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.
Xxx
Chapter Fourteen: The Shanxi Insurgency, Part Six, The Queen is Dead
Shanxi System, Shanxi
Turian Dreadnaught A'Kalez
Detention Block
March 15th, 2353, 0500 hours
Elder Thompson shared a cell with nine other prisoners, among whom only one was a Super Mutant. It seemed that these aliens, these Turians, had killed most of the non basic humans aboard the station while taking it; Thompson didn't know if this was because they had put up more resistance or because the Turians had simply assumed that they were too dangerous to contain in large numbers. After the incident several days ago he had not been dragged back out for anymore interrogation sessions, nor had he seen many others being taken from their cells except for the young Psyker who had foolishly revealed his powers. His isolation from the Scribe kept him from even finding out what they were asking, and Thompson had no doubt that that was an intentional move to ensure their prisoners could not share critical information.
He had not spent his time idle, not completely. Until yesterday he had been trying to find a way to break out of the cell using every trick in the book, and his time in the Brotherhood had taught him a lot. The cell appeared to be fully impervious to any form of escape without use of a weapon, and Thompson saw how thorough they were in disarming his personnel the first time they'd thrown him in.
One of the imprisoned marines peered out through the blue barrier that served as the bars of the cell. "Where the hell are all the guards? For that matter why haven't they dragged Palladino away again?"
"Probably busy invading the damn planet for all we know." Another marine responded with a shrug to her counterpart. "Maybe they've already won."
"Nah, nah we'd probably be moved out of here and put somewhere with a whole lot more POWs." Thompson said with a wary sigh and stood up from what passed as his cot. "That or we'd be dead, but these guys seem to have a similar protocol for prisoners like we do."
"Still doesn't explain why they pulled a disappearing act." The first marine insisted before all became aware of the doors at the end of the cell block opening up followed by footsteps across the metal floor. "Well speak of the devil."
Two Turians strode into view, their rifles levelled down the corridor as they advanced with a spherical combat drone guiding them.
"What are they doing?"
"Sure seem to be tense about something."
"Hey split lips! Where's the fire?"
The Turians ignored them, one of them checking the glowing orange interface on one of his arms and shaking his head. Both of them relaxed and turned around, but as they did so the combat drone began to glow bright red and emitted a high pitched whine which appeared to set the pair back on alert. They began to raised their rifles only for one of them recoil as the roar of a shotgun filled the hallway and the Turian's barriers flashed dangerously bright; a second shot dropped the barriers and a third tore through him, flinging his body to the floor in a mess of blue liquid. The second guard had tried to fire on the source of the shots but barely got a single burst off before his gun was forced up and his neck began to split open as an invisible blade glided across his exposed throat, allowing blood to spill out before the Turian was released and collapsed to the floor.
Thompson and his fellow inmates were now staring at the second Turian's rifle as it floated in mid air, suspended by invisible hands which aimed it at the combat drone and fire two quick bursts of four shots each and shattered it into fragments of light.
The phantom wielding the alien rifle shimmered into view, first appearing like a figure made of water rippling in an absent sun's light and then appearing in what looked like Elite Ranger armour adapted to a modern combat suit.
"Well well, for a gun that shoots grain sized pellets these things have one hell of a punch to them." They commented, their voice filtered beyond recognition but distinctly recognizable as a woman's as she held the rifle by her side and approached the cell. "Would any of you be Elder Thompson?"
Thompson stood up and pushed through the prisoners that were pressing up against the energy field. "That'd be me."
"Well it's your lucky day." The masked woman said as her partner decloaked next to her. "We're here to get you out, but in return we need you fine boys and girls to help us out with our own mission by order of one Captain Owen Mason."
"Mason is on board?" Thompson asked before the energy field collapsed.
"He's technically our CO for this mission." The masked male shrugged and picked up the other discarded alien rifle, which he tossed to Thompson. "And now that we've freed you, we need you to help us take over this ship. Shouldn't be too hard seeing as it seems the usual crew is rather...well...absent. So what do you say?"
Thompson chuckled, "Oh you are definitely speaking my language." He stepped out and bellowed. "You heard them people! Off your asses, out of your cells and grab the nearest gun you can get your hands on! It's time for some payback!"
Other prisoners began to step out of their cells and filled the detention area.
"Where can we get some more guns?" Thompson asked the two Rangers who had freed them.
"I believe that I can solve that issue!"
Standing at the opening at the end of the corridor was Jack, carrying an alien rifle in each hand which he passed to the nearest prisoners. "There are armories scattered around the ship, each with a couple dozen rifles and half as many side arms. Ammunition shouldn't be of any issue, these things pack a few thousand rounds at the very least."
"Then let's get those guns into some trained hands." Thompson said as he made his way through the crowd. "Arm up and let's go to work! We have a Mason here today who's counting on us for help so let's do him proud!"
The name alone got many riled up. To work alongside a child of a legend seemed to serve as motivation for most soldiers and even support personnel who didn't belong on the front lines. People were clamouring to get a weapon and join in seizing the ship.
Thompson set a hand on Jack's shoulder. "Thanks for the assist, glad to see Rangers are still reliable these days." The Elder said with a nod, "What's the exact game plan?"
"Help Mason to take the command deck and stop the Turians from dropping Chairman Station on New Taiyuan." Jack replied.
"Wait, what?!"
"We found out after we came aboard. They're planning to turn the station into a projectile to break through what's left of the Shell and level the city. We were sent to free you while other teams focus on the whole 'saving the day' part."
Thompson now saw how urgent their current predicament had become and began to shout. "Double time it people! Move like you're worth something!"
Ben chuckled as he and Eva regrouped with Thompson. "Wow, Mason's making our job a hell of a lot easier already. And here I thought you'd have to give them some rousing speech to get them moving."
"Legends have a habit of stoking the courage in others." Jack mused, "Even today one of them is helping us..." He watched as the last of the prisoners disappeared into the corridors outside. "Who would have thought a few wasteland survivors would create such a following."
