Chapter 13

Onix121- They already do have this in the form of their shield drones and as battlesuit equipment for their battlesuits, but I'm guessing you mean as infantry-installed battle armor. Which I guess they can do if they have the time.

Okay, with everyone saying what they thought regarding plasma, I've decided to let my original take on it go into effect. Kinetic Barriers work on Plasma, but will seriously overheat and malfunction when hit by them, so Plasma weaponry and the like work effectively against them.

Teltin Facility

"These quarters are inadequate." Stated Legion as the Normandy team reached an area of the Teltin Facility that was where the children were kept.

The cubicles here, however, were far too small for any children to use and it appears that each cubicle room was made to house two children each with a single toilet and sink for them to use. It disgusted the Normandy team that this was where the Cerberus personal had their test subjects sleep, causing a few to give out loud comments on it along with Legions own.

Moving on, the team eventually reached a massive room with trees growing in it. In that room was a massive mirror that nearly reached the entirety of the wall it was on. Upon seeing the mirror, Jack recognized it.

"This…it's a two-way mirror. My cell is on the other side." Said Jack before recalling more painful memories. "I could see the other children out of it. I scream at them for hours, but they always ignored me." Feeling sorry for Jack, Shepard tried to talk to her, but then Monun spoke up.

"Shepard, I'm detecting a large number of hostiles nearby." Said Monun as he looked at his radar. "It appears they're getting ready for us." Upon hearing that, Shepard ordered everyone to get ready. Soon, they were out of the large room and were upon on another barely working terminal that showed what had happened at the Teltin Facility while everything went to shit.

According to the terminal, the entire facility was in chaos and near unfeasible now as a result of the rampaging children, including Jack. As a result, the scientist said they'll try to piggyback the Alliance's Ascension program. He tried to say more, but Jack came and killed him, ending the recording.

Jack, upon hearing all that, panicked a bit, believing the project started over again. Fortunately, Shepard was able to calm her down.

"Ascension is an Alliance's program. It's a school for Biotic kids and other gifted humans." Explained Shepard. "They don't torture people there. If they were, it would have been made public and the resulting scandal would destroy the Alliance, maybe even humanity as a whole as well." Jack, upon hearing that, lowered her head to the ground, eyes on the floor. It appeared she finally accepted that she wasn't the reason the destruction of the facility happened at all.

"A lot of this…a lot of this isn't what I remembered happened." Admitted Jack as she looked at Shepard, eyes full of confusion and reluctance acceptance. Shepard could sympathize with her. How would he feel if everything that he knew about his childhood was all a lie and that things weren't what he remembered?

"You were a child, Jack." Said Shepard. "Full of rage and just angry at everything around you. Things tend to be distorted when you combine those things together." Jack just shook her head at that.

"Yeah…yeah whatever." Said Jack before looking at the door next to her. "C'mon, let's just plant that bomb and get the fuck out of here." Shepard agreed to that before motioning for the team to move forward. And so the team moved forward, acquiring whatever credits or salvage they thought was useful to them. Soon, they entered a wide-open area, a cafeteria it seems, with Blood Pack members at the other end in defensive positions.

The lead Krogan, a battlemaster, looked at the intruders before contacting someone via a communicator.

"Hey Aresh, it's Kureck. The intruders are here. You want them dead, you have to start talking credits." Said the Krogan before looking directing at Shepard's team again. "You promised us lots of salvage, but there's nothing here. This place is nothing more than a dump." The other person must have talked and said something to the Krogan because said Krogan scowled. "Fine, we'll put them down, but after this I'm coming in there and we're talking salvage." The Krogan and his men then drew out their weapons. Seeing this, Shepard and his team took cover before the Blood Pack let loose with their weapons.

"Monun! Take your team and take the left flank!" Yelled Shepard while taking cover behind a solid table. It must have been reinforced to handle biotics because it was doing well against protecting him from the Mass Accelerator rounds of the Blood Pack. "I'll take the rest of the squad and take the right flank. Watch out for their flamethrowers and don't get close to the Krogan!"

"Understood." Said Monun before peeking out of cover and firing his plasma rifle at a Krogan soldier. As expected the Kinetic barriers absorbed the shot, but soon started to fizzle and malfunction due to the excess heat of the plasma shot. Another shot then hit the head of the Krogan, melting through the Krogan's helmet and killing it, the plasma shot too much for the Krogan warrior.

