DISCLAIMER – I do not own Mass Effect franchise, the story, or any of its characters. All rights go to Bioware.
AUTHOR'S NOTE – Throwback to canon events in ME1 gameplay:
No matter how much I love ME1 and the world that it brought me into, the fact is that the damn lovable thing is riddled with plot holes! The most glaring one I found was the background surrounding the events through which Tali found evidence against Saren. Here's why:
Day 1: Eden Prime attack happens. 15-20 hours later (after Shepard wakes up from Beacon interaction) they come to the Citadel and have the Council Hearing. About two hours later (a maximum of 22) they rescue Tali, who brings forth the evidence she found on Saren.
But that simply doesn't add up!
The evidence Tali originally had shows Saren bragging about the victory he already achieved on Eden Prime. That means that in the timespan of that 22-24 hours Tali would have had to first hear the rumors of geth in the Traverse, go seeking them, stumble onto some on some god-forsaken rock planet in the middle of nowhere (because – where else would geth hide?), manage to disable one geth and remove a memory core that holds Saren's speech about how he already attacked Eden Prime, then be chased from that planet halfway across the Galaxy and all the way to the Citadel, be wounded, healed, broker a deal with Fist, and be rescued.
All that in 22-24 hours? I don't think so! There was no way that Tali could have had THAT particular Saren's speech that was found in the game. So, I adjusted that. Among other things.
Chapter posted on 14.12.2016.
18.12.2016 – Made some cleanups and extensions to a few dialogues for the sake of story clarity. Thanks go to all reviewers and PMs that have pointed out those things as not being clear enough.
Tags: Action, Sci-fi, Adventure, Friendship building, Love.
Rated M – for mature and adult themes.
A short chapter, yes, but I really enjoyed writing about the things discussed within it.
.
Chapter 8 - The Evidence Trail
.
Marcus entered the spacious ambassador's office, followed closely by the relaxed-looking Garrus, and the nervous Tali who seemed to look all around in discomfort. She was like that ever since they'd stepped out of the car in the Embassies District, and it only increased as they entered the Human Embassy proper. He didn't know much about the quarians, but he figured they seldom got the chance to be in a place this richly furbished.
"Ah, Commander Shepard," Ambassador Udina greeted him as he stood up from his desk.
On the chairs in front of him sat Jaina now wearing her battle dress uniform, Captain Anderson, and finally none other than the grizzled veteran, Admiral Stephen Hackett himself – all of whom stood up with Udina.
Marcus stepped up and exchanged a sharp and polite nod, then a handshake with the admiral, repeating it with the captain, and finally shaking hands with the ambassador.
"Admiral, Captain, Ambassador," he greeted them all.
"It's good that you have managed to join us so quickly, Commander," Hackett spoke slowly with a gravelly voice.
"Commander Jaina informed us that you didn't waste any time in pursuing leads on Saren," Udina noted. "Might your turian and quarian friends have something to do with this?"
"This is Officer Garrus Vakarian of the C-Sec," Marcus said. "If you remember, Ambassador, he was the one tasked with investigating Saren's activities that helped prove his guilt to the Council."
"Ah, yes!" Udina said pleasantly as he approached and shook hands with Garrus. "It's a pleasure, Officer Vakarian. Your help was indeed crucial."
"Just doing my job, Ambassador," Garrus replied. "Saren was dirty, there was no arguing that. Men like him are the ones who give turians everywhere a bad name."
"Garrus and I have continued the investigation," Marcus picked up. "We have managed to track down and find additional info. This young lady, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, was in possession of information on Saren, and Saren's men were after her. Garrus and I took care of the problem, but I want Tali's protection to be ensured."
"If you have any kind of evidence of Saren's activities, I'd be more than happy to grant you protection, Miss Zorah," Udina stated imperiously, then pointed to the nearby lounge area. "Please, have a seat, and we can discuss this matter peacefully."
Udina then made a comm call to his secretary: "Miss Durer, would you please arrange three additional refreshments, two of them dextro-based!"
