Roran Vas'Neema's Story

Neeha's thoughts were broken when she heard Roran. Snapping back to reality she jumped to her feet and ran towards the stern. As she carefully but quickly navigated the damaged unlighted corridors, she couldn't help but have flash backs to both wars. Her flash backs came at her so vividly that well still able to navigate and interact with the real world, she saw everything as if she was back with the flotilla. Once at engineering she started trying to get the emergence backups on line. From there she could try and jump start the main core, which thou damaged looked like it had just shutdown and was salvageable. Unfortunately the backups were out of juice, so she hooked up every power cell from her suit and pack she could, and using her suit as a bypass started the system.

Through out the ship control panels and lights started turning on. It was about this time Blake and his crew arrived at the doors to the bridge. Since the system just rebooted the door seal also reset granting the group access to the bridge. Once on the bridge the group sees a some what working holo projection in the middle of the room. Just past it is the captain's chair and the pilot chairs (pilot and co-pilot). Upon further investigation, the group finds the ten year old remains of the bridge crew. The COD differs from crewmen to crewmen, some shot others natural causes. The last ones to go were the captain who died in his chair, the pilot also at his station, and a crewmen near the engineering station. One the captains console is an audio message, "To who ever finds this, I just wanted to leave a log about this fine ship and her great crew. It has been almost five years since we fought off Cerberus. Our ship is falling apart and I cant raise anyone on any channel. Most of my crew is dead dying, or have gone crazy, so I ordered my bridge crew to bring what little supplies we have left to the bridge and lock it down. I hoped by doing so we stood a better chance of saving the ship. But as our fifth years draws to an end I wonder if the reapers have won and we are the last... left here to die... alone in the silence of space. I want to note that thou the galaxy sees us as the lawless, this crew served with honor and I was proud to have served with them. Sadly in order to maintain control I have had to execute several of my staff and others... others have chosen the easy way out, and I have also had to seal off and power down several areas. Not all of them were empty... I have ordered my chief engineer to have the core shut down once we are gone. With the last bit of power we will send out one last distress call. Bray if you get this tell Aria we died well." Just before the message cuts out the captain is heard saying "Now" away from his console followed shotly there after by two quick gun shot, the a third one a few seconds later. An other look at the three and the story is clear, the engineer shut down the core the he along with the pilot we shot just before the captain killed himself.

Blake's mind had been rushing through his discover, and worries about the Commander, until he found that recording. "What the fuck....what can we.....this is....horrible. Okay, Blake. Focus on what you can change. Okay, what do we need? What are the issues we have right now?"

Meanwhile, Gemli was getting a little hot blooded. "THe kid is right, we need to get out of here as soon as possible. Val, what are our options?"

Suddenly, Blake looked back at his omitool. "We find wherever these coordinates lead. I never got to tell the Commander this, but one of the words mentioned in the part of the Blackfile I decoded was a mention to a dreadnaught being created. Something tells me we could use a new ship, anyways".

"Bigger guns sound fun" Gemli mentioned with a smile.

"Neeha, Wait!" Roran said as he chased after her. Although he was a Quarian Marine, he was kinda outa shape. Half way down the hall of twist and turns, he started to slow to a halt. "Nee....Neeha! Wai-Wait up!" he shouted as he halted and placed his hands on his knee's. "Damn, i shouldnt have spent all that time on Ichar...."

Roran stood back up and started running to the engine room, fueled by the thought of Neeha being endangered. He arrived at the door, that was glowing blue, a sign of instability. He stepped in side and shaded his suit visor. He saw Neeha and her power cord hooked up to her suit. "Neeha! What are you doing!" He shouted as he took a step forward but slowly, the Element Zero core was increasing the Gravity levels on the ship.

As Blake and Gemli moved into position the ship scanners along with the shuttles pick up a corvette class starship ship on intercept course. As it gets near a call is heard on all channels, "To anyone on board the unidentified frigate, this is the scavenger ship Crow. Heave to and prepare to be boarded. We mean you know harm. If anyone is still alive please respond. Again if anyone is still alive please respond." "Sir still no answer" "Very well, lets board. I will take the security team and head for the Bridge, I want a medical team to search the med bays, and scavengers to spread out, start with hangers and engineering. I also want a receiving team to hold the ship, no turrets this time but keep your suits on and sealed. Techs standby with barriers. Ok hock on." The ship attaches to the same hatch the Salarians were hooked to.

