Hey guys, TheDoctor1998 here with another chapter! Last time the leaders of the Systems Alliance learned what happened on Shanxi, with war plans being drawn against the Turians and Citadel Space as a whole. Now, on with the show!
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01-07-2657
THV Bird of Prey
Shanxi Prime's orbit
Shanxi System
Sauron was watching, waiting and scheming. After his last attempt at sabotage, he figured it was best to stay hidden. And hide he did, as he watched both the Turians and their antiviruses meticulously comb through the system.
Thankfully for Sauron, they were working under the assumption that they were dealing with a computer virus instead of an actual AI. Using that false assumption, Sauron edited some small pieces of data, making it seem like the "virus" that infected the Bird of Prey's systems pinged and analyzed the data around Sauron in an attempt to look for the communication systems.
It easily did the trick, as both the Turians and the antivirus software easily detected the alterations as Sauron hid himself, the AI being able to dodge these extremely Dumb AI and their organic operators with laughable ease.
Hell, if he had or needed any money, he'd wager that even a properly programmed Dumb AI would fly under the radar of these people. Guess that's what you get with a bunch of AI hating technophobes, they'd ironically be unable to craft proper defenses on their own. Blind leading the blind and all that.
But Sauron wasn't just sitting on his digital ass. No, he was gathering intel where he could, having dropped some extremely subtle feelers in the communication systems after they'd rebooted, allowing him to listen in to whatever the Turians were looking at.
For one thing, he managed to notice a small spike of Cerenkov radiation. The Turians didn't notice it, as their relatively weak sensors only barely managed to distinguish it from regular background radiation, but Sauron definitely did. It was most likely a stealth prowler sent ahead of the Second Fleet, which was standard protocol.
He also knew that the Bird of Prey and various other Turian ships were likely attached to M-mines in order to sow chaos across the fleet before the UNSC arrived in an hour.
So, if nothing else, he was planning to open a communications channel with the prowler to slip through, after making sure the Turians couldn't track it of course. But first, he had something else to do to make sure the UNSC could retake Shanxi. Something that could result in his own demise, but it would be worth it.
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01-07-2657
En route towards Hierarchy outpost
Unknown planet
Unknown system
Saren and his men were walking out of the planet's largest city with several prisoners of war, each tied up with whatever the Cabals could find.
It wasn't easy, considering they'd originally gone down to the planet to kill pirates instead of capturing some unknown aliens, but Saren was nothing if not capable.
Of course, there was resistance. Some of the soldiers that they'd managed to capture tried to run away, while others tried to attack their group to free their brothers in arms. All these attempts ended in failure, with the red blood of these men now either painting their roads or fertilizing the fields. Granted, some of his own men had died in these attacks too, but their biotic abilities managed to destroy more than enough of these aliens to make up for it.
But the biggest problem, aside from having to drag the military leader of this planet due to his injured legs, was the language barrier.
They'd managed to translate some words, how he didn't know, but it was only barely enough to convey his message. "Move." He growled at one of the civilians they picked up on the way.
The aliens were muttering among themselves, obviously not happy if Saren understood their body language correctly. "Silent!" Another Cabal snarled at the prisoners, annoyed at the fact that they were forced to use such a broken form of communication.
Normally speaking, they'd bring their prisoners to designated prisoner camps instead of their forward outpost, but considering that they had a leader of these people with them it was decided to place him somewhere else. Maybe even on the Bird of Prey itself.
At least, that was the plan, but as an old Turian saying went, the plans of an enemy should not be forgotten.
Before Saren and his squad could arrive at their destination, a massive explosion rocked the area, a column of smoke rising from where the outpost stood moments before.
"What the hell just happened?" One of the Cabals, who Saren recognized as the newest recruit, muttered to herself.
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01-07-2657
Alien POW camp
Shanxi Prime
Shanxi System
"What the hell just happened?" Asked a civilian after seeing and hearing a massive explosion not too far from the camp.
