It is a truism that in the act of governance, there is a tendency for certain practices to continue not because they remain the most efficient course or method a state might employ, but because tradition and inertia continues to perpetuate it. To many segments if the imperial political spectrum, the sovereign's direct hand in the disposition and deployment of the armed forces. The legal underpinning of this control can be traced back to the maintenance of a permanent army and navy reporting directly to the crown as part of the old English kings' efforts to retain control of the Duchy of Normandy. The right to call men to arms remained a purely royal prerogative and remained so even as the Kingdom of England evolved into its successor states. Indeed, the acts that formally established the institutions that would become the Royal Navy, Army, and eventually Air Force all used as their basis a call by the reigning sovereign to mobilize. Efforts to reform the system, to pass formal control of the armed forces to the sitting government, all stalled and the armed forces remained, on paper at least, directly answerable to the sovereign even by the time of the Emperor Charles XII, the last sovereign to reign before the Reaper Wars broke out.
-Forward Unto Twilight: The Terran Empire
Chapter 36
Ruat caelum
"You know, I'm genuinely surprised you were able to hold onto her," Shepard remarked.
The 'her' in question was the asari now sedated and strapped down onto a medical scanner. No one was in the room with her, instead robotic probes were used to interact with her, precautions against being influenced by the neuro-transmitter that Rana's brain had been transformed into as part of her indoctrination.
"It wasn't that hard," Garrus, the 'you' in question, responded. "We knocked her out and stashed her somewhere relatively out of the way, and came back to pick her up after the shooting was over."
The major chuckled. "Fair enough." Her expression hardened. "And now we try and see if there is any hope of reversing Indoctrination."
"Spirits, I really hope there is," Garrus agreed wholeheartedly.
Rana was not the only recovered person that had been subjected to indoctrination, but the others were servicemen of foreign polities that most certainly wanted their people back. The asari technically was also a national of the Asari Republics, but she was a civilian that had been captured in service to a known terrorist, so the legality of the Empire holding onto her was a bit less dubious. Subjecting her to intrusive medical examinations a bit more so, but even then there were plenty of extenuating circumstances.
"I've spoken with Captain Kirrahe and Lieutenant Victus in detail about the precautions they need to take," Garrus said. "Agent Bau has also corroborated them, so the Union and Hierarchy should be handling the freed prisoners with the requisite measures."
"I've already received assurances from the admiralty that anything we learn on Indoctrination will be freely shared with the Council governments," Shepard said. "I hope they are willing to reciprocate?"
"I can't make any promises, but after Virmire, I think at least some of the Council governments will be more open to such collaboration," Garrus said. "What with some of the deadweight getting dropped, that is."
Shepard snorted. The fallout from Virmire was going to take a while to reverberate, but some things were already becoming clear. Having the Terran Empire show up in force to pull their respective units out of the fire was going to require at least some show of gratitude from the Salarian Union and the Turian Hierarchy. The speed with which the Empire moved, and the degree of force employed, also made rather emphatic the Empire's unwillingness to put up with being fobbed off from direct, active involvement with the Saren investigation.
As Jondum had elaborated on previously, the Council had not initially thought of Shepard's activities as the genuine force driving the hunt for Saren. That was only slowly changing after Shepard's victories after Feros and then Noveria, but even then Sparatus at least was determined to stall the Empire's progress rather than help push it forward to its natural conclusion, finding and putting Saren down. Valern at least was smart enough to realize a good thing when he saw it, and without the turian councilor's vested interests in stymieing the Empire, had been open to deeper cooperation. With Virmire, that cooperation could now more earnestly begin, or at least one could hope.
"Major."
Turning about, Shepard noted the manner in which Garrus stood before her. Stiffly, almost at attention, and with just a hint of nervous energy. Tilting her head aside quizzically, Shepard remained silent, inviting the turian to speak his piece.
"I'm, sorry. About what happened down there. I should have gotten Saren with that shot, that way, maybe Kaidan wouldn't have-"
Shepard raised a hand, instantly silencing Garrus even as his mouth dangled open for a few seconds longer before closing.
"Better," Shepard said, then folded her arms across her chest. "Tell me, Garrus. Did you see what Kaidan did down there? Before the bombardment started?"
"He charged Saren," Garrus said, a pained grimace crossing his face as he answered.
Shepard nodded. "And?"
"And Saren got him," the turian continued reluctantly.
A snort sounded. "Oh? Is that all?"
Garrus blinked. "Ma'am?"
Shepard's eyes suddenly hardened, a pair of steely emeralds meeting Garrus' gaze.
"He drew first blood," Shepard stated. "Out of all of us, it wasn't Nihlus, or me, or you, or anyone else. It was Kaidan that landed the first, direct blow on Saren."
Understanding began to light up Garrus' own eyes.
