Thessia, outskirts of Armali
The shuttles winged over the grassy terrain like a flock of homing birds, the distance among them far and wide though they held to a wedge formation. Far below, tiny cream, red, green and blue flowers swayed in thick carpets among the grass, climbing over the ruins of villages and broken wreckage of countless vehicles. Flocks of birds burst forth. Animals scurry for deeper cover when the sound of engines reached their ears. Despite the exodus, the misty dreamy vista remained untouched. Placid and peaceful. Nestled in a thick cocoon of thicket that hid it from sight, a metallic spidery-like drone bristling with directional turrets barely moved as its extensive sensors tracked the shuttles. It sent a query and receiving a reply, turned its attention elsewhere, ready for the next object to enter its sensor range.
In the co-pilot's chair, Sanar kept a watchful eye on the data feed from the drones and satellites. With the shuttles stuffed full of supplies and medtechs, drawing this close to the front lines required full attention for any signs of enemy presence. Her hands hovered in readiness to launch counter measures should any missiles appear. The journey was uneventful so far. Athame bless, it would stay that way. She gave silent thanks to the unending seas and to the goddess when the signal of friendly beacons was detected. The smudge of a grey line appeared on the orange tinge horizon. It rapidly evolved into that of a twenty metre high barricade that encircled the reclamation site and a quarter of the outer perimeter of the industrial district of Armali.
The nearer they approached, the security curtain became heavier. Multiple queries were thrown from hovering geth dropships and gunships. Turrets scrupulously tracked the path of the shuttles until an all clear signal was received before they returned to their original guard stance. Once the shuttles landed on the huge landing grid, the squads that were waiting for them hurried to their assigned vehicles to off load supplies. Med teams alighted quickly. Directed by several soldiers on hand to receive them, they hurried to the infirmary.
Sanar watched them go as she alighted from her shuttle. She sampled the atmosphere tentatively as she glanced around. Tense, like strings stretched tight but not so much it would break. She turned when she heard her name called.
"I've to see Izharia T'Sie at once," Nyrine raised her voice over the hustle and bustle of background noises as she hurried over to her. "You go on ahead and take a look at the troops when your briefing is done. This might take a while."
She looked half distractedly at her omni-tool when it emitted a three tone beep, barely audible over the noise, turned and disappeared into the crowd of busy crew whirling to and fro across the landing grid.
Squishing the desire to follow Nyrine, Sanar turned in the opposite direction and headed for the industrial warehouses that were repurposed into barracks. A cool breeze sprang up, carrying the tinge of hot metal with it as she passed the vehicle bay. She made a quick visual estimate of the parked M-6A Titans as mechanics labored over them. Contrary to her expectations that a fifth would be put out of action, the entire fleet had survived intact. Other then signs of armor warping, there didn't appear to be any extreme damage. Perhaps the initial clashes was not as bad as she imagined.
The communications blackout made it hard to get updates from the front line. Public news carried the usual positive pronouncements. Dollops of typical government publicity that everyone was not swallowing readily. But then what could the populace do but wait and hope? She was fortunate she could come out here to have a look herself. The battle debris she saw on the way in was unsurprising. The mounds of body bags piled outside the barricade by the medical and clean up squads didn't reveal much. She hoped they were TI casualties or years old corpses found in the ruins.
The huge doors of the warehouses were sealed. Following the decals painted on the doors, she headed for the office entrance. The sentries, recognizing her, made no attempt to stop her when she stepped past them. The sudden quiet when the doors shut behind her was a shock, considering the crowd inside. Clerical and military staff worked with quiet efficiency, vocal exchanges were soft and unhurried. A question to the nearest clerk directed her feet to the door at the back of the large office. She threaded her way through the crowd, keeping her ears open but only caught bits and pieces of conversation that meant little. Through the door, she found herself in a short passage with two doors and two sets of sentries who watched her carefully.
"Lt T'Enaire to see Captain T'Vay," she said to the set on her left.
While her companion kept her eye on her, the nearest sentry spoke quietly into her helmet comm before looking up. "The captain is expecting you," she said as she depressed the door control panel.
Nodding her thanks, Sanar stepped through and came to attention after a few paces, left hand clenched against her chest. Vatia waved a hand at her, hardly looking up from the console before her.
