Chapter Fourteen: War Summit
"Any ship can be a minesweeper... once."
- UNSC Marine Corps Handbook (Unofficial)
SSV Normandy
En route to Citadel
"Have any of you had anything to eat yet?"
Shepard, Kaidan, and Garrus were all sitting at the mess tables following the Menae mission. Armor and weapons had been discared shortly before, replaced with more comfortable BDUs. All present shook their heads, and Liara was clearly able to see their thoughts. After expending thousands of calories in a hard-charging mission, they were hungry.
"I'll see what I can make then," she said, heading over to the kitchen area. She herself was starving; biotic exertion certainly took its toll on the body, even for an experienced user like herself.
Kaidan started the questioning. "So Garrus, what were you doing on Palaven? Last I head, you had been stationed for a few months overseeing military exercises in another system."
"I was on leave visiting my Dad's old place. He still had some boxes left over from his move to the Citadel that he wanted me to grab." Thank god his father and sister had emigrated from Palaven when they did, or else Garrus' mood would have been a lot different. That much was understood by everyone else, and didn't need to be said.
"While I was there, some higher-ups suddenly decided that I was actually pretty important once word came that the Reapers might be coming back. Thanks to the experience I gained under you Shepard, I was the closest damn thing the Hierarchy had to a Reaper expert. I could have ordered the Generals on Menae around if I had felt like it, but I'm not that arrogant."
"Garrus Vakarian, you did not just say that you're not arrogant," said Liara, arms full of ingredients she had found inside the refrigerator.
"You heard me T'soni," retorted the Turian.
"We'll see about that," said Kaidan. Turning to Shepard, the Sentinel began, "Hey Shepard, I started picking up long-distance shooting a couple months ago in my downtime and I think I've become pretty good at it. Dare to say, I might be the best shooter on the ship by now."
Garrus sighed, knowing when he was defeated. "Alright, now that's just nonsense. Everybody with even a hint of intelligence knows that the 'Best Shooter in the Galaxy' title has already been bestowed on one devilishly handsome and extraordinarily talented Turian, yours truly."
Kaidan gave Garrus a sly grin, as if he knew something the Turian didn't. "Maybe…maybe not. But I've heard a few things that might put that in doubt."
Garrus tilted his head in amused contemplation while Liara raised an eyebrow in interest. Shepard had an idea of what was coming but didn't want to steal Kaidan's thunder.
"Oh, do tell, Alenko. Do tell," Garrus motioned with a grin and a wave of his hand.
Kaidan obliged him. "I read the dossier on Blue Team that Cortana passed to us, and I had a little chat with her about Spartans. Nothing in-depth, but it turns out one of them is a pretty good sniper. She's the best sniper in the galaxy, apparently. Seems like you might have some competition there."
Shepard chuckled. Garrus didn't yet know what a Spartan was, but the idea of someone good enough to challenge him would likely intrigue him. Sure enough as he looked over to his Turian friend he could see the growing interest in Garrus' eyes.
"Well now….that would be an interesting matchup indeed. I don't know who or what a Spartan is, but I've gotta meet her, gauge my competition. See if she's half as good you say she is."
They all laughed, and Shepard felt good knowing that they could find humor despite the grave reality of the galactic situation.
"So Garrus, are you going to be deploying back with you Armigers once we get back to the Citadel?" asked Shepard.
"No. They weren't technically my platoon in the first place really, they were just the closest to the shuttles that would take us to Menae and were missing a CO, so I just stepped in and took impromptu command. The ship that they extracted to, the Mobius, isn't even going to the Citadel. They're reforming with what's left of the fleets in some remote space location they didn't mention," said Garrus.
"I thought the Primarch was on the Mobius? Is he not coming to the Citadel?" asked Liara, in the midst of chopping up some vegetables.
"No he is, he was transferred to the Spirit of Paleven, one of our Dreadnaughts . She'll be taking him there," answered Garrus. "It'll likely become his command ship for the duration of the war."
At that moment, the Master Chief walked around the corner into view, still standing tall in his dark green armored suit.
"Master Chief," greeted Shepard.
"Commander, Major, Doctor, Vakarian," acknowledged the Master Chief to all of those present. "I came to ask if Primarch Victus made it off-world."
"He did, he's with the rest of the regrouping Turian Fleet in deep space," answered Shepard.
"Thank you Commander," replied the Spartan, and with that he turned and left, armored footsteps making quiet clangs on the deck.
Garrus waited until he couldn't hear the footsteps anymore, then looked and Shepard and said, "Alright Shepard, I have to know. Who exactly was that?"
Shepard and Kaidan shared a look, and Shepard sighed. "That's a Spartan."
For the next several minutes, they told Garrus all they knew about the UNSC, their sudden arrival along with the now-disappeared Sangheili Separatists into their galaxy, the devastating effectiveness of their ships against the Reapers in space, their help in getting Shepard off of Earth and with the Mars mission, the UNSC's alliance with the Systems Alliance to help fight the Reapers in exchange for helping them look for a way home, and the stationing of a few of their personnel and resources on the Normandy.
Garrus absorbed all of what they were telling him quietly, and you could almost see the gears turning in his head. "This is a lot to take in Shepard," he said, "Two new factions from another galaxy? One alien, but one human?"
"Yeah, how do you think we felt when we found out… and still feel actually," said Kaidan.
"I find it utterly fascinating," said Liara, now stirring a thick red liquid around in a large pot, "That if the UNSC is from another galaxy, how two isolated populations evolved into the same species. At least as far as we can tell. There's absolutely no way it happened by chance."
"As interesting as that may be Liara, what I'm more 'fascinated' about are their ships. Can they really take down a Reaper Capital ship in one shot?" asked Garrus.
"Yes, I've seen so myself," said Shepard, "And they had advanced enough defenses to survive the brunt of the Reaper assault on Earth, so they've got us beat in that area as well."
"Sure wish we could have had that kind of firepower at Palaven," remarked Garrus, shaking his head.
"We did at Earth, but even then we had to retreat," said Shepard, corners of his mouth tightening.
"Still, might have been able to save some lives…" said Garrus, sighing.
At that point Liara approached the table, two large bowls in her hands and placed them in front of Shepard and Kaidan. Inside was a deep red, thick-looking liquid, with a sprinkling of green herbs garnishing the soup.
Liara returned to the kitchen area and picked up two more bowls, putting one in front of Garrus and putting one at her spot where she sat down.
"I made your soup dextro Garrus, you welcome" smiled Liara.
"Liara you are truly a Spirit's blessing," replied the Turian.
The four didn't wait, digging into the hearty soup in earnest. Shepard knew he was hungry, the stress and physical exertion of combat were immense to say the least, but he hadn't known that he was this hungry.
Somehow though, Liara had accounted for this, adding just enough soup to where Shepard was feeling full near the end of the bowl. After a few moments of nothing but spoons softly clanking off of bowls the group had finished their meal.
"That was good Liara," remarked Kaidan, "I didn't know you could cook so well."
