[Illium and beyond] The beacon needs to be found (closed)

Nos Astra was putting on its best appearance, it seemed to Daia. The ship from Omega - containing Taleeze and Freh'ya, according to the message she had been sent - swung slowly down through a cloud layer cast into brilliant shades of orange and purple by the setting sun, before finally settling into its berth.

Passenger processing would take a while, of course. Daia settled into one of the not-especially-comfortable waiting lounges, adjusted today's risque-but-businesslike dress so as not to crease it, and busied herself catching up on office work - which today amounted to little more than adding her electronic signature to forms already completed and annotated by Ana or Vale - and kept watch on the travellers appearing at irregular intervals from the arrivals gate. Naturally for Illium the obviously wealthy came first, accompanied by personal assistants and bodyguards, all cleared by way of exorbitant 'priority processing fees' to fast-track their permits. Daia hoped Taleeze and Freh, travelling as mere mortals, wouldn't be delayed too long.

Illium, again.
Taleeze thought about the last time she approached the space port a couple of months ago, alone. Now she was holding her beloved Freh’ya in her arm while looking out the window, knowing that Daia was waiting down there, as she had written.

For a brief moment, the image of a blond human woman was passing through her mind like a ghost. Down there. Somewhere. Now.

She shook her head and smiled up at the much taller asari. Freh smiled down. How beautiful she was, just wearing simple combat pants and a gray shirt, her muscular arms filling the short sleeves. She looked a lot healthier now but her eyes still bore some hint of the ordeal Freh’s body had taken, they still reflected some of the abusive behavior. Taleeze was able to see past that though. Taleeze also wore pain black and blue pants and boots with one of her dark red Wildkats shirts.

When the ship had docked, the first class was served first. A load of shady money traveling from Omega to Illium. Still it was the essence of galactic economy in the Terminus, their money kept a lot of things spinning. Then the Stewardess began processing the second class….

~~~~~

“DAIA!” Taleeze waved was picking up her pace and Freh had to take an extra step to not stumble as the smaller asari dragged her along, out of the gate into the reception lobby of the dock.

She dropped her bag and basically threw herself at Daia to hug her friend, taking a deep sigh on her shoulder.

“I am so happy to be back and glad you came for us.” She took a step back.
“This is Freh’ya, Freh, meet Daia.” Taleeze was proud to present, and it showed. A bit.

Freh’ya had dropped her bag next to Taleeze’s and had observed the greetings from a step away, trying not to interfere. Now she came closer, slowly extending two hands, a bit hesitating, with a shaky smile. She wasn’t used to such stuff anymore lately.

“Hello Daia. I am pleased to finally meet you. I have heard a lot about you already.” Her voice was low and rumbled a bit, but had a very feminine touch. There was no haste in her words.

Have I killed someone you knew, Daia? Maybe even family? She had to relax. This was Taleeze’s friend. This was fucking important. Don’t screw up.

"Wonderful to see you," Daia smiled, closing her eyes and holding Taleeze tight. She hadn't really expected her to get into any trouble on Omega, but she knew she would rest a little easier now regardless.

She had caught a glimpse of her companion when she looked up - alerted by Taleeze's shout - but little more, until she and Taleeze let go and parted, and she got her first proper look at Freh'ya. She was worth a look, at that. The image Taleeze had shown around during her search was accurate enough, but in person, even casually dressed, uneasy and minimising her physical presence as she was, the woman's sculpted form was something to behold. Her face was one with her body language though, clouded and uncertain.

"Freh'ya," she replied, taking both the offered hands warmly. "I'm very pleased to meet you too, sim're." The term was slightly archaic, but still in use often enough - 'sister of my sister' literally, but not intended for relations; rather, to offer to Freh'ya, as a dear friend's loved one, the same kinship and hospitality she would give Taleeze herself. She grinned, not wanting to daunt Freh'ya with a welcome that seemed too weighty all at once.

"Have you been telling stories about me?" she chuckled, looking Taleeze's way. "Well, if they sound outlandish enough, they're probably true. How was the flight - you two will want to get back to the apartment and relax, I'm guessing?"

