Chapter Nine: Relay Assault
Taken far away,
Alone with cold, bitter thoughts
But... she knew this place
UNSC Infinity, Main Hangar Deck
Sol System
Despite having served on her for years now, the Master Chief still couldn't help but be impressed at the size of the Infinity's primary hangar.
The space was absolutely gargantuan, with a height of over three-hundred meters and spanning the width and length of almost the entire Infinity. Thousands of personnel could be seen attending to the hundreds of vehicles and spacecraft dotting the hangar floor. Given the recent space battle, a majority of the craft receiving repair and rearmament were nimble Broadsword fighters or Sabre heavy bombers, but the Chief's heightened eyesight could pick out a number of Pelican troop transports being cared to as well. Just a few dozen meters to his left he saw a Broadsword fighter with a large white decal on the side that said "HINGE-HEAD HUNTER" being lowered via elevator into the almost equally expansive vehicle storage bay one deck below, where nearly all of Infinity's vehicular complement was stored when not engaged in active operations. There was enough space for two full divisions with spare parts to last for years on a combat footing.
A few meters above the bustling activity of the hangar floor floated the occasional Huragok, darting in to quickly fix or improve something, then retreating back to their over-watch position. It was widely accepted throughout the UNSC leadership that the Huragok were the most important acquisition they had recovered from ONI Research Facility Trevelyan, their inborn ability to almost instantly understand not only how a piece of technology worked, but also how to improve it, an absolutely immense advantage to say the least. Through the UNSC's almost frantic encouragement to the Huragok to reproduce, what started as only less than a dozen a couple of years ago was now over a thousand today. Granted nearly half of them were stationed on the Infinity, there were now enough for every ship in the UNSC fleet to have at least one, two or three for larger vessels.
Far above the floating technological savants were the ten sets of large docking clamps attached to the ceiling that would have held in place the Infinity's Strident Frigate contingent, but whose emptiness now just contributed even more to the feeling of vastness of the hangar bay.
"They're talking about you Chief," said Cortana playfully into his ear. "Again."
"I know," said Chief. The AI was referring to the group of six green-vested hangar personnel standing next to a few substantial stacks of supply crates, talking to each other in hushed tones. It was a common oversight actually, a majority of people didn't know just how improved Spartan-II's senses really were. They shouldn't know really, given how that kind of information is still highly classified. Though the group might have been just too far away for his bare ears, the audio receptors in his helmet allowed him to hear their conversation as if he was standing right next to them instead of fifty meters away.
He'd heard it all before. Disbelief at the unclassified parts of his service record, pure amazement at the sight of him, skeptical rumors regarding whether he was 'really' Human, jealousy, uncertainty. The words "hero", "savior", "robot", and "freak", were all commonplace. One thing he had noticed though, was that following the defeat of the Didact what he had been hearing about himself was getting more positive. Though the Chief rationally understood that the feats he had accomplished could very well be classified as 'larger than life' and 'heroic', the increasing amount of praise still made him a bit uneasy. He was just a soldier doing what had to be done.
"Do we know when the Normandy will be here?" he asked, gesturing with a nod of his head towards the very large clear space in front of them where the Normandy would set down.
Cortana answered, "They'll be here in exactly nineteen seconds."
Sure enough, nineteen seconds later to Chief's count, the pronged front nose of the Normandy breached the blue atmospheric shield. The rest of the ship followed soon after, and Chief could hear her four engine nacelles whine as she came to a hover, extending some landing struts, then gently set herself down on the deck.
The Chief had to admit, she was a damned good-looking ship. Her segmented armored plating shone under the hangar bay lights and amplified the Normandy's sharp curves, further enhancing the ship's aesthetic. To the Chief's trained eyes she strongly resembled the latest generation ONI Prowlers. Silent, invisible 'birds-of-prey' that were the ever vigilant eyes and ears of the UNSC.
The Normandy's forward facing hangar bay began to open in an unintentionally slow drama.
The Master Chief wasn't the slightest bit nervous. He wasn't happy when Lasky assigned him to Commander Shepard, but he would do what was ordered of him. Fred had proven to be more than capable of commanding Blue Team, and he had left them confident in their ability to deal with anything that came their way, just like they've always been able to. From what he saw of Commander Shepard during the missions to extract him from their Earth and at the Research Base, he seemed like a solid, sensible leader who could get things done.
Lastly, if events were to take a turn for the worst, he had Cortana, he had his armor, and he had a weapon he could rely on. That combination in itself had proven to be enough to overcome far worse foes than he thought these Reapers could ever be.
After a brief second, he changed his train of thought. Though in space the Reapers had been less than impressive in their first engagement, and the ground mission to retrieve Commander Shepard hadn't proven terribly difficult either, it was likely they hadn't seen everything the Reapers could do. The UNSC and the Sangheili would no longer have the element of surprise. Their enemy now had a rough understanding of their capabilities and would adapt accordingly, and if these Reapers were even half as insidious as Commander Shepard claimed they were then they were sure to unleash a few surprises they likely had in store. It was not a prospect he looked forward too.
In some ways the UNSC found itself in an unnervingly familiar situation. Yet again at war with an unrelenting enemy that would never stop, never tire and would never relent in the face of any opposition no matter the odds. In that way these Reapers were very much like the most fanatical of the Covenant. It wasn't a comparison he relished but one that ironically brought him a sense of…certainty, of familiarity, and with them…grim determination.
He was once more in his element at the forefront of this war. Once again the Human race found itself in the crosshairs of an implacable alien enemy who thought themselves unassailable, the masters of life and death. He would see about that.
Once the Normandy's bay ramp had fully extended to the ground, four figures stepped out which Chief quickly recognized. Major Alenko and Lieutenant Vega were dressed in what looked like gray-and black Battle Dress Uniforms, and both were looking around the massive Infinity hangar with wide eyes and mouths slightly agape. The blue-skinned Asari they had picked up on Mars, Dr. T'soni he recalled, was still wearing her blue and white lab coat and looked just as awed as the others. Then there was of course Commander Shepard, dressed in a slightly different style of BDU's with gold bars on the collar and shoulder. The Chief saw him take a couple of glances around the hangar, but his tight-lipped, grim expression didn't change.
