“Revan! You’re apparently good with machines, how'd you like to do me a couple of favors while you’re waiting around for your ships to get back?” Apparently knocking wasn’t something that Wrex bothered with as he barged into the room Revan had temporarily claimed as a meditation chamber.

  She shouldn’t be surprised. Shepard wasn’t known for knocking much either and Wrex had been one of her crew members.

  “Generally people only ask for one favor at a time.” Revan pointed out.

  “Heh, generally people aren’t Clan Leader. I don’t have the time to sit around being polite. Too much shit to do.” Wrex huffed. “The main water purification plant for this trash heap just stopped working and I need someone to fix it. I’d have one of my engineers look at it but they’re all busy with more important things right now.”

  “More important than your water supply?”

  “Water’s not much good if the Reapers can land an airdrop in the middle of your camp. Besides, they’d get around to it eventually. We have enough stored that even if they take their time only a few might die because of the radiation levels!”

  It was slightly depressing that Wrex considered having enough stored water that only a few might die if the source wasn’t fixed a point of pride rather than a major failure in his infrastructure. But then again the Krogan didn’t have any delusions about his capital if he was calling it a ‘trash heap’.

  It was also nothing that Revan hadn’t done before and a better use of her time than waiting around for when her shuttle could join back up with her orbital fleet.

  “I can fix it for you. Do you already have the replacement parts ready or do I need to investigate that too?”

  “No idea. I was coming here to ask about the second favor when I remembered Shepard saying you were a good mechanic. You’ll have to ask one of the engineers about that.”

  “...fine. And your second favor?”

  “I need a ride. You might not be able to help us with a cure, but I’ve gotten word that the Salarians have something that can help. Something that belongs to the Krogan.” Wrex said darkly. “The Turains have called a meeting in the Pranas system. Apparently their new Primarch is desperate enough to beg the Krogan to come help kick the Reapers out of their system. The Salarians got wind of it and are demanding a spot at the negotiation table as one of the leading council races.”

  Ah, so that was his angle. “And you want to show off to both of them that while everyone knows you are desperate for a cure to the Genophage, you have other options now. And you want to show that off.”

  “Heh, that sounds like something a politician would think of. I just want to hitch a ride on a proper warship so those Salarian bastards don’t get any funny ideas.” Wrex laughed Revan’s comment off. And without seriously examining him with the Force, she honestly couldn’t say if he was being serious or not.

  But Revan wasn’t interested in picking apart every statement the Krogan Clan Leader made at the moment and just decided to ignore him for now. “Fine, I have no issues bringing you along. Just make sure you’re ready to depart once my ships are in range. I don’t want to risk the Reaper elements in space catching up with my fleet so I can’t wait around if you aren’t ready.”

  Wrex just smirked. “Well in that case, excuse me, your majesty. I better go make sure my toothbrush is packed and ready to go.”

  Revan just rolled her eyes behind her mask and got up to find the mechanic Wrex mentioned. It was better than subjecting herself to the Krogan’s humor.

  -o-

  Shepard frowned as she watched Councilor Udina’s back retreat out the door.

  Ever since she found out how much the man had undercut both her and Anderson she couldn’t bring herself to trust him. The fact that she overheard him pushing Ashley for an answer for something when she was still confined to a hospital bed just made that feeling even stronger, even if there were perfectly reasonable explanations for it.

  But that could keep for now. She was here for a reason after all.

  “Hey, Ash. Good to see you’re up.” The Commander said as she slipped onto a nearby stool. “I overheard Udina on the way in. Still haven’t made up your mind?”

  Ashley’s face was basically one bruise after another, but she still managed to smile a bit before wincing and forcing herself into a neutral expression. “About being a Spectre? Not yet. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an honor. But…I don’t know. I need to think about it some more.”

  “Well, while you’re thinking it over, maybe you can use this to unwind a bit.” Shepard said as she pulled out a book of poems and handed it over. “Figured you’d have some down time.”

  “You have no idea,” Ashley breathed. “I’ve been practically climbing the walls for a while now. By the way, what happened on Mars? After I went down I mean.”