All of the present people settled themselves on sofa and chairs around the lounge table, and then Tali began her story:
"It all began a week ago. I was with a friend. He and his small crew were transporting me from the Flotilla to Ilium, where I was to begin my Pilgrimage. We were traveling in his small scout ship through the Attican Traverse when we received reports of Geth activity in the region. Geth were never before seen beyond the Perseus Veil; I got curious. I convinced my friend, and we tracked down a group of geth on one second-tier world. With the help of our ship's crew, I managed to disable a geth unit and extract its memory core."
"Hold on," Anderson interrupted her with a raised hand. "The geth we fought on Eden Prime had all of their memory cores destroyed. Everything indicates that they fry their cores upon death. How did you manage to recover one?"
"Please, Captain, I am a quarian," Tali said dryly. "If one knows what he's doing, a geth can be disabled while it's still alive, and with a few proper actions, it can be prevented from fully frying its core. I was very lucky in that regard, as the audio module was largely intact. Unfortunately, I was not so lucky about what happened next."
"What do you mean?" Anderson prompted.
"It turned out that the geth were not alone. There was a group of mercenaries actually with them – could you imagine that! There were other geth with the mercenaries, and they must've been in contact with the ones we destroyed. They had all doubled back, and as soon as they saw us, the mercenaries attacked us! I remember them clearly calling out that Saren will not allow us to leave the planet alive. We managed to flee, but… it was a run for our lives all the way as the mercenaries chased us across the Galaxy. In the end, when I managed to get on the Citadel, only my friend Keenah and I were left; and he was too heavily wounded to make it all the way. That was how I found myself alone in this place. I just wanted to survive. And, well… you know the rest."
Hackett spoke up:
"That data seems to be exceptionally important to Saren if he had his men chase you halfway across the Galaxy in order to stop you from giving that data to anyone."
"You be the judge," Tali replied, and activated her omni-tool. An unknown woman's voice came through, chillingly cold and almost unnaturally devoid of emotions:
"It is confirmed that another active Prothean beacon *static* found. It is on Eden Prime, a human colony in the Exodus Cluster."
Saren's voice came through next, interspersed with corrupted data sounds:
"Then we will act immediately. I will g-g-g-g-gather the geth and assault the colony as soon as possible. The Council must not get their *garbled sound* on the data this beacon contains. I do not want them to find out that the Reapers are com-com-coming back to this Galaxy t-t-t to wipe out all organics once more. They wouldn't understand."
There was a short burst of static, and the woman's voice returned:
"Do you think that the beacon will contain the data we need to find the entrance point to the Conduit, so we can open the path for the Reapers?"
"It won't matter if I-I-I-I don't find the Cipher. Only the Cipher can sort out the images that the beacons transfer into one's mind – the first beacon's imprint proved it when I inter-r-r-racted with it. But I do know where to look for it. The *garbled sounds* Corporation made a discovery on Feros they want to keep secret, but my sources have managed to get their data. This *garbled noise* they found was there at the time of the Protheans. It will be able to transfer the Cipher into my consciousness. But the Eden Prime beacon takes priority. We will go to Feros after that."
Tali cut the feed.
"That is the end of the data concerning Saren and this other person," she said. "He does not appear anywhere else in the geth memory data."
The rest of the room was deathly silent. Hackett was the only one who was taking action and had his omni-tool active as he typed the codes through restricted Alliance channels to warn of the possible assault on Feros.
Jaina was the first to speak up:
"Well, if the bastard wasn't guilty before, he sure proved that he is now," she quipped.
"And he wants to attack more human colonies," Udina said angrily. "It's obvious he is on the mission to wipe as many of us as he can – Feros is a human colony!"
"This concerns far more than just humans, Ambassador," Marcus interrupted him with unusual sternness, and his gaze struck Udina silent. "Now, I want to protect human lives just as much as you do, but it is clear that the colony of Feros is finding itself on Saren's path by mere chance."
"He has a point, Ambassador," Hackett spoke up as he ended his transmission. "And the possibility of an attack on Feros is not the only thing that makes me very uneasy."
"You mean these Reapers that apparently destroyed the Protheans?" Udina asked skeptically with his mouth turned in a distasteful grimace. "We don't even know if that's real, or if it's just Saren's fancy."
"I don't have the luxury of ignoring something like this, Ambassador," Hackett spoke firmly. "I don't care if Saren calls them Reapers or Santa Claus, but when he puts them in the same sentence that contains the words 'wipe out all organic life again', that makes me very concerned. Now, Miss Zorah, was there anything that could indicate what these 'Reapers' are?"
