Hello everyone, my name is IAnswerToNoOne and welcome to another chapter of The Eternal Cycle! Today, we will be talking about what the Council and the Union really want when they send ships into each others space, and the relationship that the two governments have. Now, this one was really fun to write, and I hope you like it too. Anyway, let's jump right into it. (Based off of LowkoTV's intro)
I'm not dead. O.O I know, right? I'm so sorry for not updating in awhile. Homework is absolutely terrifying, all of my teachers do homework checks every day, I have several assignments at a time, I have had a lot more in terms of extracurriculars, and I just can't keep up. So, yeah, sorry. I am also on several teams, all of which are cutting into my writing time. Before this semester started, I had half an hour dedicated to writing. Now, I am basically using whatever free time I have (read = none) to write and continue this story.
aDarkOne: The 'Toss can do it as well, the Zerg might be getting another unit that can do so, and… not telling you this part. That'd be spoiling.
AmethystPone: Not yet.《Smiles and rubs hands together》Not quite yet.
Blaze1992: Thank you for the Review. I never said that TIM wasn't going to be in this. I just said that the Systems Alliance won't be in this fic. You'll get a bit more on that in this chapter. Ummmmm, the Quarians just slipped my mind. I have been planning the next bit of this story and I just forgot about them. And thank you for holding back. I know that I had a few plot holes that I fixed, but if you could find any more, tell me and I'll try to fix it. And yes, I prefer PMs over Reviews when it comes to questions. Thank you for the rating as well! I'm glad that you like this fic. I don't plan on abandoning this fic anytime soon.
dveth: I will freely admit that I am biased in this story as I have been playing Starcraft since Wings of Liberty, the first expansion that came out in 2010 and I have just picked up the Mass Effect one last year. While seven years may not sound like a long time for some of you, please remember that I am still in high school. I don't think that I have said this on this fanfic, but I will take all Reviews to heart. Here's the thing. I am willing to take harsh and/or brutally honest reviews to the story. As you said 'the author', I took this a bit more personally than another brutally honest Review I received. I realise that there are some (many) areas that I can improve on, and I am trying. Ummmmm, the Zerg. I didn't think that you guys would want a play-by-play for the Zerg, as they would just overwhelm their opponents with numbers, rather than with tactics like the Terrans and Protoss. I would still like to thank you for the Review however, even if you said that you wouldn't read this fic any more.
Swordworks: I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean by the aliens are war to 'human'. While I agree, the characters talk quite a bit, I am trying to ensure that all of my readers understand what is happening. If I was someone with no previous knowledge on Mass Effect or Starcraft, then it would be confusing. So, as it is, I am trying to explain everything to my readers.
RedRat8: I didn't even post it for half an hour and you reviewed. And I did it during lunchtime while at school! Thank you for the Review and for reading my story. You guys don't know how much you guys reading my work means to me.
Anyway, let's get on with the chapter now shall we?
Italic = Thoughts
{ } = Protoss speech
[ ] = Zerg hive mind speech
( ) = Psionic speech
《》 = Something That I, As The Writer, Am Doing
I don't own Mass Effect or Starcraft 2. Time to get control of it. 《Smiles and cackles maniacally!》
Neutral Space
Union Tribunal/Citadel Council Meeting Area
08/16/12
1158 Cycles
As the Destiny Ascension sat unmoving in space, the Councillors fidgeted impatiently. They had contacted the Union and were waiting for them to show up. The meeting time was in two minutes, but it was always polite to be a bit early. They of course had a rather large fleet in a nearby system, but if the Union came in with the Union's Wrath, they weren't sure what could stop them.
Valern knew the possibility of getting a task force in their space was slim, but having such a force within would allow them to see how the average citizen if the Union would act, and it would hopefully allow bridges to form between the two governments. He was hoping to have some samples of Union technology, as well as some DNA samples, but those odds were negligible. At least there would be less animosity.
Tevos and Sparatus had the same thoughts as their Salarian counterpart, though without the tech. Tevos and Valern wanted to know more about the psionic abilities that the Union had, while the Turian wanted to know what the abilities of the Union fleet consisted of.
"Councillors, ten seconds to the meeting time."
The Councillors took the last few seconds to tidy themselves up before the big meeting.
At the last second, the stars tunneled in and three ships appeared out of nothing. They were once again, the Olympus, the Antioch, and Sookgoong's Leviathan.
The diplomats came in through Warp Prism once again. The small crystalline ship flew into the Asari dreadnought and the three leaders once again met with the Citadel Council. Instead of a verbal beat down like last time, they were all meeting on equal ground.
When a Terran Ghost and a Spectre exited a Medivac, two Hunter Killers dropped out of an Overlord, and two High Templar warped in from their Warp Prism, the Council security guards jumped slightly and began to level their weapons. A slight gesture from Executor Pallin halted that movement just before the Union leaders left the shuttle.
The white and gold armoured one, Artanis, nodded in respect to the Turian, as did the Emperor, while the Queen of Blades didn't bother.
