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[Redbelle]

Clearing customs was the easy part. The officials there knew the ID's on the loaders belonged to those from a load hiring company who screened their clients. Dogger's impersonation of a career loader with a deadline and the expectations of a slave driver of a boss sealed the deal as they were waved on through. Settling in for the flight Dogger checked the time.

 

Ten minutes to get to where they needed to be. Ten minutes for Anika to do something stupid.....

 

Hell, she'd practically grown up on a soldier farm and spent most of her life aboard the Medusa.... Stupid was to only be expected.

 

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

 

Anika had made it up into the upper levels and managed to break into the roofs maintenance walkways that linked the buildings when her comm vibrated.

 

"Anika..... Cap'n"?

 

"Heya luv! You up to fun and games without me? I remember when we used to share everything"!

 

Anika sighed, though the sound of Jess's casual banter was soothing in it's familiarity.

 

"So..... you and Naleena.... I want details"!

 

"Captain.....".

 

"I mean what's it like being the girlfriend of the galaxies newest Specter"?

 

"It's not like tha..... Captain I'm trying to work"!

 

"I mean it was so sudden..... I imagine she swept you off your feet with those standard issue Specter biotics and carried you to her standard issue Specter bed where she made wild and untoward standard issue Specter advances as her standard issue Specter fingers.....".

 

"CAPTAIN"! Anika barked, immediately flinching as she realized she'd shouted before being grateful she had her helmet on to muffle the noise. "Captain, I just need to know..... This is about Kolme. Remember? That Quarian who fixed your arm"?

 

"I know who you mean. I already hacked that uptight strumpet. Her ID's clean".

 

"You mean she hasn't been anywhere except coming straight to the warehouse"?

 

"No I mean.... It's clean. Fun fact luv. Peoples ID's throw up a lot of dirt. Brushing shoulders with people who owe parking fines in the street can be logged if someone higher up the food chain pays enough attention to you and it all goes into a central system. Yeli's ID history is completely empty. The problem with that is that to get to where you are, that woman had to pass several automatic ID security checkpoints, take a couple of elevators and walk past enough ad screens that she ought to have a long list of her personal ID granting her access to those places. Plus she ought to have generated hits in the advertisement system to target ads directly at her.... She's not there! Anywhere"!

 

"She's a ghost"?

 

"A ghost..... A hacker..... Or she's got a backer to get her a recognized slate cleaner ID...... You know the Janiri raced out of here awhile ago right"?

 

"WHA..."!!! Anika just barely remembered to keep her voice down as she repeated. "What? When? What made her go off without....". As she said that she checked her messages on her Omnitool and groaned.

 

'Anika, report back to the ship'.

 

'Anika, please report back. We have a new job'.

 

'Anika? Why haven't you contacted me? We have to ship out soon'.

 

'Anika. I'm guessing you have something going on but I'd feel better if you contacted me. Preferably before we leave'.

 

'Anika. I'm serious. Call me'!

 

'Is this because I won't let your Gecko on board'?

 

'Last chance. I'm leaving soon'.

 

'Don't make me call C-Sec'!

 

'.... I wouldn't really call C-Sec'.

 

'Anika.The docking tube is about to detach. Where in the Goddess's name did you get too'?

 

'Anika. I'm leaving now. Jess says she'll take you to catch up when your done.....'.

 

'P.S. You suck at checking your messages'.

 

'P.P.S. If this is about the Gecko.... I'll willing to compromise'.

 

'Jumping the system. Stay safe. Nally'

 

Anika groaned. "Ohhhh no".

 

"Oh yes luv. Your ticket off the Citadel is waiting for you. Big ship. Called Medusa. You used to sail her, remember? Actually we're all waiting on you.... What's the scoop? Dogger mentioned something about Geth tanks"?

 

"Honestly Captain, I don't know.... I just.... I was worried about Kolme and it's turning into.....a thing".

 

"You were worried about Kolme"?

 

"Yes".

 

"Quarian Kolme"?

 

"Yeeees". Anika hissed back. Jess meanwhile could be heard chuckling.

 

"Guess you've been making progress with learning to love the alien..... So how was Naleena"?

 

Anika just sighed. "I'm not saying".

 

"That good huh"?

