Now, Shepard couldn't hold his rage as the rest of Cerberus was cleaned up and the survivors retreated. All he saw was the white uniform, the man who ordered it all. Who nearly destroyed Thessia.
He stormed right past Blue Team. They didn't realize what he was doing until he was right in front of Lord Hood.
"You son of a bitch!" He sucker punched Lord Hood. The fleet admiral staggered backwards, quickly trying to regain footing. Shepard couldn't watch the rest of the events unfold as a metal hand grabbed his collar and lifted him into the air.
Linda smashed him into the ground and planted a foot onto his chest. He couldn't breathe, and he was sure if the Spartan truly wanted to, she could crush him.
The Commander heard weapons blocks unfolding. The beeps that the guns were hot. He saw his team aim right at the Spartans. Fred and Linda aimed back.
Marines and C-SEC officers surrounding them also raised their weapons at each other, more out of compulsion than loyalty. They all looked confused.
And among them was Captain Florence. He looked more scared than anything, not even knowing why he was aiming at Commander Bailey.
"Dude, what the fuck…?" Captain Florence muttered.
"Stand down…" Lord Hood touched his face, then put his hand down to his side… He seemed….fine.
Everyone hesitated.
"Stand down, Spartan," the Fleet Admiral repeated.
Linda and Kelly lowered their weapons, as did the rest of the UNSC marines. The Citadel still kept their weapons up. Linda lifted her foot. Shepard crawled out from under. Wrex lifted him up onto his feet.
"You tried to have us killed!" Shepard accused. The C-SEC officers looked at each other, still confused.
"No…" Linda mumbled. "If we wanted you to be dead, you would be very much dead… We had orders."
"That's reassuring!" Wrex said.
"We did what had to be done, Commander," Lord Hood placed his hands behind his back. "You do not understand the situation here-"
"I don't understand, because you don't explain!" Shepard retorted. "Do you not think we understand the same sacrifice? We know the stakes, we're fighting for our very lives! Yet I won't kill millions because the UNSC says so!"
"Shepard…?" Commander Bailey said. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"You're a soldier, are you not, Commander?" Lord Hood asked.
"Don't go there!" Shepard said. "Don't give me the 'good soldiers follow orders' speel."
Outside the curtain shield, the Infinity moved in. A Pelican launched, protected by a larger contingent of UNSC fighters. It's trajectory was directly towards the hangar.
"No, Commander…" Lord Hood said. He stepped close to the Commander, his voice turning into a whisper. "But soldiers don't confide in their subordinates."
Shepard eyed the surrounding C-SEC officers. They were scared, and Shepard wasn't sure if it was because of him or the UNSC. As for his squad, well, they looked like him. Pissed.
"Maybe, Admiral, I want everyone else to know what you did," Shepard also whispered. "If this was Earth, you wouldn't have made the same choice…"
"In that, you're correct, Commander," Lord Hood stared him down.
The Pelican touched down on an adjacent platform. The cargo ramp opened, and a Spartan team pushed out. Following them was Captain Lasky, and the rest of his team sent to Palaven.
Captain Lasky saw the...stand off. His first instinct was to sigh and rub his forehead. He approached the group with the Normandy Palaven detachment.
"Does Captain Lasky know?" Shepard said aloud, "that you deployed a Nova Bomb on Thessia? That you tried to crack a planet!"
Captain Lasky stopped mid-step. His eyes widened, and it sounded like the wind was kicked out of him. As if he couldn't believe it, he was near silent for a moment before barely being able to mumble, "sir?"
"Does that answer your question, Commander?" Lord Hood asked. "And when you achieve your goal of telling the entire galaxy, what do you think you will accomplish?"
Shepard didn't say anything.
"Gentlemen…" Lasky interrupted, "maybe we should brief this…privately."
Lord Hood stepped past the Commander, "not every decision is yours to make, Commander."
...
"Captain, sir…" Commander Palmer quietly said. "Lord Hood and some of the command staff have been secured…"
"Some?" Lasky asked.
"The rest are dead, sir…" Palmer said as they both exited the elevator to the old C-SEC station.
And Lasky saw the carnage. The elevators reached the station. All the marine and Spartan security teams who stayed behind to defend the CIC were dead, along with the officers they were trying to protect. At the very least, all computers and information terminals were destroyed. Blood and bullet holes spattered against the walls. Unsecured weapons were among the bodies….
"How…? Cerberus would want them alive…"
"Cole Protocol, sir," Palmer sullenly replied.
Lasky didn't say anything. He didn't want to decipher any further. He didn't want to know…
A few marines and C-SEC officers stood guard. Lasky immediately went to the conference room. Scorch marks painted the walls, and bullet casings were spread about the floor. Captain Lasky saw another officer sitting in one of the empty seats… He looked tired.
"Captain Florence…" Lasky said, "You alright?"
"Better than most it seems…" He sighed as he stood up. "Me and Commander Shepard were able to guide the Council to safety... But...what the fuck?"
"I know…" Thomas replied.
Captain Florence proceeded to explain all that happened. Somehow, Commander Shepard and the Master Chief had linked up with the Council. The Chief went after the retreating Spartans while Captain Florence and Shepard led the rest of the survivors away from the collapsing enemy, linking up with C-SEC officers and UNSC marines.
"You did what you could, Mark. That's enough." Lasky said encouragely.
"Yeah, I guess…" Florence said. "Fuck it… How's everything else going?"
"Hmm… The Palaven campaign was going well when we left it, but no doubt the momentum will be dying very soon. As for Thessia…"
"I guess if the Chief is here, it didn't go well?"
"I guess…" Hell, Lasky wasn't even sure how he got here so fast, especially right under the UNSC's nose.
That still, the Elites made it in time also. Something happened on Thessia for them to step in directly.
After a while, more familiar faces came in one by one. The Shipmaster with his Elite guard; the shocked and confused Councilors along with Matriarch Gendina, Primarch Victus and a few other officers at the original conference who survived the assault. Matriarch Gendina looked battered to say the least.
