Alternate Past: Uncertain Future Mk II
"There is always a sudden shift in the rules of warfare, with every war. Each time, it can be attributed to a single new technology, strategy or weapon. Many times a combination of all three. From the conical bullet of the 19th century, to the inception of tank warfare and blitzkrieg in the 20th, and faster-than-light travel in the 22nd. One must learn to adapt to these changes, before they can begin to take their toll."
-Commander Jacob Keyes, during his time as a teacher at the OCS on Luna during the Great War.
Chapter 22
Shadow War: Retaliation and Retribution
Datak Korra was very disciplined old soldier. He was certainly not given to excessive shows of emotion either. Nevertheless, a genuine smile appeared on his face when he found out that his people had managed to take down a Spartan.
"And what damage did our own forces suffer?" the high admiral asked.
The general in command of Fortress Bythor was suddenly glad that he was delivering this report over secure lines (rather than in person). Knowing how ruthlessly the high admiral dealt with perceived failure or incompetence as he admitted, "We lost a lot of personnel and vehicles sir."
"Numbers?"
"Approximately two hundred soldiers killed, and half again more injured. So far, we've counted eighty mechs destroyed along with twenty-five light armored vehicles and one gunship." The general reported. "That's not including the other damages we've suffered so far sir."
Datak nodded appreciatively. Quite honestly, he had expected for those numbers to be twice what they were.
"There were other rebels with him but...most of the damage was inflicted by the Spartan itself." The general continued. Since Datak had learned on the human's involvement, he had given all of the major military commanders a crash course in human military and terms, chief among them, the elite Spartans first seen kidnapping the Citadel Council.
"And the body? Did your teams manage to recover anything?"
"Yes, but its pretty mangled sir. Frankly, I doubt we could even convince anybody it was even human at this point without a DNA analysis." the general explained.
He waved the general off. "That's of little importance, what of the armor itself? What is its status?
"It was crushed as well, sir. It appears that it was damaged beyond repair, but we have recovered it as per your orders, sir."
"Let our boys in R&D figure that out. I want to you ship everything, including the body, to the Castle Facility." Korra commanded.
The general nodded in understanding. The Castle Facility was one of the military's top R&D facilities, located deep within one of Khar'Shan's mountains, and was the premiere R&D facility of the entire Hegemony, so it made sense to send everything there.
"As you wish, sir."
"And make sure to keep this quiet. I don't want anyone, or anything, getting wind of this. If anything happens to that armor, I am holding you personally responsible, general." Korra said just before hanging up.
Despite being in his private office, which was the most secure part of the high admiral's underground headquarters, Datak Korra felt uneasy. It was disturbing how much damage one unsupported Spartan had been able to inflict on his forces. He had calculated the losses based on the estimate that it would be more than a single Spartan. Especially considering the fact that he had no idea how many human super soldiers there really were.
He could scarcely imagine the thought of more of these Spartans on the battlefield. If just one could cause this many losses, than how much could a squad of them cause? Or even an army? He dreaded the potential carnage that could result.
"These humans, they've changed galactic warfare in way they don't realize. Or perhaps they do. Those fools on the Citadel certainly have not. Ordinary batarians are no longer enough, not with these Spartans. We need something more..." Korra thought as he tapped a few commands on his terminal. A video popping up on screen, showing a satellite view of the Spartan as utterly wrecked all those in it's path. "Perhaps...we already do…"
Creating super soldiers was certainly not a new idea in the Hegemony. But it had never seemed worth the effort or investment. Ordinary soldiers were more than enough to deal with most of the regime's enemies. While well trained and equipped, special forces could generally handle the rest. But the advent of these humans changed everything.
With the issuing of a few orders, Datak Korra began rerouting funding from several sources to a project for creating super soldiers that had initially been rejected. Said program had been decommissioned in all but name for ages. Those involved receiving little more than token funds to achieve their work. He was hoping that data from the Spartan corpse and his equipment would give the program the edge it needed. But was determined to move forward was either that, or bend over to the humans. And Datak, was never one to surrender.
**APUFMKII**
Far from Datak's office, the Rebellion was regrouping. "By the goddess, how did they find us?" Cara all but shouted, a sentiment shared by the other rebels present. "For months we've been fighting the Hegemony, and they couldn't find us if we were their neighbors! And now, we're running?" Admittedly, her words were less in anger, and more in fear.
"Well human?" Cara suddenly focusing on John. "Do you have any answers?" Now fear was slowly being replaced by anger. "Do you!" Other rebels began clamoring for answers as well.
Jella placed a hand on her lover. "Cara, love, calm down." She said, "John already told us, he doesn't know either that. Only that someone was attacking us."
"And I don't." Everyone's attention now focused on the Spartan. "The only thing I do know is, that whomever they are, are not the Hegemony's normal forces, or even their special forces. I've searched the safehouses of the lost cells, and everything points to some sort of special forces from outside the Hegemony being involved."
