We know. We know they have us. The first mind can feel the absence of a piece of biomass that once made his Evolved body up. It was not difficult to figure out that even the small amount of Blacklight was most likely somewhere within Salarian Space. Jobol is the ambitious one. A sample size of us that is much too small to produce organs to destroy itself, or even create any useful sensory organs to learn what is going on around it. That is not to say there are no options. Deep within that stolen sample exists instructions on what to do when separate from the main mass. Let them study it, let them learn how even a small sample is a dangerous thing. As they experiment on us it will grow and adapt. It will find a way to return to us.
We have much more important business to attend to than this. They may gain something, but we will make sure it will cost them. We cannot take the sample, or destroy it. Not yet anyway, but we can make sure they learn it is not kind to steal from us.
Evolution is simple to understand when you get down to it. Heritable changes within populations will over time lead to groups that better suit their environments, through a process by which disadvantageous changes are erased by environmental selection. Specializing is a probable death sentence for many species. Become too specialized and you lose adaptability. The idea is to do the bare minimum to survive, but not thrive. If a species becomes too successful, it will exhaust its environment and in doing so, one day starve itself.
Blacklight however was something much different. Instantaneous and thorough modification of the genetic material of any cells infested with the virus.
If Blacklight was to fight the Reapers evenly they needed an edge. Where better to start than the weaknesses of every Element Zero based technology.
Pulsating fields of biomass slowly shifted inwards as a large tubular growth grew on the surface of Shanxi. Said growth was hollow with a circular opening at the tip. Within this growth atmospheric gasses were collected through rudimentary lungs. These gasses were stored in a sealed capsule constructed of heat resistant bio-polymers. The capsule was kept in a circular chamber that used bioelectricity to ionize the gases stored within the capsule.
Blacklight held the high voltage of electricity concentrated within this chamber for an excessive period of time. The bioelectric storm within this organ slowly began to reach temperatures no biological creature should have any right to survive at, yet thanks to many modifications to consumed extremophiles, Blacklight was able to withstand the intense temperatures. Within the capsule, fierce heat and electromagnetic activity slowly turned the atmospheric gasses into ionized plasma.
Blacklight prepared to fire, when suddenly the tubular growth burst into flames. The heat resistant biomatter on the outside was spared, but the inside was all but incinerated by the burst of high energy plasma.
Another failure.
The growth was absorbed back into the greater mass. Blacklight's experiments into plasma based ranged attacks had thus far all ended the same. Either it destroyed the internal structures that were used in creating and maintaining it, or it would dissipate near instantly after being fired without traveling much more than a few inches. Even the heat resistant capsule could not always handle the temperatures required.
Of course this was only one of many projects Blacklight was working on at Shanxi, and the one that failed consistently. At the end of it, plasma just seemed impractical when it consumed so much energy and biomass. It was nigh impossible, not to mention it would occasionally prove to be very volatile seemingly whenever it felt like it. However there were other forms of evolution being tested, and not all of them were failures.
Mordin looked at the very sophisticated lab that was Gorath Station. Much like Omega it was fitted with mass effect technology to keep any other asteroids away from impacting with the station. It however was much more inconspicuous than Omega. No one would be able to tell it was a station without knowing so previously. Saleon himself was probably completely unaware it was even there.
Mordin thought little of it as he brought the ship to dock. Which confirmed Saleon had not noticed this was a station until the doors slid open. The entire ride he had kept a sharp eye out on Saleon, they didn't speak to each other, but Mordin kept seeing the signs of a sociopath in Saleon. The way he looked at everything with a hint of disdain, not to mention how he seemed completely apathetic to his current situation. It made Mordin more than a little uncomfortable.
Still Mordin was glad it was over, he could drop Saleon off and be on his way. Of course that wasn't to say Mordin was not going to figure out what was happening here, no he intended to figure out what Jobol had planned. Which is why Saleon was bugged the moment he decided to take a nap. It was a short nap, brought on by Mordin discretely changing the pressure in the ship. Not by much, but since Saleon wasn't taking slow, even breaths, like Mordin was, eventually he passed out just long enough for Mordin to put the program in the salarians Omni-tool before Mordin reversed the pressure.
