The Dream Effect

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 18: Spectre – part 6

As Jane, Kaiden, and Ashley, trail behind Captain Anderson through the IHA docking area to the elevator. Jane holds her omni-tool out and sets her comms to a suit to suit network as she instructs Kaiden and Ashley on some of the useful things she's discovered she can do with the suits.

"Kaiden, ignore them. Quarians have to deal with worse all the time, and they can't take their suits off."

Kaiden growls as he clenches his fist under his blue cloak, "But Commander, he called us suit-rats."

Jane smiles grimly in her suit, "Good, that means they're making assumptions. Assumptions that could save your life one day, like it did mine."

Ashley looks up from where she's trying to do some of the things Jane said, "What? When did that happen?"

"While I was on sick leave. I might talk about it later, but you'll probably need to wait until we're on Shaanxi before I relive that particular story."

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Eventually, Anderson leads the three of them to a small office in what seems to be a landscaped park.

As they enter, a dark skinned human is pacing in front of three yellow holograms having some sort of row. Rather than get involved in politics, Jane leads Kaiden and Ashley over to an out of the way wall.

It doesn't take long for the man to finish. Once he does, he walks over to Anderson, "Captain Anderson, I see you bought bodyguards with you."

Anderson shakes his head and points back with his thumb, "Not at all, they're the ground crew from Eden Prime. Just in case you had any questions."

Jane turns around at the sound of conversation, and stands behind Anderson.

The man raises his hand, "I have the mission reports. I assume they're accurate?"

Anderson nods, "They are. Sounds like you convinced the Council to give us an audience."

The man crosses his arm, "They were not happy about it. Saren's their top agent. They don't like him being accused of treason."

Jane shakes her head and butts in, "Excuse me, but who is this Saren that you're accusing of treason? As the only thing I know is that it's a name."

Anderson turns to face her, "He's a council Spectre, and widely considered one of the best. As long as you don't care about his methods."

Jane nods, "And you are accusing him of treason based on his name coming up once?"

Anderson shakes his head, "No, there was also the description. It matches Saren."

Jane nods, "Well I hope you have more evidence than just that. As I don't know of any Alliance court that would open an investigation, let alone convict, if that's all the evidence you had."

The man stares at Jane poisonously, "Anderson, who is this?"

Anderson gives a half smile, "N7 Commander Jane Shepherd, N8 candidate, meet Ambassador Udina."

Udina shakes his head, "You've already done more than enough to jeopardize your candidacy for the Spectres. The mission on Eden Prime was a chance to prove you could get the job done. Instead, Nihlus ended up dead, and the beacon was destroyed!"

Jane pulls out her datapad to check her messages, as Anderson shouts, "That's Saren's fault, not hers!"

Udina shouts back, "Then we better hope the C-sec investigation turns up evidence to support our accusations." Jane looks up and tries to say something, but Udina carries on, "Otherwise the Council might use this as an excuse to keep her out of the Spectres. Come with me Captain. I want to go over a few things before the hearing. Shepherd – you and the others can meet us at the Citadel Tower. Top level. I'll make sure you have clearance to get in."

With that, Udina stalks away with Anderson as Jane says, "There's some good news, Nihlus is going to live."

Ashley and Kaiden snicker behind her, and Ashley says, "And that's why I hate politicians."

Jane shakes her head, "What gets me is the way Udina is treating me like an IHA citizen. Come on, we might as well take the scenic route to the tower. Keep your hoods up, as I'm rather famous and I don't want to be accosted. I also need to find the Systems Alliance Embassy."

Ashley shrugs, "There's another Embassy next door, maybe they're in there."

Jane shrugs, "Worth a shot. But I don't think it will be."

Walking out of the office, the three of them turn left, and use the door open button to ring for attention. To Jane's surprise, the door just slides open to reveal what she assumes are a volus and elcor based on her turian schooling. As they seem to be in a private conversation, Jane closes the door again.

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Making their way down the stairs, Jane pauses as she sees a lone asari working at a desk.

Walking over, she waits politely, as though she has all the time in the world. Eventually, the asari looks up from her console.

The asari asks in a quarian dialect, "Can I help you?"

Jane replies in asari, "I was hoping you could direct me to the Systems Alliance Embassy."

Jane spots the slight tightening of the asari's head crests showing her surprise, "Give me a moment, as I don't think they're in the Presidium. Forgive me for asking, but when did you learn our language?"

Jane sighs, "It was in the Shadow Sea about a standard Systems Alliance year ago."

"Commander Shepherd! It's such a pleasure to meet you. I'm Nyaraphria, though you should call any of us at this desk Saphyria if you're human. Is it true that you have turian markings?"

Jane nods, "I do."

"That is so wild, I've met some Matron's who served in the Turian military to earn their markings. I can't wait to tell the others I met you."

Jane asks in a low tone, "What does your official name mean?"

"It's Arabic for female ambassador."

Jane chuckles, "And humans fall for that?"

Nyaraphria nods, "It's the only way we've found to stop unwanted advances."

Jane nods as the console pings, "I've broken a few noses because of those in the past."

Nyaraphria looks down at her console, "The Systems Alliance embassy is on petal four in the wards, I can send the address to your omni-tool."

Jane nods and smiles, "Your service has been appreciated. May your journey bring you peace and happiness."

Nyaraphria claps her hands together in joy, "You even learnt some of our customs. May you gain wisdom before you gain experience."

As Jane turns back to Kaiden and Ashley, Kaiden rather rudely asks, "What was that Commander? I could only understand half that conversation."

Jane laughs gaily as she walks towards the bridge, "That, Kaiden, was my fame racing ahead of me. I also got the directions to the SA embassy."

Ashley asks, "Jane, what was that about experience and wisdom?"

Jane turns around, "Is that how it translated? The phrase basically means, I hope your lessons in life come before you need them."

While Ashley's mulling that over, Kaiden steps into Jane's space, "No, I meant, why couldn't I understand you?"

Jane looks up at Kaiden, "Kaiden, I'm only going to say this once, if you don't step back and calm down, you're going swimming."

Kaiden carefully steps backwards, and visibly tries to calm himself down.

Once he's got himself back under control, Jane asks, "Kaiden, what was that about?"

Kaiden shakes his head, "I just don't like it when I can't understand people, that's all."

Jane shakes her head, "I can see there's more to it than that, as you don't get that angry just because you don't like something." She raises her hand, "But now's not the time to get into it. If you don't want to talk to anyone on the ship, see if you can find a mind healer. They can help you deal with it, and give you exercises to help you cope."

Kaiden shakes his head, "No, no mind stuff."

Jane shakes her head, "Ok, we'll move on. I have my omni-tool set to English and auto-detect for incoming languages. As I speak them, I've excluded English, Thessian, and Hierarchy turian. You could do the same."

Kaiden nods curtly, "Thank you."



Jane just turns around and crosses over the bridge to look down an unassuming tunnel. At the end of a short crooked slope, Jane can see an asari wearing a purple robe standing at a console. Before she can backpedal, the asari looks at her, "Ah, Commander Shepherd, I wasn't expecting to see you here."

Jane turns to Kaiden and gestures with both hands in an old, 'See, look, what did I say?' gesture. Then she turns back and walks over to the asari.

"News travels fast I see." Behind her, Kaiden starts frantically looking through the options on his omnitool.

The asari nods, and replies in English, "It does, though I feel we should converse in your native tongue, as it is rude when your companions cannot understand you."

Jane smiles, "It can be seen that way, but it is also rude to assume a stranger not only can, but is willing to talk in your own language."

The asari counters with, "That may be true, however translators exist."

Jane smiles broadly, "Then why are you speaking English? Translators are only so reliable, as they cannot convey cultural contexts well. Especially for a mono-gendered species like yours."

The asari shakes her head, "If only I had the gift of words at this moment. Alas I have the gift of touch."

Jane reaches out and touches her gently on the hand while speaking asari, "What one may be gifted at, another has to learn. Don't decry your lack of gifts, instead see them as an opportunity to grow, both in understanding and as a person."

The asari looks down and nods, "You're right." Shuddering, she pulls herself together, "Where are my manners, my name is Nelyna, do any of you have an appointment?"

Jane looks back at Ashley and Kaiden, who both shake their heads. Kaiden adds, "Not me, Fredricks might though."

Jane looks back, "I don't either. Where is here by the way?"

Neylna smiles, "This is the Consorts Chambers, where the consort will provide whatever you need, even if you do not know what that is when you see her. If she is unavailable, her acolytes are here to see to our customers needs."

Jane frowns, "Could you explain that again in Thessian please, as the implication is… Being a consort has other connotations in English that may not be true here."

Neylna repeats herself, and Jane nods, "Ah, you provide companionship in a friendship and confidante sense, rather than a marriage sense."

Kaiden can't help himself, "Wait, you got that from listening to her native language?"

"Kaiden, free piece of advice when talking to asari. Don't assume they're female. They're not, their species doesn't have male or female. I was told that many of them do pick bi-gendered pronouns, so it's always polite to ask."

Neylna smiles, "It is kind of you to say that Shepherd, but I do use she and her, or the equivalent, in other languages."

Jane nods, "It was no problem. We should go, as we do have an appointment at the Citadel Tower."

As Jane turns around, Neylna calls after her, "Commander Shepherd, Sha'ira, the consort, would like to see you."

Jane looks at the ceiling, before turning around, "Sure, where can I find her?"

Neylna points behind her, "Follow the room to the stairs, then turn right at the top."

Jane turns around to Kaiden and Ashley, "I think this is going to be a business over pleasure visit, so will you be ok here?"

Kaiden nods, "I was thinking about talking to Neylna here."

Jane squeezes her eyes shut, "No chatting her up. You're on duty. Ashley, keep an eye on him."

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Once she reaches the door to the consorts chamber, Jane presses the door charm, only for it to swish open.

On the far side of the room is the consort looking at light screen. On the left of the room is a purple pod, while on the right is a chair and table.

When the consort doesn't turn around, Jane steps in through the door and stands there with a casual posture, as though worlds could end and it would be an eye blink.

After several minutes, Jane's omni-tool chimes and her HUD has a message from Anderson saying that the trial will be starting in five minutes.

Jane says, "Well, looks like I'm out of time. I'll come back later if you actually want to talk to me."

Behind her Sha'ira turns round and calls, "Commander."

When Jane gets back to the entrance, she can see that Kaiden and Ashley are talking casually to Neylna.

"Sorry to cut in and run, but I just got a notice that the trial starts in five minutes. Neylna, would you know of a quick way to get to the tower from here?"

Neylna nods, "There is a mass transit terminal that will take you to the top or base of the tower depending on if you have authorisation to be there or not."

Jane nods, "Thank you. Could you tell the consort that I have some tea we can share while she works out how to say what she wants to say. It will be far more entertaining than staring at her back next time."

As they leave, Jane barely catches Neylna's expression of surprise.

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The transit car does indeed get them to the top of the Citadel Tower in less time than it would have taken to walk. But that still leaves them with around a minute to reach the council chambers.

After glancing at the notice, Jane breaks into a jog, only to stop as two turians have decided that the top of the stairs is the right place to have an argument.

The one on the left raises his hand, "Saren's hiding something! Give me more time. Stall them."

The other turian gives a show of disapproval, "Stall the Council? You're climbing for clouds. Your investigation is over Garrus."

As the other turian turns to leave, Garrus turns to walk down the stairs and pauses, before speaking in English "Commander Shepherd?"

Jane sighs, "Does everyone recognise me?"

Garrus gives a human nod, "Garrus Vakarian. I was the officer in charge of the C-Sec investigation into Saren."

Jane shakes her head, "How does that explain anything?" Switching to Hierarchy she asks, "Where there any good vantage points on your climb?"

Garrus shakes his head, "Saren's a Spectre. I do not have the vantage point to see most of what he's done, so it was like catching mist. But I know there's something there. Like humans say, I feel it in my gut."

Jane shakes her head, "I'm afraid we need to get to the council already, I may try to find you later."

As she starts to job past him, Garrus says, "Good luck Shepherd. Maybe they'll listen to you."

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As they jog up the stairs to the council chamber, Anderson is waiting for them "The hearing's already started. Come on."

As they walk onto the petitioners platform, the asari councillor is speaking, and her translated voice is being projected to the platform, "The geth attack is a matter of some concern. But there is nothing to indicate Saren was involved in any way."

The turian councillor takes over, "The investigation by Citadel Security turned up no evidence to support your charge of treason."

Jane winces as Udina says, "An eyewitness saw him kill Nihlus in cold blood!"

The Salarian councillor says, "We've read the Eden Prime reports Ambassador. The testimony of one traumatized dockworker is hardly compelling proof."

Jane frowns as a hologram of a turian standing above the council starts to talk, "I resent these accusations. Nihlus was a fellow Spectre. And a friend."

Anderson explodes angrily, "That just let you catch him off guard!"

Saren looks down at the platform, "Captain Anderson. You always seem to be involved when humanity makes false charges against me. And this must be your protégé, Commander Shepherd. The one who let the beacon get destroyed."

Jane looks up and waves her hand, "No, no. I'm not with the IHA, I'm an independent Council Citizen, and I was born with Systems Alliance citizenship. I'm just here to present evidence, and answer any questions the Council may have."

Saren's crest rises slightly, "See, even your protégé doesn't want to be involved."

Anderson explodes again, "Saren you're the one that destroyed the beacon. Then you tried to cover it up."

Jane resists the urge to put her head in her hands as Saren predictably responds, "Shift the blame to cover humanities failures. How typical. But what can you expect from a human?"

"See he hates us. Saren despises humanity. That's why he attacked Eden Prime!"

"Your species needs to learn its place Anderson. You're not ready to join the Council. You're not even ready to have a Spectre."

Udina looks miffed as he says, "He has no right to say that! That's not his decision!"

The asari councillor looks up at the hologram, "Shepherd's admission into the Spectres is not the purpose of this meeting."

Saren looks down, "This meeting has no purpose. The humans are wasting your time Councillor. And mine."

The asari councillor says, "That, is also not your decision."

When Anderson and Udina say nothing else, the Salarian Councillor asks, "Commander Shepherd, do you have anything to add?"

Jane nods and holds up a crystal, "Saren, I do have one question. How did you get access to the Eden Prime report?"

Saren sneers, "Nihlus is dead, all of his files came to me."

Jane nods sagely, "How do you know that, I did after all put him under stasis, and emergency portkey him to the Normandy sickbay." Jane shakes her head, "I fear you may have climbed so high, your head is in the clouds." Looking back at the council, Jane adds "I also have some updates on the Eden Prime event on my datapad, however I am not at liberty to allow it to leave my custody, as it is my only link with my home government at the moment."

Saren sneers down, "Am I going to have to defend myself against dreams and visions now?"

Jane shrugs, "I believe that's up to the council to decide once they've reviewed the evidence."

Udina fumes, "Commander Shepherd, why was I not aware of this so called evidence?"

Jane takes off her facemask so that she can 'see' Udina more clearly, revealing her turian clan markings. As she turns her head, the turian councillor takes a half step back in surprise.

"I'm sorry ambassador, what makes you think I'm obliged to give you my evidence?"

"I am the human ambassador, and the person presenting this case. All evidence should come through me. On top of that, we are the once sponsoring you to be a spectre."

Jane draws herself up, "Ambassador Udina, I am not, I never have been, and I never will be a citizen of the Independent Human Alliance. If I must claim a nation in Council space, then I would rather claim the nation of my nest mother than yours."

The asari Councillor calls out, "This meeting is now adjourned. Commander Shepherd please remain to answer some questions, and submit your evidence."

When Anderson doesn't move, the councillor adds, "Captain Anderson, that means you too."

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Once she's alone on the platform Jane gives a turian bow to the councillors, and switches the platform to Hierarchy Turian.

The asari Councillor turns to the turian Councillor, "Sparatus, would you retrieve the evidence?"

Sparatus gives a turian smile before he walks out of a side door. While they're waiting, the asari Councillor asks, "Commander Shepherd, would you have been aboard an asari ship in the shadow sea when it was attacked by pirates?"

Jane sighs, "I was, though I almost lost the high ground afterwards. Though I fear you have a vantage over me, as I am not familiar with the current council members."

