The Mass relay belonging to the system of Sahrabarik had seen plenty of activity lately. Not just from the various people living within the Terminus Systems, but also ship crews which have no interest towards Omega and the neighboring systems. It's the only gateway into the Omega Nebula from rest of the galaxy. A lone sentinel in the great dark.
The core pulsed brightly, the revolving rings moving faster as if hailing the arrival of a Light Cruiser, a significant ship within the galaxy. But which only a few knew or cared about. For what reason would they be interested in whatever business the ship's crew wanted to conduct? Something which they would be better off not knowing, as the saying went, ignorance is bliss.
The Normandy left the Mass relay behind, slowing down only briefly to wait for the ship that accompanied it. If other people the strange couple, they would inevitably wonder why an old Batarian Cruiser would follow a Human made ship with apparent friendly intention, which remained largely unheard of throughout the galaxy. And as though seeking a fate that would never be advised by anyone who's people had ever tried approaching the much feared Omega 4 relay. The sensors and communications on board the Normandy blared to life as automatic warnings and hazard beacons came in as if trying to dissuade the crew from the approach. Hanging around the relay. a small number of ships could be seen, all which likely also received the same messages.
One shuttle launched from either approaching ships and headed straight towards the waiting formation which were tagged as friendlies since before they even approached. The fleet assets promised by the Illusive man. Three Cruisers and eight Frigates. Not even close to the capacity of the Systems Alliance, not even remotely. But Cerberus usually did not have need for such things. But sometimes some measure of brute force will be needed, hence the Military sections the organization possess.
Eventually a ship made itself clear from the rest, a cruiser with a more elaborate emblem of the three-headed guard dog of the underworld upon it's hull.
The hangar opened slowly as to greet them, allowing access to the two shuttles. A modern top of the line Kodiak and a far older craft of Batarian design. The differences such that the differently designed and built origin seared the other with spite until they had finished landing, allowing the side hatches to open.
"Greetings, good to have you here on board my ship. My name's George Kullen, and I'm the Commanding Officer of this-" he paused to convey the proper words.. "-hastily rallied fleet." the man spoke as he approached them from the elevator, flanked by at least four guards.
"Good to see the Illusive man being true to his word." Shepard bluntly whispered as he walked away from the shuttle, followed by one of his crew. The Commander smirking very slightly as some of the guards winced at the very sight of an Asari Justicar... though Samara behaved like nothing of particular was needed.
A sigh escaped George's throat at Shepard. "Commander, no matter what you may think of him. When push comes to shove, he's a very reliable man. Especially when Humanity is at stake, like it is now."
"We haven't been able to get in touch with Councilor Anderson on our way here. What are the news on the front?"
"What info we got are sketchy. But they have gone through several relay stations, but have had yet to find the one occupied by Kabuto and his merry gang." George's gazed tilted to the right as those from the other shuttle approached. From what dossier Cerberus had, that one had to be that Nagato fellow walking on the front, his odd and piercing eyes watching him intently and seriously. One other Kalinin flanked him from behind. Information told him it was one of their younger females in the group; Tenten. Her eyes fixated upon the guards within the room as if expecting an attack... though part of her attention seemed to be turned towards something else entirely. Unknowing to the crew, her eyes were more fixed upon their weapons.
"I see. Then we have to get this little planning session done and away with as quickly as possible. Time is a luxury we may not carry in great supply." Nagato said before Shepard could, straight to the point.
"Alright, follow me to our briefing room so we may go over our plans, it is unknown territory beyond the Omega 4 relay, we got to be prepared." George spoke and gestured to the elevator behind him, stepping onto it before the others. Shepard and the rest following suit.
The lift went three stories up, faster than the Normandy's elevator to the Kalinin's relief. The Lance of the Six Paths had one too, but was mostly used for cargo, the rest of the ships decks could be easily reached through the plain old fashioned stairs. It seemed like their species had a certain high dislike to such enclosed contraptions.
The briefing room seemed to be located in the back of the command deck in the back, just like the Normandy. It seemed similar other than the positioning of the CIC, which was located in close proximity to the rest of the crew instead of the case of the Normandy where the ship's superior officer watched over the rest of the crew. Modified Turian style it's called apparently.
