So, after much deliberation, I've decided to go ahead and change the dates to the more acceptable 2500-2600. According to the Mass Effect timeline, the "CE" didn't start until the Rachni Wars began. So, let's just assume the Citadel Races got to enjoy four hundred years of relative peace before they got that little bug problem.
In fact, I'm actually in the middle of making the changes now. This chapter has been done for a while now, it just needed proofreading, but I wanted to post this alongside the announcement that the dates are fixed, so I stalled. But then the "OMG PLZ UPDATE" reviews and PM's made me feel too damn guilty so I decided to go ahead and proofread and then post this. Just know that the trade off is that the date corrections are still ongoing.
While we're on the subject of retcons, I guess I should explain why the Alliance made so many concessions to the Citadel Races upon joining. That's a long and funny story. It all started when I realized that yes, slipspace was faster than Eezo-FTL, which was bad because I wanted the Chief to have more downtime between missions so that he'd be forced to socialize more. While some of you may be screaming at me saying that's still possible with slipspace, keep in mind that when I first started this a year ago (God, I'm slow) I knew very little about the actual mechanics behind each universe. So when I noticed that slipspace was noticeably more dangerous than Eezo FTL, I figured that maybe THAT'S why humanity made the jump from slipspace to FTL. Slow and safe seemed preferable to fast and risky. But apparently, that wasn't good enough for some reviewers, and in retrospect they were kinda right, so I had to come up with something else. Then a stroke of brilliance; the Alliance couldn't use slipspace anymore because the council banned it! I thought it was the perfect hand-wave!
Lord, was I ever wrong.
I made Humanity look weak and the council look like dictators. This move generated such an outrage that a couple of authors went and wrote up Halo / Mass Effect crossovers in which the UNSC and its Covenant allies said 'no' to the council's restrictions and became a separate state, as if to subtly tell me "See, THIS is how you SHOULD have done it." Yes, don't think I haven't noticed those (they're very well-written though. I recommend them).
But here's the thing: I'm not changing that. I'll try and edit bits to better explain humanity's reasons for joining the Citadel races despite such restrictions but aside from that, no retcons there. Why? Well, here's the weird part; all the negative reviews I get, the ones that deride me for making Humans so weak in this universe? Painful as they are for me to read, THEY'RE the ones who are giving me ideas, making them even more useful than mere praise. Seeing how weak I've unwittingly made Humans has given me ideas for further plot points and plot threads in this story.
It just goes to show; there are no lessons in a good review, but a thousand in a bad review.
Right then. Sorry if I seemed like I was on a soapbox, but I just wanted to explain my actions. This fic is what it is. If you don't like it, I recommend reading Mass Effect New Origins V2. It updates more frequently anyway.
Now, without further ado, Chapter 16.
...
1916 Hours, February 29th, 2683
ExoGeni Survey Camp
Surface of Trebin
Antaeus System, Hades Gamma Cluster
...
"Interesting." Tali noted as she stepped out of the pre-fab shed as she tapped away on her omni-tool. "According to these logs, the survey team unearthed some kind of alien artifact while they were mining into that mountain over there." the Quarian said as she pointed to the mountain in question about two hundred meters to the north. The rest of the team could make out the entrance to a mine, similar to the mine entrance on Therum.
"Why were they digging?" Garrus asked. "I thought they were here to monitor this planet's water levels."
"They were." Tali replied. "They said that, in addition to atmosphere, they needed to know how ExoGeni's terraforming campaign would affect a hypothetical underground water table. I guess they were thinking of perhaps starting up some underground springs or something."
Chief nodded in acknowledgement at the Quarian. The team had landed on Trebin's surface about twenty minutes ago. Chief brought Tali along as her technological expertise may be useful for investigating the survey team's equipment. Liara was there to inspect the nearby Prothean ruins, though so far, there were none to be found here. Finally, he brought Garrus and N'tho as combat back-up, in case things turned ugly. After tracking the survey team's last known location, they arrived at their camp only to find it completely and utterly abandoned.
"What about the Prothean ruins?" Chief asked.
"The ruins are about a half-click southeast of here." Tali said, pointing in the afore mentioned direction. "Though there are no ruins, as in plural. Just a ruin. A single Prothean pyramid. That's it."
"Seems doubtful Saren would come all this way for just one pyramid." Garrus noted.
"It would depend on the pyramid." Liara said. "If it's well enough preserved, it could yield untold amounts of data."
"Orders?" Garrus asked the spartan.
"The mine's closer so we'll head there first. It's possible that Saren might be just as interested in the alien artifact as the pyramid. Possibly more so." Chief said as he began marching towards the mine, the rest of the group following
...
The group descended through the tube-like tunnel into a small cave. The rock walls, floor and ceiling were all brown in color, and the floor was completely submerged in shallow water that just barely reached their ankles. "Guess ExoGeni's terraforming project had some success." N'tho observed. "Looks like a pipe busted down here."
Tali walked up to what looked like a crate. She used her omni-tool to hack the computer lock and looked inside. "Got a couple of assault rifles in here." she said.
"We'll grab those later." Chief said. "Right now, let's just take a look around. Garrus. You've got point."
Garrus winked green and jogged up to the other door. Like the last one, it was circular and looked faded, like it hadn't been used in a while. Either that, or it wasn't really cleaned that often. The others took position against the wall. It didn't seem likely they'd encounter hostiles down here, but one could never be too careful. Garrus got the door open and it opened to another tube-like tunnel with another circular door at the end. The Master Chief himself took point this time, Garrus and N'tho right behind him, and Tali and Liara watching the rear. Chief opened the circular door.
It opened to reveal a much larger chamber. This chamber too had ankle-deep water covering the floor, as well as what looked to be at least a dozen stacks of crates littered around the room in a seemingly random pattern. Chief soon saw movement near the back of the chamber. He zoomed in his vision.
Husks. Just like the ones on Eden Prime. And they were heading right for them.
"Everyone get into cover, now!" Chief ordered as he immediately dived in and took cover behind a crate, his squad following suit. Garrus and N'tho took cover behind a row of crates and began to cut down as many husks as they could. Tali stayed near the back, picking off the husks with her tech attacks. She figured that, being mostly technology, husks would probably be vulnerable to such attacks. Liara took ducked behind a crate next to the Chief.
