CHAPTER 43: On The Road Again
2185 CE
'I can't believe you pulled all that off, while working on the Normandy, from a few idle comments, under everyone's noses!' Kaidan ranted at me, clearly in shock himself at the earth-shattering revelations that he'd been introduced to.
'Yeah, I have to say it's even shocking to me that I managed to pull it off.' I admitted. Of course I was shocked; I had no idea I was even doing it! Shit. This changed everything. All my plans. I had thought I'd need to handle certain things in secret, but with the existence of Javik and his fleet that changed everything.
'Earth needs to know about this.' I realized.
'We'll tell them.' Miranda agreed.
'The Illusive Man has the potential to be the biggest threat we face aside from the Reapers. We need him contained and controlled. You know where he is, don't you?' I asked Miranda.
'I do.' She nodded.
'Trade that information to the Alliance. We need to capture him alive, see if he's indoctrinated. I've never actually met him in person, so I can't get a read on him. Cerberus needs to come into the light and cooperate with the Systems Alliance. It also needs to be screened for indoctrination. The Illusive Man was studying it. Javik's great but he lacks a... deft touch that we likely want to use on this.' I admitted.
'I can do that.' Miranda agreed.
'Kaidan, I need you to get the Alliance ready in time. Shepard's going to be imprisoned and I'm apparently going to be very busy. Which means you're the only Alliance operative who knows what's coming through first hand experience and can make sure that Earth isn't taken by surprise.'
'Right. I can do that.' Kaidan agreed.
'Also, I need you to get me a new shuttle.' I added.
'Javik just literally gave you an entire fleet!' Kaidan protested.
'And that's great, but it's not a shuttle.' It wasn't even true either. That was Javik's fleet, not mine.
'A fleet contains multiple shuttles!' Kaidan protested.
'Those are the fleet's shuttles. You destroyed my shuttle. There's a difference.' I explained, slowly. I wanted a craft I personally owned.
'I can't believe you still care about that stupid shuttle.' Kaidan bitched.
'I can't believe you don't!' I replied.
Kaidan rolled his eyes at me.
'Just... get to Earth. Make sure they're prepared for what's coming. I need to reach out to Charr. And Grunt. Wrex too. The main obstacle to Grunt's dream is a lack of ships, and Javik's just made a whole hell of a lot of ships specifically designed by and for Krogan.' I explained.
'You can count on me.' Kaidan stated matter of factly. I stared at him suspiciously.
'I'll make sure he stays on track.' Miranda offered.
'Just get to Earth. I have some stuff I need to do, and I need to talk to my granddaughter. The green one. Liara too probably. There's no way she didn't know about this. I wonder why the hell she didn't tell me?' I muttered that last part mostly to myself.
'Probably thought it was funnier this way.' Kaidan muttered.
Was that possible? It wasn't Liara's sense of humor in the original timeline. But in the original timeline I hadn't played an almost century long Prothean-themed prank on her.
Damn it. Viewed from that angle, this was actually a really good prank. I wish I'd thought of it first.
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2185 CE
'So, what you're telling me is that Kaidan got himself arrested literally the instant he stepped off the gankplank onto Earth?' I asked, marveling at the magnificent level of incompetence that Kaidan showed in accomplishing the only task I had given him.
'It's protective custody. He isn't going on trial. There were fears that the Batarians would assassinate him, you know; because of his whole live streamed assassination of those Batarians who tried to kill his friend on Aratoht. There aren't any extradition treaties, and there's zero political will to hand him over, so he's not in any trouble...' Miranda explained.
'He just can't go out and freely talk to people. Damn it.'
I take a deep breath.
'I'd do it myself, but time isn't on our side. I can't go meeting people quietly while dealing with Tuchanka, this whole thing with Javik, and the Council at the same time. Hackett and Anderson can't prepare Earth by themselves. Fuck. I need to figure out how to do this without starting riots, now. Is there any good news, at least?' I ask, hopefully.
'The Alliance caught the Illusive Man.' Miranda revealed.
'Already? That was fast.' I replied.
