That Which Makes Us Human

by beyondsolo

In the aftermath of the Battle of the Citadel, the SSV North Cape is sent to investigate reports of geth activity. It's a mission like many others these days, chasing ghosts and false reports. But this time it's not going to be a stroll in the park. Mil-sci-fi in the Mass Effect Universe.

1. Chapter 1

Introduction

You can find a full roster of Akiban's platoon at the end of the Epilogue chapter. If you'd rather have a PDF version of the story, please get in touch with me.

Content Warning

That Which Makes Us Human contains descriptions of intense violence, blood, and gore. There is drug and sexual reference, and strong language. If you're old enough to play the Mass Effect games, you're old enough to read this. I base this on the rating issued by PEGI which is 18.

There are Mass Effect story spoilers and fact spoilers of the other games.

Disclaimer

The Mass Effect games and books, their universe and their lore are the intellectual property of BioWare. I do not claim any ownership. This text is a fan fiction set in the Mass Effect universe and is in no way sponsored or licensed by BioWare/EA. I have no legal connection with said companies other than being their customer and user of their services (BSN, Origin).

The events and characters in That Which Makes Us Human are completely fictional. Any resemblance to real events or people is pure coincidence.

While I appreciate if you share this text, I must ask that you do not do so commercially (like selling it or making it available through paid services). There are plenty of ways to get in legal trouble; please find one that does not involve me or my work.

Contact Information

To get in touch with me, write an e-mail to beyondconsequence at gmail dot com, tweet at beyondsolo, or write a PM to beyondsolo on the BSN.

My thanks go to

CptDarkSeraph for editing and advice.

BioWare for making the Mass Effect games,

Drew Karpyshyn for writing the Mass Effect novels,

and the creators and controbutors of .com for creating an amazing wiki.

That Which Makes Us Human

I

The CIC of the SSV North Cape lay in eerie twilight as the crew's fingers danced over the golden holographic controls. The Systems Alliance vessel had just decelerated from FTL transfer and was now approaching the Balance Point colony, a mid-sized settlement on the edge of Alliance space in the Attican Traverse, near the Skyllian Verge, about fifteen hundred lightyears counter-spinward from the Exodus Cluster on the coreward side of the Orion Arm. In the three weeks after the battle at the Citadel, the Midway-class frigate had been running on tight schedule, participating in the Fifth Fleet's mop-up operation, following up reports of geth activity and eliminating the synthetics wherever their presence could be confirmed.

"Welcome to the Parrin system," Lieutenant Solovyov announced from the pilot's station. "We'll reach Balance Point orbit in eight minutes."

Captain Everan Cooper nodded, squeezing the skin below his mouth between thumb and index finger of his left hand. "What are we looking at, XO?"

"Boards are green," Lieutenant Commander Marion Ktenge replied.

"So much for suspected geth activity," the captain muttered and dropped his arm to his side. "Let's check in with the colony and be on our way."

"Aye, sir," Ktenge confirmed.

The losses suffered in the war against the geth and mainly during its climax, the defense of the Citadel, had left the Alliance Navy hopelessly overstretched. Even now, many vessels were in dire need of repairs as the wreckage of hundreds of hulls still littered the space around the center of galactic civilization. The ships that were operational were busy with a wide range of tasks, crews working double and triple shifts. The 29th Strike Flotilla, the North Cape's formation, was assigned to investigating reports of geth activity and dealing with it, or calling in reinforcements if necessary.

Most of the time the reports turned out to be outdated or just false alarms, useless either way, adding countless lightyears to the ship's operation counter without a single shot fired. It was tedious, but the crew agreed that it was better than the alternative: First the Fifth Fleet had engaged the geth armada to break the Destiny Ascension out of their crossfire, sustaining heavy losses, and many more ships had been destroyed by the geth's massive dreadnaught.

"Hail the colony," the captain ordered as the brown and green ball of Parrin IV grew larger on one of the screens of his station in the middle of the CIC.

"Aye, sir." Ktenge keyed the communication frequency. "Balance Point colony, this is the SSV North Cape on standard approach vector, please acknowledge."

Silence for over a minute. "Balance Point colony, this is the SSV North Cape, please acknowledge," the XO repeated.

"No response," she finally said and cut the channel. She turned away from her station. "I can't say if they're receiving or not. Their comm equipment could be damaged, or they're just ignoring our hails."

"Try the garrison fort, then," Cooper said. "There should be a whole battalion stationed down there."

"Yes, sir."

"Helm, move us into geostationary orbit above the colony and conduct a full sensor sweep. I want to know if there's something wrong down there."

"Aye," Solovyov confirmed and swung the 171-meter-long frigate into position.

"No response from the fort, either, sir," Ktenge reported.

"Sensors?"

"The colony and the fort check out fine." Solovyov was summarizing the data running down one of his holoscreens. "No structural damage or any other signs of combat. Amount of life signs corresponds roughly with what it says in our database."

"Roughly? What's the deviation?" Ktenge inquired.

