I greatly apreceate the comments and reviews, it's good to know that my stories still get some interest after so long. I hope I continue to impress. On with the story.
2066, UEAF Base FrostKnight, State of Iceland.
Iceland…Iceland was not exactly the best place in the world that you could be stationed as a member of the UES Military. It was cold, it was isolated, but it was the safest place on the planet. Originally annexed by the North American Union at the beginning of the Great Collapse as a measure to ensure the security of the NAU's European Ally, Great Britain. The Annexation had been simple, not many people resisted the NAU's economic power, cheap goods, high standard of living, and access to energy and oil. The Icelandic people accepted the arrival of NAU forces and the economic prosperity they enjoyed when the rest of the world was sliding into economic collapse and poverty. They didn't bank on their island being turned into what was basically the largest military base in the world. Ringed by air defense batteries, sensor emplacements, air and naval bases, Iceland was transformed into one of the four legs of the air bridge between North America and the UK.
After the European War, Iceland's importance waned and lost it's status as a frontline staging area for B3 bombers, F-204 Coyote wings and a third of the NAU (and later UES) navy. But once you create an island fortress, it never loses it's importance. Though not nearly the hotbed it was even five years ago, Iceland still boasted three orbital launch bases, twelve airbases, six naval installations and almost three quarters of it's land area was devoted to military exercises...and those were the official instillations.
FrostKnight was not a facility that you could find on any map. It was primarily a research installation on par with the old Area 51 in the American southwest and it's cousin in the Canadian Arctic. FrostKnight had the benefit of being in a mostly unpopulated area, completely protected by orbital and aerospace defense batteries, defended by a massive amount of military power, it was considered one of the most secure positions in the entirety of the UES. So naturally, that's where you bring the UFO and the alien bodies. Which was why the C-225 Cossack was landing with a dull thud on the long camouflaged runway that stretched across the rocky Icelandic countryside. The massive craft dwarfed the old C-5 Galaxies, it was big enough to haul tanks and walkers, or battalions of paratroopers within it's massive confines. Right now the lone transport merely held an alien spacecraft, forty commandos and a trio of alien bodies. Not much at all.
Captain Hall and his troopers were still in their combat gear from the mission, defaulting to be the official 'escort' of this…prize… Hall's eyes drifted to the containers strapped to the deck, each one containing an alien body. His eyes were still filled with the creature's face, but he shook it off. Being the first human to kill an alien was not exactly an honor he had been looking for. But command had been understanding, and they'd been understandably unnerved when the mission data had been uploaded as an after action. There had been more than a little nervous concern over just what had transpierced, but in the end, the creatures had been given ample warning and had decided to ignore all challenges to their flight path. Hall's actions had been justified and there wouldn't be any disciplinary action. Hell, his unit was due for commendations more than likely.
But still…
Hall sighed behind his armor and noticed the element of third tasked to watch the bodies was watching him. He shrugged in his combat armor and the troopers went back to staring at the containers, not daring take any chances with an alien life form. Weapons killed them easily, but they wanted to make sure that these aliens stayed dead. Too many bad vids at late hours were at work there, but Hall couldn't fault caution.
He felt the jostle of the Cossack's landing on the strip. The commandos rose up in unison as Hall switched to external view, watching as the massive suborbital transport taxied across the desolate runway and then halted in what looked like an empty stretch of soil. It waited for a moment before the massive landing pad began to retract underground. Like a massive magic trick, the transport descended beneath the cloaking screen and vanished from sight, disappearing into the massive underground hangers of FrostKnight. Hall checked his weapon as the Cossack's crew chief left the cockpit level and checked the transported 'items'. Satisfied that the loading pallets holding the bodies and the craft were intact, he slowly walked to the rear hatch, settling at the rear access controls. The commandos formed up and the Cossack settled into one landing berth before the crew chief opened up the rear ramp, a massive egress point giving the team a view of the interior of FrostKnight. None of them knew what to expect, but they didn't expect to see a detachment of light infantry waiting for them, and the base's science detachment split between waiting to receive the aliens and their ship, and the rest rubbernecking.
