SPECTRES AND ASSASSINS
CHAPTER 5: Tunnel Rats
I had a dream, which was not all a dream
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came and went – and came, and brought no day,
And men forgot their passions in the dread
Of this their desolation; and all hearts
Were chill'd into a selfish prayer for light.
Excerpt from "Darkness", by Lord Byron (1816).
This is Khalisah Al Jilani, live from the Presidium, uploading out of the back of a Westerlund News van. The gunfire behind me is C-Sec trying to retake the central communication hub. Without it, they can't send a signal for help off the station. There is no word why C-Sec reinforcements have not shown. We are looping this transmission in the hope that it gets through. C-Sec forces are urgently needed at the Comm towers.
Westerlund News Feed. All Rights Reserved
- Operative Kappa-05-12. Formerly known as C. Talavi. Tayseri Ward -
Operation Chimera time marker + 00:45
An overwhelming number of voices constantly flowed into Talavi's head. He could hear the subject appointed as squad leader, never knew his name, he could hear the other Cerberus commandos speak but only when spoken to. Nobody used their real names anymore. That part of their lives, the Chris Talavi individual he had been, was considered irrelevant, without a true purpose. The mission-relevant chatter, however, was not the only form of communication coming from his audio devices and brain implants.
Obey
All the military-issue technology and gear Cerberus equipped their shock troops to work as experienced fireteams regardless of actual military training, could barely keep certain discordances at bay. Ever since he went through integration surgery for enhancement, Kappa-05-12 had never felt like he was truly alone when solitude and calm engulfed him from the outside.
Those other inscrutable voices he heard, they were impossible to describe. These occurrences only happened sometimes, when silence reigned in his head. These were voices he could not make out, at times they sounded like sharp, deafening shrieks; other times they seemed like uniform, ominous humming sounds. Linguistically, there was no way for his brain to parse the message at this time, it was almost like his implants were interfering and scrambling some of the signals coming to him, filtered so that only the desired ones actually made sense to Talavi. Despite the deeply rooted Cerberus technology, he could feel the periodic attempts to get a grip over his enhanced, transhuman body by those entities. The very technology that allowed him to hear them, prevented him from heeding their call. They were humanely impossible to comprehend, but something was out there, like an ancient, ubiquitous presence waiting for a moment of weakness to take over, like dreadful tentacles swarming the darkness of silence.
C. Talavi
He could remember bits and pieces, the fragmented tapestry of the person he had been could not be possibly wiped out, erased through complex surgery. Yet those memories did not matter anymore, they resonated as a weak echo trying to avoid the oblivion of a bottomless abyss.
Protect humanity, at any costs, that was the only worthy objective. He now devoted all obedience to this principle. Obedience to the only acceptable doctrine. Whatever remained of Talavi however, did not agree in the way they fought to attain this objective.
Several civilians crossed paths with his unit moments earlier. They were all scared and looking for a place to hide. No matter, they had received an order from the appointed squad Centurion commando and had gunned them all down, including several humans. Despite the strength of these convictions that did not feel imposed at all, Subject Kappa 05-12 had a conflict with his current mission parameters. Was killing humans a fair method of saving humanity? Why were they gunning down humans in this operation? Was his sister, an Navy engineer with the Alliance, in the Citadel? Was she to be eliminated as well?
Self-censorship. His cybernetic synapses altered this line of thinking. If they were to protect humanity, this personal, treacherous thoughts were unacceptable. They could not interfere with the work at hand; he would have to report these doubts to his superiors at the end of the mission. Some behavioral correction would be necessary and warranted. Behavioral readjustment was never easy.
"Step two of Operation Chimera completed, " the voice sounded unemotional, impersonal, "return to the keeper tunnels for faster transit. Converge at the level above Shalmar Plaza with squads Kappa 03 and 06. Await further instructions. Your nav points have been updated".
Their commando has been idly waiting for new orders after clearing several sections of the Presidum commons. They had met some resistance after the initial onslaught, but the lack of advanced weaponry, communications and reinforcements had helped them to subdue the C-Sec personnel brave enough to make a stand in the smoking, trashed nightmare the Commons had become. As per operational commands, all surrendering combatants had been summarily executed.
Squad leader Kappa-05-01"Centurion" was the first one to stand up. He signaled two other operatives to remain behind as a token force to cover their retreat. He was merciless, and one of the earliest enhanced Cerberus wet agents in the organisation. He had been in charge of the unit from the beginning, formerly stationed on planet Sanctum. He too seemed to have lost most of the individual traits he once possessed.
