So I know it has been a while. And for that I apologize.
Basically I had Annual Training deployment which lasted a whole month, then I caught writer's block (no motivation whatsoever). That and frankly I've been trying to relax since it's been a chaotic year.
So sorry about that.
Idk, this chapter may not be very good. It might be a bit too jumpy and clunky...
HOWEVER GOOD NEWS. THERE'S ACTUALLY TWO CHAPTERS READY. So I split this into two chapters. They're both ready. I'm going to release the next one...in a couple days, or hell a few hours if I get impatient. Who knows? But yeah... essentially I think a big part is I lost motivation to write these long ass political talks and probably like the rest of ya'll just want to get to the action. So the next two chapters will be the last ones before we finally get into a fucking fioght.
Anyway here's some review responses.
John and Guest (Jul. 9th): I actually kinda agree with a lot. lol. However based on Halo and Mass Effect war, the UNSC Navy can completely steam roll the Citadel navies and Systems Alliance. They aren't on equal technological footing The Reapers however? Well...you'll find out. As for the dialogue...yeah, way too much for the amount of plot. I kinda wrote myself into a hole and had to dig out of it. The jumps were more so to keep readers interested, and hell even myself interested since it got boring after a while writing massive dialogue scenes. lmao. A lot of it wasn't bad, but some of it, especially where it jumps a lot, is me essentially trying to grind my way through. As for Shepard...I get what you mean. I didn't do a good job at first. I still want to keep the character traits but present them in a extremely better way.
Guest (Jun 30th): Sources? Because I've never seen that before.
noobie53: Yeah, Jun's armor is heavily modified. And don't worry real action is coming soon.
Chronus1326: Hopefully this chapter will read as fluently as the last one but...I doubt it.
Ok here we go
[Location Unknown]
[Positioning Unknown]
2557 Military Calendar, [H-Hour. M-Minute]
-System
-Dialogue
-Repeat
Those were the three words that kept appearing. Heavy green texts that slowly sprawled across the black screen, then quickly disappeared. It took days for Contradiction to get her access to the system. You'd think that an AI would be able to do it faster but apparently not.
ADJOURNED: 25520829
REASSEMBLED: 25570731
ASSEMBLY MAJORITY ACTIVE
ASSEMBLY MINORITY ACTIVE
She wasn't sure what to expect. Something more spectacular or grande perhaps. Though Contradiction had said that this is the best representation he can create "for human cognitive understanding".
Simple green texts. The exact format of the emergency binary comm system utilized during the Covenant invasion of Earth. "Request Granted for Immediate Re-Armament" were the last green text words all high ranking officers read before the system went down.
She continued to wait. More green text appeared. Random numbers and letters. Millions of sequences of zeros and ones. Maybe twenty or thirty minutes passed. A legible paragraph finally came up.
CONTINUE FALSE-CONSENSUS EFFECT FOR UNSC ECONOMIC AND MILITARY POWER PROJECTIONS:
EVENTUAL ECONOMIC COLLAPSE. MILITARY POWER PROJECTIONS WILL REMAIN STRONG RELATIVE TO OTHER MILITARY POWER PROJECTIONS. HOWEVER, ACTUAL MILITARY POWER WILL DECREASE AS FORCES SPREAD THIN IN THE FACE OF MULTIPLE THREATS AND STRONG POWER PROJECTIONS. (SOLUTION PENDING)
REESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNIFIED EARTH GOVERNMENT:
WILL RALLY DIVIDING OUTER COLONIES. WILL RE-UNIFY HUMANITY. HOWEVER, WITH CIVILIAN INTERVENTION, ACTUAL AND PROJECTED MILITARY POWER WILL BE DRAWN BACK.
MILITARY DRAWBACK
UNACCEPTABLE.
A few more paragraphs appeared afterward… Her eyes widened.
"Well, when they agree with you, you know you're definitely in the right." Captain Dare said. Uncrossed her arms and scoffed.
"It changes nothing." She responded. She got up from her chair. "At the very least we aren't alone...Whatever good that does us."
Captain Dare nodded. The Captain fiddled with her wedding ring. Always does when she was nervous. Husband wasn't much of a looker. Who knows what she saw in that jarhead.
Another line moved up on the screen.
PREDICTION: EVENTUAL ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL COLLAPSE OF THE UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND-(Solutionary application in progress)
"Just more incentive to do the job." Admiral Osman turned off the computer monitor. "Cut off comm links. We'll find another way to communicate."
"Well…we're running out of options, ma'am." Dare replied. "We could use the E-Band channels but NAVCOM would surely notice...Next option is meeting them in person."
"Maybe…" Osman said, no sarcasm. No patronization. It might actually be the last viable option. "Get everyone we have there out."
"Ma'am? Is there a problem?"
"No. That's the thing. His plan is working."
Aboard Citadel Station
UNSC Infinity maintaining Lords 50 Geosynchronous orbit
2557 Military Calendar, 14:18
Commander Shepard knew who this man was, and he was aboard his goddamn ship.
How the hell did that happen? The UNSC Infinity was the most advanced ship in the Navy. It had some of the best security measures available.
Captain Lasky looked to Roland, "how did someone sneak aboard the ship?"
Roland didn't look at Lasky. Hell, it didn't even seem like he heard him. He had a thousand yard stare, trapped in his own stupor. Lost in thought.
