Fairly lengthy author's note at the end of this but I'll simply allow the story to continue forth first. Thank you all who've stuck by me and my story this long and have continued to root for it. May you all enjoy and know how much I appreciate every word. Currently throwing it up to just do so at the moment. Expect a few touch ups here and there on the morrow.

With nary a sound the metal grating was popped and pulled up before being moved aside, the yawning darkness of the vent being all that was visible before a white and black shape suddenly dropped forth from it, landing in a low crouch before it was quick to rise and slip behind a stack of crates. Saryn moved with all the fluid grace expected of a Tenno, even her heels made not a sound as she ducked and weaved to her target: a lone personal terminal in the back of a supply store.

Reaching it, the Tenno eyed and paid an ear to her surroundings before getting swiftly to work. These systems had taken some time to get used to but with the aid of her Cephalon, and the 'Omni-tool' she had procured upon the pirate vessel which had tried to hold her, Saryn had gathered an understanding of and found the familiar weaknesses every system had to this galaxy's average terminal. It was, curiously, almost a mix of Grineer and Corpus systems from what she could tell as it had the simplicity of the former but the fluidity and detailed coding of the latter. Though it held some familiarity with her in that sense it did still take a bit more time for her to crack here and there as she adjusted to each terminal often having its own unique sort of defense to it.

Whilst her fingers busied themselves breaking into the terminal so she might find what she was looking for she couldn't help but reflect on the past few days. The most enlightening experience had been when she and Kaylis had activated the aforementioned Omni-tool and began sorting through it. Saryn had known her situation to be dire when she'd seen the crew of the ship which found her liset but to learn that not only was she in another place but a whole other timeline of a sort entirely? Well, it took some few hours of meditation and continued reading for her to truly wrap her head around and come to an understanding of her situation.

History had diverged a great deal for the humans of this particular era, for rather than uplifting themselves, discovering the Void, and becoming ascended beings of their own sort, instead rather early on by comparison they had found what they had dubbed 'Mass Effect' technology of a precursor race on Mars. That unto itself had been a rabbit hole of its own to jump down and understand but the science and logic was there enough for her and her Cephalon to get their heads around its workings in relatively short order. It was through this eventual understanding of this existence's 'mass effect' technology and faster than light travel that Saryn had eventually come to set a goal to pursue: locate and procure a deep space communicator.

Such equipment was standard for most vessels but for her it was all a matter of finding the right kind. A great number of ships or colonies would use the 'extranet' as a means of sending their communications, especially low risk/priority ones such as calls to family members or business partners, across the galaxy. Most military class vessels, however, would use their own separate deep space communicator which could set itself to different frequencies and allow for sending and receiving messages securely as an extra precaution on top of their likely usual encrypted nature.

It was the latter version which she tried to procure though in the hopes she'd be able to set it to an encryption and/or frequency only other Tenno would know or be set to so she might at least send out a signal galaxy wide to any who might be capable of hearing her. She kept her hopes high it would work but the tech itself was proving to be particularly elusive. It was deemed military, of course, and so often required a license to be sold and a license to purchase and while Saryn had credits of her own she doubted they'd be minted to the same value as in this galaxy not to mention lacking the license. There was also the added trouble of her appearance for while she was already more than cautious to show her features to those unfamiliar with Warframes, someone was also trying to frame her for a recent string of murders. Using her own weapons no less.

It narrowed the suspects down considerably as the first of the murders had already taken place before she'd even arrived upon the 'Omega' station. Truthfully she knew not the aim of these Blue Suns to do such a thing but she wasn't intending to be flaunting herself around regardless. She did not delight in the idea of innocents being murdered in her name but at the moment there was little she could do about it and she had far more pressing matters to try and attend to. Not to mention atop it all she had little intent of staying in this place for longer than what was required.

Saryn had almost begun to drift away into her thoughts when she spotted what she was looking for at long last. Tearing her mind away from past events she refocused on the present and the manifesto she'd finally broken into, finding that while the part wasn't in this particular establishment it was dealt under the table to a certain Keavae Jannuze, Asari, 'shipment to be delivered to Eclipse hands in hangar T34 from warehouse OM229'. A date and time was given as well and while those particular details were ones she'd neglected to memorize for this galaxy she nevertheless copied the manifesto, highlighted the relevant information, and sent it to Kaylis.

"Message received, Operator!" the ever chipper Cephalon chimed on her comms. "After cross referencing your Omni-tool, this hand over will take place in 19 hours and 27 minutes time!" Duly noted then, it gave her time to prepare. While she didn't yet know the locations of these warehouses or hangars it wouldn't be too difficult to procure a map of the station. It was also likely better to knick the tech before or after the deal as no location was given in the warehouse itself and her efforts were likely better spent preparing in the hangar so she might quickly have Kaylis slip her liset in, load the device, and run than to be on a timer finding something which can otherwise come to her.

With a nod she cleared any sign of her being there from the system and stepped away from the terminal, slinking back away to the vent she'd used to get in before leaping back up into it and returning the cover to its position. It was as she was making her way back to meet up with her liset some minutes later that she spied something through the grating, a woman of seemingly no particular note being flanked by two Blue Suns mercenaries.

