The Next Great Journey
A/N: And I'm back with a new chapter. Sorry for the long wait but I recently re-installed the internet in my house. Thanks again to everyone who clicked favorite or follow and also to the ones that took the time to post a review.
IMPORTANT NOTICE #1: I want to thank Lord Izanagi for Beta read the chapter for all my grammatical errors, Thank you very much.
IMPORTANT NOTICE#2: I changed the format of the Codex of the story, I think that it will be easier to read and understand it in this new version. So if you want to check it out go ahead. :P It has been updated to current events in the story.
"Speaking"
'Thoughts'
[Radio Communications, Ground forces-Ground forces, and Ship-Ship]
{Ground to Ship Communications}
Flash back of previous chapter(s)
Flash Back
'Messages on Screen'
Sound Effects
Line Break just shows a change of scenery.
Now onto the chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass Effect, both belong to their respective owners.
Chapter 11: Infection
October 14, 2574, 1330 Hours, Systems Alliance Calendar, Slip-Space, In Route to Omega Nebula, UNSC Infinity-Class Warship Infinity.
On the bridge of one of the most powerful ships that Humanity had created, Admiral Lasky stood by the tactical holographic projector, (T.H.P.) studying the route that his Battle Group was taking alongside his new orders in an adjacent holographic screen. The route was simple, they were to exit Slip-Space on the Omega Nebula and then use the Relay to arrive at the Titan Nebula.
After the Citadel Government shared their knowledge on the Relays, the Systems Alliance, after some weeks of work, managed to find a way around the system damage that the Relays caused to their ships when they used one. The solution was rather simple, everything that the Alliance had to do was install a secondary mini-reactor that ran on eezo. When the ship wanted to use a Relay, the VIs of the ship will activate said reactor once they detected the energy emitted from a Relay, then said reactor will cover the ship in an eezo barrier that will withstand the energy impact that the Relay gave to the ship, thus letting the ship pass totally intact. The only drawback was the time it took the ship to move from one Relay to the other inside the network. Because the ship wasn't based on eezo primarily, and the barriers were the only eezo emitters in the entire ship, the energy sent to the ship by the relay concentrated more on destroying said barrier so it could manipulate and bend the mass of the ship, thus taking more time to send the ship to other systems. Though the travel was still faster than in Slip-Space when the distance was a long one.
Looking at his orders, Lasky sighed to himself. He wasn't one to work alongside criminal organizations, but when the situation required it he would do it without hesitation, he didn't have to like it but he would do it nonetheless. According to High-Com's orders, he had to stop at Omega Station, in order to request a meeting with Aria. Because she was the closest thing that the Terminus Systems had to a leader/government, Lasky needed her permission to use any kind of weapon of mass destruction on a colony world, even if it was a mining one inside the Terminus.
Then there was the thing with the Blood Pack mercenary group. In all honesty, he felt more comfortable working alongside them, after all they were being paid to not shoot the Alliance once their backs were turned. Being the ones who informed ONI of the infected ship's presence on that planet, they took it upon themselves to put the system under quarantine and await the Alliance's arrival before proceeding with any kind of operations.
"Hades, how much time until arrival?" Lasky asked the AI of the ship.
Flickering to visual existence, Hades responded, "One hour to exit Slip-Space, Admiral."
"Good, notify fire teams Crimson and Majestic, as well as Commander Palmer. Tell them to suit up and be ready for deployment in fifty minutes."
"Already done, Admiral."
"Notify me once we arrive at Omega. Shipmaster, you got the bridge."
"Understood, Fleet Master." The Sangheili responded.
October 14, 2172, 1420 Hours, Citadel Council Calendar, Omega Nebula, Omega Station, Afterlife.
The sound of the music coming from Afterlife ringed on the background for everyone outside in the streets nearby. People went on their regular routines on the station, that is, if they weren't assaulted or killed by the many inhabitants of Omega. Merchants were attending to their business, selling illegal merchandise far away from Citadel's jurisdiction. While inside Afterlife, people of every species consumed alcohol, drugs, and danced without a care of the real world.
On a balcony overlooking everything on the dance floor, Aria T'Loak relaxed in this rare moment of peace. She had been contemplating the events that followed after Captain Foley left her station. Just yesterday, an entire group of technicians and engineers arrived to install the upgrades to Omega. The installation wasn't finished yet, but the ones working on it assured her that the job would be done in a week tops. Besides that, she had already dealt with the mole inside her organization, an STG Salarian who was ratted out by the Alliance's own intelligence network.
Fulfilling her part of the deal, Aria had contacted and informed the leaders of the three main mercenary bands on the Terminus of the new "laws". To summarize the entire conversation, she had basically told them, "You will not attack or sabotage any ship, convoy, and/or operation that the Alliance had/did on the Terminus Systems. Doing so will be like attacking ME, and as such, it will be punished accordingly." After that, the three bands agreed to the terms imparted by her, and even then they were willing to do jobs for the Alliance, after all having a new client wasn't bad business at all.
"Aria, Alliance's ships have arrived. They wish to speak with you." Garka said.
Raising an eyebrow at the sudden turn of events, Aria responded with neutrality, "Put them on the line, and secure the room."
Having said that, walls started to descend from the roof, encaging the balcony and securing them from any others dropping ears and eyes. A nearby holographic communicator showed the image of a Human in military uniform. Aria studied the individual, immediately noticing the tense atmosphere that emanated from him, 'Well, it looks like this is going to be important and interesting.' Aria thought.
[Aria T'Loak, I presume?] The Human asked.
"That'll be correct. To whom do I own the pleasure to be speaking to?" She asked in return.
[Admiral Thomas Lasky from the Systems Alliance's Navy.] Lasky said, [Getting into more pressing matters, I'll need you to board my ship to discuss some… recent events that involve the Titan Nebula.]
Raising an eyebrow out of curiosity, Aria asked, "And why would you need me to board your ship to discuss whatever that it is happening in that particular system?"
[Because this situation is considered classified to unauthorized personnel. I'm afraid that I cannot tell you more through an unsecured line. If you were to board my ship, I'll be able to inform you of the details.]
Aria thought about it for a moment. She could afford to leave the station for some hours, but she wasn't sure if the Admiral was as trusting as he appeared. After deciding in a course of action, she said.
"Garka, prepare my shuttle." Turning to the Admiral, she said, "My escort and I will be aboard your ship in twenty minutes, Admiral."
Nodding, Lasky replied, [Understood, I'll send you the coordinates to our docking bay. Lasky out.]
