The news article skimmed across the orange interface, the datapad bleary before me. While the news should have invigorated me – doctors discovered a new allergy treatment, which made my hayfever sweat – only snippets slipped through my distracted mind. Dekuuna was minutes from us, closing in at breakneck speed. We traversed through the massive system but without a map by my side, it was impossible to guess how far we were from touchdown. Close enough to make my skin tingle and anxiety fog my common sense. All this despite the inactive period between helping the elcor and the Saboteur showing its face, if it showed. A thin breadstick flicked between my fingers, a tentative bite filling the room with a snap. My stomach fluttered, churning away. It debated whether it was thankful for the sparse meal or whined about it, too anxious to keep anything down. A heavy sigh escaped.
"Not a good news day, hmm?" the turian captain across from me asked. His words jolted me out of my thoughts, shuddering to rouse before turning my gaze to the man. The iron coloured turian with the extravagant white markings of Palaven flicked a taut smile in my direction, noting my distraction. His sharp blue eyes flicked over my expression, gauging me. A small smile lifted my lips, quivering to hold it.
"No, not at all," I replied. He snorted as he turned to a screen floating to his left. He flared his mandibles.
"How are the crew treating you? I realise there isn't much room for you and your team but I hope the XO quarters are sufficient for someone of your calibre," he said, voice tense but with his head turned away, the subtleties of turian expressions escaped me. My smile limped. There was the little snag he had with me. My rank vs my age and experience. I had to ask Val more about the turian military and their promotion methods.
"With respect. You've trained your men well," I said. His lips lifted, a flicker of pride. "However, the behaviour towards my commander is not. It is unacceptable that he has to deal with bullshit from your crew regarding his lack of markings. Next time I hear another barefaced comment, heads will roll. Just like I did with his bastard of a father," I hissed, the grey turian waved his mandibles, breathing, as he judged the truth in my words. The fire in my eyes gave him more than enough reason.
"Noted, Captain. I'll inform the crew to ensure it doesn't happen again," he said. "You understand that some stereotypes are hard to kill however, I'm sure humans would have a few for yourself as well. Although I have greater concerns than you cutting my soldiers down. A human aboard my ship, a captain no less, with her mixed species crew... it is unusual for our superiors throw non-turian trained soldiers on missions with us of this complexity,"
"What makes you think we're soldiers, Captain?" I asked. He snorted, a hard sound that took a few layers of skin off.
"Don't play dumb with me, Shaik. I can recognise a soldier, even someone as green as you, when I see one," he snapped. The hairs on my arm twitched. "I don't even see 5 years in you, how did you become a captain at your experience level?" My eyes narrowed, jaw tightening at the accusations. Well, time to dance with turian pecking orders. Again.
"A strong arm," I retorted. He drew his head back, mandibles flaring. "No one else knew what we faced, no one else was stupid enough to take the position, ignorant enough of the impossible odds between us and success. They threw me into this role, tossed me the reins knowing I could led us to victory," I finished. "Questions?"
"No, I think… you have made your point," he said, although his tone didn't sound convinced. It sounded more concerned. My arms folded, heated eyes trailing on his before flicking back to the datapad before me. No point in trying to win a staring contest with a hardened turian captain. I lost every time.
The Valiant pushed through space around me, a cruiser belonging to the Turian Hierarchy en-route to Dekuuna. As the turians designed the system in the first place, they agreed to help the elcor repair their defence systems. With help from Sparatus and the Primarch, we jumped along for the ride as 'contractors' to help out were we can to locate what and where the bug was. What they didn't know was we were hunting for the creature that caused the bug in the first place with little regard for the system themselves. We weren't inconspicuous, despite my pleas. Sitoln joined us on the mission, so having a Spectre on board raised the stakes and the concerns among the turian crew. Then my mixed crew chosen for the mission ahead also raised a few brows. Such a diverse team, garbed in the same uniform yet all military to some extent or another. The turians took caution. Phentos, Searte, Laegan, Andria, Cathleen, Una, Setaria, Sherin and Lesley sat waiting downstairs on the crew deck with the usual commanders, Val and Mat'al ensuring they not only kept the peace but to keep the turians from ganging up on Val. My heart fluttered, remembering the conversation. Val pulled me aside, raising concerns about said turian military giving him grief because of his lack of markings. Indira remained on the Starquake to continue hunting with the Council about the rogue trade documents. With the Starquake in dry dock with a new engine retrofit, the engineering team stayed behind, hard at work on the Citadel. No one in the crew knew why we were here on the Valiant, not even the ones with me. Only Indira, the Council and I. Indira said the less ears who knew our reasoning, the less likely it would be for the Saboteur to get suspicious if people acted strange. As far as the crew knew, the Council had ordered us to oversee the repairs to the defence system since they feared it was Saboteur damage, afraid that Reaper code had infiltrated the systems.
