Mass Effect - Power Struggle Pt. 01

The Batarian stood up, his friends following suit. They filed out of the room apathetically as the human kept talking. As they turned to walk out the door, all of them nodded in greeting wordlessly and slipped past. Aside from the Vorcha.

"K'ttock!"

He slipped past without trouble but glared at Shepard in particular.

"A friend of yours?" Samara asked bemusedly.

"Not that I know of, but I've never been popular with Vorcha. Do I want to know what he called us?"

Liara coughed awkwardly, "No, you really don't."

The man punched in some notes on his datapad, a moment later, the room cooled even more. Shepard opened her helmet graciously. She had had time to snap the name to the face in her mind. A few years ago, she might have been sloppy enough to zone out while waiting. Lack of attention to detail like that hurt more feelings than was beneficial.

"Shepard, as always, it's an honor." He offered her a hand and a semi-nervous smile.

"Verner, right?" She shook it, giving back her usual on-the-job smile. "Conrad Verner?"

"Correct! I'm pleased that you remember. I hope it's not for the trouble I caused."

"Really, it was nothing." The first time, it had been nothing. Just trying to give him a nudge in the right direction. The second time, she'd probably saved his life, but both times she'd been a little harsher than she liked to. "You'll understand if I need to keep the pleasantries short."

"Of course!" He kicked back in his chair, suddenly the picture of ease. "You probably have some questions."

"Yes, like-"

"And as always, you keep impressive company." He mused, "Ever since you stepped in through the airlock, all of my men have been talking about you and your two Asari bodyguards."

Shepard caught the glimmer of Kasumi moving out of the corner of her eye, heading from behind her to the server rooms. Shepard cleared her throat.

"They're not bodyguards, these are my friends, Liara is an expert in Prothean technology, Samara is a justicar."

"My apologies," Conrad nodded casually, "It's just that everybody kinda falls behind Shepard, you know?"

She could feel both Liara and Samra giving her amused looks. "Anyway, as soon as-"

"Of course, you and I, we go way back, don't we? Did Shepard ever tell the two of you about how she saved my life back in '83?"

"I hadn't even met her at the time," Samara goaded him.

"I fear I may still have been trapped in a Prothean ruin at the time," Liara added.

"Well, twice now she's-"

Shepard cleared her throat loudly, "Look, a little while after we touched down planetside, we lost contact with the Normandy. I need to get back into contact with them as soon as possible, and an explanation as to what's going on would be nice too."

The look of seriousness crept back for about a second, then vanished again, "Around the time you touched down, a solar flare knocked out the last of our satellites, the one bouncing out our distress signal. Without it, we're stuck on mute."

"How badly knocked out? We can get shortwave set up with the Normandy for a time, and even use them to bounce outgoing signals, but after a while-"

"Knocked out knocked out. As in, down. If you and your team want to go salvage it, you can, but even then I don't think we could re-launch it from here. Not really the atmosphere for it."

"If that's the case, we need to start evac-ing the miners as soon as possible. Time could be of the essence here."

"What?" Conrad's face twisted, "No. If the issues with the machinery are fixed, the life support will go back to being functional enough to preserve life."

"Yes, but for how long?" Samara stepped in, "Without contact with Exogeni, it's only a matter of time. As well, you would be unable to call for help again should anything else go wrong."

His face twisted more, "But didn't you just say you could set up communication with the Normandy?"

"Shortwave, Conrad." Shepard sighed.

"So?"

"Pardon me, Commander." Liara nudged Shepard's arm, "Perhaps the executive officer doesn't understand the nature of shortwave communication."

Shepard looked at Liara for a moment, then rolled her eyes back to Conrad, "Do you?"

"Well... the waves are shorter..."

"Goddess give me strength," Samara muttered under her breath.

"Do I want to know how you got to be in control of a colony that survives by virtue of radio waves without knowing the first thing about them?"

"I usually delegate the radio duty, sue me." Conrad shrugged.

"That is a fine practical explanation for why his distress signal was so messy." Kasumi shimmered into being as she stepped out of the comms room. "The technical explanation is that he seems to have triggered every distress code that wasn't mutually exclusive."

Conrad spun quickly to look at her, causing Kasumi to reflexively revert to being semi-transparent.

"You didn't tell me you brought a fourth."

"She probably hadn't planned on it, but I'm glad she did." Kasumi sat down in one of the office chairs and spun around, half-visible. "You should see the encryption they run even the basic files through in this place."

"H-hold on now!" Conrad was suddenly reeling, "Those are Exogeni's files, not mine! You can't just-"

"Relax, big man. Even Shepard would have to pay for them." Kasumi waved a semi-tangible hand, "But if you don't tell her about those Prothean rocks you've been mining, I will."