"Take a seat."
Sliding into one of the chairs before the desk, Sanar sat quietly. She scrutinised Vatia's face through the semi-translucent console screen. Other than intense concentration on the document she was working on, there was nothing to indicate that the initial stages of the campaign was not progressing well. She was probably assuming over much. She held herself to stillness, tempering her anxiety to settle into semi trance. The lack of any sound smoothed the transition. She opened her eyes when the captain sighed.
"How much mail did IO (intelligence office) pass to you?" Vatia looked at her expectantly as she straightened in her chair.
Pulling the datastick from the inner pocket of her jacket, Sanar held it out. "Just company 318," she said. "Is something wrong?" she asked in puzzlement when Vatia did not move.
The captain took the datastick and jacked it into her console.
"It's not complete," she continued as she wondered at Vatia's reaction. "Only half of the messages have been processed."
"Better than none," Vatia muttered as she scanned through the list. "Shairio's pits-," a soft expletive escaped her a moment later. She shook her head. "A third of these messages will not reach their intended recipients."
That was not good news. "Casualties?" Sanar asked gravely.
"It's not confirmed yet. Our loses are not as heavy as we feared. We took them by surprise, they were not expecting us to advance in force. Still, it's bad to lose people."
"We haven't exactly been proactive in taking back Thessia since the war ended," Sanar pointed out.
"Yes. I wonder if it's a mistake to only take one firm step forward when we have the advantage, however slight it is," Vatia muttered before shaking herself in disgust. A waste of time pondering over an issue her superiors would have considered. "I'm glad our first step was cautious. Many have taken minor injuries and are currently under quarantine, pending further tests. The good news is that it doesn't look like there is any TI corruption. The bad news is that we'll have to hang for a while until they're completely clear."
"What about 318?"
"A few platoons went missing during the clean up of the industrial sector. The ground was unstable. It collapsed during the cleaning sweep. We're not sure if the weakness resulted from the residual effects of the war or defensive measures taken by the TI. What we're sitting on now," Vatia waved around, "is one of sevveral solid estates in this sector."
"How long have the search parties been out there?"
"Not our own, we can't risk it. The geth have sent a few squads to look for them."
"How long before they're declared BR (beyond recovery)?"
"Twelve hours," Vatia said reluctantly, without looking at the chronometer on her workconsole.
Sanar didn't bother to ask if her estimation was correct. Despite mentally prepared to hear of casualties, she still found it difficult to accept. Company 318 comprised of the greenest recruits that had just graduated. To hear this latest development made her wish they didn't have to send any of the recruits out at all. She wished heartily they didn't have to be risked. It was not her place to question the commanding officers. Vatia and Izharia T'Sie were veterans with excellent work records, they would not have taken unnecessary risks with the recruits. Knowing Vatia, she would be keeping a close watch on the search progress.
Some of her feelings must have shown for Vatia said softly, "They were far behind the front lines. Scans of the immediate area came back negative. We thought it safe enough to send them to clear the zones we have designated as holding points for the forward base. Unfortunately," she sighed, "we were mistaken."
That made little sense to Sanar. Active scans missed little. Minute details were usually picked up easily.
"How is it possible to miss ground inconstancy?" she began before another thought struck. "Unless the TI found a way to block scans?" When the captain said nothing, the beginnings of dread grew. "Vatia?"
"It made little difference whether you're told now or later. A situation has developed. It's vital we keep future operations from the public eye. Do not discuss this matter with anyone other than Nyrine or High Command officers."
Vatia waited for Sanar's murmured assent before continuing.
"Preliminary reports from the geth indicate the instability is an incidental product of underground mining. There are tunnels-," her expression turned dark, "large enough to put in a Titan, running deep beneath Armali, lined with an unknown material that reflected basic scans. They are why the ground anomaly was not picked up."
"Tunnels?" Sanar's eyes widened in alarm. "Where do they go?"
"From the latest geth update, they branched out in different directions. Several lay in the direction of Kelice and Sharzis-," Vatia held up a hand when Sanar made to speak, "Command is aware of this. Tracking down the tunnel termination points is a priority. They may lead to underground lairs, storage or perhaps they're highways for other purposes. Whatever they find, I think what the TI are planning is obvious."