"I am Tevos, to my left is Valern, the Salarian Councillor. The turian is Sparatus. Your admission also explains the message I received from the asari ambassador earlier. The asari nation sends its thanks for saving the lives of six asari."

Jane tries to mimic a turian negation, "It was my duty as a Hunter. I also received my reward when they formed a nest with me, and became my egg siblings after the great spirit Hela saved us."

Sparatus comes out of a hidden door to one side of the chamber, and makes his way to the petitioners platform, "Young Hunter, I would know how you got those markings?"

Jane inclines her upper body, "Nest Mother Juvetana granted them to me after we provided her partner with eternal water and shade. He is the first to guard Mindoir."

Before she hands over the crystal, Jane shows Sparatus her datapad, "Honoured Speaker, this Hunter would have sent this on, however an IHA spy broke my primary omni-tool forcing me to rely on my backup."

Sparatus nods, "You have brought welcome shade, though it comes with its own difficulties. How much of this can we view?"

"As much as you need."

"Place it on the pedestal here, and set it to scroll through the reports you wish to submit. They will be recorded. When did you first meet your nest mother?"

Jane smiles wistfully, "I was 12, and it was the third time I went to their shop instead of school. Her partner had signed me up for a turian education, and I was struggling with the lessons even using a translator. Juvetana sat next to me while she tended the store, and began to teach me Hierarchy Turian."

"You have a turian education?"

Jane nods, and pulls up her results on her omni tool, "I do."

Sparatus just clicks his mandibles in approval.

"If I may Honoured Speaker. My bearer is Captain Hannah Shephard of the Systems Alliance Navy. She is also, I don't have the Hierarchy words for this, Becoming a sidhe. Her new Nest Mother and Nest Lord are a bonded pair, Hunter Adrian and Hunter Siúsan."

Tevos is scrolling through the first of the information as she says, "That would allow us to more easily ensure that Nihlus remains a Council Citizen."

When her datapad stops moving, Jane picks it up, "Honoured Speakers, I shall leave you to your deliberations."

As she turns to leave, she hands Sparatus the crystal.

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Jane has put her faceplate back on, and has just taken the last step down from the council chambers, when Udina grabs her arm and drags her to one side.

Growling, with his face inches from Jane's face plate, Udina says, "What was that about at the end? Are you trying to make me look like a fool?"

Jane gives the ambassador a bored look, "You were doing that on your own."

"Do you like being obtuse?"

Jane shrugs with one arm, "Do you like looking like an idiot?"

"I am your ambassador, you will treat me with respect."

Jane laughs, "No you're not. I'm not a citizen of the IHA, I told you that already."

"Oh, no, that doesn't fly. You were a human citizen of Mindoir; therefore, you are a citizen of the IHA."


"Did you check Citadel laws before deciding that, or even give the Systems Alliance the courtesy of asking after my emigration status? After all, the IHA didn't exist at any point while I was living on Mindoir. Also, I've read the manifesto of the founding leaders, and I could never be a citizen of any government that has cribbed so much from the National Socialist German Workers Party. Now unhand me before I call C-sec."

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

I get you.
I'm just very confused with the human layout space/planet wise, Eden prime is SA, same with earth and shanxi, mindior is iha (could of guessed that if I thought of the history washing) I'm curious on the colony ratio between the groups and what amounts of that are in council space. I would guess most iha wouldn't be due to racism.

Click to shrink...

Anything sol side of the Shanxi Relay is Systems Alliance, as well as the 314 system. Additionally, the neighbouring systems to 314 are part of SA Space (and any spurs that can only be reached through those three systems). In addition to those relays, the SA claimed all the space within a 200ly radius of those relays to avoid people using FTL to plant a colony less than a days travel from their borders.

200ly/day being the maximum safe distance for a dive ship travelling in realm 21 at 1,197,810km/h. For reference light would take around 4 seconds to travel the same distance as the dive ships travel in an hour. There is an in-story explaination coming up in a few chapters, but there are 25 stable layers to the Dream, or aether sea. Realms 1 and 25 are inaccessable, and realm:1 would be our world.
Realm:2 is the HP verse and the Mass Effect universe (though there could also be a Mass Effect universe in Realm:1 but they can't know)

Where citadel ships use eezo to give their ships negative mass, allowing them to break the light speed barrier, dive ships use the time dilation effects of going deeper into the aether sea in order to allow their far slower movement to cover more distance in realm:2 time at the cost of subjective time. They then use magic to reverse the time dilation inside the ships so that the crew doesn't die of old age before they've even covered a light year of distance.

For reference, in Mass effect, Citadel ships travels roughly 1/2 the speed of the Reapers, that are estimated to travel at 30ly/d without the Mass Relays.

Spoiler: Magical density and realm table.

One side effect of this, is that the Systems Alliance has a lot more colonies in their small chunk of the galaxy than the IHA do in their much larger chunk of the galaxy. (see red lined area) As you can see, the Utopia System is right on the border between SA and IHA claimed space. Please note, in N8 - part 4, Jane was 25,000 light years away from sol system in the Shadow Sea. A distance that would take a SAAS 121 days to cover. Additionally, each arm of the galaxy is around 14,000 light years deep.

Spoiler: Map

The clusters on the map are the Major Mass Relays, there are thousands of smaller relays that are not shown on the maps. From the larger relays you then need to take a smaller relay to each of the listed systems (though the map only shows systems you can visit in the game). The Utopia System (Eden Prime) is just inside Systems Alliance territory, and also accessible by relay at the Exodus Cluster.

Systems Alliance Ship classifications.

SAAS - Systems Alliance Aether Ship - A ship purpose designed for travelling the aether sea, they have enough magicite supplies to last a full 30 days at full speed, with drops to Realm:2 in order to change the chunk of magicite installed. They have permanent lifeshields and can travel to a depth of realm 21. The built in cabinets are included in the ships wards, and are safe for use at any time.
SADS - Systems Alliance Dive Ship - A ship purpose designed for short hops through the aether sea lasting no more than a single day at most. They are designed to travel to realm:20, but are usually restricted to realm:19 for safety reasons. While their lifeshields can be lowered, Most captains never bother due to the time it takes to bring them back up. These ships don't come with built in cabinets, so their use is prohibited while the drive is in use.
SARS - Systems Alliance Relay Ship - These ships are designed to use the Mass Relay Network. Although they are slower than the equivalent council vessels, they use no eezo. They also come equipped with an emergency dive system, beacon, and inactive lifeshields. Magicals are not allowed to travel on these ships unless they have already visited realm:12. These ships don't come with built in cabinets, so their use is highly discouraged while the ship is in combat or approaching a mass relay.
Escape pod - Equipped with a small cabinet and an Alliance emergency beacon, they are becoming an increasingly common sight in non-magical ships.
Dive Ships can also be owned by private companies or wealthy individuals.

An emergency dive system will take a ship directly to Realm:12 (an authorised person can change that to realm:16, but such authorisation would only come if they were transporting a vip like an asari, who would be killed by the standard depth) and activate an Alliance emergency beacon. As they are not designed for travelling for long periods of time without being able to restock, these ships are instead supplied with Draught of the Living Death.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 19: Spectre – part 7

Jane stalks down the second set of stairs onto the main floor of the level. Looking around, she spots Kaiden and Ashley talking quietly to Anderson.

Stalking over, Jane fumes, "How do you handle dealing with that irritating nazi pig."

Kaiden retorts, "They're not that bad!"

Jane pokes her finger in Kaiden's chest, "The people might not be that bad, but the IHA reads like something out of 1930's Germany on Earth. All of the language they use seems to be subtly xenophobic and very IHA human centric."

Taking a deep breath, Jane forces herself to calm down, "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. Udina literally grabbed me as I came down from the petitioners platform. I'll send you some books on propaganda and 20th century human history later."

Kaiden shakes his head, "It's fine. But I resent the accusations about the IHA. I'm a biotic, and they took care of me growing up."

Softly Jane says, "Kaiden, Biotics are almost unheard of in Systems Alliance space. That makes me wonder, why are you biotic?"

Kaiden seems to shrink in on himself, "I was born this way."

"Kaiden, listen to me. You are never at fault for how you were born. That's down to your parents, and their doctors. Also, you are not at fault for anything that was done to you as a child.

"The reason biotics are almost unheard of in the Systems Alliance is we don't build settlements near eezo resources. Even moderate levels of magic are enough to cause eezo to start evaporating. I'm sure there are other reasons too, but that's the one that gets bandied around the most, as we make money exporting eezo to the Council."

Anderson interrupts, "Commander, ease up on Lt Alenko. I can vouch for the fact he has valid reasons for his feelings. Despite your own history, most people that left for Council space did so because they were excluded from society due to their viral status. There were a lot of accidents in the early days, and some of us were left with untenable choices, so we chose exile. They make up the majority of the IHA population. Don't forget, it's only been 30ish years since First Contact."

Jane looks down and answers in Hierarchy, because an English phrase doesn't come to mind, "Thank you for granting me a better viewpoint."

Kaiden shakes his head, "We still have to nail Saren. In my mind, I'm sure that he's the one that was on Eden Prime."

Jane nods, "After seeing him, I think that the description is enough to do more digging. But without more evidence, I don't think there will be anything that can be done except an official notice of censure from the Systems Alliance."

Ashley raises her hand, "There was that turian Garrus, he was asking for more time."

Kaiden turns to Anderson, "Sir, please tell me that you have another lead we can follow."

Anderson shakes his head, "Not a lead, no. But there's a volus by the name of Barla Von. He's a high level banker, and he has an office by the emporium in the presidium. He's also an agent of the Shadow Broker. He may have some information, for a price."

Jane nods, "Sounds like a plan, Captain, you and I can take C-sec and Garrus. Kaiden, Ashley, you've got Barla Von. Remember to fill out an expense form if you need to pay for any information."

Kaiden noticeably slumps in relief, "Thank you Commander."

Anderson shakes his head, "I'm afraid I can't go with you, I have too much history with Saren. Besides, I'm going to find the Systems Alliance Embassy and see about renewing my citizenship."

Jane nods, "Fine. Before you go, Kaiden swap cloaks with me."

Confused, Kaiden hands over his blue cloak. "Why?"

"I've already been identified wearing a black cloak and armour. So I'm going to stow my armour and wear your blue cloak. Captain, any ideas for finding Garrus quickly?"

Anderson shakes his head, "A few months ago I'd have suggested a human named Harkin, but he was suspended from C-sec a few days ago."

Jane nods, "Any ideas on where to find Harkin? As it will certainly be easier than talking to random C-sec officers until one's friendly enough to give me a lead."

"You could try Chora's Den, it's on the wards ring between petals three and four."

Jane nods, "Is there anyway to get a map of this place?"

Anderson sighs, "I forgot this is your first time here. Log into the Citadel network and it will send you a local map for the district you're in. If you're having trouble with that, talk to Avina, the pink VI you can see standing around occasionally, she'll help you."

Jane nods before leaving to find a discrete corner to remove her armour.

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Now no longer wearing her armour, Jane pulls in her magic slightly and makes her way back to the place the aircar dropped them off. As she's walking there, she spots a mass transit terminal like the one they used outside the Consort's.

Shaking her head, she walks over and activates it, "I need to go to Chora's Den."

The terminal helpfully shows her a list, and says, "There are 9 places named Chora's Den near mass transit terminals, please select the terminal ID you wish to travel to."

Jane looks at the list of location ID's and blinks, as they are just numbers on the screen next to names that look phonetically similar to Chora's Den.

Jane blinks at the screen, apparently for too long as it goes blank.

Bringing up her omni-tool, Jane looks at the area map and spends the next 20 minutes learning how to use the navigation and route-finding features, along with the directory.

At the end, she locates the closest Chora's Den by walking distance, and set's it as her destination. A moment later, a golden arrow appears on her HUD in the distance, and a blue arrow appears nearby.

With a sigh, Jane sets off at a jog for the lift to the park area. Less than a minute later, she walks out of the lift and looks around. Off in the distance, she can see the small golden arrow and the text 3,000m. Off to one side is a blue arrow over a tunnel entrance around 50m away.

Jogging over to the tunnel, she descends two flights of stairs, and follows a short corridor before coming to a lift door.

With a frown, she pushes the button to open the door and walks in. When the door doesn't close on its own, she looks around and spots another button, that she pushes.

"Probably there so that larger or slow-moving groups can get in."

Over the next few seconds, the 3,000m shrinks to only 500m, and her suit says her orientation has flipped 180 degrees. When the door opens again, there's a blue arrow almost directly over a door to the right.

With a sigh, Jane opens her map and frowns at the mess of corridors and walkways in the area leading all the way around the ring of the Citadel.

"Damn it, Jane, you'll have to give yourself time to get lost round here later. For now I need to find Garrus before the Council finish going through my memories."

With a shake of her head, she follows the arrow into a dimly lit corridor that is spotlessly clean. As she walks down a flight of stairs, she spots an alien with four arms and four legs working on something behind an open panel. Past that, there's another flight of stairs leading up, and a blue arrow hanging over a door.

Jane comes to a stop as the door closes behind her. Off to the left, a blue arrow hangs above a set of stairs. In front of her is an idle aircar and a mass transit terminal.

Lifting her omni-tool, Jane looks at accusingly, "You couldn't have just used the mass transit and given me walking directions from there?"

Then she face palms, as, at the bottom of the display on her omni-tool is a 'Register Mass Transit' icon. Querying that icon shows that the local route finding software will use known locations as part of its navigation.

Walking over to the terminal she stabs the icon and touches her omni-tool to the holographic display. In a huff with herself, Jane storms off to the stairs and marches down them, holding her cloak around her to hide her feet.

Once she's less than 30m away from her destination, Jane comes across another Mass Transit Terminal, so she closes her eyes and focuses on her occlumency exercises to bleed away her frustration.

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Walking past the terminal, Jane comes to a large open area with a half walled corridor surrounding some sort of open air shaft. Leaning over the wall, Jane can see aircars moving around below her.

Pushing herself up, she starts casually walking around the corridor to the entrance to the den. As she gets to the entrance, she hears a voice behind her say, "She's Systems Alliance, and doesn't match any bounty hunters, let her in."

Jane frowns as she walks into a busy bar with asari maidens dancing on platforms fitted with poles, and playing a medley of different music. While they are obviously alien, the rest of the staff seem to be mostly human, with the exception of a couple of large reptilian like humanoids with a hard shell on their foreheads, that she assumes are krogan. As she's watching a volus walks around the circular bar. It's characteristic environment suit decorated with a couple of red designs. As they complete their journey to the other side of the bar, Jane loses sight of them as a human woman looks down behind the bar to talk.

Pulling her attention from the staff, she looks around at the patrons, who are a far more varied crowd, with some turian, salarian, and volus customers. Though the majority again seem to be human.

Slowly, she walks around the bar looking for someone that looks like a police person. She's spotted someone that has an insignia that looks like the Citadel beside a gun, below it in English is a blue label with C-sec.

Just as she's about to approach the human man, the two krogan put their hands on her shoulders, "Boss says your friend's in the back room."

Jane nods, and allows them to lead her into a room at the back of the bar, while discretely reaching for her sword.

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Jane lets go of her sword as she sees that the small, dirty, room already has a suited occupant, their digitigrade legs and hands with two thick fingers and a thumb identifying them as quarian, sitting on one of the chairs that are shoved against the wall. On the other side of the room is another door, though it's showing as locked.

Roughly a krogan pushes her into the room, "Here, one of your friends was looking for you."

The quarian looks up, and Jane discretely raises a finger and waves it from side to side. As the door closes behind her, Jane walks forward and pokes her omni-tool out of the folds of her cloak with a contact request active.

The quarian raises their own omni-tool and touches it to the hologram. They then take a few minutes to investigate the contact before accepting it.

With a smile, Jane sits cross-legged on the and opens a channel marked private to the quarian, "Good day, sorry about the confusion. Those fine gentlemen took one look at my suit and, well."

The quarian responds, "Who are you?"

Jane smiles, "Oh, sorry, I'm Jane Shepherd of the Systems Alliance. Just in case it's not apparent, I'm also human."

The quarian says, "I am Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Why did they say you are my friend?"

Jane shrugs, "People see the suit and cloak, and assume quarian. It's quite useful for moving around anonymously outside Systems Alliance space. I was actually trying to locate a C-sec officer, a turian named Garrus."

