21

"Holy crap! What to do, what to do, what to do? Why on earth did I reduce their reaction speed by 5 times, so they would look more like organics and not catch trays and all their food that ladies drop?! Holy crap! Okay, think, think, think. Got it. And all within 1 second. Fortunately, the geth, whose mask Rex had shattered, fell on the floor, spinning around in the process and now lay face down with his back to Shepard. The plan was risky, but there was no other way. "DAMN!!!" I immediately shouted, squatting down and "trying" to help the geth up. "Quickly to the ship, otherwise they will bury you here, quickly!" I started yelling at the geth, and he immediately got up and ran at such a speed that even Rex whistled. They did not see the face of the geth, and passersby will not see it either, as he was running very fast. "Wow, he took off," said Rex, who had already put down the box and was now looking at the running "quarian". Shepard and Tali refrained from commenting altogether. "When you want to live - you'll run even faster," I said, breaking the stunned silence. "Damn!" Tali began. "We're sorry. We... We didn't notice..." "No, no, it's our fault. And don't worry. Our ship is not far, and Keld runs well. He'll live," I tried to act naturally. It seemed to work, as Tali stood with a stunned and worried face, Shepard was also slightly shocked, and Rex was standing and... standing. "Yeah, just he'll lie in the infirmary for a month or two," the geth added. Ah, the lessons were not in vain. "Damn... With him... With him for sure..." Tali was still not calming down. "Don't worry so much. He's kind of our medic," I started to reassure Tali. She's worrying so much. "Maybe we should at least introduce ourselves?" the geth standing next to me suddenly suggested. Damn you... Damn, you don't even have a mother. What a life... When I get back to the ship - I'll kill all three primes because of whom this geth is now so sociable. "Tali... TaliZorah nar Rayya," Tali managed to squeeze out. "KerdZirun nar Nima. This is my brother, Kend`Zirun," I introduced us, but for some reason Shepard became alert. "Strange, I thought quarians didn't have brothers or sisters. Seems like there's a restriction on that," Shepard said, but fortunately, I knew the answer to that. However, Rex was quicker. "And why do you have identical suits? Quarians usually have different ones," Rex said, from whom I did not expect such observation. "Yes, in the Fleet it is forbidden to have more than one child, but abortions are also forbidden during the first pregnancy. We're triplets." It seems I shouldn't have said that. Shepard's jaw dropped. Rex's jaw still held up, but it opened a bit. Tali's jaw didn't fall thanks to the mask. It seems I said something out of the ordinary. Although for the Fleet this is indeed stunning. But Tali is understandable, but Shepard and Rex - why you? Ah, well, I'll have to bring them back to their senses.

"Well, let's... Let's go. Goodbye," I said, and the two of us walked away from them. But a second later, Tali called us.

"Hey, Card, maybe... maybe, you need help? You're on a Pilgrimage, after all..."

"Don't worry. There's plenty on the ship. Turns out, a dead batarian is a generous batarian," I said, causing Shepard to look even more surprised.

"You killed batarians? Where?" she began bombarding us with questions immediately.

"We were captured just a couple of days after we set out on the Pilgrimage..."

"Hey, hey, hey, I get it, but I'm anticipating a good fight story. So, they're coming with me to the bar. Drinks are on me, guys. Heh-heh-heh," — that's it, we were caught. We'll definitely be found out. Although... No, bad idea, but... Well, the hell with it, we'll have to go.

"We're all in," I said, since there was no other way out.

"Hold on, Rex. First, take the crate to customs, then you can do whatever you want for three days," Shepard ordered in a tone that didn't allow for any objections.

"Alright. Let's go, guys. We'll need a taxi later," Rex said, and started carrying the crate, and we had to follow him. There was no point in refusing Rex.

"Hey, Joker. I hope you're not planning to spend all your leave on the Normandy?" Shepard suddenly spoke into the radio, which I immediately started eavesdropping on.

"No, but I'll have to stick around. The sensors picked up some strange signal. We should check it out."

"Oh, God, alright. But if this is just an excuse..." Shepard began threateningly.

"What kind of excuses? The system can't even decipher this signal. Something's not right," Joker continued.

"Alright. But you still have to go out and take a walk," Jane persisted.