"Captain Shaik, a word if I may," Sitoln's summon split the silence. My eyes flicked up from the datapad towards the door. The brown salarian sauntered into the room. "Captain Imperious, if I may,"
"Spectre," Imperious nodded his head. "Captain Shaik, I have to oversee the landing, I will see you down there for debriefing," the turian said, finding his feet. Sitoln replaced his seat, waiting until the door closed behind the turian. He folded his arms, eyes narrowing.
"I would like to think I am not a fool, Shaik. Why would the Council send us to Dekuuna because of a defence glitch?" Sitoln asked. A sigh slipped free, shoulders sagging while my arms flew above my head.
"Sitoln, if I knew why we were here, I would put up with that asshole's questions," I said, stabbing my thumb to the door. Sitoln smirked. "I don't know. They maybe desperate for answers or progress. Maybe they want us to see if there are any digital fingerprints on the system that can lead us to who caused it. I don't know," I shrugged. Would my sullen expression convince him enough to believe the lie? Despite my better judgement, hoping Sitoln wouldn't be as observant or nosey as the other Spectres wasn't going to plan. This wasn't our first confrontation. Everything hinged on this. Sitoln exhaled.
"This failure has spooked the Council," Sitoln said. "Why us though?" My shoulders lifted skywards.
"In case it is Saboteur damage? In case it is and the Saboteur shows up? I doubt the guys fixing the system know what they are dealing with… although to be fair, neither do we," I sighed. "The Council wants these things dead. If that means investigating any odd activity, we need to investigate it. You would have a better chance of getting answers from the Council than me,"
"The Council has been as tight lipped to myself as they have to you," he said with a smile "Well, we cannot stop it. We go where the finger points. I ask that you be careful, Dell. Dekuuna is a harsh environment, one I am not sure you prepared for. No one, but myself in particular, would like to see you harmed," he pushed himself to his feet. "It would be best if we suit up, we need to test the grav-suits,"
"Ah… yes. Thank you, Sitoln, I… I appreciate the concern. I'll do what I can to be careful. With any luck, we'll go down, fix the issue and be off before the end of the week. I'll see you down there," I said, eyeing the salarian as he patted my shoulder on his way out the room. That… that was sweet of him. My hand ran down my face to waken me, quivering at the warm cheeks. It was just flushed… just a flush! I don't blush, dammit! Focus, Dell. Focus… what the hell was a grav-suit anyway? Did I even have one?
After heaving myself off the chair and dusting my hands off, my mind turned to the matter at hand; not getting lost on this massive turian cruiser. The Captain's quarters closed behind me – the wonderful invitation from Imperious turned out to be a grilling session – and the ship opened in full. The turian ship sparkled, spotless. Turians kept their ships as sharp as their skills. 3 days in this tin-can made me wish for the comforts of home. There was nothing 'homely' here, just hard beds, rotten rations and strict laws and codes. Despite that, my presence – age and skill aside – wasn't met with raised brows or criticism, things normally fired my way on a daily basis. How much of that was just be the turian respect of rank talking... The corridors were wider than the Starquake, aside from the corridor between bridge and the labs, but the ship was more massive and packed a bigger punch than we could ever hope to. Down the elevator, the armoury entrance glared before me. A hand raised to my forehead in greeting to the saluting turians. My shoulders relaxed once inside the armoury itself.
My crew pulled on heavy plates of metal, strapping it to a frame around their jumpsuits. Well, at least I knew what a grav-suit was now. Upon my entry, they rushed to their feet to salute, half-dressed or otherwise. A wide grin spread as my fingers touched my forehead. The heavy armour hid Val's lithe frame under layers of plate metal. Once secure, he laboured towards another locker. Inside, my new set of armour. The bulky, dusty purple armour created a frown, my stomach bubbling and twisting. It was twice as bulky as my Rosenkov Materials. Massive silver wheels poked out from each joint, and the interior reminded me of a human-controlled mech, just without the chair. My eyes drifted between the armour and Val as he pulled the legs out.