Hall nodded and fourth moved the contragrav pallet down the ramp with the three alien bodies aboard. Third Followed with the weapons, while first and second pushed the ship along as easily as if they were pushing a shopping cart of groceries. Hall marched down the ramp and a full colonel met him with a salute that he returned crisply.
"Reporting with the materials sir." Hall said quietly as the commandos turned over control of the pallets to the base security forces. The Colonel nodded and motioned for the commandos to follow. They'd already gone through debrief over the neural network, but the science team wanted to examine things further and discuss the mission with the soldiers in person. Hall and his troops were more than willing to oblige as they disappeared into the labyrinthine facility beneath the Icelandic rock.
The room was not exactly dark. But it was dim, lit only by the light in the center of the room over the stainless steel table. There were two people in this room, each on the other side of the table. In front of one rested a holo tablet and writing stylus, and an ashtray with a single burning cigarette in it. A small curl of smoke rising into the air, giving the air a slight haze beneath the overhead light. On the other side of the table rested a reader tablet, but the person behind it wasn't seated in the light, his chair was pushed back, only his legs illuminated by the light.
The woman seated behind the holotablet and stylus reached out and plucked the cigarette up from the edge of the tray, holding it in her hand for a moment as she looked at the shadowed figure across from her. She shook her head and her short black hair shook slightly around her hard face. She didn't look like the kind of person who you'd like to be trapped in a sealed room with, let alone sitting across a table from, not with the expression on her face…that…that could only be described as predatory.
"They came…" The shadowed figure said quietly from it's place in the darkness. It was as if they were trying to remain hidden from the truth.
"Yes, they came, and they were detected and shot down. Then they resisted and were all killed." The woman said quietly, slowly inhaling the rich Tennessee tobacco. She smiled slightly at the declaration, as if she were proving a point made long ago.
"I don't understand. How could you?" The voice said, leaning forward slightly, the figure's face rested just outside the glare of the overhead light. The woman slowly tapped her holopad and smiled again.
"We told you, our weapons and technology aren't like yours. You can plan all you want for your foes, but you can't plan for what you don't know, can you Drazzic? Or didn't the STG teach you that?" The woman said, making the figure lunge forward and slap it's hands down on the table. It was one of the aliens that Hall and his commandos had killed hours before…or at least one of the same species. It's face wasn't contorted in death though, it was contorted in rage. The large mouth and eyes flared wide.
"I hate it when you try to provoke me researcher." Drazzic growled as he leaned over the table. The woman chuckled in response, the confident noise of someone who held all the cards, who held all the power.
"Ah, and yet after five years Drazzic, I still manage it, don't I?" She said coyly. Drazzic crossed his arms over his chest.
"Leave me in a box for five years with you and other humans simply asking question after question about me and everything I know? What do you expect? Your 'Stockholm syndrome'? I'm a member of the STG, we don't break like that. You'll always be my captor, I, your captive." Drazzic replied.
"True, but you've been very helpful despite that, now haven't you? Told us quite a bit about your people, your military…and your…friends."
"I can only pretend to be silent so long, and keeping me caged, without anything to do…I would have preferred torture to break up the monotony Cassandra." Drazzic replied. Cassandra chuckled softly.
"But that would have damaged such a promising specimen." She replied…her voice was light…but that predatory glint was still there, hard and hunting.
"I'm flattered." Drazzic said simply.
"You should be, you're still our only live specimen. We had hoped for more, but sadly, the Special Tasks Group refused to surrender when we shot them down, even after ample opportunity." Cassandra said simply, tapping off ashes into the tray.
"Why would they? They were looking for my scouting expedition. You shot us down then, you shot them down. STG won't send anyone else out this way, they'll believe that there is some kind of celestial phenomena that keeps eating up patrols exploring Mass Relays. Your planet is safe for now, isn't it?" Drazzic said simply.
