Sonja moved through the trees and bushes as she led the Normandy crew up the mountain they decided would be used as their lookout point. However, not all of the Normandy crew were present as Kelly, Joker, Chackwas, Gabby and Tali remained at Rok City. This was mostly for training as they needed to understand how things worked on Ark. Kelly took up communications, which wasn't that much different from her main job.

Joker was sent to airship classes to learn how to fly the steel behemoths. Chackwas was loaned to the Qurrian clinic and Gabby was sent to retain as an engineer as she could no longer use computers to help diagnose problems. Tali was still in her shocked state and would be like that for at least a month, according to the clinic doctors.

Despite being down one, the crew focused their minds on the mission that the Lord Director had given them. They had spread out behind Sonja as she moved forward. All of them were dressed in a combination of leather clothing and steel plates for armour. Despite them being made out of steel, the plates were surprisingly light and tough. No one was sure why, but it's theorised that the steel had been specially made for Ark. But like a lot of things, it was only a guess. Nothing showed it to be true. Just another mystery of Ark.

The group approached an overlook and got down to their bellies before crawling up to the edge. They overlooked a plateau which held the enemy encampment. Several of the group picked up their binoculars and looked at the encampment. It was large with 8 large long tents with several others scattered about. A wooden palisade was placed around the perimeter of the encampment with four watch towers overlooking the corners.

"Looks like the intelligence was correct," Garrus muttered. "That's quite a large force,"

Sonja said nothing as she just looked along the enemy base, a frown forming on her face. "We have t-rexes, that means we have knights to deal with," she muttered.

"Bet those are fun," Zaeed smirked before pointing out a metal hut. "That looks like a weapons depot. The metal building to the east,"

Sonja and the others looked over and nodded. "Yeah. That looks like a field ordinance bunker. Which means they have artillery units,"

"Infantry, cavalry and artillery," Jacob muttered. "They are geared up for a siege,"

"Are those tanks?" Miranda asked as she looked to a section to the north of the compound.

"Yeah," Sonja said as she spied the metal weapons. "Those are tanks. Which means they are serious about this,"

There were 6 in all with rotating turret and a hull that was reminiscent of World War 1 and world war 2 tanks. It was hard to say as to which was the main inspiration as parts of them looked like the MK 1 landship while others looked like they came from a Sherman or Panzer. But that wasn't what was concerning as it was their main guns that worried Sonja. They were meant to be mobile siege guns given the very wide barrel.

But that's when she noticed the emblem on the tank. The emblem was of three obelisks in a shield. The middle one was red while the one on the right was green while the one on the left was blue. As soon as Sonja saw that she cursed, loud getting everyone's attention. She pulled back with the group a few meters before finding a good area to sit down. Pulling out a metal canteen she took a drink and looked up.

"We have a problem. This group…. They are part of the Spire Triumvirate," she explained. "They are… well religious zealots who worship the Obelisks," she took another drink before standing. "Follow me," she said before anyone could as any questions.

The crew looked at one another before following her for a mile before they came to another edge overlooking a large green valley. But in the distance, they saw a large black tower that floated a few meters above the ground. It had green lines along it with a diamond shape near the top. Even from a distance they were, the group could tell that it was big. Mordin got down and began to mutter under his breath while Liara looked out with her binoculars.

"That's… that's not Prothean," she said confused. "How? Why?"

Sonja smiled as she looked at the Asari. "That Li, is the greatest mystery of Ark. We have no idea what these Obelisks are for. We cannot even get to them to find out," she then pointed to what seemed to be flying dots around the floating tower. "Those are the only advanced tech around. They are robotic dinosaurs. We call them mecha-dinos and they protect the Obelisks,"

"Why are you showing us this?" Miranda asked.

Sonja fell silent for a moment looking out at the tower in the distance before she sighed. "The group we face worship the Obelisks like Gods. Believing that only they know the secrets to them. Something they have yet to prove. But the point is that they see all who do not follow their religion as heretics. They will not negotiate. So just taking out their field ordinance isn't going to be enough,"

Grunt and Wrex laughed with Jack's smile widening. "I like what you're thinking," Grunt smiled.

"Well," Garrus said as he stood. "It's not the first time we went against these kinds of odds,"

Sonja blinked as she looked at the faces of each of the soldiers before her and nodded. "Then let's get planning,"

OOOOO

Kasumi slid down the hill towards the compound under the cover of night. Dressed in dark leathers, the thief moves slowly but swiftly as she made her way to the compound. She did mutter curses under her breath, but that didn't stop her. In the back of her mind, she mentally kicked herself for relying too much on her cloaks and tech. Granted it was because she lived in a world full of technology, but it was a death sentence for relying on them too much. Hopefully, this new world would help her re-learn those lost skills.

