REQUIEM
CHAPTER THREE:
THE ARK
August 10, 2251
1726 hours.
Cockpit, Paradise-Class Interceptor, Inbound for Hoc Relay, Leaving Orbit over Virmire.
Terra-Rannochian War
Staff Sergeant Reby'Reegar pav Rannoch, Lance Corporal Thane'Shepard pav Rannoch.
Another ship-to-ship missile locked onto the small human interceptor and launched from the promethean corvette, spiralling towards them. Luckily, Reby had caught up on her pilot training and initiated a sharp dive, followed by a roll, causing the missile to lose track of its target and fly aimlessly into space, detonating soon after.
Thane's back thumped against the chair as Reby acellerated forward, hoping to get within point-blank range of the corvette so they could retaliate. Reby locked on and managed to disperse a cruise missile at the corvette's hull before having to spin out of range of another rocket. The high-yield cruise missile impacted the corvette's shields and detonated, an azure field sparking to life to protect the vessel from any damage, but immediately exploded, overwhelmed by the power of the missile.
Interceptors were not like standard fighters or bombers; they were designed to harass destroyers and cruisers, including crippling them. Bombers were meant to take on battleships, carriers and dreadnoughts, while fighters were mostly escort. This corvette was heavily outdated and unable to take on a interceptor such as theirs successfully.
But why was a promethean vessel attacking them anyway? They were allies!
The interceptor shook and for a moment, Thane's heart stopped. He looked around the cockpit frantically, but immediately calmed when he saw the forward console and looked at the battle status; the shields had taken the brunt of the assault and the corvette had simply spun its AA guns to bare on their ship; a burst catching them in the side, but doing little damage.
"Thane!" Reby called out as she initiated another roll, "Think you can hack that corvette's defenses? Disable its AA guns?"
"Definitely," Thane replied, opening his omni-tool and beginning the task of locking onto the corvette's IFF signature and beginning to hack. His mother, Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch, was one of the most intelligent and dangerous engineers in the galaxy, and she had taught him and his other brothers and sisters all she had to know about engineering. Thane definitely wasn't his mother, but he was close enough.
Hacking the corvette's defenses was easy; the ship's VI was pretty basic and was unable to detect his entry till it was too late. He uploaded junk data into its core, confusing it while he bega to simultaneously hack the AA guns. Hacking into the weapons array was even easier, and with a tap of a finger, he watched the AA guns go from green and enabled, to red and offline within seconds of each other. And for better measure, he put the VI out of commission for good by uploading a virus into its core; one designed to kill a geth on impact.
The corvette didn't stand a chance now; shields overwhelmed, VI dead and AA guns cripped, they had the upper hand. Thane looked out a viewing port and finally got a good look of the promethean corvette. Like most promethean vessels, it wasn't promethean manufactured, but either built by the Coalition, Republic or Confederacy and would then be repainted and renamed, and a new insignia stamped on its hull.
The promethean insignia was easy enough to spot, along with the black and white exterior of the small vessel's exterior. The corvette was obviously an ex-Coalition scout ship, and it showed. The ship's design was that of a Earth shark; small wings at the front of the vessel were the fins, the arched and bent bow was that of a great white shark's head and the extended elongated rear of the ship was the tail, with engines pulsing red under the back. The design was rugged and imperial; like most human architecture. From what he remembered, it was an Oceanic-Class Corvette, and its name was plastered on the side in big black letters.
CSV Iwojima, C-999. The ship had to be 100 feet in length, at least.
Missile bay doors shot open and more missiles shot out, but Reby had already flown over to avoid them and opened fire with the interceptor's chin-mounted rippers, a term given to the chain guns because of how powerful they were, directing a major score on the ship's conning tower, a small structure in the middle where the bridge was. As they flew past, Thane watched in horror was the areas where the rippers tore open the hull began to fall victim to decompression, and many of the ship's personnel were dragged into space, most likely including the captain.
With no command crew, the corvette was leaderless and defenseless. Reby brought the interceptor around and began to head straight for the corvette. As she did, she twisted in her seat to face Thane, "We're going to board that ship and find out why they attacked us and commandeer it if we can; you got your rifle?"
Thane nodded, pulling out his alligator heavy rifle and acolyte heavy pistol. Reby nodded, aligning the interceptor with the airlock on the enemy corvette; now that Thane got a closer look, this ship really was tiny. Even the Normandy SR-2 was bigger; this had to be at least half the size. Corvettes have always been smaller than frigate; and lesser armed. Any Normandy-Class frigate would have torn through this ship like an annoying pest.
Thane heard the click of two airlocks connecting and immediately unstrapped himself, taking his rifle, and already holstered pistol, and opening the back door and running out into the cargo bay of the interceptor, before running to the airlock. He raised his rifle crouched next to it, and Reby wasn't far behind, holding her shotgun.
Checking that her shotgun was loaded, she looked down at Thane and smiled weakly, "This should be easy. I never liked Prometheus, and I had my suspicions they were dirty, but to outwardly attack a coalition-marked interceptor over a major trading zone owned by the Dominion and regularly patrolled? That's just stupid."