"It's something I picked up in the past couple of months. While Shepard was cooped up behind bars I had to find another hobby to replace him," she said, smirking.
"Well you should cook more often then, at least for me." said Garrus. "The Dextro military rations I've been getting lately have been crap."
"Maybe we could work out a deal then," said Liara playfully.
"I'd love to, but first I need some sleep," Garrus said. "I've been exhausted since this entire thing began."
"Good idea. I'm gonna hit the sack too. I'm beat," added Kaidan. "Thanks for the soup Liara. Commander."
Kaidan and Garrus got up from the table and started to make their way over to the crew quarters to find the closest bed that they could crash in, leaving Shepard and Liara alone in the mess.
Liara reached up a hand and rubbed Shepard's neck, the edges of her hand brushing against his weathered skin. "You should get some rest," she suggested.
Shepard nodded in confirmation, but EDI's voice came over the mess's comms.
"Commander, news for you," said the AI.
"What is it?"
"Councilor Sparatus and Councilor Valern have announced to the public that they have called a War Summit to formally address the Reaper threat to the galaxy."
Shepard approved. "This is good, people need to know about what's going on and what we're going to do about it. When does it start?"
"Top political and military leaders from the Turians, Salarians, Humans, Krogan, Elcor, Volus, Hanar, and Drell have been arriving since yesterday. By current projections you and Primarch Victus will be the last to arrive, so it will start as soon as you arrive at the Citadel," informed EDI.
"Me?" asked Shepard.
"Yes Commander. You have been requested to attend the War Summit due to your prior knowledge and experience with the Reapers," said EDI.
"Alright," said Shepard, with obvious hesitation. He knew Reapers, that was for sure, but he didn't know how much help he could be in planning the galaxy-wide response to the Reaper invasion. "Will the UNSC be attending the summit as well?"
Just then, there was a small flash of light on the small mess table and the purple holographic avatar of Cortana appeared, hands cocked on her hips. "Yes, we'll be at your War Summit. Admiral Lasky and Lt. Colonel Dare will introduce the UNSC, it's probably the best time that your galaxy could learn about us and what we have to offer," she said.
Shepard furrowed his brows, confused at the appearance of the UNSC AI in front of him. Previously, he had only seen her avatar spring up out of one of those circular projector-devices that the Master Chief had used when the pair had come to talk to him before the Menae mission.
"How did you…" started Shepard.
"Magically appear on you table?" finished Cortana, smiling slightly. "There's holographic projectors all over the ship. I'm surprised you didn't know about them."
"EDI?" asked Shepard, hoping that his AI could elaborate.
"She's right Commander, they were installed during the retrofits at Earth. Their installation was mentioned in the report that Specialist Traynor assembled for you."
"Oh, right," he said. Other than a brief glimpse, he hadn't been able to look over Traynor's report, so it's no wonder he missed it. "How come you haven't used them yet EDI?"
"I haven't felt the need to Commander. I have found I can communicate with the crew perfectly well through the Normandy's intercom and internal sensor network without the use of visual aids."
"Well, I like that more personal connection," said Cortana, "hence the hologram. Also, it keeps confusion down over which AI is talking over the intercom at what time if you can see me 'speaking'."
"It's a good idea," admitted Shepard.
After a couple of seconds, Liara looked to Shepard and said, "Are there really holographic projectors all over the ship?"
"No Doctor," answered EDI, "There are no projectors in Engineering, nor in the Commander's cabin."
The pair let out a sigh of relief at that news, as both had been thinking about a holographic EDI or Cortana popping up during an… inopportune moment.
"Liara, there was actually something I wanted to talk to you about regarding the Menae mission," said Sheprad.
"Yes? What is it?" replied the Asari.
"Did you notice that our weapons weren't having the greatest effect on the Reapers?"
"Well, I was using my biotics for the majority of the mission, but the few times I shot at a Reaper with my SMG it took more rounds than expected to take them down."
"Those Batarian and Turian Reapers both had some thick armor plating, and the Turian ones even had kinetic barriers," said Shepard. "I don't think that the standard issue Alliance gear is the way to go here, we should try to get some better weapons."
"Oooh Shepard, I like where this is going," said Liara smirking mischievously. "What kind of weapons are you talking about?"
"Everything. Assault rifles, hand cannons, shotguns, sniper rifles, SMG's, grenades and grenade launchers, missile launchers, you name it. Now that I think of it, some better kinetic barriers and omni-tools would be useful too. Anything that could give us an edge."
"And what makes you think that I could procure these kinds of things for you? Some of which might be… highly illegal," asked Liara, a twinkle in her eyes. They both knew that with because of her position as Shadow Broker, she would be able to get what he had asked for without a problem.
Shepard just gave the Asari a look, and she said, "Alright, I'll see what I can do. You should go get some rest Shepard. I'll join you after I've made some calls."
Liara leant in and kissed Shepard's cheek then got up and walked over to her private quarters/Shadow Broker Command Bunker, leaving Shepard alone in the mess.
The Commander sighed heavily, the fatigue and weariness from the battle of Menae now fully hitting his body like a punch to the gut. With labor, he stood up from the table and started for the elevator to get to his cabin, and eventually his bed. It had been a long day.
Citadel, Presidium VIP Landing Pads
Commander Shepard, looking smart in his dress blues, and the Master Chief in his Mjolnir stood at attention as the three UNSC Pelicans flared in for landing. The aircraft spun around so that their troop bays were facing the inside of the landing pad, and with a mechanical whir the bay doors opened and the ramps extended.
Out of one Pelican stepped Admiral Lasky, accompanied by interim Blue Team leader Fred-104. There was no one in the other two Pelicans, as common UNSC protocol when transporting high-ranking officials was to use multiple empty aircraft to confuse any potential enemies into which Pelican contained the official.
The two walked to meet Shepard and Chief, and the Spartan-II snapped off a salute towards his towards Lasky, who quickly returned it.
"Master Chief, Commander Shepard, good to see you both," acknowledged Lasky, shaking hands with the Alliance Commander.
"Likewise Admiral," said Shepard, "I'm glad that you decided to attend."
"Your Presidium reminds me of some Earth cities," Lasky said, remarking on the sights around him. Before the war with the Covenant of course. "Clean, white, pristine… Is the rest of the Citadel like this?"
"Not quite. The five arms of the Citadel, the Wards, are uh… less so. If you'll follow me, we'll have to pass through the Grand Atrium before we get to the Delegation Hall," said Shepard, walking out in front of the USNC group to lead them in the right direction.
Fred and Chief fell in on either side of Lasky and as they started to make their way towards the 'Grand Atrium' from their landing pad Fred opened up a private comms channel between him and Chief.
"John, we got the combat footage that Cortana sent from Menae. It's good stuff, and combined with the footage from the Alliance Earth we're all starting to get a rough idea of how these Reapers operate on the ground," he said.
"Good," replied Chief, "The more prepared we are the better."
"Something we've noticed already is that the Reapers have a lot of behavioral similarities to Covenant ground forces."