After several minutes of march, the leading Centurion-coded agent punched a few numbers on a panel, next to in a low-framed hatch. It was so low, they all had to duck their heads and bend their legs to enter. Following their leader, the smallish door allowed to immediately return to the same tunnels many Cerberus commandos had used to infiltrate and strike at certain strategic areas in the wards and in the Presidium. One by one, they all stepped back into the darkness.
-Thane Krios. Keeper Tunnels, en Route to the Presidium –
Operation Chimera time marker + 00:54
The Citadel underbelly was a viciously treacherous environment. The unaware or the naïve may have thought that they were designed for quick transit between different modules in the wards in case of power shutdowns and emergencies; small-time criminal elements regarded them as convenient alternative routes for those who wanted to avoid security controls. On occasion, some fugitives had managed to enter the tunnels indeed... only to never be seen again. C-Sec command just did not care to risk the lives of their officers on dicey goose chases. Only the desperate or the reckless would venture into keeper territory.
For the wise and cautious, there was no better way to plan stealthy hit and run jobs against otherwise unaccessible targets. This was the reason he was not a complete stranger to this type of passageways in the Citadel. Yet, it would have been foolish to lower his guard.
These tunnels brough back vivid memories and some of the innermost regrets from his previous life: the duct rats. Although he had only relied on homeless kids for intel gathering and nothing more, it was well known that 'duct rats' as they were pejoratively nicknamed. His conscience had alys told him there was something wrong in paying children, around Kolyat's age, to do a man's work. Some of those children had never returned to collect their pay.
One of the possible dangers was exposure to vacuum, so he had always taken precautions whenever one of his contracts on the Citadel required him to use these perilous tunnels for his contracts. Some of the passages they went through were wide and tall, offering a false sense of comfort and security, as giving out the impression that may have been designed for humanoid workers thousands of years ago. Despite these first impressions, most of them had a very low ceiling and had been clearly conceived for the horizontal anatomy of Citadel's bio-engineered workers: the keepers.
With extreme care, they marched down some really strange structures, they avoided the apparent shortcuts that would have probably led them to a lethal free fall into the protein vats, or the tunnels were the gigantic fans pushed air into the habitable areas of the station. Though Ashley Williams' omnitool map did not include every single cranny and nook, it showed a relatively safe route to follow while avoiding most of the death traps. Ashley was on point when something startled her; she lowered her weapon as she looked at Thane:
"There is a Keeper in our way" she said, slightly irritated. They were in a very narrow section, no way around the creature.
"Don't touch it!". Thane had heard stories about the duct rats who dared to interact with the Keepers. Generally they would not bother reacting to outsiders' presence, they considered humanoids extraneous and irrelevant to their programming. This was true as long as there was no direct interference with their routines; any attempt to touch their bodies or trying to steal their strange technological devices always resulted in self-destruction. The explosion, he had heard could seriously wound any by-stander.
"Step aside. I'll take care of it" said Pancassus,
The turian soldier kindly pushed Williams behind him. He kept a distance from the oblivious keeper, who had not even showed a sign of acknowledging their presence so far. The veteran avian-looking alien trained the barrel of one of their M-358 Talon guns, then took a direct shot at the device the mysterious being carried on its back. The scene that followed was not pretty, and Thane noticed his companions showed signs of both apprehension and disgust. The keeper started quaking and shuddering violently as its high-tech gear started to emit intense blue sparks, everybody backed off a few more steps, then the seemingly electrical discharges became intense blue flames, as the shaking creature collapsed to the floor and burned. The stench was unbearable, but in a few minutes, the keeper's body was gone. All that remained were some smoking, badly-burned organic detritus but nothing of the cybernetics all keepers were equipped with.
"I'm under the impression you had done this before, turian". Ashley stated, incredulous and challenging. The notion of wiping out keepers as they made their way to their destination made her feel uneasy, to say the least.
"There's a lot you humans have to learn about the Citadel". It was always hard to tell with those of his race, but Pancassus seemed amused by the whole scenario.
"Right. Maybe you can enlighten me the next time we don't have to stop a terrorist plot" responded the Lieutenant Commander, drily. It was true there was not much they knew about the keepers' origins, but she and Commander Shepard had learn quite a bit about their tasks thanks to Vigil, the VI on Ilos. Since it was mostly classified or conveniently labeled 'unreliable' information, the turian probably did not even know who she really was and everything Shepard's team had gone through years earlier.