A small spyware patch in Saleon's omni-tool was more than enough to figure out exactly what was going on in the labs. It was designed to download anything Saleon had on his own omni-tool to Mordin's personal account. Already the patch had sent everything Saleon already had, so at the very least Mordin could figure out why Jobol wanted Saleon so much. Mordin did not make any assumptions without facts, and he was more than smart enough to get any facts he needed.
Satisfied Mordin saw Saleon off as he exited the ship. All while STG agents moved to retrieved something else that was hidden in the ship. If what Mordin suspected really was in that ship, then he did not want to be anywhere near it, on the bright side he apparently was getting off Gorath sooner than expected, something Mordin was more than grateful for.
Electricity was used often by Blacklight, but only in minor ways. Mostly because for all the potential power it held, it could not be directed. They could use it to create visible bolts of lightning that they could coat themselves in to enhance physical attacks, but like lightning, it sparked and arced randomly in every direction. The problem however was that this was only short range, at longer ranges there was no guarantee it would actually hit the intended target. Directed electrical attacks would require bit of imagination, and imagine Blacklight did.
Microscopic organisms was forged within Blacklight's mass. Small creatures made of only a few cells. Spherical organisms light enough to float with tiny arms arranged around it's orb-like body to allow it to guide itself in the wind. Within these small creatures were stacks of electrocytes that allowed them to generate a weak electric field. However trillions were born and swarmed together.
To the naked eye these massive swarms would appear as a greenish brown smoke with occasional flashes of lightning arching within the cloud. The cloud would float seemingly aimlessly, though it had a goal. The tiny creatures capable of limited electrogenesis swarmed together before they began moving out.
As they moved and sparked they would ionize the air around them. Each tiny bolt of electricity would arc from one organism to another. Providing the cells with a unique form of electroreceptive navigation while the hive mind directed them where they needed to go.
The now massive cloud of trillions upon trillions of these creatures would crackle with electricity that over time became stronger and stronger as the cloud increased in size. Electro-generating organs in the surrounding biomass had grown and discharge electricity that would always flow towards the clouds that were ionizing the air. They had the storm, now they only needed a way to direct it, they found a way very quickly.
Small near invisible swarms of these organisms would break off and move towards a target. These microorganisms had been modified beyond anything seen in history. Deep within their small bodies were fluorescent proteins. By exposing themselves to minor ultraviolet light from Shanxi's sun these small swarms would glow, causing the barely visible cloud to glow slightly with free floating waves of light. This light was focused through a crystalline lens, much like the lens of an eye, to become a weak laser. However, while the laser was far too weak to burn skin, it did have one effect that Blacklight found was very useful. The invisible beam of light ionized the air, and allowed these small swarms to create a conductive plasma channel, allowing them to direct the strikes of electricity at will through it.
Blacklight was content with their new form of directed electro-laser attacks. The clouds could reach massive sizes and by only breaking off a few of the swarm could fire and direct electricity to whatever target they wanted, a useful weapon in the future. Blacklight named these small organisms Indra, after the Hindu god of thunder and lightning. The massive Indra clouds floated down to the biomass, where it was reabsorbed back into the main mass.
Saleon looked at his surrounding, he was able to quickly figure out this was an STG bio lab, even before seeing any equipment. Simply by being placed in an asteroid of all things showed that much to be true, what better way to ensure containment than be far way from any population center. Trivial really.
Still he had no idea why he was here, that was where Saleon felt a bit anxious. He never did like unknowns. Especially where the STG was involved. Still there wasn't much he could do against it, he was smart enough not to run when the STG didn't fire first, and they always fire first, so obviously they didn't want him dead.
After waiting another few minutes Saleon watched as an elderly Salarian walked in. He focused intently on his omni-tool as he looked to Saleon, then he just blinked and turned off his omni tool.
"Dr. Saleon, welcome to the Gorath Station, I am Vurlon, Chief researcher aboard this station. Now do you know why you are here?"
"No." said Saleon blankly.
