Disclaimer: Mass Effect belongs to BioWare. Certain characters, background lore, and its legacy belong to them as well. The story, its inhabitants, and its future tense setting are of my thought.
"Prelude"
2676CE: Abroad the SSV Karthspire, Vienna-Class Transport Ship. In transit to the Parthenon Cluster/YQCOM/ Observation Station: Ever Solace:
The lights in the room were dimmed down to the lowest, the evening atmosphere only shaken by the light of the terminal. The shutters to the bulkhead window were shut tightly, no light from the ships passage in its Faster-than-Light transit appearing into the room. The terminal, with a bright yellow haptic interface, shined against an asari's form. The asari staring at the screen of the portable terminal, the words slowly scrolling off the screen as the asari scanned the page.
Another screen appeared alongside the terminal, it immediately gaining the attention of the asari. The asari removed a headset from her head, its holographic visor powering down as it detached from her head, the clasps releasing themselves from her crest. The information on the first screen was now gone, as if erased from all sight. The headset quickly folded in her hands as she set it down by the terminal, looking directly at the second terminal. A message had appeared on the ships primary communicator; the asari, waving her hand on the terminal, searching for the correct command, pressed the interface on screen, opening the message. Another asari appeared on the screen, looking as if she was paying attention to something else. The asari on the other side of the screen finally noticed her replier.
"Oh good, you're up," the asari said, sounding glad. "We'll be exiting FTL in a few minutes, Doctor. Almost at the other side of the relay, Captain Zapata wanted to make sure all you egg-heads are ready for your transfer into OCS hands."
"Thank you, Lieutenant. Please tell the Captain I am ready to depart."
"Will do. Lieutenant Balara signing off." The asari on the other side of the screen pressed something on her interface, the interlinked feed immediately dying off. The second screen had as well powered down, disappearing into thin air. The doctor took her headset and placed it back on her face, the clasps clinging on to her crests, and the holographic visor powering up as if done so by touch alone. The information on the first screen had reappeared, only appearing for the doctor alone, so long as she had the headset. She carefully analyzed the remaining information, the translated letters appearing on the screen and being picked apart. The scrolling of the screen had halted the last page of information, with a picture, an insignia of the Office of Confederation Security after that, finally a small passage.
Ignoring the signature of the OCS, the blatant disregard of actual work being done throughout the galaxy. The OCS was always characterized as a paranoid group of the galaxy's best intelligence agents. They were the ones who give the Council its intelligence, after going through dozens of hundreds of back channels into the Confederation's members' own intelligence services. The doctor never liked the OCS really much, they had always called for her services way too often, seeking knowledge on "the next big threat to the galaxy and the Confederation and her members." It was driving her away from her real work. But this time it was different. The asari stared at the picture for a few minutes, again picking her brain apart memorizing the eight eyed creature's weak points, if for when the opportunity arose. She finally moved on to the small passage, the passage "thanking her."
"We, again appreciate your continued compliance with the Office of Confederation Security. Our work provides security not only for the Confederation and her space, but also for the collective safety of the galaxy. This issue requires an utmost response from the Confederation, and all possibilities are being considered; also considering your past with the species –Yahg- we believe it is essential for your assistance in this matter. The Office of Confederation Security is willing to suggest your credentials to the Office of Research and Conservation, in hopes that your work will continue to be a benefit for the Confederation. Again, Thank you Dr. T'soni for your services.
~High Directorate of the Office of Confederation Security
Alexander P. Sherman
As the Doctor read the message, she couldn't help but smile. While she had access to some of the most information in the galaxy, it was mainly to fuel her career, a career that meant having the most information on whatever cultural aspect of any species, aspects that could lead the Confederation to a higher understanding. After the Raloi extinction, three other species were found within the galaxy, two of them were way before their pre-spaceflight stages, only the other one was pre-spaceflight. All three, under the ORC and OCS recommendation, the Council regarded these worlds as quarantined. How, nothing like the Yahg incident ever came into fruition, usually a full-fledged military base would not be so easily disguised from the observed.
The shutters had begun to move from their place, as silent as space itself, revealing the stars and space beyond the thick glass. The ship's bulkheads shuttered, a sure sign the ship had exited the Mass Relay's grip.
Ping! The sound ran through the room. The doctor looked up at the door, powering down her terminal and disconnecting it from the ships FTL servers. The asari folded the terminal, turning around from her desk; place the terminal into a small bag, sternly saying "Please enter."
The shifted opened after a few seconds; a woman appeared in the doorway, "Doctor T'soni?" The woman said as she looked around in the dark room, spotting an artificial blue light. "Ah, there you are."
"Sorry, was reviewing a few things before we set off," the doctor said, still rustling up her bag, "and please, we don't have to be so formal, Liara is fine."
"Yes, Doc…I mean, Liara. It's good to see you again," the doctor replied, approaching the window in the room.
"Ah. Dr. Essex, I thought I recognized the voice. Yes it's good to see you again," Liara said as she pressed a function on the headset; the visor to her headset tinted, creating a black smooth surface on the outside, but still remaining the holographic blue on the inside for her own use. She got up approached the doctor, standing beside her at the window. Essex was wearing a dark blue uniform with black stripes on her shoulders with an Alliance patch on her one shoulder. Essex had been in the Alliance Navy R&D department for nearly ten years, one of the brightest when it came to analyzing a species' technological level. Liara had met her in a similar situation a few years back, on a special assignment for the Asari High-Command; all to research another dead species, which were probably more than likely killed off by the Reapers.
