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Chapter 38
Death Comes For Us All
"After great pain a formal feeling comes-
The nerves sit ceremonious like tombs;
The stiff Heart questions-was it He that bore?
And yesterday-or centuries before?
The feet, mechanical, go round
A wooden way
Of ground, or air, or ought,
Regardless grown,
A quartz contentment, like a stone.
This is the hour of lead
Remembered if outlived,
As freezing persons recollect the snow-
First chill, then stupor, then the letting go."
After Great Pain, A Formal Feeling Comes,
Emily Dickinson
Once the pyre had finally been reduced to embers and the bodies all destroyed, Gaius and Marcus made their way back to Cipritine proper.
All during the night and the early hours of morning, Gaius had kept in touch with the expeditionary unit. They had kept him up to date with their reconstruction of the bomb they had left with.
It was nearly ready but before they could deploy it, he needed to get back to Trajus, the turian officer.
The civilian population of Cipritine would have to be evacuated before the device could be detonated. If the Titan survived the explosion it would move for the closest source of fresh bodies for conversion.
That meant Cipritine and its survivors.
The pair reached the temporary offices just as Trajus was arriving to open for the day.
"Hello guys. You are both up early."
"Trajus, we need to talk in private."
"Uh, can this wait?"
"No," said Gaius grimly. "We need to talk right now."
Trajus's brow furrowed as he saw the intensity on the pair's faces.
"All right. Come in. I have a few minutes before the place gets busy."
He led the pair into the tent. Trajus went to his desk and took a seat.
"Go ahead. I am listening."
Gaius leaned forward on the desk. "I need you to order a full-scale evacuation of the city. How fast do you think the place can be emptied?"
The turian scoffed, "If this is one of your jokes then I am afraid to say it is in no way funny."
"I am being serious."
The slight smile faded from Trajus's face. "And why should I order such a thing? You have no idea of the amount of shit I would be in for moving all these refugees for no damn reason."
"Something is about to happen that will more than likely make this place a deathtrap. You need to get the civilians and yourselves out of here. Head any damn way but north."
Trajus whistled. "Well, thanks for the warning but without specifics I can't do anything."
Gaius's fist hit the table. The turian jumped a little in surprise.
"Listen to me! There are creatures out there that you can't even comprehend and they have their eyes fixed on this city and those who live here. I need you to trust me on this. Have I ever lead you astray so far?"
Trajus stared at Gaius. "No but..."
"BUT NOTHING! Order the damn evacuation! Get these people out of here before all hell breaks loose. My men and I will stay to do what we must."
Trajus still seemed unconvinced.
Gaius glanced at Marcus who nodded at him.
He activated his omnitool and displayed a video to the turian officer. Trajus strained forward to see it before turning pale under his plates.
The noise was enough to make him puke let alone to have the visuals to go with it. Trajus suddenly bolted from his chair and started to vomit in the corner of the tent. Gaius turned off the vid before he went over to the turian.
"I am sorry to have to do that to you."
"Spirits! What the hell were they? Tell me that video wasn't real. They... they tore apart children for spirits sake!"
Gaius hummed. "I am sorry but that vid was all too real. Where I am from, it is normally used to impress on the new recruits the severity of what we face as an enemy."
Trajus wiped his mouth and stood up to his full height.
"Where you are from?"
"It is a long story. I need you to listen to me. Get everyone out of Cipritine."
"We can face them..."
"No. You can't but my crew and I can. To do it, we need the civilians and yourselves gone. We have enough to be worrying about then to include you all on to that list."
"Explain what is happening."
"To the north of the city, my men have discovered a vast nest of these things. Within, they have brought unprotected turians and other species to be... converted. My men intend on using a small fission explosive to wipe the nest out. However, there is something inside that might survive."
Trajus took a deep breath. "What could survive that?"
"A Titan. A beast more like a living fortress then anything you can comprehend. If my crew can remain undetected while placing the bomb, there is a strong chance it will be incinerated but if they are discovered..."
Marcus jumped in. "The Titan will activate its shields and storm across this planet. It will aim for an area with a dense population to quickly increase its numbers by biologically converting existing organisms. The nearest such place is here."
Trajus let out the breath he had held. "Spirits damn it... Okay... Okay, I will order the evacuation. How long before the bomb goes off?"
