…
"Good men mean well. We just don't always end up doing well."
(Isaac Clarke)
…
CASTLE Base, December 1st, 1:29 PM, 2184
…
I ran as fast as I could down the stairs with Dan in tow, feeling the beads of sweat running off my forehead as I skipped steps. We weren't the only ones going through here either, several workers from the lower levels near Rael's lab were making their way up. They had been ordered to evac.
The situation was a mess, and part of me felt it was going to get worse before it got better.
I jumped the rail as we got to the desired floor, landing without breaking the speed I had built up. I pushed myself to go even faster as we both went down the corridor, our heavy footfalls echoing. I barged into Richard's lab, immediately spotting both him and Powell near the back.
"What in the hell is going on?" Richard asked, worry written all over his face. "Powell said he detected a lot of traffic on the net, and not good traffic either."
"I don't have time to give you a full explanation, so I'll give you the short version." I managed to get out between breaths, holding myself up against the wall. "Somehow, Geth have taken over Rael's lab and killed most of his team. I need you two to come with me and communicate with them, try and defuse the situation before it gets out of hand."
"I knew that must have been a Geth communication signature." Powell mused, turning his head back to Richard. "They tried to get a message out before it was cut off."
"They must have thought they were on a ship." Richard hypothesized, crossing his arms as an angry expression formed on his face. "How exactly do Geth just appear inside of the secure underground facility? I know they can do a lot of things, but spontaneous generation isn't one of them."
"We don't k-know yet, just get what you need." Dan deflected, panting as he waved his harm dismissively. "There could be tro…. trouble, so keep that in mind."
He pursed his lips for a moment, giving Powell a glance before nodding and running into the back to put on his essentials. Powell donned his hooded robe, then plucked a hidden Geth pulse rifle out from underneath one of the tables.
I didn't have to be a genius to understand what must have been going through their heads. They, like me and Dan, knew there was more to this than meets the eye.
My best guess was that Rael had been sending out salvage teams to the border worlds, looking for Geth remains. He had the parts brought back for study, and was likely using them for weapons tests or some such nonsense. The part I didn't understand was how not just one, but multiple platforms were in good enough condition to move under their own power. That would have meant they were rebuilding them, which didn't make much sense to me given his hatred for Geth.
If Rael was having them both rebuilt and reactivated… that was considered very much against the Fleet's laws. He wouldn't get away from the consequences of such a choice, he would be banished from Quarian space and labeled a traitor of the people.
Despite how much I despised the man, I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone. Only God knows how potentially devastating that could be to his daughter too.
The four of us ran to the elevator, punching in the level Rael's lab was on. None of us spoke as we went down, the hum of the rails outside clearly heard. For once, I was happy to be in silence. It gave me more time to think about the shitstorm we were in.
Hypothetically, what if the Geth in Rael's lab did stand down? What would happen after that point had been reached? There was no way in hell the Admirals were going to let them go, they had accessed classified networks during their incursion into our communications grid and attempted a transmission. Also, there was the small matter of them killing members of Rael's team, a list that may or may not have included the man himself. Even in self-defense, that wouldn't just be excused, especially if Rael was indeed dead.
If something goes south either while entering the lab or during "negotiations", I'd have to ensure the safety of Dan, Richard, and Powell. While I was confident Dan and Powell could handle themselves in a close-quarters engagement, I knew Richard would be next to worthless. We would have to get him out of any combat situation as fast as possible to ensure he doesn't get shot. Then we faced the prospect of either clearing out the labs room-by-room or initiating the lab's self-destruct failsafe. Both outcomes were… undesirable, to say the least.
Even in the climate-controlled facility, I could feel my undershirt begin to soak with sweat as we exited the elevator as fast as possible, pushing our way through everyone until we reached the line the marines had established outside of the lab.
The outside of Rael's lab was a larger, open area linked to three separate hallways that led to other parts of the level. The area was no bigger than a standard lab space, with a security desk and small surveillance setup. The marines had brought in barriers to take cover behind, setting up a sector of fire that covered the airlock from two of the hallways. The final hallway had been left open to allow forces easy access to Rael's lab if need be, and had been lined with explosives that would go off if Geth swarmed the area and tried exiting past either two of the entrenched positions.
All of us walked into the open area, eyeing up the defensive positions wearily as Gerrel and Raan ran back up to us.
"We'll go in and try to talk them down." I explained before either one could get a word in, staring directly at the door. "If things go south, we'll retreat back here and let them come to us."
