So, new chapter still with Nihlus. This whole thing started for me as just a footnote, a short extract about what Nihlus was up to after Eden Prime and before the meeting between Shepard and the Council. It was not supposed to be longer than a chapter and a half, at most. As of now, I have three or four chapter planned and partly written just about him on Earth. Also, it provides a good way to introduce and explain a lot of the new tech, especially the next chapter. If you have some experience with cyberpunk games or roleplaying games, you should recognize most of them. Finally, yes, most of it is superior to the cannon universe and yet probably inferior to what almost two centuries of advancement should have given humanity.

Noob: Thanks.


Atlantean

Spirit Tongue

-personal thoughts-

=Comlink=


Changes: part 2

Escaping surgery

Still half awake, he naturally tried to breathe only to find his throat blocked by some large tube and his nose filled by a heavy and viscous liquid. Panic shot through his brain, forcing his groggy body to start moving.

"Your heart rate is rising, please calm down and stop fighting."

His jaw was held close and sealed by some kind of rubber like tissue, it also prevented him from removing the pipe going down inside his throat. Already he could feel the fire start to burn through his lungs with the lack of oxygen. The only light Nihlus could see in this, whatever it was, place was in front of him. A dim rectangle of something that was behind him and, hopefully, air.

"I need you to stay calm while I try to drain your pod. Fighting will only serve to burn oxygen faster and render you unconscious. The possible cerebral damage incurred by such an event would be detrimental to your survival."

Suspended in water as he was, punching the surface of his prison would have been pointless. Rather, he braced himself against the back of the pod and began pushing as hard as he could.

"Please, stop trying to break the pod. The system is already damaged well beyond repair without you helping."

It was as if his lungs were on fire as he put all of his strength into his legs, feeling his muscles tense near breaking point. Black dots had begun to fill his already blurred vision, but he continued pushing. It was, after all, probably his last action on this world so better finish it. That and cursing Task Force Valkyrie.

"Fine. Have it your way brute." Said the voice with a distinctive peeved tone.

Immediately, he felt as if adrenaline had been injected directly into his legs, both legs actually, burning like lava through them. Then, as if it had been made of paper, the pod door bent and folded on itself as it was ripped off its hinges with a great sound of metal being twisted and torn apart. The liquid surrounding him flowed out on the ground and the rubber like thing around his maw was released, allowing him to rip it off and forcefully drag the tube out of his throat. His body convulsed, trying to vomit in order to accelerate the expulsion the foreign object, but only managed to irritate his mouth with stomach acid since he hadn't eaten in the last 24 hours. Blinded by the bright light he stumbled forward, only motivated by the desire to escape the pod. He didn't count on something ripping itself off the back of his neck and sending an electrical shock through his brain. The force of it sent him to the ground, his body thrashing and shaking, his limbs flailing and his fingers twitching. He spent the next few minutes lying on the ground, slowly waiting to regain the control of his bruised body and vision.

"Your heartbeat is slowly going back to normal as well as most of your other basic vitals. Forceful disconnection might have caused irreparable damages. To assess potential damage, please get up."

Slowly, Nihlus felt his memory come back to him. The travel in the flying vehicle, the discussion with Mr. Kim, the details about the operation, the sedation and then darkness. At the same time, he took conscience of the coldness of the room, of the thin ice sheet under him, of his new leg. Gently, he moved his toes. He knew they were nothing but metal and wires, yet he could feel them rubbing against each other, feel the icy surface in contact with it. What he couldn't feel though was the cold. Then, his hand moved to his neck and the small metal disk and plug implanted there. A Datajack, directly linked to his brain and allowing him to manipulate and communicate with machines when connected through a direct neural interface. If anyone had told him about something like that a month ago, he would have laughed.

"Please, get up." Repeated the mechanical voice.

He grunted. This voice was getting on his nerves pretty fast. Whoever it was, and it was a She because VIs don't have that kind of reaction, he was going to have a good discussion with. He slowly got up, feeling his new body and waiting for any more pain. None came.

"Good. Now, look up."

"Spirits, I'm alright! Now tell me what… the hell?"

He remembered this room; it was the surgery room they had brought him too before sedating him. There was the robotic arms hanging from the ceiling, the glass shelves and cupboard filled with medical items, the operation bed, the tank or pod thing he had just exited and remembered having seen when he entered, didn't know what it was used for and still didn't, and even a medical worker. The only yet major difference was that everything was frozen cold. There was no actual ice beside the liquid from his tank, things were just frozen. The bed-sheet on the table was now a solid block and when he touched it, the tissue shattered in a thousand shards. The metal pieces were twisted and broken, completely shattered wherever weight had been put on them. That was no gradual process, it was as if something had flashed frozen the entire room.