"My men and I will be moving out to support the expeditionary team by sunset. I can give you the rest of the day and night but after that is too risky to leave it any longer. By early tomorrow, I plan to have that device detonated. Do you think you can get everyone out by then?"
Trajus went back to his desk and started going over detailed maps.
"I think so. At least the majority anyway. Which way would be best?"
Gaius shrugged. "I will leave that up to you. Try to split the population into different directions except north. We will plant fake bio-signatures around the city to lure the Titan in if it survives. At least, we hope to..."
Trajus nodded. "I'll get to work. Keep in touch with me on what is going on."
Marcus and Gaius headed out just as Trajus started calling up other units.
Outside, Gaius instructed Marcus to return without him to the hideout.
"Let the guys know what is going on."
"What about you?"
"I need to talk to Aurelia about taking in Acca."
Marcus hummed. "Oh. Heh. I kinda hoped that... well, you are right. She needs to get out of the city and that turian seemed nice enough."
Gaius playfully punched Marcus on the arm. "Don't worry. She will be taken care of. I know you have become close to her."
Marcus scratched his head. "Hard not to. She is a funny little girl."
Gaius smiled. "Go on. Get out of here. I'll be back shortly."
He watched for a moment as his team-mate headed in the direction of their lodgings before he set off for the children's shelter.
He arrived to something he had not quite expected. Aurelia was being hassled by a pair of young male turians who were both clearly leering at her.
Aurelia was not pleased with their attentions and was reaching behind her for something to use as a weapon.
"Guys, I really can't be what you two obviously want..."
"Oh you totally can! In return, we will keep an eye on this place."
One of the pair leered at Aurelia before lunging forward. The young female pushed him back roughly.
"Guys, seriously! You won't find what you want here."
Gaius rubbed his neck as he stepped in.
"Gentlemen... what is going on here?"
"None of your business," snapped the turian Aurelia had shoved. Gaius noticed that Aurelia had moved behind him, obviously looking to stay out of trouble. At least she was smart he mused.
Gaius yawned theatrically before he suddenly darted forward. He caught the turian by the mandibles and head-butted him. From the noise he guessed he had broken the turian's nose. He let go and the male hit the ground hard. The hurt turian put his hands up to try to stop the blood pouring down his face. His friend moved to his defense only to find himself easily flipped up and body-slammed down on to the ground.
The two turians huffed and wheezed.
"So, have we learned a lesson? Because I can easily do this all day if needs be."
The pair slowly got up and limped away.
Gaius chuckled, "And that is how you do it!"
He turned to face Aurelia and was a little taken aback by the hero-worship in her eyes. She was bright cyan and went to hug him. Gaius immediately backed up and stopped her.
"Whoa! Easy there!"
He saw her face fall. "Sorry... Just no one has ever defended me like that before."
"I hope you have never needed to be defended like that."
That earned him a small laugh from Aurelia. "You are right. Sorry... I-I have hoped that you would turn up. I mean so I can thank you for the supplies and getting the kids out of the catacombs. Sevas says you were a big help."
Gaius hummed. "It was nothing. Listen, do you have room now to take Acca full-time?"
"Sure. I should do. Why?"
"She will need someone else to take care of her. My crew and I have things to attend to. You need to prepare to evacuate the city."
Aurelia's eyes widened. "Sorry, what?"
"The city will issue an evacuation order soon. Start preparing now. I will free up who I can to help you get the children and yourself out of here. "
Aurelia was still confused. "I don't understand."
"You don't need to. All you need to know is that the Hierarchy will be issuing a city-wide evacuation order shortly and you guys need to be ahead of the curve on this. Get ready. I'll bring Acca to you later today."
He gave her a small smile. "Those children need you and the turian people will need you all. I will give as much aid as I can spare."
Gaius returned to find his crew in deep discussions.
All eyes turned to him as he entered the building. Marcus nodded at him.
"I have informed them of what we found and the impending evac of Cipritine."
"Good. Gentlemen, I think you all know what we need to do."
Jun stepped forward. "We all know the score. Any word from Caius and his crew?"
"None so far. They will be in touch once they have a workable device on their hands. I need some volunteers. I intend on joining them. Who wants in?"
All of the crew took a step forward. Gaius grinned.
