Day 13: ...And Into the Fire

Day 13

    

     Omega: home to the galaxy’s most infamous criminals and mercenaries… and Lúthien. Once we arrived in the Sahrabarik System, we quickly became aware through some quick scanning of the presence of several Ascension-class dreadnaughts in deep orbit around the star, which is never a good sign. Even worse, the scans revealed several Sovereign-class Reapers in the asteroid belt. I can’t imagine what would bring them to Omega, but I’m guessing that the Asari dreadnaughts probably have something to do with it.

     As we approached Omega, we were contacted and told about the state of affairs on Omega. The station had been hit with a fatal plague affecting all species currently living on Omega except for Asari, and a group of Asari commandos had invaded and taken over and stopped all mining on the asteroid. This just keep going from bad to worse don’t they? There has to be something fundamentally wrong with this galaxy… We suited up, docked and were quickly escorted to Afterlife, Aria’s headquarters.

     Once there, Aria debriefed us herself on the situation and what she needed us to do. She asked for our help instead of calling in actual doctors and researchers (as I’m sure she could have en force being the ‘Queen of Omega’ and all) was due to the fact that the Asari team that had invaded the asteroid and lodged their ship deep into the rock and was rigged to explode at any moment Asari High Command saw fit. So she had us brought in to use the medical ‘expertise’ of Lt. Cornelius Joe. Of all the people in the galaxy, she could think of only Joe to save her rock! Lúthien must not be doing a very good job of reporting the state of this crew to Aria, or their both insane which I guess you would have to be to have run Omega for centuries. But, she does have a good point, that given his knowledge he should be able to use all the equipment here to synthesize a cure… I hope. Aria also told us the hidden agenda of the Asari in creating the plagues: they created each plague as they came in contact with a new species to ascertain Asari dominance in the galaxy. She also explained a bit of what happened to the Shepard: apparently he is in control of the Reapers, by somehow becoming their ‘conscience,’ through the use of the Crucible. She explained that the Asari were a little… pissed off, that the Shepard had effectively become the most powerful force in the galaxy and that he was human, not Asari and that they are planning on somehow replacing him.

How they thought this up is beyond me. I guess the Reapers have become too meddlesome for their politics. I don’t know. It seems pretty dim witted to me. I mean, he Reapers have been destroying galactic life for eons, they almost succeeded a few years ago, what makes them think that they can just waltz in and rebuild the crucible and reprogram the Reapers to do their bidding. This is just going to cause another Reaper war in which we will probably lose. What a stupid idea.

Anyway, Aria wanted us to route the Asari commandos in charge of stopping the mining operations, and Joe to begin curing the various plagues on Omega. Aliya was ordered to stay behind with the LT to help him stay focused. The rest of us went to a fortress the KQO found in the station’s systems.

Once there we rebooted the turrets and set everything up to funnel the commandos in to our line of fire. We signalled KQO to start bringing the 200+ commandos in waves toward the fortress while hiding the existence of the turrets. It quickly turned into a blood bath, as the Asari came through the corridor into the line of fire of our rocket-firing turrets.

KQO then proposed a plan to cause the Asari to retreat and clear off of the station. While poking around the enemy systems she was able to find the command codes, and with our help, she composed an order from ‘high command’ to evacuate the station the Reapers were coming. Thankfully they fell for it, and they eventually all cleared off the station. And were subsequently blown out of the sky judging by the explosion we heard a while after they left, poor bastards.

While we were engaged with the commandos Joe was able to synthesize a cure for all the races, with some motivation and help from Aliya, but the LT being who he is decided to run the cure out himself while screaming at Aliya, which resulted in him getting shot in the leg by some commando who had missed their ship spying on Joe’s progress. Aliya made quick work of the Asari while Joe went sprinting away blood just gushing away to distribute the cure. I took a sample of the Turian cure to send to the Hierarchy with a little explanation of what it is and why it was necessary; just in case.

Aria then thanked us for saving her station and we all went for some well-deserved rest and relaxation while Lúthien had a little chat with her mother.

Day 12: Out of the Frying Pan...

Day 12

     That was unexpected. Our plans actually worked out favourably. We assigned a squad of marines along with the LT to a shuttle to “help” our doppelgängers when they arrived at the Phoenix, as well as set up a defensive perimeter of turrets from the ship, while the rest of us hid in the cargo bay to lure in and take out the enemy quad.

