Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Marvel franchise.
Author's note: I can see that you folks are enjoying this story.
Chapter 7: Hard choices Part-1
Unknown base...
Horsehead Nebula...
A man was seated in a chair and in front of him were multiple holo screen that presented multiple images and information. He was wearing a black Armani coat with white inner shirt and black pants and shoes. He had certain white patches in his hair suggesting he may be close to 50 years of age or even more. The most distinctive feature was the blue bionic eyes he had that glowed bright even in utter dark.
Illusive Man is the founder of the human-centric organization called the 'Cerberus'. He was once a merc and part of the Alliance serving under General Williams in the Shanxi war. This organization was started by him in the wake of the human-turian war. The aim was to uplift humanity in hopes to place them high above in the galactic community. He believes that their place in the galaxy is more fragile and in the coming future, they will be going through trials of survival and that its his duty to make sure they are ready. Over the years, Illusive man managed to procure funding from several sources to kick start many legal and illegal research and experimentation. His activities drew a lot of polarized attention among humans and other alien species. Cerberus is often seen as terrorists and true to that term, they have got their hands dirty more than once. Also no one knows Illusive man's true name and those that did were no longer alive.
Illusive man was inhaling a puff of cigarette and blowing the smoke out. Then there was a beeping in one of the holo screen. He pressed a button in the arm rest to answer.
"Sir" a man spoke through the screen.
"Dr. Wayne. I hope you went through the data we acquired from the alliance facility?" Illusive man asked.
"Yes, but the data is quite troubling. Is is truly hundreds of millions of years old!? If it is, then whatever civilization that lived back then must have been truly terrifying" Dr. Wayne said with a hint of concern.
"We all have already found traces of space faring civilizations dating millions of years into the past. I am not concerned about that. Its the artifact itself, I wanna know more about" Illusive man said with a sigh. He is usually not the type of person who drags the conversation unnecessarily and he certainly is losing patience with the doctor getting awestruck.
"Yes-..uhh, right! This artifact design the alliance scientists captured is legitimate. The shapes, the angular and curvy profile all indicates to the starship's hull. But the material its made of is molecularly engineered titanium-iridium composite and its hardness is unbelievable. Its hundreds and thousands of times harder than the hardest material we have seen! Alliance scientists reported that a particle beam with the energy of a nova was required to break through the hull which is equivalent to spending megatons of eezo!" explained with anxiety getting a grip on him since he couldn't fathom what he studied so far.
"I know that doctor. Can it be replicated? Do you have the necessary details to start working on this?" Illusive man asked as he exhaled a puff of cigarette smoke.
"We need time to analyze, sir. As per the records, the layers of titanium and iridium were arranged in a certain pattern at the atomic level. This was achieved by a means not known to science and engineering. The method has to be incredibly advanced to a point of sorcery, pardon the wording. I will try using eezo to create mass effect fields at atomic levels to move the metallic particles. Still, I'm not sure if it will work" Dr. Wayne explained feeling incredulous as he spoke with astonishment, wondering whichever species achieved this must have been truly powerful.
"Take your time, doctor. Once you complete the study and find a suitable approach, we should be able to fabricate this unknown material on large scale. Then based on feasibility, this can be used as a new hull plating for Cerberus vessels and personnel armors" Illusive man said.
"Damn! If we create a breakthrough in this, then cerberus vessels with this hull material will make destiny ascension look like wet paper" Dr. Wayne said with excitement.
"Savor the excitement doctor, focus on the task. Keep me posted on the developments at the earliest" Illusive man said.
"Sure sir. Though I wish we had the artifact with us, would have made it much easier to study" Dr. Wayne said.
"The object was so big and created logistics issues for the Alliance. So I didn't want to waste time and resources to bring it to us. That's why I sent a team to confiscate the data. I don't like being said that 'it can't be done' or 'impossible'. You have what you need and I expect results soon" Illusive man said strictly which made the doctor to rub his back neck in tense.
"Sure sir. Will keep you updated on the progress" Dr. Wayne said as he closed the comm channel. Illusive man pressed the same button in his arm rest.
He then put his right leg above the left one and exhaled a puff of cigar smoke gazing at the burning orange star that was in front of him. The star light was filtered through polarized glass that revealed the surface with sun spots and coronal activity.
Aboard the Sovereign..
Saren Arterius was standing in the control center within his ship. He was restless and tensed as it could be seen even through this cybernetic face. Its been 3 days since Benezia left for the uncharted system and he hasn't heard anything from her.
"She should be here right now. I should have gone with her" Saren said loud and suddenly the place started to blink in red light and all of a sudden he felt something taking control of him.
"Rrrhhh-..." he grunted in pain as he shook himself to the left and right, then stopped as his eyes glowed in bright red. He then heard a voice, a deep baritone growling voice he was familiar with and feels like it is drilling his head.
