…
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
(Martin Luther King Jr.)
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CASTLE Base, November 5th, 10:41 AM, 2186
…
Walking into my office in CASTLE Base with Old Dan, very few people paid us any mind. The marines in their exos did their usual card and scan as we entered the interior of the underground facility, but other than that it was strangely calm. I knew that in a few hours, that was all likely to change.
"I'll admit… I never expected to just walk in here without using my suit." He mused, having lightened up slightly during our walk over. "With the scanners, laser security grid, and checkpoints it would take one hell of an infiltrator to sleuth to make it in undetected."
"I'm surprised you haven't been here already." I deadpanned, remembering what he had told me about his involvement with the Barn and his theft of the Crucible design from Cerberus. I plopped myself down behind my desk, waiting for the moment the Admirals would arrive.
"I don't like having to be sneaky like that. It doesn't fill me with any joy or happiness." He rebuked, shooting one of his eyebrows up at me as he pulled off his coat and tightened the cuffs on his stealth suit. "Besides, you act as if you wouldn't do the same."
"Fair enough." I shrugged as he walked over, syncing his omni-tool with my personal terminal. "I've got full encryption on this computer, so you don't have to worry about any leaks."
"I've synced all my files to your genetic signature. It wouldn't matter if someone else got their hands on the files at this point." He remarked as I nearly scratched the side of my head again. "Hey, what happened to you, anyways? That cut looks recent, and deep."
"Oh, uh… that's kinda a long story." I tried to avoid, opening his file upload to see what he had.
"We've got time, don't we?" I prodded, getting a deep sigh out of me.
"Do we really? You seemed pretty convinced this Reaper threat was urgent, standing at my front door in the rain like a crazy homeless person." I yelled at him, feeling the stress of the last few months boil over. "Why the fuck is it I'm the only one who's capable of dealing with these problems? Why do I always have to be the lynchpin in someone else's plans? I get tired of this shit, year after year."
"I can see you're upset." Dan remarked with narrowed eyes, making sure to keep his voice down.
"Damn right I'm upset! Its never anything simple with me, it's always invasion-this, kidnapping-that, with heaps of murder and moral ambiguity thrown on top." I went on, feeling my face flare up as I became heated. "I never get to sit down quietly with my family and just work on my projects anymore. I never wanted to be a military commander, tasked with fighting an ancient race of lobster ships."
"You just don't know when to shut the fuck up and appreciate what you've lucked into, do you?" He exclaimed in the same tone as before, genuinely ticking me off as he slowly shook his head. "There was a time where you were ready to take on anything the galaxy threw at you, solving the world's problems through sheer will. Now that you're in a position to do so, you've become this shadow of yourself, bitter and weak."
"You have some fucking nerve to say that to me after everything we've been through. Think very carefully about what you say next." I threatened, feeling my adrenaline spike as I stood up and stared eye-to-eye with him.
"The Sean I used to know never had the same chances you did. He never rose to the point where hundreds, even thousands looked up to him, willing to give their own lives for the cause he believed in." He continued, finally starting to tick a few boxes in my addled brain. "This isn't an easy thing to do, I understand that, but you have the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. I know you didn't want to be a leader, but you were the best person to become one."
Thinking hard about what he was saying, I smiled, slowly breaking down into laughter as Old Dan suddenly looked at me with a sort of "worried and horrified" face.
"You stole half of that little speech from Douglas MacArthur." I chuckled, wiping the tears off my face.
"Heh… you liked that, did you?" He huffed with a similarly amused tone, relief filling his face as I took another deep sigh.
"You're right, there's a lot I can do from where I am right now. I'm just dealing with a lot right now, and sometimes it can be a little difficult to balance how I feel about all of it." I agreed, sitting back down in my chair as he sat down across from me as I prepared my explanation. "Richard implanted me with an experimental brain chip that's supposed to block Reaper signals as well as prevent my chronic headaches and migraines. It was-"
"Wait, are you talking about the XR-3 implant? The one he developed at Johns Hopkins?" He immediately cut in, his face lighting up in sudden interest as I nodded and smiled. "How the hell did he fix the rejection issues?"
"He used his knowledge of Geth physiology and organic interfaces to remove the barrier, something about a myelin sheath on all the contact points. According to him, my brain doesn't even know it's there." I explained, pointing to the scar along the side of my head as he looked at me in wonder. "I'm surprised you know about it, all things considered."
"He mentioned using it years ago, but he never had the resources or the knowhow to build it and make it work properly." He mused, a massive smile crossing his face. "And you haven't had any issues since then?"
