In Infinitum
Chapter 24
First Move
SSV-Spirit of Fire. Slipspace. en route to Palavan. 0820 Hours.
The Spirit of Fire was a magnificent ship easily the size of two dreadnoughts and triple the firepower in a speedier package with enough free space to carry a contingent of five whole companies of Marines, enough ground armor to wage a small war and their most expensive package. Theta Company, the entire Spartan Company were currently sitting inside what was now known as the "drop bay" since it had been refitted to allow one hundred Spartans to be dropped from the ship during an over pass from the air.
It sounded crazy to Captain Ardulus' ears, but Alliance Brass had ensured her the Spartans knew what they were doing since they had all agreed to the plan. Then again, Cynthia Ardulus wasn't the most sound Captain either, her record was full of success based off unpredictability and unorthodox. A crazy Captain for a crazy ship manned by a crazy Spartans.
"Love at first sight," Ardulus said from her command chair on the bridge of the ship. She was currently checking over the Spirit's specifications again. She hadn't been loaded with fighters, no. They hadn't added those simply because the Spirit made up for them with four dozen point defense high energy output defense turrets.
She sported a specially modified MAC gun that was able to fire four successive shots before needing to recharge. The slugs it fired were 600 tons of pure "F-U" to any unlucky ship or Reaper that got hit, it wasn't as big as the one at Arcturus, but hell. If they data recovered by the Normandy from the debris field is any indication, it would still be useful.
And if that failed. The twin "large" thanix cannons in the front and eighty-four Thanix missile pods would make them piss whatever passes for Reaper blood in no time. All in all, if the Reach was amazing, the Spirit was divine. Along with the heavy armaments and heavy armor plating. The retrofits included adding Cyclonic barriers to the hull. In fact a whole new reactor had been added solely to power the shields, giving them enormous strength.
Which they would need since they were about to go headlong into a battlefield that was hell on dirt and space if the Turian reports were right.
"Okay, so I'm skimming through the Turian tactical data they graciously sent us," beside the Captain's chair appeared the hologram of the ships AI, Seth, as the AI had chosen its name. "And so far, its appears our payload would be best served here," a small holographic Palavan appeared and a green circle blipped on it. "The capital city has several large surface-to-space cannons around it and is most defensible, if we can secure it. The Turians would have a fall back position and command center."
Ardulus wasn't big on the whole idea of letting Seth handle cyber warfare, point defense, slipspace jump calculations and data translation, but Admiral Hackett assured her that Seth had passed all the "safe tests" given to it by the eggheads from the science division. So, here Seth was. "Alright, so we'll take it, have the Turians been informed of our coming?" she asked, glancing at the small display.
"Yup!" Seth retook his form of a young man in a faint blue dress suit and slicked back hair with sharp eyes. "Oh, wait… no, silly me, hailing them now," he paused, then said. "Side note. Fifteen minutes out." he went silent and the com channel buzzed.
"This is General Phastis, I'm reading you," the transmission was audio only, so the Captain guessed the general was in a combat situation.
"General Phastis, this is Captain Ardulus of the SSV-Spirit of Fire with the Alliance, we're fifteen minutes-"
"Fourteen now," Seth quipped.
Ardulus continued. "Out and closing fast, I understand your having trouble holding the Capital, what's the situation down there?"
"Pretty bad, Reaper ground forces are trying to destroy the power plants keeping our cannons around the city offline so they land directly inside the city itself, one landed in the middle of it while the guns were fending off other Reapers from landing, we've been doing every damned thing to make sure it doesn't reach any of the power plants. But its moving steadily now since we lost the eightieth armored!" there was an explosion and screech of a Husk in the background, followed by gunfire. "Damnit, seal that door!"
Captain Ardulus frowned. Situation was worse then she thought then, "Don't you worry about that Reaper, General, we'll put it down for you and drop some backup. We'll help you retake the capital," she smiled. "You have my word."
"Thanks, didn't think the Alliance could spare the ships," he sounded relieved.
"Ships? General. It's just us, the Spirit is all the support that's been sent," She said with a shrug.
