Chapter Thirteen: Temozarela
"Our pain has a purpose." -Romans 5:3-5
A few days had passed since the ship left Omega. Rinn felt safe for the first time in months—or at least relatively safe. Ever since she had stolen the information from the Andromeda Initiative scout, she had been on the run from every manner of Merc and rogue trader in the Terminus systems.
This group of people didn't seem overly aggressive, not like everyone else threatening to kill her. They almost didn't seem to care now that they knew where it was. Rinn wanted to convince the rest to help her get the object, but in order to do that, she needed to contact the fleet and tell them what she had found.
The human, Martin, seemed almost disappointed by where the artifact was, nearly torn between wanting to go after it. She had thought maybe it was because he didn't know exactly what the Geth were like. He didn't understand the situation.
The Asari, Athria, wanted nothing to do with it. Hell, she seemed to be hiding something.
The pilot, Dez, was completely on Athria's side.
If she could convince them, maybe she'd have a chance at grabbing it.
Rinn was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the familiar sound of the storage door opening. She was curious about what Martin and Athria were planning to do with them. She leaped out of the Captain's Quarters and across the hall to see the door open, Martin holding his pistol in his hand, and Athria right beside him.
Dez stood outside the door, looking in, with her predator pistol in her hand. "What's going on?" Rinn asked Dez.
"They wanted to question them, see what they knew," Dez calmly replied. Rinn looked down at her right hand. She was holding the pistol firmly, tapping her index finger on the safety.
"Do you think they will try to escape?" Rinn asked, looking down at the pistol.
"This isn't for them," she replied coldly. I'm staying an execution."
Rinn recoiled; she didn't understand what Dez was getting at. "What do you mean?"
"Well, Napoleon here," Dez nodded to Martin. He killed every Batarian on this ship, which wouldn't have been a bad thing, except when he threw one out the airlock." Rinn was still confused. It sounded a little harsh, maybe, but taking over a slave ship and killing the enemy crew didn't seem like a morally questionable thing. "-at light speed."
"Oh," Rinn replied. "Yeah, oh, who does that? There wasn't any point in killing the guy; he had already surrendered. If the Batarians figure out we are Joy riding in their ship, we are all dead." Dez explained.
Rinn's memory floated back to her rescue from the Turian ship, how focused Martin was, and then further to when she contacted Rilo after she had spoken to him. "This human, he's different. I don't think he means you harm. He might be able to help you. He's an exile of sorts." The memory of Rilo faded as she stepped away from the wall and toward the door to listen in.
"You can't be serious; the information has to be wrong," the Batarian said, almost panicked. Then it's impossible to get; no one can survive that," the Salarian added, looking over to the Batarian.
"Now that you know the truth of the matter, we will drop you off on Illium, and you can go about your own way; if you try anything between then and there, we don't have any problems putting you back in your hole," Athria warned. The two nodded in agreement and were let out of the room.
Martin and Athria followed just behind them, stopping in front of Rinn and Dez. "So you just told them everything?" Rinn asked.
Martin chuckled, "Yeah, poor bastards. Why not let them know? They can be a target once we get off the ship. Misery loves company and all that."
"Not to mention, now that they know, they won't be as enthusiastic about trying anything stupid. They got what they wanted," Athria added.
Dez's Omni-tool began alerting her. "Shit, we are about to drop out of the relay. We will be on Illium soon." Martin nodded to dismiss her, not that she acknowledged it or cared.
"I'll be on the bridge if you need anything." Athria nodded to both of them.
Martin turned to Rinn, "Well, this turned out to be a bummer." He turned away from her and started walking; she assumed he would head back to the passenger cabin, where he had been staying away from everyone else. It was a strange dynamic between everyone; Dez seemed to dislike him but somewhat listened to him, maybe because it just so happened that his orders were parallel to hers. Athria, on the other hand, seemed to be on the same command level, almost sharing the decision-making process. Although it was clear she knew more than he did on many subjects.
Rinn decided to wait a few minutes before trying to find Martin; she needed to know what he planned to do once they got on Illium.
