Jason Hough - Mass Effect - Nexus Uprising

Tann nodded. “If nothing else, the feeds have shown us that these rebels are only going to respond to one thing. The time has come to nip this in the bud.”

“Not without us.”

The voice came from behind. Spender’s eyebrows furrowed, his glance darting so quickly over Tann’s shoulder that the salarian had no problems guessing what he saw. He turned to stare at both Addison and Kesh as they strode into Operations. The faces of the crew that had let them in projected a conflicted apology.

“Where have you been?” Tann snapped. The best defense, after all.

Addison’s eyes glinted dangerously from between narrowed lashes, but it was Kesh’s pronounced limp that had his attention.

“Ran into a bottleneck,” the krogan said simply, and left it at that. Given the state of the station, Tann didn’t bother to pursue. More fighting. More bloodshed.

Enough was enough.

“I’m glad you are safe,” he said. Kesh inclined her head, content to take his sentiment at face value, apparently. Good.

Addison regarded Tann coolly. “Making decisions alone again?”

“I thought I was alone,” he returned mildly. A pulse thumped high on Addison’s forehead. She had walked out, after all. “Speaking of which, where’s Sloane? She left specifically to find you and Kesh.”

“We haven’t seen her. Some of her people found us, said Sloane left them to take care of something else.”

“If you people would just remain in Operations we would not have these problems,” Tann interrupted, too pointedly for it to be anything other than a cut. “Let’s review our failings later. Right now, it’s time to act. Primarily, we need to put down this uprising.”

“They aren’t dogs , Tann.” Addison planted both hands on the console, glaring at him and Spender in equal measure. “They’re people. Our people, and they’re scared.”

“That might have worked a few weeks ago,” he replied, “but you heard Corvannis. We are no longer dealing with scared protesters. Blood has been spilled, and we keep underestimating them. We can no longer afford to give these people the benefit of the doubt.”

“I simply meant—”

“The way I see it,” Tann said over her frustrated protest, “we have two options.”

Kesh leaned against the console next to Addison, favoring her side. The blackened edges of battle scarred her uniform, and hasty bandages peeked out from the torn fabric. Tann paused, surprised. To make a krogan bleed, that implied some serious weight.

Even more reason for him to push.

He met Addison’s eyes first. “Either we send our entire security force into a battle to crush every last mutineer, in a bloody foray that will cost us hundreds of lives—”

“Unacceptable,” Addison said sharply, her eyes still narrow.

Exactly. He let his gaze turn to Kesh. “—or we wake up Nakmor Morda.”

For a long, long second nobody said a word. He waited.

“Morda,” Kesh repeated slowly. Her broad face, always so serious to his eyes, didn’t so much as shift. He couldn’t read her. Never could with krogan. Damned big-headed, thick-skinned floaters.

Yet it was those big heads and that thick skin that would end this once and for all. Tann nodded with all the gravitas the situation warranted.

“We send Morda against Calix Corvannis,” he acknowledged. “We end this quickly and decisively. Overwhelmingly so.”

“Then what?” the krogan asked shrewdly. She didn’t fill in any options, though—that fell to Tann.

He smiled. “Then we hold a meeting—”

“Great,” Addison muttered. “That’s been working so well.”

“—where we include everyone, and hear their grievances,” Tann continued firmly, earning a startled look from the human woman.

Spender nodded enthusiastically. “And we pitch to them our plan for the future, knowing what we know about the state of the galaxy.”

“Precisely,” Tann said.

“What plan?” Kesh asked.

“The plan,” Tann replied, “that we will formulate when we are not spilling each other’s blood in the corridors.” He raised his brows at them all. “I believe there is a great deal of room in which to maneuver, don’t you?” Then he waited.

When all three nodded with various degrees of enthusiasm and belief, Tann knew he’d made the right choice. The key was the future. There would be no future if they didn’t get this handled. Tann turned back to Spender.

“And that’s why I would like you to go wake up Nakmor Morda, and request her help with Corvannis.”

“Him?!” Practically a salted snort, Kesh thought so little of the choice.

Spender blinked. Opened his mouth. Closed it. Glanced at Kesh.

“Not that I’m unwilling, but why me?”

Tread carefully , Tann told himself. This must be played just right, because the true best option was Kesh, but the last thing he wanted to do was give Morda the impression of a krogan power position here.

He gestured at himself ruefully.

“I am inclined to believe that direct negotiations between a salarian of my standing and a krogan of—such as it is— hers would not go well. No offense intended, Kesh.”

“None taken,” Kesh replied seriously. “It makes far more sense to send me, though.”

“All due respect, Kesh, but I gather that a powerful clan leader such as Nakmor Morda will not react well to the fact she’s been left asleep when the labor force was revived.”

Kesh’s mouth sealed into a grim line.

Got her. He continued. “By sending my aide—”

“ My aide,” Addison said sharply. She frowned at Spender. “For all he seems to have forgotten it.”

“I’ve only been trying to help,” Spender shot back, equally sharp. “Wherever my help is needed.”

Tann inclined his head. “Mr. Spender has been incredibly helpful and, more importantly, extremely flexible with his time. For this reason, he has earned something of a reputation for speaking on my behalf.”

Addison’s face pulled into something Tann couldn’t distinguish between a grimace and a flinch. Both, maybe? Human faces, so malleable.

“Is Sloane on board with this Morda plan?” Addison asked.

“If she hadn’t vanished I would have consulted her.”

Addison squinted at him. “Maybe we should wait for her. Whatever she went off to do, it must be important.”

Tann wondered what that could have been, but decided it did not matter. “We must hope she is safe,” he said, “but there is no time to wait.” Privately, he wasn’t convinced that Sloane would approve of his current plan. She rarely approved of any of them.

Besides, this really could not wait.

Tann cleared his throat delicately. “As I was saying, by sending Mr. Spender, we are showing Morda the respect that she is due.”

“By sending a puppet?” Kesh asked bluntly. Then, to Spender, with zero feeling, “No offense.”

“None taken,” he replied, echoing Kesh’s earlier words, but Tann saw his mouth twist.

Kesh made a deep grunt. “Only I can initiate the stasis override.”

Tann felt as if he were suddenly at the edge of a cliff. He’d forgotten this little detail, and now, for the first time since she’d entered the room, he really looked at Kesh. “Will you do it?” he asked. “For Spender? I realize there’s little love between the two of you, but you must see that I’m right, Kesh.”

“I… reluctantly agree it is a good plan.”

“And Morda? Will she listen to Spender?”

Spender opened his mouth to say something, but Tann waved him quickly to remain silent. Let this be Kesh’s idea , he tried to say with his eyes.