"Amazing aren't they?" Essex said; point her hand at two objects far off from the ship, "to believe that hundreds of years ago, the galaxy only dreamed of building such things."
"Yes, they are quite a sight," Liara murmured.
"The Ever Solace…designed by the asari and the humans, built and retrofitted by the Consensus. Seventeen kilometers long and over 5 kilometers wide. The damn guns could rip threw a small cruiser like butter. One of the largest installations in space next to the Citadel."
"I'm sure that is just an exaggeration, Dr. Essex."
"I would say something, but unlike you, I like the formality," Essex said, smiling at the asari. "Ok I lied, it's more like thirteen kilometers but who's counting?!" Essex laughed to herself, grabbing her forehead as her outrage continued. "And that monster," she said after calming down, again pointing at another structure in the window. "The SSV Olympus Mons…damn thing puts any ship in its class to shame. Six point nine kilometers long and a gun that would make Hiroshima look like a firecracker…And the Alliance mothballs it to this crap detail."
"It's an impressive ship, Dr. Essex. But I'm sure you're here for a completely different other reasons, besides trying to make small talk about a ship." The asari stood there, staring at the blond haired woman in front of her, the headset's blue piecing the
"Well…" the doctor started to say, "are we going here of all places, Liara? I mean…does the OCS really think the Yahg have anything to do with this?"
"Does it matter?" the asari pointed out. "The OCS isn't usually right on its information. For all we know, they found a tin can from an old satellite." Liara moved back towards her desk, completely ignoring the distraught doctor and the ships in the background.
"I don't remember you being this so cold the last time we met Dr. T'soni."
"And the formalities return…" the matron thought to herself, grabbing her bag and lifting on her shoulder. "The last time we met I was on a dig site on Earth and you were sifting through the wreckage of a Reaper." Liara motioned Essex to follow her before proceeding out the room by herself.
"I suppose…" looking back at the Ever Solace as it came closer to them, closer as the ship approached it. "But you got to admit, Doctor. Even after a few hundred years, damn Reapers always come back to say 'hello' in the end. That was…what the fiftieth incident in ten years? Where the hell are these corpses coming from? And now we got another dead ship popping out of nowher- Liara?" The doctor was left alone in the dark room, the door shut tight in front of her. Essex sighed to herself, and decided to proceed out of the room. The ship itself, the Karthspire, came closer to its destination. When it did, it would dock and leave as fast as it can, with its cargo finally departed and now standing in the middle of one of the galaxy's largest and most industrious military fortress's space ports.
It has been four hundred and ninety years since the defeat of the Reapers. While the true events of the day are scattered in the halls of the dead, few live to tell the tale of that fateful day. However, one story holds true to its tale. Lieutenant Commander Nikolai Shepard saved the galaxy. But when the Crucible fired, his tale ended. However, the galaxy went on.
The Crucible, after ten years of intense studying that was in lack during its construction, it was confirmed that the Crucible was the culmination of every single cycle's technology that the Reapers harvested. However, as the design got more advanced, more complex, and continuance of research of the Citadel, the origins of the device have been lost in time, never to be recovered. However, its purpose lived on. Within the Citadel, is a master culmination AI program, which discovered in the Citadel shortly after the Battle of Earth; the AI, while not truly a sentient being, can claim sentience, because of its collective link to all the Reapers. The AI was meant as a keeper and a prisoner of the Reapers, serving as enormous data storage program, to house the intelligence of the Reapers. The intelligence was created by an unknown race, to create a solution to preserve life. To obey its creators, it created a system in which it would protect the species of the galaxy in another form. To do the same to its creators, it established agents within the society of the creators, to harvest and base their genetic structure within a synthetic image of the creator race. The intelligence was then able to "transplant" a part of its programming within the first Reaper, Harbinger, and a loyal servant of the intelligence's plan. But as the harvests continued, the story of that the created will always rebel against the creator continued. Harbinger, as the oldest of the Reapers, "encouraged" other Reapers, to build the Citadel, to imprison the intelligence, and to use it as their way of continuing the cycle.
The Crucible, when activated according to its primary design, would exploit the Reapers' one true weakness; the link between that intelligence and themselves. The link between the Reapers themselves, the Citadel, and the intelligence, all relied on the Mass Relays and the centric form of the intelligence; without the intelligence, a reaper could not be created; without the Reapers, the intelligence's purpose would be defeated.
The Crucible, as an energy source, activated by the simple connection between it and the Citadel, overloads the neural network of the Intelligence, with an enormous amount of energy. The overload corrupts the intelligence, transforming the intelligence into a virus-like state. However, this operation requires an output of that energy, resulting in that energy exploding in a wave-like form. However, the original problem of the design was the virus could spread to everything, which could end up being much worse than the Reapers themselves.
