Chapter 42
Miranda walked slowly down the ramp of their transport, pushing Oriana's chair ahead of her.
"Rannoch is gorgeous!" Oriana said, taking in the scenery. The climate was arid, but the temperatures mild. It felt like New England but looked like Australia. The area were sparsely populated, occasionally she'd see a Quarian, Human or Geth platform walking down the street performing their daily tasks. The buildings were in pristine condition, however it was evident that many had not been occupied for a long time.
"Greetings, Oriana and Miranda. This unit has been designated 'Kookaburra' and we wish to assist you in getting settled." The imposing Geth Prime said.
"Kookaburra? Seriously?" Miranda said.
"Yes, AI Rothschild suggested it." Kookaburra said.
"Of course he did. We thank you for your help, please lead on." Miranda said as the Geth grabbed their bags, all of them, and guided them over to their new dwelling. It was a gorgeous three-story home that could comfortably accommodate a family of 10. The Geth had taken great pains to make the house handicap accessible, including installing ramps where possible and elevators to get between floors. The furniture was all new, mainly because Quarians tended to require differently arranged seating, however the decoration was all original pre-war Quarian and Oriana was instantly in love with it.
"Thank you very much for helping with the bags, Kookaburra." Miranda said.
"It was our pleasure. Should you require anything this platform will remain outside and inactive. Touch one of its hands to request our attention and we will come as quickly as we can." It said.
"Thank you, I believe we are all set for now, thanks again!" Oriana said, excited about their new situation. Kookaburra bowed, then marched outside and around the back of the house, stepped into an alcove and deactivated.
"I'm going to go pick a room. Can you hook my green bag to the back of my chair, please?" Oriana asked.
"Sure hold on a sec." Miranda said as she grabbed the bag and attached it as requested. When she did a small electronic device fell out of an open pocket.
"Ori what's this?" Miranda asked, walking around and showing her?
"I have no idea." Oriana said. Miranda activated her omnitool and scanned it, and as the image of it's internal structure rendered she cursed loudly.
"What's going on? What is it?" Oriana asked, now worried.
"My guess is it's Cerberus tech. It has one of those microprocessors Tek told us about." Miranda said, stomping on the device.
"Miri when did they put that on our bags? We were under escort the whole time!" Oriana said, panicking.
"Stay here, I'm going to go get Kookaburra. Don't touch any of the bags, ok?" She said. Oriana nodded. Miranda jogged outside and over to the alcove and grabbed Kookaburra's hand. It awoke instantly.
"Good afternoon, Miranda Lawson. Did you need something?" it asked.
"Can you take a look at our luggage? We found what we believe to be a Cerberus tracker in it." She said.
"Of course." The unit said, then walked forward, bending over to walk through the doorway. Picked up each bag and scanned it.
"Confirmed, I can detect three such devices in your bags, all are transmitting an encrypted message. Curious, It's transmission is short-range, unlikely to be received off planet. We are forwarding a request to the central server to run background checks on all humans currently on Rannoch. In the meantime, we apologize but we must insist on this unit remaining active until we know you are safe. Several military-grade platforms are inbound and will be placed in inconspicuous positions." Kookaburra said.
"Of course, thank you again." Miranda said,
"All devices have been nullified, can you please remove them from your luggage and give them to this platform? We have been advised it would be rude for us to rummage through your belongings." It said.
"Of course, one moment." Miranda said retrieving all of the devices, Kookaburra took them and placed them in a compartment on its torso and then stood still. Several minutes later, Kookaburra stirred.
"Device deep scan has been completed. Weak encryption on OS, discovered that device transmission was not meant to be received. Preliminary results from background checks are all clean. We have a hypothesis." Kookaburra said.
"I'm all ears." Miranda said.
"We suspect, since Cerberus is a terrorist organization, the devices were placed on your person for the purpose of intimidation. Likely attempt to wear down your resolve. Probable one of the humans at the Boston spaceport is a Cerberus agent. We have sent along a recommendation for the Alliance to investigate everyone present during your departure. Rest assured, Miranda and Oriana Lawson, we will remain vigilant in keeping you safe." It said. An enormous weight was lifted off Miranda with that. This did sound like something the Illusive Man would do, and knowing that they were surrounded by a race of war machines with a vested interest in keeping her and Oriana safe was comforting.
"Thank you, Kookaburra, I can't thank you enough." She said.