"If memory serves those survivors created modern society." Eva reminded Jack. "Now, are we going to stand here or get a piece of the action?"
"A valid point,"Jack admitted and began to follow the crowd. "Let's not miss out on this morning's excitement."
Xxx
A'Kalez, Starboard Primary Corridor
0500 Hours
"What the actual hell did we just see?"
Owen was staring at the scene of the massacre which had ended only a couple minutes ago. Once the last of General Arterius' men had vacated the scene Owen and his team had looked over the bodies for any signs of survivors.
"If I were to compress it down to one word I'd choose 'betrayal'." Zero responded, crouching over the body of the one identified as Admiral Trisun. "This one was clearly here to evict him from the vessel and spoke of a plan he had. And what strategy are we currently aware of that the Turians were about to execute?"
"...deorbiting the Chairman," Edward answered, the very thought still sending a chill through both of the humans present. "So this Turian was here to stop that other Turian?"
"That is what I believe." Zero affirmed as she turned Trisun over. "Perhaps she can provide a more accurate answer."
Owen immediately knelt over the Turian and noted the muffled noises coming from beneath her helmet. He looked at Zero and gestured to the headgear, which the synth removed with surgical precision using a Proton Knife, revealing the bloodstained and almost elegant features of a female Turian whose eyes fluttered as she struggled to speak.
"H-human...?"
Owen activated his external speakers and spoke in as calm and clear a voice as he could muster while resting his hands on Trisun's shoulders. "Tell me what just happened. That man, General Arterius: why did he betray you?"
Trisun coughed and drew in a deep breath. "Didn't...didn't agree," She gasped, "Bringing the station down...had to...stop him-" She coughed harshly, getting droplets of blue blood on Owen's visor. "Can't allow it!"
"You were trying to stop him? But why?"
Trisun groaned. "Not...a monster." She answered, "Soldiers follow orders...good soldiers question bad orders. He's gone insane...don't know how or why but he's become obsessed...with destroying you." She reached up and gripped Owen's arm. "When I came here I thought we would only...occupy this one planet, find out what happened at...Relay 314. Didn't come for this...not for this..."
There were no prizes for deducing that the skirmish had played into the Turians' arrival.
"So you were against this plan and came to put a stop to it."
Trisun nodded. "If Desolas drops that station...it'll be war." She strained to speak before lowering her voice to a whisper, "We're supposed to end wars, not start them."
Owen couldn't disagree on that first part. If the Alliance suffered the loss of a whole city and hundreds of thousands of civilians who wouldn't be safe even in the vaults located under the city itself Parliament would move for open war...even if the Turians' total navy outnumbered their own dozens to one and had potentially tens of billions put up against the Alliance's abysmally low population. A drawn out war with the Turians had seemed inevitable and unavoidable from the moment Owen had engaged them in Tartarus, but the fact that one of their flag officers was looking to avoid such an outcome gave him some glimmer of hope.
And he could also sympathize with Trisun on the second half of her statement. Owen didn't fancy himself as overly patriotic, but from his experience even Generals were not authorized for needlessly declaring and then ensuring a state of war between two nations based solely on one skirmish and their own personal feelings...especially when their own mental health was both questionable and measurable by their actions.
Desolas Arterius was not just the man who was about to destroy New Taiyuan...he was the madman who was about to wage war on the Alliance.
"There's...still a way...to stop him," Trisun pulled Owen down towards her, putting what was left of her strength into her grip and the words that followed. "Kravos...he was there at Relay 314...I promoted him to Rear Admiral to keep the fleet in order while I operated frigate support below. I need to contact him, to contact the whole fleet. I can do that from the command deck...just one message."
Owen nodded. "Understood." He looked at Zero. "Can you keep her stabilized?"
"For a time, but her wounds are too severe and Stim-Gel is incompatible with Turian physiology due the difference in amino acids." Zero explained, "No one ever accounted for there being more than one type when it was made, even the Prolat were compatible in that area."
That left Zero with limited options to keep Trisun breathing and a new timer for Owen to go by. Taking the command deck and the entire ship was now more important than ever and the next hour could decide the long term fate of humanity and the Prolat. All of that was down to him and a few others to avert an interstellar war that could not be won.
...
Owen suddenly envied his father. All that Logan Mason had to worry about were a few nations pulling themselves out of nuclear fallout; Owen Mason had the fate of mankind on his shoulders now.
"Keep her breathing until we can take the bridge." Owen stood up, pulling free of Trisun's grip as the Turian's hands went slack and keying into the team's comm. frequency. "Jack, can you hear me?"
"Affirmative Mason. We just finished freeing the prisoners, and you'll be glad to know that Elder Thompson is among them and just saying your name once got them all riled up. We're making our way towards the command deck now and these Turians are throwing everything they have at us to hold us back."
"We need to take the bridge," Owen stated.
"I'm well aware of that."
"No, you aren't aware of just how important it became!" Owen insisted, "I have a dying Turian Admiral right here who has a hole cut in her, compliments of General Arterius, the head honcho of this whole invasion force. He's not acting on any authority but his own, Jack! He's gone rogue and this Admiral is probably the only one who can call off the fleet on our door step. She's fully willing to but the only thing we have keeping her breathing are happy thoughts and sheer stubbornness. So you clear that damn bridge because we're carrying her up there in a few minutes!"
Jack was silent for several moments.
"I certainly understand now. We'll have it cleared before you arrive, Mason. Harper, out."
Owen looked at Zero and Edward. "Put together a stretcher! We need to get the Admiral up there! Zero, you monitor and treat her as best you can. Rice, you and I are carrying her."
Xxx
BSF Chairman Benny
Command Centre
0505 hours
"Clear!" Victoria called out and waved Nathan and Jane into the unoccupied room positioned in the upper portion of the station. "Get the sensors online and work on overloading the core."
"Uh..." Nathan awkwardly stood by the door. "I'll watch the door since I'm sort of...intellectually challenged for this sort of task compared to you two."
