Hey guys. Sorry it's been a whole month AGAIN. But I'm sure that...wait what was that?...It's only been like two weeks?...You mean if I really apply myself, I could churn these chapters out on a weekly or biweekly basis for at least a little while?...
Alright then. Here's the latest chapter, see ya next week :)
...
0015 Hours, February 25th, 2683
Kithoi Ward Level 20
Citadel
Widow System, Serpent Nebula
...
"Looks like Fist shut the place down." Garrus noted as the five-man squad approached the bar on the lower wards. The Turian seemed to be right. The neon Asari bolted to the wall, usually inviting passers-by to partake in her pleasures, was now dark, signifying the bar was closed.
"I had a feeling Fist would know we're coming." Wrex added. Indeed, it made sense to the spartan. Mercenary hired to kill him, his men failing to report in, Fist could put two and two together.
"Alenko. You were in here earlier, right? Give me a layout." Chief said.
"Circular room just beyond that door, with the bar itself in the center." Kaidan said, pointing at the door. "We saw a door leading to the offices, but we weren't able to investigate beyond that."
"Didn't seem like a very defendable position." Ashley added. "We can take them."
"Don't be so sure." Wrex corrected. "I've raided night clubs before. If a crime lord's got enough guys and guns, he can turn it into a fortress."
Chief turned to the female marine. He pointed to her, and then to the door; she had point. Ashley nodded and jogged over to the door, the spartan not far behind, each one taking position beside the doorway. The other three lined up along the wall next to Ashley. The plan was simple; once they breached the door, Ash and Chief would head in first, followed by Kaidan, Wrex and Garrus, in that order. Ash hit the open button on the door.
The button just turned red and made a buzzing noise.
Ashley quirked an eyebrow and tried again.
Another buzzing noise.
"Dammit, it's locked." Ash snapped.
"Can we blow it?" Chief asked.
"Doubtful." Garrus said. "All we have are grenades. These Citadel doors are tough. It'll take more than a standard-issue fragmentation grenade to bring it down."
"We need to bring in something heavier." Kaidan said.
"We don't have time. We need to secure that Quarian now." Chief said.
"Alright. Maybe I can hack it." Kaidan said as he walked over to the door. He activated his omni-tool and started pressing buttons. He became increasingly frustrated when he found he couldn't hack it. "The hell? It's just a door."
"Let me try." Garrus said as he walked over to the door, activating his own omni-tool. He tapped it a few times before realizing what the problem was. "Son of a bitch, it's a Gatekeeper 7.14 security program. This is the kind of security program you only see in corporate offices. What's it doing in a strip club?"
"Shadow Broker's got deep pockets." Wrex elaborated. "Fist has a cushier position than most criminals."
"Can it be hacked?" Chief asked.
"Only if you've got a super-computer for a brain." Garrus replied.
Little did Garrus know that that sentence gave a certain AI the chance to show off a new trick she had been working on...
"Hey Chief. I've got an idea." Cortana said. "Okay, repeat after me..."
"Maybe I can hack it." Chief said aloud. Garrus turned to the spartan.
"You sure?" the Turian asked.
"Only one way to find out." Chief answered as he walked up to the door.
"Alright, now activate your omni-tool." Cortana instructed. Chief did just that. However, when he did, he noticed that the omni-tool holographic 'glove'-like interface was now a light blue instead of gold...the same shade of blue as Cortana's holographic avatar, Chief noted. "I've been studying your omni-tool, and I think I can work it while I'm in your armor. Press some random buttons to make it look like your actually doing something. Don't worry, it won't mess with what I'm doing at all."
Chief did as the AI advised and began pressing some random buttons to make himself look busy. It was moments like these that made Chief genuinely glad to have Cortana with him. Many times throughout the Human-Covenant war, her insight had saved the spartan's hide.