"What if they lock the door behind you?" Raan questioned, folding her arms.
"Then we'll have to pray for the best." I finished, letting out a sigh as both Dan and I activated our kinetic barriers and picked up plasma guns from one of the defensive positions.
The airlock cycled, causing all the marines to level their weapons in silent anticipation. Much to my relief, when the thing had finished and opened, there were no Geth on the other side. With bated breath, all four of us stepped into the airlock and sealed it behind us.
We stood in silence a few moments longer before I turned to Powell, looking him in the photoreceptor.
"Can you access the communications grid here?" I asked, squeezing my plasma rifle's forward grip enough to cramp my fingers. "Maybe send out an electronic message through the grid in their language?"
"I could try, but Admiral Rael'Zorah likely had system countermeasures installed to help ward off unauthorized remote access from platforms such as mine." He said, focusing his eye's aperture on me.
"Remote ac…access?" Dan blurted out, confusion crossing over onto his face. "If we can get you to a physical port, could t-that do the trick?"
"By the time we find one, we will have most likely run into Geth units." Richard dismissed with an uncomfortable look on his face as he kept fidgeting with his armored vest.
I exhaled through my nose one more time before the cycle finished, leaving us to decide when to make our move. We stacked up on the sides of the doorway as I hit the door release. The moment the door slid open, the body of one of the marines slopped over into the doorway, shocking all of us.
"Fuck." Dan exclaimed under his breath as he aimed away from the body, slouching his shoulders as he looked up at the ceiling. "That's one of t-the marines."
"Looks like he got shot in the back trying to escape." I deduced from looking at the gunshot wounds in his back. "Come on, pull him in. I don't want the door closing on him."
After Dan and I had carefully pulled him into the airlock, we got a better look at the first room. The area was of fair size, lined with lockers and little else. There were no Geth that I could spot with the naked eye, though there was conductive fluid from one splattered on the wall.
"Move in, slow and carefully. Check your corners." I ordered, moving out from behind cover. "Powell, you take point. Scan for any unknown signals and keep your eye out for booby traps."
"Affirmative." He agreed, walking forward with his rifle held at the ready as we all followed behind him.
"Follow in single file, don't trail blaze." I added, doing a visual scan for any flashlight heads before we stacked up on the next door.
"Tell me again why they couldn't give us a f-fucking map of this lab?" Dan asked under his breath with clearly understood anger in his voice. "We're going in blind here."
"Dan, technically this lab doesn't even exist." I answered with a sigh, shaking my head. "All information pertaining to this lab is stored on its main computer server. Getting a schematic of this place would mean fighting our way to it."
"Any luck with accessing the network, Powell?" Richard asked, displaying proper trigger discipline much to my surprise with the Kessler handgun he carried.
"That's a negative." He replied, looking back for a moment before returning his gaze to the wall. "Either the encryption is too strong, or the Geth are actively blocking my access attempts."
"If the latter is the case, then stop now before you piss them off even more." I quickly spoke before I heard the muffled bang of a gunshot come from the other side of the door.
"Forget it, it s-sounds like we have c-company." Dan dismissed, checking the plasma canister he had loaded in his rifle before looking back to me.
"Powell will go in first, relaxed gun posture, and attempt to initiate communication with these guys." I lined out, closing my eyes for a moment as I processed my thoughts. "If they open fire, we'll lay down suppressing fire and retreat back to the airlock. If not… well, we'll figure that out later."
Dan stared at me for a moment with a raised lip before I nodded to Powell, hitting the release for the door. We all stayed behind the doorway as Powell stood his ground, aperture wide open as he stood in the open. I held my breath for several seconds, expecting either gunfire to sound or for talking to commence.
I heard undecipherable speech vibrate through the air, sounding like little else than electronic static as Powell quickly initiated contact. I held my head back, resisting the urge to sneak a peek around the corner as a reply to whatever Powell had said came back. This unintelligible conversation went back and forth once or twice over the course of thirty seconds before Powell broke his statue-like stance and looked back at us.
"They've agreed not to harm us." He said, looking back at us. "However, they will only allow me to proceed any farther into the lab. The three of you must stay here."
"What? But why?" Richard asked, looking none too pleased with the proposal.
"They are telling me that the quarians here have been running intrusive hardware and software tests on them, attempting to find weaknesses in their programming." He explained further, placing his rifle onto his back. "They are… afraid, for better lack of a word. They know there is no way out of the facility, and that the quarians won't forgive them for the deaths they have caused here."