"Not since the surgery itself, no." I shook my head, getting a quizzical reaction out of him. "My brain tried to stop my own heart during the operation, and the implant kicked in just in time to save my sorry ass."
"You were that far along into the indoctrination process?" He questioned, getting my face to light up in immediate shock.
"Oh… it sounds like you know something I don't." I replied in a dry tone, feeling the color drain from my face.
"We came across enough indoctrinated people to observe how they and their bodies reacted to the signals." He remarked, leaning over and scrolling through the data dump he had put on my computer. "Here it is, "Indoctrination/Effects", that's the folder you want."
I silently opened said folder, suddenly being met with dozens of files, all having to do with how Old Dan and our alternate selves studied indoctrinated people. It was… creepy how much documentation there was, and the details were enough to make you sick to your stomach.
"File 12 is the one you should be interested in. Sark Santiago, a freighter pilot. He was Richard's case for a while, one of only two we managed to capture and bring back for study during those years." He specifically mentioned as I scrolled down and picked the file, seeing the full dossier. "He was embedded with a handful of refugee ships, heading into the Terminus in an attempt to find safe refuge. We only found what was left of the ships, but strangely he was the only survivor. A Snooper scan told us everything we needed to know."
"Any idea if he was intentionally working with the Reapers, or was he just that fully indoctrinated?" I inquired, perusing through the details.
"If you're as indoctrinated as this guy, you worship the Reapers." He answered in a sort of half/half fashion, getting me to wince. "This guy was a real psycho, desperate as hell. He must have lost it after the Reapers left him out there in space."
"So, what happened to him?" I lead on, feeling a sense of apprehension take hold.
"Well… Richard decided he was a good candidate to perform what he called "live testing." He squirmed, obviously not liking the thought of it. "Basically, he fully restrained Sark and drilled holes into his skull so he could directly insert electrodes, sensors, and other devices to monitor his brain activity. It was gruesome, but we were in a tight spot at the time and needed all the information we could get."
"It sounds like your version of Richard is much different than ours." I commented, feeling slightly sick to the stomach.
"Yeah, well it didn't matter much in the end. The moment he regained consciousness his brain just stopped sending signals to the rest of his body, killing him in a matter of minutes." He remembered, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. "At the time we weren't sure what happened, but after what you've told me… that clears up a few things."
"Yeah, well maybe-" I began to say as a beep at my door alerted both of us to the presence of someone outside. My console flashed to the camera outside, showing Mal, Koris, and Pistis waiting for me.
"Remember what I told you." Dan finished, standing up and pulling his stealth mask back on, melting into the background as he did so.
I sighed, standing up and smoothing out my shirt as I hit the button on the screen, unlocking the door.
"Come in." I urged as the three of them walked into the room, Mal looking more annoyed than anything else based on his body language. Koris appeared rather indifferent, and Pistis was… well, Pistis.
"Sean, this had better be important if you've called us away from our respective assignments." Mal remarked, obviously not thrilled at the moment. "There are many matters I need to attend to."
"Don't mind him, we were at a meeting with several of the Captains when you messaged us." Koris blew off, shaking his head as Mal crossed his arms. "What's going on, Admiral?"
"Hm… to put it bluntly, I've received intelligence that's revealed the presence of a large Reaper fleet of somewhere between 100 to 160 ships. It is currently crossing the void between the Pylos Nebula and us." I explained, whipping my console around for them to see as looks of shock crossed their faces, even Pistis with his head flaps. "Their goal is to wipe out everything in the Klenot Nebula, with Reach being their primary target."
For several minutes, all they could do was watch the screen as dozens of Reaper warships were seen passing Old Dan's ship in the distance near Satent. Not long after, several began turning towards his ship as it exploded in a reactor overload.
"They lured us into Phoenix Massing so they could slip their fleet through undetected… that's why they didn't attack any of the planets there." Mal remarked in a shocked tone as they all looked back to me. "How did you obtain this kind of intelligence? Who recorded it?"
"If I tell you, it can't leave this room no matter what." I stated, standing up and placing both hands flat on my desk. "This is the kind of secret we take to our graves, gentlemen. That includes you, Pistis."
Mal and Koris both gave me small, silent nods as I focused on Pistis.
"We agree to your terms." He nodded in his usual, exaggerated way as his aperture widened. "We also wish to know the source of this data."
"Very well." I sighed, fully aware that I was about to open one huge can of worms. "Do it."
Old Dan decloaked next to me with his arms crossed, putting Mal and Koris into defensive stances as the flaps on Pistis' head flew up as far as they could. I smiled at their sheer shock as I looked up at Old Dan and gestured towards them. He nodded, pulling off his hood and revealing his face.