Freh’ya relaxed a bit. The touch of Daia was very soft and provided instant trust in a strange way. No wonder she is such a successful escort… consort, whatever. And she obviously was a woman of tradition, as she had just offered Freh’ya a very intimate tribal welcome. Not exactly what the commando would have expected to encounter on Illium.

Her own upbringing and education had put great emphasis on asari traditions and values. But that made it even harder to bear from others now. She had been offered a hospitality, she didn’t feel entitled to and the uneasiness remained.

“I am welcome, mea’re,” she gave the very formal reply to a lover’s tribal sister. For a second she thought about adding the traditional offer of protection by a Huntress but left it out. She would have done so without thinking in the past but the circumstances had changed for her.

She smiled.
“Only good things, Daia, I am looking forward getting to know you.”

“The flight was smooth. It is an interesting bunch that travels out of Omega.” Taleeze grinned. “It was a bit funny to see some individuals get uneasy when we did the passage at the Sol relay. I believe, some Omega travelers aren’t that keen on travelling so close to the Citadel all the time.”
She picked up her bag, Freh’ya did the same.

“Your offer to take us in until tomorrow is so kind. I am not exactly tired but a bit hungry. Omega is great and all but it is sure no food palace. I can’t see Varren bacon sandwiches for a while now. Maybe we could pick up something at Kaga’s and eat at your place?”
She wasn’t feeling like public now somehow. The station and the flight had gnawed on her, she felt like cocooning in the safety of a secluded place she felt actually welcome at, like Daia’s and Ana’s penthouse.

“How’s Ana doing?”

Daia ducked her head with a smile in acknowledgement of Freh'ya's greeting, and the sincerity behind it. Most often if it was heard on Illium at all, it was being used in the most superficial of ways, by businesspeople mumming the old customs to make their 'social networking' seem as if it were actually social.

She gestured towards the pickup station, then opened her omni-tool's palm display and keyed in a command to summon their vehicle to the platform once they arrived.

"I can imagine," she grinned at Taleeze's description of her fellow travellers. "Strange the way things turned out, with the relays all rearranged. A lot of the business channels are still full of talking heads arguing about the pros and cons of Sol as a central nexus - you'd think after this long they'd have run out of things to say about it." She chuckled. "Or at least noticed it's not like it's in our power to change, anyway." She shook her head, but the business community's reaction - those with interests (usually shady) in shipping, anyway - was no surprise. There were still directors, even now, loitering in expensive bars complaining about the trade downturn resulting from the Hegemony sealing its borders all those years ago, as if that mattered any more.

"It's really no trouble," she said, gracefully waving off the thanks for putting the couple up for the night. "We're not using the suite anyway. One of our partners on Rannoch sent us specs for a new suit storage and maintenance system that we've installed in one of the other demonstration rooms - before we moved in," she explained to Freh'ya, "the whole apartment was intended as a showroom for clean-room technology, so it's got all these modular rooms with their own hardware - so she'll be able to change suits if need be in a clean environment, even while you're in the guest bedroom. Besides, all your dresses you put in storage are already there. Kaga will still be open," she went on, changing subject, "so that's sorted. If you're feeling adventurous he's invented this thing he calls the Three Thresher Burger - it's not as intimidating as it sounds, I've had one - or something a bit less in-your-face, perhaps." Omega wasn't exactly a food traveller's dream, as Taleeze had said - it had its share of very fine dining if you knew where to look, but you had to know where to look, and wandering the streets in the hope of stumbling across a particular restaurant was the kind of thing that travel guides justifiably discouraged.

Eafina hadn't objected to her suggestion of lodging the pickup as a business operation - allowable by the letter of the law, since Taleeze's employment at Apricity had been put on indefinite hold with the option for renewal, not simply terminated, when she left Illium the last time - so they didn't have as long to wait as the booked 'civilian' pickups, or the unfortunate souls arranging their own passage who were even now navigating the public access terminal below. After only a short wait in a queue it was their turn at the pad, and obedient to Daia's confirmation signal an aircar hovered down from the storage tower and settled on the pad.

