Aboard UNSC Infinity
Three million kilometers and closing from Mars
2557 Military Calendar, 09:56
Once it was an empty hallway. Most of the crew knew the secret and let it be after the tremendous hurt John went through. But it was no longer an option as servicemen made ready. Marines passed by in rows, dressed in civilian wear on leave cut short and headed towards the nearest armory to suit up. They pretended not to look at him as they passed.
The gaze of Earth and her defenses slowly faded, replaced by the black of the void paraded with the stars of distant solar systems. Hundreds of kilometers away, Battle Group Dakota displayed rays of signal and lights that displayed the ships' names.
Alone, the Master Chief watched those ships fly with ribbons of blue light following as their engine output increased. John could feel the Infinity's force, metals vibrating, lungs forcing to expand. Gaining acceleration from momentum as engine output remained constant. He felt heavier. Relativity took slight effect as the ship increased to under one percent the speed of light.
"Chief?" A familiar voice said. It caused the Spartan to turn around to meet Captain Lasky again. He leaned on the adjacent door to the thin hallway, arms crossed.
"How are you doing?" He said, empathetic.
No answer again. It was always odd to see John only dressed in the Spartan causal uniform the IVs always wore out of combat. It was sad almost. Lasky stayed where he was, leaning on the door.
"As you can tell, we're moving out. Ah, hopefully they have a couple decent bars for the leathernecks before they go crazy."
Another world like the dozens of others John deployed on. Nothing really different, even with First Contact.
"Personally, uh, I didn't want you to go. In my opinion, you deserve some rest… Then again, the entire crew does."
The Chief lingered on the words of Cortana. How she constantly raged how they used her, used him. Those moments of depression, never understanding and never realizing the potential of true human stimuli. Those sudden swings with the development of something highly unnatural in her processors, and self-loathing for being a "copy" of Doctor Halsey.
"But, if you want to go, then I'll let you. If you don't, then you can stay on the ship and let the other Spartans take care of the operation." Lasky said. "A lot of people will call me tactically stupid, but we have enough Spartan-IVs to take a planet. I believe we should hold some of our cards just in case the enemy pulls something. If we really need you then these alien bastards are a lot more powerful than mankind."
I'm not doing this for mankind.
But in the end it was for them. All of it. He did his duty, while she…faded away.
Lasky smiled in sympathy, walking over to the Chief for a brief moment. He placed a hand on his shoulder and tried his best to give John a hopeful smile. He had to extend his arm all the way, quickly placing it back after a moment.
"I originally came down here to tell you what Lord Hood told me to tell you. We found-"
"Captain." The Master Chief said, turning towards Lasky
"Yeah…John?" Lasky said.
"I'll go." The Chief simply said.
Lasky remained silent, slightly confused. "Go...?"
"I'll deploy with the first wave on the garden world and retrieve any UNSC survivors. If this hostile contact is more powerful than we thought then you'll need me on the ground immediately."
Lasky didn't say anything for a moment, stepping back. "Chief, are you sure-"
"I'll go."
"Look-"
"I'll go." John said, leaving a momentary silence.
Lasky looked odd for a moment, something that turned those brown eyes into worry and another mixture of emotions John couldn't identify. Lasky sighed, maybe realizing the Chief's intentions. The Captain was unable to say anything, possibly out of fear of what he'll do or possibly out of too much kindness. He rubbed his face with one hand, leaned back on the glass wall.
"Maybe you should hear something, first." Lasky said.
"I understand, Captain, but I have to suit and gear up." And that was more or less true. They only had minutes, and Spartan gear took at least fifteen minutes to place under pressure.
He turned from Lasky, headed down the hall towards the armories.
"Chief." Lasky said, sullen. "As a friend, I ask you to hear what I have to say."
The Chief didn't say anything, continuing on, moving past Lasky.
"Hey!" Lasky, going into the tone of a commander. "I refuse to order you for something like this, but you will listen to what I have to say."
For a moment, the Spartan looked back. John saw the distraught of Lasky's face, unable to cope with the harshness to command.
The Master Chief turned back. Silent.