"Safe? Relatively. Of course, once we get a chance to explore this Mass Relay network in it's entirety. Not to mention settling things with some aliens more…annoying than you…" Cassandra said idly.
"Unless the Citadel Council has reservations about letting you humans start poking around." Drazzic said sharply.
"Why would they Drazzic? Your people came poking around or planet without being invited. Ignored our rules and decided to explore our solar system. You got burned because you were exploring something you didn't have any right to. So just why were you so curious about Mars?" Cassandra said, repeating the one question that she'd never gotten an answer from Drazzic about in the five years she'd spent 'interrogating' him since he'd been captured in a crash. The Salarian had been very tight lipped about his ship's reconnaissance of Mars…and it's reconnaissance of Charon…
"Mars? Oh yes…Mars…" Drazzic said, feigning ignorance.
"Yes, Mars, a dead, lifeless world. What made your ship linger over that desert world for so long? Just what were you looking for? We have your second group's ship…and it was taken intact you know. Full archives intact." Cassandra said sharply, she registered the surprised look on the Salarian's face, but didn't respond to it. She knew she'd hit a nerve, perhaps the biggest nerve that she'd ever found. Drazzic knew that he wasn't entirely safe anymore.
"Full archives?" Drazzic asked quietly.
"Yes, full archive and after five years, your systems are as easily accessed as ours. So tell me…just what's so special about what you found on Mars?" Cassandra asked, leaning forward just enough to show interest. She was good, very good. She knew just how much interest to show, just how much difference, just the right mixture of emotion and expression. Five years of questioning the Salarian had given her just the right weapons to get the answers she wanted.
"Protheans." Drazzic said simply.
"Protheans?" Came the reply from Cassandra, a hint of surprise in her voice.
"Yes…Protheans, Prothean ruins to be specific, buried beneath the surface of Mars. We detected the drive core of a Prothean ship trying to activate when we did an over flight. It explains the Mass Relay we discovered as well."
"You discovered a Relay? Where?" Cassandra said quickly. Drazzic chuckled softly.
"Charon. It's a Mass Relay Cassandra, not a planet. How do you think we discovered your system? We were exploring to find it's twin link. Your species is very gifted Cassandra. Access to a Mass Relay and Prothean technology. Some great twist of divine fate. You probably don't even need them." Drazzic said grimly, leaning back into the shadows of his chair, the usual sign that the interview was over. Cassandra slowly stood, smashed the cigarette butt and walked from the room, not bothering to thank the alien, instead leaving him to his reader and his only escape, studying human history…something not exactly intended to make him feel better about his chances.
Captain Hall stood and watched the screen. His eyes fixated on the alien…the, Salarian…that's what they were called…Salarians… He glanced over at the woman who walked through the doorway into the viewing room. Captain hall looked at the slightly shocked expression on the woman's face at the sight of a fully armored Special Forces Commando standing there. Hall stood next to the Colonel who'd brought him here, still slightly dazed at seeing a living breathing alien speaking perfect English…
"Captain Hall, this is Doctor Cassandra Raven, head of Xenobiology here." The Colonel said professionally, looking at the viewer again as Dazzic lifted the reader pad and was escorted from the interrogation room. Dr Raven examined Hall for a moment and moved closer to shake his gauntleted hand.
"Captain Hall, I received the neural link of your engagement. I'm glad that Dazzic was telling the truth about his people's combat abilities. I would have hated to see your soldiers killed." She said professionally. Hall nodded quietly at the comment and shook his head slightly before speaking.
"How long have we…had one of them?" Hall asked quietly.
"We've had Dazzic since his ship crashed in the Canadian wilderness five years ago. It was taken down by a lightning storm, we're not quite sure how, but the electrical discharge wiped the ship's computer systems, so we're quite glad that you recovered this ship before the crew could delete their files." Dr. Raven answered.
