Mission 11

Ok. I think things are ok.

For starters we've about caught up to our doppelgangers, and they should be headed straight towards us. I'm monitoring the communications as I write this just to make sure, and K-QO probably is too.

We got to Eden Prime after two days of travel only to find five hyperion class cruisers orbiting the planet. Our stealth systems are good, but that doesn't prevent them from seeing our ship out their windows. I managed to hack into the satellites to try and locate the fake Saschen. Even though I got the information the Commander and Luthien somehow managed to lose it and so I had to go back in and get it again. There were two individuals fishing around looking for me... but of course they found nothing. Pathetic. Anyway, my team mates were able to find holes in the surveillance we could slip through and we flocated the fake Saschen. Getting onto the planet was surprisingly easy, and we landed about forty kilometres away from our destination, took the shuttle up close, and then began sneaking towards the ship. 

We were all being pretty careful - I mean, this crew was supposed to be us, and my team mates are pretty skilled at their respective...whatever it is they do. This, unfortunately does not include tech abilities for any... Cornelius did something to his omni-tool and short-circuited his internal computer. The plus side of that was is was something I could actually fix, since it was a mechanical problem. Still, they all really need to learn some basic technician skills before they seriously injure themselves.

Anyway, we didn't see anyone and so I snuck up to the ship. Terryck covered me, thankfully. It was very nerve-wracking. Once I was close enough to touch it, I hacked the ship and learned several interesting things: the doppelganger crew was away, the basic crew was all in crew areas away from the main door,  and there was not an AI on this ship (which was good, because I don't know that I'm that good...yet). So I locked of all incoming and outgoing communications, locked the crew into the areas they were in, and opened the door. 

Unfortunately the ship (it's actually the Triton) had no non-lethal gases we could use on the crew, and they had started to notice little things like that the elevators were not coming... So we decided maybe we could impersonate our impersonators. I took the crew off lockdown and the Commander and the rest of my squad persuaded the crew we had found us and to fly the ship over to the real Saschen. The best part is that they even managed to get the whole crew onto the Saschen under the premise of re-fitting it, and K-QO gassed them all... We left them tied up to a tree. I'm actually kind of surprised that the Commander didn't just have them all killed in the first place. Surprised but grateful. Maybe Tali was right about humans...

Anyway, we had to leave them tied up because K-QO also detected an outgoing transmission to the hyperion cruisers above us. I managed to steal the signal (their technician, by the way, didn't even seem to notice. So much for our doppelgangers having equal skill sets to us) and Nienna pretended to be a communications officer. We sent them coordinates to "their ship" (a location we'd picked that was far enough away we'd have plenty of time to beat them there and set up an ambush) and promised back-up (some of our marines will go in a shuttle with Cornelius and the geth to protect them). I've got the turrets ready to go, and now we just have to wait.

As crazy as all this is, this is more like what I expected when I joined the Alliance. I actually feel like I'm accomplishing something. And while my crew may be insane, I do trust them to get the job done. They are good at that. And I think I can trust them to have my back. So I just have to make sure I have theirs.

Missions 9 and 10

Just one day of peace, that's all I want right now. One day without people asking me to do ridiculous things or something going wrong with the crew. Is that really too much to ask?
Everything started out well enough - I was able to obtain many of the upgrades that my crew requested including a thermal scope for my Widow, muscle weaves in my arms and legs, and the internal computer I needed. Many of the crew opted for cypernetic upgrades, so most of us were in the hopital for three days. When we got out our Commander was nowhere to be found. Luthien decided to hit up some of the bars, and since most of the crew seemed eager to accompany her I decided to tag along as well. I thought it would help me maybe get to know them a bit better, plus I wanted to make sure they didn't get up to too much trouble here on Rannoch.
It's a good thing I followed, Luthien led us straight to bar of...less than desirable taste. It was disgusting. We weren't there long, however, before we got shot at. A Salarian STG team attacked us. No serious damage was taken, although I did have to save Cornelius - he really is rather reckless. At least now we're even - he saved my life, I saved his... although who knows, given his luck he may have been able to dodge the bullet. So I killed a Salarian today, but it was in defense of a team mate and I think I'm ok with it. President Tali'Zora did tell me to find a reason to kill... But I'll get to that in a bit.
Two salarians ran away during the fight and I headed off to take the second one down so we could bring him into questioning. I neural shocked him and he collapsed (I actually did it with the right amount of force this time!). I tried to drag him in with me but his arm had gone all funny and it didn't work very well. Luthien came up behind me and tried pulling him by his horns, which I guess worked a little better. Fortunately Terryck came along and hauled the salarian onto his back and we all went back to the ship.

