Chapter 19 : Media
Madinagrad - Luna - October 15th 2130 AD
Towering over the surrounding arcologies, the Urdnot Wrex Centre for Biotic Learning was perhaps the most domineering building in all of Madinagrad. The blocky step pyramid was right in the centre of the ever expanding city, the largest off of Earth, and while it wasn't the tallest - that honour went to several skyscrapers in the business district - it was by far the most massive structure, stretching for almost a kilometre in all directions.
Around the base of the pyramid was the mass of humanity which called Madinagrad home, strolling through the endless sea of stalls and small buildings one could hear conversations in easily a dozen languages, ranging from the harsh Luna dialect of Pashtun amongst the stall owners to the almost melodious rhythm of Spacetalk* from military personnel on shore leave.
It was, Gina reflected, a chaotic mess.
Gina Dux had been born in the Netherlands, and sometimes she wished she had stayed in that place of relative order compared to the constantly shifting melting pot of Luna. But wishes meant nothing, and when she'd started to accidentally cause the pavement outside her house to explode at age 12, she'd been offered a Luna scholarship almost immediately. Eight years, a biotic implant and three boyfriends later Gina was about to become apart of the 2130 graduating class of biotic students.
That was, if she made it to the ceremony.
Shoving past a stall owner and ignoring the stream of english profanity following her, Gina desperately sprinted for the massive entranceway. Biotics she reflected, were fairly useful. She barely even thought about reinforcing her legs and taking a great leap over a tight crowd, or ducking under the arm of an irate security mech which the stall owner had probably notified. A glance at her watch told her that she still had a few minutes remaining as she sprinted through the entrance to the Pyramid. Once inside Gina blitzed through the security checkpoint, her tag only just registering as she did so.
Three minutes and a very rushed change of clothes later Gina finally arrived at the line of graduating students, fifty other biotics who would soon be out in the world, snatched up by the military or whichever corporations could pay them the most. Gina had already received several offers from corporations interested in research or security jobs, along with an offer to join the military directly at an officer rank. Something she was still mulling over in her head when she felt a tap on her shoulder. And the lightly amused voice of her idiot best friend sounded in her ear.
"Thought you weren't going to make it! I told you to be up by 7:00 and do you know what you did?"
Gina barely stopped herself from sighing out loud before replying.
"I... got up at 11:00."
If she looked behind her, Gina knew she'd see the shit eating grin of her best friend and occasional sporting archnemesis, Jordan Harmon. Because of course he was right behind her whenever something embarrassing happened, why wouldn't he be?
If it was possible for a voice to sound like they had an evil grin, then that was exactly how Jordan sounded when he replied.
"Oooohhh! You don't say? And why would that be I wonder?"
Another sigh escaped Gina as she wondered why life was so tantalisingly cruel sometimes.
"Because I was at Eduardo's house."
There was a certain temptation to punching smug people in the face that Gina had never quite gotten to understand till she'd met Jordan. For all that he was a good friend he could be the most insufferable person in existence. But if she wanted to graduate she'd have to not have a criminal record for attempted murder, no matter how much Jordan's smug grin was irritating her.
Instead as the line of graduates advanced Gina distracted herself by glancing at one of the job offers she had. Perhaps she'd give this "Harper Institute of Biotechnology" a try. Couldn't be too bad after all.
Valor Run - Scarpei - Turian Hierarchy Space
The column of Turians marched slowly up the main road 0f Valor Run, almost 20 diamonds* of veteran soldiers marching slowly through the bombed out ruins of a once magnificent city. To a non-Turian it would seem as if the diamonds were sloppy, disordered and generally at ease. Any Turian looking on would know that the soldiers were eerily silent, their formation spread out in a hunting pattern which would mitigate any fire against them, and the stances of the soldiers were that of the hunters stalking their prey.
