*****A Cursed Existence*****
Entry 22: A Deal You Can't Refuse
AN: Picking up where we left off. Also, longer than usual author's note at the bottom, though there's a reason for it. Anyway, shall we?
Meanwhile, back on Feros…
Having… borrowed? Acquired? Taken with permission? Whatever term you want to use; anyway, having gotten ahold of a car for transport, I made my way across the skyway, the road actually being in a half decent condition. It made sense, considering there haven't been any geth invading here yet. As for the car itself and how it handled… well…
"Apologies, Mistress, but this vehicle is of subpar manufacturing," Aena said as we went over another slight bump that, because of the car's design (which is to say: unnecessarily weird) resulted in the entire vehicle bouncing as a result. Credit where it's due, it recovered quickly, but whoever designed the shocks for the car clearly never thought about even marginally high gravity worlds. They were stiff, ridiculously so even, and you could feel every single slight change in the pavement.
Grunting by way of response, I tried to find a more comfortable way to sit. Unfortunately, while the armor I wore was many things, designed to be worn during a bumpy ride wasn't one of them. A little funny considering you'd think long distance ground transport would be something they'd keep in mind for, oh, you know, combat armor, but what do I know?
The ride continued for a few more minutes before we pulled to a stop inside the ExoGeni building, the doors opening for our arrival. Apparently, they had decided to roll out the welcome mat. Odd considering that I wasn't someone that should've been on their radar (aside from being a new visitor) but I wasn't complaining.
Once I actually stepped out from the car/truck, I understood the reason why: they had a shield up and blocking off the entryway.
"Rude," I found myself muttering, though the fact they let me in at all said enough. I had an idea as to why, but I needed more info before I could get a proper grasp of things.
Looking at the barrier, I noticed the guard right behind it, who was basically the definition of generic rent-a-cop: male human, medium build, dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, and somewhat tanned skin. He was so generic I had to remind myself about his existence after I glanced away at hearing Aena get out of the car.
Hmm. Well, let's get this over with, shall we?
Walking up to the barrier, I stood there and stared at the human, expecting him to say something. He, in fact, did not. Giving it a few more seconds, I eventually raised a brow at seemingly being ignored after they let me in.
Now that I think about it, can people even see it when I raise my brow? Not like I actually have eyebrows anymore, and unlike a lot of asari out there, I don't have any makeup or paint on. Huh. Maybe I should steal a page from the T'Soni's and paint myself some eyebrows? Something to think about I guess.
Giving the guard another second or two to react, I decided on some drastic measures. Leaning my hip out, I placed a hand on it and sighed, all while giving the guard a look. The look didn't have a real name, sure, but when combined with the appropriate hip angle, it worked enough to get most people's attention one way or another. Sure enough I caught him momentarily glancing down at the rest of my body before he quickly looked back up, pretending it had never happened.
Having enough of that, I decided now was the time to speak up. "Well are you going to let me in, or should we keep stripping each other with our eyes through this barrier?"
He sputtered and coughed at that, professionalism breaking from the absolute shock it brought on, now looking torn between wanting to refute it and being interested. Heh. I had that affect on people. Sadly for my personal entertainment, he managed to recover, albeit with a noticeable look of embarrassment in his eyes. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I have orders not to let anyone through without first going through decontamination."
Internally grinning at having gotten something out of him, even if it was as simple as that, I nodded in response. "Very well then; understandable considering the sickness that's spreading through the rest of the colony. And where might decon be?"
"Over there, ma'am," he said, gesturing to a door nearby that looked to be quite thoroughly locked. "I'll let them know you're coming through."
"I'd appreciate it," I told him with a smile, which only had minimal effect, but effect all the same. Oh he tried to hide it by staring straight at my eyes, but with how stiff he was it was easy to figure out he was fighting his own instincts.
Having toyed with the poor man long enough, I went up to the door he indicated, waiting for it to flash green. It took a few seconds longer, but sure enough, it eventually slid open, allowing myself and Aena to go inside. It was a decon room alright: a model designed directly off of your standard starship's airlock cleaner, albeit a little smaller than the normal ones, only being big enough for single person traffic. The edges of it were sealed against the wall the door had been built into, ensuring that no leaks would occur, and it had a door at the other end that could be locked both from the interior and exterior, as the needs may be. Naturally I wouldn't be able to do so, given my lack of the passcode to open it, but that was neither here nor there.