"Kaidan was the first," Shepard went on. "He paid the heaviest price possible for it, but he got further than any of us. I will honor him for it, and make sure to pay Saren back in full when the time comes. And I will not have anyone but Saren hold any blame for Kaidan's death. Am I clear, Vakarian?"
To that Garrus gave a firm nod. "Clear, Shepard."
"Good," Shepard nodded in turn, then offered a slight smile of her own. "The question is, are you going to be there for the payback?"
Garrus took a few moments to think it over. "I don't know, but I'll certainly see if I can swing it."
When Pallin arrived for his meeting with the Council, the C-SEC executor was quickly ushered into the audience chamber. Considering the developments of the past week, it was little wonder the councilors were in something of a hurry. Things were moving quickly, perhaps even faster than the ability of the Council to manage and control. That was likely an uncomfortable situation for the councilors to find themselves in, and in truth Pallin shared some of that unease himself. But he still had a job to do, whatever his personal misgivings, and unlike some others he was determined to get on with it.
"Executor Pallin," Tevos greeted. "It is our understanding that C-SEC has uncovered a matter of grave import regarding the Citadel's security."
"Yes, Councilor," Pallin affirmed. "The specific matter relates to the weapons smuggling operation that C-SEC has been investigating for several months now, but we recently achieved a major breakthrough that indicates the scope of the smuggling operation was much greater, and much, much more serious, than we previously thought."
"Then by all means, please elucidate," Tevos invited.
Looking over the three councilors, their respective moods were plainly evident. Sparatus was the most disgruntled, a mixture of frustration and even anger evident in the glint of his eyes. The turian councilor's gambit to seize control of the Saren investigation using Hierarchy resources had backfired spectacularly, resulting in not only the Terran Empire once again reinserting itself into the investigation in a decisive manner, but also in the mauling of a Blackwatch company to the great perturbation of other Hierarchy leaders. Sparatus' political credibility was effectively in tatters, and it would be some time before the turian councilor would regain the leverage necessary to advance his personal agendas, assuming he could recover at all.
The salarian councilor on the other hand was not bothering to hide his relative satisfaction. Valern's maneuvers with the STG to counterbalance Sparatus had succeeded quite handily, even if at some cost. Even better, the salarian had won some degree of gratitude from the humans in the process. Considering the continued assertiveness of the Empire, that could be a very useful bit of leverage in the future. That was probably almost as useful a chip as neutralizing Sparatus.
Tevos was arguably the hardest to read, a mixture of the matriarch's masterful control of her emotions and the tendency by other races to project their own racial cues onto the asari regardless of whether they applied or not. That was perhaps one reason for the asari reputation for diplomatic mastery. Even after all these years it still took some effort for Pallin to not fall into such traps. Today the asari councilor was at least not putting on any airs that could be easily inferred as satisfied or dissatisfied. Arguably that was even greater reason to be wary, for Tevos' ostensible neutrality was almost certainly anything but.
"The development is a consequence of the operation at Virmire, and is directly tied to the Saren investigation," Pallin began.
Sparatus noticeably glowered at that second bit. Pallin suppressed the smirk he was so tempted to show.
"One of the participants of the Vimire operation was Agent Garrus Vakarian, formerly of C-SEC. Due to his previous affiliation with C-SEC, Garrus was able to recognize the relevancy of some of the intelligence obtained from Saren's Virmire facility. Specifically, we now know that the instigator of the weapons smuggling operation is Saren."
Looks of confusion now faced Pallin as the three councilors tried to grasp what this meant.
"For what reason would Saren have to organize this?" Valern asked.
"The weapons smuggling was actually camouflage for what Saren was actually trying to get onto the Citadel," Pallin stated. "He was actually trying to smuggle geth onto the station."
Sharp gasps sounded from the three councilors as they worked through the ramifications of what this meant.
"And has he succeeded!?" Valern asked, alarm loud and clear in his tone.
"Almost certainly," Pallin responded frankly. "The information Garrus provided points to multiple shipments making it through, and based on the field reports provided by the Terran Empire, individual geth units can be stored very compactly. Based on preliminary calculations, conservatively, Saren may have succeeded in smuggling in at least a company of geth troopers. If we're being pessimistic, we could be looking at a battalion or more."
It was not just shock on the expressions of the councilors, there was also a mix of genuine fear. Pallin could sympathize, when Garrus' message arrived the executor had had a few moments of panic himself. He at least had the benefit of some time to process the information, while apparently this was coming to the council cold. Odd that, one would have presumed Jondum's report would have made mention of this. In either case, none of them had the luxury to wallow in panicked indecision. They needed to act, now, to prevent the disaster that was barreling their way.
