At 0300 hours Galactic time, Aster and Mirithea woke up as their alarm began vibrating. They should be touching down on Juxhi's moon soon enough. Aster took a quick shower and got dressed as the Captain announced their arrival on Budmi. Thankfully, he had common sense and had listened to her. It wasn't a good idea to dock a battle cruiser on Juxhi, not if they were just supposed to be dropping her off.
"Dr. Lang," Mirithea said as she packed their bags. "The Captain stopped by to let us know that the Commander and another turian will escort us to Juxhi. If we're lucky, they'll let them stay with us."
"I would rather they didn't," Aster mumbled, putting on low heels. "This is supposed to be an infiltration mission, not a fucking party."
"I have informed Councilor Valern and Tevos of our situation," Mirithea replied. "They're not happy. They were so kind as to remind us that this mission must not fail."
"I know," Aster replied, sternly. "I'd better let them know what's at stake."
Once the battlecruiser had touched down on Budmi, Aster and Mirithea took their bags to the cargo hold where the shuttle was waiting for them. The Commander and a female turian were waiting for them.
"I'm only going to say this once," Dr. Lang said as they arrived at the shuttle. "You fuck this up, and I'll personally put a bullet through you, and I'll even make it look like an accident. Got it?"
"Yes, Dr. Lang," both turians replied.
"Good," Dr. Lang replied. "Let's go."
Mirithea packed their bags in the shuttle and waited for Dr. Lang to be seated before climbing on board and closing the shuttle door behind them. Garrus and the turian got in with Garrus taking the pilot seat. The launch from the cruiser went smoothly until they approached Juxhi.
Approaching shuttle, state your business.
"I'll take it from here," Dr. Lang replied before Garrus could answer. "This is Dr. Lang. Identification number N07BD. Requesting permission to land."
Stand by for confirmation, the voice replied. A few minutes went by. N07BD, request confirmed. Welcome to Juxhi, Dr. Lang.
Juxhi's docking station was relatively small compared to the rest of the facility. There were two main entrances into Juxhi, the north and south entrances, and both of them were heavily guarded. From what Dr. Lang could tell, there were three buildings close to the north docking station: the main building and two other attached buildings to each side. Upon further inspection, there were other buildings near the south entrance, but they looked abandoned.
Each building had another building attached. The blueprints that Dr. Lang had called showed that the main building had three levels. The first level consists of basic equipment for research, second level is where they housed the engineers and technicians. The third level was set aside for conducting experiments.
As the shuttle landed, a human and an asari were waiting for them. Dr. Lang didn't see any guards or security with them.
"No guards," the female turian commented, also noticing.
"Maenia," Garrus warned as he got the green light to settle down.
The female turian chirped at him but kept silent.
"Should I get the bags?" Garrus asked Dr. Lang, going through the landing procedures.
"No, don't worry about it," Dr. Lang replied, looking out the small shuttle window. "I get the feeling one of them is here to help."
"Doesn't look like we will be staying," Maenia commented, also glancing out the shuttle. "Hell, they don't even look friendly."
"No, it doesn't seem that way," Garrus agreed.
"I'm assuming the Captain has a plan for when we get inside," Ka'li commented.
"He's got it covered," Garrus replied, in confidence. "He wouldn't be put on this mission if he couldn't deliver."
"Let's better hope he does," she replied, getting the door unlocked. "This place doesn't look like they like strangers."
Ka'li unlocked the door and waited for Dr. Lang to get out before following her. The human and the asari approached them.
"Dr. Lang?" the human asked, giving her a once-over.
"Yes," She answered. "Whom may you be?"
"I am Dr. Susan Zou," the human replied and pointed to the asari, introducing her. "And this is Dianvi T'nais, my assistant."
"Nice to meet you," Dr. Lang said, smiling.
"We weren't expecting you to arrive with guests in tow," Dr. Susan commented, looking at the shuttle and not in a friendly way.
"Neither were we," Dr. Lang replied smoothly. "But given the circumstances and the high volume of ships being attacked around here, I figured it would be best to bring some security."
"If you needed an escort," Dr. Susan began. "We would have sent someone to come and get you."
"Oh, really?" Dr. Lang asked, surprised. "I sent a request weeks ago, but I was told that my arrival was too soon and there was no way I could be accommodated. I would have loved to have had an escort instead of hiring a bunch of mercenaries."