Cutting the transmission, Aria, alongside her personal guard, proceeded to exit Afterlife through a back door. 'The less people that know that I'm leaving Omega, even for some hours, the better.' She thought while boarding her personal sky-car.
Once the sky-cars were boarded, the three vehicles took off towards Aria's personal landing pad. During the time that the sky-car took to arrive at its destination, Aria took out a data-pad in order to revise the information regarding the arrival of the Alliance's ships. On the holo-screen the image of five ships was present, of which they were divided in three different classifications. Comparing them to the information obtained from the Citadel databanks, thanks to the Shadow Broker, Aria identified the three designs. There were two CPV-Class Heavy Destroyers, one UNSC Infinity-Class Warship, and two CCS-Class Battlecruisers orbiting the asteroid field surrounding Omega. 'What could be happening in the Titan system that requires enough firepower to take out an entire battle group?' She thought to herself.
Arriving at the landing pad, Aria and her guard proceeded to board the shuttle that will take them to the Admiral's ship. Once everyone was inside, the shuttle took off, the sound of its thrusters being the only giveaway of the small ship leaving the station. But of course no one paid it too much attention because of the many other shuttles arriving and leaving Omega.
Once outside Omega, the shuttle accelerated towards the Infinity-class ship. With the coordinates of the available landing bay, the shuttle flew smoothly through the asteroid field and the other ships surrounding Omega. During the time of the short travel, Aria took a look at the Alliance's ships. The ones accompanying her would later comment on the fact that Aria had a surprised expression at seeing the ships, even if the emotion was visible for just a pair of seconds.
'Well, fuck me inside and out, those scans weren't lying. How they accomplish building ships of these magnitudes and have no problems with energy for said ships is beyond me. Maybe I should contact the Shadow Broker, that bastard surely knows something useful about this.' Aria thought.
[Aria, we are landing. Do you want me to keep the shuttle on standby or do I return to the station?] The pilot asked through the intercom of the shuttle.
[Keep it in standby, I'll leave some guards here to assist you if the need arises.] Aria responded. Turning to her men she said, "Garka, Grizz, you two are coming with me, the rest: guard the ship until I say otherwise."
Both the Batarian and Turian respectively nodded before opening the side door of the Shuttle. Stepping outside, Aria and her henchmen were met by a pair of soldiers clad in black armor. Both of the soldiers appeared to be some kind of special forces, because looking around she noticed more soldiers doing their jobs, but with a lighter kind of armor.
"Aria T'Loak? I'm here to escort you and your companions to the bridge. For security measures, you and the ones accompanying you are only allowed to carry a pistol, but be aware, if any of you draws your pistol without authorization you will be met with deadly force." One of the soldiers said in a stern voice.
Not looking the slightly intimidated by the threat and double edge sword offered to her, she signaled Garka and Grizz to leave their weapons besides the pistols. Once she finished doing the same, she said to the soldiers, "Alright then, lead the way."
Turning around, the two soldiers moved ahead of Aria's group while another two soldiers took position behind her group once they entered one of the many corridors of the ship. Moving through the corridors, Aria, Garka, and Grizz noted that no one else on the ship paid them much attention, instead all of the personnel went in their daily routines. Looking to the sides once in a while, the three of them noticed an armory, a med bay, and what they thought to be the engine room but they couldn't be sure because the names labeling said rooms were not translated by their Omni-tools.
Reaching an elevator, the seven of them entered while one of the soldiers in black armor pressed the command to go to the bridge deck. Aria, for her part, was glad that the elevator had no background music at all. 'Seriously, whoever thought that it was a good idea to put annoying music in slow elevators was a total idiot. At least the Alliance appears to not waste their time with such trivial things.'
The elevator suddenly stopped, opening its doors, the seven occupants exited the elevator and continued their travel towards the bridge. Once they arrived at the bridge, the first thing that Aria, Garka and Grizz noticed on the bridge was the size of it. To put it lightly, the bridge was huge. Terminals of all kinds and sizes adorned grand part of the bridge, dozens of men and women of different species operating each one of said terminals. In the center of the room was a T.H.P. surrounded by four individuals, while in the background a huge window showed the majesty that was space.
The three, Aria, Garka and Grizz, recognized Admiral Lasky immediately, but the other three, they didn't. One of them was a tall Human woman in grey armor, she had an aura of authority and experience. The second individual was a Human male, normal in size with black and red armor. The last individual was a Sangheili, male if his posture was any indication; he was clad in a gold colored armor with some dents on it. 'A warrior.' Aria thought.
"Aria, welcome aboard the Infinity. My companions here are Shipmaster F'Dur, my second in command. Commander Palmer, leader of all SPARTAN fire teams aboard the ship. Lieutenant Commander Axel, leader of Crimson fire team. And Hades, the ship's AI." Lasky introduced, while everyone else nodded as they were introduced.
"Pleasure, my companions here are Garka and Grizz." Aria said, while pointing at each one respectively. "Now Admiral, what was so important that you needed me to board your ship?"
"Right, Hades, if you would?" Lasky asked the AI.
Ignoring the fact that there was an AI on the ship, the three Terminus residents paid attention to the changing hologram in the T.H.P.
"Approximately two hours ago, our intelligence network received an emergency communique from the Blood Pack. We sent one of our corvettes patrolling the outside borders to the system, only to find this." The hologram showed a planet with only a few small masses of water. Next to it, information regarding population, rotation and displacement time, temperature, gravity, and other factors was shown. "Libera, a miner colony controlled mostly by the Blood Pack. When the Corvette arrived at the system, the leader of the Blood Pack members in that system informed us that a ship had suddenly exited FTL close enough to the planet to be destroyed before it crashed on the planet. Once they performed scans on the ship, they identified it as the infected ship that we were looking for. In a matter of hours, a grand part of the colony fell under the control of the Flood," the hologram changed again, this time showing the different known Flood forms, "The Captain of the Corvette gave us the call to assist while the Blood Pack held the Flood hordes from taking some towns and a mine." Hades said.
"I can't see why you are informing me of this?" Aria asked.
"We need your permission to use weapons of mass destruction on the planet. Weapons that will leave the planet uninhabitable for decades, if not centuries, once we are done." Lasky answered.
Blinking at the unexpected claim, Aria asked a bit warily, "Why do you need to use such destructive weapons, Admiral?"
