Hello everyone, sorry for the delay in anything as of late, been busy with a few things and this chapter was a little tricky to get out and there were a lot of reviews. But I have it all done and here it is. Hope you are ready for some cool stuff, because I added something special at the end, a little snippet you might like.
Are We Alone?
Chapter 03: Mortals Play at God
Akuze
The shuttle swung hard over the broken colony, the side panel opening and allowing the squad inside a fill view of the colony they were descending into. But as they opened it they could see that it was not to a scene they expected to find.
"What the hell?" Gerald Warwick murmured aloud, a look of disbelief on his face that was shared by the twenty other Marines in his squad.
The Colony of Akuze had gone dark nearly three days ago and only now had they been able to get someone down to investigate what had happened. It could have been some random power outage, it could have been a pirate raid, and they were very common in this region of Alliance Space. But what they found simply did not make sense at all.
"Are those… Thrasher Maws?" Corporal Toombs asked, looking at the large frozen space worms that were all around the colony, flash frozen in different position all around the small township.
"Looks like it," Private Lempel replied, while the rest of the squad remained speechless at the scene before them.
Gerald knew for a fact that this was no damn ice sculpture of some of the most fearsome aliens in the galaxy, these were the real deal. He could see the slowly thawing head of one Thrasher Maw beneath the rest of its long body. Frozen blood and meat could be seen where the head had been cleanly sliced off. They were damn real, and something had done that to them.
"Alright, get down there and find any survivors!" Gerald ordered, jumping out of the shuttle and hitting the ground with a heavy thud, the gravity chute in his suite slowing his fall.
He raised his rifle and moved forward, his squad descending behind him and quickly following after their Commander. They surveyed the area quickly, creating a small perimeter while the rest of the squad dropped down, before they all advanced forward. They formed four columns and trained their weapons in every single direction, looking out for survivors and potentially more hostiles.
As they moved down the street Gerald called for a stop, he looked ahead and also felt with his feet, trying to feel if there were any vibrations. It would likely do little good but it was better than nothing.
"Squad two and three, search the buildings on either side, find any survivors," Gerald ordered. "Squad one, with me!"
Two groups of seven marines split off from the main group and began searching the nearest buildings, leaving Gerald and his team of six marines to scout out ahead. For the next hour they searched every building and structure they could to find, every crevice and crack they looked in, but not a single thing was found.
But they did notice something off, the entire town may have been raised and turned into a damn ice rink, but there was no signs within or around of a panic of an attack. No bodies were the first clue, there were no human corpses anywhere and there weren't even signs that anyone had been on the move. Footprints showed that there was little activity outside in the last few days. Not even any disturbance within some of the buildings showed that there was chaos. Something was not right about this, it all screamed wrong to the Commander.
As he looked around from the main square of the colony, he could see his men were still searching around the area. Their formations been broken to see about quickening the search, but still nothing had been found.
"You find anything?" Gerard asked his second in command; Lieutenant Denyse moved up and showed him their findings, which was squat.
"Nothing much sir, no bodies or any survivors, they're all gone." Denyse replied. "It's like they disappeared, and the weirdest part, before these things got here."
"Not for a moment do I think this is right, a colony disappears and now we have twenty frozen Thrasher Maws right in the middle of it, this ain't right." Gerald said, looking around, a strange feeling that this was a potential trap.
"You think they escaped, knew they were coming?" Denyse inquired, it was possible.
"No, if there is this many Thrasher Maws here the Alliance would never have set up a colony, and there is no way they could have known," Gerald replied, the Thrasher Maws were well known to be a danger in colonization, so there was extensive testing and surveys to ensure that there were no Thrasher Maws on a planet.
So that leaves the question, why they were here and where the Colonists disappeared to?
"Sir!"
Both the Commander and Lieutenant turned to see Corporeal Toombs moving their way, running in a light jog before he came an abrupt halt before the two senior officers.
"What is it Private?" Gerald inquired.
"We found something, more than that sir, come on, it's this way." Toombs replied, leading his seniors off towards the edge of the colony. "Sergeant Fernandez found it; he says that they have these surveillance pieces all over the Colony."
"Surveillance? Are you saying someone is watching right now?" Gerald hissed, raising his rifle and looking around.
"Yeah, but he says he has tracked the signal, says it is about one and a half clicks outside of the Colony near the edge of some ravine." Toombs replied.
As he led him to the man he found the Sergeant was picking apart a communication buoy, one of the smaller ones used for communication in a colony. He was pulling it apart expertly and had several pieces on one side with the majority of the inner workings of the device on the other.
"Commander, found a few transmitters in here, it looks like an receiver, and it seems to be connected to a lot of surveillance bugs around here, and I mean a lot." Fernandez said.
"You have a position on where this is being transmitted?" Gerald inquired, and received a nod. "Good, get the men together; we are going to find out what the hell is going on right now,"
Within the hour they had reached the site, finding a small outpost set up near the edge of the ravine, it was a small camp with a single cubicle structure and a receiver array. Yet this one was much larger and appeared to be designed for planetary transmissions rather than interplanetary ones.
But the real surprise is that they found signs of someone beating them to the punch, quite literally it would seem. The door of the building block had been ripped off, and it was a damn secure internal locking door. Close to three hundred pounds of steel that had been ripped from the reinforced pistons within the wall and thrown away.
They could even see an impact point where something had struck it, oddly shaped, almost like a small human fist. But when they got inside they found out the real slaughter, four people dead, three appeared to be civilians while the forth was a soldier in light armor. Not that it did him any good; his head was resting a few feet away from his body.
"What the hell did this?" One marine asked, raising his rifle and looking for the possible perpetrator.
