"And now let's talk seriously."
"Huh?"
I looked in surprise at Tevos, who returned to the ward literally ten seconds later.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean what I say..."
I blinked stupidly; I hadn't expected such a phrase from the Councilor.
"...but being serious, I myself was going to ask you to transfer a couple of monasteries to your colonies. Did you forget?"
"Um..."
I blinked in confusion. I didn't...
As soon as I thought about it, something like that really surfaced in my mind.
"Listen... until you told me, I didn't remember... It seems the explosion I was in before arriving on Virmire affected me a bit more than I thought. But hearing from you that you can transfer a couple of monasteries to my colonies... that's very pleasant. It means my sisters will be safe. At least, two out of the three sisters on my mother's side."
"Well, yes... the third one is a criminal."
"I don't really..."
I shrugged carelessly.
"...if I manage to contact her, I'll offer her sanctuary and a job. If not, she's not a little girl. She can take care of herself."
"Hah, alright, so we're starting the transfer of the temples?"
"Yes."
"Great, one question remains..."
"Which one?"
"Who to send to Ilos?"
"Archaeologists, and with very good support in the form of Asari commandos."
"M? Do you know something?"
"I don't 'know'..."
I shook my head.
"...I'm assuming. Saren Arterius was there. Everywhere that arrogant Turian went, Geth appeared. So there's a high probability that those tin cans are still there. By the way, it would be good to send not just archaeologists there, but other scientists too..."
"I see, so you don't want to fly there?"
"Is there any point?"
"Well..."
Tevos shrugged vaguely.
"...no, but what if you wanted to fly there anyway?"
"Tevos?"
"Alright, alright..."
She grimaced.
"Valern really wants to ship you far away from the Citadel. Says you're too much trouble... In reality, he wants to hush up the situation with Virmire, but as long as you're here..."
"So let him hush it up... who's stopping him?"
I shrugged carelessly.
"I've already told my version to the reporters; he's smart like all Salarians, let him construct an official version based on my words for the Council to deliver to the people. Just please don't make me the fall guy. We have a very good dead former Spectre..."
"So you don't mind?"
"Should I?"
"Who knows with you?"
"No, I don't mind. Let him whitewash the name of his STG guys. The main thing is not to drag mine through the dirt. Otherwise, as a Spectre, I can find a lot of crap on the STG..."
"Are those threats now?"
Despite the question, Tevos was smiling contentedly. I don't know why she thought I'd be stubborn, but I had no intention of being so. It wasn't in my interest to spoil relations with the Salarians. Of course, I didn't have any relations with them to begin with, but driving them into the negative wasn't the way to go.
"No, just a statement of fact. If they try to drown me, I'll pull down whoever is doing it. That's a perfectly reasonable reaction."
"Agreed."
Tevos nodded.
"Alright, I'm off to business, and you... get well."
"Ah..."
I waved my hand, as if to say I was already healthy.
"Don't go waving your hands at me. Just get well. We don't have many Spectres, so every operative counts."
"As you say."
I nodded in agreement, and after that, Tevos finally left my ward.
** Almost twenty-four hours later. **
"Boss..."
I blinked in surprise as Oriana Lawson entered the ward. She was the last person I expected to see. It was pleasant, of course, but...
"...do you mind a visit from your sister?"
Well, I hadn't really doubted that she either knew everything or would find out sooner or later. She wasn't a fool; otherwise, she wouldn't be in her position.
"No, of course not, come in."
"Hah, not even any shouts like: 'How did you find out?' You're so boring."
She raised an eyebrow questioningly and looked intently into my eyes.
"No shouts. I never considered you a fool, so..."
"And you still kept quiet?"
"Well... on one hand it's stupid, and on the other... how do you imagine it? I walk up to you and say... Ori, hi. You don't know me, but I know you. We had one common father, a complete bastard, who grew you, me, and another sister of ours in a test tube. Let's hug?"
"Ahem..."
Ori even covered her mouth, stifling a giggle, while I, still lying on the bed, spread my arms wide.
"...well, let's hug."
She approached me and, hesitantly sitting on the bed, spread her arms slightly. Fortunately, I was in a sitting position, so there was nothing awkward about the hug. But I hadn't expected her to agree so easily, and I even felt a bit of embarrassment.
"And you're right..."
She continued speaking into my ear.
"...it sounds stupid. But couldn't it have been done differently?"
"Well... sorry. I'm not a stupid guy, of course, but... when it comes to family relations, only stupid things come to mind. And so stupid that my previous suggestion looks like the height of correctness and adequacy."
"M-da... and who do you take after?"
"I suppose the father's genes are waking up."