"Almost got it." Cortana said. She was willing to acknowledge that it was an impressive security system, but she was more than a match for it. "Oh, by the way, I'm detecting multiple hostiles. Mostly thugs with guns. So yeah. You might want to take cover once that door opens."
Chief smiled underneath his helmet. He had something else in mind.
No sooner did the door open did Chief dive in, drawing his assault rifle. The thugs immediately began firing.
"Not one to wait for a fight I see." Wrex chuckled as he charged through the door after Ashley and Kaidan went in. Garrus was last, providing support fire with his own rifle.
For being common thugs, they put up a surprisingly better fight than the spartan anticipated. Clearly, this wasn't the first time their bar became a battleground. Still, they were no match for a spartan, a mercenary, an officer and two marines.
Chief leapt over the bar with his shotgun at the ready and quickly disposed of the three thugs who were using the bar as cover. He turned to two other thugs and was about to blast them away with a-
*BLAM!*
Not since fighting along side another SPARTAN-II was Chief actually beaten to a kill.
One of the thugs quickly dropped to the ground upon receiving a shotgun blast from an unknown source. The same source hit the other thug with a biotic warp. Apparently, Kaidan had gotten around the Chief somehow. Chief turned...
To find Urdnot Wrex thrusting a hand outward that was wrapped in a blue aura, leaving the thug floating helplessly in the air. Wrex then shot the poor defenseless man, sending the new corpse flying across the room. Apparently, Wrex was a biotic.
The Krogan turned to the spartan. "That makes four." he boasted.
"...Three." Chief replied. Wrex grinned ear-to-ear. "Didn't know it was a contest." Chief added. Another thug came out of cover and began firing at the two, but was then taken down by further shotgun rounds.
"Got 'em." Wrex and Chief said in perfect unison. They turned to each other.
"I saw him first." Wrex scowled.
"I reacted quicker." Chief replied.
"Uh, Chief." Cortana said. "Angry Krogan, twelve o' clock."
Chief clicked the audio button on his helmet to temporarily turn off his speakers. "I know that. I'm arguing with him."
"No, the other angry Krogan." Cortana pointed out, highlighting a signal on her spartan's motion tracker. Chief turned and saw a Krogan with a black crest come at them with a shotgun. He took cover back behind the bar before taking shots at him. Wrex was a little bolder and stood his ground, refusing to use cover.
Then, the Krogan was wrapped in a blue glow and was pinned to the ground by the biotic force. He then was hit by a warp followed by several rounds from at least three assault rifles, followed by a direct hit from a grenade. Needless to say, he was dead or at the very least close to being dead when the onslaught stopped.
Chief and Wrex looked over to see Ashley, Garrus and Kaidan, all with still-hot rifles, the latter wrapped in a biotic glow.
"I could've done that." Wrex scoffed.
"Clear." Chief said. "Fist is in the back with the Quarian. Keep moving and check your targets." he went on as he jumped over the bar and proceeded to the back. The group soon came upon a door.
"Alright, so when they come through the door, we gotta stand our ground man!" a voice from beyond the door nervously proclaimed. "Show no fear!"
The door opened, revealing a Human and an Unggoy. The Human drew a pistol. "Stop! Don't come any closer or we'll shoot!"
"We?" the Unggoy yelped in shock. He turned to the squad. "I'm not with him!" he pointed to his Human friend. "Anything he says, anything he does, I do NOT support!"
"Warehouse workers." Garrus noted. "Guess we killed all the real guards on the way in here."
Chief shook his head before walking up to the worker. "Stop! Or I'll-"
Chief snatched the pistol out of the man's hand before he could finish his sentence, and dropped it onto the ground. With all his strength, the spartan stomped on the pistol, making it into little more than a pile of scrap, much to the man's horror.
"Leave." Chief said.
"We were just on our way out!" the Unggoy said as he, true to the spirit of his race, fled out of the door, babbling in terror with arms flailing.
"Wait for me!" the Human yelled as he fled out the door after his diminutive co-worker.
