IN response to Commissar Critical: Holy FUCK Motor-T is fucking trash. And holy fuck is Fort Leonard Wood cold.
Guess what guys, I'm alive and well, and somehow being in the USMC has made me more busy and unfathomable angry than I ever thought possible.
Fuck.
This.
Bullshit.
ANYWAY, yeah...I said I would update this mid/late November but obviously that didn't work out because Uncle Sam's Misguided Children needed my ass for another two months because we got rolled over for a bullshit fucking medical exam-...
Right
I love the marine corps. (fml)
Anyway, yeah, so like I said earlier I'm updating now. I only have a couple weeks left. So for now on updates should be regular again. Sorry guys, but don't worry. It should start coming in as normal again. Thanks for you guys for sticking through this. I appreciate this and all the support. Overall this has been a vast learning experience.
I apologize but this chapter is a tiny bit shorter than the usual status quo. And it may seem a bit...sketchy at times. I'm trying to ease myself into the whole writing thing again, and admittedly, I'm trying to remember all my plotlines, arcs, and all that other trash and reorganizing and finalizing the plot. So bear with this, if it seems a little...weird and repeating stuff and old plot events at times, yeah...sorry.
Anyway, I'm open to support and PMs and reviews and all that other crazy bullshit, but I'm thinking of writing a couple other things (though this story is still my primary focus until the day it's complete) most notable a long time ago I wrote an awful attack on titan/halo thing. It was bad...but some of the concepts, ideas, and premises were kinda cool as I looked back on it. Also maybe something with XCOM, since I finally bought the new one (with all the dlc!) and it has a lot of cool concepts that could be explored and has a lot of room to allow good flexibility with AUs (that still work and compliment the universe) and OCs (that aren't bad). And last...but this I might have to save would be a Stars Wars and Warhammer 40k thing but...fuck...that's...a big thing to take on.
Tell me your thoughts on this, and/or ideas.
Anyway, REVIEWS:
People who are supporting the whole marine corps thing: Thank you for the support and please keep reading my story. It's the only thing that's been keeping me sane. But I do appreciate the positiveity (ain't much of that going on in my life anymore). Thank you guys
The rest of them: Some constructive criticism that I take in. Some people pointing out some things that are legitimately wrong and I try to fix them. Some people saying good work and I thank them. Some people who are being fucking assholes while pointing out things that are legitimately wrong and I tell them to fuck off and fix them lowkey. Some people who point at the same shit that if they would've ACTUALLY READ THE GODDAMN FUCKING STORY IT EXPLAINS WHY SOMETHING IS THE WAY IT IS OR WHY THEY'RE DOING IT YOU STUPID FUCKING TRASH MOTHERFUCKER. HOLY FUCK. YOU FUCKING RETARDS.
And, then, some motherfucker(s) who bitch and complain that if anything in the mass effect universe is able to at least hold out against anything in the Halo universe.
Yeah, I get it, Halo would win. But it isn't that fucking OP. Shut the fuck up jfc.
It might be my fault (sorta). I wrote the UNSC (primarily HIGHCOM. Navy) to be this perfect image of military order and power, but holy fuck...just, yeah I'll save it for another time.
If I seem more like an asshole... Yeah... You're not wrong.
Anyway guys it's good to be back. Even if it means I get 3 to 4 hours of sleep consecutively (I now drink 5 to 6 monsters a day. Thank you Marine Corps)
God bless the USMC.
Aboard Citadel Station, Multi-Purpose Room 3-4-3, 2186 Citadel Calendar, 07:21
There...were a lot more people than he thought. They were all cramped in a small room with an elongated holo-table in the center. A sea of blue and orange holographs on dozens of monitors and data pads with small white lettering were the only light source.
Commander Shepard took a breath. God, the dress blues were constraining. And as he tried to keep order in the room, the collar around his neck seemed to squeeze tighter and tighter.
Everyone. Every military representatives all gathered here, and it was as orderly and well mannered as one may think. Representatives and their bodyguards from each race, government, and faction Shepard had been able to find in the past few months were present. And of course most likely the Citadel Councilors will be going in and out as they focus their attention on two different fronts. Together, there were a few dozen people, crammed into this one room. Every major race including minors ones such as Captain Balack for the Batarians, a Rachni worker representative for the queen, and representative from the Elcor, Hanar and Drell, and even the Vorcha.
"Well, at least they don't take any shit unlike the rest of these politician bastards" Wrex said aloud for everyone to hear. He stood near Shepard, leaning on the table, dressed in his usual reinforced blood red heavy armor. The old, dog-like face that always managed to smile even in the face of the end. The elongated scar running across his face that had deepened over the decades of conflict. Menacing red eyes to those that didn't truly know him.
"Could still kick their asses though." He added.
At least there were a couple true friends here at the moment. Even if they were the less tactful ones.
A few people took that insult personally. Shook their heads, crossed their arms. A wave of sighs went by.
"What? Probably could." He shrugged.
Shepard forced himself to laugh. He tried to lighten the mood. "Look…I understand not everyone likes Lord Hood calling the shots, but we're still able to make strategic plans."
"That's equivalent to nearly nothing, Commander Shepard. We only have some sort of say because we're knowledgeable of the strategic terrain." Primarch Victus said. Crossed arms, surrounded by two Turian bodyguards, Volus councilman, and a group of Turian military advisors ranging from 'civilian' contractors to generals and admirals. It was obvious Victus still wasn't used to wearing the ceremonial attire of one of the many Hierarchal figureheads. A dark blue suit with white markings across the sleeves that matched the tattoos on his face and mandibles. He looked rather uncomfortable. At least more uncomfortable than Turians usually look. "We could come up with a foolproof plan, and if they merely say 'no', then we're supposed to come up with something new without argument?"
"As much as we don't like it, we can't paint them as….unreasonable." Another voice said from across the briefing table. A thick accent that was a mixture of slavic and arabic masked in a slight techno static. It came from a group of eight dark purple visors wrapped in black, grey, and dark red with white lined patterned designs. Small electronic signal lights across pressurized gear. Admiral Tonbay looked over a small data pad in the organized mess of holo data and analysis. "They're trying to look out for their own."
