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The Centurion Eagle stayed within the Raheel-Leyya system in order to contact the Migrant Fleet, waiting to be interrogated on the events that transpired as witnesses of the assault. James had managed to recover before then with a somewhat-swollen eye and a few mitigating bruises, but nothing long-lasting. Leiah was of more concern with her electric burns but thankfully she got help in a most welcoming source in the form of her father. The raptor found the living room occupied by Leiah and Samor'Dahlael, cautiously tending to her wounds with the proper medical equipment he had on him. The first time James had a proper look on him showed a well-built purple-suited quarian, surprisingly sturdy-looking for his species as they both looked up to see him. Leiah greeted him first. "Heeey you okay?" "No worse than usual," said James smiling, "this your dad?" "Yep, dad this is James, that friend of mine mom was telling you about." "A pleasure to meet you at last," said the studious-voiced quarian, "I am Samor'Dahlael vas Guuha. I must thank you for looking after my daughter." "No problem sir," said FG. "Are you okay, that guy gave you kind of a beating." "Not as bad as he hurt you, are you alright?" "Yeah my eye's kinda swollen bad but I'll live...lungs feel kinda sore but getting gutpunched I guess does that to you." "I see...long as you are safe as well as my daughter then I am happy. Thank you." "You should thank Lirem too daddy," said Leiah, "he was the one that got you out right?" "Oh yes indeed, I already have, but it was you that brought them here was it not?" "Y-...yeah." "Leiah...as reckless as that was of you, I am thankful to you always, my little blue star." He wrapped his arm around her head and nuzzled her close, the blush evident on her face even from James' distance before the raptor asked him: "Blue star?" "After the Leyya star of course, the one out there." "Wait, really?" "Yes...though I changed the naming so as not to have her teased, at her mother's request." "She always keeps you right," said Leiah giggling, "so, why were you there at Susskind Station? What did those guys want?" "I'd like to know too." Lirem came from the cockpit smiling in his orange armour, leaning against the doorframe casually like he was posing for a catalogue. Norem joined from behind him, as well as Areh and Jax who were also curious about this. Samor replied with: "Normally being the ones that saved me I will gladly tell you before the fleet arrive...but I must stress it is top secret." "I understand, nothing you say will leave this ship. That clear?" "Clear," said everyone.

He said this to James in particular staring at his direction, the raptor nodding humbly as Mr. Dahlael continued. "They were after our anti-pilot algorithm console, they came down masquerading as medical ships looking to help before they stormed out and took over the place. It can control most mechanisms wirelessly by a shared algorithm field, technically allowing it to control any automotive process remotely. We've managed to make it work with LOKI mechs at our best, and we were about to test it on the YMIR models...but...well, they arrived and took everything. Console, data, all of it!" "Wait," Lirem, "you're telling me you guys were working on basically a universal remote for mechs?" "Why yes, in order to scout better into deep mining facilities or hazardous regions and such. It could also help in giving assistance on the battlefield but with a living mind controlling, rather than that of AI and its cool focused logic." "...I got a bad feeling about this," said Norem. "The fact they stole something like this must mean that they're up to something. How big can this thing pilot?" "The console?" asked Samor. "We haven't tested it on larger bodies, more complex ones would require much more algorithmic sync with a much larger field to compensate. But theoretically it has no limit, apart from a full spaceship." "So it can't pilot a ship by itself?" "No, never, that requires algorithms far too complex to what we originally intended it to, it'd be like trying to use a basic calculator to measure string theory!" "So in other words impossible," said Areh, "that's good, no sending spaceships into giant buildings because of it." "I should certainly hope not...what ship are you from might I ask?" "Oh, um...the Qwib-Qwib." Samor made his absolute best effort to not snerk, the tiniest sound coming through that only Leiah would hear before he said: "I see...that's...very unusual." "I know, it's a stupid name, I don't care it's fine." "Your captain I remember was on the Admiralty Board wasn't he?" "Yeah um...Admiral Zaal'Koris." "That was it, the one too proud to change the ship's name despite petty insults." "He's a very proud quarian...but he's not a bad guy..."