They were making good progress through the tunnels, but in one occasion, Thane's skin felt an extreme cold coming from one of the bends, like a deadly drop in temperature, like jaws eager to feed on warm bodies. No doubt certain deadly routes could be easily avoided by simply paying attention, his skin was particularly sensitive to changes in temperature, one of the traits of his species.
The image of some of the some of the duct rats he had hired haunted him again.
Had it been ethical? Would he have condoned another hitman's employing Kolyat for these tasks?
He tried to cast out the moral dilemma, he only hired the most experienced ones and only when it was absolutely necessary. 'Mouse', one of his most efficient collaborators would have otherwise starved to death. The galaxy still distinguished between the poor and the rich, the Citadel simply mirrored the dystopian poverty and social inequality that could be found elsewhere. Even on Kahje.
Following the Spectre's omnitool, they successfully reached an enormous chasm within a hollow ring-shaped tunnel, its boundaries were impossible to perceive in the dim light. The Citadel was an enormous O'Neill's cylinder, their assumption that they were in the Presidium was explained by the very particular ring shape the gigantic hall had; it was analogous to the 'crown' of the space installation. It was, however, very difficult to estimate where exactly they were in relation to the vast, wide open areas in the Citadel's political and financial core. There were some structures, similar to bridges, catwalks and verandas, but they all lacked handrails, fences or security grab-bars. A reminder that humanoids were not supposed to venture this deep into the station, after all.
The crossings were symmetrically distributed in the visually endless Torus ring, but they saw no lifting platform or elevator connecting the different levels. Somehow, the keepers knew exactly how to move around in order to perform their tasks without falling into the vast, dark chasm. They were other similar bridges above and below their level. Thane's instincts also gave him another valuable piece of information by simply glancing: there was no cover and they were very exposed.
Ashley Williams spoke up, while she analysed the diagrams displayed by her omni-tool
"Stay sharp, everyone. My map shows we have the crossing right ahead." By her command, the diverse, in promptu fireteam readied their weapons. Luckily, they had retrieved Mattocks, Hornets and a Raptor from the fallen terrorists.
"There is a service ramp right on the other side, it connects that hub-like structure to the Presidium, we are almost there".
"Williams, you stay behind with the men. Something is odd. I'll scout ahead before we all commit". Said Thane, not fully convinced this could be so easy.
"We got your six. Everybody, keep the upper landing in your sights" ordered the officer.
Thane moved quickly but warily towards the central structure, there was a good 15-meter distance to be covered before the drell reached the structural node.
Any noises made by his fast steps on the metallic crossing that served as bridge were drowned by the electric humming that echoed across the vast dome. Upon reaching the landing on other side and entered the small room, he pushed his body against a wall. He carefully searched around for potential threats, noises, all the while aiming at the dark corners with his pistol. Zero movement, not even keepers.
The simple, barely lit room just one console with some beeping lights and a small ramp. The panel was located directly below a small 30 degree incline, some type of ramp leading to a hatch. The frame had the approximate height of a keeper's body, and it was locked. Could this be the access to the Presidium Spectre Williams was referring to?
Two open doorways on the left and right connected this particular 'maintenance hub' to other similar architectural structures. Their exact functions, unknown. Thane returned to the entrance and signaled the group, pumping his left hand in an up-and down motion. Ashley motioned two of the squad members to move, Pancassus and one of the humans moved swiftly and took positions near Thane.
"Keep an eye on those two doors," he ordered as soon as they were safely across.
The human Spectre stayed behind, the sights of her recently acquired Mattock rifle aimed at the upper levels. The only movement she had detected in the darkness was the presence of a few keepers. The sparsely distributed lights reflecting on their cybernetics and generating a distinct glitter.
Richards and one of the volunteers they had recruited in Huerta Memorial, a salarian, hurried over to Thane's side, and just as they reached him and the others , all hell broke loose.
-Commander Bailey. Rally point in proximity to C-Sec HQ Docks -
Operation Chimera time marker + 00:50
If gathering an armed-to-the-teeth task force to repel a massive terrorist attack in less than half an hour was not difficult enough, Commander Bailey had take on this challenge with an absolutely crippled communication network was a wicked nightmare. The crabby veteran Police officer from Earth had been forced to leave the Embassies levels in the Presidium in the early stages of the attack; they needed more boots on the ground before initiating any type of counteroffensive and only short range communicators were working now, and barely. As unbelievably as it might sound, his plans had found an unexpected ally in Khalisah Al Jilani and her reporting team; the same tabloid-style journalist he had been shunning for months had really become an asset to their cause by using their Westerlund news computers to hack into their own media corporate comm channels to send a signal in a loop through regular video and audio communications. The message had brought men to one of the emergency rally points for Citadel Security patrols. Unless Cerberus was planning to shoot every since TV screen and every device capable of radio waves in the Presidium, Kalisa's pre-recorded message would be unstoppable.
