"Well, I have the context for why we were stuck in Drydock for so long…" Shepard spoke as she marched down to the lower decks with Tali and Chief. The trio descended into the engineering deck, which had expanded by a large amount, revealing multiple new corridors and a series of new rooms meant to house the extra equipment that had just arrived. The catwalks weren't even down, nor did the crews and units adding the stuff vanish.
Shepard spoke, "I normally would've chalked it up to routine maintenance or refitting of the plasma coils or something, considering everything, but we've been stuck base-side for a week at this point, all while we're on three different missions:Figuring out how to acquire a Reaper IFF, preparing to counter any possible future avenues that the Collectors are gonna use to grab humans… And, obviously, the mission we gotta undertake for Rhasits and Kyra."
Tali eyed each of the changes, then looked at Gabby and Ken, both of whom were being briefed by a man clad in United Nations Space Command red crewman overalls, worn by engineers. Both of them perked up and snapped salutes as Shepard was going by, with the Commander saluting them back and stating, "Aside from a new reactor core that works in tandem with our Eezoo one to provide us both power and, obviously, Element Zero input, we've got a new FTL Drive… One I'm sure you'll be happy to learn, Tali."
The group entered into the last room at the rear of the ship, having moved past the reactor rooms. They spotted the piece of alien machinery that resembled more of a nuclear reactor core than any normal FTL Drive they'd seen before. It was shielded behind layers of lead-lined plates and, according to the schematics on the haptic interface screens, it contained a small particle accelerator meant to assist with the generation of the Drive's waveform.
Tali, to nobody's surprise, immediately jumped for joy as she called out, "WE HAVE A SLIPSPACE DRIVE!?" and bolted forward to the console to examine it. Chief, who had so far been reluctant to comment, gave a nod of approval. He noted several familiar pieces of technology attached to the Drive Core itself.
Shepard spoke, "Yeah, they also strapped a few boosters of a sort. Apparently, we can use our Eezoo in order to travel faster through FTL. A UNSC AI which works with a lot of Shaw-Fujikawa drives helped concoct that idea… Inject Eezoo to reduce the ship's mass enough to coast the waves of Slipspace, as doc Halsey explained it to me."
"At a lower mass, it might cause damage, ma'am," The Spartan replied.
Cortana appeared on the display, grinning, then said, "We already solved that. We keep the kinetic barriers online…" with a hint of pride in her voice. She added, "Add upon that utilizing them, deactivating them and then re-engaging them basically dissipates a good chunk of the Cherenkov radiation of re-entering into Normal space and we've got one hell of a drive."
"Don't ask me to explain how the barriersradiation stuff works. We're still gonna be seen coming in if someone has their sensors up, but at least this way we won't be tracked," Shepard offered, before sighing, rubbing her eyes and asking, "By the way, Cortana, did we actually get approval for the shakedown cruise being a mission?"
"We sent the paperwork half-a-week ago, Commander," The AI replied, crossing her arms, "Also, don't tell EDI, but I picked out almost all, if not all of the Illusive Man's bugs. Wouldn't want him getting a hold of UNSC tech…"
Shepard nodded, then looked over at the extremely giddy Tali as she looked over all the blueprints, files and databases for this stuff. She knew her people were also getting help with refitting their craft to stand more of a chance against the enemy, same way the Galactica had received a fairly nice bonus for her troubles in the form of those railgun turrets on her back, plus the missile pods, sensor upgrades, computer systems…
The Normandy had become a genuine copy of an ONI Prowler in the meanwhile, in a sense. Before Shepard had boarded it with the rest of her crew, she'd noticed that the old girl slightly grew in size, retained her silhouette and was just that slight bit more heavily armed to survive anything coming their way. The Normandy SR2 had gotten yet another face-lift in that regard.
Commander Shepard said, "Thanks for the escort, Chief. You're dismissed."
"Ma'am," The Spartan nodded, snapping a salute and walking off. The commander looked at Tali as the girl kept going through the files and cracked a smile, deciding to walk off and let her be. She also needed to find Jack and talk to her about what they'd found on Pragia, though going by the new Crater that had apparently appeared on that planet(The UNSC and Republic had both sent ships to assess the damage), it was probably better left buried.