"C-SEC is currently trying to trace where all of the cargo was shifted after it arrived at the Citadel," Pallin continued. "We are also conducting searches of the various warehouse districts. This is going to take time, however, and our manpower is limited."
A gross understatement, that. The amount of cubage in the Citadel was substantial, and that was considering only the surface blocks on each of the arms. The subsurface levels were equally extensive, with nooks and crannies that had never been fully mapped despite the many years of occupancy by the Council races. Those maps that did exist ended to become useless very quickly as the station's keepers rearranged the internal structure in whatever fashion their maintenance duties demanded, making any effort to keep up to date charts an exercise in futility. That did not necessarily mean it still should not be done, but the enormity of the task always seemed to deprioritize it relative to the other responsibilities calling upon C-SEC's resources. At times like this however, Pallin sincerely regretted such past rationalization.
"I therefore request reinforcements be drawn from the member states to supplement C-SEC," the executor declared.
"Certainly," Valern responded immediately. "In the immediate term we can also detach the ground combat elements of the Citadel Fleet to provide additional manpower."
Glancing at the other councilors, Valern received a firm nod from Tevos and a more tepid one from Sparatus. All three were in agreement however, and so the motion was carried. Pallin himself nodded. That was a start, but they were facing a race against time. Saren was being backed into a corner, with the loss of his Noveria and Virmire ventures. Now with the discovery of his fifth column geth infiltration, the rogue Spectre really was losing all of his options. If Saren discovered this, he might feel desperate enough to execute whatever his plan was before all of his smuggled geth was discovered. They needed to find all those geth before that happened, otherwise they risked a slaughter of the Citadel's civilian population. As one of the persons charged with the safety and security of the Citadel's residents, Pallin was determined to not let that happen.
"Well Major Shepard, this is where we part ways," Kirrahe said. "Once again, my sincere thanks for everything you, and the Empire, have done for me and my men."
"Mine as well," Tarquin said. "Without the prompt medical attention provided to my men, none of us might be standing here today."
The survivors of the Blackwatch and STG companies had been ferried from Virmire to Terra Nova, a major fleet station, where ships from their respective governments were waiting to take them the rest of the way back home. The Normandy herself was similarly docked in the orbiting station, having her munitions and other expendables replenished that the Eighth Fleet supply train had not been able to make good back at Virmire. Kaidan's body had been handed off to be returned to Earth, and now Shepard was engaging in one last parting.
"It was my pleasure to have fought by your sides, Captain, Lieutenant," the major responded. "My only regret is that we could not have done more. Should circumstance ever demand it, it would be my honor to serve with any one of you again."
"Ours as well," Kirrahe said with a wide smile.
Considering the thick lips possessed by salarians, that was a very big expansive expression. Nonetheless Shepard did her best to reciprocate with one of her own before directing her gaze towards the other salarian present.
"I presume you'll be heading to the Citadel to deliver your report in person, Agent?"
"The Council has so requested it," Jondum said. "Personally I'd prefer to continue following up on the leads developed from Virmire, but I'll be the first to admit that I may not be in the best shape to do so."
Like many of the other Virmire survivors, the Spectre had taken quite a beating and was mending. That had not precluded him from delivering preliminary reports to the Council remotely, even accepting the Empire's offer to use its communications network to send his messages, encrypted of course, back to Council space. There were obviously things he was not prepared to commit to paper, figuratively speaking of course, especially not when the paper in question would be passing through imperial channels. Encrypted or not, the salarian was cognizant of the risks of underestimating the intelligence agencies of a foreign power. Better safe than sorry after all.
"Well it's not like the Council will be entirely unrepresented," Shepard said, flashing a smirk at the other turian present.
Contrary to Tarquin, Garrus was standing by Shepard's side instead of facing the major. As his position indicated, Garrus would not be returning to Council space with the others. Instead, thanks to the effective political neutralization of Sparatus and the combined sponsorship of Executor Pallin and Valern, the salarian councilor, Garrus was returning to his position as part of Shepard's team for the last leg of the investigation. Him being a Spectre candidate lent a further degree of sanction, and operational freedom, than when he was a mere C-SEC investigator that was operating half on his own for plausible deniability purposes. How things could change over a few short months.
"Indeed," Jondum agreed.
The Spectre raised a hand in salute and Kirrahe and Tarquin followed suit.
"Good hunting, Major Shepard, Agent Vakarian. And good luck."
Shepard and Garrus returned the courtesy, after which the others took their leave of the Normandy. Taking a deep breath, Shepard watched them go before turning to return through the airlock.
"So how long before we head out too?" Garrus asked.
"Second Fleet's already concentrated, we're just waiting for reinforcements from Third Fleet," Shepard responded. "They're expected the day after tomorrow."
