Disclaimer: I do not own Hyperdimension Neptunia nor Mass Effect. Both are owned by their respective owners.
Chapter is rated R for References, some subtle some obvious.
Readers discretion is advised.
"Status on the relay?"
"Currently transmitting code of activation...and it's finished."
Lucia Ruifang, leader of the exploratory team and captain of exploratory class vessel known as the Meridian. Watched the rings of the relay turn as it's core came to life.
"All hands prepare for jump." She says as she and the rest of the crew braced as the ship is suddenly transported.
In a brief amount of time they appear in front of another relay. This one was dormant like the one they just traveled through.
"Captain, jump is successful." One of the crew members reports. "Stein Drive has just recorded necessary coordinates and the Vilada has followed us."
"Good, begin scan for any planets, moons, etc. You know the drill people." She casually says as she leans back on her seat. "Have the Vilada move to the relay for scanning."
"Understood!" All the crew members got to work.
Ruifang crosses her arms as she watched them work.
It was just another day, another mission to explore areas for The Lowee Alliance to expand it's territory, or Lowee as most people just say. The mission is simple enough, scout and map the areas of a system before moving and reporting back. It's usually followed up with ships moving in and colonizing the area.
While they've rarely found a garden world, it hardly mattered since share energy would terraform any moons or planets they settle in. As White Heart herself once said, 'Shares are convenient.'
Speaking of the CPU, it annoyed the captain a little bit since she wouldn't see the CPU since she was on mission. White Heart and her family was visiting Shanxi to not only perform her duties but for a quick vacation. At least that what is said publicly, for such high and popular figures of authority they tend to live in private.
Lot's of people love it when their CPU comes and visits their world even if it's for a short time. It has a tendency to boost the faith within them...
"Captain, we have unknown energy signatures approaching!" That shattered her train of thought as she sat straight.
"Unknown energy signatures?" She asks.
"Yes, ma'm, scanners picked them as soon as they were turned on. They're directly ahead we should have visual at any moment." As the crew member finished, several ships came into view. While not as large as their ship, they were certainly an unexpected sight.
Ruifang narrowed her eyes.
"Do the ships match any known designs?"
"Negative, scans indicate they're using a different energy source. It's similar to the mass relays!"
That caused her to raise an eyebrow.
"Similar to the...Goddess, I think...we just encountered an alien species," The captain thought out loud after a few seconds. Causing everyone to freeze and look at her.
"Is there a first contact package on board?" She asks, while it was possible that these ships could be just some new design the other three nations could've cooked up. It wasn't likely since the energy source was that of a mass relay.
While the energy within the mass relay have been sampled for analysis. There haven't been enough tests to truly understand it just yet, as it hasn't been set as a priority for research. So it was likely an alien race...
She weighed her options, if this were the other nations than this would be a serious misunderstanding. However if it isn't the other nations...then they have just met an intelligent species. Whether or not it was good or bad would be decided later...
"Yes, ma'm." One of the crew members answers. "We have the standard variation."
"Prep it and prepare to-"
"Captain! Unknown energy spike! By the goddess...they're firing on the Vilada!"
"What!?" Ruifang yelled as she watched the Vilada take damage from the alien's large volley. She watched as explosions erupted on the sides and rear of the ship in the areas where the armor was thinnest.
"Damage report on the Vilada now!"
"They didn't raise their barriers in time! The attack took them by surpri-"
A harsh bright light engulfs their vision as they watched in horror as the Vilada explodes.
"Raise barriers now!" The captain yelled as debris from the Vilada came flying right at them. "Brace for impact!"
Their protective barriers barely rose in time to deflect and block the debris. The crew grunted as the ship was hit...
"Report!" The captain yells as the hits stop.
"The attack must've damaged the Viladas' Stein Drive! Causing it to go critical!"
"Shit," Ruifang cursed as she balled her hands into fists. "No one could've survived that..."
"Ma'm, more unknown energy signatures approaching!" Yelled one of the crew. "They match the ones in front of us...it's a large number!"
"Reinforcements," The captain slowly says. "Dammit!"
They've just been attacked unprovoked by an ALIEN race! Worst of all they just lost one of their ships!
A light armored and gunned exploratory vessel. Specifically designed for speed, but not rated for combat even with it's weapons, armor, and barriers! While certainly faster than the average Lowee ship, their ship is but a snail when compared to other nations standard ships.
They could choose to fight but they don't know if their weapons could do any damage and they were badly outnumbered. They only had two options...run but they'll likely be followed, stay and they die.
"Prep the Stein Drive!" She yells as she gritted her teeth. "Get us out of here! We have to warn Shanxi, before those reinforcements arrive!"
"On it! Stein Drive is activating, needs a few seconds of calibration for the coordinates."
"Incoming! They're firing on us!"
"Brace for impact!"
The ship shuddered as the barriers took the hits.
"Status!"
"Barrier integrity down by twenty percent, but still holding!" One crew member reports. "Stein Drive is ready!"
"Rear portal, full reverse!" Ruifang narrowed her eyes at the ships as the Meridian went in reverse. The alien ships fired at them once again but never hit them as the familiar portal takes them away.
"Damn you bastards..." She whispers in anger as her sight of the alien ships was eventually replaced with empty space. In the corner of her vision she see the activated relay, showing that they've manage to escape.
The Stein Drives have improved a lot since when they first used in early interstellar travel. For certain distances it takes them seconds or minutes to travel. Large distances still take several hours...
The captain pushed that thought aside as she bit her lip.
"...Contact...General Williams," She slowly says as the entire crew was silent. "We have to report...what happened..."