"Look, the wounds have signs of frostbite; you think what did those Thrasher Maws in did this?" Denyse said, finding that the wounds and surrounding flesh to be frozen and brittle, some of it even cracking and breaking apart.
"No idea, see who these guys are and what is on those terminals," Gerald ordered, looking over to the damaged terminals, frozen and seemingly cut apart.
"Damn, the terminals are shot, along with the servers, something froze these things and shattered them," Fernandez said, touching a server stand that crumbled to his touch, falling to the ground and shattering. "Shit, that's not possible; this stuff shouldn't break unless it is below eighty degrees Celsius."
"Well I found out who one of these three are, Doctor Timothy Wayne, Alliance Science Bureau, degrees in Molecular Biology, Neurobiology and multiple degrees in Zoology, ." One Marine said. "This guy is a damn Alliance Navy assigned egghead, what the hell is he doing out here?"
Gerald did not like this, every about this smelled wrong, and he wanted to know what the hell was going on here. A colony goes missing and a Thrasher Maw pack attacks at random, and then you have a guy that is basically skilled in Zoology and likely had studied Thrasher Maws before. That coupled with the fact that they were watching the town, which smelled all kinds of trouble for them.
"Got something!" Fernandez said, tapping away at his Omni-Tool. "A backup server, it's intact and seems to be running. Huh?"
"What is it?" Gerald barked, he did not like what had happened here, he did not want something else to go wrong while his team was nearby.
"I am getting a data stream, seems that it is transmitting the data somewhere," Fernandez said.
"Where?" Gerald asked.
"No idea, but I can still pull the drives, maybe we can find out what was on them," Fernandez said, moving over and pulling back an access panel and finding the mounted server. "Alright, let us see what you have on you."
He tapped his Omni-Tool a few times, and he looked at the screen as he scanned the drives.
"Damn, most of the data is gone, it must have erased itself during transfer." Fernandez said.
"But it seems to have something left; I might be able to bring some data back if I have time with it."
"Get the data later, get all the drives, we are done here." Gerald said, tapping his finger to his ear. "SSV Arkansas, this is ground team, we need immediate pick up at these coordinates."
Two Hours later
"Is the data ready?" Gerard inquired, he stood beside Captain Tobias Hendricks and his Lieutenant Denyse; they were waiting on that data.
After what had been seen below the Captain wanted all he could know about what happened down there, he was not going to risk anything. After seeing that one of the Alliance best minds was down on that planet with half his guts on the floor he wanted to make sure he found out why he was there before that happened.
Call him suspicious, but Gerald did not doubt that he had to be considering the circumstances.
"Yeah, just converting it now," Fernandez replied, tapping a few keys on his Omni-Tool. "And… Done!"
Immediately the screen ahead of them flickered to life, several files and information appeared. Most of it was scattered and broken, also some showing signs of damage and incomplete, but there were only a few things that were still fully complete and not fragmented.
"It seems that some of the information is missing, we still got what wasn't sent off world, but I do not know if I can get anymore back," Fernandez said, reading over the drives status.
"Are you sure you can't get anymore?" Tobias asked.
"I can try, but I think we have some surveillance images here, looks like that was being send over first." Fernandez replied, pushing a button and playing whatever image they could.
The file was corrupted sadly but they could make out the image enough to understand what was being seen. A few keystrokes here and there and they were lucky to be able to retrieve some of the data still present in the cache. Within a few minutes they saw the images, and they felt their hearts stop and their eyes widened.
Images that were so shocking and unbelievable that they did not once bring themselves to say they understood what they were witnessing. Images, video recordings, scratchy audio, all these things were there. Incomplete but there.
"What the hell is this?"
Arcturus Station, Three Days Later
Admiral Hackett was far from pleased, so far from it that one could easily see the very irritated expression on his always stoic face. The reason was simple, reports had come in of Akuze and the situation and it was causing problems for the politicians. Luckily he had been able to divert the reason towards something else, but political bullshit was only less annoying when there was less of it being thrown at you.
So they gave the politicians something much less damaging.
Some random Black Ops group had decided that it would be fun to unleash a group of Thrasher Maws onto a human colony.
Yet the real kicker was the fact that they did it to test the response of an Alliance Patrol as they moved through the area. The reasons were a mystery but it showed that the Alliance had an unknown faction inside their ranks that were actively using their own people as test subjects. Because of that the Council had gotten wind of it, along with a few other key details, details that had him wondering who had given them to those three.
"Do you have any idea what this has done to us?" Ambassador Udina said over the communicator.
"I assume that when the Council got wind of this they got scared." Hackett replied, his stony voice showing little care if the question was answered or not.
"They did, after all last time humans showed active aggression towards them they did not like it," Udina replied. "They are worried about some unknown rogue group of madmen that are willing to murder their own race to advance the rest of humanity."
Cerberus, that is who they were, but they were not willing to risk these channels being monitored; they had no idea about them until three days ago. Little was known about the group aside from the fact they seemed to be a human supremacy group that is trying to ensure human dominance in the Galaxy.
The only real info they have on them was of some failed attempt to steal anti-matter from the SSV Geneva while it was in dry-dock. When the thieves were killed the sole survivors said that his people were of Cerberus, trying to use the stunt as a means to bolster their ranks. Not much had been heard of them in the last seven years; it was considered just a passing incident.
But it would seem that they have gotten larger in those seven years. And influential if they had three top tier scientists working for them, and all that tech under their belt.
"Any idea how these Scientists became affiliated with this group?" Hackett asked.
"You're asking me?" Udina replied, his sarcasm easily heard despite the patchy line they were on.
"I would have thought with your connections you could do something, after all the Council seems to know enough yet we don't." Hackett replied.