"...Roland?" Lasky tried again. Virgil floated closer to the A.I. One of his tentacles floated near Roland. He seem to wake up from whatever kind of trance he was in. He looked to Virgil, surprised and nervous.
"...Sir?" Roland asked.
Jesus. Roland really was doing that bad. If he was this out of it here, how bad were the systems being neglected aboard ship? Security measures were heavily reliant on Roland, but they were designed to be automated. It should've still ran efficentialy.
"Roland...can you tell me anything about the people on board? What the hell is going on?" Lasky tried to ask.
Roland sighed. He was taking heavy breaths, "um, incident aboard the Infinity. I don't know...Lord Hood said…"
He trailed off. Lasky looked to Lord Hood. He spoke, "the situation was being controlled. Until now."
There was only utter confusion on Shepard's face, "Thane? What the hell is going on?"
"We were lead onto the Infinity…" The connection broke up for a moment, "...team hunted us down. I'm surrounded."
"Arbiter…" Lord Hood looked to him, "we'll contact you later.
The Arbiter nodded and his hologram disappeared, going into standby. Lord Hood looked to Shepard and Liara. "You know who this is?"
"Do you, sir?" Lasky asked, as respectfully as he could.
Lord Hood didn't say anything. He walked over, stood directly in front of Shepard. "Who is he?"
Shepard looked up from his orange comm device. He didn't back off, in fact he looked a little angry.
"What the hell is he doing on your ship?" Shepard asked.
"We can ask you the same thing." Lord Hood responded, he turned to one of the Spartan IV guards. "Contact Jun's squad. Get me a direct status report."
"Sir…" Lasky tried again, "what is going on on my ship?"
The Spartan guard nodded and entered something into a datapad he pulled out. He inputted commands to establish a horn.
Admiral Hackett crossed his arms. "Why is Thane aboard the Infinity?"
"At zero-five-hundred this morning we intercepted a communication line originating from the Citadel directing towards another point on the Citadel utilizing UNSC channels. Older UNSC channels." Lord Hood said.
Older UNSC channels?
What the hell was Lord Hood talking about? How could anyone aboard the Citadel secure a old UNSC comm line? How old? Why?
"Why were they sent to Thane?" Shepard continued to push.
This Thane and whoever else utilized it had to know the UNSC would be able to track it. They had to know they would attract the UNSC's attention.
"We knew two people were coming. Two. Each transmission sent to them was from a different source." Lord Hood looked around the room. "Captain, it's better if we discuss this more in private."
That didn't hit Commander Shepard the right way. He stepped forward, in between Captain Lasky and Lord Hood. Fleet Admirals Al-Fashaid and Alvarez surrounded Lord Hood to protect him.
"Fleet Admiral, I know those people aboard your ship. They are my men. What the hell are you doing to my MEN!?" He screamed directly in Lord Hood's face. Teeth and fists clenched, a defensive posture.
Lasky wasn't sure how...controlled that outburst was. But he could feel the anger and impatience. The fear and uncertainty, directed by care towards his squad. He was done with this.
The Master Chief took a threatening step toward the Commander. He clenched his fist… Lasky noticed one hand slowly go towards his assault rifle. The Spartan guards moved in, following the Chief's lead.
Lord Hood didn't even flinch. He stared directly into the eyes of Commander Shepard, arms at his side….
Somehow, Lord Hood seemed taller than the Commander. Even taller than the Chief.
"This is not your place, Commander." Lord Hood quietly said. "We will not harm your crew but we need to know the actual reason why they are aboard a UNSC ship."
Commander Shepard looked around. Matriarch Gendina didn't say anything. Admiral Hackett crossed his arms, but he couldn't do much on a hologram. This wasn't their fight.
Shepard didn't look scared. Didn't look intimidated by the Master Chief or the decades worth of experience represented in service stripes, colonial and naval crosses, medal of honors, silver stars, combat action ribbons, and distinguished service medals. He just stared back at Lord Hood. He had to look up.
"I need to talk to them." Shepard said.
"And I need to know why they're here, Commander." Lord Hood responded.
"I want to know that too, Fleet Admiral. Please. Let Doctor T'Soni in. I need to speak with her." Shepard begged. Lord Hood didn't do anything, thinking. He looked away for a brief moment and nodded to one of his Spartan-IV guards. He went to the door and opened it. Called for Liara.
She walked in, and maybe for a brief moment when Shepard turned to her he calmed down a little.
"...What's happened?" Liara asked. She stopped walking when she saw Shepard and Lord Hood.
"Doctor T'Soni…" Lord Hood greeted her. He still stared down Shepard. The briefing room doors closed behind her.
"Liara…" Shepard began, "Thane and Kasumi are aboard the Infinity. Do you know anything about it?"
Lasky wondered why would Doctor T'Soni know more than the Commander. But either way she legitimately looked shocked and confused as everyone else.
"How…? Why are they aboard the Infinity?" Liara asked the same questions everyone else was asking. She stepped forward, trying to protect Shepard.
She was blocked off by the fleet admirals and the Master Chief.
"Fleet Admiral Hood…" Admiral Hackett interrupted. "No one in the Systems Alliance or Citadel militaries ordered any operation to board your ship. We have no idea why they're there."
"Let me talk to them, Fleet Admiral." Commander Shepard asked. "I just want my crew to be safe. Let me talk to them and I'll find out why they're here."