"Yes, yes, of course," said the pilot and disconnected. And I still had to figure out how to outdrink a krogan. The problem wasn't that I could get drunk, but that I physically couldn't drink. I don't have lips! Or a mouth! Oh, alright, I'll think of something, hopefully I'll get away with it.

"Black Hole" Bar

"So, the three of us set off on the Pilgrimage. A couple of days later, we decided to discharge the engines at some gas giant. And then, out of nowhere, a few fighters and some cargo ship fly out from the satellite of this giant. And things got crazy! They got us with an EMP harpoon, our whole system went to hell, and they boarded us. We decided to shoot them out, but no luck. They put us to sleep with gas, the kind that passes through filters. In short, we fell asleep there. Listen, let's drink," I said, and Rex only agreed. The plan was simple - outdrink the krogan. We learned how to drink - tilt the head back and everything goes into the suit, specifically - into the legs. Well, I'm not afraid, but how long this will take - who knows. Alright, let's go.

"So, we ended up in the cell. With us were - the three of us, an asari Ardat-Yakshi, and a volus. Was there a volus?" I turned to my companion.

"There was a female volus," the geth replied. Seems like it was worth taking three primes. They have good imaginations.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha..." Rex burst into laughter, who had already managed to drink a liter of whiskey. Oh, this is going to be hard. "And what are volus females like?" he asked through a smile.

"Pink suit and a third-size chest," replied the same geth. Seems like all three primes are connected to him, given how carried away they are.

"HA-HA-HA-HA! AH-AH-AH-AH-AH!!!" Now Rex was just laughing like a horse. However, the music in the bar did its job - no one was paying any attention to us. Everyone was watching the asari, who were shaking their rears here. "Ha-ha... Pink volus... HA-ha-ha-ha..." how ambiguously said.

...

"I say to him: 'Why don't you go fuck yourself?!'" After an hour, even Rex was slightly drunk, and I was already pretending to be drunk. It seemed to be working.

...

"I hit him with a fire... fir... urm... kh, fire ex... fire extinguisher, and he doesn't want to die... Imagine, a batarian doesn't want to die! And they try so hard!

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha... Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!"

"And then I hit him BAM! And he no longer had legs... And he squealed so pitifully... Called his mommy... And she won't comeeee! Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh... Get it? Get it?! His mom won't come to her little boy, whose balls I burned off with a soldering iron.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha... Oh, I need... unintelligible... unintelligible..." What does it take to get a krogan drunk? Five hours and ten liters of Russian vodka. Oh, and two quarian conversationalists who keep offering drinks. And the plan still worked.

Rex is asleep, we're free. Only we need to do something with him. Terra Nova is a good planet, but it's full of scumbags, and his armor is worth good money. Sigh, we'll have to drag him to the hotel. He has a lot of money, so we'll rent a room in the best hotel for him to wake up in a good environment.

"Okay, let's drag him," I said, and the two of us took the krogan under the arms. People, of course, were gawking at us, as two skinny quarians were dragging a krogan carcass.

Terra Nova Hotel

"Good... evening..." said the girl at the reception, however, her level of amazement was off the charts.

"Good evening. We need a room. Our friend needs to go to sleep."

"Whaaat sleep! I don't want to sleeeep yet! Aoooh..." Rex tried to intervene, but still passed out.

"Yes, yes. We should drink less. So, is there a vacant room?" I asked, and the girl tried to digest all this.

"Um. Yes... It's... 300 credits per hour..." she said. I didn't care, but my companion did.

"HOW MUCH?! Are you out of your minds here! It's daylight... evening... robbery..." Yes indeed, this guy's emotion simulation is on point.

"Okay, we'll take it. Just give us the room," I said, and only after handing over the money did they send me the room password.

In the elevator.

"Could you remove the leg of this filthy animal from my shoes? They cost more than this entire hotel," some Frenchman who was in the elevator with us started to rant.

"Can you shut your froggy mouth and stop croaking?" I responded, which really pissed off the frogman.

"WHAT?! How dare you speak to me in such an inappropriate manner?!"

"And who are you anyway?" I decided to inquire.

"I am Louis Jortan de Clementano de Tlipsi..."

"Got it, another Frog," I started to blatantly switch to Russian, but it seems the translators here were doing a great job, and he understood everything.