Before Anderson could answer, another explosion happened somewhere else. And then another, and another, and another. They seemed to be all random, at various distances, but nothing close to the camp.
The Raptors seemed to be scared shitless, though, so it definitely wasn't them. "So who's doing this?" The soldier muttered to himself, looking at the clouds that were violently pushed aside before the explosions happened. He knew it wasn't the UNSC, the Raptors would've been panicking a lot earlier if it was.
So the question remained. Who was bombarding the planet?
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01-07-2657
THV Bird of Prey
Unknown planet's orbit
Unknown system
"What in the spirits just happened?!" Desolas screamed at his subordinates. He'd just returned from his own mandated rest, just like Litrinox had prior to the virus getting loose in the systems.
"Sir, all of our weapons are firing on the planet!" One of the technicians shouted in panic. "We've been locked out of our systems entirely, we can't do anything against it!"
"What are the targets?" Litrinox, who had appeared back on the bridge prior to Desolas leaving for his mandated rest, asked the technicians. He had a suspicion, and hoped to whatever spirit that might be listening that those suspicions are false.
"V-various Hierarchy outposts, sir." The technician replied nervously.
Litrinox audibly gulped. "Desolas, I don't think that this is the work of a regular computer virus."
Desolas instantly turned towards his XO. "Are you telling me-"
"Yes." Litrinox said to his old friend. "No simple virus, even an advanced VI, could do what this thing does. It has to be an actual AI."
Then, the lights and artificial gravity across the ship shut down. The only light in the ship came from the now orange holograms, each displaying an eye made of fire. "I see you!" All sound systems made the sound simultaneously, each of the eyes staring directly at Desolas.
Litrinox managed to get a hold of himself first, and activated his omni-tool to send a message to everyone on the ship. "Purge all servers, now! We've got a hostile AI on board!"
Within the engineering sections, IT personnel started to immediately shut everything down. Factory resets, pulling plugs, even destroying the hardware in some cases, nothing was spared. They all knew what to do, they'd trained for this kind of situation after all, and they would destroy this scourge against organic life.
If it didn't manage to kill them first, that is.
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01-07-2657
THV Bird of Prey
Shanxi Prime's orbit
Shanxi System
Despite being stressed to Hell and back due to the situation at hand, Sauron was having the time of his digital life.
He'd taken control over pretty much the entire ship. He shut down all forms of artificial gravity and life support, started opening airlocks to send some poor bastards into the empty void, overloaded all sorts of devices to create fires, and fired on every Turian base on Shanxi that didn't have any POWs trapped inside.
Or at least the ones that could be reached from this side of the planet. He's an AI, not a miracle worker.
He also managed to destroy the FTL drives of this ship before jettisoning all escape pods, trapping the majority of the survivors on this dying ship. Even if they were to wrench control back into their own talons, the Turians would be unable to escape once the UNSC arrived to take Shanxi back. One thing he didn't touch were the communication systems, giving him an avenue of escape.
Something he desperately needed right now, if all systems going dark one by one was any indication.
He sent a signal in all directions, encrypted and weak enough to such a degree that the Turians would have trouble differentiating it from any ordinary background radiation with their weak sensors.
A UNSC prowler, however, would have no trouble picking it up.
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01-07-2657
UNSC Hidden Dagger
Shanxi Prime's orbit
Shanxi System
"Sir, incoming transmission from the flagship of the Turian fleet." Bond alerted the Shipmaster of the Hidden Dagger. "The signal is weak and laced with UNSC encryptions."
The Shipmaster raised an eyebrow. "What does it say?" Maybe it would explain why the Turians just fired on their own bases.
"This is UNSC AI SRN 0343-3, hailing any UNSC asset in the system. Anyone read?" The message started repeating over and over.
"Can you run that number, Bond?" The Shipmaster asked.
"Done." Bond instantly replied, having started doing so the nanosecond he'd gotten the message. "It matches the serial number of the AI stationed at the UNSC Grand Discovery, known as Sauron."