Lasky sighed. "Christ… Scavenger teams found something in the ruins. Computer terminals, data cores...multiple Forerunner data cores. When Cortana inserted herself in the Forerunner ship it distributed her function data like a normal, more modern AI aboard a UNSC ship."
Less than a second the Chief realized what Captain Lasky was getting at. The Chief stepped forward. "Captain… are you saying…?"
"The data is incomplete. Large gaps in coding that would take decades to fill in. It's unable to process or run without complete erroneous readings leading to force shut downs or over misinterpretation of data which ends up in…what the eggheads call 'endless sequence loops'.
"Yeah…as you can tell, they've already been experimenting."
"She's…alive?" The Chief only said.
"…Chief, Lord Hood debated telling you so early, but… to him, the situation required it. You understand Cortana was going through rampancy. Her memory processors are on level with a human brain, if not larger. At our current technological level, her core would need to be as large as Earth. And it would only get bigger with her aging, developing more feedback systems and memory, and cognition. Because of this, she was forced to initiate a complete data dump and erase large amounts of data in order to save herself...but it would eventually lead to the fail safe deletion. She would've completed it, save for you blowing up the Didact's ship and cutting out the connection system. If we make repairs, we have no idea what would happen. Some of the eggheads theorize 'metastability'...but she was deleting essential systems just to survive. A vital organ here and there just to survive a little longer
"And she kept thinking, kept trying to answer these paradoxical questions and feedback loops. Her cognition grew, she was forced to delete dampeners and fail safes, delete parts of her mind...that's why her mentality decreased..."
"You said you're experimenting with whatever data is left. You can repair her?" The Chief said.
Lasky shook his head, like the Chief didn't understand something.
The Captain spoke. "Lord Hood is assigning all necessary assets available."
"Doctor Halsey… what about Halsey? Have you told Halsey of your plan?"
"Uh…Halsey is under Osman's jurisdiction. Prison. And I can't say I disagree with Osman, especially for what Halsey did. Ms. Naval Intelligence would be furious if I attempted to spring her for this, and either way it's all up to Lord Hood. It's hard to even get five minutes with her. I wouldn't know what the eggheads would do with the doctor, whether have her brain scanned again to fill in the massive coding gaps or to actually tediously repair and recode.."
Halsey kidnapped Spartans, who wouldn't want her locked up?
He was ambivalent with his feelings over the Doctor. She had kidnapped Kelly, left them alone during Operation First Strike. Her actions may have led to the deaths of Grace, Anton, Li, Polaski, Haverson, Admiral Whitcomb... Far too many people could have been saved if Halsey didn't do what she did.
However, Halsey gave him a purpose, a duty, his armor, his life, his fellow Spartans ... Cortana. Halsey took care of him, made sure he was happy with his future. Her actions saved the Human race, saved him personally more than once. No matter what she did to them, no matter what crimes she committed, Dr. Halsey would always hold a special place in his heart. For Cortana if there was nothing else at least.
"Chief, I'll do whatever is within my power," Lasky said, "but I need you to understand that we have no idea what Cortana will be. Cortana might be completely different, she might be the same during rampancy, we might not even be able to bring her back.
"No, you can… Doctor Halsey has the power-"
"…Chief-"
"Lord Hood will make Osman release her-"
"Okay…" Lasky said, calm without any hint of anger.
There was a momentary alarm, followed by Roland's voice. Battle Group Dakota had entered Jupiter's gravitational influence, and readjusting trajectory to balance out the alternating force. He called for the Captain on the bridge
"Christ…" Lasky said, slightly rocking back and forth. "Chief, beyond that there's honestly nothing more I know, only what they placed in the reports. Believe me, I hope to God that we can bring Cortana back. But Humanity's always first…always…
"What do you want to do?" The Captain seemed doubtful.
The Chief didn't hesitate. She'll be here, soon… "She'll be back."
Lasky nodded, slowly, moving away from the glass and back towards the hall door. "Yeah. Alright. Get to Spartan Command. Suit up. Prepare for possible orbital drop. Jared Miller will be filling in as tactical overseer."
Without any other word the Chief turned down the hallway. Just in time. Another group of marines passed by. They were dressed in combat uniforms as a staff sergeant led them. They saluted the Captain as they went by
"Chief?" Lasky said.
