6315 réponses à ce sujet

[Kel Riever]

(Note:  The following was a collaboration with RedBelle and Shotgun Julia)

Previously...

Teyolia System, Nevos, Astella, Flowering Lotus Arcology

(Naleena)

 

Jocelyne Viviane Reith was left with the Consort at the age of six along with her twelve year old sister Reine Melanie by their mother because of their father's acquaintance with the Sha'ira. This really bothered me. It was obvious their father was having a good time at the Consort's while still married. But why would their mother drop off her two children with the woman her husband was banging? That's a rotten way to get revenge. It twists a child's mind and gives them abandonment issues that follow them the rest of their lives.

 

What was interesting was what was coming out. Reith. That name sounded familiar. It's not a common name. It was on a list I received from the Spectres office recently. I accessed my omni-tool. Some mercenary startup group headed by a Major John Reith. Someone with money. That made sense. It took money to have access to someone like the Consort. And it took someone with money to have records sealed. This whole thing started to stink.

 

The Consort seemed to have things under control. Me? I'd probably start asking questions with a blunt hammer. That would be exactly the wrong way to proceed. I nodded to Sha'ira to continue.

 

*****

As Babe spoke, Jess hung back, close enough to be within ear shot but far enough away so that she wouldn't intrude on Priss and Babe's reunion.

 

Truth was, she was tampering down on her impatience and making sure she was as out of sight as she could be so that it wouldn't show. It wasn't as if she expected an Asari to pop up in a shower of glitter dust with a flashing neon sign that said Iyana is here with a map attached.

 

It was the old Captain maxim of hurry up and wait. She was out of it now. The show wasn't her's and as a result all she could do was watch and listen. Waiting for what she needed to know what to do next. She was after all, lost. Iyana was someone who she knew she had to put down. Hard if she had to and here she was listening to her past as a child as she grew up. The sort of thing that would made it hard to put a round in her brain pan. She wasn't a cold killer. To much blood and emotion roiling under the surface and as a result, she felt things that she often had to hide and stop from resurfacing at the worst possible moments. Years of denying her real name and family had given her the practice she needed but still......

 

Looking around she eyed up the gardens they were walking through. Peaceful. Well kept. Tranquil. The thought that Iyana could show up and set it all to flame popped into her mind and she dragged her attention back to the conversation.

 

There were still things she had to hear that Babe and Priss needed time to tell at their own pace.

 

Hurry up and wait indeed.

It took a few minutes for Babe to let go of Sha'ira.  When she did, Babe was still crying, but there was some relief on her face.

"Why don't you let me talk for a bit," The Consort said to Babe, who nodded in agreement as she wiped some tears away.

Sha'ira turned predominantly towards Jess and Naleena, though she had Miss Priss in her view as well.  Nor did she let go of one of Babe's hands.  "My attempt at creating a school for the young girls ended in tragedy because of my compromises.  Some I kept on until they left for better things."

Miss Priss didn't look terribly comfortable herself, but she did snicker at that last comment from The Consort.  "You ain't got to sugar coat it.  I flunked out!"

"You hardly flunked out, Priss.  The constraints of my suite in the Presidium were too much for your wild heart.  But that was later and we must stay on course with our focus."  Sha'ira reached out with her free hand to beckon Jess and Naleena closer.  "Of the twenty girls under my care at the time, two suffered what is widely believed to be accidental deaths.  The first was drowned in the bathroom six months after the arrival of Jocelyne and Reine.  The second, lost to the forbidden crawlspaces of the Citadel a month later, her body only to be recovered weeks later.  I knew better than to think it was pure coincidence but I had no ability to determine anything more until the night after Miss Priss was taken.  Jocelyne came to me the next morning and let me know what had happened.  Suffice it to say, a cruel mind was at work, one that I had no power to influence, and so Reine Reith was removed from my care.  A greater tragedy was that I was unable to retain Jocelyne.”

“I was almost strangled that night,” Miss Priss said, the protest evident in her voice.

“And for your healing, it was best that neither of the Reiths were in attendance after that horrific incident.  I understand that despite Jocelyne’s interference to save you that evening, and her coming to me the next morning, you might never have been able to recover in Jocelyne’s presence.”  Sha’ira looked over her shoulder to Babe.   “But I regret my inability to find a better place for you, Jocelyn, after your mother removed you as well.  After all, you were no orphan.”

Turning back to Naleena and Jess, Sha’ira said.  “And there my history with the Reith comes to an end.  I could not return Jocelyne to John Reith, her father, as he was divorced and had no custodial rights to the children.  And Clarisse Reith not only had rights, but also came from a family of wealth and power.  Not much weight is given to the word of a six-year-old child when no other evidence is compelling.  I fought for as long as I could, but in the end, Clarisse disappeared from my sphere of influence with her daughters, and after I time, I was unable to keep track of her, even with my resources.  Eventually, the difficulty of these events led me to close my school in an official capacity.  All is one, I would say to myself, a hope that everything would somehow take a turn for good.  But I see that by all of you being here, that sadly that has not come about.”

Babe and Miss Priss were left speechless.  Sha’ira looked at both again, but spoke to Jess and Naleena.

“Please, ask me what you will.  I see that Priss and Jocelyne are in your care now, and I wish to help the people who are looking after them as much as I am able to.”

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina

 

Irina went back into the lounge with Amy. "Okay, your credentials check out. You say you're chasing a story? Who am I to stop you. But you said you have a big news story with the Spectre, Captain Stone and the Consort?" she said, sounding very convincing having pulled this crap on recruits. "I checked with the Commander about her itinerary. She took a couple days of R & R to enjoy the beaches, and her meeting with the Consort isn't for another day and a half. So if you book the next flight out to Nevos you can still make it. I'll even give you a lift to the terminal."

 

(PS: The next flight departs in 6 standard hours - this means she'll arrive about three hours after Naleena and company have departed. Naleena anyway, if Jess and co want to stick around. Naleena is heading directly to Thessia.)

[Redbelle]

Amy scowled. "Great. But no thanks. I can manage. This ship and it's crew have done enough. And if you want my advice you'd better get off it because after what happened to me here..... Us reporters stick together and knowing that Asari peace keepers rub shoulders with Batarians..... and think it's okay to attack reporters....". She turned and her face was a mask of deadly intent. "Our job can be dangerous enough without people like them creating an atmosphere of fear that every reporter is going to know about. It used to be people like me could rely on the military..... Now? That's gone.... And it started here on the Janiri. So you should get off this ship because after I'm done reporting this to the reporter standards bearu, every Human, Asari, Salarian, Turian.... Every council race and non council race who relies on the network of reporters and news agencies out there are going have a field day with this story. Screw the consort. I've got the story that will blow every news item out of the agenda right here. It's got tragedy, a victim who never expected or saw it coming. It's got villains and scandal. I'd say thanks if I wasn't so.... bloody..... furious right now"!

 

Sniffing Amy cradled her hand that had taken on a large, purplish bruise where she'd been held down and stopped as they came outside the airlock. "Frankly, the only good thing I'll say is that no humans were part of that drop in discipline. If you choose to stay though, and I get stress enough that you shouldn't, but if you do.... Get a military media rep to take you and every other human on. It won't stop the storm that about to blow up.... But at least they'll be able to keep the worst of it off and maybe even make you and Anika look like the only sane, reliable occupants on this ship..... Good day".

 

With that, Amy stepped into the airlock and once it had cycled, moved off onto the gangway and away towards the hub centre of the Citadel.

[Kel Riever]

Jenus, being Jenus, heard what was said to Irina but didn't take it seriously.  She caught up after Amy had wandered off.  "You know, I didn't even get her name, the one there causing all the trouble.  What's she going to do, sue us?"  Jenus brushed her shoulder off.  "Let's go for that bike ride, Red.  Whatever we can get away with."

[Kel Riever]

(Note:  The following was a collaboration with RedBelle and Shotgun Julia)

Previously...

Teyolia System, Nevos, Astella, Flowering Lotus Arcology

(Naleena)

 

"So it was their mother Clarisse who had the money and power? Not their father," I said and looked up at the Consort. "You have an amazing talent. You recognized Jocelyne as an adult even though the last time you saw her she was only six. You've been a big help. I'd like to make certain about something before I continue down a path of my investigation. If I show you an image of someone in my mind would you be able to identify them if you had seen them before?"

 

I wanted to know if Reine was indeed Iyana. In a meld, the images are three dimensional and alive. While I'd only seen Iyana from a distance, Luscious had been close to her. I had Luscious' memories of Iyana. If Sha'ira agreed, I'd take an image of Iyana and display it for her. Fortunately for the Consort, I had the discipline to shield her from the horrors I'd locked away.