She crept into the bunk room as quietly as she could. She knocked on the door to let him know she was there and closed the door behind her. Martin was lying in one of the bottom bunks, with his arm stretched behind his head. "You good?" He asked.
Rinn walked up to him sheepishly and sat in a bunk across from him. "I just wanted to know the plan when we got to Illium." She asked quietly.
Martin sighed heavily, pausing for a moment to gather his thoughts. "I'm not all too sure. Athria needs to send a message to her contacts. Tell them what we know. Hopefully, I'll get paid. Then, if everything goes well, we can figure out where to go. Preferably somewhere distant and quiet."
"What about me?" Rinn asked, still unsure how she fit into all of this. We will keep you safe until we figure everything out. I mean, not that we have a choice. I'm sure the rumors will get out eventually," he added calmly.
She sat quietly for a few moments, uncertain what to say. "So, how did you get involved in all of this mess?" Martin asked, moving his arm to his side and turning himself in the bunk toward her.
"By accident." Her short answer seemed to have surprised him, or he didn't believe her. "Accident? The Initiative swears you stole the information."
Rinn perked up, shaking her head in disagreement. "No. I was on the Altakiril colony for a few months, following a lead on a small bounty on a Turian.-"
"You were a bounty hunter?" Martin asked with surprise. "Not quite," she laughed back. "But I needed the Credits." She paused for a second, seeing him smile a bit before continuing.
"This human landed on the planet a few days later. He was crazy, blabbing on about how he found the 'Voice of God' and how it spoke to him. The Turians kicked him out when he wouldn't shut up. The next day, I found him dead behind a building. No gunshot wounds, just dead. I scanned his Omni-tool, found the information, and left." Martin's smile faded into a serious expression.
"And after seeing that, you thought it was a good idea to go after it?" Martin questioned.
Rinn stood up, her pulse slightly raised. "You don't understand. I was on the citadel. I saw how much the Geth had changed. That tech from the dreadnought is far ahead of anything the Council races have. The readings that the dead human had matched the tech signatures of the Dreadnought. My people need this tech if we are to take back our homeworld."
"Wait, wait, wait a minute." Martin motioned with his hands. "You said the dead guy had scans on the thing?"
Rinn moved sharply to him to emphasize her point: "Yes, I don't know how, but he did. Or at least someone did."
"How the fuck?" Martin questioned under his breath. "How do we know these scans and this place are connected?" Martin sat up in his bunk, getting closer to her.
"He kept a log, lists of contacts, ship manifest, and itinerary, but the nav locations are all encoded except for the destination. It's mostly here, even video footage of his team finding it." She waited, letting the word sink into his brain, but he seemed exasperated like a burden was being put on him.
Martin rubbed his face with his hands and exhaled with some might. Rinn could see his thoughts were backpedaling and his excitement fading. "Let's just get to Illium and figure out what's going on." he paused. "This tug boat won't make it regardless." Defeated, Rinn shut off her Omni-tool she had hoped to convince him, but it was clear he needed more motivation.
""""""""""""""
Esel stayed on the bridge after they were let out of the storage room. She knew her every move was being watched by the Asari sitting on the other side of the room. She didn't particularly blame them. They did attack them twice, what she hadn't fully understood was why they decided to tell them where the Artifact was. It would have been easier to kill them or throw them out the airlock. Not that she was angry at their decision but still something was up.
Her thoughts turned to Bekar, who was probably skulking around the ship. His pride was hurt after the Human kicked their asses, but getting taken down by the target was probably too much for him. Esel didn't feel safe enough to move, sure they gave them permission to move about the ship, excluding the sensitive parts, but she knew they didn't trust them.Better to stay away from him.She thought.
The Asari stood up from her chair and began to walk out of the room. "Hit the alarm if anything happens," she told the pilot as she exited. A few moments went by as the ship dropped into the system. "We have arrived in the Tasale System ETA to Illium is ten hours." The pilot dropped her hand from the ship's intercom. " I don't know how," she murmured.