Thane shrugged, "I-I guess we won't know until we board the ship and find out."
Reby nodded and waited for Thane to open the seals on the enemy ship's airlock. Once opened and checked, Reby opened theirs and quickly traversed into the corvette's decontamination unit. Thane hacked through that easily enough as well and soon they found themselves in an empty corridor, running the length of the vessel.
The interceptor hadn't done much damage to the ship itself; so power was fully operational. The corridor felt claustrophobic and the walls seemed to compress on each other in an uncomfortable way. Lights aligned the ceiling and the sides, and the entrance to the captain's quarters was located to the left. One crew member stood frozen in the middle of the corridor; a human with a promethean uniform and unarmed. They raised their weapons.
"Don't shoot!" The human begged, dropping his datapad onto the floor and falling to the ground on his knees, hands behind his head, "I surrender!"
Reby approached him, weapon raised and gaze untrusting, "What's the total crew compliment of this ship? Including armed personnel and any passengers you have."
"One navigation officer, one armoury officer, one marine sergeant, a single promethean squad, light infantry. One communications officer, single commanding officer, one tactical officer. Rest are non-essential personnel; mostly engineering."
"Give me a number," Reby growled.
"Including all of them? Forty-four."
"Well, that's one down, forty-three to go," Reby announced, moving back and ramming the butt of her rifle into the back of the man's head and knocking him out. They both stood still, hoping noone heard, but the only sound to greet them was the humming of the ship's engines. Satisfied noone could hear them, she turned to Thane, "You go to the cockpit and eliminate any surviving senior personnel, but keep the pilot alive if you can. I'm going to deal with whatever armed units they have and then take care of engineering."
"You want us to split up?" Thane asked stupidly.
Reby rolled her eyes, "Its a skeleton crew Thane; hardly a threat. Besides, your the son of Tali'Shepard and The Shepard himself, so I can think you can handle a crew of promethean misfits. Meet you on the bridge," With that, Reby ran up ahead and down the corridor, hitting a door at the end and continuing past it. Thane simply shook his head, unbelieving of the situation the two quarians found themselves in. One quarian and a half. Keelah, how did we end up here? One relay jump and we'd be back at Earth...but nope, Prometheus sees fit to attack us for no reason.
He heard gunshots, most likely Reby encountering hostiles and opening fire.
Thane sighed as he lifted his weapon, which suddenly felt heavier than before, and continued to follow Reby's path and moved through the door she had opened.
Before him lay a CIC similiar to the one on the Normandy; noticably smaller however. It was only ten meters across, and didn't feature a galaxy map with command ramp at the back; instead, it had multiple consoles aligning the walls, with a galaxy map painted on a flatscreen on the roof. The CIC crew were all dead, all will pistols laying next to him. They had obviously gotten some shots off; holes littered the walls, along with one spent thermal clip cooling on the floor, blood pooling around their bodies. They were mostly humans and quarians, but one looked like a drell. Guess peace talks went well with them.
An elevator lay at the back, along with two corridors stretching behind it, and by the signs on the walls, those corridors lead to engineering. He looked at the elevator and immediately entered it, hitting the button for the top deck, which was the main deck out of 3 decks in total, making the ship round about the same size as the Normandy SR-1. The door closed and the box began its descent; thankfully, it was faster than other elevators.
He readied his weapon for combat and primed a smoke grenade. He expected resistance, but nothing substantial and overwhelming; just a few crew members with sidearms. If the captain was alive, he'd be the first priority for elimination, but apart from that, everything would be fine; hopefully. He hoped Reby knew what she was doing.
The Iwojima's elevator ascended the conning tower until it finally reached the cockpit at the tip and the door slid open to omit him entrance. He was greeted by the sight of a close to empty room; the cockpit was only slightly bigger than the Normandy's, but mostly looked the same as well, just without the flight deck behind it, and fully-manned.
Noone seemed to notice him, so he listened to the quarian captain shouting orders, "Get me a full damage report! And why won't that damn VI respond!"
The tactical officer, clearly a geth, responded, "Attempts to communicate with the VI have been unsuccessful due to a overwhelming flood of junk data on its main core. I am working with Hotel Bravo to remedy the situation."
"Uyal'fi!" the captain exclaimed, falling into his chair and slamming a console on it, "All CIC officers, I want a damage report now; and find out what the hell is going on with engineering!" Without waiting for a response, which Thane silently thanked the ancestors for, he turned back around and cursed again, "One simple mission; Find Reby'Reegar and Thane'Shepard, eliminate them, command does the rest.' How fucking hard was it! But noooo...they forget to mention that they're in a far superior vessel! A corvette fighting an interceptor! I should have stayed in cloak. Does the cloak even function anymore?"
"It does sir," the navigation officer replied.
"Good! Fat lot of good it'll do us now! Has the Virmire Orbital Patrol been alerted to our presence? A promethean vessel on their property will surely piss off the brass."
"A destroyer by the name of CSV Solemn Reconciliation, Penance-Class, responded to reports of a naval engagement, and has notified two patrol vessels on our side of the planet, CSV Khan and CSV Raan, but they have not made a move yet. They appear to be waiting for reinforcements."
