NOVEL NEXT 70 – Priority: Thessia (4)
The crew disembarked the SSV Phoenix and were greeted by a large number of Asari, who helped them get organized.
The new crew members were surprised by the size of the team, and Grunt said as he looked at Samael, ''I knew it from the stories I'd heard, but you, or rather the team, are quite famous.''
Kasumi, Thane, and Keiji nodded, agreeing with Grunt's words. They too knew about LD's reputation, but to somehow receive such a special welcome was something they never thought would happen.
Samael patted Grunt's shoulder and said, The best is yet to come.'' He then went to help the others.
The crew, with the help of the Asari, organized everything. Now, it was time to decide the group of people who would go out on shore leave and those who would stay on the ship first.
Liara, after helping the others, was watching the scenery, with a nostalgic look on her face. She grew up here, after all.
Also, she didn't join the others because she would probably stay on the ship or follow her mother.
'' Missing home?'' Samael approached her after he had finished helping.
Liara shook her head, then, after some time, nodded, '' It's a confusing feeling. I lived here most of my life, but I had the most fun when I was exploring the various ruins scattered across the galaxy. I would not change a thing in my life, though.''
Samael hugged her and gave her a peck on the cheeks, '' Netheir would I.'' He then watched the scenario with her. After some time, both looked at the crew fighting for their vacation.
Tali, unlike Liara, was in the middle of that, fighting for her right to be one of the first ones to enjoy shore leave.
'' Has your mother contacted you?'' Samael said after witnessing Tali win against John. It was also clear he had let her win, as he had taken the Serum. And who would be crazy enough to beat up the boss' girlfriend?
Samael sent a hidden thumbs-up to the man, who noticed and nodded back.' I'll give him a raise or something along those lines for that.'
'' Not yet. But I don't know how she will react to you, Tali, or us.'' Liara maintained contact with her mother on a daily basis, so she did mention the quarian and the human to her.
She also never said anything about their relationship, but Benezia, being an Asari who lived for 1000+ years, knew something was up, and although Liara denied anything, Benezia was now in mama-bear mode.
While the Asari society isn't against polygamy, Liara wasn't sure how her mother would react when she learned she was in a relationship almost like that.
'' We will deal with that.''
'' Hey, what about Shepard? Is she doing well?'' Liara had grown a little bit of sentiment/friendship with the human and the last time they spoke, Shepard said she was going on a mission.
Samael put a hand on his chin and remembered something, '' Give me a minute to check something.'' He then looked through his omni tool, and sure enough, there were a few messages from the agents he put in Shepard's crew.
They just said they left Earth, but there was no mention of where.
'' She left Earth a day or so after us. As she mentioned to us before, she is on a mission, but didn't say where.''
'' Thanks for the information.''
'' Everything for you.''
After that, Samael and Liara joined the crew once more, after the fight for the privilege of going first ended.
After some time, another group of Asari started to approach the ship, but their 'aura' was different. More contained and dangerous.
Grunt noticed that and started to smile a lot. While his violent tendencies were reduced, he was still a Krogan. He wanted to test himself against this newly arrived group but held back—for now.
Tevos was leading the group of Matriarchs, and smiled upon seeing Samael. '' Hello, boy. You finally came to honor your deal.'' She looked around and made a disappointed face, '' I don't see Javik. Is he not here?''
'' I always maintain my word. Also, he isn't. I can't say where he is, but he is safe.'' Samael also smiled at Tevos and gave a nod to the other Matriarchs, who were watching the scene with interest. One, in particular, is paying more attention than the others.
The Matriarchs looked sad, as they lost the opportunity to see a Prothean up close. Tevos also had a disappointed face, but as she had already met him before, it wasn't like the others. '' A shame, but maybe we can arrange a meeting at a later date.''
'' I can talk to him about that.'' Samael was still noticing the gaze of that particular asari, who just happened to be Benezia.
Benezia took her focus off of Samael and looked at her daughter. Just with a glance, she noticed the girl's growth. Not just physically but spiritually.
