As the leader of not only the Salarians but as an heiress to wealthy bloodline, Dalatrass Linron was expected to and composed herself in a very calm and collected manner at all times. She dressed in fine robes designed by Asari artisans, drank the sweetest nectar provided, and practiced multiple art forms found in Citadel space as a relaxing hobby.
Every morning she basked in the bright glow of Sur'kesh's sun, and watched the organized flow of Salarians traversing to and from the City of Talat. With proper pose expected of a wealthy lady she would ride to her offices in the capital and read the reports that she would have to observe.
Her daily tranquility was not only broken but shattered by a report from the Special Tasks Group. The Turians had not only discovered a new species, but had attacked their origin world. The Dalatrass eyes read the reports three times but still couldn't work past her disbelief. The new species used energy weapons, plasma guns, had cybernetic warriors and even biological weapons.
Dalatrass Linron read the report more slowly, giving herself time to absorb the data. The new species had been discovered tampering with the three fourteen relay and was attacked preemptively by a Turian patrol of twelve cruisers only to send more than half back to the floatila with critical damage while only losing one of four ships! The new species' vessels had armor and shields that were dozens of times more effective than their own, the shields were even immune to common mass accelerator ammunition. The only thing that would pass were the Turian's anti shield and biotic disruptor rounds. The Armor on the new ships was made of an unknown alloy and defied all identification.
Copies of a transmission from the defending species was recorded in the report. The shock that a first contact race learned to be so fluent in another language so quickly was astounding that they had done so on a battlefield was impossible. Only an Asari had shown such learning potential and even then they used the meld to take the knowledge from other species. The creature identified himself and his species: the human, Kevin Knives. A member of the 'Human Systems Alliance'. A new political force in the galaxy. The Dalatrass continued to watch the remainder of the video, and watched the human's justifiable demands for a ceasefire. The General's demands sounded law abiding on the surface, but was obviously little more than an excuse for wounded pride and an attempt to force the species to improve the already powerful Turian military. The end of the video showed the cause of Shanxi's demise: Saren's suicide and Desolas grief fueled fury.
If that wasn't enough several corpses had been recovered from the attacked planet by STG infiltrators. The recovered creatures appeared roughly Asari with hair replacing tendrils and pink and cream colored flesh instead of shades of blue. Autopsies had been performed on the recovered bodies and the information acquired was immense. Samples taken from the mouth showed odd outcrops of bone, accompanied by powerful jaw muscles, despite the frail appearance the mouth of a human could deliver potentially fatal bites. As if to highlight the potential lethality of a human's bite genetic swabs tested positive for multiple strands of highly infectious bacteria. One human sample was discovered with metal features welded to their jaws further adding to its threat level.
STG scientists watched Turian logs of humans fighting and discovered horrible facts about the human's combat potential. Despite wounding them in various manners humans could continue fighting for entire cycles after receiving injury, even removing a human's limbs was not enough to prevent them from fighting. The only observed way to ensure a human was dead was to destroy the head. The bodies showed evidence of extensive training and use. Muscles developed in the human samples showed signs of constant damage and regeneration as if the humans had constantly destroyed themselves, healed to a state stronger than before, then repeated the process. There was evidence that the subjects had done that for entire solar cycles!
The surprises of the new species continued to emerge, one after another. Samples were removed from the remains of the human digestive tracts, several plant materials were discovered and studied to determine diet. The plants were shown to have toxic properties and highly poisonous to many of the citadel races. Further experimentation and exploration by the STG determined that the human samples didn't become as combat effective as they wore naturally. The species showed signs of significant genetic rewriting, and even some signs of splicing in some sections. Without a 'pure' human sample there was no sure way to confirm. Too many variables, and far too many possibilities for such a genetic diversity in a single species. The popular speculation was that the humans had been doing it to themselves. The possible causes for such extensive self modification were terrifying.
The human's military tactics were extreme by the standards of any Citadel race. Out of a planet with a population in the hundreds of millions, there had been only one captive and even then it was only because the self-detonation device the human warrior carried had been damaged in an orbital strike. The Turians held the captive under lock and key and in absolute isolation. Any attempt to get near the human resulted in a Turian attempting to aid the human in escaping. Several others had been critically injured in the human's various escape attempts. The combat data from the captured human alone was unbelievable. The Captive adapted to using Turian weaponry, using his captor's language, even using omni-tools without prior instruction. According to Turian reports the captive resisted all forms of interrogation, including physical torture. It was also noted that whenever it was physically threatened the captive would react violently inevitably killing its attacker but leaving the others unharmed.
Technology shown by the humans was complex, potent, and severely resistant to reverse engineering. All human weapons were designed to destroy themselves with hidden mechanisms. Human entertainment devices and computers would erase all data when exposed to any access method the scientists tried. Some reacted violently not only damaging themselves but those who were examining the devices. Many of the head researchers theorized that the humans were skilled in information warfare on a higher level than the STG.
