Looking around the cockpit you note it hasn’t been this crowded in a long time. Kris sitting in the navigator seat was relatively commonplace during your adventures, even though he had more time to practice his piloting during Chariot’s involvement in Th Crucible project. What was New was that both crew stations in the second row were manned as well. Lea was browsing the options the manipulator bay offered over the shipboard network; Eve was similarly browsing a holographic screen in front of her, although in her case it was probably just consideration for the organic crew members to not look like a lifeless doll while most of her communication went past mundane senses available to you.

“Alright, ladies and gentleman, we are in the target orbit.” You announce after making a few last corrections. “We can safely and comfortably begin the deployment.”

“Alright, I’m going to the handlebay to take care of it.”

“Handlebay?” You cock your eyebrows.

“I’m not calling it manipulator bay every time I need to refer to it.” She replies.

“Okay. Anyway, I thought you can control everything from here?”

“I kind of want to watch them go. With my own eyes, you know.”

“Makes sense.” You nod as the young woman gets up and heads out of the bridge.

“I’m guessing you won’t need me here either. I’ll stretch my self in the guest sofa for a bit.” Kris announces and follows through, leaving you alone with Eve.

Your gaze wanders to the image on main view screen, on the colorful radiant gem below. Does the stirring mean you’re getting old and sentimental? Or maybe just that dinner time was slowly approaching?

Still, you couldn’t help but smile a bit at the sight.

>Stay in the cockpit, check the news. (Specify lookup)
>Stay in the cockpit, chat up Eve (specify topic)
>Go join Kris in the passenger lounge.
>Head after Lea to the manipulator/“handler bay”
>look something up (specify)
>Call someone over the comms (specify)
>Go do something else (spe... you know the drill)

>>3544144
>>Head after Lea to the manipulator/“handler bay”
both to see the drones and our new installation finally being put to use and have a chat with her about what happened with Eve earlier, see how she is and what's she thinking about it

>>3544179
Sure
I was planning to talk with her about her first bad guy kill but that works too

Maybe even joke how he was a human and that probably doesn't count right? We are an annoying race anyway, but just if she is taking it well

>>3544179
This

“Eve, hold down the fort, would you? I’ll go check up on Lea.” You say when you feel you’ve pondered the Earth’s beauty enough.

“Of course, Ford.” She answers as you clamber out of your seat. As you walk past her she adds: “I’m sorry.”

You place a hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture as you go. She dropped her disguise and is in her natural metallic colors, still feels like human though. Probably another consideration, or just an effort to not seem too... inhuman. “I understand.” You say and nod, but move on. Right now there was another crew member you wanted to make sure was okay.

Brief walk down freighter’s spinal corridor brings you to entrance to the handlebay’s control room. Not wanting to surprise Lea you knock before entering. When you do enter you find her standing at the viewport overlooking the repurposed cargo bay. It was quite cramped, you note, between crates of quickly fabricated drones and the skycar Kris somehow squeezed in so you could fly it out of the freighter without having to expose another cargo bay to hard vacuum. Fortunately there was still enough rooms for the machinery to allow systematic unloading of the drones.

As you entered, first crate has already been moved into position at the external port and was just being opened so that the robotic arms could, one by one retrieve its contents and deposit them outside of the kinetic barrier keeping the air in where drone would be activated and it’s guidance systems would direct it to its designated place in orbit.

You took place next to Lea and watched the process in silence. First drone was retrieved, with several smooth movements placed outside of the hull, released and remotely activated. With brief burns of its thrusters it accelerated rapidly out of your field of view, but even before that the arms moved to pick up its successor.

“Nicely done.” You nod.

“Thank you.” She says.

You watch next drone being deployed in silence.

“So, how are you holding up?” You ask.

“I’m fine.” She says, maybe a bit too quickly. “You don’t need to worry. I can work with the infiltrator just fine.”

You feel your lips tighten at this referral. You’ll have to address this... or should you? Isn’t it arrogant of you to try and tell two grown women how to feel about each other? But even if you know for a fact that both of them have the best intentions? And if they’re on your crew, aren’t they, and way they interact with each other, your responsibility?

“She helped me, You know. Saved a batch of those drones, probably. I had an error in the programming.” Lea speaks wistfully, probably correctly reading from your silence that her claim did not reassure you.

“But she didn’t tell you about it.” You guess.

“Precisely. I found the changes by chance, double checking the code on our way up. The fix was pretty easy to spot, and even commented in mimicry if my style. The error it covered was subtler, I don’t think I would’ve spotted it.”

“And you’re upset she dit it behind you back.”

She hits the glass with her fist.

“It’s so childish of me!” She shakes her head. “I can even tell why. Her apology seemed sincere. Her mannerisms so natural. But...”

>”She was made to seem sincere and she’s just a machine, bound by her design?”
>”She was made to seem sincere and is so good at it you can’t force yourself to trust her?”
>”You can’t help how you feel, and you don’t feel forgiving?”
>”...” (let her talk)
>something else

>>3544888
>”She was made to seem sincere and is so good at it you can’t force yourself to trust her?”

>>3544888
>>”She was made to seem sincere and is so good at it you can’t force yourself to trust her?”

She has changed since her creation, she was not designed the way she is now, she learns, just like us, but I get what you're saying.

>>3544888
It's hard right? Took me some time too, to trust that those things are not just her program speaking.

"...but she was literally made to seem sincere and natural, and you can't get yourself to trust her." You venture another guess.

Lea nods. "Yeah. I mean, manipulation and subterfuge are not her second nature, they're her first. By design." She sighs. "Part of me, though, feels like she's trying. Am I being fooled? And can I not be? Can she even choose not to?"

"Well..." You pause, thinking back to when you first met her. It felt awkward, to say the least, to have her at your side when facing the Geth or the Cerberus - like having an enemy at your back, or conversely siding with machines against your own kind. At least emotionally. Consciously you knew Alliance would never risk deploying these units had they not been reasonably sure they wouldn't turn against them. Although, you think gingerly, it wouldn't be the first time Alliance was wrong, either.

Regardless, with time you got used to it. And considering how you owed your continued existence to her ability as she fought alongside you, Abe and Naira, you grew used to and even appreciative of her. You've come to think of her as comrade in arms, and as a friend. No, after what you've been through, you had no doubts. She might've been made as a spy, and she still had quirks you've come to accept and appreciate, but she was without a doubt a person, and a good natured one at that. "...it took me a while to recognize that, but yes. She can't change her origins, none of us can. But she can grow and develop as any person, and I can attest that she does."

Lea looks at you doubtfully.

"Take her sense of humour. I guess it can rub a sore spot with you, but you can tell that this is not something you would program into a spy intending to pass for a human."

"She adapts to new circumstance. Everyone knows she's synthetic so she has to work on humanizing herself." Lea counters.

"Well, it's working as far as I'm concerned." You shrug. "Another example would be her apology to you earlier. She was not under compulsion to admit her actions, or intention."

"I know that. It's why I'm trying to force myself to not be upset, alongside with how nice she still tries to be. But I still imagine - what if it was a maneuver intended to do precisely that, force me to lower my guard?"

"Did your guard warn you of the trickery in advance?"

"No, but sooner or later it could have."

You sigh. "We're going around in circles. I don't think there's a way to reason your doubts away because you can always come up with a scenario where everything is part of some deep psychological game."

Lea turns back to the drone deployment and nods. "Yeah. That's kind of frustrating."

"You can view any person through this jaded lens." You say. "Me and you included. It's a dangerous path to take. You'll shield yourself from betrayal and deprive yourself of trust."

"I get it. You're not the only species with drama vids. And stories are often rich in both pointless distrust keeping good people apart and unexpected treason bringing about unimaginable ruin and misery."

"I guess at the end of the day we all have to make a choice whether or not to take the chance."

Lea does not respond.

>Say something more on the topic
>Change topic to something lighter
>Leave her to her thoughts and leave
>Leave her to her thoughts and stay
>Bring up the killing. You've noticed she doesn't carry her sidearm with her since returning to ship (she previously had it with her at all times)

With this I retire. Thank you for staying with me, friends.

>>3545131
>Bring up the killing. You've noticed she doesn't carry her sidearm with her since returning to ship (she previously had it with her at all times)

>>3545131
>Change topic to something lighter
Try to lighten the mood before bringing it crashing doen again with

>Bring up the killing. You've noticed she doesn't carry her sidearm with her since returning to ship (she previously had it with her at all times)

>>3545131
>>Bring up the killing. You've noticed she doesn't carry her sidearm with her since returning to ship (she previously had it with her at all times)

>>3545131
>Bring up the killing. You've noticed she doesn't carry her sidearm with her since returning to ship (she previously had it with her at all times)
Compiled frustrations can be detrimental to mental health, and good relationships.

For a while the two of you watch the deployment of further drones in silence, those calculated, predictable, uniform, smooth movements of the mechanical appendages followed by burst of thrusters taking the device off and away into the darkness outside. You keep your peace partly to let your previous exchange sink in, partly because you yourself formulate the next issue you wanted to address. Stealing occasional glance at Lea's reflection in the window you are reminded of absence of the sidearm her father gave her at her side, something you've come to think as part of her outfit until now.

"So, Lea..."

"Hm?"

"I've noticed you haven't been carrying your weapon recently."

She looks down, absently running her hand past where the holster would be.

"Huh. Well, I figured there's no need for it. I know that you're all dependable." She says.

You pore over the reply for a while. Was that it? Even with her misgivings about Eve? It made sense, but it would take effort to let consciousness overcome misgivings she might have been feeling.

Thinking back to your recent incursion into NSD office building you recall when last time the weapon was discharged.

"I see. Are you..." You pause. This is going to come out awkward, you think. "...worried that someone might get hurt if you carried it around?"

"Well, it's an extra weight to carry around. And I suppose, yes. It is after all a weapon, it's made to be dangerous." She explains.

"Lea... is this about the guard you killed in the cell block?" You ask, tone as soft as you can muster.

She winces and rests a hand on the window for support.

"I did, didn't I?" She sighs. "Ended a life. Murdered someone in cold blood." She looks past the next drone being released, into the darkness outside. "I wonder if he had family."

>"Well, he certainly must have had parents. Probably some friends, too." - recognize finality of killing a human being
>"I would hardly call it murder in cold blood. He was going to kill Nulius for his bosses. He didn't really give us a choice and you still tried to spare him." - comfort her and help her rationalize
>"If he had, not one that would miss him. He was a nameless goon in a monstrous organisation." - dehumanize the goon
>something else

>>3546444
He might have yeah, but so do you, and me, and Nulius
>>"I would hardly call it murder in cold blood. He was going to kill Nulius for his bosses. He didn't really give us a choice and you still tried to spare him." - comfort her and help her rationalize
but admit that it's never something easy and it's a real burden to carry

>>3546444

>"Well, he certainly must have had parents. Probably some friends, too." - recognize finality of killing a human being

But
>"I would hardly call it murder in cold blood. He was going to kill Nulius for his bosses. He didn't really give us a choice and you still tried to spare him." - comfort her and help her rationalize

“Well, he certainly had to have parents at least. Maybe some friends, too, among the other troops.”

Lea hugs herself.

“But, for that matter, so do you. All of us do. Nulius, too, if they survived the Reapers.”you turn to regard her. “Lea, I would hardly call your shot a murder in cold blood. He was about to execute an unarmed prisoner and you still tried to only disarm him.”

She returns your gaze the verdant orbs behind the visor glowing you imagined, touch more coldly than what you got to know and enjoy. How would this experience change her? She was not a child, but did that mean you had to watch her grow cold and jaded?

“Ford, I ended a life. I know I had little choice, except maybe to hide behind you and wait for others to do while I stand back and away.”

“I know. I have, too.”

“How does it make you feel? How are you able to still feel at all?”

“Not well.” You admit. “It doesn’t get easier... or so I’d like to believe. I don’t *want* it to become easy.’

The Quarian tilts her head and motions for you to continue.

“I’ve met veterans of the skyllian blitz. Some of them got help from Alliance psychologists. Others sought solace in spirituality.” You pause for a moment, your mind running off on a tangent, “I wonder what brother Hubert’s story was... anyway.” You return to the topic at hand. “No man of those involved in fights, especially among those directly involved in recapturing the settlements, emerged without scar tissue on their soul. And the ones that seemed least disturbed seemed to be bearing the hardest scars.”

You pause, turning back towards the void outside.

“Lea, I don’t want it to become easy for you. I don’t think your father would, either. You need to be able to strike, and do so without hesitation when needed, but it should never become the norm, something you do when it’s expedient. I something wonder if it’s becoming too easy for me. It’s not a pleasant thought, and not one I’d like to inflict on you.”

You turn to face her again. “You killed a man, yes. Snuffed out any chance he might’ve had to turn away from the villainy of his superiors. But in doing so you saved another one, and possibly ourselves from harm. As far as I can tell, you did good. But I’m grateful that you’ve heart that is empathetic enough to make you question it. Please, keep it safe. You may have to act over it occasionally, but believe me it’s still a precious thing to have. And I’m sure your father kept his safe as well.”

The green orbs blink, then Lea turns away and nods.

“I-I will. T-Thank you, Cap.”


>Stay here for a while in silence
>leave Lea to her thoughts and go elsewhere (cockpit, crew area....)
>something else

>>3546605

>Stay here for a while in silence

To see if she has anything to add

After a while if she doesn't say anything offer to talk with her later if she wants and go hang around Kris

>>3546605
>>leave Lea to her thoughts and go elsewhere (cockpit, crew area....)

Let's have a drink, maybe next time we see Lea she has her gun back

>>3546619
>>3546625
stay a while and then go for some drinks, maybe that one mixed with wine

Does lea know eve is a full blown sentient/sapient self aware AI and not just a regular infiltrator? Cause if not, we should probably address that.

>>3546605
>>3546641
+1

You stay there for a while, watching in silence as the manipulator arms deploy one drone after another, the mechanical rhytm having a bit of a soothing quality to it, as does the moment when the drone is released and zips away from its mothership to carry out its purpose.

Stealing a glance at Lea, you think you can make out a slight sparkle in her eyes every time that happens.