"Have they identified us though?"
"Impossible to tell; but if they've only notified two patrol vessels, then they must know our class at least, but not the organization."
"And the interceptor?"
"Docked sir."
"Good, I-wait, what!? Why, in ancestors name, wasn't I informed of this!?"
"You didn't ask."
"You incompetent machine!" The captain stood up angered and shouting down the geth, "They're most likely unboard, and if you have any more wits about you, you'll remember the son of the Avatar of Rannoch was onboard and most likely coming for us. You know what to do!"
Seeing that he had heard enough, he raised his rifle, aimed at the back of the captain's head, and fired. The shot tore through the back of the quarian's skull and erupted out the other side, the sheer power of the rifle ripping his head half of his head, red gore coating the cockpit floor as he crumbled down dead. The crew reacted immediately.
The tactical officer charged forward, attempting to use its strength to kill Thane. He side-stepped the charging geth but left his foot out, causing the geth to trip over. The geth may have achieved sentience, but that also meant they could make organic mistakes, this being one of them. With the geth on the ground, he emptied a round into the back of its optics, before facing the rest of the crew.
He only just noticed that the ruptures made by the interceptor's chain gun were now sealed up by mass effect fields; lucky that, eh? The rest of the crew made no motions to attack and simply surrendered, falling to the ground. Thane was tempted to execute them, but then he remembered his mother's words.
Your father and I never executed with prejudice; we gave the benefit of the doubt. If they surrender, don't shoot them, because that's murder in cold-blood. We...he, wouldn't have wanted you to be that kind of person, and neither would I. I'm not telling you how to fight Thane; just try not to become a murderer. You're better than that.
The memories faded; his mother sitting on the couch, a young thirteen-year-old Thane sitting next to her, while she told him. Sometimes she'd tell him stories about her father, his life and her life, and, occassionally, would open up and talk about the Post-Apocalyptic War, also known as the 'Post-War Apocalypse' or, by humans, as the 'Second Great Depression.' He remembered those memories fondly.
He lowered his weapon and motioned them into a corner next to the elevator so he could keep an eye on both. With that done, he commed the private comm link and attempted to get ahold of Reby, "I've secured the cockpit Reby; what about you?"
Her reply was instant, "The security detail gave up without much of a fight; nabbed four of them before they pissed themselves in fear, or whatever it is I'm looking at. Engineering was trashed when I got there though; and they already surrendered, but one of them seemed to be giving me this knowing grin; its got me alittle bit worried."
You know what to do! Were the quarian captain's last words.
He began to become concerned as well, "What do you want to do?"
"Well, if this chief engineer is grinning like an idiot after being captured, then I'd have to bet they have a continegency plan going on. And you know how they all go; self-destruct or bombs or a secret stash of deus ex machina soldiers or something like that. I'd say we double back to the interceptor; I'm going to-"
The console behind him began to beep, but he didn't turn to it. "What's that sound Thane?" Reby demanded, voice laced with concern and authority at the same time.
"I'll ask," he assured her, before turning to his prisoners, "What's that sound? What's it doing?"
A human spoke up, japanese by the looks of it, "Cleanup crew, that's who."
"Cleanup crew...?" Thane repeated, confused. He angrily thrusted his weapon forward, face contorted in anger at the man's crypticality, "What the hell do you mean by that!?"
"Continegency orders. We call it the 'No-Evidence Protocol.' If a Promethean vessel becomes compromised, we simply self-destruct. But of course, a corvette doesn't need that, as they are usually used as escorts. So, in this case, we have some buddies coming to do it for us."
Thane's eyes widened in fear as he finally did turn around and looked at the console. The readings made him gulp and stand as frozen as an iceberg. His heart stopped and every nerve in his body seemed to just go numb. His throat went so dry, he couldn't even scream for Reby to run.
Incoming FTL signature; Archangel-Class Battleship, CSV Marcus Shepard.
He turned just in time to see the massive bulk of a multi-culture designed battleship to come into view. The Archangel Class, as they like to call it, was a line of warship built solely for the purpose of christianing heroes long lost and to help form the building blocks for the future Galactic Coalition, following the climax of the Reaper War. Only eight of the line were ever built; and they all assimiliated multiple design aspects; it was designed by the krogan, turians, quarians, humans, asari and geth, but never saw service until the Post-Apocalyptic War.
And they were named after the great heroes of the Reaper War; Marcus Shepard, Tali'Shepard, Garrus Vakarian, Kasumi Goto, Urdnot Wrex, David Anderson, Liara T'Soni, Kaidan Alenko. The T'Soni was lost during the Second Occupation of Palaven in the war, destroyed by a turian dreadnought and the Goto suffered an engine malfunction and all life onboard was killed by radiation leaks and the ship quickly went adrift, eventually falling into the atmosphere of Valar. The other six were still in Dominion service today, one of them even managing the Maginot Line.
And now one of them, ironically named after his father, loomed over the disabled corvette, ready to rain death on the puny warship.