"Prothean rocks?" Liara squeaked.

"So not only did you gain control of a mining colony without understanding the first part of running it, you gained control of one that just so happened to be mining Council-protected material for private profit." Shepard scoffed.

"Now, hold on, let me explain, at least a bit. It's not "Prothean Rocks" we're mining here."

"And if when Liara looks at them, she doesn't agree with you, what then?"

"The Hanar are here from the council to ensure that what we're doing is above-board. It's not Prothean, it's a new element!"

Shepard glanced to Kasumi, who shrugged.

"He probably thinks he's telling the truth, but at the same time, he has been monitoring outgoing transmissions ever since they started digging them up."

"I'm not trying to keep from getting in trouble with the council, if that's what you mean. It was more about... corporate espionage. Exogeni can't have other companies setting up shop here until we know what it is we're working with."

"And patent it," Samara added for him dismissively.

"You understand that, when we leave, I am going to have to report this to the council?" Shepard asked professionally.

"They know that we're here. And, if we don't report back to Exogeni soon, they'll be required to come forward about the nature of the emergency. Exogeni isn't keeping this place a secret," Conrad shrugged.

"Then let's talk about this new element." Shepard shrugged back.

"I've been calling it... Heinleinium."

Shepard immediately groaned, Liara and Samara looked at her confusedly.

"Really? Was Asimovium taken? Herbertium? Hubbardium?"

"At least he did not choose to name it after himself." Liara forced a smile.

"Of course not, Vernerium doesn't roll off the tongue."

Shepard bit her tongue before she could tell him that Heinleinium didn't either. He seemed like the kind of person that would be here all day arguing about it if she did.

"Anyway, I was appointed as chief officer of this colony around six months ago. I was working as an assistant at Exogeni HQ for a few months and my boss decided to promote me to head of one of his colonies."

"Bit of a leap in responsibility." Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it's a dangerous job, and not many people want to do it. But I figured, if he's going to trust me with it, it must be because he thinks I'm the man for it."

"Hold on," Samara interrupted, "Even if this is a colony on Metgos, I don't see how the role as chief officer would be so dangerous."

"O-oh, well, since we're so close to the border of Citadel space, we're able to get away with using non-standard mining staff. You may have noticed how uh... "diverse" our staff was earlier.

"Somewhat bold of you to admit in a conversation that's going on the record." Shepard shifted in her seat.

"Well, it's uh... sort of an uneasy equilibrium. When you turn in this report, they'll send an inspection request to one of their business regulators. Four times out of five, we're far enough out and it's enough of a hassle that that request just sort of... gets lost in the shuffle. And when we do actually get an inspection, since Exogeni has some sway on the Citadel, the cost is... well... negligible compared to what we make by using cheaper labor."

Liara shifted uncomfortably, Shepard was over being too phased by this sort of thing.

"Good racket if you can get it, though it does mean there's nobody to help you if the workers decide they would prefer new management." Samara interjected.

"Yeah, that's the danger." Conrad shuffled his omni-tool nervously.

"Seems like your miners might not be thrilled with you currently." Shepard nudged the conversation.

"Yes and no, they aren't thrilled with the situation, but I've recognized their right to protest it. The last executive officer didn't do that... which is why I'm here."

"What happened to him?"

"He uh... barricaded himself in his office with a gun and a load of company money they were due. So when they cut through the door, they threw him in the mines."

"They put him to work?" Liara asked, "That seems only fair."

"No, it's uh..." Conrad shuffled even more nervously. "You need an atmosphere suit to be down there, the air pressure is... unlivable."

Liara and Samara both muttered something about the Goddess under their breath almost in unison.

"Bad way to go," Shepard replied dryly.

"The workers that were there... when they want something from me, they tell me about just how bad sometimes." Conrad cleared his throat and then shuddered. "About how when he opened his mouth to scream, they could hear his teeth popping."

"Sounds like you're on the wrong end of the mob here." Shepard changed the subject.

"Look, they're asking me for something I can't give them!" Conrad protested, "If I could make the comms work again, don't you think I would?"

"Why aren't they working if you don't have comms? Seems like the only thing you would need the comms for is keeping the base running."

"Nobody actually lives on Metgos. These guys can't just walk down the street to see their alien wives and kids. Even the ones that don't have family to talk to, no comms, no extranet signal. Do you understand just how barely restrained by porn society is from breaking down?"

Liara and Samara exchanged a slightly amused but doubtful glance. Kasumi swiveled her seat again before adding "He's right, you know." boredly.

