CHAPTER THREE: "ALL IS SILENT AND CALM..."
"Lightspear, this is Unity Station Control. Please follow the Demeter into docking bay one zero six; you will be landing inside the Militia-class dreadnought, Affront. Confirm, over."
"Unity Station Control, this is Lightspear," Valtha responded. "Landing in one zero six inside the docked dreadnought."
"Confirmed. Unity Station Control, out."
The Lightspear was just one of thousands of ships coming and going from the Frontier relay; there were massive lines of private cargo ships and transports of various make and model from both the Alliance and Citadel, but the vast majority of the ships around Discovery and Unity Station were massive SAAF warships. Most appeared to simply be patrolling the area, though some were deploying materials and frames for construction, and from the cockpit Nihlus could see humans in EVA suits and binaries assembling a wide variety of structures, everything from new transport docks to hardened orbital defense platforms.
"Spirits," Saren said, whistling. "When did they get the orders to mobilize? I don't think the Council's even made a public statement yet, and I guarantee you the Turian Army's not this ready.
"SAAF is all kinds of nuts," Itok said from the CIC. "Paranoid as shit, sure, but awfully handy what with the giant evil robot spaceship flying around. Still, if Nazara or one of its buddies pops out of the relay and closes in for a knife fight it's gonna be real ugly. Speaking of," he said, as Valtha flew behind the Demeter towards Unity Station via a cleared lane in the traffic, "how are we supposed to find Nazara, anyways?"
"Did you not read the brief we left you?" Saren asked.
"Was busy making sure the ship was running properly," Itok replied. "Raetor used to handle most of the engine work," he said after a pause. "Didn't have time to read it."
"Oh," Nihlus said quietly. "Right."
"Ah, we had a chat with Captain ED before we left," Saren said. "We're gonna head back to Rannoch and start from there - if Nazara's using the relays to get around there's only so many places that would make a good base of operations, especially if it's mining for resources with the heretic geth."
"So...we're flying around without leads?"
"No," Larix said from the gunnery station. "Legion said that the true geth have a bunch of intel isolated on non-networked servers - we're gonna have the Demeter help us look it over.
"Suppose that's better than nothing," Itok noted.
The Lightspear and the Demeter both entered the hangar; the Affront, a massive dreadnought that was at least as large as the Gravitas (though still a fair bit smaller than the Expedition Fleet's Frontier) was docked inside with its top hatch open.
"Lightspear, this is Affront," a flat voice said over the comms. "Just park your ship next to the Demeter in the top bay within the marked lines, and we'll help take care of the rest."
Other than the Demeter, the Affront's top hangar had no ships, and once the Lightspear hand landed and the hangar's clamps had attached to the ship, the comms lit up once again. "Crew of the Lightspear, please lower your ramp and remain on your ship for a moment; an attendant will be with your shortly."
"Understood," Valtha said as she unbuckled herself from her seat. "I'm sorry, I was under the impression we were going to, I don't know, visit Jane's superiors?"
"Who says we're not?" Larix replied.
"I dunno, I thought we were maybe stopping here for a security check or something - confused as to why we're docking inside another ship," Valtha said.
"Wait," Saren said, looking up suddenly, "who are Jane's superiors?"
"They're- wait, Jane's a Pilot attached to an SF team that was under the Gravitas' command, right?" Nihlus said.
"Yeah," Itok noted, "Alliance Joint Special Operations Team, right?"
"I mean, that's what she said her ship had been assigned to," Nihlus noted. "Before that, though, she and her crewmates were on the Solar with the Expedition Fleet."
"Hmm." Saren's expression was thoughtful as the group moved to the Lightspear's hangar; Larix lowered the hatch and Saren peeked down it for a moment.
"Something wrong?" Larix asked.
"No. I get the feeling that Jane and her crewmates aren't your run-of-the-mill SF folks or part of that, what did you call it? Expedition Fleet?" Saren shrugged.
"That's...you have proof?" Nihlus said slowly.
"No, but if they've been deceiving us, I doubt it's for any sort of malicious purpose, but still. Just a feeling." Saren shrugged again. He was about to continue when a human woman, shorter than Jane and with black hair instead of red and wearing an unmarked SAAF uniform appeared at the bottom of the ramp.
"Spectre Kryik? Am I allowed up there?" the woman asked in a deep, raspy voice.
"Yes?" Nihlus replied. "We were told an attendant would be with us. Exact words."
"Just wanted to make sure." The woman made her way up the ramp and clasped arms with Nihlus, Saren, Itok and Larix. "Agent Nimue Chao, Systems Alliance Internal Security. I'm here to ensure your ship is clear of tracking devices or whatnot, as the coordinates of the location we're going to is strictly classified. Not that I'm accusing you of doing so - it's just a formality. The same's being done with the Demeter."
"Honestly? There's nothing on here worth hiding, at least in regards to, you know, tracking devices or wahtever." Nihlus said, gesturing to the rest of the ship. "Spare parts, on-board armoury and storage for our bunks and our general provisions. You're more than welcome to take a look around. Just...if you see a locker labeled 'Raetor's Gear' in the armoury, be very, very careful. The last thing he was working on was called the 'Pilot-Killer' and I think that speaks for itself."
"Fair enough. I heard about what happened, Spectre Kryik, about both the Migrant Fleet and your friend. My condolences."
"It's...it's alright," Nihlus said. "So, what's the plan after you finish your scan?" he asked as Nimue pulled a small handheld scanner from her uniform, pulled a cable out of its grip and plugged it into her neck port.
"The Affront is an Internal Security ship - we're taking the Demeter and your ship to one of our safe-stations where we'll debrief and get everyone up to speed on, ah, matters at hand."
"Matters?" Itok said slowly. "Those matters wouldn't happen to be anomalous in nature, would they?"
"Itok shut u-"
"-no, no it's fine, Spectre Kryik!" Nimue said, bursting out laughing. "Oh, Mr. Kazus, you are perceptive, aren't you."
"Is that a compliment?" Itok's voice was cheerful, but his expression was utterly flat.
"It was," Nimue replied, waving her scanner around the hangar.
"Internal Security," Saren noted dryly, as Nihlus led Nimue and the rest of the group around the ship as she scanned various items. "I'm sure you provide an important service to the Alliance, but isn't the name-"
"-kind of dystopian? Indicative of a mysterious, all-seeing state security force with massive overreach of powers?"