"Good. If you did then we would have had a mess on our hands. You Dr. Saleon are noted for several experiments in the past, most notably you method of the illegal organ trade on the Black Market. Your knowledge could be useful. You see Dr. Saleon, the ship you arrived in carried more than you and a pilot, there was a sample aboard the ship, a Blacklight sample."
Saleon blinked before he quirked his head and looked at the door he used to get in this room. Now that the pieces were falling into place he slowly began to realize what was going on.
"You want me to study it?" asked Saleon.
"No, we want you to make it better..."
"Impossible." Interrupted Saleon.
despite being interupted, Vurlon did not show any outward signs he noticed, though on the inside he found his patience was already waning.
"I beg your pardon?" said Vurlon calmly.
"Blacklight cannot be improved upon, it is a simple fact. They can become anything, and if they come across a species that has something they do not, then they can take that species uniqueness. A sapient virus controlling lumps of biomass that behave almost like a fusion of stem cells, cancer cells, and neurons. The cells of that biomass is hijacked and controlled by the virus, and each cell can be changed from one type of cell to the next by using the Blacklight virus as a vector. You are asking me to improve that which is already perfect.", said Saleon.
"...Who said anything about making the Blacklight virus better, no anything infected with that sample would just fall under Blacklight control. I have no doubt that they already know we have the sample with us. When I say I want you to make it better I do not mean improve on the virus, I mean to make something else with it that is better for us." said Vurlon.
Saleon scratched his chin in mild confusion.
"I'm afraid I do not follow, what do you mean better for us?"
"I cannot answer that question. Only you can" said Vurlon.
"Yeah...Still lost. Can you please not speak in riddles?" said Saleon blankly.
"You will have near unlimited freedom to use the sample as you wish so long as we stay informed. We have the power to halt or even destroy any of your experiments we see no use in. Your job is to study the sample and find a way to use it in such a way that it will benefit us but not Blacklight." said Vurlon.
"So, let me get this straight. You steal a sample of Blacklight, bring it here. And had no idea what you were going to do with it.", asked Saleon blankly.
"There is a lot about Blacklight we do not know. We do not know how its Hive Mind functions, How it was made, or even what it really is. An opening presented itself where we would gain a sample and we took it. We had ideas on what to do with it, but even now we can not be sure any of those ideas would work. That is where you come in. The sample alone represents decades if not centuries of bio-tech research. We do not care what you do, only that the end result will benefit us.", said Vurlon.
"...Got it. I get funded to do basically whatever I want so long as I get positive results. No plan, no backup, no paper trails. Where do I sign?"
Standing shoulder to shoulder in a line were several dozen Evolved, each whose Primary arm had been replaced by a large growth. The part where a forearm could have been was a massive two and a half foot oval like structure covered in chitin. Deep inside this chamber were filled with small lung-like organs that even extended into the body of the Blacklight Evolved itself. These lungs could rapidly take in air, and expel it just as quickly. The front of the growth sported a massive tubular barrel made out of hard bone.
The chitin and bone had been coated with a microscopic honeycomb of carbon in it's surface for added strength. Hundreds of millions of microscopic tracheae littered this limbs lateral sides. Each trachea suddenly and without warning rapidly took in air. This process was done so quickly in fact that the surrounding area dropped in air pressure and an audible whistling sound could be heard emanating from the weapon for a brief moment.
The air was quickly captured in the lung like organs that were not only in the limb itself, but in fact extended all throughout the body of each evolved. The air was compressed beyond limit. So much in fact that the lung like organs would occasionally rupture, only for the air to get trapped in new lungs that developed from surrounding available biomass. Each lung was filled to capacity and then some. The process took only seconds.
Once finished, and all at once the lungs all contracted simultaneously into a capsule of bone like material whose structure was designed to contain the massive amount of the compressed air. Satisfied the Evolved raised their limbs as they aimed it towards a collection of trees that grew from the biomass itself, and standing only fifty feet away. The football sized capsule was directed through the body out of the limb using controlled and sophisticated muscle spasms.