"What happened here?"

"Forty-nine hours ago, you were put under sedatives. Dr. Manhen then proceeded to accomplish a thirteen hours operation during which you were implanted the standard Task Force Valkyrie agent package and a prosthetic limb. After the operation, you were put inside a regenerative pod to recuperate and program the nanomachines inside your body."

"Nanomachines!? What do you mean nanomachines? And program nanomachines? Don't you have a program already?"

"… The nanomachines are present in every part of your body…"

"They are what!?

"…can interact with every cell. They need to be customized perfectly and with no possibly of bugging, less you want them to someday consider your bones to be a virus and reprogram themselves to eat and recycle them into nutriments. A process complicated by your alien biology. This is a complex and life-threatening process that you chose to interrupt by doing the equivalent of a forced shut down in the middle of the update when you ripped off the fibreoptic. Agent Nihlus, you are lucky that they haven't already started eating your liver. Now, if you please, may I continue my situation report." Even through the electronic distortion, he could feel the raciness in her voice.

"As you wish." He put this little bit about nanomachines in a corner of his mind. He was going to have a long discussion with someone on that.

"Good. One hour ago, this base's communications with the exterior were cut. Enemy troops breached the first line of defense and invaded the base. Primary analysis identifies them as belonging to the System Alliance black ops group, also called Vanguard. Before the system was corrupted, twenty-six enemies were identified. Amongst them, five biotics and one Alpha level Cryokinesist were also identified."

"Cryokinesist?"

"Someone with the ability to lower temperature. Task Force Valkyrie qualifies an Alpha Cryokinesist as someone with the ability to provoke a drop in temperature of over one hundred degree Celsius in less than three seconds."

Nihlus' sight turned back to the frozen figure of the medical worker, standing upright beside a computer. It seemed that life for him nowadays was reduced to a competition of what new strange human ability would be the more 'shit your pants and kill yourself' scary. That scored pretty high on the list.

"So, someone lowered the temperature of this room below a hundred…"

"The instruments recorded a temperature of minus one hundred and eighty-three throughout the medical and armory wings. The lethality of the temperature drops was total with one exception. Current temperature is minus twelve Celsius."

-That explain why I'm freezing.- "Why me?" Turian might be a little more resistant to sunburn and radiation, but they still turned to ice shards when their bodies dropped to minus a hundred.

"The regenerative pod is filled with medi-gel. This is what kept you alive. It is also why you were woken up in the middle of the draining procedure. The system has been heavily compromised by the sudden drop in temperature."

"Okay, and what is the situation right now?"

"Over 90% of the base's personnel is confirmed KIA. Pockets of resistance are still fighting in some zones, but their chances of successfully counter-attacking the invaders are less than 6.3%. Right now, it is highly probable that the Alliance will achieve its goal."

"Which is?"

"The capture of this base's data-bank."

"Can't you just wipe them out?"

"No. Most of the systems have been destroyed during the assault. The only things still responding are some doors, cameras and minor systems."

"I see." Yes, the situation was beyond bad. Not only did he not know where he was, he was unarmed, with no clothes and there were people killing everything in their way all around him. But there was also something else. "Wait, how are you talking to me?"

"I programmed some of the nanomachines in your body to reproduce the effect of a comlink."

"Oh, talking about that…"

"I expect you have at least two hours before they start bugging catastrophically and another three before you die. Unless you manage to find someone able to program Task Force Valkyrie nanomachines in this time."

"And I suppose you are the only one around here?"

"To my knowledge."

Of course. He had just been awoken from forced sleep and now had to stage what amounted to a hostage rescue. Strangely though, it probably was one of the most normal situations he had found himself in lately. The "hostage rescue" that is, not the rest.

xxxxxxxx

The door to the corridor easily slides open, the frozen gear shattering at the merest pull. Outside, Nihlus could see the frozen figures of human either standing still, or broken into slowly defrosting pieces sprawled on the ground. Many of the lights were off, the electrical circuit having broken apart. The corridor itself was painted completely white, clear of any decorations or such. The ceiling was a rectangle of light with rectangles of black in-between. The doors were all unmarked and even hard to see in the corridor's sides. In short, unless you knew where you were going, you would get lost in less than five minutes in there, which probably was the point.

"Where to?"

"On your right. Be careful though, some enemies might still be roaming in the corridor cloaked."