George, Shepard and Nagato passed into the briefing room. Samara and Tenten had to wait outside, flanking the doors like two watchdogs. Pretty fine looking watchdogs if the wolf-whistles from a few passing crew members were anything to go by. Though a few were decent enough to stick to their own business, two of them for instance...
"Have you visited the armory yet? One crew member spoke.
The other shook his head.. "Nah, I'm a navigator, not one of the guards. Got no business in there."
"You should take a look at least, we just got some awesome new tech upgrades to our weapons, some new ones I've never seen before."
"Cerberus seems like they got a hand everywhere, acting all klepto..."
"Dangerous talk that. There are also some new armor modules in store. I've heard their special..." the chattering crew members vanished once the airlock they just passed shut closed.
"Um, Samara?" Tenten asked.
"What is it?" Samara asked, regarding her slightly.
The girl paused for moment before she replied.. "I'd like to go take a look-see around the ship, if you don't mind."
A low sound of a sigh escaped her as the Justicar mulled it over.. "Feel free to, but come back soon. No matter what Cerberus have shown us thus far, it still remains as a extremist organization. Walking about alone is not wise, especially if your a young girl."
"Oh, kami..." the girl whispered in a low voice.. the old Asari sounded like a worried aunt there. "Yeah yeah, don't worry. If someone tried, I'd break them to pieces." the girl waved the concern off as she left the room, via the airlock to the left.
After Tenten had left the room, the woman smiled softly. "I'm not trying to protect you, little miss. I'm trying to protect them."
Tenten wondered about where to find the armory on this ship though. And the signs did not help her much. She could not read English. Translators helped in conversations with other people, heck, they were lucky some PDA's could be set to the strange Earth language "Japanese" that for some reason are very similar to their own. But she could not read the English language yet. Hell, they learned how to pilot and maintain the Lance of the Six Paths almost strictly through a process of trial and error, since none of them could read the Batarian language.
And through the same trial and error, she searched through the rooms of that floor.. took the elevator one floor up.. to see that only the Captain's quarters' up there. Two floors down from there, she could only see the crew's quarters, mess hall, medical facility. One more floor down, she finally found the armory in the great armored room to the left. In contrast to the Normandy, that place appeared to be far more secure. Much of it the common bread, and some more rare, masterful, and powerful. Enough to make her giddy like a child.
She could only see two people present inside. A large muscular man whom seemed to be working on something while another one snoozed in the distant corner.
"Hey! This place is not for kids!" the former shouted at the girl as she brashly picked up a rifle, specifically an M-8 Avenger from a nearby table and examined it with a gleam of excitement in her eyes. She turned off the weapon's safety and watched as it folded out fully to it's full combat ready status, minus a heat sink. It took her a moment to acknowledge the man until he put a heavy hand on her shoulder.
She peered over her shoulder at him, and quickly slapped his hand away with a hint of annoyance at the intrusion. Much to his surprise.
"Wait, your one of those Kalinin folks, ain't ya?" he asked, no less gruffly. He gripped his slapped hand with the other as he did the math. An ordinary girl would not had been here at all, which only left that one possibility. "Those weapons are dangerous, you put it down this instant!" he growled, as he put a hand on the weapon she held and pulled it away, clicked the weapon's safety back off and put it back on the table. Kalinin or not, he did not like anyone but those authorized for the weapons use to touch one. Much less someone much younger than him.
"Hey, what's the big idea!" she complained.
He was about to answer when a call came for him. Such bad luck, one of his subordinates' getting impatient and started a fight in the mess hall. The man turned to leave.. "I need to go take care of some business. Don't touch any of those weapons for any reason!" he growled before leaving the room.
Tenten put a hand behind her head and feigned an apology.. "Sorry about that, sir. I won't do it again." she waited till he had left... "As if." the girl turned and picked up the weapon again and examined it. Tip top condition. "Ooooooh!" she beamed at the weapons surrounding her.. "I want to take all of you home with me!" and promptly plucked out a pair of scrolls, smiling deviously.