"Yes," Tali said and promptly began typing away at her omni-tool, displaying walls of geth coding and memory databases for all to see. "Here. This data that I've salvaged from other parts of the geth's memory strongly indicates that the Reapers are ancient synthetic species that wiped out the Protheans," she said heatedly. "The memory banks indicate that the geth consider them extremely advanced, far more than any current species or geth themselves, and hope that the Reapers will help them advance. That's why they want to bring them back."
"So why would the geth be following Saren?" Jaina queried in bewilderment.
"Because of this here," Tali said, shifting to another set of data. "According to this, Saren is the one who is in direct contact with the Reapers and works as their agent."
"Why the hell would Saren do that?" Garrus wondered as he looked to others. "He was always rotten, but he never struck me as crazy enough to ally with genocidal A.I.-s."
"Oh, but I know Saren," Anderson said grimly. "And I know exactly what he is thinking. He thinks that he can control the Reapers for the purpose of harming humanity. Even if he cannot outright control them, he wants to unleash them against us. He hates humanity and believes we should be brought to our knees before him. Collateral damage that might come up in the whole process doesn't concern him the slightest bit; I should know."
The other people looked grimly to one another. Marcus spoke up:
"Tali, is there any chance that the geth have been lying about this?"
"No," Tali stated firmly with a shake of her head. "While the geth do know the concept of lying, they do not do that. They're machines. The data they transfer must be always true, or they'll malfunction if they operate on false values! Therefore, they carefully analyze the data for its accuracy before they store it in these permanent database sections because propagating inaccurate data can hinder their ability to function. This is why I can state with absolutely no doubt that all data in here is accurate. Geth wouldn't have accepted and stored it if it wasn't the truth."
"Then the Council must be warned about this," Jaina stated, looking at Marcus.
"Marcus, didn't the Council offer to allow you to try extracting data from the Eden Prime beacon?" Anderson asked.
"They did," Marcus replied, then activated his omni-tool. "I'll contact them and see if I can expedite the process. I'll tell them that we have important new data that needs to be seriously discussed, as well."
He tapped in a few commands and then composed a message for the Council. Just then, the refreshments arrived, and the group took a moment while the beverages were being dispensed. Just as the attendant left the room, Marcus's omni-tool beeped with the message from the Council.
"They work fast," Jaina noted.
"Spectre messages take high priority with the Council," Udina reminded. "It goes higher than diplomatic channels themselves. What did the Council say, Commander?"
"They told me to meet them in their private conference cabinet in two hours, and I am to bring the information with me. After they review it, we'll go to the Prothean Research Labs to see what we can get from the beacon."
"I'll transfer the data to you immediately," Tali spoke up as she activated her omni-tool and synched it with Marcus's. "There, all done."
"Very well then," Udina said as he stood up. "I'll take immediate action to have Miss Zorah settled here in one of the spare rooms in the Embassy for the time being. Come with me, Miss Zorah."
Udina stood up and motioned Tali to follow him, and they moved toward the exit, with Tali throwing one last furtive glance at Marcus.
Jaina moved to whisper into his ear: "You've made an impression."
Garrus spoke up then:
"If you don't mind, Commander, I'd need to return to C-Sec to file a report. I'll be available should you need anything, though. You know how to contact me."
Marcus stood up and shook hands with the turian, and Garrus promptly left.
"That only leaves one last matter at hand," Hackett spoke as he slowly walked across the chamber with his hands clasped behind his back. "And it's not a small matter, actually, as there is no simple solution."
Anderson had crossed his arms over his chest as he nodded solemnly as Hackett spoke. Marcus had a feeling something unusual was going on. A glance he shared with Jaina told him she felt the same way.
"However," Hackett continued, "the matter of this new information on Saren's actions only cements what we're about to do as necessary."
"What's this all about, sir?" Jaina asked. "And why does it concern my presence here?"
"You'll see in a minute, Jaina," Anderson replied instead of Hackett.
"Marcus, now that you are a Spectre, there are many things that you will need if you are to perform your new job properly," Hackett continued. "All Spectres require armed vessels that provide them with transport to their mission sites and also perform support activities. The Systems Alliance wants the SSV Normandy to be the ship you'd use."