"Whoa whoa, slow it down there." I urged, holding out one of my hands. "If they have something they want to show you, they have to show it to all of us. We need the full picture of what happened down here if we're going to get through this mess."
He stared at me for a few second before turning back to the Geth and speaking their language again. I secured my rifle into its collapsed position, slowly stepping out into the open where they could see me. It gave me the chance to see the Geth and confirm one of my suspicions.
The two units that Powell was talking to both looked as if they had been built from scraps. They looked mismatched and damaged in various ways, not at all unified or symmetrical. One of them didn't even have a left arm, and was armed only with a handgun.
The more I stared at them, the sorrier I began to feel for them.
"They've agreed to allow you in." Powell finished after several seconds, resting his eye on me. "They've warned me that any violent behavior from either of you will be met with retaliation."
"Understood." I nodded with a slightly stilted tone, looking back at Dan as he collapsed his rifle. "Just…. uh, lead the way."
We all formed in a single file line behind Powell as we walked into the lab, keeping close together in case the situation changed in any way. It was hard to ignore all the bodies that were in the room. It looked as if the team that was sent in was ambushed from all sides, leaving them no chance of escape. It was only after seeing this I barely spotted another Geth who was utilizing a cloaking device in the corner, tracking us with a rifle.
Knowing now what would have happened if we had gone in guns blazing caused me to break out in a cold sweat.
We were led quietly through several other small lab spaces, seeing that the Geth had indeed spared no one. It had been a slaughter. There were plenty more platforms walking around, collecting pieces of scrap and other potentially useful materials. I had no idea what they were getting ready for, and now I didn't want to question anything they were doing.
We eventually reached what looked like a server room. Unlike the other rooms, this one had seen no combat, and was quite chilly. We walked between several server banks to find something that looked very familiar, something I had seen before.
"That's a Geth server node, right?" I questioned as the leading Geth turned to face me. "You use them to exchange information between one another?"
The Geth stared at me for a few more moments, focusing its aperture on me before doing something I honestly hadn't expected.
"Yes." It answered in a distorted, but understandable voice that sounded very much like mine. "This node in its current condition is capable of running the processes of 992 programs."
"Why did you bring us to it?" I asked, hoping to gain more insight from it.
"Creator Zorah and his team of 48 personnel activated this node at 6:11 PM, networking us into a series of platforms they had reconstructed for testing purposes." It explained, standing completely stiff as it spoke. "According to data logs recovered during and after our activation, we learned that Creator Zorah sought to test experimental electronic countermeasures on us. We retaliated, breaking the firewall and accessing all other units connected to the network."
"And then you killed them all." Dan stated in a disgusted tone, crossing his arms. "They t-turned you on, and you killed them."
"The Creators left us with no choice. They attempted to retrieve weapons and forcibly terminate our functions." It argued, turning slightly to face Dan.
"It's just like the Morning War all over again…" Richard mused, shaking his head slightly as I found myself immediately confused by him.
"You mentioned that before. What is it?" I asked quickly, gaining his attention along with the Geth's.
"Doctor Karpyshyn is referring to the war between the Creators and the Geth that began in 2485." The Geth answered for him, causing me even greater surprise.
"Wait a minute… you know Richard?" I remarked in disbelief, not even trying to stop my eyes from shooting open.
"Yes." It responded bluntly, turning its head towards me. "We first made contact with Doctor Karpyshyn and AI-Powell May 30th, 3:56 AM. We repaired Doctor Karpyshyn after he had sustained critical injuries, providing him with cybernetics and AI-Powell with a customized Geth platform for personal use."
"And I must say, it has worked out extremely well." Powell commented with a relaxed tone, moving his fingers up and down.
"Look, as interesting as this is, we need to focus on the current situation." I redirected, knowing how easily both Richard and Powell could get wrapped up in topics. "There's a whole platoon of Migrant Fleet marines itching to lay waste to all of you in here. We need to figure out a solution, and soon."
"We are unable to foresee an optimal outcome." The Geth shot down, tone still quite neutral. "Based on previous interactions with Creators, there exist a 96% certainty that regardless of what actions are taken, we will have our functions terminated attempting to leave facility."
I suddenly found myself between a rock and a hard place. Knowing now what Rael had been doing in here and what the Geth had been through under his control, I both wanted them out of here and his research destroyed. I didn't want this kind of thing out there for all the quarians to see. But my choice would have permanent, lasting consequences.
