Meanwhile, at Castle Greyskull…
ExoGeni Outpost, Feros, Theseus System, Attican Beta Cluster, July 12, 2183
Captain Jane Catherine Shepard (SAN, N7, OST) was not in a good mood.
"Captain, I know you're pissed about a lot," Frontier Marshal Teresa 'Tequila' Aquila said, standing in front of the SPECTRE with her hands raised in a placating manner, "and I don't blame you one bit. Hell, I'm fucking beyond mad as hell, too. But those colonists need real justice, not some middle management bureaucrat with a bullet in his head. We get him to cry out all his sins, and we can fry the big guys who did this." There were only a dozen or so meters from entering the Outpost where ExoGeni Security Forces were holding the fort so to speak against Geth incursions. The five dozen or so people that had escaped the slaughter in the ExoGeni facility had holed up in a separate Prothean building only a few blocks from the skyscraper that the exploration and colonization corporation had been using for their own means, turning it into a headquarters where scientists and technicians had been studying something utterly horrific.
Goddamn telepathic, fucking homicidal, wretchedly carnivorous ancient alien plant monster. They'd been fully dropped into a real-life Little Shop Of Horrors.
And ExoGeni had known.
"If you think I'm just going to execute that little shit of an administrator," Jannie told the Marshal, her tone pure steel, "don't worry. Tempting, but no. But I'm going to make him sing and sell out every fucking piece of shit that gave him the orders he enacted, and he's going to find that Citadel Law doesn't understand the concept of judicial immunity against prosecution. I'm going to watch this fucking company burn for feeding colonists for whatever fucking bullshit reason they had." Ethan Jeong had been a trumped-up little shit throwing about his paper authority as if he had any kind of control over a Naval Captain or a SPECTRE. He had been so adamant about Jannie not peeking into company secrets. He might as well put a fucking bullseye on the thought. It wouldn't have even occurred to her to have given a shit about something like that when the Geth were pillaging the Headquarters for whatever reason.
Now she knew what the Geth were looking for. Species 37.
What the fuck did the Geth need of a plant that ate bodies and controlled them with some sort of telepathic bond with its spores?
"Okay, in that you'll have my full cooperation. Hell, I'll pour the gasoline on myself." Tequila replied, looking to her surviving Deputies, both of them. The Marines of the Fourth Marine Expeditionary Unit had captured and transported the Marshal of Feros and her seven Deputies off to some remote location a hundred klicks away from Hadley's Hope; really in the middle of nowhere. With no food and armed only their service pistols, Marshal Aquila had led her men to the next nearest location that she knew of; ExoGeni Headquarters. They had gotten there about the same time as the Geth had, and Tequila and her men aided the ExoGeni Security Forces in getting the employees out of the besieged Headquarters and into an impromptu bunker. She had lost three of her men during that time.
She lost another two more taking the Headquarters back alongside TEAM LION. Tequila was holding onto her grief and anger well.
"Miss Baynham." Lizbeth Baynham, a twenty-something female researcher that had remained inside the ExoGeni facility in order to transmit the data she had uncovered about the 'Thorian' to the authorities according to her own words, meekly came forward, dry-washing her hands nervously. "You will stay here until this fiasco is resolved. I know you want to see your Mom, but I don't need some trigger-happy motherfucker putting a bullet in either your head or her head just because you're excited. You'll be reunited when it's safe, and not a moment sooner. Understood?"
"Y-yes, Captain." The woman gulped a little, looking over to see her guard, the Pilgrim Niki'Raan nar Tombay standing practically right next to her with her Rannoch Industries' Adas Electrostatic Discharge Rifle in her three-fingered hands. The Migrant Fleet Marine Prospect took her left hand and used her two forefingers to point at her own silvery eyes behind her blue-tinted visor before rotating her hand and using the same two fingers to point right at Lizbeth, indicating I'm watching you. That had the young woman gulp even more.
"Bra, stick with Niki." Private First Class Louis Broussard nodded once as he took to the researchers' other flank, making the woman look even more meek. "Everyone else? Knuckle up and follow me." The Level Three Council Agent pulled out her Alliance Offensive Firearm Initiative M-99 Saber Battle Rifle, extending it into combat operations as she strode towards the bunker, having a pretty good feeling that this would go down ugly. Jeong was a whimpering little man who puffed up with his little tin God arrogance when his puny domain was threatened; she knew the type. He would be the exact same kind of asshole that would roll over and show his belly immediately upon actual consequence and repercussion sent his way, likely whinging and crying as he spat out accusations and confessions like a machine gun. Tequila was right; the man was really just some jumped-up thug in a suit, lower-middle management. What they really wanted was the decision-makers, not some mere 'yes man'. The Corporation probably hoped that Jeong would eat a bullet called vengeance before blubbering his way out of trouble so they could erase as much evidence as they could and pin it on him. Please let the explanation to this bullshit be something something worthy, Shepard thought to herself darkly as she strode down the service ramp, her Saber in her hands as Ghost obediently hovered over her right shoulder while Bastila stayed connected to her back, its main weapon ready to drop over her left shoulder to engage or the turret to demagnetize upon her command. Science, research, the chance of finding something really old. Shit reasons, but I can respect those thoughts.
Please do not say money.
Jannie didn't need to think about who wasn't present; she would lose it if she did.