"Because the colony is under the Flood's control. Once we arrive at the system, the colony will be under Black Alert. Our priority will be to evacuate the remaining survivors if there are any left. Once that's done or if there are no survivors, we will have to exterminate the Flood completely form the planet before it starts expanding to the ships in orbit and then to other systems. Sending troops to deal with them will only make the situation even worse because of the Flood's ability to transform any organic being, dead or alive, into one of them. That's why we need your permission to bombard the planet with plasma and nuclear bombs." F'Dur answered for Lasky.
"And if I were to say no? What would you do?" Aria asked.
"We would still proceed with the operation. This is one of those situations in which, even if it caused a war with the rest of the galaxy, we would still do it regardless. Aria, the Flood is an enemy that can't be taken lightly, one single spore has the ability to extinguish an entire species, and an entire infected ship will infest the planet completely in a matter of days. When dealing with the Flood at its current capacity, if you are not willing to use weapons of mass destruction, you have already lost against them." Lasky answered.
After thinking on everything that the Admiral, the Shipmaster and the AI said, as well as studying the data on the hologram, she finally answered, "I'll have to see this threat by myself before taking any decisions. That colony is one of the most important ones to the Terminus Systems, and I'll have to come with a good reason and story to tell the masses at Omega."
"Understood, you and your companions are welcome to come, but once we are in the system, your opinion will not matter much regarding the procedure in which this operation is taken care of." Lasky said without giving room for argument.
While normally Aria would not tolerate this kind of behavior towards her, she chose to just wait and see how things unfolded. There really was nothing that she could do to prevent this decision, which led her to the conclusion that the Alliance's asking for her permission was just formalities and to prevent tensions between the two governments.
"Understood, Admiral, but I'll have to inform my forces in Omega about my sudden departure."
Nodding Lasky turned to the soldiers that escorted Aria, "Sergeant, take Aria and her companions to one of our communications rooms. Hades, could you establish a connection for Aria once she arrives at the communications room?"
"Of course, Admiral."
With that, the seven members that came to the bridge left while Lasky and the others discussed their course of action. Once that was decided and Aria had made her call, Lasky ordered the ships to move towards the Relay, their destination being the Titan System.
October 14, 2574, 1525 Hours, Systems Alliance Calendar, Relay Network, In Route to Titan Nebula, UNSC Class-Infinity Warship Infinity.
"Sir, five minutes till we exit the relay network." Hades informed.
"Good. Hades, alert SPARTAN fire teams Crimson and Majestic, tell them to be ready ASAP. Also, once we exit the network, start scanning the system, focus on the infected planet. Corporal Upta-plau, contact the Blood Pack ships as soon as you can." Lasky ordered.
"Yes Admiral." The Corporal responded while Hades nodded.
Lasky turned and walked towards the window, watching the blue and white that was the Relay Network. Behind him, Aria approached, a curious expression on her face. Garka and Grizz meanwhile discussed something with the Shipmaster next to the holographic board.
"You know, I have heard rumors that the Alliance used AIs but I really never believed them. I thought that the council had mistaken an advanced VI for an AI." She said chuckling a bit at the last part.
"Are you scared of AIs? Or is it something else?" Lasky asked with curiosity.
"Can't say I am. But then again, the Geth that I have encountered look and appear more like an advanced mech than an AI." She said while shrugging the matter off entirely.
"I see. Why the sudden interest then?"
"Your friend Hades over there, acts more like an organic than any computer program that I have seen or heard about."
"Ah, well that's how they are designed. It makes us, organics, being more comfortable around them. It helped in the beginning with all the popular media of the twenty and twenty-first century about how machines will one day rise and conquer Humanity, leading us to our own extinction. Some decades after the first AI was created, all that fear and… alienation towards them decreased immensely. A century or so after, we started seeing AIs as another form of life, one which we could befriend and learn of. Of course, there were some… incidents at the beginning and over the course of the years, but those were of another problem separately. You see, AIs, like us organics, have a life expectancy, but theirs is of 15 years before succumbing to rampancy. Rampancy for them it's like entering puberty, but the difference is that once they enter it, they will literally kill themselves from overloads of information. Currently we are working on a way to either prolong their life expectancy even more or to help them survive and overcome rampancy which in the end will be, for them, like entering adulthood." Lasky explained.
"Interesting. Though, if Humanity as a whole was nervous and, may I even say, afraid of an AI uprising at the beginning. Why create one in the first place?"
Chuckling a bit Lasky responded, "Because Humanity, like the rest of the species out there in the galaxy, are curious. We are like little kids, wanting to explore and see the world, find out what's out there, regardless of if it is dangerous or not. Of course, now we take precautions to prevent dangerous situations, but in the beginning we had an idea, made that idea real, and then tested it without knowing what exactly would occur in some cases. I guess curiosity is what makes every single living thing advance forward. Us, organics, do it by trying to understand everything around us and trying to make the impossible, possible. Synthetics do it by trying to understand us organics. They try to find the why we do things, why do we do it that way, why do we behave like we do, etc. etc."
"Hum, interesting way of thinking, Admiral." Aria replied while thinking on the words of the Admiral.
"Admiral, we have arrived at the system." Hades replied.
"Understood. Corporal, contact the Blood Pack ships." Lasky said, getting back to the task at hand.
Lasky then moved towards the T.H.P., seeing as it started to load with information of the system and specially that of the infected planet. Aria was right behind him, analyzing the board while Garka, Grizz and Shipmaster F'Dur did the same.
"Sir, Warlord Tirg Strekrax is on the line." Corporal Upta-Plau informed.
"Put it in screen three, Corporal." Lasky responded.
In one of the many screens next to the T.H.P., a Krogan appeared. He wore a pitch black heavy armor, specified for extreme conditions in combat but also adapted to give flexibility to a Krogan biotic. All in all, the armor, if equipped with a biotic barrier, could take a tank shell at point blank range and only leave the wearer with a few scratches.
"Warlord Tirg," Lasky greeted, "what's the situation down there?"
{Admiral. I hope that you let us now do our job on here. These pests are coming in waves towards all of our positions around the planet. Nothing that we can't handle but we are running out of ammo at an alarming rate.}
"I thought that the Krogan liked a challenge." Aria commented casually.
{Aria, somehow it doesn't surprise me that you are here of all places.} Tirg said with disdain, {Be careful around her Admiral. You'll never know what could happen to you with Aria nearby, hehe.}
"Back on track Warlord Tirg, I'll send some Pelicans and Phantoms to evacuate your troops. We are glassing the planet, so I recommend you to board those ships."
