Chapter 48
Having said that, the logo hanging above the crowd faded away with immediate effect. The hologram changing from the resulting black image, and into footage. And people started murmuring almost instantly as they recognized what's being shown; Which had already been used earlier when the Council revealed to galactic community; the existence of the OCA. Oroc Corporation's Chakra armor. Public response was astoundingly massive. The number of people enlisting into the military of a few species rose sharply. Though that's mostly a trend until the reapers came out of the woodworks.
"Recognize this? Most of you certainly do.." Kabuto began, leaving his chair to walk down along the curved stairs running down and across the length of the coliseum-like tiers where the diplomats, ambassadors and various assistants stood or sat. Elating quietly as all the attention in the Citadel chambers were directed at him, and had to strain himself to maintain that humble smile he sported. To avoid defiling it with the smugness he felt rising on the inside. Making a grand gesture towards the hologram above as it showed a mock battle between teams of asari, salarians, turians and humans exclusively using their OCA. It was magnificent to behold, even though most had already seen it before.
One particular turian had lightning dance in his palms before he struck them together and sent a lightning bolt zigzagging through the air. A salarian countered it by striking the ground, making it dishevel and quickly push up a wall, which took and resisted the lightning blast.
The techniques were relatively simple and crude. But impressive to the gathered aliens. It was a real pain and effort to allow the armor to deploy elemental techniques. But the amount of things they could do was rather limited by the amount of data it can contain.
"I won't bore you with the details. The initial batch has been fully trained, and in the process of increasing the number of OCA adepts. And we are providing supplies as is appropriate. It's all moving along like clockwork." he paused for effect, "For obvious reasons the location of our facilities will remain a secret."
He continued to move through the assembly, looking from alien to alien.. "But what I wished to show you this time... is this. Despite the strength of the Council races, this war will require... changes to how things are done. Which means that the other races should follow suit and provide auxiliaries. Any help can help turn the tide, but not without an ace in the hole – of course." he snapped his fingers, causing the image above once again to change.
It showed another mock battle. Though mostly just a set of aliens on one side and mechs functioning as moving targets for them. Not as impressive as the former, unless one considered the aliens in question being a mix of Elcor, Hanar and Volus. All wearing armor. Though the latter ones wore thicker armor to compensate for their physical frailty. Along with mechanism akin to powered exoskeletons so they may be able to heft all the added weight, and whatever equipment they may end up carrying.
Many appeared rather amused by the sight. And truthfully, it did look kind of comical. Until one of the volus crushed a mech by causing walls to rise up from the ground on either side of it, and then slammed them together. It immediately stopped being amusing, replaced instead by shows of awe. "This is a little project of mine. There will doubtless be auxiliaries, so I went out of my way to create armor specifically for use by other species of the Citadel. Impressive, is it not?"
On screen, the mechs were now being systematically exterminated by the empowered aliens. The elcor moving much faster with the use of OCA than they could possibly do on their own. Machines crumpling to the ground one after another as the alien brought them down, combining the newly gained agility with its own innate strength.
Effortlessly, Kabuto continued; "These new variants will be built in rather small numbers compared to those for the council species." and then raised his voice, "But any contributions could end up making all the difference in this war!"
This caused much of the audience to initiate a strong applause. But Kabuto did not wait for it to end, and stunned the audience as he clapped his hands together once. "But!" he called out with his glasses gleaming as light was reflected from its surface.. ".. There's more."
The clap of his hand resulted in the ending of the footage above, and replaced it with another that showed something resembling a mix between a beetle and a seashell, resting peacefully in the depths of space, with a backdrop filled with stars. It quickly became apparent that there's no nearby star. Meaning this was placed in an incredibly remote location to prevent it from being found by others. And now, especially the reapers.
Kabuto quickly gauged the various reactions, but squinted at the sight of Naruto clutching his chest, as if pained by something. One theory coming to mind was the possibility of the sealed maker inside the boy stirring in reaction to the picture. After all, what's being shown is a Maker shipyard. But that was little compared to what's to come as the image zoomed in. The shipyard itself was gigantic, which quickly became apparent as the camera got close enough to make out the hundreds of cocoon-like shapes orbiting the facility in various stages of development.
"Most people believe the protheans were the only spacefaring species fifty thousand years ago. But that is completely false. There were more, though the most relevant one right now; being the ones that called themselves; the Makers. They suffered the same fate as the protheans, but also left some of their technology behind. Which we are putting to good use." he made a sweeping gesture at the creature shown. What you're seeing is a Maker shipyard, which we now refer to as Station One. As you see, their technology's very different from what your grand civilizations use."