As the home station for the Imperial Terran Navy's Second Fleet, Terra Nova always had at least a single division of dreadnaughts within the system. Since the decision to tap the fleet to provide the heavy hitters for the Ilos operation, Second Fleet's entire battle squadron had been assembled. Four dreadnaughts however were not considered a sufficient edge over something like Sovereign, hence why the remnants of Third Fleet's battle squadron, two dreadnaughts and two carriers, were being amalgamated into Second Fleet to provide some more heft. Getting all those ships in the right place however took time, hence why the Normandy was currently sitting in dock waiting.
A good portion of Eighth Fleet was still holding position in the Hoc System, helping guard the forensics teams still combing over Saren's base. The battle squadron however had been withdrawn to Arcturus so that the capital ships could see servicing, and unfortunately the other battle squadron was still being turned over in Sol and could not be deployed. War was as often about logistics as actually killing the enemy, after all.
"So how many others will be getting shot at groundside with us?" Garrus queried.
Shepard snorted. "The Empire is deploying two marine divisions to accompany the fleet. That'll be about thirty thousand troops, with armor and proper air support. Unless Saren's bringing with him a whole lot more geth than that, we should be the one doing the outnumbering this time around."
"That'd be nice for a change," Garrus remarked, then grimaced. "Then again, let's not tempt fate here and go in expecting things to work out only to have it blow up on us in the most spectacular way possible."
"Rule of thumb number 3, was it," Shepard recalled, then raised an eyebrow at Garrus. "So what's 1 and 2?"
"2 is the drill sergeant always knows," Garrus answered. "1 is no, it doesn't get easier."
Shepard chuckled. "And people say you turians don't have a sense of humor."
"Well that's because they've never met my charming self."
"You say that to all the ladies, Vakarian?" Shepard responded dryly.
"Maybe I should," the turian responded. "Gotta make up my lack of roguish scars somehow."
That earned an outright bark of laughter. "Oh it's good to have you back, Garrus."
The turian gave a wide smile of his own. "Glad to be back, Shepard."
The imperial mission stationed at the Citadel for the duration of the Saren investigation and other attendant negotiations were of course given their own set of offices to work out of. Not all work could be done in those offices of course, some remained too sensitive to be performed in what amounted to foreign soil. For such tasks, the warship that served as the primary form of conveyance for the Empire's staff also served as a secured space. Of course secured was still relative, considering the number of subtle intrusions attempted upon the ship's systems over the duration of its time there. The Council agencies were at least being somewhat careful with their attempts to avoid an open diplomatic furor, but it was quite clear the ship's presence was too good an opportunity to pass up. Good thing the ship was equipped with an AI that was very skilled at detecting and intercepting such intrusions.
"Good morning, Melchior," Anderson greeted as he and Udina boarded. "Everything shipshape?"
"Good morning Captain, Ambassador," a masculine voice responded. "Thus far today I have intercepted five hundred and thirteen active attempts to penetrate my firewalls, along with fifteen thousand nine hundred thirty-one passive scans."
"Already?" Anderson said. "It's only 0600."
"Indeed, it would appear the Council intelligence agencies have scaled back their probes in light of the diplomatic developments of late," Melchior said.
That earned a chuckle from the captain, though Udina's face remained impassive.
"Fire up the QEC, if you would then, Melchior," Anderson ordered.
"QEC synchronizing with endpoint," the AI affirmed.
The quantum entanglement communicator was a piece of technology that the Empire was pretty sure all the other races had functional equivalents of, even if no one advertised it. Perhaps because for all its fancy names, the QEC offered only one genuine advantage over other more mundane methods of FTL communications, its guarantee of security. By using a pair of entangled particles to act as the keys, the random nature of the particle's energy states meant it was effectively impossible to decrypt the contents of messages exchanged between a pair of QECs even if you managed to sniff the packets.
Inside the communications room, the holograms of several individuals appeared, two other men and two women in total. At their appearance, all of the uniformed officers respectfully came to attention while Udina bowed slightly.
"Your Majesty," a stern looking woman in the uniform of an imperial fleet admiral greeted for all of them.
"Admirals," the Emperor Charles responded. "Captain. Ambassador. Be seated."
The others obeyed.
"Now, Ambassador, if you would," the emperor invited.
"Sire," Udina began. "The Council has expressed its gratitude to the Empire for the support lent to their forces at Virmire. They consider the operation there to be a great victory, despite the losses suffered, and believe that a significant portion of the threat that Saren represents has been effectively neutralized."
Charles raised an eyebrow. "Despite that dreadnaught, and Saren himself, still unaccounted for?"
"The dreadnaught is a coarse weapon of war, or so the Council believes," Udina responded. "Even with the support of his geth collaborators, the sheer weight of forces the Citadel Fleet could bring to bear would inevitably overwhelm Saren if he was drawn into an open battle."
