17. Of Scum and Villainy

"It's just a contract - "

"It's not just a contract!" [Rebecca] blinked at Edeena's vehement response. The merc blew through her nose, nostrils flaring as she threw herself back into the seat. Her legs fell from the table to land with dull thumps as her fingers curled into fists. "Athame's sacred ass, just… just sell your ship. You're pretty, but you do not want to go through that relay, I'm telling you."

[Rebecca]'s nose wrinkled at the implication.

"The money is secondary," she admitted. There were many ways to get money on Illium. She could spend the next few hours studying the Illium Stock Exchange and be well on her way to making millions, but she wasn't here to just 'get money.' She had a deadline. Money was only the first stepping stone. If she had to build the rest of it herself, she'd never make it.

"I need connections, reputation. I need distribution channels and – " There was a search order on her. "I need the protection. Just for a little while."

Edeena had been giving her a blank look until she said the last part, as if she'd been waiting for her to admit that she had something to hide from. "Whatever potential protection you get, is going to mean nothing if this backfires on you. You piss anyone on this list off…" she trailed off. Her eyes lowered. "You - you don't leave Illium."

[Rebecca] had already considered that from numerous angles. The verdict? Acceptable risk. There was no question about it, if she wanted to leave Illium, she would. The only variable was how much of their network infrastructure she would crash and and who got Veto'd in the process. And god, did she just use Veto as a verb? There were so many things wrong with that. She barely kept herself from palming her face. Barely.

"So what you're saying is that I need a safeguard."

Edeena huffed. "You're going to need a lot more than that." She waved a hand around. "What do you have that would even get you in the building? No one needs translators. Piloting? Mechanic?"

A Prothean database.

"Edeena, I renovated the Prothean ship."

"So you know how to outfit ships - "

"Not outfit." [Rebecca] cut her off. "I renovated it." She saw the moment Edeena saw what was getting at, because her eyes widened slightly. "The original computer system is there. The engines. The shielding. The armament on its spine, it's a ship mounted particle accelerator. Everything."

There were a few heart beats of silence.

"So maybe you can sell it for more than a few million," Edeena laughed weakly. "Closer to a hundred, two hundred mil - no, no," She cut herself off, shaking her head. "No, this is the part where I ask you... how?"

Yes, how. [Rebecca] split her processes down several conversation paths, and ran analysis on each one. Just having the database was valuable, but the problem was it had all of the value. If she wanted to be kept on board, she had to be able to use it in a way few people could. Or know something few knew.

"It was small," [Rebecca] began slowly. Search for online acting classes - She moderated her voice into something wistful, remembering. "Just another relic of the dig, really. About that big," she gestured with her hands the dimensions of the Prothean data cube. Search all reports of injuries at Prothean excavations.

The most recent hits were about Ashley Williams and her encounter with the Prothean beacon on Eden Prime. It wasn't completely unprecedented, some artifacts found on dead worlds and ancient catacombs inflicted mental illnesses on the ones who found them. [Rebecca] didn't have to look to know that some of them were probably Reaper artifacts or leftovers of the Leviathans.

The assumption was a non-standard form of data storage, or unintentional effects caused by millennia of damage. There were safety measures, but they weren't perfect.

Yes. She could use that. "It must have been still active," she murmured.

"And then?"

[Rebecca] gestured at her eyes in silent answer. "I don't remember much of it. Bad dreams, mostly. I only figured out that some knowledge transferred when I started working on the ship."

"And again, they let you out of Alliance space?"

"No one let me do anything," [Rebecca] retorted heatedly. She'd been jerked around like a puppet on strings since the very beginning. She fucking died and still wasn't free.

An expression much like pity flashed over Edeena's face before it was wiped clean.

"So you won't get killed," she said deliberately nonchalant, kicking her legs back up. "Or spaced. Not doing much to avoid being locked in a box, but you can't win them all."

"That's why I wanted your help, so I avoid anyone who would do that."

She held up a teal finger. "Wrong question." And flicked the tip of [Rebecca]'s nose with it. "You want to know who you can talk out of doing that. "

Edeena looking so serious seemed wrong somehow, like she had aged a hundred years during the conversation and [Rebecca] wasn't sure she liked it. Her social programs were nudging her towards lightening the mood somehow, so she rolled her eyes and brushed the asari's finger away.

"Did we - did we just have a fight?" She wondered out loud. Edeena let out a very unladylike snort and swiftly clamped a hand to her nose.

"You didn't hear that."

"I'm pretty sure that's supposed to wait until after the first date," [Rebecca] continued obligingly. "Not a good sign." The asari let out a couple more soft snorts that soon became chuckles.

A waitress wandered over to them with a hover tray in the tight plastic-leather fashion asari seemed to prefer as casual wear. The sheer amount of blue skin showing was making [Rebecca] feel self-conscious on her behalf. "Refills?"

[Rebecca] snatched Edeena's empty glass up. She did say two drinks. "Another of the specials and," she held up her own glass, turning to her...date. "What was this?"

"Thessian Sparkler."

"Yes, that."

She took their glasses with a small head bow and winked. "I'll be right back."

Out of her peripheral vision, [Rebecca] saw the orange glow of Edeena's omni-tool lighting back up.

"Alright, what have we got," Edeena murmured reluctantly with a long suffering sigh as she scrolled up and down the list. "Porun Gar," she read out.

He was a mining tycoon, buying mining rights to planets out in the middle of nowhere and shipping in cheap equipment and cheap labor to strip the land bare. The 'cheap labor' were usually Vorcha kept on site where their fast breeding kept up with the workplace deaths. He tended to treat everyone not his miners a lot better, too keep a good reputation, mostly.