Perhaps this was a normal sight easily dismissed but she was a touch on edge for anything suspicious from the group in question. As well, while she wouldn't pretend to be the most experienced social creature if there was one thing she could read it was body language and the girl in question seemed none too comfortable with her position. One of the girl's hands gripped the wrist of the other, both held close to the chest, whilst she glanced over her shoulder at the two mercs, saying something Saryn couldn't hear but clearly not being met with any sort of answer.

Suspicion took hold and while perhaps it could have been nothing she had a bad feeling about the situation and if there was one thing Tenno learned to trust it was their internal alarms. It was as such that when the trio rounded a corner Saryn scoped out her surroundings from the vent the best she could and waited a minute before kicking the vent out, letting it fall roughly 15 feet where it clattered loudly to the floor below. She didn't waste much time, swinging out from the vent and landing in a roll, fluidly standing and sprinting to the corner before pressing herself to it so she might peer around.

"Listen, I d-don't know what you two want but I promise I haven't been skipping out on payments, I-I just gave some credits to Fartran two days ago so I don't-..." the girl spoke nervously as the two continued to guide her. Saryn checked behind her before quietly sprinting to another piece of cover on the long hallway.

One of the mercenaries interrupted the girl, "Pipe down, will ya?" the voice was deep and guttural, a batarian? It seemed the translation software she'd gotten from the extranet was working then.

"This isn't about any payment. Well, it is and it isn't," the other man said, the voice sounding human and rather nonchalant at that. It seemed to do little to assuage the woman's fear as she glanced back at said mercenary before quickly looking down and away to try and hide her face. Even in the dim light of the hallway and the distance she was at from the walking trio Saryn could just about see the fear in her eyes.

"You paid the protection fee and so we're 'protecting' you." That came from the Batarian again, sounding somewhat annoyed and bored in rather equal measure as he explained the situation almost matter-of-factually. "Haven't you heard about the killings? Been taking place in Blue Sun territories lately and that's bad for business. You don't think a lone human walking all on her own wouldn't be the perfect target for someone like that?"

The trio rounded the next corner to the left and Saryn waited for but a handful of seconds before running up to it while the conversation continued. "I-I guess so...but you two won't listen to me. We-we're not even heading in the direction of my apartment. I don't even know where we are anymore." Checking behind her for any other possible civilians or passerby, Saryn peered around the corner and watched the two Blue Suns nudge each other before coming to a halt and hearing their steps stop the girl did so in turn as well.

"Yeah? Well why didn't you say so?" the human asked in a rather exaggerated manner, arms splaying to the side to emphasize his seemingly feigned annoyance. The girl gripped at her arm and didn't make eye contact with the two, glancing here and there to her surroundings, not noticing as one of the mercs nudged the other with his elbow again.

"I'm sorry. C-can...can you please just take me home?" she asked quietly, looking off over the railing to her left at the open center of the station, bathed in a red hue and showing the bustling of various craft traveling to and from one destination or another. "Or at least to a t-taxi or something?"

Saryn's stance tensed and her hand hovered over the pouch on her thigh, watching one of the mercs reach behind him, "Sorry ma'am, I'm afraid we can't do that." His tone was low and menacing and in a single instant the girl tensed and stood straight as a rail with wide eyes as the batarian pounced on her, wrapping his arms firmly around the girl as she screamed and tried to turn and run only to allow him the perfect opportunity. The merc picked her up off the ground in the firm bear hug he had her in and turned her around as the other took out one of her Spira and held it as though it were a knife.

"Nothing personal, Miss, just call it business," the man's smirk could almost be heard as he raised it up to stab her, the girl releasing panicked shouts and screams all the while as she saw her doom unfolding before her eyes, trying desperately to kick and free herself in any way she could.

That was, of course, until something thunked heavily into the man's back and caused him to stiffen with a strangled cry, followed swiftly by another which embedded itself in the back of his helmet and sent him toppling bodily to the floor with a thud. Both the remaining merc and the girl in his arms were still and silent as they stared in wide-eyed surprise at the two drill like objects buried in his back. The former was the first to recover with a blink, looking down the hallway to be greeted by the sight of the very creature he was supposed to be framing as it swept its arm and sent another of the drills careening right for one of the lenses of his helmet.

The weapon shattered through the yellow lens with little issue and buried itself in the man's skull, earning a scream of pain and agony and which made him drop the girl as he stumbled back and reached for his head despite his quickly failing bodily functions. He turned away as if to run only to get a step before he collapsed to his knees and then the ground, lifeless.

The would-be victim of the whole ordeal had dropped to her rear and was shaking in place, eyes wide, mouth hanging open even as she struggled to find a breath let alone one that was even. Her eyes flicked between the corpses on either side of her before her senses seemed to return to her and she let out a wail of terror, scambling back away from them in a hurry even when her back hit the solid metal wall behind her. Panic clearly still screamed through her system as fast and heavy breaths left her, limbs bunched protectively close to her body.

Saryn had already slowly lowered her arm and begun her approach, walking with a calm and deliberate pace as she got closer to the girl and the bodies. Normally she wasn't in the habit of retrieving her throwing weapons and so didn't make to grab them right away. Instead Sayrn stood in front of the girl some feet away, head turned down to her before turning more fully to her, leaning down slowly and carefully offering forth a gentle hand.

The girl's eyes were still on the bodies before she suddenly seemed to realize Saryn's presence, looking first to the hand offered out to her before following it up to the heart-shaped visage that was her featureless 'face'. Saryn had not thought it possible for the girl's eyes to grow larger but that they did, trying to scramble deeper into the wall before standing up in a crazed panic.

