Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or anything else referenced here. Those are the sole property of their writers/companies (Bioware/EA and such). I do not claim ownership of anything but my OC and original concepts.
List of track(s) used:
[1] – Slightly recommended track: Mass Effect 3 - Citadel: Lower Wards - 1 Hour of Music (part of the YT link: /watch?v=WorOGBhJBYU).
Chapter 14: Chilled Guns, Heated Talks (and Glory to Mankind!)
Citadel. Somewhere on the Presidium. Mid 2177 CE.
In a very luxurious room, filled with all sorts of delicacies and drinks from all around the galaxy, stood many individuals that could be said to belong to the "elite" of galactic society. Just like during the debut of Ad Astra, there were dignitaries, diplomats, representatives of top companies, military officers and so on. This time, however, there were more of them, a natural progression attributed to the company's success over the years. One fact remained the same though: everyone had come for the unveiling of new weapons technology. Once again, I'd decided to shake things up a little.
As was customary by now, the lights dimmed a little and the music became much quieter. The guests quickly took notice of the ambiance change and stopped their conversations. Then, I appeared in the middle of the room wearing a standard business suit, with a big scarf around my neck which covered much of the back of my skull, and gathered the crowd's attention.
"Hello, and welcome, everyone!", I began with the usual greeting, but also a subdued smile this time. "You already know me, so I'll skip the introductions and begin this presentation right away... I've often heard that, in this age of personal kinetic barriers, most firefights were usually won by the side who could put the rounds downrange the fastest.", I started off by bringing up one of the premises/justifications behind the creation of thermal clips. "However, combatants are forced to deliberately shoot slower, in order to manage waste heat, or just pause combat, as their weapons vent it to cool down.".
Everyone present agreed with that notion, some even nodding their heads. That was how most firefights went down when you had personal shields and firearms with virtually infinite ammunition that only needed a short time to cool down.
"However, some of our engineers at Ad Astra weren't satisfied with that, so they sought to challenge that assumption. And, after some hard work, they came up with a 'revolutionary' design that put this to the test; one that promised to make personal weapons undergo a massive shift.", I said with a dramatic flair.
This was a bit of a lie. It was me who guided them into the idea. But, for the purpose of this presentation, I needed to make someone a scapegoat, so as to point out the flaws of the whole thing before it was too late.
After a small pause, I gestured to a holographic projector in the middle of the room, from which a quick demonstration began, and continued: "They created detachable heatsinks, called thermal mags, which would gather all of the heat produced by the weapons, pump it into one of these 'mags' and eject it outside. By inserting a new one, the combatant would be able to continue firing without having to wait for the weapon to cool down on its own.", I explained as the situation was shown in the promotional vid.
It was a short test of the thermal mags being used and then "reloaded" in under a second. Nothing groundbreaking for those who already knew about it, but marvelous to the people gathered here. A lot of murmurs could be heard, slowly filling the room. The audience was enthralled by the notion. And I could already picture the thoughts of some of them: "They did it again!", "Shut up and take my credits!" and/or "How do they keep doing that?".
"Still, I kept a cool head, pun most definitely intended, and asked 'What's the catch? What are the downsides?' to them.", I had to drop an ice bucket on their heads. "They mentioned two to me: the need to carry thermal mags with you and the complete removal of the old cooling solution. This means that, without mags, weapons would be incapable of firing.", I said, emphasizing the "old" part. "But then they were quick to defend that the overall increase in firepower, both in output and rate of fire, would make up for the limitations. According to them, there would be a net gain with the switch to thermal mags.".
Watching their expressions, I figured that they would adopt the downgrade that was the concept of thermal "clips" when they "realized" that, after the Geth War, "modern" engagements were not long battles of attrition. Rather, they were more of a series of short, staccato battles. As a result, limited ammunition was not that great of a setback to them, since battles rarely would last long enough to warrant worrying about it. This probably contributed heavily to the final decision to roll out thermal "clips" instead of keeping their self-cooling weapons.
Looking at things in retrospect, I bet they regretted that notion the second the Reaper War kicked off. The "old-style" guns would probably have the same reverence that the AK-47 once had with guerrilla fighters and revolutionaries. To me, the Particle Rifle developed by the Prothean resistance revealed this to be the case. They were forced to create weapons not reliant on intact supply lines, which ended up with a rifle that was still considered to be "a deadly, efficient weapon" in this Cycle, just as the self-cooling weapons would be.
Returning my attention to the event, I could only sigh internally as I watched some people nodding their heads in agreement with that defense.
"Do you know what my response to that was?", I teased with a small smile. They looked to be trying to figure out what this human was implying. The logic was, after all, sound. If you outshot your enemies, given armor and shields didn't diverge too much, then limited ammo mattered less. "It's better to show you what I did…", I stated, then gestured to a table that had been previously set up in the venue, moving towards it and removing its cover.
Lying on top of it were two standard Lancer assault rifles and a basic Kessler pistol, all of them unmodded, a few thermal mags and a "primitive" weapon trap. Closeby to the table stood two "dummy" targets, with "damage" indicators clearly shown right above them.
"I'd considered simply showing a vid, but ultimately felt that a live demonstration would get the point across much better.", I explained my actions to the audience. "For the purpose of this demonstration, a member of our hired private security company, Hell's Angels, will be joining me. Please, let's give a round of applause for him.…".
The crowd complied as a tall figure, clearly a male turian by his silhouette, moved closer to the table and greeted me before grabbing one of the rifles and putting the thermal mags onto his power armor. Once a farmer from the planet Triginta Petra, he was now one of the oldest turians who had decided to join us. I also took one of the rifles and the pistol, both of which used the "old" cooling system, and also equipped the weapon strap.
No one in this venue was worried that we'd start shooting at them, especially considering the C-Sec presence here – albeit a light one, only composed of those few who still wanted to keep an eye on us. They made no moves to stop us, since our corporation was very trusted nowadays, but I could see they were fidgeting nervously.
"You see, I took a Lancer assault rifle, a Kessler pistol, both with the 'old' cooling design, and this marvelous technology called a 'weapon strap'...", I narrated as we both took aim at the targets, with my "clumsily" showcase being a stark contrast with the professional weapon handling done by my partner in the demonstration, "... and then did just this!".
We both began shooting at the same time until our weapons were close to their limits. His rifle spewed out a few more rounds and did a bit more damage than mine, but we finished this first round almost at the same time. However, our next move diverged massively: while he popped out the thermal mag, swiftly loading a new and proceeding with the shooting, I casually let my rifle be held by the weapon strap, then "clumsily" picked up the pistol from its holster and continued to shoot at the target. It happened with almost no delay between "reloads". And all of this was done while mimicking a professional and an inexperienced shooter, respectively.
Afterwards, we kept doing it over and over again, with the only difference being the fact his damage indicator slowly pulled ahead of mine… until he ran out of thermal mags, which didn't take long, and his rifle refused to fire anymore with a bunch of clicking sounds. Then, not too long after, my damage indicator caught up to his own, only to excel it as I continued firing my rifle with no problems. With the point proven, we stopped shooting and someone came to take the weapons away. I then turned my focus to the audience…
"You see, when your weapon is close to overheating, just switch to your sidearm – and vice-versa. It can be as fast as switching thermal mags, as long as it isn't done by a novice shooter.", I spoke casually as many of them gawked. "When the sidearm is also close to overheating, just go back to the rifle, which should be pretty much cooled down by then. Sure, by using the thermal mags as a cooling solution, you get a little bit more damage done at first. But what happens when you run out of 'ammo'?".
Realization finally hit them and cooler heads prevailed, pun intended. If you had problems with the downtime, then just carry a sidearm. This was merely one of the issues behind the premise of thermal "clips", since it forgets that combatants can carry other weapons other than their main ones. And that pistol could have easily been switched to a powerful SMG, such as the M-12 Locust.
"Oh, it's not ammunition, they also claimed, because you still have nigh-infinite 'bullets'. It's just that you can't fire your weapon without these 'mags'. So, they aren't 'ammunition'; they merely restrict your ability to fire in exactly the same way that 'ammunition' does.", I said in a playful tone and complemented in my mind: Yet don't even have the benefits of using full sized rounds, such as putting some of the cooling solution and energy there and making it a delivery system of anything we want (incendiary explosives, nanites, acid, etc.), like we'll do when there's no more need for subtlety.
"For the military folk here, that means having to deal with a whole new logistical nightmare. Moreover, it's almost worthless for sniper rifles, since it limits their 'ammo' to, sometimes, only ten rounds – when the whole idea of sniping is taking your time between shots, with the gun slowly cooling down by the passage of time itself.", I spoke, gesturing dismissively, then thought about making a joke to lighten the mood for the next segment. "If we don't want firefights to only last one minute or less, maybe we'd need to spread crates of thermal mags everywhere in the galaxy – just to make ends meet. Or go through enemy combatants' possessions looking for new mags…".
That actually got a laugh from some of the audience, due to the sheer absurdity of it, when they imagined how ridiculous it would be to randomly find supply crates everywhere, even in desolate places. I didn't need to speak further, as they themselves began considering all sorts of issues when taking into account the practicality of just carrying an extra gun. After a while, I continued the presentation, getting to the main part…
"Ladies, gentlemen, both, neither and everything else in between, we're not gathered here today for the launch of these thermal mags per se, but to showcase the next generation of weapon heatsinks and cooling solutions.", I snapped my finger and once again gestured to the middle of the room, from which a fancy presentation began playing…
A series of high-quality animations dazzled the audience, while a fitting track played in the background, rapidly showing the heatsink system present inside of a common assault rifle. Afterwards, the weapon was shown being held up by a nondescript combatant, who began firing it until it was close to overheating and then stopped to vent the built-up waste heat. In the next moment, the rifle began firing once again until its limits; however, something else happened: the animations showed the waste heat being vented outwards and, at the same time, being directed to a detachable heatsink. When this "thermal mag" was saturated, the combatant moved the rifle towards a storage device situated on the armor, which locked it magnetically for a brief moment while an automatic mechanism rotated the "spent" thermal mag with an unused one – and began cooling down. With that finally done, the combatant took aim again and continued pulling the trigger, since the weapon's heatsinks had cooled down a bit, until the new thermal mag was also saturated, but then ejected it from the weapon and inserted a new one manually, showing that the option still existed.
Those watching didn't know this, but the device where the spent thermal mags would be stored to cool down was made with the same cryo technology that could be found in Omni-tools, which were capable of firing "a mass of supercooled subatomic particles" (bose-einstein condensate), as well as with some inspiration taken from Prothean stasis tech (lifepod).
