Galaxy At War - Menae Ascendant

"Understood, I'll be there right away" Sanguis bowed to the messenger and walked towards the galley, he was already in the upper deck so he had no need for an elevator. He waited patiently for the other specialists to come.

"Really? I don't even remember what they sound like on the Citadel. Learned to tune it out, I guess."

The elevator opened up and Karen stepped out into the galley, ready for the briefing.

"It's not just the music, there's all those news breaks too," Star replied, continuing along to the galley.

edited 31st Jul '14 10:36:54 AM by nman

As the specialists lined up in the galley - a fairly small, but well-appointed space, clean and neatly organized; the small holoprojector built into the tabletop suggested that it had been designed as a briefing room from the beginning - Ansina emerged from her cabin, holding a datapad and looking... businesslike, if not grim. The ship lurched as she walked, accompanied by the subtle electric sensation of approaching a mass relay. "Relay jump in five," the pilot's voice came over the intercom. After a few seconds, the electric sensation faded, and Ansina turned to the crew.

"We're currently en route to Despoina, Psi Tophet, in Sigurd's Cradle," Ansina said to the specialists, calling up a map of the galaxy. Blue mass relays glowed in the mass of holographic stars; a bright blue line highlighted relay paths from the Serpent Nebula to the Eagle Nebula, to Omega, then on to Sigurd's Cradle, in the middle of the Terminus Systems. "It's a newly discovered system, to say nothing of the planet itself; the most recent survey pass in 2185 was only the second since the planet was discovered in 2181."

She tapped a few keys on the datapad, and the holoprojection zoomed in to show a dull grey-blue planet. Most of the planet's surface was covered in water; what little land there was was dark, craggy, and volcanic. "There are a number of automated oil rigs from several Council governments on the surface of the planet, and some which are staffed by small numbers of personnel. There was also a highly classified military materials research laboratory there." The 'camera' zoomed in further, highlighting a tall, multi-tiered structure standing on stilts in the ocean. The lab was built like other oil rigs, with a decently-sized structure built atop the waves and a large, reinforced base that extended down to the ocean floor, several hundred feet below.

Ansina faced the specialists. "We lost contact with the lab twelve hours ago," she said. "By the time we reach Despoina, the lab will have been dark for nearly two days. Our job is to reestablish contact and render any aid we can. If that means fixing a blown signal relay, that's our job. If that means clearing the base of Reaper advance scouts, that's out job too." Her mandibles cracked the faintest bit. "I, for one, hope that singed fingers is all that awaits us."

"Ma'am, what are the expected conditions when we arive? Namely, time of day," Starizea asked. "And do we have any specific information regarding the facility's research? Or a copy of their employee database?"

"We'll be arriving in orbit around 2100 local time," Ansina said. "The rotational period of Despoina is approximately 28 hours; we'll be coming in under cover of darkness, in case the lab has been compromised." At Starizea's next questions, she frowned slightly. "The lab has a total staff of around seventy-five, majority human and turian, with a small volus minority. As for what they were researching..." The wiry turian shook her head, visibly annoyed. "Even at my clearance level, the only information available is that they were developing ship-to-ship weaponry."

"No access even for a Spectre? It must be something very important...." Karen said, feeling a slight twinge of anxiety.

What could possibly be hidden at such a remote outpost that was worth pulling together a whole new specs-ops team to secure? For all they knew the lab's comm link had just blown a fuse and this whole trip was a huge waste of time and resources. It was a massive overreaction—unless the contents of the lab were absolutely vital to the war effort, in which case the Council couldn't afford to pull any punches in protecting it.

"If this lab is important, why build it in such a vulnerable location?" Karen wondered out loud, though she already knew the answer. "Too bad that's almost certainly classified too...."

"We should also, if possible, have access to the facilities layout for mapping within our computers. Hopefully, we only deal with the singed fingers" says Katherine as she looks carefully at the image of the research facility, already trying to plan as well as possible what sort of advantages they may derive from how it was set... as well as disadvantage "If they have any defenses, that would be good to know as well"

"Given the nature of this lab, am I to take it that in the event that Reapers are present in overwhelming force, we have authorization to destroy and sink the facility to prevent them from getting their hands on our research?" Starizea asked. "After obtaining a copy for ourselves, at least."

"The facility has no apparent outer defenses," she said, "but there are surface-to-air launchers concealed within the superstructure, here, here, and here. The only approach is by shuttle, so Lieutenant Eddard will be bringing us in." She nodded to a slim, sandy-haired human woman, who saluted.

"As for your question, Corporal... yes, in the worst-case scenario, we are authorized to destroy the facility," she continued. "It has been... impressed on me that such a course would be detrimental to the war effort, but final say, and final responsibility, on the matter are mine. If it comes down to it, the scientists are our number-one priority. There's no point in bringing home half-finished blueprints that no one on the Citadel can read."

"Even classified for a Spectre? Why would they send a six-personnel team for a place that important? You'd think they'd have more people for such a job, even if we don't know if it's in Reaper hands or not, are the humans and turians really stretched so thin that they could only afford to dispatch a small team to a place that important?"

Sanguis inspected the holographic projection of the facility. Seemingly lost in thought, he soon dismissed it, thinking it'd be more practical to do think of other things.

"I say we avoid destroying the place if we can, It's probably in our best interests that the place wouldn't be blown up to smithereens. Explosions are pretty and all but they're pretty useless in the long-term." He chuckled as he commented to Starizea.

"Affirmative," Starizea said to Ansina, ignoring the older turian. "Last resort only, but it's good to have options available. That location's importance to the war effort is likely what makes it a suspected target for the Reapers, and if the situation is compromised, its destruction hopefully renders it useless in the long-term for the Reapers trying to learn our secrets."