Tali says, "Oh, well maybe they'll let you go."

Jane laughs, "That probably all depends on why you're here."

Tali is silent for several minutes while Jane sits on the floor. Suddenly she asks, "Are you magical?"

Jane's about to reply yes, before she stops and says, "That's a simple question with a complicated answer."

"Oh, I didn't know it could be complicated."

Jane nods, "Around 10% of the human population in the Systems Alliance have just enough magic to be susceptible to Prothean Syndrome, but not enough magic to do magic."

Tali looks down, "I'm sorry to hear that. Is that why you're wearing an enviro-suit?"

Jane nods, "We call them Isolation Suits, specifically I5, suitable for long term use."

"I'd love to get a look at how your people modify them."

"Why don't you then?"

"Because quarian's can't work in the Systems Alliance."

Jane shakes her head, "Pretty much the only species that can't work in most of the Systems Alliance is asari, and that's because of the eezo in their bodies."

Tali shakes her head, "I've met other pilgrims that have tried, and they all said the same thing."

Jane thinks for a moment, "Did they get an Alliance suit?"

"No, why would they need to?"

"Ah, that explains it. One of the things we do is replace all the filters and seals. The filters because your suits don't filter out viruses, and the seals with magical equivalents that don't need replacing, and are still gas-tight."

"But that's insane, those filters must cost a fortune."

Jane nods, "To non-citizens, our I5 suits cost 300,000 Citadel credits. We will also watch as you blood the suit, so that we know you're not going to try to take it apart."

"You could buy a shuttle, or a type 9 or 10 suit of armour for that money."

Jane nods, "I have no idea, this is only my second time out of Systems Alliance space since I became an adult. What I do know is that they are guaranteed not to run out of power for 10,000 years. Since 2203 they've had a permanent air supply and are EVA rated. They have a built in HUD that integrates with your omni-tool, and the faceplates and joints are charmed impermeable and unbreakable so they can never get dirty, or break from an impact. The filters are also self-cleaning so they never need to be replaced. Hell, the whole suit is self-sterilising, though that takes a week after you remove it."

"Why do you buy them from us then?"

Jane laughs, "You're asking the wrong person here, I've just read the technical manual a few times so I know how to maintain my own suit."

Several minutes pass before Tali asks, "Can I read the technical manual please?"

Jane shakes her head, "Sorry, it's restricted to Alliance citizens only. I can send you the user manual though."

Tali's voice sounds sulky through the translator, "I suppose that's better than nothing."

Jane sends the manual over, and Tali flicks through it over the next 10 minutes until the door opens and a human man walks in, "Ok, I've spoken to the Shadow Broker, he's agreed to meet you to talk about your evidence. I'll send the location to your omni-tool."

Tali looks up, "Oh thank you."

The man nods, "Just use the back door, I don't want you trapsing through my bar."

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Jane and Tali both walk out the back door of the club into a spotless corridor. As the door closes behind them, the lock turns red.

Jane shrugs, "Well, I'm off to find Garrus."

Cautiously, Tali asks, "Why were you looking for Garrus anyway?"

Jane turns around and clears her face plate, "Tell you what, I'll share if you share." When Tali nods uncertainly, Jane continues, "He was investigating Saren, the council Spectre. We were hoping he had some leads he hadn't followed up."

Hesitantly, Tali raises her omni-tool and starts a recording, "Eden Prime was a major victory. The beacon has brought us closer to finding the conduit."

Tali stops the recording after that, "There's more. I'm going to trade it to the Shadow Broker for safety."

Jane cocks her head, "I'll do you one…two better. I'll sponsor you for Alliance citizenship, and I'll make sure you get an I5 suit. On top of guaranteeing your safety."

"You can do that?"

Jane nods, "I have the address of the Embassy, so if you know how to work the mass transit, we can do it now. Otherwise we'll have to do it later, as the Council are probably only going to be occupied for the next two hours."

Tali laughs, "I can work the transit system. But the Shadow Broker is due to meet me personally in five minutes."

"The Shadow Broker that has at least two agents in the Citadel, one of which is a Volus in the presidium, is personally going to meet you?"

"Well he is an information broker."

Jane shakes her head, "If they were going to do business in person, why would they have agents? This stinks of a setup."

"But…"

Jane chews her lips, "Look, I promise that if you don't like what the ambassador says, I'll personally escort you to Barla Von and introduce you."

Tali looks at the location on her omnitool for nearly a minute before looking up, "I'll go with you."

Jane smiles and draws her rifle, before holding it loosely under her cloak, "Let me send you the address, and we can find a mass transit terminal."

Tali laughs, "How is it you can't use the citadel systems?"

Jane shakes her head, "I've been on the citadel for three, maybe four hours. I just haven't had time to learn them. If you asked me to draw a runic array, or use the Systems Alliance systems, I'd be able to do those fine."

"What are runes?"

Jane hums as they walk, before saying, "I guess you could say they're a combination of magical engineering and programming. Though I'm only passable at the first bit. They are really the cornerstone of our technology. If you look around the edge of my faceplate, you can see the runes that make the HUD work and also make it unbreakable and impervious."

Tali activates an application on her omni-tool to allow her to look closer, "That's amazing."

Jane nods, "I'm not that good yet, but I can do the most useful basics. That looks like a terminal."

Tali nods, and brings up the contact details Jane gave her for the Embassy. Then she puts a finger on the hologram and drags it over to the terminal.

Jane stares at her finger, "You can do that?"

Tali nods, "Of course, you can also make temporary tools out of omni-gel. Don't tell me you didn't know that either."

Jane shakes her head, "I had no idea. I've got one because they have the same utility as a datapad, eyepiece, and translator, for only around double the price. On top of that I can run tacnet software to have good battlefield awareness, which I can't with those items individually."

Tali shakes her head as she gets into the aircar, "I can't even."

During the journey, Jane opens a call to Kaiden.

When it answers, Kaiden whispers, "Be quick, we're on a deadline here."

Jane nods, "I will. I'm with a quarian that has evidence that Saren attacked Eden Prime. I'm taking her to the Systems Alliance Embassy."

Kaiden shouts, "You what! Wait! Everyone hold. I've got the Commander and she has some vital information… You're on holo Shepherd."

"I met a quarian that has evidence proving Saren attacked Eden Prime. The shadow broker was apparently offering to meet personally, but I offered safety, Alliance citizenship, and an I5 suit. So we're on the way to the Systems Alliance embassy."

A krogan growls, "Does that mean I don't get a fight?"

Kaiden answers, "Commander, that's great news. We just left Chora's den, when we found out Fist was going to have the quarian killed."

Jane shrugs, "Well, that was lucky."

"Lucky! Lucky? Ashley got shot in the face by a sniper. Do you call that lucky?"

"Is she still alive?"

Ashley groans, "Just a sore neck, a fair trade over a bullet in the brain pan."

"I'm glad the faceplate worked for you. I'll see you at the council later."

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When they reach the terminal closest to the Embassy, Jane has to physically pull Tali out of the aircar.

"I need to go home, I left the jam on the hob."

"Tali, it's just the magical protections around the Embassy."

Tali tries to pull her hand free, "You need to let me go, I need to water my succulent."

"I swear I'm going to punch who ever is responsible for these wards."

After five minutes of more and more ridiculous excuses for leaving the area, Jane finally pulls Tali through the door to the Embassy, and the wards.

Immediately, Tali shakes her head and taps her omnitool, "Jane, there's something wrong with my omni-tool."

Jane turns her own omni-tool off, "It's the magic, and these are high precision devices. If you don't want it to stop working permanently, turn it off while we're here until I talk to someone about those Bloody Wards!"

As Jane shouts the last two words, a human woman steps out of nowhere wearing a white robe that has been embroidered with numerous scenes.

"Welcome to the Systems Alliance Embassy, I am the ambassador Lady Victoria Black, how may I… Jane?" a gesture sees Jane's faceplate disappear and appear in Victoria's hand, "Jane! You didn't message that you were coming, otherwise I'd have come to meet you. Who's your friend?"

Jane gestures to Tali, who is holding her faceplate firmly on her face, "This is Tali something something ya, a quarian I met by chance. She has evidence against Saren, and was approaching the Shadow Broker for protection. I said I'd throw in citizenship and an I5 suit if she came to the Embassy."

Victoria puts her hands on her hips, "Really Jane? Daphne said you were trained better than that."

Jane retorts, "Yeah, but we really need to lower the magic levels around here before Tali's suit goes futz. And why is there such a strong muggle repelling ward?"

Victoria turns around and uses a Sorounus Spell to amplify her voice, "Sirius Orion Black get down here right now."

A naked human man with black hair appears standing next to Victoria, who gestures and dresses him in a clown suit. "You called oh beautiful and lovely wife of mine?"

Victoria snaps, "Yes, Jane just had to drag her guest I don't know how far just to get through the wards. They're also interfering with electronics. Why did you set them so high?"

Sirius whines, "It was the only way to keep the keepers out."

"It was also keeping everyone else out. How many people have been turned away without even being able to help themselves. Now go and sort it out, and find a proper solution."

Sirius slinks away with his shoes making a flap, flap, flappity flap, rhythm on the floor.

Jane takes her faceplate back, and refits it as Victoria watches her husband walk. "There was one other thing, I'd like you to come to the Council when they reconvene as my ambassador. The IHA have been trying to co-opt my citizenship."

Victoria turns back, "Certainly, that's why I'm here after all. I will need to know what it's all about though."

Jane smiles, "I give you permission to take my memory."

Victoria glides forward and touches a finger to Jane's temple, before drawing a silvery strand out and touching it to her forehead. A moment later she puts the strand back into Jane's head.

Throughout this, Tali is watching the scene avidly.

Victoria nods, "I can see why you brought Tali here now. However, I believe it is normal to actually ask permission rather than assume someone will do something."

Jane ducks her head, "I was going to once we got her safety worked out. I'm not going to ask her to take a bigger risk just to be safe."

Victoria nods, "Understandable, and commendable. Daphne would be proud. Now Tali, as the Systems Alliance Ambassador, I am happy to welcome you as a citizen, and I will place an order for a quarian I5 suit to be made. It will, of course, be deducted from Jane's personal account. But with all the bonuses she made during her training she can afford it."

Tali nods numbly as her brain is trying to explain what she's just been seeing.

Jane shuffles uncomfortably as Victoria starts to stare at her expectantly, "She needs time to process everything… Oh, come on, can't you see Tali's still having trouble… Not even a cup of tea?... Ok Fine."

Jane turns to Tali to avoid Victoria's gaze, "Tali, I need you to look at me."

Tali looks over, and rather dazedly says, "What?"

"Tali, do you think you could honestly answer a question for me? The citizenship and suit will still be yours regardless of the answer."

Tali nods absently as she notices a painting dancing on the wall behind Jane, as well as the people in it.

Jane glances at Victoria before saying, "Tali, would you be able to present your evidence to the Council later?"

Tali doesn't answer as a couple from another painting, that has just started to dance, come in and start shouting at the dancers.

Jane sags, "Tali, this is really important to us, so if you present your evidence to the Council later, I Jane Shepherd promise to grant you one favour if it is within my power to do so."

Tali glances back to Jane as she's talking and registers most of it. Then her eyes are drawn to a small cluster of runes on the wall above the painting, so she absently says, "Teach me."

Jane blinks, "What did you say?"

Tali shakes her head to clear it, "I said teach me. I'm sorry, the painting was fascinating, and then I saw the markings like the ones on your face plate. And you said you know how to make those runes."

A chair appears behind Victoria and she collapses into it laughing, "Oh god. Oh god, you just pulled a Hogwarts didn't you."

Jane snaps at Victoria, "Shut up, it's not funny."

Tali looks confused, "What's going on?"

Jane touches Tali's arm gently, "Let's go somewhere we can sit down, and where people Aren't Laughing At Me."

Victoria goes off in a fresh peel of laughter.

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A couple of minutes later, Tali finds herself sitting at a wooden table, on a wooden chair, in a kitchen that has running water from a freestanding tap, that can be moved. She knows, because she lifted it up and it kept running.

Her eyes keep glancing to the kettle that on a flame based cooker, and the teapot that walked over and kicked it.

Jane sighs, "Tali, ignore that, The Triplets told me that Sirius does things like that whenever he gets bored. Now I need you to pay attention to what I'm about to say because it is very important."

Tali tears her eyes away from display and fixedly stares at Jane's face through the faceplate.

"Jane Shepherd is an N8. Did you get that?"

Tali nods, "I did."

"Good. Next one, N8 Jane Shepherd can do magic. Did you get that?"

Tali nods again, "I did."

Jane starts to do some minor magical tricks, "Good, now what am I doing?"

Tali tries to look at Jane as a headache starts to build behind her eyes.

"Tali! Focus on what I just told you. Bring it to mind, and tell me what I'm doing."

Tali struggles to understand what Jane wants to do, and goes over the two nonsensical sentences she was told to pay attention to, just in case there's a clue. Suddenly, the headache vanishes and she stares at Jane in awe, "You can do magic."

Jane nods somberly, "I can, and according to our agreement, if you present your evidence to the Council, I will teach you everything I can."

Tali cocks her head, "About what?"

"Everything. Magically, you are my apprentice as I am bound to teach you everything I can."

Tali shakes her head, "But I, words can't. I mean…"

Jane softly says, "I can't imagine how hard this is for you. You come from a society based in science and the provable, and here I am telling you that you're now my magical apprentice."

"But I didn't need anything else to present my evidence, just safety."

Jane shakes her head, "It doesn't work like that with magic. When you didn't give me an answer the first time I asked, I offered a trade, that you accepted. Because I did it in an official capacity, my magic has bound me to my word."

A flop, flop, flop precedes Sirius' arrival in the kitchen, "Ok girls, it should be ok to use your electronics again."

Jane nods, and retrieves her omni-tool from her bag and turns it on. A moment later, it pings and she exclaims, "Damn it, the council is reconvening in 10 minutes. Sirius, is Victoria still laughing?"

Sirius shakes his head, "Not at all, I think she's powdering her nose."

Jane blinks, "What does that mean again?"

Sirius laughs, "She's gone to the bathroom."

Tali shakes her head, "Sorry for being non-human, but how did you go from putting powder on her nose to bathroom."

Sirius holds his hands up, "I'm not touching that." Before stepping through nothing and disappearing.

Jane sighs and forms a wolf made from light on her finger, before sending it to Victoria.

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30 seconds before the Council reconvenes, Victoria steps out of nothing holding Jane and Tali's hands.

Immediately, Tali's hands go to her omni-tool as she starts analysing stuff.

Jane and Victoria both look around at the assembled people, before Victoria spots a turian she knows, "Orinia, how have you been?"

Orinia turns around, "Victoria. I've been well. Are you with Jane Shepherd?"

Victoria nods, "She's just here, in the blue cloak."

Orinia nods the human way, "That's good, I'm here as her ambassador."

Jane spins around, "You are?"

Orinia nods again before switching to turian, "That is a most unseemly display for a Young Hunter."

Jane immediately ducks her head and puts her talons behind her back, "This hunter apologises speaker. This hunter will do better."

"It is to be expected, as you are still a fledgling. We will be arranging for a suitable mentor to accompany you and remedy your lack of education."

Victoria hides a smile behind her hand.

Seconds later, Udina storms over, "What are you two doing here? This is an IHA matter."

Victoria looks down at the man distainfully as she begins to float, "I am here representing the interests of two Systems Alliance citizens. I believe that Ambassador Orinia is doing the same thing for a turian citizen."

Udina cuts off as the hologram for remote petitioners flickers to life, and Saren appears. A moment later, the three council members walk out. At the same time, Anderson, Kaiden, Ashley, Garrus, and a Krogan all walk up the stairs and stand at one of the balconies surrounding the edge of the chamber.

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Sparatus speaks up to start the session, "Before we recommence the dispute between the IHA and Spectre Saren, there is some additional business that needs to be concluded. Hunter Shepherd approach the podium." His words are translated to English by the Petitioners platform.

Jane walks forward as a Hunter should, before stopping half a stride from the evidence recorder.

Sparatus raises his arm in salute, "Young Hunter, it is long overdue. Now we have cleared the brush, we have seen what was already there. The Hierarchy has confirmed that you completed your basic education with exceptional scores, except in your spoken language. They have also contacted Inex, and confirmed that you are indeed the claimed fledgling of Juvetana of Clan Velina."