Sanar could hardly believe it. "What is the official take on this?"
"Right now, knowledge of the tunnels is confined to 318. The company are under orders not to speak of it. I'm guessing High Command is going to sit on it as long as they can without raising panic and chaos among the populace."
"They should evacuate the cities, they must."
Sanar's eyes widened as she thought of the meeting Nyrine was having with T'Sie. Being allowed to the front lines to take a look at the situation was what they were hoping for. Except that they were expecting it to be several days later, not now. Was this why were they called in?
"How far have the geth tracked the tunnels?"
Vatia turned the screen of her console to face Sanar. Displayed on the screen was a topography of Kelice and the tunnels.
"The geth are certain one of the tunnels is heading directly towards the spaceport. They suggest that previous attacks on the perimeter at the spaceport were diversions to prevent any possibility of our picking up any ground anomalies."
"Meaning they were burrowing right under the defense towers while their forces were fighting above." Sanar studied the map. "The spaceport is their target."
"The closest resupply station they can reach," Vatia agreed. "Transportation, food and weapons. And victims," she added reluctantly. "If they can manage to hold it for a few days, they can gain more reinforcements within that time period with the new conversion process."
A cold stone settled in Sanar's stomach when she recalled the mutated TI soldier.
"Are they going to close off the spaceport?" At Vatia's shake of her head, she turned pale. "What about off world visitors? Are we just going to let things continue as they are?" she demanded incredulously.
"I don't know, Sanar," Vatia said heavily. "Nothing has been said about them..."
"By the goddess, it is improbable that we should let people die when it can be prevented," Sanar exclaimed, freezing the impulse to jump to her feet and carry out her desire as objectivity set in.
It was all very well to want to get everyone off the two cities but the logistics of moving millions of people would take weeks and many ships which they did not have at present. But stopping offworlders from visiting Thessia shouldn't be difficult.
"Closing down the spaceport is the right thing to do but perhaps High Command is worried that doing so would alert TI partisans and precipitate an attack before we're ready." Vatia sat back in her chair and wished the situation wasn't so dire. "The TI have five years to work their will. They have to be reaching their objectives any time now. Would they attack today, tomorrow? Or weeks later? Half our forces are recruits, we risk losing everyone if we're not careful."
"Restricting travel to Thessia is the only prudent action to take," Sanar insisted. "Imagine the lost of lives and repercussions if offworlders are caught in the assault and their governments discover the cover up?"
"I do not think High Command will allow such a thing to happen," Vatia said pragmatically. "In the mean time, it is decided that most of the veteran units here will transfer back to Kelice and Sharzis as soon as possible."
"Decided?" echoed Sanar in surprise. "When?"
"A few hours ago. The emergency meeting took place up there-," Vatia pointed upward, "on one of the geth dropships. Some of the veteran units will return with you, the rest will take the Titans and deployed in the cities later today. Until the situation is resolved, recruitment and training are suspended."
"Removing both veterans and Titans will leave this forward base vulnerable," Sanar said worriedly. "But withdrawal is unlikely, isn't it?"
"Not without rousing attention. With hard defenses doubled, the geth and the rest of the recruit units to guard the reclamation crews, we should be able to hold it. I don't know how much time we have but it is vital our forces deploy as soon as possible to defend critical areas." Vatia glanced at the chronometer. "This is only the preliminary briefing, you'll receive your orders when you return to Kelice. Time is of essence. The recruits are waiting for you so I suggest you head over to the barracks as soon as possible. I imagine they will have much to say."
"I'm not sure what I can say to them," Sanar muttered as she stood up, "knowing what you have just told me."
"It's not much but take comfort that they will not be taking part in what may come. Worst come to the worse," she added as Sanar headed for the door, "the geth will get them off Thessia."
Sanar paused. "Them?" she glanced at Vatia in surprise. "You're not staying?"
"They're going to need every experienced soldier so I requested a transfer back to Kelice."
There was nothing Sanar could think of to say except, "If any of us are to survive this, I'm glad it's them." She saluted and left the office. Preoccupied and troubled, she did not hear her name called until someone touched her on the shoulder. "Gallia," she said in surprise. "I'm glad you're all right."