"Two hundred and three too many. But the report only accounts for registered citizens," the helmsman replied.

"All right," Cooper said, raising a hand. "XO, link us up with Parrin's FTL comm buoy and send a report to Operations Command that we've arrived at Balance Point. There's no geth activity here, but the colony is not responding to our hails. We'll investigate and make sure everything's fine, then we'll be on our way."

"Aye."

"Helm, maintain geostationary orbit above the colony and keep your eyes on the boards. I'm not in the mood for surprises today."

"As ordered."

"And get Lieutenant Akiban up here."

Second Lieutenant Sarah Akiban was the commanding officer of the scout platoon of Marines assigned to the North Cape. With swift moves she swung herself up the ladder that was the shortest way between the cargo hold, where the Marines were standing by, and the CIC. In spite of the medium Aldrin Labs Onyx hardsuit with asymmetrical armor layout she barely made any sounds as she strode across the command deck, dodging busy crewmen, and came to a halt behind Captain Cooper's station.

She saluted. "Sir, Lieutenant Akiban."

"At ease, Lieutenant," Cooper said, acknowledging her presence with a nod.

She complied, finishing her salute, and assumed a stance of parade rest. The blue and gray stripes down the right arm of her armor were discolored in the blueish light of the CIC and the golden shine of the holoscreens. Her helmet was clipped to her equipment belt on the left side, a Hahne-Kedar Kessler pistol was holstered on her right thigh, a Lancer assault rifle was clipped to the right equipment slot on her back, and a Hahne-Kedar manufactured combat knife was sheathed hilt-down at her left shoulder guard. Further equipment included a water tank at the small of her back and two more packs attached to the belt, one containing the EVA gear and the other field rations.

"Sir, the FTL comm buoy is not responding to our connection attempts," Ktenge said, shaking her head. "I've run diagnostics on our systems and the problem's definitely not on our end. The buoy is active, though, no doubt about that."

"I see," the captain said. "Malfunctioning, then. Alternatives?"

"Three hours from here," Solovyov said.

"Not an option with the kind of schedule we're running on. We need the reset codes for the comm buoy."

"The colony administration should have them," Ktenge suggested. "But I'm getting the feeling that there's something wrong here."

"I feel you," Cooper muttered. "Any indication that our comms are being jammed?"

"Sensors aren't picking up any known countermeasures," Solovyov replied.

"Are you still here, Lieutenant Akiban?" Cooper asked.

"Yes, sir," she said, a mischievous smile spreading on her face. She hadn't moved since reporting in.

He nodded and finally turned to face her over the back of his seat. "We'll do a flyby of the colony and drop your platoon in the Makos. According to sensors, everything's fine down there. It's just the comm systems that appear to be out of business. Establish contact with the colony's administration and recover the reset codes for the FTL comm buoy; relay them to us as soon as you have them. While you're at it, find out why they haven't been responding to our hails."

"Aye, sir."

"Questions?"

"What happens if our comms buy it? Seems to be popular around here."

The captain nodded thoughtfully. "Fire a signal beacon. That will light up on our sensors, and we'll come pick you up. Keep in mind that your priority is the codes."

"Aye, sir."

"Anything else?"

"No, sir."

"Good. Get your Marines ready. You're dropping in fifteen. Dismissed."

"Aye, sir." She saluted, turned briskly on one foot, and was gone.

"Squad leaders on me!" Akiban barked as she marched into the cargo hold.

The gunnery chiefs of the four squads and the platoon non-com, Operations Chief Daisuke Nakata, came running her way and stopped two meters away from her in a semicircle. Behind them stood four black M35 Makos in two rows, between the vehicles the Marines of the 2nd Scout Platoon, 1st Reconnaissance Company, 24th Reconnaissance Battalion, 10th Infantry Regiment, 7th Frontier Division.

She took a brief moment to inspect the armors and equipment of her subalterns. All of the non-coms carried the same gear as her, except for Nakata, who also served as the platoon's engineer, whose armor amplified his Bluewire omni-tool and whose main weapon was a Hahne-Kedar Storm shotgun. He was also the only one who had a D5 rating—the others were all rated C4 or C5.

"Here's the deal," Akiban announced. "Local comms appear to be out. Sensors don't show anything wrong, but we have failed to establish contact with the colony. In addition to that, the local FTL comm buoy is unresponsive. The captain wants us to go down there and pick up the reset codes for the buoy. And we're also supposed to find out why the colony hasn't been responding on the way. Once we're done, we'll signal for pick-up and get out of there.

"Temporary comm outages aren't unusual, but normally you can tell what's wrong. Here, however, it looks like we don't know shit as all the systems appear to be online; they're just not responding. That's why we're going for a stride.

"There is no indication of enemy activity, but we don't do half-assed jobs. Full gear and ammo for all squads. Make sure everybody's got their water tanks and medi-gel units full, same for the buckets.

"Any questions?"

"Full mechanized drop for a bunch of codes? What aren't you telling us, LT?" Gunnery Chief Markus Huber, 1st Squad Leader, asked. His hair was cropped to uniform one millimeter length like that of everybody else in the platoon; Akiban ran a tight outfit.

