Notes:
A Grá - My Love (Gaelic)
Amantia - Lover (Thessian)
Anam Cara - Soul Friend/Mate (Gaelic)
APU-Auxiliary Power Unit
Breá Ber'ah - Combined form meaning beautiful and strange lover; Breá being a close lover, somewhere between Amantia and Siame (Thessian)
FTL - Faster Than Light travel
Grá mo chroí - love of my heart (Gaelic)
Siame - "one who is all", a loved one cherished above all others (Thessian/Source: CDN)
On the Road Again
T'Soni Country Estate, Thessia, Athena Nebula – 23 Aug 2190
Riana and Sammi enjoyed having breakfast together one last time before Aletheia departed for Sharring. Riana was so relaxed she seemed to be glowing – the renewed sparkle in her brown eyes was all Liara needed to see to realize her First had regained her inner peace and serenity, after spending the past month enjoying the unrelenting attention received from her Human lover.
As for that Human, Liara knew in her heart that Sammi had received just as much joy during their time here. Perhaps we need to plan more frequent returns home, if only for the respite.
Shepard, walking to the ship hand-in-hand with her bondmate, looked at Liara with a grin. {That would certainly be alright with me, A Grá}
Liara's face darkened slightly; dipping her head, she responded, {I did not necessarily intend for you to hear that, Grá mo Chroí, but… I don't believe returning here regularly in order to rest and recharge is a bad thing. I'm glad you agree with my assessment.}
Sam grinned in response to Liara's use of her ancient Gaelic, giving the blue hand she was holding a gentle squeeze. {You already know I will gladly follow your lead, wherever you may go. Having a short period of R&R, even if we need to return from the other side of the galaxy to enjoy it, is always a good thing. It's something one can look forward to.} They walked on in companionable silence, each enjoying the other's closeness, physically and through their link.
Riana and Sammi trailed behind the nearly oblivious couple, enjoying their own togetherness; the Asari maintaining a light meld with her Human lover by virtue of their joined hands. Sammi was doing her best to keep her tears in check, especially after being admonished by her lover. {Don't you dare start weeping out here Sammi. Having to leave you behind in order to travel with my mistress has me feeling bad enough already. I will only be gone for a few weeks – maybe even a month, but you know I will return to you. Always!}
They had reached the Aletheia's boarding ramp. Riana withdrew from her lover's mind as gently as possible, prompting Traynor to turn to face the commando, bringing their joined hands up to her chest as she moved. Smiling with just the corners of her mouth, she whispered, "I know you will return to me, Luv. It's just… you're gonna be so far away." Her lip quivered as she stared at the love of her life and continued in a slightly breaking voice. "Stay safe, Riana." Releasing her hands, Sammi threw her arms around the commando's leather-clad torso and applied her lips to those of her blue lover, kissing her as if it was the last time she'd ever be able to do so.
Riana happily reciprocated, embracing her Breá Ber'ah as tightly as possible. Releasing Sammi and backing away, she retrieved her packs and shoulder bag while whispering, "I love you with every fiber of my being, Samantha Traynor. Never doubt that for a moment."
"I am yours forever, Riana," came the response. "Go with the protection of the Goddess, my love!" Traynor backed away from the loading ramp, watched until Riana disappeared inside, then turned and walked to the area where many members of the House had gathered to see Lady Liara and her bondmate depart.
She started slightly as a hand unexpectedly settled on a shoulder. Livos Tanni gave Sammi's shoulder a gentle squeeze while softly reassuring her. "Your amantia will return to you, Ms Traynor." She studied the brown eyes regarding her, awash in unshed tears, and added, "You must realize she believes the sun rises and sets on you, Sammi. I truly believe you are a blessing, sent by the Goddess, to mend the hole in her heart left by the untimely death of Ryati." Livos grinned at the Human in an attempt to lift her spirits.