One of Lord Hood's Spartan-IV guards walked up to Lord Hood. He whispered.
"Sir, our agents are bogged down. We can't get to those two." The Spartan said a little bit too loudly.
Lord Hood slowly nodded, he looked to Shepard's orange holographic comm device.
"Contact them. Open frequency."
Shepard seemed to look relieved. He raised up his comm device and typed in a few commands. He spoke into it. "Thane? It's Commander Shepard. What's going on?"
"Shepard…" His voice was croaky and old. Lasky could tell he was relieved to hear Commander Shepard's voice. "Right now I'm essentially holding myself hostage."
"What…?"
"I'm holding a gun with a dead man's trigger to my head. Four of these Spartan super soldiers have surrounded me."
"Thane…?" Shepard slowly said. "I need you to listen to me. I need you to tell me why you're here. Okay?
"Wait. Who's with you on the other end of the horn?" Thane responded.
Smart guy. Lasky will give him that. So the UNSC knew whoever these two were were coming aboard ship? They were using old UNSC frequency channels, but how old? What kinds? And Lasky wanted to know...did they were contacted by a UNSC channel?
Well, how wouldn't they?
"This is Fleet Admiral Lord Hood." The Fleet Admiral barged in, "I was the one who sent in Spartan Team Osiris to try and capture you alive at any and all costs. We need you to answer the question. We need to know why you were sent aboard the Infinity."
Aboard UNSC Infinity, 2186 Citadel Calendar, 14:39
The Spartans backed up a little. Jun remained motionless. He slowly raised up his free arm, trying to ease the situation as best as he could.
Thane shoved the pistol deeper into his own skull, and Jun stopped moving. The blood from the bullet wound in Thane's leg seeped down, formed a small pool of green liquid on the floor. Abrasions all over his body from the heat of Kasumi's flashbangs began to sting. It became hard to breathe again. But...he'll make it… He'll make it through.
"I've been wondering that myself…" Thane said. "Is Liara there?"
Another voice came on the line. It was Doctor T'Soni's. "Thane? It's Liara. I promise you I have no idea why you're there."
Kirrahe.
Then it really wasn't the Shadow Broker who contacted Kasumi. It was something else, disguised as her.
Who wanted them to come here? Why did they want them to reach this Captain Mark Florence?
And what were they supposed to do?
"Kasumi...Kasumi said she was contacted by the Shadow Broker. Said he posted a bounty for UNSC tech brought back from the Infinity. There…we coordinated with a message I received…"
"From the Hanar Government." Lord Hood clarified.
They already knew?
"...Yes." Thane admitted. "The Hanar government was suspicious of the UNSC and asked me to investigate. Kasumi contacted the Shadow Broker again. There was something aboard ship that he said could give me information…"
"Who's this Shadow Broker?" Lord Hood demanded to know.
"High level information broker. Governmental, political, situational intelligence. He's the largest, most well-known in the galaxy." Liara quickly answered.
"And I assume he's helping in the Reaper War?"
"Where he can… In strange and mysterious ways." Liara answered. She seemed almost sarcastic.
That answered why Liara didn't contact them directly. So how did this person, whoever they were, was able to access Broker communication channels?
"He's helped us in the past before. We know where he stands." Shepard added. "It wasn't him who sent that transmission to Kasumi."
"How do you know this?" Lord Hood said.
"Because he wouldn't be this incompetent enough to use something you can easily see." Liara said, "whoever it was wanted you to track it. The Shadow Broker never operates this way."
There was a moment of silence. It seemed Lord Hood wasn't fully convinced. However, he couldn't prove anything different.
A loud humming noise came on. Slowly, row by row the bright sterile white lights of the hospital came on, replacing the red darkness. It almost blinded Thane, and he could see scorch marks all over the wall from the flashbangs. The bodies of unconscious marines down the hall along with a few medical stretchers in disarray remained still.
The Spartans remained still. Pistols still drawn.
"I need safe passage for both me and Kasumi off the Infinity. From there, I need to speak to Commander Shepard."
There was no response. The corners of his vision began to grow dark. The blood was like cool water, quickly flowing down his leg.
Venous wound. Not as life threatening...
"And where is Kasumi now?" Lord Hood asked.
"Aboard. Somewhere. She fled. Not sure where but certainly not into the hands of your Spartans." Thane looked around, making sure the super soldiers stayed back.
There was continued silence. The Spartans remained perfectly still. The unconscious marines slowly breathed in calm, rhythmic manners.
"Why did these Spartans attack marines?" Thane asked to try and break the silence on their end. To get some questions answered.
...
Spartans attacked marines? What the hell for? Under Lord Hood's orders? Jesus, those were Lasky's men. Why didn't Lord Hood just communicate with him?
Then he remembered why. This whole thing went far beyond his station. Far beyond the Infinity. There was so much that Lord Hood and HIGHCOM knew that Lasky simply didn't. So much the officer corps didn't know. Even if it landed too close to home.
"Sir, maybe we should talk now…" Lasky whispered.
"Admiral, we just desire to know what's going on same as you." Liara said, trying her best to ease the situation.
Lord Hood took a last glance at Shepard, still standing in front of him. Lord Hood guided Lasky to the other side of the room, protected by fleet admirals and Spartans.
