Thessia
Kelice Spaceport, Departure Zone
April waited patiently as she stood in line to pass security scans. Barriers, barriers everywhere. Security was so tight that it was a wonder anyone would dare to put a toe out of line. Anyone sane, she corrected herself as she tugged at the strap of her duffel slung on her shoulder. This was the sixth security checkpoint they had to cross ever since she and Liara stepped into the spaceport. She glanced around irritably. Scanners, patrol drones and security guards seemed to outnumber the crowd. A fallacy brought on by growing impatience, she knew.
The design of so many checkpoints was to streamline people into manageable proportions for security purposes. Here and there, a would be traveler failed to pass the scans for whatever reasons and was politely but immediately pulled from the queue. They would in turn join another line for a more intensive examination of credentials. Layers and layers of filters to prevent any infiltration or attacks from the TI. A far cry from the perfunctory customs prevalent before the Reaper War where a wink and a nod might get you passed the red tape.
Bailey would have hated post-Reaper War security procedures, she thought as the beams from the scanners ran over her. The light remained green. She stepped quickly past the barrier to join Liara who had cleared the scans earlier and was waiting for her beyond the checkpoint.
Clutching her own duffel, Liara fell easily into step with her, the tails of her light weaved armour suit wavering stiffly in the slight breeze she raised. Putting it on again after not having worn it since their arrival on Thessia, it felt like an old friend. Comfortable, enlivening and yet raised prickles of apprehension. She had initially wanted to leave her hardsuit behind, civilian clothing would more than suffice. With Ilos isolated and abandoned, what danger could there possibly be? It was not as if they were chasing another rogue fugitive Spectre backed by hordes of Geth heretics but prudence asserted itself. There were TI supporters hidden among the staff and Ilos was not a verdant planet. Better safe than sorry, April had quipped. An arm reached out to twine with hers. She turned to smile as April interlaced their fingers.
Not worried are you?
I am not sure what we would find when we get there.
Preferably deserted with the natives engaged in their favourite past time.
April.
Liara frowned disapprovingly but a chuckle escaped her nevertheless when April flashed her an image of snoring Protheans with beetles and bugs, arrayed in colourful costumes and drinking cocktails, doing a dance around them.
That is not very appropriate. She sent back an image of the silent cryogenic pods of Prothean remains they found on Ilos.
Hey, trying to lighten you up before you start spiralling when you think of the last time we were there. Not meaning disrespect. Javik wouldn't have borne it if he knew.
Another image of a Prothean popped up. Javik, lounging on a gilt-covered throne encrusted with seashells, numerous attending Hanar bearing various delicatessen hovered around him. Swallowing a desire to laugh, Liara smoothed her face into blandness.
You're not fooling me with that cool look. Go ahead, do.
Considering we are approaching the Alliance entry port, should I really make a laughing entrance?
You'll make a lovely decoy. That'll give me a chance to dump them on their asses for ogling you.
I am hardly that outstanding among my sisters. You on the other hand. {A quick flash of several Asari who were eyeing April with obvious intentions} I am afraid I should be the one doing the dumping. A lot of it.
Damn, I would like to see how you handle the competition. {Dreamy sequence of Liara glowing with biotic energies, mowing down her opponents like a Valkyrie before claiming her bondmate}
April, I would prefer to have you at my mercy in the bedroom but if you'd I rather...
A flush began to creep up under April's collar as Liara sent her images of her intentions. If they were not where they were. . .
You're more evil than I am. Tell you what. Let's split half and half. I'll take the corporal, you settle the private. It'll be a walkover.
Before Liara could come up with a suitable rejoinder, they reached the entry port in question. Two poker face Alliance marines stood guard at either side of the entrance. They snapped to attention and saluted as the invisible rays from the ubiquitous scanner ran over them. Releasing Liara's hand smoothly to return their salute, April strode through to see more marines stationed behind the doors. Should any problem occurred, armed response would be immediate. Short of a torpedo or a blast from a thanix cannon, nothing could touch the security detachments safely behind the blast shield wall of every port entry and exit in the overhauled spaceport.
Aware of security vids, all inclinations to banter vanished. They checked their bearings and walked briskly down one of the corridors. It led them to many more passages. One of which led to a landing pad where a marine stood by the open hatch of a kodiak. Seeing them, he saluted and waited till they had strapped their duffel down and seated themselves securely before entering and closing the hatch behind him.
The shuttle was empty, saved for Kedar and Peliar, seated opposite each other on the other side of the compartment. Kedar flicked them a little wave of his fingers before returning his attention to the datapad he was holding. Peliar seemed too engrossed dealing with messages from her omni-tool to look up. The marine made his way to the cockpit and after a brief announcement, the shuttle departed from the spaceport.