The Commander started towards the Chief, and the rest of his group followed behind him. Chief met them midway, and Shepard extended a hand towards the Spartan, which he shook.
"It's good to see you again Master Chief. I look forwards to working with you," he said, looking up into Chief's faceplate.
"Likewise Commander," replied the Spartan.
"Right." he said, pointing to the stacks of cargo crates a couple dozen meters away. "What's in those?"
"Various munitions and small arms, communications gear, my suit's upkeep systems, a few UNSC armor sets, food rations, medical supplies, maintenance tools," answered the Master Chief. "However, most of that is ammunition for the gunship."
The Commander nodded. Turning to the six green-vested cargo crewmen, he called "Alright, you can start loading that into our shuttle bay. We marked out a space to put it. Vega, link up with Cortez and oversee it."
"Can do Commander," replied the Marine. As Vega started walking alongside the cargo crew and their hover-trolly bound crates, Shepard could hear him mutter under his breath, "Dios mio this place is gigantic..."
"Speaking of the gunship, where is it exactly?" asked Shepard, looking around with his eyebrows furrowed.
Just as he said that, there was a slight vibration followed by a loud mechanical whirring sound. About twenty meters away a substantial portion of the hangar deck slid away, and from new gap the very top of a UNSC Pelican started to emerge.
A few seconds later the entire Pelican was revealed as the elevator completed its ascension, along with two men standing near the nose of the craft dressed in blue-and-gold flight suits.
Shepard whistled in admiration at the craft. "You guys don't mess around."
Indeed, the G79H-TC/MA Pelican Heavy Assault Gunship was a sight to behold. To say it was armed to the teeth was an understatement. Embedded into the nose was a dual GAU/54 30mm MBHRC Minigun and M8C Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Cannon turret system, the craft's main forward mounted weapons. On the port and starboard sides were two remotely controlled 7.62mm M247T machine guns, while another crew served one could be deployed form the Back Bay ramp. To top it all off, two ANVIL missile pods were attached under each of the Pelican's two stubby wings. The heavy armament was not the only place that this variant different from the regular series of Pelican troop transports. Instead of the usual pronounced curves evident in normal Pelicans, this gunship's fuselage had almost none, replacing them with sharp, angled lines and edges.
"You're damn right we don't," one of the flight-suited men stepped forwards and called in a loud, distinctively Scottish voice. The man had scruffy dirty blonde hair that fell just around his ears and bright blue eyes. He let out a wide smile revealing almost shining white teeth and started to speak again. "This beauty here is the G79H-TC/MA-S Pelican Heavy Assault Gunship. The 'S' stands for stealth. You are looking at the cutting edge of UNSC aerial fire support and stealth operations technology."
"And I get to fly her," he said, stepping towards the Commander still smiling and shaking his hand firmly. "Flight Sergeant Samuel Dolton, reporting for duty Commander."
Dolton stepped back and Shepard now saw that his companion had followed him over. This man was a bit shorter than the six foot looking Dolton, Shepard would have guessed that he was around 5 feet five inches. He had dark brown eyes and short black hair, and his facial features strongly suggested he was of Asian descent.
"Senior Airman Roran Cehack, reporting for duty," he introduced, bringing his right arm up in a crisp salute, which Shepard returned. "I look forward to having this opportunity to work with you again."
Shepard's face reflected his confusion. "Again?"
Dolton nodded his head at Shepard. "Yeah. We were the two pilots sent to extract you. And it would have gone smoothly if Roran here hadn't gotten his skinny Korean ass hit by that Reaper suicide fighter and FUBARed the mission." It was just a jib, as Dolton smiled again and lightly elbowed Cehack in the arm, yet the pilot frowned.
"I didn't know he was going to charge me like that, if I had just been a little faster – " started Cehack
Shepard held up a hand and Cehack stopped. "Don't worry about it. What matters is that we got everybody out alive."
Cehack simply nodded. His smile replaced by a more neutral expression, Dolton said, "Well regardless, that's one of the reasons why Lasky assigned me to pilot this bad boy, the other being good rank superiority."
"Yeah yeah," said Cehack. "I think I'll have more fun as the gunner anyways."
"I dunno Roran, do you know how many stars I've wished on to be able to fly one of these things when I first heard of em?"
"We serve on a spaceship Sam, you see stars everyday."
"Lasky personally assigned you?" asked Shepard, cutting into the two's banter.
"Yes Commander," answered Dolton. "He figured that you'd be more comfortable with pilots you've already worked with before, or at least that's what we were told. Besides, this beauty would have gone to waste anyways."
"What do you mean?" asked the Alliance Commander.
"This particular Pelican was just going to be delegated to spare-parts cannibalization if needed. A complete waste if you ask me, considering that the Infinity's internal fabricator can make almost anything anyone could ever want," said Cehack.
"It seems that we got lucky then," said Shepard. "So I take it you two know each other pretty well?"
The two pilots shared a quick look before Dolton turned his head back to Shepard and said, "Hell, me and Roran go way back. How long now? Seven, eight years?"
"Yeah, something like that. Ever since Reach."
"Yeah. Ever since Reach..."
Shepard noticed how the two's smiles faded and their expressions became grimly neutral. He instantly understood. It was the look of a soldier remembering a past battle, reminiscing not only on what had been lost, but also what could have been saved.
Out of the corner of his eye, Shepard saw a green-vested Infinity crewman flagging him down. "All loaded up sir," he said.
"Thank you," Shepard replied. He then turned to address the UNSC and Alliance personnel around him. "Alright everyone, we should get moving. Dolton, Cehack, fire up that bird and get it into our hangar bay, we've got a space marked out for you as well. Then report to Lieutenant Cortez so we can being ironing out any kinks in the different procedures our two organizations might have. He'll also get you squared away on bunk space. Normandy is a small ship so space is tight. Master Chief, let's get embarked and prepare to get underway. The grand tour might have to wait until we're en route to the Citadel, Hackett has been telling me that the Relay Assault will be launched at any moment."
UNSC Infinity
Sol System
"Admiral, all UNSC and Alliance ships in formation and awaiting your signal."