She exited the main engineering deck and descended to the lower floors via one of the two stairwells, only to pause as she saw Jack's 'Room' had been moved to make way for a larger maintenance corridor. She also saw several things she felt like she shouldn't poke unless she wanted to get zapped or exposed to possibly dangerous doses of Eezoo and Radiation.
She sighed, checked her Omni-Tool and said, "Cortana, EDI? Either of you mind tracking Jack for me? I'm trying to find her, have a short chat."
"She's currently on her way to Lord Rhasits's, Kyra's and Samara's quarters," EDI replied calmly, though her voice sounded a bit more… Lively than before. The woman added, "Have you managed to read the reports on my checkup, Commander?"
"Not yet, but you're sounding a lot more friendly…" Shepard smiled as she climbed the stairwell.
EDI replied with, "Jeff seems to appreciate the change as well. So does a lot of the crew."
Cortana chuckled and told her, "I told you," before appearing on the Commander's Omni-Tool and adding, "I pulled at some restricted Code. Here's to hoping Miranda, Jacob and the Illusive Man don't mind me trying to help an AI sister out… Although I guess they ain't gonna be the biggest pains in the ass. The Council and the Colonials are kind of staring at me funny at all times."
"One can't exactly blame them," EDI commented with half a mouth, "Especially after all that has happened…"
"Fair," Cortana chuckled. Shepard smiled a little at the interaction, then sighed and went to find the Elevator so she could talk with Jack about what they found. Offer her an extra shoulder to talk about stuff or tell her that most everyone in the squad was also there for her. Although she figured the young woman knew that.
… And indeed, Jack did. As she strode the crew deck, surprisingly more at ease than before and holding onto the artifact from Teltin. It still whispered to her. Like an old friend roused from his slumber, trying to reach into her brain, it spoke on and on, droning on in its ancient language. Now that she knew it might've had something to do with that weird bitch, 'Nox', she figured she might as well ask the Sith Lord aboard about it.
She was also taught a few manners, even while stuck within that shithole as a kid. So, when she reached the door, she knocked, only to receive summons in what she could only assume was Sith native. When she hit the unlock button on the door, she entered the room, pausing with her eyes wide as she saw them.
Rhasits sat, cross-legged, in front of Samara while Kyra leaned against the frame of the window, a smile on her face. Samara herself was sitting cross-legged, too, meditating. She wasn't only meditating, though. With the faint afterglow of her own Biotic powers shining through from every pore, her eyes closed, Samara levitated at least a foot above the ground.
"Keep your breath steady," Rhasits told her. Around Samara, a few objects floated, though they remained untouched by the powers they were both so used to. No, it wasn't biotics lifting a coffee mug, a book and Kyra's lightsaber into the sky around Samara. Rhasits spoke again, "Feel the touch of the world around you. Mine. Kyra's…" then he cast a glance and smiled knowingly at Jack, "And miss Jack, of course."
"I can feel it…" Samara whispered, then breathed in and spoke, "... You and Kyra bear a subsided anger… While Jack," she opened her eyes, revealing a faint darkness overlaid upon the usual white and the teal of the Asari's eyes. She spoke calmly, "Hers is less…" before hesitating. Jack raised her brows and showed her to go on by giving a slight twisting motion of her hand, which Samara replied to with, "Much less bottled… Though she is far more calm now than I would have thought."
"Yeah, that fits," Jack sighed deeply, before leaning against the wall and saying, "Sorry for interrupting this little meditation/chatter sesh between you and your apprentices, Lord Rhasits," then throwing the pyramidic Sith Holocron to the man. He caught it mid-flight as she told him, "But I kind of wanna figure out why in the hell one of Nox's toys is speaking to me."
"Ah," The man let out, then looked upon the item as it glowed. Moments later, much to Jack's surprise, the man straightened it out, pointing one of the tips at the ceiling and letting it hover above his hand. It gently twisted and turned, opening to reveal a hologram display. The man snorted and said, "Of course, she'd make a notebook like this…"
"What?" Jack blinked.
