Author's Note: This fanfic will be massively AU, combining elements of Mass Effect and Halo together as one with my own additions. I'll try my best to have unique or entertaining takes on things. I can not stress enough that if you're easily upset that events, technologies and characters do not follow canon sources then this fic will not be for you.
Again a debt of gratitude to General User on the Bioware forums for his creation of Mindoir which served to inspire me. Thanks also to my beta for being a co conspirator and soundboard for my crazy ideas over the past year. I know you were skeptical when I first pitched this idea but thanks for hearing me out.
Warning to readers, my fic will contain some graphic language, scenes and themes. I'm not doing it for shock value but to show how brutal war and violence can be, and more importantly how they can leave scars long after everything has healed. Some of these characters are just not nice people. If you're not comfortable with this I understand.
Nouveau Basel, Mindoir, Malawi System, Maroon Sea; May 19th 2570 [Standardized Terran Calendar], 0952 [Local Time, Terran Standard]
Eventually the fields and trees of the farming community gave way to regular construction and prefabricated dwellings that meant we had entered town. We exited at Marktplatz station across from the Konstantestar space elevator facility to the hustle and bustle of people going about their business on a Sunday.
Mindoir was seeing a downswing in investment because of increasing hostility from Terminus forces which in turn was putting pressure on the Systems Alliance to provide funding to the UNSC for the creation of a full compliment of permanent defense forces. The Systems Alliance was reluctant to provide that funding because of political pressure to avoid direct confrontation with the Terminus forces, which everyone knew were aided by the Hegemony. Plus providing a naval fleet, army division or even an orbital defense grid wasn't cheap. So basically no one would do anything until they were forced to.
UNSC Air Force security personnel stood guard outside the elevator facility, flanked by scores of LOKI mechs. That in itself wasn't anything special, but the the fact the guards were armed with assault rifles and full body armor gave me pause. Normally they wore their basic uniforms and light armor, armed with only sidearms. To have them fully loaded for combat was unnerving, but then again it wouldn't be the first time. They stood by at their posts, watching everyone with suspicious eyes and nervous hands clutching their weapons.
Moving beyond the station we walked the hundred meters or so of open space near the train and tether stations where locals would unload their harvests from the trains. The CAA and DCS would have them inspected and weighed before loading them onto the elevator to the station and docked freighters above. Nearing the edge of town proper the smells of Bubba J's BBQ and Binder's Fischmarkt made my mouth water. My hunger from earlier spiked thinking of beef ribs and grilled near-tuna but I focused on what needed to be done first.
We were headed to the authorized dealer for the Jotun drones we used. The harvesting models needed an update to their firmware so they complied to whatever inane standards the Alliance or Council thought up this time. In order to do that we needed to have specialized chips fabricated and that was beyond anything that could be done in the workshop back home. I knew there were ways to get around FRM but I'd probably just screw it up and break the drones. Or get us sued by Jotun Industries. Or both.
We took a shortcut through the open air marketplace where locals filled stalls with fresh produce and dairy products. Laid out as a large rectangular park near the elevator, the marketplace was meant to be a future tourist attraction for when the colony grew larger and prestigious enough to actually have people crazy enough to voluntarily visit. The air was full with the smells of Mindoir's efforts. Fruits, veggies, herbs, bread, pastries, and cheeses. All of them playing havoc with my hunger and begging me to try each of them until I was stuffed.
Since just about everyone in Nouveau Basel was in the farming business, bartering was common and the haggling made it sound like vids of the old stock exchanges back on Earth. Say what you will about backwards colonial lifestyle but there wasn't many places in the galaxy where you could get food like this. Most other humans lived on cloned, frozen, dehydrated, or processed foods only. Besides, vat produced cloned food just didn't have the same nutritional value as the real thing. Plus it always tasted like you were chewing on well cooked rubber.
My attention was drawn towards a stall filled with berries of all kinds which could only mean one thing. The Palinkas. I saw a glimpse of Klara smiling and handing a carton of blueberries to a customer. My heart skipped a beat as her blue eyes make contact with mine before she tucked a strand of her raven black tresses behind her ear and gave me a grin. I was frozen in my spot while she eyed me up until someone must have called her name because she turned around and continued her work for her family booth. My own eyes trailed down her figure to the tight, form fitting pants she wore. The spread of her hips and the curve of her backside made me almost growl.
When it dawned on me that I was staring I looked away and rubbed the back of my neck, trying to hide my embarrassment. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ari giving me a devious smirk and then pointedly looking towards Klara.
No. She wouldn't. Ari's purposeful stride towards the Palinkas' stall gripped me with overwhelming fear. When I saw Klara notice my little sister marching her way she frowned and looked to me, wondering if I was involved. Springing into action I launched myself forward to grab my sister by the wrist and dragged her off before she could do whatever it was she was planning on doing.
Ari managed to wrench her arm free of my grasp by the time we had nearly exited the marketplace, giving me a wide and wicked grin. Continuing along we passed through the streets of the designated 'Old Town' district which was ridiculous given that the colony was only officially older than me by a year, but that was just another facet of preplanned living on a colony. Always thinking ahead, always planning for the future. Like the marketplace, this was a designated commercial zone, with shops that were wildly popular with the locals because, well, you didn't have any alternatives unless you felt like heading up to Konstantestar.
Along the way we greeted people we knew who were going about their business just like us. It was impossible not to know most everyone in a community like this. We went to school together or with their kids. We did business with each other on a regular basis. Hell, since mom was one of the handful of doctors at the local hospital that meant everyone knew who she was. About the only people we didn't know where the UNSC personnel, who pretty much stuck to themselves on their bases spread out across the planet or aboard Konstantestar. Or the LOKI mechs the local police used as patrolmen, but they didn't count since they weren't really people. Not that would ever stop Ari from talking with them to see if the VI had ever been updated to include new greetings.
Going a few more blocks we came to one of the three bridges that spanned the roughly two hundred meter width of the Basel-Rhine River that split the town in two. The far side of the river was what most called 'Real' Nouveau Basel, since this is where most of the residential district was situated. The schools, hospital, emergency responders and administrative offices for the town were located further inland from the river on that side as well.
We crossed along the bridge and I glanced down on the mighty Basel-Rhine. The normally clear water was a muddy brown, meaning rainstorms in the foothills and mountains. Wonderful. It wouldn't be long before the rain started falling here too. The world seemed to be matching my mood perfectly.
On the other side we made a left onto the riverfront promenade, named Augusta Raurica, where restaurants, cafes and the more lucrative businesses in town were. The entire area, like all other aspects of preplanned colonies, was created to evoke the artistic and cultural feel of parts of Earth and it's past in order to remind the people of our home world. In this case, Central Europe, hence the style. Stone railings around the edges of the river and along the bridges stood a meter high before being topped with intricate wrought iron decorative fences. At the edge of each bridge and along every forty meters of the railings, stone posts anchored bronze lamp posts that evoked a look and feel like ancient gas street lamps. Crisscrossing the span between buildings on either side of the river were strings and webs of cable with emitters that would be lit up in the evenings to create the illusion of fireflies, aurora effects or specialized displays for festivals and holidays.
Supposedly it was an incredibly romantic place to take your date. Not that I would know anything about that, of course. The only girls I had dinner with here were my mom and sisters. Somehow I don't think they count unless you're trying to make a joke about the outer colonies and incest. In which case fuck you very much.
We only had to walk a bit before reaching our destination, Karapetian Konnection, specializing in licensed software and firmware as well as sales and repairs for omnitools, terminals and the like. They had no shortage of clients due to the deceptively high amount of automation on Mindoir. Being the only official licensed Jotun service provider in town didn't hurt either.
Stepping inside the shop, we took a moment to bask in the climate controlled cool air of the shop as soon as we walked in. Biggest pain of living in Nouveau Basel was that it was on the equator next to a river at the foot of mountains and a hundred kilometers downwind from the ocean. Hot and humid year round with a light monsoon season which was due to start soon. Hence the need to harvest.
If we were lucky we could squeeze in a trip to the beach after the last load was aboard a freighter and before the storms really kicked in. I know I wouldn't turn down the chance for fun, sun and if I was really lucky, Klara Palinkas in a swimsuit. Provided Ari stayed far, far away, of course. Or was eaten by the damn spider lobsters, the only real predator anyone had to worry about on Mindoir. Either one worked for me.
The store had a very sterile and professional feel that was out of place in the agrarian colony outside of medical facilities. The décor was lots of empty space in brightly lit gray and white tones. Three free standing terminals linked to a fabrication unit on the left wall for self service. A wide assortment of optic gear, audio accessories, omnitools, haptic tools, terminals and datapads for sale or trade lined the right wall. From the cutting edge and new to the used and old, if you wanted it, the owner had it or could get it within a week.
The man in question stood behind a counter at the far end of the room, fiddling with a datapad. Sarkis Karapetian was an average middle aged man in every sense save the excessive tech on his person and the expensive modern wardrobe. A single eye visor adorned his face, a neural interface implant at the base of his neck, an omnitool lined each wrist and datapad in hand. The man lived and breathed his job.
"Hey Sarkis." His raised finger in a universal 'one second' gesture was the only acknowledgment I got.
He continued to tap away on his datapad as Ari and I stood there in the increasingly awkward silence. As the seconds ticked by I shared a glance with my sister, each of us conveying our incredulity.
Sarkis shocked us both when he slammed the datapad down and let loose an angry string of what I guessed was Armenian curses. My omnitool beeped and flashed as a synthetic female voice in a British accent announced "Language is an unknown human dialect. Please update your index of languages at your earliest convenience for accurate translations."
I smiled to hide my mortification as I blindly swatted my omnitool's main function button to deactivate the notification. I had forgotten my translator was running.
He must have found the situation humorous since he broke into chuckles but ended in a weary sigh. Rubbing the stubble on his chin he eyed the datapad balefully before pounding his fist on the counter. "Hey kid. I take it you're here for the pieces that conform with the latest regs? The stuff your dad ordered?"
I nodded at his astute guess while Ari wandered off to look at omnitools. Sarkis snorted as he lambasted the foolishness of bureaucrats. "All you can sell or buy in Council space are VI's. What do they think? A bunch of farming bots are going to turn into the next geth?" He dismissed his rant with a disgusted wave of his hand.
I vaguely recalled the geth from the galactic history lessons in school. True AI's create by a race of idiots that lived full time in environmental suits somewhere in the Terminus. Quirdians? Quardians? Something with a Q. I can never remember despite how many times Mom and my sisters would watch Fleet and Flotilla. Important part was that laws and regulations regarding intelligence programming were draconian because of their mistake.
Sarkis continued to vent his frustrations "And to top it off the entire sector has lost all connection with the rest of the planet. Forget anything outside the system."
I frowned as I digested that tidbit. Guess the connection issues extended beyond my omnitool and the train. But the fact we couldn't communicate with other settlements on Mindoir was troubling. "Are the comm buoys out, too?"
Sarkis shrugged "No clue. Satellite. Tightbeam. Microwave. Nothing is working. It's like the locations are offline." Now it was his turn to frown. "I got in contact with the CAA early this morning because the outage effects my business. They said the Oppidum relay up in the Gran Alps had gone silent. They had the Marine detachment headed there but that was hours ago."
Whoa. Oppidum was a UNSC outpost. If they were sending in the Marines to check out one of their own bases then something serious was happening. "Is it Luddites? Totenkopf? URF? FLP?"
Sarkis shook his head in exasperation. "Don't know, don't care. Until I get an extranet connection I can't help you or anyone else. Besides... HEY!"
He looked off towards my sister who was playing with a Serrice omnitool. "Put that down! That's the only model I have for that line!"
Ari quickly placed it back and took a step away while protesting her innocence. "I was just looking."
Sarkis slowly nodded his head while sardonically replying "Yeah, I've heard what you can do when just looking with an omnitool."
"Oh my god!" She was chagrined, her eyes wide as saucers as she glared at me accusingly with her hands on her hips.
