I spent a few days on Bali, near my sisters, who were already trying hard to accept a new life for themselves. And not just them. Some Asari who arrived with them had already found interesting things to do. Someone started painting, someone music.
"John, can I ask you something?"
Falere entered my office and shifted somewhat uncertainly from foot to foot. Despite the fact that she already understood that life had changed and become better, it was still extremely unusual for her, as for the others, that she could move around freely, even if only within the colony.
"Of course, sister... if it's in my power, I'll try to help."
"Super."
She nodded contentedly.
"Rila and I talked and thought that we could be of more use in your corporation. If you don't mind, of course."
"And what positions are you applying for?"
"Nothing special..."
Falere shook her head.
"...my sister graduated from an advertising institute in her time, and I could be her secretary."
Judging by her look, she was currently expecting me to refuse her. But I wasn't going to refuse.
"Well... I can't remove those currently working in the advertising department from their positions... or rather, I can, but I wouldn't want to lose proven employees who bring stable results. However..."
While I was speaking, a slightly sad smile appeared on my sister's lips.
"...that doesn't mean I won't be able to find exactly where to apply your talents. Advertising, then?"
I drummed my fingers on the table.
"I have one direction—it's not that we don't advertise it, it's just... in connection with recent events, more specialists are required in that direction."
I began to quickly search for information on the computer and soon brought it up on the monitor.
"Um... food?"
"Yes. Food, or rather nutritional rations from protein masses."
Falere winced slightly.
"From bugs?"
"And from them too. It's a special type of insect; geneticists bred them, after which they were put on an extremely strict diet. Plus, various additives go in there."
"You surely realize that such food isn't very popular. There's no hunger in the galaxy, so... promoting it to the masses is almost useless."
"Well, then figure out how and what to do. Especially since we have new ways to use this protein mass. Our scientists have made a food synthesizer."
"A synthesizer?"
"Exactly... and this protein mass is very well suited for creating anything meat-related you can think of. Of course, various flavorings are also needed, but producing them is no problem at all. Also, plant mass will be made specifically for the synthesizers."
"Hm... now that's interesting... not just protein mass or rations for the military, but full-fledged food synthesizers? I think my sister will be able to promote that to the masses. We'll just need a team."
"Ori will help... she always has a couple of candidates in mind who can be hired on short notice. So we'll get a department together for you, and if you manage in six months and we can sell fifty percent of the goods produced, then we'll transform your small department responsible for one product into something more significant."
"Good, we won't let you down."
"You said that so..." do you have any other requests?"
"No..."
Falere shook her head.
"...it's just that I didn't expect you to give your consent so easily. That's why..."
"And why shouldn't I have? I'll tell you a secret: I absolutely don't care whether you can complete the task. And not because it's not an important direction, but because I'll benefit from both options. If you can, it will be additional profit that I can direct toward colony development and purchasing necessary items. And if not, it will be a supply of provisions for the duration of the war."
"I see... and which option is preferable for you?"
"Profit."
I answered without a second's thought.
"After all, I'm accumulating provisions gradually anyway, but some materials you can't just buy."
"I see."
She nodded and, turning around, hurried toward the exit, but froze in the doorway.
"Brother... you know, thank you. For me, Rila, and the other Asari, the past few weeks have become the best in our lives since we realized we had become Ardat-Yakshi."
Having said this, she quickly left the office; I smirked and continued working, though soon a new mission from Tevos arrived, so I had to set the work aside and, putting on armor—Turian this time—head out on another mission.
** A week later. **
"Are you sure this is okay?"
Tali looked at me intently as my shuttle slowly approached the pirate station. And I'm not talking about Omega, but about a station that was much further away, almost on the very border with the unexplored regions.
"Just infiltrating here..."
She shook her head.
"...it's very dangerous."
"It's dangerous to leave this place without our attention. After all, there will be a serious war soon. Especially since, theoretically, we don't need to infiltrate."
"So that means..."
"It doesn't mean anything."
A smirk could be heard in my voice.
"If we don't infiltrate, we won't get important information. So we'll set a bomb with enough power to blow the engine and possibly the reactor, and then I'll infiltrate inside, and you'll hack the systems from the shuttle."
"John..."
"Tali, you remember that I promised the Quarians either completely free..."
"Don't play on the feelings for my people! I'm ready for a lot for the sake of the Quarians, but right now they're getting a lot through cooperation with you. And what if you die on this stupid mission?"
"John..."
"When we made the deal, you didn't say you were planning to infiltrate a pirate base in the Terminus Systems! If you had said that, I would have first whacked you over the head myself, and then called the others!
"Tali, I won't take too much risk, but what's stored on this station..."
I shook my head.
"...besides, there should be slave pens here, and they aren't to blame for anything at all. So let me at least try to get inside. If I can? Wonderful. The station's security systems will allow me to deal with most of the pirates quickly and without any problems. And if not..."
I spread my hands.
"Then it's not meant to be; we'll just blow everyone up along with the station."