The pilot whipped her chair around in Esel's direction. The pilot had a smug look on her face and her predator pistol in her lap. Esel felt her heart pick up the pace, and her hands began to sweat slightly. "Do you make it a habit to hold people hostage, or was that a one-time thing?"
The pilot's somewhat menacing act unnerved her; she didn't have a weapon to defend herself, and her omni-tool was taken from her.
Esel kept her unphased composure, folding her hands in her lap. Hoping the human wouldn't fire the weapon at her, but then again, it was probably nothing more than just a posture, an empty threat. The pilot didn't seem the type to kill a defenseless sapient.
"Not unless I see the need." Esel expressed truthfully.
The pilot paused, not saying a word, her expression unchanged. She was probably still angry with the way Bekar treated her, but then again, he wasn't terribly rough with her. "Is this artifact really worth all this trouble? Taking hostages? Hijacking ships? Holding each other at gunpoint?"
"I don't know; you are the one holding the gun." Esel smiled cooly at her waiting to see her reaction. To her surprise, the Pilot picked up the pistol from her lap and returned it to the console next to her. "I don't know anything about you, but once we get to Illium I would keep away from this group." The pilot's cold words indicated to Esel that maybe she was roped into this situation against her will or by chance.
"You aren't a part of this?" Esel asked. The pilot's stiff movements and posture relaxed, and she began to laugh. "Hell no, I'm just trying to get home."
The bridge door opened, and the Male Human entered. He seemed to have changed his clothes and removed his armor; his hair was wet as if he had just taken a shower. "We all getting along up here?" he asked, looking over the both of them.
"For the most part," the pilot responded. The man nodded and looked back at Esel before taking his seat in the captain's chair. "Dez, are we going to have any issues with docking?" He asked.
Dez turned her chair directly toward him. "We shouldn't; as long as we use the same dock they used last time, it shouldn't matter. All their Nav points, IFF, and automated protocols are still stored; we shouldn't have a problem."
The Human male nodded again, "Good; once we touch down, we will need to bail from the ship as soon as possible. I don't want anyone to notice us if we can avoid it. I have an apartment a small distance from the docks we can regroup there and figure out what to do."
Esel turned to the Human, "What are we supposed to do?"
The man chuckled and turned his body toward her. "I don't care; you can go find a ride back to Omega, hit the bar, jump off a building. It will be a cold day in hell before you two follow us." His cold words matched the cold look in his eyes, which seemed to pierce through her. The few scars on his face added to his intimidation.
"""""""""""""""""""
Dez was completely correct about landing on Illium. Not a word had to be spoken, and not credit had to be paid to land the ship on the planet. Martin was a little sad leaving that ship; he enjoyed playing Captain for the short time that it had lasted. Martin took a breath of the hot air that they inhabited. It still wasn't as fresh as he wanted, a little too humid for his liking, but it was leagues better than Omega. The Salarian and the Batarian were told to wait in the ship until they were out of sight, a precaution and a bit of a trap. Martin had planned to leave first to make it look like they were the tourists, and of course, once the Dock managers saw the Batarian, they would assume he was a crew member. He hoped the fees for docking would hold them up there for some hours.
The four made the trip to Martin's apartment building. Athria commented several times about how high up the building the apartment was. Usually, on Illium, the higher the apartment, the more expensive it is. He thought that he may have hinted at the jealousy in her voice.
They exited the elevator and headed to his apartment door. Remembering what happened last time, he checked the lock. "Still locked, thank God," he murmured. He took out his key card, unlocked the door, and entered.
Martin sat down his things on the couch as the others filtered in; his eyes wandered to the glass windows that lined the left side of the room. "Looks like the landlord replaced the windows." He walked over and polarized the glass so no one could see in.
Athria didn't skip a beat and set up her laptop on the table in the dining area as Dez ogled the apartment. "How much did you pay for this place?" she asked in amazement before turning and seeing the couch with bullet holes. "I pay seven thousand credits a month," Martin answered, still looking out the window. "Would it have killed you to get a new couch? Or did you find this in the trash?"