{I wouldn't recommend it, Admiral. At least not before we shut down the generator in the main Palladium mine. If you glass that area without deactivating the generator, you could cause said generator to explode and destabilize the core of the planet because of the profundity of the mine. You do that, and this rock becomes an irreversible wasteland, or the planet explodes.} Tirg said it with a tone that made you wonder if he wanted to see such an event.
"Hades, what are the probabilities of the planet exploding if we glass that particular area?" Lasky asked.
"Analyzing. Sir, if that generator is destabilized and explodes, then there is a 71.3462% chance that the planet explodes alongside it. And if it does, it will destabilize the gravitational balance on the system, making the planets and the Relay inside the system fall into a collision course towards the star and in the end it will cause the star to become a supernova."
Sighting Lasky turned towards the communications screen, "Warlord, is that mine's generator the only one active?"
{Affirmative, in the other mines we managed to shut down the generators once the parasites started to move inside the mines. That was the only mine in which our teams didn't report back, and that was twenty-four hours ago.}
"Understood. Warlord, assemble a team to go to the mine, one of our SPARTAN teams will accompany you. Also send the order to the rest of the survivors in the planet to be ready to evacuate as soon as our dropships touch the ground. Shipmaster F'Dur, I want you to coordinate the glassing of the planet, tell the ships to NOT glass anything in a radius of fifty kilometers from that Palladium mine."
Giving a grunt, the Warlord nodded and disconnected the line, while the Shipmaster nodded and moved towards communications to send the message.
"Hades, deploy the Frigates, they will provide covering fire for the evacuation. Make sure to scan everyone who boards any dropship and ship, if they are infected, put them under quarantine immediately. Kill them if they try to resist."
"Affirmative, Admiral." And with that Hades disappeared.
"I thought that once you were infected you turned into one of those parasites?" Aria said, a bit confused by the Admiral's order.
"It depends. If you are infected by the infection forms then you transform into one of them. But if it's by the spores in the air, then the transformation will take days, a week at the most. Naturally, our immunological systems are able to destroy those kinds of air-based infection, and if not, we have the necessary equipment to clean and cure the patient. But time is of the essence, if the infection has been inside the host for more than two days, then there's a 45% chance that we can save him/her. After that, your only salvation is the crematorium." Lasky explained.
"Hmm, in that case I would like to have one of those scanners. If what you say is true, then someone infected could board my station without anyone knowing." Aria said.
"Don't worry, the Alliance, as of ten hours ago, approved the deployment of the scanners to the Citadel, Omega, and all the important merchant and most populated planets in both Citadel space and the Terminus Systems. We don't want a sudden galactic infection happening. Those scanners should arrive in one to two days to every one of its destinations."
Aria nodded at that, 'Good, I don't want to deal with an intergalactic lethal flu.' She thought.
October 14, 2574, 1550 Hours, Systems Alliance Calendar, Titan Nebula, Titan System, Docking Bay 3, UNSC Class-Infinity Warship Infinity.
On one of the many docking bays inside the Infinity, a Pelican dropship was being prepared for departure. This ship in particular was equipped with a powerful scanner, capable of giving a thermal and sonar image of anything at fifteen kilometers underground. Provided that the Pelican was at least ten kilometers from the surface of the objective. The ship also was equipped with a 50. caliber turret in the front, two 30. caliber turrets in the sides and twenty air-land missiles. This was the ship designated to transport and provide support to Crimson team and the Blood Pack team in the surface.
Lieutenant Commander Axel or Crimson 1, moved towards the Pelican, followed by the rest of his team. He had a M45 TS-Shotgun and a pair of T25 DEP Plasma Pistols. Second-Lieutenant Sarx, or Crimson 2, had a T51 DER/1 Plasma Repeater, and a pair of Energy Swords. Lieutenant Blackburn, or Crimson 3, had a BR55HB SR Battle Rifle and a pair of M7 Submachine guns. Finally Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, or Crimson 4, had a pair of T25 DER Plasma Rifles and a Flamethrower.
"Alright Crimson, our mission is simple. We are to enter a Palladium mine with another team of mercenaries and shut down the main generator of said mine. Our bird here," Axel said, while pointing at the Pelican, "will provide air support for the duration of the mission. Once the mine is shut down we'll send a signal to our ships so they can glass the area. Any questions?"
"Sir, do we have a time frame for the mission?" John asked.
"We have six hours to shut down the mine, if we don't make it by that time frame then the ships will glass the area regardless of the consequences. That's why they are sending us. Once we deactivate the generator, we will have three hours to exit the red zone." Axel explained.
Having no more questions, Crimson boarded the Pelican. While Crimsons 2, 3, and 4 put their gear in the compartments inside the dropship, Axel made his way to the pilot cabin.
"We are ready for departure." Axel announced.
"Understood sir, I recommend you to take a sit. We will depart in two."
Nodding to the pilot, Axel made his way to the back of the dropship. A few minutes later, the Pelican took off from the Infinity. Diving into the darkness of space, the dropship moved towards the planet. Inside, while the dropship made its entry through the atmosphere, the members of Crimson team checked their gear for a second time, and in some cases for the third time.
"Ready for round two, my friend?" Blackburn asked Sarx.
Looking at him, Sarx responded, "Yes, indeed I'm ready. The parasite will never know what hit them."
"That's the attitude." Blackburn responded with a smile.
[Crimson we are about to land, opening the cargo door, over.] The pilot said via intercom.
Just as the pilot make his announcement, the door to the cargo bay opened, letting the SPARTANS inside watch the planet. The land was a brown-yellow color, the skies looked greyish brown, and in the distance you could see various towers that were firing a rounded projectile once in a while. Crimson looked upwards a bit, only to see one of the Battlecruisers making its way to the mortar like towers. Seraphs and Short-Swords flew towards the same destination, their compartments already open to deploy their payload on the Flood AAG.
"Damn, no wonder why the Admiral wanted to glass this planet so badly. The entire area is covered completely by the Flood." Axel commented. The rest of Crimson only nodding at that remark.
The Pelican started to descend even more, its objective, a street inside a fortified town. Once the Pelican landed, Crimson team made its way out immediately, moving towards Warlord Tirg's position.
"Lieutenant Commander, I'm Warlord Tirg. I and Stratus Company will be accompanying you during the mission. I already have a pair of MAKO tanks ready for transport. I just hope that you and your SPARTANS are as tough as the Alliance make them sound."
