Mass Effect is the property of Bioware. 20th Century Fox owns the Alien/Predator franchise.
Wow, it's been a long time. Moving to another city and another job is a lot of work. Moving to another country even more so, especially when you don't speak the local language well. But, I'm mostly settled now, I have internet at home again and I've unpacked most of my stuff, including my special edition box-set of the four alien movies ;). So, I think I can start doing regular updates again. Thanks everyone for having patience.
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Geneva, Earth
Spears looked around the small conference room. There were five people waiting for him, but of those five, only one mattered.
The two United Nations representatives were strictly window dressing. Spears had recognised them the moment he saw them. Although they both held dual positions in the UN and the United Systems General Assembly, those positions had been closely tied to Hammerstein's. On their own they were insignificant. Mura Detmer, the representative of Shanxi might at one time have been a force to be reckoned with, as she represented humanities only garden world colony. Now, with Shanxi invaded and cut off from the rest of the United Systems, her power-base had been reduced to vapour. The fourth individual was not even a politician, though he might as well have been. Leonard Caulder was a senior executive on the board of directors of Exogeni corporation. Even after the corporations had been cut down to size following the LV-426 incident, and its spin-offs, such a position would normally have come with considerable power, but today his position was the same as ms. Detmer's. He was a rat representing a sinking ship.
No, only the fifth man mattered. With the death of chairwoman Hammerstein, Charles d'Orsinio might well be the most powerful human alive. Unlike the former, however, d'Orsinio preferred to wield that power discretely. He had been a part of earth's power-scene for so long that he almost seemed to have become part of the scenery, and a lot of people failed to notice him; but he had his fingers in almost every pie. There wasn't a committee or commission that he wasn't involved in, and that included the budget committee's for both military appropriation and internal security, as well as the military oversight committee and, to Spear's considerable amusement, the Assembly ethics commission. It was his presence, more than anything else, that convinced the general that this meeting was serious indeed.
"General Spears, so glad you could make time to join us on such short notice." D'Orsinio was the one to open the conversation. That was significant too.
"I'm always happy to meet with our esteemed political leadership, Mr. d'Orsinio.
"I'm sure you are." D'Orsinio smiled thinly. "Still, you must be very busy these days. By the way, is everyone here acquainted? Ms. Chen and Mr. Than from the UN and the General Assembly; ms. Detmer, the representative of Shanxi; and, of course, Mr. Caulder, from the executive board of Exogeni. Ladies and gentlemen, general Spears, our esteemed chief of staff."
Spears bowed slightly. It never hurt to be polite, at least at first.
"Thank you, sir. As you say, things are rather busy, so, if I may ask, how can I be of service?"
D'Orsinio smiled again. "Well, frankly, general. We would very much like to receive an update on the current military situation. You have been quite, eh, vocal, recently; especially on the planetary networks. Now, the picture that you have been painting is a bit, shall we say: gloomy? Of course, that is understandable, especially in the light of recent political developments. However, the facts, as presented in press-releases, tend to be a bit simplistic. We, all of us, would very much like to hear a more, eh, nuanced description of the current state of affairs."
Spears hesitated. D'Orsinio could be a powerful ally; if he wanted to be, and if Spears could convince him of the need. Unfortunately, that meant he would have to tell the truth. If d'Orsinio caught him in a lie any hope of establishing a working relationship would be gone.
"Very well. The truth is that right now these aliens are not actually in a position to do more than occupying Shanxi. Of course, they can slip their fleet through the relay to attack Thedus and the surrounding mining colonies, but that would be suicide. The moment they do so, Second Fleet can move into Shanxi, assuming that we receive permission, and cut off their retreat."
"But that would still leave the enemy fleet at a large in an important resource area."
"Yes. We only have one carrier group in that area, centred on Graff Spee. She doesn't have the strength to take on the whole alien fleet on her own, so, yes, they could do a lot of damage, but ultimately, they would be destroyed. I doubt they would run that risk. No, they may probe the relays with a few ships, but Graff Spee and her escorts can handle that, and the aliens will not attack in force."