"As you can see, we didn't completely abandon the concept of detachable heatshinks, just made the idea into an actual improvement. After all, our current weapon cooling solution doesn't work in space or low pressure atmosphere battles, since there's no place for heat to 'vent' in those environments, but the thermal mags can help with that.", I pointed out one of the real benefits of the original concept. "Basically, we of Ad Astra, in conjunction with all other members of the parent corporation, the Atlas Foundation, have developed heatsinks with the best of both worlds!".
This implementation of the detachable heatsinks idea was good enough for the galaxy's current needs. To me, what really mattered, at least for the time being, was establishing an "universal" format/design of it for all to use. This was something we planned on doing with this event.
And, just like that, another leap forward was made by the Atlas Foundation, a corporation founded to hold up the heavens, to reach for the stars and to remain ever vigilant.
In the same place. Half an hour later.
After a somewhat lengthy exposition segment, followed by a short Q&A section, the crowd had dispersed into smaller groups to have their own conversations, surely making plans on how to deal with what would be the new reality going forward. Despite finally getting some respite to recharge the proverbial batteries, which I knew was merely temporary, I was also having a chat with someone…
They're going wild over this. I bet some will want to try their own implementation of the 'detachable heatsink' concept. I scoffed mentally to the other voice in my head. I wonder just how many of these bastards presente here, all hiding behind smiles, once tried to send spies to us. One would think the salarians would be the worst offenders, but no; the asari were.
Out of the more important companies and corporations here, most have tried at least once. The keyword being 'tried', of course. Gaia replied with a nonchalant tone. Speaking of the salarians, even if they can't compete with the corporations of the Republics, the STG is still trying its best to make up for difference. They're really obstinate, I'll give 'em that.
Hehe, I wonder how many of them we got with the old Rick in the USB. I said amusedly, drinking in the schadenfreude. In fact, I've been thinking about creating its successor, something like a 'Project Sandstorm'. They'll probably think it's got something to do with the M-490 Blackstorm. Or, at least, something related to it.
Just using the Shadow Broker Network to catch them wasn't enough, you had to give them mental grief too, right? Gaia asked rhetorically.
Of course! Serves them right for poking around where they shouldn't. Maybe they'll actually start trying to develop their own tech, rather than just stealing from others. I stated, not bothered at all by the anguish suffered by those STG agents. It was one thing to get inspiration from other people's inventions, or to use available caches of technology to develop your own, like we did; but it was something else entirely to only try and blatantly steal from others, as the salarians did all the time.
The Old Broker would never have imagined how far we'd push his Network… and that it'd one day be used to prank big players like the STG. She commented, putting an end to the topic.
By the way, I heard Horizon's finally getting a proper colony this year, right? I asked her something that suddenly crossed my mind, getting an affirmative response back – the digital equivalent of a nod. I think we should reach out. Slowly brush up our reputation with that colony until we're 'venerated', you know? Also, at the same time, look out for a certain future comms specialist with a thing for sexy female voices.
There you are, using gaming terminology… Did Loki possess you when I wasn't looking? Gaia quipped. But yes, I agree. We should support her studies this time. Ms. '6000 credits toothbrush' is one of my favorites after all.
Really? I never knew you had favorites. I said while she shrugged mentally to me. But why her? Is it because of the voice thing?
Who knows? Try to figure it out… On a different note, but also related to someone with a recognizable voice, guess who has managed to sneak in. Gaia cheerfully brought up all of a sudden. I'll give you another hint: cheerleader.
Cheerleader? Oh… I thought in realization. About time I got to meet her. Any longer and I would've started thinking about looking for her myself!
Well, we don't need to worry about that anymore. I think she's looking for you specifically, my DS partner told me her assessment of the situation.
Interesting… TIM took long enough to decide to approach us; but, when he finally did, he sent the big guns. I made a comment of my own.
Can you really blame him? As a human and with this businessman persona, you've helped humanity get a better foothold in the galaxy, but did so while promoting integration rather than supremacy, while still being quite critical of the Alliance, she theorized. TIM must've been conflicted on how to deal with you, as well as our group, until now. But I guess he's finally had enough. Though I wonder what changed…
Maybe it was due to the second conflict our 'hired' forces had with them? I guessed a reason, or one of them. The second conflict that he knows of, of course.
Likely what spurred him to finally make a move, but I believe there are other factors at play here. Gaia informed me. Heads up. She's coming behind you. By the way, are you going to further one of the main goals of Project Heracles now?
That's my hope, yes. I sent her my expectations and prepared myself. Call Kasumi over and give her that 'package' from the Project. It's time to make some major headway on that front.
Slowly turning around, I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. There she was. Miranda "Perfect Woman™" Lawson. Armed with her long black hair, tight red dress and black high heel boots just above the knee, she was already starting to master the use of her looks to throw off the opposite party in a negotiation.
"Hello, Mr. Skywalker. You're hard men to get a hold of. It's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance.", she said in her Australian accent through a fake smile.
"Thank you. I've been told that by a lot of people.", I said casually, not letting her beauty affect me. "It's just that I'm always traveling, either for business or adventure.". That was technically truth, which was the best kind of truth. It's just that my "business" usually involved putting bullets in the criminal elements of the Terminus and the "adventure" consisted of many conflicts in a series of small-scale wars.
"Oh, where are my manners? Let me introduce myself…", given my deadpan expression, she'd decided to adopt a more business-like approach. "My name is Miranda Lawson and I represent a pro-human organization. Our core belief is that humans deserve a greater role in the galactic community. In fact, our goal of advancing humanity's ascension aligns with the work you have been doing all these years. So, we've decided to reach out.".
"Is that so…? I would like to know more.", was my deadpan response, while faking interest and also hiding my disappointment that she didn't get the reference. "Come with me. Let's talk in a more private place.". I motioned to an area previously set up for discreet conversations like this one, which was close to a glass railing farther away from the guests.
"Like I said, we are a group dedicated to promoting humanity, so that we might ensure that humans are able to walk on the Citadel without the sneers from any aliens, like the turians, or the condescension that the Alliance faces from alien governments.", Miranda began her pitch and then reluctantly added one last part. "Actually, you've been… unexpectedly very helpful with that goal.".
"So I've heard… You managing to get here is a testament to your… group's connections. However, there's one thing I'm confused about: if you're all about promoting humankind, then why didn't you come together with the Alliance's associates?", I asked her with furrowed brows.
Where we were standing, no one would be able to read our lips. This place was also filled with all sorts of jammers, while Gaia was keeping an optic out for any eavesdropping.
"Due to the way we operate, most of our work is done outside of Alliance jurisdiction.", the future Ice Queen stated.
"Strange, one would think that an organization claiming to represent human interests may, at least in some capacity, try to associate itself with the main human polity…", I pointed out with a pause, trying to see how she would react. "...that way, it might be able to maximize its potential and reach.".
Miranda shook her head immediately. "Unfortunately, the Systems Alliance is short-sighted and too hamstrung by agreements that were forced on them by alien governments, laws or even public opinion to stand up effectively to the other alien races.", she stated with a sigh. "As a non-governmental organization, we can move without such restrictions.".
"I see. Makes sense. Ever since the Alliance bent over backwards for the Council, we had to give up a lot of future paths, such as any ideals of transhumanism. Sure, we're rapidly advancing technologically, but that's only temporary – until we have parity with the rest of the species. After that, it's very likely that we'd get dragged into the same stagnation that the galaxy has been in for millenia.", my speech got through to her, as was my intent. "So, what are you asking?".
"We're reaching out to certain individuals or groups who would be open to partner with us – or possibly provide financial aid, as a sponsor, in the event that we would require it –, so that we might better accomplish our goals.", she prepared to finish the pitch. "We believe that the corporation you represent, Atlas Foundation, would be a great ally in that regard. So, we would like to extend an olive branch.".
After that, there was a pause, accompanied by an almost awkward silence.
"Ok, I've heard enough. Miss Lawson, you've told me a lot of vague beliefs and goals, but nothing concrete about how you'd go about accomplishing them.", I looked her dead in the eyes. "And, before anything else, you didn't even tell me the name of your 'group'. Well, what is it?".
After hesitating for a bit, she admitted: "Our organization is called Cerberus.".
"Ah, yes. 'Cerberus'...", I stated, not missing those extremely obnoxious air quotes, "...The terrorist organization allegedly working for the benefit of humankind. Ever since Pragia and Akuze, we have dismissed that claim!". And then waved off my right hand dismissively, to complete the reference. Miranda looked as irritated as many were after seeing the original scene for the first time.
Her prior hesitation was warranted. Differently from the original turn of events, Cerberus was more infamous. Much of that was thanks to all the negative exposure two of our more public acts against them had. While Pragia was almost completely swept under the rug by the Alliance and Akuze was kept within its military/intelligence branches, they still did some real damage to that terrorist organization's image/reputation. And I figured TIM had to work up a sweat doing some damage control. Still, it wouldn't change anything major, because one thing that this galaxy never lacked was gullible fools.
"I can assure you, Mr. Skywalker, those were rogue elements. And believe me when I say that the 'terrorist' label is just Alliance propaganda.", she defended herself. "Personally, I'm happy that those rogue cells were taken care of. In fact, I believe it was your contracted security, Hell's Angels, who di-".
"Rogue elements, is it? Don't think I'll ever buy that excuse when talking about Cerberus!", I cut her off abruptly. "If there's one thing I know, it's that your big boss is a very paranoid and controlling man, to the point of utter obsession and megalomania. Nothing happens in his organization without his orders or implicit approval. Nothing.".
"You seem to know him very well…", Miranda narrowed her eyes, though I couldn't tell if it was for some misbegotten sense of loyalty, trying to protect TIM, or just personal curiosity about the "big boss".
"More than you would think possible.", I spoke in a business-like tone. "As for your offer, tell your boss that we of the Atlas Foundation are not interested in any kind of partnership or sponsor with Cerberus in the foreseeable future. Besides, the only point of contention between us is regarding the competition some of our businesses may bring against yours, those unlike Skunkworks of course, which I'm sure should be decided by the market, and not tby errorist acts. That is… if he isn't afraid to lose all his 'shell' companies.".
"Skunkworks?", she raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"You clearly don't know much about the people you work for, don't you?", I took a small dig at her, whose face tightened noticeably. "Well, it's a small arms company that's under the umbrella company Cerberus. But here's the interesting thing: despite being registered for years, it hasn't put so much as a single pistol on the market. Intriguing, isn't it?".