Saren snarls, "You are allowing a human to be turian?"

Sparatus looks up, "Saren, this is Hierarchy business, not spectre business. You would do well to remember that despite your vantage point, there are those who see more than you."

Sparatus looks back at Jane, "As you have chosen the path of the Hunter [Protector and Provider] once your mentor deems you ready, you will undergo your ritual Hunt as a Young Hunter and return with your name as a Hunter."

Jane bows with her fingers pointed backwards, "You have restored my honour this day." Her own words are repeated back in English as she finishes speaking.

"You have been acknowledged, and you may stand."

Jane stands, and walks backwards to stand beside Orinia.

Tevos nods as Jane leaves, "The dispute between the IHA and Spectre is now open. The council has reviewed the evidence supplied so far. Before we give our judgment, is there any new evidence or arguments we were unable to hear before."

Councillor Udina walks forward at the same time as Orinia and Victoria start to walk forward, "Commander Shepherd of the IHA has managed to rescue…" his voice cuts off abruptly for no apparent reason.

Victoria looks over at the council, "Sorry about that, I believe the esteemed ambassador was about to make a fool of himself. Oriana and myself are representing citizens that have come across evidence pertaining to this case. I am willing to vouch for the integrity of Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

Orinia gives a bow, "I believe that Young Hunter Shepherd's integrity has just been established by this very council. I will be representing her in lieu of her Nest Leader."

The three councillors talk privately for a few seconds, and then Valern says, "The council will allow the Systems Alliance and Hierarchy to present evidence."

Victoria smiles, "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, please bring your evidence before the council."

Tali smiles nervously behind her faceplate, and walks to the front of the petitioners platform, next to an irate Udina who is trying to make himself heard.

Tevos presses a button on her console, "Tali'Zorah of the Systems Alliance, please input your evidence into the terminal in front of you and explain how you came to have the evidence."

Tali activates her omnitool and starts to upload the uncompressed data, including her hacking logs, to the terminal.

While the progress indicator is working, she begins her story, "After I began my Pilgrimage I started hearing rumours of geth patrols outside the Perseus Veil. As I had never heard of such a thing happening before. Out of curiosity I tracked a patrol to an uncharted planet and disabled one of them when it lagged too far behind. I was able to remove its memory core before it wiped it and recovered that file. After that I was chased by geth and mercenaries, so I took the shuttle I was using and headed here."

Valern asks "Do you still have the original memory core?"

Tali shakes her head, "No, the shuttle was impounded by C-Sec when I arrived, and they didn't return possession after the interview."

Victoria speaks up, "I trust the Council will begin an investigation into this blatant abuse of power now that it is materially impacting a dispute the Council is adjudicating."

Tevos gives Victoria a long look, before tapping on her own console, "Of course, I have marked the testimony for investigation."

Victoria smiles, "By an independent third party outside of C-sec?"

"We will assign a trusted spectre to the task."

Victoria nods.

Valern looks up from his console, "I have verified the structure of the data packet has all the hallmarks of being from geth hardware. The data provided was also in uncompressed form, and shows standard degradation patterns consistent with depleting capacitors. I am playing the data now."

As the data starts to play, a grey hologram full of static appears in the space between the petitioners platform council.

Saren's voice is heard around the chamber, flashes of coherent imaging appearing at random, "Eden prime was a major victory, the beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the conduit."

An asari voice continues, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

As the holo finishes, Victoria says, "I believe this evidence is unimpeachable."

Sparatus bows his head, and holds his claws together, "Indeed. The council finds that Saren was involved in the invasion of Sovereign territory and brought the councils name into disrepute. Saren, you are hereby stripped of your spectre status, and will be handed over to the Systems Alliance for judgement once you have been captured."

By the end of the sentencing, Saren's hologram has already vanished.

Tevos muses, "I recognise that second voice. It belongs to Matriarch Benezia."

Valern shakes his head, "I am more interested in these Reapers she mentioned."

Victoria says, "I believe that Commander Shepherd included her final moments on Eden Prime, as well as the first few moments in the sick bay aboard The Normandy. It is possible for the Systems Alliance to extract just that moment rather than needing to wade through hours of footage just to see that moment."

Sparatus inclines towards Victoria, "The council will keep that in mind."

Tevos touches her console, "This concludes the dispute between the IHA and Spectre Saren. Would members of the IHA vacate the chamber so we can move onto the next topic."

"…king stupid sparkie…" Udina cuts off almost as soon as he hears his voice.

Tevos repeats herself.

Udina growls, "What about our spectre?"

Sparatus' mandibles and crest show upmost contempt, "The council has chosen to deny your request for a Spectre at this time."

Udina shoots Victoria a hateful look before stalking out of the chamber.

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Once only Garrus and the Krogan are left observing, Sparatus says, "Young Hunter Jane Shepherd of clan Velina come forward."

Jane walks to stand in front of the console.

"With the regrettable actions of Saren, there is a position free in the ranks of the Spectres. We have chosen to accept a new spectre that has been nominated by both the Hierarchy and the asari nations," Victoria nods, "and with the permission of the Systems Alliance. They have shown themselves to be inventive, quick, and also compassionate. Above all, they have shown themselves to be honourable. Congratulations Spectre Jane Shepherd of clan Velina."

Jane goes down into a half kneel and bows her torso forward, "You give me great honour in granting me this vantage. I will show that the honour was not misplaced."

As Jane stands up again, Tevos says, "Your first assignment will be to capture Saren and bring him to justice. Failing that, you are to kill him. Your second assignment is to prevent whatever plans he has from coming to fruition."

Valern takes over, "You will be expected to remain on the Citadel to receive your spectre codes and training."

Jane nods at Valern, "I will."

As Tevos and Valern turn to leave, Sparatus says, "Your nest mother would like you to visit soon now that you have your own command."

Jane nods, "I will endeavour to do so, though it may need to wait until after I have finished my current assignments."

Sparatus chuckles as he leaves.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 20: Chasing leads – part 1

Once everyone has filed out to the main atrium of the council floor, Garrus approaches Jane with a turian smile. "Young Hunter, it was an honour to see you brought back into your clan."

Jane ducks her head bashfully, "Thank you, though my human heritage shows through more than it sometimes should."

Garrus chuckles, "That is true for many who work with them. They are a singularly unbending species, at the same time they are highly adaptable."

Jane shakes her head, "The unbending aspect is a cultural aspect, not a species trait."

"Of course, one should not forget your own ancestry."

Jane nods as Anderson, Kaiden, and Ashley join the group.

Anderson notes, "Udina left in a huff."

Victoria chuckles, "That's because I didn't let him speak after he tried to co-opt my citizens while I was present. Then, when I did let him speak again, the council denied his application for a spectre and kicked him out."

Anderson nods philosophically, "It was a long shot anyway."

Oriana adds, "The next order of business was to appoint a Hierarchy citizen to the position of Spectre."

Ashley looks confused, "I know I'm new to the whole council space, but why would that involve all of you?"

To one side Wrex starts to chuckle, a deep rumbling sound, "You are confusing species with nationality. There are many turian citizens that are not turians. Their nation grants citizenship to anyone who does military service in the turian fleet. An opportunity normally only open to their client species."

Ashley spins to look at Jane, "Wait, you have those markings on your face."

Oriana chuckles, "Jane is the oldest turian youth on record. And yes, also the new spectre."

Victoria nods, "A position endorsed by the Systems Alliance. I will be petitioning the Systems Alliance Assembly that Jane be allowed to join the N8. I will also be proposing that we negotiate with the Citadel Council to allow this dual status. But that is a discussion that could take years."

Oriana chuckles again, "I don't think you will be negotiating with the council directly. Tevos seemed positively wary of you, whatever did you do to her?"

Victoria smiles, "She invited me to tea, well that's the closest English translation, and I just enjoyed the aroma of the tea while she collected her thoughts."

Oriana grimaces, "I remember doing something like that with the elders of the clan on Shaanxi. It has made dealing with asari infinitely easier."

Victoria laughs, "We could share tea at some time if you wish?"

Oriana shakes her head, "I already know your vantage point is so high I can't even see it. I have forms to fill in, and people to talk to, so I will visit later, socially."

As she leaves, Garrus mutters something about speakers and their incomprehensible ways.

Anderson looks at Victoria, "While you're here Ambassador, I tried to reach you earlier, but I left my sauerkraut pickling at home. I would like to review my Systems Alliance citizenship."

Victoria closes her eyes for a moment, "Lt Commander David Anderson, voluntary discharge and left Systems Alliance space 10 years ago."

Anderson nods, "That's me."

"You will need a blooded ID stone if you wish to re-enter Systems Alliance space as a visitor, and blood any equipment you remove from Systems Alliance space. Your citizenship hasn't been revoked, just your military rank."

Anderson nods, "Then as an Alliance citizen, I would like to recommend that command of the Normandy be granted to Commander Shepherd. She will need a ship to find Saren, and the Normandy is the most advanced ship in the IHA and turian navies."

Victoria nods, "I will discuss it with Oriana… on human time scales."

Kaiden looks up at Jane, "Congratulations Commander, what now?"

Jane sighs, "For now, Ashley at least has shore leave. Don't take off your suit though, as it could be cancelled without warning if I get a lead. If you could discretely let the crew know that a turian spectre will be taking command of the ship, that should get rid of the bigots."

Kaiden looks uncomfortable, "But you're not turian sir."

Jane looks at Kaiden sympathetically, "Kaiden, I am a citizen of the Hierarchy. That makes me a turian. The same as Garrus here could gain Alliance citizenship, and petition to become a sidhe. Being a turian is as much a culture as it is a species. It's the same with the asari, in theory you could become an asari citizen. In practice, you wouldn't live long enough to complete the application, as it's a hold over from their tribal days. I asked Aeuna once while we were waiting for rescue. In short, you would need to live on an asari planet and take on their culture for 80 of our years, then apply for citizenship with proof you've made a good faith attempt to join their culture. Those are the only two cultures I have any familiarity with other than my own, so I couldn't say what it would take to be recognized as a krogan."

The krogan chuckles, "You couldn't, as you need to show you're strong enough through unarmed combat with the tribes chief. If you do, you then have to survive the Rite of Passage."

Jane looks up at the krogan, "I'm sorry, we haven't been introduced."

Kaiden winces, "Sorry Commander, this is krogan battlemaster Wrex. He was instrumental in helping us track down the information we needed to find out who had evidence against Saren. We were on our way to rescue her when we got your call. I'd say you have the luck of the gods, but Ashley and I were attacked outside Chora's Den because they thought I was you. I think he would be helpful for chasing down Saren."

Jane shrugs, "More the merrier. I'll have to work out how to pay you."

Wrex chuckles, "You should also bring Garrus there."

Jane shakes her head, "I'm not poaching hunters from other duties. Even if they are good at tracking."

Garrus says, "Actually, I'm not with C-sec anymore. Executor Pailin is so high up he has lost sight of the ground."

Jane nods, "I take it the quarry hiding amongst the undergrowth is Saren? Welcome aboard, I'll figure out your pay too. Unless you're both willing to work for raw gold that is."

Victoria shakes her head, "I don't think I should be around to hear this. Tali, I'll see you at the Embassy to finalise your ID."

Anderson says, "Would you mind if I accompanied you to get my own ID sorted out."

Victoria just vanishes with Anderson rather than answer.

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Almost as soon as she's worked out how she's paying Garrus and Wrex, and given them their first months retainer, Jane's omni-tool starts to ping as it receives message after message containing forms she needs to fill out, or places she needs to go, as part of her spectre orientation and training.

Jane hangs her head dramatically, "Come on Ashley, Tali. Let's get to the embassy and sort out your ID stones and where you're going to be staying until I get a ship sorted out. Tali, I'll see if I can rope Sirius into helping teach you while I'm dealing with all this paperwork."

Ashley looks at Tali curiously, "Commander, what are you going to be teaching her?"

Jane shrugs, "Everything I can, as I offered one favour in front of an archmagi, making her my apprentice. You know, things like how travel through the aether sea works, the basics of quantum dynamics, runes. That sort of stuff."

Ashley nods, "I wouldn't mind learning about some of that, as the only lesson we got on Eden Prime was that the aether sea is like an onion with realm:2 at the centre."

Jane groans, "That sort of works for planets, but it stops working as soon as you leave the planet's maximum extent in the aether sea. Which can be calculated based on the distance from the local star, how much iron is in the core, and how large the planet is. Mars, for example only has 14 realms, and Europa has 9. Though, 16 is the most that has ever been observed to form."

Ashley shakes her head, "But what about the time dilation?"

Jane looks longingly at the mass transit terminal only a few paces away from them. "Fine, let's go down to the park and we can make paper boats."

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By the time Jane has finished teaching Tali and Ashley how to make simple paper boats, her endless pad of parchment is being put to the test by the crowd of diplomatic aids and other embassy staff that have crowded around the three of them, and are attempting to make their own boats. Though, she's sure she saw a few people discretely put a sheet of parchment in a pocket, or fold, in their garments.

Now armed with two boats a piece, Jane leads Tali and Ashley to the edge of the slow moving river.

"Ok, Tali, I want you to put your first boat right by the bank of the river, Ashley, try to place yours slightly further out, and I'll put mine the furthest out. When I say, go, let them go."

As Jane says go, Tali's boat doesn't move, and Ashley's starts to move down the river until it bumps into Tali's boat. Then it starts to turn slowly until it breaks free. Janes boat moves past the other two boats faster, and without bumping into the others.

Jane laughs as she shakes her head, "Well, that worked better in my head. What you were supposed to see is that the three boats moved at different speeds depending on how close to the bank they are. The same's true of the different realms in the aether sea. The further you get from the realms ruled by physics, the faster time flows until you get to the deepest and fastest part of the aether sea. The first four realms are so close together that they move in lockstep with each other. After that, the density of magic in each realm allows time to flow faster and faster. If you out to the sidhe clans, time runs around 1,300 times faster than it does on earth. However, because it's part of the same planet, it travels around the local star at the same speed as the planet in realm:2 does."

Tali does some calculations, "But that would mean 3 years pass there for every day that passes here."

Jane nods, "Using the Systems Alliance calendar, it's 3.6 years for every day that passes on earth. I've heard that at the edge of the aether sea, where matter is starting to evaporate, unless it's been held together by something, 57.6 years passes for every day."

Ashley laughs, "By heard, do you mean read in officer training?"

"You got me there. So, the other thing about the aether sea is that it has regions that Magi would say are qualitatively different. For our purposes, there are 5 that we worry about. Realms:2-4 have less than a 2% difference in magical saturation between them. However between Realm:4 and Realm:5 there's a 1.6% difference. That's almost the same as the first three realms together."

Someone in the crowd asks, "What about realm:1?"

Jane sighs, "We just don't know. We have anecdotal evidence it exists, and some scientists claimed to have proved it exists around 100 years ago. But it is impossible for us to travel there, as the magical density is so low that it cannot support magical life. Apart from those scientists, no-one that has ever tried has survived the attempt. Every decade or so they'll be a news story about a Magi that tried and either disappeared, or was found dead."

She shakes her head, "Anyway, back to the topic at hand, between realm:5 and realm:9, the magical density increases gradually just under 2% at a time. But between realm:9 and realm:10 there's another jump of just over 4%, and the difference keeps increasing until you hit the 16/17 boundary, where starts to slow down again."

Another person calls out, "So why don't we use those realms, assuming they exist."

Jane sighs, "Prothean Syndrome, it's on the extranet if you want to look it up. There's also articles about how magic impacts eezo and electronics, if any of you want to visit Systems Alliance space."

Tali starts to look those pages up, only to be interrupted by Jane, "Tali, Ashley, let's play pooh sticks, and then head back to the Embassy."

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That evening, after a side trip to the Normandy to remove her cabinet, Jane and Tali are both y at the embassy when a frustrated Ashley walks in.

"Jane, can you help me please. Sirius told me that my room was the last bedroom on the left, on the forth floor. I tried going up there, and it led me into the kitchen."

Jane taps her omni-tool to close the spectre document she's reading, "Did he give you any directions?"

Ashley tips her hand, "Maybe, I was up the stairs before he finished talking, as I'm beat."