"N-no! Get away from me!" she screamed, "I've seen what you can do with a touch! Leave me alone!" Suddenly the girl took off down the hall as fast as her legs could carry her, almost tripping over herself in her need to get away. "Somebody help!"

Saryn could only watch her go, standing straight slowly and looking to her hand before letting it fall back to her side. Her shoulders fell and her head hung a bit before she slowly shook it and calmly went to retrieve her Spira. Best not to let more evidence of her existence get out if this was the result.

As she plucked and flicked out the last of the weapons she got the sudden feeling of having eyes on her and became aware of heavy footsteps. Her attention suddenly snapped down the hall, seeing a figure crouching down and raising a rifle to their shoulder. Instinctively she turned her body out of the way just before a shot rang out and the trail of a round appeared before her. Her attention snapped back down the hall as the figure vented out their weapon and four more came rushing around the corner with guns drawn.

They were all of various builds from the broad shoulders of a well built human male to the clear ridge of a turian and the slender unmistakable frame of a salarian. None of them wore any sort of matching colors let alone that of any of the known mercenary groups she'd looked into which begged the question of if they were some form of local militia. They all took positions on their end of the hall and there was a brief tense moment of a stand-off, Saryn's fingers already holding one Spira at the ready whilst she prepared her other hand to draw more on a whim.

Suddenly one of them called out to her, "I don't know who or what you are but you've caused enough suffering on this station. Give up now and we'll make this quick or try and fight and drag this out maybe a few seconds longer than it's going to otherwise be." They all tensed and sighted down their weapons with practiced efficiency, "One way or another you're not leaving this place to do any more killing." Saryn's posture suddenly loosened some in slight confusion before it all came to her at once, realizing in an instant both who these people must be and what the Blue Suns' goal must have been.

"Thanks for making it easy at least…" the one in blue that had fired the first shot at her said just loud enough to hear before another deafening shot rang out and a heavy round slammed into her forehead which caused it to reel. Saryn staggered back with the sheer force of the shot but as her foot shifted behind her to catch her balance she turned on her heel and sprinted around the corner. "What the…"

"Don't let it get away!" Shots rang out and pinged off her shield, leaving it just on the verge of breaking before she rounded the corner. "After it!" another voice called out, heavy footfalls hot on her tail. She knew she had speed on her side and could get away without having to harm any of these vigilantes with relative ease. All she needed to do was reach-

All of a sudden an explosion went off to her right and flung her heavily into the opposite wall. Her shields broke and she felt the all too familiar sensation of pain resonating through her left side as the rest of her shields had absorbed most of the blow from the explosion itself. She lay on the ground for but a moment but it was more than enough time for the group to catch up to her.

"You think that did the trick?" She took in a long, deep breath.

"One way to make sure," a click resonated through the air.

Suddenly Saryn spun her body on the ground and swept the legs out from under the closest one. Just as the others suddenly raised their weapons to fire, she sprang off the wall across the ground and coiled her legs as she hit the opposite one, leaping up and right into the middle of the group just as they swept their guns over to try and follow her. Her hands grabbed the shoulders of a turian in brown and she used his body as leverage to swing her legs around and kick the salarian back into the turian in blue. Using the momentum of the kick, she swung herself around the turian she held high into the air before letting gravity take hold with the vigilante in tow. She landed in a crouch and slabbed the turian face-first into the metal floor, springing up at the human who had his gun trained on her and ducking to the left just as he fired.

Her right hand slapped the gun aside and her left palm shot out and struck his shoulder hard, tearing the gun from his hand and likely dislocating his shoulder if the pained grunt was any indication. Her attention flicked to the Batarian she'd swept the legs out from under as he was getting up but quickly hooked the leg out from under the human in front of her and shoved him down via his shoulder to ensure his descent after his loss of balance, using her now drawn back leg to deliver a low kick right to the alien's head and put him out of commission.

The Salarian had just raised their SMG when Saryn gripped at the barrel of their gun and turned to them, raising it into the air and staring them in the face as her hand corroded away the metal of the gun, forcing them to cry out in surprise and release it. With that foe at least disarmed, she swiftly and harshly threw the defunct gun at the remaining turian in blue. Perhaps it was a bit of a childish move to some but it caused him to flinch back with his rifle raised and instinctively protect his helmeted face, allowing her an opening to turn and run again.

Sprinting down the hall, Saryn spotted another explosive on the wall to the left, a thin, barely noticeable laser beaming the extent of the hall which she was swift to dive over and continue running. She rounded the corner to where she had leaped down from the vent and saw the grating on the floor halfway down it. Arms pumping, she lowered her head and pushed her legs to move faster, hearing the heavy footfalls of at least one pursuer behind her. Without breaking stride she molted an exact shape of herself which stood in place for her moments before a shot rang out in the hallway.

This time though nothing collided with her and using the opening Saryn slid across the metal floor, looked up to the open vent, and pushed off the ground with a twirl. Fingers gripped the edge of the metal and in a fluid motion she hoisted herself inside and began quickly making her way back to Kaylis. This, all of these happenings...gave her much to meditate on, of that she was certain.