Stepping through the cleaning system, I watched as the usual shimmer of cleaning agents appeared around me, though something was out of the ordinary: during the process, a scanner of some sort made its way over me as well, doubtless checking me for internal contaminants. Not especially unusual, doubly so considering the "sickness" in the main colony, but what was is that the scanner wasn't something built into this particular model of decon airlock by default, meaning that whatever they knew, the scientists here were certainly already aware of the thorian spores to some extent. How did I know anything about this airlock model? Well, the same way I know basically anything at this point.
Prior bondmate knowledge for the win! Honestly, if not for the fact that it quite literally drains the life out of people, ardat yakshi abilities would be nearly unparalleled… which now that I think about it, might very well have been the result of prothean meddling in their genome. No way a super predator capable of gaining immense power and knowledge in a comparatively short time when faced with their peers could ever be a natural genetic occurrence. Like seriously, the AY gene's only shortcoming aside from the whole murder bit is the fact it makes you sterile. Which honestly is a good thing, because it keeps their… keeps our numbers from exploding to the point of being unmanageable. Goddess, the protheans really did think of asari as nothing more than a genetic experiment, didn't they?
I shivered involuntarily at that, just in time for the scanner/cleaner to finish its' job. Walking up to the airlock door, I was stopped by a screen appearing, showing an older looking human man. As was apparently the preference, he was fairly generic, the only thing really different about him compared to the last guard being his hair was black instead of brown.
"Name and purpose for your visit?" he gruffly asked over the screen, plainly showing a lack of decorum. I already didn't like him.
"Did the dock operator or Fai Dan not send a message ahead of time informing you of my arrival?" Getting a blank look, I kept going. "Really? Neither of them? What about the ExoGeni representative of Noveria? I specifically asked him if I could visit some of your colonies, and this one was brought up by name."
That had the guard reacting, though not in the way I expected. Rather than respond, he put a hand to his ear, clearly listening to someone with actual authority on the other end. Whatever was said apparently worked in my favor, as the guard nodded to his invisible boss before focusing on me again.
"You can pass, but your mech will need to stay out."
Scowling at the disrespect, I outright refused on principle. "Absolutely not. She is my personal assistant, and more than that, she is my bodyguard. Nothing against any of you, but I don't know you, and this is only loosely Council space; I have no guarantee you won't try something, especially given the odd condition of the settlers across the skyway. If necessary, I can have her operate in offline mode if it's just corporate espionage you're worried about. I'm here more out of curiosity than simple greed."
Given I had switched to High Thessian halfway through on habit – the most posh of posh languages in the eyes of the average asari, and one I reserved for situations where I needed to establish who was in charge here – I wasn't sure how much of that directly translated, but given his reaction was one of looking unsure how to proceed, it at least did the job of throwing him and perhaps even his handler off balance. It didn't last long, but it was enough for me to get a general idea of what to expect from the person running this place.
He remained silent for a moment longer, probably listening to his boss over whatever earpiece he had, before at last speaking up again. "Alright, you can bring it in with you, just so long as it doesn't touch anything and you keep it in sight the entire time. We'll be watching it and you, too."
Awww, that's so adorable! They actually think I care that they'll be watching my every move! As if it wasn't obvious that they'd keep an eye on the random alien billionaire showing up out of nowhere and asking to have a chat.
"I'll be sure not to let her wander off. Again, I'm only here out of curiosity," having said that, I then muttered an addendum under my breath. "So far anyway."
Going off his lack of reaction, it seemed as if he didn't catch that, which is fine with me. Even if he did, not like it would've mattered.
"Anyway, I am getting tired of staring at a screen and the wall behind it, so if you would? Please?" I asked while gesturing at the still closed door.
Did that come off as snippy? Hopefully not. Ah well, maybe he'll just assume it's an asari thing.
Regardless of his thoughts on the matter, the door opened and I walked in as casually as I could; or rather, I strutted across the threshold like I owned the place, careful not to make it seem like I was being too arrogant. Need to put on a bit of a show, after all. Granted, the image I had in mind was a tad ruined thanks to the fact I was in armor, but it's the principle of the matter dammit!
After walking through, I noted how generic guard #2 watched me. Honestly, the way he looked so serious was almost funny, if not for the fact he was also currently holding an assault rifle and looked far too twitchy for his own good. I almost told Aena to calm down and not start anything, but before I could I realized she hadn't even stepped through the airlock yet, meaning he was acting like this in response to lil' ol' me. It's not like I'm that threatening, right?