"Not the words I would have used," Saren said. "The title's just very similar to an old Turian government department that was most active during our Unification War."
"Well, I'm aware the name's not a very nice one," Nimue said nonchalantly, "but then again, the work we do isn't very nice either."
"What do you do?" Nihlus asked.
Nimue, evidently satisfied, pulled the cable out from her neck, let it snake back into the scanner and tucked it into her coat. She whirled around and smirked at Nihlus. "As a wise woman once told me: spoilers. Well, everything's looking good here. You're welcome to leave your ship if you'd like, but both your crew and the Demeter's will be confined to this hangar for the duration of our journey. I'm also obliged to remind you that attempting to ascertain our location during or post-jump is strictly forbidden and will be met with force, so on and so forth."
"That's fair. How long will the trip take?" Nihlus asked as Nimue began descending the Lightspear's belly ramp.
"No more than a few hours," Nimue said, waving as she walked backwards down the ramp. "If you need anything, there's comm units and whatnot in the hangar. I'll be back soon!"
They watched her go, and once she was off the ramp and several seconds had passed Itok scowled. "That woman," Itok said in a low voice, "scares the absolute shit out of me."
"Really?" Saren asked. "I mean, anybody who works for a government division called 'Internal Security' is probably someone to keep an eye on, no matter which government they're working for - and I'm saying that as a Spectre, mind you - but as far as government agents go she seemed nice."
"I dunno about nice," Valtha interjected, coming down from main deck via an emergency ladder. "She was polite. Nice and polite - two very different things."
"I'm with Itok and Valtha," Larix said. "I don't know. She just seems off to me, can't tell you why. Something about her creeps me right the fuck out."
"Well, keep it to yourself, you lot. Last thing we need is to piss off the scary lady who's driving the ship we're on to parts unknown," Nihlus noted. Itok grumbled noncommittally in response; Larix and Valtha shrugged. "Come on, let's go see if the folks on the Demeter got the same impression."
The group descended the ramp to find a hangar whose walls were made of some sort of metallic structure lined with hexagons; the Demeter was parked next to the Lightspear and its belly hatch was down as well. Several of the crew were, Nihlus noticed, carrying on the bizarre tradition of eating a meal on top of the ship; they waved to Nihlus and his companions.
"Hey, Vadim," Nihlus shouted, recognizing the binary on top of the ship who was stuffing a sandwich into his mouth, "can we see Captain ED?"
"Uh, yeah, don't see why not," VD shouted back while still eating. "Just go on in!"
"I wish I could eat and talk at the same time," Itok said.
"You do that all the time," Valtha said.
"I guess."
Nihlus led his companions into the Demeter; Steve and several other of the Demeter's crew were doing an inventory check, while Jane and KN were both clambering around KN's Titan chassis performing maintenance. Steve noticed them entering, and waved them over; Jane and KN both looked over and nodded at them before returning to their work.
"Nihlus, Saren, Itok, Larix, Valtha - good to see you all. Can I help you guys?"
"I was wondering if we could see Captain ED," Nihlus asked.
"Afraid not," Steve said, shaking his head. "She and XO Lawson have been cooped in quarters working on reports and debrief papers."
"Is it an emergency?" KN asked as he and Jane both jumped from the top of the Titan cradle to the deck - nearly thirty feet - and landed on the floor with a loud thud. "If it's an emergency we can go and get her for you guys," he said as Jane ushered them closer to the Titan chassis, out of the way of the rest of the hangar crews.
"No, not really," Nihlus replied. "We were just kind of wondering, you know, where we're going. An Internal Security agent told us we're on our way to one of their safe-stations, but that was it."
"Also I wanted to know if it was the same woman and if so is she creepy as shit or what?" Itok interjected.
"Oh, spirits, Itok, I swear-"
"-nah, all fair questions," KN replied, shrugging. "Uh, first point - we're not actually cleared to know where we're going, so I can't help you there. Itok's question, was it Agent Chao?"
"Yeah," Saren said.
"I mean, she doesn't come off creepy or anything, at least not to me," KN said, shrugging. "Gives off that 'don't-screw-with-me' vibe, though."
"Great. Are we done talking shit behind her back now?" Nihlus said, rubbing at his fringe. "It's just bad form, guys."
"Hey, hey, just asking," Itok said, raising his hands.
"Well, we've got time to kill," Nihlus said, staring back out of the Demeter's ramp. "Maybe I'll go take a nap."
"Screw that. Can I sit in the Titan cockpit?" Itok asked.
Jane looked at KN, who shrugged. "That's fine by me," Jane said, nodding. "You good to climb in?"
Itok looked up at the massive chassis, and nodded. "Uh, onto the foot, then just sorta clamber up and into the cockpit, right?"
"Yeah - it's not too difficult," KN said. "Lots of hand and footholds if you need 'em."
"Cool." Nihlus, Saren and Larix watched as Itok followed KN over to the cradle and began clambering up towards the cockpit; he made it about half a minute later, and eagerly looked inside the cockpit. "Fancy," he said, before sitting inside the chair.
Nihlus watched as the others went over to examine the Titan chassis; Jane simply stood next to him and sighed. "Gotta take your mind off things one way or another."
"It's why I didn't stop him," Nihlus said after a moment.
"Couldn't get Raetor to come? And what about Ultina?"
"No. I thought by the time we'd finished the briefing he'd be, I don't know, feel a bit better? Not sure what I was expecting, to be honest. Went to go check on him before we left - wasn't fighting everyone in sight anymore, sure, but he wasn't ready to go out and fight. Could see it. If it'd been just Rannoch? He'd have been fine. But..."
"Can't say I blame him," Jane said quietly. "More than half his people just...gone. Like that."
"Calmed down, but he looked so... so done. The fact that he was even able to talk to me, be honest that he couldn't bring his best? Takes guts to admit. His sister wasn't so lucky."
"She was a civ, right?"
"Yup. Admin work, shuttle driving and the like. Barely held a gun before. She's...not okay, Jane. At all. Doc told me, prelim reports? Meds and months of counselling, if not more. They had to sedate her when she woke up. Ultina's stayed to keep an eye on'em - Raetor's in rough shape and someone's gotta be around to make sure Jaha's pulling through."
There was a long silence.
"For what it's worth, you have my condolences."
