The LSD, Spartans and Assault on Chora's Den
Near Chora's Den a transport comes to a halt and eight beings step out. The first three appear to be humans of the Systems Alliance who are followed by a Krogan and two Turians. The last two are humans dressed in what looks to be a strange form of armor.
Shepard looked towards his newly assembled team, he felt somewhat odd having seven people to lead into what could easily be a heavily armed enemy. The odd feeling is of course from the fact that other than Williams and Alenko, there are at least three different sources for combat training that the team had been trained in. Weather they can truly work as a team is about to be put to the test and he did not like the fact that it would be in a live-fire situation.
During their approach to Chora's Den Shepard watched Wroth place his hand on the side of his helmet in the same way when he was able to scan the Clinic before the fight with the mercs. "Wroth, do you have anything on what we might be facing?" The Krogan looked at Shepard "Name's Wrex, human."
Ignoring the new enforcer of the team; "Sir, we have at least 2 to 1odds against us in numbers and most appear to be using native assault rifles. I think the best course is to chuck some stunner grenades in and then take out the remaining opponents after the blast."
Shepard had to think about Wroth's attack plan, while Wrex looked at Wroth. "Interesting Human, and how are you able to discern that without any form of Intel. Not even the Shadow Broker agent told me what I might be up against and yet you seem certain of it, so how?" Wroth just shook his head and replied that subspace can be used for more than communications. This got Wrex to chuckle and slap Wroth on the back "I like you Human, Wroth is it?"
Wroth nodded in response and Wrex grinned back and then readied his assault rifle. Williams sneered at the show that Wrex had put on, but Shepard though of something. "Genray, can you give a repeat performance of the clinic here?" Genray looked at Shepard for a moment before replying "Sorry, but it is basically the choice of shield or cloak not both. With the numbers they have it will be a shooting gallery and I prefer to keep my hid intact thank you."
Wroth frowned but said nothing mainly due to the fact that Genray is being truthful; in a fire fight like what Chora's Den might end up being, running around with miniature MAC guns firing all over the place is an unhealthy prospect. During this Williams came across a thought that had not yet occurred to her; how is it that before at the clinic Wroth only detected the weapons but not the types and now he was able to tell them that the enemies ahead have assault rifles.
"Wroth, how are you able to tell what the enemy is armed with now and not before?" In an off handed manner "Because our battle computers were still analyzing the scan data during the battles earlier. The Pistols appear to have a similar energy signature and for a while it confused the scans. Those mercs earlier fired enough rounds for the scans to get enough detail to give us a better idea of what we're facing."
Not wanting to pass up the freely offered information Wrex dived in, "So you guys are linked to a ship or computer network to analyze all of the data from a fight?" Wroth shook his head and then "Not really, we use learning systems in our armor. The more fights a marine ends up in the more the armor's core synchronizes with them to the point in which it is like having an AI right with you giving you tips in mid combat."
This caused all of the natives of the team to stop in mid step; Nihlus turned to Wroth with what could be a worried expression. "You use AI's in your armors?" "No, we use LI's or Learning Intelligence; they are the closest we have every come to making a true AI. Of course the Tech-R-Us nuts would disagree." Genray shuddered in response to Wroth's words.
At everyone's questioning stares Wroth explains "Tech-R-Us is a fanatic group of beings that believe that our next step of evolution is to join with machines. They have been under the belief that the Artificials and organics merging into one race is what the universe has meant for us. They have yet to do anything like try and join with a shipboard AI Core; otherwise our government would have had them contained to one of the Forge Worlds."
Genray shaking his head with disgust, "They should be confined to a Forge World and be forgotten about after that. Those Tech-R-Us freaks are worse then the Wraith worshippers; at least with the Wraith you know what will happen, but not with Tech-R-Us." Turning to spit in disgust about any further thoughts on the subject Genray sneered looking down at his own arm. Seemingly the only one to notice this is Williams as the others aside from Wroth had focused on the information about Tech-R-Us.
"Okay, enough of that, we need to focus on the matter at hand." Shepard said looking at each of them. Considering the options available, he looked at Wrex, Wroth and Nihlus for a moment; then looking at Alenko and Garrus, he came to a decision. "Okay, we are going to break down into teams of three. Wrex, Nihlus and Wroth will go in and secure Fist. Alenko, Garrus and myself will cover them while taking the mercs in Chora's Den."