She smiled grimly. "I told you what I know. Don't crap your skirt because the colony didn't call. It's not like we're dropping into a hot zone. It's a quiet, fluffy backwater colony down there."

"Let's just get this fetch quest over with and we'll be back on board for dinner," Nakata said in a chiding tone.

"My thought exactly." Akiban checked the watch that was worked into the left bracer of her armor and synced with the North Cape's shipboard time. "We're deploying in twelve minutes. I expect all squads go in ten. Dismissed."

The squad leaders saluted and ran off to brief and prepare their squads while Nakata remained at Akiban's side.

"This is gonna be boring, isn't it?" the operations chief asked in a low voice.

"Yeah," she confirmed, and they started walking toward their Makos. The platoon leader would ride in the Mako with the registration 401, or just One, with 1st Squad, and the platoon non-com in 402, Two, with 2nd Squad. "Captain Cooper probably wants us to get off his ship and stretch our legs before this Charlie Foxtrot of a platoon tears the place apart."

Nakata smiled. "Stroll on the playground."

After slapping him on the shoulder and sending him on his way, she joined 1st Squad at the Mako in the back left. Three and Four would be dropping first. She acknowledged the salutes of the squad's Marines who were prepping their vehicle and equipment for deployment. In addition to ammunition for their primary and secondary weapons, the Makos also carried additional equipment for field maintenance and supplies like water, field rations, medi-gel, and omni-gel.

Akiban finished a brief inspection of the Mako's exterior and joined the Marines at the vehicle's lowered rear boarding ramp. 1st Squad was one of the platoon's two assault squads. It consisted of Fire Teams Alpha and Bravo and was commanded by Huber and his two fire team leaders, Corporals Daniela Miller and Mike Arden. Each of the assault squads consisted of an advanced marksman equipped with a Hahne-Kedar Avenger sniper rifle, a heavy weapons operator sporting an M-72 semi-automatic grenade launcher, and four riflemen, out of whom two had advanced medical training—nine Marines total, all wearing medium Onyx armor except for the heavy weapons operator, who wore the heavy variant.

As the platoon leader, Akiban had already given her instructions and expected her non-coms to take care of the rest. Therefore, she didn't interfere with their work—this wasn't basic training—and checked the interior of the Mako instead. The driver, who also operated the weapons, was one of the riflemen who weren't medics. The Marines would sit in two rows facing each other, platoon leader and squad leader in the first two seats next to the rear boarding ramp, then the fire team leaders, then the special weapons operators, and finally the riflemen right behind the driver's station. It was cramped inside with nine fully equipped Marines in the infantry compartment, in spite of the spare seat—one in the platoon leader's tank, two in the others.

Akiban grabbed two grenades from an ammunition box and put them in a pouch on her belt. She was certain that she wouldn't need them, but she had ordered full gear, and that included her, too. She didn't believe in officer privileges. Never ordering her Marines to do anything she wouldn't do herself, Akiban adhered to the same rules she imposed upon her platoon.

Turning away from One, Akiban checked on the progress of the other squads. Like 1st Squad, 2nd Squad (Fire Teams Charlie and Delta) under Gunnery Chief Luc Morand was already finishing its preparations. It was the platoon's second assault squad and accompanied by Nakata. The 3rd, Gunnery Chief John Hamann's heavy weapons team (Fire Teams Echo and Foxtrot), was also nearly ready, and its Marines were already mounting their Mako: Next to the squad leader and his fire team leaders, there were four heavy weapons operators in heavy Onyx armor—all four of them carrying grenade launchers for this mission—one medic riflemen, and one driver. Finally, the Marines of Gunnery Chief Ledia Rodriguez's 4th, the long range effect squadron of three lightly armored pairs of advanced marksmen and a pair of medic and driver riflemen, were making final adjustments to their gear.

Firing up her Bluewire omni-tool, Akiban ran diagnostics on her platoon's comm systems and nodded contently when all the branches of the communications tree showed up green on the display. She looked at her watch. 2143 shipboard time. After sealing her helmet with the collar of her armor, she attached the life support and power line in the back.

"All squads, mount on vehicles," she commed over her platoon's frequency.

The four icons on her HUD projected on the visor of her helmet, which represented the squads of the platoons, changed to checks—orders confirmed. Akiban waited for the last Marines to enter the Mako, then she walked up the boarding ramp herself and took the nearest seat on the left. The tank's seats were attached to rails on the sidewalls of the vehicle to dampen impacts that affected the hull directly—and bypassed the suspension—in order to minimize shocks the embarked Marines would suffer. Huber hit the controls to raise the ramp, and the illumination of the North Cape's cargo hold disappeared as a thinning frame of light, giving way to the glum dark of the infantry compartment.

"All vehicles, One actual. Check in and confirm go," Akiban commed after she had strapped in.

"One is go."

"Two is go."

"Three go."

"Four go."

The lieutenant nodded. She switched channels to the frigate's intercom.