"WHEN I SENT THE ASARI, I WAS TRACKING HER IMPLANT. THE GETH SHIP WAS ATTACKED BY SOMETHING WHEN THEY REACHED THE DESTINATION. A SOLAR DAY AGO, THE IMPLANTS WENT OFFLINE. THIS HAS CONFIRMED OUR DOUBTS. THE PROTHEANS, IN THEIR FUTILE ATTEMPT IN DEFIANCE, SOUGHT THE ANCIENT WEAPON THAT ONCE SLAUGHTERED OUR NATIONS ALONG WITH THE PARASITE THAT CONTROLLED THE ENTIRE LEGION. IT WAS CODED AS THE 'GREAT PURIFICATION'. THIS NEEDS TO BE RELAYED TO THE HARBINGER" Sovereign spoke whose voice reverberated across the control center.
"'Parasite'-...'Great purification'!?-...I do not follow. A super weapon that killed the Reapers!? This is all overwhelming!" Saren said as he struggled to process everything Sovereign said.
"IT DOES NOT MATTER! THE CONDUIT HAS TO BE FOUND BEFORE BENEZIA FINDS 'THEM', OR THE REAPERS SALVATION TO THIS GALAXY WILL NEVER BE FULFILLED. THE DOORWAY TO THE DARKSPACE MUST BE OPENED SOON!" Sovereign said which was something Saren agreed on though rest of the things it said didn't even make sense.
But the turian spectre's guts keep saying that the Sovereign is not letting out enough and its been keeping a lot of secrets. Saren was the only one who knew the true nature of Sovereign and through it, he learned about the 'Reapers' and the grim fate countless civilizations suffered for eons. To this day, he believes that aiding the Reapers in an attempt to pacify them will save this galaxy and all its inhabitants or that's what he was led to believe.
That being said, he had his doubts when Sovereign urged him and Benezia to find the world that he saw in the first prothean beacon. The most alarming was, he sensed fear in its mind when talking about it. Now Sovereign speaks of Reaper killing super weapon, parasites of which he has no idea about. But for the first time, beyond the indoctrination, deep doubts began to sprout in him, about being simply manipulated by this ship for its own mysterious goals. But he decided to shove them aside since the ship can kill him instantly if he voiced his concerns too much, for the sake of survival.
"My krogan breeding facility in Virmire is readying the next batch of krogan army big enough for your planned assault on the Citadel. And recently, my research team on Virmire have found another Prothean beacon. Probably that could contain the missing pieces to identify the location of the conduit" Saren said.
"EXCELLENT! GO TO VIRMIRE AND STUDY THE BEACON. ONCE THE CONDUIT IS FOUND, NOTHING CAN STOP THE ARRIVAL!" Sovereign said growled.
"Will do as you requested" Saren responded. Then the red light in his eyes vanished to reveal his blue cybernetic eyes and the control center became normal.
Saren took sometime to ponder on the conversation he had with the ship. On one end, he may have lost Benezia forever and on the other hand, his suspicions about this mission. He hoped that sooner or later, all his actions will bear fruit to the welfare of this galaxy.
Aboard the Normandy
Shepard had a detailed debriefing with the crew on the missions they've been to so far and after they were dismissed, Joker patched the council to the comm room on an emergency channel.
"Commander Shepard, thanks for attending this emergency call!" the salarian councilor Valern said which made Shepard give a puzzled look. There weren't other councilors in the call.
"Is everything alright?" Shepard asked with concern.
"We recently received an intel from one of our salarian STG squad stationed on Virmire. It seems they have an intel about Saren and his base of operations. They sent a distress call, but a lot of them were static. You could go to Virmire at the earliest, commander" Valern said.
Shepard thought about this for few seconds. He already has a mission to complete on Noveria on their hunt for Saren and Benezia. This will create a conflict of which one to attend first as both are equally important.
"Something the problem, commander?" Valern asked after seeing Shepard's face concerned.
"Nothing, we already had an intel on Saren's activity on Feros and Noveria. The later is still in due for investigation" Shepard replied.
"Then I hope you will be able to manage them both. I'll leave the decision to you, Councilor Valern out" Valern said as he closed the comm channel.
"Damn! Now what do I do?" Shepard muttered under his breath as he sighed and left the room. Shepard walked to the cockpit and stood besides Joker.
"Hey Commander, got anything useful from the councilors?" Joker asked with a smirk.
"Yeah. A salarian STG squad has an intel on Saren's presence on Virmire and they have sent out a distress signal" Shepard said which quite surprised the helmsman.
"Really? Virmire!? That sits in the frontier on Attican traverse, borders with Terminus. Things get real ugly over there" Joker said.
"Also a nice spot for someone like Saren to have a base. Just wait for my word till I make a decision" Shepard said to which Joker nodded. Shepard then made his way to the elevator to got the shuttle bay to talk to the people and inform them of the plan.
He pressed the button to get to the lower floor. Once reached, he got out only to see Ashley in the shuttle bay. Garrus and Wrex were not there much to his surprise. He wondered where did they go, especially if they didn't go somewhere to cause any problems.
"No one's home, Ash?" Shepard asked.
"Yeah, Wrex and Garrus have joined Kaiden and others in the cafeteria. Need some time off from the mission. Feros really took our breath" Ashley said as she was checking her rifle. Shepard now understood what was going on. They have been in non stop missions since they got back from the citadel. They needed a break.
"I understand that. A mission like this can bring in fatigue" Shepard said with a sigh as he leaned on the weapons table. He then noticed Ashley was also working on something in her datapad which he took peek. It had the image of Shanxi and some information written on the sides.
