Chapter 8: Quies ante tempestatem.
We find happiness struggling
In the middle of a raging storm,
Not touching the lute by moonlight,
Or reciting poetry in the midst of flowers.
-Ding Ling
A/N: sorry if anyone note a downgrade of quality on this chapter, but I had no idea how to done it, because mostly of my brain just give me ideas of how to make the war.
Sorry.
And besides, what happened with the reviews? I need to know if you people like the history.
UTCFG Eternal Darkness; Warp Space.
The shuttle Xen was on landed in the middle of the hangar, the moment it landed, the door flew open.
"Take him out, carefully," said the N7 to the medical team that rushed forward, already waiting for them.
Xen was carefully placed on a stretcher by two medics, both being extremely careful not to jostle him further. They then hurried out of the shuttle and towards the elevator.
"What did you give him?" asked the nearest medic asked to the N7.
"Medi-gel and morphine, nothing more," replied the N7 a little nervously.
The medic nodded slowly as they entered the elevator. "And the medi-gel didn't work?"
"Affirmative."
"Not again," sighed the medic just as the elevator doors closed.
He rode up with Xen and the medics, once the doors opened they left and he lingered just outside of the elevator, unsure of what he wanted to do now. White then approached, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you ok?" he asked, looking a little concerned.
"No, sir," sighed the N7 shaking his head.
White gave him a thin smile. "Don't feel too bad, we have the best medics on this ship."
"I know, sir, but it was my duty to protect him, and I failed," said the N7, lowering his head. "I've joined two words that were never supposed to be together when it comes to men like me: N7 and failure."
White gave him a short nod, after all, that was true.
"Could you do me a favour and tell the pilot to change course for the saryn home world?"
"Yes, sir," said the N7 and he went back into the elevator, leaving White to stand there waiting.
UTCFG Eternal Darkness:Medical Bay
Two doctors entered in a hurry to the medical bay, they moved to the operating table where two medics were waiting, together they picked up Xen from the stretcher and carefully moved him to the table. They immediately went to work to save Xen.
"Connect him to a heart monitor then check his blood pressure and heart rate," ordered the medical chief and a medic did as he was told.
"Both are dangerously low," said the medic once the readings were in. He eyed the severed forearm. "How we are going to rebuild that?"
"We need to focus on stopping the bleeding," snapped the medical chief. "When I remove the tourniquet, immediately apply pressure. On three, two, one!"
He removed the tourniquet and the other immediately applied pressure, doing his best to stop the bleeding as it increased, the chief discarded the tourniquet and he reached for a proper one. He and the medic then timed it so the medic removed his hands just as the chief put on the new tourniquet. Once it was in place, the bleeding slowed but it didn't stop.
"Sir, his life signs are erratic, we're losing him," said the other medic, sounding a little scared.
"How long will it take to get to Manifus?" asked the first medic, praying for a solution.
"Two hours," replied the chief grimly. "And our reserves for his blood type is only enough to replace maybe a third of what he's lost; and that's if we're able to stop the bleeding."
Suddenly a loud, long beep pierced the air.
"Sir, we've lost him!"
"Fuck," muttered the chief as he checked Xen's pulse, he felt nothing and then began compressions. "Get the saryn grade defibrillator!"
One of the medics placed the defibrillator near him and he ripped open Xen's suit.
"Set it to half power!" he ordered before reaching for the paddles.
"Done," said the medic as the medical chief placed the paddles on Xen's chest, one over his heart and one on his side.
"Clear!" he shouted as he pressed the button on the defibrillator and Xen's body shook from the discharge, but nothing happened.
The chief swore loudly before increasing the power, again nothing happened. With a quick prayer, he increased the power to full and then pressed the button, the sensation sending Xen's body arching off of the medical table. Moments later his heartbeat was registered on the monitor, it was weak but at least he was alive.
"We need to sedate him immediately," said the chief and one of the medics injected a syringe into Xen's neck.
"What now, sir?" one of the medics asked.
"We're going to have to amputate his forearm."
"Are you sure?" the same medic asked, sounding incredibly nervous. "He isn't stable enough for an operation like that."
"We have no choice," sighed the chief. "Bring all of the supplies you can, we don't have much time."
"Yes, sir," said the medics.
They moved to gather the required instruments as fast as they could, once they have everything they begin working.
Minutes Later: Medical Bay
The doctor carefully cut the last of the tendon of keeping Xen's arm connected; the job have been "easy" mostly because the two parts of his arms were barely connected. There was no chance of saving his forearm, and once it was removed, the rest of his team went ahead and covered the wound with bandages soaked in medi-gel. Thanks to the medi-gel and the previous cauterizing of the wound, the blood was stopped. Once it was clear that Xen was stable, the doctor left the contention field just as White entered the medical bay.
"How is he?" asked White as the doctor took off his surgical mask.
"Good," replied the chief. "We had to amputate from the elbow down, there was nothing else we could do. We just pulled the aesthetic and he should be waking up soon."
"I know you did the best you could," said White stiffly. "Come get me the minute he wakes up."
"Yes, sir," said the chief and White left the medical bay.