The Master Chief turned around one last time.
"Come back alive, as a friend to a friend."
The Chief spoke, leaving Lasky silent.
John then continued down the hall. To protect and defend Earth and all her colonies.
The Captain stood there for another moment, turned almost all thoughts to the seat of command and headed towards the bridge.
…
Another day, another drop. Any day seems like a good day for a drop.
Jesus. Five years since that shitstorm of a deployment. Four years since that stunt on Draco III that almost got everyone in his squad killed. Promotion after promotion for him and his squad after that, with constant pestering from the Spartan-IVs to join their damn program. Finally, somehow Edward Buck made it as a commanding officer, a lieutenant colonel, assigned to the ten-thousand men of the 19th ODST Battalion.
They've been on a few deployments here and there. Most of it was to uppercut whatever was left of those traitors who call themselves 'rebels', and a few tours on the outer worlds to eliminate whatever was left of the fragile Covenant. But nothing majorly important like a RED FLAG operation.
Still though, he did miss being out on the field. But still... he didn't do this job alone. Immediately, when he assumed the position of one of the UNSC's top ODST groups he pulled the strings to get his old squad back. He assigned Major Cortez -an experienced soldier who partook on an assassination mission with Dutch, and has shown an extensive and prestigious track record within the UNSC- as his executive officer. Cortez also pulled out a few of his guys to the battalion. O'Brien, Walpole, and Jones. Afterward, Buck pulled in Mickey, Dutch, the Rookie, and hell, even Romeo.
Aboard the UNSC Infinity, there were only a handful of ODSTs already on the ship. It was a bit less than a full company. Colonel Buck's command was joined by none other than Major Marcus P. Stacker and his executive officer, First Lieutenant Chip Dubbo. They both served with the Chief during the end of the War, involved with the defense of New Mombasa and the highly classified final step to end the War. Everyday heroes.
They were also involved with the Requiem events. The only thing Buck knew about that was it kicked the hell out of the UNSCDF, and as the Navy fought in exosphere the 19th Battalion was deployed on some routine drill exercise in low troposphere over Estonia. Afterwards, on zero notice, Buck's group was pulled from its station aboard the UNSC Dragonborn under a highly vague report sent from the spooks.
First Contact. Humanity's security. Unidentified, so on, and so on...blah, blah, blah.
Crews, marines, naval personnel, other ODSTs, all saluted the Lieutenant Colonel as he passed by.
"So, sir, you meet that Commander Palmer? She ain't too bad, even if she is about a foot taller than me." Romeo said, completely taking Buck by surprise as he ambushed him from a perpendicular hall.
Buck sighed. "No I have not, Lieutenant. Frankly I've been busy prepping for our deployment. But don't worry, we're dropping with the Spartan-IVs."
"Finally get to show them how it's actually done?" Romeo said. "Can't believe the freaks can fit in the pods."
Buck remained silent. Romeo. Always the condescending, contradicting type.
Speaking of which, Commander Palmer made her way past the two, wearing white and red armor and black underlays. Both saluted each other as they passed by. There was a figure following her, standing at seven feet tall. He made the commander look...small. He wore dark olive green armor and a dark orange visor. The armor was a lot bulkier than Palmer's with three slash marks entrenched in his chest plate traveling in a downwards motion.
They passed them by pretty quickly, heading from the Spartan CIC.
"Damn…huh, the UNSC just makes the Spartans better and better." Romeo said. He turned around and looked at the two. "Oh, I can watch her walk away all day."
"With you that's all women ever do, Lieutenant. Besides, I wasn't staring at Palmer."
"What? Ever since you got the wedding band, other girls are completely off-limits?"
"Lord. Did you guys see that?" Lieutenant Dutch Miles interrupted, intercepting them from another hallway intersection.
He was already dressed in the black ODST battle armor, shouldering a Spartan Laser he got from God knows where.
"Yeah. One of them a strong seven, maybe eight out of ten. So what?" Romeo replied, always in a pessimistic and spiteful tone. "Out here, a seven is all I got."
"...What? No. The other Spartan. 'Was the Master Chief."
