"Trying to escape eh?" Caius said in amusement when he saw Niren biting on the bars of his crib. Caius stood up from his desk and picked up Niren gently, cradling him in one arm. "Well your diaper is clean and you don't seem to be tired so...hungry?" Caius said in a thoughtful tone and Niren chirped making Caius laugh softly. "I'll take that as a yes, now we have to be quiet so your mother can sleep" Caius whispered as he glanced at Lana. Who was sound asleep in their bed, Caius left their room and made his way to the mess hall. It was the middle of the night so everyone was asleep wich Caius was glad because after reading the latest reports. He preferred to be alone to his thoughts and it helped to have his son for company despite the fact he was only a baby.

Grabbing a packet of newborn turian pasted from the fridge Caius turned on the hot water from the sink and ran the packet under it to warm it up for Niren. Seeing the packet Niren started to get antsy and Caius rocked him a bit to calm him.

"I know buddy it's almost done, trust me you don't want to eat cold paste, especially the military kind," Caius said with a shiver prompting a chirp from Niren, once the packet was warmed up Caius tore the edge of the packet open with his teeth before feeding the paste to Niren. The young turian gasped onto the edge of it with his mouth and eagerly ate the paste. Luckily Niren's teeth weren't sharp enough to tear through the material of the packet so Caius didn't have to worry about him accidentally swallowing it.

While Niren ate Caius sat down at the table and couldn't help but get lost in his thoughts with the reports he read earlier. The only thing that startled him out of his thoughts was when he heard his mother as she walked to the table.

"You read them," Jane said solemnly as she sat down in front of him, it was more like a statement than a question.

"Ten minutes ago when they came in" Caius stated quietly. Jane sighed before she looked at Niren with a smile.

"May I?"

"Go for it" Caius said reassuringly as he passed Niren over to his mother along the packet. He sat back down with a sigh before rubbing his face with both hands. "It seems like no matter what we do this will still turn into a war over a stupid artifact," Caius said quietly. The reports had stated that there was a suspicion of mutiny over the remaining turian military that was stationed around Thessia. All the spies that were sent to investigate never returned and even the scouts had started to cease communication.

"Maybe but there's also the chance that it could be contained and we could solve this whole mess before a war starts," Jane said in a thoughtful tone.

"How can you be so sure?" Caius asked, skeptical clearly written on his face and Jane shrugged.

"I'm not, but there's always a chance for everything. More than once do numbers blur and it's purely on luck or chance."

Caius sighed and tapped his fingers on the table in thought before speaking up.

"I think we should go back to Thessia and investigate the rumors ourselves since we clearly can't or shouldn't rely on anyone that's stationed there," Caius stated and it was Jane's turn to give him a skeptical look.

"It would take a whole month to get back and by that time the whole mess could be resolved by then."

"What other choice do we have mother? Clearly being out here taking over bases isn't doing anything and they wouldn't send those reports unless there was something to go off of."

"We would need to talk to the council" Jane sighed making Caius roll his eyes and Jane continued "You know we need to, we won't hear the end of it if we don't." Jane then moved Niren to her shoulder to burp him when he was done with his paste.

"Doesn't make the meeting any less bearible" Caius said with a shake of his head, Niren then yawned making Caius stand up so Jane could hand over Niren.

"Well at least try to get some sleep, you look like you haven't been getting any since Niren was born a few days ago," Jane commented as she handed over Niren.

"Isn't that how it's supposed to go? For the first month new parents aren't supposed to get any sleep because the babies raise hell for that whole month." Caius said thoughtfully and Jane just laughed softly.

"Just at least try getting an hour of sleep."

"Yes mother" Caius said as Jane kissed his cheek before walking to the elevator. Caius cradled Niren as he walked back to his room.

Upon entering he saw that Lana was awake and sitting at the foot of the bed, she perked up when she saw him come in before standing up.

"He was hungry and I left to feed him though I think now he's ready to go back to bed" Caius explained as he handed over Niren to Lana. Lana thanked him with a smile before she took their son into her arms and cradled him on her shoulder before lightly bouncing him to put him to sleep.

"Is something wrong? You seem...tense" Lana commented as Caius sat down at his desk.

"No nothing's wrong" Caius tried to reassure as he worked on his report with the bases.

"Don't do that," Lana said softly as she laid Niren down in his crib when he had fallen asleep.

"Do what?"

"You're hiding something."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because I heard you talking to your mother."

That prompted Caius to turn to look at her.

"How much did you hear?" Caius asked quietly and Lana sighed softly.

"I woke up after you left and I was heading to the mess hall since I figured you would be there when I didn't see you or Niren. I stopped myself from walking in when I heard you guys talk about heading back to Thessia."

"Eavesdropping eh?" Caius teased lightly to try to lighten up the mood but Lana crossed her arms.