"You... are insufferable."
Tali turned away from me, at which I could only smirk, after which we felt a slight jolt, which meant the shuttle had docked at the right spot.
"Okay, I'm going."
"Good luck in there, you big dummy."
She punched me lightly on the shoulder, after which I left the pilot's seat and moved into the shuttle's interior, the troop compartment. And there was a small bomb, essentially. But it was only small in size. First, it was based on the Mass Effect, which is theoretically prohibited in Citadel Space. However, Spectres have a certain stock of such toys. And second, it was a shaped charge. That is, the explosion didn't go in all directions but was directed at a specific point.
Carefully opening the shuttle's side hatch, I checked against the station's blueprints; fortunately, it's a standard project, and figuring out where to place the magnetic bomb so the explosion would catch both the engines and the reactor wasn't difficult. It would be harder to get it out of the shuttle. Fortunately, weightlessness made this task quite feasible.
"So..."
A couple of minutes later, when the bomb was in place, I checked in with Tali again, who had already transferred control of the shuttle to herself.
"...the bomb is in place, so I'm going to perform the second part of the plan."
"Yeah... go on..."
The girl's voice was extremely unhappy, but I still decided that I had to take the risk, and therefore headed to one of the airlocks intended for escape pods. But if the data I received from Tevos was to be believed, before the station was captured, all the escape pods had managed to launch. So the pod shaft should be empty now. And the airlock doors should allow me to get inside.
Finding myself near the airlock, which was open, giving me access to the shaft, I only smirked and, having checked it for sensors, carefully climbed inside, after which, using the manual control mechanism that was present here in case of a failure of the station's main mechanism, I closed the airlock very carefully.
Having made sure the airlock was closed, I made my way through the shaft to the airlock that separated it from the station's interior, and here, using the manual control, I first cracked it open so that air from the station could fill the void. Fortunately, this part of the station wasn't particularly frequented, which meant no one could hear the whistle of the air.
"I'm inside..."
I reported briefly to Tali and, reaching the nearest terminal, winced, as it was broken.
"...going deeper. As soon as I find a working terminal, I'll connect the transmitter."
"Yeah... be careful in there."
"Certainly."
To find a working terminal, I had to venture into more inhabited sections of the station. By the way, the Tortuga of the Mass Effect world was not like the one they filmed in movies in my past life. How is it in movies? If they film about pirates, the main character isn't a total scumbag, but an adventurer misunderstood by others. And if he kills his enemies, they are total scumbags, and Tortuga is mostly a haven for adventurers looking for fun and rest before the next voyage. Here, though...
The station was a total dump. The suit's systems immediately began signaling about the disgusting air quality and various pathogens spreading in it, and once I went out into the more inhabited parts, everything became even more dismal.
Following one pirate, I went after him to some cubbyhole he entered and slipped in after him.
"Bitch, I'm home! I hope you earned your keep today?!"
His drunken voice rang out through the cubbyhole, but he couldn't say anything else, as an Omni-blade entered the back of his head—the idiot wasn't using a helmet.
The quiet thud of a body falling, and a silenced pistol in my hands.
As soon as the body fell, a pale Asari entered the small room that served as a kitchen-living room.
"I..."
"Be quiet if you want to live."
The girl froze when she saw the pistol pointed at her, and then, seeing the Batarian lying on the floor with blood leaking out of him, she fell to her knees and wept quietly.
"Answer the questions quietly, quickly, and to the point. Understand?"
"Yes."
She said it through tears.
"Who are you?"
"A slave."
"Been here long?"
"Two hundred years. I've already outlived several masters..."
"And you didn't try to escape?"
"Where to? No home, no family... I'm a terrible biotic, so even if I kill the master, I won't be able to run far."
"Is there a terminal in this dump?"
"Yes."
"Show me."
Without getting up from her knees, she crawled slightly to the side and pointed her hand toward the terminal.
"Move over there..."
I didn't want to walk near her and made her move aside so that I could see both the terminal and her, after which I approached the terminal and connected the transmitter.
"Testing..."
"Receiving data... I need a little time to at least partially hack the system, so wait."
At that moment, the Asari standing against the wall had her stomach growl.
"Is there food here?"
"Yes, there..."
She nodded toward a small refrigerator.
"You can eat. Just try to keep your hands where I can see them so I don't think anything's up."
"U-understood..."
The Asari slowly approached the refrigerator, then carefully took an absolutely unappetizing mass out of it and began to eat, not thinking about utensils or anything else; I just stepped slightly to the side and, continuing to monitor the situation, began to wait.
"Whew..."
The girl had clearly eaten her fill and I decided to attend to more important matters for now; using biotics, I moved the Batarian's body closer to me and quickly took the pistol from his belt, after which I began hacking his Omni-tool, which was extremely poorly protected. There were only standard security programs, which I didn't even have to strain myself for. The same standard scripts hacked the Omni-tool, after which I became the proud owner of two thousand Credits...
***
Read the story months before public release — early chapters are on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Granulan