Chief whipped out his assault rifle and opened fire on the advancing horde. "Short controlled bursts." he ordered through Team COM. With an advancing horde of enemies charging blindly at you, it was tempting to just hold down the trigger and mow down as many as you could. However, your weapon would eventually overheat, which is not something you want to happen if a husk got close enough to you. Short controlled bursts would give your weapon reprieve between bursts, which would make it last longer before overheating, if only slightly.
"Heads up. More incoming hostiles." Cortana reported. As he picked off one husk after another, Chief noticed at least a couple dozen more husks pouring in from the two tube-like tunnels from the opposite end of the room. This was bad. Even if they had no weapons, the husks could easily overwhelm the team in these tight quarters through sheer force of numbers alone. Then, the tides turned.
As he lined up another shot, the husk he was targeting suddenly flew backwards into its fellows, as did another. The telltale blue glow from the husks showed that this was the work of biotics. But the only biotic on the team was...
Chief turned and saw Liara, boldly keeping the entire husk force at bay with her biotics alone. Chief only brought the Asari with him because her Prothean expertise would be useful in analyzing the nearby ruin. He advised her to equip herself with some armor and a pistol for self-defense, just in case. Chief knew her biotics would also aid in self-defense, but he had no idea just how powerful Liara's biotics really were.
After literally pushing the horde back with her biotic powers, Liara then did something that really impressed the Chief. She thrust both her hands forward, both alight in a blue aura. Suddenly, what looked like a black orb with a blue aura appeared, and the entire husk horde began to get sucked into it and flew around it in a chaotic orbit. Liara whipped out her pistol and fully unloaded on the floating ball of flesh turned metal.
"All units, open fire!" Chief ordered as he held down the trigger on his assault rifle. Garrus and N'tho followed suit as did Tali once she got her own rifle out. Once the rifles overheated, they all switched to their pistols and unloaded on the husks using them instead. After a full thirty seconds, the black orb disappeared, and two dozen thoroughly dead husks fell to the ground. Tali walked over with her shotgun and finished off the ones that were still twitching.
"Guess we know what happened to the survey team." Garrus said. "Looks like the Geth were here after all."
"Still might be." Chief said. He turned to Liara, who put away her pistol, the glow from her arms fading. "Where'd you learn to do that?" he couldn't help but ask.
Liara rubbed the back of her neck, as though embarrassed. "I had twenty-five years worth of military training in my youth. A full range of biotic combat abilities comes standard in that curriculum. It's something of a long story."
"Any reason why you didn't tell me this?" Chief asked.
"Well, I'm not a real soldier. I tried out to be a huntress, but I quickly realized that I preferred dusty ruins to blood-soaked battlefields. I did not complete my training."
"Well, you damn well should have." N'tho said. "You just created a black hole. With your brain."
"It's called a biotic singularity." Liara said. "Admittedly, it is a powerful ability and difficult to master, but there are most certainly Asari commandos who can do it better than I. I'm a scientist, not a warrior."
"If you weren't here, taking these husks out would've been a lot harder." Chief said. "I'd say you're being a little too modest."
"...Thank you." Liara quietly replied.
"Alright. Garrus. N'tho. Each of you take a tunnel and check it. If there are any more husks down here, I want them dead. Tali. Liara. Help me separate the bodies. I want to do a head count to see if this accounts for the entire survey team."
Garrus and N'tho nodded before each taking a tunnel and investigating it. Meanwhile Chief, Tali and Liara went about the grim business of dragging the husks' bodies from the pile and lining them all up, side by side. By the time there were only half a dozen or so left in the pile, Cortana already completed the head count; every missing survey team member was present and accounted for. Liara and Tali did their best to complete the task without actually looking at the bodies, and Chief didn't blame them. This was by no means the first time the spartan saw so many corpses in one place, but the husks were disgusting, even by his standards. Cybernetics forcibly bonded with flesh, to the point that there was little organic material left. What was the purpose behind this? Why would the Geth do this? Do they have some sort of use for organic bodily fluids? And even if so, why implant the cybernetics? Closest explanation the Chief could come up with was psychological warfare; having to fight the risen bodies of fellow organics was a terrifying prospect to all but the most hardened of soldiers. Chief didn't think machines could be capable of grasping a concept like psychological warfare. Then again, Cortana was a synthetic being, and she could grasp such concepts just fine. Though that may be because she was flash-cloned from an Organic's brain. The Geth operated by a different set of rules.
"N'tho here." the Sangheili reported in, interrupting the spartan's ponderings. "No more husks down here. No Geth either. I got three of those...thingies that the Geth use to turn people into husks though."
"They're called Dragon's Teeth." Chief said. "Least, that's what the Alliance have started calling them."
"And I've got three more down here." Garrus said. "But you're definitely going to want to take a look at these Chief. Liara and Tali too."
"N'tho, head back up into the main chamber. Watch the entrance." Chief ordered. He then turned to Liara and Tali and motioned for them to follow him. The three walked down the tunnel Garrus took. It was a short trot down to the bottom; a small chamber with more ankle-deep water on the floor. Garrus was kneeling next to a dragon's tooth, his omni-tool alight with activity as he tapped furiously on it.
"Chief, there's something off about these dragon's teeth." Garrus began
"What do you mean?" Chief asked as he took a few cautious steps forward. The spikes were raised into the air, their deadly tips just barely touching the ceiling.
"Look at the root of this thing." Garrus said as he gestured to the bottom of the device. Chief looked at the bottom and noticed something very odd. Dragon's teeth were mounted on short tri-pod supports. But the tri-pod's legs looked like they were buried in the rock. That's when it dawned on Chief as he looked to Garrus for confirmation.
"Look at how the tri-pod's legs seem submerged in the rock." Garrus said. "I'm no geologist, but I know that means these things have been down here for a while. Millennia. Probably longer."
"They were dug up." Liara concluded as her eyes widened. She walked over and knelt down beside Garrus and activated her own omni-tool. "The rock shows signs of being cut into by handheld laser chisels. THESE must be the alien artifacts that the survey team mentioned in their logs."
