In Arcem.
A/N: well people, first of nothing I'm sorry for the long delay, but this time I have an excuse, I was finishing the chapter days ago (for the time I post this it would be weeks) and my computer froze, the I sent it to technical service and they say me that my HDD burn out, and I have been looking for another way of writing and I found it, and besides I had a heavy lack of motivation because of what happened to my Notebook. Anyway, I'm so sorry.
Thanks for reading/reviewing
The world you know before is gone,
Today, we fight to bring it back.
Capt. Price, MW3
The entire Oblivion Fleet held a moment of silence to honor the dead; the only sounds that could be heard were those from the crew as they cried over their family and friends murdered in the camps.
"Call high command, and report of our victory," said Admiral Kelly Parker solemnly to a nearby crewman. "And report about the tragedy."
"Yes, ma'am," said the crewman quietly.
Kelly then lowered her head and closed her eyes as she prayed for the souls of the fallen.
UTC Safe Headquarters
"They did it," said Esteban emotionlessly.
"You don't seem happy Esteban, why is that?" asked Sofia, a smile plastered on her face.
"Because they attacked Earth."
"What?!" exclaimed Sofia, her smile faltering.
"We lost almost eleven million people," said Esteban, the atmosphere in the room changing immediately from cheerful to horrified.
Suddenly one of the leaders stood up and launched his chair to a nearby wall, breaking the chair and damaging the wall.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Sofia as she got up and ran to where the other leader was standing. "Viktor, Viktor," she said as she grabbed Viktor by the arms. "You need to calm down."
"Calm down? Calm down?" he shouted, his tone and expression showing utter disbelief. He removed Sofia's hands from his arms. "How in the hell am I supposed to calm down when those bastards have attacked our own people and allies?! They came to our house—our fucking house—and killed innocent civilians!" He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "What was the name of that inventor?"
"Which inventor?" asked Sofia, not understanding.
"The one who had been giving the designs of some new weapons," replied Viktor.
"Alright, let me see," she said as she activated her omni-tool and found the file. "His name is Alexander O'Connor, thirty two years old, currently residing on Mars with his lifemate. He's famous among the military, mostly due to his work with the antimatter bomb, and the new bullet head of antimatter; lately he has been given new designs for weapons or updates of old ones. Among those is the ion array, a new portable version of the antimatter bomb, a coil gun antitank weapon, and a weapon of mass destruction called the 'low orbit depravation weapon' or LODW; all of them were rejected because they were not feasible or were unnecessary for current conflicts, except for the antitank weapon that was accepted a few months ago."
"Give me his address," said Viktor as he headed to the door.
"Why?" Sofia asked, still confused.
Viktor stopped just short of the door, his fists clenched. "Because we're at war with the turians, and we need new toys."
He then left the chamber.
"I suppose he's right," said Sofia and Esteban sighed heavily.
"The only thing I know for sure is every human is going to scream for turian blood after this."
"Yeah," said Sofia softly with a nod. "Anything else before we return to Arcturus?"
"Yes, we need to discuss this development with the rest of the Pact, and initiate Shadow Protocol."
"Very well, ready to go?" asked Sophia as they headed for the door.
Esteban nodded and they both then left.
O'Connor's Apartment
O'Connor paced the short length of his living room, the television was on broadcasting about the battle for Earth, he was desperate for news, for any indication that they were going to win without his involvement. Nadia watched him as he paced, her face an impassive mask but her eyes were shining with genuine concern for her lifemate, she had never seen him like this before and if she had her choice she never would again. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, they were startled out of their respective trances and O'Connor was the first to reach it. He was absolutely floored when he saw who was waiting on the other side.
"May I come in?" asked the man on the other side politely, O'Connor was too surprised to do anything but nod as he stepped aside.
"I suppose you know who I am," said the man once he was inside and the door was closed.
"You're Viktor Kozlov, one of the UTC leaders," replied O'Connor without hesitation.
"Good," said Viktor with a faint grin. "Then you know why I'm here."
"Not really, no," said O'Connor as he glanced at Nadia.
Viktor looked at the television still on the news channel. "You've been keeping up with current events, I see. Would you like to know something the media isn't going to be reporting for another hour or two?" O'Connor and Nadia both nodded and Viktor looked back at them. "Well we won, but at the last moment they murdered eleven million civilians."
O'Connor fell to the floor and Nadia covered her face as she wept. For a while, no one said or did anything but grieve for the innocents that had been killed in the war; Viktor knew it would only be a matter of time before they recovered and were eager to help. He had read O'Connor's file several times and knew he would help without hesitation now that he knew the cost of the war. Once they had recovered from the shock, O'Connor looked up at Viktor, determination in his eyes.
"What do you need me to do?" he asked and Viktor smiled.
"The Pact is going to finance all your projects, even the LODW," replied Viktor. "Naturally, we'd like you to be at the forefront of their construction, overseeing the projects and ensuring they are operational."
O'Connor nodded. "Fine, but on one condition."
"Which is?"
"I want to personally lead the Ion array cannon and LODW project," replied O'Connor and Viktor had to smother a triumphant grin.
"Done," said Viktor.
"I'm going too," said Nadia as she slunk off the couch and moved to O'Connor's side.
"Nadia, not now."
"None of that, Alex, you know very well that I helped you develop the blue prints for those weapons, and you wouldn't have a prayer of building them without my help," she said sternly and he looked harshly at her, she knew he was being overly protective but this was what she wanted. "Besides," she continued, lowering her voice just a little as she leaned in closer to him. "I have to make sure that no one tries anything 'inappropriate' with you."
O'Connor the blushed a deep crimson and Viktor coughed uncomfortably.
"Report to the Mercury underground R&D in four days," said Viktor, hoping to move past that rather uncomfortable moment. "A full team of humans and saryns will be assigned to work on both projects, and I suppose the quarians will want to help, too." He then reached into his pocket and took out two white cards. "You're going to need this to get into the facility."
Nadia and O'Connor took the cards, then without another word, Viktor left the apartment.
"Really, Nadia?" asked O'Connor incredulously once the door was closed. "You know no one's going to attempt anything like that, I do wear a ring."
"What can I say?" she replied as she sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm a very territorial lover."
"Yeah, I know," he said as he wrapped his arms loosely around her waist. "But you still shouldn't have said anything in front of him."
"I know, but I want him to understand my position regarding this promotion of yours," she said lightly but her words carried a great deal of weight. "You know I don't trust in the quarians. With humans and my own kind, I know where they stand in the greater scheme of things but with them . . . I don't know, something seems wrong with them."
"Regardless, I just hope you don't bite one of them," O'Connor said to himself.
"What was that?" she asked, her eyebrow arched.
"Oh, nothing," he replied innocently, he then tried to stand up, but Nadia's grip tightened, keeping him on the ground.
"Nadia, I can't," he said as he tried to pull away from her.
"Why not?" she asked, her voice dropping to a more sultry tone as she pushed so he was on his back, she then laid beside him, her legs tangling with his.
"Nadia, really I can't, I have things to do," he argued as he continued with the futile struggle.
"Kiss me first," she whispered moving so their lips just grazed each other.
"You're evil, you know that?"
"But you love me anyway," she said with a slight laugh.
"Always," he said before sealing his lips against hers.
A day later; UTC Headquarters
"So what do we know about the turians?" asked Sofia as she reviewed a few papers.