"Nice to know none of you have gotten soft in our days here. Peter and Crassus, you are with me. The rest of you know what to do. Get those lures out into the city and help get as many people out as possible."
Outside, the sirens went off. The hybrids stopped and listened to a voice issuing the repeated order to evacuate. Gaius turned back to his crew.
"This is it, guys. Mira undoubtedly knows that we know about the Aegrus by now. Marcus?"
"Yeah?"
"Get in touch with the other two ships. Tell them to do an emergency descent and land directly in Cipritine."
"On it!"
Marcus ran for the communications device they had set up.
"The rest of you prepare. I need two of you to aid the children's shelter in evacuating. Decide among yourselves who will go. Whoever is going will need to take Acca with them. She will be joining the shelter permanently."
The crew dispersed. Gaius turned his attention to Acca who was busy playing with the stuffed varren he had found her.
He rubbed his neck before he went over to explain to her what was going on.
Overhead, the two sister ships to their own vessel, which was still in the dark north, began to descend down into the ruins.
They landed their vessels within touching distance of the first ground crew's hideout. Gaius went to greet them.
"Where is Mira?"
Proclus, the pilot of one of the ships, spoke up.
"Haven't seen her or her ship in a couple of days."
"What the hell does that mean?"
Proclus shrugged. "She contacted us all and said that there was something on the outskirts of the system that intrigued her."
Gaius frowned. "And not one of you thought to inform me of this?"
"Sorry, sir. We thought she had told you herself."
Gaius grimaced. "Damn her. All of you go inside. Marcus will give you all the lowdown on what is going on."
"What about you, sir?"
"I have business to the north."
The borrowed transport pulled out of the garage. Max popped his head out.
"Lets get this show on the road, Sidonis."
Caius and his crew had nearly finished the device.
Trebia was high in the sky and practically cooking them with the heat. They would leave the firing mechanism till last, hoping that by then that they would have cooled off sufficiently to make it that bit easier.
As it was they were struggling with the other components. Caius leaned back against a tree and turned his gaze to the Aegrus nest.
The mutts still went about their daily patrols, unaware of their presence. They intended on keeping it that way.
Tiberius worked ceaselessly at the passage from the turian book that Gaius had quoted in his message. He had left a series of seemingly random digits after his signature as well.
It looked like some random corruption of the message, a fairly common occurrence but Gaius had included something that Tiberius had not seen in nearly a decade. The two had developed a little system of private communications between themselves a long time ago.
Every message sent across military lines was recorded and analyzed. In order to have private conversations, they would include a passage from a book. To allay any suspicions, they did that for every message they sent to each other.
The overall theme of the book chosen was a hint towards the contents of the message while the seemingly innocuous corruption numbers were put through an equation of Tiberius's own design that produced more numbers that referred to specific lines and words within the passage. The way they would show that there was another message included was by the corruption line beginning with 5814.
It was a simple enough code and they used the system infrequently enough to make sure it remained hidden.
Tiberius worked as fast as he could at it. The novel Gaius had picked was an old turian epic that Tiberius's father had insisted they both read while making their way up the ranks.
It was a tale of a unit ripped apart by betrayal. It didn't bode well for the message Gaius was trying to convey to him.
When he finally pieced together the message, Tiberius's heart stilled. For a moment it seemed that time had stopped around him. He raced to find Sidonis, taking the message with him.
"Old friend,
Traitor among us - M-i-r-a,
Communications compromised,
The enemy is here."
Sidonis sipped his tea while reviewing an old report that he had meant to finally sort out.
Tiberius burst into his room. He silently handed over a datapad. Sidonis skimmed the contents before he bolted upright.
"This is the message Gaius included?"
"Yeah. Sidonis, I think Gaius is saying that the Aegrus are on Palaven!"
"And Mira has betrayed us all apparently."
Tiberius stilled. "I take full responsibility for her being anywhere near Palaven. I should have..."
"Should have what? Guessed that she would turn traitor? As it is Gaius could be mistaken. Before you start, yes I do know how unlikely that is. He has never liked her however. I just... what reason would she have to act against us? She can't be in league with the Aegrus..."
Sidonis stood up and paced. "Their presence on Palaven is a deeply troubling development however. We will need to do an immediate jump now and leave the fleet behind."