"I have to admit," Daia said, to Freh'ya, "this isn't actually mine, it's borrowed from work - I only have a two-seater, Ana likewise, and the last thing you need after a relay trip is three people being squished into two seats." The 'car lacked the unique styling of Daia and Ana's esoteric antiques, but as a traditional model it was far more attention-grabbing: an Elkoss Diamond, its bodywork a pearlescent white, the drive at the rear gleaming chrome and gold, and as the extended passenger compartment opened automatically the interior was revealed as just as luxurious, with a full set of four reclining travel couches behind the two forward seats, automated minibar tucked away in the rear, and enough room to really stretch out and get comfortable. With the discreet Dusk Oasis logo on the forward hull, that was probably very intentional, but with no amorous activities currently being conducted in it, it looked quite distinguished.

"Hop on in," Daia invited, taking one of the 'passenger' couches herself; a set of holographic controls and screens glowed into life around her, giving her full driving control and visibility even from the back seat. She had no intention of taking the 'car off-grid in any case, so once she had lifted them off the pad and joined the lanes of automated Nos Astra traffic, she minimised the controls to standby, the better to not ignore her guests.

"Ana's well," she replied - to Taleeze, having come to know her well, the difference in her voice compared to her last stay on Illium would have been clear. Some burden had been lifted - if not entirely, at least enough for her habitual optimism to reign once more. "She'll be having a regeneration treatment fairly soon, in fact, so Goddess smile on her things are looking quite bright indeed."

The more Daia talked, the more Freh’ya relaxed. Her mind became occupied by the things at hand and the new surroundings.
“No kidding.” She said, when Daia talked about her business. Taleeze had explained to her the circumstances of her involvement as an escort along with being CEO for a company.
“That is an interesting field of business. I can imagine, Rannoch being in a bit of a demand for more permanent residencies. They still need their suits but everyone has the space now for a clean room apartment.”
She listened to her stomach. Not really hungry but the Commando inside told her to get the calories in as they came. “Sounds interesting, I’d be up for such a thing.” The burger sounded exotic, obviously they were talking about a Krogan, who else would come up with such a name. She snorted when her diet of the last months came to her mind. It wasn’t exactly healthy and… another sigh.

At the platform for the skycars Freh’ya noted a few people interacting with a holo VI. “What is this? It looks like AVINA but is different. Is this something new?”

The car arrived. Freh’ya noticed the company logo but had no idea what it was exactly, just that it probably wasn’t the cleanroom company.
“Whoho, this looks like the things the bad pimps in bad vids drive. But with some style in this case.” She laughed a bit and lent Taleeze a hand on entering and climbed into the seat next to her lover. “I was more used to military grade vehicles or cheap Omega skycabs with vomit stains on their seats. So yeah, this is luxury!” She was feeling around the spotless and interior. Illium had so much dirty money, it was obscene.

The always hungry Taleeze smiled at Daia’s suggestion for a new delicacy of Kaga’s. Grabbing a burger and munching at home – well, Daia’s place, but she could feel like that – curled up on a couch was a great prospect.

She chuckled at Freh’ya’s quizzed look at Irati.
“This is brand new, it’s name is Irati. You know, Illium can do stuff better than the Citadel and all… sometimes they really can. Irati is working perfectly. Also, you remember the show for that pildavi match I told you aboutt? That was an Irati we used back then.”

The car was a surprise though. Taleeze had seen some of the Oasis’ vehicles of course but never had the pleasure – ha, pleasure – to use one. It was big and flashy and chrome. Not exactly her taste but she imagined a lot of customers paying perverted sums of money to get her hands on somebody like Daia in something like this. And of course it was volus made.
“Niiiece drive.” She commented, as Freh was helping her inside. “I wouldn’t mind any of your sportscars though, I am perfectly okay in Freh’s lap.” She laughed. Both vehicles would have been inadequate of course, Daia was right about that. Lounging in the luxury seating, Taleeze sure didn’t mind riding like a Crunck Star. In fact, when you looked around inside, you could get used to it. Spacious as a spaceship.

Then Daia dropped the comment about Ana. Suddenly a wave of emotion washed up in the asari. Funny, itwas totally unconscious how much she cared for the couple and how happy she was to hear something was moving on.
“That is the best news ever! Oh goddess, I am so happy!” she had turned to Daia and was trying to give her an awkward hug, trying not to switch off important systems in the process.
“I just have to go off world and stuff happens. I hope all will go well.” It was clear, and Ana had explained that, that scar treatment for the pain was first priority. It would give her – als with that also Daia – some quality in life back.
