Chapter 27
"I'm sorry, Sir, but I must again politely decline your offer." The attractive Australian woman said, only barely hiding the exasperation in her voice.
"That's... disappointing Ms. Lawson. You are uniquely qualified for a project I am working on. I would be willing to double my initial offer..." her anonymous counterpart said. This gave her pause. Double? That would be enough to smuggle her and her sister off Earth and leave enough to pay her first year of correspondence courses. Still though, the man had found her through her father's old channels, and that could never be a good thing.
"I'm sorry, Sir. Your offer, as always, is tempting, but I refuse to follow in my father's footsteps. Forgive me I am already late for work." She replied, it almost pained her to turn this offer down.
"Should you reconsider, the offer is still on the table. Good day, Ms. Lawson." He said before disconnecting.
"Miri, are you sure? We'd be set.." A teenage girl across the room said, looking up from her school work.
"Ori I know it's tempting, but you and I both know what our Father's actions cost us. We can't fall into that trap again." She said, looking down at her sister's legs, strapped to a motorized wheelchair.
"I know, Miri, I know you're just looking out for us. It's ok though I mean there are plenty of jobs I could take that I can do from the chair." she said.
"Absolutely not, Oriana! Your job is to finish high school. That is all I want you to worry about right now." Miranda said. Oriana hated this, her sister devoted everything to keeping them safe, housed and fed. Ever since their father's crimes had been exposed, Miranda had been working awful jobs, and doing... unsavory... things to make ends meet. It wasn't fair, her big sister was so amazing, and smart and beautiful, she should be able to pursue her own goals. Her musing was interrupted by a knock on the door. Miranda grabbed a pistol and made her way to the door, when she looked through the view hole.
"Who is it?" She asked.
"Colonel Angus Hastings, Alliance intelligence. May I please come in?" The man asked, his tone of voice polite and gentle.
"Of course, please give me a moment." Miranda said, paling disengaging the heat sink from her pistol and stowing it. She was not about to threaten a military officer. She opened the door and ushered him in, offering him tea.
"No thank you ma'am. And who is this lovely young lady?" He asked, smiling politely at Oriana.
"My Sister, Oriana. Thought I suspect you already know that." She said, trying to sound more confident than she was.
"Ah, good. Straight to business then?" he said, grinning. "First things first, yes I know who you are, and I know who your father is. I worked on the prosecution team. I am not sorry that we convicted him and I will not blow smoke up your ass about that, but for what it's worth I am sorry you cannot be with your father." He said. She respected his polite bluntness.
"I'm not sorry he's not here, Colonel. He was a monster, if I'd known earlier on, Ori and I would have run away long before we did." She said.
"That's good to hear. You may not like what I am about to say but I hope you can understand our motivation. We have been monitoring your conversations with this "illusive man." He said.
"Thank you for your honesty, though I am not going to pretend to be ok with the invasion of my privacy." She said. He understood completely.
"Completely understandable. Normally I find this aspect of my job to be utterly distasteful, however given your father's crimes it was found to be prudent that we ensure you weren't following in his footsteps, especially given your success in university in the life sciences." He said.
"Well thanks to my father, you don't have to worry about me getting a bio-science degree any more. Now do you have business with me, I need to get ready for work?" Miranda said.
"Of course. As I stated I worked with the courts on the case against your father. Even after his conviction the investigations into his actions continued, that is until yesterday when the final conclusions were delivered. As I had suspected, that conclusion cleared you and your sister of any wrongdoing. Part of my reason for being here was to inform you of that, and that your restriction against leaving earth has been lifted." He said.
"Oh... Thank you very much sir!" she said her attitude about the Colonel changing immediately.
"You're very much welcome. Another reason for my being here, is that it was discovered that your father's misdeeds occurred as an extension of his service in the Alliance military. His work was instrumental in devising the genetic augmentation our soldiers go through after basic training. However, unfortunately, he was tasked with proceeding beyond that by his direct superior, a man we are having trouble locating. He was a General, a decorated war veteran but at some point he lost touch with reality. He figured that the ends justifying the means was more of a suggestion than a requirement and began authorizing.. morally dubious projects. Your father's was only one of many we're investigating." He said.
