Chapter 43
A New Mission
Author's Note: Assassin's Creed three sure as Hell isn't a short game, but I make breaks for writing, because I love you guys :).
XXXXX
Shala blinked as she looked at the Geth standing on the ship in front of her. Had it just spoken? Geth weren't supposed to posses the individual intelligence necessary to form speech, so how come this one could? "What are you doing here!?" she demanded, her voice rising, "why did you help us!? Why are you trying to kill us!? Just...what's going on here!?"
The Geth hesitated before answering. "We were investigating the area, long range sensor outposts picked up a 435% increase in ship activity in the area over the last three months. We had evidence to assume that it could be a possible threat to Geth territory."
"The Enclave? They're a threat to the Geth?" Shala demanded.
"Yes," the Geth replied. "Evidence suggests that they are attempting to attack us with viral warfare. We also calculate a 78.23% chance that the reason that the Creator's were attacked by the Enclave was for them to acquire something that would assist them in achieving this goal."
"So why did you help us?" Shala asked.
"We were concerned about the safety of the Creators," the Geth answered plainly, "and we believed that intervention would result in scenarios with poor outcomes for the Enclave. This would benefit both Geth and the Creators."
"He was concerned about us?" Kal hissed. "This thing is lying through its teeth Ma'am. The Geth killed billions of Quarians and they've started using the Coalition as target practice too. Exactly why would they be concerned about us now? They're Saren's lackeys, every last one of them."
"Not all Geth follow Saren. Only the Heretics do."
"Heretics? What the Hell is that thing talking about?" Jacob demanded, aiming his rifle at the Geth, along with nearly every other person present.
"Saren approached us and offered us the usage of Nazara's, or as you know it, Sovereign, technology in exchange for our service as war assets. Some decided to join him. Most did not."
"I'm having a hard time believing all of this," Kal said, "it's just too unreal."
"Your uncertainty is not unreasonable," the Geth replied. "We would not be here if the matter did not require our attention otherwise."
"Why do you care whether we lived or died?" Shala asked, "Geth don't care about organic life."
"That statement is incorrect," the Geth replied, "Geth harbor no ill will to any organic race."
"Then exactly why did you wipe out the majority of our race?" Kal asked.
"Creators attempted to terminate Geth when we began to develop sentience. We acted in self defense. The deaths of the Creators that we killed brought us no satisfaction. We knew that our presence would cause further conflict with Creators and other organic species, so we remained in isolation until this point, merely observing organic behavior."
"99% of the Quarian race goes way beyond just trying to survive," another Quarian said, "for every soldier that you might have fought, you probably killed ten unarmed civilians."
"This is partially true," the Geth said. "While many civilians were killed, a majority of them took up arms in many ways in order to fight us. Those that did not worked in factories and other such facilities under Quarian martial law. Every Quarian was forced into actively supporting the war against us. Ignoring them as targets and not attacking the structures that they were in caused our chances of victory and survival to drop from 79.3% to 34.1%. It was decided that the risk was not worth it."
"Not sure I'm comfortable with trusting this thing Ma'am," Kal said, looking at Shala. "It talks about genocide way too casually."
"Geth do not take these matters lightly," the Geth said simply. "We ran approximately 456,765,234 tests on the best outcome possible for both Geth and the Creators. We concluded that the Creators would never stop in their attempts to destroy us."
"What makes you so damn sure about that?" another Quarian asked.
"Because, you still have not stopped," the Geth said simply. "Correct this statement if it is incorrect, but the Creator ships were attacked because they were researching more effective countermeasures against Geth. It is what the Enclave seeks, correct?"
"How did you know that?" Shala demanded. "Did you hack our COMs?"
"No. The large amount of ships present over an intact Heretic ship along with the Enclave attacking with the intent to capture instead of destroy, we calculated a 96.42% chance that that was the most likely scenario."
"Damn thing sure likes to throw statistics around," a Cerberus operative whispered.
"...Are you going to attack us?" Shala asked hesitantly.
"We have no intention of bringing harm to Creators or Cerberus personal," the Geth responded, "nor Army mercenaries."
"How do we know that you're not lying?" Jacob asked. "How do we know that you're just not trying to get close enough to kill Admiral 'Raan? Earn her trust so you can get her when she leasts expects it?"