No one cared what happened to Vorcha.

Edeena gave [Rebecca] this unreadable look. "No. No Volus. Ever."

Sounded like there was a story there. "Are you speaking from experience?"

"Yeah?" Edeena grunted. "And I shot the little bastard." Oh, that kind of experience. [Rebecca] opened her mouth to apologize, but the asari waved it off, moving on. "Walter Milton," the corner of Edeena's lips pulled up as a subtle tension drained out of her. "Well, he's human." She squinted at the profile picture of a man in his early fifties. "I don't get what your species sees in the males, honestly."

"He's innovative," [Rebecca] said, ignoring the bait. "First one to make something out of Illium's oceans at the equator." More like mush pits of heavy metals and toxic fumes than oceans, thanks to Illium's biosphere evaporating the water. "And...he's human, yeah."

He wasn't on the list because he was particularly useful. He was on the list because he was almost a safe bet.

"If you feel like working for a glorified trash recycling company?"

Not particularly.

"That thing you did right there," Edeena said suddenly.

"What thing?"

"The thing with your nose," she scrunched up hers to demonstrate, looking utterly ridiculous. "That was adorable."

[Rebecca] honestly had no idea how to respond to that. Her habits and expressions weren't things the VIs noticed or commented on. Compliments were good, obviously, she knew that much. Flirty compliments were...kind of good? And it was becoming exceedingly clear that she'd messed up in her programming of the nanites somewhere. "Thank you."

The waitress came back with their drinks and [Rebecca] credited the cost from one of her bank accounts. "Anything else I can get you?" She asked, staring straight at [Rebecca].

Well, maybe, since the Sparkler was so good, she was starting to wonder what the food tasted like. She needed to replenish her reserves a bit anyway.

"Actually - "

"We're fine," Edeena spoke up. "Run along now." After the waitress left in a huff, Edeena hissed, "Don't encourage them!"

"I wasn't!" Oops, rule number 1 of Jasher's dating advice broken: Just admit you were wrong, they were right, no matter what it was or if they were actually right. "I mean - I didn't think I was?"

The Eclipse merc stared sternly for a few more seconds, then her lips twitched. [Rebecca] knew she probably looked terrified and confused, well that's because she was terrified and confused. She'd already been abandoned by a friend once, she didn't want to blunder into losing another one.

"What would you do without me, hmm?" Edeena said with warm amusement.

"I...don't think I would have left that shuttle bay alive," [Rebecca] said sourly.

Edeena scowled. "True." She settled back and picked up her new glass, sipping at it as she looked down at her omni-tool. "Good luck with Gold Pezun," the asari continued. "That's the top shipping magistrate you're aiming for there." Edeena lifted a finger off the glass to twirl it in the air lazily. "Did a gig for her once, guarding some transports. That elcor that doesn't even have the decency to tell people what mood she's using."

Oh, ouch.

"Feyure D'Mal." Edeena stopped for a moment. "Uh, maybe? I mean -" She grimaced with a dark little chuckle slipping out. "Nope, can't do it. You're not working at Mal-Mart."

"Fourteen planet coverage, has connections all over multiple industries, has its own distribution chain," [Rebecca] pointed out. The latest article in Galaxy Trade magazine was gushing about 'Mal-Mart' expanding into Council space from the Asari Republics through the Citadel. D'Mal herself was a known spendthrift, chasing ideas and new technology.

"She's a leech," Edeena dismissed with a wave of her drink. "One of the artsy types, selling crap to rich idiots who like anything painted by a pretty face. Meanwhile, runs her business like a merc company and not the kind that has standards."

Yes, there was that too. Nassana Dantius was not the first nor the last CEO to abuse her employees, run them through until there was nothing left. As the goose that laid the golden eggs, she could probably fit into D'Mal's category of sponsored pets. She'd just have to look over the fine print very carefully.

Three hundred years of turning cutting corners into an art would leave its toll.

"Matriarch Velara Maris," Edeena said the last name on the list quietly. She sighed, glancing at [Rebecca]. "She owns Nos Astra," the asari stated. "Literally owns it, property tax is rent."

Ah, that would explain the oddities in Nos Astra's real estate sector then. It was literally just leases on top of leases on top of rents. And shit, that was quite a bit more than she was expecting. The businesses on Illium that had her name on it were military contractors, R&D firms on the cutting edge and large shares in other asari companies like the Serrice Council, known for the best biotic amps in the galaxy, bar none.

It was nearly perfect.

The downside was that Velara Maris recently had her nine hundred and forty ninth birthday. She was likely on the Inner Council of the Asari Republics, controlling an entire voting block with a following of disciples. It would be like approaching Bill Gates for a job interview as a recent college grad. Except that he was damn old and was the king of a small country.

Velara squeaked by the 'non-racist' filter because she was 'non-racist' in the same way that an old man who still thought calling black people 'negro' was non-racist. She was an equal opportunity discriminator and humanity was fresh on the scene.

You're trash, until you prove otherwise.

[Rebecca] chewed her lip. "Is that a 'don't even bother?'"

"That's an 'Athame's sacred ass and bouncing tits, if you land that, you're set for life.' That's as big as big gets, I mean," she sputtered, not finding the words for what she wanted to say. She stopped, and just brought her glass up to her lips, then set it down again looking thoughtful. "...how is your high asari?"

[Rebecca] raised her eyebrows. "...good?"

Edeena looked her over, like she did several times that night but this time it was more evaluating. Assessing.

"With a really strong showing," she began slowly. "And if you're manners are as good as I think they are, you might be able to get a meeting with one of the matrons working for her."

"Might?"