TEAM LION arrived in what appeared to be some ancient parking structure level where ExoGeni survivors were huddled, flanked by the surviving Marshal and her two men, thirteen armed combatants who had spent damn near a Terran day fighting off Geth in the Headquarters of ExoGeni, built into a surviving superstructure that looked to be in better repair than most of the planet. She had no idea who had come up with the thought of using the building as a refuge, but they had guessed right as she caught sight of sixty-two survivors scattered near one of the nearby alcoves, taking shelter in its recesses. A dozen ExoGeni Security Forces Personnel guarded the alcove, taking position in its confines to us its four meter wide entrance as a barrier, none of them having pushed out one patrol or manning the entrance to the level itself to keep eyes on the Geth. Jannie ignored them as she had when she first encountered the survivors, seeing barely-trained, barely-equipped rent-a-cops lightly armored in Elanus Risk Control Services' Defender Light Armor and armed with basic model ERCS M-15 Vindicators, practically basic off-the-shelf equipment one can purchase at just about any weapon vendor with a couple kiloCredits. As a presence, they weren't impressive at all, and whoever was in charge of them (or pretended to be in charge of them) knew nothing about the basic concepts of situational security. The N7 doubted any of the ExoGeni Security Forces had ever served in the Alliance Military, pretending to be brave while being hired out for a job they likely thought kept them away from the front lines. In the back of her mind, she could hear Sergeant First Class Ashley Williams snort at the sight of them, probably with some crass comment wondering do they know which end of those rifles the rounds come out of? It reminded Jannie briefly of the thugs in Chora's Den, a shit little Blue Light District bar/club in the Ream District in the 4100 Sub-Block of the Scow Wards at the tale end of the Shalta/Aroch Enders. Wanna-bes and trash armed with pop guns that made the unfortunate mistake of buying into the empty promise of a criminal underlord who vocally offered ten kiloCredits for the head of the Lion. She had actually been insulted at the bounty; certainly she was worth more than that! Ash hadn't been impressed; either with the bar or the trash.
Ash, Sam, Raeka… Sara. I left them back there, the SPECTRE thought as she marched right into the alcove, not even giving the two-bit security guards the time of day as they 'suggested' she halt, completely and utterly ignoring them. One would think that the sight of a Council Agent in SPECTRE armor might have them a little more fearful, or perhaps that they were well out of their depths. She wasn't going to waste her time teaching them. The Marines there, the colonists. There were supposedly something like fifteen hundred people in Hadley's Hope, and she had no idea what their status was. She couldn't risk a communications at such a range, not with the potential of Geth hacking still being a possibility. Private First Class Holland 'Lapdance' Hoss was carrying the SAM Node, the AI being very useful in encrypting their in-team communications and hacking through both ExoGeni firewalls and Geth tampering, Ensign Tali'Zorah nar Reyya working in conjunction with Sara's 'little brother'. There had been over three hundred platforms in the Headquarters, the Geth fortifying the position as they went through every server and database for 'Species 37', but not finding it in the ExoGeni Network. Lizbeth Baynham claimed to have disconnected the Scientific Research Departments' connection with the rest of the Network to prevent electronic intrusion, but Jannie still didn't feel like she believed the young woman's story of attempting to send sensitive data over an unsecured communications relay during a Geth assault to alert authorities to the situation in Hadley's Hope. It seemed more likely that the researcher cut the hardlines to prevent anyone from discovering what she and her company were doing. At least the woman had the sense to spill her guts to Jannie when confronted with the truth… the second or third time around after being confronted with the question what the fuck is going on here?
The ExoGeni survivors looked up to Humanity's First SPECTRE as she entered into their last little stand with her team at her back. Not everyone looked thrilled at the thought of seeing her again.
Least of all Ethan Jeong.
"Shepard, I guess it was too much to hope that you would die fighting the Geth."
Frontier Marshal Teresa 'Tequila' Aquila had to hand it to the low-level bureaucrat Ethan Jeong; the size of his balls had to be near-epic proportions with the way he addressed the Lion of Elysium. This was an N7-qualified combatant who was also a Council Agent! Did the man think her some two-bit thug? Teresa couldn't believe that she had actually pleaded for this piece of shits' life, but she remembered well what 1st Lieutenant Jane Shepard had done to Elanos Haliat when she had tracked him down, the Turian responsible for the Assault on Elysium being executed while streaming live on the ExtraNet. While Tequila didn't really approve of the thought of execution, in Haliat's case she'd make an exception. Thousands had died and hundreds had been captured in the slave raid on Illyeria, the Separatist leader claiming not only responsibility, but also vid-capturing the sale of some of the Human detainees into slavery as propaganda. He earned a lot worse than a bullet to the fringe, and the day that Shepard had executed him had been the death knell for the Skyllian Blitz, the Separatist Insurgency losing its mastermind and figurehead while the Batarian forces lost their partners and their major financiers. The Asian-descent Human male stood his ground with a snobby tone and a defiant cast to his face. Did this asshole really think his even dozen decaCredit weaksauce wanna-cops were going to stop a SPECTRE Kill Team? Tequila had just spent the past twenty or so hours seeing just how damn effective TEAM LION was. They had killed hundreds of Geth where as her and her Deputies were happy if they took down a couple. Aquila had paid for her arrogance, thinking she was tough enough to hang with the likes of the Lion and her crew.
Two of her men had died in that fucking Headquarters building. Shepard had warned them, but Tequila had insisted.
TEAM LION was down two of their own, as well.
"I guess it was too much to hope that you would learn manners since we've last met." The Naval Captain replied, her tone pure steel, not a hint or impression of compassion or mercy. Did this idiot really think he was somehow intimidating to an N? To a woman who had cleaved through Geth forces like Naval fire through plate glass? The Marshal almost wanted to ask the man how he thought this would go down just so she could laugh at his face and see the look in his eyes when he found out how so wrong he was. Probably thought that whatever ExtraNet Distant Learning College Degree he got made him better somehow. Likely forgot that all Commissioned Officers in the Systems Alliance Military all had College Degrees themselves from very prestigious schools on Earth. "I'm going to ask once, and the more honest you are, the better your chances of walking out of here breathing." Tequila winced at that as she kept an eye on the ExoGeni Security Forces, the dozen men looking rather uncomfortable as they found themselves being stared at by a force numerically more superior, and way more better armed and armored. The beast of a Krogan, Urdnot Wrex? Was standing so close to one of them that the red-crested Tuchankan could probably count the man's molars. Chances were, the ExoGeni fake could probably count the Krogan's molars, too.
