FSE

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"Hah! This looks intriguing!" Dakka popped another crab puff into her mouth and held her menu tablet out to Emily. "Zaeed's Goddamn Good Chocolate Chip Cookies. Think I'll get a batch to-go." She laughed and added them to her order.

"They're pretty good, alright." Emily grinned and took a bite of her crab salad. "So, you were standing there, naked, with C-Sec agents on one side and Eclipse mercs on the other, pointing guns at each other...?"

"Yep, there I was, right in between them, wearing only my Omni-Tool on my wrist." Dakka shrugged. "I'd just gotten out of surgery a few minutes before my captain told me what was going down. All my armor and weapons were being held in C-Sec, and my off-duty clothes are on my ship, which is probably still orbiting Chasca. I could've gone there in that backward gown they make patients wear, but that would've made it obvious that I was injured. So I just ran there in my birthday suit."

"That had to be quite a sight. I suspect it was a good tactical move simply because it had to distract everyone so completely."

"It seemed to work out that way. Instead of gearing up to shoot each other, a lot of 'em were suddenly staring at me and muttering, 'What the hell is this?'"

"I would imagine so. I simply must get a clip of it from a nearby security camera." Emily laughed. "I have to admit, I'm surprised you didn't try to fight them off. I mean, you're a krogan, you're a merc, you probably enjoy fighting, so...."

"It crossed my mind, sure, but then I saw how outnumbered the C-Sec guys were. I'll admit to being young and a little crazy, but I'm not stupid. Those girls would've blasted all of us into chunks of wet meat. If it were just me, a few months ago, I might've tried it anyway, but the C-Sec people were just doing their jobs and they have families waiting for them to come home at the end of every shift." Dakka sighed. "And now that I've got someone who cares about me, I have plenty of reasons to be a little more careful."

She ate another crab puff, waved at the camera hovering over Emily's shoulder, and grinned.

"Hey, Quentin!"

Emily smiled and finished her salad. "So, you decided to reason with the mercs instead?"

"Yeah. I can't reveal many details because this is part of an ongoing investigation, but I can say the leader of the mercs wanted to get at a suspect C-Sec has in custody. The guy killed her husband, and she was willing to tear through anyone in her path to get to him. I let her in on a few of the particulars of the investigation--there's a bigger picture she wasn't aware of before. I asked her to give the court a chance to convict this guy for all the things he's done. She'd calmed down enough by that point that she could be reasoned with." Dakka shrugged again. "She agreed to leave peacefully and give justice a chance."

"Well, when the investigation is finished and you're able to talk about it in more detail, I hope you'll contact me. I'd love to do another interview with the Naked Negotiator." Emily fired off a lopsided grin and Dakka burst out laughing.

"Now I'll be waiting for Fornax to pick that up and run with it after this airs." Dakka giggled and picked up her glass of cola. It was another human thing she'd taken a liking to in recent years. She loved the fizz. "Anything else you want to know?"

"Well, I'm curious about quite a few things. You work with a small crew of mercs, but you're not with any of the three big merc corporations?"

"Right, we're independent. Just one little ship and a small crew, though it's grown a bit recently."

"I'd love to hear more about that, especially since earlier you mentioned working with a quarian and a couple of synthetics."

"We've got a couple humans, a pair of quarians, and a turian has just joined us today." Dakka grinned. "And those synthetics are actually geth. This might surprise a lot of people, but the geth are quite reasonable and friendly."

"Okay, my curiosity is definitely piqued." Emily grinned and wiggled her eyebrows. "Another subject I'd like to touch on is the relationship you mentioned. Since his name is Quentin, I assume he's human?"

"He is."

"That's something you don't see often. Actually, I've never heard of it happening at all--a human and a krogan, I mean. So I'd love to hear more about it."

Dakka chuckled. Oh, that part of the conversation ought to be interesting.

#

"You okay, Valeria?" Chula had turned to find her staring at the bodies of the husks and the mercs as she passed slowly by them.