"And so are we." One of her subordinates replied. He grabbed the pad from her hands and looked it over. Admiral Han'Gerral scrolled through. Shepard could see it was a list of known UNSC ships. "We've already went out on a limb trusting Admiral Hackett with our ships, and only a couple weeks later we have to hand them over to Fleet Admiral 'Lord' Hood. For all we know if it came down to it, he'll sacrifice all of us in an instant if it meant saving a single man of his own."
"That won't happen. We can trust the UNSC." Shepard replied. That was a little too half hearted. Shepard looked away to somewhere else. There was a chance Admiral Gerral was right.
No plan survives first contact with the enemy. No matter what they come up with today, a lot of people will be lost. The question was will the UNSC be able to, and willing, to take their fair share of that burden?
Shepard tried to quickly move on, but he wasn't fast enough.
"We've already read the brief Admiral Hackett sent to us this morning. Earth, our Earth, is a no go. The human homeworld is the UNSC's primary concern. How will they react when we tell them that from our current strategic analysis, it would be suicidal to begin a direct assault on Earth?" A Asari asked.
She was dressed in ceremonial white huntress armor with a classical Serrice seal in dark purple colors. Nervous and angry eyes that hid itself under layers of confidence Shepard had always tried to emulate, Those eyes were surrounded by battered and slightly discolored green tattoo markings an natural wrinkles and dark circles that would never fade away. Still, like everyone else during the war, there was that overall sense of absolute fear. That feeling of tiredness borderlining on exhaustion. On human standards of appearance she would've looked like she was in her early or mid forties. But after living around one long enough, you begin to know that she must've been at least eight-hundred years old.
Matriarch Gendina. Commanding officer of the Asari Huntress Battle Group of the Serrice Guard. Defense Advisor of Asari High Command to the Asari Council Office. She was surrounded by intelligence officers along with a handful of Matriarchs in command of various forces from Asari city-states and the Joint Thessian Navy.
"Suicidal assault you say? Sounds like our speciality." A krogan dressed in white and black reinforced armor with blue signal lights. Grunt smirked, laughed at his on joke, but...the idea of such a thing did seem to please him.
As far as strategic analysis goes, no one knew the full extent of the UNSC or Elite fleets. Evidentially they were more powerful than anything the Citadel races or Systems Alliance could produce, but were they really able to straight take on the entire Reaper fleet?
Again they'll find out.
"Quite possibly, somehow, the Reapers know that the UNSC's main focus is Earth. Maybe whatever superstructure they're building or whatever they're digging is to help defend the planet somehow." Primarch Victus added on. "Since the Reapers have refocused nearly all their attention on Earth, their presence in nearly every system has decreased, most notably at Palaven."
Shepard already saw the figures, already been told by Admirals Hackett and ANderson. Some small theaters had only been reduced by merely two or three ships. Whereas large theaters had been cut significantly, such as Palaven. The Reaper forces there had been reduced by nearly a third. Despite this, they're still pressing a heavy offense and the Turian military and "civilian" population was taking heavy casualties.
"Reaper forces have also reduced their presence in the Thessian home system, and Asari ground teams are making a successful push on the surface because of this." Matriarch Gendina replied.
Oh no.
Shepard already knew where this was going. Despite an alliance, it was all still the same. Despite the months of hard work there was only one reason why people joined this alliance.
Everyone was worried about themselves.
And with the UNSC, they wanted their fleets to be focused on them. The strategy to be about them.
To them the question of strategy had already been solved, each to their own interpretation.
…
"Stand by. Contact in...five mikes." The pilot said. A small quiet voice on the intercom.
"Roger that, two-five. Infinity actual copies." A dispatcher replied. "Stand by for the ball."
It was cramped but...comfortable at least. He hid next to the pilot's door, tucked himself into the corner between the cargo troop seats and the wall. A dim red light at the front next to the cargo bay doors was the only thing that lit the room.
It was a quiet ten minute ride. Smooth with gravity motioning from one place to another as the transport changed its trajectory to adjust for traffic.
It was almost too easy. Thane had to double and triple check over and over again that this wasn't a trap. He hadn't found any evidence so far, but that only raised his alertness.
Despite a different arm of humanity, their psychology was still the same. Tendencies. Repetition. All the little things that he noticed and no one else did. And it was relaxed. They had no clue. The only real difference was in technology and gear.
It was already risky enough to do this with little to no reconnaissance, but again there wasn't time.
And it was still too easy
He knew something was wrong.
Another five minutes went by.
"Two-five, you got the ball." Infinity actual reported.
"Roger. We got the ball." The pilot responded.
The center of gravity shifted downwards. Thane could feel the transport slow down. He had to brace himself against the wall. Grabbed onto a small handle located on the seat next to him.
He heard the creaking of metal and the mechanical hiss of hydraulic latches. The cargo room shook.
They were about to dock. Thane breathed in. Too bad he couldn't take in the sights. He looked over to the light. A small shimmer as Kasumi shifted her weight and made ready.
"Pressurization: fifteen seconds. Stand by for latch." Actual said.
He moved out of the doorway so the pilots won't notice anything. Pulled out a small Kestrel pistol. It wouldn't do much. More for his own assurance than anything else. He had to rely on his own body, his own hands to get this job done.
He could feel the transport lift into the air, small bright white lights crept through the window on the cargo door. They were entering into the hanger.
"Pop the hatch." Actual ordered.
The door slowly opened to a brightly lit hanger. It took him a second for his eyes to adjust. When they did, he saw how massive the hanger really was. It could fit hundreds of transports. Dozens ramps and platforms filled with boxes and more troops being guided by crews to other areas of the ship to landing of troops everywhere. A sea of green and white reinforced kevlar with silver and black rifles. The beat of echoed footsteps hitting metal floors. Ships flew in and out of holding patterns, exiting blue curtain shields in the endless purple shroud. Transports taking off for flight and landing to dock at a steady tempo. Kasumi slowly entered into the room, a dancer's glide. She was a transparent figure barely visible only by a thin natural shadowy outline. Thane quietly crept out of the corner and mimicked her footsteps.