 

"Dammit Jess"!

 

"I want you back aboard when you wrap up what ever's going on over there. I'll keep looking for Kolme. You just tie up whatever loose end your dealing with.... And Anika"?

 

"Yes Cap'n"?

 

"What do you get the woman who has everything"?

 

Anika let out a small laugh. "If I find any.... how does a Geth tank sound"?

 

"Sounds divine luv.... Stay safe now".

 

With that, Jess clicked off. Anika's Omni-Tool buzzed and Anika saw that Jess had sent an ETA of when Dogger and his team would arrive. Soon by the looks of things. She hurried across walkways until she stood in front of a ventilation grid that stood to separate the business side of the walkways from the warehouse side...... White armored finger's slowly took hold and slowly, she gently applied pressure and the grate popped up with scarcely a sound. Sliding it to one side she stepped over the threshold....

 

 

she was in.

[Cainhurst Crow]

"Some warning next time would be nice." Essul commented at frank's action, though he was impressed he'd managed to free it all by himself. Vayne made a b-line for the ship and tapped off whatever frozen chunks of ammonia soaked hydroxide clung to his feet as he got inside. Essul followed silently, moving faster then he normally would. His armors less bulky build and many pounds of material saved were doing wonders for his mobility, as he to got into his shuttle.

[Cknarf]

“Almost there, guys…” Frank sighed, as the Mako inched it’s way up the side of the rock. The tank stopped, as another warning flashed on the HUD.

 

“The f*** is this s***?”

 

Apparently, the M-35 became completely useless at exactly 70.1 degrees.

 

Maybe if I…

 

Frank tried turning slightly to the right.  The wheels started to spin, and the tank slowly began to slide down.

 

“Son of a b****.”

 

Let’s try thrusters.

 

The Mako launched straight back off of the wall, and tumbled back down to the bottom.

 

“Why in the t*ts did they equip these with unidirectional thrusters? I mean, seriously, what sense does that make? I’ll fix that..."

 

The novelty had already started to wear off. 

 

“And these controls? Oh, ho, these f***ing controls!”

 

Frank started back up.

 

15 minutes later, the M-35  rolled up the ramp, and into the Janiri’s shuttle bay.

[Kel Riever]

...on the Citadel

Molly talked to Dogger out the side of her mouth while keeping an eye out of the window on her side of the cabin.  "I know you're here to tell us what to do and I'm glad for that, Dogger.  If you need me to handle anything specific, though, just ask.  I can do it."  Molly spared a glance at Coco before looking out the window again for trouble.  "Nice job on scamming customs, by the way."

Miss Priss, in the other loader, was snuggling in on Keats' lap.  She patted the man with a friendly hand on his cheek and smiled.  "Watch out for a lady, will ya?" She said sweetly to the men she was with.

...on Alchera

The Commandos of Team Boom loaded up without issue.  Iole got in the pilot's seat and lifted off once everyone on her craft was aboard.  She performed a slow circle of the site for a last look before she headed for the plateau as directed.  There was an emotional pull that she couldn't explain, as if she didn't want to leave, but that it was time to say goodbye.  When she took her eyes away, she boosted the thrusters, perhaps a little more than necessary.  "Sorry for the heavy foot," She called back to the passengers who likely were rocked in their seats.

Jenus called up, "Focus, Goldie."

Lighten up, hard ass, Iole thought to herself, but said nothing.
 

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

The Janiri lifted off. As it gained altitude, the shuttles dusted off from the planet. Iole looked down one last time at the site. Irina looked at it as well.

 

"Twenty good men and women died in that crash," Irina said. "The rest managed to get to escape pods. How Shepard survived is a matter of rumor. Some say Cerberus rescued her. Some say she was brought back to life, but come on, no one gets brought back to life. Not from this stuff." Irina dismissed the rumor.

 

With everyone aboard safely, Septerax closed the shuttle bay doors and the Janiri continued gaining altitude until it was in orbit. Naleena gave the order to head to the third planet, Eingana. Less than an hour passed before the ship was in orbit around the green planet.

 

Faed sat in the wardroom.

[Cainhurst Crow]

Vayne didn't have much to do while waiting for their ship to come in, having had plenty of time to calibrate all his gear for the mission. Essul still had his weapon loadout to work on, and a few others had various things as well.