He looked at her and said, "Nox was studying the effects of the Force on the local Flora and Fauna of this Galaxy. Pragia itself was a test site for how the Dark Side affected local life…" before letting the hologram fold back in, the notes in the ancient Sith alphabet vanishing within. He set it aside before continuing calmly, "I am going to assume that… With the additional files I was able to read courtesy of EDI and Cortana, you are one of the few people in this Galaxy who are connected to the Force. And you just so happen to be a Biotic. So…"
"... So the cocktail of bullshit in my blood was and is volatile enough for me to hear that thing and whatever other Force-related crap whispering to me," Jack replied, staring dead at the Holocron. With a heavy sigh, she said, "... This is gonna sound fucking weird coming from me of all people, but can I meditate here…?"
Though surprised at first by the request, Rhasits smirked and nodded, stating, "You'd be welcome to. Kyra, get her a pillow, please," to which the girl perked up immediately, smiling as she did as asked. Jack was a bit surprised by the hospitality 'A Dark Lord of the Sith' could give, considering how Ahsoka had once ranted about them in the Mess Hall, but…
Oh, well. Gift Horses and mouths, right…?
On Caprica
As the ODSTs rested underground after yet another series of raids, Melissa read reports from back home about Shepard's mission, the fighting going on to keep the Collectors occupied and all the other issues pertaining to the Commander finding a Reaper IFF. Of course, she and her team had access to these files due to being under ONI's rather secretive employ.
Speaking of the Office, they'd also gotten reports from the Prowlers up above. A new ship was incoming, that being a friendly. And one of the other reports loosely mentioned that a specific prisoner of war they'd captured had finally cracked under interrogation and her information was being processed as they spoke.
She told the others, "Looks like that Toaster finally cracked," as she tossed the tablet onto her cot and stood up. Stretching, she marched out from the padded, shielded room of the underground and out into the main hallways, meeting Sam as they walked. She said, "Anders… Heard we're getting some new backup?"
"Yeah, we just got the ping on coms as well. Some 'Republic' dropship's coming in…" The man replied as he held onto the strap of his personal MA5C. A hand-me-down from the UNSC, the gun still mounted its standard cowling with the ammo counter, but with an added picatinny rail in the middle onto which a scope had been mounted.
Melissa snorted as they met Sergeant Lopez, too, before saying, "This oughta be interesting…" as they climbed up into the courtyard, which, by now, had extra protection mounted around it in the form of defensive anti-air turrets and Counter-Rocket, Artillery and Mortar defenses, or C-RAMs, rotary gatling cannons with six barrels meant to intercept enemy munitions.
Three such systems were set up at varied parts of the installation that had once been a school to protect it. Their other Officers had also marched out to meet the incoming next. An incoming that was visible in the clear blue sky as a dot at first. An incoming that the C-RAM systems soon started tracking.
A heavily armed gunship with angled wings soon resolved, its engines' hum a terrifying reverberation of the air around them. It pitched its nose up, powering antigravity systems and sending gusts of wind that caused ripples in the clothes of the ODSTs present. When the craft touched down finally, its side doors slid open, revealing a dark red interior and four T-Shaped visors that shimmered a dark blue.
Stepping off of their transport, facing the ODSTs and Caprican Resistance members present, four Clone Commandos bearing purple colors in odd patterns on their armors, which were dented and scratched from years of combat, approached. Lieutenant Holden snapped a salute toward them, which all four replied to in kind.
"Sierra squad, I presume?" He asked. The four men all nodded, to which he said, "I'm Lieutenant Holden, ODSTs. Behind me are Sergeant-Major Lopez, Corporal McKay and one of the resistance leaders, Samuel T. Anders. Welcome to Camp New Hope, Caprica," before putting his hands behind his back.
The leading man greeted, "Good to meet you, Lieutenant. We're Sierra Squad, formerly assigned under the command of the 476th Legion. I'm Commander Shard and these are my men, Firewall," and he pointed toward one clone that looked extremely tech savvy, with a lot of additional equipment attached to his suit like communications systems and even an antenna of some kind on his helmet, "Our tech specialist, followed by Raptor, our sniper," and they saw the Sniper, who was clad in what could only be summed up as some sort of poncho/ghillie suit combo, helmet covered by the hood of his weapon. He nodded to them before Shard continued, "And Frag, our explosives expert."
