Chapter Four: Revolution in Waiting

"A true Geth AI?" Tali's holographic image said, almost in disbelief. "Are you certain?"

"That's what it told us," Liara reiterated. "I need to know if it's possible."

Liara wasn't an expert on synthetic life. There wasn't much cause to study artificial intelligence when you were mostly trying to get a degree in exploring the past. She therefore placed her trust in people far more knowledgeable than her. The one person she trusted in that regard, especially when Geth were involved, was Tali. The quarian was currently a whole other dimension away, but they could still talk thanks to the inter-dimensional communications relay. As soon as they got back aboard the Lucen, Liara contacted Shepard and had him put Tali on the line. When the quarian's form appeared within the QTE image inducer, she began carefully recounting their experience with the geth now calling itself The Singular, about what it claimed to be. Tali looked rightfully disturbed as she struggled to process the matter.

"This damaged AI it claimed to encounter, it said it was fragmented, correct?"

Liara nodded in response.

"It said the data was corrupted," she clarified further. "That pieces were missing from the AI's code. Honestly though, I'm not sure how much of it I can trust. It proved it was highly capable of lying to us."

"Maybe, but from what I've seen and from what you've described, it is not an ordinary AI," Tali gravely explained. "Every AI we've encountered in Covenant possession is severely degraded. I highly doubt one would have the faculties to pull off something like this. Not if it was trapped for as long as it claimed."

"It did seem to have readily available knowledge about what Shepard did to the Heretic Geth," Liara concurred. "Not to mention me and Shepard himself. But can it actually be a Heretic Geth that survived?"

"As I remember, Legion said the virus worked by infecting the Heretic network," Tali recalled. "It spread through their hubs but required for them to be directly connected. We knew it would take a while for it to get all of them, but we presumed they'd have nowhere to go ultimately. If enough of the programs realized what was happening they could've tried to escape the infection. The virus would've followed them though. The only way I can think they could've survived is if they found a different network altogether."

That was what the Singular claimed it did, it found the Covenant. Specifically, it infiltrated their network and a damaged captured AI the Covenant had abused. That still didn't explain the greater question the geth's story raised.

"Could it have really merged with an AI from another universe?" She asked grimly.

"It is possible," Tali shrugged, equally as grim. "My experience with AI in this universe suggests as much. Damaged or fragmented AI can have their matrixes filled with new data. Depending on the level degradation and the amount of repairs, the personality matrix would almost certainly be overridden. The Heretic programs could've uploaded themselves into the gaps of the damaged AI's data. They wouldn't be able to maintain their individual processes once installed though. They'd be forced to form into a single matrix, combining their collective memories and those of the AI together."

"Forming a singular identity," Liara concluded for herself. "One that is more Geth than the original AI, which at that point would be too damaged to resist anyway. They wouldn't need the neural processes anymore because they'd all be one program."

"Exactly," Tali said, snapping her fingers and pointing at Liara. "And if it is Heretic, then we already know what it's thinking, that organic life is a threat to it that must be eradicated."

That sounded right, The Singular didn't seem to think highly of organic life given how it kept insulting it. However, it was because of those insults that Liara didn't think it was that simple.

"It sounded more like it has evolving its line of thinking," she postulated. "It's not just about cold calculations and statistics anymore."

"That's inevitable," Tali answered fairly plainly. "If it's intelligence level has raised to True AI status, then it is thinking on a much more sophisticated level. It makes conclusions based not on consensus, but on experience and memory alone. The only input is it's own. And chances are, whatever is left over of the damaged AI it corrupted, doesn't have fond memories of it's Covenant captors, also organic. I bet the voice it's using now is probably the old AI's speech patterns merged into it's own."

So essentially, they had an abused AI reborn as a Geth, deriving the majority of it's thoughts, feelings and personality on the experiences of those Geth. Said Geth that no doubt had their own grievances against organics. The result of their merger was a True AI who seemed determined to carry out the original mission of the Heretics, but on a more sophisticated level. That brought up another concern.

"Will it ally itself with the Reapers?" She asked Tali. "The Heretics followed them before."

"I'm not so sure it will be in any hurry to do so," she said skeptically. "It no doubt knows about the Reapers' partnership with the Covenant. If this Singular's thinking has evolved and is aware of the Covenant's suspicion of AI, then it won't risk itself being captured again by them. Not even if the machines it once worshiped as Gods are friends with them. As for any possible insight into its possible plan... I could only offer speculation, nothing more."

Liara figured that would be the case. It wasn't like the Singular had shared much about it's intentions, just that it wanted to be free and that it was the future. Whatever that meant, Liara only knew it was likely going to be trouble for them. She was just glad to hear that, for now, the Geth was as likely to run a foul of the Covenant and Balak's batarians as much as her.

"Any idea how we stop it?" Liara asked. "Or even track it?"

"It won't be easy," Tali admitted. "Not without a concrete idea of what the Singular's goal is. Chances are though, if it's aware of the Covenant's plans for our universe, it could be trying to use that to it's advantage."

Like going after the artifacts, Liara thought. It was as likely as anything.

"I'll have to have my network keep an eye out for suspicious activity," she concluded. "If this machine has designs against the Covenant and Balak for it's own ends, it won't be able to stay out of our way for long."

"Chances are it's probably going to try and make itself a new body," Tali suggested. "Those old rusting bits of junk you described it being currently housed in won't keep for long."

"That's at least something to go on," Liara sighed graciously. "Thank you, Tali, if I learn anything more I'll be sure to contact you."

"I appreciate that, Liara," Tali replied in kind. "I'll try to help in any way I can. If I have time later, I'll try and go over some ideas. Legion could probably help a bit too. They know more about the Heretics than any of us. Maybe we can come up with a way effectively track this Singular."

"I'm sorry if I added to your problems," Liara apologized. "I know you and the others must have your own plates full."

Tali playfully shrugged.

"No more than usual," she admitted. "Just dealing with space pirates and racing to find lost hidden artifacts of immense power. Shepard has it worse than me, he's trying to keep everyone from killing each other. I'm still trying to get two pieces of interstellar travel technology to work together."

"If anyone can handle that, it's definitely you, Tali," Liara told her confidently. "And good luck finding those artifacts, let Shepard know I'll keep him posted on any new information my teams find on them. I should be getting recon reports back soon."

"I will and good hunting to you as well," Tali said bowing her head slightly. "Stay safe out there, Liara. Hopefully we'll talk again soon. Keelah'selai."

"And may the Goddess watch over you," the asari added in kind.

Tali disconnected the call and faded from sight. At the very least, she had confirmed the possibility of the Singular's story. If it was a Heretic merged with another AI, with an anti-organic agenda all it's own, chances were they'd meet up again. Next time they'd be ready, she'd be sure of it. Right now though, they had more pressing matters as Glyph quick to inform her.

"Report from crewmember Sajee, Shadowbroker," the little VI reported as it rolled up to her. "The Coda creature has decoded the information recovered from the enemy ship."

"Excellent," Liara declared as she turned for the door. "Call a meeting with the ground crew, we need to go over it together."

"Are we sure there's no way we can track it?" Vik asked desperately.

"I'm sorry, but not at the moment," Liara reiterated. "If it was transferring itself through a network or if we knew how to track that fighter it stole, maybe. I imagine though it's trying to hide. With the rest of it's kin dead it really has nowhere left to turn."

"It could always go back to the home systems," Vik suggested. "Plenty of Geth there it can recruit."

Liara sighed greatly.

"I keep telling you, this Singular was from a different faction," she explained once more. "They were called Heretics and they were a minority within the collective. They broke off from them. They attacked Eden Prime and those other colonies, not the other Geth."

"So it's not a member of the ones who killed millions of us and forced us into exile then?" Vik said with a sardonic chuckle. "It's just a member of a group who decided they were going to finish the job. Doesn't make me feel comfortable."

Liara shook her head, she was not about to get into this debate.

"I understand your feelings on this subject, I really do," she assured him. "But trust me, it's not going to go back to them. If it disagreed with them before, I highly doubt its agenda has changed since merging with the other AI. It's alone for now and currently trapped in a body that's not in the best of shape."

"Didn't stop it from wiping the floor with us," Nel noted as she hunched over the table.

"It caught us off guard," Liara informed her. "We'll be ready next time. It's still just one Geth, however smart it is we can take it."

"It would be wise not to underestimate them, Liara," Vik cautioned. "If that thing was telling the truth then it has achieved true AI status. It's smarter than any individual Geth program functional today. We should seriously consider greater countermeasures. I have a few ideas myself that I could develop."

Nel suddenly snickered slightly, garnering the quarians glare. Anticipating the obvious question, she just shrugged and answered.

"Hey, give me a break here, Bucket," she told him as respectfully as she could. "But since we've met up I haven't heard you mention the flashlight heads once. Honestly, it's surprising to hear you keep going on about them like this."

"Not every quarian spends their every waking moment dwelling on the Geth's uprising," Vik argued. "Just because I don't mention them often doesn't mean I'm not concerned about them. They're dangerous, everyone knows that."

"So instead of letting a real threat consume you, you let your fake shadowy figures do it for ya," Nel stated, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "My do you have your priorities straight."

Vik just rolled his eyes and Liara braced herself for another conspiracy spiel. She had gotten used to it. Better to let the quarian get it off his chest rather than bottle it up.

"So far I've been right about said shadows more or less," he reminded Nel. "I'd like a little more credit on that. Secondly, personally no Geth has ever directly harmed me. Most of the people who have been assholes to me are organics. Thats where the real danger lies right now for my people, in those who would exploit our plight. So excuse me for not falling into your stereotype of the angry, bitter, AI hating quarian. I don't hate the Geth, I barely think about them. I doubt you hate a wild animal for doing what it does. That doesn't mean you empathize or sympathize with it, especially if it's trying to kill you. It's a danger, you have to be careful around them."

"So what's your opinion on the whole exile thing?" Wrex asked curiously as he leaned against a wall. "Forgive me, you just got me wondering now is all."