"The quarians have told us everything they do is influenced by the military," replied Esteban as he skimmed a few lines on a document he was supposed to be reading. "Their government, their lifestyle, their population, everything; even common civilians are mandated to serve at least three years in the military."
"So the population is just a big militia?"
"Yes," replied Esteban.
"No matter," said Sophia with a shrug. "They only have three years, ours soldiers have five. From what the quarians have told us, our militia reserves are better trained than most of the turian regular Army."
"Let's just hope you're right," said Viktor as he read something on his omni-tool. "Alright now passing to the theme of biotics."
"It appears that the turians keep their biotics in units separate from the rest."
Esteban rolled his eyes. "That's completely idiotic, these people are horrible tacticians. If you need to support a platoon but your biotics are deployed separately, the platoon is most likely going to be annihilated."
"And they're supposed to be the defenders of the galaxy," remarked Viktor sarcastically. "Personally, I still stand by the idea of having human biotics."
"No, Viktor, we've already discussed this," said Esteban sternly. "You know why we can't have human biotics."
"It doesn't matter if saryn biotics are more capable than human ones," Viktor argued. "The possibilities—"
"No Viktor, it's too dangerous," interrupted Esteban. "Besides the saryn are highly adept so we really don't need human biotics."
Viktor said nothing but nodded.
"Anything else?" asked Esteban, clearly glad to have the topic of human biotics closed.
"Yes, Shadow Protocol has been finished," replied Viktor, his eyes distant. "Now there's no way for the Council to find us."
"Good, if that's all then maybe you guys might want to do something?"
"No, I can't," said Viktor as he got up and headed to the door.
"Why not?" asked Esteban curiously.
"I have plans with a rather interesting turian," replied Viktor with a slight skip in his step. "I'm planning on having a nice, long friendly chat with him while he's here."
Esteban realized what he was implying and went to call for Viktor to stop but he was already gone.
Sofia pursed her lips into a thin line. "How 'friendly' do you think this chat is going to be?"
"Hopefully not too friendly that we're hiring more custodial staff," he replied with a sigh. "Call Xen and White, tell them that they depart for the Citadel in a week, and that a quarian admiral is to go with them."
100 Kilometers Under the Middle of Nowhere
"What's his rank?" Viktor asked the soldier guarding the door.
"He is a commander, sir," replied the soldier. "We caught him with a quarter of his platoon."
"How?" asked Viktor, immensely interested.
"A flash grenade can work wonders, sir."
"Surprising, did you bring what I asked for?"
"Yes, sir," said the pilot as he reached for a nearby box and took out a desert eagle. "Variation using .50 antimatter gauge, sir."
"Good," said Viktor as he holstered the weapon. "Open the door."
The soldier saluted him then opened the door, once Viktor was inside he closed it again. The room was so brightly illuminated, Viktor had to adjust the visor settings of his helmet, when he could see he saw a turian seated in a chair in the middle of the otherwise empty room; the alien's hands and legs were tied to the chair, and to Viktor's surprise, he appeared to be asleep. Viktor quietly approached him and then slapped him across the face, causing the turian to immediately wake up.
"Who in the name of the spirits are you?" the turian demanded, more than a little confused, but instead of an answer he received a punch right across his face.
"I ask the questions, Mr. Turian," said Viktor scathingly as he began circling the chair. "And why you don't say hello to the cameras?" He signaled vaguely to the camera at the side of the door.
"Why are you recording this?"
"That's none of your concern," replied Viktor as he stopped circling and stood in front of him. "Now, why did you attack our allies?"
"They broke Citadel law by settling on that planet," replied the turian, his tone and words growing bolder by the second. "And so have you and your kind, the relay we scanned was heavily modified and therefore considered an act of war against Citadel species. You deserve what happened."
"We don't acknowledge this Citadel nor do we abide by its rules," sneered Viktor. "Inside the borders of our territory, we follow our government's rules and no one else's."
The turian let out a humorless laugh. "Borders? Territories? Your race is too primitive to even be considered a scientific interest; you don't have borders, and you aren't allowed to hold any territory."
Viktor was not happy with the way the turian was speaking to him, so he directed his strength-enhanced fist directly at the alien's nose, shattering it.
"Don't push your luck Mr. Turian, remember, I hold all of the cards," he said calmly as blue blood gushed out of the turian's nose. "Now, tell me the locations of the military bases."
The turian laughed again, although this time it sounded more like he was choking as blood continued to pour down his face. "You really think I'm just going to tell you? Your race really is primitive if you don't understand that a turian would sooner die than give in to enemy demands."
"Tempting," said Viktor casually. "Incredibly tempting, but no, I don't think my superiors would be very happy with me if I killed you. Because you see, you have information, information that my people need, and I will do everything I can to make you speak." He then un-holstered his weapon and the turian eyed it carefully. "Now do you know what this is?"
"A primitive weapon," replied the turian smugly.
"Really?" asked Viktor in a mocking tone as he moved the gun so it caught the light. "You see, we understand how your weaponry works; everything is based around speed, which is stupid. The power armor we use is strong enough to stop your bullets, and that's not even mentioning Titan or colossi armor, which are technically impenetrable for your bullets. So who has the primitive weapons again?"
"You," said the turian, which earned another punch; this time it was hard enough that Viktor could swear he heard bones breaking, after that he approached to the door.
"Please bring me the 'instruments'," he said loud enough for the turian to hear.
Moments later, a soldier entered the room pushing in a large cart with diverse tools neatly placed on the stainless steel surface; there were sheers, hedge clippers, a crowbar, a piece of cloth, gasoline and a butcher knife. The left the cart beside Viktor and moved quietly to a nearby corner, awaiting his instructions.
"Alright, Mr. Turian, I'm going to ask nicely one more time, where are your military bases located?"
"I'm never going to speak," the turian answered stoically.
"Wrong answer," he said flatly as he looked to the soldier. "Rodriguez, untie our guest's left hand."
"Yes, sir," said Rodriguez as he moved from the corner to the turian. The alien tried to resist as Rodriguez untied his hand and set it on the cart's surface, the human pinned it in place.
"Thank you," said Viktor as he picked up and inspected the butcher knife, once he was satisfied, he grouped two of the turian's fingers together. "Where are your military bases?"
"Spirits damn you!" the turian shouted.
Viktor said nothing as he brought up the knife and cleanly cut off the two of the fingers. The alien was silently screaming, his face contorted with pain but he seemed to refuse to give it a voice. Viktor was disappointed but he had expected this, it seemed to be a universal military teaching that soldiers should expect to lose a few fingers. While he waited for his prisoner to calm down, he cleaned the knife with the nearby rag and gestured to Rodriguez to untie the other hand. Moments later, the turian's intact right hand was brought on to the cart's surface, sitting in a pool of blue blood.
"Where are your military bases?" asked Viktor as he put the rag down.
"Screw you!" shouted the turian , trying to sound defiant but the fear in his voice betrayed him.
"As you wish," said Viktor before whirling around and in the blink of an eye, he dropped the knife, only this time he cut off the hand rather than some fingers.
The turian screamed in pain, it was so loud that Viktor was sure they heard him even on the surface. Rodriguez released his hold on the turian's wrist and he fell to the ground, screaming in agony as blood ran down his arms and gathered on the floor beneath him. The screaming subsided after a few moments, and they realized that he had fainted.
"Apply medi-gel to his wounds, we still need him," said Viktor as he picked up the discarded rag and began cleaning the knife.
