Chapter 40 – Virmire

Dakira stood as the High Council called upon him.

"Councilor Dakira, we understand that you have found evidence of foul play?"

Dakira nodded to his peers and colleagues.

"I have," said Dakira.

Pressing a few buttons upon his omni-tool, Dakira pulled out the proverbial smoking gun that in this case happened to be a real gun, or at least a holographic representation of it since the real gun was undergoing analysis by various forensics scientists.

"This weapon is constructed from seemingly random parts and resembles a crude but effective bastardization of the Graal Spike Thrower popular among the Krogan. This weapon is capable of firing iron rods at incredible speeds using compressed gas. We found the weapon on a nameless member of the Traders Caste, specifically the slave traders."

Dakira watched as the councilors spoke amongst themselves as he switched off his omni-tool.

"And a member of a caste whose livelihood is dependent on servants played anti-slave propaganda? That seems against their interest Dakira."

Dakira knew that the councilor who spoke already knew why they would do something that seemed to go against their interests, but these questions had to be asked to be put on record. It was a tedious and inane thing to be done, but it helped keep all information in one document, which in this case was a recording as this meeting, like all others, was being recorded for preservation of important political events.

"I questioned the suspect personally. Apparently he fully expected me to be the one to be called to find him, and planed on me losing my position. He did not expect to be caught. He is still being interrogated before a swift execution. I filmed the interrogation, should any of you wish to see it, and a written record has been passed out to everyone in this council."

The High Councilor nodded, and the film was played for the benefit of the council. Many watched as Dakira spoke to a dead eyed seemingly emotionless Batarian who spoke in a monotone that seemed off. While the Batarian's behavior was odd, and Dakira was more than willing to admit that, no one brought it up, so neither would he.

As the video drew to its end the High Council remained silent, until councilor Selin spoke up.

"A small group of Traders believes themselves capable of manipulating this council? I find this highly offensive to the work we have done for our people."

"Your offense is noted Selin Na'kyr, but irrelevant. What is more important is that the words of Dakira were not taken to heart. We are of the Batarian Hegemony's High Council, even those of us who voice an unpopular opinion is to be listened to. Perhaps Dakira, we were in error for putting your position at risk. This is most irregular."

The high councilors spoke amongst themselves for a moment before the elder among them stood.

"Councilor Dakira Brorcomon, you have done well. Your position is once more stable, and a formal investigation against the Traders Caste of this city will be had. This council wishes to issue a formal apology for our doubt"

Dakira nodded. He knew that the apology was not sincere, but for the council to so much as admit they made a mistake was a borderline historic event considering its infrequency. Dakira felt privileged to so much as see it once in his lifetime. Then something unexpected happened.

"Perhaps we should consider Dakira's message. The slaves are closer to revolt than ever after the antics of the Traders Caste, and even the integrity of the traders has been brought into question. This will undermine any gathering of new servants and slaves. It is possible we will not be able to gain any new slaves until this matter has been sorted."

"A possibility we are aware of Selin, what is your point?"

"My point is that looking how a simple speech from Councilor Dakira has affected the lesser castes, perhaps it is time to bring the slave issue into consideration for major alterations."

Everyone stared at Selin, before the High Council spoke.

"Selin, the owning of slaves has been a cultural norm for thousands of years, back to the days of the Twin Gods of Life and Death, of Chaos and Order. It has major significance for us all."

"I completely agree, but now the common castes believe themselves above our word. Councilor Dakira brought to light something that has remained unchanged for longer than any of us, which while unpopular, was well within his power as a councilor to say, and the lesser castes think themselves qualified to take the word of a Councilor, and not only attempt to disgrace it, but disgrace that family's name for generations to come. What if the next time a councilor speaks, they do something worse than a simple song? What if we end up with a full blown civil war over the next issue?"

The Council remained silent.

"So long as the lesser castes think they can treat us like puppets, then this can and will happen again. Therefore we must take Dakira's message to heart. We must show the people that when a councilor speaks, no matter how the majority feels, it is our decision whether to listen to it or not. I say we implement some of Dakira's ideals into a reform of slave laws, thereby showing the lesser castes that we still have final say on anything, even if they do not like it."

Dakira stared at Selin, as he looked around at the other Councilors, while most were stone faced and stalwart in the old ways, some looked to be considering it, even those among the High Council.

"Perhaps…" said the Elder. "This is something we all need to think on just a bit more. We shall call this court adjourned as we think this over."

And like that everyone began to leave.

Dakira was just trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

Shepard pulled back her arm as she turned to Garrus with a smile.

"I found the problem."

