The Citadel, two days after the destruction of the Belli Finem
Councilors Tevos and Melarn read the war report from the salarian STG. The human home-world had gone dark, and the turian dreadnought Belli Finem that was maintaining a siege of earth had either stopped sending back to the fleet or had been defeated by the humans, the latter being very unlikely. The turian councilor was nowhere to be found, and had been unreachable all day.
"The report says that captain Eridanus Fedorian is missing in action after a failed ground assault on a missile base," Tevos commented to Melarn. "No wonder Brennius is nowhere to be seen."
Melarn's dark eyes darted over the last pages of the document.
"Unfortunate. The primarch will not take the loss of his cousin well. If he is still alive, general Arterius will have several things to answer for."
"And the humans? If this situation is as we fear, then they will rather destroy their own home-world rather than surrender. We do not need another Tuchanka on our hands," Tevos said.
Melarn stood up and faced the asari woman.
"The krogans are not the issue here! They had to be contained. The matter at hand is whether the turian patrol vessels acted rashly when they opened fire and started this war! If so, then the arm of the council is now aiding in the destruction of a new species."
Tevos frowned. "You do not think they had cause?"
"Turians are not generally an inquisitive type. They follow protocol, and their protocol if often shoot first and ask questions later. In the initial rapport they did not hail the humans at relay 314 before opening fire." He sighed. "Turians. Ever stalwart, never changing. Too bad the ones with more agile minds is the likes of the Arterius family. If Desolas is dead, Saren will not react well."
"He will obey the council," Tevos reassured her colleague.
"Of course. Wouldn't dream of implying otherwise."
Tevos thought she heard a hint of sarcasm in Melarn's reply, but it could just be the salarians usual nasal voice.
The door to the citadel council chamber swung open, and councilor Brennius briskly strode in. His usual confidence was obviously shaken, if his two co-councilors were to judge by the twitching of his mandibles.
"Greetings. My apologies that I have not attended our meetings until now. Much to do on the home front."
They observed another nervous twitch.
"So it would seem," Melarn replied. "We hear you might have, ahem, misplaced one of your dreadnoughts?"
Brennius' eyes bulged and he gripped tightly around the datapad in his hands.
"What have you heard? We haven't released that information yet."
"We are not the public, Brennius, we do not wait to be informed by the citadel news reel," Tevos snapped.
Melarn sat back down and folded his arms.
"The Belli Finem has not been heard from for two days. We have information indicating that a small auxiliary fleet from Mars is now orbiting earth, and so the dreadnought has either retreated or been destroyed. Both seem equally improbable."
The turian councilor seemed like he was about to have a seizure. He opened and shut his mouth several times.
"Perhaps," Tevos interjected, "you would like to shed some light on the situation?"
Brennius now looked defeated, and collapsed into his chair.
"It's gone. The humans managed to set off some sort of thermo nuclear device inside the Belli Finem, and it tore in half and plummeted to earth. The support fleet was severely damaged by the following electromagnetic pulse from the blast, and when human support came from Mars, they shot down almost every cruiser there. Our soldiers were sitting pyjaks."
The turian councilor now looked like he was going to be sick.
"The primarch is furious, and is preparing for a full invasion."
Both Tevos and Melarn rose to their feet.
"Without the support or opinion of this council?" came Tevos angry snarl.
"Young Fedorian would do well to remember that his people was the ones that started this war," Melarn's voice joined Tevos'. "The humans were defending their home-world."
"The primarch is determined to-" Brennius began, but was cut off by the asari.
"This council is not here to support personal vendettas for the turian primarch. If he does not desist in his plans for invading the Sol-systems, we will be forced to reconsider the turian role as peacekeepers of the council."
"We concur." Melarn blinked his black eyes. "The STG have heard rumors among several krogan mercenary groups to offer their services to the Alliance, merely as an excuse to war against the people whom they blame for their current state."
"And that does not include the salarians, I suppose," Brennius growled back.
"It does," Melarn replied coolly, "which is why we do not want to give them a reason to bandy up to the humans in this. We need this situation to dissolve, or face a much greater threat if the two junior species join forces and wage war on all of us."
"Precisely! If the primarch does not immediately pull back his forces from Arcturus and relay 314, we will be forced to take extreme measures. Stripping the turians of their peacekeeping duties, or perhaps start negotiations to end the volus' role as a client race for your people." Tevos almost glowed.
Brennius now looked as tired as he felt.