"Thank you Roland," acknowledged Admiral Thomas Lasky, pacing around the Infinity bridge's central holotable. At this moment that table was showing the exact positions of the UNSC, Alliance, and Sangheili forces. The UNSC ships were arranged in a semi-ovular curve, headed at the point by the Infinity and Captain Skyheit's Valiant-class Super-Heavy Cruiser Yorktown. Interspersed throughout the rest of the UNSC line were Dare's ten-strong Strident Frigate force and the rest of Battlegroup Yorktown's four Destroyers and six Frigates. Straightening the far left and right flanks of the curve were the next two strongest ships in the UNSC group, Battlegroup Yorktown's two Marathon Cruisers, Dresden and Ghosts of Onyx.
Filling out the inside of the UNSC's protective curve were the combined remnants of the Alliance First and Fifth fleets, about a hundred ships in total. There they would stay relatively shielded from Reaper fire while Lasky's ships cleared the Relay, while at the same time offering fighter screening and long-range support fire if needed.
Lasky frowned. Then, there were the Sangheili.
A medium-sized distance away the five Sangheili ships were holding in a tight formation. Just a few minutes ago while the UNSC and Alliance ships were getting into position, Lasky had tried to establish contact with the Shadow of Intent to let the Sangheili leadership know of the plan, but no one had answered. Instead he had left a text-based message outlining their course of action, along with their slipspace jump plan, in the hope that somebody would read it.
"Alright, let's get this show on the road. Initiate fleet-wide FTL jump," ordered Lasky, taking a seat in his command chair and buckling himself in.
"Roger. Slipspace jump in five... four... three... two... one." Roland counted down.
At 'one,' a swirling purple-black portal was opened in front of the Infinity, and the ship's engined surged her through the breach. They exited the ninth dimension nearly as soon as they entered it however, given how short the distance was from the rendezvous point to the Charon Mass Relay.
The Infinity shuddered slightly as it transitioned back to realspace, and the dozens of bridge displays lit up with the arrival of new data. Calm and orderly, Lasky's bridge crew started relaying him information in the crisp, professional way that could only be found on a warship.
"Sir, all UNSC and Alliance vessels are here and accounted for. No sign of the Sangheili," said Roland.
"Thirty Reaper signatures detected in a rough formation around the Relay construct. Twelve Capital ship class, the other eighteen are the smaller Destroyers," said Lieutenant Lewis from her sensor console.
"Ahead sixty percent. Keep the integrity of the formation," ordered Lasky, the Infinity's deck shuddering as her engines responded to his word.
"Sir, Sangheili vessel signatures appearing off of our left flank," added Lewis.
Lasky raised his eyebrows. So, they decided to show up after all. "Jeffreys, can you contact them?"
Lieutenant Jeffreys tapped away at his comms terminal for a couple of seconds, then frowned. "They're not responding sir."
The corners of Lasky's mouth turned downwards. "Of course they aren't..." he muttered. More loudly he ordered, "Continue the advance as planned. Hernandez, status on targeting solutions?"
"Targets have been locked and individual firing assignments have been sent to every ship's captain. Entering maximum weapons range in forty-five seconds at current speed," replied the Infinity's weapons officer.
Lasky tapped his datapad and brought up the fleet's targeting assignments in order to conform for himself what the Lieutenant had just told him. If all went according to plan, the UNSC's first salvo would absolutely devastate the approaching Reapers formation. As proven during the defense of the Systems Alliance's Earth, the Infinity's two energy projectors and four Series-8 Heavy MAC's could each destroy a Reaper Capital ship, which meant that half of the Reaper Capital ships present could be taken out of the fight by her alone. Then, though the Series-7 MACs on Skyheit's Valiant and Marathon Cruisers weren't as powerful as the Infinity's, the fact that they had two of them meant that each ship should be able to destroy another Reaper Capital ship as well, bringing the total up to nine.
As for the UNSC's smaller ships, namely the Infinity's ten Strident Frigates and Battlegroup Yorktown's six Paris Frigates and four Thermopylae Destroyers, Lasky assigned them to focus on the smaller Reaper Destroyers. Again, based on combat data from the defense of Earth it was shown that two Frigate MAC impacts led to the destruction of a Reaper Destroyer, so Lasky had paired up the fleet's frigates and assigned them to one Reaper each. The UNSC Thermopylae Destroyers were given individual targeting solutions due to the fact that they had two MAC cannons.
In the best case scenario, the UNSC's first salvo would destroy nine out of the twelve Reaper Capital ships and twelve of the eighteen Reaper Destroyers. Once the first salvo impacted, the Infinity along with Skyheit's Valiant Super-Heavy Cruiser and two Marathon Cruisers would advance ahead of the main group and utilize their stronger shielding to engage the remaining Reapers with secondary weapon systems while the rest of the fleet's MACs recycled.
"Sir, Reaper formation readjusting..." started Roland. "They've changed into a staggered line, Destroyers in front acting as a screen for the Capital ships behind."
"They're launching fighters Admiral," said Lewis calmly.
Lasky looked at the main holotable to the mass of Alliance ships just inside the UNSC's protective curve. Alright Hackett, now it's your turn.
"Sir, Alliance ships are launching fighters also." added Lewis.
Lasky nodded in appreciation. He and Hackett had worked out an agreement to where the Alliance would provide the majority of the fighter support for this battle in exchange for the UNSC doing most of the heavy ship-to-ship fighting. "Good. Launch our own designated Broadsword and Sabre squadrons to reinforce them and get them all into a position to screen our forces."
"Aye sir."
"Twenty seconds to weapons range," said Hernandez.
"Admiral? The Sangheili vessels are accelerating!" alerted Lewis.
"Current plotting puts the Sangheili ships on a direct intercept course with the Reaper formation," said Roland, updating the holotable with an arrow showing the Sangheili's path.
"And right into our line of fire," growled Lasky. "Dammit Thel, what the hell are you doing? Roland!"
"I've tried fifty times sir, they're not answering our hails," replied the AI.
"Ten seconds to weapons range."
"Sir, the Reapers are reorienting towards the Sangheili advance," relayed Lewis.
"Five seconds."
Lasky scowled. "Hold fire and reduce speed. Let's see what they do."
They weren't kept waiting for long.