It was massive; slightly bigger than a carrier, and smaller than a dreadnought. The overall design of it was misshappen; it resembled the predatory body of turian warships, the thick armour plating resembling krogan brutality, the sleek hull of geth, the wings of obsolete Ascension-Class asari dreadnoughts, human ideology of 'might over speed' and, of course, quarian resourcefulness.
It was a monster; just from looking at the bow of the vessel, he could see the weaponry of the beast begin to unravel; numerous turrets and GARDIAN lasers, the underbelly of a undeployed Earthsplitter, two thanix cannons, a line of 310mm ship-to-ship heavy main guns, eighty-eight on each broadside and an unaccountable amount of missile pods. If this was the armament of a battleship...
Then came the red and yellow of the Systems Coalition, finally followed by the black and bold letters 'Marcus Shepard' inscribed on the hull. Seeing those two words, about to destroy the ship he was on, was all that was needed to send Thane into full panic.
But it was too late; he didn't hear it, but he saw it; the flash of green as the battleship's starboard thanix cannon locked on and fired. Then he felt it; a wave of heat piercing the ship as Thane was thrown to the ground in a haze of black as the cannon made short work of utterly gutting the ship. A second shot finished its carnage and the battleship was gone as fast as it arrived.
But Thane didn't even know; and as he fell unconscious, all he could think of was Reby.
They would die on this ship; this forgettable ship, in orbit of Virmire.
{Loading...}
August 10, 2251
1721 hours.
Lower Bar, Purgatory, Presidium, The Citadel.
Terra-Rannochian War.
Spectre Jessica Alenko, Ambassador Veetor'Nara pav Rome.
"I hope you can fire a gun!"
Jessica didn't wait for a response and immediately popped out from cover, firing rapidly at her enemy; she mostly used it as an excuse to get a better look at her enemy. Aside from the HMG wielding krogan on the catwalk, the numerous agents charging their position were two humans, three quarians and five geth. Damn it, never easy is it? She aimed her shots at the nearest human's leg, a bullet blasting into his kneecap and causing him to scream in pain as he doubled over and fell flat on the ground.
She moved back into cover and immediately checked the weapon's core; it wasn't overheated, but it was close to doing so, and it didn't have much plasma left in the battery. She cursed as she turned to Veetor, who just crouched there, not knowing what to do and staring aimlessly at her.
"Hello, Citadel to Veetor," Jessica clicked her fingers infront of his face to gain his attention, "You gonna speak to me or what? Do you know any exits?"
Veetor shook his head rapidly, "Of course not; its not like I know this place inside and out!"
"You took me into a bar, with agents not far behind, and didn't even map it out!?" Jessica exclaimed, wincing as a bullet pinged off the bar and ricocheted, hitting the ceiling above them. By this point, the pulse pounding music had ceased and the screams of innocent bystanders had faded away to nothing; C-Sec would most likely be on the scene soon; unless they had been paid off by Prometheus.
"I thought they'd be smarter than that!" Veetor retorted, "Its bloody Prometheus; they know subtlely more than you think you know yourself. This isn't like them! They shouldn't have attacked us!"
Guess he's got a point. But its always better to plan for the worst and then expect the best. With a sigh, she turned back around, pistol in hand. The one human she shot in the kneecap was still on the ground, cradling the mangled flesh that was formally his knee while flailing about in a pool of his own blood, whimpering. One of the geth quickly put an end to that and stomped down on his face with a foot, crushing it like a kid does a can of soda. The man's head exploded, painting the floor with his brains. She could hear Veetor trying not to gag behind her, but held up a hand for him to shut up.
She looked back out and looked at the geth. It was black and white and had the Prometheus insignia painted on its chest. Red optics stared back at her, the juggernaut unit wielding a geth plasma shotgun and looking directly at her. She gasped and turned back to Veetor, knowing they couldn't hold this location anymore.
So in an absolutely insane maneveur, she used her biotics to thrust forward and slam into the juggernaut, causing it to stumble. Taking advantage of the situation, she immediately spun around and launched a warp field, point blank, into the juggernaut's side, sending it flying over the railing and down onto the dance floor below.
She initiated a combat roll to avoid a flurry of assault rifle fire from the other agents and launched herself towards the dead promethean's rifle. She scooped it up in her palm, but winced as a shot pierced her side, causing pain to shoot through her body. Ignoring it, she formed a biotic barrier around her to deflect further shots and immediately turned, pulse rifle in her hands and aimed at the nearest quarian. She pulled the trigger.
Veetor watched as Jessica engaged the promethean forces, while simultaneously trying to figure out what to do. Ancestors show me what to do...He pleaded, hoping to whatever deities existed as well that Elan was watching over him and sending help. He hoped.
Jessica bellowed a war cry as she slammed her knee into the midsection of another quarian she had charged, winding her until she could repeat the action, this time in the soldier's face. The quarian reeled back, ignoring her broken nose in favor and retaliating with biotics. Jessica dived to the side, narrowly avoiding a shockwave, before sending her own under the quarian's feet. Ripped from her feet, the quarian slammed into a wall, and slid back to the ground; she hit the wall on the wrong side, and that resulted in a broken neck. Oh well, dumb luck for her.