Rodriguez nodded and reached for a dextro medi-gel on the lower section of the cart, he knelt down beside the turian and began to liberally apply the gel to the turian's wrist and where his fingers used to be. Seconds later, the bleeding stopped, and then Viktor knelt in front of him looking at the turian's face for any indication of consciousness before slapping him across the face. The turian blinked lazily, looking at Viktor with raw hatred in his eyes, he tried to lift his head from the floor but was met by the bottom of Rodriguez's boot.
"You're . . . you're a monster," he wheezed as he tried to breathe.
"I'm the monster?" repeated Viktor, a little offended. "First off, have you taken a good look in the mirror, you murderer? The blood of innocent millions runs off your hand . . . I would say that makes you the monster here." He then stood up and grabbed the sheers while Rodriguez pinned the turian so he could not move. Viktor knelt back down and caressed one of the turian's mandibles. "You know, I've heard these are quite sensitive."
The turian's face changed immediately from hatred to outright fear; Viktor gripped the mandible between his fingers and brought the cold blade of the sheers against the rough flesh of the alien. He rubbed the sharp edge against it and the turian started wincing and writhing as he tried to escape.
"Now, are you going to speak?" he asked when the turian had calmed down. "Or should I give you a proper demonstration of turian dissection?"
"No."
"Good answer," said Viktor as he released the mandible. It was then that he noticed tears leaking down the turian's jagged face, he hardly cared but he was curious if it was the pain that made him cry or the fact he was about to betray his people.
"Now," said Viktor as he dropped the scissors. "Tell me everything."
Three days later; Underground Mercury R&D Facility
"I told you Alex," sneered Nadia, obviously annoyed. "We're late."
"Alright, I'm sorry," replied Alex with a slight sigh. "Just calm down, would you? We're only five minutes late."
Nadia crossed her arms tight across her chest. "I realize that, but the idea is to arrive exactly on time."
"You know arriving on time isn't my forte," he said as the elevator door opened, leading to a hallway.
"I realized that when we started dating," she mumbled to herself.
"What was that?" asked Alex as they started down the hallway.
"Oh, nothing," she replied innocently, uncrossing her arms.
"What did you say, Nadia?"
"Forget it, we've arrived," she said and quickly tried to open the door, but it didn't move. "What the hell?"
O'Connor suddenly laughed.
"What is so funny?" Nadia asked, a little angry.
O'Connor signaled to the side of the door still laughing, Nadia turned to where he signaled, and saw a card reader.
"You've got to be kidding me," she huffed as she inserted her card and the door unlocked.
Nadia yanked it open and then they both entered, on the other side was a vast room. It was so big that a 2-kilometer long Kilimanjaro-class dreadnought could easily fit without issue. Inside the appropriately lit room was a crowd of four hundred people comprised of humans, saryns and quarians, along with two mobile shipyards on each side of the room, one was big enough to build a frigate, and the other a cruiser.
"Alright people, listen up," said Alex as he took charge of the room, his voice amplified through his mask so he could be heard. "I suppose that most of you doesn't know us, so let me present ourselves, my name is Alexander O'Connor and the woman beside me is Nadeshka but prefers to be called Nadia." He stared at the crowd, assessing the situation. "I assume you know whom you're going to work for?" There was a chorus of nods and 'yes' replied him.
"Good, the ones who are going to be working on the ion array please follow Nadia," he said, pointing at his partner. "The rest of you sorry lot is with me, so let's get a move on!"
One hundred fifty people separated from the group and followed Nadia to the other side of the room. The rest moved quickly to the other station where Alex was headed.
Nadia's Group
"Ok people, listen up," said Nadia in an unexpectedly commanding tone. "Before anyone asks, we have a white card with the budget, so we aren't going to have problems in that aspect. Does anyone have any questions not related to the financial aspect of this endeavor?"
Two people raised their hands and Nadia pointed at the saryn with his hand up.
"What is the purpose of this weapon?"
"An anti-capital ship," she said curtly before pointing to the quarian. "Now you."
"How long is the weapon going to be?" he asked, pointing at the size of the room. "It has to be pretty big to need to be built in here."
"Well, the weapon itself is going to be mounted in a new frigate design, so is going to be approximately three hundred meters," explained Nadia thoughtfully. " Is there anything else? No? Fine, then I have one last thing to tell you; this project is a top priority and therefore highly classified information. Only the top leaders know about it, so if anyone leaks anything about this project to anyone, they and the person or persons they told will be executed, understood?"
Every single person in the group nodded.
"Alright then, let's get to work," said Nadia.
The group moved to the shipyard and began working.
O'Connor's Group
O'Connor quickly gave the same speech to his group that Nadia had given hers, a special agreement they had with the Pact to give their workers fair warning about possible execution for treasonous behavior. "And no one has to worry about the budget so don't come crying to me that you don't have the part you need due to financial issues; there should be none of those for the foreseeable future. Now, does anyone have any other questions?"
"Does this weapon actually do what I think it does?" asked a quarian fearfully.
O'Connor's expression changed immediately, he had been expecting this but maybe not quite so soon. "Yes, one shot we destroy 25% of a planet's surface."
There were murmurs in the crowd, many sounding skeptical and more sounding outright terrified.
"This weapon is for emergency situations only," he said quickly, cutting off some rather pointed and obvious questions. "Now, let's get started."
Everybody then moved to the shipyard. O'Connor then remembered something, he activated his omni-tool and searched for an image he had received earlier; when he found it he scanned the crowd looking for the person in the image, then he saw a quarian carrying a box among the rest of the people moving resources and equipment. "Hey you," he called to a female quarian.
"Me?" she asked, stopping in her tracks.
"Yes you," he said as he approached her. "The Admirals think very highly of you and have sent me your résumé explaining in great detail why you would be an excellent second-in-command for the LODW Project.
"Really?" she said, her voice giving away her surprise.
"Really," said O'Connor, grinning. "The first thing I'm going to require of you is to obtain the equipment we use to build the drive cores of our ships."
"You don't have any problem with me being your second-in-command?
"No, should I?" he asked with a shrug.
The quarian then shrugged. "I'm not sure . . . I'm not used to working with someone as an equal . . . quarians are normally exploited and then cast aside like any piece of useless equipment." She then broke down sobbing.
"Hey, hey," said O'Connor as he moved to her, he put a hand reassuringly on her shoulder. "Calm down my friend, what's your name?"
"Shan'ker Vas Breeza," she replied.
"Shan look... I can call you Shan, right?" he asked a little cautiously and she nodded. "Shan, remember, you're inside UTC borders, here you are not a suit-rat, here you are not a third class citizen. Inside these borders you're a UTC citizen, with the same rights as any member race, understood?" He looked at her and she nodded again. "Good," he said as he released her. "Call the number I sent you and tell them that O'Connor is sending you."
He then grabbed the box she was carrying and left.
Two Days Later; The Citadel.
After a few days of traveling Cindy finally was at the Citadel. She remembered what happened on Palaven, when the remnants of the turian fleets arrived; after that she passed a few days in suspended mode, waiting for the turians to calm down. Once the situation was calm again, she started to move through the extranet and the comm buoys, and now that she was at the Citadel and she was searching for a way to play the message in everything that could reproduce it. While she was searching for a way to accomplish her mission, she took advantage of the situation and made a map of the Citadel, just in the case the humans need it in order to coordinate their military operations. After a few minutes of searching, she finally found a way.