"Your new grav-suit. With luck, you won't need to wear it too often. They can be damn uncomfortable. They help little people like us deal with the heavier gravity on Dekuuna," Val whispered in my ear as the upper layer of my uniform pulled free. The other pieces joined it soon after until only the under-armour jumpsuit remained. "It will be heavier than you are used to but you'll thank yourself later,"
With reluctance, my feet wriggled inside the boots, wondering why it was so roomy and why there were metal half-loops up and down the back of the armour. Val started at my feet with Mat'al helping, securing my feet into the crevasse. The metal semi-circular rings snapped around my shins and calf muscles, locking my legs in place. Sitoln offered to help but Mat'al brushed him off with a curt no. My cheeks burned red, aware of the body clinging jumpsuit on me. The only thing protecting me and what little modesty I had left. My twisting stomach worsened as the armour snapped to my hips. It felt like massive lead weights wanted to yank me through the floor. When the chest piece snapped on, my knees quivered. The final glove clicked into place. Only the helmet remained now as Val finished with the shoulder plates. The final weight was an extra kilogram away from caving my knees, every muscle frozen from pain and dead weight. Walking wasn't possible, lifting my arm to scratch my nose was out too. Val had to do that task, which he did with a wide smirk. My gaze found Mat'al, a whimper on the verge of escaping.
"Throw the helmet on and we'll pressurise the suit. That will take the weight off," he said.
My eyebrows curled up as he slid the helmet into place, one knee caving under the weight. Val grunted as he messed with something on the back of the suit. A hiss sounded behind me. As the seconds ticked by, the weight lifted off my shoulders. Only by a millimetre, but still off the shoulders. The weight that held me lifted, freeing my muscles from the paralysed pain that held them. The joints whined as my knee lifted back off the ground. Mat'al's thumb pointed up, a smile on his face that rattled my hackles. The suit carried the weight of itself, giving me effortless movement of all my joints. Even walking was easy. What took getting used to was standing an extra 10 to 20cm higher than usual.
"Alright, a little claustrophobic, but I'll survive," I said. "Do we have an ETA?" Val glanced over to the turian crew of the cruiser on the other side of the room, suiting up with their grav-suits. His mandibles clicked before he grumbled.
"You'd be best asking them. They'd have a better idea," he grunted. A frown grew on my face, watching his plates twitched. Turian expressions – or at least Val's – were becoming easier to understand with time. My jaw set, turning to the group. Looks like a few heads had to roll if something happened.
"Ladies and gents," I summoned. The turians perked, glancing to the stripes on my armour before saluting. "Do we have an ETA?"
"Yes, Ma'am, 10 minutes until touchdown," a female turian said.
"Thank you, much appreciated," I said, returning to my crew. Val grumbled. "Let's head down, I want to gauge the place before the airlock opens,"
"Aye, aye, Captain. Right this way," Val said, striding out from the armoury and into the hall, eager to be away from the turians. The grav-suit made a helluva racket when walking; between the servos and the stamping feet. Most of the crew remained behind to finish suiting up. They would meet us down before departing. They had Phentos, he would guide them through the cruiser.
Val led Mat'al and me along a few corridors, down an elevator and around a few corners to reach a corridor with an array of windows and crossing corridors to take us to the other side. The brilliant halls reminded me of the Constellation, only with less frustrating brothers and more uptight turian swarming around us. A wall of fire blocked the landscape of Dekuuna, the ionising layer licked up the flanks of the cruiser, crashing through the atmosphere towards the surface. The cruiser barely trembled, something I wished the Starquake did whenever entering atmosphere. I had to nail things in place in my room. Then it sprawled before me.
Dekuuna, a swollen world of short, fat trees and wide, sluggish rivers. Lakes, seas and oceans seemed to interweave as the gravity resisted all attempts by anything to gain any height. The rivers swung in massive meanders, tides didn't seem like a thing here either or if there were tides, they didn't affect the shoreline anywhere near as much as the surface gravity. Large hills hung on the horizon, but they owed their existence to massive bases that would occupy whole countries on Earth. These wide, stumpy hills resisted the massive forces crushing them into the ground. And they were just that, hills. No towering peaks anywhere in sight. We passed over towns and a few cities, not a skyscraper in the sky. At most, the buildings were 3 or 4 floors high but sprawled over their land, much like their hills. My elbows pressed into the banister by the window, watching birds with multiple pairs of wings – muscular ones at that – sail by, never soaring as high as they would on Earth. Dekuuna made me appreciate just how important gravity was to a planet's ecosystem. Nothing could have prepared me for this.
