1800 hours, May 9th, 2542
New Ghent, dig site beneath the fallen battlecruiser
"What are we looking at here, Mordin?" Pallonis asked the scientist, distracting the salarian as he poked the foul-smelling black goop flowing out of the ship with a stick while making scans with his omni-tool. They were still inside the tunnels around the derelict, now accompanied by scientists and soldiers in HAZMAT suits.
The reason for such precautions was the veritable lake of black gloppy goop, its expansion halted with some impromptu barricades.
"Appears to be biomass residue preserved inside of the ship. Amount defies expectation however. The ship's interior seemingly covered in decayed biomass. Natural biological breakdown left this." Mordin was waving an omni-tool over the black substance, humming something to himself as he worked.
"As expected. Presence of basic chemical building blocks of life in liquid component. Solid chunks are congealed layers of long dead fungus. Calcium content implies prior presence of skeletal materials."
"Is it inert?" Major Ross asked, the rebreather muffling the sound of his voice. The man looked shocked at the presence of such a biohazard on his homeworld. "I don't want to imagine what would happen if this entered the water table."
Mordin piped up. "No need to imagine. Water supply would quickly become lethal." The salarian responded in such a way that made it seem he hadn't caught what the human meant. Either that, or he said it on purpose as a mean-spirited joke. "Could turn into good soil additive if bacteria and fungus were removed. Would need advanced filtration system." The stick the salarian had been using suddenly broke off as the toxic biological sludge ate away at it.
"Correction. Good component of soil additive… for krogan crops." The salarian leant down and took a sample with a small device that extracted a clump of the black goop.
"What's a krogan?" Major Leonard Ross muttered, shuffling over to General Pallonis. He was looking with utter fascination at the salarians working, seemingly undeterred by what they were seeing, even though the sight made everyone else in the room rather queasy.
Pallonis' omni-tool chimed, and he activated it, opening the channel. The video feed showed his communications officer, currently at Ger Letanis, the turian fortress under construction to the south of the crashed Covenant ship.
"General, the human admiral is demanding to know why you've closed off access to the ship, and Primarch Fedorian wants a status report."
"One moment." Pallonis said, and started taking pictures of the ship's interior with his omni-tool. "This is what we found inside; I am sending you the pictures. Tell the admiral that his people will be allowed access once we've cleaned this place up. He can send in people who'll undergo decontamination and submit to quarantine procedures as required."
He paused for a moment. "Then tell the Primarch that we've got a high priority biohazard. Then request the salarians send more cleanup teams to put this gunk back in the ship. I'm going to seal the doors to stop the leak. We'll need heavy cleanup equipment before we can even consider examining the interior of the ship."
Mordin suddenly stopped singing to himself and motioned Pallonis over. "Discovered something. Follow me to the isolated lab."
Pallonis nodded and waved Major Ross along. They walked through the tunnel and away from everyone else, entering a small side room. Pallonis motioned his guards to stay outside, then activated his omni-tool and swept the room for listening devices, but could find none. He turned to Mordin.
"What is it?" The general asked the salarian, and Major Ross moved up as well to find out what was going on, his own guards also staying outside.
"Composition of biomass residue intriguing. Compounds indicative not just of flesh, fat and bone. Too much phosphorus, as well as biochemical traces of nervous system analogues. Implications troubling."
The major spoke up, holding up a hand to signal the salarian to slow down. "Nervous system analogue? Phosphorus? Are you saying what I'm thinking? Could it have been some kind of neutron weapon that killed the ship's crew? Kill the crew, leave the ship intact?"
"Explain." Pallonis stated bluntly, although a thought was starting to form in his mind.
Mordin took in a short deep breath. "Nervous system of all biological life aboard starship likely destroyed simultaneously and instantly. We're looking at decayed remnants."
Pallonis looked at the black liquid that had pooled up behind the makeshift dam the salarians had set up. "Stop all investigations for now. Put everyone who's been in this room through a thorough quarantine, then send tele-operated robots to clean up, and then seal the ship again. Weld a new door over the entrance if you have to. No living being is heading into that ship until I hear an order from the Primarch. Understood?"
Major Ross spoke up. "I'll convince Admiral Cole to do the same. What if whatever did this is still inside? Maybe a nanomachine swarm? Or some form of bio weapon that attacks the molecular bonds of the nervous system? Everyone who was exposed needs to go into quarantine and a full examination, and we need to completely decontaminate our armor."
-
1800 hours, May 9th, 2542
Telvanis City Hospital
This time the ball bounced.
Nialla lay in her bed, throwing a ball into the opposite wall with her cybernetic arm and then catching it as it bounced back. It was boring, but she'd been told to keep exercising with the cybernetic arm.
She'd been moved to a small single-person room for the time being, as the surgeries needed to install the prosthetics could prove traumatic and messy. So she'd need the privacy, and doctors wanted to be able to work on her without others getting in the way.
Her nerves had almost fully healed, and she'd be able to get a full cybernetic reconstruction of her lower body soon. It was good to hear. She was eager to go back to the front lines.
