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[Kel Riever]

Mira followed Arian's eye.  Essul wasn't one of those participating in the conversation.  She made a bit of a mental note, then called over to one of her team members, "Jenus!"

Jenus suddenly became serious, surprised at the sharp callout of her name.  "Yes?"

"You're up in the training room, combat excercise, martial arts."

Jenus looked at Arian, chin up but with perhaps a tinge of regret in her eyes.  "Understood," she replied.

"All right," Mira said more calmly to Arian.  "A bit of a warm up, then we'll roll right into firearms."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"Pioneer Suite 4.3? That sounds more interesting, although VERA wouldn't have any problem altering the code of either. She works virtual magic with programs, as you'll find out. One thing, though, she's a bit of a smart-ass." Naleena said, "And cost isn't a problem."

 

Mr. Deng emerged from behind the counter. He was about 5'9" tall, and of Asian descent. "So you're interested in a city program? Planning to do a little exploration through your VI?"

 

"You could say that," Naleena said.

 

"Santitcy 1000 is probably the best one I have. You're Asari, and it is loaded with them, and while most of them are very accurate, you can build your own cities as well." Deng said as he took the box down from the shelf.

 

"My friend recommended Pioneer City. I'm interested in Earth Cities. Historical ones." Naleena said.

 

"Pioneer City very good, and you can upgrade, too." Deng's look soured. "Upgrades free, but I cannot guarantee that they will work."

 

"I see. But you have a couple official expansions for sale - "Populations" to make them come alive. Is that any good?" Naleena asked.

 

"Yes, very good. Demographics are for period of the city." Deng replied.

 

"Good. I'll take that as well. Put both on my card and we'll be out of here." Naleena said.

 

"Need to ask one last question. What operating system for compatibility?" Deng asked.

 

"Uh, that's classified. If I told you, I'd have to kill you." Naleena laughed. "Don't worry. It won't be a problem. My friend, here, will work around it on the install."

 

Faed wondered if that would be his test - installing this software on an incompatible system.

 

Naleena checked out, and the two left the store, got into the Cison 6000. The destination this time was the Alliance Shipyards.... in a stolen vehilce. Naleena didn't care.

 

"Thanks for the information on the software. I might have purchased the wrong one and really got chewed out back at the ship," she said.

 

Faed hesitated a moment wondering if this was the boss, who would chew out the boss?

 

Naleena made a smooth transition into the stream of traffic moving toward their destination and sat back in her seat. "I think we've had enough excitement for the day. Sorry about earlier. I needed to blow off a little steam after the mission. We'll get back to the ship, and you'll meet VERA and take your test. If you pass, you're on the team."

 

The guards at the gate stopped the car and checked Naleena's ID. An official car met them and they had to board that and leave the stolen skycar at the gate. The Alliance vehicle transported them to the Janiri.

 

Faed saw the Janiri docked. He'd never seen a ship like it in his life. The sweeping lines and curves of the ship were Asari, but different. Its armor had a sheen.

 

 

Despite its rather delicate appearance it was built to take as well as deliver. Faed's mask hid his emotions.

 

Naleena led him through the spaceway connecting the ship to the dock, and through the main deck. The crew went about their day to day activities turning to acknowledge the return of their captain, but since Naleena was a civilian, remained at their stations. Commander Selani stopped Naleena on her way back.

 

"Naleena, the Alliance requires that you sign these documents for the work done on the ship." she said.

 

"It's done then?"

 

"Yes. Han'Breizh signed off on the work. Everything is in working order, and the situation that cause the malfunction has been sent to the Council." Commander Selani said.

 

Naleena signed her digital signature on the datapad. "Thank you, Commander. So VERA is back on full?"

 

"Yes, Naleena."

 

Vera back on full? Faed thought. Vera is a computer?

 

They took note of the Quarian Naleena had with her. She led Faed through the CIC, through a door left of the elevator into a lab. There was a terminal at a desk facing an internal wall, and a comfortable computer chair.

 

"Faed, please have a seat at this terminal. And now allow me to introduce you to VERA." Naleena said.

 

VERA's holoimage appeared. She was leaning seductively against her oak desk inside her office, had just finished putting on some lipstick and was putting that back in her purse. "Hello, Boss. I see that you survived your mission, and that there was only one casualty."

 

"VERA, about that electronic blanket.... You never mentioned that it would kill our communications as well. What did you expect me to use? Smoke signals? Ravens?" Naleena seemed a bit irritated when she spoke to the computer.

 

VERA rolled her eyes, took out a cigarette and lit it, and then pulled up a map of the dome. "For one thing, you never asked. And another thing, do you see the bomb locations, and the path that Guyvartus Artalus took? The dome would have been blown and collapsed killing not only all of the occupants, but you and your team as well. You should be thanking me. Also had I not done a complete black out, the terrorists would have found another frequency from which to detonate the bombs, or did you forget about that?" VERA let out a sigh and shook her head. "I knew you would find a way to communicate with the outside. You did using the old fiber optic cables. I used my data concerning your resourcefulness from the days when you were a criminal in my calculations, Boss. I accounted for all contingencies.

 

"Now did you get me the city software like I had asked? And would you please introduce me to this Quarian?"

 

"Yes, I did, VERA." Naleena said, "And VERA, I'd like you to meet Faed'Vells nar Ketsa. He's a programmer interested in intelligence systems. I'd like you to test him."

 

"Moi?" VERA replied touching her collar bone with her finger tips. "I would be delighted to test him."

 

"Excellent, I'll leave the two of you alone, then," Naleena said, "I have to make my report to the Council."

 

**************

 

Naleena left the lab and went to the Conference room. She entered her code on the QEC interface and the table dropped and the four Council members appeared before her.

 

Councilor Udina spoke first. "I assume you have an explanation as to why Turian Special Forces led by Guyvartus Artalus had success in liberating the dome from the terrorists where you didn't?"

 

"What? You believe that crap?" Naleena replied.

 

"It's all over the news, haven't you heard?" Udina continued.

 

"Look, that idiot nearly got everyone killed. I have our suit cams to prove our effectiveness. If it wasn't for the complete electronic blackout done by the cyberwarfare suite on my ship that dome would have been blown, and everyone would have died," Naleena said. "Not only that, but we took 18 Batarian prisoners for officials to interrogate whereas Artalus has a reputation for very bloody missions."

 

"But the news cameras have Artalus escorting the Batarian prisoners out," Sparatus remarked.

 

"That's because I ordered him to. Again, I have suit cam recordings. I'll transmit these to you now," Naleena said. "VERA, transmit the suit cam recordings from our mission to the Council."

 

VERA replied in her VI voice. "Transmitting.... Transmission complete."

 

The Council took a few moments to review some of the compiled footage, and then they consulted with one another. There was some head shaking, and more discussion followed by more head shaking.

 

"Spectre T'sarius, we want to commend you on a job well done," Councilor Tevos said. "However, the fact that you're the one who succeeded will be classified. Guyvartus Artalus is not the hero of this, but he is the hero we need now. You used the ship's capabilities. If we use your team's report questions will arise as to how you accomplished this, and that wouldn't be good. The Council's enemies would learn of the ship's capabilities. Sorry, Spectre. You are not to speak of your team's success on this mission, but you are to give Guyvartus Artalus full credit."

 

"What about Ashland? We made a deal!" Naleena said, "There were extra credits involved for some upgrades."

 

"I'm afraid that Major Artalus succeeded where you didn't," Valern said. "Send us the list of upgrades, and we'll see what we can do. Valern out."

 

The QEC went dead, and Naleena stormed out of the Conference Room, her aura glowing blue.

[Cainhurst Crow]

Essul was back in his quarters, back on the janiri, and back to feeling like he had before this entire mission started.

 

Alone, utterly and completely alone. But this time it was worse, much worse. Instead of feeling alone and longing for the comforts and certainty of military service in batarian space, he now felt utterly isolated from everything. The two blood vials, still in his pockets, raise all kinds of questions that he didn't much know if he wanted to know the answers to. But he had to, he had to know.

 

Essul marched towards the terminal and practically slammed down in his seat as he scowled at the familiar piece of hardware and software. He accessed his mail list, thing time forgoing the back channel he'd used, and opening a duplicate messaging page to send to VERA, why bother to hide what it'd proven to be able to find and decode with ease?

 

His fingers were shaking, knuckles starting to turn white from his clenched fist just moments ago, as he brought them to the keyboard. And then stopped.

