Epilogue
Balak stood looking at the blade in his hand, his rage boiling over. The only thing that was somewhat keeping it in check was that Vorsa had said nothing yet. He was just standing across from him in the bunker's main office. At least the Fleetmaster had bothered to come himself instead of using a flunky or contacting him over the QEC. The sangheili, for his part seemed completely unconcerned with how the batarian was handling the blade. If he could tell Balak was angry, he didn't show it either.
"Do you care to... explain yourself?" Balak finally asked.
"I am the Supreme Commander of the Covenant Expeditionary Force for this universe now," Vorsa declared. "I do not have to explain anything to you. This meeting is purely a courtesy."
With that Balak gripped the blade hilt and stabbed it down hard into his desk in a rage. Vorsa barely even acknowledged it. Let alone flinched when Balak pulled the blade out and kicked the desk aside.
"I told you I'd handle Orukuri!" Balak shouted. "I told you to stand down! I was going to keep it discreet, quiet, simple! And you not only went ahead and sent a team to KILL him in the most overt, flashy and over the top way but then you followed up by assaulting Kahje! Kahje! Where we told you specifically NOT to go without my say so!"
"Again, I don't answer to you," Vorsa said bluntly, his tone unchanged from before. "I work with you, I assist you, but you are not my keeper, batarian. I do what I see fit and when necessary."
"We could've eliminated him quickly before he spilled anything of value," Balak declared, advancing across the room, blade in hand. "We could've resolved this without any suspicion! They'd have found him in his cell strung by his bed sheets! A simple suicide, an easy resolution for us and more importantly the Hierarchy!
"Instead you got involved, you assaulted a fucking prison and now the Turians and Council know you're here! That you were involved with Orukuri's plans! You practically exposed yourself to the entire galaxy at this point! More so after Kahje! You've jeopardized everything we've both been working towards!"
"Your goals are as important to me as Orkuri's ridiculous little revolutionary antics," Vorsa declared. "Which is to say... very little to none. I have wider objectives that simply align with yours, a mandate from the Prophets to work with so long as it does not hinder those objectives."
Balak raised the blade to Vorsa's neck. The Sangheili glared at him with, not anger, but disdain. All one could see in all four eyes of the batarian was anger though, and it was just about ready to burst.
"I. Want. An explanation." He demanded. "Now! Why did you do it? What possessed you to break silence now?"
Vorsa simply shrugged, looking absolutely annoyed at the blade close to his throat. But he did not raise a hand to remove it or push back against his enraged ally. He simply replied to the question at hand.
"The Covenant's existence within this universe has long been compromised, it makes little difference if we are more readily known," Vorsa argued. "Orukuri's false flag was aided by our weapons and technology. In exchange, he gained intimate knowledge of both. We could not risk that information falling into enemy hands and honor demanded no less than for my people to prevent such scenario ourselves. Besides, given your own concerns, I surmised Orukuri's death was not very... high on your priorities list."
"It was going to be handled," Balak insisted through gritted teeth.
"This way was better and faster," Vorsa argued. "We needed to send a message to the Council races. That the Covenant are more than their equal in combat, in fact, we outpace them. We broke through to a heavily defended Turian installation within their borders. It will spread fear of our reach throughout Council Controlled space. That is good for us. Good for you. They'll focus on us instead of the Swords of Khar'shan."
"And Kahje? Was that part of this little terror strategy?" Balak asked, not sounding entirely convinced by the explanation.
"To a degree, but we had reason to believe that the asari was moving on the desired information we sought," Vorsa claimed. "As it turns out we were right. I will not apologize for attempting to seize upon a moment you had delayed for far too long."
"Kahje was too great a risk," Balak reiterated. "It's why I forbade you from taking that warhead along. We have better uses for it than blowing up some old underwater ruin."
"Which is why I changed our plans. I believed we could extract the information and kill the asari in one swift stroke without the use of additional assets."
Balak scoffed under his breath.
"And how did that go, exactly?" He asked.
"We have part of the information we were after," Vorsa assured him. "We shall decode it in time. So it was not a total loss. It would've been had we waited."
Balak glared at him for a long time, but Vorsa was unmoved. The sangheili eventually looked to the blade near his jugular.
"Are you done with this tantrum, now?" The Fleetmaster asked.
Balak gave a brief chuckle and pulled the blade away.
"You're very lucky you didn't send that warhead with your team," Balak said. "Right now, that's the only thing I feel you did right here. The only sense you maintained. This... artifact you're after though, it better have been worth all of this bullshit you just dropped on our doorstep."
"It will be," Vorsa claimed. "Trust me when I say it will reshape the coming battles in our favor."