The whole crew stayed silent but did as asked.
Lucia Ruifang sunk into her seat, today was supposed to be a simple mission. A simple and done before mission...not one where people died for no reason!
Her hands held her head as she gripped her hair.
Those bastards will pay...by The Goddess White Heart they will PAY!
On Shanxi in a lush green yet snowy field, the sounds of laughter were heard as two girls were chasing each other.
Both had dark blue eyes and brown hair, one was longer than the other. They both wore different color winter coats and overall dresses with caps on.
The one with short hair clothes were a mixture of blue, white and pink. The long haired one's was pink, white and blue. Same colors but in a different order.
"Come one Blanc! Play with us!" The long haired one wave to someone who was siting under a tree.
"Yeah...Blanc...play with us!" The short haired one waved to the person as well.
The person in question was reading a book while relaxing under the tree.
She had short brown hair, and blue eyes, wore a white cap with an opened white and blue jacket that was worn below her shoulders. With a blue ribbon like choker around her neck and a white v-neck blouse under the jacket, as well as sandal like shoes. There was a sash like scarf wrapped around one of her legs.
She was CPU White Heart, other wise known as Blanc. And she was sightly annoyed that her sisters were bothering her.
"Rom, Ram..." She says softly as she looked up from her book. "Don't bother me, go play somewhere else."
After that she goes back to reading her book, ignoring her sisters.
The two twins looked at each other before deciding to run off and play somewhere.
Blanc sighed in relief as nothing else will take her away from her book. It was a collab of two of her favorite authors, Carvera Edlund and Richenda Fortress. The two writers had came together to write a form of crossover of two pairs of characters from each of their series.
She's been reading it none stop ever since she arrived. To put it in a simple summary, it's about two sisters who deal with problems of the supernatural nature, and end up working together with a detective who solves crimes with his wife. Who also happens to be a best selling murder mystery writer.
And so far, it has been incredible...she had some doubts about the authors fitting some elements in but they were able to solve it with little problem.
Blanc felt something vibrate within her coat, after putting her book mark in place and closing the book. She rummages through her coat before pulling out a tablet, it's screen told her she was getting a call from her oracle, Mina.
Curious as to why she was calling, Blanc places her finger on the tablet and accepts the call.
The screen changes and reveals a young woman with light blue hair and blue eyes. She was wearing red square glasses, and what appeared to be a red graduation like uniform.
"Mina," Blanc slowly says. "Why are you calling, is something wrong?"
"Apologies for disturbing your break," Mina apologetically says before doing a light bow. "But General Williams is requesting your presence, he insisted that it is very urgent. And that you need to be here..."
That got her attention, she nodded as she slowly got up. "I'm on my way."
With that she ends her call and places the tablet back into her coat.
She stands still for a second before a pillar of light engulfs her and goes as quickly as it came. Revealing her second form...
She now had blue hair and red eyes with a power symbol in them, wearing swim suit like armor with clawed gauntlets. She had blue square like wings that seemingly connected to her back.
Now transformed into her HDD, she gains altitude before flying in the direction she needed to go. After a few minutes she arrives at Shanxi's main city.
A proud mixture of both modern and traditional Lowee architecture. A fresh layer of snow had covered the streets as she flew the mushroom like rooftops of the city. Her main destination was the center and largest building in the city.
Shanxi's main basilicom, serving as not only a place of worship but as a command center and her home away from home.
Slowly she reduced her speed then lands on one of the landing platforms, surprising some of the workers. They hastily saluted as another pillar of light engulfs her and brings back to her normal form. She walks past the workers before entering the basilicom.
General Williams felt a cold chill up his spine as he reread the reports given to him.
Captain Ruifang had made the right call to fallback and report on what happened. As now a great concern and possible threat is a stone throw away from their doorstep. Aliens actual honest to goddess aliens, it felt like something out of a Sentai ranger anime his kid used to watch.
Despite the chill he also felt anger stir within him, based on the reports...Captain Ruifang was fired upon unprovoked and lost half her team. From what it sounded like the young captain had took it hard and wants payback for her fallen comrades.
Williams clicked his tongue as paced around the command center. It was a large room that was filled with computers and a mixture of soldiers and basilicom staff operating them. In front of him was a large table with a holographic map, it was currently projecting Shanxi, it's moon and the positions of it's current fleet of ships.
Behind him was a window that overlooked the city, it was specifically designed for the CPU.
It had snowed earlier in the day, now a familiar white blanket covered the city's stone and metallic buildings.
The general hears a door open and sees CPU White Heart entering the command center. He let's out a forced cough before standing at attention.
"CPU on deck!" He says as he and the rest of the soldiers salute while the staff members bowed at their goddess.
As soon as that was done the staff and soldiers returned to their work.
"Lady White Heart," He says as the goddess approached him. "Thank you for coming on such short notice."
"What is this about?" She asked, straight to the point.
He hands the report to her, "A short time ago, Captain Ruifang of an exploratory vessel known as the Meridian. Was doing a routine mission of mapping the system nearby with her team. When they ran into some problems..."
"Problems?"
"They encountered an actual alien species," He bluntly says, emphasizing on the word alien. "The encounter did not go well, there were casualties."
The goddess narrowed her eyes before opening the report then reading it.
Suddenly the temperature of the room dropped by a several degrees. The paper in the CPU's hand began to crumble under her grip.
"What...the HELL!?" She yells causing the general and the others in the room to flinch.
General Williams noticed that the temperature was slowly dropping and his breath was starting to become visible. He didn't need those extra signs to know that White Heart is pissed.