"That's the last thing we need..."
Ori shook her head, shivering slightly in my embrace.
"...from what I could find on him, he was quite the bastard. And that makes me all the more curious: how did it happen that we aren't all under his thumb?"
"There was a whole complex of factors. On one hand, I had much less freedom than Miranda Lawson, so he was almost certain I was entirely on his side. Then your escape—or rather, Miranda's escape and her kidnapping you. That made him lose his vigilance, and well..."
I shrugged.
"The result—he's a corpse, and I'm thinking about what to do with all this."
"Is that why you contacted Aria T'Loak?"
"I didn't have much choice... at least at that moment, no other ideas came to mind. I perfectly understood that I couldn't hold the corporation on my own. It would just fall apart; even if by some miracle I made perfect decisions, the father's partners simply wouldn't tolerate a youngster at the helm and would seek to push me aside or just break away."
"M-da..."
Oriana Lawson shook her head.
"...you know... I'm probably just as much of a fool as you."
"M? That's very self-critical, of course, but... it doesn't add to my understanding of the situation."
"It's just... this arrival of mine and how I told you I know everything... and now I don't even know what else to say. I just want to sit here like this and do nothing."
"Sorry, but you can't sit like this for long."
"M?"
"Several temples from the Ardat-Yakshi are being transferred to our colonies."
"Brother..."
There was a note of reproach in Ori's voice.
"Sister, it has to be done... I'm trying to make sure all the family members I know about are reunited."
"Wait, all family members?"
"Yes."
"Do you know who our mother is?"
"Yours and Miranda Lawson's, no... for some reason, the father left no data on that account. In that matter, we can only act by trial and error. Find someone similar, do a DNA analysis, and keep looking... or be happy we found them. But as for me..."
"And who is your mother?"
"Justicar Samara. As stated in the documents, her blood was delivered to the father from a private clinic. She was being treated there after being wounded, and he managed to bribe the staff. Apparently, they thought there would be nothing wrong with selling a couple of packs of blood; after all, they weren't being asked to hand over a medical file or harm the patient."
"M-da... he didn't deal in small change..."
Ori shook her head.
"Well, you're right there. A bit later, I think in a year or two, we can try to find out who your and Miranda Lawson's mother was."
"Hm?"
"We'll have additional resources."
"By the way, brother..."
Ori finally pulled away from me.
"...Miranda Lawson contacted me. Not as a sister, though, but as a representative of a third-party trading company that wants to sign a food supply contract with the corporation."
I grimaced almost imperceptibly.
"M?"
"You know who she works for, right?"
"Yes... thanks to your kindness in giving me access to corporate intelligence, I'm aware."
"Well, there... There will surely be some nastiness. Even if not from her personally, then from her boss. So I wouldn't want to sign a contract. At least not on such a sensitive topic as food."
"Yes, yes..."
She nodded, knowing full well how paranoid I was. All goods coming to us undergo a full check. Everything... fortunately, it's not that difficult to do now. There are scanners for both technology and food, so the primary check goes very quickly, but the further one...
We have two types of warehouses on every colony. The first is for incoming goods, and the second is for those already checked. And there are significantly fewer things in the second one simply because I've already fired those who tried to neglect this instruction with a bang several times.
"...however, I can't say your paranoia is meaningless. A couple of times we've encountered low-quality shipments, and we managed to squeeze out a hefty compensation. So I'll continue working in the same direction. As for the supplies..."
She smiled wickedly.
"Even from such firms, one can extract benefit. I suggest we start buying ores and alloys from them. Checking such materials won't take too much time, so we'll be able to tell if they're trying to slip us junk. And hiding things like..."
Ori waved her hand carelessly.
"...bugs or malicious programs is impossible. Because in such conditions, they'll be detected instantly."
"Well... I'll leave that to your discretion."
"By the way, I need your help preparing a meeting."
"Help?"
"Well, yes..."
Ori rubbed her hands together, as if to say she had a brilliant plan.
"...I'll really need your help. Fortunately, the meeting will take place here, on the Citadel, so we won't have to fly anywhere."
"Well, if there's anything I can do to help you, I'll definitely do it."
"Good."
For the next three hours, we developed a cunning plan, and by the end of the meeting, Ori was more than satisfied with what we had come up with. She hugged me once more and demanded that after my discharge, I, as her brother, take responsibility and take her to a restaurant.
I had to solemnly promise to fulfill my sister's wish, after which she left me, and I leaned back thoughtfully on the pillows and smiled faintly. Life had become a little better...
"Well, I think we can do everything right and not scare off Miranda Lawson, because a lot will depend on that."
***
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