Castle of Deception
Minas-Kito System, March 30, 2193
Kangl's hidden sentries had detected the quartet of Turian stealth frigates out in orbit. His suspicions were right that Turian stealth frigates were made based on stolen Salarian technology. Granted, it had a lot of tweaks and modifications, but with a concerted enough effort one could detect a unique -though faint- energy signature coming off of them. One could easily mistake the reading as another space object. Kangl knew better though.
This was exactly the thing he needed right now. Turians at the compound's front door, ready to kick it down, so to speak. He had no illusions in his head as to what was going on. The Turians have discovered their little hideout here. Whether or not these invaders knew what Kangl and his friends doing here is irrelevant. Not even the company's worth of security operators and security mechs can stop four squads of Blackwatch operators putting up a concerted effort to kill you. Kangl knew the jig was up and that it was only a matter of time.
So he decided not to waste any.
After taking a few deep breaths, Kangl finally put into motion several months worth of planning. There were at least fifty Salarian black ops agents working under him, even if they were all loyal to the Dalatrass. In addition, one hundred and fifty combat mechs served as additional security with one hundred more currently in standby mode. If Kangl turned all these mechs against the black ops agents, that'll cause a large enough distraction for him to disable all the other security systems in the compound. Granted, the Dalatrass would still have the ability to scramble the few thousand or so mercenaries on stand by in the various settlements in the planet.
He's pretty sure that the anti-air and anti-orbital defense systems suddenly shutting down would be an obvious enough signal for the Turians to see. He just hoped that they'd be able to deploy fast enough to take the initiative.
With that, Kangl overwrote the mechs with a simple program which he had written just for this purpose. In almost an instant, the Salarian security operators.
It was still early in the morning at the moment, which meant that the guards were mostly in their quarters. If they could react fast enough, Kangl reckoned that they could probably launch a proper counterattack in the next hour or so. That would still be enough for him to disable the other security systems though, which would hopefully leave enough time for the Turians in orbit could to exploit the hole in their defense
Gunshots and shouting echoed from the metal hallways as the mechs turned on their former masters. While not as intelligent or as versatile as their Salarian masters, the sheer number of them was enough to keep the Salarians on the back foot. With the guards preoccupied, Kangl began the next phase of his plan. With his security clearance still active, he overwrote the defense systems and locked everyone else out of it. One of the few perks of the Dalatrass' centralized security setup meant that whoever was at the controls could effectively do whatever they wanted. Kangl was highly critical of this system specifically because of situations like the one he just instigated. The data display on his screen showed that one by one the outer defense systems were being powered down. GARDIAN Laser cannons and anti-orbital missile launchers were sequentially shut down one after another. Finally, Kangl disabled the facility's energy masking systems. With that, the previously secret mountain facility is now in plain view for all that looks for it.
Now it's time for the Turians to make their move. Kangl jist hoped that they made one soon.
-000-
Nihlus woke up to the metallic rap-tap-tapping noise on his door. Someone had woke him up, and if Sigmar and Triarix hadn't arrived yet, they had better have a damn good reason for them interrupting his sleep. He got up to a sitting position and answered.
"Are the reinforcements here yet?." Nihlus simply said, still half asleep
"No sir it's... something else you're going to want to see yourself."
"Ugh, come right in then."
His sliding door opened to reveal Haliat looking rather... perplexed. Something definitely happened while Nihlus was asleep, and he needed to know what.
"What's this all about?" Nihlus asked.
Haliat simply passed a datapad to his commander.
Nihlus squinted his eyes to read as he was still very tired. When he saw what was in the datapad, his eyes shot wide open and any sense of drowsiness was instantly gone.
"How did this happen? Who disabled their security?" Nihlus asked, incredulous.
"Haven't got a clue. We did receive a transmission from the facility that might explain it, It's on the next page." Haliat informed him.
Nihlus swiped to the left, switching to the next page and played the audio file attachedn to the report.