As we came up to the ship the commander came out of a very official looking car, K8 running up beside him. I approached the commander and asked him about the scientist we had kidnapped last week - he gave me permission to interrogate him and then kill him to ensure the information could not spread. It was...odd, having the commander agree with me. I realized later that President Tali'Zora had filled him in more about my quest and she must have told him how important it was the information all be destroyed.
Anyway, the interrogation started out fine. Braxis and Cornelius decided to join so I warned them to be on their best behaviour. The Salarian was cooperating and he told us that the data from his ship was also stored in a vault back at his house... wish we'd known that the first time we were on Sur'kesh!
I was trying to convince him to tell me the location of the vault (other than that it was in his study) when Braxis and Cornelius... actually I'm not sure what they thought they were doing. Braxis was talking about eating the salarian, Cornelius was talking about doing it while the salarian was alive... the salarian went into cardiac arrest and Joe medic-ed him so they could torture him. I'm really not certain what's wrong with him - Cornelius that is. Healing someone so you can kill them slowly? That's abominable.

It's all kind of a blur, really. When I realized they weren't kidding I decided to kill the salarian (it seemed by far the more humane option) and sent a neural shock his way. At this point the geth decided to walk into the room and for some insane reason made the asinine move of jumping in front of my neural shock. Idiot. He's lucky he didn't die. I rushed over to fix him, leaving the unfortunate salarian in the hands of my two sadistic crew mates. Judging by his screams, I think the krogan may actually have bitten the poor guy.

Fortunately the chaos ended as I finished repairing the geth. The commander burst in (drawn, no doubt, the the screams of pain emanating from the salarian) and after staring in shock for a minute he shot the salarian in the head.

I really couldn't deal with all the drama and terror going on, so I may have kind of run away at that point.

And honestly, as horrible as all that was I would have been ok with that being my day. It's the rest of it that threw me.

In the first place, K-QO has somehow managed to upgrade the ships internal monitoring systems - as in there are camera's and microphones and thermal sensors EVERYWHERE. Including my room. And the washrooms...
Everywhere. And it won't turn them off. I asked why, and it said that it had been instructed to monitor the crew, and that this seemed the best way to understand organics. My arguments that organics really didn't make much sense to anyone didn't seem to do much to deter it.

In the second place, on top of his absolutely brutal behaviour in the interrogation room (and he wonders why I have a hard time explaining my feelings towards him...) Cornelius started yelling at me in a corridor. He started out by apologizing to me for his behaviour earlier - the whole pinning me down and asking me how I felt about him bit. But the apology aspect wasn't really there, it was more of a frustrated yell of "I'm sorry" followed by him yelling that we would be just friends before he ran off...
I don't really understand him at all, but I really don't think he's well. But hey - a friend! That's good, right?

Finally, the best part of my day wound up being the worst. When I told the Commander that we needed to go to Sur'kesh he agreed, but pointed out that we also had to stop the look alike Saschen and it's crew, who have apparently been flying around and causing mayhem and destruction in our name. Both tasks were urgent, so he decided we should ask President Tali'Zorah if she could offer any advise or assistance. I begged the Commander to take me with him so I could meet her, and eventually he caved and took Luthien and I with him on the condition that we remained silent. Which I did. I may, however, have waved at her when she looked my way. But, I mean, I was actually standing in the same room as Tali'Zorah vas Normandy! What was I supposed to do?
She waved back :)
And then she asked me to stay back when she dismissed the Commander and Luthien. I was so excited...
Until she started talking. President Tali'Zorah thanked me for the work I had done so far, and then added that it wasn't enough. She spoke for a while about humans and their emotions and influencing people... I really had no idea what she was talking about. But then she told me I had to get closer to my crew so I could help them grow and be better. I need to be friends with them, and... yeah.
Actually, I don't really want to think about it.