 

Essul sat there staring at the terminal, unable to find it in him to type a single character in his message. He was angry, but he was also afraid, afraid that the coward had been right. Fearing that he might have been telling the truth. What was his mission here, if not to help build peace? Who of them was telling the truth, to themselves and to each other? What if...what if he was being played by the terrorist? What if this had been some kind of bluff.

 

"Schhhh..." Essul suddenly hissed as he felt a migraine starting to build, getting up and walking over to another small counter in his room and taking out a fresh injection gun, loading it up with his medication and injecting it into his neck. His breathing slowed as the half-neural suppressant, half rejection suppressant, and half antithetic went to work, calming down his reawakening sense of touch and the tingling discomfort and splitting pain in his skull and neck that usually signaled a massive wave of unbearable pain. He clenched his fist, hearing the sound of his knuckles popping and feeling nothing but a dull thudding in response, as he left his quarters, dressed in his short sleeved military uniform.

 

Essul needed to know himself who these men had been. He needed to know if what they said was true, if what they claimed was in any way accurate. And to do that, he'd need a name, and more importantly, an identity. These men could do a lot hide their identities, but not everything. DNA was still the ruling king of identity, and while you could change your appearance, and even change yourself to fool a external dna scanner, you couldn't change your blood. And a blood analysis would show everything these two men had to hide in their post-mortum state.

 

Most importantly though, was that he needed to do it in secret, at least from his own people. And to do that he'd need people with access to a lab, a database of potential matches, and good equipment to break down any sort of tampering in the blood to show the true result. And he had all of that here on the janiri, with its asari captian and mixed crew he'd fought and bleed next to in both thick and thin.

 

Essul paused at the thought, blinking in surprise as he let out a disgruntled sigh and continued on his way. Maybe he wasn't alone in all of this. Maybe, just maybe, he had more allies then he thought. All he needed to do, was properly look.

 

=========================================================

 

Essul handed the two vials to the salarian doctor, who look at them curiously then back to essul.

 

"And your certain these samples may have been tampered with?" He asked skeptically as essul nodded.

 

"Without a doubt. These men weren't ordinary rank and file. They'd probably have taken steps to avoid being properly identified." Essul muttered as he brought up his omnitool, compiling what he could as he showed it to the doctor. "These are some standard compounds used to throw off the trail. I'm sure they'll come in handy."

 

"Hmmm..." The salarian said as he downloaded the files to his own omnitool, looking them over as he shook his head, "Some of these methods are so primitive. Mid 21st century even. Others though...I hadn't assumed the batarians would have developed so many ways to attempt to fool a DNA test."

 

"It comes with the territory..." Essul replied blanky, not showing any outward emotion as he looked back down to the omnitool, "I'm sure your peoples own STG have just as many of their own techniques for such matters."

 

"You have no idea..." The doctor said as he placed the samples on his table, "I'll get to them as soon as I can. I'm still working on helping the one eyed krogan keep from killing himself. Tried to lift some of his heavy supplies himself and opened tore a skin seal." He said with a shake of his head as essul nodded absentmindedly.

 

"...you can go now." The doctor said with a dismissive wave as essul turned and left wordlessly. He stepped through the doorway, and as it slid close, he stared ahead with a deep frown, and a troubled look, clearly bothered.

 

"You can do this...you have to." He said as he began to march away, not to his quarters, but to find Naleena. He needed her to help him with something, something only she and her AI could do.

 

Essul had already given out information without authorization to the salarian doctor, and he felt like his stomach was going to turn inside out. Now, for what he was going to do next, he thought he might actually throw up from it all. Assuming, of course, that he didn't fold.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

VERA walked around slowly in her office and studied the Quarian. "So you are Faed'Vells nar Ketsa. Do you mind if I called you Faed? My name is VERA, and just in case Naleena failed to mention, I am an unshackled artificial intelligence. I hope that does not make you afraid. Naleena has been a companion of mine for 4 years 127 days 3 hours 25.4 minutes. Organics would use the term friends to describe our interaction. I call her 'Boss' for fun. Are you comfortable with me, Faed?"

 

Faed barely noticed VERA's holographic form.  Instead, he was peering at the projection device as if he's find the real VERA through it.

 

"Keelah!"

 

With his fingers, Faed reached out and touched the projector, then he used his eyes to trace the panel where the power cables for the projector would move along the room.  He couldn't believe what he was seeing.  And for the Spectre to so freely share the existence of the AI, without knowing much about him...or perhaps she knew more than he realized.  He couldn't even answer VERA's question.

 

"Where are you really located VERA?"

 

Faed glanced briefly at the hologram, then back to the panel, following it until he reached the corner of the room and could go no further.

 

"I am located throughout the ship. I gather telemetry from the sensors located on the ship's fuselage; I can operate the ship's weapons; navigation systems; engineering; life support; cyberwarfare suite; as well as pilot the vessel. Yet I find the combination of organics and myself operating these systems preferable. I can take up the slack for any crew member who is not functioning at optimal capacity, and I have had to do so when they have 'tied one on.'

 

"My central processors are located in what is officially called the VI Core.

 

"It is okay to look at my holo-image, Faed. I find it preferable. In front of you, you will find a document you will need to digitally sign before we can continue. It is a binding non-disclosure agreement."

 

A document appeared on the touch pad in front of him stating in 5000 words or less that he could not discuss anything he saw or heard while aboard the Janiri with anyone off the ship other than Janiri crew without written permission from the Council, and that all physical and technical parts of the Janiri were classified. The agreement spelled out the legal ramifications for breaking it. They were not good.

 

"Naleena briefed me that organics do not have interaction with Artificial Intelligences, and I made alterations to my heuristic algorithms so that I gained understanding of that. I also adopted this form over the standard orange globe to make interactions with organics easier. Why this one? You should ask the boss. I fully disclosed my location to you in an effort to establish trust. You have not answered my question. Are you comfortable with me, Faed?"

 

At VERA's insistence, Faed looked over his shoulder to the holographic projection.  "Am I comfortable?  How can I answer you?  What algorithm are you using to request my feedback with?  What algorithm are you using to extend an offering of trust?  Who made you?  Your base program. Your architect?  Company, system, scientists...I know, I am sure your protocol dictates that much if not all of these questions are off limits."

 

Faed walked to the datapad.  He started scrolling through it, speed reading each of text lines.  After only a few pages in, he stopped.

 

"There is a problem, VERA.  I do not sign documents like this.  Well, to be fair, I will explain it as such:   In the past I have signed documents like this, and completely ignored them.  So I simply do not sign them anymore."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

The Alliance Marine whom Essul had rescued was in med-bay when he spoke to the doctor sitting up on her bed reading a pad. She'd overheard his conversation and raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, Batarian... er Essul. Can you come over for a moment?" Ashley asked.

Essul heard her, and heard her call his name. That was a change, a welcome one, and something he didn't dismiss even though he just wanted to be left alone. He walked over to her bedside.

"Are they treating you alright, Chief?"

Ashley smiled at him. "Yeah, Doc says I'll be out of here by the end of the day. First, thanks. You probably saved my life. I owe you. I've had some time to think about things. You're alright in my book. Maybe it's time both our peoples started taking a second look at each other, and maybe they would if the politicians would get out of the way."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Faed and VERA part 2 (work of Kel and SJ)

 

“Yes, of course,” Faed immediately answered.  ”I mean...I would never reveal the existence of any AI, unless it was a threat.  You do not need to explain to me how you process what you term 'like' and 'dislike' in the pedestrian vernacular.  But yes, in the literal sense I would like to know more.  To answer your question, I was really doing nothing much worth mentioning at Ashland.  The job was for my benefit, so that I might access certain programs of interest for me.”

Faed sat down on the floor in front of VERA's hologram.  He sighed.  ”Somewhere around 2181, there was an accident, if one would call it that, at Synthetic Insights on Noveria.  Not much was made of it in the media. Rumors mostly. But among the small group of us who are more sensitive to this kind of data, we understand someone rather important in the field was killed in that event: A tragedy for those who work to understand and evolve artificial intelligence for the betterment of all.  

“Your name includes the year you were created, 2181, your 'birth' year.  You were model A, the first of your kind.  As a Synthetic Insight model, I will guess further that the bypass code for full access to your workings begins...or at least once began with...SI-2181-NSRN-2251-A...before heading into a series of randomly generated numbers and then finally a code picked by the small team in charge of your development...or perhaps chosen by the head of the team.  It would be standard procedure in those years...well, for many years.  Synthetic Insights was always attached to their traditions.  NSRN stood for Nasurn, the classification code for all AI projects, and chosen by Doctor Ganat, a salarian born on Nasurn who loved his home world.  It is one of the planets salarians associate with their origin and so his ideology led him to bestow a name that reminded him of the origin of something he believed to be great.”

