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Interlude: Conspiracy Revelations I

Originally I was simply going to have what happened on Novgorod as a simple summary in the next chapter, but I received a one-shot request from Marcuss; with the focus being on exactly what goes down at the colony. After said one shot grew past eight thousand words... I decided it shouldn't be a one shot at all. Instead it's going to be a quick series of interlude chapters in Chevalier to give everyone a little bit of a combat fix.

This is going to be my first run at a Batarian point of view, specifically that of Tora ul Holt. A twenty-four year old lowborn, raised on Omega and a former member of the Blue Suns before that group's disintegration. A Liberal follower of the Pillars, he joined the Blades for the steady paycheck and the chance to create his own legend.

Date: 03-01-2186

Location: Novgorod colony, Attican Traverse

"Well," Victoria murmured quietly, her body laying prone in the rubble beside me as she stared through her Viper's scope. "That's a problem."

I pulled my lips back from my teeth. "Your capacity for understatement remains annoying. How many?"

The human female was silent, her weapon twitching ever so slightly as she adjusted it. "Three agents in those body-suit things, a dozen more in the heavy armor, one guy who might be an officer... has some kind of combat shield and fancier plating."

"Pillars damn those monkeys... no offense Vic." I let out a ragged breath between my teeth.

She rolled a shoulder, keeping her attention where it needed to be, and I carefully slid backwards, making sure to keep my coat around me as I did. The cloth rippled a little, adjusting its camouflage patterns to keep me hidden, and I made a mental note to compliment Cellesariel for finding them. It was nowhere near as efficient as a full active system, but it as far better than nothing. In either case, I had to move very carefully to avoid making noise, and it took nearly a minute before I was far enough back to risk rising into a low crouch.

The rest of my team glanced up as I approached them, all four holding their weapons tightly.

"Sixteen, Cerberus." I informed them, dropping a knee to the ground and forcing my posture to remain confident. "They're moving slowly, focusing on checking each building."

"Sixteen is a bit more than we can handle." Calius murmured, my Turian second pitching his voice as low as he could. "How did they evade the ship's sensors?"

"With all of the debris and heat wash, wouldn't be hard." Cell offered, the Asari keeping his soft voice down. "Especially for just a couple of shuttles or a pinnance."

I cut in quickly before the speculation could continue, "How they got here is irrelevant, we have to assume they will be hostile after the operation on Carastes. We have the dead pirates, destroyed Geth, and those... bug things. We have to keep them away from the shuttle while the crew gets it all loaded."

Even with his helmet, I could tell that Calius was flickering his mandibles unhappily. "And do it without talking to them, or the ship."

"Yes." I nodded sharply. "That's why we're going to be splitting up. Joten, Ori. I want you two to get back to the shuttle and get everything on board. Tell them what's happening. When you get everything loaded, fire off a flare and get airborne. We'll fire one as well to indicate our location for pickup. Do not break radio silence even if you hear us do so."

"Got it." Ori drawled, the irreverent ass the same as ever. "Well stuff the corpses in as tight as we can and keep our mouths shut while we defile 'em. Should we dump the sensor equipment?"

"Only if necessary." I pointedly shifted my attention to Joten, "Make sure that idiot helps Zera and his brother, I want you to set your explosives up on the main approach."

Joten gave me a quick bow, rising and grabbing Ori's arm to haul him up as well. "I'll make sure the faithless actually gets some work done. Pillars guide your steps Unit Leader."

I tilted my own head, returning the respect offered by the fellow male. The two got moving after that, bickering in their usual fashion almost at once, though they retained the good sense to keep their voices down to bare whispers.

"And us?" Cell asked softly.

"We're going to make sure that Cerberus doesn't find our shuttle." I exhaled sharply, "By any means necessary. I need the two of you to head to the restaurant, the one with the Armature collapsed across it. That will be the first location they see if they head in our direction."

Calius nodded sharply, "Good position. I can setup both of my turrets inside, Cell can coral targets with her biotics. Which direction should we fall back?"

"Towards the wall." I gestured towards the curtain wall that had protected the colony from the planet's less than welcoming wildlife. "Back to the militia bunker. Vic and I will cover you from a position just down the street. Keep your turrets on standby unless she shoots first."

They both nodded, rising into low crouches and getting moving. Leaving them to it, I turned back and started creeping my way back to where Vic remained prone. A slight tug at her ankle got her attention, and she began scurrying back with me when I beckoned her to follow.

The young alien easily kept pace with me as I explained the situation, her helmet nodding to show me that she understood the situation. "My targets?"

I narrowed all of my eyes, dipping my head a little to the left as I thought on it. "Body-suits if you can, the probable officer otherwise."

She gave me a sharper nod, and I tilted my own helmet a little further, pleased that she didn't bother with further words. It did not take us long to reach the first evidence of the battle that had occurred at the colony, damage appearing on the various buildings and upon the ground. Here and there were pieces of the strange insects that we had found, along with the more recognizable debris from damaged Geth.