So the design altered, altered in a way so that the Crucible would only overload certain elements of the Citadel systems, and with each cycle, that system got more effective. Another problem was getting the Crucible to the Citadel, which in almost every instance, was deep in Reaper control. The overload of specific systems, and the link between the Reapers and the intelligence, resulted in the need of the total effectiveness of the weapon. The Crucible also had to direct its energy appropriately, in order for the virus to spread throughout the galaxy. The Crucible would use the FTL abilities of the Mass relays, to spread and inflict its virus on the Reapers. In the end, all the Reapers within the Milky Way Galaxy, and the intelligence would be eliminated in one true sweep. However the effects of Shepard's actions that brought about the cycle's end would have repercussions.
One repercussion was the destruction and devastation that the Reapers left their wake. The Citadel, despite all the Crucible's technologies, along with the Mass Relays, damaged. Three of the Citadel's arms detached from the Presidium ring. Across the galaxy, with quantum entanglement communications technology, there was a report of over 97% of all active and known Mass Relays damaged from the firing of the Crucible. But it was not known if the dormant relays were dormant of not. This is when the era of Reconstruction began.
The era of Reconstruction, was simply the basic reconstruction of the Mass Relays, the Citadel, and the restructuring of galactic civilization. While FTL travel is basically useless when traveling across the galaxy, cluster to cluster, the remaining armada of the Battle of Earth was to focus their efforts on repairing Earth. The rest of the galaxy, despite being cut off from one another physically, was able to begin the reconstruction of the relays. The Relays, as advanced as their creators were, were but easier to understand in destruction than functional. With this understanding, the era of Reconstruction lasted only fifteen years, the first mass relay to be reconstructed, the Widow relay was activated. The first test fire ran so. The Citadel was fully reconstructed within twenty years, during the Era of Thought.
The Era of Thought was named so; the re-colonization and organization of the remnants of galactic civilization. The thought however also pertained to what to do with the remaining Reaper ships. During this time, many primary colonies and the surviving species home-worlds were reconnected to the home systems; however there was a lack on an official government. Above the human home world, Earth, a provisional government was set up between the surviving leaders of each species, more focused on the primary Council species, the turians, the salarians, the asari and the humans. This military government was able to join power between the military and government officials of the races. However, species like the krogan, and the quarians, and the geth were weak in the provisional government; unlike the other races, these races had few to none colony worlds and could not set up colonies without being consider aggressors by the other races. So a compromise had to be made.
The Treaty of Charon was signed and dated in 2232CE, forty-six years after the defeat of the reapers. The treaty marks the 5th year that the Charon relay reconnected to the Arcturus relay, and the fleets that survived the Battle of Earth, were finally able to return home. The Treaty however, was to, effective immediately disband the provisional government, but also disbanded the Council. The reign of the 1st Citadel Council had ended that day.
As more and more relays were repaired throughout the galaxy, everyone worried about the Reapers still. By this time, much work was accomplished. By 2243CE, Earth, as a single planet and the human race, recreated the Systems Alliance; however their territory has not yet expanded even the Attican Traverse, like they had so tried to colonize before the Reapers. The asari were able to recreate the Asari Republics, but for the most part, stayed an e-democracy, but now had a council of Matriarch leaders to lead their people. The turians were the most fractured however. Despite their previous military strength, the Turian Hierarchy became unstable, after the death of Primarch Victus. And so, when the turian fleet and its military leaders returned to Palaven and created the Turian Systems Administration. The administration however, remained all too similar to the past Hierarchy, and still retained much of the meritocracy, but also created a hierarchy of systems, which was based on the need of allocation of supplies. The TSA, although similar to the Alliance, had no clear parliament based form of government. It was strictly a confederation of systems with multiple administrators, with only a clear line of successors. There was no true head of state. The salarians, as the least hit of the species, retained the most functional of governments, their Salarian Union retaining and being the first to reactivate their damaged relay.
The krogan, had created their Krogan Union, based on the Salarian Union, however based on the clans and not system, and all clans and their members must swear their loyalty to the Krogan Clan Chief, the Union and the future of the Krogan. In current time, the krogan have millions if not hundreds of millions of clans. The idea of the clan system is increasingly becoming poor. However, the Krogan have had to majorly restrict their instincts on mating, to avoid another krogan rebellion, and the Genophage.
The quarians and the geth, despite having called a truce, quickly ran into trouble. A year after the Treaty of Charon, the Morning War was continued once more, because of the major rationing troubles the quarians had while trying to colonize Rannoch. However, due to the true sentience of the geth, both sides eventually saw that killing each other was useless, as there was no point if both sides were to simply emulate the Reapers' logic. So to create a government that worked for both sides, the two sides created the Consensus in 2250CE. Borrowing the Asari Republic's e-democracy, the democratic Conclave, was created so that every geth and quarian can vote on an issue. However, as the geth continued to multiply to continue help the quarians rebuilt, the votes started to become one sided. So to decide on critical issues, borrowing from the old Turian Hierarchy, a Primarch position was created to be elected. In 2257CE, the hundredth year of the human-turian First Contact War, the first geth Primarch was elected to head the 7th Conclave. Today, the Consensus is the most powerful government in the Terminus Systems, (despite being the only real government.)