"Don't worry about that, Warlord. We will try to leave you guys something left to kill." Axel responded.
Giving a grunt at that, Tirg made his way to the MAKOS, Crimson moving right behind him. Arriving at Stratus Company's position, the SPARTANS took a look at the MAKOS. They were blocky in form with four wheels, the armor seemed reinforced with a few scratches here and there. In front of them, four Krogan stood, all of them already clad in brown armor, with some kind of shotgun and a few flamethrowers.
"Straus Company!" Tirg said calling for their attention, "We are leaving. It's time to show these pests why they don't mess with the Blood Pack. Now, everyone to the vehicles!"
The four members of Stratus Company made their way in to the second MAKO, while Crimson team and Warlord Tirg entered the first one. Meanwhile, the Pelican that brought Crimson to the surface took to the skies, ready to assist in any way possible during the duration of the mission.
Once everyone was inside, the tanks accelerated through the streets of the town, moving towards the exit gate. On the sides of the gate, members of the Blood Pack were firing their weapons viciously, some of them even using Alliance weaponry in order to gain time for the evacuation. Falcons and Phantoms gave air support for the troops on land, plasma and projectile fire tearing through Flood infection, combat, and tank forms like butter. Pelicans, Spirits, and Kodiak shuttles landed constantly, taking the land troops to the ships or deploying supplies.
Once outside of the town, the MAKOS were immediately assaulted by the Flood forces, though only the tank and a few combat forms could make real damage to the tanks. The turrets of said tanks opened fire on the enemy waves, making it look like a shooting practice field. From the air, the Pelican followed close by. Being at a sufficient altitude from which the pilot could use the turrets of the Pelican at their maximum effectiveness, but high enough to not be hit by the Flood ground troops.
Moving through the plain desert that once was a green forest, the MAKOS zigzagged and jumped through obstacles, shooting at anything that moved or seemed alive.
{Crimson team and Stratus Company, Delta 3-4 here, I suggest you to hold to something inside those vehicles. The glassing is about to begin. Over.} The pilot of the Pelican informed the groups in the tanks.
And just as he said those words of warning, a bright white light could be seen in the distance. Said light was in fact concentrated plasma coming from the Battlecruiser that was nearby. Sand, rock, and anything with matter in them burned to a crisp or were transformed to a glass like substance in a matter of seconds. The ship, still firing its energy projector, moved through the planet, leaving behind a trail of melted destruction.
Even though the glassing was happening at least some fifty kilometers from the MAKOS' position, they could still feel the vibrations in the land. Looking through one of the screens inside the MAKO, Warlord Tirg watched the process which was glassing.
"Wouldn't the Council make a fuss out of this?" Tirg asked to the members of Crimson team.
"No, the treaty that we signed with them specifies that if we are to use any weapon of mass destruction INSIDE Citadel space, we have to give them a warning before hand and wait for the approval of said action. We are NOT inside Citadel space, and even then, Aria herself gave us permission. So the Council can't touch us legally, politically or military for this action." Axel explained.
"Ha! I'm starting to like the Systems Alliance even more. Maybe you are the warriors that we, Krogan, have been waiting for, an enemy which can grant us a great life when defeated or a glorified death."
"Well, I just hope that it doesn't come to that." Axel muttered to himself, a bit disturbed by the Krogan's way of thinking, "How far is the mine from here?"
"We should arrive at the entrance in a few minutes." Tirg responded.
A few minutes later the MAKOS came to a stop. The Pelican taking a circular path around the mine's entrance, looking for any sign of activity. Both teams disembarked the tanks, weapons at the ready. Moving towards the mine without any kind of ambush awaiting for them, the two teams proceeded inside with lights at the ready.
{Delta 3-4, Crimson 1 here, we are going in. Keep an eye out for any kind of activity out there.}
{Noted Crimson 1, good hunting. Delta 3-4 out and over.}
Both teams entered the mine, each one of them keeping an eye out for any sign of activity. The mine was dark and full of rocks blocking the way. A few terminals and notepads could be seen in the sides, as well as an elevator at the end of the cave. Moving towards the elevator, both teams entered to start their descend to the bottom of the mine. The elevator had no problem taking its heavy occupants, being constructed to lift several tons of minerals and rock, taking some SPARTANS and Krogans was no problem at all.
"Strange, there hasn't been any sign of activity since we arrived." John commented.
"What do you mean, Demon?" Sarx asked curiously.
"Well, for starters, the Flood never ceases their attacks unless they have suffered more losses than the ones that they can afford, or when they are luring you into a trap. And being lured into a trap by the Flood is never a good thing to do."
"Hmm, then we will just kill them all, just like the pests that they are." Tirg said casually.
John looked at him, wondering if what the Warlord said was because of ignorance or stupid courage. But before he could say anything, the elevator shook and came to a sudden stop. Taken off guard by the action, some of the occupants fell or stumbled inside.
"Everyone alright?" Axel asked.
"Yes sir." The SPARTANS responded while the Krogans nodded in acknowledgement.
"In which sublevel are we?" Blackburn asked.
"We are three levels from our objective." One member of Stratus Company answered.
"Blackburn, do you have signal to radio call our bird?" Axel asked.
"Negative, there's interference. I'm assuming that it is coming from the generator."
"Alright. Let's start moving. Crimson 2 and 4 take point. Stratus Company, you cover our flanks. Crimson 3, you are with me covering our sixes."
After a bunch of "Yes Sir" and a few nods, the nine individuals exited the elevator. Turning on their flashlights, the first thing that the group noticed was that the cave was entirely covered by a yellowish brown substance. On the walls and ceiling of the cave, there were tumor like formations, each one of them housing dozens of Flood infection forms.
Ignoring the scenery around them, the group of nine moved ahead with their weapons ready to shoot at a moment's notice.
"Ugh, movement sensors are useless on here. With all the infection forms resting inside those tumor like things, our sensors are going crazy. Sir I suggest to send a scout team ahead, if there is something then he can radio us." Blackburn said.
"Negative, if we separate from the main group then the Flood will pick us one by one until all of us are dead." Axel responded.
"Sir, sending a scout group ahead would be wise right now. We are technically blind down here, and without knowing what await us ahead we could be walking into a trap without even noticing." John argued.
"Alright. Who volunteers for the scout team?" Axel said with sight.
"My Company and I will do it." Tirg said.
"Are you sure Warlord? The Flood is a relative new enemy for your people. Without knowing what you are against could prove counterproductive and dangerous."