Archangel stood at the end of the hall, blinking in surprise and looking over his scope as their 'fugitive' jumped nearly 15 ft into the air and slipped into an open vent. Slowly he lowered his sniper and released a deep breath; well this certainly hadn't gone the way any of them had expected.

Caeron ran up to his side, "Did you get it?!" he exclaimed with a panted breath, rubbing at his chest where their target had kicked him.

"Depends on your definition of that…" Archangel muttered as he approached the already dissolving...something that was in the shape of who or whatever they were after, the heavy round of his sniper still stuck firmly in the back of its thigh.

Caeron approached the thing and cautiously poked it as Archangel turned his attention up to the vent above them. "It's...almost like it's a molt of some kind? Like when a reptile sheds its skin."

Archangel didn't make a sound in response, instead simply still staring at the vent as he thought. "Come on, let's check on the others. At least we know how it gets around…" He turned and began walking, leaving his salarian companion there for a moment as he looked between his leader and the vent, eventually following in short order.

Shepard sat in the mess hall with a datapad in one hand whilst the other held his chin, eyes scanning over the information in front of him. The Normandy had gotten sidetracked by a few...distractions here and there, delaying their original intended path toward Omega. First they had to stop a pirate vessel from raiding a supply depot on a planet, which at first had seemed pretty simple until the supposed 'hostages' were revealed to have been in cahoots with said pirates the whole time and caused the whole thing to spiral out of control. After that they had to figure out what had caused a once fully staffed freighter ship to go completely radio silent and figure out what happened to said crew when they finally found the thing. While they seemed like meaningless distractions from an otherwise very serious threat they'd managed to procure a few very handy upgrades to the Normandy which may yet prove useful in the long run.

Cerberus might have built and kitted the ship out well but even two years could be considered a rush job for a ship of this quality and with the sort of features it needed. While 'spared no expense' was certainly an apt descriptor of how they treated the ship it just didn't have as much as it could both from a luxury and a necessity standpoint. However you look at it, the engineers were pleased to find their lives had been made that much easier by something as simple as a different model eezo balancer in the core which proved to be more efficient than the last and for that Shepard wouldn't be found complaining.

That said, for both such outings their newest guest had chosen to remain aboard and as far as he knew, both from his crew and from being around the ship himself, that Valkyr hadn't even so much as left her room. Perhaps she was pouring over the Omni-tool he gave her given her reaction to seeing something as simple as the history of Sol. Not that he could blame her with everything taken into consideration. After all, whatever higher-power-that-floated-about-the-endless-expanse-of-space-they-were-in knew he'd been thinking an awful lot about what she'd told him, small and basic as that might've seemed to be. It was mostly about the implications thereof…

"'Temporal dissonance'..." he muttered to himself once again. At this point likely the number of times he'd repeated it to himself likely ranged in the double digits but still he couldn't help but think of what it could truly mean, especially for their most recent of crewmembers. With a sigh he lowered the datapad and raised his hands to rub at his face, lowering them and clasping them together to look off in the direction of the observation deck.

Nodding slowly to himself he looked at the notification for the now third request he'd gotten from Kelly to have a sit down with Valkyr. He hadn't even opened it yet, even if it was a few hours old, as just knowing the nature of the request spoke for itself but even still. A finger tapped at the opposite hand in thought before he finally picked it up and wrote out a response saying he'd talk to her first and see what their guest thought of it before giving the go ahead.

Standing as he tapped the send button, Shepard stood and walked toward Valkyr's room, took a deep breath, and rapped his knuckles on its surface, "Valkyr it's Shepard. I was hoping we could talk." He stood there for a few moments but silence was his answer, a furrowed brow forming upon his features before he spoke up again, "I'm coming in, Valkyr."

Shepard activated the door and stepped in as it slid open, unable to help but blink in surprise as he noticed her…well, floating in the air with her legs crossed and looking out into the void of space. Perhaps it wasn't so strange a thing to see as he'd seen plenty of Asari assume such a pose before but usually it required their biotics to do and but Valkyr showed no such sign of usual glow to signify their use.

Admittedly he stood there perhaps a few too many moments longer than he should have, thinking about the 'how', but eventually he did snap out of his surprise to clear his throat, "Valkyr, do you have a moment to talk?"

With the slightest turn of her head, Valkyr seemed to finally acknowledge him before raising her hands from her knees. To his continued curiosity she lowered her legs and hands at the same time in a single motion, feet touching the deck gently before she lowered herself to her knees, still facing out the window before her.

"If...you wish…" her voice sounded somewhat more hoarse again, her words soft, as if she was again getting used to speaking.

With a nod Shepard opened his mouth and made to move to a chair or couch when he paused and noticed a small stack of similar-looking wired devices on a small end table at the end of one of the couches. He lowered himself to get a better look at them and furrowed his brow, picking one up to study it curiously. "What are these exactly?" he inquired a bit cautiously, looking back down to the pile.

"Cameras...hidden throughout. I prefer my peace...and solitude…" was her measured response, once again causing Shepards brows to furrow.

"Hidden cameras?" he repeated aloud as by his guesstimation there was roughly eight or nine of the damned things. While Shepard had had few doubts that the Illusive Man had bugged the ever living hell out of the ship he certainly hadn't expected this level of an invasion of privacy. With a quiet grumble and a clearly displeased frown he moved the camera this way and that between his fingers. "My apologies then, I had no idea these were even in here. I can only hope the added privacy will be of some measure of added comfort and that you know...these," he gestured to the cameras, "are not indicative of how I run my ship."

