PLEASE READ BELOW
I have done a complete rewrite of Chapter 3. Reading it would be a good idea!
Anyway (You don't have to read this bit) this is the longest chapter by far. I feel like i have done a better job with this chapter then the ones before, but that is up to you. Remember to give me some feedback, it truly helps. constructive or not, tell me what you think of the longer chapter. Oh and thank you SO MUCH for the favorites and follows, you make my day! Anyway
Chapter four: Developments
15 February 2611
Hello and welcome back to the Citadel News Network. Most likely most of you saw the absolutely massive star-ship earlier today. This ship is owned by the new nation calling them self the Unified Alliance or UA for short. The UA and Council negotiations ended with the '314 Treaty' named after the relay were the UA and Council had their first battle resulting in the Turian 13th fleet being completely destroyed by the apparent UA rebels. We at this time have yet to hear what this treaty contains.
16 February 2611
Continuing from yesterday. Today councilor Tevos came forward with the details of the '314 Treaty'. The UA says that anyone coming through the 314 relay without council permission will be fired on. The treaty also mentions that no UA ship over 1km is to enter Council space. So far this is the only news on the treaty released to the public. It seems that the Citadel Council and the new Unified Alliance has some tension growing between them, for the latest developments on this matter, stay turned on CNN
18 February 2611 (UNSC Standard Calendar)
Pheonix System
UA 9th Fleet
In-orbit relay 314
UNSC Hydra-Class Heavy Carrier Dawn-Breaker
"So why exactly are we helping the fucking rebels! They are responsible for the Council hating us! They attacked that fleet and now we are in a galactic scale cold war!" shouted the Dawn-Breaker Admiral Hannah Shepard. She was currently talking with one of the heads of ONI.
"Do you know who leads the rebels?" asked the man on coms. She had no response, no one knew who exactly lead them. "I will let you in on a little secret. A man named Jack Harper does, this man is the key to winning against the Citadel Council as much as me."
"And who are you exactly? You never told me your name. How do I even know you're even in ONI?"
"If you knew my name I wouldn't be an ONI member, but people usually call me...The Illusive Man. But my real name is Jack Harper, you see the Rebels work for me and I work for the UNSC. In other word I can strike at the so called Citadel Council without the UNSC getting flak for it. Together we can do real damage to them. But we need you and your fleet."
"But why do you need to convince me to 'defect', can't HIGHCOM just order me to do it?"
"No, this Rebel organization needs to look like a real rebellion, if they order you to do it then enemy spies could find out about this. That can't happen."
"OK let's say I do join, what will happen to my son? And does this organization have a name?"
"If you join then your son will get his dream of being a SPARTAN." He Replied
"OK and the name of this terrorist organization?" She question
"Cerberus"
90% of the 9th Former UA fleet joins Cerberus, those that don't join are respectively given a frigate to take home. The man and woman that don't join agree to report saying that the loss of the fleet is due to a rebel attack. After 3 days of outfitting the new Cerberus 1st fleet was ready for their first mission.
Hannah Shepard walked into her personal com room, now outfitted with new Quantum Entanglement Communicators or QECs. The new QECs allowed instant, lag free, communications to and from the illusive man
"Admiral Shepard, I have a mission for you. A prototype stealth carrier is waiting for you at minuteman station, you will be in charge of attacking the citadel" T.I.M said, skipping the pleasantries as always.
"Is it just a carrier? It's no secret that the UA navy is the most powerful in the galaxy, just one carrier, while quite powerful, will not be able to stand against their biggest fleet."
"I said it's a stealth carrier did I not? You will be sending a SPARTAN Squads to the location I sent you. They know what to do, all you have to do is get them there safely and if need be give them support."
"Ok got it, anything else?"
"Be careful Shepard, this Citadel Council is proving to be a dangerous enemy, but I trust you can handle it" He said as it cut the connection
Citadel
SPECTRE Offices
Garrus Vakerian didn't see himself as a SPECTRE but after the explosive introduction of the Unified Alliance, he finally took up the offer. Following joining he has trained his body and mind, making himself into the ultimate weapon. The council had their first mission for him and he isn't planning of failing. He sat down in the council offices, Valen's specifically. He and 5 other SPECTREs sat around a table, waiting for the councilors to arrive.
