his crew, before turning to Shepard and offering to lead her from the bridge to, rather than a lift, a small door in the side of the ship. She then got to wait as the ship's onboard computer, a VI she'd been informed, scanned the local air, and finally declared it good enough for the turians to breathe, opening it so the commander, a squad of a dozen turian soldiers, as well as Shepard and Vakarian, finally stepped out into the fresh air.
"Hmm, a bit slapdash, but considering the speed it was built at, I can't complain about the results," said Nihlus as he looked at the walkway in front of them. It was obviously a rush job, and while they didn't see it, Shepard could spot several stress marks on the metal of the thing from where someone had grabbed onto it, probably while hanging off something to shore up a seem with a power tool or the like. She said nothing though, waiting as a ramp slid out of the turian ship, clanging metallically against he walkway, and then proceeded to follow the turians, walking down several flights of steps, and finally outside.
"Hello, allow me to be the first to welcome you to Shanxi," said a woman stepping forward. She was alone at the moment, and standing the same height as the turians, which struck Shepard as odd, but then suddenly recognized her face. While not as important as Breetai(In Shepard's opinion at least), the Senate Representative was still one of the leaders of the Federation, and so she quickly snapped a salute as she and the turian party came up to the woman.
"Representative Hayes, I'm Commander Shepard, and I have the honor to introduce you to Commander Nihlus Kryik, Lieutenant Arus Vakarian, and their contingent of guards to make sure we don't try to kill them," said Shepard, pointing to the ones she was speaking of, before just jerking her thumb back and the armored turians. Hayes seemed taken aback a bit by the rather blunt statement, but recovered quickly, bowing her head a little to each in turn.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Commander Kryik. From what I've been told you're in charge of this unit?" she asked, and the man nodded.
"I have seniority on Talons, and while there are actually two captains aboard as well now, I'm considered in charge until we return to Council space and a formal hearing can be held in regards to Captain Arterius' actions," he explained.
"Excellent, I have a few things I'd like to discuss with you regarding our interactions, if you'll be so kind as to follow me," she turned, and started to walk away, between the two rows of armored Terrans. The turians followed, the soldiers taking up defensive positions around their leaders, some going so far as to draw weapons, while one started to glow with a weird aura around them. Noticing after a few feet, that she was getting far ahead of the party, Hayes turned around, and followed the gazes of the turians up and down the bodies of the Terrans.
"Impressive, aren't they?" she asked as Kryik caught up, and the turian could only nod absently.
"They are that, but isn't it a little wasteful to meet us with these things? Wouldn't a detachment of guards have been sufficient?" he asks of her, turning. At first, he thought this might have been some kind of insult, as her expression seemed rather odd. He was about to turn to Vakarian and ask if he knew what it meant, and how he should apologize, when an almost universal sound came from the translator, laughter, and she nearly doubled over with it, while beside the turians, Shepard got a smirk on her lips.
"Did I say something amusing?" asked Kryik as Hayes slowly began to recover herself, and she nodded at him, before facing towards Shepard.
"You didn't tell them, did you?" asked the brown haired female of the blue haired one, and Shepard shook her head, still having that smirk on her face.
"I didn't want to spoil the surprise," she explained, and Hayes seemed to accept this, before turning towards one of the large things. It stood almost seventy feet tall, and was, like the ships of the Terrans, smooth all over. No rough edges, no broken seems. Heck, even the head of the unit looked like a bullet shape, with only a small seem between it and the body to allow for movement. Walking up towards the thing, Hayes motioned for it to lean down, the thing doing so, getting on one knee and facing her.
"Yes ma'am?" it asked, in a resounding, echoy voice that came from the volume of the speaker the unit was using being just a little too loud.
"Um, yes...Sergeant, could you do me a favor and remove your helmet?" she asked, seeing the rank insignia on his shoulder. The Terran seemed to take a moment to consider this, while below him, the turians were wondering what she was talking about. Helmet? Of course, they got their answer as soon as he decided to follow the order, his hands reaching up, and with a twist, and a hiss of air, he lifted the bullet shaped head cover off, revealing the man beneath.
He looked average, to most Terrans. His skin was an off color shade of purple, and his hair a deep green, showing the Zentraedi side of his heritage, while the softer features, and brighter eyes hinted at the human side. Outside of the armor, which added a good ten feet to his height, he was the average Terran size of sixty feet, his helmet taking up almost ten of those. Shaking his head a little, letting his hair fly free in the air around him, he set the helmet down, seemingly just to make the turians feel even smaller, as they stared up at him.
"This, my friends, is what a Terran looks like normally. Myself and Mrs. Shepard are, by choice, a bit smaller right now to interact with you on your level, but make no mistake, when we're done with our business, we'll rejoin our brethren up there," of course, Hayes might as well have been talking to a brick wall, as the turians just stared at the giant around them, some turning to eye the other giants, all of whom were now looking down at them with those huge faces.