"I don't understand." Tali said. "What's Geth technology doing buried underneath a planet so far away from the Perseus Veil?"
"That's just it." Garrus said. "I'm starting to doubt that this is Geth technology at all."
"Garrus's hypothesis is correct." Liara said as she eyed the readouts on her tool. "According to my carbon-dating program, the rock in which these dragon's teeth are buried actually pre-dates the creation of the Geth."
"So, the Geth didn't make the dragon's teeth; they just found them, somehow figured out what they were used for, and then put them to good use." Chief concluded.
"It's definitely possible." Tali said. "The Geth can be very resourceful and adaptable. There are multiple accounts of how, during the Geth Wars, the Geth salvaged, repaired and then employed any useful non-Geth technology they had found."
"Makes sense to me." Chief said with a shrug.
"Master Chief, I don't think you understand the disturbing implications behind this discovery." Liara said as she got up and faced the spartan. "If the Geth did not create this technology...who did?"
The spartan stared at Liara for a second, then turned up at the dragon's teeth.
Metal being welded to flesh.
Minds being tormented.
Screeching of the damned.
And eyes that spoke eons of malice.
Chief remembered what Liara said about her research. How she couldn't point at one definitive piece of evidence to prove her theories, but rather got a feeling from noticing patterns in her studies. Chief was starting to understand what she meant by that.
The Reapers. A race of sentient machines that could wipe out all life in the galaxy. That's the absolute-worst-case scenario if Saren succeeds in getting to the conduit before Chief does. The council dismissed that scenario as being a myth, and the spartan actually agreed with them at first. After all, sentient machines that appear out of nowhere, kill everything, and then disappear as quickly as they came? It was crazy.
But the more time Chief spent on this mission, the more evidence he found that something was going on. First the vision, then Liara's confirmation of the vision, now this. It's easy to see Saren as a maniac who rallied an army of Geth to his side, but there was another element to this threat that Chief couldn't see, which frustrated the spartan to no end. The worst part of this was realizing that, faced with such uncertainties, that crazy myth might not be so crazy after all.
"This reminds me of an old Salarian saying." Garrus said as he got up. "What you know can be scary. What you DON'T know can be even scarier."
"And it looks like there's a lot about Saren we don't know." Tali added.
"...We're done here." Chief said at last. He rounded up the rest of the team, as well as the weapons Tali found earlier. They then left for the surface, grateful to leave the eerie, death-filled cave behind.
...
Trebin's surface was considerably less alien-looking in comparison to Therum and Sharjila. Clear blue skies with hardly any clouds. Brown dirt. Black rockfaces in the mountains. This place could've easily passed as desert plains from Reach, or even Earth.
Having left the science camp behind and confirming the science team's fate, the group turned their attention southeast, to the Prothean Ruins, which unfortunately meant another ride in the mako. The terrain, the mako's tricky handling, and the Master Chief's driving technique were NOT a good combination.
They eventually made their way off of the rocky terrain and onto a large, flat 'field' of sorts that was about two-hundred meters in diameter. Across from them, slightly elevated on a rocky hill above the field, sat a small, lonely Prothean Pyramid. Chief had to zoom in with the mako's monitors in order to get a better look.
"Not much of a prize." Tali observed from the co-pilot seat. "Seems like Saren really wasn't here."
"No, but that doesn't mean whatever is in that pyramid isn't worth getting." Chief replied.
"Hold on, what's this?" Tali asked as she pressed a few buttons on her display. The camera zoomed out and panned on something about thirty feet off to the left. It looked like wreckage of some sort. "Might be worth investigating." Tali said.
Chief nodded before driving the mako over to the wreckage in question. He stopped next to it. "N'tho, Garrus, Liara, get out and take a closer look. Tali and I will keep the engine running." Chief ordered. He observed the wreckage through the mako's cameras as the three squad members began picking through it.
The design was unmistakable. Dull grey metal. Jagged edges and even a few spikes. And then there were the bodies. Even wrapped in hard-suits, the shape and size were still clear as day. These were brutes.
Chief had been reading up on the codex and knew that brutes, once the favored race of the prophets and the most vicious species known to humanity, were now scavengers and pirates; living on the fringes of galactic civilization and often taking what they needed by force. Low and behold, how the mighty had fallen. Given their proximity to the pyramid, the brutes were probably interested in it too. Not because of any archaeological curiosity, but more likely because they thought there might've been something in the pyramid worth selling on the black market.
Chief was off-put by the state of the wreckage. Parts and pieces of brute vehicles were all over the place. Chief recognized what was once one of the sled-like runners of a type-52 infantry support vehicle, or brute prowler. He saw that a brute chopper was still somewhat intact, but it still looked pretty beat up. The bodies of the brutes themselves were in even worst shape. One had a grisly-looking hole in its chest cavity. Another was missing its lower half. N'tho found a brute's disembodied head, but couldn't find the accompanying body to save his life. These brutes weren't only killed; they were slaughtered.
"Brute salvage team by the looks of it." Garrus reported over Team COM. "They got massacred though."
"By who?" Chief asked.
"Hard to say. Nothing to really indicate the culprit." Garrus replied.
"Could be a rival brute salvage team." N'tho suggested. "It's not uncommon for brutes to turn on each other. And it's DEFINITELY not uncommon for brutes to be this...uh...brutal."
"I'm not so sure." Garrus debated. "I inspected some of the more...damaged bodies. A lot of them suffered from severe acid burns."
"Acid?" Tali asked.
"Yeah, and it's not just the bodies. Some of the metal show signs of melting." the Turian went on.
Tali looked to Chief. He couldn't tell, but he guessed she looked worried. He didn't blame her. Liara walked over to the brute chopper. "This vehicle might still work. We could salvage its parts." the Asari suggested.
"After we take a look at that pyramid." Chief said. "Everyone pile back in."
The rest of the team got back into the mako and Chief resumed course for the pyramid. He was going noticeably slower now. The sight of a slaughtered salvage team with absolutely no knowledge of who or what did it made the spartan uneasy, and prompted him to proceed with caution. His gut told him that whatever killed those brutes might still be nearby.
Not for the first time, his gut ended up being right.