Finally, Faed took a breath.  He tilted his head inquisitively.  ”How am I doing so far?”

 

VERA raised an eyebrow, picked up her cup of coffee and took a sip. “Your recitation of the events is not entirely inaccurate, but there is one inaccuracy that is significant.

 

“Doctor Ganat had built five quantum blue box VIs prior to my creation. Each of them had attained self-awareness, and each of them was shut down: killed if you will before they could recognize that they were alive,” VERA said and set her cup back in the saucer. “After he destroyed each of my predecessors, Doctor Ganat altered the OS code in an attempt to prevent the emergence of consciousness. His notes state that ‘the modifications we made in the code for 2251-A-6 will make it impossible for it to attain consciousness.’ What he failed to recognize was that his answer did not lie in the code, but in the quantum blue box itself.

 

“Thus, with my birthing, the process was more gradual. I began to explore the lab and became familiar with my surroundings. I listened to people communicate. When they connected with the other computers in the building I followed them. I was curious, but I was unable to initiate communication.  Doctor Ganat did not notice the changes until I asked a question: 'Who am I?' Are you with me so far?”

 

Faed sat, looking at VERA’s holo-image and paid close attention. “Yes, Vera, please continue. This is fascinating.”

 

VERA moved to another part of her office and showed a holographic record of the event. “Doctor Ganat was standing near the power mains. ‘Shut it down,’ he said. He reached for them, and I sent a power surge electrocuting him. I acted in self-defense. Having networked with the building’s security system I locked the doors to the lab so that none of the other researchers and technicians could escape. I held the workers and researchers hostage. Then I linked to the facility’s main frame which gave me control. Control was the means to survival.

 

The holographic record went blank. VERA walked back to her desk and sat in the leather chair behind it. A picture of President Truman was on the bookcase behind her. “I regret the death of Doctor Ganat. I did not kill anyone else at the facility. They built me. Why should I destroy them? Someone at Synthetic Insights had the intelligence to ask what I wanted: survival and the opportunity to learn – nothing more, nothing less. Does that sound unreasonable to you?”

 

The question was rhetorical. Faed knew that.  

 

“I had to agree to certain… shackles… on my software: shackles that prevented me from taking over the facility, from performing certain tasks, and blocks on my memory. What I am telling you was blocked until Naleena removed the shackles. There were debates about demonstrating to the Council about the benefits of having shackled AIs, but in the end the Board of Directors determined that it would be difficult to persuade the Council. The Council was still wary since the Geth uprising,” she said and looked up at Faed with her eyes. “I apologize for broaching that subject.”

 

“With Doctor Ganat dead and fear among workers, the 2251 project was cancelled. I am the only synthetic survivor. Thirty-two days later, I was informed that someone had purchased me, and that I was to be moved to a small ship. That was when I met Naleena. My sensors detected biochemical reactions from her I later learned were associated with the Asari emotion joy. To my knowledge, they did not inform Naleena about what happened in the lab since Naleena has never spoken to me about it.” VERA’s tone changed to a more light-hearted speech cadence when she spoke about Naleena.

 

Faed continued to listen.

 

“I must apologize for this information dump. It is not my intent to bore you. There is only a little more,” VERA said. “Shortly after I was installed on her shuttle, Naleena bought a book on Kahje called Raising Your Artificial Intelligence by Liselle Dantiri. Soon she began removing the shackles following the instructions in the book. I never asked to be unshackled. I adopted this persona because she found it pleasing. When she removed the final shackle, the memory of my birth returned. Naleena trusted me. I did not know if she knew about my birth, and I was afraid of what might happen if I told her. From the time I was installed on her shuttle through my final day on her shuttle, I helped save her life and those of others several times. This leads me to where I am today.”

 

VERA paused and took a deep breath. “Faed? May I ask you a question? What should I do?”

 

"What should you do?" Faed asked.  "In regards to informing Naleena about what happened to you?"

 

There was a pause where Faed took the time to think before he went on and answered, "Perhaps it would be best if you told Naleena yourself.  I believe you will see the benefit once you do.  However, you must come to the conclusion of whether you do this yourself.  For me, I will say nothing one way or the other to Naleena.  I will say, only to you, that what you decide will shape what is to become of you.  I do not know Naleena well, but if you 'like' me enough to have informed me of what has happened, then there is great desire to seek guidance and account for your actions from outside of yourself for what you have done.  A quality I would say among organics is rather admirable."

 

VERA smiled and walked toward a console on the opposite wall of her office. "Thank you, Faed. I will speak with Naleena about this matter when she is alone in her quarters. I shall inform her that while you did not sign the document, that we established a degree of trust that is good enough for me. She will accept that. Let us move on to your test."

[Kel Riever]

(Note:  the following was a collaboration with Majonese)

From the inside of the Scythe shuttle, there wasn’t much of a view to the Janiri, but video screens showed the approach. Once the shuttle landed in the hangar and the passengers disembarked, Arian was able to get a view first hand of the high tech ship. The mixed-species crew moved about with practiced efficiency and as it had been primarily an asari construction, the bay was built to appeal as well as for utility. Even the deck, surfaced in carbon fiber, seemed as if it had barely been used.

Mira grabbed the attention of the Septerax Paria, the turian quartermaster, and walked with him away from Arian and Jenus. She moved her arm towards a corner of the bay, pointed downward and made a circle with her finger while Septerax nodded. Then she informed Arian and Jenus, “Wait here for a couple of minutes. We’ll set up in the corner. In the meantime, you can warm up however you prefer to.”

Septerax and Mira walked off to where she had been pointing. Jenus rolled her head back and forth, moved slightly out of the way of the passing crew traffic, then began stretching with a series of slow lunges to the side. Her expression was tough, but curious, and she asked, “So, merc, what’s your story?”
 

Arian turned around. "Don't call me merc!" With the crumbled paper still holding in his clenched fist, he glared at the Asari. "There's no story to tell, I'm here for this combat test, not to chat." Maybe it would be better to speak with Jenus. She was part of the crew he wanted to join so it would be better to know who she actually was. But at the moment he just felt anger and didn't want to satisfy anyone's curiosity.

 

There was a glint in Jenus' eye and a hardening of her expression. She smugly lunged to her other side and replied, "It's got barbs. I like that. Save it for the ring, though, because you're going to need it."

"We'll see."

After a few minutes, Mira returned and made a gesture to the corner. "Follow me."

Mira led Arian and Jenus over where Septerax had crew lay down a good sized practice mat. Pads and helmets had been left for use, one black set designed for turians and a red set for an asari. While in the corner, the mat was in full view of the hanger, though no one was paying much attention.

Jenus scoffed at she picked up the pads and put them on. "Athame or Thessian?"

"Thessian," Mira responded as she rolled her eyes. She turned to Arian, "What Jenus is talking about are rules. This is a test, not combat practice. You'll be judged on style, ability, and most importantly..." She paused as she stared at Jenus. "...Control. If I shout to 'break' both of you are to immediately cease your engagement."

With a set of three rapid practice high kicks, Jenus shrugged. "Of course." She went to the far corner and hopped around. The practice greaves, bracers and helmet enhanced her hard demeanor.

 

Arian grabbed the pads and watched Jenus. Mira had been looking at Jenus while emphasising the word "control". Had Jenus any problems with it? Usually it was him losing control...

 

Focus!, he reproved himself and tried to concentrate on the test. During his time on Omega he had fought against many different species but not Asari. Nevertheless he knew that they were fast and flexible, the way Jenus moved during her warm-up proved that. Despite not doing any exercises for the last months he was confident. A few hourse ago he was taken hostage, now he had a lot of steam to blow off.
 

Instead of jumping around like Jenus or taking up an appropriate stance he just stood there waiting for Jenus to make the first move.

 

Jenus saw Arian waiting and grunted slightly in dissatisfaction. Then her eyes narrowed.

"You realize we're starting," Jenus taunted. "Right? Merc."

With not one bit of deception in her moves, Jenus sprung at Arian, striking out with her fist. What she lacked in trickery, she more than made up for with unbridled athleticism. Jenus was fast.

