Chapter 94: Chapter 93
In direct contrast to our starting situation, we hit a bit of good fortune. Suki was in a target-rich environment on Illium. There was no shortage of corrupt businessmen who deserved to get robbed, and more than a few of them had lackluster security systems. We are all flushed with creds and in possession of a slightly used but distinctly unremarkable FTL capable corvette. The 2nd smallest ship classification only 50m long and the smallest ship rated for Mass Relay travel. On top of that, using Spectre access which is another thing Suki stole, I was able to look for anything the Citadel races had on us. They know about the stolen beacon, but only the first time it was stolen. It had been stolen from a transport ship by unknown parties. It is suspected to be the work of either the Shadow Broker or pirates. Although there isn't a lot of evidence they're just pointing out the usual suspects.
Learning that we are not on the galaxy's most-wanted list was a relief, even so, we didn't want to stick around. So we boarded our new ship the S.S... Factory Defect...
"Suki does this ship have a factory defect or is it named that?" I asked nervously.
"It's named that. The previous crew was made of retired and disfigured Alliance gen 2 biotics."
"Ha. And we're reprising that role. I guess everything is good as long as this ship isn't going to explode or something." Toph joked.
On the ship, I took the role of pilot and directed us to where I knew I would find my Space Station. We spent several days aboard the S.S Factory Defect, which was surprisingly spacious. I was expecting it to be cramped like traveling in an RV but it's closer size-wise to a yacht. The command room and engineering took up a sizeable portion, but there was still room for bunks and a canteen. As an AI I didn't need to eat or sleep, but Suki and Toph did. Suki got her first conscious taste of dextro food and Toph got to experience her indoctrination nightmares. Suki was completely underwhelmed by military rations and Toph was disappointed in her nightmares. Toph woke up after over 8 hours of sleep completely nonplussed.
"Toph you good?" I ask
"You know how I overcame my fears to lava bend?"
"Yea"
"Well, It turns out facing and accepting my fears has made nightmares incredibly boring. I'm in my dream and It's like come on already. Oh, I'm being chased? I'm in danger. My parents are disappointed in me. Yawn saw it all before."
"Boring dreams are still probably better than nightmares though"
"For you maybe."
It wasn't much longer before we reached the Hades Nexus. A star system in the Attican Traverse, a highly contested region of the galaxy. Caught in between citadel space and the lawless terminus system. Once at the Hades Nexus, we went past the outer edges of Hopolos. A star with several planets and one human colony on the aquatic planet Trident. Just into deep space was where we found the Vault. A 5-kilometer long circular space station, like a wheel and spoke. Flying into and landing in the center bay we were greeted by 5 unexpected humans in lab coats.
"Welcome to the Vault overseer. I'm sub-director Cranston, and these 4 are the other department heads." A tall middle-aged man with a full head of shaggy brown hair said.
"I'm Maya Roberts head of Medical Biology. I oversee any biologic research taking place as well as keeping everyone aboard healthy" A matronly brunette said.
"Hello, I'm Lucian Steele head of Engineering and Upkeep. I oversee all new engineering projects as well as keeping the vault functional." A skinny man with dark skin and glasses told me.
"Hi everyone just calls me Jack. I run resource management, I make sure no one runs out of food, water, power, medicine, or anything else they might need." A jovial man with a beard explained proudly.
"I am Dr.Hurst. I'm in charge of Scientific Advancement. We do primary research as well as project delegation. A stereotypical scientist snootily told me.
I looked around impressed. "Thank you all for the warm welcome. Department heads please return to your regular duties. Director Cranston, if you're not busy could you give us a tour where we'll be discussing plans going forward."
"It would be my pleasure, sir."
As he began leading us down a spoke and into the ring we began to plan.
"Director Cranston, would you say this base functions primarily as a research facility with small scale production possible with resources?"
"That's a fair categorization of most of our work."
"Suki, Toph what do you think are the most important thing to be researched at the Vault?"
"Quarian Immunology and the Promethean Beacon"
"Curing the Genophage and weapons"
"That all sounds good. Okay Cranston, top priorities are curing the Genophage and finding a way to boost Quarian's immune system. Then see if you can make any progress at scaling up laser and plasma weaponry to match ship to ship combat.
" Sir that is what we have already been working on"
"How's the progress?"
"Very good. We still have some issues with power and range, but we are making good progress."
"That's good to hear. The final priority is we have obtained a Promethean Beacon. We'll forward you the data and will be tentatively leaving it here for you to study."
"Excellent Sir, I'll pass this along to all the departments. Is there anything else? He asks. I look back at Suki and Toph, but it looks like they don't have anything else either.
"No. Thank you." As Cranston walked off the three of us continued to explore the station and plan.
"What do we need to do to fight off the reapers?"
"How are they beaten originally?"
"There exist plans for a superweapon that has been developed by every previous cycle. The plans can be found somewhere in the Promethean ruins on Mars. The weapon is enormous and it involves sacrificing the Citadel."
"Hmph," Toph snorts. "Nothing we can do about that. We need bigger and better armies."
"That means we need to limit pre-reaper fighting and losses, make better war preparation, and push helpful innovations," Suki concluded.
"We're already pushing innovation here. If we made strategic investments I think we could help it along that way too." I add.
"If we can resettle the Quarians somewhere and maybe get a peace agreement between them and the Geth that would add two strong forces. I assume originally both sides got significantly weaker by other conflicts. This way we could avoid that."
"Once we cure the Genophage. We could use it to unite the Krogans under a single clan rule. Maybe get them to start rebuilding."
"I think helping those three groups would make the biggest difference. Plus if we interfere early enough we might be able to prevent the Geth from fracturing. Now how do we get everyone to prepare better."
"We need to convince everyone that the Reapers are a real threat." Suki declared
"We need information. I have two ideas. The first we can't do until the plot starts, but the second one we could do right now. I know where the Shadow Brokers base is."
"What? You just happen to know where the notorious info broker is?"
"Suki it's in the games"
"Oh right. If we could usurp him then that would give us all the information we need. Then we could spread the information however we want."
"It's going to involve storming a base full of soldiers. Which means it will be insanely dangerous."
"Good. I wouldn't have come along if it meant always being safe." Toph replied.
I look at Suki and she gives me a determined nod and Toph is giving me a toothy grin.
"It's decided then. Let's go take over the largest criminal enterprise in the galaxy."
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