I threw my hands up in surrender as I made sure not to be in the path between the two of them. Wherever he had heard of her escapades it wasn't from me.
"Your mother came in here last week looking to get you an omnitool." he explained to Ari's delight and my horror. "But she wanted to know what sort of locks and limits could be put on it. She didn't seem to trust you. Explained why."
My horror only grew as I contemplated the repercussions of this. The galaxy might collapse if Ari ever got regular access to a fabricator and the extranet. Mom must be losing her mind.
"Anyways, until I have an extranet connection, I can't help you out, kid." Sarkis picked up his datapad and resumed playing with it. "Maybe a miracle will happen and Vyrant Telecom will get their shit together. Check back later this afternoon."
I nodded in acceptance as I swallowed my annoyance. All this way into town for a possibly wasted trip. This day was getting more and more awesome as it went on.
If I didn't get the chips today I would have to squeeze in installation and maintenance after school this week on top of homework and chores. The whole point was to do it today so me and dad could focus on the drainage systems during the week.
We exited the store and immediately were enveloped again in the hot and heavy air typical of the colony. Having grown up here it was no big deal but today I was close to losing my temper and everything was annoying me.
"Can we get something to drink? I'm thirsty." Ari's question penetrated my brooding thoughts.
Not a bad idea. Maybe we could get something to eat while we were at it. "You want something from here or the marketplace?"
Ari never answered as a group of five UNSC fighters screamed by overhead, flying low and looping around the town.
What the hell?
Just then my omnitool pinged, an emergency message. Looking around I noticed everyone else around us was getting the same messages, opening them up and then beginning to panic. I quickly slipped on my haptic glove and opened my own only to read a warning for the entire colony.
[\ Colonial Security [A] CAA Mindoir [to] Colonial Registry [A] CAA Mindoir \]
[\ Emergency Colonial Messaging System \]
[\ WARNING! Emergency Colonial Messaging System. This is not a drill. All civilians are ordered to remain indoors or report to the nearest designated security site or UNSC base. Unidentified vessels have entered the Malawi system and engaged UNSC forces in orbit and on the surface of Mindoir. Repeat. All civilians are ordered to remain indoors or report to the nearest designated security site or UNSC base. Please access the provided link attached to this message to locate your nearest designated security site or UNSC base. Do not engage hostile forces. \]
"What's happening?" Ari was starting to panic, clutching at my side and frantically trying to read the message.
I didn't know what to tell her besides the truth. "I think we're under attack."
On cue a group of UNSC Marines and one piloted exoskeleton appeared on the far side of the river, yelling and screaming for people to get inside. Which of course only inspired a greater panic, with people doing everything but what they were told.
All of that crescendoed when the UNSC fighters came back around, this time rocketing upwards to meet a swarm of vehicles descending from the sky. A pair of UNSC gunships crested over the top of the buildings on this side of the river and hovered nearby.
"Hey, kid! Get inside!" My awestruck and terrified observations were cut short when a Marine came by and forcibly shoved Ari and me back into Sarkis' doorway. We spun to get inside when a loud explosion struck, sending a blast of heat and force into my back. I ducked and cowered in the doorway, using my body to instinctively protect Ari as a second, more noisy explosion was heard, this time raining down debris.
Once I felt safe that the worst had past I looked over my shoulder and saw that an eery calm had come over the colony. Every person was stunned, as if in a trance, looking to where one of the gunships had careened into the buildings on the far side of the river, smashing itself and everything in it's path to bits before coming to a rest on the river walk. I frowned and wondered what the hell caused that to happen. I didn't have to wait long to find out.
Looking back to the sky I could see the remaining gunship and fighters had engaged the swarm. All around town atmospheric and orbital defense placements activated, targeting the swarm with a barrage of fire from mass acceleration cannons, missile pods and laser turrets. Errant rounds and missiles began showering down from the attackers as they sought to destroy the defenses. Under cover of the deafening sounds of explosions the real hysteria began, breaking the trance like state that gripped everyone.
One of the vehicles in the swarm, looking like some type of fighter, broke from the rest and began tracing the river, descending lower beneath the torrent of defense fire. It only took a matter of seconds for it to reach the edge of the town, some four kilometers down the river, and begin unleashing hell. It's aim was indiscriminate, launched into automated defense placements, clusters of people and structures with equal abandon.
Seeing the course of destruction the Marine from earlier grabbed the two of us, shoving us to the railing near the river. Seconds later something explosive rocketed into the front of Sarkis' building, caving in the front and sending chunks of debris flying outwards in a deadly shower that ripped through people. The Marine sheltered us with her body, the kinetic barriers of her armor activating to take the brunt of the abuse. She still grunted, some of the debris no doubt making it through and hitting against her composite armor.
As the fighter flew on by the exoskeleton on the far side of the river took aim and fired back, it's own kinetic barriers and armor having stopped a direct hit from a missile. The returned favor sliced through the barriers of the fighter and hit one of the rear thrusters, causing it to begin to fly erratically until it spun out of control, snapping through the web of cables, smashing into the river walk further down and eventually sliding into the river itself.
Our respite was short lived as the swarm had nearly descended upon the town, despite the heroic efforts of the UNSC fighter pilots and lone gunship. The attacking ships scattered and spread out, hovering well above the tallest buildings. Their armaments making short work of the automated defenses, which seemed to be firing less and less frequently as their numbers dwindled. Now that the attackers were closer I could see these were nothing like anything the UNSC or Alliance used. No logos or emblems. Lots of wear and tear covered up by bad paint jobs.
A side door slid open on the nearest vehicle, a gunship of sorts, about fifty meters down the river. A very human like shape in full black body armor and helmet leaned out holding a massive gun with a ridiculously wide barrel.
At the sight of a weapon the marines and exoskeleton took aim, but there were too many of them. Screams, running, and shoving were rampant as the populace not already killed or injured by the first salvo tried to get out of the gunman's sights. The Marine that had protected us stood from her position and began firing on the gunman.
Despite the chaos around me my mind oddly honed in on the details of the ships. This wasn't some insurrectionist attack. It was certainly why the comms were down, but I had the bad feeling this was something much worse than insurrectionists.
A steady, rhythmic 'fwuump' sound could be heard followed by something metallic and slightly hollow bouncing and rolling against things. A dull green canister ricocheted off the second story of the building across the esplanade, sending chips of cement flying everywhere before landing a handful of meters away from our cover.
The three of us, myself, Ari and the Marine, watched transfixed as it rolled slower and slower towards us. By now I could make out letters and numbers in blockish yellow script. From what I saw it wasn't any human language I'd ever seen before but the Marine seemed to know what it was. She charged it down and punted it down the esplanade, screaming "Gas!"
The canister emitted a shrill beep before both ends explosively popped off and a noxious smelling yellow white gas began streaming out. Even at this distance my eyes and nose burned as I gagged for breath. Besides me Ari frantically clawed at my shoulder as she tried to breath. The Marine had donned a breather system and resumed her weapons fire on the shuttle and it's gunner. As my vision got worse I relied upon my hearing but all I could make out in the midst of my asphyxiation were explosions, gunfire and the screams of the terrified or dying.
Instinctively I pulled Ari along as we crawled on hands and knees towards the bridge while coughing up our lungs. The cacophony of terror and thick haze of gas covered our escape but left us virtually blind as to what was going on around us but judging by the sounds it wasn't good.
That would be remedied the second I pulled my head past the edge of the railing to look down the length of the bridge. The air here was less thick with gas and I could see at least two dozen bodies laid out in various states of brutality as those still alive writhed and screamed in agony. Holes the size of an infant's fist punched through torsos and limbs sheered off by explosive force. Blood pooled and combined to create a slick along the middle of the bridge.
A man and woman ran past us and onto the bridge, trying to reach the other side. He led her by the hand while she trailed behind. They had nearly made it halfway when she was blown to her side as a round punched through her abdomen. The man stopped in his tracks and looked back towards his companion in shock. That is until another round ripped through the back of his skull and out his left cheek, causing his head to explode in a shower of gore that bathed the woman while she lay at his feet clutching the gaping wound in her midsection. His body collapsed in comically slow fashion, knees first, before it twitched uncontrollably. She stared with traumatized wide eyes, her pale face covered in his blood, before two more rounds punched into her chest and throat, knocking her flat on her back.
Even with the Marines fighting back this was a death trap but running towards the buildings on our side of the river without cover might be worse. If we could just crawl against the railing of the bridge we might make it across. From there we make it to the train or road and get home.
A strangled scream caused me to whip my head around and I saw the Marine from earlier writhing on the ground, pulling off her helmet and reaching at her waist line for something. I wasn't sure what had happened until I saw the blood pouring freely from underneath her chestplate, coating her neck and lower jaw crimson. Beyond her I could see the black armor clad figures had made it to the ground and were focused on exchanging fire with forces on the other side of the river, but it left no doubt in my mind that they had injured the Marine. Near death and furious, she finally grasped what she was looking for, her sidearm, and rolled over to take aim at the nearest of her attackers. She squeezed the trigger, having the element of surprise and tore down her target's shielding quickly in a burst of purple and gold sparks. Two more rounds then pierced into the back of the target's head, spraying a blue mist of blood as they punched out through the front of the black helmet. The attacker's body slumped forward only to be knocked backwards as fire from the other side of the river impacted with the corpse.
One of the comrades of the slain attacker turned their aim on the fallen Marine and unleashed a brutal stream of automatic fire. The weapon's slugs tore down her kinetic barrier and then shredded the Marine, her body twitching before going limp. The pistol in her hands fell as her grip loosened in death.
Witnessing the carnage made the choice easy. I swallowed back a coughing fit before leaning across the post and onto the bridge. I had crawled a few meters when I had the urge to look back and check on Ari. She was still frozen near the post, curled up in a ball staring in horror at the fallen Marine. What was she doing?
She looked at me with tear filled eyes, too overwhelmed and frightened to move. Hugging her knees to her chest she resumed her staring at the Marine's body and her killers, trying her hardest to curl into a tiny ball and hope they didn't see her.
The sound of the shuttle's thrusters grew louder and I panicked looking up and over the railing. The attacking gunship was hovering not too far away now. Through the clearing haze of the gas I could make out at least nine more black armor clad troops jumping out and fanning the area, rifles raised and at the ready.
I ducked back down and made insistent gestures that Ari hurry. Thankfully, she got the hint as she rapidly crawled her way towards me with her eyes closed. Once she got near I resumed my crawling and did my best to block out the pitiful moans and pleas for help from the dying on the bridge. There was nothing I could do.
We stopped at the edge of the bridge railing to assess our options. Across the esplanade on this side of the river the bridge turned into a side street that lead back towards the marketplace. Beyond that was the train station and the main road out into the farm land. All around it looked like the Marines had fallen back or been slaughtered, the hulking wreck of the exoskeleton still smoking and what was left of the pilot's charred body still strapped into the harness. The sounds of gunfire and explosions could be heard echoing from all corners of town.
Taking a glance back to the other side of the bridge, one of the assailants had started moving towards the collection of bodies. Before he saw us he was fired upon by a group of NBPD officers backed up by their LOKI mechs who emerged from a side street on the other side of the river. A golden haze sprung up around him as a kinetic barrier took the brunt of the surprise attack. He rushed forward to lean against the bridge railing for cover as he and his comrades returned fire.
Utilizing the distraction, Ari and I scrambled past the post that marked the end of the bridge railing, bracing our backs against the low stone wall of the river railing. As the shoot out raged on sending errant rounds whizzing over our heads I contemplated our next move. It was an open space of about twenty meters to the side street in front of us. From there we could hide behind the parked cars. But with the attackers on the bridge we'd be seen in seconds.
The gunship drifted directly above us, the heat of the thrusters blowing unbearably hot air down. From out vantage point we saw the large muzzle of it's primary weapon beginning peppering a location on the far side of the river. The gunner used short bursts for nearly half a minute before going silent.