"One ship? Are you joking? Why only one ship?" now he sounded appalled.
"Ten minutes, Captain," Seth chimed in.
"Because General, we're the only ship that doesn't need Mass Relays to travel across the galaxy," Ardulus smiled. "Now, we're ten minutes in, send me updated tac data and I'll be in touch."
"Understood…" The general sighed with resignation and muttered, "One ship…" before the com closed.
Ardulus checked the data. Tac maps of the capital appeared with various outlinings in Red showing enemy presence. So far, seventy percent of the Capital was under Reaper control, near the eastern area was a Reaper capital ship, moving steadily towards one of the six power plants that powered the cannons. "Hmm, big guy, huh?" Ardulus smirked. "Sound general hands to stations. I want every marine and Spartan armed and ready to hit the ground running and guns blazing."
"Aye, ma'am," Seth replied and faded a duller blue before brightened. "Orders issued. Spartans are preparing their drop tubes now, so, what exactly are we going to do again?" he raised a brow.
"Alright, we're going to fly over the Capital in a drive by style hit on the Reaper in the area, while doing that we're going to drop out payload as we go, from there they'll secure any generators in need of backup and the main military command center here," Ardulus tapped a location on the map of the city. "From there we can organize our efforts with the Turians and hopefully turn the tide of this battle. While the generator and city are being secured, we'll be in orbit helping the Turian fleets however we can."
"Outstanding plan, ma'am," Seth nodded. "If not a little crazy."
"Seth ma'boy," Ardulus grinned. "I was born crazy." she stated.
"Lucky for you then, ma'am," Seth returned the grin. "I like crazy."
Ardulus chuckled. Okay, maybe should get used to the AI being around, just maybe. She lifted her gaze to the maps, then said. "We there yet?"
"Exiting Slipspace in ten seconds ma'am," the AI replied with a nod. "Shall I inform our passengers?"
"Yes."
The AI nodded, sent a quick broadcast to the Spartan launch bay and then reappeared. "Done! Also, we're here." he turned ahead.
The slipstream parted for them… then revealed utter chaos as they appeared in the middle of a battle, fighters and Oculus drones dogfights were all around trying to shoot the others down. Reaper Cruiser and Carriers fired upon attacking Turian ships as they attempted to close in to use their Thanix cannons.
"Whoa!" Ardulus gripped her chair and shouted, "Full speed forward! Get us to the Capital, Lieutenant!" she watched as two Reapers, a Carrier and Cruiser slowly moved to intercept their course, apparently trying to stop the new, unknown ship from reaching the planet. Ardulus smirked.
"Ma'am! We have two Reapers in the way and MAC gun is hot, should we fire?" asked her weapons station operator, Second Lieutenant Hikawa.
Ardulus shook her head, "We'll need the cannon to strafe the Reaper on the surface, so we can't use that. I have another idea," she grinned. "Power up forward shields and get us to ramming speed!" she ordered.
"Ma'am?"
"You heard me." Ardulus said, more serious.
Seth frowned then said. "You think this will work?"
"I've done crazier," Ardulus shrugged her shoulders. The ship began to accelerate and close the distance between the two Reapers. Their backs spread and revealed the two glowing red eyes of their main guns. The heated red, preparing to fire. Ardulus smirked.
"Three seconds to impact," Seth stated simply.
The bridge crew braced themselves. Ardulus grinned and strapped herself in and shouted. "Out of our way you oversized cockroaches!"
The Spirit's forward shields took two slashes from the main guns and her shields flared, shimmered and then settled at sixty percent strength. They charged their guns again, but then started to move to the side when they realized the Spirit hadn't altered its course, the carrier was slower then the cruiser. It spread its legs and the Spirit impacted it head on,
Both ships shields flared brightly. But the Reaper's kinetic barriers fell and the hull of it bent, screeched with strain and sheered and split as the nose of the human ship forced its way through, then the carrier broke apart from the forces. The Cruiser had moved quicker and got nicked on the side, making its shields flare but not fall.
