Author note and a bit of story background.
This is my first upload of anything I have written. I'm bored so I'm making an attempt to write a fan fiction. I'm in a random mood, so let's go with an 'Arpeggio of Blue Steel' and 'Mass Effect' crossover. This will take place after the Anime series ONLY, none of the movie stuff will have happened when I start diverging from it. The main premise will be that as more and more Fog ships joined 'Blue Steel', they became a threat that the rest of the Fleet of Fog could not ignore. A few years after the end of the AoBS story, approximately one third of the FoF had gone AWOL, though only a third of that number actively worked with humanity, the rest simply struck out on their own.
In the final battle, a combined fleet of Fog warships and newly constructed human naval forces, all armed with the new vibration warheads, as well as photon cannons designed by their Fog counterparts, engaged the majority of the FoF warships in the English Channel. The battle lasted for several weeks with neither side gaining an advantage over the other long enough to press forward, it was a stalemate. The combined fleet outnumbered the FoF, but humanities ships were still weaker one on one. For every FoF ship that was destroyed, four joint-fleet vessels were destroyed. During the final hour of the conflict, the submarine dubbed 'I-401' and her crew made a daring solo attack against the FoF Admiral's ship. The Admiral's ship was disabled and as orders stopped flowing to the FoF, their formations and strategies began to crumble. With a massive push, the joint-fleet broke through the front lines of the FoF and drove them into a rout. FoF ships began succumbing to the new emotions and instincts of 'Self-preservation' and 'fear' that they were beginning to experience thanks to the concept of 'Mental Models' becoming so wide-spread on all FoF ships above destroyer-class. With the FoF broken and their ships either in hiding or surrendered, the war was declared over and over the next several years more and more of the hiding vessels were found and captured or destroyed.
In 2056, with most damage to the world already being repaired, the Fog-Human forces united under the banner of peace and mutual cooperation brought about a time of great advancement for humanity, a true golden age. Within only ten years, humanity began the colonisation of Luna and Mars, with dozens of new stations being built. Many Fog warships reformed themselves to operate in outer space and formed the start of the Joint Space Fleet. In 2068, the Fog forces and Humanity as a whole merged into the Terran Empire, coming under the rule of the Imperial Senate which was made up of equal numbers of Fog Mental Models and Humans.
The Terran Empire, at the request of the Fog, began incorporating Fog designs into all of their new ships, even going so far as to give these new ships Mental Models of their own. As the Empire began to spread its wings and colonised more and more of Luna and Mars a shocking discovery was made, ancient ruins were found on Mars, ruins that were neither Human nor Fog in origin. This discovery shocked the people of the Empire, while it was believed that the FoF's origin was not terrestrial, this was the first solid proof of alien life and civilisation. With the ruins being so close to Earth (Now dubbed as 'Terra'), the Empire grew worried about what may happen in a 'First Contact' scenario and plans were put forward to increase military spending as well as accelerate the colonisation of the solar system. If the Empire was to encounter a hostile race of aliens, they needed to be ready.
Three years after the discovery of the ruins on Mars and the archives held within, the location of the Sol Mass Relay was deciphered. At this time, the Empire had civilian populations on Luna, Mars and Europa, with mining stations on every planetary body and moon, with hundreds of stations within the asteroid belt all churning out resources for the Imperial industrial machine, however the Imperial Space fleet stood at a low three hundred warships with many believing this was too weak to protect any colonies out of the Sol system.
Eventually, in the year 2122, the Empire made its first manned expedition beyond the relay, sending just under half their fleet to secure the system beyond, a fleet totalling five hundred warships and five dozen science vessels to check the systems viability for human colonisation and mining.
Imperial Heavy Cruiser – IWS 'Takao'.
"Admiral, we are on approach vector to the Mass Relay. All ships report ready status and we have an all-clear from Fleet Command." The clear and precise voice of the IWS Takao's Mental Model cut through the general noise of the bridge, silencing the bridge crew and causing all eyes on the bridge to turn expectantly to the Admiral, seated in the command chair in the centre of the bridge. "The fleet awaits your orders, sir."