     Our doppelgangers are good, but not quite up to snuff. Their Commander detected the turrets and was able to organize his team to avoid the brunt of the damage that would have been inflicted, but what they clearly didn’t expect was a full on assault by a skycar, and their own skycar nonetheless! Apparently the LT got it into his tiny brain to steal their skycar and fly it straight into the enemy squad as they were entering the cargo bay, which, of course, triggered all the turrets to fire at the enemy signature and made quick work of the non-military-grade skycar. Luckily the LT was able to jump out without injury and send a fiery cascade of metal into the enemy squad and the cargo bay where the rest of us were waiting for the command to open fire. I have no idea how the LT comes up with these things, or how he justifies them as the right course of action. Thankfully he provided enough of a shock factor to allow us to open fire and begin the neutralizing of our infamous counterparts.

     The enemies were quickly, if not cleanly, neutralized: Aliya took out the enemy Quarian with a quick shot to the hip, the Krogan was knocked down and saved by both Aliya and Nienna, the latter decided to take on the man impersonating the LT, with a sword. I didn’t know she even had a sword, let alone able to use one, which in hindsight she couldn’t really use it and Lúthien had to step in and destroy three of the enemies with her biotics; it was rather impressive. The fight itself was rather unimpressive. You would think the Council would be able to find some soldiers of at least equal if not superior fighting ability to have us replaced. I mean, I am Major Corinthus, the Saviour of Aephus, and Hero of Jaeto. I’m a damned good soldier and all they could find to impersonate me was a nobody from the Turian military? I should be offended.

     Anyway, after the fight we brought the survivors in for questioning. Lúthien, Aliya and myself interrogated the “Quarian” imposter. It turns out she wasn’t even a Quarian! Aliya was livid. We had to tell her to stay in the corner behind me during the interrogation to avoid any… sudden bouts of neural shock. Lúthien pulled out all the edge her beauty and experience gave her to have the human, how do the humans say it, eating out of the palm of her hand? She was incredibly forthcoming (with mostly useless information) and would have done anything the Asari asked of her. All we could really get from her was that the squad was put together in secret by some highly classified individuals, only the commander knew whom, to destroy any and all efforts that the Alliance had in place to do exactly what we were doing: finding what was up with all the recent Reaper activity.

     When we arrived at the CIC, Nienna and the Commander were discussing the need to leave Eden Prime immediately, and Lúthien received a message that we were needed urgently in Omega. 

Day 6: Know your limit, stay within it.

Day 6

    

     Well this is just great! All our carefully laid plans gone to waste all because of a stupid Krogan and the Commander’s inability to avoid a firefight! Doesn’t he know that there is a time and place for fighting and that sometimes you need to just play it cool and complete a mission without violence? If he had just waited for us to get there and just let us in all of this would have been avoided! But, I can’t actually say any of that to, or about my Commanding officer, I’ve worked too hard to be court-marshalled, especially by the Alliance.

So let me explain a bit further. While we were out, after relaying our message and getting the holos up they decided to open the cargo bay while we were still 5 minutes out! Who in their right mind would open a door, on Sur’Kesh with a paranoid Krogan and a bunch of Salarians who were ordered to pick up the cargo, so naturally as they go to board the ship and collect the cargo the Krogan goes ballistic a drops one of them right then and there! Which of course leads to an all out firefight on the cargo bay door as they rush to close it and trap the Salarians in. The LT, for all his skills and agility, decides it’s a good idea to get K8 to toss him into the fray! That man would build a house in an Invictus jungle if anyone would.  One minute you think he’s great, then the next you wonder how he survived zero-G training. Anyway, the battle raged on, with the obvious outcome of our victory. I guess the repercussions won’t be disastrous; only three Salarian mercs dead, and we got the doctor out hopefully unnoticed.

      The Asari and I pulled into the cargo bay full of carnage and unconscious Salarians. Nienna quickly, before adding the contents of her stomach to the carnage, ran to change into something more decent. Meanwhile, K8, obviously unused to skycars opened the trunk (which lies beneath the car) causing the good doctor to slam onto the blood-slick floor. With him yelling and generally fussing about his situation K8 gave him an ultimatum: shut up and answer our questions, or get shoved back into the trunk. He quickly shut up and was not very forthcoming with his answers. Braxis, our ever-so-polite Krogan brute, made some off-hand comment about the taste and quality of Salarian livers which very quickly rendered Dr. Re’lis unconscious. We really need to keep him away from our prisoners… We did learn, however, that most of his research was on his ship, and Aliya, in all her tech wisdom, stripped his omnitool and located this ship. And that is our next destination.