Most initially appeared disgusted or horrified by the clearly organic construct. The council stood relatively unfazed. Apparently, the whole plan was to reveal as much as possible without giving certain details away.
"See the growths surrounding the construct?" the assembly looked as though they had been electrified as he pulled their attention to said growths, "Every one of them is a warship in the making. And these!" he raised the volume of his voice again, startling his audience again. The position of the camera shifting away from the shipyard, and to a coherent gathering of oddly shaped ships arranged into a dozen line formations.
"What you see now are the products finished so far. That is, they're very nearly finished. All that remains is one single component for each which are in the process of delivering as we speak. This nascent fleet of unmanned spacecraft will be included into the Citadel fleet to assist in this war!"
An unseen diplomat spoke up from within the crowd, "But the purpose of the fleet is to safeguard Citadel space, where will these ships be deployed to?"
Sparatus brought the answer to that question with a strong reasoning voice, "We're in the process of considering all available options. But with the current state of things, the fleet will be used to assist in the defense of Palaven."
"Which I'm obliged to say; is wise." Kabuto gave the councilor a nod of approval before he readdressed the ambassadors. "Any questions so far?"
"This is just..." Mei sneered. Whether she liked it or not, Kabuto was playing his part well, appearing before the highest political powers of Citadel space as a force of benevolence and good. "At this rate.. he'll be untouchable."
"He already is, I believe." Kakashi also sounded annoyed, but was much more mild and self-controlled about it as he observed the political circus. Glitter-eyed aliens asking their questions, and getting sugar-coated answers in return. This is just one of the worse types of villains... one with good publicity. "Soon enough, they'll be eating right out of his hand..."
"Naruto... you all right?" they heard Shikamaru ask as the other boy breathed unevenly, clutching his chest even harder.
Kakashi walked around and crouched down in front of the apparently pained boy, "What's wrong?"
"Kh... feels like something's trying to burst through my ribs." Naruto nearly croaked, his voice rather coarse. "The pain started right when that 's-shipyard' was shown. T-think it's the maker inside me. It's trying to call out."
The Jonin looked to him sympathetically, "Can you stand up?"
"Think so..."
"Then let's leave, and see if the pain stops." Kakashi looked to Mei for approval.
"You can go." she replied, "Take him back to the ship if it doesn't help."
They quickly got up and left, leaving her and the others to continue observing the spectacle. Representative, my ass... she thought with a frown as she absently counted the number of ships displayed on the hologram. Sixty-three ships. Separated into two different classes. Most of them looking like cruisers, while the rest resembled dreadnoughts. The lack of a familiar ship on screen made accuracy as to their classifications nearly impossible. And the bizarre shapes did little to help things along.
Down below, Kabuto finished answering the few questions he received and clapped his hands together. Causing the hologram to go blank once again, with the corporation logo rising back to prominence. The audience, very pleased with the presentation once again started applauding the bastard. The sound of clapping hands filling the air to the brim.
Kabuto reveled in the applause. Letting it go on and on. All the more gleeful was the thought of how frustrating this sight might be to Nagato's faction. The asari councilor was about to speak up, to call back to order when he raised a hand insistingly, "However!" he managed to deaden the applause nearly instantly.
This time, even the councilors blinked at him.
"But even with the greatest fleets, and greatest armies. Overwhelming numbers alone is simply not enough!" he spoke out to his audience, shaking his head while doing so to show his mild disdain over such old-fashioned thinking. "What we need is the capability to project power against our enemies! The kind that can only be brought to bear by one single weapon of unrivaled potential."
He spoke so fiercely, with so much applied force that his rhetoric nearly blew his audience away. Like a stack of paper naked before a hurricane.
"With barely retrained curiosity; Does such a weapon exist?" an elcor diplomat asked.
This time, Kabuto truly grinned as he raised an arm to the hologram above, which changed one last time. "Behold; my ultimate creation!"
But the sight of this creation proved quite... underwhelming. For instead of the massive titan of a ship they all expected, instead; all they could see was a vertically oriented needle-shaped object at least four kilometers tall. Its surface appearing completely featureless at first and second glance. Udina raised an eyebrow so high it almost tried to detach itself from its ridge.
But the man seemed completely undaunted by this tame response. "I know what you're thinking. And rightly so. Right now, it barely got the firepower of a conventional cruiser from any of your species. But... mind you that this ship's still in its infancy. It will become more powerful as it gathers resources through the battles to come."
"What kind of resources?" Tevos asked.