“Is there already a plan, when?”

"We're pretty small-time, really," Daia explained when Freh'ya showed interest in her company. "Exporting to Rannoch would be a dream, but really it's the other way around - schematics mainly, from the quarian/geth labs they've got up and running, some high-end components too. We put it together with our local hardware and sell to quarian residents here on Illium. There's more living here than you'd expect, but not a lot of interest from the big transstellars in providing anything but the bare minimum - and," she added, "a clean environment is not something any smart quarian would want to cut corners on." She paused a second, then giggled. "Sorry, I just sounded like a sales brochure, didn't I?"

She shook her head in amusement at herself, as the 'car dipped down out of the cross-city lanes into local district traffic.

"That's us over there," she said, pointing out the plaza's asymmetrical towers as they neared. "Not the whole thing of course, just a couple of floors."

She overrode the automated track to the rooftop landing pad, and brought the aircar down smoothly in the public parking deck in front of the plaza. Kaga's was still open, with a respectable number of patrons enjoying the food and company in the warm pool of light amid the otherwise muted illumination of the kiosks and shopfronts outside daytime business hours. The chef himself was his usual flurry of activity, working on several dishes and conversations at once, but amid all the activity a trio of Three Thresher Burgers were produced.

"We're putting together travel plans," Daia said, sharing Taleeze's excitement for Ana's improving prospects. "The clinic's back in the Omega Nebula," she gestured vaguely the way they had come, towards the spaceport, as they made the short walk across the forecourt to the tower elevators, "but Cerastes' company has reviewed it, so it's safe."

“Now, that Mr. Cerastes.” The name and face was popping up left and right lately. “The funny thing is, of all the people you could meet we ran into him on Omega.. He casually mentioned that he is a good acquaintance of Ana and that he also met you once or so. We had a coffee and chatted a bit.
He didn’t mention any of this though, but that is okay since this is pretty private business.” Taleeze chuckled. “That man is more like a sponge, sucking up intel, it’s not really oozing from him without no pressure – most likely in the form of credits. But I guess, he is good at his job, so when he says the place is legit, that’s gotta be worth something.” Taleeze had no illusions, as Ana had mentioned that money was an issue. The Terminus offered many services for ‘less’.
Less could mean money, security or quality though….

They were picking up their burgers and the Krogan was happy to see everyone. He even offered a fresh sinso stick, which Taleeze took. She cautiously took a bite and offered the rest to Freh’ya, who nibbled and was sporting a satisfied grin. Food… eating properly had an immense effect on the psyche, as well as the lack of it had. Freh’ya hasn’t exactly been taking care over the last months, it had been more like filling voids. She was getting out of shape and as much as she didn’t care previously, she did hate that fact now. Time to do something about it. Taleeze would her remind her, she was shure about that.

Toying with the tasty and hot bite in her mouth was a pleasure. For once food that left a taste and for once she didn’t wash it down with some high grade alcohol.

Freh’ya took her and Taleeze’s travelbags, as the light colored asari was carrying the two take-away bags with their burgers – quite big ones.

“Ah, I can’t wait to get comfy finally.” Taleeze was trying to ignore the rumble from her stomach as they entered the elevator.

"You met him?" Daia asked, intrigued. She wasn't upset at Ana having a friend she didn't know, but her natural curiosity needed no ulterior motive to make itself known. "I only met him once, quite briefly really, but yeah, Ana knows him... I don't know if 'well' would be the right word, like you say, info brokerage isn't the business for open personalities. I'd be rubbish at it," she giggled.

The elevator ride was swift - the largely-commercial building didn't see much traffic once the offices closed for the evening, so there were none of the delays of more heavily-used systems painstakingly routine lifts around one another in obedience to some arcane (and invariably deeply flawed) formula for 'most efficient overall response time'. With Daia's personal code the lift bypassed the top floor's entry corridor and opened directly into the penthouse itself.

"Ana, love?" Daia called out, moving to the kitchen area to provide proper plates for the take-away meals, while gesturing for Freh'ya to set her and Taleeze's bags down anywhere she pleased. "Back from the spaceport - Taleeze and Freh'ya are here."

