The Cosmic Age
Long after the defeat of Caesar's Legion and the liberation of New Vegas, the Courier and Lone Wanderer make use of the Theta Technology to bring humanity back from the edge of extinction and take to the stars. When they reach too far they discover that the galaxy is not always receptive to the adventurous.
I do not own Fallout or Mass Effect
Also, for anybody who is sick to death of stories where the Council is incompetent/evil/out of character/childish/any sort of combination of those things...this is for you.
Also, I will be taking SOME liberties with material from both Mass Effect and Fallout.
I'd like to ask something of my reviewers: if you feel that there is any way that I could improve your experience with this story, be it by changing the way I describe battles, the pacing of the story or any certain small details that you feel I could leave out or add. I implore you to put this in the open and in the next chapter I shall respond at the bottom to each individual questions/statement/request/suggestion/etc. Because if I can make this story better for you at all then I need to know, as you've all made this my most viewed/favored story ever made and I owe a debt to every last one of you to improve in any area where I am lacking so that your experience in reading this can likewise be enhanced.
Xxx
Chapter Six: Fall of Shanxi, Part Four, The Turian Espionage
Turian Dreadnought A'kalez
Detention Area
Six hours after Turian landing
"Between those taken from the station, the salvaged escape pods and any individuals in pressurized suits we have just under two hundred prisoners, Admiral." Captain Pridius informed Trisun as the two strode past a pair of at-attention guards and into a corridor lined with cells blocked off by barriers to contain the prisoners. There were around a dozen to each room, and any not in the cell block were being given medical treatment by a team of very cautious Turian doctors who were adjusting to new physiologies on the fly at this very moment.
Trisun paused to glance into one of the cells, causing one of the occupants to furiously kick the barrier and shout at her.
"And the Translation Index?" She inquired without reacting to the prisoner's show of aggression.
"We're still working on it, but we are beginning to form some small sentences." Kravos answered. "We've moved onto the stage where we identify certain objects in our own dialect and have a prisoner repeat the word in their own. It would appear that some of them have caught onto our intent, though not all of them are proving to be cooperative. At this point we still can't form a complete sentence longer than two or three words."
"Keep me informed on your progress, but make sure to include as few as possible in your work." She said, maintaining a relaxed saunter. "Colonel Victus is keeping us apprised of the situation on the ground, but he can't keep an eye on Desolas from the FOB. I don't want Arterius to ruin this process by grabbing up my prisoners."
"What would he hope to gain by torturing prisoners who can barely comprehend our demands?" Kravos asked, disturbed by how apparently ruthless the Turian General could be.
"Oh I'm not afraid of him torturing them," Trisun replied while reaching the end of the cell block, "I'm worried that we would have a repeat of the Siege of Pheldi II."
"Pheldi II?"
Trisun realized that the younger officer may not have been informed of that particular event and cursed her lack of caution. She took a breath and stopped for a moment, quickly considering how to break this to Kravos. After several moments she pulled him aside into one of the escape pod bays.
"VI, command override: neutralize security measures within range of my position for approximately three sensor cycles." Trisun said, activating her Omni-Tool to provide her personal override code.
"Authorization verified, beginning surveillance blackout."
Trisun faced Kravos, planting her hands on his shoulders and staring him in the eyes intensely.
"The following conversation never happened." Trisun spoke clearly, emphasizing the word 'never'. "Pheldi II is a border world, primarily devoted to providing raw materials for construction of ships and weapons. Several years ago there was an organized insurrection that overran the planet's security force and cut all communications in and out of the system after securing control of the local relay. General Arterius was deployed with a fleet to reclaim control of the planet, and he managed this within a single month, all the while abiding by the doctrine of how our people conduct rebel suppressions...except for one incident."
Trisun released Kravos' shoulders and stepped away, stopping by a view port showing the shapes of Turian ships hanging as still as images on a picture frame in the void outside.
"In the final week of his campaign, Desolas managed to corner the majority of the rebel forces and box them in to their final controlled city," She continued without turning away from the peaceful image before her, "By this time he had taken thousands of prisoners: soldiers, engineers, even sympathetic civilians and family. He had them focused in a concentration camp, but for the most part conditions there had been reasonable with minimal deaths and incidents. But then he delivered a statement to the rebel forces holding the city after attempting to besiege it for three days without rest. Desolas had thousands of prisoners marched out into the open after he'd acquired all the knowledge he believed he would get from any who had anything to offer."
Trisun turned, allowing Kravos to see the haunted expression in her eyes. "Desolas declared that there would be no mercy to enemies of the Hierarchy, that he would adhere to the principles of the Turian war doctrine...including the non-discrimination between active hostiles and civilians in a battle zone." She informed him.
"He had the civilians gunned down," Kravos whispered, already deducing where this entire conversation had been heading.
"Yes," Trisun answered with a nod, "He had them marched out, families and all, and had them killed by a company exclusively loyal to him. This provoked the rebels into reacting aggressively, deploying their remaining armour and air assets to attempt to cover several escaping civilians only for Desolas to have them intercepted by ground based mass accelerator emplacements. The rebel position was left significantly weakened and stretched thin, and an infiltration team managed to use this as an opportunity to spend a few more hours blowing new holes in the defences until Desolas was able to breach the perimeter twelve hours following the massacre. He took the city before noon the next day and secured control of Pheldi II two days after that."
Now Kravos appreciated why Trisun held such animosity for the star General. Despite many following Turian doctrine they still avoided certain extremes such as the massacre of civilians if they could help it. But Desolas so far had shown a complete lack of regard for the lives of Turians, using their deaths as justification to throw soldiers more into battle against a species that he cared even less for.
Suddenly the young Captain found himself agreeing with Trisun's decision to keep the prisoners secret.
"How did they manage to keep this quiet?" Kravos asked after several moments of silence.
"Killed most who were involved for one, and by that I mean massacring any rebel survivors," Trisun replied with a shrug, "Desolas had kept the majority of his forces far back in cover, and ensured that only battalions with commanders sympathizing with his methods were placed on the front lines."
The Admiral checked the time on her Omni-Tool, but did not stop. "By the time any honest soldiers were stomping over the cold bodies of those civilians the city had been blown wide open and there was just a huge rush to flood in and overwhelm every last block. Fleet officers such as I were given access to the details regarding this travesty, however I am personally aware of these events because I had been deployed with the next wave of reinforcements to purge the final holdouts."
She looked back up from her Omni-Tool. "Desolas Arterius is a cold and well oiled machine that has no concept of morality or honour on the battlefield, only on getting results by any means that will have his blood thirst overshadowed by his effectiveness."