"And how would you know that?" Someone shouted. "I've been there myself, and I didn't find nothing!"
"Then you weren't looking hard enough. The doors were breached with a breaching charge, not brute force. And there were virtually no signs of a firefight, meaning that whoever breached the safe houses, were fast enough to take everyone down before they could realize what was going on. The lack of bodies meaning that they were probably taken prisoner."
"And that means we have to abandon and clear out every location those cells knew." Jella realized, getting a nod from John. "And let guess; until we figure out just what's going on, we have to put a hold on everything?" Her answer was another nod.
Jella turned back to the others. "Alright, you heard him then. Start figuring out which locations could be compromised. Secure what's inside if you think you can, otherwise, tell all the other cells to avoid them." As the rebels began to move to follow her orders, she added, "If you think you can leave any little presents, for any would be guests, do so."
While most gave an affirmative answer, one voice said, "So what, that's it then?" Drawing everyone's attention was a young turian, just old enough that back in turian space, he would have joined the military for his mandatory service. "We're just supposed to run and hide from them? I thought you people were fighters, not cowards. I-" He paused as dull thumps and shouts could be heard from the door, drawing everyone's attention.
A figure dressed in heavy robes burst into the barn functioning as their temporary headquarters. Walking in an almost drunken fashion until she sat down in a nearby (wooden) chair. Which promptly collapsed under her weight and left her on her ass.
Before anyone could move, John was already by her side, having recognized her at the last moment. Pulling the hood of the robe off revealed the, to him, familiar polarized faceplate. "Kelly."
The female Spartan gave him the Spartan Smile, a quick swipe across his faceplate. "Hey John. Reporting for Debriefing." She sounded more exhausted than injured, he thought to himself. A quick check of her suit's biological functions monitor supported that. Aside from a few bullet holes and an unusual amount of strain on her nervous systems, she was fine. Though the latter did concern him.
"What happened?" John Doe asked was'nt an easy feat to damage a Spartan's armor, let alone injury them. And Kelly, being the fastest of Spartans, couldn't be hit unless she allowed you to.
"We've got problems. It's not just the Hegemony anymore we're fighting. The Council's sent reinforcements." With help from John, she managed to stand again, though she was leaning against him.
"We've known that for a while." John was confused. "HIGHCOM told us in the last communique. In fact, it's been some time since they were scheduled to arrive."
"Yeah, but they didn't realize they weren't just sending grunts." Kelly grunted, "They've been here John, we just didn't realize it."
The Spartan Commander's eyes widened by a hair. "Special Forces?" Kelly confirmed it. "That's who did this to you?"
"Yeah, asari. twenty-plus. Elite."
"And we have to assume that the other Councilors sent their own forces as well." John surmised. "How did they manage to get the drop on you?"
"They actually weakened the floor under where I was standing. Sent me through two sublevels, and they already had me surrounded by the time I hit the ground." Kelly explained to the best of her ability. "But John, there's something else we need to tell the others. I'll let you know later."
John nodded before focusing on the others. "I assume all of you heard that then?"
All of them numbly answered yes. And were staring at the cloaked Spartan leaning against her commanding officer. The stories told about the elite forces of the Council races were both equally awe inspiring, and terrifying to those who heard them.
The turians, with their biotic Cabals and Blackwatch forces. Able to pacify and seize an entire pirate asteroid base, without taking any casualties.
The Salarians, with their Special Tasks Group, using newer and exotic weapons and technology to carry out the job. Even going so far as to use biological and chemical weapons.
The Krogan with their Kalros Legion, Krogan of exceptional build, both in mind and body. Their shock value on the battlefield was unparalleled.
And the asari commandos, able to wipe out entire platoons with their biotics alone. Centuries of experience and training, they were thought to be unkillable. Least not without heavy weapons or ground support.
And the human Spartan had just claimed to kill almost twenty of them. Quite frankly, those present weren't sure whether to be afraid of the fact that Council Special Forces were present, or if they should pity them.
We need to strike back against these commandos. Jella, Cara, you're in charge of reorganizing the cells. I'll be taking charge of the counter-operations. The Rebellion is far from beaten, and it's time we showed them that we will not be so easily beaten."
As Cara and Jella began giving out orders in accordance with John's orders, John pulled Kelly away, moving into John's temporary quarters before establishing a private comm. link between themselves. "Kelly, is this related to what happened to you with those asari?"
"Yes. John, there's no easy way to say this, but their biotics, they're more effective than we realized. The fall shattered my shields, and I didn't have a chance to let them recharge. The armor stopped their gunfire and most of their biotics but...John, one of them hit me with something, it bypassed my armor completely. My brain felt like it was being burned by plasma, my armor began spasming; I didn't have control of it. I nearly ripped my own arm out of it's socket because of it. The only reason I'm still alive is because of the rebels who were supposed to rendezvous with me." Kelly confessed.