"Hah!" Ardulus grinned and opened the rear camera. "Seth, target that son of a bitch with some Thanix missiles! Give it a nice going away present!" she barked. Her expression turned serious.
"At once, ma'am," Seth replied.
A second later two dozen Thanix missiles fired from their missile pods and streaked towards the Reaper. Ardulus watched on the camera as the Reaper shot down five of the missiles before the other dozen or so landed their shots. It's shields flared then fell. Seven other missiles struck its back, the hull heated white then melted away and explosions bloomed outward with bits of superheated steel into vacuum. The Reaper wasn't out, but it sure as hell wouldn't be trying to follow them with that much damage.
"Slow us down, Lieutenant," Ardulus ordered as she relaxed. "Shield status?"
"No permanent damage, shields held at nine percent," Seth stated. "Very balsy move, if I do say so."
Ardulus bowed her head, "Thank you, thank you. I'm here all through the war," she said with a chuckle. "Now, prep the Spartans to drop, they have twenty four seconds before we're over the drop zone." She said, leaning back into her chair.
"Yes, Captain." Seth disappeared.
SSV-Spirit of Fire. en route the Palavan Capital. 0812 Hours.
Inside the drop bay sat ninety-eight Spartans in full MJOLNIR armor, each was checking over their gear, chatting with their teammates or just outright being lazy as they waited for the word to go. For Corporal Adrien-007 of Theta Company, she was content to just sit and wait. Her Banshee was in working order, no need to check it like a nervous chipmunk before the drop. This was crazy in all the sense of the word, but after running the process through her head she declared it was sound so long as everyone stuck to the procedure of landing a drop from a moving Dreadnought as it strafed a target in a highly populated area.
Yeah, sound.
She sighed, her helmet sat at her side and she ran a hand through her dark hair. Her angular face shone back at her from the sheen on her gauntlet, she flexed her fingers and lifted her head when the AI, Seth, spoke.
"Attention, Spartans. Pleasant news! We're exiting slipspace now and are joining the battle of Palavan!" Seth's tone was absolutely giddy. "I suggest you all load into your tubes and prepare to drop, it's going to be a bit bumpy!"
Adrien honestly believed the AI was insane, or was programmed to be creepily cheery when approaching combat situations. Either way it freaked her out a bit, but no time for that now. They had their orders. Standing and setting herself inside. The hatch sealed her inside in darkness. She closed her eyes and waited.
Seven seconds ticked by. Then twelve and finally Seth's voice broadcast over their com systems, "Spartan Theta Company, Mission briefing time." Adriend rolled her eyes at the same cheery tone, "Once you touch down. Gamma, Sierra and Texas teams are the secure this generator…" Her visor turned into a tactical map of the city. A outline of the teams objective appeared on the map, "From there. You are to hold it."
Three teams, twelve Spartans total to secure a generator. Not too bad for odds.
"Delta, Alpha and Helix have this one." Another blip, then two more appeared. "Lima, Kilo and Zero team has the first. Elliot, Sigma and Trinity teams have the second," Seth paused. Then four more NAV points appeared on the map. "Charlie, Onyx, Oscar, Sapphire and Orion teams. This is the Turian High Command center, it's currently under enemy occupation and your mission is to retake it and hold it down until it can be reinforced. There we can mount a proper defense of the planet."
Oynx Team, that was Adrien's team. So, they were taking the capital? It surprised her that the capital had fallen at all. The Turian military was famous for its tough discipline and even tougher soldiers. She only half listened to the remaining briefing. She opened a link to Nathan-233, the Team's leader.
"What you think?" She asked.
"Sounds like a walk through hell," He replied gruffly. "Just stay on mission, Adrien. No chit-chat," the channel closed and she frowned. There was a subtle increase in the outside temperature followed by a just as sudden decrease. They had broken the atmosphere. A red light blinked on over her head. Her Banshee was magnetically attached to her back, she counted four thermal magazines on her "belt" and two grenades at her hip.
She was locked and loaded.