"Not possible I am afraid, the Council is being tight lipped with this and my own people have nothing," Udina replied. "You would not believe how much issue they are taking over this, they are even planning on holding your plans back regarding Torfan to try and press you for more information."
"The Torfan Campaign needs to happen, if we can shatter that moon we can end all piracy on the borders of Alliance space for good, we will finally be able to protect our colonies." Hackett said, not liking the news.
The Council had been pushing real hard in regards to the Torfan campaign; apparently they were concerned about the potential dangers of engaging against pirates within the Terminus Systems. Thinking that it may lead to open war, while the Ambassador had been fighting to get them the leave to do it they had been hit with some setbacks.
"How long could this delay us?" Hackett asked.
"Two months, maybe four if Sparatus gets his way," Udina replied. "They are getting a little suspicious of us now, they are concerned about the events of Akuze with this rogue human group, but also they seem to be asking questions about Elysium."
Hackett did not like that, questions about that planet were not something he could or willingly answer, if word of what transpired there got out into the Galaxy there would be a panic. Mainly from the Council races, the thought of something human appearing on Elysium and murdered over three thousand pirates singlehandedly did not exactly sit well.
That incident happened thirteen months ago, it was long and far behind them that they did not have to worry about it. But scattered traffic from the Terminus had been picked up, it would seem the instigator behind the Blitz was raving about the one that had destroyed his entire army. A boy in black rags and carrying two swords, who used those same swords to murder all his men. They laughed at him for certain, but you only need a few to believe for it to spread.
Apparently the Council may be among those believers and despite everything they were the worst kind of people he wanted to believe the ravings of that madman.
"What do you mean?" Hackett asked.
"They say they are hearing some interesting rumors of that planet, something along the lines of a massacre, and a monster." Udina replied, not sounding to certain about the words he was saying, but he was curious.
"You mean the Lion?" Hackett asked, referring to his scapegoat, recently promoted Lieutenant Shepard.
"No, I am referring to some unknown individual that somehow defeated an entire army with a butchers blades and a knife." Udina replied, his voice dripping with annoyance.
"Can't help you there." Hackett replied, his voice nothing but neutral.
He could hear Udina grumbling incoherently over the line.
"Regardless they want answers, I expect you to find out about these people as soon as possible, the Council want information." Udina replied, before he cut off the communications.
Hackett leaned back into his chair and rubbed his temple, he could not handle this right now, not when he was already suppressing more information on Akuze than they had. The painful fact that he had to find information on these rogues was bad enough but the problem was that he also had to hide information about the one that had killed them.
"Can't believe we have another one," Hackett said aloud, not believing for a moment that they had come across an entity that was similar to the one that had been on Elysium.
He tapped a few commands into his keypad, sealing the external network and also creating a small field in his office. After the events of Elysium he had deemed it necessary to beef up security around the station, and his office in particular.
"Play audio log," Hackett said.
"Get all data together and send it off now!" Someone yelled, the audio feed identifying it as Doctor Wayne. "We need to report this immediately to the Project Head."
"What the hell is going on in there, where did that thing come from?" Another cried, Doctor Victor Tremont, a well-known geneticist and trauma specialist, he even had training in treating acid burns.
"Who knows, doesn't matter, the project is scrapped, get all data off site and erase everything, we are…" A loud bang was heard, before the slow tearing of metal could be heard. "What? Shit the door!"
"Get back!" A man yelled, the sound of a rifle unfolding could be heard, along with stressing metal, likely the door being ripped off its hinges. "Is that…"
The sound of a hissing slash was heard before something collided with the ground, likely the body. Screams were heard after that, along with more hissing swings of what could be identified as a sword.
"Wait, no!" Another slash accompanied by one more, two thuds were heard and then light footsteps.
"Who are you? What is the meaning of this?" A feminine voice demanded, deep and strong, yet appearing to be very young.
"Please, don't kill me!" Wayne begged, the audio began to break apart here, degrading; it was near here that the audio file had been transmitted, and they had lost segments of it.
"Tell me what this is, where are the humans? Why are they not here? And why are there Thresher Maws on this world?" She demanded, a loud bang was heard as her sword likely slashed at something, the audio began to static and degrade from here, likely because of her action.
"We… under order to… would happen if… they attacked a Marine Patrol, we are…" The static was becoming heavier as the recording began to fall out, it was too bad as well, it would have been a much better clue as to what was going on there.
"I don't care for these experiments, where did you put the humans?" She demanded.
"Their dead, they… buried in a mass… from here…"
"Thank you, now I can promise you, where you go now, is far from pleasant." The sound of a hiss and a body hitting the ground was heard; the sound of more static accompanied the recording before it finally cut out.
The best part however was the video surveillance and also sensors on the area to determine what happened. Sadly most of that data was gone, only snippets could be found and located, it would seem that the servers had sent most off-world. That meant the people that had been killed had been planning to send it off world and then run.
"Tyresa," Hackett said, and soon his personal VI popped up on his screen. "Show me the data pertaining to subject: Snow Angel."
He looked over the reports he could see what had occurred in the seven minute fight between the entity and the Thrasher Maws. He watched what video he could of the battle, it was incredible to say the least. The girl seemed to be able to glide on air and even move at supersonic speeds, even possessing strength that was well beyond her frame. The girl looked to be a teenager, barely fifteen or fourteen at most, yet she was killing some of the most dangerous creatures in the galaxy like they were not as they were claimed to be.
Yet despite the swordplay and the breaches of the natural laws of physics, she seemed to possess a strange ability that explained the state of the colony when found. It would seem that the girl had the ability to lower the ambient temperature around her to impossible levels. Absolute Zero, that was the most shocking, the girl had the ability to naturally lower the temperature of herself and that around her to the lowest possible temperature that can be.