As she moved to the walls, she noticed two of the guards in the nearest tower fall dead. Not to the floor, but they fell to the floor of the tower so that they couldn't be spotted. The lack of a radio annoyed her. But Sonja didn't grab them because she felt they weren't needed for this mission. They were loud and bulky, at least according to the commander. Kasumi wasn't sure if she believed her, but the silver-haired amazon did live here for two years before the crew arrived. So, she probably knew what she was talking about, probably.

Moving up to the wooden wall, Kasmi drew her knives and used them to climb up the wall. She didn't pull herself over once she reached the summit, but looked over to see if anyone was watching. The only thing she saw was a pair of soldiers fucking. She sighed but pulled herself over and landed on the grass without a sound. Turning to the couple, she bit her lip. Intellectually, she knew that she needed to kill these two, but a part of her didn't want to destroy a young love before it had time to blossom.

But then again, she did hear about secret 'meetings' back on the Normandy when members of the crew used to meet up and have sex. Even Kelly, the sweet cheerful yeoman, partook in that. Taking a deep breath, she moved up to the two and drove her sword into them. She aimed for the heart to make it quick. After a death twitch, the two died and she moved off remembering her mission.

Sonja had split the crew into four teams. Sniper, support, assault and stealth. Kasumi, Thane and Miranda were all part of the stealth team. Their mission was to find anything of use that could give them any clue as to why the Spire Triumvirate was here. The sniper team made up of Sonja, Garrus, Zaeed and Jacob gave them cover to allow them to move without impunity. But if anything went to hell, then the assault team, made up of Grunt, Wrex, Jack and Ashley would move up and cause as much chaos as possible.

The support team, made up of Liara, Samara and Mordin would also move in using a combination of gunfire and grenades to cause even more chaos. But Sonja wanted to avoid that as much as possible. But that didn't change their objectives. Other than finding out what the Triumvirate was doing there, there was also the matter of taking the base out. That meant targeting the barrack tents, ordinance, tanks and command team. The latter objectives were to be done after one of the stealth team nabbed the plans and placed their timed charges on key locations.

Keeping to the shadows, Kasumi moved to the ammo dump with ease. Learning to use the shadows as her friend was one of the things she learned and never forgot. There were a few times when she thought she was caught, but thanks to the lack of a reaction, she continued to move. Being light on her feet allowed her to move swiftly and silently avoiding attention. Getting close, she hid behind a couple of water barrels keeping an eye on a guard who stood close near the dump. She bit her lip as she felt him stand for a little too long before he moved away opening up for her to move.

With a quick roll, she made it to the dump and placed her charge onto the steel wall before setting the timer and moving away. She made it about ten feet before she heard a click. Turning her eyes widened before she broke into a run. Seconds later the dump exploded sending a shockwave out taking down the walls and tents. Kasumi was also knocked to the floor as the ammo began to cook and explode. Looking up she saw the Triumvirate soldiers move and scatter, more than a few spied her.

"INDTRUDER!" one of them yelled before he fell due to a sniper shot.

"Kuso," Kasumi cursed as she drew her machine pistol and fired at the closest soldiers. She managed to take a couple of them down before they noticed her and fired.

Jumping out of the way and into cover, the unmistakable roar of Grunt, Wrex and Jack echoed in her ears. Inwardly, she smiled and moved out of the way firing at a few more troopers before running towards what the crew had thought was the command tent. As she did so, another explosion sounded at the other end of the camp. The tanks were destroyed, and more panic set into the camp as people tried to figure out what was going on ignoring the thief as she ran past. More explosions soon sounded as the support team moved in throwing their grenades.

Keeping her mind focused, Kasumi moved to the tent and pushed through. She stopped as soon as she entered while a blue-skinned asari turned to face her. The non-human was dressed in a drab green uniform that was reminiscent of WW1 Russian uniforms. But this one had shoulder pads, an armoured bodice and armoured grieves. As soon as the Asari laid eyes on the Japanese thief, she drew her katana-like sword.

"Chikushō," Kasumi moaned as the alien swung the sword at her.

She quickly moved out of the way of the swing before bringing out her sword and deflected the next blow. Pushing the weapon away, Kasumi then kicked the Asari in the gut before following with a strike of her own but missed opening her up to a slash from the general. The asari's blade cut into her arm causing the thief to stumble back with an annoyed grunt. Surprisingly the asari didn't smile or stop but advanced on her more.