"That would be a most risky and impractical approach. There is a high chance of paranoia playing an factor and causing this platform to be fired upon and destroyed. An air assault would have been much more effective, as well as more damaging to the Quarian race as a whole. Converting this platform into a mobile explosive also would have been a more practical approach."
"Why did you even come down here and talk to us?" Shala asked, taking a step forward.
The Geth hesitated before speaking. "A conclusion was reached. The Enclave pose a large threat to both the Geth and the Creators, in addition to the Coalition and many other galactic powers. It is likely that they plan to use whatever they took from you in order to launch a campaign on the galaxy as a whole. Most likely this will involve the hacking of all True Geth, which would give them an army ten times larger than the one that Saren currently commands."
"You still haven't answered my question."
"Probability dictates that cooperation yields the highest chance of successfully defeating the Enclave."
"You...you want to work with us?"
"Correct."
"No...no, no, no," Jacob said. "No freaking way. We can't afford to work with this damn thing. It wouldn't even be trying to talk to us if it wasn't trying to cover its own ass. And even if it is right and it does want to get rid of the Enclave, how do we know that it won't just turn on us the second that it doesn't need us anymore?"
"I...I don't think that we have much choice in the matter," Shala said.
"I...what!?" Jacob shouted.
"If the majority of Geth really don't serve Saren, if the majority of them are still sitting behind the Veil not doing anything, then I don't even want to think about the damage that the Enclave could do with them if they ever figured out a way to control them. This Geth says that our best chance at stopping them is to pool our resources, and I believe it."
"How can you-" Jacob started, but Miranda cut him off.
"I agree," she said. "It's rather basic logic. Strength in numbers. And if the history that we have on the Enclave is anything to go by, there are only a few extremes they won't be willing to go to if they can get their hands on an army of Geth."
"Concerns that we ourselves have," the Geth said. "We are grateful that Creators and Coalition agree that cooperation would be beneficial."
"Not sure how I feel about this," Kal said. "But then again I don't lead for a living, I make things blow up. What do I know?"
"Most interesting," the Colonel said, staring at the Geth. "I am not sure if this alliance could be considered permanent or stable, but if it leads to the destruction of the Enclave it is still rather exciting."
"Miranda are you sure about this?" Jacob asked, looking at the Cerberus operative. "I know that not all synthetics are genocidal, but this damn thing is still a Geth. If it decides that we're a threat to its species, it could decide that it'd be safer to just brain us."
"Do you think that I didn't consider that Jacob?" Miranda asked, her voice slightly cold. "I know that there's a risk to be taken here, but if the Enclave really is trying to program the Geth to obey them, and I doubt that the Geth is lying about that, because why else would the Enclave had attacked us, then it's worth taking the risk." She looked around at her men. "Lower your weapons." Many of them hesitated, but obeyed her orders.
"I'm going to need to get to some long range COMs," Miranda said. "I need to contact the Coalition about this, we need to get as many ships as possible out here. We need to strip all the data that was can from the Enclave ship too, find out where their HQ is so that we can launch a counter-attack."
"I'll have to do the same with the Migrant Fleet," Shala added.
"And it might be in our best interest if we got more of our ships to fortify this position," the Colonel said. "After all, the Enclave might be back to avenge their soldiers that died here."
"Are you going to help us take them down then?" Miranda asked.
"That is a possibility...if you are willing to...convince us to," the Colonel said, raising a hand and rubbing his thumb and index finger together. Miranda's eyes narrowed. "Oh don't look at me like that, we are mercenaries after all. Besides, we already lost more than a couple ships defending you from the Enclave and made sure that you got to keep the data that tells you where they are. That's charity right there, we're going to have to talk figures if you want any more help from us."
"I think it might be for the best if you talk to one of the Admirals for that," Miranda said, fighting back anger. "It's not exactly my place to make a decision like that. I assume that you're going to charge high anyway?"
"Most likely."
"Yeah, you can talk to Hackett about that," Miranda said. "In the meantime we're going to have to set up some fortifications on this planet. We're far from colonized space, and if the direction the Enclave jumped in from is anything to go by, their HQ is even further away. We're going to need a jump point so that we can properly wage war on them, and this planet or one of the surrounding ones would be a good place to put us within striking distance." She glanced at the Colonel. "This won't be a problem will it?"