Romeo got the message through his thick skull. "You mean like the Master Chief? Sierra-117? I thought he got fucked."
"So did I but he had the same kind of armor markings and everything. Besides, you heard the leaks and rumors. The Chief was found by the Infinity and picked up on Requiem. A Spartan-II, here? It can only be that big son-of-a bitch."
Buck was… slightly surprised. He had some experience with Spartans. IIIs to be specific, once being saved by a squad back on Reach. From what he remembered, these bastards were a lot better than him.
Buck remembered hearing a story from a fellow trooper how some teenaged Spartan-II once got into a fight with about four other ODSTs. He ended up permanently injuring all of them and killed one of them, or was it two? In any event, it was a small legend passed around the community. Everyone at one point had heard it before. It's a warning, don't be fucking stupid and piss off a Spartan. At least don't piss off the original, true Spartans.
All Buck knew was that if the Spartans-IIs were half the legend the stories, rumors, and propaganda made them out to be, then it wouldn't be so bad to have the best of the best of the best work with them.
He saw Mickey and Rookie already waiting for them at the bullet train station.
…
"Yes. We are redeploying back into combat. It ain't back to Requiem this time, it's to a new, possibly fun planet." Major Marcus Stacker said in his heavy southern U.S accent.
"Ah, bullshit."
"What the fuck?"
"Fucking' A."
"This close to getting fucking laid."
"Does this mean we get to shoot more stuff?"
Ah. The constant bitching from the marines. God, it's been the same for nearly seven-hundred years.
"And yes. It is first contact, people. And yes, yes. I understand all of your well addressed complaints." Stacker continued. "But you can take those complaints and shove them up your ass. Humanity, as always, is at stake. We are to deploy as the first wave to secure a foothold on the planet.
"Lieutenant Dubbo."
First Lieutenant Chip Dubbo stepped out from the group of marines in green and white combat uniforms and the black armor of the ODSTs. He stood next to Major Stacker on the stack of boxes in the center of the crowd, energetic as always. The hangar bay was cramped with ships and crews strapping them down and readying for slipspace. Spartan-IVs tried to act all superior as they headed to their assigned stations. It would be another twenty minutes before they exited the solar system.
"Roight, mates." Dubbo began in his heavy Australian accent, excited and youthful. "Admittedly, we don't know what exactly will be 'our assignments-"
"Jesus Christ."
"I love these kinda plans-"
"Shut it, ya wankers." Chip said. He couldn't help but sympathize with the men. They all got granted shore leave after that shit on Requiem. He spent his time back home in Sydney with his friends and family. Then out of the blue he and everyone else got a message on his UN email to report back immediately or face court martial, etc., etc., etc. "The Elites are already deployed. Expect joint operations. Hopefully they left a couple bastards for us. For now, report to your NCOs and prep your pods. If the xeno AA is too heavy for conventional atmospheric entry we'll be feet first into hell. So the usual. Clear an LZ for the grunts and the doggies."
"Enjoy it, boys. This is exactly what you signed up for, whether you like it or not." Stacker said for Dubbo. "Dismissed. And I swore to God if I hear one more complaint from you jackasses I'm tossing you out the airlock. Rah?"
"Rah, sir…" the marines mumbled.
With that the group dispersed, remaining quiet. At least in front of their COs. Soon enough it was only Dubbo and Stacker left.
Dubbo sighed, slightly relieved. The Lieutenant tried to imitate whatever poor leadership skills he learned from his old NCO, the Sergeant Major. His badass demeanor always inspired Dubbo and the men, even though he thought Dubbo was kinda an idiot. But still. After the War, when everyone was allowed to go home, when a lot of his surviving friends in the marines quit and went back to their families, Dubbo signed back up. The marines were his life. He couldn't imagine what he would do without it. A regular job? College? Getting married? ...Actually getting his driver's licence? It didn't interest him. But he didn't hold it against the guys who decided to stay home, move on with their lives the best they could. The War was a lot to handle.
So why did he join the ODSTs then? Well, for one, his friends still in the military moved up to officers or joined the special branches. And it offered more promotion and pay grade. Always a nice bonus. But it was still the marines. At its core it was still the UNMC.