"Surveillance blackout expired." The VI's synthesized voice chimed from the nearby intercom.
Trisun opened the door. "Remember what I've told you," She said as she stepped out into the hallway, "And don't become anything like him."
Xxx
New Taiyuan, Brotherhood of Steel Citadel
Seven hours after Turian landing
Colonel Williams had his meeting with Sentinel Noland's recommended specialist after one final sweep of the city perimeter. The meta-human directed him to a meeting room which was unoccupied, save for a single individual seated at a round table. They looked over their shoulder as Williams entered, allowing him to see the glow of a red visor beneath a hood before they looked across the table again, arms crossed and their body slouched in their chair.
"I assume you are the one who Sentinel Noland has vouched for." Ashe said as he walked to the far side of the table and sat down, grinding the tip of his cigarette into an ash tray before introducing himself. "Colonel Williams, Shanxi Defence Force. And you would be...?"
"A merc."
Ashe tilted his head a bit and tried again, "A merc named...?"
"Irrelevant." The mercenary grunted as they leaned forward and removed their hood, revealing that their face was covered by a mask taken directly from an NCR Veteran Ranger's uniform and modified with some more up to date technology to make it fit around their head without the use of a bulkier helmet to cover the top. The rest of their armour was an amalgamation of components taken from the old legendary attire of the New California's Republic most elite warriors such as the iconic trench coat fit over ablative ceramic armour plating and a an inner layer of fabric armour.
"Noland said you need someone to infiltrate the enemy camp." The mercenary continued, "My team is suited for this job, given the right payment."
Ashe nodded, deciding that it would be more productive to just get to business and trust Noland. "Given how small my list of options is I'll simply have to take your word for this," He said before sliding a rectangular metal card across the table towards the masked mercenary. "Noland forwarded me your price. That card contains half of the promised payment, the second half will come after your assignment is completed."
He should have been mad that this man was demanding money in the face of an alien invasion, but at the same time Ashe knew that he couldn't afford to be picky. This was a way for him to possibly inflict some damage against the enemy and extend the time that New Taiyuan had before it fell, and every second gained until the arrival of the relief fleet would count for something. If this cocky son of a bitch and his team died in the process then Williams wouldn't shed any tears, and if they succeeded they could keep their money and choke on it for all he cared as long as his family back on Earth was kept safe for a while longer.
"Just tell me the extent of what you want me to inflict on our unwelcome guests and then make sure that the second half is ready by the time we are finished." The mercenary said as he watched the credits transfer to his account.
"The aliens are bringing a large amount of armoured vehicles and air craft down to their base camp," Williams explained. "Those are your target. Vehicles, air ships, fuel depots. Without these they won't have the fire power to mount an effective siege of New Taiyuan unless or until they receive reinforcements. We can provide you with demolition charges and any information we have regarding their technology based on what we've taken from the crash site of one of their frigates."
"Transfer it all to our ship at the star port." The mercenary grunted as he got out of his seat. "We'll move out within the hour. You can expect us back by morning."
"What, just like that?" Williams asked, rising to follow.
"Time is of the essence," The mercenary grunted, opening the door, "The more time they have to prepare an assault, the less time we'll have to ruin it for them and the less likely I am to get paid. So you just sit back and wait for the fireworks."
Xxx
New Taiyuan
Outskirts
Ten hours after Turian landing
Rain had started to trickle down and pelt the ground as the sun faded beyond the horizon, shrouded by the spreading dark clouds that had rushed in to darken the region. The perimeter walls had all gone dark, but soldiers continued to survey the surrounding countryside through advanced sensors and patrolled the walls and the area below.
New Taiyuan was not entirely confined behind the security of its perimeter wall. A collection of shacks, warehouses and factories had been built along the edges closer to the coast to process scavenged food and resources. They were owned by private corporations rather than the Alliance and had been emptied out the moment that the call to evacuate to the vaults went out. Now these ghettos were patrolled only to keep any of the alien invaders from using them as cover to get close to the perimeter wall from the shoreline.
A smart move, but a team of twelve Turian Ghosts had managed to slip past Alliance marines and sensors without any trouble. They had moved out far to sea before being dropped into the ocean and had used propulsion devices large enough to drag four Turians each to clear the distance to the coast and navigate most of the distance separating that area from the city wall via the river. One mile out from the wall they had ditched the transports and swam the rest of their way on their own, assisted by the propulsion packs built into their armoured suits. Their species by its nature was not an aquatic one, and many Turians preferred to avoid anything to do with submerging themselves in water, but there were always exceptions in the name of accomplishing any mission that the Hierarchy was confronted with.
After clambering up onto the rocks followed by crawling through mud and debris and then pushing against the current trying to drag them back out towards the sea the Turians had to traverse several hundred meters of shoreline and avoid the sights of hovering drones, human soldiers and fixed sensor relays. These were easy enough to overcome or outright avoid without setting off alarms, and the Ghosts managed to slide down into a large ditch used for dumping garbage by the base of the perimeter wall.
Each Turian wore a pitch black suit of armour, lacking any of the usual lights or markings one might find on the average soldier. Their weapons were folded up and safely attached to different areas of their armour, save for their side arms which were equipped with suppressors to muffle any noise they produced. One unique piece of their arsenal was an arm mounted collapsible blade about as wide as one of their digits and able to extend up to a foot past their wrists, ending in a monomolecular edge that could slice through most forms of infantry armour and bypass any kinetic barrier.
Ghost Leader, their mission commander, was leading the way through knee deep sludge pouring from pipes built in the wall, none of them large enough for the Turians to make use of. They had spent the better part of an hour probing the perimeter for any weaknesses, but only found that the human patrols were always dropped and lifted back out through some sort of VTOL airship. There was a large gate that appeared to be connected to the ragged collection of structures by a main road that was quickly washing away as the downpour strengthened, but it had no means of offering the Ghosts entry to the city.
After settling down to pause and consider their options, Ghost Leader felt one of his subordinates (Ghost Three) tap his shoulder and sign a message to him, indicating an area of the wall off to the side of the larger gate. There was a circular door on either side of the gate marked with human symbols, and one had opened up to allow some sort of vehicle to roll out, suspended several over the unstable terrain by large wheels. The Turians watched without making a single move, pressed to the muddy slope several dozen meters away as the vehicle lumbered past their hiding spot.
Ghost Leader waited until the vehicle had vanished into the ghetto before signing orders to his men. The squadron was split into three teams of four, the first of which was commanded by him, the second by Ghost Two and the third by Ghost Three. Ghost Leader had Two take his team closer to investigate the entrance, which he realized had remained almost perfectly blended with the perimeter wall due to the surrounding darkness and the rain splattering against the Ghosts' visors. Once they knew where to look they didn't take their eyes off of it for fear of having to start over and wait until the door opened once again.