Inwardly Kasumi cursed and kicked herself for not taking any advanced bladed weapons training. But then again, in the world she lived in, swords weren't common unless they were used in parades or ceremonial duties so there wasn't a need for them. There were a lot of things that she began to regret not doing, but there was no time to get caught up in that as the Asari wasn't letting her go.

Reacting quickly, Kasumi dived out of the way of the next blow and moved quickly to strike the Asari, managing to cut the Asari's arm and leg. She then moved in with a punch and a kick to the gut sending the Asari out of the tent. Kasumi followed as the general stood, her face showing her anger. But before she could do anything, a large maw bit down on her.

The thief looked up as a tyrannosaurus rex pulled its head back swallowing the Asari before it turned to look at her. Fear caused through her veins as she stared at the most iconic dinosaur known to humans. She backed up but fell on her ass as she stared up at those eyes and mouth of the dinosaur king. It approached, slowly with a low growl. The smell of dead flesh filled her nose filling the thief with fear even more. The beast was about to open its mouth when gunfire made it turn. Several soldiers fired at the dino trying to take it down. But thanks to its tick hide, the rounds did little. The large beast then turned to face its attackers and roared before advancing on them forcing them to run.

Blinking for a few seconds, Kasumi couldn't believe her luck and turned to the tent. Her heart sank as she saw that the fire was spreading. Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself forward and into the tent looking around. She didn't know what to grab so grabbed whatever paper wasn't nailed down and placed them into a bag she had. She was bout to leave when she noticed a book on the table. It was black with a golden etching on the top of one of the obelisks.

She frowned as it looked important, but the fire was closing in, and fast. Gritting her teeth, she moved in and grabbed. But part of her armour caught fire and she screamed as the fire burned her arm. She ran out of the tent and dropped to the floor, rolling to put the fire out. It didn't stop her from getting a burn scar.

Gritting her teeth, she ran to the assembly point. With the fires blazing, soldiers dying and dinos eating, she managed to get away with little problems. The meeting area was deep in the forest so that if any spire troops came, they wouldn't be found easily. As she ran for an unknown amount of time, she saw the marker. An axe, embedded in a tree. With a sigh, she leaned up against a tree and slid down it before peeling back the leather on her arm to look at the damage.

She winced in pain and looked at her reddened arm. Taking her canteen, she poured the water over the burn. As soon as the water touched her skin, she cried out in pain but sighed as the water felt cool on her skin. She breathed slowly letting the water do its work. It wasn't too long before the crew arrived. A little worse for wear and toasted, but pleased with themselves.

"Hey guys," Kasumi waved with a smile and showed the papers. "Got these," she winced.

Sonja moved up and got down to one knee looking at Kasumi's burn. Taking out her canteen and poured water on it before wiping it off then taking out a small tin with a blue powder in it. As she did so, the others moved around and sat keeping silent but looking at Kasumi.

"This is going to sting, badly," Sonja warned.

Kasumi nodded and braced herself as the amazon applied the power. Kasumi bit down hard on her teeth to the point where she felt that they could crack. But soon the pain dulled and she relaxed, watching as Sonja wrapped her arm with a bandage.

"That should do it," the commander smiled. "You will get a scar but you'll be healed in a few days,"

"Arigato," Kasumi winced before handing the book to Sonja. "I found this by the way,"

The amazon took the book and her eyes widened. "You…" she stuttered before looking down at the book and opening it up. "Holy…"

"What is it?" Ash asked.

"This…" Sonja said closing the book and holding it up. "Is the Spire Codex. It's an informational book about Ark. The Spire Triumvirate is one of the few groups that doesn't share information about Ark. This is a goldmine of info for the Archive. We've been trying to get one for years as they are only given to one of the five council families of Spire. These are almost impossible to get,"

"So I…" Kasumi blinked.

Sonja smiled. "This is one of the most important things you can get Kasumi. Fantastic job,"

Pride swelled up in the thief's body and she smiled too and sighed. "Good, I haven't lost my touch,"

"Err Sonja, what's this blank area?" Miranda said as she looked at a map.

The Commander frowned and walked over to Miranda who had placed the map on the floor. It was of a coastal area with a fair amount of detail and arrows pointing to a blank section. Others came to look but blinked in confusion, while Sonja stroked her chin.

"That's…." Sonja said as she got a good look at it. "Concerning…"

"Why? It's just an incomplete map," Wrex said.

"It's incomplete as this black area is a Forbidden Zone," Sonja explained. "A place where no one comes back from,"

The crew looked from her and then to the map. It was pretty clear that something was up.