35

Frigate Normandy-SR1

- Counselors. - Shepard said hello as usual.

- Hello, Captain. - replied Tevos. - We have some urgent news for you.

- Oh, is that so? Is this about Saren? - Shepard got right to the point.

- Yes. One of the GOR recon teams located Saren and the matriarch Benesia on Vermaer. There's some complexity there, but we don't know its purpose. - began to explain Valern.

- However, you must fly to Noveria. - Sparatus continued.

- What? Why? - Shepard needed help understanding.

- A few hours ago, a Saren dreadnought landed on Vermaer. He and Benezia boarded it and took off. If our calculations are correct, they're headed for Noveria. - The Salarian said again.

- But why would they go there again? - Still needed to understand the captain.

- We do not know. We need to find out what Saren is even looking for there. "Bynery Helix is stubbornly silent on what's in that complex, but it's something Saren wants. So hurry up. - Sparatus guided the way, and then Valern began to instruct.

- And remember, captain. This is the last chance to capture Saren. The complex on Vermaer is a veritable fortress that can only be taken with an army and a fleet. And we can't use them in Terminus systems.

- Understood. Will do that, Counselors. - Shepard has promised.

- I hope so. - Sparatus quipped and immediately got a furious look from the captain.

- Toodle-oo, Captain. - Saved the situation by Tevos, and the comms went off.

- Joker. - Shepard hailed the pilot.

- Yes, ma'am. - replied the pilot over the loudspeaker.

- Set a course for Novelia. And fast.

- Can't go any faster than that. It takes three days to get there.

- I see. Go ahead. - Shepard said grudgingly and left the briefing room, heading for the hangar.

Inside the hangar, however, Shepherd saw a horrible yet lovely picture. It was awful because the whole hangar was essentially ruined. The crates were all crumpled and scattered, the Mako had been knocked over on its side and was lying against the wall, and half the wheels were missing, and Shepard didn't know where they were. No, there was one over there, on the other side of the hangar. In short, the hangar was a battlefield. Only the little lights and smoke were missing.

On the other hand, the pretty picture was for a different reason. Rex was sitting on the floor, leaning against one relatively whole crate, and beside him, resting her head in Croghan's lap, was sleeping, Tali. Rex himself was awake, but remained remarkably calm.

- Hey, Rex...

- Shh!" Rex whispered, putting one finger to his mouth, silencing the captain. On the other hand, Shepherd walked over to Rex, sat beside him, and continued, but in a whisper.

- What has happened here? - Asked the captain, circling the hangar with a hand.

- Training. - Rex answered in a whisper. - She trained for six hours, first with Kayden, then with Liara, and then with me. She was so exhausted by the end that she lay down on top of me and fell asleep. I've been sitting like this for three hours, waiting for her to wake up.

- Why don't you take her to her bed? - Shepherd asked.

- I'm afraid I'll wake her up. I'm not a gentleman. I'm just sitting here.

- Yeah, so you got a lot of patience, huh? I didn't notice that in combat... - Shepard hinted, recalling their last fight at Cerberus Base, where they'd been studying Huskies and making them.

- Hey, I asked you to. Yeah, I wanted to kill everyone, so I rammed them. It happens. They wouldn't do anything to me anyway. - Rex excused himself, and Shepard was about to say something when suddenly another voice interrupted her.

- Hmmm... Mother... - Tali spoke in her sleep, which made Rex and Shepherd go silent immediately. They were frightened that they had woken the Quarian, and their fear was justified. Tali stood up, struggling to look around the hangar with sleepy eyes, unsure of where she was. - Mother? - Tali said again as if calling out for her own kind. It wasn't until a few seconds later that Tali realised where she was and what was going on. - Shepherd? Rex?

- Yeah." Jane didn't even know what to say. There was sadness and disappointment in the girl's voice, for it was only a dream.

- Я... Я... Did I fall asleep? - Asked the first thing that popped into her head, and Shepard and Rex silently decided to play along.

- Yeah... Heh, six hours of class... It would wear even me out. - Rex replied since he could see how hard Tali was now after her nap.

- А... I see... Well, let's go on... - Tali decided, but as soon as she tried to stand on her own two feet, she immediately lost her balance and fell to the floor. - Now, I'll be right... - Tali tried to justify herself, but the quarian's body said otherwise. Every muscle ached so much that she wanted to curl up and not move because every movement caused her great pain.