The light turned yellow. She opened her eyes and a voice over her com. "See you on the down side." It was Warren-071. Their marksman and explosives specialist.
"Yeah."
The light winked green. The floor beneath her hissed open and she dropped into open sky at fifteen thousand feet at the air along with two-hundred and ninety-eight Spartans, they spread their arms to slow their descent speed. Grouped up into their teams as the Spirit sped downwards the city below and disappeared past the clouds.
Adrien felt her insides churn. Free-fall wasn't her idea of a hot drop. Soon, the rest of Onyx formed up Nathan, he spearheaded their V formation and soon they all flew in formation.
"All teams, break off to your objectives now! Remember people, first time is always the most jittery!" Theta's commander, Strike Commander Micheal-003, spoke. "And try not to be turned into paste, okay?"
"I make no promises, Striker!" Connor's voice chimed in. On Adrien's HUD dozens of green lights winked affirmatives. She narrowed her eyes and soon the flying Spartans broke the cloud covering. They all stared at the scene below them.
The Turian Capital city was burning. The streets were littered with wreckages of civilian and military vehicles alike, buildings were toppled and fires raged across the whole of the area. It could have been Hell itself they were dropping into from the looks of it. Onyx veered off towards the High Command center, which was only half the building it was supposed to be. One section looked like it had taken a direct hit from a Reaper's main gun, probably had too.
She glanced to the side in time to see the Spirit fire four rounds from its MAC cannon before pulling up and away from the city to rejoin the fleets in orbit to provide firing support. Their target barely had time to look up before it was pounded into the ground by four individual rounds, in fact. The first round had shattered its shields and the second finished it. The other two were just for overkill.
Her altimeter read two hundred feet. Her suit activated the core on her back, it spun to life and soon she felt the g-forces leave her body and the hissing of the wind stopped. She angled her feet first and then her front, back and calve jets burned a quick boost.
Her descent speed dropped from over three-hundred KPH to under fifty. She waited until twenty feet, they burned again and hit the ground at twenty KPH in a crouch, the core deactivated and she stood up. She landed it perfectly.
"Onyx team. Proceed to objective, radio silence from here on our unless urgent, double time it. Spartans!" Nathan barked and closed the channel.
Adrien grabbed her Banshee and shouldered it. She glanced to her left to see Darius jump from a three story building to the next one across the street. He turned to her upon landing, waved and then shot towards their objective. Adrien hefted her rifle and sprinted forward. Gunfire echoed across the city as did explosions.
She leapt over a destroyed car and fired when several Husks wondered into her street. They screeched and fell over in the hail of rounds, any that didn't tried to give chase. But at her speed they'd need a vehicle to catch her, her legs pumped hard and she felt as if it were nothing more than a jog thanks to the MJOLNIR armor.
She leapt to the side when the sound of heavy machinegun fire rang out into the air. The spot she'd been at exploded into large puffs of sparks and metal. She frowned, checked her motion tracker and saw three tangos trying to circle around to her right while the machine gun kept her pinned behind the buildings corner.
Warren's light winked green.
A shot cracked. The shooting stopped.
Adrien smiled behind her visor and turned the corner then broke into another sprint. She briefly spotted Warren on the rooftops like Darius, apparently taking advantage of the jump jets on their armor. She looked down the street, narrowing her eyes she zoomed to twelve times.
A clearing around the base that was blockaded by a few dozen Cannibals, she saw what looked like a cyborg Turian commanding them and several larger creatures that had Turian heads but massive bodies with huge vicious claws. She frowned and gripped her Banshee. It read 48 ammunition.
Onyx's lights all winked yellow. They saw the blockade.
"All teams, hold position." Nathan's voice was steel.
Adrien slowed her run and moved off to the side into one of the structures. She soon joined Onyx on the four story roof of a building. Each lay prone near the edge and stared down at the enemy encampment. "Heavy machine guns mounted positions inside the Command center," Nathan muttered. "And hundred and four tangos."
"Hundred and seven, look on the roof," Warren reported. He was looking through the scope of his Rapier sniper rifle.