While the others nodded in agreement, Williams and Genray looked at each other before Shepard continues with "Genray and Williams will remain here; we will stay in radio contact. Once we find out where the meeting has been setup Williams and Genray will head there, while the rest of us pull back to join them." Giving one more look at everyone present, Shepard orders the teams to move out and to begin the assault.
Teams Nihlus and Shepard
Moving towards the entrance for Chora's Den, the six totals members of the assembled assault teams perform a final weapons check on their rifles before they begin. Shepard runs through a mental check list of the plan; while his team deals with the mercs, Nihlus and his team will locate and secure Fist. If all goes according to plan then Williams and Genray will be able to reach the Quarian while the rest would pull back and rendezvous at Citadel Transit Station at the Embassies.
Looking up from his mental check list, Shepard notices that Nihlus is using the same pistol he had checked during the drop on Eden Prime. Shaking off the sudden flash of information brought on by the memory of Eden Prime, he looks over to see Wrex with an assault rifle and Wroth with the now identified P-90 Assault Rifle. Wroth for some odd reason tapped his rifle against his arm, the same as the one holding the rifle.
Checking on Alenko and Garrus for a moment, Sheppard turns to Nihlus once more and with a nod between the two the assault begins. The first through the doorway is Garrus and Wrex, both going in opposite directions and laying down cover fire. They are followed by Shepard and Nihlus and then Wroth and Alenko; each joining their teammates with Alenko using his biotics and Wroth throwing a grenade every so often.
This is the time that both teams split from each other; Nihlus leading his team towards the back while Shepard and his team draws the mercs towards the front. Alenko let loose another volley with his biotics causing chairs and tables to go flying at the opposing mercs. Garrus hid a grin as the flying debris found its mark and nailed seven of the mercenaries.
One of those that managed to dodge aimed what appears to be a rocket launcher, but before the merc could fire a knife lodged itself into the side of his neck. Shepard tried to trace the path and found Wroth at the end firing his rifle into a group of mercs trying to keep Wrex, Nihlus and myself out of a hallway on the other side of the bar.
Team Nihlus
After separating from Shepard, Alenko and Garrus; Nihlus lead Wrex and Wroth towards a hallway on one side of the bar. Wrex was of course having a field day with all of the mercenaries he was fighting; with a Krogan's love for battle it is of little surprise that Wrex would enjoy himself. Looking at Wroth, Nihlus could only smirk in appreciation of a soldier that Wroth appears to be; quiet and calm while having initiative and following orders. This is easily demonstrated when Wroth drew his combat knife and threw it at one mercenary hefting a rocket launcher on his shoulder.
Nihlus knew for a fact that despite being a Spectre, even he would take flack from the Council if rocket damage occurs inside of the Citadel. Bringing himself back to the task at hand, Nihlus finds that both Wroth and Wrex has cleared a path into the hallway and is already facing the men at the door leading into the warehouse. Joining them, the three quickly clear the opposition but are unable to access the warehouse.
"Great, well Turian what is our next idea. With this door secured against us, getting Fist and the Quarian has gotten more difficult." Nihlus took a moment to examine the door, without looking at Wrex or Wroth he began to work on the locking systems. "You two try and hold our position; this is a standard locking system. I should be able to override it but it will take me several minutes." Without further word Nihlus begins working on the lock while Wrex and Wroth Take up defensive positions, just as the sound of a fragmentation grenade going off in the bar.
Williams and Genray
After watching the others disappear into Chora's Den, Williams turns to Genray "So, what is with your arm?" Genray looking up at Williams in surprise, she continues "I saw how you sneered at it when you were talking about those Tech-R-Us guys. So something happened to you involving those guys?"
Looking down for a few moments Genray looks into Williams eyes; she is taken aback by what she sees there. Genray's eyes hold unbridled hatred in them, a hatred burning so hot it could easily melt the Normandy itself. Looking straight to her, "It was when I was barely seventeen years old. My parents and I had just moved from our home-world in Pegasus to the Heliopolis colony in the Epsilon Eridani. My father didn't believe in the GRA's military so we moved to one of the privately owned civilian colonies."
Taking a breath he continues "Heliopolis is an old O'Neill class station; instead of artificial gravity like the ships and stations under complete or partial ownership of the government, Heliopolis had to rotate to generate gravity." Williams took this moment to interrupt with "So basically like to old west in space then right?"