The knowledge hit John Doe heavily. The Council Races had more biotics than humanity had people. When the Spartans had first faced off against these biotics, they had classified them as a minor threat, any biotics attacks splashing against their shields if they managed to fire off any. But if they could bypass the armor entirely once their shields were down...it was a terrifying prospect. "We need to inform the others, and HIGHCOM."
'And mother as well.' He thought to himself.
Kelly had known John long enough to get a sense of just how worried he was. So she said in reassurance "I killed dozens of them before they were able to do any real damage John. Unless the asari actually start building an army and training them in anti-Spartan tactics, and whatever it was that hit me, we probably have nothing to worry about."
"I suppose you're right." John Doe admitted, because he certainly couldn't see that happening anytime soon.
**APUFMKII**
Castle Facility, the name of the Hegemony's premiere Research and Development Facility for all things alien. Not to mention the starting location for many of its black projects. Completely off the books, with the exception of those who worked there and a select few outside them, the Castle Facility did not exist.
Which was why Datak had sent what had been salvaged from the Spartan's corpse, both gear and the body itself, to Castle Facility. It was as secure as Batarian territory could get, not including Datak's private bunker of course. Even in a facility as secret as Castle, there were locations within it that were blacked out on designs and known only to a select few.
Which was where Diego's body and gear had been sent and were now lying on a table. "Fascinating…these humans are, admittedly, ingenious." A Hegemony scientist muttered to himself as he ran his omnitool across a bone that had remained intact. "A Carbide Ceramic layer grafted to the calcium so as to make them unbreakable. But still porous enough to allow normal body functions. Well, assuming that these human bodies work like we do."
The scientist was just one of over a dozen others analyzing the salvage that was lying on the table. Some, like this particular one was, were studying the body itself and whatever oddities they founds. Others were examining the suit itself, what was left it of it at any rate. he body had been removed from the armor and underlayer suit as much as they could. Some portions however the armor and suit had melted and fused with the flesh. Or the flesh had burned to ash with the armor portion melting into unrecognizable slag. And some rare sections had come out relatively unscathed. The majority of it however, had been crumpled by the impact with the gunship. The largest parts to have remained mostly intact were the head and helmet, the back of the upper torso armor and the lower section of a leg. And a few others were trying to make sense of the slagged and heat-fused components to try and make sense of it.
All of them taking meticulous notes and deep-layer scans of every single piece that they touched, and even what they had not. After all, it was not worth running the risk of punishment for failing to report absolutely everything they had learned.
What none of them realized however, was that the batarian in question was getting a real-time feed and updates from the facility. Having a direct link to everything in the darkened section, with him being the only one who knew about his link.
Datak was not someone to leave any loose ends lying around.
As he was reading the notes and data coming in, he had to agree, these humans were incredibly inventive. The body itself may more or less have been turned to paste, but still, they were learning from it. From the suit alone, they had found a potential fusion reactor small enough to fit within a standard hardsuit. Hardsuits, which were the name of the bodyarmor consisting of an underlayer bodysuit with external plates of hard synthetic materials and ceramic, most which possessed a shield generator and mechanical aid to reduce the felt weight, were all battery powered. Then there was the muscle-like fibrous material making up the human bodysuit, which possibly augmented the user's strength, least that was the assumption, and the strange gel-layer beneath it, which so far they had not found a purpose to. Though Datak surmised it had something to do with comfort to some extent, considering it's proximity to the skin layer.
Then of course, there was the body itself. It in of itself was proof that the humans were either far more intelligent than anyone had realized, or that they were entirely immoral.
Korra was a not a doctor or scientist, but nevertheless, he was very intelligent, well informed, and had developed a very 'hands on' understanding of just how much punishment flesh could endure. Based on what the researchers had uncovered so far, these humans, assuming the one that they had killed was typical for their race, had undergone extensive modification. So extensive that it signified that the humans either had much more advanced medical technology, or that they were willing to (most likely) maim and kill a large percentage of potential Spartans just to create a few 'good' ones.
And based on what they had found, even without the armor, these humans could take half as much punishment from a krogan before falling. Considering the resistance of the other races compared to krogans, that was considerable.
Datak knew that such a brute force approach would probably be necessary if the Hegemony were going to create their own super soldiers in a relatively short amount of time. But that was a price he was more than willing to pay.
The Hegemony certainly had enough 'disposable' people to use in such experiments. And Korra couldn't think of a better way to spend a slave's life than to literally create fitter masters.
But those were plans for the future. At the moment, Korra was reviewing footage that some batarian troops had gotten ahold of. They had found it when they had gone searching for the asari commando team that had forgotten to report in. Three times. He was the only one who knew where all of them were based, and so had dispatched a squad to find out.