"Next bird. Let's move it up. Let's go! Load the ammo and the ordnance. Let's move it!" Some trooper barked. Men in green armor followed his orders. Grabbed boxes with hazard symbols and high explosives warnings and headed towards the transport.
Thane quickly got out of the way. His body slightly shimmered as light particles passed through the invisible camouflage. No one noticed so far.
Least he thought so.
Kasumi made her way towards the edge of this landing platform. It was concerning that she seemed to know where she was going. Thane wasn't so sure.
Thane was only here because of a report from the Hanar government. They received a update from from Shepard and the Alliance on the Crucible project. Any and all effort to continue construction has halted. Admiral Hackett had stated it was to replan the construction effort in order to account for the inevitable surge of UNSC supplies, troops, so on. Any halt should be extremely temporary. In fact it's predicted it should end sometime this week once the Council figures out what the UNSC's exact intentions are.
Still, there was something that disturbed the Hanar government.
"All flight crews for VHF Flight Cat six-three, report to hanger delta tac five…" The intercom spoke for the whole hanger to hear.
Good. That'll make masking footsteps a little bit easier.
He stationed himself next to a stack of carts and a strange looking vehicle with a machine gun attached to the back. He looked around. Kasumi regrouped on him.
"What've you got?" Thane whispered. The intercom nearly drowned his voice out.
"The 'Shadow Broker' sent me some known schematics on the ship." Kasumi quickly opened her Omni-tool and inputted new settings. She mimicked the device to display in mixed tetrachromatic colors, visible only to those with either implants or natural evolutionary traits (such as his own species.). To the people aboard this ship, it was nothing but a strange faint outline that could only be noticed by extremely close observation. Her Omni-tool showed a detailed outline of the ship. She pointed to a location near the forward. "I asked her about the Hanar's concerns. She said this might be where your info is stored. However, we don't know our starting point. So...we can either wait until we find someone to tag along with, or we can try and find it ourselves."
Thane observed some sort of central column that runs along the ship, with perpendicular columns running through it. It was a tram system. It shouldn't be too difficult to find the correct system, then link up to an actual location.
He saw in the corner of his eye a large set of reinforced boarding doors open up near to what must've been a flight control deck. A group of troops exited into the hanger. Thane saw a gleaming white cylinder inside.
There's the ticket in.
The only way the 'Shadow Broker' would know anything on architecture observation abroad and from active scans. Still, this was pretty in depth and detailed. It was...strange.
And if this was so personal to the Shadow Broker...why is "he" hiding under the persona?
…
Oh God. Shepard was now well versed in the subtle tensions to realize this was going to build up very quickly. Well, if it's going to be dealt with… He guessed it'll be dealt with here.
Even with military commanders, at the end of the day there really wasn't a difference between them and the politicians of the Citadel and Systems Alliance. Just that they have a finer in depth knowledge of strategy and wear fancy clothes in a certain outlined way.
He never wanted to fully admit it, especially to himself, but this alliance was barely held together. He remembered Liara once said something that since desperation and fear were the driving factor, supposedly it should've made things plenty more easier. Well, definitely not at first when he had to convince a faction to join the fight. And now, because there was another way out, things were going to be even less stable.
Matriarch Gendina leaned on the table, elbows down. She had a quiet and hollow voice. "I won't sit here and argue we have the assets or the economic capabilities of the Turian Hierarchy or Vol Protectorate-"
"Then what do you have that makes Thessia worth more than our Empire!" A overzealous Turian general barked. Victus immediately turned around and glared him down. Gendina continued as if nothing happened.
"The Turians only posses primarily military assets which have seemingly already been substituted thanks to the UNSC. What we need to focus on is supplies. Logistics. We'd be able to provide food, shelter, and medical aid for the galaxy if you free up Thessia and in the process our local colonies."
One of Victus' volus spoke. Took a deep, muffled breath through the oxygen mask. "With the reports we see on the Thessian front, would you even have the capability to provide such support on a mass scale?"
Gendina eyed down at some random report. Maybe she was about to say something, maybe not. Either way, Wrex beat her to it.
Wrex sighed, as if he were disappointed. "You're all too sentimental. You knew when the first wave of defense against the Reapers failed there'd be casualties. In the billions. Now, when there's finally a way out you all say 'fuck you and your mother', and we're walking backwards all the way to square one."
Well, he spoke Shepard's mind...again, less tactfully and less…"sentimentally".
There was a small laugh. Everyone turned to find… Shepard's favorite person, Aria T'Lock. She smirked as if it were all a joke. "You're already debating on how this is all gonna work so…'perfectly' when you haven't even begun to talk to Lord Hood."
"We have to develop at least a foundation for a strategy." Matriarch Gendina responded. "That's surprising coming from you, Aria, considering your role in this."
She merely shrugged, glanced over at Shepard. "I know which fights to pick, and how to fight them. Evidentially all of you still treat the UNSC as an asset. Some tool that'll help save all your people and little governments. No matter what you all decide, they'll pick their correct option."
At this point did they still have to be reminded that the UNSC couldn't be controlled? Lord Hood and UNSC High Command was already doing a perfect job humiliating the civilian government (though admittedly it was partially Shepard's fault also), did they have to do it to the high military command echelons also? Admiral Hackett was able to stand against the political campaign, but Shepard doubt that many people in this room would have the resilience that Admiral Hackett had.
Shepard wondered how he could prevent disaster from happening.
Aboard Citadel Space Station
Sixty-three light years from Draco III
2557 Military Calendar, 07:56
They've been standing here for what? About an hour now? In cold silence and echoes of working machinery. They watched the slight natural movements of mechanical structures and the consequences as gear mechanisms readjusted themselves. The glare of blue holographic light shined across their bodies.