"Turians, I know you're up there." A distinctly Salarian voice spoke. "I have shut down the defense systems and turned the security mechs against the other security officers. I'm not sure how much longer the mechs will hold out against the officers. Come down and secure the facility... I'll explain the rest when you get here."
Nihlus gave the datapad back to Haliat.
"Can we verify this?" The Blackwatch Force Commander asked.
"We've been trying to contact the damn sleemo on all possible frequencies. No answers thus far."
"Damn, that does leave us in a bind." Nihlus mused. "How far out are our reinforcements?"
"At least 2 more hours."
Nihlus got up and looked at the planet from his window.
"Rrr... What is going on down there?" The Blackwatch commander said.
-000-
Saleon rushed between the various terminals as he salvaged as much of his research data as he possibly could. The whole war effort was riding on his success and he couldn't afford to fail when he's gone this far now.
"Sir, we must leave now!" A distressed security operator urged the scientist.
An explosion in the hallway caused the two operators escorting Saleon to flinch, further fueling their impatience.
"My research is the key to winning the war!" Saleon retorted, jabbing his finger at the operator. "If the Turians get their filthy claws on my work they're going to turn it against us!"
The operators looked at each other apprehensively before one of them turned back to talk to the Salarian doctor.
"Sir, certainly you can continue your research back in Sur'kesh." The operator asked, increasingly getting agitated by the sounds of closing gunfire.
"Not without my latest works! Without it, I'll be set back by years." Saleon angrily replied, not even bothering to look at the operators as he ran to his desk and packed a set of DNA samples into a cooling box.
"Sir, we can't possibly pack up the containment tubes during an attack like this." The other operator said. "We won't able to wheel them in to the shuttle safely."
"I recommend going through with asset denial." The first operator said. "If this is as important as you say it is, it's best if the Turians don't get their hands on it at all."
"Hnn... We must save what we can. At it's current form, the weapon is incomplete." Saleon ranted.. "Given enough time and effort, they'd be able to counteract its effects. All our efforts will ultimately be temporary!"
Another explosion shook the lab as the sounds of gun fire got even closer to their position.
"Doctor, there's no more time left!." the first operator exclaimed.
"Alright, alright!" Saleon yelled back in frustration. "At least help me secure the prototype!"
The doctor ran over to the largest console in the room and began entering codes for an emergency removal of the weapon. With a mechanical hiss, the prototype weapon's chamber depressurized and opened to reveal a large tubular container carrying a gallon's worth of the prototype bioweapon. Saleon took the container and carried it with him.
"Alright, then doctor. We'll escort you to the shuttle." The second operator told him.
The group stepped out of the room where they saw the hastily erected barricade barely holding under the relentless assault of the security mechs. Countless dead mechs littered the ground before them as a group of Salarian operators held the line as best they could.
"Get out of here, go!" one of the operators manning the barricade barked out.
The group didn't need to be told twice as they scrambled towards the underground hangar. As they ran and were halfway towards the hangar, a massive explosion rocked the facility.
"What was that?" the first operator yelled at his communicator.
"Two Turian stealth frigates just did an attack run on the surface... they just blew a hole in the perimeter wall. Hurry up and call in that ship dammit! We need to... wait a minute, what in the... take cove-"The Salarian voice from the communicator cut off as an explosion killed them.
"So this is all the Turian's work? How did they find us so soon!" Saleon asked panickedly.
"That doesn't matter now, Doctor. We're using the emergency escape tunnel. We have to assume that the Turians control the skies. The shuttle is a surefire way to get you killed!" The second operator told him
The operators pulled Saleon back and pushed him towards another door. The tunnel will lead them to one of the surrounding settlements. If things go as planned, most of the attention would be directed at the mercenaries who were gearing up to retake the facility and not the three Salarians who were looking for transit off planet. The tunnel would open up a mile or so outside the settlement, far enough that they wouldn't be spotted, but also close enough that they could make a run for it if necessary.