What they had found, was nothing than a scene of total carnage.. Many of the bodies were so badly burned and mangled that DNA testing was required just to confirm that they had been asari. Others were riddled with bullets, one was even decapitated, and at least one corpse had been reduced to little more than a smear on the wall. In many cases their equipment was just as badly damaged, but the batarian soldiers had still been able to recover some useful data.
And it was equally enlightening, as it was disturbing. The video quality was military standard, which meant utterly terrible, but more than enough for Korra. It showed the commandos battle against the Spartan that had ambushed them in all its gory detail.
Korra could not deny though, the way the Spartan had ambushed the asari Commandos was nothing short of tactical genius. If a bit ungraceful in execution. Using their own body weight for breakthrough that much concrete, just to get the drop on their targets. Korra gave credit where it was due.
Still, the fact remained that the asari had almost won. Using their biotics to directly attack the nervous system of their human foe. Who had only escaped due to reinforcements arriving in the nick of time. Datak was genuinely curious as to whether or not the Spartan had been able to recover from what the commandos had done to him or her, and regretted that he would probably never know.
What was frightening however, was the relative ease it had dispatched a good portion of the commandos before it had been hit by that Reave. Compared to the Spartan they had recovered, the one in the video was above and beyond it. In skill, ability and size. The one in the video was easily a full head taller than the other. "But why such a difference?" He pondered. "An Elite within the elite, perhaps?" Such a possibility wasn't too far out of the question. Even in the Hegemony's WhiteGuard, there were elite units a cut above the rest, and individual soldiers who embodied even higher standards.
Of course that begged the question, how many of these upper elites were there? Shaking the thought from his mind, Korra prepared to send the footage to the other asari commandos sent by the Council. Hopefully learning that their biotics could be so effective against Spartans would help them adjust their future tactics. If nothing else, the high admiral thought that knowing that Citadel ground troops could take down the super soldiers would raise the morale of everybody who had to fight them.
**APUFMKII**
The STG team had been observing the rebel cell for over a day now. Tracking their movements, counting their numbers, and studying their defenses. Now, finally that it was dark as the night would get, they moved. The lack of maintenance and proper lighting in the slums making their job that much easier.
Up above and across the street, snipers and spotters were perched in their nests, keeping an eye on the windows and streets. If there any surprises lying in wait, they'd find them. As far as the STG team were concerned, this was just another raid. One of dozens they've already planned and executed earlier, in similar locales.
The team leader, Ozik Cadok, watched as one of his team placed a breaching charge against the door. His HUD lighting up with green winks as the other team confirmed their own charges being placed. "All teams, confirm position." The radio clicking as they called in.
"Sniper One, in position."
"Sniper Two in position."
"Team Two in position."
"Sniper Three in, what the?"
Frowning, Cadok looked towards the general location of the third sniper nest. "Sniper Three, what's the problem?"
The sniper in question was looking at his spotter, trying to confirm what he just saw. Only for him to shrug. Going back to his rifle, he answered, "Sorry boss. Just something wrong with the scope. It looked like one of the windows fizzled for a second or something."
"Fizzled?"
"The window was covered in static, but it must have been the scope."
Cadok frowned. He'd been having strange feelings about this raid, but had passed it off as nothing more than just the slums having their effect on him. "All teams get ready." He pulled the small detonator from a hip pouch. "Firing breach charges in 3, 2, 1. Breaching!" Slamming a thumb on the detonator, the doors exploded inward. "Flares!" On cue, two flare grenades were thrown in. Detonating with a bright flash of light and a thunderous STG teams charging in as soon as the grenades detonated. "Go, go, go!"
Weapons raised, the STG strafed the room finding, nothing? As the rush from the door breach faded, the STG found themselves looking into an empty room. Frowning, Ozik looked around the room, trying to understand what was going on. The place didn't look abandoned. If anything, it looked lived in. His eyes widened in realization, calling up the sniper teams on the radio. "Nests, report in! What do you see?"
"Sniper Three. Sir, we got nothing. No reaction, no changes. They're just there."
"Sniper Two here. Same here sir, we got nothing."
Frowning at the lack of response, Cadok pressured. "Sniper One, what's your situation?" Silence. "Sniper One, respond." No answer. "Snipers Two and Three, search One's position, what's going on?"
Sniper Three's alarm was plain to hear as he shouted. "Sniper One is gone! I repeat Sniper One is down! Th-" The radio didn't even squelch as it cut off.
"Two and Three, what's happening?!"
This time it was Two's panicked voice that filled the radio. "They're inside, they're insi-"
Cadok, realizing just exactly what was going on, ordered, "Fall back! Everyone fall back!" As the teams turned toward where they had come from, they all froze as the hum and crackling of fading cloaks could be heard. Turning their heads to the source, they came face to face with a familiar visor. A large, triple-barreled rifle aimed at Cadok's head. Flanking the STG, blocking the doors, two more Spartans stood. One of them holding a massive double-barreled hand cannon that looked like small artillery pieces to the much smaller salarians. The other holding a regular human rifle. The human super soldiers seemed to ominously loom over the STG operatives in that brief moment after they realized the Spartans were there but before the humans attacked.