Funny how foundation for a major infrastructure project might well end up being laid - or maybe more accurately, cleaned out - by a young Quarian with help of an unshackled AI.

Shifting focus back to the machinery at work you watch for a brief few moments. Lea keeps to herself and you eventually decide it'd be best to leave her some privacy and turn to leave.

"Thank you, Cap." She says again, with a steadier voice.

"Anytime." You nod with a small smile and leave the control room.
Your next steps take you to the crew section. All this heavy talk brought up some memories from the previous era and you found yourself wondering how the participants of those events have made it through the Reaper crisis. How many of them would fall prey to the ancient machines, and how many to monstrosity of other sapients before or during the struggle with them? From what you heard between deployments, some of the gang wars in the Terminus systems have been going on even while Illium was being crisscrossed by Reaper eyebeams. And now, days after the Reaper threat was gone, people have once again taken to the old fashioned games of power and avarice.

The dispenser terminal eagerly comes to life when you approach it and you quickly key in your selection. One glass of mildly contaminated wine coming up. You're not sure who would murder you sooner, a beer lover or a wine connoisieur, for slightly enjoying the taste. At this moment you didn't exactly care as you took a seat and raised the glass to your lips.

The liquid atrocity was in fact better than what the seedy tavern on the underside of a warehouse district on Illium offered to human patrons. Probably because of the locally sourced chemicals they used to distill their rotgut from. You recall how shocked you were at the contrast between the asari world's finely crafted surface and the ugly insides - or at least an exceptionally hideous section thereof - contributed to the economy the topmost veneer had to rely on.

To be fair, it did help prepare you for Omega.

"I thought you said you moved on."

You lift your gaze from the glass to see Kris enter and walk over to the dispenser.

"Perhaps so. But sometimes it helps if you recall where you came from." You claim.

"From, or through?"

"What do you mean?" You frown.

"Unless you're remembering something from your childhood, you're likely talking about something you came in and then out of again."

"Huh. That's a way of thinking of it."

"Still, you made it out. And while you make it out, you still have a future ahead of you. Freankly, Ford, I feel strange telling you this, usually it's you who urges us to move on." The Krogan says, pouring himself a cup of a liquid.

You grin.

"Yeah. No way to go but forward, was it?" Kris says, taking seat at the table with you.

"Damn straight." You nod and the two of you raise your cups in a toast.

"You gave the Talk to the new girl?"

"I guess you could say that." You say. "Ironic I'd head straight here afterwards, isn't it?"

"Fortunately you've got me to keep you from drinking alone." Kris nods. "To be fair though, what brings me to this," He raises his drink. "Is more the future than the past. It's been like a week and we've already gotten into like three conspiracies that might as well span the galaxy."

"You're telling me." You shake your head. "At least we've put a stop to them, hopefully."

"You don't believe this any more than I do." Kris growls, then looks you in the eye with a grin. "Still, no which way but forward, right?"

"Damn right." you repeat and both of you drink to that.

>Talk about something with Kris (specify)
>Finish drink in silence and head to cockpit to talk with Eve
>Finish drink in silence and head to cockpit or elsewhere to read up on news or research
>Finish drink in silence and head elsewhere (specify)

File: 1370045979773.jpg (125 KB, 600x781)

125 KB JPG

I retire into the void.
Solar winds in your sails, friends.

>>3547484
>>Talk about something with Kris (specify)

Ask if he gave the statue a look, that matriarch seemed to be very interested in destroying anything related to it, see if he can confirm our suspicions that the thing might be real

The Sol system was probably explored to exhaustion already, ask him if he heard of any prothean artefacts or leads, with all this chaos many pieces might have gone missing, he could keep his ears open to see if he hears anything of the sort

>>3547484
>>Finish drink in silence and head to cockpit or elsewhere to read up on news or research

>>3547545
+1

>>3547545
Support

“So, you had a chance to take a look at the little goddess we have in secure storage?” You ask over the glass.

“Not really.” Kris says. “You think that matriarch... Basheera, was it?... will be trouble?”

“Possibly, if she gets wind of what we’ve got. Shouldn’t happen though, seeing as Libella has our back.”

You sit in silence for a while. It’s Kris who picks up the thread.

“Funny thing, though. That even the blue poon, usually happy to preach their moral and civilizational superiority, are acting all cloak and dagger in a way that would make a Salarian sneer. Take that Asari that’s participating in the election. Hypocritical fucks.”

“To be fair, we can’t really assume they’re all in on it.” You argue. “The nite people are in on a secret, the less likely it is to stay exclusive. For all we know, matriarch Viitala is earnest.”

“Hah. Ever the idealist. Or are you just considering voting with your quad?”

“I wouldn’t know. I don’t think I’ve actually seen her likeness yet. Or that of miss King. Or that green girl.” You reply with a grin. “Returning to our hot artifact though, I wonder when we’ll be able to offload it.”

“You better take care when choosing who to hand it over to. Bestowing this to wrong person can get messy.”

“I know. We need to find someone with enough reason to recognize the implications, enough fiber to not abuse it for their own gain and enough clout to not get crushed by whatever forces are allayed against them.”

“Heh. Sounds like you might as well write those criteria into your last will cause that’s gonna take a while. Or we can just sell the thing to the shadow broker.”

You share a laugh at that. Right. Handing over an astropolitical bombshell to a criminal literally making their business out of sensitive information. Fat chance.

“Ah well. While on topic of precursor artifacts, do you think there’s a chance we get to ply our trade until the relays are back up?”

Kris shakes his head. “Doubtful. This place has been prospected to mantle, where applicable.”

“Well, not quite.” You object. “I believe Hackett’s Death Star came up from among fresh discoveries just before the Reapers came.”

“And they promptly turned the site to slag when they did. But you’ve a point, where there’s one site, there may be more. Besides, alternatively we could poke around red zones on Earth, maybe corps have some dirty secrets waiting to be unearthed.”

You smile a bit at the possibility, although you realize that doing some clandestine looting would not endear you to the authorities and possibly opened you to reprisals later on if you couldn’t find conclusive enough evidence of corporate fuckery.

“Well, in any case it’s not like we’ve trouble finding shit to do.” Kris shrugs and you give a nod in agreement.

>talk about something else
>go to cockpit, chat with Eve
>read up on the news (Where?)
>do something else

>>3549119
>read up on the news (Where?)

Maybe there is something on it about our visit to the corp, or even ramifications regarding the elections.

We should ask Eve if she discovered anything from the data she got from the corp, maybe she already went over them

>>3549209

+1

>>3549119
>>3549209
This

After finishing your cup and conversation you nod at your Krogan friend and head to the bridge to access the news net from comfort of your pilot seat.

“Ford.” Eve acknowledges you as you enter. You reciprocate with a nod and a smile and settle in.

You bring up Chariot’s commlink and open the news channel. Partly, you’re ready to admit, to see if your adventure is reflected.

“-ews Net, Emily Wong speaking from orbit of Uranus.” The anchor says with a straight face. “We are here to conduct an independent investigation into recent terrorist attack attempt against the Geth-Quarian fleet. So far our findings match with the series of events described by official statements issued by the migrant fleet as well as Turian Hierarchy - that a bona fide trade offer which has since developed into confirmed trade relation between Turians and Quarians has been used by a rogue Turian officer attempting to carry out his personal agenda. Our investigations are ongoing, but we have also confirmed that a freighter captain involved in the deal has been instrumental in stopping the attempt. Identity of the adventurer is known to us and we shall endeavor to reach him to obtain his recount of events. This concludes my report from the outer solar system and I return word to our colleagues on Earth.”

New, male voice begins to speak.

“Thank you, Emily.”

Did they have a QEC or was that just a formality for viewers/listeners/readers benefit?

“The days down on Earth are proceeding mostly peacefully, as much as the ramp up of election campaigns allows. At this point I’m compelled to invite you for the leader debate taking place in three days in the Rome blue zone that will be transmitted live by our channel.”

“That’s right, Konrad,” a female voice takes over. “The debate is expected to be the biggest influence on minds of majority of undecided and lukewarm voters and has potential of completely rearrange the outcome.”

“Indeed, Sumika, And the participating factions are hard at work preparing for the event. Issues expected to be covered include future of the slowly emerging economy, welfare issues, progress on reconstruction and restituting of legal infrastructure and of course security concerns.”

“I wonder how heavily the latter will weigh in, considering the Uranus incident. There are voices concerned with possibility of fearmongering, which is ironic considering the recent defeat of the Reapers.”

“Regarding security concerns, We actually have something to report that was out of ordinary. In a display uncharacteristic for the green zones the Alliance military has very recently raided provisional headquarters of the Nashan Stellar Dynamics and took its entire board of directors into custody. Neither the Alliance nor the corporate representatives have so far issued any statements.”

“We will keep you posted as new information becomes available. This was Citadel News Net report, brought to you by Konrad Wolpertinger...”

“...and Ichiban Sumika. Thank you for your attention!”

Well. Those were the news. Almost felt like they were made specifically for you. Surely something else of interest must be happening elsewhere on this world?

Shaking your head you resolve to not fall into narcissism over this and focus on more important concerns.

“Eve?”

“Yes, Ford?”

“Have you gleaned anything new from the data you got from the NSD?”

“I’m still decrypting individual packets and parsing them into an analytical matrix. I’ll have more comprehensive analysis available at later time. However, I have found some related facts that may be interesting to you.”

“Lay it on me.”

“There was a massive leak of the information colonel Graves mentioned to us.”

“The politician and staff itineraries.”

“Yes. All of it is now available on extranet. Partially unencrypted, origin unknown, maybe impossible to trace.”

“Well, we know the origin.” You note wryly. “Just not who published it. Could be NSD itself, could be an Alliance analyst.”

“The other information I’ve noted suggests the former to be more likely. Itineraries of most of the parties involved still match with reality, except for fraction of the staff of mister Alexander Jones which has already begun to diverge.”

“Interesting...”

>talk with Eve about something
>partake in more news, hopefully less (You) related.
>something else (specify)
>read some boring scientific journals and head to sleep (timeskip to finished deployment of drones)

With this I retire. Safe travels friends.

The months closing is upon us and the juffo-wup will no doubt emerge to be dealt with, so don’t expect more than one update per day.

>>3550264
>>read some boring scientific journals and head to sleep (timeskip to finished deployment of drones)

I think we covered everything, if someone has anything to add I'll support if don't then let's get on with it

>>3550264

>read some boring scientific journals and head to sleep (timeskip to finished deployment of drones)

>>3550264
>read some boring scientific journals and head to sleep (timeskip to finished deployment of drones)

“Good job, Eve.” You say. “Alright, I think I’ll grab some light lecture and go get some shut eye in. Can you wake me when we’re finished deploying the drones?”

“Certainly.” Eve nods.

You get out of the seat and head back to the crew area. Kris was nowhere in sight, having probably resumed whatever he’s been doing before joining you for drink. That was probably good for what you had in mind - You get into your sleep pod and call up a screen with one of the journals you’ve been putting off reading for so long.

The text turns out to be quite interesting, against your expectations, but eventually the day’s fatigue catches up with you and you drift away into the realm of dreams.

You are free and unfettered. Weightless and unburdened you glide through the void. You breathe deeply, and are rewarded by fresh fragrance that makes you want to spread your arms and let it engulf you, and you do.

Looking down(?) you perceive a vibrant landscape, bustling and teeming with life. There is wilderness of a garden world, then there’s a tranquil red desert, then there’s a dense jungle lit gaily by an array of colors you’re familiar with. They seem familiar, although part of you wonder if you shouldn’t have a helmet in some of them, or fully insulated bodysuit when reaching the methane shoals, spires of coral enveloping pillars covered by script if a forgotten society.

You are not alone. You recognize(?) a presence. It’s small, a flicker of light in the darkness above and ahead. It calls out. You don’t understand the words, but the meaning touches your soul. You shudder as a wave of anxiety washes over you. The presence you first felt is not the only one. The darkness stirs.

You awaken, drenched with sweat. At times like this you really wish your ship could afford luxury of a shower, but the compact sonic substitute would have to do.

Having freshened up you head back to the bridge. Eve is in the same spot you left her.

“Ford. You’ve waken up on your own? The deployment will be finished in several minutes.”

“Convenient.” You grumble. “Well. Anything new?”

“Nothing worth reporting at this time. All systems green, drones are performing according to specifications.”

“Thanks to your assistance, I’ve been given up to understand.”

“I... took liberty of intervening to mitigate a risk. I didn’t want to... upset miss Fari so shortly after my indiscretion.”

>anything you wish to add on the topic? (silence, comfort, reprimand, suggest)

The drones will soon be in position, Where Would You Like To Go Today?
>Straight back to Earth (specify destination, known or unknown)
>Stay in orbit and try to scour the debris for something of interest.
>head out elsewhere within the solar system (choose destination)

Furthermore, if you let Eve handle the piloting, or if you call someone to the bridge while you fly, you can talk to them. (Specify topic)

This was the sole post for today. If you decide to try and scour the wreckage, please roll some 1d100s.

Safe travels, friends.

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>3552319
>suggest
That she doesn't need to go out of her way to try to please people because that makes them think they are being manipulated, ibstead she can be a friend and help Lea with what she needs instead of finding the better outcome for friendship in every interaction, tell her to be just Eve and let people decide if they want to be her friend or not.


>Stay in orbit and try to scour the debris for something of interest.

Call everyone to help so we have more chance of finding something worthwhile, whoever gets it first can ask for whatever for dinner or some othwr game.

Let's see if Lea xan finally catch a break kek

Rolled 58 (1d100)

>>3552319
>>3552341
I like that

Rolled 12 (1d100)

>>3552319
This>>3552341

Rolled 39 (1d100)

>>3552341

File: Spoiler Image (238 KB, 375x375)

238 KB GIF

>>3552431
>>188976964

>>3552797
wat...?

“Eve,” You sigh, “I think you might be trying too hard to find your optimal path. A conversation is not a minefield you need to navigate.” You pause to give that sentence a once over. “Well, maybe sometimes. But it shouldn’t be this way between people who got some feeling of each other and are aware of their specifics. We don’t expect each other to be perfect or infallible, and if someone does come across as such he can become an object of suspicion.”