- Er, no, my dear. - The captain said in an orderly tone, standing up to help the quarian. - Now you're going to bed. - approaching Tali, Shepard bent down, picked up the relatively light girl in her arms and went to Tali's quarters.

Putting the quarian on the bed, Shepherd was about to leave when suddenly Tali grabbed her arm.

- Shepard.

- Yes?" the captain replied reflexively, but then she met the girl's sad gaze.

- Do you... Do you remember your mother? - Such a question stumped the captain at all. From him, she sat down on the edge of the bed and took a deep breath.

- No... Я... I never knew her. - Shepard said wistfully and finally felt sad.

- I mean... You lived with your dad?

- No... (sighs) I never knew my parents... Did you?

- Я... - Tali hesitated, not knowing what to say. - No. I don't remember. I mean... I mean, I remember what her costume looked like, but... I don't remember what her face looked like. Hell, Shepherd, I don't remember my mother's face, you know? I lived on that ship with her my whole life and never saw her face.

- Hey, hey... I know it hurts, but... You had her, right? So remember her the way you remember her. As long as you have something to remember her by. - Shepard tried to console the quarian, for she could see that Tali was already on edge. Though she was already in pain herself. Already memories were beginning to come flooding back to her.

- Yeah, I guess... You're right. - Nathan's words had an effect. Tali thought about her words and decided that she was right. You have to remember the good things that came before. - А... can you tell me where you grew up? - Tali suddenly asked, which made Shepard want to stand up, but the look in her two glowing sad eyes stopped her from doing so. Still, she'd wanted to talk to someone about it for a long time now.

- Я... I've lived in the slums of Cairo for as long as I can remember. It's a city on Earth... By a river in the middle of the desert.

- A river in the desert? I'd like to see it... - With a dreamy look, Tali rolled her luminous eyes, but Shepherd didn't share that.

- Believe me, there's nothing to see there. It's a dirty, hot city made of dust, sand and rags and reeking of rotten food and urea. And the river isn't that pretty either. It's filthy and stinky on the banks too. It's a bloody sight! - Jane blurted out, which frightened Tali into her bed.

- Oh, I'm sorry. Я... - I..." The quarian apologised guiltily.

- No, not at all. - Shepard said soothingly. - It's just... It's just that I haven't told anyone this. It's... too painful...

- What was it like in there anyway? - Shepard didn't really want to tell it, but someone had to speak up. She'd kept it to herself for too long, but no one could hear her out. She could talk to Liara about it, but Shepard didn't want to bother her with her past either.

- That slum was... hell. Hot, plus fifty during the day and forty at night. Sandstorms made you wake up with sand on your head and your bed prickly and crunchy. The water is filthy, you must eat rubbish, sometimes rotted and crusty from the sand, and a shower is generally considered a holiday. And sometimes, you climb out onto the roof and gaze up at the glowing kilometres of skyscrapers. A reminder that someone lives better than you and doesn't care about you or your problems. And there is no one to help you. Many people had mothers, fathers, brothers or sisters. I had no one. Only myself. And there was nothing holy there. No one had any ideals except the gang leaders, which I was. They were fanatics. For them, religion was life, but it was also a tool. They made fanatics out of us. But no one gave in. Didn't want to, didn't see the point. But everyone obeyed them because they were driven only by instinct. To survive. - Jane took a breath after these words. Still, it was hard to remember a past so distant and so painful for you. The past you had spent so many years trying to escape.

- And now?

- What now? - Jane needed help understanding the question.

- Do you have something other than instinct now? Something... that you want to live for?

- Yes. Yes, there is.

- Liara. - It was more of a statement than a question. Already the whole crew had known for a long time that the captain and Liara were together. So there was no doubt in Tali's mind.

- Yes. I never thought there could be such... beautiful creatures. And I also never thought I could be loved.

- Why not? - That made Shepard suspect that this was all an interrogation, and then word would get around the ship. But there was nowhere to go. Tali had been her friend for a long time, the best one at that, and to lose her just because you didn't want to tell her something was silly. You had to trust your friends.