The rest of Onyx followed his instructions and sure enough, there were two more commander units. Now dubbed Marauders, sitting on the roof with elongated rifles. "Snipers," Nathan said.
"Yeah, so, what's our plan?" Warren asked.
Nathan didn't reply for a few moments. "Sapphire and Orion are going to provide blanketing fire from the adjacent roof tops on the other side of the square. The rest of us will move in when the enemy is focused, shoot and move. But make it to the Command center above all else, if we can take it from the inside those mounted guns will be very useful in securing the outer area." He explained, "Understood?"
All lights winked green.
Sapphire and Orion would be taking the brunt of this enemy force? Even for Spartans and their armor this was a little insane. But then again, this was a war and they all knew the stakes. Shepard had told what the Reapers wanted and would do if they won.
"It's starting." Nathan said.
The reddened sky briefly flashed blue and yellow as a massive cloud of smoke and ash floated into the air across their position of the square. The explosion usually caused by a M31-MEDUSA launcher. The forces below them turned and most began to rush towards the disturbance as gunfire echoed in the distance along with the occasional explosion.
"Sapphire and Orion are engaged," Nathan stated the obvious. "Snipers, take your shots. Everyone else, prepare to fire." his Banshee came up and targeted one of the commanding units.
Warren's Rapier sounded off. Then three more shots rang out. The snipers on the roof shields fell, then they exploded into chunks as their chests were torn apart from the heavy snipers. They were down. Onyx and the remaining teams opened fire on the ground forces remaining. Cannibals took rounds to the chest and arms, but roared and raised their weapons. They returned fire.
Adrien let loose three second bursts of fire. Her shields took two scrapes and a full hit, they drained to seventy. She and the others leapt to their feet and off the building, she landed on a speeder and its frame bent and groaned from the impact. She sprinted forward with them still firing.
A cannibal tracked her and then lost its head when Warren sniped it. She reloaded quickly.
A marauder screeched from behind cover and aimed at her., A burst of fire from its weapon drained her shields to nothing and a round struck her chest, the metal plating dented but she kept her pace and returned fire. It's shields took the brunt of her rounds but failed as well. It went back into cover.
The machine gunners on the second and third floor turned their forces and fired. Three fell off their guns when the snipers were through with their third volley of fire. A blip appeared on her radar and she turned in time to see one of the giant Brute like creatures swat her into the air, her shields fell on impact with the ground and her vision swam with black dots.
The creature roared and turned to two other Spartans who pelted it with AR fire. It lashed out with speed that surprised them and caught one in the side. Sending him into the side of a speeder like a rag doll, Adrien forced herself up and shook her head to clear it. The other Spartan leapt over the monster, landed on its back and primed a grenade.
He punched it into its back then leapt off.
The grenade detonated and deformed its back further. To Adrien's horror the creature took two steps towards her, then fell motionless on the ground.
Three more jumped from the second floor and roared. They charged to meet the Spartans head on.
"Combine fire!" Nathan ordered. Banshees fired in long automatic bursts as they concentrated on one creature at a time while attempting to keep distance from the other two, the first roared in anger as if it didn't feel their rounds and lifted a speeder wreckage, then tossed it.
The wreckage flew past its intended target. Nathan, and the Spartan returned fire. A spray of rounds caught its face and the creature reeled back in anger, it growled. Adrien landed from a jump, crouched and levelled her rifle on its face. She took in a breathe and fired three rounds. All three connected and it turned to her, she primed a grenade as it charged her.
It closed and ducked under its heavy swipe. Brought her fist with the grenade up and into its "skull" before jumping back and covered shielding herself. The grenade exploded and bits of tech mixed with bone showered her shields harmlessly.
"Kyle!" A female Spartan cried out. Adrien followd her gaze and saw another Spartan, Kyle-217, was being ragged around by his arm by one of the larger creatures that had gotten a hold of him. The Spartan raised his Banshee and fired into its face at point blank, mutilating it.