She looked at the holoprojection. "Given the situation, it's also possible that we can only extract a limited number of researchers at a time, assuming we can even extract more than a few. We'll need a priority ranking of the critical and sub-critical staff."

"Choosing who to rescue and who to burn? God, I hope it doesn't come to that...." Karen said in response to Starizea's remarks. It was natural for the team to be considering all scenarios here; there were dozens of variables at play, far too many to consider all at once. They would have to decide on a course of action in response to what they saw when they reached their destination. With this being the case, Karen didn't have any further questions. There would be plenty of time for more of them during the trip, anyways.

"Captain. Permission to download research station specs?" she asked, holding up her glowing omni-tool. "Additionally, permission to be dismissed?"

"Permission to be dismissed as well," Starizea said, taking A Advantage of the uncomfortable silence to echo Karen's words.

Ansina nodded. "Dismissed," she said. "Take the time before we arrive to review the schematics, perform maintenance on your gear, and practice. Ah, meals are served here every morning, afternoon and night at 0700, 1300 and 1830," she added, almost as an afterthought.

"Understood, madam" says Katherine, already running through her head the loadout she was planning to pack. A research facility, closed quarters... shotgun would be essential and she may bring her newest love out for a spin. But, then she walked over to the projector, inspecting the layout and turning it around... trying to see more of what they were dealing with, memorizing as much as she could.

"Thank you ma'am," Starizea said as she downloaded all the relevant files to her omni tool. With a beep, the download finished and her personal holographic interface disappeared.

"I'm going to the crew quarters to unpack and retrieve some of my supplies," she said to Karen and Katherine. "After that would you like to review the data and plan out contingencies? "

"Of course. I'll be in the armory looking at stuff," Karen replied, while typing away on her omni-tool. She looked up at Sanguis for a moment; the drell was a complete unknown who had barely spoken, and the younger turian had shown nothing but insubordination, but this older turian....

"You should join us. It would be useful to have opinions from someone with your level of experience," she said to Sanguis, before looking down at her omni-tool again and turning to walk away.

edited 5th Aug '14 1:20:50 PM by CATS3688

Sanguis inspected the schematics on his Omni tool for a few seconds before Karen approached him.

"Sure, I thought of going there to have a little test for an old friend of mine myself. I'll teach you kids a little bit if you really need me to. Though I'm more of a Biotic, but I guess I can try." Sanguis said with a smile before walking and getting to the Armory.

The plan sounded good to Katherine, and as such, not long afterwards, she could be found in the armory, clad in her medium strength armor, checking the state of every weapon she was going to bring into the fight. This time, she wouldn't be bringing her own personal Matthock, instead preferring the higher fire rate of the Turian Phaeston. Viper for dealing with long range threats, Scimitar would be essential for close by enemies and the every trusty Phalanx for when everything goes to hell. It certainly could not be said that she was traveling light, but as a weapons specialist this was par the course.

After checking that her things had been delivered to her room, and making sure that the omni-gel and medi-gel cartridges for her suit and omni-tool were intact, Starizea made her way down to the armory. When she got there, she opened up the map of the facility on her omni-tool and projected it in the holographic display.

Karen nodded at the others as she stepped into the armory.

"Hmmm...."

She studied the layout of the facility, taking note of hallway junctions, air vents, and locations of computer terminals.

"I suppose we'd be landing on the roof, unless there's a safe zone to land within fifty meters of the ground entrances? Though really, it might be easier to just wait and ask the Captain when we arrive. She's in charge, after all. But it can't hurt to think about our approach ahead of time, either. What if we have to terminate the facility? We'll have to see what kind of charges are available, and how many, then...."

The engineer trailed off and stared absently for a moment, then seemed to jump back to her senses.

"Anyway! What are your thoughts?" she asked her squadmates.

edited 8th Aug '14 9:53:38 PM by CATS3688

Armory
"Hopefully we don't have to swim in," Starizea said. "But it depends on how close the shuttle can get with those surface-to-air launchers nearby."

Two days later

The deck shook underfoot, and the familiar tingling sensation faded as the Menae left the radius of the Sigurd's Cradle mass relay, Flight Officer Ardis' capable touch easing it away from the drop point. "We've arrived at Skepsis," he said, his quiet voice piping through the ship to the crew and Captain. "Setting a course for Psi Tophet now. We'll make Despoina's orbit shortly."

Up in her cabin, Ansina nodded and keyed the intercom on her desk. "All hands to stations. We expect a Reaper presence in the system. I repeat, we expect Reapers in-system. Specialist squad, I want you equipped and in the briefing room in ten minutes."

edited 10th Aug '14 8:53:32 AM by RedSavant

Karen looked up from her work in the armory as the Menae moved away from the relay. She knew that familiar light rumbling sound. It meant that they were here. She jumped a little as Ansina's voice spoke over the comms, informing the crew of a Reaper presence.

"Son of a bitch...." she whispered as she snapped her armor's components into place around her body. The Reaper presence wasn't surprising, but all the same, there had been a faint glimmer of hope that they would find nothing special when they arrived at their destination. Karen wouldn't hesitate to go into combat against Reaper forces, but that didn't mean she wasn't afraid. She didn't relish the idea of ending up like some of the soldiers she'd seen, torn apart by husks, or worse, converted into one even in the midst of battle.

The engineer quickly checked her pistol, even though she already knew it was in nearly factory-fresh condition, then made her way up from the armory. A couple minutes later she was standing at attention in the briefing room, ready for instructions.