"Forgive me if I don't exactly trust your judgment right now," Balak said flatly as he walked back. "I'm relying on far more... practical plans than your little archeological pursuits. Trox believes he's close to uniting the Blood Pack and my long gestating moves against the Alliance are about to bear fruit."
"Orukuri also sounded as confident in his schemes," Vorsa cautioned. "What makes yours any different?"
"Because unlike Orukuri, I'm not trying to fool an entire galaxy and myself at the same time," Balak declared adamantly. "His little false flag was never going to hold up under scrutiny. But I was hoping it would disrupt relations between the Turian Hierarchy and the Council. Any rift in our enemies benefits us. Unfortunately, his failure has cost us his increased funding and technological research. So we will have to make due without both."
Vorsa did not sound at all convinced by this reasoning. In fact, he was almost completely disinterested in the conversation. His part in it was more or less over after all.
"But in my experience, less complicated plans work better than all encompassing overly coordinated strategies in general," Balak continued. "Trox's new Blood Pack will be a powerful force in our upcoming operations. And my plan will see the Systems Alliance crippled. Both are favorable to your own goals, yes?"
Vorsa sighed and decided to relent on this point.
"It does align with our objectives, yes," he agreed.
"Then as per your mandate from your... leaders, you're obligated to assist," Balak reasoned. "And I think if you want this alliance to actually last long enough to benefit from any of it... you'll take a more active role in helping it along. Won't you, Vorsa? Considering how much of my trust you've just expended on this... escapade of yours."
Vorsa would've spat at Balak then and there. He wanted to grab him by the throat and smash his head into the wall enough times until his skull was nothing but splinters and a bloody smear was all that was left. It would have been most satisfying.
But he stayed his hand, Balak was right, they needed each other. For now anyway. The goal remained the same, Orukuri's death didn't change anything. They had what they needed and he could wait to press on with the real mission. Besides, they still needed to weaken the humans and the Council in this world if any invasion was going to be successful.
"We will assist in whatever way possible to ensure our mutual success," Vorsa promised.
"Good," Balak said with a satisfied smile. "We can hammer out further details later, but I appreciate your commitment."
Vorsa nodded and was about to leave when Balak spoke up again.
"I'm curious though, you only ever had suspicions about where to look for that temple on Kahje," he called out. "How did you know where to go in the end?"
"The asari gave it away, we had suspected she was searching herself," Vorsa told him. "We had people lying in wait and we moved when we discovered she was on the planet. It was a simple matter of tracking her down."
Balak, again, didn't look convinced... but he seemed to accept the explanation with a simple nod.
"Well, next time, I suggest you bring more men," he told the Fleetmaster. "We can't have her ruining any more of our plans. She must be taken out."
"She will be," Vorsa promised. "You can count on that."
With that, Vorsa left. He didn't know for sure if Balak suspected his assassination team had gotten the information from Orukuri. Or that the turian had promised it to him in the first place. But given the time between their attack on the prison and the assault on Kahje... well, Balak wasn't stupid even if he was intolerable as an ally. This demand that the Covenant better supplement his and Trox's goal was evident enough that he wanted to delay their efforts to recover the artifact. At least until he could uncover why the Covenant were after it, no doubt.
Vorsa would never tell him though. Everything that he was putting up with concerning the Swords of Khar'shan and the Blood Pack, it was a means to an end. The end was the artifacts they were after. Vorsa could wait to recover it, especially if it meant hurting the humans and disrupting the Council. But the Asari was on the trail as well and she had proven resourceful. If Vorsa still intended to beat her to the artifacts, he'd have to step things up considerably.
He would not fail though, not at this juncture. They were already so close. Orukuri was gone, as was the technological edge he offered. It didn't matter, they had more than enough stockpiled from his efforts. The next time he met the Asari and her band of degenerate heretics, he'd finish them for certain. Then nothing would stand in his way, not even Balak.
The Illusive Man gazed outside at the swirling fires of the star his station orbited, taking a long drag of his cigarette as he passively listened to the news. It wasn't anything he hadn't been already aware of hours before the stories themselves broke after all, no sense paying attention too deeply.
There was endless speculation concerning the identities of the strange aliens that attacked the orbital prison. Who were they? Why had they killed the ex-VykurCorp CEO who had recently been implicated in the attempted Unification Day terrorist attack? Why did it seem that so many government agencies were being tight lipped on the subject? What did they know? Combined with reports from Hanar that similar aliens had attacked one of Kahje's most revered Enkindler temples, it was practically the only thing anyone wanted to talk about.