Garrus didn't understand why he was here, the SPECTREs here were legends, some like Saren infamous for a raid on a pirate hideout. The pirates held hostages and threatened to kill them if anyone tried invading. Saren invaded anyway, saying that the pirates would just sell them to slavery and he was just saving them from misery, that didn't change the fact that they all died…Or that everyone knew it was just to cover up that he just didn't care.
Saren spoke breaking Garrus from his thoughts. "Why are we just waiting here?"
"Because there is a new threat, greater than the citadel council, this new threat can and most likely will completely destroy every citadel specie." Said Spartacus as he marched into the room. Was he just waiting outside waiting someone to ask what we are doing here?
You're here because there is a galactic level threat right outside. This new threat calls itself the Unified Alliance, they do not use element zero and we know next to nothing about them, were they live, and their main agenda. We do know however that they have fleets capable of decimating entire fleets of ours without losing a single ship of theirs. This kind of power, this technology CAN NOT be in the hands of this Unified Alliance. You people are wondering why you're here. Well each of you were chosen because you are the best, you are all a part of a new squad, and this squad is named Archangel Squad. You'll be given a prototype ship and will work to sabotage the Unified Alliance's activities by any means, of course you have to do this without it being linked back to us, understood?"
Garrus shot his hand up, "Who will lead this new operation?"
Spartacus just looked at him. "…You will"
"Me?" Garrus asked, he couldn't belief it he had only been a SPECTRE for 2 weeks, only been on 3 missions, and yet here he is going to lead a team of 5 other SPECTRES. "Why sir, if I may ask"
"Leadership. When you were being trained the instructors saw that you had brilliant leadership skills, with a mission like this, we need someone with that talent."
"Well…Thank you sir."
19 February 2611 (UNSC Standard Calendar)
Slipstream-space
Onboard UNSC Medusa-Class Prototype Stealth Carrier Onyx
Bridge
"Exiting Slip-space in 5 minutes ma'am" Said the Navigations Officer
"Good tell the SPARTANS to suit up and prepare to leave."
"Yes ma'am"
Admiral Shepard sighed, she didn't like it here, this wasn't her ship, her crew, her family but she had do this mission. This was her first mission with Cerberus and so far it looked good, so far.
19 February 2611 (UNSC Standard Calendar)
UNSC Onyx
Armory
"You heard the lady move it! Get your armor and weapons on the double!" The Cerberus SPARTAN said as he was putting his black and orange Mjolnir scout armor helmet on. He was Commander Gregor, armed with a suppressed MA6A. The MA6A Mark 2 is the first massed produced rife in the new MA6 range, the next generation of Misriah Armory line of assault rifles. The MA6A has the unique ability of having two modes. The first mode makes the weapon fire regular 7.62x51mm NATO Ammunition while the second mode fires super-heated plasma bolts. However Misriah Armory has yet to come up with a silencer that works with the plasma bolts, so Gregor will have to stick with plain old human bullets for this mission.
"What's the mission sir?" Asked Lieutenant Max, he was ready in his black and orange Mjolnir EVA armor. Set with dual Bolt shots and a suppressed tactical shotgun. Due to large amounts of forerunner sites found by the Athena-class cruisers more than a few SPARTANS have chosen to use Hard-light weaponry in their loadout.
"What have you been living under a rock the whole time? We are finally attacking aliens again!" Said Sargent Olivia in a thick Irish accent, as she walked up to them in a black and orange colored Commando amour (The armor Carter uses in Halo: Reach) armed with two energy blades and one of the old discontinued BR55 battle rifles. People say that she toke the two blades from the elites that killed her parents.
"Come on, someone go wake up the Rookie" Commander Gregor ordered.
Walking over to the "Rookie". He wasn't a rookie at all, but when he was asked about his name he replied with just "Rookie". He hasn't ever said anything else even after 4 years of them all working with each other. The only bits that weren't covered in black ink was that the Rookie was on earth, stationed in an ODST squad with the now SPARTAN Buck.
The Rookie was in a pure black set of Mjolnir ODST armor. Sargent Olivia wacked him with her battle rifle, saying "Wake up, time to go kill some hopeless aliens. Now get some weapons!"