' She grew strong... but, I still have to ask the boy about his intentions with her.'
As mentioned before, Benezia was watching Samael to determine what type of person he was. If he proves to not be worthy of her daughter, even though he is the owner of one of the most powerful groups in the galaxy, she will fight him.
'' Do you want to go to the temple now?'' Samael offered.
Tevos looked around, and the Matriarchs nodded. She looked at Samael once more. '' Only you can come, I hope you understand.''
While Samael knew about the secret Prothean Beacon, Tevos wasn't sure if the rest of his crew knew, so she was cautious. Besides, the fewer people who knew, the better.
Samael nodded and looked at his crew, '' Follow the arrangements and training regime. Make a rotation of who leaves the ship and those on standby. I'll be back in a day or two.''
Under the eyes of the Matriarchs group, Samael went and kissed Tali and Liara.
Benezia showed a bit of astonishment but hid it well. Tevos smiled at Samael, '' It seems you got busy, huh.''
'' Oh, you have no idea.'' Samael then looked at the group of Matriach and introduced himself, '' You must know who I am, but I'll introduce myself anyway. My name is Samael, owner and creator of LD. I came here to honor the deal with Tevos and will unlock the full content of the Beacon.''
The Matriarchs all nodded at him, some even eyeing him flirtatiously, but he ignored that.
After a few greetings, Tevos urged them, '' Let's go there now. We really want that data.''
'' Let's.''
Samael and the Matriarch group then left the place, going to the temple where the beacon was located.
WITH LIARA
Liara noticed her mother's reaction but stayed quiet for now, but her mind took notice of her mother's reactions, ' ... She didn't seem to mind.'
That made the young Asari relax a bit.
Tali noticed Liara's nervousness and said, '' See? She said and did nothing, just like I told you. The galaxy is progressive, after all.''
The Quarian knew who Benezia was thanks to Liara showing her photo, so as to prepare her in case they met without Liara's present in the place.
'' Whatever you say.''
Liara, seeing as her mother didn't call her, was on the first shore leave with Tali, so she said, '' How about we go visit some places? I know a few good ones close to here.''
'' Le-''
'' Can we join?'' RR and EDI appeared in front of them and asked.
'' Of course.'' Tali smiled at them and considered both AI's good friends. She was secretly receiving their help in her research about the Geth.
The quartet then left, along with the group of people who had won the right to shore leave first.
WITH SAMAEL
After a few minutes of walking, chatting, and looking around the city, Samael and the group arrived at the temple.
A few kilometers of land around the temple were closed to the public, with armed officers protecting the place. The Asari placed real importance and secrecy on the Beacon, so only the important people were allowed beyond a certain point.
Inside the temple, there are a few hundred of the brightest minds in Asari society. They were here to learn the best they could from the Beacon. Also, half of the Asari there were also chosen to be part of Project Andromeda.
Tevos suddenly went ahead and made a small speech, '' My sisters, today we will unlock the full content of the Beacon, the same one that allowed us to lead the galaxy. Our friend here, '' Samael waved at the crowd, who was a little shocked by how a human was there, but they trusted their Matriarchs, '' will do the honors.''
'' You know this, but you can't disclose what will happen here or its contents to anyone. The punishment for that will be grave, so bear that in mind.''
Tevos wasn't lying. The punishment was death or worse, so the Asari who were given the opportunity took to heart the 'advice'.
After seeing the crowd understand the situation, Tevos looked at Samael and said, '' You can start.''
Samael nodded and looked at the temple. He knew exactly where the Beacon was, hell, he knew the contents, as he still remembered the content even with the scrambled memories.
You might ask, so why did he just give the content to them? Well, it would raise suspicion about how he knew about that, and it would allow him the opportunity to gain the Asari friendship. So, it worked out well.
Samael approached the statue of the 'goddess', who was just a Prothean, and looked at it with appreciation. ' Your people faced death and still helped the future cycles. You have my respect.'
