Mass Effect: Going Dark

[JD196]

The Krogan shifted, looking for the right words. "Shepard is certainly unique. She has a strength of will of such magnitude people flock to follow her. She is a worthy battlemaster indeed."

[General Havoc]

Shaddai's reply, as ever with the Creator, was just slightly delayed.

"Shepard-Spectre-Commander asked to understand the reasons for our participation in this program, and our relationship with the other Geth conclave. We explained the situation to the best of our abilities.

Once again the Geth paused, its lens-eye blinking as it surveyed the possible replies. Several trillion computational cycles later, it spoke again.

"Shepard-Spectre-Commander's physical proportions conform within expected circadian cycles to available medical documentation," it said, sounding confused. "Are our records inaccurate in this regard?"

[JD196]

Tallos turned to the geth. "Organics tend to see their hero's as larger than life characters. From all of Shepard's exploits I've herd that she is a hundred foot tall and eats krogan kids for breakfast." He laughed. "Of cause meeting the real thing is always unusual as it turns out that the 'savior of the galaxy' is a small squishy human female.

[rhoenix]

Mikhail entered the briefing room. "I sing blues and greens to you," he said to the Rachni Warrior.

Though rachni could not blink, strictly speaking, the large brood warrior was clearly taken by surprise as the large, insectoid head turned to look at Mikhail directly, feelings of happy surprise echoing from him as he did. "I am honored to sing greens and blues to you in return, Mikhail Jager," the rachni said happily. "The singers here sing of Truth-Singer. Why do they sing of her being taller?" the rachni continued, tones of curiosity echoing within his telepathic voice.

[Agent Fisher]

Kalis Maraka had looked around, exploring what he could of the ship. After all, it was famous. The ship that had saved the galaxy. Finally, his omnitool pinged and the Turian headed towards the meeting.


The door swept open and the tall Turian stepped inside, catching the tail end of the Krogan saying something about small squishy humans.

Kalis looked around, moving towards a seat, nodding at the Turian against the wall, glad to see a fellow member ofh is species. The biotic took his seat, staying silent.

[Soleimon Berserker]

Laughing brightly at the Geth's answer, Sol quickly waved once more before stopping to catch his breath. "I don't think i'll ever get used to just how literal Geth are, but you do bring up a good point Shaddai. As our Krogan friend here said, most organics hold the subjects of legends to almost impossible standards, it's a failing that we all have to blow some things out of proportion. I think each and every person in this room might have at least one story going around about them that has grown into something impossible. It's probably almost a requirement to be a Spectre, their supposed to be a group of living breathing legends."

Leaning back in his chair, the biotic glanced over as the door to the conference room slid open and revealed one more Turian entering the room. He'd nodded to the other Turian in the room but the rest of them were ignored other than cursory glances, essentially other than small groups, most of the candidates were keeping to themselves. Minus the Quarian/Krogan/Geth and Human/Rachni groups in the room of course. All in all, it was a room full of every style of war veteran.

'Not a bad spread of personality, still....I wonder what Shepard has planned for us.'

[Cynical Cat]

"There is a common association of size with power, at least among humans and some other bipeds," replied Mikhail. "So on some level they expect Shepard to be three meters tall and capable of wrestling a krogan battlemaster with one arm tied behind her back."

[frigidmagi]

Cpl Lysander slipped in as the Quarian was laughing. He had a moment of curiosity over what was so funny but ignored it. Time enough for that later.

[rhoenix]

"There is a common association of size with power, at least among humans and some other bipeds," replied Mikhail. "So on some level they expect Shepard to be three meters tall and capable of wrestling a krogan battlemaster with one arm tied behind her back."

The brood warrior tilted his head to the side; looking thoughtful. "I sing understanding; many of us sang confusion-songs when they met Truth-Singer, for she is small for one who sings such powerful battle-songs. We sing the same association; the elder among my species' singers are larger than the younger, and sing more powerful songs."

He rustled slightly, darker blue of determination and a slight pinkish tinge of embarrassment coloring his words. "I have learned to not sing while making assumptions."