"I'll relay this to the primarch. I doubt he'll receive this news with pleasure."
"It's for the good of the galaxy, councilor Brennius," came Melarn's glib voice.
"In your opinion I'm sure it is, Melarn. But my people will not forget that you forced them to give up this war."
"Nor will the humans forget you attacked their home-world, so let's not compare grievances here."
"Send a message to your primarch. We will prepare the Destiny Ascension and citadel ships from the asari and salarian squadrons, and they will leave for Arcturus, relay 314 and earth, lest some message gets lost in transmission." Tevos interrupted.
"No more misunderstandings. We will also need our top linguists. The humans need to understand that we come in peace. I think we should bring Liara T'soni, matriarch Benezia's girl. She's here at the citadel at the moment."
"She's barely 80, just a child," said Brennius.
"A prodigy in linguistics, and close by. And she's not turian, that alone will help."
"I agree with councilor Tevos, and would like to add another person to the linguistics group; Maran Solus, very esteemed family, highly intelligent, capable, and also not turian."
"I get your meaning, esteemed colleagues." snapped Brennius. "I will convey to the primarch that the council will be intervening, and then I'll join you on the Destiny Ascension. We turians are still a part of this triumvirate, and should participate in the peace process."
"Yes, when you start something, you like to finish it, I suppose," came Melarn's terse reply.
"Enough!" Tevos gave a small biotic shimmer. "We will stop a war, not start one amongst ourselves. Make yourselves ready, and we head out."
The three glared at one another, before they swept out of the room through separate exits.
Siberia, three days after the destruction of the Belli Finem
"Is there nothing here that works?!" Hannah barked to the quarter master.
"We are trying, commander. The radar is, how do you say, fried? Our other transmitter has a blown out circuit board." Her new friend had a sarcastic smile.
"We are prioritizing the air filters right now, seeing as your plan had a rather large piece of warship crash-landing a few kilometers away and is pouring smoke and who knows what else over us. The wind is carrying it this way, and fallout is such a dreadful thing."
"Basanov, if I didn't need your help right now, I'd strangle you. You're getting on my nerves."
"Strange, my wife keeps saying that also."
"Big surprise," she murmured. "Do we have anything to repair the coms with?"
"Well, we might, but the дым, the smoke, nobody wants to go outside. The opening to the stock room is at the far side of the compound, so, here we sit."
Hannah was all to aware of that. Even though the base had gone offline during the operation, many of the electrical components that were out in the open simply ceased to work. Hours after the searing light, parts of the great ship had started to fall from the sky, and one of the larger pieces landed rather close by. There had been a flash like an orbital strike minutes before the shuttle piloted by Sarah had succeeded in taking down the mother ship, and Hannah was worried. She had no reason to believe that Starysibirsk would be a target, but seeing the direction of the strike she couldn't rule it out either. There was only one way to make sure, and apparently that way was through the smog covering the camp and into the reserve stock.
"Do you have any gas masks?"
"Yes."
"Could you get one?"
"Yes."
Hannah closed her eyes and counted to five. "Will you get me a gas mask?"
"Of course." Yuri Basanov grinned. "Americans. Always so complicated."
She tried to remember that the man was on her side, and waited for him to procure it."
"Any particular items we need?" She fastened the mask and prepared to run.
"Just get the green striped box that says запчасти. It should all be there."
"Let's hope so." She opened the doors and hurried through the smoke.
20 minutes later Hannah returned with a green box and dumped it on the floor in front of Basanov, before tearing her mask off.
"You complete and utter хуй! Do you know how many green striped boxes there were in there?! A lot!"
She started coughing and realized the fallout from the ship were stuck on her clothes. He refrained from making a snide comment, instead taking her arm and pushing her into the shower room and hung a towel and new tracksuit over the door.
"It was a risk, but you made it. No fret, I will get the parts to our operators. You just get clean, or as clean as you can on the low pressure in the pipes."
Hannah heard rustling as he picked up the box and walked off. She tore off the dirty clothes and stood under the water. It was low pressure as he said, and add to that bloody cold water, coupled with the freezing weather outside made her feel like her limbs would fall from her body. If only they could reach someone out there, someone who knew what was going on now.
The tracksuit was standard army gray and she was still a little wet from the shower when she put it on, but it felt a lot better not than wearing nothing in this cold. She pulled the hoodie over her head and went to look for Basanov.
"Are you sure we want to broadcast openly?" Basanov's voice had lost it's snark. "They could still be out there, and looking for survivors."