If the Admirals discovered that I had intentionally sabotaged Rael's work, I doubt they would simply exile me. I'd be locked in a room and the room would be thrown away.
There were only two options available to us from what I could see. In one, we take the Geth out of the lab where they were almost certain to be destroyed and risk wiping the data ourselves. The second involved leaving the Geth in the lab and having Admiral Raan trigger the self-destruct sequence for Rael's lab. This guaranteed the destruction of his research but would kill the Geth in the process. Neither one of these options boded well. No matter what choice I made, the Geth would end up dead and the quarians would be imbued with an even stronger jingoistic attitude towards the Geth.
But there, a final option crossed my mind, one where the Geth could survive.
"OK, Powell, how much digital storage do you have in that platform of yours?" I asked in a quickened tone, unable to convey my thoughts fast enough.
"Currently, my crystal/silicon hybrid storage card can hold up to 28 petabytes of raw data." He answered without hesitation as everyone turned to focus on us. "My processes, memory, and other vital functions currently occupy 21 petabytes of that available space."
"Is there any way we can upload the Geth programs located in this lab to the empty space on Powell's card?" I asked even quicker as Richard and Dan's eyes both widened in surprise.
"You want to smuggle them out of the lab through Powell?" Richard questioned, crossing his arms with a curious look on his face. "That… could actually work. There may be some compatibility issues, but there should be enough space."
"We can transfer into your card through mobile platform." The Geth dismissed, narrowing its aperture slightly. "We remember the processes we had to translate to integrate Doctor Karpyshyn's card reader."
I let a smile cross my face as things finally began to look up. Then Dan spoke up, inadvertently bringing another thought to my head.
"I don't know… w-what if they decide to run a ch-check on him before letting us go?" Dan argued, not looking entirely convinced.
"That shouldn't be too much of a problem." Richard dismissed, waving his hand dismissively as we walked over to the hub to get a better look at it.
"Um… before you do all of that, can you please take me to the body of Rael'Zorah?" I asked in a softer tone, not wanting to appear too forceful. "He had access to some of our project files, and I want to make sure they're manually wiped before we do this."
The Geth stopped to stare at me, widening and tightening its aperture several times before speaking up.
"Very well, but we must move quickly. We do not have much time." It agreed, leading me quickly out of the room at a fair jogging speed.
We passed through a storage area and into what appeared to be a firing range before we entered a smaller room with a single quarian corpse. Despite knowing already that he was dead, seeing him with my own two eyes struck me. He didn't go down without a fight, that was for sure. He was still clutching his rifle with both hands, and several platforms laid at his feet in pieces.
"We've already eliminated all hard files related to Creator-Zorah's research." The Geth announced, looking down at me. "We must return to our hub. We anticipate future exchange of data, Doctor Michaels."
Before I could ever say a word, its aperture shut down as the platform flopped over and clanked on the floor of the lab. My best guess was that Richard had begun the transfer. I slowly and reluctantly accessed Rael's omni-tool, not wanting to disturb his body. I was quickly met with a message that had been recorded before his death, a hologram of his face appearing in front of me, flickering in the dark of the room.
"If you are seeing this message, it means I am dead." Rael's distorted voice said, sounding understandably tired and distressed. "I… didn't mean for any of this to happen, none of it. All I wanted was to lead our people back to the home world, regain what is rightfully ours. But we went too far, took too many risks. Tali… I only wanted the best for you, and I hope you'll understand why we did what we did. Please, stay safe. Keelah se'lai."
The hologram quickly faded away, leaving only the glow of my omni-tool to illuminate Rael's cold body. I shook my head, giving him a moment of silence before I pulled out a small data chip from inside my old digital watch and inserted it into Rael's omni-tool. Inside of the chip was an automated ICE Breaker program that would hopefully penetrate his personal firewalls and rip all available data from his omni-tool. It was given to me years ago by Dimitri, left over from his spec-op development.
While I wanted Rael's research data destroyed, I didn't want to sacrifice any other project files or messages he had stored on his device. I wanted to know if the Admirals were hiding anything else from us, especially the "military circle" of Gerrel, Raan, and Rael himself. I trusted Koris and Zadie not to keep anything too important from us, but these three… I had my doubts. Once I was sure what Rael and others have been doing, I'd wipe all the data in its entirety.