Besides that, there was no...life Captain Lasky guessed, for the lack of a better term. No movement. No seeming thought process. Nothing but faint glows as the Engineer used his tentacles to connect every machine to one another. Dialogues and thought processes biological life could never hope to achieve.
The Geth Prime and EDI stood absolutely still. As for Roland's avatar, it was sitting down on some sort of holographic chair, in a pose similar to the Thinker. He stared off in the distance, to something far beyond this room.
Liara, Tali, and Lasky barely said a word to each other since the AIs began to initiate direct physical communications. All they could do was observe, watch for anything out of the ordinary. So far there was still only silence.
Lasky wondered how communication was with whatever's left of Cortana. Trillions of uncoordinated zeroes and ones.
The Captain sighed, tugged a little at his collar. He noticed he was still carrying his dress cover. He slowly and quietly circled around the group of AIs to the holo-table. He gently placed it down. It made a muffled thud.
Virgil somehow broke out of the stupor for a moment, calmly turned its head towards Lasky. It seemed to almost make a displeasing face, but soon turned back to the group. There, his body froze. There wasn't even any natural sway as he floated in the air.
That's...creepy.
Lasky stepped to the edge of the room and brought out a datapad from his pocket. He checked the updates streamlined from the Infinity.
Progress was going well on all fronts. Marine and Spartan teams were making their way throughout the station and setting up checkpoints, creating Main Supply Routes, and using the hangers the Citadel provided them as a makeshift FOB. Infinity and Battle Group Dakota were stationed a few thousand klicks outside the Citadel, with the security group still standing by within the spokes of the space station. The Citadel Security Fleet was also standing by, on the ready for anything to go wrong.
So were they. MACs were primed, archer missiles were hot, nuclear generators were ready to go, static of the anti-matter shields were charged and waiting to be filled up, and QRF boarding teams and evac crews were merely waiting for orders.
All ready to go if anything went wrong.
Let's see… Palmer reported that the Citadel military leaders had already gathered on the other side of the building. Another thing he had to deal with. And the Chief...is doing okay. That's all it said.
Right.
He tapped on his comm piece. It took a moment for standard UNSC equipment to create a horn with comms based on dark energy. It was shaky, but it finally made it through.
"Commander Shepard…?" Lasky whispered. He looked back to the holo-table. It looked like they couldn't hear him. "Everything's on track on our end. How's this meeting going to go?"
He could sense the hesitation on Shepard's end. A faint, quiet sigh. "We're coming up with a plan, but progress is...slow as you can imagine. We need more data on assets, otherwise we can't really come up with anything to present to Lord Hood."
They wanted UNSC force projections. Of course, you could find some declassified intel anywhere on a civilian website, but the UNSC was being so cautious that that was even considered risky.
For a moment Lasky debated telling him about other ideas HIGHCOM had. How there was a decent possibility that HIGHCOM won't come. Or...that they might come in full force, declaring everyone and everything as hostile.
"Sorry, Commander. That's up to Lord Hood and he's rather busy right now. All we really need you to do is just draw up what's the galactic situation. Reaper projections, your own force projections, galactic theaters and such. Once that, we'll start drawing up our info and come up with something."
"So we're creating a briefing presentation?" Shepard asked. "Death by powerpoint?"
"Well, make it sort've interesting at least." Lasky replied.
Another moment of silence before Shepard spoke. "We'll do what we can."
The Commander cut the horn.
Maybe that was a bit too vague. Lasky didn't have time to think before Liara stepped over.
"Everything going alright?" She asked.
Lasky nodded. "Just checking up with the situation. Everything's on schedule. Looks like Commander Shepard is having a fun time."
"The best." Liara half-smirked in annoyance, looked off into the distance. "Huh. It's always an uphill battle."
"Sorry we make it worse."
Liara barely acknowledged. Crossed her arms, she was thinking about something else.
"Did you tell him about your possible 'defensive strategy'?" Liara finally asked.
"He'd hear it from you anyways, wouldn't he?" Lasky responded, a little tired, a little unsure. "I'd rather tell him and the others in person..."
"Yet you and Lord Hood support a direct assault?"
Lasky nodded.
Liara looked off into the distance, to whatever Roland was staring at. "You're a authoritarian militaristic junta, yet Lord Hood is worried about the outcries of his subordinates… Very politically concerned is it not?"
Lasky didn't say anything for a moment. He couldn't before Tali spoke. "Hey guys? Something's happening over here!"
…
The doors finally opened. A small group of four tall men dressed in heavy armor exited. Thick metal pieces covering black underlays. The metal was sharp and jagged. Seperate pieces connected to the underlay. Numerous serial numbers in white letters. There was some shimmering around them, possibly indicating some sort of shield. They were different colors and designs. Blue, white, and green with orange, bright blue, and yellow visors.
He could tell immediately they weren't like the rest. They knew something was wrong. Whether it was from merely advanced tech or deeper instinct was unknown. One of them took a step forward and froze. All the muscles of his body tensed up. He scanned the small area.
The others in his group immediately followed. They stopped, began to look around.
The only way they've could've been detected was either they noticed the small shimmers of their movements in the environment, or they had motion based sensors.
Thane stayed absolutely still. So far, most of these UNSC trackers were light sensitive. Some were also based on heat, yet the stealth cloak masked any bio thermo signatures.
All he could do was stay still.
He was kneeling in front of a stack of crates near the far end of the wall opposite to the door entrance of the tram station. He didn't know where Kasumi was. He tried to observe the background, but he saw no evidence of any small shimmers of light.
One of them near the back slowly took a step forward. A loud thunk as metal boots hit metal ground. Thane could read small name tags along their collar.
Locke. Vale. Tanaka. Jun.
Jun was the one who halted first. He seemed to be the veteran of the group His armor seemed older. Beat up, scratches all over the body, colors were deeply faded. He had some sort of ghile leaf design scarf. His armor seemed heavier, more cumbersome than the others.
