Mass Effect: Augment

Chapter 7: Out of the Pan

The first thing Jon ordered was a day of restocking. Effectively, it was shore leave. The Normandy did need some stock, that dastardly Anderson leaving the deuterium tank half full, but he did not know and did not care to look at when the last time the crew had shore leave. So he gave them a day of rest as he took one last one himself. Saren was in the wind, and time was needed to gather leads and information anyway. That was his task while the rest of the crew enjoyed the day off.

There were Geth sightings near Feros, a Protean ruin people decided to squat in, and Noveria, a corporate world outside the authority in of both the Council and Alliance. It was already outside Council authority, had been for thousands of years, but was technically in the Alliance Territory Jon took during the peace negotiations. When cooler heads prevailed, the Horse Head Nebula was declared neutral territorial, if for no other reason than to have a place for diplomacy before the Alliance had gotten an embassy on the Citadel. House would no doubt have a presence there, and he could no doubt use that to his advantage.

There was one other lead, Benezia’s last name was T'Soni, Jon not knowing that until he saw it in a report. He checked the social media feeds, both Alliance and Citadel, and found none for her. Interesting, Jon thought, as everyone had one. Except him of course. He never believed in it, and stuck to anonymous forums and the like. Conspiracy sites in particular. He loved starting shit on the Shroud investigation forums. They knew he was real, they knew he operated for a single night, but who was he? Jon suggested the General, naturally, and was told to fuck off in several different languages. It couldn’t be him, they cried, he’s the General, not the Shroud!

He Jarred himself from his thoughts and pulled up academic journals. She wasn’t published in the Citadel space, Jon not even finding the articles Chakwas was talking about though the haze of years of extranet in the wider galaxy. It was buried, and he wasn't going to take the time to find it, at least not while EDI was spending the day with Joker in her core. She could muti-task, but she wouldn't while he was captain during shore leave.

He found a hit in the Alliance feeds. It was an informal forum page attached to Science! Monthly. While it was funded by pop publications, they did do real scientific work and journaling that they could turn into their content. That funding turned into grants, and he found a grant posting on the forum. Called the Duff award, it was tailored for people that had crackpot theories it seemed going by the typical posting, but as long as the applicants had a logical hypothesis and experiments to propose, they stood a good chance of getting an award. Sounded like Duff he thought.

While most of the things he saw were crackpot, the statements were both logical and scientific, serious experiments people wanted to prove or disprove. There was a term and condition that if you were proven right then Science! had the sole publishing rights, but that was probably catharsis for people that thought they were crazy, or that others thought were crazy, but weren't.

After some scrolling he found the entry from Dr. T’Soni. She laid out her theory that the Protheans didn’t build the relays, that others came before, and that some outside force wiped them out on a repeating time frame. She admitted in her proposal that she had little evidence, only small scraps of things that seemed not Prothean in origin, but was hoping to find evidence in Artemis Tau, now Alliance territory. She attached older geological surveys that the world was unstable, and Prothean ruins she knew were there from scraps of a database would be subsumed if a timely investigation wasn’t made.

She received Double Priority! funding, and gave a short but heartfelt thank you to the comment. Jon had no doubt she was quite literally laughed out of rooms in the Citadel, but she was right. That was all he could find on Dr. T’Soni, at least anything relevant on a relevant time frame, but if he could find it, so could Saren. If she was involved in some way, he needed to find her. If she wasn't involved, she could help him find Benezia. If she couldn’t do that, then she needed protection of the highest priority. The other leads could wait.

“EDI, sorry to cut you off, but call back the leave. We’re going to Artemis Tau.”

EDI’s blue ball avatar popped up on his desk. Joker probably had a fun time with that development, “Yes sir. It was nearing the time limit anyway, and most of the crew have already returned. The rest will be back shortly.”

“Thanks EDI, cut the sir shit. Sheppard, or boss if you really want to use my informal title.”

“Of course Sheppard. Anderson ran a tight ship.”