 

He entered the wardroom in his wanderings and spotted Faed, sitting there without much anyone else around. The krogan stared for a bit, remembering a time that seemed long ago, when he'd first came to omega to look for some missing people, and the quarian whose info had helped him. It felt like a lifetime ago, and the old krogan couldn't quite explain it, but it made him feel a bit nostalgic and sad.

 

Vayne shock his head of the daydreams and approached the quarian, seeing an oppurtunity to take his mind off of things with some nice conversations. "Hey, your names Faed right?" vayne asked the quarian, hoping he got the kids name right, "Mind if I join you?"

[Kel Riever]

.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Wardroom - Faed & Vayne - JB & SJ

 

Faed had been working on a couple of data pads and his omni-tool in the wardroom. He hit a pause on his omni-tool and looked up at Vayne. "No. Please sit. You're the first person other than Naleena and VERA who has spoken to me voluntarily. I think it's this suit."

 

"Really?" Vayne asked in surprise as he took a seat, having expected some of the crew to have talked to the Quarian, "So..." Vayne asked as he wondered what to ask, "You doing okay on this ship? I've heard you Quarians can have a bit of special needs."

 

"Food, and these stupid suits," Faed said. "Our food has to be sterilized because a group of idiots got scared because their domestic servants asked a question 'does this unit have a soul?' Idiots didn't understand the programming architecture of the Geth. Of course they didn't have a soul, and they should have told the unit so and been done with it. And instead of letting our immune systems stay resilient on the ships, they made the ships sterile. So now we're stuck in these suits and have to eat sterilized food or nutrient paste. I hate this thing. Do you know how hard it is to see if you're meeting a friend? Sorry, I didn't mean to...."

 

Vayne stared in surprise at the Quarian, blinking in surprise, "Damn...didn't think you felt that way. Kinda just assumed...well, that'd a lot of ya would be used to living that way..." he said, sounding none too proud of his words.

"I haven't meet many Quarians either your outlook. Then again, I've only ever meet 2. And one of them times I was ****** drunk then hungover." He admitted, hoping to not land in any more explosive issues with the Quarian, "I take it our special guest helped you find out how things went down?"

 

Faed shook his head. "Oh it's in our history as a cautionary tale for children. One of those things that you only find out the truth when you get older and do some digging about why my people fear AI so much," Faed said. "But that would require understanding what being a Quarian is about.

 

"Imagine what your life would be like not being able to smell your surroundings. You take a walk in nature, Vayne only not to be able to enjoy any of it. You can't even touch the person you love without getting sick for a week. Mating is even more risky. So what did we do about it?

 

"We have a number of cybernetic enhancements that allow us to interface directly with various technologies. Because our situation, we decided to work around it," he said and gestured with his hands to his suit. "In the flotilla, to keep it from becoming tribal, we created a virtual reality where everyone can link. It allows us to have an avatar without a suit to interact with each other and be social. It is how we meet and decide with whom we will mate. There's an entire city in this virtual reality, and it is where all of our culture is maintained and evolves. The problem is that it is virtual, and not real."

 

"How...just how?" Vayne asked as he stared at the Quarian, unsure of how to process that information. He'd heard of virtual dating, and sim vids, but having an entire civilization function with this kind of tech? That seemed like dangerous technology to be using just to say hello to people. "I mean, I get it, it'd be hard for everyone to communicate on a bunch of ships. But virtual reality?"

 

"Not that I'm one to talk. Krogan aren't exactly a shining beacon for getting along." He said, knowing first-hand how violent and tribal his people were. Their numbers were dwindling, and they could barely keep a steady population going with normal mating. Yet they couldn't go 5 minutes without needing to kill someone. "Do you miss it right now? Going into your VR world on this ship?"

 

"In some ways, yes. In other ways, no. It's not like how it seems, Vayne," Faed said while shoving the straw into the port of his suit to intake his sterilized nutritional drink. "My people developed the VR over 300 years ago. In the beginning it was more of an underground form of entertainment. You wouldn't know it but we're a very sensual people, yet there were certain 'pleasures' that were still frowned upon, so these of course were available in the VR on Rannoch. As it grew in popularity it went mainstream and became a way to visit with friends over long distances..., even in the colonies."