Valerian turned sharply towards the three Councillors. "What is it that you want?"
Most of the officers gasped in surprise. No one spoke to the Council in such a way. One of them seemed to even take personal offense to the rude way that it was carried across, and began to raise his weapon. Again, the Executor saved the officer's life with a gesture, or at the very least the life of his gun.
The Councillors, however knew that the bluntness was just part of their way of life, and not them being rude.
"We are here to discuss the possibility of having a task force in your space. Nothing too big, no more than a force of four hundred. We don't want to have an animosity between us. We want to at least be neutral with each other."
The three Union leaders glanced at each other in surprise, as they had wanted to have a force in their space as well. Still, the three thought about it, weighing the options at the speed of thought. Valerian nodded, then turned towards the Council. "We only have three stipulations. One, we get to have our own task force, two, you don't get to determine how things are governed here and three, not too many people on the planet, no more than a hundred. So if there was a thief, you don't get to decide how to police the man. Or a murderer. Your force would report the convict to us, and we would deal with him. And you will not be allowed to have more than a hundred men on one of our planets at a time, unless it is an emergency, which you can call."
Sparatus looked irritated with that, but nodded his assent. The psionics could tell that he had been hoping to change some of the laws that the Union had to match the Citadel's more, but that was no longer possible. He was shocked however when they said that they could call what an emergency would be. The other two Councillors were fine with those stipulations.
Valern sighed in relief. That was easier than I thought it would be.
{I am under the impression that that wasn't the only thing that you wanted to talk to us about.} Artanis said, breaking the momentary silence.
Valern smiled. Oh course they would know. The Salarian sighed, but before he began, the Hierarch spoke.
{I did not read your mind, Councillor. I have been alive for a very long time, several centuries, in fact. You come to recognise the body language. What is it, Councillor, that you want?}
"Well, I wanted to discuss trade once more." At the surprised looks on the Union faces, he continued. "Nothing major. Just alcohol, foods, furniture, anything else that you want. I realise that you have wanted to remain secretive and apart from us, but we would like to become closer as galactic powers. Perhaps one day, we may become allies."
At this, Valerian and Kerrigan snorted, but retained their composure. Valerian smirked as he knew the Citadel would have very little in terms of allies if an engagement actually happened.
"Us becoming allies is unlikely, but in the off chance it does, I would be glad to engage in trade with you. What are you willing to sell?"
"Food, alcohol, furniture, again, no weapons, or shields because of obvious reasons."
Kerrigan stared at the Turian in irritation. "Actually, since we had such an abundance of Batarian shields and weapons, we decided to do some tests, the results would not be good for you."
Valerian motioned for Kerrigan to calm down, before he jumped in, not letting the Council off the hook. "Add in the armour we took off of SPECTRE Saren Arterius, we tested our weapons against both the best and average shields that you have developed. We shredded them. We, as in the Terrans. The Protoss' attacks weren't affected whatsoever, and the Zerg can control themselves enough to go straight through your shields. As for your weapons, we have determined with the Geth that you use primarily the same weapons. As such, the weapons that the Batarians used were studied with and as well. For reasons that you would understand, we won't tell you the results of said tests."
The Councillors were obviously put out with this information, but there wasn't anything they could do about it. Still, they were here to get a task force into Union space, trade was just a bonus.
Valern quickly nodded and shut up. There was nothing to gain by arguing with them. There was one more thing that he wanted to know however. "Is it possible for you to explain how psionics work? Ever since you… 'Dominated' me, I have wondered. Is it something uncontrollable, or is it something that you can put in someone?"
Valerian smiled. This was a side of the Salarian that he liked, not the politician, but the scientist within. "Well, no one know what causes psionics to form in Terrans but it is very uncommon. One in every ten million Terrans is a psionic. There are different levels of psionics, of course. Most are fairly weak, at levels one to five. But the ones that are more powerful, the levels six to nine, they are found and trained from a young age to become most of our SpecOps soldiers. I trust you remember Tosh and Nova? They are psionics, level nines, to be exact, and they are one of, if not the best Terran soldiers."
Valern stared at the two figures with a new respect. He had never really payed attention to them before, but now that he did, he realised that they were two very different people. Their armour and weapons were different, and they even seemed to use their 'psionic' abilities in different ways, if the lights in their armour was any indication. The female had a skin-tight grey uniform with a nasty looking sniper rifle. There were plenty of other gadgets that he couldn't even guess the use for. The other one, Tosh, had dark grey armour that had red lights sliding through it and his eyes were a milky white. Even the vibes coming from them were different. Whereas Nova's was more quiet and contained power, Tosh had a presence that was very aggressive and forced itself on others. He also knew, had he been forced to choose between the two, he would rather have shot himself instead. Both options promised torture and pain. Still…
"So you are open to the idea of trade between us." This was said more as a statement than a question, but there was still that factor in the Turian's voice.