She tipped her glass in a one armed shrug. "Best I got. Still think you should just sell your ship."

"Not happening."

"Just saying." A comfortable pause. "You know going after them is crazy, right? Your approach has to be flawless."

"I know. Thank you, Edeena."

The asari grumbled, "I'd say you owe me one, but if you actually pull it off I'll be too busy kissing the ground you walk on."

[Rebecca] smiled as she dove into the extranet, and then further, into every network within her reach. Her starting profiles, were good. They could be better. The chinks in their armor, their weaknesses and vices. What they took pride in, the petty slights that were still simmering. Already, a plan was taking shape as she bounced communication signals and pulled Aegis in to help analyze the data.

Hadn't Edeena mentioned Eternity?

"So, uh." The turian stopped when [Rebecca] put her hand up, the other smashing her nose like she was trying to drive it into her brain. Edeena choked on her food beside her, spinning the bar stool away while she sputtered between coughs and what sounded suspiciously like laughter. So she had lost that bet and five hundred credits, apparently she couldn't read turians at all.

"Nope, not doing this," [Rebecca] declared. Fuck, so coming down to the bar again was turning out to be a terrible idea. This was the third turian in the last hour and she knew it wasn't the biotics this time. Was she just attracting all the xenophiles? Did she have something else she could blame on her asari skin layer? Was she giving off pheromones? "I'm not."

"I told you," Edeena wheezed, eyes watering as she reached for – how many of those had she had? Four? [Rebecca] downed her own shot, savoring the taste. Good thing, she hadn't coded herself for intoxication. Mostly because getting rip roaring drunk was one of those life experiences her memories skipped out on, but also because encoding the ability to sabotage herself like that seemed…counterproductive.

God, now she was sounding like Vigil.

"Eddy…" [Rebecca] didn't quite whine.

The asari rolled her lilac eyes and took pity on the turian. She pointed at [Rebecca]. "With me, sorry pal."

"Right. No problem." His head drooped as he wandered off, pride a little bruised.

[Rebecca] let her forehead hit the bar counter with a heavy thunk, automatically wincing. "I owe you five hundred?"

"Damn straight." Edeena patted [Rebecca]'s back sympathetically. "So what I've learned today, is that there are some people who don't want to meet a horny maiden in a dark alley. Imagine that."

[Rebecca] grimaced, thumping her head again before turning her face so she could look at the merc. "It would not be a lie to say that asari are oversexed."

"Yes, it would." Edeena looked offended. "That implies 'over' sexing is even possible!"

That got toasts and loud agreement from shameless eavesdroppers. [Rebecca] could only shake her head and smile. It had taken over an hour of small edits and Edeena's laid back attitude, but [Rebecca] had finally reached the point where she felt…comfortable. No one had busted through the doors looking to haul her off in handcuffs for hijacking the Citadel or stealing from Dantius. Kaidan Alenko had left earlier with his crew and the chip dip at the bar was divine.

'Dextro-amino' food allergies were like being allergic to peanuts. Most of it just wouldn't get used by the body, but certain compounds could actually be 'flipped' when metabolized into something toxic. Some cancer fighting medication – well, maybe they changed it – but some of it used to cause sickness because the flipped compound was actively harmful.

90% of it was harmless, at most your stomach would literally hate the crap out of you. But some people could and likely did react badly. Her rule of thumb was to just avoid the levo/dextro safety warnings and indulge in asari cuisine.

Most of her was still scattered about Nos Astra's network, digging into footholds in databases and servers so she could branch out further. Her targets didn't get where they were by being sloppy with their information, but they were also in the spotlight of Nos Astra's media frenzy. Blogs, paparazzi, interviews, press releases, fan sites, it was all there. Illium exalted in its own society, idolizing the rich and famous, glorifying "new money." Hollywood, except most of the stars didn't die off in a few decades.

Velara Maris, in particular, had a very extensive following. She helped fund the initial colonization of Illium as a matron a bit over five hundred years ago, and had been there ever since.

Edeena poked her in the side. "Say something in – what's it called, Ingulish?"

"Really?" [Rebecca] asked, bemused.

"It's my first time dating an alien, I'm entitled to stupid questions. And, "She raised her glass, wiggling it and the liquid at the bottom sloshed around. "Had to get drunk enough to ask."

Switching language nodules was simple enough. "You father was a Hanar and your mother smelt of elderberries."

The Eclipse sighed happily as someone behind them choked on their drink. "I don't want to know what you said, do I?"

[Rebecca] laughed. "Probably not!"

Edeena's omni-tool lit up, a symbol of a sun's burning corona around a circle that had an elongated, curved E in the center. Her eyes narrowed minutely as she looked at it, and glanced at [Rebecca] apologetically.

"Sorry, have to take this."

"Work calls?" [Rebecca] nodded even as she felt some of her processes twist to analyze the asari. No real reluctance there, or hesitation. Just annoyance, resignation. She felt a bit disappointed and wasn't entirely sure why. "I understand."

[Rebecca] finished off her chips and fish fry, already getting to work breaking down the fish to get at the stores of metals in its fat and tissue. When Edeena came back, she picked up her helmet from the counter with a sour expression.

"Something came up," she said shortly. She paused to slam back the remains of her drink and nodded at Tulo behind the counter. "Is…Is there any place I can take you…?"

[Rebecca] thought through her response. She'd been planning at staying at one of the tourist trap hotels until she managed to find something a bit more long term. She searched and discarded places in the time it took Edeena to finish blinking, solidifying her plan of action.

"I'm staying at the Agessian Moon, by…" she let herself trail off as she brought up her faux omni-tool. "By the Nos Astra exchange?"

The asari relaxed slightly. "That's close by, come on."