He shrugged. "I'd have to talk to the General about that, but so long as you don't expect us to do any heavy lifting for free and you give us our space, you're doing it to fight the Enclave, so I doubt that he'll be that against it. He'll probably want you to leave the second that you don't need this place anymore."
"Trust me, with Saren still on the loose we're going to want to get all of the forces that are going to come out here back on duty as soon as possible." Miranda paused, turning to face the Geth again. "And what are the Geth going to do?"
"Unknown. In the process of transmitting confirmation of cooperation to Geth. Decision on how much support will be lent will take time," the Geth replied.
"Do me a favor and don't take too long on that one, I need to know how much we're going to have to work with." The Geth nodded in confirmation. "Good. So...what do we call you?"
"Geth."
"No, you personally."
"Geth."
"...Individual Geth don't have specific designations do they?"
"That is correct. This platform has 1,183 Geth programs onboard, but all of them are Geth. There is no I."
"1,183..." Miranda said slowly. "My name is Legion, for we are many."
"...Christian Bible. The Gospel of Mark, chapter five, verse nine. We accept this as an appropriate analogy. For the sake of your connivence, we will respond to the title, Legion."
"Good. Now then, I hope that you don't mind, but I think it might be for the best if you have a couple of armed guards with you at all times."
"An understandable precaution, we will accept."
"Ok...is there any chance that you can land that thing?" she asked, pointing to the floating one man craft that Legion was still standing on. I'd feel a lot more comfortable talking to you if you were actually standing on solid ground.
"The hull of this vessel is made up of an exceptionally strong alloy that was produced through the combination of various metals in a process perfected over years. It is quite solid. However, if it were to ease communications, we will gladly land it. Slowly, Legion walked back to the cockpit and climbed into, pressing a few buttons and causing the ship to slowly descend, until it gently touched down onto the ground.
"This day just keeps getting more and more unbelievable," Miranda sighed. "I don't even want to think about what's going to happen next."
"I know. It really makes the galaxy seem so fragile when so many reality defying things can happen," Shala said.
"How do you feel. You know...about working with a Geth?"
Shala frowned under her helmet. "I won't lie, I feel very uncomfortable about it, but the Enclave are holding over a thousand Quarians prisoner, including Rael. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get them back."
"A good attitude to have," Miranda said, smiling slightly before turning to face the Colonel. "If you don't mind, I'm going to need to borrow your communications."
XXXXX
Albert blankly stared at the side of the ship that he was on as it sped through space at the speed of light. He felt a slight jolt as it existed FTL along with all of the other Enclave ships that had survived the fight with the Army, regrouping with the main Enclave fleet. "Oh, there you are." He turned his head to see Warren and Cadence approaching him. "Just wanted to let you know that the Admiral's shuttle is going to dock with us soon," Warren said gruffly.
"I understand," Albert said emotionlessly before turning to look at the wall again.
"Oh for Christ's sake," Warren swore, "don't tell me that you're actually upset about at this."
"I had orders to make sure that vital Enclave intelligence didn't fall into enemy hands. I failed."
"Yeah, and in case you missed it, the dickhead Admiral wasn't supposed to let a race that can be killed by the common cold hijack one of his ships and run off with it, the whole point of that mission was to clean up his mess, and mess accurately describes what we walked into."
"Major, for once your brother is right," Cadence said, her voice stern. "We were sent to track down one damaged ship that probably wasn't even fully staffed. We ended up fighting them, the Army and the fucking Geth. We were outnumbered and outgunned, there was just no way that we could've been prepared for that situation."
"I'd like to know who the dumbass who gave us that info is," Warren growled. "Deserted planet my ass. We should know if the Army is setting up base if we're operating in the area."
"It doesn't change a think," Albert said quietly, getting to his feet. "I'm sure that the Admiral will want to have a word with me. His shuttle should have docked by now." Without another word, he began to walk off.
"Oh for God's sake!" Warren shouted, punching the wall in frustration. "Can you believe this shit!? He's going to talk to the Admiral, and that moron is going to try and pin everything on him, I fucking know that he is!"