Jane shakes her head, "I'm sorry, this is my first day here, I haven't had time to look around. But I can recommend using the comfort options in your suit and just finding a chair or wall to sleep against if you can't find Sirius or Victoria."

Ashley shakes her head, "It's not just that, I should really use the facilities first."

Tali looks up, "Why? Are your waste reservoirs full up already?"

Ashley looks wildly at Tali, "My what?"

"Waste reservoirs. Is it translating alright?"

Jane nods, "It's translating fine, Ashley just hasn't worn her suit a full day yet." She stands up and opens the door to her cabinet, "You can use the toilet upstairs. Just sit down and the suit will take care of everything else."

Ashley darts inside, and her booted feet can be heard on the spiral staircase.

Jane sighs, "Come on Tali, I need you to sign my ward book anyway, so you might as well do it now."

Tali looks at Jane weirdly, "What do you mean?"

"Come on, I'll show you. Then I'll give you the grand tour after Ashley's left."

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A few days later, Tali's head is on a swivel as Jane has finished her lace tablecloth and took her deeper into the cabinet to find a new project to start. All around the room they're in are finished, 'hand' crafted projects that would probably be worth a small fortune to anyone in the citadel.

Jane stands up from the barrel full of yarn holding a skein of purple thread, "Hey, Tali, do you think this colour would suit you?"

Tali takes her fingers away from a basket she was about to feel, and clears her faceplate to see the yarn properly, "It is a nice colour, but why would you waste it on me?"

Jane shakes her head, "I need a new project, otherwise I'll start getting antsy. So I might as well make nice things, and I thought I'd make you a lace cloak. Oh, and if you want that basket, take it."

Tali shakes her head, "I couldn't take this, it's far too fine. You could earn a fortune if you opened a stall in the emporium."

"That's useful, I need a way to pay everyone. Tell you what, everything here is made from aether spider silk, so it should be stable in Realm:2 for at least 1,000 years. Take the basket, my new table cloth, these six doilies, and… this stole." Jane picks up a lace stole that has a floral pattern, and woven into the pattern are coloured threads that form a large rose that covers the length of the stole. "This was a fun challenge when I did it, but mechanically no more difficult than just doing it in single colours."

Tali shakes her head, "How much time did you put into that?"

"Huh?" Jane looks up from the very fine thread she's holding, "Oh, probably about 70,000 hours or so. It was more fiddly because I had to remember to include the colours. The table cloth took me… 100,000 hours."

Tali does some calculations, "It took you 23 years to make?"

Jane shakes her head, "About half that, as I was making it whenever I wasn't asleep. I think I have a file on the lace making method I was taught… Right, here it is, Honiton Lace. I've sent it to you. Once you've done that, you and Ashley need to buy some day clothes for civilian use, rather than walking around in just your suit."

Tali looks down at her suit, and the decorative cloth wrap she's wearing, "What's wrong with my suit?"

"With the suits, we are basically naked. Which is fine when we're on a mission, as it's less things to get caught. But for every other time, social mores say we should wear clothing."

Tali shakes her head, "This isn't something we consider on the fleet."

Jane looks at Tali searchingly, "Tali, on the fleet do they have the resources for common luxuries?"

Tali shakes her head, "No, this is why we keep our memories on our omni-tools."

Jane nods, "That's what I expected you to say. Tali, you will never lack for resources again. Not while you are my apprentice, and not afterwards. It will take time to get used to the idea, there are many studies about the years after the Sleeper war that show how hard it was for people to transition to the idea that material scarcity was a thing of the past. As 20% of Earths population was suddenly magical enough to do magic. Prior to that, it was around 0.0008% of the population. Suddenly, your next door neighbour could make you a hammer that would last a couple of days, or they could repair the broken handle on your pans. If they had the right training. Now go and find Ashley and sell those… Victoria should be able to authenticate the fabric, otherwise they can get it identified on Shaanxi. I'm going to dig out some tea and go and see if the consort still wants to see me."

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A few hours later, Jane sits across from Sha'ira slowly winding purple thread onto a spool while occasionally smelling her cup of tea.

Sha'ira says, "Commander."

Jane smiles and puts the skein and spool in her bag politely, "Please, this is a social situation, call me Jane."

Another 30 minutes pass, as Jane smiles at Sha'ira pleasantly, before Sha'ira says, "Jane, I would like your help with a problem."

Jane nods, "I would need to hear the details before I agree to anything."

"I have a close friend who wished me to be something I cannot be. As a result he has started to spread rumours and falsehoods about me."

Jane nods, and waits patiently for Sha'ira to continue.

"He is a general in the turian navy, and I would like you to talk to him on my behalf as a soldier."

Jane nods and sips her tea. After 15 minutes she asks, "What are you hoping to achieve?"

"At the least I want the lies to stop. I also value his friendship."

Jane nods, "I will see what I can do. Who is the Hunter you would like me to talk to?"

Sha'ira minutely sags in relief, "His name is Septimus. He's been drinking in Chora's Den since."

Jane reaches out and touches the back of Sha'ira's hand, "I understand. I will inform the general that he is behaving like a fetita."

As Jane leans back and takes another sip of her tea, Sha'ira shakes her head slightly, "You surprise me Jane. You seem impulsive, yet you sit here like a matron on the edge of becoming a matriarch."

Jane gives a small smile, "My teachers are constantly telling me that I am too hasty and impulsive."

More time passes before Sha'ira touches her ear, "I am sorry, I have another client to see now."

Jane inclines her head, "Keep the box of tea, and maybe we can have a purely social visit next time."

As Jane leans forward to retrieve her facemask Sha'ira reaches out to touch Jane's face and join very shallowly. Jane brushes her hand away and replaces her mask, "That was rude. You are no longer a maiden Sha'ira, and you are not my family either."

As gracefully as possible, Jane glides from the room leaving a confused Sha'ira behind.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 21: Chasing leads – part 2

Tali nervously walks into the upmarket emporium in the presidium with Ashley by her side. The items Jane's asked her to sell enclosed in a hastily constructed omni-gel box.

Hanging over her shoulder is a battered leather bookbag Victoria gave her that is probably worth more than the fabric items she's selling, simply because it's an artifact from before the human Sleeper War. Let alone the fact it's made from dragonhide.

Beside her, Ashley asks, "How do we know who's selling clothes and the like?"

Tali shakes her head, "I do not know, but I think those are holographic sales displays around the edges of the hall."

Ashley shakes her head, "How would they work?"

"I don't know. But we could either talk to the hanar in the middle, or try our luck with the displays around the edge."

"Hanar?"

"The pink, floating person with tentacles hanging down towards the floor."

Ashley blinks, "That's a person?"

Tali nods, "They are indeed."

Ashley shakes her head, "Well, that will teach me to assume everything has arms and legs."

After being directed to an asari shopkeeper, Tali and Ashley walk away with a down payment of 10,000 credits, and a contract to sell the items at 20% commission.

While they make their way into the wards, Ashley touches Tali on the arm, "Tali, are you alright?"

Tali shakes her head, "This is more money than I have ever held in my life."

Ashley nods, "And that's just the down payment. She thought she could sell those things for far more than that. Well, we have instructions to 'buy some civilian clothes', so let's go somewhere much cheaper than around here."

Tali shakes her head, "You won't really find any cheap places on the Citadel. You'd need to visit planets for that."

Ashley pats Tali on the shoulder, "I know, it's like living in a big city. But I'm sure we could head out on one of the arms and find communities where their clothes are more reasonable than the high-end stuff here."

Tali nods, "Well, that limits us to human, asari, and for me salarian communities."

"What about a quarian community?"

Tali shakes her head, "There are none outside the flotilla. My people were expelled from the Council hundreds of years ago, and we have not been able to develop communities since then."

Ashley stops to stare at Tali, "What, not even on your homeworld?"

Tali looks down, "We lost our homeworld to the geth, that's why we were expelled from the council."

Ashley shakes her head, "That doesn't make sense, why wouldn't they have just helped you against the geth?"

"Because it's our great sin, we created them accidentally."

"You created genocidal robots accidentally?"

Tali shakes her head, "No, they were helpers and automated workers, and we kept improving their processing and communications ability so they could do their jobs better. Then one day they gained sentience, and we found we'd accidentally broken one of the core Citadel laws."

"And they kicked you out because of that?"

Tali shakes her head, "No, they kicked us out after we lost our planet, because we hadn't destroyed the Geth."

Ashley shakes her head, "That makes me even more grateful I'm not a Council citizen. We are definitely going to have to talk about that with the ambassador."

Tali shakes her head, "Why would that make any difference?"

Ashley shakes her head, "I don't know, but it should."

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Jane walks into Chora's Den once more and stops to look around as the place seems short staffed.

Shaking her head, she walks around the bar looking for a turian that looks out of place. It doesn't take long to find one that has intricate facial markings, most of which she doesn't understand.

Slipping into a chair at their table, Jane removes her faceplate, and puts it beside her hand.

Speaking in Hierarchy, Jane says, "Honoured Hunter, would this Hunter be able to speak with you?"

The turian looks up at her, "Who are you?"

Jane inclines her body, "This Hunter is Jane Shepherd."

"Ha, it appears news only travels slightly faster than you. I had heard of a human fledgeling that had been recently found, and here you are. I'm General Septimus. What brings you to my table?"

"You use a human rank?"

Septimus takes a drink, and slams it back on the table, "Might as well, they're all over the damn place now."

Jane chitters angrily, "I came to talk to an Honoured Hunter, a Hunt Leader, on behalf of an asari named Sha'ira, but I have instead found a human. This Hunter will continue their search."

As Jane starts to stand up, Septimus slams his fist on the table, "How dare you call me a human!"

Jane deliberately looks around, "You are in a human bar, where most of the clients are human, and you claim to be a human general. What else could you be?"

"Spirits damn it, I am a turian!"

Jane sneers, "Doesn't look like it from my vantage point."

"I could have you dragged to the cells."

"And I could demand a test of Honour. Something neither of us will do because I speak truth. You were an Honoured Hunt Leader, that brought order and stability where it was needed. Now what are you?"

"I am a…", Septimus trails of into a soft chittering of his mandibles.

Softly, Jane says, "Human's don't seek the higher ground, they don't look to those who have climbed the peaks before them. Humans live on a world of soft heights, and hidden threats. They are not like us by nature. To them the sky is a welcoming thing, the light an aid for hunting, caves and forests a place of hidden dangers, and a refuge from the predators of the open spaces. For us, shade is life and the day is death. We have no fear of caves because they are simple and make sense. Do you see a world full of hidden dangers, a place where you have to search out safe places to sleep, and walking over the horizon is the only way to find your next meal. Or do you see a world where a good vantage point will net you a meal far faster than walking around and making noise?"

Septimus grumbles, "When I was a Young Hunter, it was always the older hunters that had the better view points. Even when we ventured to climb as high as them."

Jane shakes her head, "I have climbed many peaks, both human and turian. I have seen the peaks the goblins, dwarves, and asari, climb, and I have taken my first steps to climb the asari peak. What peaks have you climbed?"

Septimus drinks for a few minutes before looking up, "What do I do?"

Jane shrugs, "Are you a Hunter, Speaker, Nest Lord, or human?"

"I'm a Hunter damn it."

"Then you do what we always do, seek to see more."

"But she is my mate, there is no other for me. But she won't…"

"You say won't, but have you climbed to stand next to her, to even see what she sees. Would you expect an Honoured Nest Mother to leave her nest to join your own?"

Septimus shakes his head, then pauses and gives a turian negation, "No, that would endanger the fledglings."

"Exactly. What of Sha'ira? If she was turian, would she be an Honoured Nest Mother?"

"I don't know. I'll have to find out."

"You can't do that if you are laying false trails and hiding pitfalls. How can she trust your honour if she steps in a trap that you said is safe?"

"I will do as you say. You say you have stepped onto their peak, what does their vantage look like?"

Jane thinks for a moment, "I think their elders see patterns in the prey's movement, and direct the younger to take advantage of them. But I have only stepped on their peak, I have yet to climb any distance."

Septimus looks down at his drink, "Then it looks like I'll be plotting my own climb." He looks up, "This time I will do it knowingly, and I will not forget the peaks I've climbed to get here."

Jane smiles as she stands up. As she's about to leave, Septimus taps her arm with the side of his hand, "Young Hunter, there is one false trail that needs to be cleared before I can begin to make things right. Give this datapad to the elcor ambassador. Tell him that I tracked this information down myself. Sha'ira didn't tell me anything."

Jane shakes her head, "Where would I find this Speaker?"

"Their embassy is next to the human embassy."

Jane can't help showing confusion in the human way as her eyebrows scrunch together, "Out on the petals?"

"No! The one on the presidium."

Jane thinks, "Do you mean the Speaker for the IHA?"

"Yes, the humans."

Jane shakes her head and switches to English, "They do not speak for the Systems Alliance. Arch-magi Victoria Black is the Ambassador for the Systems Alliance. You would do well to remember that humans are as happy to live in forests as they are on plains."

Septimus growls, "Then why is their embassy so far away?"

Jane laughs, "Because they are not part of the Citadel Council races. They are a separate galactic power. As our own history books record, or do you not remember how Selene dragged a dreadnaught out of the sky?"

Septimus picks up his datapad and looks up that particular time period, before sitting back as a video starts to play.

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On her way out, Jane spots the human woman that caught her eye the first time she came to this bar. This time, there's no volus to confuse things, and she fair screams nervous to Jane's eyes.

Walking over to sit in front of the woman, Jane pulls a sheet of parchment off her endless pad, and begins to make a flower, with magical assistance, while she's waiting to be served.

A few minutes later, the woman has finished her current drinks and comes back to Jane, "What can I get you?"

Jane smiles, "What do you have that's light on the alcohol?"

"Lots, but they'd still kill you. Not all species drink alcohol."

"Then get me something fruity with an obnoxious paper umbrella and a straw."

The woman chuckles, "You want Flux for that sort of drink."

Jane nods, and pulls out a portkey programmer, "Then maybe I could just have a chat with the prettiest girl behind the bar, and you charge me for something I could drink, in theory."

"What's your angle?"

"Me? Just chatting to a pretty girl, and maybe getting their number." Jane touches the programmer to the flower at the same time she turns it into a portkey to the Embassy foyer, "Here, I made this for you to remember me by."

The woman looks down at the flower, "Look, don't take this the wrong way, but you're not my type."

Jane shrugs philosophically, "Oh well, keep the flower anyway." Her voice drops down quietly enough that only the woman will hear her, "And if you crush it, it will take you straight to the Systems Alliance Embassy." More loudly Jane adds, "Charge me for that drink anyway, take it as an apology."

The woman shakes her head, and rings up a drink, that Jane taps with her omnitool before standing up and walking out. On the way out, Jane sees the woman place the flower into a pocket.

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With a musical hum, Jane makes her way to the mass transit, and then the consort. From there, she heads over the bridge to the small block of embassies.

As she gets closer to the desk, Jane pauses and checks her occlumency and the asari that was handling the desk then. Curiously, Jane walks over to the desk and waits patiently for them to finish their current task.

Eventually, they look up, "Good afternoon. Can I help you?"

Jane smiles and answers in asari, "Maybe, I noticed that you're not Nyaraphria, though you look very similar."

The asari nods, "You are very observant for a human. She is at the Qhicon, Shusenesh, and Ecerine embassy today."

Jane nods, "Interesting, I assume their closer to the petals their species tend to live on?"

The asari nods again, "Very astute. If there's nothing else, I do have work that needs doing. Looking after trillions of lives isn't exactly simple."

Jane nods, and speaks Hierarchy, "Just one thing, I need to visit the Elcor embassy. Would you be able to direct me?"

The asari pauses for a couple of seconds before nodding, "Certainly, if you follow the stairs to my left, they are through the far door to the right."

Jane shakes her head as the asari looks back down at her display, and just heads to the embassy.

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Several days later, after Jane has been co-opted by the Spectre investigating C-sec about shuttles and equipment being impounded illegally, Tali is bent over what should be a priceless treasure, a book on the subject of arithmancy, on her new datapad she has a couple of more scientific books on the underpinnings of aether science.

"Physics doesn't do that!"

Behind her, Victoria smiles at a complaint she's heard so many times. Leaning over Tali, from the side, Victoria picks up the book and props it at an angle in mid-air. "There that's better, we don't want you developing a crick in your neck."