"Within the report," He continues, doing his best to ignore the cold chill. "There were signs of alien reinforcements, it is unknown whether they would chase after The Meridian. And then find Shanxi in their pursuit..."
"Let'em try! I'll-"
She was cut off when the holographic map blared alarms and glowed red. The projections changed to show the nearby mass relay.
"What's happening? Report!" General Williams yells as he looked at the map.
"Sir! Multiple unknown energy signatures detected coming near the mass relay!" One of the basilicom staff says then the projection showed numerous red dots. "They match the same frequency of the ones in the earlier report!"
"Damn, they're already here..." Williams muttered under his breath. "Scramble the fleet! Have them take defensive formations!"
"Sir!" Another staff member yells. "The unknown forces are advancing toward us! They outnumber our current fleet!"
"Contact the fourth fleet! Priority one emergency! We need reinforcements and they're the closest we got!"
"On it!" One staff member yells. "It'll take them a few hours to arrive!"
"Sir, the unknowns have begun engaging our fleet! They're taking loses but they're still advancing!"
"The reinforcements won't make it time..." Williams stated the obvious as he looked at the map. "We need to-"
"General! A portion of the enemy got past our fleet! They're heading right for Sha-"
A bright light engulfs the room, forcing everyone to cover their eyes. When the light died down they looked to see their CPU had changed form. Her bangs were covering her eyes.
She walks past the General and towards the window.
"Open the damn thing!" She barks at a staff member who frankly presses a few buttons.
The window's glass began to retract and move, creating an opening where cold air came through.
"General," White Heart turned, her head was still low. "I don't care what the hell you do! Don't let these bastards take my people!"
"Understood!" He nodded. "What about you?"
"I'm..." A single red eye stood out from the shadows of her bangs. She bared her teeth and clenched her clawed hands. "I'm going to rip their fucking skulls out!"
With that her wings appeared on her back then she rockets herself from the command center and straight to the sky.
The window slowly closes and General Williams stared at it for a few seconds before turning.
"Contact the fourth fleet again, get them to hurry. Begin evacuation and shelter protocols...activate emergency mandatory quests for the guild." He slowly says as he walks up to the holographic map. "...Activate Lowee's GA initiative code, contact any other nations ship's that are nearby and get them here now!"
Shanxi wasn't going to fall to a bunch of trigger happy aliens, not if they and their goddess have anything to say about it.
"May the goddesses have mercy on these poor bastards." He slowly says as he stared at the map. "They're going to need it..."
Fracias Vakira was quiet as he and the rest of his brothers in arms were waiting.
The fleet had successfully arrived through the relay and was currently engaging the new species ships. Ordinarily it would have taken weeks for a fleet to be deployed, but this was under certain circumstances. There had been rumors of Batarian slavers rummaging around this area of the galaxy.
Supposedly they wanted to activate a dormant relay, and find a new species to enslave. The higher ups back at Palaven either actually believed the rumors or wanted to show force to prevent any from actually trying. So instead of having the usual number of ships. They deploy a fleet to patrol the area, reminding the galaxy that they're the peacekeepers.
The new species's ships were a small number and didn't look well designed. He remembered hearing that the ships had no trace of element zero. He saw some of them on his way to the shuttles, they looked like white boxes at an angle that were stacked together. Though it was surprising that some ships were close to the length of the dreadnought that was with them.
They're on their way to landing in, what the higher ups believe it to be, the new species' homeworld. As it's believed that they are a race that are barely discovering the relays. Of course activating a dormant relay is strictly against Council Law.
They faced the rachni because of such recklessness, they couldn't face another situation like that again. Of course that is if they were dealing with those that actually know the law.
It wasn't a bunch of slavers they're facing. This was a new species, one ignorant of the laws or the history the Council has faced since it's establishment. His commanding officers and some fellow comrades would say that ignorance is no excuse. This new species would be punished for it's foolishness.
Though there are those like Vakira that disagree and are not as zealous as the rest of their brothers. But they were still soldiers, and they follow orders even if it's bad ones.
"All ground forces prepare for landing..."
On that order Vakira picks up his helmet and puts it on.
Just in time for the shuttle to violently shudder and spin in a angle.
"Brace for-"
The warning didn't even finish as the shuttle crashed and Vakira hit his head against the metal wall.
His vision and hearing became shot as he used his arms to straighten himself. He hears someone say something but he couldn't make it out.
"V...a...r..."
He feels someone shake him, then pick him up and drag him. The person places him down and shakes him again, his hearing slowly came back to normal.
"Vakira!" A familiar voice yells. "Are you alright!?"
Vakira blinked his eyes for a few seconds then register the Turian in front of him. "Saren?"
"Good, you didn't get hurt too badly." Saren Arterius, one of his squad mates, helps him to his feet. "Some minor bruising but you should be fine."
"What...happened?" He asks as he looks at his surroundings. It was a green field with snow covering various patches. He turns and see the shuttle, at least the remainder of it.
"The shuttle was hit by some sort of anti-air battery." Saren explained as he unfolded his rifle. "It seems you and I are the only ones to survive the crash."
"Spirits..." Vakira said in a low whisper before turning to his squadmate and taking out his own rifle.
"The shuttles that managed to land are setting up rallying points." Saren says as he brings up his omni-tool. "We're close to one of them, we should move now."
"Right," Vakira nods as he and his squadmate make their way to the capital city of the new species.
Intending to rally with the other Turians and finish what they were here for.
Blanc was furious...NO this went beyond normal levels of rage.