Dr. Susan cleared her throat but didn't reply.
"If it bothers you so much," Dr. Lang continued, annoyed. "I'll let my escort know their services are no longer required. I just hope your facility is up to code."
With that, Dr. Lang turned around and went to the pilot side to talk to Garrus, in private.
"I'm guessing we aren't staying?" he asked when he saw her.
"No," Dr. Lang answered. "I hope your Captain has a good plan set up. I get the feeling we are going to need it."
"I'll make sure he does," he replied. "Take care."
Dr. Lang gave him a small smile before walking away from the shuttle. Garrus started up the shuttle and got ready to take off.
"Ka'li," Dr. Lang called out. "Grab the bags, our shuttle is leaving."
"Right away," she said.
"Dianvi can take them," Dr. Susan interjected.
"That's kind of you," Dr. Lang replied, smiling.
Once Dianvi had grabbed their bags off the shuttle and Garrus had taken off, Dr. Susan led them to the main building.
"You'll be staying in the west wing," Dr. Susan said, as the main entrance opened. "Each building is code-protected; you'll need one to get around. Your codes are being programmed as we speak. Keep in mind that the codes only open the doors that are relevant to your security clearance."
"The cafeteria is part of the main building," Dr. Susan continued as they went into the west housing unit. "All three meals are brought out, and the tables are set up every time."
"Here we are," Dr. Susan said, stopping by a door labeled six. "Everything's been set up for you. You should be getting information in a few minutes on your omni-tool."
Dianvi opened the door, set their bags by the door, and excused herself. Soon after Dr. Susan and Dianvi said their goodbyes and left. Dr. Lang and Ka'li waited a few minutes before speaking.
"That went better than expected," Ka'li mumbled, grabbing their bags and setting them on the bed.
"You think?" Dr. Lang replied, beginning to unpack. "Let's just hope the Captain and his gun-happy turians don't ruin it for us."
"You can never be too sure," Ka'li said. "The turians follow orders, as long as Councilor Sparatus doesn't overstep his boundaries, then everything should work out fine."
Dr. Lang grunted but didn't reply. She didn't have much hope that the Councilor would stay within his boundaries. After they were done unpacking, both of them received several notifications on their omni-tool.
"Here I was thinking they had forgotten about us," Dr. Lang muttered, changing into more comfortable clothes. "After that fiasco at the docks."
Once Dr. Lang was settled in bed, she took the time to look through the information sent to her. Like any other job, most of the information sent to her contained policies, procedures, dos, and don'ts, and an itinerary for the rest of the week. From the looks of it, there were several newcomers.
"Ka'li, I don't see anything in the itinerary that includes you," Shepard muttered, going through her omni-tool. "Did they send you anything?"
"No," she replied. "I didn't see anything regarding tomorrow or the rest of the week."
"Odd," Dr. Lang replied. "I guess we'll know tomorrow. They are bound to say something at orientation."
"They might," Ka'listated, also getting ready for bed. "Tomorrow will tell, and we can finally start working on what we came to do."
Dr. Lang couldn't agree more.
The next morning, Dr. Lang and Ka'li got up bright and early. The hallway was quiet except for the occasional sound of heels hitting the polished tile. Breakfast was already waiting for them when they reached the main building of the Science Academy. Some of the tables were occupied while others were empty.
The pair of them ate as much as they could before the newcomers were called away by Dr. Susan to another room for orientation. The 12 of them were taken to a room not far from the main building, where they sat in a room with a small stage and podium.
It appeared that most of the newcomers had an assistant accompanying them, Dr. Lang thought, looking around before taking her seat. At least Ka'li won't stand out in the group.
"Take a seat anywhere," Dr. Susan said as Dianvi walked in carrying several data pads.
"My assistant will be passing out the data pad with your assignments," Dr. Susan began. "Take the time to read through everything. You all will be assigned to different departments, so each datapad is loaded with a different map corresponding to your department."
"The Director will be stopping by in a few minutes." She continued before taking her leave, Dianvi following after her.
The 12 of them waited a few minutes with no sign of the Director.
"I should go ask where he is," Ka'li whispered, getting ready to leave. "You shouldn't be kept waiting this long."
"Thank you for your patience," a man said, interrupting the group's chatter as he walked in the door that they entered. "Please take a seat."
"Welcome," he said. "I am Alec Ryder, Director of the Science Academy."