Amongst the motley mix of talon soldiers* and fang troopers* strode a handful of cataphracts* who scanned the buildings as they passed, throwing grenades whenever they were unsure a room was empty. Above the column flew over three dozen grav-bikes searching the rooftops and deploying drones to scout the path ahead for booby traps and ambushes.
Staring at the holographic image on the command table in-front of him, Tarren Sparatus reflected that he always despised this part of hastatim operations, the wait for the inevitable. His role as colonel meant he was forced to watch the operations go on, yet not be able to change what he knew would occur. The resistance.
Despite all the technological advancements over the centuries, holograms had some difficulty showing small details on a grand scale. It was something about the way it was transmitted, almost in real time but not quite. The small delay was why the grav-bike operators didn't notice the sniper barrel sticking out of the abandoned hotel window several buildings down. Sparatus only realised something was wrong himself when the unfortunate sergeant of the lead diamond had her head vanish in a puff of gore.
Like clockwork, the Turian soldiers sprinted to cover, a handful firing in the general direction of the sniper while the cataphracts hurriedly set up field barriers and the grav bikes spread out over the surrounding streets.
Cursing the son of a vakar who'd promoted him in the meritocracy, Tarren Sparatus calmly began to issue orders over the comms.
"This is Colonel Sparatus, I want Diamonds 1, 3 and 4 I want suppressing fire down that street immediately! Diamond 2 recover sergeant Uela's body, cataphracts 1 though 4 provide barrier cover while they do that!"
A hurried glance at communication feeds from other sectors showed similar attacks were occurring elsewhere. This wasn't isolated. Turning his head back to the hologram in front of him Sparatus issued more commands as fast as he could remember how he was taught to respond in similar situations during training.
"Diamonds 16 and 18 clear the building on your left! Diamonds 5 and 6 clear the building on your right! All other diamonds are to remain in cover until the buildings are clear!"
A chorus of diamond leaders affirming the orders were the only response Sparatus received as his soldiers obeyed. Curiously, the sniper still hadn't fired another shot by the time diamond 2 dragged sergeant Uela's corpse into the nearby cafe they were sheltering in.
Something was off, Sparatus could feel it in his spurs.
Glancing at the street in front of his diamonds told Sparatus nothing, the sniper still hadn't fired another shot and the grav bikes drones weren't reporting any hostiles whatsoever, which was odd considering... considering that there had explicitly been at least three seperate militia groups in the sector only a day prior. A quick check of the feeds told him that the drones weren't picking up any life besides his own troopers, not even vermin.
Pressing the comms button hurriedly, Sparatus issued new orders, his mandibles tucking in as he forcefully kept his voice even.
"All diamonds, enemy may have info-war specialists in the area, assume communications and scanner detection are compromised, drones are confirmed compromised. All grav-bikes are to switch to manual steering."
Sparatus paused for a second before continuing, ensuring he didn't let any of the worry he felt slip through his voice.
"It is probable that enemy forces have an ambush ahead, as such Diamond 1 is given field command, cataphracts are to direct their assigned diamonds in absence of sergeants and are granted authority over artillery support. Reinforcements are being called in, all diamonds are to hold till their arrival before proceeding to the original objective."
A series of affirmatives and muffled curses were the only responses his diamond leaders gave him, but like all Turian soldiers they followed his orders implicitly, the comms going dark as officers turned off all communications except the emergency channel. Sparatus told himself that he wasn't worried, Sergeant Lorvace was competent, he'd been in three more campaigns than Sparatus himself after all. But at the back of his mind he couldn't help but curse. Switching comm channels, Sparatus contacted General Talid's command centre.
The Volus answering the communication was rather portly by VDF standards, the little amonia-breathers suit visibly straining around a large gut and chubby arms. The communications officer made several wheezing noises as it spoke in a haughty tone.
"Colonel *wheeze* Sparatus, is the matter urgent?"
Forcing down the retort of why else he would be contacting command, Sparatus answered in a matter of fact tone. His mandibles motionless.
"Affirmative. It's a Case Victus*."
