"By the authority of the senior assistant commander of the frigate. Given to me based on Captain Anderson's orders," Shepard growled. "I'm suspending you. From performing functions and duties. The frigate's supplier. Your product and all assets. They will be assigned to a new supplier. All your debts. They will be saved. For you. From now on, you. Transfer to the category. The frigate's maintenance staff. For a position. Different. A worker. If I. Just once. I'll hear it. Or I'll feel it. What are you. You're not doing well. Their responsibilities. You will be thrown out. Into the airlock. Live. Will be. In the inventory room. Your capsule. Goes into use. The new supplier of the frigate. All aro-und. Run to the inventory room. March!" Shepard spat out the last command, not even paying attention to the commendable speed with which the former supplier disappeared down the stairs. Thank you for your help, Sergeant," the captain, instantly calming down, exchanged military greetings with the supply escort. "Return to your duties. The Master Sergeant will tell you the rest."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." The sergeant turned sharply and left.

So. One policeman was transferred to the position of a supply officer. The Master Sergeant is right — such a specialist will be useful and valuable to us. I received five policemen, young men, as reinforcements for the frigate's landing party. It's not enough, but considering the starting conditions, it's already good. We are an intelligence, not an assault frigate. This means that six of the group of forehead policemen can be safely excluded. Shepard thought as he walked along the deck of the Combat Information Center and occasionally glanced at the officers and sergeants of the crew, who were getting used to the fact that sergeants of the Alliance military police stood next to them at the consoles. The remaining six, including the master sergeant, can be used in the CIC and in the posts of specialists of the frigate. Which is also good."

Now there is not a single vacant workplace around the holographic image of the frigate, which occupies the central part of the "circle of consoles", more often referred to as the "necklace".

Captain Anderson, standing on the bridge at the Star Chart, was pleased: the whole CIC was in front of him, all the people were at work, none of the frigates tried to shirk or not work at full strength.

Stopping next to Presley, Shepard did not distract the navigator officer from his work. After waiting for him to finish entering data into the frigate's navigation subsystems, Shepard stood softly and silently to the left of the navigator.

"Charles, let's go quietly and without ranks," he said softly. "What is your opinion about the procedure for approaching Eden Prime?"

"Very well, Captain." Pressley said softly, too. "To summarize everything that I could hear and understand, there is a ship waiting for us there that is much superior to the Normandy, at least in terms of firepower. This means that we can't just show up and even show up in the system without preparation. In front of the repeater on the other side of the entrance is the planet Xanadu, but, as calculations and simulations show, at the expected moment of the frigate's exit from the repeater, it appears on the same line between the repeater and the planet Eden Prime. In this case, our possible departure to the planet Nirvana under disguise requires additional justification for its necessity," the navigator noted. "The planet Zion is a really large planet, in the shadow of which we could reliably and permanently hide the ship — at the moment the frigate leaves the repeater it will be far away, in another segment of the planetary system. If we're going to take the risk, and I think we're going to have to take the risk anyway, then we'll have to go from Xanadu in disguise to Arcadia. Hiding in its shadow, using the glare due to the luminaries of the star system and the corresponding radiation, you can disguise yourself. The size of Arcadia will allow you to disable your disguise and drift while in the shadows, occasionally turning it on only if necessary. I think, Captain, as a navigation officer, there's hardly anything I can add here right now. I will be able to give all other recommendations only when we approach the repeater leading to the Utopia system and conduct an initial remote reconnaissance without entering the repeater.

"The atmospheric layer of Arcadia contains nitrogen and helium, according to the Alliance Navigation Data Set. The surface temperature is extremely high. How long do you think the frigate will be able to survive in the shadow of the planet?" Shepard asked, turning on additional screens on the navigator's console and displaying the necessary data on them.

Presley peered at the lines of text and tables with diagrams, calculated something on his omny-tool:

"A few days, Captain. Only a few days. I assume that we will have to leave the system for the repeater — in case of difficulties with Eden Prime — under disguise, the resource of which we will have to strictly dose. The Vault data indicates that we will not be able to discharge on Arcadia."