From range the Sangheili ships opened up with their energy projectors, lighting the inky blackness of space with eight impossibly bright white beams, one from each of the four CCS-Battlecruisers, and two from each of the Super-Cruiser's and the Shadow of Intent's forward mounts. In an instant the beams impacted their targets, individual Reaper Capital ships, with devastating effect. The searing white pierced through the Reaper's kinetic barriers like needles through tissue paper, then lanced deep into the hull and out the other end. The Sangheili ships then ever-so-slightly adjusted their course, causing their still active energy projectors to slice the Reaper ships to pieces.
The brutality of the opening assault resulted in the dismantling of the Reaper formation, the remaining ships splitting off every which way in frantic evasive maneuvers. The Sangheili continued their advance, the Super-Cruiser firing another energy projector beam, halving yet another Reaper Capital ship. As soon as the light from the latest energy beam faded away, more replaced it in the form of twenty-four lances of boiling purple-red plasma fired from lateral plasma torpedo lines, eight from the Shadow of Intent, and four from each CCS-Battlecruiser.
The wave of plasma shot out in front of the speeding Sangheili ships, curving and altering their course to compensate for the Reaper's evasive maneuvers. While closing the distance, the Super-Cruiser fired yet again, destroying the tenth Reaper Capital Ship.
In just another few seconds the plasma barrage found their targets, and though Lasky was able to predict the outcome, it was still an intimidatingly impressive display to see.
The tracking properties of the plasma torpedoes doomed the remaining Reaper's, despite their evasive maneuvers. The storm of boiling plasma smashed into the scattered group, easily overwhelming kinetic barriers and melting though meters of exposed armor in seconds. Three torpedoes each lanced into the remaining two Reaper Capital ships, and the ships stood no chance as the plasma effortlessly melted deep into critical internal systems. Electrical red lightning sparked along the Reaper's hull as it entered its 'death throes,' globs of molten armor dripping off and forming perfect spheres in zero gravity.
Meanwhile, the other eighteen plasma torpedoes sought out the same number of Reaper Destroyers. They found their targets predictably, the lesser defenses of the Destroyers not in the slightest enough to protect against the plasma weaponry. Most of the Destroyers were melted to slag, while a few were violently obliterated as hot plasma reached their eezo cores and caused violent explosions. Miraculously, one Reaper Destroyer escaped destruction when it darted behind a boiling Destroyer, its quickly closing plasma torpedo hitting the melting husk instead.
Though the Sangheili's reckless onslaught surprised Lasky, what surprised him more was how they didn't stop. The five Sangheili vessels held their attack speed, then plowed through the Reaper debris cloud they had made, large pieces of metal and shrapnel ricocheting off of their flaring silver shields.
"Uh, sir? I'm reading heavy build-ups of energy off the Sangheili ship's bows," alerted Lewis.
"What kind of energy Lieutenant?"
"Slipspace energy."
Sure enough, five purple-white portals opened up in front of the Separatist vessels and powerful engines surged them through.
"Roland, can you get their destination coordinates?" asked Lasky urgently.
"Working..." replied the AI, no doubt consumed by the millions of calculations required for the process. Right when the Sangheili ship's disappeared into slipspace and the portals closed shut, Roland said "Got it. I was able to extrapolate their destination using their exit vector and galactic star charts provided from the System's Alliance database."
"Well, where did they go?" asked Lasky.
"Deep space."
Lasky frowned. He knew what that meant, as the UNSC had done the same thing many times before and it seemed the Elites had taken a page out of their playbook. "Just a brief stopping point before a second jump."
"And we won't be able to track them the second time," finished Roland.
Lasky put his hands up to his head and rubbed his temples. What the hell had just happened? Before Battlegroup Yorktown and the Separatist reinforcements had arrived he and the Arbiter had been amicable, but soon after they did relations had taken a dive off the deep end. First they had cut off all communications and refused to participate in the meeting with the Alliance following the retreat from Earth. Then, they had completely interfered with Lasky's carefully planned Relay assault, though they had pretty much obliterated the defending Reapers while doing so. And now they were gone, slipspace jumped to god-knows-where for who-knows-what reason. To say the least, the Sangheili's actions had left the UNSC Admiral extremely confused and more than a little angry.
"Sir, the last Reaper Destroyer is in energy projector range," said Hernandez rather quietly, reflecting the mood on the bridge.
Lasky simply nodded. "You know what to do Lieutenant."
"Roger sir. Firing one."
From the Infinity's bow shot a single pearl-white spear of energy, and with a slight firing of a pair of maneuvering thrusters the beam bisected the lone Reaper into two lifeless halves.
"Roland, send Admiral Hackett the prepared signal. The Relay is clear for approach," ordered Lasky.
"Sending it now," replied the AI.
Just a few seconds later, the Alliance ships behind the UNSC line broke formation and sped towards the Mass Relay, the Alliance fighters forming the unneeded screen in front of said line peeling away and rendezvousing with their carriers. Directed by Roland, the token UNSC fighter squadrons reinforcing them started doing the same.
"Lewis," started Lasky, "Anything on the main Reaper force? Have they reacted to our assault yet?"
"I was just about to let you know sir, but a sizable Reaper force is amassing in orbit and are orienting in our direction," answered the sensor officer.
"How many?"
"Over two hundred."
Lasky gazed out the forward viewports towards the Mass Relay, which in itself looked almost like a curved tuning fork with a rapidly oscillating middle section. As the System's Alliance ships approached, he watched as the Relay sent out dozens of tendrils of blue-energy from its center part that enveloped each individual ship, the affected vessel disappearing from sight not a second later. Hackett had said during their discussion about the Relays before the assault that transportation from Relay to Relay was nearly incredibly fast given the distances between them. However, Hackett made sure to state that although the Relays had been used by the Council races for thousands of years, not much was known about how they actually worked. The Alliance Admiral had mentioned something about the material in the cores that powered all Council ships caused the Relays interaction, but that was all.
For a brief second, Lasky wondered if his own ships could utilize the Mass Relays. He shot down that thought immediately though, as idea of trying to use a form of FTL travel that they didn't understand didn't sit well with him. They would stick with slipspace, which they understood more than well enough.
"Admiral, all Alliance vessels have passed through the Relay," alerted Roland.
"Then that's our cue. Alert the fleet, we jump immediately."
As the UNSC vessels formed up for their synchronized jump, Lasky took one last look at the Relay. Before the assault, Lasky had asked Hackett that if the Reapers used the Relay as well, why they couldn't just destroy it to force the Reapers to use their conventional FTL to get out-system.