Awesome, invisible enemies in armor.

"I need weapons… and clothes."

"The closest weapon is six rooms down on your path. No clothes in the base fits your morphology."

-Go figure.-

"Also, in an effort of stealth, I will now enable silent mode with your comlink."

"Silent what?"

"From now on think your answer."

He raised an eyebrow, skeptic. -Like that.-

"Exactly."

He could repress a jerk. -Wait, you can hear my thoughts?-

"Until you do the tutorial for your implants, yes."

-…And won't they hear you?-

There was a long pause from the voice, then. "You do realize I am speaking with you by sending coded signals to nanomachines inside your ear that makes your eardrums vibrate, not through a speaker."

-Oh, sorry, I'm…"

"Used to talking to your wrist. Understood. Next door for your weapon."

Nihlus stopped in front of said door, stepping carefully around the shattered remains of what might have been a researcher. This one was of a bright red and completely frozen shut, like everything around.

"Kick it."

-Sorry?-

"Kick. It."

-I don't think…-

"Your right leg is made of a bullet and laser resistant alloy strong enough to withstand the pressure of an industrial press and with enough strength to pierce through a Mako's armor. Will you please kick the door open you backward xenos!"

It felt weird to Nihlus. Past experience screamed at him that this was going to hurt like hell while what he knew from his new limb based on the information he had gotten told him it was fine. But now probably wasn't the time to argue. Bracing himself, he lifted his leg and kicked the door with all the strength he could, waiting for the pain to move up the rest of his body as the metal bent. He was a little off balance when his leg simply passed through the door, pushing aside the metal and dragging him forward.

-Shit!-

He jumped awkwardly on one foot, trying not to slip on the icy floor while his right limb was down up through the waist into a hole.

"Nihlus Kryik. Your file says you are a Spectre, one of the best operatives in the galaxy. Did you fake your file?"

-Haha ha, very funny.-

It took a little time and effort, but he managed to get his leg out of that slightly embarrassing position. After that, it wasn't hard to slide open the door by the hole he had made. The room he entered was, rather had been, some kinds of laboratory. There were computers, tables, lots of instruments he hadn't the slightest idea how they worked and against the wall over some machines with crystals protruding out of it and such, suspended by delicate looking claws, was his knife.

-Why is that here!?-

"Mr. Kim wanted to make some tests to determine if it had any properties. Its alien design suggested it might."

He grabbed it from its support, not caring when the fragile claws shattered.

–He could have asked.-

"No, that would have informed you of his intentions, probably making you more suspicious and wary of him. Doing it without your knowledge allowed us to gain possible information, information you wouldn't have known we had, giving us another advantage over you."

He snickered. –You're very straightforward you know. Did they find anything?-

"The material molecular structure is unnatural and is not stable in accord to modern physics. It is maintained together by highly active ephemeral energy in a manner similar to our etheric rounds."

-Got it. And if I had to repeat to someone else…-

"It is a very strong and sharp knife that can cause harm to incorporeal beings present on our plane or very close to it."

-Okay, and if the other person was an idiot?-

"Knife hurt ghost and spirit."

-Thank you. But I could do without the sarcasm in the future.-

"Acknowledged and pending evaluation. On a more urgent matter, hide. I detected a Hound coming toward you."

-A what?-

He was sure he heard a metallic sigh from her before she answered.

"A bio-engineered beast able to bite through metal, very aggressive and technologically enhanced to be invisible to the light spectrum. I would suggest an elevated hiding position. You have 67 seconds left."

-Dammit!-

xxxxxxxx

Nihlus was crouched atop a machine in the corner of the room, feeling ridiculous and completely exposed with his head pressed against the ceiling, no clothes and a simple knife as his only means of defense.

-This is ridiculous. I can't even see the thing.-

"Listen and watch."

Pushing his civilized instinct aside, he waited like his ancestors had. Even if it was mostly lost today, turians had after all evolved from predators. With each step it took the Hound's claws scraped against the cold floor, leaving clear marks. In the cold atmosphere, he could also see the beast's breath, a small cloud of white seemingly coming from nowhere. Short growls, sniff in the air and such helped the Spectre to more or less spot its position. In a fight or a run though, he probably wouldn't have noticed the thing before it was on him. And it was big, at least a meter and a half long and probably full of teeth and claws.

-Now what?-

"Aren't you an elite special operative?"