"Not really." Valeria sighed. "I'm half expecting them to bolt upright and attack us again."

Ugh._Chula shivered. _Did not_need that thought in my head._

Val sighed again and continued on to the base's entrance. "As bad as this is, what I'm really dreading is informing their families of how they died. How do you explain something like this?"

"I wish--" Chula shook her head. "I almost said I wish I knew, but maybe I'm better off not knowing."

"You'll get no argument from me." Valeria hacked the lock. "When I was a child, I craved adventure. Now I know how lucky most civilians are, working what they consider boring jobs and then going home to their families, never having to see things like this." She held her rifle ready in her right hand and reached out to open the door with her left.

Chula raised her pistols and waited for Valeria's palm to touch the hard-light panel that would slide the door open.

The roar of shuttle engines approached from behind. She and Valeria looked over their shoulders and found General Kurakova's shuttle passing overhead. It slowed and hovered long enough for the side door to open and two shapes to appear--Weyland and Valeria's husband.

The geth stepped out the door, plummeted nearly one hundred meters to the ground, and came down in a three-point landing. He rose to his feet and walked toward the two females without showing any sign of damage from the fall.

Up in the shuttle, Irving held his hand up. Valeria waved back and opened a comm channel.

"Hey, Irv."

"I just had to see you. Had to be sure you're okay."

"Well, physically_I'm good. But when we get back to the _Sulaco, I'm gonna need a hug."

"You've got it, honey. Be safe."

"We will. See you soon."

"I hope so. I love you." He blew her a kiss.

"I love you, too." She mimicked his gesture and waved again as the shuttle resumed its course over the mountaintops.

"Don't hang around there too long," Kurakova said. "I want my favorite granddaughter-in-law back ASAP."

"I'll do my best, Nana. We'll see you soon."

They signed off and Valeria turned back to the door. She took a deep breath, sighed, and touched the control. The door slid open and revealed a long corridor with flickering light panels in the ceiling. Many of the panels had already gone dark, and Chula guessed the rest wouldn't last much longer.

She and Weyland followed Val through another door and around a corner--and both females stopped abruptly.

The floor, walls, and ceiling directly ahead were splattered with blood.

"The husks got in here, alright." Chula shivered again. "I wonder if they killed these poor people before converting their bodies, or just dragged them out, kicking and screaming, to the Dragon's Teeth."

"Possibly both." Valeria took a moment to pull herself together and then forged ahead, going out of her way to avoid stepping on any of the blood stains. "I should've thought to ask you earlier--does the Sulaco have any ordinance aboard? I strongly recommend destroying those damned spikes before they harm anyone else."

"There are no ship-mounted weapons on the Sulaco," Weyland said. "It is a civilian ship."

"The biggest gun we have is Dakka's rotary cannon," Chula added. "As for explosives, we've got some grenades. That's about it."

"We recommend attempting to purchase an explosive device large enough to eliminate the Reaper devices." Weyland turned from Chula to Valeria and added, "We advise one of you make the attempt, as organics will likely become alarmed if a synthetic attempts to purchase a weapon of mass destruction."

"Good thinking." Chula smiled. "I'd also suggest going through a black-market dealer in a place like Omega. If we try to make a legitimate deal, we'll have to explain what it's for, and once someone high enough in the chain of command hears about it, they might try to study the Dragon's Teeth rather than destroy them."

"Too true. That very thing has happened several times already." Val sighed again. "When I was reinstated, one of the reports I gained access to was from the team on the SSV Normandy. A few months ago, they investigated a derelict Reaper, one that had been taken out by an enormous mass accelerator weapon. A Cerberus science team had already been there for a while, and contact with them was lost before the_Normandy_ arrived. You can probably guess what happened to them."

"Keelah." Chula shook her head. "That kind of thing happens again and again. People never learn."