Jessica turned around, a grin on her face, ready to take on what remained of the overly prepped promethean soldiers. But as she looked up, she realized she had forgotten one important thing; the krogan heavy. Typhoon fire rained down on her unshielded form, and she only just managed to raise a biotic barrier, which quickly fell in favor of diving behind cover. One salvo from that beast of a weapon would have torn her apart.
The krogan laughed sadistically, "Its over Alenko; come out of hiding. Give up, and I might make this a quick and painless death for you."
"Why?" Jessica screamed back, applying medi-gel to her long-overdue-to-be-healed wound, "I thought you krogan liked to fight your enemies while they fought, not kneeling on the ground, waiting for the bullet. Worried I'll kill you?"
"I'm not afraid of you human," the krogan agent declared, holding his typhoon above him like a stick, "My orders are clear; you're not leaving this place alive."
"I've got my own orders," Jessica dictated sternly, "I live. And if it must be so, you'll all die. I'll either leave in a body bag, or I'll leave, walking and talking. Either way, I leave this place, right?"
"Of course," the krogan smugly replied.
"Then enough bullshit," Jessica declared, launching a biotic shockwave at the conformed group of agents converging on her slowly, "Lets play."
The agents were sent scattering; either avoiding the blast or being scattered by that blast, sent flying over the railing or slamming into walls. Those that survived were quickly put down by Jessica herself, and she turned to the krogan, her pose defiant, and pulse rifle in hand. She gave the krogan a stern glare, the agent giving it full in return. Before she could say anything, Veetor quickly joined her side, pointing a pistol at him while shaking. A grin crossed her features, "Finally decided to fight, ambassador?"
"I could cower behind a bar, just like I've always cowered," Veetor stated, looking up at the krogan, "Your uncle Shepard made me better than that. My wife made me better than that."
"And I'll make you a rotting corpse. That sounds alot more fun if you ask me," the krogan interrupted, lowering his typhoon at them, "This does seem way too easy, but I guess I'll go for it; I'll get a promotion, nonetheless. Any last words?"
"You did not just perform the number one cliche," Jessica complained, sighing, "You do realize that some deus ex machina is going to happen now, right? Someone is just going to appear out of thin air to convienently save us at the right time. I'm telling you...its going to happen at any second now."
"What are you on abou-"
The krogan never finished as someone decloaked behind him and before he could turn around, a knife appeared around his throat, a gush of blood shooting out as his neck was ripped open. The figure drew back and waited for the krogan to drop his weapon before giving him a rough shove, causing the massive tank to fall off the catwalk and come to a wet thud on the ground below. Tearing their eyes away from the body, Jessica looked up, along with Veetor, and smiled at who she saw.
The same black outfit, the same black hoodie, the same white eyes; age hadn't changed her at all. As it didn't her skills it seemed; modern medical technology worked wonders.
"You just had to ruin my grand entrance, didn't you?" The figure asked snarkily, voice hoarse and old, but still holding the same comedy it always did, "I wish you wouldn't do that kiddo, it really does ruin the moment. I felt like a big hero there for a second," she jumped off the catwalk and nimbly landed on the ground, motioning for them to follow her outside, cloaking again as she left.
"Who's that? I seem to remember her alittle, but I can't remember her face," Veetor asked as they ran outside, following the former savior of the galaxy, or one of them at least. As they got outside, they saw three more dead agents, all collected around her prone form. The figure looked up and smiled behind her hood, obviously trying to capture the same innocence and youth and energy she once had. She likes to pretend.
"I know who you are!" Veetor remembered, the image of the figure smiling and bowing coming to mind, "You're Kasumi Goto!"
The old thief smiled weakly, "Kasumi yes. Goto...not anymore. I am Kasumi Vakarian, at your service."
"Wait...your husband is Garrus Vakarian?" Veetor asked.
"Which one?" Kasumi asked snarkily, "We have a son named Garrus Junior; an inside joke of mine. I like to poke fun at him when I call for him and both answer," she laughed, "That was, well, until he was killed during the war," she lost her smile, "Junior, I mean. But that doesn't matter, we need to leave. Prometheus have agents all around this place; I've got a skycar nearby."
"Where are we going?"
"Far from the Citadel; its too dangerous here."
"Maybe Aunt Shepard can help," Jessica suggested, "She's deep in quarian politics; if she can..."
"She's being watched by Promethean agents; do you remember a woman by the name of Reia'Inas?" Kasumi asked as they rapidly approached her skycar, Veetor in tow.
"Vaguely, yes," Jessica admitted, "She was somekind of high-class smartass, but underneath was the visage of a warrior. She's cunning, dangerous and ruthless in combat. She hates Tali'Shepard, and Tali'Shepard hates her, that's well known, mostly due to Tali having killed her mother when she worked for Prometheus decades ago."