Slowly getting up he headed for the armory, he grabbed his suppressed Personal DMR and dual suppressed costume SMGs. Having a final look at the DMR he noticed just how much it was modified thinking to what mods he had on it. Short barrel, drum mags, semi and automatic mode changing, reflex scope and finally an energy baronet at the end. Grabbing as much ammo he could carry, he walked out the armory to the main meeting room.
Gregor noticed that everyone in Fireteam Phantom was here "Ok, Fireteam Phantom… So here is the plan…"
Looking around the Citadel area they called the presidium. Gregor noticed the target's sky-car was landing, with 3 Citadel gunships as escort.
"Phase 1." Said Commander Gregor as he, Max and Alivia slowly spread out, crouch-walking in active-camo towards the parked C-Sec escort gunships. "Everyone plant the bombs?" he whispered, 3 acknowledgement lights winked. Good.
"Phase 2." He continued, everyone slowly made their way back towards the gunship-class pelican parked, cloaked, in the local hanger bay. Now they just have to wait for the target to leave.
1 hour later
"Movement sir" called Lieutenant Max as he kept his weapon trained on the target.
"The Target?" he asked
"Yes, moving with escort to the sky-car"
"Good. Time to make some noise" he said with a grin as he turned on the pelican.
"Sir the gun ships are in the air, and the sky-car is still on the ground." Reported L.T Max
"Here it goes" As he pressed the detonator. All three gunships exploded like fireworks, the sky-car quickly zoomed away, with the pelican just behind. "Shoot the sky-car but remember don't hit it, we need the person in it alive! We have to make noise for Rookie to do his job!"
"Aye sir!" Max said as he started to fire the forward heavy machine gun, making sure not to hit the car.
After the gunships were blown up almost every C-Sec officer ran out of the building to help with gunship survivors. This made it a hell of a lot easier for the Rookie to move into the building undetected. Slowly he walked into the building towards the main access terminal. He toke out the AI chip in the back of his helmet and plugged it in, the AI went to work copying the data on it, but Rookie heard footsteps.
"Oi anyone in here!" called a Turian C-Sec walking in the room "I know you're in here, we have censers in the entryway for intruders" the C-Sec officer got out his assault rifle "This is your last chance"
The Rookie sighed, he had to stop him from examining the terminal, as he would surely see the AI chip sticking out the front. But if he killed him he may raise the alarm before he dies, not a risk that the Rookie is willing to take.
"Ok I'm in. All files downloaded." Said Sarah, the Rookie's AI.
"Alright." The Rookie replied in a deep voice
"Whoa slow down there, I think that's a record for talking for you" Said Sarah giggling. "Anyway you want me to turn off the alarms now?"
The Rookie nodded. Now Rookie didn't have to worry about the C-Sec officer as Sarah had control of the building. He ran at the C-Sec guard at full speed, he jumped and slide towards him, Rookie punched out his leg, making the Turian fall, he quickly got up before the Turian stopped falling, taking his knife out, he stabbed the Turian in the gut, slamming him to the ground putting a massive dent in the metal floor. After picking up the Turians rifle, and seething the knife, he sprinted out the building to the extraction zone.
"Ok boys, my man is done and waiting at the extraction point" Said Sarah.
"Alright then, we just going to shake these guy off. Be there in a sec" Commander Gregor said while flying the pelican.
"Don't keep us waiting too long" She said as she cut the connection.
"Why does Rookie get an AI and we don't?" asked Olivia as he started to shoot down the C-Sec skycars and Gunship behind them with the back turret.
"Are you a SPARTAN 2 or 3?" Asked Gregor
"No us three are SPARTAN 4 with Rookie being a SPARTAN 3. You know this"
"Yes I do, and I also know that the Rookie is in fact a SPARTAN 3, and I also know that SPARTAN 2s and 3s didn't have a childhood and went through military indoctrination starting at 6 years of age. As a result!-" Gregor screamed out as a C-Sec gunships machine gun got through the pelican's shield and hit him 6 times in the gut.
"Gregor you alright sir?" Asked max as he ran to the cockpit. Realizing he has been shot he pulled out bio-foam and sprayed it on the wound. Turning to face Oliva "How many left?"
"Three gunships and 6 cars!" Olivia replied.
