The Citadel floated in space, a monument to the war that had raged only two years before. Commander Shepard, the hero of the galaxy, strode purposefully towards the elevator in C-sec that would take him to his ship, and took it right up. Today was the day that he would boldy explore a brand new sector of the galaxy, uncharted planets ripe for the discovery, and bring even more to the human race. When he got up the elevator, he stepped out, and nearly ran into Wrex. The large Krogan in deep red heavy armor looked at him, and held up a hand. "Shepard, before you say anything, it wasn't my fault." he said. Shepard blinked, and looked over Wrex's shoulder. The rest of his crew, including Liara, Tali, and Garrus, stood around conversing. What struck him as odd was that even Joker, in his modified leg bracings, stood out of the ship, when he had honestly never seen him out of it before. Shepard looked to the side, and immediately saw why. Where his ship should have been was a large sign, suspended somehow in midair, with the simple message:
"Shepard. Gone for a ride to the new system, I'll send you a postcard. Love, Tai-nin."
Shepard read the black fox's message for what seemed to him like an eternity, and then, finally, raised his fists to the air. "GOD DAMN IT, TAI-NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!!!!!"
Light-years away, in the newly discovered system, the relay there surged to life, and a single ship shot from slipspace, flying past it. At the controls was a smiling, giggling black and blue Mobian fox in a flowing grey cloak, a blue NiGHTS cap, and a yellow earring from his right ear. He giggled again and made the Normandy do a barrel roll, then righted it, speeding for the new clusters of planets. He turned on the comm system, and giggled again giddily. "Hey, everyone, we're here!" he shouted, and clicked it off. After a while, a brown Turian strode purposefully to the bridge, followed by an Elite in black armor. The turian, named Nirvanna, and the Elite, named Nav'Ras, looked out of the windows. Nirvanna looked back at Tai. "I still can't believe we got away with taking THE Commander Shepard's ship." he said, rubbing his chin. "I've never seen someone hotwire an entire ship like that." Nav'Ras looked away from the window, clicking his bottom mandibles in his species' version of a shrug. "Tai-nin is in tune with the Darkness. I suspected nothing less." he spoke. "However, I'm a little wary of that vehicle, the Mako? It seems.....incredibly fragile." He looked back towards the glaxy map, several Grunts and Slarians working together on the sytems nearby it. Tai looked up from the controls and put it in autopilot to send them to the nearest cluster of planets, and stood up, stretching. "Ahhh, don't worry Navvy." he said cutely. "That vehicle, in the past two years, has only flipped on it's back ONCE. Every time it falls, it rights itself right back up, even so far as going right up an 80 degree cliff." he said. "The only time it ever flipped was because of Sovereign." he added, and at that, a red hologram opened on the panel of a large bulky ship, five fingerlike structures jutting from the bottom and a single red globe in the center. "That was because I had taken control of the Citadel and shut off all systems within, save the ones I used. The drive that keeps vehicles from flipping was jammed by my control, and it crashed." the former Reaper said. It turned to stare at Tai-nin. "What I do not understand is why, after my failure, did you retrieve my systems?" Tai smirked at it, strutting rather gay-like down the hall from the bridge. "Because, silly, you're a superintelligent machine~" he said, leaving Sovereign to contemplate how this was relevant or important to the situation.