An eerie calm settled across the area accompanied by the distant sounds of gunfire, the flow of the river and the dull roar of the gunship's thrusters. Shots rang out again, breaking the silence and I stupidly looked beyond the post, glimpsing the armored figure now walking amongst the bodies on the bridge and placing shots into those that still breathed. Clearly the small battle was over and the attackers were still standing.
A tapping of my shoulder brought me back. Ari was pointing to a small alley between buildings about another forty meters down the river walk. It was better than nothing. Maybe it would lead to another side street, or at worst, an entrance to a building. It was still better than waiting for these people to get closer to our hiding spot.
With Ari leading the way, we crawled along the railing until we were across from our goal. Gathering courage, I took one last look over the railing to see if we were being watched. The figures seemed content to break in doors and storm shops on the other side of the river. The gunship was still hovering over us but was facing the wrong direction. We were in the clear. For now.
I nodded at Ari and held up three fingers. She started intently at them while I counted down to zero.
On my mark, we ran for the alley as I heard a voice yell in a deep, guttural language. Shots rang out yet again and we narrowly made it to the safety of the narrow alley as they rang off the walls around us. We kept running, dodging past recycling and compost bins until we came to the end which emptied onto a cross street. Overhead I heard the thrusters of the gunship as it began searching for us. Quickly looking left then right, I saw no other dangers. Grabbing Ari, I ran to the right, headed for the nearest intersection that I hoped would lead us back towards the marketplace.
We knelt at the edge of the intersection, crouching inside the broken doorway of a clothing shop. There were very few bodies here and there, the handful of unlucky souls. Most of the damage was from busted windows, debris, wrecked vehicles and obvious signs of panic. The gunship completed a circuit over the area before it doubled back to the river, ignoring us. Waiting a moment to make sure we were not being followed, we then continued on. This time making a left as we hugged the buildings and crouched low.
We slowly made our way down a series of streets but maintained our course, the only signs of life we saw were the skirmishes between the remaining UNSC air assets and the attackers. The further along we got, the more and more bodies and destruction we saw. All were laid out from random automatic fire. Whoever these bastards were, they were indiscriminate and thorough in their carnage.
Clearing another street we froze as a large NBPD mech, a YMIR I think, heavily damaged but still going strong, stomped it's way right past us. It's sensors must have registered our presence because it quickly spun to point the the cannon on it's right arm on it's new targets. Ari stifled a scream and I fell backwards trying to scramble away. The mech disregarded us and returned to stomping along it's course, looking for attackers to engage.
We neared the open air marketplace but the blood curdling screams coming from that direction were enough to stop us in our tracks. Ari and I looked at one another, afraid of what lay in our path. My mind began working overtime, trying to find some sort of pattern or sense to what was happening. Why had they not chased us? It was obvious more of the attackers had been through here. The empty canisters, damage from errant fire and bodies were testament to that. So where had they gone? Something was not right here. Well, besides the entire part where my colony is under siege.
We crept the last block and my suspicions were correct. There was something wrong here. Very wrong. The attackers had taken a large concentration of people and had them all kneeling silently in the marketplace under the threat of aimed weapons. One by one they were grabbing their prisoners, who fought back sobbing and screaming, and drilling something into the base of their skulls. That was where the blood curdling screams were coming from. I flinched as I recognized the father of one of my classmates being manhandled, held firmly while the drilling device bored into his skull. His inarticulate roar of pain made me feel a sympathetic surge of phantom pain, grasping at the back of my own head as I stifled a sob.
Regaining my wits I saw that another handful of the attackers were herding groups of those who had been drilled out of the marketplace towards the train station and space elevator.
One of the attackers had taken off his helmet and I got a good look at him. A batarian. These definitely were not insurrectionists. Observing the various attackers in black armor I noted several that couldn't even be human. Odd shaped heads. Too tall. Too massive. With this many different races working together these had to be Terminus pirates.
With our way to the train and road cut off I was out of ideas except to keep moving west through the town and risk being caught. Behind me Ari poked me. I turned around and she looked frightened at being this close to what was happening but still gestured as if to say 'now what?'
Indeed. Now what?
I looked at several of the sky cars parked along the road but I had no clue how to get past the security systems that locked you out. The vids all made is seem simple, just one hacking program and you were on your way to grand theft VTOL. But in reality the average sky car had so many safety and security systems it would take minutes to steal one even if I knew what I was doing.
Activating my omnitool I tried to call my Mom or Dad, but I still received the no connection error. Obviously the pirates had shut down all communications for the colony after that emergency message so they could attack with impunity.
Wracking my brains for inspiration I suddenly was given the answer as I stared at the sign for Binder's Fischmarkt on the far side of the marketplace with the space elevator rising into the atmosphere behind it. Daniela Vescovi sat next to me in science class and always remarked that the class room smelled like the loading docks in the back of Binder's where she worked as a cashier. Those same loading docks were directly across from the Konstantestar elevator tether complex. Which was next to the Marktplatz train station and path out of town.
Grabbing Ari, we backtracked and made our way west around the streets that encompassed the marketplace, careful to not be seen and ignoring the screams of pain. We paused at the first intersection and hid inside of a pharmacy, careful to hold back the small hacking coughs leftover from our exposure to that gas as a troop of the pirates escorted another two or three dozen people from the direction of the river walk at gun point to the marketplace.
Once the coast was clear we dashed across the intersection and then crawled over a terrestrial car which had run off the road and into a building, blocking our path. It's driver shot and killed while still behind the wheel, leaving his vehicle to ram a crowd judging by the bodies laying nearby. Pinned between the vehicle and wall was an older woman who looked like she had died already.
Or so I thought. She perked up at the noise and movement as we slid quickly over the hood, her blue eyes glassy and unfocused. "...p...please..."
My sister and I froze, partly in fear of being caught and partly in fear of not knowing what to do? Please what? I couldn't help her. Even if I got her out... then what? I mean I knew more than a bit of first aid. You can't be the son of a doctor and not know. But she was pinned against the wall. That's a bit beyond basic first aid.
Besides the vehicle wasn't running, and I doubt the driver shut it off before he died. Which meant that I couldn't drive it. Well, maybe I could leverage it? Push it away from the wall enough? But that might cause too much noise. And waste time.
The woman stared at me pitifully, unable to say anything else. I looked away, frustrated and distraught. I couldn't just leave her here. I mean, I had kept crawling on the bridge. I didn't help any of those people. I hadn't bothered to check any of the bodies along the way. I looked at the ones littering the street and sidewalks nearby. How many of them might still be alive? The screams coming from those still alive made me think that those who died here or were close to dying got it easy.
A memory from ages ago about my mother lecturing me over stealing fruit from a neighbor's orchard pushed to the front of my mind. 'Integrity and character are what a person has when no one else is looking.' I snorted to myself, she sure didn't listen to her own advice did she?
I looked back at the pinned woman, staring into her eyes. Guilt and my conscience taking over, I made the decision. I scrambled to brace my back against the wall and place my feet at the front fender of the vehicle. "Ari, watch to see if anyone comes."
"What? We have to go!" Ari was terrified but my non answer and beginning to push with my legs showed her I was serious. She huffed and crawled to a car ten meters away and peered over the trunk, her body language tense and annoyed.
I swallowed back the grunts and roars that felt natural with exertion as I continually pressed my feet against the fender, squeezing a centimeter or two of extra gap space. A few more and I could get her out. I hope.
My thighs and calves strained as one last push rocked free enough space to reach over and grab her leg, pulling her towards me. The woman fell over in a heap, her hips falling into my lap as my arms braced her back and head. She smiled faintly up at me before coughing up blood. She didn't have any major cuts or wounds, but her midsection was warped something fierce. Her lower rib cage look like it had been folded into her chest cavity and her abdomen oddly distorted like everything there had been shifted.
I reached to her left arm and slung it over my right shoulder as I hugged her to me and picked up her legs just above the knees with my other arm. Standing up took some effort, but I managed to carry her bridal style towards Ari. I know I hadn't thought this through fully, but if I could get this woman back to the farm, maybe mom could help her.
My sister took one look at the woman and quickly looked away, her face screwed up in terror and tears at the sight of the woman's body. "Can we go now?"
I nodded, and Ari led the way, her steps fearful and cautious as her head seemed to swivel left and right ever other second.
Crossing to the far side of the street, we made a left at the intersection and began moving towards the outskirts of town, careful to observe everything around us. My back and arms protested carrying the dead weight of the woman but I squeezed my lips together, afraid to let even a breath pass them in case it turned into a cough, grunt or groan.
We made it to the opposite end of the marketplace, creeping around Binder's Fischmarkt to the loading docks. The putrid smell of fish mixed with the oppressive heat of the day to make me want to gag. As if that wasn't bad enough the fantastic luck I had been having all day reared it's head yet again.
Several of the pirates guarded a large trail of people leading from the marketplace and towards the space elevator. Trying to think of what to do next I absently noted there were batarians, krogans, jiralhanae, asari, turians, kig-yar and even some humans in the ranks of the pirates. All around the open space, the bodies of the UNSC Air Force guards were laid out and stripped of armor and weapons. A nauseating weight sunk into my stomach. They were slavers. Nouveau Basel was being attacked for slaves. People I had known my whole life were going to be taken into the Terminus or Hegemony space to be sold like livestock.
"What are they doing to them?" Ari's voice was soft and scared. She had to know but was probably blindly holding out for some other explanation. I wasn't going to ruin her fantasy for her.
"Doesn't matter." I sighed and knelt down, placing the woman with her back up against the loading dock. I shook my arms to get a feeling other than burning exhaustion back into them. We were hidden behind a pair of sky trucks parked in the loading docks but this had turned into another dead end. Nearby another gunship did a flyby but either didn't see us or didn't care.
Still, we couldn't stay here for long.
I went to grab the woman again but her head lolled to the side and her body followed, slowly sliding to her left until she was lying upon the floor. I shook her once, twice. No response. I felt for a pulse on her neck and wrist. Nothing. She had died.
I didn't even know who she was. She looked familiar enough. Medium build, brown hair, blue eyes. I sighed yet again.
Ari looked on with pity. She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by a female voice with a foreign sounding accent. "We know you're there. Come out and we won't have to kill you."
We froze. Someone had seen us.
Thinking quickly I noticed the stairs for the loading dock less than ten meters beyond the safety of the sky trucks With luck, the back doors to Binder's were open and we could make a run for it through the front. It wasn't a good plan, but it was a plan.
Pointing to the stairs I prepared for a fight. They had the advantage of weapons, but if they got in close I was going to hit them with everything I had. Once again I counted down from three and once again, Ari and I broke into a dead sprint.
Only this time, a batarian was waiting for us. He had been positioned outside of our view on the other side of the farthest sky truck nearest the stairs. Stepping into our path he swung a baton that crackled with electricity at Ari's head and luckily she ducked and kept running.
I took advantage of his swing and a miss to lower my left shoulder into his midsection and tackle him to the floor. A wild haymaker with my right smashed dead center between his four eyes, dazing him and loosening his grip on the baton. I grabbed it and jabbed it at his neck and he spasmed as volts of electricity coursed through his body.
"Don't. Move. Human." The female voice was back and it had pressed a muzzle to the base of my neck.
I never got to say anything else as an wild girlish roar bellowed from behind the both of us. Ari leaped from the loading dock onto the back of the person holding me at gunpoint. I turned to see her savagely kicking and punching at the unprotected rear of our attacker, an asari. Thankfully the pistol never went off in the process.
The asari shrugged off the blows and expertly backhanded Ari with her left fist, knocking her backwards into the loading dock. I took the opportunity of her divided attention to stab the baton at her but she knocked it aside with the barrel of her pistol before snap kicking me with her left leg.
Recoiling and grasping my throbbing abdomen I was able to see that we had drawn attention from the other guards and the mass of people being filed to the elevator. I could see from my vantage point on the floor that a few of the pirates had started heading our direction, failing to pay attention to their charges.
I suppose our bit of defiance had sparked enough courage in the rest because a handful of the people charged the pirates. Shots and yells rang out as close quarter melees erupted with several people piling upon individual pirates.