"{Yes Councillors, we are. I highly doubt that you would be trading with the Zerg and Protoss however, as we need very little and the Zerg, even less, unless you are privy to giving them meat.}
Startled, Valerian looked over at Kerrigan. "About that, how are the farms doing? I know that I sent some shipments over. How do the 'lings like it?"
Kerrigan grinned with mirth. "Well, the 'lings love it, as well as the Hydras, but the Roaches seem to like tougher meat."
Valerian grinned ruefully. "One more thing to get done." Turning to the Councillors, the Terran stared at the Turian in particular. "I know that we already agreed to have ships in each other's space, but I would still like to see what type of ship you are bringing into our space. The name, weapon specs and armour specs for our ship will be given to you in return. And… what DNA do you have? I know that we have different strands but I don't remember what you are."
The Turian stared quietly at the Emperor. Then, "We are Dextro-based beings. And I am willing to give you the specs."
Valerian just inclined his head. "Then we will be able to give you the Quarian foods then. And I will give you ours." Turning to the Asari and Salarian, he repeated the question.
"Dextro." came from the Salarian while the Asari said 'Levo.'
Valerian nodded. That was one thing out of the way. "Is there anything else you wanted to talk to us about?"
After the Councillors shook their heads in a negative, the Tribunal nodded in respect and walked out of the room.
Nihlus, who was waiting on the side, walked in. "So, I get a team that can operate in their space. What do you want me to do while I am in their space?"
Tevos straightened and as she watched the dull, metal, two engined ship, the fat bulbous thing and the crystal leave. Still distracted she answered the SPECTRE. "The primary objective of this is to have relations between the Citadel Council and the Union. Anything else that you can help them with is appreciated. If you can make them change their ways, then that would be even better, but the way things are now, you are just going to be the bridge between the two governments. For instance, any questions that the Union citizens might have regarding the Citadel, tell them. In the best possible light of course."
Nihlus nodded. "Who will be on my team? I know of a few mercenaries and bodyguards out there that could do very well with me."
Sparatus waved his hand in dismissal. "Whoever you want. Perhaps you can bridge gaps within our borders as well."
Bowing, the SPECTRE left the room.
Shala'Raan
Rannoch
08/14/12
The one-time Quarian admiral leaned back into her chair with a sigh. "Why is there so much paperwork?"
Tali'Zorah, her niece and a brilliant engineer smiled under her mask. "Auntie, you knew there would be a lot of paperwork if we got Rannoch back."
Shala'Raan scowled and moaned. "I know, but I wish there wasn't so much!" She whimpered as she stared at the pile before her. It was two feet tall and it seemed to grow every second. How is it that there is so much paperwork, especially since it is spread out over 5 Admirals? She sighed. Turning in her chair, she looked over at her niece. "What do you want, Tali?"
Tali plopped down on the bed. "There is a new job opening at the Dominion. They need several hundred engineers, as well as other personnel, medics, and soldiers specifically. It looks like they want to build a new ship, and they want me to help them. Can I go?"
Shala stated quietly at her niece. She new that she was technically her guardian, since her father left and they hadn't been able to contact him, but to have to take care of her like this was terrifying. "Yes, Tali. You can go."
The young Quarian tackled her aunt in a hug. "Thank you auntie." Pulling away, the engineer smiled. She ran to the door and had almost left the room before turning around again. "Are you going to come with me?"
Shala'Raan thought about it for a while before shaking her head. "No, I think that Rannoch and the rest of the Admirals need someone levelheaded with them. I think that it would be best for me to stay here on Rannoch. I do wish you the best at the job though. How long will it be?"
Tali shook her head. "I don't know. They don't know either. They said that it could be several months. I am pretty sure that it will be quite a bit longer, so I think that it'll be seven or eight months."
Shala'Raan rose from her chair and hugged her niece in farewell. "I'll see you soon Tali."
"See you soon, auntie."
And with that, the young Quarian left the room.
Thousands of scenes like this were being done all over Rannoch as Quarians from all over were hired and were going to work.
Thousands of Marines, Marauders and other Terran forces were being evaluated as they came in. In the end, there was only going to be just over three hundred people aboard the soon to be constructed *TD Normandy.
Somewhere in space, the newly promoted Commander Minerva Shepard smiled.
Over the next four weeks, the Citadel went around collecting everyone that they had previously contacted. Professor Mordin Solus, a Salarian that helped create the Genophage who would provide tech support, Bejnam Tavry, another Salarian that was an experienced Commander in the STG, as well as Nihlus' second in command, Tela Vasir, an Asari SPECTRE that specialises in biotics, and Edide Karmodle, a Turian sniper that got second at the C-Sec shooting range championship, only losing to a disguised SPECTRE Saren Arterius.