From the slight grimaces that rippled across the uniformed officers, that was not an opinion they necessarily shared. Indeed Udina's own qualifier indicated the position was one the Council held, and not necessarily one the ambassador shared.
"At the same time," Udina went on, further reinforcing that distinction, "it could be argued that with his options becoming more constrained, desperation will drive Saren to attempt whatever endgame he imagined, even if the assets he previously expected to support him have been neutralized. And, despite the many victories we have achieved, we know for a certainty that Saren is still in possession of a few more tricks up his sleeve."
Charles nodded thoughtfully. "And you all believe that that act of desperation would be an attack on the Citadel itself."
Udina glanced over at Anderson. "That is the captain's opinion, yes. The weight of evidence is, convincing, almost to the point of conclusive. But I will be honest in saying I lack the qualifications to judge the military practicalities of the matter."
The emperor's own gaze shifted over to the man in question. "Captain?"
At the prompting, Anderson issued his response. "Your Majesty, as part of the intelligence we acquired at Virmire, we discovered that Saren has been actively smuggling geth into the Citadel over the course of the last few months. The only reason I can think of is to establish a fifth column to support a full-on assault of the station."
To that Charles glanced over at one of the two women being projected. "Does your own analysis match Captain Anderson's conclusions, Admiral?"
Fleet Admiral Kassandra Alexander was not only the second highest ranking uniformed officer present, that honor officially fell to the Emperor Charles himself, she was also the head of the imperial war staff, lending her opinions considerable weight. As such when she dipped her head in a slight nod, that weight was added to Anderson's own.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I've cross-checked the background intelligence that underpin Captain Anderson's analysis and his conclusions are sound. In addition, the captain was one of the participants in the Fallen Eagle exercise that gamed an attempt to seize the Citadel as one of our own contingencies. While he may not be cognizant of the latest intelligence we have on the Citadel's defenses, Captain Anderson is familiar enough with the broad strokes."
"I see," Charles said, folding his arms in a pensive pose. "So what would you place Saren's odds as?"
"Assuming C-SEC is not able to find and neutralize the smuggled geth, fair to even odds," Kassandra answered. "The Citadel is its own best defense. When its arms close, not even the main gun on Sovereign would be able to quickly crack it. It certainly wouldn't be able to do it before sufficient reinforcements could arrive to destroy the dreadnaught. If Saren can somehow prevent the ward arms from closing however, and if he could break through the Citadel Fleet detachments stationed at the Citadel, he would have a clear shot at the Citadel's interior and the entirety of the galactic bureaucracy housed there."
And basically gut that bureaucracy, went the unspoken conclusion.
"Are the Citadel forces in sufficient strength to stop Saren's fleet directly?" Charles asked next.
Looks shifted back over to Anderson for that one.
"The main Citadel Fleet is composed of enough dreadnaughts to take out Sovereign in a head-on confrontation," the captain answered. "Based on our analysis, they're a little light on escorts to handle the geth forces that are likely to accompany Sovereign, but the Council is transferring additional reinforcements to compensate. Whether they will make it before Saren moves is however the question."
And now they were getting to the heart of this meeting.
"In the case the Council's reinforcements are not able to arrive in time, may I presume that the Empire has fleet units positioned closely enough to be able to quickly jump to the Citadel?" Charles asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Kassandra said. "The Arcturus Relay is a prime relay that connects directly to the Serpent Nebula Relay, and thus to the Citadel. From there, both Fifth and Sixth Fleet could transit to reinforce the Citadel within a matter of minutes."
The emperor now regarded the other two flag officers whose presence was now clarified. Fleet Admiral Steven Hackett was the commanding officer of Fifth Fleet, while Fleet Admiral Eliza Romanov was Hackett's counterpart for Sixth Fleet. Of the two fleets however, officially only Fifth Fleet was at active readiness for general deployments.
Sixth Fleet was the navy's reserve command, responsible for the logistics of commissioning and conducting the space trials for new ships, minding older vessels on their way to the breakers, and coordinating the maintenance for mothballed ships that were supposed to be reactivated in case of war or some other emergency breaking out. That meant the total number of ships under Sixth Fleet's umbrella could be highly variable, with only a small percentage were actually combat ready at any given time, a distinct contrast with the other active fleets. Even so, Sixth Fleet still possessed the standard battle squadron that formed the core of all the Empire's numbered fleets, with four dreadnaughts and two carriers complemented by the requisite number of escorts. It was that battle squadron that Kassandra was obviously contemplating pairing with Fifth Fleet.
Both fleets were stationed at Arcturus, with the two battle squadrons combined making the station one of the most heavily defended systems in imperial space. Now however Kassandra was suggesting the two fleets uncover Arcturus to go to the aid of a foreign polity, albeit one which the Empire generally had cordial relations with. That did not change that the Empire would be leaving more vulnerable one of the most vital systems in its space. Of course, more vulnerable was not the same as completely exposed.