Looking out of the window, April watched as the nearest Guardian turrets swivelled to track the shuttle before returning to their customary watch of the sky and horizon. Farther away in the distance as the shuttle ascended steadily, she could make out the looming perimeter towers and turret placements along the boundary of the spaceport. Countless specks of sentry drones and patrolling gunships dotted the sky before all were hidden by clouds. It was one hell of a fortified city. Almost impregnable or so one would think but she knew better.
The sky turned white, then ash turning to dark grey before a field of stars shining in the blackness of space filled the expanse of the window. Artificial lights glowed and shimmered. Like denizens of a different ocean, ships of various sizes glided or darted about the space station in geosynchronous orbit around Thessia. Although half completed, Sha Station was already in operation, serving as the foremost supply and security checkpoint for commercial, merchant and military vessels. Keeping an eye on all the activities were a pair of Asari cruisers, whale-like in their wallowing majesty.
The kodiak banked. An Alliance cruiser at station keeping near Sha Station came into view. The SSV Glasgow. One of the last surviving elements of Eighth Fleet that had fallen back to Ontarom to defend the vital communications hub during the Reaper War. It was fortunate to endure the follow up attacks till the end of the conflict when it was withdrawn to the Czarnobg Fleet Depot. It was then incorporated into the remnants of a much reduced Third Fleet. The hull of the cruiser still bore marks of the engagements. She could pick out where the ship had undergone repairs. Sloppy paint tuning but who cared as long as the bulkhead was solid? Safety was all that mattered, not beauty. The shuttle slide passed the shields and set down on one of the landing pads as the docking bay doors closed.
A muffled announcement of their arrival could be heard as the engines of the shuttle died away. Unstrapping themselves, they grabbed their duffel. April briefly touched Liara on the arm before facing the hatch, taking a deep breath as she grasped her duffel in her left hand. Kedar and Peliar lined up behind them. Someone outside opened the hatch. The familiar smell and sounds of a military ship hit April immediately. It felt like she had come home.
A grey hair officer with the stripes of a commander and a small side party stood ready to receive them. Commander Canning, XO of the SSV Glasgow, according to the crew manifest that was sent to her a few days ago. The side party braced to attention as April stepped out.
She returned Canning's salute. "Permission to come aboard?"
"Permission granted," he said. "Welcome aboard Captain Shepard. Dr T'Soni, Dr Olor, Dr T'Roson," he greeted as Liara and the rest appeared. He gestured to the marine standing next to him. "Lt Ulros will show you to your quarters. Captain," he continued without missing a beat, "you're needed in conference at the comm room. Would you follow me please."
Nodding assent, April handed Liara her duffel before following him to the express lift that would take them straight to command deck while the others followed the lieutenant to the crew lift. Behind them, mechanised arms lifted the shuttle to the baffle once the pilots exited, inserting it into the reserve slot where maintenance crew would check it over before releasing it for active service.
"The expedition group is quarter on deck five, sir," said Canning as he hit the button on the lift panel.
"Current operational status?" April asked, feeling a slight tremor under her feet as the lift swiftly ascended. The cruiser was already ramping up speed.
"Condition Two, sir." A grave note entered his voice. "Fleet status was raised as of two days ago."
What happened? April bit back the question. Her stomach clenched as a familiar stone came to settle. Not exactly what she wanted to feel at the moment. The conference would no doubt fill in all the blanks. She couldn't think of any but the one obvious cause to provoke the change in alert status.
What were the TI up to? The question bounced around in her head as she stepped after Canning once the lift doors open and followed him down the corridor. She returned the salutes of crewmen who halted and braced to attention. The comm room was empty saved for a tall lanky officer facing the holographic images of two fleet officers. Hearing their entrance, the lanky officer turned around. She was startled to see the most horrific scar screwing from his temple to his chin, cutting across an eye in its passage.
How did he get that?
"Captain Shepard, welcome aboard." He returned her salute and offered his hand to her. "Captain Dorrin."
"Thank you, Captain Dorrin. Admiral Hackett, Admiral Landon."
She saluted the two senior officers as Canning sealed off the room and stood at ease behind them. The presence of Langdon turned up the level of her anxiety for he was head of Alliance Naval Intelligence (ANI).
"Three days ago the Ain Jalut was sent on a stealth reconnaissance and patrol of the Hekate System in Hades Nexus," Hackett began without preamble. "Her primary mission was to investigate the disappearances of merchant freighters and fuel tankers in the last several months. During the course of her patrol, an attack on a freighter was observed."