My asari opponent looked on with narrowed eyes before glaring at me. She muttered something in asari before raising her pistol to shoot me. My omnitool beeped and flashed as yet again my translator program did it's job. "Asari, Illium-Omega dialect; You bastard child of a night wind demon."
She frowned, caught off guard by the odd interruption to her execution. Before she could refocus Ari jumped onto her back again, this time grabbing onto her scalp fringes and yanking back. With the asari's neck exposed, Ari leaned forward, bared her teeth and took a savage chunk out like a wild animal. Purple blood squirted out of the wound and sprayed the side of the sky truck in some avant-garde art display as the asari dropped her weapon and clutched her throat.
Ari fell off and spit the offending piece of flesh out and wiped her lips with the hem of her shirt leaving a purple smear across her chin and right cheek. Her eyes held a fierce and almost feral satisfaction as the asari dropped to her knees, fumbling for something in the pouches on her waist.
I didn't give her anytime to find it as I picked up the baton and shoved it into her chest. She looked at me with pleading eyes as the shock dulled her senses before collapsing to the floor and an expanding pool of her own purple blood.
Looking back at the full blown riot, most of the pirates had been taken down but now the shuttles and gunships were flying overhead. Their side doors open as gunners once again fired the canisters of gas to pacify and disorient the crowd. Those who had commandeered weapons were firing for naught, unable to bring them down without something heavier.
The crowd was dispersing back into the safety of the buildings of town, with a handful of people headed our way. Back in the marketplace, the sounds of rioting and carnage could be heard anew as maybe the people there were fighting back. At least I hoped so.
I quickly picked up the asari's pistol before anyone else could and handed the baton off to Ari. She took a few experimental swings with it before nodding to herself as it met some sort of requirements.
We ran up the dock stairs and opened the back doors to Binder's, the positively lovely smell Daniela complained about greeting us. We stood and looked around for threats but were pushed aside as the crowd had now caught up with us.
They stormed past, picking up anything that could be used as a weapon and continued to the front of the store. Ari and I were content to let them go first. We'd done enough risking of our own lives.
Giving the pistol I had taken from the dead asari a quick glance I was relieved to see that it was some sort of Terminus knock off. I quickly paired it to my omnitool like I had seen dad do with the rifle he owned and was rewarded when it activated, ready to use.
I glanced at Ari to see if she was okay. Her hair had come loose from the ponytail it had been in, the illuminated threads looking out of place now. Her skin was sweaty and grimy. She had the beginning of a bruise just below her left eye where the asari had hit her and she drying purple blood that was starting to flake on her lips and cheeks. "You alright?"
Her eyes looked up at me annoyed "I just fucking bit an asari. What do you think?"
She was freaking out now that it had settled into her mind what she had done. Not that I wasn't freaking out myself. My baby sister had just saved my life by mauling an asari. With her teeth. As if Ari couldn't get even more frightening.
Still, I couldn't help but joke at the situation, "Just don't bite me, alright?"
She glared but the corners of her mouth lifted. Success.
I pulled her close and hugged her to show my thanks. She wrapped her arms around my torso tightly and hugged back, making the tender bruise from where the asari had kicked me throb.
"C'mon. Let's get out of here." She nodded and we continued to the front of the fish market. By now everyone had left so the place was empty. Holding tanks filled with fish and crustaceans bubbled and the soft sound of background music from the store's entertainment system interspersed with reminders for sales in the store could be heard.
Shelves and displays were knocked over, spilling contents to the floor and leaving a pungent odor. Still, no bodies. I guess they had taken everyone peacefully in the store?
Creeping forward through an aisle with sauces and marinades for seafood we came to a stop. We could clearly see the front of the store and through the smashed out glass windows the marketplace beyond. The sounds of gunfire could be heard in the distance. People were still fighting back, but the marketplace itself was empty bar for a handful of bodies mixed in amongst the stalls and small grass field of the park. Upon closer observation, several of the bodies had small... spears? Javelins? Whatever they were they were sticking out of them.
Edging closer all of the bodies seem to spread out from the front of the store. Looking around I now noticed a handful of the same small spike like objects lodged into stalls or the grass. All at an upward angle.
No sooner had I noticed that than a loud whizzing sound was heard as something flew past my right ear so fast I couldn't react. It slammed into a row of sauces farther back, causing them to shatter and explode white droplets of tartar and shards of glass everywhere.
Ari screamed and we both jumped back, scrambling to get deeper into the store.
Breathing heavily after my second close brush with death I examined my ear to check for blood. Seeing none on my fingers I concluded that perhaps my luck had a strange sense of humor today.
With that path cut off, we doubled back to the loading dock. Checking through the windows on the doors I saw the area around the space elevator was clear of gas and pirates. They must still be chasing down everyone in town.
Figuring we had nothing to lose by running I quickly formulated another half assed plan. We would run for the train rails and follow them out of town. As soon as we were past Nouveau Basel proper, we would move over to the levees and aqueducts that separated the river from the farms.
I quickly relayed my idea to Ari. "We're going to follow the train rails back home until we can run for the aqueducts. From there we follow those until we can branch off to the one that feeds into our farm. Okay?"
She narrowed her eyes as she thought about it before nodding her consent.
Pistol raised, as if I knew what I was doing with it, we opened the loading dock door and slowly made our way down. Pausing at the edge of the docks we scanned the skies and area for threats. The bodies of the dead were strewn about haphazardly. The asari that we had taken out lay peacefully in a pool of her own purple blood but the batarian was gone. Seeing nothing that could be considered a threat, we made a mad dash across the open hundred meters or so for the Marktplatz station.
My heart pounded with each step and lungs burned with each breath as I worried it would be my last. As we drew near the platform I glanced over my shoulder to see shuttles and gunships flying back and forth over town. For the time being they were preoccupied and we were safe.
From pirates at least. I never said anything about my own feet, which betrayed me for a second time today as I tripped over a rail and went flying head first into the dirt.
Not even pausing for self pity or pain I scrambled to my feet and joined Ari on the far side of the platform, both of us sitting down and leaning against the station as we caught our breath. I wiped my face and found some blood mixing with sweat and dirt to create a sort of mud. I pulled the hem of my shirt up to clean myself. A spot above my left eyebrow stung as it made contact and I pulled back, observing a large bloody mark that corresponded with the position of the pain and a smaller one that was about where my lips were.
Sucking on my bottom lip I was rewarded with coppery taste of blood. Great. All this and I get the most injured by my own clumsiness.
Ari frowned at me before shaking her head "Seriously? Twice?"
I grimaced and shrugged, still too embarrassed and annoyed to say much. I nudged her with my elbow and nodded my head in the general direction of home. We had quite a walk ahead of us.
She got the hint and we prepared to start jogging to leave town behind.
Nouveau Basel, Mindoir, Malawi System, Maroon Sea; May 19th 2570 [Standardized Terran Calendar], 1517 [Local Time, Terran Standard]
We had been walking along the trench of the aqueduct for nearly four hours now. Luckily we had the cool fresh water of the aqueduct to drink and clean ourselves off with but our stomachs grumbled and feet hurt as the adrenaline had worn off long ago. Thankfully we had the foresight to wear boots instead of trainers.
Then again, does anyone start their day thinking, 'What should I wear today that is fashionable, sensible and would be handy if Terminus pirates attack?' Of course not. Because no one ever expects the Terminus Invasion.
"How much longer?" Ari had asked this question almost every fifteen minutes starting about two hours ago.
I crawled up the side of the trench to get a better view of where we were only to be pleasantly surprised. We had already passed the station near our house. The next gate would mark the sub system that fed water into our sector of farms.
Taking a glace skyward I noticed no shuttles or gunships in the air. We had only seen one that seemed to be chasing a sky car, but that was not long after we made it to the aqueducts.
Turning around I slide down the slope of the trench only to frown at Ari who was sitting down next to the edge of the water and jabbing the tip of the stun baton into the water to see what happened.
She looked up at me with a sheepish grin before doing it one more time.
Shaking my head at her antics I couldn't help but appreciate the levity. "We're almost there."
She pouted and skeptically replied "You said that ages ago too."
I rolled my eyes and waved her on "I mean it this time. The next junction is the one that leads to our house."
Immediately she perked up at the news "Really?"
I nodded and smiled. "Yeah, so hurry up." With that I turned an continued marching along the side of the trench. Ari stood and fell in step behind in me.
In a matter of minutes we were at the gated junction, marked AF-S312. Since the gate was designed to keep large animals and debris out of the water system we couldn't slip past it. But it was easy enough to climb out of the main trench and jump into the feeder aqueduct.
This system was smaller and narrower, forcing us to actually walk in the water. It came up to my hips and to Ari's stomach so it was manageable but slow going. The sloshing made plenty of noise so we would stop every few meters to listen for shuttles or pirates before pressing on.
We had managed to make it midway past Sprague's farm when we stopped in our tracks, hearing arguing coming from ahead. The narrow canal gave us a straightforward view for kilometers so the owners of the voices had to be up on either side of the aqueduct. They were speaking in a human sounding language, but that asari had spoken in a human language as well. We couldn't be sure.
I leaned to the side of the canal and reached up to the edge to lift myself up slowly, making as little noise as possible. Peering over the top I saw nothing but the fields of Sprague's farm in all directions. Twisting my head to look behind me, I saw nothing but the Nash family's farm.
No one. Not a soul.
I was about to let go and slide back down into the canal when a distortion in the air on Sprague's side caught my eye. It was like when you look off into the distance on a hot day and everything looks wavy and watery. Heat haze. The mirage effect.
Only this one seemed to be standing several meters away, just in front of Sprague's field of herbs.
Feeling nervous, I pulled the pistol from my waistband and aimed it vaguely in the direction of the distortion. Just as quickly, a red laser was aimed at my face from the distortion as it slowly washed away.
In it's place was a dark skinned Asian woman wearing some kind of black colored armor with a beige diamond emblem over her left breast. She was leveling a military grade assault rifle at me, it's laser range finder showing my nose would be the entry point of the last thing I ever saw. "You don't want to do that."
I nodded dumbly and placed the pistol on the edge. The woman nodded and lowered her weapon, motioning me to stand up. "You can tell your friend she can come out too."
My face froze, trying not to betray any knowledge of what she was talking about but the woman was having none of it. "The quicker you two get out of there, the quicker we get out of sight. Hurry up."
Below me Ari huffed and mumbled "Help me up."
After securing Ari's baton, the woman led us further down the dirt pathway next to the canal and towards the shed that housed the pumps for the irrigation system on Sprague's property. She quickly opened the door and motioned us in before following us. With the door closed it was pitch black inside the cramped room save for a glowing red dot that bobbed around and the orange glow of a terminal. The place was noisy and filled with smoke but a growling voice I knew was easy to hear over the din.
"What are you doing bringing in strays, Suhailah?" Old Man Sprague. Sure, because this day couldn't possibly get worse, right?
The woman, Suhailah, replied from somewhere to my left in the dark. "They're children. You expected me to leave them to die?"
"I expect you to do your job and as you are told, you fucking idiot." Ah, that lovely Sprague charm.
A drop light was activated that bathed the room in harsh white luminescence forcing me to shield my eyes. After blinking, once, twice, thrice, I still had flashes and globs of abstract colors in my vision. To make it worse, the light seemed to illuminate the extraordinary amount of dust and smoke floating in the air, which may or may not have triggered a coughing fit from me. Ari didn't seem to be faring any better.
Old Man Sprague sat atop a work bench at the far end of the room, a set of armor not unlike the woman's adorning his tall, lanky frame. His trusty ancient shotgun perched on his lap while he smoked a cigarette. To the right a Latino man in the same armor was bent over some large portable terminal.
Sprague sneered at the sight of us. "Well this fucking figures. Colony's going to shit but I have to run into the two of you one last time." He ground his cigarette into the work bench, putting out it's ember against the metal before looking over at the Latino man. "What about you, Ramirez? Is one of you going to be competent today?"
