Chapter Text
Rest can solve all but the worst of injuries and ailments, but sleep does not protect you from loudness of new shipmates it seems.
Arrek woke to a pounding spread of knocks, cast in wide arcs across the door. He pinches the bridge of his nose, clearly not aware of anything that could be particularly wrong. He slides out of his bed, facing the stars as he was born, scrambling to find a robe or something decent before meeting the irritating presence on the other side of the door. He settles on his blankets, tucking them around his form in a way that was far more tasteful that he had woken up in.
He ambled across the room, passing cylindrical fish tanks and the full kitchen he had painstakingly set-up for comfort, up to the door which he unlocked from his side. He looked over his apparent visitors, Garrus and Tali, who looked him over with opposing looks of amusem*nt and embarrassment. Arrek cleared his throat, motioning for them to ask the question they clearly wished to speak on before he too would fall into nerves.
Garrus notes this, and nods, before pulling out a list of words, scratched in scattered strokes and spiraling curves. They reformed before his eyes, the ocular implants translating them into various items of food, comfort, and of practical use.
"You guys could've asked to use the forge, we can make most of these items. The food might be a problem, but I think the food fabricator can be modified to make... dextro proteins and levo sugars?" Arrek tilts his head, and shakes it after finishing. "That last one may take time, give me a moment, and I'll see if I can figure it out, and if not, I'll build a new one for you two, maybe even buy some of your plants to go in hydroponics. Ordis, ask the Commander if he has spare rations, please."
Ordis cheerily accepts and then Arrek shows them the door, pushing them out, and handing back the list to change, emerging clad in a black robe made of some fine material, stone gray skin revealed below his neck. Turns out the make-up didn't come off very well, but he already planned to refacia the rest of the skin to match. The two guests let out a low whistle and Arrek rolls his eyes, before motioning to the workshop of the ship.
He comes up the ramp to find Wrex playing with one of the kubrows, subject Apollo, or as Pinella liked to call him, Sunny. Wrex was going on and on about some kind of creature named a "varren" as he played, something about their ferocity, that Arrek generally had no interest in. Pinella was also within the space, covered in the black sludge usually inside of a warframe, currently very intent on slotting in a new system into their Volt's chest cavity. It was kind of gross, but at least the warframes weren't sentient when created from scratch. Arrek pushes that particular thought from his head, focusing instead on the task at hand.
The forge blinked on, sharp chimes and some warning messages appearing in spiraling Orokin font. Arrek sighs, and presses a few of the blinking warnings away with the disinterest of a man who stepped on gum. He swipes his hand in several elaborate movements after the forge no longer complains, however, opting to cycle through several odd motions that dictate specific items. A sparking lash from the laser beam signals that he's begun some kind of process.
"It's printing it all out now, should be ready by the time you get to sleep, every item you needed. Let me know if you need anything else created and I can either teach you how to use it, or you can just have me make it." He explains, motioning to the sharp beam cutting a holographic display of a set of tools into existence. With that, he steps forward as the two behind him crowd the foundry with interest, apparently having not known what its purpose was.
Arrek leaves the cacophony of the room behind him, moving into the co*ckpit of the landing craft, and sealing the ramp behind him to focus on the navigation ahead.
Ordis chimes as he reaches for the star map laid haphazardly at the old marketplace desk, citing an urgency to read the message.
Arrek sighs, and opens up his holo-display, sending his omni-tool messages into his inbox, planting a naked hand to the cold metal of the desk as he went about reading the "Oh-so-urgent" message from Commander Shepard, which reads as follows:
"i got ordis message, yea we have dextro rations, we will give you some ASAP, also wanted to let you know we have our first mission coming up, according to nihlus, council wants us to tarck down benezia's dAughter."
There's something in the back of Arrek's mind that screams at the improper typing, and misspelling, but he calms himself, pressing into the holo-display to dictate a message back.
"Acknowledged, please send a voice message if you plan to subject me to that again."
A response comes quickly this time, and Arrek stifles the urge to disconnect the landing craft and send it into the Normandy at full throttle.