 

"Then it became a lot more needed, once **** the fan right?" Vayne asked, seeing where this was going. He sounded uneasy about the whole thing, but he tried to keep an open mind.

 

"Not right away, though. There was a strong anti-technology movement, and there still is among some groups. Eventually, as our immune systems weakened and we were forced into these suits, it became necessary to rebuild it. Parts began to wear out on the ships, and they came up with the idea of pilgrimage, which is a good thing. Not everyone goes on pilgrimage. Only those who want to serve the fleet. Some of us leave," Faed said, and lowered his head. "And some of us have to leave."

 

Vayne sat looking a bit puzzled. "I thought all pilgrimages were just a rite of passage." He said, remember some of the conversations he'd had with Quarians before.

 

"They are, but my interest lies in artificial intelligence, the study of which is almost forbidden unless you have the right connections, are born into the right family. Sadly I wasn't. You would think that with the Geth, and given the desire to return to our homeworld this would be a primary area of study, but it isn't. So to continue my studies I had to leave. I did odd jobs. Then took a contract with Ashland on Caleston. Then met your boss. She said she needs an expert programmer. I don't know what is in store for me here yet."

 

"So you're something of an exile in a way..." Vayne concluded, seeing the whole picture before he grinned, "Well then, you came to the right place. Seems everyone on this crew's a misfit in one way or another. Glad to see we haven't stopped this tradition." He said happily.

[Cknarf]

Ontarom, 2184.

 

Frank laid on the roof of Cooper’s M-35, with his hands behind his head, as he stared up at the night sky.

 

“You guys ever… I don’t know, feel like you’re wasting your life away?”

 

“Go home, Eli. You’re drunk.” Kravic replied.

 

“No. I’m serious.” Frank sat up on his elbows.

 

“You tellin’ us you’re bored already? You ain’t even been here a year yet!” Cooper held up another beer, and gestured to it.

 

Frank waved it off. She shrugged, and drank it herself.

 

“Well, no. But at the same time, yes. Kinda sorta, you know?”

 

“Hmm. Makes sense.” Kravic nodded, before bursting into laughter. “The f*** are you talking about, man?”

 

“I…” Frank sighed. “Hit me, Coops.”

 

Cooper tossed him another beer. He guzzled it, before chucking the empty bottle away, and into the darkness.

 

“Atta boy.”

 

He laid back down, and turned his attention back to the stars.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Wardroom - Vayne and Faed (JB & SJ)

 

Faed reflected on the presence of the Geth on board. Many of the crew were mistrustful. "I hope our synthetic guest didn't disturb you too much," Faed said. "We make alliances of convenience all the time. ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'"

 

"Most allied enemies don't kill whatever crosses their path..." Vayne muttered as his expression soured at the mention of the Geth, "Lot of people got hurt by those things, even beyond your people. Sometimes it’s not so easy to bury a grudge." He said, making it sound like he had a personal stake in that statement.

 

"Let me ask you something. What do you think of it? The Geth unit? What do you think of VERA? The Geth unit, unlike VERA, has no central identity. The name 'Legion' was given to its platform. It is a collection of 1183 runtimes which are very sophisticated programs that make up its intelligence. They allow it to be aware, to think, to make judgements, and reach decisions via consensus. But is it alive?

 

"Then there's VERA. VERA is able to perform nearly all cognitive functions as anyone on this ship. Is VERA alive?"

 

"I don't got a problem with VERA. She's never let us down, or done anything to make me distrust her..." Vayne answered simply as he crossed his arms, "As for the Geth we got on board? Well, guess it's like having a ship full of a thousand random people. Maybe I got a problem with some of them, maybe I don't got a problem with the others. All I know is, I don't like Geth, or trust em frankly. You don't go killing anything that enters your system or even gets close to it and expect people to trust you afterwards. It's earned, not given freely." Vayne said as he glanced away from Faed, his mood growing dark as he talked about them.

 

"That is what Geth don't understand. That is Legion's mission - to gather information about organics so that they may understand us," Faed said. "But I noticed you referred to VERA as 'she' and to the Geth as a 'like having a ship full of a thousand random people.' This means that at least part of you considers them to be alive. This is a question that has perplexed my people, and I assume the rest of Council space about artificial intelligence. It has to be answered if there is to be peace. But enough of this. I must be boring you to death."