Cortana, who had been listening in on the conversation, decided to give her own analysis on the topic. "Husks: easy to take down, but could be overwhelming in large numbers. Like Drones, but lacking any sort of non-melee weaponry. Cannibals: easy to kill with headshots, uncoordinated, but dangerous in groups. Like Grunts. Marauders: Better tactical awareness and combat capabilities. Fewer in numbers but able to coordinate the weaker troops, Elites. And that hulking, Brute that Chief saw near the end of the mission, I'm guessing those were like Hunters. Heavily armored shock troops, almost vehicular in nature."
"The S-IV's are already running through holo-sims based on our mission at Earth, and as soon as they get the Menae mission programmed in they'll start incorporating that as well," said Fred.
"How are Kelly and Linda?" asked Chief.
"Sharp, and eager to get in the fight."
"Are the contingency plans in place?" asked Chief. With the target such a large number of important dignitaries that would present at the Summit, including two of the UNSC's highest-ranking available leaders, they would have been fools not to put into place such measures.
"The entire fleet is ready to jump in-system and run cover for the Infinity as she gets in close and deploys a company of Spartan-IV's to this location to extract the Admiral if anything were to go wrong," said Fred. That was another thing, the Citadel Council had politely asked the UNSC Fleet to remain just outside the Citadel system, something about keeping the Citadel's citizens from potentially panicking. "At least they're letting us keep our weapons. But then again, Colonel Dare didn't exactly give them a choice in the matter. No armed close-in security for the Admiral, then no attending the Summit."
As 'a gesture of good faith', Citadel Security, who was organizing the event, stipulated that each dignitary was allowed two armed guards to supplement the security that they would already be providing. Chief didn't know how he felt about this because on one hand he was glad to keep his own weapons, but on the other hand, everyone else got to keep theirs as well. If tensions started to run high during the War Summit, if perhaps the other delegations and their guards started being overly hostile towards the USNC…
The last thing that Chief wanted was for the Delegation Hall to turn into a free-fire zone, but he would do whatever it took to ensure Lasky's safety.
They reached a door guarded by four C-Sec members, two Humans and two Turians. One of the Turians came up to them and held out a datapad, looking between Shepard and the UNSC group and the datapad which no doubt contained a list of all of the delegations that would be attending.
"Commander Shepard with the UNSC Delegation," said Shepard, trying to expedite the process.
"Ah, of course," said the Turian, turning off the datapad and waving at one of his comrades to open the door. "Welcome."
Shepard nodded at the Turian, then motioned for the UNSC group to follow him through the door. As they stepped through the door it was immediately evident to the entire UNSC delegation why all other delegations, including themselves, had to walk through the Grand Atrium in order to get to the Delegation Hall.
Like the name suggested it was certainly grand in scale, nearly a square kilometer of lush green trees, colorful flowers in full bloom, and intricate, gleaming metal walls, boundaries, and decorative pieces. As they walked through Lasky could hear the telltale chirps and whistles of various kinds of birds, and occasionally he could see small forest creatures scampering through the grass or within the limbs of the trees. They builders had even incorporated hilly terrain into the design, giving the path that they were walking on a sort of miniature-valley feeling. When they approached what Lasky thought was the center of the atrium they saw a large fountain whose centerpiece was the Citadel itself, water spewing from the tips of its open 'arms'.
There was no doubt that the atrium was a stunningly beautiful place, but it was obvious to Lasky what its real purpose was. It was a status tool, something to be used by the leaders of the Citadel to show their spectacular grandeur, engineering capabilities, and economic prosperity. The Grand Atrium was supposed to intimidate visitors, to show them that the Citadel was capable of accomplishing more than they could. In that effect, it would have been like the UNSC lining up a fleet of warships on the border of a planet trying to leave the fold through diplomatic channels, except instead of Titanium battleplate and depleted uranium MAC slugs the Atrium used green leaves and rainbow-colored flowers.
Despite the efforts of the Grand Atrium, Lasky wouldn't be intimidated. He knew that they were the real ones with the power going into this War Summit. Simply put, the UNSC had what the rest of the galaxy desperately needed: Twenty-four ships that took away the Reaper's blatant orbital superiority.
Of course the Citadel races had things that the UNSC wanted as well, such as raw material to help them rearm and fleet resources that could help them find a way back to their own galaxy, but what the UNSC offered was much more important.
As they group came to the end of a curve in the path with sightlines somewhat blocked by another hill, a being came into view at the now-revealed end of the path, another large, intricately designed door. Eight more blue-uniformed C-Sec officers guarded this one, three on either side and two in the middle right in front of the door.
The Chief increased the magnification on his visor to get a better look. The being appeared large in stature and was bipedal, with the same backwards-knees that a number of other races in this galaxy had. It had a significantly hunched back which made it appear shorter than it was - eight feet. It's entire body was covered in what looked like heavy, red-tinted plated armor.
"Ooh, this is exciting," said Cortana, "I was wondering when we would get to see a Krogan in person."
The Chief narrowed his eyes slightly; he remembered reading about Krogan in the Codex that Cortana had acquired. From everything he had read including the Codex, it seemed that the galaxy-wide impression of the Krogan was that there were one thing: dangerous. Biologically they fell in the same weight/strength category as a Reaper Brute, and with their natural plate armor, thick skin, heavy muscles and redundant organ systems the Chief knew that they would be hard enough to kill already. Combine that with the species natural tendency to be aggressive, territorial, short tempered, and universally adept with weapons and you had a mix that made even the hyper-calm Chief a tad worried. This one had the folded form of a bulky-looking shotgun magnetized to the small of his back armor.
The Spartan-II knew that Fred and Lasky were thinking the same things, he could see the subtle yet tell-tale signs of slight tensing-up in their body posture. The Chief flexed his fingers instinctively, ready to snatch his ACS from his back and level it at the Krogan if it was looking for trouble.
When the Krogan turned around however, the way he reacted to their presence threw everyone with the UNSC for a loop, as it didn't even acknowledge them at first.
"Shepard?" he said, gender now revealed by the deep, scratchy voice that a male would typically have.
"Wrex?" replied Shepard, the smile that had started forming turning into a full-blown grin.
The UNSC delegation stayed where they were, but Shepard and 'Wrex' the Krogan started striding towards each other.
"Ha Ha, Shepard!" said the Krogan, guffawing.
The two met, grasping forearms so firmly that the sounds echoed throughout the space, and Shepard said, "Wrex! It's good to see you!"
"Likewise Shepard."
"What are you doing here?" asked Shepard.
"Ha, well the Council ever so graciously asked the Krogan to send a delegation to their War Summit. If you ask me, they should have done something like this a long time ago. Maybe they wouldn't be getting their asses kicked up and down the galaxy by the Reapers now."
Shepard looked around, then looked back to Wrex with a confused look on his face. "Where's the rest of you delegation."
Wrex grinned a sharp, toothy smile, taking both of his thumbs and pointing them at himself. "You're looking at it."
"Really? There wasn't at least one other Krogan you could have brought?" asked Shepard, crossing his arms.