The girl worked swiftly needless to say. She took Assault rifles. M-8 Avengers, M-15 Vindicators.. all in ample supplies. She also with great joy took about a dozen M-76 Revenants and stored them all into one scroll. Along with a crate's worth of heat sinks. All intended as a payback with interest against Cerberus for Taylor confiscating the stuff she took from the black market on Ilium.
She still had one more scroll to fill though. And quickly decided what to put in. Several M-27 Scimitars. She turned down the M-22 Eviscerators and the couple of M-300 Claymores in the storage. And elected the M-97 Vipers over any of the other available sniper rifles. The girl groaned as she carried over to her scroll six of the Heavy weapons in the armory. Of a very special type. And sealed them all. With all of this wrapped up and the scrolls prepared and in hand, Tenten left the armory. "H-hey, wait!"
"Huh?" Tenten asked as she turned around as the sleepyhead just woke up and tried to pin her down with his glare. The man looked like the direct opposite of the other who worked here. Thick glasses, a weak build and no less spoke rapidly. Though he could not possibly had managed to hold a candle to Mordin. And stammered constantly through it.
"H-hey! You can't j-just walk out like t-that with our weapons, m-miss!" he yelled at her. Stealthily she hid one in her pocket as she turned around. Only one visible in hand now. It was irksome, but she could not stick around. The other one could be back any minute.
"You see any weapons on me? I only have this scroll on me, nothing else!" she replied in a stern manner.
"But y-you made our s-stuff vanish, g-give that t-thing back now... !"
Argh, he witnessed her sealing away the weapons. Alright then. Tenten decided to pull off a trick to get away.
"H-hand it over!"
The oldest one.
"You l-listening to me?" he asked, his voice just as shaking and nervous as before. And proceeded to gawk at what she did next.
Tenten raised a hand to the collar of her blouse and pulled it forward. Lifted the scroll up to it and put it away.. under her blouse, in her cleavage no less. And then let go of the collar. Turned and left while the man faltered at the sight, a billow of smoke blowing out of his ears as he who could barely even speak to women temporarily mentally collapsed as the situation went wildly beyond his control.
Tenten left the armory and decided to leg it. Just as the big man returned and grunted at her as he passed to the armory, opened the airlock and went inside. And the place seemed like it exploded a mere second later. "What in the hell happened to our guns?" a voice roared, the volume of his scream increasing as the other one explained the situation. And Tenten ran even harder as she could almost feel a dragon breathing her in the neck. Jumped into the elevator and closed it just in time, as the big guy had chased her with a sort of speed surprising for a Human and had almost caught up with her already. Pressed a button which let the lift bring her up to the bridge. Left it and quickly picked up her pace, around the corner, through several rooms and even more airlocks, and to the door where Samara still remained.
"Did you have a pleasant trip around the ship?" Samara asked pleasantly enough.
Tenten panted deeply as she leaned herself against the wall on the other side of the door, gazing back at the Asari. "Yeah, it's big!" the girl coughed and pulled off a wide grin.
"Hope you did not go and cause trouble no-" she tried to finish her sentence before a heavy series of stomping noises could be heard rushing towards them. "What may that be?"
The big Human nearly smashed his way through the airlock and gazed at the young girl in a rage and charged her.
Tenten let out a shrill shriek as he punched the wall next to her head.. "You damned bitch, I'll teach you!" he shouted at her as the open palmed right hand of his motioned to rip her blouse off. The girl cried out as she crossed her arms across her chest and tried to turn away from him before he could do so.
"Nothing is going to stop me, bitch!" he roared, a racket which was accompanied by the nearby door opening. And the big boss of the armory section of the ship finally became aware of the others nearby. An Asari Justicar sending him an extremely severe scowl while her body glistened with biotic energy.
And in the door, that other Kalinin on board the ship also scowled at him, the stare full of murderous intent. The third one standing there was Commander John Shepard looking no less friendly himself. And his superior officer George Kullen no less. The man finding himself under siege from a concentration of death glares that were unrivaled in the galaxy at that exact time.
And there he was, standing over Tenten like a rapist. He only managed to mumble a desperate, "Err, I c-can explain!" before the three men and one woman descended upon him.