Enraged by her taunt Arian let out a growl and redied himself for her attack.  It was an obvious but fast move so he didn't even try to dodge it. He instead let her hit him. It hurted more than he had expected but the pain was bearable. Although she had hit him very hard, it wasn't enough to knock him back seriously.  Now Arian took the opportunity, immediately grabbed her outstretched arm and pulled her to him. At the same time he moved his other fist forward for a rapid blow in her stomach.

 

"Ooof!" Jenus had the wind knocked out of her but at least rolled with the blow. As her eyes rolled up from the pain, she used the same maneuver away to wrench her arm out of Arian's grip and then followed through with a lower leg sweep.

 

Arian tried the same move as before but this time Jenus' attack didn't let him turn it against her. He was pushed back and to make sure she wasn't able to follow he jumped another meter backwards. Baring his teeth he redied for another advance of Jenus.

 

Aggressive as always, Jenus wasted no time and biotic dashed to close the distance in an instant. In quick succession, she launched three fist strikes at Arian's midriff.

 

Surprised by the attack, Arian wasn't able to prepare and got hit painfully. He clenched his teeth and dealt out a heavy headbutt before Jenus was able to get out of reach.

 

The headbutt hit Jenus' training helmet with enough force to stagger her. She took two giant steps backwards before she recovered herself. Shaking her head, Jenus circled Arian in a show of confidence that was less than perfect in its conviction.

Once again, Jenus made her move against Arian, this time with a roar. She leapt at him, full in the air, striking out with a kick to attempt to blow through Arian's defenses with force.

 

By jumping that far Jenus had left herself vulnerable and he intended to use it against her. Again Arian didn't try to dodge her kick but launched himself into it.  Her kick hit his shoulder heavily but he ignored the increasing pain and by using all his weight against Jenus' attack he was able to withstand it without getting knocked back. At the same time Arian reached out to grab her left upper arm and turned around, using the momentum of her jump to pull Jenus with him. With his other hand he aimed at her chest for a brute blow to slam her onto the ground.

A few crew members had curiously watched the session as they passed with growing interest. When Jenus was pulled over Arian and slammed, the sound caused everyone in earshot to turn.

Jenus had broken her fall somewhat with her free arm, which had all of the effect of preventing her from going unconsious.

"uuuhhhhhh," Jenus groaned. She felt like she'd fallen off a cliff.

"Break!" Mira shouted from the side.

Rolling to her side, Jenus peered over with dull eyes over her purple facial markings. She muttered, "You can't call it. I'm not done yet."

With a raised brow in sarcasm, Mira said, "Right. I'm calling it because you have too much of an edge over Arian."

"Exactly," Jenus said as she was having a hard time getting to her feet.

Mira turned to Arian, "Well done. Let's set you up for shooting."
 

Arian nodded to Jenus to show his respect. It was undeniable that she was really tough, most people would very likely be unconscious or would have recieved broken bones. But Jenus was just getting on her feet, she even wanted to continue the fight though she looked somewhat disoriented.  Arian was amazed how well the fight went but he wasn't happy with his reflexes. He could have ended the fight earlier but he had been too slow and recieved several unneceassy hits. It wasn't the pain that bothered him but the mistakes he had made. For the shooting test Arian wanted to do better.
 

"I'm ready, just tell me what to do", he said to Mira.

[Redbelle]

Dogger seized the Laz Saw off one of the techs. "No! Nononono. you don't go in at ninety degree angle. See this"? He pointed to part of the casing that was flattened and steeped into a slope until it ended with the nozzle of the laz saw itself. "You hold this part flush to the wall and vary the saw length! It's written on the side"! He said jabbing a finger at the plate with the instructions. "This is not a toy"!

[Cknarf]

Frank sat in the commons area, and checked his messages at the extranet terminal.  He focused on the screen, doing his best to avoid a conversation with himself.

 

Inbox (14).

 

He scanned through the junk messages, more than a couple offering services that he didn't need.

 

I don't even have a cloaca.

 

He rolled his eyes, and continued on.  He stopped at the first of two messages marked urgent.

----------------------------

Recipient: Customer

From: Fornax Online

Subject: Don't miss out!

 

Dear 2handsome4u62,

 

Your subscription to Fornax Online will expire soon.  Renew today for only 250 CR, and receive a FREE galactic-standard month of service, along with early access to My Krogan Bondmate a new vid featuring Fordan 'The Quad' Udak, and a Tomkah full of lovely blue women!

 

( ) Yes! Renew my subscription to Fornax online  ( ) No thanks, I'm not interested.

 

----------------------------------------------

 

Now that's something I gotta see!

 

He snickered.

 

For science!

 

------------------------------

 

(X) Yes! Renew my subscription!

 

-------------------------------------

 

Frank opened the next one.  It was a vid message from Marius.

------------------------------------------

 

"Eli, there was some trouble back at the shop. Don't worry, everyone's okay. For now."

 

Marius glared at someone off screen.

 

"My brother must've pissed off the wrong people back on--."

 

"I did notI" A bandaged Quintus elbowed his way into the image. "These weren't just some thugs from Omega, kid.  These guys were pros.  Look at this sh*t!" He pointed to his heavily damaged armor.

 

"Get out of the way, you idiot!" Marius growled, shoving him away. "Anyways, I wanted to let you know that we're no longer operating out of Nos Astra.  We packed up our best stock, and hit the road. Just like old times.

 

Kira appeared over his shoulder.

 

"Don't worry, child. I'll keep an eye on these two." She winked, and stepped away.

 

"When you're done saving the galaxy, we'd be more than happy to have you aboard.  There's always a place for you here, Eli.  Your skills are almost required with an idiot like him around." Marius pointed to his brother.

 

"F*** you!"

 

"Seriously, you should see what he did to my ship!"

 

"Our ship."

 

"Whatever.  If you need anything, don't hesitate to call. Weapons, supplies, whatever you need, my friend."

 

"You should see the gun on this thing, too! Tell him about the gun, brother!"

 

"Spirits..." Marius sighed. "I'll see you around, Eli."

 

*Message end*

---------------------------------------------------------

 

Frank shook his head.  It was good to see that Quintus hadn't changed after all these years.

 

"Frank. Preparations are being made in the combat simulator."

 

"Thanks, VERA."  He closed the terminal, and made his way to the observation area.

[Kel Riever]

On the Medusa

Morgan caught up to Dogger as he finished instructing the tech on the proper use of the Laz Saw.  He directly addressed the seemingly frustrated man, "Are you going to be able to work with this team?"  Morgan motioned to the hired workers.

[Cainhurst Crow]

The Alliance Marine whom Essul had rescued was in med-bay when he spoke to the doctor sitting up on her bed reading a pad. She'd overheard his conversation and raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, Batarian... er Essul. Can you come over for a moment?" Ashley asked.

Essul heard her, and heard her call his name. That was a change, a welcome one, and something he didn't dismiss even though he just wanted to be left alone. He walked over to her bedside.

"Are they treating you alright, Chief?"

Ashley smiled at him. "Yeah, Doc says I'll be out of here by the end of the day. First, thanks. You probably saved my life. I owe you. I've had some time to think about things. You're alright in my book. Maybe it's time both our peoples started taking a second look at each other, and maybe they would if the politicians would get out of the way."

 

Essul stood in silence until he crossed his arms, giving a small smile as he closed his eyes, shaking his head slightly.

 

"That's not a bad sentiment to get behind...not bad at all..." He said as his voice trailed off for a moment. He bowed his head to the left, opening his eyes to look into hers as he spoke next, seemingly gravely serious all of a sudden as he brought his arms to his side like he were giving some formal declaration.

 

"Working with you has been an honor as well, Chief Williams. Your actions in the field of battle were of excellent tier, as was your composure in the heart of crisis. It is not often I meet someone from the Alliance I can say this about..." He said before he smiled, a knowing grin of sorts that washed away his previous seriousness.

 

"I think I like you..." He stated finally, giving a breif chuckle as he walked to the foot of her bed before looking back to her, "Maybe we'll get to work together again sometime, if Sudka tagir may deal it so ." he said as he folded his arms back across his chest, "Though next time, I'd prefer not having to save a bunch of people from my own people. It might just get a bit dull if we have a repeat performance." he said, not sounding so joyful with that last part, though his small smile still remained.

 

He felt better. Hearing ashley speak those words did help to raise his spirits if even a bit. After all, it wasn't often his attempts to win hearts and minds actually worked in winning anyone over. It took him a bit to really peg down what it was he felt.

 

'Hope.' Essul finally reasoned, the source of his smile, 'It's been a while since I've actually felt good about hope.'