Areh did not speak anymore of this as Samor moved on quickly upon realising the awkwardness. "Again, thank you all for what you did, you saved my life and others." "No problem," said Jax, "we're just glad we were in the area, like only two days away maybe." "It was very fortunate, to think such a small crew as you were so brave in defending us." "Heheh, yeah, me an' my li'l buddy here are always ready to help out." "Your...buddy?" "Yeah me an' Areh! He hacks, I shoot, it works fer everything!" "I see...hahaha, I never saw such a friendship between a quarian and a krogan. Is this the Areh you mentioned to me Leiah?" "D-daaaad!" said Leiah nervously. "Yes, just one of my many friends onboard this ship." "Hmhmhm...you have made good friends, the fact that they would risk life and limb for you is the greatest show of friendship." "Wait," said FG, "where are the other guys? Weren't there more people with you?" "Oh my coworkers went to another ship instead," said Samor, "I chose to came here to be with my daughter as well as to explain to the Migrant Fleet on your behalf. There were also two humans on here weren't there?" "They left too," said Lirem, "said they wanted to be in more known company so they went off with their friends on the human ships." "I can't blame them, in a time like this one desperately seeks familiarity for comfort." "You don't have to worry about the Migrant Fleet Mr. Dahlael." "Please call me Samor." "Alright, don't worry about it, they know us already, we did a mission for 'em back a long while ago handling some hostage-takers." "Ohhhh yes Leiah told me about you, that made some fun discussion around the lunch halls." "Heheh...just doing our job." "Okay, I am going to make a call to my wife, Leiah could I use your computer?" "Of course!" said Leiah. "Come on I'll show you my room." "Alright, it was an honour to meet you all. And again, thank you." With a humble bow he was dragged off by Leiah towards her room, making his family time more needed as the rest of them stood looking at each other, smiling at their good deed. The raptor tried to grin but his face was not exactly pleasing to look at currently, forcing Jax to say: "Wow you look like shit." "Hah! No worse than you." "Hey, you want your other eye to match?" "Pfft, I bet you can't punch as hard as the last guy did." "Heheheh..." "So uh did you guys manage to find out who the hell that terrorist was? The guy with the cape on him?" "Actually yes," said Areh, "come up to the cockpit, we were just discussing it."

The five of them went up to the meeting room behind the cockpit itself, sitting on their seats as Areh brought up the terminal to reveal his information. An identification sheet on the turian commander now revealed itself before them, his grim countenance blemished by the one red strip across his face before dipping at the nose. "Commander Thrassil Sanerix, formerly of the Turian hierarchy before he was honourably discharged. Born on Palaven, served forty years, got a few medals of bravery and marked as a superior tactician, also an expert on demolition." "That explains the bombs," said Norem, "the station didn't stand a chance when those started going, he must have placed them in very strategic spots to weaken it as fast as possible." "Why would he do that?" asked FG. "To get rid of evidence that he was there." "But then why would he-wait wait, didn't a bunch of people get out, like escape?" "That's what I find confusing. It turns out the people that were unconscious were given some kind of specialised sleeping poison, one that effects quarians specifically. The humans just got beaten much more badly." "Normally," said Jax, "a poison like that'll kill any quarian when injected right in the bloodstream, but this strain wuz unusual, it kinda bruised up the spot they got injected at an' just forces the body to shut down into sleep mode. It's actually kind of a neurotoxin more than anything." "Neurotoxin?!" said FG. "Shit that sounds serious." "It would, I seen that kinda stuff before back in the morgue, but it's not the kind that kills ya, it's the kind that knocks ya out by hitting yer brain to go offline. The body still works an' everything all automatic, it just knocks yer conscious parts out." "So you're basically telling me he knocked out a bunch of people without killing them on purpose through a neurotoxin?" "Other than the ones he did kill," said Lirem, "but they all had weapons on them." "He did say to me that he only killed those who would use weapons on him, but any who fight back are given a good beating but left alive." "Huh...that's some weird moral code there for a terrorist. You say he was discharged with something Areh, what was it?" "Well that's the thing," said Areh. "He demanded