Chapter 39
"Nice weather." Wrex said as he looked around the landing pad.
"Pragia's one of the most fertile planets in the known galaxy. I'm told if this foliage isn't cut back twice a day it will overrun the facility." Miranda said, grimacing as she noticed the lack of people.
"Strange. This place should be populated by thousands." Miranda said.
"Stay sharp. I don't like this." Wrex said. Miranda gasped when she entered the facility. There were no whole people, but there was the occasional limb strewn about the floor, all in what seemed to be the remnant of Cerberus uniforms. There were also an alarming amount of blood pools, still wet, on the floor.
"Look at this." Wrex said, pointing at a broken conduit sticking out of a wall, still sparking.
"Looks like someone forcibly removed it on the way out." Miranda said.
"I can see three other stations like… you hear that?" Wrex asked.
"No, what?" Miranda asked.
"It sounds like someone crying. That way." Wrex said pointing off in the distance.
"Let's go then." Miranda said, but wrex stopped her.
"Hold on there Lawson. For all we know whoever's crying is the one that did all this. We go in slow and quiet." Wrex said. Miranda nodded, opting to trust in Wrex's seven centuries of experience. They crept down the corridors as quietly as possible until they happened upon a locked door next to a giant opening covered in a mirrored surface. When they arrived the crying stopped.
"What the fuck is this?" Wrex asked
."Two-way mirror. Whoever is inside can see us." Miranda said.
"Shit." Wrex said. A barrier snapped into existence around him just in time to prevent a ball of blue light from crashing into him
.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
"David?" Tali asked, looking on in horror as Kai Leng crumpled to the ground and moaned.
"It's Harry, Tali. He's using a potion called polyjuice, it can change your appearance down to the cellular structure, though your mind remains the same. He'll be back to his infuriating self in a few moments." Anderson said
"Y-your mom's infuriating…" Harry stammered.
"I'll tell her you said that." Anderson said with a grin.
"NO! She makes the best cookies in the universe." Harry said, stretching his back as his appearance finished reverting.
"Harry!" Tali said, running over to him and hugging him.
"Hey Tali." Harry said happily.
"We were worried about you, you bosh'tet!" Tali said.
"I know, I'm sorry. Grief makes even the best of us do stupid shit." Harry said, stepping back, and looking through the doorway.
"We should check on your dude." Harry said, gesturing through the door.
"Right.." Tali said, stepping through the newly opened door. The Humans followed behind and looked around.
"You! You used to be someone else! Or… Did you always look like that? I don't… I don't remember." Veetor said, pointing at Harry.
"I get that a lot. Admiral Harry Potter, retired." Harry said, offering the nervous Quarian his hand.
"Veetor'Naran, though I suspect you're aware of that." Veetor said, looking down and his hand and then back up into his eyes. Harry shrugged and retracted it.
"Yup! My friend Tali here let us know you'd be holed up in here. Smart move by the way, Collectors are violent bastards." Harry said.
"Agreed." Veetor said, turning and activating the monitors behind him, displaying the reconstructed surveillance footage from the collector attack.
"Shit… Can we get a copy of this?" Harry asked.
"This equipment belongs to your people, I'm only here on pilgrimage." Veetor said.
"Right.. forgot about that. Find anything good for a gift?" Harry asked. Veetor sighed.
"No, and I suspect I won't find anything here." Veetor said. Harry shrugged.
"Go to an Alliance world. You'll be safe, and there's tons of work available, especially in engineering." Harry said, frowning when he noticed Veetor's gaze seemed to be alternating wildly from him, to the others to the room, to the door behind them.
"Dave, Kaidan, you mind waiting outside?" Harry asked. Anderson looked at Alenko before shrugging and stepping outside. Veetor relaxed slightly.
"Mate, you doing ok?" Harry asked.
"Yes! Well… I don't know." Veetor said.
"Veetor, did you experience a suit rupture?" Tali asked.
"I'm not sure." Veetor said, bringing up his omnitool. A holographic image of a generic Quarian environment suit appeared above it, and three areas were highighted in red.
"Keelah!" Tali said, rushing over to him.
"S-Stay back!" Veetor cried.
"Let me try, Tali." Harry said. She reluctantly nodded.