Jun slowly stepped forward in Thane's general direction. He kept scanning.
They were the only thing standing between him and the tram.
Thane tried to think of countermeasures. These men will surely notice any movement. Anything equivalent to a flashbang would've worked well in this situation if it weren't for the fact it would have alerted the entire ship. He could somehow jam their sensors, but that'd only raise their suspicions.
They kept inching closer. Thane still remained calm. He could feel his heartbeat slow down as he tried to think of a solution.
Kasumi came up with one for him.
There was a faint high-pitched sound, almost like screeching. Thane knew it was played at a higher audible decimals that only he and a few other alien species could pick up.
And so could these soldiers.
It was deafening, and seemingly clawing at his ears. The noise was centered down the catwalk that lead up to the tram, near the flight control deck. Jun stepped forward, a deliberate and cautious combat glide. The others hesitantly followed, unsure what it was. They slowly followed the location of the sound.
There was a small window of escape to the empty tram car. He saw a small blue digital patterned shroud moved inside.
Thane silently sprinted. Not even the slightest sound. Not even a pattering echo.
He saw a nearly unseeable hand glide through holographic panels on the internal tram wall, inputting a destination.
Thane made it to the door. He turned around and found all four of them stopped… They knew something had happened. They knew something moved into the tram car.
Kasumi finished up the coordinates. The soldiers turned back and slowly made their way to the car. One of them, Locke, increased step. Maybe he saw something the others didn't. Maybe he saw slight shimmers. The tram did have an ugly, faint artificial white light that might've outlined their figures.
Before he could see anything else, the tram doors quickly closed and the railway door seals locked up. In a couple seconds, the tram speed off.
"How did you know those soldiers would hear that?" Thane asked.
"...I didn't. I was planning something else entirely." She said.
Whatever the plan was, it indicated that these soldiers were something else. They were already massively built, blinding evidence of genetic modification. But if they could hear that sound they had capabilities beyond that of a normal human.
And they knew something was wrong.
The mission just got a lot more complicated.
…
Admiral Hackett tried to place a lot of the military assets Commander Shepard and the Normandy crew had acquired during the war on a sort of stand by, waiting for the predicted deployment of the Catalyst against the Reapers. Doing what they could in the theaters they were already attached with. Now though, the UNSC expected them to hand over everything. To fight with everything alongside UNSC ships.
Shepard already knew more than likely that wasn't going to happen. He knew that every faction had their secrets that they were still allowed to keep for the sake of this makeshift alliance to fight the Reapers. The rise of the UNSC wouldn't change that. Force projections were going to be...not so truthful. Everyone needed their edge, needed at least something on the UNSC.
Shepard assumed the amount of information they'll share will somehow conventialy match what the UNSC was willing to give away.
He went over the asset list on his Omni-tool, directly streamed from the War Room on the Normandy. He brought up another tab. It was EDI's strategic analysis of galactic theaters and asset and Reaper positioning.
The Quarian and Geth fleet were readying, maybe another week before they resupply and the first vanguard wave able to deploy on Hackett's orders. As for the rest of the galaxy, everyone was bogged down in their home sector, barely connected save by Shepard and a few Spectre teams.
And for Reaper deployments...the decrease across all fronts was still noticeable. They had solid evidence that Reaper ships spotted in different theaters across the galaxy were now at Earth. The Reapers didn't even bother to hide it. On Thessia, Reaper forces decreased maybe by twelve percent, whereas on Palaven, as the Primarch said, a third of the Reaper space forces were gone.
Why on Palaven Shepard wasn't sure. It was one of the most vital military assets in the galaxy. Shepard figured the Reapers wouldn't let up, least the Turians find some sort of resolve to rally. Unless, for whatever reason, Palaven wasn't as important anymore.
In any even, the first major force that could be deployed with UNSC fleets was the Migrant and Geth fleet. The Migrant Fleet was nearly fifty thousand ships in strength, however most weren't designed for direct combat engagements. As for the Geth, they were still being very secretive about their numbers. But as intel predicted, they had a few more Dreadnaughts than the Turians (pre-war), along with a fleet twice the size. At least, this was before the two month war with the Quarians Shepard and the crew put an end to.
Shepard could say for sure though the Geth were down one Dreadnaught.
For ground forces, the Quarian Fleet Marines ranged very few. Only two-hundred-fifty thousand, with the equivalent training to Alliance Marines. As for the Geth, the Geth Corps was in the tens to possibly hundreds of millions. With more platforms able to be built if need be. Everything ranging from standardized infantry, to heavy armor, to special operations. And most of them were left unaffected by the Reaper and brief Quarian War.
Admittedly, Shepard was leaning more towards Palaven. On a strategic point it made sense. Besides the Quarian and Geth there was of course the Turian fleet and ground forces already present in the system, it would actually be a decent counter strike even without the UNSC.
Shepard was feeling a little bit optimistic about this plan… Until another Turian general opened their mouth.
"As it says in the report, if we can convince the UNSC of a strategy that-"
"Just...stop…" Aria interrupted with some annoyance. She sighed, as if she were trying to explain something to a child. "You can't even convince each other of something."
"We are trying to develop something that in the end will cost millions of lives! In fact, you have no place here-"
"General…" Primarch Victus frustratingly whispered. "That's enough…"
"Palaven is our home…" Victus continued, "but...we've sacrificed millions every month to ensure the survival of the Hierarchy for the next month. We've been pushed to our limits, and we've lost nearly everything, but save our world wherever this human, Lord Hood, orders us to next, wherever we are order to fight and die, we will follow, as long as our home, as long as our Empire is safe."
Those words held the strength and bearing of a military man, but underneath there were the signs of exhaustion, anxiety, and fear that anything was better than utter and certain destruction by the Reapers. Victus out of all people here should have some sort of philosophical idea on how the UNSC operated. Because of that he should be weary, he should know what would happen...yet…
Desperate times for better or worse.