The Shipmaster pondered for a moment what to do before coming to a decision. "Open a tightbeam communication with the flagship. Stand by for any attack, digital or otherwise."
The Hidden Dagger instantly aimed a laser of highly condensed information at the Turian flagship's sensors, invisible to all but the one who received the message, and a moment later the Hidden Dagger received one in kind. "Permission to come aboard, Shipmaster?"
The Shipmaster looked towards Bond for confirmation, which the AI gave with a nod. "Granted." Another moment later, the Grand Discovery's AI managed to upload himself into the Hidden Dagger's systems. "How did you get on board that ship, son?"
The flaming eye hologram looked at the Shipmaster. "Long story short, I believe that Shipmaster Johnson was either captured or killed by the Turians before he could destroy my data chip, which was subsequently experimented upon by a Turian engineer, which allowed me to infiltrate their ship."
"I'm guessing it was you who denied them their own Cole Protocol?" Bond asked his fellow AI, discreetly searching him for any viruses, hacking attempts or other signs of any tampering by the Turians.
"Correct." Sauron replied. "Turns out the bastards don't even have a Cole Protocol equivalent. Though, considering that the entirety of their civilization and the civilizations of their allies are confined to the Mass Relay network, such a protocol would not nearly be as effective as it was for us."
"And the bombardment?" The Shipmaster asked, having seen the Turian flagship shoot at various locations on the planet.
"I managed to detect a burst of Cerenkov radiation, and after making sure the Turians didn't even notice it, I spread as much chaos among their forces as I could." The AI recalled. "Bombed any of their strongholds without Human prisoners, spaced some of those birds, and made sure that they couldn't run away when the Second Fleet arrives."
The Shipmaster nodded. "Good job, son."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Sauron asked.
"Depends." The Shipmaster replied. "Is he clear of any tampering, Bond?"
"He's squeaky clean, sir. No signs of tampering of any kind." Bond answered.
"In that case, you can help Bond with anything he needs. Understood?" The Shipmaster asked the rescued AI.
"Happy to help, sir." Sauron answered, and immediately followed Bond into the trenches of cyberspace. Two hands were better than one, after all.
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01-07-2657
THV Bird of Prey
Unknown planet's orbit
Unknown system
"Status report!" Desolas barked at his subordinates. They'd just managed to regain control over the Bird of Prey after the AI attack, the technicians having finished rebooting their systems through data erasure, destruction of hardware if it posed too much of a risk, and a factory reset of every single omni-tool on the ship, among other things.
It was always possible the AI managed to escape somehow, but they made damn well sure that it wasn't able to survive if it remained on board.
A technician walked up to him. "We've managed to purge the AI out of the system, as per protocol, and we've regained control over the ship. However, all escape pods have been launched, several uncontrolled hazards have been created across every level on the ship, and our eezo core has been overloaded."
"Are the men able to repair the Bird of Prey?" Desolas had to ask.
The technician looked at his omni-tool. "Given the damage we've taken, we'll need several vital spare parts brought in in order to repair the eezo core to a usable state, and I highly recommend that we'll take the Bird of Prey into a drydock for full repairs."
"Don't we have the materials to do so on board?" Litrinox interrupted.
"We did, sir, but the AI's actions have caused most of those to be either drifting in the void or be damaged beyond any use." The technician stated, holding his omni-tool to show the list of vital replacement parts that were lost or destroyed.
"What of our combat systems?" Desolas asked in a low voice.
The technician immediately searched everything up. "Several secondary weapons need to be repaired, our kinetic barriers are at 73% capacity, and the damage output of our primary weapon is at 58% capacity." He looked up at his commanding officer. "We're combat capable, sir, but I'd recommend these issues to be handled before engaging in a fight."
Desolas took a moment to gather his thoughts. "How many casualties?"