Traynor tentatively smiled back in return, replying, "That goes both ways, Captain." Glancing at the Aletheia as Pilot Lusmeni Thoni brought idling APUs up to operational speed and initiated main engine start, she steadied her gaze on the House Captain as she concluded, "The Goddess has blessed us both, in so many ways."
Joab, Enoch, At Large – 26 Aug 2190
"Who the hell are you?" asked the Asari on the vid screen.
"Colonel Sharon Culver, System Alliance Special Operations Commander." Sharon's face was granite as she continued, "I'm here with a team for ground security, to make sure no one sneaks into the compound while the scientific research team works." She suddenly smiled, surprising Aria as she continued, "And you must be Aria T'Loak. Shepard told me you possessed a commanding presence."
Aria hid her reaction to Shepard's name well, but Culver was excellent at reading people, so fully anticipated the next question. "How do you know Shepard?"
"Since way back… well, way back by Human standards, anyway." Culver took a deep breath and purposefully relaxed her shoulders. "She was assigned to the First Rapid Response Team straight out of tech school; I was lead for the first team and she was assigned to my squad. Straight out of school, she was the best damned Vanguard I'd ever seen."
Aria was suddenly interested, asking, "So she's always been that good?"
At that, Culver laughed. "Hell, yes. And she's scary better now. The way she's rolled multiple disciplines into her own, unique fighting style? I never want to be on the opposite side of whatever she's fighting for, that's for damn sure!"
"Well, then." Aria relaxed, almost imperceptibly. "I guess we have at least one piece of common ground then, but I still have to wonder why you're really here, seeing as the Council forced me to come out here to do their dirty work."
Just when Culver thought she had a grip on the situation, Aria tossed her a curve ball, so she simply had to ask, "Forced you? How in hell does anyone force you to do anything?"
"Didn't give me any options. Not really," Aria growled. "Hey. Do this for us, or we're parking a Council Fleet in your backyard." Aria glared at Culver as she added, "Not an option for me… so your presence here doesn't exactly please me either. Where the fuck are Shepard and Liara?"
"I can certainly see how that would piss you off…"
Before Sharon could continue, Aria cut her off. "Answer my question."
Culver fell silent for a few moments, directly meeting Aria's eyes. Shepard had warned her that Aria would challenge her, to see if she had the guts to stand against her. So, she squared her jaw and growled, "I was getting to that, if you'd be polite enough to let me finish my damned sentence, T'Loak. I realize this is your space and we're intruding, but we're not here to give you any grief, so some modicum of civility should not be beyond you. We're here to find the damned Protheans and go home. May I finish, please?"
Aria's eyes had narrowed at Sharon's tone but, by the end of her admonishment, her face held a bit of a smirk because of Culver's off-handed… politeness. Inclining her head ever so slightly, she replied, "By all means, Colonel Culver."
"Thank you." Sharon gave a nod and began again. "As I was saying, I can certainly see how the Council's demand could piss you off… but Shepard and Liara have their main mission to continue. Assuming they left Thessia on schedule, they should have arrived at Sharring this morning, to look at a couple of moons with old Prothean mining facilities built there."
"Why in hell would they do that?" Aria's brow wrinkled. "Those gas collectors closed down long before we ever arrived on scene. What the fuck do they expect to find there?"
"Hopefully, some seriously old records… stuff that no one thought worth the effort of scrubbing, like was done to just about everything here on Joab." Sharon paused, wondering just how much Aria knew, what she was fishing for, or if she was simply testing Culver to see how honest she was being with her. Going with the last option to be safe, she continued, "They hope to find the locations of older colonies… someplace where the Protheans may have gone to ground, to hide from the galaxy at large – including, possibly, the Reapers and the war."
"You honestly think the Protheans were trying to avoid the Reapers… again… instead of fighting them?" Aria actually sounded surprised at this.