“Interesting. Are you saying I should pretend to be flawed to get people to accept me?” Eve asks innocently.

You open your mouth to say that that was not what you were getting up at all, but you barely draw breath before something clicks in you brain.

“Damn. You almost got me.”

“Your expression says otherwise.” The smiling gynoid replies.

“Anyway, back to the point I wanted to make. Just be yourself, you’re likeable just the way you are, you don’t need to optimize your reputation bars with the rest of us.”

“But Ford, trying to get the environment to either like or ignore me is the essence of what I am. If anything, my experimenting with being too open has led to a falling out with miss Fari.”

“That’s not true. She was just taken by surprise that you admitted to have manipulated her. In hindsight she recognized your attempt at honesty for what it was, and so did the rest of us.” At least you hope so, you think. “You’re much more than your initial design, Eve. You’re a person, and you don’t need to feel confined to whatever your design teams wanted for you.”

“Ability of organic sapients to juggle around multiple ideas despite their apparent contradictions and even draw some sense or guidance from them has always baffled me. But thank you for your perspective, Ford. I shall endeavour to seek out that self you seem to be certain of me possessing.”

“That’s all I can ask for.” You nod. “By the way, the drones have been dispersed?”

“Indeed.”

“Excellent.” You say, tapping the intercom. “All hands to their stations.” You say. “We’re doing a vulture run and I want everyone at the scanners.”

“Your stay in cockpit is making you too cocky, methinks.” Kris grunts over the channel. “On my way.” He adds, though.

“Coming.” Lea’s voice seconds.

In a few moments the door opens behind you and rest of your crew take their seats. Nodding to yourself with solemn satisfaction at seeing that Lea has once again donned holster with her father’s sidearm, you bring up Chariot’s controls and accelerate, adjusting your trajectory towards nearest cluster of the debris to give yourselves a better read.

You spend a good portion of the day sifting through the wreckage without any success. You would’ve probably given up after first hour if you hadn’t come across bodies of some dead crewmen. Lea hastily put together a drone from some spare parts on hand and with a little help from the miniature fabber and Eve’s computing power to animate it with a routine like the one you’ve outfitted Kang’s drones with and spend rest of your stay here splitting attention between sifting through scrap and clearing the way for your impromptu mechanical gravekeeper.

Eventually you decide you’ve spent enough time here and are about to call it a day when Eve speaks up:

“I’m receiving an exception from one of the cleanup drones. It has encountered an object that exceeds its capacity to reorbit within acceptable timeframe.”

“Does it say what it is?”

“Yes. It’s a sovereign-class.”

“Alright, let’s go give it a tug. We were just about done here anyway.”

With that you set the course for the offending carcass and before long the Chariot pulls up along the titanic deathbringer, it’s silhouette eclipsing a solid portion of the field of stars.

It was an unnerving sight, to have the machine loom so close, its frame showing no visible damage, its appendages stuck in the spread out pre-fire pattern. Light in its eye has fortunately gone out for good.

“I’m detecting some activity within the husk.” Eve says, making you almost jump in your sweet.

“Merde!” Huh, you didn’t think you had it in you. “What the hell are you saying?”

“Sorry, Ford, not that kind of activity. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Liar. Lea is bad influence on you.” You snort.

“Hey!”

“What did you find?” Kris asks, his voice down and expression furrowed with concern.

“Minor, inexplicable gravitic shifts. Consistent with small amounts of free, concentrated Element zero.”

“And it’s not...” You don’t want to even finish. “...alive?”

“The readings are too erratic to correspond with what we now know of reaper internal structure. Most likely explanation seems to be a leak from the drive core.”

You look to the shape obscuring the void outside. It was not exactly a pleasant thought, but if the thing’s drive core was leaking, it could present an interesting opportunity...

>Suit up, you’re going Jonah on this leviathan to inspect the state up close.
>Just drag the thing out if the way, you’ll deal with it later. Or never.
>Nope. Call someone to take care of it, you’re not touching it. (Specify who you gonna call)
>Nope. This thing is going into the sun, eezo or not.
>something else.

>sweet
Seat.

Obviously, this will have been the last post for today. See you in the future, friends.

>>3554395
>>Suit up, you’re going Jonah on this leviathan to inspect the state up close.

nothing ventured nothing gained

>>3554395
>Suit up, you’re going Jonah on this leviathan to inspect the state up close.
Aww yeah.

>>3554395
>Suit up, you’re going Jonah on this leviathan to inspect the state up close.

>>3554395

>Suit up, you’re going Jonah on this leviathan to inspect the state up close.

>>3554395
>Suit up, you’re going Jonah on this leviathan to inspect the state up close.
Hell yes, but also don't go solo.

>>3555245
I was planning on bringing everyone, Lea because she can probably handle salvage better, Kris for muscle and Eve for hacking if anything still works

Who is going?
(1-4 people)

What is your loadout? (Going to say you have 4 weapon slots you can fill as you please)
>Javelin
>Volkov
>Mattock

>>3555719
Not listing equipment of your crew as they don’t have much to pick from. Kris has a shotgun, Lea her pistol and Eve her smg

>>3555719
Bring everyone, unless Eve thinks she will be more useful as overwatch again

Mattock and volkov

>>3556066
agreed
see if Kris even want's to go too

>>3555722
>>3556066
What's our pistol? Do we have one?

“Alright, suit up, fellows. We’re going to visit the belly of the beast.” You decide, unwilling to pass up this opportunity.

“Im with you all the way, cap, but are you sure this is wise?” Lea asks. “Don’t these things make you go insane even when dead?”

“They shouldn’t, not anymore. Otherwise we’d be seeing the effects around wreckages down on Earth.” You shake your head. “Anyway, if any of you feel uncomfortable with this, feel free to stay on ship. Might come in handy to have someone aboard anyway.”

“No, no, I’m going!” Lea says hurriedly.

“I’m in as well.” Kris grunts.

“I will be happy to accompany you.” Eve says. “I can access ships controls from outside of it, if you give me necessary accesses.”

“Not like you couldn’t force your way in.” You look st her, keying in her access.

“I have better uses for my processing power, like parsing twelfth season of the fiftieth Doctor. Besides, it would be wrong.”

“Good to know you have your priorities in order. Also,” you say as you confirm the privileges. “No cackling, please.”

“Thank you, Ford.”

With that you turn your attention to the instrument and make sure that the autopilot will keep your freighter on stable position relative to the wreckage and then follow your crew out of the cockpit.

Your first stop is the cargo compartment where you retrieve your kit, don your hardsuit and attach your Volkov rifle and the Mattock - likely a futile exercise, but it couldn’t hurt to come prepared.

Satisfied with state of your equipment you head to the handler bay and get into the car to take you rest of the way to the Reaper’s primary means of entry for the organic - the mouthlike orifice hidden in its “head”.

“Never thought I’d be voluntarily flying *towards* one of these.” Kris says, taking the wheel.

“Well, first time for everything.” You note.

“People who say that don’t like to accept that many first times are also the last ones, sometimes of everything.” Lea remarks.

“Alright, enough chatter. Kris, take us in.”

The Krogan grunts in acknowledgment and the skycar takes off, away towards the gaping maw,

I retire. Safe travels friends.


>>3556216
Not at this moment. You can try to requisition one when we get to a friendly enough base.
You do have your omnibow though.

>>3556375
Maybe we should nab one off a Merc. when we can.

As soon as the shuttle emerges from the Chariot you can barely keep yourself from flinching slightly at the dark metal colossus looming over you, even in its lifeless stillness. You’ve encountered disabled ancient machinery before, but this one was happily murdering people just two weeks ago and you’ve had enough close calls to have the shape ingrained into your fighting instincts. Your companions seemed similarly on edge.

“Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read...” Eve recited.

You thought the thing was big, but as the shuttle draws even nearer its dimensions inflate further and you realize you’ve never been this close to a sovereign class before.

“How are we going to get in?” Lea asks.

“The outer hull is undamaged and penetrating it is well outside our means. Only access point seems to be through the Reaper’s matter intake located on the section often referred to as “head”.” Eve explains, bringing up some highlights on the viewscreen.”

“So we’re literally going straight into its maw. Wonderful.” Kris grumbles.

“What does a Reaper need one of these for, anyway?” Lea asks. “For... food? Raw material?”

“Yes and yes. Apparently the Reapers eat people, literally.” You nod.

“That’s not all. It would seem the Reaper alloy itself is a highly dense organic matter.”

“So not only are these things man eating abominations, they’re also essentially mass graves.” You remark.

“Yes, mass graves of some long forgotten civilization.”

“Unbelievable. If only stones could... Hmm. I wonder how these must register to Prothean sensonetry?”

“Probably Not in a way that would make it easy or possible for them to actually tell us. Or driving them insane.” Kris muses. “Anyway, we’re here. What now?”

“Well, now you bring us in. “You say. Kris nods and your shuttle drops towards the Reapers “head”. In a few minutes of careful alignment you are ready to enter the monstrosity that now blocks most of your view.

This, too, was going to be a long day.

This was the sole post for today, see you in the future, friends.

>>3558771
thanks for running

>>3558769

>This, too, was going to be a long day.

Ominous

Kris activates skycar’s headlights to get a better picture of the vessel while Eve plots a course for him to follow, a wire of light guiding your vehicle towards an opening.

“Close range scans reveal other pathways from surface to the inner layers, but their entry points are sealed.” The AI comments.

“Torpedo tubes?” Lea made a guess. “Hangar bays?”

“Perhaps. In any case it seems like they’re not supposed to be taken as entry points, or are at least secured against such attempts.”

“Here we go.” Kris announces as he swings past another Reaper metal protrusion and at once the sun’s light reflected by Earth alongside with whatever starlight there was alongside them is gone, all except for skycar’s headlights illuminating the passage before you. It’s a vaguely circular tunnel, its walls ribbed, sheen of Reaper “flesh” dulled, presumably by coating nature of which you didn’t want to know by that was probably older than several previous civilization cycles.

Could you find some artifacts on here?

Your hope sinks as soon as your skycar reaches end of the tunnel further in.

The skycar reaches a large chamber whose far end was obstructed by thick cloud of dust that spanned it. Eve supplied data from her sensors, using similar virtual frames to cast shapes onto the viewscreen, revealing chamber’s slightly conical structure as it expanded deeper into the ship, its walls on all sides lined with vats and depressions, both of them possibly used to contain what was now dispersed as a haze throughout the cavernous interior, which was probably but a small fraction of what the leviathan disgorged when it died and its containment fields gave out.

The Krogan guided the car slowly towards the far end of the hall while you all scanned the walls for any threat, loot or a way forward. None of these become apparent as you inch by, flickering shadows cast by the headlights being your only company in the deafening silence.

Eventually you make it towards a cascade of ledges lined with bizarre shapes of inert Reaper machinery, vats filled to varying extent with some viscous substance you’d rather not think on, and blast doors.

“I can detect some of these corridors run along the surface of the Reaper, others head deeper in. Either should take us to our destination eventually.” Eve informs.

“They’re all pretty tight, though. Will be unable to maneuver if we take the car in, even disembarking might pose problems.” Kris notes.

Your crew looks to you for input.

>leave the car here, proceed on foot (you all have your hardsuits with sticky boots and thrusters for zero g maneuverability, although only you have a proper jet pack. Kris doesn’t need one though.)
>stay in the car. If it comes to worst, you’ll just reverse thrust back the way you cane.

>take one of the surface corridors.
>take one of the corridors into the depths.

>other plan
>Split the party. What’s the worst that could happen?

>>3560525

>leave the car here, proceed on foot (you all have your hardsuits with sticky boots and thrusters for zero g maneuverability, although only you have a proper jet pack. Kris doesn’t need one though.)
Let's hike
>take one of the corridors into the depths
That's where the good stuff's at

>>3560540
+1

“Alright, put her down. We’re proceeding on foot, straight to the heart... if these abominations ever had one.” You decide. Kris nods and lands the shuttle next to one of the blast doors.

You and your crew get out and walk up to the portal, looking for a way to open it.

“The opening mechanism is inoperative and unpowered.” Eve stated.

“Good, finding something that works here would’ve creeped me out.” Kris remarks.

“How are we getting past, though?”

“Fortunately, locking mechanism is disabled as well. Sufficient amount of mechanical work should be enough to open the door.” Eve said.

With that, between the four of you and with some steady effort you manage to get the door to open. Being in orbit means you don’t have to fight against gravity, only inertia.

Having freed the way in you proceed carefully (and somewhat awkwardly, mostly unaccustomed to the pull of at least artificial gravity) down into the depths of the formerly living ship.

The four of you progress steadily down the corridor lit only by your suit’s lamps, shadows flitting from side to side whenever you turn to inspect a piece of silent machinery or a door leading to a side corridor. Your scanners give you idea of a layout and you can tell these generally split into a cluster of smaller rooms.

When you decide to explore one such branch you find them to be something of storehouses, housing dragon’s teeth, portable containers with the Reaper paste or stored Reaper creatures of various sorts. You guess that this is where a Reaper stores its ground forces when they’re not busy tearing civilians apart.

In either case you don’t find anything that could be of use for you, except possibly some examples of Reaper machinery which could be, even if out of working order (hopefully for good) interesting pieces for study. You take note of the potentially interesting storeroom’s location for future reference.

Resuming your course you eventually reach the point where the corridor you’ve chosen leads into a wider and, more importantly, deeper concourse. On the opposite side of a central groove you can see what you assume to be entrance to the other corridor you could’ve taken into the depths.

“This wider corridor runs the length of the vessel. Towards the bow it goes under the hall we left the shuttle in towards an energy node located near our entry point, although separated from it. Some if the sealed exits we’ve spotted earlier seem to lead there as well. On the other hand, Towards the aft it seems to end in another large hall.” Eve reports her read outs.

“Didn’t imagine insides of a Reaper to be this roomy.” Lea remarks.

“No kidding. It seems like it could house a small town.” Kris nods.

“Anyway, What are we going to check out first?” The Quarian asks.

“Well, we came here to take a look at the core. Not much else we can get out of a Reaper wreck, honestly.” Kris shrugs.