Val turns to Blake, "Get to the pilots seat. Gemli stand near the door, but hold till I say so. Lets make it seem like we have control of the ship."

Just as everyone got into place, the door to the Bridge opened. In came three men, the first man entered from the right and crossed to the left side of the door. Well the second came from the left and crossed right both scanning the room with their guns. The third man came from the right going up the middle, as all three moved in a few feet one of the flankers spotted Gemli right away, "CONTACT KROGAN!" The man who moved up the middle spotted Val but not Blake whose chair sat lower then hers. Val spun her chair around as the man yelled, "CONTACT FRONT ASARI!" The group could see that their new "guest" were all human wearing Terminus Assault Armor and caring M-96 Mattocks. The flanking not facing Gemli flanks around his side to the front of the bridge to finish clearing the room, and spots Blake. "CONTACT HUMAN... KID!?" Just then a fourth man enters caring a N7 Typhoon, "No one do anything stupid, we are not here to hurt you. I am Captain Adham Sabatello of the..." He is interrupted by a beep from his omi-tool. He quickly takes a look and then fixes his eyes on Blake. "This cant be right. Techs verify. Copy. Sorry about that. MEN LOWER YOU WEAPONS! I am Captain Adham Sabatello of the SSV Crow, ASPD repair and recovery ship. One moment please. All teams this is now call sign SSV, medical teams do what you can all teams prepare for tow back to base." He turns to the three men, "OK LT you and your team stay here and protect the package till we're home then rejoin us. The rest of us will do a sweep and get out." With that the captain leaves and the three men post just outside the door.

A few moments later the medical team arrives at the shuttle and with an override opens the shuttle doors. Seeing the injured the team gets to work with Dr. Aves help. Jacoopi should still get to a med bay or hospital but will be fine same with Kearan. As soon as the team gets done with everything they can do, they pack up and leave.

At the same time an engineering team arrives near main engineering. But with one scan, they decide that whom ever is already inside can handle it and leave not wanting to risk more lives.

After the captain is done with his sweep, he re-boards his ship along with they team he had guarding it and the other two teams. Once on board he unhooks and moves to the bow were he hooks a tow cables to the frigate. They slowly and carefully tow the ship to a large asteroid. They unhook the cables and let the frigate drift towards the asteroid, but instead of crashing they pass through a shield and are greeted by unmanned drones that guide the ship to its dock. Once there the automated docking system kicks in and a tube is extended well the drones examine the ships hull.

The Stations Drones did more then guide the ship, but they opened all airlock doors that were connected to station docks, as well as turning on all the lights, as if its some sort of greeting. Further more, one of the drones came to them, and in a female voice, started talking to them. The station itself seemed old, yet strangely highly active. On

"Welcome to Shipcove Station. Please wait as you are scanned" it told them, before scanning anyone at the airlock, including Blake and Gemli. "Access Granted. Please be advised, a dangerous krogan is onboard. Please ensure there is no threat to station".

"Racist program" Gemli muttered.

"Please enter. Would the holder of the Blackfile please report to the control room for decoding and to reactive station operations" the voice told them. "Would the commanding officer please ensure the Krogan is properly restrained as well, and that any military personell would ensure all prisoners are accounted for in the Prisoner Containment Area and that no volitile components are at risk in the labs. Please do not enter sector D of the station without access from the Command Room, or the defenses of the station will be forced to purge all unregistered personell and destroy any ship without any of the specialized IFFs".

"Okaaay" Blake mentioned. "So, I think we should be really careful what we touch".

"I think we should blow up this stupid piece of crap VI who thinks all Krogans should be restrained!" Gemli yelled.

"Please restrain the Krogan!" the voice said. "It is displaying active levels of aggression!"

Gemli frowned.

After eight slow and slightly painful steps, he reached Neeha and pulled out the power cells. "Neeha! Thank god you hadn't Drained your Suit power...I have these..." he said as he pulled out a small cylinder and placed it in the place of the power cells on the Element Zero Engine Panel. " Kinetic Stabelizers." He stated and looked down at the Exaughsted Neeha.

"One step closer to getting this ship moving..." he said before taking a quick glance at the power cells he had removed. Then he looked away, then looked back. One, two, three, four...Five! all five Power cells were removed! Neeha's suit would soon suffocate her if he couldnt make some sort of airway.

