Vermine Part 1: Training and Watching the Strike Group

Punching through the Geth in the ships was easy for them. The flight fight was the best thing to hone skills and spatial awareness in the upper levels. The air support provided by some Asari coming in was unexpected.

The Thessia cruisers that came in blasting the armada apart quickly with such firepower it was a wonder they didn't prove more of a threat beforehand. They sent more support trying to gain favor with the group of fighters.

Matriarch Ayeltha said it was a few personal Asari families that wanted to help. Compliments of those close to Benezia and herself. She also said Aria T'loak wanted to meet him. Which caused a few raised questions for later.

Landing, Gillian felt nervous about the ground forces having landed without much issue. She took the Fighter to run recon along the surface area after getting the ok.

Leo saw nothing wrong with that. He met up with his forward team.

"You made it... down here." Morinth called him over. Her face was covered in blood and her sleeve armor was cracked and covered in dirt. "Do not worry, we gave them hell breaking the first few defensive lines."

"Yeah.. defintely." Leo looked out before moving in a stride toward the destination. A communication on his Omni-tool already going off with various updates. "Go ahead, Sarah."

The projection popped up.

"Lynn and Abby have gotten in contact with me. They are worried about their little sister. I am grown enough. Not like I am back in junior high all over again. Make moves to shake the Galaxy now!"

Leo paused to collect on what nonsense was this. Giving her a hard stare to explain herself fully considering the timetable they were all on. Even behind the visor, the young Williams daughter understood to take it slow and make sense.

"My sisters want me back home. They found out I was doing.. Mercenary work somehow, that was not the best of it. Hammering away to meet up and talk everything over face to face. Its just foolish and actually causes trouble with Alliance contacts delivering the messages."

"So, what do you want me to do about this exactly?" Leo's Spiritual Sense stretched out keeping track of the ground forces nearby. Nothing to alarming going on but a few weird metal boxes dropped in locations. "Morinth, have someone secure those containers. Find out what is inside."

"Sounds like grunt work." She huffed but moved to do it all the same. "Giving personal attention to your humans again."

Another snip at favoritism. The Asari thought he gave it to the Humans but the other races thought he gave it to the Asari.

*Woom!* A biotic field wrapped around Morinth and pulled her back towards Leo quickly and forcefully. She gave a struggle but it made no difference with the difference in power. Something the Ardat Yakshi needed to be reminded of.

"Yeah don't give me that stupid lip while on a mission. Save it for later or when you needed a moment the same as she needed. Do I make myself clear?" His tone was dark and caused shivers to go down the Ardat Yakshi's spine. She gave a nod but that was not good enough. "Answer me."

*Crack!* The left and right sides of Morinth's armor cracked more but the point was made.

"Of course.. Commander." Her answer came out in a purr. Delighted all the same as so many others to see that type of display. To be reminded he was not some softie. "I will make sure to bring good results."

"As for you, your sisters.. we can meet them and deal with it then. Right now this is the priority."

"Of course Commander. I just need them to stay alive and out of the way. Also.. Ashley.. I think she is in trouble. I don't know how but it just feels that way. Do look out for in the future if something happens."

With that, Sarah ended the call and focused back on her own Operation.

"IS this a type of Blood Intuition or something else informing the girl that her sister may die today?' Leo gave a few pondering thoughts and then focused on the task at hand. "What is the situation with the STG team?"

"The team has pushed hard enough to keep them occupied long enough for us to get in with no issue. The Stealth method is working in our favor sir." The dark haired former rent-a-cop was still nervous. "If it goes well, we will be up against Saren! He is a Spectre Legend!"

"Martinez..." Leo was trying to shape another person to hold down the fort when the Reapers attack. This required a lot of one on one scenarios with people. ".. Arcelia Silva Martinez, you lack his years of experience. But you make up for it with a lot of stuff. I promise you will survive this and have stories to tell for years."

"Right!" She answered confidently. "I'm putting my faith in a Black Ops Government Type with questionable Morals, no way this goes wrong!" Thinking how Exogeni screwed the Colony over, her trust levels were still low. "Getting past the defensive towers was one thing but.."

Leo let it linger and waited for the woman to gather herself. Remember why she was doing this and what was gained out of it.

"I'm ready to go boss!" Martinez activated her stealth suit and moved forward. A tap on the helmet isolated voice patterns and breathing. "Can you hear me fine?"

"I can. Nothing is leaking out." Responding back as he matched her pace, it was easy to check everything over with his Spiritual Sense. His forces were already hitting a few Geth ships that tried to take off. 'The time it will take Jane to get here might be way to late actually. O'Keer better be happy about all these Krogan to screw around with.'