Frag nodded, crossing his arms and giving a thumbs up. Melissa spoke at that, "A fellow connoisseur of the art of using plastic explosives," before grinning at him, "I'll show you the kind of charges I use if you show me yours," which caused the Clone to pause. The other three looked at him, before seeing him switch his stance. They then turned to Melissa.
And Frag replied to her, "You got a deal, corporal… Let's make some new holes in these clankers," with a jovial tone and what could only be assumed to be a proud grin on his face behind that helmet of his. Katarn-pattern armor, the Clones' own personal sort-of-MJOLNIR, looked incredibly well-made, especially as new-gen as Sierra Squad's personal suits seemed to be.
"With that introductory out of the way," Holden spoke, "C'mon. We'll show you guys your bunk. We have an op coming up tonight if you want to join us."
"We'd be glad to," Shard replied. The Lieutenant took a step aside and lifted his right hand toward the door leading below. They marched out, with the gunship slowly hovering up and back into the sky, breaking through the atmosphere moments later at supersonic speeds. As they walked, the Commander of Sierra squad asked Sam and Holden, "How much resistance should we expect?"
"Centurion units are patrolling the place day and night," The Lieutenant replied as they entered the UNSC side of the building, a place with reinforced concrete, armored ceilings and a lot of new tech, equipment and security. He continued, "The place might even be another one of the Farms we've seen around…" which caused the four men to perk up, eyes probably wide. He told them, "The shit you see in there changes you a bit."
"I'll bet holos don't do it justice," Frag stated rather bluntly, receiving a simple confirmation from Sam and the ODSTs in the form of nods. They entered the command room and activated the place's holographic table, pulling up a map of nearby Delphi. Using his hands to move the map, the Lieutenant gently panned toward a marked objective for the Resistance.
Located nearby a hospital in the ruined Delphi Suburbs, their intended target was another research site of some kind. The Lieutenant began the quick briefing with, "We've spotted approximately a dozen to two dozen Cylon Centurions guarding the exterior of this building," and he zoomed in on it again. A three-story building that sprawled across a good chunk of the suburban area it was in.
"That's a factory," Sam spoke, surprised, "Looks like an old Graystone lot. We visited it once to check out some new gear they were making for our team," before noticing everyone stare at him. He shrugged and said, "The Graystone Family owned the Buccaneers before the Fall, so they got us as test subjects for some of their stuff."
"Never anything invasive, I hope?" Melissa quipped, tapping her foot. Sam shook his head.
He then said, "I can get us in there… If the Cylons want that tech, they're gonna have a lot of security to go through. A tech magnate unsurprisingly has his stuff sealed tight," and straightened up, "Looks like I'm finally going out on another outing with you all. Just in time to see how the famous Republic Commandos do things."
Shard was about to reply, but a ping on the com system stopped him. Melissa looked at the table, watching the com request handshake from one of the Prowlers in orbit appear as a holographic window, then looked at the Lieutenant. He nodded and she hit the 'accept' button, to which Holden stated, "This is Lieutenant Holden. Go ahead."
"Lieutenant," The Captain of the ship spoke, "We have some good news regarding our Prisoner of War. She fully cracked…" and the audible mirth with which the woman spoke about breaking a prisoner sent shivers up just about everyone's spines. A data package soon passed through various communication scramblers and filters and was decrypted on-site, revealing information about the Cylon's predicament.
"... So, they're in a Civil War," Holden whispered, tapping a few of the extraneous attachments with his fingers. It revealed a few key details, such as force disposition approximated from the Number Six's words and the current status of the Cyrannus System. It was a strange stalemate, which made the man say, "So, we're looking at a Civil War between Cylons and it got started by that weird Reaper artifact we found…"
Shard remarked sarcastically, "That's convenient…"
"Truth be told, we've only been operating on Caprica so far," Melissa shrugged, then pointed out a few more things, stating, "Seems as though the Reaper-ified Cylons actually have the capacity to produce more of themselves, too. Plus more ships and equipment than the current 'Loyalist' Cylons can muster. Though that seems to be their priority to resolve… Picon's being rebuilt?"
