Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or the various X-COM games. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not written for profit. It is not for sale or rent.
Chapter 8: Fallout
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Part 1
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16 June 2177 CE
Human Embassy
Citadel Embassies
The Citadel
It was early morning the next day when my head cleared enough, so I could give a proper briefing. That happened after spending the night in the Med-bay being prodded, probed, and scanned by the staff. Thankfully, I was numb for most of the procedures.
I was completely aware of the most recent round of Psionic screening ensuring no one successfully mind-fucked me. As usual, that was far from a pleasant experience, and I did my best to forget all about it as soon as the Specialist left me with a clean bill of sanity.
A proper debriefing came next, and that one was only marginally more pleasant. I did report everything I could recall crisply and clearly. My omni-tool and the various sensors built into my armor corroborated most of my story. What the Spook leading the debriefing was most interested in were my impressions of the hostile Psionics we encountered. The fact that they were human or human-alien hybrids rang all kinds of alarm bells. I was sure that yesterday stirred up much shit that was so far above my pay-grade that it wasn't even funny.
On the bright side, my conduct yesterday received approval by people who mattered, so I wasn't on the chopping block as an unwilling sacrifice in the name of diplomacy. The inevitable downside materialized as soon as the debriefing ended. When the Spook leading it left, a young-looking Captain entered the secure room before the door could even try closing.
"I'm Captain Kyle from the Embassy Marine contingent." He introduced himself in a familiar British accent quite similar to Anderson's.
"Sir!" I got to my feet and offered a reflexive salute. X-COM rank related shenanigans notwithstanding, being polite to the regular military boys and girls was a good policy to live by. More often than not, they would be the ones close enough and available to come and get you of trouble.
"At ease. I'm here to brief you on your next assignment, Sergeant Veil." Kyle began. He flicked his omni-tool on, and a gesture sent a data burst to my device.
A gesture had my omni-tool spring to life surrounding my left arm with its tell-tale orange glow. It projected a holographic screen showing my inbox. Several messages of varying importance waited patiently over there, including the newest one marked with the X-COM logo. I clicked it open and waited for the anti-malware and other assorted security packages to verify it before I could see the contents. Meanwhile, the Captain provided a summary.
"After yesterday, your PR tour at the Citadel is over for good, Sergeant. Good work, by the way, it made our life over here a bit easier as of late." Kyle nodded in appreciation."An award ceremony for the troops participated in that mess of an assault. We'll know by the end of the day. Unless the politicians demand your presence for it, you have forty-eight hours of R&R before you're to report to Dock R-31."
I listened to the Captain while glancing at my new orders. Two days to recover and gather whatever effects I had on the Citadel, before heading for my next assignment. I cracked a smile when I saw the rest of my orders. I would be reporting to the Assault Carrier Achilles because one of her infantry platoons was short an NCO. I would be serving under Captain Anderson, who apparently got promoted. Good for him.
"Orders received, sir." I nodded at the Captain.
"Then unless something else crops up, you have the next two days to yourself. Just keep your omni-tool on in case we need to contact you."
"Thank you, sir."
An exchange of salutes later, I could finally vacate the secure room and head towards my small apartment. I needed a long bloody shower and a few hours of proper shut-eye, no medics involved, thank you very much.
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Spectre Offices
Citadel Presidium
The Citadel
Saren sat on his desk, facing a small group of his colleagues, most of whom took part in yesterday's action. He reflexively clasped his left hand into a fist in a nervous tick. A laser beam nearly cooked his whole arm at the very end of the action. Even after spending the night under the tender mercies of the best doctors on the Citadel, he could nevertheless clearly feel the lack of carapace on his bandaged appendage. The armor, both natural and that of his hardsuit saved his arm, yet suffered greatly for it. He couldn't afford to take proper painkillers either. At least not until he properly briefed by his fellow Spectres on everything he experienced yesterday. Especially the brief encounter with the mind of a hostile Psionic agent.
That by itself meant that for the time being he would be on light duty after he healed, if not mistrusted like Vasir. The Council needed Psionic operatives and proper defenses against them. Otherwise. Who knew how much they would be compromised without even knowing.
Saren's arm twitched again, and he grimaced at the dull pain. Their best bet at this time was an Asari Mind Meld. That was something he was scheduled to endure later that day when one of the most revered and experienced Asari Matriarchs would arrive at the Citadel.
Nihlus finally arrived carrying two steaming mugs, followed by Vasir, who had a thunderous expression on her face. She had spent the whole night in a Meld with their most senior Asari Spectre. After that, she would be looking forward to another night with a second Matriarch rummaging through her memories searching for outside influence. That would be even less fun compared to what he would have to deal with. Still, they were professionals and had a job to do.