While all the other species had to recreate their governments as well, other matters were at hand. All the largest of governments were invited to the Citadel above Earth, to discuss the matters of the Reapers. In what became the 1st Confederation Conventions in 2277CE, all the major galactic races, agreed that study of the Reaper technology, was to be kept and shared by all the signers of the conventions. The logic behind this hoarding was to keep many rogue powers, such as many rogue turian systems, from obtaining reaper technology and creating more fractions in the galaxy. The main fear behind that idea was the possibility of the Reapers return and the dreadful effects of the still active indoctrination in Reaper technology, which is still studied to this day. This hoarding and careful selective gain was the main basis of the "Reaper Graveyards." The Reaper Graveyards are select areas, where reaper ships, husks, and even indoctrination could be studied, in deep space research stations on the edge of the galaxy. Considering the era of Thought, in 2286, the great powers met once more above Earth at the now fully restored Citadel. After a hundred years since the end of the war, the seven species drew up the 2nd Confederation Conventions, and after a year of debating, it was decided that the Citadel be relocated back to the Widow system, its original site, and that the separate governments from the Council Confederation, each species with their own councilor. All territories were considered to be of Council space, even those of the Consensus in the Terminus systems. Additional species, such as the elcor, the hanar and the drell, and the volus, became vassal states, each with embassies of their own.
The Era of Thought had ended that day. The 2nd Council Era had begun, and within thirty years of the signing of the conventions, the Cooperative Confederation Research Assembly or the CCRA, were able to infiltrate the Intelligence's remaining control blocs connected to the Citadel, and reconnected its Mass Relay functioning to the relay network. In 2316CE, the first elections for each of the separate states for their councilors had ended, on the Confederation Citadel.
However, yet another repercussion arose from the ashes of the Eden Prime War, the problem of future life and their evolution. When the Reapers invaded, they mainly focused on the most advanced species, those that were held up to their standards of technological evolution. However, species such as the Raloi, and the undisclosed Yahg were left uncheck. The Raloi, trying to avoid extinction, isolated their species technologically, destroying all space age technology. It should be noted, when the Crucible fired, the relay that lead to the Raloi home system, suffered from a more catastrophic effect, similar to the Bahak incident. When the Confederation researchers came to investigate the records of the Raloi system, it was concluded that the relay had failed and had wiped out the Raloi species. The Confederation Conservation Group began to study and conserve the Raloi home world, for completely anthropological reasons.
However, in 2324, the Yahg were rediscovered in their home system. However, unlike the Raloi, the Yahg did not have a Mass Relay in their direct vicinity, another relay in the same cluster, allowed the former Council Quarantine Mission, to effectively cut off the Yahg from interacting with Council Space. When the Reapers invaded, these forces were removed in order to fight the Reapers, to have more sources flowing into the war. Thus, after a hundred and thirty-eight years left over to their own devices, the Yahg were able to complete their first space faring vehicle. However, even more revelations were uncovered when the research team, traveled into Yahg space. In order to preserve a species for the next cycle, Reapers would supplant themselves in that system, to prevent the harvested species from destroying these species. The Reapers would simply move out from the as soon as the cycle was over. However with the events of C-Day, the Parthenon Cluster Primary Relay was damaged, and no attempt had been made to fix it until CCG rediscovered it again, arrived in Yahg space.
As the Crucible fired, and the Reapers over Parnack, hidden within their five planet system's massive gas giant Paramonus, those Reapers had attempted to retreat from the blast. But since the Parthenon Relay was in a void system (a system with no star or planets, but with an existent gravity well,) the blast had still managed to reach the Reapers. Those Reapers, now exposed to the wondering Yahg eyes, this was only a matter of time till the Yahg were able to fully discover Mass Effect technology.
Reverse-engineering the Reapers became the greatest endeavors of the species, and became the Yahgs' ultimate goal to control. While it took another five years to investigate the dead reaper corpses, it took a lot less longer to be able to travel further than their outer atmosphere. An individual Yahg is inherently intelligent, observant and naturally has a control complex, seeking to control everything above themselves. The Yahg seeking to master the objects in space took to the stars faster than those species before them. After their first space mission, their space industry took off faster and faster, and within five years of C-Day, the Yahg were able to board a Reaper, which had finally found a resting place over one of Parnack's many moons. The Yahg, with their salarian-like intelligence, their human-like ambitions, and their krogan-like ferocity, soon warred among themselves, to decide who would rule the stars above Parnack's sky. This war is known in Yahg history as the Parnack Uprising. After twenty year after C-Day, the strongest Yahg nation, the Ethometh Union, had won the war, and was the only state on Parnack, with a stable space program and was the only one not devastated by the war itself.
The Ethometh Union, despite the war however, had gained a major technological advantage, by studying small pieces of Reaper technology, and by the time the war had ended, the Ethometh Union had pushed itself beyond 20th century human technology, and was at level of human space travel at the discovery of the Prothean ruins. The final stage was to consolidate its power over the Yahg. The Ethometh Union created and fully established the Ethomethic Empire, declaring that Yahg were superior to any form of life, and that the Emperor of the Yahg would be the strongest of them all. There has only been one emperor.
Within the one hundred and thirty-eight years since C-Day, the Yahg to the Confederation were equivalent to early human exploration of the galaxy. Despite their bolstered existence, the Yahg still would underestimate the fabric of reality thinking that they were superior no matter what. When Confederate researchers came to the Parthenon Cluster, through the use of conventional FTL travel, they had discovered that the Yahg had indeed discovered the Mass Relay and had already repaired the relay for use, although the relay's structure was exceptionally still unstable However, the ship the researchers were on was attacked by the Yahg forces. Before the ship could be destroyed, its commander traveled through the Mass Relay, and reconnected into asari space, and traveled to the Citadel to tell the Confederation.