he be discharged himself." "Wait, what?! Why?!" "No one knows! He claimed there was an incident that went out of hand and it was all because of him but there's no record of him whatsoever! Something to do with the Verrana." "What?" asked Norem. "What's the Verrana?" "Apparently there was a turian military ship was sent to the Sol System to hunt down the geth, trying to put down outposts near Earth. But the ship got ambushed and was completely wrecked, crew all dead and crashlanded somewhere out there. Problem is he never served on the Verrana, ever, and that's not make a mistake, he LITERALLY never served anywhere on the Verrana and none of his family did either. So he was discharged with full honours before going over to serve Facinus." "Why would he claim responsibility for an incident he was never involved in? That doesn't make any sense." "I don't know. But he's not insane, he did this of his own will and his health record's all clean." "The fuck is with this guy?" asked FG. "And what was that jetpack he had?!" "It's a propulsion pack," said Lirem, "it shows he's a member of the 26th Armiger Legion, one of the fiercest assault squads out there." "Are you serious? We're dealing with an ex-army guy who joins a terrorist squad after willingly begging people to discharge him from the fucking special ops group?!" "Yep...guy's an enigma for sure." "Not as much as the assassin," said Areh'Narohl. "That one's even weirder." "Oh god," said James, "really?" What you find out about her, or that other guy Squaron?" "Lemme show ya."

The terminal took away the information on Thrassil Sanerix before producing the profile of Vamire Squaron, his face now seen for the first time on the big screen. Light-coloured chalk face with two vertical purple streaks on each side of his face. James felt uncomfortable and softly rubbed his own purple streaks, noticing that both Norem and Lirem had the same kind of streaks too of a different colour. Areh explained: "Vamire Squaron, former pilot and master technician, dishonourably discharged for illegally tampering ship plotting devices and has a reputation as a daredevil. Comes from Taetrus, and well known to have Facinus sympathies." "Dammit," said Lirem, "hometurf and all, what a prick." "And the assassin?" asked Norem. "...um...I couldn't find anything," said Areh. "Wait what?" "There's no record of her anywhere! Like she's a ghost just disappeared, I can't find any trace of her by name or nothing, just sightings." "What kind of sightings?" "Suspect sightings, the kind where she's on security cameras fleeing the scene when some murder's happened. Apparently C-Sec really want her bad if this is the same one you're talking about." "You got a pic of her?" said FG. "I might, if you got a description." "She had sorta light-brown cheeks, and a kind of white mouth and nose." "Like this?" Areh pulled up a picture of a turian in dark clothing, lithe and sinuous like a shadow with her face somewhat cleared up by the limits of image software. But it was enough for James to point out: "YES, that's her, that's the bitch right there!" "Well at least we know WHAT she is...but as for who she is...I got no idea." "Are you serious?!" "Not even Arutulelan knows, he tried looking up everything! C-Sec got nothing, Omega's got nothing, Illium only just recently had her picture shared in their bulletin boards...I mean, normally there'd be some kind of registry match but there's nothing about her." "She's not even registered?!" asked Lirem. "The fuck, how does that happen?!" "I think someone erased all of her info out there, like wiped it out completely so as to make sure she could never be caught. The best assassin is the one that's never made famous." "Huh, poetic," said Jax. "Didn't know you had it in ya." "Heheh...but yeah, she's basically a ghost." "Trust me," said FG, "she wasn't no ghost when I punched her fucking face. If I find her again then her ass is mine." "Didn't know you were into that sorta gal James," said Jax jokingly, "like a bit of the old flavour, hmmmm?" "Wha-NO! God what is wrong with you?!" "Heheheheh, yer funny when you freak out." "D-dammit dude, come on...hhhahaha, a-anyways what's next? What your boss say after all this?" "Oh he called us yesterday," said Lirem, "said that next time we should tell him before going off on reckless deeds no matter how noble they might be. But we might get a nice reward in with the Migrant Fleet so he's happy about it at least." "Wow I expected him to be mad." "He was but not as much he could be, so it's all good." "Well good...so what now?" "Now we wait for the Migrant Fleet, offload Dr. Dahlael to them and be on our way." "I have something to tell them too," said Areh, "but I'll tell them when they get here."