A faint smile gracing the elder Admirals face before disappearing as quickly as it appeared. "Well, far be it for me to keep the fleet waiting." A smirk appearing on the much more carefree Takao's face at the words. "Very well, then. Give the go ahead, Takao. Make sure to remind the fleet to stay in formation, the last thing we need is for the egg-heads to fly off in every direction the moment we a through the Relay."
"Yes, sir." Her smirk still present, "The egg-heads will remain in the centre of the formation until at which time you give the order for the science ships to begin their respective missions."
Admiral Jon Grissom had just enough time to once again question his decision to lead this expedition, he was only months away from retirement. It was time for the younger generation to take up the posts of elderly staff like him; his own daughter Sarah Grissom was showing to be a promising officer and was expected to make captain within the next few years and was seen by many as future Admiral material.
The stars visible in the view-screen stretched before the ship was catapulted to ludicrous speeds and entered Relay-induced FTL. The action was accompanied by a squeak from Takao's Mental Model.
"Problem?" Admiral Grissom asked, raising an eyebrow.
"That tickled." Was the simple response from a now embarrassed Takao.
"I see." The Admiral's ghost of a smile returned for a second before once again vanishing. "What is the estimated time of arrival?"
"Approximately thirteen minutes. That is assuming vessel mass and number of vessels does not affect the travel time compared to the unmanned probes sent through the Sol Relay in years prior." she frowned, "Why can't space just be simple?"
"Regretting reforming into a spacer?"
"What, are you kidding?" Takao replied almost immediately, "I wouldn't go back to just the sea, even if you paid me!"
"Not even for a lifetime promise of free polishing, buffing and paint-jobs?" Replied the Admiral with a twinkle in his eye.
"No way, nobody would be willing to do actually offer that anyway… right?" Takao asked, attentively, but clearly trying to show disinterest.
Admiral Grissom suppressed the smile that was threatening to break out across his face, "Probably not Takao, sorry."
The next ten minutes passed by similarly, with Admiral Grissom quietly teasing Takao, while the few humans of Takao's bridge crew went about their duties. Admiral Grissom was about to lose the fight to keep a smile off his face when the navigation officer called back. "Sir, ma'am, one minute until deceleration."
Takao and the Admiral became serious at once. "Order all ships to check in, we don't want to arrive only to find out half our ships don't arrive with us."
"Yes sir".
The Admiral turned back to Takao once again, "Takao, are we battle-ready? Probes yesterday showed clear, but I'd rather we not be caught with our pants down."
A clearly fake look of offence plastered Takao's face, "Admiral, I'm offended you even had to ask."
Arcturus System – 15th September 2122.
A quiet, unremarkable system, where nothing but silence has reigned for millennia. But, all that changes in just one moment. Hundreds of flashes fill the section of space surrounding the relay, with hundreds of ships decelerating out of them. Frigates and corvettes dancing patterns around the larger carriers and dreadnoughts, with science ships of various shapes and sizes sticking close to the centre of the formation. As the entire fleet finished jumping into the system and solidifies its formation, several dozen corvettes begin peeling away from the swarm and set off in all directions where the sensors show blips of any kind. In only three hours, with a basic map of the system built up by the scouting corvettes, the science ships begin setting off alongside their escorts. With a sizeable portion of the remaining fleet heading to secure the other relay located in the system.
For the next week, a more detailed map of stellar bodies and their resources. A relatively simple system containing three planets; dubbed Themis, a gas giant; Eunomia, a frozen wasteland; and Eirene, another gas giant. Along with simple asteroid belt and an unusually large asteroid orbiting close to the sun, it was rather resource poor and would not have been worth a second glance if it wasn't for it being the only way into the Sol system. There were many among the Admiralty who wanted to turn the Arcturus system into a fortress system to protect Earth, but with all the reports showing how relatively resource poor the system is it was beginning to seem unlikely.
A month since the initial jump in, the majority of the military fleet returns to earth, leaving each science ship with a bare escort of three frigates and a cruiser each and a small token fleet at the relay. With ships belonging to various mining corporations beginning to trickle in and set up mining stations to tap into the relatively low, yet still substantial, resource deposits throughout the system. While the plans to fortify the entire system were politely crushed by the Senate, with plans instead being drawn up to build only small defence stations at the Arcturus Relay and to instead reroute the resources coming into the Empire to building new habitation modules on Luna and in speeding up the terraforming of Mars. Nano materials are not cheap, after all.