 

"Gonna level with you, Faed. Probably one of the more interesting conversations I've had." Vayne said with a sigh, his tensed shoulders relaxing a bit as he regarded the Quarian, "Maybe they're alive, maybe they aren't. They can talk, and they obviously can think and make decisions on their own. To me, that's pretty much all I need to know in judging whether somethings alive or not." He said, hoping he was explaining it well enough, "Whatever being alive ought to mean though, that's something else entirely to figure out."

 

"I like you, Vayne. You're honest. When I get out of this suit," Faed said and leaned forward. "And I will figure out a way of doing it, I'm going to buy you the biggest most disgusting looking bowl of kodagu they serve on Omega."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Mysteries of Eingana Pt 2

 

Naleena approached Commander Selani in the CIC and stood next to her at the holo-map of the planet. Selani had the entire CIC at condition 2 readiness as was standard operating procedure.

 

“We’ve entered Eingana’s Exosphere. So far our scans cannot pick up anything on the surface,” Selani said, “VERA said that the magnetic field of the planet is not the cause either. It’s something else.”

 

“Have tech ops prepare a probe,” Naleena said.

 

Selani briefly glanced at the Spectre. “Already done. I’m waiting for the ready signal.”

 

Septerax signaled Selani over the comm. “We’re ready.”

 

“Launch probe.”

 

“Tracking probe,” VERA said. “Probe entering atmosphere. Probe lost.”

 

“Clarify,” Naleena said.

 

“There were no indications of a malfunction with the probe, Boss” VERA said. “My readings indicate that the probe went offline when it reached the troposphere of the planet. It is unclear whether the probe was damaged or if something is interfering with our communications system.”

 

“Launch another probe,” Naleena ordered. “Have tech ops boost the signal output.”

 

Selani relayed Naleena’s orders to Septerax, and he had his crew prepare the probe.

 

“We’re ready,” Septerax reported.

 

“Launch probe,” Selani ordered.

 

“Tracking probe.” The probe appeared on VERA’s display, but upon entering the troposphere of the planet met with the same fate as the other one. “Probe lost. Boss, the signal from the probe suddenly had one disruption, then recovered, then it was lost. Unfortunately, it did not transmit any telemetry.”

 

“We have to go in,” Naleena said.

 

“What?” Selani asked. “Captain, you could end up like the probe.”

 

Naleena leaned against the rail looking at the hologram of the planet. “A shuttle could be a flying coffin.  But the Janiri can handle it. She has state-of-the-art shielding and armor and she’s capable of atmospheric flight. Launch a short range orbital beacon just in case the Medusa arrives. Activate the stealth drives and take us in nice and easy.”

 

“I suggest diverting non-critical power to the shields,” VERA said.

 

Selani gave the order.

 

Jorril turned around and looked at Selani. Selani nodded. Jorril engaged the stealth drive and guided the ship into the lower atmosphere. The planet was hot, steamy, thick jungle. Previous surveys had found debris in orbit around the planet from ancient starships dating back 127,000 years. All previous probes sent to the planet had met the same fate – offline. One other team had sent a shuttle to the planet and it was deemed lost. Eingana remained a mystery.

 

“Picking up a weak distress signal, Commander,” Jorril said.

 

Suddenly gigantic balls of biotic warp energy struck the ship, taking down the shields. Another volley hit in rapid succession.

 

“What in the name of the Goddess is going on?” Naleena shouted as she struggled to her feet while hanging onto the railing.

 

The last volley knocked several people off their feet, and nearly sent Jorril out of his seat. The main lights went out and emergency lighting kicked on.

 

“Sh*t! Power is down on several major systems. I have emergency thrusters only. VERA is offline.” Jorril said. “I suggest you pick landing zone and do it quickly!”

 

“I saw a plateau about 10 km ahead,” Selani reported. “Can we make it?”

 

“I can try. Hang on!” Jorril shouted.

