Mordin sat still as he observed his surroundings. This area was towards the back of Blacklight's room. It looked almost like a room seen in most political establishments, with a large circular bench or couch of some kind that circled around a metallic table that displayed a holographic representation of… something. The projection looked like veins made of cubes that pulsated with traveling light. Yet it was not so bright as to prevent view of the others around the 'table'.
It was clear that this center console was a map projector of some kind, the same kind used by military star ships to display specific areas for tactical analysis, though why the strange holographic 'veins' were here was beyond Mordin.
The Biomass grew around the walls. Some of the evolved were fused to it, others sitting in the chairs. Sitting next to Mordin was a familiar Krogan, the same one who was thrown through the air not long ago. He didn't look quite as aerodynamic as he did previously.
After a few moments, the 'veins' of light began to shift through various stations, some familiar, others not. Mordin could tell these were research stations of various design. A few he recognized, others he had never quite seen the strange design. The only thing they all had in common was the obvious Salarian design. After a few more cycles of the holographic projections, it stopped, settling on what Mordin recognized as the Gorath Station, the station Mordin delivered both Saleon – and the sample – to.
"This it?" asked one of the Evolved, Ashley Mordin he believed.
Mordin was unsure why they were asking him, presumably Miranda and Jack knew what it looked like. Maybe it was to confirm it, or maybe Jack and Miranda didn't know. It could be that they were not yet fully developed mentally at the time.
Mordin merely nodded. He looked back as the image disappeared, and the holographic 'veins' returned. Mordin again wondered what they were, at least he did, until the 'veins' spoke.
"Gorath Station. Analysis complete. Trace mentions of a station is mentioned in several declassified documents on the initial creation of the Genophage. Location: Unknown."
The synthesized voice of what was clearly a Geth was somewhat startling to Mordin, but he said nothing as one of the Evolved, who looked like a female Turian with non-turian alterations sat across from him.
"Mordin has the location covered, what can we expect as far as defenses go?"
"Salarian installations normally use relatively minor defenses designed to incapacitate rather than destroy. Cyberattack subroutines are common. The Station's status as a bio-engineering facility may lead to weaponry designed against Blacklight.
Shepard nodded before turning to Mordin
"You know anything about what we could be dealing with?" asked Shepard.
Mordin blinked.
"Is… That Geth?"
"Why, yes it is." Said Shepard with a smile.
Mordin, upon this revelation, found he could only draw blanks. Rachni and Geth as Blacklight allies. Not the news he expected to hear today.
"I… do not know what weaponry the station has," said Mordin as he looked back to the hologram.
"Well, we know what the Turians have when fighting Blacklight, their Blackwatch squad was effective during the Rampancy. Hopefully the Salarians do something similar."
Mordin chose not to comment. His mind was racing. If Blacklight was allied with Geth, then who else knows what they could be allied with? His mind raced across various possibilities. Krogan, Quarian, maybe even Vorcha for all he knew.
"Alright guys and gals," said Shepard as she stood up as Gorath station came back into view on the 'table'. "We have reached a consensus; we're going to do ourselves a little bit of espionage. Seeing as we have no idea what the station has access to, whether that be a pure Blacklight sample, or samples of genes altered using Blacklight, we're going to assume the worst. So under the assumption that they have enough of Blacklight to make some not so nice genetic abominations, we're going to figure out who is working there. First up, we have the grand chessmaster himself, Jobol. Geth, whatcha got?"
The holographic screens began to change rapidly, displaying various files that the Geth AI zoomed through at prodigious speeds.
"Officially Ex-Councilor Jobol has been assigned as a consultant for the STG. Our findings show this is only a partial truth. Records indicate he will be transferring to an unknown station to take command of the projects. Current hypothesis is he is to take over at Gorath Station and oversee the experiments on Blacklight."
"Sounds good enough to me, I can see that. So when is Jobol set to go?"
"12.435 hours ago."
"Well… shit."
Mordin blinked as he looked to Shepard.
"It's not going to work."
And now, all eyes were on him. Mordin cleared his throat as he stood.