"Shepard, come on. I'm the only Krogan that needs to be here. If I had taken any of the other clan leaders all they would have done is argue with everything I say and further sully the good name of the Krogan in this important political setting." It was now when Wrex looked over to the UNSC delegation, who was waiting for Shepard and Wrex to finish their reunion.
"Who are your friends?" asked Wrex, stepping over in their direction.
"I'm Admiral Thomas Lasky. We're with the United Nations Space Command," answered Lasky, wary.
The Krogan's blood-red eyes travelled up and down Lasky and his two Spartan guards, obviously sizing them up. "Yeah, that's who I figured you were."
"And who might you be?" Lasky asked in response.
"Heh. I'm Urdnot Wrex, head of Clan Urdnot. The Great Uniter of the Krogan Clans of Tuchanka," he said, with some minor theatrics.
"Great Uniter huh?" said Shepard, smirking. "Who gave you that title?"
"I did, just now. Heh, you like it?"
Wrex took a step closer to Lasky, and though he was substantially taller than the UNSC Admiral the Krogan's eyes were only a few inches above Lasky's. Any other man who had never seen a Krogan would have probably taken a step back, but Lasky stood firm.
"I've heard the rumors," started Wrex, his voice lower than before. Not threatening, but not friendly either. "Do you really have ships that can take down a Reaper with one shot?"
Lasky nodded in response.
Wrex stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest. "Well if that's true, they're going to be all over you in there like a Varren over fresh meat. I hope you're prepared."
Now Lasky didn't know what a Varren was, but he got the gist of what Wrex was saying. "We can handle ourselves," Lasky said.
Wrex nodded at Lasky, then turned to Shepard with a predatory grin. "Well, it'd be rude to keep the politicians waiting. See you inside Shepard."
The Krogan strode up to the two C-Sec officers in the middle of the door and bellowed, "Urdnot Wrex, Krogan Delegation!"
As the C-Sec officers ushered Wrex through the door, Lasky walked up to Shepard and said, "You and Urdnot Wrex seem to be pretty friendly."
"Yeah, he was one of my former squadmates and is now a good friend. Don't worry about the whole sizing-up/intimidation thing that he did, he does that with everyone he first meets. In fact, almost every Krogan does that," said Shepard. "The fact that you stood your ground when he sullied up to you probably holds a lot a weight with him actually. Shows that you're stronger than you look."
"Well that's good to know," said Lasky. Looking up to the Master Chief, he said, "Now Chief I might not be the best at reading Spartan body language, but it seemed like you wanted to punch him when he got too close there"
A large, dangerous alien with unknown motives in a close-encounters first-contact scenario with top-ranking VIPs? "I was prepared to do what was necessary," replied the Chief in his typical no-nonsense mid-mission voice.
The beginning of Lasky's smile disappeared, he knew that the Master Chief was just doing his job but a little humor couldn't hurt every now and then. "Of course," he said, sighing. "Alright, is everyone ready?"
Chief and Fred both replied 'Yes Admiral.'
"Then let's do this."
After passing through two separate security scan rooms checking for explosives, illegal equipment, or any weapons larger than a rifle, the UNSC group was let into the Delegation Hall.
The Delegation Hall resembled any typical governmental meeting hall, semicircular rows of tables on a downward slope from the door where the delegations would sit, all facing the central tables of the room for the leaders, who were in this case the Turian and Salarian Councilors.
It was certainly a diverse scene. Top political officials and military leaders from nearly every species occupied many of the tables: Turians, Salarians, the Human Systems Alliance, Wrex of the Krogan, Elcor, Volus, Hanar with their Drell, and now the UNSC. The soft buzz of conversation filled the room, and the lighting was dim. As per the Master Chief's request, they had been given a table near the middle-side of the room.
Plenty of cover if needed in the form of the thick metal tables all around, and easy access to the side paths of the room that led to the exits. Thirty C-Sec officers lined the outsides of the room for security, and additional C-Sec guards had been assigned the Volus and Elcor delegations as well.
On their delegation table Lasky found what had to be a freshly minted nameplate with the words ADMIRAL THOMAS LASKYabove the letters UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND. There was also a datapad embedded into the surface of the table that once he activated showed the images, names, and titles of all those in attendance. Lasky already knew this of course, Cortana had procured the list a significant time before hand, allowing Lasky to memorize the information.
Lasky sat down at the single chair that was provided at the table, the Master Chief and Fred standing to either side of him. He twisted around in his chair to look around the room at the other delegations, and wasn't surprised to see lot of pairs of eyes, or what passed for eyes, looking right at him. Lasky pursed his lips and looked forwards to the central portion of the hall, relieved to see that the Salarian Councilor Valern had taken the podium to begin the Summit.
A light activated to shine on Valern and make him more visible, and he started, "It has come to my attention that all delegations have now arrived. This emergency War Summit will now begin."
Valern waited for the room to quite before continuing. "Fellow leaders, this is a grave time. Our galaxy faces possibly the largest threat it has ever seen. The Reapers are here, and they are here in force. Already they have taken the homeworlds of the two Council Races and millions have lost their lives. If that doesn't show you the magnitude of our situation, then I do not know what will."
"The goal of this Summit is to not only develop a sensible and uniform strategy to resist the Reapers, but also to unite the great species of the galaxy under a common cause of trust and support. I know that for the last several hundred years our individual species have operated relatively independent of each other, but I think you all know that now more than ever is the time when we need to stand together as one and put aside our past grudges. Divided, the Reapers will conquer – "
Loud, dark laughter erupted from the corner of the room. Specifically from the Krogan delegation's table.
"Urdnot Wrex, do you have something to say?" said Valern, annoyed at the interruption.
"Yeah, I've got something to say," replied Wrex, his laughter halting abruptly and his tone growing hostile. "You've got a lot of nerve if you expect everyone in the galaxy to just forget about their 'past grudges' at your behest."
"What do the Salarians have to forgive from the galaxy?" asked Wrex. "Some unwanted military patrols from the Turians? Some banking mix-ups with the Volus? The fact that the Krogan keep destroying the STG's expensive spy satellites they try and place above Tuchanka? Yeah, I notice, you're not a stealthy as you think."
"Wrex…" started Valern, but the Krogan would have none of it.
"What about the Turians huh? Or the Humans? What does the galaxy have to 'forgive' of them? The First Contact War? Expanding too quickly?"
"Wrex I urge you to calm down!" said Valern, the volume of his voice raising along with his frustration.
"I will not calm down!" bellowed Wrex, standing up from his chair and pointing a finger towards the podium. "The Salarian and Turian governments have facilitated what amounts to a genocide on the Krogan people for hundreds of years. Our species is nearing extinction because of your actions!"
"Wrex, please!" said Councilor Sparatus, springing up from his chair away from the podium on the center stage. "We need you in this fight. On the ground our militaries might be able to fight the Reapers to a standstill, but any offensive operations? We called you here because we know that the he Krogan are the best shock troopers in the galaxy, and if we're going to take the fight to the Reapers we're going to need you at the tip of the spear!"