A ghost of a smile crossed Marcus's lips as he nodded in understanding and turned to Anderson. "It will be a pleasure to work with you, Captain."
Anderson chuckled. "I'm afraid it's not that simple as you think, Marcus," he said. "I cannot work with you."
"Why not?" Marcus asked as he looked at Admiral Hackett with a frown.
Hackett approached Marcus and stood in front of him formally as he spoke:
"Commander, your new Spectre status is simply too uncompromising with standard Alliance Navy regulations and obligations. Simply put: your active service in the Alliance Navy will hamper your activities as a Spectre, and we can't have that happen. You are more valuable to Systems Alliance as a Spectre than you are as a commander.
"In accordance with that, the Alliance has decided to release you from all duties and obligations toward the Systems Alliance Military Forces for as long as you remain an active Spectre agent. However, not giving our full support to our best soldier would have been beyond unacceptable, which means that you will still be receiving full support from the military assets.
"In that regard, it has been decided that Captain Anderson will step down from his position as acting captain of the SSV Normandy, and the ship will be given to you, for you to use it with all privileges and duties of an acting captain for as long as you need, or until you are no longer an active Spectre, or until the Normandy is no longer capable of serving your needs."
There was dead silence as both Marcus and Jaina processed those words, and then both of them turned toward Anderson and spoke in near perfect unanimous voice:
"Sir, that's not right!" they glanced at each other briefly, then continued, still univocally, "you're the captain of the Normandy, they're not supposed to take it away from you!"
There was a moment of silence, and then Hackett laughed – something few people had ever seen him do – sounding like a rhythmically grinding gravel.
"I have to say I found it hard to believe when people told me you two tend to do that," he said after his laughter subsided. "Yes, you two will be perfect for the tasks that are coming."
"Sir?" Jaina asked worriedly.
"While the Alliance can lease the Normandy to a Spectre, we still need it to be our crew on our ship," Hackett clarified. "And the Alliance also needs that crew to be the best. You, Commander Jaina Shepard, are the best we have. Other than being his XO, you would also be a direct Alliance liaison to Marcus. Being what you are, a husband and wife, means that you trust each other implicitly – and that's very important if we are to ensure success since these kinds of multi-lateral missions tend to be filled with potholes. And it's even more pressing considering what might be looming on the horizon if these Reapers are real."
"Aren't you worried about our marital status, sir?" Jaina ventured, narrowing her eyes. "We might be excluded from the rules of fraternization now that Marcus is not in official active capacity, but the emotional attachment might compromise the mission."
"Stop looking at the gift horse's mouth, Commander!" Hackett declared impatiently. "The emotional attachment is a problem if the people are weak-minded. You two are not. If you were, you would have never made the cut for the N7. And this matter is closed! Am I making myself clear?"
"Yes, sir!" both Marcus and Jaina replied in unison.
"Good," Hackett nodded dispassionately.
"I know you find me being relieved from the Normandy's post as unjust," Anderson addressed them both. "But this is far more important. We are facing a rogue Spectre, Geth, and possibly more. A lot of things might be at stake."
Marcus shared a look with Jaina, then spoke:
"We understand, Captain. It just doesn't make it feel any less wrong."
"All of us understand that, Commander, but that's just the way it has to be," Hackett said as he sat down at the lounge table, and the others moved to follow. "But now, I must talk to you about another matter of great import."
Hackett seemed to think on how to begin. In the end, he took a deep breath and spoke:
"Eden Prime attack was the drop that spilled the cup," he said simply. "For decades, the Alliance had fought a war of attrition against pirates and slavers, and now, not only do we have geth, but they're knocking right on our front doors. Eden Prime was the last straw; it was like a wakeup call."
"So, what do they want the Alliance to do about it?" Marcus asked, pointing his palm upwards. "We don't have enough ships or manpower."
"And even if we did, we cannot defend everything," Jaina pointed out. "The one who defends everything defends nothing."
"Exactly," Hackett said. "Which is precisely the thing that I spoke with Defense Minister Krieg about, and what he relayed to the Parliament and to the President when they asked us what needs to be done about it. We told them straight to their face how it is – that our predecessors had made a terrible error when they decided to compete with the Citadel Species gun-for-gun. Nobody has ever won by fighting harder; wars are won by fighting smarter. Dreadnoughts are slow, cumbersome, easy to cripple and counter when playing smart – which is exactly what pirates and slavers do."