The Citadel had trouble creating a ship that could operate in Union space without seeming aggressive, yet was also able to defend themselves. Eventually, they decided on a mostly Turian design, with a central spine and wings that go out on either side. With four engines of Asari design, the ship was quite a bit faster than most other Citadel ships of the same size. With its 4 Thanix cannons, the scaled down prototype of the Infinite Mass Gun, and the most advanced GARDIAN laser systems that they had, it was quite the powerhouse. The ship was going to be 600 metres long and would be the most advanced ship in the Citadel, not counting the Destiny Ascension. Still, they didn't know what the Union could do to them. The CC Normandy would be the ideal ship for the Citadel team and it would be the one that they would be using. It had several advantages over observed Terran ships, so it would hopefully be able to win a one on one battle with a Terran ship. If it's a 'Loki' Battlecruiser though, it dead. The best thing about the ship though, was the fact that it was incredibly fast, and had a lot in terms of firepower. The compromise was that it had very little armour, and it would fall apart after a few kinetic hits. Thankfully, the designers had taken the fact that the Union seemed to use energy weapons more often than not into consideration and made the armour with a very heat resistant metal that wasn't too weak. While it could operate in atmosphere, it wasn't suggested as the hull wasn't made to survive atmospheric combat, and the hull was very brittle. In other words, it was a glass cannon.
Still, unless they wanted to sacrifice the ability to operate in atmosphere, the ship had its weaknesses.
Nihlus sat at his desk, reading through the files. There were some really good assets out there that he should employ, but he knew that there were still hundreds more to look through. He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. While some of the crew had already been decided, there was still well over half of the ship empty, and it was his job to pick some more. He wanted to have a balanced set of troops, not necessarily all biotics, and not all snipers, but a good mix. There was still quite a way to go, especially since some of the personnel in the group that he wanted was still technically outside of the law. He would have to go and get them himself. Nihlus glared at the screen. There was an Asari Matriarch that could be asked to join them, but considering the normally passive nature that they had, and their unbelievable patience, there was a good chance that they wouldn't want to join them. Still, having such a biotic reserve would be very helpful. He had some sources that pointed him to a Matriarch who worked as a bartender on Illium however, and, according to them, she looked quite irritated that her views were brushed off so easily. Still, she was a Matriarch, and that would be helpful.
Glancing at the chronometer, he scowled. It was 10:00 at night. And I still have several hundred more to get through… He sighed. It was going to be a long night.
08/16/12
Dylarian Shipyards
Tali'Zorah vas Rannoch walked off of the transport with a smile. There was quite a bit of noise, with engineers calling for certain pieces of metal, and others grinding metal with their fusion cutters. There were massive rigs that the Terrans called '*SCV's' that used their Fusion Cutters to cut metal, then sent them off to other specialized SCV's to create a workable product. Most of the shipwork was still made mostly by hand though, as the massive rigs weren't the best for fine maneuvers. Tali, as well as several hundred Quarians that joined the same program that she did, stared at the sight. They were on a space station that was three kilometres long and had several construction areas.
"Hey! What're you doing here?"
Tali and the others turned to see two men coming towards them, one of them with a prosthetic arm, and a massive rig strapped onto his back while the other one was rather skinny, with grey hair and grey .
Tali stepped forwards, taking the lead. "My name is Tali'Zorah, and these are some of the other Quarians that came to work for the ship that you're building."
Rory Swann grinned impishly. "Good. We need more people working on this stuff. You know how to use Fusion Cutter?"
Tali blinked in surprise. "A… what?" Glancing around at the other Quarians, she turned back to the Terrans. "No, we don't. We learn quickly though."
Rory smiled. "I don't doubt that."
The other man turned towards him in obvious disgust. "Really? You turned down experienced SCV pilots for aliens that don't even know how to use a Fusion Cutter?" He turned towards the Quarian group. "If you don't learn how to use it in three hours, you're out. That is, if you can lift it."
Tali rose and stared at the man. They were approximately the same height and she got right up into his face. "Challenge accepted. What happens when we win?"
He snorted. "Little arrogant, aren't you? Fine. You get to work on the ship, and you get to look over the design to see what needs fixing." Not bothering to see whether or not they accepted, the man grunted and left.
Rory sighed. "Sorry 'bout that. Ben isn't the best when it comes to aliens. He was one of the colonists on Elysium. That changed his perspective when it comes to the Citadel species, whether it be current ones or ones that they shunned. As long as they aren't Terrans, Protoss, or Zerg, he doesn't like 'em. Most Terrans should be fine. Maybe a bit irritated that you took their jobs, but nothing really bad. And even if you weren't an alien, he runs a tight ship here. He's the overseer of this place."
Tali nodded. "As interesting as that is, I think that I should start working on the Fusion Cutters, I only have a couple of hours to learn anyway."
Swann smiled. "You better get going then. Hey! Chris! Get over here! These are the new engineers. They need to learn how to use Fusion Cutter. In three hours."
Chris sighed before nodding gruffly. "You make a bet with Ben?"
Swann nodded and smiled. "Standard loss. Twenty credits."
Chris grinned. "Well, I better get to work then. C'mon, I'll show you the shop."
