"Collectors? Are you serious?" Cops asked with furrowed plates.
"I have run those images through every species database available to us. Yes, I am certain these are Collectors," Sassy said, tone cold.
"Nothing else matches, we have no insect like lifeforms that match that description. There's not much else they can be," Diri said with a shrug. "I dug up everything we have on Collectors. They match pretty will from what my team has seen. They go nowhere near Citadel space and appear on Omega every few centuries,"
"So who wants to break it to Dell when she wakes up we are looking for a race of aliens no one knows where they are?" Cops asked, leaning back in his chair.
"I shall inform her," Ray offered. "If nothing else, we have something to research. As they are behind Endellion's disappearance, can we assume they were also behind the other Saboteurs?"
"Maybe. It would be strange not to," Flash shrugged, face invisible in that damn helmet of his. "If you think about it, they make them all the same. When we activated that chip on Dell's neck a few days ago, her spine looked like it was bone but you could make out small lights. Her spine is like Saria's,"
"Alright, so let's assume the Collectors are behind the Saboteurs. Is no one concerned about the greater implication? They're working for the Reapers," Cops sighed, irritated. "What about all those people they asked for? Maybe they didn't kidnap everyone, maybe they got some of them through these 'trades'. If those people are now Saboteurs, what the hell is the galaxy going to think about this? They've signed their own destruction!"
"We don't know that," Flash said, shuffling in his chair. "The Collectors work for the Reapers, maybe they needed these people to see… how best to turn them into husks? Like the humans on Eden Prime,"
"That still isn't comforting, Shayan," Cops grumbled.
"We are just assuming by this point. Unless we can restrain a Collector and question them, there is nothing we can set in stone," Ray said. Everyone sat in a heavy silence.
"Well," I said. "At least we know why mum acted weird and complained of buzzing on Earth," Diri smiled.
"Yeah, can't blame her though. Her memory loss is… weird but we'll get through it. I wonder if this little rest will help her, she looked like she was having a mental breakdown. Not all that healthy," Diri said, rubbed her chin.
"The Council is getting edgy and wants an update," Drutus added, releasing a cloud of smoke, he flicked the cigarette over an ashtray. "And they want the report from Shaik,"
"Well, she's unconscious," Cops said, sarcasm leaking free. "Or are you getting blind in your old ag- Do you have to do that here?" Cops snapped. Drutus raised a brow plate.
"Boy, if you survive to be my age, then you can tell me what to do with my body," Drutus said. "Besides, I'm retired, I can do what I like," Cops grumbled.
"So what do we do now? Gather an army of Spectres and kick Megan's ass?" I asked, bouncing in the chair.
"Ha! Please, there's not enough Spectres to make a battalion," Marruns said with a snort. My eyebrows snapped down, a star burning in my chest.
"Yeah, no wonder. You chased off all the candidates with your terrible standards," I muttered. Marruns snapped his mandibles, fury igniting his pout. Drutus issued a short, a satisfied laugh, Sitoln smirked and Rosmani laughed.
"Oh, I like this boy. Like his mother, only he doesn't play with his food," Drutus chuckled. My chest puffed out. "Alas, no, you will receive little help from the Spectres. You would have a better time convincing the humans to turn on each other though. How you would plan to do that, however, remains to be seen," My chest buckled.
"Well, we gotta do something! The more people she indoctrinates, the more people die," I said.
"And I appreciate that, but we do not have an army to summon to our beck and call, young Shaik," Drutus explained. My shoulders collapsed.
"One Saboteur at a time, I think. Megan will have to wait," Ray said, a small frown forming. "Endellion wishes for us to continue hunting Alea. That is our goal until further notice. If we are ready, we are proceeding to the next segment of this meeting, of which you should not have been in regardless, Gideon," Ray said, eyes catching me from the corners. My cheeks flushed under her stare.
"I was lonely," I said with a shrug. Ray blinked once, sending a shudder through me.