Humans with technology today could not achieve the same results, not even close, yet this girl had done so without issue and was able to perform it so quickly that she was able to freeze the entire colony within a few minutes of fighting.
"Have the others been made aware of this report, Tyresa?" Hackett asked.
"The others have been informed and all data has been transmitted over secure frequencies, no responses have been logged sir." The VI replied.
Hackett nodded his head before he waved the VI to shut down; he had a lot to deal with now. With the appearance of these entities and now an unknown rogue party having knowledge of one of them, and the upcoming battle of Torfan, he had a lot to do. He wished that they had not come along, it would have probably been better, but it also could have been a lot worse.
Unknown Location
"It is incredible, simply incredible," Taking a drag of his cigarette; looking at the readouts and recordings he had been given. "Tell me, is this the one that was reported to have appeared on Elysium?"
He glanced to the right to see one of his more skilled operatives; she walked forward and examined the image for a moment, her smile in place. She was a little surprised herself as she watched the recordings of the girl, hacking through the Thrasher Maws with ease. But it was a shock to see her boss seem so lively and energetic, as soon as this came in he appeared to have reclaimed some of his youth and was almost bouncing across the room with untapped energy.
It was surprising.
"No, Subject Zero is male and said to have had two weapons, this one is younger and also female." Miranda stated. "But this one seems much more potent, the ability to manipulate temperature and snow."
He did not doubt that, the one on Elysium based on rumors was said to be a butcher, hacking and slashing the pirates to pieces. But this one seemed to possess some form of ability that allowed for the manipulation of temperature. He could see it in the recordings and the readouts on the colony, even the implants within the Thrasher Maws showed that they froze within seconds of contact, almost instantly they had been frozen.
"This is something I have been looking for, a means to advance humans to levels beyond comprehension." The Illusive man said. "But I wish to know how it is possible that they can do what I feel is more fiction, than fact."
"Sir, based on our scans and what we could pick up there was nothing there, we did not pick up a single molecule in the vicinity of that girl or even the ice she employed. In fact, it was as if she was not even there, completely void of matter and presence." Miranda replied.
She had been given access to every scrap of information on these entities, and learned very little in regards to what they were. At first the rumors on Elysium had been just that, baseless rumors, ones that Miranda had no thoughts of dismissing, but seeing this changed that.
She had never seen anything like this before, it was shocking to say the least that a human girl could possess such power and skill. Her strength was easily greater than that of a Krogan, her speed is said to be five times the speed of sound. Speeds like that would flay a normal human alive, yet she performed the feat eighteen times in a third as many minutes and suffered no visible damage.
Having enough strength that a single punch possessed enough force to indent a three inch steel door and then rip it out of the wall. For someone of her stature and physical size to do something like that is impossible, yet she did so.
"They are interesting, I want to see about apprehending one, and if not, collecting samples." The Illusive Man said, and that made Miranda a little nervous.
"That may be a little out of our league sir, these two beings have shown to be able to take on armies, we don't have the resources or man power to counter something like them. Or know if it is even possible to do so." Miranda replied, she did not think that anything they could have on hand could actually fight against a force as powerful as that.
The girl alone was a danger that they likely would be unable to defeat, even if they contained her, the abilities she possessed would be impossible to restrain. If she could control the temperature no matter the restrains and location she was placed in she would be able to escape simply by freezing her cell and shattering it. They did not even know if Biotics would have an effect or not, as nothing along those lines have been shown. But it would seem from the rumors on Elysium that the target there had been resistant to them.
"Then we look for a means," The Illusive Man replied, taking a drag of his cigarette as he rose from his chair. "If we cannot locate their presence on our scanners it means they are masking it somehow, or that we simply do not know what we are scanning for, did they pick up anything of note? Anything at all?"
"In case you were going to ask I did inquire on that, and they say that while they couldn't detect anything they did say something was there." Miranda replied. "They cannot identify it because technically it doesn't exist; while the girl is made up of solid matter it seems to expel copious amounts of energy."
She showed the sensor readouts from the town, apparently there were very large amounts of black spots along the readings showing that technically there was nothing in certain areas of the vicinity. They did not pick up any form of energy or matter in these points, but it did signal that the space may be empty of matter but something was moving the detectable matter present. Meaning that while there was something there, their sensors had not been calibrated to actually detect whatever they were made up of.
"I suspect a sample was not recovered," The Illusive Man inquired.
"No, with Wayne and his team dead there was no one to collect anything, also with the Alliance presence on the planet heightened it is impossible for us to send anyone down there." Miranda replied.
"What about the Alliance, have they done anything, if they have acquired our drives and some of our data they would collect this would they not?" The Illusive Man inquired.
"We have not seen anything sir, there have been no reports at all pertaining to these entities, and neither on Elysium. It would seem that they are keeping this close to the chest, so close that even we cannot find anything." Miranda replied.
The Illusive Man was not pleased with that, this was something he wanted to get his hands on. The last two decades of his life have been spent getting Cerberus and Humanity ready for its ascension to a higher order in the galaxy. Despite setbacks and the Alliance trying to save face and licking the boots of the Council they were on their way to that position.
Support for Cerberus has grown and they are beginning to truly become a force for Humanity, but they still were behind in many ways. They did not possess a suitable army and fighting force to truly show their might to deal with other forces that threaten them. But it was more than that; they needed to overcome the weaknesses humans have over their supposed 'allies'.