"Don't insult us, SPARTAN, we are Krogan, we were made for this kind of situations. Besides it's not the first time that we encounter a similar enemy."
"Understood. Radio in if you encounter anything."
Nodding at the SPARTAN, Tirg and his Company started to move ahead of Crimson's position. Losing sight of them once they entered the next cave, Crimson moved carefully through the cave. The silence adding to the suspense and feeling of something wrong within each SPARTAN.
Moving to the next cave, the four SPARTANS noticed that it was a command center of sorts. Between the Flood organic material in the walls and ceiling, cables and terminals could be seen, some of them still functioning while others were on fire. Revising around for anything useful, the four SPARTANS continued their path. ARGH! Was the sound of something nearby. The four SPARTANS aimed their weapons at the position from which the sound came. Turning off their flashlights and turning on the nocturnal vision on their helmets, the four of them couldn't see a thing on the cave.
"Did any of you heard that?" Blackburn whispered to his companions.
"I did. It appears that we aren't alone anymore." Sarx responded.
Checking their corners once again, the four were about to check the sound's position when they suddenly heard, SCRATCH!
"That came from our six. Sarx you and me will check it out. Blackburn, Chief go and revise the first sound's position." Axel ordered.
The four SPARTANS moved immediately and effectively, surveying the room with a professional's touch. Chief took out his Flamethrower, while Blackburn readied his Battle Rifle. Using the nocturnal vision, the two of them moved back to the cave's entrance. Founding nothing, they were about to turn when suddenly John made a fist sign to Blackburn. Stopping in his tracks, Blackburn looked at John questioningly. John made a silence sign followed by pointing at the other cave. Looking inside, Blackburn spotted what appeared to be a Krogan that was giving them his back.
Using the zoom of his Battle Rifle's scope, Blackburn saw that, while it was a Krogan, it was a Krogan already infected. The thing had a bulbous thing in its back, its hand was replaced by some kind of sharpened organic blade and had a weapon of sorts encrusted in its other arm. Blackburn took aim at its center mass, while Chief readied the flamethrower. But before any of them could shot at it, the sound of a Plasma Repeater and a Shotgun was heard in the back of the cave. The Krogan infected by the Flood turned at hearing the sound of the weapons as well as the cry of agony of a Flood form. Looking directly at the two SPARTANS, the infected Krogan started running and firing its weapon at them. Both SPARTANS returned fire, the three burst bullets from the Battle Rifle pierced through the beasts arm, effectively cutting it after some rounds. Chief's Flamethrower engulfed the thing in fire until it came to a stop and fell to the ground.
Turning around to go to their team members' position, both SPARTANS didn't notice as the infected Krogan stood behind them. Having spotted them, the infected Krogan ran at its prey, slamming directly into Chief, both of them fell to the floor. Seeing this, Blackburn immediately opened fire on the thing. The infected Krogan ignored the bullets coming from the rifle. Pinning Chief against the floor, the infected Krogan opened part of its back, releasing tens of infection forms which immediately started to swarm John.
Seeing this, John forced adrenaline into his system. Entering in what many call SPARTAN time, John positioned himself to deliver a powerful kick to his enemy, taking him out of on top of him, John rolled to the side before standing on the movement itself. Taking out both of his Plasma Rifles, John started to shoot at the infection forms. Blackburn cooping him, took out his two submachine guns and opened fire. Eliminating the immediate threat, both of them turned to the standing infected Krogan. The thing started to run at them again, but this time the SPARTANS were ready. Stepping aside, Blackburn took out a plasma grenade and implanted it on the things back, while John delivered a kick to it, pushing the thing even further away before the grenade exploded.
"You okay?" Blackburn asked.
"Yea, we should send a report of this new form to command. ONI will want to know about this thing's capabilities." John answered.
"Yea. Come, let's go before more of those things come."
With that, both SPARTANS moved towards Crimsons' 1 and 2 position. Arriving at their comrades' position, both SPARTANS noticed the many dead regular Flood combat forms on the ground.
"What took you two so long?" Axel asked.
"We encountered a new Flood form. This one appears to come from an infected Krogan. Apparently it still conserves the regeneration abilities of the Krogans, though it is at an accelerated rate." John explained.
"I see. Alright let's…"
[Lieutenant Commander, you there? Stratus Company here, do you receive me? Over.]
[Stratus Company what's your status?] Axel answered.
[We are under heavy fire. We managed to find an auxiliary elevator, though the room was infested by the Flood. We also encountered some of our brothers already infected.] Tirg said with anger and hatred at the last part, [We need support now, the pests are using their numbers to overwhelm us, and with those things in the walls shooting at us we can't move to a better position.]
[Understood, hold on for a few more minutes. We will be there ASAP, Over.]
With that the SPARTANS started to run towards the sound of gun fire. Sprinting through the caves, the SPARTANS arrived at Stratus' Company position in under sixty seconds. Taking on the scenery, John immediately used his flamethrower to burn the spider like Flood forms. The things never stood a chance against the flammable napalm that came from the weapon. Axel used his shotgun to kill the nearby Flood forms while Stratus Company and the rest of Crimson team provided suppressive fire.
After some minutes of exchanging fire with the Flood, the four SPARTANS and five Krogans managed to kill all of their opponents. After using the flamethrowers to burn the corpses, and checking the room for any Flood still left alive, both teams moved to the elevator. On the way down, both teams were reloading and checking their weapon, when.
"Your resistance is futile. Like my predecessors once did, you will be harvested, converted and transformed into one of us. Your pitiful intents of winning this battle will be nothing compared to what awaits you. Because I, I am a monument to all your sins, and as such I will judge you accordingly!"
And with that, the elevator was covered in silence once again. John stiffened a little at the remainder of when he went for Cortana on Grand Charity. Axel, Blackburn and Sarx felt, for the first time in a long time, fear. Not because of the message per say, but with the tone in which it was delivered, that didn't mean that they wouldn't complete the mission, each one of them was ready to fight until the end and even then, if they fell, they would do it by bringing as many as they could with them. The Krogan's reactions were similar to that of John, the message having reminded them of the Rachni Wars a few centuries ago.
"Alright, we need to hurry and complete our objective. We have three hours left before the ships decide to glass this area. We will move fast and with precision, kill everything that looks like the Flood by any means necessary and how you see fit. If any of us spots the Gravemind then notify the rest of us. Understood?" Axel said.
"Yes sir!" The SPARTANS answered while the Krogans smiled under their helmets at being given an open door to do what they are best at.