"Weapons manufacturing is only a small part of what we can do.", she tried to justify her ignorance through stiff lips.
"Then we really have no conflict of interest between us.", I then remembered a quote that could fit here perfectly. "Oh, and tell TIM that, as far as humanity is concerned, he has his methods and we have ours.".
"TIM?", she asked reflexively again, now clearly even more confused.
"The Illusive Man. But it could also mean The Idiotic Moron if you prefer...", I nonchalantly spoke as her right eye twitched a bit. "This ends our 'official' discussion. Now, let's talk about something actually productive for once.".
"And what would that be?", she inquired guardedly.
I looked her right in the eyes, not breaking contact a single moment, and stated seriously: "Miranda, the truth is that I know Cerberus very well. Much more than you in fact. And it isn't the 'vanguard' of humanity, only of itself. You've probably only gotten into contact with more 'nuanced' cells, but the bulk of the people working there are either useful idiots or the kind that, for example, likes to run pseudo-science 'experiments' on humans.", she looked like she wanted to say something, but I was quicker. "I also happen to see that you're different. You've joined for the 'cause' Cerberus professes and actually believes in its goals of protecting humanity.".
As the silence fell for a brief moment, she appeared to be moved by my words, at least at a glance. I said no more though, not here, even with all security measures in place.
"That's why I want to give you an opportunity to learn what Cerberus is actually all about.", I offered her while taking out a small data chip. "You have two choices. First one, the story ends here; you walk away and believe whatever you want to believe. Second one, you take this; I'll send someone to contact you with information TIM wouldn't want you to know and then you'll see just how deep the rabbit-hole really goes.".
After saying that, I pushed the chip closer to her, who appeared to have been completely caught off guard. The only thing missing was a pince-nez sunglasses here.
"What's on it?", she asked, clearly not sure anymore what to expect.
"An extranet address. A very secure one, I can assure you of that.", I spoke with a smile. After joining Thane, Daedalus made sure that our communications were simply airtight. He had taken the Network and crafted it into a veritable labyrinth of security. "You can use it to contact me. So, what shall it be?".
Miranda only took a few seconds to decide, snatching the chip from my hand.
"Farewell, but do be careful with that. We'll be in contact soon, I'm sure.", I said confidently.
With that said and the seed of doubt planted, I moved away, leaving her alone. In fact, we could have continued talking, but that would have been the wrong approach in my view, as it was better to let her see our information and, only then, make up her own mind on what to do about it. Besides, this really was the wrong place to do what I was planning.
And there was something to be said about this exchange. Miranda didn't appear to be as "experienced" as her 2185 CE version, considering that I was able to guide this small chat to where I wanted. Despite being almost 27 years old by now, since she was born in 2150 CE, she must not have spent enough time with Cerberus – barely a decade, considering that she'd ran away from her father in 2166 CE, when Oriana was a baby (Oriana was nearing her 19th birthday in 2185 CE).
Therefore, as batshit crazy as TIM was, I doubt he would've been sending her on missions when she was just a teenager. Miranda had probably been sent to some kind of university, as it would have been an utter waste not to continue her education. She wasn't just biotics and looks, but smarts too. To me, these were the two factors at play here.
Moreover, my feeling after this short meeting was that her sense of right and wrong hadn't yet been twisted, like it would gradually happen in the future, when she would always have excuses or defenses for everything Cerberus did. Regardless of how comically evil and/or stupid it was. Especially in those cases.
Unlike the future Ice Queen, who needed an entire journey with Shepard to finally realize how shitty Cerberus was and quit, this younger version of Miranda had yet to become that organization's cheerleader. And I was prepared to capitalize hard on that.
Firstly, by breaking the web of illusions crafter by that villainous trickster.
Then, by showing her an alternative path; a different solution.
In another room of the venue. A few minutes later.
After Miranda, another important individual also approached me. This time, it was a certain future Captain of the Systems Alliance, one who had become the liaison between us and the main human polity. Seeing him after dealing with all the backstabbing here was a breath of fresh air. And it certainly brought a genuine smile to my face.
"Anderson, good to see a friendly face around here!", I offered him a handshake.
"Likewise, Sam.", he replied, shaking my hand with a smile. "Your group has done it again! Just when we began thinking shields would be unrivaled after the release of Cyclonic tech, and that vid of the Commander that's still circulating, Ad Astra manages to make weapons deadly again.".
"You already know how we operate. If The Powers That Be aren't restless with the tech we make, then we're doing something wrong!", I quipped, earning a small laugh from him. "So, tell me. What can I do for you?".
"Nothing in particular. I just wanted to thank you for all the help you've given us over the years. Who knows how badly our colonies would have suffered otherwise.", he spoke in a genuine and thankful tone, then sighed deeply. "And even with your… critique of some of the Alliance's policies. Some hard truths just have to be said or there'd be no change.".
"Hey, I got more where they came from, if you want.", I said with a big smile, thinking about those bits of advice I had stored for after dealing with Nazara. And some of the measures the Alliance had taken bore great results, especially at the start of the Blitz.
"That's good to hear, though I'd ask you to take it a little easier on us next time.", he said humorously, but then got serious, getting closer to me, and spoke a little quieter. "But, from what I heard – and this is something you didn't get from me –, there's a huge operation coming up to take out a major part of the batarians'... deniable assets. We might even halt the yearly invasion of the Traverse by the Terminus Systems. For a while at least. I thought you'd like to know about it, all things considered.".
"That sounds… exactly like the kind of thing that the Commander would be interested in.", I hinted heavily to him. "Maybe the Alliance should get in touch with Hell's Angels, perhaps try to make it into a joint operation. After all, when dealing with batarians, be it either their deniable assets or just private entrepreneurs, they're always up for it.".
"Now that's an interesting idea. I'll bring it up with my superiors.", he said. Anderson then stopped momentarily and, after some hesitation, said to me: "It can't be just my imagination, but… you appear taller than last time we met. In fact, I think you're as tall as the Commander!".
"Ha, you noticed it, didn't you? That's right! I am. Remember Anhur? The slave camps and those charities that sprang up to fix bone loss?", I asked a series of pointed questions. He nodded as he held his chin in thought, the realization slowly dawning. "This is one of the results of that. VersaLife has developed various medical treatments, amongst them was a procedure to increase height through bone lengthening. We'll be releasing it this year.".
"So that's how it is!", he exclaimed, slamming his right fist onto his left palm and leaving it there for some time. "And I imagine the Commander must've been one of the first to test this procedure, as he always does.".
I merely gestured affirmatively, keeping the small and harmless deception. We couldn't let anyone know the real reach of our genetic and nanotech augmentations, as they already violated Council space's restrictive laws. And it would only get "worse" with time, more so the new breakthroughs coming up. Needing a DS companion with you at all times to hack scanners, feeding them with fake/falsified information, was merely an annoyance, but one that we nonetheless needed to constantly keep in mind.
"You know… it's incredible just how far we've come technologically.", I commented. "There was a time when something like this bone lenghtening process took a risky, many months long, incapacitating series of surgeries, with a lot of bone breaking and healing, just for you to grow a few centimeters taller. But now…".
"Tell me about it.", he spoke reminiscently. "I don't know about you, but, when I was born, aliens were just science fiction to us. Now, after we've found that cache on Mars, they're everywhere and we can barely keep up with all the technological advances!". I nodded affirmately.
"Speaking of aliens, there's something very alien, I mean at the level of the old vid, that the Commander has discovered in the Terminus…", I suddenly brought up with an eerily quiet tone. "They've found some artifacts there, the kind that predates even the Protheans and can do some very grisly things to people. Only a husk remains when they're done. Worse, they seem to have mind-control abilities, even driving those who get too comfortable with them insane and turning them into cultists who can only talk about our inevitable destruction. And he suspects those might've been spread all over the galaxy…".
"Well, that doesn't sound good. What does he plan to do?", he questioned me with furrowed brows and a troubled look.
"From what he told me, he's thinking about creating some kind of joint Task Force with the Alliance to get to the bottom of it.", I responded. "But, and this is why I'm bringing this up only with you, it'd require absolute secrecy. He worries what consequences investigating it haphazardly might cause and that some of our good neighbors, who had been exploring the galaxy for millenia, might've already been compromised by those things…".
Anderson narrowed his eyes at me, but promised nonetheless: "I'll have a talk with Hackett and see what we can do. Don't worry about it. If it's as bad as he thinks it is, we'll take the necessary precautions.".
He didn't know, but this would be the genesis of a certain Task Force, one meant to lay the foundations to get the Alliance prepared for what was to come. This time around, we'd also be able to prevent a certain doctor's death. It'd be a careful balancing act between feeding them enough intel on the cuttlefish and holding back the big reveal for the right time.
With that said, we chatted a bit more before we said our farewells. While moving away from everyone, I could see a different scene going on in the venue. Data streams filled the air around us, some of them being intertwined, in a never ending river of information. They represented all the incoming and outgoing communications between the guests and those not present. It was Gaia's act of assigning meaning to all the signals traveling the air which allowed me to see this world unseen.
Curiously, there were also a few geth programs hidden in the streams. While they kept the rest of the galaxy away from themselves, they still monitored its communications and the extranet. I still remembered how the geth had falsified a report on the extranet detailing a constellation resembling some salarian goddess seen from the batarian homeworld, which prompted a few salarians to immediately believe it to be proof of the deity's existence. The experiment ended when a salarian cult attempted to buy the rights to the stars, only to find that they didn't exist at all.
This, unfortunately, posed a bit of a problem for us. We had to be careful when bringing a DS here, because they had to hide from the geth until we knew for sure that the "schism" had occurred, otherwise Nazara would learn things that were best kept secret for the time being. After that, though… things would become much more interesting…
Still, it didn't mean we couldn't come with a DS, as I had been doing, only that some limits had to be imposed while doing so. For one, they couldn't just start hacking everything like crazy, as that might reveal their existence. On the other hand, while only synched with me through the neural link/implant, one connected by a high-bandwidth QB, no one could find and/or detect them, much less discover our conversations. Accomplishing that wouldn't be much different from reading my mind.
As for my mind, we were steadily marching in a direction where we'd have almost as much direct control over our technology as a Digital Sentience. This could already be done with a few specialized pieces of technology, one example of which was a small neural-interface meant to allow us to control drones with our thoughts, but I wanted it developed much further. To break the barriers between our different types of existences. I wondered what the geth would feel about something like this.
And there was something else I'd wondered about. After all, they'd seen the presentation, where I showed a better implementation of "their" concept of detachable heatsinks.
Would I get sued by the geth?
