Unnamed Asteroid, Uncharted System 614-QT-3841 | Gemini Sigma Cluster | 2180
(Definition of terms at the end of the chapter)
"Mechs. Noisy. Inaccurate. Disappointed."
"Dr. Solus..."
"Become accustomed to gunfire, Daniel. Galaxy is cruel."
"You're a doctor!"
"Scalpels not our only tool. Heal sick. Execute unethical doctors. Both prevent suffering."
"I...never mind. Why are you like this?"
"Medical degree paid for by Salarian STG."
"Oh."
"Deploy scanner pylon, Daniel. This station concerning. Must restore power, dehumidifiers."
"Yeah, you did not say we'd be boarding the ship from Alien, Doc. Reading around...forty asari, roaming freely. Two in cells. Six each of krogan, humans, drell, salarians, turians, and...quarians. Weird. I don't see any decon equipment for quarian. Two hanar. Two not recognized, but they're big. Five cryo pods in rooms that are throwing up a lot of chemical warnings. Labs, probably..."
"Logical. Unknown signatures likely yahg. Existence not widely known. Vorcha attack, self-predate when stressed, not useful. Hanar hermaphroditic. No need for control group, two sufficient. Kidnapping risky. Small pool reduces risk of detection, reprisal. Detained asari in individual cells, yes? Size variable?"
"Yeah. Uh...some are really big. Like, krogan big. Four are...bigger...and headed this way."
"Respiration advisable, Daniel. Attempt to lower heart rate. Blood oxygen crucial in humans."
"Doc, I'm seeing probably a hundred dead salarians. Mostly in armor. With guns."
"Good."
"Good?"
"Station markings indicate DRAG Zero group. Highly unethical. Exclusively conducts Council-banned projects. Success unlikely, but value massive. Virus-delivered explosives. Corpse re-animation as psychological warfare. Proposal for using multiverse theory to awaken theoretical ultrafauna. Allegedly a pachyderm-cephalpod hybrid. Attempted to open file. Heard moaning instructing me not to speak its name. Parasitic lifeforms utilizing oral impregnation and carnivorous larval emergence through sternum."
"Yeah. Was actually just joking about the movie doc, didn't even think you'd seen Alien. But good one."
"No time for humor, Daniel. If interested, audition for open mic night."
"Surely not! Asari to alien ratio consistent. Matches experimental design. No... Cannot be. Project too dangerous. Assurances that it was thought experiment...insufficient. Deleted files. Killed co-designer. Evidence disagrees. My work, my responsibility."
"Talk to me, doc. In sane-people speak."
"Fifty-six years ago, two genetically deviant asari were captured. Analyzed by STG. Unique predator variant. Functionally sterile. Extreme quantities of quad-helix vestigial DNA. Unique biotic ability. Mind control. Necessary for unwilling copulation. Officially, subject destroyed thirty years ago. This facility...concerning. Methodology was straightforward: Asari genome complexity immense, so leveraged AI for expression simulations. All unsuitable embryos aborted. Moral implications to asari...problematic. Genophage source code and prototype variant allows alterations, especially reproductive. All levo-amino species are vulnerable to prototypes for third-generation genophage. Dextro-amino vulnerable to Prototypes 8, 32 and 89."
"Goal was to access, re-utilize vestigial quad-helix DNA, combine with existing duplicated DNA strand and quad-helix RNA in asari proto-uterine cells. Resulting cells trigenomic: Asari maternal DNA-RNA baseline, vestigial DNA-RNA, and vestigial DNA plus typical DNA-RNA combinations. These cells used to replace meiotic tissue. Creates a parallel reproductive system, zygotic fertilization andparthenogenesis. Likely triggers zygote and fluid release upon olfactory detection of non-asari mating partner."
"Methodology for fertilization structures is puzzling. Biotic technique? Inflatable structure? Rapid tissue growth? Amplification of drell chromatophores and dermal expansion sacs? Transplanted krogan skeleto-phallic system? Regeneration rate of krogan tissue extreme. Tissue rejection fatal. Hanar immune tissue limits krogan tissue response, reduces rejection. Supplement with vorcha organelles to prevent tumors."
"English, doc!"
"Project Blue Mirage. Goal: Create asari capable of fertilization of females for all viviparous levo-amino species, to use as captive breeders. Hybrids used as disposable biotic sleeper agents. Viviparous specification curious. Salarian egg caches equally..."
"Really, doc? You even have to ask?"
"Valid point, Daniel. DRAG Zero is salarian group. Exclusion political, not scientific. Presence of quarians, turians unsettling. Dextro-amino. Suggests project was more successful than expected. Two alien males represented the control group. Competed with asari subjects for fertilization of four females. Statistical use only. Alien-alien embryos aborted. Project was solely interested in asari-alien hybrids."
"What the fuck was that, doc? Wait. Did you hear it? Sounded like a dinosaur!"
"Threat vocalization. Use of biotics to mimic penta-tonal, quadruple-lung yahg speech patterns. Clever girl!"
"Yahg-trait hybrid. Increased physical strength, height, arm, leg span. Higher physical durability, retains biotic potential. Carnivorous physiology, high aggression, toxin resistance. Attempts made to disguise origin? Possibly. Impractical for krogan, yahg hybrids. Surgical? No. Too slow, not multigenerational. Teratogenic. Yes! Passes to offspring."
"Curious. Yahg-trait asari...jaw standard or triangular? Dominance frills? Additional eyes? Infrared and ultraviolet vision? Zygotes semicarnivorus? Venom sacs retained? Excited to find out!"