"That's the leading theory right now." Sharon chuckled and shook her head. "We don't believe their numbers are very large and, you have to admit, we didn't exactly present a picture of unity that had any hope of actually winning a war against the Reapers. When the Protheans woke and relocated, we Humans were barely beginning our deeper explorations of space, in a war with the Turians over attempting to open a relay, an action we didn't even know was taboo. Hell, at that point, we didn't even know any other races existed! How would the Protheans know the savior of the galaxy existed amongst our ranks?"
At that, Aria actually cracked a smile, however short in duration. "I see your point; until I met Shepard, I likely would have bet on the Turians… or the fucking Krogan, again." She paused and dropped the arms crossed over her chest for the first time. "Alright. You can land on Joab and do your job, Culver… with one condition."
"And that would be?"
"If any Blue Suns show up, you call me… immediately." Aria's face picked up a wicked grin. "Those bastards are all mine."
"Oh, come on, T'Loak! I can't come and play?" Sharon hoped her smirk removed any perceived affront from her words.
"You're just as fucking bad as Shepard!" Sharon had apparently been successful, as the Asari responded with a borderline smile, "But, no. Not until I get to know you better… and am confident as to which way you'll be pointing your weapons."
Culver simply laughed. "You have no worries there, Aria. Taking you on would not only be stupid, it would also be suicidal… both of which I try to avoid at all costs. If you're an ally of Shepard, you may not know it yet, but you're an ally of mine as well. I'd bet my life on that woman's judgement." She paused and added, "Actually, I already have and I'm still here, so I guess I've previously won that bet, more than once."
Sharring, Theseus, Attican Beta – 26 Aug 2190
After departing the morning of the 23d, the Aletheia and her escorts had made easy work of the relay jumps through the Serpent Nebula, Exodus and Hades Gamma clusters to reach the Hercules system. The longest portion of the trip had then commenced – the FTL trip to the Theseus system… and Sharring. The last time they had been in the system was their trip to Feros, when they had initially picked up a signal from Sharring, leading to the discovery of a data disk.
The targets for this trip, however, were two of Sharring's multiple moons; both were well over 3,000 kilometers in diameter, with helium-3 mining facilities, apparently Prothean-constructed. It was the archaeological team's hope that the out-of-the-way facilities had been overlooked or simply bypassed by the Reapers during their previous attempted Prothean extinction, and some data or clues to other Prothean locations had somehow evaded the cleansing.
Liara was not looking forward to the moon-side visits; all were barren rock, with no atmosphere and, Liara imagined, colder than anyplace she had yet set foot upon. Along with Shepard, Riana, and Rasha, she was busy making final preparations for landing when the call came in, forcing her to excuse herself and go to the Bridge.
Asking, "What did you find, Lus?" as she entered, Liara then sat in the vacant co-pilot's chair.
"I'm not sure… but I think there may be someone actively working the helium-3 collectors, Doctor." Lusmeni pointed at the viewscreen. "This collector here is full and, though I have no way to prove it, I would swear I saw the blur of a cloaked vessel depart the station and head to the dark side of the moon."
Liara's immediate reaction was to reach out and tap her bondmate. {Shepard, can you join us on the Bridge, please}
{On my way, Love.}
"So… you just saw a blur in space… with no idea on the shape, make, or who could be piloting such a vessel… or running such an operation out here?"
Lusmeni shrugged, "Sorry, no. There's no way to tell, but I would pray to the Goddess that the Blue Suns haven't gotten their hands on stealth tech!"
Shepard walked in just as the pilot finished her sentence but had heard it all through the link. "Agreed. Things could get messy, fast, if the Suns have somehow managed to acquire a stealth vessel… of any kind. It most certainly wasn't in the plan, but we need to follow up on that… Don't you think so, Li?"
"Absolutely." Liara cast a concerned smile at the woman. "But I'm just not sure about the best approach, which is why I wanted you here."
"I think we send one of the frigates the other way around the moon… quickly… and we approach from this side, in a pincer maneuver… with our transponders pinging full up, so there's no question who we are."