"I know. But we have little choice. I'm hoping Mars will have answered our call for help, and that their fleet is somewhere above us, either fighting the turians or searching for signs of life." She nodded to the operator. "Send the distress call."
The com-system crackled and gave a small rattle, then the Alliance code signal for aid needed went out into the ether. Around the dimly lit room Hannah saw the anxious faces of soldiers forced to wait for an uncertain fate. Somewhere in the back someone said a prayer. Now all they could do was wait.
The message repeated over and over for the next 5 hours, and resignation started to set in among them. Hannah decided to leave and get something to eat, when a garbled voice was heard on the speakers;
"...is ...mrial.. Dres..."
Now she got to her feet, and followed the operator's hectic struggle to unscramble the message.
Basanov seemed to hold his breath.
"This is Admiral Drescher of the Second Fleet, hailing all Alliance personnel. There is a seize-fire between us and the aliens, do not engage. Repeat, do not engage." Basanov translated to the listeners, and the whole room erupted in loud cries and yells. The tension that had lingered in the soldiers now made them boisterous, and Basanov cheerfully ordered them out of the com-room to spread the good news, and to let the operator try to hail the admiral back.
Hannah held her face in her hands as she felt an immense relief flow through her body. Almost as fast as the glow of peace came, it disappeared, and she straightened up. The fate of her husband and friends still uncertain, and she had to return to the metro.
While the operator punched in the numbers, Hannah dictated a message. "Com. H. Shepard at Siberian. Requests extraction. Dureios Hippos successful."
She drummed her fingers on the table, awaiting a reply. It came in minutes later. "Request granted. Sending extraction shuttle now."
She turned to Basanov and gave him a tired smile. "This is it, sergeant. I'll be out of your hair shortly. Send my regards to your wife, she's an unlucky woman."
He smiled back. "I know, and yet she keeps smiling at me when I come home. Go find your husband, commander. до свида́ния."
"God I hope not, but sure, до свида́ния."
They saluted each other, and Hannah made her way towards her assigned locker to find winter clothes.
"Welcome aboard the SSV Tokyo, commander. Glad to have you with us."
Admiral Kastanie Drescher was a small woman with brown hair and a gaunt face, but her presence in the room was heavy, and Hannah rearranged her manner back to Alliance standard.
"Thank you, ma'am. I'm grateful for the pick up."
The admiral waved her hand to show it was of no import. "You've made quite the splash in galactic politics, let me tell you. And nearly ruined earth at the same time. Remind me not to need the help of a Shepard again. You cost too much."
Hannah wasn't entirely sure if the admiral was joking, and what she said was true, the cost had been great. While she was searching for an answer, the admiral interrupted her thoughts.
"Relax, commander. Your actions, though drastic, made a break-through in our diplomatic relations with the galactic community. There are apparently more alien races out there, and not all of them are like the warmongering turians. The council, I think they are called, have intervened in the war and called for a truce. We have a little trouble communicating with them at the moment, but a "committee" have been set up to deal with that. A little too blue and horned for my taste, but beggars cannot be choosers." She smiled.
Hannah's head spun at all this. Desperately searching for a stabilizing element, she asked the only thing she could think of.
"Have you heard from any other Alliance people?"
The admiral went silent for a moment while watching her, then beckoned her to follow her into a conference room. Hannah felt a sense of dread. This would not be good news.
"I know why you ask that, commander, and yes, we have. That was the first place we looked for survivors, seeing as it was the last place the dreadnought attacked."
"Dreadnought?"
"Yes, that's what they call that class of ship. The council seemed astonished that we managed to take one down."
Hannah now caught the last part of that sentence.
"Attacked?"
"Commander.. The dreadnought Belli Finem apparently got a message from a captured turian that the metro system of Starysibirsk was an Alliance station. They deployed a bomb designed for eradicating underground enemy bases. I'm afraid almost half of the tunnels have been destroyed or collapsed."
Hannah felt feint, and started swaying on her feet.
"We have found some survivors, among them one David Anderson and Karin Chakwas. They have confirmed that your husband was still in the tunnels when the bomb hit. I'm sorry."
Admiral Drescher's words sounded like a faraway whisper, and Hannah almost fell into a seat. Weeks of stress, loss and now this final blow, it was all becoming too much. She hid her face in her hands and cried.
Kastanie Drescher said nothing for a while, then have Hannah's shoulder a short comforting pat before leaving the other woman to grieve. The admiral too had known such loss, and knew that any more words of consolation right now would be patronizing.