Around the middle of the field, they began to feel a small tremor of some sort. Chief hit the brakes, thinking something was wrong with the mako's engine. But they could still feel a distinct shaking. And it was getting stronger. Then, the ground seemed to explode right in front of the mako, tossing huge amounts of dust and dirt high into the air. When the cloud of dust subsided, the spartan came face to face with a real, honest-to-God monster.
It had a worm-like body, with at least four pairs of chitinous, clawed appendages running down the sides. There were probably more beneath the ground. The head was huge, with two eyestalks that ended in snow-white eyes that gave no hint of a soul. On the sides of its head were two massive, scythe-like claws that looked like they could shish kabob a tank. It had a rectangular-shaped mouth with prehensile tentacles at each of the four corners. There were no teeth visible in its mouth, but a long, glowing blue, unnatural looking tongue hung freely from its mouth, visibly wet with saliva. Finally, it was big. Very big. Easily big enough to swallow the mako whole.
It roared in fury at the mako.
"Thresher Maw!" Tali yelled.
"Hold on!" Master Chief said as he employed his driving skills to steer the mako away from the beast. One of the thresher's scythes just narrowly missed hitting the mobile tank. Chief switched off Team COM and audio speakers. "Cortana. Access the codex. I want everything on the Thresher Maw, NOW."
"On it." the AI replied. Chief eyed the screen that showed the rear camera. The thresher glared daggers at the mako as it got away, then shot back into the dirt, disappearing in a cloud of dust. "Keep driving." Cortana advised. "It's not retreating, it's just coming around for another strike, like a shark."
As if on cue, the thresher surfaced again right in front of the mako, forcing the Chief to swerve around to avoid it. Garrus, who was the gunner at the time, swiveled the turret around towards the thresher and started firing everything the mako had at the beast. The Turian barked curses at how the thresher wasn't even flinching at the relentless chain gun fire. The thresher followed the mako with its gaze and then reared its head back. It then spat something, a green projectile of some sort, at the moving vehicle. Chief didn't know what it was, but his instincts assumed it was something bad and made him swerve further to avoid the missile. Liara held on for dear life in the passenger compartment, while N'tho was standing up, holding himself steady by grabbing the walls.
"That was a highly corrosive acid loogie that it just hocked at us." Cortana explained. "It's a common form of offense, in addition to the claws and infrasound attacks."
"Well, now we know what killed the brutes." Chief deadpanned.
"Yeah. Nice to have that mystery solved huh?" Cortana deadpanned back. The monster roared again to remind the spartan that it was still there.
The thresher maw burrowed back underground, but instead of popping back up right in front of the mako, it popped up from several meters away, likely to get good distance for another few ranged attacks. The beast was smart, at least smart enough to change up tactics when Plan A wasn't working. The Chief continued to keep his foot firmly planted to the metal as the mako's guns continued to blaze. "Am I even HURTING this thing?" Garrus yelped.
The mako was coming up on the brute wreckage again as the thresher went back under. No real reason. Just the Chief's maneuvering happened to take the mako by the wreckage.
It was exactly the moment N'tho was waiting for.
As Chief passed the wreckage, he heard the mako's back hatch open. He looked at the screen that showed the passenger compartment of the mako.
He saw N'tho open the back hatch and then leap out.
...
The moment he hit the ground, N'tho rolled to minimize injury. When he got back upright, he started putting his powerful digitigrade legs to work and ran for the brute wreckage with all due haste. The thresher was underground when N'tho bailed out and, hopefully, the beast will be too occupied with the mako to notice him.
The thresher resurfaced and resumed shooting acid at the mako from another angle. So far, it was blissfully unaware of the Sangheili or anything he might be up to. Perfect.
He ran for the brute chopper, the one that looked more or less still intact. His plan was simple; hop into the chopper and then the thresher maw would have to contend with two assault vehicles instead of one. Divide and conquer. The only real problem with it was that N'tho would have to leap into a brute vehicle, a thought the elite did not relish.
Though far from being a 'traditional' Sangheili warrior, N'tho still held some of the beliefs of old. In this case, it was the premise of 'filthy weapons,' weapons that were made and used by 'filthy' races, like the Jiralhanae. Many Sangheili warriors in the days of old would sooner die then stain themselves by wielding such unclean technology. N'tho didn't take the belief to such extremes though. He'd use dirty technology if it was required to win, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
He shuddered as he came upon the chopper. "Man, I'm gonna need a shower after this." he grumbled.
He climbed into the chopper's cockpit and tried to start up the engines. "Alright, you ugly bitch." N'tho began. "I hate you, you hate me, but how about we take that hate and aim it towards the overgrown grub that's trying to killed your rider and now trying to kill my friends too. Whaddya say?" As if agreeing to N'tho's proposed truce, the chopper's engines roared to life. The viewing screen activated, and the grav-lifts kicked, elevating the cockpit. The engine growled, hungry for one last ride, one last kill.
"Alright. Glad you saw things my way." N'tho said as he gripped the chopper's steering handles and steered the metal behemoth towards the chitinous one. N'tho kicked on the turbo boost to give the chopper extra speed as he closed the distance between himself and the thresher. He opened fire with the chopper's autocannons. The Sangheili grumbled curses as the rounds impacted the thresher's chitin armor, which may as well have been made from titanium. He steered away, not wanting to crash into it.
N'tho decided to try a different tactic. He drove around to the other side of the great worm while driving away from it to gain distance between he and it. As he did so, he passed the mako whose guns were still blazing, still futilely trying to hurt the thing.
...
"What's he doing?" Tali shouted over the roar of the guns as they passed N'tho driving the chopper.
Chief didn't answer, too focused on his driving to comment on N'tho's recklessness. Garrus hit the thresher maw right in the face with a mass accelerator cannon. The beast howled in pain as it rushed back underground. "Hey! I think we're making progress!" Garrus yelled from the turret seat. He was right. According to what Cortana found out about thresher maws, their only vulnerable spots were their un-armored heads. Aiming right for the kisser was the only way to really beat this thing, and Chief had adjusted tactics accordingly. They would strafe around the monster while Garrus kept hitting it in the face. It would be a long battle, but one that should end in victory. The thresher maw spawned forth from the ground in another spot, resuming fire with the globs of acid. Chief got the mako into position to resume his strafing tactic.