The doctor discarded his gloves and was just about to sit down at his desk when one of the medics came rushing in.
"Doctor, doctor, he is waking up," said a medic as he came out of the contention field.
"Really?!" exclaimed the chief in disbelief.
The medic nodded. "Really, come on quickly."
The chief put on his surgical mask and entered the field just as Xen opened his eyes.
"Hey, can you hear me?" he asked softly. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Two," said Xen in barely a whisper.
"Good," said the chief as he reached for a flashlight, he turned it on and moved it in front of Xen's eyes, which correctly responded. "Your eyes are find." He then snapped his fingers by Xen's ears, and he moved away slightly from the sound. "His hearing is fine. Ambassador, how are you feeling?"
"Why I can't feel my forearm?" he asked.
"Oh, we had to amputate it," he said as Xen sat up in bed.
"Oh, alright," said Xen quietly.
"Why are you so calm?" the medic asked, Xen laughed mirthlessly.
"Don't tell me you don't know."
"Know what?" asked the medic, not understanding.
"Your race might be militaristically advanced, but mine has advanced furthest with biology," said Xen confidently. "When we get to my home, chances are they will give me a bionic arm. Speaking of which, how much longer before we arrive?"
"Well," said the medic as he looked at his omni-tool, "at least an hour and forty minutes. I would advise that you use that time to get a little rest, Ambassador."
He deactivated the contention field just as White entered the room again.
"Xen, my friend," said White, his arms opened widely. "How are you feeling?"
"Very well, considering I died twice on the operation table and lost my arm," replied Xen with a smirk. And you know what Karla said, that if you let me die, she would kick your ass so hard that you would end up on the moon."
"I'm glad you're alive then," laughed White as he sits beside his friend. "But seriously, how are you feeling? You seem so freaking calm."
"This is only a temporary state," he replied, gesturing to his bandaged stump. "And between you and me, I've always wanted one of those."
They shared a good laugh over that.
"Good," said White as he stood up. "Well, unlike you, I have some important things to do. Come see me when you're out of here."
"I will," said Xen as White left the room.
One hour later: Underground Mercury R&D Facility.
O'Connor was sitting at his desk, head resting in his hand as he tried to stay awake. Everyone was now at lunch, including the quarians, and as he was checking his messages fatigue overwhelmed him. He had been working sixteen-hour days since the start of the project and as he sat down he was finally realizing just how tired he was. Just as he was about to pass out his omni-tool beeped. He activated it and saw a confidential, high priority message from the Pact. He read it and sighed heavily, the peace talks had fallen through and he was now expected to finish the projects so they could begin the invasion.
He replied quickly, telling them that it would take at least eight months before they were able to complete the project and they replied back moments later that the timeline was sufficient for the time being. He then turned off his omni-tool and fell back in his chair, head on the back and fell asleep.
Five Minutes Later: UTCFG Eternal Darkness, White's Room
White was calmer now that he was alone, he hadn't been sure how Xen was going to react when he found out he lost his forearm, and seeing him take it so lightly was comforting. It was then he remembered there was something else to do, so he activated his omni-tool.
"Jinn?" he asked, looking at his omni-tool. "Jinn, you can come out now."
A platform on the device flickered and a small hologram of a man appeared.
"Yes, sir?" asked Jinn.
"Now, explain to me why in hell you decided to make an unscheduled appearance in front of the Council," said White sternly, glaring at the AI's hologram.
"Well, sir," said he calmly, as if he had been thinking this over for a while. "I was scanning the bio-feeds of the Councillors and Councillor Sparatus was demonstrating fluctuating vitals and I deduced that at any second he would do something irrational, so I gave him a realistic outlet."
White simply shook his head before standing up. "Well that little "deduction" of yours cost Xen part of his arm, but you did good work, so I can't be too angry. Excellent job turning off the lights, by the way."
"That wasn't me, sir," said Jinn with a shrug.
"Then who was it?" he asked
"That was me, sir," said a holographic woman as she appeared beside Jinn.
"Cindy?"
"Yes, sir."
"How in hell did you get here?" he asked glancing at Jinn.
"Once she turned off the lights, I opened a port on your omni-tool, allowing her to upload."
"Fucking clever," muttered White. "I guess Esteban is going to be relieved that you're back, Cindy. Now, you two should get some rest, it's going to be a very long week."
The two AIs nodded and faded away as White dropped back on his bed.
Two Days later: The Citadel
The camera turned on showing the news anchor at her large desk, reading a datapad. Then she noticed the camera.
"Good morning, this is Kaly S'Jet," said Kaly as she smiled at the camera. "Chaos has gripped the Citadel. After the abrupt and violent revelation of the existence of humans, many riots erupted across the station a few hours after the discovery. C-sec was unable to intervene as an EMP pulse of mysterious origins rendered all weapons and technology on the Citadel ineffective. There are compelling speculations that the humans are responsible but the Council and C-sec have yet to confirm this as fact. Both organizations have, however, urged citizens to be cautious and vigilant until the situation is resolved."
The camera turned off.
A day later: Arcturus station
There was a last minute meeting called on Arcturus station, it was meant to bring those responsible together to discuss how to initiate the invasion.