"Would've been quicker to just kill 'em." Wrex noted.
"Shooting isn't always the answer." Kaidan pointed out.
The group moved on to another door, and quickly arrived in Fist's office. The Human looked to them and scowled.
"If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself!" He said as he activated two auto-defense turrets which began to open fire on the group while he took out a shotgun. Chief and Kaidan dashed to the right side of the room while the rest stayed behind a corner.
"Alenko! Warp one of those turrets!" Chief yelled. Kaidan nodded as he came out of cover and threw a warp at one of the turrets, taking out its shields. Wrex did the same to the other turret, knocking its shields out as well. The Krogan then gave himself a biotic barrier and roared as he charged forward at the Human, his barrier absorbing the turret and shotgun rounds as he knocked Fist to the ground upon hitting him like a freight train. Wrex provided the rest of the group a good distraction. While the turrets aimed and fired at the Krogan, the rest of the group fired on the turrets, eventually destroying them. Wrex kept his shotgun trained on Fist. He wasn't going to kill him yet though. He and Chief still had a deal, and the biotic Krogan was going to uphold his end of the bargain. The spartan walked up to the crime lord cowering on the ground.
Now that he wasn't trying to kill them, Chief got a better look at him. Fist had a square face and black, buzz cut hair like he just got out of the military. That, combined with the scar running along the right side of his jaw suggests that he did have a military background of some sort before turning to a life of crime.
"Look, I'll give you whatever you want! Just don't kill me!" he begged.
"You have a Quarian in your custody. One that has evidence against Saren Arterius." Chief said as he took out a pistol and pointed it at Fist's head. "Where is she?"
"She's not here! I don't where she is!" Fist confessed. "It's the truth! I swear!"
"He's no use to you anymore." Wrex said. "Lemme kill him..." he added. He sounded a little too eager to do it too.
"Wait!" Fist yelped. "I don't know where she is, but I know where you can find her!" he got up, holding his hands up as he stood upright. "She wanted to deal with the Shadow Broker directly. So I set up a meeting between her and the Broker in the back alley by the markets."
"Impossible." Wrex said. "Nobody meets with the Shadow Broker in person. Even I was hired through an agent."
"She didn't know that." Fist said. "Saren's men are gonna pick her up there in a few minutes."
"Kill her before she can talk, you mean." Garrus said with an accusing finger.
Chief turned to Wrex, who wore the kind of smile a lion wears just before closing in on some hapless wildebeest. Chief didn't like what was about to happen next. But a deal was a deal. Besides, few would mourn someone like Fist.
"Thanks for the info." Chief said after turning back to Fist. No sooner had the words left Chief's mouth did Wrex pull the trigger and Fist got a gut full of buckshot as a reward for his cooperation.
"What the hell did you do that for?" Ashley yelled.
"The Shadow Broker hired me to kill Fist." Wrex replied as he put away his shotgun. "I don't leave jobs half-finished."
"Let's move." Chief said. "That Quarian's dead if we don't."
...
Thankfully, the alley wasn't too far from Chora's Den, and it only took Chief all of two minutes to get there. A few more seconds passed before the rest of his squad managed to catch up to him. Chief might've deliberately ran a little slower than he normally would, so his team wouldn't be too out of breath by the time they caught up with him. It's hard, keeping up with a SPARTAN-II.
Chief peeked around the corner. It looked like they got here just in time. There was Saren's men; a Turian and two Salarians. And there was, apparently, the Quarian. Her figure was little more human in shape than Chief thought it would be. She was around five-foot ten or so and the only things giving her away as an alien were digitigrade legs and the odd suit she wore, likely worn for similar reasons as the Unggoy or Volus; she didn't breathe the same air as other species, didn't live in the same pressure, or both.