When admiral Drescher stepped outside the conference room she was met by Anderson, whom was hovering outside the door.
"How is she? Did she say anything about Sarah?"
"Lieutenant, I think your commander will need a moment alone. I've just informed her about her husband. And no, she didn't mention operative Sarah, but the fact that she's not here speaks volumes."
Anderson jerked his head at this and looked quizzically at the admiral. She sighed.
"Look, you might as well hear it from me. Sarah was under my orders to keep commander Shepard alive at all costs while completing the mission. We needed Shepard to come up with another plan if the first failed. If at any time there was a risk to Shepard, Sarah was to assume her place." She paused. "I suspect Sarah had something to do with the explosion inside the dreadnought, but only Shepard truly knows. Give her some time, then you can go inside and ask."
Admiral Drescher nodded to Anderson and left him there. His jaw clenched and he leaned his forehead against the wall. Around him the crew passed him by without staring too much, probably the orders of the admiral. For twenty minutes he stood there, waiting and willing the worst not to have happened, then he requested entry. Hannah answered in a low voice. She got up when he walked inside, and her red face told of earlier moments of grief. Without saying anything, she merely walked up and hugged him. Anderson breathed heavily.
"Sarah, is she..?"
"She's gone." Hannah broke the embrace. "The shuttle auto-pilot was blown out in a firefight. We needed someone to take it out. I was going to, but Sarah had other plans." She pointed to her face, where some bruising still lingered.
Anderson smiled sadly. "She always had a mean right."
"David, I did not order her to go. I would have done it myself, but.."
"I know. The admiral told me her orders." He looked away.
"Before she left, Sarah asked me to tell you her name. It's Sarah Hammond. She wanted you to know."
He remained silent, and Hannah didn't push. She knew his feeling of loss. For a while they both sat in silence, trapped in their own thoughts. It was Anderson that spoke first.
"She told you about Jonathan?"
"Yes. He was still in the tunnels. Didn't make it out."
He hesitated, but if things were different, he would have wanted to know the truth from a friend.
"You probably know it was our captured turian that signaled the dreadnought. He got loose after doctor Chakwas took his chains off. They were chafing and making him bleed."
Hannah made a sad scoffing sound.
"She was always too kindhearted. He probably made those wounds herself. How is she holding up?"
There was no anger in her voice, and Anderson was a little surprised at this. He'd been furious with the doctor, but Hannah seemed to feel different.
"About as you'd expect. Not well. She feels responsible for the deaths he caused. I'm inclined to agree with her."
"No!" Hannah snapped. "The fault is mine. Jon, the remains of my crew, the people in the metro, all dead, because I insisted on treating that, that.. parrot like a prisoner of war. You were right, I should have left him to be dissected, or left him bleeding in the snow where I found him!"
"Hannah.."
"Thousands dead so he might live! Tell me I made the right choice! Dare say that to my face!" She felt her voice give out, cut herself off before it could betray her. Anderson waited for her to compose herself.
"Jon will never see his child. Never hold, or hug, or hear any first words."
Tears fell quietly from her eyes.
"I took that away from him. For the sake of doing the right thing, if there is such a term in war."
After a long while, Shepard wiped her eyes and got up, face hardening.
"We should see the admiral. I want to have a few words with that turian."
"Commander Shepard, this is the way of things now." Admiral Drescher sounded irritated.
"Turians cannot be trusted."
"I agree with the commander," said Anderson
The admiral turned to him. "We can't afford more war now. We were almost defeated."
"We're on our knees now, but we'll rise again." Hanna's voice was calm and cold. "And when they come at us next time, the turians will know we learned our lesson well."
"That talk might jeopardize the peace treaty, and you wanting to see the turian responsible for your husbands death certainly will."
"I know he's on this ship, admiral. He was picked up with Anderson and Chakwas." Hannah was angry.
"He was on this ship. I had him transferred to one of the council ships. Prisoner exchange was part of the agreement we have understood this far."
Hannah clenched her fists and said nothing. Drescher had hoped the commander would be a part of the peace talks, as she had a reputation for keeping a clear head when others did not, but in view of the latest developments that was not a good idea.
"I know this is not what you wanted, but nevertheless, you are to be congratulated, commander. Your plan forced their government to intervene, and now we have a truce between us and the the turians. If I'm not much mistaken, you will be promoted to captain after this."
Hannah seemed not to hear this.