"Asari children look like asari, doc. It's their entire thing. Besides being blue."
"Correct under normal conditions. STG considers utility of asari agents limited. Biotic potential high. Resistance to brainwashing, implant control systems much higher. Lack of non-biotic combat traits. Asari with hybrid traits are more useful, more destructive. Others faster. Others camouflaged. Multiple hybrids for specialized missions."
"Agent's predominantly asari appearance creates plausible deniability with target population. Traditional sexual reproduction of breeding stock increases replenishment, allows use of captured targets for fertilization, further hybridization. Capture date of original subjects and date of execution of deviant asari are inconsistent. Likely a falsification."
"However, timeline indicates maturation accelerated. Fertilization-capable hybrids are expensive. Retention of asari lifespan preferable. Krogan subjects present. Possible extension of lifespan, introduction of non-senescence traits. Brilliant!"
"C'mon, doc! Get real. Are you saying someone is breeding asari down here? Like mutant asari super-soldiers who can breed more super-soldiers, using anyone? Ready to go in twenty years, not fifty? With krogan strength or healing or whatever? Turian claws? Drell reflexes? Krogan...well, anything about them, really."
"Obvious conclusion. Timeline is unclear. Thirty-year maturation more likely. Training within career of a single handler. No undue stress on asari neurological development."
"I'm not sure we needed asari who could have babies with more things, doc. Feel like the gals have got the market cornered as it is."
"Irrelevant. STG protocol: If present, utilize. DRAG Zero protocol: If not present, steal or invent."
"If huntresses used in training, agent's military value exceptional. Matriarchs present? Complicit? Preferable. Proper psychological development impossible without meld and older members within social group. Empathy minimal. Deviant asari present, probable genetic or meld-memory donors. Psychopathy, sociopathy in offspring likely unless mitigated via socialization."
"Secondary concerns. Save for later. Must focus on patients."
"Fuck, she is LOUD! And getting closer. Can we please leave?"
"No, research unique! Unethical. Unprecedented. Still unique. Must interrogate, execute research personnel. Capture data. Arrange transport. No volunteers. DRAG Zero Policy 2. Any distress signal leads to liquidation of staff, subjects, witnesses, and relevant family members. DRAG Zero Policy 3."
"Daniel, attempt to control your adrenaline response! Important instructions. Optical disc and transmitter in cabin under detective novel. Use contact list 4B: Freighter captains. Use OSD, transmit draft messages 3, 8, 13, 39. Contact list 6C, messages 4 and 67. Remove disc, place in safe. Attach transmitter to additional power source, send transmitter into orbit around the asteroid."
"Must evacuate survivors. Contact asari government. Seek assurances of subject treatment, negotiate follow-up. Prior to station demolition, execute deviant asari. Likely serial killers. Powerful barriers. Must avoid entering cells. Requires explosives... Antiproton tanks for reactor? No. Need to confirm kills."
"Temporary subject resettlement? Human colonies? Alliance interference. Unsuitable. Unregistered colonies in Terminus! Human populations significant, highly asariophilic species. Females integrate easily with asari. Adult females durable, resilient. Increases chances of gestation and childbirth. Necessary. Risk of experiment self-continuation by subjects; high, and presence of fertile human females on colony, near certainty."
"Presence of ovarian analogues in hybrids for fertilization possibility. No. Certainty. Receptive and fertilizing role. Yes! Doubles productivity. Utilizes preexisting limbic-meiotic pathway in asari. Asari mothers subconsciously control RNA release, selection of DNA helix for offspring. If modified to act on alien DNA and made legible to conscious mind, result: Complete genetic engineering toolchain. Remarkable!""
"Wait on the ship, Daniel. My actions will likely exceed your tolerances. Monitor my transponder. If I die, leave. Specimen's aggression levels variable. Some...extreme."
"So you're staying on a station with, I reiterate, forty super-soldier asari programmed by some ax-murderer asari to try to breed an army. They aren't going to be housebroken."
"Salarian asexual. Precopulation melding effect on cognition limited. I cannot lay eggs. Not useful. Human male, useful: High sex drive. Under laboratory conditions, up to eleven ejaculations per day. IV drugs required. Painkillers, recommended. Need to compel is unlikely. Your asariophilia meets treatment criteria."
"Hey!"
"You would fertilize all hybrids within a standard year. Four months if semen laboratory harvested. Possibly three. Depends on their concern for your liver function."
"Well, that's unsexy."
"Remain calm, Daniel. I will seek matriarch. Negotiate, not attack. If matriarch present, we will evacuate. Gently. Mistreatment or death unsettling for younger asari. Hostile response certain. Odds unfavorable. Survival...extremely problematic."
"Do you hear th-SHIT! RUN!"
"Excellent. Subject approaching. Must locate additional storage. Omni-tool! Begin recording mode."
"Doc, I'm begging you..."
"Return to the ship, Daniel."
"That does it, I'm going back to law school."
cephalopod - The family of octopus, squid, cuttlefish, etc.
chromatophores - Structure present in chameleons, fish, and other animals that can change skin color.
limbic system - The brain and hormonal systems that govern instinctive responses like fight-or-flight.
meiotic division - The second type of cell division present in earth life besides mitosis (cell replication for replacement). In humans, meiotic division occurs only in the ovaries and testes. Produces a non-identical copy of DNA in order to create gametes (reproductive cells; eggs or sperm, generally).
pachyderm - The family of animals that includes elephants.
teratogenic - Any effect on an organism that passes to offspring.