"I see, so the doomsday scenario that you have been peddling has been a little, eh, exaggerated?"
Spears almost sighed. Leave it to politicians to miss the bigger picture.
"Hardly. What you fail to realise, Mr. d'Orsino, is that this only applies as long as these aliens don't reinforce. But that is a very unlikely scenario. They sent a fleet to Shanxi within a few weeks of meeting us for the first time. That means they only sent what they had available right away, ladies and gentlemen; their quick-response force, so to speak. Do you really think that anyone, anyone with a functioning brain, would send a sizable fleet to confront a distant, unknown, enemy, and just leave it at that? Of course not! This is just a probe. Once they've got our measure, they will send a second wave, probably a lot bigger than the first, and once that happens, they'll have the strength to hold Shanxi AND push through whatever relay they want. Then, they'll go after Thedus; and we'll be stuck defending on multiple fronts, which we simply cannot afford."
"Ah, that does change the situation, of course. In any case, Mr. Caulder has convinced me that we cannot allow these aliens to walk around Shanxi unhindered. It seems that Exogeni has some things lying around there that should not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. So, general, what, in your opinion would be the best way out of this situation?"
"We strike now, Mr. d'Orsinio. We strike now, and we strike hard before they have a chance to reinforce."
The reactions among the audience were somewhat mixed. Both Detmer and Caulder seemed to like the idea, while the two Assembly members looked properly horrified. D'Orsinio's face was unreadable.
"Right now," Spears went on, "Second Fleet has the strength to deal with the alien fleet at Shanxi. If the Assembly give permission we can go in within a few weeks, with both the fleet and the necessary ground forces to deal with whatever they have landed, and drive the survivors out of Shanxi space. Once we have accomplished that we can guard the relay. Even if enemy reinforcements show up, they'll have no choice but to attack at Shanxi again, because it is the only point of contact; and this time we'll be waiting for them in strength."
"But do we truly have sufficient strength to defeat them?" ms. Detmer asked, clearly playing devil's advocate. "If the attack fails, and Second Fleet takes significant damage-"
"The attack will succeed. We have learned a lot from our previous encounters. Even fighting with one hand tied behind our backs we managed to hurt them significantly. We can match these aliens technologically and, now that it is up to full strength, Second Fleet outnumbers them in heavy units, especially after the damage they've taken against admiral van Buuren. On top of that, Second Fleet will be fighting with the repair facilities at Arcturus right behind them, while the aliens are far from home, at the end of a long supply chain." Spears smiled grimly. "In a way, they've played into our hands. They sent a significant force right to our doorstep. Powerful enough to be a nuisance, but too weak to survive. If we act quickly, we can deal their fleet a significant defeat, while fighting on our own turf."
"And then what, general?" ms. Chen, one of the two Assembly members looked very much as though she had just bitten into a very sour lemon. "I seem to remember some famous admiral who made a statement about 'running riot for a few months to a year and then still losing the war'. In the end, he did, didn't he?"
This time Spears didn't bother to hide his contempt. A civilian with pretensions of military learning...
"You're thinking of admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, Ms. Chen; and, yes, he lost that war. Or, rather, his country lost the war after his death in action. However, unlike Yamamoto, we don't have the luxury of debating whether we should go to war. That choice has been made for us. All we can do now is make the best of what little time we have to, as he put it, 'run riot'. Also, unlike Yamamoto, we're not operating from an economy that depended on external sources for its raw materials and was already stretched to the breaking point at the start of the war. The combined industrial potential of the United Systems is enormous, as is our supply of manpower, and we've barely started to tap either. All we need to do is keep these aliens at bay until that potential has turned into a reality. Once we've spun up production to wartime levels it will be a completely different ballgame. But we need time: six months, a year maybe, and we're not going to get it unless we can regain control of the Shanxi relay."