First, a bunch of trigger happy aliens attack one of her ships for no damn reason! Now they dare come here and try to invade Shanxi! One of the worlds under her care!
It just pisses her off! Yet she knew she has to hold it in, she needed to think clearly. Just long enough for her to unleash her rage when she finds the bastards. And make them drown in their own blood!
She stops mid flight and looks above her...
She sees several ships and shuttle like craft coming down from the sky. Shanxi currently didn't have an anti-air system, those ships would land with no trouble. There was no way in hell she's going to let them touch down so easily!
The CPU extends her hand and calls upon her weapon. A bright light appears near her hand and she grabs it, causing the light to physically shatter. In her hands now was a large white and blue axe, with a handle taller than her and a massive glowing bladed end.
She grips tightly on her large axe as it rested on her shoulder, she was ready to tear these assholes ships apart!
"Tch, Gefaehrlichsten!" She holds her clawed hand out, and orbs of pure energy formed in front of her. She swings the flat side of her axe at them, as if she using an over sized baseball bat. She does this a few more times before watching the results.
The orbs had shot from the axe at high speeds, heading directly for several shuttles and ships. The orbs make contact and explode, causing ships and shuttles to fly off course then crash into the ground. Some orbs manage to ricochet into other shuttles, causing them to explode and destroy some of the shuttles.
She looks at the ones that crashed, she could fly down and finished any that survived but that would be a waste of time. Her forces can handle those on the ground, especially since Rom and Ram are down there somewhere. She knows they can handle themselves, besides more were coming and she had to stop it at the source.
If she does that then it's all over...she just has to get their leader's head on a pike!
"Tch, Armor change!" She yells as her axe disappeared and a bright light engulfs her.
When the light vanishes she is left in a new appearance.
Her white swim suit armor is replaced with a blue and black skin tight suit. Her white clawed gantlets are replaced with a larger version that changed from claws to metal fingers. She was now wearing thick white and blue metal boots. Her wings changed from squares to that of an angel's, it was white and spread out with glowing feathers falling from it. The feathers disappear when they fall a certain distance away from her.
On her head was a helmet that was shaped like a cap, with the letter L inscribed into it. The L was in the center of a star with a ring behind it. It was the symbol of her nation. A light blue visor ran down her face to her chin connecting itself with the skin tight suit.
Blanc flexed her fingers checking to see if the form was good. She then extends her hand out in front of her. A bright light appears from her hand and extends quickly. She grabs it and the light shatters revealing a new weapon.
It was an axe around the same size as her first, but the bladed end extended along the handle. It was much heavier than her other axe but that didn't matter.
Blanc grits her teeth as her wings rose high, and she buckled her knees. A ring of energy appears at her feet as she charged up. Finally her wings come down as she pushes the energy back. Propelling herself from zero to supersonic speeds in seconds.
She leaves a trail of feathers in her wake as she moved even faster. A cone of air and fire appear around her as she increased her speed. Within a few seconds she leaves the world of Shanxi and enters zero gravity space.
Forcing her speed to a grinding halt, she stays there motionless and slowly drifting. In the distance she traces of flashing lights but is unable to tell who is who. Fortunately she has something for that...
"Alright, show me where the bastards are..." She slowly says, then her visor hummed to life.
A heads ups display, or HUD, appears before her eyes. It displays her current position on a mini map at the corner of her visor, a communications channel that was currently closed. Even a timer for how long she has left before she needs to return to the planet or enter a ship. Which was an hour and a half, more than enough time for her to tear things up.
This type of technology had appeared along with their new armor in the initial testing of surviving in zero gravity. It boosts their capabilities and awareness of their surroundings. Even able to link and hack into computers when given enough time.
Sadly this tech is only unique to them and cannot be replicated as they had tried and failed numerous times. While they can make something similar, it is no where near as advanced as what it tries to be. Still, this thing was no doubt useful to her and the other goddesses.
Finally after a few seconds of booting up, it scans communications channels then scans for friends and foes. It zooms in on the bright lights in the distance then highlights which is her people and which is needed to be smashed.
Though what she didn't expect was seeing her forces losing! The alien bastards ships are faster and have more numbers! Her forces are being overwhelmed, that just pisses her off even more! She quickly scans the bastard ships seeing which one was the likeliest in command.
Finally her HUD displays a large ship that is watching the fight while taking pock shots at hers. The HUD dubbed it to be dreadnought despite it being only a kilometer long. It's smaller than her advanced cruisers and carriers but larger than the advanced frigates.
The fleet defending Shanxi is only made up of standard cruisers and frigates. That's one of reasons she was here in the first place, she needed to beef up the fleet while the people were focusing on her. It would not only have boosted shares but defenses as well.
Blanc growled as her wings rose high then went down again as she accelerates to high speeds. Heading directly for the ship, right for the bastards heads.
Desolas Arterius watched the battle in front of him as the dreadnought fired another round at an enemy ship.
He had to admit he didn't expect this race to have advanced weaponry, dreadnought sized ships with shields that didn't run on element zero. They initially took loses at that unexpected surprise, but they quickly refocused their strategy.
That was the main reasons he was here and not on the planet's surface. He had to be sure the fleet was in a position of advantage, then head for that planet when the enemy fleet was wiped out.
The new race's ship weaponry fired plasma like bolts but scans showed no trace of the element, it was something else entirely.
These race's ships may be tough as a Krogan but they are slower than an Elcor. Their frigates and cruisers out number and maneuver the enemy's ships, while the armor and shields were holding up. They wither down and are destroyed when taking heavy fire for a period of time. Hence the dreadnought, it shoots at the ships that are vulnerable then the other ships finish it off.