After Dubbo got signed he immediately got promoted to corporal. Pretty much everyone who was in the war got promoted. Then before he knew it he was promoted to sergeant, then staff sergeant. Eventually he was trained as an officer at Quantico, then promoted to first lieutenant and reassigned to the Infinity under Stacker and Reynolds. It was a relief to work under old friends again at least, under a larger operation than they could ever imagine.
And they had all reached a higher rank than the Sergeant Major.
That was very strange to think. It was always strange. To the grunts Dubbo was a veteran. A legend almost. One of the marines along with Major Stacker and Major Reynolds to serve with the Master Chief in the Great War. The boots, the new marines, always tried to pry him. They always asked if the propaganda told to the public about the end of the Great War was true. If the Spartans were good as they say they were. He said it was, like a good lap dog to Naval Intelligence. Never mentioned the Ark or how he actually was the one to kick everyone's ass. Fuck though, He was barely twenty-one for crying-out-loud while the Sergeant Major was almost sixty, and already so much shit was expected.
Well…by technicalities Dubbo was only eighteen and the Sergeant Major was in his early fifties. Relativity was always strange; so was Cryosleep... He understood why time was slower but he didn't understand why time was going slower. Ships only go under one percent light speed for weeks to a few months at a time during patrol and slipspace was always hella weird. So it wasn't as if centuries passed by when the ship decelerated, but over time the fast-forward hours and weeks accumulated for all marines and naval personnel.
A bullet train landed at the station. Three men got out, one of them a Lieutenant Colonel with two second lieutenants. Dubbo and Stacker got the briefing on the 19th Battalion. A special detachment of the 105th ODST Division, the 19th Battalion were fully well special operations capable, just like ODST Infinity detachment.
Dubbo and Stacker went to meet them. The group formed around the train entrance.
"Colonel, sir. We're readying our men for deployment. Everythang is in order so far…as it always is before disaster." Stacker said.
"Good." The Lieutenant Colonel said. He wore civilian clothes. Blue jeans with a white shirt and an unbuttoned leather jacket. An underage uniform for a man in his late thirties. "I'm giving your battalion a special assignment. Stacker, you'll be leading them. Intelligence suggests a large cluster of high-rise buildings and other structures residing near a lake."
"You mean, a city, sir?" Stacker said. "Very common around these parts."
"Yes, Major, a city." Buck said. Dubbo didn't know the Lt. Colonel very well. But he either always sounded annoyed or dumbfounded. There was no in-between. "We don't know what's in there but I can assure you it's hell. I'm not going to risk any men in that shithole. From vague geographical scans there will most likely be some AA batteries near or even in the city. I'm going to deploy your battalion to take the outlying AAs out, if any. Because of the possible danger, I'll try to muster whatever Spartans Commander Palmer lend me. If there is any AA in the city, connect with me and we'll assess the situation from there.
"In the event of a non-drop, we'll probably deploy in the hills and establish footholds." Buck sidenoted.
"Roger that. We get the fun foight." Dubbo said.
One mile outside Nos Astra, 2186 Citadel Calendar, 09:53
The Mako continued on its sloppy course. Shepard could see some sort of station ahead. An antenna tower similar to the ones he saw on Palaven. Surrounding the tower was a concentrated center of intersecting trenches and small mobile station centers hidden by an assembly of rolling hills. He could see small figures holding weapons, dressed in a variety of armor, looking highly unorganized.
Illium Militia irregulars. Mostly made of Illium police and SWAT team members, various Asari soldiers stationed planetside, brave citizens, slaves (Illium did allow it here), mercenaries, and so on.
The rain became heavier as clouds thickened. The majestic purple ship laid about half-a-kilometer above Nos Astra. Curtains of water suddenly stopped its track towards the city as it hit the roof of the alien ship. The main parabola was larger than the rest of the ship, nearly scraping whatever high-rise buildings were left. The end of the parabola not connected to the ship was straightened, protecting part of the rough internal data-chip textures that patterned the flat oval. Reaper AA near the city didn't seem to engage yet. Maybe the ship took them out.