The group of Quarians followed the lone Terran to the main metalworking area. The sound of Fusion Cutters and power drills rang loudly around them. Chris brought them over to a calmer area before pulling out the largest handheld machine that Tali had ever seen. "This," Chris grunted, "This is a Fusion Cutter," he said as he slammed it down on the table. Tali gaped at the sight of it. It had a massive cone-shaped top that ended with a focus point that Tali assumed the laser would come out. It had several buttons and levers that seemed a bit out of place. Tali looked over at the Terran. "Excuse me, but why would you need so many buttons and levers just to use a laser?"
Chris smiled grimly. "You need to pull several levers in a certain order, then you have to press two buttons at the same time to use the cutter. The levers are for security, so that no one other than you can use the cutter, and the buttons are to make sure that less workplace accidents happen. If it didn't have the button, for example, and I dropped it, for example, it would just keep going off. With it, as soon as I let go of one button, the thing stops, and you have to do the security check again just to use it." He shrugged. "At least they aren't weakening SCV chassis anymore. Last time they did that, the SCV death toll skyrocketed. Then they went on strike, and the Terran economy dropped like a stone."
Tali could only stare at the massive machine. It looked like it would crush her if she tried to pick it up. "Ummmmmmm," she said plaintively, "how much does it weigh?"
Chris frowned as he took a look at the group. "Yeah, it does look like quite a bit for you, doesn't it? Well, for your information, it weighs about a hundred pounds. Add in the fact that you have to hook your hands in a certain way to hold the machine, I don't think that you can lift this. Uhhh, can you do anything about this?"
Tali smiled. "Actually, yes. Wait, I need to go back to the ship. I have some Eezo there that should help us with this."
Chris shook his head. "I don't know what Eezo is, but it better help you. I hate it when I lose to Ben. Last time I did, I had to work overtime. Unpaid, mind you."
Tali smiled. "I think you'll like it."
Ten minutes later, after she returned with a bag full of dust. Chris stared dubiously at the bag.
"That's going to help you lift the Fusion cutter? Forgive me if I'm skeptical, but I don't think that that'll help."
Tali smiled. She grabbed the bag and sprinkled the dust all over it before zapping it with a battery. Immediately, the table quit groaning and straightened out, contrary to the bent interior it previously had.
"What was that?"
Tali smiled triumphantly, along with the rest of the Quarians. "This is Element Zero, or Eezo. It exists, but has no mass, as such, Element Zero. it has the potential to change the mass of anything that it contacts, provided it receives an electric charge. The cutter should now weigh … 10? 10 kilograms?"
Chris grabbed the cutter and grunted as he lifted it much more easily than normal. He stared in wonder at the cutter. Then, he stared at the Quarians. "You got anymore of that stuff?"
One of the Quarians quickly straightened. "Give me a few hours. I can get some more." And with that, he ran from the room.
Chris raised his eyebrows in response to that. "Well, that just happened."
Tali smiled. "Don't worry, Laob is always like that. He was a crewmember of one of the main mining ships, so I think that he could get us some more. Still, it is nice to have a machine that we can lift. So," her smiled turned predatory. "Show us how to use it again."
Two hours later, Ben walked back into the armoury, certain that he had won the bet, especially since he thought that the Quarians wouldn't be able to lift the cutter. To his surprise, and irritation, he saw the group operating the cutters with a precision and ease that only experienced SCV pilots had. Ben ground his teeth as he saw how well the Quarians were doing. They lifted the cutters with ease and cut and welded the metal better than some of the workers here.
"Hey Ben! How do you think they're doing?"
The floor overseer glared at his second. The grin on his face was way to apparent.
"How are you proud of them? Can you not see how much of an impact having an entirely new species into the Union would affect the economy? Sure it would boom at first, as there is a fresh source of labour, but soon, the boom will even off, and the market, that was already incredibly competitive, would be even more so. There are thousands of applicants for my shipyard, and only a handful make it in. If all of these Quarians were as good as this group, then there would be no Terran metal workers, and no Terran engineers. That means that we'll have more and more people without a job, and more and more people on the streets. Not a word, you! I've had enough of aliens in my life. I don't need more than the two that we had," he said as he whirled around and glared at Chris. "Having the Quarians join us would destabilise the entire Dominion!" Spinning back around, he glared spitefully at the aliens. "Get off of my shipyard."
Kraeger stepped in front of Tali before shaking his head. "No. You made a bet, and you lost. Honour it."
"Get off of my shipyard! If I see another one of your kind on this place, then so help me, I'll space the lot of you."
Before anything else could be said, strong hands clamped down on his shoulders, before dragging him off. Tali and the other Quarians stared at Swann as he dragged Ben off to his locker before calling Raynor. Luckily, the Terran inspecting the shipyard when the altercation happened. Tali could only stare at the intimidating bulk of the man, not only was he really large, but he also seemed very charismatic. Before the Terran could say anything, Kraeger stepped forwards.
"If you are going to be prejudiced against us, just as that man," Kraeger spat out the words, "then I am considering telling the rest of the Admiralty Board of the injustice that we just experienced. If we have to go through that again, then I will suggest to them that we should leave the Union, as I am certain that the rest of us agree with. You said that the Union has no prejudice, evidently, you are wrong."