":}"
Arrek descends the ramp, noting that dextro aliens had begun piling the items neatly to the side as they were freshly printed, and he wonders how they hadn't cooked their hands in the beam on accident. He clears his throat with a force the others hadn't expected, and they all snapped their attention onto him, and he rolls his eyes. "As you all know, we are on a mission to fight Saren, and our first lead has come up, according to Shepard. We're tracking Benezia's daughter, and I believe Shepard will explain when we get there. Please get ready for combat, as I'm sure anything involving Saren involves a fight." He motions to the crew to scramble, and he makes his way after them, going to his room to don his armor.
On the Normandy...
It's been an early morning on the Normandy, whatever that really means in space. Shepard was sure that the others invited along on the crusade against Saren would have stayed on the Normandy if it wasn't for the fact that they had a stealth cruiser with far more empty spaces dotting its decks. It did solve the issue of letting aliens onto an Alliance cutting-edge fleet, but in a similar vein, the other's ship was far more advanced in capability, only appearing to the Normandy because they allowed them to see its location, though invisible to all others by sight. Joker interrupted meandering thoughts of star vessels from a parallel future, as he noted that a request for an odd-shaped landing craft was called. Shepard allowed them in, remembering that Arrek had made mention that he'd be bringing a vehicle known as a "Parallax", or whatever that meant.
As Shepard reached the cargo bay, having recently re-pressurized, half a dozen people stepped out of a ship the size of the Mako next to them. Arrek waves him over, clad in a white and gold warframe that had a vague similarity to a cowgirl of old, even down to chaps and the silhouette. The frame that he piloted before was standing there as well, untying and retying a scarf around his neck over and over in a self-soothing motion of sort. Pinella was in their Volt, though there was a scuff of black sludge around a freshly reinstalled plate on its stomach, that kind of made it look like it was leaking oil. There were also the aliens, who seemed to be admiring some odd looking weaponry. Tali had a blocky and angular weapon that pulsed occasionally, and Wrex and Garrus had weapons that were diametrically opposed, Wrex holding a scrappy looking rifle, held together by jagged welds, and coated in odd red paint, and Garrus wielded a delicate-looking and golden trimmed sniper rifle, eyeing the ornate scope occasionally as if testing it.
Shepard let a low whistle creep from his helmet, and the group made their way towards him, soft conversation fizzling out as they approached his position. He raised an eyebrow, and the group around him blinked and motioned to the elevator, keen to get on the mission.
In the comm room...
In the comm room, the group sat in a circle around a holographic projection. Nihlus points to an odd looking jagged spire creeping up from the ground, in an area surrounded in rivers of magma, and desert sands. There appears to be a path to the spire, pockmarked by gates and installations most likely made to prevent random pirates from touching down and stealing the artifacts that lie within. Nihlus points to the path, dragging his finger along it as he describes how it's absolutely crawling with geth. Blackened patchworks in the sand announce a troubling thought, the geth have taken over the environmental weaponry.
"And we have no jammers? The Parallax can get us in close, it's got a stealth drive." Pinella mentions, and then Arrek has to turn and shake his head. "Only visual, it produces too much gravity distortion in atmosphere to be invisible on scanner. But that vehicle of yours is armed, you could drop us off-" He points to a point prior to the gates, "-here, and we could go through the path. And if the vehicle should fail, you've got us. Oh this presents well for an archwing." Arrek mentions before noting how they could support from the air.
It's amazing how quickly he can get off track, like it's obvious he's a very intelligent individual, but he begins going on tangents that are completely unrelated, like the stealth capabilities of the Normandy. It's endearing however, reminiscent of how Kaidan becomes when he's explaining the taste profiles of alcohol. He calms down to a simmer, opening the unrealistically sharp holo-display and calling Ordis to recall the Parallax, and to prepare the Odonata and the Elytron for combat delivery.