"I don't know much about the weapons the station has, but I was there for the initial landing. I was subjected to various tests, non-invasive, but thorough. This included several Blacklight Scanners. Even if you could find someone who was transferring there and get inside, discovering an Evolved in hiding would be trivial. Until the moment the tests come back clean, I was treated with suspicion. Both Saleon and I were subjected to a quarantine for a short amount of time on the ship as the tests finished. The process is remarkably short. Even if you could get someone on the station, by the time they could slip away, alarms will be blaring. The whole facility will be on high alert."
"Well, that does put a rather big monkey wrench in the plan of going John Carpenters The Thing on their asses."
"Why not just sabotage the tests?" asked the Krogan next to Mordin.
"Nah, these guys sound paranoid. I'm guessing if their machines go down they are to treat it like a quarantine breach. They might even have orders to kill anyone not given the green should the tests fail," said Shepard.
With a sigh, Shepard leaned against the console.
"We can't do this in any way that would alert them. They do work for the Salarian Union, and the absolute last thing we need is a war, especially with the Reapers coming up."
Mordin rose a brow at that.
"Reapers?"
Shepard looked to Mordin with an unusually somber expression.
"I'll explain latter," said Shepard.
Mordin nodded as he leaned back in his seat. The room was quiet, until...
"What about Saleon?" said Mordin.
Now that everyone's attention was on him, Mordin stood up.
"Saleon escaped the Gorath during the containment breach. Presumably, Jobol and all of that facility is looking for him. He has set their plans back a lot. Why not get him?"
"What makes you think he's still alive?"
"Intuition mostly. Someone that vile has a habit of sticking around far longer than wanted."
"What exactly are you thinking Mordin? Consume him and use him to get on the ship? The tests make that kinda difficult."
"Not necessarily. Rather, we use him. We get a hold of him, I can hand deliver him to Jobol. Perhaps I can become a part of the Blacklight Experiments. From there you have an inside source."
Shepard drummed her fingers as she and the others remained silent, no doubt exchanging information between themselves.
"We're going to have to find Saleon first."
"He has to slip up eventually, we just have to find him before Jobol."
"Alright Mordin, we'll keep an eye out for the mad Doctor. Any idea where to start?"
Mordin hummed in contemplation before he turned to the console.
He stood up quickly as he turned on his omnitool.
"As Saleon was sleeping, I downloaded spyware onto his omnitool. The plan was for the worm to be transferred into the Gorath stations systems. It worked, for the most part, but Saleon still has his own omnitool, perhaps with this we can find him.
"Analyzing… Analysis complete, updating database. We are currently constructing an algorithm based on Saleon's personality and previous habits. We possibly can predict his current location… Update: The last message indicates Dr. Saleon had contact with an official of the mercenary group Eclipse."
Shepard only smiled. Mordin did not like that smile. It promised pain, and a lot of it.
"Eclipse, as in the group who is one of the major players here on Omega. As in the asteroid we are currently on already." Shepard rubber her hands mischievously.
"Yes," said the Geth.
With a smile, Shepard patted the console with the same, very disturbing smile on her face.
"Rhetorical question, no need to answer."
With an exaggerated flourish, Shepard snapped her fingers as several Evolved stood up in unison.
"Well then, now it looks like we're getting somewhere. Let's go talk to some new friends."
'Something seems off.'
'How do you mean?'
'No, they're right. Why would Eclipse work with Saleon? He has to be providing them with something very useful. Last we checked, Saleon had a bounty on his head.'
'We have seen many like this Saleon. With their needles, probes, and experiments. No doubt, he created something they find useful.'
'Which can only mean he has access to Blacklight bio-material. This Salarian could have made something very dangerous for us. Yes, I see what you mean.'
'Bad enough we have to deal with the Reapers, another… thing like us could be far more dangerous.'
'Then we're just going to have to kill whatever he makes.'
'Perhaps we should not make haste in our decision. Perhaps we should first see what we have to deal with before we decide what must be done about it.'
'We agree with the Thorian.'
'We shall wait.'
'We shall see.'