Jon scoffed as he got up, “When he’s not leaving me my ship half empty. Guy put on a good show, but he loved this ship and needed to at least give me a least one middle finger for taking it back.”

“Or it could be that an Alliance officer cannot fill out Citadel requisition forms.”

“Por que no los dos?”

“A fair point, Sheppard.”

Jon nodded and walked out of his quarters and into the elevator. He took the fast ride down to the cargo bay, and found two of his targets. Wrex was over by the lockers, and Garrus was hopped up on in vehicle in his bay. He chose Garrus first, and strolled up to the side of the IFV.

He said, “Garrus. What is this thing?”

Garrus smoothly gave it a couple pats, “The M35 Mako infantry fighting vehicle, all terrain, all environments. A successor to the tried and true M29 Grizzly, meant for hot drops off ships just like this, and a joint design project between the Alliance and Turians. Bit of a fig leaf to test the waters of working together and sharing tech. Top speed of almost 160kph with boost, mico-thusters run into your pocket ezo core for air drops and rough terrain, nano-scapl armor to save weight, a 1-5-5 millimeter mass effect cannon, the largest of it’s type, and a phased plasma repeater in the front.”

Jon nodded approvingly, “And is it any good?”

“Probably not, but I’m still going to calibrate the varrenshit out of it.” He flatly replied.

Jon laughed for a moment, and then took a moment longer to cool himself. He said, “You sure you’re with us? You are leaving a whole life and career at the drop of the hat to run off with a brain damaged specter.”

He nodded in thought, “And we are going after another brain damaged specter. Yeah, I think I’m with you. The Alliance is probably the only place I’ll ever fit in after what happened, well an Alliance ship and crew that’s technically Council now. Not much life or career for a Turian like me. Especially not after I blew my second chance over the FEV fiasco. Thankfully it wasn't really bad. Just another germ among a lot of them.”

Jon said, “Bad Turian huh?”

Garrus nodded, proud, “Damn straight I’m a bad Turian. That barefaced bastard is giving the rest of us bad Turians a bad name. If you’re going after him, I’m in. No red tape or regulations to get in the way now. That's the whole point of specters.”

“You have history with him?” Jon asked.

Garrus shook his head, “No. But there's doing what has to be done, and then there’s going to far. He’s a barefaced exercise in it just on the scraps I was able to find. I wont stand for it. Not after he attacked the only people I’ve ever considered my friends. The only one’s worth calling that.”

Jon nodded, “Thanks Garrus. Happy to have you aboard. Make her sing for me.”

Garrus motioned with his tool, “Oh she’ll scream for you Sheppard.”

Jon laughed again as we walked away and across the bay to Wrex’s chosen spot, near the weapons and armor bay, “Wrex.”

“Sheppard. You doing the rounds before we go?”

“Yup.”

“Why did you have to talk to the Turian first, huh?”

“His good looks compared to your lack thereof.”

“HA! Good one Sheppard.”

“You sure you want on this crazy train?”

“Heh, heh, if I didn’t I would have shot you in the elevator. Thanks for the breakout. Just my luck it’s a warrior, and not the lawyer I was waiting for.”

“What can you tell me about that job you mentioned?”

“A simple shipment detail. Just guarding it A to B. Like I said, didn’t smell right that I was doing grunt work like that for a specter like him, for pay he was fronting. Everyone that stayed disappeared. Simply never came back to the watering hole we got picked up from. I was passing though at the same time he was, and the pay was at least good for the job.”

Jon nodded and said, “Thanks for the info, and the backup. If you need anything, like a paycheck, talk to my XO, EDI. She wears a lot of hats. Also the requisition officer.”

Wrex said, “Will do, Sheppard. The bounty was only for Fist, but I’m going after Saren for fun. Heh heh.”

Jon gave him a shark smile, remembering doing that once and getting a nice coat out of it. He walked back of the bay, and took the door into main engineering. He entered the main core area and found Tali, where he expected her to be. They had obviously put a new warp core in her, some kind of tri-cyclic design, and he was happy for the free upgrade. She was with his main engineer, Adams by the tag he spied when they turned.