"Good," she said as she uploaded the video. "Now to wait for the Creators to arrive."
A Few Hours Later: The Citadel
A news camera turned on showing a beautiful asari sitting at a large desk, her blue skin a lovely shade of deep violet under the stage lights.
"Good morning, this is Kaly S'Jet," she said pleasantly. "Confusion and chaos is spreading through the Citadel thanks to a mysterious vid that has shown up on every available screen on the Citadel. The vid has been intercepted multiple times by C-sec, but it continues to upload from an unknown source. We've managed to obtain a copy of the vid, courtesy of C-sec and have been given permission to show our viewers its content for their own personal safety."
Kaly was then replaced by the image of a creature similar in features to an asari, with a very pale complexion unseen in most parts of the known galaxy, with hair on its head, much like a quarian. "Hello everyone," said the creature, its voice a pre-translated to all three common Citadel languages. "Today I speak to you all about a crime committed against my people, beginning with our most junior race; years ago the quarians arrived in one of our territories, they begged for our aid, and we gave it to them willingly. Our biggest source of aid was a new home world for these nomad people, a planet we had recently discovered and determined to be compatible with quarian physiology; but just days ago, this same planet was attacked by the turians. Then when we tried to aid our allies, our home system was then ruthlessly attacked by these same turians. Their purpose for this unprecedented attack remains unknown but what I do know is they made a grave mistake.
"The turians have underestimated my people and that will be their undoing," she continued as an evil smile graced her lips. "As I speak, the remnants of the great turian fleet is fleeing my people's territories with their tail between their legs. This should have been a triumphant moment for us, but instead it will be one remembered in infamy. Minutes ago one of their remaining dreadnoughts attacked my home planet using its main gun against the defenseless planet."
Three photos then replaced the image of the creature, each one of a smoking crater in a different location. "This is all that remains after the dreadnaught fired on the planet's surface. Eleven million people died in a split second . . ." The creature then reappears. "This is the only warning you will get. We are coming."
A Day Later: The Citadel
Sparatus had spent the last few minutes in front of the door that led into the chamber; he knew he would have to go in, even if his fellow Councilors were going to kill him. Squaring his shoulders, he entered the chamber and found Tevos and Valern waiting for him.
"Sparatus, please sit down," said Tevos in a friendly tone, he immediately obeyed.
"Sparatus," said Valern as he sat down as well. "I previously ordered some top STG operatives to check in on that vid, and according to them, it is completely real. So please tell us everything, now."
He lowered his head and sighed. "They call themselves humans, they are nothing like we've seen before-"
"In what way?" interrupted Tevos.
"They are not a mass effect species."
"They never developed FTL?" asked Tevos.
"I never said that," said Sparatus quickly.
"Then they've developed another way of FTL?" asked Valern and Sparatus nodded. "You've got to be kidding me, Sparatus! Your people found a race that could be hundreds or thousands of years more advanced that we are and what you did in response was attack them?" He punched the table. "Has the turian Hierarchy completely fallen apart?"
"Valern, calm down," said Tevos sternly, a little surprised by her colleague's behavior, and Valern obeyed reluctantly. "If they aren't a mass effect species, what kind of weapons do they use?"
Sparatus shrugged. "I don't know, I just know that their weapons are either very primitive or advanced; our shields were unable detect their bullets, in space and on the ground."
"That must mean the bullets are too slow," said Valern, recovering his usual calm demeanor. "Or they have a type of disruptor ammunition, we need to make this race our ally; if they have this technology, then they are too dangerous to have as enemies."
"Now Sparatus," said Tevos evenly. "Could you please tell me who ordered the bombardment of that planet?"
"No one," he answered honestly.
"Then why did it happen?"
"It appears to be an independent decision by one of the acting admirals," replied Sparatus.
"Which admiral?"
"Sirius Vakarian, he's now dead."
"So no one from the Hierarchy ordered the attack?"
"Correct."
"Alright then," said Tevos with a slightly relieved expression. "Now, how many of the ships sent by the Hierarchy made it back?"
He did not answer right away, apparently hesitant.
"One hundred and fifty ships," he finally replied.
Both Councilors' faces fell, neither knew what to say at first, but eventually Valern found his voice.
"So you're telling me that only a fourth of the turian Navy remains?" demanded Valern and he nodded. "Alright, none of this information is to leave this room. Based on this and what we've gathered, it's very likely that we're going to experience an attack here on the Citadel. Sparatus, you may leave now, Tevos and I are going to see what we can do with this."
Sparatus was stunned. "But, but why do I have to go? I'm still a councilor!"
"No, Sparatus," snapped Valern. "When this is over, I'm going to make sure that you are removed from this position, and then we'll make sure to then remove the turians from the Citadel council completely."
"You can't do that!"
"Yes we can," said Valern activating his Omni-tool. "Article °19, Citadel law °21,154, 'The Citadel Council has the right and the duty to override the right for a Council seat of any species that has directly or indirectly risked the security of Citadel space'. You are still able to come to our meetings, but from now and until this problem is resolved, you have no say in what decisions we make. Now you can leave."
Sparatus rose from his seat and left the chamber.
UTC Headquarters
"You did what?" shouted Esteban, punching the table.
"I ordered the AI of the Dark Sun to upload herself to the turian fleet, so she could pass a message to the Council."
"Really?"
"Yes," answered Kelly fearlessly.
"I should execute you," snarled Esteban. "God only knows what'll happen if they discover an AI. Then again, if the AI is smart enough, she likely prepared things to help us in case things took a turn for the worse; but if we arrive and the AI is not there, I'm going to personally execute you, understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good, dismissed," he said and Admiral Parker left the room.
"So, what now?" asked Sofia once the door was closed.
"It appears that Xen and White are going to be leaving sooner that expected," said Esteban thoughtfully. "Which of the admirals is going with them?"
"It appears that they've selected Ik'er to go."
"Good, he is the best for this," said Esteban contentedly. "Call Xen, White, and Ik'er, tell them that they are to depart in two days, and call the Sixth Fleet; we're going to need the Eternal Darkness for the trip."
"Yes, sir."
Two days later: Martian Military base Alpha-01, Main Space port
Xen and White had spent the better part of fifteen minutes waiting for Ik'er, when he finally appeared.
"Sorry for the delay," he said once he saw the two men standing by the gangplank to the Eternal Darkness.
"No problem," said Xen. "Did we get in?"
"Yes," said White as they entered the ship. "So, UTC leadership sent me orders a few minutes ago; we're going to make a simple request for enough money and raw resources to fix the damage done to Earth."
"But I thought you had the disks of Eden?" wondered Ik'er a little confused.
"The Council doesn't need to know that," said White in a low voice as he took off his helmet, he was smirking. "Besides, deploying one of those costs almost ten billion dollars."
Xen let out a whistle after hearing the cost.
"What kind of soldiers are we taking?" Ik'er asked as White called the elevator.
"Twelve N7s."
"Really?" said Xen enthusiastically. "I've never seen one of them."
"They're not different from the rest," said White with a shrug. "Some tend to develop bigger musculature, or increase their height, and some do both, but nothing beyond that."
"Thanks for killing my enthusiasm, White," sighed Xen in an exasperated tone.
"You're welcome," said White smugly as the elevator doors opened.
