Topic: Operation Rattlesnake: Compromised

Abigail Leith · Date: 2010-04-19 12:07 EST

"Charlemagne, this is Strike Team Kollaa . We are in position, making our strike now."

The voice that answered over the comm was crackly but unmistakeably Tom 'Thug' Carvasi, the pilot of the SSV Charlemagne currently in stealth mode, orbiting the planet of Edolus. "Roger that, Kollaa. Standing by."

Josiah Mills, the lieutenant in command of this team, switched off the two-way relay, and looked over his assembled crack team of marines. They were only here for one purpose, and one alone - to get Lieutenant Technician Abigail Leith into the geth base and protect her while she performed an incisive piece of sabotage on the geth transmitters. If the Council races could get listening devices tuned into the geth communications, that would make keeping on top of the invasive synthetics a hell of a lot easier.

This mission was clear-cut - get in, set the devices, and get out. It was also a first for the Alliance; an officially sanctioned multiracial team, one of several that had been created and deployed throughout Citadel space, after the success of Commander Shepard's forays into that way of working. If you could call it a success; half the Citadel was still inoperable, and many of the planets throughout the Traverse were now an active warzone. But that's what happens when you stall an invasion.

So here they were, one of four teams on Edolus hitting four different bases at the same time - Kollaa, Gabon, Narvik and Taranto. Romus Tollarikan, the turian sniper, was hunkered down behind an outcropping of rock, peering down into the basin where their target was sitting, ready to fire the first shots. Their Mako they had left further down this rocky hillock, the marines preferring to make their advance on foot and at speed. Fully armored, fully equipped, they were about as ready as they were ever going to get.

"Alright, girls," Mills growled in his raspy voice, ignoring the grimaces from his team, the majority of which were male, "We're goin' in. Romus, Gerthun - lay down cover until we hit the base." He looked over at Leith, who was silent, composed and ready for this strike. "You with us, Leith?"

She looked over at him, thickly lashed eyes solemn through the shielding of her helmet. "Aye, sir," she nodded. "Let's do this."

"You heard the lady," Mills nodded to his men. "Move out!"

The rush down to the base was horribly exposed. Seven marines, two asari biotics, and one krogan, running relentlessly downhill toward a heavily defended geth base. They came under heavy fire from the synthetics' defenses, their only cover the continuing sniper shots from Romus and Gerthun up on the hill above them. Chaos reigned for several long, drawn-out minutes as the strike team systematically removed all obstacles to their gaining entry to the base, taking casualties in the process. Unfortunately, one of those casualties was one of the asari biotics, Romai, who recieved several shots to the thigh and shoulder as she was recovering in sparse cover and would need to be evac'd as fast as possible.

Leith found herself holed up by the locked entrance to the base itself, under cover from the towers, but still vulnerable to the defence of the geth troopers that were converging from the edges of the compound. Beside her, Corporal Jason Clarke crouched, grinning with the exhilaration of the moment.

"Makes you feel alive, don't it, LT?" he asked with a laugh, slamming back down behind their cover as a rocket crashed above their heads in a shower of flame and debris.

Leith smirked. "You could say that, Clarke," she admitted, studying the locking mechanism for the base. "Could also say it's like walking into a rachni nest unarmed."

Clarke snickered. "What can I say, I like a woman who doesn't mind getting roughed up a little."

"In your dreams, Clarke."

"Cut the chatter!" Mills' voice came harshly over the comm. "Leith, get that door open, we're almost done out here."

Flashing a grin that was only obvious from the crinkling of her eyes through her helmet, Leith holstered her pistol and activated her omni-tool, getting to work on the locked door. Within moments, all sound of fire had ceased, and the team were gathered behind her, ready to take on the interior defenses of the base. Another moment later, and the lock gave under her careful probing.

"Fall back, Leith," Mills ordered, shouldering her back to the centre of the group. "You fall, this is all for nothing."

He barked the order, and the door was forced open. The team burst through, right into a nest of vipers.