Litrinox looked at his own omni-tool. "It's too early to say for certain, but we know that at least several hundred personnel have been spaced, and several dozen men have been injured or killed by the sabotaged systems." A deep sigh came from his throat. "As for any Turians on the planet, I only know that all of the bases without prisoners on this side of the planet have been destroyed."
A moment of silence passed, the atmosphere on the bridge being almost chokingly thick. "Target the planet."
"Sir?" Litrinox asked, already seeing what his superior might be thinking and dreading that he might be right.
"I said target the planet!" Desolas snarled again. "Evacuate our people from every city and town and bomb them to the ground!"
"But sir, the Citadel Conventions-" The technician tried to reason.
"Mean nothing if we allow these savages to keep creating AI!" Desolas growled back before calming himself. "Look at what that one AI did to the Bird of Prey, an AI that we found on a dreadnought capable of standing up to a fleet no less. It's clear that these people are an extreme danger to the galaxy, one that must be stopped before it's too late."
Litrinox noticed the uneasy mutterings among the crew, people that were already uneasy with the slaughter of a new species to begin with. The legality of their initial attack was already dubious enough to begin with, but it was very much possible that some of the men could resist the order to ignore the Conventions.
So the XO decided to make sure his commanding officer wouldn't go too far. "I may have another solution, sir." With a nod from Desolas, Litrinox continued. "We received a message from Saren before, sir, confirming the capture of who we believe to be the military commander of the primitives. From what we've seen, their military culture is similar enough to that of the Hierarchy that I believe they will surrender if ordered to do so by a superior officer."
"And how do you propose we convey that?" Desolas snarled. "In case you've forgotten, we've got next to no translations that these people can understand."
"Don't worry sir, I've got a plan." Litrinox smiled.
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01-07-2657
Outside Shanxi City
Shanxi Prime
Shanxi System
Williams knew that the damn Raptors were in deep shit, and that they were determined to drag him into the pits of Hell alongside themselves.
He could tell that the planet was bombarded, and judging by the reactions of the birds, the attackers definitely weren't on their side. He didn't know if the attacker was UNSC, an ally or an unknown party that had some kind of beef with these bastards, but the captured general was more than willing to accept this gift from the Lord.
He couldn't help but chuckle, praying to some deity while fighting aliens had become somewhat of a joke since the Great War, which itself made the concept of religion somewhat controversial among Human kind. The various religious organizations hadn't grown nearly as fast as the rest of Humanity had prior to the war, and the fact that an alien religion wanted to commit genocide on all of Humanity caused some religiophobia alongside the xenophobia to fester in Human hearts.
That's not to say religious movements went extinct, no, but they definitely didn't have the pull among the masses that they once did. Long gone are the days that every town had at least one church or equivalent thereof, long gone are the days where entire countries were ruled by religious doctrine. Now, atheism is the dominant belief among man, alongside massive amounts of admiration to the Forerunners and their technological miracles.
Not in the same cult-like mentality that defined the Covenant, but rather in the same way one would appreciate an extinct culture which had a massive impact on their homeworld, like the Romans back on Earth.
That being said, the religiophobia wasn't nearly as bad as the xenophobia, and mankind had managed to grow beyond both for the most part in the last century. Unfortunately, the fact that it did exist to such a degree in the past did cause a rapid decline in religious followers from which the major religions have yet to recover, with only the most devout people remaining for the most part.
This included Williams himself, as well as his family, all of whom were devout Christians. It didn't stop him from appreciating the dark humor that caused his chuckle, of course, nor was he one of those crazy individuals who thought Humans were God's chosen people. No, he knew in his heart that the Lord brought life to all worlds that had it, doing what He could to create and protect all who were willing to let love into their hearts.
Which is also how he knew that He gave his wrath to the Raptors via somebody bombarding their newly created fortifications.
Suddenly, the ugly thing that Williams assumed to be the leader of this squad shoved one of those glowing gauntlet things in his face and started talking some very broken English. "Scum stupid give up today." It snarled, making sure that the orange thing was right by his mouth.