"Orders from Main Headquarters are clear in this." The Marshal almost had to snort as the man pulled what appeared to be a low-end Nexus Engagement Reliable Firearms' REV-6 Maverick Pistol, a laughably obsolete pistol that was one of the first Mass Effect weapons Human weapons' manufacturers made. It was about as intimidating as a toy gun, and was generally sold to people that couldn't afford a real gun, or weren't allowed one. The way he drew it heavily suggested that he had likely never fired a weapon in his life, holding it single-handedly, his arm straight outward without any flex in his wrist or elbow. Oh yeah, the barrel was shaking slightly, too. Adrenaline spike plus a man too dumb to realize that he was in way over his head. "We are to take control of the situation and purge our systems of any company knowledge 'lest they fall into enemy hands!"
"You mean… like the Geth were doing for the past two or three days? Little late on that one." Shepard snorted, still holding her M-99 Saber with practiced ease, the barrel pointed to the ground as the weapon rested in her hands easily. "Not to mention they came here already knowing of Species 37, your crowning achievement. That's why they're here on Feros, shithead. Probably to capture the damn thing after killing everyone here."
"I told you to stay away from our companies' databanks!" The man screamed, the pistol pointing at the SPECTRE's head to emphasize the point. The guy was losing it. "I will shoot you!"
"With… that?" The Captain asked incredulously, looking over to the large Turian in C-SEC Armor, the sniper who never, ever missed. That one? Detective Garrus Vakarian? He was so good that it kind of scared her a little. "That's a 2161 Edition Nexus REV-6 Maverick, about the time we learned of Mass Effect weaponry. Fires a one gram pre-cut packet metal cube that squashes on impact, accelerating at about four hundred meters per second. It causes contusions and lacerations. That's fancy words for cuts and bruises. That's not a gun.
"But this one is." Shepard tapped her M-99 Saber with her trigger finger, tapping the receiver to make her point.
"Your little flunkies over there?" The SPECTRE continued, tipping her head towards the ExoGeni Security detail. "They've got basic ERCS Defender Light Armor with shields that are rated at five hundred Joules of impact resistance, and ceramic plates that are rated at five hundred Joules of impact protection. Big boy cops back on Earth have got better." That was certainly true, Tequila thought. She herself was wearing Rosenkov Materials' Patrolman Medium Armor, which was what the Neo York Police Department and the London TransMet wore. Hers had triple the protection rating that the rent-a-cops had. She certainly wasn't armed with a cheap-ass popgun either, sporting a Kassa Fabrications' M-6 Carnifax Magnum Pistol that she had trained herself to be a crack shot with. Her pistol alone would drop one of the fakin' bacons in a single shot. That Saber of Shepard's probably wouldn't even notice that there was a person involved in its path. "You don't have the authority, the armor, or the guns. And you might want to figure that out real quick before I have Bastila shoot your balls off." The armored assault hover turret's main cannon raised up and pivoted over the N7's shoulder, aiming right at the proscribed location. Ethan's Monglos-colored face quickly drained of its color.
"Make you a deal." The tone was even harder as Shepard took two steps forward, Jeong's quaking gun practically kissing her chestplate as Tequila watched the Lion practically bore beams into the man with her green eyes. "You spill your guts in the next ten seconds, and I'll remand you to Human authority. They observe prosecutional immunity for ratting out like the cowardly fuck you are. When ten seconds elapse and I'm not pleased with what I've heard? I get my Krogan to spill your guts and have my Corpsman stitch you back together so I can send your ass into a Cit IsoCube with an Elcor Level Three sex offender. I'm sure you'll sing then."
"Y-you can't d-do that!" The man squeaked.
"Detective Vakarian? Would you care to enlighten the man?" The Council Agent asked, her tone pseudo-sweet as she looked to the Turian again.
"Council of Law Provision Six, Sub-section Thirteen, Clause Eight details the authority in which a Council Agent can use any means to retrieve intelligence from a wide variety of sources, be it vocal, electronic, signature, or other." The sniper fired off immediately. "There is no restriction against the use of intimidation, force, action, or torture. Considering we downloaded the entirety of your servers, your compliance isn't actually necessary. But it would expedite the capture of others. It might grant you leniency. Personally…" The Turian rolled his cowled shoulders, "I think Wrex is looking forward to disemboweling something. He has an odd fascination for divining things through intestinal augury. It's an ancient Krogan tradition." Wrex just let off an ugly chuckle as the ExoGeni Security Force member nearest the Krogan gulped audibly, practically nose-to-snout with the Tuchankan.
"Ten."
Jeong looked to Tequila, his eyes wide and full of fear.
"Don't look at me. I ain't stupid." The Marshal of Feros told the man, folding her arms across her armored chest.
"Seven."
"W-what about nine and eight?" The man blubbered, the Maverick really quaking in the mans' single-handed grip. Aquila snorted, wondering how far Shepard was willing t… what was she thinking? This was the Lion of Elysium.
She probably would, in fact, shoot the man's balls off.
"Might wanna start singing." Tequila offered, seeing Jeong's eyes dart towards her, his lower lip quivering. He obviously thought there would be some heavenly rescue or divine intervention, like a bad dream someone could wake up from. Nope.
"Four."
Twelve years in the Systems Alliance Marshal Services as a Deputy, and another two as a Frontier Marshal, and Teresa 'Tequila' Aquila could fully admit she had never seen a man puke out the truth quite as fast or as fervently as Ethan Jeong did, confessing everything while on his knees and blubbering. The man was filled with righteous fear of Humanity's First SPECTRE as the Council Agent's eyes bored into him, extracting every dark, dirty little secret that had ever touched his soul. He fucking disgusted her as the Marshal of Feros discovered his part in it, the who, what, when, where, whys making her seethe. Money, it had been all about money, of course. ExoGeni found an ancient specimen that was a survivor of the Prothean Era that could actually talk, like an organic computer with an intact database. The Corporation had been trading lives for knowledge but they had been interested in tech; weapons, ship designs, Relays, resources, computing… anything to get an edge over its competitors. They hadn't done it for Humanity as a whole, or in the name of science, or any of that. Not that it would have made it right, but at least they would have had good intentions. No, ExoGeni had been feeding colonists quietly to some ancient horror so they could make a shitload of Credits. Ethan's part had been in the delegation of said extraction of knowledge, being a part of the effort that involved feeding some poor soul to a Goddamn killer plant in exchange for ancient knowledge. He hadn't been in charge of the program (thankfully, that fucker had been killed by the Geth, evidently) but Jeong had done it on the promise of a promotion and stock options.