"Now that we're all here…" Saren began only to pause when Nihlus handed him one of the mugs. He nodded sharply in both gratitude and admonishment at the interruption. "We can begin. Rina, do you have a preliminary report on what we captured yesterday?"
The Matron Asari Spectre nodded and looked up from a data-pad she held. Her eyes gleamed in excitement.
"It was an eezo mine!" She declared happily. "We captured several damaged examples of sophisticated weaponry for reverse engineering. While a number of the best equipment self-destructed upon the death or capture of its wielders, we're still far ahead from where we were before the assault. We do have prisoners undergoing interrogations and many bodies to study." Rina grimaced at that. "Preliminary reports suggest many of the people working at Synthetic Insights were mentally compromised. We might have stumbled upon a trial run for an infiltration program against us.
"That lines up with what we encountered. Some formidable guards were protecting the facility. However, some resistance was from well-armed civilians with much lower combat skill."
"According to all reports, those people didn't break or surrender unless incapacitated." Nihlus pointed out. "Not what you would expect from most civilians." Even Turian, he didn't have to say aloud.
"Preliminary reports. We'll need to wait for interrogation results and autopsy reports to be sure." Saren took a sip of his energizing drink. "Before someone says it, I know the Humans have more experience in dealing with this. Requesting their expertise will be up to the Council and our respective Governments." Especially when Psionics were concerned. Now, when they had secured a few prisoners to work with and corpses to examine, they could finally begin to properly research that particular ability.
However, Humanity had a couple of centuries of a head start, the Ethereals much longer. The Citadel might not have the time required to crack and utilize this new discipline to good effect. The thought was vexing, very much so.
"At the very least, with what we captured, the Council would be in a better bargaining position when dealing with Humans." Rina shrugged.
"Tactical assessment?" Saren looked at Vasir.
"Compared to the Ethereal infantry I faced alongside the Human? What we dealt with yesterday doesn't pass muster. They couldn't compare to the Advent Occupation forces we engaged either." Vasir explained. "However, I must stress that at least in part this might have been the equipment. We didn't face anything that the Humans would consider proper military-grade. Digging out a similar number of hostiles with higher tier Human or Ethereal equipment would have required us to level the building. I must stress again we need heavy weaponry to properly deal with their line infantry. High-powered Biotics might do in a pinch."
"You made that more than clear enough in both your official and unofficial reports." Saren tried to soothe Vasir's rising anger, something he most definitely wasn't qualified to deal with.
Fortunately, Nihlus had a good head on his shoulders and changed the topic in an attempt to defuse the Asari. That gave Saren a bit of time to gather his thoughts. It was hard to put into words exactly what he experienced when the hostile Psionic operative touched his mind.
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Part 2
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17 June 2177 CE
Council Chambers
Presidium Tower
The Citadel
A private meeting with the Citadel Council was a double-edged sword at the best of times. You would have to handle it very carefully if you wanted to avoid getting yourself cut. Anita Goyle warned Donnel of that simple fact when he replaced her as Humanity's premier representative to the galaxy at large, and she was right.
It was particularly true on days like these.
The Salarian's large eyes blinked rapidly between his lit up omni-tool and Udina. The Turian, Kilrik, appeared exhausted, yet satisfied. Tevos, like befitting a centuries-old Asari, showed noting. She looked so fresh, that if Donnel didn't know better, he would believe she had a proper night's sleep.
"Ambassador Udina," Kilrik actually smiled. Not a good sign that. In Udina's experience, the Turian always presented a dour professional mask to the world at large.
"Councillors." Udina nodded respectfully.
"Preliminary reports and investigation results over the ISC issue are complete," Ilreth spoke so rapidly that his words were hard to follow properly. The Salarian didn't seem to care or notice, and kept ongoing. "Hostile Human Psionic operatives confirmed on the Citadel. Heavy genetic modification. Practically alien hybrids."
Udina was aware of that thanks to Veil, which was the only bright point in the unfolding disaster. Otherwise, the System's Alliance might have been caught with their pants down by it, even worse than they were.
"Our government had nothing to do with the incident. Currently, Insight Cyber-Solutions are under investigation. Their facilities in our space are being raided as we speak or have been already secured." Udina stated calmly.
"Interrogation of captured subjects revealed little of use so far," Kilrik said. "However, there is one name our agents managed to extract." The Turian sounded particularly pleased at that. "Exalt."
It took all Udina's training and diplomatic experience to remain outwardly calm when his body did it's best to stare open-mounted at the alien.