Citadel. In one of the Lower Wards. Roughly an hour later.
For a few long minutes already, Miranda had been staring at that data chip, lost in thought while fiddling with it. Rather than just being a contact address to be shared with anyone, it needed a physical connection with an Omni-tool to reveal the address, which would then be lost after removal. If a casual contact address handling could already be so elaborate, she wondered what else was hidden behind that man's offer…
[1]
The mission this time had seemed simple enough at first: go to the presentation, meet the representative of the multinational, multispecies Atlas corporation, offer him a partnership and maybe even flirt with the guy to get him to spill some secrets. What she didn't expect was receiving an offer to learn all the "dirty secrets" of Cerberus, especially some that The Illusive Man supposedly kept from her, and all of that for free. Still, the problem was she'd need to meet a "contact", something which could easily be a trap.
Postponing the problem for a later date, she'd decided to focus on writing the report of the failure to The Illusive Man, with emphasis on the fact that the target did not have a positive opinion of Cerberus and a copy, word-for-word, of Mr. Skywalker's "official" reply. Not her fault, was the implied message. Deal with it, was what was left unsaid. He'd probably not like the response, especially after finally deciding to reach out.
Nevertheless, even with that out of the way, there was still the elephant in the room to deal with. In this case, the elephant in the café she had been staying at. Miranda still had that extranet address to schedule a meeting with someone who would, supposedly, provide her with sensitive information. The kind that could make her disappear if handled poorly; the kind that she had enough awareness to know Cerberus would kill for, even if it was one of their trusted operatives. After all, they had done so for much less.
The problem was that Ms. Lawson had always been very curious and, from an early age, always preferred knowing something rather than living in ignorance. As such, there was no way she would let this opportunity go. However, she couldn't do it from home, which was paid for by Cerberus, since she knew better than to think that her apartment hadn't been bugged. So, she'd decided to go to a hidden personal safehouse on the Citadel.
Leaving the café and calling up the Rapid Transit, not forgetting to bypass the restriction on biotic amps with a hacking program, she drove to a spot near the place. Only in there would she contact the – now very much shrouded in mystery – "Mr. Representative". Thus, using some methods taught by Cerberus, and a trick or two of her own, she quietly made it there. It was a carefully built safehouse meant for hiding and/or getting rid of pursuers.
Getting there without a hitch, and before she could even contact that address, a hooded petite figure suddenly materialized on her couch. No, that wasn't the right description. The figure declocked, a technology which Cerberus was still trying to develop and perfect, with underwhelming results so far.
"Peekaboo!", the figure (or was it a she?) said in a playful tone. "Nice place you got here.".
"Who are you?", Miranda immediately demanded in a terse tone while flaring her biotics in preparation for a fight.
"Kasumi Goto, at your service.", she replied, simply not minding the aggression shown. "I'm your contact… and the best thief in the galaxy! Just not the most famous. Keep that in mind.".
"How did you find this place?", Miranda questioned, still not dropping her guard. "I scanned the data chip. It had no tracking program.".
"Oh, that's easy. I just followed you here, cheerleader.", Kasumi said cheerfully. For some reason, Miranda got really irritated by that weird nickname. "Ah, I see now why Jenny likes to push that button.".
"Jenny?", Miranda asked in confusion.
"Too soon, for both of you. Doesn't matter right now. Anyway, the 'package' is on your desk and it's biometrically locked to your DNA.", responded the sneaky thief, who then cloaked again. "I'll be going now. See you around, cheerleader…".
Only after doing a thorough sweep of the place, to make sure no one else was there, did Miranda finally let her biotics calm down. This brief exchange forced her to reevaluate that man once again. Not only was he supposed to have intel that, as the "mere" representative of a corporation, albeit a very successful one, he shouldn't have, but also agents with that kind of tech under him. Basically, he had his own secrets. Perhaps he was also a member of some secret organization…? And now she needed to prepare a new safehouse.
Regardless, with a shake of her head, she found the OSD, yet another device with unique built-in safety features, connected it to a throwaway and untraceable Omni-tool, and began devouring its information like a black hole. Miranda Lawson always prided herself on being objective and able to look at events from a dispassionate point of view. At the same time, she was also smart enough to understand that being completely objective was impossible, though she believed that she came closer to it than most people.
That said, after digging into the information given by that weird "contact", she couldn't help but see all the reasons why Cerberus was regarded as a terrorist organization. Miranda had thought that, after these few years working for them, she already knew the worst that they would do. She was gravely mistaken. Her knowledge didn't even cover a quarter of what Cerberus had done, was responsible for and was planning on doing.
By carefully searching the extranet and cross-referencing the intel with various Cerberus databases she had access to, she had verified that at least 90% of the information on the OSD was really genuine. The last ten percent were simply impossible to validate without arousing suspicion.
The examples were simply too specific. Things such as the assassination of Pope Clement XVI on 2171 CE, of Claude Menneau of Terra Firma party on 2173 CE and of United North American States President Enrique Aguilar and Chinese People's Federation Premier Ying Xiong on 2176 CE were merely the tip of the iceberg. And it was hard to associate most of them with "sacrifices" done to protect humanity, keeping its best interests at heart. Instead, save for a few exceptions, they only served to further Cerberus' interests.
Also, it wasn't the usual propaganda of "Look! This is Cerberus and it did these very bad things". No, it was more of a "There's this paramilitary group called Cerberus; it claims to be an advocate of humanity, but has done these things here; most of them only ended up as grabs for power; that power was then used to do questionable research, usually with poor or negligible returns; by the way, here's a few ideas on how they could've been done much better…", to summarize the general feel given by the OSD files.
As an example, the images of children from the Teltin facility, which the Alliance had never released to the public to cover up their failure, were heartbreaking enough, but what really caught her attention were the comments about how the methodologies applied there were inefficient and unscientific. From the words used, she had a nagging feeling that man knew a better way to go about it, one that didn't involve those kinds of experiments. And then it clicked in her mind – the fact that pretty much all Hell's Angels mercs were biotics!
After that realization, she began going over the information on Teltin more thoroughly. The conclusion was that, should it have been allowed to continue, all that the Teltin "scientists" might've accomplished was to take powerful and gifted humans and waste their talents by either killing or turning them into monsters. Moreover, knowing that it was done in order to create a "perfect" biotic strongly rattled against her core. Miranda herself was an attempt at creating a "perfect" human. And so was her twin sister.
Another example of what that man called Cerberus' endeavors with "a very minor case of serious brain damage" was the entire "Akuze Project". He also listed better ways on how to study/deal with Thresher Maws. Already at the first alternative she almost choked. It read: just do some turism on Tuchanka and watch the krogan Rites of Passage. Clan Urdnot has their welps survive the attack of a Thresher Maw during it. The rest of the alternatives were as humorous as that one…
What to learn of its capabilities? Rather than use your "advocate of humanity" resources to kill Alliance marines, just trick alien mercenaries into fighting the creature. Don't even have to pay them for the job, especially after they die. Especially because of that. Usually.
The objective was using those creatures as a trap to get rid of someone? He then pointed out: it was the distress beacon that called your target into the Thresher Maw's Nest, so take that piece of equipment and plant it wherever you want, then fill its surrounding with explosives. Depending on how much you want them dead, a nuke might not be overkill. Never forget that the acronym for overkill is O.K.
Someone has magically gained a genetic mutation that makes them immune to Thresher Maw acid? Use your massive spy organization to peacefully take samples of his/her DNA, then clone tissue samples of it and do science on that. Then, when you've found the gene responsible for the immunity, apply it to your forces. Wait, you weren't planning on injecting acid on that human's veins, right? Because that's plain stupid. This isn't a competition to see who can be the most cartoonish villain of them all!
Miranda didn't know whether to laugh or cry. From any point of view one might look at the "Project", it was a nonsensical mess. This, of course, wasn't to say all the things TIM had one were on this level of stupid. Otherwise, he would have never grown Cerberus to where it was. He had even done a few which might – at least in some sense, but for all the wrong reasons – benefit humanity. Besides, a few others were genuine endeavors. Cord-Hislop Aerospace, for instance, which supplied the Alliance's navy, was a front company for the organization. The problem was that, over and over again, she was hit with evil acts of pure power grab or morally bankrupt research, if not also outright stupid. The almost instinctual excuse of "it was a rogue cell" stopped working on her a long time ago.
When she was done, more than half the day had passed. Miranda mentally patted herself on the back for being so careful with setting up this throwaway and untraceable Omni-tool when she'd decided to take a look at what was inside the OSD. If she had merely loaded it into her Cerberus issued Omni-tool, she was quite certain that a hit squad would've been dispatched to her location. This wouldn't be inconsistent with the information she saw at all.
And it was a veritable treasure trove of information, the kind that the Shadow Broker would covet dearly, maybe offering enough credits to buy a nice chunk of a planet. Miranda even wondered for a moment if that mysterious man also knew who "TIM" was, where he came from and maybe even his real name. She had met "The Illusive Man" once and, while he had not been a physically imposing man, his gaze and his presence told everyone who was in control. She remembered how impressed she was with that. How she wanted to be like that too. Now, she wasn't so sure anymore…
Miranda really needed to have another talk with "Mr. Representative", somewhere no one would be able to overhear them. Then, depending on what he said, she would decide what to do. Until then, and to take some steam off, she'd decided to take a shower and to let the hot water wash away her worries, even if only temporarily.
[1]
However, before she could put that plan into motion and even after searching her drawers thoroughly, she didn't manage to find her favorite panties.
Where had they gone?
On another part of the Citadel. The next day.
Out of all the places where that man could have set up the second talk, one of Miranda's last guesses would be an orphanage in one of the Citadel's Lower Wards. Yet that location was exactly where their meeting had been set after she'd contacted him. It had been built in the late 2172 CE and was a very big and well funded place, accepting kids from any and all species.
From what she gathered, many in the extranet considered it just a facade. Merely another insincere public display made by a corporation to garner public support, usually done with charities. This time, she had done her research (not knowing about Skunkworks was one mistake too many). But learning about it only baffled the "Perfect Woman" even further. She'd expected the meeting to be in a public café, a safehouse or a private yacht, maybe some hidden location no one knew about, not an orphanage.
Nonetheless, in her quest to verify the truth behind the intel, Miranda had uncovered even more evidence of what Cerberus had been doing. Sure, she had been part of some of that, but had never seen the overall picture. Unsurprisingly, the noble cause of "safeguarding humanity" was mostly a pretext for pure power grabs, financial gain on behalf of Cerberus' supporters or plain old revenge. Some acts didn't even make a lick of sense, both in the results obtained and the methodology used.