Yeesh. Guess the colonists slowly losing any sense of reason and independence because of an alien fungal infection has them on edge. Which, to be fair… understandable.
"Ma'am," the guard started, getting my attention. "Management would appreciate it if you could leave your weapon here for safekeeping. They don't want any sensitive materials getting damaged, you see."
I had to fight off a snort at that. The pistol, while certainly dangerous, was there only as a supplement to my two primary layers of self-defense. Chiefly, Aena and my own biotics. But hey, if me not being "armed" makes them feel better, while only slightly inconveniencing me, I don't see a reason to argue. Complying with the request, I took the pistol out from the crook of my back, still folded up in a neat little block (how they did that, I had no real idea, because the physics don't really make sense, but supposedly it was some sort of rotating internal mechanism or some such) and handed it to him. He then proceeded to place it in a locker a few steps away on the wall, along with several other weapons of various shapes already in there. Guess the scientists wanted some protection of their own given the colony was rather quickly turning into a literal viral testing ground for their megacorp employer.
Now being led through the mostly empty building by the guard, with only a few unimportant looking menials and researchers occasionally noticing us as we walked by, it didn't take too long for us to reach a door that looked the exact same as every other door I'd seen so far. Despite that, however, the guard turned around to look at me and gestured inside. "The director will see you now."
Director eh? Suppose we'll see how far up the chain they actually go.
"Thank you. Would it be alright if I left my VI behind?" He stared at me for a moment before looking at said "VI." He did, however, nod in the affirmative. "Aena, if you could stay out here, that would be great."
Getting a quick 'affirmative' from her, I walked in, immediately noting the difference, or more accurately, lack thereof when compared with the rest of the building. I mean, really, the one in charge of the studies and research here, and their office was a generic carbon copy of every other room in the place: stone walls, generic furniture, and a mass produced office chair and desk, with a similarly mass produced holomonitor on it. The whole thing screamed "sterile," and "corporate," and it unreasonably irked me. Have at least some fashion sense and style, dammit!
Having completed my survey of the room, I finally took note of the director himself, having now stood up from his desk. He looked to be just barely entering middle age, light brown hair beginning to grey, and his features were fairly stereotypical of a northern european or american. The grey suit he wore was typical of the "modern" human fashion sense: all high collars, stiff folds, and no personality. "Miss V'Seila I presume?"
His accent wasn't anything special, yet again coming across as fairly generic and uninteresting. Honestly, that was the feel of everything I'd seen in this entire complex so far; it almost made me wonder if ExoGeni specifically wanted their brand seen as "the average Joe's best friend!" or some other such nonsense. Either that or it was a cosmic joke being played on me, but even I had to admit that was ridiculous.
"That is indeed me, Mister?" I asked in turn.
"John Smith," he replied casually.
…saywhatnow?
"Are you serious?" I couldn't help but voice my thoughts.
"Yes?" he responded, raising an eyebrow and looking mildly offended.
Ok, for real this time, is this just a coincidence or is my favorite backseat driver enjoying a laugh at my expense?
Silence was the only response, making me even more confused. Was this really all just random chance?
"Is something wrong, Miss V'Seila?" John Smith asked me, sounding slightly miffed that I'd more or less insulted and then ignored him. Worse still, he wasn't even wrong for being upset. It did at least serve to get me to focus on the now rather than my thoughts.
Turning on the charm in an attempt to smooth this over, I cleared my throat and did what I could to hide my embarrassment. "Apologies, I was just under the impression that name was a stereotypically common one for humans, and I was surprised by it. It wasn't my intention to be rude."
Thankfully, it seemed that while I'd flubbed at the start, supernatural charisma and looks could fix many a social mishap, and he relaxed as a result. "Ah, understandable. And yes, I suppose John Smith used to be a common name a few decades ago with certain countries on Earth; I've heard quite a few jokes about it throughout my life. Though admittedly, it surprises me that you would know something like that about human culture."
Thinking fast, I came up with a simple excuse. "Well, you could say that humanity has interested me for a few years now. A seeming underdog of the galaxy, that quickly rose to a level almost on par with the council members themselves, and in such a short time too? You must admit that your races' story is a fascinating one."
