83 - Rescue
For a group of terrorists, the Judak Nurr were surprisingly well behaved throughout the little rescue mission. After I'd finally managed to subdue the Batarians in power armour - quite a chore, given they seemed largely immune to the stunning effects of the Stun Staff and the Tesla Rifle as long as they wore their armour, - and opened the cells up, they shuffled out, organized themselves into groups and quite happily followed two of the NeoAvatars in running back to the Might's airlock.
After I'd explained things to their leader, he'd offered up a short speech, talking about freedom and finding allies in the fight against the corrupt Hegemony, and then told everyone to shut up and get the hell off the ship.
They didn't even stop to loot the unconscious Hegemony soldiers along the way, - although a few of the sleeping grunts did receive some swift kicks from passing militants, - mostly seeming content to follow their orders and scram.
Given that the route they were taking lead them through three corridors that were on fire and one more with a hastily-repaired hull breach, that was probably fair. Luckily, sealing the other doors and access panels linking the prison deck to the other decks had done a perfect job of keeping the Hegemony out of the way, which make the self-imposed escort mission infinitely more tolerable, even if the Batarians did keep glancing at the nanofiber tarp I'd slapped over the broken window and muttering uneasily as they went by.
Then again, given these guys were a militant cell of a resistance movement perfectly willing to use violence - in small doses - against the Hegemony, I'm pretty sure they would have been more competent in a fight than most escort mission VIPs, so it probably wouldn't have been too bad either way.
They only hesitated even slightly when they crossed the umbilical into the Jacob Keyes, and that was probably because it wasn't until then that they saw a NeoAvatar without a full-head helmet.
Realizing that they were being saved by one of the most elusive and mysterious races in the galaxy was probably quite a shock. After all, it wasn't like the Systems Alliance had really done a lot with the Citadel in this timeline, thanks to Fusou's interference, and they were the extranet's favorite new 'mysterious superpower', for good reason.
Most Batarians outside the Hegemony had never met Humans before. Hell, most of them probably hadn't even seen a Human before, outside of pictures. For people inside the Hegemony to not just see them, but be rescued by them...
I guess today's their lucky day, I muttered across the Command Network.
Stop channeling Johnson. Just because we named a ship after him-
I rather maturely responded with the digital equivalent of poking my tongue out and making silly noises.
---
Once the last of the Judak Nurr had crossed the umbilical into the Jacob Keyes, the ship disconnected from the dreadnought, thrusters flaring up as the ship shot away from its larger Hegemony counterpart.
Once it was sufficiently distant from the Might, it, and its escort fleet, engaged their FTL drives, blasting away from the crippled Hegemony flagship.
Through the small Subversion Drone mounted to the hull, I continued to monitor the ship's systems, watching with amusement as the Hegemony tried, and failed, to purge their systems of my virus.
Seeing some commotion on the bridge through the ship's cameras, I quickly tapped into the audio feed.
"-mean we can't get rid of it?" the ship's commanding officer, Admiral Kiathu, screamed in barely restrained rage.
"Even a complete reboot couldn't remove it, sir!" some poor ensign reported. "The images are everywhere!"
The Admiral roared in frustration and threw the datapad he was holding into the far wall. "WELL GET RID OF THEM! THIS UGLY HUMAN ABOMINATION NEEDS TO BE REMOVED!"
Oh.
Oh.
He did not just call my face ugly.
Wow, the little bitch, Hope put in. I thought that selfie was perfect.
I know, right? Tapping into their systems, I began engaging in a little ill-spirited trolling. Welp, hope they didn't need those maintenance manuals. Or control over the sanitation systems.
---
Once Hope and I were done making things miserable for the ship's crew we withdrew from their systems almost entirely, allowing them access to their weapons and engines once more. The only thing we left behind was a basic Progenitor info-worm. I'd already infected one Batarian vessel with it, the cruiser Dravush, but I hadn't received anything of note from it yet, meaning it hadn't docked with any Batarian installations recently.
A shame, but hopefully ploughing the dreadnought for information would be more bountiful.
Speaking of ploughing bountiful things for information, Hope announced over the Command Network, I want to go-
Speak to Fusou, yes, you mentioned. Suppressing a groan, I slipped into the body of my NeoAvatar, currently making their way towards the Jacob Keyes' deployment bay. But we have more important things to worry about right now. Like the fact we have a hold full of terrorists.
Yeah… hey, we need to stop collecting terrorists. First the Rats, then the Rebels, now these guys… I mean, we didn't collect any in Red Faction, but everywhere else we've got a solid record going.
Suddenly Hope's NeoAvatar, beside mine, came to life. Hope shot me a grin and began humming the Pokémon theme.
Frowning, I rolled my eyes and waved a hand towards the door. A pointless gesture, since I was actually accessing the door through the Command Network to open it, but… ah, well.
With a swoosh, the door slid open, revealing a loud, somewhat smelly hold full of malnourished and largely naked Batarians.
Funny how different things seem more important when you're not busy getting your shit kicked in by some douchebag in power armour.
