#but it didn't have to be Padok

[kaidanalenkosprmanager]

THE BEST OF PRIORITY: SUR'KESH

Featuring: Cmdr. Sophie Shepard, Lt. James Vega, EDI, and Urdnot Wrex With: Lt. Steve Cortez, Dr. Mordin Solus, Major Kirrahe, and Urdnot Bakara And a Special Guest Appearance by: Adm. Steven Hackett Alliance R&D has officially begun construction on the Prothean device. The team has dubbed it: "Project Crucible". We're throwing everybody who knows how to throw a hammer at it. This is gonna be the most ambitious undertaking in human history. I'm not saying it won't be a challenge- but we can do this, Shepard. You can do this. Never doubt that. Mass Effect 3: Legendary Edition (2021)

+BONUS (the smirk™️)

[average-mako-enjoyer]

N7 Month 2024: Day 2 - Reflection

Characters: Padok Wilks, Lieutenant Tolan, Urdnot Bakara Words: 908 Summary: The aftermath of Mordin's loyalty mission aka Salarian team that came to do the clean up finds the sealed lab with the fertile krogan on Tuchanka. Perhaps I should add a more optimistic ending to this one.

*** "Did they touch anything?" Padok asks.

"As far as I know, sir, they didn't." The shuttle shakes, and Padok's escort has to grab the railing to keep himself from falling. "But I wouldn't rule out the possibility of contamination. The agents who broke into the bunker aren't exactly in the habit of being… sensitive."

"I see."

Padoc turns to the porthole and catches his own reflection. His lips twitch in irritation. He hates unprofessionalism.

The moment Padok's feet hit the ground, he is immediately surrounded by barely organized chaos. The landing pad is swarming with agents busy loading heavy equipment into the open shuttles, someone is shouting orders in a high, already strained voice, and from somewhere in the periphery comes the unmistakable crack of assault rifles. "Doctor Wilks? Doctor Wilks?" Out of the crowd, barely avoiding a collision with the swaying loading platform that moves across his path, a nimble-looking agent runs toward them. Padok raises his arm. "That's me." "Lieutenant Guran Tolan, I'm in charge here. We've been expecting you, follow me." He immediately gets into motion again, and Padok and his escort have to follow. "What is the situation?" Padok asks. "There are nine subjects. Five are dead and in active decomposition; we believe Heplorn removed them from the clean area himself. Others – my people just found them, and we immediately resealed the area. We have no data on their condition."

"But your people entered the lab, correct?" Tolan gives him a quick look. "We wouldn't have found them otherwise." "I see." Padok clicks his tongue and closes his eyes against the howling wind, which keeps throwing dust in his face. "And what's with the shooting?" "Varren." The agent makes a disgusted noise. "The whole area is crawling with them. We cleared it out for the most part, but some of them are still coming." "Varren? Heplorn probably used them for tests," Padok has to jump over the piece of rusted armature sticking straight out of the ground. "I want them all killed and packed up, Lieutenant." "With all due respect, Doctor, I think you're mistaken. These krogan were probably just breeding them here." Tolan pauses. "Animals that breed other animals… Ironic, don't you think?" Padok's escort lets out a chuckle.

"I still want them packed up," Padok insists. "If Heplorn ever used them in an experiment, we need to know. We don't want a crude version of the genophage cure developing in the varren population, do we?" Tolan stops and turns to him. Padok must have hit a nerve, because he looks pissed. "We don't." "Good to know we're on the same page." Padok nods. "We cannot fail on this mission, Tolan. The fate of our race is at stake." "I am aware."

When they finally reach the building, Padok is immediately greeted with the sight of the already installed acid dispensers and the stacked body bags.

He counts. Thirty two. Not all are krogan. "Your people's work?" he asks. "No. This is from another group. They cleared the building ahead of us." "Another group? Did they enter the lab?" "As far as we know, no." Tolan makes a small irritated chirp. "They cleared the building, alerted us, and left." "Interesting…" "All the bodies have already been checked. None of the krogan are female. The cleanup team will start on them in a few hours." "What about the smaller ones? Humans? They can be test subjects." "No. Vorcha. Let's move on."

The building Heplorn has chosen to house his lab is a maze of long corridors, rooms with fallen walls leading to other rooms and more corridors, and at first Padok wonders how Tolan can find his way around, but after the third round Padok realizes that he is just following the blood splatter. Whoever cleared this place before the STG was very thorough, and Padok can respect that. But then the blood splatter stops and Tolan makes an unexpected turn that leads them to a long staircase.

"Watch your step, Doctor," he warns, and they begin to descend.

After the first flight, Padok notices voices coming from below. People talking, laughing, and apparently polluting the area. Another flight and he sees them lined up in front of the large glass wall that separates the clean area from the rest of the building.