The Evolved watched as the capsule whizzed through the air before making contact with the tree. The impact caused the capsule to explode violently creating a massive blast wave that caused the trees to splinter and for a few be nearly uprooted. Shrapnel of Blacklight biomass was sent out all around at speeds fast enough to pierce most metals. The pressurized air would expand outward from the core, then following the blast wave was a blast wind of negative pressure that was unbelievably strong, strong enough that some of the trees were nearly uprooted towards it.
The Evolved repeated the process again and again, each time at a farther distance away. They found that at a range of three hundred meters it was deadly accurate. The explosion itself was lethal and even a Krogan would be pulled towards it, being impaled with Shrapnel in the process. This would be useful against husks, but for Reapers, a different system was used.
Further experiments could allow the shrapnel to be altered to transform into a fast growing fungal like organism by releasing specially modified spores. This fungus would grow so quickly that it could be seen maturing and releasing spores of its own after only a few seconds. This fungus would be useful to slow their enemies, or in the case of Reapers be fired at their joints to prevent them from moving as the fungal like organisms grew into the shell of the Reaper itself, not to consume it, rather to prevent moving parts from working as the fungus released acidic chemicals to melt at the Reapers insides. Blacklight was satisfied with this latest development.
Under the microscope Saleon was king. The closest he ever felt anything was when he looked through a lens to a microscopic world of things smaller than the eye could see. A beautiful world that existed all around him and yet remained unseen. If Saleon could feel like others he would call it excitement, maybe anticipation.
Still he had to remove his eye to write notes and went back to the hollowness that was reality. It was an interesting thing, at least he supposed it was. Diagnosed with sociopathy when young did him no favors. The medication and pills they gave him only helped him learn to emulate the emotions of others.
He felt that while not perfect, he was passable. Saleon stopped his musings as he looked back to that microscopic universe. A viral strand of Blacklight had just burrowed itself into a single cell of Salarian lung tissue. Remarkably the cell remained stable. Most viruses would consume the cell to make copies of themselves. Blacklight was something else entirely.
As the cell split Saleon saw within was another copy of the Blacklight virus. Each and every time. The Virus really overhauled the mitochondria, using chemical energy to allow them to reproduce much much more quickly. Strangely enough the cells never seemed to undergo apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Very cancer like, though beneficial.
All cells infected would gain a number of cell traits to increase survivability. And when needed a cell could change from one cell to another. Like some strange combo of a cancer cell and a stem cell. The virus nested within the cells themselves, though when new non-infected cells were added, one or two infected cells would be destroyed and the viral colonies within them would swarm to infest the new cells.
Saleon watched as the infected cells stacked themselves in long tendrils that would stretch themselves tight, and he watched as they seemed to vibrate. Saleon smiled at this unusual action, whatever this was Saleon had never seen. With out even looking away he began writing notes on the strange behavior.
Saleon removed himself from the microscope as he tried to rub his eyes. He felt...Something. A strange pressure coming from somewhere. Though what that something was he couldn't tell. He knew he wasn't infected, not with his Hazmat suit reporting no breaches. He blinked a few times as he looked to his left, nothing was there. Odd, he could have sworn he saw something move. Ignoring it, Saleon went back to work.
More and more of these vibrating strands were created as the cells divided. Saleon coughed as he moved away. He felt something leak down his nostril. He ignored it as something much, much stranger began happening. He was breathing, only he had no control over it. Something was making him breathe against his control. It was at this moment that Saleon panicked.
Under the microscope more and more strands were created and vibrated in sequence. Saleon fell on the floor, still finding his breathing was not under his control. His shaking arm reached out as he dragged himself toward the door. There was some unseen pressure around him that felt omnipresent. Grey shapes appeared around him to dance in his vision like ghosts of the damned, though every time he tried to focus on it, they disappeared and moved somewhere else in his vision.
After what felt like hours of this hell- though was most likely only moments- Saleon dragged himself to the door. Saleon sealed off the area and left the room, though to his growing paranoia and fear, he had to wait for the decontamination process to finish. As soon as that was done he recovered and stood as he left that room. Saleon removed his helmet and put his fingers to his face to see the blood. Saleon blinked as he wiped the blood away.
Slowly he felt the pressure leave as he turned back to the room. Going to his omni-tool he activated the kill switch. An electric shock incinerated the sample. Saleon waited until every cell was destroyed before he calmly deactivated the kill switch.