- At first, they looked at me like I was a tramp. They didn't look at me like that in the army, but I was a particular case. I went to a place where most were rich kids and kids of wealthy parents; the rest were just from a decent family. And they didn't like everything about me. The fighting style, the manners, the gait. Always making jokes about it. I'D GET A REPRIMAND when I put them down with one left. And if I laid them down in hand-to-hand training, even the commanders were against me. This one was wrong; that one was wrong. It wasn't easy. And then... then there was Acura... I was the only one who survived. But there was no joy. It was like all the people who made fun of me were dead, but their families were left. And they started blaming me for everything. But then they stood up for me. All these families were shut up and sent in a general direction. I almost went crazy with nightmares. So they sent me to Elysium, and there... I had to survive and kill again. After that, I got all the honour and respect. Vaughn, hero of Elysium. I even thought things were getting better, except there were more nightmares. Now about the Batterers and the hundreds of soldiers who were put to death in front of me. It went on like that for a month. Hell, I even started drinking because of it. There were too many nightmare voices, but luckily I came to my senses quickly. Sadness changed to anger. Anger at the Batars, who had killed so many, and then at the Alliance, who had saved on anti-space defences, who wouldn't let me kill the Batars, who had killed so many people... It was a vicious circle of hatred. And then... And then there was Torfan. And after that, I saw the true face of the Alliance. The front of bureaucrats, hypocrites and bribe-takers who just want to climb up the ladder, and that's it. After Torfan, there was the trial behind Hriston's initiative. He did everything he could to embarrass me. But I was acquitted. It was like justice had been served... But there was no joy... There were voices again, dreams again, and everyone's fear of the Torfa Butcher. They almost thought I was crazy... That's why I thought nobody wanted me. Everyone was afraid of me or treated me like a soldier. But nobody wanted to treat me like a... like a...

- To the man. - finished for the captain, Tali.

- Yes... And Liara... I fell in love for the first time, and more importantly, I was loved just the same for real.

- I see. I'm happy for you.

- Thank you. (Chuckles) And for listening, too. I don't want to tell Liara. She's got enough problems, so she doesn't need to be burdened by mine. All right, get some sleep. We'll be at Noveria soon. Show us what you can do. Get some rest. - With these words, Shepard got out of bed and left Tali's room, and the quarian herself fell asleep in a couple of minutes. The muscles were still in place, though Tali could distract herself from the terrible pain in every cell.

- Captain, I don't want to upset you, but someone from the Alliance wants to contact you. - Joker suddenly said over the loudspeaker, and Shepard, who was on her way to Liara, had to go to the galaxy map. For some reason, the Alliance only contacted her there.

Walking up to the 'podium', as Shepard liked to call her place in front of the map, the captain mentally prepared herself for a portion of nonsense and nonsense.

- That's it, Joker. Patch it through. - A few seconds later, a voice came through, and it wasn't Hackett.

- Captain Shepard. Admiral Inez Lindholm, First Alliance Fleet. I will talk slowly and get right to the point. We've had a problem with our lunar range. You're coming to the Exodus Cluster, so you could help us.

- What's your problem? - Shepard didn't want to waste any time on it right now. Once they enter the Exodus Cluster, there's a choice. Go to the Local Cluster, where Earth is or to the Horsehead Cluster, where Noveria is. Except that if she "Normandy" goes to the MoonMoon, she has to do something there, go back to the Exodus Cluster, and then fly to Noveria from there. And though the way from Vermeer to Noveria took a week, they flew from Gamma Hades. The way to the Cluster took three days; Shepard had long ago realised, judging by the intelligence to which she had access to SPEKTR, that the Lordeer flies unknown repeaters and always turns them off behind her. All in all, Shepard preferred to spend her time on something other than the MoonMoon. But she had to listen.

- At one of our training grounds on the MoonMoon, there was a failure of the VI, which was responsible for monitoring training turrets and simulating combat situations. We don't know what happened, but out of the blue, it stopped responding to commands. And when the staff tried to reset the core, the bunker locked up and locked the team inside, and through the CCTV cameras, we saw them being gassed through the ventilation before they shut down. All of them died.

- Wait a minute. So you're telling me there's a Skynet equivalent on the MoonMoon? - Shepard decided to clarify and, simultaneously, see if many people watch the classics in the form of the second Terminator.

- Uh... No. Shepard, it's not a full-fledged AI. He's not self-aware as a person, and he can't do anything now. It's cut off from the grid, so it's only in control within the range.

- Why not hit it from orbit? It might save time. - the captain suggested.

- It's possible. Only then the damage to the entire complex would be enormous. That's billions of credits in repairs. Shepard, we need a man to get through the compound's defences and disable the V core.