"Thanks. Saren's with us so it's not like it's the absolute worst-case scenario. I just hope that Raetor and every other quarian makes it out of this okay."
Another long pause.
"I- I have something to ask you, Jane."
"Yeah? What is it?"
"Saren thinks you're...not who you say you are. As in, that you and the rest of the Demeter aren't JSOT. At least, not just JSOT."
"You're being unusually forward."
"I know. I don't care if you can't give me a straight answer, Jane, honestly. I just - I want - a lot's happened in the past, spirits, it hasn't even been an entire day yet. If anything happens, I want to have at least an inkling as to what's going on."
"I understand, Nihlus. Classified, Nihlus -but trust me - XO Lawson brought the matter up once you'd left. You'll know once we're debriefing with the Internal Security folks."
"Thank you. And this Agent Chao?"
"What about her?"
"Gut instinct. Did you meet her, know of her before now?"
Jane sighed and gave a sad smile. "You've got a good instinct, you know. You'd make a good detective, huh? But, alas, that's classified until we do our debrief. Just want you to know we haven't done any of it out of malicious intent. I promise - and I'm sorry."
"No need to apologize. Heh. Saren was right, the old bastard," Nihlus mumbled, watching blankly as Itok, Larix and Valtha fought over who got to sit in the Titan cockpit next.
Nihlus left a few minutes later - he'd said he needed a nap, and while Jane didn't doubt that he was low on sleep, she had wanted to follow him and tell him to talk to someone about things. She sighed as she watched him descend the Demeter's ramp, and turned to watch KN activating the post-maintenance weapons cycle test, showing off the massive dual-laser projector mounted on the chassis' shoulders. The demonstration continued for a few more minutes before the Affront's comms blared to life.
"All personnel, condition one transit prep and stations. Crews of the Lightspear, Demeter, please ensure that you're buckled down and that your ship ramps are up. Stand by for FTL in ten minutes."
"Aww, we were just getting to the good part," KN said, peeking out of the cockpit.
"Shame. Well, we might as well go check on the boss and make sure we don't have anything loose laying around," Larix noted.
"That's our cue, I guess," Itok said sadly. "We'll head on back to Lightspear and shut the ramp."
KN deactivated the cycle test and slid out of the cockpit, sliding back down onto the deck as the cockpit shut behind him. Cortez waited for the last of Nihlus' crew to leave the ship before raising the belly hatch, and both Jane and KN made their way to a nearby set of chairs built into the walls next to KN's cradle before buckling themselves in, KN taking his usual spot closer to the cradle; the other crew either made their way to the upper decks or sat with Cortez near the main terminal.
"Think they needed that," KN said after a moment. "Mmm. Nihlus, though, he looks rough. Could've used a spin in the chassis, I think."
"Captain ED had it rough - can't imagine what it'd be like for him, let alone Raetor and his sister," Jane replied. "Hope Nihlus doesn't mind about the whole IS thing. Be a shame to lose a friend that fast."
"Well, I mean, Captain ED ran it by Director Harper, so that's gotta be worth something."
"Doesn't mean I'm not worried."
"Fair, but personally I think we'll be fine. Nihlus seems like an understanding sorta guy, you know?"
"I suppose," Jane noted. A minute or so later, the comms went off again.
"All personnel, Ark Engines at maximum capacity and standing by for full discharge jump. Capacitors green, two-hundred-sixty jump sequential online, preparing return-to-base protocols. Stand by, FTL in two minutes."
"I'm sorry, did the helmsman just say two hundred and sixty jumps?" Jane blurted. "Oh, great." She hastily pulled a resealable bag out of her chest rig and opened it, taking out four transparent canisters each filled with a small amount of thick green fluid. Jane scanned the labels on the side.
Nausea Suppressant, Jump-Induced, Concentrate (Pilot Use). Pilot J. Shepard - issued Dr. K. Chakwas. Consume all fluids one to two minutes before jump. One canister provides relief for fifty-jump sequential. WARNING: NS-C IS DESIGNED ONLY FOR USE WITH PILOT AUGMENTATIONS. Simulated testing shows the following side-effects in non-augmented persons: continuous bowel / urinary movements for up to three minutes, loss of muscle control for up to two minutes, vomiting / nausea, severe stomach cramping and prolonged heartburn.
Jane grimaced as she popped the canisters open and drained their oddly delicious contents before tossing the canisters into a dump pouch on her chest rig.
"You, uh, gonna be okay? I thought those were only good for up to fifty jumps," KN noted nervously.
"All I have on me," Jane replied.
"Oh" he said, faceplate dimming. "Are you supposed to take four at once?"
"We're about to find out," Jane said sourly, as her HUD lit up. High intake of foreign chemicals. Medical nanite override available: "Just a reminder to turn off your scrubbers. - Dr. Chakwas" Activate filtering augmentations? Jane saccaded the "no" option, and smiled weakly as she felt her stomach rumble slightly. "Nothing like field testing."
"All personnel, stand by for jump. Sixty seconds."
"Hey! Cortez! Heads up - might puke all over your deck again," Jane shouted. Steve closed his eyes and shook his head from across the hangar, where he was strapped into his normal station.
"I mean, if you have to, but I'd prefer you not," Cortez said, shrugging.
"All personnel, jumping in ten, nine, eight, eight, eight, eight-"
Jane swore as the helmsman's voice suddenly stopped; in fact, all sounds, from the soft buzz of the Affront's engines to the chatter around the hangar had suddenly ceased. "What the - guys?" Jane glanced around; the entire hangar seemed as if it was stuck in time, and her HUD's internal clock was frozen. "Oh, great. This is fantastic," she said quietly to herself.
There was a noise.
Thump.
Again.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
The noises began to fall into rhythm, like a heartbeat, or a war march. They continued to beat, and as they grew louder pulses of blue, white and black began to emanate, fading through the hull of the Demeter and passing through solid objects and moving beyond the Demeter's pulses were speeding up and Jane was about to consider getting out of her seat and attempting to figure out why her suit's classified functions hadn't activated when everything went black. Her HUD suddenly lit up with a flashing warning that disappeared as fast at it had appeared; she did her best to parse the text.