"Shanxi? A sudden interest in history?" Shepard asked with smile to which Ashley looked at him and glanced at the datapad once. She gave him a surprised look.
"You don't know what day is it, today?" she asked.
"Refresh my memory" Shepard said wondering if he missed something important.
"Today is armistice day. Marking the end of Shanxi war" Ashley said which then reminded Shepard of this.
"Ohh, I totally forgot about that, with the current mess we are in" Shepard said which made Ashley's face turn mildly sour which didn't escape Shepard's attention.
"Your facial expression says you have some history going on there" Shepard said.
"Yeah, my grand father, General Williams. He lead a group against the Turians in Shanxi. Huh, old man thought he could fight off the Turians platoons, but they were in overwhelming numbers. Finally, he decided to do what no human ever dared to do in a war against aliens. He surrendered peacefully, hoping that would save lives" Ashley explained with a hint of embarrassment in her voice. Shepard now understood why she was sad when talking about that.
"Hmm, I guess that didn't end well for him" Shepard said.
"No it didn't. After the Alliance 2nd fleet secured the world, my grand father was cuffed and taken back to Earth. He was demoted to desk jobs. He retired a year later to work on construction sites" she explained.
"That must have been real hard for your family back then" Shepard said though he understood the decisions. Some military commanders surrender in hope that it actually ends the fight and bloodshed. But the reasons always will be overshadowed by politics.
"True. I joined the corps to serve and make sure that guilt gets washed away in time. I have my younger sisters looking up to me. That's why it pissed me off when I lost the 212 on Eden prime. I so much wanted a win and ended up losing more" she said with an anger.
"I understand. But in a war, you need to be prepared to make sacrifices and cope up with the loss. Because, one thing I've learned was that war has one constant that can't be removed, Casualties. Loss of life is inevitable. Making the wrong and tough choices doesn't make someone a bad soldier. You must own your mistakes and have accountability. In that way, you strive to improve" Shepard said which quite surprised her since she assumed Shepard might be thinking her to be an embarrassment too.
"Is that what you felt truly in Skylian Blitz?" Ashley asked curiously to which Shepard chuckled.
"A lot of people talk about how many people I saved, but never about how many people I couldn't. I know that and hold myself responsible to this day. That's what keeps me going" Shepard said to which Ashley's face turned a bliss.
"Huh, maybe you are right on that regard. Anyways, after our next mission. We need to drink to this day" Ashley said.
"I'll hold you on to that. Besides, The reason I came here is to give the team an update. After the meeting in the comm room, the salarian councilor called me gave me some intel on Saren" Shepard explained.
"Really!? What its about?" Ashley asked.
"Walk with me to the cafe. We will talk there" Shepard said to which Ashley nodded. Then they both took the elevator to the top where the rest of the crew were. Shepard and Ashley exited the elevator and turned right to walk the corridor in the back. Shepard and Ashley watched Wrex, Garrus, Tali, Kaiden having a chat in the cafeteria table. They were seated with plates of food that each preferred.
"Heh hehehe! Life as a mercenary was fun, but had to leave home as there was not much future there because of the genophage. But when I heard we are hunting Saren, I couldn't help but join Shepard. That bastard is too dangerous to be left alive" Wrex said as he took a bite of varren meat.
"You talk like you know Saren already" Kaiden said curiously listening to the Krogan.
"Yeah yeah-...It was a merc contract. Saren hired a bunch of us to attack a freighter including a volus cargo vessel. I checked the vessel thoroughly but found nothing of value. To this day, I don't know why he asked us to attack the vessel. But I knew enough that something was totally wrong with the contract and Saren himself. I didn't even want to get paid and left it half assed. Guess what? All the other mercs died the next year" Wrex said which surprised the others.
"Good thing you bailed out when you did" Tali said to which other nodded.
"Speaking of genophage, how bad is it really? I mean I know it truncated the krogan population, but is it that bad for all krogans to leave the home world?" Tali asked. Garrus was getting a bit uncomfortable with the topic which others didn't realize, since it was the Turians who came up with the idea of this bio-weapon and Salarians engineered it during the Krogan rebellions.
"Well, Tuchanka was already a pile of crap before I was born. And genophage didn't make things easier. We are certainly not getting any stronger. So people left home to start blood pack merc groups. All thanks to his people and those salarian pyjaks" Wrex said looking at Garrus which quite tensed the situation. Wrex himself didn't like talking about this topic.
"It was a long time ago, Wrex. Rest of the galaxy were desperate to stop the rebellion. Though I don't condone the genophage, it was a kind of an emergency situation" Garrus replied honestly though he was nervous if Wrex might change behavior and become volatile of a sudden.
"And our people are paying the price to this day. But-...you are right. I can't hold everyone today responsible for that. Shit just came through and went past us" Wrex said calmly which quite surprised the others. This was quite mature for a Krogan. They thought maybe not all Krogans are as volatile as the others.
"Well, I apologize for bringing this topic. Maybe we can talk about something else" Tali said despondently, since she brought up something that haunts the krogans more.
"Agreed, I would like to know the biotic flare up you were having yesterday. What was that all about?" Garrus asked.