-Spirits dammit! This is insane.-

Taking a deep breath and making a prayer to the spirits who probably existed anyway, Nihlus calculated his jump, tightened his grip on his weapon and threw himself at the thing.

xxxxxxxx

-I smell like shit.-

"I do not have the olfactory sensor to validate or invalidate that claim."

-Well, I have and can say that I smell like shit.-

"Your frustration makes you an unreliable source. But it is known that the putrid odor of Hound's blood is by design."

-Ah! So I do stink. And what do you mean design?-

"The bad smell makes detection easier by human allies as well as tracking by other Hounds."

-Of course, just perfect.-

By now, even his close friends would have had trouble associating the stern looking turian in red armor with the naked one running in the corridor, covered in black red blood and green pus with a knife in hand. Not helping were the troopers in grayish armor, a surprisingly good camouflage in this environment, running after him and taking pot-shots when they could. His only help was in the form of the various anti-fire measures being activated behind him.

"Right door."

He slammed into said door, pushing it aside with the energy of panic before rushing inside what appeared to be a medium size office. A discussion place with two coaches and a chair, three bookcases, a large desk, a leather chair and some other furniture. Reflectively, he dragged the bookcases in front of the door, packing them and anything not bolted to the ground in front of it.

-Okay, what now?-

"On the left corner there is a strongbox rater. Enter the code 0451."

He did, doing his best to ignore the sound of the men and Hounds ramming his meager defenses. No doubt that they would soon put explosives to work. The small box of black metal worked perfectly, the door smoothly opening to reveal a common looking backpack.

"You're looking for a small rebreather and duct tape."

The rebreather, a human model, he found. The other thing though.

–I am looking for a bird?-

"Ah, translation error. Grab the roll of gray adhesive band and use it to strap the rebreather to yourself. Then, pull the lever down the strongbox."

He obeyed, making sure the adhesive covered every hole on his face. Turians really weren't made for water, the impossibility to seal their jaw only the first of their problems. So when the floor behind slid to reveal a submerged tunnel, he was at least partially sure he wouldn't drown. Not waiting a second more, he threw himself into it, just a moment before his barricade was blown open.

xxxxxxxx

The tunnel was dark and cramped and even by being slender than a common human Nihlus was barely able to move in it. Fortunately, the person who had built this had added handles on the wall to move forward. Very useful in the total darkness of the tunnel.

"Did you leave the backpack behind?"

-No, why? Don't tell me there's a bomb in it.-

"No. Only money, a false ID and a PS20."

-A what?-

"A one shot plasma pistol."

He stopped.

"Agent Nihlus, why did you stop? Is there an obstacle. Damage to the tunnel?"

-Plasma.-

"There is plasma damage?"

-There is a freaking plasma pistol in the backpack!-

"… Plasma technology is very safe. There is no chance of it..."

-That's not the damn point. Just when the hell did you start producing those things?-

"Officially, plasma technology was never produced."

-Just give the date your freaking organization started using them.-

"Officially, the sixth month of the year 2093. Council calendar."

He stayed immobile, turning the answer in his head and whishing he could sigh without spiting his rebreather.

-The more I am around secret human technology, the more I wonder if you didn't just fake losing Shanxi to us.-

"That would be an insane conspiracy, agent Nihlus."

-Well apparently that theory looks more credible with each discovery I make.-

xxxxxxxx

He emerged from the long tunnel, some fifty meters long he was sure, into a cold blue room also submerged. The dark water was less than the tunnel, but he still couldn't see more than his arm's length in front of him. Blurred shapes surrounded him, curling in the water like long tentacles.

-If there is a giant octopus guarding this room I am going to scream. Where are you? Is this some kind of buffer? Are you in a safe room?-

"I'm right in front of you."

-What?-

The water suddenly turned translucent as several lights were switched on, revealing some kind of giant arcane machinery. Giant cables filled the space, coming from all around him to link to a large tower some five meters high and three meters wide. Bubbles of boiling water sprouted from the cable connection points, moving up around him and the monstrous server. Pulsating lights of red, blue, white, green and yellow came from the tower, irregular flashes that only helped to give the monolith a more sinister appearance.

-What in all of humanity's insanity are you?-

"You do not have a sufficiently high level of clearance to know this."

The lights pulsed, following her speech pattern.

-I'm a Spectre and the only one able to get you out. Speak-

"Your Council given rank has no value and you need my help too to get out. Making both right and threat irrelevant. But, to calm your post-geth education prejudice I can confirm that I was a fully organic human female at one point."

-And I have to believe you because you say so?-

"Yes. The other option being you dying, the logical choice would be to cooperate with me."