Jane snorted as she sat down in one of the empty seats. "He ain't lying Vic, let the grunt do the grunt work and sit your ass down so you can give me a hand with this."
Victoria set her rifle aside and took another seat, reactivating the primary systems and pulling up a layout of the station. "Okay...I have the sensors working and eyes on charges planted on pretty much everything but the primary section of the station."
"The way they're planted they'll knock off the public travel terminal, the peripheral research facilities and all the secondary modules that got added on after the station was set up." Jane noted, "Gotta give these Turians credit for accuracy."
"They've also got those thrusters in place." Nathan added as he pointed to the highlighted areas on the station's hull. "Perfectly positioned to keep the station on course and minimizing any chance of the areas the thrusters are fixed to snapping off in mid descent. They've turned it into the galaxy's biggest smart missile."
Both women turned and stared up at the marine.
"...what?" He glanced between them before looking back at the door.
Jane shook her head and looked over the layout. "Okay...looks like the reactor core is still sealed up. Turians probably would have tried to take that with them if it wasn't...well...explosive, chockfull of lethal levels of heat and kind of nailed down."
"Can you overload it from here?" Victoria asked.
Jane nodded and grinned. "Already putting the codes in now-aaaaaaand fuck me sideways."
"Janie I am sincerely hoping that was a legitimate offer and you are not about to give us bad news." Nathan shook his head without taking his eyes off of the door.
"In your disturbing dreams, Campbell," Jane sighed, "Seems like the Turians went through here with a fine tooth comb and cut remote command to most of the systems on the station from here. We'll have to head down to the Core Control Room itself and rig it to blow there."
"It just can't ever be that simple, can it?" Victoria stood up and snatched up her rifle. "Alright, it's probably better this way anyways. Going right to the Core itself means we won't spend a portion of our getaway time in the Galaxy's slowest elevator."
Nathan shuddered at the memory of the ride up to the highest level of the station. "What is with the elevators on this station anyways? Seriously, it took us like five minutes just to go up ten floors! I swear walking is more efficient."
Jane began to utter a response along the line of telling Nathan to stop his complaining (though with more colorful phrasing) when the doors suddenly exploded outwards. One of the metal panels slammed into Nathan, flinging him back over the console while the other collided with Jane and slammed her head right into the screen she had been working at moments ago. Victoria had managed to roll out of harm's way and brought her rifle up towards the door only for a wave of gunfire to slam into her. Before she could get a proper lock on the shooter he had already breached her barriers and several of the grain sized projectiles struck her armour with enough force to throw her aim off despite not inflicting any serious injury. Rather than risk further harm Victoria vaulted over the row of consoles and took cover as a single Turian stepped through the smoke.
At first glance she confused him for General Arterius due to the similarities he had to an image shown to them by Zero before their deployment, but Victoria quickly realized that certain features were completely wrong. Whoever this was he wasn't the Turian Commander.
The rifle spat out another trio of shots and forced Victoria down while Jane groaned and pushed herself away from the console, shifting the burnt and dented metal door piece off of her. The Turian locked onto the Ghoul and fired again before her barriers could restore themselves, tearing through the fabric of her suit where it wasn't protected by the reinforced outer armour. Jane swore and collapsed as irradiated blood leaked from the entry wounds before her onboard medical systems applied pressure to the area and injected Stim Gel.
"Jane! Stay down!" Victoria leaned out from cover and fired two shots at the Turian, who seemed to glide to the right with a single kick off of the metal floor and was far out of the line of fire by the time the orbs of blue energy were even halfway to him. It was an unfortunate advantage shared between Theta and Plasma based weapons that the projectile did not travel at the speed of light and were easily perceivable enough that anyone with the right reflexes could avoid it...
And this alien was faster than any regular human, she could see that much.
As he slid to a stop the Turian fired at her again, but his rifle was struck near its center by another Theta projectile which caused the weapon to practically explode in its owner's grasp, miraculously not costing him any fingers as he recoiled and tossed the fragments aside. Nathan smirked and adjusted his aim for a second shot at the Turian's head, but the alien's whole body suddenly became bathed in rippling blue energy as he leapt up into the air and reared one fist up overhead before bringing it down and slamming it into the floor plating.
Xxx
Saren had quickly resorted to use of his Biotics the moment he realized the humans would only need one lucky hit to end him. His next move was as risky as it was powerful, sacrificing his barriers to unleash an attack that would hopefully tilt the odds in his favour.
The moment his fist struck the floor the Biotic aura surrounding Saren exploded outwards, generating a violent shockwave which slammed the wounded human into the row of consoles again as they sparked and exploded. The other humans were flung back, one of them slamming into the forward canopy of the command center while the other was sent tumbling head over heels and crashed to the floor without another sound.
"Huh," Saren scoffed and stood up, admiring his handiwork before he opened his Omni-Tool and turned towards the door. "This is Lieutenant Arterius, I have the humans in the command centre. They're all down, one critically wounded but alive. How shall I proceed?"
"Have they done anything to impede the plan?"
Saren looked over the intact screens. "Negative, it appears that you were wise to cut the remote command capabilities of this room. They were attempting to access the reactor controls." He was basing this off of his Omni-Tool's translation matrix converting the text on screen into more familiar figures.
"Good. We might need one alive."
"Don't we have a few hundred on board the flagship already?" Saren asked before noticing a distant explosion just within view of the naked eye.
Curiosity drove him to access the external sensors, a task made much easier with his Omni-Tool to act as an interface. He could see that there was a battle going on around the station, but it appeared that instead of human ships there were...Turian ships firing on one another.
"B-brother?" Saren's eyes widened. "Our fleet, it's..."
"I know Saren...the traitor Kravos Pridius has turned many of our fellow soldiers against me. We can still pull this off, but the Dreadnaught may not be a viable escape option anymore." Desolas explained, "I'm boarding the station now, let me just disconnect us and I'll explain everything."