"Now as I was saying before being interrupted, As a result of having not childhood and no parents, when the war was over they didn't have anything to do, fighting was all they knew. Almost all of them got PTSD and extreme loneliness as most of the other SPARTANS they knew, they grew up with were dead. So the UNSC gave them all specialized AI to help with their emotional confusion. And it was a great success with-"
"As much as I like the story sir, all the C-Sec gunships and cars are destroyed, we can go pick up Rookie now." Interrupted L.T Max
Later (Creative I know)
Commander Gregor walked out of the pelican first. Turning on his coms "Got everything?" he asked.
"Yep, we have all the so called 'Codexes' from the archive." Replied Sarah
"Good" he turned around to the squad. "Good work everyone."
"I WAS ATTACKED BY THEM, THEY NEARLY KILLED ME!" After the attempt on Spartacus's life, to say he was angry was putting it lightly.
"We are not attacking the humans, look at what happened last time." Tevos replied
"And we should just let them get away with this?" Spartacus yelled still barely containing his rage.
"Wait look at the screen" said Valen, pointing to his ommi-tool. His eyes widened when he looked more into it "every screen on the citadel is showing this video, but…It's just a black screen-"
"Citizens of the Citadel. Earlier today the Turian Councilor, the man in charge of warfare and protecting you and your families, was attacked. Do you know what happened? He ran, he ran back the Citadel tower and hid like a little kid. Is this the man you really want to protect you and your family? A man that runs in the face of aggression? This Councilor is representing the Turian Hierarchy, this hierarchy is in charge of protecting you. They failed in their duty, just yesterday we attacked the Turian Councilor and the Turian Hierarchy honor guards guarding him just outside the Citadel Codex Archives. Do you know what happened to the Turian honor guards? They failed and now they are all dead. We let the Turian Councilor live. Next time we will not. Think about this next time, do you think they should be in charge of protecting you? We can, Cerberus can. If you think we can do a better job than contact us. Good day and remember Cerberus can protect you."
Tevos turned to Valen. "I need you to find out about this "Cerberus" got it? Is it run humans, is it with or against humans, everything!" She said, her voice trembling as she started to fear this "Cerberus" they attacked the Turian Councilor and destroyed numerous gunships, got away this it, and hacked the entire citadel. Just to send a message.
"Yes, I know Tevos…They can't threaten us, the citadel Council has survived though the Racni and the Krogan Rebellions. These people can't defeat us." Valen said patting Tevos on the back to comfort her.
"Yes I agree but to combat this Cerberus and also the humans we need to increase R&D into military technology, this Cerberus is using the same technology as the Humans, we can hope to win a war on two fronts without superior technology."
Valen looked at him. "I agree, but STG will need even more funding.
"Same does the Asari Research department." Said Tevos
"The Volus has money, but I don't know if they will part with it" Said Spartacus thinking how to get funding.
"Why not ask for the funding in exchange for a seat on the Council?" Asked Tevos "They have been practically begging for ages. Cut a deal with them, a constant flow credits for a seat on the council."
"OK now" Tevos turned to Valen. "Do we know of this UAs capabilities? Weapons, ships, defenses?"
"STG hasn't found much, they use very powerful kinetic barriers, at least we think they are kinetic barriers. The barriers used by the aircraft that attacked yesterday has the same golden glow to it as their starships. Speaking of which, their ships are extremely powerful, but have one disadvantage. They has poor maneuverability. You two don't know this, but when the Turian fleet attacked, they toke out at least 20 ships. This is because their main cannon only shoots straight, meaning that we can do short FTL jumps, to knife fight ranges and damage them before they can react."
"And their defenses?" Asked Spartacus.
"We don't know, the relay they came from only leads to one system, which is deserted of life, and we already know that they use FTL technology that lets them travel without the relays. For all we know the ships we have encountered are the only ones they have and they may only 5 planets, one for each of their species. Or the ships we have encountered are just civilian, low-grade, ships, and they could have thousands of planets under control. We can find out more unless we get this FTL tech they are using or hack into their systems."
"They have AIs, hacking will be near impossible." Said Tevos
"Exactly"
"Well…This is looking good." Sighed Spartacus. "I will contact the Volus govenment tomorrow"