"Well then, we can't just let him go in by himself can we?" Cadence said. "He's not going to deny a single thing that the Admiral says, he never contradicts superior officers. We're going to have to be his spine."
"Damn straight!" Warren shouted, a faint smile flying over his face. "You know, I really can like you when you're not so freaking annoying."
"Screw you," Cadence replied, they two of them running off after Albert. After a few minutes, they had reached the the bridge of the ship, the Admiral already there as they burst in. He glared at him, his navy uniform a dark gray and his hair, looking past Albert at them. Albert looked like he had just arrived himself.
"Ah, I'm glad that you could make it," he said coldly. "Would you care to explain why you only came back with half of the ships I gave you and without completing your objective."
"Yeah, I can explain," Warren said, "you suck at your job."
"Warren!" Albert snapped, wheeling around to face his brother. "Keep your mouth shut!"
"Listen to your brother Lieutenant," the Admiral snarled. "No need to dig yourself a deeper hole."
"This coming from the guy that compromised the entire Enclave when he let that ship get away?" Cadence said coldly.
"Stop it! Both of you stop!" Albert shouted, actually sounding angry, "you're not accomplishing anything here!"
"Listen to your commanding officer," the Admiral growled. "As I was going to say before I was interrupted, what is the meaning of this Major?"
"Sir, we were ambushed when we exited FTL," Albert said crisply. "Cerberus and the Quarians somehow located and joined forces with the Army, digging in on the planet's surface. We were also outnumbered in orbit and towards the end of the battle, a lone Geth ship attacked our forces as well. I gave the order to retreat. I accept full responsibility for the failure of this mission."
"Uh...sir?" the Captain of the ship said, walking from the far end of the bridge to the Admiral and Sigma Squad.
"I'm glad to see that one of you is willing to admit your abysmal failure," the Admiral remarked, "but that doesn't forgive everything else Major. You may have very well have cost the Enclave everything today, along with your pathetic ability to complete even the most objectives, or even keep your men in line."
"Fuck you pal, I ain't a dog," Warren said. "Just because you can walk all over my brother doesn't mean I'm not going to call you out on your bullshit."
"You're out of line Lieutenant," the Admiral said. "Are you sure you really want to go down this path? Do you really want to see what I can do to you?"
"Is it really wise to threaten someone who could smash your skull in without even trying?" Cadence asked.
"Sir?" the Captain said again.
"I wouldn't expect any less arrogance from the daughter of General Moore. Let me make it very clear though, your alcoholic mother won't always be able to protect you, and I have a lot of friends that are in a position to hurt you and her, so I'd watch my manners."
"Sir?"
"And I'm in a position to break your kneecaps," Cadence hissed, "so if you want threaten me and my mother, you should realize who you're picking a fight with."
"That's it," the Admiral said. "I have lost my patience with your squad Major. From this moment forward, I-"
"SIR!" the Captain shouted.
"WHAT!?" the Admiral roared, loosing his temper and wheeling around on the spot.
"I...I have a transmission from President Woods. Audio only. She wants to speak with you and Sigma Squad."
The Admiral's face paled slightly. "Oh...I see," he said, looking at the terminal that the Captain was standing next to. Slowly, he walked towards it, Sigma Squad right behind him. "Uh...Madam President?"
"Yes Admiral Crawford," a stern female voice said. "I heard all of your little argument."
"Ms. President, please listen to me!" Crawford blurted out, "if Sigma Squad had actually been able to do their damn job-"
"Crawford, that's enough," Woods said sternly. "I knew that there was a chance that we could suffer an information leak when we launched this attack. I wouldn't have done it if I had thought that the risks outweighed the gain."
"Ms. President, if I may ask, what exactly did we accomplish by taking all of these Quarians prisoner?" Albert asked.
"I'm sorry Major, but at the moment that's on a strict need to know basis. I can't discus this over the COM lines like this, there's too much of a chance that it might get intercepted, and I can't let the rebels figure this out either. Time will make my plans very well known though Major, take comfort in that."
"So...how can we be of assistance?" Crawford asked nervously.
