Mass Effect: Uprising, based on Bioware's new RPG.... Options

[Lord Revan]

Mass Effect: Uprising

<<Civilian Transport: Yucatan-en route to Caleston, Hades CGA 12506, Hades G Cluster>>

<<Captain’s log: 2186/ [Data Corruption]>>

Cpt. O’Brien: The voyage has gone smoothly enough so far, it’s been two days since we left Sol. I am somewhat anxious about all this; I’ve clocked more hours in the Traverse than most captains these days, but ever since the Geth came out of the Veil three years ago, I’ve been getting this sinking feeling it’s only a matter of time before they give wiping us all out another shot.

<<Corruption>>

Cpt. O’Brien: That feeling’s getting stronger the closer we get to Caleston; it feels like something’s hovering over my shoulder but there’s nothing there.
Some of the crew have been talking about similar feelings they’re getting..... It’ll only be a few more hours before we land..... I don’t know if I’d feel better spending a few days with firm ground beneath my feet or heading right back for real civilization ASAP.

-------------

“Come on, move it! The faster you all haul the cargo, the sooner we get paid and be able to live comfortably for a couple months!” Lundro, the Yucatan’s salarian first mate shouted at the armored lifters.

“Lundro? What’s the status on the cargo dump?” Captain O’Brien asked through the com-link in the salarian’s headset.

“We’re getting there, Captain; Marquis and the others are working as fast as they can without being more clumsy than usual.” No sooner did the alien finish then a very heavy cargo crate, plus two armored humans slammed unceremoniously into the dirt of Calestine.
"What are we going to do about them?" Lundro muttered, shaking his head as the two humans struggled to their feet.

--------

<<Infiltration Drone- Alpha_2832-5316/ Status: Online/ Location: Human Cargo Transport- Yucatan>>

Unit Alpha’s orb-like eye lit up. Its mandibles flexed outward, as if yawning. Rising to its full height, Alpha ran a brief self-diagnostic.
When the systems check was complete, the synthetic scanned the room it was in. The space was small, an unused space between a layer of ablative armor and ship hull.

Without pause, Alpha crawled through a small hatch and sealed it shut after entering the ship. The Yucatan was dimly lit, a common trait of human vessels, energy conservation was a keyword.
Alpha’s mandibles clicked together, reducing the glow of its spherical optical receptor to a small enough point that it wouldn’t give away its presence.

The synthetic life form leaped up to the ceiling, its hands and feet adhering to the metal alloy. <<Priorities: 1. Eliminate target vessel’s crew and any other organic sentients. 2. Remain undetected unless there are extreme circumstances.>>
Infiltration Drone Alpha found a maintinance terminal and sent a remote hacking signal.

The Yucatan’s VI noticed a new user enter the system. Before it could begin to follow protocols and query the new user, an override command went out through its systems.
The command was identical to the one Cpt. O’Brien would use, so the VI waited for orders that were expected to come with an override..... It waited forty nanoseconds before its code was suddenly erased from memory.

Alpha flexed his mandibles into an expression similar to a smile, the ship’s VI was out of commission, and the crew was still unaware of any of these events.
The data-eating virus had been attached to the override, which had forced the VI to idle. Now that the annoyance it could pose was out of the way, Alpha could concentrate on its objectives, one of which, was gathering intel on the organics in Citadel Space.

----------

<<Citadel News Report>>

ExoGeni has denied reports that their mining operation on Caleston has been attacked. Corporate officials claim that the sudden loss of communications with Caleston is due entirely to technical difficulties.
And that the ship being sent to the Hades Gamma Cluster is a simply intended to supply and repair the facilities.

Many investors have pulled much of their funding until confirmation from ExoGeni that their report is not a cover-up.....

This post has been edited by Lord Revan: Dec 6 2007, 10:47 PM

[Lord Revan]

Well, that was a prologue, it wasn't supposed to be incredibly immersive just to set the tone for the events to come. This will be the true beginning for the story, from Garrus Vakarian's point of view.

<<Citadel Station/The Widow/The Serpent Nebula Presidium: Memorial>>

Garrus Vakarian picked his way through the growing crowds in Citadel Station's Presidium. Over the surface of the lake was a suspended memorial monument; a runed sphere with hundreds of ever-shifting segments, displaying thousands of names on its surface.
A large squid-shaped machine hovered beside the sphere. This was the collective tombstone for every asari, turian, salarian, human, elcor, and volus that perished three years ago, today. The wierd machine beside it was a scale recreation of a Reaper known only as Sovereign.

The Reapers were a group of artificial intelligences more ancient than anyone could comprehend; they’d been behind the Prothean extinction 50,003 years ago, and many more galaxy-wide extinctions before that.
They had also built the mass relays, a form of interstellar transportation that all space-faring races since then had relied on, as well as Citadel Station, not for themselves, but as relics for any and all organic lifeforms to discover. Thus causing all organic races to base their technology on a path the Reapers knew and were light-years ahead in.

