Thessia
The silence of the night was encompassing. Among the ruins that reared like odd growths among budding grasses and flora, tiny flitting lights darted and danced on mysterious errands. The lights began to vanish when dark turned to grey, then silver. A small head looked out, bobbing about as if joyous at the sight of the glimmer of gold along the horizon. A beak opened, body and wings were fluffed to rid of stiffness. It froze when a faint whine began to get louder and louder, doubling and tripling rapidly as it bounced off the ruins. Panicked, it burst from its shelter, iridescence wings shimmering in amber as it sped as far away as possible from the noise.
It was lucky for as it vacated its home, a wave of explosions thundered, sending huge clouds of thick smoke into the air. As a light breeze attempted to dissipate it, another wave of explosions resounded, adding more fumes. Barely had the sound receded than a spread of dark predatory metal came into view, running over the ground at speed.
"Coming up on target," the co-pilot of the lead gunship murmured, eyes trained on her console readings, "in three."
"Target acquired, dumping speed," the pilot acknowledged whereupon her companion hit a key on the console before her.
In the cramp compartment behind the cockpit, the ramp yawn open with a whoosh. Cool air rushed into the compartment. The waiting group shifted, eyes half on their omni-tools, half on the ground speeding by below. A light flashed on their omni-tools as the gunship slowed. The soldier next to the ramp stepped through the opening. Using her biotics, she floated to the ground safely. Unclipping the rifle from her back, she took a quick glance at her surroundings before darting to the nearest cover as the rest of her squad deployed. All over the broken landscape, Asari soldiers descended from gunships and took up positions. More and more groups landed and spread out.
So far, so good. Deployment was the easy part for this light exercise. From the window of a house that was still standing, April studied the ruins around her as she listened to the tiny voices over the comlink as each squad updated their status. The training ground was a small town on the outskirts of the city. Due to the proximity of the town to Kelice, it was one of many to receive the customary Reaper attentions that left half the buildings in rubble and the other half cantankerously standing or leaning drunkenly.
Despite the destruction, she could see the underlying beauty in the fluid layout. Streams would have flowed through the town, winding alongside local flora that would have been encouraged to form natural intricate designs. Echoes of a beauty that Kelice was slowly regaining in the rebuilding. It was a pity she did not have the chance to see an unsullied town but if she wanted to, she could. However, that would mean taking the time to travel to one of the far flung pockets of remote areas that survived almost intact from the invasion. A notion she could not entertain seriously for those were pockets of vulnerability, garrisoned only because the village elders refused to move to the protection of the cities.
"All squads are in," Sanar reported, standing beside her. "Nyrine is advancing."
"All right, let's get the ball rolling." April hit a key on her omni-tool to signal the commandos. She watched keenly. How would the trainees perform? How much could they do against commandos?
At predetermined points, small planted explosives went off, sending the advancing squads ducking for cover as debris flew. In the midst of this, several Asari commandos playing the role of the opposing force began to lay down suppressing fire from their entrenched positions while the rest went hunting. The trainee squads halted beneath the attack. For a long moment, they did not move except to return fire without cease. All of them.
April struggled to quell her annoyance and resisted the urge to hit her comlink to yell for a ceasefire. The units were after all, not hers to command. She was there to observe how they put her recommendations and training to practical use. As if sensing her irritation, the Asari trainee at the tail end of the nearby squad cast a look back up in their direction before looking all around her, as if searching for a better spot than where she currently was.
Come on, Nyrine, wake up. You're wasting your time sitting there and letting the grunts pissing away to no purpose. Revealing their positions is going to get you one on the ass. Get them to stop and start moving.
She tapped into the channel the commandos were using to get an idea of their progress. As she expected, they had outflanked the troops and a detailed scoop on their numbers and positions. If Nyrine was not going to move out her troops, they would be pinned and wiped out. Stifling the urge to cross her arms and tap her feet, she tugged at her helmet and took a deep breath to calm herself. She regretted that immediately when she breathed in a large dose of that metal leathery smell associated with new armor.
The N7 hardsuit fitted her like a glove though it was new. Her old set was in pieces and she didn't quite break in the new set after her recovery from the final battle. It was mothballed after she moved to Thessia. Despite the smell, old memories abounded. She craved to dive into a firefight. A tap on her arm drew her attention to Sanar who had a smile and a light to her eyes, as if she knew what April was thinking, but she waved towards the front line.