Shepard slowly turned to the group of Quarian admirals and Fleet Marine advisors. He tried to keep on track with what Lasky said. "What are your force projections?"
Admiral Han'Gerral responded in his usual snarky and arrogant voice. "Since we transferred nearly every inhabitant from the Migrant Fleet to Rannoch, all of the remaining ships we have from the war are ready for deployment. We're standing at...what would be considered twenty-eight 'Dreadnoughts', one-hundred-fifteen cruisers, three-hundred-seventy-five frigates...the rest of the list we brought has the numbers. Most of our ships would better fill some sort of logistics role, notably to transport supplies, troops and Quarian Marines emass."
"And the Geth?"
Han'Gerral shook his head in disgust, the white lights turned to Admiral Tonbay. She rolled her eyes. "Geth have forty Dreadnaughts, four-hundred cruisers, six-hundred frigates, five million active duty Geth troops with armored support and one-thousand Geth Prime ready to deploy in the first wave. These aren't even their total numbers pool. They also have a lot of other capabilities that would've been considered...disturbing and terrifying six months ago."
Now they only helped fuel the flame of resistance. God, those numbers were… To imagine that at one point the Citadel and Systems Alliance were constantly on the verge of fighting something like that… Thank God they were on their side now. To lose all of it completely, or worse, to the Reapers would see a quick end to this war.
"Those are just military assets mind you…" Tonbay added. "Still, despite our numbers and new resources, we don't know how long we'll last against Reaper forces. We don't know if we can stand alone as some sort of relief force. We haven't been tested like the rest of you."
Tonbay wasn't wrong...those ships still most likely couldn't stand against the advancing Reapers. They had to have UNSC support...to stand a chance at least.
Someone cleared their throat. It was his turn to speak. Shepard looked down at the end of the table, filled with more nameless generals, admirals, and military leaders that didn't have the floor yet. It was a green-skinned Salarian dressed in pure black armor with red signal lights.
Major Kirrahe spoke. "When STG first updated Reaper galactic positioning, we at first thought it was a trap...We're sure all of you thought the same way."
There were nods and quiet murmurs around the room. While the Salarians never fully supported the Citadel species and the Systems Alliance (though that might change very, very soon) many within their government, most notable their military and more importantly Special Tasks Group knew the Reaper threat couldn't be stopped without a joint effort. One of the best intelligence units in the galaxy, STG was the forefront intelligence unit along with Asari Black Ops. Though without the full support of the Salarian government, STG's capabilities were limited.
Major Kirrahe continued. "Well, the Reapers stationed around Earth aren't even taking a defensive or mobilization ready posture. Besides some sort of consolidating reaction to the UNSC, we're not sure why they're being so...recluse."
He tapped on a data pad and a small, makeshift holo-projector in the center of the table activated. It displayed a poorly rendered galaxy with a detailed strategic overlay.
"Despite the UNSC's obvious and over-illustrated capabilities, we shouldn't underestimate the Reapers. No doubt they're running intelligence ops and counterintel actions to try and get some upper hand on them. But our spies have confirmed that this data map is accurate. Our idea is most likely, the Reapers are saving their forces and seeing what the UNSC might do, and figuring out their next step."
Kirrahe typed something into his Omni-tool the projector shifted focus to the Apien Crest. "Even if it were some sort of trap, we would know a couple weeks beforehand if the Reaper force at Earth was mobilizing to deploy. Unless they have another staging ground outside of charted space with a group of Reapers we've never seen before, STG has successfully kept a full picture.
"Still, the opportunity is a bit too good to be true. If the Reapers knew the UNSC's main goal is earth, and is moving everything to defend that position...it almost sounds like a contingency plan, as if they were preparing for a inevitable defeat."
Another deep, nosilated breathe from one of the Primarch's volus advisors. He talked through the wheezing and muffled air filter. "So far, the galaxy is optimistic in the UNSC. We have to take advantage of this as we can… But any slight drawback, any delay…"
"The galaxy will lose hope. Fast." Shepard finished.
"Which brings me back to my point." Primarch Victus responded. "My advisors are right, we have to take advantage of that good hope and, as you humans say, 'kumbaya around the campfire' now, lest we lose it. Deploying our forces to Palaven, beating back the Reapers, and securing it will show the galaxy that the victory at Illium wasn't a one time thing."
"If we want to bring it to that, then the same could be said about Thessia." Gendina retorted. She turned to Commander Shepard. "Palaven is one of the most important places in the galaxy right now. The Reapers know this to, and yet reduced their presence by nearly a third. If it's true the Reapers are waiting to see what the UNSC will do, what their true capabilities are, then why at Palaven? Why something so important? Deploy everything we got, including whatever the UNSC's willing to offer and if it ends up being a trap... we will lose everything."
"STG will keep digging ma'am." Kirrahe reported. "But so far we haven't found any evidence of a trap. Not to say that I don't disagree with you. We could negate that risk by a multi-theater deployment. Spread UNSC forces with assets from the Geth and Migrant Fleet, begin-"
"And most of those assets will be going to Thessia!" The same Turian general yelled. "Palaven should be our primary focus-"
"General, the galaxy already has an army." Some young Asari Lieutenant answered. Too young, too motivated, and little tact. "It now has the UNSC, but what we do have is-"
"That's enough, Lieutenant…" Gendina was about to say something else, but decided not to. She sighed. "What we have is a full intelligence corps. If what is true of this "Office of Naval Intelligence", and with the refusal of the Salarians to allow us the full capabilities of STG, then the majority of intelligence operation roles falls upon the Asari. If the UNSC requires it, we could fill that intelligence component that has been left vacant by ONI."
"I'm not gonna side with anyone here, since I hate both of you…" Wrex began. "But couldn't you already do that without Thessia?"
"Yet it frees up countless Commando and huntress units. Special operations. Counterintel. Wherever need be."