"Wha…? Dr. Nemo?" Koris spoke up first, sounding just as shocked as I thought he would. "Sean, what is this? What happened to him?"
"He's not from around here." I answered simply, leaning back in my chair.
"Without going into any details related to my past, I'm not the Dan Nemo you all know." He spoke in a normal tone as they continued to focus on him. "However, I'm your best chance at defeating the Reapers this time if you'll heed my warning."
"We do not understand. "This time" is past tense, not present." Pistis immediately pointed out, impressing me yet again with that quick Geth thinking. "Is this a grammatical error of some kind?"
"No, I meant what I said. This time." Old Dan clarified, sounding rather amused. "All I want is your promise that you'll do everything in your collective power to keep this planet safe. I've seen how much devastation the Reapers are capable of when the greatest militaries in the galaxy collapse, and I don't want to see it again."
They all turned to each other, obviously shaken. I'm sure they had their reservations about him, me, and any implications this brought to the table, but they certainly weren't willing to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Alright… what do you have for us?" Mal asked with renewed interest as he sat down across the desk from me, tenting his fingers.
…
ODP Cairo, November 8th, 10:41 AM, 2186
…
Standing at the edge of Cairo Station's command deck, I stared through one of the few observation ports the station risked having. The spacedocks were at their current peak capacity, with hundreds of various classes, sizes, and designs flying around in an odd orchestra of metal and weightlessness. Pinpricks of light could be seen far into the distance as countless numbers of plasma torches and other cutting devices stripped away damaged components and readied the way for new ones.
Seeing several of our Phantom-class ships jump into view, I watched quietly as the last of our latest recon picket returned from the void between the Traverse and the edges of our space. Luckily, their stealth systems completely hid them from Reaper scans, allowing them to shadow the enemy forces without threat of detection. Sure enough, Old Dan's rough coordinates revealed a continually moving Reaper fleet consisting of dozens of Reaper classes, spearheaded by seven Sovereign-classes. It was the largest fleet of Reaper warships anyone had seen before the fall of Earth and many of its innermost colonies.
Even with platforms like the Cairo on defense and the full might of our fleets, taking down so many ships before they had a chance to barrel through our defenses was statistically impossible. The only things we had on our side at the moment were distance and time. The void the Reapers needed to cross to get to us was massive, and they required frequent stops along the way to discharge the static they had built up in their massive drive cores. Due to the relative lack of worlds between us and the high stresses they could withstand, this was commonly done around the orbit of a star. This gave us a simple, but potentially brilliant idea.
Our plan was to trigger a coronal ejection on PX-192, one of the stars in their path. PX-192 was a surprisingly unstable star, frequently ejecting solar matter into the space around it. Not only would triggering an ejection on its surface be far easier than normal, but the high density of heated particles around it at any given time would blind Reaper sensors for however long they were in orbit. It didn't matter how tough of a ship you had, just getting grazed by the superheated plasma from an ejection would be more than enough to reduce you to a cluster of tiny particles.
Though I knew it wasn't likely for all the ships to be destroyed if all went to plan, them losing at least a fifth of their forces would give us a fighting chance to defend ourselves. Even causing a delay to get more forces into position would be a massive benefit.
While Dan, Dimitri, and Mara were busy figuring out exactly what it would take to trigger a coronal ejection of any meaningful magnitude, I was making myself useful coordinating the local fleet with Mal, Pistis, Iolin, and Koris. We all knew what was at stake here, and we were all fighting to pull as much weight as possible in case the worst happened.
"Admiral, the recon ships are reporting in." Captain Keno announced, getting me to turn around and face him as I pulled down on the bottom of my bomber jacket. "Still no signs of detection. Should we send them back out once they've finished refueling?"
"No, hold them in the yard for a few hours so their stealth systems can get a once over." I denied, taking the datapad from him. "We don't need to put their lives at risk overexerting their heat sinks and other systems."
"Understood. I'll make sure the work orders are put on the priority list." He nodded, walking off and leaving me alone once more.
I pulled one of the newest Galleon-class corvettes from the shipyard for Old Dan's personal use, knowing he'd need more transportation than the shuttle he escaped the Osiris on. I even took the liberty of gutting the PLS projector and setting him up with a full lab module. After the meeting the other day, he was given a new identity and got "assigned" to the Crucible Project to keep him as far away from us as possible. While I had my doubts about him staying put for long after everything he'd been through all those years, I hoped he might be able to relax and help our progress. He had done more than enough.
Turning back to the datapad in my hands, I started reading the reports the ships had sent. The Reapers were still moving as quickly as they could, though we could keep pace with them without them even knowing we were there at all. At their current course, they'd be here in about seven days, maybe less if we managed to pull off our plan without any mistakes.