"What is it?"

"Rapid temperature changes, from hot to cold to hot again. Coolant Breed usually spend most of their life in environments where it remains hot, except when a ship is off, then they just go into hibernation by freezing themselves. This little fella however has been in mostly room temperature environments, cooling the area around it to much colder than it should be. Your heater you gave him however keeps him from going into Hibernation."

"So… No heater?"

"What? No, he's fine. It's just that he is mostly frozen. In hot environments when they are active, their gelatinous mass remains in a mostly liquid state, when in hibernation it's solid. Frosty here however, eh, it's more like a Slurpee. Somewhat restricting movement, but otherwise he's fine."

Garrus felt somewhat better knowing that. He handed some cleaning supplies to Kaiden before looking back at Frosty, who already seemed to be a bit more active.

"Any way to help him out?"

"You could move to the desert."

Well, Garrus supposed that could work, but…

"Any realistic way to help him out that doesn't involve me becoming a hermit? Plus I don't like sand."

"Who does like sand? I mean it's coarse and rough and irritating, and gets everywhere."

Garrus didn't know why, but Ashley glared at Shepard for saying that. Shepard however ignored it.

"Well Garrus, I can alter him a bit, make his body produce more anti-freeze proteins, which would keep him mostly fluid."

Frosty bubbled at that. Garrus put a talon to his chin as he poured some more glass into a waste bin. That did sound much better than moving to a sandy desert planet where it was always hot.

"Mostly fluid?" asked Garrus skeptically.

"Yep."

"How long will that take?"

"What! Oh right…. I did it while looking for the problem, you're welcome."

"You… Then why didn't you say that from the start?"

"It's more fun this way."

The shot rang out as the podcrab fell. Saren lifted his gun as he turned back around. Desolas watched as he brother downed yet another podcrab at an impressive distance.

"You've improved I see."

Saren shrugged.

"I get by."

"Why are you doing that anyway? We have work to do."

Saren lowered his gun and turned to Desolas.

"I enjoy what I do. Granted this is not what I had in mind, but I can't complain. Becoming a Specter was the best thing that happened to me Desolas, I am given freedoms most can only dream of. I am very good at it, and I enjoy it. I can go my own pace. It's not pleasant, but it is good as far as distractions go."

Desolas flared his mandibles as he watched the Geth and Collectors outside patrolling.

"Are you alright Saren?"

"I am, but I have a mission. I won't be around for much longer. I'll be back when I'm done."

Desolas sighed.

"I know you will… Saren, do you believe in this cause of ours? You never seem interested."

"Do I believe in the cure… No, I trust the council's judgement regarding Blacklight. But I do trust in you. When I saw you after the incident above Shanxi, surrounded by more liquor than I think I have ever seen in one place, I knew what I had to do. So I'm going to help you Desolas, however I can."

"I see."

It stayed silent for a while as Saren's sniper rifle folded in on itself.

"These Reapers though, whatever they are, I don't trust them. I have had missions that took me to Omega, I know the rumors of the Collectors. If these Reapers are so powerful, that they rule the Collectors, then why do they need you?"

Desolas blinked, and remained silent.

"It doesn't add up Desolas. I'm worried that in your hatred of Blacklight, you called upon something we don't understand. Some of the soldiers, good Turian soldiers are acting different. Like there is a voice that only they can hear. I only see it when they are alone. When I approach them, I sometimes think I didn't see anything at all. That I imagined it, but it happened far too many times. Something is happening Desolas, and I don't think it's a good thing."

Desolas looked to his younger brother before he walked towards him and took a seat right next to him.

"I've noticed. At first, I thought it was just nerves. The Collectors don't have the best reputation. The Geth have an even worse one. I know though that it is more than that. But I can't quit."

"I know."

"You know?" asked Desolas skeptically.

"Desolas, I have known you all my life. Those who lost their lives on Shanxi, you look at every dead name, and think that somehow it's your fault. You bought a drink for each and every one of them who died. Do you really think that by killing Blacklight, that's going to change? It's not your fault Desolas. It's not anyone's fault. These things happen. Bad things just happen for no reason, and they can happen to anyone. Doesn't matter if you are a civilian, a soldier, or a councilor, but I know you. That answer isn't good enough. So I help you however I can, because you are my brother, and someone needs to do it."

Saren stood up.

"But I have a mission. I put it off long enough. Just think about what I said Desolas.."

It was quiet, very quiet. A silence so great that it was palpable. After only a few moments of this, Desolas nodded.

"I'll think about it Saren."

"I know, but it won't change anything."