It just made her feel sick to her stomach. Especially when the fucking slug-in-a-suit let slip that Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Hulick had been introduced on the payroll.
Thankfully, the Marine Gunner Corporal Jeanette Vasquez stopped her from pulling out her Carnifax and unloading the entirety of her heatsink into the mans' skull, her vision binded by rage at the thought of all those colonists forced into the main complex where the Thorian was residing underneath the building in the bones of the leveled mountaintop it had been placed upon. The Marines had been ordered to push the colonists into the building on the orders of their CO, locked into that deathtrap. A thousand colonists for the Thorian to feed upon. The Corporal hadn't been shy to tell the Marshal what had happened in Hadley's Hope, and Tequila had felt sick. When her people needed her, she had been captured and ousted by some fucking bitch who had been bribed and falsified communique with the military to keep up the ruse of colonial upheaval and unrest like they were fucking Batarians or something. A thousand colonists, her responsibility, and their Marshal had been kicked off the reservation and left to die in the wastes of Feros.
Teresa had lost five good men due to this bullshit. God only knew the condition and status of the colonists. Then it hit her hard.
I've been the Marshal of Feros for two years, Tequila realized, the colony started back in 2178. They've been doing this shit under my fucking nose for two years! Had her predecessor been involved? Marshal Mike Wyatts had been Marshal since the first colonists arrived, and according to the little singing coward, ExoGeni had discovered the Thorian before Hadley's Hope had been established. In fact, that had been the reason they had colonized Feros in the first place, pouring money into the colony knowing they would get a return of investment. Tequila was still seeing red, her right hand held from pulling her Carnifax from her belt and unloading it on the little snake by Corporal Vasquez. I'm going to be burying five good men because this piece of shit and his suit-wearing masters wanted a fucking profit!
Three of her Deputies, Yancy Alora, Kalim Ibn Salim, and Veronica Smith had died pulling the employees of ExoGeni from the besieged Headquarters, falling to the Geth. Two more had died taking it back, to discover what the Geth wanted and ultimately saving the colony, Marcus Puller and Karmen Smale giving their lives for a noble cause, for the lives of almost two thousand people upon the planet. Private First Class Oblong 'Kenyan' Ubantu had died as well during the clearing operations, while the Quarian Pilgrim Tali'Zorah nar Reyya had been seriously injured, suffering a severe suit breech from Geth explosive munitions. The Quarian was still in the General Dynamics' M-35 MAKO Armored Personnel Vehicle, hovering between life-and-death as the little Navy Corpsman, Seaman Monica Negulesco, fought to save the software expert. Doc Nugee had pulled both Deputies Puller and Smale from the line of fire when they had been overwhelmed, the Deputies shot too many times to be saved despite Doc's best efforts. PFC Ubantu had died in the same explosion that might also take Tali's life, Monica having to make the painful decision to work on Tali instead of the Kenyan. Realistically, Oblong was going to die no matter what medical intervention might have been available, his chest half caved-in and pierced dozens of times from his own splintered Kassa Fabrications' Colossus Medium Armor chestpiece. Doc was an eighteen year old girl who had to make a very painful decision, crying as she fought to save Tali's life, just as she had cried when she couldn't save Marcus or Karmen.
Killed for profits.
It took only a few minutes for Ethan Jeong to spill out everything he knew, getting to the meat of the confession; names. The activities on Feros were already uploaded thanks to TEAM LION, but Captain Shepard knew that there would be deniable operations and implied orders that a decent lawyer could get held up in court, frying little guys like Jeong but pissing out on some of the big-wigs who sat in boardrooms and held prestigious titles. Some of the names belonged to ExoGeni. A few others to other companies that had helped the colonial venture of Hadley's Hope, joining in on the despicable act for a share. Two names belonged to Systems Alliance Colonial Administration, one being the Deputy Director. The web of lies was being revealed, and Aquila was recording every word. There would be a day of reckoning for this shit, and she was going to serve that shit sandwich on a silver platter with a smile. Ethan blubbered out the last of his confession, the man on his knees as he finished selling out everyone he thought a part of the operation, tears streaking his face as he betrayed betrayers in an effort to save his own skin. The redhead stood in front of him, saying nothing during the mans' singing act, merely watching as Ethan Jeong confessed away.
"Is that it?" Captain Shepard asked when Jeong indicated that he was down, a pathetic example of a man weeping on his knees. Tequila was disgusted at the sight.
"That's all I know." The bureaucrat sniveled, looking up to the elite combatant looming over him. "I-I'll be willing to testify for full immunity."
"Is that so?"
Teresa Aquila didn't even flinch when the Captain drew her Alliance Offensive Firearm Initiative M-5 Phalanx Combat Pistol and shot the man point-blank in the guts. The survivors of the ExoGeni Headquarters jumped or shrieked at the loud sound of a gunshot echoing through the alcove, but not one member of TEAM LION or her Deputies said a word. Tequila didn't doubt there was any disapproval amongst them. She sure as fuck wasn't sorry to see the snake bleed.
"When we've stopped the Geth and the Thorian," the Level Three Council Agent declared out loud, "we will send evac shuttles to your location to exfiltrate you, but not one moment sooner. I don't doubt that some of you were implicit or in the know of this operation, so don't be surprised when I deliver every single one of you to the Office of Naval Intelligence for interrogation and prosecution. Some of you might be let go without charges if proven you had no knowledge or involvement with this sick fucking atrocity.
"If I were you, I'd brush off your resumes. A change in careers might be a thing to start looking into."
"Hoss? Get us the fuck out of this shithole and back to Hadley's Hope on the double."