Arcturus System – 23rd May 2128.
Six years after the official expansion of the Empire to the Arcturus System, a new fleet begins forming up and the Relay, with plans to explore every system connected to Arcturus. With the Imperial Senate not willing to commit a force as large as the first expedition, only a half dozen science vessels and a two frigate escort a piece beginning their approach to the Relay while sending commands to the Relays to send each science vessel and their respective escorts to one of the six systems the Relay can connect to.
In the following few months resources into Sol go from a trickle to a tidal wave, with defensive plans once thought of as being too costly now being dug up and updated, including a plan for one superstructure name simply as 'Arcturus Station'. With such an absurd influx of resources now pushing the Empire outwards, every Relay discovered is activated and the space beyond is charted and mining outposts set up, with colonies being founded on every garden world found. With the Empire now entering what many consider to be its first true, interstellar golden age. The military fleet of the Empire reaching a very respectable five thousand warships of varying size and firepower yet holding true to the Imperial design standard.
By the year 2155, the Imperial war machine is beginning to run out of reasons to build warships as demand for resources increases with the large demand of growing colonies for nanomaterials and many begin to see the now seven thousand ship fleet as a bit excessive. Humanity and their Fog counterparts, now with over one hundred and fifty systems under their control and thirty colonies growing steadily, slows down its opening of Mass Relays as it begins to consolidate its position. While the practice of opening Mass Relays is not dropped, it just becomes much harder to convince the Senate that it is worth the current expense to open a yet another Relay only to find another dead system on the other side. However, the few that had already been approved in years prior are still given the funding required as the sponsors of the expeditions took great pleasure in reminding the senate that they had a contract that could not be backed out of. With the next expedition being planned for the Shanxi-Theta Relay, in the Shanxi system.
Shanxi System, Imperial Light Cruiser 'Tuvix' – 1st July 2157.
"Shanxi Control, this is the Light Cruiser Tuvix requesting clearance to activate the Shanxi-Theta Relay and lead the expedition into the Theta System." The mental model of the Light Cruiser Tuvix stood in the middle of the bridge, watching as her Human crew ran around the bridge in that controlled chaos that the species seems to have all mastered. Despite having a Human crew, Tuvix was not impressed by their level of efficiency, nor their limited work hours. How Human get anything done while only working for a third of the day, and not every day at that, was beyond her.
Shanxi was a relatively new colony having only been founded in the past year, with a small but respectable civilian population of three million humans and a hundred permanent Mental Model citizens (Mental Model citizens are Mental Models that either do not have a ship-body or simply do not want one). Being on the frontier had a way of attracting the adventurous sort of Humans who felt that life in an outer colony would be somewhat more exciting than sitting in an office back in Sol or one of the older colonies. Also, with the station of Arcturus nearing completion, more resources were once again becoming available to the frontier colonies allowing for the construction of additional city infrastructures and defences. That being said, Tuvix was less than impressed by the defences present on Shanxi.
From what her scans of the planet had shown her, scans which had earned her a call from an irritated Human in Shanxi Control, the planet was severely lacking in defences, with her scans only showing twenty-eight defence satellites (a mix of archaic mass accelerator cannon satellites and missile satellites). The planet also had several ground-based photon cannon and missile emplacements, but she doubted that the defences would be enough to hold of a single Fast Battleship. The few ships patrolling the system were the only thing of note; led by the renowned Fast Battleship IWS 'Haruna', the fleet of twenty-seven ships was fairly small but more than enough to handle pirates.
"Light Cruiser Tuvix, this is Shanxi Control, you have a go. I repeat, you have a go. Safe travels Tuvix." A short enough message, but Tuvix appreciated the efficiency of it all. Frontier or not, Shanxi was a colony of the Empire and was held to the same standards as those that had been around for decades like Eden Prime.