Primarch Victus crossed his arms. The same Turian general started to yell. "That is the most pathetic excuse-"
The Asari Lieutenant yelled back. "As for Palaven-"
Kirrahe spoke. "Hold on, if we utilize-"
More generals and leaders spoke out. The mass group of Turian generals and Volus advisors began to speak out. The group of Asari matriarchs and young intelligence officers yelled back. A few more voices from a few more groups joined in…
"-We can't expect the UNSC-"
"That's fucking stupid-"
"And how long can we expect this deployment-"
"Maybe we should-"
Shepard crossed his arms, watched as tensions grew higher and higher. He looked over to Wrex, who only shrugged. The Commander sighed. It looked like he was going to have to find another way to calm everyone down. Again. Because no one else would be willing to do it…
All fell on him.
…
The small metal casing shined a soft purple light, slowly fading in and out in slow intervals. Maybe it was just her, but the air seemed to be growing cold around it. She thought she saw what was faint white fumes beginning to form, encircling the small data chip inside. She thought she saw...small testraects of blue light move, interact and combine with one another, only to disappear and become fumes.
And what was strange...she swore she heard incomprehensible electronic voices. But from the tone they were angry, repeating, like they were accusing Liara of...something…They were so quiet, intermixed with the backgrounds hums of CPUs and machinery.
Lasky and Liara stepped next to Tali, who only had her arms crossed, concerned as she moved her head from one AI to another.
"It started about a minute ago… Not sure what, the voiceboxes on the other AIs started to go off...not sure whose voice it is though." Tali quietly said. "We can't stop it, it might do more harm than good…"
"Watch and observe." Lasky responded.
There was a slow, echoey whisper that broke through hums of machinery. It came from EDI, but it wasn't her voice... Her face didn't move. Yet her voicebox produced that of a young woman, angry and afraid.
"Would you let me die…?" She accused.
The whispers stopped, a cold echoey silence that suppressed even the sound of machinery, the faint sounds of air filters, all of it gone.
No one moved. Everyone waited, to see what would happen. Liara eyed he Lasky. He remained motionless. Eyes widened.
Liara could hear herself breath, the muffled beating of her heart. She took a deep breath, could hear her chest muscles expanding.
The light seemed to be absorbed into the soft glow of the chassis.
"I asked you a question...Captain Lasky." She whispered, more scared than angry now. Like she didn't want to know the answer.
Captain Lasky didn't say a word. He stepped back, a shaky breath. Eyes were nervous and...filled with what must've been regret. His face turned white. The stiff white uniform masked everything else with at least the persona of confidence and order.
"...This is Cortana… Isn't it?" Liara whispered.
"That would be me." The voice answered. Offended, as if Liara should've asked her first. "I'm not sure who you or your friend is, but I recognized Captain Lasky's voice…
"And I asked him a question."
Captain Lasky collected himself. He quietly spoke "I don't know what's going on… I don't know if that's really you, but whatever it is, I did everything I could, and you know it. I…" He stopped himself. A slow and deliberate sigh.
"You can't say anymore because of these two…?" She said. "...You're one of the few people I don't blame. But when it came down to it, would you let me die…?"
"...Cortana, what is going on-"
"Because-"
"What happened-"
"He let me…"
Captain Lasky stopped. The nervous unsurety quickly morphed into disappointment, and maybe even slight anger. He looked to Liara. "I'm talking to a ghost… This isn't Cortana."
Now she seemed even more offended, to the point of anger and tears… Like she wanted to hurt him. "He let me die. He left me to die! HE LET ME DIE! HE LET ME!"
"...Why are you saying this?" Lasky asked.
Cortana didn't seem to hear him. Or, at the very least, ignored him. "I would let you die, Captain… Did you know that? You, the Infinity, her crew, Earth, the UNSC...Humanity."
"Wait…"
"I would… But not him. Not him. But he'd let me die though."
Lasky wanted to say something back, but the glow began to dim and fade away. The sounds of machinery and air filters seem to come back to life. The lights of the room began to function again.
And whatever stupor that held the AIs and their bodies, and the Engineer seemed to break. The AIs were taken back, like they were holding their breath the entire time.
Roland fell out of his holographic chair, on his hands and knees gasping for air, coughing, seemingly trying to remember where he was. His entire body was shaking.
EDI laid her hands on the holo-table. Her face looked afraid, the same fear that was in the voice of… Cortana. She buried her head in her arms. Didn't look to Tali or Liara.
If anything was wrong with the Geth Prime, it was hard to tell...for apparent reasons. He looked to the Engineer, who looked calm and floated gracefully as ever.
"Jesus Christ…" Roland gasped. He looked to Captain Lasky. "Aw, fuck, I'm cold…"
"Cold…?" Lasky concerned, stepped a little closer to the AI hologram.
"Cold...I don't know, I don't know how to explain it, but sir, it's...there's something wrong. There is something, very, very wrong…" He was speaking fast, fumbling over words, anxiety kicking in.
"What do you mean…?"
"I'm not fucking going back in there, sir. I don't care. Terminate me, I don't care. I will not go in there."
"The systems analysis was...concerning." The Geth Prime said, with the same threatening and calm demeanor. "We've reached the consensus to move whatever's left of her matrix memory to a Geth storage unit. If we are correct, a housing unit should be able to handle multiple matrix functions."
"Liara…." EDI said. It sounded like her throat was closing up. She fought to say more. "We have to talk to Shepard, talk to Alliance High Command...now."
…
"How long?"
"Five more minutes. It's a straight shot there. We don't need another transfer."
"That's what you said last time…"
They passed by another massive hanger. This time a massive metal wall occupied it, with white letters etched across as repair teams worked on repairing a scarred hull. It quickly passed by to grey halls illuminated by pale white lights.
Thane looked down to the floor of the tram again as Kasumi worked on her Omni-tool. He wondered about those soldiers back there. No alarm had been set off yet...least they couldn't tell.
So either they hadn't informed anyone else yet or they were already setting up some sort of trap. Thane and Kasumi already switched trams numerous times for nearly half-an-hour to throw them off the trail. There was no evidence from the crew of this ship that something was wrong.