"And Nirvana?" — Shepard changed the information on the additional screens. Presley pointed with satisfaction at one of the frames on the right screen:

"The Code says, Captain, that it has no scientific or commercial value. The fuel imported for the automatic station is almost exhausted, the atmosphere is residual, just xenon and krypton. We can expect for a short time that the presence of iron oxides in the surface of the planet will mask the frigate and reduce the level of our own disguise involved, but I wouldn't rely on that much," he pointed to the corresponding table on the left secondary screen and fell silent.

"And Xanadu? How can she perform the function of disguise? Shepard changed the information on the additional screens.

Pressley calculated something on his instrumentation:

"The atmosphere of methane and argon can help us hide the ship in medium camouflage modes immediately after leaving the repeater area. It is only necessary to accurately calculate the moment of transition in order to immediately slip into the shadow of the planet under disguise. The surface is ice, potassium and calcium. It's a little complicated, but since the planet is little visited due to its low value... I think even with the other ships moving through the repeater, we're unlikely to be found. Only here the dosage of the disguise will have to be done jewelry-wise. I don't think we'll be able to stay at Xanadu for long-a few hours at the most."

"You're right, Charles," Shepard replied. "Calculate the approach times to the repeater, the drift time at the repeater, and the passage through the repeater so that we can glide to Xanadu. And calculate the movement and maneuvers to all the planets considered. So that we can have as little light as possible on the views from Eden Prime. Make maximum allowances for the masking operation so that we don't have to fly openly to the repeater from anywhere in the system. The rest is later."

"Yes, Captain." Pressley nodded and went back to work. Yes, the new XO didn't say much, he didn't go into details, he made it clear the main thing: most likely, he would have to act according to circumstances.

Chapter 8. A conversation with Anderson about the Reaper. Fighting with Jeff.

Shepard looked at his watch-time was running out. Turning to Anderson, he noted that the frigate commander had heard and seen their conversation and agreed with Shepard's decision on the problem of navigation in the Utopia system.

The XO took a few steps, climbed onto the pedestal, and approached the commander of the ship, who was leaning with his elbows on the handrail surrounding the Star Chart.

"Sir. Pressley and I discussed only the first part of our work in the Utopia system. Only as far as navigation is concerned," the commander of the landing crew said quietly. "Before entering the repeater, we will need a short drift — from half an hour to an hour and a half, during which we will have to conduct a remote reconnaissance of Eden Prime and the situation in Utopia as a whole. In order to act only for sure in the future." Shepard moved the image of the Star Chart up, and called up the image of the "shrimp" in the vacant place. "According to the updated data, the size of this ship — along the vertical axis — is a maximum of two kilometers. This is also indicated by the primitive scale of the images from the Archaeological Data Set." Shepard called them up on the screens, combining them with the rulers. "I assume that he will not stay in the orbit of Eden Prime and will definitely land on the planet." Shepard, restraining himself from verbal explanations, quickly formed screens with text information in free space, visible only to the commander and the XO. "We will have to use the planet's infrastructure and climate." He paused briefly so as not to elaborate further on the possibility of "tickling" this superdreadnought.

Deep down, Shepard, of course, hoped very much that he would be able not only to "tickle", but, quite possibly, to immobilize this ship. Make him unarmed and safe.

"Are you willing to take the risk, Captain?" Anderson looked at the first officer without surprise.

Shepard noted with satisfaction that Anderson must have recognized this ship with something very painful for his memory, otherwise the ship's commander would not have hidden it when talking in the cabin, when both images from the Archaology and images of the ship directly received from the observation stations with the disguise removed lit up on the screens.

The commander of the landing crew did not insist either in the cabin or now that Anderson immediately shared with him the reason for his silence. But there was a reason. And besides Anderson's direct involvement in the events related to this ship, Shepard did not see any other reasons.