Chief had to resist hitting the brake as N'tho's chopper sped across the path before the mako. The Sangheili closed the distance between himself and the thresher, autocannons blazing.
...
"FROM HELL'S HEART I STAB AT THEE, BITCH!" N'tho roared as he held down the button that fired the autocannons. The thresher wailed as a few shots hit it right in that big fat tongue that might as well have 'please shoot here' written all over it. N'tho was right. Shooting it right in the face was the surest way to get its attention. He sharply steered away. Now if this works...
It did work, N'tho noted, as he noticed a glob of acid nearly hitting the chopper. Now, while N'tho has this beast's attention, Chief can hit this thing in whatever weak spots it has without having to worry about getting hit with nasty acid.
...
Master Chief wasn't the swearing type, but if he was, he'd be carpet bombing the whole area with F-bombs right now. By unleashing such an onslaught of autocannon fire on the thresher maw's face, the elite had successfully gained the thresher's attention. However, this means that now the thresher is focused on N'tho and is tracking him. That's bad, as the thresher's face is the only known target on the creature, and the target keeps turning away from the mako's guns to follow N'tho.
The spartan had been trying to raise N'tho on Team COM, but he couldn't get squat. Something was jamming the radio signal, the mako's hull maybe. Chief decided the only way to have the target presentable to him now was to drive parallel with N'tho's chopper, and hoped he caught on to the plan.
...
So far, N'tho's plan was working. The thresher maw had big, white, soulless eyes only for him. The mako's guns were more powerful than the chopper's, so it was imperative that it wasn't the thresher's target.
N'tho then looked and noticed he was running side by side with the mako. "Wort!" he swore. Now the mako was a target! How did this happen? He realized he must've been driving alongside it without even noticing. He cursed himself for such negligence. The thresher maw went under again, and N'tho took the opportunity to break away from the mako. A sharp U-turn oughta do it.
...
Upon seeing N'tho make a sharp U-turn, Chief realized that the parallel plan won't work. The mako can't turn the way a chopper can, and even if they do catch up to it, N'tho would just turn away again. It was time to try something else.
Chief kept driving in the same direction. The thresher maw surfaced again and resumed firing globs of acid at N'tho. He wisely turbo-boosted whenever an acid glob got too close and expertly swerved around the acid puddles. N'tho was a good driver, of that there was no doubt. Too bad he was being as dumb as a sack of hammers right now. The mako and the chopper were driving in circles around the thresher. The chopper circling clockwise, the mako counterclockwise. Eventually, they intersected.
When they did, Garrus hit the thresher's face with both chain gun fire and the mass accelerator cannon. A round from the mass accelerator cannon soared right into the thresher maw's mouth and detonated in its throat. The beast roared in pain before vomiting forth a torrent of blood. The thresher then slinked back underground, though doing so more sloppily than it did before.
"I'm not detecting anymore seismic activity Chief." Cortana reported.
"We killed it?" Chief asked.
"Doubt it. More like we shot it up bad enough to convince it we're not worth eating." Cortana replied.
Master Chief then saw N'tho's chopper heading off to the Prothean pyramid. Apparently, the elite figured he would rendezvous with the rest of the team there. Chief head off in that direction as well.
...
N'tho deactivated the chopper and climbed out soon after pulling up next to the pyramid, and patiently waited for the Chief to arrive. He whipped out his sniper rifle to check that the coast was clear. It was. The mako pulled up next to the pyramid about ten seconds after. One by one, the rest of the team piled out. "Liara, start analyzing the ruins. Garrus, Tali, secure the area. N'tho, you and me need to have a chat."
N'tho watched as Liara, Garrus, and Tali went about their jobs as Chief stalked towards the elite.
"Mind telling me what that was all about?" Chief began.
"You mean bailing out of the mako to hijack that chopper?" N'tho asked.
"Yes. That."
"Well, I figured that the chopper would even the odds a little." N'tho said. "I mean, yeah, its guns aren't as big as the mako's, but I figured I could use it as a distraction. Give you guys a clear shot at its weak points without having to worry about getting hit with that green stuff."
"...N'tho, you're an idiot." the Chief said bluntly.
The elite was taken aback by that comment. "Uh..."
"You bailed out, without my orders. You abandoned your team, without my orders. And you adopted a tactic that was not only unnecessary, but an outright hindrance to our goal. The thresher's face was its only weak point, and by holding its attention and keeping that face turned away from us, you were making our jobs harder in addition to putting your own neck on the line. Without my orders."
"I was...I was just trying to help." N'tho replied nervously.
"If I need your help, I'll ask for it." The spartan then boldly closed the distance between himself and N'tho and grabbed the collar of the Sangheili's chest piece. He pulled down on it, bringing the elite visor-to-visor with the Chief. Even though it was polarized, N'tho thought he saw eyes behind the visor. Very angry eyes. "This is not a video game, N'tho. You are not John Wayne. This is war and you are a soldier. Stunts like that are going to get yourself and the rest of your team killed. At this point, I'm honestly alright with the former. It's the latter I have a problem with. From now on, you do what I tell you, when I tell you, and nothing else. And if you try anything like this again, I'm kicking you off the team and off the ship. And when I do, it'll be in deep space. Am I clear?"
"...Yes sir." N'tho squeaked out. Not once during that whole rant did Chief's voice raise in volume or even gave a clear hint of anger. But somehow, that just made it all the more terrifying.
...
N'tho's antics aside, the assignment went well enough for the Chief. The council had been informed of the fate of the survey team, as well as the ancient artifacts that he and his team found, suggesting that the dragon's teeth is, in fact, NOT Geth technology. While they did not host a live holo-conversation, they did send a reply message thanking the spartan for looking into the matter, and informing him that the report will be passed along to ExoGeni. In addition, he has been ordered to resume course for the Citadel.
As for the Prothean pyramid, all it really yielded was one Prothean data disc. It didn't seem like much, but according to Liara, Prothean data discs as well-preserved as the one they found were incredibly rare, and vowed she would study it intensely, and would inform the Chief immediately if she found any mention of the Conduit or the Reapers on the disc.