WARNING: FOLD INTERFERENCE - MEGIDDO CLASS TYPE S - EMERGENCY SYSTEMS ONLINE
AUTHORIZATION RED ONE MODIFY ANOMALOUS OPERATIONS SANITIZED TYPE / EXTRACTION DATA SYSTEMS ONLINE ONE SIX SIX / ACTIVATING FLICKER SYSTEMS / ACTIVATING RTI-SHIELD / ACTIVATING HUME NET / [CLASSIFIED] SYSTEMS NOMINAL
REALITY ANCHORS ONLINE / DEPLOYING. CHRONO-STABILIZERS ONLINE / DEPLOYING. HUME NET: ONLINE / READY
FLICKER: YES - SCANNING - TIMELINE ESTABLISHED. Δ FLICKER DETECTED: 0.16/100
RTI SHIELD: NOMINAL. Θ FACTOR: [CLASSIFIED]. SIMULATION MODELLING 100%. CONVERGENCE READY. ESTIMATED DISPLACEMENT: ACCEPTABLE
ENGAGING EMERGENCY ARK SUIT PROTOCOLS, MAXIMUM IMPULSE MODE. STAND BY.
"Jane?"
"Jane!"
Jane let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding in to find herself buckled into next to KN - and closer to the cradle. She took several deep breaths as her HUD flashed a small green notice.
SCANNING: Complete. Safety scans green. Interference no longer detected. [CLASSIFIED.] Please notify Anomalous Operations personnel of the incident as soon as possible.
"Jane, you've just been staring at me for the past, like, minute. Are you fine? Jane?" KN said, increasingly worried.
"I - I think I'm okay," she said, breathing heavily.
"You don't sound okay."
"KN, why am I sitting next to the cradle? You always sit next to it," Jane said in as normal a voice as possible. The hangar was once again full of crew; nobody took notice of KN, who was unbuckled and out of his chair, speaking to Jane.
"What? Yeesh, did the jump and the meds scramble your brain? Check your short-log, you asked me to sit next to it. Said you wanted to change things up."
"Oh." Jane got out of the chair and stared at the cradle, then around the hangar, then at KN. "We, uh, might have a problem."
"Problem? Whaddya mean?" KN asked, faceplate light blinking.
"Weird shit problem," Jane said quietly, and KN's entire chassis froze for a moment.
"Oh. Oh, shit. What happened?"
"Not here - we gotta talk to someone from AO, now," Jane said, walking with KN towards the belly hatch access. "How long was I out for? You said a minute, right?"
"About that, yeah. Helmsman just said that we had a clean jump, and that we're flying towards an Internal Security safe-station on aux power since we drained the whole Ark Engine's capacitors. ETA two minutes to dock."
"Okay. Okay, I can work with that," Jane said as Cortez made his way to the ramp controls.
"Hey, you didn't puke," Cortez noted happily before noticing Jane's concerned expression. "Wait - are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah, just in a little pain," Jain said, patting at her stomach.
"You want me to get Dr. Chakwas?" Cortez asked as he lowered the Demeter's belly ramp.
"No, I'll be alright - just a side-effect of the meds she gave me."
"Well, if you change your mind, you might as well go see the doc," Steve noted as he lowered the ramp.
"Don't think there's gonna be time for that," KN muttered as Steve walked back to his main terminal; Agent Chao had hopped onto the ramp as it was lowering, and by the time the belly ramp had touched the hangar deck she was already halfway up.
"Pilot Shepard, Titan KN," Nimue said, smiling as she approached the pair.
"I need to speak with you," Jane said. "In private."
"I know."
Jane simply shook her head. "Of course you do." Nimue simly smiled, stopping as s he glanced back down the ramp as the comm pinged once more.
"All personnel, docking complete with Internal Security Station Tohu, begin arrival procedures."
Satisfied, Nimue pulled a small wand-shaped device from her coat and waggled it around for a moment before replacing it. "Your suit's not the only piece of tech that can tell when something's gone awry. The initial debrief was going to involve both yourselves," she said, gesturing at Jane and KN, "and both Captain ED and XO Lawson - they've already received the summons."
"Will they be present for your explanations as well?" Jane asked.
"No. Actually, we need to contain things right now. Easier if I don't explain right now, actually. You and KN will come with me now, and someone else will escort the others to the meeting room."
"Well then, Agent, lead the way?" KN asked, and Nimue nodded. They followed her off the ship and into the hangar; Nihlus and Saren were standing just outside of the Lightspear, and they nodded as Nimue shook her head at them. Jane and KN kept walking with Nimue, past the main security hatch and into a long corridor filled with unmarked, sealed security hatches. A few minutes of walking later, Nimue led them through a hatch labeled "External Transfer;" the room contained several benches clustered around an airlock. Nimue sealed the hatch behind her as the airlock opened, revealing a heavily fortified guard post staffed by two soldiers - one, a human wearing a suit that resmebled a bulked-up Pilot Suit, the other a binary installed into a hulking, heavily-armoured rig that was nearly triple KN's size. Behind them were two doors; one, a simple hatch marked "Exit," and another that was labeled "MPSD," and was surrounded by a ring of unlit lights.
"Agent Chao," the massive binary said. "Director K sends her regards."
"Thank you, Agent Manu," Nimue replied. "The conference room?"
"Prepped and ready. We'll need to decon these two."
"Of course. Pilot Shepard, Titan KN, please step forward - it'll just take a moment."
Jane glanced at KN; he nodded back, and the pair stepped forward. The human soldier handed them each a device with four data jacks aligned in a square, attached to a long black tube roughly the length of Jane's forearm. "Into your neck ports," the soldier said.
"I'm sorry," KN said, his tone flat, "I'm not in the habit of plugging unknown devices into my ports."