"I agree."
Another call came into the office. The old turian sighed before he hit the comm.
"Sidonis here."
Jakus's voice answered. "I have some good news, Lantar. All the relays are now officially open for business."
Sidonis stared at Tiberius. "All of them? How..."
"Tristan managed to figure out how to do a cascade reaction, sort of like when the Crucible fired. We are good to go."
"Thanks. Get your crew back here immediately. We have an emergency."
"Lantar?"
"The Aegrus are on Palaven."
"Spirits... How did that happen? Don't answer that! We are on our way back."
Sidonis turned off the comm. He nodded at Tiberius.
"Get your father and the heads of all the fleets. We are going to war and they need to be ready."
The bomb was complete.
Caius and his companions began the slow journey of getting it into the Aegrus hive. Gaius had already messaged them to say that he was on the way to back them up.
Night had long ago fallen and once they had suitably cooled off, the hybrids had inserted the detonator. The fission bomb was ready to go.
Now all they needed to do was get it into the nest itself undetected.
The descent was slow. The bomb was not yet fully armed but that didn't mean they could be careless with it.
Each of the three hybrids were cloaked as they moved carefully past mutts that were too busy with their slowly mutating victims to notice anything else.
The Titan had increased in mass substantially since Caius had seen it. He swallowed nervously while he gazed up at the Titan that now towered in the cavern, its head hitting the roof.
Pretty soon it would be released to walk in the sun. The hybrids continued down and began to set up the device carefully. Any noise would alert the horde and that would mean disaster.
As Caius worked at priming the device, the other two kept an eye out for any stray mutts that wandered their way.
Finally it was ready. Caius checked the device's remote detonation program before he bit back a hiss of disappointment. It didn't work. He desperately tried everything he could think of but nothing worked.
"Oh no..."
"What?" whispered Jack to him.
"It isn't responding to the remote program."
Graxius and Jack glanced at each other and then to Caius.
"Have you tried switching frequencies or..."
"I have tried everything. Damn it. One of us is going to have to remain here..."
The three looked at each other. Caius coughed. "This is my mission. I am staying. You two get the hell out of here. I will give you as much time as I can to get as far away as possible."
"Caius..."
High above them, the Titan's massive head moved subtly before it started to descend towards them. Jack backed up as the head came close to them, one of its massive eyes swiveling in its socket before it seemed to focus on them.
"Shit..." breathed Graxius.
Suddenly the Titan roared, the scream of it echoing and causing the cavern walls to become unstable. The mutts turned from their morbid tasks and answered the Titan's call. They began to arrive in force. Graxius and Jack desperately held back the tide.
"Get out of here," Caius shouted. "Run as far away as you can!"
"Oh and how far do you think we would get?! How long would you be able to hold out on your own?!" shouted back Graxius.
"We are staying here. Detonate the bomb!" screamed Jack while fighting off a mutt. Graxius muttered the same as he blew the head off one mutt and yanked his combat knife from his belt to throw at another.
Caius desperately sent one last message to Gaius before he entered the firing codes and put his finger over the manual trigger.
"Gentlemen, it has been a privilege."
The other two glanced back as they fought off the army of mutts. "Same to you, Chief," shouted Graxius.
"Aye, aye, Captain," responded Jack as he dodged a mutt's tentacle strike.
Caius pressed the trigger, barely registering the flicker of a biotic shield forming around the Titan as the bomb exploded.
Gaius and his team were on route when the night suddenly burst into day.
Max cursed before he swerved the vehicle, eventually stopping the transport behind a rock formation to shield it from the blast front. As it passed, Gaius's omnitool went off.
It was a final message from Caius.
"Sir, it has been an honor to serve with you. I hope that our sacrifice has not been in vain. Remember us."
As the storm of destruction passed, Gaius got out of the vehicle and stared at the billowing clouds that marked what had been the final resting spot of Caius, Graxius and Jack.
He bit back on his sadness as he watched the cloud go higher into the starlit sky. Peter joined him.
"They did it. Those crazy bastards did it."
"But at such a cost," muttered Gaius.
As they watched, something started to emerge from the smoke and dust.
"Oh no..," whispered Peter.
The Titan walked free. It emerged from the destruction with its biotic shield shimmering.
It roared.