Before I could read any further, my omni-tool beeped and began playing the "Gunbarrel" theme from Goldeneye. Old Dan was calling.
"Sean here." I answered, standing at attention as I tried to focus my attention on the view outside.
"Hey, I just got done looking through this ship, and I just…" He paused, seemingly at a loss for words. "...I can't believe you did something this nice for me. It's perfect."
"I'm glad you like it." I smiled, knowing a single Galleon-class was more than he expected at a time like this. "Afterall, you should like it considering you designed it."
"Really? Hm… it does seem to tick all my boxes." He joked, getting me to chuckle a bit. "Listen, I wasn't going to bring this up, but I eavesdropped on your plan for PX-192. There is one design you and I came up with years ago that I didn't include in that data dump. It's… incredibly dangerous, but could be the deciding factor in this battle."
"I thought you said you were done keeping secrets from me." I chastised, suddenly feeling a bit annoyed.
"This is different. This is far more dangerous than anything you've ever imagined." He defended, genuinely making me curious. "If I show this to you and you agree to build it, you can never use it again and everything related to its development must be destroyed."
I thought about his proposal for a moment, unable to shake the feeling of curiosity that was beginning to run away with me.
"Very well, send it." I agreed, willing to accept his terms.
"No. This is something I have to show you myself." He denied, somehow making me even more curious than before. "Come to my ship, the…um..."
"Phoenix. You should call it the Phoenix." I cut in, getting a pause from his end.
"That's… pretty good. Yes, meet me on the Phoenix." He agreed, cutting the call off a second later.
With a reluctant sigh of resignation, I turned on my heel and left the command deck, beginning my walk back to my shuttle. The more I dwelled on what Dan alluded to, the more uneasy I began to feel. I knew Old Dan was a little crazy, but if he thought this was as dangerous as he claimed it was… maybe it could be enough to save Reach.
…
MSV Phoenix, November 8th, 11:30 AM, 2186
…
Walking through the small docking tube, I opened the airlock and after a short decon cycle, found myself inside one of the newest Galleon-classes, Old Dan's newly-dubbed Phoenix. Music was playing loudly in the background, which I immediately recognized as Philip Bailey's "Love Is Alive". The ship was markedly similar to the prototype Discovery we had flown on when we discovered Turviss, but there were some notable differences. First, the bulkheads had a much cleaner, uniformed shine to them, and it was better lit on top of it. I knew there were numerous improvements to the ship's systems, including a reworking of the power grid to fix the burnout issue we had experienced.
I really had to appreciate what Dan had accomplished with the Galleon-class, considering he designed it in a haze of insomnia. He had created a low-cost ship that was easily mass-produced and modular, allowing it to be adopted to just about any role imaginable. At this point in the war, there were entire patrol flotillas consisting almost entirely of Galleons, with either a Frigate or Cruiser to lead them. Dan's P.L.S. and the Admiralty's decision to arm all the Galleons with them had turned it into one of the biggest boons in the Confederation's short history.
Looking around, Old Dan was nowhere to be seen as the music echoed from the bulkhead below the bridge. Boxes of gear from his shuttle littered the area, giving the place a very cluttered feeling. I walked through to the new science module to find him working on something already.
"Hey there, Dan!" I greeted in a yell, getting him to make eye contact with me and turn down the music. It started fading out, instead playing Supertramp's "The Logical Song". "You're looking better than before. Your physical went well?"
"Apparently I have a bit of a vitamin B deficiency and need to put on some weight, but other than that I'm as healthy as they come." He grinned, looking rather satisfied with himself. "I think those provisions I had on the shuttle expired."
"I don't even want to imagine how old they must have been." I shook my head as he turned back to what he had been working on.
"Check this out. I found it in the shuttle, forgot it was in there." He remarked drawing my attention to the large gun sitting on the newly broken-in workbench. "I based it off your plasma guns, trying to tune it into something a bit better. I call it the Ionized Plasma Accelerator."
"As opposed to the Ionized Plasma Projector, I get it. What improvements have you made?" I played along, knowing the real subject could wait when dealing with Old Dan.
"For one, I've increased the magnetic field output by 23%, and overcharged the plasma injectors to increase the power behind each shot." He explained, hefting its bulk as well as he could for his age. "Think of it as a long-range, anti-material version of your gun."
"Interesting… we were trying to figure out something like this a few months ago before we started adopting the Pulse Rifles." I remarked as he handed the rifle to me, surprising me with how light it felt despite the size.