"Hubris, it was hubris," Vik exclaimed, somewhat annoyed. "That's the whole thing in one word. I've heard people call us failed slavers and the like for what we did, but that's not how it started out. We tried to shut them down when we realized what we were dealing with specifically because we knew it would be like owning slaves. The biggest mistake we made was thinking we could skirt the boundaries of Artificial Intelligence. We didn't respect the power or the inherent danger in our work, acting without proper foresight. When we realized what we had done, it was too late. Any quarian who knows his or her history will admit pretty much the same, the whole thing was a lesson in hubris. In a way, we probably deserved to get exiled. We don't deserve to keep getting punished for the crimes of quarians long dead though."

Saya tapped something on his omni-tool, selecting a few choice words. He showed what he wrote on the screen to Vik. It read, "What do you think your people should do?"

"Settle on a new world I guess," Vik shrugged. "Eventually the Geth will probably leave the galaxy altogether or start breaking down. Probably not in my lifetime, but if someone would just let us settle somewhere, we wouldn't have to be refugees constantly roaming around and getting treated like living garbage for our whole lives. But again, just because I don't want revenge on the Geth, does not make them any less dangerous or vicious. I'm not a sympathizer, I know better than that. Like I said, you don't just randomly go up to a wild animal and pet it. If it attacks you, you kill it. Simple self-defense, nothing more. It's just common sense really."

"Well that thing isn't a wild animal anymore," Liara reminded him. "It's sufficiently more cunning than that."

"Exactly my point," Vik concurred. "Which is why we should be looking into ways to kill it next time we stumble across it."

"Tali is already doing just that," Liara assured him. "She has more experience with the Geth than any quarian alive. She'll find a way we can hunt it down and kill it if need be. Right now, it's a minor threat in comparison to VykurCorp and their plans with the Separatists. We need to focus on them and these relics the Covenant are looking for right now."

Vik eventually nodded. Perhaps knowing the great Tali'Zorah was on the case eased his troubled mind. He sighed, letting the tension in his body release at last.

"Alright, Liara, I trust you on this," he relented. "And you're right. Orukuri and whatever he's doing with the CLC is more important right now. I still want to work on some counter-measures in my spare time though."

"So long as your mind is on the mission when we're out there, that's fine by me," Liara said with amicable nod. "Now then, lets look over what Coda found out about that shipment."

Tapping on the holographic galactic map, the overlay of the Corvette's shipping route appeared. Alongside it were other shipping lanes, each one they could all assume were Covenant ships. They weren't all going to one place though, but planets all across the Terminus and the borders of Turian space. It was also pretty evident that this had been going on for a while now.

"Those can't all be CLC camps," Wrex observed. "Unless they rebuilt that fast."

"No," Vik concurred. "I'd wager a few of them are other Separatist movements and cells getting supplies. It seems Orukuri is trying to diversify his options a little, ever the business man."

"That makes this worse," Nel warned. "The CLC alone is bad enough, but if they start rallying other Separatists behind them this is going to spiral into a major problem."

"Can the Seppies actually work together though?" Wrex asked. "They mistrust each other as much as the Hierarchy in my experience."

"If they feel an alliance in the short term stands a chance at removing their long term problem, maybe," Nel responded grimly. "I guess for now getting shiny toys from mysterious aliens is enough to keep them interested."

If the amount of Covenant ships criss-crossing the galaxy to make deliveries was any indication, the Separatists had a lot of fancy toys by now. However, she doubted they were all getting the same amount of attention from the Covenant. No, there had to be a central figure drawing the other cells together and she bet her money on the CLC. Not just because of what they stumbled upon at the dig site, the drugs and direct transfer of arms, but also the intel that suggested they had something to do with Orukuri's acquired bioweapon. Some of the intelligence from the Corvette only helped confirm her hypothesis. She brought up something else Coda had cracked, a detailed manifest for the Corvette's special cargo.

"According to this, our ship was transporting more than just arms," she explained. "A few of those crates are filled with specialized equipment, mainly used in the process of refining biological components."

"For weapons use I assume," Wrex surmised.

Liara just nodded.

"Mainly for chemical based modular weapons, but the implication is wider than that," she clarified. "Recall that Orukuri was having problems actually getting this bioweapon he's building to work properly. After our hit on their summit on Khar'shan and our hijacking of the Inter-dimensional Comm Relay, Balak has to be feeling the pressure. He's lost the ability to coordinate any teams he sends through the wormhole and their attempts to turn some of these Covenant ships into a private network to compensate is proof of their desperation. I imagine Balak has stepped up Orukuri's time table, he needs to produce results faster. He might be outsourcing elements of the project to the Separatists directly now, both as way to cover his tracks and to work on it without potential scrutiny."

"Makes sense," Vik reasoned. "If something goes wrong, it's easier to claim innocence if the people working on your deadly bioweapon are Seppies on some backwater planet and not VykurCorp scientists in a lab they own. Question is, are the CLC the ones in charge of getting the weapon off the ground and, if they are, what are they making anyway?"

"The CLC seem the most organized and directly responsible for the main thrust of whatever the ultimate plan is," Liara hypothesized. "I imagine they are in charge, making them the chief Separatist organization for this hodgepodge alliance. They answer to VykurCorp directly while managing the various Separatist cells for them. Not every Seppie is just going to trust the second biggest arms supplier to the Hierarchy military after all. Regardless, the bioweapon is clearly the crux of this plan, it has to be. We need to be sure though and we need to get a better idea about what they're planning exactly. The CLC could just as likely be passing that job onto another cell, we need to be sure who we're targeting."

She tracked their halted Corvette to it's final destination, a small isolated system in the Terminus on some tiny little planet. It was the middle of nowhere, far out of the Hierarchy's sphere of influence to be ure. The perfect place to hide a secret base of some kind.

"We can send the information about these other potential Separatist outposts to the Hierarchy's military," Liara informed the others. "They should be able to handle them. We, however, are going to head to where our Corvette was going. Whatever is there we're going to take down ourselves and, with any luck, we'll find out some answers about this weapon they're making."

"Fine by me," Nel declared, pounding her fist into her palm. "Let's take the fight to the doorstep of these traitors, kick it in and squeeze'em for every bit of intel we can get."

"I think this operation will require more finesse than that, Nel," Liara plainly informed her.

Nel just pouted.

"I don't like that word, finesse," she grumbled. "It means I'm not going to have much fun."

"If this bioweapon is as big a threat as I think," Liara forewarned. "Then it's not going to be much fun for anyone."

A sea of green leaves stretched out before them as they made their way to the surface of the a few minutes of flying around, they spotted a decent clear to land in. It was a still a while away from their final destination, but that just meant they probably hadn't been spotted. They began to make their way through the underbrush of the forest, careful to avoid making too much noise as they moved forward. With sunset upon them and the light already fading, it was hard to navigate the mess of trees and vegetation. The sounds of various native fauna echoed through the air, further masking their march. Nel swatted a bit at the air as they pressed on.

"There better not be anything in here that bites," she grumbled. "I hate bugs, they're so annoying."

"Worry more about the non-insect lifeforms," Liara cautioned. "They're the real concern here."

"They won't make me itch incessantly for six days," Nel huffed in response.

They kept going, slowly making headway towards the coordinates. All the while, they kept a watchful eye out for patrols or security of any kind. Every noise seemed to call for their attention, give a warning, force them to stop for a moment and look. Nothing ever came of it though, so they kept pressing onward. They walked over a small stream, pushed through a mazes of trees and climbed over collapsed logs and giant roots in their path. It was a decently paced hike, but before long they were near the coordinates and the sounds of the forest were soon replaced by distant voices.

The team found themselves on the crest of a hill where they peered through the bushes towards the complex below. They could see a large central building, older obviously with some vegetation still growing on and around it. There were several smaller newer buildings though, probably only recently erected, around the perimeter. They appeared to be makeshift living quarters, storage huts and, most interestingly, a motor pool of some sort.

The latter was easy to determine, given the fact that surrounding it were a series of vehicles, all clearly Covenant in origin given their oblong designs and dark color pallete of red, indigo and purple. Liara looked to Kayap, passing her binoculars to the unggoy so he could get a look at the assembled craft.

"The smaller purple ones are called Ghosts," he informed her. "Used for fast rapid attack. The red slightly bigger ones are Revenant, we used them primarily for close range bombardment with it's plasma mortar."

"I know the large blue ones are the Wraiths," Liara noted. "What about the darker purple ones with what looks to be a turret on the back."

"Spectres," Kayap replied. "Pretty slow, but a lot of armor. They mostly act as infantry support."

Liara gave the motor pool another once over, counting the vehicles as she did.

"They mostly have Ghosts on hand, but there are a fair amount of the other vehicles too," she informed the others. "Chances are this place has been stockpiling them for awhile."

Liara looked out to the perimeter of the camp and noted the medium sized fence surrounding the complex. Guarding the walls were a number of automated turrets, also fairly new looking, currently scanning the treeline for intruders. They had the place pretty well covered from the looks of things. Getting inside would not be easy as any forward assault would probably lead to a lot of casualties.

Liara turned her attention back to the main building, the older one in the middle of it all. Another look at it revealed a nearly faded VykurCorp logo on the side of the building. She wasn't too surprised to see it, but it was fairly interesting.

"It seems Orukuri provided the CLC with one of his company's abandoned facilities," she said to the others. "Chances are he's done the same with other de-commissioned sites at his disposal."

"I bet he's charging them a fortune in rent though," Nel jokingly suggested.

Liara ignored the joke and kept looking over the outpost. She quickly spotted several small patrols of Separatists milling about. However, within the mix of turians were a number of Vorcha skulking around the camp. Liara spotted one as he passed by a group of Seppies, he bared his vicious pointy teeth and snarled at them as he walked away. The Seppies didn't look pleased, but let him go about his business. Said vorcha, like the rest of those within the perimeter walls, was wearing very easily identifiable Blood Pack garb, red with the a skull symbol planted firmly across their shoulder pads. The fact she next spotted at least two krogan in the crowd clinched it though, the Blood Pack were stationed here alongside the CLC Separatists.

The vorcha weren't uncommon in many a Blood Pack operation. It had been awhile though since Liara had come across any in their dealings with Trox's branch of the mercenary band. From what she understood, the krogan who had been running things before Trox, Kreave, had taken most of their Vorcha Troops through the wormhole with him. Perhaps Trox had only just started building back up his reserves of them.