Roran stood there. He raised his hand to his head and looked around. "Ah...Uhm..." he stuttered as he reached down and grabbed her mask. "Oh hope she will forgive me for this...." Roran took her visor and removed it from her helmet. Of course he had no idea she was still fully self aware...

Val smiled at Gemli, "Please don't make this any harder then it has to be. I'm sure we can find you something to destroy later." She the took a look around the room, "Excuse me, VI, who is the commanding officer on duty? And were is everyone? I know the Alliance likes its drones and VI but were is the staff? Oh and as the away teams leader, they all stay with me. Since there is no one to leave them with that is." Turning her attention now to Blake, "Kid stay close. I don't like this. Lets head to the Command Room and find out what is going on."

Neeha looked up at Roran in a panic and weakly tried to reach for him or her mask but her arm fell short. She had not expected to have her mask removed. As she slowly caught her breath, "What... have... I... What... Why... you...?" She was exhausted, winded, confused and embarest, she hadn't shown anyone her face in a long time. Now she lay in a strangers arms, with out her mask on a strange ship. She felt... well that was part of her confusion was, she had no idea what she felt.

"Uhm...now, Your going to get some Major Stomach Aches...But you shouldnt have any problems involving vomiting...or bacteria infections...due to the environment." Roran said nervously considering that this was of course the first time he had seen a Quarian without its mask, even Roran hadnt ever seen himself without the mask, as stupid as it sounds.

"Your suits power cells were drained and you had taken them out. Your suit would have sufficated you if i had not taken your mask off. So i....took...your mask off....We should probably get moving, ive stabilized the drive core, the ship should jump to FTL at any moment now so we can reach some place out of this battle field..." Roran said with a slight smile on his face. Ignorance is bliss, especially when your hooked up to another ship and about to FTL jump. The Ship they were in and the docked ship would recieve no damage, although anybody near or in the Docking Tubes would be sucked into space.

The Drone in front of them...well, it did the drown equivlent of frowning. "I am afraid, unregistered individual, you do not have clearance to enter. If you try to enter the control room, I will be forced to exterminate you, and the rest of your crew in order to ensure the safety of this station".

"I authorize them for entry, since apparently I do have authorization" Blake mentioned.

"You have authorization to enter, but you do not have authorization to give authorization. Not from here anyways. Once you initiate the New Commander Protocal in the Control room, you can give authorization" the voice told them.

"As for your questions, I am not authorized to answer those for...."

"Give us the answers. If I can enter the control room, you can tell us that".

"Very well. The people of this station left after the food supplies ran out. They sent people out, no one ever returned. When people started to die of starvation, the rest of them left too. There are currently no living personel on this station other then the one authoized individual here. As a result, only one person here can alter my programming, and only from the control room. That is the genetic son of Intelligence Officer Harrows, who holds the Blackfile".

"Well, what now? It looks like the thing has made up its mind" Blake mentioned.

Gemli stepped forward. "We could always rip the door...."

"Any damage to this station will be seen as an act of aggression, and I will be forced to poison the air and incinerate the halls for safety reasons. The only other way to alter my programming would be by enabling the hardlink connections that would allow your ship to connect to my ship" the voice told them.

In case anyone is still checking.
Neeha'Shiro (NPC Quarian engineer) & Roran Vas'Neema (Fallout Decree) are still onboard the heavily damaged ship that is about to be ejected into space cause its hull cant take a jump to FTL and the Quarians cant stop it.

Valarirae Saburo (My PC), Urdnot Gemli & Blake Harrows (Both Mr. Baneling Squishy) are onboard the Alliance station talking to a VI.

Dr. Aves Hennessey (Fear of a Female Planet), Jacoopi Kerdros (Jacoopi), Othesat (Capn Morgan), & Kearan Dekotovic (zeph_gm) are also still on the ship in the medbay.

(Post incoming later today. Please stand by)

(EDIT: WAIT A DAMN SECOND! Navy, its your post. :3)

((gasp)) we still here guiz? :)

Cause I'm still here, and Othesat y u no in chatzy?

(EDIT: Do you mean Kearan's abandoned ship? @FAN)

Val turns to Gemli, "Urdnot stay here and watch the kids back but don't do anything till I get back. Kid watch yourself. I'm going to do a quick search of the ship." She ran back onto the ship to see if she could find anyone.