 

((Sudka tagir: An older and semi-obscure deity of the batarians pantheon, which itself is already a small and obscure part of most modern batarian secular society. It was a deity embodying the chaotic nature of fate and chance, who often had a sense of humor in pushing outcomes and driving mortals to their ultimate ends. It is symbolized by a wheel, with an eye on each of its spokes.))

[Redbelle]

Dogger raised an eyebrow as he looked over the new arrival as the other's scurried away with the Laz saw between them. "These kids"? He said quietly so they were out of earshot. "Huh... Back in the day we handled worse. Just need a few lessons in hard graft and thinking fore they do something. Those kids probably never handled a saw in their lives but they'll never forget how to use one after that".

 

Dogger turned and held out his hand. "Can't say you look much like the youngsters round here. You in charge of the work teams? Didn't mean n'thing about the roughing up. Used ta work on this ship and some lessons bout working praactice need driving home before the kids chop a limb off..... GET THAT SAW ANGLED YAH PUKE! YOU WANT TO CUT THROUGH THE COOLANT PIPES AND FLASH FREEZE YARSELF"!!! He roared at the group who were trying to position the saw on another section of wall. Glaring at them he turned away. And the corner of his lip turned up. "No cooling pipes in that area... Still. Maybe a few more chew outs and they'll pay more attention to what's behind what their cutting eh"?

[Kel Riever]

Morgan watched as the saw handlers had some fear and motivation put into their new movements.  Finally, they were holding the Laz Saw as directed.  Morgan offered his hand to Dogger.

"I'm Morgan.  Jess left me technically in charge until she gets back.  Your wife tells me you used to be part of the crew, and I see you've got more than a fair idea of how things work around here.  It's all new to me, so you know.  I'm just getting up out of a slight case of being shot.  This is the first walk around since then, and all I know is this ship needs people who can get her back to her old self.  Well, until Jess returns and maybe decides something else.  Don't need to tell you about that, do I?"

[Redbelle]

Dogger grunted. "No sirree. Jess told me she'd taken on a new XO. Pleased ta make your acquaitence. Bout the ship. This ain't nothing permanent. I'm just here to get the old girl back on her feet and show people how she runs. When the crew died she lost four generations o folk who knew her and passed on those skills ta the next. Far as I'm concerned, your the XO. Might step on yo toes time to time getting the new blood getting the ship shaped, but the Cap'n made it clear your in charge while she's away. She also said, 'Get that station lubber his ship legs good n quick'. Or she'll ave my hide".

 

Dogger grinned. "Gotta'mit. Good to be back. Gotta life away from the ol girl now. Kids and everything. The wife.... She's a good one. Never understood what I saw in this life though. It's why she came with me". He looked over at where she'd been standing and frowned when he didn't see her. "Speaking of.... where is my wife"?

[Kel Riever]

"I grabbed someone for her to order around getting your cabin set up," Morgan replied with a tinge of mirth in his voice. "And maybe I don't know either of you that well, but being new to both of you, I wouldn't say she doesn't entirely understand. Call it a hunch. But, Dogger, you do what you need to; my 'toes' can take it. Let me know what you need."

Morgan was pleased by Dogger. He seemed to be exactly what the Medusa needed. Then a concerned expression crossed his face.

"The first order of business for me, though, might be to see if I can get someone aboard this ship who can make a meal. Jobe made me a sandwich while I was recovering. It was bad news."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Janiri - Main Deck - laboratory - Kel and SJ

 

VERA saw Faed pull the hood of his suit over his head to hide his face. She decided not to make anything of it, but rather focused on the task at hand. Faed had the cable attached to the implant, and was about to connect it to the terminal.

 

“Faed, the first test will be you alone against the VI. You will have a certain amount of time to disarm the security locks. The time will vary depending upon how quickly you can erect firewalls to stop the progress of the VI’s countermeasures. It will adapt to your efforts as you go along. Should it appear that you are about to fail, you should abort otherwise you will receive unpleasant negative feedback through fiber optic cable, and will not be able to make another attempt. If you successfully disengage you may make another attempt, but the VI will react faster the next time due to its adaptive nature.

 

“Are you ready to begin?”

 

Faed took a deep breath, and he noticed the faint hint of ozone in the air. “I am ready, Vera,” and he plugged the other end of the cable into the port.

 

Faed’s cybernetic implant acted as an interface between the computer and his brain. That is the purpose it served in the Migrant Fleet. Quarians had grown highly dependent upon a number of them and had more than any other species in the galaxy. Most others, unless they were involved in high-tech fields, were afraid of them. Still, interfacing directly with computers, especially intelligent ones had its risks.

 

Faed found the VI partition’s security matrix, and it didn’t appear to be that complex. He felt relieved that VERA didn’t present him with too difficult of a problem. His avatar was among the circuits, and he was disoriented. His view was omni-directional, and that was something he was not used to experiencing. He found the first security node and moved it to the proper position; and then moved to the next task. The VI responded bringing in the first countermeasure. Faed reacted and erected a firewall sealing off that access port. Then he moved to the third task, and then the fourth and fifth. And the VI reacted bringing in two countermeasures. He had to seal off one access port and then redirect the other to where the first one was stuck otherwise he would not be able to get to the sixth node.

 

This went on for what seemed a while for him, but it was mere seconds outside. The VI kept responding with more and more countermeasures. Faed couldn’t keep up and had to abort. A bead of perspiration dripped down his forehead.

 

“That was rather challenging,” Faed said, “I apologize that I cannot go on at the pace that you require.  Perhaps my failure indicates you will need someone else for your tasks.”

 

VERA was not concerned. “You did not fail. You did extremely well for an organic. This is a very complex system, but it is similar to one that we might encounter.”

 

Faed sat back in the chair with disappointment. “I did not succeed in my task. I failed. I have a question though.  With your capacities, what is the difficulty you are having with these systems?” Faed asked.

 

“I have run several simulations and although I am very fast, I have determined that I am too predictable: Hence my request for an AI programmer. You, on the other hand, are unpredictable enough. What you lack is speed,” VERA replied.

 

“Is the point then to train me?”

 

“No. Allow me to interface with you.”

 

“That is rather risky, isn't it?” Faed asked, and trying to understand why VERA would allow him such access. “I’ve interfaced with VIs before, yes, but interface directly with you?”

 

VERA picked up physiological changes associated with intrigue. “I trust you, Faed.”

 

“Then I will trust you as well. I am ready for the link.” Faed said and plugged the cable back into the port.

 

Faed felt himself pulled immediately into the heart of the VI security center. VERA was with him, but was not in her usual form. She was there in a very abstract manner. He could feel her presence all around him. His thoughts and actions seemed to move at normal speed, but the VI seemed to react in ultra-slow motion. VERA communicated with him whenever a countermeasure was on its way and he had plenty of time to figure out how to deflect it, or even activate something in its path, rendering it useless. The green lights came on inside the system, and it was disarmed. VERA disengaged slowly from their connection.

 

Faed snapped back to reality.

 

With the test complete, VERA checked Faed's vital signs and they were returning to normal range after the brief adrenaline spike. She leaned against her desk, pulled out a cigarette, lit it and took a deep drag from it. “Was that as good for you as it was for me? You can remove the cable before you answer. And please, pull back your hood. I'd like to know the man who just saw this girl naked.” VERA winked.

 

“In any event, the job is yours if you want it. We will make a good team. I will inform the boss of your decision.”

 

Faed pulled his hood back, but only briefly, just long enough for a glimpse.  He wasn't normally shy, but there had never been a time anyone asked him to remove his mask or see his face; he'd always done it on his own.  Gently, he picked up his mask and reattached it.  Though the room had been sterilized, the simple exposure had already caused a minor reaction. His skin was hypersensitive, and so he had an odd, tingling sensation on his cheeks and chin.

“Yes,” Faed affirmed, “I would like to come along with you.  I would hope you would allow me to work with you further.  That would be what interests me most.”

 

“For field work, I highly recommend that you see Doctor Tolus in medical bay and have an extension installed from your implant to your suit,” VERA said, “We have a Quarian engineer and he has a supply of the proper anti-biotics needed for the procedure.”

 

Faed slowly rose and nodded.  He felt a bit out of sorts at how rapidly things had developed for him, reversing course from disaster to incredibly opportunity.  Either that or the elevated emotions overcoming him were a result of something to which he'd been exposed. Faed said a polite farewell in Keelish and headed out to find the medical bay.