It took an hour and a half for the three to get out of the tunnels and finally reach the settlement. When they looked back at the mountain facility they saw the burning hulk of a Sur'ah-class corvette. The facility fared no better as the surface sections of the mountain fortress lay either in ruins or in flames. The two Turian frigates flew around the facility, deterring all potential air incursions into the airspace.
"Come on, Doctor. We need to keep moving." one of the operators said.
They rushed to the settlement's shuttle station, where they rented transportation to fly to the colony's only spaceport. The spaceport was on the other side of the planet, far away from all this action. If Saleon's calculations were right, they could be off world within the next 2 hours. This was good, as the sooner they could leave the system, the better their chances are to end the war.
-000-
Two more Turian stealth frigates jumped into the system. In the CIC of the HNS Sigmar was none other than Saren Arterius, freshly promoted to his own command. They were rotated out of training duty a week ago and have been helping the search for the missing POWs since then. Now that they have a lead, they're ready to strike.
"This is Sigmar and Triarix, reporting in." Saren announced.
"Copy that, this is Commander Kryik, Pila and Aqui are already engaged on the mountain facility." Nihlus told them, gunfire and explosions ringing in the background.
"Affirmative on that, clear a landing zone and we'll hotdrop right away." Saren replied.
"Don't take too long, Saren. Wouldn't want you to miss out on all the fun." Nihlus added before he ended the call.
Saren's promotion to leader of Unit Sigmar was very recent, merely a couple months old. His actions in Eden Prime had proven him to be a capable soldier. Combined with the Hierarchy's push for more troops in the field, this meant that SHOC had deemed Saren ready to lead his own team into the field.
He turned to his ship's PA system and called his team.
"Operators, we're hot dropping in 15 minutes. You will be briefed in the ship's shuttle bay." Saren announced.
The timing couldn't be more perfect either, the latest batch of Blackwatch recruits has just come out of training and were itching for action. Compared to the new blood, Saren was a proven and bloodied veteran.
As he had expected, his operators were already preparing in the shuttle bay by the 10th minute.
"Right, since we're all here, let's start early." Saren said to them. "We're raiding what seems to be an STG blacksite. By the looks of things, we might be able to find our missing POWs, if not figure out where they went. Estimates from an hour ago put at least a company's worth of STG operators in the facility as well as a couple hundred security mechs which have since gone berserk. Both are equally as large of a threat to us."
"Sir, I heard that one of the Salarians is a defector." One of Saren's operators said.
"Unconfirmed." Saren bluntly answered. "He claims that he was the one to set the mechs on berserk mode, but neither our friends on the ground nor the supposed defector has verified anything."
"So we're just supposed to take the damn sleemo's words for it?" Another operator asked.
"It's our only lead." Saren answered again. "For what it's worth, I don't trust him either, but we don't exactly have the luxury to just sit on our asses and wait for this to blow over."
The team boarded the shuttle which took them down to the surface. Saren peeked through the viewing slits and saw the mountain facility ablaze. He was suddenly reminded of his short adventure on Eden Prime, helping the Humans beat back the Batarian Hegemony's invasion force -it seemed to have happened almost a lifetime ago. He had heard that the Humans were conducting a military expedition in the surrounding areas, with any luck he might get to see them in action again.
As his shuttle touched down, Saren uttered a small prayer to whichever spirits was watching his back and ordered his team to disembark. They fanned out and secured the landing zone as the other Blackwatch team landed after Sigmar team's transport had taken off again. As the more experienced commander among the two teams, Saren took charge and ordered both teams to advance cautiously into the facility.
They will find out what happened here, for better or for worse.
-000-
Hackett's Quarters, SSV Black Typhoon, Salharik Star Cluster, A few hours earlier,
Hackett looked over the transmission transcript given to him, looked at Harper, then at the transcript again.
"What's your assessment of the situation, Harper?" The Rear Admiral asked the intelligence officer.
"It seems to line up with our leads." Harper answered. "The information the Free Republic provided mentioned that the transports would enter this star cluster's general area before making several random jumps to avoid any potential following. This is a lead, but we have plenty of those to chase around at the moment."