With that they tended to their own duties whilst waiting for the quarian fleet. Norem and Lirem went searching for potential gigs to plan ahead with, Areh and Jax decided to relax with some videogames, and James simply rested up whilst looking online for anyone able to help with dimensional research. Again he found no luck, which while was disconcerting was not the highest priority for him at this moment. He was more concerned for Leiah, seeing how glad she was with her family again but still hoping things would turn out better. He started hoping that she would finish her pilgrimage soon, wanting her to be back home safely after such a close call with her father at the station. The raptor rubbed his wounded eye reminiscing about the fight, the mark of the mysterious Thrassil Sanerix. The fact that he had somehow constantly met again and again with the same terrorist group also gave him an idea. Something that had happened before that soon spiralled beyond his reckoning. But at the same time he was glad to have stopped. He pulled out the picture of Koopin from his belongings and stroked it gently, asking: "Remember all those things that happened when we first met? The climbers, the package, the ghost mansion and Kolorado? ...you never regretted me going after them, didn't you? No matter what it was, because in the end it was saving people...that's all that matters, right Koopin? ...I wanna get home...but...if people are going to get hurt out there, and I'm able to stop them...would you forgive me if I chose not to?" He kissed the photo after a long moment of thought before putting it back in his satchel, knowing full well the answer that would come to him. The search for finding someone with the potential ability to send him home was ongoing, but at the same time he found himself being caught up in a most dangerous game. The raptor couldn't ignore it, not after the third time he encountered them. He made up his mind and headed off, finding the rest of the crew sitting at the meeting room. Leiah however was absent, still in her room whilst the crew talked away with Areh saying: "I still don't get the deal with this Facinus group, I mean why would a guy from the army with full honours even go over to them?" "Probably the bureaucracy?" said Lirem uncertain. "A lot of people have problems with the bullshit about red tape going on in the hierarchy, but it's not like they're assholes about it. They're just trying to do what's best for the largest number of people out there." "Right...but still, I get that Squaron guy doing it because he's just some punk bitch, but that commander guy, what's he in it for?" "Maybe a mission gone wrong and he wants to take revenge on the hierarchy, that'd be my guess." "Maybe...that makes sense though I have to give props on pretending to be medical ships before taking out the place. That's some devious shit right there." "Hey guys."