Xxx
Several levels down and at the end of the docking tube connecting the Chairman Benny to the A'Kalez, Desolas watched as his men finished sealing the airlock and received a nod from one of them before selecting an option on his Omni-Tool which transmitted a signal to the grenades left at the opposite end of the tube. All six explosives went off at once, shattering the tube and destroying the sections that locked it to the Dreadnaught, and in the process destroying the airlock's exterior door and causing the atmosphere to vent from the compartment within until a VI managed to lock the section down.
Now they were completely separated from the A'Kalez, and the hundreds of humans raging through its corridors were cut off from them in turn.
"Sorry about that," Desolas addressed his brother informally, "As I was saying, the Dreadnaught is a no-go. The Alliance prisoners were freed and are presently overwhelming the personnel I left on board. We will require at least one human with knowledge of how to pilot their starships if we wish to escape."
"There is another vessel docked with this facility?"
"A damaged frigate analogue in the middle of undergoing repairs, and ironically enough it appears to be one of the ships that survived the 314 Skirmish. I took the liberty of examining it and found it to be functional. The plan was to bring it along with us back to friendly space to provide a more intact specimen to examine but now it might be our only chance of getting off this station alive. Bring at least one of the humans down to the hangar bays and I'll set the charges for remote detonation."
"Affirmative."
"And Saren."
"Sir?"
"Make sure the one you bring has the basic knowledge required and be sure to verify their qualifications before you kill the other two."
"Of course sir. Lieutenant Arterius, out."
Desolas closed his Omni-Tool and looked to the six men he'd brought aboard with him. "Head to the hangar and secure that ship," He commanded, "I will be along with the Lieutenant shortly."
"At once, General." The team departed without another word, not bothering to question why he would send them away.
Just his sort of soldiers.
Xxx
Back on the command deck, Saren turned to the prone forms of the humans and decided to begin interrogating the more heavily injured of the trio. He began to approach the still form while running a scan with his Omni-Tool to verify that they were still alive and in acceptable condition when he noticed something amiss.
There were only two humans. The wounded one slumped against the row of consoles and the one that had slammed into the forward canopy and lay on the floor.
Saren reached for his sidearm when something rolled to his feet. He looked down and immediately scrambled back as he recognized the shape of the human grenade. At the same time the one of the metal door pieces that he had blown inwards during his entrance was lifted up by an invisible force and positioned to act as a shield for the injured human just before the grenade exploded in a flash of green.
Only two things saved Saren's life in that instant. First was the fact that he had instinctively replenished his Biotic Barriers and reinforced them, focusing them ahead of him and expanding them outwards to catch and repel the ionized matter as it exploded outwards. The second was that the plasma grenade had generated its own force the moment it detonated, propelling Saren back while the plasma splashed on the reinforced barrier. Even with the green matter being held at least four feet away from him Saren could feel the sting of the heat on his hands and his exposed face. In a span of time not measurable to any organic the plasma ate through the barriers and lightly scorched the Turian before he slammed into the wall at the back of the room, landing next to the door, suffering from some burns and half melted armour components but otherwise unharmed.
The ablative ceramic plating of Saren's armour began to boil away and vaporize, sparing his hard suit the worst of the damage and saving him from almost any harm at all. He wasn't confident that he would so fortunate if taken off guard in such a way again.
The repositioned door piece was pushed over and the cloaked human shot to his feet while reaching for a weapon on their leg. Saren reached up and began to gather energy for a Biotic Push to quickly throw the human off balance and give him more time to recover, but before his neurons could fire in the desired pattern and unleash the wave of dark energy the human flicked one wrist out and the next second Saren realized that his own hand had been forced back until his knuckles met his shoulder...and both had been impaled by a knife.
Xxx
As the Turian gave a pained howl Nathan slipped one armored foot under Jane's theta rifle and kicked it up into reach of his hands. He didn't waste time bringing it up to his shoulder and fired from the hip, splashing the Turian's position with Theta energy. The rifle's one disadvantage was that it lacked an automatic fire option, limiting each shot to the amount of times he could pull the trigger until the energy cell ran dry. This gave the Turian the opportunity to avoid the first shot and clumsily throw himself through the door before Nathan could get a second shot off.
He moved to the door and glanced out into the corridor beyond, catching sight of the Turian vanishing around a corner to the right. Nathan stepped back and quickly rushed to check on his allies.
Jane was already stirring, pushing herself up before Nathan helped her to her feet while minding her injured shoulder and arm. Victoria herself managed to climb to her feet without any assistance and wordlessly handed Nathan her Stim Gel supply, clearly intending for it to be given to Jane.
Nathan quickly injected the Stim Gel into the wounded area, knowing that every bit would help to improve Jane's chances of recovery. "How bad is it?"
"Fuckin' bad." Jane grunted, "Armor diagnostic says that Raptor's shots just splintered and tore up everything in that section. And that's my one good arm too!"
Victoria kept an eye on the door this time, peering out into the hall as she listened to the Ghoul. "Shredder rounds," She looked back at Nathan. "That guy did his homework and staged this attack perfectly. Use the door and the explosion to take us off guard and weaken or take down our barriers then use shredder rounds to break through our armour."
"Wouldn't AP rounds work better?" Nathan asked as he helped to set Jane's arm in a sling.
"For heavier armour, yeah, but Night Hawk Armour is a lot lighter and relies more on barriers and being unseen."
Jane rotated her head in a way that made it clear she was rolling her eyes at this information. "Well I'm so glad that I could be the subject of an interesting find. Really feeling the honor here. Now can we please go hunt that son of a bitch down?"
"Priorities, Janie." Nathan reminded the Ghoul Inquisitor, "Gotta blow this station's reactor...then maybe we can track the guy down supposing my knife doesn't somehow make him bleed out."
Jane looked at the young man and chuckled. "Gotta admit, that was a pretty damn decent throw you pulled off, Campbell." She admitted, "They teach that in Arizona?"
"And to throw spears, axes...pretty much anything practical." Nathan shrugged. "It comes right after learning how to stick someone with all those things and before just using a gun to do it."
"If you two are done," Victoria stepped into the hall. "We need to move. That guy could have backup pouring onto the station."