"What is the status on the principals, lieutenant? Are they out of the station? Tell me you've some good news for a change". Bailey's tone was surly, as usual.
"Impossible to tell at this time. We lost all eyes on the transponder signals when station Sec-3 fell to Cerberus. The last report from our men was that three of them were in the Presidium, but something was interfering with Councillor Valern's signal".
"Damn it, I hope that sneaky SOB made it to the Executor's office. Those salarians are surely resourceful when it comes to save their own skin".
Another constable approached the small group, Armando Bailey recognised him as Captain Eddie Lang, a good kid from Mindoir who had risen through the ranks with a flawless record. He had joined the force prior to the geth attack. The tall, burly human had dark stains all over his body armor and face. His black and blue regulation hard-suit showed signs of where some slugs had trespassed the kinetic barriers and made a mess of the highly resistant plating. He was the walking evidence of the intense close-quarters combat taking place in the wards
"Captain, good you could join us. Sit rep".
"Sir, these 20 men coming with me is all that remains from our stations in Bachjret ward. We have identified the hostiles as Cerberus, I'm sure you all know that by now. They have locked all critical accesses to the non essential wards blocks. It's almost as if they had created a no-man's land around all the Presidium accesses. There's no way we can get reinforcements or get a message through. We're trapped.
"And mostly no elevator functionality unless we override them with our priority codes," added one of the turian sergeants, "if we slow them down long enough, maybe the fleet will figure out a way to dock and force their way into the Presidium"
"Things look really snafu..." growled Bailey, "I sent some good men to scout Tayseri, Kithoi, Aroch, and Zakera wards... none but one has reported back," he sounded like a mix of his usual grumpy and pessimistic, but this time with an edge of barely contained rage. All this catastrophe had happened under his watch; he had not been in his new position for very long and now they had a full-scale Cerberus attack in their hands, before he had had time to revamp C-Sec's organisation and protocols. He could not help to blamed himself, "Lang, you are good family man, right? "
"Uhm, yes sir. My wife and children were out of the hot zones when this whole mess began..." Captain Lang was not sure where this type of question was coming from.
"Alright. Look, I'm not eager to commit every single able man to this plan of barging into the patrol cars dock in HQ. If we fail to get in through the back door, we're going to need someone to contain their forces in the wards, protect that journalist's team until we can send a message through. Stay low and only engage the enemy in advantageous conditions. Hopefully you will find more survivors, several hundred C-Sec agents don't just get themselves killed in 60 minutes.
"With all due respect, I disagree. Everything hinges on retaking C-Sec HQ. If you fail, we're done for"
"No, we'll be done for, but not you. Captain, you have your orders. Choose seven men you would trust your life with. And don't do anything stupid and die on me or I'll kick your ass all the way to the gates of hell".
"Sir, yes sir." Lang bit his tongue and saluted the commander. It was pointless trying convince him. He turned on his heels and approached the large group of armed men he had managed to gather in the wards, a mix of law enforcement and soldiers on leave he had reunited.
Armando Bailey was not too optimistic. It was true they had put together a decent number of seasoned C-sec personnel, many had combat armors and military grade rifles, but there was absolutely no information on what kind of opposition they were going to find. Surprise was on their side, and once they made it inside HQ, they would be on their turf. All the Cerberus operatives seemed very well organised and heavily armed, but they could never beat them if they managed to take contorl of their critical operations center.
"Lieutenant, we're moving out in 20. Check the weapons, distribute the ammo and test the kinetic barriers of every functioning hard-suit we can count on"
-Ashley Williams, Keeper Tunnels: Presidium Torus chasm-
Operation Chimera time marker + 01:07
Macapá camp was the place where they made Alliance marines. It was where most of those worthy enough to graduate as marines did their first live ordinance exercises. Flattening their heavily armored bodies against the dirt while loud Lancer rifles were discharged over their heads and controlled detonations filled the air with suffocating smoke. Training in Fort Charles Upham on Titan's hostile environment training just made everything worse and the stakes higher. Despite the rigors of their training, nothing could compare to being shot at by an actual unrelenting enemy trying to kill you; to show one's mettle against a merciless foe, completely deprived of any quantum of humanity or honor, it certainly upped the ante.