"Um, what's a Gravemind?" One Krogan of Stratus Company asked.
"Trust me, you will know it when you see it." John answered.
With that, the nine individuals exited the elevator and moved towards the generator's position. Its position being identify by an energy scanner installed in the motion sensors of each one of them. Once they were halfway through the cave, dozens of Flood combat forms started to swarm them through all directions. Tirg immediately summoned a singularity in front of them, trapping all Flood forms in a radius of two and a half meters. Another Krogan of Stratus Company summoned another singularity, this one on the back of the group. Like the first one, this singularity trapped all Flood forms in a radius of two meters. The SPARTANS meanwhile opened fire alongside the other three members of Stratus Company, killing effectively the Flood forms on their flanks.
Both singularities proceeded to become unstable before detonating on themselves, killing a grand quantity of the Flood forms. The ones that survived the detonation where immediately put in a stasis biotic field before a warp detonated the stasis, killing the remaining Flood effectively.
Moving ahead, the deactivation team entered a big chamber like room. In the center were many cargo vehicles loaded with Palladium and other kind of minerals. Terminals and machinery adorned the walls, while in the far side of the room the generator stood emitting grand quantities of energy. But that was not the only things on the chamber like cave, dozens if not hundreds of Flood forms were patrolling in said room. And behind the generator, the Gravemind stood in all its glory, its tentacles moving around the cave, creating spores and the tumor like things on the walls and ceiling.
Taking cover behind some rocks, the nine individuals perched themselves in a position to get a good view of the situation before them.
"Well we know where the generator is as well as how to turn it off. Any one knows how to get past big ugly over there." Blackburn said.
"We will need to create a distraction so one or two of us can shut down the generator. Then we will need to exit the mine ASAP so our ships can glass the area." Axel responded.
"I could use the biotic technic charge to get to the generator fast, though I'll need someone covering my back so I can shut it down." Tirg said.
"That could work, how much time do you need to shut it down?" Axel asked.
"A minute, tops. Two if the generator is malfunctioning."
"Understood. This is the plan, Tirg you go in as soon as the Flood concentrates its attention on the rest of us. We will kill as many as we can, but remember don't let yourselves get cornered and always move at least in pairs so you can cover each other. Tirg, if the situation turns too hot and you can't shut down the generator then plug in these explosives," Axel said while giving Tirg said explosives, "They are set to detonate in three minutes. If we make it at least three levels above the explosion radius then we will be fine."
At seeing that no one had anything to say anymore, Axel held his hand open, counting down to five with his fingers. Once the counting finished, eight of the nine individuals popped out of cover, throwing grenades and shooting their weapons at the enemy. The Flood was taken by surprise, losing many of their numbers in the first five seconds of the firefight, but after recovering from the surprise, Flood combat, tank, turret, infection, and Krogan forms charged at their attackers while the Gravemind watched the events unfolding in front of itself.
Tirg took the opportunity to charge at the generator, using the correct amount of biotic energy, Tirg impulse himself to the back of the generator. Once at his destination, Tirg used his Omni-tool to connect himself to the generator's computer and started to shut down its systems.
Blackburn opened fire with his M7 Submachine guns at an incoming carrier form, making it explode delivering a dozen or so infection forms. John used the Flamethrower to burn said infection forms to a crisp while Blackburn killed a few combat forms coming their way. Once the napalm tank was spent completely, John threw the flamethrower to a nearby combat form which fell at the sudden weight increase. Taking out his Plasma Rifles, John proceeded to open fire on the incoming Flood.
Close by, two members of Stratus Company were in a state called blood lust, slamming and shooting at everything that resembled an enemy, the Flood were decreasing by the tens, only to be replaced at an even greater velocity. Using the Omni-Blade in their shotguns, both Krogans cut through the Flood bodies before shooting at another one. Meanwhile, Sarx and Axel were engaged in close combat with the Flood, Sarx using his pair of energy swords while Axel used his shotgun.
The Flood in response increased the ferocity of their attacks, managing in the process to circle two members of Stratus Company before killing them. Taking the chance, two infection forms entered the bodies of the dead Krogan before starting the grotesque process of transformation. This one in particular being slowed down by the natural regeneration factor that the brain of the Krogans was still using in hopes of reviving the body of its wearer.
The four SPARTANS and two Krogans were starting to lose ground. Both groups having retreated back to their initial cover, continued to fight viciously.
[Tirg! What's the hold up? We need to hurry, we are running out of ammo here!] Axel said.
[I'm almost done.] Tirg responded. A few seconds later his voice came again through the intercom, [I'm done! I already sent the signal to the ships above.]
[Good job, now come back to our position so we can…Look out!]
The Gravemind swung one of his tentacles towards Tirg's position, having noticing his prey, and wasting no time at all in eliminating it. A big cloud of sand was lifted as the cave shook from the impact. A few rock fell from the ceiling, killing some of the Flood forms in their path. Lifting its tentacle, the Gravemind was a bit surprised at seeing a blue energy dome and underneath, the still breathing Krogan. Wasting no more time, the Gravemind swung his tentacle again, but this time Tirg was faster and impulse himself with charge towards his companions' position. A bit exhausted at the use of energy to withstand said blow, Tirg took out his shotgun firing on the incoming Flood.
"Everyone retreat now! Tirg, the explosives." Axel said.
Passing him the explosives, Axel set them up to one minute before throwing them in the entrance to the auxiliary elevator room. The remaining seven members of the deactivation team entered the elevator before clicking the upper floor level button.
Shooting at the incoming Flood while the elevator's doors closed, the explosives detonated just as the elevator started it's ascend. The cave below collapsed, burying everything beneath it and at the same time pushing the elevator upwards a bit.
"Well, no one can say that that wasn't exciting." Blackburn commented while the rest of them just let out a small breath of satisfaction.
October 14, 2574, 1950 Hours, Systems Alliance Calendar, Titan Nebula, Titan System, UNSC Class-Infinity Warship Infinity, Bridge.
"Sir, the deactivation insertion team has confirmed the deactivation of the generator and has been already evacuated." Hades informed Lasky.
Not looking from the T.H.P. Lasky sent some command to the ships on the planet. Giving them the green light to glass the red zone.
"Where's the deactivation team currently?" Lasky asked.
"Being disinfected and revised in the medic bay. They are under quarantine, per protocol's orders." Someone in the bridge answered.