-And after that, what assurance have I that…-

"None, which are equal to the chances you would have if I still had an organic body. Now, we have two minutes left before I have exhausted all the power left to prevent the enemy from freezing this room and you along with it. Now, since your heartbeat, brain wave and other monitored biological indicators indicate you have taken a decision, please swim down toward the middle of the server until you find a white panel."

Reluctantly, Nihlus went down. The white panel was easy to find, even underwater, and a simple push on it was enough to make it slide aside and reveal a keyboard.

-Now what.- He mentally grunted.

"Follow my instructions to the letter. And Agent Nihlus, once you will have extracted me, I won't be able to enter in contact with you until you connect yourself to me."

-So I'm supposed to link you directly to my brain?-

"If you want to survive, yes. Now, first press…"

xxxxxxxx

The tower began to tremble as Nihlus pressed the last button on the keyboard. Lights flashed in rapid succession before shutting down one by one, cables fell out of their holes and electronics short-circuited visibly. Then, the whole middle section began to literally fall apart, the large panels drifting away to reveal the inside of the machine. There, maintained in place by a web of fibreoptics was a metallic human brain. There was not really any other way for Nihlus to understand it. He could recognize the cerebrum, the cerebellum and even a small brain stem from his course on human anatomy, except they were either covered in a dark gray metal or they were made of metal. Delicately, he removed it from its support. He didn't know if it was solid or fragile, only that he could so easily let it drop at the bottom of this strange tank and probably find a way to get out by himself. Or, he could connect it directly to his brain.

This sounds like such a bad idea. But then again, he had had a very polite discussion with an immortal blood sucking undead only a days before. Maybe this wouldn't end with him a zombie, a prisoner in his own body, watching helplessly as some kind of foreign intelligence controlled his body. Maybe.

-Then again, she could have easily forced me to do this in a lot of ways. And she probably could have taken control of me back when I was in the pod. Or maybe she did and that's why I woke up? Dammit. I really hate not knowing anything. First time I get a break from this crazy ride, I need to find some reliable information. And Spirits, please make that a good decision.-

With precaution he put the brain inside the backpack, grabbed the fibreoptic hanging from the brain stem and plugged it into his datajack. It felt like as if a thousand of small needles had been suddenly jammed into his neck for only a second.

-Aie!-

=You will get used to it.=

-Wow.-It felt weird to hear her voice coming from inside his head, like hearing someone's thoughts over his own.

=You connected me just in time. Your liver is already starting to fail and your adrenaline production is out of control. Most probable reason as to why you haven't noticed the temperature change.=

-Wait, what?-

He suddenly realized that, effectively, the water now felt quite cold, if artic like can be qualified as cold, and that part of the tank on his left were now solid ice.

=Nanomachine's action. I am already correcting the problems. Though the damage to your reproduction organs might make you temporarily sterile. To escape death swim upward, there is an escape ladder leading to the hangar from here.=

-Shit!-

xxxxxxxx

The trap under him slid close, separating him from the damn water. The shaft he was in was lit only by emergency red lights that seemed to climb forever, giving the cramped space an ominous atmosphere.

-How long till I get out?-

=500 meters.=

-Just great.-

And so he started climbing the ladder. One step at a time.

-Okay, since we have the time I want some answers. What are you, were they really coming for the databank, what are you doing and what is this place?-

=As I have already said, you do not have the clearance to know those information.=

-Well, the rest of the personnel are dead, doesn't that make me go up in grade?-

=Agent Nihlus, we are a governmental organization, not some random mercenary group. Though, yes there exists some precedent case for this kind of situation. Going by emergency protocol, as the senior agent I can reveal to you information I believe will help us survive the situation. As such, I believe you would be reassured and thus more effective if I calmed your concerns.=

-Long way to say yes.-

=Everything I say is recorded for review.=

-Oh, I see. Then, what exactly can I know now?-

=Many things, but I will limit myself to your primary questions. First, my identity. My codename was agent Scully and I was a field agent from 2125 to 2175 until I was cursed by an entity of unknown power during an operation on the dark face of the moon.=

-Cursed?-

=The details are personal and confidential. The end result was the loss of my physical body and my conversion to a full cyberbrain.=