Liara immediately looked at Lusmeni and nodded. "Make the call, please."
Realizing his family's safety was at stake, the Quarian disabled the ship's cloak and opened both voice and video communications. "This is Lule'Zisul vas Lureh. We are a peaceful private vessel, and my entire family is onboard. Please, do not harm us."
"This is Captain Nevada C'Valli of the T'Soni Corvette Liberation. What is your purpose here?"
"We are simple explorers who lucked upon this facility." Lule sighed. "We had hoped to get it working again and sell the H3 for much needed credits for some shuttle repairs that are long overdue." He glanced to his side and added, "That is, until you showed up… along with Aria T'Loak's fleet. We were just about to collect the filled canister when you dropped out of FTL; not realizing you were friendlies, we chose the better part of valor."
Liara had been listening in and nodded to Lusmeni to open the communicator so she could join the discussion. "Hello, Lule'Zisul vas Lureh. I am Doctor Liara T'Soni – accompanied by Captain Samantha Shepard – and we are here purely for archaeological expedition purposes. We have no intention of taking over your claim or removing any H3 from the site."
The Quarian's posture changed at the mention of the names, standing straighter and looking less… defeated. "Doctor T'Soni and Captain Shepard? It is an honor to meet you, but why would you be here?"
"We are looking for some lost Protheans and were hoping to get locational reference data from the systems left behind here." Liara smiled at the Quarian. "Old Prothean colonial sites to be specific, though I very much doubt they would be kind enough to leave us a map and make it easy on us." She ended with a soft chuckle, easing Lule's fears even more.
"We pulled the systems here apart but didn't find anything useful, at least not in that regard." He shrugged. "And while we did find data disks, they were nothing but fuzz and static, so we trashed them."
"Oh, Goddess, no! You didn't." Liara's eyes went wide, glancing at Shepard.
The captain had commented at the exact same time with a quiet, "Well, shit."
Lule immediately understood they were not pleased with his actions, so quickly added, "They're in the scrapper… but we haven't crushed or shredded any of it yet… so, just maybe, we can recover them for you? If they aren't too badly damaged? From the sound of it, I assume you have some way to read them."
"Yes, with a Prothean data device we managed to get working," Liara replied, "which, of course, we have on board with us."
Lule immediately smiled. "Then, we'll pop it open and start resorting the scrap, see if we can dig them all out for you."
'All?' thought Liara. "Just how many did you find?" Liara's eyes opened wide again, with yet another glance at her bondmate.
After a pensive pause, the Quarian answered, "I think we found a total of 3, maybe 4? We couldn't read any of them, so I quit counting. They were nothing but metal scrap, as far as we were concerned."
Sharring, Theseus, Attican Beta – 30 Aug 2190
It was amazing how much recyclable material the Quarians had gleaned from the defunct units. Lule and his family had scrapped four complete collectors to fix the one they now had operational. Two of the disks were simple operations programming disks… but another two had held data files which Shepard and Liara were in the process of reviewing.
"Stop!" Liara suddenly sat forward, her voice echoing the excitement she felt course through her body. "Back that up a bit, please."
Intrigued, Shepard asked, "Why? What did you see?"
"I'm not sure, so replay it, please, and be prepared to freeze-frame it."
Shepard did as she was asked, until Liara told her to stop once more. "That right there! Just like Ilos, I've seen that planet before… I just need to remember where… and when! Let me think." Liara stood and began pacing the compartment, mumbling to herself as she went. "Voyager? No, the star is not right. Could it be Nubian? No, that's not a binary either…"
"A binary system?" asked Shepard. "Your memory wouldn't have anything to do with the Manswell Expedition, would it? You know, the lost Human colony… rediscovered by the Asari in… 2186, I believe?"