And soon enough, Shepard and his crew entered. Reunited with the detachment that went with the Infinity, Miranda, Garrus, Liara, Wrex, and Tali followed Shepard closely. Each face looked more weary than the last, and more importantly there was a sense of...caution. And more importantly a sense of anger.
"Nova Bomb, huh…?" Captain Florence said under his breath, "not the worst call…"
"What happened to the rest of the team?" Captain Lasky asked as only Linda and Fred entered.
The Spartans didn't say anything. Their bodies froze. They hesitated and stiffened.
And they didn't say anything. They remained in the back of the room.
Captain Lasky approached Commander Shepard, who remained quite distant. "Commander? What happened...? Where's John?"
"Ask him," Shepard nodded to the door. Lord Hood had entered, surrounded by two marines.
All the faces of the Citadel slowly turned to Lord Hood. Councilor Tevos spoke, "Fleet Admiral… Asari High Command has informed us the city of Lametea has been destroyed…"
Destroyed? How? How….
The artifact. The keyship… It activated. That's the only way. The Excession underneath consumed the city, destroyed everything… That's the only answer.
And that's why Fleet Admiral Lord Hood sent the Nova Bomb with Blue Team.
"It doesn't matter. The city would've been destroyed either way…" Liara began.
"What do you mean…?" A Councilor asked.
"Blue Team was sent in to deploy a bomb, a planet-cracker, that would destroy not only the artifact but the Thessian surface…"
Lasky had no idea if the Keyship could even be destroyed by a Nova Bomb. A few dozen MAC rounds hadn't scratched it… And even if the bomb was successful, would the Keyship contain the explosion? How far would it spread? How many people would've died?
Talk about asset denial…. Forerunner technology was dangerous, and yes, if it fell into the wrong hands such as the Reapers or Cerberus, it would cause devastating damage not only to Humanity but the entire galaxy. At the least they would have a hyper-powerful fleet destroyer, and at the most it would've led to the Ark...
...Lasky understood. Understood that it was...well, it served the greater good to put in a better light. He just figured the worst part about this was they still don't know. The Citadel still had no clue about the Forerunners… There could've been, had to have been, a better way…
But...
"Is this true?" Matriarch Gendina asked.
Lord Hood stoically looked at the room. A room filled with shocked and rightfully angry people. He spoke.
"For nearly four-thousand years the Asari have known and limitedly studied this 'Prothean artifact.' Had it fallen into enemy hands it would have done untold damage to the entire galaxy, far more than merely containing it toThessia. Lamenta's destruction? That's only the beginning, and once that thing activates the fall of Thessia will be the least of your worries."
"What...what do you know about this that we don't?" Councilor Tevos asked with a mixture of anger and confusion.
"That it is not Prothean…" The Shipmaster said. He looked to Lord Hood who only nodded. "I believe this Asari," he turned to Liara, "spoke of it during our transit to the Citadel. Indeed, this ship is Forerunner…"
"...A ship," Liara repeated. She hesitantly continued, "and those constructs we fought…?"
"Of Forerunner descent also." The Shipmaster looked to the Council, "highly advanced in nature, more so than the Reapers, and certainly more so than these Protheans. And now, with this keyship exposed, soon old threats may rise again…"
"You...you knew?" Councilor Tevos was baffled more than anything. She placed her hand over her heart and sat down. "We could've avoided this, all of this if you would have told this prior. We could've solved this! Together! Do you not trust us!?"
Lord Hood didn't say anything at first. He stepped forward, kicking away bullet casings. He silently sat down at the head chair of the conference table. He remained silent as he looked at the Councilors, with Shepard's squad right behind them.
"Summon Admiral Hacket, along with whatever leaders were present last conference." Lord Hood ordered.
"You still try to order us!?" Sparatcus yelled outraged, "after all you've done!?"
"After all I've done?" Lord Hood leaned forward, "and what have you done, Councilor? What have any of your military commanders done? Barely seven months, and already the Reapers have put you on your knees. And yet you still refuse to cooperate, placing Shepard here," the Fleet Admiral pointed at Commander, "and his team as the sole arbiter of what is your responsibility.
"The only thing I have done, Councilor, is Idecided that in the larger picture that ship and the danger it possesses far exceeded the value of the inhabitants of Thessia."
"Spirits…"
"Now, Councilor, your species are not the only ones part of the equation. Humanity is too, our Humanity. Not only us, but the Elites, and dozens of other species that will be destroyed had we let that ship stand…
"We had survived thirty years because of our actions. At the rate your war is going, I doubt you'll last thirty months."
"It may have worked for your species, Fleet Admiral, but this is different," Councilor Valorean responded.
"Let it be known that they did not merely save their own species, but that of all lifeforms in the galaxy," the Shipmaster responded grimly. "They had unknowingly also saved your species as well."
The Councilors didn't say anything. With the information out there, how could one respond? Hell, Captain Lasky didn't even know what to say.
Still, there had to be another way for Thessia. Another way to save everyone…
"Summon Admiral Hackett, now." Lord Hood ordered one final time.
No one responded. No one moved. Captain Lasky stepped forward and typed in commands. At the end of the table the dark blue hologram of Admiral Hacket appeared. And he was greeted with, well, this. Confusion and bewilderment were appropriate.
"...I've received a report on the situation, but I assume it hasn't been resolved…" Admiral Hackett said.
"Do you need to be brief?" Lord Hood asked.
"Fleet Admiral!" Councilor Tevos interrupted. "What is going on! Why? Why did you try to destroy Thessia?"
"And what the hell does not even mean?" Spartacus decided to add.
"Nova Bomb…? You know a star going supernova?" Captain Florence said.
"Goddess…"
"But on a smaller scale…." Captain Lasky corrected as if it helped make the situation any better.
"That was not your decision to make, Fleet Admiral!" Spartacus yelled.
Lord Hood didn't say anything, not any usual retort of UNSC superiority or threats. He looked around the room. His eyes turned to Primarch Victus.
"Sir?" He said, hesitant.
"And what have you done?" Lord Hood asked.
"It's impossible to assess without knowing who this enemy is and what their capabilities are, sir."
"But I'm sure at times, as a soldier, you understand not receiving clarity from higher-ups. Only orders."
