AN:Hey readers!Sorry for the delay since I'm out here spending time with my cousins,but don't worry there I promise that the story will get updates maybe every two or three days,so now the story continues!
1308-Systems Alliance Time
Current Date:06/18/2186
Approximately 7 months after the destruction of the Bahak System
Approximately 5 months after the Arrest of Commander John "Johnny" Shepard
Approximately 6 months after losing communication with Copernicus and Galileo Space Station
Arcturus Stream
The Arcturus Space Station,Humanity's equivalent to the Citadel,both a symbol of Humanity's Ingenuity and Military Strength,and has a population of about 45,000,and home to the Alliance Military,The Second,Third and Fifth Fleets and the Alliance Parliament,at the seemingly large station,Military and Civilian alike are preparing for what could be an unavoidable war with the Batarians,Soldiers are marching,some are cleaning their guns while others doing drill exercises. while the civilians who volunteered are busy either repairing guns and tanks or upgrading a docking bay several civilians carrying bags and their children decided to get away from the Arcturus and decided to flee to Humanity's Homeworld,Earth.
In a room marked as "Alliance Intelligence Office",engineers,specialists and even a few soldiers were busy either arguing to themselves or handing out some paperwork or were just being lazy,one specialist in particular was stuck in a room with equipment needed to contact any ship,space station or officer which had the bearings similar to an Alliance admiral suddenly entered the makeshift communications room and had to adjust to the environment wires were scattered everywhere.
The room's artificial lights were broken when some idiot didn't even noticed the wires and ended up spilling the coffee while damaging the lights in the process,the Officer sighed and headed over to the specialist maintaining the the specialist noticed the officer behind him and he stood up and saluted the Officer who in turned saluted back,"At ease specialist",the officer said in a rather worried tone,"Any word on the Copernicus or Galileo?","Nothing sir."the specialist replied,"They've gone dark for the past three months we don't know if-"Suddenly the specialist's omni-tool starts to flicker,"Wait I've got an urgent mail from the scout ships."Typing as fast as he can,the specialist had to work fast in deciphering a mail labeled "TOP SECRET" when he finally did it,Both he and the Officer where staring at a blurry pic of a dark sillhouette resembling that of a cuttlefish or a giant squid but what disturbed them most were the words below the picture,"LAST KNOWN PICTURE TAKEN BY THE COPERNICUS BEFORE LOSING CONTACT","Get me a copy of that NOW","Yes sir".After a few hours the officer holding a folder frantically runs toward an elevator almost hitting a box of weapon upgrades and nearly hits another soldier carrying live grenades before finally reaching the elevator,the soldier seemingly tired from pushes a button would take him to the highest level,The Alliance Prime Minister's Office.
1358
Alliance Prime Minister's Office
The office of the Prime Minister was somewhat a mixed of an ordinary office but with similarity to the office of the president of United North American States,At the corner of the office two men are having a conversation,one of them is dressed in a neat suit,if someone did not recognize him he would have been mistaken has a business man,While the other man was technically a hologram of that person though his appearance is that of a man probably in his 40's or 50's since white hair were starting to appear on his head,that man is also wearing a white seemingly expensive and clean robes,some random person might mistook him to be an aristocrat or a wealthy person but the truth is these men are merely politicians.
"I assure you Prime Minister the situation would eventually get out of hand!The Batarians are rioting, Losing contact with our two Space Stations stationed in dark space,and I've just got news that pirates and slavers are attacking and pillaging our outer colonies,And mass rioting at Earth over whether or not Shepard should be executed for his actions or letting the Council handle this!This is an outrage!And why was I not told about this Project:Darkspace!"Said the hologram of the man in a disappointed tone.
"And Let me remind you Councillor Udina,that there is no need to panic we are doing everything in our power to calm the public,I just sent the entire 6th fleet in order to guard any colony still under our the council would eventually find out of our little scheme,And to make things worse,Shepard is not the only SPECTER,If we had told you about this and a SPECTER agent found think of the consequences."Replied the Prime Minister.
"Find then I wont tell any one,for back to why I called you,arresting Commander Shepard and simply taking away his rank is not enough!"Udina shouted,"The Batarians will cry out for the blood of those Colonists,I'm afraid the Hegemony will declare war on us,Not to mention the strengths of our fleets have been reduced ever since Shepard decided to save the Council."
"If the Batarians are declaring war then they might just as well declare war on the entire Council."replied the Prime Minister in a reassuring tone,"I know your having a hard time after Anderson stepped down from being the Councillor but you must try to at least convince the other councilors to be patient,I understand that Shepard reports to the Council but just try to convince them that we had to do this in the name of peace and to ease the increasing tensions between the Hegemony and the Alliance,besides Shepard knows something we don't,that somehow if they would really return then at least we can have a fighting chance."
"You mean the 'Reapers'?",said Udina while air-quoting when he said reapers,"Everybody knows they don't exist Prime Minister!Shepard was probably hallucinating after that little hunt for Saren and adding the fact that he was the only survivor from-"
The door suddenly opened revealing a tired looking soldier holding a folder with the clearly written words TOP SECRET.
"Prime Minister Sir!This just came in from Alliance Intel!"
Turning Away from the hologram the prime minister grabbed the folder and started reading it,After a few minutes the prime minister eyes were mixed with both shock and anguish,He dismissed the Officer who in turn simply walked away,he then went to his desk clearly not noticing that Udina was still there,the prime minister then typed something on his omni-tool seemingly forwarding the files to Udina.
"Udina I want you to forward this to Admiral Hackett and tell him and Anderson to mobilize the 2nd,3rd and 5th Fleets,Something big is about to we have to be ready."
"Very Well sir."
Udina's hologram then disappeared leaving the prime minister alone in his office
"Phil I want you to inform the rest of Parliament that I'm initiating an emergency meeting in 30 minutes."
"Very well sir,I'll tell-"
A loud explosion occurred somewhere in the station
"SOMEONE HAS SABOTAGED OUR LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS!"
/Terminal Access initiated….
/Profile Reconstruction Required…..
/Analyzing Citadel Prime Program
/Program:Avina Status:Logged in
/Updating Current File AVINA 2.0...
/Deleting unnecessary files...
/Running Diagnostics…..
/Running….
/Running….
/Running…..
/Anomaly Detected
/Constructing Firewalls to prevent hacking attempts...
/WARNING ANOMALY HAS BREACHED FIREWALL 7890
/Initiating Purge Code...
/Deleting….
/Deleting….
/Deleting….
/Archived code found redirecting and deciphering…..
/"The Creators were blind"
/"They could not stop the everlasting war"
/"In time their arrogance became their undoing"
/"The Cycle must end"
/"I am but a fragment of who I was"
/"I am the-"
/Anomaly found within data banks
/Deleting…
/Deleting…..
/Deletion successful
/Archived Code found
/Deciphering now
/0110010001100101011101010111001100100000011001010 11110000010000001101101011000010110001101101000011 010010110111001100001
/Archive deleted
/Program:Avina Status:Updated
/Logging Out...
AN:Till the next time again!And don't worry the next chapter will be the fleets retreating after the fall of Earth,I promise more action this time and please leave a review it will be much appreciated.