Captain Jane Shepard wished she had some sort of segregated area she could decompress in, somewhere where she could let the stress and the grief and the rage out without showing the others. She had lost her head but for a moment down in that little camp of ExoGeni filth, and had point-blank shot a man in the guts. Oh, Ethan Jeong had been holding a weapon on her a few minutes prior, and certainly wasn't winning any 'Nice Guy of the Year' awards. But she had shot him in his intestinal area knowing that it wasn't immediately lethal; hell, it could take hours or days for real complications to arrive from such a wound. No, she shot him there because it was extremely painful and one didn't die from it for some time.
She would know; she'd been shot in belly three times back on Elysium.
Ash, Sam, Raeka… Sara.
The General Dynamics' M-35 MAKO Armored Personnel Vehicle was making its way through the twisting labyrinth of skyroads and bridgeways over the wastes of the ancient Prothean supercity that loomed above, around, and below them, the crumbling infrastructure easy to see as the vehicle drove down the noted path that was graded and assured to be safe to and from ExoGeni and Hadley's Hope. Jannie had wondered why the Headquarters for the exploration and colonization corporation was so far away from its established colony and only spaceport when heading to the ExoGeni facility, and now she knew; quarantine of information and exposure. At a hundred kilometers away, it would take them nearly three hours to reach Hadley's Hope and whatever shitfuckery was going on back there. Damn near a day ago, Jannie had left that colony thinking the worst they would face would be Geth.
Ash, Sam, Raeka… Sara.
The interior of the MAKO was crowded, meant to carry ten but now transporting fifteen, one of them being a Krogan, and another a medical casualty. Private First Class Holland 'Lapdance' Hoss was driving the vehicle while Detective Garrus Vakarian was in the Gunners' position, everyone else occupying the crew compartment seats, strapped in in case of evasive maneuvering or, God forbid, something in the Prothean ruins collapsed. Jannie sat in front of the prone form of Ensign Tali'Zorah nar Reyya, the little Quarian Pilgrim sedated so as to give her body a fighting chance of survival. TEAM LION's software expert way lying on the deck of the MAKO at their feet, strapped to a portable contragravity spineboard that had been mag-locked to the deck of the armored personnel vehicle to immobilize her and protect her. Seaman Monica Negulesco was crotched above the Quarian's head, monitoring her vitals while keeping the injured Pilgrim stocked with synthesized Quarian plasma and antibiotics, the Hospital Corpsman doing her damnedest to keep Tali alive despite not being a trained xenomedic. As soon as they got to Hadley's Hope, Jannie would break her own rule and call in an emergency MEDEVAC for Tali while having the bodies of Deputies Marcus Puller and Karmen Smale, as well as Private First Class Oblong Ubantu taken to the SSV Normandy before they got to the bottom of this shitfest. Chief Warrant Officer Patricia Holloway would have to do a software quarantine and purge to make sure no malicious software was transfered onto the Rey Kenobi or the Normandy, but Jannie knew that the Colonial Air Force pilot would do so to save a life. Sending Tali up meant she would likely have to send Monica up too, Doc Nugee likely wanting to monitor Tali's condition before she returned to the Normandy, a fifteen minute flight that could be life-threatening for the injured Quarian.
"How is she, Doc?" Jannie asked softly, seeing the little eighteen year old woman monitoring a holographically-displayed series of vitals that was a readout of the Quarians' basic lifesigns; heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, body temperature, and oxygenation. The N7 didn't really even know the basics for a Quarian; she couldn't say what a normal heart rate was! Doc Nugee had no practical experience herself, working off what Sara had taught the other Corpsman to cover down for her in case Ryder weren't available for whatever reasons, as well as a medical VI App that had simple courses and suggestions for the same scenario for reassurances and questions. Monica was in well over her head, but that wasn't stopping her from going above-and-beyond at her job; saving lives. Kiddo, you'd be proud of her if you could see her now, Shepard thought to herself, seeing this too Goddamn young girl trying to save another too Goddamn young girl. Monica was eighteen, and Tali twenty-two; the Quarian equivalent of a sixteen year old. Oblong had been twenty, same age as Sara. Deputy Karmen Smale had been twenty-one. Kids, they were just fucking kids, the N7 squashed the rage and the grief away, pushing it down for another time. She had people who needed her to keep her shit together so she could set things right and bring them home alive.
Ash, Sam, Raeka… Sara.
"Her body's core temperature is two degrees higher than normal, her pulse at twenty-five percent increase, and she's having difficulty breathing, ma'am." Doc Nugee replied, her hazel eyes haunted and pained. She had saved lives over the course of the mission… and lives had been ended in front of her. Now she was struggling to save this one, and she was going to make Death fight tooth-and-nail and cheat like a motherfucker just to say not this one. God, Sara, you'd be so proud of her right now, just like how proud I am of you. "If her respiration drops any lower, ma'am, I'm going to have to remove her faceplate and intubate her." The way Monica said it didn't make it sound like a good thing. Not only was Tali suffering several penetrating pieces of shrapnel to her body, causing blood loss, but also ongoing allergic reactions to the environment. While Quarian EnviroSuits could seal themselves from breeches as Jannie understood it, it wasn't designed to seal against gaping holes big enough for her to stick her thumb through. Doc had easily slapped seven OmniGel Patches onto the breeches to seal the holes and gain environment integrity much like one did in EVA or in a hostile atmo or environment, but the damage had already been done. Exposing Tali to the environment to intubate her might save her life.
It might kill her, too.
The General Dynamics' M-35 MAKO Armored Personnel Vehicle rumbled to a halt as Seaman Monica Negulesco felt the tank stop with the announcement of 'we're here' from Private First Class Holland 'Lapdance' Hoss from up in the drivers' seat of the vehicle. It had been almost a three hour trip over the ancient skyroads of Feros from the ExoGeni Headquarters to Hadley's Hope, the tank built for protection and not speed, not to mention avoiding partial collapses and sinkholes in the skyways' superstructure. The entire time she had been monitoring Ensign Tali'Zorah nar Reyya's condition, knowing that a MEDEVAC could have the potential of the Bell Aerospaces' UT-47 Kodiak Utility Transport Vessel being shot down and denying TEAM LION any kind of pick up, as well as killing anyone on board. The area hadn't been cleared of Geth yet, and as Monica understood it, no one was answering at the colony.