"We already know those transmissions were pseudonyms directed from a single source. Their transmission codes were…" Lord Hood nodded to Fleet Admiral Alvarez who joined the two. She sighed, placed her hands behind her back.
"Two types of transmissions. Only one of them was a old UNSC comm transmission. The other was…"
"Covenant." Lord Hood finished. "The UNSC transmission is nearly three decades old. We easily identified it. A ship I once served aboard long ago that's been declared lost with all hands… UNSC Spirit of Fire."
Spirit of Fire? Lasky's heard the name before. A modified colony ship. Commanded by another unmentioned and unnoticed hero, Captain...something Cutter (North Star graduate. Nasty bastard). Unnoticed until his ship single handedly helped evacuate tens of thousands from a little known colony world called Arcadia. After that, well, Lasky doesn't know the details but his ship was declared lost with all hands shortly after.
Lasky certainly didn't know that Lord Hood served on it at one point. It was strange to think that Lord Hood had a past at all.
"The other transmission? Covenant. Five years old. We matched it with our intelligence database. The ship was called Long Night of Solstice." Alvarez added.
"Long Night of Solstice, ma'am?" Lasky asked.
"A Covenant Supercarrier. It was one of the early prepositioning ships that sieged Reach. It was destroyed by a improvised Slipspace Bomb." Lord Hood answered.
A slipspace bomb? Right. It was sounding slightly familiar. A tactic added into the handbook manual along with the Keyes' Loop and improvised sticky bombs made out of issued socks, grease lubricant, and some mines. Though those kind of things were only to be used in dire and desperate situations. A slipspace bomb is dangerous. It's uncontrolled and uncalculated with a massive EMP burst. Not only that but it could transport whatever you were trying to kill only a couple miles down the road, right through your own ship, or halfway across the galaxy.
It looked like the Long Night of Solstice was transported more closely then the UNSC would've liked.
"Sir…?" Lasky began, "they wanted us to see that signal?"
"We don't know why." Lord Hood answered, "they wanted to draw our attention? Show they have access to old systems that predates Cole Protocol? We do not know."
That's right. The ship would've been lost before Cole Protocol had been developed and implemented in the UNSCDF. God knows what kind of data was aboard that wasn't purged.
This was a major breach.
"We let them come aboard your ship to see what they were after." Lord Hood continued. "It lead them to Captain Florence."
...
The three of them were still conversing in the corner of the room, blocked off by Spartan guards and the menacing yet somehow unseen figure of the 'Master Chief'.
Liara was able to quietly guide Shepard back to their side of the room with Matriarch Gendina and a smaller holo-display of Admiral Hackett.
"Whatever is happening we need to keep this quiet. We can't let the races find out about this." Liara said before anyone else could get a word in.
Shepard didn't take that too kindly. Of course he wouldn't. He crossed his arms. "About what specifically?"
"The fracturing within the UNSC."
"Yet we're already being dragged into it." Admiral Hackett replied, "how long can we expect to keep quiet about it?"
Admiral Hackett was siding with Commander Shepard. Liara understood. In fact she agreed with them. The only problem was they were so close to getting fully fledged support from the UNSC. She was the only one able to overlook the costs, the supposed faults and 'evils' contained within a pact made with the UNSC.
But that being said...she was used to it.
"Liara…" Shepard said in a quiet hushed tone. "What do you know…"
"Shepard, I swear by the Goddess I have no idea why or how Thane and Kasumi ended up on the Infinity." Liara calmly defended herself. And that was the actual truth. She had nothing to do with it.
Not only would she have used such a loud communication method but it would've been utterly idiotic to risk everything for...what? A foolish and vain attempt to gain possible intel? Scavenging? There was no strategy in it. This was somebody else. Somebody was able to disguise their transmission well enough to fool two individuals who had deep connections with the underworld of the galaxy.
Who though? If it was anyone within the UNSC Navy or 'Office of Naval Intelligence', then it would be beyond her. But if it was within the realms of the Citadel, there were very few individuals and organizations that could do this. That would even know where to begin.
And there was only one antagonist in it all. But...if it was him, what would he gain?
Lord Hood broke away from the two and walked over to their group. He looked all of them over.
Maybe they were coming to the same conclusion she was?
...
They knew it wasn't ONI. ONI would never do this. Never directly risk UNSC assets. Never Earth itself. No matter what problems they had….they were still on the same side.
Despite some zealousness in the Navy, in the Officer Corps, that's what Lasky believed. What Lasky had to believe. That despite the fractures, there was a united front to defend Earth and her colonies at any and all cost. ONI would have never sent out what could possibly be extremely sensitive data into alien hands.
But Lasky didn't hear anything from Lord Hood that surely proved that it wasn't ONI. Maybe he simply didn't tell him? ...Maybe his thinking was just as skewed and fearful as Lasky's own…? No. Not those in HIGHCOM. Lasky was the only nervous one.
"We want Thane and Kasumi brought over here. Tell them our Spartans will guide them to a Pelican that'll transport them to the Citadel. They'll be brought here, unharmed." Lord Hood declared.
Shepard was hesitant. Lasky could see Liara edging closer to him, but...Christ, how long can she keep him on the reigns?
He didn't blame the Commander. Who could?
Still, Shepard was able to hold himself together… At least this time. He didn't relax, but through tightened muscles nodded. He raised up his orange comm device and spoke.