It did not take long before the man was pulled out of the area by fellow crew members, whom had to exert themselves greatly to drag the unconscious beaten giant of a man to the brig.
George, Shepard and Nagato returned to the briefing room to continue their chat. While Samara and Tenten remained on guard duty as they did before.
"I wish to know the truth. You went down into the armory and took their weapons... didn't you?" Samara questioned her with a hard voice.
Tenten sighed plainly... "Yeah... I did. It was sort of a personal."
The Justicar looked at the girl for a second. "If I hadn't already sworn my oath to serve Shepard..." it easily sounded like the beginning of a very severe warning.
"Yeah... we are in an economically difficult state right now. But... I will make sure I only steal from criminals." Tenten whispered back. The girl did not promise to stop the weapons theft. Only to make sure it was from people that deserved worse coming for them.
The Asari gave a slight nod. Before turning away.. from the looks of it, the movement was done only with extreme effort.
They returned to the briefing room and sat down in each their chair surrounding the hologram in the middle, focused on an image of the galaxy. It seemed to be the standard set up, Nagato thought.
"I do apologize, never knew I had that kind of crew member online that would assault a girl like that." George coughed the apology.
"No need to apologize. Let's just get back to the matter at hand."
"I have to say it again, it is very hard to predict what's going to happen on the other side of the Omega 4 relay. All we know is that the Collector's base is located in the center of the galaxy, possibly maintained by a very powerful mass effect field, and radiation shielding." Shepard said as he pointed at the center of the image.
"Yes, and since we don't know half of what we need to know about the inner workings of a mass relay, much less able to replicate such systems. We got no idea of the properties of this relay. It's built to only accept the ships it's system recognize as friendlies, that much is obvious. Sending a scout ship ahead could possibly end up as a complete waste and throw away the element of surprise." George recounted.
"Which is why we have to launch in two waves. Frigates and Fighters will go in first... followed by your Cruisers and the Kalinin's Lance of the Six Paths to provide heavy fire support. It's been guessed by Mordin that there will only be a limited number of fleet assets waiting for us, considering that the only operational area in the center of the galaxy are within the field. But who knows for sure."
"Time is of the essence. The only way we will be able to complete the mission is by getting on whatever base they have there and invade, capture and secure the Jubi for immediate extraction." Nagato this time interjected. "We cannot waste too much time battling their fleet."
"Which is why the Normandy will form the front and center to blow a hole through the Collectors' defenses and land on or within the base itself. All of our custom upgrades are certain to make it possible." Shepard reassured him.. "However, that would also leave us limited in troop deployment in the first wave. So I would like to have a few of your crew to assist."
"That can be done." Nagato nodded at the request. If it had been any one else but Shepard making that request, he would have turned it down.
"A few of the other Frigates will also deploy squads to provide assistance when possible, though that means we need your countermeasure against the seeker swarms." George added in quickly.
"The Reaper IFF have been successfully dissected and are being distributed to the rest of the fleet to install as we speak. The countermeasure will be shared once we're done here." Shepard informed them.
"However, we have no idea of the number of troops we will face. And heat sinks could quickly become scarce. Pretty much why we have to get a supply line ready early during the assault."
"We already have a solution for that problem; Sealing tags." Nagato replied simply.
"The what-now?"
"My people are able to seal weapons and ammunition in specially prepared scrolls. We simply use sealing tags for the same purpose. Sealing in a much larger amount of heat sinks than each individual soldier would normally be able to carry. It'll be made relatively light so that a mere clap to the scroll should release a heat sink in turn." Nagato informed him at length.. "Though it will mostly be supplied to Shepard's crew because of them being the first to go in, and most likely will be be doing most of the inside work. Besides the fact that preparing such scrolls could take more time than we can afford to waste."
"Indeed. We should start making our final preparations before the operation begins." George nodded in agreement as he stood up.
Shepard quickly ran over in his head what needed to be done before taking off. "Alright, the operation will commence in one hour, no more, no less."
"My thoughts exactly." George told him with a wry smile. Nagato had already gotten up and left without a word.. and Shepard was quick to follow. Tenten and Samara following the team in turn to the elevator, and down towards the hangar.