Tali stares at the book, then looks up at Victoria, "Why did you do that?"

"First, you really do need to get up and move around. Second, you need a constant reminder that you're not just dealing with realm:2 physics, those books and papers are also taking into consideration magic. Finally, a relay ship brought your new suit, cabinet, an English language memory crystal, a pistol, and a stylus of all things. Though the letter says that the cabinet is only temporary while Selene finds time to make a proper cabinet for a new apprentice."

Tali stands up eagerly, and then pauses, "Memory crystal?"

Victoria nods, "You need to know how to read and speak English, as there's a lot of ambiguity that you can't afford to have while studying magic."

Tali frowns, "But, those books make frustrating but perfect sense."

Victoria sighs, "Tali, my husband's name isn't Stoic."

Tali sounds surprised, "But…"

"He's named after a star visible on Earth. The dog star, also named Sirius."

"Hey! That's not what he called himself."

Victoria nods solemnly, "I'm afraid it is, I had to ask for help working out how to say that. It's something about indicating that something is a name."

While Tali is digesting that, Victoria walks over to Jane's cabinet, and unshrinks the new cabinet next to it. Opening the door, she looks inside before looking back at Tali, "Tali, I know why the cabinet came so quickly now."

Tali looks up from her musing, "What? Sorry, why's that?"

"This is one of the new troop relaxation cabinets. I guarantee that it's completely sterile inside, as they get a thorough decontamination to clear out anything between 20nm and 100µm as we don't want to run the risk that PS negative troops could contract PS."

Curiously, Tali walks around to see the inside of a decontamination chamber, "Huh? It's smaller than I thought."

Victoria laughs, "Grab your datapad while I unshrink the rest of your package. Next time I see you, you better be wearing your new suit, or telling me that it's not sterile in there."

Tali looks at Victoria in panic, "You want me to do what!?"

"I want you to change out a suit that could fail at anytime when it's exposed to large amounts of magic, into one that won't fail, and also doesn't need recharging. Ideally, you should also blood the cabinet and use the memory crystal. But your suit is the most important part of it."

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Tali walks out of the decontamination chamber into a large sitting room that has dozens of comfortable chairs with a view of one wall. In front of that wall is a low wooden cabinet with a pyramid on top of it.

Flicking on her omni-tool, she starts scanning the atmosphere for gasses and particulate concentrations down to 1µm. When the particulate count comes up as zero, she frowns, and puts her bundle of stuff on a chair as she starts to move around the room, testing every surface.

When she comes to the first door, she pulls it open to see a long corridor running to the left and right, in front of the door is a set of stairs going up.

Slamming the door closed, she leans against it hyperventilating.

"I can't check all of that!"

Cautiously, she walks over to the second door, and pulls it open. With a sigh of relief, she walks into a small waste management room, with a sink and a water filled waste receptacle. The walls themselves seem to be made from ceramic tiles.

After thoroughly inspecting every surface of this small room, Tali gets her new suit and covers the door with omni-gel so that there is no way for any contaminants from outside to come in.

Anxiously, she takes off her faceplate and shivers as she sniffs the air, trying to detect anything the omni-tool missed, before putting the faceplate back on.

A few minutes later, her heart rate has slowed down slightly, and she takes the faceplate off again.

Slowly, Tali goes through the process of removing her suit, until she's standing, shivering, on the cold tile floor.

Snatching up the new suit, she hastily shoves her feet into the legs, and starts the process of seating all the plumbing correctly.

Tali's just about to put the faceplate onto the ill-fitting suit when she remembers that she was supposed to blood the suit. Her shoulders sag, and she retrieves her omni-tool to start absorbing the omni-gel needed to open the door and get the datapad with the instructions for blooding the suit.

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Jane, Tali, and Ashley all find themselves navigating a C-sec station 12 degrees round the presidium from the tower spur where the consorts chambers and Citadel tower are located. Jane can clearly see signs for the turian and hanar embassy's leading to a large lift. Their own destination is the Hierarchy and Systems Alliance docks.

As they enter the lift that will take them there, Ashley asks, "Why are the Systems Alliance docks with the turians?"

Jane shrugs, "I have no idea, because we first made contact with them for all I know."

Tali doesn't even look up from her datapad to comment on the conversation.

At the bottom of the lift, Jane and Ashley walk out, and Jane turns around, "Tali, we're here. You can put the datapad away for the moment."

Tali looks up and whines in English, "Do you have any idea how important this could be for the flotilla? Imagine if we used this information on the inside of a live ship, we could have a home again. One that could never be taken away from us because we could take it with us."

Jane shakes her head, "Tali, you will have plenty of time to read and study later. Victoria and Oriana are waiting for us."

Reluctantly, Tali puts the datapad in the pouch that Jane made for her, before walking out of the lift.

Ashley shakes her head, "I can't understand how you can both do so much studying, it makes my head hurt just thinking about it."

As the three of them approach Victoria and Oriana, Victoria asks, "What was that about the flotilla?"

As Tali looks down, embarrassed at being heard, Oriana shakes her head, "It's a sad story, the short version of it is that the quarian people were expelled from the council when they accidentally created the geth. As they've lost their homeworld, they've been wandering from relay to relay in a vast flotilla that contains their entire species and any flora and fauna they could scavange while they fled."

Victoria shakes her head, "Why haven't they just settled on another planet?"

"Like turian's, they have dextro proteins, so planets that developed like that are in short supply. Every time they've found such a planet, someone already has a claim on it. They tend not to like my species, as the Hierarchy fleet is the one that normally has to move them on."

Victoria sighs, "Looks like I've got a new mountain of work to do, as Alliance space has a few planets that are predominantly dextro life. But they are all several days from the nearest relay by aether ship."

With a hopeful tone, Tali asks, "How long is that by eezo drive?"

Jane puts her hand on Tali's shoulder, "Tali, the SAAS Agincourt could do 200ly a day. I don't know what the limit on eezo…"

She cuts off as the Normandy flies through the atmospheric shields to dock at a nearby docking arm.

Oriana shows amusement at Jane's reaction, "This is what has been occupying the time of both Victoria and myself recently. The Systems Alliance now officially has four docks, one of which is shared with the Hierarchy."

Victoria takes over, "As the joint majority backers of the Normandy Project, our governments are proud to sign over command of the ship to the Council's newest Spectre. A person who has shown she epitomises the traits we both hold up as ideals in both societies."

Oriana gestures to the ship, "Spectre Shepherd, the Normandy is now at your disposal. Your turian mentor is on board with their partner. They are replacing the old quartermaster, but they are merchants so they expect to have plenty of trade opportunities during your travels."

Victoria adds, "Tali, we have been able to have your shuttle moved to dock 3, though I'm sorry to say that they weren't able to locate your personal effects, or the geth core."

Jane shrugs apologetically, "Sorry, the other spectre is still looking, as they believe that locating the geth core will uncover some of the underworld contacts that have thus far evaded identification."

Tali shakes her head, "This is already more than I ever expected. It is a common story for those on their pilgrimage, and the reason why so many are reduced to working on ships for their passage. If it didn't happen here, it would have been somewhere else."

Jane nods, "I am honoured that you have allowed me this command, what of the IHA?"

Victoria hides a smile, "The IHA Navy has agreed to the reassignment. The government, not so much. Captain Anderson will be busy for the foreseeable future as he settles into his new role as military liaison. Admiral Hackett is to be your primary contact in the IHA Navy as you don't have any official authority there."

Jane nods again, "Have the Alliance or Hierarchy managed to turn up any leads? Or am I going chasing geth blind?"

Oriana says, "The IHA have provided one thing, a rumoured sighting of Saren on their Feros colony. They have confirmed the presence of geth there. The Hierarchy have traced Matriarch Benezia's family, and we've located her daughter. Finally, I've heard rumours that the council have located Benezia herself, though obviously I don't have access to their files."

Jane sags in relief, "At least I have a starting point. Starting from Eden Prime would be problematic."

Victoria nods, "That reminds me, The Assembly have decided to open up the Eden Prime mass relay. Their report suggested that the local governor had already been using it, and was planning on seceding the colony to the IHA. That means that you can access it through the Exodus Cluster. Nova Prime, the official home planet for the IHA is in the Asgard system in the same relay cluster."

Jane laughs, "Victoria, do you even know what a relay cluster is?"

Victoria shakes her head, "Nope, I'm just reading what they wrote. I understand that the Hierarchy want their engineers to go bow to stern to ensure the IHA hasn't left any surprises, or removed anything vital. The Systems Alliance also has something coming. The details will be in the captains quarters once it arrives, as they don't trust me with that information."

Tali dryly comments, "It's more likely they don't trust Stoic not to mess it up somehow."

Oriana nudges Victoria, "She's only been living with you for 8 days, and she's already got him pegged."

Jane turns to Ashley, "There's a place in my crew if you want it. Otherwise, I'm sure the Alliance Engineers will be happy to return you to Alliance Space."

Ashley shakes her head, "I might be able to see my family sooner if I head back now. But without you, I wouldn't be able to see them at all. I'm going with you."

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

I feel there needs to be a post In information as to allegiance with canon characters, I did not expect Hackett to be iha

Click to shrink...

Admiral Steven Hackett of the IHA
A few years after first contact, then Captain Hackett of the SAAS Avenger was transporting a Salarian Scientist to one of the systems alliance colonies. During the trip, the scientist broke quarantine multiple times without anyone noticing. It was only on the last day of the journey that the symptoms of PS started to affect the magical crew. At this point it was too late, and a full 1/3 of the crew died from being PS positive. Later questioning under veritasium revealed that the scientist was also a member of the STG, and wanted to see if the humans claims of a virus were true. The Citadel Council refused to accept this testimony claiming that confessions obtained by chemical use were akin to torture.

Hackett and his crew went on to serve another 3 years before the isolation and lack of maintenance forced them to accept voluntary exile into Council Space. Steven Hackett was the last organic crew member to leave. Rather than return to service, the Avenger instead chose to be reborn to a human, and given to Steven Hackett to raise as his own child.
With the loss of the guiding intelligence, the Systems Alliance refitted the ship. Then they reactivated the magical intelligence and christened the ship the SAAS Agincourt.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 22: Chasing leads – part 3

A couple of hours later, Jane is in the captain's quarters on the Normandy reading through the lengthy reports that the various governments have given her on Saren.

As the door pings, she turns around and looks up, "Lt Presley. Take a seat."

Presley sits at the table, "You asked to see me captain?"

Jane nods, "I want to make you my Executive Officer."

Presley looks down, "I'm honoured captain, but…"

"Shouldn't Captain Anderson be here instead? It's complicated, as there is a conflict of interests with the IHA. Suffice to say that as a Spectre, two thirds of the investors in this ship felt I should have an independent command. This is on top of Captain Anderson's new role as the military liaison between the Systems Alliance and the IHA militaries. For things like joint patrols and the renewal of citizenship with the Systems Alliance."

Presley looks up, "Citizenship sir?"

Jane nods, "Nobody that left the Systems Alliance ever had their citizenship revoked. However, all restricted equipment that is to be taken outside Systems Alliance space must be blooded. Regardless of PS or magical status."

Presley nods, "I'll let the crew know."

Jane smiles, "While you're at it, let them know that there will be turian and quarian crew members. At the same time, let them know that, I'll also be updating the crew manifest once we're under weigh, just in case there were any mistakes made by the IHA you understand. If I come across any names that aren't present, I'll assume it was a clerical error."

Presley looks at Jane for a long moment before nodding, "Understood captain. When are we leaving?"

Jane waves at the data slates in front of her, "As soon as I've finished going through all of this, so call it 24 hours. Oh, and my apprentice, Tali, will be acting as my aide so ensure she goes on the ship's registry as such."

Presley makes a note on his own datapad, "Understood captain."

Two hours later, Jane storms up to CiC, "Lt Presley, notify all crew, we are leaving in 1 hour. One of our assignments just became time critical. Notify the docking authorities to take down the names of anyone that arrives after we leave. They will still be registered crew members when we return, and they'll be on duty during the next shore leave."

Presley nods, "Captain, should I also arrange for each shift to have staggered shore leave?"

Jane nods thoughtfully, "Agreed, I'll leave it to your discretion."




As the Normandy pulls out of the dock under Jokers skilled touch, Jane switches on the ship-wide intercom in the CiC.

"This is Commander Shepherd, Spectre and captain of the Normandy. Most of you were there when Saren attempted to kill Nihlus, and those who weren't were at his trial. Each and every one of you chose to join your respective militaries to make a difference in the Galaxy, and you were chosen to join this crew, my crew, because you are the best there is. We have been tasked by the Citadel Council to track down the Ex-Spectre Saren and stop him and his plans.

"I won't lie to you, this is a dangerous mission. You all saw the ship that stylised itself after a Sleeper, that is what we're facing. That is what we have to stop, that is what we are up against. We are the line in the sand that says no more.

"On a lighter note. The Systems Alliance has provided a new training cabinet on the hanger deck. We also have a modified set of guidelines for cabinet use on the ship. They are only off limits to all personnel for 30 minutes either side of a relay jump, or approaching and leaving planetary orbit. While we are under weigh, marines will be stationed outside each cabinet to provide a warning if we enter an engagement. Lt Presley, you have the bridge. Tali, Wrex, Alenko, Williams, and Garrus, meet me in the briefing room."

Switching off the comms, Jane looks down at Presley, "Set course for the Artemis Tau cluster."

Her orders give, Jane turns around and makes her way into the communications room.

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Standing by the three holo projectors, Jane looks around at the five people here with her.

Clicking a button on her omni-tool, a miniature map of the galaxy opens up, before zooming into the Artemis Tau cluster, "This is a Search and Rescue mission. Our target is Liara T'Soni, Benezia's daughter. In human terms Benezia is Liara's mother. This mission became time sensitive when I received reports of Geth activity in this cluster. It hardly seems like a coincidence that they've appeared given the fact that our target is considered to be the foremost expert on the protheans. I don't know what we're going to find there, but reports say that the planet she's on is undergoing total tectonic collapse. Emergency portkeys are non-optional for this mission. Any questions before I give out squad allocations and objectives?"

Wrex nods, "Yeah, what are emergency portkeys?"

Jane looks at Ashley, "Williams, give everyone a crash course on the portkey writer and insignia once we're done here. Oh, and while I remember, I have ordered a turian and krogan I5 suit for each of you. Once they arrive, I'll be expecting you both to wear them 24/7 while you're working for me. If for no other reason than the face plate will… Well, you were around when Williams took a bullet to the face. Any other questions?"

When nobody answers Jane nods, "Very well, Wrex, Alenko, you're squad leaders. Williams, you're 2ic for Wrex, Garrus same for Alenko. Tali will be with me. You'll each have two marines backing you up. Alenko, you'll be securing our landing site and providing a fall back position. Wrex, you're on fast response. My squad will be on point and I'll provide portkey coordinates when I need you. ETA is 72 hours, so get some rest and get your gear sorted out."

Kaiden raises his hand, "With all due respect Ma'am, would I be able to have someone else as my 2ic?"

Jane shakes her head, "No can do, Garrus has excellent scores for sharpshooting and spotting, ideal for maintaining a fall back position. Suck it up soldier and get to know your squad mate."

As they're all starting to stand up, Jane lifts up her omni tool to check something when it reminds her of the tacnet. "One last thing. Does everyone know how to use the tacnet?"

Ashley shakes her head, "I still haven't been trained on that."

Jane nods, "I'll hold a class on Alliance ship doctrine, the TacNet and porkeys tomorrow at 1340 in the hold."

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A short while after the briefing, Tali is nervously sitting in the captains quarters trying to read her primer on runes. In the bottom right of her vision is the particulate graph she pinned in place after checking it as part of her suit checks, after she was jostled into a crate earlier.

At the sound of the door opening she looks up from her book, only to pause when instead of Jane, Lt Presley pokes his head into the room.

"Ah, Miss Zorah. I have you down as the captains aide, so I need to show you to your berth."

Tali looks around the spacious room, "Um… There is so much space in here, can I not just stay with Captain Shepherd?"

Presley looks down at his data slate, "Right, aide. I should have guessed, well it takes all sorts. I'll update the roster."