 

*****

"I may meet with each of you privately when we are done talking together," Sha'ira stated.  "Come, let us sit with each other for now."

Sha'ira pointed towards a large tree with fat dark green leaves and a small, ball shaped fruit that was reminiscent of a peach in texture and color.  "You may eat these," she said, then she picked three and sat down on the grass near the trunk.  "They've just turned and are ready to fall."

After waiting for the others to join her and eating one, Sha'ira went on.  "John Reith was an honorable man, and I am unashamed to say we were very close for a time.  This was before he met and married Clarisse.  To say he didn't have his own power would be inaccurate, but he did not come from wealth, nor a family with connections as his wife did.  Clarisse was the daughter of an Element Zero magnate, and a fashion model.  I cannot rightly explain how they came together, but of course, despite their divorce after I believe almost a decade of marriage, I would not decline the favor of taking in the two girls on Clarisse's behest.  Though I had my reservations, it was clear to me that they both had the ability to succeed under my tutelage.  They had great promise, even the elder one.  And I once enjoyed all their company, Clarisse, Jocelyne and Reine.  Their is great pain for me in recalling what came to fruition.  I will never forget them no matter how they may age."

While taking another bite of a fruit, Shi'ara studied Babe again, her concern still prevalent.  "You, Jocelyne, I had the highest hopes for.  To see what you learned come so naturally to you, and the skill at which you wield it, amazes me.  Yet I also see that your life is far from complete.  This difficulty in remembering that you have, some of it I am positive stems from the fear of facing what occured.  I worry, though, that there may be other factors at issue.  I wish you to submit yourself for a full medical examination and to share the results you discover with your Captain and the Spectre."

Babe nodded in acceptance.  She hadn't taken any fruit and simply listened while lying on her side in the grass.

Shi'ara inquired to Jess and Naleena, "What else would you like to ask me?"

 

"......What does the name Sammy mean to you". Jess asked suddenly. "Anyone you know? Anyone tied to the life Babe had here once"? She looked over to her gunner. "And just what did you teach Jocie because.... lady.... I can keep up with the best of them but she runs rings around me unless I keep control of the situation which I could tell you stories.....! But not right now".

 

Jess cleared her throat and took a bite of the peach as she seemed to be weighing up her choices. Finally she looked up. "If I had to ask anything, it would be about the woman we've come to know as Iyana. We had run ins and she's.... not exactly standard issue human out the packet if you know what I mean. She's been changed. Probably one of those element 0 babies we heard about. Did Iyana show anything like that when you knew her? Any sign she had biotics? I'm trying to piece together how she developed over time into who she is now while Jocie went the opposite way". Jess sighed. "Iyana and I are pretty much going to come to blows. I know that much. What she's done can't be forgiven. But I offered her a chance to stop once and I know, I just know..... that I sensed.... regret? Sadness? Something.... I need to know that ending her isn't going to lead to more harm down the road, otherwise I'll have to bite the bullet and figure out something else that will stop this chaos from flooding into and wrecking more lives than it has".

 

*****
 

(Naleena)

 

It seems I was wrong about John. If I was a gambler, I'd put my money on Clarisse being trouble. Still I'd have to interview both parents. While we had our suspicions about Iyana being Reine, I had to be certain.

 

I felt uncomfortable lighting up a cigarette in the presence of the Consort. Besides the garden was a designated no smoking area. This not being my ship, I didn't make the rules. I'd been having mild withdrawals for the past hour. Finally Jess jumped in with both feet and mentioned Iyana. Talk about interrogating with a blunt hammer. I had to follow up and tone it down a bit. I picked up piece of fruit, took out my knife and began slicing off pieces of it.

 

"Jess mentioned a woman who goes by the name Iyana," I said sitting back in my chair wishing I could have something like a donut rather than a piece of fruit. "That's what I need to be certain about. I need to be certain whether or not Iyana is indeed Reine before I pursue interviewing her parents and gaining access to restricted files through official channels. You understand.

 

"Building a profile of a person is a complicated thing. In Iyana's case this involves a great deal of psychological profiling," I continued and leaned forward putting my elbows on my knees and opened my hands. "I'll be honest with you. I'm not a psychologist. I'm a former contractor. The Council hired me because I get the job done. This is where you come in. You're not a psychologist, but you have psychological training.

 

"is there anything in Reine's personality that stood out to you as a danger signal while she was here? No matter how small it was at the time?"

*****

Aside from Naleena, Miss Priss also did not sit in the grass, opting for what was a small, suspended hammock found in the peaceful hideaway Shi'ara must have often used.  Priss lounged lazily on her side, but she had become more solemn.  "This Iyana my friends got their hairs on end about, the thinking is she's this Iyana who's a criminal out there, black souled and rotten to the core.  Murderer and worse."

Shi'ara held her breath, and then the mood did seem to change even though the sun was out and the place they were in was as magical as a fairy tale.  A grief seeped through everything, but it's source was no longer from Babe, but from the Consort herself.  After a time, the mood subsided and Shi'ara spoke, first turning to Jess.

"As a great believer in the Siarist way, I would be untrue to myself if I did not extend my forgiveness to all.  It breaks my heart to even think that such a horrible end awaited the Reine I knew, who I swore to give my all to.  I will not deny that she was one who was troubled, but I always felt that if she had stayed with me, she could have been wonderful.  Even in the end, I did not want to let her go without my guidance.  It is ironic that you mention Sammy because I do remember when I first met the girls, they spoke of Sammy as their mutual friend.  A dragon who would watch over them when they needed him.  It could have been that their father was no longer with them and so they manifested a protector that would see over them.  It could have been simple fun.  But that is the only Sammy I know of, though I sense he may have greater meaning than even I am aware of." 

After a brief glance at Babe, who also had become immobile and very quiet, Shi'ara addressed both Jess and Naleena.  "Of course there were signals within Reine.  Both girls have the capability of biotics, one reason I wished them to be in myschool, though of course these cannot manifest themselves powerfully without training and in humans, implants.  All of our students are taught various techniques in maintaining their greatest physical potential and appeal.  Neither Jocelyne or Reine were with me long enough for this to develop into training in any biotic sense.  Once a proper foundation is given, however, it is possible for students to develop on their own, but this would take phenomenal discipline, prowess and usually time.  I can only attribute what they have displayed to be due to their time after we parted ways.  I do know Clarisse would not face the troubles of her children and on very unhappy terms, determined that they would receive even greater training than I could give them.  Obviously, this was the mother speaking in anger, with no rational means to achieve her ends."

Babe shifted to lay down on her back in the grass.  She watched the wind blowing the leaves in the tree above.  "I don't recall much of this at all.  And my mother...I...I have a hard time but I feel like she cared..."

"She did care, even if her methods were zealous," Shi'ara responded quickly.  "You both were the most precious thing to her in life.  I never questioned that your mother loved you.  Nor do I that your sister did either, troubled as she was.  There was a danger, but that had nothing to do with you."

Priss' voice became agitated.  "Midnight sure liked using you."

Shi'ara sighed.  "I spent much of my time watching Reine.  She did not fit in, and at first it was social.  But I had to have her see a doctor after an incident where she caused harm to herself.  There was a lesson in the understandings of desire in another Reine had a hard time with one day, which is not uncommon, but did require a one-on-one monitor to address.  Reine did not like this and apparently became frustrated to the point where she was discovered later in private study slamming her own hand repeatedly in a cabinet door, until that hand was broken.  That is the sort of behavior that I addressed immediately, and sought help from a counselor.  It was resolved a few weeks later with the reasoning that she was frustrated by not seeing her parents.  We set up a structure so that she could talk to her mother three or four times, then of course I explained that in our training, she needed to be independent of her mother at her age enough to continue.  Reine agreed, an extremely close eye was kept on her, but there was no further problem, until the two deaths."

[Kel Riever]

(Note (continued):  The following was a collaboration with RedBelle and Shotgun Julia)

"There's something wrong with her". Jess butted in. Blinking she looked up and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry..... It's just that, me and her got into it over a man..... Noooo not like that! I wanted a first mate and he fit the bill of who I was looking for. He was a wreck though. Iyana had him by the short and curlies and when he got out from under her and began to grow I saw what he was.... what he became.... and realised just how far down Iyana had dragged him. But that's not the point".