Abigail Leith · Date: 2010-04-19 12:08 EST

The diversion of Gabon, Narvik and Taranto teams hadn't worked. The geth were ready for them. The team - down to eight now from twelve - dived into the small antechamber of the base, firing hard and fast to secure the room against the synthetic enemy, who were crowding in from the main base. There were yells from the marines, the staccato bursts of gunfire from weapons, the sonic ripples of biotics and omni-tools. Complete and utter chaos.

And quite suddenly, all was still. The geth stopped coming, the doorway to the base open and clear of hostiles.

"Status?" Mills barked with a rasping breath. If even he was breathless, then this had been a hard-won position.

"Four men down, one casualty," Stevens, the team medic, reported, determinedly bandaging his own arm as he spoke. From across the room Fiarli L'mara, the remaining asari biotic, piped up. "Scanners indicate no further hostile presence within the base, sir."

Leith winced, blowing hard within her own helmet. They'd begun the strike with twelve on this team - now, not even halfway into their objective, and there were only four of them left to complete their mission. So it was down to three humans and an asari to get in, get done, and get out. And things were about to get much worse.

"Strike Team Kollaa, this is Charlemagne. We're picking up a dropship headed your way."

"Damn!" Mills' curse was echoed by each of his remaining team members. "Copy that, Charlemagne. Kollaa out."

He looked around at what was left of his team. A technician, an asari biotic, and a medic - not the most inspiring sight. Checking his assault rifle, he readied to enter the base. "We're here to do a job, and we're going to complete it. Hope your scanner's not faulty, L'mara. Move out!"

As one, the four remaining team members slipped into the main body of the base. To Leith's relief, the asari's scanner was not faulty - the base was completely deserted. Activating her own scanner, she moved ahead of the rest of the team, focusing in on the signal from the transmitter in the heart of the hostile base. Behind a door, in a well-sealed room, she found it, its antenna rotating as it broadcast and recieved signals from the ships in orbit above them. This was what they were here for.

"Get to it, Leith."

She didn't need telling twice. Holstering her weapon once more, the lieutenant opened up the access panel on the side of the transmitter, seeking out the best position in which to place the Alpha Comm. It was tiny, no more than a small bud in the palm of her gloved hand, and hopefully small enough that the geth would not notice it for a long time to come. If she could get this into the transmitter without setting off alarms or defence mechanisms, then the Citadel would have direct access to geth transmissions.

It was a tricky piece of engineering, one that couldn't be rushed. And one that was likely to get them all killed. Above the steady noise of the base, there was a descending rumble, a crescendo of sound that announced that they had company. The dropship had arrived, and was no doubt surrounding the base with geth while Leith worked feverishly to complete the purpose of the mission. At the door of the transmitter room, Mills, Stevens and L'mara took up position.

"Keep workin', Leith, we'll cover you," Mills growled to the silent technician as he looked over what remained of his team "People, this mission is compromised. We're not gettin' out of here."

Stevens nodded; L'mara looked grave. There was no way to deny what the lieutenant said. They were four, against an army. They weren't getting out of here alive. Leith fought down the natural instinct to panic, and looked over at her colleagues.

"It's been an honour serving with you," she told them quietly, though she kept working dilligently to complete her task. If she didn't, they would all have died for nothing.

"Truly." L'mara agreed, and Stevens was quick to add his own comment, "Couldn't have asked for better company."

Mills nodded brusquely to each of them, his hand over the door lock.

"See you in hell."

Abigail Leith · Date: 2010-04-19 12:10 EST

Mills hit the lock, and the door opened, revealing rank on rank of geth, waiting for them. Marine, medic and biotic charged, throwing everything they had at the gathered forces; their own forlorn hope in the battle for the galaxy's salvation. Behind them, they left Lieutenant Technician Abigail Leith adminstering sabotage on the geth transmitter, the whole purpose of their mission. With the Alpha Comm attached, the Citadel would be able to listen in on geth tranmissions for a good while.

Listening to her colleagues dying to protect her, Leith reattached the access panel and spun, drawing her pistol. She crept to the open door, wincing once more as she distinctly heard the crack of her commanding officer's spine. The geth had wiped them out; only she remained now, and she knew she wasn't getting out of this. Not a snowball's chance in hell.

