Aboard Citadel Station, Docking Bay D-6, 2186 Citadel Calendar, 01:25
The elevator ride to the Embassies was a silent one. Outside, the curved world of the Presidium, the disc that connected the other arm wards, was asleep. The artificial sky was set to nighttime, and 'light' wouldn't come for another three hours. Shepard guessed anyone still awake was either in the hangers or in the vast cargo rooms, waiting.
Everyone was awake right now actually. They were just somewhere else.
After maybe ten, fifteen minutes, the elevator finally stopped and the doors opened up to the enormous room of the Embassies, only lit by a few dim neon lights and holo-posters that were left on. Each poster advertised various embassy messages, either to enlist, join colonial life, watch out for illegal AI, etc. etc.
But the room was abandoned. There were no signs of life anywhere. Not even at the front desks or hundreds of adjoining offices. Nothing. Not even a night crew.
Shepard walked through, his footsteps echoing on forever as it hit glazed marble tiles. He could barely make out the shapes of railings, waiting rooms with rows of benches, areas for plant life, and the vast open ceiling above. It was a weird feeling to walk in a place that was usually so crowded. In a way it was almost peaceful.
No screams… No gunshots… No forest. Not even conversations. He wished Liara was here to enjoy it too.
It calmed Shepard down a bit. To just hear his footsteps and nothing else. He slowly walked the steps to the hallway that connected to the Spectre Office, and took a moment to take it all in.
Unfortunately, he didn't have time to fully enjoy it. There was something more important going on. Something strange and deeply concerning.
Shepard had dozens of emails this morning, from every corner of the galaxy. All focused on the new contact. But he didn't check them because there was one that drew his attention.
It was from an anonymous source, yet somehow marked high priority.. Most of it was gibberish and a series of random numbers. At least...that's what Shepard had thought until EDI had deciphered parts of it.
It was an old Alliance intelligence transmission sequence not used since the First Contact War.
"This goes beyond my sister. There was so much we didn't know.
Spectre Office. Citadel Embassies."
Even if it didn't mention the word 'sister', Shepard could already tell who sent it. There was only one kind of person outside of the Systems Alliance with that kind of access to intel comms so old.
Shepard walked down the hall and reached the office door. A small holo-access panel spinned, identifying Shepard.
"Spectre status recognized. Access granted," a computer VI said.
He walked into the black room lit by small blue lights and orange holo-panels. Heavy duty advanced computers and holo-displays lined up one side. Outer railing on the other side that separated the office from the floor grates that covered heavy CPU processors. An all too familiar hum was stamped out by Shepard's footsteps.
He walked forward to the computers. Each was programmed with Spectre authority.
He took a deep breath. It was always cold in here. He looked around. There seemed to be no one here. Maybe they-
"This is a bit early even for me, Commander," a voice said in a heavy accent.
Shepard turned around to a small adjoining hallway that led to the gun range. A figure came out of the small shadows.
A battered face with a nasty, deep gash filled with scabbed blood above the left eyebrow. An elongated cut ran from the upper edge of her nose down her cheek. What wasn't cut open or caked in dried blood was covered in dirt and grimace, embedded deep in the skin. Hair was in a greasy, ragged mess. The skin surrounding one dark blue eye was a deep shade of ugly faded purple and bright red while the other were rows of dark circles and blackened, uneven skin.
And still, despite all this, the artificial genetically crafted beauty was still there. The defiant glare against anything that tried to control her remained.
"Sleep's the first casualty of war," Shepard responded sarcastically.
Miranda Lawson wearily smiled. She was limping as she walked over. Instead of the usual - not to mention strange - skin tight and revealing black and white suit, she was wearing reinforced traditional Alliance armor that's been beaten to hell. Layers of black and grey kevlar added on to protect against explosive shockwaves and shrapnel cuts were beaten and misshaped, as if she were dodging constant artillery strikes. The only part of her armor that wasn't covered in kevlar was the heavy grey Armax Arsenal leg protectors, but even they were nearly torn to pieces.
Shepard also noticed a weapons block for a M-385 Talon, a Lotus submachine gun, and an experimental N7 Crusader. Very close combat it seemed.
"Jesus, Miranda… It looks like you've been through hell," Shepard commented. This is the first time he saw her in nearly three months, and every time the situation seemed more grim. But never like this. Shepard had never seen her in this state.
"Well, it's all part of the job. Unfortunately." Miranda said. She leaned down, wet coughing. It felt like each shaken breath tore at the passages of her lungs. "Who knew working for yourself would be this hard, rioght?"
Miranda continued to cough. Shepard thought he saw blood, but under the dim lights it was hard to tell.
She slowly fell backwards onto the floor. She seemed to hyperventilate, as if she just ran a marathon. She laid arms on her knees, trying to slowly calm her breathing.
"You need a doctor." Shepard said, leaning down. "What the hell have you been doing?"
"Digging…" She said. She took extended breaths, controlling and spacing them out. "Quite literally in some instances… Through data, dirt...bodies. That's what I've been doing for the past...six days? I don't even know."
She chuckled until she coughed some more, "...I've been trained for pretty much everything, and I've been in some strange situations before, but what I had to go through in the past week..."
She shook her head. It looked like she was falling asleep.
It was good to know at least that even when pushed past the edge, she was still the same. A bit too serious and a bit too ironic.
"Miranda?" Shepard asked, trying to wake her up. "Why did you ask me to meet you here? I thought it wasn't safe for you on the Citadel at all anymore?"
Miranda tried to get up, but that limp in her leg was stopping her. Shepard helped her, tried to keep herself balanced.
"Nowhere's safe for anyone anymore, Shepard," Miranda responded. She pushed him off, and walked over to the railings. She leaned on them. "Even more so for you. There are Cerberus agents all aboard the station. But the Spectre Office is still secured. For now anyways."
Shepard wasn't even going to ask how she got into the office.
Citadel Security had known about sleeper agents, both for the Reapers and Cerberus, for a while. They were actually pretty successful in keeping them out of sensitive locations such as Citadel Tower, but with the UNSC here, and highly classified intel brought to light, Shepard wondered if the number of agents had increased.
"What happened, Miranda?" Shepard pressed on.
"The Illusive Man used to trust me with everything, you know," Miranda said, quiet. "I thought I knew everything there was to know about Cerberus…Mostly."
"Well...I kinda doubted that for a while," Shepard rubbed his neck.
It would probably take years for Miranda to get used to the fact that Cerberus was no longer part of her identity. That the organization that gave her everything, including a life to call her own, was now the enemy.
God knows it was a hell of a time prying her away from those terrorists. Despite all that, he could still sense the...remorse. He couldn't blame her. It just needed time.
Since the war began, Miranda had been in and out of contact looking for her sister. While she was no longer extremely defensive, distractingly aggressive, and cold around Shepard and...some of the crew, she still remained intensely focused, and more distant than before.
"Yeah…" She said, trailed off a bit. "...Yeah. I was...Six days ago the Cerberus network went haywire. They were mobilizing everything they had...Troop numbers and supplies that were...were off the charts. Cerberus has resources and men far beyond what they told me when I still worked with them."
"Mobilizing? For what? Was it for the UNSC?" Shepard asked. He placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to keep her awake.
Mobilizing everything around three days prior when the UNSC showed up? ...How… The only way was if...they knew about the signal.
They knew?