Jon gave a hand before Adams even had time to snap to attention. Tali said, “Sheppard! This! This is incredible! Not with all the power of the Protheans could they achieve stable anti-matter reactors! And an ezo core that can fit into a ground vehicle, but send a ship like this though the relay!?”

Jon smiled, “Adams, dismissed.”

“Yes sir.” he said and walked off. Jon realized what he was looking at now, unaffected by the haze of battle. A kid only just older than he was when he marched off to war for the first time.

Adams left, and Jon said, “Tali, you realized you can’t steal Alliance tech, right?”

She looked shocked and almost took a step back, “I-I wasn't trying to! I swear!”

Jon smiled again, “Tali, what I’m saying is that if the migrant fleet starts showing up with warp cores, we’re going to know who it came from.”

“I promise, I wasn't going to send this back. Adams already told me that. It’s just...anti-matter!” She motioned to the shielded core casing.

Jon said, “I believe you. I just needed to warn you. We don’t mind sharing, just not our strategic resources like the knowledge of anti-matter generation and reactions. I also need to warn you of other things. Do you know what we’re doing? What this ship is made for?”

She said, “Going after Saren, and I want to help. The ship was made for exploration by the codex.”

He nodded, “It was. But it is also a warship Tali, one that can explore. We are not going after Saren, we are going to war, and if I’m not crazy it will be the war to end all wars. If I am, it’s still war.”

“War against the Geth.”

“War against whatever is controlling the Geth. You’ve already been shot, almost been killed, do you think you can handle what we are marching towards?”

“I-I don’t know. I’m on my pilgrimage. We all leave just as we come of age, and then we return with something to help the fleet. It could be anything, even a few credits as long as you brought them in good faith. We then get assigned to different ships than our birthships. I needed to bring back something more than just a pocket full of credits. The geth came out of the veil, and I decided that I could bring back some information that might help us retake Rannoch, our homeworld. But you’re right, this is bigger than just the Geth, crazy or not, and I want to help. I know I can help, even if it’s just working in this room to make the ship better. And I swear, I wont share any of this stuff with the fleet.”

Jon nodded, satisfied and making a show of it, “Then welcome aboard Tali. Will you be alright with working with synths?”

“They aren't Geth.”

“Fair enough. Get us ready for takeoff.”

“Yes sir.”

Jon turned and walked out, sending Adams back in. He walked back over to Wrex, still sitting on his crates, and said, “Teach the girl how to fight.”

Wrex smiled, “Not the first whelp I’ve given a big stick too.”

Jon met it and made for the elevator. He took one last ride up to his quarters. Sitting down at his desk he opened the secure line he had to his real handler. Or asset depending on the day. It was a bit of both right now.

The line lit up and the wizened officer grimaced, “Sheppard.”

Jon met it, “Hackett. What’s our response to this.”

“They've invoked article 5. They practically press ganged the survivors into a provisional government so they could do it. We’re declaring major combat operations again.”

Jon grimaced harder. Sure he liked to moan and bitch that his war record was stolen from him by calling it an incident, but not even then did they get around to declaring MCO’s before he had already made peace like a bandit for them. The last one was Washington, ending their trek across the former united states.

At that point NATO was at critical mass, and any further operations were simply that. Knocking off raiders and other wasteland assholes as they straggled. Well over a century of relative peace and stability was now disturbed. The Systems Alliance was truly at war for the first time in its history.

Hackett said, “I know. Every colony we have on the ground is going to triple in size from the garrisons.”

“And how does that leave Earth.”

“We’re not down the block, but every recruiting office in every nation is at capacity.”

“Good. At least we kept our will to fight.”

“Never lost it, General.”

“Saren isn't the real threat. The official Council opinion is that he’s just using the Reapers as a figurehead for a Geth cult.”

“Brahminshit.”