-Cyberbrain?-

=Cyberization is the process whereby a normal brain is physically integrated with electronic components to produce an augmented organ referred to as a cyberbrain. Cyberbrain implants allow the brain to initiate and maintain a connection to computer networks or other individuals who also possess a cyberbrain. Before you ask, I am a late fifth generation full cyberbrain while you are a new seventh generation partial cyberbrain. You will not be able to survive the destruction of your physical body or be transferred to a cyborg body. Back to your question, I was then assigned as the sysadmin of one of our networks. I was transferred to this secret facility three years ago to act as a data analyzer. Now for your second question, my task was to act as a consultant for our Korean teams using the Task Force Valkyrie databank. Each databank is a compilation of all of our knowledge acquired since the organization's creation, a quite valuable asset and something many would like to either own or destroy.=

-And do you still…-

=No. I deleted most of it in the time it took you to reach me, keeping only the essential. I do not have enough space in this state for it all.=

-Okay. But why you and not just a VI?-

=Because the presence of organic component in an electronic system makes it harder to infiltrate both by non and supernatural means. Furthermore, the experience of a field agent is seen as a valuable resource to judge situations and advise teams.=

-Makes sense, I think. But seems like a lightly defended place for such an important asset.-

=Not usually, but this place had been compromised recently and we were in the process of evacuating. We miscalculated the date of their attack.=

-Ah. So you are not infallible then. Good to know.-

=As for what I am doing right now, I already told you. I am finishing the programming of the nanomachine inside your body. Once this is over, you should have all of the advantage of a modern agent.=

-Which are? I know about the enhanced strength, speed, reflexes and such but not the details.-

=Until I finish the programing, it is irrelevant.=

-And how long until it is over?-

=With my current processing power, several days. More if I found the nanomachines have caused more damage to your body or problems with your biology. Also, please try not to get wounded.=

He huffed. –I'll do my best.-

=I am afraid it won't be enough. This shaft will lead you directly to the hangar which should be lightly defended. Each hostile you will met will have Cheiron top of the line bioware and at this moment, will surpass you in strength, speed, endurance and regeneration.=

-Who are they exactly? You said Alliance black ops. I have seen Alliance black ops, their N7 program, and those weren't.-

=The N7 program is only a functional front. The Alliance is, we believe and have proof of, controlled by a large Magus conspiracy. They use its power, resources and influence to pursue their own agenda. One we still are unclear about if only that it seems to involve a fight not against the supernatural, but the belief in the supernatural. They use the N7 program to indoctrinate sleeper agents throughout the Alliance military, amongst other means. Those individuals are often unaware of their status as agent until activated and sometimes have entirely different personalities when awake than when asleep. Once their task is done, they are put back to sleep with no memory. Other individuals with more special qualities are recruited into special permanent teams for mission like this one or involving the supernatural.=

-They don't send mages?-

=Maybe, but never directly against us yet. The general consensus is that this is both a good thing, as magus are extremely dangerous opponents, and a bad thing as we haven't disturbed their operation enough to warrant this level of attention.=

-I see.-

xxxxxxxx

Nihlus' arms felt like concrete blocks, barely able to move. His fingers were stiff and tight around the ladder's last bar, it was as painful to maintain his grip as it was to let go.

-Don't suppose you can do something for me?-

=In a couple of hours, yes. Though I can maintain your adrenaline level to their highest.=

-Dammit. Okay, what am I working with here?-

=Over your head is a standard hangar with all the material expected. Your target is an aircraft that will be fifty meters to your right and should have its ramp deployed. You need to pull a lever on the wall beside it, a black lever, then connect me to an interface inside.=

-And what about the fire system. Inifuge smoke would be useful.-

=I can't activate the system remotely, but the manual release should still work. Or you could start a fire. Also, note that you still are covered in Hound blood. You will be detected in a matter of seconds once you pass the trap.=

He looked down. Effectively, the heavy and sick looking blood still clung to his body even after having swum the equivalent of the Presidium pool.

-Nothing is ever easy these days.-

xxxxxxxx

Nihlus felt the hot trails of bullets breeze past him, the shooters invisible in the white cloud of anti-flame gas that had filled the hangar. Ha ran past the blurred shape of large aircrafts, heavy machinery, fuel tubes, bodies and other objects. Blindly, he threw a stitched up blowtorch and fuel can behind him, not turning to aim of see the fireball. He did felt his back heat up though.

-Shit! Shit! Shit!-

The cannon round hissed just over his head, hitting the reinforced concrete wall and blowing a hole the size of a turian chest in it.

=I didn't expect them to bring a Rook mech. The most probable reason is to intercept arriving aircraft. It's not commonly seen outside of the solar system or human centric mercenary groups. It has a 40mm cannon and a…=

-Shut up! Fucking human tech!-

The next thing he heard was a staccato of explosions going so fast they simply fused into one continuous sound and the sight of the aircraft in front of him being grinded into scraps by bullets.