'I gave Kaidan the Illusive Man's location. He included it, as well as your warning, in the report he sent as soon as we left Omega. I've been given immunity in return for my cooperation and testimony about Cerberus, the Collectors, and the Reapers.' Miranda explained.
'They caught him, though?' I ask.
'It wasn't exactly hard. The man was basically alone on a giant space station every time I saw him. How was he going to resist? His main protection was his relative obscurity.' Miranda explained.
'Did they scan him for indoctrination?' I asked.
'I told them to, but I don't know if they actually did it or not.' Miranda admitted.
'He might still have some outside assets. assassins and such.' I warned. There was something I was forgetting about this, but I couldn't for the life of me recall what it was.
'He shouldn't. They got everyone on that station. It was just him and a woman named Doctor Eva Coré who I've never even heard of before.' Miranda stated.
'Did you tell them she's a robot?' I asked.
'Why would I do that?' Miranda asked.
'Because she's a robot?' I replied.
'She's a robot?' Miranda asked.
'She's a robot.' I confirmed.
'I should go tell them that.' Miranda decided.
'If they manage to find her blueprints and make another one, EDI can make good use of it.' I add as she made to turn off the communicator.
She nodded and shut it down.
Damn it. This is going to bother me for weeks, I just know it.
What the hell was I forgetting?
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2185 CE
'Javik, I need a ship. Relatively fast. Able to hold at least three passengers in addition to the crew.' I explained.
'Of course, my friend. Take 'The Friendly Headbutt'.' Javik replied.
'The Friendly Headbutt?' I asked.
'I was not involved in the naming.' Javik clarified.
I looked at him in askance.
'It is a good ship. It will get you where you need to go.' Javik explained.
I nodded.
'Excellent. Anything else you need me for?' I asked.
'Is your current mission important?' Javik asked.
'I think so.' I admitted.
'Then we will talk once you have completed it.' He decided.
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2185 CE
The crew of The Friendly Headbutt were former blood pack mercs. Vorcha engineers with a Krogan captain. The design was also familiar; an old Nakmor Drive Yards Battlerammer. I'd designed it back during the rebellions. The ship looked fairly new, but the few still in circulation tended to be well maintained so I wasn't quite sure if it was old and well cared for or new and heavily used.
One of the neat things about Krogan is that we can actually survive the void of space unprotected for several minutes. It's not particularly useful normally; there are very few situations where you are in space unprotected and you get out in the span of a few minutes, but during the Rebellions we needed every advantage we could get.
There's an old naval meme about the Romans. Everyone else at the time was much better than the Romans at sea battles. So the Romans invested in grappling hooks to pull the ships together and turn all sea battles into land battles.
Those two facts: that Krogan can survive the vacuum of space better than other species, and that Krogan are much better in face to face land battles than naval battles; were the genesis of the Battlerammer.
It uses a wedge shaped mass effect field to break open enemy ships by ramming them. And then the recessed front airlock opens and Krogan in space-worthy armor charge into the breach in the enemy vessel. Due to our inbuilt resilience, even if the armor is damaged the Krogan using it can probably survive the trip back.
I had designed it mostly for use as a terror weapon to destroy the morale of the Citadel races. Unfortunately Krogan liked the idea so much that it became closer to standard naval doctrine.
Nowadays the few Battlerammers left in existence tended to be pirate vessels. The continued existence of the Battlerammer felt like an unfortunate legacy of my misspent youth.
Still, if I wanted a fast ship it would be hard to beat a Battlerammer with modern engines.
The Captain grumbled at first at being commandered as a fancy chauffeured ship, but he stopped grumbling once he realized who I was and where we were going.
'Tuchanka. Haven't been there in ages. Be good to show some of the crew what a real planet looks like. These Vorcha aren't bad, but they're soft. Not real Krogan. Seeing Tuchanka might inspire them.' The captain finally came around.
'Just remember. In and out. We don't want to cause a stir. Just pick up some passengers and then off-world again to pick up some stuff I left laying around. We can't afford delays.' I explained.
'Got it. We'll be back before you can finish stomping a Salarian.'
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Author's Note: Figured some of you might be in a partial food coma and I wanted to drop a chapter while you're too tired to go anywhere.