Four Turians took up flanking positions on either side of the door, remaining hidden amidst the muck to hide them from the naked eye and cloaked in protective sensor disrupting fields to keep them hidden from electronic detection-and seeing as they had made it this far they were obliged to believe these countermeasures sufficed. Two assigned one of his men to remain further back and watch for the vehicle's return while the other two kept their rifles fixed on the door from different angles.
Back with the rest of the squad, Ghost Leader had Three lead his team (Ghosts Ten, Eleven and Twelve) towards the nearest structures to keep an eye out for any other patrols in the side passages between the buildings. The four Turians engaged their thruster packs, shooting into the air while the roar of the rain and the rumbling of thunder practically drowned out any noise they generated. Each landed on a different roof top and remained crouched while switching to their rifles.
Two moved in towards the large door and examined it closely, but kept his stealth field up after he identified two different surveillance devices near the top corners of the door frame. Upon closer examination the cloaked Ghost found a control panel located next to the door and covered by a casing to protect it from the elements; beneath this protective container was a screen and key pad that folded out instead of a hologram based interface.
This made Two give pause and wonder several things about this 'Human' society, which appeared to still be fully adapting Prothean technology into their every day machinery. From what the records and evidence had shown this species' warships were more thoroughly outfitted, but there were inconsistencies found on the station and some ships which suggested what many informed individuals in the invasion force were thinking: the humans had only recently acquired Prothean technology and were still exploring ways through which to perfectly replicate and adapt it to their own. Unfortunately this variation meant he couldn't simply hack into the more primitive controls, which were simply incompatible with his Omni-Tool.
Fortunately there were other methods not lost to the Turians, who had their share of experience with groups who thought to be clever by using primitive technology that would leave most modern hackers nauseous. Two's onboard VI began to translate the human text, creating a haphazard wall of text that he could barely make out. Luckily it wasn't an organic mind that would be hacking into this computer today.
Attached to the same arm used for Two's Omni-Tool was a module that had been quickly strung together on a computer screen by some trusted STG agents and transmitted to General Arterius' favored engineering team with proper assembly instructions. It had been designed based off of the findings from the 314 Skirmish for one purpose: to allow a Turian to hack into incompatible human computer systems. The device needed a VI of its own to do anything, but given the STG's history of pulling through in matters like this G2 was confident that it would do the trick...
All the same he signalled the rest of his men to move away, intending to bear the entirety of the risk himself.
Two inhaled slowly before pulling a cable from the arm mounted Hack Module, pushing it into an appropriate port. The VI within the module connected to his visor, displaying an icon to indicate that it has successfully integrated with the human computer and showing a bar below to represent its progress.
Xxx
Within the perimeter wall, just behind a few feet of metal and stone was a large garage area where mechanics were tending to a number of combat vehicles or modified civilian rovers. Several colonial militia members were on guard duty, cradling shotguns that would be more useful in the confined quarters. Unlike the Brotherhood of Steel and Alliance marines these volunteers wore armour that was years out of date and wielded 'slug shooter' weapons that relied on chemical propellants instead of energy, and unfortunately these poorly equipped souls made up the majority of the defence force.
The garage was reasonably maintained, mostly because it had only been in use for a short span of time. Several drones based off of the now ancient Mr Handy model of robots assisted their human co-workers while blurting out random statements.
"Uh..." One mechanic rubbed her chin, examining a large ore transport being converted by one of the Mr Handies into what she assumed was a type of mobile missile turret. "I have a few concerns about this."
"Preposterous, Mistress!" The Mr Handy in question floated down to her level. "With the firepower of this Chariot of Annihilation at your disposal our enemies shall curse the gods who permitted their parents to copulate!"
Putting aside the...unique phrasing employed by the robot, the mechanic cleared her throat and gestured to the truck. "You're bolting a missile turret to the roof of a truck that doesn't have any armour and isn't rated for that sort of weight. I'm pretty sure this thing won't run, much less stay upright." She began to back up quickly as a shadow was cast over both her and the Mr Handy, "Speaking of: LOOK OUT!"
CRUNCH!
The Mr Handy crumpled beneath the weight of the truck, which had tipped over the moment another Mr Handy had tried testing the turret's rotational ability. Part of the large turret had hit the wall next to the vehicle and pushed it off balance. The unfortunate robot vanished entirely beneath the metal hulk while the mechanic was left to simply shake her head in shame and call out to several other Mr Handies.
"Get that turret off, get the truck back up and put it on a lift!" She shouted. "And no more improvising! We'll stick some armour on it along with a barrier emitter and make it into an APC."
As the robots moved in to assist in repositioning the truck and dragging away the crushed remnants of their compatriot the mechanic saw a smaller shape darting through the group towards her.
"My lady, my lady!" The spherical robot wailed, waving its tiny pincer tipped arms frantically. "Something is wrong, seriously wrong! Come quick!"
The mechanic slowly sucked in a breath and exhaled, pulling off her cap and wiping her forehead as she muttered, "I don't get paid enough for this shit." She followed the new robot, a MkII Mr PATSY (Personal Assistant/Teacher/Surveillance/Yeoman) towards the garage's security station on the second floor where two militiamen greeted her.
"The tin can says that there's something outside the front door." One of them tapped the screen showing an exterior view of the cog shaped door leading beyond the wall. "He started going off when the exterior panel opened on its own for some reason."
The mechanic leaned down and peered at the screen. Just as the man had said, the control panel located a few feet from the door had been opened up. Besides that there was no sign of anyone within view of any of the cameras.
"I don't see anything." She shook her head.
"But it's practically in plain sight, my lady!" Mr Patsy insisted. "Look at the space just in front of the control panel! Look at how the rain droplets are not falling as they should!"
The quality of the camera footage was clear enough for her to clearly see a lack of anything in the space in front of the control panel, but the rain and lack of natural light made it difficult to pick out smaller details that the Mr Patsy might be able to perceive as clear as day by connecting itself to the security system. It could have seen something, but it also had a habit of overreacting to many things which turned out to be nothing-paranoia ran in the model's design apparently.
The mechanic shook her head and turned away with an annoyed grumble. "Send out a security detail to take a look, just in case." She decided.
Personally the mechanic didn't believe Mr Patsy's claims, but if it got the annoying little tin can off her back for a while then she'd gladly oblige the robot for now.
Xxx
Ghost Two fought down the powerful urge to smirk as his visor displayed some good news.