Barla Von had come through. After giving him information on the Reapers, which took much longer to collect than it probably should have due to new information, they found where Okeer was hiding. A very wet planet called Virmire.

Unfortunately Blacklight didn't know whether or not they could count the Volus information broker as an ally. As soon as he delivered his information and got what he wanted, he ended the call before they could figure out anything else.

On the bright side, information regarding the Reapers was now in circulation amongst various groups, who would no doubt be preparing themselves for when they finally came. Of course, now that they had the information where Okeer was, the next question became where exactly on the planet he was.

Getting there would be easy, finding out where he is on a whole planet however would be much more difficult. As the stealth bioship exited the Relay to head towards the planet, it moved closer.

Immediately it deployed mounds of biomass meant to locate radio waves or any unnatural emissions caused by star ships. Hopefully given enough time they could find out where the wayward Krogan was set up, and what he was doing with the Collectors.

Then a small starship left the planet and headed for the relay not ten minutes later.

The bioship froze, just watching as it left.

'Well… That was anticlimactic.'

'We didn't even need the sensors.'

'Was that a Turian vessel?'

The Bioship turned back towards the Planet, trying to see where it had come from. All the while the parts of it that were separated to take in various sensory data recombined with the Ship. Moving towards a much lower orbit, and using advanced ocular organs they were able to peer down to the planet. While many clouds covered much of the world due to the large amount of water, parts of something that was artificially constructed could be seen.

The Bioship then began to shed mass. Small bird like constructs flew downward, shedding progressively smaller and smaller pieces from themselves as they began to spread. Suddenly many small flying gnat-like constructs found themselves flying through the canyons and valleys of the planet.

Then something came into view, and they all just stopped. Within the sea of Blacklight's ever expanding mind, many an individual could only look at the massive mountain of meat that moved around like it was a Gorilla.

'What the hell happened to that Krogan.'

It was obviously once a Krogan, but Krogan did not stand as tall as a Blacklight Behemoth. Krogan did not have Exoskeletons. Krogan certainly did not have massive sabre-like fangs.

'It looks like a Fucking Rancor on steroids!'

It was being fired upon by Heretic Geth, as it swung its massive meaty arms around at the surrounding robots. It almost looked like they were leading it somewhere. This thing, whatever it was, had a long saurian tail that it used like a club, swinging it around and destroying almost everything as it swung.

It lifted its arms to block the bullets coming from the Geth, as it took a step back. Then something frightening happened. A massive spike came from the Ground, piercing the massive mammoth beast through its chest and lifting it into the air.

The remaining Geth watched as it struggled before it stopped moving, and then they left the area, leaving the beast behind.

It was then that Blacklight could see that there were rows upon rows of these massive beasts skewered on spikes, all in various states of Huskification. Hundreds of them everywhere that could be seen throughout the canyons.

Then on the far side of the Canyon, one of the spikes began to lower, and the beast moved as it took to its feet, following an entourage of Geth who lead it towards massive cages with dozens and dozens of these monsters just standing there in a daze.

'This is not good.'

Warlord Okeer watched the giant cybernetic beasts as they were corralled into pens and cages, all of them staring ahead blankly. Dr. Droyas looked at them with a sour look upon his face. Okeer sneered at the Krogan, which did not go unnoticed by Droyas.

"You actually approve of this?"

"No, I only care for my own projects. This, this is just me keeping my end of a deal, I care not for these titanic beasts. You are the one attempting to create weak Krogan free of the Genophage. What I am doing is far more important. The issue of the Genophage is not in the loss of life, it is in the coddling we do to the young Krogan who do manage to be born. Now even the weak ones are allowed to live. It's disgusting."

"You're insane Okeer. Your… Project is as foolish as you are. Even assuming your theory is true, if the genophage is cured, then more children will be born. Including more strong children, while the 'weak' as you call them will be left behind. Your argument is in error."

"Only the strong should be allowed to draw breath Droyas, whether their quads work or not is irrelevant. Numbers are how the weak fight, one truly strong Krogan is worth far more than an entire species of weaklings. The Genophage is an opportunity to perfect the Krogan as a species. It was a gift, not a curse. You want vengeance against it, then ignore it. Show the Galaxy that it did nothing to us but made us stronger. At least it would if others saw the potential the Genophage could give us."

Droyas growled before turning away from the Mad Warlord. Rana, his Asari assistant, followed after him.

Okeer looked back to the cybernetic monstrosities. A mixture of many species using Krogan as a base. Salarian neural tissue… That made Okeer wonder if they would think like a Salarian. He hoped not, nothing about Salarians were useful beyond a potential punching bag. Still, he could not argue with the results. He wondered if there was any merit to using what good qualities other species had, what few there were any way. Maybe he would look into it for his own personal project.