Unfortunately for the STG agents, that moment couldn't last. As John and Ozik stared each other down, the Spartan ordered. "Take them." Two thunderous cracks split the air as twin .500 caliber rounds exploded from the pistol, tearing through three salarians with ease. The other cut loose with his rifle, precision fire withering away the shields of one salarian, then perforating his body. John doing the same with his own.
But the STG weren't known as elite for nothing.
The remaining seven covert operatives quickly realized that conventional tactics wouldn't work. So they fired a quick drying adhesive (designed to immobilize targets without killing them) from their omni-tools at the feet of the Spartan. Gluing the humans feet to the floor as the STG agents tried to retreat.
Under normal circumstances, the adhesive wouldn't have slowed down, let alone stopped a Spartan, but the STG had since learned from their skirmish on the Citadel. Only John managed to free himself, grabbing Ozik as he tried to run before throwing him against a wall, knocking the STG leader out cold. The other Spartans couldn't free themselves, and one was forced to lock their armor; making their shields impenetrable but unable to move as the STG focused their fire on him. Skirting around him and running out the door. Still, the handcannon wielder emptied the cylinder, splitting a salarian in two and destroying the arm of another before being forced into armor lock as well as they fired glowing blobs at them. And not a moment too soon as they soon exploded with enough force to rival a plasma grenade. As the cloud from the explosion dissipated, the Spartan was still there, if a little scorched: the near-invincibility of the armor-lock minimizing the damage to almost nothing.
The surviving STG skirting around the Spartan, only for half of the survivors to be cut down by John before they were out the door. Without any hurry in his step, he walked to each of the Spartan-IVs, before ripping the adhesive off them.
The few salarians who made it out the door were killed by rebel snipers before they could make it very far. While the within building, Ozik Cadok slowly regained consciousness. Only to realize that he was surrounded by enemy super soldiers. Wondering if he would have been better off if the blow to the head had killed him.
**APUFMKII**
"We...have seriously underestimated these terrorists…" STG Captain Kirrahe grudgingly admitted.
"That's understating the situation." Nyreen Kandros, temporary commander of the Turian Forces. She had not wanted to be sent here, but as one of the few biotic turians the Hierarchy had under their command, not to mention how she had proven herself against the humans during the short Council-UNSC War, they had sent her, along with many others who had fought the humans, to Khar'shan. Kandros especially, since her command was one of the few, perhaps only, unit to have successfully brought down a human exo-suit. "We lost almost the entire contingent of asari Commandos sent with us, including their commander."
"That's not including all the intel they might have gotten from them." Urdnot Wreav, who was in command of the krogan forces. Wreav, who had once been driven by his love of war and battle, had mellowed since the conflict with the humans. Being the only survivor of an entire battalion of krogan tends to do that.
The three special forces commanders were meeting inside a turian Hypori-class frigate, provided by the Hierarchy, that was serving as their unified base of operations. Each of them had set up multiple outposts planetside, for their own forces. Along with their own vessels. And this was the first time they had meet like this since their first meeting with Datak Korra.
Nyreen nodded in agreement. "True, but what I'm wondering is how?" When she got strange looks from her peers, she elaborated, "What I mean is, how did they know where to look for them?"
They were all looking at a three dimensional representation of where the asari had set up their underground base, all the way up to the surface. It was, based on the data they had, repeating the events of that day. Currently, it was paused, with the Spartan on the surface, ready to punch a hole in the weakened ground. Below, the asari were milling around, finalizing their hidden camp in the sewers. Directly beneath the Spartan. "Look at this." Nyreen expanded the image, focusing on the hole that the Spartan was about to create. "This is the first time we've seen any humans in the area, and it knows just where to go to ambush them?" The image rotated, showing that the Spartan was indeed perfectly positioned to land right in the midst of the asari.
"I'm not entirely sure this was an ambush." Before anyone could ask, he forwarded the display, pausing with the Spartan's landing. "Look, when it hit bottom, it was on its back, not on it's feet."
Kirrahe rotated and replayed the scene several times. "Hmm, I don't think that's the case. It may have simply misjudged how weak the ground really was, and was surprised at how easily it broke." Letting it play again, he paused, just as the first of the Commandos died at the hands of the Spartan. "Look how it moved, the speed, the determination. That is not a knee jerk reaction, that is planned. Deliberate."
Wreav rumbled as he had to admit, the salarian had it right. Seeing the Spartan in action, it didn't seem like it had fumbled around trying to fight, but was following a predetermined plan.
"Still, we need to figure out how they found out, and make sure they don't do it again." Wreav pointed out.