If Sparatus was honest, he'd always had difficulty reading Volus. Their completely alien manner of speaking and even moving threw him off more than he'd care to admit, unlike an Asari or Drell who at least had familiar bodily reactions. But he did know the head tilt and shortened breaths before the beings response meant the communications officer was surprised.
"Indeed, *wheeze* I shall forward you to General Talid."
Shortly afterwards the grim half faced visage of Jashan Talid, scion of the family Talid, one of four living Preators of the Turian Hierarchy, filled the screen. The bright purple facepaint not distracting from the charred and cracked plating that covered the left side of his face. As the General looked Sparatus up and down, his mandibles... well mandible, tucked close to his face in the almost archetypical image of a Turian officer. Stern, unforgiving, all seeing. Sparatus offered his salute before waiting for Talid to acknowledge him, to do otherwise might put his entire position in the meritocracy at risk.
Returning the Salute, Talid spoke in a high pitched voice that belied his fearsome reputation.
"Colonel Sparatus, your request mentioned a Case Victus?"
Sparatus brought up the relevant data on his omni-tool, showing the complete absence of life signs and mech signals in his sector, then the footage of one of his sergeants getting her head blown off. Drawing his breath in, Sparatus replied.
"Yes sir, i'm uncertain if it is merely a local breech or if this is a wider scale case of sabotage. My men can't advance any further without expecting significant casualties sir."
Sparatus paused before continuing to the actual reason he'd contacted Talid in the first place.
"I'd request a Vakarak and a pounce section to clear the immediate area of hostiles while my soldiers secure the square and drop zone."
Talid acknowledged the request with a wave of his talons before seeming to consider something. The silence continued for several seconds before the general spoke.
"Granted, i'm detaching the 423rd and the 16th Vegria, ETA of four clicks. However you proceed is up to you Colonel but that square needs to be ours within the hour.
Saluting, Sparatus replied before switching off the comm channel.
"It will be done General."
Vthink's Hotel and Bar - Valor Run
Looking through the scope of his mass accelerator at the dug in invaders a few buildings down, Irvik Ferrus had just one question.
"Why have they stopped?"
At his side the other sniper assigned to the hotel, a grizzled old malcontent by the name of Balgir, gave a hacking cough before she answered.
"Because, greenhorn, they're calling for support. Probably an artillery barrage or a bombing run if they're not advancing at all."
The older woman grimaced as she found herself unable to line up another shot like the one that had killed the officer. Spitting off to the side, she called their fellows across the street, some thirty soldiers under the leadership of the former Autarch's brother.
"This is high ridge to red claw, opressors likely going to resort to high explosives to flush us out, don't think they'll walk into the mines. Those shields of yours going to hold Calewi?"
Irvik couldn't hear the rest of the conversation, he didn't have a translator on his omni-tool and wasn't former military like most of the fighters in Valor Run so instead he looked through his scope at the invaders, trying to spot any idiots moving out of cover. He ignored the grav-bikes above though, Balgir had said his mass accelerator would never pierce the armour the riders had on anyway.
Slowly, enough that Irvik didn't realise it at first a thruming sound emanated from the invaders direction. Not the distinctive hum of mass effect hover systems or the screaming of approaching aircraft, no this was...different, bestial almost. Like a dying vakar.
Balgir picked it up as well, her mandibles flicking rapidly as she tried to make sense of what she was hearing. As the thrum grew almost to the point where the items in the hotel room were shaking, Balgir's jaw dropped in horror. Turning to him, the old soldier let out a single word.
"RUN!"
For someone nearly a century old, Balgir was quite the sprinter, her strides carrying her twice the distance that Irvik's own were as she barged out of the room, yammering on her omni-tool in the soldiers language to Calewi's group. She descended the stairs rapidly, outright jumping over bannisters in her effort to leave the building as quickly as possible, the thrumming sound so loud that the windows were shattering all over the block.