Yurievich then moved in with Garuk while Legion provided covering fire with his blocky, but effective, sniper rifle. Scoring a headshot on a Vorcha wielding a flamethrower, Legion meticulously reloaded the sniper rifle before firing it again on another Vorcha, killing that one as well.

Jack, meanwhile, threw a singularity on a group of Vorcha behind cover before casting a wave of Biotic shockwaves that was sent flying to two Krogans, lowering their shields enough for Shepard and Garrus to fire Mass Accelerator rounds that broke through the shields and began peppering the Krogan with holes. This set the Krogan into their blood rage state, a state that sent Krogan into a frenzied state, giving them increased strength and durability on account of the adrenaline in their system but also cause them to lose control of themselves. Tossing their gun away, the Krogan recklessly charged at the Turian and human. Seeing this, Monun fired a plasma shot at the Krogan right into their head, creating a sizable hole where a part of their head used to be. To Monun's slight surprise, the Krogan kept on charging despite the hit and was about to fire a shot when the Krogan suddenly veered off course and went crashing into a trashcan, sending old tissues and other appliances into the floor.

Turning towards Monun, Shepard thanked him while he opened fire at a Vorcha group. Receiving that thanks, Monun went back to careful firing shots at the remaining Blood Pack members. The Krogan battlemaster, Kureck, seeing the destruction that the Normandy team was doing to his men, roared out in rage before sending a biotic attack at Yurievich and Garuk as they got close, sending them flying away and crashing into a table. He then began to open fire with his custom-made machine gun and began to fire rapidly at Monun and Xavur's direction, preventing them from firing lest they get hit.

Taking cover, Monun realized that he didn't know the strength of the Krogan battlemasters' weapon. From what he could see, Blood Pack gang members used custom-made weapons that dealt a lot of damage in exchange for lack of stability and low ammo per clip. Things that Krogan normally didn't care for because of their strength or want for incredible power per shot. As a result, he wasn't sure if his armor can hold against the onslaught of bullets coming his way, even with the Kinetic Barriers installed on it.

Because his team was selected by the Farsight Enclaves to be their representative on Shepard's team, they were given an unprecedented amount of high-tech equipment and weaponry to better serve him. This included infantry weaponry given to Tau Fire Warriors and brand new Fire warrior armor with Kinetic Barrier emitters, courtesy of the Geth. Even Garuk and Xavur had emitters attached to their waists to give them extra protection. It would not do to send their warriors with only minimal assistance from the Enclaves. They weren't the Tau Empire.

And while Legion has personally verified to Monun that the Barriers were some of the best the Geth can create and the Tau was confident that both his armor and the barriers can hold maybe a few shots from the Krogans' weapon, he wasn't sure they can hold up long enough against the barrage the Krogan was sending his way for the Tau to fire a shot. And Xavur was out of the question as well. The Vespid didn't wear armor to avoid loss of mobility and his ability to fly, relying instead on his species' natural ability to fly and armored hide for protection. So, if Monuns' armor won't hold, then he was certain Savur won't survive the barrage.

Seeing his options, he was about to ask Shepard to lessen the load when he heard an enraged yell from Jack. He then heard the sounds of Biotics clashing and the rough sounds of something crashing into the ground and the barrage stopping as a result. Peeking out of cover, Monun saw Jack on top of the Kureck and was about to punch him with a biotic enhanced fist when the battlemaster sent her flying with his own biotics. Crashing into a wall, Jack spat out some blood before sending a shockwave of biotics against the now-up Krogan. Kureck's biotic barriers and shields broke against the powerful biotic attack. The attack even caused Kureck to stubble a bit. Growling, but also impressed at the human, Kureck saw Jack getting up and charging at him with her fists raised, biotic fields surrounding them. Roaring out a challenge, Kureck charged right back at her, intending on charging her and then killing her if the charge didn't do it. Just as the two were about to collide, Jack suddenly slide to the right of the Krogan, confusing the Krogan before he realized what happened. By then it was too late as both Monun and Yurievich fired their pulse rifles at the Krogan battlemaster, hitting him with several plasma shots before stopping. Watching as the battlemaster went down, Monun yelled at Jack to get out of there.

The biotic, however, didn't listen to Monun and instead went towards the nearest Vorcha, and biotic charged at it. Shaking his head at this, Monun went to provide overwatch for the rest of the team while Yurievich and Garuk helped Jack. Soon, the battle was over with no casualties on the Normandy team.