James made his presence known and waved before sitting down with the rest, the crew greeting him in turn. "...I'd like to ask you something." "Whut's that?" asked Jax. "I want to pursue Facinus. I need to know what they're up to and I wanna find out what." "Seriously?" "Yes. I wasn't sure about it before because it's nothing to do with me and might be out of my hands but...I don't like the idea of them running around free being able to hurt people when they want. So I wanna follow up on them, any way I can, even if you guys can't then let me do it. I'm not a part of the band anyway so I can act on my own right?" The Sole Calibrators looked at each other with surreptitious glances, almost conferring silently amongst themselves before coming to a conclusion. Norem replied with: "We understand. In truth, we wanna help out too and find what they're up to as well. We'll do our best to inform the authorities like the Migrant Fleet who are arriving soon, but we're not just gonna let the trail run cold. We may be mercenaries and rock stars but that don't mean we can't be heroes too." "Long as we do what the boss says," said Areh, "we'll be fine, so we just have to do the odd gig or concert or mission, and anything inbetween we got time for we'll try to deal with these terrorists if we find anything. And we got one good lead." "Really?" asked FG. "We can check the sample of that neurotixon I got," said Jax. "Wait, you got a trace of the neurotoxin?!" "Yeah, I took some when you guys went into the vent, I drew some out of a quarian I found back there, we could get it analysed by a doctor." "Isn't that gonna look suspicious as hell? I mean, walk right up to a doctor and say 'hey I found this poison can you scan it for me'?" "Not if we go to the right place...a place where the law don't matter." "What?" "Omega." "What's Omega?" "It's a station far out in the Omega Nebula, straight shot from the Valhalla Threshold here, a lawless place where criminals breed like pyjaks an' the gangs run everything." "So basically Chicago, or Rogueport." "Heh, I guess." "I already like the sound of it, heheh...so we find a doctor on there to analyse the stuff we got?" "Yep, an' we even got an excuse, Norem found a gig down at the Afterlife, turns out a band got shot an' had to back out of the gig so hey free spot!" "Um...awesome?" "Hell yeah it is," said Lirem, "we don't get many opportunities like this, and we can please our boss too. You can't join in with the concerts because he's barred you from doing that, so instead why don't you go find the doctor and give him the neurotoxin?" "Wait why me?" "We'll be busy with the concert and won't get much time to move around, plus we still gotta keep our band persona apart from our mercenary persona." "Um...didn't we get spotted by Facinus already?" "Not after we killed 'em. Remember, only you got seen by the commander, we all stayed up in the vents so your face is the only one they recognise. The other time on Epho we all had helmets on." "Oh yeah, right...okay then I guess you send me out to do your dirty work...heh...can't believe this." "Huh?" "Eight-and-a-half years it's been and I'm still a delivery boy through dirty streets. Hah...just funny that's all." "You did this stuff before?" asked Norem. "Not delivering poison but...something like that." "Alright, the fleet'll be arriving in about two hours so get yourselves cleaned up nice and good before meeting them."

The Migrant Fleet was known to be the largest collective of ships in the entire galaxy, far outspanning any military army that any species had to offer. But sheer numbers made no difference when not all of the ships were well-armed, a scrapheap group of junkers and travellers who took what they could from ships no one wanted. James saw them soon coming in, the three ships that launched towards them representative of quarians in their smooth but oddly circular design, almost resembling giant omni-tools cast in steel. At least to James. One ship began to dock in alongside them, locking into place with expert precision as the airlocks depressurised. Entering was a small garrison of five quarians in various suits, armed and ready with the one commanding as a tall female with a meshed grey suit. She bowed towards the crew who bowed back in return, with Leiah and Samor stepping forwards to meet her as she said: "Keelah se'lai. I am Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay of the Patrol Fleet." "I'm Lirem Hallaher, of the mercenary group Wolf-Three-Nine-Five." "Pleased to meet you...hmmmyou resemble someone I know, perhaps you have heard of a certain music group?" "Really?" "Yes. A few relatives of mine listen to your work Mr. Hallaher, despite my chagrin might I add." "Hehehe...kids will be kids huh?" "Indeed. I did not expect such a group to be our heroes of the day." "Just keeping the galaxy safe Admiral, nothing more." "You have my utmost gratitude on behalf of the Migrant Fleet for your actions this past week. But, why is a music group also being a group of mercenaries?" "Normally we'd cover our faces to not show that but we thought it best not to be rude towards you Admiral. We also act as a mercenary group mainly for credits in keeping up our lifestyle, since opportunities as a band are much more difficult to come by. But this mission was an exception, we were in the area and Leiah, miss Dahlael, begged us to help her." "I see...you have two sides of a face." "A lot of people do, in fact I would also like to ask on behalf of our employer to keep our other life secret. It would make things kinda hard for us if people knew what group we were." "You have my word, my lips are sealed in return for your great efforts to our people. Dr. Dahlael, are you well?" "Very, thank you," said Samor, "my daughter's friends have been such wonderful hosts and saviours for getting everyone off the station." "It is unfortunate that Susskind Station is now gone," said Admiral Shala'Raan, "but we can always rebuild. Lives are much more difficult to do so." "Agreed." "If you would not mind, I wish to discuss the details of your incident in somewhere private. Is there a place we can convene?" "My daughter's room, I request her to be involved in it too." "Of course. Forgive me Mr. Hallaher but as you can see this is a Quarian matter so-" "I understand," said Lirem, "please go right on through, we'll be here." "Alright."