Hackett had quickly responded with a resounding "No!" saying that the destruction of a Relay results in a massive blast of energy that had the power to destroy an entire system. Grimly, Lasky had remarked about how that shouldn't be an option left unconsidered. Hackett had grown angry then, stating that Lasky had only suggested that because it wasn't 'his Earth' and asked if he would say the same in his position. He had relented at that.
Lasky still had an idea though, and though given the time constraints they probably wouldn't have adequate time, it was still worth trying.
"Cortana, are you still with us?" he asked into the air.
"Yes Admiral," the light female voice answered through the bridge speakers. "We're currently en route to the Citadel on the Normandy, but our dear Roland has been kind enough to let me keep a fragment of me in the Infinity's AI memory core."
"Good," said Lasky. "We don't have a lot of time here, but before we jump I want you, Roland and the Yorktown's AI to try and access the Mass Relay and see if you can't shut it down."
"Sir, Venus and I have been trying to find a way to do just that ever since the assault began," started Roland. "However, it's like trying to plug in a cord to a solid stone wall. There are no discernible systems to access or hack into, no points of entry, nothing."
"Here," said Cortana, "Let me try – "
Lasky's eyes widened as suddenly, the Mass Relay's sparking blue center portion flickered almost violently, then started to gradually dim along with the rectangular white lights dotting the outside surface. At the same time, the rotating central 'rings' from where the blue energy seemed to emanate slowed its spinning, then completely stopped. After just a few seconds, the Relay lay unlit and still, deactivated.
"This..." Cortana trailed off.
"Cortana, how did you do that?" asked Lasky in wonder.
"I – I don't know." replied the AI almost dumbfounded, pushing her processing power to the max trying to answer the same question. She was an entity used to understanding how everything worked all the time, and if she didn't, consuming herself until she inevitably did. That's how it always is, that's how it always had been. She knew almost everything, and was always able to learn what she didn't. But this had just... happened, and with absolutely no logical explanation. "I just, 'reached out' to it and..."
With a subtle shake of his head Lasky cut her off. "I don't really care how you did it right now, but just know that you bought us some much needed time. Roland, initiate the fleetwide jump. We're getting the hell out of this system."
Citadel
Presidium
"Please present eyes for retina scan."
Salarian Special Tasks Group Major Tol Kirrahe obeyed the synthetic voice and stepped up to the panel besides the door and opened his two large eyes wide. A flashing scan of bright blue light assaulted his retinas for a couple of seconds before halting.
"Identification confirmed. Kirrahe, Tol, Major, STG. Please proceed."
Kirrahe stepped back and looked up at the engraved sign above the door he was about to enter. Councilor Valern.
The door slid open, and Kirrahe walked into the long, narrow room beyond. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all a boring gray, and there were no distinguishing features other than the desk at the far end of the room. A Salarian secretary sat at it tapping away at an omni-terminal, and behind him was another small door.
Kirrahe had gotten about halfway into the room when the Salarian secretary called out, "If you will please wait there Major, the Councilor will be available in a couple of minutes.
Kirrahe just nodded and crossed his arms while he stood, as there were no chairs in the room save for the one the secretary was sitting at. There were no windows or any other thing which could have distracted him either, so Kirrahe simply started counting the seconds as he waited.
One-hundred and forty-seven seconds later, the secretary said, "The Councilor will see you now Major."
Kirrahe looked up at the other Salarian and nodded, uncrossing his arms and continuing to walk towards the other door.
The dark-orange skinned Salarian secretary had resumed his quick tapping of the omni-terminal at his desk trying very convincingly to look disinterested, but Kirrahe saw right through his careful display. He knew that the other Salarian had a Scorpion pistol a hands-length away and was prepared to pepper the Major with a flurry of blue explosive balls.
Kirrahe would know, as he was the one who assigned and oversaw the training of the STG Corporal acting as Valern's secretary in the first place.
As the Major stepped around the secretary's desk his sharp eyes noted the near-invisible crease lines to either side of the door. Automatic turrets, ready to spring out of the wall and fill the kill-box of a room with mass accelerator fire within milliseconds of an alert being sounded.
Kirrahe was safe this time however, and as he reached the door to Valern's personal office he submitted himself to more scans, this time retina and handprint authorization. After the machine determined once again that he really was Major Kirrahe, the STG Major stepped into Valern's office when the door silently slid open.
Valern's office was a stark contrast to the hallway preceding it. The room would have been considered small by most standards, being only ten meters by ten meters, but it was cozy enough. The walls and floors were paneled by dark and light wood respectively, while the entire ceiling consisted of a skylight which gave a spectacular view to the upwards-curve of the Presidium 'sky'. What dominated the small office however was a large oaken desk, the kind that were highly prized throughout the galaxy for its rarity.
Standing behind the desk dressed in the blue-and-red gold-trimmed robes of his trade was Councilor Valern himself, arms clasped behind his back as he gazed out the floor-to-ceiling window that made up the wall opposite the door. Kirrahe knew however that both the window and the skylight were one-way, and if looked upon from the outside were just nondescript sections of wall.
Councilor Valern turned away from the window and smiled at Kirrahe. "Brother," he said warmly, "It's good to see you again."
"Likewise," answered Kirrahe, though his expression remained tight-lipped.
Valern noticed this and his own smile faded. "Please, have a seat."
Kirrahe did as the Councilor asked, taking one of the chairs on the opposite side of Valern's desk and watched as his brother sat down as well, reaching up and removing the hood of his robes.
They were brothers in the literal sense, as they had been born of the same clutch. Born on the Salarian homeworld to a very influential and wealthy political family, Kirrahe and Valern had grown close during their childhood out of the other dozens of siblings they had. They had been fiercely competitive, Valern using his grasp of the long term possibilities and ability to influence others to accomplish his goals, while Kirrahe was more confident thinking tactically about the present and utilizing his physical prowess to solve his problems.
Together they had become a menacing combination, using their complimentary skills to quickly rise to the top as leaders of their clutch. A human comparison that had been used to often describe them was that Valern was the "brains" while Kirrahe was the "brawn", but that would have been only partially correct. Like most Salarians, both Valern and Kirrahe were incredibly smart, it was in their respective strongsuits where their intelligence differed. Also, Kirrahe knew by experience that Valern's physical ability was definitely not lacking, as expressed by their numerous nighttime raids to the clan mess to obtain some of the prized human 'chocolate chip cookies' which often required the temporary 'subdueing' of a sibling or two.
