After two hours, the ship was finally in position. The quarian cruiser was still guarding the mass relay while the rest of the formation was only a few light seconds away from their ship, the two frigates protecting the exploration vessel. Mordin had the cruiser's telescopes focused on the various ships.
All of the ships were, according to Kenn, models from the Morning War. The cruiser was a long needle-like ship with a donut-shaped section near the middle. The two frigates were half the size of the cruiser and looked a bit like tadpoles, the donut-shaped section was at the front with three tails, a large one extending directly behind and two smaller ones protruding from the top and bottom of the ring. The exploration ship, which was slightly shorter than the frigates but looked bulkier, had the inverse configuration, the donut was near the back and the body extended forward, but without the smaller tails.
At a closer look, it was obvious that the ships had been patched up numerous times. Entire sections looked to have been replaced with whatever was on hand at the time and whoever had done the repair had not bothered with fixing the paint.
Several shuttles left one of the frigates and headed for their cruiser. Mordin made sure that everything was in order one last time and their group left for the hanger bay where Kenn opened the doors from a local console. The five shuttles landed in the middle of the hanger and dozens of quarian marines stepped out.
The leader stepped up to Kenn and they exchanged a few words. The rest of the marines split in groups of three and started to move through the ship, headed for key areas like the engineering bay, the core room, the weapon bays, and so on while the largest made their way to the primary bridge.
"The admiral is ready to see you," one marine said and beckoned them into the shuttle.
"Let's not make him wait then," Taylor said.
Their group boarded the small craft and she watched as they left the massive batarian cruiser behind and headed for the exploration ship. From afar, it had seemed only slightly smaller than the frigates but once they were up close the difference was striking. The frigates were around eight or nine hundred feet long while their destination was closer to six.
The hangar at their destination was much smaller with enough space for three shuttles side-by-side. The quarians had been smart, however, and stacked them on the side when not in use. Taylor followed behind Kenn as they disembarked. Admiral Zorah was here to greet them in person, accompanied by several of his staff and a few guards.
"Kenn'Teedal nar Ziwrop," the admiral greeted Kenn and shook his hand. "Allow me to welcome you back to the quarian migrant fleet."
"It is an honor Admiral Rael'Zorah vas Rayya," Kenn bowed.
"And welcome aboard the Vaador honored guests," the admiral turned towards them.
"It is my honor as well admiral Zorah," Taylor bowed. "I am Taylor Hebert and these are my companions, Doctor Mordin Solus and Niusa T'Saro."
With the introductions out of the way, the admiral led her and her two friends through the ship to a spacious conference room. Taylor found the contrast between the batarian and quarian ships fascinating. While both vessels had somewhat utilitarian interiors, the batarian military ship had preferred sharp angles, tight corridors, and frequent bulkheads in contrast to the more relaxed atmospheres and more organic shapes of the quarian exploration vessel. It was much more to her tastes if she had to choose.
"Please take a seat and be at ease," the admiral gestured at a group of sofas in one corner of the room. "Some of my peers would insist on something more formal but I have the impression you are not one for ceremonies Taylor'Hebert. You may also remove your helmet if you wish, the crew has been briefed and they have my full confidence."
She took a seat with a good view of the door and removed her helmet.
"A vid-call does not do justice to your appearance," admiral Zorah remarked. "This is very unusual for a first contact," the admiral continued, "we have never encountered a lone member of an undiscovered species who took steps to remain hidden."
"There's a first for everything," Taylor smiled.
She had prepared for this with Mordin and Niusa. Neither were experts in first contact and there were very few who were since it was so rare. By the same token, it was also highly improbable that Admiral Zorah would be an expert on the subject either. Which meant everyone in the room was improvising and mistakes were bound to happen one way or another.
She could work with that.
"To be honest, I am probably the only member of my species currently in this dimension and my situation is … unusual to say the least."
"This raises more questions than I expected," the admiral seemed taken aback. "You are asserting that not only do alternate dimensions exist but that you originate from one of them?"
"Yes but there are some aspects of my nature that I wish to keep private for the moment, the theory behind dimensional travel is one of them."
"It's understandable," the admiral nodded, "there are some technologies we are not willing to share with outsiders as well and it is the same for all of the council races. Maybe we started off in the wrong direction, what were you hoping to accomplish with this first contact?"
"Well, I did not want to leave Kenn to the mercies of a team of marines with pointed questions." Taylor answered honestly. "Even if I took the freighter and left with my companions, someone was bound to ask how four people managed to stand against a hundred batarian pirates and take their ship."
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"How did you take on a ship full of pirates?" The admiral asked curiously. "It's not something that can be done casually." Niusa snorted at that.
"You've seen that I can shapeshift," she said and the admiral nodded. "One of the things I'm willing to reveal about my nature is that this power is not innate to me but part of a symbiotic bond with another life-form. The full array of powers I can display through this bond is fairly expansive. For example, I can create semi-autonomous drones," she summoned one of her small beetles which landed on the table, "and control them remotely. Of course, those drones can also take on much more dangerous forms."
"This is …" Admiral Zorah was stunned. "This is taking a different turn that I expected. I assume that one of your intentions with the first contact was to avoid possible misunderstandings if a second-hand testimony was provided?"
"In essence, yes," Taylor nodded. "The way I took care of the pirates was extremely brutal, much more than necessary. I learned what would happen to Niusa if she were captured and …"
"Hmm. I can see how some of my colleagues could have gotten a … distorted picture of the situation but you've been honest and haven't shown hostile intentions so far. If you don't mind me asking the question, what are your plans? You mentioned leaving with a freighter, I assume you had a destination in mind?"