'Yes, we'll wait before we decide what must be done. We cannot afford to act in haste.'
Within the deeper slums of Omega, there was a warehouse, one that was not in a state of disrepair as much as the surrounding area. This was one of the fronts for the mercenary group Eclipse. Dozens of Asari and Salarians worked around the area, and at the moment the room was very tense. This was where the Salarian leader of Eclipse on Omega was, looking at various monitors and screens. His name was Jaroth, and at the moment he was looking at the latest shipment of tainted Element Zero, which was recently exchanged for a few dozen Mechs. Eclipse favored tech and Biotic aptitude over brute force strength. Mechs were by far their most useful tools, however their newest soldiers were kept locked in the rearmost areas of the warehouse. Through the bars, they stalked. Varren, huge Varren far larger than a Varren had any right to be, each one outfitted with Elcor style VI combat turrets, though at the moment the weaponry was removed, and only the grafted harness remained.
Currently they were being trained to work with various groups. While they only had little over fifty, they had thus far proved to be a great advantage far beyond typical Varren used by the Blood Pack. Jaroth looked to the Varren, before he turned back to the screen. Jona, his higher up, had promised to deliver a new shipment of the modified Varren.
That was three weeks ago, and there was no word from Jona or her ship since then. Jaroth's current theory was pirates, really dumb pirates, pirates dumb enough to attack a mercenary ship. Seeing that it had been so long, it looked like they succeeded.
Jaroth imagined Jona as a slave for some Batarian official, and then imagined the same Batarian immediately regretting all his life choices that lead to that moment. Jona was a lot of things, but subservient was not one of them.
If that was the case, Jaroth almost felt bad for Jona. He knew of her history with slavery, and of her thoughts of being a slave. Jaroth ignored these feelings. At the moment, they were working under the assumption Jona was dead, but there was still business to be done. Jaroth didn't know who Jona got the mutant Varren from, she had kept that close to the chest, but he knew where she was heading, or at least the system she was headed to. Regardless of how he thought of Jona, she did create Eclipse, and was more than respected and feared enough that nothing would progress until they could confirm whether she was dead or alive.
That lead to Jaroth's side projects. He still had to keep business going, but at the same time, he was working on finding Jona. He had to have the perfect crew for that mission, which is what was taking so long. Regrettably, the best Eclipse had to offer were either out the system, or Jona had taken them with her. If his pirate theory was right, he couldn't waste resources on anything less.
It was at this time, the warehouse door exploded.
It was instant pandemonium. Varren thrashed in their cages, shots were fired by rookies roughly in the direction of the explosion, the veterans hid behind cover, Mechs activated, and once the firing of the rookies died down, things started to look somewhat professional.
Firing was held as the soldiers were in cover, Mechs were ready to fire on Jaroths command, and one of the vets, an Asari who Jaroth recognized as captain Enyala, called out.
"Whoever you are, walk into the light right now or we will open fire."
Jaroth, who was leaning behind his desk with M-6 Carnifex istol in his hand, watched as a few figures could be seen emerging from the smoke.
"Nice place you guys got here, really top of the line, I love the crates of Element Zero, actually, is that eezo, or a shipment of blue glow sticks?"
Jaroth's heart fell as a small group of Blacklight Evolved walked into the room, smiling and examining the place, completely ignoring the weaponry.
"Oh. Shit," said Captain Enyala.
Jaroth had very similar sentiments.
"My name is Shepard, Hi!" said the Evolved to the nearest soldier to it.
Said soldier quickly ducked behind the crate.
This was not good. Evolved were the one thing no one ever wanted to deal with, especially not a mercenary group. Very few mercenaries had the equipment to deal with Evolved, even fewer ever had to use it, and usually that was only for practice.
While Eclipse did have Mechs with flame throwers, currently, the Mechs were outfitted with standard armaments. No one was expecting Evolved, ever, they were Evolved. The species mostly known on Omega for doing things that were completely… insane and inconsequential. Which, now that Jaroth thought about it, he supposed harassing mercenaries for no reason what so ever probably was right in their character.