"Well, yeah that's a side effect of being a L2 biotic. Most use L3 implants these days, but some like me stuck to the L2 implants. They can spike the biotic energy output at a cost and sometimes tamper with our brain's emotion centers" Kaiden explained.
"Then why wouldn't you get an L3 implant? Shouldn't be that hard" Tali asked.
"The implant surgery is highly risky. Recently I went though some cases who died during the procedure. Some were crippled with permanent brain damage. So, I don't see great odds of survival if I get a L3" Kaiden explained.
"Maybe Conatix industries can help in that. Weren't they training human biotics?" Garrus asked which surprised Kaiden.
"How do you know about Conatix!?" Kaiden asked.
"Not personally, but I know a turian asshole named Vyrnnus was the instructor there. I don't know why would the alliance hire that merc to train the biotics" Garrus said.
"You got a beef with him?" Kaiden asked shrinking his temples.
"Huh, the entire C-Sec does. Bastard's been raiding a lot of civilian vessels, trapping them with false signal. After a lengthy goose chase, we finally caught him. But surprisingly, he gave up all his contacts to lessen his sentence to a rehab. Then a few years later, he was released and I heard that he was hired by Conatix. I tried hard to convince Pallin to execute him. But too much red tape to follow which I am not a big fan of" Garrus explained which made Kaiden to let a chuckle.
"He was a hard headed turian. Actually for a time, his harsh training methods worked until one of the girls nearly died. Then there was an incident that led to shutting down the Biotic acclimatization program. I don't wanna talk about it. Too much of bad blood and trauma" Kaiden explained as he deep dived into his past memories for a moment as he glanced at them with mild sorrow.
"Well, then lets drop it. By the way, where is Liara? She could have joined us" Tali said. Then a voice came from behind them.
"Well, she must be hooked up with any prothean research as we speak" Ashley said as the others turned to look at them.
"Ashley, Commander" Kaiden said acknowledging them.
"I was told that you guys were having a little R " Shepard said with a chuckle.
"Yeah, we had some tough missions for 2 weeks. Now have to search for Saren in Noveria and I don't think its going to be too easy" Garrus said.
"Actually, not just Noveria. I had a chat with our salarian councilor. A salarian STG has found Saren's base of operations on Virmire and they have sent out a distress call" Shepard said which made the others get off their seats as they gathered around him.
"Wait, Virmire!? That's in the edge of traverse and edge of terminus" Kaiden said.
"But, then what about Noveria? We need to have priorities right?" Tali said.
"Yeah Tali. Problem is, both are a priority right now. So I have to make a tough decision of splitting our team-...again" Shepard said with a hint of sarcasm.
"Well, to cover more ground, that's logical. So which group will be going where?" Wrex asked straight to the point.
"I was planning to take you, Ashley and Kaiden. Garrus, Liara and Tali can check in Noveria" Shepard said to which Garrus interrupted.
"Well, it sounds like a good plan. But there is one problem. Noveria respects only a spectre authority. Anyone else can't even set foot on the world. So if you go to Virmire, we all have to come with you" Garrus said to which Shepard sighed in response. He was actually right on that regard. Without his presence, it might turn into a problem.
"Hmm, that's quite inconvenient, but Captain Anderson already warned me about this. Fine, let us all move to Virmire and hope Saren is present there" Shepard said to which everyone nodded.
"Joker, set course to Virmire. We will handle Noveria after that" Shepard said over the comm.
"Sure commander, but its multiple relay hops far. We will reach in 12 hours" Joker said.
"Understood" Shepard said as he closed the channel.
"Well, we got 12 hours. Take rest and be ready to get to the ground side. I will talk to Liara and brief her too" Shepard said to which others nodded and left the cafeteria to their respective stations.
Shepard made his way to the medbay on the same floor as he greeted doctor Chakwas with a warm smile. He then headed straight towards Liara's quarters. The door opened with a humming sound and Shepard turned left to look at the asari. Liara had 3 terminals opened side by side as she had some photographs pinned to the white board in front of her that had images and markers connecting the pictures. She also had something written on the walls, a few had question marks.
"I guess I came crashing at the wrong time Liara" Shepard said to which Liara turned back to look at the commander rapidly in anxiety.
"Oh-...its nothing, commander. I was just doing some study of my own" Liara said as turned to look at the terminals and pictures. Shepard slowly walked and stood beside her.
"What are these pictures? Some look like images from that lunar research base. This one looks like Therum..." Shepard asked wondering what the asari scientist was trying to do.
"*SIGH* I was trying to put together a few pieces. Protheans had a lot of secrets. But some of them were even more conspicuous. My studies on the pyramid artifacts, Therum, the lunar base, the Thorian creature's testimony...There is something common in the middle" Liara said as she pointed out a picture of the hologram from the lunar base at the center.
"Did you find anything? What the protheans were looking for in their end days?" Shepard asked curious to learn what she accomplished.
"Not yet, but I can't help but that think that what we saw on the lunar base was real. What if the Protheans were looking for those ancient humanity? What if the soil samples on Therum we found and the hull artifact on Casbin's moon belonged to your prehistoric ancestors and they were once a very powerful empire? What if-..." Liara kept asking herself back to back questions to which Shepard interrupted.