It roared and tossed him away where he flipped mid air and landed and skidded to a halt on his feet. The arm that was grabbed was limp at his side, likely dislocated. But he was alive and the creature was even uglier then before. Also more pissed, since it tore a door from one of the speeders nearby and tossed it like a disk at the Spartan.
Kyle jumped back and curled his legs. It flew clean under him and he hit the ground and shot forward firing. Nathan and Jordan opened fire on the same Brute. It roared, then toppled. Adrien turned and saw the third was already engaged by three other Spartans. They leapt and weaved around it as if dancing. She knew they wouldn't make Kyle's mistake and underestimate it.
While those three dealt with the remaining brute. The rest of them proceed to the building's main entrance. Which was locked.
"Sam, get Kyle's arm fixed," Nathan ordered before switching to their tech expert. Valerie-047, a member of Green team, who had been folded into Oscar team until Shepard and James returned. She kneeled, brought her Omni-Tool and began to hack the doors open.
A moment passed. Then. "Got it." the doors hissed open to reveal a small, blinking red circular device. An explosive. Adrien's vision was blinded as white light flooded her visor, even at foll polarization it was still hard to look at, the light died down and Valerie was gone. Only thing left was a blackened floor and melted doorway. Those were closest to the door had their shields down and they slowly recharged.
No one said anything until Nathan spoke, "Be careful from now on," he didn't sound bothered. But everyone felt it, one of their own had just been snuffed out in the blink of an eye. They proceeded into the building into a long hallway. Stairs to the right and a lobby like area to the left of them.
"Onyx, we're going to third floor to secure the communications hub. Oscar, you secure this floor and Charlie. You get the second, lucky you." Nathan muttered into the com.
"More enemy activity there."
"Yeah, lucky us." Charlie's leader, Sarah-300, muttered and her team proceeded up the stairs followed by Onyx. They kept their eyes open for anymore explosives like the one that had claimed Valerie all the while.
They came to the second floor and listened. Sounds of activity were on the other side and Sarah said to her team, "Weapons free." she opened the door and they slipped through shooting. The doors closed and the gunfire continued even as Onyx proceeded to the third floor, the doors had been blown open and they stepped inside.
It was clear.
Moving over to one of the doors, it hissed open and reveal Turians, all dead. Dark pools of blood gathered around their bodies, but in the center of the room was a very familiar device. "I have Dragon's Teeth," Adrien said into her com.
"Understood," Nathan replied. "Same here."
"Yeah, hold on," there was a bout of gunfire that echoed in her headset and outside the room. "Clear now, poor bastard."
A heartbeat passed and Sarah's voice came through the com. "This is Charlie, second floor clear and Orion and Sapphire reports the enemy in full retreat. They're taking the stragglers now."
"Oscar here, first floor is clear. No survivors." reported Oscar's leader.
After a quick sweep of the small floor Onyx declared it clear and moved over to the communications room. It was empty and all the equipment appeared to be untouched, Adrian got to work on getting Turian communications back up and running. Her fingers moved over the keys swiftly and with purpose. Frowning in concentration she paused once, then tapped another and soon Turian reports flooded in.
She opened all channels. "Attention all Turian ground forces, we've secure the high command Center, all nearby forces make best speed. Something tells me they'll want this place back badly," Adrien said.
Affirmatives came through clearly and she nodded to Nathan.
"Spirit of Fire, do you read me?" He asked, using the long range com.
"This is the Spirit of Fire, since I'm talking to you, Spartan." Captain Ardulus said, "I assume your mission to take the Command center worked and you've restored communications?"
"Yes, ma'am, we've taken a casualty, but we've secured the objective and Turian forces are en route to reinforce our position, any word from the rest of Theta?"
"All teams have reported in, Their generators are under assault. But not in immediate danger, seems when the Reaper went down all nearby enemy ground troops suffered a small… malfunction," Ardulus replied. "Also, sorry for your loss, Spartan. But get comfortable, you're going to be down there for awhile."
"How are things in space?"