"I can promise you, Admiral Hood this isn't the Shadow Broker," Liara began. "And if it isn't ONI, we both know there's only one other suspect…"
Lasky knew what she was referring to… Admittedly, in the past three days Lasky didn't contact him, more or less think about him all that much. Lord Hood may have contacted him in the time since, but Lasky would've been kept out of the loop.
"We'll contact the Illusive Man on our own time." Lord Hood finished.
Shepard finished the call. He slowly looked up. "Thane wants me to stay on the line. He wants to make sure I'm seeing it all."
"Fair enough," Lord Hood turned to the minimized layout of the Palaven solar system. Another moment passed by. "Admiral Hackett? Do you not trust us sending our own team to Thessia?"
"After everything we've seen from the UNSC? I'm going to be honest, I don't." Hackett contemptly said. "But as you can see, we have little combat capable assets we can spare. And...at the moment, we only have one special operations capable unit embedded with Prothean experts."
Hackett nodded to Shepard and Liara. The Normandy crew.
"They'll have the knowledge to help your team get that artifact out of there. They'll make sure the artifact or whatever knowledge that comes from it comes back to us. But if you're not going to help Thessia then what's the point of this Shadow of Intent?"
Lord Hood looked to his Fleet Admirals. Fleet Admiral Harper spoke. "The UNSC can't help Thessia. But our allies, the Swords of Sanghelios can. The Elites. Limited aid, but aid nonetheless. We'd have to come up with a more solid plain, but they would deploy ground support teams. With them along with Asari teams on the ground they can open up a hole in the Reaper AA network for a limited time. We can evacuate as many civilians as we can before we draw in Reaper exospheric forces."
Matriarch Gendina made a sad and unsure smirk. She looked at Commander Shepard, wondering if this sudden jump back to the plan was actually acceptable. To Lasky in a way it wasn't, but what else could they do while they wait for whoever the hell Thane and Kasumi are?
Shepard had to know that too. He kept his mouth shut.
Gendina studied the miniaturized strategic graph of Thessia. Continents and seas. A habitable world just like any other. Nothing special to anyone in the room except for the Asari.
"And there's nothing more you can do?" She tried to beg.
"No." Lord Hood crossed his arms.
It would be a brief window. It would attract any enemy ship in the system. The ship wouldn't survive long in lower thermosphere. But it was big. You can fit tens of thousands of civilians on there.
Matriarch Gendina didn't say anything. She opened up her Omni-tool and typed in a message. Closed it, and looked to the Fleet Admiral. She merely nodded.
Lord Hood returned the gesture in kind.
"And Palaven?" Primarch Victus butted in, almost forgotten.
...
In a way, this was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous, and also scary.
Thane slowly walked through the hospital, keeping the pistol in his neck. The Spartans surrounded Thane, keeping their distance and guiding him back towards the tram station.
They passed by one medical room that looked familiar. Thane looked through the window. He saw Captain Florence there, still conscious. Their eyes meet. Florence seemed confused and almost angry. He disappeared, replaced by white walls as Thane walked forward.
"You can put the gun down. We have orders not to hurt you now," the leader, Jun said. Never noticed the accent before. It was one of the various human accents Thane could never pinpoint. Slavic maybe? "You can also tell your friend to come out of hiding."
He knew Kasumi was following close behind. To Thane it was reassuring.
Thane didn't respond. The group finally reached the tram station. It was a lot closer than Thane remembered. This will take them back to a nearby hanger, onto a transport, and back to the Citadel.
Back to friendly lines.
"So what did you expect to find when we came here?" Thane finally asked. None of the Spartans responded this time.
The doors to the tram station opened. A car was already waiting, guarded by a few marines.
They were about to enter a confined space, where if aggravated for whatever reason the Spartans could tear Thane and Kasumi to literal shreds. It wasn't ideal, to mostly rely on the honest word of a stranger and a friend who could only phone it in at the moment. But there was no other choice. The go to was do not aggravate them.
"A large bulk of forces would be our own. The Quarians and the Geth." Admiral Hackett said through the Omni-tool.
The doors of the car opened up. The marines raised their rifles at Thane.
...
Liara knew, if not felt, that Shepard more than anything wanted to scream at someone apart of, or affiliated with the UNSC. Maybe even at Liara, and most definitely at himself. But she gripped his hand, and he remained silent. They were locked in. He couldn't speak up. She was surprised actually that Lord Hood was still working with them so well despite Thane and Kasumi. He moved on as if it were nothing…at least for now.
Now, it seemed like she was going back home. To her home city now under siege and consumed in fire and ashes
Thessia wouldn't be saved… That was something...she had to accept. But Athame was still in Lametea.
Along with the buried memories of her and her mother.
Captain Lasky didn't seem too happy either, but like Shepard he stayed silent.
Lord Hood looked to Roland, another individual who was nearly forgotten. Him and Virgil remained mostly quiet, staying out of this. "Send a immediate report to FLEETCOM. We need to come up with a tactical plan."
Roland slowly nodded, brought out a holo-display and typed in a quick message.
"Menae?" Lord Hood asked, turning to Primarch Victus. He expanded the display of the Trebia System. He and the other admirals looked it over, "ODST and First Marine Expeditionary Force with heavy armor and artillery assets will deploy to the surface."
Primarch Victus nodded with some hesitation and unsurety. "Main force will be Quarian Fleet Marines and Geth assault units on the surface.