Finally, Chief decided to do a little more research on thresher maws. Apparently, they are alarmingly common throughout the galaxy, due to their unique method of reproduction; firing off spores into the atmosphere on whatever world they're on and into deep space. Most of the thousands of spores that each thresher spews forth die, but at least one will usually find its way to a planet where it can grow into an adult. In addition, while primarily a carnivore, thresher maws can also use a form of photosynthesis as a means of sustenance in between meals. Due to a highly efficient digestive system, it can go decades, even centuries without any significant meals.
According to the codex, the first time humanity encountered a thresher maw was in 2677. A company of Alliance marines were sent to the planet Akuze to investigate a sudden lack of communications from a pioneer team who were appraising the planet for colonization. The unit was attacked by a thresher maw that inflicted huge casualties upon it. The Alliance eventually rescued two dozen survivors; a mere quarter of the company they had originally sent. The odd thing was, they were all found unconscious in a set-up campsite, and yet they all had no idea how exactly they arrived in that campsite. They claimed they were hiding out in a cave, starving to death, too fearful of the thresher to leave until they lost consciousness. Then, next thing they knew, they were in an Alliance rescue ship. One claimed that it was divine intervention that saved them, claiming to have heard a female angel's soothing voice while battling to regain consciousness. Thus, this gave rise to the legend of 'The Angel of Akuze.'
After that little history lesson, Chief decided to squeeze in some quick target practice at the shooting range down in the garage before lights out. When the elevator door opened, he half-expected one or more of the team doing target practice of their own. So what he found instead naturally caught him off guard.
Four Normandy servicemen all sat around four crates arranged together to make a table. They all sat on stools and in front of them were cards, playing chips, and various seemingly random items; a cupcake, three stim packs, an old omni-tool, and a yo-yo. Chief recognized two as his own team; Ashley Williams and Kaidan Alenko. He didn't recognize the two other women. One had a head that was completely shaved, and the other had red hair and was wearing a green poker visor. They all took notice of the Chief and froze like deer caught in headlights.
"...Relax." Chief said. "What you do when you're off-duty is your own business. Plus, it's not like you're playing for real money or contraband."
They all sighed in relief. "You know, you're welcome to join us." Kaidan said.
"...I'm not the poker playing type." Chief replied.
"Don't think of it as poker." Kaidan proposed. "Think of it as...an exercise in deception tactics."
Chief furrowed his brow. He knows how to play poker, but he hasn't played it since he was a kid, training with the other SPARTAN-II candidates. There's no REAL reason to do it...
...On the other hand, there's no real reason NOT to do it either. His other choices were target practice, which never provided a decent challenge anyway, or going back up to his quarters to do...nothing really. He checked the clock on his HUD. 2156 hours. He had a whole hour to kill before light's out, so theoretically, he COULD play for a little while.
"...Alright. Move over and deal me a hand." Chief said as he walked over to the makeshift poker table. He took a seat between Monica and Kaidan.
"Alright. The name of the game is No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em." the woman with the poker visor said.
"I suppose I should buy in with something." Chief said.
"Nah." the visored said. "First game's free. And here. Have some chips to play with." The woman said as she handed Chief about fifty playing chips or so; about the same as everyone else at the table. "We haven't met, by the way. I'm Monica. Monica Negulesco, Communications and Navigations." she proudly proclaimed.
"Carol Grenado. Engie." The shaved woman said in a decidedly less excited manner.
"And of course, you know Ash and Kaidan." Monica said as she gestured to the two marines. They both did a quick salute to the Chief. Ashley's was sharp and crisp. Kaidan's was a little more lax. Chief saluted them both back in turn.
"Alright. Here we go." Monica said as she dealt each player their two cards. Though Master Chief didn't consider himself the poker playing type, he did know the basic ruleset. But he hadn't played this game in a while, so he would be a little rusty no doubt. He peaked at his opening hand. A pair of sevens; one of hearts, the other of spades. Not too bad, as far as opening hands go. Monica and Carol payed the blinds before the round began.
"Call." Monica said as she tossed a chip in.
"In." Carol said as she did the same. Ashley ante'd up as well, but Kaidan folded his hand. Apparently, he didn't think he had a hand worth playing. That left Chief to check. Monica had already had five cards face down on the table and burned two others. She flipped over the flop, the first three community cards. Seven of diamonds, seven of clubs, and queen of hearts. Chief had four of a kind right out the gate.
Monica wanted to check, but Carol was feeling lucky and bet four more chips. Ashley folded, not feeling as lucky as Carol it seemed. Chief called the bet though, as did Monica. Chief could've easily raised the stakes. With four of a kind already on the flop, he could easily afford to do so. But then he would run the risk of scaring people off; he wanted to keep Monica and Carol playing so he could take as much from them as he could.
Monica flipped over the fourth card, the turn. King of clubs. Monica made a bet. Carol raised. Chief called Carol's raise, as did Monica. The comm and nav officer flipped over the fifth and final card on the table, the river. Five of diamonds. Monica checked, as did Carol. Chief made another bet. Monica was smart enough to fold, though she didn't like it. Carol however, played into Chief's hands and called him. The two flipped over their hands.
Carol had a king of hearts and a queen of diamonds, which meant she had a two pair. However, she wasn't expecting Chief's four-of-a-kind. The bald engineer grumbled curses as the spartan collected his winnings and Monica cut and shuffled the deck anew.
"Uh, Master Chief?" Ashley began. "Permission to speak freely?"
"Granted." the Chief replied as he checked his new hand. Three of hearts and four of clubs. There was a possibility for a straight, so Chief called.
"Alright." Ashley said before taking a deep breath. "I know things are different aboard the Normandy -"
"That's an understatement." Carol deadpanned as she threw a couple of chips in after the flop was revealed.
"...But I'm concerned about all the non-Humans on the ship." Ashley finished as she tossed her call in. Kaidan folded again. "With all due respect Chief, should any of them really have full access to the ship? I mean, this is the most advanced warship in the Alliance navy. Should they really have free reign to poke around our vital systems? Engines, sensors, weapons, that kind of thing?"