The VI had succeeded in tapping into the human systems while avoiding any alarms or traps. Now he had an interface displayed mere millimetres from his face that would react to his eye movements. Two could open and close the door at will, control the alarms directly linked into this sector of the wall or access/disable the exterior security cameras from the console, but before doing anything he sent a signal back to Ghost Leader to inform him of his success.
Suddenly the door began to shift, moving inwards and startling Two, who pulled his module free of the console and dove to the side. He slid through several feet of mud before pressing himself flat to the ground, as did the rest of his team close by as the pathway in front of the door way was illuminated by the interior lights. Several figures stepped under the curtain of rain, one of them grumbling something in its own language, possibly voicing its displeasure with the weather.
These humans did not wear the same armour as those who had been encountered on the orbiting battle station. Instead of grey or brown armour they wore green armour which didn't even fully cover their bodies, and their weapons didn't match up with any of the models that had been retrieved and categorized for the squad to view prior to being deployed.
Two remained still as a statue, hearing the mud being squished beneath the boots of the humans as they chatted and waved beams of light along the ground close by.
Xxx
"No sign of anything out here!" One of the men said into his radio, raising his voice so that he could be heard.
"Alright, come on back in." The mechanic responded, watching all of this from the security office above. "And close that terminal while you're at it."
"Gotcha," The militiaman sighed and pressed a button to close the exterior terminal back up. "Come on, let's get out of this rain, it feels like I'm already soaked to my socks."
The four militia members turned and stepped back inside where another six were spread out with their rifles levelled at the opening in case anything else had tried to get through. The door, mounted on a powerful mechanical arm, was rotated back into place and pushed forward to fill the door frame perfectly like the final piece of a puzzle.
"There, happy?" The mechanic slapped the Mr Patsy as she left the security office. "Now calm down and save the panicking for when we're actually being attacked!"
However, as she walked back down to the ground floor she whispered to one of the guards, "Just in case, be on alert. That Terminal isn't supposed to open itself."
Xxx
Two relaxed and began to move away from the door, regrouping with his team and Ghost Leader close by and out of view of the cameras.
Ghost Leader tapped Two on the shoulder with one hand and held a closed fist over his chest, communicating a silent praise for the lower ranking Ghost's performance. He then set two talons on his own visor and swiped them across to the left.
This second gesture was only used by the Ghosts when their silence had to be broken for the sake of quicker communication. The rest of the Ghosts kept watch while the two knelt a few feet from one another and began to converse quietly.
"Good work, Sergeant." Ghost Leader whispered, "Now we have a way in."
Two shook his head and responded, "You might be overestimating my success, sir. I had a peek through that door, and it looked like there was a lot of traffic inside there. Upwards of a dozen humans I'd wager."
"We'll deal with it." Ghost Leader said, voicing his confidence. "What have you learned from their computers?"
"I had control over the door, the cameras and the alarm systems wired directly into the room beyond that entry point." Two answered, "If I can plug in again for a minute I could cut the alarms, open the door and clear a way for us to get in. We'd still have to move fast though; I don't know how many other exit points there are inside."
This was always the riskiest part of an operation. The Ghosts could not afford to be compromised at any point before their extraction, and Ghost Leader doubted that they would be able to sneak all three teams in without one being spotted.
"There's no way we'll be able to get the entire squad inside at once." Ghost Leader decided, "But maybe we don't need to."
Ghost Leader swiped his talons back across his visor, signalling that the conversation was over and they were to resume operating silently. He then contacted Ghost Three and issued a message to him to watch for the vehicle they had spotted departing earlier.
Several minutes passed, giving the Turians plenty of time to prepare before they heard the rumble of an engine. The vehicle was spotted lumbering clumsily back along the trail and slowed to a stop outside the door. The driver inside transmitted a code to the security office, and moments later the door slid back and began to roll off to the side, leaving the way open for the vehicle to move through, leaving a trail of mud and water behind it.
Once it had settled into place the vehicle's aft hatch popped open and let out a team of militiamen.
"How'd the search go?" The lead mechanic called down from the overhead catwalk.
One of the militiamen took off his helmet. "As per fucking usual: not a thing to be seen."
"Well, just look on the bright side ladies and gents," The mechanic said while sliding down a ladder to the ground floor. "Now you get the night off while we're stuck in here until sunrise."
"Heh, silver linings," The soldier shouldered his rifle and began to walk away from the parked transport and towards the exit leading to the barracks.
The mechanic looked over the mud splattered transport and sighed. "We should just turn this garage into a car wash at this rate." She muttered, not noting the shapes clinging to the bottom of the vehicle's frame, which was suspended a couple feet off of the ground by the oversized wheels.
The four Turians hanging on the undercarriage patiently observed the legs of the humans surrounding them. They had deactivated their stealth generators for the time being, relying on the large tires to keep them adequately hidden from view. The humans appeared to be spraying down the sides of the vehicle to get rid of the mud, which washed away through the grated floor beneath them. The outer door had already been shut by this point, leaving the Turians with no way to evacuate if they were discovered now.
"Okay, there we go." The lead mechanic said while putting away the hose. "Move it to the lot and-" She paused while glimpsing between the tires, catching sight of something black. "Hey, is something down there?"
One of the militia guards knelt down and peeked under the transport, only to see nothing but droplets of water splattering on the floor beneath. He looked at the mechanic and shrugged. "I don't see anything."
The mechanic joined him and swept the underside of the vehicle herself once before shrugging. "Probably just been up too long," She muttered, considering the idea that Mr Patsy's paranoia was rubbing off on her. "Okay, move this over to the lot and get ready for the next recon team."
The transport carefully moved across the garage and backed into an empty space between two other modified vehicles. The driver climbed out and locked it up before following the rest of his team to the barracks.
By this point Ghost Leader risked sticking his head out and deactivated his stealth field once again. He gently lowered himself onto the floor, careful to avoid making any noise as he relinquished his grasp on the transport and carefully crawled out from under the metal bulk. He spotted a camera nearby, but had already received a signal from GhostTwo verifying that he had once again hacked into the security system of this area and set certain cameras to play on a loop to keep the humans from noticing anything. Two was careful to only do this with cameras that were already focused on areas without any human activity such as the parking area or his position by the terminal, which he had accessed while the transport was entering the garage.
The four Turians inside the garage remained low, keeping behind crates or the parked vehicles to keep out of sight of the humans occupying the garage.
Ghost Leader exchanged a glance with his subordinates and held up his arm, briefly extending the blade fixed to his gauntlet. They all nodded and waited until he gave the signal...
When he stepped out from cover and made a chopping motion, the three Ghosts accompanying him sprang into action. While moving under the cover of their cloaks they spread out across the room to execute the standard 'Silent Sweep' maneuver.