So what does a blind person do in their spare time in an almost entirely data-centric society?

Not a lot, as it turned out. When the three asari got through the door, Ana'Therion was reclining on the couch, painstakingly working her way through a client acquisition form for Envirometrics. Her incoming audio from the text-to-speech program was exclusively inside the suit, as usual - even when she was alone, she didn't like to noise-pollute the area around her by broadcasting everything the program was reading to her. Force of habit, mostly.

Thankfully, the external channels were still on, and so (several minutes before she would've otherwise fallen asleep in the middle of dictating the form) Ana was startled back to alertness by Daia's voice.

"Oh," she said, sitting up part of the way and glancing over in the direction of the front door. "Hello!"

When the elevator opened and Daia announced their arrival, Taleeze's eyes were already scanning for the familiar form of the petite quarian. She was sure, Ana had been sitting around in the dark but the elevator had automatically activated the lighting in the apartment. The blind quarian wouldn't have noticed that though.

Almost immediately Ana's familiar voice could be heard from the living area. When Daia took the bags with their food, Taleeze indicated Freh'ya to drop the bags just where she stood and led the commando into the living room, over to the couch where the quarian had been lounging.

"Hello Ana!" she said happily. Her mood was good now, partly because of the information Daia had just given her about the prospects of Ana's condition.
"I really survived the trip to Omega. And I brought someone with me. Freh'ya, meet Ana'Therion. Ana, this is Freh'ya."... without whom I would have never come to Illium and met you all in the first place.

Taleeze took Freh'ya's hand to connect with Ana's

Freh'ya entered the apartment, taking a good look around. This was luxury she wasn't used to any more. He eyes were scanning for escape routes and weak points of the layout.

She shook her head and frowned. This was the place of friends, although she didn't know them very well yet. She knew what to expect though, Taleeze had told her about Ana and her condition. Another person left crippled and hurt by the war. Freh'ya may not have shared her physical scarring but she could relate to the pain and exhaustion. And to the feeling of having another person as a life pod, as a beacon in the darkness. At least that was how Freh'ya had understood it at that time and so she was curious to meet the quarian.

She was small. Petite even. Granted, most quarians weren't that tall but for a person with such an impressive reputation, she was physically tiny, yet as far as female quarian went, very shapely and attractive. Freh'ya grinned. But what was body size anyway? It obviously was the personality that made Ana impressive. She would try and find out.

Freh'ya had to almost crouch when Taleeze led her had towards Ana's, who was sitting on the sofa.

"Mrs. Ana'Therion, it is a pleasure. I am apologizing for causing inconvenience in your home. But thank you for this kind offer!"

The back of the couch had concealed Ana from view initially; when she sat up Daia smiled, and briefly left the burgers for the moment it took to cross to her and give her a quick kiss on the hood, nuzzling just beneath the 'jawline' of her helmet.

With that and a murmured word of greeting - it felt more personal to her that way, rather than the announcement to the penthouse in general when she had come through the door - she returned to the kitchen, lifting Kaga's latest brainwaves from their bags one at a time and placing them carefully on plates. The skewers holding them together made her chuckle; Kaga must have ordered them back when he first had the idea, but not received them until now, tiny wooden spikes with thicker heads carved, in a rudimentary fashion, to look like very adorable thresher maws, if there were such a thing. She places the trio of plates with their edges overlapping - her omni-tool bracelet triggering an adhesive reaction where the plates touched, holding them together so she could pick all three up at once one-handed - and scooped up several glasses, a bottle of juice and one of wine, whichever their guests preferred, and the canister Ana had put out for her own dinner when they returned home.

When Taleeze saw Daia balancing all the dinner stuff, it became obvious that she must have had that waitress application on her Omnitool, because before Taleeze could even worry about anything fall to the floor, Daia had balanced the stuff over towards the sofas. She grinned over the fact that a lot of people tended to overlook Daia’s many practical sides.

She removed her shoes and tucked her feet under on the other couch… ah, there was that infamous Kaffe table. Looking up, she made an inviting gesture to the still hesitating Freh’ya
“Come here, love” , Taleeze said softly.

“Hehe, have you seen these” , Taleeze laughed, when she saw the Maw-spikes. “Let’s hope the food doesn’t bite – it is krogan style after all. Thank you Daia!”