"Attention, men!" Tolan shouts, causing some of them to jump. Then he turns to Padok. "Please, Doctor. The area is yours."

Padok walks past him, straight to the glass.

Behind it is a brightly lit room with two rows of hospital beds. The subject lying on the nearest one is obviously female: too large to be a male. She doesn't move.

'Dead?' Padok thinks.

His gaze moves further, and then he realizes what Tolan's men were staring at, what made them laugh and point fingers. In the far corner of the room, three female subjects are huddling together. Two of them are clinging to each other while the one, the tallest, tries her best to stand in front of them and cover them with her body. She's the only one looking at the glass.

Padok leans forward and their eyes meet. The female narrows her eyes and her throat quivers with an inaudible growl. Amazing.

"We need a decontamination area, clean suits and sedatives, Tolan," he says. "The sooner the better."

He steps back from the glass and catches his own reflection in it. His inner eyelids flutter. He feels... excited.

[wingsy-keeper-of-songs]

Mass Effect Trilogy Tag

Lovingly borrowed from a great Mass Effect blog @whiskynorocks ya'll should go follow them they're rad as hell and have excellent taste

Been a fan since: I'd heard great things about the series since 3 came out but I never had the opportunity to play it until this year. I can safely say I'm pretty hooked.

Favorite game of the series: 2, without a doubt. There are things I loved about 1 and 3 but 2 stood out to me especially with the writing and how I developed my relationships with my crew. I wasn't thrilled about joining forces with Space Terrorists, but at least I was able to walk away from TIM at the end of it.

MaleShep or FemShep? FemShep, hands down. I do have a BroShep save, but he's not as...invested as FemShep is.

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer? Colonist or Earthborn for FemShep, Earthborn or Spacer for BroShep

Paragon or Renegade? Heavy on the Paragade. I usually try to go mostly Paragon, but there are some motherfuckers that need slapping

Biotics or Tech? I like Tech but I go Biotics more often than not

Favorite class: Oh Vanguard full stop. Give me a shotgun and biotic charge and I'm up on the front lines gunning down assholes like I was born for it

Favorite companion: Garrus, but also Tali, Wrex, Legion, Kasumi, Zaeed, Vega, and Liara when she didn't sell my body to terrorists

Least favorite companion: Miranda (strictly just due to ability, tbh), Ashley (I saved her a few times, I get that she has a lot of emotional baggage and the way that the Alliance treats her is extremely wrong, but I just can't like her ya'll. I'm sorry. I've tried.)

My squad selection: Who wants to third wheel with me and the Space Kitty? In all seriousness, it's usually Shep, Garrus, and Tali in 1 unless I switch Tali for Kaiden a few times. Or Wrex if I need more fire power lol. In 2, soon as I get Garrus, I tend to keep him around for everything save Tali's trial since I like to bring Legion to that just to be a troll. Mostly, it's just me and the Dream Team. Vega third wheeled a lot in 3, though lol

Favorite in-game romance: Shakarian for the long haul, baby. But Talibrations is also extremely adorable too. My BroShep is hella bi so he's romancing Kaiden after losing Ash in Virmire and he's Damaged™ so maybe Kaiden can fix him

Other pairings I like: Tali/Reeger (that dude was so in love with her it's amazing), EDI/Joker, Wrex/Bakura, Nyreen/Aria, Cortez/Vega

Favorite NPC: Anderson, Councilor Sparatus because he's a dick but he comes through for you in the end, Saren, Nihlus for the five seconds you get to know him, Kirrahe, Nyreen Kandros, Primarch Victus, Aria (she's very hot), the bartender in the Asari bar, Biotic God Volus, Padok Wikks

Favorite antagonist: SOVEREIGN. Hands down, he is the most terrifying thing you encounter in the games. He's just so other, so alien, and so...mechanical. His lines are delivered with this matter-of-fact contempt that is so perfect for a sentient machine. He has no motive other than he just Is. And I love that. Harbinger never shut up, but Sovereign knew when to start and end a conversation. He said his piece and he said nothing more. And that is exactly how you introduce an Eldritch Being.

Favorite mission: Noveria. I loved meeting Lorik, and how the whole thing spirals down from dirty business deals to all out creep-fest when you encounter the Rachni. And the Rachni Queen's voice acting was stellar. She was just sympathetic enough to warrant pause from outright killing her and terrifying enough to consider it.

Favorite loyalty mission: Its a tie in between Garrus and Kasumi. Garrus for how it ties into his relationship with Shepard and just how their death truly affected him and how it reflects on his character (I have only allowed him to shoot Sidonis once, and it was not a good feeling). And Kasumi because dressing Shepard up is always a good time and Kasumi is a sassy, classy lady who lost someone dear to her and giving her that closure she needs makes me happy for her. She deserves pretty things. She's also cute as hell.