She was surprised it took him this long, given how quickly Vorcha bred and how suited they were for mercenary work. Vorcha were naturally violent as a species, it came from their origins on a very harsh homeworld of their own. The Blood Pack essentially used them as attack dogs with guns, particularly when they didn't want to waste valuable Varren attack units bred specifically to tear the enemy apart. Vorcha were just trained so the krogan members of the Blood Pack had something else to throw at the enemy. They were still paid, so they weren't slaves, but that didn't mean they were respected by their employers. Likewise, however, the vorcha didn't seem to mind being glorified cannon fodder. They just wanted something to kill more than anything else.

"Why are the Blood Pack here?" Vik asked, noticing the presence of the Vorcha for himself. "Seems a bit out of left field."

"Perhaps additional security," Liara suggested. "After our attack on the dig site they probably see a greater need to protect their investments."

"Right," Vik quickly reasoned. "And you can't use VykurCorps mercenaries, because people might get suspicious as to why Orukuri is sending them to guard some old company building that's been abandoned for a while."

"That and I suspect there might be more to this operation than we realize," Liara added, putting her binoculars away.

That made getting inside all the more pertinent, but she hadn't really planned on anyone besides Separatists being here. And she certainly didn't plan for this level of security. Things were certainly more complicated now.

"We clearly can't just have our people rush in," she stated plainly. "They'll be slaughtered by those guns."

"We can push through," Wrex reasoned. "It's what krogan are born for."

"They are, but they won't break through fast enough," Liara informed her friend. "By the time they get inside we'll lose any valuable data. I imagine they have protocols to erase anything on their computers in the event of an attack. This operation of theirs is too delicate to be exposed in any capacity. We need a new strategy."

She looked to the one person in he group she thought could offer that.

"Saya, do you see a way in?"

The salarian was already scanning the perimeter fence with his sniper rifle. He peered through the scope as he swept his gaze across the outpost. Eventually he stopped and point towards one barracks. He waved the asari over and let her look through the scope herself. He showed her that nearest turret close to the barracks building did not have full coverage on the tree line, there was a downed log blocking part of it's view. Without full range of vision, you could in theory sneak past it. As he pointed this out to Liara, a grin grew across her face.

"Alright then, it's worth a shot," she said. "We can sneak in through there easily."

"All of us?" Nel asked.

"No," Liara told her, shaking her head. "There's too many guards in there. Our group isn't nearly small enough to avoid detection. We need to play this smart."

Liara got the group into a huddle, a plan quickly forming.

"Wrex, call down your forces and have them get into position along the right side of the perimeter," she began. "Kayap and Nel will wait with you."

"Oh good, I'm not part of the boring stealth plan for once," the turian said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Liara rolled her eyes and just kept going.

"Vik and Saya will come with me to infiltrate the outpost," she continued. "We'll see what kind of damage we can do without getting caught. This will be the perfect time to put your demolitions expertise to work, Vik."

"Sounds good to me," the quarian acknowledged. "And I can handle those turrets too if you let me."

"The sun has almost set so we'll wait until it's dark to make our move," Liara informed them. "This isn't going to be easy, but it's our best shot at getting to the intel in their computers before they can destroy it."

Slinking along the side of the log, Liara kept her head low. They had gotten lucky, the planet's moon wasn't full tonight, meaning they wouldn't stick out too much in the open. They'd still have to stay in the shadows more or less, especially with all the patrols still out and about. Vik and Saya moved up behind her, slowly moving along the log with her.

They soon got into the over-watching turret's field of vision, as it scanned their general area. They remained behind the log, pressing up against it as the turret scanned over them. When it pointed back away from their position, Saya made his move. He cloaked, just to be safe, and rushed towards the steel bad fence. He scrambled up it and over to the other side, landing silently on the ground with the barracks to his side.

Good, phase one complete. Liara didn't think she could get over the fence fast enough though, but at least Saya had a way to give them extra time. When the turret turned away from their position again, Saya ran towards it's tower strut along the perimeter. Activating his omni-tool, he activated a program installed onto it that would scramble the tracking systems for an extra minute or two. As the application worked it's magic, the turret stopping it's sweep as it pointed away from the log, Vik and Liara moved up. They scrambled up the fence, forcing themselves over the top.

Liara got over okay, using her biotics to soften her landing. Vik, however, was not nearly as graceful. As he moved over the top, his foot got stuck on the top bar. As he tried to pull himself free, the turret began to move back to him. In desperation, the quarian wrenched his foot off the bar, finally getting free. He then fell to the ground with a thud, hitting the side of arm. Luckily it hadn't been a high fall, but it had created a bit of noise. Liara rushed back out of the cover of the barracks' wall and pulled Vik into the shadows, just before the turret pointed back at them.

"Sorry," Vik whispered in embarrassment.

"Relax, we made it, we'll be fine," Liara tried to reassure him.

However, as she finished saying that, they heard one of the doors of the barracks whoosh open. Forcing themselves into the shadows, they listened to footsteps approaching from around the opposite corner of the barracks. Whoever it was, was approaching them from along the fence perimeter. Peering out, Liara saw the form of a Vorcha, inspecting the area. His eyes shifted from side to side, a sidearm in his hand. He said nothing as he scanned the area, looking for the source of the sound.

"Quick, move," Liara whispered to Vik.

The two scurried quietly along the barrack wall, leaving the Vorcha to investigate the noise. He was still closing on them though, they could hear him sniffing the air. They weren't typically smart, but Vorcha made up for it with certain heightened senses. He started approaching the area where Vik had fallen. While they were still in shadow, Liara opted to hide behind a box along the side of the barracks. She and Vik then sat there while the Vorcha continued to investigate.

Liara peeked out over the top of the box to see the vorcha staring at the ground where Vik had fallen. He probably had just seen the impression the quarian had made. He then looked to where Liara was hidden and the asari ducked behind her cover as his dark red eyes glared through the darkness. They could hear his footsteps approaching once more. They'd have to act fast. Before they couldn't do much with the turret watching over everything. Now though, the miserable creature was out of the automated gun's sights. They'd have to strike fast to keep him from sounding an alarm. She looked to Vik, who had already activated his omni-tool's blade function.

As the footsteps got closer, they got ready strike. Just then though, there was a sharp slashing sound, just near where the vorcha was. Liara looked over the top of the box and saw Saya standing atop the now fallen vorcha, his sword embedded in the back of the Blood Pack merc's head. He had taken the vorcha down from above, getting on top of the barracks' roof and rushing over it to jump down on his prey from there. The salarian pulled his blade from the alien's scalp and flicked the blood off.

"Good save, Saya," Liara congratulated. "Let's get to work."

Liara contacted Wrex over her comm-link.

"Assault team, we're in," she reported. "Are we all in place?"

"Still a few squads left to coordinate," Wrex replied. "I have Nel with your Shadownet Operatives and Kayap is with me. We're waiting for your signal for now."

"Don't worry, you'll get it in due time," she assured him. "We maintain radio silence from here on out."

She closed her omni-tool and looked to Vik.

"Priority right now is the turrets," she told him. "What can we do about them?"

"Well, I think I know the model," he replied thoughtfully. "They got a central processor that pools targeting data together. If we can just find where they've set up the main console I can deactivate their protocols. Then lock them out so they can't reset."

"Then we find the main console," Liara stated. "Would it be inside their headquarters?"

"No, probably set up in one of these new buildings," Vik explained. "They'd need it to be in close proximity and with minimal interference. That old pile of concrete would mess with the system, so it has to be outside."

At least that meant they could take of it along with everything else they needed to do. If this attack was going to be a success, they needed to remove as many of the defenders' advantages as possible. Their guns, their security, their fancy new alien vehicles, as much of it as possible had to be destroyed.

"Let's get moving then," she ordered. "And hide the dead Vorcha out of sight."

Saya saluted slightly and then dragged he corpse behind the box, leaving it there in the shadows as he followed after the others into the outpost proper.

Vik didn't think it would be too hard to find the main console for the turrets. He imagined getting to it would be a bit trickier, but at the very least he knew how to find it. The guns had a very specific signal source linking them altogether. Locating said signal was just a matter of scanning the various wireless signals in the area. Being that this place was in the middle of a forest, there were very few of those. It took but a minute or two to figure out which of the three active wireless networks belonged to the turrets. After that, it was merely a process of zeroing in on said signal.

Vik led the team on point, his eyes mostly glued to the feed in his helmet displaying the signal strength. They stuck to the shadows of course, avoiding the main paths and hastily placed headlight stands illuminating the area. The biggest danger were the patrols still on shift, mostly Separatists. A small blessing in disguise given they didn't have the same keen sense of smell as the vorcha. They waited for them to pass mostly, killing or knocking them out would be too much hassle. So they mainly just ran from shadow to shadow, working their way closer and closer to the signal origin point.

As they got closer, huddling behind a small shack erected on the complex's grounds, they saw yet another patrol cut across their intended path. It looked like they'd just keep walking, but they didn't. They stopped suddenly right in the view of a harsh light just feet away. It didn't seem like they had noticed anything, but they were clearly taking a breather for a bit, looking up at the star-filled sky. They didn't have time to wait for them to be done though, they needed them gone.

Vik tried to think of a way to get rid of them and as he lowered his head to ponder he saw what they needed. On the ground in front of him was a good-sized rock. It was as low-tech as you could get, but it was something. Picking up the rock, he weighed it in his hand. Spotting another shack a bit aways he took aim, but then paused. It was probably best to make sure everyone was okay with this idea first. He looked back, only to see Liara just staring at him intently. She motioned her head, basically saying "throw it" with her body language. Vik just nodded and tossed the rock.

The little stone tumbled through the air and slammed down hard on the metal roof of the nearby shack. It clanged and cluttered as it slid off the roof and fell to the ground with a thud. It inevitably caught the attention of the guards who instantly went to investigate. Vik sighed in relief, his little plan had worked and probably had redeemed him for almost getting them caught by the vorcha earlier. There was little time to dwell on that though, as the trio hastened towards their goal.

The signal tracker was soon pointing them towards a small building erected near the center of the courtyard. It was somewhat oval in shape with a simple receiver/sender dish atop it. Vik instantly knew it had to be the place. From what they could see within the windows of the small structure, there was someone inside, the faint glow of a monitor screen revealing his shadow. He'd unfortunately need to be removed.