The others nodded in agreement. "At the very least, we learned some valuable lessons from this." Nyreen began manipulating the controls again making the display change, zooming in on the Spartan. Showing the moment the Spartan was pulled off the ground and held aloft by biotics as it was being pummeled by the commandos. "Even with the thing's spirit's be damned shields down, their weapons couldn't penetrate the armor." They could clearly see the armor stopping the rounds cold and in some cases actually bouncing off. Glowing emblems on some of the asari weapons showing they were using armor piercing rounds. "If that's what happens with asari commando weapons, I don't want to think how badly standard issue weapons would fare." Since the Council's kidnapping during the UNSC's first visit to the Citadel, every Specials Forces group in Citadel Space had gone over every single video and piece of data relating to the Spartans and their capabilities. What had attracted the attention of many, had been the personal shields of the Spartans. Specifically, how powerful those shields were. Despite their best efforts, not once had they managed to penetrate those shields. Those used by non-Spartan troops had been successfully breached though. Sure the Spartans had displayed basic tactics, but still.
"Maybe our gear can fare better." Wreav suggested. "A lot of our weapons are designed to penetrate our shields, armor and hides in a single blow. If those don't work, we got weapons designed just to kill Thresher Maws."
"The STG also has experimental weapons of our own." Kirrahe added. "I will be forwarding this to my superiors and hopefully do some good."
"The Hierarchy has since been working on harder hitting weapons since Palaven. The question is, will the Asari and their Tevos Initiative provide anything viable." Nyreen, and indeed many in the special forces, and indeed the armed forces in general, were skeptic about this new so called Tevos Initiative actually producing anything combat effective. The asari commandos were considered to be elite, and so were their Justicars, but the asari had not had been involved in any major military action since the Rachni Wars. They had barely gotten involved in the UNSC-Citadel War. "At least we've learned something that's effective against these things."
They had all been surprised when the Spartan had almost been brought to her knees. The asari commander, seeing that none of their weapons were having effect, had attacked its nervous system directly with her biotics. Seeing the Spartan stop fighting and its limbs spasm had been a shock to them all. It had even appeared that the commandos had won, until they had been gunned down from above by rappelling terrorist forces.
"How many commandos are left?" Wreav asked, wanting to see if the asari commandos could finish the job under the right circumstances."
Two...they were investigating a possible terrorist cell when the rest of their squad got wiped out." Nyreen explained.
"So why aren't they here with us?" Wreav complained.
"They're waiting for reinforcements and further orders." Captain Kirrahe replied. The contempt in his voice obvious.
While strict discipline and adherence to orders was vital for regular troops, the STG captain thought that special forces should have more independence and initiative. Special forces who couldn't think on their feet were just regular soldiers with better equipment, in Kirrahe's opinion.
"So now what?" Nyreen asked irritably.
"Now we set a trap. If I understand the Spartans and their rebel followers as well as I think I do, they will try to seize the Spartan corpse and its equipment back from the batarians. So I propose that we let them think they have a chance to." Kirrahe announced.
Nyreen looked at the salarian leader dubiously, not eager to force another confrontation with the Spartans. But Wreav just laughed. Telling the captain. "Heh heh, I KNEW you had a quad Kirrahe."
"Shouldn't we wait for the commandos' reinforcements to get here first?" Nyreen asked critically.
"No, the more time the rebellion has to dig in, the stronger it will become. The Hegemony has become too adept at making its own people hate it, and these terrorist's are capitalizing on that. Besides, since we don't know HOW the humans are smuggling themselves into batarian territory, the Spartans could get more reinforcements at any time. Worse, without us knowing." Kirrahe firmly replied.
"We still have to inform the Council though." Nyreen pointed out. "Intelligence is half of any war after all. And we are starving for it."
"Yes, after this mission but not before. Human technology is more advanced than ours, so they might be able to listen in to even encrypted communications." Kirrahe explained. "If we have to, we can leave a dead drop if we fail."
Wreav grunted softly as an idea began to take form in his mind. Many people (including some krogan) simply dismissed the battlemaster as a brute. But he hadn't lived so long without learning a few tricks. Something Wreav demonstrated as he said "Then why don't we use that? If they're gonna listen to our communications anyway, let's tell them what we want to hear."
"You mean to bait them…"
Wreav nodded. "We make plans involving the armor, make it as enticing as possible for them to recover it. And when they make their move." His hand suddenly wrapped into a fist. "We close the knot."
"We'll need to coordinate with Korra to make this work." Nyreen said distastefully.
"And we'll need him to allow us to use the actual armor." Kirrahe added. "If they even suspect the armor and body are fake, even for a moment, the plan will be a waste."
Wreav sighed and said, "If he gives you grief about it I'll ask my brother to talk to him."
The krogan didn't like using his connections. Relying on family to help him, made him feel young and weak again. Nevertheless, being the only surviving brood brother of Councilor Wrex was undeniably useful at times.
"You do realize that if we fail here, it could end all our careers? This is the first Spartan corpse and equipment anybody in Council space has gotten their hands on." Nyreen said warningly.