"That's hardly vague girl," Kasumi commented, arriving at her skycar and opening the door for both of them to get inside. They did so and the thief closed the door, making sure noone could see them before getting in the driver's seat and taking off, "Either way, yes, Reia is keeping a close eye on Tali and her special interrogation subject. If Tali were any younger, she'd kick Reia's ass, but unfortunately, none of us big heroes are what we used to be. Shepard's dead, Garrus and I are too old to drop into a combat zone let alone wage war and Tali barely walk up the stairs to her own bedroom. Prometheus has timed their attack well; Cerberus bided their time, waited patiently, and then attacked. Influence is a weed, Lord Varys would say."
"Lord Varys?" Veetor and Jessica asked at the same time.
"Game of Thrones. You wouldn't understand," Kasumi hurriedly stated, "All you need to know, is that Prometheus is planning something big. I don't know what it is, but I've been keeping tabs on the many governments of the galaxy and I've been getting help from the Shadow Broker, and it appears that Prometheus has been making strange requests. They've placed increased focus on diverting materials away from the war effort to trying to the Andromeda Project."
"Andromeda project?" Jessica asked in confusion, "As in the Andromeda Galaxy?"
"Yeah, its a project that's been revived and cancelled again and again over the decades. All failed attempts to reach the Andromeda galaxy and the M33. Call it a 'Super Mass Relay' that allows for transporation between galaxies. And for some reason, Prometheus has put a huge focus on it. Why? Who the hell knows. By now, I'm sure you know Prometheus is Cerberus, don't you?"
"I still don't get how that's possible," the spectre insisted, "The Illusive Man is dead."
"But not the ideals," Veetor replied, "He died, and so did his organization, but the ideals lived on. Cerberus is an idea, not just an organization. And ideas are harder to destroy than you'd think. This idea has lived on and has given seed to Prometheus, which is about as dirty as any one organization can get. If my information is right, they'll most likely try to shut down the Broker next."
"Which is why I'm taking you to the Broker herself," Kasumi declared, letting the skycar descend on the docks, "You ever wanted to meet Aunt Liara, Jess?"
"Damn right," Jessica declared, "Maybe she'll have answers as to why everything is going to shit."
"Prometheus isn't the only worry," Kasumi stated, "The Sanctum is still pretty pissed about the Shadow Broker attack on Alpha, and the Covenant seem to be getting smarter. I don't know about you, but this entire war seems to be getting closer to an end, and I don't like how the ending looks or particulary how its colored."
"What's wrong with the color?"
"Its red. Dark red," the thief flinched, "Red in the blood of trillions. The Dominion may not be saints, but like it or not, the Maginot Line is all that stands between the Dominion and the Covenant. If they break through, all hell will break loose. The war will end, trillions will die."
"Our military is superior in everyway," Jessica told her, "That might not win wars, but in terms of the Covenant, we'd crush their armada extremely quickly if they ever broke through."
"You're right," Veetor stated, before giving her a knowing look, "But what if the Covenant had the technological advantage?"
Jessica widened her eyes, "What are you-?"
"Prometheus doesn't choose sides; it supplies both. Prometheus has always had an ulterior motive the entire time, and now it all comes to fruition. Don't you under, Spectre Alenko? Prometheus doesn't fight for the Dominion, they don't fight for Sanctum or the Covenant either. They don't fight for anyone; they're fighting to see us kill each other. That's why this war exists; it was engineered so that we'd bomb each other into submission, and when its all over, and the dust has cleared, Prometheus will stand on top."
Jessica looked between them both before looking back at Kasumi, who gave her a look of despair she had never seen on the thief's face before.
"Prometheus has played us both. They were twindling their thumbs and waiting for the downfall, and now they have it. Earth is well-protected they know that. They managed to convince the Coalition to nuke Thessia and occupy Palaven, along with Sur'Kesh, which removes the asari, turians and salarians as a threat. Now they've just got to eliminate the rest. Dominion and Covenant will wipe out each other, Dominion will win phyrricly and then civil war erupts between the krogan, humans and quarians. Prometheus helps humans, everyone else loses. And if the galaxy is uninhabitable afterwards? Well..."
"...there's always Andromeda."
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August 17, 2251
1000 hours.
Observation Deck, Upper Ward, Prometheus Headquarters, Unknown Sector.
Terra-Rannochian War.
Prometheus Commander Carter Dielheart, Captain Jaris 'Siren' Paltarons.
The Andromeda Project was a beauty to behold; the conglomeration of many decades of hard work, finally coming to together in one wholesome creation. Prometheus had bled its resources dry, but the Dominion just kept providing, unknowing as to the relay's true purpose; the station's true purpose. Carter stood on the observation deck, watching Reaper Oculi, accompanied by numerous promethean warships, patrolling the relay while Reaper Destroyers moved pieces into position and workers put them into place.
The Ark, as Han'Gerrel had christened it, was a carbon copy of the Citadel itself. A sister station. Of course, this idea had seemed ridiculous at first, especially when Han'Gerrel had ordered schematics of the Citadel's systems stolen so that they could build it exactly the same. But then he told Carter and the promethean architects that the Citadel wasn't a super relay, merely a massive one, and it didn't have the power to traverse a galaxy. But, if they were to build a sister station and connect both of them, it would create a super relay.