=And a three barrel fifty caliber machine gun that can easily penetrate a civil stealth craft like this one.=

"I hate you all and your stupid crazy weapons!"

=Shouting insults to the enemy will not help you to stay hidden.=

"I don't care anymore!"

Another cannon round wizzed by him, blowing apart some kind of machinery and revealing at the same time a certain black lever. Nihlus didn't hesitate; he just leaped forward and rushed the lever like his life depended on it, mostly because it was. He pulled on it, a moment before it was shredded by a hailstorm of bullets. He tumbled forward, part of the severed lever still in his hand. Under him, the ground began to vibrate and rumble, throwing him even more off balance.

"What now!"

"Launching platform is being raised. The craft should be some meters to your left."

He felt water against his back as the ceiling over him parted apart, revealing a sky of dark gray cloud, heavy rain and strong wind that screamed at his ears. The gas that previously filled the room cleared through the new opening, revealing to him his means of escape. It looked exactly like the one that had brought him here, wherever here was, with its back hatch opened. His muscles protested as he got up for yet again another sprint for his life, as if shards of glass were being jammed into his organic limbs with each movement. But he wasn't going to stop now, not his style.

Panting, he entered the aircraft. The belly of the machine was lit by red lights, highlighting the datajack plug along the seats. He felt like his fingers were breaking as he opened the backpack and extracted the cyberbrain to plug it. Almost immediately, he heard the sound of engines starting accompanied by the low vibrating of the craft frame.

"Finally. Let's get o…"

The body slam sent him flying against the other side of the passenger bay and crashing against the wall. As he collapsed on the ground, he felt something snap in his right shoulder.

"Wha…!?"

Powerful hands grabbed him and lifted him in the air to slam his body against the ceiling like he weighted nothing before throwing him one more time to the ground with enough strength to knock the air out of his lungs. He felt something crack in his biological limb when he tried to push himself back up.

"Holy shit you guys are weak. How in the hell did we lose against you?"

Through his blurred vision, he saw the towering shape of an enemy soldier. It was his first time seeing one of those Alliance black ops up close, even if his vision was currently filled with black dots. Their armor looked not largely different from anything else that was used by other elite groups if not for the large amount of straps holding magazines, grenades and weapons. It was slightly more bulky overall but much more strength enhancing than anything he had seen, as he had just experienced firsthand.

"Anything to say?"

The soldier continued, putting his foot down on Nihlus' chest nonchalantly but with enough power to crush two of his ribs with a loud crack the turian felt particularly vividly.

"F… Fu…" The Spectre barely managed to cough.

The soldier bent forward to grab his wounded shoulder, getting a growl of Nihlus.

"Yeah, guessed as much. Come on now, what did you do to start this thing?"

Using what little strength he had, the turian grabbed his knife and swung at the man. The sharp blade scrapped ineffectively against the armor.

"Wow. Careful with that."

The man snatched the weapon from his weak grip, slapped his right hand aside and jammed it through his hand and through one of the seat, pinning the turian into place.

"There. Fixed."

Now with the strength of desperation, Nihlus slammed the piece of lever still in his grip at the soldier's hand, achieving the great result of lightly scratching the paint and making the man chuckle.

"Seriously? You though you could so something against this armor with a broken ass piece of metal?"

Still chuckling, he crouched on the Spectre's chest and grabbed his wrist, brutally twisting and breaking it.

"Now I am really wondering how the fuck we lost against idiots like you."

He punctuated his statement with a right punch, then a left, then another right that broke Nihlus' jaw.

"Seriously, either the colonies are really pathetic or there is some sort of conspiracy going on."

Yet another punch shattered his jaw.

"Wow this is fun!"

The soldier armed another punch, only to tumble forward as the whole aircraft suddenly bucked forward due to a push of the engine.

"What the…?"

The push wasn't accidental. When Nihlus had been flung against the back of the passenger bay he had dropped the backpack. A backpack that was open and contained a one shot plasma pistol. The forward jerk of the craft was precisely calculated to allow the weapon to slide from his position to Nihlus free, if broken, hand. The Spectre felt the small shape between his fingers, a butt, a trigger and a frame, that's all he needed.

"Okay, back to you now. What did you…"

He never got to finish his sentence. In part because of his death, but mostly because Nihlus' shot burned all of the oxygen in his lungs, along with his lungs and a great part of his chest. Taking a ball of plasma point blank tends to do that.