Colonies of small spider like aquatic animals swam through the shallow waters, each one focusing on attempting to find an alternate method of entering the building where the Reaper Forces were stationed.

A small colony began to fuse and shift among the coral to become a larger ape like creature with cuttlefish-like chromatophores allowed it to shift its color as it moved in an attempt to remain from the eyes of anything that might see them. The ape like creature was made ectothermic to lower chances of being detected by any heat sensing equipment that might have been used.

The creature, called a Babi after the Egyptian baboon deity, moved from the water to the rocky inland as it carefully stuck to the metal platforms, swiftly climbing up a cluster of wires, and found itself on the roof of the base.

The Babi sniffed the air. Its highly complex olfactory receptors allowed it to identify the smell of not only Krogan, but an even greater number of scents that matched those of Turians, some of which were familiar.

The smell brought memories of the first time Blacklight came into contact with Turians. Memories of airborne viral pathogens infecting Turians with ever-growing veins that burst from Turian bodies. Old memories of unleashing a great many biotic singularities of such power that it tore star ships asunder.

Turians from that first contact were here.

'This explains why they are here.'

The Babi shook its body, shedding small cells that developed into a small colony of Indra who were small enough to sneak into the base through the ventilation systems, even through the filters.

The sensitive feather-like arms of the Indra allowed them to feel vibrations in the air, enough to come up with a basic understanding of anything spoken out loud in the area. Then the Indra dispersed and spread, seeking out electrical equipment, where it was more likely for them to come in contact with someone who might be speaking.

Though there was talking, it was odd and disjointed, revealing very little about anything else that was going on at the moment, but Blacklight did learn one thing.

'They resent us for the battle. They have become like the Cure. They even took the name of that group as their own.'

'We ruined the Cure, destroyed their cause. Why take the name of a dead group?'

Blacklight however found something else of an issue.

By pure coincidence, a Turian had just inhaled a small bit of Indra. Seeing an opportunity, the microorganisms made their way through the Turians body.

It was easy to get from the lungs into the bloodstream, and they easily dealt with the immune system as they made their way to the head. Using the microscopic beak of the Indra they broke the blood brain barrier and made their way into the Turians brain.

Then the Indra connected. They released a series of hormones and chemicals that should cause the Turian to want to seek solitude, just in case.

They waited, and in only a few short minutes, the Turian dismissed itself to go towards its own room. Once the Turian found himself away from the others, Blacklight began to release a cocktail of various viruses. It spread quickly.

Some, but not all of the Indra were sacrificed to flood the Turian's system with Blacklight. The Indra that remained began to dig through the brain, and began looking for information.

'Your name is Holus Marcelius. You were there when we met you. You had never felt fear like that until you watched what we could do. We are sorry. However we must know what you know. The fate of us all depend on it. Join us Holus.'

Holus shook his head as an odd creeping feeling fell across his being, like something was growing within him. He felt hot, very hot, like he had stepped into a sauna. His plates itched, and even as he raked his talons across them, it did nothing to alleviate the itch.

Then Blacklight found something.

Some eldritch inaudible whispering deep within the mind of this Turian whispered to and commanded him. affecting his behavior. They saw memories of him seeing other Turians acting odd. It was not difficult for Blacklight to discover what was going on.

He was being indoctrinated.

Of course, it was not by much. He kept much of his own mind. Blacklight would free him, by allowing him to become immune to indoctrination the only way they knew how. Consumption.

Holus scratched at his armor as he felt himself burn from the inside out. He did not scream, he couldn't. Blacklight ensured he didn't by swelling the inside of his throat and paralyzing his vocal chords. His heart beat fast, so fast that it felt like the world shook. Then he began to hear voices in his mind that were not his own.

Only unlike the callous whispers, these were calming, nurturing even. Then he knew, he knew everything, or as close to everything as he could ever know. He knew the feeling of sand on a planet on the other side of the galaxy. He knew the cold of the vacuum of space, he knew the feel of the rays of sunlight on the Blacklight home planet of Earth. He felt the feeling of the Babi who waited above him on the roof.

He knew everything. He knew what others thought, why they thought, and they knew him the same way. It was comforting and terrifying all at the same time. It was unlike anything he had ever imagined. He knew the wiggling beneath within his flesh was him being broken down and rebuilt. He was being converted; no, that was how he saw it before. This was different.