"We copy, Shanxi Control. Keep a docking bay open for us, hopefully this won't take too long." And with that, the activation signal was sent to the Relay and the fleet made the approach.
"Entering Relay transit in five seconds, Ma'am." Came the report from the comms officer. Not that she needed telling, she could see the sensor results as easily as she could see the Humans running around in front of her. "…Four, three, two, one. Entering transit now, Ma'am."
The stars seemed to stretch as the ships to her fore disappeared from sight and the small expedition force was catapulted across space. In an hour's time, she'd be dropping out of FTL with a fleet around her and light-years away from Shanxi, in unknown space.
An hour later, after another tedious countdown by a member of the bridge crew that Tuvix was seriously considering getting removed, the stars stretched once more and she dropped into space once again. Three corvettes surrounding her and a science vessel off her stern. She was just about to give an order to the fleet to spread out into a defensive formation around the science ship as it began to conduct scans of the Relay, a prelude to the activation process, when a sensor ping made her stop in her thoughts and immediately call for all crew to report to battle stations before ordering the fleet to do the same. Calling out what she saw, as if justifying her actions, her voice drowned out the hubbub of the bridge; "All ships, we have unknown contacts at the edge of sensor range, not matching any known profiles or energy signatures. Standby for a possible first contact scenario. Reading seventy-four vessels. Take a deep breath people, we don't want to fight if we don-"
The rest of her words were cut off when a sensor officer noticed something she hadn't. "Ma'am, the energy levels of the unknown vessels are increasi- they just fired!"
Breaking out of her stupor, she made a call "Science vessel, retreat back through the Relay and inform Shanxi control that we have a encountered a hostile alien force and suggest that they activate defence protocols."
A simple, "Yes, Ma'am", was the only response before the ship broke away from formation and, made for the Relay once more, with several mass accelerator shots from the alien fleet skimming its hull.
"All ships form up on me and activate klein fields but keep weapons powered down for now, we need to place ourselves between the science vessel and those ships!", and as if an afterthought, "Comms, hail them on all known frequencies and transmit in all known languages the following, 'Unknown vessels, this is the IWS Tuvix, a Light Cruiser of the Terran Empire. We request that you cease fire immediately, we come with peaceful intentio-'" The rest of her words were cut off for a final time as a slug smashed its way through the bridge, destroying her core and sucking the surviving Human crew out into the cold embrace of space. The barrage hit her before her klein field could finish being deployed.
The science ship had just enough time to record the destruction of the IWS Tuvix and the return fire of the remaining escorts be launched before the vessel was thrown into Relay-induced FTL and sent towards Shanxi at breakneck speeds.
Author Note:
This chapter has been rewritten, fixing a few of the problems that were pointed out to me, but please send reviews to tell me what you thought of it. Corrections or no, this is still my first Fan Fiction, so any reviews would be completely appreciated. Anyways, if you like it and want me to write more, or just want me to stop writing such trash and jump of a bridge, please let me know! FYI, I will not be jumping off any bridges any time soon, sorry. Please feel free to send suggestions on any changes you would make and where you think this story should go next.
I do have a couple of other story ideas in mind that I may look into if anyone expresses interest in the idea, like; A ME-Avatar crossover (As in 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' and 'Avatar: The Legend of Korra') where we will get to see the galaxy's reaction to a Humanity that can control the elements (And who knows, maybe Shepard could be the Avatar?), also a ME-TokyoGhoul crossover (A bunch of Ghouls running around the Galaxy could put humanity in a sticky position), or maybe even a totally AU of ME where maybe it isn't standard Humanity that the council encounters but maybe an aquatic Humanity or maybe even avian Humanity?
Anyhow, let me know how you think I did, so I can know whether you want me to continue. Many thanks if you have read this far, I appreciate any responses and look forward to writing for you all again!
Note: The Imperial Standard Design consists of painting all ships a dark, military grey with FoF patterns decorating their hulls in designs that correspond to the fleets that they belong to. For example; the First Fleet has a deep Blue decoration, while the second fleet has an ominous red (Ship appearance will be further explained later, mainly because I cannot figure out how to describe them in a way that does them justice, so if you have an suggestions on how to describe them please send them in reviews!).
