Drift Effect

Chapter 06: Effect

Saren pulled himself up, taking steady breaths until his chest reached the metal bar. He paused, counting to ten, then slowly lowered himself back down, allowing his arm muscles to relax completely before repeating the exercise, counting to fifteen this time.

By the time he reached forty, his arms felt like they were on fire. Relaxing them one last time, he let go of the bar and took a moment to collect himself. When his limbs finally felt they weren't being cooked, he walked towards the bottle of water he had left on a nearby table, and glanced around as he drank from it. He was alone. He grumbled out a sigh before reaching the exit.

As he walked down the small hallway, he gazed out at the landscape. Thracia, a Turian colony, resembled an Asari-like planet with lush green forests, flat plains, and a rare yellow sun. However, for Saren, the abundance of large bodies of water posed a hazard to the local Turian population.

Thankfully, the vacation house they were in was far away from such hazards. It was also built on top of a hill, letting the rain fall down around them safely and not pooling into a hazard. The view from there was quite wide, allowing people who stayed there to have a good, strategic view of their surroundings.

Desolas really knew how to pick prime locations.

Speaking of his brother, Saren finally found him in the dining room area, sitting at the table and staring at a data pad.

"You skipped out on me," Saren chirped.

Desolas glanced up, a hum emanating from his chest. "Sorry, Saren. Something came up."

"And here I thought we were here to relax before returning to our duties."

"What we want and what we get rarely coincide," Desolas remarked.

"Are you being recalled?" the younger Turian inquired.

"No. For all intents and purposes, this is nothing more than General Oraka sending a status update of his assigned fleet."

Saren stood still for a moment. "General Oraka? I thought he had retired already."

Desolas chuckled. "He won't be doing that anytime soon; not until he can't run a lap around a dreadnought anymore. He's currently attached to Admiral Vinia's fleet that's assigned to patrol the Falsus Cluster."

Saren sat down. "A little far from here," he observed. "Why would the general send an update to this cluster?"

"Not just here," Desolas replied. "He sent it to the general Hierarchy Fleet Frequency." He looked at Saren before sliding the data pad to him. "Check for yourself."

Saren caught the pad but didn't take his eyes off of his brother. "I hope there isn't anything classified on here."

"Even if there were, I don't think you would care."

Saren chuckled before looking at the screen. Oddly enough, it wasn't a written report, but an audio one. His mandibles flexed slightly before he played the file.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"This is General Oraka. This file documents the audio communications of the crew of the cruiser THS Veritas, compiled by the XO Commander Gavtus, under the orders of Captain Septimus. They were performing routine patrol to System A4213 when they encountered unknowns at Relay 314. Relay 313 was already active when they arrived."

Saren frowned; if he remembered correctly, no relays in that system should be active at all.

"Captain, we're detecting a slight increase in the heat levels on the system."