Enyala ducked behind the crate as she looked to the rookie Salarian next to her.
"Kid, we're probably going to die."
"Just probably?" asked the Salarian hopefully.
"Why is no one introducing themselves? Is it the explosion? I feel like it's the explosion," said the Evolved.
"Probably," said Enyala as she slowly stood up.
"Look, we're not going to fire so long as you remain there," said Enyala as she lowered her weapon. "Why is Blacklight here?"
Shepard smiled and leaned forward slightly as her head quirked.
"You in charge?"
Enyala was about to speak, when a voice boomed from the intercoms.
"I'm the current leader of Eclipse on Omega. My name is Jaroth, and I give Captain Enyala permission to speak on my behalf."
"Rat bastard," said Enyala to herself as she turned back to Shepard.
"You Enyala?"
"I am."
Shepards smile grew wider as she laced her fingers in front of her in a way that, had Shepard been a child, might have been cute. Instead, it was quite disturbing.
"Oh it is such a pleasure to meet you! Listen, I'm just here to ask a few questions, and I'll be out of your… lekku? I don't think anyone's ever actually established what those things are called, have they? That seems weird that they haven't ever actually been named. We have a word for hair, and for tentacles, but not for hair tentacles?"
Enyala had a feeling she might regret this, but nonetheless asked "What?"
The Evolved, for her part, actually looked even more confused for a second, before starting and replying "Oh, I just called them Lekku because, eh, wait… that's not really important right now is it? Because despite how much I'd really like to know what they're really called, or how much you'd like to know what the word lekku means, I do have more pressing questions concerning things like the fate of the universe itself, and whether or not everyone in the universe will die a horrible death and soon."
Enyala swallowed hard and nodded.
"Again, what? Wait, nevermind. I don't want to know. Alright, what do you want to know?"
Shepard stared off into space as she pressed her index finger into her dimples.
"Weeeell, first off, where did you get all those Big Bad Varren?"
Captain Enyala turned to the back cages, to see that the trainers did not have time to get the Varren that were being trained back in their cages. Which really, really sucked. One of Jona's main rules since she came back with those monsters was that they were to remain in cages, and were not allowed free on Omega. When moved it must be done as quickly and quietly as possible, and most important, under no circumstances should Blacklight be made aware of their existence.
Well, that idea had been thrown out the airlock.
"…Uhhhh, Thresher Maw Growth Hormones," said Enyala nervously.
Shepard crossed her arms and began rhythmically tapping her foot on the ground, her face blank of expression, save a single raised eyebrow.
"Threasher Maw Growth Hormones, huh? You sure you don't want to try answering that question a second time?" Shepard smiled sweetly. "And please, this time… No Lying."
The air seemed to get much, MUCH colder when hundreds, perhaps thousands of voices came from Shepards mouth. Captain Enyala, despite having gone toe to toe with experienced Krogan battle masters, and entire battalion of Batarian Pirates, and one time a mated pair of Thresher Maws… found that at the moment it was very hard to move.
"Alright, fine. I don't know. Our Founder, Jona Sederis, came back with a few one day. Then throughout the weeks, came back with even more. I don't know where they came from."
Shepard nodded.
"No physiological signs of lying, so at the very least you're telling the truth. Works for me… What about your friend up there, what was his name again… Jaroth?"
For once, the unnerving smile wasn't directed at Enyala, but up at the level where Jaroth was. It did very little to alleviate the tension in the room.
The intercom came on again.
"That is our business, not yours. You are trespassing on Official Eclipse property, leave now or we will open fire."
Enyala felt her heart drop at Jaroth's declaration.
Shepard merely smiled as she balanced on the balls of her feet.
"Well now, that isn't very nice," said Shepard out loud as something began walking through the broken down doors.
Evolved. Hundreds of them. Some walking calmly to join Shepard, others slowly crawling up the walls like spiders, and others leaping and bounding into the group that had made their way in.
Shepard crossed her arms.
"You might want to change your tune their Jaroth, else you're gonna see what we do to people who aren't so nice."