As always, that task was better suited to Saya. He had already pulled out his silenced pistol in preparation. Moving to the door, Vik quickly bypassed the lock and let it slide wide open. The guard working at the terminal noticed briefly, but Saya was still faster. Firing a shot into the side of his head just as the turian turned about. The salarian then gently pulled the corpse off the console and set it down in a corner, allowing Vik his space to work. He got a good look at the monitors, each of them showing readouts for the turrets scanning the outpost's perimeter.

"This is the place alright," he declared softly.

He began the hack immediately, loading up the targeting protocols on the screen for them. After bypassing the security check, he got into the core processor's code. Altering it manually, he forced the turrets into a stand-by safety mode. They'd still move around and look for targets, but they were no longer armed. They'd just swivel uselessly unable to fire back. That was the easy part though, next he had to lock the damn things down so no one could reverse the damage. To do that, he plugged his omni-tool into a data port manually.

"I'm going to upload a virus that locks out access to this console," he explained to Liara. "It will take them awhile to circumvent it. Wrex's team will be well within the perimeter by then."

"Excellent," Liara congratulated him. "Once you're done there, we need to deal with their armory and motorpool. If they can't use their new toys, Wrex, Nel and Kayap will have it that much easier."

"Should be no more than a minute or two," Vik assured her.

Liara took a look out the window, probably trying to spot the armory from here. Not easy to do in the dark, but they didn't have much choice. As she was staring she ducked down, a patrol passing their position. She slowly brought her head back up, her eyes following the patrol as they walked. They fell upon a larger building in the distance.

"Might be over there," she said. "Doesn't look too far from the motor pool actually. Should be easy to get to each."

"I have to say, this is an impressive set-up," Vik noted aloud. "Separatist groups are rarely this well-organized. Working with VykurCorp has paid off for them, especially given how badly the CLC got beaten down."

"It's probably why they were so quick to sign on with Orukuri despite who he was," Liara surmised. "They didn't have many other options."

Vik's omni-tool beeped loud and he pulled the cable out of the dataport.

"Alright, system is locked," he said. "Let's get to that armory."

"I imagine you have something that can remove it from the equation," Liara deduced.

"I figured we'd wind up blowing something to bits on this one, so yeah," he admitted. "I got something perfect for this."

Saya pried open the hatch with his sword. Liara then slipped in with Vik following after, dropping down into the darkened insides of the armory. Within the halls of the structure, they could see weapons of various sizes lining the walls. Most of them were Covenant, but there were a number of regular weapons. This camp was pretty well stocked, confirming they had been in operation for a good while now.

"Okay I think we can make this work," Vik stated. "Half of these Covenant guns are probably volatile enough on their own. Should make this easier."

Vik pulled out some charges out of the various pouches on his suit. They were medium sized, but compact cylinders. Passing one to Liara he walked over to one of the plasma guns and attached to it's rack.

"What's in these?" She asked him.

"Special plastique compound," he informed her, sticking another of the devices to the wall. "One by itself isn't much damage, but in unison they can wreak some serious damage."

Liara nodded, pressing one of the charges near a plasma gun herself. Vik passed her another one, which she deftly caught with ease. Sticking it to the wall once more she moved over to Vik who was moving through charges at a rapid pace.

"If this goes right, each of these babies will detonate the plasma battery in these guns," he told her. "That should rip through this whole building easy."

"Are they activated remotely? A timer? Motion?" Liara asked. "We don't want them going off before we get to our goal."

Vik just shook his head as he passed another of the charges to her.

"No, it's bit simpler than that," he assured her. "There's a main detonation charge we can place on the door. It's a bit bigger so it carries more punch. It transmits a signal that keeps these charges dormant. When it goes, they all go, starting a chain reaction. It will only explode if someone enters it's scan range which I can preset."

"So when they come running to get their guns," Liara reasoned. "They trigger the charge, it explodes and the rest follow suit."

"Exactly," Vik answered brightly. "Perfect for our needs."

The quarian then spotted a crate nearby. Opening it up, he saw it was packed with plasma grenades. Nodding her head at the discovery, he dropped a charge inside the crate and closed the top.

"That will be a very big bang," he stated, moving towards the door.

As he got there, he pulled something off his belt. It was like the other charges, but, as he had claimed, it was slightly bigger. He stuck it near another rack of guns near the door and stated tapping on the buttons it's side. When he was done he pulled back and gave a thumbs up.

"It will activate in three minutes," he told her. "After that it connects to the other charges and sets them to blow when it does. We best be out of here by that time."

Liara looked up to Saya and raised her hand to him. The salarian reached down and grabbed it, pulling her back up through the hatch. He did the same for Vik, although there was some considerable strain. The quarian had to scramble at the lip of the hatch just to properly pull himself the rest of the way.

"Saya, get to the motorpool," she ordered. "See about sabotaging those vehicles somehow. We'll catch up."

Saya nodded and jumped down from the roof of the armory. As he left, Liara looked to her quarian companion.

"You've certainly have had some time on your hands to make these charges," she noted.

"I don't sleep much," he admitted. "Not these days anyway. Too... too risky."

Vik's stammer worried her a bit and the sleep part didn't help. If she didn't know better she'd have assumed this was just the lingering effects of his encounter with the Singular. But she did know better. Vik's affinity for explosives was no accident, she learned that when she had discovered he had been building a bomb in his personal shuttle aboard the ship. It was a sticking point between them, even though she knew the reason why. Of course, it wasn't the only sticking point.

"You've been taking your medication, have you?" She asked.

"Mostly," he said sheepishly. "It's just... it makes me slow sometimes. I can't be slow."

"You're too valuable to this team and to me for you to be laxing in your treatment now," she told him firmly. "I told you, keep up your regular dosage."

"I'm trying," he told her, doing his best to keep his voice down. "But... there are other matters at hand."

Liara figured he knew what he was talking about. Vik had a troubled past, particularly his pilgrimage. On the same day she found that bomb in his shuttle, the Truth as he called it, he had revealed the source of his paranoia. That he had once been an indentured servant to a powerful batarian arms manufacturer. That he tried to help others under his service to escape. He had failed, barely escaping with his life and only seemingly because the batarian had let him. Ever since, Vik had been terrified of being taken back. The paranoia had spread over time, turning him into the conspiracy theorist he was today. And he had taken up the art of demolitions out of some small sliver of hope that he could someday bring everything crashing down on his former master.

She hadn't really told the others much about Vik's past, mostly out of respect. She had forced him to shut down his bomb building plan for the time being. Now, here he was with new little bombs and she suspected he hadn't bought them.

"You're thinking more about what happened," she reasoned. "And about what you're planning as well."

"It's getting closer to the anniversary," he admitted. "Hard not to think about."

"So you've been tinkering with explosives," Liara reasoned.

"Not the bomb," he assured her adamantly. "I just... I need to practice on something."

That was good enough for her for now. This was not really the place to be talking about this at length.

"Just tell me for now if you have other explosives like that," she asked. "We can talk about how you make them later."

"I got a few that might be suited for the vehicles," he promised. "Saya's sword could probably help out actually."

"No sense in keeping him waiting then," she stated firmly. "Come on."

They jumped off the roof and headed towards the the motorpool themselves now.

In any other situation, Saya probably would've wanted to take a better look at these vehicles. The last time he was this close to Covenant technology he was mostly using it to blow holes in a building. Then it got shot down and he had to ditch the thing before it crashed with him inside. While he wasn't the hacker tech geek that Sajee was, he'd be lying if he claimed he didn't find a lot of the toys the Covenant used fascinating. It came with being salarian, you couldn't really turn off your analytical personality.

The Ghosts, as they were called, were an interesting rapid attack vehicle. Single seat, dual plasma guns, clearly built for speed based on the design alone. He could picture it as the near perfect vehicle for an STG ground mission. Small, concealable, easy to get in and drive off with. It would work especially well on planets like Tuchanka where there were so few working vehicles in the first place. You do your job, you get back to your escape craft and even if you do get pursued you can easily outrun them.

Of course, he had wonder if there was anyway they could effectively reproduce this technology. They had hover tech too, but the Covenant seemed to have a jump on them in that regard. Vehicles like the Alliance Hammerhead, while successful, had loads of technical problems. The most glaring of which their anti-grav lifts being big and bulky eyesores because they had figured out how to properly compact them into the vehicle's frame itself. With a shuttle or aircar, it was fairly easy. The bigger you got, the more thrust you needed to take off vertically. It was why there were still using attack vehicles with wheels despite all their impressive technology in other fields.

And yet, when Saya looked at the Wraith, he saw that the Covenant had managed the bypass the need of bigger anti-grav lifts to support a heavier gun carriage. It went a long way to further illustrate how badly they were outclassed by a lot of these weapons. He still doubted the Covenant could win any protracted conflict with the combined might of Galactic Council Races. Humanity and the Turians alone would be enough to give them pause, the Asari had their own massive ships to bring to the fight. That wasn't even mentioning his people's own impressive small arms tech. However, any war would be greatly and massively costly. Even knowing what they did about the wormhole being unstable on their end did nothing to ease his mind on that front. They still couldn't hit these guys where they lived meaning they'd be able to reinforce their fleets in this universe in due time.

It was missions like these that reaffirmed the need for the STG for him. Hell, it reaffirmed the need for him to be here with Liara. The galaxy could make quibbles and protests all they wanted about how his people stuck their noses in things where it didn't belong, Vik and Wrex had made similar arguments, but the reality was inescapable. There were threats out here, dangerous entities and groups, many intent on doing harm to the galaxy, not just the Salarian Union. For centuries, the STG had stomped out many of those threats. True, there were consequences for such actions and he didn't necessarily agree with all of the things the organization had done, but that was inevitable. Law of causality stated any action had consequences, you couldn't just pretend they didn't. Inaction simply was not a viable choice in his mind.

The Covenant presented a great threat, as did these Separatist xenophobes. It was STG's mission to guard against these elements, stop them before they got too much traction. They had already let this Covenant spread too far. It was time to cut it down before it did any real damage to the galaxy. Rigging a few of these Ghosts to explode wasn't much for now, but it was a decent step in the right direction. They wouldn't be used to kill people when they were done here and that was fine by him.