It seemed that was the right choice as he was practically preening at the comment, now all smiles and nods. "Indeed, humanity has come a long way since we first learned of life among the stars. So, what can I do for you Miss V'Seila?"
Getting back to business now that he was sufficiently buttered up, I gathered my thoughts. Who knows? Maybe the director here would tell me everything I wanted to know without me needing to wrap him around my finger with my inherent abilities. That'd definitely be preferable.
"Well, to start, I'm going to come out and say it: I know what's happening here in your colony."
Dead silence. You could hear a pin drop with how quiet it became. Mr. Smith's face was frozen in a smile, though his eyes told another story entirely. "Uh..." he finally started with a bit of awkwardness. "I'm afraid I don't follow, Miss V'Seila."
Playing ignorant? Well, so be it. I want to achieve my goal as quickly as possible, as I am in fact on a time limit, and given your lack of existence by the point of the first game, I can safely assume your importance is negligible.
"Your little 'outbreak' among the colonists isn't an actual outbreak." That made him stop smiling, and given the nervous look he now had, it seemed I held the initiative. "In fact, it's not anything related to a disease at all. One might even say it's… fungal in origin, potentially ancient even."
He looked half a second away from either running, or calling his security in here, but he managed to control himself enough to get a response out. "I see. And how is it you know anything about our little situation here on Feros?"
"Simple," I said, making up a story on the spot, "I'm an asari, and have seen it before. You weren't the first settlers here on Feros, but you are the first permanent ones since the protheans disappeared. It's not exactly something widely known, but I happen to be one of the few that do. Why do you think your fledgling colony attracted my attention? It certainly wasn't because I'd make any serious credits here."
I could see the wheels turning in his head, undoubtedly comparing my story to what he knew about the planet himself. I wasn't lying, in a way: Feros had indeed never had permanent settlers since the prothean eradication, but it was officially due to a lack of resources after the grave robbers had stripped it clean who knows how many years ago, not because of a mind controlling mushroom. But that's the beauty of "secret" knowledge: you couldn't really disprove it without "knowing" it yourself.
Having apparently reached an internal decision, he finally gave me a response. He still looked like he wanted to press his panic button, but it seemed as if his curiosity won out in the end. "Very well. So what is it you're looking for then? What would buy your silence? Given what you've just said, I don't believe it to be money. A favor? Blackmail?"
Sighing, I shook my head. "No, no, none of that. Well, maybe a favor or two. But blackmail? Unnecessary. You already have everything I want, and I can assure you, it won't hurt you or the company you represent. In fact, I don't think your superiors even need to know about our little conversation. You wouldn't want it getting out that you leaked information on such a discovery to a potential competitor, now would you?" Not giving him a chance to react, I kept going. "Oh and don't try to call in your guards, or threaten me, or any of that nonsense. My personal assistant out there has enough firepower on her own to wipe out your entire security retinue, and then some – I do so love the marvels of internal weaponry – but I don't think either of us would want that… right?"
He looked decidedly indecisive at that, which played right into my hands, so I used just a bit of my influencing ability to push him in the right direction. He crumbled like a sandcastle in high tide. "I… fine. You win. So: what do you want?"
"First, let me clarify: I have two things I want, and this will in fact be an exchange, not just a threat. I don't expect you to do what I want out of fear alone – that's just bad business. Rather, I am willing to send agreed upon payments for information on the traffic of those coming to and leaving Feros. It doesn't matter who, just any and all information you can get on them; no need to dig deeply into their history or anything, simply provide who they are, when they arrived, and if they've already left. In particular, I want to know about any non-human traffic. I'll provide the means of sending this info, so no need to concern yourself over it. Would this be doable?"
He stewed in thought for a moment, not exactly looking happy about the request, but it did at least seem the promise of payment soothed his concerns a little. It seemed he was less a company man and more an opportunity man. "So what you're asking is for me to essentially be a spy? To report on those traveling here, and let you know? Why?"
"It's unimportant for you to know why. Just know that I'm keeping an eye out for those who, like me, are coming here for your more exotic issues. The second thing I want is something I feel you won't have too much of an issue with: I want to see the creature up close, preferably with one of the colonists tagging along."
That had him doing a double take. "What!? Why the hell would you want to see that monstrosity?!"
Here I couldn't help but smirk. "Call me curious. Can I or can I not? Before deciding, know that I am willing to pay very well if you let me do this in particular."