"Yes, sir."
"And the only way this lack of clarity and explanation can only be done through complete and absolute trust," Lord Hood explained. "Have I earned that?"
"What you've done for Palaven?" Victus said, "at a whim, you have deployed a force the galaxy has never seen. Your men are now dying with my brothers. You have my absolute trust."
Councilor Sparatcus, out of what Lasky could best describe as desperation and fear, turned to Primarch Victus, "Primarch? What are you saying? He-"
Primarch Victus slowly turned to Sparatcus, then to Lord Hood. "...I'm sorry, Councilor…. I serve our Empire… I will do what I must in order to preserve it. Lord Hood has proven capable..."
The Primarch looked to the Admiral, "my allegiance is to you."
Sparatcus didn't respond.
"Matriarch?" Lord Hood turned to the Asari commander.
...She looked to the man that nearly destroyed her home. A plethora of emotions, uncertainty and fear being the primary, flooded her face. The centuries she had lived finally began to show. Creases and worry marks. Eyes that had seen so much, with its liveliness fading.
"I did try to destroy your homeworld," Lord Hood said. "There is sacrifice in this war. And you and Primarch Victus understand this. We did what had to be done because there is a bigger threat."
"Matriarch?" Tevos asked, "you'll allow this?"
"I have no choice, ma'am," was all the Matriarch was able to say.
Tevos slowly nodded.
And it was in that, Captain Lasky seemed to just realize the Council was nothing more than republican representatives. In that, their power was...borrowed. Their governments, at least what remained of leadership infrastructure, stood before Lord Hood. There wasn't a need for the outstanding bureaucratic and espionage machine to erode a government to Humanity's will. Lord Hood just had to appeal to classical characteristics: honor and power.
Admiral Hackett crossed his arms, briefly observing the Councilors and their subsequent military advisors. He quickly turned to Lord Hood, "and what is the bigger threat?"
He didn't seem phased or outraged like the rest of the Citadel Council (defeated more like actually.) Hell, it's as if it didn't happen.
"As of this moment, Cerberus is the most dangerous threat not only to mankind, but the galaxy. We must devote all our resources to stop them by whatever means necessary." Lord Hood responded.
Captain Lasky looked to Captain Florence. Unlike Lasky, he was stoic and emotionless, just like Lord Hood.
"How did negotiations collapse in the first place?" Admiral Hackett asked.
Lord Hood first looked to the Council, "guards, please escort them outside."
"Admiral?" Udina chived. "You're going to allow this to? I order you-"
"We firmly believe ONI is in league with Cerberus, as highly evident by the attack today." Lord Hood interrupted.
No one said anything. At this point, Lasky guessed it was an open secret. Even with Cole Protocol and the various levels of secrecy, sure, some sensitive info will be leaked. But nothing on this scale. Not specific schematics and blueprints for dozens of different Covenant ships to duplicate exactly. Not only that but somehow Cerberus was able to fully duplicate UNSC tech, Spartan armor, in...what? A matter of months? Five years at most maybe. No. They had help.
Cerberus had known about the UNSC for nearly five years… And it seemed ONI gave them everything in that time… But why?
Captain Florence reported that Admiral Osman stated that they had Humanity's best interests in mind, that they were trying to ensure the survival of Humanity. That they somehow were the only things keeping the UNSC afloat.
How? Lasky had no idea. During the Great War, sure, but as of the recent couple months their behavior is erratic to say the least. No, not to say the least. Traitorous and malevolent.
"They now possess a highly vital asset." Lasky quietly said.
"Cortana, correct?" Admiral Hackett asked. "The 'secret project.' What intel does she possess?"
"Everything," Captain Lasky replied. "Battle plans, formations, manufacturing details…"
And more importantly, the location of Earth.
"There's no way to track it?" Admiral Hacket asked.
"At a certain range, yes. But they jumped the system through slipspace," Lord Hood replied. "Last we tracked them was near the local Relay. Currently, we have no leads."
"It seems to me with ONI on their side, Cerberus has all the information that AI could give them…"
Maybe… But maybe more… Cortana was one of the few AIs with a complete interface with Forerunner systems, was the only one to fully understand Requiem and communicate with the Didact and Librarian…
Oh my God… Lasky just realized Cortana's strategic importance… Now he was beginning to understand, and a sinking feeling raged in his heart as it plunged into his stomach...
It was a question he wanted to ask, no, needed, to ask…. But he wasn't sure how… He wasn't sure what would happen…
Did Lord Hood try to fix Cortana only to recover what she found, what she saw on Requiem?
Did the Master Chief ever matter?
And he tried to look at it through his eyes, with absolute utilitarianism without empathy-
"Ms. Lawson?" Admiral Hackett said to Miranda.
She glanced at Captain Lasky, then looked to Shepard, waiting for his approval. After a moment of thought, with no choices left, grimly the Commander nodded.
They had lost. For now.
Miranda sighed...defeated mostly
"Unfortunately...locations were the first piece of information they sanitized, but something in the data will put us to them…" Miranda quietly said as she opened up her Omni-tool.
"And what's the possibility that Cerberus took them back to a ONI facility?" Hackett asked.
Lasky doubted it. The UNSC was in the process of hunting down every ONI blacksite with the help of NCIS and the few intelligence sections the UNSC had been able to retain. Though...it'll probably take years before they'll be able to find the deeply hidden blacksites and bases.
Either way, why would they risk it? If Cortana was even given a micro-second's access to any comm systems she'll broadcast to the UNSC. From there, well…. That's if she's able to...
More than likely it'll be a Cerberus facility. It had to be.
"And this A.I's ...status before it was taken?" Primarch Victus asked. It became quickly evident that Shepard's squad wasn't in the talking mood. Lord Hood whispered to Captain Florence. He quickly nodded and exited the room. A moment later, he reentered guiding one of those...Geth
Lasky wondered if the Spartans could take one head one.
Following behind the Prime was… Captain Lasky was honestly surprised it survived. The Engineer, Virgil, gently and gracefully floated into the room.
"Gentlemen," Lord Hood said.