Gallia grimaced. "Just by the skin of my teeth. I nearly joined the missing platoons from 318. Wish I could change my place with them."
"They'll think the same thing if it were you."
"I guess the brassheads must be kicking themselves right now. If they had pushed hard a year or so ago, they'd probably prevented the snakes from getting so close."
Sanar looked around them. No one in the office was paying attention to them. Still, she pulled Gallia over to the furthest corner. "What have you heard?"
"That the TI dug underground routes. They could launch an attack on Kelice and Sharzis any day now."
"That is true." Sanar nodded. "The spaceport is a major target. I'm thinking they will hit the industrial sectors and more."
"How do they know where-," Gallia began skeptically before she cut herself off. Of course the TI knew where the critical areas were. Hadn't they been waltzing in and out of the cities the last six years? Courtesy of the nutty politico. "Shit, you better hang that idiot of a politico out to dry when this is over. She more than deserves it."
"I know," Sarna said feelingly. "All the seasoned sticks are heading back today. That leaves you and commander Ralnah to mind the recruits."
Gallia opened her mouth, then closed it. The look on her face prompted Sanar to ask, "What is it?"
When Gallia only shrugged, Sanar wondered if she wanted to return Kelice. It couldn't be about the recruits since they were not going. Someone back at Kelice?
"I can arrange it if you want in on the Kelice action," she offered.
"No. Someone has to keep an eye on the kiddies. Watch your back if you get in the fire." Gallia smiled and walked away. Sanar watched her go, troubled.
Erebus Systems, Nepmos
Normandy
Did he leave them untouched?
Leaning back in her chair, legs propped on the desk, Shepard watched a group of asari and salarians harvest every plant and bud in the hydroponic garden on the large screen. After a lengthy discussion with Admiral Langdon and a twelve hour wait for a decision, it was decided that the refugees on the former Cerberus base would be evacuated to the Ranoch. Then it was another wait as the dreadnought cautiously plot an approach into the system and the slow process of evacuation began. The refugees were disinclined to drop everything and leave at once. They insisted on packing up whatever they could use. As far as she could tell, they were literally sweeping up the place. From hardware to software, nothing was to be left behind. Prudent, for they were going to need them at their next permanent stop.
She changed the view to the missile placements where squads of geth were disarming and disconnecting the defense grid. They were working very fast, judging from the number of missile racks they were loading into containers that would be tethered at a safe distance from the base. Several would be brought back to Alliance headquarters for analyses and evaluation. ANI ought to be in seventh heaven at the chance to acquire intact SHDs to study despite the geths' assessment that these were older versions to the ones that were used in the attack on Earth. She doubted SHDs would be allowed to be deployed in the arsenal of any allied navy. With their clearly demonstrated planetary destructive capabilities, they would fall under Citadel Conventions.
She switched the view to the control room. A small group of refugees and a pair of geth were in apparent discussion. Verner was standing to one side, listening in with an unhappy look on his face. She wondered if part of that upset was due to her refusal to his invitation to visit. Despite EDI's thorough sweep and declaration that there was no indoctrination device to be found, she didn't want to risk herself nor any member of her crew. If there was any useful data to be found, EDI would find it. It seemed this was all there was to be gotten out of this mission. It didn't make sense to her. Did Lance give them the coordinates just so they could rescue the refugees?
Turning away, she pulled up the report the Ain Jalut sent a few hours ago. Luck of the draw dictated that her colleague on the sister frigate had the easier task; there was no complicated Cerberus EWS network to deal with. In fact, there was nothing in the Titan Nebula except for Capek. A planet that she visited years ago to shut down the Hahne-Kedar mech facility run by a infected V.I.
The coordinates led the Ain Jalut to an abandoned laboratory. There was nothing to be found except for several banks of data storage in the only, suspiciously so, working console. The data was siphoned off and currently analysed by ANI and EDI. She would eat the proverbial hat if there wasn't something hidden in those files. If not, then Lance was playing them for fools with an eye to wasting their time and resources.
The door chimed. Surprised that EDI didn't announce the visitor, she toggled the intercom and queried, "Yes?"
"I've something for you," said Miranda.