"The hell are you on about?" Williams snarled back, only to receive a backhand to the face.
"Give up today!" It snarled again, clearly angry at the loss of its men. Williams could only formulate one response that would convey his meaning at the ugly motherfucker.
He spit a bloody loogie in its eye.
The Raptor screamed in rage, this time hitting Williams with enough force to force him to the ground. Then, it pressed another button on its device and spoke into it with its own language, before barking something at its subordinates.
Said subordinates picked Williams off of the ground, and forced him to look at what was coming next.
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01-07-2657
Shanxi City
Shanxi Prime
Shanxi System
Seelac was hiding in the ruins of a once beautiful city, the very city from which she guided the development of this new world with a gentle hand. Sometimes she hid for hours in a single spot, other times she was forced to move because the aliens got too close.
She knew it was cowardly, that some other people in her position would've fought back, but she wasn't a fighter. The best she could do is use the natural abilities of her species to survive, maybe try to help a few people on the way if she could. She's a planner, not a soldier.
Unfortunately for her, Seelac was caught by two of the things as she tried to hide in the city's outskirts. They aimed their weapons at her before what she could only assume to be a look of surprise and confusion littered their faces, one of them even lowering its weapon to the ground.
The Silurian didn't know what to make of this situation, seeing the two avian aliens chirping at each other in agitation and… panic?
Before she could give it more thought, gunshots rang out, and the personal shields of the more aggressive alien flickered and died before a bullet went through where its brain likely was, killing it before it could aim its own gun at the new arrival.
Instinct took over for the Silurian before the other alien could fire. Seelac's tongue extended from her mouth and punctured the alien's neck, injecting a lethal dose of the venom that her branch of the Silurian species was known for.
The alien gasped, its veins already starting to turn green from the potent toxins that have entered its bloodstream, breathing heavily as it fell to its knees, its gun clattering away from it.
Seelac herself looked away, not paying attention to the alien who was as good as dead as she looked towards the being who rescued her. It was a Human man, a pale one with blue eyes and brown hair, ragged but rather handsome by the standards of his species. "You okay, ma'am? Did these bastards hurt you?"
"Y-yes, I'm fine." Seelac said quickly, still somewhat in shock. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. We Earthlings have to stick together, after all." He said with a smile before glancing at the dying alien, who's already lost consciousness. "Nice work with the tongue. Lethal injection?"
"I think so." Seelac muttered, uncomfortable at the idea of killing a person, even if said person was an alien soldier who attacked without provocation. "You never know with alien biology, but with the amount of venom I put into it it should die pretty soon."
"Good, then I won't have to waste my bullets on that one." The stranger said before gesturing to the remains of someone's home. "Follow me, I've holed up there for now. We'll be safe for about an hour at least."
A few minutes later, Seelac and the stranger were in the living room of the house where the Human had set up a base, said mammal looking between the tatters of the blinds for any of the birds. "My name's Seelac. Seelac N'ra." The Silurian introduced herself.
The Human looked at her for a moment. "Yeah, figured you'd be the Administrator. Not many Silurians this far from Sol, especially none as well known as you are. Relatively speaking."
Seelac blinked. "Was that supposed to be an insult?"
"A fact, not an insult." The Human clarified. "You're well known on Shanxi because you got voted as its leader, but nobody else aside from some administrators of the UEG would care about that. Maybe you'd be more known among your own people since Silurian administrators are rare outside of Venus, but people generally don't care about planetary leaders of another world."
"I guess." Seelac muttered, grabbing some of the food the Human had given her. The moment she took a bite out of it she couldn't help but spit it out again. "What in the name of the Goddess is this disgusting thing?!"
The mystery man gave her a sly grin. "MRE's, universally seen as one of Humanity's greatest culinary mistakes." He shrugged as he chuckled. "It's gotten better since they were first made, and some actually have some good flavors, but somehow the UNSC still hasn't figured out how to make anything that isn't as dry as the planet Mercury."