Ghost Four tagged the only other exit out of the room before closing the door and frying the control panel. The sparks generated by this caught the attention of several of the mechanics, but made it all the easier for Ghost Five to scale one of the metal pillars to the catwalk and hoist himself up, barely generating a sound before he made his way through the open door of the security office. The two militiamen within heard the footfalls of the Turian's feet against the metal floor and turned just as the door shut and locked, leaving them trapped inside and at his mercy.
In the meantime Ghost Six, taking directions from Two outside, managed to find a metal box mounted on a wall containing power switches to every implement in the garage from the water system to the lights. He hadn't the time to let his rudimentary Translation Index work out what each switch represented, so he opted instead for executing an Overload once he was a safe distance away. The grid used a circuit breaker which detected the over current generated and immediately shut down the electrical current travelling throughout the garage, cutting all of the lights and saving any appliances from being fried.
"What's going on here?!" The lead mechanic shouted as several people turned on lights attached to their personal Pip-Boys, bathing the room in a faint glow. "Somebody check the circuit breaker, get me those lights back!"
What she and her companions closer to the center of the garage failed to notice was that their companions still enveloped in the dark were being picked off one by one. The Ghosts snatched the lone humans and tugged them away, one hand covering their mouths while their extendable blades inserted themselves between their ribs from behind and pierced their hearts or sliced through their necks. Up in the security office the two militiamen were slumped over, their blood pooling together on the floor.
"Hong, have you checked those circuit breakers yet?" The lead mechanic called out after several moments of eerie silence, and tried to spot her colleagues outside the circle of light formed by herself, two other mechanics and three militia guards. When she didn't receive any response the mechanic unconsciously moved closer to the others. "...Hong?"
One of the militia members tapped his radio to try and place a call in to the barracks, but one of the Ghosts quickly hit him with an Overload which fried his radio, causing the ghoul to cry out and tear his helmet off. "Yow!" He threw the helmet away...and accidently hit one of the Turians, causing the helmet to seemingly strike an invisible surface and clatter to the ground as all eyes settled on the area the helmet had struck.
Another militia member raised her rifle and turned on the flashlight attached to the barrel, illuminating the area and uncovering a faintly noticeable distortion in the air generated by the Turian's cloak bending the light passing through it.
"What the hell..." The militiawoman murmured.
"Stealth suit!" The lead mechanic shouted, realizing only now that perhaps she should have taken Mr Patsy more seriously earlier. "Fire! Shoot it!"
All three militia members opened fire, but Ghost Four had already repositioned. The gunshots wouldn't be heard through the thick metal and concrete walls and doors, so the Ghosts weren't worried about their operation being blown just yet...but that was no excuse not to deal with it quickly.
Ghost Five leapt down while dropping his stealth field and landed on one of the militiamen, jamming his blade deep into their neck and causing the other five humans to recoil away from him just as Six moved in from the side and fired a single shot from his pistol into the head of the Ghoul militia member and swiftly cut through the throat of one of the mechanics. The other two mechanics scrambled to get away from the aliens while the final militia member unloaded her rifle at Six with a desperate scream, her bullets bouncing off of his kinetic barriers and causing them to collapse, but the rest of her clip barely succeeded in breaking the outer layer of his armour before running dry.
As the militiawoman tried to grab her sidearm a black blade sprouted from between her ribs. A gasp escaped from the woman as she looked down at the blade, which retracted as Ghost Leader allowed her to collapse to the floor. The two remaining mechanics had sprinted over to the parked vehicles and were trying to open the hatch on one for shelter.
"Come on, come on!" The lead mechanic said through clenched teeth as she and her companion succeeded in forcing open the driver's side door of one APC.
The other mechanic glanced at her and spotted the form of Ghost Four as he appeared behind her, just within range of the light of her Pip-Boy.
"Look out!" The man shouted and pushed the lead mechanic aside just in time, but took a blade clean through his right eye and out the back of his skull for his trouble. The man collapsed to the ground like a sack of potatoes, leaving the sole surviving human splattered with blood and shivering in fright as the armoured aliens towered over her.
If any of the Ghosts felt bad for the human, they didn't show it. Ghost Leader did not hesitate to draw his pistol and place a single round between her eyes, quickly ending the woman's life.
With the garage now clear Ghost Leader swiped his talons across his visor again. "The synthetics?"
"Disabled," Four responded, gesturing with his rifle to where the Mr Handy robots were laying in a pile of scrap and Mr Patsy had a hole punched clean through its chassis.
Ghost Leader nodded and moved towards the door leading to the barracks. "All clear inside; open the doors so Ghost Two can secure this as an exit point. Ghost Three will remain outside and cover our escape route."
Several minutes later the lights were turned back on, the bodies were all dragged off to the side out of view, the blood had been washed away with a spray from the hose and the door was opened up to allow four more Ghosts to enter the garage.
"We're on a time limit," Ghost Leader informed the assembled Turians, "They are using this room to deploy scout groups into the area outside, and the next one could be along at any moment." He pointed at Two. "Secure this room and prevent an alert from being sent out. We only need a few minutes to scout out their defences and conduct our business. After that we will fall back to rally point Menae and wash our hands of this place."
For most this would be difficult at best or impossible at worst to execute, but the Ghosts were used to working on a very narrow time limit. All it took was brief review of their objectives and they would be set to go.
Primary Objective: Infiltrate enemy fortifications and arrange for timed sabotage of a section of the perimeter defence.
Secondary Objectives: Recover or analyze new models of enemy weaponry and gather reconnaissance data. Avoid capture of Hierarchy equipment by human forces. Prevent acquisition of Turian specimen (living or dead) by human forces.
"We don't have time to stop and face these humans," Ghost Leader said as they synchronized their Omni-Tools. "We avoid confrontation, move on to the target zone and then retreat. If anybody is compromised you know what to do."
The Ghosts could not leave the humans with a Turian corpse to dissect and examine, nor could they provide the humans with samples of Hierarchy made devices to analyze. Each of them had an incendiary explosive that, when detonated, would incinerate their bodies down to their skeletons and leave nothing but ash and a few bone fragments. No functioning technology would survive, and no examples of Turian physiology would be recovered for these aliens to examine and find weaknesses for. This denial of information was why the Ghosts had been chosen for this instead of a Black Watch team.
By the time the humans realized that they had been infiltrated they would be left with nothing but a trail of bodies, destroyed machinery and an unanswered question as to how their defences had so easily been surpassed.