Satisfied that the wet, tropical environment would kill me if this suit didn't have a good air conditioning system, my head tipped to Val. He clicked his mandibles, leading us down to the airlocks. As we got closer, the halls brimmed with people, all side-stepping my group as we approached the main airlock. My crew hung off to the side, waiting for our arrival. Captain Imperious paced before the neat lines of turians waiting to go groundside, already mid-brief. He glanced up, mandibles pinned as he caught me leaning against a wall, waiting for him to finish.
"…we will land in Malvuon in 5 minutes. Upon touchdown, we will meet the elcor escort to the Elcor Defence Centre for briefing on the situation there. As you are no doubt aware, we are also being joined by a Council lead team who will joining our-" he began.
"Overseeing," I called. Imperious clicked his mandibles, eyes burning in my direction. "I take my orders from the Council. Councillor Sparatus has informed me I am not to fall under any regulation or rules of the Turian Hierarchy once we step off this ship. But if you have any issues, I have the Primarch on speed dial," A smile spread wide over my face. Imperious clicked his mandibles a few times as he breathed. He turned to the lines of turians waiting before him.
"A Council lead team is joining us. They will oversee the operation. I expect you to follow their orders when given them," he finished. "Grav-suits on, we touch down in 2," he marched towards my group as the 'Aye, aye, sir's broke out. He scowled down to my meagre height. "Satisfied, Captain?"
"Very, although just remind the crew about our little discussion regarding my commander. I would like to avoid a body count. The Council get annoyed when I do that," I retorted. Imperious clapped his mandibles, a bone snapping click that sent shudders down my spine before turning away. My shoulders sagged. "God, why can't I keep my confidence around these guys?"
"Because these men have seen war and have decades of experience. Imperious has been in the military longer than you have been alive," Mat'al answered with a shrug. "You haven't seen 3 years of active duty. Imperious intimidates you with his experience," My head shook.
"I hate it when you make sense sometimes," I whimpered. Mat'al smirked.
"Confident face back on, Dell. We've started and you'll deal with far more than just turian pecking orders while on this mission," Mat'al warned. A tired moan slipped before my shoulders pulled themselves back up. My walk forced a slight bounce, to put life into my step before falling in beside Imperious. My crew filed in behind me, the turians behind them. God be merciful, let no turians here be a Saboteur.
Once the massive airlock equalised, a shudder fluttered my confidence as my suit went to work. The free movement I had grown accustomed to now had a delay. The suit took time to wind up the joints against the gravity. My throat worked overtime, swallowing with difficulty as the hiss behind my head grew, the pressure of my suit building to keep itself from crushing me. Panic swelled, my heart thundering in my chest. Cool breaths only lessened the heat but didn't remove it. It still haunted me. If the suit failed… how long could one survive without a grav-suit on this planet?
The airlock opened, the full scale of the mission before me smashing me like a sledgehammer. Or the climate. A wave of heat and humidity crashed through me, a silent curse flaring to the creator that these damn suits didn't have an environmental control system. My first shaken step planet-side came with a flush of realisation. Julian had very good reasons for keeping me away from Dekuuna, entering the surface now. I never had to deal with high or low gravity before, it only made me hate myself for not listening to him. Despite how much of an ass he is. My suit work overtime, or seemed to at least from the electronic squeals. My face flattened, turning rigid as the suit fought to carry out my commands with any great pace. It wasn't so bad I couldn't walk, it just felt strange. Could the suit even manage a run? Perhaps, but it wasn't something I wanted to test. Every step, every arm swing felt like walking through water, the air resisting every movement. How could anyone fight an elcor Saboteur here?