"Yeah. Though I guess one could argue that they didn't know what they were getting into. Didn't know how dangerous those things are until it was too late. But I wish research teams would take more precautions."

"If Reaper technology is to be studied," Weyland said, "it should be done via remote-piloted mech units equipped with self-destruct devices to prevent organics from being indoctrinated or otherwise harmed. If the mech units are taken over by the technology being studied, the destruct protocol can eliminate the threat. However, as we now have an understanding of the threat posed by Reaper artifacts, we advise destruction rather than study."

"So do I." Valeria nodded and turned another corner. "The control center should be up ahead. We'll download the personnel files and get the hell off this planet."

Chula nodded and hurried after her. I'll definitely be relieved to get this over with.

#

"Sidonis!" Lia barely restrained herself from dancing over to his chair in Huerta Memorial's waiting area. She waved when he looked up at her.

"Well, you certainly appear to be feeling better. I assume the 'recreational activity' Dakka arranged has something to do with it?"

"It certainly does." Lia had practically floated here from that park bench. She plopped onto the lounge chair beside his, took in a deep breath, and let it rush out.

"Ah. You got laid, as the humans phrase it."

"Not exactly. Mostly, we just talked. Asked each other questions and then answered them. Then we sat on a bench in a park, and he just held me in his arms while we took in the view of the Serpent Nebula."

"That must've been relaxing. Probably just what you needed."

"It was." She grinned at a particular memory. "It did go a bit farther than that. Without going into too much detail...well, between my suit's neuro-stim system and his hands, I got what humans call a 'happy ending.' After that, I eventually fell asleep. Woke up a short while ago, and I can't remember ever feeling so relaxed before. I'm ready to face whatever today throws at me!"

"Glad to hear that." Sidonis chuckled. "I hope you got his contact information. You never know when you might need another happy ending."

"Oh, I did." She laughed softly, took a deep breath, and released a contented sigh. "So, any word on how Kenn's doing?"

"I spoke with one of the surgeons a few minutes ago. He has a lot of healing to do, but he's out of danger. The doctor said he should be back on his feet in a week or two, though of course he'll need to take it easy for a while afterward."

"Glad to know he pulled through." Lia cocked her head. "How did you manage that, anyway? Last night, no one would say a word to us about it."

"I contacted Kenn's family back in the Migrant Fleet. They had just been notified of his condition, so they were able to verify that I was being straight with them by asking some questions. They told the hospital staff to give me any information I ask for."

"Well, you're a handy guy to have around."

Sidonis shrugged and looked at the floor. "I guess his family was grateful for my attempt to fight off the thugs who were pounding on him. I made sure they were aware of you and your crew saving both our lives."

"I'm just glad we were in the right place when you needed help." Lia glanced at the ER door at the far end of the waiting room. "I assume it'll be a while before he can have visitors?"

"Yes. His parents and siblings are on the way; they might be able to see him sometime after they arrive."

"I guess there's not much else we can do, then." She waved a hand at one of the kiosks in the center of the room. "You feel like having breakfast? I can have something delivered so we can be here to keep an eye on Kenn."

"Sounds good. We can get to a nearby picnic area through that door." Sidonis nodded over his shoulder. "It's not far from Kenn's room, so we'll see anyone who shouldn't be there."

"Good. Given the kind of damage we did when we blew out of there with you two, I wouldn't be surprised if the surviving thugs came looking for some payback."

"I was worried about the same thing. I notified C-Sec and they said they'd assign some officers."

Hmm. After my own little experience with C-Sec a few months ago, that doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. Lia remained silent on the matter and merely nodded and walked over to the kiosk.

"Good to know. Well, let's see what's on the menu, shall we?"

#

"Damn." Valeria closed the last file, copied it to her Omni-Tool, and slumped over, bracing her hands on the console. "Damn it."

Chula put her hand on Valeria's shoulder. "We all knew we were going to see this."