Well Val returns to the ship, Neeha gets an alert on her Omni tool. With a quick look at its fading display she turns to Roran, "Somethings wrong and some one just boarded. I need to stay here and do what I can. Without my power cells, or compatible backups I'm as good as dead anyway. You go, find anyone left on board and get them off the ship before its to late." She kisses his face mask then gentle pushes him away as she makes her way to whats left of the engineering control room and seals it. Plugging into the system she sends an alert to all station and screens on board the ship, "This is Chief engineer Neeha'Shiro vas Armando Bailey. To anyone receiving this, abandon ship. We are currently docked wit a station, it is your best bet. If you do not leave now this ship is going to be ejected and is set to make a FTL jump. In the ships conditions it will be torn apart as it makes the jumps. I will do what I can to delay it but you must move quickly. This is Chief engineer Neeha'Shiro vas Armando Bailey signing off, Keelah se'lai."

Roran, shocked by even the slightest form of contact was also a little rattled that the first girl that ever liked him was about to die. He chased after her a bit but stopped at the door once it Sealed itself and he simply looked through it as Neeha gave her final words. As she said it, Roran whispered to himself the words, "Keelah Se'lai." Then turned knowing that there was nothing more than he could do here.

It was almost as if during that moment, some part of him Clicked and the Old Navy Insticts he was engraved with during the Reaper War came back, and he made the logical choice. He turned and made his way through the damaged hallways and tagged along a few other Human Survivors and pulled them aboard the Station before the Ship could FTL Jump, and after that he sealed the Station Door, and watched as the ship just dissapeared.

Val made her way to the med bay were Dr. Aves was trying to get Jacoopi off the ship. "Here Doc let me help you." Taking I'm under the other arm she helped them into the station. They set him down against the wall around a corner. Well the doc worked on her patient, Val started back towards the ship. As She did Roran was making his way out of the airlock as the ship is ejected from the station. Over everyones Omni-tools, Neeha said in a sad voice, "Forgive me Roran Vas'Neema Nar Rayya. Everyone else, I'm sorry, Keelah se'lai." Once she finished, the ship made a FTL jump and exploded due to too much damage. Val stood in shock as she watched the ship.

After a second or two she snapped out of it and turned to Gemli, as she secured her Omni-tool and com system, "WERE IS BLAKE?" Just then she noticed the scorch make by the door to the control room, with her biotics flaring as much as she safely can, "SOVEREIGN!! THIS TIME, ONE WAY OR AN OTHER YOUUUU DIE!! AND DONT EVEN THINK OF HURTING THAT BOY!!"

Roran's heart just dropped. No Navy training could have prepared any Quarian for that. He seated himself in a nearby observation chair at the desk for an AI Maintainance Terminal and looked up at the roof of the Station.

A Sovereighn Research Center. Great, He heard the rocket that went off in the control room above him, and his Omni-tool detected signals that it hadnt it in 15 years. This however couldnt pull him out of the sadness his heart had delved into. He just pointed to the nearby door and said to the Human Crew he had rescued: "You guys should you know, get outta here, before that Rouge AI kills you..."

Blake watched as a large rapid fire style gun dropped from the ceiling, and pointed at him. Sovereign spoke to everyone now. "Do as I say, or you all die".

Blake learned a lot more then Sov had probably expected or wanted from that one sentence. One, Sovereign could not immediately kill them all, which meant Life Support was isolated. Outgoing comms must have been too, because he could not contact them until they reached the station. Two, he needed something from them, which meant he wasn't going to kill all of them. Hopefully. Three, Sovereign could not, at least currently, indoctrinate people.

He got on comms. "Its okay, I am fine. Clearly he needs something, so he won't kill all of us. Nor can he. Otherwise, he would have already made his point by starting to drain oxygen. Life support systems must be isolated, with no ability to link to it. I think outgoing comms must be too, which means Sovereign is trapped here just like I am in this room".

Unfortunately, it appears Sovereign had a contingency for that. "Do as I say, or I start killing off the survivors one by one. How many friends do you want to lose?"

And now Blake knew Sovereign wanted him to do something. Which meant it was everyone else he was threatening. As he realized that, a monitor showed a security camera showing Gemli and Val, as four YMIR mechs came out of the various hallways surrounding them. As worried as Blake was, disbelief came over him. "Are you serious? The life support systems are isolated, but not the damn mech controls?!"