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “Not much, honestly. We captured the android Cerberus used to try and steal the data and got it back to the Normandy. Good thing too. Liara found the blueprints for some kind of Prothean superweapon, something that might be capable of ending the Reapers for good.”

  Ashley pushed herself up, eyes wide at the news. “You mean it? We really have a shot at winning?”

  Shepard smiled back. “Yeah, maybe…. Maybe two shots depending on how things play out.”

  “Two shots?”

  “Yeah, it’s unconfirmed for now but we think a crewmember that helped with the Collector issue fought the Reapers at Palaven with a new fleet design and – actually, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you about Palaven first. It’s where we ran into Garrus again. Can you believe they made him some kind of bigshot over there?”

  “Seriously? Garrus? Mr. Hates-Bureaucratic-Red-Tape, that Garrus?”

  Shepard nodded and gave Ash the rundown of their mission to find the Turian Primarch, making sure to keep things high-level and upbeat as possible to avoid stressing the injured Lieutenant-Commander out too much. Both of them knew Shepard was doing it, but neither really wanted to dwell on too many details right now. If Ash wanted the whole story she could ask when she was released.

  So after a quick overview of what happened on Menae before they got back to the Normandy, Shepard got around to describing the unnamed fleet that had jumped in and took the Reapers head on and came out on top in a battle with equal numbers.

  She did have to slightly burst the optimist bubble by admitting they didn’t know for certain that the fleet belonged to Revan. They only had some strong circumstantial evidence they couldn’t even confirm because no one had the Sith’s contact information anymore and every quarian in the galaxy seemed to have vanished at some point.

  “Damn, I was out for just a little bit and the whole galaxy went crazy.” Ash muttered as she settled into a more comfortable position. Shepard could see that it didn’t do much. With how crucial stretching medical supplies was going to be in the future painkillers were being withheld unless absolutely needed. “Wish I could get out there sooner.”

  “Take all the time you need. The fight’s not going anywhere.” Shepard replied. “We’ll need you at your best, too.”

  “Yeah…anyway, what’s next for you? Hunting down another lost Prothean world? Storming a fortress? Or are you going to take it easy and just drive off another invasion force by yourself?”

  Shepard grimaced. “I have to wrangle a few politicians. Not looking forward to that.”

  “Seriously? They have you on babysitting duty? How’d you get stuck with that?”

  The Turian Primarch’s condition for sending aid to Earth was that he needed help from the Krogan to push the Reapers of Palaven. We were going to head to Tuchanka for negotiations, but we caught wind of a Cerberus attack on Grissom Academy and diverted there to stop it. Between stopping the attack and transporting the students here to the Citadel we took too long and Victus needed to start coordinating over the extranet. The Salarians found out and now their Dalatress is demanding to be included in the talks.”

  “Damn, sounds like politicians though. And Cerberus attacked a school? Fuck. I’m glad you aren’t working with them anymore. Where do you come in though?”

  Shepard was glad that Ash had finally let go of the idea she was somehow okay with Cerberus. The Spectre wasn’t entirely sure why the marine had a change of heart after their ‘conversation’ on Horizon and Ash refused to give a clear explanation on Mars, but she figured out Revan was somehow involved.

  She knew the Sith had spoken to Ash on Horizon but none of the details. If it meant Ash eventually pulled the stick out of her ass and was determined to help her out though? She could overlook that particular gift horse’s mouth.

  She had other things to worry about than wondering why an old friend decided to not be a bitch.

  “No one can agree on a neutral location. The Turians don’t have a ship they can spare that isn’t better off fighting or helping evacuations. The Krogan only have a few second-hand transports and aren’t trusted by the Salarians to not fly into a rage if things don’t go their way. And the Salarians aren’t trusted by the Krogan to not poison them or have them ‘disappeared’ by the STG. It’s one big mess.” Shepard explained. “So Victus requested the Normandy to host the talks.”

  “So those are the kind of missions a Spectre has to deal with when they aren’t hunting down a rogue? Hell, if that’s what I have to look forward to, I might just turn it down.”

