Thessia - three years on

As part of the post war cruise the Auckland's been on, we just arrived at Thessia. Me and my sister are currently in Armali, and rebuilding is going along quite nicely. I've gotta admit, showing Asari Customs officials Alliance ID as well as the ID I got on Thessia as a teenager can confuse them for a second. Especially if your Asari sister does the same. So, that aside, I'm asking this - how are the rebuilding efforts in the rest of Asari space?

And, if anyones wondering, we'll be here for a few days for a bit of R'n'R, then we'll be at Illium for a few days before getting more orders. Anywhere good to visit while we're there?

I don't know much about where you should go, but I'll tell you where you shouldn't. You'll want to pay very close attention to the tour guides. Or, y'know, the big signs. There's still huge zones of the planet where the Reapers doused the area down with polonium-208 and, uh, you don't want to breathe that stuff in. They're mostly setting those cordons and barriers for a reason.

Most helpful. Now, I can put a message on the ships noticeboard, so that the marines know where not to go while on shore leave.

Please, what kind of travel advise is that? I would think a crew of an Alliance ship is not like "hey, a restricted access area, let's have a hike just there!". Watching decontamination drones and New Land Forming at work is not that exciting either - at least to me.

After all the abandoned areas are just that, abandoned anyway. The new centers in Armali are rebuilt to a good degree as you can see for yourself, so are most others. You could visit the Armali Memorial with your crew, it used to be a unspecific war memorial for all kinds of conflicts before the war, got destroyed and is now reconstructed, of course the most prominent addition is the hall of memories for the Reaper War. Your contact officer can arrange a guide and official reception for your crew as Alliance representatives.

But I guess your people will seek entertainment? East Armali is still the place to go for that. The saying goes, some of the big investors there were happy to be able to rebuild parts of it even shinier. But the destruction wasn't to bad there anyway. I guess the Reapers weren't looking for clubs.

If you want to see something of the New Thessia project in Armali, take a trip out to Lemira-Armali or the Five Hills. It's a new city project, started from refugee settlements but turning out to be a vital center. It's really the best look you can have at asari architecture in the making.

I'll have to see about arranging a visit to the memorial. I don't believe an Alliance crew has ever had the privelege before. My sister's trying to find out more about Asari culture and customs, but her omnis' on the fritz, so she's gone back to the ship to get a spare. In fact, she says to tell you that the reason she never learnt Asari is because she never really got much exposure to it, what with the universal translators and such.

It was clearly pretty good given the response.

You have no idea how stupid a couple of Marines can be.

You presume that this is all self-evident.

Songbird, don't get ahead of yourself. Yes, some marines truly do think they are invincible, but there is only one of two of them. I had thought your responce was for Illium, not for Thessia. If that was not the case, I apologise. But Miss Caenis does have some good suggestions of what to see while in Armali. In fact, I am currently arranging a visit to the Armali memorial for my crew.

I wish that was true.

Dunno much about how Thessia's going, but I know the colony Calabsa is doing reasonably well. My wife's mother and sisters live there and say the reconstruction is going as well as can be expected.

Do you mean to say Auckland is stopping over here? That'll be quite the notable event, we haven't had an Alliance vessel visit in... when was that frigate pack around? It's been quite some time, anyway. Will you be bringing her down to dock, or just staying in orbit and shuttling?

In any case, I'm sure Defence Directorate will be assigning some junior exec or other to function as a liaison for you, so they should be happy to point you (and any shore leave crew you're letting roam) in the direction of a few notable spots that won't get them into too much trouble. One would hope. Well, we get military ships stopping by not too infrequently (usually just our smaller neighbours in the economic zone) and manage not to cause diplomatic disasters, much. Do make sure your crew have access to the briefing packet from Tourism Directorate on escort agencies, I'd hate to have them go to the wrong place and wind up with a negative impression of us.

(So far as rebuilding goes, the ruins of old Nos Astra are still there, if you want to see a depressing former-skyline; reclamation of the area will take a long time. But Nos Astra (the new one, formerly Nos Varda) is doing quite well, all things considered. We were never important enough to get the full planet-flattening Reaper forces the bigger worlds got, so despite all the carnage that's a kind of blessing, of sorts.)

Yes, Daia, the Auckland wil be stopping at Illium. It was going to dock on the surface, so that should be quite the event. I've also decided that the crew will get the first day there as shore leave, with the next two days being scheduled tours around New Nos Astra.

And the command crew, myself included, went to the Armali Memorial earier. It was a sobering reminder of the cost of the Reaper War.

Just a heads up, but the Auckland will be departing from Thessia in about half an hour. My sister has elected to stay, and will be meeting the ship on either Illium or Omega. So, if you see an Asari walking around in an Alliance Dress uniform, with a couple of marines following, thats her.

And the cruise route has been finalised by command. It is as follows: Thessia-Illium-Omega-Rannoch-Cronos Station-Sur'kesh-Palaven-Earth.
It may seem odd, for an Alliance ship to go to Omega, but we have a mutual friendship with Aria.

Oh joy. I've always wanted to hijack a cruiser and now I have such a lovely schedule to follow around.

Tell me where you are, and we might pay you a visit, if you're that eager to try.

Edit - never mind, we're stopping by Omega anyway.

Uh, sir?

OPSEC. Remember that thing? The Alliance has plenty of enemies and now they know where your ship is going to be. Which is you know, bad.

I am well aware of OPSEC, but there are tolerances in place to allow for things such as this. For example, they only know the places, not the times. They might want to take a crack at the Auckland, but unless they have the ships orders, which they don't, they have no idea when she will be at each stop, or for how long. Besides, if I require assistance, I just contact the Sixth Fleet, at [REDACTED].

...if you say so, sir. I didn't realise that the definition of Opsec had changed from 'don't let small bits of information like our flight route get out' to 'just don't tell the enemy where we'll be, when and our exact co-ordinates'.

But if one of my subordinates or one of my officers posted our flight plan on the extranet, their ears would be ringing for days. Sir.

Don't worry, Alliance cruisers are notoriously poorly designed and there's a glut on the market for turian and batarian ships anyways. I'm sure you're in absolutely no danger of any kind of ambush or hijacking. Nothing to worry about at all!

Nat, the Alliance regards this as a diplomatic mission (more like showing the flag, if you ask me). The same details were put on the Alliance's extranet site, still with no times. Oh, and hows Eden Prime? I hear it's nice this time of year.

Akmawt, your sarcasm has been noted.

So basically the brass no longer gives a fuck about the safety of their personnel. Duly noted.

And Eden Prime is always lovely in winter, sir.

Just arrived at Illium. Awaiting clearence to decend to Nos Astra spaceport.