On the advice of several salarian Special Tasks Group members, and a matron asari professor, both having experience with the Yahg beforehand, advised that the species were extremely hostile to any species, and advised the Council to quarantine the Yahg. The Yahg Quarantine Act was put into effect by a unanimous decision, based on the hostile acts committed by the Yahg in the past, and towards the research ship.
The Alliance, the Krogan Union, and the Consensus all had signed up to use their militaries to prevent the Yahg from expanding beyond their system, with the Salarian Union, the T.S.A, and the Asari Republics staying mostly on the sidelines. In accordance to the act, the Confederation Conservation Group and the CCRA were reconfigured into one group, the Office of Research and Conservation, enabling the office to conduct quarantines of any newly discovered pre-spaceflight species to their home word until they are deemed suitable to join galactic society. In 2325, during the preparations of enforcing the act on the Yahg, riots were held in the Citadel wards, questioning the ethics of who decides the way the galaxy evolves. The Council, in a conjoined response, replied, "If we don't, who will?" leaving the question still technically unanswered today.
In 2327CE, the joined forces of the Systems Alliance, the Consensus, and the Krogan Union came through the Parthenon Relay, to bear upon the Yahg home system. Within a month, the Confederation forces had fully eliminated all naval resistance within the system, and ORC had ordered that all exo-planet space stations and installations of yahg design were to be destroyed. Within a year, the military forces had landed on Parnack, decimating the Ethometh Empire in its homeland territory. Utilizing krogan land forces, the Confederation was able to push the yahg into submission. With Consensus and Alliance ships bombarding on-and-off planet shipyards, the yahg were left without a fleet to defend themselves from the Confederate armada. Despite their population of entirely seven billion, and an entire population ready to fight, over 45% of population was killed in action by Confederation forces in the first weeks of planetary bombardment, a practice that has since been outlawed by the Confederation.
After a year of fighting, ORC Director Xerxes declared the yahg planet, Parnack, "insufficient to sustain a space-faring economy strong enough to extend beyond its own atmosphere." ORC, under its power, created the YQCOMF, or the Yahg Quarantine Command Fleet, to set up a space military presence at the Parthenon Relay and around the yahg home world. Its main goal is to supply the yahg with social aid and to prevent the yahg from regaining space faring status, defining prevention as military intervention.
In 2328CE, the Yahg Ethomethic Empire was declared "dead." For over three hundred years, the Confederation and its states have enjoyed relative peace among themselves. Besides brief and one sided wars with the independent Terminus Systems and the rogue colonies of the Attican Traverse, and pirate wars, the Confederation entered an Era of Peace. For the people across the galaxy everyone had relaxed after the rogue state of the yahg was put down. However, as an understudy of the Confederation Council, the mysterious Office of Confederation Security was formed.
In 2676CE, YQCOMF ships discovered the ruins of a defunct ship within orbit of the planet Paramonus in the Parnack system, the ship bearing the now defunct symbol of the old Ethomethic Empire, a red triangle, similar to the mouth of a yahg's jaw. ORC members had discovered that the ship had been on a three year venture from its original position, slowly moving through space. Researchers had determined the ships point of origin near a nearby star in the same cluster. The Council assigned the Office of Confederate Security to assemble a team to investigate the ships point of origin, utilizing a security team, and an Alliance Normandy Class SR4 C (Stealth Reconnaissance for Combat) Frigate. The ship was designated several researchers from around the confederacy to conduct the investigation, not without a little help of course.
(A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first normal Mass Effect story, besides having started my crossover, Of Space and Time. This is a story that immediately takes upon itself to clear up the closure after the ending of the Mass Effect Series. However, unlike a majority of people, I am one of the few who liked the ending, but still saw that it could have been better. So I took it upon myself to simply change a few things about the firing of the Crucible. I hope everyone likes this so far; I've been killing myself to write the damn thing for like ever. This chapter serves mainly to create the setting for the story at hand, and to serve basically general background to what happened before now. Oh by the way, for those who will ask this question? No Liara was not the love interest of this Shepard in this story, she is simply only one of the characters besides Grunt in the main cast to actually live this long, and for those of you who got my "hints" about herself at the moment, there'll be more to tell later on. And I'm not telling who Shepard's love interest was until WAY later. If you guys have any more questions that hopefully won't go too detailed into the technological level, (No one is a genius people,) I'll take direct PM's to answer your questions. I would LOVE for you guys for you to review the story. Even if you hate it! That may depress me a bit but your contribution will help me aspire to write better.
So here is the Author's Codex for this Chapter. Remember, all questions should be directed into private PMs. If the questions start repeating they will be given an answer in the next chapter. The main reason I am leaning towards PMs is because it's easier to organize and respond to them and also it provides me a means to poll your questions in order to see what the biggest issue is.)