Eternal Darkness CIC
"Alright people, listen up," called Commander C-04, his platoon immediately called to attention. "Our orders are to protect the ambassadors and the admiral at all costs; Second Ghost Platoon was kind enough to lend us a prototype fresh out of R&D."
"What's the prototype, sir?" someone asked.
"A new type of holographic projector," replied 04. "It will allow us to change our outward appearance in real time."
"Are you serious?" called out someone else, and 04 nodded. "Holy shit, the Ghosts always get the best toys."
"And for once they're actually sharing, " said 04 with a chuckle as he handed out the holographic projectors to the group of N7s. "They're preprogrammed with your disguises, once you attach them to your belt, press the white button on the right side to activate it."
They did as ordered and pressed the button, the holograms flickered a little before clearing enough to show three quarian Marines, two saryn commandos, and a...penis? Suddenly the CIC burst out laughing.
"What?" asked the N7, his only response was the flashing of numerous omni-tools.
"What?" he asked again, this time a little more irritated. Then one of his fellow N7s showed him the picture he had taken. "Oh, you've got to be shitting me!" He then deactivated the hologram and there was a collective grumble of disappointment from those in the CIC.
"Sorry F-09," said 04 as he tried not to laugh. "It looks like the Ghosts had a little fun with the device."
"No shit," said 09, not happy at all.
"This can be easily fixed," said 04 before taking the device and making a few adjustments. "Done, now try it."
04 attached the projector and activated it, when the image was clear enough the CIC was filled with laughter again.
"What now?" he demanded and one of his colleagues took a photo then showed him, he was disguised as a saryn female. "Jesus fucking Christ, 04! M-03, trade with me so we can get on with this."
"Fine," she said, stifling a giggle. She took off her projector and handed it to him, he then handed her his.
Just as they finished putting on their new disguises, the elevator arrived.
"They're here," said 04 loudly. "Formation up!"
The group of soldiers formed a semi-circle a few meters in front of the door while those in disguise disabled them.
"Attention!" he shouted once their charges were visible, and everybody saluted them.
Ik'er was left speechless by the demonstration of respect he was receiving; not once in living memory had another race shown a quarian any form of respect.
"Ik'er, are you alright?" asked Xen, looking back at his colleague.
"I'm fine," replied Ik'er as he caught up with them. Despite being with the humans and saryns for the last seven years, he was still not used to how easily they acknowledged quarians as an equal; he supposed still salty from his past experiences with the rest of the galaxy.
They stood behind White as he addressed the leader of their escort detail, a rather intimidating looking soldier they called C-04.
"I suppose you have your orders, 04," said Ik'er not completely comprehending why this soldier had a number rather than a name, but he knew better than to ask.
"Yes, sir," replied 04.
"Good, and the rules of engagement, you have them?"
"Yes, sir," said 04 sternly. "The moment they raise their weapons, they're dead men."
"Good," said White approaching. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go give the orders for takeoff."
Minutes later the Eternal Darkness took off from the surface, once outside the planet's influence, it activated its drive core and entered warp space, headed for the Citadel.
A day later: Serpent Nebula, Widow System
Today would have been like any other on the Citadel, had it not been for the fact that all residential species were on high alert.
"Sparatus, you shouldn't have requested so many ships," said Fedorian angrily through Sparatus' omni-tool. "We only have a skeletal fleet on Palaven thanks to you."
"Fedorian, I told you, those humans are most likely going to attack the Citadel," replied Sparatus calmly.
"And if not? What if you're wrong and they attack palaven instead, eh?"
"Then we use the relay and attack them with our full might."
"Fine, Sparatus, I'm going to trust you on this. Don't make me regret it."
"I won't," said Sparatus before he cut the call.
UTCFG Eternal Darkness: Entering the Widow System.
"Leaving warp space," said the AI of the ship. "In three… two… one."
The ship then dropped out of warp space, the problem was that ships surrounded them.
"Shit," said someone before the CIC was filled with alarms going off, indicating that they were being targeted.
"What's the situation?" asked White as he appeared in the cockpit.
"It would appear that they have a reception party for us, sir," said the pilot and he looked at his instruments before continuing. " There are at least twelve dreadnoughts with their sights on us, sir, and only one of them is hailing us."
"Patch it through to my omni-tool," ordered White and the pilot obeyed.
White lifted up his omni-tool as he accepted the hail. The image was automatically dimmed so as not to blind him and once the snow had cleared, the image revealed something that looked a great deal like a salamander; based on recent descriptions, he knew it was a salarian.
"Unknown ship, identify yourself or we will open fire, you have thirty seconds to comply," said the salarian harshly.
"I'm Jason White," he replied, his translator active. "Temporal captain of the UTCFG Eternal Darkness, and I'm here to discuss an unprovoked attack on my people with the Council."
"The only way you're going to see the Council is at your trial, human."
The transmission was then cut.
"Dimitri," he said, looking around for the AI.
"Yes, sir?" asked Dimitri as he appeared at White's side; this AI was like most military based AIs and preferred to wear a uniform, only this AI liked to wear a WWII Russian uniform.
"Try to contact one of the Councilors before this idiot opens fire."
"Right away, sir," he said before he faded, moments later a comm link was opened in White's omni-tool.
"Hello? What's going on?" asked a female voice on the other end.
"Councilor?"
"Yes, I'm Councilor Tevos, who are you? And how did you get my private channel?"
"My name is Jason White," replied White, tactfully avoiding the other question. "I'm sure I don't have to explain to you why I'm here."
There was a pause on the other end.
"Give me... give me a few seconds," she said stoically and then the line went dead.
Dimitri suddenly appeared at his side. "The enemy ships are discharging their weapons, sir."
"Looks like the Council's smarter than we've been led to believe," said White with a smirk.
"I'm sending you directions to a dock on the Citadel," said Tevos, the line active again. "We'll be waiting for you there."
The line went offline again and White received the dock's vectors. "Dimitri, call Xen, Ik'er and the N7s. Tell them to wake up some fighter pilots for an escort go to this hangar."
"Right away, sir," said Dimitri before he faded.
A few minutes later, three Arvus left the Eternal Darkness each one escorted by four F/A-225.
"Cloaking in three… two… one."
The Citadel
Tevos was nervous; it had been centuries since they had to deal with a new race, although this First Contact had been started with a war rather than a peaceful meeting. On her left was Valern, who seemed deep in thought, and on her right was Sparatus, whom had been quiet since they had mentioned meeting the humans; and behind them were a dozen Spectres, it was a testament to their power that they had managed to keep this meeting a secret even when they requested so many Spectres. Only C-sec knew to expect the humans' arrival, and had managed to clear a dock so they could all meet without outside influences getting in the way. They were all curious to see what kind of ship the humans would arrive in, they had very little information on their ships and were not sure what to expect. Suddenly several ships emerged from cloaking devices in the distance.
"Impressive," she heard Valern murmur. "Their fighters have cloaking capabilities. I wonder how they've accomplished it? Ours prototypes deactivate when overheated perhaps they have heat dissipaters? No, that would make the fighter detectable to heat scanners, making the cloaking device useless. This race is far more advanced than I thought, a technology interchange would be interesting,"
Tevos smirked and as she returned her attention to the fighters, she saw that three of them had left the formation and were headed to the dock. She was starting to worry. 'What happens if the humans cannot land vertically?' she wondered before watching the fighters decelerate and begin to lower themselves vertically, landing a few meters in front of them. Then the door opened and five people descended from the ship; there was a quarian being flanked by three Marines followed by what the Councilors assumed were the humans, who also was flanked by other three soldiers. What intrigued them was the fact the humans were also wearing helmets, leading them to speculate that the humans also suffered from a weak immune system like the quarians. Following the human was an alien of neither race, sparking the imagination of the Councilors that they would not have the opportunity to have First Contact with two races rather than one.