"Uh..." Nathan looked at an intact screen displaying a warning symbol over a display of the station, focusing in on the docking tubes. "...somehow I doubt that, but all the same I agree: let's get moving."
Xxx
A'Kalez
Command Deck, aft of bridge
0515 hours
"She doesn't have long." Zero informed Owen and Edward as they moved through the corridors, stepping over fallen Turians, Ghouls and humans. "Minutes at best. We need to hurry!"
"What do you think we're doing?!" Owen grumbled as he sped up from a jogging pace.
They had managed to fashion a stretcher together and strapped Admiral Varis Trisun to it. While Owen carried from the front and Edward from the back Zero kept pace with them and continued to monitor Trisun's condition. After doing their best to administer aid to her injuries and stem the bleeding they had no choice but to rush her up to the command deck where they encounters freed Alliance and Brotherhood personnel mopping up the holdouts of Turians.
Up ahead they came through what appeared to be a CIC where Turian crewmen were slumped over at their stations, some of them having not had had time to go for their guns when the former prisoners stormed in. Leading the charge was a hulking Super Mutant who had pretty much taken on the Turians unarmed, absorbing numerous projectiles and recovering with his enhanced regenerative abilities while using his physical strength to pummel or throw Turians and allow his smaller comrades to advance and pick off anything he couldn't get his hands on.
"Run little bird people!" The Super Mutant cackled before swinging one arm in a back fisted move, slamming one Turian into a wall when he was too slow to dodge while the few remaining defenders fell back into the bridge and sealed the doors.
"Someone get those opened!"
Owen found Jack among the prisoners crowding the corridor connecting the CIC to the cockpit. "Hey! Over here!"
Jack looked at them as they approached. "Almost have the bridge secured, we just have an issue...more specifically eight or nine of them on the other side of that door." He looked at Ben as he knelt near the doors and pulled out a plasma cutter. "We should have it open in ten minutes based on prior experience."
"We don't even have five at this rate!" Zero said as Edward and Owen gently lowered Trisun to the floor. "We need in there: now."
"O-Override..."
"What?" Owen knelt over Trisun, who was struggling to speak comprehensibly.
"Override...code..." She whispered a set of digits to him. "Side panel...be ready."
Owen nodded slowly and stood up. "Everybody clear this hall." He looked at Jack, "You and your team with me, we're going to clear the bridge ourselves."
"I know your confidence is probably at an all time high Mason, but they'll have overlapping fields of fire in there." Jack pointed out.
Eva nodded, "We'd be cut to pieces."
Owen looked at one of the fallen Turian soldiers. "Hm...indeed we would." He then looked back to Zero. "Zero, I need you to quickly remove a few Omni-Tools and show us how to use one of the functions on it. Could you do that?"
"Affirmative...what do you need?"
Xxx
On the other side of the doors the last surviving members of Desolas' skeleton crew were preparing to make their last stand.
"Hurry it up!" The highest ranking among them, a mere Sergeant, commanded. "We can't let them gain control of a whole Dreadnaught!"
The explosive specialist worked frantically to finish rigging every console in the room to overload and explode. "Almost done!"
"Sir, the mag-locks are deactivating! Somebody's using an override code far above my own!" Another Turian called out as he typed at light speed at a security terminal next to the doors. "I can't keep them out, they're coming in!"
"Get ready!"
Nine rifles were levelled at the doors.
"Don't give them any ground. They lack shields and that big monstrosity can go down if we focus our fire. I want everyone to set their rifles to shredder rounds!"
The magnetic locks finished deactivating and the doors slid open. The Turians opened fire as one, unleashing short and controlled bursts aimed right for the center of mass...only to find their shots rebounding into the floor and ceiling as four humans advanced through the door in a perfect formation, each wielding an Omni-Shield. The standard Hierarchy Omni-Shield was large enough to provide full cover to the average Turian as they knelt, but these humans were able to instead move while in a half crouched pose.
They had turned the Hierarchy's own weapons against them!
The Turians attempted to aim for their feet, but the four humans knelt and set their shields flat on the floor, ensuring that they were completely protected. Several more took advantage of this to move in behind them and fire over the shields with weapons that lobbed blue bolts of energy which tore through barriers and armour alike. Within thirty seconds five of the Turian defenders were down and the rest were scrambling back for cover.
The shield formation broke and Owen Mason leapt through, firing into the back of one fleeing Turian and planting a shot into a second who tried to fire on him. The final two were gunned down in short order by Ben and Eva.
And with that the bridge along with the entire enemy flagship was suddenly under Alliance control.
"Huh, seems like we were wise not to wait." Ben commented as he examined a panel that had been pried open. "Another minute and they would have rigged this whole place to overload."
One of the men who had been granted an Omni-Tool taken from a fallen Turian admired the arm mounted shield. "Oh man...can I keep this thing after we're done here? I just...this would make our jobs so much easier."
Owen whistled and waved through the door. "Bring the Admiral in! Hurry!"
A pair of released marines carried the dying Admiral onto the bridge.
"Chair..." Trisun raised one shaking arm and pointed at her chair. "Put me there...please..."
Zero looked to Owen, who nodded, and then untied the Admiral from the stretcher before carefully transferring her to the command chair. The process was still painful for her due to the wound in her stomach area, but the Admiral was able to compose herself and brought up a holographic display.
"Authorization: Trisun, Varis." She said, "Access code: zero-six-one-one-one-three. Authentication phrase: Live for the cause, make them die for theirs."
Owen couldn't help but feel that the bit of wisdom appealed to him.
A silhouette of a Turian in a formal robe appeared, speaking in a neutral tone of a male. "Authentication and access code verified. Voice recognition complete. Facial recognition complete. Bio-scan complete. Authenticity confirmed. Welcome Admiral Trisun, how may I be of assistance?"
"Override fleet communication protocols." Trisun coughed, "I want a direct link open to every Turian ship and outpost in the system."
"Affirmative. Please stand by...all ship VIs acknowledge communication override. Opening channel now. Audio and visual transmission available."