Hitting the admittance key on her desk, Shepard looked towards the door and blinked in surprise at the large tray the former Cerberus agent carried in. Sitting up, she looked on as Miranda walked down to the sitting area and deposited the tray on the coffee table.
"What're you doing?"
"Delivering your dinner. Tuck in while it's hot."
"Dinner?" Shepard glanced at the chronometer; 2230. Was it so late already? She sniffed in astonishment. "Do I smell beef?"
"With only a sandwich for lunch, your stomach must be chewing itself up by now." Dropping into one of the armchairs, Miranda pointed to the couch next her. "Get over here," she growled in mock anger.
Now that she mentioned it, her stomach did feel empty. Shepard sat down on the couch and examined the contents of the tray. It looked like beef stroganoff, a bowl of mixed fruit salad and ice tea.
"Don't tell me the cook has been ransacking Citadel stores," she said. The aroma woke the hunger pangs she had been ignoring. She set to at once.
"Traded with the canteen supply officers for surplus stores on the quiet. The M&R crews have been supping on this for the past three months. I heard they're quite sick of it," said Miranda. "Beats ham and chicken, doesn't it?" She grinned when Shepard finally came up for air.
"Depends on the cook, considering most of it is replicated stuff," Shepard murmured. "And he is a good cook. This isn't bad." She examined the piece of beef coated with thick sauce before popping it into her mouth. "Since when did you turn into a minder?"
Miranda shrugged. "I have a little sister to chase after, remember? EDI also mentioned that you forgot dinner."
"Thanks EDI." Shepard looked towards the vid pick ups in the far corner of the room.
"You're welcome," returned the gynoid. "Perhaps I can serve a reminder if you should forget your meals again since you don't have a steward."
"Just drop me a message, EDI, you don't have to physically do anything," said Shepard, afraid the gynoid would actually go about to bring her a meal.
"Very well, Shepard."
Turning to the fruit salad, Shepard muttered softly, "I don't need a 24 hour nanny."
"She has cause," said Miranda. "Gave me chapter and verse of what went on after the war. She's concerned that it could happen again." When Shepard stared at her in surprise, she added, "None of us particularly want a relapse."
"I'm doing fine. You can stop wondering if I'm going to collapse at any moment," Shepard scowled. "So I was feeling under the weather then," she continued, ignoring Miranda's snort, "but five years of lollygagging on Thessia has plugged up all the holes."
"If you say so." Miranda was disinclined to believe her. Not when Liara sent an asari commando to watch over her. She changed the subject, not wishing to raise Shepard's hackles by beating on that particular topic. "So when is Liara due?"
A troubled look crossed Shepard's face. "Any day now. I promised I'll be there for the birth but I'm not sure I can keep it."
"Naturally-," began Miranda before realising that Shepard's insistence was based on more than the usual anxiety for a pregnant partner. "Is there something the matter with Liara?"
"I don't know," Shepard confessed. "I've only recently realised that I should have asked if it's even the right time to try for a child. Asari don't usually try for it until they're matrons."
"And Liara's barely 120." Miranda frowned. "It's easy to forget that she's essentially a young woman barely out of her teens."
"You make it sound as if I've been cradle snatching." Shepard sighed.
"She is young but she is unlike most of her peers." Miranda recalled the first encounter she had with Liara so many years ago. "She couldn't have made the decision to have a child without serious consideration."
"No but the issue of a medical complication should have come up. Somehow or other, it never did."
Shepard rubbed her brow, wondering what she was thinking back then. She was certain the problem wasn't medical. If it was, Liara's obstetrician would have exerted a more stringent screening. It had to be that meditative discipline Telienos incidentally brought up. Liara meditated daily, she remembered and then she didn't. Somehow that created problems. Not a topic she was going to discuss with Miranda.
"What, did she jump on you suddenly?" Miranda joked and blinked when Shepard went slightly red. "Really?"
"It's something we talked about during the war, laying the groundwork for a future we both hoped would happen. She asked me about it again and it just happened." Spearing a piece of pineapple, Shepard regarded it glumly. "I don't know. I'm getting some bad vibes from her recently."
"There is a lull right now," Miranda pointed out, abandoning the desire to prod for salacious details. It was not as if she didn't know anything about asari copulation. In a platonic sense. "Someone else can oversee the evacuation. It also looks like we've lost the next breadcrumb in the trail."