Gemli took cover behind a doorway as another rocket got fired. The YMIR mechs were making their usual annoying comments like "Unauthorized Lifeform Detected" and "Initiating Extermination Protocal. This one, Gemli understood. Unless Sovereign was playing them, which was actually highly likely. Still, he had hope.

"No, he just has access to the User Database. We don't have clearance for the station, so the entire security system wants us dead reguardless of what he wants. It also means he can add us to the list...or remove others" Gemli mentioned. "That said, the door between you and us is shut down tight. He clearly has access to the door controls, there is no way we can blast through it!"

Blake decided to at least find out Sovereign's intentions. "What do you want?"

"Re-enable the Hardlink connections".

Meanwhile, at Roran, as a drone approached them weapons primed, one of the doors shut close at such a velocity that the drone was completely destroyed, and emergency lighting showed up on the ceiling, where the cameras could not see. Roran then got a secret message on a secure channel to his Omni-Tool. "To the hanger. Hurry".

(Revelation of Sovereign deserved a long post)

"What the Hell?" Roran said in a rarely intrigued voice as he looked at his Omni-Tool. He then got up and walked over to the drone that was smashed by the door.

"I just got on this Damn Station and i cant even be left alone for five seconds!" He shouted as he kicked the destroyed mech then Rubbed his foot.

As of course, his current mood was not of a following orders type. Did he really want to follow this random persons Directions? What if it was a trap? Honestly, waddling in self-pity would be what he'd normally do But hey, what the hell. Hopefully someone would be there waiting to put him out of his misery.

So after those Brief Five minutes of thought, he hardwired the door and opened it. Then followed the Station signs to the Hanger.

"Goddamn Reapers...thought we killed all of them...sent them to hell..." Roran Muttered to himself as he began to rewire a door panel into the Hanger bay.

(Took me longer then expected, I just wrote three essays and survived thanksgiving)

As Othesat quickly learned, trying the direct approach is not going to be so easy. Four automatic turrets emerged from the ceiling and began firing at her, as every door in the room started to seal shut. There were a variety of consoles and machinery around, but nothing would give cover for long as heavy mechs were inbound on her location.

"Yeah, under Section 12" Blake mentioned. He was not sure if Val was making this up as she went along, so he just went with it.

"What I want is simple. I want to leave! Re-enable the hardlink connections to the rest of the station systems, or watch your friends die....or maybe, I should let them watch you die, and then make one of them do it or they will watch the rest die".

"Jeese, is it me, or is Sovereign a bit more...unstable...then what the reports mentioned" Blake told them.

Gemli tried to force the door open, but the barrier stopped him and pushed him back.

Meanwhile, as Roran would be getting closer to the hangar, he would soon find himself near a hallway with a window that overlooked it....as well as possible the largest ship ever seen since the Destiny Ascension. No wonder the station was called Shipcove Station, or why it was a blacksite and so confidential, or doing such advanced research into a Reaper ship. What Roran would see in the hanger is a massive Capital Ship, an original design of which has never been seen before....and two hardlink connections, both disconnected, running to it.

On the side, it read "S.S.V. Dawnbreaker"

Blake tried to covertly hack a console, but Sov locked it down before he could get anywhere. "Now, you are going to enable the hardlinks, understood?"

Blake shook his head. "We enable the hardlinks, you kill us anyways".

"Yeah, but your going to do it simply because you hold the belief that maybe, you can find a way to stop me, but you need time for that...time I don't plan to give you much of. Now enable the hardlinks!"

Notably, the turrets fired at Gemli's, Blake's, Val's, and Jacoopi's feet as warning shots....before starting to aim a little higher for the rest of them forcing Gemli to take cover.

Roran would take a step or two back and wipe off his Visor, then run to the window and look at it some more.

"Oh my god....its...its beautiful!" Roran would shout to himself with excitment.

A Magnificent piece of Engineering, the best of the best no doubt, a ship of that size could hold the Highest Caliber weaponry, on board navigation systems, its own Command Center and practically, the entire Quarian Race!

Then Roran Remembered. Sovereighn. If Sovereighn got onto the ship Via-Hardlink Connections, the Galaxy would be Done for.

I guess its time to move along and Stop The Reaper before he destroys the Galaxy, just like the good old days.