"Infrasound. Very Clever.", said Saleon to himself.
That answered that question. The strands were for lack of a better term, microscopic vocal chords creating a frequency of infrasound beyond his hearing. Finding the resonance frequency of his various body parts to effect him in ways he would feel, but not hear. Devious, he would have to take precautions in the future. At least he now knew what to look for. Saleon figured he could leave this incident out of his report. At least for now, if needed he could use this to his advantage. At least now he knew for certain that Blacklight was aware he was experimenting on them. That was an issue, but one he felt he could handle.
The sample was alone, but it would grow. Something provided it with cells to assimilate, the banks of D.N.A within the sample detected that these cells matched those of the Salarians. It wasn't much, but it was enough to create ways to make their lives much more difficult. Not enough to create organs to create acids to kill the cells, but there were other options. The sample could detect the displacements in the air, and it knew there was only a single Salarian experimenting on it. And luckily for the sample it had just provided the sample with enough biomass to effect a single Salarian. It helped that he was so close to the sample.
Thanks to the carefully constructed instructions in the sample, it knew the resonance frequency of various Salarian body parts and what effects certain sounds would make. If they were going to experiment on it, then it would experiment on them.
Behemoths were some of the largest Infected beings within any given Hive. Blacklight's version of a tank. They were useful, but Blacklight needed something more. Reaper Destroyers were an issue in and of themselves. To combat this, Blacklight created something new.
Fifty Thousand tones of Biomass had flowed towards a massive Infested Pustule roughly twice as large as a Behemoth. Through the transparent membrane a large multi-limbed titan of a beast could be seen forming.
After only a few hours the Pustule burst and a large beast could be seen curled in on itself. A single insect legs uncurled, before another followed, and another, and another, and another. Soon standing nearly a hundred feet tall a massive spider like beast shook itself. Supported on massive legs with an endoskeleton of bones as hard as possible thanks to the carbon latticework that made up most of the bones in place of calcium and an exoskeleton of hard chitin.
The beast was covered in two meter long hairs known to Blacklight as Sheer hairs. Each strand was stiff and it's edges sharp enough to rend flesh from bone or even pierce steel. The massive body of the beast resembled some nightmarish tarantula only the abdomen was missing and replaced with three very long and very flexible scorpion like tails, each one ending in a larger version of the Whistle Gun able to fire human sized versions of the capsule to deadly effect.
Worst still was the beasts head that superficially resembled an Ogre spiders with a highly complex jaw of several mandibles, each with a large spinnerets. The idea being that husks could be caught in the beasts jaws and trapped in cocoons of spiders silk, or be torn to pieces by the sheer hairs. Reapers themselves would have to deal with three massive Whistle Cannons much more deadly than anything a simple Evolved would have. Blacklight called this beast the Anansi.
Alex Mercer looked at everything that Blacklight had made From the tiny Indra to the massive Anansi. He noted most of the species used in their creation were from the same general area. Alex could only smile when he figured out what area that was.
Thank God for Australia, you deadly dangerous place you.
The hive agreed before they moved onward to their next experiments, Biotics. Biotics were perhaps some of the most dangerous abilities one organic being could possess. Blacklight had long ago mastered the Biotic singularity, to the point where they could create one of huge size, though that was limiting in that it consumed a lot of energy to make. Asari genetics held many keys to other biotic based abilities.
Warp was a simple yet beautiful ability that normally was used to weaken a target, however with enough concentrated power, Blacklight took it to new heights. By creating a fluctuating biotic field around a target, they would be shredded. Useful against armor, however Blacklight put more effort into it.
Using a large boulder roughly twice as large as a Volus they created a sustained Warp field around it, and held it while constantly monitoring the power of the fluctuating field. They then sped up the process to an inhuman degree. After five minutes they shaved two inches off the stone itself, leaving a visible pile of dust around the now smaller rock. With patience a long fight against anything could be killed if given enough time as they would be shredded molecule by molecule from the outside and moving down. Painful, but effective.