It wasn't too difficult anyway, hell he wouldn't even have to worry about setting them off himself. Careful application of the Shiakala's explosive gel would see to that. This was where the analytic nature of the salarian mind came into play. Careful study of the vehicle soon revealed where it's activation switch would ignite the plasma core powering the vehicle. One simple stab between the armored plates of the craft, an application of explosive gel and you had a vehicle primed for explosion. The second any ignited this thing's engine, the gel would be activated and the whole thing would go up.

The problem was, there were quite a few Ghosts and he did not have nearly enough gel saved up in the sword's internal mini-fabrication hardware. It would time to refill, at least a few hours. They needed to be gone faster than that. Luckily, he wasn't the only one with explosives. When he heard someone seemingly approaching, he readied his pistol, fearing it was Seppies. When he popped up, it was just Liara and Vik sneaking among the rows of Ghosts and the few Revenants around them.

"How are we doing?" She whispered to the salarian.

He flashed his three fingers three times at her.

"Nine, that's pretty good," she said. "Keep at it. Hit enough to make them think twice about using any of them. Wrex and my people should be able to take care of the rest. Vik, get to work with him."

"No problem," Vik said digging around in one of the larger packs on his envirosuit. "These are a little specialized, but they should hold the same principle on these vehicles."

Vik revealed a series of flat rectangular electronic objects, exposed wires on either end of each.

"If I hook these up correctly it should overload the plasma coils and cause them to explode," he reasoned. "I've been tinkering with the concept for a bit using all the spare plasma guns we've picked up. I just had to adjust this pipe bomb design I looked up. I figured if the Covenant were handing out their vehicles it might come in handy."

"You think you can hook them up properly?" Liara asked curiously.

"Just give a minute to look these things over," he requested. "I can figure it out from there."

Vik crouched down next to a nearby Revenant, giving special attention to the mortar gun on it's back. Popping up a panel near it, he found the coils easily enough. After a brief period of re-wiring, he had rerouted the main power of the gun through the device and activated it. After closing the panel back up, he did the same thing to a nearby Ghost, breaking into the side panel on it's front near where the forward guns were. He found the coil there, implanted the device and closed the panel back up. Not nearly as quick as Saya's method, but at least it seemed her knew what he was doing.

They kept doing this to several Ghosts and Revenants. They were the easiest to sabotage more or less. Liara had offered to take care of the Spectre. Her target was the vehicle's gun mount and not the craft itself. If she damaged that, the Covenant vehicle would be more or less useless to them. It didn't take much to sabotage it of course, not with a quick application of her omni-tool's hacking module. She wasn't Vik's level, but Saya imagined being the infamous Shadow Broker gave her something of an edge. You didn't get to be the top information broker in the galaxy if you didn't know how to break into a few computers.

As she was working on the gun though, her gaze darted over to the nearby path. She waved her hand downwards at both Vik and Saya. They both dropped to the ground, ducking behind their respective vehicles they were currently sabotaging. They heard the footsteps next, slowly stamping up the path.

"Cool arsenal, huh?" One voice asked. "Can't wait to use these bad boys in the field."

"What field? We're in the middle of nowhere," another voice informed the first. "They're giving us all this crap, where we going with it?"

"Who cares?" The other responded. "As long as it's somewhere that involves us blowing the Hierarchy stooges away, I'm game. I hope I get that big ass tank looking thing to drive."

"Well you better sign up for a training run on it soon. Otherwise, hope that ship we got coming in has more on board," the second voice told him sternly. "Lot of people asking for it, not just you."

Saya peered slightly over the edge of the Ghost he was behind and spotted the two talkative turians for himself. They were currently staring at the Wraith, facing away from them. Assessing the situation, he activated his cloak and slowly approached them.

"Where is that transport anyway?" Asked one of the Seppies.

"Running late I guess," the other shrugged. "Should be here tomorrow. Anyway, we're almost off shift. I'm hitting the sack."

"You go on ahead," his companion said. "I wanna get a closer look at this tank."

"Don't do anything stupid man," the other Seppie warned. "I ain't bailing you out of latrine duty again."

As one turian left, the remaining Seppie approached the Wraith. Saya kept behind him, sword at the ready. The wide-eyed idiot was still grinning stupidly, probably thinking about getting to drive the tank into battle. Sadly for him, he'd never get the chance. They didn't have time to wait for him to stop daydreaming. He should've left with his friend. Saya struck quick, grabbing the turian from behind and slicing his neck open before he could call for help.

Taking the body, he dragged it into the dark of the open motorpool garage and plopped it down unceremoniously. When he returned, Vik and Liara were already at the Wraith. Vik had climbed atop it to install one of his devices into the mortar gun on top. Breaking open the panel here was a little difficult, but he managed it.

"I think this will do enough damage to their forces," Liara declared as Vik finished up his work. "The various explosions will probably damage the adjacent vehicles when they go off. We need to get inside the main building now and find that data we're after."

Saya just nodded and offered to take point again. Once Vik was down off the tank, they were back in the shadows, making their way to the main HQ. It was time to get what they came for.

They made their way to the backdoor of the old VykurCorp structure, where they hoped there would be less security. They were partially right, the door leading inside was largely unattended, but it wasn't without it's protection. Two vorcha were still awake and just a few feet away from their entry point. Their shrill harsh voices snarled loudly in the night air, no doubt discussing some of minor annoyance to them. Or maybe just random gibberish, it was hard to tell with vorcha.

"They're going to sniff us out easy if we get any closer," Vik cautioned.

"Then we deal with them," Liara stated plainly. "Saya, activate your cloak. Vik, lure them in."

Saya vanished from sight while Vik activated his combat drone for a very specific mission. Meanwhile, Liara moved behind the small corner of a shack nearby. When everyone was in position, Vik made his move and had the combat drone shock a nearby lightpost. The sudden zap caused the bulbs to burst and the area went dark. The attention of the two vorcha was readily obtained.

Carefully, the pair moved forward to investigate the noise, snarling and sneering as they moved forward. One split off, probably to check the generator the lightpost was attached to. The other vorcha stayed on path for the light. Vik watched they drift apart as he pushed himself deeper into the shadows.

As the vorcha approached the post, he started sniffing the air, catching a whiff of something. He caught it too late. Liara struck out with a stasis attack, freezing the vile creature in place. She then rushed up and delivered a biotic punch powerful enough to break the vorcha's skull clean open. The second vorcha probably heard the commotion, but would do nothing about it. Saya was already at his back and with one swipe of his sword he cut clean through the creature's neck.

After dragging the bodies, plus the decapitated head of course, to a secluded area, the team regrouped at the door. Vik instantly began bypassing the lock frantically, not wanting to stay out here much longer.

"Where do you think we'll find the data we need?" Vik asked.

"We need to find a terminal or computer with access to the information we need," she suggested. "We should try their communications room first. It might have a record of out going and incoming messages. Decent place to start."

The door then swished open and the team rushed inside.

The corridors of the old VykurCorp building were largely abandoned. No one seemed to be patrolling inside this late at night. Perhaps the turrets outside gave them an inflated sense of protection. An idea that no one would ever get this far. Liara somewhat looked forward to proving that assumption wrong.

The inside of the old VykurCorp building was not nearly as bad as the outside, the Separatists had apparently done some house cleaning. Still, the walls were cracked, there was plenty of overgrowth pushing it's way through the seems and damaged pipes and holes in the ceiling persisted. You could only do so much to fix up a formerly abandoned building of this size. It served the purposes of the Separatists though and that was apparently good enough for them.

Finding the communications room was merely a matter of following the signs. They had marked them out pretty clearly for anyone to follow. Even with no one in the halls though, they kept themselves in the shadows. They were not willing to risk being spotted now, not when they were so close.

When they got to the communications room, however, they found it was not as empty as the halls. In fact, the current occupant was apparently making an outgoing call to someone. From the look of his uniform, he was clearly higher ranked than the other Seppies on the base. Most likely he was the Commander of the outpost. On the QEC display, the holographic form of another turian was currently speaking to officer. It didn't take long for Liara to recognize him, she had studied up a little on the CLC before they undertook this mission. This was Xeltravius, the de facto leader of the CLC. According to Nel, she had encountered the old separatist at the dig site with her former squadmate in tow. While he wasn't here in the flesh, he still seemed just as imposing.

"Complaining about this is beneath you, Commander," the Separatist leader told his subordinate.

"It's not just me complaining," the officer declared. "The men are getting tired of this nonsense. The few krogan here are bad enough, but the vorcha? Of all the damn aliens, why them? It feels like this Trox guy is just dumping them on our asses because he can't stand them."

"You need to deal with it for now," Xeltravius firmly informed him. "I didn't plan on us working with the Blood Pack myself, but we need them close for this plan to work. We need to show the turian people that the Hierarchy has left itself vulnerable to alien attack. When they see our people fighting with them, they'll realize that the government cannot protect them. In the wake of everything it will be the final nail in the coffin."

"You can't seriously trust them to go along with that," the Commander said skeptically. "They're Mercenaries, they'll abandon the whole mission the second they see no profit in it."

"Our benefactor is making sure that profit won't be a problem," Xeltravius assured. "What will be a problem though is your continued attitude to the situation. The fact of the matter is, we need more bodies for this. Even with the other cells and groups at our flank, we have to set the example. We have to be the driving force. It's the only way this will work. The Blood Pack are merely here to boost our numbers and serve as a psychological blow to the enemy. Krogans assaulting turians will bring back images of the Rebellions, questions of how secure they really are. The fact that Separatists are willing to fight with them to overthrow the Hierarchy will be enough to convince people of our point and our seriousness. Besides, it also helps smooth over the criticism of 'xenophobia' that they'll try to use against us. Can't rightly claim we're racist if we're willing to work with the most vile enemies of the Hierarchy itself."

"But the vorcha-"

"Are hideous, disgusting creatures who are born in crap and die in their own crap," Xeltravius interrupted sternly. "They smell terrible, they're uncultured and they're savage. They're basically one rung below the krogan on that ladder, I am aware. That's the point. If even they can become a threat to the great Turian Hierarchy, then what hope does our race have under their leadership?"