Val nodded. "Doesn't make it any easier." She powered down the console, sighed, and trudged to the door. "I never expected to say this about a Cerberus team, but these people weren't doing anything wrong. Just pure research--projects that could've helped humanity without harming anyone else. And look what they got in return."

"I know. Come on. The sooner we can get away from here, the better off we'll both be."

Valeria nodded again and stepped into the corridor. "Whole families turned into those 'husk' things. Children." Weyland had copied all the research files they could find, so maybe this expedition wouldn't be all for nothing, but that wouldn't bring back all the lives lost so horribly here.

Anger rose up within her and her trudge became a stride. "I can't let this happen again. I'm not leaving until the Dragon's Teeth are destroyed."

"We don't have anything big enough to take them out."

"We've got the Omni-Tool upgrade I authorized before we left the Citadel." Valeria turned the next corner and Chula hurried to keep up.

"Oh, right! Omni-Blades. I forgot about that. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to get too close to those things, though."

"These sorts of risks are part of the job. Still, I'd like you to keep a good distance away from those devices, just in case." Valeria reached the outer door and strode through. "If anything goes wrong, I might need your help."

Weyland increased his pace until he'd passed her. "We will assist. There are no known cases of such technology affecting synthetics."

Valeria nodded. "I appreciate the help." She took a few more steps--and stopped suddenly. She stared at the clearing in front of the base.

The bodies of the independent mercs now looked partially synthetic, pieces of metal with glowing blue patterns having replaced sections of their arms and legs and even chests.

"Oh, shit," Chula whispered. She raised her arm and her Omni-Tool's golden interface appeared around it. She tapped a button and the Tool's mini-fabricator formed a glowing blade.

Valeria flash-forged her own Omni-Blade and crept forward. This is exactly what I was afraid of. I should've taken a moment to burn the bodies.

Weyland extended his own blade and plucked a Tempest submachine gun from his hip.

Off to the right, a corpse that had once been human lurched upright with a chilling, whispery howl.

Valeria charged it and slashed her arm across its chest. Her blade split the husk in half effortlessly and its intense heat set the rest of the abomination ablaze.

The others began to stir and release gasping, whispery cries that made her shiver. She rushed over to the nearest one and lopped its head off. In the corner of her eye, Chula darted around, carving up the rest of the partial husks and leaving their remains burning, as did Weyland. Once both women and the geth had finished them off, Valeria sighed again and stormed off in the direction of the Dragon's Teeth.

"Let's hurry. For all we know, those things can turn any indigenous animals into husks, as well."

Chula shuddered. "Likelihood of sleeping without nightmares diminishing rapidly."

"No kidding." Valeria jogged toward the spot where they'd found the huge spikes on the way in. She slowed and walked around a large boulder--and the sight that greeted her made her stop abruptly.

What?

Marching straight toward the Dragon's Teeth, carrying an oblong device in her arms, was a young human. Very young--thirteen, maybe fourteen. Her back was to Val and Chula, obscuring the object she was carrying. She wore cargo pants, boots, a sleeveless shirt, and gloves that appeared to be made of metal. Her muscles were so big, they couldn't be natural, and Valeria noticed additional ridges, as if thick cords or cables were running under the girl's skin.

Weyland stepped forward and raised a hand. "Do not approach those devices. They are extremely dangerous."

The girl didn't even twitch. She slowed, stopped, and tossed a casual glance over her shoulder, as if she'd been aware of their presence all along.

Her eyes appeared human, but a steady red glow came from within them.

One eye focused on Valeria and the other on Chula for a moment, each moving independently of the other. Her left eye then flicked toward Weyland.

Cybernetic enhancements. Valeria stared at the girl and her mandibles twitched as a chill rushed through her.Extensive ones. Who the hell would do that to a child?_A split-second later, the answer came to her. _Cerberus.

"I've dealt with these things before," the girl said. She remained absolutely still, her only movement a slight ruffling of her long, black hair caused by a gentle breeze.