Wrex crossed his arms and grinned a toothy, predatory smile. "Heh. On any other occasion I would have said that it would be a snowy day on Tuchanka before the Krogan decided helped the Council races again, after what you did to us. But now, I've got something you need. Sure, I'll commit the Krogan to fighting the Reapers, but first, you need to give up something that I need."
"And what's that Wrex?" asked Sparatus.
Wrex took a pause for dramatic effect, the room utterly silent. "A cure… for the Genophage."
No one spoke, and Councilor Sparatus put his head into his hands.
"A cure for the Genophage?" said Sparatus in disbelief. "Implementing a cure alone could take months, years even! That's time we don't have Wrex, we need the Krogan now! And that's if we even had a cure in the first place!"
"There is no cure for the Genophage," said Valern, voice steely. "What you ask for cannot be provided."
"Ha ha ha," laughed Wrex darkly, "You lying Salarian bastard."
"This is no place for petty name-calling," said Valern.
"Yeah? If you say there's no cure for the Genophage, then why was one of Clan Urdnot's own females kidnapped from Tuchanka and brought to an STG laboratory on Sur'Kesh? A female whose cells show absolutely no trace of the Genophage!"
"Lies! These fabrications are outrageous!" shot Valern, obviously now furious.
"That female is the future of the Krogan race and she belongs to Tuchanka!"
Wrex's words caused a few C-Sex officers to start raising their weapons in his direction, and action which the Krogan just snarled at.
"ENOUGH!"
Wrex and Valern fell quiet, the C-Sec officers lowered their weapons, and the center of attention focused on the voice who had just silenced the room.
From the Salarian Delegation STG Major Kirrahe stood, swiveling his head between Wrex and his brother Councilor Valern.
"Councilor Valern knows nothing of what you speak of Wrex, but Ido. If you promise to refrain from shooting anyone I will explain the situation."
Wrex just nodded his head, his posture relaxing a bit from the aggressive stance he was previously in. After fighting with him on Virmire, Wrex had always held some respect for Kirrahe.
"Two days ago I lead an STG team down to Doctor Maelon's laboratory for a final torch-and-burn op, I'm sure you're familiar with the place I speak of. We found a Krogan there, the female you speak of, but she was in very poor health and close to death. We evacuated her back to our ship and tried to stabilize her, but it was soon evident that our cruiser's medical bay would not be sufficient. We took her back with us to Sur'Kesh to an isolated medical facility where she could get more advanced care, and that's where she is now. Not three hours after I arrived at the Citadel for this War Summit was I informed that our scientists found there was no sign of the Genophage in her body." The fact that Wrex had somehow come across that information represented a serious security breach within the operation.
"Is she stable?" asked Wrex, to which Kirrahe nodded.
"Why did we not know about this? Both I, and Councilor Valern," asked the Salarian Dalatrass, one of the other members of the delegation.
"Like I said Dalatrass, we did not know whether or not the Krogan would even survive and the fact that she is free of the Genophage is very new information," said Kirrahe.
"So that's it then," said Wrex. "Whether or not you surrender the female to me peacefully in return for Krogan support against the Reapers, or I go and take her by force, that's up to you Councilors."
"If the Council could have a moment to… discuss your request," said Valern.
"I want an answer, or I'm leaving."
"A moment Wrex," insisted Valern. He motioned for Councilor Udina and Councilor Sparatus to join him away from the podium.
"This isn't a good idea, trying to give the Krogan a cure for the Genophage," started Udina. "I don't believe I have to remind any of you why the Genophage was enacted in the first place. The Krogan left unchecked nearly destroyed the three original Council species."
"We don't have a choice Udina. The Reapers are ten times the foe that the Rachni ever were, and the Krogan are precisely the kind of vicious, unrelenting fighting force that we need right now."
"What happens after the Reapers however? The Krogans will continue to multiply, demanding more living space, growing ever more hostile towards us… do we really want to risk a Second Krogan Rebellion?" asked Udina.
"We have no way of knowing if that's how things will turn out if we even survive the Reapers in the first place," said Valern.
"I'm just speaking my mind based on historical precedence," reasoned Udina.
"While your concern and skepticism is appreciated Councilor Udina, this is not the time for historical precedent. We need all the troops that we can possibly get," said Sparatus.
"I agree, we don't have another option," said Valern. "If giving the Krogan a cure to the Genophage will get them on our side, it's what we have to do."
"And what of the aftermath?" asked Udina.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. One problem at a time," said Valern. "Now do we all officially agree? Trying to cure the Genophage to gain Krogan support is a sound course of action?"
"Yes," said Sparatus.
Udina paused for a few seconds, before saying, "While I do agree, can we even make this decision without Councilor Tevos' input?"
"Tevos abandoned her right to be involved in Council affairs when she left for 'government consultations' on Thessia a day ago," said Sparatus angrily. "Besides, she would have been outvoted anyway."
Valern nodded, turning back towards the delegation tables and stepping back up to the podium. He looked to Wrex, who had his arms crossed against his chest, and said, "Urdnot Wrex, the Council has decided to relinquish the unaffected female into Urdnot custody and help pursue a possible cure for the Genophage, in exchange for the promise of Krogan support against the Reaper threat.
Wrex grinned a toothy smile before chuckling, saying to the room, "Everybody see that? Diplomacy at work is a beautiful thing. I accept the Council's decision, but I do want one more thing. I want to get the female myself and transport her back to Tuchanka on a ship that I can trust, the Normandy."
"I wish to accompany Commander Shepard and Urdnot Wrex aboard the Normandy," spoke up Major Kirrahe, "Make sure that there are no problems with the handing-over."
"Commander Shepard, would you be willing to transport Wrex and Kirrahe to Sur'Kesh to pick up the female and then take them to Tuchanka?" asked Valern, looking at the Commander who was sitting at the Alliance table.
"Of course Councilor," responded Shepard. Out of the corner of his eye, Shepard saw what he thought was a small insect flit by. With hardly a thought Shepard snapped his fingers, summoning a small biotic field around the insect and compressed it into nothingness. In an instant the Cerberus bug that Miranda planted earlier was crushed into atomic dust.
"It's settled then," confirmed Valern. "Now, onto what was supposed to be our first agenda item, a general address on the Reaper's progress in Human and Turian space. Primarch Victus, you have the floor."
Victus stoop up, tapping the screen on his table which brought up a map of Turian space on the large overhanging display screen above the central podium.
"About twelve hours ago four hundred Reapers appeared above Palaven and immediately began assaulting the fleets and ground forces stationed there. After just two hours of fighting the entirety of the Home Fleet and the Eight Fleet had been destroyed, and the First Fleet suffered nearly fifty percent casualties. Civilian and Army causalities number in the millions.
A system deeper into Turian space was highlighted on the map, and Victus continued, "We pulled back to the Pullia system, one of our major shipyards to repair and regroup. Fortunately, this is also a natural chokepoint into the rest of Turian space, so it will most likely serve as a staging area for future defensive or offensive operations. Now, thanks to Salarian intelligence we know that since our retreat from Palaven the Reaper assault has expanded into seven other Turian systems as seen here. The Second, Fifth, Ninth, and Eleventh fleets are currently spread throughout these systems resisting the Reapers while attempting to evacuate the civilian population. All other fleets are making their way to the Pullia system. Those are the basics of our situation."