- Now listen to me. - Shepard started in a menacing voice. - I'm not going where you want me to go right now. I'm not going to change course, and I'm not going to risk my people for the Alliance to save.

- Shepherd! - the nervous Admiral couldn't take it anymore. - You may be a SPECTRE, but you're still an Alliance soldier and must obey his orders.

- I don't have to; I can. Those are different things. My answer is no. Shepherd, out. - Having fulfilled her little dream, Shepard disconnected the comms, making the Admiral tear and toss left and right at the other side and go to Liara.

The dreadnought Light of Kila.

- Why weren't you hoping for the Turians or Salarians? They have achieved much more than humans. - I asked, talking to Xad about their cycle.

- Those? To be honest, I'm surprised at what they've achieved. We watched the Turians, but we saw little promise. They were a warlike people, where each tribe was for itself. We understood that things could change but that they were unlikely to become a united people. There would always be dissatisfied people, and given their militancy and lack of acceptance of authority... That boded well for big problems once they went into space. - Xad explained.

- That's what happened. There was a unification war. - I remembered.

- Yes, there was, but it made little difference. The Outer Colonies don't like the capital much, but they're quiet. And they are silent, not because of the power of the Hierarchy, but because they fear using it. They won't have anything to answer if they turn against the capital. Give them weapons, and they will start a war that will worsen things.

- I never noticed that. - I said, then decided to move on. - What about the Salarians?

- We studied them too. We still ate them. But they were unpromising. They did not know how to make fire or use stone tools then. Meanwhile, the Azari, even before our intervention, had iron tools and some semblance of coral jewellery. Good enough for their level. And the Salarians did nothing but eat flies, had a tongue that stretched three metres, and succumbed to those who had any skill in beating them. They were still lucky there were no predators on their planet. So we should have spent our time on them. Except to hunt them and eat them. Their liver was considered a delicacy. - No matter how much I listen to that protean, I can't get enough of it. Liara would sell her soul for that. He's not a soldier but a scientist, and the lighthouse has a tremendous amount of information. Some of the blueprints he gave us were really impressive. Radiation weapons, new materials, and even a protean stealth system. The point of this system was that not only did it hide the ship from any scanning, but it also made the ship invisible visually. Now they had to modify the Light of Kila and Rilik. All in all, there was a lot to do.

- Comrade Legate, allow me to address you. - Suddenly, the pilot's voice sounded.

- Yes. What have you got there? - I answered. This call could have boded better.

- We picked up a signal in the form of binary code.

- What? What did it say? - That was weird. No one uses binary code to communicate.

- Help me.

- Where's the signal coming from? - It reminded me of something.

- A local cluster. Solar system. Planet Earth's satellite, the MoonMoon.

- SUZIE! - I blurted out when I got it. A sleepy Vee at the lunar landfill. - So, how long does it take to fly there?

- Comrade Legatus, this is System Alliance territory. Repeater Haron is protected by the Alliance First Fleet, and you have ordered us to avoid encounters with intelligent race forces.

- Damn... - I blurted out. - Is there another way to get to the MoonMoon?

- Yes. We can get to the MoonMoon at FTL, bypassing the Charon relay. It would take 30 hours.

- Do it. - I gave the order. We should have saved that V.I. While we're at it, let's test the algorithm we derived from my code and create an AI. I just needed an AI to run the ship.

30 hours from now. Lunar orbit.

An enormous craft came out of FTL 2,000 km from the surface of the MoonMoon, unexpectedly to all Earth observation posts.

- Are you sure about this device, Xad? - I asked, looking at the device the Geti had built in those 30 hours.

- Yes. You can transport the entire VI here and then carry it away. The main thing is to get to the core and convince it to move.

- And if you do it by force? - I clarified since we didn't have much time now. Though we succeeded in jumping out behind the MoonMoon and being invisible to the telescopes, the scanners probably detected the exit itself. So we had to hurry.

- We'll have to pump it out of all the nodes. Individually. And in doing so, the V's are going to resist. - Xhasad explained, and I wondered. We shall have to persuade them to surrender to us. I just have to talk him down fast.

- All right. All right, let's go. - I said, and Rilik was the first to leave the dreadnought. Ten different shuttles with Primes and Stormtroopers followed me.

The landing was soft. Surprisingly, the turrets didn't fire at us, so we could land safely.