Nimue sighed. "It's just a test to make sure both of you are clear of r͖̪̠̪̜̪̲͇̟͙͚͕̳̼̪͙͔̻̓ͦͯ͂ͮ̉̿̒̃̽̏̃͂̄̂̚͜͢͞͝e̴̵͓̦̩̱̘̙̯͇͙̼̙̖ͤ͑̉ͫͥ̐͂͒̉̇̅͊̑ͣͥͥͥͫ́ͅş̪̮̤͖̳̲̦͚̜̼̹͋͋̏ͭͦ̾̊̋̆͝iͯ͆ͣͩ̉ͣ̔̓͋̌͌͗̐̄͏̷̴̗̺͍̤̮͇d̸̷̯̤̖̥̲̠̗̩̊̊͗͐̀̃̄ͪ̒ͦ͐͊͂͆̚̚͝ǘ̈̔ͯ͂̏͆̍ͫ͐͋̾ͤ̑͏̧̨̛̹̫̣̘̦ả̴̑ͣͤ́̊̂̔͑ͥ͜͡҉̩̟̻̺͢l̶̜̳̲̲̙̬̝̓ͮ̽̊̈̿̈́́̾̎́ͯ̓͐͗̉̃ͤ͟ ̡͈̬̦͔͕̰͙̼̞̥̟̥̼̪̘́̾̑̇̒̐̌ͥ̑ͣ̑ͫ͠ͅt̵͈͓͍͓͎̪͕̜̘̺̙͕̺̝͎̱̖ͥ̾̒ͮ̏͑̉ͯͥ̈́ͭͧ̕͠ͅi̵̼̝̟̭̣̗̦͎̳̭͔̘̙̫͖͚͗̓̊͋̈́̽m̶̗̩̯̝͙͈̗̜̗͍̺̺̬͚͕̹̦̋ͭͪ̾̃̍̈ͤ͋̃ͯ̈ͣͮ͘̕e͐̃͐͊̈͆̏ͣ̍͂̍͊͂ͤ̋ͬ҉̣̠̬̯̘͔̰̙̺̫͉̗̖͇̻̰̖̥͟͡l̨͔̘̙̝͓̙̣̥̙̬̜ͣͮ̒̋̋̂ͤ̕͜͞͝i̷̡̫̱̤̘͇͔͓̝̖ͩ̽͐̒̇ͤ͋ņ̨̛͎̮͓̤̬̳̩̪̹̣͈̻̈́ͯͨ̌̆͆͐ͧ͒̕͘e̷̵̵̤͕̟̦͎̩͙̝̼̼̮̲̟͙͓͙̺̫̝ͤ̆̃̂̾͋ͦ͆͊͌̚͞ ̷̢͙̜̙̪͓̦̬ͩ̒͗͌ͪ̉̄̓̀ͫ͐̌̓̄́ͬ̅͝͡ͅi͂̆̆ͧ̿ͧ̔ͫ͌̄ͭ̄ͣ̄͌̍̀͏̯̮͎͇̹̜͓̯ͅͅn̢̧̲͈͍̙̐ͦͨͯͮ͋̇͐́͛̐̎̊̽t̢̆̅̅͌̓͋̊ͭͫ̈́҉̼̙̱͇͚͓̪͚̯͔ĕ̵̸̷̮͙͂̓̅̃͒ͦ̍͐̔̔̽̿̓̚͠ͅr̴̵̴͕͕̥̳͚͉͔̤̣̱͔̖͇̲͕͕͇̖͖̄̓̂͠f̵̹̟̯̩ͪ͆̔ͦͥͯ̀e̋ͤͤͭ̀͏̗̺̥͓͚̠͈̝̙̗͓̞͟͞r͍͉̮̦͈̲̪͇̖̝̥̤͂̑ͭ̍́̒̀͌̾̊ͪ̒̉͜͞ȩ̵̨̟̺͓͍̰̼̣͙̙͒ͮͪͬ́͛̎̔̋ͪ̎̾̇͑ͮ͜n̷̵̤̬͎̮̺̼̩̰͈̬̘̥̮͎̏̂͛̓ͭͯ͐̑͠cͬ͂̈́̅ͨ̉̎̐̍̓̿ͪ͆͌ͤͤ̔͡҉̠̜̱͓̻̘̘̦̭͎̰͇̰̹͘͜ͅę̶͎͖͙̦̟̬̤̹̞̹̝̙͈̮̹̣̼͙̒͛̉̉͑͘͠ͅ-"
"-FUCK!" Jane said, crumpling to the floor in pain. "Holy SHIT that hurts," she grunted, panting as she glanced over at KN. "KN! KN, bud, you alright?"
"Stand by," KN said, his chassis ramrod straight. "Re-initializing rig. System check: nominal. Exiting autistic mode." KN glanced around and knelt by Jane. "Whoa, what the hell? You okay? My rig just seized up."
"Wait, what's wrong?" Nimue asked.
"What's wrong? Whatever you just said? My suit says that it tripped - and punched through - my 'anti-memetic barrier' with a 'vocal localized intrusion'," Jane said, shaking her head as she got up. "Listen, Agent, I'm a goddamn Pilot. I have cut my limbs off without anesthetic and been fine. You just - I don't know what you did, but my head feels like it's been run through a blender. I have no idea what your rank is but I think you'd better explain yourself."
"No, no, no," Nimue said, glancing around. "I'm sorry, that shouldn't have happened. This isn't right. Your clearance - what is it?"
"Red One with basic AO clearance," KN said slowly.
"Oh, shit. Agent Yemo," Nimue said to the human soldier, "blackout room, now. Get them inside - I'm going back to get Captain ED and XO Lawson."
"Decon, ma'am?"
"Not as important. Jane, KN, please - I'm asking you - just get into that room and stay there. I promise you I'll explain things in a second but you need to listen to me if you want to stay safe."
Jane and KN looked at each other; KN sighed, and the two nodded slowly.
"Thank you for understanding. Agents," Nimue said as she turned around.
"Ma'am." Manu walked over to a terminal and jacked into it; moments later, the door on his right flickered and a ring of lights lit up around it before it opened to reveal a massive, well-furnished chamber with all-black walls and flooring. "Pilot, Titan, inside. Now."
Jane and KN did as they were told; the door sealed behind them, and Jane simply stared at the door.
"Okay, this is officially weirding me out," KN said, walking over to a nearby couch and sinking into it. "Did you catch what she said?"
"I - ow - think she said, residual timeline...interference. Oh, wow. That...that doesn't sound good. At all," Jane said, her expression despondent.
"Wait, what? What the shit does residual mean? Like, multiple timelines? But we haven't done anything to screw with...time," KN noted, his faceplate dimming. "Have we?"
"Would we know if we did?"
"Fuck's sake, Jane, I signed on to pilot a Titan chassis and fight the good fight. What the hell is going on?"
"Honestly, I'm not sure I want to know," Jane replied, sitting next to KN on the couch.
They sat in silence for another five minutes before the door to the blackout room re-opened; Captain ED, XO Lawson and Agent Chao entered, all looking somewhat concerned.