Within seconds after the last men had crossed the chasm, Cerberus marksmen had silently taken positions overhead; Ashley Williams' six-strong group had been discovered, they were so close. Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams was the only soldier on her side of the bridge and their only valid target for the enemy. Slugs and high speed rounds rang loudly as they impacted the solid walls, reverbarating within the enormous, hollow ring.
She dared not to get a visual confirmation but, if her training and experience was of any use at this time, there were at least five shooters two or three levels above her position. Worst of all, the steep vector of attack prevented Thane and the others to provide suppressive fire, they would literally have to come out in the open, to the bridge, to shoot back at the forces occupying the higher ground.
Great, they've the higher ground, I'm pinned down, no support.
Remember your training on Titan, soldier. Gunny Ellison's voice filled her mind just as vividly as if the grumpy old man had been towering over her, shouting right to her ear.
Smoke grenades.
"Thane, I need smoke!" barked Williams, hoping the deafening rattle of the automatic weapons would not interfere with her orders.
Thane looked to the men by his side "Bring all the smoke grenades we got ". They only had two.
Her voice was barely audible across the chasm,
"To Count of three! Count to three!"
One, two, three
She rolled the only cylinder-shaped grenade she had down the bridge. At the same time, Thane and Richards rolled theirs effectively over the 5-feet wide metallic overpass.
One, two, three, four, five...
This time, the count was for the chemicals to be mixed and released from the canisters, they steadily formed clouds over and around part of the 15-meter distance she would have to run through. Three smoke grenades were not enough for the whole distance, but it was better than rushing in the open in plain sight of the enemy.
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten...Just a few more seconds...
The three Cerberus grenades had done their job by lifting an uneven smoke wall along the way. It was patchy as hell, the dim light was not going to keep her from being exposed at certain points along the track, and the commandos would also keep shooting blind, regardless of their tactics.
Ashley Williams took a deep breath. No time for prayers, no time for doubts. She knew there was no other way. The initial thrust in her sprint was well hidden from view, Cerberus shooters needed half a second to realise she had got out of the cover offered by the corridor behind her, but they quickly readjusted their aim. Without a gas mask or a helmet filter, the chemicals started stinging her eyes as soon as she stepped out.
Control your fraking snot locker, marine!
Gunny Ellison's scolding still echoed in her ears after running the first five meters, Mattock slugs whizzed past her head. Very close to their intended target.
Lucky
Another five meters, the enemy fire made contact with her kinetic barrier, she felt how the shields were partially drained and the projectiles impact made her body stumble for a millisecond, but she kept running. The chemicals made her eyeballs cry, The cloud particles made her lungs burn as she inhaled through her nostrils.
Close your eyes, crying maggot! Listen to where the fire is coming from and push forward!
Just as she was getting closer to the other side, she was also closer to the shooters' position. Another impact depleted the kinetic protections surrounding her body frame.
Shields are gone, it's now or never...
Williams plunged forward when there were slightly over two meters to Thane and the group, her body fueled by both the adrenaline of combat and an innate instinct of survival. Ashley lost all hear bearings of where she was for a full second.
Pain. On her chest. On her stomach, on her elbows.
Williams came to her senses and realised she had landed on the hub floor, its walls and ceiling made it an impossible angle for their foes to take shots at her. Thane and the others pulled her body away from the doorframe.
On your feet, marine! Do you think your enemy will stop shooting because you're face down on the dirt?
Williams was breathing with her mouth now. The smoke she had inhaled through her nostrils made her nauseous, her legs felts as if she had ran 15 miles rather than 15 meters. With steely resolve, she got on her feet, rushed to the control panel ahead and used her omnitool to wirelessly interact with it. The doorway opened, revealing an alley, a Presidium alley. A wave of fresh, clean air came through and cooled her sweaty face.
"Everybody inside, now!" shouted Pancassus.
Someone grabbed her by other right arm, she could not really see who it was, with her teary eyes ruining her peripheral vision. She was hurried along with the other past the doorway, then she heard the door clank closed behind them. Gunny Ellison's voice from the past reverberated in her numb mind:
Good job, Williams. You may still make a good Marine squad leader, after all.
Next chapter: Sword of Damocles is underway. Please comment and subscribe if you like it. I have been really busy with graduate school and it is sometimes hard to find time to write non-academic texts.
Trivia: Cerberus operation is coded Chimera, the mythological three-headed creature, with a frightening mix of different beasts body parts. It is a reference to how Cerberus attempted to take out the three non-human 'heads' in the Council to grant Udina special emergency powers.
'Tunnel rats' is military slang for soldiers who conduct underground search and destroy operations. It has been commonly used in conflicts like Vietnam and the most recent Afghanistan wars.