"It was a lesson we had learned during World War II," Marcus commented.
"The greatest battleships and dreadnoughts of that era were done in by strike craft launched from carriers," Hackett agreed. "Yet, somehow, the Systems Alliance Parliament forgot that in the years after the First Contact. I told them that if we are to get on top of this, we need to change our game."
"But did they listen?" Marcus asked, narrowing his eyes.
Hackett gave him a look. "When was the last time you saw someone not listening to what Peter Krieg has to say?"
Marcus smirked, tilting his head acquiescently. "Point taken."
"Exactly," Hackett said. "I gotta hand it to him. In less than twenty-four hours, he managed to strong-arm the entire Parliament his way. A massive budget for military spending is being drawn right as we speak. And I am talking massive. They had given me and a few of my associates open arms to do whatever it takes to improve our military."
"That's promising," Marcus commented, with Jaina nodding eagerly. "But I don't understand why are you telling me this, Admiral? Parliament and Alliance Brass are above my pay grade."
"Not anymore," Hackett stated. "You are a Spectre, a human Spectre, Commander. We need you to know what is going on – both you and your new XO here – because you will be a big part of the changes that are to come. Whether you like it or not, you are now a part of the circle of people that need to know everything that's going on inside the Alliance if you are to be effective, because your presence in the Council represents additional foothold for the Alliance."
Marcus shared a significant look with Jaina.
"That actually makes me feel privileged to be a part of the inner circle," he said as he looked back at Hackett. "So, what are we talking about here, Admiral?"
"We're talking about a major shift in our entire naval and groundside military doctrines," Hackett said, then leaned forward. "Twenty-five years ago, after the First Contact War, we established our doctrine around the notion that it would be the best to keep our fleets concentrated on a few key points – a crossroads regions – from which we could quickly react to the changing situation in the surrounding areas, and that having a number of small patrols consisting of a ship or two roaming the regions would be enough for any small-scale attack. A few more important planets would have orbital defenses, but the strengthening of the ground forces was mostly ignored – as evident in poor armor and weapon quality – and civilians were prohibited from owning anything bigger than a handgun. That is how things have been until now."
Marcus snorted. "It makes me wonder just how many colonies were actually saved in that manner."
"Too few of them," Anderson spoke up grimly. "Mindoir, Elysium – those are just the biggest battles; the biggest losses and victories. A lot more colony worlds were attacked over the past two decades of our expansion into the Skyllian Verge, and it's always the same scenario: someone organizes the attack, targets the colony when the patrol is not around, strikes, pillages it to the ground, and then flees before any of the fleets can respond. Whatever defenses we have are quickly overwhelmed or downright completely bypassed. Our colonists get either killed or taken away as slaves. When our fleet arrives, all it is met with are corpses and some stragglers. Eden Prime was the last straw in that scenario."
"The Eden Prime attack had shattered our ground forces in less than an hour," Hackett said. "It just proves how weak we are when it comes to groundside defense – both when it comes to stopping the attack head on, and responding to it."
"You got that right," Anderson said bitterly. "It turned out that the colonists were the ones that ended up fighting. And that was just because they had smuggled guns!"
"And that's why the Parliament will be relaxing the laws and regulations pertaining gun ownership on all colonies to a large degree," Hackett stated with a nod. "That is their part. Ours is to keep it safe and sane among the populace. We will be the ones to organize all able-bodied colonists on all colonies – both male and female – into militias, train them, equip them with military-grade gear, and then send them home with it, while also holding frequent militia drills and exercises in various scenarios."
"And what about the colonial sentiment?" Anderson queried. "Are there any indications that the colonists might object to being conscripted?"
"Object?!" Jaina exclaimed, then snorted derisively. "I think not! I used to have been a colonist, Captain, remember? I remember how it was on Mindoir. I know what it was like on Elysium with Marcus. The colonists are not some pampered Earth middle class. They're hardy men, husbands and wives, parents with families… just like my mom and dad were. They're hardy men and women, and they know the score and dangers of living out there. You ask me whether they'll object to being fully armed and armored, trained, and then sent home with that gear? I think not! I think that each and every one of them – man or woman – will volunteer."