Valkyr turned her head more fully to him at that, looking over her shoulder at him and clearly seeing the displeasure in his features and posture even as he halfheartedly tossed the camera in his hand back into the pile. She said nothing at first and Shepard shook his head at the idea of how many might be in the ship, letting his mind run a bit at the thought of how many might be around in who knew how many places. With a sigh he took a seat on the couch as he'd first intended and lounged back a bit, trying to bury his discomfort at the admittedly slightly worrying thought of how little privacy anyone on this ship actually had.

"Sorry again about that but what I intended to say was that been hoping to speak with you about some of what we discussed before down in the brig." Despite all the things he had mounting on his mind, Shepard still spoke with a controlled and calm voice, "Assuming it isn't considered prying too much to do so."

Valkyr's head fell a fraction of an inch before she slowly turned to look back out the observation window, letting silence hang in the air for a minute or two. Just as Shepard was beginning to contemplate if this was her version of not wanting to talk about it, she spoke up.

"I've...had much time to think...to learn on this 'omni-tool' and its 'extranet'..." her words trailed off and though she spoke with the same quietness to her voice and roughness to the back of her throat, like she was just recovering from a bad cold, Shepard was still able to make out what she had said. There was another brief pause, "I am...still getting used to my...voice again, but I shall try. What...did you wish to discuss…?"

With a sage nod of understanding, even though she wasn't even turned to him, Shepard sorted through their last conversation in his mind and picked the best place to start. "I remember you saying that your situation was difficult to explain when last we spoke so perhaps instead I can learn about where you came from a bit more and in turn you can ask a question yourself." The statement was phrased a bit more as an inquiry and Shepard leaned forward to rest an elbow on a knee as he watched her. After a moment she nodded. A small smile rose on the corners of his lips and he nodded, "Alright then. We don't need to cover everything in one go and I get the impression we likely wouldn't be able to anyway if I tried.

"With all that said...why don't you tell me about this 'clan' of yours, Conscious Umbra?" briefly hoping he'd remembered the name and pronunciation correctly, Shepard was relieved to see her shoulders slacken a little as if either relieved it was his first question or was put at ease by it being his first one. Of course, both was ever a possibility as well.

It still took a second or two for Valkyr to speak but when she did her voice was softer and almost gentle despite the ruggedness of her adjusting to it again. "It was founded by our Archon Oberon...long before I was ever...recruited." Valkyr raised one of her clawed hands from her thigh and seemed to study it for a moment as she continued, fingers opening and closing slowly and carefully. "He is wise, strong, skilled...the best of us in more than mere physical traits...He built it from the ground up on his own and...cared for us like family." Valkyr's hand closed and she looked up again into the vastness of the stars beyond the glass, opening her palm and extending it out as if she was freeing something invisible from her grasp. "We were never...great in numbers, as I was told, though he and Saryn...a Seraphim, were ever constants of it. She too was caring, strong, unbending...a pillar we all relied upon at least once. Volt was another, a Vanguard like myself…"

Valkyr's voice had slowly become clearer the more she spoke but as she said the name and trailed off the hand she had still extended stiffened before shaking slightly, fingers closing into a fist so tight Shepard could hear the creaking of her suit. The Commander's brow furrowed and he sat a bit straighter, admittedly a touch on edge at the sight knowing what she was capable of. The Warframe took in a deep breath in though and her fist relaxed, slowly lowering to be placed upon her thigh.

"Volt was another…" she repeated, her voice strained with a brief crack, "alongside Vauban. The latter held the rank of Sage...He was skilled with technology...and though friendly and skilled with technology, seemed distant, hesitant to get close to all but Saryn and Oberon. They both were no longer with us when those left of my clan...took to the mission that left me here…" Shepard relaxed some and felt his features soften in sympathy.

"I've lost a great many friends and allies as well in my time. I understand what it's like and...well I know it's never easy. When you fight with people you form a bond that people who've never gone into battle just, well they just don't understand." Valkyr's head turned toward him again slowly, the Commander just barely seeing that ominous red light in the low center of her helmet. A calm silence filled the air, one that he believed was a mutual moment of respect for the fallen, that spoke of the understanding they both felt for the emptiness in their hearts and how despite its presence they'd ever fight on for those around them.

The quiet was eventually broken but a deep breath leaving Shepard, a friendly smile rising on his lips again, "But we're all the stronger for it, carrying their strength with us, wouldn't you say?" Valkyr was silent and her gaze fell but eventually she offered a slow nod, Shepard liking to think that behind that helmet she wore a smile too but...perhaps that was projecting a bit. "That said, I think it's your turn for a question, wouldn't you say?"

Valkyr was motionless for a second or two before looking back to the window, head eventually bowing after a time. "I've read much...of this galaxy, of races, of the 'mass effect' and relays. For all I read I can't help but feel...lacking...and all at once, wrong." Shepard's brow furrowed a touch and he adjusted himself a bit, leaning on the armrest more now as he listened more intently to his guest's words. Again Valkyr was quiet, her head raising some to look out into space before turning left, looking the room up and down in ever slight motions before turning right to do the same where she eventually peered over her shoulder at Shepard. Ever without a word she held it upon him as though contemplative and finally let her head fall again, looking back forward.