“I know. I know that for a fact. The Reapers are coming. They came for the Protheans and now it’s our turn.”

“The timing seems convenient. Just as we were about to get going, the world ends again.”

“You think we brought this on?”

“Maybe.”

“Now or never.”

“Which means they know who the fuck we are.”

“Just make sure we’re ready for them.”

“I’ll do what I can back home. You take it to them out there. Hackett out, and boss, good to see you again.”

Jon smiled as the screen clicked off, “You too, Private.”

He got back up, needed to have another conversation before taking off.

He rode back down to the command deck, and turned to the stern to reach the comm room. He entered, and said, “EDI, get me the Council. Is this line secure?”

“Yes. I ensure that it is. This room was built around communicating with the various councils we are engaged with.”

Jon smirked as the call when out. A couple moments later the Council appeared on their protectors. Tevos took the lead, “General, I assume you are calling inform us that you are leaving. Have you decided which lead you will follow?”

Jon said, “Indeed I have. On both accounts. We are testing the waters here in this relationship, and I felt it prudent to keep you in the loop before I go. As for the lead, we are going to Artemis Tau cluster first. As I am the General, I will have no problem operating in Alliance Territory.”

“So you called us to tell us you’re going in the opposite direction of the leads, Geth sightings, we told you about.” Sparatus deadpanned.

“Yes. But not without cause. I noticed the last name of Matriarch Benezia in the reports you sent me. My chief medical officer told me of her daughter publishing radical theories on the Protheans, ones that may prove the existence of the Reapers. I connected the dots when I got the Matriarch's full name.”

Valern said, “There is logic to this lead.”

Tevos nodded, “If you found a lead on her, Saren will as well. She can either help you find Benezia, or will need Council protection immediately even if not. Very well General, thank yo-”

Jon slashed his throat to the hum of the red star in his bad eye, and the call hung up immediately. Joker called back while howling, “Boss, boss! Please tell me you didn’t just cut the Council off mid sentence, as she was saying goodbye!”

Jon rose his eyebrow, “Eavesdropping, Joker?”

Joker got overly stern, “Why no, boss, I would never do something so far out of regulation.”

Jon smiled, “Get us ready Joker. Final flight checks.”

“Aye fucking aye sir.”

Jon spun and marched out of the comm room, and back onto the command deck. As he passed on his way up to the pilots spot, he said, “A fine ship, and a finer crew.” To no one in particular.

He got up to the front, and put his hand on the back of Joker’s center line chair. He said, “EDI.”

“All crew accounted for, Sheppard.”

“Joker.”

“Boss, you know me.”

“Need I remind you, regulates states only maneuvering thusters may be used to exit dock.”

“But mooom, the cool dad is back again.”

Jon smiled, “Joker, take us out. Thusters only for dramatic effect.”

Joker scoffed, “Aye sir, thusters only.”

“EDI, open a channel, ship wide.”

“Yes sir.” And the Bosun whistle sounded in response.

“This is your captain, General Sheppard speaking. We have our mission. Find Saren before he finds the conduit. I wont lie to you, this mission, this war of ours isn't going to be easy. We all know what happened on Eden Prime. We saw the destruction, we saw the bodies. We saw what Saren did. I don’t know about you, but I intend to get payback. I intend to show the rest of the Galaxy what the Systems Alliance is made of.”

Some cheers went thought the command deck, and no doubt though the rest of the ship.

“Our enemy knows we’re coming, and he’s on the run. So we will chase him. Round the moons of Nubia, round the Antares Maelstrom, round Predition’s Flames we will chase him before giving him up. Where ever he hides we’ll find him. Whatever he’s doing, I promise you all we will stop him! Not just for our own sake, but for the sake of every species in the galaxy, no more.”

“Never again!” The crew cried.

He slashed again and the comm cut off, “Joker! Take us away, full impulse!”

“Aye Sir!” he yelled back before saying, “Good to have you back boss.”

The Normandy launched at a hazardous pace towards the relay.