Martin turned and headed into the living room, remembering what had happened to the couch. "Oh, yeah, that." He said, sucking in air through his teeth. "Some bitch tried to kill me. Didn't have time to replace it. Still should be good to sit on." he shrugged. Rinn sat down in the chair across from the chair, bouncing her leg, nervous about something.
"You okay over there?" Martin asked, pointing to her leg. "Yes, I'm fine." She replied, stopping her leg.
"So, now what?" asked, slapping her hands on her thighs. Martin turned to Athria with her head buried in her computer. "Waiting."
Martin turned his head back to Dez and shrugged.
Rinn stood up, shutting down her omni-tool "I do have to go somewhere." Rinn sheepishly spoke up. She began walking to the door as Athria looked up at her and quickly to Martin, giving him the eye signal to stop her.
"Damnit." He said under his breath. "Wait, we shouldn't go off on our own like that." Rinn stopped and turned around. "I have to do this."
"I get that, but if we split up, it makes us easier targets." Martin's authority caught everyone's attention. "If anyone needs to leave, they need an escort. No one leaves this apartment without either me or Athria." Martin signaled to Rinn and Dez, "We can handle the fighting. We have the experience to keep you safe; if you run off by yourselves, we might not be able to help."
"Very well, Barbarian, are you volunteering?" Rinn suggested in jest.
Martin was hoping not to leave the apartment so soon; he really wanted a nap, but if he didn't, then she would probably go alone. "Fine, just let me gather my shit."
Athria quietly giggled to herself, smiling at the Quarian. "Barbarian thing has to stop," Martin murmured loudly.
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Rinn and Martin took to the streets of Illium, walking side by side through the crowds. Rinn was expecting the crowds to be larger like Omega's, but they were light by comparison. She felt awkward having him as a tag-along, but he was right—they needed the security of numbers. There was no telling when or if anyone would try to come and get them.
Rinn eventually led them to a transport hub. As night began to fall, they shared a bench together, with Martin spending most of his time watching the sunset in the distance. Eventually, he began to get impatient and directed his attention to her.
"So, who the hell did you contact so fast? Who are we meeting?". He asked, rubbing his hands together.
"I managed to get a message out to the flotilla between jumps," she quickly answered. Rinn saw his eyebrows raise and then settle, almost as if signaling his ignorance.
"What Floatilla?" She turned her head to him. Most at least knew of the Quarian Flotilla. He couldn't be serious. "The Quarian Flotilla, my people have been without a home world for three centuries. You didn't know this?"
Martin side eyed her before darting his eyes away, then resting his elbows on his knees. "Sorry, I'm not from around here. Kinda anyway."
He seemed to shrug off his ignorance as easily as dust off his shirt. Either he was used to it or didn't care enough to learn. "I'm going to guess you are from Earth?" insinuating his ignorance came from a Human lack of education or travel.
"Yeah, I guess you can say that." His response was cryptic and wavy. "You guess, you don't know?" She asked, pressing the subject.
He sighed as if annoyed by the questions, "Yes, I was born on Earth, but I guess when Earth was different." His voice peaked at the end, and he again shrugged.
"That still doesn't make any sense."
Martin scratched the side of his face with his covered hand and turned his head slightly towards her. "It's kinda an awkward story."
Rinn motioned with his hands for him to continue.
"Well, if you must know, I was born in 2076 to a land called 'The United States'-"
She interrupted his overly dramatic explanation. "Wait, you're a hundred and seven?" Martin held up his finger in disapproval of being cut off. Yes, if you'd let me explain." He paused to wait for any more interruptions and then continued.
"To make a long story short, I was volunteered for a cryo experiment around 2099, I somehow got lost. Go figure, and was found some years later and used for genetics testing. Without my consent, I might add. I was transported around while I was put back on ice, and the friendly Batarians picked me up for playtime." He stopped for another breath. "Shorter story, shorter. I busted out with some help and have been trying to figure everything out since."
"So, excuse my lack of knowledge about everything." He finally finished.