But, three years ago, that cycle had been broken. Sovereign had been the vanguard of their return, opening the way for its kind to slaughter the entire galaxy once again. It had nearly succeeded, almost killing the Council and devastating the Human Alliance and Citadel Fleets before being blasted to millions of pieces.

Sovereign had only been destroyed because of some kind of recoil caused by its prime servant, a rogue turian Spectre named Saren Arterius, being destroyed. Saren's destruction left Sovereign temporarily stunned and defenseless against the remaining Alliance warships.
Garrus had never trusted Saren, he'd had a gut feeling the Spectre was up to something even before he'd met Commander Shepard for the first time. C-sec had been too restrictive, Garrus was relieved those years were behind him now, the paperwork, the red tape.....

As the young Spectre approached the area that C-Sec officers had cordoned off, he nodded casually to Executor Pallin, a slap in the face for the older turian, if he could recognize his former subordinate under the Colossus battle armor.
Pallin had been Garrus' C-Sec superior, the executor was C-sec through and through, they'd butted heads on nearly every occassion. Executor Pllin wasn't the only person Garrus knew who didn't agree with his way of doing things.

Garrus' father had been a legend at C-Sec, like Pallin he lived by-the-book, even after retiring. He'd talked his son out of enlisting into the Spectres at first, dissapproving of their ability to side-step the law in order to achieve their goals. Even after three years as a Spectre, Garrus had yet to hear anything but disapproval from his father.

The constables let him through, they knew better than to withhold a Council Spectre when he wanted to get somewhere. The congestion ended immediately; the crowd didn’t have the privileges of a Spectre agent, so they had to keep their distance during the ceremony.

Garrus walked down the grand staircase that lead down to a platform near the hovering monument. Normally this section was free to the public, but it was reserved excusively to the Council and all parties involved for this annual cerimony.
A middle-aged African human looked away from a salarian tech for a moment and spotted the armor-clad but familiar figure approaching. The salarian followed the councilor’s gaze and spotted Garrus; he retreated to whatever duties he had before the event.

“Garrus, it’s good to see you made it again.” David Anderson, the human representative on the Citadel Council, greeted with a grin on his face.
“I wouldn’t miss this for anything in the galaxy, Captain Anderson.” The turian Spectre replied, tilting his head forward to remove his helmet. Even though the former captain was a member of the Council, Anderson didn't mind that most people still refered to him by his previous rank, especially not if the people in question were old friends and allies.

Anderson glanced at the crowd and muttered, “Only the krogan don’t celebrate this holiday.”
“Have you ever heard of a krogan celebrating any holiday?” Garrus quipped; something he did exclusively with Cpt. Anderson on the occasions the two men had time for personal discussion.

“Fair enough, Garrus. I haven’t seen a single krogan on this station willing to have a pleasant chat since Wrex went with Tyrus and the others to the Traverse three years ago.” Garrus was silent for a few moments, remembering old, absent friends.

After Sovereign had been destroyed, Commander Shepard and the others (with the exception of Tali and Garrus, himself) had gone abroad to make preparations for the Reapers’ eminent arrival. The commander was never present for the celebration held today ever since then.
The turian let go of the unpleasant thoughts from his mind with a shrug. “Someone has to play poster-boy, although fame is more trouble than it's worth most of the time." At C-Sec I hated pushing paper, something I did half of my career. Now nearly everybody who watches the news knows who I a-

Garrus' eyes ran his eyes over the crowd, spotting a few hundred, asari, humans, and turians. There were also some hanar and elcor among them. Then the Spectre spotted a white environmental suit with a runed cowl around the helmet.
He knew a quarian who wore that specific armor. Garrus' mandibles went slack, "Tali?" In spite of the large distance, the quarian seemed to nod in reply and then retreat into the crowd. Garrus regained his composure, hoping that some random journalist had not managed to get a shot of that just now.

Anderson glanced at him, and Garrus shook his head. "I'll stay for the ceremony, then I'll go look for her." Why isn’t she with the Flotilla? She finished her Pilgrimage a long time ago. Tali wouldn’t be away from her people if something truly important hadn’t happened.
Garrus felt a chill run down his spine as he wondered just how bad things had to be.

-----------------

Meanwhile, on the far side of the crowd, the quarian known as Tali’Zorah Nor Rayya silently pushed her way through the multi-racial crowd. Her mood was very distant from the festive atmosphere all around the Citadel, the galaxy for that matter.
Once free from the mob, she let out a weary sigh. Tali wished her being here was under better circumstances. If only this could be a happy reunion with an old friend......

She headed for the Wards, Flux would be a place Garrus could find her, and maybe the deafening music and partying all around her would be enough to divert her thought, Tali doubted that highly....

This post has been edited by Lord Revan: Dec 10 2007, 04:44 AM