"Why haven't we released this? Why didn't we release it five years ago?" Hall asked, a little dumbstruck by the revelation about things.
"And why didn't we talk about it a century ago? Politics Captain, things could get very unpleasant if we talked about the Salarians or the Reticulans. Right now we're in a shooting war with Brazil, tense with the Chinese and the Indians, all the while trying to consolidate our situation in Africa and the Middle East. Letting people know about this? Letting our enemies think we have alien technology that's superior to our own? It would be rather difficult to deal with." The Colonel supplied the answer as Dr. Raven walked over to the viewing panel and brought up an image of the Salarian ship they'd captured, being moved deeper into the facility.
"But, they don't have superior technology…" Hall said, watching the woman examine the image with almost clinical interest.
"For the most part? No. Their small arms and craft weapons are mostly technology that we stopped using in the 2040's before the Phased Energy Revolution. Shielding is gravity based, not Ion manipulation. They don't really possess anti-gravity technology. They have no AI's…or at least what we consider AI's. Even their FTL systems are different from what we're researching and testing. But, they do utilize a different form of energy production, FTL access, and they know of two things that we don't. The Protheans, and the Mass Relays." Dr. Raven said, not looking away from the screen. Hall stepped closer to the screen and looked at the image of the ship.
"If we know more than them…then why are we so excited about these admissions and this ship?" Hall asked.
"Information Hall. That ship has maps of their territory, maps of the galaxy, of the Mass Relays. More than likely, it contains a wealth of data on nearby star systems, possible sentient species, habitable worlds, resource rich systems, and most importantly, the 'common knowledge' that dear Dazzic didn't consider important enough to share. But things that we desperately need to know." Dr Raven replied, looking over at him with her green eyes. Hall could see the hunger in them, the desire to explore, discover, to know about this galaxy.
"We're fighting Brazil and the rest of South America in a full scale war. China and India can be just about as hostile if they chose to be. We've got enough problems here." Hall said flatly. Bravado was a great thing to have, especially in the elite forces, but when your home planet was already balkanized and fighting enough global wars…did you need to go looking for aliens to fight?
"Yes, of course, problems with three other nations who are falling apart and completely dependent on us for food, water, energy, consumer goods and raw materials. Their governments are on the edge of collapse. One war with the UES and they'll collapse, their people are already tired of conflict. The government is already planning for the UES to absorb China and India in the next ten to twenty years. Brazil and South America will be dealt with. There aren't any valid threats to UES sovereignty on Earth. The problem is that with the information we have, Earth threats aren't the only ones out there. We have undeniable proof of alien life exists, and without a doubt some of that alien life is hostile." Dr. Raven replied coldly. Hall sighed softly. He couldn't deny that the UES produced the world's food, oil, water and energy. Brazil was making a desperate grab for UES oil in Venezuela to forestall a complete collapse, the same way that India eyed the newly acquired UES middle east, and China aimed for the UES Siberian oil fields. Not that the UES needed fossil fuels with it's energy technology…but the 'have nots' always wanted what the 'haves' had. Hall knew how bloody World War Three could be if it flared up…not that there would be much difference between a full World War between the other three Superpowers and the UES Hyperpower.
Throw in the possibility of advanced alien technology…and things were going to get messy. There was no doubt that the Chinese or the Indians would get desperate if they thought they could seize ancient alien ruins on Mars that had working technology. Hall wasn't a simple man, but such a perceived advantage could make any opponent more reckless than they had any business being…and there would be a lot of dead bodies before the smoke cleared on that war. Hall knew what was next…
"You intend to seize them, don't you?" Hall said simply. Dr. Raven turned and looked at him, smiling slightly.
"Correct Captain. We have the technology to get there, we have motivation to. We even have a major Martian colony to stage from, along with our outposts in the Asteroid belt and on Titan, there's no reason for us to delay. We take the Prothean ruins, secure them against any infiltration, and we dispatch research vessels to Charon, It's a simple measure, no one has comparable technology to ours." Dr. Raven replied.