Pinella on the other hand, as Shepard sees, is focused on talking to Ashley and Tali, illustrating how the weapon Tali is holding, which they call an "Arca Plasmor", operates and charges, explaining that it's been modified for battery charge, and sends a quick fabrication blueprint to Tali's omni-tool.
Nihlus, Kaidan, and Garrus then clear their throats, and all at once the conversation ceases. Kaidan points out that the Mako can hold maybe 4 total if they squeezed together and then it's like a fire goes up in the room. The group is proclaiming who stays and who goes, quite loudly, and it's when Shepard finally yells for everyone to be quiet for a second that he's able to regain control.
"Entrati, Fore, you two have a way to get those vehicles down right?"
Arrek nods, and shows how they attach to things, exclaiming he could attach it to the Mako until they landed.
Shepard nods before turning to the group. He tilts his head quietly before he begins picking out his squad.
"Alenko, Garrus, Tali, you three are with me." Wrex and Ashley seem disgruntled in no small margin, and Nihlus scoffs, giving the group a look. "I'm going to have to monitor how you all do, you are aware of that, right?"
"You can do that digitally," Arrek mentions before he calls Ordis over his comm, the cephalon answering with a quickness that seemed to cause the group to startle.
"Please broadcast the view from Umbra's suit vision, to Nihlus on this view-screen, and before you say anything, Umbra is pretty agile, and he can keep up with us all, especially if we're being fired on constantly." Umbra nods, the cloudy eye landing Nihlus with a degree of determination as the screen behind them fills with Umbra's perspective.
Nihlus shrugs, and nods, getting more comfortable in his chair as the squads begin to file out from the room, still an hour away from the mission's drop point.
Everyone gathers around the mess table after going downstairs, save for Nihlus, and is given some food, which Arrek seems uninterested in eating, Pinella, Garrus and Tali are scarfing down, and the rest are eating as normal. Arrek is reading a book, labeled "Mass Effect And You! A biotic technician's guide to mass effect manipulation.", chuckling and nodding occasionally until Kaidan finally asks him what he finds so funny about it.
"Well, if you'd like specifics, it's that we use similar practices for almost all of our combat practices, even when using warframes. Mnemonics? It's eerily similar to how we channel the factory abilities on a warframe, and how we were taught to use our void abilities."
"Mnemonics are mostly human-lead study, asari commandos go without since it's more strategic, but why is that funny?" Kaidan responds, and Arrek thinks for a moment, before smiling.
"Despite being thousands of years and an entire future apart, we do things the same way. Besides, it's so ubiquitous to using a warframe, that even using a specific mnemonic is changed if you install one warframe's systems into another. That Mesa I'm piloting over there? She's got a toxin emitter I rebuilt from a damaged Grendel unit, which I have to stomp to get it to work right."
"Is that why she's spewing yellow smoke? Also she? Shouldn't you call them it?" Kaidan asks, leering at the stock still frame."
"They may not be sentient, but they were made-no I won't explain that, just know that they're based off people, so it's a sign of respect. And it's a hologram, the smoke is fake." Arrek explains, moving the food around his plate and stabbing at it without taking a bite. He seems a little upset, but it's harder to explain this to someone who doesn't already know how wrong it all is and was.
Kaidan sighs, and seems a little more sympathetic. "Look I see that it's hard to explain, would you rather explain it when you are ready instead?" and Arrek looks up at him, face blank before schooling itself into a small smile.
"Yes, I think that's the best course of action, please."
The group give the two of them odd looks, but Shepard seems to be a bit more interested, and if you asked him, they were far more alike than any other person he had met, despite how they were so far apart in background. He leaned forward on his elbows, hands tucked under his chin, as he smiled.
"You two should kiss."
Arrek and Kaidan practically snap their necks, with how quickly they look at Shepard, and for a second, he feels like he's staring down the barrel of a gun, before they smile offensively, Arrek touting a "You'd like that, wouldn't you? Two powerful people, confident in their sexuality."
This gets the group to laugh. It feels like an entire hour goes by in a matter of moments, and it apparently does, because eventually, Joker is calling for all to be ready for departure in five minutes.