"That's why Athria calls you Barbarian," Rinn said, connecting the dots.
"Unfortunately," he paused as he sat straight on the bench and glanced at his left foot on his right knee. She thinks I'm a complete idiot." He motioned his hand in a circular pattern for a moment as if to coax the words out of his mind. "Which she might not be completely wrong, but who do they call when they want something or someone broken? Me." He huffed a bit before ending the rant.
"Why don't you go back to Earth and start over?" She asked, fragilely. Martin shook his head, "What's the point? My home was lost in the war, probably paved over by now. No relatives that would even care who I am or was. Earth could blow up tomorrow, and I'd have no reason to shed a tear. What's the point of an existence without connection?"
His words clashed with her understanding of everything it meant to be a Quarian. His world existed, but he did not—just a forgotten soul adrift in the void. For the Quarians, the homeworld was a goal; for him, it sounded like an empty promise. Rilo may have been right after all—he was an Exile—just a different kind.
Martin clapped his hands together just once to break her concentration. "But anyways, I think I see more of you coming."
The three Quarian's began approaching them. They seemed modestly armed; their suits were less worn than hers. Rinn and Martin stood up from the bench, shaking off their long wait. "Do you need me to step away for this?" Martin asked. "No, it should be fine." she quickly replied.
Her heart sank into her chest, and a lump formed in her throat. Truth was, she was nervous and didn't want to be completely alone. This was the first time in years that she was able to speak to anyone from the Flotilla, and the thought of screwing this up was at the forefront of her mind.
The three representatives halted just a few feet away from them. The lead Quarian stood at parade rest, his back straight and stiff. "Exile," he proclaimed, looking down at her.
"I have a name," she protested. "Of course," the man nodded to her. Martin stood next to her, arms folded, looking out around them.
"What is this about exactly?" The leader asked. Rinn lifted her arm and began working her omni-tool, and in return, the leader shifted out of his superior posture to look at the data on his own.
"Interesting," he said quietly. This would be an interesting find if you could retrieve it. Otherwise, this data is worthless."
Martin raised an eyebrow at the Quarian leader's dismissive tone
"Worthless?"
"Rinn has been on the run for months because of this information, and it's worthless?"
The leader shifted his gaze to Martin. He seemed annoyed at the intrusion. "And who might you be?"
"Martin," he responded curtly. The leader seemed to examine Martin's rough and unusual exterior before dismissing his statement.
"I fear for your safety if this is the company you keep." The leader's slight in the statement, while said at Rinn, was more directed at Martin.
She felt insulted by the statement, her heart rising back into her chest. "And yet, he was the one who came to get me out of Turian custody."
The leader returned to his parade rest not wanting to push the argument further. "The fact of the matter is, without the physical artifact in hand, this information is unusable, I highly doubt the fleet will allocate any resources for recovery due to its location."
Rinn's body waited anxiously for the leader to end his sentence.
"But it could show us how much the Geth have changed. This is clearly different from anything we've seen yet!"
The female Quarian beside the leader scoffed. "You're asking us to send our people on a suicide mission. Why should we listen to an exile and her human companion?"
The leader glanced at his companions, then back at Rinn. "Even if the mission was successful, we won't just be endangering the lives of those sent. The repercussions could be disastrous for the rest of the galaxy. We don't want to provoke a larger war with the Geth."
Rinn's excitement retreated almost as fast as it came. She turned to Martin, whose face seemed to relax, or so she thought. He said nothing. "Take the information, show the Admirals, maybe they will do something about it." Rinn scoffed.
The leader gave a very slight bow. "Yes, they will still want to see what you've brought us, but I don't see much coming from it." He relaxed from his stiff posture and dropped his shoulders, "I can understand your need for this, Rinn, I do, but we must remain logical about the risks. I wish you luck with your endeavors." The leader turned slightly to Martin, glaring at him for a moment before continuing to follow his escort.
"Lovely jackass," Martin commented. Rinn felt exhausted, the toll of the short conversation was taxing on her. "We should probably go." He added.