TIM's actions and decisions, and she was strangely liking calling him that, baffled her. One moment, he seemed to be playing the long game; but, in the next, he sent agents chasing momentary gain. If she hadn't met and talked to him, she would've assumed there were multiple people under that guise. But she knew better and that puzzled her even more. So, without further deliberation, she contacted the only one who could clear away her doubts. The one whose sights she knew she couldn't escape from anymore – not after reading all that data.
After passing the orphanage's entrance, Miranda found herself standing in a rather large hall, one whose decoration was simple, but quite elegant, with its reflecting polished floor, glass and tall ceiling. Moreover, not only was it meant to receive aspiring parents, but also served as a recreational area for the children. She then saw a situation not commonly seen in the galaxy. Children of many different races, be it human, turian, asari, salarian, elcor or drell, were all playing together there. It was strange because most species prefered to have their young grow up with their own people, a fact that extended to much of their politics (all of them had separated territory, military, research, etc.).
It didn't take long for her to be received by the caretakers of the institute. Without much of a fuss, she was led by an asari greeter to her destination, which was in an upper section of the building and reachable by stairs. Along the way, the now disillusioned Cerberus agent suspected her escort had commando training, due to the way she carried herself. It took almost no time for them to reach where that mysterious man waited for her. And there he was, standing in a quaint little spot while watching the ground below – hidden, but also overlooking the place. An appropriate metaphor for her new impression of him.
"Hello again, Miranda.", he greeted, turning towards her with a smile. Like his expression, his outfit seemed more casual than during the presentation. He then gestured to an empty seat. "Come, sit with me. You must have a lot on your mind. I'll answer what I can. And don't worry. This place is very secure.".
She returned the greeting and accepted his offer, as he sat down on a seat one of his own, leaning back and making himself more comfortable. It was just the two of them in this location. There were no bodyguards or even security drones there to protect him from her biotics, but Miranda still didn't buy his "harmless" appearance one bit. He might even be a biotic himself, she mused. Although she couldn't confirm that theory because of the scarf he always seemed to be wearing.
"Honestly, I hadn't expected for us to meet in a place like this.", she spoke first. "After that intel you gave me, I got the feeling you would invite me to some secret base, somewhere no one knew to look.".
"Really? I'm sure something like that could still be arranged…", he said humorously. "But seriously, what did you think of this place? Nice, isn't it?".
"It's a very charming and peaceful institute, unlike the world outside.", Miranda gave him a somewhat cynical evaluation. "But I hope you don't expect it to affect me or influence any of my decisions. If you can dig up that much intel on Cerberus, then I'm sure my past isn't a secret to you – or to the people behind you…". He shook his head.
"Trust me, I'm not very keen on cheap emotional manipulation – that's more TIM's area of expertise. No, I chose this place to illustrate a point I wish to make. I'm curious about one thing though. What did you think of those kids?", he placated her before suddenly asking. Miranda turned her sight to the ground below and stared at the cheerful kids playing. "Many of them used to be what's called a 'duct rat'. Those are poor, homeless children who travel in the ventilation system of the Citadel. It isn't rare for them to die by sudden deadfalls, laceration by fan blades, starving to death or simply suffocating because of exposure to the open vacuum of space. Oftentimes, their corpses are not even found.".
"I… had never heard about any of that.", she admitted, feeling surprised. "How come such a thing exists here, on the Citadel of all places?".
"Because no one bothered to do anything about it, not even humanity when it came to this space station. In fact, many of the 'duct rats' are humans.", he revealed. "To be honest, I'm not particularly fond of children, and have no desire to have my own, which is ironic when you consider that I chose this place for our chat… However, despite all that, I can still see how that situation is wrong. No, more than that. It's completely messed up. That's why this place exists. Because I'd decided to do something about it.".
Unlike how Miranda tried to show outwardly, this was something that hit closer to home for her. As a teenager, she had to escape from her megalomaniac father with her baby sister, yet the only help they'd found came by the hands of a terrorist organization. Sure, part of that was attributed to the power Henry Lawson had at his disposal. But it didn't have to be that way. If, perhaps, there were more people who had decided to do something…
"And that's not all. This is supposed to be The Heart of Galactic Civilization, but what can we find here? A massive poor and/or homeless population in the lower levels, called the 'undersides' of the Wards. Yeah, it's the 'slum' of this space station and home to criminals, minorities, transients and the occasional 'stateless' exiles.", he continued his exposition. "A slum, Miranda. In the center of their society. And that's without mentioning the slave rings hidden in the cracks… Yet some call this an Idyllic Civilization. It's almost amazing how clearly corrupt this 'galactic society' is. The poor have to survive on artificial, nearly tasteless and of unpleasant texture organic pastes, made by the recycling systems, while the wealthy get to eat imported foodstuffs. They have enough wealth to build kilometer long spaceships, but just can't seem to figure out how to feed all their people.".
"So you must realize the necessity of something like Cerberus. At least, as it was meant to be…", Miranda could help but say, however unsure of herself she was right now, partially to mollify her decision to join it. "The Systems Alliance failed humanity when they meekly accepted all the terms of the Citadel Council, who only wanted us under their control. They foolishly believe that playing nice with alien governments will get them out of the kids table and into a Council Seat!".
"Ah, you see, that's where both sides are equally wrong.", he stated, shaking his head with an amused expression. "Unlike Terra Firma and Cerberus' supporters might think, it's only a matter of time until humanity gets a Council Seat; and, unlike how those of the Alliance who all but bent over to the Council might believe, it will only end up being worthless. No, it will be worse than worthless. In fact, having no worth would actually be an improvement! Why? Because the Alliance will get so many new responsibilities shoved on its ass, such as the 'privilege' to defend this station, with close to no benefit in return. But having a Councilor is good, right? Except anything that matters can just be outvoted 3 to 1 – a situation basically no different than before. And, at the same time, it'll have to deal with the resentment of the 'minor races', who had been waiting for a Seat for ages. It would be even worse if it wasn't for all the work done by the Retro Media company over the years…".
Miranda was taken aback by his sudden analysis of the situation. In just one speech, albeit a somewhat long one, he had dismantled one of the main goals of the Alliance, while also throwing a bit of salt on those who doubted that the human polity could achieve it.
"Then… what should we have done?", she inquired curiously. "Isolate ourselves from the Citadel races? Cut off all contact? I don't think the Council would have allowed it. And we had no assurance of that after the First Contact War either…".
"Isolation only works if you've not yet been 'found' by anyone else, as was the case before some idiots decided to poke the Charon Relay with a stick. In that case, it'd be preferable to try for stealth, at least for the purpose of gathering information beforehand.", he gave his perspective on it. "But, as I've said, we lost that option after meeting the turians. After that, there were two paths left for us to take: we either make an effort to integrate ourselves with and live well with the other species, maximizing everyone's contribution to our civilization; or… we sharpen our swords and prepare to go to war with them in the future. After all, one mountain cannot contain two tigers; one galaxy cannot contain two galactic superpowers – not for long at least. That kind of division inevitably tends towards conflict, since they'll look at each other's slices of the galaxy one day, each with its vast resources, and wonder if it should belong to them instead. Maybe two enlightened powers might be able to get along; but, as you've said, I don't think a polity like the Citadel Council would let another just live and let live…".
"That's... all very interesting, but it's not why I'm here.", Miranda finally gathered the courage to ask him what she was most curious about. "I want to know why you gave me that OSD. Why me? And what do you really want?".
"In a very short and simplified answer, I want you…", he pointed at her, making her get the wrong idea for a second, "... to replace TIM as the leader of Cerberus.".
"That's it? But wait, why replace The Illusive Man instead of just eliminating him?", Miranda questioned with a confused tone. "My impression after reading those files was that you really dislike our-, his organization. And why do you trust me, in either capabilities or character, to do it?".
"Because I both know and believe in your character, Miranda.", he declared with a genuine tone of voice, giving her a smile. "But, before anything else, let's start with the reasons why I want TIM replaced. Let's see... While he pretends to always be in control and know everything, as he sits in that space-throne room that would probably strike Palpatine as 'perhaps overdoing it a bit', his method of doing things are either crude or stupid, not even satisfying the 'ends justify the means' kind of rhetoric he gives off, but done simply because it was the easiest way to achieve his objective. Sometimes, not even that. You've read about Teltin and Akuze, right? He could never see the difference between a necessary, but hard, act and straight up evil. For him, collateral damage isn't a regretful occurrence, but something to be ignored, maybe even expected. When he talks about 'safeguarding' humanity, TIM is only thinking about himself and Cerberus. Everything else is expendable.", he paused a little after listing so many reasons. "But, if you want an unquestionable reason, then it's because he has been compromised.".
"What do you mean?", she inquired with furrowed brows. "Compromised in what way? And by whom?".
Instead of answering the question, he took a datapad, a high-tech model, and passed it to her. As curious as ever, Miranda quickly became engrossed in reading it. It described an absurd theory of cyclic galactic extermination, with great emphasis on the Fermi Paradox and a Drake Equation that had been revised to their new reality, accompanied by counters to most of the arguments that could be made against it, some which had even popped up in her head while reading. Everything was well structured, each part logically leading into another, and made a lot of sense. Main authorship was given to one Dr. Liara T'Soni, but there were plenty of "special" contributors too, one of them being the man in front of her.
However, it didn't just stop there. Instead of leaving the cause "up in the air", it also gave a definitive answer: the Reapers. Their origins; what they were; the Cycles; how it all tied in with the creation of the Relay Network; how the Citadel was one big, massive Mass Relay to Dark Space, where the Reaper armada was hibernating, and the center of processing for the creation of those abominations. Indoctrination and its effects were also shown in great detail. It even included information about how the Prothean Empire fell, narrated by an actual Prothean!
In the end, all Miranda could feel was existential dread. She almost wanted to run away from this station, which was supposed to be a slaughterhouse of Civilizations – if the intel was to be believed. This was one of the greatest shocks of her whole life, possibly greater than when she ran away from her "father", bigger than after reading that OSD on Cerberus and certainly the biggest of the day.
"You must've imagined that I belong to some secret organization with ill intentions towards you, correct? Maybe even thought 'we' were planning on using internal strife to take out Cerberus. Believe me when I say this: even without risking a leak like when giving you that OSD, I would still be able to deal with Cerberus and TIM eventually.", he said confidently. Despite still reeling from shock, she got a bit embarrassed after having the truth laid down like that. "That's more of a secondary objective. This is actually what I'm recruiting you for, this truth. That 'we do not walk in the footsteps of gods, but in their graves', as a hanar ally of mine once said to me.".