"And once we secure Menae, we can focus on a large scale invasion of the Palaven surface."
Lord Hood and the admiralty didn't say anything. They only continued to look at the Trebia system.
"With Menae under control we'd have the inner solar system under control. It would push the Reapers into a long range fight, which UNSC ships can win. We can then focus on the planetary surface." Victus tried to press on.
Continued and almost eerie silence. Liara could hear the footsteps stop on Shepard's Omni-tool. Thane whispered they were getting on a tram.
She gripped his hand, squeezed it. Aways to bring Shepard back, but to reassure her too.
The Shadow Broker… Liara wasn't sure how the Illusive Man could benefit. Distraction? From what? How?
There was one person who might know...A person who'd the UNSC might be interested in.
She'd have to carefully bring it up.
"So...a simultaneous operation on both Thessia and Palaven?" Shepard finally said, trying to break the silence, get them out of their own world
"Obviously, we cannot provide direct support to Thessia. Palaven would be an entire operation in itself. Limited logistic support for our own assets of course, and aid for any civilian populace if need be." Lord Hood quietly replied.
It seemed like this was really happening. Subtle and through absolute chaos it was happening.
"Fleet Admiral Lord Hood, if we're deploying with the Master Chief, with this Spartan team, then I need to know I can trust them. I need to know I can trust the UNSC," Commander Shepard tried to pry.
Liara's heartbeat increased.
Damnit.
"Are you really in a position to demand that?" Lord Hood asked. He and the other admirals turned away from the display.
She didn't sense he was about to say that, damnit. This couldn't happen. Shepard had already gone too far in just a couple sentences.
Only one real way to stop this.
"Maybe we are, Fleet Admiral." Liara said.
...
"We are the best force in the friggin galaxy!" The gunney screamed.
"OORAH!" The Marines replied back.
"A single friggin fireteam can take over this 'ere friggin space station, ya trackin? Ya'll motivators gotta watch each other's back. Right, these officers may be telling ya'll to chill there on libo, but I'm here to tell you, ya'll see anyone talking shit about ya brothers or the Corps, sure as shit you ain't standing for that. Good ta go?"
"EERAH!"
"Right? You enter a bar, you display dominance. Good ta go? You find the biggest, baddest motherfucker in the room you PUNCH HIM IN THE GODDAMN FACE!"
"EERAH!"
"A'ight? You show 'em who's the baddest-
"OORAH!"
"-meanest-"
"OORAH!"
"-greenest motherfuckers in the dag-gon friggin galaxy, and that is the friggin UNITED NATIONS MARINE CORPS!" The gunney proudly and motivatidely explained in his safety brief to a group of marines in Dubbo's detachment. They were all excited and motivated, and...maybe gunney's speech might've accidentally sent the wrong message.
"And I swear to God, if one of you fucks up I will THROW YOU OUT THE GODDAMN AIRLOCK!" The gunney finished. He spit out some dip. "Eeeeeeraaaaah."
"Eerah!" The Marines repeated.
"Get the fuck outta 'ere! Good ta go?" The Gunney ordered, and with that the safety brief was over. The marines ran off like children… Barely free to do whatever they want.
Right… Dubbo was now fully confident this was a really, really bad idea. But they were too deep to cancel now. Libo was about to start. Let's see how bad shit will hit the fan.
They were still in the Presidium square FOB. A few civilians and news reporters found the place and were trying to get some glimpse of the marines as guards kept them back.
"Fuck, mate." Dubbo quietly said to no one in particular. It was gonna be hard to try and enjoy himself when you have the constant fear of your men fucking up. The problem is, they are gonna fuck up. Only question was how bad? When Dubbo was a lance corporal so long ago, he and his friends did some stupid, stupid shit that got him a couple NJPs and a reduction down to private here and there. That was just a small group of marines. We're talking about a few hundred here.
Fuck, Dubbo needs a drink.
Oh, wait. He couldn't. He's on fucking duty in about two hours.
Fuck this shit. Fuck this stupid bullshit. Fuck the Marine Corps.
Dubbo sat down at the comm station. Now the unofficial designated officer hangout spot. Romeo was on the other side, crushing a large bag of ice against his forehead and ordering some poor corpsmen to get him a handful of motrin. Lt. Colonel Buck was watching the speech. He shook his head and walked over to the comm station.
"You good there, Lieutenant?" Buck asked, arms crossed.
Dubbo didn't notice he wasn't hiding emotions to well, "all good, sir. Just waiting for orders."
Buck nodded, he looked around. Some marines were returning to work while some others skated by. The usual stuff, with some anxiousness and distraction in the air as they all were counting down the minutes to libo.
"Yeah, just the way it is…" Buck looked at his ODSTs. "So what's really wrong, Chip?"
"I don't knaw, mate. Just pissy. That's all. Usual shit."
"Yeah, I get it… I've been in this a couple decades. If there ain't points in your career for weeks to months at a time you absolutely hate the entire Marine Corps and everything that it stands for then there's something deeply wrong with you."
"Yeah…" Dubbo sighed. There was always stupid shit. That's part of being in the Corps. Dubbo had heard this sorta speech before.
He understood it. Or at least thought he understood it…. That's why he's still here. Otherwise, he would've left in 53' with all his other mates. Here though...there was structure. Purpose. He was fighting for mankind.
Most of the time at least.