"Good day, Councilors," said the human as the group stopped close to them. "Which one of you is responsible for allowing us to dock here?"
"That would be me," said Tevos kindly. "I am Councilor Tevos of the asari."
"Well, then thank you for the help," said White pleasantly. "My name is Ja—"
Suddenly his omni-tool went off.
"Gold Eagle, this is Lighting 0-1 requesting status report, I repeat, requesting status report."
White turned and saw the fighters circling his position.
"Excuse me," he said a little curtly as he spoke into his omni-tool. "Lighting 0-1, everything is fine, I repeat, everything is fine, you are clear to return to the Eternal Darkness."
"Copy that, returning to base."
The twelve fighters joined up in their delta formation and disappeared from sight.
"I apologize for the interruption," said White with feigned humility. "As I was saying, my name is Jason White and I'm honored to meet you." He then extended his hand, but no one took it. "Have your species evolved past handshakes?"
"Hand...shake?" asked Valern curiously.
"Yes, handshake," replied White replied like he was talking to a little kid. "I extend my hand, you take it with yours, and we move them up and down."
"And what is it for?"
"It's a form of greeting."
"Alright," said Valern as he extended his hand. "Like this?"
"Just like that," said White as he clasped Valern's hand and shook it. He then repeated it with Tevos, although with a lighter grip, but when he got to Sparatus he simply ignored him.
Tevos could feel the tension between the Councilor and human. "Let us adjourn to the chamber so we can resolve this."
"Yes, please show us the way," said White with false cheer and they began walking towards the door.
A Few Minutes Later: Council Chamber
They arrived at the chamber soon after, and it was not as grand as the Council Hall; it contained a long rectangular table with chairs surrounding it, the walls were white and the floor was white tiles. There was a big window on the wall opposite the door but its view was of a pre-rendered image of one of the Councilor's home world. Other than being bland in appearance, the room was large enough for the escorts to fit in comfortably; on one side of the table was the Pact, and behind them were the N7s, on the other side was the Council and the Spectres. The meeting to decide the fate of billions had begun.
"Is there anything you need before we continue?" asked Tevos.
"Eh, yes, where is your bathroom?" asked Xen, noticeably embarrassed.
"Really Xen?" asked White as he put his head in his hands. "I told you to go back on the ship."
"I didn't have to go on the ship," snapped Xen in a childish tone.
"Out the door and turn right, it's the third door on the left," said Tevos blandly, not really amused by the situation.
"Thank you," said Xen as he got up and ran out of the door.
Moments later, White's omni-tool and when he opened it, he froze.
"Are you alright, White?" Ik'er asked, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Do you remember the riots on Earth?" he asked softly and Ik'er nodded. "They're nothing compared to this." He gestured at his omni-tool.
"What? Let me see."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely."
"This happened yesterday, maybe an hour after we left," said White as he turned to the Councilors. "Would you like to see? "
"If you don't mind," said Tevos politely.
"Dim the lights a little," he said as he removed his omni-tool from his arm and put it on the middle of the table, he then pressed the play button and two vid-screens appeared, so everybody could see without any problems.
The vid started from an aerial perspective, showing a crowd of almost five hundred people marching down a street, most of them were hooded and some were carrying enormous pieces of cloth, the camera zoomed on one of the cloths, and DEATH TO THE TURIANS could be clearly seen. Sparatus coughed a little, then the camera blurred and moved to the front of the crowd, where many anti-riot squads could be seen approaching the crowd with their shields up against rocks and other things who were already raining down on them. A few seconds later the officers charged against the crowd, but just as they were about to reach them, Molotov cocktails exploded at their feet, every squad withdrew a few meters, some even dropped their shields and tried to run as the fire spread; the crowd began advancing again, still throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at the cops. Their advance was interrupted again when a water cannon appeared, the blast from the cannon knocked down a few people but they still continued to march so the officers began deploying tear gas; this seemed to work as the crowd began to scatter, then there was a horrifying noise. A single shot rang out above the chaos and as everyone turned to see who had fired the shot, an officer dropped to the ground. An AK round had shattered his helmet. People screamed as more gunshots rang out, they rushed as quickly as they could to safety but many were struck down as they fled. The gunman appeared to have little regard upon whom he was firing.
The vid cut off.
"Oh, no," said Ik'er sadly. "Insurgents."
"Insurgents?" asked Valern, intrigued.
"They appeared thirty eight years ago," replied White. "Declaring that if we didn't break our alliance with the saryns-"
"Saryns?"
"Xen's race," explained White quickly. "Anyway, they said that if we didn't break off the alliance, they would begin terrorizing cities and people; at first we ignored them but a few months later they made a slaughtered a mayor in an airport and killed thousands of civilians."
"I'm sorry to hear that," said Tevos sincerely.
"Thirty eight years and haven't destroyed that organization? Why am I not surprised?" said Sparatus scathingly.
"Sparatus," said Tevos in a tone that told him she was no longer tolerating his impudence.
"No, no, it's okay," said White lightly. "After all, I'm surprised he can even speak."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, most birds such as yourself have a brain about this size," he said as he used his index finger and thumb to describe the small size of the brain. "Anyway, we have destroyed that organization multiple times, but they're like a phoenix."
"A what?" asked Valern.
White smiled. "A phoenix is a mythological bird that when it dies is reborn from its own ashes; every time we destroy them they reappear, so our only solution is to fight them."
Tevos frowned. "It's too bad there isn't another solution."
"Where is Xen?" asked White changing the topic. "He's been out for almost ten minutes."
"Permission to speak freely, sir," said an N7.
"Granted."
"Well," he said as he rubbed the nape of his neck. "We decided to play a joke on him, we... we added a little of hot sauce on his food."
"What you mean 'we'?"
"All of us," he said as he pointed to his colleagues.
"Oh fuck," sighed White as he put his head on his hands, and then his Omni-tool beeped, he reached for it and his expression dropped. "Oh, no."
"What is it?"
"The continuation of the other vid just arrived," said White as he put the omni-tool on the middle again and pressed the play button.
This time the vid started in the first person perspective from a policeman's helmet, there seemed to be six officers on total, it appeared that they were on an SOU APC; the only sounds heard were those coming from the vehicle and the breathing of the men. As the vid continued, heavy gunfire was heard, and the officers started to check their weapons and armor, they appeared to be wearing FPK armor, the heaviest police armor available. The sounds of gunfire intensified.
"Five seconds, gentlemen," said a voice upfront and everybody grabbed their weapons before heading to the door.
"We've arrived," said the driver. "Opening the door."
Everybody raised their high caliber weapons.
"Move!" the leader shouted as he jumped out of the door, the rest following him, and they immediately ran to cover. Along the way many anti-riot police could be seen dead.
"What's the situation?" asked the leader to a policeman behind his car.
"Deteriorating quickly!" replied the policeman. "Everybody is dead, I'm the only one left, and they've come better equipped this time."
"How so?"
"They have AKs, and our pistols can't even touch them!"