"I...am not strong with words...Not used to speaking with those who cannot simply...understand with all but a glance. But I…" a pause, "what is it all...like. How does something such as this time, this galaxy...feel…?" Valkyr's palms faced up as they lay on her thighs, her attention upon them with sagging shoulders and Shepard was left trying to piece together what exactly she might have been asking. Without a sound, Valkyr stood and walked over to the window, staring into her reflection in the glass and placing a hand upon it. "What...what is...what is it like to know this understanding, this...peace?"

Shepard couldn't help but sit a bit straighter at that, blinking in slight surprise at the question before understanding what it was exactly that she was asking. "There isn't a lot of cooperation between the two groups you spoke about was there?" was his gently spoken response.

He watched as the light of her helmet was angled down once again and she leaned forward, resting her head against the glass and shaking her head slowly. "The life of a Tenno, of a Warframe, is endless conflict...Weapons meant to keep the balance, to quell numbers, to destroy what might become too powerful for the good of the system...I…"

It all began to click into place for the Spectre, even more than it had before and...truthfully he pitied her, just as he pitied any man or woman who'd gone through such similar circumstances. "All you've known is war and you want to know what it's like to live somewhere without suffering around every corner. What to do without it there." It was a statement more than a question, but he watched her shoulders rise and her head hang, the hand upon the glass clenching before she slid slowly down to her knees, all but curling up into herself.

With a sad and sympathetic smile, Shepard stood and walked over to her where he hesitated for a moment before he placed his hand upon her shoulder with a gentle squeeze. At first he thought she would flinch but while her reaction was all but instant it was quite the opposite of what he expected. When he hand touched her shoulder she leaned into it, her own hand rising as though to try to place itself to it whilst her head tipped toward it, as though to nuzzle her metal cheek to it before she caught herself.

The texture of her suit was...different that he would have expected, after all he'd never actually touched her with his bare hands short of when she'd lifted him by the throat and he'd clasped the metal bracers bolted to her arms more than the suit itself. While it looked as though it would be a rubber or latex of some kind it was oddly...rougher? Harder? It was difficult to describe but with the warmth it still carried could have easily mistaken it for her skin. Shaking off the thought, Shepard wore a calm and warm smile and spoke softly with no small amount of friendliness upon his tone.

"I'll be honest with you when I say you were unfortunately picked up by the completely wrong ship if that was something you wanted to get away from. That said, I've no small number of stories for you if you'd like to hear them." Valkyr was slow to react but gradually turned her head up to him and was greeted by his smile. She said not a word but carefully nodded her head, Shepard's smile beaming a bit wider. "Then let me grab a seat and I'll see what memories of mine I can dredge up of our galaxy at large."

The sky blazed with a brilliant and yet cool orange, complimented handsomely with the purple contours of clouds which curled and streaked through the air in gentle and gradual motions as they were carried on the distant breeze. To watch them was to feel a certain peace, watching a dance that may take hours to unfold but was absolute in its beauty to those with the patience to watch it.

A cool breeze blew over Oberon as he did just that, the wind causing the faux leaves upon his bark-like body to flutter ever carefully though to him it was but another act to the performance. He took in a deep breath of the cool air and took his time releasing it, allowing his mind to focus on the serenity of this moment rather that the worries that plagued him so it may not wander away from him and he can remain sharp when it was required most.

Oberon had enriched himself on everything he could from the information he'd gathered from the Eclipse leader's datapad and while he had expected personal information and/or information related to the mercenary crew's recent activities he had gotten far more than he had expected. For hours he had poured over documents and reports about the activities going on around Ilium, realizing just what sort of reach the Eclipse ahd upon the planet alongside the customs.

Not just that, he and Rubic had managed to break into far more than just that, getting information about the galaxy at large and the history and cultures for the many species within it. It proved to be a true boon as it granted far more than Oberon could have ever expected yet exactly what he had hoped for. He learned about faster than light travel and once more with Rubic quickly understood the science behind these mass relays and the engines that would allow for ships to travel lightyears in moments. He learned about eezo and biotics and the connection therein and how much society relied on this strange seemingly physics-defying element previously unknown to him.

After much deliberation he'd set himself to devising a plan that would let him reach his allies in the far off reaches of this galaxy. Oberon was not such a fool as to believe it would be easy to locate his fellow clanmates in this new setting, that a galaxy was no small place even if he had an idea on where he might start to begin his search. However, he knew he had to try and right now he was tackling the first of his problems one at a time. If he had a means of getting about then he could search and if he could search then he could gather more information, possibly more means of being able to track down his comrades. It would not be easy but he knew they were out there, he would not give up hope on the matter and he would not give up hope on them either.

"Operator, I have devised a proposal for your approval should you wish to review it," Rubic's smooth and stoic voice chimed in his helmet. Oberon's head bowed in acknowledgement and the Cephalon continued, various documents of various sorts appearing upon his HUD. "After reading through manifestos, reports, and messages I've determined that our best course of action shall be to first acquire eezo so that we may better understand its composition and purpose. With this understanding we may be able to better adjust the engines to use this new element or integrate a means of allowing us FTL travel per your request." Oberon's posture remained largely unchanged and again he simply nodded sagely in understanding and affirmation, allowing his AI companion to continue.

