As soon as I finished business with Aria T'Loak and Benezia, I went to the comm room and called Tevos. Yes, I didn't call the whole Council, I only called her.
"Shepard..."
There was weariness in Tevos's voice.
"Councilor Tevos."
I nodded curtly to the Asari.
"Report."
"Well... during my visit to Noveria, several events occurred at once. To start with, they didn't want to let us into the port, so I had to not only send my Spectre clearance but also show the seriousness of my intentions by destroying some of the defensive structures."
"Shepard..."
Tevos was clearly not very happy to hear that.
"...there are many respected companies on Noveria, and this planet was given special status for a reason. Your actions could provoke a conflict."
"Councilor..."
In my voice, one could hear how much I didn't give a damn about any kind of conflicts.
"...given that an ally of Saren Arterius, a certain Matriarch Elysia, was on the planet, I needed to act quickly, not wait days for confirmations."
"Elysia? I hope you took her alive?"
"Negative..."
I shook my head.
"...it wasn't possible to take her alive, but I managed to get her to talk a bit. I'm sending you the recording of the conversation."
With those words, I forwarded the recording to Tevos.
"It seems to me that even if something or someone misled her, we cannot dismiss the possibility that there is a powerful enemy out there who desires our destruction."
Tevos winced.
"Shepard..."
"Madam Councilor, in my view, it's better to be a living paranoid than a dead optimist. However, the final decision is still up to you."
"I'm glad you understand that."
She sighed, and her gaze became a little softer.
"Also, I am forced to report..."
Hearing that this wasn't all and I wanted to say something else, she tensed up.
"Experiments were being conducted on Rachni in one of the labs."
"No..."
Tevos turned pale and, judging by the image, took a step back.
"...don't tell me they broke out..."
"They broke out, but there weren't that many Rachni, so we were able to deal with them; however, I have a Rachni Queen in a capsule on my ship."
"Fuck..."
"And this Queen found a way to communicate with us. She took control of Elysia's dead body and established a dialogue through it."
"D-dialogue?"
Tevos's voice wavered; she clearly hadn't expected to hear that.
"Exactly. I couldn't bring myself to destroy a sentient being that was being experimented on, but I couldn't let her go either. So I decided to report to you. After all, it's your job to think through the consequences."
"Khm..."
The Councilor thought, then sighed heavily.
"Deliver her to the Citadel. I think if she is indeed sentient, we can reach an agreement... as far as I know, they are undemanding about living locations, and we could very well... divide known space and not fight over every planet."
"As you wish. Then I'm moving to the Citadel."
"Exactly, and we'll try to gather information on where else there might be leads pointing to Saren Arterius."
With that, the connection cut off; I looked thoughtfully at the ceiling.
"Joker, announcement to the ship. Next stop, Citadel."
"Got it, boss!"
There was a hint of light amusement in the pilot's voice; I headed to my cabin. Routine awaited me on the Citadel, and the only plus was that some items would have time to be delivered to the Citadel—those that Benezia and Aria T'Loak hadn't had time to bring to Noveria. Which meant my subordinates would become even more lethal.
** Some time later. **
"Captain..."
Tali contacted me, sounding agitated about something.
"Yes?"
"I... I found something..."
"Should I come over or..."
"Well... I'm standing right in front of your cabin..."
Tali's voice became quieter and incredibly soft; she was clearly frightened by her own boldness. However, I didn't keep her waiting and just opened the door, and she quickly stepped inside.
"Make yourself comfortable wherever you like, you can sit on the bed, or at the computer."
"I! I'll stand!"
That panicked exclamation made me smile.
"Well, then I'll have to stand too..."
With those words, I stood opposite Tali, and she shifted from foot to foot. I saw that she was panicking. And that panic was preventing her from speaking, but I couldn't help myself. I enjoyed teasing her a little.
"I... to the table?"
She said this extremely uncertainly, and I gestured for her to sit, which she did.
"So?"
"I only just started studying the data from that Asari's Omni-tool and decided to start with the latest data, and I found two names at once. Virmire, there's some kind of base there, and also Feros. And what they needed on Feros, I haven't found out yet. I only understood that a squad of Huntresses was sent there."
"I see..."
"Um... should I go?"
"Is that all you have?"
"Y-yes..."
Tali nodded shyly.
"...I just thought it might affect the plans."
"Well... theoretically it could have, of course, but not now. I already have orders, and I intend to reach the Citadel. So you have time to..."
"Captain, I've detected an emergency beacon!"
Joker's voice was slightly excited.
"It's Systems Alliance military..."