Author's Codex:
Excerpt from the 487th Anniversary of the conclusion of the Eden Prime War;
Rear Admiral of the Human Systems Alliance, Caleb Forge presiding;
Council of Confederations space, Confederation Citadel, 2673CE, 487EP:
"…It has been four hundred and eighty-seven years…since one man…one person…one single representative of life, ended a cycle. A cycle of destruction, of extinction, and of abominations, that the Reapers brought to this galaxy, but the Shepard wasn't just a figure of humanity. He was the pinnacle of the defense of life in the galaxy. A true protector. But nonetheless, he represented all life, organic and synthetic. From what the history books say the word 'Crucible' means test. It was the test of life, a test that would decide how life should continue in this galaxy. And after over four hundred years of a relatively peaceful galaxy, we have come a long way. That Crucible remains over Earth to this day. A testament to all life's ability to conceive a way to break the laws around it. We have learned much from the remnants of the Reapers' destruction. But yet we learn how to forget. We have to remember that it is our duty to keep all life. That is our test. We are the successors of the Reapers, whether we like it or not. It is not a mantle, it is not a fate; it is but a duty. We are now the janitors of the galaxy, and we must all act as one. In the words of the Shepard, 'we fight or we die.' All of us; Humans, Asari, Turians, Krogans, Salarians, Volus, Hanar, Elcor, Quarian, and Geth; we must all fight for our own survival, together. The Reapers may have put this galaxy down once, but there are still threats out there and we must meet them head on as one Confederation! Life must continue!"
The Council Confederation
The Council Confederation, sometimes called the Confederation, was formed as a representative functioning assembly for the races of the galaxy to meet and work together as a unified force. The idea first came into fruition from the results of the 1st Confederation Conventions. However, with the adverse effects and the aftermath of the Treaty of New Farixen, the galaxy remained largely chaotic, and in effort of once again racing away from war, the 2nd Confederation Conventions were held and the formation of the Confederation became official. At its basics, the Confederation is almost an exact copy of the original Citadel Council; however it has many functions. The main government, on the Citadel in the Widow System, includes two separate powers, the Council, comprised of the Asari Republics, the Turian Systems Administration, the Salarian and Krogan Unions, the Consensus, and the Human Systems Alliance, each having their own Council. The Council is given executive powers over all the confederate species respective governments. But, this does not mean each councilor is their actually species, executive power. The Councilor acts as an extension that has to take in regard of the laws of the confederate powers. The Council has limited powers; such as it cannot force member species to submit to laws that limit taxes to a specific level, and many economic tools that allow free reign in a single government. However, the Council has authority over the separate confederates in terms of military power. Each state is bounded by contract to come to another's defense, and the Confederacy . However, unlike the last Council, this council has yet another Councilor, a single representative of the species that meet in the Assembly. The Assembly is comprised of representatives of the vassal species, like the volus or the hanar. Encompassing three from the vassal species, the Assembly has no executive power like the Council but it is able to choose one universal councilor, a figurehead of the Assembly, to represent all the Assembly species . Like every Councilor, the Assembly Councilor is able to make executive decisions and is able to propose legislation to the Council. However, because the councilor can be of any of the Assembly species, electing one takes rigorous efforts, because every one of the species wants a councilor that will represent their own interests.
The membership to the Council and the Assembly not only allows a species to enact and craft galactic policy, but all those who sign on must see the authority of the Council. The 2nd Confederate Conventions listed that any agency affiliated and created by the Council only reports to the Council and the Council alone. Examples would be the Offices of Conservation and Research and Confederation Security. The ORC has the authority to over any First Contact situation and directly reports to the Council. If a Confederate government does meet First Contact, it is to report to the Office of Conservation and Research, only after that are they able to contact their respective government. However for the Office of Confederation Security, the spiritual successor to the usage of the salaries STG, the OCS office can only ask information from the Confederate states, a request that is usually only lightly give. This has caused the OCS to seek for information for elsewhere in galaxy, mostly in the form of information brokers. While the Confederate species are more than glad to support the Council and the Confederation, intelligence has become a much safeguarded thing, mostly due to the hostile attitudes between the Systems Alliance and the Turian Systems Administration. In Confederation Space, there is about seven different Confederate offices that serve under the Council, including ORC and OCS; the others include OCID (Office of Confederate Investigative Detail), OCDF (Office of Citadel Defense Fleet) OCN7 (Office of Confederate Special Operations), DCT (Department of Confederacy Trade), OCCR (Office of Confederation Citadel Research). The Citadel has its own bureaucracy, containing multiple offices that don't all report to the Council.
The Treaty of New Farixen
After the signing of the Treaty of Charon, the Council and the provisional government were disbanded. All the governments and their laws of the past were no longer in existence. This included the Treaty of Farixen. After the 1st Confederation Conventions in 2277CE, the Turian Systems Administration had started to repair its lost military prowess. With coöperation from the banking guilds of the Volus Protectorate, the Turians had started its projected one hundred and twenty dreadnought construction, at the whims of a corrupt and rogue Administrator Titus Valerius. Seeing it as an act of hostility, the Human Systems Alliance ordered its small fleet, reduced by the war and the reconstruction of Earth, to sack the ship yards above the colony world of New Farixen, to stall the Turian construction.