Her eyes narrowed, not liking the implication. "Observed?"
"Operation Blackfish," said Langdon. "We suspected TI partisans were behind the attacks and inserted our own operatives and tracking beacons in as many merchant freighters and their cargo as we could to find their staging bases. One of our agents was onboard the freighter, the MSV Korvin. The Ain Jalut tracked the cargo beacons to one of the moons of Triodia where it encountered a Turian dreadnought and a flotilla of fighters."
"That's..," she began incredulously. A Turian dreadnought? It was clear to her why fleet status was changed. She halted when Langdon held up his hand.
"The dreadnought transponder identified it as the TSD Valiant. According to the Turians, the Valiant was reported as..," he hesitated, "lost in the initial skirmish with Reaper forces in the Castellus System."
"But they're not sure now?"
"They are not sure if it is the same ship. Their own security footage, eye witnesses and survivors dispel any notion that the dreadnought could possibly have survived. They're not certain who is manning the dreadnought using the same transponder right now," Hackett stated grimly. "But we can hazard a guess."
"TI," she muttered, not liking the scenario spawning in her head.
"In the last two years, TI activities have picked up. We're seeing an increasing number of incursions on manufacturing industries, agrarian colonies, shipping, and stripping of fueling stations."
Landon keyed in something on his end, sending data over so April and Dorrin could see for themselves the actual number of incidents over the past fifteen months. "According to sources within smuggling cadres, several unknown groups are purchasing a great deal of hardware on Illium."
"The abductions of people from remote colonies," Dorrin pointed to the data on missing colonists, "do we have any further information on them, sir?"
"Unfortunately no. Other than the certainty they will be put to use if they're taken by the TI." Drawing a deep breath, Hackett straightened. "All of these is building up to an unpleasant picture. The original premise that the TI are isolated within the boundaries of individual homeworlds and colonies with minimum mobility and communications is no longer valid. We can say it is a probability they are working in concert together with intent towards Allied interests. Left to continue to build up their resources as they are, we face a credible possibility of another galactic conflict."
That pronouncement brought about a grim silence. They all knew the galactic community could ill afford another war when they had barely struggled to their feet from the last conflict. The need to remove the TI was steadily getting more urgent with this new revelation with the existence of the dreadnought a poser. Although April had no idea of the kind of resources the TI could possibly have at the moment, it was improbable they could restore a dreadnought by themselves. There had to be a group with the facilities already available. She was not liking the name that was throwing itself up.
"Sir, what was the outcome of the engagement?" she asked. It was unlikely the frigate could take out a heavily armed warship several times its weight.
"While the Ain Jalut was engaged with the fighters, the Valiant made a FTL transition."
The dreadnought would have spread the news. The enemy was alerted. What would they do next?
"Even if they were able to affect repairs to the dreadnought, it does not seem possible the TI would be able to restore enough ships within five years." Heavy doubt coloured Darrin's tone.
"Not if they have help," April sighed, feeling a oncoming beating at her temples. When Dorrin looked puzzled, she spelt it out. "Cerberus." His face cleared at once.
How apt the name was. Getting rid of one head did not necessary mean the other two would lie dormant. Even though Cronos Station was destroyed along with the defending Cerberus forces, there was no way to ascertain how many more cells The Illusive Man had initiated and moved when she turned her back on him and returned to the Systems Alliance. The data EDI had were defunct when the Alliance checked. Many Cerberus scientists and operatives who realised how warped TIM had become defected during the war. Leaving how many who did not or were unable to? Whatever had TIM done to them? She wished TIM had been the only heart and head. That way, Cerberus would have been totally dead when he killed himself.
"That is a probability we are considering," said Langdon. "Cerberus is the only organization that we know of that has the capabilities and facilities to build and repair warships. At present, we have no leads on their probable shipyards."
"Sir, what happened to the freighter?"
"The freighter was destroyed. Presumably, the dreadnought alerted the remaining boarding parties before it entered FTL. No trace of the boarding parties or the shuttles or any of the fighters were found by the Asteria Taskforce. No other cargo beacons were found in any of the systems in Hades Nexus. This led to the possibility of another ship lying doggo in the system."
"So their base of operations is elsewhere," said Dorrin. Or bases, thought April but forebore to say anything.
"We cannot detach any fleet elements at Asteria Station to further the search. Captain Dorrin, the Glasgow will act as the hub of an intelligence survey in your current assignment," Hackett said. "The 71st and 75th scout flotilla will conduct reconnaissance in systems adjacent to the Pangaea Expanse and report their findings to you. Should there be any positive sightings, you are to continue to amass as much information as possible until further notice."