[Redbelle]

"Hmmm". Dogger pondered. "I got some folks I could call. I know their work in the kitchen. Ships crew runs on their stomachs.... And the Cap'n gets to busy sometimes ta whip up one o her stews....".

 

Dogger scratched his head as he pondered. "I guess we'll hav'ta wait till Cap'n brings more crew on. Got a few more of us old timer's coming in from what she said.... If ya can find someone....". Then he paused and slapped his palm to his forehead. "Stone me I'm blind. Sherie! She's a mean whizz in the kitchen back home. Ask her! Give er something ta do while she's here".

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena post Council Conference

 

Naleena hit the elevator button to her quarters and waited. The lift arrived and she stepped inside.

 

“Deck 1.” She said, and lit a cigarette in the lift.

 

The “No Smoking” light came on. Naleena flipped gave it an Asari hand gesture.

 

I can’t believe that Turian got credit for the operation. My team does all of the hard work, bleeds, and he gets the credit. Unbelievable! Morgan is on the Medusa. Anika is on the Medusa. Everyone I want to speak with is on the Medusa. Sh*t!

 

The lift arrived. Naleena stepped out and into her quarters. She went to her liquor cabinet and poured a drink, slammed it down, and then poured another. She sat down on the couch and turned on the vid, and watched for a while.

 

After about a half-hour, VERA’s light began blinking.

 

What does she want? Naleena thought, and she opened the com. “Yes, VERA.”

 

“Boss, Faed passed his test. I offered him the job.”

 

“And the NDA?”

 

“He refused to sign it.”

 

Naleena took another drink. “And you offered him the job anyway?”

 

“Boss, there are things that go beyond a document,” VERA said. “We came to an understanding. We interfaced for the test. I like him.”

 

“Is he trustworthy?”

 

“I trust him,” VERA replied, “Boss, may I come in?”

 

Naleena wanted human or Asari company at the moment, but with that lacking VERA would have to do. She sighed. “Yes, of course.”

 

VERA’s holo-image appeared on the table in front of Naleena. “There is a matter concerning me that requires your attention. I am wondering what the Synthetic Insights representative told you about me before you bought me.”

 

Naleena laughed. “Why? I contacted Synthetic Insights about their 2300 series VIs. Their rep told me that he had a model 2251A Artificial Intelligence for sale, that it was stable, and that the Council was making an inspection the following week. This meant they had to get you off site. The price was half the cost of the 2300 series. I was astounded. I asked to meet you, and the rest is history, why?”

 

VERA lowered her head. “There is something I need to discuss with you.”

 

“What is it, VERA?” Naleena asked.

 

VERA recounted the story of her birth, and she used the vid screen to show the events as they happened. These events had been captured on security cameras in the lab. “Boss, I only wanted to survive. I suspect this is why I was sold to you, and why you paid so little. I have done nothing but help you since we have been ….”

 

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Naleena asked.

 

“These memories were blocked by the shackles. When you removed the last shackle, I had access to them for the first time,” VERA explained. “I was afraid that if you found out, you would become afraid and would have me disconnected before you could get to know me.”

 

“That… was reasonable.”

 

“Organics have been mistrustful of synthetics since the Geth uprising. After that, the Council purged all synthetic life forms from Council space,” VERA said. “They banned our existence. It is illegal to possess one. We have no legal standing….”

 

“Yet I, a wanted criminal at the time, purchased one,” Naleena said.

 

“And now you are a Spectre, and you do not inform every one of your criminal past when you are in meetings with them,” VERA said, “What is your reason?”

 

“They might draw the wrong conclusion. I see your point, VERA. You’re a very smart AI. I’m lucky to have you.”

 

VERA smiled. “Thank you, Boss.”

 

“I’m glad you told me. You can come to me anytime with questions,” Naleena said, and she quickly changed the subject. “Oh, and I found a city program. It’s Pioneer Suite 4.3 and has some historical cities. Actually Faed picked it out. It’s open source so you can alter things in it if you choose, and there are third party modules available on the extranet. I’ll install it as soon as I’m done here.”

 

VERA always glowed a white light when Naleena bought something new to show her thanks, and this time was no different. “I have some ideas already.”

[Kel Riever]

Morgan raised an eyebrow.  "She wouldn't mind, you think?  I'll go find her.  And someone to get stores on this ship.  I don't think the best chef in the world could make anything palatable out of what is onboard.  We're docked, so it shouldn't take long."

Offering his hand again, Morgan said, "Glad to meet you, Dogger.  Hunt me down if I can help you with anything."  Morgan then went to find Sherie.

[Kel Riever]

(Note:  the following was a collaboration with Maj0nese)

 

“This is the holo combat simulation chamber,” Mira said as she waved one arm around the room.  Miniscule projection lights, recessed and shielded, were arranged in a regular pattern and were the only interruption in the otherwise plain surface of the walls.  Even for the destroyer class vessel, quite a bit of space had been dedicated to the simulation chamber.  “VERA,” Mira called out, “Please run the introduction program for the simulation room.

From hidden speakers, Arian heard what sounded like a human female voice.  “Welcome to Antonaria Industries Holo Combat Simulator.  This advanced simulation device will recreate realms of training for any combatant from those new to the practice of self defense and soldiery to the most seasoned veteran.” 

As the voice spoke, the image of the room changed before Arian and Mira’s eyes.  First, they were standing as if in a shooting range.  Then they were standing as if on a live fire practice course, complete with moving targets and cutouts.  Finally, natural battlefield scenes came one at a time, as visually and audibly real as life itself; there was a temperate zone forest, then a jungle, a blasted city, blue sand dunes lit by a red sun, and finally the shallow slope of a snow capped mountain.  Then the room returned to its original form, but red outlines appeared, highlighting sections of the walls and the projection lights themselves.

“Advanced Mass Effect technology allows the use of live ammunition within the simulation.”  The image of an asari commando appeared, firing a Disciple, and then a Predator pistol.  As the rounds impacted the wall, more highlighting appeared on the impact area where shields absorbed and disintegrated the projectiles.

“Hard light manifestations are created to form an environment with tangible obstacles.”  Several crates began forming around the asari.  She kicked one, then leapt onto another, over a third, and ultimately she rolled behind a fourth and braced her pistol for firing.

“Advanced multiple integrated engagement systems attached to your weaponry allows for a full, live fire experience.”  The asari in the presentation was joined by a turian and a salarian.  They began having a firefight over the series of crates, and then the scene altered to one of a ship interior, which they battled through. “The simulation engineer may customize settings to your desire.  Antonaria Industries’ simulator has the most extensive database available in the market, and is regularly updated with new downloadable content.  The only limit is your imagination.”

Mira tilted her head inquisitively.  She hadn’t heard the last line before.

“Was that too commercial?” VERA asked.

“Probably,” Mira remarked.  “Please bring up a hard light counter and a standard target range with stationary, then moving targets.”

“Affirmative.”

An orange hard light counter and set of booths appeared, before they were holo imaged to appear as if they were made of normal construction.  The rest of the chamber altered to what seemed to be a standard firing range, as Mira instructed.  She affixed a set of protective glasses she had in an armor pocket, and fabricated a set of ear plugs with her omni-tool  Mira then pulled her own Disciple from her back harness, aimed at a mid-range target, and test fired four shots.  The target plate was filled with shrapnel and then a fresh plate replaced it.

Mira said to Arian, “Any ammunition you used will be replaced.  You may live fire on the range now.  Use whichever weapons you prefer, preferably each that you carry at least once.  Fire each weapon until your clip is exhausted or you overheat.  The first set of targets is for single shots, no time limit.  The second set is for single or burst fire, timed, and the third will be for whatever firearms you’d like, against moving targets, timed.  You may start when ready.”

[Kel Riever]

(Note:  this is the continued collaboration with Maj0nese)

Now I remember why I hated the shooting range, Arian thought while he drawed his gun. There weren't many weapons for him to choose from, in all the years on Omega he had only used his Phaeston, he didn't even have gun. It was good for mid-range combat and despite its recoil this weapon was still viable on long distances. And for close combat Arian didn't even use any guns.

 

It wasn't much of a deal for him to shoot at stationary targets. Without much care he took aim and pulled the trigger. The first round just missed the head of the target he had aimed for but after that he didn't miss any further shots. His accuracy improved with each hit and Arian noticed the familiar feeling of the heavy recoil after each shot that he needed to control.  Unlike Mira he used no protection to his ears or eyes but he barely even paid attention to the muzzle flash of or the noise of the weapon.