Just as Balgir was about to enter the street itself, the light of panic left her eyes and she skidded to a stop, panting for a few seconds before she motioned Irvik to get behind one of the lobby pillars facing the street. For a brief moment, despite the deafening noise filling Irviks hearing, all seemed oddly quiet.
Then the world shattered as the massive truck rolled through the restaurant two buildings down.
The monstrosity before him was a soldiers worst nightmare. Armoured tyres three metres high supported some corruption of a truck, the thick metal sides encrusted with garish painted faces and symbols while the truck mount itself carried a missile launcher twice as long as Irvik was tall and eight massive canons were slowly rotating around searching for targets. The vehicle looked like on of his fantasy sketches of holovid movies, a wall of steel and death. Making the appropriate hand movements, Irvik began praying to the spirits.
On the column across from him, Balgir was dead silent. But slowly, she gestured for him to be ready to move.
The invaders diamonds had begun moving up, they must have cleared the mines Irvik had set earlier as he'd heard no explosions, and began forming a defensive position around the monstrous truck. Whose cannons still hadn't found any targets. Irvik couldn't help but feel that he and Balgir should have been detected by this point but who was he to question the blessings of the spirits?
Almost as suddenly as Balgir's first shot 30 clicks earlier, someone from Calewi's group threw a grenade at the truck.
The explosion engulfed one diamond utterly, sending pieces of armour flying in all directions like shrapnel. Two more diamonds were physically thrown back, the soldiers in them screaming as plasma melted their armour to their plates. The truck didn't even have a scratch on it's paint.
With a loud battle cry, Calewi's fighters charged out of the building they'd been hiding in, making a mad dash at the defensive formation around the truck. Irvik supposed it made sense as he remained deathly still, after all they weren't going to survive a long ranged skirmish against the truck. Using the reflection on a haptic screen above the lobby, he witnessed the fight unfold.
Mass accelerator fire bloomed between both groups as the Calewi's fighters closed the short twenty metres between them and their foe. A few of the invaders went down clutching their wounds or slumping over from penetrating shots but so did almost half of Calewi's soldiers, the mix of assault weapons and shotguns blowing off unshielded limbs and obliterating any part of the body they hit.
Balgir took the opportunity while it lasted, shoving Irvik along with her so hard that he dropped his rifle, she sprinted for the hotel's back exit, and as he was pushed along Irvik got a final glance back at the charge.
Calewi's men and women looked like they might make it to the lines when for a brief second, a shadow flickered from above. The battle-suit which obliterated Calewi himself under its feet as it landed was a SKYTALON, the brand new face of Hierarchy oppression. Three metres of metal and Turian, said to be invulnerable to small arms and capable of flying faster than some hovercars. Two more thudded amongst the scattering fighters immediately afterwards, their SPEAR miniguns opening up and almost vaporising half the remaining fighters outright. The continued fire from the invader soldiers finished off the rest of the doomed charge within seconds.
Irvik didn't know how long he and Balgir ran after that, crossing streets filled with soldiers and bombed out ruins of buildings over the course of an afternoon. By the time they'd stopped a few hours later, in some basement which Balgir broke into, Irvik still hadn't gotten over the butchery he'd seen. The sheer might of the Hierarchy dropped on his people like the fist of the spirits. As Balgir rummaged amongst some canned food she'd found in the basement corner, Irvik felt the need to ask a question.
"What now?"
The old woman paused for a second before continuing to look for the food, answering as she did.
"We make our way to the hatastim camp, and pretend we were rounded up with the others. We say we never fought, we're not soldiers, and we don't know anyone affiliated with our planetary government."
A few hours ago Irvik might have protested that. Any true honourable Turian would have. But if he was honest with himself, he didn't think honour mattered so much when death was certain.
As he looked to the sky, Irvik wondered what the future held.
List of Charter Colonies of the Union of Sovereign Human States in the Sol System - 2130 AD
Planet : Luna/Moon
Official Name : Lunar Autonomous Territory
Capital : Madinagrad
Population : 13.34 million
Dominant Languages : Russian, Pashtun, Hindi, English, Spacetalk*, Spanish, Arabic
Major Industry : Spacecraft fabrication, mining, electronic goods.