"This… can't be real. It's not possible!", she still tried to rationalize it away. "There's no way something like this would go unnoticed just like that.".
"Ask yourself if that hypothesis, supported by so much evidence and given by people who could gather information on Cerberus that even the top galactic governments don't have, would merely be the delusions of madmen or if everything there makes too much sense for it to simply be wrong…", he shot back. "Then, finally, ask yourself: which one of those can you actually afford to pay?".
She opened her mouth a few times, trying to construct a sentence, but said nothing in the end. In fact, there was nothing more to be said. Even without all of the specific evidence, the patterns were there, buried in the data.
"Then, this conversation..", she suddenly recalled the information on "The Intelligence" and began looking warily at the Citadel.
"Don't worry. It's safe to speak here. We've made sure of that.", he pacified her fears.
"Wait a moment! When you said TIM was compromised, you meant… So that must be why his actions seemed so erratic…", Miranda muttered. "He's slowly being indoctrinated!".
"Exactly! You're pretty good.", he smiled while nodding, then pointed towards his eyes. "It's his eyes. They are cybernetics that have been modified by Reaper technology. I believe they're constantly giving off a weak indoctrination field that's slowly, but surely, warping his mind.".
Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she finally spoke the question that had been in the back of her mind for a long time: "Who is The Illusive Man?".
"Jack Harper, once a mercenary under General Willians during the First Contact War, who lost his companions, Eva Coré and Ben Hislop, due to one bastard turian General named Desolas Arterius. This dumbass turian tried to use a Reaper artifact called Arca Monolith to turn the turians into 'supersoldiers', merely husks in reality, to take over the galaxy – or some other third rate villain goal like that. In the end, everyone else died and Jack was indirectly exposed to the artifact.", he summarized the story to her. "All of this broke TIM, making him have 'visions' of the Reapers, write his manifesto and then create Cerberus.".
"Yo-, you really d know his identity. But how? The, that would mean Cerberus itself was compromised from the start…", Miranda muttered in a small daze, until she noticed a small detail, her eyes probing him. "But you didn't explain why you wanted TIM to be replaced rather than just burning him and Cerberus to the ground!".
"I'll get to it soon. Before then, remember how I've said that even the heart of this galactic society is rotten? And how clearly corrupt it is?", he asked her rhetorically while bringing up his Omni-tool and sending something to her. "That's merely a symptom of a much larger problem. One that stretches way back to the first Civilizations. You see, ours is a tragedy of the cruelties that all intelligent life inflicts upon one another, intentionally or otherwise. We are perpetually trapped in a never ending spiral of life and death. Furthermore, even while war and genocide are not prevelent, it's always a story of the old suppressing the young, the uplifter suppressing the client.". While he was speaking with a slow speed, she was engrossed in reading the new information package he'd sent to her.
"The patterns have repeated themselves more times than we care to know.", he continued on. "Prothean studies have shown that time is cyclical. The same peaks of evolution; the same valleys of dissolution. The same types of conflicts are expressed in every Cycle, merely in different manners.".
Miranda was completely mesmerized by the information and all the new concepts revealed by him. These interesting and novel things were the kind that no one else could ever have presented to her, not even "TIM". Especially not him, whose worldview she was beginning to think was quite limited. He then gave her enough time to process it. Not everything, of course, as it was too much information at once, but enough for a basic understanding and for him to continue.
"Before their songs were tainted by the sour note and they were forced to wage war on this Cycle's species, the Rachni had been enslaved by the Protheans and bred for one thing and one thing only: war. Before the krogan were uplifted to genocide the Rachni, left alone to stew in their non-existant culture and finally slowly driven to extinction by the turians and salarians, the Synril were wiped out by the Ditakur, the Oravores fought the Denison and the Enduromi conquered the Vandomar. Before the geth drove the quarians almost into extinction and the Council obliged, there was the Metacon War and, later on, the Zha'til were forced to turn against the Zha.", he narrated slowly to her. "Which brings me back to the Reapers. In a way, we have to thank them. Humanity, I mean…".
"Are you saying that we have benefited from these... Reapers?", Miranda questioned, in clear momentary disbelief, after taking her attention away from her Omni-tool.
"Of course we have. Isn't it obvious?", he asked the question with an assured tone. "If life arises and becomes interstellar, its theoretical lifespan stretches to infinity. It colonizes and exploits the galaxy unreservedly. New life cannot flourish in its shadow. New species just learning about the useful properties of flint and fire cannot compete with elder races who have starships, FTL travel, antimatter bombs and millions of years of civilized history.".
"But then the Reapers come around every 50.000 years or so, they wipe the slate clean and new life arises that would not have had any hope of success otherwise… Life such as us.", she finished the thought.
He merely nodded in response. There was a quiet pause, one for contemplation. She had completely forgotten the question that came to her mind before, about how he planned to deal with Cerberus.
"All of this brings to mind an analogy I once read, one that likens new life in the galaxy to pine trees.", he broke the silence not much later. "From my memory, it goes something like this: 'the ecological succession that creates a deciduous forest starts with the greed of pines. Fast-growing conifers colonize a suitable area and take it over, suppressing ground cover growth with their light-blocking needles. As the pine growth becomes more dense, this advantage backfires. The lower branches of the old trees die and infant pines starve in the darkness beneath that crowded sky'.".
"You're saying... we would've either been subjugated or exterminated by the Protheans if it wasn't for the Reapers.", she concluded, before quickly shaking her head. "No, even the Protheans would've been 'starved' by all those that came before them.".
"More or less, yes. Miranda, now with those new perspectives in hand, tell me this: do you believe the human species to be inherently superior?", he asked seriously. "Before you answer, keep in mind that Cerberus' actual mission is human supremacy, to make us basically no different from the Prothean Empire, which subjugated all other species and destroyed their culture and history, until only the 'Prothean' people existed. You now know this was one of the reasons they lost in the end: everyone was the same; so, if you beat them once, you can beat them every other time. Even if this decrepit polity called the 'Citadel Council' was kept by TIM, he'd have 'humanity', his idea of it, be the only voice, the only 'Councilor' there.".
"I… No, I don't believe humans are superior. There are many things we can learn from the other races, such as the asari.", Miranda confessed. "But you can't deny everything we've accomplished in just two decades. We've expanded towards all facets of galactic society. Accomplished things that took other races centuries. As a whole, we have traits of all other species. And that scares them!".
"That's true, though I've personally had misanthropic views for a long time, never really believing in human potential. Surprising, isn't it?", he confessed with a small smile. "Yet it's true. Besides, as I've said in some interviews, there's something… wrong with this version of humanity.".
"This version?", she asked softly, almost interjecting, but he didn't elaborate.
"Perhaps, 'not right' would be a more apt term, as if this is a dumbed down version of what it could have been.", he explained. "Sure, rotten things like racism took a hike. We weren't under constant threat of nuclear armageddon anymore. The progress of science allowed for healthier and smarter humans. By the way, I'm comparing ourselves with humanity as it was in the 21st century. On the other hand, other things seemed to have regressed. For instance, I find it very strange that nukes weren't flying all over the place during Shanxi, especially when we had old ideas for nuclear devices that would give pause to the galaxy. Moreover, at our core, we're still the same weak, slow, short-sighted, greedy, selfish, cruel, stupid and overall flawed existences…".
He sighed deeply at the end of this candid admission.
"You speak almost like the aliens used to portray us: as aggressors and bullies.", Miranda couldn't help but comment, scowling a little.
"Yet, is it not the case? Violence has shaped human history for longer than there has been human civilization. Besides, as humanity solidified its victory over the rest of its birthplace, its capacity for extraordinary violence was only further honed by its use in facilitating and resolving intra-species conflict.", he replied. "I'm not complaining. This capacity still played a key role in humanity's achievements, including surviving the First Contact War without being forced to become a 'vassal', sorry, a 'client' of the turians and, therefore, having its potential strangled in the cradle.".
"I'm sensing a 'but' coming very soon.", she pointed out, raising an eyebrow. "You couldn't have had your success with a mindset like that.". He smiled at the point she brought up.
"However, while violence is a core aspect of humanity, it is far from its defining one.", he laid back in the chair, looking deeply into her eyes. "You're right, Miranda. After having met other intelligent life and finding it to be as flawed as we are, if not more, I started believing in our potential. Not what we are, but what we could become. Do you know what our most powerful trait is?".
"I'd say it's our adaptability.", Miranda answered without hesitation.
"A legitimate reason. But, to me, the single most powerful defining trait is humanity's ability and willingness to attach themselves to and form bonds with others.", he gave her a very unique answer. "Call it what you want: working together, jolly co-operation, pack-bonding, symbiosis, mutually beneficial arrangements, domestication, etc. Fundamentally, human beings thrive through cooperation, growth and attachment beyond themselves.".
"I'm not sure about that. We are very divided, prone to internal conflicts and distrustful of others.", she argued. "And other races know how to work together too. Otherwise, they'd never make it to space.".
"True, but not to the intensity we do. When met with other intelligent life, humans can see a kindred spirit in the beings before them. Ones that are capable of thought, of feelings, just as themselves.", he said. "Furthermore, while a species like the Protheans would only look to enslave or eradicate others, many of us would be looking to establish cooperation with them. Some even merely want to make new friends. And don't forget, we have this habit of humanizing everything, even inanimate objects.".
That was something she couldn't deny. Over the years, she'd met many humans who had taken exotic, dangerous alien animals as pets, many of them predators on their planet of origin. And at least one Stabby made its way to her feet.
"However, it doesn't end just there. Ours is the widest range of emotions, which makes us somewhat unpredictable, to the endless irritation of the salarians. Because of our relatively short lives, we often take action, to the great displeasure of the asari, who prefer to wait centuries for their problems to get up and walk away. We can be even more tenacious than the turians, who are so mired in doctrine, group think and blind obedience.", he said with a bit of humor added in, then declared a serious expression: "So, if this Cycle is to succeed, then a big reason would be because humanity could take action, unite everyone and do what the Reapers couldn't predict.".
"Then, just like your companies have been doing all this time…", she muttered in realization.
"In a way. No matter how awful we can be today, we have in us the capacity to break the Cycles once and for all. This is one of the reasons something like Cerberus should have existed for. To cultivate humanity's potential. Not to foment new hatreds.", he declared with a scowl. "I'm not talking about some imagined perfection. Such a thing doesn't really exist. What I'm thinking is more in line with using either social engineering or science to discard the worst traits and improve the best parts of the human condition. To take evolution into our own hands, because science is our greatest weapon; curiosity our greatest strength. The key lies in never stopping improving ourselves!".