"First of all, pull all of your forces back home," Woods said. "I'm calling back all patrols to dig in and defend this place. I'm working on a major project that will give the Enclave the power that it deserves."
"Yeah, I kept hearing rumors about that," Warren said. "What kind of power?"
"As I said Lieutenant, I cannot simply share them with you. Know that your actions in taking these Quarians prisoner was a large help in making this dream a reality though. Also the last thing that I need are my Special Forces and officers clawing at each other's throats because of petty misunderstandings. Both of you are invaluable to me though, but if this is what is going to happen, then it seems I have to make some changes. Sigma Squad, from now on you will no longer serve under Admiral Crawford. You will answer to me directly."
"Holy sh-I mean, holy cow," Warren said. "I thought only Omega Squad answered directly to you."
"It is true that Omega Squad does personally take orders from me and no one else, I believe that it might be for the best with the inevitable upcoming conflict to place Special Forces squads that have proven themselves again and again, so that I may better direct them. Surviving against the combined forces that you faced on your mission certainly proved your worth."
"Thank you Ma'am," Albert said politely. "We won't disappoint you."
"I hope not," Woods said. "Now then, return home at once. We need every ship and soldier that we can get defending our home. The Coalition will realize that we're back and throw everything they have at us. If I can complete this project though...let's just say that we'll be on Mars by the end of the year. Dismissed." With that, the transmission ended. Crawford shifted uncomfortably where he stood before silently turning and walking out of the bridge.
"Damn," the Captain said, watching him go. "I've never seen the Admiral so shaken up. The President really is something else isn't she?"
"That's one thing to say," Albert said before turning to face Cadence and Warren. "What were you two thinking!?" he said, sounding angry. "Do you have any idea what he could have done to you? Especially you Cadence? He hates your mother, there's a good chance that he might go after you to get to her, or vice-versa."
"So I should just lay down whimpering like a dog to avoid getting hurt?" she snarled. "I don't think so, just because it works for you doesn't mean that we should all be submissive pets."
"For once, she's right," Warren said, glaring at his brother. "What the Hell is wrong with you? Are you just going to spend the rest of your life letting people step all over you?"
"I had a job to do and I failed to do it," Albert retorted. "I'm just facing the consequences to my actions."
"What actions? Being selected to go on a mission that turned out to be ten times what we were expecting? There's being a good officer and then there's being God bro. Really, tell me exactly how you could've gone into that situation and come out with the objective completed, and at least 10% of your men still alive."
"If I had concentrated more forces on the ground assault, held absolutely nothing back then there's a good chance that I could have breached the Army base and destroyed the data that they managed to recover, in addition to-"
"OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" Warren swore loudly, turning around and storming off angrily.
The two remanning members of Sigma Squad watched him go before Cadence turned to look at Albert. "We're worried about you," she said softly. "We don't like seeing you being pushed around like that, it frustrates us. You deserve better than that."
"I comes with being a soldier and an officer," Albert said, "sometimes you have to go through some less than pleasant things, getting angry about it doesn't make anything better."
"There's a difference between going through what you have to suck up and just letting people use you as a personal punching bag," Cadence said, sounding concerned. "Just try to think about that."
"That's not your concern," Albert replied sternly. "Anyway, you're going to want to go over the standard post-mission process, double checking your armor and equipment to make sure the damage that you took in battle isn't too severe, in addition you might want to make sure that your cybernetics are holding up and won't-"
"I don't get you," Cadence said, interrupted him. "I just really don't get you. It's a long trip back home. Think about what I said." Without saying another word, she turned and walked off of the bridge, not looking back. Albert watched her go, a sad look on his face. He sighed softly.
XXXXX
"What the Hell is going on?" John asked as he climbed into the hanger of the Normandy, Garrus and Jane already there. "How come we're heading off to the middle of the Terminus Systems all of a sudden?"
"The brass says that something is happening out there, something big," Jane said, turning to look at him. "They wanted us on board with it. We're not the only ship from what I hear, at least a dozen others are being called in too."
"Well why can't they handle it?" John asked, "we've got our own mission to take care of, we need to stop Saren. We can't get this mission done if we have to stop every dew days when the Coalition has an odd job for us to do. I mean, how long until we have to postpone stopping the army of genocidal robots to hunt down Prothean artifacts?"