Even if the two battle squadrons left, Arcturus would still be patrolled by several other cruiser squadrons. On top of that, there were the fixed defenses, massive fortresses that mounted mass drivers far longer than any mobile asset in the Empire's possession and which could even match the main gun on the Destiny Ascension, the asari dreadnaught that served as the flagship of the Citadel Fleet. Furthermore, Arcturus was only a short hop away from Sol itself via relay, where the powerful First Fleet was stationed and where Eighth Fleet was getting the finishing touches put on its own battle squadrons. If the need truly arose, the Empire could have Fifth and Sixth Fleet uncover Arcturus, at least for the duration of any head-on battle with Sovereign and the geth, if it chose to risk it that is.
"Would the Council even permit the deployment of an imperial battlefleet into its territory like this?" Charles asked, the question directed towards the Empire's diplomatic liaison with said Council.
"Councilor Sparatus would likely keel over from apoplexy if the suggestion was raised, Your Majesty," Udina said frankly, "and unless the Council itself makes a formal request I do not believe it wise to display such a degree of, initiative. At the same time, if the navy was able to position its forces to enter Council space with due haste without actually intruding upon Council territory, I think, that would not be an overabundance of caution."
Charles now looked over at Hackett and Romanov.
"Well Admirals, would that be possible?"
"Yes, Your Majesty," Hackett answered for both of them. "At your word, we could be in position within the next 48 hours."
As sovereign, the Emperor Charles held several obligations to his subjects in exchange for his fealty. One was to see to their physical defense against any foreign entities that might wish them harm. That required the emperor to be actively engaged with the military's activities, to involve himself in its strategic deliberations and indeed to make the final call on a wide range of matters. It was his responsibility to weigh the prospective gains against the cost and to strike the right balance. It was also his duty to make the choices that would see some of his subjects sent to their deaths in pursuit of the greater goal, if not necessarily the greater good. The necessity of such decisions was obvious, but necessity did not excuse being callous or wasteful when making these calls. And sometimes, as paradoxical as it might seem, the only way to ensure the lives spent were not wasted was to see even more blood shed.
"Very well," Charles finally said. "Fifth Fleet and Sixth Fleet have permission to deploy in strength to support the Citadel Fleet if the need arises."
"By your will, Your Majesty," Kassandra acknowledged.
"Major, an all-systems alert has been issued," Artemis' voice sounded.
Eyes opening, Shepard went from sound asleep to awake and alert the moment she rolled out of her bed.
"Give me the precis," she instructed.
The data payload flashed through her head and the major had a quick rundown of the situation, as well as the call for all ship captains to prepare for an emergency briefing within ten minutes. Shepard was ready long before then. Half an hour later, she stood before her own squad in the communications room, holding a briefing of her own.
"X57 is a metallic asteroid originally located at one of the Lagrange points of the gas giant Borr," Shepard began as a projection of the asteroid appeared in its previous orbit.
"It was moved into orbit around Terra Nova using fusion torches in order to mine it out."
The hologram now showed the hunk of rock leaving Borr's orbit and traversing the system until it was caught within Terra Nova's gravity well."
"Approximately three hours ago, contact with the engineering team manning the asteroid was lost. Shortly after, a distress signal was received from members of that team. According to the survivors, a band of slavers had managed to slip through the fleet perimeter and land on X57, taking the other engineers hostage and seizing control of the systems."
A noticeable flicker of irritation crossed Shepard's face at that bit. Terra Nova was supposed to be a major fleet station, guarded by elements of a battlefleet and its attendant escorts. The security here should not have been so easily circumvented. Once a thorough investigation determined just how that had happened, the major did not doubt that heads would rule. Perhaps even literally. That was for the future however, there were more pressing concerns in the now.
"One hour ago, the torches activated, setting the asteroid on a collision course with the planet. If it impacts, we're looking at an extinction level event."
While no one really needed to see it, the projection proceeded to show what that meant graphically, the asteroid falling to the surface, with graphs showing the impact analysis. One in particular, that noting the projected casualties, was very high and very, very red.
"Spirits," Garrus murmured.
The others, barring Tali of course, had equally solemn, even grim, expressions visible. Had the quarian's face been visible beneath her visor, Shepard did not doubt she would look equally horrified. The only exception was the major herself however. On her face was an expression of steely determination.
"With Second Fleet concentrated, the navy has enough firepower to crack that rock and keep it from impacting," Shepard said. "If we do that however, all hundred and eighteen members of the engineering team would go up with it. Under any other circumstances, that would be a perfectly valid trade, a hundred lives balanced against the billion plus that call Terra Nova home." The major bared her teeth. "Well, this ain't any other, not when the Normandy is here."