Trisun straightened up in the chair and tried not to groan in pain as she rested one hand on her blood stained front. She composed herself and stared at a hologram shaped like a circle with a blinking red light that represented the spot to look at in order for her to be seen as directly looking at the viewer. All across the system dozens of Turian vessels found a priority message being sent to them even as the two fleets brawling near the Chairman prepared to go for another round.
They stopped so that the message could be acknowledged and broadcasted to every Omni-Tool and computer screen on board. The same was done down on the ground as tens of thousands of Turian soldiers received a similar hail.
"This is Admiral Varis Trisun, commanding officer of the Turian Hierarchy's 3rd Fleet." Trisun struggled to maintain a clear tone of voice. "It is my regret to inform you that-that General Desolas Arterius has betrayed and murdered soldiers of the Turian Hierarchy. He has destroyed a single vessel and murdered dozens under my command, even personally inflicting injury upon me and now Turian ships are firing upon one another as loyalties are divided. "
She sucked in a breath. "When we first heeded his call to pursue the Alliance to this system, we did so under the belief that we were acting in the best interests of Galactic civilization and responding to a hostile force. We arrived as peacekeepers to strike down what we had feared to be our generation's Rachnii horde or Krogan rebellion...but now look at us."
Xxx
General Septimus Oraka and Colonel Adrien Victus stood in the command post within the Turian staging ground, looking at an image of Admiral Trisun sitting in her seat, bloodied and dying but still speaking despite what must have been no small amount of pain coursing through her.
"Turian soldiers slaughtering one another...dying for the glory of one man."
Xxx
"How? How could she be alive?!" Desolas hissed as his Omni-Tool played the recording to him while he rushed down a corridor through the human station.
"Desolas Arterius intends to destroy the human city known as New Taiyuan, home to hundreds of thousands of innocents who are hiding in fear of us. He will do this by dropping their own station upon them. He does this because he knows there will be no help coming from the Council or the Hierarchy...he knows what I know: that we are not peacekeepers. We are warmongers."
Xxx
Aboard the bridge of the Valor, Kravos stared at Trisun's image. He felt a mixture of relief at her survival and despair at her present condition. The entire room was silent as the crew remained fixated on her speech.
"We told ourselves that we are the defenders of the Galaxy, the protectors of society...but what are we if we allow ourselves to be driven to such acts of barbarism? To slaughter innocents, especially where there is no practical benefit, makes us no better than the Krogan who once dropped asteroids upon populated worlds. It makes us into monsters...and we are already allowing it to tear us apart and turn us on one another."
Xxx
"There are some who follow Desolas out of blind devotion...but I know that others are swayed because they have been told that he will lead us to victory this day." Trisun continued, "It is not victory for us that he will lead us to...he will lead us to a brand new war...one that will be waged solely on a foundation of his own madness, one that will see countless Turians returned to their families in coffins...sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, siblings...lovers...they will have died not for their duty but for Desolas Arterius' obsession."
Xxx
Many of the crews aboard the ships defending the Chairman exchanged uncertain looks.
"There are others who follow him because they view the authority of Admiral Kravos Pridius as illegitimate on account of his field promotion. Well...allow me to at least dispel that final issue."
Xxx
"What are you doing?" Kravos whispered, rising to his feet. "Varis!"
Xxx
"I should have made sure that bitch was dead." Desolas growled before spotting a familiar figure down the corridor. "Saren!"
Saren looked over at Desolas and turned, revealing his bleeding shoulder and hand while a knife stained with his blood dangled in his free hand. "They...they overpowered me." He confessed, "Brother, they might still attempt to overload this station's reactor right at the source! We need to-"
"It can wait a minute." Desolas eased Saren down into a sitting position against a wall. "If we're going after them then I'll need to treat that hand of yours first."
"W-what? But there's no-"
"I don't care!" Desolas snapped but then quickly reined his anger in. "Saren...you're my little brother, and you come before anything else...even this plan. Now sit down, shut up and after I administer some medical treatment to your hand we can go and stop them together."
Saren was too stunned to respond even as Desolas went to work on his bleeding hand.
"Kravos Pridius is an honest and loyal soldier, one who has admitted to his own faults and sought to remedy them, to repent for his own actions. It was he who first fought the Alliance, he who first advocated this attack...but only because he had truly believed that his men had been murdered in cold blood by the people we have fought against until now. When he realized that was not the case he opposed this reckless attack, helped me to find a means that would not result in total war for the Hierarchy. Because of that...I feel that he truly is ready."
Xxx
"What's she planning?" Victus asked.
Oraka shook his head. "The only thing left to her...and I will not envy Kravos if any of us live to return home."
"Kravos Pridius...I invoke the Rite of Digeris. When we fought the Krogan over Digeris long ago, countless Turians fell in a desperate effort to protect the planet in what is still known as the bloodiest battle in our history. It was in that battle that mere Captains were forced to become Admirals and Generals, to take on more responsibility than they had ever been charged with before. And I must, with a heavy heart, do that to you...by the Rite of Digeris and my own authority, I: Admiral Varis Trisun hereby permanently promote Rear Admiral Kravos Pridius to the rank of full Admiral and appoint him as commanding officer of the Turian Hierarchy's 3rd Fleet effective immediately."
Xxx
Trisun coughed heavily, specks of blood appearing in her lap as she bent over in pain. She forced herself to sit up, her breathing becoming more strained.
"I know that...you will be able to guide our people out of this catastrophe." She said, hoping to assure the young man who she may have just doomed to join her as a figure of infamy and shame in the Hierarhcy's history. "Do not let...Desolas...destroy us for...his own glory..."
She managed to sit upright again. "Hail Admiral Pridius. Admiral Trisun...signing off."
The holographic display vanished as the link was cut off.
"Is there anything else that I may assist you with, Admiral Trisun?"
"Unlock bridge controls...disable bio-locks on all systems." Trisun instructed the VI. "And then...log me out."
"Affirmative, Admiral Trisun. Logging you out."