"Please, have a seat," Nimue said, gesturing at what appeared to be a dining table. Once everyone was seated, Captain ED cleared her throat.
"I understand that you have, in some way, shape, or form, put my Pilot and Titan, who are both the heads of my Combat Team and some of my most trusted and capable crew members in danger," ED said, her voice cool. "Please explain yourself."
"Okay. First of all, let me apologize," Nimue said to Jane and KN. "It wasn't my intention to place either of you in danger - what you experienced was a memetic-backed security filter attached to key words that should only be known by AO personnel, or those with the right clearance."
"Permission to speak freely?" KN asked after a moment.
"As freely as you want, KN - you're more than welcome to be upset, and I won't hold anything against you," Nimue said before ED could respond.
"I'm sorry," Miranda said angrily, "I wasn't aware that you were KN's superior officer."
"I outrank all of you," Nimue said quietly. "I outrank more than ninety-nine percent of people, military or otherwise, in the entire Systems Alliance, and I'm not even halfway up the the Anomalous Operations chain of command. That's not me bragging or trying to lord my status over you, understand - I'm trying to make a point about the seriousness of what I and the rest of AO deal with on a daily basis."
Captain ED leaned forward and opened her mouth, but said nothing, and leaned back in her chair.
"Okay, I'm good to talk now?" KN said, doing his best to stay calm. "Are you fucking serious? You have a memetic filter - as in, the same shit we encountered on Kena that damn-near slushed my partner's brain, and the whole goddamn reason why we're here - like, because of the artifact thing we ran into? The one, I might add, that is STILL sitting inside my rig," KN said, pointing to his chest, "inside a compartment that I literally had no idea was inside until two seconds after I encountered the artifact? Despite the fact that QPS Cortez and I broke my rig down to the goddamn bolts? I'm sorry, that is some serious fu-"
"-Kenneth," Jane said, putting a hand on KN's leg.
KN stopped, his faceplate flaring, before letting out a long burst of binary chatter. "Look, I'm not going to lie, I get the feeling we - that's all of us in this room besides you, Agent Chao, are getting screwed around with, and I really don't like that."
"That's understandable, and in your position I'm sure I'd feel the same way," Nimue noted. "Where should I start?"
"I don't know," Jane said warily, "I'm not the one who can apparently cripple Pilots just by talking."
"Okay, fair enough." Nimue looked thoughtful for a second, then nodded. "So. Jane, recall that you extracted the core of an Ark Engine three years ago on Iris?"
"Yes," Jane noted. "Well, no, but people have explained it to me several times. I do remember that the ship involved had crashed into a Precursor artifact that was giving off serious Fold interference."
"Right. First: all of you first need to - okay, no, from the top." Nimue sighed. "Anomalous Operations deals with instabilities and threats posed to the Systems Alliance via the application of exotic and esoteric technology which allows us to manipulate space and time."
"I - we, I'm sure as well - inferred as much," Captain ED noted dryly.
"Alright. All of you are going to have you clearances upgraded - not all the way to par with my own, because there's information out there you aren't ready for physically, but you're about to receive more or less the same modified clearance that, say, Director Harper has." Nimue paused. "People have mentioned that the procedures is...uncomfortable, at best."
"I'm sorry, what?" Jane asked.
"You're about to receive Red One clearance with basic Khronos authorization," Nimue replied. "Unlike the colour-number system the rest of the Alliance uses, Anomalous Operations - that's all of the division, not just the one I'm in - doesn't utilize the usual system of nanomachine-biometrics or uplinked authorization that usually is used to grant clearance." She paused, and closed her eyes. "We use memetic clearance triggers."
The room went silent.
"What." Jane blinked a few times. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Our clearance is passed through memetic technology. It's a fail-proof system: I literally cannot hand out the clearance if I'm under duress or in anyway not one-hundred-percent okay with it, and it is equally impossible to extract the information from me. The trigger will wipe itself from my mind - or kill me, if need be - before that happens."
"We are talking about the same memetic technology," Miranda noted, "that we just found a few months ago on Kena? The kind that we can't study because it's impossible to read? On the Precursor tablets?"
"Yes. We've had the technology since twenty-six years from now. My tenses are not wrong."
The room went silent again.
"Surely," ED said calmly despite her panicked expression, "you don't mean to imply-"
"-you, all of you, understand exactly what I'm implying. But I can't spell it out for you without the clearance. Alternatively, we roll back your memories to before this, and Jane stays with AO for the next while until we...sort her issues out."
"Not an option," Jane said.
"Understood. Are you all ready?"
"No," KN said, "but let's get it over with."
"Alright." Nimue cleared her throat, closed her eyes, and when she opened her mouth again her voice was layered, echoing and warbling in a way that was distinctly unnatural. Jane's skull pounded and throbbed as Nimue spoke, and her body shivered and shuddered as though she were being pricked with needles and doused in cold water. "Removing restrictions; lowering barrier count, positive one hundred percent to positive fifty-six percent. Memetic engine online. Agent Nimue Chao, authorization accepted, transfer request granted. Scans green. Transmission type: anti-personnel. Ammunition: memetic clearance trigger: Red One, sub-type Khronos Basic. Infection vector: sonic. Viral load: maximum. Targeting: radial, localized, four targets."
Jane looked at KN, and KN dimmed his lights in what she knew was fear.
"Memetic engine at maximum capacity. Dispersal systems online and ready. Authorization code: St̷an̕d͘ w̴i̴t̕h me̵ ҉on t͞he ͏bo͞rd͘er̡ of͞ t̕he pla͢cé wher͠e͏ ̨ti͜m͡e ͜d͏o͢e͞s ͘a͘n͢d doe̢s not e͘x̀is͟t. Accepted. Transmission online in three, two, one-"
Jane's vision exploded into light and black and silver and blue, and for a singular moment in time she simply was, and was not.
She opened her eyes to see Nimue and the others looking at her, worried.
"Jane? Oh, fuck, I thought you were gone for good," KN said, faceplate flickering.
Jane blinked a few times. "It's okay, Kenneth - I'm good, I'm good." Nimue eased her to her feet, and she flinched, taking a half-step back from Nimue.
She paused for a moment, then smirked. "Next time we meet, let me know if you remember this part of our conversation - just a little thing we agents do for fun."
"You - you said - how the fuck?"
"What's wrong, Jane?" Nimue asked.