The man's body crashed down on Nihlus, almost crushing him and certainly not helping his broken ribs.

-Spirit dammit!-

"Agent Nihlus, are you still conscious?" Came the slightly panicked voice of Scully through the craft speakers.

He grunted in pain under the ton of dead meat and metal.

"Good. You need to connect yourself to one if the free plugins. It is vital you do this in the next minute. 59. 58. 57."

He could feel his heard still pumping at an insane rhythm inside his chest, as if it wanted to burst out of his torso. Burst of liquid pain came from his pierced hand while the other felt limp and gave him the feeling of grinding his bones together when he moved. On his forehead and slowly going down his face was a trail of blood from when he had been smashed on the ceiling and his skull had fractured. On top of that, he could sense the signs of a concussion overtaking him.

"45. 44. 43."

Shit he hated countdowns. Wincing at every movement, he dragged himself out from under the soldier and half collapsed on one of the seats before slowly raising his free hand to grab the fibreoptic from its spot and bring it to his datajack.

"17. 16. 15."

First, second and fifth try missed, but at the sixth one he felt the invisible needles being jammed into his spinal cord as contact was made, just before he finally passed out.

-Better not wake up in another damn pod.-


He opened his eyes to find himself standing in a sea of pale white, no up, no down, no left, no right, no gravity, nothing but him and an infinite whiteness.

"Ah shit! Spirits, don't tell me I'm dead!"


Task Force Valkyrie Archive

Power armor

Current power armor used by many of Earth's military forces and other high end groups consist of a standard armor constructed around an exoskeleton that enhance the wearer's strength, speed and endurance. The first working exoskeletons were developed in the first decade of the twenty-first century and were constantly improved upon in the following years.

Nanomachine implants

Long believed to be in the realm of science-fiction and still considered as by most of the galaxy, the use of nanomachines to augment the human body has been one of the focuses of Task Force Valkyrie for a good part of the 21th century. Nanomachine implants finally became viable after a breakthrough in the last years of the 21th century and ushered what is now known as first generation nano-agents. This first generation had numerous problems, requiring weekly reprogramming and monthly invasive medical treatment in order for the agent's body not to be destroyed from the inside. Currently, Task Force Valkyrie is in the process of phasing out the fourth generation of nano-agents for the fifth. Where fourth generation nanomachines require a long time to implant on the agent's body, sometimes up to a year, and weekly doses of a stabilizing medication as well as regular programing updates, fifth generation nanomachines can be implanted and programmed in as short of a time as 24 hours and require only once a month medication. It is standard protocol to not inform the newly augmented agent of this fact until absolutely necessary should he prove too unprofessional in the use of his implants.

Restricted informations.

Eyes Only

Task Force Valkyrie Science Division

List of current fifth generation standard nano-implants.

Passive implants

Head:

-Balance augmenter

-Comlink with VR capability

-AR Matrix browsing capability, multiple telephone and radio modes of real-time talk and text, music players, micro tri-projectors, touchscreen displays, built in high-resolution digital video and still image cameras, image/text and RFID tag scanners, built-in GPS guidance systems, chip players, credstick readers, retractable earbuds, voice-access dialing, text-to-speech and speech-to-text technologies,

-Datajack

-Datalock

-Geiger counter

-Skilljack

-Sleep regulator

-Ultrasound Sensor

-Passive mode. Detect ultrasound emission.

Eyes:

-Flare compensation

-Flash compensation

-IFF

-Image link

-Low and High Light compensation

-Retinal HUD

-Smartlink

Body:

-Aqualung

-Allow the agent to stay underwater for a near indefinite amount of time. Refer to your supervisor for hard numbers and other questions.

-Bone lacing

-EMP hardening

-Implanted rebreather

-Chemical resistance

-Hyper-Oxygenation

-Orthoskin

-Radar Transparency

-Passive mode: Provides protection against standard cameras and scanning equipment by distorting sensors.

-Reaction enhancer

Limbs:

-Enhanced articulation

-Muscular enhancement

Active implants:

Head:

-Damper

-Voice modulator

Eyes:

-Body language analyser

-Infrared Vision

-Vision magnification

-Ultraviolet Vision

-Ultrasound Sensor

-Active mode: sends out continuous ultrasonic pulses and picks up the echoes of these pulses to create a topographic ultrasound map. Cannot penetrate glass.

Body:

-Valkyrie Regenerative Health System

-Angiogenesis Protein Therapy

-Cardiovertor Defibrillator

-Suprathyroid gland

-Symbiotes

-Synthacardium