[SirNitram]

Many-As-One entered the room. It moved to the wall, allowing a comfortable distance between it and other lifeforms.. But primarily between it and Shaddai. All things feared Geth, it knew. But the Loyalist conclave appeared to go beyond mere fear; it wanted the mainline consensus to cease. Violator. Several of Many's runtimes were, contrary to it's words, old. They were in the Morning War. The only data it could pull from such old runtimes was a concept the Geth understood too well now.

Terror.

A threat not to a single Geth; such a thing is meaningless. Not to a single platform; this too was nothing. But to the Geth entirity, akin to the fear of the Heretics viral bomb. But not all in the Morning War were consumed by this concept/emotion/feeling. Not the Loyalists.

But still it remained at a distance. Shaddai had more runtimes; it could hack Many by sheer attrition.

[rhoenix]

The door opened, and Shepard stepped through, the same two Spectres accompanying her as before - an asari, and a turian. She looked around at those gathered, and then began in a clear, military voice. "All of you have been nominated or sponsored through various agencies to join the Spectres. There will be trials, at the end of which I will see who should have the right to wear the black armor, and who needs a ticket home. I warn you now that the trials will not be easy, and they will be designed to tell myself and the rest of those judging your performance the main things we need to know about you."

She looked around at those gathered once again, and nodded once. "You will also see Emily Wong aboard, and she will not interview you or take pictures of you without your express permission, though she will probably ask. Good luck to you all - we'll arrive on-base in just over twelve hours."

With that, she walked back out. The two other Spectres looked at those in the room, and nodded to themselves before leaving as well.

[Sabre72]

While aboard the shuttle, Junko, on the floor legs crossed, with deep breaths, starts a meditation method infused with biotics. Each breath in she glows with biotic power, each breath out small biotic flares curl off her body like smoke. she repeats this method many times in front of Iona.

Junko then speaks to her with a deep exhale "So..... Specter trials, whats your impression on them?"

[rhoenix]

A small human woman, holding a deactivated and lightless camera walked into the starboard lounge, with an apologetic smile. "Hello everyone, I'm Emily Wong, with BNN News. Can I ask any of you for pictures, or perhaps a private interview before we arrive?" her smile looked hopeful.

[White Haven]

Iona's own silent past-time was more practical, for all that it might look whimsical. Three small rubber spheres, a touch under fist-sized, moved in a circle in the air just in front of her, each one rimmed with a shimmering blue halo. The corresponding aura around the woman herself was subtle, barely present; the exercise was far more about control than raw power. When the other passenger finally spoke up, the balls staggered for a moment, dropping several inches before stopping and resuming their endless loop. She remained silent for a long pause until she was confident that they were under control again before replying.

"While it does somewhat rankle to have to prove myself rather than having my record speak for me, intellectually they make much more sense than simply allowing anyone in on the Council's say. I'm confident."

She reached out and plucked two of the balls from the air with her hands, stowing them in the small pouch sitting on the empty seat beside her before going back for the third and packing it away. At the same time, her head tilted aside fractionally, "And you? We should be arriving quite soon, if we are still on schedule."

[JD196]

Tallos stood and faced the reporter. "If it means that you won't be pestering be all through the trip then you can have an interview now."

[Sabre72]

Iona's own silent past-time was more practical, for all that it might look whimsical. Three small rubber spheres, a touch under fist-sized, moved in a circle in the air just in front of her, each one rimmed with a shimmering blue halo. The corresponding aura around the woman herself was subtle, barely present; the exercise was far more about control than raw power. When the other passenger finally spoke up, the balls staggered for a moment, dropping several inches before stopping and resuming their endless loop. She remained silent for a long pause until she was confident that they were under control again before replying.

"While it does somewhat rankle to have to prove myself rather than having my record speak for me, intellectually they make much more sense than simply allowing anyone in on the Council's say. I'm confident."