Exalt were gone, wiped out over a century ago. Or were they… There were always the odd rumor or various conspiracy theories no one reasonable paid attention to beyond a source of amusement…
"We destroyed them a long time ago, Councillor," Udina stated blandly.
"Did you?" Tevos asked lightly. "It's certainly possible that is indeed the case. If so, your claim that your government's involvement in the incident two days ago would ring a bit hollow." The Asari spoke in a pleasant voice, sounding very reasonable.
"Whatever your people extracted from the prisoners could be disinformation Psionically implanted in their minds." Udina countered. "The System's Alliance's Government had no involvement with this incident."
"If that is the case, then you won't object if our agents take part in the investigation of ICS within Alliance space?" Kilrik inquired.
"Such a decision is up to the Prime Minister and her cabinet. I can relay your request to them as soon as this meeting is over."
"Please do so, Ambassador." Tevos smiled. "In light of recent events, we feel compelled to investigate the operations of all Human companies operating within Council space, especially those with offices on the Citadel. I trust your Government will have no objections?" The Asari spoke as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Besides the obvious?" Such an "audit" without a proper cause would be breaking a number of the Council's laws. Not to mention, it would violate clauses within treaties between the Systems Alliance and the Citadel Council. The Council had a way around the former – their Spectres. The latter would at best create an unpleasant precedent. At worst, any further incidents could be blamed directly on the Systems Alliance if he tried blocking an investigation that might have prevented them.
The primary issue here was elections were coming in a few months. After Elysium, anything seen as capitulating to aliens would play even worse with the voters than it might have otherwise.
"As long as C-Sec has a credible cause for investigation, we will have no objections." There was a treaty covering this particular point after all. "Otherwise, I would be compelled to file an official protest over a treaty violation," Udina stated calmly.
If anything more would happen would depend on the government back home.
"Perfectly understandable." The Turian Councillor nodded.
"We officially request you share all data you have on the organization known as Exalt. Both historical from a hundred years ago and more current. Even if it's mere rumors and speculation." Ilreth changed the subject.
"That much we can do." Udina nodded in agreement.
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X-COM forward HQ
Cronus Station
Location classified
The Commander was on a rare inspection tour over a few important facilities on the fringes of Human space when news about the unfolding events on the Citadel reached him. There was one thing he knew for sure – X-COM didn't have operations of such scope and magnitude on the alien space station. To the best of his knowledge, neither did the Alliance's Intelligence Service.
That's why he issued orders to his agents to look into it and continued with the inspections. It simply wouldn't do to leave certain projects, and especially the people running them, without close supervision. The odd check-up in person was vital in that regard. The last time someone in his position lapsed in that regard, a particularly eager research team working on better counter-measures for Chrysalids went on the deep end. The Commander had to clean up that particular disaster personally, though of course, back then, he was merely a high-ranked field operative.
Then there was the Fairfield incident. Even thinking about that made him feel uneasy. No, letting X-Com affiliated scientists indulge themselves without adult supervision wasn't an option anyone sane would condone. The same was true for certain corporations working closely with the SA government and X-Com itself.
Two days after the incident on the Citadel, a briefing sent by Ambassador Udina drove that point home with a vengeance.
"What a ghost from the past…" The Commander muttered.
He sat at the rarely used office he had on Cronus Station, catching up with the evening's briefing packages. He was pleasantly surprised that the local Director and the Chief of Security properly supervised all projects underway on the station. For a change, everyone involved had a healthy appreciation of the various security procedures that evolved over decades of trial and error.
Officially, Exalt was dismantled with extreme prejudice when they tried taking over in the aftermath of the Ethereal War. Unofficially, the Commander at the time was never satisfied with what happened when the dust settled. That was in part because X-Com didn't get to properly clean up house among the military, civilian and industrial sectors by itself, which was understandable. Back in the day, X-Com was a much smaller organization, and while its exponential growth was just beginning, it faced even more opposition than it did these days.
A significant part of the Exalt clean up fell to the conventional military and the remnants of various intelligence agencies. It happened at a time when among other things, they were busy meshing together in what would eventually become today's SA military and the Alliance's Intelligence Service. It wasn't a stretch of the imagination to believe they might have failed to properly eradicate Exalt.
The Commander tapped his metal desk, thinking. X-Com was still investigating the attack on Elysium, especially those who facilitated it. Henry Lawson was a part of a group of like-minded people, even though that particular brainstorm was his own, or so a deep Psionic interrogation revealed. He could use this, and the ongoing investigation into that rogue corporation to poke into various dark places and see what might crawl out. The Commander switched on the secure Hyperwave Communicator installed in his office. It was time to issue some orders.
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