"We are happy to help." Kookaburra said, then spun around and sat on the ground in front of the front door.
"Miri, can I stay with you tonight? I feel a lot safer with Kookaburra here, but I'm scared." Oriana said.
"Of course, let's go get ready for bed we can unpack tomorrow." She said, leading her sister to the elevator. Back on Earth, Angus Hastings was not a happy man. The report that just came across his desk from the Geth on Rannoch nearly sent him into a rage. All he wanted to do was keep these girls safe, and he sent them all the way to the other side of the Galaxy just to do that and this Illusive man was still finding ways to get to them. He called into his superior officer and explained the situation, then after a few moments he was assured that someone would be in touch. Hastings was just happy his complaints were not falling upon deaf ears. As soon as he had completed that line of thought his omnitool went off indicating an incoming message.
"Angus, how are you doing today?" Armando Bailey said
"Oh you know, close one hole five more open up. How about you, how's Jack doing?" He asked
"She's doing great, the first couple of nights were rough, but Catherine and I knew what to do. The only thing is, Jack doesn't feel safe, whenever we go out she's always looking over her shoulder for someone to try to grab her. Even at school she's always on high alert, straight-a student though." He said.
"I'm glad about the first part of that but troubled about the last." HE said.
"You and me both. I had an idea, but I wanted to run it by you. I got a job offer from Admiral Korris of all people. He's looking for Neutral law enforcement officers to handle conflicts between Quarians and Geth on Rannoch. As a Human I'd be able to look at things objectively, and both sides would trust my judgment. I think living that far away from Cerberus would do Jack some good, plus Catherine and I are getting up in years and this cold isn't doing us any good." He explained.
"That's perfect, Armando. I hate to lose you on this side of things, but that really works out best for everyone, plus I have another couple of girls I sent to Rannoch, they're also on Cerberus' shit list." He said.
"Wow, I was expecting to have to fight you on this. That's great, I'll tell Korris I accept. Tell those girls you're talking about that I'm on the way to Rannoch and I can help if they need it." He said.
"Listen Armando, I'm going to meet you with some extra security at Minneapolis spaceport, when the Lawson girls made it to Rannoch they found trackers in their luggage. I want to be there either to dissuade them from doing that to you, or perhaps catch them in the act if possible. Make sure Jack is aware of what is going on, she'll lose a lot of trust for you if she finds this out the wrong way." Hastings said.
"I know, Angus, not my first rodeo remember?" He said.
"Right, sorry. I just worry about these kids Armando. God, they should be running around looking for dates, not hiding from a terrorist organization." He said. Bailey nodded. They continued chatting for a few minutes and disconnected. Hastings made arrangements to make it down to Minneapolis to see them off, and requisitioned a few soldiers to join him.
Thousands of light years away in an uncharted system, Jack Harper walked into a tech lab and approached a man in an ESD-grounded lab coat.
"What's our status Dr. Fleming?" Harper asked.
"Those microprocessors you gave us did the trick. IT took quite a bit of programming to get them to work in parallel like that, and our cooling budget is going to be astronomical, but it's been running seven days with no neural collapse." He reported.
"Good, and the shackles?" Harper asked.
"We're applying them as we go, we don't need another Geth situation on our hands." He said.
"Excellent work, Doctor. The ship is ready but we're still recruiting its crew. Do you think it will be ready within the month?" Harper asked.
"If the neural matrix holds that long then I'd say we'll be ready to go. I'll monitor the readings from here, and let you know if there's any change." Fleming said unable or unwilling to hide the irritation in his voice.
"Excellent, Good day Doctor." Harper said as he turned around and left. He was no huge fan of the Doctor's attitude but he brought enough to the table to excuse it. This wouldn't be the first time he'd disliked one of his colleagues, that didn't mean he couldn't work with them. He withdrew a cigarette and lit it, then sat down in his chair. He brought up the schematics for the ship he'd mentioned to the Doctor, it was an over sized frigate based on Alliance and Quarian designs, and featured advanced weapons and stealth, while retaining the hull and shielding designs of the standard alliance frigate. The cyberwarfare suite, once installed, would be the defining characteristic of the ship, however, and it would make it a dominant weapon in the war that was to come. This was good, given the losses his plans had sustained as of late. Losing Subject Zero and the Lawson girls was a heavy blow, however the research those projects had provided were invaluable. While reacquiring them was on his to-do list, it was on hold for the time being, getting this latest project up and running was of paramount importance. Humanity would not play second fiddle to a bunch of aliens.