"That's the thing… I downloaded terabytes of information." Miranda replied. "When I read through it, their mobilization was due to some sort of signal emitted from the Relays."
"Yeah, we know about the signal." Shepard said.
"Well, Cerberus also knew. They readied everything they got. But their army, the numbers, what they're connected to… Cerberus is trying to hide something."
She opened up her Omni-tool and displayed a list of documents. She scrolled through it.
"Is this all you downloaded…?" Shepard asked.
"Well, God, Shepard, don't be too excited," Miranda scrolled back to the top, and opened up a recently dated file. "I tracked a network route to a Cerberus depot. Off in the Horsehead Nebula. If I had more time...I could've downloaded everything, but Cerberus found out what I was up to pretty quick. I just got basic schematics and analytic maps… 'Course, I fucked up and forgot the rest..."
She looked away from Shepard, as if she were guilty of something.
"You did enough, Miranda," Shepard said.
She remained silent and looked at all the GPU processors. Shepard crossed his arms. She tapped the railing bar, a small metallic ringing sound. She continued a controlled rhythmic breathing pattern to keep herself awake.
"Ever been stuck in a broom closet for two days?" Miranda finally said. "I spent time reading. When they were mobilizing, the linkage data was exposed."
Shepard wondered if it could wait until Miranda got some rest and medical attention. He noticed small shivers across her body. Barely noticeable, whether they were blocked out by the armor or she was trying to hide them. Shepard experienced them enough to realize they were hunger shakes.
She wouldn't stop though. Not until she explained everything. 'Intensely focused' was a lighter term. Shepard sometimes liked to use 'idiotically and extremely stubborn.'
How many times Shepard or some member of the crew had to save her because of it...
The Normandy crew kept pushing out of mere necessity and circumstance. For Miranda, it didn't matter what was happening, what the task was. Nothing else mattered until what she set her mind to was finished.
Miranda sent him a link. Shepard sighed, opened up his Omni-tool.
The Omni-tool settings were too bright for the zero-dark morning. He skimmed through the data collection until he reached a name she highlighted.
"Long Night of Solstice?" Shepard said. "It's dated back about...five years ago next month."
Miranda nodded. She took a step back. "Long Night of Solstice is the codename for a Cerberus project. I'm not sure of the exact details since they were sanitized, but Cerberus discovered something near Gemini Sigma."
There were small, scattered snippets of information separated by random clusters of disorganized and nonsensical data. The small bits that did make sense talked about the collapse of a black hole, then dove into relativity theories and mass-density ratios.
Shepard looked to Miranda and shrugged.
"Rioght… I probably should've met with Liara first," Miranda responded. He could sense some disdain when she mentioned her name. "Those ratios? They describe a sudden, unnatural black hole formation and immediate collapse in Gemini Sigma. Artifical."
"And what does that have to do with Cerberus' hidden army and going to DEFCON One?"
"Let me get to that. If you read down, it says they discovered something near that black hole. After that, it describes weird events later in the year. They were correlated."
2181. Shepard looked some more. It was more mathematical equations and galactic grid coordinates.
Shepard shook his head. "...Explain."
Miranda pinched the bridge of her nose, whether from tiredness or a growing headache was unknown, "it's dated in November, 2181. There was some sort of hyperactive spur of immense dark energy surge near the Nimah Cluster, similar composition of the dark energy causing the premature decay of Haelstorm's sun."
Haestorm. The former Quarian colony hundreds of years ago, now Geth controlled military installation, now allied military installation. Shepard had to pull out Tali and her squad of Quarian Marines after a botched op trying to learn about that specific unnatural decay. The Geth however were still studying it.
"Was it the same kind of star?" Shepard asked.
"No. Whatever it was before collapse, we know it was unnatural, and sudden. In less than seconds it rapidly expanded a few thousand kilometers before it destroyed itself."
"Again, what does it have to-"
"I know," Miranda interrupted. "In December…. Something happened. Something big. It was beyond our galaxy, a few thousand light years beyond."
The way she said it was very cautious and timid, as if she were bewildered. If anything could startle her…
Shepard scrolled down. Another timestamp. December, 2181. There were more than thousands of complex mathematical equations, there was a description and…
"This can't be right." Shepard remarked, a small laugh. "The whole galaxy would've known."
Her expression wasn't as lighthearted. She looked to the floor, swaying her body. "A burst of eezo, refined eezo on a scale never seen before. It spread through FTL to a diameter of more than ten-thousand light years before collapsing in less than minutes. Like what happened in the Nimah Cluster. The only reason Cerberus knows about it is because we've been monitoring Dark Space for quite some time, not only to watch out for the Reapers, but to help start this failed colonization project to Andromeda that got stalled by the invasion. It was easy enough to manipulate and alter the data of other scientific monitoring stations the galaxy has. Get a few operative cells to intercept the signal, change the transmission. Most scopes were directly watching Andromeda anyways, about a few hundred thousand light years off course. They missed the show."
Cerberus blinded the entire galaxy to this event. Some type of energy burst over ten thousand light years?
"Cerberus had no idea what it was," Miranda continued. "I think they still have no idea what it was. To produce something of that magnitude would require dark energy technology beyond our capabilities. It even temporarily stopped local cosmological expansion..."
Shepard shook his head. This was straight out of left field. There wasn't any shock, just utter confusion.
"This is really the first time you're hearing any of this?" Shepard asked
Miranda sighed, "as I said a long time ago, Cerberus operates in cells. The cells only get the information they need to do their job, completely unaware of one another. I guess I forgot I was still part of a cell, and the Illusive Man was part of his own…"
She trailed off. Looked down.
"Hey, how have you been doing-"
"Long Night of Solstice. The explosion in the Nimah Cluster, that massive eezo burst in dark space, and that signal..." She continued the rhythmic breathing, shook her head. Right. The signal… Shepard was going to bring that up. "For whatever reason, Cerberus thinks they're all connected."
"What kind of numbers are we talking about for Cerberus' army?" Shepard said, a bit disappointed. "And what do these eezo bursts imply?"
"For how Cerberus operates, at most, they'd only need a few thousand troops. Somewhere between ten and twenty thousand, but based on the enormous logistical supply lines they're setting, at the very least they're numbers are in the high hundreds of thousands to low millions."
...Millions? It was impossible for Cerberus to recruit those kinds of numbers during the war, not only with the immense enemy of the Reapers, but also the rest of the galaxy against them.
Even if Cerberus was masterful in that kind of art, they couldn't maintain and hide an army that size from the rest of the galaxy.
"Where did they get these numbers? What would they need them for?" Shepard asked.
"All those events about five years ago. They were able to fund it because of Long Night. It'd cost trillions of credits to build and maintain something like this, but whatever came out of Long Night, it provided the funds to do it. It was easy to hide from the outer galactic economy. Easily sell off resources bit by bit, build an army bit by bit. Easy to recruit from colonies in the Terminus System. With what happened between you and Saren, the galactic economy was in ruin, and people were pretty much scrambling over each other to join. But as for later recruitment, whether it was by choice or possible indoctrination, I'm not sure."
Millions though? That number seemed extensive. What were they doing then if they weren't trying to fight the Reapers or hamper down the Citadel races? The most at any time Commander Shepard and the crew had fought against was one or two companies of a couple hundred men at most. Either they had to be stationed in a safe area not affected by the Reapers (yet) like Sanctuary or spread throughout the galaxy forced to fight. And if so, some intelligence branch would've found out.