Raynor said nothing as the Quarian ranted, just looking on with an impassive face. When the rant finally ended, he took a deep breath and started speaking. "Well, I wouldn't base all of your ideas on one person. I mean, seriously, Swann made a bet encouraging you, and then he helped you to get rid of Ben. By the way," he said as he glaced at Swann, "where is he?"
Rory grinned. "Sitting in the boiler room." At Raynor's disbelieving look, he shrugged. "What? I needed him out of the way, and punish him, but I couldn't do it since I wasn't with him, so I just put him in a spot where he could get out of the way, without damaging our diplomatic talk." Still seeing the look, he caved. "Well, you should've heard some of the things that he called them. I'm not going into the things."
The Terran commander looked at the Quarians sadly. "I apologise for the rudeness. Please excuse him, as he had had one of the worst lives that I know. As it is, I have been… unsuccessful in removing speciesism and racism." He coughed and smiled. "Now that the formal stuff is over, could you tell me what happened?"
The Quarians were shocked at the 180 turn. Kraeger however quickly got over his shock and stepped up to the commander. "We had just left the transport when that man, Ben, started harassing us. He went and insulted our ability, or lack thereof, to use a Fusion Cutter. I thought you said that there would be no prejudice within the borders of the Union. If this is your idea of no prejudice, then we were sorely mistaken when we joined the Union."
Raynor hung his head in shame. "I know. Ben was never the best with aliens, and even worse after he went on vacation. I think he went on vacation to the place where it was attacked. By your government." He held up his hands placatingly before continuing. "I know that it wasn't the Quarian Admiralty, but some people don't understand that, and generalise the fact that it wasn't the Union, so it was them. Who 'them' is, is unclear, but it is clear that it wasn't the Union. In some of our simpler minds, if it isn't the Union, it's the Citadel. I'm sorry."
One of the Marines who was acting as security walked up to Swann. "You said that Ben was in the boiler room?"
Swann nodded. "Yeah. He's in there, tied up as well."
The Marine shook his head. "Nope. He's not in there."
Swann did a double take. "What?"
The Marine sighed. "He got out of the bonds. There was a pile of cut wire there. It looked like it was cut with a pocket-"
"-cutter, right." Swann sighed, before turning to the Quarians. "Yeah, I'm sorry 'bout that. I didn't check him for anything," he said sheepishly.
The Quarians stared at the man in shock. He had just tied up a colleague to protect political bonds, and then apologised to people he barely knew.
Raynor frowned. Ben was a good overseer, organised, responsible, and had quite a bit of money from his job. He ran the shipyard efficiently, and very safely. There were only two instances of injury in this facility, both of which had been uncontrollable. And, since no one else knew about this incident, he was probably already off of the station.
Heh, I wonder if he'll start a 'terrorist group', same as me. An anti-Citadel terrorist group. That'd be something. At least he has the resources to properly fund one. I wonder what he'll call it?
Raynor shook the idea from his head. Ben was a criminal now, and since this was as political as it was physical, he had to go after him.
"Well, on a happier note, how do you like the job?"
The Quarians stared at him for a couple seconds, as if determining whether or not it was a joke question. Finally, Tali answered him. "I like it. It gives me a chance to compare different designs and compare them to our ships. Maybe we could learn something from your designs."
Tali glanced longingly at the schematics that were on screen a few metres away. "I wonder what we could learn from each other."
The other Terrans looked at the Quarian. Swann had, of course, already seen the Quarian ship designs, and was utterly unimpressed. He did realise, of course that the Quarian ships were designed to carry shipping containers, and to sustain life, but there were so many more efficient ways of doing so. Swann still grinned and waved her over to the holo-projector. Tali, as well as some other Quarians, ran over from cutting and started poring over the map. Swann and Raynor could only stare as the aliens argued and shouted over each other, talking about things that the latter could only hope to understand.
Swann glanced at Raynor before running over and animatedly talking with the aliens about the finer points of Terran technology and designs.
Raynor could only stare at his longtime friend in astonishment. Sometimes even he forgot that he was an engineer at heart.
Citadel
Warehouse District
09/17/12
Saren woke up with both eyes missing and one of his arms torn off. Thankfully, he was able to contact one of his 'friends' who would be able to give him replacements. He remembered the torture and extraction methods that they had used. He had been snooping around on one of the more populated planets when he was captured. That had been nearly a month ago.
Revanscar
Research Facility
18/23/12
He was quietly grabbing one of the smaller computers when a patrol spotted him. It consisted of four Marines and two Marauders. He had spend enough time around them to realise that the Union had quite and bit of firepower, and these guys had a fair amount of it. Sprinting away, he had ducked behind a nearby desk and pulled out his customised HWMA Master Assault Rifle. It had three times the normal amount of Eezo in it, making the ammunition fly much faster. Calming himself, he leaned out of cover and quickly shot one of the marines in the head. There was a quiet gurgle as a hole appeared in the orange visor of the lead marine, and he fell. Activating his tactical cloak, he ran from the site just as alarms began blaring. Behind him, he could hear the Marine talking into his comm unit. "Sir, I can see him moving in the motion sensor, but I can't fire on him as long as he's in the room. I'm pretty sure that he's got cloaking tech." Seconds later, a voice came blasting over the speakers.