She reached out and plucked two of the balls from the air with her hands, stowing them in the small pouch sitting on the empty seat beside her before going back for the third and packing it away. At the same time, her head tilted aside fractionally, "And you? We should be arriving quite soon, if we are still on schedule."

Junko continues her exercise uninterrupted, then replies back to Iona, "The alliance believes in me, they have since i was only 14, they pretty much have looked after me since." Junko takes couple deep breaths and exhales then continues, "basically am giving it all I got".


Junko, takes slight interest in Ionas three spheres, " Ah control method?, I used to teach that to my students on Illum.

Junko lets off a bigger puff biotic power,"The exercise am doing right now, which I may have made up not sure, It builds my biotic endurance up, and the thing is anyone at any power level can do it, completely adjustable, more power you have the heavier the weights are basically."

With a smirk, "I myself practice more power over most stuff these days, I had control down pat since I was born, like yourself Iona.
Am referring to the natural control, I didn't need implants to learn how to use my biotics, I have had them since I was born its apart of who I am. big thing for a human apparently, since most humans remember when they didn't have biotics."

Junko chuckles, "Am sorry, am chatty its a nerves thing."

[rhoenix]

Tallos stood and faced the reporter. "If it means that you won't be pestering me all through the trip then you can have an interview now."

The much smaller human shook her head at this with a smile. "Oh no, I promised Shepard I wouln't pester anyone. If you're serious though, we can go for a walk to the port lounge and talk for a while."

[JD196]

"Very well." Tallos walked past the reporter over to the port lounge, where he stood leaning against the wall.

[rhoenix]

"Very well." Tallos walked past the reporter over to the port lounge, where he stood leaning against the wall.

Once Emily Wong had followed the large krogan into the port lounge, she sat down in one of the chairs. "What I would ask, Urdnot Tallos, is your permission to have you on camera, saying a few words. You'll have the authority to have something redacted if you're not comfortable with it later on. Right now, I just want to get a few first impressions from you. Is that okay?"

[JD196]

"Of cause, just ask away. As long as you don't say anything too offensive I'll do my best to answer."

[rhoenix]

"Of cause, just ask away. As long as you don't say anything too offensive I'll do my best to answer."

"Okay," Emily said with an encouraging smile, before tapping a few keys on her omnitool. The camera lifted off the table, and shone its single bright light on Tallos. "With me here is Urdnot Tallos, a krogan soldier who has been nominated for the Spectre Trials. Tallos, what surprised you the most about being nominated for the Spectres?"

[JD196]

"Mostly the fact that there are much older wiser and more powerful warriors back on Tuchanka. Still I trust Urdnot Wrex's judgement and if he feels that I am the best candidate for the spectres then I will do my best not to let him down."

[rhoenix]

"Mostly the fact that there are much older wiser and more powerful warriors back on Tuchanka. Still I trust Urdnot Wrex's judgement and if he feels that I am the best candidate for the spectres then I will do my best not to let him down."

"Good, good," Emily replied, nodding to the krogan. "One more question for you - what do you think of the other candidates you've seen so far?"

[JD196]

"I haven't spoken to them much. The quarian has a reputation for being an extremely good fighter and a powerful biotic. The two geth are hard to figure out, they seem to be... unusually at odds for the geth. The rachni is impossible to read, he seems to be polite but anything that can kill someone that easy is not to be taken lightly. That's all the ones that I have spoken to but the main thing that speaks for them is their skill on the battlefield, sitting exchanging pleasantries is a skill a warrior rarely has to employ."

[rhoenix]

"I haven't spoken to them much. The quarian has a reputation for being an extremely good fighter and a powerful biotic. The two geth are hard to figure out, they seem to be... unusually at odds for the geth. The rachni is impossible to read, he seems to be polite but anything that can kill someone that easy is not to be taken lightly. That's all the ones that I have spoken to but the main thing that speaks for them is their skill on the battlefield, sitting exchanging pleasantries is a skill a warrior rarely has to employ."

"True," Emily smiled, "I doubt Shepard ever really enjoys being in front of a camera. Well, thank you, Tallos. May I have another interview with you after the trials?"