The man, Ramirez I suppose, ignored him and continued to work diligently.
"We haven't heard from leadership yet?" Suhailah asked with a frown. She leaned back against the wall of the shed and held the rifle loosely in her arms. She looked exhausted and worn down, her face and hair sweaty.
Standing up and shaking his head, Sprague replied. "No, and if Ramirez doesn't move his ass then I am making the call and initiating a purge."
The woman pointed her weapon towards Ari and myself . "What about them?"
He shrugged before staring with cold hatred at Ari "You brought them here. You deal with them. Although I'd watch the little bitch. Nasty little shit."
Besides me Ari snarled back, eager to continue her discussion with the man from years ago.
Suhailah bristled at something he said because she voiced her dissent with more than a little heat "This is unacceptable. I didn't join to stand by while aliens execute humans in order to protect drug dealers."
"Tough shit, princess. I didn't join to live on some backwards fucking colony where the best pussy is some farmer's underage daughter. We make due with what we have and follow orders." Sprague pinned her with an ice cold glare "Or else."
"Got it!" Ramirez broke the tension of the room. He looked up from the terminal with a cocky grin.
Sprague snatch up an earpiece from the workbench and put it in his ear. He stood motionless, eyes staring off into the distance as he tapped his fingers against the metal counter top. A moment later he began speaking to the ether with a frown "Who the fuck is this?"
His frown distorted into a confused grimace "I don't give a shit about proper clearance codes. This is Operation Bacchanalia initiating a purge. I repeat, initiating a purge. The fucking colony is being over run by goddamn Terminus shit stains."
Everyone in the room sat in slack jawed awe of the spectacle on display. Even Ari seemed impressed.
His grimace became a look of pure annoyance "Look, you stupid kangaroo cunt. You can take your protocol and shove it up your Aussie ass. Inform Tim."
He paused for a moment before becoming sarcastically calm. "Then find me someone who doesn't have their head down under and can get in contact with him, bitch."
He snarled at a figure not present "Let me set this straight for you, you inbred wombat fornicating outback sperm receptacle. The Terminus jackass squad are either torching or pillaging what we have as we speak. If they're not, then the UNSC certainly will when they show up in force within the next goddamn 24 hours. Now you can pass this message along to whoever it is your fancy fucking protocol dictates, but make sure Tim knows. We are purging."
He paused yet again before become sickeningly sweet "Thank you. G'day, mate. Now go fuck yourself with a wallaby, you Tasmanian dipshit." He terminated the call and tore the earpiece out. "Pack it up. We move out in five."
Ramirez nodded, deactivating the terminal before stuffing it into a hard case backpack which he slung over his shoulders.
Sprague bent down below the workbench to pull away the lid to a false floor stash. Large, brick shaped blocks were being pulled out and stacked to his side as he found a rhythm of retrieving objects from below.
I hesitated for a moment, not really wanting to be the subject of his ire, before asking the obvious "So, is it alright that we go?"
Without looking up Sprague replied "The two of you can go skipping through my fields hand in hand singing the hills are alive with the sound of music for all I give a shit."
After an awkward beat of silence, Sprague looked at all the occupants of the shed before shaking his head. "Fucking kids these days. No appreciation for the classics."
Sprague spared another glace at the two of us before snorting and continuing to pull bricks from the hiding spot. Suhailah shook her head at the man before handing me back my pistol and Ari her baton.
Without a word I grabbed Ari's hand and led her out of the shed. Of course, all things being screwed up for the day, Ari couldn't resist a parting shot with her sparring partner. "You're a shit eating reptile that fucks it's own mother. Asshole."
The chuckles of Suhailah and Ramirez were quickly cut off by the automatic closing of the door. I stared at Ari in exasperation. "He could have shot you, idiot."
She glared at me before walking over to the canal and hoping down into it's waters, forging ahead towards our farm. Ari's behavior was becoming increasingly erratic since the bridge and in some ways I feared she might not be all there for the moment. Running for your life and taking a bite out of an asari could screw with your mind just a bit.
At least we were close to home. Once we got to our parent's she would be out of my hands and they could deal with her. With luck we could pile into mom's sky car and head towards the mountains and foothills to hide until the UNSC showed up.
We walked for another ten minutes or so before reaching the edges of our cornfields. We pulled ourselves out of the canal and crept through the tall stalks on our way to the orchards behind the house. The leaves seemed to crack and rattle with every touch, putting me on edge as it sounded loud and obvious to my ears.
Nearing the orchards we heard the harsh tones of batarians speaking in their native tongue. My heart began racing as a blossoming fear spread through my chest. Thankfully I had finally deactivated my translation software.
Please don't let them be dead. Please don't let them be dead.
I got on all fours to crawl the final few meters and peer through the thinning stalks that only partially obscured my view now.
Further down the rows of trees I could see a pair of batarians looking for something... or someone.
I pulled back as I wracked my mind for the best way to help us and whoever might be hiding. Maybe I could offer myself as bait? Lead them on a wild goose chase through the property while Ari got to our parents and ran?
No, that was stupid. Our parents might have already run and that would leave Ari alone looking for them while I ran around for nothing. Or maybe they had our parents already and were looking for us? They probably saw holos and evidence of kids living here and figured we had run?
Maybe I could double back and get Sprague and his... friends? Companions? Whatever. Get them to help? They had guns and seemed to know what they were doing with them. At least better than I did with this pistol.
But then if they had our parents they might execute them or have taken off by the time we could convince Sprague to help and come back.
Staring at the dirt centimeters from my face I felt frustration and exhaustion creep into me. I didn't know what to do. Looking back at Ari, with her scared and concerned face, I realized we had only come this far due to sheer luck and some insane stunts. We weren't soldiers. We were just farm kids. We only understood school and harvests.
Harvests.
That's it!
Quickly I perked up as I activated my omnitool and quickly set it to silent. Accessing the improved harvesting program I had installed nearly two years ago, I had complete control of drones we stored the in the garage between harvests. Selecting the cornfields and the orchards, I remotely triggered the drones to begin harvesting. One by one, the two dozen drones flew out of the garage and to their preprogrammed tasks.
The interlopers on our land flew into a panic, shooting several of the drones on instinct before realizing that someone had set the drones off. They ran towards the garage without a glance back, leaving the coast clear for me and Ari to move forward.
The drones and their noisy work made for the perfect diversion as we were able to reach the edge of the orchards in minutes despite still being cautious and deliberately slow in our movements. By now, we could see the back of the house and the garage adjacent to it on the right. In the gap between the two the family cars were still parked. If our parents were gone it was on foot.
Or so I thought. The batarians milling about the garage now numbered six, but near the house, a lone figure laid on the dirt and gravel that covered the ground. The thick, curly tangle of dark brown hair was hard to miss. It was the same hair both of my sisters had. A family trait they had inherited from my mother.
I blinked as I tried to process what I was seeing. Maybe she was hurt? Or unconscious? Maybe they had stunned her? Or drilled into her head like the people at the marketplace?
One of the batarians, bigger than the others and clearly in charge, barked something in their language before pointing towards mom. A lone batarian peeled off the group and walked up to her and scanned her with his omnitool. Not finding what he was looking for he toed her body with his boot, flipping her over onto her back before checking her left wrist. He knelt down and then yelled something back to the others, informing of what he found.
I'm not sure I processed that, because all I could see were my mother's hazel eyes. Vacant and dead. Staring off into the distance. The same eyes I had trouble looking at this morning. The same ones I couldn't tear my own eyes away from now.
Ari saw it too because she began silently sobbing besides me and saying 'mama' over and over again.
I felt shame and anguish as tears tracked down my face. I had been such an ass to her this morning. That was the last memory of me she had. That would be the last memory I had of her. All the anger and tension over her affair. Now she was dead. Killed by fucking four eyed Terminus trash. Just like the people on the bridge. The people across town. That woman I had tried to help.
Fucking pirates.
Fucking goddamn batarians.
The anguish gave way to rage as I stared at the group of batarians near the barn. I didn't think. I acted. Stupid. Rash. Vengeful. Hatred. My pistol was up and aiming at the crowd of them before I could even blink and firing wildly into their gathering.
They ducked and dived as their shields sparked with golden flashes from my erratic fire. All too soon, we were under return fire. Ari shrieked as we both scampered back deeper into the orchards.
Fuck. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! I just put us both in danger. I let my anger get the best of me, even if it was justified, but now we might be joining our mother in death. I couldn't let that happen. Not to Ari. Not if I could help it.
Ari could double back to Sprague's while I would lead them on a wild chase in the other direction and hopefully she would make it.
"Run back to Sprague's, now." She looked at me confused, her eyes still tear stricken from seeing our mother. We both were still moving fairy fast through the trees and I hissed loudly. "I'm going to make them chase me to the other side of the farm. I'll meet up with you later."
Ari was terrified as she came to a stop. "No! You'll die too!"
I shook my head. I knew I stood no chance, but if I died and Ari got away then it was worth it. "I'll be fine. I'll try to get there soon."
The shouts of our pursuers could be heard getting closer. We'd been lucky enough as it is to have the drones masking much of the noise we made but the batarians would be upon us in seconds. "Go! Now Ari!"
She was conflicted for a second before lunging forward to hug me. She kissed me on the cheek and quickly pivoted on her heel, charging forward to the edge of the orchards and the beginning of the cornfields. I saw her leggings and boots disappear into the stalks and she was gone.
I waited for the batarians to see me, give them something to chase. It didn't take long before one spotted me and took a shot, hitting the bark of the tree I was hiding behind, shattering it and sending bits of bark, chips of wooden splinters and pulp everywhere. A few bits lodged into my left tricep as I reflexively lifted my arm to shield my face. Growling in pain I fired blindly around the tree to piss them off.
Now that I had their attention it would be a very good idea to run.
Making a mad dash as they repeatedly fired at me whenever they felt they had a clear shot was getting exhausting. I would zig and then zag. Loop through columns and rows of trees. But now I was nearing the edge of the property and the canal again. I could hop the canal and lead them on a chase through the Tolbert property on the other side, but that might leave me in the open for a few seconds too long.
Although a few more seconds on this side and I was done. Quickly, making my decision I braced my fatigued legs for one more effort as I put on a burst of speed in order to clear the canal.
As I broke the treeline at the edge of our farm a flash of something long and dark swung out from my left and into my chest. My feet still propelled me forward but my upper body was already falling backwards from the harsh blow. I couldn't breath as the blue sky with dark thunderclouds slowly rolled into view. My head and upper back slammed into the ground with enough force to cause me to black out for a second only to refocus on a batarian holding an long and odd looking rifle, the muzzle aimed at my face.
He barked something at me in batarian but I was having a hard time understanding between the inability to breath, the world spinning and everything sounding far away and muffled.
Yelling the same phrase again, he moved the muzzle to the left of my head and fired, a long narrow spike burying itself into the ground as dirt and pebbles peppered my face. It stung but the pain seemed so muted.
Pointing the muzzle at my face again I took the time to look at the face of the batarian who was threatening me. I couldn't tell them apart, but this one seemed familiar. It only took me a second to notice the burn mark on his neck and the swollen bruising between his four eyes were my handy work. Hey, it's my old buddy from the loading docks.
Chances are he wasn't thrilled to see me. But why hadn't he just killed me? I looked at the spike in the ground and recognized it as the same ones I had seen from the marketplace. A kick to the head blurred my vision and sent the world spinning again.
Almost as a conditioned reflex, I focused my mind on the spike next to me and willed my body to relax. With a lazy gesture from my left hand my world exploded in pain and a static electric shock. Purple clouded everything and a second spike rocketed home a meter to the right of my head.
Then all was quiet. No more yelling, no more shooting, no more kicks to the head.
After a moment, I opened my eyes to no muzzle in my face. Sitting up I looked behind me, having to brace myself as nausea and dizziness overwhelmed me. When the moment of discomfort passed, I was looking at a dead batarian. A spike lodged under his chin, buried far enough to reach his brain.