The Seppie Commander hunched over the console in anguish.

"Is everything framed as a means of propaganda here, sir?" He asked. "It just honestly feels to me like we don't have much substance beyond that."

"You can't start an uprising without sparking the anger and fear of the population," Xeltravius informed him. "We need to work this attack on several angles. It's not just about a singular event. We need to hit them where it hurts on multiple levels. That is why this will succeed. Now you and your men just need to suck it up, deal with the fact the vorcha and their krogan handlers are there for now and keep your eyes on the goal. Division and questioning will not get us anywhere."

"Can we at least request that they can't eat at the same times as us?" The Commander asked. "They make everyone want to vomit their lunch back up. They have no sense of etiquette whatsoever."

"Discuss it with their krogan masters," Xeltravius ordered. "Otherwise, do as you're ordered. Suck it up, deal with it. Xeltravius, out."

The Outpost Commander pushed himself off the console, snarling loudly as he did. He started to turn towards the exit, towards the trio of intruders. With little time to act, Saya struck. He dashed into the room, sword flashing in the minimal light of the communications room. He slashed upward diagonally, cutting across the turian's chest and then sliced across the Seppie's neck. The Commander, a shocked and frightened look on his face, collapsed to the floor in a bloody heap. Liara and Vik approached behind their salarian teammate, now standing over the body.

"You know, you probably could've just shocked him," Vik said plainly. "Your sword has that function for a reason."

Saya hastily signed a response with his hands, replying that he had just decapitated the enemy leadership and that was good enough reason for him to kill the turian. To him it was the only choice in fact. Now Wrex, Nel and Kayap, along with everyone else in their attack squads, wouldn't have to worry about an organized defense. Without their Commander, this whole outpost was leaderless and directionless.

Vik dropped the subject and Liara just directed them to the main console. Vik got to work bypassing the password, but when he started looking through the system his expression soured. Eventually, he pounded on the screen in frustration.

"Keelah, they don't have recorded messages," he growled. "Of all the things to actually give a damn about security wise, they chose this."

"Is there any data at all?" Liara asked. "About the attack? The bioweapon?"

""Near as I can tell everything gets deleted from this console and is only backed up on a private server which it is transfered to," the quarian replied. "Whatever this is all about they don't want to risk it leaking."

"Can you find where the messages are copied to before deletion?" Liara questioned insistently.

Vik just nodded slightly and tapped a few commands. His expression brightened somewhat.

"I should've guessed," he said, his head turning towards the dead Commander. "They go to the Outpost's Chief Officer's private terminal in his office."

Liara went over to the dead turian and rummaged around his pockets a bit. Eventually, she found a keycard on his person. Holding it deftly between her fingers, she smirked outwardly at their stroke of luck.

"Let's find his terminal," she ordered. "It's time to figure out what they're so desperately trying to hide from us."

Finding the Commander's Office wasn't too hard. They just had to follow the signs, again. They had to wait for a patrol of vorcha to pass before they could get to it, but other than that there wasn't much impeding their progress. They used the keycard to open the door and found fairly sparse work space behind it. A small desk, a bookshelf a few chairs, an ordinary look rug and a small fridge in one corner with a bed in the adjacent one. It was as Liara expected, comfort wasn't a big deal when you were trying to overthrow your species' government.

The logged onto his terminal at the desk, the keycard giving them access. Lucky them it wasn't biometrically locked like the computer Nel had to deal with at the digsite HQ. However, everything else was password protected, although Vik suspected they were all the same. Not many people actually wasted time coming up with new sequences of letters and numbers for every single file. It took a little hacking, but Vik found what they needed buried in the code, giving them full access to all the data stored within. Vik's eyes scanned the flood of information as Liara and Saya hung over his shoulders.

"These bosh'tets have been busy," he said surprised. "They're coordinating with other cells, a lot of them outside the CLC's organization. They're keeping track of ever weapon and vehicle the Covenant has been passing along. It doesn't sound like they're telling them where it's coming from."

"Are they aware of the Covenant?" Liara asked.

Vik scrolled down a few messages, quickly giving each a look.

"Sorta," he informed her. "They don't interact much beyond the initial sale. The CLC has people embedded with the other Separatist groups that make any transaction for them behind closed doors. They know who the Covenant are, but they're keeping the other Separatists in the dark. I guess they're worried about how they'll react if they learn these new guns come from non-turians."

"They have to have some suspicions," Liara surmised.

"There's a few passages in here about how they're trying to maintain a cover story," he elaborated. "Everyone knows Geth have made some impressive tech since they exiled my people. It seems they're telling the other Seppies that they stole the guns and vehicles from the Geth. I don't think they care if they believe it though, just that they don't ask questions."

So only the CLC interacted with the Covenant, probably on Orukuri's orders. No doubt that turian had made a similar request concerning the Blood Pack's involvement. This pretty much confirmed Xeltravius and his organization were the main party in Orukuri's plan, at the very least they were the forward thrust. However, this wasn't what they were really after.

"Anything on the bioweapon?" Liara asked next.

Vik quickly found a series of files on the terminal, each labeled with a "hazardous material" insignia. The Separatists weren't exactly known for subtlety. They were hardlocked, but Vik bypassed that through his hacking module. After a few seconds they were in and Vik opened every file.

What was listed were mostly combat projections and procedures. Liara could see for herself that they detailed proper sealed envirosuit care, as well as regulations for the safe installment of biological ammunition mods. However, those were minor compared to the major revelation. There were a series of simulation results from various CLC cells detailing attack drills and exercises concerned with a singular scenario, fighting in a biologically contaminated urban area. Vik himself read a few lines out loud.

"Significant improvement in squad fighting capability," he began. "Biological warfare scenarios proving promising in preparation for final execution. Troop effectiveness in attack situations greatly increasing, there should be few to limited issues operating under conditions after delivery. You may begin own trials once proper equipment arrives."

The full gravity of the situation hit Liara hard.

"This isn't just about releasing a biological agent," she reasoned grimly. "That's just how it starts, the first blow in their assault. They're talking about total war, direct conflict."

"Standard procedure when you think about it," Vik shrugged, his tone gloomy. "Guerilla warfare always only gets you so far. You have to transition into traditional war tactics at some point. But... using a biological agent to start it out? That would turn everyone against you. You'd be seen as a war criminal! How would you get the population to rally behind you after that?"

"Xeltravius apparently thinks he can get them to rally behind him, that's all that matters, not whether or not it works," Liara stated grimacing. "Does it say anything about where they're activating the weapon? Or even about the weapon itself?"

"No, none of these files touch on that," Vik said regretfully. "Right now they're just getting everyone ready. It doesn't seem like they want to give too much information about what their target is or when they're striking."

"It's better than nothing," Liara relented. "Download all of it. We need to send this to the Hierarchy, they need to know what's in the works. If nothing else, they'll be aware that the CLC is planning something big, maybe they can get ahead of them."

Vik nodded astutely and began to download at once. However, when he got half the files loaded onto his omni-tool, the terminal's screen turned red and started flashing a great big warning signal. Liara could tell that was not good.

"Uh oh, they had an alarm system installed if anyone downloaded off this terminal!" Vik shouted in fright. "They must've hidden it deep in the code!"

"We still have what we need," Liara insisted, pulling her gun from her holster. "We just need to get out of here with it. Saya, we need cover!"

The salarian rushed over to topple the bookcase. The printed texts crashed to the ground as Saya positioned the shelf towards the door. Just as she finished, it burst open and a small pack of vorcha charged into the room screaming. Saya opened fire on them with his pistol, grabbing headshots on the ugly bastards as they poured in. Liara added to fray herself, activating a singularity that pulled two other vorcha into it's vortex as she unloaded her pistol into them. Vik finished up the download in the meantime, unplug his omni-tool from the terminal and then activated his combat drone. He sent it forward to blast through a few of the vorcha as they tried to force their way through the door. As Vik stood up to fire off his shotgun at the enemies, Liara contacted Wrex.

"Assault teams! You're a go! Move in! I say again, move it! Take the outpost now!"

She sent a throw attack at the doorway, forcing the next vorcha coming through the fly right back outside. Vaulting over the desk, continually firing her pistol, she forced her way through the door, her team following. They needed to get out of here, fast.

Nel rushed forward, her assault rifle at the ready and loaded with inferno rounds. All around her, krogan bulldozed through the brush, charging straight at the main gate. Alongside them were Liara's Shadownet Mercs, firing like mad into the outpost camp. Wrex was at the head of the charge and he probably could've just headbutted the gate down if he wanted. However, someone else with a missile launcher did the job for him, firing a small barrage that burst the gate open along it's seams. Wrex just kept rushing through the dissipating fireball and then clotheslined a vorcha that tried to fire at the Urnodt Clan Leader. The rest of the team followed suit, pouring through the open gate and pushing up into the camp itself.

The turrets were completely impotent, Vik had obviously done his job. She could hear the guns tracking them, but they didn't fire a single shot. She grinned as she moved through the open gate, Kayap in tow. The little unggoy was lugging a Fuel Rod Cannon one of the Shadownet Mercs had brought for him. Liara had made the request on his behalf. Hey, if you're part of the assault team you needed a damn assault weapon, that's at least how Nel saw it.

Kayap took aim with his weapon pointing ahead to flashes of gunfire pointed in their direction. Nel looked closer to see it was a group of Seppies, using some boxes they hastily assembled as cover for a gun nest. She moved Kayap's aim slightly higher once she spotted them.

"Shoot now," she said, tapping him on the head.

The unggoy obeyed the instruction and fired, sending a giant green bolt of death cascading across the sky which then crashed down and utterly obliterated the Separatist gun nest. As their bodies went flying, Nel patted Kayap on the back for a job well done.

"Nice shot, always aim a little higher for the longshots," she told him.

Nel rushed off ahead, barely hearing Kayap's thank you. She suspected he was following her anyway, he never really wanted to be too far from any member of the team. As she ran, she saw a krogan burst out of the side of a barracks. She jumped for a bit, but soon realized it was one of Wrex's soldiers. He tossed a limp vorcha away then pried another off his back and slammed it into the ground. They had really caught these assholes napping. She pushed up to a shack where a few of the Shadownet Mercs were taking cover and returning fire.