Dalatrass Linron had to take a long break from the reports, their information was disturbing and deeply unsettling. A full solar cycle has passed before Linron could work up the nerve to compare the STG reports to the Turian reports. When she forced herself to immerse herself in the files again she was absolutely outraged. A priority message was sent directly to the Citadel immediately. The death sentence was a punishment that had not been used in centuries, but if she had her way Turian heads would roll!
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Few things ever broke up the tedious doldrums of the Citadel Counsel, however an attention drawing yell from the Salarian representative, Valern, did just that."The Turians did what?!" he exclaimed with seething outrage.
The other two counselors stared at their infuriated companion. Valern faced his Turian Counselor Sparatus his features etched in deep disgust. "Sparatus you lying piece of filth! You told us that the incident at relay three-one-four was a Rachni sighting! Not you exterminating a species during a first contact encounter!" The Salarian hissed, handing the STG reports to Asari Counselor Tevos, "Do you have any idea what you've done? Not only have you embittered yet another species against your race, your people have endangered the reputations of this Council once again! We cannot keep playing the part of a kind and benevolent culture if our peacekeepers slaughter an entire race when they first meet us!"
Tevos remained silent, reading the reports with visible distress. Sparatus backed away from his fellow counselor's fury, hands held up in a placating gesture. "Valern, it won't matter either way. The humans were breaking dozens of Citadel laws, including trying to activate a relay without permission! We could have had another war similar to the Rachni incident!"
"Don't try to make excuses for this Sparatus!" Valern demanded sternly, "Your precious general let his patrol open fire on a new race! For all we know they never got the chance to learn about the relay network yet! If that's not bad enough your commanders let General Arterius lead an assault on these 'humans' home world! Just for the technology they showed! Did any of your people even try diplomacy!?" Valern waited a scant few seconds for Sparatus to reply. The Turian held his tongue.
"Perfect. Just perfect." the Salarian leader slammed a nearby beverage to the floor, "We have a pre-relay, spaceflight species with incredibly advanced weaponry wandering the stars on a flotilla that now has an excuse to want us dead! All thanks to your peoples foolish desires and wounded pride!"
Tevos finally pulled herself out of the report. "Sparatus, you will have all Turians removed from the Human world immediately." She stated coldly.
"Now wait a moment!" Sparatus protested in vein.
"You have two choices now. The Turians will leave Shanxi, or they will leave the council."
"You can't do that!" the Turian exclaimed childishly, in shock, "The Turians are the protectors of the galaxy!"
"You are the 'protectors' who have just attacked infants!" bellowed Valern with rage, "If the estimates from the STG reports are even a fraction of the truth, your species is now at war with an enemy you cannot locate and nearly half your species entire fleet in need of repairs! When the criminals of the Terminus systems learn of this there will be a new age of piracy! If the Humans rebuild as fast as my scientists predict then we would be in a worse war than the Rachni! We have no Krogan to uplift and save us, the Quarians would only aid us in war if we offered them your people's place on the council, so with your people crippled we have no way to wage war! Particularly one you approved of!"
Valern activated a copy of Sparatus self incriminating transmission to General Arterius. "You hunt them down," The video of Sparatus commanded, his voice rich with embarrassed anger, "you blast them from orbit, and you take them over!"
Sparatus had the spirits graced dignity to look ashamed. "I will..." he swallowed thickly, choking down his pride, "I will inform Palaven command to remove our forces from Shanxi." The Turian Counselor walked out of the hall, feeling the glare of not only the council but also its guard looking at him with disdain and disgust.
Tevos took a seat, massaging her skull in a vain attempt to relieve the fresh wave of stress threatening to overcome her. "What are we going to do Valern? This news will not stay silent for long, not with these humans wandering the stars. They will want revenge, and honestly I can't blame them..."
Valern took a seat beside Tevos, "We send aid. The best of the other Citadel races. We must try to fix their homeland as well as we can. We can try to purge the radiation from the planet's atmosphere and infuse the soil with nutrients. Without more knowledge of human biology we can't introduce any radiation consuming bacteria or we could accidentally end up finishing the Turian's mistake." Valern sighed, "We cannot afford a war with this species. The technology they displayed would be devastating. While the human's claim not to use biological weapons to cause the outbreak of insanity on board 'Palaven's Might, they didn't deny they were responsible. The humans are incredibly skilled fighters, Tevos. If they push to fight the Turians... I suggest we let them. I won't let the Salarians suffer for the stupidity of the Turian warmongers."
"You must be joking." Tevos said, "There is no way that the people would approve of such a thing! Many would start riots just from the suggestion!"