"You said something to me - asked me if I'd remember 'this part of our conversation' on Harmony. But I just - no, I've known all along - but now I remember." Jane shook her head slowly.
"A test," Nimue said, smiling sadly. "You passed. I'm sorry."
"What."
"Never mind that for now. How are all of you feeling?" Nimue asked, as she and Jane returned to the dining table.
"Terrible," Captain ED said, rubbing her face. "I'm fine now but for a second my systems were absolutely convinced I was being killed via a lethal intrusion countermeasure - and that my memory banks were being scrambled."
"Same," KN noted sourly. "Before your security override kicked in, Agent Chao, my suit was damn near ready to salvage what it could of my programming and eject it from my rig."
"I'm alive," Jane noted after a moment. "But for a second? I felt...I don't know. Not alive, but not dead."
"Welcome back, then," Nimue replied. "You had a quick visit to the Spacetime Boundary. Don't ask. Not yet."
"Okay," Jane said, expression utterly blank. "So, uh, do we get an explanation as to what in the actual fuck is going on here? And what's happened to me?"
"We start with the foundation knowledge - keep in mind that, while I'm not giving you the whole picture, this is essentially the same information that, say, Director Harper has. While I ask that you do your best remain calm, please understand that feelings of panic and dread are normal responses." Nimue cleared her throat, and took a deep breath. "The entire galaxy - and, if we extrapolate from our current situation, the universe - faces an existential threat from something. I'm not being vague, I'm being specific. Something destroys all life, synthetic, organic or otherwise in the entire galaxy - Citadel, Systems Alliance and everything in between - in the future."
"How long do we have?" Jane whispered.
"It changes. The first iteration of the event happened in 465 Freeport; the longest iteration, which was last cycle, made it to 960 FP."
The room was dead silent save for the heavy breathing from everyone besides Nimue.
"This iteration," Nimue continued after a moment, "our goal is to make it to 1000 FP. We were on track, but something's gone wrong. Jan-"
"-no, no, you don't just get to skip over this," Miranda said in a near shout. "So we're going to - no, fucking hells, we've already been wiped out by whatever this threat is? You said iterations, Nimue, explain. Now, dammnit!"
"To the best of our knowledge, we're on iteration two thousand, six hundred fifty-six." Nimue shrugged. "We have devices that allow us to send, well, things - I'm not cleared to know what - back beyond our normal limitations of time travel without piggybacking off temporal anomalies, Ark Engine destabilization or the like. I'm not cleared to know when - what date - these things are sent back to, but I've been told we have it down to a science. Director K says that, from information reception to returning operations to maximum capacity it takes about three years, down from the original of a century."
"Okay," Jane said, falling into the survival-crisis mode of thought she'd learned in Pilot School. "The threat - what is it? What are our combat options?"
"In any other situation you'd be on the right track. The problem is that the threat changes. Sometimes it's the black ships - the Reapers - that, in one way or another, manage to wipe everyone out, whether through subterfuge and sabotage, or an all-out invasion. There are, to my knowledge - and from my clearance - one-hundred fifteen baseline threats, though only thirty-two have occurred more than twice. This is besides the point - for now, all evidence points to it being the Reapers that are the threat this round." Nimue shook her head. "I understand this is...difficult to hear, but we've survived this long by staying calm, formulating plans and fighting as best we can."
"You're just asking us to casually ignore the fact that we have faced total extinction of life and civilization more than two-thousand times?" ED said in disbelief.
"Not ignore, accept. Director K has a saying: 'The sacrifices made by those before us - by ourselves, in many cases - are the ammunition we will use to defeat the threat before us,' and I am inclined to agree. " Nimue smiled weakly. "First line of the Alliance Oath to Service, remember? 'I pledge my service to the Systems Alliance, in life or in death.' Survival was the goal of the Frontier Militia, and survival is the goal of the Systems Alliance. Nothing else matters. Once you accept that, things become much easier to deal with."
More silence; Miranda got up and paced back and forth before gritting her teeth and sitting back down.
"Alright. So we're fighting the Reapers this time," Jane said, her voice flat and cold. "I need to know what's wrong with me, so I can get back out there and fight."
"That's the attitude," Nimue said, patting Jane on the shoulder. "The problem is that the systems used to anchor you in time and space built into your Pilot Suit weren't enough. Enough to handle an Ark Engine core at close range, and also enough to handle interference from one of the largest Fold artifacts we've ever come across - but not both at the same time, let alone with the ship crashed into the artifact itself. You're, to simplify things a bit, slightly unstuck in time and space. This doesn't normally pose a problem - remember the briefing? The universe likes order and stability. But Ark Engines? Those are mass-produced middle-fingers to the way physics, time, and space are supposed to work. Again, by itself, not a problem."
"But that combined with Jane's...I don't know, loosening, I guess," KN said, nodding, "is enough to cause issues when we use FTL. But how? Her body was regenerated and her suit destroyed after her body was recovered."
"Classified beyond my level, and probably beyond my comprehension, to be honest," Nimue said, shaking her head.
"Okay, fine, but there's got to be a solution," Jane said, still in crisis mode. "You've - we've - been through two thousand, fuck, cycles of this."
"Correct. The two of you are very perceptive," Nimue noted. "Without a fix, eventually, Jane, you'd simply fail to exist properly."
"I would prefer that not happen," Jane noted. "What happened to me? My suit kicked in - I was cleared to notice a 'Flicker' system, an 'RTI-Shield' and a 'Hume Net-' and it said that the displacement was acceptable. All I know is that pre-jump I was sitting on the left of KN, and when I woke up I was on the right - which never happens. We don't sit like that, ever."
"Flicker is a system designed to detect a shift in your position out of normal space-time," Nimue answered calmly. "Once it notices a deviation from normal parameters - that's the flicker delta number - it establishes a method to drop you back into normal space and time. Of course, it's not perfect - recall that in the briefing I gave you, you can only do so much to time and space before it resets, and even when it does things are liable to not fit back together just right. So, displacement. An acceptable displacement is, well, acceptable - where details of time before the displacement aren't different enough to matter."
"So Jane's suit deemed changing which seat she was in acceptable," ED said, shaking her head. "Do I want to know what an unacceptable displacement is?"