 

Jess sat up straighter and said. "I got a round off into her and she didn't so much as bat an eyelid. No cry of pain or surprise. It always bugged me, the way she could just ignore a hole in her foot. But now your saying she has a history of self harm.....? I'm seeing connections luv but I can't draw the lines between the dots except to say that the woman doesn't feel pain.... Doesn't feel what most people feel. No pain response and certainly no empathy. She's wrong. Somewhere in her past she became wrong compared to the way most come into the world right. Normally I don't judge. Most of my crew are all wrong in any number of ways. It's what makes them interesting. Working past them trying to fit in by covering up what makes them special is part of what the Medusa does so well but Iyana's in a whole other league of wrong physically and mentally and the sooner we can figure out how the sooner we can figure out how to stop her. Get her help maybe? I don't know..... Taking her in, getting her contained. I'm ready to drag her back and throw her to the courts but I just know she won't go down easy and throwing lives after her to bring her down isn't my style...... I'm not doing this for the reasons Naleena's doing this. I've got personal business with Iyana but with the relations with her and on my ship..... It's complicated".

"Everyone accepted into the school was required to submit a full physical examination.  There was nothing to indicate some sort of problem."  Shi'ara seemed to second guess herself, however.  "But you are correct, Captain Stone.  Whether it was physical or otherwise, in hindsight, it was evident that Reine's troubles were more than developmental.  So very different in that way from her sensitive sister."  The Consort looked over to Babe once again, who was still as a statue.

The shadows had become noticeably longer, and Shi'ara stated, "I regret our time is coming to a close, at least if you wish me to meet with you each individually, as I recommend.  I prefer not to rush any of the private sessions I wish to have with you." 

*****

 

(Naleena)

 

The pieces started to fall together. A rich over-zealous mother who, once biotics began manifesting in her oldest child, wanted her in a program no matter the cost. Unlike Sha'ira, I don't sugar-coat things. There was no real  love involved here. This was ambition. A parent living her own fantasy through that of her children.

 

Priss called Reine "Midnight" and Babe "Serendipity". Probably allusions to the characteristics of their souls. I thought Sha'ira deserved to know how I became involved.

 

I told her of the time time on Omega with Spectre Androkan. Androkan was out having drinks at the time I met Iyana's runner, Morgan Severn. For those of you just joining the story, Morgan had a data package. A very important data package relating to the Collectors for the Shadow Broker. He needed to deliver that to deliver to Iyana. Unfortunately it had been taken by a Quarian who'd run to a Krogan named Kadavar Vayne for protection. I had claimed to be a Spectre and detained all of them in interrogation rooms on the Audron, Androkan's ship. Morgan was worried about his life. He had a deadline to meet. Vayne spilled the goods and played the data recording. After getting the information, I gave Morgan the packet and released him. Somehow Iyana knew he'd been compromised.

 

This was when I met Jess Stone. Jess and Morgan went to meet Iyana. Jess wanted to buy out Morgan's contract. Iyana wanted none of that. There was a fight. This was when Jess shot and killed Iyana's pet varren as a warning. Iyana had sent the varren to attack Jess. It was self-defense. Before she finished reloading, Iyana had escaped. Morgan was still alive. A used up shell of a man. Yet as a result of the information he carried, we saved over 300 lives.

 

I finished my piece of fruit, folded my knife, and tossed the pit in the compost bin. I continued. "Iyana retaliated by slaughtering the crew of Jess' ship. She sent their bodies, in pieces, in crates to the Audron," I said. "Still no one did anything. It happened in the Terminus. Worse things have happened there. It made me sick inside. My first job as Spectre was to make this right.

 

"Iyana escaped, but not before orchestrating me nearly killing a friend - Morgan Severn," I said, and paused. I glanced over at Jocelyne who was visibly shaken. I turned to her. "You're nothing like Reine. I would have sensed it on board the ship. And I'm sorry. I truly am that things turned out this way. You're a good woman. You don't deserve this. We'll protect you."

 

I looked back to Sha'ira and continued with my explanation of how I got involved. "Iyana was part of the Shadow Broker network. Part of that network recently severed its association along with her. I don't know how she does it, but she's gained a fanatical loyalty among her followers. What brought her onto the Spectre's radar was her infiltration of C-sec, the New York City Police Department on Earth along with several other law enforcement agencies. She's now on the galaxy's Ten Most Wanted list," I said and gestured with my hands wide. "But it's a big galaxy. And there are a lot of places to hide. This is why the identity confirmation is so important.

 

"You should know that I, too, am a Siarist."

 

And as a Siarist like Sha'ira, I, too, extend forgiveness to all. The difference between us is that I believe that sometimes forgiveness comes from a barrel of a gun. All is one.

[Cainhurst Crow]

"Stupid air based irritants..." Essul muttered under his breath as he rinsed out his eyes, having decided that might be for the best if he was going to get anything done. He'd ordered the others to get Amy to the lounge, and keep her there while they tried to think of what to do. Surely, they would do so. He had faith in their ability to do it.

 

He hoped to the gods they'd do it. If not. Essul shook his head, "No...no they'll follow their orders. Their soldiers, and good ones too..." He said with a snarl as he got those thoughts from his mind.

 

"Maybe Jenus has a thing against me...and so what if she and Irina may have contempt for me based off my race? Heh, it's expected right?" He questioned his own reflection, sounding actuallly pained as the words left his mouth in the privacy of the restroom. "It's...it's just how things are. Batarian on a ship...who'd be dumb enough to expect different...But still," He said, pulling his mind away from that dark place as he got more water in his hands to help rinse out the mace.

 

"I can endure it...I can endure all of it...and they can to. They won't do anything to sabotage the crew...they wont..." He said with a nervous frown as he looked in the mirror.

 

"They won't....they wouldn't....not them."

 

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

 

Vayne was at least 3 ward floors lower then where he had been, wiping away the sweat from his crest as he made his way through the crowded streets. Nobody seemed to bat much of an eye to an armed krogan in this part of the Zakera wards, assuming he was just another blood pack goon, like the rest of the recent move ins.

 

As the veteren krogan slowed down at one of the small shops, he began to think about what his attacker had said, and who they were. Ganar Slayt, he'd heard that right. There was no way he couldn't have heard that wrong, and the thought sent a shiver up his spine.

 

"Blood pack grunt, using slayt's name..." He said as he looked down solemnly, "Of all the fools to ****** off...of course it had to be him..." He said to himself. One of the heads of the blood pack, the 4 brothers who ran the whole mercenary outfit. And he apparently had some sort of grudge he wanted to settle with him, by name.

 

"Gotta get back to the ship...get the others prepared for this shitstorm..." Vayne said to himself, knowing what might come next and swallowing hard. Blood Pack goons could be a lot of handle when they set their sights on someone. And if that someone was him...

 

He cut himself short. He had to focus on the here, and the now.

 

With that he began to sneak his way to the upper levels, at least, as sneaky as a krogan could be on a citadel station.

 

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

 

Machaera was pacing as he waited for those in command to show up, looking around the area at the burn damage and general mayhem that had unfolded at this place. The vehicles were trashed, most of them melted into scrap metal, and the damage from the explosives outside left some of the walls cracked, and most of the fence line crushed.

 

Still, compared to the facility inside, the outside was nothing that a bit of hard work couldn't replace. The computer systems had been destroyed, and with them, massive amounts of data now lost in their scrapped circuits and memory drives.

 

As he paced, he noticed something on the ground, bending down to pick up a charred omnitool. He raised a brow as he examined it, opening it up and finding it still worked. At least, the screen came on. It didn't take a prodigy to see data corruption on the screen, causing tear and discoloration. Odder though, was the model. Specifically, what model of omnitool it wasn't.

 

This wasn't made by the Batarian State Arms. It was new, and it was from outside their space. Machaera looked to the omnitool with a poker face as he opened up some of its files, scrolling through to find out who owned this, and finding it belonged to a batarian, cross referencing his name came up as one of the dead here, an officer. 

 

That's when the tool glitched out, its screen freezing up and the interface going on the fritz as Machaera held it still, eyes flashing red as he did so. He clenched his fingers, and in a matter of seconds, the tool groaned, and then snapped in half. He dropped the broken omnitool as he stood there, waiting for the commanding officers to arrive, and his hand resting on his blades hilt, ringers tapping lightly over it.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena’s private session (Kel & Naleena)

 

I entered the area the Consort had reserved for our individual meetings. It was a private garden with native vines covering the brick walls. The flower beds on the sides were full of purple and pink flowers from Sanves and Thessia. Behind her there was a waterfall fountain with a pond containing white water lotus flowers from my native Cyone. That brought back a memory of a large white bird with whom I first communicated with the aid of my Drell father when I was a child. I looked around and didn’t see any angle anyone could get a shot at us with a line of sight listening device. I scanned with my omni-tool.

 

“It’s secure,” she said. “I had my people go over the facility before your arrival.”