Xxx
Vault Bunker 9
Level 5, Emergency Exit Path, Entry to natural cave system
Three hours after Turian landing
"Damn it, too late!" Sergeant Scott grunted as he, Mason and Sutton reached the end of a long, wide corridor that had taken them several minutes to traverse before stepping through a set of wide open security doors onto natural rock formation. "We'll never find them down here."
The corridor opened to a semi-circular chamber with four different paths leading out. Two led down, another moved to an upwards slope and the fourth was flat terrain for as far as they could see.
Owen shook his head, "Don't be so certain of that, Sergeant." He turned on his Pip-Boy's built in light and shined it on the floor. "Lookie what I just found."
Scott knelt and examined a trail of outlines resembling feet. "Dust and dirt taken from the base on their boots," He realized.
"It leads to this tunnel here." Sutton pointed to a tunnel leading downwards. "I bet these ones lead further away from the bunker, probably to some where nice and remote where they can evac."
"And they'll be slow," Owen smirked and motioned his team to move forward. "Let's move, and try to keep quiet. They might leave a rear guard or traps for us."
The trio followed the designated tunnel, tracing its singular path down deeper into the rock until it levelled out. From time to time they would find more foot imprints and even evidence of an indent in a rocky wall formed by the edge of something made of a strong material. Other times they found that the platform being dragged along had scraped against rock emplacements or even shattered some.
"They're in a hurry." Owen said, keeping his voice low so that his words wouldn't echo too far. "Sloppy, rushed...good, we want them off balance when we find them."
"By my estimates," Sutton whispered while examining her Pip-Boy, "We've gone upwards of two miles already and descended almost forty meters. Where does this lead?"
"I have an idea where," Owen answered, "And now that I think about it, it's the perfect place to hide a ship close enough to hide it from wandering passers and close enough to connect to its QEC with the base transmitter."
"What is the place?" Scott asked.
Owen cracked a smile. "One of the Wonders of Shanxi, a nature preserve on the edge of the Great Steppe," He answered, "They call it Shangri-La Valley." (1)
Xxx
Vault Bunker 9
Level 5, Command Centre
"So...Campbell, was it?" General Mycroft asked, still sitting on his knees while Nathan examined security footage of different areas of the base, watching for any patrolling Securitrons that wandered too close. "You don't look like the usual Alliance grunt."
Nathan tried to ignore the older man, only sparing him a glance every second to ensure the terrorist leader was not attempting to break free of his restraints or attack him. He paused as one of the security cameras showed him a view of one of the corridors.
"Hold," Nathan ordered, causing the computer to remain on that screen. He used his hand to magnify the area of the image where a dark shape was latched onto the wall about halfway down the corridor. "I know that wasn't there before."
Mycroft sighed and began to stand back up, causing Nathan to tense and slip one finger around the trigger of his sidearm still levelled at his prisoner's head.
"Just stretching my legs, son." Mycroft said innocently.
"Cut the 'son' crap, old man." Nathan replied coldly, "If I have to be stuck in the same room as you, we're going to be playing the Silence Game after I'm done talking. Loser gets a free laser to the face. Got it? Begin!"
Ian's smile grew, showing his amusement at the idle threat. "You sure seem to hold a grudge, boy. Tell me, what is it that makes you so...afraid of having help provided to your own race?"
Campbell turned away from the screens entirely and faced Mycroft. He walked over and raised one foot, applying a front kick which sent the older man stumbling off of the platform and crashing to the floor of the command centre below with a groan, but little else to show discomfort or pain.
"My problem is that you're a bunch of self righteous zealots who try to look for an excuse to kill anyone who doesn't agree with you or isn't some perfect specimen of human." Campbell growled, aiming down at Mycroft for several moments before stepping down after him and dragged the General back up to his previous position. "I could go on all day with this, but I'm a little preoccupied and you've wasted enough of my time as is. Now shut up and sit down or the next time I might forget that Mason wants you alive."
Mycroft obeyed, having nothing else to say now that his distraction was complete. While Nathan had been busy delivering his little threat the other screens that he had left floating off to the side went unmonitored, showing a silhouette planting devices similar to the one he had discovered on walls throughout the base. All that Ian had done was keep the young man's attention diverted long enough for this unsung hero to go about his work without being spotted, leaving the marine confused as he noticed the devices being planted throughout the base. All it had taken was several moments for at least four of these devices to be placed in different sectors, as if by several people at once.
"These were not there before," Nathan whispered, focusing on the devices in each screen before spotting Rice and Parker on another, right outside the door to the Security Office. The former was crouched and trying to hack the door open while the latter was exchanging fire with an unseen foe.
"Oh shit," Nathan began to look over the command options available, quickly glancing at Mycroft again when he realized he'd taken his eyes off of the General for a moment too long. "Unlock, unlock...unlock Security Office, there!" He tapped the holographic tab, which lit up as the door opened in the footage.
"Bravo son," Mycroft praised Campbell and began to clap. "Now let me show you why your Alliance needs to remember the saying: respect your elders."
Campbell heard the clatter of Mycroft's hand cuffs falling to the floor and quickly spun around just in time to be met with a fist to his face.
Xxx
Security Office
When the doors hissed open Rice almost leapt back in shock.
"Good work, now get in!" Parker said as she turned and shoved the startled Knight through the doorway. She turned to fire several more bursts at the team of Securitrons closing in on them-including two shield bearers who had kept her from landing a single kill for the whole duration of the brief battle.
"But-I didn't-" Rice protested even as Parker shut the doors behind them.
"Hurry up and start hacking!" The inquisitor insisted while searching the small office for something to use for cover, and settling on a table which she overturned and sent a collection of playing cards scattering across the floor.
Rice, seeing that there was no time for debating what he had or hadn't done simply nodded his head and rushed around the main desk at the back of the room. He sat down and opened up the Security Chief's computer, which had a level four encryption. (2)
"This might take me a minute!" He called out.
"What the hell did I tell you about saying that?!" Parker hollered, reloading her weapon. "Why do you always need a god damn minute?!"
"Hacking isn't easy you know!" Rice protested.
"I do know! I do it all the time!" Parker growled in frustration. "But you're supposed to do this in your sleep!"
Rice shook his head and sighed before getting to work. His hands danced across the interface, typing in lines of code before he was shown columns of possible pass words.
"Oh screw that," He muttered before wirelessly connecting his Pip-Boy to the computer, "Command: Encryption Assist."
The screen turned dark, leaving only the actual full words and getting rid of lines of jumbled characters and symbols. These words were all sorted into a single row on top of one another. Each was eight letters long: Starving, Treading, Haunting, Marathon, Staplers...
"Command: Encryption Assist Comparison."
Each of the words were compared to one another, looking for similarities between them.
"Well, here it goes." Rice sucked in a breath and selected one of the words: Starving.