"I agree," Marcus said. "From what experience with the locals I gained throughout all of my missions, it appears that colonials were mostly dissatisfied with the Alliance because of the strict gun regulations that prevented them from being able to properly defend their own homes and families. With the laws being relaxed, as you say, and with you providing weapons, gear, and training, I'll say that you won't have enough gear to supply them with!"
Hackett nodded.
"I'm glad to hear your input on this," he said. "As for the gear, we will have plenty of options with it. If the re-armament bill passes, then the regular soldiers will be getting the gear of much higher quality. Civilian militias will then receive the current gear as hand-me-downs. Not top-of-the-line, but if you consider that they were completely unarmed before then…" he left the rest unsaid.
"We see where you're coming from, sir," Jaina agreed, then narrowed her eyes in thought. "Still, I don't think we can use ordinary colonists as shock troops."
"We won't be," he said. "The goal for them is to be engaged in asymmetrical warfare against any invaders – to fight in guerrilla-style combat. With the majority of them armed and armored, we predict they would be able to harass the enemy to a staggering extent just by being able to fight back while keeping themselves alive and kicking in the process. The Alliance is fully intending to supply them with large amounts of infantry heavy weapons – those that are able to take down a tank or a transport shuttle that pirates and slavers use, and in this case Geth as well.
"So – no, the colonists wouldn't be the ones to perform the shock attack against enemies. That's what the battle mechs will be for."
"Now, that's a surprise," Marcus said. "When we enlisted, the Alliance Brass was known for hating the notion of combat mechs – a stance that I could never understand."
"Times change," Hackett said. "Too many lives are being lost, and trained soldiers are not something that can just be replaced. It has been deemed that we must develop some new tactics to avoid such wipeouts – something that can soak up the first blow instead of our men, and then be used as a tool to strike back. Mechs are the best options. And a lot of them will be deployed in the following months. Our top military engineers are already developing designs for cheap, replaceable and heavy-hitting mech platforms, as well as the ones that are supposed to be armored frontline shock troops."
"Fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee?" Jaina ventured.
"I can see where this is going," Marcus said, leaning forward with his elbows against his knees and lacing his fingers. "You'd be combining the mech and militia like a mix of shock troops and guerrilla. You'd deploy a broad network of early-warning sensors throughout the system, and when the warning comes, everyone goes underground – both civilian and military. Once the enemy lands, they watch, wait, and then strike from ambush with overwhelming strength."
"Or, if the attack is too sudden, the mechs can serve as the frontline defense while the militia organizes itself," Jaina finished.
"True on all accounts," Hackett said. "In that way, we combine the prime triumvirate of victory: mobility, flexibility, and initiative. With mobile and flexible units we will evade the enemy, taking the initiative from them and transferring it to us for a powerful counterattack."
Anderson hummed pensively.
"Still, it would be only effective if the enemy doesn't have orbital superiority," the man said. "They can pummel any resistance within minutes! Long before relief arrives. If anything Shanxi has taught us, it is to never leave our skies unprotected."
"True," Hackett agreed. "Our engineers have been working hard to find cheap and efficient methods of disrupting the enemy's ability to see what's on the ground ever since Shanxi. I won't be getting into technical details, but one of the prototypes, codename Sky Curtain, has shown great promise. Now that the new bills and programs will pass, more funding will go to it. I am hoping for the system's full introduction into our PDF mainstay by the end of the first trimester."
"And what of the fleets, sir?" Marcus queried. "It is obvious that our ships cannot remain sitting only at relay crossroad systems. The enemy knows where they are, and can plan accordingly. They can make a diversion – send our fleets on a wild goose chase while they actually besiege a completely different planet. That is what I would do."
"Which is why the fleet doctrine is being changed as well," Hackett said, leaning forward. "And it is the biggest challenge in this whole matter."
He went silent for a moment, seeming to look into the distance, thinking.
"What are you thinking, Stephen?" Anderson asked.
Hackett took a deep breath before he spoke, his eyes still searching that distance somewhere far off.