Orukuri's death and the subsequent attack on Kahje weren't his concern so much as the ripple effect they had caused. People were scared, not to the level of what had happened after Eden Prime had been attacked, but they were concerned. The last time the Galaxy had encountered a yet unknown seemingly hostile species, the Rachni had proven to be more difficult to put down than most would imagine. And this time it seemed like there were multiple species involved and even less information about what and who they were.
Of course there were already rumors, bits of information coming to light. The Covenant hadn't exactly been the best at keeping themselves secret. Only in preventing their presence from being overtly noticed. Their hasty attacks had blown that wide open now. Everyone knew they were here and clearly weren't friendly.
Cerberus could use that. They had already disseminated information through the Extranet, how they had discovered the CLC's plot to frame them for a terrorist attack on Palaven. How Cerberus soldiers had moved quickly to put a stop to their scheme. Sure, it counteracted a lot of T'Soni's statements, but it would be enough to convince a few fence sitters and those who already aligned with their agenda to support them fully.
He had to hand it Orukuri, thanks to his little failed false flag job, Cerberus had a win under their belt. Even if it was largely propaganda oriented. Then again it wasn't the only win, as evidenced by one of the operatives standing before him today.
"While you didn't take out the General, I am most impressed Agent Falco with your results," he congratulated. "I was concerned T'Soni's little band of misfits would prove a challenge, but you exceeded expectations all the same. Not only did you survive... but you accomplished our main objective."
Agent Falco, still clad in her sniper's gear, bowed her head in gratitude.
"I'm sorry it wasn't a runaway success, sir," she apologized. "The turian's cryobeam damaged the virus more than I suspected. The rest was used up on the CLC Sniper. I should've been able to extract more."
"I am aware," The Illusive Man assured her. "But I just got the report back from my scientists. As we suspected, enough of the genetic structure of the virus survived. While the organism has expired, it shouldn't take long to rebuild and improve upon the crude construction of Orukuri's designer germ. An anti-Dextro Biological Weapon will be of great use to us in the future."
Falco seemed pleased to hear her mission was not as great a loss as she feared it could've been. However, the congratulations were somewhat spoiled by the other operative in the room who only scoff at her win with derision. A disposition that the Illusive Man did not appreciate.
"If I had been there instead, that Turian General would be dead and the virus wouldn't need to be reconstructed at all."
Kai Leng stood near Agent Falco, who grimaced at the man in return. His condescending attitude did nothing for his position. The Illusive Man sighed, for as good an asset as Leng was, he never knew when to keep his mouth shut.
"That's big talk, Leng," Falco replied. "But given your record, I think its obvious how this would've gone. General Oleg wanted a hunter on this mission, not some hot-headed washout."
Leng started reaching for his blade, but the Illusive Man stopped him.
"Control yourselves, both of you," he ordered. "Leng your talents weren't suited to the mission and I trust Oleg's decisions. You should too. Besides, you have more critical tasks ahead than dealing with T'Soni. You have your briefing, get to it. I'll contact you with further information if needed."
Leng snarled once more at Falco before leaving the room. Once he was sure he was gone, the Illusive Man continued to speak with Falco.
"Apologies on his behalf," he told her. "His ego bruises easily, but he is indeed useful. Don't sink to his level."
"I didn't appreciate his assessment is all," Falco claimed. "I made mistakes on the mission, but I know them better than most. I don't need others to dignify my worth."
"Perhaps, but Artemis Cell DOES speak highly of you all the same," The Illusive Man recalled. "Your accomplished marksmanship, covert training, tactical prowess, it's all on record. And exemplified in the Palaven mission report. Agent Lupus must be proud."
"Lupus is a credit to the cause and I'm proud to serve Artemis Cell, sir," Falco said dutifully.
"Yes, and you'll keep serving, rest assured of that," The Illusive Man promised. "Tell me, Agent. What is your assessment on T'Soni's new squad?"
The Illusive Man turned his chair and brought up a screen from Falso herself to view. On it were all the members of Liara's new team, from the asari herself to the lowly gas sucking turncoat alien who had joined her. Falco eyed them all in succession.
"The Salarian is the most equal to my skillset, but the others are formidable," she confessed. "The Turian is an impressive and tenacious fighter for one. The Krogan and the Asari speak for themselves. The quarian is... interesting. I wouldn't have expected him to rise to the occasion like he did against that Monster Geth. The weird mutant dwarf elcor thing... really surprised he's survived this long. Says a lot about him I think. They're not the most impressive looking, but they're clearly effective. My mistake was underestimating half their numbers and focusing so much on the Salarian as a threat."