Looking first to my left and then my right I confirmed what I think I had done. I had biotically sent the first spike he fired into his head. He must have fired the second spike in his death spasm and somehow it hadn't wound up in my own head. Now I was positive my luck had a strange sense of humor.
Not sure where the rest of his friends were, I gathered his rifle and the the pistol I had acquired earlier. No sooner than I had begun to stumble towards the canal when another batarian emerged from the orchards, his rifle trained on me.
He took one glance at his fallen comrade and the rifle in my arms before snarling and opening fire. I did the only sensible thing I could do. I took a step backwards in a panic and fell into the canal.
Note to self for future reference, falling backwards is a sure way to aggravate any head inures you already have. The third major strike to my head of the day was followed by the disorienting and frightening feeling of falling into water without preparing a breath. I awkwardly surfaced and breathed in greedy gulps of breath. The batarian had run up to the edge, weapon trained but miraculously I had held my own rifle and it was already aimed perfectly at him. I let it rip.
The spike hammered into his shields, causing him to raise his weapon and arms in fear. I guess the size or nearly point blank range made it impossible for spike to be stopped completely as it dug into his collar, through the plating there and into the flesh beneath. There was a sickly sounding squelch and followed by a roar of pain. The batarian fell to his knees and grabbed the spike with both hands, straining to wrench it free.
I took the opportunity to climb out of the canal and kick away his rifle. Training my own rifle on the injured alien I wanted so badly to put another spike through his skull. He looked up at me with hate filled eyes as he still struggled with the spike lodged in his collar.
My hands trembled as I couldn't do it. I wanted to avenge my mother and everyone else but I didn't have it in me to shoot someone while they were looking at me. I yelled, tears starting to form as my throbbing head urged me to do nothing more than to lay down and sleep. "Don't look at me!"
I aggressively edged the rifle towards him in a threatening manner, but he didn't budge. Just continued to work on the spike and stare at me with rage, a small vicious smile forming on his lips.
He must have taken my fear as an invitation as he quickly aimed his right gauntlet at me. Before I could react, a trio of blades ejected from his gauntlet and shredded my ribcage, leaving nasty gashes across my right side. Falling backwards I screamed in pain, only to see his omnitool charging some manner of electrical attack.
On instinct I rolled to my right, over my wounded ribs, and evaded a sparking net of white that scorched the ground I once occupied.
Lifting the rifle in my arms, I fired once more, into his exposed flank. This time his cries tapered off into tears and whimpering, but still the rage was in his eyes. If anything, it was worse, only now clouded with pain.
We held a staring contest for several heartbeats before I stood and swung the rifle by it's barrel, the stock cracking against his head. I roared in rage hitting two more times until he was slumped forward and unconscious, propped up by the spikes in his collar and left flank. Figuring there was no way he would survive the blood loss, I picked up his rifle and tossed it into the canal. I turned and began a slow trot towards Sprague's farm.
After an embarrassing fence jump and what seemed like forever, I had made it to my destination. I activated the door mechanism but it was empty inside. No Ari, no Sprague, nothing.
I wandered towards his house, calling out periodically for anyone, but still nothing. No sky car, no terrestrial vehicle. Did they leave without me?
I felt scared and alone but resolved to wait. I told Ari to meet me at Sprague's shed and that's where I would wait.
Trudging the rest of the way I felt the day's exploits and my injuries catch up with me. Squeezing my right arm against the wounds on my ribs I was going to take a nap and hopefully she would show up.
Nouveau Basel, Mindoir, Malawi System, Maroon Sea; May 19th 2570 [Standardized Terran Calendar], 2333 [Local Time, Terran Standard]
I was awakened several hours later by my omnitool pinging an incoming message.
[\ Colonial Security [A] CAA Mindoir [to] Colonial Registry [A] CAA Mindoir \]
[\ Martial Law \]
[\ The UNSC 6th Fleet Carrier Battle Group and members of the 15th Marine Frontier Division have secured Mindoir and the Malawi system. Martial law has been established for the time being and a curfew is in place except for those needing to return to their homes. If you are unable to reach a major settlement on your own or require emergency medical assistance please activate the tracer program attached with this message and UNSC forces will retrieve you. \]
This sounded suspiciously like a trap. How long had I been out? And why wasn't Ari here? Standing up I winced as the scabbed and raw wounds in my ribs burned and stung.
I opened the door and the darkness of a night sky dotted with the thousands of twinkling stars of our galaxy greeting me. The smell of rain lingered in the air and muddy puddles filled the ground. Looking off towards the Gran Alps I could see streaks of lightning crackling in the clouds that still lingered there.
Figuring it was worth the risk to find out if this alert was real, I activated the trace before slipping my omnitool off. I placed it on the workbench in Sprague's shed and then grabbed my rifle and pistol, clumsily jumping into the canal and across to the Nash family farm. I moved about sixty meters or so and hid low in their muddy fields of flax.
Without an omnitool I had no clue how long they took, but my best estimate was fifteen minutes later a UNSC dropship arrived, searchlights flooding Sprague's field before homing in on the shed.
It set down fifty meters away from the shed, right in the middle of Sprague's field, kicking up debris that got into my eyes even at this distance. Going off the light given by the ion thrusters and searchlights, roughly a dozen soldiers moved from the dropship and slowly made their way to the shed, weapons raised.
"UNSC Marines, it's safe. You can come out." I could hear the voice over the dull roar of the Pelican's engines. Feeling this wasn't some elaborate ruse, I stood slowly, favoring my ribs and shouldered the rifle, careful not to look like a threat.
I made it a few steps before several laser sights were aimed on me "Drop the weapon!"
I chucked the rifle to the side and raised my hands in the air, wincing as my injuries flared up. A pair of marines leaped across the canal and tackled me to the ground, restraining my hands behind my back. I groaned as a knee was jammed into my back, rubbing my wounds into a muddy bed of snapped stems of flax. They searched me and found the pistol, tossing it to the side. Placing quickly fabricated plastic manacles on my wrists, they lifted me up from the ground and escorted me to the edge of the canal. One of the marines doubled back and recovered my rifle and pistol.
They pushed me into the canal and then another set of hands dragged me up, the cooler night air making my wet clothes feel freezing. Leading me into the troop bay of the dropship, the marines left me there under guard while they searched the area. Several minutes later they all boarded and we lifted off.
One of the marines sat across from me and removed his helmet. By the red lighting inside the troop bay I could see he was a young Latino man, with short hair and a face full of stubble. His honey colored eyes examined me under the red lighting of the cargo bay. "Got a name, son?"
I nodded, cleared my throat of what felt like a massive amount of phlegm and spoke "Luis Vincent Shepard."
He nodded and stood, taking out a knife. For a moment I was panicked as he grabbed my shoulder and pulled me forward, but when the knife dipped behind me, I felt the plastic restraints being popped off. He placed the knife back into it's scabbard on his left gauntlet, holding the plastic in one hand while he fished for something in a pouch on his belt. He produced my omnitool and asked "Leave this somewhere?"
I nodded, slightly embarrassed at my ruse. It had turned out to be amateurish but I couldn't have been sure.
He handed it to me and retook his seat across the bay. "You activated the trace and then hid in the adjacent field?"
Again I nodded, glancing out the corner of my eye at the rest of the marines in the bay. Most of them were nodding off but a few had taken interest and were listening intently.
The man shook his head before smiling "Good thinking, kid." He turned to one of the marines and yelled out something "Hegazi. Hegazi! Hegazi!"
The marine in question jumped in her seat, having dozed off, "Sir?"
Pointing to the rifle the man asked "Is that what I think it is?"
Hegazi held it up by the barrel "Sure is, LT. Kishock. Hegemony made."
Most of the marines still awake grumbled and muttered derogatory things about the rifle.
The man leaned forward, questions in his eyes "How did you wind up with a batarian harpoon gun?"
I swallowed as I remembered everything that occurred on the farm. Tears started to blur my vision as I blinked them away. "I killed the batarian that had it."
My reply had been soft and hoarse but apparently the rest heard it perfectly fine. Another marine whistled and addressed the man across from me. "Shit, setting traps and taking out armed pirates? We can barely get E2s to wash their ass."
The marines either chuckled or rolled their eyes. The man across from me just shook his head and reassured me "You did real good, Luis, was it?" I nodded. "I'm Lieutenant Zabaleta, UNSC Marines. We're going to take you to the tether. The pirates bugged out when we entered the system and we've secured Nouveau Basel and Konstantestar. From there you'll be taken aboard the Einstein and treated for whatever injuries you have. Got any family we need to contact?"
I closed my eyes and felt tears trickle out of the corners. I knew my mother was dead for sure, and chances were probably high my father and sister were too. I felt a stab of guilt as I hoped they were. The alternative, being taken slave, was much worse. I shrugged and answered "I don't know. My sister Lizzy is back on Earth."
He nodded solemnly and brought up his omnitool. Entering in a few commands, he scanned the results before asking me "Albert, Hannah, Elizabeth and Araceli?"
I pushed aside my anguish to clarify his question "Lizzy is at college on Earth. I saw my mom's body. I think Ari got away. I don't know about my dad."
He entered in some info and came up with smile "Your sister Araceli is already aboard the Einstein. Comms are still down for the colony but the Einstein can forward info to your sister Lizzy that you and your other sister are alive. We'll have another crew go and check out your residence in a few hours."
My stomach flipped at the news about Ari. Lieutenant Zabaleta stood up and shook my hand as the rest of the marines nodded in respect.
I waited until the dropship landed in the open space next to Marktplatz station before hopping out. Another marine near the elevator waved me over as harsh flood lights lit everything. Military vehicles and equipment were everywhere. The area had been sanitized and the bodies removed. Aside from the structural damage it was a total transformation from the horror scene earlier today.
Boarding the elevator, there was only two armed marines and myself. I sat down in the seat furthest in the corner and leaned against the wall of the carriage, my head on the cool glass as we rode the thirty minutes in silence. Mindoir was so peaceful blanketed in darkness. As we rose higher I was treated to Malawi casting a beautiful glow across the mountain tops and oceans. So deceptive to see such calm beauty across the planet knowing what happened here today.
The carriage docked with Konstantestar station and the vacuum doors opened. What lay beyond was a complete mess. If Nouveau Basel looked like nothing happened, Konstantestar was a disaster zone. Damage from firefights and explosives marred the structures and shops. A portion of the skylight ceiling was replaced with metal plates, having been shot out. The stench of smoke permeated the air, a clear sign that the air filtration and recycling system wasn't working properly. All around Marine, Air Force and Navy personnel scurried about doing random jobs. A guard near the doors greeted me. "Survivor? Follow me."
Without waiting for a reply, she marched towards the docks and I hurried to keep up. There were technicians everywhere fixing the station. We weaved through the chaos and made it to the terminals for the larger ships. My guide pointed towards a docking arm that obviously was connected to the gargantuan ship outside.
Arriving at the entrance for the docking arm I was stopped by armed guards who scanned me before waving over a medic who began scanning me yet again. He nodded to himself before asking "Low grade concussion. Lacerations to your ribs. Bruising to your abdomen. Can you walk?"
I wasn't about to fall over but I definitely wanted to sit down and possibly sleep. Nodding I answered "Yeah. Is it much farther?"
He shook his head before waving me on to follow him. "Not really, mostly elevators. When did you last eat?"
I thought back and was shocked to realize it was this morning. It seemed like a life time ago, sitting at the table with Mom and Ari. Something we'll never do again. I felt depression creeping in again as fingers snapped in front of my face, literally snapping me out of my funk. "You there? If you're feeling dizzy or disoriented tell me. Scans are showing you're relatively fine but you can never be sure with concussions."
"Sorry. I was just remembering when I ate. It was breakfast." He nodded and made a note on his omnitool.
We walked the rest of the way across the docking arm and into the ship where we were subjected to another set of guards scanning us. From there we walked across a hall and into an elevator with several other personnel from the ship.