"Dammit," muttered the leader. "You've done well, sit tight while we take over from here." He turned to his platoon. "You heard him, this time they are better equipped but remember, we have the best training here. You!" He was pointing at the man recording. "At the count of three throw a flash grenade, understood?"
The recording moved up and down, indicating that he was nodding.
"One," he whispered as he reached for a grenade.
"Two," he said as he took out the safe.
"Three!" he shouted as he threw the grenade over the cover.
When the explosion was heard the officers stood up and fired at the terrorists who were incapacitated or blinded by the grenade; at the same time, Tevos gasped when she saw the condition of the civilians whom had been protesting. Many of them were on the floor in pools of their own blood, a few survivors were trying to crawl to the officers, but only one was able to, then after two or three minutes of intense firefight the last of the insurgents fell to the ground. Two officers moved to attend the civilian, two attended the surviving policeman, and the last two went to make sure that the insurgents were dead, leaving the last two with the officer whom was recording.
"These insurgents," sighed the recording officer. "Do they really believe they can win?"
"They must if they keep coming back," replied the officer. "If not they-"
Then there was a bloody hole through his neck.
"Sniper!" the officer shouted grabbing his colleague and dragging him behind a nearby car.
"Where is he!?" someone exclaimed.
"In that apartment, fourth floor!"
The rest of the platoon was trying to eliminate the sniper, but the recording officer was desperately trying to save his friend.
"Come on, come on," said the man as he applied pressure to his neck while pulling out medi-gel capsules. He injected them into his friend's neck but it was not having an effect.
"Oh shit, no, no, no!" he shouted as he moved to apply pressure with both hands. "Come on, come on, dude, don't do this, don't you fucking dare do this!" The frantic breathing of the officer could be heard as he grabbed his friend by the arms. "Come on, idiot. Fight, fight! Don't do this to your family, fight for them!"
The man in his grasp exhaled and then his head went limp. The officer recording the vid released his neck, his hands covered in blood, and he sat there amongst the chaos.
"Sniper down!" The vid then ended and White put down his omni-tool.
Tevos didn't say anything, she didn't know what to say; the only thing that was clear to her was the humans had shown them this vid for a reason, likely to stir up sympathy for a cause.
"Oh damn, that was painful," said Xen as he entered the room, but he stopped once he saw the somber faces of the other people in the room. "What did I miss?"
"Nothing Xen, please sit down," said White and Xen immediately obeyed, the former's tone suggesting that there was no room for argument.
"Shall we being?" asked Tevos asked, and everybody nodded in agreement. "Now, what is it you want so as to avoid further conflict with the turian Hierarchy?"
White stared directly at the Councilors, wanting them to understand the gravity of what he was going to request. "What we want is a public apology from the turian Hierarchy to the human race-"
"Absolutely not, " interrupted Sparatus. "We will not lower ourselves to ask for forgiveness from a primitive race."
"As I was saying," continued White, paying Sparatus no mind. "A public apology, as well as enough raw material and money to fix the damages done to Earth."
"How much will you require?" asked Tevos.
"three quadrillion credits," replied White and Tevos' face went a very light purple color. "And here is the quantity of materials that would be required as well." He pulled out a piece of paper and slid it over to Tevos, when she read it she looked as if she were going to faint.
"Well," she said as she cleared her throat. "We're not exactly in a position to give you everything you've requested. We still have to consider the Hierarchy's request for assistance in rebuilding their fleet, as they are our main priority at the moment. How about this: we'll give you seven hundred trillion credits and half of the necessary resources?" The Councilor sounded hopeful, or perhaps desperate was the better word.
White shook his head. "The offer is nonnegotiable, Councilor, three quadrillion and the required number of resources."
"Please, I beg you to understand," pleaded Tevos. "We really can't afford this, we have our own people to look after and this would bankrupt the Citadel treasury. Billions of lives would be put at risk!"
White seemed unmoved. "Councilor, I'm only going to say this once: accept that offer or we leave." He pointed at the door they had entered through. "But understand that if we do, we cannot be held responsible for our actions."
"Is that a threat?" asked Sparatus, his mandibles snapping together.
"No, simply as warning," said White as he put his hands on the table. "Are you going to agree or not?"
"As I said, we can't," said Tevos carefully.
White's omni-tool then went off.
"Sir," said Jinn as he appeared from the omni-tool as a small hologram. "Have you forgotten that the UTC said they would accept half of the quantity requested? Is there a reason why you haven't brought this up to the Council?"
All alien eyes were wide as they stared at the hologram.
"They have AIs!" Sparatus shouted, as he leapt up from his chair. "It's a trap! Attack! "
The Spectres immediately obeyed the Councilor's order, they were on half way to reaching their weapons when the lights suddenly went off, the Spectres hesitated for a split second, but the problem was the N7s only needed a second to start earning their salary. Three of them grabbed the ambassadors and formed a wall between them and the Spectres, using their bodies like shields, while the rest charged at the Spectres. The room was then filled with the sounds of breaking bones, ligaments and tendons being ripped apart with ruthless efficiency, and the screams of the Spectres as they were slowly torn apart.
UTCFG Eternal Darkness
"What's happened?" the XO asked as he entered the CIC.
"They've failed," replied a crewman. "Right now the N7s are still fighting in the chamber, but they're almost finished."
"I see," said the XO carefully. "I suppose that's our cue for Plan B."
"Plan B is going to work out here?"
"Absolutely," replied the XO. " Execute Plan B, now!"
On his command, every crewmember began their work. A few seconds later one of the outer gates of the Eternal Darkness opened revealing a modified nuclear missile; it was fired upon an unsuspecting Citadel within moments of being revealed.
The Citadel: Upper Wards
First sergeant Septimus Oraka was in his favourite place on the entire Citadel; the window of the Upper Wards gave a magnificent view of the Serpent Nebula, and he always made sure to come to the Citadel for his shore leave, just for this view. The ward was completely empty save for one salarian. He stood there thinking about what he had been told regarding what happened with the humans a week ago, he had also heard rumours that they were on to the Citadel; the rumours said they were in Zakera Ward and were appearing out of nowhere. He didn't believe them, it was too stupid to be true, but then again that would be the only way to explain the recent increase of C-sec patrols on the Presidium. His chain of thought was then interrupted when he saw something weird.
"What the hell is that?" he asked aloud, putting his hands on the railing and leaning his head closer to the glass.
The salarian approached the railing too, having apparently seen the same object as well; from this distance the object seemed to be a fighter, but the trace behind it was bigger and more luminous. A few seconds later the object simply exploded, the explosion was so bright that they had to close their eyes.
"Akeel ich xan ilj?!" shouted someone beside him.
"What?" he asked as he opened his eyes, only everything was dark; the only light on the ward was a faint purple coming from the nebula outside.
"Iin kilk dath?" the salarian shouted again.
"I don't understand you!" Oraka shouted back, he looked outside of the window and saw the remnants of a explosion, a big one, but the most impressive thing was that the five arms of the Citadel were absent of any light. He tried to activate his omni-tool, but it didn't do anything, then he realized what was happening, he immediately reached for one of his inner pockets and took out a small box, inside of the box was a small rectangle that was supposed to act as a backup omni-tool, he removed the fried one from his omni-tool on his arm and inserted the new one, he attempted to activate it again, this time succeeding.
"Hey, what the hell is happening?" said the salarian, now Oraka understood him. "Come on, answer me!"