Ever under watchful eyes, the elders of their clan had seen the potential in the two brothers and when they turned of age started grooming Valern and Kirrahe for careers in politics and the military, respectively. While Valern deftly maneuvered his way upwards through the Salarian government and to the top of the Citadel Council, Kirrahe rose just as quickly through the Salarian military, then the STG.
"Alright Tol, what is it?" asked Valern, knowing that during these types of meetings Kirrahe liked to get right to the point.
"The Reapers have hit Earth," said the STG Major.
Valern drummed his fingers on the desk between them. "Well, we knew it was inevitable. After marauding their way through Batarian space, the Humans would have been next in their path." He stopped his drumming and brought up a hand to rub his forehead. "But so soon? What was the time?"
"STG stealth observation drones in the Harsa and Sol systems reported just under a sixteen hour timespan between the first sightings of Reapers at Khar'shan and Earth," said Kirrahe.
Valern's brow creased. "That's too fast. Even the Reapers would need more than sixteen hours to pacify the Batarians, despite the sorry state of their military. They have almost as many planets as the Humans do."
"I agree," said Kirrahe. "Data from the Harsa drone showed a force of only forty or so Reapers attacking Khar'shan."
"How many attacked Earth?"
"Over eight-hundred."
"Eight hundred?" asked Valern, eyes wide.
Kirrahe just nodded. "They're here in force."
"Why so many more at Earth than Khar'shan? Eight-hundred seems grossly overwhelming. And there's what, twenty two? Twenty three human systems they would have had to bypass to get to Earth?"
"We have a few theories, but there is only one I have heard that could be credible."
"Three years ago at the battle of the Citadel," started Kirrahe, "The Geth fleet was wreaking havoc while Sovereign was planning to activate the Mass Relay to Dark Space."
"I remember," nodded Valern. "If Shepard hadn't ordered the Alliance Fifth Fleet to assist the Destiny Ascension I wouldn't be here talking to you today."
"Right. It was also on Shepard's orders by which the Fifth fleet attacked and destroyed Sovereign, preventing the activation of the Citadel Mass Relay and the earlier arrival of the Reapers. It was a Human who conversed with Sovereign, according to Shepard's Specter debriefing, it was a Human who killed his agent Saren, also Shepard, and it was a Human fleet who destroyed Sovereign."
Valern started to quickly put two and two together. "So you're saying that the Reapers are attacking Earth, the center of Humanity, with such overwhelming force for some form of revenge? Can the Reapers even want revenge?"
"It's more than that. We think that the Reapers have prioritized the Humans as threats, seeing as they were the ones to destroy one of their own," said Kirrahe.
"I see. They want to eliminate any potential opposition posed by the Humans as quickly as possible."
"Precisely."
"So who came up with this theory?"
"I did."
Valern smirked. "Of course you did." Smile fading, he said, "Regardless, I bet it worked like a charm. There's no way the Alliance could have held out against eight-hundred Reapers.
Kirrahe look away for a second. "Actually, it didn't."
"What do you mean?"
The STG Major looked back to Valern, who was staring at him with wary eyes. "Vas, what I am about to tell you is going to shake to the very core what you have believed to be true your entire life."
Valern's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about Tol?"
Kirrahe brought out a datapad from inside of his uniform and tossed it on the desk. Valern spun it around and started reading it.
"Data reports from the Sol STG drone?" asked Valern.
"Keep reading."
It took Valern only another moment to read through the report, and when he finished he looked at Kirrahe with a confused look on his face. "Everything looks mostly normal. Two fleets, one above Earth, one at the Charon Relay, but no civilian traffic... before the Reapers arrived obviously. What are you trying to show me here Tol?"
Kirrahe gestured for the datapad back and once Valern gave it to him, he tapped on it a couple of times. "What you just observed was the Sol system at 0844:28 Galactic Standard Time. Here is the same system at 1844:29, one second later."
Valern took the datapad back and started reading, and it wasn't even five seconds in when his eyes went as wide as dinner plates. He looked to Kirrahe, then back to the datapad, then back to Kirrahe again. "It this – "
"Accurate?" Kirrahe finished, knowing what his brother was going to say. "Yes, the data is accurate. We've gone over and verified it more than a hundred times."
"These two ships are enormous!" exclaimed the Salarian Councilor.
What Valern was referring to was the sudden appearance of the UNSC Infinity and Separatist Shadow of Intent.
"Five times larger than our new Dauntless Dreadnoughts," said Kirrahe. "Just one of them puts the Destiny Ascension to shame."
"How did they get there?"
Kirrahe shrugged. "Any guess you have is as good as what we've been able to come with. All we know is that they didn't arrive through either the Mass Relay or conventional FTL."
"Hmm," muttered Valern, rubbing his chin. "How did the Alliance react?"
"Predictably. The fleet at the Relay was recalled to reinforce the one above Earth, and a standoff occurred." Kirrahe reached over and gave the datapad a few more taps. "Thirty minutes later."
Valern looked at it for a few seconds. The Alliance and the unknown ships had aligned themselves a respectable distance away, but now there were ten more cruiser-sized ships alongside one of the unknowns. "Where did these other ten ships come from?"
"They were launched by the Super-Dreadnought," said Kirrahe.
Valern blinked. While most of the galaxy had adopted the Human practice of launching small craft from larger craft, that theory mostly applied to fighters and their carriers, not cruisers launching out of what Kirrahe had aptly called a Super-Dreadnought.
His STG brother gave a few more taps, and the readouts changed to show that there was now a vessel square in the middle of the two groups, a sight Valern had seen often enough. "A diplomatic meeting."
"It appears so."
"At least it didn't devolve into a shoot-out. I've always admired Humanity's capability for restraint and logical thinking. If this had happened over Palaven..."
The two were quiet for a moment as Valern contemplated what Kirrahe had just showed him meant. A diplomatic meeting suggested that the two sides were unfamiliar with each other, and Valern knew that these new arrivals were definitely unfamiliar to him. That concerned him in more ways than one.