Anyway, I guess it's a good thing I pulled the crew's files a few days ago. Nienna agreed to help teach me how to make friends if I send an encrypted message for her, so hopefully she'll give me some helpful pointers. You know what, life's not that bad. I can do this friend thing. I really can. As for the rest, well... if I can get close to my crew and help them out, then nothing else should be necessary, right? It's all going to be perfectly fine.
Maybe I'll go check on the crew with K-QO. Watching the monitors should help me get to know people better, right?

Letter from President Tali'Zorah

TO: Aliya.Irit@alliancenavy.web
FROM: TPOR@Rannoch.gov.org

Aliya:

We thank you for your service to the galaxy and recognize that you and your team are now in a difficult position. Our spies tell us you would be in an even more difficult position had you turned over the information.

Rannoch has officially condemned the council's actions but they don't listen to us. A wise man once told me when th politicans don't listen to you then don't listen to them. We have just publically declared that the SSV Saschen and its crew are under Quarian protection. You are welcome to Rannoch whenever you like and treat this as your home.

Office of the President of Rannoch
Signed by President Tali'Zorah

Mission 8

It's over. I did it...
I don't feel as glad or relieved as I thought I would. Mostly I just feel...guilt.
I'm still alive, and still on the Saschen. For now. I told the Commander that if he didn't want me to remain I would stay on Rannoch. Honestly, I'm surprised I'm not just resigning from the Alliance. I've finished my pilgrimage.
Maybe I should start from the beginning.
K-QO and a turian female came into the lab shortly after the Salarian...passed on.  I was pretty certain there was no turian female on our ship, so that must have been the prisoner K-QO went to free. I'm glad something came from this trip other than destruction.
I pretended to try and get information from the computer, and pretended to fail. I... I couldn't tell my squad yet. We were still on enemy territory, and I could barely think straight. Everything was happening so fast.
I guess something was going on with the Salarians piloting the ship, because the Commander damaged the computer and asked me to fix the ship. There were still two Salarians in engineering, and I was pretty certain I could handle them so I told the Commander I would take control  from engineering. I arrived at the same time as the two asari, and the Lieutenant ran up the corridor to join us. Opening the door and sneaking into the room was easy... although as usual the Lieutenant decided it would be better to charge straight in waving his sword. Normally his incessant need to kill things would have irritated me, but today it was what I needed. Unfortunately one of the asari used her biotics to send the engineers to sleep - which for some strange reason meant they walked past us back to their bunks. I followed, and neural shocked them in their sleep.
I can't believe I did that.
I've killed so many people since joining the Alliance, and many as a direct result of this mission. I've certainly never killed anyone in their sleep before. I'm still not sure how to live with that.
The lieutenant had decided to follow me because he wanted to talk to me. He saw what I did... the look of shock on his face is burned into my memory. I truly have become a monster if even he is shocked by my actions. He confronted me, and although I tried to put him off he wound up pinning me to the floor. I suppose I should be grateful he didn't tear my suit in the process. I expected more of an interrogation about what he had just seen, but he was quickly side-tracked into confessing his feelings for me.

The lieutenant is in love with me. Or at least thinks he is.

What am I supposed to do about that? What was I supposed to say? Especially today, with everything that was going on. I froze. Then I demanded he get off of me so I could fix the ship that for all I knew could have been careening wildly through space since I hadn't taken control yet like I said I would. He wouldn't get off. He wanted to know how I felt about him. Why would I ever have even thought about him that way? He's always disgusted me with his amoral, care-free attitude...
And what right have I to criticize him for that now? He's saved my life before. I lied to him, and the rest of my squad. I still can't deal with this.
I convinced the Lieutenant that now was really not the best time for this conversation and he got off me and put me back on my feet. He's certainly very strong. I made it to engineering without further mishaps and after a bit of work on the engines I had control of the ship (which was working fine, by the way. Thanks for scaring me Commander). At this point I realized that the Commander was interrogating the only two living Salarians on the ship, and I headed to the bridge, with the lieutenant and the two asari following me.