"You have two ships that are enemies to one another: a frigate, and a dreadnought. They see each other and move in to combat range. How long does it take a frigate to destroy a dreadnought?"
Marcus spoke up immediately:
"Assuming the dreadnought's crew are complete idiots, and the frigate has one hell of a crew to do everything right – hours!"
Hackett nodded, then asked, "And what if the dreadnought can't see the frigate at all?"
Realization flashed in both Marcus's and Jaina's eyes.
"The frigate could take that dread down in seconds," Jaina murmured.
"Especially considering that such a frigate needs to have a cruiser-sized eezo core," Marcus added. "Its main gun would be several times more powerful than an average frigate's is."
"Even if the dreadnought's shields were up, the frigate could sneak in and unload a hailstorm of javelins and main gun rounds that would wreck the dreadnought's barriers to oblivion just like that," Jaina said, snapping her fingers. "And the dreadnoughts hull would be gone even faster than that."
Hackett nodded.
"No matter how powerful a ship is, it can be destroyed," he said. "You can concentrate multiple-ship fire on it, you can ambush it, you can sabotage it, or you can completely avoid it. But if you can't see it, then that enemy cannot be beaten. In a war of attrition, the invisible one will always win."
"You're planning to push for more Normandy-class frigates to be built," Marcus said discerningly. "You want to make them our mainstay."
"Offence is the best defense," Hackett said as a reply. "And the Normandy-class frigate would stand at the apex of mobility, flexibility, and initiative in that regard. It could go anywhere, anytime, and the enemy would never know it until their ships start blowing up."
"Normandy was expensive," Anderson pointed out.
In response to that, Hackett turned to Marcus. "Commander, I understand that you have a unique assault rifle that you've built yourself. How many times has it blown up in your face before you worked out all the kinks?"
"Three times," Marcus said slowly, smirking as he was trying to discern what Hackett was going for.
The admiral merely nodded, and spoke:
"That is what the money for building the Normandy was for: to ensure the prototype wouldn't explode three times or more. Experimentation takes a lot of time and money. Now that we know the recipe, a Normandy-class frigate may be produced at a fraction of a cost. The only bottleneck is eezo, but we got that covered; new, large sources had been found in the Local Cluster."
Marcus frowned. "I thought Local Cluster wasn't particularly eezo-rich," he said.
"Guess again," Hackett said dryly. "What I'm about to tell you is classified as intelligence level 5. It turns out that a huge load of eezo was sitting right under our very noses."
There was a moment of silence.
"Sol itself?" Anderson asked in bewilderment.
"Io, the Jupiter's moon," Hackett clarified.
There was a moment of bewildered silence as everyone present looked amongst each-other.
"Wait, I thought eezo was only generated when stars went supernova," Jaina queried with a frown.
"No," Marcus said, excitement breaking its way into his stance. "Eezo is generated under huge pressures and violent collisions. Supernovas are just the most common source. But Io is closest Jupiter's moon. It's affected by huge tidal gravitational forces and Jupiter's monstrous magnetic field – which is stronger than even brown dwarfs – and has been interacting in this way for billions of years! It was a perfect eezo factory right under our noses!"
"Precisely," Hackett said. "Huge quantities of eezo are launched every hour through Io's volcanoes, and we've known this for a very long time – almost since 2148. But we had no way to safely extract it. Io is bathed in huge radiation levels, and volcanoes are erupting almost non-stop. It was only now that a cheap and efficient solution could be implemented. Now, we can siphon tons of it every second, and the stealth fleet we're talking about will become a real possibility."
"Damn," Anderson muttered, shaking his head with an incredulous smirk cresting the corner of his lips. "So, what ship numbers are we talking about here?"
"I hope for an entire stealth fleet," Hackett said.
His declaration was met with a moment of dead silence. He continued, dropping another bomb:
"And there'd be cruiser-sized stealth carriers in the mix, as well."
Everyone's eyebrows shot up.
"That's a lofty goal," Anderson said, tilting his head.
"Does humanity even have enough economic strength to actually achieve something like that?" Marcus asked in genuine wonder.
"That's an odd part," Hackett said, scratching his chin with a grimace. "Apparently, the colonization rush of the previous decades has caused a massive industrial boom to sate the needs of the burgeoning new systems. Now that no new planets are being settled in the recent years, all that huge industry is slowly grinding to a halt, and it's threatening to destabilize the economy. Hundreds of huge factories would be closed. Millions of people would become unemployed."