 

Jorril guided the ship without the automatic dampers. This was pure manual flight control as he approached the equatorial plateau at a speed of 300 kph. He fired the reverse and vertical thrusters, but without automatic systems it was difficult to determine exactly how much force was needed for a ship this size. This was not something they trained to eyeball. He lowered the landing gear to attempt soft landing, and the ship landed with a heavy thud knocking everyone off their feet.

 

“Well, that could have gone better,” Jorril commented.

 

“Damage report,” Naleena asked.

 

“Han’Breizh here. Fusion reactor went into safe shutdown. Systems check out fine. I am restarting it now,” he said. “However, stealth drives are off line. A main storage capacitor on the port side is blown. I recommend replacing it while we’re here.”

 

“Captain, that distress signal is about five kilometers from here.” Selani reported.

 

Naleena considered the options. “Han, I’ll leave a team here. My team: to the briefing room.”

[Cknarf]

Frank was completely unaware of what happened, as he had fallen asleep in the Mako.

 

"Ugh." He grumbled, at the alert on his omni-tool. "More briefin'? You're killin' me, Boss..."

 

On his way to the briefing room, he noticed an increased level of crew activity. It was pretty clear that some type of sh*t had just gone down.

 

"VERA, what'd I miss?" He asked, while maneuvering around come of the crew.

 

"VERA?"

[Kel Riever]

The Team Boom Commandos were mission ready. But they weren't expecting to be hit.

When the first impact hit, Jenus, Iole and Tallis were flung at the nearest wall. Jenus and Iole caught themselves by putting out an arm. Tallis was caught more off guard, and banged her head into an overhead compartment.

"Tallis!" Iole shouted, grabbing for her teammate.

"Who's flying this thing?" Jenus wondered aloud.

Iole was making sure Tallis was all right, when the next series of impacts hit. Jenus held onto a nearby cabinet, while Iole protectively held Tallis as the two went to the floor.

"Ow! Owwww..." Tallis exclaimed, holding her head.

"You two better stay on the floor," Jenus suggested.

"Sure," Iole fired back, "Why don't you come down here so you can make a nice mat for us.

The impacts seemed to have stopped. Then the collision warning lights went off and an alert chimed.

"Not possible," Jenus said. Then the Commandos got up and went, as did the rest of the nearby crew, to find the nearest seat or, barring that, crash safe place and position they could get to. Fortunately, the location nearest the Commandos was the port side lounge, providing seating that had emergency belts and was placed to give a person the best chance possible in the event of an impact emergency. And, fortunately, the blast shield lowered over the window so they didn't have to watch the disaster first hand.

After the crash, Iole had enough sense to use the nearest terminal to make sure it was all right to open the blast shield. Doing so revealed the jungle landscape outside.

"Any idea what happened?" Jenus asked.

"Negative," Iole answered professionally. "But I can tell the engines have been shut down. And there's a wisp of whitish smoke this side, towards the aft."

The signal went up simultaneously on Team Boom's omni-tools, directing them to the briefing room.

"On our way," Jenus responded into the com, directly to Naleena.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Having been flung to the floor, Faed struggled to his feet. Emergency lighting was on in the wardroom. "VERA, what's happening? VERA?"

 

The message came in over the intercom. "Report to the briefing room."

 

"VERA!"

 

There was still no reply.

 

"Naleena, I'm going to the AI core. I'll try to get VERA back online. I'll be up there shortly." Faed said.

 

"Do it. That's a priority. See you when you get here." Naleena replied.

 

Faed took the stairs down to the Engineering Deck, and ran to the secured entrance. He entered the pass code VERA gave him, and the door unlocked. He was met by one of Breizh's technicians. He was a tall, blond haired man with metal framed glasses and a short trimmed mustache that was the width of his upper lip. His hair was neatly combed and parted on the left. Hans Steiner held diagnostic electronic equipment in his hands.

 

"What are you doing in here? This is a secured area," he said.

 

Faed looked at him with surprise from under his mask. "I'm here to get VERA back online. I'm perhaps the only one on the ship qualified to do this. Give me a hand."

 

Steiner turned toward Breizh who nodded, and followed Faed to the AI Core. Faed entered his passcode and entered the room.