"As for the eezo bursts…" Miranda continued. "The first one in November was formulated dark energy, the second one was eezo. Eezo is artificially created, not naturally formed. That burst was created by something, I'm not sure if it's the Reapers, or the Protheans, or what, but they believe whatever started it also triggered this signal."
"The only reason we know about the signal is through the UNSC. They only told us it lead them to the Relays. Other than that, they aren't letting." Shepard said. There was a realization forming in the Commander's mind. "You don't think that's what the Catalyst is, do you? The Reapers came from dark space. Do you think that's where they came from? That eezo burst?"
Miranda leaned on the rail, as if standing on her own was enough of a strain. She took a moment breathing and trying to gather her thoughts.
"Possibly, since it was of interest to Cerberus. While initial energy altered local cosmological expansion, the eezo concentration itself was thinly spread out enough to the point where it didn't alter any physical entities, such as planets or stars, but still enough concentration to kill pretty much every living being in its vicinity instantaneously. Vaporization of biological matter."
"This thing kills all life within its dispersal radius?" Shepard said. This thing was...a weapon.
Shepard was starting to get the picture. How drastic this really was.
Miranda nodded. "Something like this is beyond anything we've ever seen. Whatever it was scared the Illusive Man enough to ramp up recruitment. For what? I don't know. It's all fear. And this signal...I don't know why they think they relate, but they do apparently."
Now Illusive Man's fear of the unknown argument was starting to make sense. This evidence wouldn't be the kind of incrimination they were looking for to ensure the UNSC saw Cerberus for how they truly were, but still it was important nevertheless. The Illusive Man never brought it up. The only reason why was if it still mattered. It was still vital.
He wondered if the UNSC knew more.
She let her body slide down the railing, turned around until she was sitting on the floor. She was in a position where the blue light hit her just right. Shepard noticed the rest of the blood that stained her armor.
"They called it…" Miranda began, she stared off into a distance beyond anything in this room. "They called it 'Halo'. Sounds ominous enough."
Halo. Shepard wasn't really sure what to think, but Cerberus...they knew so much more than they were letting on.
Was it something worth being brought up to the UNSC? He had no idea, but if it was a story on how Cerberus was built, then it was something at least the crew had to look at.
"I have more files...some other prominent one called 'Spirit of Fire,' another called 'Cartographer.' A large one called 'Onyx.' I can give them to EDI to decrypt and go over, develop an actual report… You'll find a lot more interesting stuff. Just needed to get the vital information to you," Miranda said. "Halo might not seem like it, but it's the reason why Cerberus is riled up. The Illusive Man might think it could be what the Catalyst is. Possibly. But…"
Miranda did good work. Unfortunately, because of it, the feeling that was beginning to formulate within Shepard was absolute fear and nervousness. She presented only a vast unknown.
The hell Miranda had to go through. She went beyond her limits, and that was concerning.
"Miranda…" Shepard said quietly. "...What about Oriana? Your sister? Is she okay?"
Miranda sat there and stared out at the nonexistent great distance. No response. She moved the small, nervous rhythmic tapping to her thigh.
"This was more important than Oriana." Miranda convinced herself. "This was more important than anything else. We all got to sacrifice something."
She didn't look at Shepard, but he knew. In a way, he had to commend her will power to forgo one of the few things that kept her going the past couple of decades. The pain was…
Was something everyone of the crew went through now that Shepard thought about it. Still, even if Miranda did the best thing, the right thing, it'll never feel like it. She had to live with the decision that could possibly prevent her from ever seeing her sister again.
"It looks like you could use some rest, and also a couple painkillers." Shepard sympathetically pointed out.
Miranda shook her head. Her tone was much more quiet, a bit empty. "No. The hospitals here are too dangerous. Cerberus will pin me down in hours and corner me. I know how to take care-"
"Don't, Miranda." Shepard interrupted.
"Oh, piss off-"
"You're a lot stronger than me and most of the crew, but just don't." Shepard said, the same amount of conviction. The only real way to deter her was through kind force. "You won't make any progress like that. We can heal you up on the Normandy. We can help you find your sister. Besides, I'm sure Doctor Chakwas would like to see you again."
"Chakwas," There was a small smirk on her face. "I was her favorite patient, after people like Grunt and Mor…" She stopped herself. Cleared her throat. "Like Tali...all the medical problems she had."
Shepard grimly nodded. "Tag along with us for a while, Miranda. We have it inside with the UNSC, we're negotiating with them now…." He hesitated a bit on the rest of Cerberus. She needed to know. "We're trying to negotiate-"
"I already know what's going on with Cerberus." Miranda said. "I was waiting for you to mention it. See if you were going to mention it, I guess. Cerberus launched a rather large strike group with QEC communications establishment, and Kai Leng…. It was easy to detect the comm link aboard the UNSC Infinity from within Cerberus' main system. When the UNSC wasn't firing on Cerberus ships, it kind of solidified it."
If he knew Miranda, she already figured out that he only did it because there was no other option. She knew that. She realized the necessities, in a way very similar to Liara. Garrus and Tali might not like or understand it, but they trust the Commander enough, whereas Liara and Miranda… They merely knew.
"But thank you...for telling me, Commander." Miranda shook her head. "I'm sure the Shadow Broker would love to see me. She can brief me…"
There was a vibrating sound of metal clanking on metal. The ground shook and the whole station seemingly tilted on its axis. The blue lights flickered on and off. The whole Citadel was shaking.
Before Shepard could respond,, it subsided, and the lights, computers, and CPUs completely turned off before turning back on. A full reset.
"It looks like our friends are here…" Shepard looked around the room. He turned to Miranda.
"I'd liked to meet them." Miranda said. "I guess we're gonna cut the "Welcome back to the Crew" party a bit short, aren't we?"
Aboard UNSC Infinity bridge
Two-hundred kilometer diameter orbit around the Citadel
2557 Military Calendar, 02:16
While not as stunning as the Ark or the Halos, the Citadel does have a certain unique beauty to it. It looked like it was submerged in water, partially shrouded in dark blue and purple entangled web-like clouds of the 'Serpent Nebula' (the UNSC charted this space as part of the Serpens Constellation). A bright light came from what must've been a white dwarf star or supercharged gas embedded deep within the nebula. The light shined through the circular structure of the station. Hundreds of streaks of white and orange light patterned the internal areas of the arms. Each arm was its own city. Red dots traveled along some of these streaks, like cars on a highway.
Imagine the logistics to support a city in space. The thousands of ships that had to rotate food and supplies. The massive oxygen-nitrogen cyclers that had to support thirteen-million people. The intricate water recycle system that had to be utilized every second.
To have that many people live on a pure artificial ecosystem was an achievement in itself.
Roland brought up a local tactical display. Battle Group Dakota's entrance caused quite a stir. Ships from the 'Citadel Security Fleet' moved in. Three one-klick cruisers supported by around a dozen or so frigates and fighters were at the forefront.
Captain Lasky figured they were probably freaking out right now. Admittedly, that was partially the point.
Besides being tactically sound since the Reapers were most likely patrolling the Relay network daily, HIGHCOM wanted to demonstrate and remind the Council that the UNSC will not be ordered and will do what it wanted. Subtle, and arguably unnecessary.
"Destiny Ascension to UNSC Infinity, this is Matriarch Lidanya, hal copy?" A voice announced on the open horn.