Liara stopped and focused on that little piece of trivia for a moment before shaking her head, "No, I don't believe so. That one was almost a trinary system… as there is a third star that is also gravitationally bound…" She stopped herself from going down the random thread and looked at Shepard with something of a self-embarrassed smirk. "No, sorry… but thank you. You are likely much more familiar with Human space than I am. Any others you can think of?"
"There's always the Armstrong Nebula." Shepard smiled. "I always liked going there because it was so unique… It actually has two binary systems within, Tereshkova and Vamshi. I've never seen twin binaries in any of the other clusters I've been to and, compliments of the Reaper War, that's nearly every damn system in the galaxy."
"Then, is seems, we head to the Armstrong Nebula next." Liara nodded slowly as she processed the data. "Yes. I think, perhaps, it's the Tereshkova system I'm thinking of, so we'll start there… after we help Lule and his family with their ship repairs as thanks for the disks?"
Shepard smiled at herAnam Cara, adding a small chuckle before responding, "That would be a kind gesture, to be sure… especially after all the junk-crawling he did to find this disk for us."
"It's the least we can do," Liara answered distractedly, obviously still focused on the image freezeframed before her.
Tereshkova, Armstrong Nebula, At Large – 30 Aug 2190
"Everyone on your toes, here." Shepard stood at the vid screen, briefing all the ship and squad commanders. "Unless things changed during the Reaper war, this entire system is pirate heaven. My bet is the Reapers didn't put much of a dent in their activities here… Pirates are good at hiding, or the powers that be would have eradicated them long ago. I also don't imagine the Reapers cared to focus on small… what they considered irrelevant… groups. They still had plenty of major cities to focus on."
"What, exactly, are we scanning for here, Liara?" Jamika T'Ville, captain of the T'Soni corvette Freedom, asked.
"I'm afraid I don't have a specific answer to that, Jamika." Liara glanced at Shepard before continuing, "We're looking for any irregular signals that aren't Council race generated. So, if you hear or see anything that is unidentified, something that doesn't match any of our normal protocols, please bring it to our attention immediately. We are hoping to locate data disks, a pyramid research facility, or… if we are exceedingly lucky, a Prothean home base of some type."
"Understood, Doctor." Jamika nodded in agreement. "So, where do you want to start?"
Liara drew a deep breath before beginning her explanation. "The two outermost planets are nothing but cold rocks, maybe with some harvestable helium… but that, obviously, is not what we're looking for." She glanced at Shepard as she continued, "The fourth planet, Thegeuse, is much too cold to be habitable… and much like Hagalaz, with its tidal-locked poles creating the same type of vicious storms and gale-force winds around the equator. It would be a horrible place to live, but a great place to hide if you wanted to escape discovery."
"Agreed," nodded Shepard. "But… I think we'll save that for last, assuming we don't find anything elsewhere in this system. Our ships don't have the special lightening arrestors or any of the other special gear the Broker ship had so, without coordinates for a specific destination, I don't care to try our luck unnecessarily in that volatile atmosphere."
"Thank the Goddess," intoned Nevada. "I was really hoping that would be your response to that question."
"Me, too. I have spent enough time dodging lightning storms to last a lifetime," Liara chuckled quietly. "Even if the Protheans are there, they are welcome to it… and the privacy that comes with it." Glancing at Shepard, she added, "Though, had you insisted we need to check the planet, I would not have said no."
Shepard cast her a loving smile, catching Liara's vague reference to a certain event in the past that made her a bit warm under her collar. {Good thing we have a job to do, T'Soni…}
"So that leaves only three." Jamika was still waiting for a more direct answer, so asked, "So, I ask again… where do we start?"
Shepard grinned, completely understanding the captain's desire to get to the point and on with the mission. "Actually, that only leaves two; the third planet, Hunsalra, is a small hydrogen-helium gas giant. Extremely cold and completely unlivable, it's been used by Humans and passersby for garbage dumping and excess drive heat discharging for as long as I know."