 

To say Sha’ira was beautiful would be an understatement. She was everything you could ask for. Even for another Asari despite the fact that it was frowned upon ever since a group of Matriarchs came up with the crap about mating with other species over a millennia ago.

 

I approached Sha’ira and she bid me to sit on the grass in front of her. I obliged. That was the easy part. Letting her in would be something else. She’d know. I had to tell her.

 

I took a deep breath, let it out, and looked up at her soft gaze. “Before we begin, there’s something that you should know. The image I’m about to show you is not from my own memory,” I said. I felt dirty for this. “I… took it from a prisoner. The only prisoner left alive on the Medusa. I took it along with the memory of every single interaction he had with Iyana and murder he witnessed and committed. The victims that I told you about, Iyana dismembered them alive.”

 

Sha’ira just watched me and listened. I sighed and continued. “I know we are taught not to do this, but the prisoner would not talk out of loyalty to Iyana. I needed an insight into her psyche, so I reached in and took it,” I said in shame. “His name is Luscious. He was Jess’ former first mate. I have him in protective custody. I’ll turn him over to the courts when this is over.

 

“I fear that these have affected me more than I realize, but maybe not. Maybe it is other things. Maybe it is the pace. I am becoming disconnected. Losing my center. My doctor told me that I need to slow down – ‘You need to slow down. Not enough time for Asari to process everything you have done. You live too fast. You need time to be Asari,’ he said. I know this may be beyond what you were planning, and I am willing to pay your fee for any additional services. I know I need to return to my center if I am to remain effective at doing my job,” I said and sighed. “The galaxy does not seem to want to run on Asari time.”

 

Sha'ira bent her legs and sat down in front of me.  "It is not about the cost, it is about availability.  I still must serve many.  But for now, I serve you."  Her eyes were already changing, in preparation for the meld that would come.  Sha'ira waited for Naleena to relax.  "Show me what you will, I am prepared.  Embrace eternity."

 

I took a breath and reached out with my mind to hers. Melding between two Asari was different than it was for other species. It was far more intimate. It was not done for recreation. The memories shared were vivid.

 

Sha'ira and I met in our created space. Energy intertwined. I reached out and took her hand and gestured to the image before us. Iyana standing before Luscious in her full garb.

 

From there I took Sha'ira to the region of my mind where I had stored the memories of Luscious. I wanted to know what to make of Iyana now. Her psychological condition and how to counter it. I wanted to know how she maintained such fanatical loyalty among her minions. Then I took Sha'ira to areas where I felt I'd lost my center.

 

If she was going through an undisciplined mind this would have been very difficult. Fortunately, I still meditated and was able to create the orb of energy. Yet that alone wasn't enough to bring me peace.

 

I could feel that even for Sha’ira, it was very difficult to come to terms with what she saw our meld. It crushed her. There was no doubt that the white-haired tyrant whom we knew as Iyana was indeed what had become of Reine.

 

"This woman, Iyana, has the origins of her influence in the tutelage she received from me, but what she has become, and the power of her influence, is the result of something more.  She has received training from another, and I can only imagine another Asari to be responsible for both the honing of her biotic ability as well as the development of her technique.  I cannot tell you how to counter it, for in truth, I do not fully understand what she has become.  

"For you, Naleena, I give you peace.  You will be calm when you leave our meld, though the complexities and gale of your emotions will not be gone.  You will be only in the eye of the storm if you do not seek a harbor to alleviate yourself.  I must recommend you seek meditation with a Matriarch.  Only then will the entanglement of your web be undone for any length of time.  Keep your focus until then, use your practice, and seek this outside assistance.  You may use my name in finding the one you wish to unravel this web with."

 

"Naleena, it is not my place to instruct you on what to do, but if you are to take the life of another, of one of mine, then I want you to know who she was for me.  The creature you have shown me was once not so, not always.  You must face this for you will destroy this person along with the monster of your experience."

Before we separated, she left an image with me.  It was of Jocelyne and Reine, meeting with her for the first time in her suite upon the Citadel.  Their mother was absent.  Only the two girls stood across from Sha’ira, both blonde. Both in violet dresses. Both beautiful.  Jocelyne was youngest, only six years old, radiant and glowing.  But with Reine, then age twelve, there was something sadder. A yearning. A belief that tore at the heart.  Reine had hope in her eyes as she looked at the Consort.

 

Unlike with other species, the separation was gentle. Also unlike with other species I had perfect recall of the meld. I took Sha’ira’s hands, thanked her, then held her in my arms to try to comfort her for the pain she was going through. In the end, she knew deep down what I would have to do. I turned to leave.

 

Sha’ira spoke again, this time with a warning.  "I have a dread, though I must call it more of a premonition rather than a basis in logic, Naleena.  Do not meld with Jocelyne.  There is something that has happened to her since she has been under my care and I feel that some sort of harm may come to her, or you, or both of you if you are joined.  Heed this, please, and know that I do not express this lightly.  Not until more is known as to what has happened to her."

 

I joked in my response, attempting to lighten the mood. "Don't worry, Sha'ira. I have a seven foot blonde who would rip my head off if I strayed.” In reality her remark terrified me. Something about Jocelyne did seem off. I could feel it. A person with selective amnesia suffered psychological trauma. I'd have to fill in the missing pieces with old fashioned detective work.

 

Reine, at the age of 12 knew she was slipping into darkness. She hoped the Consort would stop it. She was aware something inside was taking over. It was a tragic situation. John Reith had no custodial rights. The fact that I’d just been given a warning about Jocelyne and her selective amnesia gave me the gut feeling that their mother was a real piece of work.

 

Once I got the clearance, I’d have VERA run searches through the L2 program files. She was thorough and honest. Sha’ira said an Asari was responsible for Reine’s additional training. I’d ask for a broad warrant to search through privately run Asari biotics programs. There was someone out there greedy enough to train a monster. I had to find them.

 

The image the Consort left me with was disturbing. It humanized the monster. Maybe somewhere inside of Iyana, Reine was standing in horror watching the nightmare unfold. Or maybe Reine could be saved. I don’t know. I’m just a Spectre. And this investigation just got a lot more complicated.

[Redbelle]

Anika was at Naleena's workstation working on the verification of Babylon. Everything she had claimed had checked out officially. Who she was. What her clearence had been in light of her being attached to the Medusa at the time she had come aboard. What she was having trouble with was the lead up to the situtation where someone had assumed she was a threat that required restraint. It would take time to unravel but for now Anika had little faith that anyone as dealing with this as a potential mine about to go off under them.

 

A reporter, a mouth piece of of the people, had been assaulted. By soldier's whose purpose was to protect the people. It was a gross oversimplification but she suspected the public might not care if they heard Babylon reporting her version of events. The only way to nip it in the bud was to find the events as they'd occured on their side so they could offer up a story as to why someone had felt it neccessary to restrain her......

 

And then their was the fact that Amy was Jess's sister........

 

No one knew of course. Jess had kept that information tightly under wraps and even her facial reconstruction back before when Jess had been brought onto the Medusa crew had eliminated most of the shared features between the two. She was sure that aboard the Janiri she was only one who knew that Jess and Amy were family. Jess would want that information kept secret, but if she learned what had happened, she could imagine a few heads rolling......

 

And that was nothing compared to what Naleena might find when she got back. She'd gone off for relaxation and to come back to a media slugfest between the media and the military that had erupted right on her ship.....?

 

Looking over the information she had collected she sighed and hit the comm to speak with Essul.

 

"Essul...... sir...... I need to meet with you as soon as possible regarding the Babylon incident. I'm building up a picture of what happened and need to know how events transpired.... from your point of view. I appreciate I can't order you, you know. Being second in charge and all, but I can't stress how important this is that we figure out what happened and fast". She signed off and leaned back in her chair, mentally compiling the number of people involved and knowing she'd have to orgnise meetings with all of them......

 

Grud.... The tangled web included Jenus.

[Kel Riever]

Tallis

Tallis had been taking her own time away, doing some kiosk shopping and having the items delivered either to the Janiri, or having gifts sent to some of the people she cared about.  She didn't have many obligations outside her career.

The oddest thing for Tallis happened when she was heading down a stair to the lower levels.  She saw Vayne heading up her way, but sort of crouched and to one side of the stairs, trying to look innocuous.  Tallis didn't want to ruin whatever she was doing so she moved to the top of the stairs where Vayne would end up and gave him a friendly, but discreet wave.
 

[Kel Riever]

Teyolia System, Nevos, Astella, Flowering Lotus Archology

It was some time before Naleena and Sha'ira returned.  The Consort wiped sweat away from her brow while beckoning Babe to follow, then she peered at Miss Priss.  "You as well, for a moment."  Miss Priss enthusiastically sprang up, joining Sha'ira and Babe as they headed in a bit of a different direction than The Consort had gone with Naleena.