"Hood Fleet Admiral," the Prime responded, "as per recent observation, I can confidently report that there will be massive delays in 0452-9 Cortana's reconstruction."
No one replied. The room was silent.
"That was a joke. One taught by Virgil-"
"What was Cortana's status before she was abducted?" Lord Hood interrupted.
"0452-9's status was...troublesome…" the Prime reported. "Numerous code structures of alien origins were present in all systems. It is unknown how this AI construct was able to replace coding structure with such highly advanced and utterly different dialects while still being able to translate processes to, in relative terms, archaic systems and programming."
"Replace?" Captain Lasky asked. He assumed she began to replace systems near the end, when her systems began to break down.
"Based on timestamps observed and recorded by Virgil, we believe these replacements began nearly five years ago. Virgil has identified data clusters and coding structures as both Forerunner and Reaper along with...something else we were not able to identify."
Reaper programming… How?
"Sovereign," Tali said.
"Indeed," the Prime said. "Obviously, we can deduce that based on this evidence that these Forerunners had contact with the Reapers, one-hundred thousand years ago."
"Did you know they had contact with them?" Admiral Hackett asked.
"We did not," Lord Hood merely said.
"And that's the truth," Lasky felt the need to add.
"As such," The Prime continued. "Most of the Reaper data and coding structures present was acquired around a month ago, but small fragments were obtained from a construct identified only as Installation 07."
"Installation 07?" Miranda interjected. "That was under one of the filenames. Under Halo."
Lasky wondered how long the secret could keep going. It seemed to slowly collapse every passing hour. A part of him just wanted to put all of it, all of it, out in the open. Every single secret they knew in order to figure out what the hell was going on.
But that wouldn't happen.
"And Long Night of Solace," Admiral Hackett said. "And somehow Cerberus recovered not only this but also the Spirit of Fire?"
"Or, ONI helped them to recover it," Lord Hood responded. It wouldn't be surprising. The location of a lost ship would just be a minor detail of secrets ONI knew. But it would explain all the UNSC tech… Spirit of Fire was one of those colony ships transformed into a pure military and transport vessel. It would be a treasure trove of technological secrets and capabilities. If Lasky remembered correctly, nearly two marine divisions were packed in that ship.
"Which leads me back to my original question," Admiral Hackett said. "How did relations deteriorate?"
"Like we said before the invasions, the UNSC would begin investigations on Cerberus…" Lord Hood said. "Admittedly, without the full strength of our intelligence arm, it was highly limited."
And evidently a hostile response was provoked.
"And what exactly triggered this attack?" Primarch Victus asked.
"With the absence of the majority of Section Three ONI personnel, we had few options…" Lord Hood trailed off. Rather unusual.
Still, whatever he was implying, Liara seemed to catch on pretty quick, "Goddess, tell me you didn't…"
"Deployment of Spartan teams was our only option. We knew the Illusive Man wouldn't hand over anything of value, if he didn't outright lie about it in the first place."
Shepard, and a few other various Normandy crew members looked towards Lasky's way. The Captain only shrugged, trying to signal that he had no idea.
And of course, he didn't. He had no idea how anyone within HIGHCOM would think that Spartans were capable of the type of intelligence gathering that Section Three specialized in. Sure, recon, infiltration… The Spartans aboard the Infinity were utilized as special infantry and for unconventional warfare. The kind of intelligence here wasn't in Lasky's field.
He just couldn't imagine them sneaking around very well.
"Where did you deploy them?" Matriarch Gendina asked as if it mattered.
"The base where Operative Lawson originally infiltrated, plus a few more locations." The Fleet Admiral replied,
"...Did you know this would happen?"
"We knew their supply numbers, we knew their supply lines. We knew that ever since we've made contact with the Citadel, with you, Cerberus had been mobilizing…"
Captain Florence stepped forward. "And maneuvered and deployed in a few weeks. The UNSC Army or Marine Corps even on high alert can't mobilize as fast as they did."
"Usual Cerberus tactics. Assault battalions enter, grab-and-go," Garrus added.
"With a fleet this size, we should've known when they were moving." Lord Hood said.
"But you didn't even know they possessed reverse-engineered Sangheili ships," Primarch Victus continued. "Maybe your intelligence is faulty."
"More than likely," Lord Hood replied with no offense taken. "We were not prepared for this attack, and it showed."
That statement didn't make anyone feel better. And it certainly didn't make Captain Lasky feel better.
"And is Thessia also a mistake?" Matriarch Gendina asked.
"No." Lord Hood plainly said.
No one said anything for a moment.
"And you won't even tell us of the larger threat out there? To justify this?" Admiral Hackett asked. "The Normandy crew already sent a report…. Forerunner constructs…. It's only a matter of time, Fleet Admiral, before all this comes crashing down."
"In time, Admiral. But for now you need to trust us. You need to follow our orders," Lord Hood stared past Admiral Hackett, at Commander Shepard.
"...The status of Operation Harpoon?" Victus asked.
"With the Infinity currently absent, command has gone to Fleet Admiral Alvarez. Momentum is slowly down, though I'm told by both field and staff commanders that we still control the battle tempo. The Reapers are slowly being pushed back." Lord Hood reported.
Lasky looked to Shepard and his crew, and tried his best to give a reassuring nod. They were still angry, repelled by the fact that the UNSC almost nuking Thessia was sweeped under the rug.
"Will you do it again?" Liara asked him.
"Ma'am?"
"Your Spartans...failed their mission… We stopped them, for now…" Liara said. "Something massive, more massive than that Forerunner ship is now being unearthed in the city. The Sangheili are barely containing it… There is nothing stopping you from trying again."
An awkward silence consumed the room as if the idea of that Nova Bomb was now taboo.
Forerunner Prometheans… Captain Lasky witnessed a single Knight take out a platoon of marines, pin down and push a squad of Spartan-IVs. How many did that Keyship possess, if they weren't transported like the Chief and Shepard to the Citadel?
"And what is the status of that, Shipmaster?" Lord Hood asked the Elite. He stood in the backroom, invisible, unconcerned it seemed.
"A war on two fronts," he reported. "The Prometheans engage both us and the Reaper abomination. And now, instead of focusing on us, it seems the Reapers too are dedicated to assault the pouring Prometheans."