Chief turned to Garrus and Kaidan. He pointed two fingers at each of them, and pointed at the other side of the opening to the shady alley. They both nodded and crept over there with utmost silence. He pointed to Ashley and pointed to a crate. He then formed a circle with his fingers and thumb around where his eye would be, as if he were looking through a telescope. Ashley nodded, fully understanding, before creeping up to the crate and getting her sniper rifle ready. Chief turned to Wrex. He pointed to himself then the Krogan. He then pointed to the floor. Wrex nodded. He and Chief stayed where they were and observed the scene. The Chief's plan; set up an ambush for Saren's goons. They had them outmatched, outgunned, and outnumbered so it shouldn't be too hard. Still, they couldn't just rush in whenever they wanted. The Quarian was a VIP, so they had to wait for an opportunity to get her out of harm's way before engaging.
"Where's the Shadow Broker?" Chief heard the Quarian ask.
"He'll be here." the Turian drawled. "Don't worry..." he started caressing the Quarian's arm. "Where's the evidence?"
"Forget it." the Quarian said, slapping away the Turian's hand. "The deal's off."
The Turian stood there a moment, then turned to the two Salarians and nodded towards the Quarian. The other two assassins whipped out their pistols. Chief turned to Ashley who nodded, indicating she was ready. Chief gripped his rifle. Once Ashley had a clear shot at the Turian, he'd move in to secure the Quarian while everyone else would provide cov-
*BOOM!*
The spartan's train of thought was derailed as the Quarian lobbed a grenade out from her belt at the two Salarians, knocking them to the ground, and disorienting the Turian enough that she managed to take cover behind a crate and start shooting with her pistol.
"Cover me!" Chief yelled as he rushed in. It was one of the easier firefights Chief had been in the last twenty-four hours. He rushed up to the Turian and stuck him with the butt of his rifle right across the face. He did so with such force that he heard a sickening crack as the Turian's head turned at an unnatural angle a split-second before collapsing onto the ground. He then opened fire on the two Salarians, still recovering from the grenade explosion, as did everyone else. The two quickly fell.
"Fist set me up!" the Quarian snapped as she came out from behind the crate, putting away her pistol. "I KNEW he couldn't be trusted."
Chief walked up to the alien girl. "You alright?"
"I'm fine. I can take care of myself." she said. "Not that I don't appreciate the help." she added. Now that he was up close, the spartan could get a better look at her. She was covered from head to toe in some kind of suit. Her legs were indeed digitigrade and ended in two-toed, talon-like feet. Her hands were also very alien, only having a thumb and two fingers. The most eye-catching feature though was her face, or rather lack there-of. Similar to the Chief's own polarized visor, the Quarian wore a purple visor that obscured her entire face, the only thing that was remotely visible being a pair of glowing, bluish-white orbs which Chief was assuming were her eyes. Finally, she wore various bits of cloth on her suit, including a burqa of some sort on her helmet, almost making her look like a gypsy.
"You the Quarian? The one with evidence that proves Saren Arterius is a traitor?" Chief asked, wanting to cut right to the meat of the situation.
"I am." she answered. She looked around. "But I can't show you the evidence here. It would be best to go somewhere safer I think."
Chief nodded. Saren had hired goons all over the station that had been trying to kill the spartan and his team at every given opportunity. The wards weren't safe right now. He turned to his squad.
"Alright. This Quarian's is now a VIP." Back in the 24th century, 'VIP' was used to denote a civilian whose well-being was mission-critical. "I'm in front of her. Garrus, Wrex, you two have the rear. Ash, Kaidan, you each take a side. We'll take her to Ambassador Udina on the presidium. Let's move."
...
Ambassador Udina's jaw was agape as he read the data pad in front of him. It was a list of casualties as well as the price of all the damages. The council would end up paying most of the damages to the Citadel with the galactic tax payer's credits, but Udina knew that he'd have some explaining to do since everyone knows who was at the center of all this chaos.