"Damn it! He's got cloaking tech! Requesting scans, Ravens, and Missile Turrets! Send the alert to the rest of the base! Tell the psionics to try to sense him! We can't let the Council get our tech."
Still sprinting away from the patrol group, Saren grabbed anything that looked important and wasn't locked down, as most of the base was. Pressing himself to a wall, he slowly snuck past a few Marines that were watching the door. He snorted. Idiots. If you wanted to watch the door for a cloaked enemy, close the door, then, when it opens, shoot through. Still, I better not complain. It's not like it's a bad thing.
Saren glanced down each hallway before stepping in. There was often at least one soldier at the end of each hall. None of them saw him, but many of them shifted slightly, before leveling their guns down the hall. That was enough to tell him that the Marines and Marauders had some sort of technology that would show them his relative position, if not the exact location. Saren peeked over his shoulder to check if there was anyone there, but when he turned around, there was a slight hiss as his cloak finally ran out. Looking at his recharge rate, he saw that he wouldn't be able to cloak for at least another few minutes. Quickly finding a corner he could hide in, he sat, and calmed himself. There was no way for the Terrans to find him, not in the washroom. Saren looked through his options. He had no way off the planet, since the Terrans had most likely found and destroyed his ship already, and the cloaking tech wouldn't even be active, so it was a sitting duck. Quietly, almost too quietly for even him to hear, the door swung open. Carefully backing up into one of the stalls, he climbed in and stood on the toilet, waiting for the person to leave. What shocked him the most was when the person spoke.
"I know you are in there, Saren Arterius. We fought on Elysium after you tried to attack the settlement." There was a pause, before the voice, male, chuckled. "Oh, right. I made you forget, didn't I? Alright, let's do this again. I am Jax Vakir, Spectre, of the Terran Dominion Special Forces."
Saren narrowed his eyes in confusion. He knew that he hadn't met anyone from the Dominion yet, and the way that the Terran had said it… it was exactly the same way that he introduced himself, to cause the most amount of fear. The smirk in the Terran's voice definitely made him aware that they had indeed met, and Saren did not finish the job. While he didn't remember this, it certainly didn't help when Jax spoke in a deathly calm voice.
"I know this base like the back of my hand. There is only one entrance into this washroom. I have rations and food, you do not. We destroyed your ship, and I doubt anything in that pack of yours can contact the Council. I can wait you out, or you can come out and fight like a man." There was a slight hesitation and a chuckle. "Bird thing. Whatever. If you don''t come out of the room in three minutes, I will assume that you want to wait me out, and I will simply barricade you in. I also give you my word that the exit of this room is not trapped in any way." Again, there was a pause, then, a dark snort. "Since you think that remaining silent will make me think that there is no one in this room, I will simply barricade the door now. You have 30 seconds." With those final words, the door of the washroom swung shut.
Saren stood there, shocked by the declaration. Quickly, he made his decision. However much he hated to admit it, there was nothing wrong with the observations that the Spectre had made. He had to leave, but in a way that didn't make it look like he was the victim. Leaving the stall, he hopped down and strode towards the door. Hesitating a bit before opening it, he scanned it with this Omni-tool. When it didn't detect anything, he cautiously took a step out. Seeing the Terran that identified himself as Jax Vakir, he had to say that he was disappointed. He had expected someone taller than him, and at least as buff. Instead, there was a 6'2" man, in some sort of armour, that had a gun that was over a metre long. He also held a knife in a very relaxed grip, indicating that he was very comfortable with it. Activating his Omni-blade, Saren approached the man cautiously.
"Alright, you're out. So, I'm Jax, and you're Saren. I challenge you to a duel. Knives or guns, your choice."
Saren narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "What do you want?"
The responding chuckle was half muted by the mask the man wore. "I want to kick your ass. And then use the tactics that you use with your targets against you."
"What do you mean?"
There was obviously a smirk beneath the mask when Jax answered him. "Oh, I don't know, how about the torture methods that you used against the son of a Hanar senator? Slowly depriving him of water, using crest clippers to slowly cut off his tentacles."
Saren started. There was no way that anyone knew about that. He had done it in a specific hideout on an asteroid that very few people knew existed. The fact that he did meant that he had a leak or this man had intelligence sources previously unknown to the galaxy.
"Actually, neither of those are true."
"Excuse me? What do you mean?"
Jax smiled. "I can read minds. Neither of those were true. As to how I knew about the Hanar, I read your mind on that."