"Liara, I am still skeptical on that hologram footage we saw. I am still not convinced they could be humans...I mean c'mon! humanity, hundreds of millions of years old? That puts us older than dinosaurs and even sharks. I still don't buy it" Shepard said rejecting her notion.
"And I thought the same about Protheans. I thought they were the apex of the galaxy for a long time until I found evidences of much older civilizations that came before them and went extinct. Shepard, nothing is certain in this galaxy, the universe is full of surprises, many tangled and untangled events and possibilities. Even these Reapers you claimed to have destroyed the protheans were much older" Liara exclaimed as they both deep dived into this conversation.
"Reapers are a different story. As long as I don't see a real evidence, I won't believe some random artifacs" Shepard said which surprised the commander's state of denial. She wondered if Shepard truly doesn't believe them or he chose not to believe them since he won't like it if they turned out to be real.
"What about the Thorian!? The sentient plant itself stated that your kind wandered the stars in the prehistoric times. It even wanted revenge against your people for dragging it in a war they didn't want. What if your ancestors were fighting the Reapers themselves and the Thorian stayed witness to it!? It said that its own ancestral life form had memories of it" Liara said which made Shepard to stop second guessing. He recalled that the Thorian indeed told them that humanity was once space faring. When he received the cipher from the being, it felt as if he was the Thorian that witnessed the rise and fall of Protheans by himself for a moment. It wasn't fake, so whatever the Thorian said had to be true. But then, what are the consequences of this knowledge. How would the current humanity would react? How would other species react if they learned Humanity once had a powerful past? Will that notion trigger another conflict, another war in worst case, other advanced species trying to destroy humanity before it becomes public knowledge. These were some of the immediate questions.
But there were others too, like if the humans rose and fall in the prehistoric times, why would they be born again? Is it just a one in a million cosmological chance or something else?
These were the question that ran through Shepard's mind. He understood, he is being in denial all this time. Maybe what Liara implies is true.
"So let's say, this is true, What happens next? How do you think the council will react to this knowledge?" Shepard asked this question for the first time straight to her face. Liara was deep in thought pondering on that query.
"I uhh-...I don't know, commander. But if I know the council better, I am sure they won't take this lightly. They will see this very knowledge as a threat to their dominance. Especially the Asari will project extreme reaction towards humans. A lot of the species are already wary of your kind since you people have made your presence known loud in a short timespan" Liara said which surprised Shepard, though he expected this answer.
"Even then, our ancestors are long gone. Its not like we are a threat to anyone suddenly in this day" Shepard said to which Liara chuckled.
"You must be thinking I may be too obsessed in this study that I must be hating your people regarding this fact. Worry not commander, I am a scientist with curiosity. If I manage to secure atleast a bone of a prehistoric human, I will be studying it for years. Theoretically if some of them survived to this day like in a stasis, I would have a lot of questions for them. It would be exciting! Though-...the odds of that happening is zero" Liara explained putting the commander's doubts to rest as he actually had a doubt that this fact could be troubling for her too.
"Glad to hear you have a unique perception of things. But then, this brings the next question. If your dots connect in the right way, What exactly were the protheans looking for? Is it a world full of weapons cache, maybe a chance against the Reapers? Do you think the protheans know about ancient humans?" Shepard asked.
"I don't know. I believe they only knew there is something out there that could give them a chance at survival and left the clues for us to piece it together. Maybe-...the protheans wanted the future species to find this information. But we can only speculate about what we may find until we stumble upon a solid evidence. Until then, lets leave it to fate" Liara said to which Shepard raised an eyebrow.
"Well, then let me update you on the current situation. I received an emergency call from Valern about a possible base of operations on Virmire run by Saren. We are heading there" Shepard said.
"Virmire!? But shouldn't we head to Noveria?" Liara puzzled.
"Yes, but a salarian STG unit is in Virmire and they have sent out a distress signal. So I'm reprioritizing the mission. We can't split our team since Noveria will be hostile to you without my presence, a spectre. So let's pray Saren is present in Virmire. We will be there in 11 hours. So take your time and once ready, get to the shuttle bay" Shepard said to which Liara nodded. Shepard then proceeded to leave the quarters
"Commander? We still have one more problem. We need to find the conduit fast. If only we had another beacon to complete the vision-...What if Saren already found the conduit, Shepard?" Liara asked to which Shepard looked down and then at her.
"Then let's hope the galaxy is ready to face whatever comes next" Shepard said as he left Liara's quarters. Liara agreed on his words as she slowly turned to gaze at the photos in the white board and the information display in the holo terminals.
Lambda-Gemini system, Sagittarius arm,
6,300 lights years from Earth...
A bluish white gravitational vortex opened in space as a highly sophisticated ship exited the vortex. Matriarch Benezia was standing in the bridge of the ship that was massive. It could easily fit 50 people each with a 3 meter gap between each other. She was completely stupefied. She just witnessed the most advanced holographic computer systems in the bridge which she had absolutely no idea how to operate. But the ship was completely automated by 343 Guilty Spark for her travel, so it was one less thing to worry about. Then she saw the live feed of the ship opening a black hole into which the ship vanished as the ship cruised through the slipstream space.