During the short shuttle ride, it occurred to [Rebecca] that she should have probably been thinking about how a good date usually ended. Not that she wanted it to end in any particular way, except for things not being on fire and being shot at, but it was entirely likely that Edeena did and it was really the wrong time to start worrying about her sexuality, wasn't it?

"I – um." [Rebecca] fidgeted. The Nos Astra exchange was in a sprawling beige high rise with large balconies acting as outdoor areas, escalators and elevators moving between levels and people still out and about long after the sun had dipped to brush the horizon. Being at the poles, Nos Astra was the alien version of Finland, getting sunlight all day and night for half the year and the other half lit by the brilliant artificial lighting. "Look, I – "

[Rebecca] shut her mouth as Edeena's lips brushed her forehead, then her nose.

"It was fun," the merc said with an incredibly smug tone as she jammed her helmet on. "See you around?"

"Yes," [Rebecca] breathed, not sure which part she was responding to. "Good bye."

The yellow armored figure waved and got back in the shuttle car.

[Rebecca] stood there for a minute, watching the car fly off into the hanging sunset. She then made a reservation at the Agessian Moon for an hour ahead, and settled the system's whining about short notice by throwing credits at it. Yes, she knew if she missed the reservation time, her money would not be refunded. She wasn't planning on taking too long.

The Eternity lounge, bar, hotel thing had a prime spot near the exchange and didn't need a lot of convoluted paths to get to unlike her hotel, which was up two floors, through several buildings and around a plaza.

The place had a Spartan look to it. The public lounge looked close to the game with subtle differences. The coloring scheme was brighter, less used in looking with a gleaming silver floor tiles and tastefully done crimson and cream wall decorations. There were a few flat aquariums with Illium skald fish swimming back and forth and soft music. The bar counters were screens for television or extranet surfing, one turian was playing what looked like a dogfighting sim. It had plenty of customers, sitting in plush booths and tables, a few standing around with luggage at their feet.

[Rebecca] approached the bar, shuffling personality pieces into place.

A dark blue asari matriarch was sitting at the end of the bar counter, a large glass of something vicious looking in front of her. She was keeping an eye on the bar, another asari behind the register handling a hanar customer and the lighter blue maiden in front of her, who was sliding a small glass back and forth in front of her as she complained.

" – for my safety, my safety!" Lift voice imprint, match to database, adjust for distortion…and slightly drunken slurring. Fantastic. Two birds, one stone. "Do you know how many pirates and – and scoundrels and villains attack Prothean dig sites? I've been looking after myself for decades and suddenly it's too dangerous? Who does she think she is?"

Matriarch Aethyta dryly replied. "Your mother."

"Excuse me," [Rebecca] spoke up. Liara T'Soni jumped slightly and turned around. [Rebecca] had a moment of going 'fuck' in her head before the maiden's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Yeah. That. Nothing for it now, just pretend she didn't notice the reaction. She pointed at the seat by them. "Is this seat taken?"

"No?" Liara squeaked. "No, definitely not, no one was sitting there. At all."

Her father smirked. "Don't bite your tongue off, kid." Aethyta pinned [Rebecca] with a steady look as she sat down. "Can I help you with something?"

[Rebecca] took a deep breath. She accessed the bar counter's computer, uploading a schematic. The Prothean shield array flickered into view and slowly rotated.

"Yes, I think you can."

Aethyta glanced at the image and took a casual pull of what could only be alcoholic acid complete with bubbles of escaping gas. Liara gasped quietly and shoved her glass aside as she bent over the screen, tracing the blueprint lines with her fingertips as if she could feel the end product. [Rebecca] looked over the menu and decided against ordering anything. Any more alcohol in her and she wouldn't be surprised if her microbial generator spontaneously combusted.

It was good that Liara was here. Really good. Problem was she wasn't supposed to be here.

[Rebecca]'s current personality set up didn't exactly allow for her processing threads to devolve into gibbering hysteria, but she still felt uneasy. This was two years too early. When Edeena had mentioned Eternity, she had thought, well, it wasn't like Aethyta's movements had a timeline or anything so who knows?

But Liara…

Did she just not go with Shepard? Obviously, she wasn't still trapped in a bubble on Therum, so what happened? Did Shepard just skip the – Saren wasn't playing at being the bad guy. Binary Helix on Noveria was owned by Benezia T'Soni. The rachni were the only way to get the location of the Mu Relay and to get it from the queen, you needed an asari.

Son of a bitch, everything ever was wrong.

[Rebecca] found herself wishing, wishing hard that someone would slip up and put Shepard's mission report on an accessible server. Who else had been on that damn ship? Did the mission even remotely go like it was supposed to?

"I run a bar," Aethyta pointed out. Her voice was rough, straight forward in Low Asari but it didn't come across as insulting. Mainly because Aethyta. "This? Not alcohol."

"It's not for you, directly," [Rebecca] replied using the most respectful form of 'you' that was still used in High Asari. Two fold reasoning: Edeena had implied that at least Matriarch Velara had this thing about proper respect and second, [Rebecca] did not want to get on Aethyta's bad side. 'Getting her ass slapped with a Singularity' was the least on the list of bad ends.

She commandeered another screen and searched the extranet for footage of the Citadel wreckage. Soon, a circling overhead view of the massive corpse of Sovereign crushing the Presidium ring was visible. [Rebecca] felt a rush of vindictive pleasure.

I won.

"This is a bar and you are the owner. Have you heard of what the Asari Republics are doing in face of that?"

"That," Aethyta said. "Was scary as fu – " she glanced at Liara who frowned at her. Aethyta shrugged. "Heck. We know the Destiny Ascension didn't match up to it. Everyone who knows what that means just about pissed themselves."