That determination was very quickly being mirrored in the eyes of the others.
"What intel we do have suggests the slavers are down there in at least platoon strength," Shepard continued. "They're spread out however to guard all of the critical facilities required to control the three fusion torches pushing X57 towards Terra Nova. To divert the asteroid would require retaking control of all three, merely blowing them up from afar would only lock X57 onto its current trajectory. To do that requires putting boots on the ground, and to put boots on the ground without getting all the hostages killed requires getting to the asteroid without being detected."
Hence the Normandy's role in all this. Prior to the ship's deployment, sneaking up on an enemy was effectively a pipe dream. You could confuse them to a degree, throw out EM shadows to give the impression that there were more ships than there were, but it was impossible to outright hide a ship. With the Normandy's revolutionary stealth system, the impossible was not only feasible but could be performed on demand.
"You know," Wrex put in, "the moment we start popping the slavers they'll know something's up. What's stopping them from killing the hostages then and there?"
"Artemis should be able to tap into their communications and fudge the appropriate responses to pretend things are still under control," Shepard answered.
The krogan gave a satisfied grunt.
"Are we intending to take any prisoners ourselves?" Garrus asked.
"Just long enough to determine how they managed to overtake the asteroid in the first place," Shepard stated. "As far as I'm concerned, they signed their own death warrants the moment they entered imperial space looking to take slaves. Though I suppose it would also be useful to confirm whom set them up with the technical knowhow to try an asteroid drop."
The Terran Empire's loathing for slavery was renowned, as was the ruthless way in which it dealt with its practitioners. The vehemence of that loathing even surprised the Council races, the governments of which officially disapproved of slavery but which had been far less proactive in trying to stamp it out. Indeed the Council's lethargy in reining in the Batarian Hegemony, ostensibly a Council client and therefore required to adhere to the Council laws outlawing slavery, was the cause of the first major, open rupture in negotiations between the Empire and the Council about whether humanity would join.
At the same time, the Empire's open criticism of the Council's hypocrisy on slavery did offer an opening through which anti-slavery advocates within Council space were able to use to finally formally censure the Batarian Hegemony. The Hegemony's protests were voracious, with the batarians trotting out well-worn arguments about its historical and cultural heritage that underpinned its institution of slavery and accusing the other polities of trying to trample upon its sovereignty. The Empire's response was to note its own historical traditions, that of hanging slavers wherever they were found.
To this day the Empire and the Hegemony were in a state of effective cold war just short of open declared hostilities. Attempts by the Hegemony to use proxies, such as during the Skyllian Blitz, were also continuously stymied due to the Empire's extremely simplistic approach of just killing those proxies wherever they were encountered. At a certain point mercenaries and pirates could weigh the risks of invoking the Empire's wrath versus whatever payoff they might earn by accepting the Hegemony's jobs and decide no amount of money was worth dying for. Of course even as the number of opportunists decreased, the number of extremists saw a rise, at least proportionally. There was a very high probability that the 'slavers' down on X57 were such a subset.
"That all said," Shepard resumed, "it would be imprudent to ignore the context of what else is happening. The combined Second/Third Fleet taskforce was scheduled to depart for Ilos in 48 hours, along with the Normandy. Deploying the Normandy, and this squad, to reclaim X57 may well push back that departure time, even ignoring the possibility, minute as it is, that we would fail outright and suffer fatal losses down there."
A few grunts sounded there. As confident as each of Shepard's squad mates were, they were too experienced to carry that confidence into outright recklessness.
"In light of those considerations, the admiralty has left it to my discretion as to whether to undertake the X57 operation," Shepard stated. "After all, what is actually at risk is not just the billion plus down on Terra Nova, but the countless trillions that call the galaxy home right now should we fail to stop Saren from starting the cycle of extinction anew."
This was not exactly news to the rest of the squad, indeed that very point had entered their minds the moment Shepard raised the possibility of using the Normandy to insert them onto X57. But even with that caveat involved, no one looked like they were going to use that as an excuse to back out.
"I also want to emphasize that, in a lot of ways, this is strictly an imperial matter," Shepard said. "It is imperial citizens that are being held hostage, an imperial world being threatened, and as far as we know just a bunch of regular pirates and slavers doing the threatening. This mission would therefore have absolutely nothing to do with the reason all of you were recruited, stopping Saren, so the only one I can legally order to come with me is Ashley." The major tilted her head. "And I suppose Wrex since he was so kind as to sign such an open ended private contractor agreement."
The krogan gave a low chuckle at that, while amused smirks crossed the others' expressions. After a moment Shepard opened her mouth to continue, but before she could speak another voice sounded.
"Shepard."
Gazes now shifted to the speaker, a point that did not seem to faze Liara in the least.