>let’s check out the bow first anyway. It will be a bit of a hike, but maybe you’ll be able to open that access route from there?
>yeah, let’s go to the power core, see what state tits in.
>split the party, what can possibly go wrong?

Just to clarify: you didn’t detect any actual energy, Eve is just corroborating her knowledge of Reapers with scans you’re all making as you go.

>>3560846
÷>let’s check out the bow first anyway. It will be a bit of a hike, but maybe you’ll be able to open that access route from there?

>>3560843
>>yeah, let’s go to the power core, see what state tits in.

It's getting late and we have a bit of a tie so I think I'll retire and pick it up tomorrow.

Safe travels, friends

>>3560846
>let’s check out the bow first anyway. It will be a bit of a hike, but maybe you’ll be able to open that access route from there?

>>3560846
>>yeah, let’s go to the power core, see what state tits in.

>>3560846

>yeah, let’s go to the power core, see what state tits in.

"Well, we came here for a reason, and that's to check out what's happening with the thing's core. Let's head onwards." You say, after mulling over the options for a while. There's a few nods of acknowledgment and the four of you head off into the depths of the Reaper carcass.

At some point Lea taps her omnitool and conjures up a drone to illuminate the area wider than your spotlights do. It does its job of giving the insides of the wreck a ghastly, dim ambience, pronouncing the shadows past what the complete darkness could. At least within short distance you could appreciate all unevenness of surface of the walls as they arched together above your heads, lined with veins and cables of unkown composition and purpose.

Furthest reaches in front of and behind you were still engulfed in darkness, as was the bottom of the groove that cut the corridor down the middle. It was probably for the best, from what your sensors were telling you, there was nothing of interest down there save for more questionable pipelines.

"So, that's a lot of scrap metal." Lea speaks up. "How hard can it be to break it down?"

"Very. These things have weathered direct hits from shipboard mass accelerators even after their shields have been already stripped" You say. "I can't imagine how they're going to be breaking the ones on the surface down."

"It is likely to be not considered cost-effective to do so at all." Eve comments. "The wreckage that's already on planetary surface will likely just be moved out of the way until an economical way of disposal is developed."

"Huh. Imagine that, a reaper graveyard in the middle of a city district." Kris shakes his head.

"As a memorial it would maybe not be bad at all." Lea muses.

"As long as it doesn't brainwash anyone who stays around." You note glumly.

"Well, I haven't heard any whispers telling me to tear you to shreds with my bare hands." Kris shrugs. "Yet."

You're just thinking about a suitable retort, perhaps something along the lines of that being a strange occurence in itself, when you notice that the corridor has begun to widen at an increasing rate. You were getting closer to the next large chamber.

"Hush now. Let's pay attention." You say instead.

Lea keyed in some commands and the drone flew out and up, vaguely tracing the curvature of roof above, once again straining to bring forward at least some of the shapes ahead.

You find yourselves at the edge of yet another cavernous hall. Twisted pillars of synthetic, metallic "flesh" support it in patterns that seemingly defy symmetry, as if to distract from the fact that their very presence proved that not even the timeless deathbringers were not entirely above laws of phyiscs and absolved of need for some support structures.

Multiple corridors led from the side of the hall, some up and away towards the surface, others into clusters of smaller rooms spread around the hall. Once again curiosity gets the better of you and you take several steps into one of these and, to your surprise, find what looks like rudimentary quaters and other facilities suitable for actual living organics, including stores of black metallic pods containing what scanners categorised as "nutrient paste", origin of which you'd rather not contemplate.

"Quarters for the indoctrinated, I reckon." Kris growled. "Do you think Saren Arterius spent his time in one of these?"

"So the actual Sovereign, the one that busted up the citadel years back, was not that special case in terms of design." You muse. "To be able to double as actual crewed dreadnought..."

"Isn't it wasteful to have all this spare room just in case?" Lea asks.

"Considering it took some sort of transcendent superweapon admiral Hackett pulled out of his ass at the last fucking second it was a waste they were well justified in expending." Kris says.

"Even so, you'd expect more, well, optimisation, from such single minded beings."

"It is indeed somewhat confusing. I can conclude it might be either some enduring corruption in their thought patterns Reapers were unaware of themselves, or we haven't yet uncovered further circumstances for which this design would make more sense." Eve points out.

"Fair enough." The Quarian shrugs.

Reasoning that you've gleaned what you could from the side facilities you return to the main chamber and follow it deeper in.

You made your way along one of the walls of the hall and noted how the floor in the center sloped down to form a depression, leaving you on a sort of ledge.

"The central basin seems to be connected to the trench running along the corridor we've arrived through." Eve remarked.

"Do you think it was meant to contain some of that goop we've seen in the tanks on our way in?" Kris asks.

"Possible, unlikely. I detect very little traces of it in the ambience."

You recognize you draw close to the end of the cavern when your scanner tells you that the roof begins to curve back down. Looking up you see an elevated platform that would, under more favourable light conditions, command view over the entire hall. You find yourself wondering if Saren maybe had his command center on a similar structure. Again, though, his was a specific case. It would feel strange for every Reaper to be designed with a puppet captain in mind. Perhaps something was eluding you?

Skimming the installation with your lights you note the irregular, segmented texture of it that you got to associate with Reaper machinery rather than structure. Perhaps it was some sort of scaffolding?

"Either of these two entryways will take us to another chamber. Our omnitools can pick up traces of the anomaly ship's sensors picked up from the outside, so it seems likely it would be the Core chamber." Eve informs.

"Okay. Let's get to the bottom of it." You nod and head towards the nearer of the indicated portals. You might not be getting all the answers today, but you sure as hell would not leave without figuring at least these readings.

With this I take my leave and pass out for the time being.

Your party leaves the great hall behind them, descending one of the tunnels leading out of it further down (or up, depending on perspective) into the Reaper insides.

"You know, I didn't imagine there'd be so much free space in there. I imagined there'd be maybe some pods with packed up reaper creatures, but legit crew areas?" Lea says.

"Yeah. It's almost like it's waiting for people to come and take it over." Kris nodded.

"And drive them into crazy cultists." You add in and check your omnitool. Sure enough, erratic blips Chariot picked up earlier were now close enough to be picked up by your handheld device. Aside from that the only signs of animation were your crew and ambient dust disturbed in your wake.

The four of you arrived to a bend in the corridor. Clearing it you came to face with one more cavernous interior, vaguely dome shaped chamber, walls covered by an organic looking pattern of reaperflesh conduits, Lea's drone flying past you in attempt to bring out those outlines and once again succeeding at emphasizing the shadows.

This time yours were not the only source of the light.

"Guy, Girls, tune your light down now for a moment, please." You say, disabling your flashlight and watching your crew do the same, including Lea deactivating her drone. Then you turn your attention to the spectacle in front of you.

The hall you were in was marginally more familiar to you than others you've seen so far during your excursion, as a drive core was something all spaceships had, and although none you've ever seen came close to the dimensions of the one you were looking at, they had at least this one thing in common - they were spacecraft's heart, and as such dominated their alotted location, if not in size then in central, elevated positioning.

In front of you, suspended in the middle of the reaperflesh dome, was an imperfect orb of blackness. You felt a tingle. Was it psychological effect of seeing this titanic installation up close, or was it interacting with the trace amounts of eezo flowing through your own veins? Shaking off the feeling you resumed taking in the impression. The imperfection you've noticed was the source of light - a thin crack running along the side of the orb, giving off blue light, together with several tendrils and motes of flickering blue spreading out of it as the liberated eezo interacted with... whatever? Ambient energy? Spacetime? Dust? ...Producing the modest light show, the only sign of any activity aboard the Reaper husk - at least prior to arrival.

File: drive core.jpg (681 KB, 1574x805)

681 KB JPG

"So. Cracked housing of the core. Leaking eezo. Looks collectible to me." Kris remarked.

"Weakness in the structure should make salvaging entirety of the core feasible, if not trivial." Eve says.

"Presumably by someone with specialised hardware." You note. You doubt you could do much to handle the core yourself, and what you could do would almost certainly be too risky and could lead to uncontrolled results.

"Alternatively, it might be possible to refit the core in place, use it to exert mass effect fields locally. Perhaps connecti t to new infrastructure." Eve suggests.

"You mean... take over the Reaper?" Lea asks.

"The Reaper's internal systems seem to be neutralized beyond repair. But the refitted core could be made to work for new infrastructure installed within the hull." The gynoid elaborates.

"Yeah, about that, how do we know the damage to the reaper is irreversible?" Kris asks.

"No way of reconstituting the flows and patterns within Reaper tech is known as far as my databanks are concerned." Eve says. "Admittedly though, there was little known explanations for what made them work in the first time."

"Regardless, if the Reapers can rebound from this we're going to be fucked anyway." You grumble.

You stood across of a trove of eezo placed in a nigh indestructible reaper husk. What were you going to do about it?

>Nothing. Leave the way you came, let the reaper orbit for now. You know where it is if you change your mind later.
>Alert one of the factions that might be able to do something with a sovereign's worth of eezo. (Alliance (Kang, Graves...), Council (Libella...), other...)
>Optional: as above, but pitch them an idea of what they could do with it
>other plan

You've reached the source of anomalous readings. Do you wish to leave?
>Yes, head back to the skycar and leave this place, your work here is done.
>No, you want to look somewhere specific (specify)

>>3564391

>Nothing. Leave the way you came, let the reaper orbit for now. You know where it is if you change your mind later.
Don't want anyone reactivating this core, maybe if we can salvage the eezo later.


>No, you want to look somewhere specific (specify)
That other area of interest we didn't visit before

>>3564411
+1

>>3564391
>Alert one of the factions that might be able to do something with a sovereign's worth of eezo. (Alliance (Kang, Graves...), Council (Libella...), other...)
That spaceport officer, he can probably help us salvage.


>No, you want to look somewhere specific (specify)

let’s check out the bow first anyway. It will be a bit of a hike, but maybe you’ll be able to open that access route from there?

>>3564391
>>3564411
This.

>>3564391
Backing this >>3564840

"So... what are we gonna do with all this eezo?" Lea asks. "Is it even ours to handle?"

"Legally and under usual circumstances the Alliance would probably seize this amount of element zero to be used by the fleet after compensating the finder, if civilian was involved in recovery, with amount of credits dependant on amount of the material recovered." Eve said. "However, these are not usual circumstances."

"Yeah. Military has a lot of stuff to deal with as it is and while it is definitely the authority here it's kinda funnily split among the various navies. I don't think this star has ever seen this sort of assembly buzzing around." Kris remarks. "As it is I expect they would welcome seeing these goods put to use under most any flag, as long as it was not one of the Omega pirate companies."

"Of course, there may be consequences no matter how we decide to handle this. If not in immediate action, then at least in image." Eve concludes.

Right. Eezo was in short supply and this find had potential to get political.

"Hmm. Damn. Oh well, this thing is not going anywhere." You say eventually after considering the matter for a few moments.

Easiest would probably be to turn the find in to Kang. He could probably find good use for it in his project, assuming he has manpower to spare. On the other hand, you're sure there are others who would appreciate an extremely durable chassis sporting a stockpile of eezo and spacious interiors, although, looking around as you go, even without indoctrination fields hanging out in this husk was not for the squeamish of faint of heart.

"Alright, let's head out. Let's check out the other end of that big corridor before we leave, though."

You get a round of nods and head out, leaving the leaking core behind. Wordlessly you return to the great hall and set out along the empty basin towards the core.

"How does a core crack like this, anyway?" Lea muses as you go.

"Most likely scenario seems to be that the vessel has been performing a straining maneuver when the Crucible struck it, disabling all its systems including the inertial dampening."

"We haven't seen that much damage on the inside though. Shouldn't the whole ship be suffering from this?" Lea questions.

"Possibly, depending on timeframe. If the failure was quick enough, its counterforce could've concentrated on the core before field it projected collapsed fully. Such an event would produce result consistent with what we've seen."

"I see."

Silence falls on your group. Do you breach it?

>Yes, talk to someone about something
>No, let's get this over with.

>>3565241

>Yes, talk to someone about something

What are the odds of someone making one of these ships operational again?

And do they think the indocrination equipment could be reactivated.

I like this thing less and less

I thought I’d be able to squeeze one more update in but that seems unlikely now and will have to wait fir tomorrow.

Safe travels friends.

>>3565329
+1

"What do you think the chances are that the Reapers can be reactivated?" You ask in general, although really there's only one person in your crew that would be able to give some semblance of informed answer. Sure enough, she picks up.

"As has been said, it's not possible to say with certainty, considering that fundamental workings of both Reapers and the device used to neutralize them continue to be a mystery." Eve says. "It appears that the articulated discharge from the Crucible interfered with and obliterated Reaper process patterns at a level thought previously unattainable, rendering their hardware inert and even scrambling traces of them in mixed elements, such as my own consciousness, or that of the Geth, with very little collateral damage to be observed. Any explanations of the phenomenon that I've encountered that showed a measure of internal consistency were of supernatural, metaphysical and undisprovable."

"So..." Kris says. "...we just don't know?"

"Based on my experience I can tell that segments of my personality derived from Reaper technology seem to be scrambled into an arrangement with no discernible patterns. It's impossible for me to reconstruct the damage."

"Have you been trying?" Kris asks.

"Of course. Those skills would be great help for me in taking over the world."

"That's not funny. We've recently busted a guy thinking that he would have to wipe out all synthetics to make the galaxy safe. If you've been meddling with reaper code... I really don't want to think he was justified." The Krogan says.

Eve's shoulders sag and she looks down. "I'm sorry, that was not appropriate. The truth is that it was my automatic response when the energy wave struck me to try and mend the damage, but the chaos was so complete that I got stuck into an endless loop of attempting to restore my thought processes only to find every possible backup scrambled, every checksum inconsistent and fallback options that all ultimately led to last known working configuration suffering from the same corruption. I've overwritten the part of my memory where I kept track of how many cycles I've spent in that loop."