"No. Anyways, the RTI stands for 'Residual Timeline Interference,' a fancy way of saying that the shield protects you from having brain damage by trying to remember two sets of history, hence why you remember sitting in your normal seat, and not in the other one. And the Hume Net, well, the details are classified but from my understanding it's just another safety system that stops you from being blasted into pieces while your suit does its work."
"Great. So I'm here and in once piece without brain damage. How do I fix my situation?" Jane asked.
"Which is why we're in here. Blackout room," Nimue explained.
"I noticed the sign on the door," ED asked. "MPSD?"
"Multi-Purpose Solitary Dimension. No, I don't know what that means or how it works. What I do know is that this is the safest place to, for lack of a better term, reset your position in space-time."
"How long does it take?"
"Seconds." Nimue pulled one of the devices she'd tried to get her and KN to use earlier out of her coat, only this one was red instead of black and had six prongs instead of four. "Jack in, and it'll reset your...situation to normal, at least for a while."
Jane took the device without a word, and slammed it into her neck ports.
The second the device locked into her neck ports, Jane's HUD exploded in a furious barrage of windows, command lines, readouts and reboots; she blinked several times as her HUD cleared up a fraction of a second later, and a small message flashed slowly on her HUD.
Anchor Payload Received. Systems check: nominal. Payload charge priming, standby. Active. Initiating space-time connection test.
Jane flinched as her whole body pulsed and glowed a soft blue-white for several seconds before fading away. As the light dimmed, the device in her neck hissed, and the red tube popped out of the base of the device, and as Jane whirled around to catch it her HUD flashed a green light next to another readout.
Connection stable and holding. Flicker risk: negligible. Anchor stability: 100%. It is now safe to remove the base block from your ports. Please dispose of the Anchor Payload in a safe manner, and take the time to return the base block to its proper recycling facility for sanitation and re-use. Remember, haste makes waste.
"It's done," Jane said, pulling the block from her neck and handing both items back to Nimue. The agent pulled a small, silver bag from her coat, and placed both the block and the tube inside before sealing the bag and placing it into a nearby wall-mounted container. "Before we get back to the previous topic," Jane said, tone flat, "your original thing about the 'resdiual timeline interference.' You were surprised I wasn't cleared for it. Why?"
Nimue tapped the dining table for a few moments before responding. "Almost all of the things - information, intel, whatever - that gets sent back when the galaxy is on the verge of collapse, as far as I'm aware, doesn't go into specifics about people's lives. Rather, it covers key points, events that we want to have happen and what not - not direct info, but rather the...hints we need to nudge things into the right order."
"You don't want to risk changing things," ED said, "at least, changing variables you can control."
"That's the idea, yes. An example from one of my teachers: in an earlier timeline, we didn't discover the Frontier relay, and by extension, the Citadel races - either at all, or until it was too late. Armed with that knowledge, we could, for example, plant the ideas, put the right people in the right place at the right time to ensure that they ended up there."
"Why not just tell the EF that you guys found something out there?" KN asked.
"Controlling variables, like Captain ED said. If all our info is based on the EF finding the relay 'on their own,' so to speak, us telling them where it is outright changes things dramatically."
"You haven't explained how this applies to me," Jane noted. "Unless you're going to tell me that you've been watching me as part of this plan, and that my whole life has been laid out for me?"
"No, nothing like that. I can't share everything, of course, but part of our packet - the parts I'm allowed to read - stated that the Captain, XO, lead Pilot and lead Titan of an Intelligence Services ship working with the Citadel should already have been contacted by one of our own - one Agent Kaiden Alenko." Nimue sighed. "Clearly, that hasn't happened yet, which means that something's happened to throw off the information we're working from. Nor was your being unstuck from space-time accounted for, Jane."
"And this means...?" Miranda asked.
"I haven't the faintest idea." Nimue shrugged. "In the grand scheme of things, this probably doesn't matter as much as it might seem. Your mission is still the same - figure out what the Reapers are up to, stop Cerberus from producing working portable temporal destabilizers-"
"-wait," Jane interjected. "Cerberus. Surely you have more information on them than 'mysterious terrorist group.' And the Reapers, too. We need every advantage we can get, Agent."
Nimue sighed. "I'm going out on a limb here and telling you information that, while not classified, isn't exactly supposed to be handed out. Please be aware that if this information spreads, I will hold you - all of you - accountable and you can expect punishment on an unprecedented scale. Though, of course," Nimue noted dryly, "that threat applies to everything I've told you so far, doesn't it? Anyways, in one or two iterations - I'm not cleared to know which ones - Cerberus was an arm of Anomalous Operations used to harden installations or draw attention to specific locations. However, I can say that from the records I can access, that hasn't been the case for ninety-nine percent of iterations."
"Oh, hells. Don't tell me," KN pleaded. "Cerberus changes too?"
"Correct. IMC holdouts, bog-standard terror group - well, you're not cleared to know the rest. But rest assured that, in the vast majority of iterations, we still have no idea what Cerberus wants, and who comprises their command structure."
The room was deathly silent for a minute; Nimue watched as the others shook their heads in outright horror.
Nimue shrugged. "Again, it's best not to dwell on these things. Just makes life difficult. Your mission, like I stated, remains unchanged - although if you do run into an Agent Alenko, please give him my regards and ask him what the hell is going on. Of course, this information - for now, at least - is strictly limited to yourselves; when we bring in Spectres Kryik and Arterius I hope you'll understand that we won't be deceiving them out of spite or cruelty. AO's plan for this line of events is already off-balance, and we need to try and get it back on track."
"So we just...carry on," Captain ED said slowly. "What are you and the other Internal Security people planning on in terms of briefings?"
"Well, compared to our previous discussions, it's actually nice and easy. The Reapers, clearly, posses memetic agents of varying power and influence; they're not exactly the same as Precursor memetic agents, but they're close enough that the inoculation that we've developed will work for everyone. We have both memetic payloads capable of being installed via data-jack, and portable devices that can be easily carried on one's person." Nimue nodded to herself for a moment before continuing. "Obviously the timeline not being standard means we'll have to accelerate certain plans, but it's nothing that will change the overt goals of your mission."
"And what? We're just supposed to pretend that we haven't just heard that the galaxy's life is all going to be wiped out in a few centuries?" Miranda whispered, shaking her head.
"It's already happened more than two thousand times, and we're still here," Nimue replied, smiling weakly. "Your job is to make sure that, if we don't win this round, that we're ready to try again next time."