"What? That's it, I refuse to speak with rusty buckets like you."

"And I refuse to speak with a Frenchman who has bird shit on his jacket," I said, and it worked instantly.

"What? Where? Where-where-where?! Wipe it off immediately! I command you!" the Frenchman started to gush. He tried to look behind his back and started spinning like a top. The poor guy seemed to be having a meltdown.

"Okay," I said and gave him a suntan. Not in vain. The guy screamed... No, he shrieked like a little girl, started running around the elevator, tripped over Rex, fell, started crying and screaming something about "shitheads in buckets." I was only able to shut him up with a kick to the face.

"Finally," I muttered, and the elevator doors opened.

Dragging Rex to the farthest room was a hassle, but it was worth it. Once we locked ourselves in there, I was able to exhale. Mentally. Now I had to call this Mila, arrange a meeting, convince her to cooperate, and maybe I could even avoid revealing myself.

— Ugh... — Rex suddenly woke up. In a few seconds, he managed to get up and was now looking at us with a puzzled expression. — Guys? Where are we? — he started with almost incoherent speech.

— We... — I decided to explain, but was immediately stopped by Rex's pointing finger. He started twitching, and after a second, he threw up right on me. I had nowhere to run since I was right by the door.

— Oh, I'm sorry, dear, I... I didn't mean to... I'll wipe everything off now... take off your mask...

— What? Hey, hey, hey, hands off! — but I couldn't do anything. He just pinned me to the door and tried to take off my mask. The geth didn't rush to help, and he generally moved deeper into the room. Eventually, Rex still managed to wrap his hand around my neck. There was no point in hitting him - he was in armor - Don't squirm, I want to help... — he was still drunk, but his hands didn't seem to be, since he managed to find the right buttons. The mask hissed, and Rex took it off, — There you go, and you... Ah... — As soon as he saw my face, he seemed to sober up instantly. However, he didn't get to say anything when my companion hit him on the back of his head with a fire extinguisher. Rex fell, but didn't pass out. Even after three hits to the head, he was still conscious, albeit relatively.

— HEY, you there! I know you're there! Come out immediately! I demand compensation! — this Frenchman began to pour, pounding on the door with his fist.

— Give me the fire extinguisher. — I said as soon as I put on my mask. The geth handed me this instrument of retribution and I opened the door and immediately hit this Frenchman on the head with all my might. Fortunately, not fatally, but painfully. Having run halfway down the corridor, we heard Rex.

— HEY! STOP!!! — the idea came immediately. I aimed the fire extinguisher at Rex and knocked the valve off. A loud hiss was heard and the fire extinguisher flew towards the krogan with a white tail and hit him in the legs. Rex fell with a crash, and we ran. After turning, we saw a fire exit. I kicked the door, then started hacking one of the rooms. The lock quickly gave in, and we burst into the room, closing the door behind us. Rex, growling furiously, ran past, and then we heard him falling down the stairs. I can imagine what will be happening down there now.

After waiting for 10 minutes, I was about to leave, but then I heard someone's laughter. It was the sound of the elevator, which was three meters away from the room, and then I heard a familiar voice.

— Liara, where have you brought me? — it was Shepard's voice. — And why did you blindfold me?

— You'll see. It's a surprise, — Liara intriguingly said, and then I realized they were getting too close to our room, and then I even heard Liara entering the password for THIS room. I immediately beat it deeper into the room, and instantly decided to hide in the closet. Luckily, it was completely empty, and I won't be uncomfortable. My geth also climbed in with me, and then the door to the room opened.

— Can I take off the blindfold now? — Shepard kept asking. Damn, how did I get myself into this.

— Well, take it off, — when Liara had already turned on the light, about a quarter power, Shepard was already standing opposite the closet. She removed the blindfold and was a bit surprised.

— Um, are we in a hotel? — Jane figured it out.

— I just wanted... for us to be... undisturbed... — Liara said too gently and uncertainly. What are they planning to do here? I have a very bad feeling, and Liara's fast pulse only confirms my suspicions.

— Undisturbed? What do you mean? — Shepard still didn't understand. Even I would have gotten the hint by now! But the asari was also reading my thoughts, so instead of answering, Liara kissed Shepard on the lips. Damn, Liara, your heart is about to jump out, and I'm not kidding. I think 120 beats per minute is not good. Although, she didn't care about that. She was already trying to undress Jane, they were both in civilian clothes.