"So why stay in, sir?" Dubbo asked. "Didn't think of leaving in '53 with everyone else?"
"Oh I did. Everyone thought about ti. Lot of us staff NCOs did, then all of the sudden they were offering us fast tracks to high ranking officer ranks. You remember afterwards. There wasn't much a Marine Corps left, more or less a UNSCDF…We felt a little compelled..."
"Yeah, I remember…" Everyone always remembered the good parts after the Great War. There was some absolute chaos, though short. Most of commanding marine forces on Earth were dead or missing, along with the commandant and essentially any officer above battalion grade. No one could reach any of the forces in the colonies. Everyone was on their own-
"Three, two, one. Alright. A lot earlier than we thought." Buck announced as he looked at his watch.
It took Dubbo a second to realize what he meant.
Fuck. Here we go.
...
For nearly the entire time with Thane aboard, Shepard was barely focused on what was going on here in the briefing room. He could feel his heart race, and sweat continue to build underneath his dress blues, but again to the outside world he was perfectly fine. Only Liara knew that he wasn't fine.
They got the help they needed in the end before the public meetings even began. At this point though...those weren't even important. All just for show. To calm the galaxy down.
So why did everything feel even more broken than before? Even more uncertain? In the fleet admirals' silence, it almost...scared Shepard. So many people in a room, all quiet… to him it was almost unsettling. The faint hum of the space station. The air vents and recyclers. The sting in his nose.
And he just said it, how could they trust the UNSC?
He was right, but...he knew he shouldn't have brought it up.
"I assume then you'll want something in exchange?" Lord Hood asked, as if this were an equal diplomatic agreement.
What's the point? He could just demand it and they'd have to abide.
So what made this situation different?
Liara realized something about it to. Lord Hood's tone almost seemed to have changed.
"Well, we're in a curious position… When Thane and Kasumi arrives, we want the full story." Liara said.
Lord Hood crossed his arms, thinking. "We'll see."
…
It was a short ride back, through UNSC controlled security stations aboard the Citadel. No reporters. No crowds. The scenic route. Soon enough he entered what he recognized as the old C-SEC Presidium station before Saren's attack. They took the elevator to the bottom. Kasumi wasn't with them in the elevator. She'd know how to get here on her own.
On the ride down he saw a large group of maybe thirty, thirty-five people gathered at the bottom floor. Half were on their Omni-tools or talking to one another, and the other half were sitting against walls. Thane recognized a few faces such as Grunt (who was asleep on the floor) and Aria T'Lock. And also Tali and Garrus. Old friends.
The elevator doors opened. The crowd shuffled around, refocusing their attention. All they saw was a Drell surrounded by four super soldiers with weapons aimed at him.
Despite shock and confusion, Grunt rolled over and tried to clumsily stand up as if he were drunk. Wrex pulled out a Claymore shotgun block. Tali pulled out her Carnifex and Garrus grabbed his Vindicator rifle. All the other people pulled out weapons of various kinds.
He even saw a Volus draw a Wraith shotgun. Not the weirdest thing Thane had seen out in the galaxy.
Two of the Spartans turned their pistols toward the group while the other two were still trained on Thane.
"Thane? Meet any new friends?" Garrus asked, moving his way towards the front of the group.
"In a way. Not the most friendly." Thane responded. "Better than some hosts we had before."
Garrus cautiously nodded, "maybe we should get mommy and daddy to come see what's happening."
"Maybe."
Thane looked around. He realized he knew some others in the crowd. High ranking military officials who for months his contacts were debating on assassinating. Asari, Salarian, Turian, Quarian, Elcor, Volus...and Hanar. Nearly the entire galaxy.
Tali backed up to the door and knocked on it. It took maybe a moment for it to open. Shepard and someone else answered it. He was an older man in a white dress uniform with a name tag that said Hood.
Lord Hood looked at the two groups. No emotion whatsoever.
"Stand down." Lord Hood said to both groups. The Spartan guards, Jun, Locke, and the two others lowered their weapons immediately. Without question.
Once they lowered the weapons, Thane's group of strange allies and friends slowly lowered theirs. Fingers were still on the trigger, most staying in a ready stance.
Lord Hood walked forward, stood in front of Thane. "Where's your friend?"
"In the distance." Kasumi whispered. There was a wave of electric blue squares that traveled down a small figure. She had her hand up in front of her face, blocking it from view. "No one needs to see me. Just pretend I'm not even here."
Lord Hood looked around, trying to figure out the situation. He looked to the group, "gentlemen, we have a plan. Palaven is our next target. Fleet Admiral's Harper and Al-Fashaid will fill you in. Captain Lasky, you and Shepard's crew head to the other room.
"I need to speak to the Master Chief."
...
"NAVSPECWAR will fill you in on the specifics."
The Master Chief quietly nodded. After Lord hood had brought up his old squad, Blue Team, everything they discussed afterwards was a unimportant blur.
He hadn't seen his squad in...in real time nearly five years., but to his perspective it had only been eight or nine months. The two walked over to the side as the group of military representatives were herded back into the briefing room. Lord Hood put his head down for a moment. The purple lights of the room painted his uniform a strange dark grey.
"Son, I need you to be honest. I need you to think about this.
"Are you up for this?" He looked into the helmet of the Master Chief.
"Sir. Yes, sir." The Master Chief forced all the conviction and dedication he could into his voice.