At this point the whole crew had realized something was up. I probably didn't help matters by telling the Commander I had something I needed to tell him, but that I didn't want to share it until later. The turian looked very upset, and kept his hand by his pistol and his eyes on me the whole time. Which was pointless, he couldn't tell what I did to the computers anyway.
Oh, right. The Commander wanted me to get whatever information I could from the computer he'd shot - even just a history of where the ship had been. So I fixed the computer... and then I extracted the data dumped it in my suit with the rest, and wiped the computer spotless. It's not like there was any more point in being subtle.
The crew was not happy. One of the asari reported that I had killed the two engineers, and the next thing I know I'm staring at the barrel of the turian's pistol (the male turian. The new female wasn't really a big part of this whole thing), and the asari is standing between us glowing blue. I wasn't sure who she was going to attack.
The Commander was less than thrilled as well, and demanded answers. Again, I pointed out that now may not be the best time. The asari actually agreed with me...so the Commander shot the last two Salarians and then said that now we could talk.
I guess at least that dealt with that problem.
So I told them everything. Almost everything. I may have implied that I deleted the data. We're going to Rannoch now, and I'm going to get a cybernetic memory chip in my brain while I'm there. I'll lock the information up in there and I will never, ever tell anyone. But just in case we ever need it, I have it. The location the Salarians were attempting to determine. How to find the reapers.
Anyway, the Commander was furious. Everyone was furious. We got back on the shuttle and headed to the Saschen where there was apparently a message for everyone. Well...they left me on the shuttle. The turian tried to take my omni-tool away (which would have been intelligent of him if I were actually working against them, and if I didn't have a direct interface. This crew is very technically challenged) but that obviously didn't work, so I watched the broadcast from the shuttle. It was a news report from Earth. An Alliance base - actually, the Alliance base this crew was assembled at - was destroyed when the Saschen landed and it's crew got out of the ship (including me!) and blew up the base, killing everyone there including the Admiral. So we're now fugitives. I wish I knew how they managed to build a look alike Saschen and find people to play us without anyone knowing - whoever "they" are.
Somehow, the crew decided this was all my fault. The Commander hauled me out of the shuttle and showed me the report. Are all humans as grabby as the two on this ship?
I think he would have killed me then, if people hadn't realized that this message was two days old and had just taken this long to reach us. This had happened long before I betrayed my squad.
Keelah, that's what I did, isn't it? I betrayed them. How will I ever make that right? I... I can't just pretend this never happened and continue on like normal. No one here will ever trust me again...
Except the Lieutenant already forgave me. He confronted me in the com room after everyone left, and said that we were back on the Saschen so it was time to talk. He said he understood that I was only doing what I thought was right, and he said he cared for me. And then he asked me what I thought of him.
I've never been more grateful for my suit in my life - he didn't see me cry. The lieutenant  - the person on this ship I respect the least, the one who always seemed to be trying to be horrid... he forgave me without a second thought. And actually cared what my opinion of him was.
I froze. I don't care for him, and I never have. But I didn't want to hurt him. Fortunately something must have come up because he started a private com conversation with the turian... and I took advantage of his distraction to run away down to the engine room. Today was far, far too much for me to deal with. What am I supposed to do about Cornelius?
That's the Lieutenant's name by the way. I pulled my squad's files. But I'm getting ahead of myself again.
I received an e-mail when we all arrived back on the Saschen. It was from President Tali'Zorah, thanking me for my service and offering the Saschen and it's crew sanctuary. One of the asari and the male turian both received similar offers of aid from different sources. The Commander decided to take us to Rannoch first - probably mostly so we could finally get the sixty quarians we have in pods out of our cargo bay. And that's where we're headed now.
As for me, I've decided my pilgrimage is complete. But if Cornelius can forgive me, then maybe I have a shot at earning back the trust of the rest of the crew. I owe it to them to try. I've asked the Commander for permission to stay aboard, but I'm currently on probation, so we'll see what happens on Rannoch. It may help that President Tali'Zorah's intel says that we would be in a much worse situation had we turned the information I stole over to the Alliance.
 At least while I'm on Rannoch I can have some time out of my suit... And I should start praying I don't run into my parents. They'd try to stop me from leaving again. I have to make things right with my squad, I can not stay on Rannoch.
 I'll spend the rest of our trip there learning what I can about my squad. I'll even try talking to them. Whatever it takes to win their trust.



...I just realized the Scientist who ran the experiments is still on our ship. It's not over yet.