"I understand, general. I understand indeed." D'Orsinio leant back in his chair. "So tell me, general. In order to achieve victory, what do you need from us. Not in the long run, mind. I understand the need to gear up to war-time production, but, as you say, that will take time. What do you need, right now?"
Spears took a deep breath. This was it. "I need the freedom to act, Mr. d'Orsinio. I need to be able to do my job without interference. This is now a military matter. It should be dealt with as such."
"Yes, of course. But that will take some special measures. As you know, the relationship between the United Systems Assembly and its Military have been well defined. Changing that will not be easy."
"Mr. d'Orsinio!" This time it was Than, who felt the need to interrupt. "Surely you cannot seriously consider this?! The subordination of the military to the civilian government is one of the cornerstones of our civilization. To-"
"A civilization which apparently was willing to throw millions of people under a bus in order to make a quick buck, " Spears snarled.
"Enough!" D'Orsinio had barely raised his voice, but it was enough to silence everyone in the room. "In order to have a civilization, we need to defeat these aliens. Of the people in this room, only one person has military experience. I'm not prepared to argue strategy with general Spears. Nor do I believe anyone, either in the Assembly or the UN, would be qualified to do so. So, general, how do you propose we go about this little constitutional upheaval."
This was something Spears had researched at length.
"There is a way, sir. There is a clause in the constitution, which allows for the United Systems Military to take effective control in time of war. We never really thought about it, because there was no one to go to war with, but now..."
"Now it becomes relevant. Very well, general. You'll have your declaration of war. As for the rest, I'll see what I can arrange."
D'Orsinio stood up. "In the meantime, general, please keep up the good work. I love these little parades you have organized. They look so very, eh, martial."
"Thank you, sir. That was the idea."
Spears stood up and made to leave the room. Just as he reached the door, he heard d'Orsinio's voice behind him.
"By the way, general. When you next see him: Tell Jack Harper I said 'hello'."
Exogeni compound, Shanxi
In a way, it had been ridiculously easy. Both human guards had been looking in the wrong direction and died without ever realizing what had happened. The ghosts checked one more time to make sure there were no other sentries nearby, then contacted their commanding officer.
"Lieutenant Arterius? We have secured the entrance, you can start moving now. No sign of human reinforcements."
"Acknowledged."
Saren gestured to the rest of his team. "The ghosts were successful. Move!"
Without another word, the turians jumped forward and sprinted across the open field toward the relative safety of the human buildings.
Behind them, nearly invisible to either a turian, or a human, eye, there was a faint rippling in the air as the hunting party followed the turians.
-o-o-o-
Zaeed walked into the improvised command centre, wondering why Commander Leftcourt, Solsec's local commanding officer, had called him off the firing line. He found the commander together with several Exogeni representatives standing around a large plotting table.
"Ah, Massani, come here and take a look."
Leftcourt pointed at a diagram of the Exogeni facility.
"We've lost all contact with one of our sentry posts. There were three guards on duty. They were supposed to check in ten minutes ago and we cannot raise them on the com-link. That would be bad enough because that part of the complex has a tunnel that links it directly to the main building, but now our esteemed employers tell me, that there is an additional problem: Mr. Santiago?"
A young man in civilian clothes stepped forward.
"This is strictly need-to-know. Underneath that part of the compound is an underground lab that is strictly off the books. It's not in use, hasn't been since it was built, and it is not on the standard maps of our facilities." He touched a few controls, then entered a long string of seemingly random letters and numbers, too quick for anyone to follow. Suddenly, a new schematic appeared on the display. "This is the layout of the lab. It has only one entrance, directly underneath the buildings where we've lost contact." He looked up. "That lab is sealed and corporate has given strict orders to make sure it remains sealed, no matter the circumstances. These aliens cannot be allowed to access it."
Zaeed stared at the schematic. It wasn't just an extra room. There were two complete levels underneath the existing underground facilities. It wasn't exactly unknown for large corporations to hide things, especially in the colonies, but this was big, not something you could hide beneath a trap door. It had clearly been part of the facility from its original inception. And a facility like that didn't just need space. If it would draw power as well, even if it was closed down. Either they were tapping the main grid without anyone noticing, or it had its own generators.