  Shepard smirked playfully. “I wouldn’t worry about that. Even if you accept you’d still be the FNG. While I’m schmoozing with politicians and eating tiny snacks, you’ll probably be off on some random planet digging in the dirt.”

  Ash returned the smile as best she could. “Yeah, but I’d be far away from the politicians. None of them would ever go where they could risk getting their shoes dirty.”

  -o-

  Revan grimaced as her boot sunk deep into a mix of muddy soil and…something…dripping from a damaged pipe as she made her way to the water purifier.

  That was always a joy to encounter when trekking through ruined industrial areas.

  But even more unpleasant than the mystery gunk she was walking through was the feeling of something stalking her through the ruined halls of the abandoned krogan facility.

  It was probably varren or some other animal looking for a meal, but Revan wasn’t about to let her guard down. Not when Reapers had enough pawns on the planet that Wrex was more worried about an attack than his water supply.

  “Pay attention to the surroundings. We are not alone.”

  Two green lights appeared on her HUD as the two Geth accompanying her pinged their acknowledgement. These two unfortunately had older chassis without a proper vocalizer but that didn’t stop them from being capable assistants and combatants.

  Both Geth units raised their blaster rifles a little higher and began to scan the area around them as they continued to their destination – a control terminal tucked away inside what any other race would consider a bunker that opened relatively easily with the code Wrex gave her and a bit of persuasion via the Force when the gears mechanically locked up.

  It seemed the Krogan hadn’t been down this way for maintenance in quite some time.

  Something very evident when Revan opened up the machine’s internals and found out that most of it looked like it was held together with rust and spite rather than whatever the original materials had been. It spoke to how incredibly robust the Krogan had designed the machine only failed when the coupling holding some of the logic boards had eroded away entirely and had taken the components with it.

  Nothing a liberal amount of omnigel couldn’t rectify along with a general scouring and rewiring on Revan’s part. With the worst of the rusted areas rerouted and replaced the water purifier should be able to continue running for another few years with no problems until the omnigel degraded and needed to be replaced again.

  …this specific part of it at least.

  Throughout the whole job Revan never let her guard down as she waited for whatever had been observing her to make a move. But nothing happened. Eventually she couldn’t justify lingering in the terminal room anymore and moved to lea– the Force screamed a warning as a large shadow rushed the doorway just as Revan was about to step out.

  Her lightsaber ignited and hissed as it bisected the creature leaping towards her.

  Revan sidestepped the mess as three more shadows rushed through the opening. One was nearly instantly dropped by her Geth guards and the second was injured as they swapped targets. The third, whether by coincidence or plan, used the second as cover and made it through the door unharmed…until Revan removed its head with a casual swing of her saber.

  Immediate threats dealt with Revan waited for something else to come through the door as her guards finished off the remaining creature that she now recognized as varren.

  But nothing came.

  “...drag the bodies out and secure the door. We’re returning to the Krogan encampment immediately.” She eventually ordered.

  Those varren hadn’t acted naturally. They had waited until Revan was in the best place for them to ambush her without making a sound or visually identifying her. Something had ordered them to attack and the feeling of being observed was still there but she couldn’t sense where exactly.

  Revan didn’t know if it was specifically targeted at her or if the observer was just very territorial. Either way she did not have time to deal with it. She had a short window before her fleet would be passing overhead. She couldn’t afford to get stuck on Tuchanka chasing down a presence at the moment.

  Once the door was secured again, she and her guards immediately headed back the way they came.

  Unseen by any of them several insectoid forms slowly crawled out out of the shadows before heading the opposite direction as the Sith. From even farther away, four glowing eyes dimmed slightly as the last bit of data about the short encounter was transmitted out.

  The reaction speed, accuracy, quickness and of its target had been unexpected for something not expecting a combat scenario. More observation would be needed, more data acquired, if the Anomaly was to be removed if it could not be hunted down conventionally.

  It was acceptable.

  The Anomaly would be allowed its continued existence for now. Until the time it was demanded to cease.

  AN: This is likely my last post until 2025. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season.