She bowed before heading towards Leiah's room, along with both Dahlaels whilst the garrison stayed behind. James invited them for a drink at the bar or at least a place to sit down, the group refusing politely while on duty but being grateful for being allowed to sit. Over the course of an hour the discussion took, and for the most part nothing eventful had occurred, until one brown-suited quarian walked up behind Areh whilst handling the cockpit's controls, saying: "Well well, look who's crawling around out here in space." He turned round to see the guard that called him, making Areh stiffen up at recognising who he was murmuring: "...ohh, Keelah it's you." "Yeah...you remember my name at least? You able to spell it even?" "Shor'Kahlen vas Qwib-Qwib, I know." "Wrong." He tapped him on the head with his fist a little too hard, adding: "It's vas Tonbay now, idiot. What about you? You don't got the Qwib-Qwib now either, Areh nar Tasi." "You know that's not my name." "No? Oh, you finally got your pilgrimage sorted then, what are you? Areh vas Nedas?" "I'm still from the Qwib-Qwib, bosh'tet. Or is that too complicated for you to remember?" "No..." The brown quarian walked right up towards Areh and nearly grinded his mask upon his, leering down upon him with an intimidating snarl in his voice. "But I bet a lot of things are too complicated for you, aren't they?" Areh balked underneath his stare to the point of almost cowering, putting his hands up fearfully. "Y-you...sh-shut up." "That why you hanging around some backstreet band right? Because it's easy? Not too difficult for your spastic little head, not like piloting a REAL ship back on the fleet. Maybe it's for the best then." "Huh?!" "Everything was running reaaaaal smoothly back on the Qwib-Qwib before I got transferred. Guess we all knew who the real flaw in the ship was, right vas Nedas?" "Back off." Jax walked out of the hall and stood between Areh and Kahlen, clearly an intimidating sight to the bullying quarian who sputtered: "Wh-who the hell are you?" "I'm Areh's friend. An' if you talk shit about him then I'm gonna rip yer face off." "Y-y-you...you can't threaten me, I'm high up in the Migrant Fleet! How much did he pay you to protect his ass huh?!" "I don't care if yer Shala'Raan, I'll fuckin' kill you if you call my friend that shit again! Now do whut you hafta do an' get the fuck off my ship!" "...you will pay for this insult to the Migrant Fleet, I-" "Kahlen." The commanding officer of the garrison stepped out from the doorway leading to the cockpit before staring down at Kahlen, stiffly walking up to him before saying: "Cease, now." "B-but-" "You are out of line, this crew has helped us save many lives not once but twice as well as our reputation. Whatever transgressions you have with this crew can be settled elsewhere, NOT when on duty as a representive of the Tonbay. Is that clear?" "Y-yes...sir." "Good. You'll be given a notice upon returning to the ship."