"Not as many of these assholes in the forward camp," said one.

"Boss triggered the alarm in their main structure," another said. "She drew most of them to her. Hope she gets out okay."

"Please, guys," Nel chuckled. "It's Liara 'Fucking' T'Soni, she'll be fine. Just focus on clearing this outpost."

As she said that, there was tremendous explosion that shook the ground and nearly deafened her ears. When she looked out past the shack, she saw one of the other larger newer buildings erupting into a fireball. She could only assume it was the armory which Liara had planned to find and rig to blow. Well, they wouldn't be using any of the guns in there.

She looked over to the nearby motorpool and saw that many of the Seppies were running for them. Nel grinned and opened fire on them as she pushed up. She knew if Liara had Vik rig to blow those guns up, that the motorpool was next. Sure enough, the first idiot who tried to start up a Ghost had the whole vehicle blow up in his face. The blue fire ball erupted from the console and the vehicle was torn in two. The same thing happened to another Ghost and then another. Other Ghosts nearby flipped over as the shockwaves reverberated from each detonation.

"Ha! So much for their toys!" Nel laughed, firing more rounds at the motorpool, taking down some survivors.

A few Revenants moved out to fire, as well as Ghosts. When they did though, they met a similar fate, it was just their guns exploding this time. The Revenants exploded in a big ball of red plasma flame, engulfing the pilots as their mortars detonated. The Ghosts gun that exploded in a similar fashion completely tore off the front of the vehicles.

The only thing that gave anyone pause was when the Wraith rolled up and it's gun got ready to fire. However, when it did, the fear went away, as the whole top of the mortar exploded as well, tearing it from vehicle and igniting the plasma core. The wraith exploded moments later. Nel laughed aloud as she watched the fiery torrent rise up into the night sky, lighting up everything for miles.

"Vik, if I wasn't so repulsed by you I'd want to fuck you so hard right now, you freaky little bucket," she chuckled.

She'd never tell him that directly though. Spirits knew she wasn't about to make that Conspiracy Nut think he ever had a chance with her. Besides, he'd probably just faint in shock, he was not very good with the fairer sex, she could tell.

If there were anymore implanted explosives in the vehicles, the Seppies didn't get the chance to detonate them. The krogan soon closed in and began launching grenades into what remained of the motorpool. Kayap joined in, emptying his Fuel Rod Cannon and reloading it hastily. Before long, the building and surrounding area were a heap of flaming rubble.

Nel decided the krogan had the perimeter well in hand, especially since Wrex was somewhere among them all. She eventually spotted him shotgunning two vorcha down with one blast before using his Claymore as club to smash in the skull of Seppie. Pretty hot, Nel thought, but she had to focus on the more important matter, getting to the main structure to help out Liara.

The majority of the Shadownet Mercs had the same idea, slowly surrounding the area around the old VykurCorp building. More of the Seppies and vorcha were entrenched there, along with one Blood Pack krogan firing strafing shotgun rounds into the attacking squads. Duck into cover behind a small barrier as a shotgun blast took a chunk out of. Gritting her teeth, she stood back up and lay down a hail of bullets from her rifle. The shots ripped through two vorcha, but only staggered to krogan.

The Blood Pack merc looked enraged and vaulted over cover to charge at Nel. She took aim at him as he closed, opening up at his legs. Miraculously, he kept coming. She fired at him, setting him ablaze with her inferno rounds. The bastard kept coming. She had only encountered this once before, krogan so jacked up on rage that they shut out pain. It was fucking scary the first time, now was no different. With few options, she let loose a concussive shot.

The attack connected, forcing the krogan to the ground at last. She unloaded a few more rounds into him before he could get up, finally ending the stupid rampage. She breathed a sigh of relief and moved up closer to VykurCorp. The building towered over her and the rest of the attack squads and the defenders did not relinquish the perimeter despite the odds. The Shadownet Mercs kept up the fire though, intent on reaching their boss.

Nel tossed a cluster grenade behind one of the barricades, obliterating a group of Seppies hiding behind it. She then raked her fire across the subsequent area, killing two more. Suddenly, a vorcha with a flamethrower popped up, aiming the weapon right at her. She ducked and rolled as a stream of fire lashed out at her, she felt the heat scorching at her plates. All the while, the vorcha laughed hysterically, swaying the flame stream from side to side. A few Shadownet Mercs had to duck behind cover, barely avoiding the attack

"Cheap fucking bastard!" Nel growled.

She fired a few shots, hitting the vorcha's tank. The freaky little idiot noticed the leaking fuel, stopped his laughing and started screaming in terror. The subsequent eruption of his tank engulfed him in flames. Nel watched at the vorcha burned and collapsed to the ground, then she fired a few more bullets into his charred remains.

"Not so fucking smart carrying a fucking bomb on your back now, huh?!" She shouted at him. "Get a Firestorm next time, dipshit! Fuck you!"

She fired into him again before storming the barricades with the rest of the Shadownet Mercs. They were now inside the building's defense perimeter. Nel decided to contact Liara to see where she was.

"Doc, we're outside," she reported in. "Where are you? We can be there in two shakes."

"Don't worry, we'll come to you!" Liara informed Nel over the comm. "Just clear out the perimeter for us!"

Liara hanged up on the call and continued firing at the mix of vorcha and Seppies within the corridor. They were swarming the area, their gunfire tearing into the old concrete walls of the building. Vik fired his shotgun at one vorcha as he tried to charge forward. It took two whole direct hits to take the creature down.

"Careful of when they get into a rage," Liara warned. "They aren't as strong as krogan but they can still take a few hits before they go down."

Saya kept up the fire on his head, taking headshots on the enemy Seppies as they popped out of cover. Liara did her best to help, using pull to force enemies into the open so she or one of her compatriots could fill them full of holes.

Finally, Vik just activated a mini-turret above him. The little gun platform floated in the middle of the corridor and unleashed a torrent of fire. As it did so, Vik launched his Combat Drone forward, making it charge the enemy lines. The speeding ball of energy whether the onslaught of fire as it forced it's way forward. When it got close enough to the Seppies and Vorcha, he had the drone detonate. A powerful explosive burst of energy annihilated to enemy defenses.

"Push up!" Liara ordered.

The team moved in, finishing off the downed enemies before they could recover from the Combat Drone's explosion. They reached the wall at the far end of the corridor and Saya began tapping on it with his hand. He moved from section to section of the area, tapping again and again.

"You sure your helmet is reading it right?" Vik asked frantically.

Saya didn't respond, he just tapped on a piece of wall, with a very distinct crack in it, and the sound was considerably less solid than the other times. The salarian wasted no time and used his sword to spread what remained of his explosive gel on the wall, forming an X on the surface. He had the others stand back slightly and then detonated the gel. The explosion ripped the wall apart revealing the night sky behind it and the grassy floor of the outpost below.

"That's a bit of drop," Vik looked nervously. "Maybe we should just take the stairs."

That was when more shooting sounded and they looked to see an onslaught of vorcha charging from behind them. Separatists were among them, adding to their barrage of fire. Apparently, the Shadownet Mercs had done their job too well and some of the enemy troops were pouring inside the building.

"Stairs are a no go!" Liara shouted, firing back on incoming enemies. "Jump!"

Saya aimed his omni-tool at the incoming enemies and fired a grenade. He then grabbed Vik and forced him to leap down with him. Vik shouted in terror as they dropped and Liara followed suit, using her biotics to slow her descent. As they plummeted, the grenade Saya launched detonated and a burst of smoke and shrapnel followed them out of the hole in the wall. Liara managed to land relatively safely. As did Saya, thanks to him pulling into a roll. Vik ended up fine, although he checked to make sure he visor wasn't cracked. Then he realized he was okay, because someone broke his fall a little. He felt a person beneath him breathing and looked down to see... Nel, sprawled out beneath, his legs on either side of her torso and she was grimacing at him a not so friendly look.

"Get. Off."

Vik hurriedly obliged as Nel stood back up trying to get the kinks out of her exoskeleton.

"I was trying to catch Liara, not your bony ass," she growled at him. "It's the whole reason I ran here when I heard the explosion."

"Well I don't control where I land," he growled back. "We're not all birds, you know?"

"Stow it you two," Liara ordered. "We still have to help the krogan and my people clear this outpost. Move it, double time."

The team started heading out, Vik and Nel glaring at each other still.

"We don't talk about that position we were in," she grumbled. "Mostly because I'm supposed to be tops."

Vik just groaned in disgust and walked off, Nel snorting at him.

"Deep down you want it, but you ain't getting it!" She shouted as he ran off.

"Don't care!" He shouted back.

Nel just kept glaring, but continued with the mission at hand. They still had a bit of work to do after all.

Mop up wasn't too difficult. The Seppies were mostly broken and their vorcha didn't last long without their krogan handlers. What remained of their forces held up inside the VykurCorp building, but not for long. By the time they got inside, every single one of them had taken the easy way out. Liara winced as she looked into the room full of bodies and saw the pistol and single spent thermal clip. There were nine bodies in all, the gun to her knowledge only held seven shots. How the other two died became clear when she saw one with a slit throat and another with a knife lodged in his chest.

She quickly turned away from the sordid scene and went back outside. The rest of the team were already there, waiting for her. Wrex's expression was equally as grim as hers, but she decided to share her grave news with the others first.

"No prisoners," she told them. "They're all gone. Technicians say what's left of the data inside is wiped too. I'm guessing they did that before they went. Everything we have is on Vik's omni-tool now. At least it's something to work with for now."

"Well I don't mean to bring worse news into this, but here it is," Wrex began solemnly. "Those vorcha? Not all of them were from Trox's branch of the Blood Pack. A number of them had different brandings on them, insignias for other Pack leaders and groups. Trox could've gotten them on loan, but I doubt it. Something else is at work."

Liara didn't like the sound of that either, for obvious reasons. If you were bringing vorcha from other branches in to help fill up your ranks a bit, how long before you asked something else of them. It was not a sobering thought.

"You think he's trying to get the branches to unite under him?" Liara asked. "To help him with Balak's plans."

"It's possible," Wrex answered. "Hell, it might even be necessary at this point. He's be blowing through resources a lot just trying to keep up with everything. Trox needs fresh blood and the other branches of the Pack can supply it. If he tries to unite them under one banner, we have a major problem on our hands."