"Doctor," Lord Hood began. "The utilization of the Nova Bomb was to ensure overwhelming force would successfully, and without question destroy the target-"
"But why?" Shepard interrupted. "What would it do?"
Lord Hood didn't say anything. "As the Shipmaster has said, the galaxy is under threat. The UNSC included.
"All of you are dismissed. I need to speak with HIGHCOM."
No one moved. Until Lasky realized he meant everyone but himself and the Shipmaster, and possibly Admiral Hackett. The first ones to exit the room were Primarch Victus and Matriarch Gendina. Shepard… was the most hesitant. He looked to Admiral Hackett, who nodded solemnly.
Lord Hood soon enough ordered a guard to gather up as many holo-displays as they could find. The Fleet Admiral needed to talk to HIGHCOM.
The lower ranks, the ones who didn't need to be there, silently filed out. Captain Lasky, the Spartans, Captain Florence, and Shepard's squad left the room. The only ones who stayed. Admiral Hackett's holo-display remained on, and Captain Lasky heard from a passing marine guard that the other Citadel commanders were being summoned. Maybe for a later briefing.
The Captain was left in the wreckage of the old C-SEC station. Eerily quiet, combined with the faint hum of the Citadel, nothing seemed to have ever lived here.
The Council turned to Commander Shepard. Udina spoke, "this is unacceptable! How long until the UNSC decides the rest of our colonies are no longer of strategic reliability? How many more people die because they still want to keep useless secrets!"
"We've done this before…" Captain Lasky interrupted. "We've had to nuke our own colonies, Nova our own worlds in order to stave off the enemy…
"What if the choice was yours, Commander?"
Captain Lasky had his hands in his pockets, he doubted he could hide the guilt. He remained a couple of feet away.
"An entire civilization is dead because of my choices, Captain," Shepard replied.
Lasky sighed, "I had no idea… I'm sorry."
Liara, for the entire time, remained at Shepard's side. And her hand was probably glued to his. Still, she barely managed a small nod, "Lord Hood didn't tell you about Thessia?"
She motioned over to Blue Team. They headed to the elevator. Lasky didn't look, "no. No, he didn't. Lord Hood probably ordered them to keep his mouth shut."
"And now we have to save Cortana?" She couldn't hide the pain and anger.
"Well, she possesses highly classified and sensitive information. So…" Lasky stopped himself. "I...I don't know what to tell you."
"If I had to decide if I had to ignite a planet cracker…" Shepard said, referring back to the Captain's question. "I need to know why."
"It still justifies nothing!" Udina yelled. While the two other Councilors nodded, Tevos remained silent, thinking.
"Maybe…you need to know why."
The Councilors propped up before Shepard and his squad did… Captain Lasky wasn't sure, but this time they weren't exactly in the wrong. Besides Tevos, it seemed they were so used to getting what they want that their tactfulness was non-existent.
"...I know it's not your fault, Captain. But you have to tell us what the hell is going on. Specifically," the Commander said.
Captain Lasky nodded, he quickly looked at the Spartans and Captain Florence, "perhaps away from prying eyes, right?"
Shepard looked to the Council. Tevos nodded.
...
"What you encountered was a highly advanced Forerunner ship. That you know," Lasky began. Shepard's squad, all of Shepard's squad sat around the holo-table of the War room aboard the ship's CIC. Wrex, Grunt, Samara, Miranda Tali, Thane, Kasumi, Tali, James, Ashley (with her arm in a sling), EDI, Garrus, and Liara. There was also some support staff present. Joker, the pilot of the frigate; Specialist Traynor, comms chief; Engineer Adams with two of his assistants Ken and Gabriela; Cortez, the shuttle pilot; and a few other Normandy personnel Lasky didn't recognize. They all had formed around Shepard, as if to protect him from any threat the galaxy had to offer.
Captain Lasky was quickly hurried into this room, but the brief glimpses he caught of the ship displayed a quite different architecture than that of the Infinity or the majority of UNSC ships.
Cables ran throughout the metal grate floor panels, and there was a quiet, messy feel about the various corridors. But, under the soft neon blue and orange light intermixed with small hints of red, it gave a comforting and cozy feeling that Captain Lasky would never feel aboard the Infinity.
It was almost peaceful.
"I still can't wrap my mind around that." Wrex commented.
"I know, it doesn't exactly look like one," Lasky answered, "but it is a Forerunner ship… One armed with a massive slipspace drive…"
"What is its purpose?" Liara asked. "Why? Why hide it underneath the earth for… Goddess, for more than likely one-hundred-thousand years."
"It's not just on Thessia. There's one on Palaven, on Rannoch… On any planet bearing intelligent life. Earth, our Earth included… Probably yours too, Shepard…"
"Admiral Anderson mentioned something happening on Earth's surface, didn't he?" Liara asked the Commander, "the Reapers converging on a single location."
"EDI," Shepard ordered. "Summon Admiral Anderson on the QEC. Get him on the horn ASAP.."
EDI nodded it in acknowledgement.
"This is like finding Prothean artifacts present on every planet holding sentient life…" Liara said.
"Well, on your side of the galaxy at least…" Captain Lasky replied. He wondered if it would be a good idea to call up Roland. Ever since his interaction with Cortana… He was stepping away from UNSC protocol a bit.
"Of course," Liara leaned forward on the holo-display, and brought up a vague diagram of the keyship. "But unlike the Protheans, who for the most part wanted us to find their technology, the Forerunners left this ship. Left behind no other tracce, and almost purposely disguised themselves as Prothean… Why?"
"Forerunner tech only interacts with Humans…" Lasky began. He shook his head, "what I'm about to say… Christ, it borders on science fiction."
"When we discovered another human civilization, a near exact base replica of ours, we had already entered into science fiction," Liara replied.
Well, she wasn't wrong.
And now, at the pathway of this information Lasky was faced with diving into secrecy, into classified information that carries heavy consequences and burdens….
He had no idea what to say, what not to say…
"Just give us the truth, Captain…" Shepard said calmly.