"Did the Turians say anything else?"
"Follow up transmissions mentioned something about Council involvement." Harper said, pointing at the exact paragraph it was written on. "No confirmations as of yet thought.
Hackett went through the paragraph in much better detail now, as he had only skimmed the report previously. On the pointed out paragraph, he read of how the Turians had spotted a vessel of Salarian make, one which was typically used by STG Shadow Ops.
"No confirmations..." Hackett muttered out loud, to himself mostly. "How confident are you on this lead?"
"Not very much, to be honest, sir." Harper said. "Salarian defects and deserters are known to have fled to the mentioned colony. It could be the Turians spotted an STG operation to capture deserters. If we intervene now, we risk attacking the Council with no good reason."
Hackett let a low rumble out from his throat before he spoke again.
"Alert the crew for REDCON 2, we will investigate this ourselves." Hackett decided.
"Pardon?" Harper asked, not exactly understanding.
"We're following the lead." Hackett said. "The other ones we were investigating aren't going anywhere any time soon. This lead with the STG might go either ways if we don't take the initiative."
Harper stood there, with stoic face as blank as usual. He replied simple.
"I understand." He told the Rear Admiral. "I wouldn't have made that choice personally, but I'll stand by your decisions, sir."
"Good." Hackett nodded, his face equally stoic, though his eyes betrayed the fiery determination and certainty inside him.
"If all goes accordingly, we'll arrive at the system within the next 6 hours."
"Return to your station, and keep up the good work." Hackett dismissed Harper with a nod.
The intelligence officer saluted his superior and left the admiral's quarters. Hackett stood up and picked up his officer's cap. He walked to the bridge and gave his orders to the helmsman. Once done, he turned to the external viewports and stared into the endless depths of space.
The Admiral whispered out under his breath.
"Hold on Carrie... Hold on."
-000-
Archive Update: Recorded conversation between Captain Hackett and a Civil Protection Officer.
Playback Start:
Hackett: What do you mean you haven't found her? The Bastion was successfully and fully evacuated, how can my daughter not be in the refugee transports?
CP Officer: That's the issue sir, we've been looking up and down the lists, even checked and reran a headcount twice already, we can't find your daughter anywhere.
H: Yes, I understand that, but HOW?
CPO: We... can't be sure, sir. We've been running down all the possibilities, but we, uh...
H: You what?
[Prolonged silence]
H: What are you waiting for? Spit it out already!
CPO: Sir, we uh... had camera sightings of an individual matching your daughter's description leaving the Bastion for the town half an hour before the invasion alarm was sounded. We, brushed it off as a system fluke due to... due to conflicting reports from another officer claiming to have just spoken to her minutes before.
H: You're telling me that Carrie might not have been evacuated at all?
CPO: It... it is appearing to be a very likely possibility.
[Prolonged Silence]
CPO: Sir? Are you still there?
Call ended abruptly by Hackett.
Playback End
-000-
A/N:
Hey guys, sorry for being late. The November chapter got pushed back to now because I had to deal with a lot of projects for my exams up until recently. I'm on break now and since I'm on vacation I can continue working on the story.
I'm doing what I can to improve and continue characterizing my characters, with middling results so far. I'll continue to work it, and hopefully I can get better as we go on.
This chapter marks the start of the Gates of Oblivion story. A fully armed Alliance flotilla, 4 teams of Blackwatch operators, an STG blacksite unknown to even the Salarian councilor, what could these possibly bring forth?
Well, if my SWTOR addiction doesn't kill me first, hopefully we'll find out.
Sorry again for the month long delay. I'll continue to aim for once-a-month updates, but it remains to be seen if I can achieve it.
Write down your thoughts on a review or PM them to me, input is always valued even if I don't respond to it directly.
As always, thanks for reading and have an early Merry Christmas and Happy New Year greeting from me, considering that I'll probably update sometime later on January. Enjoy the rest of your day, ans Godspeed to you all.