Somewhere over the rainbow, Arc 5 of "Gone with the Sun"
Chapter 51 Ali Baba and his forty thousand thieves
Harvest
Riley took to the end of the Plaza at a run, with Lemaes and Liara, her primary engineering team following as fast as they could manhandle generators and techpacks. It took two minutes to restart layer-1 and layer-2 on the SI (Synthetic Insights) elevator.
They took three marines up. On stopping the marines took cover at the end of the accessway while Riley dispatched the elevator back down for another squad. By the time she'd brought power on for the SI level, another fire team had reinforced them. The flares were repeated, and she enabled the lights after the resulting firefight. Four collectors, four husks. Pause for thirty seconds.
"Alright. Recovery teams to office and parts store, go."
…
Here we are. "Shepard, I have the AI, bluebox and greybox layer-3 modules. About two shuttle loads."
"Get those down the lift pronto. What's in the office is of interest to Coats' Criminal Investigation Department, but second priority."
"Those disks would probably fit in a pocket."
"Well done, Lee, but remember to put the blank ones in their place. When the modules are in the hold bring the Collector corpses down too, and show Matsuo. Tell her they were after the modules – it's probably even true. Then get your ass back downstairs and disable down to layer-1."
That should slow down the SI and BH people. Good old Shep.
"Roger that. You've been keeping bad company, John. Ali Baba and his forty thousand thieves had nothing on you."
"Why thank you, Lee, it's a pleasure to be in the company of desert rats. Field recovery, bug out."
Under pressure
Goldstein followed the action of other teams as Liara approached Administration with Qu'in, and Miranda ransacked the Binary Helix suite. That had been competently defended by the Binary Helix rep, who'd coped fairly well with Collectors in his office.
Damn, said Shepard over the squad intercom. This was apparently a problem.
Miranda suggested to Mr Vargas that it was too bad the Collectors had made off with the most important trade secrets of Binary Helix.
Mr Vargas said, What? His shotgun came up. So did Hadley's Revenant. Would you please put that on the floor, Mr Vargas. I have been Told that in a military emergency one does not ask twice.
Miranda noted that the Council would greatly appreciate some insights as to the most important developments, and would he (Mr Vargas) care to be debriefed by an Armali Council representative, Dr Liara T'Soni, in some out-of-the-way place? With appropriate remuneration, of course.
Mr Vargas said, the activities of private corporations outside Council jurisprudence were their own affair, and you've got to be kidding.
Miranda suggested that if the board of BH were to take a dim view of the Collector raid, she might be prepared to offer transport to the Citadel, on her private frigate, under a new identity, until of course the directors of BH were brought to justice for, oh, she didn't know, treason, or at least providing aid and comfort to the enemy in time of war…
Mr Vargas said Miranda was insane.
Miranda noted that there was a Spectre on the Normandy who wanted to ask him some questions about the research done at Peak 15 in the Hot Labs. Something about Rachni?
Now wait a minute, said Mr Vargas, rubbing the back of his neck.
Miranda added that in fact she had heard there was another Spectre, one Shepard, now a Captain AN, who had wanted to ask some very pointed questions concerning relations between one Saren Arterius and the BH directors. Or at least questions involving sharp points.
But I just did what the board told me to, said Mr Vargas, and Arterius signed a standard contract…
Would he care to say that to a court? In the presence of Dr Han Olar? Or the relatives of the lab personnel who died? Or Shepard, who had to fight armies of rachni?
This was unfair, said Mr Vargas. Saren put pressure on.
Pressure, she did understand perfectly. said Miranda.
Unfair, to be sure.
Dr Liara T'Soni, the Armali Representative, daughter of Matriarch Benezia – who had lost her life in the Rachni hot labs – had also said it was grossly unfair.
Benezia's daughter is a long way off, said Mr Vargas.
On the contrary, Miranda informed him, she was was on-station in the asari councilor's personal frigate, seeking information in the Administrator's files, which might take her another twenty minutes. Wasn't that right, Hadley? (Hadley had wisely said nothing, but his helmet-cam had nodded.) Life was so unfair.
Mr Vargas complained that he needed time to consider this.
Miranda regretted that her mandate for negotiation would expire on Dr T'Soni's arrival. She (Miranda) had heard that the questions of Benezia's daughter would be more than pointed, they might involve needles. If they didn't involve a warp field. Like this one (Miranda demonstrated on a collector corpse). No pressure, Mr Vargas.
Mr Vargas had agreed that a berth on Overlord back to the Citadel sounded like a good investment, and it was too bad about the depredations of the Collectors.
A faintly scandalized Goldstein, bringing Shepard's lunch (watercress sandwich and poached egg), said that this was a bit rich. John was noticeably unsympathetic, muttering about a third strike, but then:
"Get over there. Tell Miri I want the likes of Vargas alive to tell tales. Even so, that Lawson doesn't mess around, and she gets the job done. I bet all but the last part of that recording will vanish. God what a terrific performance."
Triage
Williams asked for an accounting of survivors; Wiks and Zabaleta were checking each guest and staffperson. A few were lying on stretchers by the lifts. Williams had segregated Oriana and told her to stick like glue. Matsuo and Parasini were assisting Wiks with the invalids. Vakarian indulged in quiet conversation with Lorik Qu'in:
"The corporate hotel has just been secured, Administrator. Nairobi's eighty marines have cleared every room, and all the occupants have been directed to the lobby awaiting transport."