"Thank you Sergeant, you may put your helmet back on," she instructed, and the Sergeant did so, rising, his boot making a dull thud that sent a small tremor through the ground as he stamped back into place. This shock seemed to wake the turians back up, and within seconds, the guards were back in their formation, eying the giants, and their huge footwear a bit more wearily, but never faltering in their stride as they walked forward, Shepard had to give them that.
"You wanted to see how they'd react without any warning," said Hayes quietly as Shepard walked up to her, and Hannah didn't deny the accusation.
"That could have caused an incident, you know," stated Hayes directly, and Shepard just shook her head.
"I knew they'd handle the shock fairly well, and worst came to worst, they don't really have any punch to those weapons of theirs. The slugs are too small to do more than sting a bit, even if the guards weren't wearing armor," responded Shepard.
"That's not the point. This is a delicate situation. I won't fault you for it, this time, but when we leave for the Citadel, I expect you to behave as befitting an officer," she told Shepard, which got the commander to look at her.
"Go with you? I thought my role was done," said the woman, looking around the colony. They were nearing the end of the row of guards, approaching a pair of small transports which, before being modified for micronians, had been carts one would use to haul equipment around on.
"You've got the most experience of any officer in regards to their people right now, which, if you avoid pulling anything funny, could help iron over some rough patches between us and them," explained Hayes, and Shepard looked about to protest, when she held up a hand to silence her.
"No, you don't get to protest this assignment. I've already cleared it with Breetai, the Phoenix and her crew will be joining the Agamemnon's battle group for now. We'll keep the SDF 3 and 4 on standby, just in case we need them, and they'll be ready to Fold either here, or to the Citadel," she explained, and Shepard's protests fell away. With that kind of firepower, there wouldn't be anything to worry about, at least for the moment.
"Permission to see my family then, before I have to go?" requested Shepard, and Hayes' expression softened into a friendly smile at the simple question.
"That I can, and have done. The second transport will take you to your home," she said, waving her hand towards the modified cart in the rear.
"Permission to take Lieutenant Vakarian with me in the name of fostering relations, ma'am?" asked the Commander after a moment of thought, and Hayes looked from her, to the turian party, all of whom had been ignoring the shorter Terrans in favor of the larger versions around them.
"So long as he doesn't get hurt, it'll be fine, but remember kids can be a handful around tiny things, and I hear your son's only eight," said Hayes, and Shepard brushed her off.
"He's also one of the sweetest boys on the planet. He's got a pet deer he takes good care of," she said, before stopping, and allowing the slower moving turian part of their party catch up, matching their stride easily.
"You could have warned us about this little fact before we landed," protested Commander Kryik as he came up beside her, and Shepard got a smirk on her face again to match the one from before.
"I could have, but it was much more fun to leave that rather large fact out of sight until it was staring down at you," she told him, and he hrumphed, though, having lived among the turians for two weeks, she could see that slight incline to his mandibles. He'd apparently thought it was a good joke too.
"Now that we've got that out of the way, I did want to ask if Lieutenant Vakarian would like to accompany me in visiting my family while he's here. They're just a few blocks away, and I don't think either he or I could contribute much to any political discussion," she asked this, and the turian beside her wanted to laugh about it, but instead he waved his hand dismissively, trying to appear implacable for his men, while always turning one eye towards the giants around him, wondering just how much damage through could do.
"Excellent. So, Arus, want to go see my family?" she asked, turning to the lieutenant, who, upon hearing his name, finally stopped staring upwards at the sight of the giants, and turned to face her.
"What was that?" he asked, and Nihlus chuckled to himself.
"She said, you've been invited to her home, and as your commanding officer, I say, take the invitation. This would be a good opportunity to learn about how Terran youth interact with those of us who can't cause low level quakes," ordered Commander Kryik, and Arus nodded absently, looking up at the soldiers again, but then shaking his head. Shepard had been friendly for all the time he'd known her, there was no way she'd let him get hurt...he thought so anyone.
"I'd love to meet your family, Hannah," he said at last, and thus, as the groups finally got to the two transports, he entered the rear one with Shepard, while Hayes and the other turians got in the front one.
"We're going to Governor William's residence, whenever you're done, Commander Shepard!" shouted Hayes as their transport began to move away, using the most efficient motor possible, one of the guards pushing it, while being surrounded by eight of the remaining ones. The last guard pushed the cart that Vakarian and Shepard got into, turning them down a side street towards Shepard's home, where, after over a month gone, she'd finally get to see her family again, and introduce them to a new friend.
(Author's Note:
Cheating again, if you want a good view of the Cruiser, just google Zentradi Command Ship, as with the Scout, it's the first result)