The Salarians prided themselves on their knowledge of the galaxy; if you asked a Salarian about current events, there was a heavy chance they could talk your ear off about them. It was just how the species were. They lived fast, they thought fast, and they acted fast, so having up-to-date knowledge of what was going on around them was often paramount in a Salarian's life. That philosophy applied even more to the Salarian government and military, who heavily relied upon obtaining information before their competitors in order to stay at an advantage. The hundreds of STG stealth observation drones seeded throughout the galaxy attested to that much, as well as the Special Task Group's close relationship with Salarian politicians.
Then, Valern asked the question Kirrahe knew he was going to ask. The same one he had asked. "Tol, is this our first sighting of a new species?"
Kirrahe paused for a couple of seconds. "Possibly. Actually, there's a heavy chance it is. There's just too much evidence in the theory's favor. Suddenly arriving not using any form of our FTL, ships that are larger than anything we have ever seen, what seems to be a first contact diplomatic meeting with the Alliance, and there's something else."
When Kirrahe didn't say it, Valern gestured with a hand for him to continue.
"No eezo readings."
That shocked Valern openly. "No eezo?"
"None. In any of the ships."
Valern leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Well, that kind of explains how their ships are so large. An absolutely gargantuan amount of Element Zero would have been needed to power a drive core for ships like that."
"Exactly."
"So. This new race has discovered a way to construct space-faring vessels without the use of Element Zero. How come we haven't even seen them until now?" asked Valern, still trying to wrap his head around what he was being told and shown.
"Well we know that eezo distribution throughout the galaxy isn't even, Thessia is perfect example of that. Perhaps this is a race that evolved in an eezo-absent pocket of our galaxy and had to develop technologies that didn't operate off of Element Zero."
"They must not have had access to a Mass Relay, else we would have discovered them sooner."
"That's what the STG concluded as well. We know that there are still thousands upon thousands of systems throughout the galaxy that are out of the reach of the Mass Relays, it would be foolish to believe that some form of intelligent life hasn't developed in at least one. But there's more. Take a closer look at the two Super-Dreadnoughts. Notice how different they look in design," said Kirrahe.
Valern did as his brother asked, and noticed how the two ships were very different. One was very linear and looked like a rectangular prism, while the other was all graceful curves with a remarkably bulbous and hooked bow section. "They are indeed remarkably dissimilar."
"You know how different the vessels of the various Council races are," said Kirrahe.
"Yes of course," said Valern. "What are you getting at?"
"I think we might be looking at two new species instead of one," revealed the STG Major.
"Maybe. But regardless, none of this matters. The timestamp of this information places it within an hour of the Reaper arrival at Earth. Despite how large they are, they wouldn't have been able to stop eight-hundred Reapers, even with the help of the Alliance fleet."
"Actually – " started Kirrahe.
"Don't tell me that – " interrupted Valern.
Kirrahe interrupted Valern's interruption. "Actually I wasn't going to tell you. It would be much easier just to show you."
And with that Kirrahe showed Valern everything that the STG drone had picked up over the following hours. First, the arrival of the Reaper scout force and its subsequent destruction by the Shadow of Intent. Then the arrival of the first Reaper force and the defense of Earth. Following that, the retreat of the Reapers back to the Relay and the arrival of even more unknown ships, after which occurred a retreat by the Alliance/unknown forces out of system. They returned a short time later near the Relay, some of the unknown forces completely obliterated the Reaper guard force there, and the Alliance fleet escaped through the Relay while the unknown forces escaped by some other strange form of FTL, but not before turning the Relay off.
When Kirrahe closed the file he gave Valern some time to think, the Councilor having clasped his hands in front of his mouth.
After nearly thirty seconds of silence, Valern spoke. "They arrived here without warning. Their ships are larger than anything we've ever seen. They don't abide by the laws of Element Zero, and seemed to have developed some other kind of FTL. They have weapons capable of destroying a Reaper in one shot, and the defensive capability to withstand massive amounts of sustained fire. They seem to have an agreement with the Systems Alliance. They possess the capacity to manipulate the Mass Relays."
Valern looked at Kirrahe, and the Major could see the exasperation in his eyes. "By the Dalatrass herself who the fuck are these people?"
Any attempt for Kirrahe to speak was lost with the sudden beeping of his omni-tool. The STG Major brought it up with his thumb trigger and tapped the holographic surface to bring up the alert that had been sent him.
Upon seeing Kirrahe frown, Valern asked "What is it?"
"The Trebia and Arcturus drones." he answered, closing his omni-tool.
"Palaven already?" cursed Valern. "How long ago?"
"Just minutes. We've likely gotten this information quicker than Councilor Sparatus."
"How are the Turian's doing?" asked Valern, though the pit forming in his stomach told him that he already knew the answer.
"Not good." replied Kirrahe unexpectedly. "The Reaper force at Palaven is less than half of what was at Earth, but the Turian's are getting hit hard."
"The largest fleet in the galaxy and the Reapers are running right over it." said Valern sadly. "They couldn't have been from the group in the Sol system considering those new aliens turned off the Relay, there's no way that even Reaper FTL is that fast."
"You're right, it must have been a different detachment. This is raising some distressing questions though." said Kirrahe.
"I know. Khar'shan, Earth, now Palaven. It seems that they have sent forces dedicated to assaulting our homeworlds," said Valern. "What about Arcturus Station?"
"Destroyed."
Valern frowned again. That definitely didn't bode well for the Alliance, given that their entire representative body was stationed there. Assuming there were no survivors, that now gave Councilor Udina nearly full control over the Alliance. Valern didn't know how much he liked that.
"Have you sent the orders?" asked Kirrahe urgently.
Valern nodded slowly. "Yes. As soon as we spotted the Reapers in Batarian space."
Following the Alliance's destruction of Sovereign, there had been a massive effort by the Asari and Turians to try and cover up the entire 'Reaper' issue and place blame for the attack solely on the Geth. The Salarians on the other hand... they neither participated in the cover up nor tried to oppose it. Shepard and the new Human Councilor Anderson had repeatedly tried to convince Tevos and Sparatus that the Reaper threat was something to be worried about but they Asari and Turian Councilors shut them down time after time. Valern had done his best to remain neutral throughout the political conflicts, wanting to step back and gather information like the Salarians did best. Anderson had noticed how Valern wasn't as quick to dismiss what Tevos and Sparatus declared 'rumors' and actually had come to him to ask for his support. He had politely refused, and when Anderson asked for Valern to give him a reason why the Salarian had refused that as well, causing the Human to storm out of the room angrily.