That's not a child's voice. Something made her grow up before she should have._Valeria glanced at the Dragon's Teeth. _She said she's dealt with those before. Oh, fucking hell....

"You're a survivor, aren't you?" Chula pointed at the spikes. "You were on a colony, or something, and it was overrun by husks?"

The girl's lower lip quivered for an instant before she regained her composure. "It was. I lost my whole family. Since then, I've learned how to handle those things. And these." She turned back and resumed her course toward the Dragon's Teeth.

"That is a bomb." Weyland pointed at the device in the girl's arms.

"Nuke." She walked into the middle of the spikes and placed it on the ground.

Chula cocked her head. "How'd you get your hands on it?"

"I've got someone who keeps me supplied." She waved a hand at the spikes and then pointed at the burning remains of the husks. "This is what I do."

"What you do?" Valeria glanced at Chula. "Destroy Reaper technology?"

"Not exactly a career. More like a purpose." The girl tapped a code into a panel on top of the bomb and shrugged. "It's all I've got left in life."

Valeria shivered again.

"I picked up the base's distress signal, but didn't arrive in time to save anyone." The girl stood and strode back the way she'd come. "You three don't want to stick around. When I push the button, this whole area will be vaporized. I'll give you a lift to your ship."

Valeria and Chula exchanged another glance. Both of them shrugged and turned to Weyland. He mimicked their gesture and the trio followed the girl back to the base.

"You got a name?" Chula asked her.

"Of course." An Omni-Tool interface appeared around the girl's arm and she tapped several glowing icons.

"I'm Valeria. This is Chula."

She turned to Valeria and raised an eyebrow. "Huh. The porn star. I thought I recognized you."

A ship's engines roared to life and the pitch changed as it approached. A few seconds later, a somewhat familiar ship appeared over the mountains and descended slowly toward them.

That looks like the SSV_Normandy. Only smaller. Much smaller. Not even as big as the_ Sulaco_._Val and the others backed up to the front of the base to give the ship room to land. It rotated to present its airlock to them, and Valeria flicked her eyes over the side, taking note of the _SR3_and the Cerberus emblem on the hull.

"Ah, Cerberus are the ones keeping you supplied, eh?" Valeria nodded at the ship. "They built another one, I see." After sinking so much money into bringing Commander Shepard back and building a new_Normandy _twice as big as the original, it looks like they didn't have the budget left over to make any others that size.

The ship hovered several meters above them. The girl crouched and then sprang into the air, crossing the distance to the airlock and leaving Valeria's jaw hanging open. She landed inside the airlock, turned, and motioned for the trio to stand closer together.

They exchanged another glance and shrug.

"What the hell," Val muttered. "Faster than waiting for a shuttle." She stood beside Chula and Weyland, shoulders almost touching, and waited. If this turned out to be a setup, they could probably handle it.

A blue, biotic glow surrounded the girl's body and she pointed her arms toward them. Suddenly, Valeria's body tingled and she found herself surrounded by a biotic field. The ground fell out from under her and she glanced down and realized she and the others were being lifted slowly to the airlock. She let a breath rush out as they floated into the airlock. The glow faded and the hatch closed.

After the decontamination procedure finished, the inner doors slid aside and the girl strode into the corridor and turned to the left. Val and the others followed her into the cockpit, where the girl took the pilot's seat.

Weyland opened a comm channel. "Sulaco, we are returning."

"Okay," Quint answered. "I'll let General Kurakova know."

"Unnecessary. We have transportation."

"Trans...huh? We're not detecting any other shuttles."

"It appears to be a stealth ship similar to the Normandy, but smaller."

"We'll fill you in once we're back onboard," Chula added. "Things got a little...weird. Oh, and don't be alarmed by the explosion on the surface that's about to happen at any moment. It's the Dragon's Teeth being taken care of."

"Uh...okay."

Valeria managed a brief chuckle. "It'll give us something to talk about on the way back to the Citadel. See you in a few minutes."