"How do you propose we invade Palaven?" asked Esteban, looking at the members of the Pact.
"Perhaps the plan we've been developing since our race colonized the moon?" replied Sofia with a slight drawl.
"Right, sorry," said Esteban a little bashful at having forgotten the plan.
One of the saryn representatives looked curiously at Sofia. "And how do you propose we initiate this plan?"
"With our ground troops and vehicles," explained Sofia, leaning forward in her seat. "The saryn Navy can't be risked, and the quarian fleet is still being retrofitted."
"I suppose the Death Claws are now part of the plan?" asked another saryn representative.
"Absolutely," said Viktor, finally interested in the conversation.
"Death...Claws?" asked Aza, unsure of what they were referring to.
"Our elite special forces, there are only ten in existence," replied the second saryn representative.
"If there are only ten, why would you put them against the turian military?"
"Can we tell them?" asked Viktor and the saryn nodded. "What I'm about to tell you doesn't leave this room, ever. The Death Claws are bioengineered saryns, created to be super soldiers, they easily out power one platoon of N7s."
"So you're telling that you have created beings that are designed as perfect weapons?" asked Ik'er, not wanting to believe it to be true.
Esteban nodded. "Yes, their skills in battle have been honed to absolute perfection, they have never failed to kill a target. What's actually scarier than seeing their prowess on the battlefield is understanding how easily they can blend in with civilians."
"Now I'm really glad we didn't attack you," said Zan with a slight chuckle. "And when you create them?"
The saryn stroked his chin thoughtfully as he recalled their history. "Our first successful Death Claw took twenty years to develop; by the time we encountered the humans, her development had just finished. With the help of the humans, we created another nine Claws. That took half of the time and we got nine times the soldiers for it. That was accomplished via vat growth and beamed in information, so when they were completely grown, they would know everything necessary and more. They were kept in one area where they were trained constantly by the best programs and people we could find."
The admirals were stunned silent.
"We need to return to the topic at hand," said Esteban sternly and the Death Claws existence was put aside in favour of planning the invasion.
A Day Later: the Citadel, Councillors Chamber
Sparatus was once again in front of the Chamber door, although unlike last time, he knew that this time he was in serious trouble with the Council. Once he had finally collected enough courage, he entered spotting Tevos and Valern right away, both with bandages covering the various wounds they had received during the previous attack.
"Sparatus, sit down," said Tevos stiffly and he complied immediately.
Valern stared at him coldly. "Now explain what the hell you were thinking by antagonizing the humans."
"I... I..."
"I would say that perfectly sums it up," snapped Valern. "Thanks to your careless actions, the humans are now unwilling to negotiate any kind of peace agreement with us, there are rumors of war circulating."
Sparatus saw an opportunity to speak and took it. "There are always—"
"These are gaining speed and have some validity," interrupted Telos harshly. "And many are calling for your resignation."
"That is," said Valern coldly, "unless you can provide some useful information that will redeem you in the eyes of the public."
"My sources have located the humans' home world," said Sparatus suddenly. "They just transmitted it to me about an hour ago."
"Send them to me," instructed Valern. "I'll do some investigating in the area. And you had better hope that we aren't attacked any time soon. You're dismissed."
Sparatus nodded and then headed out of the chamber.
A Day Later: the Citadel
"Yes?" asked Tevos her omni-tool raised.
"Tevos, I have bad news," said Valern his voice a little garbled.
"What about?"
"The probes I sent to the human home world."
"What did you find?"
"The relay has been permanently disabled."
"What?!" exclaimed Tevos.
"I've done as much as I could from my end, but nothing has been able to reactivate the relay," explained Valern sternly.
"So you're telling me-"
"The humans are capable of disabling mass relays," said Valern darkly. "Tevos, Sparatus may have condemned us."
"May the goddess protect us all."
CODEX
Shadow Protocol: Shadow Protocol was one of the last protocols devised. When declared, quantities of ships are mobilized to exterior relays that will put them on the path for a classified location. Depending on how many ships are deployed, it could take anywhere from a day to a week to complete the mission. Thanks to the warp space generators on the ships, it is possible for them to merge in formation and enter the relays together, ensuring that all ships make it to the rendezvous point. When the ships and people have been safely moved, the mass relay is then remotely disabled, and can only be reactivated by a specific device kept under lock and key until it is needed.
N7's names: In order to maintain the N7 soldiers' anonymity, their given names are replaced with call signs. The call signs consist of the initial of their first name and a number; the number indicates how many in the program have that same initial. For example: D-01, D-02, D-03.
Ion Array Frigate: Ships with a single, spinal-mounted heavy ion cannon. Located around the cannon are four large retractable ion arrays that use magnetic fields to capture free ions and further focus then accelerate the ion beam, giving extra range and firepower to the weapon.
Low Orbit Depravation Weapon (LODW): LODW is a weapon of mass destruction designed by Alexander O'Connor. The weapon is a shield that protects a new version of the plasma bomb; these new bombs are capable of destroying 25% of a planet's surface.
Plasma Bomb:
-Classified-
-Please Insert Password-
(***********)
-Password Denied-