Glancing around the compartment, Shepard shrugged. "So, I say, nothing like the nearest; let's just start where we are… with Patamalrus. From what I remember, it was a strong candidate planet for terraforming, as its atmosphere has a significant quantity of oxygen, both free and bound in sulphur dioxides. The project, however, was put on hold for additional research because of the possibility that simple life was developing on the surface."
"Why would that pause terraforming?" asked Nevada.
"Humans are really curious when it comes to how life began." Shepard smiled softly. "Known science contradicts every one of the various spiritual beliefs that have arisen on our planet, particularly regarding the divine nature of creation. So, Patamalrus was at the perfect stage for study, specifically regarding the creation of life by something other than a divine hand. As such, the scientific minds who would formulate the terraforming plan opted to study it before doing anything else." She released a quiet sigh before adding, "Inquiring minds need to know, and it's not as if Humans, or any other race for that matter, really need any more planets after the Reaper War reduced our populations by so much."
"Well, that's a hard truth, no matter how you look at it," answered the captain. "So, Patamalrus it is. Standard 2-ship search pattern, or three? Do you have other things you need to be doing with Aletheia, or will you be joining the search?"
"What do you think, Shepard?" asked Liara. "I think we can help scan."
"And I would agree, as long as we remain within comm range of one another." Shepard glanced between the two captains. "I'd hate to get jumped by pirates and not have back-up, even with Aletheia's boosted armor and armament. We're not a fighting ship."
"I concur," responded Jamika. "We use a wide-spread formation, with Aletheia in the middle, flanked by Liberation and Freedom. The three-wide pattern will enable us to make pretty quick work of the planet. In low orbit, each scanning pass should take less than two hours."
"And, unless we have to stop for pirates," added Nevada, "I would think it will only take, what? Ten or twelve passes to complete the initial surface scan?"
Shepard nodded in agreement. "So, less than a half of a Patamalrus day. We scan non-stop, then go back and look in-depth at any irregularities or signals that catch our attention." She looked to her bondmate. "Does that sound okay to you, Li?"
"I'll leave that up to the specialists, Samantha." Liara smiled. "That would also give us plenty of time to study what signals we do find along the way, to possibly begin prioritizing them?"
"And don't forget sleep," chuckled Shepard. "A day here is nearly twice as long as one on Thessia."
"You'll get no argument from me on that point." Liara grinned. "You know how much I love sleep."
"Yeah." Shepard rolled her eyes. "But I also know how easily you get caught up in your research and forget about sleep… and food… and just about everything else in your life when you latch onto something you find interesting."
"And that's why I have you to keep me grounded, Samantha." Liara smirked at the woman. "That's why I have you."
Antibaar, Tereshkova, Armstrong Nebula – 1 Sep 2190
The scans of Patamalrus revealed nothing but a decent iridium deposit so, after two days' of Thessian time, they moved on to Antibaar. Within the first ten hours of scanning, they picked up a familiar signal – one that had Shepard scratching her head.
"That's really odd." Shepard's face showed concern as she looked toward Liara. "We scanned these systems during the pirate raids early in my career. There was no indication of any emitting Prothean tech, much less a beacon." She shrugged, "Of course, it could have been moved here after the fact – by the very Protheans we're looking for – but I can't imagine moving a beacon can be very easy… especially if you're trying to be secretive about it. We definitely need to check this one out, Li."
"Absolutely." Liara looked at the two corvette captains on the conference vid comm screen. "And we should do it sooner, rather than later. If it is the Protheans, they may realize we have found them, and they could disappear again."
"But, it could also be a trap," Shepard added. "Built specifically to catch the people looking for the Protheans… so we go in full gear, full squads until we know differently." Shepard looked at the solemn faces, heads nodding in agreement. "Alright then, be prepared to drop in twenty."
Shepard felt the all-too-familiar tremble beneath her feet and shouted out a warning almost too late… but only almost. "It's a damned Thresher nest! Move!"