Roland traced the signal. It was coming from a ship two-hundred clicks out. It was around a kilometer in width and about five klicks in height. It was one of the strangest ships Lasky had seen, even odder than the squids. The main body of the ship was a hollowed out lengthwise oval. Blue curtain shields were the only thing protecting the empty interior. Two small fin wings extended from the sides of the oval, perfectly symmetrical. A third wing extended from the center bottom, and a fourth massive wing about three klicks tall smoothly curved up from the top of the oval.
For whatever reason it reminded the Captain of a starfish. It traveled in a curved arc, passing by the Infinity.
"And I thought the Covie and the squid ships looked weird…" Roland said. "It's kinda pretty, in a weird way. Looks fragile though."
Lasky stepped away from the holo-table towards the viewing glass and spoke. "This is Captain Lasky, UNSC Infinity, we read you."
"Copy that, Captain. Citadel Security would like to know... what was that?"
Her voice remained calm, and didn't seem shocked at all. Lasky replied. "It's under control if that's what you're asking..." What kind of rank was a matriarch? "...Matriarch Lidanya. We have no hostile intent, we'll be moving towards the Citadel."
The line was quiet for a moment. Maybe this 'Matriarch' was doubtful or trying to clear it with her superiors. A moment later, her voice came through, "we'll let you proceed, Captain. Our ships are watching you."
She sounded reluctant. Well, who wouldn't? The UNSC just did a mid-system jump with pinpoint accuracy past their defenses, all thanks to Forerunner technology. They pretty much proved not only could small stealth ships sneak past, but entire fleets also.
The Citadel Security ships didn't seem to be in a defensive pattern, but Lasky could see their fronts were pointed in a general vector on the UNSC's trajectory established by Citadel Space Traffic Control.
"Roland, rotate two Autumn cruisers and two Strident frigates for security ops." Lasky ordered.
Roland acknowledged. The bridge rumbled as Strident-class frigates were deployed. UNSC Scipio Africanus and She got the house were on station to support the UNSC James Mattis and Danforth Whitcomb.
The Autumn-class cruisers sped by, and the Strident frigates' RCS engines activated and reoriented the ships towards the Citadel. They launched in an outer arc to provide a net perimeter.
"I got the list of hangers, sir. Marine and Spartan companies are ready to deploy." Roland reported.
"Can you tell if the station is Forerunner?" Lasky asked first.
"Negative. You're gonna have to plug me in somewhere to get a better view."
Lasky nodded. They had twelve hangers they were able to land in, all positioned along the internal area of the disc, only a few hundred meters away from the tower that presided in the white starlight.
"I want Spartan companies Andromeda through Providence ready. Deploy two companies on hangers alpha-one through brave-two. Bravo-three will be the designated VIP hangar….Get the Master Chief ready. He'll deploy with Crimson and Buck and Stacker's security detail."
And they needed to prepare for the transfer of Cortana and all repair cleared to bring aboard nearly all the AI equipment they could gather, including a few Engineers. One Engineer, named 'Virgil' was leading the project. He became emotionally attached, so it was useless to try and separate him. Roland said that he said there was… "mysterious hope".
But Lasky still wondered what would happen if Cortana did come back. Would the Chief be just like before…? Or...
He had no idea.
The Captain rubbed his face. God knows what was about to happen. He just hoped that everything will be okay.
Not just for Humanity's sake, but...well, for everyone else's sake.
...
It was an extremely bumpy ride, as if they were dodging AA cannons. They were told the Citadel was apparently always busy, but Buck never expected this. There had to be hundreds of ships flying in and out. God knows carrying what. The Pelican flew near an arm. Buck squinted and saw a thin blue cover, like an atmosphere. Within the upper atmosphere he saw what had to be thousands of flying cars.
They jutted portside to avoid an oncoming alien cargo freighter about a couple hundred meters in length. The Pelican twisted its wings, flying dangerously close.
Buck could see through a small starboard window. There were openings in the hull and a bunch of compartments bent out of shape all over that ship. Christ. That thing was barely space worthy.
"I swear to God they better be serving Corona up there," Lieutenant Romeo said. He sat in the seat right next to Buck.
Huh. Couldn't take a minute to even enjoy it all, couldn't you, Romeo? Well, Buck did actually have a chat with Captain Lasky later yesterday. Buck was told that apparently someone in the Citadel cleared a shore leave (God knows who). They want the civilian population to intermingle, raise morale… Apparently they've never seen how marines act outside of the uniform. In any event, at the very least, E-4 and below will get some R and R once they fully secure their sections and let backup battalions fill their role. The only catch was they had to be watched by SNCOs and some O-1s and 2s.
Well, it was something. Buck wasn't expecting much for himself anyways. He used to be a senior NCO, he would've been on duty either way. He looked around the cargo room. He and the rest of his men were strapped into their seats. It was a joint task force made up of the 19th Battalion and Infinity ODST detachment. Major Stacker sat across the aisle from him with Lieutenant Dubbo and a few other members from the detachment.
The team's task was to coordinate the security detail and make sure things transition smoothly for both the strategic briefing and the Citadel public negotiations. Look tough, act tough, but don't be assholes to the public. Safeties on, caution ready. Impress in dress.
"Remember…" Buck said to the others. "We are dealing with civilians. These guys aren't soldiers. They're women, children, the old. They got families, and blah, blah, don't kill them. Don't threaten them. They're just curious, excited, and want to know what the hell we are.
"Pretend it's parade day back home. Sorta. Don't talk to news reporters. Don't smile or wave for cameras. Hell, don't even salute. Be professional and be alert. Take your platoons and secure your sections. We get through this, without any fuckups, I'll buy the first round."
There were a wave of oorahs and rahs from each marine in the cargo gold. It made Buck feel a bit better.
In the end though, they were deployed to support...the actual meat. Spartan-IV teams lead by Commander Palmer with the Master Chief at the forefront. Jesus. Who knew that one day the marines would be overshadowed. Well, that was kind of part of their history. Just trying to survive and show they had their place.
Buck could only think of two ways of drawing attention off from the Spartans, and that was either do everything faster before they had the chance while making sure they stayed in camera view. Or, do something extremely stupid.
Well, let's see what happens.
"Standby, touchdown in six mikes," the pilot announced.
Another day. Another drop.
Buck grabbed his helmet from the upper compartment and put it on. He snapped it in, and his suit began to pressurize and the HUD activated. Reports said the Citadel maintained a comfortable one-point two gs and had a near identical oxygen-nitrogen composition to Earth. It's just standard protocol to reduce biological hazards, and to look cool and intimidating (not threatening though) to the civilian populace.
The rest of the men got their buckets on, snapped in. Buck laid his head against the seat, just trying to relax a little bit.
"Rookie…" Buck said under his breath. Lieutenant Rookie sat next to Romeo. "Your platoon has point. Make sure you station them in front of all the cameras. Make sure the Spartans don't get any screen time."
Rookie nodded.
"What about me, sir?" Romeo asked.
"Just stay in the back where no one can hear you."
The gravity shifted starboard. Buck looked out the small window and noticed the view was a metal wall carved with holes which were covered in blue curtain pressure shields. Ramps and decks were spread all over. Some empty, some with ships attended to by various station crew teams.
Buck unlatched his straps and carefully stood up, balancing on the cargo compartments. He reached up and grabbed a battle rifle from the weapons hold above.