"We're planning on deliberately provoking a fight with Spartans. If we fail, we'll probably be DEAD, so I'm not too worried about my rep." Wreav replied with a shrug.
**APUFMKII**
The rebels interrogation of Ozik Cadok had been brief. Mainly because the salarian STG agent had died shortly after it began. And no one was quite sure why.
"Are you SURE you didn't hit him too hard" John Doe asked Sarah Palmer.
The Spartan-IV shook her head. "I don't think so. It wasn't like I was trying to break anything."
"Perhaps he was equipped with a suicide capsule, like most of ONI's field agents." John guessed aloud. "Either way, we've lost our information source on their special forces here."
"Not quite...we still have all his equipment including the communications gear" Kelly added.
Despite the fact that Jella Korragan officially led the Rebellion, she not been invited to (or even informed of) this meeting. This was about Spartan matters. Specifically what to do about Spartan technology falling into enemy hands. So only the Spartans were in ramshackle room functioning as their meeting place.
"That's true," Palmer admitted, "But's its not like it'll be of much help finding out where the rest of them are. Or what their plans are. They'll probably have already changed their encryption scheme already."
"They might not assume that their colleague was captured." Another Spartan-IV pointed out, Demenux Rivers. "We didn't leave all of their corpses intact. So they might think he's dead." Demenux had been part of the ambush at the safe house. "I saw the damage Palmer's hand cannon had done to the Salarians; literally tore them to pieces." Said Spartan absentmindly touched the KG OS .50x.50 revolver attached to her thigh armor. "That wasn't including how we had piled the bodies and then burned them with thermite. Leaving almost nothing of the bodies."
"I can actually confirm that; they do think he's dead." Kelly didn't falter as everyone's attention was suddenly focused on her. "I'm listening to their communiques right now, and one of messages I intercepted with the STG gear. The batarians are planning on moving Diego's corpse and equipment from its current location to a heavily defended secret R&D facility in deep space."
"It that's true, then that just makes taking it back a lot easier." Palmer pursed her lips together, as she continued. "But why are they talking about this on the Salarians' channels? Are they trying to bait us?"
Kelly shook her head. "It's not, the batarians are using their own channels. They're also using the STG's encryption. That's why I heard about it." Before Palmer could speak, Kelly explained, "The STG's encryption are superior to anything the other races may have. Far superior."
"Assuming the data is as good it appears, our best option would be to recover the equipment and corpse when they move it. Recovering it afterwards isn't feasible since we lack any of our space based assets in this Operation." John Doe stated.
There was an awkward silence for a moment. None of them liked being reminded that Spartacus was an 'off the books' Operation. Therefore they couldn't count on the support they had received from the military during the Great War. Forcing them to relying on the locals for support. They didn't even have access to the Spartan Arsenal weapons except for the smaller ones, like Palmer's revolver.
"We'll need something to distract the Hegemony while we're doing this. Something that's going to occupy most, if not all their forces close by to wherever we execute this job." Palmer pointed out. She snapped her fingers. "Why not get that little pet of yours, Kerrigan or whatever her name is, to do that for us. Launch a dozen or so attacks, that'll occupy the batarians easily enough." Palmer's disdain and apathy for the Rebellion leader was clear in her tone. Like many of her kind, being an ex-ODST, she cared little for aliens, unless it was killing them.
"Her name is Korragan." John added stiffly.
Although he was loyal to humanity and the UNSC first and foremost, and had his own nightmarish experience and memories from the Great War, John had come to, if not care about, then at least respect Jella and many of the other rebels during his time in batarian space. He had been told (and believed) that Operation Spartacus would make things better for them. But sometimes the attitude of his fellow humans (even Spartans) made him wonder if he was just lying to himself (and by extension, all the rebels).
"Kerrigan, Korragan, whatever the four-eye's name is, she's our best option to create as large a window for the recovery operation. Will she do it?"
"Yes she will, because she trusts us...something you should keep in mind before speaking of our allies with such obvious contempt." John answered icily.
Palmer gulped down her comment about allies at, what she remembered to be, her commanding officer's tone. She had forgotten that compared to the seven foot behemoth before her, she was not his friend or even his equal. Recalling for a month how her CO had single-handedly, out of armor, wiped the floor with her and the other Spartans of the first graduating class. When John asked, "Is that understood?" She snapped off a salute so quickly, her hand was jarred from smacking against her head. "Sir, yes sir!"
"Now I will talk to Jella Korragan and coordinate our movements with the other rebel. Kelly, Palmer, I want all intel on that site where Diego's body is being held, and all possible scenarios. The rest of you, prep your gear and armor. We're traveling light, but I'm pulling the gear limitation." John Doe ordered. His last words garnered more than a few smiles. All of the Spartans had brought along some extra gear with them when they had been sent here. Most of it however, had since been gathering dust in the safe houses, as to use them would be far too noticeable. The Spartan-IVs present were looking forward to it.