"Veetor, you have three suit punctures. See?" Harry asked, pointing at the image. Veetor looked at the image, then back to Harry.
"I feel fine. How do I know this isn't some sort of trick?" Veetor asked.
"I suppose you don't. Let me ask you something though, you're aware of your mental health diagnoses right?" Harry asked, pulling a chair out from under a table and sitting on it.
"Y-yes…" Veetor said.
"You've had troubles with paranoia and delusions before, right?" Harry asked, reading his omnitool. Veetor nodded.
"So, let's assume for the sake of argument, you're having a bit of an attack right now. Tell me, How would I benefit from harming you in any way?" Harry asked.
"I… I don't know." Veetor said. Harry nodded.
"Right, and I'm with Tali here. The daughter of an admiral. Do you think she'd ever let me bring harm to a Quarian on his pilgrimage?" Harry asked. Veetor looked at Tali, cocking his head sideways.
"You know how important our pilgrims are, Veetor." Tali said.
"Besides that, there are only seventeen million of you left and each one of you is precious." Harry said.
"C-can you fix my suit?" Veetor asked.
"Sure thing. I'm gonna go over there now, ok? I'll take it slow." Harry said, standing and making his way over. Veetor was shaking but stayed still.
"You heard of magic?" Harry asked, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the Elder Wand.
"I've heard rumors… Is it real?" Veetor asked. Harry nodded.
"I'm going to use it to repair your suit, then, if needed, I can use it cure any fever you might have." Harry said.
"You're sure he can be trusted?" Veetor asked.
"I'd trust him with the lives of my crew." Tali said. Veetor looked towards Harry
"Please." Veetor said. Harry went to work. The suit was easy to patch, and despite his mental illness, physically Veetor was in remarkable shape, his weak immune system was valiantly resisting the infectons that were trying to take hold of him. Harry's magic did the rest and in a few moments Veetor's temperature was normal and he was as relaxed as someone in his condition could be.
"Alright. Now, do you want to return to the fleet with Tali, or do you want to go somewhere else?" Harry asked.
"I have to complete my pilgrimage…" Veetor said.
"You know they made an exception for you, Veetor." Tali said.
"I must complete my pilgrimage!" Veetor said, heatedly.
"How about Earth? You have any idea how much our shipyards would pay for engineering services from a Quarian, especially one with your aptitudes?" Harry asked calmly.
"They… they would hire one of us?" Veetor asked.
"Tali here worked aboard the Alliance Navy's most advanced frigate, both as an engineer and in ground support. Hell I can think of three companies I could land you a job at right now." Harry said, bringing up his omnitool, tapping at it.
"I'd recommend Miami Shipworks, there's a booming Turian tourist market nearby so there are quite a few dextro friendly restaurants." Harry said, entering a command that lit up Veetor's omnitool.
"Alternatively, if you prefer, we can bring you anywhere else or simply leave you here." Harry said.
"I will go to Earth then." Veetor said, nodding.
"Sounds like a plan. I'll ask Dave to bring you back with him. Tali… are you in a rush to get back to the fleet?" Harry asked with a grin.
"Not particularly, especially now that Veetor is safe. Why?" Tali asked. Harry smiled and gestured for her to follow. When they were back outside Harry spoke.
"I've got something interesting to show you." Harry said.
.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
"Keelah!" Tali said as she looked down in amazement at the unconscious form of her former commander.
"How? She fell from space onto Alchera!" Tali asked.
"Mag-" Harry said but was interrupted.
"I will shoot you." Tali said. Harry frowned.
"I'd berate you for forgetting Fawkes, but I know what it's like to be lost in grief." Anderson said, gazing down at his protege.
"How long you think until she wakes up?" Kaidan asked.
"No idea. Phoenix tears can heal any injury, but coming that close to death and being ripped back into this world, it's an extreme shock." Harry said knowingly.
"I'm so happy!" Tali squealed.
"The Normandy crew and Alliance command are aware, but the galaxy at large doesn't know yet." Harry said, pulling a blanket over her and leaning down to kiss her forehead, before leading them out of his ship's medbay.
"So what's next?" Ashley asked.
"My priority is Jane. I'll do everything I can to help her get through this, and once that's complete, I'm going after the collectors again." Harry said.