"A ship using a black hole based technology to move faster than light!? How is this even possible!? The amount of energy needed to move a ship through would require hundreds of millions of tonnage of Eezo. But if this ships doesn't use Eezo, what even powers this vessel!? And that AI called this dreadnought sized vessel a small frigate! This all has to be a joke. I am here in an unknown system looking for a world with no idea on what to do next" Benezia said as she walked through the bridge in random directions in tense and confusion. She didn't expect her late matron years to go like this. First it was Saren who made her fall into his trap. Now this voyage into the unknown.
An automated robotic voice spoke all over the bridge popping up a hologram in a holo-table, showing an image of a mysterious planet.
"DESTINATION: SHIELD WORLD, "IRIDESCENT". STATUS: 20 MINUTES TO LANDFALL. SHIP STATUS: REACTION DRIVE NORMAL, SLIPSTREAM DRIVE NORMAL. FORERUNNER LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS, NOMINAL" the robotic voice spoke.
"Shield world!? What does that mean?" Benezia muttered in confusion. She gazed upon the hologram of the planet and then slowly through the glass window in the bridge, a strange planet revealed itself and to the far right was another planet that appeared tiny. But that was a gas giant in the 6 orbit of the Lambda-Gemini star. Benezia walked towards the window to take a look at the planet that was illuminated by the star. The star light also illuminated the ship's bridge slightly. In the dark side of the planet she saw the artificial lights lit up. The planet was 1.5 times the size of Earth.
"Magnificent!" Benezia found the planet attractive, yet it felt quite different from a natural planet.
The ship cruised towards the world as the planet slowly started to appear bigger and bigger.
"WARNING: ENTERING PLANETARY ATMOSPHERE. TRANSMITTING FRIEND OR FOE BEACON" the robotic voice spoke as she decided to hold on to something rigid. But to her surprise, the ship cruised through the atmosphere and she didn't feel anything. The ship slowly descended towards the surface through the atmosphere as the surface details slowly started to reveal itself. She could spot hills, rivers, gorges, forest. Then barren lands, savannah, desert on the distant side. They appeared natural yet artificial at the same time, as if someone terraformed the surface the way they wanted it to be.
The ship finally managed to touch the ground and landed softly so much that Benezia didn't feel a thing. Then a door on her left fragmented itself in 4 parts opening it for the asari to step out. Benezia then slowly walked towards the door and she walked through the sliding platform and finally placed her foot on the soft grass. She then turned to her right and then walked a few steps to get a clear view of the place. She felt the warm sunlight fall on her skin. She somehow felt peace after breathing the air and feeling the nature around her. It reminded her of her own home, Thessia. She looked around and saw snowy peaks in the distance, there was grassy field all around her. She heard birds chirping and critters digging burrows. She walked past the frigate and saw rocky cliff to her left that had waterfall that led to a stream of water flowing into a gorge. Then there was forest around the rocky cliff. Then she saw an artificial light suddenly illuminating from the cliff. It looked like a beacon that travelled straight to the sky.
Benezia walked through the grassy field admiring the nature. She was tracking the light source. She walked past small boulders and crossed the water stream. She took a water in her palms made into cup to drink from it. The water was sweet which surprised her as she had never tasted a water so pure.
"What exactly is in this place? I am definitely here for a reason" Benezia said as she jogged through the place to finally see an artificial structure built beneath the rocky cliff. This facility looked different, more dark silvery in texture than the bright silvery texture she saw in the Halo ring. The design, the architecture was totally different from the ones she saw in the ring.
"What is this place? Looks like some kind of facility. Is this where I would find the stasis pods Guilty Spark mentioned?" Benezia asked to herself as she proceeded to walk towards the facility. When she neared the facility, a door opened in 3 fragments revealing a pathway inside. The floor lights started to illuminate itself. Benezia knew once she enters the facility, she has no idea what she might find and what it will be inside. She took a deep breath.
"Goddess Athame, please watch over me" Benezia muttered as she walked inside the door.
Aboard the Normandy...
"Commander, we will drop out of FTL within range in 5 minutes" Joker said over the comm.
"Acknowledged Joker" Shepard replied.
"So, what kind of resistance should we expect on the surface?" Garrus asked.
"Well, with Saren, you can expect geth and bunch of mercs who is mad enough to work for him" Shepard replied. The Normandy crew were geared up minus the helmets and had their weapons loaded up.
"Did we manage to establish communication with the STG squad?" Tali asked.
"No, the signal bounced off and all we received was static. There is some kind of interference" This time Joker responded.
"Well, then lets be prepared for anything. Something tells me we will be seeing Saren here" Ashley said as she loaded her assault rifle on her back.
By the time, the Normandy dropped out of FTL nearby Virmire.
"Well, now that here we are-..." Joker said as he was helming the ship.
SENSORS BEEPING*
"What now!?-...uh ohh!" Joker raised the holo screen that alarmed and revealed the scan results.
"Shit! Commander? We have reached Virmire but the surface is crawling with geth, that explains the interference. But Normandy will rained down with geth fire and none of you will also make it in foot" Joker said in an alarming tone as he activated the Normandy's IES stealth systems to keep the vessel under the geth radar.