PASSWORD INCORRECT. 1/8 LETTERS CORRECT.
"Okay, so nothing ending with 'ing'." Rice whispered as the security office's door began to glow bright red near the middle.
"Hurry it up!" Parker growled, crouching behind her improvised cover. "They're breaking through!"
"Command: Encryption Assist Removal: Ending, I-N-G." Rice would never find out just how he managed to speak those words in a steady and clear manner.
Every word ending in 'ing' was instantly removed from the screen, leaving a little over a half dozen options including the wrong selection and only three more chances to guess correctly.
Rice selected another word: Telethon.
PASSWORD INCORRECT. 4/8 LETTERS CORRECT.
"Command: Encryption-" Rice flinched as a hole was blasted through the door. "-Assist Comparison: Telethon!"
Telethon was compared to every remaining word. It had four letters matching up to two of the words: Teleport and Marathon.
Rice ducked his head down as a Securitron fired through the hole, nearly taking the Knight's head off before Parker fired a burst of plasma fire right into the robot's skull at close range, burning through its armour and making it recoil as sparks flew from where it had been hit.
"RICE!" Parker roared.
The Knight jammed his finger down on 'Marathon'...
PASSWORD ACCEPTED, USER ACCESS GRANTED.
Rice breathed a sigh of relief and quickly opened up the security controls. From here he saw overrides for every automated security measure in the bunker. Automated turrets, explosive traps, laser tripwires and most importantly the Securitrons!
SECURITRON PROTOCOLS RESET TO FACTORY MODE. SHUTTING DOWN ALL UNITS.
Just as one of the Securitrons began to peek in through the hole to fire it went stiff and then backed out. All six Securitrons in the corridor sat down and curled up into balls on the floor, their arms wrapped around their legs and their heads bowed. After that they all reverted to standby mode and would not move even if someone were to take a loaded gun to them one at a time-which a certain Inquisitor would feel the powerful urge to do.
Parker let out a breath and leaned her head on the upturned edge of the table. "I fucking hate robots for a reason." She murmured. "And Rice...good job.
This compliment, as simple as it was, startled the young man. He had been expecting another complaint about-
"But I still hate your timing." Parker added.
Aaaand there it was.
Rice's communicator going off a moment later was a welcome relief. He answered the hail while taking off his helmet and collapsed backwards into the comfy chair. "Rice here."
"Rice, it's Campbell!" He could hear the marine shout over the sounds of crashing metal and energy discharges. "Somebody else is in the base! They're planting-" The transmission was suddenly cut off, and now Rice could only hear static.
"What? Campbell, you're breaking up!" Rice called through his communicator. "Campbell!"
Parker climbed to her feet with a growl and kicked the table she was leaning against hard enough to leave a noticeable dent in the metal. "My day just can't stop getting interesting, can it?" She demanded. "Pull up the security feeds and let's see if we can find out what he was talking about. He said somebody else was here so maybe we'll find them on the feed."
Xxx
Command Centre
Approximately three minutes ago
Campbell barely managed to turn around before one of Mycroft's fists struck him in the face hard enough to throw him off his feet and make him crash onto the main floor several feet below the platform in a parody of their earlier confrontation. In those few moments the only thing that Campbell would be aware of was a sudden blinding pain, a rush of movement and finally settling on a cold surface. Several of his teeth had been knocked loose by the blow...one was actually broken off and resting against the inside of his right cheek as the marine tried to raise his head off of the floor and regain his senses.
The Manifest General who only moments ago had appeared to be completely helpless was now standing tall, rolling his shoulders a bit as he hopped down and craned his neck to either side until he heard a satisfying pop. He looked down Campbell, who managed to turn onto his side and spit out a bloody tooth.
"Son, another lesson that I'll leave you is this," Mycroft said as he leaned down and picked Campbell up by the throat, "Always wear your helmet."
Then he punched Nathan in the ribs, aiming for the side and low enough to strike where his armour was not as thick as it was on his chest. The thin plating cracked and shattered easily, and hard suit beneath did little to protect the younger man's ribs, one of which broke like a tooth pick against Mycroft's mechanical strength and elicited a strangled groan of pain from Nathan. It also served to shock him back into a full state of awareness as Mycroft drew his arm back.
As the second blow came shooting forward Nathan raised his left leg up despite the sensation of pure agony shooting up his ribs on that side. The armoured sole of his boot met Mycroft's fist before it could move too far, stopping it cold and catching him off guard. Nathan took advantage of this to jam the heel of his left palm forward into the General's nose with enough force to generate a cracking noise as bones fractured and crumpled. Mycroft gave groan of pain shock as his nose was pushed into a misshapen position and released his vice grip on Nathan.
This would only be a brief respite from the one sided pounding that Nathan had only managed to delay, so he quickly relocated himself behind one of the nearby rows of consoles and chairs, vaulting over them and triggering different hologram displays before he tumbled down clumsily onto the far side and pressed himself against the desk. Mycroft had one hand over his nose as blood spurted from his nostrils and dripped down his face.
"Little-piece of-" CRACK! "Ugh!"
Nathan risked peeking out over the top of the row of desks once he had his laser rifle unfolded and in hand. Mycroft was removing his hand to reveal that his nose was...realigning itself back into its normal shape. Fragments of bone could be seen shifting beneath the skin and then settling back into their original shape, and the process appeared to incur some measure of pain for Mycroft based on his reaction.
Once it was over Mycroft exhaled heavily and looked around the command centre. "Lucky move, boy." He growled, losing any semblance of his calm and amused disposition. "No more games. I'm ending this now!"
Nathan's response was to aim his rifle over the top of his cover and fire two beams of red energy into Mycroft. Both struck him in the upper body and burnt sections of his armour before he nimbly performed a back flip onto the command platform and then executed a second one just as quickly to move out of sight on the far side. The man was certainly a lot more agile than he looked, and that was even with that heavy looking armour he wore.
"You're fighting the inevitable, Campbell!" Mycroft called out as Nathan knelt back down. "What comes to the Alliance next will be a result of its own weakness, and only what I have planned will save the rest of humanity from being subjugated by these aliens."
Nathan shook his head and muttered softly, "I'd pay good money and give up shore leave for a decade just to hear you shut your fucking gob right now." He muttered while moving to the side to peer around the platform.
A green globule of plasma shot by his head, singing several hairs and causing Nathan to throw himself back into cover as two more shots splashed against the far wall of the command center. After the third shot exploded into a green mist Nathan fired over the edge of his cover, sighting Mycroft rolling out of view and moving towards the exit.