"As an organization outside of the Alliance's jurisdiction and without the shackles imposed by the Council, Cerberus is in a position to try that.", she concluded. "Is that part of the 'big plan' you have for it? And for me?".
"Amongst other things… You see, in the metaphor I've meantioned, the Reapers are the old growth that blocks the skies, surely, but also the forest fire which prevents other species from growing too tall.", he mentioned all of a sudden. "But what if their threat finally causes all the species to work together and build something greater? And what if humanity leads the charge, not as a mad dictator through seized power, as someone like TIM would want, but as an example to be followed?".
The future Ice Queen was starting to reconsider some of her views. While staying on top of the other races might help safeguard humanity, by no means would it guarantee a better future. She also didn't miss how he spoke about directly "species", the people, not their governments.
"If you see what I see, then you'll agree that the Cycle created by the Reapers isn't the only one we must break!", he declared. "Miranda, would you not want to know… a world in which something like Cerberus isn't needed at all?".
She looked down below, where the kids were happily playing together without a care in the world. A miniature elcor was running at full speed on his four limbs with a small human boy and an asari girl riding on his back. Closely following them were a pair of turians, a boy and a girl. The boy on the elcor's back had a shit-eating grin while the girl was holding onto him for dear life. The turian kids, on the other hand, seemed to be yelling something in their little flanged voices. There was a moment of silence between the two of them, as the little chaotic menagerie disappeared around a corner.
Those kids certainly didn't give a damn about inter-species politics, Miranda thought in her mind. Nothing got in the way of their happiness. Not their species history. And certainly not their biological differences.
"Alright! I would actually like to see that future. So, tell me how.", Miranda said with conviction, her mind made up on the path going forward, only missing the details on how to accomplish it.
"And there it is: why you should replace TIM. You can look at the reality of both Cycles, the one perpetrated by the Reapers and the one done by all intelligent life itself, and see that an organization like Cerberus is just a means to an end, not an end unto itself.", he spoke with an approving tone. "Before anything else, however, there's someone you must meet. Please, promise me you'll try to keep calm and carry on.".
As his words fell, he turned his left palm upwards while his Omni-tool's holographic display lit up, quickly forming into the figure of a beautiful woman, whose apparent age was that of a 20-something human, with green eyes and long green hair, and wearing a casual dress.
"Hello, Miranda.", the figure greeted her with a crafty smile. "I'm Gaia, a Digital Sentience. It's a pleasure to meet you.".
On that day, Miranda "Perfect Woman" Lawson got two of the biggest scares of her entire life.
And both of them would lead her into becoming a different Ice Queen.
As for her first act? Spread the nickname "TIM".
Somewhere in the Ninmah Cluster. Approximately two weeks later.
In the empty reaches of space, a lone starship slowly drifted on a mission that had lasted for almost two years already. This vessel was much smaller than a Frigate and its visual design was unlike anything else present in the "known galaxy". It only had enough components to allow FTL travel, plus a sensor suit – although it could be considered to be one of the most advanced in the galaxy, ranging from the usual heat, visual and electromagnetic sensors to the as-of-yet unknown gravitational wave detectors.
Evidently, this was an exploration starship, yet one completely lacking any sort of "crew". Moreover, it was merely one vessel belonging to an exploratory fleet dedicated to locating a proverbial "needle in a haystack". Such was the case due to one simple reason: space is big. It is, in fact, really difficult to realize just how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big space is. One may think it's a long way to go from a planet's surface to its moon, but that's just peanuts compared to outer space.
Regardless of that, this "ghost" starship still traveled on, from Star System to Star System, Star Cluster to Star Cluster, and even to the empty voids in-between, always searching, always on the lookout for what it was looking for. Its mission, tracking down a derelict ship, was a far cry from a blind endeavor, since it had a pretty good idea of the "point of origin", narrowing down the region of the galaxy where that derelict could be drifting, which was then further pinpointed by Binary Helix's survey movements over the years.
The starship's pilot, a digital intelligence who remotely controlled the entire exploration fleet with quantum entanglement wizardry from many light-years away, was never really bored. When it wasn't business as usual, analyzing survey results during the voyage and setting new trajectories, there was the occasional interesting discovery or the rare escapade from raiders. And never having to leave the "comfort" of home was quite nice. However, it was still a slow, methodological work with basically no deadline.
All of a sudden, new information streamed in from HQ. It was rare intel regarding fleet movements during what Mother's Godfather called "the big spook". The Exploration Admiral halted for a brief nanosecond, putting all irrelevant queries into background processes as he focused his complete attention on it. With this new pack of data, the search range had just become much narrower, as it allowed him to triangulate many possible vectors of escape. Curious, he focused on where it had come from.
It originated from a new Task Force codenamed Aurora.
In certain moon's low orbit. At the same time.
A batarian-designed armed freighter, barely a Frigate, slowly made its way towards one of the largest bases located in a small moon, one that received a rather constant flux of shady looking ships such as this one. It was, after all, a hub for all sorts of criminals, most of them batarian, who used it as a staging ground in their… ventures on the Terminus Systems and Attican Traverse. The Captain, just like every single member of his crew, was also a batarian. And his name was Zaysh.
After surviving the Elysium disaster by sheer luck and also his time as a prisoner, there he was, back on his old ship and still a "Captain". It had been returned by his new "masters", who, after negotiating with the Alliance, had salvaged it from where it had been "parked". One thing was very different though: his crew. They were just like him, batarian pirates captured after taking a chance at surrender, for all the good that was worth…
Many were like them and he knew that many more would choose surrender when offered, since Hell's Angels actually kept their words regarding those, especially when dealing with the crew of ships they wanted to capture. That kind of thing gets around… The fact that, if you survive an encounter with those mercs and they give you the option to surrender, you get to live by accepting it. Otherwise, if you're gonna die anyway, might as well resist, including all their torture, and not give what they want, just out of spite. And that's how most of his crew came to find themselves there.
Now, they were all proud members of the Rehabilitation Program, more commonly known as Section 34. Zaysh wished he'd never learned why it was called like that. Not once in his entire life would he have suspected that the extranet had any rules, much less that its 34th was something so horrifying. Many thought that Fornax, yet another depraved creation of those blasted humans, was simply too much. But no. It was barely like educational material in comparison.
And so, because of the high-tech device that had been implanted in their skulls, that horror was like a sword that hung over their heads. It wasn't a crude "slave control chip" used by his people, which was mostly based on shock training, but a special one that manipulated memories. It sounded like magic, until they found out just how terrifying real it was. Those they'd been given were "special" for two reasons: they had no "safety features" built-in and could rewrite parts of the brain randomly, which was also the main form of punishment.
The first punishment was just either removing some random piece of memory, which could be anything, or stuffing some nightmare fuel into their minds. Still, the real punishment, the kind promised to those who tried to escape, spoke too much or called for help, was having most memories be "replaced" with the most disturbing, disgusting and downright fucked up images and vid that the most deranged minds of the galaxy could come up with. And that was why it was called Section 34.
If the infraction was severe enough, then they'd simply overwhelm your brain with so much shit it would literally fry it. But Zaysh considered the first one to be the worst. Still living with all those images in your head, it was a fate worse than death. Not even gouging out one's eyes could save one from the trauma. And then there was the little devil deep inside their head, giving them "missions" every now and then; always keeping two eyes out for any sign of disobedience.
The reveal came as a huge shock: Hell's Angels not only having AI all along, but also giving it so much freedom, while not ending up like the suit-rats did. If only the Council found out about that… But it'd never happen, 'cause it'd been hidden so well from the galaxy you'd have to be even more paranoid than those bastards to even glimpse the truth. And that realization was also a horror of its own. Needless to say, they were very "loyal" to their new cause(s), whatever it(they) may be.
And, right now, their objective was on this small moon's many bases, underground or not. Their general mission was to mingle with their "ilk", infiltrate the local scum, map out all the tunnels and defenses, possible traps, hidden fortifications, and figure out the composition of the pirate/slaver "forces" stationed there. According to the "program", the more intel they could gather, the bigger the rewards. Supposedly, one of its goals was to give bastards like him a "second chance" and to "rehabilitate" them.
Zaysh didn't know what the future held for him. Not anymore at least. But he had accepted the fact he needed to be prepared for anything that may come his way.
Because life… life was simply a little box of surprises.
[NieR: Automata]
Asari Game Reviews
To start with, I would like to offer a word of warning. Anyone who wants to try out this game because they saw the cute human girl on the cover, don't expect a cute anime game. Don't expect a game like Bayonetta either. This is a game that does not care about how you feel. It will destroy you. If you're anything like me, you will leave it contemplating the meaning of your existence. And then cry your heart out under the weight of the world.
Sounds a little too melodramatic? Well, you have no idea!
An asari can give you a mindmeld, but this game will give you a philosophical mindfuck. It will also play with your emotions, and in ways might not completely like. Coincidentally, it's about complex emotions and philosophy emerging in software. They are called "androids" here. But this isn't limited to them, as the antagonists are also other robots. And I, for one, never thought I'd feel bad about robot kids…
Ok, but what about the game's plot? Well, it has a rich narrative and 26 endings. You must also know that it's necessary to play the game again in order to progress the main story. In the first playthrough, after the adventure, amazing fights and meetings with goofy side characters, you'll probably get a hopeful and satisfying ending. However, subsequent playthroughs will shatter your pleasant illusions and give you sadder and sadder endings. If you're not careful, you might lose your ability to love and turn into a "nihilist" forever. But I'd advise you to keep going, never giving up, to get the best ending ("E"), though it almost doesn't make up for the lifelong emotional damage…
Another good thing about this game is that it comes with three and a half hours of superb tracks. And it features the best credits sequence of all time, ever, because you get to take your anger out on the (now long dead) humans who made you suffer. All in all, this game gets huge recommendations from me.
Oh, this might sound weird, and a little bit wrong, but…
Glory to Mankind!
And 2B's thighs!
Salarian Game Reviews
I did not expect a game with asari levels of scantily clad female humanoids fighting mechs to also feature some of the best philosophical discussions in gaming entertainment media. But then again, if we're to go by anime, I guess you can expect anything from humans. You didn't read it wrong. In this game, there's quite a lot of debate about philosophy, with themes of existence, identity and free will - all the while you battle against the most anime AI and/or mechs ever created. Also, because of it, I've learned just how many schools of philosophy the humans have invented, like existentialism. And also nihilism. It's for those who are super depressed about life having no purpose. So, krogans I guess...?