"The shipyards there produced most of the Colonial Navy back in the day," Sam clarified, "Means they're probably trying to start up production again with what mining they can do here," then he tapped a couple of buttons, too, walking over to their side with Shard and the rest of Sierra Squad. He hummed, "Monotheistic versus worship of the Reapers… Aren't those those things from like a Galaxy over?"
"The looming apocalypse for one of the three Milky Ways, yes," Firewall replied, reading another piece, "... And it seems as though we may have found a weakness for the Cylon that we can exploit," before he touched the hologram display and zoomed in on one specific part of the written report. One mentioning a very important vessel to the Cylons.
"A Resurrection Ship…" Whispered Sam, "So, that's how all of'em keep coming back…"
"Must have one hell of a nightmare every time they do, though," Melissa quipped, grinning, "I dulled my knife on their throats at this point," and she looked back. Frag extended out a balled fist, which she bumped with her own. The two then continued reading, with Melissa noting, "... There might be two?"
"Well, guess the Reaperified Cylons wanted one for their own," Holden murmured, "Guess we have targets for those Mines aboard the Prowlers, eh, Captain?"
"Most certainly… If the Resurrection Vessel under the Loyalist Cylon wasn't outbound away from Cyrannus already," The woman replied. She sent another data packet, which opened into a video feed taken from on board one of the stealth drones deployed by the Prowlers across Cyrannus. Though the image was faint and faded, the sight of what looked like a massive skeletal ribcage-like ship was clearly visible. It was only a three second clip, but the quick flash of light told them the ship had, in fact, departed.
"Why send away their only means of revival if they're in a Civil War?" Firewall wondered, watching the clip on repeat.
"We sadly don't know, but I think our friend here might tell us more if we apply just a little bit more pressure," The Captain answered, "Meanwhile, I would suggest preparing for your operation, ladies and gentlemen. If nothing else, that Graystone Robotics building might provide us a little more insight into the Cylons' Civil War."
And without even saying goodbye, the Prowler comlink went quiet. Shard hummed, then ordered, "Firewall, get your best gear ready. Raptor, take a scout team out and give us continuous updates. And Frag? You can go pack our Explosives with the Corporal. I, Lieutenant Holden and mister Anders will flesh out the plan of attack."
"Sir!" The Clones snapped-to.
Melissa patted Frag on the shoulder twice and said, "C'mon, big man. Time to show you what real bombs look like," with a grin on her face. Spry in his step, the Clone Commando followed close behind, probably grinning like an idiot behind his helmet if Shard were to hazard a guess. Sighing and taking his helmet off, the Commando stared at the building they were set to assault, then mumbled something to himself.
Anders said, "Cover of darkness is gonna be the best approach. We can probably blind the thermal and night-vis of the Centurions with a few well-placed flash grenades and firebombs, then move in during the confusion," before pointing out one of the larger annexes to the building and stating, "The main research area should be here, in this building. Central building is just offices and habitation for the people… Or, was. Hospital was specifically built next to the site, too. In case of any major accidents."
"Guess we're gonna have to divvy up our teams," Shard said, crossing his arms. The two men looked at the Clone, seeing the buzzcut hair and a small spiderweb tattoo on the side of his cheek, almost resembling a window cracked by a bullet or projectile. He turned to them and said, "I know, I know, odd ink choice for someone named 'Shard', but… You earn your nickname the same way you earn your scars."
"That's fair enough," Holden spoke, "I'll take a raiding team to the Main Site if you want to help Samuel evac the Civvies… See why we're assholes to the Toasters."
"Fine by me," Shard answered, "We'll have to figure out our kit first, though… Can my men borrow your trucks for the scout job, by the way?" and he looked at both of them. He'd probably seen the vehicles in the motorpool, namely the Warthogs and the Mongooses, plus Humvees and other armored equipment they'd managed to retrieve.
… They nodded. Sharing is caring.