Lasky said it, he didn't think. He tried not to hesitate, "we know that a Reaper-controlled cycle couldn't have happened one-hundred-thousand years ago, because the Forerunners wiped out all biological life, all life, in the entire galaxy one-hundred-thousand-years ago."
And the response he got was silence. The Captain studied individual faces. There was still the inherent grim and tired emotions that had placated their minds for...well, ever since Thessia. Still, there was some small surprise, mostly from Liara and Shepard.
"But how…?" Shepard asked. The shock was more evident in his voice, "we know that this cycle has lasted for millions of years…"
"Well, at least that's what the Reapers and some carbon dating tell us," Liara added.
"I honestly don't know how the Reapers play into it. Honestly," Lasky clarified.
"Okay, but why did the Forerunners do this? And how?" Shepard asked.
"Halo…" Miranda said. She had leaned over the holo-table, pressed a couple command keys and brought up what looked like the stolen Cerberus files. "Five years ago… Halo… That's what it is, isn't it?
"That's what you saved the galaxy from… From Halo from firing again."
Halo... A weapons system that disperses a thin veil of refined eezo across nearly ten-thousand light years. The Forerunners had to come up with something in order to disperse a deadly particle across ten-thousand lightyears of space, in realspace, in a mere matter of minutes. UNSC had always theorized it was some sort of neutrino or possibly a tachyon particle. Or quite possibly, it produced some sort of energy wave that created a small ripple within the universe itself, and within that ripple the particle would be able to travel FTL without the hinderance of physical law. Eezo, this refined dark energy, wasn't really that far-fetched. Its deadliness isn't disputed, but was it used as the main delivery system?
"And what is Halo, Captain?" Liara asked, "why did the Forerunners wipe out all life? How can there be any life now?
"Their weapons…" Lasky began.
"Their? More than one…?" Liara reiterated, "What is it? A bomb? A ship?"
"A structure." Lasky clarified.
"And how large is the structure?"
"...Larger than the Citadel…" Lasky decided to answer. It wasn't a lie... "When the Forerunners purged the galaxy, they were wiped out. They designated Mankind as their successor. Rounding up their technology, acquiring it, and fully learning it, well they call it the Reclamation…"
Recognition popped up on Shepard's face, "the Illusive Man mentioned it. Aboard the Infinity, right?"
"Which makes it all the more dangerous. It's probably how everything went sideways with Cerberus. It's a closely guarded secret, and the fact that they didn't disclose it with the UNSC…" Lasky trailed off.
"And what, you own the monopoly?" James asked, "from what I remember, the Systems Alliance is human too."
"And so is Cerberus…" EDI added.
"But the UNSC has the most experience with it," Lasky defended. "Us and the Elites…"
"And you thought information sanitation would be a wise choice?" Garrus asked.
"Well, this information is dangerous…."
"I, at least, understand," Liara said. "But if Cerberus knows, that they knew, with possible information sources from ONI…."
"All the more dangerous…"
"So we're supposed to trust you?" Ashley interjected, "after trying to crack a planet, we're supposed to just trust you?
"Commander, you can't be serious?"
Captain Lasky wasn't sure what to say… Hundreds of millions, if not billions of lives had no value compared to all other life in the galaxy. A Nova Bomb, a planet destroyer, seemed extreme. Fifty megatons prove to destroy a Ring… Was it to compensate for the possibility that the Keyship had heavy-duty shields?
Or…
There was also a large possibility that the UNSC was trying to wipe away all evidence of a Forerunner presence. And if that was the case, if that was the reason why for the overkill...
"These decisions are beyond our pay grade…" It was the only proper phrase Lasky thought would be appropriated to start with, "Halo can wipe out all life in the galaxy…. If the Reapers or Cerberus get a hold of it…"
"...And it can only be activated by humans?" Shepard asked.
"Yeah…." Lasky answered. He tried to redirect the question. "We have no leads to Cerberus? No leads to Cortana or the Master Chief?"
"If they went through the Relays we would've been able to track trace signals…" Specialist Traynor commented. She was a young, junior-officer-looking type with short black hair. "What is the nature of slipspace?"
"Unlike the Relays or your version of FTL, slipspace doesn't take place in realspace," Lasky tried to remember all the technical details he learned in the naval academy. "It crunches space-time. The drive then pierces through realspace into a different eleventh dimension, the dimension of supersymmetry or the strings, and general relativity. It enables the ship to travel to the various 'valleys' and 'mountains' where realspace locations are located…"
"Dimensional crunch?" Tali asked, "requires a lot of power… and time dilation?"
"Well, photons and dark matter can do amazing things," Lasky faintly smiled. "Back in the old days of the Great War, time dilation varied relative to, let's say Earth. There was a time reduction anywhere between ten to twenty percent. It's been reduced, but…"
"It's all relative…" Tali responded, "this seems to be a controlled wormhole, at least the space-time dimensional shift. Do you travel at light speed through….?"
"Slipstream space?" Lasky asked, "laws of physics still apply in all known dimensions, so no. Though the crunches in space-time have some strange effects on mass and density…"
"Black holes produce a radio-wave length, but we wouldn't be able to track it since it'd take thousands of years to get anywhere really," Specialist Traynor outlined. "But a gravity imprint on a traditional space-time grid would be huge, right…?"
"Right…?" Lasky reiterated.
"Bring any sensors online…" Tali said, starting to figure it out. "Get our remaining sensors online and track a sudden, heavy gravitational imprint… If they can't read it, they can least get a sense of direction where this space-time crunch was heading.
"How would you…" Lasky trailed off before he possibly figured it out. For one, of course, their technology is infused with dark energy. A keystone concept of dark energy is the cosmological constant. In layman's terms, it is the energy and density of empty, vacuum space itself. And what's the only thing present in empty, vacuum space? Well, quantum fields. Dark energy would be represented in every dimension.
So, if all of the sudden, vacuum energy, the driving factor in universal expansion, collapsed or rapidly expanded at a certain point, relative to the nearest gravity well, that's probably the slipspace entrance.
Hell, with their dark energy capabilities, there's a possibility to develop a way to detect realspace entry points before they happen.
