Hello this is Madrac and I am back with the second chapter to Divergent Paths!
Reviews:
Sirnerdlord: That would be a good idea.
ILikedabubbles: It would be interesting to say the least.
Guest Q: I have figured out what I could do with the Berserkers but you will have to wait and see. The Leader of the Locust Horde knows a lot about what they will be facing so he knows about the Systems Alliance and the rest of them. I just thought that I would add some of the supposed "lesser races" into the mix.
Guest: I am well aware of that fact, yes. But that is their story and how they run things. Plus they could have increased the speed of their weapons, making them able to be deflected by their shields.
nobodyimportant: Thank you.
These are the results:
Asari (
Turians (3
Salarians (
Batarians (2
Humans (3
Krogans (2
Quarians (1
Geth (2
Volus (
New Race (1
Veraxis System
1976 A.S. (After Sera)
Nemacyst
Admiral Thrain stood on the bridge of the Defender of the Trinity and watched as a small five hundred forty-six meter long destroyer drifted slowly through space to the newest Relay which they named the Veraxis Relay. His fleet flew a couple thousand kilometers behind the small ship and awaited with shields raised and weapons on standby in case they encountered anything hostile.
Admiral Thrain was a Kantus that stood at a height of 7'9" and he was a tactical genius. Under his brown and gold cloak was black armor that was made from the armor on Corpser legs. All Kantus and Theron's wore the brown and gold cloak, signifying that they reported directly to the King. All Locust wore the Corpser leg armor under their original leather armor in order to keep them better protected. The Armored Kantus' spiked armor had gold trim on it and were the personal bodyguards of the King and his Generals.
One of the Drone communications officers, named Balak, suddenly called to him and said in a deep, growling voice, "sir. Through the Storm is asking for confirmation to go through the Relay."
Thrain nodded and said in the scratchy voice that all Kantus had, "granted. Tell them that we will be following after them if they don't report back after twelve hours."
"Understood Admiral."
After a few moments of relaying the information back, the line was cut and the fleet awaited for them to report back. The Seventh Expedition and Response Fleet consisted of a carrier, fifty-seven destroyers, forty-two light frigates, thirty-five heavy frigates, twenty frigates, thirty cruisers, twenty-seven light cruisers, twenty-two heavy cruisers, and a dreadnought.
About two hours later, Through the Storm arrived through the use of FTL and immediately contacted the Defender of the Trinity. A holoscreen appeared in front of the bridge window, blocking the top half of it and showing a Grenadier that wore gray armor covering the top portion of his body with chinks and scratches in it but otherwise in great condition. He had black eyes and pale, rock-like looking skin.
"Admiral Thrain, we have found something of interest in the next system. It seems to be inhabited by another species." The Grenadier stated.
"Did you see any ships, Captain?" Admiral Thrain asked.
"yes captain," the Drone stated. "I don't believe that we were detected but I could be wrong."
"Do we know by what species?"
The Drone shook his head. "I couldn't identify their ships clearly."
Thrain nodded and said "then I will contact the King and inquire of him what course of action he would prefer to take. What is your name, Captain?"
"I am Captain Kalrok of Aethura, Admiral." He placed an armored fist to the middle of his chest and bowed as he said this.
He returned the gesture. "And I am Admiral Thrain of New Sera. I may call on you and your crew to be present for what I will be revealing to the King. Seeing as you were the ones to discover it."
"As the King lives, my crew and I will follow his orders." Captain Kalrok said respectfully.
"As will we." Then the communication was cut and Admiral Thrain sent a transmission to the King requesting his immediate attention. A few minutes later, the transmission was answered.
A holoscreen appeared showing a seven foot tall Kantus that was covered in a fine gold and brown cape. Their face was left exposed showing pale, leathery skin, a narrow face, hazel eyes with gold in place of the sclera, and black hair that was swept back and under the cloak. Behind him was a vibrant green forest with multiple Berserkers, a few Drones, and some other creature that seemed to be a cross between the two of them.
"What do you have to report, Admiral?"
"We have found a system that is currently housing ships. They are not ours." Admiral Thrain said.
"Do we know what it is they look like?" The King asked.
"We won't know the answer to that question until we get there. Captain Kalrok of Aethura said that he couldn't get a clear picture."
"Alright. I will be en route to your location shortly. You know what to do should certain scenarios arise" The King stated.
"Yes my King. As you wish." The Admiral nodded and saluted.
The King saluted in kind before the communication was ended and Admiral Thrain was left to prepare. About half an hour later, a circulating hole in space appeared and out came a large, blocky ship with red letters on the hull that read Pride of the Horde. The ship was the personal flagship of the Locust Horde's leader and boasted an impressive amount of firepower and armor; even for a dreadnought. For the Locust Horde anyway. The same couldn't be said about the beings on the receiving end though.
As soon as the Pride of the Horde arrived they contacted the Defender of the Trinity. The King appeared on the holoscreen and he said "have your fleet follow me through the relay. Be ready for anything. We don't know what we are dealing with yet."
"Understood, Sir." The Admiral replied.
The line was cut once again and the Defender of the Trinity was the first to move through the Relay with the rest of the fleet following in behind it. The King's flagship entered last.
On the other side of the Relay was a planet that looked to be completely covered by rock and ice. Deciding to wait to send a probe down, the Seventh Expedition and Response fleet, along with the destroyer Through the Storm and flagship Pride of the Horde, went about scouring the rest of the system for anything of interest. Eventually they came upon the fifth planet of the system. Surprisingly it was surrounded by about a dozen vessels which looked to be a collection of reused ships that would break apart if something slight hit their hulls. The King frowned before he said "contact the Defender of the Trinity."