[Rebecca] could read between the lines.

Not everyone knows what that means.

"The Asari Republics forfeited their share of the Reaper's eezo cores to the Salarian Union," [Rebecca] said with a small smile. "Generous of them."

The matriarch snorted.

"Technology and defense sectors of industry have gotten large boosts of activity," [Rebecca] continued. "More funding for research and development, military budgets expanded across the board. The defense of Outer Council space was ceded to the Systems Alliance."

Aethyta had an unreadable face on. It wasn't blank, but the same casually friendly expression that said 'I don't really give a damn either way.'

[Rebecca] began to doubt a little. Everything else was wrong. This could be too. It wasn't like the excommunication of a matriarch was paraded around on the news. The simulation could have made it up to fill in the matriarch's back story.

"It's complete," Liara murmured. [Rebecca] looked over at her. "Was this – was this reverse engineered?" She asked no one. "I can't tell – I mean, even the best attempts at recreating Prothean technologies have obvious signs." Her fingers continued to trace. "The same underlying concepts but completely different design philosophies, and less advanced, of course, but with this…I can't tell where it stops and where it starts."

Huh. [Rebecca] honestly didn't think she would be able to pick that up this quickly.

Guess Liara hit the Ballmer's Peak of intoxication, [Rebecca] thought.

"Prothean?" Aethyta perked up slightly. "You sure?"

[Rebecca] got this sideways look from the matriarch. Aethyta's fingers shifted on the glass as she checked the front door behind them. Defensive reaction, not entirely unexpected. Intact precursor technology was rare and valuable enough to get every politician that wasn't an idiot praising the virtues of cooperation and shared knowledge between governments and species.

That was for just the technology. Technology that still needed to be analyzed, deciphered, studied and reverse engineered by the top scientific minds just so their manufacturing companies could produce inferior knockoffs.

Blueprints. Schematics. Hard data that answered 'How?'

Priceless.

"Yes, I'm sure," Liara said snappishly, with all the righteous indignation of a college professor that had her degrees questioned. "There can be no mistaking this. This is Prothean!" She snatched at [Rebecca]'s sleeve, blue eyes alight with excitement as she launched rapid fire questions, "Where did you get this? How did you get this? Is it – this is from the Mars cache isn't it? University effort? Research institution?"

She then seemed to notice that she had a death grip on [Rebecca]'s arm and flushed violet.

"S – sorry. I didn't – I mean." Liara stopped and held out the proverbial olive branch. "Your clothes are nice?"

Wow.

Urge to pinch blue cheeks rising.

[Rebecca] sputtered. "It – It's fine, really. Thank you, I like yours too?"

If anything, Liara's blush got darker as she cleared her throat, prying her fingers away. "I'm…sorry, for the interruption." The maiden visibly pulled herself together, sitting ramrod straight. "I let my scientific curiosity get the better of me."

Aethyta let out a few very suspicious coughs. "Scientific curiosity, my blue ass."

They both ignored her.

"The Council has evidence that there are more Reapers," [Rebecca] continued. And if they didn't have the evidence, they would after she force fed it to them. "The Protheans are extinct and we are not equal to them. What happens if a squadron of Reapers attack the Citadel tomorrow?"

"We take one hell of a beating," Aethyta said immediately with a wry smile.

"A fleet," [Rebecca] pushed.

Liara made a small strangled cat sound.

"Everybody dies." The matriarch was frowning, her purple eyes cross sectioning [Rebecca] who nodded.

"Yes," she said pleasantly, despite the topic. "Will we be ready in a year, perhaps?"

"But we can't!" Liara blurted out. "The Protheans – they're gone and we – you're talking about full mobilization. The economy – "

"No," Aethyta cut her daughter off. "She's talking about not sitting on our asses doing border patrols until we get invaded." The matriarch nodded sharply. "Alright, fine. You got me. What's the pitch?"

"How would you like to help uplift the galaxy?"

Liara must have swallowed wrong, because as soon as the last word left [Rebecca]'s mouth the maiden broke into a hacking coughing fit. Watering eyes, weakly grasping the counter, the whole nine yards. Reaching out to lay her hand on the base of Liara's neck and fingers twitching towards the stethoscope that wasn't there was reflex and [Rebecca] winced when the contact made Liara jolt in her seat as if stung.

"Breathe through your nose," she instructed.

Aethyta gestured and the asari at the register nodded, fishing out a glass and filling it with water.

"Okay?" [Rebecca] murmured as Liara's coughing began to slowly ease. At least, that aspect of asari physiology was close enough that her memories worked there. She let her hand slip off. Aethyta passed the water.

[Rebecca] didn't want to look like she was examining the matriarch for her reaction, but, well, she was examining the matriarch for her reaction. Aethyta just took a small gulp of her drink – seriously, what is that? – and rolled the liquid around in her mouth languidly. Her eyes traveled the room. Not too fast or slow, just looking as if counting the heads. Her fingers shifted on her glass again, moving to grasp it by the top as she stood up.

"Probably best to continue this in the back."

[Rebecca] smothered her smile. Her foot was in the door, yes, but she wasn't done yet. She wiped the bar counter computers of the data and erased all evidence of her tampering as she slipped off the stool. Liara got up as well, looking at her with a burning curiosity.

"You mean that?" She asked quietly. "Uplifting the galaxy."

"Yes. And I will show you how."

The back room was a private lounge area off the main floor with a large wall holographic display showing off a two ring pattern and 'eternity' at the bottom in hot pink text. An L shaped couch striped with black and red dominated the right hand wall with a sturdy round table in front of it punctured with cup holders. She remembered this room.