Areh flipped Kahlen off with one of his three fingers from behind Jax, making him seethe furiously before he walked back towards his ship. The commanding officer, who did not see this, nodded apologetically before making his leave in turn, the krogan smiling with a thumbs up back towards his small friend. "All good?" "Y-yeah...fucking bosh'tet." "Heh, yeah, sure wuz." "Is Admiral Raan done yet with Leiah's dad?" "Yeah," said Jax, "I wuz just coming to look fer ya in case you wanted her." "Awesome thanks." He rushed off to the ship exit as Admiral Raan was just finishing up, shaking the hands of the Centurion crew as well as paying them a hefty sum of credits with immense gratitude. James found her rather likeable, a warm motherly type with great fascination for the raptor as she shook his hand, asking: "I have never seen your species before." "I hear that a lot miss-um...admiral." "Hmhmhm, I see. Promise me one thing." "Yeah?" "Promise you won't be so reckless next time you start fighting terrorists." "Heh...I can't really keep that promise but I'll do my best." "Good." The guards stood waiting at the door, despite one of them sneering unseen towards Areh as he walked up to the admiral nervously. He asked while wringing his fingers: "Um, Admiral Raan?" "Yes?" "My name is Areh'Narohl nar Qwib-Qwib." "Ohhh yes, Zaal'Koris' ship. How is your pilgrimage going?" "It's...going, listen, I have something important to tell you before you leave." "Yes?" "Me and my friends, we...we encountered Facinus before, they were also responsible for an assassination attempt up at Illium, on a...councilor we were playing a party for." "Oh dear...how unfortunate." "Well she's alive, thanks to um, James there, but...we found out something that you might be interested in. Councilor T'Kina was studying something, that she obtained during some investigations. The police on Nos Astra discovered some unusual signals and inconsistencies with the shipping schedules, and since councilor T'Kina works very closely with the shipyards, it picked up her attention." "And what were these signals exactly?" "They're...possible tracer routes of Geth hotspots, originating from the Perseus Veil."

The room stood silent as if the air had suddenly depressurised, all of them looking at each other with great worry, especially Leiah and Shala'Raan, who asked softly: "...what? Are you...serious?" "Absolutely." "Then, why didn't she alert any higher authorities or something?!" "She wanted to make sure apparently. They hadn't been confirmed and quite frankly when she tried to alert the higher authorities they passed over it since they were rather more concerned with, well, what else, money." "Hmph...typical Nos Astra thinking. And to think they complain about us with the geth, when they don't even bother to deal with them." "I know, right? Anyways, I wasn't able to get the data itself but Facinus were interested in it, which was why they stole it from the councilor. If you want, you could call her yourself, councilor T'Kina that is, and see if you can try to...maybe...I dunno, help her or something." "I will do my best should it ever be needed. Thank you Mr. Narohl, you were very helpful in bringing this information to us." "Heh...shame I didn't get the data myself huh? That might have been a nice pilgrimage gift." "I am sure you will find something on your own, dear. You never know what surprises may lie deep within this galaxy." "She's right Areh," said Jax, "yer already half the band here, whut's stoppin' ya from finding something awesome to give back to the fleet?!" "J-Jaaaaax!" whimpered Areh. "I'm talking to the Admiral, please." "Hohoho," chuckled Shala, "and with such friends as these I am sure you will do well. Both you and miss Dahlael." "Th-thank you...Admiral." The two bowed politely to each other before she made her leave, with Samor'Dahlael accompanying them after making one last embrace with his daughter. "Keelah se'lai, my princess." "Keelah se'lai...I'll call you!" "I know." He smiled and waved before the ship finally departed, closing the airlock but not before the last guard hung back to give Areh the evil eye. With a look as his finger drew across his throat threateningly, he left before the ship could take off fully, leaving the Centurion by itself as they launched back towards the Migrant Fleet. The crew simply looked towards Areh with shock at the bombshell he just dropped. But James was more concerned about another matter, asking: "What the hell was that guy's problem, that guard who looked at you?" "Don't worry about it," said Areh, "he used to be on the same ship as me, they were all like that back on the Qwib-Qwib. Assholes the lot of them." "Wow really?" "I got bullied, so what, who hasn't? They just all wanted someone to pick on so why not the retard?" "Areh," warned Jax, "don't say that." "Why not, that's what they thought wasn't it?! Besides, I'm not with them anymore, the only guy who actually respected me on there was Admiral Zaal'Koris. He's a good guy despite what people say about him." "What do you mean?" asked FG. "Never mind I don't care, I'm going to bed." "W-wait!" Leiah stopped him before he had the chance to walk away. "Why didn't you say anything about the geth tracer routes?" "What would happen if you knew? Not like any of us were gonna go after Facinus then right? Besides, you know as well as I do that these matters concern the fleet, not just the six of us." "I...okay. Sorry, just, I never thought-" "It's fine, don't...I'm going to bed, night everyone."