"For now. There is still Hades Nexus to follow up." Finishing the last piece of fruit, Shepard sat back on the couch, feeling replete and much better. "If he directed us here just to pick up these people, the next clue has to be at Hades Nexus."
"If it doesn't add up to anything, do we keep picking up future crumbs?"
The buzz of an incoming call interrupted what Shepard wanted to say. Leaning forward to hit the answer key under the coffee table, she said, "Yes?"
"There is a message from Mr Verner, requesting permission to come aboard the Normandy," said Araki.
Exchanging a puzzle look with Miranda, Shepard asked, "Did he say why?"
"Only that it's urgent."
Urgent. What was that fellow up to now? Shepard debated refusing the request and changed her mind. Getting Verner onboard would give them an opportunity to verify if he's indoctrinated.
"Request the geth to provide transport."
That would remove any chance of his piloting something perilous to the Normandy. The geth would scan him thoroughly before letting him take one step on the ship. Of that, she was certain.
"Yes, sir."
Turning to Miranda, Shepard said, "Did you find out anything from the surveillance files Aria provided?"
"Her information is accurate. Fifty freighters dropped out of the Omega 4 Relay three weeks ago. They rendezvous with-," Miranda leaned forward in emphasis, "warships at the heliopause of the system. EDI matched their profiles with the missing ships from scrapyards. Where they have gone to is anybody's guess."
"That leaves the question of how much is left at the core."
"And is it worth our time to continue on the trail. We may also be off course with the premise that he knows about the changes with your modifications. All these scampering about is nothing more than a distraction from the real action."
Shepard nodded. "It does look that way but we still can't dismiss it. If it's not, he could be trying to kill off as many birds as possible with one stone. If he succeeds, he depletes the defensive strength of the Alliance and her allies."
"What do you think?"
"I doubt the Old Man would want to waste too much resources if the trail leads to the core. The priority is to eradicate Cerberus depots and forces sprinkled out there. Anything else can wait." Sipping from the glass of tea, Shepard said thoughtfully, "I wonder where those ships went."
"The galaxy is big. It could be any where."
"They took the trouble to steal warships from the scrapyards. The place where they're heading to has to be nasty."
"It could be a precaution."
"I wonder-," Shepard frowned, "how much Cerberus have gotten out of the Reapers."
"I doubt they would have shared much."
"No-," Shepard shook a finger at Miranda, "not shared. If TIM could get people to figure out the communication signal, there could be a few other things he could have found out."
Miranda straightened from her lounge, curiosity bright in her eyes. "Like?"
"The mass relays. We know mass relays can be programmed. We just don't know how."
"You think those mass relay navigational matrices are meant for something else." Miranda turned over the concept and found it extremely interesting.
"Has to be. The Reapers intended to use the Alpha Relay to translate from dark space. The scope of the distance is immense, far beyond what we know of the capability of the relays. What if-," Shepard sat forward, full of enthusiasm in her theory, "there is a mass relay out there that can propel even further. Perhaps connected to some other point in darkspace and onwards to another galaxy?"
The wealth of possibilities in that suggestion took Miranda's breath away. "Is that possible?"
"The Reapers claimed they built the mass relays and the Citadel but where's the proof? For all we know, they could be one of the races that were more effective in assimilating the technology."
The buzz of a call from CIC sounded.
"Priority message from Thessia, sir," said Araki.
At that, Shepard sat up and quickly keyed her omni-tool. Miranda waited silently as she read the message and watched worriedly when Shepard cursed.
"What's wrong?" she asked but Shepard didn't answer immediately. Instead, she sat there, brow furrowed deeply before hurrying to her desk. "It's not Liara, is it?"
"Yes and no."
Shepard leaned over the workconsole, fingers tapping quickly. Coming up behind her, Miranda frowned at the topography displayed on the screen. Before she could identify it, it disappeared and was replaced by technical schematics. Hitting the intercom, Shepard got hold of Araki.
"Commander, request a link to Prime Psi on the Ranoch. Tell him it's urgent."
"Aye, sir."
"What has happened?" asked Miranda.
Shepard stared down at the schematics. "Thessia is in trouble. If I don't do something, they're going to lose what ground they're holding on."