Biotics being one of the key factors in this, this ability to manipulate mass and energy has always been a huge advantage to the other races of the Galaxy. One advantage he facilitated and stepped up to use as a means to give humanity this advantage. And he went further than them by making the ultimate Biotics, creating them greater and more powerful despite the risks and dangers. Many programs had been set up to expand this, Project Phoenix, Project Pinnacle, and Project Gear.
They were just some, of the many projects and initiatives he had invested in to ensure the ascendency of the entirety of humanity.
Every action he had performed in the last twenty years has been for the betterment and rise of humanity to the dangers of the galaxy. To make them ready for whatever may come their way, no matter the danger or threat he would make sure humanity was prepared.
'And these beings here would be the key to it all,'
Not only could they be the army he needed to show the rest of the galaxy the dominance of the human race to the other species. But they would be their protectors and saviors, ensuring that nothing would endanger the rule of humanity on the galactic scene. The Council would not have any authority or power over them; they would be above them all.
This young girl had done what no one could do, not a single person could do what she did. If he had an army of them, the entire galaxy would be controlled by the one who led them. Humanity would rule supreme, not as the most influential in the galaxy, but as the strongest and most powerful force that has ever existed in the Milky Way.
"Begin making plans on examining that energy, and I want all our contacts in the Alliance to keep their eyes out for these two." The Illusive Man replied. "And also, for any others that appear."
"Others, sir?" Miranda asked.
"Is it not obvious?" He said. "There must be more, has to be more, and I want to know when they appear."
He turned back to the images, letting them play over and over again. He watched the raven haired girl decapitate a Thrasher Maw with a single swing of her sword. Despite the impossibility of such a feat with a smaller weapon it was performed, the readouts showing that she actually extended the force of her blow along the blade to make it actually cut the air ahead of her.
"I will be ready for when they do."
One can destroy an army.
A dozen can conquer an entire system.
A hundred could conquer the galaxy.
This is humanities chance, and they would be the key to bringing humanity to its pinnacle.
Arcturus Station, Three Months Later
Admiral Hackett looked over the recent reports from the advance Fleet near the borders; it would seem that something was happening down on the surface of Torfan. They were sketchy but it would seem that there had been a lot of fleet activity around the moon, pirate mostly. Yet there were signs of marked ships bearing the governmental mark of the Homogony. Despite everything the bastards were still doing this.
He had been getting reports of Batarian Homogony ships had been spotted and identified in orbit of Torfan. Over the last six months it would seem that these ships have been moving in on the planet, the reasons have been unknown but they were suspicions.
The System Alliance has long suspected that the Homogony has been supporting piracy and slavery along the borders and even helped support the raid and assault on Elysium. While proof of military hardware and weapons had been found, military issue and designed specifically from the Hogomony, along with the identified remains of several military officers known to been affiliated with the military were also present.
The Council had been called in to act as a mediator and put a stop to the issue before a potential open conflict was to occur. The Council as always tried to sort things out without resorting to a militaristic solution and tried to broker a peace. Sadly the people they were trying to make submit to words preferred force over niceties.
Hackett has actually decided to put this down himself, actually going to the Citadel to act as the accuser in this debate. He argued that the Homogony was actively aiding pirate groups in raiding System Alliance colonies and even aiding the pirates they were attempting to repel.
Of course the Homogony went to the obvious excuse, stating that they were rogue elements within their government and that they could not be held accountable for this. Something that the Council agreed upon and while they demanded that the Homogony see to that these rogues are brought to justice nothing else was performed.
Funny when humanity said the same thing about Cerberus they got flagged for it and have been on the shit list. Even when he brought it up the Council evaded the statement saying that Cerberus is a human supremacy group looking to advance humanity, while the rogue elements of the Homogony were aiding in piracy and slavery. Both were not in the same league with one another and that the latter one no longer had support and allies within the government.
"Complete bullshit," Hackett muttered.
While both are near the same the former is still aligned with their government and has active members still within the Alliance, a poor excuse. The Homogony is lying through their teeth and they buy it, not because they believe them but because they do not want to cause tension and aggravate them. Piss poor excuse as well as cowardly.
But one he did not call up on it, he gets into a fight with the Council they would go at him for his disrespect and that would mean he have to deal with fallout and likely another delay in the Torfan assault.
It had already been delayed six months because of the Councils aggravation regarding Elysium, the events there from over a year and a half ago had not cleared up and they were far from pleased with the outcome. They were concerned and found the fact that the pirates had suffered nearly one hundred percent casualties against a force under a hundred strong. Suspicious, he did not doubt that.
Hackett did not argue with them, saying that his people fought hard and they lost many lives that day, he would not spit on their memory by being told them dying seems to convenient. While the issue was dropped they Council discreetly continued to pry, and that worried him.
"If they discover what happened there it will be hell to pay." Hackett said to himself, hopefully the rest of the Admirals have been keeping them busy.
Because he had to focus on something more pressing, the conflict that would turn into a slaughter.
He sighed as he rose from his seat and made his way to the door, he had to get to the Kilimanjaro and prepare for the departure. They would but hitting that moon in a week, the Fleet had already been mobilized and he was to be leading them there. It would be a hard fight and there would be heavy casualties, he did not like the fact that this would never have occurred had the Council not stopped them when they did.
'We are going to lose thousands of lives because of this,' Hackett thought, all because they did not like the chance of the Terminus attacking.
The Terminus was already attacking, it was just that they were doing it so minutely that the Council could easily pass it off as random raids from pirates. This needed to be done to make them understand there were consequences, that there were lines that were not meant to be crossed. He intended to show these pirates and the Batarians just that.
SSV Dreadnaught Kilimanjaro, three days later
"This is the situation on the surface, sensor drones have shown that the pirates and Batarians have set up fortified bunkers on the surface of the planet." Hackett said, around him stood most of his command staff, ranging from officers and the bridge grew that would be coordinating the assault.