— Liara, wait! — Shepard suddenly spoke out, surprising not only Liara but also me personally. What else do you need, woman?

— Jane. I want this... I love you...

— Liara. You shouldn't do something you might regret later.

— How can I regret this? Why don't you want it?

— I'm just afraid of hurting you. You... You're the only one I've ever loved, who's loved me... You're my only ray of light in this world...

— Jane. I've never been so sure about anything else in my life as I am about this. I want it because I love you, — and after these words, Liara abruptly pushed Shepard and she fell onto the bed, and the blue-skinned beauty just sat on the captain. And then... well, I didn't dare to interrupt them.

Terra Nova Hotel. 6:00 local time

I've seen a lot. Seriously. In my school. In the camp. Even in this world I've seen plenty. But this... It seems they both had been waiting for this moment for a long time, because they only finished at 3 a.m., even though they started at 10 p.m.

— Alright, time to go, — I said over the concealed communication link. The geth agreed, after which we started playing a game of "follow me". I tried to walk as quietly as possible, and the geth repeated my steps with surgical precision. Within a minute we managed to leave the room, and three minutes later, we were out of the hotel.

— Legate, shall we now go for Mila? — the geth suddenly asked me over the internal communication.

— Yes, I'll find her phone number now, — I replied and started searching.

Asgard Residential Skyscraper

120th floor. Mila T`Rinil's Apartment.

An unpleasant sound forced the nearly naked asari to finally open her eyes. Mila was already glowing with biotic energy in anger, wanting to strike the source of the noise with a biotic punch, but then she remembered it was her phone. She immediately got up from the couch where she had fallen asleep, picked up the phone and answered.

— Hello.

— Mila T`Rinil? — a calm male voice asked.

— Yes. Who is this?

— Let's just say I represent my boss, who is very interested in your... services, — instead of replying Mila immediately stood up from the couch, ran to her computer, plugged the phone into the terminal and launched a number identification program.

— Services? And what particular services has your boss interested in? — Mila asked, trying to buy time. She had to find out who was calling her. Without that, she never started working - an iron rule.

— My boss found a Prothean beacon and needs an expert to decipher it, — the voice calmly replied.

— And who is this boss of yours? — Mila decided to ask bluntly.

— Let's just say he's the head of... a non-governmental organization that found the beacon, and he doesn't want to share the beacon with the Council.

— I see. But I hope your boss knows that my... services are paid for, — Mila was trying to buy as much time as possible, however, the number was still not identified, — Who are you? This is the most powerful system. — she said to herself.

— Ten million credits, — the next sound the client heard was the sound of the asari's body falling to the floor and her head hitting the table. And also asari curses, which the translator flatly refused to translate.

— H-h-h-how m-much?! — Mila barely managed to pronounce as soon as she sat down in her chair.

— Ten million, what? Too little? Will fifteen do? — Mila could hardly believe her eardrums. 10, 15 million! She had never seen so much money in her life in her bank account. In her life, she had deciphered three Prothean beacons. They paid her 500,000 for the first one, 700,000 for the second, and 1,500,000 for the third. But 10 million... No, something is not right here. — Mila, can you hear me? — the voice of the "representative" suddenly sounded. Mila immediately put the phone on the table, took out a hammer and smashed the device to pieces.

— What's she up to? — I wondered and decided to ask my team. — Rilik, do you copy?

— Yes, Comrade Legate, — replied the voice of the quarian. I had ordered everyone to communicate with a simulated voice.

— Can you find out what Mila is doing?

— Yes. We've hacked all the satellites in the planet's orbit. Stand by… — they work fast, good. — Comrade Legate, we have visual. Sending it to you, — and right away an image from the satellite appeared before my eyes. The weather was clear, so the image was good. Although, it's relative. I was looking from above, so I could only see roofs. I just watched the skyscraper for a few minutes when suddenly a figure ran out of the entrance, got into an aircar and flew away. — Rilik, analyze this figure.

— Affirmative. Analysis complete. Race — asari. Age — unknown. Identity — unknown.

— Right, it seems to be our Mila. Scan all conversations and look for her voice.

— Affirmative. Match found. Hacking. Connecting.