A very uncomfortable silence fell over the room. No sounds could be heard as every Eclipse soldier held their breath, waiting for the Intercom to come back on. After what felt like an eternity, the familiar static filled the room.
"Fine, I'll tell you everything, but only if you promise to leave as soon as I do."
Shepard smiled.
"Deal."
Samara landed gracefully on the ground and observed her surroundings. The area was dark, but thanks to her visor, she was able to see the exhibits of the museum. Tablets of ancient Asari writing and statues littered the area. She looked up to see Morinth, who looked over the edge of the hatch Samara entered the building through.
Her earpiece attached to her visor hissed to life.
"All clear I'm guessing?"
Samara stood, not responding. She walked deeper into the room, right as Morinth leapt down.
"Parkour!" said Morinth like it was a battle cry as she hit the ground, rolling over her shoulder and landing in a crouch, then shooting to her feet. Samara, at this point, turned around and just stared at Morinth, who had a pleased smile on her face, before she noticed Samara was looking at her.
"…What?"
"You do know this task requires stealth and guile."
Morinth crossed her arms.
"Yeah, but wasn't that why we disabled the thingies?"
"…Thingies?"
"Yeah, the noise detecting alarm thingies."
Samara blinked.
"Let's just get to work."
"Can do," said Morinth with a faux salute as she began examining the exhibits.
Samara watched Morinth as she began examining everything. Morinth was… different. Very different. No longer was she the predator she once was. Not fully anyway. Which was strange. One would think the knowledge gained from Blacklight would just make her far more dangerous, but she was acting... strangely.
Samara couldn't put it to words. It wasn't foolishness, it was like she just… did things for no reason other than her own amusement. Occasionally the predator could be seen. How she moved, it was still like a barely contained beast. Then there were the moments of strange quirks and behaviors that scared even Morinth.
It happened to Samara often, but it happened far more with Morinth.
Samara was beginning to wonder if Blacklight did something else to her daughter other than grant her untold skill and knowledge.
"Any idea what we could be looking for?"
Samara was taken out of her thoughts as she sighed.
"No," said Samara.
"I'm still not entirely convinced there is a beacon. I'm still thinking a museum would be the best place to hide it. I mean, it's kinda genius, who would look in a museum?"
"We would."
"Yeah, but we're all cerebral and smart and stuff. Well, I am at least."
"And exactly what is that supposed to mean?"
"Let's be honest here, you're all into your traditions and stuff. Traditionally, traditions are an idiot thing."
Samara decided not to justify that with a response.
"Let's not get into this now Morinth. Have you found anything?"
"Not really, just looking at the statues. You know, Athame is kinda hot."
Samara closed her eyes and took a breath.
"Anything useful?"
"Did that annoy you?"
"Greatly."
"Then that's useful in my book."
Samara was about to say something, but she held her tongue. Instead, she said what had been on her mind for the past few days.
"What happened to you Morinth? You're so… different."
"Well, I had an entire species shove their collective knowledge in my skull. Does that make me… like an honorary Blacklight or something?"
"I am being serious."
The line went quiet. Samara did not stop looking around as she waited for a response.
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"I don't know. I used to do so many things. I can't say I regret anything I did. Not really. I listened to the best music, experienced the best forms of art, took the best drugs. I was a devout follower of Slaanesh before I even knew who that was. These days… it just doesn't appeal. Even if I want it to."
"Do you want to?"
Morinth didn't answer. Samara didn't push.
As they continued to search the museum, Morinth found herself looking at a large mural, one depicting Athame standing tall over primitive Asari who appeared to be tending the fields. It looked nice.
Samara examined the area, making her way over to Morinth, who was still staring at the mural.
"Have you found something?"
"Maybe… come look at this."
Samara carefully went to examine the mural. Her eyes fell upon the image of Athame's teaching.
"Do you know the story of this artifact, Morinth?"
"Not really, I never was one for mythology."
"Many believe it depicts Athame granting wisdom to her people, though most tales and stories claim this to be Janiri, one of Athame's two servants. Janiri gifted the Asari with agriculture, and it was she who controlled the storms and the seasons. Athame's other servant Lucen was the cultured warrior, who gifted us Biotics, taught us to forge, sculpt, and navigate. Athame taught us math and language, and unified us to be who we are today."