"I see. I'm sorry, but I really am running out of time, what did you need from me?" She asked.
"Simply put, you and your sister's problems are indirectly a result of the Alliance military. For what it's worth, I am deeply, deeply sorry." He said sincerely.
"I... well thank you. It means a lot..." She said, but he held a hand up to interrupt her.
"Nothing we can ever do will make up for what you've had to deal with, but we would like to try anyway. I have a proposal." He said.
"Ok..." She said.
"Your skills, yes influenced by your genetic engineering, are considerable and while I would never justify his actions, it would at the same time it would be terrible to let them go to waste. MIT has an excellent bio-science department. It's computer science department, according to our Quarian friends, is unparalleled outside of Sur'Kesh." That last he said while gesturing towards Oriana. "We would like to offer you a chance to finish your Masters and Oriana if accepted would be welcome to attend for computer science. Room, board, and living costs will all be provided as well." He said. Miranda froze, this was too good to be true. There had to be some catch, nobody ever got this lucky.
"I am dumbfounded, Colonel, but I can't help but think there's a catch coming." She said. He nodded.
"The catch, Ms. Lawson, is that so long as it does not interfere with your studies, We will require you to avail your services to our research and development division. You would be working with Quarian biologists in integrating their knowledge of genetic engineering with ours. " He said.
"So you're going to send Ori and I to college, pay room and board and all of our living expenses, and all I have to do is donate some time pursuing my greatest interests?" She said skeptically.
"You'll be compensated for hours worked, of course. We are not interested in being slave drivers." He said.
"Why?" She asked.
"Excuse me?" He responded, genuinely confused.
"This feels too good to be true. I don't get it." She said.
"Ms. Lawson, your father's activities are at best, utterly reprehensible, and knowledgable or not about it, he did so on our payroll. It would be dishonorable to do any less." He said.
"Ok. Send me the paperwork, and I'll look over it. I'm sure you have something for me to sign." She said,
"Only a metric butt load." The Colonel smiled. "Sadly despite our advances as of late, paperwork remains a burden as it always was. It was a pleasure meeting you both. Please call this number if you have any questions or need clarification." He said, handing her his business card.
"And let us know if this "illusive man" calls you again. Don't trust anything he says, he is a dangerous criminal." he reiterated.
"Understood. Thank you again." she said, as he turned and left.
"Christ, Miri is this real?" Oriana asked, fidgeting nervously in her wheelchair.
"I don't know for sure, but I truly hope it is. College, Ori can you believe it?" Miranda said, indulging slightly in hope.
"I know it's amazing! I wonder if the Quarians can fix me." Oriana mused.
"There's nothing wrong with you, Ori. " Miranda said, defensively.
"Come on Miri, I'm talking about the paralysis. No amount of medigel can fix what isn't there and cybernetics haven't worked at all." She said referring to the spinal malformation form which she suffered.
"I know, I'm sorry. I just don't like anyone thinking you're somehow flawed, especially you." Miranda stated. Oriana beamed, and reached out to hug her sister. Meanwhile several light years away in a privately owned, unregistered station orbiting a giant star, Jack Harper was speaking via QEC to a colleague watching Miranda and Oriana's apartment from half a kilometer away through a sniper scope.
"Give me the word, sir and I'll break down the door and retrieve them." The man behind the scope said.
"Negative, Leng. Return to base, we're going to have to find someone else for the project. Lawson's project is too hot to address at the current time." Harper responded.
"Acknowledged. Returning to base." he said. Jack lit a cigarette and sighed, Not having the Lawson experiments on board was going to slow them down dramatically. Even the broken one would have been useful. No matter When he wanted something he eventually got it. He picked up another OSD and read the profile entitled "Subject Zero."
