Chapter 3: Aratoht
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The Normandy hung stealthy over the north pole of the Batarian planet Aratoht like a colossal bird of prey invisibly observing its only settlement Aratoht City. Aratoht barely classed as a garden world at all, "Like Mount Everest inside an oven," as the great John Grissom succinctly put it. It was only the cooling effect of the never-ending rain at the planets poles that made it habitable at all for the tens of thousands of Batarians who settled this god-forsaken world never mind hundreds of thousands of slaves taken in pirate raids throughout the Skyllian Verge and worked to death in the colonies vast network of mines.
After Terra Nova where my old crew stopped terrorists attempted to smash an asteroid into the colony killing millions, I didn't need any more reason to hate Batarians but monitoring broadcasts from Aratoht gave me plenty. The humiliation of humans seemed to be the main focus of the broadcast entertainment. I watched live vivisection's, naked children exhibited and raced like pets and gleeful executions. The main news channels focus was however the public interrogation and torture of a human terrorist, one Dr Amanda Kenson the very person Admiral Hackett had tasked us with recovering. Her interrogators didn't seem to know whether to vent their fury on her as a spy or simply mock her as a crazy woman. Clearly the Batarians no more believed in the Reapers than anyone else. She was being held in the dreaded Jath'Amon Detention Facility to the north-west of Aratoht City and from the look of her, it didn't look like she could last much longer.
"John, this is horrible" Tali said looking up from the viewscreen in my cabin as the footage of Kenyon being electrocuted faded to an advertisement which featured a pretty 9 year old girl in a cage being poked with a stick by a gleeful Batarian child with his parents at what seemed to be a zoo. "I know" I murmured grimly."and there's hundreds of thousands of them, just no way we can rescue them". Then an idea flashed into my mind from history. "Tali" I said giving my quarian an evil smirk "knowing what a genius you are with technology I bet you could come up with a way to generate a massive electromagnetic pulse that would knock out most of the colonies systems, at least for a while". Tali turned to him with quizzical eyes "Sure I could do that but why?". I smirked again "A little thing called a Slave Revolt! Spartacus against Ancient Rome. Over two hundred thousand slaves versus ninety thousand Batarians in the dark with no security systems, weapons or shields". Talis eyes widened, "It would be a bloodbath, I'm not sure..."
The news program started up again with a Batarian guard slapping Kenyon back into consciousness having clearly passed out. "John, this is crazy" Tali said "They are saying that she tried to destroy the Bahak Mass Relay by slamming an asteroid into it! I mean they are supposed to be indestructible for one thing and the energy released would be unimaginable."
I felt a little panic in the pit of my stomach "God Tali, I hope it doesn't come to that, I have no idea how many on Aratoht would survive the blast. It does have a kind of horrible logic about it though. Bahak is after all right out on the galactic rim, not that far from darkspace. If Kenyon believed that the Reaper fleet is about to arrive here, they could use that relay to quickly invade the rest of the Galaxy. If somehow it could be destroyed, it would take months maybe years under FLT to reach the next rely which would at least buy us some more time". 'Could I really be that ruthless?' I asked myself quietly.
Tali slid next to me on the couch and laid her helmeted head on my chest "More time?" she murmured with a mixture of hope and sadness "I would like that". I stroked her arm "I would too, Tali, not just because I would get to spend it with you but because I haven't yet given up hope. If we can find a way for all of the races to stand united against them we may still prevail. Besides I still have that house to build you on Rannoch." Her shoulders shook slightly and I knew that she was crying silent tears but I said nothing just held her. After all what was left to say.
Eventually, I let her go "Time to get suited up, Tali" I said "I don't want to be late, it might trigger some thresher maw like attack instinct in Miranda". Thankfully, she giggled and she lifted her shining eyes up to mine "that would be fun to see". I stood up and started to move towards the armour locker but she said quietly "please, let me help you with that". She stood and went over to the armour locker. "Cerberus Assault Armour" she said with disgust "John you said you would never wear it even if you were down to your last pair of boxer shorts". I chuckled "I believe I did something to do with the Illusive Man's egomaniacal desire to plaster his damn logo on everything in sight but in this case that works to our advantage. Besides it is good armour".
She picked up a chest-piece, nimble fingers fastening it to me. Then she knelt and fastened my boots and leg armour to my shins and thighs. "What next?" she said demurely silvery eyes looking up at me. The shoulder armour was followed by armoured plates that protected my upper arms. Lastly she fastened the gauntlets one hand then another. Each piece was fastened carefully and deliberately, as I guided Tali's movements. Sometimes a faint touch followed the piece of armour being fastened, turning the entire process into a ritual as she once did for me on Tuchanka.
"Come back to me" Tali said giving me one last embrace. "Out of Hell itself if need be" I replied "Just you work on that special project while I'm gone and we'll give these bastards a surprise." Clad in the boxy white and yellow armour of a hated infamous human-supremist terrorist organization I kissed the top of my alien girlfriend's purple helmet one last time before heading to the elevator to join Miranda, Jacob and Kasumi in the docking bay to take the shuttle down the the planets surface.
A/N Thanks for your reviews and comments