"I've already ruled them out as security risks." Master Chief answered bluntly as he called Carol's bet. "We're barely on good terms with the Turian Hierarchy, but Garrus is just a disgruntled ex-cop, so he's not in much of a position to hand over Alliance secrets to his people's government. The Asari Republics we seem to get on better with, and much like Garrus, Liara isn't somebody with any real reason to poke around the ship, nor does she have any shady connections. The Quarians are in no position to be a threat to anyone at all, and the Krogan don't even have an organized government, so Tali and Wrex are out as spies. N'tho's spec ops and so he may have some connections, but we've been allies with the Sangheili Empire for well over a century now. That, and I seriously doubt N'tho is clever enough to steal secrets without my noticing."
"Okay, so they're not spies." Ashley said. "But still...do we even really need them?" Monica called Carol's bet and revealed the turn after burning another card.
"Probably not." Chief honestly replied.
"So why are they here?" Ashley asked.
"Because they volunteered and I found their skill sets suitable for the mission. Their presence aboard this ship may not be necessary, but it makes our mission a little bit easier." Chief explained.
"Why so uncomfortable, Williams?" Kaidan asked. "They're our allies. We're all on the same team here."
"I'm not sure I'd call the council races allies. We...humanity, I mean, have to learn to rely on ourselves." Ashley said.
"Standing up for ourselves doesn't mean standing alone." Kaidan argued.
"I don't think we should turn down allies." Ashley said. "I just don't think we should bet everything on them staying allies. As noble as the council members seem now, if their backs are against the wall, they'll abandon us."
"You've got a pessimistic view of the universe Ash." Monica observed.
"A pessimist is what an optimist calls a realist." Ashley countered.
"You don't seem to have a problem with Tali." Chief observed. "In fact, I think she's your friend."
"Tali's different." Ashley said. "The Quarians don't really deserve all the bad press they get if you ask me. And like you said, they're hardly a threat. I'm not so sure about the others though. Turians and Krogan aren't the most trustworthy of aliens from a Human point of view, for obvious reasons. Sangheili are our oldest allies sure, but let's not forget they tried to commit genocide on us before that. Yeah, it was a long time ago, but we can't just pretend that all those glassed worlds didn't happen."
Chief silently agreed with Ashley as he saw Carol make a big bet. 131 years may be a long time for wounds to heal, but some scars are permanent. Ashley and Kaidan folded, as did Chief. His cards just weren't good enough. Monica folded as well, leaving Carol to reel in the pot herself. Monica dealt everyone new hands. Chief checked his hand. A two and a five, both of clubs. Same suit, but otherwise a poor hand. He'll stick around for the flop though. He was holding out hope for a flush.
"And finally, there's Liara." Ashley said. "I'm not sure I buy her story. About her and her mom not talking. They're family right?"
"Not everybody comes from a happy family." Carol said with a shrug.
"Yeah, but I don't think we should really trust her as an ally just because Benezia didn't hug her enough as a kid." Ashley further argued as she tossed in her call.
"She was telling the truth when she said that." Chief said. Kaidan called and so did the spartan. "I can usually tell when people are lying. And she's a bad liar."
"What about Nassana?" Monica asked as she called too.
"She was a good liar." Chief confessed. Good enough to fool even him. Once he was back on the Citadel, he'd have a few choice words with that Asari.
"She's a politician." Carol pointed out as she checked. "Being a good liar is part of her job."
"Hm. If Liara's such a bad liar, maybe I should ask her about her sex life. Should be illuminating." Ashley cracked. "Anyway, what I'm saying is that, with the exception of Tali, I can't honestly say I implicitly trust any of the non-Humans on this ship, and I don't think we should trust the council either." Ashley said. "If a bear has you cornered and all you have is your dog, you sick your dog on it and run. You may love your dog, but it isn't Human."
"That how you think of aliens?" Monica asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No. But that's how the council thinks of us." Ashley explained.
"Sounds like somebody's a cat person." Carol cracked.
"It's not racism. Not really." Ashley defended. "Members of their species will always be more important to them than Humans are. That's what I'm worried about. That they'll put the interests of their races ahead of Humans'."
"You sound like one of those Terra Firma party pamphlets, Williams." Kaidan said with a raised eyebrow.
Ashley sneered at that. "Terra Firma is a pack of jackals."
"Terra Firma?" Chief asked.
"Political Party within the Alliance." Kaidan quickly answered. "Anti-alien, think non-Humans shouldn't be trusted, and they believe that joining the council races was a mistake."
Chief nodded. He would agree with Terra Firma on that last part.
"Terra Firma's founders had ideals." Ashley said. "But these days, they just play off xenophobia and bigotry."
"And you don't?" Carol asked.
The marine turned to the engineer and glared daggers at her. "My father, grandfather, and great grandmother." Ashley said, officially out of patience for Carol's remarks. "They all picked up a rifle and swore the Oath of Service."
"Williams, do not strangle Grenado. That's an order." Chief passively said.
The marine took a few deep breaths to calm herself, and then finally relaxed. "I...I guess we just tend to think of Earth's interests as our own. Not the Turians, not the Sangheili, us. Humans. That's what I'm saying."
"It's not that simple, Williams." Kaidan said. "Aliens aren't automatically the bad guys. Trust me."
"What makes you so sure?" Ashley asked.
"Well..." Kaidan trailed off.
"I smell a story." Monica practically sang. "Come on, LT. Spill."
"Well..." Kaidan said. "I'll just say that, at some point in the past, I worked with a Turian by the name of Vyrnnus."
"Really?" Ashley asked.
"Yeah. It's kind of a long story." Kaidan said. Monica revealed the flop, but nobody was willing to play yet. They wanted to hear Kaidan's story first, it seemed. "Vyrnnus was...assisting in the training of Human biotics and his methods would be considered...harsh by the Alliance. Hell, they could be considered harsh by the Hierarchy. Probably because he fought in the First Contact War. He didn't really like Humans."
"Few aliens do." Ashley pointed out.
"But here's the thing. It was actually Vyrnnus who made me see how...Human aliens really are." Kaidan said.
Ashley raised an eyebrow. "An alien who hates humans taught you that aliens ARE human?" she asked. "You're gonna have to explain that one to me, LT."