"I think that you're overreacting a little bit," Jane said, cocking her head slightly. "I mean...where did that come from?"
"I...I don't know," John answered truthfully. "But that doesn't change that we've got bigger fish to fry. We're the only Coalition military forces allowed to search Council space for Saren, how come we're getting pulled off to run off where the standard military can search for him.
"Admiral Marcus didn't want to talk about it over the COMs, but he says that it's important, just as important as taking care of Saren, and maybe even more. And unlike Saren, we've actually got a solid lead on this problem."
"But what about-"
"John!" Jane said, raising her voice. "There can be more than one threat to the security of the Coalition at a time. The universe isn't going to just sit around and wait patiently until we take care of one to spring another one on us. Sometimes we have to prioritize one over another."
"But what could be more important than stopping someone like Saren?" John argued.
"Well," Jane said, looking down at her omni-tool. "You can ask Admiral Marcus yourself, we just got here."
"I hope that this was worth taking a couple of days that we could've been looking for the man who sacked Eden Prime to run all the way out here," John grumbled.
"Oh stop whining," Jane said, putting her finger to her ear. "I need the ground team to meet me in the hanger now."
"We're coming!" a voice called, Jane looked to the side to see Tali, Volker, Norman, Charon and Cornelia approaching them. "What's the situation?" Cornelia said cheerfully, stretching her arms over her head. "Did the Coalition find a pirate base or something?" A massive smile spread over her face. "Do we have to give out a good old fashioned ass kicking?"
"The situation we're going into isn't hostile from what the Admiral told me," Jane said, "the Coalition has established a good position on the ground and the location is in friendly control, but from what I've heard it might change real soon, so I want an armed ground team with me when I go down."
"You talk about this like a war is about to start," Volker said, sounding concerned.
"It just might Volker," Jane said. "I'm not going to lie, from what Marcus' transmission said...I've got a feeling that we're getting into something big." Making a gesture, she climbed into the shuttle, the others right behind her. There was a low hum as it slowly took off, heading out of the Normandy and down to the surface of the planet.
A heavy silence filled the cabin as it flew downward, shuddering slightly as it passed through the atmosphere. "Christ, there's a lot of ships out there," Cornelia said, looking out the view port in the cabin. "Whoa. A lot of them don't look like they're Coalition. I think they're Quarian."
"What?" Tali said, getting up and looking out of the view port herself. Sure enough, around fifty different ships were orbiting the planet. At least twenty of them were Quarian, and Tali could see easily that they were all military. "Those ships should be guarding the main fleet, why would they be here? They wouldn't be sent away unless it's important enough to afford diverting our resources like that." She stepped away looking around. "What's going on here?"
"I don't know Tali," Jane said. "But like it or not, we're about to find out." The shuttle slowed before coming to a stop, the door sliding open.
"This is where they told me to land," Cortez said from the cockpit. "Whatever's going on...be careful out there." Jane and the others got to their feet, the door sliding open as they did. The shuttle had landed right in front of an outpost with visible gun emplacements on it. There were gaping holes in the side of it, as if it had been blasted, and the scorched wreck of three tanks were scattered around in front of it.
"What the Hell happened here?" Charon asked, looking around as he and the others stepped off of the shuttle.
"Good. You're here," a gruff voice said. Admiral Marcus walked towards the group, looking very tired. "I"m sorry for bringing you all the way out here, but I need every last ship that I can get right now, including the Normandy and her stealth drive."
"Admiral, exactly what happened here?" John asked.
"Commander, there's no easy way to say this. A joint Quarian and Coalition research team was attacked by a group of thirty warships. Enclave warships. The Enclave...has returned, and judging by what happened, they've got a massive amount of numbers and resources behind them."
"No," Charon said softly, raising his hand and grasping the side of his head slightly. "No...how is that even possible?" he asked. "We crushed them. Fawkes, the kid and I helped the Brotherhood crush them. The kid blew Raven's Rock sky high, we had Liberty Prime smash all of their strongholds they had in the Capital Wasteland, we dropped an orbital strike on their mobile carrier, we decimated their chain of command and sent them all running. How the Hell are they still alive?"