With a quick nod "Yep, and not just with the fact that it had to rotate either. Heliopolis is a fifteen mile long station built using older construction methods; the station was only partial constructed when we moved there. It took over twenty years to build it and a lot of people didn't live to see its completion."
Not quite understanding what she had heard thus far Williams urged him to continue. "Well, you see during the construction of one section my mother and I had happened upon some of the workers huddled near the end of the corridor we were passing to get home. We had ignored them and continued on, seeing workers about was consent during the time so we thought nothing of it. We had managed to just about make it to the junction between sections when it happened."
For a moment Genray was quite and then holding up his arm so Williams could see, "There was an explosion and the entire station rocked; my mother pushed me towards the junction just as we started to feel wind rushing past us. At the time I didn't really understand, having grown up on a planet and not bothering to learn much about space stations and ships it was hard to see why my mother would be afraid of some wind."
Williams stopped him again, but this time "There was a haul breach in that section wasn't there? Your mother, did she die?" Looking away for a moment, Genray looked out at the Wards and then "Yes, my mother pushed me out into the junction just as the pressure bulkheads closed. But the worse part was she was trapped on the other side with the breach; I did not even think about what I was doing and tried to open the bulkhead door. A nearby group of workers and citizens tried to stop me; I managed to over power them but one of the workers had a plasma cutter and used it on my right arm as I tried to open the bulkhead."
Only now did Williams start to put together why he had sneered at his own arm earlier; she remained quite as he continued. "I had to watch my mother suffocate to death through the three foot thick glass; during this I was bleeding to death. The plasma cutter did not leave a clean cut and my severed arm lay near the controls while I was by the glass watching my mother die. I had blacked out and woke up in the clinic down the corridor from my home; I was horrified to learn that a week had past. The doctors were able to reattach my arm, but I didn't care my mother was gone and I had no one to blame."
Williams face showed shock, "What do you mean no one to blame? I thought that it was Tech-R-Us?" Looking back to her "It was, but I did not learn that until my father and I had an argument. I wanted to leave Heliopolis and join the Star Forces, I needed something to put all my pain and rage into and the marines sounded like the best thing to do. He hated the idea and refused to let me go, he even sighted that it was the government's fault for not disposing of Tech-R-Us; that got to me, he blamed the government and had not even bothered to tell me who had killed my mother."
Taking another sharp breath both turned toward Chora's Den when they heard an explosion; Williams reached for her rifle, while Genray shrugged saying "Just a grenade; if they need us they will let us know." For a moment Williams remained tense before relaxing slightly and putting her rifle back; as she had placed her rifle back into storage form something past the edge of her sight. Turning sharply towards the movement Williams noticed what appears to be a woman walking into an alley, but with what the woman is wearing she might be mistaken.
Team Shepard
The grenade had just gone off as the team had managed to take cover behind one of the hall partitions of the booths. Shepard brought his rifle to bear as he looked over the partition only to notice that the grenade had done more damage to the mercenaries then his one team. With only a few mercs remaining Garrus and Alenko both popped out of cover to join Shepard in taking down the remaining opponents in order to join up with Nihlus and the others.
Another minute or so of shooting and the path to the others is cleared; moving quickly Shepard, Alenko and Garrus manage to join up with Nihlus, Wrex and Wroth as the door to the warehouse opens. Entering the warehouse two workers flee past heading for the exit of Chora's Den; ignoring them Shepard turns to Nihlus "See you had trouble getting in?" Looking at Shepard and then back to what he is doing Nihlus replies with "The locking systems are better then I thought for a simple establishment like this."
After another few moments of working on the lock the door slides open and the team enters, but after entering only a few feet they are forced to take cover as they are fired upon once again. Ducking behind a partition wall, all the team could do is hold position; due to the amount with bullets flying none of them are able to see who or what is shooting. Wroth took this time to activate his HUD link to his gun camera and slide his P-90 along the floor to the edge of the partition.
Just as he was about to slide it past the partition, Wrex moved away from cover and proceeded to shoot at the only visible being where the weapons fire is originating. While Shepard and Nihlus order Wrex to get back to cover, Wroth using his gun camera sees only one person, but on either side of him are Auto-Turrets.