Udina squeezed the bridge of his nose, grumbling curses to himself. What were Hackett and Anderson thinking? Waking up a SPARTAN-II from cryo, they might as well have woken up a cave man! At least a cave man would disturb the peace less. Hell, how did Hackett even talk Udina into letting this barbarian try out for the spectres? He knew he needed a Human who could get the job done, who could represent the best his species had to offer. But as much as he hated admit it, Saren might've been right. The Chief really WAS a walking WMD. You'd think someone with spec. ops training would have a better grasp of concepts such as 'subtlety' and 'low-key.' Udina had asked for a surgical knife and what he got was a baseball bat.
Captain Anderson stood off to the right of Udina, standing dutifully as he watched the ambassador fume. While he was more of a forgiving sort that Udina, he had to admit that Chief was making quite a mess. He sincerely hoped that it would not be in vain.
Udina heard the door open and immediately recognized the heavy thumping noises that was the footfall of a fully-armored SPARTAN-II.
"You're not making my life easy, Chief." the ambassador began. "Firefights in the wards, high-speed chases in the slums, an all-out assault on Chora's Den..." he turned to the super-soldier. "Do you have ANY idea how many-" he interrupted himself when he noticed the three non-Humans in his office.
"Aliens?" Udina asked with a raised eyebrow. "Chief, what is this?"
"Evidence, ambassador." the spartan promptly answered. He turned to the Quarian and nodded at her. She nodded back and stepped forward.
"I have evidence proving that Saren Arterius is conspiring with the Geth against the Human Alliance." she stated.
Both Udina and Anderson widened their eyes in surprise. "Do you now?" Udina asked. "Where did you get it?"
The Quarian then activated her omni-tool and started pressing some buttons. "While I was on my pilgrimage, I heard reports that Geth were spotted beyond the Perseus Veil. I got curious, so I tracked a patrol of Geth to an uncharted planet. I waited for one to become separated from its unit. Then I disabled it and retrieved its memory core."
"I thought Geth erased memory cores after they were destroyed. As a fail-safe mechanism." Anderson stated.
"They do. But I know my way around tech, especially Geth...for obvious reasons." she said. Chief briefly wondered what those reasons were. "If you're quick, careful, and lucky, small caches of data can be saved." she tapped a few more buttons. "Alright. Here it is."
"Loyal followers!" came a voice. "Assemble!"
"That's Saren's voice!" Anderson exclaimed.
"The Humans have recently dug up an artifact of great importance on Eden Prime." Saren continued. "A working Prothean beacon!"
"This will be your most important mission yet!" boomed a second voice, one that was female.
"Whose she?" Udina asked. "Who's that voice?"
"I'm not sure. There's more." the Quarian said.
"This beacon shall bring us one step closer to the conduit...and to the return of the Reapers!"
Reapers...Master Chief couldn't put his finger on it, but he could've sworn he heard that somewhere before.
"This crusade shall not be an easy one." Saren resumed. "But fear not! For I shall lead this mission personally! We will go to Eden Prime, secure the beacon for ourselves and kill any organic who gets in our way!" a pause. Then: "The attack plans will be downloaded to all of your memory cores momentarily. You will be expected to follow them. Do not fail me. Do NOT fail the Reapers..."
Chief crossed his arms in contemplation. Saren's ramblings reminded him a little too much of the Prophet of Truth for his liking. "Is that all you could salvage?" he asked.
"That's all I could salvage from the audio banks." the alien said as she pressed a few more buttons. "But I also retrieved that attack plan Saren mentioned." With that, a map of some sort materialized out of her omni-tool...a map of the Eden Prime colony, to be specific. Insertion points, attack patterns, timed maneuvers, clearly marked primary and secondary objectives; there was no doubt in anyone's mind. It was a battle plan on the invasion of Eden Prime.
"This is it! This is the evidence we've been looking for!" Anderson triumphantly proclaimed. "This proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Saren is a traitor!"
"That other voice." Chief said. "She said the beacon will bring them closer to the conduit and the reapers. What did she mean?"
