Day 14: Inklings of Madness

Day 14

     After the fight on Omega we all went for some R&R. I picked up a new rifle and pistol: the M-99 Sabre and the M-358 Talon. I’ve been eyeing both of these for a while now, unfortunately they aren’t quite legal to own, but since we are being branded as fugitives anyway I thought what the hell. I also picked up a few ammo packs and some mods for my armour.

     After our furlough we returned to the ship and the Commander interrogated his doppelganger. We didn’t learn much more from him except that he was receiving his orders directly from the Council and that the whole council, all four of them, were in agreement with this ridiculous scheme. It sounds as if they are in agreement with the Asari that they need to replace the Shepard as the conscience of the Reapers. This galaxy really has gone mad if the leaders think that it is a good idea to poke a bear with a stick, albeit a very big stick, but this bear is huge in comparison. Madness. He also told us of his latest orders to escort a ship to a highly classified location in the middle of nowhere. After deposing of the bodies of both the doppelgangers on board we set off to the location of the ship to be escorted.

     We arrived at the location and found the ship. Damn that thing is huge! And loaded to the brim with eezo! That much eezo can only mean one thing: the Council truly is trying to rebuild the Crucible. Spirits protect us.  

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. 

Letters Home

From: {sourcenotfound}

To: sophie.c@caa.edu.pal

Dearest Sophie,

 How are you? How’s Ysabell? Is she keeping up with her piano practice? I know how much she likes to complain. I hope that you’re both OK, especially after this whole debacle with my crew’s doppelgangers. I know that this puts you both in a terrible situation. I can’t give you any details, one: they’re classified, and second: I can’t give you any information that would make you a target. I have to keep you both safe. Remember I love you both so much, no word in the galaxy can adequately describe the love that I have for you, and that I do everything I do for you.

 Know that I’m safe, and that I’m innocent. You know me; I would never do anything like this.

 I love you both.

-   T

Ps. – A contact of mine will contact you soon. If you ever need anything - to get away, a safe place to hide - he will help you. Love you.  

Form: {sourcenotfound}

To: Corinthus.A@embassies.gov.pal

Adrian:

     I need you to take care of Sophie and Ysabell for me. You know me; you know I’m innocent and wouldn’t do something like this. Please take care of them, give them a safe place if they need one. I’m afraid someone will come after them, and I need someone I trust to make sure they are safe.

    

All the best

Major Terryck Corinthus

Day 8: O that Tangled Web we Weave

Day 8

    

     That damned suit rat! She’s a filthy traitor! I should have shot her the moment she exposed herself! I don’t know why I didn’t; am I going soft? The great Terryck Corinthus unable to do his duty and at least arrest someone guilty of treason? Bosh’tet! That’s the only word appropriate for her and it’s a damned Quarian word! And the rest of the crew! How could they so calmly accept what the suit rat did! Does the Alliance have any standards? Damn them all! What have I been reduced to? And to make matters worse I’ve been branded a traitor and a wanted criminal, along with everyone else aboard the Sachsen. Apparently we all have some traitorous doppelgangers out to ruin us and sabotage our mission. This day just couldn’t get any better, some days I wonder if it was the right decision leaving the Turian Military. Then I think of my family, the one’s I’m fighting for, are always in my mind, and am reminded that I have to be here, as much as I hate it. Spirits keep them safe.

     Once we got to the bridge the Commander ordered the Salarians to surrender control of the ship to us, and then proceeded to shoot the poor bastard’s hand off as he reached for the switch to alert who knows who or what, which quickly cowed them into listening to our demands and damaging the computer sufficiently to halt any rebellious notions the Salarians might have had. The LT quickly bandaged the injured Salarian. After questioning them we quickly realized that they knew nothing aside from their contract to keep the station in orbit and all systems running. Lieutenant Joe left for engineering when the barefaced Quarian indicated that as her next destination.

      A few minutes later he contacts me asking to see if he should follow the suit rat after finding that she and the Geth had killed the Salarian in the computer core. What is with this guy, can’t he think for himself? Anyway, from what the Asari say what happened after that was rather entertaining and the beginning of her betrayal exposed. Lúthien dominated the two engineers and told them to sleep, and they dutifully went to their quarters, the suit rat then went to follow, presumably to strip their omnitool for research data. Instead she killed them! Helpless bystanders if the Salarians on the bridge are to be believed. Joe then tackled her to the ground. Apparently he wasn’t concerned about the implications of what the Quarian had just done and then confessed his love for her! He really needs to go to Invictus…

     Once they all returned to the bridge the Quarian begins by saying that she has something to tell the Commander in an odd tone. My suspicions began when she explained that the ship’s computers were wiped and nothing was on them, with no trace of where they went. Salarians might not be great soldiers, but they know their tech and even if there was a virus that wiped the local hard drives they would have a failsafe system in place to transfer the important data off ship, and if she was as good as she claims to be then she should have been able to find its location! The gun came out when Lúthien casually stated that she had killed the engineers in cold blood. The Commander disposed the two Salarians on the bridge when the Quarian said she wouldn’t discuss such matters in front of strangers. She then proceeded to tell us that she had wiped the ship’s computer systems of any trace of the Salarian’s research data as per her orders, which “recently” came from President Tali’Zorah vas Normandy, to prevent the Alliance from gathering such intel and to destroy any trace of the research. I should have shot her right then, barefaced suit rat. I don’t understand how the Commander accepted such treasonous behaviour so calmly and seemingly without any worry at all! She was in direct contradiction to the orders of a superior officer to which she is legally bound! Does she have any honour; does anyone in the Alliance?

     After that bombshell we were contacted by the Sachsen to return immediately to the ship, as there was something of great import that we needed to see. As it turns out we are all traitors and fugitives. Some group, claiming to be us, with admittedly convincing persons, and a ship incredibly similar to the Sachsen attacking and destroying Admiral Johnstone’s base and assassinating every senior officer there. They even had a Geth in the vids! The Council, and nearly every other galactic government, have deemed us traitors and criminals worthy of death. What is even more intriguing is all four councillors signed this declaration; that means the Salarian councillor, after nearly forty years of warming a council seat has, actually acted in concordance with the rest of the council. Which elicits some suspicion as to why he would finally take part in this particular motion. This is something worth looking into.

     It is of great comfort to me that the Hierarchy, even though they have to conform to the will of the Council, has enough reasonable doubt to clear my name. It is good to know that, despite my abrupt departure, they haven’t forgotten my service and everything I have put into my service and for my people. I also received an email from a certain interested party with the location to a supply cache and safe house for my now fugitive crew. Good to know that there are still some people who aren’t crazy in the galaxy.