"I think I know what you're going to say," the asari said. "And, I think you already know our answer."
It was smiles that now quirked the lips of the attendants, not just a smirk. Smiles that marked the camaraderie, the trust, and the conviction that was shared between all of them. And on Shepard's own smile was reflected the immense pride the major held for what all of them had become, and for everything that they might yet become.
End of Chapter 36
The smuggling of geth onto the Citadel was hinted at all the way back when Shepard and company raided Chora's Den. Fisk having a single geth wasn't just a random throwaway thing and this particular plot point was planned all the way back then. This is kind of how I do my stories, I like to foreshadow and weave long running threads throughout the story. The payoff might be the next chapter, or it could be thirty chapters down the line. Or it could even be down in the second or third arcs.
More cleanup this chapter. Note that the QEC in my story is not the same as what was introduced in ME2. Arguably there's no reason I can't have a QEC like that of the game, but a part of me has, issues with the way the ME writers tried to shoehorn quantum entanglement the way they did. They went through all this effort to build up a semi-plausible FTL system with mass effect fields in ME1, and then they go cheap sci-fi in ME2 and onwards on way too many things. I'm going to try to be just a bit "harder" than they were, or at least skew closer to the vision first laid out in ME1.
The X57 mission was another one that I always knew I wanted to incorporate, in some way, shape, or form. It simply offered too many ways in which I could exhibit the results of character development or various traits that I thought important to show. I also knew that it would have to be sequenced towards the end of the story, if for no other reason that if it happened too early the characters wouldn't have had enough time to settle in and become the close-knit squad they needed to be for this mission.
In a lot of ways I think X57 serves as an even better capstone to the squad's growth as a squad than the last bit with Ilos and the Citadel. Here, we have Shepard and her squad go out on a simple mission to do their duty. Beyond the hunt for Saren, the need to defeat the Reapers, this here is a mission to save lives for the sake of saving those lives. Not from a cosmic threat, but from a relatively mundane one, insomuch as an asteroid drop or a hostage situation are pretty mundane when compared to the Reapers. And in risking their lives like this, by taking the time to try and help in what is arguably a pretty small bit of trouble relative to what's about to happen with Saren and Sovereign, Shepard and her squad show us the true depths of their character. After all, fighting the Reapers is an existential must. Going out there to save the lives of a hundred or so hostages? When doing so might or might not compromise the larger fight? That's the kind of choice one makes with absolute faith, or in complete hubris. So which one do you think my Shepard is doing?
Been playing War Thunder quite a bit recently. Lessons learned from the game are as follows.
T-34s are little shites that are way faster than they have any right to be considering how well armored they are. Shoot them in the side. If you're lucky, you'll kill them. If you're unlucky, you take out their engine and they skid to a stop right in front of you while you frantically hope you finish reloading before their turret finishes traversing.
Fire is bad, but so is not reloading when the enemy is in sight of you because your crew is putting out the fire. Prioritize accordingly.
A well-handled Puma is the most dangerous vehicle at its battle rating. Respect the Puma. Fear the Puma. Also it's a good way to make money by spotting enemies. Just watch out for enemy machineguns, cause they will wreck you.
The American Stuart light tank is capable of the following acrobatic maneuvers; barrel rolls, summersaults, and 360s. Yes, I have confirmed this myself.
Your frontal armor is never as thick as you think it is. If you get shot in the front, it WILL get penetrated (sheer dumb luck notwithstanding).
The enemy's frontal armor is never as thin as you think it is. If you hit it, it will NOT get penetrated (sheer dumb luck notwithstanding).
Anti-air tanks generally succeed in downing bombers only after they've dropped their bombs.
Momentum does not exist. It does not matter how fast you were traveling, the moment you hit a patch of mud or water or an incline greater than say 2 degrees your speed grinds to a crawl. Also apparently wooden fences can stop multi-ton tanks.
Artillery rarely kills the target you intended it to hit. Pray that it's an enemy tank that's doing the dying.
The greatest impediment to victory is not the enemy, but generally your own teammates. Or rather those random people that are technically on the same side as you but don't pay attention or don't care when they ram into you and push you out of cover or disturb your carefully aimed shot. Or drop bombs and artillery on you. Or sit on their asses in the rear instead of flanking the enemy tank you've pinned down. Or think traveling in a convoy column through a chokepoint is a good idea. Or thinks that popping smoke when you're defending a point does anything except give the enemy cover to charge your positions. Or think that charging a heavily armored tank head-on instead of flanking it is the most effective way to kill it. Or get suckered alongside half the team into chasing one random light tank (me) that's zipping around your rear, leaving the point underguarded and letting the enemy swoop in to capture it at the last minute. Honestly this could be a list all its own. If ever one needed proof that video gamers would make for crap soldiers, look no further.