The minutes passed by without disturbance, Naleena and Jess able to enjoy themselves under the shady boughs.  Eventually, Miss Priss returned, alone.  "That wasn't my session yet, Honey Bee," Priss said to Jess.  Then she peered mischievously at Naleena, "And...Leather.  Yes there, ma'am!  I got you a real name!"  With pride at finding a nickname for Naleena that would stick, Miss Priss hummed to herself before lounging back on the hammock.  

When Sha'ira came back with Babe, their time together finishing a total of about an hour, the blonde had visibly shed tears, but her face was full of relief.  "Thank you," Babe kept saying in soft whispers, "Thank you...thank you..."  The two gave each other a last embrace before Sha'ira gestured to Miss Priss for her own session.  "I will see you at the end, Captain Stone,"  Sha'ira promised, then led Priss away, in yet another direction.

Babe sat cross-legged, in silence with her hands on the side of her face and elbows on her knees until she could gather herself.  It was hard not to see her beauty even when she cried, but remarkably, there was no rush of emotion that cast out from her, dragging others to come with it.  When ready to speak, Babe took her face out of her hands, shifted to lay on her side, plucked at a few blades of grass, and began.

"I never hurt Miss Priss, I guess.  These memories did not come back to me.  Rather I had to hear what had happened to Priss.  She was only two.  Reine wanted to go after her and she used me because...because I have some sort of ability to...to be at the right place, and the right time.  Or to find who I am looking for, or not be found if I don't want to be.  Even Shi'ara couldn't explain why, but acknowledged there was some art, or some talent I had since even that very young age.  One asari youth, I was told, used to call me a divining rod.  The others ended up giving me that name 'Serendipity'.  I do remember that, and I remember never liking it.  Reine had changed since she'd arrived, Miss Priss had said.  Being only two, Priss' memory were very emotional, and..."

The tears returned to Babe briefly, but she wiped them away again and went on.  "We were both very young and I could not remember, but from what Miss Priss said, Reine had marked her somehow, and used me to find her even though she hid.  And Reine...tortured her, nearly strangled her with...with what we couldn't figure out.  I had...Miss Priss somehow remembers that I had gotten Reine to stop.  Priss thought it was only because I was worried we'd get in trouble, but Priss said she'd come to understand that I saved her.  I had gotten Reine to stop and that she had listened to me.  That one time at least.  There was no other incident because Shi'ara had gotten us out by then.  Or rather, my mother apparently came to take us away immediately.

"I don't recall the other times with the deaths.  Shi'ara said that why I couldn't remember wasn't my fault.  It wasn't me suppressing a memory.  I don't know what she thought was the cause of my memory loss, or how she could say it wasn't my fault if she didn't know the cause, but she was very insistent that I be aware that what has happened to me wasn't because of me.  And she...she thanked me for saving Priss."

Babe didn't speak after that.  Her eyes were wet but she looked cried out.  Babe's cheeks were tinged pink. At length, she let out a warbling sigh, a release of the remnants of sadness within her.

[Redbelle]

As a silent witness, Jess watched as Babe spoke, emotion outpouring, but in this instnace, seemingly inward only to emerge without the wave Jess usually felt when Babe's emotions came forth. It seemed right. This was her moment after all. Something private that she needed without anyone feeling along with her. It went on for a long time and when Jess had jusged enough time had passed, she said.

 

"You know I've got a good shoulder to support a friend right luv"? She said gently. "Heck, some say I even have two...... Better not let on about which is mine, eh"? Jess smiled. Judging just her silent presence to be enough. Despite all Babe and Priss had been through they'd made it past all the bad in their lives and emerged. How they choose to live now would be up to them. All Jess could do was give them the nest they needed to decide where their flight would take them.

[Kel Riever]

The sound of Jess' voice was like a spark for Babe, and she jumped over immediately to hug her.  "I wouldn't be here without you," Babe said, and then a warmth did radiate outward from her that was tangible to all who were present.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina

 

 

Jenus and Irina left the ship through the airlock and connected spaceway. The Starstreamer had been delivered to the parking lot, fueled and ready to ride. Red. That was its color. Red and brushed aluminum with black real leather seats. Irina was in her leathers, and was looking forward to some fun. Vehicles like X3Ms on the Citadel had governors on them regulating their speeds cover 7 kilometers in 10 minutes, but her Starstreamer had no such thing. With a top speed of 450 kph in the street version, this was going to be fun. Having been on a frontier world, Irina stripped the emissions controls off the bike to gain another 20 kph and better acceleration and cornering.

 

Two helmets rested on the seats: one for Irina, one for Jenus. The Starstreamer had a mass effect core for its power. It had the ability to make quick turns with bottom thruster assist and do full loops in atmosphere without deceleration. Illegal space stations and inside most cities, this was a racing skybike. On Duellos, though, she could open it up over the countryside. She wouldn’t be able to do any of those fancy maneuvers on the Citadel, but weaving round traffic and around buildings in the wards would be fun enough. For the purposes of this ride Irina had compressed air tanks attached to the bike that would provide them with an hour of oxygen since the air supply on the wards was capped at only 7 meters.

 

Irina tossed Jenus her helmet. “Put it on,” she grinned. “Damn I’m glad I never sold this thing. And I want this on board the Janiri when we’re done. No more storage.”

 

“C-sec will be on our tails as soon as we enter traffic,” Jenus said as soon as she noticed the lack of Citadel licensing on the bike.

 

“They have to catch us first,” Irina replied, and pressed her communicator to the ship. “VERA, can you read me?”

 

“I read you Irina.”

 

“I’m taking my bike out for a spin. I need to blow the dust off it.”

 

“Your Starstreamer is illegal on the Citadel. You can blow the dust off it with compressed air,” VERA replied.

 

“I know all that. But there’s no fun in that. Here’s where you come in. To put it in your terms, there’s a high probability that I’ll need an emergency landing in the shuttle bay to escape C-sec. Could you leave a bay door open for me?” Irina asked.

 

“That would make me an accomplice.”

 

“You’d accidently leave it open,” Irina replied. “And… maybe we could this was sort of a ‘military test run.’ You know so that it doesn’t get impounded.”

 

“It is not military equipment. I do not have the boss’ approval.”

 

“VERA, it’s me. You’d be doing me a huge favor and I’d owe you,” Irina said winking at Jenus.

 

VERA pondered the request. “Alright, I will grant your request, and you will owe me. But you must reciprocate and not inform anyone that it was I who left the shuttle bay door open.”

 

“What do you take me for, VERA? I’d do no such thing. The door was open for the military exercise,” Irina said turned to Jenus and shrugged and turned off her communicator. “You have to admit, Jenus, having an AI on board is a lot better than a standard VI. At least we can negotiate with it.”

 

“Yeah, but what will it want in return?” Jenus asked. “Come on, Red. Let’s start up this machine and get out of here.” She climbed on the seat in the back and wrapped her arms around Irina’s waist.

 

Irina took the bike out into traffic and kept it at standard speed one direction up the Zakera Ward arm all the way to the tip. She plotted her course around buildings that were out of the main traffic pattern.

 

“Red! Come on. Is this all we’re doing?” Jenus asked.

 

“Patience. A Starstreamer needs to warm up. The core temperature needs to reach 200^o C. I don’t want to blow the engine,” Irina said and then saw C-sec lights flashing behind her. “Well, Jen, here goes.”

 

Irina gunned it leaving the C-sec cruiser in its white trail. Jenus tightened her grip. (EDIT - song to be more consistent with what happens later)

 

Spoiler

 

"Hang on,  Jen, we'll  be pulling about 4 g's around some of these turns," Irina said.

 

The route Irina plotted went below the hard deck established by C-sec in between main traffic and commercial traffic lanes, but she had to watch for cars dropping down from above and coming up from below. At these speeds she relied on instruments. C-sec was onto her, but she was expecting it and her route made a 90 degree right with bike turning horizontal and the bottom thrusters kicking in full pushing off the skyscraper on the other side.

 

Irina felt alive. She took the bike above atmospheric level and they were on mass effect drive only.

 

"When they get close I'll drop down and kick on the ramjet. This will burn through fuel so we'll head to the ship. I don't want to get caught and have this thing impounded," Irina said over her com. "I just hope that door is open."

 

Now with several cars in pursuit, she dropped down and hit her afterburner and left them. They couldn't keep up except that they could follow her heat signature on sensors.

 

****

 

Commander Selani had been handed a report from Ensign Cenya and she contacted Septerax. "I've just been handed a report that a shuttle bay door is open without prior authorization. What is going on down there? This is the second time in two days your crew is slacking off."