Slowly but surely the battle was in their favor and it would only be a matter of time.
Desolas's mandibles twitched as he remembered the earlier reports. The patrol had encountered this new race in the middle of activating a relay, the patrol followed protocol in stopping them. But what stood out was when after one ship was destroyed the other quickly fled.
But by not a the mass relay, it was still dormant. This ship had used a different means to escape the patrol, it used a wormhole. It somehow created a wormhole on it's own and flew right through it. Of course he initially had doubts on it but after watching the footage that had been recorded by one of the patrol ships. It was all casted aside...
Somehow this race while limited to it's homeworld had developed an alternative form of travel. Or it was in the middle of developing one...then discovered the mass relays. Of course he could only speculate without proper evidence, but if he could find that ship after defeating the new race.
The untold possibilities this could bring, this race's ships weapons, unique shield systems. He could only imagine how the Hierarchy would benefit with such advancements.
"General," One of the crew members reported. "We have an unidentifiable object heading right for us. It's ignoring the fleet, and moving at an alarming speed."
That got the general's attention. That was rather strange...
"...Activate GARDIAN lasers, when this thing gets in range. Shoot it down."
"It'll enter range in three, two, firing. Direct hit-wait it isn't slowing down!"
"What!?" Desolas asked in confusion.
"The laser made successful contact but the object is only increasing speed. It's moving too fast to be a ship or any kind of known missile."
"...Fire consecutive bursts do not let that object reach us." He orders as he started getting an ominous chill up his spine. He forced himself to ignore it and focus on the situation.
"Firing, direct hit...the object isn't stopping! It's going to-"
Those words never finished as the bridge violently shakes as explosions rippled across the nose of the dreadnought. The general could've sworn that he saw something hit the ship before the explosions.
"Report!" Desolas yelled.
"Kinetic barriers offline! We lost several decks, the main gun is off-"
Another shudder occurs when more explosions occur from the nose, heading straight for them. Before he could even react, the explosions stop and something appears in front of the bridge's main window.
Desolas widened his eyes and mandibles as he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
It was something that looked similar to an Asari, it had some sort of suit with metallic gantlets and boots. With a blue tinted visor, there appeared to be feathered wings sticking out of it's back. What stood out was the object it was holding, it was a comically yet dangerous looking over sized axe.
The axe was larger than the thing wielding it, the Asari like thing looked roughly around a hundred and forty-six centimeters in height. The axe was twice that size.
"Spirits...w-what is that...that thing!?" One of the crew voiced his thoughts exactly.
The Asari like thing stared directly at him, it rose it's hand and placed it against the glass. And to his horror and shock the glass actually began to crack from just contact of the hand.
He and the crew watched the thing remove it's hand before placing it on the handle of it's axe. Slowly it drifted back from them before stopping a short distance. It tilts it's head before raising the axe...he swore he saw a crimson orb under it's visor.
Fear gripped Desolas as he knew what was going to happen!
"Seal the blast doors!" He yells as he forced himself out of his shocked state. "Do it n-"
He never finished that sentence as the axe was brought down and nothing but cold raw fear gripped him. Then nothing else...
Guild agent Alison Shepard was having a rather unique day.
"Two more bird brains on the right!" Her partner, IF, yells as she reloads her pistol.
"On it!" She yells as she brings and fires four rounds. The first two hit the closest bird brain, striking the chest and the head. The other two hit the second bird brain in the leg and in the shoulder area. She fires another round into it's head before it can get a shot out with it's rifle.
"Two more down for the count..." She says as she lets out a breath. "That clears up this part, where to next Iffy?"
Her friend and partner Iffy or IF, was a young woman with long brown hair and emerald colored eyes. She was wearing an over sized blue and black jacket, with a black tank top and short shorts underneath it. Around her waist was a belt with nine different colored cellphone straps on it. There was also leaf green hair piece in her hair.
"There are several squads engaging the bird brains," Iffy says as she pulls out a pink cellphone and looks through it. "Some agents are taking out those that get close to any shelters. But looks like their main forces are pushing for the Basilicom."
"Makes sense," Shepard says as she reloads her rifle. "Biggest building in the city, good position, and current command center. They're smart I'll give them that."
The two are agents of the guild and where in Shanxi's guild branch when the alert was put out.
Mandatory emergency quests were assigned to many agents to defend Shanxi. Others where assigned to the military and the rest are protecting the shelters.
Their quest was simple, find and take out as much of the invading force as possible. By either non-lethal or lethal means while helping soldiers or any other agents, there was small bonus if they managed to capture any of the bird brain's that looked like officers alive.
Bird brains, that was more or less the name given for the unknown alien species that was attacking them. Since they looked somewhat like birds, at least the ones whose heads haven't been blown off. Still despite their given name choice, they are clever bastards, using more than standard military tactics to fight them.
A number of Lowee soldiers had died in the initial assault before the guild agents manage to provide relief.
"A Lowee squad is requesting assistance." IF says as she puts the phone away then takes out her pistol. "They're close by and are dealing with a couple of bird brain squads. Come on Shep."
"Right," Shepard follows her partner through the city streets.
For a short time they pressed onward, carefully moving through the city streets. On the look out for the enemy, so they wouldn't be ambushed or shot by a sniper.
Finally they arrive to the sounds of gunfire, those of the familiar Lowee weapons and the other sounds of the bird brain weapons. They turn a corner and immediately get into cover as they started getting shot at.