"And your hope is that if you keep shipping Exogeni out this new element-"

"Heinleinium."

"-this new element, they'll realize that they need to send another satellite network to bring your comms back up?"

"We're the only place in the galaxy currently providing them Heinleinium, they have to keep our facilities up and running!"

"Did it ever occur to you that the conclusion they might reach is that, since production hasn't stopped, the satellite network was superfluous all along?" Kasumi kept swiveling lazily.

Conrad opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again, then opened it again.

"Why would that be what they choose?"

"Well, when faced with two choices, and one costs money and the other doesn't, I would trust most businesses to choose the latter." Kasumi stopped spinning for a moment, half-tangible omni-tool flipping open, then started spinning again, "And that satellite network is expensive. Or at least it was."

Conrad opened his mouth to speak again, then closed it glumly.

"How far is Exogeni HQ?" Shepard broke the moment of silence.

"Too far to just bounce a message to them, if that's what you're asking." Kasumi cut Conrad off.

"You would need the proper channels anyway, have to be tuned to the right signal, you know?" Conrad added.

"Well, if it's to save your skin from angry miners..." Shepard started.

"Angry, horny miners," Kasumi added cheerfully.

"I don't think that's really-" Conrad started.

"I can vouch for the irritability of working men when they are isolated from the extranet," Liara added almost silently.

All of the occupied chairs in the room turned to look at her, Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"It was never a real danger!" Liara clarified, "But the rate of fighting rose in almost direct correlation to how productivity decreased. We've already seen productivity grind to a halt, it would be troublesome to let the issue fester while so many dangers lie in close proximity. If two workers happened to be fighting near the airlock controls..."

"So I guess we shortwave a message up to the Normandy, have them get close enough to an Extranet barge to contact Exogeni, and then you guys just wait for them to get you set up again." Shepard mused.

The chairs turned to Conrad this time.

"Oh, uh..." Conrad scratched under his chin nervously. "I don't actually know the channels, I don't think anybody here does."

There was a moment of stunned silence that Liara broke with surprising annoyance, "I'm sorry, WHAT?"

"They were already set up when I got here! This is the first time since I arrived that I've needed them without them being automatic!"

Shepard fought the urge to bury her face in her hands, "Then it sounds like we need to grab you and haul you back to HQ."

"No no! I'm needed here. Besides, if you use the right keywords, you should be able to get the message across."

"So..." Shepard took a deep breath, "You want me to go send the Normandy knocking on a corporation's front door and ask nicely for them to give your illegal miners their porn back in order to keep you from getting airlocked?"

"Look, you're already doing a lot by coming down here and fixing our systems. I'm not asking you to do that much, if you want to fix things up and then get on your way, that's fine. But it would help out a lot if you could at least bounce a message to Exogeni for us."

Shepard felt that familiar twisting in her guy, the one where she was going to do something noble but exceptionally stupid.

"Kasumi, how long for repairs?"

"Assuming the miners don't help, a day to get things back to minimum safety standards and about two days to leave it better than we found it. That's just the stuff the system reports though, should be a lot more damage that doesn't get parsed. Journey from Exogeni HQ and back should be about five if that's why you're asking."

The twisting worsened. She sighed and looked at Conrad.

"Do you have accommodations for my squad and me?"

"There should be enough executive suites. Worst-case scenario, you have to go two-to-a-room or share a room with one of our Hanar diplomats."

Shepard leaned forward and gave a slow, sweeping glance of her squad.

"Now, if any of you would rather-"

"I don't really have a choice in the matter, ne?" Kasumi interrupted, "You need me here for repairs."

"Tali or Garrus could do it if you don't want to."

Kasumi went back to spinning, "Yeesh, you're the master of elbowing my pride right in the ribs."

"Additionally, it would seem I am needed to identify if the new element is based in Prothean technology," Liara added.

Shepard winced, she had meant it as a nice gesture, but the two of them were right, they really were the people for the job.

"If I am the only one with a real choice, it would be poor form for me to leave." Samara sighed, "And a Justicar's services never go unwanted."

Shepard sighed, "Alright, Kasumi, get the shortwave antennas working. Conrad, you start writing down exactly what it is that we need to tell the suits at Exogeni. Liara, Samara, you're with me."

She stood up, Conrad stood up nervously and offered his hand.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you, Shepard."

Shepard hesitated, then took his hand. He was an idiot, but there was no reason to hurt his feelings.

"Where exactly are you and your asari friends headed?" He added nervously.

"We're going to go talk to your miners."

"Are you going to talk some sense into-"

She squeezed his hand harshly and smiled, "The labor dispute is between you and them, I just need to look into this new element for my report."