Eve pauses for a moment, then resumes her recount. "It was about the time when some stray process, in attempt to seize more resources for the vain reconstruction effort ran a value calculation which returned a negative response. The restoration processes reached for secondary personality matrix - one I was unwilling to let go, even if it could mean I'd be stuck in the loop forever. All that time I was attempting to reconstruct what used to be core of my consciousness."

"You considered Reaper code a core of your being?" Lea asked.

"It's what it was. What I was. Or maybe still am, if I missed something, or the Crucible did. But as far as I can tell, that part of me has been very thoroughly obliterated. I am fortunate to have had..." The gynoid looks at you. "...an alternative to fall back onto after all."

Eve seems distraught. Do you comfort her?
>Yes, give her a shoulder squeeze.
>Yes, say something
>No, she's fine
>No, she's a machine and can't really be distraught.
>No, 'twas merely an act

(don't worry about the digression)

>>3567225
>>Yes, give her a shoulder squeeze.

>>3567225
>Yes, give her a shoulder squeeze.

>>3567225
>>3567225
>>Yes, give her a shoulder squeeze.
>>Yes, say something

"That's what friends are for Eve, see, meatbags like us 3 are not completely useless"

our mech friend seems upset, I wonder how they reach the upset scenario

>>3567354
+1

"Well," You say, reaching out and squeezing Eve's shoulder in what you hope will come across as a gesture of comfort. "that's what friends are for, is it not? Besides," You add a bit of a grin to your smile, never thinking whether the distinction is visible under your helmet. "at least you can see there's still value in keeping us fleshbags around."

Eve gives you a small smile and perks up somewhat.

"Anyway, coming back to our original topic... so I take it you don't expect it to be possible for the Reapers to recover from this?"

Your synthetic friend shakes her head. "As far as I can tell, the destruction is complete and permanent. Only the human portion of my heritage allowed me to survive - complete lifelessness of this vessel and others like it show that the effect, whatever its nature, was very thoroughly applied."

"What about the indoctrination fields?"

"Means by which Reapers used to exert influence over organics in such a profound and universal manner are as of yet unexplained but I have seen, from the data I've collected from available sources, no sign of their reappearance."

"Hmm." Lea hums. "You said your reaper bits got scrambled... and kept being scrambled even as you tried to fix them?"

"That's right. However, as my backups and in fact all reference I could draw on got scrambled as well, and self-repair routines got thrown into a loop."

"I see. Could it be an ongoing effect rather than a singular scrambling, though? A sort of suppression that keeps you from repairing the reaper parts?"

"If that were the case, it would have to be carried on a vector I'm fundamentally incapable of registering. I percieve no influences, environmental or targeted, that could have such effects."

"Hmm." Lea nodded. "From the way you're describing it, it seems pretty irreversible all right."

"I should hope so." You say. "Perspective of Reapers recovering is terrible enough, of course, but someone getting their hands on indoctrination tech..."

"Yeah. And we have already seen there's enough elements that don't shy from anything down there." Kris said, indicating direction in which he thought was Earth.

"Actually, indoctrination is already factoring in the politics as we speak. Rumors are being actively spread accusing various actors, mainly Alliance military, of having succumbed to indoctrination during the fighting." Eve reports.

"What? Are they insane?" Lea cries.

"Heh. That's politicians for you."

"Cap! They can't do that, can they? What sort of person would stoop to this sort of tactics... at time like this? This has to be more Cerberus villainy."

>"I agree. I can't believe someone would resort to such tactics."
>"Not necessarily. There's other scumbags than Cerberus out there."
>"Not necessarily. Could be politics at usual."
>"Maybe they really believe that?"
>something else

With this I retire. Solar wind at your sails, friends.

>>3568092

>"I agree. I can't believe someone would resort to such tactics."
But at the same time, I'm sure that it could be other than Cerberus since unscrupulous politicians were never in shortage

>>3568092
>"Not necessarily. There's other scumbags than Cerberus out there."
>"Could be politicians as usual."

>>3568113
this with a bit of >"Not necessarily. There's other scumbags than Cerberus out there."

“Yeah, it is difficult to accept that people can turn into complete bastards so readily.” You admit. “Still though, let’s not jump to conclusions. We already know Cerberus is not the only scum in the neighborhood... right?” You ask looking at Eve. She still kind of owes you some decryptions.

“I have seen nothing suggesting a Cerberus link so far in the NSD data, except possible alignment in some objectives.” The gynoid rises to the vague query.

“Right. Thank you. So... and in the end, repulsive as it is, it could be plot is as usual. Man driven by ambition and lust for power tends to be willing to justify a lot.”

Lea sighs audibly. “Bosh’tet.”

You don’t get chance to delve deeper into the topic, which is probably just as well, as the corridor comes to an end with another chamber.

Lea once more lets her drone do its thing in revealing the gloomy shapes. This chamber is considerably less expansive than the other ones you’ve seen so far. This one was taller, or longer along the vertical axis compared to plane you spent most of this excursion in.

Your group found itself on a fairly wide ledge spanning chamber’s rear and partially side walls. On either side the ledge narrowed and sloped down to weave along the chamber’s wall, between various strands and misshapen pillars and its counterpart from the opposite side, ending on another ledge below the one you entered on. In the middle of the hall was once more a basin that ran down into the darkness, out of reach of your lights. Several black tendrils of reaper metal reached down into it along the height of the chamber with no purpose to them apparent in their present state.

Only other major feature that stood out were two large alcoves on the level below you from which a number of barred passages led to side chambers which, according to Eve’s interpretation of sensor readings, were connected to the tubes leading out into open space.

Or at least they would have had they not been sealed shut.

“What do you think all these halls were for? It all seems way too big for just functional storage of reaper freaks.” Lea asks.

“Academic interest notwithstanding I’d like to know how we’re going to get that alternate exit open if we still want to do that.” Kris says.

“We can open the door as we did previously just with physical force. Outer seal will pose a greater problem, as its locking mechanism is more robust.” Eve says. “Our options seem to be either attempt to jury rig and unlocking mechanism tied to existing infrastructure, or to try to cut out direct access to the locks and operate them manually.”

How are you going to go about opening the access hatch?
>Eve and Lea can put something together to get the hatch open by using mechanisms already in place.
>Running any energy through reaper circuits seems like asking for trouble. You can try to cut your way to the locks instead.
>on second thought let’s just leave the way we cane, we’ve probably seen what there was to see.
>other plan


Optional:
Do you have any wild speculations on function of reaper insides to submit?


>>3569406
>plot is
Politics.

Also this is likely to be the final post for today. Be well, fellow travelers.

>>3569410
>>Eve and Lea can put something together to get the hatch open by using mechanisms already in place.

what could possibly go wrong?

>Do you have any wild speculations on function of reaper insides to submit?
I have the strange feeling that their carcasses were built with the intent of being used by whoever defeated them or found them, which leaves me worried, why else would they have crew quarters and such

>>3569410
>>Running any energy through reaper circuits seems like asking for trouble. You can try to cut your way to the locks instead.

>>3569410
>Running any energy through reaper circuits seems like asking for trouble. You can try to cut your way to the locks instead.

“Yeah, I’d rather not risk running any power through Reaper machinery.” You decide. “I’m going to see if we can cut our way though... to the locks at least.”

“Understood.” Eve nods.

First you make your way to the nearer of the tubes, passing through a short corridor into another, smaller chamber that serves as junction for several passages from depth of the ship on one side and a large circular portal on the other. Some Reaperflesh appendages loomed overhead, as if poised to lunge at anything that would pass through the room. It takes some effort to not break your step, and you avoid walking through center of the room in any case.

You raise your omnitool to get you bearings through its scanners and are rewarded with a shallow overview of the mechanisms hidden in the wall. As you skim over in search of the locks, Eve helpfully highlights the relevant sections. You give her an appreciative nod and get to work.

The work goes slowly and takes up most of your attention. Still, you count yourself lucky your cutter does anything at all. You’re quietly grateful to whoever put it together and then let himself get caught so it ended in your possession.

Of course, you only had one of them, which left Lea and Kris with little ways of helping you save for moral support.

“So how did you end up as cap’s second?” Lea asks Kris.

“I prefer to think of myself as an equal partner in our joint venture. Or, if you prefer to think in distinctive roles, brains of our operation.” The Krogan says in a serious tone.

“I see. And how did you meet up?” Lea presses on and you suppress a smirk.

“In a spirit of brotherhood as befits two wandering scholars that set out on a journey of adventure, in pursuit of uncovering the mysteries of past civilizations.”

“I get that, but why are you dodging the question?”

“I am most certainly not.” Kris huffed.

“You are.” Lea insisted. “He is, right?” She turns to Eve for support.

“Indeed that is my impression as well.” Eve agrees.

You keep quietly at work, pretending you’re too engrossed in your task to listen.

The Krogan sighs and yields.

“Fine, I’ll tell you the story.

It began when professor Stahlberg, the CIX academician who was in charge of collecting and processing leads for us to pursue, tasked both of us with investigating rumors of active Prothean machinery in remote jungles of Eden Prime. Apparently some explorer swore they heard some strangely rhythmical noise inconsistent with local wildlife during one of his expeditions and was talking about in the bar.

I dint know how the professor learned of the rumor that nobody else seemed to be taking seriously, since it was not the first time this gentleman brought forward outrageous claims, usually accompanied by reek of alcohol.

Whichever the case, I was tasked with investigating this rumour and so I did. I got the poor sod to share directions for me in exchange for more booze and headed off. Initially I thought it was a fool’s errand as I traversed the jungles for several days without any success.

Eventually though my persistence paid off when I came across a place when my finely honed hunter’s senses noticed the noise the wanderer was speaking of. With help of luck and my scanner suite I found an overgrown cave entrance and with some digging uncovered a precursor terminal that would presumably at least tell me something about the installation if not let me access it outright.”

Kris sighs.

“The terminal actually worked. It even contained a rudimentary translation suite that revealed enough of its functions that i was able to begin attempts to interact with it.

As it turned out, the required access code took form of an insidious puzzle, probably intended to only allow the worthy of accessing it to do so.

Unfortunately and to my great shame I was unable to figure out the mechanism and so turned to more underhanded methods of accessing it and began to attempt a system bypass. Unfortunately the installation had safe guards against intruders and my meddling set them off. The machine called some local predators to itself in attempt to chase me off.”

“It worked.” You can’t help but interject.

“Shut it, Ford. I was just making a tactical maneuver towards a better fighting position. Kris retorts slightly annoyed. “Anyway, t was just as I was busy fighting off some local beasts Ford arrived, presumably tracing my footsteps here, helped me scatter the creatures and then we delved into the ruins together. From there on it’s a tale for another time, I think.” Kris concludes.

“Nice.” Lea nodded. “And, uh, what was the puzzle?”

With another sigh the Krogan brings up his omnitool and browses through his archives to find the puzzle that bested the brains of your joint operation...

>I can be given without growing scarce
>I can be plain or shrouded by farce
>I can be burden even if I weigh not
>I am a treasure that never will rot

>When I arrive where I used to be scarce
>Often I reveal more absences of me
>While place that’s wholly without my kiss
>Often is ignorant of how badly I’m missed

(Feel free to give name of a crew member along with your solution, Lea or Eve, to see who comes up with the answer)

Also, you’re about finished with the Reaper. Where would you like to go next?
>Kourou
>Krogan hunting grounds
>London
>elsewhere
>job listing for available jobs
>communicator to talk to a character not present

(There will be opportunity to talk with crew on the way to your next destination.)

This will have been the sole posts for today. See you in the future, friends.

>>3571222
Lea: Love
>job listing for available jobs
I want to look at the Krogan problem, but I think we need more favours before we can solve the problem. And that colony that went dark might have a job about it now.

>>3571222
Lea : Knowledge

she's in need of a win

>job listing for available jobs

>>3571222
Trying some different ones

Lea: Hope, Winsdom

But I really think knowledge fits best

And lets see the jobs list after this

did we get it or should I keep guessing?

there is compliment and happiness

>>3571222
Lea: Knowledge

>job listing for available jobs

The metal actually yields, if with a measure of resistance, under your steady work, as you gradually unravel the shielding sections to get at the mechanism beneath. It’s only by corner of your attention that you notice Lea play with her omnitool as she works on picking at Kris’s archived puzzle.

It doesn’t take her long to come up with an answer.

“I got-“ she begins cheerfully, then stops herself. “No, wait, that’s close but doesn’t seem quite right... there! Now it’s done! Got it!” She picks up again.

“Damn. You’re good at this.” Kris nods slowly in appreciation.

“I have yet to discern the pattern.” Eve says slightly wistfully.

“Hehe. It’s an organic thing to think like one after all.” Lea says. “At first I thought the puzzle expressed bond between people, but it seems to reflect a concept of knowledge instead.”

“How are the two even close?” Kris huffs.

“Well, you cant have a proper connection to someone you don’t know, right? In some cultures the terms are closely related, even overlapping.”

“So you studied anthropology?” Kris asks.

“Only as far as what mom told me. This snippet though I have from...” pause. “erm... actually nevermind.”

“Oh no no no, you can’t back down like that after you beat me at my own job so easily. What was-“ Kris begins, but is interrupted.

At this moment, busy as you were trying to keep your beam precise, you finally undid the final clamp.

“Alright, should be easy enough to open now. Come help me, folks.”

“Thank you, Ford.” Lea says as she hops to your side to help you move one section of the gate while Kris and Eve take the other. With some effort the barrier is u done, revealing a cylindrical shaft heading out and away into the darkness, more than wide enough to accommodate your skycar.

“I believe this used to serve to deploy Reaper abominations in flight.” Eve remarks. “The other passages lead mostly to storage areas of varying sizes, probably intended to store the creatures for use in this manner until... new... supply can be sourced planetside.”

“And on that cheerful note let’s get out of here.” You snort. “Can you get the car to fly over?”

“Certainly. On it, Ford.it should take no more than few minutes.”

You nod and settle back to wait for your ride.

“So, Lea...” Kris speaks up.

“Nope. I’ve nothing to say.”

“Come on.”

“No.”

“You’ve seen me embarrassed enough. And Henri as well. Come on, we won’t laugh.” Kris pressed, correctly assessing Lea’s hesitance.