Thinking about it more, the reality of what was about to happen began to set in. Rael's death would leave a void in the Admiralty Board, meaning another ship captain would have to be chosen to take his place.
I feared the implications of this. Depending on who was chosen, any number of things could happen in the realm of quarian politics.
I shook the thoughts out of my head, trying to focus on what was at hand. I quickly double-checked the files, making sure everything had been transferred before scrubbing Rael's omni-tool back down to the hardware. I unplugged the chip and inserted it back into my watch, making sure the seal was perfect. I did one last check of his body for any other pieces of tech that could be important before I laid him flat on the floor with his hands folded.
"I'm sorry about this Rael." I apologized, letting a gentle exhale go through my nose as I put my hand on top of his. "I know we had our disagreements over the years, but trust me when I say I'll protect your family's name. Goodbye, sir."
With that, I broke into a dash, making my way past several more deactivated Geth platforms before reaching Dan, Richard, and Powell again.
"Oh good, we just finished transferring all the Geth programs into his platform." Richard announced, yanking a plug from the back of Powell's head as he twitched slightly.
"How long's it been?" I asked quickly, pulling my rifle off my back again.
"Seventeen minutes, nine seconds." Dan answered with no nonsense, reading right off his own watch.
"Right, we need to make it look like we've been fighting." I said, moving towards the hub the Geth had been using and wiping the soot off it. I then rubbed it on my face and clothes, dirtying myself up a bit. "Come on, we've already wasted enough time."
They all did the same, though Dan took it a step even farther. He wiped some of the Geth "blood" off the wall and splattered his coat with it, making him look rather… gruesome.
"Fire your weapons as we move back to the airlock, overheat them!" I pushed further, looking everyone in the eye.
In unison, we all took out our respective weapons and began firing on the servers that lined the room, moving out as we fired on everything in sight. By the time we reached the room with the door, Dan and I had nearly melted the barrels of the plasma guns as they exerted a large amount of heat. Powell and Richard's guns didn't look much better.
"What are you gonna t-tell them?" Dan inquired with a curious look on his face, still not entirely confident in the plan I had decided on as I picked up a few grenades that one of the Migrant Fleet marines had been carrying.
"Well, that's the big question, isn't it?" I said out the corner of my mouth as we walked into the locker room. "We're all gonna rush in there, exhausted and panicked, and yell that the lab needs to be detonated before they get through the door. With luck, Raan will immediately take out word for it and activate the demo charges, ending the current situation."
"And what if our luck is not so great?" Richard quickly retorted as I walked around the Migrant Fleet marine's body to open the airlock door.
"Well, I suppose we'll just have to make something up on the fly." I shrugged, ushering everyone into the airlock as I armed the grenades, chucking them through the doorway as the airlock closed behind us. "Powell, how you holding up with all our new friends in there?"
"I'm discussing the validity of our plan as we speak." He answered with a noticeable delay, staring ahead for a moment before looking at me. "We're ready."
"Right then. Let's hope this works." I remarked, crossing my fingers as I cycled the airlock, feeling my heart rate pick back up as the chemical jets and UV light in the room cleansed us. The moment both stopped, I felt my chest become stiff as I prepared to put on one of the best acting performances I could ever muster.
The door slid open, flooding our vision with light as we ran out of the airlock, faking labored breath as several marines and the two Admirals ran over to us. Powell kept his back towards the perimeter they had set up, "covering" the door with his rifle as we plopped to the floor.
"Keelah, what happened in there?!" Raan shouted, running over to me as I quickly pulled myself up and got in her face.
"You've got to detonate the charges now!" I shouted in the most frantic voice I could manage, doing my best to give her deranged eyes. "There's too many of them! They're coming through!"
With sudden surprise, she looked at Gerrel who had similar movements displayed. Clearly, both hadn't expected this to happen.
"Is he serious?" Gerrel inquired, still needing one more push.
"Are you fucking nuts? Of c-course he's serious! Blow it!" Dan yelled with widened eyes, attracting the Admirals to his blood-splattered clothes.
The next few moments were fast, and happened seemingly in less than a minute. Gerrel shouted for the men to move back as we were pulled back to our feet and run down the empty hallway. Seconds later, my ears were jolted by a series of explosions that tore through Rael's lab, one of which blew the airlock doors directly open. A jet of flame burst into the open space, creating a backdraft that filled the air with heat and covered the walls with soot.
Once everything was said and done, nothing but twisted, burnt metal and rock was left. Everything had been thoroughly destroyed.