Luckily for me, at least someone amongst the crowd of former prisoners was on the ball, because almost as soon as we entered, the entire group began muttering and turning in our direction. A teal-skinned Batarian shouted loudly in Western Khar'shani and began making his way through the crowd, his fellows parting ways to allow him easier passage.
Krilak Thol nodded his head in greeting as he approached, tilting his head slightly to the right. "You are the captain of this expedition?"
I nodded and tilted my own head to the right in return. "Indeed," I said in Khar'shani. "I do apologise for the lack of living space here - this area is for storing vehicles, not enough people to crew the ship."
Krilak spread his arms widely - the Batarian equivalent of a shrug. "It is no issue. We will make do. Your soldier mentioned this would be temporary?"
I nodded again. "We figured that dropping you off back on Lorek would be a dumb idea, so we're transferring to our homeworld, just until the heat dies down. Once we get there, which will be in about…" I trailed off, turning to Hope.
"Eight minutes until we're landed and ready to disembark."
"Eight minutes, we'll get you fitted out with some food and beds and the like. In the meantime, a couple of my crew will be down shortly with some clothes. One size fits all, but better than nothing."
Krilak Thol nodded gratefully. "I appreciate your hospitality, captain. Have you established contact with other cells of the Jaduk Nurr?"
"Unfortunately not. It appears they all went to ground after the raids on Lorek, for which I do not blame them. Once we arrive at Miranda, I will provide you access to our communications facilities, should you wish to attempt to reach them yourself."
The revolutionary nodded. "I am grateful. You have done the Batarians a great service."
"Nobody benefits from a government like the Hegemony. As mentioned, we'll be touching down in just a couple of minutes. Once we get planetside, you'll be assigned temporary lodgings, should you wish to rest, and will otherwise be free to explore the city. The same is extended to all of your companions. At noon tomorrow, the Faith Foundation's leaders will be in touch for the proper negotiations."
Krilak stepped back, eyeing me warily. "Negotiations? For what?"
"Our assistance, of course. As I mentioned, nobody benefits from the existence of governments like the Hegemony. The Faith Foundation aren't going to take the fight to them directly - we simply don't have the assets," I lied through my teeth.
"However, we're more than happy to assist you against them. You have good reason for wanting them gone, a semi-trained and experienced militant group, and an insider's view of the workings of the Hegemony," Hope put in. "Batarian State Arms are stepping up the production of new, high quality gear for their SIU units - as you've no doubt seen. The Faith Foundation is willing to serve that same role for you. Weapons, armour, vehicle support. It's all up for grabs."
Krilak's eyes narrowed. No doubt he was wondering what we stood to gain - and he was right too. We… actually didn't stand to gain much. Our picking a fight with the Hegemony was more for moral reasons.
"And the details of such an arrangement would be discussed in these negotiations, tomorrow?" he finally asked.
Hope and I nodded, and Krilak grinned. "Very well. My men and I will discuss the matter tonight. Is there anything else we should know?"
Hope and I shared a glance. "I don't believe so," I said after a moment's consideration. "If anything else comes up, we'll be in touch."
Krilak turned and made to leave but suddenly stopped, turning back around. "Oh, and one other thing. I recommend you re-check your translation systems. I think your units of time might be off a little."
Ah. He hasn't heard how fast Human FTL is.
'Human' FTL is Slipspace. We're not using Slipspace.
No, we're using something faster. My point stands.
I waved a hand dismissively. "I don't believe they are. This translation software comes straight from the Citadel embassies."
Krilak's face twitched. "Oh? I had heard rumours of the vast superiority of Human FTL, but… I hadn't imagined they were that much better."
Hope grinned wickedly. "I think you'll find that compared to the Citadel, everything on Miranda is 'that much better.'"
---
As promised, the Jacob Keyes was quick to make landfall, setting down in the designated landing area in the mountainous region north of New Bondi. The Batarians, now all clothed in ill-fitting grey jumpsuits, disembarked with surprising vigor, many taking deep breaths and simply standing around enjoying themselves.
I had to wonder how long it had been since they'd been outside.
A number of NeoAvatars had been stationed at the starport, providing helpful directions to the Batarians as they made their way away from their ships and closer to the city. Looking down from their perch on the high cliffs, the city was visible as a carpet of buildings reaching from the base of the cliffs to the distant sea, webs of elevated tunnels and canals crisscrossing the area.
Beyond the city, well into the ocean, a looming hulk of metal was visible, rising from the depths like some kind of leviathan - the lower case, giant sea monster, kind, not the uppercase, douchebags who created the mechasquid, kind.
The FFV Ringworld - I'd actually built the thing relatively close to 'standard' - I'd taken images of the Manswell Expedition vessel from the data disk Fusou had given us and used that as a base from which to create the ship, giving it a somewhat more 'authentic' appearance.
I mean, I doubted the Judak Nurr would care, but I appreciated the attention to detail.
I took a breather, shifting my consciousness to the body of another NeoAvatar, located in a smaller building in the suburban area of New Bondi, closer to the beach.
I had a little less than twenty hours before I had to go back to doing diplomatic shit. So I figured I'd savour what little time I had, and go for a surf.
Australian procrastination, at it's finest.