Nav'Ras and Nirvanna sat down in the meeting room, Tai-nin sitting as well while they waited. The door opened, and an enormous wolf from the ancient lands of Gor, otherwise known as the Kurrii, strode in and sat in a chair that had been built to suspend him without breaking. The Kurri had been given armor and training so he could keep up with the timeline, having been ripped from the past by the Darkness, and he put a clawed hand underneath, scratching his chest. The particular and peculiar name for this Kurri was Amaranth, though no one really knew why. He looked at Tai, scratching his broad chest. "So....new planets." he said in a low growling voice. "Never thought I'd be travelling the stars like this...." He had been given speech lessons by Tai, and wondered in quiet how he had ever come aboard this ship. He shrugged and stopped scratching, looking over as a Geth soldier strode in. It's armor was also black, and many of the pipes and wires within it were deep red. Across it's chest was a name in large blocky letters: Returner. It also sat down, crossing it's arms and scanning about the room. Tai-nin reclined as these two sat, looking around. "Didn't we have more in our crew than this?" he asked, and Nav'Ras spoke: "We did. You just forgot them, so they won't come in until you remember them." he said, displaying the incredibly daffy logic and physics of the world Tai-nin had made within the ship. The chair next to the Geth was a holo-orb, and Sovereign once more appeared in holograph form, checking around the room before staying still. The door opened and a white Sergal with a black face strode in, wearing the same grey cloak as Tai-nin, sitting down in the chair next to Amaranth. The sergal, Strewn, smirked as he sat, as though something were incredibly funny. "I still can't believe we got away with this." he muttered. Tai waited a bit longer, then sat up. "Ok, so as you all know, we are the first to explore this new system, having borrowed the Normandy from Commander Shepard." he said, and everyone laughed a bit. As they settled down, Tai spoke again. "Now, this entire system is new, so we have to explore every planet. Rather than taking the time to fly all the way around, however, I'm going to dispatch teams to the surface of each planet. I know what you all are capable of, so even if i sent all of you alone, it would be no problem." he said. Returner, the Geth, looked over. "We still find it incredible that you are somehow able to say I without capitalization, and that we are able to pick up on it." he said, and Amaranth, the Kurri, grunted. "Quit breaking the Fourth Wall and listen." They all turned to look at Tai, who smiled and beamed at them all. "As i was saying, there would be no problem sending one of each of you to the planets. Sovereign will fly the ship, and pick us up when each of us are ready to be picked up to report in." he said. Nirvanna, the Turian, spoke up next. "How do you know the Reaper won't just fly off without us?" he asked. Tai smirked a bit evilly, and Nirvanna shuddered at what lurked beneath the fox's smirk. "Because," Tai-nin replied, "he knows better than that. Any other questions?" Nav'Ras nodded. "What are we looking for?" he asked the fox, who then turned on the holo-screen. "Currently, anything. Find settlements, minerals, gasses, precious stones, anything that might be particularily interesting, imminently interesting things, and shiny things, especially shiny things." he added, and smiled. "Everyone get ready. We're approaching the first planet now."
A few minutes later, they all stood in the drop bay near the Mako. Tai turned to look at Nirvanna. "Since you're new to the crew, and we don't know your capabilities, I'll be sending you with the Mako." he said, and opened the Mako's door. "Let me explain the features, controls, and other nefarious goodies and gadgets." He led the Turian inside and closed the door. Nav'ras checked to make sure his Plasma Rifle and Beam Sword were fully charge, stowing them at his waist and practicing quick-draws, seeing how fast he can draw either of his weapons and then trying to draw them even faster the next time. Returner scanned his systems, saw that all were operating at maximum capability, and stood waiting for instruction. Amaranth and Strewn were busy sharpening their claws; Strewn had already slammed some fresh plasmids into his S.I.C. Cannon, and also some plasma in case he needed to use the Overdrive Shot, one of the few things that could tear through even the Citadel's hull. As soon as Tai-nin walked out they all stood and saluted, and Tai smirked as Nirvanna backed the Mako onto the drop-hatch. "Ok, guys, good luck. Try not to get too badly beat up, and try to capture anything you find alive if possible." he says. "If not, make sure their bodies are intact. I'm getting low on the Regeneration shot, but i still have plently of Reanimation." The rest nodded and walked over to the pods that would drop them. Amaranth got into his pod, which was more like a heavy solid metal crate, and curled up, smirking. The rest smiled, and their pods closed. One by one, as Sovereign flew over the planets, he released their pods to the surfaces, Nirvanna and the Mako going last. Tai watched them all depart, then stood in the silence of the bay. "Sovereign, keep in contact with every single member." he said. He then turned to black fog, a fog of shadows, and floated out into space towards the nearest planet. He had sent them all to uncharted worlds, but he only knew so far that the one directly below him was inhabited. He floated down through the atmosphere, configured his body, and reshaped on the dry surface of that world. He smiled, and slid into the shadows on the ground, sliding over the surface towards the small village he had spotted. He smiled inwardly, and prepared himself......for fun.