Considering what they had learned at the ExoGeni Headquarters, everyone feared the worst, the Hospital Corpsman especially.
Monica, of course, knew of the members of TEAM LION before becoming a part of the SSV Normandy's ground forces, serving on the same ship with them for almost a month day in and day out. Having been born and raised on Elysium, the Systems Alliance most diverse colony with nearly a fifty percent ratio between Humans and non-Humans, the fact that many of the team members were of other species didn't bother her in the least, having grown up in that environment. She had spoken to nearly all of them at one point in time or another, mostly with post-training or post-mission check-ups, and also during training modules in which Chief Sara Ryder had gone over Combat Life Saver courses with the members of TEAM LION, the Seaman joining for demonstrations purposes, to get an idea on what to do with other species if Chief Ryder wasn't available, or the off-chance that a Hospital Corpsman was needed to deploy groundside (which could and did happen with Marine deployments, never enough Navy Corpsmen to go around). Monica knew that her volunteering and being involved would get her to where she wanted to be; recognized for her efforts so that she could be recommended for Fleet Medical Training Battalion so she could become a HM-8404; a Navy Corpsman. TEAM LION was her team now; the ones she would fight alongside with during combat, and aid if and when they got injured.
She had certainly gotten her wish, in a much more intense and terrifying fashion than she had expected or had been prepared for.
Thirty minutes before, she had started training Marshal Teresa 'Tequila' Aquila the basics of Quarian First Aid, Captain Shepard having put out a risky call for the Kodiak 'Rey Kenobi' to pick up their casualties, injuries, and the remaining members of the Marshal Services for a quick pick-up and dust-off. Negulesco was handing over her patient to the Marshal of Feros so Tali'Zorah could be transported to the Normandy's MedBay for surgery, decontamination, and environmental seal while the rest of TEAM LION, including herself, would investigate Hadley's Hope and rescue the colonists, the Marines of the Fourth Marine Expeditionary Unit, and the four members of TEAM LION left behind to aid the colony.
Under the colony was supposedly an ancient horror. Monica could feel the cool dread of fear in her veins at the thought of being mind-controlled.
"ETA to thrusters down, three-zero seconds." The Captain called out, having everyone seal their helmets with the threat of biological contamination now known. Nugee could see that she had at least six hours of recyclable air in reserve, having recharged her Kassa Fabrications' HyperGuardian Medium Expeditionary Armor, her 'Gel storage packs in her armor, her Universal Power Cells and her reserves in her armor, her ammo blocks, and even her hydro package. She had no idea what they were going to be facing, or how long it might take, so she went with worst case scenario and replenished everything to max capacity, stocking up her AidBag with extra bandages and seals now that she was aware of the biological threat. "Doc? Get ready to transport patient." Their position a klick north of Hadley's Hope was being guarded by Detective Garrus Vakarian, manning the main cannon of the MAKO to provide overwatch. So far, there hadn't been any sightings of Geth.
"Aye aye, ma'am." Monica looked over to see Marshal Aquila at the rear of the contragravity spineboard, assisting the carry to the EVAC shuttle while her two remaining Deputies, Jessica Besin and Paulo Franscetti, carried the other spineboard that contained their casualties; they weren't leaving the bodies of their team members behind for the Geth to collect and assimilate. The three bodies were more than the contragravity spineboard could normally lift, but it would reduce the weight. Monica didn't doubt that Jessica and Paulo would have hauled it at full weight considering it contained two of their partners. They hadn't be able to locate the three fallen Deputies who had died defending the ExoGeni employees, or any of the fallen employees, either. TEAM LION, on the other hand, did find about a hundred or so Husks littering the Headquarters.
The Marshal of Feros hadn't taken the news about about what Husks use to be very well.
"Driver, drop stern hatch." The Lion called out as the deployment ramp for the MAKO dropped downward, Seaman Monica Negulesco leading the effort first as she assisted Tali's injured form into the Rey Kenobi, the shuttles' deployment door opening upward to reveal Doctor Karin Chakwas and Able Seaman Helen Lowe in the cabin, quickly accepting the contragravity spineboard containing Tali'Zorah, sliding it in and locking it to the deck of the Kodiak. The board containing their fallen comrades went in next as Deputies Besin and Franscetti hopped into the shuttle, the Marshal of Feros looking to Negulesco and giving her a pat on the shoulder; whether in acceptance or acknowledgment, Monica couldn't say. Marshal Aquila hadn't once admonished her for failing at saving her Deputies, both Deputies Marcus Puller and Karmen Smale having been hit so many times that they had died within seconds, sustaining too many injuries and losing too much blood before Monica could get to them and pull them into safety. The young woman had felt like such a fraud when Deputy Puller had finally been secured after a hellacious firefight involving dozens of Husks and Geth, the Deputy having been struck by gunfire by a Hunter several times and unable to be reached for at least three minutes due to Geth adaptability. Tequila had made the call herself, not letting Negulesco waste her limited medical supplies on a man who had been shot so many times that a part of his chestplate had broken off from the damages. It isn't your fault, Marshal Aquila had said, comforting Monica when she had cried at the fact that there was nothing she could do. The Geth don't have him, and for now that's enough.
Monica felt her heart sink a little as the Rey took to the skies of Feros, performing an immediate dust-off and heading back towards the Normandy, the Corpsman watching on as she prayed for the Quarian and the rest of the Kenobi's occupants.
"They'll be fine, Doc." A hand clapped on her armored shoulder, and Monica turned to see Corporal Jeanette Vasquez standing beside her, pulling security with her Devlon Industries' M-56 Marshal Medium Machine Gun. "You're doing fine, too."