"Thank you Primarch," said Valern. "Admiral Hackett, whenever you're ready."
The Alliance Admiral stood up and cleared his throat. "Three hours before the Reapers hit Palaven a scout party of about a dozen Reapers appeared above Earth. The Second and Fifth fleet were in-system and with the help of accompanying forces we were able to destroy them, and we immediately began evacuations. However, another Reaper force of about two hundred engaged us shortly afterwards. We were barely holding out when more enemy reinforcements arrived, six hundred more to be precise. Our two fleets had sustained fifty percent casualties by that point as well, and we knew we had to retreat from Earth. We made a short FTL jump out-system to avoid the Reapers, regrouped, and jumped back to the Charon Relay. Thankfully we were able to destroy the thirty Reapers guarding it and escape, but not before trapping the Reapers in the Sol System by deactivating the Relay."
Shepard had to hand it to Hackett, he sure knew how to drop a bomb of galactic importance with an absolute straight face. He made a mental note to never play poker with him.
Primarch Victus stood from his table, holding out a hand in the direction of the Alliance table. "Hold on Admiral, what you're saying is raising a lot of questions. Now I have no intention of insulting the capability of the Alliance Navy, but how did your two fleets manage to destroy forty Reapers and hold out against another two hundred? And just to be sure I heard you right, you deactivated a Mass Relay? How? Did this 'United Nations Space Command' have anything to do with it?"
"In fact they did," answered Hackett, looking towards Lasky. "Admiral Lasky, this is probably as good a time as ever to introduce yourself."
All attention fell on the UNSC table, and Admiral Lasky stood up, trying his best to project confidence. "I am Admiral Thomas Lasky of the United Nations Space Command. Now you're all probably wondering who I am and what exactly I am doing in your War Summit, and I'm going to keep my introduction quick so we can get to any questions and get back to the matter at hand. What you're about to hear is going to be hard to believe but I promise that it is not a fabrication. It's all truth."
"I'll go ahead and start with the largest thing, get it out of the way. Though we are Humans, we are not from this galaxy," said Lasky. His statement caused some minor uproar and accusations throughout the room, but they were quickly silenced by Councilor Valern.
"What are you saying then? That you are from another galaxy?" asked Valern. He already knew this of course, this particular information about the UNSC was revealed when the Council met with Shepard and Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, he was simply asking the question that everybody else uninformed was asking.
"Like I said I know it's hard to believe, but it's true," reiterated Lasky.
"Well then, how exactly did you get here?" asked Victus, skeptical.
"We were investigating an artifact of unknown origin in our galaxy and unfortunately it reacted to our presence. The next thing we know we're in the Sol system staring down Admiral Hackett and two Alliance fleets," said Lasky.
"We didn't know who the hell they were at first, we couldn't raise them on any channels and their ships didn't look like anything we had ever seen before. Thankfully we managed to arrange a first contact meeting without any shooting," said Hackett. "But believe me when I say that we were all as surprised as everyone here is now when we found out that they were Human as well."
"Any sort of question-answering was cut short when the Reapers showed up though, and because our FTL drives were still disabled from our sudden 'transportation' we had no choice but to stand and fight alongside the Alliance."
"And your forces were the deciding factor in keeping it the Defense at Earth as opposed to the Annihilation at Earth?" asked Victus.
"Yes. Our ships have proven to be extremely effective in fighting the Reapers. We have ship-mounted weapons that can that gut a Reaper in one shot, and our defensive systems have been shown to be able to resist multiple Reaper strikes."
"How? What gives your ships such a gigantic advantage as opposed to ours?" asked Victus.
"Now the details I'm not comfortable with sharing, but I can tell you that the UNSC has just emerged from the end of long war where shipboard warfare systems were at the forefront of research and development," answered Lasky.
"How long? And against who?" asked the Salarian Dalatrass.
"I apologize, but I would rather keep that information classified," said Lasky.
"You keep your cards close to your chest Admiral," said the Dalatrass. "Such a practice may not prove as fruitful as you think during these times. Regardless, you said you disabled the Charon Mass Relay? Denying the Reapers access to certain Relays would prove to be a massive strategic advantage, how did you do it?"
Lasky took a deep breath, steeling himself for the reaction he figured would come. "One of our Artificial Intelligences was able to manipulate the Relay's system into a hard shutdown before we escaped the Sol system via our own FTL."
The Salarian Dalatrass narrowed her eyes, saying, "One of your Artificial Intelligences? Manipulating a Relay without the permission of the Council is crime enough, but it is a universal Citadel law that AI's are highly illegal."
Lasky was getting ready to answer, but to his surprise Councilor Valern came to his defense. "The UNSC is not a Citadel race, and thus is not expected to have adhered to Council laws."
"But surely if we are to work with the UNSC they will have to relinquish control of their AI?" asked the Dalatrass.
"The UNSC will not be relinquishing the control of anything Dalatrass," stated Lasky firmly. "Our AI's are and have been an integral part of UNSC operations for decades now."
"Fear not Admiral, you will be allowed to keep you AI's," said Valern. "Any advantage that we can get against the Reapers we will take, and if this issue is what we secure UNSC assistance, then the Council will make an exception to the law. It is a moot point anyway as your nation is one we recognize as not part of the Alliance and thus not a signatory."
"Thank you Councilor," said Lasky, relieved that he didn't have to get into a large argument over an issue that was clearly a sensitive topic right now.
"Now what I do want to know however," started Valern, "Is what happened to the other five ships that appeared above Earth? The ones that were clearly of a different faction based on their structural design, and the ones that really destroyed the Reaper scout force and those guarding the Charon Relay? Who were they? Where did they go?"
"They were another faction from our galaxy, one who was investigating the artifact that sent us here at the same time we were. They are our allies," said Lasky. He would not mention the fact that they had been at war with the Sangheili not a few years prior. "They assisted us and the Alliance in the defense of Earth, but after the assault on the Charon Relay they vanished into FTL. We don't know where they went or why they did so."
"So you're saying that there's a force of ships of equal power to your own commanded by an unknown faction, with unknown motives, and is now is at large in our galaxy? That is not a very comforting thought," said the Dalatrass.
"We feel the same way that you do regarding the situation Daltrass, but regardless it is not something that we can control right now," said Lasky.
"Alright, so now that we know a bit more about the UNSC and their current situation," said Sparatus, "What are your terms towards entering into a mutual defensive pact with the rest of the Citadel races, sans the Asari?"
"I will commit my twenty-five ships and their accompanying ground forces to the fight against the Reapers if three conditions are met. First, I would like a promise that the Citadel races will promise to help us look for a way home. Second, we can manufacture our own ordinance, but we don't have a way of procuring the metal and minerals we need to We need access to raw materials in order to rearm our ships. Lastly, I want a guarantee that I will be the only one in command of my forces. Unless I specify, my forces will not be subject to the orders of Council race military commander. Those are my terms."