The Normandy jumped into the border space between Alliance and Batarian territory without incident and began its patrol. Sensors were aimed at the Batarians and so far they picked up only small ships or what looked like merchant traffic, but was probably slaver vessels. Shepard had requested permission to engage when one came within ten light years of the border, but Hackett ordered her to stand down, the Alliance fleet was not prepared fully to repel the Batarians just yet and picking a fight now would be a bad idea. Shepard reluctantly agreed, but felt for the slaves no doubt aboard that ship.
Shepard made it a point to hold regular training drills in the cargo hold, not only to keep the crew sharp but for the Krogan aboard to burn off energy. These Krogan however appeared to be well suited for shipboard life. Conflicts between them never escalated to the physical, and they got along with the crew quite well. Shepard would pit teams against each other featuring mixtures of Human, Krogan and Quarian marines and as a result they began to develop strategies that played to their strengths. Krogan being stronger were cable of hauling heavier weapons and mobile shield generators, the Quarians were nimble and able to leap in and out of cover with grace and agility, and the humans were fast and accurate, Shepard was pleased with her teams and confident in their abilities.
Along the patrol route there were no colonized planets, though a few were potential candidates. Shepard had dropped probes on the best ones that were collecting and transmitting data back to Earth. They could not be colonized now, they would be an easy target for the Batarians, but in the future once this conflict was resolved, they would make ideal outposts. There was also a rogue planet that caught Shepard's attention. It was uninhabitable of course, as the average temperature was a balmy -200 degrees Celsius. However, it had once been inhabited by an intelligent race, as was evidenced by the many cities that dotted the landscape, most featuring the broken ruins of what were once skyscrapers. Nobody aboard could identify the architecture, so they took scans and sent a message back to Earth requesting an archaeological survey. They obviously had no idea how the planet ended up wandering between stars, however they could tell that the cities had experienced sustained orbital bombardment, as it was pockmarked by uniform looking craters.
Shepard was occupying herself by inventing a fictional backstory to the rogue planet when she was interrupted by Tali walking in.
"Shepard do you have a minute?" Tali asked.
"Of course, what's up?" Shepard asked.
"Auntie Raan just sent me a message asking us to call her. She said she has some kind of announcement." Tali said.
"Ok, I'll set up the QEC now. I hope everything's ok." Shepard said, punching commands into her omnitool. A holographic image popped up over her desk depicting Raan sitting in Anderson's lap, her arms around his neck, smiling at the comm.
"Admiral Anderson, Admiral Raan, it's good to see you. Tali said you wanted to tell us something?" Shepard asked.
"Commander Shepard, David just asked me something and we wanted you two to be the first to know. We're getting married!" Raan said, holding her hand up to the camera, on it was a fine golden ring with a modest but beautiful diamond embedded in it.
"Keelah auntie, congratulations!" Tali gushed, Raan on the other end giggled even as a tear tracked down her face.
"We're so happy for you guys! You got a date yet?" Shepard asked.
"Not yet, but we were thinking mid summer on the Northern continent of Rannoch.." Anderson said.
"If you're not inviting us, we're inviting ourselves." Tali declared, causing Anderson and Raan to laugh.
"We're mixing traditions, I'm going to have a maid of honor, and David will have a best man, however it's Quarian tradition to for two shipmates to be married by their captain. However, we're both Admirals and don't serve aboard a ship full time. As such, Shepard, I was hoping we could impose upon you to officiate." Raan said.
"I'd be honored! Give me a date and time when you have it and I'll be there!" Shepard said.
"I appreciate it Shepard. I hope you packed your dress whites." Anderson said. Shepard rolled her eyes
"Yes sir I'll have them laundered and pressed." Shepard said.
"Good to hear. Well we'd like to continue celebrating over here, so we'll leave you to it." Anderson said.
"Congratulations again! Normandy out." Shepard said as the call disconnected. Tali was grinning like a fool.
"Keelah that's wonderful. Shame Admiral Anderson asked you to officiate, I was hoping to see you in a dress." Tali said.
"You just want to pull me out of it after." Shepard said.
"You're not wrong." Tali replied, leering at Shepard.
"I'll bring a dress and change into it after the ceremony." Shepard promised
"Hell yeah best of both worlds!" Tali said, sliding into Shepard's lap and kissing her on the cheek.
"I've been a terrible influence on you." Shepard said.