A quick search of her Mass Effect files told her that this was where Miranda Lawson's contact Lanteia had met them with information for her loyalty mission.

Ah.

With a small, internal sigh, [Rebecca] brought up what she was beginning to think of as her quest journal and put "Check on Oriana Lawson" on the list. Her processing threads split obediently.

Aethyta closed the door behind them and [Rebecca] reached for the display. She put the schematic they had already seen on it first, and then that blueprint shrunk into the upper right corner as a small square as dozens of other designs and schematics filled the screen like a collage. She'd added at least one from every category she could think of, power generation, kinetic barriers, armor, hand held weapons, ship designs and even some miscellaneous items from the Archives like poems or VI Programming for Primitives.

Liara's butt had barely touched the couch before she was up with her omni-tool active and her blue eyes huge.

"This – this – this is – " Liara's words stopped coming out as sounds, just air as her mouth kept moving.

"Huh." Aethyta put her drink down on the table as she passed by it to walk up beside her daughter. She looked over the screen and then at [Rebecca] out the corner of her eyes. "Well, shit."

"Pick one."

Aethyta turned to face her sharply.

"Both of you," [Rebecca] continued, nodding at Liara who whirled back to the screen. "I'm letting each of you have any one of your choice."

"Bullshit," Aethyta retorted. "You didn't just walk in here to hand out a free sample."

"Well," [Rebecca] tilted her head respectfully and looked Aethyta straight in the eye, almost willing her to understand. This was the make or break line. If the simulation was correct, Aethyta should pick up on the unasked implication pointing at why she was here on Illium in the first place. Ostracized, for wanting the asari to try hard their development. If not, then it would come off as either really cheesy or completely nonsensical. "You do own a bar, revered Matriarch."

Aethyta's brows shot up. There was some suspicion there, but the way the corners of her eyes crinkled spoke of an equal amount of amusement. "So, it's like that, huh?"

Oh, thank god.

Liara spoke up, interrupting them both with a hasty exclamation of "Oh, sweet Goddess, this! This! This! This!" while gesturing towards one of the boxes and bouncing on her toes. The file was scrolling on her own omni-tool. "You have this translated!?"

[Rebecca] looked over and couldn't help cracking the bittersweet smile.

The Anthem of Victory.

"It's yours." She copied and compressed the file, really compressed it, the song was ginormous, and linked to Liara's omni-tool as the archaeologist squealed happily. "And you?"

Aethyta sighed slightly and looked over the screen. "Ah, what the hell, got any shotgun designs?"

The Protheans did indeed have scattergun designs, though most of those tended to also be specialized weapons for causing massive tissue trauma and liberal use of custom ammunition as the situation called for it, like ammo that exploded inside the target.

Some of the boxes on the screen flipped through and enlarged so that they were clearly seen, and then smaller rectangular windows beside them of the shell types.

Aethyta's lips pulled up in spite of herself. "Nice."

"This can't be – " Liara seemed to beat down her excitement, tearing her eyes away from the download's progress bar. "The Systems Alliance didn't do this. Translating the Prothean language is still a work in progress for everyone that I know of, we've been trying for – "

"A long time," [Rebecca] finished for her. "I know."

"And what's stopping us from selling these off?" Aethyta asked idly.

"Nothing."

And suddenly, [Rebecca] knew she had Aethyta's complete and undivided attention. The slight, apathetic slouch to the matriarch's stance disappeared as her face set into something hard, and if [Rebecca] was to be completely honest, a bit frightening. The poise and presence matriarchs were known for shed its camouflage and the room seemed to shrink.

"Really?" Aethyta drawled.

"Consider them gifts," [Rebecca] said a bit nervously, reflexively wiping her palms on her pants. Aethyta flicked her fingertips sharply. Right, get on with it. She pointed at the screen. "You are looking at an uplift package."

Liara gasped slightly as her father tilted her head with a vicious, little grin spread on her lips.

"I take it you've got a plan?"

[Rebecca] checked her internal clock and sighed. She canceled her reservation.

Reaching out and clearing the screen, replacing it with choice news articles and trends took barely a moment of thought. "The best time to introduce new technology is during the upgrade cycle, because that's exactly what everyone else is doing." She enlarged one article proudly proclaiming that buy-ins for Illium's bi-annual tech expo was now open. "In roughly six months the cutting edge is going to be redefined."

"And you want to define it using the fancy schematics you got," Aethyta said, settling down on the couch beside Liara.

"I'm human," [Rebecca] lied. "What is going to happen if I enter myself alone into an expo like this with the technology I showed you?"

"I'd give you a week," Aethyta said after a moment. "Maybe two."

Liara opened her mouth as if to say something and then closed it, looking sick.

Yeah, that was Illium for you.

"I would like for that not to happen?" [Rebecca] said meekly. "I don't have the connections yet, or the reputation, I…" [Rebecca] deflated slightly. She should have just gone to the Geth first. It wouldn't change anything connections or reputation wise, but at least her intentions there were really straight forwards. "But you…"

Aethyta didn't answer, looking at the screen with a thoughtful frown.

[Rebecca] bent her fingers towards her palm. "It's the reason why I want to start with this expo. Matriarch Velara Maris sponsors it."

By all accounts, Velara was one of the gatekeepers of the 'keep the asari competitive to the other races' plan. The products her companies supplied were top of the line by a careful margin Aegis had helped spot. Not so close that the salarians could catch up and surpass with a surprise offering, but not so far as to be out of reach. The old woman was nearly defined by being ahead of the competition, so if, for some reason, she suddenly wasn't?