Shepard glances out before hiding into cover when shots were taking at her.
"The Lowee squad are in the building in front of us. Bird Brains are trying to get in, several providing cover fire, for the ones that are trying to get in."
"What kind of building is it?"
Shepard peers out one more time before hiding again.
"Building is large and a good defensive position. Bird Brains seemed fixated on the building, think they want the building for themselves. Make a good outpost..."
"Can't let them have it." IF says as she pulls the hammer back on her pistol.
"Cover and flank?"
"Cover and flank." IF nods as she shifted. "Ready?"
Shepard pulls out a flash bang and throws it over their cover.
As soon as it exploded her partner dashes from their cover. At the same time Alison brings out her rifle and fires at the bird brains. She aims for several bird brains that seemed affected by the flash bang. Then shoots one that was trying to hit her partner before getting back into cover.
She heard several shots from her partner's pistol and grunts from the bird brains. Once more she pulls out her rifle, then aims and shoots at a wounded bird brain.
Her partner dashed out of cover and goes for a bird brain with her katars. The bird brain was in the middle reloading it's rifle when it drops it and orange gantlets appear on it's arms. Orange blades popped right out of them and blocked IF's strike.
IF was pushed back but she held up against the bird brain. Sparks appeared from the connected blades as one tried to overpower the other. Finally IF jumps back and narrowly avoids the blades, she quickly presses on the alien with a rapid series of strikes. She suddenly appears right behind the alien as numerous cuts and gashes appear on it's skin and armor.
The bird brain fell dead to the ground, as IF sliced her blades in the air to get rid of the blue blood of the alien.
Her partner lets out a breath as she puts away her katars.
"Well that went well," Shepard exits her cover and jogs up to her. "Didn't think the bird brains had melee weapons."
IF glanced at the dead bird before looking back. "Yeah it surprised me for a second. Come on the squad should be in there."
With a nod the two move towards the building.
The door in front of them and out steps a Lowee soldier with a rifle in her hands.
"Are you two agents?" She asks. The two nodded as the soldier let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank White Heart, I thought we were finished." The soldier turns to the building. "Bring him out."
The sounds of shuffling and grunts were heard as a cuffed bird brain was being pushed out with an end of a rifle.
"You guys caught a bird brain?" IF asked surprised by the sight.
"Explains why the others seemed fixated on the building." Shepard says as the bird brain fell to it's knees? It stared at it's comrades and it seemed like there was shock on it's face. At least from it looks like...
"This one was commanding a squad when we ambushed them." The soldier explains as another picks up the bird brain. "Don't know if he's a sargeant or captain or whatever is the equivalent. Or even a guy at all, we're just calling him that for simplicity."
"Guess we'll see when we take the bird brain back," IF says as she pulls out and reloads her pistol. "Can you move?"
The soldier nodded while the other ones did the same. It was a total of four...small but it'll make it easier for them to travel.
"Alright then we'll call for a pick up," IF pulls out one of her phones and places it to her ear. "Hello? Yes, this is Guild Agent IF speaking, requesting priority pick up. We have an alien that's likely an enemy officer. Yes that's what I said...understood. We'll make our way there..."
She hangs up and put the phone away. "The guild wants us to set up a rally point in a nearby area and await pick up. Turns out this one isn't the first to be captured."
"Huh, that's good to know," Shepard sighed, "Still mobile defense missions are a pain..."
"They are but we gotta do it," She stares at the bird brain. "Has he tried anything?"
"No surprisingly he's been cooperative," The soldier says. "Even when his buddies tried coming for him."
"Works for me...but might as well keep an eye on him." Shepard says as IF motions them to follow.
Vakira watched several other turians move out and go into the streets.
They had managed to rally with a few other squads and were slowly trying to reach the large building. The higher ups believe it to be the enemy's command center and they have been fighting hard to defend it. It was going well as they kept the pressure on their soldiers until those strange looking ones had shown up.
The new species surprising look like Asari but had different colored skins and fur on their heads. The soldiers were easily recognized since they had white uniforms that more or less looked the same. They used chemically powered weapons, primitive but can still be a problem if taken lightly. There were some other ones that had some sort of large hat. But he didn't know what they were as they were killed before they could take action...
Still it didn't compare to the other ones that suddenly appeared on the battlefield. These ones manage to stall their progress and were turning the tides in several places.
The new comers had various colored clothes and were vastly different than the soldier ones. They moved much faster and were able to shoot at them with a more advanced form of their primitive weaponry. They were quite agile, being able to sprint real fast and even able to scale the buildings around them. Setting up various ambush points, slowing them down to a grinding halt.
For some reason they had melee weapons, actual metallic melee weapons they used along with their fire arms. Some were even a hybrid of melee and firearm.
Vakira was surprised by the diversity of weapons being used. He remembers hearing other squads dealing with ones that wield various swords, spears, bows and giant hammers. But the unique ones stuck to his mind.
He remembers seeing a scythe that was somehow shooting at them from a far distance. Another was one that had gauntlets that fired shotgun like blasts while actually using a shotgun. Third was some kind of pistol that had a sword fused with it, it's blade was vertical and it's wielder was hard to hit.
Finally was one he would never forget, it was one with some kind of megaphone and literally shouted shock waves at them. He never heard such horrible screeching in his life. It's something that would give a krogan nightmares.
He had wondered briefly that if their reinforcements hadn't arrived and one those new comers hadn't been hit by a one of their snipers. Forcing the others to take the injured one and retreat...would he have-
"Vakira it's time to move." His squadmate Saren broke his train of thought. "Our team is using a different route. We're going to flank the enemy."