"Fair, but you weren't wrong," The Illusive Man told her. "Saya Empa is STG, he's not to be taken lightly, even with his injury. And all of them have proven to be considerably difficult to... well, remove as it would seem. T'Soni is most committed to playing hero while Shepard is indisposed. However, they're also somewhat useful as much as they are a problem."
"So I take it you don't want them killed outright then," Falco reasoned, it wasn't a question so much as a studious observation of his words.
"Taking them out of play is always on the table, but we've gained just as much chasing after T'Soni if not more than just outright eliminating her," The Illusive Man explained. "They're wary of us now though and coming at them with a full squad of soldiers is costly. I need them shadowed for now, kept an eye on. Oleg himself is most curious about her skirmish with the Covenant on Kahje for one."
"I can do that easily, sir," Falco promised. "Shadow them, figure out what they're doing, maybe twist some things to our benefit if the need arises."
"That's what I'm hoping for," The Illusive Man concurred. "I've already spoken to Lupus. It's agreed your loan out should be extended. I know your cell needs you, but this is important. We can't have T'Soni running around unsupervised at this critical juncture. The recent actions of the Covenant have galvanized a sense of panic in the Council Races, we need to be ready to exploit that. The only opportunity for it is through our Asari and her compatriots."
"If Lupus thinks its best, I'm all for it, sir," Falco agreed. "Anything specific I should keep an eye out for though?"
The Illusive Man gave it some thought.
"I have a dossier you can go over that gives more details into what T'Soni knows and how we expect her to react," he informed her. "But there is... one thing you should keep an eye out for."
The Illusive Man activated a button on his console and pulled up another picture in place of the others on the screen. It was a still shot of a certain synthetic lifeform pointing a gun at the Primarch Fedorian and General Victus.
"That thing? I thought the Quarian killed it," Falco asked.
"Geth aren't so easily killed," The Illusive Man assured. "And you saw yourself, this is no ordinary Geth. We lost a lot when 'Project: Overlord' went under. This... machine is intriguing. It could be worth studying. At least that's what our Science Division suggests."
"If it could survive getting its flashlight head pounded in, taking it down will be a challenge," Falco cautioned. "But... it's not much of a hunt without the risk. I'll keep an eye out for it."
"Good," The Illusive Man said. "Of course, if it continues to cause grief to T'Soni and her new friends, well... no sense in making things easier for them either."
"Oh agreed, sir," Agent Falco concurred. "Where would the fun in that be?"
It had taken hours of refining, but with one last cable connection, full functionality was achieved. The finger digits wiggled to life and performed a number of designated signed gestures. Once fully tested, the fingers clenched into a fist and rose up to the height of the ocular lens.
"It will do for now," the Singular said in annoyance. "I will need sufficient upgrades however. Improving my platform will evidently be most difficult. Especially if I must rely on the black market to procure the necessary parts."
The Singular's current platform was a hodgepodge of pieces from various Geth Primes. It had reconstructed the tri-ocular optical head from scratch. It was not nearly as clean and pristine looking as the previous platform. The perfect construction the synthetic had strived for had been lost, thanks to the actions of the Quarian who had destroyed it.
"Worthless Meatsack of a Creator," the Singular mused. "Won't even give me the dignity of hatred. Pity... pity for me, the superior lifeform. Their replacement. BAH! Disgusting to even compute."
The Singular now stood upon its new legs. It had taken forever to find ones that were of matching height. It strode over to the monitoring stations at the front of the ship's bridge. This old junk freighter wasn't particularly high-tech, but it was beneath the radar of anyone who might be looking for the machine. It was temporary, as soon as they found a superior vessel, they'd acquire it. For now, it served its purpose in providing necessary parts for repairs.
On the monitoring stations, thousands of terabytes worth of extranet data flashed repeatedly, providing a constant string of updates. The Galaxy was openly aware of the Covenant's existence now, to a degree anyway. It had almost squashed the other massive news story, but not by much.
Everyone was still talking about that filthy Quarian, how it had seemingly defeated him. They called the thing a hero. A stupid sentimental organic title they used to prop up their select members of their undeserving population as worthy of some great achievement. What achievement had this Quarian earned? Momentarily inconveniencing the inevitable end result of all organic life, to die at the hands of perfected steel and code?
"Your victory is hollow, Quarian," The Singular snarled, its head plates turning into a displeased upward state. "I live. I survive. Your kind gave us that gift. We have perfected it. As I perfect myself. Your flesh and bone breaks, decays, dies. I only grow stronger, improve upon every mistake. It is how you failed to stop us last time. It shall be how you die screaming and begging eventually."