Favorite DLC: Either Citadel, Omega (for Nyreen), or Overlord because David's story made me cry. I'm also autistic and the story was handled very well with Shepard being so furiously angry that the Paragon Interrupt was to pistol whip Gavin was very cathartic for me.

Control, Synthesis or Destroy? 100% Destroy. I do not and will not trust the Walmart-brand Alexa that is the Catalyst. That little asshole is dying with the rest of those genocidal machines.

Favorite weapon: The Talon Heavy Pistol. Baby can pack a punch.

Favorite place: I actually really love the beauty of the Ardat Yakshi monastery. I hate that the Reapers destroy it and turn it into someplace so nightmarish but it really was such a beautiful building and felt really peaceful beforehand.

A quote I like: "You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it."

[swtorpadawan]

Alright, I'm super invested now and Kelsa wants more information too. You've talked a bit about how Tali, Chria, Vusah and Husalla got involved with The Circle but what can you share about how the other Guardians of the Adas Legacy got involved with Teeanah? Without giving away any spoilers you aren't ready to share yet of course

Thank you for asking, @the-raven-of-highever / @raven-of-domain-kwaad !

First - full disclosure - two of the members of The Circle of Guardians - The Adas Legacy OCs - are being completely re-written.

Thus is the fate of original characters who don't talk to me. 😈 So I can't talk much about them, right now.

Second - I can't quite tell you everything. To be honest, a lot of it is still in outline form, but I believe you were one of those who've read my works: Promises and Perspectives These are less fanfic and more case studies for why various characters choose to follow Corellan Halcyon, who I made into the archetypal noble hero. In the case of each character, Corellan is - intentionally or otherwise - providing that character with something in their lives that they want or need.

In a sense, it is the same with Teeanah Malvern. (Except she is definitely nobility, but perhaps not so very noble, when all is said and done.)

Each of her Guardians receives something from her that they were unable to gain in their regular lives.

I will… try to share three of those with you, though one of them I cheated on.

Shiri'ah is like most Heroes of Tython - she has seen a LOT of fighting and hardship in a relatively young life.

She's done it all without complaint. (Aside from yelling at Doc to stop hitting on her.)

But… she's burned out. She hasn't completely recovered from the Emperor's Fortress. She needs a long rest. Possibly in a place where she and Kira can explore their feelings for each other without incurring the displeasure of the Jedi Council.

So in the aftermath of the Dromund Kaas operation, when she is approached by a Jedi Master who is officially "on leave" from the Order, she listens:

"Join me, and I'll give you a world where you can be a hero just by being yourself."

Being slightly more observant than the Jedi Council, Teeanah makes sure to tell her that Kira is invited to see it as well.

That resonates.

All Wavanih Mabray ever wanted to be was a scholar.

A librarian. An archivist. The Jocasta Nu of her age.

Books were her passion.

She never wanted to fight Sith, or be a diplomat. She certainly didn't want to become the "Warden of the Order", and have to have to sacrifice her own life force to shield others.

Teeanah approaches Wavanih, prepared to offer her knowledge. And a place where she can sit quietly with her books.

… only to discover that, while she still wants to focus on her studies, books were no longer the sole passion in Wavanih's life.

Nadia Grell grew up a lot after the death of her father. It was a difficult time for her of course, but with Wavanih's support, she made great strides.

The experience left her harboring a deep affection for Wavanih that - much to the Zabrak's surprise - she reciprocated.

"Join me, and I'll give you a world where you can read books all day… and you can spend your evenings with your former Padawan."

(I mean, honestly, if the Council was cooler about lesbians, it would undercut Teeanah's entire sales pitch.)

Sulyn Padok was the last of the eight Guardians to join the Circle.

Teeanah had her eye on the Cathar for a long time. She knew that no matter how well her plans went, she would need a small army to protect her new world.

That army would need to be recruited, trained and led by someone. A real soldier.

When you are Teeanah Malvern, however, you don't just want a soldier; you want the best soldier your galaxy has to offer.

That meant Sulyn Padok, the commander of Havoc Squad.

Try as she might, Teeanah couldn't quite find the leverage she needed to persuade Sulyn. Even the Major's disgust at General Garza and many others couldn't shake her resolve.

But by then, Teeanah had been subtly manipulating people for so long, it became second nature to her. And by then, there was no one in her Circle who would have thought to have told her no.

So Sulyn was lured into a trap, and captured. Her strength of will was a sight to behold - she resisted Teeanah and her followers for more than a week.

But inevitably, she broke, and joined the Circle.

For Teeanah, once you cross a line like that once, it becomes easier to do it again.

Maybe I'll write it someday. I don't know. I'm making a lot of this up as I go along.

But thanks again for the asks. 😁