In 2280CE, the Turian Systems Administrations sent four dreadnoughts and a fleet to the home system of Sol. The Alliance responded by declaring war. After a year of war, the Asari Republics and the Consensus backed the Alliance, and sent fleets of their own to Palaven, blockading the Turians into submission. Crippled by the lack of trade to their capital planet, the Turians surrendered, unable to fuel their ship building and their connection to the Volus. In 2281CE, the six governments met above in a diplomatic ship above New Farixen, establishing the Treaty of New Farixen.
The terms however were more supportive of human signers and meant more to punish the now ridiculed Turian government. The ratio of the ownership of dreadnoughts was created to suppress any ideas of massive orders of ships, but in favor of Alliance victors, the ratio was established as 5:4:2; for every five human dreadnoughts, every Council species could have four, and every Assembly species could have two. However this also restricted the use of carriers, the once human accomplishment that was able to maneuver around the original treaty. The ratio stayed mostly the same and the treaty recognized that the carriers and the armed dreadnoughts were basically of the same threat.
It was only in 2510CE, that the Treaty was revisited about the size of ships. Considering the size of the Reaper Sovereign-Class ships, and the usage and study of their technology over the years, dreadnoughts had now normally classified anything a kilometer to two kilometers or higher, recognizing that the species will continue to build more massive ships. Cruisers were split to become two classes themselves, anything between seven hundred meters to nine hundred meters to be classified as cruisers themselves. Anything below seven hundred and between four hundred meters is classified as "destroyers." Anything below that is considered a frigate. However, in 2522, the term "Super-Dreadnought" came about, in the construction of the Destiny Upheld, a four kilometer Parthinia-Class Dreadnought. The Council edited the Treaty once more, restricting the dreadnought size to anything below three and a half kilometers. Super-Dreadnoughts were restricted to one per council species, and none for the Assembly Species.
Super-Dreadnought
In 2522CE, the Asari Republics commissioned a ship larger than any ship ever proposed to be built before. Unlike the Crucible, the largest undertaking of the galaxy at the time, the ship was built mainly for conventional war against any known ship. The ship was classified as the first ever, "Super-Dreadnought" or "Leviathan." Super-Dreadnoughts are known for their impressive array of weaponry and incredible shield strength, being able to take on multiple hits from multiple dreadnoughts without having to worry about their shields dropping too soon. The type of ship was inspired by the devastating fire power that the Reapers came to bear against the galaxy in 2186. A Super-Dreadnought with its main gun, (which vary depending on the species developers) with the superior mass effect technology studied and reversed engineered from the Reapers, is most commonly able to fire a fifty kilogram slug (See Olympus Mons) at speeds that can reach megaton explosive damage or (See Destiny Upheld) a Type 12-Kanóni Cannon. These ships are usually supported by their own assortment of smaller arms, and several accessible ship bays. These ship bays can be outfitted to either hold several frigates, or several squadrons of interceptors and fighters. There are only three of these Leviathans in existence; with a forth being developed by the Quarian/Geth Consensus:
Asari Republic's Parnitha-Class Destiny Upheld
The first of its kind, the Destiny Upheld was first commissioned in 2519CE by the Asari Republics' High Command, its construction completing in 2522CE. The Destiny Upheld, the spiritual successor to the asari warship, the Destiny Ascension, first went into service in the second half of the year 2522CE. As a test run to prove its worth, the Destiny Upheld was sent to one of the infamous "Reaper Graveyards." While a dead reaper had no shields and could not defend itself, its hull only lasted within three shots of the Destiny's main gun. The Destiny Upheld measures a full 4.2 kilometers, a full-fledged Type-12 Magneto Hydrodynamic Kanóni Cannon (asari version of the Thanix Cannon) as its main gun, yielding twice the fire power of a Reaper capital ships's main gun. Along with an assortment of other weaponry such as mass accelerators turrets and smaller Type-11 Kanóni cannons, its fire power continues to increase. The Destiny Upheld, if correctly detailed, would be reminiscent of the Destiny Ascension, except with much more curved "fins" looking as aquatic as the asari. The main difference is that the Destiny Upheld is longer than the Ascension, the obvious difference. After over a hundred years in service, the Destiny Upheld is being considered being put to retirement; the Asari government plans to add the Athame-Class Super-Dreadnought to replace their aging leviathan.
Systems Alliance's Sol-Class "Olympus Mons"
In 2655CE, the Systems Alliance commissioned plans for a Super-Dreadnought in order to represent humanity in its bid to continue its renewed expansion in the galaxy. However, due to a restraint in the designs, the human builders were not able to complete its completion date in 2659 and due to the project going over budget; the design was mothballed and escorted to the Martian Promethean Ship Yards, for storage. However, after two years of remaining on the shelves, the Consensus Embassy on the Citadel offered humanity help in building the leviathan in exchange for terra-forming equipment the Systems Alliance was also now perfecting; to help their colonization efforts in the Terminus Systems and the edge of the Attican Traverse. In 2665, after ten years of construction, the first ever Sol-Class warship was put into service. Following the tradition of naming dreadnoughts after mountains on Earth, and living up to its class' name, the ship was so dubbed Olympus Mons, after the largest mountain in the Sol System; a suiting name for the largest ship in the Alliance fleets and in the galaxy.