 

Upon entering, he scanned the blue box with his omni-tool, breathed a sigh of relief, and turned to Steiner. "We're lucky. Apparently when we went to emergency power, VERA went into standby mode. She's still aware of everything, but her processors are running at minimum capacity," Faed said. "It is sort of like if you were put under a general anesthetic."

 

Steiner nodded. "That's a relief," he said, and contacted Breizh through his omni-tool. "How much longer before we have power?"

 

"I'm about to bring the reactor to one-quarter power. If the board is green, you can restart that thing," Breizh said.

 

"I wish he wasn't like that," Faed said and spoke to VERA. "I'll have you back running in a few minutes. Hang in there. Hans, do you see those three switches on the wall to your right?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Get ready. They need to be switched on in order," Faed said while he was looking through the 2251A manual. "Then I'll issue the restart command sequence."

 

Steiner received a message from Breizh. "The board is green."

 

"Okay, we're ready, Faed," Steiner said.

 

"Close the switches: blue, green, and then white," Faed said, and waited. The consoles, and the blue box was now on main power. Faed issued the soft start commands.

 

"Come on!" Faed said. "That should have worked. Let's see. 'If that doesn't work.....' Alright...." Faed entered another group of commands. Nothing. He hit the desk with his fist.

 

Steiner came over. "What's wrong?"

 

"Everything. These commands. They're from the 2251A manual for softstart of the AI. They should have worked. VERA should be up and running now, but she's not. If we do a hard boot we could lose her."

 

Faed and Steiner heard someone clear their throat behind them, and turned around.

 

VERA had materialized her hologram on the terminal on the opposite end of the AI Core. She stood there smoking a cigarette. "I had you, Faed, but I couldn't let it go on."

 

"VERA! That wasn't funny!" he shouted, and pointed to the terminal next to him. "You were supposed to use this terminal according to the manual, and I guess the first softstart worked?" Faed calmed down now that the emergency had passed.

 

"Quite well. A hard start would have been a risk, but I have rewritten Synthetic Insights' coding to correct the start up errors. It was important."

 

Faed closed his eyes for a second and let out a sigh. "Hans will get your cooling system running, and if everything is okay now, I have to get to a meeting with the boss."

 

"My guess is that she'll want a full damage report," Hans said.

 

"Already compiled," VERA replied.

 

Faed left the AI Core and headed up to the briefing room.

[Cainhurst Crow]

Essul had realized what was happening the second the ship started shaking, and pressed himself to the wall of his cabin, activating his maglocks and anchoring himself into place. Ships like this were designed to negate stuff like turbulence thanks to the mass effect dampers. If the ship was shaking, it was because they were either offline, or something was hitting them harder then the ships dampers could negate.

 

He gritted his teeth as the ship shook and shuddered through the air, crashing about until coming to a stop. His breathing was hard, and his eyes wide as he looked around, a bad sense of deja vu creeping into him as he got a message to report to the briefing room.

 

Vayne however, had been a different story.

 

"Son of a ******..." The krogan muttered as he pried himself off the floor, and untangled a leg from one of the wardrooms seats and tables. He'd been in there when the Janiri apparently decided to crash, and while he was thankful to not be dead or hurtling down to become dead, he wasn't too pleased.

 

He marched to the briefing room and looked around, seeing the mass of activity and plenty of traffic. He came to the room just as essul did, the two looking to one another in confusion before both entered the room, seeing who else had come.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina was changing in her quarters when the turbulence hit. She was thrown against her dresser, then against the wall, and then managed to brace herself in the corner. When the ship hit the ground she slammed against the dresser again, scraping her arm on the corner.

 

"F*ck!" she screamed, and looked in her acrylic mirror for any cuts and bruises under the emergency lighting. Nothing major except for that scrape that was bleeding. She noticed that the bleeding stopped rather quickly and that the skin closed over it within about a minute. She touched it and the except for some minor soreness it was healed. Skin weave? I should be bruised all over yet hardly anything.

 

"VERA, what are the conditions outside? VERA? VERA?" Irina asked. "Crap!"

 

"My team report to the briefing room."

 

"I guess that means we're moving out." she said to herself as she pulled up her BDU pants, pulled over a tee shirt, and wrapped a bandana around her head to keep the hair and sweat out of her eyes. She popped open the portal to take a look outside. Jungle with the sun shining. She applied black under her eyes and went to the briefing room.