If Mara and I's Plasma Rifle was, say, an M4A1 carbine, then this was more akin to an M240 machine gun. It was nearly twice the size of our currently-issued ones, but despite this it barely felt a hair heavier. I obviously couldn't test it here, but I had no reason to doubt Old Dan's claims. I did, however, power up the gun without its plasma cell and listen to the hum of the new injectors.
"I didn't think I still had the prototype sitting around in the shuttle. I forgot I used it on Noveria until this morning." He casually remarked, getting an immediate set of narrowed eyes from me which he quickly noticed. "You know what, forget I said that."
"That's probably for the best." I agreed without a second thought, handing the gun back to him. "So…"
"So..." He repeated, placing the gun carefully back on the table. He stared into the space away from me for a moment, turning off the music and turning to face me. "Listen, I know I've been a bit of an eccentric screwball, but you should know I'm 100% serious about this idea. I'm not being funny or joking when I tell you it's important this never spreads to the governments of the galaxy, even this one."
"You have my word." I agreed, getting him to sigh deeply.
"Like many of our concepts, we were never able to implement it. Unlike those projects, however, we were afraid of it." He started, taking a blank piece of paper and writing down a spherical object of some kind. "I'm only telling you about it because I trust you."
He continued drawing his concept as best he could, given he wasn't particularly adept at freehand. As he started labeling parts of the picture, I began to understand what it was he was suggesting.
"Twelve nuclear warheads… an osmium core… Jesus Christ…" I exclaimed, covering the lower half of my face as the pieces fell into place.
"This is the Ares Device." He finally said, putting his pen down and handing me the paper. "Twelve of your newest hydrogen warheads are equally placed around a pure osmium core, surrounded by polystyrene and a thick titanium casing. Assuming detonation occurs perfectly, it would explode with approximately 800,000,000,000 kilotons of energy, with a kill radius of 110,000 kilometers and a flash radius somewhere between 270,000 to 280,000."
"Dan… this would briefly create a star if that osmium core managed to fuse properly." I pointed out, unable to visualize an explosion on such a scale. "I don't… I don't even know where to start."
"You have the ability to build it. That's a start." He pointed out, getting me to glare at him. "What? I know you have the nukes needed."
"Yeah, and that's nearly our entire stockpile up to this point." I pointed out, finally understanding what he was warning me about before. "I know, in theory, this would work, bu-"
"It will work." He immediately cut in, crossing his arms. "Not only is this thing capable of reducing any Reapers near it into subatomic particles, but it'll trigger the coronal ejection you're looking for as well."
"...buuuut, I see what you meant before about building it." I finished in a slightly strained tone, sitting down on a nearby stool. "Dan, if we build this, how are we supposed to do it without any paper trail? We can't just pull twelve nukes and not have anyone notice."
"Well, the unfortunate fact is that a handful of people have to know about this. They have to be people you know you can trust." He went on, sitting down across from me as the life support kicked back in, blowing cooler air into the compartment in response to the increased heat.
"Yeah, that's the catch." I nodded, feeling another wave of fatigue hit me. "Assuming we can even get this built, the Admiralty would have to know. I don't know how they'd react to the idea of such a weapon. Obviously my team would also need to know."
"The Admirals don't need to know the exact details behind its construction and true capabilities. The plan is to detonate it while a good chunk of the Reapers are dumping their static above a star, after all." He argued, urging me to do something I was honestly trying to not to these days. He wanted me to lie.
I knew there was only one option going forward. We had plenty of ideas for how to do this, sure, but none were substantial enough to affect something as large as a star. Firing ships with our Gravity Drive safeties removed and fields cranked to maximum would waste valuable ships and wasn't guaranteed to have the desired effect, Dan's P.L.S. wasn't powerful enough to disrupt the upper layers of a star even with combined fire, and any other ideas we had just wouldn't be able to cut it or be accomplished in time. We had everything we needed to build the Ares Device, and could build it in at least two days.
"Alright… fine. Help me write up a design document for this thing that we can easily destroy in the future." I agreed, opening up my omni-tool as he smiled. "I only want the most bare details included. If anyone questions the lack of data, I'll chalk it up to it being a rush job."
"You're lucky to have friends you can trust." He grinned, getting me to smile just a bit as he pulled his stool over next to mine. "Remember that."
"Trust me, there's plenty I'll remember after today." I nodded as we linked our omni-tools.
I hoped this wouldn't turn into one of the costliest mistakes of my life.
…
A/N: Another day, another chapter. Today I should be receiving my new GPU so hopefully the faster frequency of chapters have been enough to satiate you all for a while. I do plan on keeping up with my writing in one way or another, but either way it's better to expect the unexpected. Please leave a detailed review telling me what you think, or just telling me I've gone crazy. It helps either way.