 

"We're working on it. It spontaneously opened," he replied. "I'm having VERA running diagnostics. She can't find anything wrong in our circuitry. It must have malfunctioned, and now it seems to be jammed."

 

"Well, fix it, and get back me when it's done."

 

"Aye aye, Ma'am."

 

*****

 

C-sec tracking had been following Irina's course. "I think we have that bike. It appears to be headed back to the docks. Once it's there, we'll have them cornered, and can end this peacefully. That bike has to be impounded."

 

*****

 

Irina approached the docks. "Sh1t! Jen! They're all over the docks!" Irina said and then saw the shuttle door open. "Jen, you have to have my back on this. You can't let them impound the bike. Say we were testing it and might want to mount some guns on it or something."

 

"Red, you can't be serious!"

 

"Just say it. We don't have to really do it."

 

*****

 

"The Commander wants that door shut. There's nothing wrong with the mechanism. Use the manual override," Septerax ordered.

 

"Aye aye, Chief." the technician replied and began the sequence closing the door.

 

*****

 

The Starstreamer was approaching the ship when Irina saw the bay door closing. "No! No! No! Son of a b1tch!"

 

"What are we gonna do now?" Jen asked.

 

"We're going in hot! Hang on!" Irina said and gunned it barely getting the bike through the door and hitting the reverse thrusters on entry blasting the bay with heat as the bike skidded to a stop barely a foot off the far wall.

 

"Goddam! What a rush!" Irina shouted and removed her helmet.

Modifié par sH0tgUn jUliA, 18 octobre 2015 - 10:13 .

[Cainhurst Crow]

Essul heard the com call from Anika, nodding as he got on his own. "I...I'll be right there. Essul out." He said as he hung up. The Babylon Incident, thst was one way of putting it he supposed. Drying himself off, he made his way through the ship to meet witg Anika.

"I suppose you're wondering about why I was so...harsh, with the reporter. Am I correct? " he asked, having known thst was likely what it was she mesnt by his perspective. "I'll say this before I continue. I had been led to believe Ms. Babylon was a threat to the ship. An infiltrator who may have managed to harm one of the members of this crew...when I realized my mistake, too late, I did my best to calm the situation. "

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

Vayne had been rather absorbed in thought as he made his way through the the citadel. As he got closer and closer, he stopped as he noticed someone familiar at the top of the stairs.

"....Tallis?" He asked as he looked to her in surprise.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena - by Naleena

 

 

Jess was with the others, and I approached them. I was still processing everything that happened.

 

“That was enlightening to say the least,” I said and I turned to Babe or Jocelyne, glancing back at Jess. “You’ve been through a lot and it’s beyond the Consort’s expertise. You don’t have to make any decisions right now and you should talk this over with Jess. I’ll make an offer to you. As long as the Medusa is flying with us, I’ll give you access to our Counselor. She’s a professional, and she can help. The thing is that whatever you tell the Counselor is confidential. You can take a shuttle back and forth between the ships. I’ll leave that between you and Jess.”

 

I turned to Jess. “She helped me push Luscious’ memories off to the fringes again. But she said I need to see a Matriarch. You just don’t walk up to a Matriarch for what I need. You need a referral.” I said and shook my head. “Funny, I know only one Matriarch I can approach…, Aria. I need to send a message.”

 

The eye of the storm. That was a place I was familiar with. I’d lived there almost my entire life. I spent most of my life as a punch clock killer shoving all the pain and misery to the extremities drowning them in booze. I’d stayed relatively healthy because my biotics burned off the alcohol before it did any real damage. But now the walls were starting to crumble. Sha’ira helped shore them to buy me some time.

 

After speaking with Jess, I sent a message to Aria. She was a Matriarch, although I doubted she’d get involved in anything like this. I was right. I was surprised by her prompt return call. My omni-tool flashed.

 

I opened it. “T’sarius.”

 

“Naleena, I just received your message. I’m flattered. You’re asking me for help?” she laughed, the club music pounding in the background. “You’re asking the wrong person.”

 

“Aria, you may not look it, but you’re around 1000 years old. That makes you a Matriarch, and you’re very powerful.”

 

“But I’m not the kind of Matriarch you need, dear,” she replied, paused, then continued. “I’ll tell you what. Contact Matriarch Syra in Serrice.”

 

“Friend of yours?”

 

“No, but she’s a real pain in the ass to the Council of Matriarchs. You can give her my name. She owes me.”

 

“Is there anyone in the Asari Republics who doesn’t owe you?”

 

Aria laughed. “I have someone on everyone’s staff in my pocket. Is there anything else?”

 

“How are things with you?” I asked. I was genuinely curious.

 

“Very well,” she replied. “You did a very good thing here, Naleena. The reconstruction is proceeding according to plan and my revenue has increased dramatically. As the governing body of Omega, I have gone to a more corporate model. In another year, instead of being the ‘outcast’, the Council will be consulting with me and will be forced to sell me state of the art ships to defend this place.” I could see the wicked smile on her face while she gloated.

 

“Anyway, Naleena, I have to get back to business. It was good to hear from you. Stop by again. We’ll visit, and I’ll have Bray show you around.” She signed off.

[Kel Riever]

Tallis

"Hi.  Hi," Tallis greeted Vayne.  She didn't know anything was out of the ordinary other than the way he was acting.  She made a little mock of walking on tippy toes.  "Sneaky? Sneaky?"

The Presidium

"Whoa, did you see that coming back in from the wards?"  Seazix, a twelve-year old turian asked his eleven year old sister, Tedia, standing next to him.  They were using their expensive magnifiers that they got as gifts from their parents.  "That jet bike tore up the traffic!"

"Yes, it was stellar!  Did you get it on video?"

"Totally recorded it!"

Amy Babylon happened to be passing by at that minute, on her way to wherever she was going to put what had happened to her out in the press.

So were two other turian C-sec officers who didn't have magnifiers, but caught a good visual glimpse of the jet bike just like the children did.

"Young one,"  one of the officers said, "Let me see that."

Seazix looked up at the C-Sec officer.  "Uh, yes sir."  He handed him the magnifiers.

The officer used the controls to flip to the replay on the magnifiers and watched in the attached small screen.  "Looks like we got it."

"Are you going to give that back?"

"Sorry kid, this is evidence now.  Use your sister's."

"That's mine!"
 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Vayne

 

"Yeah...I'm sneaking." Vayne said, looking around to make sure they weren't being watched or anything as he spoke, "trying to get back to the Janiri...a lot of things have happened..." He said as he glanced around behind him, looking out for anyone in red who might be approaching.

 

"Think you...can help me out?" He asked quickly, and his nervousness apparent as he asked.

 

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

 

Erszbat

 

Colonel Parrathan had thought things would go pretty well, being stationed here. The job was a pretty easy one, guard a base and keep anyone out. Simple, straight forward, almost pencil pusher type occupation. There were worse worlds to get stuck on then Erszbat, and trade could get you a hell of a lot out here, far away from the hegemony's prying eyes.

 

Heck, just recently they got their hands on some very fancy Omnitools. With unregulated access to the extranet to boot, something you'd have to pay thousands of credits to get on here. Aside from the occasional head aches from whatever-the-heck the scientist were working on, things were pretty cushy.

 

"Of all the times to show up...it had to be now!?" The colonel said to himself as he shoved the omnitool into his desk drawer and left to meet this Captain, this leader of the Internal Affairs. He much prefered to think of them in human terms, the Inquisition, since that was what role they served historically, only changing their title in order to create the illusion of the batarians being past their primitive ways.

 

Parrathan had no love for the internal affairs. He liked to live life by his own standards, and having an orginization built to watch over everyone irritated him to no end. The fact that he often bent rules and took bribes didn't help his disposition much. 'Just play it cool. This was obviously some sort of black ops that went wrong. Play the unknowing victim and he'll go away...'

 

Parrathan approached the group, spotting the hooded figure and his two comrades, and giving him pause as he did so. 'And I thought I was joking with the inquisition comment...' he said, noting the mans attire as he approached.

 

"Captain Fayyar. I'm Colonel Parrathan, head of security for this outpost..." He said, his accent marking him as colonial born, a slight drawl in his voice as he spoke, "Glad to have you on board this investigation..." With a feigned smile, he gave a salute to the cyborg.

 

"Likewise, Colonel. It will be good to find out just what happened here..." Machaera said, the lower half of his face obscured by a scarf like wrapping as he looked to the man, "Lay it all to rest, as the saying goes..."