"No you don't," Nathan said through clenched teeth as he launched himself over the row of consoles and then slid across the surface of a holo-table as Mycroft fired off several shots in mid run for the doors. Nathan fired his rifle twice, scoring a hit against Mycroft's right arm, which appeared to have reshaped itself into some sort of onboard plasma gun...which was surrounded by some cocoon of blue energy that protected it from being reduced to slag-and that meant it certainly wasn't any kinetic barrier that Nathan was familiar with.
Before Nathan could get off a third shot Mycroft swung his other arm as a blue and fiery aura covered his hand. A similar aura appeared around Nathan, who slowed down and glanced around. "What the hell is this supposed to be, a fancy light...?" He trailed off as a strange sensation overtook him.
"Whoa-whoa!" Nathan was lifted up into the air, flailing as he tried to steady himself out. He felt weightless, as though he was in a low or zero gravity environment without a gravity generator present. He was sent tumbling head over heels through the air, carried solely by his own momentum until he slammed into the ceiling and bounced off. After several moments the effect ended and he crashed back down to the floor with a pained grunt.
"What...the hell?" Nathan groaned, climbing to his feet and sighting Mycroft just before he vanished around a corner within view of the main doors. "Damn it!"
Nathan quickly gave pursuit, dashing out into the hallway and tapping into his communicator. He still had one thing besides Mycroft to worry about, and the capture of a high value target clearly took priority. But it didn't hurt to play it safe.
"Rice here." Nathan heard the voice of the Knight, sounding like he'd just run a marathon.
"Rice, it's Campbell!" Right as Nathan spoke he had to duck down to avoid several more hastily fire plasma bolts sent his way by the fleeing Manifest General, who was moving with the speed of an Olympic sprinter. "Somebody else is in the base! They're planting-"
Suddenly one of the bolts struck Nathan's Pip-Boy, causing it to spark and heat up enough to make the man cry out and quickly work to disconnect it from his arm. He tossed the melted device aside and saw that Mycroft was now facing him from nearly forty feet away, his plasma gun/arm raised and a smirk on the older man's face.
"Nobody likes a tattle tale, Campbell!" Mycroft chuckled before resuming his previous course.
Nathan fired off several shots after him before continuing the chase. "I'm going to break that cannon off in your ass, old man!" He barked.
In the back of his mind Nathan had a thousand questions focusing on the strange blue glow that Mycroft had used against him earlier. He had never seen such a weapon before, and it had managed to somehow send him flying like the pull of gravity was a pipe dream. If Mycroft had something like that in his arsenal then why had he waited until that point to use it? And why hadn't he killed Nathan while he was face planting on the ceiling?
He'd have to find out after he caught up to Mycroft and personally blasted every one of his limbs off.
Xxx
CODEX OPENED
Accessing files...
File opened: TURIAN GHOSTS
The Turian military is most famous for its legendary discipline that is instilled into every individual from the lowest ranking recruit to the oldest and most seasoned general. When a Turian army falls back it is done so in an organized effort, laying traps and ambushes while units provide cover fire, but when it advances it removes these obstacles that would expedite an enemy retreat. The 26th Armiger Legion of the Turian Hierarchy utilizes Ghost Squadrons, Special Forces front line Infiltrators utilizing thruster packs for enhanced mobility and advanced stealth field emitters that render them invisible to most infantry based sensors and forms of long range detection. Each Ghost is an accomplished saboteur trained to operate alone or in squad formations, utilizing equipment uniquely designed for destruction of equipment, detonation of explosive materials and subtly neutralizing unprotected individuals after quickly peeling away their defences.
The classic Ghost unit operates in squads of twelve divided into three fire team sized groups and identified as Ghost Leader and 2-12 on their Team Frequency for the duration of their mission (other designations can be assigned if the Ghost presence is larger than twelve members, which is rare) .
Ghost Leader is the designated squad leader, and is assigned command of one of the fire teams (Ghosts Four to Six) while the other two teams are commanded by Ghosts Two (commanding Ghosts Seven to Nine) and Three (Ten to Twelve). Ghost Leader is traditionally a commander while Ghosts Two and Three are Sergeants, and the fire team based organization is used mainly for when the squad is forced to split apart.
Each team is capable of operating independently, but Ghost Leader bears overall field authority and total discretion to undertake any actions for the sake of the Turian Hierarchy and the Council with the understanding that their lives are second to achieving their objective.
While superior to the common Turian soldier in covert action, the Turian Ghosts and their colleagues in Black Watch still struggle to contend with their Salarian counterparts in the STG, who have at times served as sources of inspiration for the training of both units.
File closed
Accessing files...
File opened: KINETIC BARRIERS
Kinetic Barriers are the primary form of defence both for personnel and ships in the Citadel aligned races, which have had thousands of years to perfect the application of the technology where the Alliance has only recently begun to refine their use. They are repulsive mass effect fields projected from emitters in reaction to a rapidly approaching projectile but allow the user to move about normally without restriction. While proven to be less than reliable against plasma weaponry and useless against lasers kinetic barriers are easier to power and implement on anything from an army of millions of soldiers to a large fleet. The Alliance has only managed to arm its colonial marines with personal barriers while the Brotherhood has more thoroughly outfitted its forces.
A barrier is activated in reaction to an incoming mass moving at a sufficient enough speed to trigger the built in sensors.
The Alliance has tried to apply its knowledge of energy shielding to create a personal shield system for infantry and star ships derived from Kinetic Barriers, but has met with limited success besides the creation of a city wide shield known as the Shell. Where energy shields would be too much of a power drain the Kinetic Barrier system has proven to be more efficient and suffices for intercepting and redirecting physical objects.
File closed
(1) Shangri-La was used by author James Hilton in his novel Lost Horizon and has been used in popular culture to describe a mystical earthly paradise contained within a valley. Comparisons have been made between it and Shambala, the Garden of Eden any number of the mythical Beyuls (hidden valleys to act as refuges, guarded over by deities). It is also the name of a real county level city in the northwestern Yunnan province.
(2) I am using a number system to identify levels of difficulty in hacking computers. Easy is Level One, Normal is Level Two, Hard is Level Three and Very Hard is Level Four.
On another note: if anybody is concerned that I am making the Turians too competent or the Alliance too weak, consider the following.
The Turian fleet has taken more casualties than the Alliance fleet did, and has repeatedly been given the advantage of overwhelming numbers against the Alliance in both engagements shown so far. The Turian Ghosts are elite infiltration specialists and have only encountered militia members and civilian mechanics. In every instance the Turians have had the advantage of numbers and/or superior training and equipment, and have yet to actually face an Alliance force that matches them in terms of all of those categories.
But that shall change soon, rest assured.