He walked to the cargo doors, "by the way, if I hear one more comment about the Asari, I'll NJP the living hell out of you, then throw you out a damn airlock!"
"They're pretty human enough. After a few drinks they'll be no different!" Romeo replied.
Goddamnit.
Buck sighed.
The Pelican shook and Buck felt a pull downwards. They must've entered the station's artificial gravity.
"Good highs, high lows, ladies," Buck said. He made sure the safety was on.
Everyone else slowly got out of their seats and got ready. Each grabbed varying small arms ranging from DMRs to assault and battle rifles to Romeo's favorite, the sniper rifle.
And how's that going to work on a space station, Romeo?
Buck felt the Pelican readjust itself. It slowly lowered, and there was a metallic thud as the landing gear opened up and hit ground.
"Stand by, marines. Popping the hatch," the pilot said.
"Time to impress, boys!" Buck announced.
The doors slowly opened, and Buck walked out to an aurora of flashing white light.
…
03:19
It was a smooth and relatively uneventful ride in the Pelican. It's only been an hour since the Marines and Spartan teams first touched down. They've established a perimeter and made sure the area was mostly clean. There weren't any harmful biological contaminants detected thus far. Either way, Captain Lasky didn't have much of a choice.
He pulled his collar, God he hated this uniform. Always felt like the dress white uniform was trying to suffocate him. It couldn't be simple enough to wear the grey battle uniform. Nope. Lasky got the memo from HIGHCOM at the last minute. All naval officers' were required to wear the fancy white uniform. The full get up. The pants, the blouse with ribbon tags over heart, plated glossed black shoulder pads with golden ranks, black etched outlining, and the golden laurels and cuffs. He held the traditional service cap with the old seal of Navy in his hands, observing every detail of the Eagle, Shield, and twin crossing Anchors.
"Standby. Touchdown ETA: two minutes," The pilot said over the comm.
The Master Chief sat at the end of the cargo room, next to the door. He stood up, grabbed an assault rifle from above and cocked it. He looked to Lasky and nodded.
Again, this whole trip was nothing but silence.
Again, this was why Lasky was here nearly thirteen hours early.
The Captain stood up, balanced himself on the seat railings. He put on and adjusted his service cap. He walked to the Chief, waiting for the Pelican to land and the doors to open.
"Everything set, Chief?" Captain Lasky asked.
The Chief didn't look at him. "All set, sir. Now I'm just standing by to stand by."
Lasky nodded. The Pelican slightly rocked as it entered some sort of artificial atmosphere.
"We're heading into some dangerous territory," Lasky said. "We're gonna berecon for the teams heading deeper into the Citadel. You and Commander Palmer will accompany me when we meet Commander Shepard's crew."
"And why are we doing this, sir?" He responded, noticeable and concerningly toneless and empty. "You, Lord Hood, and the diplomat teams aren't scheduled to arrive till 1630."
Lasky looked up at the Chief. It was odd to think what was going on under the MJOLNIR armor and the iconic helmet. When Lasky always saw the orange visor, he always thought his face was an expression of tiredness and sadness. Even before Lasky learned of the circumstances surrounding him. He was a man trying to push on until… Until something.
Lasky gulped. "It's how politics works, Chief. We got to get a lay of the land. Figure out these people and how they work."
The Chief shook his head. He remained silent for the longest time.
There was a small vibration. Lasky felt his body being pulled towards the floor of the Pelican. He could feel the transport shift its mass, trying to readjust itself. He heard a small metallic thud and the hissing of depressurization as the hinges opened up and locked down.
"I like the easier days when it was weapons free and all we were worried about was the end of the galaxy." The Chief said.
That was more charismatic than normal. It should've calmed Lasky, but it seemed to make things worse. Lasky took a deep breath. "Yeah, don't we all?"
"Just stay close to me, Chief." Lasky hastily added.
"Scared, sir?"
"I just hate cameras." He jokingly said.
The doors slowly opened up to reveal an outer world of flashing white lights. It took a second for Lasky's eyes to adjust. He stepped forward off the ramp and onto a grey decorated metal floor.
His polished black boots seemed to echo on forever, and when the sound faded out he began to hear the loud clicking and automatic mechanical noises of cameras and encrypted yells. Each one trying to ask a question and get their attention.
The voices tried to drown one another out.
"Hey! Over here!"
"Oh my God, they are human-"
"How will this affect the proceedings, especially with the Systems Alliance-"
"Do you expect to join the alliance-"
"-can you use your FTL travel as a type of weapon against the Reapers?"
The Captain looked around. The UNSC security group was stationed at the end of the hanger, with their backs right against the blue curtain shield only a dozen meters away. The only thing separating breathable oxygen-nitrogen and the endless black void.
The floor sort of floated in a massive empty cataclysm. There had to be hundreds of accompanying floating landing areas each either held by foundational support beams and cables, or simply floated, supported by nothing.
Different types of ships and transports that looked like slicked, curved versions of cars with heavy engines in the back and no wheels were either parked on the landing areas or perfectly floated right next to them. No RCS engines or any sort of indication of flight system. Not even an imperfection in their hovering. There were hundreds of small figures on each platform, turned towards them.
Lasky could see an adjoining catwalk starboard side to their own platform. Dozens of those flying cars were parked next to it, floating over an empty abyss. A few of them were painted blue and white and had flashing red sirens on top.
About twenty-five meters out from the UNSC group, armored guards of various species were dressed in blue armor holding rifles. They were guarding an area outlined by bright holographic police lines. Behind those lines was a dense, unending crowd of people with those strange holographic orange bands around their arms and small and oval shaped flying balls with small spouts for the lens of a camera. They looked exactly like the automated cameras back home.
There was a blinding white flash from each ball.
Luckily, Captain Lasky was protected by the Helljumpers. ODSTs guarded the area, calmly patrolling, weapons aimed down and showing off for the cameras. In a way they almost looked relaxed. Spartans stayed close to the parked Pelicans. They however didn't look so tranquil. Weapons were one step away from going hot. Heads were constantly turning in every direction. They were beginning to grow more concerned as the news crowds were growing more energetic.
One of the ODSTs walked towards the Captain. DMR in one hand and a heavy duty comm in the other. He had visible single silver bars on his collar.
"Ey there, Skipper." First Lieutenant Dubbo yelled over the people. "Thangs were a bit calm and smooth sailing till you just showed up."
Lasky observed the small details of the crowd. There were...Turians, Asari, Salarians, a few other races, and Humans.
"What makes me special, Lieutenant?"
"Well, dressed up all fancy 'ere and showing a 'Human face is kinda spooking 'em. In a good way."
Lasky acknowledged. Another police car came up, parked along the catwalk. Commander Palmer broke away from the Spartan group and joined the three.
"Skipper. Buck's setting up a security ops center," She reported. "We're preparing to send a few marine teams to secure a route to the embassies."
"Good. You're with me. I've got a special assignment." Lasky yelled. "Hand over op assignments to your XO."
Palmer nodded, no debate. She shouldered a battle rifle and followed the Captain as he proceeded forward.
A figure came out of one of the police cars. He was dressed in black geared boots and dark camouflage cargo pants that looked like they were covered with kevlar. He wore a sort of kevlar-like vest etched in bright blue outlines covering some sort of white jersey. He had thick shoulder pads of the same grey material and blue etching that connected to rolled up white sleeves. He made his way, and Lasky saw the silver oakleaf of commander on his collar.