The trainees were finally moving. April's lips twitched when a couple of squads were detached and sent on a tangent to the main group. They skirted and bobbed like corks in and out among the available covers in the ruins of a complex. They reminded her of a gaggle of clumsy goslings following the trail to water. Resisting the desire to clap a hand to her face, April reminded herself the troops were very green around the gills and very young by Asari standards. She kept her eye on the bobbing heads. They wouldn't reach the halfway mark to their target, she knew. Something darted to the straggler in the tail and the unfortunate trooper was despatched silently and removed.
"There goes one," she murmured, impressed by the speed of the take down. She glanced at the timer on her helmet visor; barely ten minutes had gone by.
"I counted three," said Sanar, pointing to where she spotted the take downs.
"This is going to be a very very short run," April sighed, silently cursing Nyrine's insistence that the troops were ready. "Ah, no offense intended," she added quickly.
"They will learn." Amusement twinkled in Sanar's eyes. "I'm thinking Nyrine will not oppose to your taking a squad or two under your wing, given how fast the enemy are removing her troops." She waved to where the scouting parties were retreating in disorder. "How long?" She nodded to the main body of the unit.
"They're immobilized, bunched up and clueless." April leaned against the window, crossing her arms as she gazed at the group, "it will be a wipe without the opposition suffering a single casualty. I'd say-," she held up two fingers. "Slightly more if they were allowed the use of biotics."
"Care to bet on it, Shepard?" Sanar grinned impishly.
Care to bet on it, Shepard?
"Shepard?" Sanar peered curiously at her when the human remained silent, staring at her as if in shock.
"Drinks at the bar." The reply popped out automatically before April could gather her scattered wits.
"You're on, captain. Loser gets to pay the bill of course-," Sanar trailed off at the wild look April threw at her.
Before she could try to probe for the answer behind such a strange reaction, the sound of gunfire drew their attention back to what was happening to Nyrine's unit. As predicted, the commandos had precisely pinpointed the group's location and was going for the kill, directing a hail of fire that the beleaguered units could not respond to. A few tried to find better cover but were taken out by snipers when they dashed out.
"Well, Shepard, drinks are definitely on me," Sanar murmured as she looked on at the "massacre", impressed with the commandos' thoroughness.
To which April made no reply, regretting the answer she supplied unthinkingly as she watched the commandos saturate the area thoroughly with precise blanket volleys. They hid themselves so well she couldn't get a visual of them from her vantage point. Amazing.
"Time to pick up the pieces."
Turning away from the window, she hit a key on her omni-tool, sending a signal to all participants that the exercise was over as she picked her way through the debris back to the stairs she ascended earlier.
"Nyrine would love that," Sanar said dryly, visualising her senior colleague's reaction to her failure as she followed April.
Kelice Medical Center
Conference Room Six
"I do not agree. However you word it, it's biological warfare!"
The statement, spat with anger, brought about a brief silence for which Liara was grateful for as she shifted minutely in her seat. She looked around the Nanite Research and Eradication committee (NREC) that had convened to discuss the proposal put forth by Allied Command. Every representative of the Council races was present, irregardless whether or not they were active participants in the research to find a solution to the indoctrinated victims. A Geth elected by the Quarians, Turian scientists, Volus, an old Krogan with a faded crest and countless battle scars, a couple of Hanar that hovered at the back of the room, the Salarians and Humans.
Bar the Krogan, Telienos was the oldest of the group. The rest of the Asari were matrons with the exceptions of Liara and several others, recalled or volunteers from surviving Asari outposts and colonies; Agessia, Cyone, Lusia and Phoros. The Salarians from Sur'Kesh were the first to offer their services when the committee was formed. Given the loses they sustained among their own researchers, the Salarians' expertise was heartily welcomed though Liara suspected their secondary purpose was information gathering on the current developments in the Asari's research and development division. That was typical of the Salarians. She could not see them changing ingrained doctrine carried out for more than two thousand years for any reason. A snort drew her attention back to Jieull who had responded with the outburst.
"Well?" Jieull glared at Kedar, one of the leading Salarian scientists.