"Who will be coming with us?" Shepard asked, concerning whom among the Kalinin would come along with the Normandy in the initial charge into the base.
"Tenten and Konan will join the first wave." Nagato replied firmly. The girl behind him did not flinch at the choice.
"Why not Naruto and Hinata? Their power could be invaluable." Shepard asked, slightly confused.
Nagato sighed.. "Because of the voices that have been in their heads ever since they uncovered the contents of the tablets. They have gotten much more intrusive. And seem to plague them more and more the closer we get to the goal of stopping the Makers ultimate plan from completing."
Shepard did not even try to mask the slight mask of concern he showed.. "What are the symptoms?"
"Migraine primarily. But it's also affecting their emotional states. Hinata have withdrawn deeper into herself in depression while Naruto are getting mood swings." Nagato grimaced... "They could possibly end up mentally unbalanced. But since we need them, I will be deploying alongside them in the second landing wave. Kisame, Kurotsuchi and Hidan will land elsewhere as well. Onoki will remain on our ship along with Mei and Shikamaru until further notice."
"What about-"
"And we need to talk about is that construct you brought along from the Reaper derelict. That decision remains as one of the reasons I'm not having the Jinchuriki join you. It's a risky choice you made, to protect a Geth. They destroyed our world, and in the worst situation, they could possibly end up turning on you if necessary to destroy it. Especially if the voices within their minds manage to influence them sufficiently."
Shepard looked like he was about to argue, but he released a prolonged sigh before replying. "I stand by my earlier decision. We could learn much about the Geth through that synthetic. If not, I guarantee you that it will be destroyed."
"Fair enough. We have little interest for one of our only allies in this huge galaxy becoming a Geth sympathizer." the Kalinin told him before the elevator door opened before them so that they could return to their shuttles.
Nagato sat down in the far seat within the shuttle while Tenten climbed on board. Shepard's Kodiak already lifting off to leave. She took a different turn, to the cockpit and slapped the pilot whom appeared to be sleeping. "Oi, Shikamaru. We gotta leave!"
The boy coughed a moment before he took control of the craft and had it lift off from the deck, moving to leave the Cruiser. "Yeah, yeah. To have a violent future wife like that. Such a pain..."
"It's a drag to have someone lazy like you for a future husband, honestly!" Tenten found herself to a seat and sighed with the calm sinking over the shuttle. That was, until Nagato could no longer help himself.
"Tenten, you stole something, didn't you?"
"Eh, what? How can you tell?"
"You got a scroll nestled on your chest." Nagato put bluntly, watching the girl gasp and folded her arms across her chest. "No one hides a scroll in ones own cleavage without a reason."
"Um, yeah. But only a few guns and the sort." she nervously stated, reaching a hand into her blouse to pick out the scroll, as well as the one in her pocket.
"Specify, few."
"Ohhh." the girl fumed at the pressure.. "Just a few dozen guns and a crates worth of heat sinks."
"Just a few?" Shikamaru muttered.
"Oh, shut up!" Tenten cried out right back.
The man groaned as he sat deeper into the seat, if that was at all possible. "Never mind. Just don't make a habit of it, okay? It's alright to steal from enemies, but not allies."
"B-but, they are only allies for the moment. Today's friends could be tomorrow's enemies! They still are raising our dead kin to fight for them, and they might have not given up on capturing us yet! Getting ready to stab us in the backs once this is over!"
"If it turns our way that is. However, what we are going to do about Cerberus and our lost kin in the future are being planned for, Tenten. Have patience. One way or another, Cerberus will pay." he told her bluntly, his eyes serious. Which seemed to brighten the girl's mood.
"But what if..."
"No. Let's not talk more on this matter. Right now we got other things to think about. You need to be ready to start making more of those sealing tags once we get back to our ship. We got very little time!"
"Yes, sir!" Tenten replied, managing to pull herself up to sit upright.
Nagato leaned back on his seat and gazed out of the window. Looking towards the Normandy as it positioned itself closer to the Cerberus fleet. He could already see several shuttles trafficking between it and the rest. They weren't wasting any time. "Direction is good." he mumbled quietly as he continued to observe, "As long as there's a path for us to walk, we won't stray."