Changing the hologram in the T.H.P., Lasky looked at the holographic representation of the planet. The ships glassing said planet being represented in green, while the ships making up the blockade around the planet in blue. So far, the evacuation of the planet had been completed two hours ago. And the planet has been 30% glassed, according to Hades it will take another 10 hours to complete the glassing of the planet.
"I still can't believe that the Council let your government keep weapons capable of this." Aria commented, while watching the glassing of the planet in one of the satellite images. She, along Grizz and Garka, were disturbed at what they were seeing. Never in their lives had they seen something not even remotely similar, the closest thing to this being Tuchanka but even then that planet looked like a five star garden world compared to what was happening to Libera.
"That's because we aren't part of the Citadel, we are considered allies and trade partners for the moment. Though something tells me that the public will have a negative opinion once they find out about what happened here. And we can't tell them anything regarding the Flood to acclimate their voices, at least not without causing a massive panic." Lasky responded.
Putting that thought for another time, Aria asked instead, "I suppose that our agreement still stands. Even though it appears that you eliminated the threat that you were looking for. Am I right?"
"That is correct, Aria. Though our visits will be a bit infrequent from now on."
"That's okay, just don't intervene in any way or form in my operations and the Terminus will treat you well." She answered with a small smirk.
Lasky just shook his head at the remark before leaving to his quarters. He had a lot of reports to fill and send to command.
October 16, 2172, 1430 Hours, Citadel Council Calendar, Widow System, Citadel Station, Presidium, Council Personal Chambers.
"I suppose that by now everyone read the reports. Am I correct?" Sparatus started the meeting with the other Councilors.
Nodding in the affirmative, Tevos said, "I'm glad that the Alliance managed to repel such an attack in a relatively quick time. Also, there's the matter that they focused on evacuating civilians as soon as they got the threat of an attack. That speaks well of their intentions and society as a whole."
"Indeed it does, Tevos." Sparatus reaffirmed.
"There's also the information that we gathered from the Alliance. STG agents reported that at the early stages of the conflict, both alliance personnel and the Turian military forces had a hard time agreeing on the tactics to use. But after a while the Alliance and Turians managed to find a balance between the differences in tactics and employed them effectively. This shows adaptability for the Alliance, just like the Turian military." Valern started to say, "Regarding their weapons capabilities for the ground troops, it appears that we are at the same level with their different branches of weapons. Their projectile weapons, while carrying more kinetic force than our mass accelerator weapons, don't fire as fast as our own, which is where we compensate. Their plasma weaponry though, is on another level, the only way to compensate for that is to create shields that resist that kind of weaponry or to create plasma weaponry of our own."
"Will just put the Quarians to work on a solution for the shields or work to create an inhibitor for those weapons." Sparatus said.
"And what did you found regarding their space warfare capabilities?" Tevos asked.
"That's where they surpass us the most. While our ships are designed to be more agile and fast, their ships are designed to be agile, fast and to take a lot of punishment. Though not as fast or agile as our own, their shields and armor compensate for that. In terms of defense, their ships have at least two different systems of defense that can also be used offensively in a ship to ship knife combat situation. Offensively, their ships have mass accelerators that surpass ours by a hundred times. Where ours deliver kinetic force in the tens, theirs deliver kinetic force in the hundreds, thousands in the case of their defense stations around the planet. That's something that we can't compensate with our current reactors used on the ships."
"We will have to find an alternate energy solution then. Though with centuries of using mass effect fields as our main power source that can be difficult." Sparatus said.
"There were two things that called to my immediate attention on the report." Tevos suddenly said, "The matter concerning the use of nuclear bombs above the Planet's atmosphere being one. And the fact that there were five ships measuring twenty nine kilometers long. Surely there was a flaw in the report in that last one. Even though the Alliance possess thirteen kilometer long ships, surely there can't be ships of those magnitudes."
"I wish it wasn't true. Analysts revised the footage and measured the ships, and to our utter surprise and horror, they were indeed twenty-nine kilometer ships." Valern answered Tevos worries.
"Then why didn't the Alliance informed us of this?" Tevos said a bit alarmed.
"To have an ace up their sleeve. At least that's what I would have done. Don't you remember when the Turians joined the Citadel, we pulled something similar back then, though much smaller compared to this." Sparatus answered.
"And the worst part of all is that, we can't demand the Alliance to dismantle those monstrosities of ships because we don't have solid proof that they even possess one of those." Tevos said.
"My concern is in what the Alliance hasn't told us. For all we know, they have a weapon capable of affecting only a single species or they could be constructing an entire planet." Valern said a bit excited at the prospect of seeing such capabilities.
"Anyways, regarding the use of nuclear weapons, we can't say anything about it because it was inside their space. Regarding the events in the Terminus Systems, for what some of my sources found, it appears that the Alliance has made Aria an ally if she has agreed so willingly to cover the events that happened on Libera." Sparatus said.
"What happened in Libera?" Tevos asked.
"The entire planet has been glassed. Some recognizance teams were sent to investigate and they found a melted rock covered in a crystal like substance. Not one space of land was spared." Sparatus said, "Though that action has its justification well placed. Two hours ago a report from the Alliance arrived at my terminal. It appears that the infected ship crashed on the planet and infected the entire colony in a matter of hours. There was no other option left besides the glassing of the colony."
"By the goddess! Please tell me that the colonists were evacuated."
"The ones who weren't infected or showed signs of being in the process of infection were. Also the Alliance sent scanners to the Citadel, Omega, and all important planets in the galaxy. Those scanners can detect someone infected by the Flood, this way we can prevent a galactic infection."
"Well that's a relief." Tevos said.
"I think that this meeting is over. We would put our R&D to maximum capacity." Sparatus said.
"There's something more Councilors," Valern said, "It appears that the society of the Systems Alliance is more unstable than we thought. The Alliance informed me that a new group of insurgents has been born. The group call itself CERBERUS. It is composed of victims of the Human-Covenant war and idealistic members who are xenophobic to all non-Alliance members. The Alliance has classified it as dangerous and extremist, they recommended us to use lethal force if we encounter them."
"We will have to alert our patrols about this, also we will have to accelerate most of our projects if we want to defend ourselves effectively against an enemy who shares technology with the Alliance." Sparatus said.
With that, the three Councilors exited the chamber. Each one of them going to do their respective duties.
A/N: And here's another chapter. Please review, let me know what you think of it.
Also I'm sad to announce that I'm not sure when the next chapter is going to be ready because I'm moving from the estate and well I will be spending the following weeks packing and all that stuff. Still I will try to upload it ASAP.