Nialla aimed her remote at the holoscreen on the wall and took a look at what was on the news tonight. Most likely more about the war.
"Your destruction is the will of the Gods... and we are their instrument."
She perked up at that, turning up the volume of the holoscreen. It was an asari newscaster on the Citadel.
"This transmission, recovered by the Special Tasks Group during a research mission on another destroyed human world, is the first message that the Covenant ever sent to humanity when they declared their war of genocide. This recording was discovered in a ruined human colony named "New Warsaw".
On Kahje, the news that the genocide of humans was motivated by religion has caused widespread shock and anger among the Illuminated Primacy's priesthood. Religious leader All-Bright Olos the 10th, the Sounaril of the Manas tradition, had this to say: "This one believes this Covenant is a full perversion of everything we hanar stand for. This one urges all people of the galaxy to give donations, volunteer at medical organisation, and pray fo-""
She changed the channel.
"-Batarian Hegemony are initiating a massive naval and military buildup. There are rumors the Hegemony seeks to leverage military aid, in exchange for the Citadel lifting sanctions upon their econom-"
Different channel.
"The first casualties of the war have returned to Palaven to public mourning and celebration. A monument will be constructed upon the Avenue of Heroes according to a personal order from Primarch Fedori-"
Click. The screen changed to show a volus standing before a projection of the galactic stock-market. To her horror, the volus was unsuited and wearing a business suit. A bar on the bottom of the screen said, "Live from Irune: Volus Galactic Bank announcement."
"-Mining and manufacturing sectors across the galaxy have experienced almost double growth since the announcement of the war with the Covenant. A rumor that the Turian Hierarchy was ordering the massed construction of nuclear weapons has led to a rush among prospectors to stake claim to unused deposits of fissile materials. Nuclear weapons are relatively unused by large militaries due to the ease of interception. But civilian military analysts speculate that ships using this "portal-FTL" could prove vulnerable to mass-deployment of nuclear ordnanc- "
She chuckled. She'd bet her remaining arm someone in the Hierarchy had leaked that tidbit so all the investors would snatch up all the fissile deposits, and the overabundance would cause prices to crash.
Click. The view changed to a salarian sitting at a desk with a turian, with mathematical formulae and equations on a wall behind him. It was an announcement from the Sur'Kesh Academy of Theoretical Physics.
"So. You are saying that the existence of higher dimensions has been confirmed by salarian scientists?" The turian asked.
"Yes!" The salarian nodded furiously. "Existence of higher dimensions was seen as purely theoretical, but footage of battle against the Covenant, as well as the arrival of the human fleet, has confirmed suspicions of their usage of a higher dimension in faster than light travel. We've made multiple requests to the Salarian Union to acquire an FTL drive from the humans for analysis."
Nialla changed the channel again, this time skipping through some inane sitcoms, reality TV and bogus conspiracy theories. She landed on an asari news station.
"Today Councillor Tevos announced the official induction of the Armali Sniper commando unit and the Serrice Guard into the Asari Expeditionary Force. This came after the announcement of an increase in taxation to finance the war effort, as well as an increase in rationing. Asari military officials are hoping to recruit more reputable commando units into this force."
There was a knock at the door, and a turian in full black and orange armor walked in. She saluted immediately upon seeing a captain's rank insignia. "Sir!" She said. It was good to have some military discipline again.
"At ease, Sergeant Nialla." The captain said, walking up to the side of her bed, pulling up a chair and sitting down. "I've come to give you an offer."
"Sir?" She asked, curious about where this was going.
"Tomorrow your cybernetic reconstruction surgery will begin. But I want to offer you something special instead. A position in the Armiger Legion, in accordance with your exemplary service record, your years of service, and the sacrifices you have made to earn such an honor."
Nialla's eyes went wide in shock. That was an enormous honor. "I… Yes! There's no greater honor for a soldier like me, captain!" She smiled painfully, genuinely excited about something for the first time in what felt like months.
"I was expecting to hear that. But that's not the only thing I am offering. The Hierarchy is initiating an experimental program to cybernetically reconstruct fallen soldiers like you. Not new limbs, but a full body reconstruction. You'd be more mech than organic at the end of it." The captain said gravely, with an iron in his voice that made Nialla pause. She hadn't expected something this drastic.
"How much of my organic body will remain?" She asked.
"Your remaining arm would be replaced with a more powerful cybernetic one with integrated weaponry, and a few of your organs would be replaced with bio-synthetic improvements." The captain said.
Nialla thought about it. Then nodded.
"I agree to the procedure. It's time I made the Covenant pay for what they did to Gedrus. Whatever can be done to improve me, I'll go through all of it!" She said proudly. "I'll make Palaven proud, sir."
The captain smiled, clacking his mandibles, then stood up and made to leave the room.
Then Nialla remembered something and called out to him.
"Will Gedrus undergo this procedure as well?"
The captain's gaze darkened, and he shook his head in a way that almost broke Nialla's heart. "Gedrus is a propaganda hero and plastered across every extranet site in the galaxy. But he unexpectedly died an hour ago due to complications. He's been placed in stasis for the time being."