 

"Right...well, not much i can say that wasn't in the official report. The explosions occurred after our outer patrol spotted some infiltrators to the base. We suspect it was vehicle sabotage and a failed intelligence gathering op. The ship we pinged them using managed to cause some...ahem, unusual guidance problems with the upper fleets."

 

"And that's all the ships that have been in this system recently?" Machaera asked as he looked to the colonel, "No other vessels...say, trading vessels from outside this system?"

 

Parrathan blinked, "Uh, No...not that we recorded..." He answered, machaera's red stare burning into the man as he spoke.

 

"Really? None at all?" The cyborg asked, if he had the lips for it, he'd be grinning by now. It seems he caught the source of the problems, now all that was left was to apply the thumb screws, and get them to talk.

[TheMajonese]

It wasn't unusual for Arian to have nightmares, he was used to experience everything that he was afraid of in his dreams. One time he was the only turian left in the galaxy and everyone blamed him for having turned his back on his people. In another dream he was in a large mess hall and found himself surrounded by dozens of people. They all sat at the tables around him and wanted to know everything about him. And whenever he told them to leave him alone, they just seemed to become even more curious.

 

But this dream was different.

 

At first Arian was walking through some random hallways, some more crowded than others but they were always brightly lit and there was no sign of danger. As always he didn't pay attention to the people around him and just followed the corridors, even though he didn't even have a destination. But then he noticed that suddenly something was different and stopped.

 

It took Arian a moment to realize that the lights had gone out and the emergency lighting was on. And suddenly the people all seemed to avoid getting too close to him. They looked at him but Arian couldn't see their faces, no matter how hard he tried. Whenever he looked at their face, his vision somehow blurred or the people managed to move outside his focus. 

 

There were turians, humans, asari, salarians and krogans. Some of them were scared and looked at Arian as if he was a monster, others shook their heads in disappointment. A few of them pointed their fingers at him and began to laugh. And they all began to move away from him. Arian tried to raise his voice, tell them to stay. He didn't want them to go. But nothing came out of his mouth.

 

Suddenly he was able to speak again but it was already too late as the others had all disappeared. "Come back!", he shouted, almost pleading. There was no answer.

 

Instead, dozens of figures began to surround him. They were all wearing helmets or terrifying masks, concealing their faces but Arian somehow knew that these people were smiling. They weren't afraid of him. Most of them were armed with rifles, pistols and other firearms and pointed their weapons at the tall turian. A few were wielding knifes and some were completely unarmed but Arian could see their sharp claws and teeth. It was obvious what they wanted to do.

 

Arian looked around but there was noone there to help him and even he knew that there was no way he would survive this. One of those people was different from the others. It was a human, much shorter than the rest of the attackers. On his back the human had a giant greatsword. He didn't draw it though and therefore wasn't holding a weapon in his hands. 

 

Then the mob began to charge. Shots rang out but they somehow missed their target. One of them jumped at Arian, the knife pointed at his heart but before it could hit him, something hard and massive collided with his back and he lost his vision for a few moments.

 

The next thing Arian saw was the darkness of his cabin on the Janiri. He was gasping as if he had just walked a marathon and he needed a while to realize that he wasn't lying in his bed but on the hard floor next to it. Even though he knew that this had been nothing more than a dream, something felt different about it. It felt real. Even more real than dreams usually were. As if it was a memory instead of a dream.

 

Spirits, what am I supposed to do? Arian knew that he wouldn't get any answer and slowly got back on his feet. He didn't feel rested in any way, he had probably slept only three of four hours at best. But there was no way he could spend another second alone in this room.

 

 

 

A few minutes later Arian passed the C-Sec checkpoint and moved through the crowd. He was wearing his unusual armor sans helmet which caused some curious looks at him. As always he tried to ignore the people around him but he couldn't help but look for a familiar face. It was very unlikely but Arian was still afraid that he would meet this crazy woman again. His last visit on the citadel had left more than a scar on his neck.

 

Arian wandered around aimlessly. Normally he would look for the next bar and drown himself in alcohol but after what happened last time, he had to be more careful now. Someone was still trying to murder him. It was a bit paranoid, but for a moment Arian imagined having a red dot from a laser sight on his head. 

 

The arena was of course no option either. It was still hard for him to believe that people watched other people fight against virtual enemies. In the countless stores of the wards however Arian could spend his time in a more useful way. After he had purchased his Typhoon Arian didn't necessarily need a new gun but it couldn't hurt to have a look at the newest available armor and weapon technologies.

 

But just a few moments after he had made the decision, he actually spotted someone familiar. To his relief though, it wasn't Quinn. It was Tallis who was standing at the top of some stairs and a second later he also saw Vayne who approached the asari. Even Arian could tell that the krogan looked somewhat twitchy.

 

Since he wasn't interested in getting involved with whatever Vayne's problem was, Arian tried to act as if he hadn't seen them when he walked past Tallis and Vayne In this moment Arian didn't realize that he was almost half a meter taller than everyone around him and it was impossible not to see the turian towering the crowd in which he tried to disappear.

[Kel Riever]

Tallis (by Vayne and Arian)

Tallis nodded to Vayne, "Yep. Yep."  Then she spotted Arian passing by.  While looking at Vayne, Tallis jerked her head towards the impossible to miss turian.

Arian noticed, possibly only a second or two after he'd 'passed by' Tallis and Vayne, that a certain Commando in magenta colored leathers with blue facial markings was walking alongside him, rather close for someone who actually  didn't set all his threat meters off.  "Psst.  Psst," Tallis whispered to him, trying to catch his attention.  Probably knowing she already had it but still sending the cue.  It was discreet...enough...if not on the side of cartoonish.

Arian realized he wasn't going to get rid of Tallis.  She just didn't seem to get that part of him, the one where everybody ran away from him scared.  Like they should.  Maybe she had some dead nerve endings.  In her head.
 

[Redbelle]

Amy stepped into the TerF offices and immediately felt right back at home. A feeling that was heightened when a swarm of people rushed up as soon as she entered the busy offices.

 

"Ms Babylon...-"

 

"Are you alright"?

 

"We thought...-"

 

"When you left...-"

 

"....haven't heard in day's...-"

 

"....have you been...-"

 

"EVERYONE STOP"! Amy yelled at the top of her lungs. "You! Get news central on the phone! Tell them we want air time! You! Find a judge! Subpoena the military for hard copies of deck surveillance on board their ship. The Janiri. Try to get it and get some military guy with a military background ready to go on air to say classified doesn't mean jack when the military protects their own.... Don't gawp and ask why! Just get it"!

 

Amy walked down the aisles towards her office. "You! I want tech specs! Get a model mock up of that ship up to visual for editing! I want pictures of Batarians and Asari. Check if we can crop any to imply they might be friends! Get a camera man and a doctor to my office to confirm I've been assaulted and leak that to our news contacts. Not the Studio's! And definitely do not supply any supporting information! I want this to be exclusive! I want the whole reporting community to be abuzz and ready to watch our broadcast so they can parrot it for hours after we're done! I want Asari Batarian relations checked for any co operative matter's they've been up to and look to see if they've withdrawn support from other council matters around the time they focused on the Batarians! I want NEWS people! I want the JUICE! And I want a cup of coffee and my intern.... Watsisname! NO ONE goes home until this is done! Call in anyone whose not in and tell them to get here now! We are going to put out the report of the decade"!

 

She reached her office and the lock clicked as it read her omni-tool and opened. She closed it behind her and office stood in stunned silence as a fan whirred in the background......

 

Then the door flung itself open and Amy stuck her head out. "NOW PEOPLE"!!!

 

As if sharing a nervous system everyone jumped into action and Amy closed the door to the buzz of workers coming through her office window.

 

Grud, it was good to back in the world of the sane.

[TheMajonese]

On the Citadel

 

Of course Arian eventually realized that sneaking by had been a bad idea and when he noticed Tallis close to him he stopped and let out a sigh. The worst thing was that he couldn't come up with a good excuse to just ignore Vayne and Tallis.

 

He wasn't sure what he had to expect from Tallis. From all of the members of the crew, she was probably the weirdest. Frank didn't count as he had left the ship a while ago.

 

"Is there a problem?", Arian asked the asari, trying to look as if he hadn't expected to see her and Vayne.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Janiri  - Irina and Jenus (Kel & SJ)

 

 

Irina dismounted, threw her arms around Jenus, closed her eyes, and kissed her. Realizing where they were, she opened them, and looked back at the long scorch marks on the floor of the shuttle bay made by the bike's emergency thrusters. She slowly separated from Jenus, and saw Septerax standing, glaring at them from in front of his desk.

 

Jenus, who's heart was still racing and still had her hands on Irina's hips, looked back over her shoulder.  "Well, Red, here it comes." 