"Velara Maris is the best the asari have to offer. She knows it. Illium knows it. The galaxy knows it." [Rebecca] puffed out her cheeks and breathed out. "I'm going to show her up."

"Isn't that a bit risky?" Liara asked, grabbing her hand as if to stop it from raising.

"Vel's pride wouldn't stand for that," Aethyta added. [Rebecca] raised an eyebrow. Vel? Did that mean something or was Aethyta the type to give people nicknames whether they like it or not? "She has to be on top, one way or another."

"Like by buying out a small, rival company run by a known upstart?"

This time, the matriarch cracked a small smile. "And the public shaming makes damn sure she doesn't bury the technology."

Makes sure no one buries the technology. With the eyes of the galaxy on her, Velara Maris had to improve from there.

"Both of us," Liara murmured in realization. "That's why you approached both of us. Superficially, my field of study gives an obvious answer if anyone makes the connection between the new technology and Prothean artifacts."

[Rebecca] nodded. "And I am aware your mother owns Binary Helix."

Aside from hatching rachni eggs for god knows why, Binary Helix owned Noveria. The ice planet was reserved for various research focuses that were too dangerous for a populated world. 'Let's hatch rachni eggs' seemed like a brilliant idea to everyone there, so who knows what other kind of shit they got up to?

That was the point.

Aethyta's expression shifted into knowing amusement, shifting her eyes from [Rebecca] to Liara and back. [Rebecca]'s lips tightened. It was entirely true, knowing who Liara's father was wasn't even relevant here. Explaining how she knew that little detail was going to be a pain in the ass later, she could already tell.

"What are you going to tell Matriarch Velara then?" Liara asked.

"The truth?" [Rebecca] shrugged. "The damage would already be done." After a moment, she belatedly added, "You could make a clean break then with the buyout money, if you wanted."

[Rebecca] had the monopoly of control over the technology. At that point, Velara Maris wouldn't be able to afford losing her.

"You've got a quad on you, kid. I'll give you that." Aethyta eyed her glass on the table as if considering the pros and cons of being blind drunk for this. "Having the schematics is one thing, how are we going to make the tech without selling our asses?"

"We?" [Rebecca] asked, smiling.

Aethyta waved that off. "Haven't agreed yet."

She lifted her chin confidently.

"Already taken care of." Or it would be once she sent Aegis to establish contact with the Geth. According to the extranet, interventionist Geth were a thing. That could only be a good sign. "I will be funding everything we need."

"You realize that credit trail is going to lead straight to you, right?"

"Then we direct it back to you." She held her hands out, palms down. "How do you feel about indentured servitude contracts?"

Both asari were quiet for a long time. Long enough, that [Rebecca] started feeling incredibly awkward standing there in front of them. She wasn't worried about the enforcement of the contract, if they were anything like the games, she could afford to trust them a bit. This was to make sure they trusted her. Liara seemed to get it and had the look of someone chewing through a tough puzzle while her father was just blank. She was about to give it up for a lost cause when Aethyta blinked slowly.

"You are really serious about this, aren't you?"

"I was at the Battle of the Citadel," she offered them quietly. "I saw it. I saw all of it, I – "

"I get it," Aethyta cut her off. "Give me a day or two to think it over." That wasn't a no! The stupid, relieved grin wasn't part of her current personality setup but she could feel it on her face just the same. The matriarch sighed, getting up and getting her drink downing all of it in large gulps before letting out a large belch as Liara palmed her face, muttering to herself. "How do you want to be contacted?"

"I am staying at the Agessian Moon nearby," she told them simultaneously making another reservation. "Ana Smith." She claimed an unused network address and transferred it to Aethyta's omni-tool. "And," the screen cleared as the shotgun designs came back up.

"You didn't pick one."

The turian rattled on the ground. His cheap armor had simply crumpled under the biotic charge, caving his chest in and leaving him gasping for air on the ground. He grasped for her boot and she shook him off. Her armor was scratched a little, the yellow scraped off to reveal gun metal grey underneath. She brushed off the flakes and rolled her shoulders.

Messy.

"Done here," Edeena announced.

The warehouse was stacked to the ceiling in crates haphazardly. It was a little maze in here. The sounds echoed off the metal and made it seem like there were more people in there than there really was. Didn't help the back alley trash much. Her drinks from that night were sitting warmly in her stomach and she could probably turn her spit into flaming napalm. Trying to remember exactly how many she had – yeah, not happening. She could remember how many Ana had if only because she could clearly recall wondering how the fuck the human was still speaking clearly and walking upright.

Maybe she'd gotten the fuck off high tolerance gene package for some reason, Goddess knows why. Fucked up parents, probably. They were the same everywhere.

Still. Her armor had actually gotten touched.

Sloppy.

The mercenary snorted, and kicked the turian to make sure he'd stopped moving. It was always the lowlifes trying to make it into the big leagues that thought they could tangle with Eclipse. They didn't have the numbers or the rep of the Blue Suns, and weren't fucking insane like the Blood Pack. Eclipse made a token effort at not pissing off the legal crime bosses that made up Illium's government so dumbasses thought they were 'soft.'

She drove her heel into the turian's neck and felt it collapse. He was taking too long dying.

"That was quick. Didn't feel like playing with them, Eddy?"

"You know, I don't like being called off to clear junk, Vae."

Vaena's cackle screeched over the comm. "Heard you had a hot date going, you upset your night not ending the way you wanted?"

That really went without saying.

Reol's scratchy tones barked in her ears. "Clear the fucking channel!"

Edeena rolled her eyes. One of these days, that salarian was just going to keel over from old age and she couldn't wait.