"Yes, sir."
"Dismiss. Shepard." Hackett waved at her to stay. The other two officers saluted and exited the comm room. Langdon nodded to her before withdrawing. Hackett waited until he was out of the room at his end before speaking. "The Normandy will rendezvous at the Mu Relay to pass over the package. There's one additional subject of note."
"Yes sir?"
"Dr T'Soni's aid as an information broker would be of help in our search."
"Sir, most of the network is frayed and unreliable."
"I'm aware of that. We are facing the same problems at our end, even the Salarians dare not place as much confidence in their IG as before. What we need is something probable that could point to the people behind the hardware purchases at Illium. She may have surviving resources that could throw correlating data."
"I'll see what we can do."
"One last subject." Hackett cocked his head at her thoughtfully. "Have you given thought to our last conversation?"
"I have. I have to say I prefer terra firma, sir," she said apologetically. There was no way she would leave Liara for the Normandy, not then. Perhaps maybe, in the future, when the kids were grown and another offer came her way.
"That's not what I was hoping to hear," he sighed. "This is off the record, Shepard but the CO of Ain Jalut blew Operation Blackfish."
"Sir?" she said in astonishment.
"The cargo beacons were our hope to locate their central operations or staging areas with the least minimum casualties."
"He took it upon himself to open engagement?"
"He ordered active scans when he couldn't get anything out of the probe sensors other than a ship was lying doggo on the moon. In so doing, he lost whatever opportunity there was to recover the freighter, the crew and to capture the boarding parties," Hackett leaned against the railing at his end. "That freighter was rigged with military sensors. If the TI are behind the hardware trade, trying to build up a substantial fleet, that merchant freighter is a useful asset. They would have brought it to their base. A lead could have been found on the traders cooperating with the TI."
"I see." There was nothing she could say really to the implication that the operation could have gone off differently had she been in command.
"The offer is open indefinitely, Shepard. Let me know if you wish to discuss it. Good luck on the expedition. Hackett out."
Persistent? Desperate? Were things that bad in the fleet that he was all but blatantly condemning the Ain Jalut CO for screwing up the pooch? April shook her head before exiting the comm room to find Canning waiting outside to escort her to her quarters. They chatted amicably on the rebuilding progress on Earth and made no attempt to bring up what was bruited in the conference. Too many ears listening in along the corridors. He left her at the door of the cabin assigned to her along with an invitation to dinner with Dorrin.
The cabin was clearly an officer's billet. There was a single bunk against the wall and a workconsole next to it. A shower and toilet compartment. A small coffee table and a trio of armchairs in the center of the room. Seated in one of the armchairs, Liara looked up from the portable console she brought with her. She could clearly feel the disquiet from April when she entered the room. Without a word, April crossed the room to sit in the armchair next to hers, clasping one of her bondmate's hands as she did so. The exchange was swift.
Cerberus? I thought they were dead and done with. {dismay} I never thought we would run into them again.
In hindsight, we should have known. I can't even guess how many more cells he could have set up.
We have to try to find out. I will have Glyph and Feron run through the data my sources have been sending me. There are backlogged missives I have not looked into yet.
I'll have to contact Miranda.
Why? Oh, she might have heard something and you are thinking if Cerberus are involved, that control chip of theirs will be a factor. {A wave of disgust} That is a strong possibility. Given that the cells are mostly isolated, would they seek out one another with TIM gone?
She's the person to ask. I'm sure she knows more than she lets on. One thing for certain, we have to find an answer at Ilos. Otherwise, we're in for another long night.
A shiver ran through Liara. Pushing aside the portable console, she got up and crossed over to April, hugging her tightly. She felt better when her bondmate returned her embrace.
If the TI and Cerberus are working together, we are definitely facing a fight. {sigh} No, I'll not think of it now. How are the others settling in?
I am not sure though I did have a glimpse of the Salarians' cabin. {image of hamsters running on wheels}
{laughter} You're learning. You realise if Salarians are put on power grids, we would have a constant supply without fear of running dry.
I think Jieull would love that idea.
Glad she's not here, are you? April drew back a little to tap her nose.
Ohhh, if you could have seen the way she goes for the Salarians. {sigh} At least Peliar and the others are more reasonable.
That remains to be seen. Being quiet doesn't necessarily mean agreement. By the way, we're having dinner with Dorrin.
Hmm...I can see the menu in your mind already. That hungry for human food, are we?
Mess cooked it might be but I haven't tasted it for...ooof! She blinked when Liara pulled her down to the deck and straddled her.
I have another idea.
... you are evil.