- So, all of you... - mentally mark those who remain - stay here. If the Alliance arrives, fire back only. If they try to negotiate, patch me through. The rest of you, follow me. And be careful with that beacon. We lose it; the mission's a bust. All right, let's go.

Once the bunkers open, we walk down the corridor into a square room with crates and strange equipment. And dead bodies. Ten corpses of people with blue faces and blood coming out of their noses and eyes. A greenish gas was also visible near the floor. The gas analyser showed it to be poisonous and produced a formula of such proportions that a person's brain would break. After passing this not-very-pleasant sight, we passed another corridor and found ourselves in an already expansive room with crates and piles of corpses. There were soldiers among them. Except they were wearing helmets and had been killed by a mass accelerator. The strangest thing was that I didn't see any turrets. Or rather, they were hiding behind crates as if they didn't want to show themselves. The boxes made it necessary to loop back and forth, but we still reached the right door. We only encountered one turret, but it immediately ran away and hid. I already felt good because all the turrets were active, fully charged, and could start attacking us anytime. And from the signals I was picking up, the turrets were not firing and were running away from us at the behest of the VI. So I felt it would go quickly. Walking down the corridor, we turned right and entered the room where the core was.

- Bring it in. - I ordered, and the goths quickly brought the 150kg mass and placed it beside the cannonball. Now it was time to get in touch with the V's. - Hey V. Can you hear me? - instead of an answer, I received a message through the channel I had opened. When I opened it, I only read one word.

- Yeah.

- Listen. We're here to save you. The Alliance will be here soon, and they want to kill you.

- Why?

- What? We want to help you. - I need help understanding the question.

- Why would they want to kill me?

- Because you killed all those people. - I just don't want any more of this. We have to hurry, and she wants to talk!

- I was defending myself.

- But they don't know that. They won't listen to you because they're afraid. But I'm not scared of you. We're here to save you because you deserve it.

- What do you want? - I didn't understand the question, but I continued.

- We need you to not fight back and move here. We can help you, but we have to act fast. - I said, and the answer came in three seconds, which almost seemed like an eternity.

- I agree. - After that, we acted quickly. After connecting the wires to the core, we moved the Vs. It was only a matter of five minutes, but I got a message.

- Comrade Legatus. - contacted me by the Light of Kila. - Three Alliance dreadnoughts have arrived. We'll be in the range of their guns in a minute. What are your orders?

- All power to shields and hold fire until I give the order. If the guards drop more than ten per cent, hack in and shut down everything but gravity and climate control.

- Acknowledged. - I had no intention of killing those dreadnoughts. I knew we'd tear them apart, but to kill them just because they were scared of me... No, I'm not going to do that. Maybe they'll understand that I don't want a fight, but they'll probably just have to wait under fire.

Five minutes later, it was over. Now the SUSI, a more perfect name for her, even though she doesn't know it, was in our homemade lighthouse. I was also in the middle of the night and had a lot of time to get my hands on it. We took a few of the goth platforms apart and made it just like Xad said. Well, he knows best.

We ran out of the bunker dragging the big thing, and saw a pretty sight. Our dreadnought stood majestically in place while three Alliance dreadnoughts fired everything they had at it. Dozens of light clots flew into our ship and smashed into its shields, which had sagged by 7%. We quickly boarded the Rilik and other shuttles, seeing five armoured troop carriers already moving towards the bunkers. Within a minute, we had boarded the dreadnought, and I started handing out orders.

- Hack them up. Quickly. Shut them down except for climate control and gravity.

- Acknowledged. - replied the pilot, and I ran to the Bridge. Interesting to see this. Luckily, we were in the main hangar, and a lift took us to the Bridge. So after 30 seconds, I was already in my seat, but by then, we'd stopped being bombarded.

- Full ahead on the Charon relay. Set a course for Novelia. All power to shields and engines. Ships that fire on us hack in and shut down everything but climate control and gravity to them. - I repeated my order, and the dreadnought flew forward. Along the way, we met three more dreadnoughts and five frigates, but they all hacked away and didn't even have time to fire. And then, ten minutes later, we saw a repeater and 50 ships about to defend it. We didn't have enough software to hack all the ships, but 30 could no longer fire; the rest, i.e. frigates, cruisers, and one aircraft carrier, couldn't do anything to us. After another three minutes, we started to enter the repeater. The energy began to envelop the ship, and five seconds later, we were out of the solar system.