It was clear from his friendship with JAvik that he appreciated the Protheans, even though they can be quite a handful sometimes.
' Well, let's get started.'
WITH LIARA
While the other crew members who had won the right to shore leave first were left to their own, Liara was guiding Tali and both AIs through the city.
She was showing them the good places and even the bad ones.
'' In that place,'' Liara pointed somewhere that had a huge line to enter, and looked like a restaurant, '' serves the best food on the whole planet. I can't recommend it enough. ... But, I don't remember if they serve Quarian food.''
Liara looked a little guilty after saying that, but it wasn't her fault that the Quarians were looked down upon.
Tali didn't mind that, as she had already become accustomed to things not being easy for her species. Also, she didn't like Liara looking down, so she reassured her, '' Don't worry about it. I'm pretty sure there are other good places around.''
Liara was relieved and continued the tour.
EDI nudged EDI a bit and said, '' So they really are in that kind of relationship, huh.''
While the crew knew that Tali and Samael were in a relationship, they had theorized that things were weird between them and Liara. The kiss that happened minutes ago plus this interaction made things clear. They were something like a couple.
RR nodded, gloating a little, '' I told you so. I'm sure Shepard, Veronica, and possibly Jack and Miranda were going to join later. Maybe even me.''
EDI asked with some doubt in her voice, '' Are you sure?''
''Watch and learn, kiddo. You still have a lot to learn to reach my level of understanding.'' RR then remembered something, '' How about Joker? Are you still in touch?''
EDI looked embarrassed and nodded, '' We are. You might not believe it, but he is in Thessia too.''
'' Oh?'' RR looked genuinely surprised and hurriedly looked at the message she had received from the agents who were with Shepard. Sure enough, there's a mention of them going on a mission, but no mention of where. It was weird.
But, RR was already accustomed to dealing with human emotions, so she came to a conclusion pretty fast, ' Maybe Shepard wanted to surprise us by arriving here unnoticed, so she didn't say anything to the agents. But, she had to communicate with Joker, as he was the pilot, and in turn, he told EDI, his crush.'
RR snorted in her mind as she thought about how Joker essentially snitched on his boss. But, she also wasn't going to say anything, ' Let's make this a surprise to Samael and the others. I'm pretty sure they will like it.'
'' Yeah, they have a mission here or something along those lines. We plan on meeting up later.'' EDI wasn't going to admit it, but she was feeling a little bit of attraction to the human. Just a tiny bit.
'' ... Good for you. Now, let's catch up with the young lovers, shall we?''
The tour of the four continued.
WITH SHEPARD
Before Samael left Earth, I had received a message from Da- Anderson. It said to meet him at home, and it was serious.
So, I went there, and he finally said something I had been waiting for.
'' Go to Thessia. Councilor Tevos is going to officially introduce you to the Spectre ranks. Congratulations.'' Anderson looked proud of what I accomplished.
Even though we both knew it was more the work of Samael and LD, it was still good for us.
I was really looking forward to this position, so maybe I can help with the bigger picture that were the Reapers.
I hugged Anderson and said, '' Thank you, for everything. I will make you proud.''
'' You already do.''
After that, I told everyone, minus the LD agents, as I wanted to surprise Samael and the rest of SSV Phoenix. I asked the rest to not tell anyone.
'' No problem for me. Even though we separated only for a few days, surprises were good in general. I also lowkey want to see their surprised reaction.'' Ashley said that and the rest agreed. They were the ones surprised by the scale of LD and what they were doing on Earth, so they wanted to do the same.
It obviously didn't have the same weight of surprise, but it was a beginning.
The only variable was Joker. I don't know if the man would stay quiet. He was, after all, trying to woo an android, and sharing this was a good way to build trust... I think.
' Anyway, it is nothing going to be a problem.'
With that out of the way, the crew and I finished the necessary preparation and began to make our way to Thessia, the capital of the Asari species, to officially enter the Spectre ranks.
' Let's see how that goes.'