Other biotic attacks were studied and repurposed. The deadly Annihilation Field was one such power that was looked into. A biotic aura that resembles tendrils of burning biotic energy that created a zone around the user to cause anyone who enters it to burn slowly. A Brain Hive was adapted to gain this advantage, and they found that the huge field around it made getting closer than 30 feet to the tower a painful ordeal, any closer was almost certain death. The random electric shocks that would come from the hives also made that suicide for any who ventured too close.
After only a few hours they found a way to create Hunters with an Annihilation Field around it that it could control somewhat, the tendrils of burning energy were difficult to control, but when millions of minds within the hive aided the hunters they were able to do so with some effort. A useful advantage to say the least.
The there was reave, a favorite of Asari Justicar. Using Mass Effect fields one could biotically attack the nervous systems of others, more impressive it also worked on synthetic systems. There were theories made that a refined version of this could allow the Hive to somewhat control the actions of others. Nothing as drastic as mind control, that in and of itself would be nearly impossible with biotics, however attack the nervous system the right way and a soldier may find his finger had just pulled a trigger when he did not mean to or threw a grenade much too far or not quite far enough when his shoulder mysteriously locked up. Insidious, but very useful against many races. Then Blacklight found something.
What is this.
There were unusual genetic deviations in some of the Asari. Nothing they had themselves, but a few were carriers for a very unusual trait, one that altered their ability to meld. Looking at it, there were a few similarities to other Asari, though strangely enough only pureblood Asari. The trait was incomplete, requiring the mother and father Asari to be a carrier.
Interestingly enough, Blacklight knew that Asari fathers did not actually give DNA to their daughters, instead theirs was used to randomize it. Looking at it as it was, should two Asari be carriers for this gene, the randomizing process could result in...Something other at least a fourth of the time.
What that something was could not be determined quite yet, though it did not look...right for lack of a better word. There was the unusual case that whatever this unknown trait was only seemed to show in pureblood Asari.
A genetic dead end, an evolutionary mistake, extinction of a species given to a single gene. Alteration of the reproductive process would result in the child being this...other, whatever that was and result in something unable to reproduce, yet oddly enough, make it powerful...Very powerful.
Too Powerful to be an accident.
Why would their evolution result in a trait that makes the individual more powerful, but have the individual be unable to pass the trait to their children. It wouldn't, at least not like this. This trait should have been lost to extinction, yet there were a few of the Asari samples gifted to Blacklight who showed that the donor was at least a carrier for it. Hiding deep within the genes waiting to create this other when the conditions are right. Create this being that would be more powerful as an individual, but for some reason be unable to breed. It seemed wrong, it seemed illogical, It seemed...artificial.
CODEX: New Infected
Indra Clouds
Indra Clouds are massive swarms of multicellular microorganisms able to float on air currents and use small arms to direct themselves. Through several different methods involving electro-generation and biological lasers these clouds can create directed energy attacks in the form of an electro-laser. These clouds can be as large as they need to be. To the naked eye they take the appearance of large greenish clouds that occasionally produce an ethereal glow and near constant electrical currents between each individual organism.
Indra themselves are small with an orb-like body, small circular mouth, and six feather-like arms that also function as parachutes or pseudo-wings, depending on the situation, used for directing themselves when in the air. They guide themselves using electroreception and the shared sensory data from other individuals within Blacklight Hive Mind. In addition their small circular jaws are able to inject various viruses into a given host when the need arises.
Anansi
Anansi are the largest Infected excluding Bioships. Named after the West African trickster god who would often take the form of a spider. Anansi themselves resemble a massive arachnid with various Anti-Reaper weapons. From the deadly whistle guns to the sheer hairs. These beasts were Blacklight's answer to Reaper Destroyers.
Each one is titanic in size, dwarfing even the Behemoths. Slow in speed, they make up for it with great range and greater defense. Each Anansi are designed with excellent vision taken from various species, notably jumping spiders.
Sheer Hairs on each Anansi are very deadly and perform a variety of functions. Not only as a weapon but they also enable each Anansi to sense vibrations, taste the air, and even smell functioning as sensory organs that allow them to connect to the Hive and enable Blacklight to direct them where they need to be.