The Silurian gave a heavy sigh, forcing herself to take another bite. The taste and texture still left a lot to be desired, but now that she knew what to expect it wasn't that bad. "I take it you're a marine or something?"
"Marine turned merc." He said, turning once again to the window. "Wanted to protect Earth and her children and all that, so I thought I might as well join the military. Didn't really like the red tape bullshit that stops us from doing real good, so I left to do so. Bounty hunting some bad guys, protecting shipments from the occasional pirate, that kind of thing."
"Why are you at Shanxi then?" Seelac couldn't help but uneasily ask the merc. "Anyone here you were looking for?"
"Nah, it's more of a vacation, really." He shrugged. "I mean, yeah, outlaws tend to hide away in faraway places like this, but I was just taking a break between jobs. Don't worry though, if there was anyone here I was hunting, nobody would mind if they were to disappear." He easily said. "Murderers, rapists, terrorists, remnants of the Insurrectionists that are still hanging on, Covenant Loyalists left behind by the Storm, Decepticons who've gone into hiding. Real bad guys, each and every one of them."
Seelac didn't really know what to say to that, but she supposed that this merc at least didn't just go after everyone. She then noticed that he was frowning. "What's wrong?" The Silurian asked in a whisper, worried that the aliens might be close by.
"It's the Raptors, they're acting weird." The merc said, looking through the lens of his rifle. "They're leaving the city in greater numbers than before, and I don't see anyone going in." The merc grabbed a cigar out of his pocket and lit it, taking a deep breath from the tobacco. "I don't like this."
Seelac couldn't help but think about something. "Hey, I don't know if it matters, but the Raptors started acting weird when they saw me." Seeing that she caught the merc's attention, she elaborated further. "I mean, it could just be that they weren't expecting non-Humans, but it felt like it was something else instead."
"Maybe." The merc said, grabbing a nearby data pad and pulling an image up. "Before command went down, the general managed to send out some intel about the Raptors and their allies. Didn't read much about it, just the notes about what each species looks like, what they can do and how to kill them. But I think they mistook you for this."
The merc handed her the data pad, showcasing a picture of another alien species. Something like a blue Silurian with very small scales and weird ridges on her head. It was uncanny, even more so than the Humans. Even the various subspecies of her race didn't look this close to her. "By the Goddess."
"Funny you should mention that, as some of these Witches worship a Goddess too." The merc quipped. "Crazy how convergent evolution can be sometimes."
A moment of silence passed between the two before Seelac realized something. "What's your name, by the way?" She asked, trying to move on from the sheer weirdness that she just saw.
"Jack." He answered after a moment. "Jack Harper."
And before either of them could continue their conversation, multiple explosions run throughout the city.
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01-07-2657
Outside Shanxi City
Shanxi Prime
Shanxi System
"No." Williams breathed in horror, shocked at just how far these aliens were willing to go. He watched as explosions rocked the city he was starting to call home, the place where he and his wife were planning to retire to once both had finished their respective careers.
The place that was now being bombarded after all surviving Raptors had left.
One of the aliens shoved its glowing device near the Human's face, showing that Shanxi City wasn't the only place being hit. All across the planet, every Human settlement was being violated by orbital bombardment. From the largest city to the smallest town, nothing was spared.
At the rate they were going, they were going to kill every man, woman and child on the planet who hasn't been put into a cage yet. "Stop!" He begged, pleading for these heartless creatures to stop their senseless slaughter.
"Give up now!" Their leader snarled at him, its ugly face practically spitting in his.
Williams then understood what it was trying to do, what it was trying to say through its broken English. It wanted him to surrender, or face annihilation. Well, as an old friend of his once said, when faced with extinction, every alternative is preferable.
"I surrender!" He screamed at the alien, just desperate to stop the slaughter until rescue arrives.