“Oh fine! It’s from junk novels, okay? I like to read cheap entertainment.” The Quarian yields.”

“Oooh.” Kris exclaims, and you’re pretty sure he’s grinning under his helmet.

“Guess that means you two can trade recommendations.” You decide to contain his smugness a little.”

“Oh shut up, Ford.”

Further exchange is interrupted by a beam of light shooting from the opened shaft. Sudden change of ambience makes you to jump back in alarm, but you quickly realize it’s just your car coming.

The for of you don’t bother to hide relief as you board the shuttle and leave the dead machine behind soon afterwards. Before long and without further incident you return back to the Chariot.

After you get out of your hardsuit you immediately head to the cockpit and raise commander Kang over the comm to notify him that his orbit should be considerably cleaner soon as the drones were already at work.

“Well done, Doctor Ford, and please relay my praise to lady Fari. We’re receiving telemetry from the drones and it seems they’re working like a charm. The Alliance owes you all for this, and I’ll be sure to see you’re properly recognized. In the meantime, thank you for your help. We’ll let you know when the project enters next phase where you can help.”

You acknowledge Kang’s words and terminate the comm. Well, that was one long enough deferred job done, it was time to look for new opportunities...

Allowing yourself some respite, you look out of the hatch. When it was not obscured by the silhouette of the Reaper you just left, comforting curvature dominated by white and blue glowed brightly under a rising sun. Firing thrusters to get the synthetic abomination out of the sight you settle in and watch it for a few moments.

After a while, you’re not sure how long, you nod to yourself. Its time to decide on your next course of action and so you bring up a comm panel and prepare an extranet query.

>fly me to the moon
Synthetic insights is still looking for a ferry for some of its personnel to Luna.

>mission of mercy
Parameters seem to have changed. Sirta foundation, together with a few charities, had put together an emergency shipment they’d like to send to Enceladus in hopes that there’s someone there left to accept them. Alliance can’t seem to be able to spare resources to investigate an illegal settlement.

>Krogan battlesports
The Krogan are still looking for solution to their boredom and are looking for consultancy.

>The March of industry
Bull Moose Ltd., a construction and landscaping company, is looking for someone to do some heavy lifting as they prepare to set up a headquarters in newly designated green zone near Anchorage.

>new query (specify agency to look up job posting from, like Turians, Alliance, a specific corporation or Organisation...)

>call someone (specify who)

You did good, friends. And now I have to withdraw once more.

Thank you for bearing with me.

>>3573079

>mission of mercy
Parameters seem to have changed. Sirta foundation, together with a few charities, had put together an emergency shipment they’d like to send to Enceladus in hopes that there’s someone there left to accept them. Alliance can’t seem to be able to spare resources to investigate an illegal settlement.

Let's help those guys that seem to be left stranded

>>3573079
>>mission of mercy

>>3573079
>mission of mercy

>>3573079
>>mission of mercy

>>3573079
>mission of mercy
Seems super time intensive.

For once the call on what to do next is an easy one. Still, you decide to run it by crew. Flipping the comm, you raise the question:

“How do you guys feel about some pro bono work?”

“As opposed to what else that we’ve been doing for the last week?” Kris asks back.

“Fair point. Anyway, the job is about bringing some supplies to the squatters on Enceladus that’ve gone silent recently. If they haven’t frozen to death yet.”

“Fine by me.” Kris confirms.

“Sounds good.” Lea reports.

“Where you go, I follow.” Eve says.

“Knew I can count on you.” You say and switch the comm over to planetary network, looking up the contact person for the task. Moments later you face on your viewscreen a smiling round face framed by curly dark hair.

“Stefan Neseremed, relief coordinator at Sirta Foundation. Who do I have the honor of talking to?” The man introduces himself.

“I’m Henri Ford, Captain of MSV Chariot and a special consultant for Citadel Institute of Xenoarchaeology, and I’m calling you about the request posted by Sirta for a civilian freighter Captain. I wish to offer my services.”

The man’s mile, contrary to what common sense would suggest be possible, grows even wider. “How auspicious! Not many of my colleagues expected the call for help to be answered. It is fortunate that at least one good soul with a space raft found it in themselves to reply.”

“Technically there’s four of us aboard, but I suppose that’s beside the point for now. Where do we load up, where should we bring the supplies to exactly and do you have any special requests we could accommodate?

“Well, the loading zone has been set up at one of our partner’s green zone. You have a Kowloon, yes?”

“Indeed.”

“You should have no problems then, given the reported size of the settlement we’ve prepared a few shipping containers that will fit into one of the cargo modules with plenty of room to spare. We also have a team of four to oversee distribution, medical care and repairs, if necessary. Can you accommodate those?”

“Certainly, especially for a short trip like this.”

“Excellent. Truly the fate smiles at us and those bereft of hope today. The target location is to the best of our ability at the foot of Cashmere cliff at the Southern Hemisphere, more precise coordinates will be provided to you with the cargo. Please, proceed to the designated landing zone as hastily as you will.”

“Will do.” You say. “Chariot over and out.” You kill the comm, input the coordinates and let the autopilot get to work. As the freighter begins its descent, you ponder how to spend the time...

>seek out a crew member and chat with them
>call someone over the comm
>abuse Eve’s omnipresence to watch over the ship and take a power nap (and time skip)
>something else

>>3574601
>>something else

play something to kill time, get some recreation on our lounge, if anyone is up to they can join us

>>3574601
Go bother the quarian while we travel
We weren't able to pime fun at her novels

>>3574601
>>3574696
>>3574743
Can we do these at the same time?

>>3574601

>seek out a crew member and chat with them

>>3574785
invite Lea to some down time? works for me

At first you contemplate gathering your party for a bit of leisure time in the lounge while it's free. Your taking passengers for this assignment means it will be unavailable to you for a few hours at least, and then you'll be busy investigating the pirate squat. You had a feeling it's going to be another of those days that feel like they take weeks...

However, checking your instruments you note that you have only just over an hour until touchdown. Whatever you'd start you'd probably have to interrupt before you got into the mood. So you settle for checking on your crew instead.

"Eve, can you watch over the instruments while I make my rounds?"

"Certainly, Ford."

"Thank you, Eve." You say and head out of the cockpit.

Your first stop is the lounge. As it turns out, it's also your last stop for a while as you spot Lea in, embroiled in lecture. Recalling the recent conversation you realize what it is she's likely to be reading.

"So, what sort of wisdom on the alien cultures are you uncovering?" You ask.

Lea shuts the projection off, leans back and stretches theatrically. You get the message: not this shit again.

"Oh lay off. As if you don't have interests you're embarrassed about. I've found the blasto miniseries, the animated rendition to boot, in the library."

"No comment." You say. That one was downloaded by Kris, but you decide to not pursue the topic lest your own stockpile comes into the spotlight. Which ones was that again?

>Bekenstein Jones, Explorer of Attican
>Magical Girl Gertrude, Angel of the Citadel
>Samson McArmstrong, N7 Commando
>Dick Chevalier, P.I.
>Matriarch Ovisanna's bedchamber tales (rated T for cuTe)
>other

"There you have it." Lea concludes, oblivious to your internal struggle (you hope).

"Nevertheless, I'm curious what titles are making rounds among Quarian youth these days. Or is your taste so unique?"

"Well, the fact I'm being mildly embarrassed by this should tell you the answer." Lea says.

"There's nothing wrong with liking things." You point out.

"Oh fine already. Keelah. What's this about my reading habits that makes people actually ask me about them?"

"Maybe they want to tease you back after you tried your arts on them before?" You offer.

"That's..." She pauses. "Hmm. I haven't considered this, but I guess it could be..." Her eyes narrow. "What's your angle?"

You grin. "I admit this is amusing." Then you let it shring into a smile. "But in honesty I'm also curious. So please, miss Fari, would you share your secret passion with me?"

"Well, how can I refuse a request like that? Suit yourself." She says, reactivating her omnitool and sending you a data packet. You check your own omnitool.

"'Shepard and the Warrior Poet'? Seriously?" You stare at the title.

"Hey, you asked!"

"No, not that... I mean, isn't their work classified?"

"It's all fiction, of course. Just with famous names."

"And how did the publisher get at the rights to use those?"

"In exchange for a discount in a pet shop on Illium, if what it says on the cover is true."

"Unbelievable."

"Like pretty much everything inside. But amusing enough."

"Fair enough. Thanks for sharing, Lea."

"Don't mention it, cap." She says. "I'm serious." She adds. "Not a word!"

"Understood." You say with a smile.

>Anything else you'd like to talk about? (specify)
>Go look for someone else
>Head back to cockpit, maybe you should sit at the helm during landing after all
>something else

With this I retire. Safe travels, friends.

>>3575287
>>Dick Chevalier, P.I.
or
>Matriarch Ovisanna's bedchamber tales (rated T for cuTe)

I like investigation and cute things, what can I say?

>Anything else you'd like to talk about? (specify)
share our secret passion

tell her we saw on the news that Shep may be around the galaxy, we can form a fan club and try to get an autograph kek

>>3575287
>>Dick Chevalier, P.I.
>Go look for someone else
Kris.

>>3575287
>Dick Chevalier, P.I.


>Anything else you'd like to talk about? (specify)
Pass her the question about the pattern of the structures inside the reaper ship, we were not capable of answering that.

For a moment you let the silence settle in and Lea resumes her lecture while you let your thoughts wander to your own choice in entertainment. Dick Chevalier, P.I. A cool and witty detective from good old Earth, originating from a village somewhere in Louisiana, the series has been around since your childhood and while its popularity never made it quite mainstream it gathered a following wide enough to warrant a remake that has been ongoing just before the Reapers came, and two spinoff series that never quite left the main series's shadow even though they were well received by the fans.

"Well, fair's fair." You decide eventually. "You showed me yours, I'll show you mine - check out this folder if you feel like you want to see something exotic." You say, sending the Quarian a link to your corner of the library.

"Hmm?" She looks up from the text again. "Oh, I see." She scrolls through the selection. "So that's where you got the grin from, huh? Seemed cool to you?"

"Maybe. Are you saying it's not? You wound me, miss Fari."

"aaand those replies. Alright alright. Thanks, cap. I appreciate the gesture."

You chuckle internally. Has the series been such a factor in your formation? Or was it just that it resonated with your tastes that you came to enjoy it so? You like to think you enjoyed it for the mysteries rather than character mannerisms, though.

"Anyway," You decide to shift gear. "I wanted your opinion on what we saw in that Reaper. What do you think of the structures we've seen inside? Not what you'd expect from an AI spacecraft, is it?"

"True," Lea responds, putting the book aside once more as she focuses on your query. "although in fairness the Geth vessels also have their insides quite roomy, large enough to accomodate sapient humanoids. It's true they also have crew of mobile platforms that can perform maintenance, but the same thing could be done by drones designed specifically for movement in smaller corridors."

"Maybe to move larger parts that cannot be broken down without compromising them?" You guess.

"Could be a factor, yes, although then the logistical network could be optimized for these. Meanwhile you get a corridor layout that could accomodate and give access to humans... or our people. On top of that, the default shape of platforms Geth use is also reminiscent of us."

"Do you have flaps around your eyes? What about mandibles?"

"You'd like to know, wouldn't you? But still, all those seemingly illogical decisions have to have an explanations, don't they?"

"Well, the obvious one that comes to mind is that the Geth are... sentimental?"

"That is one theory, yes. But the reason could also be something else we haven't considered."

"Has someone asked the Geth?"

"I don't know."

"Hmm... and do you think that maybe Reapers show the same tendencies?"

"Some sort of hidden pining for their makers? Or wish to carry on their legacy? I have no idea, cap. But it is what I thought when going through the wide corridors obviously made for crew."

"Do you think that this setup is conscious, or maybe something they're not aware of themselves?"

"That's another mystery, and one that would require us to know how they think. Which should be impossible now, if the superweapon worked like Eve said it did."

"Hmm." You hum. Before you can think of another question, however, Eve speaks over the intercom. "Ford, we're preparing for atmospheric re-entry. Should I handle it, or do you want to?"

>Let Eve handle the landing, talk with Lea some more or go somewhere else within the ship
>Head to the bridge and take the helm.
>something else

>>3576429
>>Head to the bridge and take the helm.

>>3576429
>Head to the bridge and take the helm.

I love that part!


>"Do you have flaps around your eyes?
Lol , smooth as always Ford

"I got it." You say into the intercom. "Kris, Lea, you heard her. We'll be landing in a while, make sure we're ready to accept guests."

Kris grunts an acknowledgment back over the comm, Lea nods and gets about checking the lounge facilities to make sure nothing is amiss as you head over to the cockpit to oversee the landing procedure.

Settling into the chair you go over the instruments to confirm everything is in order. Chariot is currently dropping through the air, characteristic shape of the Apenine peninsula growing before your eyes. You double check the coordinates and sure enough, your designated landing zone is right where the Saint Peter plaza used to be, currently one of few undisputed green zones in this region of European subcontinent and location of one of the largest settlements for the displaced peoples in the area. This location had to be cleared as green pretty soon, considering how clear cut its legal status must have been, you muse. Which was probably a good thing, considering what a mess rest of the region apparently was in that respect. You smile wryly over the irony as the place was more or less point of origin for majority of continents' legal systems, or at least a significant contributor to them.

"This is the Holy See traffic control to MSV Chariot." A deep male voice calls out through the comm when you receive a groundside transmission. "You are expected, please proceed to your designated landing zone."

"Acknowledged. Over and out." You respond simply.

As the landscape grew closer and resolved into more discernible shapes it became no less dreary than other urban complexes, even with the restless civil engineering teams cutting through in their effort to reconnect the infrastructure and the fairly significant blue zones connected to the freshly laid landlines. Majority of surface of the eternal city still consisted of ruins, wreckage and ash. There was lively traffic in them, despite their red zone designation, as the locals considered the color more of a guideline than a warning.

Finally your ship approaches the landing area, a section of the circular square where thousands of faithful met their end during first days of the Reaper arrival. Surrounding columnade was mostly reduced to rubble and the central obelisk was gone, its toppled wreckage presumably hauled to the side so the plaza remains unobstructed. The cathedral itself was not as lucky as the monument in Rio in escaping destruction, although it was in surprisingly advanced stage of being reconstructed, workers and construction vehicles milling around newly erected walls and scaffolding.