"Ha, is this the best that the Shadow Broker can come up with; makes me glad that I decided to join Saren after all." Fist obviously begins gloating when Wrex has to take cover again; Wroth taking care to aim his P-90 at the closer of the turrets manages to line up a possible shot. But before he could pull the trigger, Fist decides to inform them "Even if you try anything then I will kill us all, but at least the Quarian will not be alone in death."
Fist started laughing at his twisted joke; during this Nihlus and Shepard shared a look before Shepard tried to call Williams and Genray.
While talking with Captain Anderson, Ambassador Udina looks towards the balcony and the extra-galactic human he has recently meet. Thousands of thoughts are vying for attention and not all of them good. On one side of the spectrum is a stronger more powerful Systems Alliance, one that has the ability to travel space without the Mass Relays and have allies that span whole galaxies. The other end is where that his home and people are nothing more than slaves or worse because of a government so far away bleeding them or resources.
Even after all of Captain Mazikowski's assurances that the GRA has no reason to be in this galaxy beyond her current mission and the fact of the Protheans, Udina remains fearfully of contact with the GRA. Udina still found it hard to accept that a council similar to that of the Citadel leads a multiple galaxy civilization comprised of multiple races. But one of the things that has Udina on edge the most is how Captain Anderson has responded to the idea.
Having both been involved in the First Contact War or as the Citadel prefers the Relay 314 Incident, both have never really fully trusted the other governments. For Anderson, having once been a candidate for the Spectres, he did not have such a fear of another government and especially an alien controlled one has any say with human civilization.
The Citadel he can understand and accept their interference with human development; for the most part the laws of Citadel space is helpful and does little to interfere with the Systems Alliance outside of many races feeling that humans are getting undue attention from the Citadel Council. But for a council of barely eight people and most of them not being human having say about the lives of billions or more humans is a disturbing thought.
Before he could consider the ramifications of everything he has been learning, the holographic communications system activates displaying the Citadel Council. The Asari begins speaking "Ambassador Udina is Captain Mazikowski there with you?"
Looking out at the balcony, Udina turns back to face the Council "Yes, do you need to speak with her?"
The Turian replies sharply "Yes, we have reached our decision in regards to her rather unique request." The Turian still not truly believing that there are humans who are not part of the Systems Alliance, the same as Udina only a few hours earlier. Udina signaled one of the marines under Sergeant Shaper to ask Captain Mazikowski to come back inside the office to speak with the Citadel Council.
The marine in question took only a few seconds to retrieve his ship commanding officer and return; upon their return to the office Captain Mazikowski stood before the holographic representations of the council. "Captain, we have decided to grant your request, but we would like to have a Council Representative amongst your fleet in the interests for the Citadel races."
Giving a bow of respect to the council members, Captain Mazikowski replies "I am certain that can be arranged. I will inform my government immediately and I would like to thank the council on their behalf." Without another word the communications ends; Ambassador Udina frowns for a few moments thinking about the most recent actions of the Citadel Council.
As he begins to form a new thought in his mind, he hers Captain Mazikowski scream "What; repeat your last Truth. You said that you have received a message from the outpost." Now everyone in the office is paying rapid attention to what is being said.
Confirmed Ma'am, just a few minutes ago we received a coded sub-space message. The origin has been confirmed as the outpost just eight light years from the Citadel, but what the message contains is the reason for concern.
Not even pausing for a second, Captain Mazikowski asks "What does the message say?"
Patching the recording through now; we have already run it through the translation system. It is in Lantean.
This is Or'ni of the Prothean Peoples Republic; we have detected the presence of Forerunner technology within range of our planet. We are sending this message in the Forerunner language. If you are receiving this message please reply; there is a threat that we fear will spread beyond our galaxy if it is not contained. We are uncertain if you will receive this message and as thus will be repeating the transmission once every five time units. Please help, to our knowledge we are all that remains of our people; we had escaped the attack on the Citadel by the Reapers and traveled in the general direction that your people came from when you first appeared over one hundred thousand solar rotations ago. Please we need your help.
The message ends there and we are only now receiving a repeat; our guess is that the subspace array that they are using is either damaged or somehow under powered for either the communications or sensors. Either way the moment we received the transmission Lieutenant 'Vadam ordered us to focus sensors towards the outpost. Ma'am what we are getting shows nearly as many life-signs as the Citadel itself.