The turian nodded as he and Saren followed after their squad members.
"Because of that anti-air battery, most of our shuttles had crashed." His squadmate slowly says as they paced through the streets. "And our ships were forced to stay back for a time, with communications spotty and the bulk of the fleet engaging the enemies. But since they aren't using their anti-air..."
"Reinforcements are on the way," He finishes. "We were forced to advance with just ground troops."
"Yes," Saren nodded his head. "We'll be getting actual armor, with the support from the ground transports, tanks and the mantis gunships. The battle will turn to our favor..."
"Yes, but something feels off..."
"What do you mean?"
Vakira shook his head, "So far we've just been fighting ground troops, but no enemy armor. Strange you'd at least expect some primitive type of vehicle."
"That...is true," Saren slowly says. "Other than those strange yet admittedly effective units. We haven't come across something that tries to stop us."
"Something isn't right about this, there is something we're missing."
"Whatever it is, I doubt it would cause us much trouble. As we will win and punish this race for it's foolishness."
"Yes..." Was all Vakira could say as they turned a corner.
Still, there was this gnawing feeling in him that something wasn't right. He couldn't even begin to explain why...
Fracias Vakira kept pace with his fellow turians, slowly getting into position.
Blanc's mood actually improved somewhat, if you count destroying the bastard's largest ship as a way to vent some anger.
It was pretty easy to get close to the damn thing. Those lasers were annoying but they didn't even scratch her.
After destroying the dreadnought and likely ended all those on it she flew off to the engaging ships. Where she started hacking and smashing ships that weren't hers. It caused them to become chaotic and very disorganized.
Which helped her ships rally together and take the offensive. The bastards were still fast, but those that tried to get close were hacked apart by Blanc. She didn't even put much force into her swings, the smaller ones were a lot weaker than their sorry excuse for a dreadnought.
"Tanzerin...Trombe!" She yells as she rabidly spins with her axe, smashing right into a ship and causing it to explode.
She flies through the debris and looks at the battlefield. There still were a lot of ships despite the bastards heavy loses. She took loses as well but now with her intervention that isn't a problem.
"Doesn't matter how many are left..." She slowly says as she gripped her axe. "I'm going to-"
Her HUD blared red as it shows her massive energy spikes, coming from some distance away from the battlefield. Seconds later three massive portals appeared and three large ships come out of them.
Blanc narrowed her eyes as the HUD zooms in on the ships.
The ships were large and sleek, two were green and each were around seven kilometers long. The third one was pitch black only about three kilometers long, was much more sleek and edgy than the green ones.
The HUD display the symbols that were painted on the sides on the ships. The one for the green ships had a line and a spear crossed together forming an X. The other had a box in a angle with the letters LS in it.
Blanc growled as she looked at the symbol that had the X. The green ships were that of Leanbox while the black one was that of Lastation.
The Lastation ship broke off from the Leanbox pair and then suddenly disappeared from her view. It became camouflaged, actual visual camouflage. It must've been one of those stealth ships Black Heart was so proud of.
"Ara, ara, it seems we missed the initial raid." A familiar voice echos in Blanc's ears. The HUD had accepted a call and was connected to one of the Leanbox ships.
It displays a picture of a blond and green eyed woman with a smug like smile on her face. It was voice and face of CPU Green Heart, otherwise known as Vert.
"What the hell do you want Thunder tits!?" Blanc yells as she throws her axe at a nearby enemy ship. The axe breaks the ship apart before it curves back to her. "I'm busy!"
"Lowee's GA initiative code was activated," Vert explains. "As stated in the agreement all those years ago, all the nations are to ban together and help each other. I'm merely fulfilling my part."
"Tch," Blanc grabs her axe as it came back to her. She was shot in the back by a few of the enemy fighters. She growled as she chased after them.
"Though that can be discussed later," Vert continues. "Uni was close by and decided to respond to the activation. She's currently headed to support your troops in Shanxi. How sloppy of you to leave those pesky ships orbiting your planet."
"Tch, shut the hell up!" Blanc slashes at a fighter that went in her path, it breaks apart and explodes. She holds her axe out then spins and slashes a ship.
"But it's a shame what happened in the report transmitted to me by your general." Vert tone became serious. "To attack unprovoked and then invade a planet with seemingly no cause. It's simply unforgivable..."
"My ships will provide assistance to yours while Uni's will help your troops on Shanxi." The CPU says as Blanc smashed another fighter. "We'll take some ships captive for later study and interrogate any surviving crew members. Do you object?"
"Don't care, just don't get in my way!"
"Good, talk to you later Blanc."
Shepard cursed as she ducked to avoid getting her head blown off.
"Dammit, they have an armored transport!" Her partner yelled as she reloaded her pistol.
They had arrived at the rally point, which was a building in the center of a large street. They were immediately ambushed after getting into the building. They hastily set up what defenses they could before firing at the bird brains.
The captured one was put in a closet before being blocked with a table. To protect both them and itself.
"Can you use your demonic inferno or any other skill?" She asked as she fired at a few of the bird brains.
"Yeah, but I need a second to concentrate!" IF yells as she fires a couple of rounds. "Cover me!"
"You heard the lady!" Shepard yells to the Lowee soldiers. "Cover fire!"
The soldiers nodded before firing at the armored transport, gaining it's attention.
"Now IF!" Shepard yells as her partner's hand started to glow.
"Demon Flames!" IF yells as she threw up her hand.