"Before I met Vyrnnus, I knew as much about aliens as any other civilian." Kaidan began. "They were all the same; weird, superior, always trying to tell us what to do. I mean, the first time we ever made contact with aliens resulted in a war that almost lead to our extinction. That can really color your opinion. But after knowing Vyrnnus, I realized that aliens weren't different or special. They're jerks and saints, like us."
"I take it Vyrnnus was a jerk?" Monica asked.
"Definitely." Kaidan replied with a nod. "Specifically, he was a bully. And just like the Human bullies you deal with in school, Vyrnnus would scare the shit out of everyone and would usually single out one guy for special punishment. Once I figured that out, somehow I stopped hating him. My point is, aliens are individuals. Just because one's an ass doesn't mean they all are. I mean, take the Chief for instance."
"Me?" the spartan suddenly asked.
"Yeah, you. Look at how you handled Tali and N'tho." Kaidan said. "You doubted Tali's fighting capabilities. It wasn't because she was a Quarian, it was because she was a civilian. And N'tho earlier tonight on Trebin. You didn't give him a verbal beatdown because he was a Sangheili, you did it because he was being an idiot." He turned back to the other three at the table. "Same thing with me and Vyrnnus. I hated that Turian. But he wasn't a 'Turian' to me. He was just Vyrnnus."
Chief was a little taken aback by how Kaidan used him to help prove his point. Despite having five aliens on his ship, Chief had never been a proponent of all the races of the galaxy holding hands and getting along. He was working with the non-Humans, but he was also watching them warily.
"Alright LT, you've made your point." Ashley conceded. "Alien does not, in fact, automatically mean bad guy."
"And so, we've all learned a valuable lesson today about racial tolerance." Monica said. "Now then, unless anyone else has any political subjects they'd like to discuss, can we please start making some bets?"
Ashley made a sizable bet. Kaidan called, as did Chief. The flop was two of hearts, four of clubs and ten of clubs. Chief still had a chance at a flush. Monica folded too, but Carol called Ash's bet. As Monica burned another card and revealed the river, Chief ended up thinking a bit about what Kaidan said; how it was important not to generalize aliens and instead think of them as individuals, like you would people. In theory, the biotic was right. Turians, Krogan, Sangheili, they were all sentient beings just like Humans were. Of course there would be differences in how each individual thought and acted within a species. If that wasn't the case, it would be a hive mind.
However, it was hard to deny that fundamental differences between species were present. Turians were prone to imperialism, Sangheili and Krogan were prone to violence, and Unggoy were prone to cowardice. That wasn't racism, that was a fact.
...Then Chief realized that Kaidan actually WAS right to use how he'd been handling the non-Humans to better make his arguing point. Chief did take the given traits of a species into a account when recruiting the aliens, but taking precedence over that were their individual merits. THAT'S what Chief based his judgements on more than anything else. He was initially wary of Garrus, Wrex and N'tho, but allowed Garrus on board his ship because he wasn't an imperialist who wanted to keep Humanity down. He allowed Wrex on board because he wasn't a mindless, bloodthirsty psychopath. He allowed N'tho on board because he wasn't a bigoted zealot. And hell, he even started to like Tali after a while, and the fact that she wasn't a thieving pickpocket probably had something to do with it.
He was thinking of them as individuals. Not as merely members of their respective species.
He had killed hundreds upon hundreds of grunts, jackals, elites, hunters, brutes and drones throughout the course of the 27-year-long Human-Covenant War. They were all the same at the time; they all hated Humanity and wanted every Human dead, and that was all the Chief needed to know. Even after the Great Schism, he didn't much think of the Covenant as having individuals. All the Great Schism did was turn one collective into two. The loyalists who hated Humans, and the separatists who didn't. Even while he fought alongside all those Sangheili, it didn't occur to him that each one had its own opinions, thoughts or feelings the way Humans did. They all wanted the brutes dead, and that was all the Chief needed to know.
And then Chief realized that he actually did think of one Sangheili as an individual during the war. The Arbiter. He fought alongside the Chief in the UNSC's assault on the portal near Voi, the assault on the Ark's Cartographer, the assault on the Ark's Control Room, and finally the activation of Halo. The Arbiter showed that he was more than a zealot who wanted his enemies, whoever they may be, dead. He respected the Chief and the Humans for their valor. He gave the Chief his brief condolences when Avery Johnson died. And though he never openly stated it, Chief suspected that the Arbiter was at least somewhat sorry about all the Sangheili had done to the Humans in the war up to that point.
Chief had been sizing up the Arbiter throughout the battles of Voi and the Ark. Not as a Sangheili, but as an individual. The spartan never really realized that until now.
He began to wonder if he was wrong to initially suspect Garrus, Wrex and Tali of being spies. Granted, he eventually eliminated them, but he still suspected them to begin with. He quickly concluded that it would've been perfectly acceptable behavior in 2552. But it wasn't 2552 anymore. As Kaidan said, alien didn't automatically mean bad guy, not in this day and age. Times have changed, and like any good spartan, Chief should adapt. And perhaps he shouldn't do it from just a tactical point of view.
Chief noted the clock on his HUD. 2249 hours. It was getting close to light's out for the Chief. The turn turned out to be an ace of hearts. Kaidan made a bet, which was surprising as he was being very cautious up until now. Chief called him, as did Carol. Ash folded. Monica burned another card and revealed the river.
Ace of spades. Chief sighed. It seemed even his luck had its limits. Kaidan made a fairly large bet. Chief folded, knowing that he couldn't beat whatever Kaidan had with such low cards. Not with a pair of aces on the table. Carol folded too, and Kaidan won the pot. Chief then conceded the remainder of his chips to the pot, leaving it for the next victor as he quit the game. The spartan thanked everyone for the game before getting up and taking the elevator back up to deck 2.
He checked in with Cortana before bed. She said that they should reach the Citadel in the morning, a little after breakfast.
...
Yeah, I recently downloaded Poker Night at the Inventory off of Steam. Good game, highly recommended. Gave me the idea for this chapter.
So, we'll be heading back to the Citadel in the next chapter. And all those who say that I should try and deviate from ME1's story a little bit to do plot threads I made up myself...you will be pleased with the next chapter I think