He plans on taking the Citadel by force, when the time comes, and connecting both the Citadel and the Ark together to create a massive relay. But, what about the eezo source needed to disperse so much energy? The stations are massive; they would need a centralized eezo power source; one the size of a station, to pull off such a feat.
Han'Gerrel himself would be coming to oversee the operation himself. The man had been a massive investor in Prometheus since the day it was birthed and now the organization flourishes, mostly in part to the Prime Candidate of the Quarian Totalitarian Republic. Them, and the Human Systems Coalition were by far the most influential of the many species that melded the Dominion. Han'Gerrel may have been old for his time, but his ability to hold things together wasn't lost on people like Carter.
Lesser men build the greater men; the lesser men become the greater men. Remember that Carter, when you become a Cerberus agent, and you see what the Illusive Man has to offer for your species. He remembered his father's words well. They were old and dated, but they held truth. But he hadn't joined Cerberus; by the time he was old enough to enlist, Cerberus was a name said in stories and the Illusive Man a dead corpse in an autopsy room. His father must have shared the same fate; he had never seen him again. But I was the lesser man; and I became the greater man.
The idea of visiting another galaxy hadn't really impressed Carter; it was just another galaxy, and it would most likely look the same as the Milky Way. But where he saw nothing but another galaxy, Prometheus saw an entire new playground; a new homeland where humanity was the only species, and ruled over their domain.
But how could they predict that? The Andromeda Galaxy would surely have other forms of life in it, possibly other sentient and sapient species, and whether or not they attained spaceflight was trivial; but what if they were better than them? Stronger? Smarter? More technologically advanced? It was hard to imagine anything more advanced than the Reapers, but it was fully possible. What if Prometheus wanders in too far and brings upon the death of humanity instead of its rebirth?
His thoughts were interrupted however by the sound of teeth grinding against metal; or, at least, that's what Carter thought of the sound that came out of Jaris' mouth everytime he 'talked.' The man was about as helpful as he could be, but also increasingly annoying. A powerful and unrivalled biotic, but a witless idiot when it came to actually negoitating and discussing tactics. Prometheus has bred its own Kai Leng. We already have our own Dielheart and our own Illusive Man, as quarian as he is, so why not a Kai Leng? Bring me an AI while you are fucking at it.
He ignored Jaris' presence for as long as he dared before turning to face the biotic, whose sunken features seemed to look into Carter's expectantly.
"Well? Are you going to say something or do we have to stand here awkwardly?" Carter asked incredulously.
Jaris grinded his teeth, "Han'Gerrel wants to see you; its about the project."
"You needed an invitation from me to say that?" Carter rolled his eyes and, not waiting for an answer, immediately turned to leave, heading for the new 'Illusive' office. The 'Humanity's Sanctum' it had been called on Cronos Station, before being blown up. Carter didn't bother to take note of Jaris following him and just kept walking, wanting to eagerly know why Gerrel had called a meeting.
Knowing the corridors of the station like the back of his hand, Carter quickly found the new control center and moved inside, finding Han'Gerrel himself situated at one end of the table, accompanied by numerous other promethean division commanders, and the leader of Prometheus herself, Cassandra Reynolds.
Han'Gerrel turned to Carter upon his entry and smiled, "Ah, Mr. Dielheart, take a seat. We were just waiting for you."
Carter nodded and sat at the table, pushing himself in and leaning forward, hands glasped together on the table. There were a total of eight different divisions of Prometheus, and all their commanders were here, including him, who commanded Central Division.
Han'Gerrel sighed heavily and coughed, also leaning forward as he began to speak. The quarian was supposedly 120 years old, and was still fighting strong, but noone could believe it. Even for the current medical implants for old people, Han seemed more energetic than normal for someone of his age. Rumors even say that he should be dead. Yet here is, sitting before us, alive and well.
"You're all probably wondering why I assembled you here today," Gerrel announced, "Well, its not about Andromeda; that project is proceeding nicely, and the Ark should be completely within the year, as the project lead has informed me. What does concern me however, is the current termination of everyone assiociated with Shepard's team, including those in relation with him. Carter, I believe you're in command of central division, yes?"
Carter widened his eyes, "That I am sir."
"Care to explain to me why you ordered central division troops to carry out these orders without Reynolds' or my sanction?"
"Sir, I never ordered anything of the sort," Carter told him, "If I wanted a job like that done, I'd have sent Jaris. He's brutal and far more discreet. I assure you, if I had given the orders, I would have asked for your permission first and foremost."
"I've checked the records Dielheart, they were central division units. And for a job that should be under a promethean banner, it was done rather loudly!" Han'Gerrel stood up, looking at him with anger, "I cannot believe that you ordered a corvette to attack an interceptor over bloody Virmire! You could have alerted the Dominion to the whole damn operation! Not to mention ordering in a damn battleship! And then order a hit on Spectre Alenko and Ambassador Nara in a night club? What in ancestors' name compelled you to ignore all discretion and attack them in the open! You almost exposed us!"