Tali stares at the door as it swishes closed again.

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After a long shift on the bridge both familiarising herself with the ship and crew, as well as dealing with the headache of only having one and a half shifts worth of crew instead of the full three shifts of crew she's supposed to have; Jane finally makes her way into the captains quarters, only to stop when she spots Tali sitting in the corner with a couple of cables coming from her omni-tool to the service port on the back of her suit.

As she touches the privacy button on the door, Jane calls out, "Tali. Tali! Are you alright?"

Tali jerks from her frantic diagnostic of her suit, trying to track down the error that's causing the spike in the particulate count. "No Captain, I think there's something wrong with my suit."

Jane walks over to Tali and crouches down next to her, "Tali, talk to me. What's the problem?"

Tali punches a couple of controls on her omnitool and enlarges the graph that she's been staring at all shift. Shakily she says, "This is wrong. I think one of the filters has been dislodged and is letting in bacteria. But I can't find out which filter, and the ships doctor was no help."

Jane stares at the display with the unfamiliar notation, "Tali, is this being displayed in Quarian?" Tali nods, "Ok, let me attach my own diagnostic cables and I'll run the Alliance diagnostic tools."

After a couple of minutes, Jane has a similar graph open along with a tabular format of the data. "Ok, this is the same data as your graph, and I can see a spike at the 20nm to 100nm range. That's to be expected as that's probably the virus that causes Prothean Syndrome. I'm surprised that you've got so little between 100nm and 10µ, I'd expect most humans to have a fairly level chart across those ranges unless they're ill."

Weakly, Tali says, "Nanometer?"

Jane looks at Tali sharply, "Tali, why are you using the Quarian language interface on an Alliance isolation suit?"

When Tali just stares at Jane, Jane puts the heel of her palm against her face plate, "Tali, have you used the language crystal yet?" As the silence drags on, Jane finally says with a sigh, "Tali, I know you're scared. We live with the same fears."

Tali shakes her head, "How can you say that. It's not like a suit rupture would kill you."

Jane leans her head against the wall for a moment. Taking a deep breath, she opens a recording of a photo of her mother and grandmother waving at her. "Tali, my mother was a squib, as was my grandmother. My grandmother was one of the diplomats during the initial trade negotiations with the citadel races. During a negotiation with the Salarians she suffered a tear in her positive pressure suit Hazmat suit."

Jane pulls up a picture of a Hazmat suit, "We didn't have anything better at the time as we'd never needed them. Once they discovered the tear she went into quarantine, and a few weeks later she was dead. My mother risked her life every time she visited me on Mindoir as she's also a squib. Until I went to Sandhurst I lived in this suit just like you live in your suit. Though I was terrified that I would have a suit failure around a magical or a squib, and be responsible for their death. I know that most of the humans you've met, or were likely to meet in the areas of the Alliance you could travel to, don't seem like they care. But that's because they've mostly rejected the rest of Alliance society due to isolation and being treated like lepers."

Tali frowns, "Leper's?"

"People who suffer from leprosy, a mildly contagious disease that was incurable until the 20th century. They were generally excluded from society out of fear and disgust. When you have time, you should talk to Ashley about her own fears and worries, as she's only just become PS positive."

Tali shakes her head, "But you've already got a cure for this, why don't you just make everyone magical?"

"Because it's dangerous, and we couldn't teach everyone the skills they needed to survive with magic levels that high. The people who could teach those skills don't want a massive influx of people disrupting their own culture. That's also not counting the fact that Humans are massively prone to being combative, and if we had an entire population of Sidhe level magicals, those humans that hold views like Human First would have almost certainly consigned at least one populated world to the void. I'm not including Torfan in that, as that was an object lesson to the rest of the Galaxy. One that nobody involved wanted to be part of, but it was the only way to prove that Human First was attempting to erase important parts of Systems Alliance history. The new IHA isn't much better, but at least there are now public records of sleepers. That's by the by, and you'll have first hand experience of those dangers before your apprenticeship is over. Before we get to that, you need to learn English, and the only reliable way to do that is with that memory crystal."

Tali unplugs her suit and hugs herself, "I'm not sure how to do it, and I'm scared."

Jane pulls up a picture of a leather cap with a crystal mounted on the forehead, "This is a memory recorder, and there should be several inside your cabinet. When you find them, one of them should have a small brass plate on the inside just over your forehead. That version is also a memory writer, but it will only work if you blood it like you had to do with all of your other equipment. If you want to use the writing feature, you'll need to lift up the thin leather protector so that the metal sits flush against your skin, and then place the crystal into the mounting socket. As soon as you do, the memory will be pulled out of the crystal and put into your own memory. Technically speaking, they are called histories rather than memories. This is because they have been curated from multiple sources to minimise the possibility of personality contagion, and I'm waffling. Look, just set up your cabinet against the wall and spend the next few shifts exploring it so that you're confident that it's safe for you. Once you're sure it's safe you can work on removing your face plate. Also keep in mind that you need to be able to read English in order to truly understand the book on Runes that you're reading."

Tali nods, "I'll do that, and I'll translate the books so that runes will be my pilgrimage gift."

"So, what's a pilgrimage gift?"

Tali looks up at the ceiling as she thinks, "Amongst my people, we do not live on a planet, rather we live on a flotilla of ships, the last survivors of our war with the Geth. As part of becoming an adult we must leave the flotilla and explore the Galaxy learning new skills until we find a suitable gift to present to a captain. It has to be something useful to the flotilla though, as we only survive when we all pull our weight."

"What would normally be considered appropriate gifts?"

"Anything from new air or hydroponics filters up to a new ship. There are so many things needed to keep the fleet running that it's very difficult to find something that isn't appropriate to one ship or another. But there's also a level of prestige involved, as one of the older smaller ships might accept something as simple as air filters, but then you'd be living on a ship that needs more attention than the crew can really dedicate to it. On the other hand, hydroponics filters would likely see you living on one of the live ships, and they are overcrowded even by our standards."

Jane nods, "Don't forget that you're my apprentice, there are a lot of things you are going to learn that will change the way you see the world. But as your Master I will do my best to ensure you return to the flotilla with an appropriate gift for your new station in life."

Tali smiles, "Thank you Shepherd."

Jane gently thumps Tali on the arm, "Tali, just call me Jane. As my apprentice you're outside the normal chain of command, and we're going to be together for a very long time."

Tali shakes her head, "You're around the same age as me, and your records say you were training for less than a year. I think I can learn everything you can teach me in a similar timescale."

"Now make that calculation based on me living on Earth:15 instead of Earth:2 for that time. That will give you the upper bound for how long you'd need to be with me to learn everything I learnt during my training. Then remember that I'm still being trained myself."

Tali shakes her head, "I've run those numbers, and they're impossible. There's no way you survived that long, not even the Asari live that long."

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Tali, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Now go and set up your cabinet and start exploring, you've got 3 hours before we reach the next relay."

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During the middle of her sleeping shift, Tali shivers as she startles awake for the 5th time that night. Woken not by noise, but instead by the silence that pervades the entire ship. A soft snort has her turning her head towards the bed that Jane's sleeping on. After carefully disengaging the comfort mode on her suit she pushes herself to her feet and pads over to the bed, before lying down next to Jane. Over the rest of the sleep cycle she unconsciously moves closer and closer to Jane so that she can hear the soft snores that Jane makes.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 23 - Chasing Leads - part 4 - Travel

After the class on ships doctrine and equipment Tali looks longingly at the corridor that would take her to Engineering, instead she reluctantly follows Jane onto the lift. As they're slowly ascending between the two floors she asks, "Captain, why is this lift so slow?"

Jane smiles and pulls open a hatch, "I had this very conversation myself. They're using screws to provide structural support and motive power just in case there's a power failure. Apparently hydraulics have their own issues. How do your people deal with this sort of thing?"

Tali carefully looks inside the hatch to see the inner workings of the lift, "We use mass effect fields and magnetic propulsion."

Jane nods, "I can see that working on a ship that's unlikely to ever be exposed to magic. However this ship was designed in conjunction with the Systems Alliance so there's always the possibility that the mass effect fields would fail. If this was a purely magical ship they'd just be a couple of hatches that were expanded as needed so that unshrinkable items could be levitated through them. They also have a lot of stairs."

Tali pulls her head away from the hatch and looks at Jane, "Why stairs and not ladders?"

Jane shakes her head, "Why don't you treat that as a research question. Anyway, we've arrived and you've got an inventory to write up and requisition forms to prepare, and I've got drills to oversee on deck."

Tali straightens up and gives a Quarian salute, "Yes Captain!"

#




As an alert flashes up on her HUD to inform her of the midday break, Tali leans back in the chair and blinks her eyes several times to try and relieve the pressure that's built up from trying to understand the requisition forms. To one side is her magitech dataslate, that she's been using to try and look up the human definitions for the various words on the form with varying levels of success. Her own omnitool is running a comprehensive translation program with the last 10 words still visible. The topmost word being 'set', and the second being 'lead'.

Shaking her head she pushes herself to her feet and walks over to her cabinet. As her hand grasps the door handle she says, "Ugh, what are you thinking Tali. Am I really considering taking my faceplate off just to be able to fill out these forms easier?"

A glance down at the pages of words that the human word 'set' could possibly mean confirms that, yes she really is going to face this just so it all makes sense. Taking a deep breath, Tali opens the door to her cabinet and walks into the decontamination chamber just inside.

Once the chamber is finished cycling, and the inner door unlocks she takes a moment to perform the most sensitive atmospheric scan her omnitool will do. When the results come back she marvels at the fact it comes back with less than one part per million for any detectable particles above 10nm in size. Hesitantly, she takes touches the command that releases her face plate, and then reaches up to take it off for only the 2nd time in her adult life.

After she's leant against the wall for several minutes to get her breathing and heart rate back under control, Tali runs the atmospheric scan a second time and anxiously waits for the scan to finish. As soon as the new results come up, she feeds them into a realtime monitoring program and sets it to alert her if the particle count rises above those levels, or new particles are detected. As soon as the program starts running an alert starts flashing in the HUD of her faceplate.

Nervously she lifts the faceplate closer, only to sigh in relief as it's just a high power usage warning. Tapping a couple of icons brings up a projected battery life monitor that shows she's got around an hour before the tool reverts to a low power mode.

Over the next few minutes Tali carefully opens each door between her and the entertainment centre, before sticking her arm through the door for several seconds to check the air on the other side.

When she finally sits down with the leather cap in her hands she reaches into a pouch and pulls out an injector that contains a relaxant. "I think that this counts as a necessary use for one of these. Keeliah that was nerve wracking."

As the drug takes effect and forces her body to relax, Tali starts looking through the different caps until she finds one in a drawer that was locked with a key. A key that was still in the keyhole. A quick command seals the wrist of her suit so that she can safely remove her glove.

As she's taking her blooded finger off of the brass plate, her eyes widen as her brain catches up with the fact she's not wearing her face plate. Only the presence of the drug in her system stops her from collapsing from hyperventilating. With clenched teeth she raises her ungloved hand and uses it to push the hair cap over the top of her head so that she can get the leather memory cap on.

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A few minutes later, Tali pushes herself into a seating position with a groan. "Ugh, what happened? Where's the cap?"

As she's looking around, she spots a glowing spot above her forehead and reaches up to find the cap on her head with the crystal already mounted. As she pulls it off, her eyes catch a glimpse of writing on the metal plate just before it's covered by a leather panel.

Curiously she uncovers the plate and stares at the warning, 'Warning, ensure you are lying down before use. Caution, causes short term memory loss, see manual for details.'

Using the desk to help her back to her feet, Tali freezes as she spots a small booklet with the picture of some skyline and a group of humans looking at a map. Below the cloud line, in blue writing, are the words, 'Memcorder extreme, skillz edition.'

Opening the booklet shows an image of a human wearing this cap on the inside cover, and on the first page is a list of contents, including 'how to use the Skillz mode'.

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Jane looks up from her paperwork, with a carrot stick poking out of her input port, as the door to Tali's cabinet opens. Swallowing her mouthful of carrot, she smiles, "How'd you get on?"

Tali throws a booklet across the room angrily, only for it to flutter uselessly to the floor as it opens in mid flight, "You're a bitch, why didn't you tell me I needed to be lying down?"

Jane takes off her faceplate so that Tali can see her face without anything in the way. "Honestly, I had no idea. I've never used one of those devices to learn skills, only to transfer memories into crystals for reports. Are you ok?"

Tali slumps down on the bed, "No, not really. I was so scared in there that I had to take a relaxant, and then I found out that the poxie helmet blocks short term memory retention while it's working, which means I don't remember putting it on, or putting the crystal in. I just woke up on the floor after it finished."

As Tali's talking, Jane stands up and walks over to sit beside her. Then she wraps her arm around Tali to provide comfort. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. When we have some downtime I'll show you how to submit complaints and revisions for standard military equipment, and you can submit a Quarian translation of…"

"Khelish."

"Sorry?"

Tali looks up to face Jane, "The name of our language, it's Khelish not Quarian."

At the far end of the room the door swishes open and a female crew member quickly hurries in and puts a dataslate down, "Sorry to intrude, you… ah… didn't have your privacy indicator… These are the results of the stealth system test Captain."

Jane blinks as the woman leaves as quickly as she arrived. "Right, you were saying that your language is Khelish?"

Tali shuffles away, "Jane, why was she so nervous?"

"I would imagine she thought we were kissing. I'm supposed to be on lunch for the next five minutes, so I assume she was just being a little too eager."

Tali frowns, "Is that like the Asari tendency to put their mouths together?"

Jane frowns, "It is. I thought you understood English now."

Tali nods, "I do, but we don't put our mouths together, it is too dangerous. We instead press our foreheads together. Even those who are married won't do that. They share air and skin, and even that brings a high risk with it."

Jane shakes her head, "It's been bugging me for a while, why do you wear suits even on your ships?"

Tali looks down at her omnitool, "Our histories say that we originally wore them just in case of a hull breach, as they have a few hours worth of oxygen. However, after the initial danger passed, we found that our children couldn't survive being suitless. Our dream of returning to our homeworld isn't just about reclaiming our home, it's also about our survival."

Jane nods, "Well, once we have time to visit an alliance planet for shore leave, you'll have plenty of time to go suitless after I've taken you to get your own magic, as your magic will protect you from any diseases."

Tali looks up hopefully, "Would you be able to do the same for the rest of the fleet?"

Jane shakes her head, "Tali, you're my apprentice. There will be some magical oaths involved, about protecting life in the Galaxy from sleepers and external threats. They're the same oaths that I had to make. We make applicants make those oaths because at that level of the dream your lifespan becomes effectively infinite. Even if we took your people to realm:10 it would still be problematic. If your entire nation joined the Systems Alliance, then we might be able to get you back to your homeworld."

Tali searches Jane's face for a moment before standing up and storming to the door, "Don't do that. Don't dangle hope like that, I'm not some child to fall for that sort of drivel."

Jane smoothly catches Tali's hand and pulls her back, "Tali, I'm not kidding or trying to bribe you. You've got a magitech datapad. Read about the realms yourself. We might not be willing to fight the Geth for you, but we don't have to. Every Alliance world exists across the three linked realms, every single one. Could your own people swallow their pride and live in just two of those realms? Just, think about that before you decide I'm dangling a false hope. You can also message Victoria too, as that datapad is yours and yours alone."

Tali slumps, "I'm going to engineering. I, need to think."

Jane smiles, "Well, don't forget to take your work with you, as I'm sure that Adams is the source of a large amount of those requisitions."

Tali stomps over to her desk and grabs the offending tablet, before walking out the door.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 24

​

AN - While Mass Effect FTL is supposed to be able to be around 25 light years per day (to a maximum of 50 for the Reapers), I have made the decision that "In System" travel averages out to be at the speed of light due to inter system debris, like asteroids and planets, that can't just be absorbed by the shields.


The Alliance FTL is faster at a maximum speed of 200ly/day, but it's not instant, because it involves moving to a realm where there isn't any debris. However, it's not as fast as the Relays, which generate a direct path between them.


The reason for this is to actually add a sense of scale and time to the Galaxy. If I allowed full speed travel in system, then the characters would never be too far away from help.