The first dead Asari were found near the restaurant that Calius and Cell were fortifying, at the base of the Armature. The massive machine showed clear signs of repeated biotic strikes, and I tried not to imagine the number of pirate maidens who had been required to bring it down.

Bypassing them, we continued directly forwards rather than following the damage off and to the left. That direction would eventually lead to the pirates' base, and our shuttle, and was thus the last direction we would be going. Instead I lead my sniper to one of the colony's few towers, the pair of us quickly moving up to the second floor and setting up in a broad lobby whose open windows had an excellent view of the street.

Then it came time to wait.

"Sir?" Vic asked softly after perhaps five minutes of tense waiting. "How do you think they knew?"

"Cerberus?" I asked.

"Yes." She murmured, not lifting her visor from her scope. "They can't have gotten here much later than we did... do you... do you think they attacked the Wisp?"

I tilted my head, showing her confidence. "If they had, the Captain would have broken radio silence."

"Oh. Right. That makes sense." There was a slow exhalation. "Sorry sir, just a little edgy from... what we saw."

My lower eyes blinked in surprise. "I would have thought you'd seen worse on Omega, if you fought in the invasion."

For a long several seconds she said nothing, then she replied, her voice very quiet. "I did. I just... I try... I try not to think about it."

The weakness in her voice made me grimace, the section of my soul that still resonated with my father, with the Hegemony, scoffing at typical female weakness. Shoving those impractical thoughts aside, as I had ever since I had witnessed my father disemboweled by a female Turian for the insults he had offered her, I focused instead on how to pragmatically deal with her... edginess.

Of course... I had no idea how to distract a human female from such things while still keeping her focused. I did not believe that she would be partial to the wisdom of the Pillars... and I knew little about her personally thanks to her quiet nature.

"Earlier today you said that you met the true Lancers during the invasion." I offered a few moments of thought. "What were they like?"

She turned her head a little, as if surprised at the question. "Oh... I mean, I didn't... really meet them. I was just at the markets when... they showed up to help defend them."

I let out a heavy breath through my nostrils. "That is still closer than anyone else has gotten, except perhaps the ship's captain."

"Yeah... guess so." Her rifle shifted a little as she returned her visor to her scope, settling her body as she continued. "The only one who spoke with me was Lancer T'Voth... she was organizing the sniper teams while Executive Kean ran the defense. She was... commanding, severe, but... she complimented me on a few shots I made..."

I tilted my had to the left, impressed slightly in spite of myself. "A Reyja'krem does not impress easily, especially not a combat veteran such as he."

"She." Vic corrected absently, a tight breath breaking whatever she had been about to say next as her body stiffened. "Movement."

Hefting my carbine up and into place, I lowered my body as well as I could and focused my eyes. A heartbeat later I saw the small shifts in the distance, white armored figures standing out horribly against the drab metal and stone of the colony. Silence fell as we simply watched the distant targets move about, and I bared my teeth in irritation when I saw them abruptly stop and scurry forwards to inspect something on the ground.

They'd found some of the evidence then.

More quickly arrived, the armored figures moving into covering positions as the smaller figures appeared and began to inspect what they'd found. It didn't take them nearly as long as I'd hoped before the formation began rolling forwards, following the trail.

And then it was decision time.

Allowing them to establish themselves into cover and defensible positions would be idiotic, and could easily lead to me losing someone... or multiple someones. But there was a narrow chance that this particular group was unaware of the fighting on Carastes and the fact that our organizations were opposed, and talking might stall them and buy more time for Joten and the others to load the evidence. Further, I had to be mindful of my orders to not risk my people, or the ship... and engaging a force that outnumbered us four to one was decidedly risky.

I sucked in a sharp breath as they drew nearer to the destroyed Armature, one of them already pointing at it.

No, this wasn't the time to be averse to risk. This was the time for bold action, as instructed by the Pillar of Power. Only one of my team was human, those monkeys down below would sooner cut us open than speak with us. Cutting down their numbers now was the only chance we had of keeping the fight even, and the terrorists away from out shuttle.

"Pick your target." I let my breath out, settling my own carbine on an armored figure. "Fire when you have it."

The human beside me sucked in a long inhalation of her own, held it, and then pulled the trigger.

Next up is going to be Part II

This is going to be an in media res style opening, we're going to be rewinding to the Will'o'wisp's initial arrival into the system in the next chapter to properly introduce everyone. Current plans are for the interlude to be four or five chapters long, with the chapters being relatively short.

Note: Parts II and III are already complete, will post either on 12 reviews for this chapter, or in a few days as per my usual route when I'm ahead of schedule.

Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."

P a treon Zach_K2V

Thanks, Kat

Review Responses:

BJ Hanssen - If I'd still been writing Ronin when Andromeda came out, Vetra would definitely have been around... and this story might have gone in an entirely different direction lol.

FloridaMagpie - I believe it's been referenced, very lightly, but they're using specialized training weapons that are basically ultra-low powered copies of their main gear. Grenades and mines are mostly simulated via a training program in their HUD, and things like Cie's war gauntlets have their power turned down to (relatively) safe levels.

Tallygirl02 - When everyone is as paranoid as you, my evil plan will be complete. :P j/k