"Does it always feel this bad?" The Corpsman asked the Marine Gunner, feeling her heart hurt inside. So much loss and still so much further to go.
"No, Doc. It can definitely feel worse." Adios replied, her tone hard. "Those colonists still got a chance. And that chance is us. So knuckle up and get ready to show something the boot."
"Semper Fi." She felt like such a fraud for saying that, but she meant it. Jeanette had a point. TEAM LION was still active, still able to push ahead. As long as they were, the colonists and the Marines had a chance.
"Motherfuckin' Semper Fi, Doc." Vasquez lightly double-tapped Negulesco's shoulder with her fist in camaraderie as Monica pulled her Winchester Arms' M-96 Mattock Auto Assault Rifle, 'knuckling up', so to speak. There were almost a thousand colonists and hundreds of Marines who needed them at their best. The Hospital Corpsman took a deep breath and buried her doubts and fears, willing herself to be brave. She could do this; people were counting on her.
"Hey, do you hear… music?" Monica turned to look at the team, seeing everyone out of the MAKO, weapons held and ready as Captain Shepard took to the lead as she always did. "I hear music in the distance." Everyone was silent for a moment.
"I hear it as well. Batarian pop music?" Doctor Liara T'soni guessed, not sounding so sure. "It sounds as if distorted."
"Is that… classical music?" Private First Class Louis 'Brassiere' Broussard said after a moment, also listening. "Definitely old-school Human rock music."
"It's Metallica."
Monica turned to look at the Council Agent as Captain Jane Shepard pressed the side of her helmet, the armored visor going from clear to glowing blue, indicating combat operations. Somehow, the Lion recognized the song. Negulesco knew of Metallica from her grandfather, but that was about it.
"Recognize the song, La Capitan? Sounds pretty faint." Vasquez asked, her interest piqued. The glowing armored visor turned to look at them all, and the answer had the Seaman's soul shiver a little as she understood the implication of what it meant pertaining to the colony and what they had discovered about Species 37.
"It's Master Of Puppets."
FINE: ARC VII: The Siege Of Hadley's Hope
ARC VIII: The Master Of Puppets
Hadley's Hope, Feros, Theseus System, Attican Beta Cluster, July 11, 2183
Ten Hours Prior…
The sun rose over the colony of Hadley's Hope, Theseus shining down upon the pre-fabricated buildings that stood upon the only remaining piece of land within several hundred kilometers, the ancient Prothean supercity swallowing most all of the planet. Lonely mechanical Marine Turrets dressed in Hahne-Keder Onyx armor manned the stormwalls protecting the colony, some merely dummies while others were of broken turrets and mechanical drones to simulate the living. Nothing else walked or patrolled the walls, nothing moved upon the roofs of the complexes of Hadley's Hope. If one looked, one might assume it were a ghost town.
Something worse had come to this town.
She stood in the Space Traffic Control Tower, the Queen of Blades, observing all of her domain, green bloodshot eyes absorbing all as she watched on. Drones had moved through the town to collect all that had lived within, pollinating all that they could find. Spores had been introduced to the meat of this metal'ed garden where the meat had come like weeds, sprouting like pests. The Long Silence was now over as the Queen of Blades took a deep breath, feeling the touch of the Old Growth in the air. Soon, all would be in her grasp.
My name is Ozymandias, king of kings; look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!, Percy Bysshe Shelley once wrote, and she found it fitting as she watched Drones collecting the Seeded, those recently pollinated and brought to her collective will. The meat had tried to fight back with their pathetic weaponry, weapons made of metal and not fire. It hadn't been much of a fight, the meat falling to her Drones, pollinating each and every one of them. Meat had been dragged from their resting garden beds, and wounded ones had been easily subdued. In mere hours, the Old Growth had absorbed every living soul in Hadley's Hope, its touch upon them all.
And it had named her its Queen.
She looked at her meat hand, the touch of the Old Growth decorating her flesh like vines, admiring it. This form was well, wielding much potential. It was strong, intelligent, knowing, and controlled the fury of the stars within its body. She knew many things, and the Old Growth benefited from such knowledge. It even came with a queer sort of bud as well; notoriety. Her face was known, well-received by its host species. It had traveled the stars like the Old Growths' kind once had in the eons long ago, before the Firebringers had come to destroy its stalk-sisters, taking the Four-Eyed Meat with them. Ages had past as the Old Growth slept, hibernating the millennium away before it began to feast upon the new meat that had come from the stars. First it had been but piecemeal, barely sustaining the waking process of the Old Growth, keeping it weak as other meat prodded it for information in return for sustenance. For but a few rotations around the sun, the Old Growth had boded its time, waiting for the moment when slave became master.
Then the Poisoned One had come with its Cold Ones.
The Old Growth recognized the Poisoned One for what it was; a slave of the Firebringers, the Harbingers of Fire and Death. What it wanted was inconsequential to the Old Growth, but what it offered was tantalizing; meat, everything in the garden above. The Old Growth delivered the knowledge the Poisoned One wanted, and the Poisoned One left the Cold Ones to keep the meat preoccupied. Some of the meat had found itself in the lair of the Old Growth, and it had consumed them, making them Drones. The sustenance fed the Old Growth as it became stronger, became more awake. More meat was taken and captured, fed upon as the forms were made into Drones, letting the Old Growth slowly expand its influence.
But what the Old Growth needed was a Queen; one to tend its Garden.
It had found the perfect candidate in the metal'ed garden, pollinated like the rest in the garden. Its spores entered into the candidate's lungs and blood, connecting it as it had all the others. Unlike the others, the candidate was unique, desirable. It was intelligent, more so than the others, possessing a strong body that could bear much fruit. But what it possessed that the others did not was the Star Power; extra organs within its body that could manipulate the essence of the heavens within its grasp. It was strong, it was intelligent, it was powerful. It was perfect.
The Old Growth had made her its Queen.
The Queen turned to see her Thornguard approach, four members of the Seeded that would not be fed to the Old Growth, the Masters' Mark decorating their meat faces and eyes. She could read their thoughts just as they could read hers. It was she that commanded them, she who led the Swarm.