"I am sure Lanster would be more than happy to keep you company," she said. My eyes shifted around the table before sighing, making a big show of jumping off my chair and shuffling to the door. My eyes lifted over my shoulder towards the war room. Ray raised a brow, making me sulk and grumble through the door. Once the door shut, my shoulders sagged.
My feet dragged themselves towards the cockpit, looking up under upturned eyebrows at anyone who passed. A few looked down, and only because we crossed paths. My loneliness wasn't a lie, although there wasn't much mum could do about it. The only people who spoke with me in any great length was mum, Cops, Diri, Flash, Lani and Anthon Cerr. No one else just… wanted to mess around with me, not with mum desperate for information on Alea's whereabouts. Diri and her team worked nonstop to dig up anything. And the engineers only tolerated me since I was small enough to crawl into the spaces they couldn't get to. Flash liked me, as did Lani but people like Phylla and Kai didn't and Bralem or whatever the batarian was, set my teeth on edge. My blood burned and froze at the mere mention of the species. The cramped confines of a cupboard sized room with 6 other people crawled along my skin. My breath shortened, my chest tightened, my heartrate soared… My head shook, tearing my mind away from all of that. I wasn't there now… fate brought me to a safe home.
"Uh oh, Pygmy maw has a long face," Lani joked. My eyes shifted from the floor.
"I'm not a pygmy," I muttered. Lani dropped his cup of coffee to his lap, his chair reclined with a footrest sprung out.
"Oh dear, come to uncle Lani. What's wrong?" he asked, putting his coffee in a holder. A mutter surfaced under my breath as my feet shuffled few steps closer. My arms flailed out when the tall turian dragged me over, securing me on his lap. "Is Kai getting on your case again?" he asked. My legs thrashed in the air on his lap, begging for freedom before flopping, surrendering to the turian. A sigh drained the strength from me.
"No, I got kicked out of the meeting by Ray," I grumbled. Lani tutted.
"You shouldn't have been in there anyway, kiddo," Lani said. My frown deepened.
"I'm not allowed to do anything though!" I exclaimed. "No one gives me gun training, I'm not allowed in the meetings, I'm not allowed on the missions… I'm a part of this team too, y'know,"
"Oh, we know that. We'll send Phylla into the vents next time she kicks up," Lani winked. "You are a valuable member of this team, Gid,"
"Yeah? What can I do then other than crawl through vents and be the 'captain's kid?" I snapped. Lani held up a hand, counting with his fingers.
"Not so nice being the captain's kid eh? Where to start… you help repair things on the Starquake, you're allowed to help the science teams run some of the less delicate experiments, you're allowed in the intel room to see how people hack – and I spied you doing some of it with Zdenka, you cheeky devil – and if you are a good boy," Lani smiled. "I might show you some piloting," My back tightened, attention drawn, craning my neck to look up.
"Really?" I asked. Lani winked.
"Off the record, you're underage," he said, pressed a finger to his lips. My face burst into a wide beam.
"You're the best pilot ever," I said. Lani laughed.
"Oh I know, you won't get better than me," he chuckled. He took a quick glance behind him before a sly grin spread on his face. "Wanna get payback on those in the War Room?" he asked. My eyes lit up, a grin growing wider.
"You bet!" I cried. Lani laughed.
"Alright now, starship systems lesson one!" Lani said, leaning forward, a finger held up. He held me hypnotised. "Warning signals. The Starquake as several alarms; the Critical Failure alarm, the Abandon Ship warning, hull breach warning, fire warning, hostiles inbound alarm, hostiles onboard and the general caution alarm," he explained, turning around to face the array of screens before him, pointing to each alarm as he named them. "Some alarms like Crit, hull breach and hostile alarms are automatic and are controlled by the Captain and a few other people, the commanders and me being a few examples. The fire alarm is automatic and manual since anyone can set it off if they find a fire. The Abandon ship and general caution are all controlled either here or in the bridge. But, little do some people know, we can control which rooms get the alarm," A frown dropped my lips with each word, staring at the orange screens,
"So…?" I asked.