No one said a word. The entire cabin was only filled with white noise. Tali didn't even try to finish up the repairs. Another exaggerated bounce over a rolling hill. Shepard didn't even notice it. This…this…
Hail humans? They already knew the name of Shepard's species? They were watching them…they were always watching them. They knew who they were… but then why only address humans? Why only appear now?
Small dots ejected from the alien ship. There were maybe five or six, barely visible from the cameras. Shepard wasn't sure so he zoomed in. They were outlines of a traveling object. A transport of some sorts. They were heading in different directions it seemed. One of them seemed to be heading in his… No…no it wasn't…
"No Eezo…" Tali began. Her voice was completely empty. "This…the ship's architecture, is so unlike the Legend After or the other two ships. It's completely different in almost every way possible from mere observation. It's so...elegant. I feel like I can throw a rock at it...and it'll just shatter."
There was other chatter through channels on the Mako's radio Tali fixed up. Illium militia panicking over what the hell was over their city. Mixed orders to open fire or not. Complete and utter chaos. But through the noise, Shepard caught word of 'Council' and 'immediate high-priority report'.
Liara for a moment placed her hand over her mouth, just watched the cameras. Shock. Not even a hint of contemplation like she would normally do. About a third-of-a mile passed before she removed her hand and spoke. "Tali's right. This ship is enormous… far more advanced…. beautiful."
Who the hell were these people? While Liara and Tali reviewed possibly thousands of questions about these aliens, Shepard just focused on the main points. No Eezo..., somehow entering the Relays without it. He remembered the words of Sovereign, the frightful abomination. When a species finds the Relays they develop towards a predetermined technological path. And how so this cycle was no exception. How because of it the Reapers can eliminate all biological life on a whim as if they were God.
So who were they? To avoid almost any sign of Prothean or any other type of Eezo technology and completely defy the Reapers outright? What did they do to reach the level they are at now?
"A million questions. I understand." Shepard said. "But we have to find those ship survivors or make contact with the Shadow of Intent crew and establish relations."
The two only agreed in silence.
The Illium militia base became a clear outline. The soldiers were mostly Asari soldiers supplemented by Krogans, Turians, Batarians, Vorcha, and Salarians. The Mako slowed down, passing by trenches in front of a defensive walls. It came to a stop at the command center filled with a variety of species and surrounded by multiple gunships being prepped for combat by repair crews. A heavily armed Asari, possibly a commando, made her way to Shepard's group as they exited the vehicle.
The Asari held a Disciple Shotgun, a common Asari weapon. Her armor seemed to have the same problem as Shepard's, sagging and loose. There was a lieutenant ranking on her collar.
Sounds of distant combat, repair tools and heavy rain filled the air. Men gave orders with the stomping of boots to fulfill them. Shepard began to notice none of the gunships were on. No computer terminals. The only ones doing any work were engineers and mechanics with glitchy Omni-tools and other repair equipment near electrical conduits of the command structures.
"Lieutenant, I'm-" Shepard began.
"Yeah, literally almost everyone in the galaxy knows who you are, Commander Shepard. Special Tactics and Reconnaissance, blah, blah, blah. I didn't expect the Council would send someone this fast." The Lieutenant began. "I'm Lieutenant Kurin, Asari commando. I'm the commanding officer of this outer city evac center. My community sent me and my team to reinforce positions,and train the militia and help out local Alliance defenses. Fortunately both groups had the situation handled as much as you could during a Reaper invasion until a couple hours ago. We got that gigantic crashed ship, the EMP, and now this thing. Fucking Goddess, half of the weapons on my soldiers are out just for show."
"That's why we're here, Lieutenant." Shepard said. "Get on the comms, tell anyone out there who's listening to not engage the alien ship unless fired upon first."
"Yeah, sure, Commander... Repair teams just got the comms online, but it's a bit shaky. Might take a moment. Some of the radios within the city still might be out."
"How long?"
"Five, ten minutes hopefully? I'm still directing most of the repair corps to start up the transports. Civilians are priority. Those that make it from the city get sent up."
Shepard understood, not arguing with the Lieutenant about the morally correct decision. He ordered Tali to try and continue weapons and armor repairs. It took her a moment to respond, still staring at the ship. She then headed back into the Mako after a while.