Mission Seven

I did it. Well, technically we did it, I suppose. K8 was helpful in completing our mission.
We boarded the Salarian ship without difficulty, but unfortunately there was an alarm hardwired into the system that went off when the krogan entered. So much for sneaking on and  quickly taking out the scientists. Instead we got to fight past some Atlas mechs as well as the usual lot of guard drones.
When K-QO figured out how to add a software patch so the ship's computer saw her as a friend and went off on her own, K8 and I knew we had to act fast. We slipped away from the rest of the team and headed straight for the central labs, where we knew from our scans there was a lone salarian scientist. Unfortunately we ran into an Atlas mech along the way. I dropped its shields and K8 took it out with its Spitfire before the Atlas could do any damage. I took a hit from a drone, but my shields held and my Widow took care of the drone while K8 blasted the other drone with his spitfire.
The "scientist" in the lab appears to just have been an assistant and was rather unhelpful. I re-wiped the computers and made it look like a virus so no one should have any questions. K8 threw the scientist against the wall which killed the poor salarian...eventually.
Now I just have to tell the rest of my squad what we've done. After I make sure all the other salarians are dead and can't spill the beans to anyone.
If the crew decides to try and get the information from me, it'll be wiped before they can even try.
If the Commander throws me out the airlock... well, then at least I did what I said I would do. Perhaps my death will benefit my people if I take the information with me. Then I really would have completed my pilgrimage and I can go in peace.
I am sorry I had to lie. But I did what I had to do.

Mission Five/Six

This was supposed to be the easy part. Track down the scientists responsible for all this mess and move on. Unfortunately, things never seem to be simple anymore. I received a message from President Tali'Zora nar Rayya instructing me not to allow the information the scientists had collected to fall into the hands of the Alliance. Sure, that's not a problem at all. I don't work for the Alliance now or anything.
I'm sorry, I shouldn't rant.
I was confused, and so I sent a response to the President outlining my feelings on the matter and asking her why she wanted me to betray my squad. Her reply was terse and to the point. "He sacrificed everything for us." Point taken.
K8 was given similar instructions, and seems to feel no qualms about lying to our squad. Maybe he's right. It's not as if they are an exemplary group of individuals anyway. If this is what the Alliance is made of, I can understand the President's concerns.
While waiting for the retrieval of the scientist who was supposed to be purchasing the Quarians we got in a bit of a gun fight. My holograms were perhaps partially at fault - they were not particularly comvincing on close examination. They noticed, and my ever trigger-happy squad mates were glad to get involved in the brawl. I tried to do better this time and not kill anyone, but I overdid the Neural Shock just a little and the Salarian died. Oops.
When the turian and asari (there are definitely two of them, by the way. Glad I have that sorted) brought back the scientist K8 and I interrogated him. We learned that he had all the information they had gathered on his ship, but did not want to divulge the ship's location. The krogan decided to amp up the fear factor in an attempt to force cooperation, which rendered the scientist unconscious. That simplified things though, I stripped the information about the ship from his omni-tool, and the captain is taking us there to gather the intel. I told him it would be better if I were on the ship before I did that.
That was a lie. I lied to my commanding officer. I wiped the computers on the ship already. All the information is stored in my suit. And locked up so tightly I don't think anyone else could ever hack it. The salarians haven't shared their conclusions with anybody - not yet. They have informed the Salarian government that they have narrowed down the location of the reapers, but not where they have narrowed it down to. And now they never will. If the Alliance can't have that information, the Salarians certainly can't as well. K8 agrees with me on that.
Then we'll get on their ship and...well, clean up all the loose ends. We'll have to eliminate everyone on the ship, so no one has this information. Then I'll destroy it. K8 wants us to look at it first, but I don't trust him. I'll destroy it. Then tell my Commander after when it's too late for him to do anything but kill me.
Am I doing the right thing? I owe allegiance to my people, but also to my Commander...even if he crazy and amoral.
Yes. It is the only thing I can do. I'll tell the Commander about the information and recommend we not turn it over to the Alliance. Hopefully he'll agree with me. If not, it will be too late anyway.

I'm sorry.

Mission Four

I... I don't know what's happening to me.

I was so angry! And so violent. They had sixty of my people imprisoned on their ship! Sixty Quarians they were going to sell as slaves. It seems only fair that they be punished for that...

But the punishment is not mine to mete out. I shouldn't have reacted so violently. I shouldn't have let them get under my suit like that.

I wasn't even thinking straight! I charged ahead and opened up the door to the cargo bay without even thinking that the two Batarians on the other side might be ready for me. If the Lieutenant hadn't pulled me out of the way I might have been seriously injured!