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A few hours before the Normandy is due to arrive in orbit around Therum in the Artemis Tau cluster, Tali and Garrus both watch as Jane scoots underneath the Mako with her scribing stylus and a large sheet of parchment covered in runes.


When Tali doesn't say anything, Garrus asks, "Commander, what are you doing?"


Jane pokes her head around one of the wheels, "I'm inscribing broom charms on the axle plates."


Garrus' crest starts to show doubt, "Why would you be doing that?"


Jane says something inaudible, and Tali sounds confused when she says, "So that it can fly. Captain, why would you want it to fly?"


Garrus nods, "Turian minds would also like to know that too."


A moment later Tali's omnitool beeps, and she opens a file that shows a section of the planet along with a series of waypoints.


Jane grunts, "The blue route is the original route we were planning based on the last reported data in the system. The red to green dotted lines are the proposed routes based on observational data since we arrived in system. Lt Presley assures me that the green route is the only one we can guarantee is safe for the Mako if we don't want to take the time to drop a sensor boey and scan the planet before making landfall."


Garrus lifts his own omnitool and takes the map from Tali. After a moment he says, "Why is the blue route going over a lava flow?"


"Because the entire planet is tectonically active, and the citadel maps don't get updated as often as the local maps do. Red spots are areas of radio chatter using what looks like Geth encryption, so we're presuming they have anti-air in place. The orange x in a triangle is the target area and the black line used to be the road to the nearest settlement. Our projected landing spot used to be 50m above the lava level, and was abandoned when the settlement was evacuated 6 months ago. You want to know the worst part?"


Garrus sounds resigned as he says, "Go on."


"All the mines were opened by Humans. Before that it was mostly tectonically stable, and the preserve of Prothean archaeologist."


Tali's surprised at the way Jane spits the word Humans, "Jane, aren't you human?"


Jane pushes herself out from under the Mako with her stylus in her mouth. Taking it out she looks up at Tali, her clan markings clear on her face, "Not if you look at the IHA news. According to them I'm some hybrid between an asari and a goblin, or maybe a turian and a dwarf. Or my favourite, a Giant and a Salarian. I think the only reason why they haven't mentioned Sidhe is that a sidhe could actually take offence and hunt them down. It doesn't matter that all of those are magical creatures, that would die if they came anywhere close to a citadel race without an isolation suit. Anyway, could one of you grab the control stick from the work bench and say 'Up'?"


As Jane slides back under the Mako, Tali walks over to the armory bench and opens a channel to Jane, "Control stick?"


"Should be a wooden dowel with runes on it and a metal pipe at right angles to it."


Tali frowns as she picks up the only thing that looks anything like that, "Ok, I've got it. Now what?"


"Hold it so that the wooden part is horizontal and the metal bit is vertical, then say 'Up'."


Tali holds the stick and says, "'Up'" there is a loud thunk as the front left corner of the Mako jumps against the restraining straps.


Jane has a smile in her voice as she says, "Great, the wheelchair variant is working. Now say 'Down'."


While Tali is doing that Garrus lays down to look under the Mako, "What made you even learn how to do this?"


Jane shuffles over to the other side of the Mako with the parchment, "It's no secret that I was accepted as an N8. But I was still on medical leave when my training started so they started me on the theory. Well, during my initial recovery I needed to use a wheelchair in order to cover any distance. And magicals being magicals, there's no reason to stick with a known design when you can make something awesome and impractical. So they initially stuck a couple of brooms to an old wheelchair. When I kept going over my allowed heart rate just moving around in the chair to make the whole thing work, they developed a wheelchair variant to the broom charm. I made the mistake of asking my rune teacher how brooms were made after that and got roped into developing a purely runic schema for the wheelchair variant."


Garrus blinks as his crest shows confusion, "Why?"


Jane pulls her runic pen from the rune she's just completed, "Honestly? I think it was because it's an interesting problem to solve, and one that might have uses in the field if the runic specialization for N3's becomes available. Not for turning vehicles into flying vehicles, as I doubt the magic on this will last more than a couple of minutes before I have to get out and reapply the magicite to the runes. But you could apply it to a stretcher, a wheelchair, or some other rigid object to act as emergency transport. It also got me thinking about how to make my own arrays if I need them. The control stick is far more complicated than the array that I'm applying under here and I confess it's also the one I made at the camp."


"Are you sure you're allowed to tell me this?"


Jane lifts the pen away to shrug, "Sure, it's not like you couldn't just record the design with your omni tool. The secrets are in the meaning of the different runes, and the stylus. Even then, you could apply for Systems Alliance citizenship and do a course on runes on most SA planets. I'd imagine it's the same for the citadel cultures, anyone can learn how to build a gun or drive. That's not the hard part, the hard part is building a good version of that. And for the record, I'm not good at making runic arrays, and don't even mention programming to me."


Tali harrumphs, "I am going to teach you how to use your omnitool properly, even if it takes me a hundred years."


Jane laughs, "I'm sure you will."


As Jane's started scribing the motive runes on the rear door of the Mako, Tali asks, "Jane. You have a portkey programmer, why aren't we just using a portkey to get to the mine?"


Jane grimaces, "Two reasons, the first and most important is that the VIP is an asari, which means we can't use the emergency portkeys for evac without risking killing her. The second is related to that, as we need to take out any anti air on route so that the Normandy can provide support if necessary. That's not to say we won't be using portkeys to secure the anti air once it's clear. Just that we have to get there first... I've just thought of a third reason, if there's a Geth ship in orbit, then the Normandy might not be able to hold a geosynchronous position, and without a fixed location the computer in the programmer isn't powerful enough to calculate the vectors and position data needed to target a moving location."


"Oh…"


Garrus asks, "Does that apply to all biotics, or just asari?"


Jane rests her forehead against the door to the Mako, "Fuck. Probably. Maybe. Someone tell Alenko to look up IHA combat drop doctrine, and Tali, see if the SA has any guideline for portkeys and biotics."

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Jane looks around the comms room at her senior officers. "You all know the mission and the stakes. Alenko, you're on Alpha squad, Wrex you've got Bravo squad, Williams you're Wrex's 2ic. I'm taking Garrus and Tali. We are going to hot drop the Mako in the insertion point and clear the area. Once we're clear I'll send portkey coordinates back to the Normandy, and Alpha squad will do a short range portkey with Dr Chakwas. That is going to be our emergency Evac point. Wrex, once you've got the coordinates prime your emergency portkeys, as you're on hot drop. If we need backup, you'll need to be ready to go as soon as Joker can stabilize the ship inside the 3km MRR for biotics. Once we've cleared the anti air and the ruins, Beta squad will either evac with Alpha squad, or they'll secure the site while we find the VIP in the ruins. Remember the VIP is an asari, and their MRR for portkeys is zero, so no matter what, we'll be evacing in person. Any questions?"


Wrex nods, "Yeah, what's that M thing?"


"Maximum Recommended Range. How far you can be teleported with magic before it starts to cause problems for Biotics, starting with pain and ending with death. Within that range you should only feel mild discomfort that will pass in a couple of minutes. Wrex, Alenko, make sure you're squads are on the tacnet and you're running it locally. Anyone else?"


Alenko raises his hand, "Yeah, can we just do a normal drop on the insertion point sir?"


Jane shakes her head, "I wish we could, but we're hot dropping the Mako for a reason. We don't want to expose the Normandy to anti air more than absolutely necessary. Any other questions?"


Alenko raises his hand again, "Can we get cooling runes on our heatsinks again?"


Jane sighs, "Not until we've got a surplus of weapons we don't mind trashing."

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After they've successfully secured the evacuation point, Jane, Tali, and Garrus head off in the Mako. Jane, being the only one that's certified, is driving.


As the Mako careens over another rock, Garrus calls out, "Shepherd, you do know how to drive one of these things don't you?"


Jane calls back, "Sort of, N8's don't actually use vehicles, so they mocked one up with brooms. I passed my exam though. Tali, bogies at 12 O'Clock, I'm cutting across the lava so tag 'em for Alpha squad."


Tali stutters as the Mako runs over the bumpy rocks, "R-r-r-roger. W-w-what d-do yo-u m-m-mean sort of?"


As Jane fires the jump boosters to get some initial height before she calls, "Up! I mean all the N8's can teleport! They didn't even think about driving until the week before testing."


As the Mako smooths out, Garrus takes a bead on the group of Geth they spotted, and fires the main cannon. As he does, the Mako slews to one side from the recoil of the blast and his crest raises in enjoyment, "I love this gun!"


Jane leans the tank hard back towards their projected route, "I don't care, try not to fire it while we're flying in future, we don't exactly have anything to brace against here!"


Tali calls out, "I've got two groups of geth converging on our projected landing site! Including an armament!"


"Mark them on the tacnet and highlight them for our squad, I'll try to avoid an intercept until we're on solid ground again."


As she says that, Jane fires the boosters to cover pouring more magic into the broom enchantments and give them more speed. As she does, she brings up her filter graph to keep an eye on her virus output.


As they're getting closer to the shore, Garrus shouts "Incoming!"


As he does, Jane pulls the control stick nearly vertical and all three of them are pressed towards the back of the Mako as it shoots into the sky. Almost immediately afterwards Jane shouts, "Down!" and the Mako enters freefall as she uses quick bursts of the boosters to level off their flight.


After a bone jarring crunch, Jane shouts, "Weapons free!"


A moment later the Mako skids to one side as Garrus fires at the Geth Armature. Then he calls out, "Incoming noon shade!"


Jane accelerates forward as a second shot from the Mako sends the tank onto two wheels for a brief moment. As she does, she flinches as a red Geth fires a rocket at the tank while automatic fire pings off the hull. As she scrambles to turn the Mako to get out of the way, the rocket hits the front of the tank and a blue ripple spreads out from the impact.


A moment later the main gun fires again and Garrus shouts, "Incoming! Shepherd!"


Jane shakes her head and floors the accelerator as she heads towards the human sized Geth, "We have shields!?"


Tali shouts back, "Of course, why are you surprised?"


With the sight lines to the Armature broken for the moment, Garrus swings the cannon around to line up with the small Geth, "Less talking more killing! Tali where's that Armature. We need to destroy it before it decides to head for the evac point."


The forward momentum of the tank is immediately canceled out as the main gun obliterates the man-sized Geth. Tali has time to shout, "Incoming!" before a large ball of energy catches the tank in the side and warning alarms start blaring in the cockpit. "Shields are down, minor damaged to the rear starboard wheel!"


Jane curses and throws the tank into reverse and turns broad side on as Garrus turns the main gun to face the threat. As she does, a glowing ball of molten metal plasma sails past the front of the tank.


It takes several exchanges, but eventually Jane and Garrus fall into a rhythm of dodging in reverse or forward and then stopping long enough for Garrus to finish lining up his shot against the Armature. Two shots after they hit their stride is all it takes to knock out the shields and destroy the Geth Armature.


With no immediate enemies around them, the three of them disembark long enough for Jane to make a show of touching the magicite end of her stylus to the broom charms.


As she's lying under the chassis, Jane says, "What the hell was that thing shooting at us?"


Garrus crouches down, "Shield penetrators. They're slow, but they're more energy and matter efficient than the main gun on the tank. Pack a punch too."


Jane shuffles over to the next array, "Why haven't I heard of them before?"


Garrus gives a Turian chuckle, "Because they're slow. They're useless in space, and against mobile troops. Great for ground defense and sieges though, especially in terrain like this where a drop ship needs to follow a predictable route to the ground."


Scooting towards the rear of the tank, Jane asks, "What about you Tali, anything to add?"


Tali shakes her head where she's keeping watch along their route, "What does the Alliance use?"


Jane shuffles over to the last of the underside arrays, "We've got siege spells and transfiguration. We only introduced ground vehicles once we started patrolling worlds outside our borders. Not much call for them when the wizard can just create a line of sight portkey, or a bunker on demand. We also generally run a minimum of one wizard per squad."


Jane stands up and touches the magicite to the back of the door, "Right, that's done, let's move out."


As they're climbing back in, Garrus asks, "Why do you use guns if wizards can do all that?"


As Jane's settling herself into the drivers seat, she chuckles, "Range, speed, and exhaustion. Most spells range out at around 50 yards, and compared to a gun they're slow. Around as fast as an arrow, and able to be used about as quickly. Of course, Magi are a completely different game, but you'll never see a Magi away from their home planet. Reportedly, guns are useless against Sidhe, but I've never seen one facing modern citadel firearms."


As the Mako lurches forward, Tali glances over at Jane's back with a frown.

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After nearly an hour of driving, fighting, and flying past an old supply depot with the broken remains of a wall sticking up out of the lava showing where the road to the settlement used to go, the group finally reaches what used to be an small spaceport for shipping out ore.


From a slight vantage point Jane hands a pair of omnoculars to Garrus, "What do you think?"


Garrus looks at the opera glasses doubtfully before lifting them to his eyes and then looking at them again. "How?"


Jane shakes her head, "Magic, don't think about it too much. What do you think of the defenses?"


Garrus has a good look before handing the omnoculars over to Tali, who brings them up to her face plate a couple of times, before giving up. "I think that used to be an emergency evacuation point, those barriers are far too sturdy for something set up in the last couple of days. I wouldn't be surprised if the anti air was there before the Geth arrived and took it over."


Tali points over at a gap between a couple of mountain peaks, "I think there's another trail over there. Maybe some of the miners objected to whoever was running the port."


Jane takes the omnoculars back and has a look, "I can see some old tracks leading that way so you could be right."


15 minutes and one dead squad of Geth later, the three of them cautiously make their way to the edge of the rise, only to find out it ends in a cliff with a clear view of the entire compound.


Jane grumbles, "Just our luck. At least we have a clear shot at the anti air. Garrus if Tali keeps track of the towers, do you think you could take potshots if I dart in and out of cover."


Garrus looks at the angles with a rippling crest, "The angle's almost as steep as we can aim the gun. You'd need to position it perfectly for me to get an angle on the closest one. I should be able to do the other three without too much trouble."


Jane nods, "We'll do that then. It's times like this I wish I could use magic. A two ton boulder travelling at a few hundred km an hour would deal with the problem quite nicely. Even if it did exhaust me."


"Couldn't you do something with your pen?"


Jane gives a Turian sign of uncertainty and Tali says, "Not without a few hours to scribe the runes. I've been studying them as they'd make a great pilgrimage gift. There's a whole section in the books about why a magical should choose a career in runes despite how hard they are compared to normal spells and enchantments. A magical could just give them wings and have them charge the towers behind a flock of birds. Runes are more like magical programming, so they'd need to describe exactly how they want the boulder to move."


Jane nods, "Great for things like making a flying tank, less good for spur of the moment needs unless you've memorised the array and practiced it over and over again. That being said, our tank can fly, so we could take out the easy three and then fly down the cliff over there and over the barrier on the far side of the compound."


Garrus crawls back from the edge before walking over to the vantage point Jane pointed to. After a moment he nods, "We would be sacrificing the high ground, but it probably has safeties to prevent it shooting the buildings."


Lying down beside the overlook, Tali asks, "Garrus, you've got a sniper rifle. Would it be a good idea to snipe all the Geth you can before we start?"


Garrus looks back at Jane who nods before she puts her faceplate back on, "Let's do that then."


As Garrus walks back to the overlook while he unslings the sniper rifle on his back, Jane hands over the omnoculars, "Hang on to those, they're probably more useful for you until we can get an enchanted scope."


Garrus nods and tucks them into a pouch before he crawls up to the overlook while Tali uses her omnitool to target all the Geth she can see.


Just before Garrus fires his first shot, Jane calls, "Wait, I've just remembered something. Give me five minutes."


Garrus nods as Jane pulls out her rune guide and quickly flicks through to find the privacy barrier. Finding a flat stone she spends the next 15 minutes carving out the runes three times after she made a mistake the first two times. Finally she touches the magicite to the successful array and tosses it to one side. When it doesn't explode or disintegrate she picks it up and carries it over to the other two, "Basic privacy array. It blocks all sound from passing through it."


Garrus nods, "I'm using supersonic rounds, so I don't think it will make that much difference."


Jane nods, "I just figured it would stop them from pinpointing us if they have any of those rockets."


Garrus nods, "You have the vantage point."


Jane chuckles, "I'm not a very good Turian, far too independent."


Garrus nods, "Same."


With a plan and their preparation, clearing the defenses is anticlimactic.