"Is it on our way?"
"Yes..."
"Strange..."
I frowned.
"...Joker, was there an emergency beacon when we were flying to Noveria?"
"No."
There was a hint of slight confusion in Joker's voice.
"Try to contact those who need help, talk to them; we'll land in any case, of course, but..."
"I got it. Changing course."
"Landing party, prepare for deployment."
I gave a short order that everyone heard.
"Me too?"
"You too."
I nodded to Tali, who tilted her head somewhat confusedly.
"Your help might be needed there. So get ready too."
"Understood."
Tali nodded and, jumping up from her seat, was about to run out.
"Wait."
"Ah?"
She turned back to me, and I quickly walked up to her, then placed a hand on her head and lightly stroked her hood.
"You did well."
She shrank under my hand.
"Hey, what's wrong? Does this action mean something bad for Quarians?"
"N-no... just... unusual..."
She said this quietly.
"...Captain, please don't pressure me?"
The last words were said in almost a pleading tone.
"I'm not pressuring you. Tali..."
Seeing her slightly raise her head, I realized she wanted to object, so I hurried to continue.
"...the fact that I say you are pleasant to me, give compliments, and stroke your head—these are signs of attention, not pressure. At least, I don't perceive it as pressure... sorry if it's not that way for you."
She nodded, clearly not finding the strength to say anything, after which she hurried to leave me. A few minutes later, I also headed to the cargo bay.
"Joker, what's the status on comms?"
"No connection."
Joker's voice was tense.
"I see..."
"Right, we have a distress signal from Alliance military. However, there is no communication with those in trouble. So everyone might already be dead, or it could be a trap. So we move in one M35 Mako and one Kodiak Shuttle."
Jane immediately assigned me, Lissi, Missi, and Liara to the M35 Mako, and Garrus Vakarian was also assigned to it as the gunner, with Ashley Williams as the driver. Everyone else was sent to the Kodiak Shuttle, with Chifuyu Orimura as the pilot.
"Landing in ten minutes."
Joker let us know that everything was about to start.
"Any more signs that it's a trap?"
Wrex looked at me inquiringly.
"The signal started recently, and there weren't supposed to be any Alliance ships here. So the whole thing looks as suspicious as possible."
Naturally, the Kodiak Shuttle left the SSV Normandy a bit earlier, and then, when the ship had descended enough, it dropped the M35 Mako from its bay, which fell onto the sandy soil of a planet unknown to me. Somehow I hadn't bothered to check its name...
"Attention everyone!"
As soon as we were on the sand, I climbed out onto the armor; the Asari followed my example, so now each of us was responsible for our side of the M35 Mako, which, once we took our places on the armor, moved toward the signal source.
"It's a M850 Grizzly..."
Jane, whose Kodiak Shuttle was already circling over the site, notified us of the find.
"...the emergency beacon is next to it, but I don't see any wounded or dead."
"Everything is becoming even more suspicious. Keep your eyes peeled..."
We moved forward and every minute we got closer and closer to the beacon.
"Movement!"
Jane's voice sounded excited.
"Ha-ha-ha!"
That was Wrex's joyful laugh.
"This is my stop! Drop me here!"
"Wrex!"
Jane tried to reason with the Krogan, but he was clearly in anticipation.
"It's a Thresher Maw! I haven't hunted Thresher Maws in a long time! And I want to kill this beast!"
"Battle stations! Ashley Williams, don't drive up to the beacon! The Thresher Maw must not destroy the evidence!"
The M35 Mako immediately swerved aside, and in the next second, the beast's body rose from the sand behind us.
"Fuck!"
Garrus Vakarian couldn't restrain himself, and I was barely holding back myself, as the beast was extremely large. And it immediately spat venom at us.
"Right!"
My command, and the M35 Mako immediately swerved aside, and the acid spit hit the sand where our transport should have been.
"I AM KRO-O-O-O-O-O-OGAN!"
Wrex couldn't wait and jumped down, so I had to catch him and lower him to the sand.
"Damn Krogan!"
I had no choice but to jump off the armor myself and dash to the crazy lizard, who was looking at the Thresher Maw with anticipation, holding his Shotgun.
"Ho-o-o-oh... decided to join the hunt?"
"Decided to cover your foolish self... don't you guys usually go after such beasts in Krantts?"
"Ho-ho-ho..."
Wrex laughed quietly.
"A Krantt, then? Well... if we survive, you'll be my Krantt! All of you will!"
I took a spit of acid on a Biotic shield, then sent a couple of Pushes into the Thresher Maw...
***
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