"Everyone alright?" Asked Shepard as he stood down. After getting a call of confirmation from everyone that they were, he looked at Jack, who was walking up to him. "That was reckless Jack. But it worked." Jack just scoffed at that.

"Yeah well. I could have taken that Krogan." Said Jack with confidence. "But I got the feeling that Sci-fi guy wanted to take the Krogan down himself. So, I went out of the way and gave him the kill." The Sci-fi guy was Monun, who was looking at Jack disapprovingly, obviously not liking what she called him, though all of this was hidden behind his helmet. Still, deciding to be humble, he thanked Jack, who just shrugged it off. "Anyway, let's get to my room. Whoever this Aresh guy is, he must be there." As she moved towards the only other exit in the room beside the one they came in, Shepard ordered the rest of the team to follow her. As he walked, Shepard spoke to Monun.

"Your men were doing great back there." Said Shepard, talking about the fight that had occurred before. "Good covering fire and support. I appreciate you helping out Jack there. She can be quite reckless at times."

"I've noticed." Said Monun, remembering what Jack did. "I will admit, though, if she was a part of a normal Cadre, she would be scolded for doing such reckless actions." Shepard couldn't help but smirk at that.

"Yeah, same with the Alliance." Said Shepard as they continued to walk. "But this isn't your typical group. And it can't be. We have to be flexible if we want to stop the Collectors. Although, your people may prove me wrong." Monun nodded at that.

"Indeed." Said Monun. "Once we've uncovered the homeworld of the Collectors, we'll forward the information to you. Although Farsight is confident that you will succeed, he is, no doubt, willing to provide you with anything you need to achieve success against the Collectors if it's deemed necessary." Shepard nodded at that, grateful for the assistance of the Tau. It was a welcome change for what he was used to having from the Alliance and the Council.

"I'll appreciate that." Said Shepard. "Although I think I still need to do a few things for my team. There's still some things that need to be resolved before everyone is fighting at a hundred percent. And I don't want to face the Collectors with people that have clouded minds." Monun nodded in understanding. Distracted soldiers were never a good thing and can lead to mistakes happening. Mistakes that could have easily been avoided had they held a clear mind.

They would have continued their conversation, but they heard some yelling from Jack, who was waiting with everyone else at a door. Seeing this, Shepard took the lead again and opened the door for everyone, allowing the team entry into Jack's old room.

Meanwhile

Commander Farsight

"Are you certain of this?" Asked Farsight as he addressed the Air Caste messenger that had just deliver him some troubling news. He had been hard at work in his office in Vior'los when an Air Caste messenger contacted him. Needless to say, what message they held was shocking to the Commander.

"Yes sir." Said the messenger, their face pale and filled with shock. "The Geth responsible for monitoring Batarian space have confirmed it. The entirety of the Bahak system was destroyed. The cause is, unfortunately, unknown at this time. They detected some powerful energy spike in the area, enough to completely eradicate an entire star system. We're sending ships to investigate this, but the Geth seem utterly certain that the system was destroyed." Farsight stayed silent as he processed this information. An entire star system was destroyed. How could that be possible? What in this galaxy had the power to destroy an entire star system?

His first thoughts were the Reapers, but that didn't make sense in his military mind. Why would the Reapers destroy an entire star system, especially one so insignificant like the Bahak system, which, according to the Geth, was just a mere mining colony for the Batarians? And even if they had some reason to destroy it, the Reapers would have been uncovered, thus starting a galactic war.

As he tried to process this information, another Air caste messenger contacted him, this one also carrying concerning news, although not to the same extent as the first.

"Sir, I bring news from the Batarians." Said the second Air caste messenger. "The Batarians have made plans to send a fleet to a human colony in the Terminus systems." Upon hearing that, Farsight was surprised at this.

He knew of the rivalry between the humans of this galaxy and the Batarians. Ever since the humans began to settle in the Skyllian Verge, a region that the Batarians already have colonies there admittedly, the Batarians closed their embassy from the Citadel after the Council refused to declare the Skyllian Verge as Batarian territory. Since then, although they denied it many times, they've sponsored numerous criminal organizations and slave raids against human colonies with minimal defenses. The reason being, other than to deny possible links to the pirates and criminals, was because the Batarian military was comparatively weak to the other bipedal species in the galaxy.