"Unless all that industry shifted into the production of something else," Jaina noticed with a discerning smile. "Something like military buildup."
Hackett nodded. "Until now, there was no justification to do that. But with Geth knocking at our doorstep, the public practically demands it, and nobody from the outside has any right to tell us that we cannot build up our military might in light of recent events. Not even the Council. It is playing into our current situation like a gift from god."
"Enabling us to build something as big as stealth carriers?" Jaina pointed out.
"Small carriers," Hackett intoned. "They'd be labeled as "strategic cruisers" and their stealth capability would be more limited than the frigates', but that wouldn't be the problem; their job would be to stay far away from enemy's eyes anyway. It is the stealth strike craft they'd use for long-range assaults that would more than compensate for that.
"The idea is to have a single fleet operating a theater. The fleet would be separated into several independent frigate squadrons spread over a large territory and connected with QEC-s. They'd be the ones to prowl and actively seek out enemy elements beyond our borders, and relay information to roving Carrier Strike Groups, which would then sneak up, join up with local frigates, and use the overwhelming strength all of their combined strike wings to inflict superior damage to targets of choice."
"Combining mobility, flexibility, and initiative, thus bringing the fight to the enemy," Jaina said as an evil grin spread across her lips. "I like it."
"Good; because your role in all of this is essential," Hackett stated. "You see, while we may produce the ships, but we need to know how good they can handle. We need the Normandy to find that out. We need you two to go out there and push the Normandy to the max in real combat scenarios. We need to know what is feasible and what isn't, what can be improved and what needs to be improved."
"That particular part of the job will be done with pleasure," Marcus said. "Would anything else be needed from us?"
"We cannot order you to do anything anymore, but the Alliance would be very grateful if you were to provide assistance with any critical situation that would arise in the future."
"Admiral, do you even have to ask?" Marcus asked rhetorically.
"I appreciate it, Commander," Hackett nodded. "There is one more thing, though. It concerns the recording of your helm cam of your battle against the geth on Eden Prime. We're particularly interested in the part where you blaze down the hill toward the space port, wrecking the entire geth platoon to pieces."
"Marcus smirked. "You intend to broadcast this all over the airwaves, aren't you?"
"We have to," Anderson said somberly. "You heard what that smuggler, Powel, said down there at the spaceport: people are losing faith that we can protect them, and they're right. It's Wild-Wild West out there, for God's sake… batarian terrorists, slavers, pirates… and now Geth even?"
Hackett spoke up:
"That's why I'm going to authorize this video for our people to edit it and air it for the public. We need to show the people that there are capable soldiers defending them. We need them to look at what you did, and for them to want to be like you, even if they are ordinary colonist militia. You'll be compensated properly, of course."
Jaina chuckled as she spoke:
"The way you make it sound, sir, I'll get to brag about being married to a celebrity."
"Don't smirk," Anderson said dryly, "you're on that video as well, and Alliance is always on a hunt for good-looking female soldiers to be their cover girls."
Jaina's eyes widened in horror. Before she could say anything, though, the office doors opened to welcome back Ambassador Udina.
"Don't tell me you settled our young quarian guest all the way through all by yourself, Ambassador?" Anderson asked. "You could have let someone else do the job."
"Oh, no, no, no!" Udina intoned merrily as he sat down at his desk and started typing things away. "You wouldn't believe the amount of information on the Quarian Flotilla that I've managed to obtain by just talking to our young guest. Ambassador needs to be on top of things!"
Marcus shared a smirk with Anderson, and then looked at the time.
"I'd need to get to that meeting with the Council," he said, then stood up.
"We will perform the official ship handover before you leave with the Normandy," Anderson said. "I won't take any more of your time."
Marcus nodded, then looked at his wife and XO.
"Jay, you come with me to the Council meeting," he said.
"What if this is supposed to be classified?"
Marcus activated his omni-tool and swiped it in front of her.
"I've just granted you Spectre Associate status," he replied. "I want you close by if the situation develops. It's much more expedient, and we may better coordinate."
"Alright, lead the way," she said, and the two bid their goodbyes with the rest.
..