Memories of Edolus flashed through Samantha's mind and Liara felt the woman's rage sweep through her. Matching Shepard's fury was Liara's fear; fear for the lives of each and every commando who had accompanied them to the surface – a total of 24 from the two corvettes and the six from her own Personal Guard.
The fear, which could have been paralyzing, instead galvanized Liara to action. Without conscious thought, her SMG was suddenly in her hand, firing rapidly to augment her biotic warps, which flew as frequently as her remarkably short recharge interval would allow.
The commandos' response was also immediate. Years of training and their still-recent war with the Reapers had honed their reflexes to a fine edge. Running, diving, and flash-stepping their way around the beast, they let fly with both ammunition and biotics. Liara heard a scream of pain but had no time to search for whom it may be, focusing her own efforts on the waggling tongue at the back of the monster's throat.
The two closest to Liara – both in physical position and in spirit – Shepard and Riana, being primarily Vanguards, had to fall back onto more traditional battlefield tactics, but neither was helpless, by any definition of the word. Obviously, neither was going to actually charge a Thresher Maw, but their weapons skills and combat biotics were still in top form, throwing warp after warp after explosive round at the oversized worm.
Liara, even in the throes of battle, almost laughed when that particular thought bounded across the link. {Seriously, Shepard? A worm?} The grin she felt through their connection was the first thing to tell Liara that this was 'just another battle' in a day in the life of Vanguard Shepard.
She dove to the side, doing a combat roll to avoid a flying ball of acid spit, and popped right back up onto her feet to launch yet another powerful warp. Another commando cried out, not so lucky, and the humor of the situation immediately vanished, reminding Liara that not all the commandos here with them operated at the same skill level as Shepard and her primary House commandos. Even as the battle wore on, she thought about the need to remedy that shortfall.
{They are, after all, still members of House T'Soni… even if they are stationed on the corvettes.}
Shepard's agreement followed the thought that Liara didn't even realize she had broadcast. The Maw was showing obvious signs of slowing and Shepard feared it would retreat, only to attack again later. "Throw everything you've got at it! We need to take it down before it withdraws to lick it's wounds!"
Spurred on by the command, every commando still participating in the fight did exactly that; biotics, explosive ammo… even the shuttle pilot launched a defensive salvo into the mix as the Thresher let out an ear-piercing scream and collapsed upon the ground with a final shudder. Everyone stopped and stared for a few moments before letting out a collective sigh of relief. The Thresher Maw was dead.
"Thank the Goddess," whispered Liara, before turning to her teams. "Find everyone who is injured and in need of medical attention! We must tend to them first, before all else. Even if the Protheans appear out of nowhere and walk right up to us, our wounded come first!"
Dagnes, Bonler, Kepler System – 1 Sep 2190
"Ah, yes." A smile flashed across the Salarian's face. "We are getting very close now."
He looked once more at the analysis. "Somatic cells stabilized. Spindle proteins remain intact. Initial embryo implantation successful. Still have issues with inactivation of X chromosome selection… and still need choice of male for compatible Y chromosome."
He glanced quickly at his lab assistant. "This is excellent work. Are you any closer to locating a suitable donor with acceptable traits?"
"No, Doctor." The assistant wanted to duck but didn't dare show any such emotion to the geneticist, for fear of losing the best paying job she ever held. "Humans are particularly… sticky… when it comes to the release of their genetic data."
"Yes, yes, yes!" The doctor's voice reflected his irritation. "So many receive genetic modifications in utero now. Don't understand why they consider it so private. Should be proud to be enhanced beyond their natural capability. Look at Commander Shepard and Operative Lawson. Both better than the original ever would have been. Find a way to bypass their security and get into the root databases to find what we need."
"And what if I get caught?"
"Simple," answered the scientist. "Don't."
A/N: A nod to Theodur for the inspiration behind Culver's assessment of the status of the galaxy