Oraka activated the two-way translator and an omnidirectional flashlight.
"Can you understand me?" he asked, his voice being traduced and amplified so the salarian could understand him.
"Yes I do," the salarian answered approaching him. "Do you know what's going on?"
"Most likely an EMP, which would explain why everything is off."
"A what? How is that-" the salarian's eyes opened wide by revelation. "The humans?" Oraka nodded. "The-They're real? But...but... that's impossible! How come the Council didn't tell us anything."
"Hey, calm down, we'd better get to C-sec; we'll be safer there."
"Why do you say that?"
"The EMP means nothing is working on the Citadel; lights, weapons, omni-tools, skycars, nothing. Only things of military grade can stay on after an EMP pulse."
"So C-sec has no chance against these humans?"
"No, we'd better go."
"Yeah," he said and they both started to walk towards the C-sec academy.
Council Chamber
After the last of the Spectres fell to the ground, the N7s protecting the ambassadors released them and they joined up with the group at the side of the door. Once they had crossed through, the N7s deactivated their image changers and formed a diamond pattern around the ambassadors, their weapons un-holstered, ready for anything. Xen was gripping White by the arm as they advanced in a crouch, the darkness was so complete, he could not even see his own hand.
"It appears they've accomplished Plan B," White whispered.
"Plan B?" Ik'er whispered back.
"We've studied this nebula; it's perfect to contain electromagnetic pulses, so we loaded a modified nuclear missile on the Eternal Darkness."
"Modified in what way?"
"To release a stronger EMP pulse."
"Shut up, gentlemen," 04 whispered, and signalled for everybody to stop, footsteps were then heard approaching. "To the wall."
They moved to a wall a few meters to their right, once in position, they saw a few turians running to the Council chambers, when they passed their position they reassumed their way to the docking bay. Along the way, they encountered several fires, they weren't sure what started them, but from their position the fires appeared to be cars; they made sure to stay to the shadows as much as possible as they moved. Some minutes later they arrived at the shuttles, but then they heard the sound of almost a dozen people rapidly approaching their position.
"Come on, on the shuttles!" 04 roared, and Xen, Ik'er and White entered their respective shuttles, meanwhile the N7s stayed outside to give cover fire, when the first aliens appeared.
"Open fire," ordered 04, then the N7s began to fire upon the aliens. The N7s had an advantage against the aliens, as the darkness covered their position and their silenced weapons completed the effect. The aliens tried to fire back but their weapons were not working, and of course they could not see where their enemy was. Without any hope of defeating the N7s, the aliens ceased their advance and silence echoed in the room.
"Get to the shuttles, on the double," said 04 in a hushed shout.
The N7s began to board the shuttles as some fighters deactivated their cloaking device above them, but the moment they gave their backs to the door, a turian appeared. This one had obviously not seen his fellow soldiers retreat from this area earlier, but he could see shadows moving in the darkness, so he fired blindly into the room. His shots bounced around the room until an ear-splitting scream was heard and he ceased firing.
"Fuck!" Xen screamed as he went down, and off the shuttle, his N7 escort immediately pulled him onto the shuttle and once he was on board they saw why he screamed. His left arm had been destroyed at the elbow, the two pieces of his arm were hanging together by jagged pieces of flesh and sinew.
"Oh shit," said an N7. "Applying medi-gel." He took out a capsule and immediately injected it into his neck, the bleeding barely stopped. "Take off now!" he roared as he tore a piece from Xen's shirt and used it as a tourniquet above his elbow. Meanwhile, the rest of the N7s entered the shuttles. Seconds later they take off and joined the formation, heading to the Eternal Darkness.
"Give me a capsule of morphine," he ordered and another N7 procured him the morphine. He then injected it into Xen's thigh, and in moments his face relaxed from a pained grimace to an uneasy calm.
"Hurry up," he shouted to the pilot.
"We're at full speed, ETA two minutes."
"He doesn't have two minutes!"
"I'm doing the best I can."
"Take care of him," said the N7 to one of his men nearby before getting up and heading to the cockpit. "Open a link to the ship."
The pilot was too shaken to disobey.
"Here ground team, someone hear me?"
"Loud and clear, status report."
"Alert the medical bay, we have a wounded."
"Who?"
"Ambassador Xen, his left arm has extensive damage and the medi-gel is barely buying him time."
"Medical bay alerted."
There was a rumbling sound on the other line.
"What was that?!" demanded the N7.
"We've been ambushed by the enemy dreadnoughts!"
"Roger that," said the N7 as he rushed back to his men. "Get strapped in everyone, this is going to be a close one."
Two minutes later, cloaked shuttles and fighters entered the hangar bay, then the Eternal Darkness escaped through warp space.
The Citadel: Council Chamber
The door to the chamber abruptly opened and one C-sec officer entered, flashlight in hand, only to trip over something and fall to the ground. From his position on the ground, he turned the flashlight so he might see what had tripped him, his blood then ran ice cold: it was a dead asari. Her dead eyes stared at him and he was lost in them for a few moments before his eyes travelled down, seeing the spectre badge on her upper left breast; he tore his gaze away from her and moved his flashlight to the left, in the beam of his flashlight he was able to make out the mounds of more dead, he moved it to the right, there were possibly more dead on this side of the room. From what he could see of the bodies near him, their limbs were flung in unnatural directions and some heads were even contorted almost 180 degrees.
It was then he heard footsteps and he looked up to see several officers standing in the doorway, the beams from the flashlights on their weapons bounced around the room as they took in the carnage.
"Councillors, are you still here?" the head officer asked.
"Yes," groaned Tevos as she rose to her feet, assisting Councillor Valern, whom seemed to be favouring his right leg.
"What happened?" the officer asked, directing his light at the bodies.
"The humans," Valern replied as he and Tevos headed over to the officers, carefully avoiding the bodies of the fallen.
"Shit," muttered the officer as he looked around. "They managed to kill twelve Spectres. How in hell . . .?"
He then watched as Tevos' attention was drawn to a wall to her right, he directed his flashlight at the wall and his men followed suit; what they saw would haunt their nightmares for days to come.
Written in turian blood were three sentences. One in the turian language Yaleek, one in the asari language Thessian, and one in the salarian language Saak:
THE FALLEN SHALL REST IN PEACE WHEN THE BLOOD OF YOURS IS SPILLED.
A/N: before anyone says something, more ahead I explain why the medi-gel didn't worked, so calm down
CODEX
The Massive War: Also known as the Great War, World War Three, The War of The Resources, and The Last War (this isn't true) the war started on the year 2037 when the U.S. initiated a full scale invasion of Mexico to take control of the oil resources of that country. The situation in the Middle East steadily declined as with the decrease in oil field, there was an increase in fighting between nations over the last known deposits. In 2038, the UN started its decline as more countries left; near the middle of the same year, a massive scale war erupted in Europe over who was entitled to the remaining resources of their Middle Eastern neighbors. By 2039 the world was full blown war zone; every bit of history, art, technology, and science that was deemed vital to humanity was stored in specially built shelters around the world along with several animal species, to the middle of the year the UN had collapsed from the complete withdraw of its member nations, and Europe was almost a complete wasteland thanks to the uninterrupted conflict. In May of 2040 the few remaining governments—Russia, the United States, and France—made the decision to end the war completely or face utter annihilation; the solution was a simultaneous global nuclear attack. They were successful in ending the war, as it ceased completely in less than a minute.