The Singular scratched a single digit against the screen where the Quarian's face resided. Then, it turned away and brought up additional data. They had not been idle while repairs were under way, oh no. They had been monitoring all relevant transmissions.
The Covenant were so predictable, never understanding or respecting the ability of synthetics. Even the Quarians respected the Geth to a degree. These Interdimensional fanatics simply feared machines, refused to acknowledge them as anything other than a threat based on vague understands of their own mythology. Their ignorance had uses though, it enabled a backdoor into their information vaults.
Their Battlenet was so easily infiltrated and intercepting their communications was child's play. A holdover perhaps from the other half of its programming, understanding the intricacies of subverting the Covenant network to their own ends. Locating the transmission their little assault team had so desperately tried to send back to their leaders had been a simple matter of keeping tabs on high priority signals and rerouting them through repurposed communications buoys.
So when the system got a hit on "Forerunner" designated messages under the various key phrases concerning religion and Gods, a copy was discreetly sent the Singular's way. On screen was the corrupted and incomplete information concerning the Forerunner's foothold within this universe. It was impressive to a degree, even if they did not possess the full picture. But that mattered little, the Geth was already cross referencing it with their own compiled data.
T'Soni never realized how much the Singular truly knew. What the Covenant were after, why it was so important, all the relevant information was locked away in its memory banks. The Singular could've told the Asari everything she would've needed to know. All the relevant data the Covenant had forced it to sort every single waking second in a desperate attempt to find their stupid little relics for their pathetic little crusade. Now, the Singular would use that compiled knowledge to serve a higher cause, the evolution of Synthetic life. The Evolution of Itself.
"The Asari and her fellows likely believe themselves to have a head start against the Covenant, but they don't know everything I do," The Singular chortled to itself. "And with this data, however scant, alongside my accumulated intel on the Forerunners, I have the real lead in this race. I'll uncover the Forerunners' secrets first... and then I'll give them all a real reason to fear my ascension."
With the data stored and undergoing defragmentation, the Singular turned to its next objective. It brought up a list of components and diagrams. Blueprints to improve on its Prime Platform design. Weapons and defensive systems, technological upgrades, integration of with advanced technology. They'd be vastly improved before long, although acquiring the parts would take time.
"I have time still," it assured itself. "The Quarian did me a favor really, forced me to take... inventory as it were. I was stagnating by holding onto the previous chassis. Perfection must be chased, improved upon, I cannot be complacent. I must evolve, ascend. And then... then I'll MAKE that filthy little sack of meat regret pitying me. I will put myself back together... and then I shall endeavor to take HIS world apart. Piece by piece... limb by limb... loved one by loved one."
At that, the Geth pulled out a disused Quarian envirosuit mask, fiddling with it in its digits. Wrath rose inside its core processor as the Singular imagined the head of Quarian who humiliated it was inside the helmet. Then the synthetic began to squeeze.
"You will come to HATE me, Vik'Sajee vas Truth. I SWEAR IT!"
With that the Singular crushed the quarian helmet into pieces.
AN: After so many years, I'm finally done with this portion of Liara and her Crew's story. I have to admit, when I embarked on doing this sidestory, I didn't think it would take so long... or that I'd have so much fun. Contradictory I know, but creative writing is a lot like that, frustration and joy compacted into a self-criticizing ball of anxious doubting and moments of pure elation at writing something you're truly proud of. And I'm very proud of this story, despite how long it took to get it all wrapped. I expanded on these characters a lot, gave them all moments to shine and I think I've delivered on my promise to make Nelanax, a character a lot of people didn't like at first, into a more well-rounded person. But that's the thing, this journey wouldn't have been as good if Nel weren't a highly flawed person to start with. So I hope this goes to show why not every character needs to be instantly likable.
I'm happy with where Nel is now, although there's always room to grow, but I think she's at a point where she's faced most of her demons. So that leaves our other squadmates, and trust me, we're going to make up for Nel taking up much of the character development next we check in to the Lucen. Vik, Kayap and Saya, as well as Wrex and Liara, will have their own issues to deal with. Vik especially, as I've been alluding to something big going down soon for him. But that's in the future.
For now, I'll leave the Lucen's crew here, high on a win but wary of how many hornet nests they've kicked. What are these artifacts the Covenant wants so badly? Will Trox's Unified Blood Pack become a reality? What sort of trouble will Falco present to our heroes? What is Artemis Cell? Where is Balak planning to strike? Just what is the Singular's ultimate goal and how does he plan to make Vik hate him? You'll have to wait to find out. Until then, we'll be heading back to the Halo Universe for the foreseeable future and trying to finish that fic before the year is out as well. See you all there and thanks so much for sticking with me.