Taleeze poured a glass of wine for herself. “What do you want, Freh?”

Freh’ya wasn’t showing much emotion but she was still insecure on the inside. Taleeze moved around this place so well acquainted, it made her feel the outsider even more. Maybe this was going to be harder, the closer they got to home.

She sat down next to Taleeze and the smaller dancer cuddled up to her immediately. She put an arm around her and looked at the things presented. There even was wine – tempting as it was, Freh’ya was going to decline on that. Daia seemed to be a really hospitable person. Freh’ya felt the terrible urge to know if this asari had lost anyone close to her on Thessia.

At the same time, she realized how incredibly stupid this notion was. How likely would it be, that she would be responsible for their death anyway. Millions have died on Thessia. But still, some she was responsible for and those were the ones that counted.

She looked over at the quarian. Those mysterious suit people. She had met a few over the decades but mostly younger ones, on their pilgrimage. Not that age showed on the outside anyway. Freh’ya had always felt at a serious disadvantage, since they could see you but you could never see their faces. In this case though, things were a little different.

“I will just take some juice, thank you very much.”
She smiled softly at Taleeze and grabbed her own plate. Now, let’s eat this without making a mess on the couch!

Damn, this was tasty. Rations, leftovers, junkfood… Freh’ya realized painfully how she had neglected proper meals for a very long time. Even on Omega, after Taleeze had showed up and had started to take care of this, the food still was no real highlight. She always had the impression, everything on Omega tasted a bit like dust. She didn’t mind at the time but now the memory was a bit disgusting.
She chuckled. “This is awesomely delicious.”

Judging from the direction of her voice, Freh'ya was taller than most asari, which made her a giant as far as Ana'Therion was concerned. The quarian chuckled lightly - she was used to everyone towering over her anyway.

"It's good to finally meet you, and you're not an inconvenience," she answered, pausing to lean gently against Daia. "We offered to house you for a while, after all - nobody forced us into it."

As for dinner, well...the asari could enjoy their food. Ana had set out some nutripaste for herself earlier, and Daia had apparently noticed. Very thoughtful of her, the quarian mused, accepting the proffered tube and breaking the seal. She slid the business end into the intake port of her helmet and began eating at a slow, leisurely pace.

For the most part, she was quiet. This was partially because it was rude to talk with your mouth full, but mostly because she was listening intently. It sounded like the trip had gone well enough. Of course there was bound to be some tension in the relationship, but time healed all wounds and the asari's newly-regained proximity would probably speed that process along nicely.

"So how's Omega these days?" she finally asked, between swallows.

Were these the friends Taleeze had gathered during that … time? What an accomplishment. Freh’ya contemplated about her own achievements and frowned. Not much. In any regard. But there had been no reason to… live or… plan, socialize whatever.

That night on Omega, when she had felt Taleeze’s hand on her shoulder, what had changed? It was that feeling that someone needed her. Her, that useless piece of junk, sentient scrap metal, left to rot roadside, a reminder of the war at best, but useless and bent out of shape. Taleeze had reminded her of her former use and purpose though. Time would tell…

“Dusty” , was her reply to Ana’s question with a small chuckle. She had managed to eat most of the burger without spilling any sauce.
“So, as always. It shows almost no damage from the war – well, it looked beaten up before so one doesn’t notice anything really. In a way it is a more stable place than some colonial worlds now. The stability is in the danger that always was there.”

It had attracted a few new people though.
“Mercs are still mercs and vorcha still vorcha. Have you been living on Omega for long?
We even met someone who knew you actually, a pale drell, named Mr. Cerastes. He told us to give you his regards. The two of you actually.”

Hard to imagine she had lived on Omega when you saw this apartment but obviously there was more to the small quarian than the eye could see. Taleeze’s new friends…

She looked at the burger in her lap, some red sauce was oozing from it.

Her mind was wandering back to a remote planet in the Traverse some years ago, to the last quarian she had met. Well, not exactly met, since the guy had already been dead on her arrival. From the looks, the process of dying had taken some time though. That batarian there went down faster. Freh’ya had never been one for extended messing around.

She licked the sauce off before it could spill.