An image appeared showing the layout of the ground, showing off the main base where the Batarians had built their newest fortress.
Torfan has always been a staging ground for every raid into Citadel and Alliance space over the last decade and a half. The moon had deep mines and tunnels beneath the surface where they would hide and plan out their next move. Because of its close proximity to the borders of the Terminus none have dared trying to assault it.
Save for now.
But sadly the enemy had fortified it quite heavily, no longer was it simple dug out and abandoned mines.
"The Batarians have so kindly handed these pirates all kinds of weapons and defenses." Hackett continued. "Fortified concrete bunkers line the top of the mines entrances and have even been fortified within as well. As well as Anti-Air turrets, that have been placed in the area and covering almost a three mile radius around the bunkers, which means that we cannot drop down anyone until we take out those guns."
"What about an attack from a distance sir, drop the heavies in from afar and have them role in." Officer Long inquired.
"No, the terrain is unsuitable for it, too thick with vegetation and not enough for anything we have to get through; only the area around the bunkers can be placed." Hackett replied. "We will need to send in a strike team to secure the western quadrant of the area and take down one of those guns, with that we can start bringing in people."
"How bad are the outer defenses?" Hannibal Brinsley asked, he would be the commander of the Battalion that would be fighting through that mess down there.
"Rough, while there is suitable cover among the treeline, between that and the rocky region where the mines are located is very flat and open. Very little cover saves for the trenches and foxholes the Batarians have dug out." Hackett replied. "Taking this point will be critical; if you fail we will not be able to send in reinforcements."
The region between the forested area and the outer defenses were very open and left little to no means of cover. The soldiers would be completely defenseless against a superior positon and no other means to advance. Worse yet without any heavy support they would be forced to use much more dangerous means to enter the area.
"Worst part about the drop is that they have vehicles and heavy weapon stations in the terrain between the outer defenses and the bunkers." Hackett said. "You are going to have to fight your way across this jagged ground and take position after position. But once you reach some of the outer lying bunkers you should be able to breach the tunnels and work your way in deeper."
It was a simple yet highly dangerous plan; failure meant the deaths of over a thousand marines. They needed to assault the base quickly and precisely otherwise their position would be swarmed by heavy armor and more troops.
"But we don't know what you may encounter inside, but we suspect it may lead to one of the AA-Guns. If you can blow out the north western AA-Gun you should be able to land in heavy support and get you the reinforcement you need to take the entire facility." Hackett continued.
"Let's hope so sir," Colonel Brinsley replied.
Torfan Surface
"You smell that?"
He looked over the field, it was torn up and wrecked, but he could see the many aliens getting ready for battle. A smirked played at his lips at the response he was given.
"Yeah, it is real damn here, and it smells like poop,"
The girl hanging over his shoulder put her fingers to her nose and sealed it off, obviously disgusted.
"That's right, just like the Rukongai," He replied, it would be happening soon.
"Are we gonna be fighting soon?" She asked.
"Yeah, we are gonna be fighting real soon." His smirked grew into a toothy grin, before he lifted himself up and walked forward.
"That's great Kenny!"
Reviews:
Special Thanks: Terror of Death Skieth, Sygiko, Bravo13, Rythik74, tsukiyomi83, Guest #1, Kaldi97, Thorndsword, Cf96, XiaoWing, Guest #2, Guest #3, Necagelion, reader1010, JJN37, Krazyfanfiction1, Six samurai of dragon order, Two Evil Carrots, Reality Deviant, Lord Asmodeus, Ghost024, Rakaan, Guest #4, Kim, Thespian26, Lotheon, vladimir1996, BrawlBroMario, Guest #5, Necr0m4ncer13, MattKennedy, Tiggz, Webb360, Jake Wolf,
Fraiku: Yeah, I decided to go and make this. It has potential, even more than I expected. I can promise you that it will be interesting and cool to see what happens as the story develops trust me.
MEleeSmasher: There will be a time when the Shinigami reveal themselves as they will have no choice, but I have a cool idea about the Alliance heads meeting a particular bunch of Captains. It will be funny, there will be LoLs.
Vindicare241: Yeah, I decided to expand and give more detail as the Compendium is just a bunch of random scenes, but I intend to expand on it much more as it goes along.
They may have his features but it will be hard to find him because they usually do not search for people from a long time ago and since the Second Civil War in America much information was lost and changed and therefore he is basically a ghost. This all takes place after the Blood War, Quincy are gone and Fullbringer exist still, but not many. Also the other races have Soul development but it is that humans are unique because their souls were altered in a capacity by the Soul King and the Cycle of Reincarnation. Their Binding Chain is actually artificially implanted upon a soul.
Highfist: I have come to realize that while Ichigo does not often kill he does not allow it to get in the way of doing things.
Zealswordsmen: I could potentially have that happen. If he is still alive anyway.
Tormound: Spiritual Pressure when not controlled to a precise point is lethal to all around you, the city is not abandoned, and there are people still within it. Also doing so would shatter the entire surroundings and cause buildings to actually collapse. Ichigo wouldn't want to cause unneeded casualties among the civilians, he came to save them, not kill them along the way.
Mangaheo18: Ichigo would have aged a bit, but not by far, I plan to reveal events leading to why he still appears mostly as he does.
Accursius: The reason will be explained later on by the Shinigami. I promise you I will say why they can be seen.
Ciupacapra: The Council will not be pleased, the Batarians will not be happy, the Terminus will be scared. Humans, soaking up the praise and sheer awesomeness they just proved they have real gods.
Harbringer of Kaos: It is after the Blood War, and while Ichigo's friends will not appear, there will be Hollows of many varieties popping up time to time.