Carter stood to his defense, hands slamming down on the table, "I would never have allowed such a thing to happen! When as an operation under my juristiction ever failed to be subtle or discreet? Never! Men under my command are the most versatile, stealthy and well-trained infiltrators in all of Prometheus. A fuck-up on this scale is simply not possible; I would have ordered Jaris or Reia to oversee such a delicate operaton, you know that sir."
Han'Gerrel gave him a weary look, "You cannot deny it, Central Division is your sector and therefore you must have given the orders. I cannot allow-"
"It was me sir," Reynolds spoke up, "I ordered the hit, through Central channels. The fault lies with me."
Gerrel and Carter's looks switched to Reynolds, who now stood up fully, her imposing height looming over all of them, even Gerrel. The Prime Candidate gave Reynolds a cold look before standing straight and walking over to her at the end of the table, "And why, under what pretences, were you given the idea that you could do this without my authority?"
"It was a delicate operation sir, I didn't think you'd need to be informed," Reynolds assured him.
"That's because you didn't think," Gerrel declared without emotion, moving to stand beside her looking up at her and somehow managing to intimidate even that giant of a woman, "You fucked up. You almost put Prometheus in the spotlight, and if it weren't for me paying C-Sec not to act and delaying the Virmire Orbital Patrol from investigating, we'd have been revealed. You are collateral damage."
"It won't happen again sir, I swear it. I will do everything I can to rectify the situation."
"Excellent," Gerrel coldly stated before moving behind her and unsheating his knife. Before anyone could warn Reynolds, Han had her by the throat and rammed the knife in, causing her to shout out in brief pain. She grabbed at her throat, trying desperately to breathe while also trying to seal the wound, but Gerrel didn't let her; simply holding her back by the hair and showing her off to the group, "Watch her, all of you. This is the price of failure in this organization. This is the price of fucking up in this organization. Do what she did, and this is you. Paint that picture in your mind, and it might be a little motivation."
And with that, Reynolds stopped breathing, and her neck was dark red with the sticky liquid of her blood. Han let go and let her body collapse onto the table, blood flooding along it and ruining the orange look of its appearence. Gerrel didn't even flinch, instead moving to sit back where he had been. Carter noticed some of the commanders looked uncomfortable at the sight of Reynold's dead body while Carter seemed fixated by the blood that was dripping off the table and onto his lap; the blood seeping onto everyone's laps.
Gerrel sat down, seeming not to notice. Someone managed to speak up over the dead silence, "Sir-when sh-sh-she said she'd rectify the-the situation, you said 'excellent', almost like you'd let her do so. T-then you killed her."
"Yes, I did, didn't I?" Gerrel jested, as if completely unaware of the dead corpse spewing blood over the table down infront of him, "Well, I was talking to the Leader of Prometheus, not Cassandra Reynolds. Cassandra Reynolds is dead, as you can see, so we'll need another leader to rectify the situation. Seeing as I wouldn't trust anyone else with the rank, as everyone else, as I can tell, are just cowards who can't stand a dead corpse, I think Mr. Dielheart will lead Prometheus from now on."
Carter, originally still in his transe, looked up at the Prime Candidate, looking at him incredulously, "Me, sir? I'd feel honored but-"
"I don't give a rat's arse about what you feel honored by; I'm telling you that you're the new leader of Prometheus," Gerrel forcefully told him, "I don't need you to like it, I need you to do it well. Don't fuck up like Cassandra, or I'll make a demonstration with your body that involves indoctrination and a plasma engine. Are we clear?"
"Crystal sir," Carter replied.
"Good, now-"
Gerrel's words drowned out as Carter continued to watch the blood slowly trickle off the table and onto the floor, almost as if in slow motion. But everytime he looked at that blood, all he could see was his body, Gerrel's knife in his neck, his life blood leaking out of his corpse. Carter had to do his best, or he could join Reynolds as a lifeless corpse. Lesser men create the greater men. Reynolds may not be a man, but she was greater than me, and I helped, in a way, forge her own demise, to which I now sit beside her corpse, inexplicitably her successor. Thank you father, I've learnt another lesson today.
Lesser men forge the greater men, and the bodies of greater ones make the lesser ones great. I do believe that is just what Prometheus was. And now I'm its leader. Its like it was destined to be.
Carter smiled.
Uyal'fi: Quarian curse word. Cannot be translated into english; although can be implied as 'fuck.'
A/N:
I might be able to get the next chapter out soon, but it'll have to be before Tuesday. If it isn't out before then, then it won't be for another nine days as I'm going on vacation and will be out of range of the internet. However, this is good for me as it allows me to work more on the chapters and get a few chapters ahead of the story before I return, meaning I will at least have three or four chapters ready and down by the time I come back!
Don't worry, it won't kill you to wait. You've waited long enough for this one, haven't you? And yes, you thought 2251 was going to be uneventful didn't you? Think again!
Also, if you want an overall main theme for the state of the galaxy in 2251, I recommend this music. It really does fit the mood of a distraught and divided galaxy.
watch?v=qsZf2llz9vA. Link doesn't work for some reason (doesn't reach it directly). So when you do put it into the address bar and hit enter, click on the first video to appear (Inception - Time (Extended)).