"I clearly have to if you refuse to tell me what's going on," Lana said with a frown on her face and Caius sighed before standing up. He made sure the door was locked and secured before walking back over the desk to pick up a datapad, pulling up the report on it before handing it over to Lana. She quietly read it and by the facial expressions she was making she definitely took the threat seriously like he did.

"That came in half an hour ago" Caius stated quietly as Lana looked up from the datapad with shock.

"So that's why you want to go back to Thessia...is that the only option though?"

"Lana I don't know what else to do, clearing bases doesn't mean anything if there's a possibility of the whole or at least half the turian fleet turning against us. I don't want the rest of the crew to know about this just yet until we get the details sorted out or until we arrive at Thessia if we go through with the plan. Soon I have to talk with Council about all this which should be peachy." Caius sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Don't worry I won't tell anyone...and peachy?" Lana asked with a puzzled look on her face and Caius softly chuckled.

"Human saying, anyway we should go to bed. I want to get as much sleep as I can before Niren wakes up." Caius said as he eagerly climbed into to bed making Lana smile. She didn't get to say anymore since within seconds she heard Caius snore. Lana checked on Niren before placing the datapad down and climbing into to bed next to Caius.

"Don't worry Caius we'll get through this…" Lana said softly before falling asleep next to her mate.

"It's amazing how quickly baby turians motor skills develop" Amanda commented in the mess hall when everyone was having breakfast. She was amazed when she saw Niren crawl on the table and even sit up as he ate his packet of paste.

"Well Palaven is a harsh planet so baby turians are quick to develop their motor skills to have a chance of survival against the dangerous predators" Garrus answered as he cleaned Niren's hands with a napkin when he was making a mess with the paste.

"It's like how calves from Earth are able to walk or run minutes after being born" Caius added before taking a bite of his mushy breakfast.

"You should see the baby krogan, they can immediately headbutt after-" Grunt started to say but stopped when a brown blob of paste landed on his eye. Niren was chirping as he clapped his brown paste covered claws and everyone was trying to hold in their laughter. Well everyone except Caius, he was laughing so hard in his seat that he was clutching his stomach.

"Good job Niren!" Caius praised as he picked up his son making the baby purr in happiness.

"Don't praise him for that! He shouldn't be throwing his food" Lana scolded as Caius hugged Niren.

"Maybe but could I at least teach him to throw the food at Grunt?"Caius asked innocently.

"Don't you dare" Grunt huffed out in annoyance making Caius raise his brow plates.

"Why because you know you wouldn't be able to resist this!" Caius stated as he held out Niren to Grunt. The krogan made a poker face at the baby but his eye twitched when Niren chirped at him. After a few moments of Niren cooing at him Grunt shoulders sagged in defeat.

"You win" Grunt grumbled just as Wrex walked by.

"If I couldn't resist you had no chance" Wrex commented as he picked up Niren from Caius and held him as he looked through the fridge for a snack.

"Let's meet with the council Caius, the sooner we get this over with the better" Jane stated as she stood up with a sigh, dreading it as much as he was. Caius clicked in annoyance as he stood and walked with his mother to the war room. The council was already present in the vid-com room.

"So you want to head back to Thessia to investigate these rumors?" Councilor Tevos went straight to the point making Caius chuckle without humor.

"Wow no greeting Tevos? I thought you liked me" Caius said dryly and Sparatus cleared his throat impatiently.

"Back to the issue at hand, why would you want to waste a whole month just to investigate some rumors?" Sparatus questioned and Caius resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Because they don't sound like mere rumors to me, you read the same report we did. They wouldn't be sending us something like that unless there was a real concern." Caius explained but Sparatus only scoffed.

"You think turians would actually betray the whole military?" the turian councilor countered.

"Enough of them betrayed us when they took the Citadel" Caius said with a low growl.

"Enough, Spectres. It is best that you remain clearing the bases while we handle the rumors." Tevos said calmly and Jane shook her head in disbelief.

"You're not handling them well enough because the spies haven't come back and the scouts are ceasing communication." Jane pointed out.

"We will take the necessary measures, goodbye Spectres" was all the salarian councilor said before the council disappeared from the vid comm.

"It doesn't matter how many times you're right mom, they never listen!" Caius growled loudly and Jane simply turned.

"Joker set a course for Thessia" Jane called out.

"Right away Commander" Jokers voice sounded through the ship and Caius arched a browplate at his mother.

"Commander Shepard breaking the rules? Scandalous" Caius teased and Jane shrugged innocently.

"You think this is the first time I didn't listen to the Council?" Jane commented with a laugh as she walked out the war room. Caius shook his head with a chuckle as he followed her out, feeling relieved that they were going to deal with the possible mutiny themselves. He really hoped he was wrong and they really were just rumors.