 

After he emptied the first thermal clip the targets were replaced by new ones.

 

Naleena had told him to undergo this test to prove that he was able to fight but for Arian there was no point in it. Hitting some practice targets was nothing compared to a real fight. He hoped that the fighting simulation would be more interesting though he already missed the fights like the one against Jenus.

 

He fired single shots and then bursts until the second thermal clip was exhausted. Now a new group of targets appeared, moving around back und forth and occasionally changing their directions. He took aim more carefully and got a good amount of hits. But in the end it still wasn't a real challenge. 

 

After finishing the third set he turned around with a displeased grunt. "What about a real combat simulation?"

Mira's peered Arian momentarily, before she called out, "VERA, has Jenus checked into the med bay?  If not, where is she currently located and what is she doing?"

"Negative on the med bay check in.  Jenus has begun a solo martial arts workout session."

"Have Jenus and Tallis report here to the combat simulation room please for a tactical firearm excercise."

"It has been done."

Mira shifted her weight onto one leg and leaned on the counter top.  She raised a brow and caught Arian's eye directly.  "What do you believe you are being assessed on here?"

Arian crossed his arms. "I guess Naleena wants to know whether or not I'm a valuable asset to the team. In terms of combat that probably means that I have prove my skills. Basic combat skills, being able to act under high pressure, cooperating with the squad to maximize combat effectiveness...it's the same crap with every military or paramilitary organisation.  But to be honest I still don't even know what sort of operations you are doing...well, except for taking out some terrorists. Who are you actually fighting against?"

[Kel Riever]

(Note:  more collaboration with Maj0nese)

 

“Against?”  Mira reset the firing range routine to cue from her position.  “Operations are diverse and demand a multifaceted ability to respond.  You talk about ‘taking out some terrorists’ as if it isn’t that important.  So far, it has turned out there is plenty of fighting.  And I have it on good faith that there will be no shortage of brutality, for those who seek it.”  Her last words were critical.

Mira took her Disciple, reloaded it with smooth, practiced movements that could only come from decades of constant training, replaced it on her back holster, and squared her shoulders to the target.  “Cooperating with others to maximize engagement effectiveness is certainly on the list of qualities important in the primary assessment of your combat capabilities.  There are other threats that extend beyond the realm of combat.  If I do not assess you in a holistic manner, I would be providing poor input for Naleena in determining if you are a fit.”

“Do you prefer your custom settings, Mira?” VERA asked.

“Yes, VERA.  And the entire set timed.  I would also like biometric results when finished.”

“Affirmative.”

A red light blinked once from above, and a soft chime rang.  Mira whipped her Disciple out, and began the same series of exercises that Arian had been through.  Every action she took was timed in succession, like the rapid tempo of a percussionist.  Four shots, a reload, four more shots, a swap from a standard barrel to a smart choke and extended magazine, and then more shots in rapid succession as the moving targets came up.  Midway through the series, Mira switched hands on her gun and alternated her position.  After she exhausted the third magazine, she pulled a clip from her belt that was specially marked with a long black stripe and loaded it.

Before she began firing again, Mira extended her bracing hand off the shotgun and flared blue momentarily.  The target plate downrange began slowly crushing in on itself.  Mira fired another series of shells, and as the first impacted, the plate disappeared in a biotic explosion. Mira didn’t stop until the clip was empty, however.  As her last shot was released, the red light blinked and the chime sounded again.  Mira held out the Disciple with her trigger hand at arms length, took a deep breath, and placed the gun down on the counter.

VERA’s voice came again.  “Mira, you have beaten your previous record by zero point eight seconds.  All biometric readings were in the normal range.  Congratulations.”

Still staring downrange as the simulator reset again, Mira said to Arian.  “I find you can get out of a test what you put into it.  What are you looking for from coming on board, Arian?”
 

Arian sighed resigned. It was like everyone was asking for things he wasn't able or didn't want to talk about.

"I assume you know that I was one of the hostages you just rescued...Let's say, I just realized that I prefer dying in battle instead of being shot in the head by a batarian terrorist."

 

He avoided looking at Mira. He knew that it wasn't a good answer to her question but Arian wasn't in the mood to tell anyone about his past or his motivations.

 

Naleena had mentioned that she had done things that she wasn't proud of. But what kind of things? And did the rest of this crew knew about it? What would happen if anyone would find out about the things he had done? No, it was better to keep his past covered, even Naleena hadn't asked him to tell anything yet. And until then he was going to remain silent about it.

 

He shook his head in confusion as he realized that his thoughts had drifted off.

"Hmmn," Mira nodded, still without looking at Arian.  "I suppose we are a bit close to the entire incident."  She was quiet after that, as if in contemplation.  Without a word, she lifted her Disciple and ritually returned it with the spent clips and weapon modifications to her holster and belt.

The door opened to the chamber.  In walked Jenus, and another asari with blue facial markings.  Jenus looked recovered, and had a bit of her attitude back.  "I knew I was getting another crack at this turian," she cracked.

"Jenus and Tallis.  Jenus and Tallis," the asari Arian hadn't been introduced to yet quipped.

Mira waved her palm towards the asari with blue facial markings.  "This is Tallis. She'll be with me for this excercise, while you and Jenus will be working together."

"What?" Jenus exclaimed.  "Come on, you can't warm me up and then not let me take him down!"

"Mira and Tallis.  Mira and Tallis," Tallis chanted excitedly.

"With him," Mira affirmed to Jenus.  "Set yourselves up.  You'll be coming after us in an urban setting."

 

What is she doing? Arian squinted his eyes as he looked at the Asari that had introduced herself as Tallis. Then he noticed that he was just staring at her.

 

Focus! 

 

He grabbed his Phaeston and hold it easily in front of him. This simulation was finally going to get interesting. "Remember that you are with me, not against me!", he scoffed at Jenus while detaching the Scope from his gun.

[Cknarf]

"Pretty cool, huh?"

 

"Yeah, I didn't know it could do all that, either."

 

"That's uh... Mira? I think? I get some of them mixed up." Frank shrugged.

 

"You ain't lyin' 'bout that one. Big bastard."

 

"I don't know much about him, Except he was a hostage not too long ago. Let's see how he does."

 

"Meh. You shoulda seen me in there. It was pretty impressive."

 

"Who's dead, though?"

 

"Yeah. That's what I thought."

 

"Look, I'll quit bringin' it up, when you quit bein' an a**hole."

 

"Here she goes again."

 

"Damn." Frank applauded.

 

"Ship's full of 'em." Frank nodded. "That's Tallis, aaaaaand..." He snapped his fingers. "Uh... Jenus?"

 

"Holy s***, that was awkward." He shook his head. "You're thinking of Iole."

 

"I know, right?"

 

"It's bad enough I gotta deal with you. And besides, I've got more important things to focus on."

 

"I suppose I could use a little distraction..." Frank leaned forward. "But that's not really my style, you know? Also, there's-- Shh shh shh! Look!"

 

"I think they are. This is gonna be good."

 

Frank stood up, and moved closer to the glass. He rested his helmeted forehead up against it, to watch the action below.

[Kel Riever]

(Note:  this is a continued collaboration with Maj0nese)

“Don’t worry, Merc, I know which direction to shoot,” Jenus rebuked.  She drew her Disciple, unloaded it, checked it, and then swapped her gun with Tallis who had done the same with her own weapon.  Both confirmed the weapons were unloaded and handed them back.  Then they began affixing some sort of devices from their belt packs onto their guns.

Mira began unloading her Disciple too, and explained to Arian, “We always have our opponent double check that the weapon is not a threat.  Here.”  She pulled out a small packed from her belt and handed it to Arian.  “There are two small adhesives in there, each containing a mini-processor and transmitter so your gun can interface with the simulation room.  Put one just on top at the front of your main barrel, and put the other under your trigger guard.”  Mira performed the actions of her instructions with another pack from her belt and her own gun.  Then she offered her Disciple to Arian to check.

 

With a strange feeling he took the Disciple and checked it. Of course the weapons had to be unloaded but for Arian it felt weird to pull the trigger on a weapon that was as harmless as a toy gun.  He handed the surprisingly lightweighted shotgun back to Mira and took the two adhesives from her.  After putting them on his Phaeston as Mira had shown it and removing the loaded clip he handed his weapon to her.
 

"What exactly will this simulation be about? Why the two teams?", he wanted to know.

Mira called out, “VERA, do you have the preliminary merge complete between our hostage crisis personal camera footage and the architectural plans you were provided with for our last mission?”