"You are a reasonable man Admiral Lasky, and I can assure that you terms can be met," said Valern. He reached down and pressed on his data screen, and something new popped up on the data screens of the various delegations. "This is the draft of a Mutual Defense Agreement between all of those present. It states that once signed, everyone will pledge their full political, economic, and military support towards the war effort against the Reaper threat. Admiral Lasky, an altered draft has been forwarded to you to include the binding terms you specified. If you all could take a moment to look over it, then sign."
Lasky meticulously read over the draft, double checking to make sure that everything he had asked for would be provided while Cortana also went over the information and fed him the particulars through his earpiece. After determining that the draft was to his satisfaction, he signed the draft with an electronic pen attached to the table.
Every other delegation did the same, and Valern smiled slightly at the feat they had just accomplished. The galaxy had not been so formally united since the Rachni Wars. "Now, before we move on towards discussing our first organized military action in response to the Reaper attacks, I would like to briefly discuss with the Volus delegation about getting the Citadel's economy prepared for a wartime situation."
As the Councilors and the Volus delegation droned on about economics, the Master Chief's radio beeped. "Echo 1-1 to Blue Actual, come in."
Chief and Fred tilted their helmets ever so subtly, sharing a quick look. Echo 1-1 was the callsign of the lead Pelican that had brought them to the Citadel, and who were currently orbiting a bit away from their landing pad. Fred, technically the commanding officer of Blue team and Blue Actual, responded, "Echo 1-1, go ahead."
"Blue Actual, onboard sensors have picked up ten vessels that have just jumped into the Citadel's inner space."
"Do they match any of the Council ship signatures?" asked Fred.
"Negative. They're frigate weight. The Citadel Defense Fleet is currently turning about to face them."
Something wasn't right here. "Infinity, this is Blue Actual. Be advised Echo 1-1 reports that ten unidentified frigate-weight vessels have just arrived in inner Citadel space. Be on standby."
"Roger Blue Actual."
Lasky, whose hidden earpiece was keyed into their comms channel gave a concerned look towards the two Spartans.
"Blue Actual, Echo 1-1 here. The ten ships are moving closer to the Citadel arms, and the Citadel Defense Fleet is launching fighters. The unidentified ships are starting to launch fighters also along with some other aircraft that look like troop transports. Recommend evacuation, how copy?"
"Councilor Valern!" called Lasky interrupting his conversation with the Volus, "Are you aware that ten ships have just bypassed the Citadel Defense Fleet and are now launching fighters and troop carriers?"
"What?" responded Valern, confused. "Commander Bailey, is this true?"
"Admiral we're getting you back to the Infinity," said Fred, ushering him up out of his chair. "Infinity this is Blue Actual, initiate Silver Contingency."
They had prepared two contingency plans. Silver, which involved quickly extracting the UNSC Delegation via Echo flight while the Infinity jumped in just outside the Citadel's arms. Silver contingency was to be used if the delegation didn't feel comfortable and wanted to quickly and quietly get to safety.
Then there was Jade Contigency, for the worst case scenario if the delegation came under hostile fire. In that case, the entire UNSC fleet would jump into inner Citadel space and establish a defensive perimeter while the Infinity sent down an entire company of heavily armed Spartans to secure and extract Lasky.
"Councilor, C-Sec Command isn't responding to my hails," said Bailey.
"Echo 1-1, two ships just changed heading towards our position, along with their fighters… shit, that squadron is on an attack vector! Echo go evasive! Blue Actual we are taking fire! Initiate Jade Con — "
The channel cut off abruptly into static. "Echo 1-1, come in!"
Suddenly, the two Spartan-II's shields popped out of existence along with the overhead lights in the Great hall, plunging the room into darkness.
"Chief, electronic systems all over the Citadel are going offline, I've just been hard-kicked out of the mainframes!"
EMP? Or something a bit more exotic? wondered Chief. That signature alarm of 'danger' rang through his helmet, telling him that his shields were offline.
"Analyzing -" The voice of his female companion stated on their personal channel. "Whatever hit us seems to operate on similar principles to an 'Overload,' but on a much larger scale. Your shields are down and cycling though as if they warming up from a cold restart. I'm trying to speed up the process."
As his visor and eyes adjusted to the darkness he heard a shot rang out, and he saw the trail the round left through the superheated air as it knifed towards the central podium. His personal kinetic barrier fried by the electronic blast, Councilor Sparatus could do nothing but stand as the round entered just below his left eye and blew his brains out of the back of his skull.
Before Sparatus' body had even started to fall the Master Chief had traced the round back to its origin, a Human C-Sec officer along the edge of a far wall with his rifle raised in the direction of the center podium. Other officers around him were just starting to turn their own rifles towards him when Chief had his pistol snapped up from his hip and aimed at the assassin.
Two quick shots took care of him, but not before Cortana noticed another officer about a dozen meters down the wall with his rifle raised, this time in Chief's direction, and highlighted him in flashing red. A flick of his wrist pointed the Spartan's pistol in the right direction and Chief fired another two rounds, but not before the officer managed to fire a three-round burst towards him.
The distance between them and the velocity at which the rounds traveled meant that there was no time for Chief to dodge, and as his pistol shots nearly took the officers head clean off the three rounds sent at him cratered on his armor plating.
Gunbarrel smoking, Chief spun around the room looking for more targets, but all he saw were C-Sec officers swiveling their rifles around in confusion.
"My earpiece is dead!" said Lasky, pointing towards his ear.
"Infinity, Jade Contingency now!" ordered Chief, thankful that his comms gear was still working. "Shots fired, VIP is unharmed."
"What the hell just happened!" shouted Admiral Hackett, standing from his chair with a raised pistol, looking at the bloody remains of Councilor Sparatus sprawled out on the center stage.
"Secure the dignitaries!" yelled Commander Bailey, and the C-Sec officers lining the room rushed towards the various delegations, some still glancing at their two dead former-comrades.
"Jade Task Force inbound, ETA two mikes," came the Infinity through the UNSC delegations comms channel.
"To the emergency exit Councilors, let's move!" said Bailey, him and a group of officers rushing Udina and Valern towards a hidden exit near the back of the room.
"Chief! Contacts just outside the doors! And two more groups besides them outside the wall!" said Cortana, showing Chief the thermal readings of outside the Hall. She was right, there was a group of ten figures stacking up outside the door along with two groupings of six figures each stacking up fifteen meters along the wall on either side for what had to be a multiple-point breach.
Fred and Chief uncerimoniously lifted Lasky out of his chair and vaulted in tandem over their table so that they had some cover between them and their soon-to-be breachers. Fred shouted through his external speakers, "Their going to come through the doors!"
Chief grimaced as he drew his ACS as the room was still in complete disarray. C-Sec officers were still scrambling to secure their assigned delegates and prepare for the incoming breachers, while most of the delegates themselves still had no idea what was happening.
"Dammit, the emergency exit is locked!" Chief heard Commander Bailey curse.