"Peachy, I mean, Turians are getting their asses kicked and we're running out of MAC rounds to shoot at these bastards, but we're good so far, I've contacted Alliance Headquarters and they're sending the sixth fleet to reinforce us. ETA is four hours." Ardulus explained, then shouted. "Fire the MAC!"
Static, then. "Hah! That makes ten kills! I want that capital ship trying to break away finished off! No need to let it bleed."
Nathan waited until Ardulus' voice came back. "Also, four klicks away from you is memorial sqaure, four miles of grassland used for military parades, I want that area secured so I land this tub groundside and deploy our marines and armor!"
Nathan nodded and glanced at his team. "Understood, I'll relay the orders to Micheal when he arrives, ma'am,"
"Good man, Captain Ardulus ou-Whoo! Two for one, mother-"
Nathan closed the com and ended the Captain's cheer. "Alright, you heard the Captain, bunker down! Reposition those machine emplacements and lets make this place a bit more home-like!" he ordered. "Go, go, go!"
The teams hopped to their duties.
SSV-Upon Reach. En route to the Citadel, 1000 Hours.
Shepard stepped out of the com room with a heavy sigh. Hackett wasn't pleased with how the Mars mission had ended, but he couldn't dwell on it either. The council had made a decision and as it turns out they wanted Krogan support for the Turians along with what remained of the Batarian fleets. With that in mind Hackett proposed that envoys from each species meet on the Reach to discuss their terms for alliances.
So, now he was playing peace keeper between a bunch of politicians while dealing with the animosity that came with having a Krogan, Turian and Salarian in the same room. Yeah, this would be fun like a ride through Hell without his armor.
Oh, not to mention one of his best friends was sitting in the med lab with a stab wound through her abdomen. Shepard sighed again and stepped onto the elevator, he hadn't had time to visit Liara since they got back. So he was going to now while they were headed to drop her off at Huearta Memorial Hospital on the Citadel before they went off to play neutral ground.
But something else weighed heavy on Shepard's mind. Cerberus apparently had access to Slipspace drives now too. And a ship that dwarfed the Reach. In fact, the ship EDI described dwarfed every ship in the galaxy if she right about its size.
"How can something be twenty four kilometres?" he whispered softly to himself. The doors opened and he walked towards the medical bay. Personnel saluted him on his way there and he gave them courteous nods in return before moving on to his destination. Stopping outside he took a breath and entered the bay.
Liara was sitting up, her clothing had been removed from her upper body and revealed her shapely figure, covered only by a simple white garment that passed for a bra among Asari. Which didn't mean much if what Shepard was seeing was any account, he looked to the size and was thankful he had his armor.
"Liara," he said. Moving to her table. "How are you feeling?"
"Better," Liara replied and looked to the medical attendant, "Will that be all?"
"Yes," The medical chief, Catherine Mason, replied. "No strenuous activity for the next day. Might reopen the wound internally. Then you'll be back here again, now, I'm going to get a sample of the poison on this blade." she turned and marched off into another section of the med bay.
Poison? Shepard frowned but didn't question it. "That's good, I was worried about you."
Liara looked up to him and smiled. "Do not worry about me, Shepard. I am stronger than I would appear," she stared and stretched her arms out before she started to redress her upper body. "What about Ashley? Is she alright?"
"Yes, she's fine. She chased off the assassin," Shepard nodded. "What can you tell me about her, anyways?"
"The assassin?" Liara paused. "She was well trained, faster than any human I've ever seen. She had technology I've never seen as well, she could produce a barrier with her palm, which doubled as an offensive weapon." she frowned and sighed, "I'm sending my agents out to try and find more. But if she's with Cerberus, it won't be much."
"I understand," Shepard replied simply. He knew she wouldn't find much about the assassin, Cerberus hid its information well, even from the new Shadow Broker that was Liara T'soni. "Just glad you pulled through."
"Like I said, I'm stronger then I look," Liara stood off the bed and said, "What about the data?"
"EDI is translating it now. She says she'll need two hours to make sense of it all. Well, the bits we got anyways, Cerberus has the complete file." The Commander sighed again for the umpteenth time that day. " The mission was only partially successful. But at least we got some data, right?"