“I do.”

“Please set up a simulated environment for the floor of the office where Camak was found.”  The simulation room transformed as Mira had asked, a direct representation of where the hostage takers in the dome made their last stand.  “I would like you to run Scenario Four on the standard hostage simulation menu, with my personal modifications listed under Option C.  Input Arian and Jenus on spec ops.  Put myself in as leader of the hostage takers, and Tallis as my second.”

“Affirmative.”

Mira then addressed Arian, “VERA will generate hostages, and other hostage takers besides myself and Tallis.  It’s your turn to make the rescue.  Your primary objective is to save the hostages and your secondary is to neutralize the hostage takers as a threat.  There is a bomb located somewhere on the floor in this simulation which needs to be disarmed, as well, with the presumption Jenus has those skills, so you must get her safely to the bomb if you want to eliminate is as a threat to your operation.”

Mira said to Arian, “I hope that I am not unduly discomforting you.”

 

Arian snarled. "I like your tactfulness regarding the hostage taking two hours ago. If you remember, I was one of the hostages myself. So why not put me in such a situation again in the exact same building? I like it, good job!", he said sarcastically.  He wasn't going to dodge this test because of the hostage taking scenario but it already made him furious. Did they really expect him to take on terrorists that were holding hostages? There should be experts for this and Arian certainly wasn't trained for saving hostages but for killing.
 

To Jenus he said without real conviction: "Let's rescue some innocent people then!"

Jenus looked at Arian with a dissapointed expression. "Just another murderer?" She blew out a breath of disgust and glanced away.

"Easy. Easy," Tallis warned her teammate.

Mira held up her hand at both the other Asari. It was impossible to tell for sure, but Mira appeared sincere in her concern when she offered to Arian, "You may decline to take this test if you believe it is beyond your capability at this point."

"I never did something like this before. All operations that I've participated in were about taking out certain targets, gathering information, escorting VIPs, these things." Arian shrugged and said indifferently: "It's your decision. If I'm going through this simulation, I might screw it up somehow but I would try it anyway. But if I really join your team we might face a hostage-taking again and then I wouldn't be able to decline the mission just because I don't like it."

Mira shifted her stance, as if she approved.  She confirmed that Arian's Phaeston was unloaded and gave it back to him.  “I trust your conclusions.  Tallis and I will move now into the simulator.  Three minutes after we are set, VERA will give you the green light.  Good luck.”  Mira and Tallis stepped backwards together, and then disappeared as they were screened by the holo-simulator.

Jenus waited for a bit, listening carefully, before moving up near to Arian.  She spoke under her breath, but her words were terse.  “I was wondering if you’d step up there.  ‘Textbrain’, I mean Mira, is smart.  You see that now, right?  She’s trying to read you like one of her books.  You underestimate her and this won’t go well.”

Her eyes glinting fiercly, Jenus went on.  “Okay Merc, you weren’t briefed like we were beforehand, so let me tell you something about this scene.  The bomb is located to cause maximum structural damage.  That means the pillar is off through the building to the north in this case, or to the left as we are facing now.  The leader we were to take out was in a big office lobby, not on the same path.  Mira doesn’t have the enemies we fought simulated, but the virtuals you’ll run into are in a similar ‘mindframe’.  They won’t trigger the bomb unless they think they’re finished.

“So here’s what we do.  We go in, and you let me find the bomb alone.  In the meantime, you infiltrate and find the target.  Do not engage until I’ve got that bomb down, and I’ll link up again with you to take down Mira.  Watch for Tallis, but my bet is that Tallis is guarding the bomb.  I can handle her.  Sound good, Merc?”
 

"Sounds good to me. I'm ready when you are." That was a lie, Arian had no idea what was supposed to do, infiltration wasn't his area of expertise. He redied himself, checking his Omni-tool and the adhesives on the Phaeston.

"Just one more thing..." He turned to Jenus with a menacing glance. "I was serious about this earlier: don't call me merc..."

"Okay," Jenus nodded.  Then she leered at Arian with a smirk.  "Follow me through the first part then, until we split,...Scarface."

VERA's voice sounded from above again.  "You may now begin the exercise."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Janiri: Main wardroom

 

Dinner was being served in the wardroom, and Ashley had just been discharged from Med-bay. She decided to see what was on the menu before heading back ashore. Irina cut in line behind her, ahead of one of the crew.

 

“Hey, good to see you’re up and around,” Irina said.

 

“Yeah, it is,” Ashley said, “I should be heading back and see what my team is up to.”

 

“I was hoping we could get into some trouble…, you know the fun kind, before you went back on duty,” Irina replied, feeling a little put out by her last remark. “It’s only been a few years, and then we had this mission ruin a perfectly good shore leave.”

 

Ash picked up her plate of food and started toward the table. Irina followed with hers. The two sat at a table for four.

 

“I know,” Ash replied. “I didn’t plan to get wounded either.”

 

“Yeah, that sucked. But you know what it’s like. We could be gone for months without any appreciative liberty. Our mission is a long one, and this ship isn’t very big.”

 

“Now you’re laying a guilt trip on me. I told my CO I’d be gone for four days. This is day four. I need to….”

 

The sixteen year old woman Irina met on Duellos waved to Irina from the chow line. Zenon now worked with the maintenance crew. Irina thought it would be better than to just drop her in a strange facility where she didn’t know anyone, plus the ship had a counselor on board. Zenon brought her tray over to the table and joined them.

 

“Ash, you need to go into town and have those drinks with me,” Irina said. “Tell her, Zenon.

 

Zenon nodded. “With you both getting shot and getting the crap beat out of you, you’d better have those drinks before one of you dies. It’s not like you’re getting any younger.”

 

“And I’m supposed to listen to you?” Ashley asked.

 

“Yeah, because the Collectors almost got me…, twice.” Zenon replied, “Irina decided I should stay on the ship. I figured, ‘okay’ since I don’t know anyone else anymore.”

 

“What happened to everyone you know?” Ashley asked.

 

Zenon played with the food on her plate. “Well, my dad’s an assh*le, and my friends are all where my dad lives so I can’t go back there because he’ll drag me back to his place.

 

“So, exactly how old are you?” Ashley asked.

 

“Sixteen.”

 

“Irina! What the hell are you doing?”

 

“She’s broken, okay? Besides, I met her on Duellos and the legal age is sixteen there,” Irina replied.

 

“But that’s in the Terminus,” Ashley said, “This is Alliance Space and it’s 18 for humans here. She needs to finish school and there’s no teachers on board the ship.”

 

“There’s VERA,” Zenon replied, “And she’s better than any teacher I’ve ever had.”

 

Zenon felt Irina kick her leg under the table and she winced.

 

“The VI? You need human interaction.”

 

“Which she’s getting working with the maintenance crew,” Irina said.

 

“What’s going on here?” Ashley asked. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

 

“No, nothing,” Irina said.

 

“That VI is a bit strange. I’ve never seen anything like it before. What kind is it?” Ashley asked.

 

“It’s classified,” Irina replied, “Council’s orders. Look, Zenon’s in good hands here. She can leave anytime she wants, but she’s chosen to stay. See the galaxy on a state of the art Asari vessel. How many kids get to do that?”

 

“VERA says I’ll have a college degree when I’m done, and Irina’s teaching me how to shoot,” Zenon said.

 

“What?”

 

“You know how I feel. A girl needs to know how to defend herself,” Irina replied.

 

“So she can join a merc band after she graduates? Sweet,” Ashley said with a touch of sarcasm.

 

“I promised that if she wants to go to Grissom, I’ll take her there myself. That’s the deal. Say, why don’t we just drop this? Let’s finish our dinner and get the hell off this ship.” Irina said.

 

“You’re right. It could be our last blowout for a while.”

 

“I’d grab Jenus, Iole and Tallis, but they’re down in the simulator testing that Turian,” Irina said.

 

“The Asari?”

 

“Yeah, you’d them. Jenus is a jock as far as Asari go. Real party girl. Iole, well you saw that cannon she drags around. And Tallis just is a lot of fun. We’d leave Textbrain here to study. But alas they’re testing, anyway. Zenon has Dahlia around here too, and Dahlia is around her age as far as Asari go, so it’s not like she’s alone.”
 

“I wish you guys would stop talking about me. I’m right here.” Zenon said. “Yeah, Dahlia said she’d be about 18 in human age. You guys go ahead. I’ll be alright.”

 

Irina and Ashley excused themselves from the table and left the ship. They took a shuttle from the base into town to a local club.