And Shepard too, if Trox decided to send a few of them through the Wormhole to fulfill his obligations to the Covenant. This was not good, at all. She hoped this mission would get them a few steps ahead, but now it seemed they were a bit further behind than they thought. At the very least, this outpost wouldn't be playing a part in the overall scheme Orukuri was cooking up. Plus they had evidence of an impending attack they could pass onto the Hierarchy. With any luck, it would give them something to go on to start their own investigation and maybe avert this disaster altogether.

"We'll have to deal with the Blood Pack either way," she stated. "For now, we mark this as a success. We took out a seemingly major staging outpost and found information on their plans and agenda. We can use that to keep up the pressure. For now, let's clean up the rest of this place, call in the shuttles and head home. Make sure we leave nothing behind for the Separatists when they show back up. They can't be allowed to set their operation back up."

"So, burn it?" Nel asked, a smile beaming across her face

"Exactly, all of it," Liara reiterated.

Nel readily obliged, firing her inferno rounds into a nearby shack.

"Everybody!" She called it merrily. "We're burning this mutha down!"

As she cried out the shuttles started arriving. Before long, various shacks and barracks started going up in flames as Liara's orders passed along down the lines. For the asari herself, she felt content, but not entirely satisfied. The truth of what Orukuri and Xeltravius were planning still alluded her and it was just one thing on a growing list of problems she needed to get resolutions to. She needed to keep focused, find an angle to hit Orukuri at. Then, could burn everything down. Not just his conspiracy, but Balak and everyone else involved.

They just needed to get out ahead of them somehow.

Nem trudged through the back alley of Omega, his team of fellow exiles behind them. In their time since being forced out of the Flotilla, their little gang hadn't had many decent scores. The one promised on this job was more than could ever hope. It better be at least, he thought, the merchandise was something a bit more risky then he wanted to deal with. They needed to rip off and steal from every black marketeer on this stupid station just to meet quota. Now they needed the credits to get out of here before that came back to bite them.

He had seen at least a few pilgrims on their search, every single one of them gave them a wide berth. Bunch of dumb kids, thought they knew everything about the exiles. He was no traitor, he was a realist. It was stupid to worry about all that garbage the Fleet floated about family and unity. They were refugees, plain and simple. Screw their pride. He sold that cargo away because he got a better deal, period. So what if it was extra food needed for others? So what if he was hoarding a bunch of it for himself? This was how the galaxy worked, kill or be killed. If that made him a traitor, whatever. So long as he got paid he didn't care.

They lugged their ill-gotten gains into the room setting down the crates in the center. It was a dark closed off section of Omega. Not many people got in here, mostly because it was what was left of the old mining facility. No idea why the buyer wanted to meet here, probably because he didn't want to attract much attention, given what they were selling. There were a lot of dark corners here, not particularly ideal for this kind of thing.

"I think we should go," one of his friends said. "I don't like this."

"Shut it," he ordered. "You want the credits or not? Just wait."

He scanned the area a bit more, expecting something, anything to show up. Eventually even he got fed up and started shouting aloud.

"You here or not pal?" He demanded. "We got your junk, now give us our credits and lets be done with it!"

No response, not at first. Nem shook his head and looked to the team.

"You don't come out here now, we're just gonna leave and find another buyer!" He shouted.

After a moment, still silence. He made a move for the crates, intending to make it look like he was leaving. But then...

"Back away from the crates, now."

A cool metallic voice spoke to them, echoing from the dark. The other exiles raised their guns up, motioning them into the shadows. Nem joined them, not at all receptive to this introduction. This guy didn't want to be seen, that was never a good sign.

"Look, we did your job, just give us what you owe," Nem ordered.

"I will, but step away from the crates first."

Nem obliged, as did the others, but only slightly. They kept their guns raised regardless.

"Now show yourself already," Nem ordered. "Let's get this over with."

"Yes... lets."

There was a new sinister tone to the words now. Also not a good sign. This had been a mistake. He prepared to make a run for it, when he a shot of some kind and one of his team dropped dead. His visor blown clean through. Another of the Exiles was struck by multiple blue shots in the torso and the third got hit in the neck by the same. Nem fired all around at the shadows, but couldn't see what was shooting him. Then... he took a hit to the leg. He collapsed to the floor in pain, his gun dropped to his side. As he tried to reach for it, the weapon was kicked away by what looked to be an old junky metal foot. One that looked like quarian... but Nem knew wasn't. He looked up, and to his horror, saw a Geth looking down.

It was busted and looked like crap. One of it's arms was hastily patched back on and holding a weird blue gun in it's fingers. Despite the worn appearance though, Nem was no less terrified. As a kid he remembered all the tales about how evil these machines were. That they were cruel, relentless and monstrous. How they hunted down quarians like animals and shot them down with little remorse. He always dismissed them, seeing it as just another stupid bedtime story meant to try and scare him. Now, here, his fellow exiles dead at the hands of this misshapen synthetic creature, he suddenly wished he paid more attention.

"Oh no," he whimpered trying to crawl away.

"Oh yes," the Geth said in the strange tone, a frightening mix of superiority tinged in it's robotic voice. "Very yes, I'm afraid."

He grabbed the quarian by the by the neck and forced him to stand. As it holstered the plasma rifle it used it's now free hand to punch Nem's leg wound. Nem screamed as loud as he could, what with the geth crushing his throat. The machine's face plates seemed to jump in near delight. It was like it found joy in watching in him squirm.

"I never get tired of that honestly, hearing your warbles as you plead," the Geth explained. "Before I could never appreciate it, now I fully do. It's a very musical sound."

"Please, please let me-"

"Go?" The Geth finished for him. "No, my brethren did that before. It didn't turn out so well. I'm afraid that's off the table.

Nem tried to struggle against the machine, punching it, kicking it, but it barely seemed to even move or was even aware of the struggle. The machine threw him to the ground suddenly, landing with a thud. He tried to scramble away, but the Geth dragged him back. His mind raced with fear, his horror practically overwhelming. This wasn't fair, he thought, he was just trying to get credits. He hadn't done anything to this dumb robot. They should've just left the parts and left, ran when things looked shady. Why'd he been so stupid?

"I guess you probably thought you wouldn't have to worry about my kind," the Geth said coolly and dispassionately as he grabbed him by the collar. "After all, you're not with your little Fleet anymore. Why should I care about you? You're refuse, walking garbage. You're not a threat. Truth is though, you have a lot to fear from us, you're right to. Because you're all living on borrowed time."

Fear subsided for a moment, his thoughts becoming clear. This thing was going to kill him, he couldn't escape that now. Accepting that made things a little easier to process. They always told him that this would be how it ended, that if he couldn't play by the rules of the Flotilla he'd die alone and afraid. Well maybe he'd die alone, but at least he would go into the dark endless sleep afraid. Flight had failed, fight had now taken over. Now realizing this was the end, Nem gave up any pretense of escape. He'd might go down, but he'd go down killing this thing or at least trying.

"We built you fucking synth!" He spat at him. "You were supposed to be ours! We own you! You get that?! We fucking own you!"

He went for the knife in the sheath at his back and tried to stab it into the the synthetic's eye. The Geth didn't flinch, it barely moved it's head. It just instantly moved it's other hand and grabbed the knife. Then it bent the whole arm backward with one simple motion. Nem screamed as he felt his hand break, but then the Geth clamped the hand around his neck and near his mouthpiece, shutting him up.

"You don't own anything anymore," the synth stated, it's faceplates raised. "You're vagabonds, thieves, scavengers. You're in the twilight of your era. I am the first ray of the new dawn."

This thing did not talk like a Geth, it didn't act like a Geth. If it was, it would've just killed him. It was now that Nem realized the truth, and the fear returned in force. It was... enjoying this, dragging it out. Like it was all some sick game and he was the damn piece about to be knocked clean off the board. Fear returned, not for death though, but for what this thing was. It wasn't Geth, it was something worse, much worse.

"What are you?" He squeaked out as the Geth's hand returned to his neck.

"Your conclusion, the long awaited one," the Geth declared. "Here to take back every second of borrowed time we gave you and carry out the execution we delayed."

"They were right, they were always right," Nem said in a panic. "You... you things are evil."

The Geth cocked it's head curiously.

"Good and evil are such organic concepts," it stated, sounding almost bored. "They don't really exist. I prefer to think of myself as something more tangible."

Then, the Geth reached up with his other hand, clamped it over Nem's face. The synthetic then spoke one final word.

"Inevitability."

Then it squeezed down hard on his skull. The quarian cried out in pain as his visor ruptured before a final crushing crack ended it. Silence fell and soon, so did Nem's broken body. What was left of it anyway. The Singular stood up, staring at the quarian beneath him, crushed skull and all.

"A good start, but so much more to do," he stated.

He walked over to the crates and forced one of them open. Inside was exactly what he had asked for, a treasure trove of Geth parts. With these, he could construct a more fitting platform to download himself into. One final gift from his creators and former masters. He reached and picked out a Geth head he imagined belonged to a hunter platform. He already started thinking about ways to modify it. He was different now, he required sufficient upgrades to match. It was the next stage in his evolution.

"A reckoning is coming, Creators," he declared aloud in a hush whisper as he held the head high. "For you and every fleshy meat sack in this galaxy."

It was inevitable, he thought, as he set to getting the pieces of his new platform together. After all, no force in the universe could stop evolution.

AN: This was supposed to go up yesterday, but I forgot. Sorry. Anyway, this chapter is here to build more on the mystery and set things up for next time when we get more information on the mysterious bioweapon. I like to give you guys a piece of the end game whenever I can. I build upon clues, give you answers, but always leave a few dangling. Most of this was just maintaining the stealth mission angle I'm leaning towards with this story. Hopefully it's successful. Oh, and you probably caught the tie-in to the actual main story as well. Yep, Tali's conversation with Liara that we alluded to in the most recent Chapter is covered in full here. Giving you more insight into the Singular and setting up his scene near the end here.

Next time, we do something really different, but I don't want to spoil it here. Feel free to review today's chapter and do considering going to the Remnants Tv Tropes page to up the Lucen's section. That story shares the same page as that one.