"Captain Lasky I presume?" He said as he walked over. Heavy Canadian accent. "Commander Bailey, Citadel Security. I'm head coordinator for station security measures for this meeting."
Bailey saluted the Captain. Lasky took one last look at the cameras. Good publicity he guessed. He returned the salute, and the two shook hands.
The flashing seemed to intensify.
"I'm here because I've been informed by Doctor T'Soni you want to begin pre-intelligence briefings before the meetings." Bailey said.
Was that what the Doctor called it? Well, it was partially true at least.
"That's correct, Commander. I don't think we can take those cars though. I don't think these two will fit." Lasky motioned to the two Spartans.
"...Right. Guess we'll take the long way."
Bailey guided the three forward. Lieutenant Dubbo slowly broke off to join Major Stacker and a few of Buck's men. They seemed to like the attention. Lasky wondered if they had answered any of the reporters' questions.
"Ey, Cap, we still getting that R and R?" Dubbo called out as he walked away.
"Do your job right, Lieutenant, then you will," Lasky responded.
The two Spartans walked on each side of Lasky as they passed the crowds. All of them were reporters. Lasky guessed they got some kind of special access to be on this platform. They nearly trampled over one another to get a glimpse of them, only separated by those small holographic belts as ODSTs and Citadel Security guards continued to patrol the perimeter.
It seemed the reporters recognized the insignias on Lasky's collar, shoulder pads and sleeves. They started calling him by his rank. Lasky could feel the spit from each mouth as he ignored them and walked past.
"Captain, this is Amy Wong with Citadel News Network-"
"-any reason to suspect Humanity may have originated-"
"Diana Allers. Alliance Battlespace. How will your ships continue to support the fight-"
"With the combined forces of the Geth and Quarian fleets-"
"Captain!" A prominent voice called out. Something walked right through the holographic line. All it did was glow red for a second and make a small beeping sound. She was a young, thinly woman in her early twenties with Middle Eastern features. A blue dress with a red center that went all the way down to her feet. Short cut black hair that only went to her jaw line. "Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani, Westerlund news-"
"I don't have time to answer questions." Lasky said. The Chief pushed her aside with a simple motion of his rifle. The three walked past. She called something out.
"We've been at war for months. Why're you only here now? Why after tens of millions of people dead?" She accused. "We received reports that Cerberus also attacked one of your ships, yet afterwards there was no continued conflict between your ships and Cerberus cruisers. Are they enemies? Are you working with them? How many more people will you let die?"
From her condescending and accusative tone, Lasky's first instinct was to punch her in the face. How the hell dared she?
She was that kind of reporter, wasn't she? The one who started up controversy, and made up something out of nothing. Lasky wondered where she got that intel. Probably from some scans by distant xeno cruisers, part of the local planet defense force or the Systems Alliance.
It was easy to suppress the feelings of rage for him. He knew though if he simply walked away now, the implications will become blurry. Lasky turned around, "We have no interest in your affairs, besides the Reaper threat."
That was as vague as Lasky could be without promising anything. Yet he's sure they'll somehow spin it. They always managed to.
"What about Cerberus-"
He figured if she didn't present hard evidence now or beforehand, then she doesn't actually have anything. "The UNSC has not made official contact with this Cerberus group. If you have actual evidence that points otherwise, I'd like to see it. "
Lasky turned around and walked away. She might've asked something else, but the Captain, Commander Palmer, and the Master Chief were already long gone.
He followed Commander Bailey. They got onto the catwalk and walked towards the end wall to what looked like an industrial elevator.
Let's hope it was all worth it.
…
A bit too early for everything, was it not?
Still, a feeling of excitement and terror suppressed the shackles of sleepiness and exhaustion from everyone aboard the Citadel. That includes Liara too.
Admittedly, she probably should've gotten more sleep. Yet she simply couldn't. The anticipation. The anxiety. What might happen. What could be revealed. After first contact however, she was more pessimistic about the situation as a whole.
In any event, the coffee helped keep her awake. She's been getting more into coffee lately. Human hot beverage. Whatever was in it kept her on her feet, and was a bit addictive.
She finished up her third cup, and tossed the styrofoam cup into a trashcan as she and Tali walked down the grey hallway.
Garrus along with Ashley and James were helping process all the various military generals and representatives from across the galaxy, then handing them over to Shepard for last minute greetings and preparation. Every military leader they could find ranging from people like Aria T'Loak to Urdnot Wrex to Primarch Victus to Admiral Zaal'Korris and Shala'Raan….to Geth military representative VI software were being gathered
Shepard this morning though was busy...actually. About two hours ago he got spooked by some email. EDI went through it which clued in Shepard on who it was. Afterwards, Liara used her extended powers as Shadow Broker to track a specific IP address, and crossed-analyzed it with the help of Specialist Traynor and a few shady connections in the underworld. She was able to figure out who it was pretty easily.
Miranda Lawson. That little… She was untrustworthy at times. That was all. Not only that, but due to their similar fields they were always competing a lot…. Competed in a lot of similar fields to put it vaguely. Mirangawas tricky to gather information on, at least info beyond the basic Cerberus dossiers. Shepard probably knew more about her than Liara did. Of course.
"Have you gotten a chance to talk to the Geth platform?" Liara said to Tali. Liara tried to take her mind off the rest of the crew.
Tali was doing better than yesterday. After a few rounds of antibiotics and antiviral treatments, she was able to hold a decent conversation with only a few hints of nausea and dizziness. It'd have to do.
"Yeah. Geth Prime, of course. Guess they wanted to impress. VI software platform number zero-four-zero...blah, blah, blah," Tali responded. She opened up her Omni-tool and typed in access inputs. "I'm not sure how we'd be able to coordinate technology running on conventional energy and eezo to work in a proper symbiosis coordination, but...well, we'll see?"
They got everything on their side of the bargain. EDI, a Geth Prime with a few hundred software programs, and a couple of the best xeno technological and cultural experts in the galaxy. Let's see how Lasky does.
The hallway door opened and the two entered into a small waiting area with seats and a view of the lovely Presidium from the fiftieth floor as a low level light began to creep in from a non-existent distance.
"Huh, Keelah. I guess I should start asking questions about their FTL capabilities when I get the chance?" Tali asked.
"If they aren't openly hostile about it."
"Oh, right." Tali replied. She crossed her arms. "There's something I don't get."
"What's that?"
"I understand we're freaking out how there seems to be no differentiation between a military and a government for the UNSC, but aren't the Turians the same way? Don't you have to be in the military to be a citizen?"
Yes. She was correct. In order to be a citizen you must serve. Even after service ends, there is no distinction between a civilian, a soldier, and a citizen. To the eyes of the Turian people, they were all the same. Liara had seen numerous colloquial terms used by the Systems Alliance to describe the Turian government. The Turian Army was named the 'Mobile Infantry,' or sometimes every once and awhile the 'Imperial Guard.' and individuals were called 'Johnny Rico.' Apparently, it was supposed to be mocking. Guess it was an inside joke
"Yes. The Turians do lean towards a state-centered authoritarian republic, however they know how to cooperate with the Citadel Council," Liara said. "It certainly is a possibility that if the Turian Hierarchy did have the power and resources, they'd do the exact thing the UNSC is doing right now. Defy all orders and act on their own will. But, the fact is, they don't have the upper hand over the other three Council races. It's the entire point. One cannot survive without the rest of the Council.