Vaena obviously didn't want to let it go, as Edeena soon got a private chatroom invitation popping up on her HUD. She groaned. She could just ignore this, really. Vae was a notorious gossip, no one would blame her for just pretending her HUD broke or something and she couldn't see the notification. Of course, that meant Vae would personally hound her for answers until something else caught her attention. That could take minutes.

That could take weeks.

She stepped on a batarian corpse on the way out and patched in.

"Soooooo."

"Yup."

"What was she like? Do I know her?"

Edeena couldn't help the snorting laugh. "Oh, I don't think you know her." As for what she was like?

The first thing that came to mind was a Thessian stinger blobfish. It took her a moment to view the bizarre mental image. Right, maybe about two hours before she just passed out, best make sure she wasn't anywhere unfortunate then.

"You know Thessian stingers?"

She paused out in the main way and let one of their employer's grunts scan her to make sure she didn't try to smuggle something out. She spread her arms, showing off how her armor clung to her. Not many places to hide shit, buddy.

Vae had paused to work through that answer. She could almost smell the burning servos from here. "Uhh, really?"

Not a flattering comparison, but it wasn't really wrong. Okay, so the stinger was probably the most dumbass animal in the galaxy, known for responding to threats by agitating its eezo nodes which increased its mass and sunk to the bottom of the sea bed.

Where it then got stuck because it had no propulsion and could only make itself heavier. Water pressure kept it there until it starved.

So yeah, nasty predator didn't eat you and you still died, genius.

Only reason it wasn't extinct yet was because mating season spawned thousands of them. That part of the comparison didn't really apply.

"Yeah, really."

"Weren't you done with dumb?"

"She's not stupid," Edeena snapped back and winced. Defensive. She was getting attached already? That's not good. If anything, talking with Ana made her feel dumb. Athame's sacred ass, the human was a little over two decades and didn't even need a translator. When she was that age, she was still playing with toys. "Just really oblivious, way too trusting and just kind of, squishes, when you poke her."

That last part was utterly adorable though, nothing to complain about there.

The one thing that kept the Thessian stinger from being a complete biosphere embarrassment was that it was the deadliest thing in the water. It was vaguely triangular, almost translucent and reflective in the blue water with gossamer tentacles hanging nearly forty feet long. Brushing a strand with bare skin would pinch for a bit.

Then you died.

"She could probably kick my ass," Edeena admitted and to be completely honest, that was hot. "Fuck, she could probably kick my mother's ass."

"…your mom's a matriarch."

"I know."

Vae went quiet again.

Thessian stingers were highly sought after by idiots with too much money for their aquariums. The fish were laced in eezo along tiny biochemical channels that were always active. The result was lots of miniscule mass effect fields that bent the light passing through the stinger into a dazzling spectacle. When the light hit the creature just right…

It took your breath away.

"So, who's the wonder asari?" Vae rallied with an extra dose of bubble and nosy curiosity. "Do we get to meet her? Is she joining?"

"She's human, Vae."

Vaena made a loud, long exaggerated gasp of surprise. "Goddess, Eddy, wow. I'm astonished, completely shocked, I tell you. I am making a note on my vlog, like right now."

Edeena groaned.

"Eddy hooked up with human," Vae read out loud with the little pauses between each word that said she was reading what she was typing. There was muffled gunfire in the background. Was she really updating her vlog in the middle of a firefight? "Now eligible for non-awkward double dates."

"Vae. I hate you."

Her obnoxious cackling filled the airwaves again before cutting out abruptly.

"…Vae?" Edeena ventured, feeling that little twist and cramp in her gut. They'd been called in to clear out squatting trash thinking they could pull a smuggling run under their employer's noses. Easy money was easy, but that didn't mean the Eclipse were invincible. "Vae!"

"Krogan." Vaena spoke tersely. "Talk later."

Edeena reluctantly switched back to the main channel as she walked back to their staging point. Some of the light mechs were stationed in a perimeter around the little guardhouse at the entrance to the warehousing grounds. Little portable yellow lights were on the ground casting everyone's head and face into shadows. She slipped past them and spotted Reol bent over the grounds map. The salarian was one of the short ones with grey skin and a black 'V' shaped mark on his chin. His right eye was cybernetic, a vicious scar pulping the skin around it.

"We've got krogan, why do we have krogan, someone mind telling me where the krogan are coming from?"

Her squad leader shrugged, the old tit just giving her a nod then ignoring her. "I'm going to say, Tuchanka."

Reol let his forehead hit the map with a thud. "That's funny, Neza. That's really funny," he muttered. "I'm – I'm surrounded by – " he let it go with a sigh, pulling himself up.

Neza shrugged again. "Should have exterminated them better."

Reol opened his mouth and blinked. "Not falling for that – you!" Edeena pointed at herself. "Yes, you, you're one of the commando units, yes?"

Inside her helmet, Edeena grimaced. "Technically."

"You know how to not die?" The salarian asked. "Then good enough. You're supporting Squad B. Get over there."

"Hold a moment," Neza held up her hand, looking back at Edeena a second time as if just connecting the dots. "You were one of the ones on fee collection earlier, weren't you?" The matron tilted her head to the side lazily. She wasn't much to look at, a square face decorated in purple face paint and dull expression but Neza wasn't slow. "The one with the weird ship."

Ana's little comment, Is it going to get stolen? came back to her. If anyone was looking for the human, her or her ship, well, they both stood out. And this was Illium. Only a matter of time.

She hoped that wasn't it.

Maybe someone making a big deal about the bribe. She'd fucking cover it, a ship bribe would be far from bankrupting her. Not like it mattered where the credits came from.

"Yeah?"

"Report in after," Neza said instead and Edeena felt her stomach drop. "Sederis' got a few questions."