"Well, my dear boy, what you do is bring up the alarm map, highlight all the alarms and then de-select the ones you don't want to go off. We would only do this if there were sound experiments going on in the labs but not today!" his fingers flew through the interface, bringing up a floor plan of the Starquake. "So all we do is de-select the war room, set the general warning alarm off, do a slow barrel roll and wait for the carnage," he smirked. Realisation nurtured the smirk on my face.
"Can I push the alarm?" I asked.
"Absolutely! I wouldn't want my partner-in-crime to do nothing!" Lani exclaimed.
A wide grin overwhelmed my face, attention turning to the ship's interfaces. Lani set everything up, fingers sweeping over the controls before he pulled shoulder straps on over us. He pointed to a button as he prepared to roll the ship. My tongue darted out over my lips, adrenaline coursing through me like a swollen river. My finger hit the button. A short alarm bleated in the air, 3 short rounds of noise then Lani rolled the Starquake. My hands gripped the harness, every muscle tense from the adrenaline. My hairs stood on end. Lani straightened her up. He threw off the shoulder straps and silenced the alarm, a wide grin flaring his mandibles. We waited. Seconds later, a ringing filled the cockpit. Lani slapped a hand over my mouth before touching a flashing symbol before him.
"Hello?" Lani asked, tone deadpan.
"What the fuck happened, Lanster?! Honest to fuck, my head!" Cops thundered through the radio.
"I feel like I just got hit by a krogan in a tank!" Marruns cried in the back. Laughter bubbled, but the hand stayed firm and unyielding.
"Sorry about that, space debris. The radar didn't pick it up in time, it was small. The shields may have taken it but I didn't want to risk scratching the paint," Lani joked.
"Why the hell didn't you sound an alarm!?" Cops demanded. Lani grinned.
"I did, didn't you hear it?" he asked, 'surprised'.
"No!" Cops snapped.
"Why is coffee so hot?!" Diri whined.
"I think I cracked my mask… nope, nope that's just scratches. Aw Keelah! These will take ages to get out!" Flash wept.
"Huh, I guess the alarm broke… I'll put it in the engineer's logs to get it seen to later," Lani said, a wide grin on his face now.
"Fine just… Spirits, just warn us next time!" Cops snapped.
"Shall try, Val, sorry about that," Lani said, closing the radio contact. We shared a look. Manic giggles consumed us. We clung to each other for support.
"O-Oh my God!" I wept, struggling to breathe through the laughter, wiping the tears away. "T-That was so worth it. So worth it!"
"And that, Gideon, is how you prank someone. Oh Spirits!" Lani laughed.
"Did you hear Marruns in the background? It was brilliant!" I laughed.
"Oh I know, oh poor Shayan! He's going to-" Lani said. We both froze when a hand clamped down on our shoulders. We turned to face the person behind the chair. Rosmani, the remains of a cake or something on her cheek, stood over us with a tight jaw. Lani clicked his mandibles. We glanced to each other.
"Save yourself!" Lani cried, hurling me off his lap as he tackled Rosmani to the ground. My side crashed into the floor, rolling, but terror of the crazy biotic threw me on my feet. Elevator, run for the elevator, get away from the crazy asari! Biotics snagged my leg, but it vanished as Rosmani screeched and a thud rang out.
"Get back here, you little shit!" Rosmani roared. My legs tore through the bridge and down the halls, making a bee line for the elevator doors. My steps stumbled and jumped and weaved as the people in the war room leaked out into the elevator corridor. They jumped in surprised as they watched me rocket past them, leaping into the elevator.
"What are you doing, Gid…" Cops said, annoyed. His plates sagged as hand smashed the close button. "Wait, were you behind that?!" The doors shut, the elevator moved. "Oi! Get back here you!" his voice faded as the elevator rose me to the top floor.