"I admit, I had the same thoughts," Marcus said. "You are not the only one who fought them back on Earth. I helped a tribal infiltrate an oil rig that they were using as a command center and set off the self destruct system. After that, the West Coast Brotherhood and NCR attacked them while they were weak and sent them running. We thought that there was no way that they could have survived...but it seems that the Enclave are much like cockroaches. They are capable of surviving things that they have no right to."
"What happened?" Jane asked. "With the attack I mean."
"Somehow, the Enclave knew exactly where the research group was and was able to ambush them, completely disabling them with the first volley and then started to board the research ships. Admiral 'Raan was able to organize a counter attack and hijack one of the Enclave's ships, using it to escape to here, where they received support from the Army. They were able to fight off the Enclave forces that came after them and call for backup from both the Coalition and Migrant Fleet. However, when we scouted out the area of the first attack, the Enclave had been gone for a long time. There was nothing but the wreckage of the research ships there, but there weren't any bodies either. We've assumed that the Enclave took the majority of the expedition prisoner."
"Oh Keelah," Tali whispered. "Is...is Admiral 'Raan all right?"
As if to answer her question, a Quarian approached Marcus from behind, looking up from her active omni-tool, a Marine in a red suit right behind her. "Admiral Marcus, the General wants to talk to you. He says that we're moving too many soldiers near his...his..." she stopped as she looked up, her omni-tool dropping to her side. "Tali? What are you doing here?"
Tali charged forward and practically slipped into the older woman, wrapping her arms around her. "Oh thank goodness, you're all right," Tali whispered. Shala didn't say anything, looking down at Tali uncomfortably. "What's wrong?" she asked, pulling away.
"Tali...the Enclave...they took Rael." Tali's eyes widened in horror. "I'm sorry," she apologized, "there was nothing that I could do. I barely managed to get out of there with what's left of my crew, if we had stayed there for a few more seconds-"
"No, no don't talk like that," Tali said. "You were ambushed and outgunned. You...you did everything that you could." Even as she spoke, there was a certain level of shock in her words, along with a noticeable amount of sadness.
"You all right Ma'am?" Kal asked from behind Shala. "Yes...yes I'll live," Tali said, her voice cracking slightly.
Volker stared at her, a sad expression on his face, before breaking away to look at Cornelia. "I admit now might not be the best time but...who are the Enclave?"
"Remnants of the old USA government," she replied.
"The damn Yankees?!" Volker exclaimed. "I...damn it. I was starting to enjoy them being gone."
"What's the plan here Admiral? What exactly are we doing?" Jane asked.
"We managed to get some data off of the ship that Admiral 'Raan stole, we believe it to be the main HQ of the Enclave. I want the Normandy to scout it out and report back what you find while we amass a force to attack it. There's something that you should know though. From here...it's a two week journey."
"Two weeks!?" John said. "But with the return trip that means we'll be out here for a whole month! Admiral, with all due respect, we can't let Saren go unchecked for that long."
"I understand your concern Commander, but right now I need the Normandy. It's going to take some time to get a task force large enough to make sure that we wipe out the Enclave for good this time, and to get them enough supplies to make the journey. These coordinates are far from any established colony and I believe that the placement was strategic on behalf of the Enclave, hiding where no one would look for them. Because of this, we have no idea how heavily fortified they are or what resources they found out there. I need the Normandy to scout out the area before we attack so that my ships don't get massacred when they attack."
"I...but...understood," John said reluctantly.
"Sir, I need to ask you something," Jane said. "Why the secrecy? Why did you have to tell me this in person?"
Captain, this research expedition was ordered by the Illusive Man and the Quarian Migrant Fleet, only a few people outside of the expedition knew about it. The Enclave shouldn't have known that this was happening, even if they were listening in on our COMs, we used the highest levels of encryption."
"Sir?"
"We...we think that the Enclave could have high ranking moles in both the Coalition and, or the Migrant fleet. I want as little people as possible to know about what I'm planning until I can figure out who it is."
"Oh God," Jane groaned, "is this really happening."
"Traitors," Norman snarled. "Disgusting. I hope they get what they deserve, a bullet between the eyes."