How long before they happen? Well, who knows…
"How long will it take to run this scan?"
"With our priority access…." EDI began, "a handful of STG and Asari stealth satellites... are still operational… It seems there are numerous 'black holes' that have formed and collapsed throughout the years based on the historical data I'm analyzing..."
"If we wouldn't have dismissed it as the natural white noise of the galaxy, we'd probably have found you earlier…" Liara commented.
"...there's one lead." EDI reported, "One rather large black hole that disappeared in seconds…"
"Realspace entry point," Lasky clarified.
"Seven-hundred-thousand kilometers from...Horizon…"
"Horizon?" Lasky asked.
"Horizon… One of the few safe places left in the galaxy…" Liara said. "It houses a large refugee colony called Sanctuary. It has been advertised across the galaxy."
"And what is it guarded by?"
"Nothing," Liara responded. "Once any of my contacts make it there to investigate, I lose communication."
"Not suspicious at all..?"
"We've been a little busy to investigate further…" Liara responded, "it's our only lead…"
"I'd have to pass it up to HIGHCOM…" Lasky said.
"So they could do what? Blow it up?" Ashley replied.
"No…" Lasky said. "Time is a factor. We won't be able to recon properly… And who knows, we may find nothing there… But it's worth a shot. Small team to infiltrate and extract high value targets with minimal civilian casualties."
And they'd have to do it soon. Captain Lasky thought about when the word got down to Blue Team…
Captain Lasky still stood by his assessment he made to Lord Hood about, Christ, only a little over a month ago… The Chief… John, there's not telling what the hell he'd do, and this situation makes it drastically worse.
Blue Team… They couldn't deploy them, and they couldn't not deploy them. And in all honestly, Lasky didn't believe Blue Team was helping his psyche. If anything, it might be making it worse.
But… They wouldn't sit on the sidelines…. And it made Lasky realize, HIGHCOM and Lord Hood now realize it too.
"HIGHCOM won't pull this again," Lasky said
"How do you know?" Another voice asked… Kasumi Lasky remembered.
"Because HIGHCOM will send my ship loaded for bear. They won't get away with it like last time."
"But they did. They got it onto our ship," Ashley said. "How can we trust you?"
Lasky closed his eyes and didn't respond for a moment. He breathed in. He swallowed down his emotions, whatever he actually felt. "I agreed, one-hundred percent with HIGHCOM's assessment. That ship needed to be destroyed, and civilian and military casualties, mass civilian and military casualties would be a high probability, but they would've been acceptable. A nova bomb though? Overkill. And I'm sure the thinking was that since there wasn't time, it's better to be safe than sorry.
"The specific reason this artifact is dangerous is because it will lead directly to Halo." Lasky took a breath, "there's a reason Lord Hood didn't tell me, and it's because he knew I wouldn't approve."
"I would've blown up your planet, but at least I'd have the fucking common courtesy to tell you," Lasky said.
Liara stepped forward, "it only raises my original question then, Captain. Why did the Forerunners destroy all life in the galaxy-?"
"And what the hell do you mean, like all life, or just all sentient life?" James asked.
"All life," Lasky replied.
"As I was saying…" Liara continued. "Why? Was it because of the Reapers?"
Lasky thought for a moment, "the Illusive Man argued for control of the Reapers in order for Humanity to fight far greater threats… He wasn't entirely wrong."
But there was another factor… One that didn't concern Commander Shepard…. One that was more important
...
And she was still…. That was the scary part… She was still. Unmoving. Pale skin ghost-like in the harsh aura of cool white LED hospital lights painted a black, bloody undersuit.
Medical scans and charts paraded the inner glass walls. Holographic images moved back and forth as an unseen medical AI sorted through it. At the edge of the pale lights was a soft, dead blackness… The only thing that seemed to stop it fully encroaching on Kelly as she laid still were Fred and Kelly.
The two Spartans tried to disappear, to stay hidden among the medical staff, but… it's an impossible feat, even for a Spartan. At the very least, the Infinity staff had the common courtesy to leave them alone.
"Jesus…" Linda said. "We haven't been this down since…."
"Years…." Fred whispered.
"Reach…" Linda muttered.
"...Talking about before that."
Linda hesitated. But she got the message. "First contact. Sam.
"Are we down for the count?"
Fred didn't say anything. Looked at the array of medical bandages, incisions, and mechanical holders that nearly covered her entire face. In a way, her helmet had never been removed.
Still, thank God for MJOLNIR. The doctor said she'll make a full recovery...in time. But just seeing her like this felt wrong, felt horrid… Hell, it took a moment for the staff to find a bed to fit her height and...tonnage…and somehow she looked so small….
She looked...
Something sliced through Fred's vision. And colors and beings ripped through the opening. Flashes of bootcamp and CPO Mendez… Of children being put through basic Marine training….and everything far beyond what any other Human being has been through…
Fred looked down at his hands. Underneath the MJOLNIR reinforced gloves and padded titanium armor, he saw double vision of a small white hand that couldn't even grip the pistol grip of a rifle… Scarred and shaking, caked in mud and various shades of dirt. He also saw rain, lightning raging across distant hills. Blood on his knees and cartilage cracked from crawling through gravel and jagged rocks. The rain is freezing, ice shards splattering against their skivvy shirts and skin. And in another way, it burns as it drips down to the earth of Reach. Acidic...
"No," Fred replied. "We're still combat effective. We make due."
Linda simply continued to stare at Kelly. Shadows danced across her face and olive green armor. The deep dark circles under her eyes waxed and waned across her cheeks. Her dark red hair was matted to her skin. Black eyes were still, but remained firm.
"Aye, sir," Linda quietly said. "What's the next step?"
"Kelly will be okay."
"...I...know."
"John doesn't even know what happened, but either way there's nothing we can do." Fred thought through, "our priority, as a unit, is asset retrieval… John knew that. Cortana has made sure Cerberus is the UNSC's number one target…"
"Lord Hood will send everything we got," Linda finished.
"Doesn't matter… We gotta get to John. We need to get to John."
And that's the way it was...