For nearly half a year Valern had been content to watch the Anderson duke it out with Tevos and Sparatus, but that all changed with the news that Commander Shepard had been killed. Not an hour after the Presidium funeral service was over Kirrahe had come to talk with Valern about the Salarian's plan of action towards towards the Reapers. He remembered the conversation like it was yesterday, which wasn't difficult given his photographic memory.
"Shepard is right," Kirrahe had said not a second after first sitting down.
"Right about what?" Valern had asked.
"You know what." he had said, to which Valern had remained silent.
"Would you drop the charade Vas?" Kirrahe had said, annoyed. "You may be a professional politician but I'm your brother. I can see right through you. You know I'm talking about what Shepard said about the Reapers. That we've only delayed them, that they'll be back within our lifetime, and that you and I both know he's right. I've heard about what you're doing, you're sitting on the sidelines watching Anderson beat his head against the Tevos-Sparatus wall of arrogant superiority. Why aren't you speaking up? Why aren't you doing anything?
"I'm waiting for it to play out. Making observations," was the reason he had given.
"What are you, an Asari? We don't have the privilege of a thousand year lifespan, we don't have the time to 'wait for it to play out'. We acquire information, then we quickly act on it. That's how the Salarians have been for thousands of years."
"Tol you don't understand - " Valern had said a bit angrily. "My position requires me to have patience. If I started given out orders or direction as soon as – "
"It's been six months Vas! You've been patient and observant enough. You always chided me for my 'hold the line' mentality. Well let me tell you that if we don't start preparing for the Reapers now there won't be a line to hold."
"What's gotten into you Tol? Why are you so adamantly agreeing with the Reaper ramblings of some Human Commander?"
"That 'Human Commander' has saved both of our lives, and nearly singlehandly halted Saren from signing all of our death warrants. Do you want to know what's gotten into me? The truth Vas, that's what. You can't deny what happened six months ago, not like Tevos and Sparatus, you're too smart for that. It took an entire Alliance fleet to destroy Sovereign, but not before it destroyed nearly a third by itself. What would happen if ten showed up? Or fifty? Or a hundred? There's nothing in our arsenal that could stand up to that kind of firepower."
"So what do you want me to do then? Summon some kind of Super-Dreadnought that could kill a Reaper in one shot with a snap of my fingers? I'm a politician Tol, not a miracle worker," he had said.
"Of course not," Kirrahe had frowned back. "But I do have at least a few ideas..."
Once Kirrahe had convinced Valern that the return of the Reapers were indeed something that needed to be prepared for, the Salrian government and military had quietly began instituting contingency plans. A number of things had changed over past two and a half years for the Salarians. First off, the already significant budget for military research and armament had been tripled, while all across Salarian space military training had become mandatory. In the farthest, most remote sections of Salarian territory deep space shipyards were producing some of the most technologically cutting-edge warships that would give even the Turians a slight pause.
Legislation concerning an emergency draft had been written and passed, while the STG increased the number of stealth observations drones throughout the galaxy from less than twenty to over a hundred in key galactic systems. Infrastructure across Salarian worlds was being renovated and reinforced with an emphasis on defense and durability, while evacuation protocols had been taught and memorized by the entire populations of Salarian planets. Volunteers had even been gathered and launched to form two new colonies in systems far away from the Mass Relays.
All of this action had not gone unnoticed however, despite the best efforts of the Salarians to keep it quite. When asked by Tevos and Sparatus about what seemed like the Salarians increasing militarization, Valern had said that they were simply 'taking steps to ensure their security against aggression' and told them not to worry. Not surprisingly, as Valern continued to give vague answers to their probing questions Tevos and Sparatus had grown increasingly wary of him. What was surprising however, was Anderson. While the Asari and Turians started to act colder to Valern, Anderson had done the opposite, becoming friendlier with the Salarian. Valern still remembered what Anderson had whispered in his ear at the end of a Council meeting: "Glad to see that the Salarians are as smart as they say they are."
"At least we're as ready as we can be," said Kirrahe, breaking Valern out of his reminiscence. "So, what do we do now?"
"Hmm. I'm betting that the Alliance send a representative to the Citadel, probably Shepard, to ask the Council for help. A lot of good it's going to do them considering the Turians will be saying the same thing. I... don't know what my positions going to be concerning any action to take. We'll have to see how the meeting plays out. As far as these aliens... If I were the Alliance I would try my best to keep them a secret. Ships as powerful as those represent a powerful bargaining chip, I mean just imagine what lengths the Turians would go to get these aliens' support in the fight at Palaven. Needless to say, I think we should try to get Shepard alone and use our knowledge of the real situation to put him off balance."
"And what then?"
Valern sighed. "I don't know Tol. In the end it all comes down to what's best for the Salarian race. To we pledge our support to fighting the Reapers immediately? Or do we sit and wait while the other races give us time to further prepare?"
"I think we both know the answer to that question Vas. The Reapers very well could ignore us until the very end and while sure it would give us more time to prepare, but I think we'd be all the weaker for it without anyone to rely on but ourselves. If we act now however, we would be sharing the burden with the other races."
"I need some time to think about it," said Valern. "How long are you on the Citadel?"
"My shuttle has been waiting on me. STG command wants me back on Sur'kesh."
"Ah. Well I apologize for keeping you."
Kirrahe stood up out of his chair and Valern did the same. The STG Major extended his hand and the Councilor took it, the two shaking firmly. Kirrahe pivoted and walked to the door, but before he pressed the activation button, he turned his head back Valern.
"Brother?"
"Yes?"
"Hold the line."
With that, Kirrahe pressed the button and passed through the threshold, the door closing swiftly behind him.
Valern sighed, turning around to gaze back out the window that gave a clear view of a busy Presidium storefront across the river. He saw distant beings, Humans, Asari, Turians, Elcor, Hanar, Volus, Salarians, all going about their daily business without a care in the world, oblivious to the Reaper threat that was hammering on their door.
"Hold the line," he whispered.
Special thanks to my beta JonHarper