Holus has assumed he knew how Blacklight converted others, but it was nothing like what he thought. He lost none of himself. Even his opinions remained, only now those opinions were challenged by many minds who thought as one. Now all he could think was why he had ever thought those things in the first place. When he could find no logical reason to believe his old beliefs of hatred towards Blacklight, he simply changed them.

Why was changing a core belief so simple? Holus had always thought those with strong beliefs could never change those beliefs, but to see how others thought so perfectly, he knew his old beliefs were in error.

As the last of his cells were converted, he looked around. He found himself in the sleeping quarters of the Cure, alone physically, but mentally he was far from alone. An army shared his mind, and his mind was shared with an army.

Putting one step in front of another he left the room, to begin his search.

Leaving the room, he found himself moving through halls of various Geth drones, many of them patrolling around the area. The odd Turian would pass by from time to time as well. Right now, they paid Holus no mine. Blacklight missed dealing with an enemy that they could actually consume without issue; it made everything so much simpler. After all, they were born for infiltration.

However, Holus had a job to finish. His memories proved useful in determining certain aspect and uses of this base. This floor for example seemed to be a chemical plant of some kind used to create and refine Bloodtox. Not normal Bloodtox either but the highly effective Bloodtox that made fighting Collectors so difficult.

One such room which Holus only saw as a Geth exited showed that this base could create at least several thousand gallons of Bloodtox at a time if those tanks were anything to go by. It made Blacklight's skin crawl across the cosmos.

Holus continued onwards.

At the moment, due to their method of infiltration, Blacklight had few allies with them. No Geth, and something was blocking Holus' Omnitool from connecting to the Extranet to allow Geth programs to connecting to any of this bases systems, meaning a lot of this would be done the old fashioned way unless they could figure out what was blocking this signal and shut it down.

Holus moved onward through the crowds. Along with Turian and Geth, he did see the odd Collector from time to time; he made sure to keep from their line of sight as much as he could. Hopefully it didn't come across as suspicious.

Blacklight quickly discovered that this base followed no Turian design aspects. It was fairly fluid in design. with no real system of how each room was separated, making figuring out where one was going a fairly difficult affair.

The base was also deceptively large as well, larger than it initially appeared.

Thanks to the Babi, who was scouting out the area from the outside, Holus had an idea of where to go. Right now the plan was to find a computer with some kind of information that could be useful, and then find a way to use that information without alerting anyone, especially Heretic Geth.

Holus moved into a new room, this one filled with tank bred Krogan far larger than any normal Krogan. Seeing them pre-huskified made it quite obvious that these things were heavily modified. While the overall design was indeed Krogan, it had the exoskeleton of a Turian.

How they managed to fuse traits of a dextro-amino lifeform with a levo-amino one was beyond Blacklight. Even though they could do it, that was only because of Blacklight's fluid genetics, something these things wouldn't have.

Looking at it made Holus' skin crawl. It was at this time that Holus found himself not alone.

"Excuse me!"

Turning towards the sound, Holus found an Asari heading towards him. This only brought up more questions.

"What are you doing here? This area is where Dr. Droyas and Okeer work, you should know this area is off limits to anyone but your superiors."

Holus only stared, not because they were lost for words, but because as soon as the Asari had said that her expression had changed as well.

"You're one of them aren't you? The Turians who always seem confused and reclusive."

Blacklight showed no reaction. Let her come up with her own theory.

"You are one of the ones who hears the whispers, aren't you?"

Indoctrination, she is aware.

She rubbed her arm as she looked Holus up and down before moving towards him.

"This is the third time this has happened. Please stay away from restricted areas, this location is off limits understand?"

"Understand.", said Holus blankly.

She nodded.

"Good, now go, I have to report back to Droyas."

Holus, seeing his cover was not blown, simply nodded and left the area, of course not before creating a small aphid sized insectoid to continue exploring this area.

Leaving the room, Holus found himself back in the hall of Turians, Geth, and Collectors. He made his way through the labyrinthine halls and doors, doing his utmost to appear as if he was meant to be there. It was as he made his way through the halls that he spotted something that made him pause for a moment, a familiar face not seen since first contact.

General Desolas Arterius.

CODEX: New Infected

Babi – The Babi is a small hominid creature made for the use of stealth and infiltration. Along with very advanced senses, it is semi-aquatic and can shift its skin color to match its surroundings. Highly agile thanks to its carefully made balance and its prehensile tail.

Babi are roughly half the height of a Volus on average, but can reach heights of a Blacklight Evolved. Babi were developed for the purpose of finding a victim to consume when Blacklight enters a new area and information is limited. Once it is able to infect someone, its functions are changed to resemble those of a scout.