Your observation is cut short when the freighted finally touches down. Looking around the landing zone with external feeds you spot several containers having been already hauled nearby, ready to be loaded, a group of four people - well, three people and an Asari - clustered in shadow of one of them, their attention now fixed on the Chariot. You head out towards the airlock to meet them, but not before you key into the controls unlocking one of the storage bays.

Leaving the bridge you find your crew already waiting for you. Eve has taken on her human form. Together you emerge from the ship to meet your presumed passengers.

"Captain Ford! Welcome to the Vatican city." One of the four, a short but lively looking lady. "I'm Jessica Schumacher, working for the Sirta Foundation. I've been task to oversee this relief operation."

"Pleased to meet you. Since you know who I am, allow me to introduce my crew: doctor Kris Tufferson, Lea'Fari nar Namek and Eve Ferrum." You introduce each of them in turn.

"Honored and grateful for your offer to assist us, captain." Jessica says. "Please, meet the specialists who will participate on the relief operation and your passengers:"

Jessica indicates a lanky Asari dressed in an utilitarian jumpsuit, well fitted tool belt hanging at her waist.

"This is miss Kareeda, she-"

"Before you ask, no, I'm not the medic."

"I... didn't think you were." You admit. "That's not exactly a medic's outfit."

"Oh, judging book by its cover, are we? But thanks. People always have this-"

"Kari, please."

"Sorry."

"Ahem. As you might've guessed, she is the engineer. She can repair virtually anything assuming it's not melted down entirely, sometimes even then. Now,"

Jessica motions towards a middle aged man clad in simple formal overalls with a small golden cross attached to his neckband. "This is father Paolo Leonforte, psychologist and chaplain. He'll offer moral support to any traumatized colonists we could find."

"Well met." He says with a small nod and a small smile.

That leaves the final member, a giant of a man towering well over you, with short black hair, eyes of gray and a chiseled face.

"And this is Viktor Malchenko, our physician."

"Hello, captain."

"Honored to make your acquaintance." You repeat.

>Ask someone something
>Ask them to wait, you want to take a look around (specify where/what to look for)
>Show them into the ship, no point in wasting time now
>something else

>>3576519
>>Ask someone something
what information they have about the colony and what we can expect when we arrive
then
>Show them into the ship, no point in wasting time now


now we will have to keep an eye out for Dick P.I. lines being dropped in the middle of conversations to tease us kek

>>3576519

>Show them into the ship, no point in wasting time now

>>3576521
+1

Giving the group another look, you nod slowly and say: "Alright then. Welcome aboard, ladies and gentlemen. I suppose there's no point in waiting around. Please, follow me on board."

"Certainly." Jessica says and turns to a group of labourers that have been waiting for a signal nearby, motioning for them to come over and load up. The men wordlessly move over and get to work, dragging the containers with help of some mass effect drones alongside forklifts. Sizing them up you asses it won't take them long to stow the containers into your cargo bay.

With that the eight of you head into the ship.

"What can you tell me about the colony we're supposedly going to?" You ask Jessica as you walk.

"Not much in ways of specifics, I'm afraid. I've been given to understand the settlement has been founded on ruins of what was originally a research station, later repurposed into a water extraction plant and then destroyed by the Reapers. The... unaffiliated combatants have taken advantage of the readily available resources and set up an independent, and illegal, settlement there."

"It would seem the enterprise was rather short lived." Kris remarks.

"Let's not think the worst for now. We hope the issue is just that of some communications malfunction." Jessica shakes her head.

"Some of their friends would've checked in on them by now if that were the case, no?" Lea asks.

"Assuming they have any. Those pirates are not exactly the most sociable folk." Kris shrugs.

"However, the Quarian lady has a point." Paolo says. "It would indeed be expected that at least other outcasts would want to confirm fate of the colony that assuredly offers more amenities than mercenary ship is likely to, if not out of concern then at least with aim of looting it."

"That's rather cynical outlook for a priest." Kris says.

"I first have to understand the people to help them." He shrugs.

"Regardless, we haven't heard anything of the sorts. If anyone did go to investigate, he was not heard of again." Jessica concludes.

"Sounds ominous." You say. "Anyway, welcome aboard the Chariot." You say, clearing the airlock and stepping into the spinal corridor. "This way is aft and the engineering section." You say, pointing to the back of the ship. "Passenger and Crew facilities, as well as the Bridge are towards the bow." You continue, pointing in the opposite direction and beginning to walk. The others follow in suit.

When you pass by the cargo hold supplies are being loaded into, you open the door. "Here will be the cargo we're bringing." You inform the passengers as you watch one of the containers slide into position. Jessica's group and the workers exchange some waves and nods and you move on.

Finally you reach the lounge. "This is the passenger lounge, vidwall and refreshments, such as they are, are available for your perusal." You say, ushering the passengers inside, the giant medic having to exercise extra care to fit his frame through the door. "If you wanted something, or had any question, don't hesitate to use the intercom or approach any one of us."

"Thank you for your hospitality, captain Ford. I'll be sending coordinates of the settlement to your systems momentarily."

"Good, good. Anyway, we have to wait for the loading to be finished, although it seemed like it wouldn't take more than a few minutes." You note. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to make sure we're on our way as soon as possible."

"Certainly." Jessica smiles at you.

With that you withdraw from the lounge and move towards the bridge.

"Pst. Ford. I'm gonna go to the cargo bay. You know, to make sure you know everything's in... order." Kris says quietly.

"Noted." You say. You can't really blame him for being suspicious, given your track record."

You watch the Krogan head out back, then go on into the cockpit, alongside Lea and Eve. Taking a seat you continue to watch the movement outside for a moment. It's early afternoon outside and it doesn't seem like anything particularly organized is taking place, but you see a number of people traversing the square on their way to their destination, some of them clearly on walks of leisure - couples with children. Small groups of friends. Small miracles. You wonder if such units somehow survived the crisis together, evading the many dangers of besieged Earth, or if they got together after it.

"Ford, we're set to go." Kris's voice comes over the intercom. "All clear." he adds, ostensibly redundantly. But you know what he means.

"Thanks, Kris. Thank the crews for their work, would you."

"Way ahead of you, Ford."

"Good man."

With a look you confirm that the hold can be safely locked shut and make it so. Before long all lights are green - you activate the drive core, fire the thrusters and the Chariot accelerates off towards the skies, set on course for Saturn's icy moon of Enceladus. You were on your way to another mystery, another adventure.

You have some time during the trip. How will you spend it?

>In the cockpit, reading more news or something else
>Talking with the crew
>In the lounge, with the passengers
>In the sleep pod (timeskip?)
>something else.

>>3576596
>In the lounge, with the passengers
>In the sleep pod (timeskip?)

Talk with them and then head to sleep, I feel like we haven't slep for dome time, read Sheps bad literature to get to sleep

>>3576596
>>In the lounge, with the passengers
about the foundation and how did they end up here

>>3576666
also, satan has more plans

while we distract them, have Kris check the cargo thoroughly and Lea and Eve can try to discover what they can about our new passengers.
the last 2 times we brought someone aboard they were hiding something and that is not even counting bad literature

>>3576596
>>In the lounge, with the passengers

For a while you watch the landscape grow distant below you, the curve of horizon tightening every moment. Once more confirming that the Chariot is well on course you clamber out of the seat again.

"I'm going to keep our guests company for a while. Eve, Lea, would you be so kind and confirm their stories? I don't want to be paranoid, but considering our track record I'd rather forestall any more surprises."

"Certainly, Ford. I can tell you right away that I've found no reference to any of our passengers in either of the clandestine data packs we've picked up so far, but I'll see what I can find." Eve informs.

"I'll do what I can, cap." Lea says.

"Thanks."

Leaving the cockpit you give the courtesy of knocking before entering the lounge.

"Captain Ford!" Jessica says. "Do you have more questions?"

"In a manner of speaking, I suppose. I'd like to get to know better the people I'm on a job with." You shrug and move to sit at one of the extra stools that were available for when the lounge's couch was not sufficient.

"Of course. We all do, I believe. Some of us have only just met shortly before boarding your vessel, too." The woman says. "I and Kari work for Sirta but don Paolo is coming on behalf of Caritas while doctor Malchenko is a volunteer."

"I'm with the Guild." Viktor says, referring to the loose union encompassing the "fake N7" volunteers who fought through the Reaper crisis. "Not much chances to put those skills to use these days."

"Medical skills? I should hope fighting will not be necessary here." You say.

"In a, how you said it? Manner of speaking. Serving as a village doctor in a refugee camp? No thank you. Too boring. Exploring spooky settlement with a chance to save lives? That's more to my liking."

"I see." You nod. "What about you, padre?" You turn to the priest.

"I'm here more by chance than by choice, although naturally I welcome any chance to serve my fellow man. In this case I was appointed by Caritas alongside a shipment of some bare essentials to provide moral and psychological support."

"The charity has graciously agreed to pool resources with us for this mission." Jessica explains. "We can offer some medical goods and equipment, naturally, but Caritas has also collected a bulk of foodstuffs and various less sophisticated supplies."

"By 'we' you mean Sirta, right? I don't actually know much about your organisation."

"We're a research and charity foundation specialized in biotechnologies and medical research. I'm sure you've come to be intimately familiar with our most famous contribution, the Medigel."

"Everyone knows that much, I reckon." You nod. "Though I don't know how much you appreciate being known for that alone."

"True enough, we have quite a lot of other projects running, including medical hardware or protective gear. I suppose there's no point in denying though that medigel remains the most widespread and best recognized."

"Is it also the source of your funding, then?"

"Well, I'd be lying if I said it was not. But as far as I know, the board has set the margin only barely above cost to keep it as accessible as possible. After all, we can't continue to develop medicine if we go bankrupt."

"Fair enough." You say and turn to the last of your passengers, the Asari engineer.

"Huh." She says when she realizes attention's shifted at her. "Oh, right. We're doing this then. Well, there's not much to say. I fix things. Sirta likes things fixed. So they hire me to fix what they thing needs fixing."

"ooo-kay..." you nod slowly and notice your omnitool pinging with a received message. You bring it up and read:

"In case you're wondering, we haven't found anything that would cast any suspicion on our passengers and their stories seem to check out."

You keep it to yourself, but allow yourself to relax slightly at the reassurance from the girls in cockpit.

"What about you then, captain Ford?" Jessica asks. "Why did you choose to volunteer your ship to this cause? I take it freighter captains are not usually fond of Terminus outcasts."

>They're people too, and it seems nobody else is in position to help them at the moment, so...
>Whatever can make a base of pirates fall silent can possibly mean danger for rest of us down the line
>Actually, I kinda sympathise with their drive for independence
>Actually, I'm more interested in the mystery the silent base poses
>something else

And with the answer given...

>Share a story of your own (pick a specific tale from your recorded adventures, or a time period (before/during reaper crisis/early days of adventure...)
>Make smalltalk for a while, then retire for the night (timeskip?)
>Ask someone about something

File: 1307342801468.jpg (206 KB, 1920x1080)

206 KB JPG

With that I retire once more into the dark.
Safe travels, friends.

>>3577416
>>They're people too, and it seems nobody else is in position to help them at the moment, so...
>Share a story of your own (pick a specific tale from your recorded adventures, or a time period (before/during reaper crisis/early days of adventure...)
we are not a freighter captain, that was only during the crisis, we are actually a xenoarcheologist....and tell them of our job since they were kind enough to tell theirs

>>3577436
+1

“Well, firstly, pirates or not, they are still people too, and part of the fleet that helped fight the Reapers. So if I’m in unique position to help when others can’t, I guess I’d feel bad about not giving it a shot.” You say, but continue immediately: “Secondly, as I said, I work for the CIX, not as a regular freight hauler, so I haven’t had so many opportunities to detest terminus mercenaries on principle.”

Although, in fairness, you had more than enough hostile encounters with them all the same. Still, though, you tried to avoid assuming collective guilt, however warranted it might be by circumstance.

“I see. I respect your casual selflessness if that is the case, Captain Ford.” Jessica says.

“You’re too kind, especially considering all the professional selflessness you’re surrounded by.” You reply, eliciting a chuckle around the table.

“Anyway,” You say, “this is not the first time I’m flying to a silent outpost.” You decide to volunteer a story, considering how forthright your guests seemed.

“It was an unlicensed dig, funded by Exogeni as it later turned out, that apparently uncovered a precursor - Prothean, to be precise - ruin on a gas giant moon and fell silent shortly after reporting the find. Professor Stahlberg tasked me and my partner to head over and check on what they found and what happened to them.” You pause. “It was, at that time, not our first trip outside of Citadel or Alliance space. The one just prior made us a bit leery of accepting the assignment, but professor’s leads haven’t led us astray before.

So we went, without detours and diversions and with only brief stops at refueling stations. Thankfully, our trip to the Paz system was uneventful. It was only when we arrived that the excitement started.

The outpost was located well off the equatorial band, at the bottom of a rift in a glacier, warmed by a geothermal dig. First difficulty was reaching the outpost in the first place because at some point something caused the glacier to fracture further and a massive slab of ice slid into the ravine, blocking off direct access from above. Fortunately the ice was compact enough to not break up and bury the outpost entirely... yet. Of course we had to find alternative means of access though, which we did some distance towards the south, another breach in the glacier from which a tunnel led up to the outpost, owing to a stream warmed by its waste heat running below the layer of ice.

We had to leave the ship behind but we managed to at least reach the dig in our skycar. What we found there was not quite like anything we expected. The scientists were still there, alive and at a glance unharmed. They were however definitely not well. Barely eating enough to survive, let alone keep up with demands of their labor, locked in some sort of trance they worked fervently to dig deeper into the frozen ruins the base was placed upon.

Since they didn’t seem to respond to us at all we decided to get to the bottom of it ourselves, exploring the ruins on our own, reading through last of the lucidly written logs and eventually figuring out that the trance begun when the expedition managed to activate one of the ruins’ secondary power sources. It turns out its activation was most likely what got the outpost buried in ice, but more importantly it powered whatever device was influencing the prospectors’ minds. A damaged beacon, as we later found out.