"Yes. Today we still have time for all possible preparations. There are less than twelve hours left until midnight. Tomorrow we will have to act according to plan, and be ready for both improvisation and active counteraction, Commander," the XO replied.

"Good." Anderson called the officer of the watch. "Come to my cabin, Captain."

Shepard nodded and walked to the left and behind the striding commander of the ship.

When he entered the cabin, he caught a nod of permission and blocked the doors. Anderson turned on the wall screens from his laptop. Shepard brought up the necessary data on them.

"I couldn't ask you many questions in CIC, Captain," Anderson said. "But I clearly understood that you already have a plan ready, which includes not only disguising yourself and going from planet to planet, that is, what you discussed with Pressley. I guess you wanted to conduct several full-scale alarms and exercises, carrying them out both today and tomorrow."

"You're right, Commander," Shepard said. "I really have a plan that provides for a real fight against this ship. May I speak plainly, sir?"

"One way and no other," Anderson said. "If we're going to risk the ship, the crew, or use military weapons, then we need to know exactly what to do, how, and when," Anderson nodded.

"According to the same surveillance, communications, and control posts that received the scan data you know of the ship heading for Eden Prime, I was able to understand that the ship has a powerful source of energy. I'm sure it's very powerful when compared to the best currently known by any organic intelligent race. It is he who allows this superdreadnought not only to be absolutely invulnerable even to the coordinated attack of several of our dreadnoughts in space. But as you've already seen, I'm not of the opinion that this ship will operate from the orbit of Eden Prime. And, due to certain prerequisites, I am sure that this ship is more vulnerable on the surface of the planet. And he will land, I have no doubt about that."

"And what are your prerequisites?" Anderson asked.

"Driving such a ship to an agricultural planet just to shoot at its surface from orbit is too unlikely, although I won't deny the possible course of events. I don't understand why the Superdreadnought follows our area of responsibility exclusively. I don't understand why he's targeting Eden Prime with such precision. Usually ships of this class are empty and, moreover, they do not sail alone. They are accompanied by a powerful escort, in a "warrant". This means that this giant has everything he needs not around himself, but inside himself. And in this regard, I would give priority to the amphibious forces. The command of such a ship is probably able to understand that burning areas, destroying agricultural settlements and entire cities with the forces of even one huge and powerful ship is too exotic and adventurous, frankly speaking, an occupation. Which means that the arrival of this monster on the planet Eden Prime has some other goals, much more important than setting massive fires." Shepard switched the screens, displaying information about the Prothean beacons." I've already said, Captain, that I know the real reason our ship is being used in the Eden Prime area. The Protean lighthouse."

"You're right, Shepard," Anderson nodded. "The leadership of the Alliance of Systems decided that the Prothean lighthouse found by earthlings on Eden Prime would be transferred to the Citadel for joint research of this outstanding artifact, left over from the extinct race fifty thousand years ago."

"Should I understand this gesture of goodwill by the Alliance as an attempt to boost humanity's political standing among the Citadel races?" Shepard asked.

"And this is also the case. Unfortunately," Anderson said. "As an officer of the Alliance's MSF, I don't like hiding this from the crew of a frigate, but if they know about it, it won't add to their peace of mind. Since our ship has a state-of-the-art system installed on board that ensures invisibility from detection, including optical tracking sensors, the command of the Alliance's MSF instructed us to excavate the lighthouse and deliver it to the Citadel at high speed. In any case, no matter who I received instructions or orders from, they all referred specifically to our invisibility system. I'm sure they were ordered to do so by their superiors. Who, quite possibly, have never served in the army. Not a day. And that's why they don't understand and don't know a lot." Anderson was silent for a few seconds. "The archaeological team is already waiting for us. According to the latest telemetry, they have already completely dug out the lighthouse. In an undamaged state, thankfully. If we humans are at all capable of professionally understanding what condition can be defined as intact for him."