"Furthermore, I've managed to find documents of unusual readings reported by certain organizations which appeared within the last week. It would appear three total readings were found though only vague destinations were given; however, with our estimated time of arrival and destination cross referenced with these reports I am led to believe such reports may be indicative as to vaguely where Seraphim Saryn and Vanguard Valkyr have appeared." Oberon sat straighter upon his knees and released a soft breath upon hearing that. Though he would have preferred them safe and sound in the familiarity of their home system, that they were not lost in the nothingness was relieving unto its own right.

"I also took the liberty of searching for any such events in the past and was found wanting save for sparse, vague references to such happenings and was left with inconclusive evidence. However," the cephalon continued, voice ever the same calm tone, even and calculated though in a way that still made him fall short of sounding like a mere robot. "With certain evidence in mind and taking certain possibilities into consideration, I think it may be possible for others such as Seraphim-"

"Rubic…" Oberon suddenly spoke, interrupting his companion. His smooth and tender voice was soft and the word alongside those that followed were like a whisper on the cool wind of the night. "Please...no more…"

There was silence from Rubic for several moments with only the blowing of the wind over and around the skyscraper the Tenno sat upon filled the void, "As you wish, Operator." Without a word more on the prior topic the Cephalon respected his Operator's wish and continued forth with his plan. "I have sorted through Eclipse mission and reconnaissance reports and found there is to be a delivery of refined element zero being shipped in a heavily armored compartment of a civilian transport vehicle. The Eclipse takes this particular shipment is unusual and seen as a sort of double cross from their client. They intend to ambush the transport and steal the element zero for themselves. I devise we do likewise, halting the attack while it is in progress but still making off with the element zero so we may study it."

Oberon thought the plan over but it did not take long for him to nod, knowing the Cephalon cared for the lives of innocents but was ever the pragmatist. Then again, this was not to say the Eclipse would directly try to harm the civilians, but nothing could be ruled out. Simply put, two factions had a tentative agreement, one tried to play under the other's nose and while they retaliate the tenno would use the chaos to steal the goods from either party and allow each to blame the other. It was an ages old tactic used by the Tenno but one which nevertheless often proved successful in diverting much attention and blame from the Tenno themselves.

"As you wish, Operator. I shall devise a comprehensive list of expected objectives alongside relevant reports of forces to be brought by the Eclipse, expected resistance, and where to find what transport when." With another nod of acknowledgement and a bow of thanks, Oberon stood up from his knees and brought his hands up and around his head, his palms up whilst he brought them down to his waist with a deep exhale. His fingertips folded together and he leaned forward on a knee, rising once more to draw his hands in and push them out to his left, draw them in, and push them out to the right, putting his whole body into the fluid and graceful motions.

He was going to have quite the day ahead of him he imagined and with the slow trickle of energy he was having from the Void he would need to gather all of it he could before the assault occurred lest he risk Void Strain. That would be alright though, he thought, allowing his eyes to shift to the sun finally sinking below the horizon so as to let more and more of the stars begin to come out in the ever colorful sky. At least he'd be all the more at peace whilst he meditated.

The shuttle rattled and jostled to and fro as it went through the process of atmospheric entry, its inhabitants sitting in their own respective positions rather casually despite the bumpiness of the ride whilst a nearly two century old rock song blasted through the speakers. A figure sat to the right of the door clad fully in black angular armor with silver and yellow highlights streaked upon the shoulders and chest plate with one leg folded over the other, a high caliber round dancing between his fingers whilst he glanced up to the speaker and chortled. His helmet was black and silver, adorned with three thin red lenses up either side and the visage of a large vampire-like skeleton's grin painted in silver around the mouth.

Despite the intimidating appearance he held with his gear and helmet though he seemed the most relaxed of the crew, his posture the most casual from the way he sat to the way his gaze swept over his companions who otherwise sat in silence.

"So, Alicia," he called out with an almost playful tone to the woman sitting across from him, catching the bullet in his hand and stopping the sound of its quiet clinking over his knuckle guards. She too was dressed in similar colors to him but her suit lacked the same amount of armor as him, having only small shoulder pads, a chest plate, and light but clearly efficient armor over her otherwise still protective body suit. Her helmet was simple and smooth in its design being that of a dark matte metal which was built seamlessly around a polished black visor and a single large lens on the right side. She turned to him, sitting forward with her elbows on her knees and her hands folded in front of her helmet.

"What is it, Arthur?" she responded quietly though with a slight touch of umbrage on her tone.

Whether the man in question noticed it or cared to acknowledge it though was left a mystery as he continued with his ever nonchalant way about him. "I was wondering if you'd heard from the techs at all about that shipment we were supposed to receive. It's been a month since they said they were working on the finishing touches and it's been radio silence since." Arthur could just about feel the brow that was raised behind her helmet as she stared at him in silence, though he seemed not to care as he only offered a shrug. "You seem to be the most up-and-up on these kinds of things and they tend to at least send fairly regular updates so can you blame a man. I seem to be the most concerned about this kind of thing, even more so than Daniels despite him being our proud and noble leader."

Arthur's just was just about dripping with smarm as he jabbed a thumb at the tank of a man beside him and swung his head over to look at him, the smirk upon his lips all but visible through the helmet. Daniels himself was dressed head to toe in dark, heavy armor, looking like he'd come back from a bomb disposal unit that had been sent to Tuchanka. He wore heavy pads on his shoulders and thighs and an armored collar rose rather high though not so much so as to obscure sight from his peripherals. Though his armor was covering and heavy it didn't seem like it would restrict any motion if it came down to needing to move fast or with some agility but the various charges and pouches upon the man atop his armor spoke very clearly as to his role.