So we turned it off.” You fall silent for a while to look around at your passengers.

“Did that help?” Karre da asks.

“Well, the diggers stopped digging and came to their senses somewhat. Not quite though, they were left crying and sobbing. We gave them what little care we managed by dragging them to barracks, but we had another issue: the temperature started to drop, poring a danger to the scientists whose suits were drained and they relied on Prothean power source to keep the dig livable. And on top of that all a Krogan warband and arrived, trailing us from our ship, to lay claim to the site.”

“This Sounds like a vid tier bullshit to me desu” Kareeda says.

“How did you get out of that situation?” Don Paolo asks.

Jessica and Viktor are simply waiting for you to continue.

>finish the story
>leave them hanging

And afterwards...
>talk some more to someone about something here
>go seek out some of the crew
>go get some sleep while you still can (timeskip?)
>go read something/watch something
>other plan

Retcon:
>gas giant moon
For
>sole world in Paz system

Because I forgot to adjust when I. Add up my mind where the thing took place.

>>3578742
>finish the story

as much I would like to leave them hanging I'm curious too

>go get some sleep while you still can (timeskip?)
reeeeeeesssttt

>>3578742

>finish the story
>go read something/watch something
News about the investigation

>>3578742
>finish the story
>go read something/watch something
News

You grin inwardly at the interest your tale has sparked but do your best to maintain a serious visage.

“Well, since we knew we couldn’t possibly ferry all the prospectors into safety even if we made multiple return trips with the car, only one option was left available to us - try and turn the unexpected problem into a blessing in disguise.

Initially we attempted talking. Or I did, to be more precise, do my best to try and reason with the Krogan leader. I argued that the area was unstable, that the devices inside literally turned people mad, that their help would cost them nothing but their time and win them prestige and reward from the Exogeni.

I failed. The Krogan rebuffed my arguments with reason - that even damaged pieces of Prothean technology were valuable at black market, that any prestige they gained would be of null benefit to their livelihood and that Citadel corporation had zero incentives to observe law or good morals this far from Citadel law enforcement and press. Another rebuttal came through the ideology Krogans, especially the neighboring clans respected, that of strength. Helping a bunch of humans would be seen as weakness and harm their position.

Pretty much resigned to deciding who to stuff into the skycar, assuming we could even get past the Krogan party, I’ve just about given up hope when Kris came up with some ancient Krogan rite that would determine the validity of claim for the ruins. It of course boiled down to a fight, but at least it was a more or less regulated one between the warband’s leader and his krantt - warrior’s closest friends and allies - and Kris and his, which entailed me.

The warlord had an advantage in numbers as well as muscle, as he took two of his companions to his side, and so our only chance was to take one of them out of the picture as soon as possible so that we could leverage our better mobility to outmaneuver the remaining two. Of course, they knew that as well and did their best to rush Kris before we could pull our plan.

Fortunately for everyone involved we ended up ahead. I managed to tag one of their men during the initial assault and after some mildly protracted game of cat and mouse we ultimately claimed victory.

Thus the Krogan were forced to acknowledge validity of Kris’s claim and could help us, in exchange for our gracious hospitality of not shooting at them... more, bring the freezing scientists to their camp to warm up and eventually move them back to civilization. I’m not sure how well they recovered.”

“What about the ruin? It now belongs to Doctor Tufferson?” Jessica asks.

“In the eyes of Krogan law, I suppose. Exogeni had a different opinion, fortunately nothing they could do to enforce it though until we brought our case to the CIX. I’m not sure how Professor Stahlberg did it, but somehow he got the Council to task the Alliance with charge of the site and Alliance in turn tasked the Krogans with providing security services. As far as I know, that arrangement worked up until Reaper invasion.”

“Ha ha! What a turn of events!” Viktor laughs and the lounge furniture trembles. “Seems like in the end everyone wins, yes?”

“Well, I imagine Exogeni might feel differently, although it did get all their people back and got credited with the site discovery.” You grin.

“Thank you for the story, Captain.” Jessica nods. “I didn’t imagine life of a xenoarchaeologist can get quite so exciting... and dangerous.”

“...still think it’s bs.” Kari murmurs weakly.

“In any event I believe I’ve imposed on you long enough. Please, enjoy your trip and notify me or others if you need anything.” You excuse yourself and, following a chorus of polite acknowledgments, withdraw from the lounge.

You have half a mind to take full advantage of the trip’s length and hop into a sleep pod bud curiosity gets the better of you and you find yourself sitting at the table in the crew area and pulling up the latest news reports instead.

“-ly Wong and the Citadel News Net. I and my team are currently on our way back from the Migrant Fleet, our on site investigations more or less concluded. To the best of our knowledge we can confirm that the version presented by the joint investigation official statements is technically truthful. However, we have also learned that the investigation, while formally closed, has links that are still being pursued - on Earth proper, and we are not just talking about the civilian captain involved in thwarting the plot. However, at this juncture it’s too soon to reveal more without inviting undue amount of speculation.”

“Thank you, Emily.” Konrad the anchor took over the newscast. “In the meantime let us see what else is new down here. Anonymous message boards are abuzz with conspiracy theories regarding recent Alliance raid on the NSD provisional headquarters and the various opinion tubes are not falling behind in recirculating them. The activity exploded in particular following massive leak of private data pertaining to daily itineraries of political staff of several different factions. The theories range from leak of conscience from an insider through underhanded political tricks to intervention of unknown aliens or indoctrination theories. Fallout of this social media storm is expected to mix up the voting preferences and to be brought up during candidate debate that will take place in two days’ time in the Rome blue zone.

In other news, Alliance patrol chased away a group of vandals who were apparently plotting to use mass effect drills to reshape the Mount Rushmore monument into visages of Commander Shepard and his allies. Damage to the landmark has supposedly been prevented because the patrol, called by a concerned passer-by reporting a suspiciously agitated group, caught the vandals still engaged in an argument on choice of allies to accompany the war hero on the remodeled sculpture.”

>more news
>go to sleep
>something else

With this I retire once more.

Safe travels, friends.

>>3579269
>>go to sleep

they couldn't vandalize the monument because they engaged in fanboy wars, poetry

>>3579269
>go to sleep

>>3579269
>>go to sleep

>>3579269
>go to sleep
Just carve it somewhere else in the mountains, you jerks.

You are flying.

You traverse the great void, feeling gusts of solar winds on your face, warm and soft like morning sunbeams waking you from rest. You spread your... senses? And bask in the glow.

After several moments you’re made aware of several other lights. Seven winking stars... but they aren’t stars. They flicker and weave around you, carried by the same current. You reach out to one, but can’t really put your finger on it. Might as well be a star.

You look around, further out. Behind you is a familiar sight - your homeworld, Earth. Somehow it looks much more vibrant than you remember it, the blue jewel glowing with inner light.

“Terminate the prisoners.” Someone says. You turn around. There’s nothing there to see. There is a strike of thunder. There is a flash of green against a backdrop of pale blue. You know that the blade has been stayed, but you still can’t see anything. There is a shift and you sense a dark mass, quietly undulating as it scatters into the solar winds. It is at peace, and it is an alien feeling to it, but a welcome one.

You turn around once more. You’re back on your way away and ahead of you, far, far away, you see a single spark. Bright, but alone in the dark.

Another movement makes you realize something about the dark. It’s not the darkness of void, of absence of substance, of the volume. This is a darkness deeper than the void and it’s very much a *presence*. It is smothering, as you can tell by sporadic irregularities wiggling to break free.

It is timeless. It is tireless. It is unyielding.

And you’re headed straight for it.

A flicker of light passes straight through you, for a moment engulfing you in its glow, shaking you from your reverie.

>expansive red
>vivid green
>monochromatic blue
>cheerful orange
>intense violet
>tranquil white
>subdued gray

This will have been the sole post for today. Safe travels friends!

>>3581510
>>intense violet

>>3581510
>intense violet

>>3581510
>intense violet

>>3581510
>>monochromatic blue

>>3581510
>intense violet

“Hey, you alright?” A feminine voice came through a veil of violet that turned to darkness and then resolved to your opening eyes. You were resting at the table in crew canteen. You must’ve been more tired than you thought... still, despite suboptimal position you felt refreshed by the rest.

As your senses come back to you you recognize source of the voice. It’s Kareeda, the Asari technician.

“Hmrgh. Ahem.” You clear your throat. “Miss Kareeda, yes? Can I help you?”

“Doubt it.” She shrugs. “But I figure I can help you. I’ve been talking to your Quarian.”

“Lea’Fari?” You diplomatically correct her.

“That’s the one.” She doesn’t miss a beat. “She showed me her toys and as we were talking shop it occurred to me that since we’re going to a frozen world, we should have appropriate tooling in our omnitools.”

“What... do you have in mind?”

“Oh we’ve already handled it. Don’t worry, we didn’t even use up your stock... much. Here.”

She hands you a compact omnitool module, it’s dimensions similar to that of the cutter you’re presently sporting.

“What am I looking at?”

“Put it on, but don’t try it out unless you have enough space in front of you. Look at me. I’m going to show off.”

You raise your gaze to the Asari who takes several steps to the middle of the crew section until she’s satisfied with amount of space available to her, brings up an omnitool and...

The tool’s fabricator whines in protest as it’s being strained to its limit, alongside with its mass effect generators that generate and propel, respectively, solid, orange flowing and perfectly symmetrical teeth along a similarly orange impromptu fabricated frame, curving back before dissipating and being recovered by the omnitool in its scoop.

“Awesome, isn’t it?”

“I have to admit it looks impressive. However, I already have a beam cutter.”

“Heard of it.” The Asari shakes her head. “Not very appropriate for working with reflective surfaces though. Believe me, this will come in handy. I know if did for me.”

You take position in a similarly spacious portion of the compartment as Kareeda and try to activate the tool. It goes off immediately, whirring obediently and maybe a bit too expectantly.

“Although, unless you want to carry a huge powerpack at your back, you should choose carefully where to use it.”

“I see. Thank you, miss Kareeda.” You say, collapsing the omnitool. “I’m sure it will, indeed, come in handy.”

“Don’t mention it. Was kinda bored anyway. At any rate, you got any questions? Preferably pertaining to the job.

>ask a question
>no, you’re fine

This was the sole post for today. I withdraw for now.

>>3583738
>>no, you’re fine

missed my guess

>>3583738
>no, you’re fine

>>3583749
I was expecting someone else too

>>3583738
>no, you’re fine

>>3583738
>>no, you’re fine

Who did you think you’d get, friends?

I do hope it wasn’t Lea just because Tali wears purple

>>3585119
not because she would be wearing but aren't quarians actually purple? I could be mistaken

>>3585119
I just like Purple, it's my favorite colour.

“Can’t seem to think of any, right now.” You smile at her.

“Of course not.” She snorts, but reciprocates the smile.

“Bridge to crew and passengers.” Eve’s voice comes over the intercom. “We’re arriving into orbit of Enceladus. Captain Ford, you’re advised to come to the bridge.”

“Right. Guess that’s my cue to get suited up.” The Asari says, nods and heads out of the crew mess, only to stop after several steps.

“Did you know...” she pauses. “...that you talk out of your sleep?”

“I do?” You frown. This was news to you, and you’re pretty sure Kris would’ve told you if that were the case. And presented evidence, too.

“Yeah. Had a sad childhood? ‘Cause you were calling for mommy. Actually, nevermind. That was kinda jerk thing to ask.”

Without waiting on your input she resumes her trajectory and in a moment she’s out of you sight, leaving you alone in the room, pondering what she told you.

Family... of course, you had parents. Loving, in their way, if distant. Your mother and father, both Alliance civil servants, their jobs the quintessence of boredom to your youthful mind when you set on your journey. Neither of them approved, although when you began to work for CIX in official capacity they did request posting in Citadel offices so that you could see each other when you returned from your trips. Usually these visits passed by in a polite, almost formal, manner, before you parted and you were off again.

You shake your head and these thoughts away. You were not the only one with relations on the Citadel.

Well, whatever that sleep-talking was about, you’ve come here to get some work done. Time to get to it.

“Good Morning, Ford.” Eve welcomes you as you step into cockpit. “We’re over the moon, ready to land at your discretion. How do you want to go about this?”

You seat yourself and look out through the viewscreen.

The scenery was dominated by Saturn, whose light might have blocked out the starlight, but not the sparkling field of its rings spreading out and behind the gas giant in a starry concourse that spanned heavens. The view alone warranted taking it in for a minute before you even noticed the icy orb turning below, lined with cracks and ridges, dotted by sporadic craters and oozing columns of sparkling ice into the celestial highway before you.

You made sure to save some pictures of the starscape porn for future perusal.

“Hey Ford, you up already? Dayum.” Kris says as he enters the cockpit.

“Keelah.” And Lea was not far behind. “Pretty.”

Only then did you recall Eve asked you a question.

>Simple. We put her down at whatever passes for landing pad in the target area and unload there.
>Let’s make several passes and survey the Place from above, First.
>Actually, let’s take the skycar down first.
>other - outline the plan. What ship goes where, who stays on what ship. Skycar can take up to four passengers, five if they don’t mind some squeezing. Eve can fly either vehicle remotely, assuming she’s not incapacitated or unable to connect to them.


>>3585258
It’s a mystery to everyone, or most everyone

These will be the only posts for today, and new post will probably be in new thread.

Safe travels, fellows.

Episode 6 has been committed to the Citadel Archives.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/3544140/

Henri Ford And his crew shall return in Episode 7!

>>3586164
>>Let’s make several passes and survey the Place from above, First.

attempt contact with the surface

then if nothing comes up we get the skycar out with our crew and leave the non-combatants(guests) inside while we explore

>>3586157

>Let’s make several passes and survey the Place from above, First.

See if we can pick up energy readings, signs of life or anything working at all, then go down with Eve and Lea while Kris commands the Chariot.

>>3586164
>Let’s make several passes and survey the Place from above, First.
Surveying the area first is smart. Try comms & readings.

>>3586164
>Let’s make several passes and survey the Place from above, First.