"Yes," Liara nodded and they both left the medical bay. "Now, what is with the armor? And you and Lieutenant Vega's increased physical height?" she asked, turning to him with a firm stare mixed with curiosity.
Shepard thought about answering her, technically the Spartan Program was to remain a secret. But this was Liara and she would learn about it sooner or later, so. He looked to her and said, "It's a special program from the Alliance…"
He dove into the tale of the SPARTAN-IV program.
By the time he had finished his explanation they had found their way into the crew quarters. Liara sat down and cracked her neck. "I am amazed the Alliance has come so far… if your story is correct, then… why keep this technology from the rest of the galaxy?" she asked with a frown.
"Because, Liara." Shepard started, "The council would have limits placed on us. And those limits would hinder us in times of need, like now… our fleets could have been twice as large if the Council didn't limit our military power. Humanity will never be caught off guard for something like this ever again, we're tired of it."
Liara opened her mouth. But another voice broke into their conversation, "You might want to explain why Cerberus has this stuff too, slipspace?" Ashley stalked over to Shepard and glared. "How the hell did they get something like with a ship that huge?"
"Ashley," Shepard looked to his subordinate. "Not only are you questioning a superior officer about matters of Intelligence that is way above our heads. But your also asking questions with a tone that implies you're accusing me." he stood and stared down at her. "But I'll answer your question. Back on Amaterasu several unknown alien forces attacked the colony. They used technology like that too, they had plasma weapons that we've never seen."
He narrowed his eyes. "After the mission was complete, Cerberus showed up before the Alliance could and took as much samples of the tech as they could. Then they left with a captured Spartan to study and no doubt this studying brought that assassin you faced into the conflict because the way it sounds she was trained and augmented like one." he sat back down and spat, "You gonna blame me for that too?"
Ashley glared heatedly. Turned and walked away, whispering. "What happened to us, Shepard?"
"I died, came back to save humanity a second time after saving it once before, in both accounts. Do you know who believed me? Do you know who gave me the resources and soldiers I needed to fight the Collectors? I'll tell you it sure as Hell wasn't the Alliance, or the Council." He glared at her. "It was Cerberus, so well you may hate them. I can say this. They. Get. Results."
"As brutal as their methods are, Ashley. They were doing something good in their line of bad," Shepard quieted his tone and sighed. "And then you… hated me for working with them, when no one else would help me with the Collectors. They did, Ashley. Can you really blame me for working with them?"
She turned over her shoulder. Eyes glistening, then she left the room. Liara shifted and looked to Shepard, "She will be alright…" she said.
"I know. It's just…" He removed his helmet and placed it on the bed next to him. "I want her to look at me like she used to… when we were after Saren, she used to admire me… she loved me." he looked to Liara. "Now… it's just suspicion and weary glances."
Liara gave a saddened sigh and moved to hug Shepard, made uncomfortable by the armor he wore. But she endured it and gingerly, he returned the warm gesture. "I can't imagine what its like for you, Shepard. The galaxy has been on your shoulders twice."
"It's hard," he muttered. "But I have people like you helping me along."
"I'll be here as long as you need me, Shepard."
"I know," Shepard closed his eyes. "Thanks, Liara."
End of chapter 24
There it is, Chapter 24! Sorry for those who don't really like the whole "OC" part of the story with Theta. Just it's hard to cover an entire war as its happening with just only focusing on Shepard. Y'know? So, you'll see a bit more of Adrien from this point on. And other Spartans as the war rages. Now, for those who have questions about Cerberus, I'm taking a different path with them then in the third game.
Because Cerberus, to me, is not an "evil" organization, more so just extreme in their methods to ensure they protect what they love. In this case, humanity. They'll be playing the role as the "semi badguy" as the story goes along and their plans unfold. I just felt they always demonized Cerberus too much. If people don't agree with this path for Cerberus, then I'm sorry. But its integral to the overall plot of things.
Anyways! If you would all be so kind as to leave a review. I'd be most grateful!