As they shot through the otherwise beautiful landscape of mountains, beachheads, and scenic ocean view, the effects of the Thorian on Martinez were visible.

Her movements and perceptions changed over time.

Leo picked up a "signal" of sorts that left from the former rent-a-cop towards a trajectory in space. Wrapping his Spiritual Sense around it lead Leo to understand the use of Thorian's spores in real-time with someone under partial contract with him.

'I can replicate the spores but only if I use a concentrated amount of my Spiritual Blood. More Cultivation and Genetic Science than anything else, with little to no help with Technology until they are more viable in development. But the Reaper Indortination Method is more Neuro Scientific and a touch of Biotics.' The two moved passed a cliff side taking note of the Geth that barely moved in notice. 'The time that it would take to develop this more.. I need case studies of relevant Indoctrinated people.'

A.I.- Is better to control the situation to indoctrinate people?

'No, that is a path I shouldn't take. The growing Aspects will just have to help in time. My brother was clear about not letting my Humanity slip away. We can hurt.. torture.. when finding them but never personally endanger our kind in something that is uncontrollable.' Gritting his teeth, Leo jumped a clearing behind Martinez. She made the jump with a decent effort and rebounded really well. 'No matter how fast I move and get people aligned with me to move, some will be indoctrinated. Saren will be a good subject to get stuff from. His advanced stages will provide a leap in my studies.'

A.I.- Marking the notification to monitor possible indoctrinated people. New advances in replicating the S.A.M. Node from the Andromeda Initiative have proven completely with modifications from myself.

'All that is needed now are humans capable of withstanding the level of stress caused by low-level A.I.'s such as yourself. Even with the Basic Cultivation methods, only a few are showing promising advancement in certain margins. In short... humans are still following behind without extreme measures.'

*Splash!* A few rocks fell in the water ahead of them. Several Geth looked at the location and almost caught the two landings disrupting their focus point.

"Easy does it, stay completely still." Leo held Martinez the very second he landed behind her. For her credit, the rent-a-cop didn't even breathe actively. Allowing the compression in the armor to help regulate. "We will wait for a few seconds more to 3 minutes if need be."

Three Geth focused on something else but Leo already mapped out the few Drones that still looked at their location.

It took 4 minutes before the drones to go somewhere else. Then the assembly of 5 Geth to spread out somewhere else before they resumed moving.

"That was close." Martinez didn't look back as she said this once they scaled down running pass the fork of beach space. "I really think it would have been better if I advanced my Biotics higher to use this Special frequency to communicate."

"Duly noted. We can review after this mission ends." Leo was happy Martinez doubted the technology a little. If she just accepted everything that was said it wouldn't be good. "Compile concerns and check with the others to see what they say."

They booked it pass Gatehouse 3 faster than before.

Up ahead the STG team was just finishing setting up their forward base. Lots of Salarian are still alive and not dead from fighting the Geth yet.

The timetable was way ahead. But something was off when did a count up. Intel suggested their should be more Salarians actually. Either some were out on Recon or hidden from his sensors and Spiritual Sense.

"Ready for some easy work?"

"Your definition of easy and mind vastly differ boss." Martinez never turned away from the wetwork team. Analyzing their movements and picking up the different patterns that were used. That's when it finally clicked in for her. "I can feel the others watching through my eyes."

Leo moved to the side of her giving more of his attention over. The A.I. took over communication with the others and made sure the various signals weren't picked up.

"The Thorian.. it was always there in the background, its influence lessening thanks to you but it was still there. I hated it at first, but I have gotten use to it. If I focus I can shut it out. But when I don't try to even notice, it's like a connecting archway of thoughts. I can almost tell who is looking or a general feel. But the Thorian is a massive presence."

A slight hitch in her breathing, had Leo turning on the full display of Martinez's Bio report in real-time. Elevated levels of stress and irregular heartbeat. A slight release of serotonin was out of her body's normal control.

'The Thorian.. it is trying to groom her maybe?' Placing his hand on her shoulder Leo forced away the presence of the others under the Thorian spores. 'That is not going to be allowed. If it is doing the same with the others.'

Sending a signal right now to those who are watching the Thorian's was to risky right now. Reaching out with his Spiritual Sense and fine-tuning to a thin strong string connection required his focus more.

Martinez was on watch and slowly coming into her own on how to use the environment to the best advantage. From the fragile cliff edges to the deep sea water that provides good cover fire and fast transportation if one had a submersible.