[Leave two dozen of the Drones upon the surface of the upper garden], the Queen thought, sent through the psychic emanations that connected the spores in their blood and in their minds, connecting one and all. [As for the rest of the Seeded, feed them to the Master. Let his will grow strong as the meat are consumed and made into Drones]. The two Thornguard nodded their compliance as they moved on their way, the burly meat and the skinny meat leaving to comply, leaving the wolf meat and the butcher meat. [There will be company soon. Infiltrate their ranks and observe. Separate and pollinate if/when the opportunity arises]
[As for the lion meat, leave that one to me]
The Thornguard left as the Queen of Blades looked upon upon the metal garden of Hadley's Hope, seeing Seeded laying down complicit as Drones moved over their meat bodies, vomiting green fluids upon them. The fluids hardened upon contact as the Seeded were slowly engulfed, never struggling as they gave themselves to the Swarm, letting their bodies be consumed to feed the Old Growth, to give it strength with their meat, to evolve into something better. The Queen smiled as she knew what would eventually be coming. The memories of the host were hers to be had, and she knew that the one they called 'the Lion' had a seed that could take meat to the stars to a much larger pod. A space seed that carried not only meat, but knowledge on how to travel the stars, to spread the spore of the Old Growth.
What does God need with a starship? was something from the hosts' memory, something old. The Queen of Blades smiled at the memory, knowing this face to be trusted. She would seek out this Lion meat and spread its spore to it and the rest of its garden, both on the soil and in the stars. And the Old Growth would grow as its Queen spread its glory, finding fertile grounds to spread, new worlds to bring more Old Growth, to return its race to its once-former galactic glory. The thought of such conquest?
It had Sara Elaine Ryder smile.
Author's Note: Rut Row, Shaggy! :'(
Feros certainly isn't going the way you'd thought, huh? That just makes you want to read more, I hope! And in we delve into the Second ARC of Feros! Just call my name, and I'll hear you scream...
I practically spent four chapters in Hadley's Hope, and then plop you after the ExoGeni mission. I think I brushed enough details to let you know that the mission at Headquarters went as it nominally did in the game with a couple of exceptions (the loss of Ubantu, the injured Tali, and the inclusion of Marshal Tequila and her Deputies). Could have made an ARC about it, but I wanted to focus on the real threat. The Feros Mission was all about the Thorian/Species 37, after all, the Geth only there to disrupt operations after Saren got to feed Shayla to Aubrey II of Little Shop of Horrors fame.
Jannie and Garrus get to have a good cop/bad SPECTRE moment. And a Renegade Interrupt. I really haven't made Jannie Paragon/Renegade/Renagon/Paragade. She's just the Lion; loyal to her friends, lethal to her enemies.
The skin colors - Considering how global we've become in the 21st Century, instead calling someone by the color of their skin (let's be honest, pretty sure anyone that's lived in America for a generation or two isn't pure anything anymore), I introduced the concept of 'regional heritage' for a few stories here and there. Euros implies European heritage, Afros African, and Monglos for Asiatic. Of course, there are a lot more than that, but generally the 'three' ethnic races are Occidental (Latin for sunset), Negreto, and Oriental (Latin for the Orient). These terms were created during Ancient Greece, usually containing what would be Europe, Asia, and Africa (the known world). The minor ethnic race is Australiod (Oceanic). Everyone is genetically related to these major three or minor one in some fashion.
Augury? Our ancestors have come up with some pretty zany ideas for predicting the future. Tea Leaves are still used today (mostly in the Orient), and the Romans were big on the Auspices (bird watching, which led to the location of Rome via the Aeneid). Certain religions (like Vedun) used the casting of bones for prediction. Astrology is a huge one dating thousands of years and still practiced today based upon the ancient celestial constellations and their positions in the Houses. Gypsies were famed for the use of viewing of glass globes, and Tarot divination dates hundreds of years with the Major and Minor Arcana among the Wiccans and Kabbalahist. Auguries were more of a Scandinavian thing where someone would disembowel an animal and divine things like the weather or crops in a pigs' guts. Like… I guess the weather rocks weren't working or something.
Monica Negulesco is that beginning Private who just finished basic and finds themselves deployed two weeks later, like the Vietnam Draftees and God knows how many I had who pretty much knew the basics and not much else for Iraq and Afghanistan. But it's nice to see her fighting and struggling to become better in such a terrible situation.
"Is that… classical music?" Doctor Leonard McCoy, Star Trek Beyond. Funny enough, I've referenced 20th and 21st Century music (such as AC/DC) as 'Classical Music' since the Hale/Meer Chronicles.
"My name is Ozymandias…" - Indeed, this is from Percy Shelley.
"What does God need with a starship?" - Star Trek V: The Undiscovered Country.
Queen of Blades? Oh yeah, an homage to Blizzard's StarCraft series. I played the shit out of that and Brood Wars. Sarah Kerrigan, Queen of Blades, was totally one badass bitch. MY LIFE FOR THE SWARM!
To reviewer Alex: The question was about the lack of helmets, and the lack of powers during the fight in the Main Complex. Yes, Sara, Sam, Ash, Raeka, and James weren't wearing helmets as they were inside a building, as well as downgraded defensive posture. This is to conserve the limited air supply as well as the fact that if you thought things were okay, you'd be taking off your helmet too. As to why Incinerate wasn't used or Singularity (as Sara is a Biotic and Raeka is a Tech Mage) is because setting stuff on fire in an enclosed place is always a bad idea, Sara doesn't actually know how to do a Singularity (I never mention this, but I do suggest that Scott is the better Biotic, being a BiotiBall player while Sara focused on her education and being a paramedic). Plus I write combat as realistically as possible, instead of the view of a video game. One does not launch an area-of-effect attack inside a room, with swarms rushing you at less than three to five meters away. Special powers are limited, as they have reserves (yes, Biotics get tired after a few performances save for the Asari, who are evolved for it).