Grenades were useless at this point; the geth were so close on the door, it would be suicide to throw the explosives. This is suicide anyway, she thought to herself, and grabbed one of the rounded grenades from her belt. She flung it out into the base beyond, and watched in despair as it was trampled on by the synthetic army coming to kill her. Detonating it only created a tiny diversion, and it wasn't enough to get her out of the room and behind cover.

She looked up, into the barrel of a geth rifle, and watched as the charge shot out toward her. She saw it all so clearly, as though in slow motion; not just one shot headed for her, but many, dozens of geth firing in the same instant. She wasn't just going to be killed, she was going to be incinerated.

Beyond the synthetics in their silvers, greys and reds, she could see the bodies of the last of her team. Mills, bent into an impossible shape, crumpled against a storage crate; L'mara, her biotic implants flickering with the massive discharge of energy that had killed her, staring unseeing into space; and Stevens, his armor badly charred, his limbs ripped apart by some biotic force. And she was about to join them. If she could feel her arms, she'd salute.

Suddenly time seemed to speed ahead, but Leith wasn't there anymore. The geth shots slammed harmlessly into the wall where a fraction of a second before she had been standing. Confused, the synthetic milled about, awaiting further instructions, utterly at a loss as to an explanation for the lieutenant's sudden disappearance.

From certain death to uncertain life. Leith blinked, staring about her in amazed alarm. She was no longer in the geth base, no longer surrounded by her own personal firing squad. There were ships and people ....she was in a hangar of some kind, amid the hustle and bustle of civilian life. Military instinct took over, and she dropped to a crouch, rolling herself behind a substantial looking crate as she drew her pistol. Behind the crate, the spaceport seemed to move along at its own pace, either unaware of her sudden, inexplicable appearance, or otherwise not interested in it.

"What the hell ...?"

Peering over the top of the crate, Leith rose slowly. No one seemed about to attack her; no one seemed in the slightest bit interested in her. She holstered her pistol loosely, creeping from behind her cover, and moved along the wall cautiously, ready to attack if anyone or anything showed the faintest sign of hostility toward her.

"Excuse me, miss?"

She jumped, spinning to face the person who had addressed her. The tall man looked quite calm as he peered down along the barrel of her pistol to smile at her.

"You won't need that here," he assured her. "I'm no threat, I promise you, and nor is anyone else, unless you go out of your way to offend them."

Relaxing a little, Leith lowered her weapon but did not holster it. "What's going on, where the hell am I?" she asked a little rudely.

The man nodded, turning a little to gesture toward what seemed to be the main exit from the spaceport. "Don't worry, miss," he told her gently. "You're quite safe here."

"Safe, huh?" Unconvinced, Leith followed him to the doorway, and stared.

Such a collection of technologies ....cars travelling along roads beside horses and beneath hover-cars; VI and AI terminals; weaponry on people's belts ranging from swords to the top of the line artillery she wore herself. Within her helmet, Leith's jaw dropped. The man beside her smiled in satisfaction; everyone seemed to react like this, in his experience.

"Welcome to RhyDin, miss."

Abigail Leith · Date: 2010-04-20 08:58 EST

This was getting ridiculous. Lieutenant Technician Abigail Leith had been in this RhyDin place for a little over twenty-four hours, and she was completely dumbfounded by what she had seen and heard. No geth, no Reapers, no mass relay technology ....some technologies used here were so old as to be considered archaic in her experience, and others so far advanced she had no idea of their uses.

And then you had the problem of where, exactly, she was. Close questioning of the locals had provided her with the information that RhyDin was not only the name of the city, but also the name of the river and, indeed, the planet on which it all stood. There was very little further information for her to go on. No one seemed to be able to agree on the name of the star that provided their sun, nor on the name of the solar system, or even the galaxy in which they were situated. As far as Leith could work out, she was light-years from home, on a planet that she'd never heard of, and where no one was likely to come looking for her.