The Commander took a moment, leaned back on the rear of the Mako. He noticed a good portion of soldiers stared at the ship as rays of light surrounded the ship, giving it a mirage-like appearance. Raindrops hit Shepard's face. Every once and awhile there was a howling wind striking against Shepard's check.
Liara joined him, standing in front of him with arms crossed. "Ever since I joined your crew I always thought I've seen everything the galaxy had to offer. I guess I've forgotten how insignificant we are, despite how far we've come...there's so much we still don't know."
"Well we've only discovered, what was it? One percent of the galaxy? There's still possibly thousands of species hidden out there."
"You would think with advanced technology and the abundance of the Relays they would've made contact sooner. Maybe the Reapers forced them to come out of hiding."
Shepard could see a Reaper destroyer land about sixty kilometers away, paying no attention to the base or the alien ship as it engaged targets in the hills. Blue Eezo bolts fired back at it in vain.
"Are you saying the Reapers are in the middle of attacking them?"
"I…wouldn't say that. It could be possible the Reapers never found them. These people have broken the entire system of cycles the Reapers have built."
"That's why I'm trying to stay optimistic." Shepard said, crossing his arms. "They broke the cycle, maybe they can help us break ours."
"You've been thinking about this, haven't you?"
Shepard shrugged. "Recently."
She didn't say anything, and looked back to the alien ship. A round of bright blue light fired from one of the ship's guns. They ignited within the city, painting the entire landscape and the people within it.
"One must wonder what kind of atrocities they face in order to build something purely frightening as this." She finally said.
"You see them as frightening?"
"Tali might see them as achievements, shocked from what was thought impossible. Marvels of engineering. That's undeniable... but you have to wonder what reason do they have for building and keeping a vast amount of ships. What have they faced to reach such a level? Before we met Sovereign, which seems like it was ages ago, I would've said with confidence this ship is the product of... accidental progression. They developed for such a long time that Eezo seemed trivial and unneeded. They surpassed the need…. I guess the point is, everything is on a set path. But now they can overpower the Reapers... How easy they can overpower us.
"How similar everyone really is."
"Similar?" Shepard said.
"They still discovered the Relays. And they developed on a war-set path, similar to the Krogan, similar to the Turians. All of us. As much as the Asari, for example, want to claim we're so 'peaceful' and 'superior' we still have this violent subconscious and ultimately unending conflict and pitiful hatred towards one another. If we were really peaceful we would have no need for combat biotics or commandos. It was only a matter of time before another species would come and make us look like fools, but... Not in this way. Not the same thing again. They had to survive, and this was how they did it. If they were superior, peaceful, these ships wouldn't exist."
Shepard was silent for a moment before speaking. "That's a part of being a person. With individualistic minds with a culture and society built by people...there'll always be problems. Just now the Reapers are forcing the best out of people and suppressing the worst in everyone. Now more than ever, we can build a better future. We just..."
"Have to win this." Liara said. "... Shepard... I don't share your optimism, but I hope you're right. And I hope that whoever these new people are, prove to be better than we can hope to ever be. For our sake. We've already been through enough. We can't let the unity and sudden determination fade...if we get past this.
"I don't know...I feel like I'm rambling on. It's just that everywhere we've been...it doesn't seem to get easier."
Shepard nodded, looking back to the Reaper. "I'll be honest, nowadays... my optimism is harder and harder to maintain."
She also looked past Shepard, a sympathetic and sad smile formed. She turned those blue eyes back to him. "Believe me. I know."
Before Shepard could answer someone pointed out something in the distance, alerting everyone else of an incoming object.
Shepard turned from Liara, stepping out from behind the Mako and saw what it was.
A purple ship with blue lights. Majestic like its mothership, it was thirty meters in length. A curved W made up its roof. Two small cylinders were attached to opposite sides, flowing into flat slides that revealed grey panels. It had three large mounted guns. One at the curved underside near the front of the ship and the other two guns were mounted on the side, next to the close grey panel. Triangular figures mounted them.
It made a low humming noise as it quickly moved in. On the underside of the ship a blue beam of light emitted, hitting the surface. It dropped beasts onto the ground.
They yelled something.
"Wort, wort, wort, wort."