"Then I will take two people from the crew and drop from Mako. Secure a drop point for us" Shepard said over the comm.
"Aye aye commander-...going in HOT!" Joker yelled as he cruised the frigate through the planetary atmosphere. The ship then reached near the surface towards the suitable drop point and he found one. The place was full of water where the sea water meets the land and rocky cliffs with crab like creatures lurking around.
"Commander? Its a go!" Joker said.
At the shuttle bay, Shepard was ready to take the Mako with him.
"Ashley, Kaiden? Get into the Mako. We will secure the pathway to the source of the distress signal. Joker, track our position and bring the Normandy nearby and drop the rest of our squad once we reach the STG camp" Shepard laid out his orders. Other nodded in agreement to this plan.
"Sure commander" Joker responded. Shepard then pressed the button to open the shuttle bay door. As it opened, it revealed the sea water filled floor with trees and rocky cliffs around.
"Damn! We didn't know we were going to a beach party. Reminds me of the Indonesian isles on Earth" Ashley said with a smirk.
"Well, if we pull this off, we are definitely going on a vacation there!" Kaiden said with a smile.
"Hang tight people!" Shepard said as he drove the Mako to the ground. Shepard then moved it a bit forward to clear the Normandy for departure.
"Alright Joker, you are clear. Keep a low profile till we reach the STG camp" Shepard said to which he received a green acknowledgement signal. Then Shepard drove the Mako as Normandy lifted into the air.
"Activating the signal tracker. Based on this map, we need to cross 3 flood gates to reach the signal source" Kaiden said.
"And I'm reading multiple geth targets in the radar. I will take control of the cannon" Ashley said as she took control of the main cannon.
Shepard started to drive through the designated path Kaiden provided him as took a curved left after a few hundred meters forward.
MULTIPLE GUN SHOTS*
"Just when I thought it was silent. Ash, you are free to open fire when ready" Shepard said.
"With pleasure, skipper" she said as she aimed the guns and started to open fire on the geth. Mako's shield flared from the overwhelming amount of fire. Ashley used the cannon to kill a couple of geth primes and the chain gun to kill the geth troopers.
"We have never seen this much resistance from geth anywhere else!" Kaiden said confused as to why this place was heavily crawling with geth than everywhere.
"That must mean Saren is hiding here" Shepard answered and he was determined to capture him this time.
BOOM*
"Whoa! What was that!?" Kaiden cried as the Mako was hit by something heavy.
"Shields down! I see 3 colossus!" Ashley barked from above which tensed Shepard.
"3 geth colossus!? That's too much for us to handle" Shepard thought as he slowly moved the Mako towards a hiding position.
"What should we do now!?" Kaiden asked looking for some solution to get out of this.
"Commander, I have an idea. Try to zig zag between those huge boulders. These stupid machines are about to get one hell of a surprise" Ashley said. Shepard saw the huge boulders in his path and he understood what she was intended to do. He then drove the Mako in a zig zag manner evading the colossus heavy fire as Ashley fired the main cannon towards the 3 colossus whose shields flared in response. Mako kept evading the fire in zig zag movement which made the huge machines to come forward which Ashley was anticipating.
"Alright! Eat this!" Ashley yelled as she fired the cannon towards the cliff wall at a certain weak point, which then exploded and sent a very huge piece of rock free fall from 100 meters and drop on top of the 3 colossus as their bodies got crushed under the weight.
"HELL YEAH!" Kaiden cheered in response.
"Nice job, Williams!" Shepard said turning back to which she smirked and gave him a salute.
Shepard then drove the Mako killing off the geth units on the way and finally they reached the first flood gate.
"Alright people. We are near the flood gate. We need to get out and find the control panel to open this" Shepard said as he stopped the vehicle and got out. Ashley got out of the Mako too while Kaiden was keeping an eye on the scanner.
Shepard and Ashley used the stairs to their left side. After climbing to the top and turned right. There were geth units opening fire on them.
"Take cover!" Shepard barked as he used a biotic push to send a geth trooper crashing into the back wall. Then he opened fire on the others using his assault rifle. Ashley threw a grenade on a geth prime which exploded and punched a hole on its body. Then they both managed to kill the other troops that were guarding the control panel.
"This must be it" Shepard said as he pressed a button in the holographic terminal and suddenly they heard a loud mechanical noise.
"Guess it worked, Commander" Ashley said as they climbed down the same stairs and saw the flood gate opened. Both entered the Mako and Shepard took control of the wheels and Ashley on the guns.
"That's one down. Two more to go with lots of geth to welcome us along the way" Kaiden said.
"Wouldn't want it any other way" Shepard said as he drove the Mako past the flood gate. The Mako moved forward where they encountered geth rocket drones that were firing missiles. But fortunately, Mako's chain guns made a short work of them due to their weaker hull. The Mako turned left passing through another fjord with many geth troopers and geth armatures on the way.
"It was wise not to bring the Normandy down, with this many geth crawling here. That means this truly is Saren's base of operations. I wonder if he is protecting anything here" Kaiden voiced which was already in Shepard's mind.