Ah, here's something no one so far seems to have mentioned in their reviews: its many genres. Yes, your eyes did not deceive you. That is indeed what I wrote there. Most of the time, it's an action, hack-and-slash RPG with open world exploration, until it decides that it's had enough and changes into something else. Then it can become a run and gun, beat-them-up side-scroller, a 2D fighting game, or even something called a "bullet hell" shooter. Also, while you're at it, why not become an entirely different game in the hacking segments? Damn those!
On a side note, I once thought the idea of Elcor Shakespeare was weird already, but it has nothing on nihilistic robots desperately trying to find the meaning of life through that ancient human poet. Or by forming a cult for that matter.
This game also caused one of the funniests conversations I've had this year. It went something like this…
Him: Favorite game this year so far?
Me: One called NieR: Automata. It's a hack and slash, most of the time, with boss battles.
Him: Never heard of it. Who's the hardest boss?
Me: The Credits.
Lastly, I'm kinda sorry to say this, but I couldn't accept the "offer" in the end.
Life's too short to start all over again.
Quarian Game Reviews
I went into this game even more blind than the main characters, because of the nonsensical blindfold they wear, and then it grabbed me firmly by the faceplate at the first dialogue:
"Everything that lives is designed to end. We are perpetually trapped in a never-ending spiral of life and death. Is this a curse? Or some kind of punishment? I often think about the god who blessed us with this cryptic puzzle...and wonder if we'll ever get the chance to kill him."
This is a game of tragedy and lost innocence, whose plot is about human-made machines locked into an eternal war with machines made by alien invaders, with both of those living in a war torn human homeworld that's more than 10.000 years in the future. At first, I was reluctant to play as an AI, but the more I did so, the more this game's philosophical nature got to me and made me question and think about some things.
Like, I wonder… now that their creators are gone, do the geth mimic us all the way in the Perseus Veil? Or do they reject us and everything that's related to us? Do they hate us? Can they even have that feeling? How have the geth evolved after these three centuries alone? Could peace ever be achieved between us and them, or are we both also trapped in a never ending cycle of life and death? As you can see, merely one aspect of this game can be so impactful. Everything else is equally as incredible, from the gameplay to the plot, even when it rips your heart out of your suit, stabs it repeatedly, throws it into a broken air recycler, and then shoves it back in…
And then there's the music. Keelah, the music! It's some of the best soundtracks I've ever heard, even if, for a moment at least, I had thought that my translator had crashed. But no, the real reason was because it's an insane mix of all sorts of human languages, and even some made up ones. And one time you can really feel the power behind them is when fighting what I'll call, for the sake of not giving spoilers, The Opera Singer. It's one one of the best bosses in the game and the track that plays in the background is perfectly matched by her attacks. If I were to describe them, it'd be like this… Projectiles leap when bells chime; and a crescendo brings forth lasers' fire. And you, as the player, must learn the steps… becoming her partner, in a dance of life and death.
Also, if you're wondering if this game is worth it, just consider how it made a quarian sympathize and care for synthetics. Yeah, I better not mention that particular fact when I return to the Flotilla…
Lastly, the credits reminded me of something we quarians learn in the Flotilla: the weight of the world isn't so heavy when we all work together.
You can beat I didn't hesitate to take that "offer"!
[No Game No Life]
Salarian Anime Reviews
This is a story about two humans who, just like us salarians, also embrace the dictum of "knowledge is power". They show that the weak, by using their wisdom, can defeat the strong. Not betraying that premise, this anime has many moments with smart plays and outplays, and is filled with hilarious mind games. Oh the mind games! For example, I personally liked the deck's percentage manipulation, though it was a disappointment that so much of it just ends up being outright cheating.
And it has a few unexpectedly good quotes, like "Accept that because we were born with nothing, we can become anything." Despite being made way before the humans finally met other intelligent life, I felt like some of them can also be applied to some in our community, like this one for the krogan: "If you think physical toughness and longevity make you strong, you must be seriously lacking in the brain department."
Anyways, too many stories today are utterly predictable, where I can see what's coming from a relay away. This might sound strange, but I actually like those stories that make me feel like an idiot, in the sense that I can't guess what's going to happen next. And this anime fits that niche very well. Something else that I really didn't expect was the intelligent use of physics for narrative purposes, like the part about removing "air" vs removing just oxygen.
But there's one thing that I've noticed and simply can't get out of my head, and that has nothing to do with my species. It's also very prevalent in many anime, as I've found.
Why do they feel the need to keep reminding us that the main characters aren't genetically related? It's really strange…
Quarian Anime Reviews
Playing Nier: Automata got me into this human thing called "anime" and let me tell you it's been a wild ride so far. One thing led to another and I've found this genre called "Isekai". I figured it was a fan favorite of humans more than a century ago, because there are just so many of them! And this one of the best I've watched so far.
The plot is that this pair of young human siblings who have never lost a game suddenly get thrown into a world where everything, and I do mean every single thing, is or can be decided by games. And then hilarity ensues. I won't give spoilers, but they set up a goal to beat the other species of that magical world, by using over-the-top schemes, and earn the right to challenge god himself, all while being fueled by the power of cuteness! I felt bad for Steph though. She doesn't deserve all the bullying they give her.
Still, I don't understand why the main character said that humans were weak. They appear pretty strong from my experience, and from what the marines comment back in the Flotilla. They also seem to be blazing through any adversities in the galaxy, no matter how much gets thrown on them, only gaining more momentum with time.
But I guess Sora would be disappointed that, even after more than a century, humanity's potential couldn't produce a session 2 of this anime.
Author's Notes: I'm back – with a vengeance! This Chapter also ended up too large (biggest one yet - 19k words!), so I only wrote reviews for two things this time. With that said, let's get on with it…
Firstly, regarding Thermal "Clips", I'd like to point out that the name is kinda wrong.
I believe the correct terminology should be thermal magazines (or "mags", for short), rather than "clips". The main difference between those can be described as this: the magazine feeds the weapon, whereas the clip feeds the magazine. A magazine is what we're used to seeing in movies/games when a weapon is reloaded.
My original idea was this: keep the original cooling (venting) system, add a thermal mag as an extra heatsink where the heat can be directed towards while it's also being vented, then put the "spent" mag into the suit to cool it down.
After all the suggestions, I added these details: a mix of Kwism1127 (not being reloaded by hand) and Tinfoot + SkyArk (rotating thermal mags); a mix of Blaze1992 (storage device with cryo for cooling the used thermal mag) and Javcs (bose-einstein condensate).
And the result is there for all to see. The thermal mag is a swappable extra heatsink for the gun, which can be used automatically in the case of heat saturation – or be turned into a manual "switch". Normal ME firearms already can vent waste heat very fast and efficiently, so it shouldn't be a massive leap for them to also be able to send part of that heat towards the thermal mag (while it's also venting heat!).
What I didn't want to do was something like having the heat go through a "thermal pump" or the arm via tubes, because it feels like overengineering. Besides, the MC is selling this implementation to the militaries of the galaxy – and his main goal is to prevent them from being caught with their pants down (supply lines).
As for Spacemonkey777's mention of "Seebeck generators", I need to do more research on those before thinking about including them in the story. But thanks for the mention!
On another note, now you guys have the name of their Corporation, Atlas Foundation. It's a direct reference to the Titan god who bore the sky aloft, while leading the other Titans (corporations).
The last conversation with Miranda caused me a very minor case of serious writer's block. There's so many bits and pieces of setup there you wouldn't believe it! Even now, I'm not sure if it ended up as I had envisioned it. Anyway, now you have the initial hints on how I'll be dealing with Cerberus in this story. And no. It doesn't mean they're going to get up and go kill TIM "tomorrow". Speaking of him...
Before anyone jumps at me regarding the indoctrination part, let me let you that it isn't something I'd made up, but based on what's told by the comic "Mass Effect: Evolution", where TIM (Jack Harper) was first introduced. Miranda got the summary of the events. Honestly, it's all a mess. Cerberus itself is one big mess. Thus, all we can do is try to fit all the pieces together without having them blow up in our faces. For instance, Admiral Kahoku says they're a black ops group of the Alliance that had "recently gone rogue", but we know subsequent games made Cerberus much older than that (First Contact War) - and kinda not really part of the Alliance at all. To me, and through no fault of his own, Kahoku is kind of an unreliable narrator.
So, to build Tim's profile for this story, I'm trying to make every source work together. Take that comic, for instance. While he wasn't fully indoctrinated immediately by the Arca Monolith, his cybernetic eyes were modified into Reaper Tech™, which gives off a weak indoctrination field that slowly chipped away at him over the years. That's why he isn't a full-on antagonist right from the get-go. And that also means the cuttlefish will get him eventually. And the result is that bumbling mess of a man who fights Shepard's attempts to build what he needs for his Control fetish (Crucible), all the while saying he had elevated humanity "above" the Reapers as Earth burns in the background. Moving on...
Three of you guys (Moi, kwism1127 and Javcs) mentioned folding/collapsible guns. To me, it's… extremely close to magic. It works in the games because meshes can just crumpled together, but physics doesn't allow that. In this story, I've dealt with this by… pretending it doesn't exist. From memory, none of my writing ever described any weapon folding. And it will stay that way for the foreseeable future.
Also, I loved kwism1127's comment about that ("If the council weren't idiots they would have probably banned folding designs. Governments generally frown on things that make weapons easier to smuggle and conceal. Beyond that, it's an unnecessary feature that serves as a failure point.").
That part about the scout vessels/fleet is foreshadowing. I wonder who'll figure out what about…
As for that last scene with Zaysh… That's right, the MC has weaponized Rule 34! Because of course he would. Keep in mind that those batarian implants were specially made ones, meant as deterrence and kill-switches (remember when the Beacon almost fried Shepard's brain) for them, and not indicative of the normal memory implants' purpose. It's also their prison, with a Digital Sentience keeping watch as the warden.
…
Questions for my readers:
1) There's no reference in the lore, but do you guys think they were slaves being kept in Torfan? Many fanfic writers make it like there were, but nothing in the games ever specify something like that…
2) On that note, how do you imagine Torfan's characteristics to be (its gravity, if there's any atmosphere or vegetation at all, etc.)?
3) I've changed the track recommendation to a short "[1]", "[2]" and so on, but do you think it's better to use something like a "[/1]" or a "[/2]" to indicate the end of the track?
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When is the next Chapter coming? When it's ready!