"Our original deal with Kenn was that he would bring us closer to citadel space where we could buy our own ship. I am headed back to my home world, Mordin and Niusa are tagging along for the adventure after I helped them back on Omega."
"How did you end up there in the first place? It's not the first destination I would think of for a dimensional wanderer."
"I did not end up there by choice. I was severely wounded two years ago and it took some time for my symbiote to heal the damage. In the meantime, it seems like my body was found by an organization called Cerberus which transported me to Omega for some unknown reason."
The Admiral let out a string of curses in Khelish. "These damn vultures. You are lucky you escaped their clutches, I have lost many compatriots to their schemes."
"My condolences."
"I assume your home world is somewhere in another dimension? And that you know a way to cross there?"
"Yes to both. I was planning on equipping the ship with a shift drive and jump once I had reached the right system in this galaxy."
"If you're willing to tell, which system is it?"
"Sol, Earth to be precise. I used to be a human before my symbiosis. I assume Cerberus found my body somewhere on Earth after it was disposed of."
"Interesting, you seem to have a storied past but I don't want to pry. However, you need to know that the Sol system is still heavily guarded by the humans in this galaxy. They are quite protective of their blue marble."
"Of course they are," Taylor chuckled. "Such a pain …"
"Can you not travel to your home dimension and use the mass relays there?"
"No mass relays, at least that I know of. I also need to be at least in the same solar system to scan for the right dimension, there are too many to search through otherwise. Adjacency between dimensions is very tricky as well, one system usually maps to its copies through dimensions but their position relative to each-other can be desynchronized due to temporal drift."
"I see …" Admiral Zorah said. "This is quite complex, I understand why you are hesitant to share more about dimensional travel."
Suddenly, Taylor had an idea. She didn't need to enter Sol via the normal channels. The mass relays were likely heavily guarded but they were the only known method of long range travel, it was unlikely other avenues were under strict surveillance. She could build a slip drive and sneak into the system that way. Asteria didn't have stellar navigation data for this dimension but she was certain she could find them somewhere for the right price.
"Perhaps I can lend my help," the admiral continued. "You went above and beyond to help Kenn'Teedal and it is not something that can simply be repaid in gratitude. I can establish a legal identity for you with the fleet, it would make it easier for you to travel in citadel space and even access Sol, and provide you with a ship that is a fairer trade than a measly freighter for a heavy cruiser."
"A ship? I really don't …" Taylor tried to refuse.
----------------------------------------
Taylor did not manage to refuse the admiral's offer of a ship.
As it turned out, quarians were very serious about ships, much more than she had imagined. She suspected that the admiral had planned it from the start as he offered his own ship, the Vaador. There might be an element of endearing her to the quarians as well, he seemed the type to try to make allies in unexpected places.
While they were finalizing the deal, a quarian girl interrupted them and asked, begged almost, the admiral to let her become part of Taylor's crew. She introduced herself as Lela'Zorah vas Rozal and the admiral introduced her as his second niece.
"She's a very nice girl," Rael'Zorah said, "very dependable too if a bit reckless at times. She went to Tuchanka of all places for her pilgrimage."
"Nobody complained when I brought back these schematics for a new water recycler," Lela huffed.
And this was how she ended up with a new addition to her crew as well. To be fair, she hadn't resisted all that much. She already had a salarian scientist and an asari mercenary so a quarian engineer-adventurer-pilot was not that much of a stretch.
"What do you want to call her?" Lela asked.
"What do you mean?" Taylor asked, surprised. "Doesn't the ship already have a name?"
"She does but she's yours now," Lela said, "you can change it if you want. We do it when a new ship joins the flotilla, it gets a new name to represent a new life."
"Hmm," Taylor pondered. "What do you think?" She asked Mordin and Niusa.
"I think it sounds nice," Niusa answered, "a new name for a new life."
"Occasion worthy," Mordin nodded. "First ship always first love," he said with a longing sigh. She had never seen her salarian friend react like this before. It was nice to see a more emotional side to him rather than the calculating scientist.
She thought of possible names for the ship. The obvious options, the ones she discarded from the get go, were either the Enterprise or Millennium Falcon. She found them a bit too on the nose but at the same time, she didn't know many iconic ship names from science-fiction. She had always been more of a fantasy girl at heart like her mom.
Maybe … She grinned. Yes, it's perfect!
"Thou shalt be christened, Celebrimbor!" She declared. "Hand of Silver"
Once everything was in order, Admiral Zorah left the Celebrimbor with his team after giving Taylor and Lela a last farewell.
"May our paths cross again, Taylor'Hebert vas Celebrimbor," he shook her hand. "And take care of yourself, Lela," he hugged her.
Their group moved to the bridge where they watched the two quarian frigates and their prize retreat towards the mass relay. For their part, Lela started to fly the Celebrimbor towards the Qaxiu six relay to proceed on their way towards their original destination. Even if they didn't need a ship, Mordin's contact could still sell them other things they needed.
She would need a sizable quantity of materials to build the two starship drives she needed to reach Earth. It was always possible to mine an asteroid or two for raw materials and use her powers to refine them but it would be time and energy consuming compared to buying already processed materials. Long term, she was planning a full retrofit of the ship with better internal systems. A zero-point reactor, reactionless thrusters, improved shields and weapons, maybe some luxuries too like a greenhouse and interior pool.
The possibilities were endless after all.