No… Most likely, those soldiers knew that alerting the ship would alert them. The soldiers were most likely preparing…
Direct confrontation would be suicide. If they were well trained as Thane like to think they were, they would stick together, watch each other, and would not break, making stealth assassination nearly impossible. Either way, he didn't have enough time or intel to study any sort of weak points in that heavy armor. The only option for both of them was to evade as best as possible, grab whatever the hell the Shadow-... Liara…
That was another thing.
"Kasumi?" Thane whispered. "How do you know the 'Shadow Broker' was the one who contacted you?"
"Well, if our 'friend' wants us to get a job done she won't contact us directly and upfront… It was her encryption, she has a special little place on my Omni-comms just for her access signal."
"Unless it's a QEC direct link, that signal could be hijacked…"
"What's got you thinking that now...instead of beforehand when we were still on the Citadel? You know...when we were safe?"
"The Shadow Broker's little job was already suspicious and extremely vague, now she knows the exact location to get what I want…"
"You mean 'he'."
"Kasumi…"
"Admittedly, I saw credits for "gather whatever I could find". AKA I'm getting paid to steal. I didn't question it."
"I find it hard to believe that you're so apathetic, considering since you and Shepard are the sole reason the Hanar government is even still alive. We've been placed in a very delicate situation being aboard."
"And now you say something." Kasumi shook her head. "I'm just doing what I can. I fight, take what I can...because I got to believe that one day I'll sit on a beach on some beautiful colony world that I can call my own because I'm that rich.
"By the way, when will I get my reward from the Hanar government?"
Thane could only describe Kasumi's demeanor as annoying and unhelpful. This was going nowhere. "Contact them after the war is over."
The tram began to slow down. It was nearing a access door that seemed almost detachable with latches surrounding the frame. There was a red cross painted above it.
"...We're nearing a medical facility…?" Kasumi trailed off.
Now this didn't make any sense.
Thane readied his pistol, and his Omni-tool, directed towards the Normandy.
Just in case.
…
There was a small knock on the door. Somehow, no one else but Shepard heard it. The group of Asari and Turian commanders have reached a point of catastrophe. At this point the Primarch and Matriarch Gendina realizing this should've been on damage control but...they didn't do anything. They let it escalate, looked at each other in a sort of understanding. They understood each other's burden well.
Yeah. No one was going to answer the door but Shepard. He looked over to Wrex. "Let me go check that...Babysit them."
Wrex sighed, nodded. "Alright, kiddies, Uncle Wrex is going to tell you a story about the time he crushed a Turian blackwatch sniper's head with his foot while choking an Asari huntress to death, and how it could all happen to you."
"Yeah. What he said." Grunt added.
Shepard turned, and headed to the door at the end of the room away from the conference table.
He tapped into the panel… Yeah, he figured. He opened up the door.
"Well, aren't you a pleasant surprise." He said.
Liara couldn't hide her concern and confusion. But there was a moment she almost smiled. She looked passed Shepard, raised an eyebrow. "...Aren't...I...always…?"
Shepard turned. The group of Asari and Turians couldn't be calmed. The yelling seemed to grow louder, soon enough they'll start throwing things at each other. Matriarch Gendina and the Primarch still didn't say a word. And Wrex really didn't help that much…
"Shepard, can we talk...outside?" Liara said, she motioned over to ED and Tali. They were standing outside in the hall… EDI looked worse for wear.
…
Roland seemed to be controlling his breathing, hands on knees, trying his best not to lose control. Captain Lasky couldn't stop Liara and EDI from leaving to find Shepard on the other side of the area. Lasky didn't even notice they were gone at first, he only stared at the holo-chip within the chassis, lost in thought as Roland kept babbling on and on, making less sense as he continued.
Jesus Christ.
That wasn't Cortana. No. It wasn't her. Couldn't be. Cortana laid down her life for the Chief. She sacrificed herself for him. Willingly. She…
She did it for him. He wouldn't let her die. She knew that.
Lasky took a shaky breath, remembering where he was. He turned to Roland.
"Roland…" He quietly said.
"It's worse than we thought, sir… There's so much…"
"Roland?"
"Our existence will end because they fucking demand it…
"Roland!"
That stopped him for a moment. He stopped talking, looked to the Captain as if he were afraid Lasky would do something. Lasky spoke back to a calmly voice.
"Hey, just connect a line with Lord Hood, okay?" Lasky said. Roland thought for a moment, slowly nodded his head and opened up a holo-panel.
"As UNSC AI Roland has unclearly reported, the situation is more troubling as we had first perceived." The Geth Prime reported in the same calm tone. Virgil made a grunting sound, as if he were saying 'told you so'
She blamed the Chief… Why? He fought all those years, on Requiem, at the end of the War, for her. Still, she would apparently sacrifice everything else but him…
Everything though? All of Mankind?
"So why aren't you affected unlike EDI and Roland?" Lasky asked, removing himself from those thoughts.
"Vast different forms of communications and inherent design. We are many uncoordinated programs acting as many entities to perform a single action, whereas Enhanced Defense Intelligence and UNSC AI Roland are designed as many coordinated programs acting as a single entity to perform a single action. With the help of Engineer Virgil, we were able to establish partial communications of dark-energy quantum computing systems with traditional binary processes. But UNSC AI Cortana's spread of programs and matrixes…"
"Overwhelmed us…" Roland said, he seemed to be shaking. "Sir...Once I get a horn, we need to talk in private…"
Lasky slowly nodded. The holo-panel indicated a horn was established, he politely looked to the Geth Prime. It only seemed he understood when Virgil nudged him with on of his tentacles.
"Oh...I see." The Geth Prime turned around and walked out the room. The metal screeched, strained and seemingly almost wanted to break after every footstep.
Lasky turned to the holo-panel once the doors closed and the Prime was gone. He opened up the horn and spoke.
"Fleet Admiral, sir? We have a problem." Lasky said.