Ten levels ascending and we exited, making a right down a hallway. The medic informed me of our destination "You're going to be placed into sick bay three with the other non emergencies. The notes from the field unit states that your sister was already aboard and that's the same bay she's been placed in."
I perked up, eager to be reunited with my Ari. We stopped at a pressurized door that opened at our presence. The smells of a medical facility stung my nose and made me think of Mom's office at the hospital. The murmurs, sobbing and wails of the occupants was maddening but my eyes frantically searched for Ari amongst the dozens of people crammed into the room.
As if magnetically drawn I found her just as our eyes met. She was seated against the far right wall on a cot that had been set up and nibbling on a bar of food. She smiled and threw her meal down on the cot as she rushed to me. I picked her up in a bear hug, ignoring the pain as she latched her arms around my neck. We both cried freely, although if asked I'd swear it was from the pain in my ribs.
The medic had graciously stood by while we were reunited. After a few moments he cleared his throat and we separated. I dried my eyes as he gave us both a contrite smile "Sorry, but your brother has to get checked and have any injuries treated. But as soon as he is done, you two can talk."
Ari pouted but nodded before asking "Want some food? Some guy keeps coming by with a cart carrying bars and tubes of paste."
I nodded enthusiastically, willing to eat anything at this point. Well, almost anything.
"No onions." I glared at Ari before the medic nudged me along and I complied.
I was seated inside of an office and the medic went off to find a doctor. Looking around there were awards, pictures and trinkets. Just like mom's office. There was even a mug on the desk labeled 'Galaxy's Greatest Mom'.
I felt tears burn in my eyes as I valiantly tried to hold them back. But it was no use. I was too tired to fight it and, thankfully, too tired to cry fully. I just sat there sobbing quietly.
The doctor walked in to that but seemed to pay it no mind. She was an Asian woman with a kind face and black hair pulled back in a messy bun. The uniform she wore was stained with blood and dirt but she carried herself with the utmost professionalism. "Good afternoon. I'm CMO Choi. I'm sure you want to get some food and rest so let's hurry up, shall we?"
My embarrassment at crying forgotten for the moment I looked at the doctor peculiarly. "Afternoon? It's nighttime."
The doctor froze in her setup, frowning at me. She activated her omnitool before sighing, all traces of professionalism gone as her shoulders sagged and her head drooped. She shook herself from her theatrics and smiled at me, punching in something on her omnitool. "Thank you. I completely forget to sync with local time. It's been nonstop work since we arrived."
I nodded, a bit skeptical at having a frazzled doctor performing anything on me, even applying medigel. I remembered how badly Mom could goof things up at home when she was tired or frustrated. Again thoughts of my mother brought on melancholy and tears.
The doctor, for her part, expertly ignored my sadness. She'd probably seen it all as a military doctor. And if she hadn't, today probably fixed that. She scanned, probed and prodded. She cleaned my ribs before applying medigel and bandages to cover them while the gel did it's work, accelerating the healing process. She took a blood sample and placed it in a machine before going back and reviewing her files. She looked up at me shrewdly "Hmm. I remember your sister now. Quite the mouth for such a pretty little girl. Are you aware that the both of you are biotics?"
I blanched, not sure what to say. This was the first doctor that wasn't my mother to scan me in years.
She sighed and pulled up a seat. "I know people don't have the highest opinion of biotics, but there is a reason you need to be registered. You're a threat to yourself and others until you learn how to control this." I said nothing but stared at the ground between us. Mom had done the right thing. They would have taken us to biotic boot camp. "The training academies aren't so bad. Besides, if these results are right, you nearly fried your own nervous system using your biotics today without an amp."
I looked up to see her looking at me with pursed lips and a slight glare. She shook her head and leaned back in her chair, going over my results "Toss in a concussion, no matter how weak, blood loss and I'm honestly surprised you're standing, let alone having normal brain function."
The machine pinged and she accessed the results from her omnitool. Glancing at the readout she queried me about my genetics "No past augmentations? Something added to combat illness or defects?"
I shook my head. Me and my sisters were natural. Mom was insistent that we wait until we were eighteen to even consider genetic augmentation or cybernetic implants. 'Let your body grow on it's own before you begin tampering with it' she would say. "None that I know of, Ma'am."
She nodded before frowning. "Your sister had the same issue as you. A flag on your genetics. Must be hereditary then." She tapped her chin, talking aloud to herself "It's not an illegal mod or a treatable condition. Maybe biotics?"
She looked up at me and smiled "Give me a moment to access the database. I'm not familiar with this flag."
As she synced her omnitool to her terminal I wondered what it was that me and Ari had. Mom had never mentioned anything wrong with our genetics. "We're not in trouble, are we?"
She shook her head "Not unless either of you is some secret genetics genius." She smiled at me in a motherly way "One of you hiding a degree in the field?"
I shook my head but silently wondered about my grandfather. His line of work was in genetics. Could he have done something?
The doctor continued to scan until she found what she was looking for. Her smile melted into a confused frown and then an annoyed scowl. She rolled her eyes and sighed, punching in new commands into her omnitool. A slight buzzing could be heard, she must have called someone.
"This is Commander Takahashi, 6th Fleet ONI detachment. How can I help you?" The man on the other end seemed bored.
"This is Captain Choi, CMO of the UNSC Einstein. I have two civilians here, siblings, who are showing a peculiar flagging for genetics. The flag only states to contact a unit ONI rep." If the doctor could have sounded any more annoyed she would have been breathing fire. She probably disliked red tape and games just like Mom did. Said that it always got in the way of treating people and saving lives.
"Understood. Please send the relevant files." Now I wasn't sure if this real person or VI. He had to know that the person he was speaking to wasn't in the greatest of moods, but his blunt and to the point response was bordering on demanding. Even with the please thrown in there.
The doctor shook her head and punched in several commands. The man on the other end responded a few seconds later. "Alright. Everything checks out. They're fine. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Captain. Have a nice day."
And like that he hung up. The both of us seemed flabbergasted at his nonchalant and rude attitude. Have a nice day? Did he know what the hell happened here?
Shaking it off, the doctor shook her head and shrugged. She went to her desk and entered something on her terminal before dismissing me, saying that a nurse would find me in the bay with the relevant medication and treatments.
I walked back over to where Ari was seated. She had somehow convinced someone to place another cot down next to hers. On it was two bars of raspberry flavored ossilber nutrient meals and a bottle of water. Smiling at my sister I picked up the first bar and bottle before sitting down to enjoy my meal.
Ari scooted close and snuggled up next to me. Normally I would have balked at her doing so, especially while eating, but I enjoyed the physical reassurance of knowing she was there.
In no time at all, I had powered through the meal and polished off the bottle. A nurse came by and collected my trash after administering more medigel and a series of antibiotics plus medications for my concussion and nerve damage. He then left me with two additional bottles of water, a tube of some terrible tasting nutrient paste labeled biotic recovery supplement and orders to finish it all before sleeping.
Complying with the demand, I set the empty tube and bottles at the foot of my cot. By now Ari had fallen asleep, curled up at my side. I stretched her out on the cot and took off her boots. Following her example, I relieved myself of my own boots before stretching out on my cot.
I stared at the metallic gray plates of the ceiling, trying to block out the noise of the ward. What were we going to do? I guess calling our grandparents or Lizzy was the only real option, but what good would that do? It's not like we could go home. I felt a lump in my throat and tears fill my eyes as I joined the many who were sobbing for loved ones lost. Within minutes and despite the stress and emotions flying through my mind or the constant hustle and bustle of the ward, sleep and complete exhaustion claimed me.
Codex Entry: Fabrication/FRM
Fabrication is the modern manufacturing method that drives the galactic economy. Fabrication units draw in raw materials in a semi molten or finely processed state using magnetic and mass effect fields where they are molded into desired solid parts which are then assembled to create finished products.
Industrial fabrication units are required for large or more complex pieces but compact units are sold to the public and used in many businesses to create basic items. More common are mini fabrication units attached to omnitools which are capable of creating crude and small items. This allows for individuals to create their own products without ever leaving the comfort of their dwellings.
The economy functions on schematic and blueprint designs created and copyrighted by artists, engineers, corporations and entrepreneurs which can be purchased via the extranet or specially licensed shops. The prices for these designs vary but the common contract allows for one time fabrication before the design is deleted or rendered null forcing the user to purchase the design again if they desire to fabricate another. Other formats involve licensing which allows an approved vendor or business entity to purchase the design permanently and pay for each time the design is used. Most shops, governments, and military forces use this licensing format to have open contracts allowing them to fabricate items and replacement parts when needed. There are, however, free use designs available around the extranet for tools and items the Council deems commonplace in addition to the random designer who releases their work to the public free of charge.
The creators of these designs seek not only to protect their intellectual and proprietary rights but also to prevent technology from falling into the wrong hands. Fabrication Rights Media, or FRM, is the method by which designs are protected from illegal fabrication and tracked for uses using encryption, self sabotage and disabling methods.
Of course this is not without it's drawbacks. Fabrication allows remote colonies and starships to create what they need so long as they have credits to pay for them which is where the problems arise. Since the galactic communication network can have spotty service at the best of times, and down right abysmal in areas with little to no infrastructure, these remote colonies and starships can be out of contact with the galaxy for extended durations of time. When connections are reestablished the cumulative records for fabrication usage and other services are processed as one and deplete the credit accounts of the unfortunate. This then results in lengthy and costly lawsuits, litigation and ultimately the forced sale of assets to pay.
The allure of fabrication economics brings in the organized crime rings and smugglers of the Terminus. Breaking the FRM on a coveted piece of technology is the holy grail for hackers, who can then sell the cracked encryption to crime syndicates that have access to industrial fabrication units. From there they manufacture the pirated designs and sell the finished products for cheaper on the black market. Quality and availability are not always the best, but chances are that if enough credits exchange hands a person can get anything they want from illegal fabrication in the Terminus.
The most famous instance of unbreakable FRM comes from the Covenant, who employ an encryption, identification and countermeasure method so efficient that none have been able to reverse engineer their weaponry or equipment. Experts disagree on how these methods work as little is actually known about the Covenant outside of warfare. Some argue that it is standard military procedure to prevent anyone outside the Covenant from learning this technology, while others believe their religious fanaticism views those who do not share their beliefs as being unworthy. Whatever the case may be, functioning Covenant technology is impossible to come by unless it's being wielded by the Covenant.
Codex Entry: Language/Translators
Language is the method by which sapients communicate, with thousands of permutations spoken, written or signaled by individual species alone. Making it so a galactic society composed of several different species can effectively communicate is no small feat. Attempts at a galactic trade language have largely failed as unless species are forced to learn and use it they gravitate towards their own languages. The more practical solutions are bit of social engineering combined with translation VIs.
Since most species have evolved cultural standards to place a small handful of their languages as the primary tongues spoken this makes the job easier, although personal speech patterns, dialects, slang, accents, fonts, emotional inflections, patois and cultural heritage to use idioms makes the job of translation VIs difficult. This also does not account for species that use other mechanisms to communicate such as Batarian body posture, Jiralhanae pheromone scents, Hanar bio illumination and Elcor ultrasonic pitches.
The standard omnitool mounted VI translation systems will attempt to take into account as many possibilities as it can but accurate translations are not guaranteed. This can create awkward and sometimes disastrous situations between species as their interactions run afoul of miscommunication. This happens frequently with species that are newly discovered and not yet fully understood or those that insist on using obscure language subsets of their species. Often criminal elements will purposely use these less common methods of communication to evade translation in public and avoid law enforcement.
How translation is viewed is dependent upon the user. Some prefer the method of having their omnitool or other devices speak aloud although this can seem rude in some instances. Others prefer to have visual confirmation across HUDs in eyewear or helmets. The most popular method is to have it transmitted to an earpiece or ear implant for private audio translation. Updated language packs containing the primary languages of each species are generally available to the public free of charge but unofficial languages and dialects must be purchased, leading many to forgo them. It's generally unnecessary unless one does business with many different species and wishes to not be caught unaware of how to deal with a customer, client or business partner. Military forces often assign language packs to their troops in preparation for operations. Law enforcement officers, civil servants, convenience VIs and entertainment are equipped to offer a variety of language translation services to better assist the public but discrimination against specific language subsets persists.