Measuring 6.9 kilometers, it is by far the largest war faring ship in the galaxy, and of the Confederation. In its eleven years of service however, it has been "mothballed" by the Alliance Parliament, calling the warship a "colossal waste of time and resources in a state of peace." However the politicians put it, the Olympus Mons clearly not only puts its money where its mouth is, but also shows its teeth. The ship has an extremely powerful single mass accelerator, along with one of the most advanced kinetic barries and mass effect technology the Alliance could design, the cannon is capable of firing one slug weighing fifty kilograms at speeds of over 20,000 km/s assuring the slugs kinetic energy release to be up over two megatons, every three seconds. While the Confederation frowns upon the Olympus Mons' existence, the Alliance demonstrated the weapon on a rogue Terminus System dreadnought that was harassing space travel nearby Illium. Within one shot the dreadnought was destroyed, earning the gun the nickname, "Tsar Cannon." The super dread-nought contains over three fusion reactors and one Hyperion Drive Core, allowing to create incredibly strong mass effect field manipulations,and sustain them for an extended batter. It can only be said that the ships one noted vulnerability is its inability to descend into planetary atmospheres.
The dreadnought is also accompanied by several front facing Type-5 Thanix Cannons (over 400 kiloton yield), over a hundred Type-3 Thanix Cannons on its broadsides (50 kiloton yield), and several ship bays that house Crane-Class fighter/interceptors or several Normandy Class SR4-C (Stealth Reconnaissance for Combat) Frigates.
Turian Systems Administration's Trebia-Class "Forever Victus"
After the construction of the Human's super-dreadnought, the Olympus Mons, the Turian Systems Administration began plans for the construction of its own super-dreadnought in 2669. However, the reason behind it was part of the attempt to dissuade the Alliance into going with its colonization plans of an Attican system that the TSA was majorly interested in claiming.
However, due to the complexity of the bureaucracy of the TSA, the ship's 7.3km design was cut down to at 4.5km. The massive project not only fell into that dangerous hole, but the Turians had lacked the financial support of the project, their Volus partners calling the project a massive waste of credits for trying to beat out the humans in the Traverse and other territories. Not only that, but the Turians lacked the friendship of the Consensus, who were instrumental in the Olympus Mons' construction, especially with its primary structure. Without the technical expertise of the geth and the quarians, the turians had to rely on the salarians. But the project only ran into more trouble. Designated by the Administration as classified, the project was leaked over the galactic extranet by a salarian technician. This caused tensions between the Salarian Union and the TSA, culminating in the termination of salarian aid in the project in 2672. In 2675CE, the Turian Systems Administration finally fell on its heels, calling the project a failure. But despite this, the ill-conceived super-dreadnought was put into commission later that year. The Forever Victus finally able to take to the stars went on a victory sail, the Turian Administration calling it a victory for all Turians everywhere. However, despite the turian's bolstering of their 4.5km long leviathan, their words fell ill on the Council's ears; despite proving that anyone could build a super-dreadnought and be fit to rule the stars, the Council voted in favor of giving the Alliance its colony rights into the Attican Traverse.
The Yahg Quarantine Command Fleet
The Yahg Quarantine Command Fleet is a direct subordinate of the Office of Conservation and Research, and also a direct under taking of the Office of Citadel Defense Fleet. The fleet is the creation of the need to quarantine the Yahg to their home system after the Yahg re-contact. In order for that to occur, the ORC was given the ability to form the fleet out of respective confederate species' navies. Unlike the Citadel Defense Fleet, YQCOMF has a seven year rotation between the Council species; which is at the moment is handled by the Human Systems Alliance and their 2nd Alliance Fleet. This duty is viewed with disdain because of the devotion of military resources by the species in the rotation. Also unlike the CDF, the ships are not only donated, but the crews of the entire YQCOMF are handled by the commanding species. The CDF gets its ships from the confederate ships, who have the resources to continue building ships, and because of the Treaty of New Farixen, the CDF is also restricted to the 5:4:2 ratios of dreadnoughts, able to have four dreadnoughts for every five human, dreadnoughts. YQCOMF must rely on the commanding species resources and not the entire confederacy. However, this does not mean YQCOMF is not left alone by the Council.
The Council however did commission the creation of several installations in 2488CE; the Ever Solace, a massive installation measuring 13km long, stationed at the edge near the Parthenon Cluster Mass Relay, a last line of defense if the Yahg ever attempt to escape their Quarantine. But also around the Yahg home planet, are multiple smaller but similar stations in orbit of the planet. These stations act as the guardians and the wardens of Parnack and its denizens. Each of these stations has multiple MPB (Mass Planetary Bombardment)-Thanix Cannons that can allow the stations to bombard the planet under them, in case of military aggression by the yahg, but also have arrays of anti-ship GARDIAN lasers. But to stay a ground presence on the surface, the Council commissioned a space elevator to be field tested on the yahg home world. The space elevator is attached to a rig/airbase in one of Parnack's oceans, to make sure land forces could not reach the space elevator unless the yahg attack it directly. The building of the space elevator was successful for the most part, and it allows YQCOMF to be able to pass along supplies to both the troops on the surface and the citizens on the planet, through non-invasive airdrops. This elevator is connected to ARTIFAX-1 the only non-free mobile orbit station; which serves as the central station of the ARTIFAX installations, but also serves as a scientific headquarters' for ORC's yahg research group.