The adrenaline made my legs quake, pacing stopped them shaking, a threat from cramping tickling my mind. The doors parted. My eye set on mum's room. Mum lay on her bed, motionless but breathing. For 3 days she lay like that. She looked unaffected by the roll, although the emergency straps still reeled under the bed. A safety feature; to lock whoever was in the bed in place. And my hiding space was there too. My hands forced up the false panels at the base of the bed to reveal the gap underneath. My face contorted as my body shuffled under the bed, just enough room for me to do that. The false panels sealed me in darkness. My heart thundered in my chest, waiting, just me and my ragged breath. 15 seconds later, the door opened. The air stalled in my chest, escaping in tiny, quiet puffs. Footfalls echoed around the room, doors opening and closing. Someone, maybe Cops, checked the usual hiding places. A deep breath sucked in, preparing to hold it when they arrived on the top tier. The footfalls rang so loud now… A tremor shook me.
"Gideon," Cops called. "Where the hell are you, you little pirate?" My eyes squeezed shut and prayed.
"What did he do this time?" A sleepy voice murmured. My eyes popped open in surprise. Mum was awake?!
"Ah, Dell! Good evening, Sleeping Beauty, welcome to the year 3000," Val said, recovering. Mum groaned.
"Don't even joke about that," she muttered. She shuffled above me. "Was I out long?" she asked.
"About 4 days. But don't worry about that, how do you feel?" Val asked, a catch in his tone. Mum moaned again.
"My head is killing me, this is hands down the worst migraine in the galaxy. I've just had an entire 20 minute shit throwing fight with Nyryntha. Just the usual; 'you will succumb, Shell', 'your resistance is futile' and her new personal favourite; 'you stubborn creature, you only delay the inevitable'. Safe to say, I think whatever that zap did has clawed me back time. Can't say how much though," Mum sighed. "But back to my original question. What has Gideon done?"
"Little bastard and Lanster didn't send the warning to us in the War Room and barrel rolled the Starquake. Sent most of us crashing to the roof," Cops grumbled. Mum's weak laughter sent relief bursting through my chest. "Don't encourage it!"
"I dread to think what you did to annoy the pair of them," Mum said. She pushed herself into a sitting position. She groaned in pain. My heart leapt at the thought, she had to go see Saere, to make sure she was ok. Who knows what Nyryntha did to he- "Can you pass me the medication on the middle drawer there? The bottle not the pills. Fuck, I need strong stuff for this," she sighed.
"Headache stuff?" Cops asked, a drawer in the bedside table opening. Mum hmmed, a top unscrewing.
"Fast acting migraine meds. Saere had to pull Council power to get it. Goddam, I love military meds," she said, clapping her tongue. "Tastes like shit though," The bottle returned to the drawer, mum rocking on the med in time to the painful pulse. "God, I can't get that video out of my head," A silence filled the air. Weight creaked the mattress above me.
"Is it bothering you that much?" Cops asked. Mum sighed.
"I … remember none of it, I can't recall any of this 'pushiness' that I mentioned. I've… I've lost an entire month worth of memories… And then there was the stuff Marshal was going on about. Who was my aid? Who did I get separated from? Where are Marshal's new server banks? How does he know so much about Saboteurs? He knows more than me!" Mum cried. "What happened between my last memory on Earth and waking up on Xawin?"
"Maybe the answer to that lies with this mysterious aid of yours," Cops said with a shrug. "We didn't wait to get co-ordinates or anything though,"
"I'm not going back to Kinlochleven or Ireland," Mum snorted. Cops laughed.
"I wasn't about to suggest it," he grinned. "C'mon, let's test your legs and get some food in you, hmm?" Cops grinned. Mum laughed.
"In a minute. Let me get dressed first. I doubt people want to see the mighty captain of the Starquake in her love heart PJs," she answered, easing herself to her feet.
"But you look adorable in it! And with your hair like that," Cops smirked.
"Out!" Mum snapped. "Or I call security!"
"Going, going!" Cops said, fleeing the room. Mum snorted. She stayed silent for a few seconds.
"You owe me, Gid. Get the hell out of here," Mum said as she wobbled her way to the bathroom. My courage plucked dup enough to push the panels free and peek out. After a quick scan, my arms pulled me out before sitting on the floor, breathing.
