Title: Ship of The Line – Effect 31
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy, Star Trek or Mass Effect... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: Bored with how things are going to play out, Janus interferes more directly in Halloween, making things more interesting and changing the course of the entire Galaxy. (Buffy/Star Trek/Mass Effect)
Sarilla walked into her apartment in the Presidium of the Citadel, moved over to the terminal and put in a communications code before putting on an earpiece and moved over to the window to watch the aircars as they flew past with the backdrop of the Arms of the Citadel and the nebula beyond. She had worked for centuries to get this apartment and into the position she now held. This was a far cry from the slums of the Illium, that slotted into the spaces between the extremely rich and the indentured of the Asari planet, where she had grown up. Many from the slums fought for survival and ended up in either the Huntresses or in Mercenary Companies, legitimate or criminal. Sarilla had always been good at organising and convincing other, that had been how she had survived the slums by convincing others to protect her and organising her little groups' supplies and people. Now she was the amongst the highest ranking Civil Servants on the Citadel and had a lot of behind the scenes power and access to almost all the information available, including Spectre records.
"You reported last week, Sparrow, is there an issue?" the voice came through the earpiece as the communicator connected the call.
"I have vital information." Sarilla said. "Too sensitive for transmission. I need extraction."
"Are you in immediate danger?" the voice asked.
"Negative." Sarilla replied.
"Confirmed. Please hold." The voice said.
She was going to hate giving up this place. This had been what she had dreamed of every night back in the Slums. Where she was going would be a massive downgrade, though nothing like the Slums, but she could not do this anymore. There was too much wrong going on around the Citadel that she could not ignore any longer. She had not been naive enough to think everything had been noble and right before, but since….
"Command confirmed your extraction. We can get you off the Station now, if you want, but we can't leave system for two hours." The voice replied.
"Can I have half an hour to gather a few things?" Sarilla asked.
"Sure. No more than two large bags. Contact us again when you are ready." The voice said.
Sarilla spent the next half an hour packing. She did not pack a lot of the high end clothes she had, instead the more durable and earthy outdoor clothes she had for the hiking holidays she liked to take, keepsakes, data files and handwritten note. It ended up all fitting in a single hiking backpack. Just before she called the number back, she executed a command on her terminal.
"Ready?" the voice asked.
"Yes." Sarilla replied.
"Beaming up in ten seconds." The voice said.
Sarilla took the earpiece out and put it on a table and shouldered the backpack. In a flash of light the apartment disappeared and was replaced with the small interior of a shuttle sized craft. In front of her was a Human female with short brown hair in a black uniform with red trim.
"Welcome aboard." She said. "You can stow your gear in the lockers over there. Then if you want you can join us in the cockpit while we wait for our relief."
"Where will we be going?" Sarilla asked.
"Tycho to deliver this information and debrief." The woman said. "After that, it is mostly up to you."
"My daughter is on Harmony." Sarilla replied. "I need to spend some time with her."
"We can do that." The woman said before turning and walking through the hatch to the cockpit.
Sarilla sighed and put her bag away. That had been the real reason her loyalty had shifted from the Council to Section 31. He daughter. Her little Trena, ok Trena was one hundred and twenty but she would always be her little Trena. Trena had been part of a trade convoy that had been attacked by Batarians and she had been taken as a slave. The Council had refused to do anything about it. Three weeks later Sarilla got a message from Trena saying she was safe and had been rescued. Sarilla had scoured the reports and found out two facts that shook her to the core. Section 31 had rescued her daughter, not the Council, and the Council had known in advance that the Batarians were planning to attack the trade convoy and had ordered nothing to be done to prevent it.
She had gotten as much data as she could without raising suspicion before making the call. It was mostly Spectre personnel files and recent military deployment orders and fleet rosters, as that had been her department's main area of responsibility. She had figured that was the most important information that Section 31 wanted after they had asked for the file on Spectre Vertis Artus to be included in her report a few weeks ago.
The last command she had sent to the terminal in her apartment had been to sell her apartment, liquidate all her assets and transfer all of her wealth through Section 31 agents operating the banking system on Illium.
Having stowed her gear, Sarilla walked into the cockpit and stopped dead. The ship was only a few hundred meters from the Presidium ring of the Citadel with the arms of the Citadel beyond.
"Why are we so close?" Sarilla asked, concerned. "We'll be detected in no time."
The two Humans, the woman who had greeted her and the male in the pilot's seat, both laughed.
"We're under Cloak." The man said. "We have been on station here for three weeks."
Sarilla suddenly realised the massive difference in technology between Section 31 and the Council Races. The Humans had her personal loyalty thanks to them saving her daughter, but if they also had the potential to be a major power in the Galaxy and able to directly challenge the Council.
The only sign Sarilla saw that their replacement arrived was a transmission from the other ship. Their ship moved back into the Nebula, behind the Citadel and away from the Mass Relay.
"Prepare for Warp." The pilot said.
"Buckle up." The woman warned.
TBC….