— Mila, can you explain clearly what's happening?!

— Someone just called me. He said he represents his boss, and the boss offered to decrypt a beacon.

— And?

— He offered 10 million, do you understand?

— HOW MUCH?!

— My point exactly. And on top of that, his number was not identified!

— Even with your system?!

— Yes! Listen, I'm going to you, then I'll hide in the farming sector. I think they won't look for me there.

— O-okay, I… Holy Spirits, just hurry up.

— Okay.

— Who was the second interlocutor? — I immediately asked when the conversation ended.

— Sola Virtuk. Race — turian. Gender — female. Age — 23 years.

— I see. Where did she call from?

— Location — spaceport district…

— Just show me a map and mark her on it. And me.

— Affirmative, — oh, she lives well. Right near the spaceport, where my frigate is docked.

— Good, we're heading there, and you prepare a cryo-capsule. Take it there as well.

— Affirmative, — alright, now to visit this Sola.

Spaceport district

Sola Virtuk's apartment.

Damn, damn, damn. What has Mila gotten herself into now? Although… No, it seems like someone has tracked her down. She never looks for work herself. And who are these people anyway? It doesn't matter! These kind of people only pay with a bullet to the head. Been there, done that. Okay, I've packed up, now I need to wait for her.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Hm, unlikely to be Mila. Approaching the door, I took a pistol in one hand, and looked at the screen of the external surveillance camera. There stood two… quarians? Well, these ones definitely aren't dangerous. Maybe I shouldn't open? No, let them go quickly. I turned on the speaker and started.

— What do you want?

— Good morning. Listen, our friend is feeling bad, he's injured. We need D-amino acid panacelin, we were told you're a turian. We have money if needed, — started the quarian with a pleading voice. The second quarian was holding his stomach, bent over like a Z, as some people here described it. Ah, fine. As soon as I opened the door, these two barged into my apartment and then I saw the sick one move his hand, and there was nothing there. However, the next second, the second quarian hit me in the face with his fist, and I blacked out.

Legate, same place

— Alright, hide her in the kitchen and tie her up. You — drag the capsule into the living room. Now we wait, — I said and sat down on the couch. The others spread out around the house and waited too. There were four geths in total.

We didn't have to wait long. Just half an hour later, Mila was calling the apartment. I didn't make the lady wait at the entrance. As soon as I opened the door, I grabbed her by the clothes with one hand and pulled her into the apartment. A geth immediately grabbed her, and I knocked her out with a blow to the back of the head.

— Load her up, — I ordered, and in a minute the capsule was sealed. Two of the geths left for the ship, sending me a biometric code for the car in the process. In simpler terms, the car will now think that it's Mila. My companion and I took the handles of the capsule (luckily, there were some) and dragged it to the car.

We got out in the parking lot, then carried the box through customs as a "diplomatic cargo, not subject to inspection and scanning". Ah, it's good to be a hacker of this level. And yet in my old life, I wasn't even on "you" terms with a computer, but "sir, would you kindly tell me who you are?". And sometimes it was outright: "Who are you — bye!". And so, as we walked to our ship, we noticed familiar faces: Kaidan, Ashley, Tali, and Garrus. They were telling each other how they had spent their time and who had seen Rex last. And as soon as Tali started talking about us, we were immediately spotted.

— Hey, Card! — Tali shouted, when suddenly… I heard an even more familiar voice.

— Find them IMMEDIATELY!!!

— Of course, Minister. We will find those quarians.

— I hope so! Otherwise… Who's this? — this Frenchman, whom I had nailed in the elevator, was now accompanied by some other guy and two heavily armed soldiers. Both in heavy armor and with rifles. And now this Louis noticed us. — Th-those… It's them! Shoot them! They tried to kill me!!! — one of the armored guys immediately aimed his rifle at me and fired. Two shots hit the mask, causing it to crack, but it didn't shatter. My companion immediately raised his hands, just as I had taught him. I had to turn away to make them stop shooting. I'll have to take off the mask — it has two fat white spots of cracks and I can't see anything through it. Removing the mask, I looked at the shocked faces of Shepard's incomplete crew.

— IT'S A GETH!!! — Ashley shouted and reached for her pistol. The others did the same.

That's what it means to walk around a city without a shield where they want to kill you.