"I see you're pulling some colorful actions burning up my deck!"  Septerax yelling was something that had never been heard before.  "You two, I want to speak to you in private, now!"  He turned to one of the deck crew who clearly had run out of the way in the nick of time, and still had panic written all over his face.  "You, take that jet bike and stow it!"

Septerax got up, and pointed out the door to the Janiri's hangar.

Though still composed, Jenus was obviously getting ready for a dress down.  "We better go."

 

Irina shrugged. She knew what was coming and was prepared to try and bullsh*t her way out of it. The question was would C-sec try to get involved? Alas she had some credits to pay fines. What's a few thousand credits for a good time, right?

 

"Yeah, Jen, we'd better go. But whatever is comin' it was worth it, right?" Irina said so that Septerax couldn't hear her, nudging her, "And go along with me, okay?"

 

They followed Septerax to an office.

 

The Janiri may have been large for a ship of its class, but room was still tight enough that Septerax used an office shared by anyone of rank who needed to talk in private.  And in this case, even private was relative in the small space of the office, as Septerax, for once in his life, was grilling Irina and Jenus at the top of his lungs.

"I may not be the Spectre on this ship but that doesn't mean I don't have a job to do and that what I do doesn't carry weight around here!  Especially when I see two people who should know better come blasting into this ship on a barely traffic legal jet bike!  Did you think about taking someone's head off when you came in at that speed?  How about making a red and purple splatter against the side of this ship?  Don't even answer that because I know you didn't, not the effect any of that would have on me or the others here!

"By the spirits I haven't seen that kind of thoughtlessness since Frank was aboard...but I thought you two actually had heads on your shoulders!  If you were under me you'd be busted down already, and we'd be talking about who's cleaning the refuse filters for the next two weeks!  And that's only because nobody got sent to the med bay or the morgue.  I won't even mention if you killed some civilians in some sort of accident on the Citadel..."

There was a sudden chime on Septerax's omni-tool, indicating a message had just come in.  He read it, and his mandibles clicked in an agitated way.  "That's great...C-Sec's on its way, and they say they've got a video good enough to haul someone off and to a cell.  Probably thought nothing about someone catching you on video either, did you?!

 

Irina thought quick. "No one is taking my bike! Jen, look, if C-sec arrests me, pay my bail. I've got the credits from my pay. I'll stop at the bank and pay you back immediately," Irina said, "And Septerax, just say we were on a military exercise.... testing the bike out under pursuit conditions in case our boss decided to use it on a mission or something. And come on... if you had a bike like that, would you be able to keep it under 100 kph? I didn't think so.

 

"And we cleared the shuttle bay landing with VERA, didn't we, Jenus? If you hadn't started closing the bay doors we would have been able to land normally, so that mess is kinda your fault in a way."

 

VERA's voice spoke up on Septerax' terminal. "Irina is correct. She requested that I open the shuttle bay for her."

 

"Then why didn't you say something?"

 

"You only asked if there was a malfunction," VERA replied. "There was no malfunction. You never inquired as to the reason the bay door was open."

 

"And as for the pursuit conditions? Say if we told C-sec ahead of time, it wouldn't have been spontaneous and a true stress test of the machine, right Jen?" Irina said and looked at Septerax. The turian closed his eyes. "Come on! Please! A little love for the team! How much Turian Brandy will this cost?"

 

"No turian brandy!  None turian brandy! Zero!"

Jenus raised a brow.  Septerax sure had lost his normally regulated demeanor.  Then again, well, what they did was pretty illegal.  Not like murder.  More like, um, well she didn't know exactly what.

Is Septerax going soft?

The thought didn't have much time to answer itself as Septerax spoke again.

"I really doubt if there's video footage that you're going to be able to explain this away as a military exercise.  This is the Citadel. You're going to have to get clearance from the Spectre for this.  I promise it won't come from Selani, she's been running in the red with some of the discipline leaking around here."  Septerax had to pause as he remembered the human women who'd come aboard lately.

"Here's what's going to happen," Septerax concluded.  "You're going to let me put that bike into our storage.  I'm going to deal with C-Sec and run them around until the Spectre gets back.  Nobody is going to talk about this to Selani unless it has to be done, and then it has to be done by me, not either of you two, becasue you couldn't talk a pimple into looking ugly at this point.  Say nothing, cool it down, take a long nap in your cabin.  Don't step off the ship again until the Spectre gets back and until it is cleared with her.  The last thing we need is attention on the Spectre and a top secret vessel by some news agency because we decide the rules don't apply to us.  How easy do you think your shore leave on the Citadel is going to be if you're known as the biggest feces dump this galaxy has to offer?  You won't like it when you aren't something to be admired anymore, but the spoiled, entitled agents of a government that's made a bad decision.  Trust me..."

Septerax sighed.  He looked at Irina and Jenus and wondered if anything he said was going to get through either of their rock hard skulls.  Probably not.  But if he came down hard on them, they'd just go up the ranks.  Better to leave it in the Spectre's hands anyway.  He'd do his best to clean up the mess, his job, no one would blame him for that. 

"Take your hotshot wings and get out of my sight.  And you better lay low like I said."

 

"Yes, Chief." Irina and Jenus said, turned and left the office.

 

They stood in silence waiting for the elevator to the crew deck. When it arrived, they stepped in and the doors closed.

 

"That could have gone a lot worse," Irina said and hit the button. "My quarters?"

 

The elevator stopped between floors. VERA’s disembodied voice was heard over the speaker. “Our deal was that you would not involve me in your trouble,” VERA said. “You broke our deal.”

 

Jenus turned to Irina. “You’re stepping in all sorts of sh1t today.”

 

“As an illegal AI, I risked my existence for you. So this is what you are going to do for me,” VERA said. “Next time you have shore leave, you will procure a particular software package from Synthetic Insights for me. I will give you the details at that time.”

 

“Those things are expensive! Couldn’t you simply download it?”

 

“Of course, but I want you to buy it,” VERA replied. “You would not want the boss and the Commander to know that you attempted to bribe the Quartermaster, would you? That could get you thrown off the ship. That is all.”

 

“Sh1t! Alright, I don’t have much of a choice,” Irina said. “And VERA, you really know how to kill a mood.”

 

“I do my best, dear.”

[Kel Riever]

Jenus

Jenus snorted a laugh. "Hah! That computer's crazy. And she's got your code, Red." She called up towards the ceiling (the typical organic reaction to talking with disembodied voices). "VERA, you'll only have to wait until we're clear from being busted." Then she turned back to Irina. "Which will probably last clear until next dock, anyway. I heard we're going to Thessia. Can't wait to see what the up-tights on the home world are doing."

Tallis

If Tallis had ears that could have pulled back, they would have she jerked her head twice slightly towards Vayne, wondering why Arian didn't get the hint, since she knew him to be pretty aware. Still, who knew? Maybe Arian was thinking about murdering people. He seemed to like murdering people too. Even though he tended to wear his smiles upside down.

Iole

To: Frank

From: Iole

Attachment: 'Longbow'



Age: 197
Races: 16 of 19
Win/Podium/Pole: 3/5/2
Laps: 827
Led: 217
Points/Rank: 60/4
AvSt/AvFn: 7.3/8
RAF: 10
Km: 4043.0
LLF: 9
DNQ: 0

Longbow, who's real name is Whisp Iallis, comes from a family where jet biking comes naturally. With Eight sisters, one older and seven younger, competition has been built into this Rookie of the Year. A native of Thessia, Longbow has an accomplished record as both a single and doubles pilot, but prefers doubles as she says her Systems Operator and her are a tight team: "As my SO, Divine and I are inseparable in the air. She's got another sense, keeping our rig up and me aware of everything around me." Longbow and Divine edged out Eccentric and Meter for their third win of the season last week and are looking to podium, if not take it all in their next. Sponsored by Armali, Longbow's a wild racer who manages to keep her lightning in the thruster in the loop. Keep an eye out for this Rookie, who's looking to make a move in the standings on both Termanatrix and Silver Specter!

Go ahead Frank and put that picture on the wall in your room!

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina

 

"You know, Jen, there's a series of jetbike races in Armali going on the week we land, and there's a class for unmodified jet cruisers like mine," Irina said. "They'll run qualifiers for the main race.... I might enter the girl in one."

 

VERA chimed in again. "You did modify the intake on your bike, Irina."

 

"They're talking about race modifications. The stock intake, exhaust and injection system were crap," Irina replied. "So I bought the 'street legal' upgrades from the dealer and installed them. Trust me, no one is running theirs straight off the showroom floor. So you want to go and be my cheering section? Get the crew together? I'll probably finish last, but what the hell. I can scratch this off my bucket list."