Owen stepped up to her side and knelt. "You really were trying to help us then." He gently grasped one of her hands. "And this is what happened for your troubles."
"A good soldier...might follow all orders...but a great soldier...knows when to question the bad ones."
Owen nodded and clasped his other hand around hers. "I may have only met you a very short time ago, Admiral, but I can sincerely tell you that you may have just changed my perspective of your people. I thought you were cold hearted and thoughtless before, but..." He chuckled humorlessly, "Maybe there is just a tiny chance for peace even after all that's happened this week."
When she didn't respond Owen looked up at her. She was staring blankly ahead, slumped in her chair and her hand dangling lifelessly in his grasp.
"Is-is she...?" Edward stepped forward.
Owen nodded and stood up, slowly setting the Admiral's hand on her lap. "She is."
"And she spent her last breaths trying to save us." Zero stated, looking back at the crowd of prisoners filling the entrance of the bridge. "...I'd suggest you all keep that in mind and act as if that's an Alliance Admiral who just died in that chair."
For several moments she received no response, and then the hiss of compressed steam escaping into open air filled the bridge followed by the sound of armour unlocking. She looked to the source and found her biggest surprise yet.
"She's right," The Ranger, Jack Harper, said as he tucked his helmet under one arm, leaving his piercing blue eyes and head of brown hair exposed. "I might not possess an abundance of affection for non-humans...but I can respect acts of bravery regardless of race." He brought his other arm up and saluted the dead Turian.
Next to him, Ben and Eva removed their own helmets and mimicked his pose, followed closely by Owen and Edward, and then Zero and Elder Thompson. Soon every person present was giving one final salute to the fallen Admiral Trisun, a final gesture of respect and gratitude.
"I barely knew the woman for twenty minutes," Owen said as they all relaxed, "But...if there are really Turians like her then I'd be more than willing to look past what they've done on Shanxi. She came up to this ship to stop a maniac from dropping a station on a city and died for trying to do the right thing...like a lot of good people."
He turned and faced the gathered soldiers. "She didn't have any requirement to do it either. She could have gone along with Desolas' plan from the beginning and even twisted facts to make it look like we left them no choice. But she didn't. The woman just gave her life to protect a planet of people she didn't know from a General who she worked with."
Owen stepped forward and they parted like the red sea to allow him to stand in their midst. The Super Mutant who had cleared the halls was actually wiping his eyes a bit now as he listened.
"Good soldiers follow orders," Owen repeated, "But great soldiers question bad orders...I'm going to remember that, and I expect all of you to do that too, because a great soldier just died saving our bacon."
He continued on through the crowd until he was clear of them. "Now all of you get to work! We still have to stop that station from going down!"
"That might be a problem, Captain."
Jack had donned his helmet again and was following Owen. "I got a glimpse at a sensor screen in there and it looks like the docking tube blew. On top of that the docking arms enacted their failsafe and released this ship. We've probably been floating away without realizing it because of all the gunfire that's been going on up here."
Owen spun around, eyes wide. "...oh shit." He whispered. "Victoria and her team are still on board!"
Xxx
Turian Cruiser Valor
Command Deck
0525 hours
"...Admiral?"
Kravos slowly turned and acknowledged Hen'ar with a stunned look.
"Your orders...sir?" She asked hesitantly.
Slowly setting himself back down into his chair, Kravos inhaled slowly as he tried to accept what had just happened.
He had just been permanently promoted all the way to the rank of Admiral. The Rite of Digeris was an informal means of allowing officers to promote themselves or others to ranks of authority...and it was not done lightly. If you called upon it then you were risking execution or permanent demotion to the lowest tier of being a mere civilian. Trisun had just invoked it on her death bed and had left him holding the bag...he wasn't sure if he was understanding of her decision or if he wanted to curse her name and spit on her corpse already.
"C...contact..." Kravos struggled to find his voice. "...open a channel to all ships."
As soon as the link was opened Kravos took a moment to carefully think on what he would say next.
"...This is Admiral Kravos Pridius, Commanding Officer of the Turian Hierarchy's 3rd Fleet." He announced. "...I hereby order all vessels to stand down. This battle is as pointless as the invasion which Desolas has led us to commit and I will not have one more Turian die a foolish death because of it unless they are determined to die as a fool by following Arterius. I shall take full responsibility for all losses in the recent engagement, no other personnel shall be punished for the deaths we have inflicted upon ourselves this day...no one shall suffer punishment except for me."
Kravos looked around at his command crew before adding. "On that, I swear what little honor I have left to call my own." He nodded. "...Admiral Pridius, out."
...
"Sir...enemy ships are acknowledging your command." Hen'ar reported, "They are standing down and joining us in formation. The Relay Guard Flotilla is still on standby but is transmitting request for new orders."
Kravos nodded. "...as my first act as Admiral I order that General Desolas Arterius be placed under arrest for the charges of murder, treason and conspiracy to violate the Citadel Conventions." He announced, "And as the ranking officer present in this system I am ordering an immediate withdrawal of all forces from the surface of Shanxi. As soon as we have our troops safely off of the ground I can..."
The newly promoted Admiral rubbed his head. "Spirits, what can I possibly do next?" He whispered to himself. "...I suppose I can't do any worse after the hole we've been dug into."
Before anyone could comment Hen'ar's screen lit up with a new alert.
"Sir, the Relay Guard Flotilla just signalled us again...they're under attack! They have identified them as Alliance ships and-" Hen'ar paused. "They're...gone sir, the entire flotilla has just gone dark."
...
"...Why do I even bother?" Kravos shook his head. "All ships regroup! Form up on my cruiser! I want eyes on the relay! Get me a drone in that area now!"
After all of this was done he would either be dead or live long enough to be remembered as an embarrassing excuse of an Admiral...either way Kravos would still do his damn best to get as many of his people home as possible.
Admiral Trisun is dead. Hail Admiral Pridius...for however long he lasts.