"I don't know." Anderson confessed. "That beacon was part of an ancient information network. It probably had information on the conduit. It could be an advanced piece of Prothean technology." He paused as a horrifying thought overtook him. "...Like a weapon."
"Great. A super-weapon that has the potential to wipe out the entire Human race left over from an ancient space-faring civilization that mysteriously disappeared." Cortana observed. "Once again; the more things change, the more they stay the same."
"What about the Reapers?" Chief asked.
"According to the memory core, the Reapers were an ancient, hyper-advanced machine race revered by the Geth as gods, the pinnacle of non-organic life." the Quarian explained. "It was they who wiped out the Protheans fifty-thousand years ago. And once they did, they mysteriously vanished." she paused. "At least, that's what the Geth believe. Apparently, they think Saren is some kind of prophet or messiah who could bring back the Reapers. And that the conduit will help in that task."
That's when it all came back to the Chief.
There were strange-looking people, aliens maybe, suffering.
Metal being welded to flesh.
Minds being tormented.
Blood splattering on the ground.
Screeching of the damned.
And eyes that spoke eons of malice.
Reapers...
"Sir." Chief said as he walked up to Captain Anderson. "I think I just figured out that vision I had."
"You did?" Anderson asked.
"It's still a little unclear." Chief said. "But I know I saw people being slaughtered by some kind of non-organic life form. It's possible that I might've seen the Protheans being wiped out by these...Reapers."
Anderson turned to Udina. "We need to present this evidence to the council right away."
"Permission to speak freely sir?" Chief asked.
"Granted." Anderson replied.
"I think we should leave my vision out of the official testimony. It could compromise credibility." the spartan said. "To be entirely honest, I barely believe it myself."
"That doesn't matter." Anderson snapped. "Whether they believe in the Reapers or not, they have to believe, at the very least, that Saren is a traitor and a threat to Citadel space!"
"I'll arrange another meeting with the Council. Hopefully once I let it slip that we have additional evidence against Saren, they'll want to humor us at the very least." Udina said bitterly as he began typing away on his computer. He waited a few minutes. Then a beeping noise brought a smile to his face. "Well that got their attention. Apparently, they want to see us ASAP."
"I'll send you a copy of the evidence." The Quarian said as she tapped away on her omni-tool. Udina's own omni-tool lit up, and he nodded a gruff thanks to the suited alien.
"So what do we do with the Quarian now?" Garrus asked.
The Quarian turned to the officer and narrowed her eyes at him. "My NAME is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." she bitterly spat.
"She can be held in protective custody by C-sec or the Alliance. At least until Saren stops sending thugs to try and kill her." Chief suggested.
Udina tapped a few buttons on his omni-tool. "Done. Alliance marines will be here momentarily. They'll take the Quarian into protective custody."
Chief nodded at the ambassador and then turned to Ashley and Kaidan. "Let's go."
With that, the spartan and two marines followed the captain and the ambassador out of the office, leaving the three non-humans behind. The Quarian will be taken into protective custody by the Alliance, and possibly be questioned further by ONI. As for Garrus and Wrex, they knew the way out. However, the group was quickly joined by the Turian. "Mind if I tag along?" Garrus asked. "I want to see the look on Saren's face once we present the evidence."
"If you wish." Udina said. With that, Garrus did the Turian equivalent of a smile and started tapping away on his omni-tool as he walked with the Humans. Chief kept an eye on Garrus. He wasn't too sure if he liked the way the alien gleefully tapped away on his omni-tool.
Still, he was willing to agree with the alien on one thing; the look on Saren's face once he found out the jig was up would be nothing less than priceless.
...
Don't worry. Wrex and Tali ARE going to join the squad. I just decided to put a new spin on the manner in which they are recruited ;)
And sorry if this chapter seems shorter than most. Next week's chapter will be pretty long to make up for it. Promise