P.s- it isn’t wise to gamble against Aria T’Loak’s daughter, especially for a skycar. Let’s just say it wasn’t my best game of Skyllian Five…

Day 3: Clearing the Base

Day 3

     There is something wrong with this crew. Is it something in the air, or maybe it’s the levo amino food… it’s got to be the food. While the rest of the crew interrogated the prisoners, the LT; the Asari, Nienna; and myself went in search of the missing children. As it turns out Nienna and myself do not have a knack for techie things, while the LT seems to, once again, fluke his way through by licking, yes licking, his omni-tool. How is that even possible, like I said: it must be the food. Anyway (this LT provides some great tangent opportunities…) ahem, yes, we were scanning for the children to find their location, and most of the children were in the storage room they’ve been locked in for who knows how long. As was logical we sent the only human in to see the children first. And, by the spirits, the kids actually liked him! He even found himself a little fan and parted with his sunglasses.

After having K-QO scan the base for the remainder of the children we discovered one was about to fall into the same compartment with the mechs! I raced out of there as fast as I could to get there in time. As I opened the door the boy fell out of the duct. Thankfully (and obviously, I mean you should see how intimidating I look in armour) the mechs began attacking me instead of the boy. Pulling out my zweihänder, I clove a mech in half. It felt good to use my blade again; it’s been too long. As I pulled out my assault rifle the Asari came sprinting up, I shouted to her to take the boy and leave. As it would, the Asari came barrelling right into my line of fire! Thankfully she fell flat on her face just as the bullets started flying. The rest was a piece of cake, as the humans are wont to say. We Turians use a lot of human expressions I’ve noticed. We must not have any good ones ourselves… hmm. What did I say about Nienna being clumsy? I sure hope she doesn’t end up dying by friendly fire. That’s always an unpleasant report to file. All in all a happy conclusion to a difficult situation.

After dropping the kids off at the colony and alerting Alliance command, we were briefed on our unofficial, off the records mission of infiltrating Sur’Kesh and finding what the Salarians are up to with their studies of the Reaper nanites we are all, apparently, stuck with. The Salarians seem to believe that the Shepard somehow convinced the Reapers that they were already in control of everyone and that they now influence us through these nanites, and that’s why they attacked Tuchanka twenty years ago. What a load of garbage. So the Admiral “didn’t” authorize us to infiltrate Sur’Kesh, and we are definitely “not” going to the Pranas system, as the LT was so keen on telling everyone. At least he didn’t have his sunglasses to strike a ridiculous pose… I think the Quarian aptly described the situation, something was wrong with his face during the debriefing. And there we “aren’t” headed.

Beyond the Crucible

Day 2: Backwater Colony

Day 2

Well there are another few days of my life gone. This mission is going to be the end of whatever is left of my career and reputation. I mean seriously? Who THROAT PUNCHES a guy then tries to resuscitate him? If this is the best humanity has to offer… I don’t know how they were the ones that were the driving force behind the defeat of the Reapers. Maybe it wasn’t all that hard for The Shepard to stand out from the rest of humanity, shining stars as they are…

Anyway, this colony is in far worse shape than we thought. These people are crazy. I mean crazier than people on a planet in the middle of nowhere space crazy. An armed commando troop comes in and you try to pull weapons on them? At least they had some sense enough to listen to commanding officers, except that poor bastard that got throat punched by the LT. And what dolt tries to save a man with a crushed windpipe? I can’t even think about it. Idiot. How he made it to lieutenant and SECOND in command boggles my mind. He must have some promise though; I don’t think the Alliance has deteriorated that much since the N7 Wars. Back to the mission… This whole colony seems to think they’re indoctrinated and have entrusted their lives to a secret research base and they don’t even know what’s going on, and having their own people returned invalids, and giving up their children? Who does that? Maybe they really have been indoctrinated.

Thanks to K-QO and the Quarian infiltrating the base and neutralizing the threat was relatively painless. Now, on to more interrogations. That’s all we seem to do. Trap people in ridiculous situations where they can be easily coerced into surrender, and then we beat or entice information out of them. The Quarian even managed to hack a guy near to death. She has more potential than I initially thought.

Beyond the Crucible