"Yes my King." A Drone communications officer said.
A few moments later the top half of the viewport was taken up and Admiral Thrain asked "what is it my King?"
"I am going to be contacting the largest vessel that they have. Make sure that your weapons are ready but do not aim at them. I don't want them to see us as hostile."
"As you wish, my King." Admiral Thrain stated before saluting and cutting the communication.
"See if you can hail one of the ships. I would like to see what species we are dealing with." The King said.
"Contacting now." One of the Drones said.
Rise to Become Anew
Hades Gamma
Antaeus
Above Trebin
2158 CE (Council Era)
It had just been a normal day for the Quarian Fleet. They had been scouring the Antaeus System for anything that could be of use until a fleet of two hundred thirty-five ships were detected by their sensors. And the designs weren't recognized by any of their systems. Meaning that First Contact was in order. The bridge of the Jeerak was in a frenzy trying to figure out what the other fleet was doing. The Captain, Gon'Zaram vas Jeerak, had just gotten on the bridge when he saw the large fleet outside the viewport of the Jeerak. Immediately when he saw it he yelled out, "give me a sitrep! What are those ships doing and who do they belong to?"
A female Quarian officer with a blue polarized vizor explained "at the moment the ships are just sitting there, Captain! Their weapons are primed but they aren't aiming at us! Neither are they aiming at any of the other ships!"
Another Quarian, male with a green polarized vizor, typed on his console furiously before he turned to Captain Gon'Zaram. "These ships aren't in any known database and I can't find any traces of Element Zero either!"
"What?" Captain 'Zaram asked. "Are you certain?"
The Quarian nodded before he stated "I checked, double checked, triple checked, and even quadruple checked, Sir. They was no trace of Eezo on their ships. What's more is their size. Their main ship, at least I believe it is since it's the largest that they have and is literally bristling with firepower, is five kilometers long! From there they range from a little over seven hundred meters long to four kilometers! And the power output that I am receiving from a lot of them are off the charts! It's like nothing I've ever seen before!"
That silenced everyone on the bridge into total silence. "A five kilometer dreadnought?" The Captain muttered. "How is something like that even conceivable? And all without the aid of Element Zero? Keelah. If they wanted to they could-"
Before he could go any further, the Quarian with the blue polarized visor said "Sir we're being hailed. It's...It's coming from the five kilometer long ship. What do you want us to do?"
Everyone looked at Gon'Zaram and he said in a voice that he hoped sounded steady, "answer it. Let's see what they want." 'I hope they're friendly.' He thought.
A being appeared on the vidscreen and everyone was shocked at what they saw. The being had pale leathery skin, a narrow head and face, sharp pointed teeth, hazel eyes that had gold where there was supposed to be white, and was surrounded in something gold and brown that seemed to come straight out of some old Human vids pertaining to when there used to be kings and queens ruling.
The being seemed to looked at everyone on the bridge before he looked directly at Gon'Zaram and asked in a scratchy but powerful voice, "can you understand me?"
The Captain nodded his head slowly and asked, astonished, "you speak English? I thought that Humans were the only ones that spoke that language?"
The alien cocked his head to the side before he said "I can't understand you. But if the way that you spoke is any indication then I would say that you can understand me. If you would be so kind as to send over some information so that we could create a working translator between our peoples then it would be greatly appreciated. I do not want to get into a war with someone that we have just met over something as petty as miscommunication when it can be avoided." Then the communication was ended and the Quarians were left in stunned shock.
The Captain, getting over his initial shock, looked over at the Quarian in the green visor before saying "send them the First Contact package and a translator package. I happen to agree with this person."
The Quarian replied "I am sending...now. They should be receiving it sometime soon, Captain."
"Now we wait for when they get everything sorted through. Ensign," the Captain looked at the Quarian with the green polarized visor again. "Contact the rest of the Migrant Fleet. They need to be informed about what is transpiring here."
"Do you want me to inform the Council as well?" The Ensign asked.
"No. They don't need to know about this as of yet."
"Yes, Sir."
Rise to Become Anew
Aboard LH Pride of the Horde
"What have they sent us?" The King asked.
A Drone replied "it seems to be a First Contact package. Everything about their homeworld, their species; they also sent a translator package to us so we would be able to communicate with them like you asked."
"Good. Send it to everyone's omni-tool, including mine. I want everyone to be kept up to date on what is happening." He said.
A moment later, every Locust, no matter if they were on a ship, on a planet, in or outside of Locust Horde space, received a First Contact package and a translator package. "Everyone should look over the content of the package that we all just received to make sure that none of you accidentally offends them in some way. Also," the King turned to the Drone at one of the communications consoles and continued. "Send the Quarians over our First Contact package. I want them to also know about us as well. The only things that I don't want them to know is our technology, where our home system is, and how numerous our navy is. The only way any species would have access would be to be our allies and we know for certain that they won't send it over to the Council. Also, make sure no one knows that we know about them in the slightest. We don't need them to fear or be wary of us more than needs be."
Every Locust on the ship stood, saluted, and called out, "as long as you live, we shall follow." The King saluted his people in turn before he set about creating a translator for him and his people.
"Be prepared for more Quarian ships to come through the Relay. I don't want anyone in this fleet to think that we are under attack unless we are fired upon." The King ordered before becoming silent and staring out at the Quarian ships in orbit above the planet.
And there is chapter two of Divergent Paths! If anyone still has questions about anything in particular, besides wondering when the Locust Horde Leader will be named, then ask away. I am still in the process of creating ships but I am now working on their weapons more than anything. I will be posting them when I have them completed.
This has been madrac. Signing off.