Rather than taking cover behind the Alliance table, Commander Shepard had started bounding his way towards the door of the hall, hands glowing with swirling blue biotic energy. The Krogan Urdnot Wrex looked to have the same idea, one hand wielding what looked like a massive shotgun while the other was glowing blue as well.
Three explosions simultaneously ripped through the Great Hall doors, and two spots on the wall on either side. Rushing through the smoke and dust clattered a bevy of round cylinders, and Fred bellowed "GRENADES!" through his speakers.
The grenades were not of all the same type however. As they detonated near the back of the room where they landed Chief could see the explosions of three different grenades: flashbangs to blind and disorient, fragmentation grenades to kill and wound the first line of defenders, and smoke grenades to obscure vision and cover the hostile's entrance into the room.
The frag grenades took out a dozen or so of the C-Sec officers right off the bat, while the flashbangs caused most of the officers and delegates who weren't behind cover to cover their eyes or ears in pain.
Fred and the Master Chief switched to thermal vision to negate the smoke effect, their helmets compensating for the flashbangs by muffling external audio and darkening their visors at the time of the explosions.
Fred opened fire towards the hole in the wall that was closest towards them in long yet controlled bursts of fire while Chief focused his attention on the main door breach. The ten targets lit up like flares under thermals, and the Chief could tell that the hostiles were heavily armored through their bulky silhouettes. That, and the fact that it took nearly eight rounds to the upper chest for his first target to fall.
Chief was in the middle of switching targets when Commander Shepard rushed through the smoke right at the hostiles, followed by a menacingly laughing Krogan. As the Spartan saw the two biotics throw down with the hostiles in CQB, Chief switched priorities to helping Fred with his targets.
He had already taken down one hostile and was in the process of stitching through a second, so Chief set his sights on a third. They had started to return fire, accurate bursts splintering the heavy wooden table they were using as cover and impacting the Spartan's now recharged energy shields.
As a duo of headshots from Chief killed his target he saw a hostile in the back aiming an underbarrel grenade launcher in what had to be their direction. Recognizing the threat as well, Fred focused fire on the priority target along with Chief and the rounds from the two Spartans rifles managed to penetrate the targets armor and kill him right in the middle of his trigger pull.
His aim jerked, sending the grenade soaring through the air not at the Spartans and Lasky, but at the Hanar/Drell delegation. The grenade exploded above and behind the table in an airburst, but the Hanar delegate's two Drell bodyguards manages to summon a protective biotic barrier around themselves just in time to avoid being killed.
Fred and Chief quickly dispatched their last target with coordinated fire, and as Chief turned to engage elsewhere he was given to privilege of watching a vicious Krogan headbutt crush a hostile's fully armored head and helmet into a very unnatural shape, and Shepard exploding another two to barely recognizable pieces with a hefty biotic explosion.
Seeing as the two biotics seemed to have the doorway handled, Chief and Fred turned their attention towards the opposite side of the room. Here the six hostiles had managed to enter without resistance and had already entrenched themselves behind the Volus' delegation table, the small exosuit-encased creatures and their C-Sec guards now lying dead in pools of their own blood on the other side.
By this point the surviving C-Sec officers and some of the delegates had started returning fire, but the enemy's armor was tough and their cover was solid. Another underbarrel launched grenade blew up the Turian delegations table, and as they scrambled to find new cover Fred and the Chief let out long bursts of suppressive fire.
"Fred, flank them," ordered Chief, and Fred promptly activated his suit's active camouflage and disappeared.
To keep the pressure on Chief let out a series of long, sustained bursts at the hostile's cover and their heads whenever they popped out. However now his electric blue tracers were being joined by fire from the recovering C-Sec officers and armed delegates.
Out of his peripheral vision Chief saw a hostile fly out from the dissipating smoke cloud near the Great Hall door and crash into a splintered table, blood gushing out of the stumps where his arms used to be. Shepard and the Krogan must have been literally tearing the enemy apart.
As Chief took the top of the head off of a hostile who exposed himself for just a little too long, a hail of blue tracers erupted from behind a desk on edge of the center podium, lancing into the unprotected flanks of the five enemies remaining.
Two fell quickly, not even having time to react to Fred's surprise attack before they were dead. One turned and began firing in the direction from which the new fire was coming from, but Fred, still invisible, had already changed positions and put a well-aimed burst into his upper torso and neck. Then, from the direction of the doors two balls of biotic energy arced upwards and then came down right on top of the two hostiles left, surrounding them in a negative mass effect field and launching them out of their cover and into the air. Completely exposed, the entire room had clear shots and they were dead within a second, hole-ridden bodies crashing to the floor shortly after.
There were a few long seconds of silence as everyone got their bearings, seeing whether or not anymore shooting would occur.
"Jade Task Force ETA thirty seconds," came the Infinity through the Spartan's comms.
Cortana cut into his train of thought with an update on the situation. "Chief, picking up multiple short range signals in and around the Presidium. C-SEC is trying to respond to this attack but their communications are sporadic at best. We have multiple boarders hitting targets all across the Presidium and…I'm also picking up relayed status reports from the Wards, weak but readable. CSECs response is…confused and uncoordinated at best. Unidentified attackers are hitting all across the wards and the Presidium. C-SEC and Civilians alike are getting slaughtered out there. Its chaos!"
"How could they have gotten into the Presidium so fast?" the Chief inquired.
"Unknown. I'm guessing sleeper teams already onboard working in conjunction with our boarders."
That brought up a very unpleasant scenario for the Chief. "Any idea where they're headed?"
"Did you really need to ask?"
"Cortana, I need to know what we're up against; size and disposition of forces, weapons, equipment, and I need that information now."
"I'm on it, but Chief, we've got another problem. Whatever knocked out Citadel Security's communications happened less than two seconds before that EMP blast hit. Some kind of virus was directly uploaded from C-Sec servers that crashed the system Citadel wide. Clever bastards… C-Sec is still operating under the assumption that the EMP knocked out their communications."
"Meaning no one has yet noticed the virus," said John, catching onto her line of thinking.
That settled it for him. Citadel Security had been compromised, and their emergency exit was a no go. No place was safe for the Lasky and the other delegated except for one.
"Fred, addendum to Case Jade. We're evacuating the entire Summit delegation to Infinity. Contact Commander Palmer and Lieutenant-Colonel Dare to coordinate transports and security."
Fred nodded once and set about his task.
"Cortana, can you deal with the virus?" Chief asked.
"The Citadels computers are rebooting now. Soon as they're up put me in the system and I'll handle it. I can also coordinate between C-Sec and UNSC fire teams, EMS services, direct trapped civilians out of the combat zones and do everything in my power to stall and make life difficult for our attackers."
"Do it."
Commander Shepard walked over to one of the dead hostiles who was facedown on the ground and kicked him over. He bent down close to examine the dead man's armored chest piece, then stood back up quickly and loudly cursed.
"I recognize the symbol on their armor," snarled Shepard, scowling. "It's Cerberus. They're attacking the Citadel."
Special thanks to my beta, JonHarper.