"Biological warfare in various forms have been around for thousands of years," came the bright voice of Plor, Kedar's colleague. The Krogan grunted, as if in reminder. "Had been and will be. To defer now in the face of asymmetrical principles only undermines our position in the fight for survival."
"Necessary step taken, to quell galactic threat," Kedar added. His speech mannerisms reminded Liara somewhat of the late Mordin Solus.
"The TI Asari," Jieull grated, "are not a galactic threat."
"Statement unfounded. TI menace not solely Asari nor isolated concern, it is galactic. Eradicated it must be," Kedar insisted. "Else progress not possible for all."
"The TI, Asari or otherwise, is not a subject slated for this conference," Telienos cut in before Jieull could answer. "The topic-," she glanced around the group, "if I may so remind everyone, is to ascertain the possibility of accelerating the intellectual atrophy."
The mild rebuke was more than enough to shut down Jieull's vitriolic for the moment. She sat back in her seat, visibly seething. While deploring the older Asari's manner of argument that persistently veered in another direction, Liara could empathise with her abhorrence to waging a dirty war against their own. It was the worse act to carry out considering they were already killing their own people through conventional means. If she were given a choice to kill Benezia outright or poison her to a slow death, she would rather shoot her mother.
April was right to say the TI could not be saved but she herself believed there might be a chance when the TI managed to survive longer than anyone expected. There were those who were recently captured by the TI to consider. Were they all to be written off arbitrarily? There had to be another solution, not the one that stewed the TI to their deaths. She would give it her all to find an answer. Despite all her hopes and avowal, five years had gone without any breakthrough. Nowadays, she felt she was running round and round on a track that brought nothing and went nowhere. All her efforts were for naught.
"Certain chemical compounds are known to act adversely on neurons but effect is subject to individual species," said Plor, blinking rapidly.
"Too general an application," Peliar objected. She had said nothing in the heated exchanges that took most of the morning between Jieull and the Salarians and had mostly sat frowning unhappily. "We'll end up hitting innocents."
"There are no innocents," Plor shook his head, "once taken and exposed, they are lost."
"That is not true," began Liara, amazed that the Salarian would discard recent victims. "It takes time to-."
"Yes, it takes time for indoctrination to set in so stop trying to kill us off!" Jieull barked.
"I was trying to..," Plor cocked his head at the angry Asari.
"Enough," Teleinos said softly but with a warning tone that stilled the arguing parties. "Whatever is proposed, the application must only target the afflicted. Liara?"
"After going through the surviving Prothean records we have and those provided by our allies, there is no further information I can find," said Liara. "The earlier attempts for a solution were abandoned once it became clear that mass relays were inoperative, leaving most systems cut off from one another. Research was redirected to amplify military defense and offense."
"So there is nothing we can do." Jieull did not try to hide the satisfaction she felt.
"Should take a look again at scanner algorithms," Kedar suggested.
"We already tried that," Jieull said impatiently, her rage forgotten now that it was clear the proposal to speed up intellectual atrophy could not be achieved.
"Never hurt to try again, from a different angle." Kedar did not notice the glare directed at him, eyes contemplative.
"If you find something, let me know by this same hour tomorrow, Kedar. This meeting is concluded," Telienos added before Jieull could speak. "That is all," she said in dismissal before beckoning to a surprised Liara.
Making her way to Telienos, Liara watched the others leave the room. She noted how her Asari colleagues were gathered at one spot, murmuring softly among themselves as the Salarians walked out the door. It was only after they left did the Asari exit. Not a good sign. She wondered if they would be able to work amicably in the days to come.
"Yes, Telienos?" Liara frowned when the matriarch held up her hand, waiting until the door closed behind the last Asari.
"I want you to work more closely with the Salarians." She waved the younger Asari to silence when she opened her mouth. "You are aware not all of us are of one mind when it comes to dealing with the TI but the general consensus is they have to be removed once all attempts to save them fail. We have come to the point where we must concede defeat."
"I have come to the same conclusion," Liara admitted heavily.
"Have you?" Telienos smiled sadly. "This is a pain share by most of us but there are those who do not wish to acknowledge the reality and failure of the current project."
Liara knew immediately what the matriarch was referring to. "The detractors will not accept the Assembly's decision if it is decided that all attempts to save the TI is futile."
"No, they won't." Telienos got up. "We'll discuss this elsewhere."