Daniels sat with his arms crossed and simply released a deep, slightly annoyed breath, and shook his head, "It'll be ready when it's ready, Tentune. I don't know what's in there that you want so badly but get over it and focus on the mission at hand. We got a job to do and colonists to keep out of batarian hands. That's all you should care about." His voice was deep and it rumbled with a cold authority that would likely set most in line but Arthur merely sighed almost theatrically and shook his head.

Alicia tipped her head as she looked to him, "There's a lot more to leading that keeping track of a supply drop months in the making," she offered much more diplomatically.

"Call me concerned is all," Arthur waved a hand dismissively and leaned back in his seat with an ever casual air about him, fingers rolling the bullet between the fingers of the opposite hand once more The action apparently roused the disapproval of the man beside him as Daniels released a long sigh and let his head fall back with a light clang on the wall behind him. "I swear, sometimes I feel like M and I are the only ones here who don't try to take everything so seriously in our merry band of misfits."

Alicia shrugged and leaned back, placing her folded hands upon her lap. "Perhaps you are right, but there are some matters such as this which should be taken at least with some bit of seriousness."

"Correct as you may be, I've never failed to take finishing an objective seriously, wouldn't you say? Think I've earned my place in this 'elite crew' of ours even if some people might disagree." Daniels didn't need to even look at the man to know Arthur was tipping his head at him and just rolled his eyes in response. "That said," Arthur continued, "if you're tight as a knot then you're that much harder to unwind after all is said and done and if you're wound up tight as a spring all the time then it's just a matter of time till you break." Alicia thought the metaphors over and while she conceded he had a point with a shrug, she didn't press the issue further, especially as a smooth voice called from the doorway which led to the cockpit on her right.

"Two metaphors at once, Arty? Careful you don't strain yourself or sound more stupid than you are." The clicking of metallic heels on pointed toed boots approached the doorway and from within a figure dressed in an array of shining silver and deep and soft purples stepped into the light from the dark front cabin. She walked with a confident stride before stopping and standing in all her glory with flowing chaps of a material that was neither fabric or leather. Light purple wrappings were wound tight around her midsection and which transitioned into a dark purple half-coat. The shining silvers acting as accents here and there upon the edges of her coat and the shoulderpads she wore which seemed built into it. Last but certainly not least was what could be argued her most defining feature, her nigh on faceless helmet adorned with what Arthur had dubbed a 'futuristic cowboy hat' which was pulled down low upon her helmet, the brim flat and wide but rather than wrapping around her head fully stopped and flared back rather stylishly.

She leaned her weight on one leg and looked amongst the party with a proudly raised chin, "You know you don't need to compensate in front of all of us. We've been around you long enough to know what goes on in that head of yours. For good or ill." Her tone was playful and her voice was a smooth melody which carried ever the slightest drawl upon it to give it that much more liveliness.

The playful jab earned an amused grunt from Daniels and Arthur glanced to him with a hidden smile before chuckling himself. "You may be right there, M, but I for one have never heard of a knot breaking from being too tight nor someone wanting to unwind a spring." The woman in question gave a very accentuated shrug with the tip of her head.

"Food for thought is all. No point in you getting your own head in a twist trying to come up with appropriate metaphors right before an important mission." With the slight tip of her head as though to signify a wink, 'M' cleared her throat loudly, "With that out of the way, we're only a few clicks from the hot drop so you best ready yerselves ye unscrupulous lot! Those colonists won't save themselves you know!"

AN: Hey everyone and hello. It's...been a while hasn't it? I've said and meant before it was never my intent to abandon this story and it still isn't even should the disparity between chapters be a bit...discouraging to some I imagine. I've been through quite a bit this past year+, struggled with work, with life, spent some time in the hospital cause of illness, and lost some people along the way...Time and motivation and energy haven't exactly been on my side for a while but this story has never faded from my mind, ideas still spring up, directions to head still make themselves known, and my pocket journal has known no end of notes. I would like to one day see this story to its completion and that I hope you all know I mean from the bottom of my heart, it's just been a bit more a struggle to do what I love and for that I can only beg some amount of forgiveness over.

Nevertheless though we press on and I hope for some of you it can bring a certain joy to see this story updated once more. I'm always open to criticism and ideas and sometimes a scolding or two about how long its been is a bit of a kick in the rear unto itself. I want to put together the best story I can for all of you and for this I also wish it to be known there will be points at which this story diverges. It won't all be the same and perhaps I won't do my best job on executing that which I have on my mind but I hope you can all be a bit open minded for me and the direction I aim to go but still know you're free to speak your mind about where things may be headed or what you'd like to see.

The support of all you wonderful people has been...truly heartwarming and sometimes I can't help but go through the reviews of this story to get the motivation I need to get things whipped back into shape. Thank you all for sticking by me for so long and I can only hope for your continued support and enjoyment down the road. If any of you would like me to perhaps answer questions or the like at the ends of these posts I'm more than welcome to do so as well as I've few doubts there'll be a fair amount of them once the changes start to become more prevalent. I'm ever wishing naught but the best toward all of you no matter what and hope that you may all find at least one reason to smile at the end of your day. Till next time.