Ashley killed the geth troops and armatures that were firing on the Mako. Since armatures are only 1/5th of the colossus's power, its attacks didn't do much damage to the shields and their hulls are equally weak so it wasn't a big deal for them. Having fought these machines so much they lost count of it and had enough experience to predict their moves. Once they passed through the fjord, there was another flood gate.
"Same drill as the last one" Shepard said as he parked the Mako and he and Ashley got out of the vehicle. They then took the stairs and fended off the geth troopers and a prime that was guarding the control panel. Once the geth has been killed, Shepard activated the terminal which opened the gate. Then they went back in to the Mako.
"Hmm, Interesting" Kaiden said to which Ashley and Shepard looked at him.
"What is it Lieutenant?" Shepard asked.
"After this place, there is no geth forces and the source of the distress signal is just before the 3rd gate" Kaiden said.
"Well, that's quite relaxing. Maybe the geth wasted a lot by defending these 2 gates. Atleast we can go in peacefully" Ashley said with a sigh of relief.
"That's good news, but still let's stay sharp" Shepard said as he entered the Mako's driver seat and Ashley to the cannon.
Shepard then drove the Mako past the gate and turned right along the path and then a hard left that led straight to the 3rd gate that was faintly visible at the far side. The Mako moved along the water streamed path straight with no resistance from the geth. After 5 minutes, they reached a place that looked like a camp site with multiple camps and lots of hardware spread along the shore line.
"Guess we are here it seems. We just found the Salarian STG camp" Kaiden said.
"Alright people. Lets get out. Joker? Bring the Normandy to our position and have the rest of the squad to come to the STG camp.
"On it commander" Joker replied as the Normandy made its way to them.
Meanwhile Shepard, Ashley and Kaiden got out of the vehicle and walked towards the shore as the other salarians stared at them.
"I take it, you are the party here to assist us?" A salarian with mildly green skin walked upto them from inside the makeshift camp.
"Are you the one incharge of the STG squad?" Shepard asked.
"Yes, Captain Kirrahe, leader of the STG unit in Virmire and you have just dropped in the middle of the hot zone" Kirrhae shook Shepard's hands.
"Commander Shepard of the alliance and council spectre. The council said you found Saren's base of operations here" Shepard said.
"Yes, the first human spectre, I've heard about that. But the place is heavily fortified with geth. We need to wait for the council to send the fleet to proceed further" Kirrahe said. Thats when the Normandy reached their position as everyone turned to look at the vessel. Then the shuttle bay door opened and the rest of Shepard's squad mates, Liara, Tali, Garrus and Wrex walked out and proceeded to move towards the shore where others are present.
"Well, we are the help that council sent to help you. There is no fleet" Kaiden said which stunned the salarian.
"Wait, you're joking right!?" Kirrahe asked.
"Your message wasn't clear so the council requested us to investigate the situation" Shepard said.
"That's doing the same work twice. I lost half of my men inside the facility trying to investigate" Kirrahe said quite irate at how the council didn't send proper help.
"What is Saren doing here? Have you seen him? This place is unusually crawling with more geth than other places" Ashley said. By that time, rest of the Normandy crew joined Shepard and the others in the shore.
"Saren is running a top secret research facility here. He has krogan breeding facility deep inside the structure" Kirrahe answered which confused the others. Wrex on hearing that was shocked.
"Krogan breeding facility? That's impossible!" Wrex interjected.
"What exactly is he researching?" Garrus asked curiously wondering what the rogue spectre would even want to research about.
"Apparently, he has found a cure to the genophage and now he has a bunch krogans inside as his slave army, obeying him" Kirrahe said which shocked Wrex. Genophage was a curse to his people making only one in thousand Krogan to survive in birth, an unjust punishment according to him. Hearing that Saren has a working cure made him feel something he hadn't felt in a long time, Hope.
"That doesn't sound so good. First the geth and now a krogan army? He will be unstoppable!" Ashley said, voicing her concern.
"Precisely, that is why the research facility and all its secrets must be destroyed" Kirrahe said which made Wrex get angry.
"Destroy!? That is not gonna happen! My people are dying and we need this cure!" Wrex said which tensed the others. Shepard knew this was going to become a sensitive topic and now with the mission, this has become a huge near fatal distraction that has to be addressed soon.
"If this cure get out of this world, the Krogans will be rise again and wreck havoc across the galaxy just like thousands of years ago. We can't make the same mistakes again" Kirrahe said to which Wrex gritted his teeth in anger and walked towards the salarian.
"Wrex, no!" Shepard tried to stop him from doing something but he didn't listen.
"We-...are not a mistake!" Wrex said and then walked angrily to the far end of the shore to vent his anger. Everyone glanced at each other in tense.
"Commander, is he gonna be a problem? We already have too much at hand" Kirrahe said to which Shepard agreed.
"Captain, give us few minutes. We will talk to him" Liara said trying to ease things down and the last thing they wanted was a fight among themselves while Saren can get away.
"Fine. Once done, come see me at the camp. I will be waiting here with my men" Kirrahe said to which Shepard nodded. Kirrahe then want back into the camp to speak to another STG squad mate.
Shepard sighed in response as he now have to deal with Wrex. If he knew him any better, Wrex has got some serious anger management issues and he can't even begin to think how this conversation will go.
To be continued...
Author's notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. See you soon in the next one.