"They are not to be trusted," she repeated as if to herself, then with a last withering stare at the admiral, she left the room.
Destiny Ascension, six days after the destruction of the Belli Finem
"That is everything that happened, it's all written down in my report."
Galenus Vakarian gave his councilor a tired look. He'd been interrogated since he got on-board the Citadel flagship, and wanted nothing more than a safe night's sleep away from enemies likely to murder him in his sleep. Councilor Brennius gave him an appraising stare that implied that he knew more than he was letting on.
"Almost everything, but there is somewhat of a sticking point here. The destruction of the so-called base has been classified by the humans as a war crime."
Galenus gave a disdainful scoff. "They were conducting warfare from that tunnel. There was crates with their Alliance's sigil on them, armed personnel and military vehicles around the entrances."
"Technically, yes, if sending messages and planning is defined as such. Unfortunately, they also had a hospital and several shelters for civilians down there. The death toll is now 15 493 and counting. The underground sections become closed off and separate entities when they are at war, but the ones closest to impact couldn't withstand the blast. There is still silence from several of them." Brennius studied Galenus' reaction.
Galenus Vakarian froze in his seat, disbelief written on his face. This could not be true. The crates, the presence of Anderson and Shepard was no coincidence, and his own feeling of danger, like the one he had before those animals blew up his squad. There was no way he'd been wrong. His instinct had told him he was making the right call, he was dead certain. Galenus felt Brennius' eyes on him, and knew that he was observed. Unwelcome words started forcing their way into his head. Hospital. Civilians. The sick. The injured. Females. Children. Old. If the councilor's words were true, he'd killed them all. A sneaking feeling of doubt crept into his mind. His gut feeling had told him that the human underground base was military, but the crates he'd seen could theoretically have contained hospital supplies. Food. Bandages. Blankets. When he escaped, he hadn't checked before leaving the area. There was no time, he told himself. Images of small burning humans screaming down in the dark before bursting into flames filled his head, and he sagged in his chair, clutching is face in his hands.
"I didn't know. I swear, I'd never.. a hospital.. spirits.. I DIDN'T KNOW!" He shouted the last words and jumped to his feet, staring desperately at councilor Brennius.
The councilor sighed. "I believe you, but the humans are insisting. We will not extradite you, but it would be better if we could say we've discharged you from the army. The council demands peace, and they consider you a small price to pay."
"So I'll be sacrificed?" Galenus' emotions swung wildly between guilt and indignation.
"Be reasonable, corporal Vakarian. We won't throw you out of the military on a dishonorable discharge, but according to your files you want to work in Citadel security. We can simply make that transition a little faster, and the humans will, well.. not exactly be happy, but they'll know this is as far as we'll go. They were hiding soldiers among civilians themselves, so they can't push too far. They must be seen doing something, however. Charred remains of females and children looks bad on any news-feed, if and when they get their planet back online."
Galenus struggled to keep a keen out of his subvocals. Realization was setting in, and it was almost as if thousands of dead human eyes were staring blankly at him with cold accusation, and he wanted to shout back into their faces that he wasn't alone at fault. It was war! People died everywhere, his team had been blown apart in a mine field, friends of his had been shot down at relay 314, it wasn't as if- they burned in an underground inferno he called down. 15 493 and counting. He jerked up and forced the intruding thought away, trying to control his emotions. Even here, in the warm office of the turian councilor, he now felt cold, as if the biting cold of the human world could follow him here. His plates felt like they were covered in ice, and the softer skin in between started to contract and ripple to help warm him up while his hands firmly gripped the councilors desk as he felt the room start to spin.
Brennius watched the younger man struggle to keep his composure, and how he subconsciously kept scratching his talons over the metal table. To the councilor the signs were clear. For all intents and purposes Vakarian was having a breakdown. Even if the Alliance weren't making a fuss over that particular bombing, the man would be better off serving the Hierarchy in some other capacity than the fleet. It would be better to send the man back to his family on forced leave, then enroll him in the C-sec training program. There were rumors that the human behind the fall of the Belli Finem blamed Vakarian for the death of her mate, and it would be better for all of them if she wasn't expecting to meet him on every turian ship she encountered when her new ship was ready. Brennius was impressed by how much information the STG managed to come by a mere few days after meeting with the humans, but this piece of information gave him no comfort. The Alliance was planning on promoting commander Shepard to captain and assign her a new ship as soon as one was available. For her services she'd been allowed to name it herself. It was to be called the SSV Vengeance.