The man who had kindly introduced her to the city itself had also shown her where she could exchange what few credits she had for the currency of the planet - an ancient form of coinage in copper, silver and gold - and directed her to one of the hotels within the Stars End Sector, where she could rest and see to her injuries. The habits of a lifetime in military service did not disappear in one night, however, and she had been up at the crack of dawn, armored and equipped, and ready to investigate her surroundings more fully.

A good bit of asking around had brought her to the warehouse that belonged to, as she had been told, a 'funny little alien dude with this weird mask on'. That funny little alien dude had turned out to be a volus merchant who, after listening to her explanation of how she had come to be here, had then informed her that RhyDin was, in fact, known to the Council and the races who worked alongside the Citadel. It was classified information, however, and her presence was not likely to go undetected for long. He informed her that a ship had crashed out in the far reaches of the Glen some three months earlier, and the bodies of a krogan and a human had been pulled from the wreckage. He also suggested that she might have some luck searching for the suspected third passenger, who seemed to have survived and gone underground.

With the co-ordinates of that crash site stored in her omni-tool, Leith had set out to find the crash site, and once she reached the general area some hours later, she found the ghost of it that was left. A long furrow in the earth, some scattered debris, the bulk of a hull left intact ....everything else seemed to have been scavenged for parts or for sale, as she had expected.

It was eerie here. Though she was familiar with the way local fauna should have been filling the air with their sounds, there was nothing but the faint trickle of water from a stream nearby to lighten the heavy silence. It wasn't that people had died here ....it was that someone had lived.

Drawing her pistol, Leith snapped down the visor of her helmet, setting her back to the empty hull of the broken ship as she peered about. She knew what she was looking for. After three months, the signs would be fading, a cold trail to follow, but it was something, right' She crouched, listening as much as she looked, not entirely certain that she was not being watched.

There ....broken glass stained with blood, discarded at the edge of the crash site. There was no way the impact could have thrown it so far, unless the survivor had removed it and thrown it aside as he made his way from the scene. And further on, the way the bushes were growing back unevenly ....that was the way he had gone in the aftermath of the crash.

"So what now, Abi?" she murmured to herself. She knew now that there had been a survivor, as it was rumoured, and that he had escaped the crash site relatively unharmed but for the injuries suffered by broken glass. So whoever it was had either died of their wounds - in which case, a body would have been found - or had, indeed, gone underground. But why crash here, of all places"

There was a sudden crackle from the comm unit in her helmet, making her jump violently. "....-peat ....mari ....entify yourse ..."

Lifting a hand to her two-way relay, she made a few adjustments, listening as the message cleared up.

"....picked up your comm signal. Identify. This is Alliance Station Command ..."

Breathing a sigh of relief - there were Alliance on this rock - Leith tapped her two-way relay and replied.

"Copy that, Command. This is Lieutenant Technician Abigail Leith, SSV Charlemagne."

Another crackle, and the voice cleared further, not sounding at all surprised that she had answered as she did.

"Roger, lieutenant. Proceed four clicks to your west; a team will be sent to confirm and extract."

"Copy, Command," she couldn't help grinning at that. "Leith out."

For a split second, as she muted the comm, she could have sworn she'd seen someone - or something - watching her from the darker shadows beyond the split hull of the crashed ship. Peering into that darkness, she frowned, backing away. Whatever it was, it was not her concern. She had to get to the extraction point and return to the semblence of normality Alliance life provided. And find out what had happened to the Charlemagne.

Abigail Leith · Date: 2010-04-23 09:17 EST

Two days she'd been in this cell. Two days of sheer boredom, punctuated by the occasional hour of stimulation in the form of tests and interrogation. The Alliance Intelligence Service at its best. Your taxpayer dollar at work.

After recieving the comm message, Lieutenant Technician Abigail Leith had backtracked to the coordinates of the extract point, only to be arrested by fellow marines, disarmed, and sedated to prevent her from doing any damage to them. When she'd woken up, she'd been in off-duty garb - and if it hadn't been women who'd undressed her, there was going to be trouble - and in this cell.