"The Alliance is bolstering planetary defenses at all of its outpost worlds, even the Terminus System settlements. They were resistant at first, but it's clear the Collectors are targeting Humanity." Anderson said.
"I'm guessing the Council is not interested in helping." Kaidan spat.
"No, but the Turians and Asari are unofficially shifting resources around to help. The Migrant Fleet has doubled up security on all of their transport runs between Harry's companies and the council worlds. Strangely, Aria T'Loak has offered to monitor traffic to and from the Omega-4 Relay." Anderson said.
"That's odd. She never intervenes on behalf of anyone not living on Omega." Tali said.
"Yeah…" Harry said, sheepishly.
"What did you do?"
-Flashback-
"Complain all you want, if you wish to continue doing business with the council, then you'll have the payment ready on time." Sparatus said, sitting smugly at his desk, glaring at an irate Aria.
"Do you have any idea the resources I have at my disposal, Turian? The dirt I have on all of you?" Aria barked.
"And do you realize that with the stroke of a pen I can have the entire Citadel Defense force which is comprised of a dozen dreadnoughts, most of which of Turian and Human make, parked outside of Omega with weapons trained on your main reactors in a matter of hours?" Sparatus countered.
"Now sure would be a bad time for some nosy Human to come barging in." Harry said, stepping casually into Sparatus' office.
"What the hell are you doing here, Potter?" Sparatus cried.
"Being nosy." Harry said with a grin, before turning to Aria.
"I don't believe I've had the pleasure." Harry said, offering his hand. She shook it.
"Aria T'Loak." Aria said. Harry's eyes widened.
"The Queen of Omega? Nice. I was looking to meet you at some point." Harry said sincerely. Aria raised an eyebrow.
"Why?" Aria asked.
"Ot-nay in front of the ithead-shay." Harry said, gesturing at Sparatus.
"I don't… What are you getting at, Human?" Sparatus said.
"Sorry, it's what we humans call 'Pig Latin.' Translated roughly it means 'Mind your own business, asshole.'" Harry said, slowly. Sparatus growled, while Aria snickered.
"GET OUT OF MY OFFICE, BOTH OF YOU!" Sparatus shouted. Harry shrugged and stepped outside, followed by a still chuckling Aria.
"Well that was certainly entertaining." Aria said.
"What was he on about anyway?" Harry asked.
"What's it to you?" Aria asked, rather defensively. Harry shrugged.
"I'm always looking for ways to piss off Sparky back there." Harry said. Aria grinned.
"He's extorting Omega. We pay an agreed upon rate, mostly in the form of refined eezo, to the council, in exchange for protection from Batarians and Terminus Pirates. Sparky, as you called him, has been taking a bit more off the top each year." Aria said. Harry frowned.
"Oh no. no, no no no no…" Harry said.
"I'm not bullshitting you." Aria said.
"No, I didn't think you were." Harry said, bringing up his omnitool. Aria gaped when she saw the image of Primarch Fedorian appearing over his omnitool.
"Harry! What can I do for you?" Fedorian asked.
"Hello Primarch. So I just discovered a bit of rather alarming information about your esteemed Councilor." Harry said. Fedorian rolled his eyes.
"Spirits, what has he done now?" Fedorian asked.
"Extorting Omega for one. He threatened to fire on their main reactor, killing a hundred thousand civilians, if Aria didn't pay up." Harry said. Fedorian said nothing, but Harry could hear glass shattering and see his eyes twitching.
"He has, has he?" Fedorian said.
"Yeah, heard it from the woman herself, say hi, Ms. T'loak!" Harry said, pointing the omnitool at her.
"Uh, hi?" Aria said.
"Hello Ms. T'loak. Could you please provide me with a detailed accounting of all payments made to the council through Sparatus for as long as this arrangement has been in place.
"It would be my pleasure." Aria said, looking shocked.
"In the meantime, don't give him a single credit. If he tries to move even a shuttle under his influence to the Omega sector I'll flay him alive in front of the Hierarchy chambers." Fedorian growled.
"Thank you, Primarch." Aria said. Fedorian nodded and cut the comms.
"So.. Tell me about Omega." Harry said with a grin
-End Flashback-
"They have tennis courts now!" Harry said.