Once again, the promise of payment was all I needed to have him actually considering my offer. Fortunately for me, it seemed this one was more tolerable than the other. "I'll allow you access to the creature's burrow, but I still don't understand why you'd want to look at it in person. According to the people we sent to examine it, it's quite a disturbing sight."
It seemed he'd completely forgotten or didn't care about the bit where I'd have a colonist with me, which worked in my favor either way. "As I said, I'm curious. If my information is correct, this creature is perhaps one of the oldest living beings in the galaxy. A living, breathing piece of history if you will. I don't especially care what you do with it, but I'd still like to see the thing regardless."
Given the little 'ah!' he made, I assumed he assumed that it was just an asari thing. Granted though, we did have a tendency to go looking for bits of history we could interact with, especially things from a time that we weren't alive to witness, so whether or not it was a misconception is debatable. "Understandable I suppose. Was… was there anything else you wanted?"
Smiling as pleasantly as I could, I shook my head, followed by extending a hand for him to shake. "No, that should be everything. Here's to a profitable future."
He shook my hand in kind, and just like that, I'd done half of what I wanted to do here on Feros.
Meanwhile, Exodus Cluster, Utopia System, Eden Prime.
Having just finished her shower and dried off, she went to sit at her small desk, using it to stretch her sore muscles and sighing in bliss at the relief provided. It had been a long day: a 10 klick ruck first thing in the morning, followed by two hours of patrol after they got back, then a mandatory 30 minute lunch break, once more followed by a few more hours of patrol, right up until the sun started setting. Honestly, it was one of the more shitty days in her career, but that was nothing new.
What to do now though? I still have a few minutes before chow, and then I'll be reading until it's time to pass out for the day… maybe I could send an email to Sarah. Yeah, that works.
Booting up her computer, she went to her email and started writing.
"Hey again, sis. Just checking in. Today sucked ass, let me tell you. Had to spend around ten hours rucking, patrolling, and wondering if the local gasbag aliens explode when shot. Even Donk was too tired to get up to his usual activities, so that should tell you how bad it was.
James was chipper about it, though. Even seemed damn happy, the big lug. Too much muscle, ya know? Messes with your sense of what a fun time actually is.
Guarding this place these past few months is starting to get boring, though. Excavation site or not, it gets a little tiring seeing the same ancient rocks day after day. Well, the ones doing it are almost constantly excited, but I'm the one that has to make sure no dumb punk gets the bright idea to try and snag something from the dig site on something stupid like a dare, so of course they actually get to enjoy their job.
Aside from that? I-"
"Chief Williams! We have a problem!" came a voice from her door, and she groaned under her breath. She recognized who that was: the only other woman in the squad, Pennyloafer.
"What is it, Pennyloafer?!"
"Jenner got in a fight with someone in Charlie Squad! The LT is on his way over, so we're trying to clean it up before he gets here!"
Mother-fucking, cock sucking-!
Burying her annoyance at the antics of her fellow marines, she came to a quick decision. "Fine! Go help them fix their shit, I'll be right out!"
"Copy that, ma'am!"
With the sound of the rapidly retreating footsteps, she sighed deeply in exasperation.
Can't have five minutes of peace around here… well, better make this quick.
Focusing back on her message, she quickly came up with a way to end it.
"Aside from that? I think I'm finally getting used to the climate here at least.
Anyway, I've got to go and fix some stupidity. You know how it is. I'll see about messaging you tomorrow, so long as nothing too serious happens.
-Ash"
Having finished the message, she hit send and immediately started the process of throwing some clothes on to go deal with her troop's issues. Better she dealt with them now rather than the Lieutenant finding another reason to hate her besides her family name…
So, funny thing I learned while researching for this chapter: the actual start time to ME1. See, from all I'd seen, it was supposed to have been "sometime early in 2183." But when I looked up Ashley Williams on fandom (bless that website, it's an author's dream come true for weird lore facts you'd need to consume endless amounts of content to find normally) there was an email from one Ashley Williams to her sister, talking about her posting on Eden Prime… dated June 17th, 2183.
So yeah: For the sake of the story, the "game" start will remain March, rather than June/maybe July as in canon, but hey, the more you know. Anyway, might take a writing break over Christmas and New Years, or maybe I'll write even more than usual. We shall see, but if I don't post my next chapter at the usual two week interval, now you know why.
Anywho, hope you enjoyed this one, and I'll see you next time!