Then followed a few hours of medical tests to determine that she was 1) organic, 2) human, and 3) who she said she was. Those she didn't have any problem with; it was standard procedure. Then came the initial interrogation; again, she had no problem with it. This planet's existence was classified, therefore they needed to be certain their security hadn't been compromised by her arrival.

But since then ....there'd been inexplicable repeats of everything they'd done so far, every four or five hours. It was as though they were trying to break her with sheer repetitive boredom. And ignorance - they hadn't told her anything of what had happened to bring her here, or the fate of her ship and colleagues.

There was a scrape at the door, and it swished open. Abi looked up at the newcomer and groaned, rising to her feet.

"For God's sake," she growled, "for the last time, I'm human, I'm Alliance military, I don't know how I got here, and you're getting on my last nerve!"

The man who'd entered gave her an amused look. It was then that she noticed the pips on his collar, and swallowed. Abi stood to attention, saluted, and grimaced.

"Lieutenant Technician Abigail Leith, sir."

The colonel nodded to her.

"At ease, lieutenant," he ordered mildly, and she relaxed just a little. "I'm Colonel Joseph Macmillan, in charge of this facility. My apologies for your treatment over the last few days; it was necessary to be certain of your story."

"With respect, sir, a call through to Alliance brass would have confirmed my story," Abi said awkwardly.

"A call through to Alliance brass takes a little over thirty hours to get a response out here, lieutenant," she was told calmly. "We've developed our own techniques, as you may have noticed. You passed with flying colours, by the way."

"I'd like to say I'm pleased, sir -"

"But you're not. It's understandable."

Abi fell silent, studying the colonel in front of her with the curiosity that had led her to becoming a technician in the first place. He had the look of a career soldier, hardened by years in the service, but this posting must have agreed with him. There was none of the harshness about his face that had characterised Mills.

"Sir," she ventured quietly, "am I permitted to know the status of the SSV Charlemagne?"

There was a thick silence, and even before Colonel MacMillan answered, she knew the truth.

"SSV Charlemagne was lost with all hands during Covert Operation Rattlesnake," he informed her in a heavy voice. "The geth somehow recieved intel on your teams' approach; they laid traps across the planet, as well as boarding the Charlemagne during the strike. You are the only survivor, Leith."

The shock hit Abi full in the chest. It was just wrong ....it had to be. Of eighty plus crew and marines, she was the only one to make it out of there" She was the only one that had ended up here" How was that possible"

"It is possible through the nature of a being referred to here on RhyDin as the Nexus," Macmillan answered, and it was only then that Abi realised she had spoken aloud. "Not much is known about it; the being is proving almost impossible to study. There is conjecture that it has a certain amount of sentient thought, however. Thanks to its random habit of plucking people from their own dimension or time and leaving them on this planet, you were granted a stay from the fate of your team."

He waited a moment until the shocked lieutenant nodded in acknowledgement of his information, and turned. "This way, lieutenant."

Following after the colonel, Abi barely took any interest in her surroundings, vaguely aware of passing other Alliance personnel as they walked through corridors reminiscent of every Alliance base throughout the galaxy.

"These will be your quarters, lieutenant," the colonel informed her, ushering her into a typically spartan apartment. "You are now attached to the RhyDin facility until further notice. As your commanding officer, I am putting you on enforced leave for the next two weeks, to acclimatise yourself to your new surroundings, and the city itself. Civilian clothing has been provided, as have new uniforms. Your weaponry and armor have also been stored here. Any questions?"

Blinking, Abi tore her gaze from the room to stare at the colonel. "Uh ....no, sir?"

Macmillan nodded brusquely. "Report to the infirnary for shots before leaving the base. Welcome to the team, Leith."

She just about remembered to salute before the door swished closed behind him. So ....this was her new assignment, was it' Shuddering away from the awful thought of all those friends and colleagues lost in her last mission, Abi found her mind concentrating on the crashed ship in the Glen, and that moment when she had been certain she was being watched.

Well, she was on enforced leave, wasn't she? She could check it out more thoroughly for herself now. Two weeks should be more than enough time to discover if the survivor survived, or died.