Tali nodded. "...Right. Glad to know our system of government is mostly based on strong arming."
"That's political realism. It's worked for the past few thousand years until now. That's the problem. It simply works down to who has the most ships."
A yellow light shined on top of the elevator entranced. They were coming in. Liara had hands behind her back, feet together. The respectful, and admittedly nervous, stance she always took relating to something this big.
The elevator appeared and opened up. Two of those super soldiers, Spartans? They exited, weapons raised, moving around the room checking if it was clear. A Spartan dressed in bright white armor with red markings cautiously walked up to Liara. She aimed a silver rifle directly at the Doctor's face.
At this point it didn't even phase the Doctor.
"Doctor T'Soni?" The Spartan said.
She got closer, where the muzzle was only a couple inches away from Liara's nose. Liara sighed staring directly into the barrel as the Spartan stood over her. T'Soni was only five-three. What was the Spartan? Six-four? Six-five?
She noticed that they didn't bother with Tali. Most likely they assumed Liara was the bigger threat due to her biotics.
Even in the safety of the Citadel, the UNSC was still on guard. Nothing different should be expected.
"Yes. That would be me," She replied. She put both her hands up, slightly mockingly.
The Spartan nodded. "Commander Palmer, Spartan Group Infinity. I think you already met him."
Liara's eyes passed Commander Palmer. The other Spartan was the Master Chief. The pinnacle, hailed hero of the UNSC.
He continued to watch over the area. Liara still wasn't sure why he was chosen to be the ultimate celebrity of the UNSC. If it were more clear, Liara could confidently say this was mostly due to propaganda. Create some sort of legendary hero to inspire hope in the people. But whatever kind of hope he inspired seemed to spill into the leadership. Captain Lasky and Lord Hood believed in him. It seemed every person they've come across in the UNSC believed in him. There wasn't a single individual who thought differently.
No. It was because he actually did something. Saving the entire human race seems a tad over exaggerated, but he certainly did something notable. His actions were probably built into myths by later propaganda afterwards, yet that still doesn't explain the dogmatic beliefs of every UNSC servicemen.
"Yes, the Master Chief," Liara said. "...Where is Captain Lasky? Did he inform you why you're here?"
"He's coming up. We're sent ahead to secure the way," she said. The rifle was still directed right at Liara's face. "He wanted to talk to you about certain issues between the Council and the brass?"
So Lasky didn't inform the two why they were really here. It was very concerning that Lasky took the backchannels to set this up, and with his two bodyguards uninformed it drew up a host of uncertainties. She wondered if Lord Hood or someone in the UNSC High Command really did approve of this.
What would Captain Lasky - a man who so far genuinely seemed like he wanted to do the right thing not only for the UNSC but both sides - gain from something like this? AIs, Geth AIs, and UNSC AIs… The reasons should be obvious: technological reconnaissance and advantage, information siphoning, so on.
Yet it didn't seem like something Captain Lasky would do. Was it really to help one soldier?
The yellow light turned on again. The elevator moved up and another one came in. The doors opened and presented Captain Lasky. He was dressed differently. A similar uniform as Lord Hood with rank differentiation and a smaller number of those colored badges over his heart. She remembered Shepard said those small things represented achievements accumulated over a servicemen's career.
He walked out, looking tired. The dark circles still present. He took off his cap and held it in one hand, sighed when he saw Commander Palmer aiming her rifle at Liara.
"Stand down, Commander," Lasky quietly ordered. Palmer hesitantly but obediently lowered the gun. She still stared Liara down through the blue colored visor. It was almost an invitation. Liara couldn't help but angrily stare back, through the visor, to eyes that were hopefully afraid.
"Doctor T'Soni, good to see you again," Lasky held out his hand. Liara turned away from the Spartan and shook it. "Ms… vas Normandy. Thank you for doing this."
He motioned for the two Spartans to follow them, and the three began to turn and head down the hallway.
"Well, you know one of the reasons why we're here, Captain." Liara said.
"Right…" He trailed off as they entered the grey hallway. "Need every advantage you can get, right?"
"Naturally. We've been studying everything we've seen of the UNSC. Schematics, diagrams, ship formations, psychological and political analysis. Any info we could find."
"That goes against Cole Protocol." Commander Palmer began. Unnecessary hostility and caution riddled her voice.
"Yet something that's impossible to stop," Captain Lasky stopped her from going on. "Did you find anything interesting then?"
Lots. Liara thought. Lots that probably shouldn't be brought up to the Captain, and he probably knew it. Especially since most of the findings involved active scans and analysis when they were aboard the Infinity.
"Not enough to broaden our understanding of the situation with HIGHCOM," Liara replied.
Lasky scoffed. They reached the end of the hallway and met another set of metal doors. They opened up to reveal another elevator a couple meters down.
"This'll lead us to the briefing room," Tali said. "Sorry for the elaborate walkthrough, but we have to due to the Geth. They only changed sides recently. Most of the galaxy's still scared of them, especially the Citadel."
She didn't mention anything about AI. It seemed Tali also picked up on Liara. She knew the Chief and Commander Palmer knew nothing.
"So you basically smuggled him aboard station?" Lasky asked. "If the Geth were still hostile, even this far into the war, what exactly convinced them to switch sides?"
Reluctance and circumstance. The only thing that really turns the "wheels of history" everyone likes to refer to.
Who really knew if each individual program will grow and achieve the intelligence and processing power of a true, general superintelligence, or merely intelligence on par with living beings, or combine into a single hivemind intelligence.
It was assured the Reapers' control over them was permanently broken, and the boost of a few hundred million Geth combat platforms would go a long way in this fight, but there was still a slight uneasy feeling Liara had around them. Completely illogical and had no base, most likely stemmed from all those times she was nearly killed during the old days of the Normandy crew. Yet she was able to easily suppress those feelings. If she felt that way though, Tali must feel a lot worse about the whole situation.
For now, everyone was still nervous around the Geth. But that would probably quickly fade away once they deploy throughout the entire galaxy.
"It's a long story…" Tali said. "One that cost a few friends. But… we were deployed to try and stop the war between my people and the Geth. The Reapers took control of them through malicious base programming software, and our job was to get the Geth out of their control and join our side. It was partially my people's fault for this. We attacked them, destroyed most of their storage housing units, and they had no other choice but to join the Reapers. We had a Geth ally, a friend. Legion was his nickname. He was able to isolate himself from the malicious coding. Long story short, there was only one way to get the Reaper coding completely out. Legion had to sacrifice himself in order for the Geth to achieve a state of true intelligence and beat the programming software."
Lasky stopped mid step, only a few inches away from the elevator. He turned to the two, didn't say anything. The expression on his face was...one of incredulity and a strange mix of sadness.
The Master Chief seemed to tense up. Even under the dense, heavy olive green armor and black underlays, she saw the slight muscle movements and the silver rifle brought closer to his chest. The shoulders bunching up and moving closer to the neck. The overall natural sense of uneasiness that could be felt.
Lasky sighed. "Commander Palmer, you and the Chief stay here. Guard the entrance. Make sure whoever else comes in is cleared."
"Sir, that isn't a good idea." Commander Palmer replied. "We aren't sure what's down there. We should have your back."