Colonial Status : Class 1
Planet : Mars
Official Name : Mars Military District
Capital : First Landing
Population : 1.98 million
Dominant Languages : Spacetalk*, English, German
Major Industry : Mining, scientific research, tourism.
Colonial Status : Class 0 Military District
Planet : Titan
Official Name : Titan Autonomous Territory
Capital : Nova Prospect
Population : 2.65 million
Dominant Languages : Japanese, Tagalog, Afrikaans
Major Industry : Mining, spacecraft production, tax haven
Colonial Status : Class 2
Planet : Jupiter
Official Name : Jupiter Mining Concern
Capital : Station 3-E
Population : 98,305
Dominant Languages : Spacetalk*, English
Major Industry : HE3 Mining
Colonial Status : Class 1 Strategic Resource Region
Planet : Europa
Official Name : Europa Autonomous Territory
Population : 400,000
Dominant Languages : Fang, French, Hebrew
Capital : New Libreville
Major Industry : Tourism, Mining, Tax Haven
Colonial Status : Class 2
Planet : Saturn
Official Name : Saturn Mining Concern
Population : 112,000
Dominant Languages : Spacetalk*, English
Capital : Station 2-B
Major Industry : HE3 mining
Colonial Status : Class 1 Strategic Resource Region
Planet : Ceres
Official Name : Ceres Autonomous Territory
Population : 3.81 million
Dominant Languages : Russian, Portuguese, Malay
Capital : Rocky Fields
Major Industry : Mining, weapons production, electronics
Colonial Status : Class 2
Planet : Pluto
Official Name : Pluto Military District
Population : 290,000
Dominant Languages : French, English, Arabic
Capital : Fort Charles de Gaulle
Major Industry : Scientific Research, Mass-Relay Tolls, Ship Repair
Colonial Status : Class 0 Military District
Planet : Ganymede
Official Name : Ganymede Autonomous Territory
Population : 877,000
Dominant Languages : Mandarin, English, Punjabi
Capital : Khalistan City
Major Industry : Mining, large scale food production, Dreadnought dry dock facility
Colonial Status : Class 2
Planet : Rhea
Official Name : Rhea Autonomous Territory
Population : 1.3 million
Dominant Languages : English, Greek
Capital : New Corinth
Major Industry : Mining, tourism, electronics
Colonial Status : Class 3
Planet : Triton
Official Name : Triton Autonomous Territory
Population : 4.51 million
Dominant Languages : Swahili, Spanish, Arabic
Capital : Terra Nova
Major Industry : Mining, tourism, scientific research
Colonial Status : Class 1
Authors Notes -
Almost all the Turian part of this is from Logical Premise's premiseverse. Lord knows i couldn't come up with this sort of stuff.
Thank him for letting me use it by checking it out here on this site
* - Spacetalk is basically a language created for the purpose of interstellar communication, based off a mix of Spanish, English and Mandarin without some of the more complicated pronunciation rules. You want to fly a spaceship? You have to learn this. (It does have substantial variation depending upon the speakers origin though)
*A diamond is the most basic unit in the Turian army, three troopers, two heavy troopers and two light grav bikers.
*Talon soldiers are 1/2 of the standard turian infantry lineup. Building clearers and CQB guys armed with shotguns, explosives and decent armour
*Fang troopers are the other half, Phaeston assault rifles and light armour with a handful of grenades and maybe an omni-tool trick or two.
* Cataphracts are an odd mix of Officer, Combat Engineer, Sniper and Vehicle driver. Typically recruited from the families (Older turian clans with importance in the meritocracy) these guys and girls are heavily armoured and better armed.
* Case Victus is basically the Turian way of saying "we have a mole, some jackass has access to our tech".
Kinda unsure about initial part of this chapter but... meh, its gotta happen.
Also yay, biggest chapter yet.