"Hall, your team is being transferred to the Chryse Colony on Mars to ensure security of the Prothean ruins." The Colonel said simply before turning and leaving the viewing room. Hall didn't even salute, he was too surprised, his unit wasn't standard, they'd just returned from the middle east…still in refit, and now they were being transferred off world to the Martian Colony, all in the space of a few hours. Hall rubbed his gauntleted hand over his forehead and sighed.
"Afraid of travel Captain?" Dr. Raven asked with a chuckle. She glanced over at the soldier before reaching up and manipulating the holo viewer, banishing the view of Drazzic and the interrogation room to replace it with the view of Mars, slowly orbiting in the air. Green and blue splashed over the red planet in several locations, most prominent was the colony of Chryse at Chryse Planitia. The capital of Mars boasted almost fifty thousand people and was the seat of government on Earth's sister world. Founded thirty years prior, the facility had been a United States research facility on Mars, not a true off-world colony. But ten years ago, a major change in UES policy towards the facility made the mars effort one of 'colonization' and not 'research'. That allowed a surprising influx of people from all walks of life in the UES to try to scrape together a life on a new frontier.
Though Mars didn't boast the almost 5 million colonists that resided in Luna's doomed facilities and installations…over a million people were on mars, and there were more flowing there as often as possible. Miners, colonists, researchers, industrialists, even people who were just filled with the hunger for something new colonized Mars under the auspices of expanding the frontiers of humanity…even if they were UES citizens and Mars was considered UES Territory. So far, the only other major space power, China, hadn't tried to do much more than send up a manned space station. Mars was UES, with a growing population and an actual economic base to support it.
Hall looked at it, more familiar with Mars in a strategic sense, understanding the dangers of having to fight any kind of conflict there more than understanding the civilian aspects of it. He knew that the UES kept almost two divisions of light infantry on mars, trained extensively for hazardous environment warfare…and he knew that UES Basic Training was going to begin including Hostile Environment Training in it's standard course of instruction within the next two years. Getting ready to prepare the average UES soldier to fight somewhere other than earth was a deeper testimony to humanity's dreams of colonizing other worlds than any science fiction or theoretical scientific theory. Hall looked at the layout of the Martian colonies, most of them were situated near resource deposits and known sources of raw materials. Chryse was the main colony though, it boasted the spaceport and had maglev links to the other colonies. It was also an industrial center, and research center. Hall looked at the smaller agricultural colonies that grew Martian food in hydroponics bays or terraformed soil beneath massive domes. Hall noticed something on the overview and spoke up.
"I never knew that all the colonies were in the northern hemisphere, or so close together." He said absently as the Martian projection spun slowly in the air. Most of the planet was empty without even military posts or research stations.
"Yes, there were plans for more dynamic growth, but with the Salarian…visit to the planet, we decided that we'd keep the colonists clustered together. Two divisions wasn't enough to spread over an entire planet. We didn't know what might happen if they had to watch all of Mars." Dr. Raven supplied.
"Worried about alien invaders?" Hall replied, hoping that his joke wouldn't get an answer.
"Among other things." Dr. Raven replied, but didn't glance over at Hall. Hall blinked hard, but looked back at the rotating holo as the Doctor's hand spun it slowly, then hit a few commands a rather precise grid pattern was laid over the surface, along with orbital tracts of a craft.
"Salarian?" Hall asked simply, surprised at how easily he used the name of an alien species he hadn't known existed hours ago. He rubbed his eyes gently and realized he needed coffee, he was too tired to be shocked by the almost casual nature of this conversation.
"Yes. It's the orbital track of Dazzic's ship. It was discounted as a sensor error, but once his ship was downed, we analyzed our data in comparison to his crew's ship and discovered this." Dr. Raven said, and pointed to a very dense cluster of over flights in the southern hemisphere of Mars, close to the Cydonia region. In fact, over the Cydonia region completely.