**APUFMKII**
The Castle Facility was normally one of the most heavily defended locations on Khar'Shan. Second only to Bythor Fortress in terms of soldiers defending it, automated defenses, and heavy vehicles stationed there. On any given day, any attempt to besiege the facility could be considered pointless at best, suicidal at worst. Yet today there was a fairly obvious gap in the facility's defenses. A place that any experienced and observant soldier would probably identify as the weak point.
But the sight just filled John Doe with suspicion.
"Sir?" John didn't need to turn his head to know it was Palmer approaching him, he could see her IFF on his radar. "What's going on, why aren't we moving?"
Handing her the binoculars, he pointed to the facility entrance they were looking at. Taking them, Palmer looked where her CO had point. The binoculars linking with her helmet to provided a clean image. "They're trying to bait us." John nodded, waving at her to get back.
Moving away from their vantage point, they rejoined the others waiting for them. "Sir, something wrong?"
"They wanted us to come here." John pulled up the map on his HUD, sharing it with the others. "They've purposely created a gap in their defenses."
"So, whats the plan then sir?"
"Attack them where the defenses appear strongest." On the map, points were highlighted.
"What!...why would we do anything so suicidal?" Palmer asked indignantly.
"Because they would never expect it...besides I nearly certain that those 'weak points' are where are actually perfect kill zones they have set up." John answered confidently.
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because its what I would do in their position." John replied. "They know that they have nothing that can match us. Nothing that can be our equals. This is their attempt to capture us."
"Going loud then, sir?" Demenux asked, warily eyeing Palmer, or more specifically, her hand cannon. "If we are, might as well let Palmer fire the first shot. If that doesn't bring everyone running…"
The Spartan CO shook his head. "No. We're going quiet on this one. For a moment at least. We take down as many as we can, as quietly as we can. Infiltrate as deep as we can, until it's no longer a viable tactic."
"What is defined as 'no longer viable'?"
"Should, both our presence be detected, and heavy enemy resistance is encountered."
"So basically if we get caught, and it's stupid to try and keep the fight hidden." Demenux summed up.
John nodded. "Once that occurs," They all knew that with a facility like this, going loud was inevitable, "use any and all means available to reach the current objective. Our first objective will be to find a data center, from there, track down our primary objective. And then we move to secure or destroy it, then exfiltrate."
"What if we come across any batarian HVIs?" Palmer asked. Eager to inflict some pain on somebody that actually mattered to their enemy.
"Targets of Opportunity. Engage should you encounter them, do not search for them. Your HUD will identify potential HVIs. DO NOT ENGAGE non-HVI Civilians."
"You're no fun." Palmer said theatrically, but with no real heat. Too much of a professional to really argue with her superior (at least when he was obviously right).
Less than a mile away, Wreav, Nyreen, and Kirrahe, and their squads, were preparing for the Spartans arrival. Checking weapons, issuing last minute orders, and double checking their plans.
"You think they'll take the bait?" Nyreen asked, referring to both the armor and the entry point.
"Hard to say...we know the humans can fight well because of their technological edge but they could have easily become so arrogant and dependent on superior firepower that they don't have decent tacticians and strategists anymore" captain Kirrahe openly theorized.
"It also depends on whether the enemy commander has a working brain." Wreav added."These Spartans aren't just some random grunts."
"Wreav has a point...taking these super soldiers down won't be easy." Nyreen said uneasily.
"Superior weapons and abilities only count for so much...even the best soldiers have their limits" Kirrahe replied confidently.
"Sir we just received word that rebel forces have attacked the mayoral mansion in the nearest town" an STG agent reported to captain Kirrahe.
"I guess its started" Wreav said with anticipation in his voice.
Nyreen, Kirrahe, and Wreav had all expected the rebels to mount attacks near the Castle Facility before assaulting it. Both to confuse their enemy and divert hostile forces away from the Castle. Now they knew the Spartans had taken the bait.
Captain Kirrahe looked at his two comrades and said "by this time tomorrow any Spartan stupid enough to enter this facility will be dead or captured and we will all be promoted."
"The threat of one's annihilation, is a most excellent motivator."
-Unknown
Author's Note:
aDarkOne:
Yes we ended the chapter on a cliffhanger…
BECAUSE WE ARE EVIL! :)
Actually we were originally planning to include the battle in this chapter. But then we realized that we couldn't do the battle for the Spartan's corpse justice without making this chapter ridiculously long.
So there will be a lot of Spartan action next chapter.
Follower38:
Yes, as my co-writer says, we end the chapter with a cliffhanger. And aside from wanting to use the author's trolling, we felt that if we tried to include the scene here, we would not be able to do it just. Also, I have posted a new archive regarding some backstory details as a new story. It is on my page for those of you who wish to read it. Combat and warfare will be appearing more so. And the next chapter, well….let's just say the Batarian Hegemony is about to learn just why Spartans were called Demons.