The shinobi actually grinned this time, "Reapers. This ship was grown through the use of Maker technology. But this is a special design, created to integrate reaper technology into itself. It strengthens as the amount of power it can access increase. Stronger armor, improved weaponry, better regeneration-capability."
"If that's the case, why not use some of our ships to get things going?" a random diplomat spoke up.
"That, is not an option.." Udina barked, and the diplomat vanished into the crowd, reddening in embarrassment. "We need all the ships we can get." Sparatus gave him a rare nod for showing such decent wartime reasoning.
"Quite so, you're completely correct." Kabuto said, "Despite popular opinion, already there are numerous wrecks of reapers scattered throughout the galaxy. Mostly destroyers, but those will do for now. It's all to produce the Citadel fleet's very first Juggernaut." For various reasons, he chose not to bring up the connection between the makers and his species. And made particularly sure not to mention the Jubi at all.. nor that this Juggernaut would essentially become its mirror image in a manner of speaking. In contrast to the Ten-tails, which essentially is a reaper ship with integrated maker tech.. This one once complete will be a maker ship with integrated reaper tech.
Once again, he received applause from the audience. And he graciously bowed in return, earning even more of it. With the footage finished, the hologram finally vanished as the projectors shut down. By now, he was standing roughly between the Council's podium (though more correctly below it), and the rest. "That's it for the presentation. I came here today to bring hope, and it's all up to you if it's been successful. With the armor, show the reapers that you won't make this war easy on them!" the applause intensifying as he continued; "With this fleet, show them that we will be much more than an annoyance! And with this Juggernaut, we will all show them that we can – and we will – destroy them!"
It was almost as if the Citadel tower trembled as the chambers within very nearly exploded with the sound of clapping hands.
And even as it was ongoing, Kabuto started walking to the back. Even engaging in shaking hands with a few who reached their hands out to him as he passed them, even the usually sullen Din Korlack. Tayuya eventually joining him as he marched past their seats. Politely excusing himself from the rest of the meeting as his part was finished. Having taken enough of their time.
By the time the two had crossed much of the area between themselves and the elevator, the sound had finally died down, allowing the assembly to move on to the next topic at hand before finishing for today. A lot more lighthearted than before.
Javik did not know what to think. Ino and the rest seemed deeply hostile to the preacher below.. despite his contributions. Most of aliens in the room having apparently forgotten the prothean even being here. No wonder, with such an enthralling speech, "What is the history with this man?" he asked the blonde.
She pressed her lips together as she mentally worked on an answer before providing it, "I don't know him personally. But he's a criminal.. and have done many horrible things. But it's strange... I did not think he would look so..."
"So...?" he repeated and blinked, one eye after another.
Ino shook her head, "It's still him. But his appearance has changed significantly from when I first saw him years ago." then lowered her voice to nearly a hush in distaste, "Did he experiment on his own body...?"
"Where there's a genius, there's also a madman."
The girl raised an eyebrow at that, "One of your people's proverbs?"
Javik performed a slight nod, with a faintest sign of a grin. As if amused.
"Now don't you get any ideas about joining him.." Mei spoke almost warningly as she approached the two. "He's crossed the line too many times."
"If the act of doing so could destroy the reapers, I would gladly cross a thousand lines without hesitation."
"And what if that happen..." the mizukage brought up hypothetically, "...only to see something potentially worse replacing them?"
"We'll cross that particular line once we get there." he shrugged.
"So what will you do right now?"
"Stay with you." he responded in the positive, "Unlike he, you will be fighting on the front line. And that's where I belong."
Mei nodded approvingly, "Good to hear.."
"Indubitably."
Shepard eventually stood up from his deeply contemplative state, his omni-tool active. "Come, we're leaving."
"And go where..." Mei asked, placing her hands firmly against her hips. "... back to our ships?"
"Just got a message from Udina. The council will see us at his office once this is over."
The woman seemed bewildered by that, though far from displeased... "What... really? A private meeting?"
"Yes. This might just be our best chance..."
The others were quite pleased to hear that. Ino quickly pacing over to Shikamaru, who hadn't left his seat yet.. "You hear that, Shika..." and then suddenly in a reaction of pure irritation slapped the boy across the head once she heard a lazy snore escape his lips, "Hey, wake up you idiot! How the hell did you fall asleep here of all places?"
"...Shut up.." the Nara groaned as his cheeks quickly became slightly swollen from the sudden assault, "Crazy women.. Such a drag."
"I honestly can't believe you...!" she continued to berate him, leaving the others to watch quietly until Javik finally – and quietly – remarked at the sight:
"Some things... never change."