The dock hugged the ground like everything here. Docked ships didn't just rely on docking clamps here. A sturdy spine sat under their hulls, helping to ease the burden of the docking clamps and stopping the ships crashing into the ground below. A ramp fixed to the ground led us away from the ship, a solid piece of rock, as we marched off, onto the dock. The waiting group of elcor stood waiting for us, but like many species, reading their expressions was impossible. Why did everything but humans have to have such hidden expressions cues? Only now did the realisation hit that my experience of elcor went about as far as knowing they existed. That was all no cultural knowledge, psychology, history, politics. Nothing at all. As we approached the group, my hand raised for the halt. My crew ceased, the turians were a step behind. Imperious frowned but made no comment before turning the elcor before us. My arms folded over my back as much as possible given the bulk of the suit.
"Relieved greeting. Welcome to Dekuuna, Captain Imperious, Captain Shaik. Genuine appreciation. Thank you for arriving at such speed to our aid," the foremost elcor said, elongated stripes of chocolate and red covering his back and the side of his head. A purple lined red headscarf draped over his back, large loops with some strange beads dangling from them. They looked like dyed, dried seeds or something. "I am Elder Savirx, an elder from the Courts of Dekuuna," Ok. I expect a lot from new species. That one I wasn't.
"It is no trouble at all, Elder Savirx. Thank you for allowing us to come, I understand this must be a very stressful time for those in Court," I said, unsure whether stating my emotions was necessary.
"Strained sigh. It is most troubling. The asari and the turians both designed our defence systems. The network has been stable for many decades. Without the defence shield, we fear the worst," Savirx said, monotone.
"We'll examine the systems and see what we can do, Elder," Imperious said. "Please, take us to the facility,"
"Of course, Captain, this way," the elcor turned, thundering down the dock with the rest of the entourage. My hand flicked my fingers forward, high in the air. My crew walked once more, the turians, again, a step behind as they struggled to understand my hand signals.
Dekuuna was a weird, weird place. I had seen a lot of weird – and nasty – places before, but this was just alien. Despite the suit reminding me how close the end of my life was from having 'death by squashing' on my gravestone, to see nothing towering above you or punching into the sky was strange. Advances in technology allowed us to go higher, but it seemed it only worked under certain circumstances. We clambered into a convoy of vehicles, low riding trucks with coloured fabric fixed over the roof to block out the tropical sun. These vehicles had non-elcor aliens in mind when designing, judging by the seats. My inner meerkat poked over the heads of the crew before me to the driver, watching him control the vehicle with pads on the ground. Shifting his weight turned, his knuckles control acceleration and breaking. The vehicles didn't move at any great speed, just in case the elcor driver fell, but they hovered off the ground. My back pressed into the chair, enjoying the view of the city.
The road ran down between the old, ancient city of rock and earth and the new city of steel and glass. In the sun, the stumpy trees were tall enough to cast shadows over the road, blocking the heat from reaching us for a second. The wind gusted stronger than most planets, but the suit took the buffering with only minor adjustments. Few aliens wandered the streets, decked in as heavy armour as we. The vast majority of people we elcor. Then we migrated out of the city and into the vast wetlands surrounding this city. Most of the animals were ground based; short and stumpy as they stomped through the bogs and rivers, similar to the elcor. Our road cut straight through, leading us through the maze of forests with roots thicker than a bus looping over our heads. The sights mesmerised but terrified me at the same time. What did the fish look like? God have mercy, I hated fish!
The facility appeared down a low valley, a sprawling mass of buildings, landing strips and constant activity. The huge grassland surrounded by trees on all sides, a wide river wiggling through bought security and privacy from prying eyes. We approached the site, the wide gates parting for our convoy to enter. Well, we found all the aliens. The facility submersed itself in an array of turian, elcor and asari, but not one had a smiling face. Was the situation so bad no one could find the silver lining? The convoy stopped by stout buildings, connected to the facility either through underground tunnels or surface ones that buildings masked from view. A slow breath soothed my shaking nerves, easing myself out of the chair and onto the ground. The rest of the team surrounded me, awaiting orders as they reforming into ranks. We marched into the building. Relief flooded me when facility pressurised, allowing my free, immediate access to my limbs. A hike into an armoury, my eyes caught sight of slots ready for our grav-suits. The grav-suit vanished in seconds, eager to free myself of the suit, pulling on my more familiar armour as teams lugged the boxes in. My shoulders rolled, watching and assessing the mood for the crew. Mat'al raised brow towards me, earning a scowl from me. What had I done now?! God this mission was already pissing me off!
The Timeline and Galaxy Map have been updated for this chapter. Please see profile for link to Archive.