I can't risk letting my emotions have this much control over me again. I must remain calm and in control. I need to spend more time meditating. Actually, that would be a good idea. Less time spent with certain crew members would bring me more peace of mind. It doesn't help at all that I feel constantly worried about what my own crew might do, instead of just focusing on the mission. Now that I think about it, the Lieutenant was with me for most of the trip here, as well as our mission on the Batarian ship... I can't let him be a bad influence on me! I'm supposed to be helping people be better! I have to be careful with how much time I spend around the less honourable members of my squad.

I shouldn't blame them, I suppose. Ultimately my actions are my decisions. It's not their fault. But I still need to be careful. A few days spent on my own, maybe talking to the Quarian we woke up from the pod - I forgot to ask his name! And K-QO, she's alright. But not around others...

I threatened a terrified Batarian in interrogation. What was I even doing in interrogation (and speaking of interrogations, the Geth revealed that the Lieutenant forced a prisoner to kiss that decapitated head he'd been carrying around on that first mission?? What is wrong with him?)? I don't belong there! I never know what to ask and I feel awkward and I freeze up. And I say mean things that I don't mean... I told him he was wasting air. Of course he wasn't wasting air! He's still a living being, and I owe him respect for that. Even if he makes horrible choices and deserves to die, it should still be done with respect.

Some small bit of good news, of a sort. The turian was in interrogation as well, and he doesn't seem to be completely dissolute. He kept his head and remained calm, and asked some very good questions. Maybe there are some other squad members who aren't crazy on this ship!

Either way I can not allow todays events to be repeated again. I will be better. I must be.

Mission Three

These Salarians really went too far! Nothing excuses the experimentation they have done, especially their intent to do it to children!
I went into their computer systems looking for more information on other posts, who had ordered this heinous act, anything.
They have had absolutely no contact with the outside world since they arrived. Not a trace of a clue! I had no choice but to go into interrogations with an Asari and the Krogan. The scientist seemed to believe he is indoctrinated, as is every other life form, into doing whatever the reapers want. I cannot accept that. His claim that the Salarian government does not know of his experiments may be true, but we shall see. We are headed to Sur'Kesh next to meet with another scientist who had been working with this one. I hope we do not find his methods were as vile as this teams.

Mission Two

I am uncertain if our most recent mission has improved my opinions of my squad or not. We went to check on a research base and decided to ask around on the nearby planet first. Luckily we did, the humans there were being used as test subjects by the salarians - and they were doing it willingly! The commander sent the lieutenant and I to the hospital to check on the recent influx of mental and comatose patients. I was not very happy with this team as I do not trust the lieutenant. He killed a man today by punching his throat and then...I'm not really certain what it was he was trying to do with the body afterwards. One of the Asari said he was trying to help, but I do not understand how. Humans are very strange. Regardless, I was very cautious on this expedition with him. I managed to get scans of the patient's brains, but the lieutenant was predictably useless in deciphering them so we took them back to our ship's doctor. It seems the humans on this colony were right and the salarians did not lie about everything - they do have reaper nanites in their brains. And so do all of us. They don't seem to be doing anything currently though, so I'm not sure what their function is, or was. Further research is necessary.
The worst part of today was discovering that the humans had given their children to the Salarians to experiment on. What kind of monster does that? I'm more repulsed by the Salarians though, for manipulating them and doing the experiments in the first place. At least we got here in time to stop them from hurting the children. An Asari seems very concerned about them and should protect them when we get them out. I must warn her to keep the  lieutenant away from them.

Mission One

I met my new team today. They are not what I expected. Perhaps joining the alliance was a mistake? I should have listened to my father.

I thought that joining would allow me to find or do something to earn my place among my people and complete my pilgrimage. I didn't expect to find....this. The individuals I fought with today were disturbing. I do understand the necessity of combat when enemies are trying to take over our ship, but this! Keelah, their fighting methods are disturbing. The lieutenant decapitated an unconscious soldier and carried the head around! I must hope the remainder of my squad has more in common with our ships AI, K-QO. She seems alright. Otherwise I don't know what I'll do; it would be dishonourable of me to leave but... Even if the rest are more like the krogan than the lieutenant - the krogan at least eventually let me remove the body from his axe.