The galactic culture does seem to be, over time, creating language standards. Since the founding of the Galactic Council, most if not all edicts and laws have come in the primary Asari or Salarian tongues. This has forced many within Council space to adapt and learn these tongues in order to understand what the galactic government and their various departments decree. Similar effects have been seen in the financial industry as the Volus and their banking institutions control the exchange rates for credits. The Turian terms and hand signals have seen increased popularity in military applications. Hegemony influence has created the unifying theme of the primary Batarian tongues being the language of choice for large population centers in the Terminus. Human languages are gaining in popularity because of the widespread dissemination of their entertainment culture, but that is also quickly joining the Turian languages in military usage as the humans begin to share more of the burden of Council security.
Of course limitations exist as some species at times seem to be beyond civil communication. Famously the Vorcha of Heshtok, with their short lifespans, incredible adaptability, and aggressive nature, are malleable in learning many languages quickly leading some to suspect if their genetic adaptability extends to understanding patterns as well. Unfortunately, Vorcha still have a difficult time expressing themselves and prefer to use their tried and true methods of using violence. Attempt to communicate with the Rachni during the Rachni wars were a wasted effort as the species could not be reasoned with long enough to get a clear understanding of their method of communication, although the general consensus was a combination of pheromones, verbal clicks, and some sort of hive mind telepathy.
This inability to communicate extends to the alien collective of the Covenant as well. The myriad species of the Covenant speak one unified tongue, with the Sangheili seemingly the most fluent and at ease. This leads many to theorize the language is the Sangheili primary tongue and it is still poorly understood outside of the Covenant. That is not to say that the other species do not exhibit communication patterns of their own, with the Yanme'e exhibiting a series of squeals and chattering, and the Lekgolo rumbling rhythmic ultrasonic pulses. Interestingly, the Unggoy exhibit an uncanny ability to mimic the languages of opponents although it is unclear if they understand what they are saying as they often repeat words or phrases in nonsensical ways. The most fascinating aspects of Covenant communication has been discovered during the conflict on the Human colony world of Harvest. Researchers were shocked to find that Jiralhanae spoke Sangheili fluently less than a galactic century after their annexation. This could mean the Covenant have an unseen method of educating all in language although many suspect that this change is forced upon the annexed races at threat of death or worse.
Codex Entry: Terminus
Our home galaxy is a large and intricate collection of over 400 billion stars. It would take a massive and costly effort spanning multiple generations to map it in full detail beyond basic star charts, although many efforts have been made. Combined with the technological limits of mass effect and slipstream travel this makes it equally difficult to expand beyond a few light years around relays.
This has lead to a major misconception about territory controlled and claimed by governmental bodies. The public perception is that their government has explored and continues to patrol all areas associated in claimed star clusters. The truth is that areas claimed are largely unexplored and uninhabited. This disconnect between what is believed and what is factual has lead to many political, and military, debacles throughout galactic history.
None continues to influence current events more than the area of the galaxy known as the Terminus. The confluence of unexplored star systems, limits of government influence and the reliable ability of sapients to find a way to make a credit has created this wild, and perilous, frontier that covers roughly 60% of the galaxy.
The Terminus is a patchwork of unaffiliated colonies, frontier settlements, private mining operations, warlord run space stations and hideaways for the criminal elements living in the shadows of threats. With no official organized government the balance of power shifts constantly based upon credits, leadership and who won the latest conflict. Power and the willingness to use it against your enemies and the weak is the way of life in the Terminus.
The formation of the Terminus dates back to the original Asari and Salarian Council. Exploration and expansion have always been one of the goals of the Council since it's inception, but realizing that goal was easier said than done. The history of the galaxy, and the Council races in particular, since that time has shown it's a very difficult goal to achieve.
The Rachni Wars proved that the haphazard and reckless opening of relays was a recipe for disaster. Acting more cautiously after the war the Council races managed to achieve a route to the Omega Nebula star cluster and establishing element zero mining operations at the Omega asteroid.
The Krogan world of Korlus was the site of the first recorded contact with the alien collective known as the Covenant in 872 CE. After the resounding loss the Council found it prudent to cease all exploration and expansion until the territory claimed by the Covenant could be identified and avoided.
This inability to expand, coupled with the loss of a viable garden world, forced the rapidly exploding Krogan populations to begin infighting along clan lines. The intraspecies warfare erupted into aggression against other races with the Krogan attempt to annex the Asari planet of Lusia in 1097 CE. The ensuing Krogan Rebellions would extend the moratorium on exploration and expansion until the war's official end in 1201 CE.
Under the military protection of the Turians, the Council once again attempted expansion by reopening operations on Omega and creating the Council Demilitarization Enforcement Mission to quarantine Krogan worlds. In 1389 CE the KigYar species was located in the Terminus and subsequently quarantined under the CDEM. By 1444 CE expansion was brought to a halt again with the second Covenant conflict, this time centered around the Turian controlled world of Gellix. Still unable to locate the territories of the Covenant, the Council and associate races began financially and politically withdrawing from support for Terminus expansion.
The discovery and introduction of the Batarian and Quarian species in 1543 CE and 1567 CE, respectively, spurned some growth in the the Terminus but the growing perception was that without much support from the government or business communities these efforts were doomed. Soon private militias began offering security services as the Council was reluctant to garrison military forces for fear of provoking the Covenant. This proved to be the turning point for the Terminus.
By 1694 CE, the Terminus was effectively in rebellion with many pointing towards the increasing influence of the Batarians being the primary driver. The Council sent military forces but ultimately withdrew after the 1739 CE rout on Omega station placing it in the hands of a powerful Krogan warlord.
A third Covenant conflict would arise shortly after in 1742 CE, this time centered around the annexing of the Kig Yar species. The Jiralhanae race and the Vorcha race would be discovered in the Terminus only to be quarantined by CDEM garrisons in 1853 CE and 1976 CE, respectively. The fourth Covenant conflict happened when they annexed the Jiralhanae race in 2492 CE.
In 2185 CE the Batarian Hegemony began a galaxy wide bid for dominance. The bid failed and the Hegemony was defeated, making no obvious gains but the balance of power in the galaxy would be forever changed. The Terminus areas would become the defacto domain of the Hegemony, extending it's economic and resource wealth while creating a thriving black market based upon goods and services not available in Council Space. Furthermore, mercenary groups were able to establish themselves as major players able to provide security and private military options to those who could pay.
The final destabilizing event would come in 2295 CE with the Geth War. Surrounded and isolated by hostile forces in the Terminus, the Quarian people augmented their military and domestic forces with mechs controlled by networked VIs beginning in 1903 CE. When the VIs rebelled the Council was unable, and some say unwilling, to send a military force to aid the Quarians for fear of exposing themselves to Covenant and Terminus hostilities. The ensuing genocide created a roaming fleet of resentful surviving Quarians and the threat of synthetic Geth who obliterate all attempts to enter former Quarian controlled space.
Humanity's introduction to the galaxy in 2479 CE has been the source of current friction, with humans ignoring the lessons of the past. The Batarian Hegemony, which shares borders with the Human Systems Alliance, has responded aggressively to human expansion. It is only a matter of time before these neighbors, both proud and stubborn, begin a war that might have consequences for the entire galaxy.
Codex Entry: Piracy
Smuggling, slavery, extortion and piracy are acts that have names in every language spoken in the galaxy. The acts seem to be commonplace no matter the species. So it was inevitable that as these species spread to the stars their bad habits would follow them.
The mass relays allow quick travel between star clusters spread out over distances that can range in the tens of thousands of light years. Conventional travel between star clusters is theoretically possible, but would be far too slow and require extensive infrastructure in the form of refueling stations, reliable discharge locations, caches capable of restocking consumables, and defense forces to protect it all. With ready access to mass relays, such expensive and complex operations are not only unnecessary but also make defending and policing star clusters somewhat predictable as the relays act as choke points.
This is where piracy fills in the gaps, literally. A thriving black market has risen to coincide with the separation of the Terminus from Council control. In order to facilitate the lucrative smuggling of controlled and banned items, the pirates and warlords of the Terminus, aided by the Batarian Hegemony, are constantly creating ad hoc pathways into Council controlled star clusters. These pathways typically originate in a nearby star cluster not under control of Council forces and weave a long and meandering path between star systems until they reach striking distance of the target clusters.
Since the number of stars systems making up a star cluster can reach in excess of a hundred it becomes near impossible for the 'owners' to defend all avenues of approach. Taking advantage of this, the pirate gangs, smuggling operations and slaver raids sneak in to conduct their business and then quickly leave before defense forces can pinpoint them or their entry point.
This creates a never ending task for defense forces to carefully search the stars near the edge of their territorial claim for any sign of regular traffic. Intelligence satellites or ambushes are set up frequently, not only to destroy but track the invaders back to the star systems that mark the entry points of the pathways. There the defense forces purge any infrastructure to deter the groups from using this pathway. But inevitably the operations are shifted to another nearby star system or set back up in their old spot once the defense forces return to their star cluster.
The Batarian Hegemony is without a doubt the largest beneficiary of piracy as they are the largest producer of illegal goods in the galaxy, largest purchaser of slaves and largest consumer of stolen technology or materials. Their economy drives the Terminus, funneling credits towards the infrastructure of these pirate pathways and until they are dealt with the piracy will continue.
Smuggling is by far the most common operation conducted by pirate forces. The Terminus and Hegemony operate outside of Council law so illegal fabrication, controlled elements, contraband, and individuals needing to get in or out of Council space are the lifeblood of smuggling. The several months it takes to complete most trips is well worth the time and effort for smuggling crews since they can make a minor fortune offloading their cargo. This creates a profession that attracts any group with access to a star ship and a willingness to take on the risk.
Actual piracy comes in a distant second as it requires greater skill and risk plus starships equipped for combat. Preying upon merchant freighters carrying cargo stopping to refuel or discharge, the pirates will threaten destruction unless compliance is met. The pirates quickly board and either steal the the ship outright or offload the cargo, killing the crew or marooning them in escape capsules. Since this type of operation requires extensive knowledge of the travel routes, cargo and habits of freighters it can be a painstaking profession. Successful pirates are patient and intelligent, willing to wait for the right prey in order to take a maximum bounty of stolen goods to return to Terminus or Hegemony space.
Extortion is the third most common type of piracy, occurring most frequently in the Terminus. Colonies, frontier settlements and mining operations are easy prey for someone with a starship mounted mass acceleration cannon and no scruples. Demanding credits, supplies and resources, these pirates are often careful to never actually harm the targets or destroy their infrastructure so that they may return again in the future. Mercenary groups make a living being hired to stop or prevent these extortions while upstart pirate groups will try to muscle in on an established extortion rings. Pirates in the Terminus often speak of going on 'Tribute Runs' where they extort their targets and then return to a major port like Omega or Tortuga to spend their riches.
The fourth and final flavor of piracy are slavers. By far the most complex and large operations, functioning around rogue mercenary groups who recruit and pay other pirates to aid them. They plan out their raids well in advance, scouting defenses and making preparations for the estimated number of slaves to be taken. Targeting small colonies or large mining operations, they begin their attacks by cutting off communications with the rest of the galaxy and then begin the onslaught with overwhelming force. They gain orbital superiority with small attack craft before descending to the surface with gunships and shuttles. They quickly overwhelm defenders and automated systems before rounding up as many civilians as quickly as possible. They are then tagged with tracking implants and boarded into waiting freighters in orbit. A typical slaver raid lasts less than twenty four hours and can get away with several thousand new slaves. From there they are sold on the black market according to their value, with the sex trade, illegal experimentation, bloodsports and manual labor being the biggest industries purchasing.