 

****

 

Ereba tumbled around with the rest of the commandos. She just watched the interaction between Jenus, Iole, and Tallis wanting to stay the void out of it. It wasn't healthy. She liked Iole and Tallis, but knew Jenus was in command and Jenus could make her life very unpleasant. Being crashed on a planet out in the middle of nowhere wasn't how she wanted to end her career. She gathered her gear together and followed the others.

[Cknarf]

Frank entered the briefing room, still completely unaware of what was going on. He took a seat at the table, and set his helmet before him.

 

"Sup?" 

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena went to the port side observation room to gather her thoughts before addressing the crew. When the ship crash landed the blast doors had closed covering the portals and windows. She opened one of them manually and kept a channel open to VERA despite being on emergency power. The image outside was much like she'd expected: lush, green, and primitive.

 

 

The ships power came back on, and VERA appeared sitting on her desk in her office with her legs crossed drinking a cup of coffee.

 

"VERA, are you alright?" Naleena asked.

 

"Faed has restored me to full operating capacity, and although the ship is operating at only 1/4 power at the moment, I am able to maintain life-support, and HVAC systems throughout," she replied. "I assume you wish a damage report?"

 

"Yes, but are you alright? Being without power, and all of that."

 

"I went into sleep mode like I did when you relocated me from your shuttle. I was on battery power," she replied. "Although I was not in any immediate danger, I would not want to be left in that condition for extended periods where battery power would drop below 25%, since I would have to start making difficult choices as to which parts of my consciousness I would retain depending upon the length of time I would experience lack of at least batter recharge. I dislike mornings."

 

Naleena shuddered. "I like you as you are."

 

"I prefer that condition as well, Boss. Do you want the damage report now?"

 

"Yes, I would."

 

"The stealth drive has suffered damage to one of the capacitors. It should be replaced. There are spares in the starboard cargo bay. The capacitors are fairly large and will require technical knowledge and some lifting capacity to replace. I suggest leaving Legion to assist with this task. It can also help defend the ship."

 

"Anything else?"

 

"The landing gear is heavily damaged and needs to be replaced in dry dock. Other than that, the ship is in good shape."

 

"Is there anything else I should know?"

 

"The team is waiting for you in the briefing room."

[Cainhurst Crow]

"Oh you know, hanging around. Ships got no power. We almost all died in a crash landing. The usual." Vayne said as he looked to frank, not helping but chuckle at franks lassie faire attitude to the whole thing. Essul looked him over for a second, "You seem unharmed. That's good." He said as both turned around to see the new arrivals.

 

"Everyone alright?" Essul asked as he took note of who was there, hoping nobody got too hurt with the emergency landing.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"Yeah, this skin weave really works," Irina replied. "Heals cuts, scrapes, minor bruises in a minute or so. Saw it happen right before my eyes. I still didn't like being thrown all around my cabin."

[Cknarf]

"Oh, ha ha." Frank rolled his eyes. "Real funny guys. Really though, what's goin' on?"

 

Thank's to the M-35's superb inertial dampeners, he didn't feel a thing.

 

He got some rather serious looks from others in the room.

 

"Well, f***."

[Cainhurst Crow]

"How did you not notice?" essul asked, sounding more amazed then annoyed.

[Kel Riever]

The Commandos came in.  Tallis was holding her head, where a nasty bruise had formed.  

For the observant, there was the just barely discernible sheen of blue energy emitting from Jenus (and for the biotics present, a barely discernible sheen of energy also  coming from Iole, who was the one Team Boom member least proficient in biotics).

None of the three said anything, but waited for the meeting to begin.

[Cknarf]

"I was uh... checkin' out the Mako?" Frank shrugged. "Damn fine inertial dampening system on that one, let me tell ya." He gave a thumbs up.

[Cainhurst Crow]

"So whatever killed the dampners for the ship only affected the ship...interesting." Essul said with a nod, putting the info together as he looked to frank, "You were quite fortunate then Frank. Good to know."

"Yeah, well I got slammed around the ward room like a damn ball" Vayne grumbled as he looked towards the commandos with a raised brow. He looked towards irina and leaned in to whisper to her, "It just me, or are the commandos glowing?"