"Not if we tell them the truth about the incident at relay three-one-four." Valern replied, solemnly
"We can't just let a slaughter commence with out at least trying diplomacy!" Tevos protested, "We can send a diplomatic party to make peace with the Humans who remain on Shanxi. We place them under our protection and nurture them until the others return."
"You do recall that those same others are no doubt preparing for a massive war. Even tracing their faster than light jumps we can't find a sign of them. Dalatrass Linron has already dispatched dozens of STG teams to both search for the Humans, and to search for survivors on the planet."
"I'm surprised that you've not already dispatched troops to acquire human technology." Tevos remarked dryly.
"I'm surprised that you didn't see that part of the report." Valern shot back, "Humans have designed everything they make to be difficult if not impossible to reverse engineer. Every thing is trapped, with entire systems built for the purpose of destroying any piece of technology that is disassembled in the wrong way. We can't even get proper readings on what they make their weapons out of, much less how they work. Until we gain knowledge of their inner workings, we can't even open up a computer without it melting into so much slag."
Tevos massaged her scalp more vigorously, the headache was getting worse. "So, just to review: we have a technologically advanced warrior race hidden somewhere in the galaxy that is most likely plotting revenge on the Turians. Thanks to the Turians own stupidity the humans have a massive number of advantages over them. And finally if we do support the Turians genocidal actions we would be endangering ourselves from either internal strife or from others seeking to exploit the inevitable weakness? Did I get everything or is the more bad news I forgot about?"
"I may have forgotten to inform you that the Dalatrass has already seen fit to make the STG reports public to counter the Turians assurances that the incident was a Rachni outbreak."
Tevos wanted to call back Sparatus and strangle him for helping to cause this catastrophe.
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News of the Turian's attempted genocide rippled across galactic news networks like an uncontrollable wildfire. The Dalatrass' gamble of broadcasting the entire STG report of the events on Shanxi was a public relations nightmare. The knowledge that the people's protector would turn on a new species so easily was shocking, many began wearily eying Turians with suspicion. Each of the space traveling species of the counsel had different reactions to the news.
On Palaven the Turian people were outraged, the members of Turian society having been fed the same Rachni cover story as the rest of the Citadel Species. Many grieving widows and mothers protested the actions of the Hierarchy, however that was only a small number. Most wanted revenge for their kin, the laws had been broken and their people had been killed. Their place in the galaxy was being threatened because the soft skinned newcomers couldn't die right.
Many Asari matriarchs began plotting the moment they heard of the Turians mistakes at Shanxi. Plans and ideas were hatched, ways to aid the humans and make them more susceptible to Asari influence. Ways to add human culture and technology to the Asari people. Even ideas of taking human mates and possibly interbreed were discussed. The Turians sought to make humanity a client race by force, the Asari would capture them with kindness instead.
Many races saw new markets and possibilities appear with the new race. The ones who could ally themselves with the humans could potentially gain access to the weaponry they could repel the Turian fleets. The fanged and violent Vorcha saw a new source of prey and a potential source of weapons. The four eyed Batarians saw a new slave market that would be easy to capture and abuse. The Elcor and Salarians foresaw a new leap in medical technology using the humans gene modification techniques.
The Quarians had an enormous interest in Shanxi's airspace. At the best of times it took decades to clean an area of debris from a space battle. News of the Turians forced recall from Shanxi's system had already spread. The space-fairing Quarians would have an opportunity to salvage the wreckage of dozens if not hundreds of ships. The nomadic fleet dispatched as many ships as it could. With only fifty thousand ships to their name, the thousand sent to claim what they could didn't seem like much. Each cargo vessel had been emptied of everything but the essentials, the ships crew replaced with the most talented Quarian engineers and scientists. With reckless haste the expedition rushed to Shanxi in the hopes that the remains of the titanic battle would improve the life of the Quarian people.
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The Citadel's commands were not well received by the Turian race. Members of the Turian Hierarchy met immediately to discuss and debate their next action, "We are the reason that they still run this galaxy! If not for us the Krogan would have overrun them decades ago!"
"The Council is overstepping its boundaries!" raged another Turian, this one a well known merchant, "We followed the law and exterminated the humans for their crimes! The Salarians had no rights releasing that report! Thanks to that, we've had multiple occurrences of pirates attacking Council borders! What's left of the fleet has to spend its time reinforcing patrols instead of hunting down the humans or taking whats left from their world!"
"Don't you see?" questioned another, "Dalatrass Linron released the report to prevent us from hunting the remaining humans. We have to chose. We simply do not have the numbers needed to secure Shanxi from scavengers or Human reinforcements and protect our territory!"