"You heard the man," Leftcourt said. "Massani, I want you to take half a dozen of our men and accompany Mr. Santiago to that lab. He has the access codes to get you wherever you need to go. Once you're there. Take care of the intruders."
Zaeed nodded. There really wasn't much else to say. That was something that the private sector had in common with the marines: when the man gave you an order, you marched.
-o-o-o-
Not only was there an underground facility, hidden in the middle of Exogeni's compound, there was even an underground tramline, connecting the small building, and its hidden basement, to the rest of the facility. As they entered the car, Zaed took a look at the corporate representative. One thing he had learned quickly was that little guys in suits tended to mess things up. Santiago at least looked to be reasonably fit. That would come in handy if they had to run away in a hurry. In any case, if he became a problem, well, then Zaeed would make sure that there would just be one more victim of the alien invasion. It wasn't just mercenaries that were considered disposable. Santiago was too young to be really important to Exogeni, so it was unlikely there would be too many complaints if he didn't make it back.
"So, tell me, Mr. Santiago, what exactly are we heading into?"
Santiago snorted. "Would you believe me, if I told you I didn't know?"
"Perhaps."
"Well, I have absolutely no idea. I'm not sure anyone does, at least not here on Shanxi. They built it, sealed it, and that was that. Whatever is in there, someone at the top wants to keep it locked away. When we heard there was even a possibility of an alien invasion, special orders came from the top: the vault has to remain sealed, at all costs."
"And if we cannot prevent them from getting in?"
"This particular lab comes with a self-destruct button. If we cannot secure the facility, we'll make sure it does not fall into alien hands."
"A self-destruct? You people are serious about this."
"Massani, let me make one thing absolutely clear. I don't know what is down there. I'm not sure anybody on this planet does. That lab has been sealed ever since it was built. All I know, is that the big-shots back on earth put some protocols in place, the likes of which I have never seen before: if containment is lost, either from the outside or the inside, the lab is to be destroyed; completely. And in this case, it means that we use pre-placed thermite charges and burn everything that's in there."
"That should take care of- Wait, what did you say? Containment could be breached from the IN-side?
"That's how the protocol is phrased. I didn't come up with it."
"Right, and how will they react when you actually use it? 'Cause I can tell you now that Sol-Sec isn't going to be paying the bill for that lab."
Santiago smiled thinly.
"I don't plan on telling them. If it comes to that, I suggest that we all swear that one of these turians pushed the wrong button."
The tram-car took them to their destination in less than a minute. The station at the other end looked singularly unimpressive. Just a small platform and a door. Santiago entered a string of numbers into a small keypad and the door slid open.
-o-o-o-
"Another locked door, lieutenant. We'll have to use explosives to open it."
"Then stop wasting time and get moving!"
Saren's patience, never his defining characteristic, was wearing thin. Not only were these humans disgusting creatures, they also seemed to lack any logic. What had seemed like a small building had turned out to be only the top of a large underground facility. A facility that was apparently not in use, because every single door they found had been locked and sealed. It slowed their progress to a crawl as they had no way to interface with, let alone override, the human locking mechanisms. On top of that, the lights had been switched off. They turned on as the turians moved forward, apparently triggered by some kind of motion detector, but turned off as soon as the small group had passed.
Why anyone would invest in such a large underground structure and then not use it was anybody's guess, but as far as Saren was concerned it provided yet more prove that these humans had to be dealt with, for their own good as well as the galaxy's. However, that was a concern for later. For the moment, all Saren had to do was get past these doors and to the main buildings were most of the human soldiers were hiding.
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While the turian special forces team made their way through the first level of the underground facility, the hunting party had gone its own way. Unlike the turians, they knew where they were going and they had come prepared. The human security systems were not bad, but they were no match for Yautja technology.
The predators had hacked their way past several supposedly secure doors, locking them behind them to obscure any evidence of their passing. Now they were deep inside the laboratory, searching the storage rooms.