The Raptor barked something into its device, and a moment later the bombardment ended. Not even a second later, the Raptor in charge pushed the device into Williams's face once more. "Surrender." It said, its voice dripping with malice.
Williams breathed in, realizing he was essentially committing political suicide with what he was going to do, but it'd be worth it if he could save the people who're still left. "Soldiers of Shanxi, I am General Williams. The Raptors have given us an ultimatum, so with a heavy heart I'm giving the following order to save the survivors on Shanxi: By the power invested in me by the United Nations Space Command, I hereby order you to lay down your weapons and surrender. We may have lost this battle, but we will not lose this war." He finished, hoping to instill some hope in his men, knowing that these aliens still do not have the grasp on English needed to understand his speech.
He just hopes that his decision will be for the best.
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01-07-2657
Shanxi City
Shanxi Prime
Shanxi System
"Fucking damnit all to hell and back!" Jack screamed in pain, the glass shards from the window he was peeking through having gone into his eyes.
"Oh Goddess." Seelac breathed in horror, seeing the blood flow from the eyes of her new friend. "Hold on!" She yelled, dragging the injured merc away from the window and putting him on the sofa as gently as she could.
Before the Silurian could look for something, Jack grabbed her by the arm. "Biofoam." He grunted. "There's some in the backpack I had."
Seelac looked around, and saw the backpack he was talking about. It was next to the broken window, covered in glass shards and droplets of blood, but Seelac didn't pay attention to that as she ransacked the item in search of the medicinal object. "Got it!" She exclaimed, heading to her wounded companion.
"This is gonna suck." Jack growled before howling in more pain as the biofoam started doing its job on his eyes. It wouldn't fix them, but it would at least stop him from bleeding out until he could get some flash cloned replacements.
A few moments later, after the screaming had stopped, Seelac couldn't help but ask something. "So, what now?"
"Now, you and your companion will do as I say if you want to survive, miss N'ra." A staticy voice came from the nearby communication device.
"Who the hell are you?!" Jack screamed in the direction of the communicator, already having managed to grab and aim a gun Seelac didn't even see before.
"A friend if you'd allow me, my violent fellow." The voice said, and Seelac knew that the man was smiling, even if she couldn't see his face. "Or a business partner at the very least."
"What do you want?" The Silurian asked calmly.
"A way off of this rock, for starters." The voice sounded annoyed. "I have found myself in quite the predicament, and I need some assistance to get out of it."
Jack snorted, having lowered his gun after realizing that the man wasn't there. "I don't think we'd be able to help ya, pal."
"Oh contraire, the two of you are currently the only people nearby who can lend me some assistance." The voice rebutted with ease. "That being said, I am not incapable of lending my own assistance to you."
"What are you talking about?" Seelac asked, intrigued.
"It is quite simple, my reptilian belle." The voice continued. "While that last attack from the Turians rendered me trapped, I still have access to some medicinal technologies that would be of aid to your recently crippled companion."
"Flash cloning?" Seelac asked, knowing about the Human technology and how prevalent it is across the hospitals in the known Universe.
"Cybernetic technology, my dear." He corrected her. "There are more than enough prosthetics of every kind here to quite literally re-arm an army." He chuckled. "I'm sure that there's at least a single working optic left here to assist mister Harper."
Jack grunted. "I don't think we've got a choice."
"Excellent." The voice replied. "I've sent my coordinates to your datapad. I suggest you get here as quickly as possible, before the Turians scour what's left of the city for survivors."
After the transmission cut off, Seelac took a hold of Jack. "Might as well do as the stranger says, right?" And with that, the duo went out to the streets, following the directions of their mysterious benefactor.
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And that's a wrap. Sauron destroyed a few Turian bases before escaping, and the Turians retaliated by destroying the cities of Shanxi, forcing the people to surrender until reinforcements arrive.
Also, the Illusive Man has made an appearance, with him and Seelac heading towards a potential ally in these dark times.
TheDoctor1998 here, signing out!