If it weren't for the sudden headache I had developed, I would have smiled.
…
CASTLE Base, December 1st, 3:51 PM, 2184
…
All of us sat quietly in the medical level of CASTLE Base, having been checked over for injuries. Of course, they found none, but had issued painkillers anyway. The mood all around was as somber as I expected it to be, but I wouldn't mince words. None of this had to happen. Rael was the one who pushed his team into doing those experiments, and they all paid the price for it. I watched each second pass by on my old digital watch, examining each digit through the cracked glass that protected it.
I had already cobbled together a story in my head to tell the Admirals, knowing they'd want to know every solitary detail of our "experience." I could only hope the questions were short and… non-evasive. They had no reason to think I'd lie about anything that happened in there.
Right on time, I saw them enter the exam room I occupied looking none too pleased. Even without hearing them, I could see Gerrel was furious over the result of our trip, and Raan didn't look much better. As soon as they came in, they wordlessly took seats across from me trying best to avoid eye contact until they were ready to speak.
"Sean, we want to know exactly what happened down there." Gerrel began, slowly pulling his head up to look at me with folded hands. "What happened that required the destruction of all of Rael's work?"
I stared long and hard at him, keeping my face entirely expressionless before giving him an answer.
"Well as it turns out, the Geth that had occupied Rael's lab were of the "heretic" variety." I answered slowly and with deliberation, making sure not to make any unnatural facial movements. "They were Geth that once followed Saren Arterius, hostile to anyone that wasn't part of his circle. Once activated, they immediately used Reaper-enhanced system intrusion tools to shatter the firewalls and take over the lab."
"How do you know all this, and moreover how did you spend so much time in there without getting slaughtered like the squad we initially sent in?" Raan asked with an even more confused tone, shaking her head slightly.
"Powell did most of the work while we stayed back in the locker room. They saw his platform, attempted contact, then realized he was an A.I. as advanced as the "old ones" they worship." I lied, making sure not to jiggle my leg as I forced myself to stay calm. "We were going to attempt a retake of the lab, but once Powell had been in there for a while probing them for information he realized there were well over a hundred functional platforms getting ready to storm the airlock."
"If you were in the locker room and he was inside, when did the shooting start?" Gerrel inquired, still very much confused.
"The shooting began when Powell tried to leave." I went on as I began to crack my knuckles individually. "He rushed his way back to the airlock while we pushed into the main room to clear a hole and cover his escape. We barely managed to hold them off, even with the plasma guns. We used some of the grenades one of the marines had been carrying to cover our escape through the airlock."
The room grew uncomfortably quiet as Raan and Gerrel looked at one another, exchanging glances before focusing back on me.
"I assume there were no survivors, Captain?" Raan remarked somberly, knowing full well that either answer I gave her would have had the same meaning after what we had done to the lab.
"Zero." I answered truthfully, making fists as I brought them up to my face. "It was just as you feared. They were all gone before we even got there."
"Rael was a good friend." Gerrel said in a low voice, looking back down at the floor. "I can't believe after all these years this is what happens to him."
"I'm sorry sir." I apologized, not knowing what to say."
"Captain, I know it may not mean much coming from me, but I genuinely thank you and your team for at least trying to see if there was something that could be done to lessen this... incident." Gerrel said, mildly shocking me as he stood up. "Now, if you'll excuse me and Admiral Raan, there's a lot of… work that needs to be done. The fallout from this has only begun."
"Understood, sir." I acknowledged, nodding to him as I stood up and shook both their hands.
As they walked out of the exam room and left me by myself again, I felt both an intense sense of relief and a strong sense of dread wash over me.
Gerrel wasn't wrong. There would be long-lasting fallout over this, and I was afraid we'd have a front row seat for all of it.
...
A/N: I debated with myself for a long time what I would do with Rael. Part of my always felt that his character was more antagonistic in nature, but part of me also believed it was simply his xenophobia projecting itself on Sean and his team. Rael has only allowed them to do things that benefit him and his people in the long run. I believed no matter what happened, he was always going to die trying to take the quick way to "victory", and ultimately served his personality well.
This chapter went through two re-writes, and I feel like I finally condensed it down to something worthwhile. Work hasn't been making anything easier, and my struggles with college have left me doubting my place in the educational system. Still, things could be worse. I hope the wait was worth it, and I wish everyone a good day as they read this.
As always, I'd love to read any reviews, and I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!