Fred wasn't even sure what the plan would be… Overall. At least. Again, no one had any idea where John went off to this time. But… Fred knew the UNSC was already overextended, far beyond the allocated resources. Three fleets and a specialized battle group, along with two marine divisions and the entire Army airborne….
"It's gonna take time for the UNSC to mobilize," Fred concluded.
"They have to send us," Linda said.
"We can't wait for the order."
"Not even the warning order?"
"There won't be one," Fred also concluded.
That seemed to finally get Linda's full attention. "What?"
"This is too sensitive…" Fred said. "You see how Lord Hood has been treating John, us, since we got back?"
"...I'm not observant of that stuff, but…he trusts us. He still trusts John," Linda said.
"Would he now?"
"...Why wouldn't he…?"
Fred didn't say anything, because he didn't know the answer. But something was, is, different. And it wasn't just this war… It started with John, with Cortana on Requiem… He knew John wasn't okay, obviously, but...he didn't even wait for the rest of his team.
But...in this instance...
"We aren't leaving our brother behind," Fred said.
Linda nodded.
The door opened, and someone entered. When the Spartans turned around they immediately saluted when they saw silver bars.
"Atten-"
"At ease…" Lasky said before they could finish. Like normal, he tried to make himself smaller than he was, just like the Spartans. Arms behind his back, shoulders croached, he kept his distance.
"Lieutenant Commander Ying tells me he'll make a full recovery," Captain Lasky said.
"Roger that, sir." Fred merely replied.
Captain Lasky nodded, "what are you thinking, Lieutenant?"
Fred eyed Linda, who only shrugged… It made the Lieutenant realize that Captain Lasky was being too inquisitive. And while something, something deep inside the Spartan told to answer truthfully and to the fullest extent, the surface came to grip the words that began to form…
"We can ask you the same thing, sir," Linda replied for Fred.
"I don't blame John. Do you?" Captain Lasky said.
"We don't leave our own behind, sir." Fred replied. "What's the plan?"
"...You want to go after him…" Lasky said. And Fred immediately knew by the Captain's hesitation he had already decided something different.
"Sir….?"
"We may have something, but it's a long shot…" Captain Lasky said. "I'm about to inform HIGHCOM."
"We understand what John is going through…" Fred said. "He needs us…."
Captain Lasky nodded. "Cerberus caught us by the throat. And the Home Fleet is still smashed…"
"Infinity can't respond, sir?" Fred asked.
"Battle Group Dakota was still engaged when we left. We're down to eighteen percent supplies. We only have seven percent of our MAC rounds left, not to mention one of the guns needs rail replacements. Archer pods down to three. Fifty and seventy mil crews are having to share cartridges. We can only last in sustained intense combat for seven hours at most. And don't get me started on our ground contingent-"
"Sir…" Fred interrupted. "Why are you telling us?"
Captain Lasky blinked, as if he just realized he wasn't in another briefing. He looked to Kelly as she lay still.
"Spartans are our only reaction force we got," Lasky said. "You're the only ones that can bring John back."
"And when you say back, sir…" Fred began.
"I think you know what I mean, Lieutenant." Lasky replied.
"But you're not going to Sanctuary…." Lasky continued. "Not until HIGHCOM or Lord Hood gives the op order….
Fred knew it. He knew Lasky wouldn't help.
"That's why I'm rotating a prowler with full slipspace capabilities and combat loadout, docked in hanger delta-C-five. Just in case HIGHCOM figures everything out and decides to send in another damn nova bomb.
Fred heard the anger in the Captain's voice, and realized what was happening.
"Sanctuary…."
"A possible target, at UNSC standard coordinates three-eight-zero tac one-eight-eight. Garden world. Cerberus presence."
"Sir…" Fred said. "What's happening?"
Captain Lasky spoke, "you can see it the way things are going. The Chief is a top asset, but right now he might be the UNSC's lowest priority…"
"Sir?"
"Frankly, I'm worried about this team," Lasky said. "I understand the situation you were placed in, how you were trained and developed, but without question you could've killed millions."
"But you know why, sir," Fred said. "Don't try to defend it. You know more than we do."
"That's the worse part. I do know." Lasky got closer to Kelly. He sighed, "and Lord Hood trusts you. He can't now."
"Because we failed?" Linda asked.
"No," Lasky replied. "Because he knows you won't follow his orders this time."
"Because Cortana is the priority…." Fred said.
"Today made Lord Hood realize the extent of the situation," Lasky continued. "The Master Chief is not okay."
"No, John is not okay," Fred retorted. "This isn't the first time the Chief would go off alone.
"No. Not like this," Captain Lasky corrected. "When the Chief went after Cortana at the end of the War, it's because he had orders. Because Lord Hood and the UNSC had developed a plan of action."
"So Lord Hood is mad because he isn't in the pecking order anymore?" Linda sarcastically asked.
"...If you want to view it that way," Captain Lasky said. "But I know they're re-reviewing recent field reports… My reports, unfortunately… The UNSC can't chase a loose asset forever."
"Jesus Christ!" Fred exclaimed. "Are you suggesting-"
"They're not tying ends. Not yet." Captain Lasky calmly reassured. "But if the Spartan teams aren't able to retrieve Cortana… How do you think they'll handle it?
"And how do you think John will react to it?"
Fred looked at Linda… And now they were both getting the picture. Linda, the black eyes, looked scared.
"And if we're ordered?" Linda asked.
Captain Lasky thought for a moment, sadly looking at the injured Spartan. The heart rate monitor kept a steady pace. New numbers began to flash on the surrounding glass holo-screens. The medical AI was going into overtime.
"I want to say he won't let you even near Cortana or John, but…. He rotated John into the field…"
"But I can understand why," Fred said.
"I do too, but…." Lasky shook his head, "the only reason he would do it is for a political move… You don't follow his orders…
"He would know," Fred finished.
"Let's prevent that from happening." Lasky began to walk towards the door. "Conveniently, Roland is working on security repairs for that hanger section. He's too busy to watch the area."
Linda took out her pistol, and brass checked the chamber.
"Aye, sir." Fred replied.
Lasky headed to the briefing. Fred turned to Kelly one last time for now.
"We'll get him back." He promised her.