"Originally, NASA scanned this region over a century ago with automated probes. They photographed a 'face' and what looked like several structures. It was proven to be false, tricks of light and shadow on low resolution cameras. We never gave it much thought during colonization. It's hard enough to maintain a viable colony on a hostile world without exploring curiosities." Dr Raven said with a slight smile again. Hall looked at the image and didn't glance over at her.
"That was a mistake." Hall said simply.
"True. After Drazzic's people studied it, we had several satellite over flights of it, mapped the area in detail and even sent sub-orbital drone flyovers. The area has been thoroughly mapped. We never found anything there worth finding…" Dr Raven said looking at the scans as if new information would be forthcoming simply because after five years Dazzic broke down and told the truth. She sighed as she looked at the data…the same data she'd poured over constantly for years now…and saw nothing.
"Unless they concealed it." Hall said simply, looking at the screen with her for a moment before turning away and rubbing his neck.
"Who? The Protheans?" Dr Raven asked sharply.
"No…the Salarians. They make a big deal about the Protheans, their technology, their ruins, it's pretty significant to them, right?" Hall said, looking over his shoulder at her as he mentally ordered his armor to inject a stimm shot into his body.
"Of course." Raven said sounding slightly annoyed.
"And we had colonies on Mars at the time. So they might have wondered if we could have been capable of locating them with our sensors. If we were, then we'd see where they'd been, right? And they didn't seem to want us to find this stuff. They want it for themselves. So I say they laid a red herring. Set a decoy in case we looked at the data. Somewhere that we've always thought there was weird stuff, a location that if they said 'buried alien tech' we'd say, 'that explains everything' in response. So they chose a place to throw us off. Cydonia. I bet that it's pretty damn far away from there. So let's ignore that lovely target they made and look for something subtle." Hall said, turning back to the display and looking at the holo for a few moments, his eyes going over the tracks and watching them for the smallest…
"…there. Right there, I'd expect them to get surprised just like the rest of us living creatures, so they'd have made a secondary pass, but they're military, so they're disciplined. Right here, over…" Hall looked at the labels on the display.
"Promethei Planum…looks like a large area to cover though. Like searching the Mojave…let's narrow that down…" Hall said, and reached up, touching display commands and overlaying various information tracks. Dr. Raven looked at him as he worked, surprised at the ease at which the Commando took control of the situation and got results. Hall quickly overlaid the sensor information from the Martian satellite network and looked at the data. The full spectrum sensors had been scanning the region for years. On impulse, he took the data signature from the Salarian ship, expanded the variables on it…and entered in the sensor scan.
It took a few seconds for the data to come up, an intermittent pulse of energy and gravity fluctuations much like the Salarian drive, but not an exact copy, enough that one could think that the technology was similar, but not identical.
"Your Prothean ruins are buried beneath the Deseado Crater." Hall said simply, looking at the display. He'd done it reflexively, thinking, rationalizing, and discovering something that Dr. Raven hadn't managed in years.
"How did you…" She said, dumbstruck for a moment.
"Simple, you're a scientist, and I don't think Dazzic or his friends are scientists. Special Tasks Group? Those sound like soldiers, commandos, scouts. They're military beings…not all of them, but the ones who came here, they're soldiers. Soldiers think alike, no matter what species you are. They've got the mission to think of, and they have to ensure the security of that mission. So he deceived you. Didn't lie probably, but he deceived, and made sure you thought you were getting the information that you needed. You expect honesty I gather? Your specimens don't lie…soldiers do if they have to. Drazzic, he's a soldier, his crew were soldiers." Hall said simply and smiled in a weary way.
"Well, I'm glad that you've managed to answer that pressing question for me Captain Hall." Dr. Raven said curtly and turned away from him, staring at the spot he'd marked.
"You're welcome. Now if you'd excuse me, I have to break the news to my people that we're going to Mars, not back to barracks today." Hall said, leaving the observation room and the enthralled -if perhaps annoyed- Dr. Raven behind him.