As one of the predators opened a sealed container, he started laughing, a strange rattling sound that echoed through the empty rooms. One of the others joined him and looked. Inside the container were half a dozen phials, containing a black liquid. There was no sign on the container as to the nature of its contents.
"These phials?"
"Yes. A sad end, really. One of the Engineers' greatest achievements, gathering dust in the sealed vault of a human laboratory. We'll make better use of it."
A small warning light popped up in the predator's helmet display. the third party member was signalling them.
"It seems our companion has found something of interest. Do we have time?"
"I think so. The turians are still wandering around the building, and when the humans arrive they will focus on the turians. We can afford to stay a little longer."
-o-o-o-
"Sir, there is a noise ahead, I believe we're about to have company."
"Finally!" Saren actually breathed a sigh of pure relieve. No more sneaking around. At last, he would be able to confront these humans in person. "Move ahead, cautiously. We'll set up an ambush in these rooms and take them down."
-o-o-o-
The hunting party had gathered around a single cryo-chamber, located in the centre of a small room.
"This... is unexpected."
"The human prisoners lied to us."
"So it would seem."
"They always maintained that no living sample had been preserved."
"But is it alive? How are its life signs?"
One of the predators studied the read-outs on the tube and filtered them through a translation package.
"Low, but stable. It is in perfect hibernation. Quite an achievement, considering the humans' limited technology.."
"Human cryo-freezing is quite advanced. A result of their early FTL program."
The hunting party had gathered in front of the cryo-chamber and contemplated the creature within.
"We cannot take it with us."
"True," the leader agreed. "The cryo-chamber is too large. We cannot cloak it and carrying it would slow us down. It might be an acceptable risk if this was a queen, but not for a warrior. Still..." He studied the chamber again. "It would be such a waste to just leave it here. Even if we cannot bring it back, we can at least add it to the entertainment. Unfreeze it. No need to open the chamber. It will make its own way out."
One of the predators had hooked his portable computer to the controls of the cryo-chamber. The interface wasn't perfect, but it didn't need to be. Security on the access panel was minimal. The humans had relied on keeping the vault itself secure, rather than locking down the cryo-chamber. A few key-strokes sufficed to set the heating process in motion. The hunting party left quickly. Behind them, in the cryo-chamber, a dark shape stirred slightly.
-o-o-o-
"Multiple contacts, closing fast."
One of the mercenaries, who was scanning the corridor ahead with his motion tracker, froze and lifted his rifle.
"How many?"
"Cannot be sure. At least half a dozen.
Zaeed smiled grimly. At least this was the kind of problem he knew how to deal with. "Alright, time to earn our pay. Santiago, what's that corridor look like?
The civilian checked his map display. "A turn to the left in about ten meters, beyond that: multiple side branches. They're in the middle of the facility, just one floor above the labs."
"Damn, plenty of cover for them. We'll wait for them at the corner, kill as many as we can, then clear the rooms one at a time. Move it!"
-o-o-o-
As the hunters made their way out of the vault, they could hear the noise of automatic weapons firing in the distance. That was good. They had what they came for. Now it was time for some entertainment.
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Note that while Spears has a point about the ability to expand their military force, he does underestimate the enemy quite a bit. The way I see it, at this point in time the United Systems would be an economic match for one of the Citadel species, but they have no hope of matching the economic resources of all the Citadel species combined. So, assuming they have time to build up their forces, they could probably hold off the turians, but they would lose if the the asari and the salarians throw their production capacity behind the turians, even if they don't actively participate in the war.
Regarding the black substance: When I first saw it in Prometheus, I had an idea as to what it was supposed to be. Turned out I was wrong, and the writers just used it as a Deus-ex-machina that could do whatever the plot required. Probably one of the weakest points in the film (which has a LOT of weak points). Here I go with my own idea, so this is not a magical 'mutate anything into anything else' liquid. It will only serve one -strictly limited- purpose.