Saren growled. Adopting an aggressive stance, he switched his Omni-blade into a reverse grip. Staring each other down, the two fighters began circling each other. Finally, Jax made a move. Standing up straight, he backed off, before bowing, never breaking eye contact. There was nothing polite or respectful in this one, it was meant to irritate, to force a mistake out of him. Saren narrowed his eyes further, but made no move to retaliate. The circling continued for several minutes, with Jax continuing to taunt and annoy the Turian SPECTRE.
When it was clear that the Terran was not going to instigate the fight, Saren rushed him. After such a long time, both fighters were unprepared for the sudden rush. Smirking, Saren slashed, intent on cutting Jax's blade in two, only to jerk back in surprise when the blade didn't separate. Shocked, but still maintaining a calm expression, he pressed his attack. A flurry of slashes and cuts began to force Jax back. Finally beginning to grin, Saren kept pushing, and was finally able to see his opponent struggle.
Jax began to sweat. He had expected someone that was really good in hand to hand combat, but this guy was better than what he was expecting. The guy was as fast as Nova, and almost had the strength of Tosh. I'd love to see Nova or Tosh go up against this guy. As it was, it was obvious to everyone that he was struggling. Blocking Saren's next slash, he ducked under the next cut, he slammed his shoulder into the Turian's chest before backing off. Lurching back, Saren rubbed his chest a bit. Jax stood tall, rubbing his shoulder and holding his knife in a defensive position. "If you're wondering why the blade didn't break when you attacked, it's because it's made of Neo 2. Harder than the original, and had the same weight. I can't cut through your blade, you can't cut through mine."
Saren glared at Jax, but not before noticing that it looked like Jax was struggling. He had noticed several times throughout the fight where it looked like Jax was contemplating whether or not to do something and decided not to. This irritated the SPECTRE to no end, as he wanted to face the Terran at his full strength. As it was, it was an enjoyable challenge, but if he was holding back, the Terran would regret it. Backing off, he made it clear he wasn't going to attack before he straightened. "Why are you holding back? It is clear that you are struggling, and you have something that you aren't showing me. I refuse to be treated like something less than a threat."
"You are a threat, and one to my people, but I do have my secrets." Saren growled in response to that, but didn't push it. "However," his voice cut across his thoughts. "I am willing to go out if you wish me to."
"Go for it. You were struggling before. Let's see how much better you are with this secret of yours."
Immediately, Jax glowed a soft purple, and floated a few centimetres above the ground. His eyes began to glow slightly with the same energy that he had dumped into the air.
"This," he said, gesturing around him. "This is my true ability. This purple energy is known as psionics to my people. I can augment my physical strength as well as use it to interact with the things around me. Same as your biotics, but I can also read minds. Also, from what the Geth told us, our psionics are significantly more powerful than biotics. While biotics have their perks, and it can do things that psionics can't, like lower the mass of an object, I wouldn't trade psionics for biotics for anything." Looking down at his now glowing body, he smirked. "Do you really want to go against me?"
Saren was shocked to silence when he first saw the glow beginning to appear. The fact that psionics had evolved in such a similar fashion as biotics was nothing short of astounding. Perhaps one of the Salarians would be able to determine what the difference between psionics and biotics were. Remembering that he was in a fight, he re-adopted his defensive posture. Feeling the smirk coming from his opponent scared the hell out of him, even if he would never admit it. There was no warning when the attack came. All he remembered was the blade nicking his arm as he noticed the subtle tensing of his muscles. That was the only reason why still had his arm attached. As it was, he doubted that he could still use that arm effectively. I'll probably need that exchanged. Gripping his Omni-tool tightly, he waited for Jax to make the next move. It didn't take long, as there was a blast of purple energy that shredded the already damaged arm off his body. Gasping in shock and pain, Saren could only stand there and stare at the space where he had previously had a limb.
"That ability is what we Spectres call Psionic Lash. Basically just focuses our psionic energies on a target and that target explodes. Some of us mastered it to the point where we could just sever a finger. I am one of those. Be glad I just took off an arm. I could have easily decided your head was more important and you would be dead." He stopped talking and grinned. "Actually, let me do the same to you as you did your guests."
Saren stared at the Terran warily. Now that he had seen the Terran fight at his full, he was absolutely terrified, and would never want to go up against him again. Still, he had to get out of the place before he was killed, and there was no way out, except through the door that Jax was currently blocking. There was a slight rustle as the Terran removed his mask. Recoiling, Saren backed up before the glowing purple eyes of the Spectre. This was the first time that he had seen the Spectre's face, and the features that seemed to have come from a happy man who smiled a lot was marred with the smirk and narrowed eyes that promised pain. With the enraged Terran in front of him and the exit further away, he did the only thing that he thought he could. Slowly extending his working arm to the side, he deactivated his Omni-blade before removing the Omni-tool from his wrist and dropping it. "I surrender," he said, dropping to his knees.
Good lord that was hard to write. I didn't have time, and, I had a problem with this chapter for some reason. I don't know what it was, but something just felt off with it. Anyway, I hope you liked this one. I might change my 'every other week policy' though. That will be insane. I hope I can keep up over the summer though!
-IAnswerToNoOne