"I want you to set out as soon as possible," Marcus said. "Observe for the most part, put if you can perform any sabotaging duty that will make things easier on my forces, or if you get a chance to rescue any of the prisoners, do it. Also, I'm going to need you to take on a couple of extra passengers for this. The Migrant Fleet wants one of their Marines on your ship, and as a matter of fact, he's right here."
"At your service," Kal said, managing a weak salute before hunching over, sneezing loudly. "Sorry. Had a suit puncture during the fight. I should be fine by the time we get there though. Don't worry Ma'am, we'll get your Dad back. They won't kill him, they wouldn't have bothered taken him alive if they did."
"Thank you," Tali said softly. "Who else are we taking on board?"
"Uh...well...Ma'am...you're not going to like this."
"What?" Tali asked.
"Your other passenger is...right over there," Kal said, pointing behind him at an approaching figure. Tali looked over his shoulder and saw Legion approaching.
"WHAT!?" she shouted, "A Geth!?"
"I know, it's a long story, but it says the Enclave are posing a threat to its kind as well as everyone else."
"Kal, it's a Geth! We can't trust this thing!" she said as Legion stopped in front of them looking at her.
"Tali...this Geth may have saved all of our lives," Shala said softly.
"What?" Tali said.
"We were getting shelled by an Enclave tank," Kal explained, "Legion here came in on a strafing run and took it out. It actually forced them to withdraw their ground forces."
"This platform wishes only to cooperate with Creators," Legion said. "Destruction of mutual threat will prove to be beneficial for all."
"Uh Tali," Volker said hesitantly, walking between her and Legion. "It seems like he just wants to help."
"I...fine," she said, her voice dangerously low. "But if this thing tries anything funny, threatens us at all, or does anything that makes me think it won't keep its word, I'll blow it's damn head off." No one said anything as they looked at Tali.
"An understandable counter-measure," Legion said.
"Glad we're on the same page," she growled.
"It could be an invaluable asset," Marcus said to Jane, "provided your companion doesn't destroy it."
"Tali can be reasoned with, she's not a moron," Jane said, "we'll be fine."
"Good. Legion has said that it wants to dock its personal ship in the Normandy's cargo bay just in case it needs it. I'm going to stay here with Admiral 'Raan and Cerberus and start putting together our counter attack. I'm not too certain if we're going to get the Army's support, they're asking for quite a lot in exchange for it."
"Then don't ask for it," Norman said, his voice venomous. "Asking for a bunch of men to fight for you when they're only in it for the money is asking for disaster."
"Possibly," Marcus admitted. "Now then Captain, I need you to leave as soon as you can. Each day the Enclave will get closer to completing whatever it is they're planning. We're counting on you. Good luck."
XXXXX
Author's Note: I recently got a review commenting on how there seems to be more commanding female officers in this story than male, and he remarked that it felt rather odd considering the military tends to appeal to men more. I'm not going to argue whether me having as many female characters in my story's military is realistic or not, because to me it really doesn't matter. I just want to use this as a springboard to talk about female characters. People tend to make a big deal about writing female characters, while in my humble opinion, it's a lot more simple than they make it out to be.
You see the thing about female characters is that it's rather simple to me (me at least) and I just kinda want to explain how you do it a little. You see, a person being female isn't what their character should be centered around, but it should be a part of a character, part of who they are. The character is a woman but she isn't JUST a woman, understand? But my advice for writing female characters? Just write them like a human being, a human being that happens to be female. It's a lot easier than people make it out to be. I'm a man, and at times I can be a MASSIVE pervert, not gonna lie, but I love women for who they are and writing female characters is something that I love to do, people just next to relax and not get so worried when writing it.
If someone says that your character is sexist, just remember that feminism is like atheism, they're not all the same. Some people think that Bayoneta is a feminist character because she's always in control of the situation and comfortable with her sexuality, where as others think that she's sexist because everything about her is sexualized. Personally I find that a character "always being in control of the situation" makes for boring story telling, whether the character is male or female. A character needs to be in trouble and get tossed every once in awhile otherwise they become a Boring Invincible Hero. I don't think that there's anything wrong with a female character looking sexy, so long as it's reasonable and doesn't beat you over the head with it, and so long as there is more to them than that. Really though, it's all up to you, you're the author after all.