Lord Hood looked away, placed his hands behind his back and turned around. "Master Chief, you understand as best as I do that that this Keyship is the most dangerous artifact next to the Ark and Halo Rings. We cannot let this thing fall into enemy hands whatever the cost.
"Right now I'll try to maneuver our way out of a watchdog group, but we maybe in a weaker position than we thought."
A team on the ground without any reconnaissance, support, or tactical advisement. This really was a Spartan mission.
"Master Chief, no matter what happens that artifact needs to be destroyed. The actual purpose of the Shadow of Intent is to deliver a payload to destroy the artifact. Nova Bomb. Difficult payload to deliver but we have no choice. We cannot let that artifact fall into hands outside of Human hands"
Nova Bomb. A makeshift weapon Humanity had come up with near the end of the War. Deadly. Able to decimate a large surface of a planet. As the Master Chief remembered, it might take two or three people to transport it. Hopefully they'll be able to provide some sort of delivery system, be a Pelican or Warthog, or maybe even a Covenant Vehicle.
Which one of us…
"And civilian casualties, sir?" The Master Chief asked.
"Acceptable. At any and all costs." Lord Hood answered. He looked directly at the Master Chief, "there'll be repercussions from Shepard and his crew."
"But what if they find out and try to stop me, sir?"
"Destroy the artifact. Any and all costs." Lord Hood reiterated.
...
17:12
Miranda was growing bored and antsy. It was already late, but Miranda already got the rest she needed. She was fine. She was planning on escaping until the Normandy hospital bay got very crowded.
The doors to the bay opened. Shepard came in with Liara, and two other people Miranda saw before...on T.V.
They were in dress uniform. Shepard in the gold and blue uniform and the two others in a white, gold and black uniform.
They were...Captain Lasky and Lord Hood.
"This is the one?" Lord Hood asked. He crossed his arms. Captain Lasky took his side.
"Miranda? I need to see the information you gave to me. I need you to tell Fleet Admiral Hood everything you told me this morning." Shepard ominously said.
"Well, 'ello to you too." Miranda responded. She looked over to Lord Hood and Captain Lasky. She slowly opened her Omni-tool. THe tugged at her skin and arteries "So we're telling them now?"
"Like Admiral Hackett said, we gotta bring it up right." Shepard opened up his Omni-tool and transferred the data. He showed Lord Hood.
He and Captain Lasky read over them. Nothing changed on Lord Hood's face, but Lasky was a lot easier to read. Panic, fear, and confusion. He placed hands behind his back, stood near Lord Hood as if the Fleet Admiral could protect him from the information.
"Where did you get this?" Lord Hood simply asked, staring Miranda down.
"Well...I already told Shepard, but a Cerberus Rally Depot in the Horsehead Nebula. Cerberus knew about the signal."
Lord Hood nodded to Shepard. The Commander called someone in. Two people Miranda hadn't seen for a while. Thane and Kasumi…
"This signal? You really have no idea about Captain Florence?" Lord Hood asked.
Kasumi's hood was gone. She was covering her face with one hand. "We didn't even know he existed until today."
"Fleet Admiral Hood, does this affect the plan?" Liara asked.
"What plan…?" Miranda asked.
"How can we even trust her with this information? How do we know she didn't make it up?" Captain Lasky asked. His voice was shaky.
As he tried to cling on to whatever false reality he had in his mind, Miranda tried to sit up. It hurt like hell, but wasn't crippling. Her vision blackened for a second. She calmly breathed, getting her bearings.
"Trust me, mate. It's all real. All straight from a Cerberus info facility… See something familiar?" Miranda asked.
Lasky looked annoyed, he looked to Shepard and Liara. "Sir…?"
Lord Hood prompted for Lasky to continue. "And you know nothing more about ONI and what's going on?"
No one said anything.
"...We're going to talk to the Illusive Man… But evidently something happened for him to cause this." Lasky spoke for Lord Hood as he looked over the data. "Since Thane or Kasumi caused no casualties, and they didn't intentionally steal anything… There yours, Commander."
"Just like that?" Shepard asked. "Just like that? With ONI still out there?"
"Commander, it seems like you know a lot more than us. The Navy's also just reacting." Lasky replied.
"And the Forerunners…?" Liara asked. "Maybe you can explain the information that Miranda found."
"That has nothing to do with ONI." Lord Hood shot down. He turned to Shepard. "Commander, I want to thank you for this information. We'll take it from here."
"What does that mean?" Shepard asked.
"It means we'll also here from the Illusive Man, and get to the bottom of this, however we can.
"I assume you still want your team deployed to Thessia?"
"You heard Admiral Hackett." Shepard simply said. Liara moved by his side, grabbed his hand. "...In fact I won't deploy my entire team to the surface. Maybe some should split up and keep an eye on the operation at Palaven."
"If that's what you insist." Lord Hood said. "Who will you send to Palaven?"
Shepard looked around, deciding. He looked back at Lord Hood, "I'll head to Thessia along with the Normandy. Liara, EDI, Tali, Thane, and Ashley will go with me. Garrus, Kasumi, James will go with the UNSC task force to Palaven… Miranda? You want to lead them?"
Miranda thought about her sister, but...this may be the fastest way to reach her.
"Well, you asked nicely enough…" Miranda thought for a moment, "what are we gonna call this operation?"