Qu'in nodded, surveying the situation ("Stretchers go first, if you please, Mr Zabaleta"), but demurred:
"General, if you don't mind, I'd prefer to stay here until I can get back to Palaven."
"That could take a while. Just a minute…" – the Binary Helix (but not Synthetic Insights) staff were rudely complaining about firearms in the NDC premises.
Williams showed them her Spectre authorization.
They then asserted a right to freedom from unlawful restraint, even demands for transport to the Widow, following retrieval of business records from their offices.
"No-one's stopping you, yet. And no. I'm a spectre, not a bus driver."
One went so far as to threaten Williams with a pistol. There followed a very brief blur of activity, and: "Mr Zabaleta, would you please see to that fellow's wrist."
The others were now on their knees with a grinning Russian marine behind them pressing an assault rifle barrel to the back of their neck. They appeared to be deaf to English, never mind any civilized language, but translations were really not required.
Williams lectured the detainees on the desirability of not pulling a gun if you don't intend to use it, then updated them on the Red Flash. The frigates had only limited space, she added. Since they were so intent on saving their precious records they could stay here till someone bothered to send a QEC communicator through the H chain, in, say a month or so.
This was the first time those assembled had heard that all the mass relays had nuked themselves. General consternation ensued, followed by Colonel pleading, but Ashley remained adamant:
"You've made your bed. Now lie in it."
At this point Miranda walked in with Hadley and Goldstein.
"RANDA!"
Time pressure
Toombs was negotiating the removal of mines and mantraps with the hotel garrison leaders, some women called Maeko and Gianna, also some turian known to Shepard.
The Firebase White team had been a welcome addition to Maeko Matsuo's troop. They had bonded over nearly a year waiting for rescue, and forty hours of Collector attack. There had been tears. Toombs had suggested leaving ERCS for, well, AD.
Then he and Williams had gone around asking about the Cerberus troops.
"Oh yeah," said Qu'in, "it was the weirdest thing."
A few hours after the Red Flash, this Cerberus shuttle had turned up at port docking bay one. Scared the living daylights out of the maintenance crews trying to seal the place off against Reapers who'd appeared in orbit – but it never attacked. The shuttle had just sat there, doing nothing. When they opened the door they found seven crew and a pilot, all asleep. The pilot had a used hypo with a sedative.
Ash got straight to the point. "So you killed them?"
No, said Matsuo, Parasini-sama would have none of it, but didn't like mysteries any more than Qu'in did. She had them laid out for inspection by medics. Matsuo was an untrusting soul and scanned them first, finding explosives inside the flesh. Those had gone, first thing.
"So where are they now?"
Matsuo took them to her brig in Administration. Eight very thin zombies with glowing eyes stared back. Toombs gave Matsuo a Look. They had the same rations we did, she said defensively. They need more, said Toombs. Those implants need calories to run. Oh, said Matsuo. At least you kept them alive, said Toombs.
Toombs had left thoughtfully and sought out Parasini, who had impressed him very much. She and Williams had found food for the poor Cerberus gits. An hour later, John Shepard had turned up in the company of Lawson and Goldstein, in their black cat suits with low-slung gun harness, to have a very quiet word with Gianna.
Parasini had been told to stick with Shepard for the duration, apparently. Good. She seemed useful, like Matsuo. Shepard and Lawson were now sharing a drink with both, at a table in the plaza, which slowly emptied except for crowds in the shadows at the edges. Toombs watched over them with Goldstein, one hand inside his jacket.
Hadley led in the Cerberus troops, cleaned up and in spare Alliance uniforms with no insignia. They sat down at two other tables. He and Goldstein brought coffee, then:
"Sir, Zabaleta reports Noveria will have to have all but essential staff and BH people evacuated. They've been using their supplies for a year and rations are now at a very low level."
"Very well, ops chief. We'll supply them out of cruiser stores. Qu'in's been loaned one of Nairobi's shuttles and a Primarch's privileges on the turian cruiser's command VI. Oh, and Lawson ordered that the Cerberus troop be ensconced in Overlord's med bay, under guard – Zach and Tom. See to it."
"Whew. Thank you sir. I wish we had Chakwas here."
"That's for later. Lawson says she's had a word, to them she's still a Cerberus legend. I think she wants them for crew. De-indoctrination might take a while, but she's borrowed Wiks from Williams till we're back in Melbourne. It won't be long before we're under way. Slowly. We don't have anywhere near enough high-g restraints."
"What about Anadius?"
"Shepard consulted with Hackett on the QEC," declared Lawson. "Cronos station isn't going anywhere. We can do that next fortnight."
About half an hour before leaving, Williams released the more compliant hotel guests – to return home in Pegasus and Peacemaker holds, or fulfil their contracts with NDC. Time to make their loot, er, recoveries, disappear on shuttles to Normandy and Overlord.
The Collectors, Matsuo said, had not been so deadly as expected. They seemed to fight without much co-ordination, and the husks were downright stupid.
"But there seemed to be an unending supply of them, out of that damned tube. What happened to that, by the way?"
"Holding orbit. We'll look later. Maybe. The Sakharov mines aren't run by VIs so can't be hacked. If the Collector ship so much as twitches, mercury switches and radio relays detonate them. The Russians aren't great believers in over-engineering."
Next chapter: #52, "Daddy was a pistol"
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