Well, at least mum is awake! Now to hide until- A sharp ringing filled the room, my heart punching through the ceiling. With nerves eating at me, my legs hadn't recovered. It forced me to crawl to the edge of the upper tier. A flashing icon on the desk computer grabbed my attention. A frown grew before testing my legs, teetering to the stairs. Marshal bounded before me and the ringing stopped. An asari hologram appeared. The alien folded her hands together. When she saw the drone, she sighed, frustrated, just as Marshal produced a screen of text. My teeth nipped my lip before clambering down the stairs. Maybe if she gave me her name, mum could call her back…
"It's ok Marshal, I got it," I said, holding my arms up towards the drone. Marshal beeped before lowering, letting me to hang onto him. My eyes turned to the hologram, the alien now perked, relieved to see something other than a drone. "Uh, hello?" I said.
"Good evening, child. I am trying to contact Captain Shaik, is she available?" the asari asked. A small frown twitched, looking at the white markings over her forehead, cheeks and lips.
"She's in the shower just now, she's been out of action. Is it important? Can I ask who is calling?" I asked. Relief spread over the asari's face.
"I'm Councillor Tevos, I have news of Alea Shea'kal," the asari said. My eyes bulged.
"You found her? Well, that will cheer mum up!" I cried. "Stay here, Mar," The drone beeped, hovering as my hand knocked on the bathroom door. "Mum!" I called. "Councillor Tevos is on the line! She's got information on Alea!"
"What? Alea? O-Ok, just hold he- ah fuck! I'll be there in a minute!" she flailed. A crash made me wince, the clatter of bottles and metal and… well, who knows what mum kept in her bathroom. A lot of junk anyway. My throat cleared after returning to the hologram, hugging the drone. A small smile lifted my lips
"She'll be a minute, mum gets flustered when she wakes up," I said. The asari managed a weak cough of a laugh.
"As does everyone, I imagine," she said. My head turned over my shoulder to the bathroom as the activity heightened, biting my lip. Seconds later, mum burst free, uniform on and a towel flailing her wet hair.
"Thanks Gid, I'll take it from here. Apologies, Councillor. I have been out of action for several days," Mum shook her head out, resting the towel over her shoulders before saluting. "You have information on Alea?"
"I do, but I fear that it is bait," Tevos said, holding her elbows.
"Bait?" Mum echoed.
"Alea Shea'kal has just sent out some invitations to several dozen influential persons throughout the galaxy, myself included. The invitation is for a human style masquerade in middle of March, set in an estate that once belonged to the lover of a Blue Suns leader on Thessia. I do not understand what Alea wishes to achieve through this," Tevos sighed, looking ready to pace from unease. "I understand that this is several months away and you are eager to bring this to a close but… but perhaps we can use this to our advantage," Mum frowned, considering.
"Maybe she's wants to indoctrinate a large crowd… maybe this is a trap for me… can you get us invitations?" mum asked.
"I have been able to track down about 20 other patrons, all of which are concerned about this sudden invitation. I can exchange words to free those up," Tevos clasped her hands before her. "What do you intend to do?" Mum snorted.
"Infiltrate, crash the party then kill her. We'll want to match the vague descriptions of the patrons, give us a species and skin colour and we'll do the rest. My intel team can have fun dressing everyone up," she grinned. Her expression dropped when the asari glanced down. "I understand that Alea was a friend, but we must do this,"
"I know… it does not make it any easier, however," Tevos sighed, rubbing the back of her head.
"Don't worry, I'll try to make it quick, despite my personal wants," Mum replied. Tevos nodded.
"Thank you, Captain. I appreciate it. Come to the Citadel when you can, we can discuss the details then," Tevos straightened, composing herself.
"Of course, Councillor. I shall see you soon," Mum saluted. The action jolted me, my hand flinging up to my forehead. Tevos laughed, taken aback.
"I wonder if he'll follow in your shoes, Shaik," Tevos remarked. Mum strained a slight smile.
"If he has any common sense, he won't." mum said. Tevos laughed before the connection died. Mum released a breath. "Looks like we're getting shore leave," I perked. Aw yeah, now I get to see the Citadel in style!