"Keelah, it's more beautiful than I imagined" Tali said. For her it was love at first sight with Rannoch. The Geth had done wonderful work keeping all of the infrastructure maintained over the centuries, they'd even made improvements in some of the areas, though they were careful to leave cultural centers and historical landmarks exactly as they'd been left. On more than one occasion, Tali blushed as they passed by advertisements for Quarian clothing outlets featuring extremely scantily clad men and women. Before the Morning War, apparently Quarians were nowhere near as conservative or prudish as they were now. Shepard appreciated the blue and purple tinted beauties as she passed by, but couldn't help but feel that they paled in comparison to Tali. She was so enamored by Tali she wasn't paying attention to where she was walking and walked into a Geth platform, knocking it over.
"Shit, I'm sorry, here let me help you up." She said, reaching down and grasping the platform's hand, pulling it up with ease.
"Shepard Lieutenant Commander, I apologize for our collision." it said.
"Oh no, don't worry it was my fault I'm sorry." She said, bashfully scratching the back of her head. She looked at everyone and saw Anderson and her mother chuckling at her clumsiness, but the Quarians except Tali were staring at her like she had two heads.
"What? I said I was sorry." She said.
"I think I can explain. Excuse me, Um. Mr. Geth. How much does this platform weigh?" Tali asked.
"This platform weighs 118.23 kilograms." It reported.
"Keelah, are all humans as strong as you?" Raan asked.
"Well, no, but like Captain Anderson likes to say, after I received my N7 commendation, I kind of won the genetic augmentation lottery." She said.
"What does that mean?" Korris asked.
"By law genetic augmentations are limited, this is to protect the safety of the soldier as well as to dissuade unethical science. However, the benefits you get from it are varied. The standard formula is supposed to roughly double your muscle density, increasing strength without sacrificing speed or agility. 100% increase is the goal but most people experience 75% or less increase as a result of the augment therapy. Shepard increased by 175%." Anderson said.
"That is impressive." Admiral Xen observed, the gears turning wildly in her head.
"Yeah she is." Tali said, hanging off of Shepard's bicep. This caused the N7 to blush wildly.
"Yeah, awesome I'm strong hey that's a hell of a homeworld ya got here!" She said pointing off in the distance. They continued into the building where they discovered a surprisingly modern network of terminals and seating configured for both Quarians and Humans. Everyone gathered and took their seats.
"We thank you for hosting us here, on your home world." Prime Minister Shepard said to the Platform, but directed the sentiment both to the Quarians and Geth present.
"We are honored to have you here, Shepard Prime Minister." The platform responded.
"Yes, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for allowing us to visit the homeworld, it is an honor to be the first Quarians to step foot on Rannoch in three hundred years, we dearly hope we are not the last." Admiral Gerrel said.
"Gerrel Admiral, we wish for reunion with the creators, and with their new brothers and sisters." The platform replied.
"It is our hope, that you too will call yourselves our brothers and sisters, Geth. Does this platform have a designation?" Hannah asked.
"This platform has been designated "Herald." It was chosen from Human culture, as it represents and speaks for the Geth." Herald said.
"Very Well, Herald. With your permission, I would like to station a garrison of 120 soldiers here to protect the Ambassador. " Captain Anderson requested.
"Speaking of which, who is the lucky Ambassador?" Prime Minister Shepard asked.
"We ask that Admiral Tiga'Noran Vas Earth be allowed to represent the Alliance." Raan requested.
"Of course, please see to it that she has adequate medical support and an assistant to take over if she feels unwell." Hannah Shepard said.
"Thank you, Prime Minister. Words fail me, at moments like these. Just when I think you have given us everything, you find another truly beautiful gift to bestow upon us." Raan said giving them a watery smile.
"It truly is an honor to be a part of this reunion. We are the blessed ones, to be a part of the new future we'll all build together." Hannah said to both the Quarians and Geth.
"Jesus Christ, get a room, am I right?" Rothschild said, materializing out of nowhere thanks to the holo-emitter on Jane's omni-tool, and nudging the Geth Platform.
"Rothschild AI, is this not a room that we are standing in?" Herald asked while the organics all rolled their eyes.
"We're gonna have to work on that sense of humor buddy." Rothschild said to the geth before blinking out of existence again. He'd accomplished his mission of ruining yet another historically significant moment.