Xxx
BSF Chairman Benny
Reactor Sector, Outer Ring Crossing
The Chairman's reactor core was surrounded by two 'Rings'. The Outer Ring was essentially an impervious shell shaped in a large circle and designed to help contain radiation leaks and had sensor rooms to help observe the reactor in safety for any signs of a malfunction. The Inner Ring was at the center of this shell, a smaller circle at the heart of the first which contained the actual Reactor and a single control room that was usually manned by Ghouls or Super Mutants for obvious reasons.
To cross from the Outer Ring to the Inner Ring one had to go through the Crossing. It was the interior of the Outer Ring, a vast open space with metal walls, floors and ceilings and only four bridges to connect both Rings. These bridges were positioned at ninety degree angles from one another, and each could be used to access the Theta energy reactor. They were wide and tall tubes of metal suspended several feet over the floor of the Crossing, and could be sealed off or flooded with the radiation that permeated the vast chamber.
Unless you were a Ghoul or a Super Mutant these bridges were the only safe way to cross to the Inner Ring. The level of radiation was otherwise too lethal for any suit of power armour or hazmat attire to protect the wearer for more than a few seconds.
Desolas and Saren approached from the bridge facing closest to magnetic north, moving at a jogging pace so that they did not expend too much energy before they actually reached the reactor itself. Along the way they found barricades designed to slip up out of the floor, likely intended as a defensive measure to keep anyone from forcing their way into the reactor by force. Upon nearing the end they found themselves confronted by a single reinforced door barring the way to the Inner Ring...
And two humans standing in front of it, clad in black Night Hawk armour and aiming matching Theta rifles at the brothers.
"...Of course, why would I ever expect it to be that easy?" Desolas sighed.
Xxx
CODEX OPENED
Accessing Files...
File Opened: Rite of Digeris
During the Krogan Rebellions, Digeris was the site of the bloodiest battle in the conflict. During the Krogan attempt to invader the planet under the leadership of the Warlord Graken Dhal, the Hierarchy's navy found itself unable to fight at full capacity due to the Krogan fleet positioning itself so that the Turians risked bombarding the planet itself while the Krogan Dreadnaughts were able to fire freely. The battle lasted many months and claimed the lives of millions of soldiers on both sides both on the ground, in the sky and across the entire system as two grand armadas and countless patrols and picket fleets engaged one another and whole armies fought for control of the capital city of Apparitus. The Krogan succeeded numerous times in eliminating key Turian leaders, who had to be replaced by lower ranking subordinates in order to prevent the Hierarchy's forces from falling into chaos.
Eventually it was a young Turian Sergeant (promoted to the rank of Colonel) who landed the decisive blow against the Krogan by killing Graken Dhal during what would have been the final push needed for the Krogan to conquer Apparitus. With Dhal dead many of his subordinates fought one another for control and the Krogan forces were routed by the Turians.
The Rite of Digeris was created in honor of that battle. It enables officers to promote themselves or others to a higher rank in the face of a crisis. Just as when one promotes a subordinate in regular circumstances, the use of this Rite reflects heavily on the officer invoking it if their subordinate fares poorly. It is usually only used as a last resort to ensure that a Turian force will always have a commanding officer of suitable rank even if engaged against an enemy force over a long period of time.
File Closed
CHAPTER SUMMARY
The chapter opens with Jack Harper and his team of Rangers freeing Elder Thompson and the other hundreds of prisoners held aboard the Turian flagship, the A'Kalez, and arming them in preparation to seize the ship. Meanwhile Owen and his team discover that Admiral Varis Trisun has survived Desolas Arterius' attempt on her life and she manages to convince them that she can help if they get her to the bridge. They do so while the freed prisoners clear a way there, and Owen is able to have Zero quickly teach several volunteers in how to use Omni-Tools in order to create a Phalanx Formation of Omni-Shields so they could clear the bridge much quicker. Once Trisun is in her chair she is able to contact every Turian ship and base in the system and issues a speech denouncing Desolas' actions while invoking an ancient tradition dating back to the Krogan Rebellions: The Rite of Digeris, which enables her to permanently promote Kravos Pridius to her position as the CO of the 3rd Fleet, granting him all of her authority. Afterwards she shares some words with Owen before dying, and Owen states his admiration for her despite having only known her for a very brief period of time.
In response to this Kravos issues a command to the fleet to stand down which is accepted by every ship in the system. Just moments later however the ships guarding the relay signal that they are under attack by an Alliance Fleet.
Meanwhile, on the Chairman Benny Victoria's team reaches the Command Center where they discover that in order to trigger an overload of the station's core they will have to go directly to the reactor control room. Before they can get moving they are attacked by Saren Arterius, who manages to critically injure Jane before being driven off by Nathan. Victoria's team takes off for the reactor while Saren is found by Desolas (who boarded the station earlier and disconnected it from the A'Kalez) in the midst of Trisun's speech, and the latter treats his injuries despite the visible risk of his plan being foiled. By the time they arrive at the Reactor Control Room they are confronted by Victoria and Nathan.
Okay, now there's something I'd like to discuss about...the Reapers. Now, for this story I intend to keep a few things the same but change other things. For one the Reapers will have been created by the Leviathans, but their purpose will be EXTREMELY different from what it was in canon. I want to take them back to the days when they were mysterious, lovecraftian and almost supernatural terrors of the cosmos. To that end the Fallout Universe gives me more room to work outside of the more grounded laws of the Mass Effect Universe, hence why I'm going to get extremely creative with my portrayal of the Reapers to ensure that they are what every story needs...
A nigh unstoppable force that cannot be reasoned with, neither good nor evil but simply so above everything else that we are considered less than a speck of dust in their view.
Also, in case anyone is worried: I've already started working on the next chapter and based on what I have I can confidently tell you that it will be the LAST of the Shanxi Insurgency Arc. I could have tried to squeeze it into this chapter but then we'd be looking at around forty pages of content...and I know how chapters like that can just drag on forever. As I said a couple chapters ago I'd try to end the Arc on this chapter if I could but if it got too long I'd try to end it in one more.