For a time, they were a strong force, not enough to rival the Asari or Krogan during the Rachni war, but enough to give the Salarians pause. But now they've become a shallow force of what they've used to be. The Geth and even their own military analyses, upon being given what the Geth knew of the Batarian military through government hacking and military records of all active military ships in the Batarian navy, believe that, should they fight the humans again, the humans would win without a doubt so long as the other races do not intervene. This was theorized to be because of poor Batarian management of military funding and lack of proper discipline in all but the most elite of Batarian battle groups. Regardless, to hear the Batarians were sending a fleet to a human colony was surprising and even shocking.

If word got out to the rest of the galaxy that the Batarians had sent a fleet to human space, the backlash would be severe. The Humans would see this as an attack on Human interest and demand the Systems Alliance to act, even more so if it's a system that is vital to humanity as a whole. And with the Humans being part of the Citadel Council, unlike the situation with the Collectors, where their attacks can be dismissed as just another pirate attack, however stupid it may sound, if absolute proof was provided that the official Batarian navy was sending a fleet to a human colony, then the Council can't ignore it as this would make them seem weak and unwilling to do anything to other nations that directly attack members that were apart of the Council. Well, more than they already were.

Pondering on what would cause such an event from the Batarians, Farsight asked the messenger that brought this to his attention what else did the Geth uncover of this. When the messenger said that was still under investigation, Farsight pondered on what to do. He thought long and hard on this before eventually deciding. Turning towards his personal terminal, Farsight made a call to Arra'kon.

Meanwhile

"Farseer, the aliens have been deceived. They send a fleet towards the desired Mon-Keigh world." Said an Eldar Warlock as he addressed the Farseer, the one responsible for the destruction of the Bahak system, aboard their alien warship. Upon hearing that, the Farseer nodded in satisfaction.

"Good, with the humans distracted, we can focus on our primary objective." She then turned towards the Warlock. "Ready a shuttle. I must be there personally to peer into the future to locate our kin. And have prince Amvyn on standby with his fleet. No doubt the powers we use will attract the attention of the corrupt Mon-Keigh." When the Warlock, left the Farseer couldn't help but ponder on the failure of eliminating Ahzek Ahriman and what would be the lasting consequences of that Mon-Keigh's continued survival. Far more than she would like. For he was a key element to uncovering a powerful figure for the forces of Chaos. A figure that, if found, would give the corrupted Mon-Keigh of Chaos a vital edge if he returned to lead his people into battle, give them direction and purpose with his iron grip. A figure that can lead to the deaths of many Eldar lives. Something she cannot allow to happen, but she feared will now that Ahriman still lives.

Meanwhile

Ahriman

"Have you finished interrogating the Eldar, Neroth?" Asked Ahriman as he looked at Neroth, who was stained with blood. Eldar blood. Neroth just laughed as he looked at Ahriman, Volmas, and Xyphas, all four attending a meeting. But this time the meeting held something more significant than their usual gatherings. For Neroth has finally uncovered something of worth from their Eldar prisoner.

"Oh, indeed, Ahriman." Said Neroth with satisfaction. "Through many hours of interrogation, both physical and mental, I've uncovered elements of the Eldar plans. *Snickers* You should have seen the face of the Eldar when I uncovered what he knew. It was…spectacular."

"Irrelevant." Said Volmas as he urged Neroth to get back at the task at hand. The Eldar have caused damage to their operations. Actions must be taken to rid them before they do more. "What are the Eldar plans?"

"*Snickers* They intend to eliminate us." Said Neroth, annoying his colleagues with that information as they already knew that. Before anyone could speak or threaten Neroth, he spoke up again. "They want to kill us before we can uncover him. An old ally of ours. From the time of the Horus Heresy. The Eldar wasn't the one that saw the vision, but he had seen glimpses of it. Seen his leader give descriptions of whom they wish to not be found by us. And I know these descriptions. They are too similar to what he appeared during the time of the Heresy. Yes. They do not wish for us to know that the progenitor of the Dark Mechanicum lives." Upon hearing that, everyone, including Xyphas, widens their eyes in shock.

So, before anyone can speculate, the one I'm talking about in the end is Kelbor-Hal, founder of the Dark Mechanicum. Honestly, I've tried finding information about Kelbor-Hal, specifically information about what happened to him after the Horus Heresy, but I found nothing. No info if he's dead or not. I'm thinking this is because Games Workshop is saving him in case, they intend to release an official Dark Mechanicum army for their tabletop game and have him as a Supreme Commander for them or just plain forgot about him. So, because of that and because I could find nothing about him post-Heresy, I've decided to use him. If anyone has a problem with this, please inform me as soon as possible so I can correct it before it's too late.