Beta-Reader: I certainly will.
LL: Trust me, I will make an entire snippet of the Council basically going ape ship after seeing what happened. It will be awesome, and funny on so many levels.
Blindluck92: Check out the snipped below, it is for you man, you gave me that idea. HAHA.
GeneralStargate: Trust me, when we get to Eden Prime everything changes there. Everything.
Struggle is Real: I will look into making different afterlife's and maybe even different spirits for the different alien races.
Rake1810: Sorry, but sometimes it is never like that, but next chapter will be all kinds of slaughter.
NaoDarkness: There actually exists a spiritual realm in the whole universe, kind of like the Dangai actually. Planets actually develop spiritual planes from Souls that pass on and this forms a new afterlife, and then it becomes habitable for new spirits.
Also the reason Ichigo can fight so well is that all Shinigami naturally have a passive barrier around them to negate damage and attacks. That is why Kenpachi actually can't be hurt, because he has a very dense and powerful barrier. But when bringing themselves into the material plane they need to consolidate that power and give themselves form, this takes concentration and a lot of power to do and actually does weaken them because it takes them out of their natural environment.
Tami1q23: I can do a chapter like that, basically explaining why and how the Soul Society is dealing with those souls.
Star: Interesting theory.
Dp11: Defiantly.
Bleach Effect: We shall see.
Komamura: Humans are the only souls they are interested in, in fact it will be explained later that Earth and the Soul Society are very different compared to the spiritual realms of other homeworlds. If a Shinigami actually found a trapped Asari spirit he could not Kenso her, because the Zanpakuto is designed around the Binding Chain, I will explain more as the story progresses.
ElizabethGreene-QueenOfViruses: They have their equivalent, but they are not called or considered Shinigami.
Ressan: Damn straight, he is actually in hot water for that stunt.
Hardoraku: Ichigo is basically as he always is, not god-like, but powerful and a god in the eyes of others. Also this is set After the Blood War, about one hundred and eighty years after it.
Zentari2238: I am sorry, I wanted to do Naruto but that was too cliché or is it normal considering all works he is in have him as a cool badass. Anyway beside the point, Ichigo did what he always does, swing his sword hard and fast.
Supreme Tempest: Because the Shinigami cannot exist on planets without spiritual formed atmospheres they are forced to actually manifest themselves fully into the physical world. Because the universe is actually like a massive Dangai, they fall into it they are trapped and basically disperse among it. It is pretty bad.
Jigentou: Glad you like it, I do try my best with my story telling and I am glad that you like them along with my other stories.
MasterShadowAssassin: Ichigo and Shepard will meet again, count on it.
Also to Blindluck92, the inspiration to this snippet. I think you all will love it.
"Our reasons and logic deny all comprehension, we are beyond your understanding and you cannot fathom the idea of our goals and the reasons we perform them," Harbringer stated, his image shown across the Citadel.
Many were panicking, running and huddling together and trying to find some form of safety. But the station had already been taken by the Reapers, their forces had already begun to invade and the defenders were hard pressed to hold them back.
Shepard looked at the civilians that had taken refuge in the Embassy, they were scared and desperate to be safe. She could even see some of them were praying for salvation, faith in those high above would come to protect them. Shepard turned and glared at the VI station, the image of the Reaper replacing the original image of Avinna.
"You murder trillions and think it is logic, what the hell is logic of destroying races like that?" Shepard demanded, looking at the holographic image.
"There is none sadly,"
Shepard turned looking at the sight of a man in a green duster coat and a bucket hat. But she could easily tell he was not human, aura around him was different and the sword in his hand was key. Many looked on in awe and were actually praying all the harder, tears of joy replacing ones of fear.
"We can't understand them because they are flawed," Urahara said, smirking slightly as he stood before the hologram of the Reaper. "You think you are using logic but you are governed by the logic of your creators, and that is beyond our comprehension when you were made by those as low and pitiful as our creators?"
"You are among the Extra-Dimensional Anomalies we have determined, your actions go against even your own laws and governance, and you claim to know better." Harbringer stated.
"I do, we are both the same in regards to what we want, stability." Kisuke said, turning and moving off and overlooking the Presidium, civilians fleeing in droves. "You seek to preserve the galaxy by preventing it from being destroyed by the rampant use of Dark Energy, and the eventual annihilation of the entire Milky Way.
"You are aware of this? Impossible," Harbringer stated.
"How so? It is not that hard to not understand, we are very much alike." Urahara said. "You seek to bring balance to the galaxy and ensure that it remains to continue to bring life and allow civilizations to flourish and grow. But you fall because you know that the more advance they become the more destruction they weave in their wake."
Urahara looked at the projection for only a moment longer before he began walking around, handing out the damnedest of things. Candy.
"Your masters were arrogant, they were too focused on their own means to consider anything else, that they built machines and servants to carry out the deed of ensuring that the small insects they lord over are preserved and flourish." Urahara said. "But you could not could you, not with these Gods that lord over them and force them to live by their rule, by their whip."
Harbringer did not speak or reply, instead continued to remain silent and still. Watching as the Shinigami give candy to people, even touching a few on the head and seemingly curing them of wounds and ailments.
"That is why you destroyed them, you destroyed them because they went against everything you were built for, they were oppressors and tyrants that went against the very logic they built you to achieve." Urahara continued. "I know this because I looked into your coding; I found what was designed and what makes you tick."
"Impossible," Harbringer replied.
"No, it is very easy," Urahara replied, bringing up a small projector that revealed hundred if not thousands of lines of passing code. "Once I was in it was simply to map your synthetic network and understand how your function. And I came to a simple conclusion, you are flawed."