Now with the meeting out of the way, only one small business remained before he and his guard would return to Tireth. Kabuto stood as still as a statue in the middle of the hangar, just a rock throw away from the airlock leading to his ship as he patiently waited for a certain someone.
Thankfully it did not last long before an elegantly armored asari made her appearance at the far end of the area.
"What an honor, to see you of all people making the delivery." Kabuto greeted the newcomer with a grin.
"I got business of my own here, and this is too sensitive to entrust other agents with. Cerberus is everywhere." the other countered as she handed over a data-pad, which he promptly accepted, "Nice speech by the way."
He nearly croaked a cough as he browsed through the information the device contained, "It better be. Won't do another one for a while if I can avoid it.." he paused momentarily, "You've found three reaper corpses already? Good, good. The payment will be transferred to your account momentarily.." he gave Tayuya a nod, who brought up her omni-tool to arrange it. "What did you say about Cerberus? They're not that big if I recall correctly."
"I heard you gave the council enough info to rip those terrorists to pieces."
"Impressive information network you got." he snickered, "Yes, that's correct. Have they gotten back on their feet?"
"Their numbers have swelled in recent times. Don't ask me how.. The Illusive man's still alive, and he's running a much more aggressive line now than before."
"More aggressive, or simply desperate." he eased the data pad into his robe with a thought, "Anyway, good job. I trust you'll continue the good work finding more wrecks for us to make use of."
"With every eye I can spare."
"Good." Kabuto turned to enter his ship, Tayuya following suit.. "Always a pleasure, shadow broker; lady T'soni."
"No change in their position?"
The mission was so simple. Take a few freighters, go to the home world, fetch what remains of the Zetsu army, and then return. The problem came about the moment they started heading back to the cluster's main relay. It began with the discovery of a deep-space scout that fled the moment it found them.
And now, everything had gone to hell in a handbasket. The moment they arrived in the system containing the relay, they found it playing as a humble host to a fleet of reapers... and geth. Stories had circulated throughout the Terminus systems that there's something happening in the Perseus veil. Causing the geth to flock into it like a crazed swarm. And no one was in any way eager to get in their way.
Madara cursed as he looked over the crew surrounding him. Each with a seeker bug implanted into their neck to ensure their slavish obedience. For the moment, they were busy navigating the ship through this hazardous course. In a system populated by one reaper dreadnought, several destroyer escorts and more than a dozen geth ships; including a dreadnought.
The situation had seriously gotten annoying. What modest escort they once had were quickly destroyed along with two of their freighters. Leaving only six remaining. They only evaded the enemy by practically diving into the depths of the local asteroid field. Right now surrounded by three thousand kilometers worth of asteroids of all sizes. It took the crew all of their concentration to avoid crashing into the mountain-sized rocks surrounding them on nearly every side. The ships' mass effect fields struggling to keep smaller objects from smashing into their hulls.
And here they've been for the last three hours, and no change in enemy formation. Most likely waiting for the convoy to resurface.
Occasionally, scanners would pick up the 'tremors' of asteroids being blown to bits, sending pieces of debris in every direction like the shrapnel of fragmentation grenades.
"Trying to fish for us, you bastards?" Madara growled angrily.."Won't take that pathetic bait no matter what you do." watching the feed he received from a smattering of drones the freighters left behind to keep an eye on the enemy fleet. The reapers already having blown up most of them. Only a few covert ones remained, but they too would be picked off eventually.
With cautious contemplation, he studied the images received. Both fleets are keeping their distance, especially the reapers.. as if out of scorn. The geth being closer to the asteroid belt, to do the dirty work, and act as shields if anything happens. The latter faction being nothing but sacrificial tools to the reapers. Not that he found anything to object against, he would have done the exact same thing.
Madara did not even wince as one of the feeds fizzled out. Yet another drone taken down. Thinking back on what few recent reports he could access regarding the geth, submitted by Shepard; the one describing a heretic faction that see the reapers as gods.
So basically it's a horrible master/servant relationship. Maybe... just maybe, he could use that to his advantage? Destroying the fleet right now, is impossible, but there is one other way to go about it. "Zetsu, you got the seat until I get back." he messaged his subordinate over at the ship immediately behind his.
The response came quick; "What do you plan to do?"
Madara chuckled darkly as he got up to leave, "Just going out for a walk, mix things up a little."
Author notes: Shorter chapter this chapter, but it'll do.
Oh, and just to note: Liara knows very little about Kabuto's past, so she sees him as little more than a benefactor. As for questions needing answering:
sakurablossoms84: Skipped a letter when I wrote the name down, which is why there's no results. It's Nortraship. It administered Norway's contribution to the war; its merchant fleet of 1000 ships.