This left everyone shocked, not only did the outpost world that Anderson and Udina have only recently learned about but that it has a population of almost six million. The truly shocking news is that that population might even be Protheans at that has everyone on edge.
Location: M6 Galactic Group Void – Midway Station – FTL Flight Booster System
Designation: LSD – Light Speed Doughnut
Looking over the control room of one of the largest built frame work space stations in known history, the Asgard Commander Freya looks at his orders. To open a hyper-space jump to the neighboring galactic group secondary core galaxy; to coordinates provided by an Icarus class ship that is already present. But the order for the next three weeks is what has his attention most.
For the first time since the creation of the LSD a fleet will be sent through to another galactic group that is roughly three million light years from his stations location. The LSD had originally been constructed to launch only one ship at a time to distances of more than one hundred million light years. It had launched none other than the Midgard flagship of the Second Fleet to intercept and escort home the legendary ship Destiny. The ship and its Sentient Core were returned home with a hero's welcome and become the driving force of the Destiny class Deep Space Explorers.
Now the LSD was going to be used to send ships, a fleet in all but large numbers to another galaxy only a few weeks away for standard FTL flight. Normally Freya would wonder why such a force would be sent through the LSD, but when he learned that two of the legendary ships are being sent the time for wonder ended. The Girty Lou and Aurora both having spent more time out of galaxy than any other ships outside of the Midgard and Destiny marked something, it had to be a serious issue if half of the Trans-Galactic Ships Force as many are prone to refer to them is being sent out.
Looking up he sees the Girty Lou entering position for the LSD Jump; Freya had to sigh in aspiration, the calculations for the LSD jump had to be amended for the fifty Spartans and two hundred marines now on board. The extra mass having to be accounted for before the jump; normally an LSD Jump would target the galactic voids to protect the ship from a possible fiery fate of slamming end long into a planetary body. One could only hope that the calculations and target coordinates would be correct for the ship to re-enter normal space safely.
Well there is no more delaying, "All hands begin LSD Jump Prep. We are to target the M12 Galactic Group Secondary Core Galaxy at the following coordinates, Gird 19 at Positive X 187 by Negative Y 392 by Neutral Z 0. The Girty Lou will be depending on us for accurate transit; Major being station targeting orientation."
"Yes Sir; all hands begin station shift to target orientation for target transit. Once orientation is complete let us begin power up."
For the next hour the station under goes the difficult task to orientating the targeting and window struts to the target location marker. The station having never been designed to be moved from its location is only equipped with an M/I Shield and Thrusters for movement. The station crew takes their time knowing that a single miscalculation could cost the lives under their care for the jump. Once in position the jump power up begins.
Feeling the station beginning to vibrate Freya listens to the crew check off the jump prep list.
"We have spin on empathy generators 1 through 20 and positive spin on hyper rings 1 to 5."
"Sirs, we have confirmed energy linkage to Zero Point Power planets 1 through 200 at maximum output and 201 through 300 coming online."
"Update with hyper rings 6 to 10 now entering positive spin and 3 million rotations per minute."
As this is heard the station's vibrations reach the point that the bulkheads begin to groan in protest. Freya looks at his holo-screen to see that the output is now in target range; signaling for a connection to the Girty Lou to be opened, his screen changes to show the bridge of the Titan class ship. "Commander you are go for jump; good luck and come back safely my friends."
Roger that LSD Control, Girty Lou is now jumping; we will see you on the flip side.
With that the connection closes and the purple/violent colored energies of the Hyper-space window become visible just as the Girty Lou enters the acceleration tunnel and is shot into hyper-space at nearly five thousand times the speed of light. All on board hoping that the M/I Shields and Inertial Dampeners can protect the Titan ship's crew from the possibility of becoming paste on the nearest bulkhead.
Next Time: Rescue the Quarian, Citadel Fleet meets Girty Lou
In the next chapter, Genray and Williams are order by Shepard to rescue the Quarian; while that is happening Shepard and his team must find a way to take Fist down without him killing them all with whatever weapon he outside of the Citadel near the Mass Relay the Girty Lou appears in a blaze of spatial distortion that causes the Destiny Ascension and the Citadel fleet to target the Titan class ship. While this is happening the Citadel Council with the aid from the Truth's Light make contact with the surviving Protheans and make some startling discoveries about their home galaxy and especially the Citadel and the Mass Relays.