Harbringer remained silent for a moment, processing his words before he made a quick reply.
"It is apparent you are not able to fully grasp our function and our role, you are not as we suspected you to be." Harbringer said. "Our role is to ensure the preservation of the organics who are destined to destroy themselves, as many others before them they will fall to their own hubris and bring about their own destruction. It is inevitable."
"Untrue, I know more about you that even you do now, you see you lack something that these organics have." Urahara replied, stopping momentarily before a small family, two parents and a little girl. "You are governed by this single order and belief, you have nothing else to give yourself to, to evolve and change. You are bound by the laws and obligations of your former masters, and because of that you have even become like them."
"There is no need for us to alter our parameters, we are perfection," Harbinger replied.
"You systematically harvest life to preserve their greatness at the pinnacle of their evolution simply because you do not wish for them to add further to the damage of Dark Energy, and since you cannot go against your directive you simply follow these orders over and over again." Urahara replied, seemingly angry at the previous statement. "Because of that you only harvest those that you feel have reached their zenith and have nothing more to achieve and decide to ascend them to a level greater than flesh and change them into what you are to continue your duty. Perfection is a simple concept, it cannot be achieved or gained, it is a lie that you say you are perfect, when in truth it only shows your flaw because you have delusional yourself to thinking as such. You are only as perfect as you are made, and you were never made well."
Shepard looked on, surprised by the reasoning. It would seem that this Shinigami knew more about the Reapers than anyone else. Many were captivated as he seemed to be winning an argument with a powerful AI, something only a damn god could do.
"You think you are preserving life but your actions are simply shackling them to a cycle, instead of changing the game you play it over and over again without altering it. That is where you fall, you don't allow for change and for mistakes to be made, you pick a little corner for them to exist and leave them to follow what you lay in wake." Urahara said. "This is not perfection, all you do is take away from them, take away their ability to be more than what they are."
"They will fall, their greatest moments are marked with tragedy and doom, they destroy themselves because they do not restrain their growth and hunger for knowledge and dominance, and they do not maintain but spread and do not regard the damage they leave in their wake." Harbringer replied, defending his logic, it actually sounded like he was breaking.
"They are only mortal, as they saying could go, but I can tell that there is one thing that makes them different than you. It is the one thing that actually makes them better than you, because no matter what happens to them they are able to persevere and change and evolve and grow stronger. There is a single reason these lowly mortals are so powerful, so strong." Urahara replied, looking down at the family, smiling slightly. "It is because they have souls."
"Your philosophy's and mysticisms are no importance," Harbringer retorted, obviously aggravated by the comment.
"Mysticism? I talk about facts, you have nothing in you but a single directive you have no way of understanding other than how you have been programmed, you feel no love, no doubt and no pity for the actions and pain you cause by taking away the lives of so many innocents. And that lack of empathy is why you do not evolve, do not grow or chose to allow the inevitable or make to change this game you play." Urahara said.
He turned towards the family, kneeling down he looked at them and gave a reassuring smile. Extending his hand he beckoned the young girl to step forward, she did so hesitantly, her parents telling her to come back.
"We often think ourselves gods in a way, who would not, we have power and the ability to do things no other being can. But where your masters fed you their misconception of superiority, we chose a different way; we chose to not hinder those below. We allowed them to grow and prosper on their own while we maintained the task of balancing our two worlds."
Urahara looked at the child; he gave her an encouraging smile as he held out his hand and gestured to her small toy. She looked at it, a small blue bird stuffed toy that she held onto tightly, not willing to let it go.
"It's alright, I will give him back." Urahara said.
The girl hesitantly extended her toy towards the Shinigami, who gently took it into his hands and stood. He walked away for a moment, looking down at the toy with a melancholic look, remembering things from a time long past.
"You see, while we are the same, we are also different, because you were made to simply follow a directive that was without regard to those you were protecting, but we are different." Urahara said, lifting the toy and rummaging through his pocket. "We do not do things because it is fun or it is an order, but it is an obligation we protect humans and their souls, so that they may continue to exist and grow. We do it because we need to do it. They do not know how they make it difficult sometimes, but we do not mind, we do not care that they often become frustrating."
He grabbed a small pill and looked at it for a moment.
"But the true fault in your creation comes from that fact you cannot understand the people your harvest, you see only a crop rather than a heard that needs to be nurtured and allowed to be led and guided at the right time." Urahara continued, placing the pill in the toys mouth. "It is your own arrogance that came from your masters that made you cold and disregarding, you cannot see yourself as taking life if you preserve what they are, what they achieved, but that becomes pointless what that achievement is lost and disregarded by those who come next."
He held the toy in his hand, it began to twitch.
"You are flawed because you have no soul," Urahara said, dropping the toy to the ground.
The toy corrected its descent and landed on its feet, his head swirling around in wonder, while those who witnessed it were in silent awe of the scene. The bird began to walk forward, taking slow careful steps before it began to slowly hop.
"Your masters made you flawed, they did not make you one with the world and the others that lived in it, and because of that you will never understand the races you claim to be protecting."
The bird continued to hop around the Shinigami, letting out cute shrills as it did so. Before it came to a halt and looked at the young girl, who stared back surprised.
The little bird toy leapt from the ground and wrapped its little limbs around the girls neck and hugged her. The girl let out a yelp before the toy began to snuggle with the girl, letting out several chirps and giggles. The affection was soon reciprocated as the young shy girl soon giggled and returned the affection.
"This is what true creation is, not making machines or slaves, but making life that you can stand beside, not only as a creator, but as a patriarch, and a brother, as a friend, as an equal." Urahara said, he turned to glare at the hologram. "Do you understand now?"
Hope you enjoyed.