"Hmmmm. Sounds familiar."
"The Goddesses protected Thessia from the other jealous gods. The Ones who Stalk in Darkness. They were never depicted, only alluded to. They were said to bring with them Nihilux, the end of the world."
"Sounds like our Reaper friends."
Samara nodded.
"Perhaps they are. Older murals show Athame and her servants as something that is definitely not Asari."
Morinth looked to Samara who stared at the mural for a few moments longer. She turned her eyes back to the carving. Her eyes focusing on a strange figure behind Athame.
"What is that supposed to be?"
Samara looked at the image Morinth was pointing to. It looked like an obelisk of some sort, though its shape was familiar.
"Athame's library. It is said that it contained all knowledge in the Cosmos. Seers and Prophets used the information within to make the Athame Codex."
"It's a pillar."
"It's symbolic. Ancient Asari wrote on rolled parchment. Pillars bear a superficial similarity to a rolled scroll, and are seen as synonymous with perusing knowledge."
"Maybe… Maybe not."
Samara looked to Morinth, who was examining the mural for just a few seconds with narrowed eyes.
"It… does kind of look like a Prothean beacon."
"Many things look like a Prothean Bacon. Are you really suggesting that Athame and her servants were Protheans? You sound like a young maiden buying into the oldest of conspiracy theories."
"I'm not sayin, I'm just sayin."
Samara hummed.
"Well, this looks like a bust, let's get out of here. We'll try the next museum tomorrow. Maybe the Athame Temple, if we can get past its security," said Morinth.
"Lead the way," said Samara.
Shepard tapped her chin as Jaroth brought up the files. She looked at the system Saleon was currently using. As she read the files, far out in Eclipses storage facility, Kaiden looked to Mordin.
"Gorath Station, it's in Salarian space right?"
Mordin rose a brow.
"Yes, why?"
"Shepard figured out where he is."
Meanwhile back with Shepard, she looked at the system. It was deep within the terminus systems, and ridiculously far from Salarian space.
"How the hell did he get all the way over there without anyone finding out?"
Jaroth turned to the evolved who he filed under psychotic in his mind. He swallowed hard.
"We got him there. Saleon has always been in deep with Eclipse. We're who he sold cloned organs to when he was a doctor on the Citadel."
"Someone has loose lips," said Shepard.
"I happen to like having all my limbs attached and being alone in my head thank you very much. Anyway, Jona, our founder, has been going to Saleon to get the huge ass Varren. I'm guessing Saleon put a little bit of you into them to get them like that if you're interested in Saleon."
Shepard smiled.
"Good guess, but not quite. Your conclusion is right, but we didn't know about the Varen you got locked up. We know he had some genetic material of tissue altered with Blacklight, but we weren't sure what he was doing with it. Speaking of the Varren, they are free of Blacklight, if it makes you feel any better."
"Admittedly, a bit."
Shepard nodded.
"Good for you. Well, at least we know where he is. How long has Jona been gone?"
"Three weeks."
"Really? But from here this is barely a two day trip if you take everything into account. You haven't sent a rescue team?"
"Jona took the best we had with her. Finding something better than that is not easy. Not to mention Jona played this one very close to the chest. I was the only one not a part of her standard crew who knew where she was going and that was only because Omega is my territory, and it was here she decided to house the Varren until a better alternative could be found. Look, you have the information, are we done here?"
Shepard patted Jaroth on his head.
"For now, but we'll be keeping a few eyes on you."
Jaroth nodded as his eyes went to the cages.
"And the Varren?"
"They aren't Blacklight, pheromones prove that. Even if it was separate from us, if it was Blacklight, we would know. Keep them, they actually might come in handy later for us."
Jaroth flinched.
"For you?"
"Yes. Welcome to the resistance. As of right now, Eclipse is going to be brought into our little club. We are going to be seeing a lot more of each other," said Shepard with… THAT smile.
Jaroth almost voided his bowels.