"I know, Commander. But this is classified only to HIGHCOM personnel and Naval Intelligence. Unfortunately beyond your 'pay grade,'" Lasky said, a slight tone of sarcasm. "Don't worry. If they try to kill me, the ships outside have orders to begin orbital bombardments, and we'll pull in more fleets to take care of the problem."
Why would it be any different? She knew he only said that to calm down the Commander, but she couldn't help but feel the backhand. Even if he didn't mean to.
Commander Palmer shook her head, "ell, don't expect me to bail you out again."
"Who's bailing out who?" Lasky said, a small forced smile. He stepped into the elevator and Tali and Liara followed. Liara typed a floor into the holo panel and the doors slowly closed. The elevator moved downwards, and the view of the Spartans disappeared.
"Ever heard of overkill, Captain Lasky?" Liara asked when the elevator was a few floors down.
"Ah, well, the UNSC likes to impress," He tugged at his white uniform.
"Does that also include jumping in through your FTL wormhole system?" Tali added
"First off, no, we aren't going to reveal any information on that. Second, we'd like to remind the Council and any military command present how this thing will work." Lasky moved on to another subject. "You were discussing the Geth. How they achieved-"
"Before we get into that, we need more general intel on HIGHCOM," Liara interrupted. There was a point where they had enough. Liara and Tali did more to fill their end of the bargain. Now Lasky had to at least do some of his part. She felt relatively safe pushing him. While anyone else in the UNSC couldn't even be slightly pressed without extreme backlash, Lasky wasn't that type of person. He was reasonable and patient. He knew in order for this thing to work they had to be friendly.
Lasky nodded, looked down for a moment then to the outside scenery. They were heading closer to the bottom surface of the Presidium. The ongoing river and the riverside shops were clearly detailed. Closed for the moment, only to open in a couple hours. If they even open today, considering everything that's going on.
"Ironically enough, HIGHCOM's main issue is the lack of intel from your side." Lasky said.
"Isn't that one of the reasons you're here?"
"Yes, but that doesn't mean HIGHCOM's not impatient. Understand we just got out of our own war a few years ago. We already went through hell. Now it looks like we're being dragged in again. Something we didn't expect."
All of it was understandable. Little to no knowledge on the full scope of the actual situation. Liara couldn't change the nervous and fearful mindset. All she could hope for was that she could manipulate it to help reach their goal.
Something however didn't make sense however.
"I'm not sure if that is totally true, Captain, " Liara began. "I think the UNSC did expect this. Someone, somewhere in your High Command at least thought this. In a way, Captain, the Illusive Man was correct. You do fear the unknown, that's why you're building new ships at all. You feared this was all going to happen again. Maybe that's why you're taking so kindly to him then we would like."
Lasky observed a small coffee shop. It was where Liara met her 'mother' for the first time a couple months ago. "In a way. Some were built at the end of the war, but never saw action. The others built afterwards? It was more of an extreme precaution."
"And where does precaution stem from, Captain?"
The elevator hit the surface, passing the ground floor. The view changed to hundreds of passing decks and balconies of the internal Presidium Ward.
"We just never expected it to happen so soon… We're, ah, we're going pretty deep below the surface," Lasky replied.
Most likely, the fear also stemmed from whatever the Forerunners were. Liara wanted to bring it up, but if the UNSC wanted to keep it so secret, then the consequences for even uttering the word would be...catastrophic.
"We're heading to Council Security Chambers. If you think about it we're actually heading above the surface," Tali explained.
"Of course," Lasky replied. He placed his hands behind his back. He watched the neon orange and blue electronic lights pass by. There were a few people out at the moment. "HIGHCOM knows it's impossible to not get involved in this war. The debate now is whether to take a proactive or defensive strategic posture. With the presence of this Relay network across the galaxy, a few believe we should station our fleets to defend certain Relay links and lock down our section of the galaxy."
"...And leave the rest of us to die." Liara finished. Shadows danced on Lasky's uniform as they passed more lights.
Another reason why the UNSC could tolerate Cerberus. Moral pragmatism only to benefit their own survival. But even after so much, it still surprised Liara with how far they were willing to go. Even she had her limits. Sacrifice was one thing, one thing that overtime she knew all too well. But not like this. Not with this much at stake.
"Captain…" Liara was a bit hesitant. "I'm hoping this lack of empathy is more due to ignorance of the entire situation."
"Strategic necessity, Doctor." Lasky sullenly replied. " ...Our next strategic option, which both Lord Hood and I support, is a preemptive assault against the Reapers to prevent this threat from reaching our own homeworlds."
"But both solutions only concern you," Tali said, critical of Captain Lasky. Arms crossed.
Liara shook her head. It was logical for Tali to question this. Both solutions do only concern themselves. Liara knew what was right and wrong., and which side she was on, but there was a time to keep quiet. And in a delicate situation like this, this was the time.
Knowing Lasky, Liara couldn't simply interject. He'll try to defend himself. At least Tali knew she could only bring it up with him.
"The situation's new. But if billions of your people are being saved, do the motives really matter?"
"Actually, yes, they do," Tali replied.
"Tali…" Liara began, eyeing down.
"No. It does, Liara." Tali took a moment. She was trying to fight the nausea. "We need to know if you're actually with us. That you won't screw us over because of 'strategic priorities,' or become apathetic and try to abandon us when the war gets too tough. We need to know if you are actually in it."
Lasky remained silent. The elevator view changed to a long, curved ceiling. They were nearing their destination.
"Understand that I'm placed in a tough situation," Lasky said. "I do want to help you, but I also have to think of my own people. HIGHCOM is in a more difficult situation. Our people are our own priority. In the Great War, we lost a lot of people. We can't have that again."
Goddess… That's probably the moment when it really hit Liara. She realized and understood it before, but now… Shepard was right. Something new, nothing different. These were the exact situations Shepard and the Normandy crew had been dealing with for the past six months. Governments, civilizations, entire species, focused on their own survival, trying to convince them to stand as a whole galaxy against the Reapers.
Even the UNSC's unique situation where they weren't currently at war wasn't even new. The Salarians hadn't been engaged yet. The only difference was, Shepard failed to form a solid alliance when he prioritized the Krogan over them. After that, things fell apart. The Salarian government wouldn't support them save for the vast majority of STG and a few rogue fleets and ships.
Personally...Liara would've done otherwise. Delay the cure for the genophage, somehow trick the Krogan and get both sides to join. However, Shepard made the decision. It was his call. Liara would follow through
But what will happen here, they won't fail. She'd make sure of that
"It sounds like you're speaking for Commander Shepard." Lasky first replied.
"Well, I still follow his orders." Tali said.
Lasky understood. "Well, if you want moral involvement then, another section of HIGHCOM believes that we should get fully involved in this war out of pure ideological beliefs. The Systems Alliance, the secondary branch of Humanity…"
Oh, Goddess. "Full domination." Liara said. "Expansionism."
The elevator finally hit the bottom floor. It was the old C-SEC headquarters before Saren's attack. It was converted as an area for numerous multi-purpose rooms normally utilized to arrange under the book and shady political and diplomatic deals.. Liara had a few bugs here and there around the place. Usual and uninteresting events.
"But this is what HIGHCOM thinks." Lasky added "I'm hoping, like you, that'll change. I guess we'll see."
The elevator doors opened and he stepped off. He looked around the vast room with the high-rise ceiling. Streams of blue light and balconies built into the structure created a rather warm feeling.
"Now, my turn." Lasky said. He put on his naval cap. "What about those AIs?"