The quarian shuffled off to bed listlessly, his feet dragging along behind him which gave Jax some concern, watching with a pitiful look in his eyes before turning towards James. He said nothing and simply walked after Areh, taking one look at him in passing before they both parted ways to their own rooms. The door gave the faintest look of Areh clenching his fists before closing, as Leiah, James and the turian brothers talked amongst themselves. Leiah was the most surprised, starting with: "THAT'S what Facinus were after?! Keelah...that's pretty big to tell them isn't it?" "Um guys?" asked FG. "Aren't you more curious about why the hell Facinus would want this sorta thing? Aren't they like a terrorist group or something?" "Well yeah," said Lirem, "that's the million credit question right there and I dunno why, it certainly doesn't fit in with their modus operandi from what I gathered." "And what is their...mobius...operati?" "Well usually they just blow up car bombs, buildings, kill a buncha people, usual terrorist crap...but nothing involving Geth, never." "Maybe they're just switching up their tactics?" asked Norem. "I mean an organisation like that's gotta evolve someday." "You think bro? I'm not so sure." "Maybe they wanna control geth with that console thing," said James cautiously. "That's impossible," said Leiah, "the geth are too complex to let themselves be remotely controlled like that, they're AIs, not VIs." "There's a difference?" "Yes, an AI can think for itself, a VI can't since it just repeats and processes information without sentience." "Right right...well then shit what the hell do they want? We got them stealing minerals, a console and some geth routes, what the hell does this add up to?" "Wait a minute...remember that weird geth we fought back on that Asari ship?" "Yeah?" "Didn't it act...like, really strangely? And it was on its own too, that's even more unusual! What if they're connected?" "I don't think so," said Norem, "that was before the console got stolen, like months before, even before they attacked the councilor on Illium." "But still...I dunno..." "Whutever they're up to, we can find them through one lead we got, the neurotoxin that Jax obtained. So why don't we get ourselves ready for our gig on Omega, and James can go find a doctor to scan it for us?" "Right," replied Leiah, "good idea. You okay with that James?" "Sure," replied FG, "I mean, why not go alone into a dark criminal place with no idea on where to go, sounds fun!" "Great!" said Norem. "Then it's off to Omega everyone, it's time to rock!" Norem tried to fistpump up eagerly to motivate everyone, which worked on all except Lirem who rather sheepishly pumped his fist in turn. He shrugged it off chuckling before heading off to his room, giving the impression that he was more tired than anything else. Norem however knew the real reason, and he went to bed himself only an hour later after James served him some drinks. Areh however had his own concerns on more than just destinations, his own ideas following a similar path to Leiah's. In order to take his mind off things, he tried to figure out a puzzle that had been bothering him, something concerning the geth they faced back on the Eroba ship. It wasn't particularly difficult to solve, being simply a binary puzzle but he never had time to get around to it. "One...zero-zero-zero...one...zero-zero-one...huh?" His solving it however after feeding it through a binary translator brought only more questions to him, once he realised what the machine had said to them. All it gave him was another number, his mind further befuddled by such illusive numeric. "What the...one-three-seven? ...the hell does that mean? Why would he-argh, fuck this, not my problem, send this to Tulan or something I don't care." Heading off to bed in a huff, one more mystery remained unsolved for the time being as he rolled over beneath the sheets, trying not to let his brain remember past days with the quarian fleet. He was only thankful that the walls were thick enough to stop people from hearing his muted sobbing before he could fall asleep, his mind failing to not stave off his past memories. Or so he thought. Jax was on the other side, listening to him without saying anything like always. Once he heard no more from Areh, he was content that his friend had fallen asleep at last and went to bed himself for the new day. A new day into a darker world.