Primarch Fedorian watched over the assembly hall as all the leaders of the Turian Hierarchy bickered and raged over both the bittersweet victory at Shanxi and the resulting embarrassment. The decision to capture the planet and its people had been a very risky gamble in the first place. The potential gain was something he couldn't overlook. Weapons that ignored barriers and shields would give soldiers an unconquerable advantage on the battlefield. Ship armor that could block all but the strongest assaults could be used to build impenetrable walls and fortresses on the Turian worlds. The technology of the humans was too radically different. If the humans had joined the galaxy at large and their technology became widespread Turian power would lose its potency at a disastrous rate. Such an event could not be allowed, the Turians had fought and bled for their place in the galaxy. No race of children who had yet to touch a relay could be allowed to disrupt the status quo!
The Primarch's eyes swept over the assembly. The leader of the Turian race kept a vigilant eye on the one person who had yet to speak and had caused the galaxy wide upset: General Desolas Arterius. The shamed General had been strangely silent after returning to the Turian home world. The Turian's once noble and well groomed appearance had become grave and gaunt. His eyes had darkened, his visage become more feral and no matter what expression he made, the general's face always seemed to be enraged.
The Turian race stood on a razors edge. On one hand, they could pursue the humans, but would risk alienating the galactic community and expulsion from the Citadel. On the other, they could abandon the pursuit of the Alliance and focus on preparing for the inevitable war and wait for the Citadel to forget and forgive. Either way, the Turians would lose face to the galaxy. The Turian race would be seen the same as the Krogan. Nothing but blood thirsty, violent, thugs.
That could not be allowed to happen.
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The slums of Shastinasio were disgusting, dark, and largely ignored by the Turian security forces. Invictus' capital city had been the temporary home of XCOM's Wolfpack for little more than three Earth weeks. Their home of the moment was an unfinished housing project that had been left unfinished for some reason or another. The Wolfpack had performed their duties diligently after the initial set up. Beltway had strapped dozens of explosives around the base, and prepped several stockpiles for when they finally made their move. Four-eyes had set up a field lab and kidnapped a new alien nightly. Sadly there was an abundance of Quarians and very few others besides Batarians and Vorcha. Between Bertha's knowledge of biology and Four-eyes medical prowess they had gained plenty of samples to return to Sol. Due to the stealth requirements for the mission, Night Hawk had been forced to stay on board the stealth scout. Without the ship, there was no way to relay or receive orders from the commander.
While the others stayed at the base and kept it well hidden, Lupo, Vector and Spectre spent their time wandering the planet. Thanks to some environmental outfits that had been 'generously donated' by some of Four-eyes Quarian friends the trio could move around the city without risk of compromising their identities. The retrofitted environment suits provided decent disguises with only one flaw. The Quarian's legs were digitigrade, and unfortunately the team couldn't fix that personal detail without a specialized reconstructive surgery. The few others who noticed that detail were quickly eliminated. Sadly it seemed slums were the same amongst all species, as long as the body was stripped of wealth and left in the trash, the authorities were all too willing to write them off as a robbery.
The planet's defenses were easy enough to scout out. The capital was a fort, the only real city worth noting, and the only one with a public spaceport. The first week was spend establishing and securing the their base of operations. The second week was spent distributing Beltway's explosives to key areas, and disguising them to be apart of the target. Hospitals, power hubs, communications arrays. Everything that would be needed during a crisis was targeted, and explosives left in areas of low risk of discovery. The purpose of the bombs was a distraction, to sow chaos instead of to injure. Eventually the city had been seeded with dozens of Beltway's gifts. As an extra special gift, several higher tier explosives had been placed in high population residential areas in the middle class areas, the planet's equivalent to apartment complexes. Rather than chaos, these were designed to kill. The oddly formed buildings collapse would cause a suitably high death toll to help add to the chaos when the real operation began.
With Sadistic glee the team had interrogated a large number of victims, breaking them overtime before allowing Four-eyes to have her way with what was left. The members of the slums knew vary little beyond basic locations and common knowledge. Humanity's wolves would hunt at night. Abducting low risk targets, return them to base, observe a new target, and repeat the next night. The Turian authorities had increased security for the upper class, but the slums and the foolish were still easy pickings. Several overconfident officers had found themselves in the black ops' care. They never lasted the night.
By the end of the third week the team was beginning to become bored, eventually without something new torture of no-name nobodies got old. Lupo was sitting at a makeshift table, nothing more than a slab of stone perched on some construction materials. The leader kept her hands busy, sharpening a combat knife with practiced ease. After a dozen strokes across her blade the earpiece she wore began beeping, most likely another transmission from Night Hawk. With a tap to her ear she activated her receiver, "Lupo, here." she answered, continuing her work.
"The council has given their blessing." replied the voice of Jack Harper, "Black Ops Team Alpha, commence operation outbreak."