Exploding fireballs happen around the base of the armored transport before it becomes engulfed in a pillar of flames. The force of the pillar actually launches the vehicle into the air and onto it's side. Some of the bird brains looked at the transport before going back to firing at them.
"Phew..." IF moved back into cover and took a few breathes. "That takes care of that..."
"Still more bird brains to go." Shepard states as she reloads her rifle then aims and shoots.
A few minutes later most of the bird brains were dead and few that survived actually fled.
"Ammo check, how much you got left?" IF asks the soldiers.
"Five clips."
"Three left."
"Four."
"Two."
The guild agent nodded as she checked her pistol. "I only got three clips left. Shep?"
"A couple left." Shepard says as she inspected her rifle. "We'd be in a tight spot if we ran out now."
IF sighed as she pulled out a cell phone. "What's taking that pick up so long?"
"Incoming!" One of the soldiers yelled as they stare ahead with their binoculars. "Ahead of us! Some kind of aerial vehicle!"
"Tch," Shepard looked at the approaching vehicle. It looked like some type of attack chopper and was shaped like some kind of insect. With two thrusters on the wings, and guns on the front.
"Take cover!" IF yells as it opens fire on them. Several missiles are launched from it, some hit the various parts of the building while one hit very close to them.
"Ack!" One of the soldiers screamed in pain as she is dragged into cover. Her fellow comrades move to treat the wound.
"Dammit," Shepard gritted her teeth as she took pock shots at the thing. The rounds connect but it quickly moves to shoot at her.
"Keep it's focus divided!" IF yells as she fires a few rounds from her pistol. The vehicle turned and shot a missile at her.
"IF!" Shepard yelled as the missile hits right above her partner.
IF screamed as she was forced to the ground, she was alive but there was a nasty cut on her forehead.
"Crap," Shepard shot at the thing again. "This is really bad."
Before the situation could get any worse...something unexpected happens.
"The dashing heroine appears in a time of crisis!" She hears a voice say despite the loud shooting, for some reason it sound as if it were above...
"JUSTICE KICK!" A blueish blur falls from the sky and slams into the aerial vehicle. The vehicle is launched a short distance away before it crashed and exploded.
The bluish blur lands in front of them, revealing a girl doing some sort of pose.
She had dark blue eyes and matching colored hair. The girl was wearing a revealing black body suit with the zipper just below the belly button. Large grey cuffed gloves and matching boots on her hands and feet. There were bandages worn around her chest, along with a red scarf around her neck. There was some sort of winged penguin like backpack strap to her back. And finally a gold pouch strapped to her leg and a pair of goggles in her hair.
"W-what..." Was all Shepard could say as she stared at the girl. "Did you just fall from the sky!?"
The girl turned toward Shepard, "Oh, hello there. Name's Nisa! Gamindustri Heroine of Justice!"
"Right...heroine..." Shepard deadpanned, before remembering about her partner. "IF!"
She moves past the so called heroine and helps her partner up. "You alright there Iffy?"
IF groaned as she tried to stand but stumbles a little.
"Here drink some Nepbull." Shepard pulls out a bottle of said liquid and helps IF drink it.
After a few seconds the nasty cut begins to close and disappear. There was still some blood but her partner will be fine.
"Goddess dammit Nisa!" They turn to see half a young man floating in the air. "How many times do I have to tell you not to jump off the damn shuttle!"
"Heh," Nisa rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry Kaiden."
"Sorry my," The young man noticed the wounded Lowee soldier. "Decloak the shuttle, we got wounded!"
The air around the man moved in a strange pattern until suddenly a black shuttle appears in front of them. The shuttle lowers it's altitude before the man jumps out and lands in front of them.
As he did that the shuttle fully opens it doors and two soldiers in black jump out then move to the injured soldier.
Shepard noticed the insignia on their shoulders and her eyes widened.
"Lastation's N7 special forces?" She says as the soldiers helped the injured solider. "Does that also mean Lady Black Heart herself is here?"
"No but her sister is present," The man said as he looked at her. "Fan of ours?"
"No, my little brother and his friend are serving our fair lady." She said as she held out her hand. "Alison Shepard, guild agent."
"Kaiden Alenko, N7 special forces as you can obviously tell." The young man says as he takes her hand and shakes it. "My flattering friend here is Nisa and she's a guild agent."
"OI, don't call me flat!" Said person yelled, for some reason Shepard swore her eyes turned red for a brief second.
"I said flattering not the other thing." Kaiden rolled his eyes.
"If Lastation forces are here..." IF speaks as she wiped the blood from her forehead. "Then that means the-"
"GA initiative has activated," Kaiden confirms. "After cleaning things up here, the goddesses will soon form an official alliance."
"Excuse me," One of the Lowee soldiers approached Nisa. "Thank you for saving us."
"It isn't a problem for a heroine of justice." Nisa beamed. "Though may I ask what are you doing-"
"We have a bird brain prisoner," Shepard says as she gains the confused stare of the self proclaimed heroine. "I mean, we have an alien prisoner that's likely an officer. It's in the closet down the hall, it's blocked by a table. As ridiculous as that sounds it's definitely there."
"Right," Kaiden nodded as he motioned the two soldiers to go down the hall.
"OI, check that out!" One of the Lowee soldiers pointed to the sky.
Shepard turns and widened her eyes as she stared at an incredible sight.
It was a three kilometer long Lastation ship, hovering right over the city. There were numerous sized ships and shuttles flying from it and landing in various parts of the city.
"Oh," Kaiden simply looks up at the ship. "If the Exalted EVA is here and decloaked then that means the enemy fleet orbiting Shanxi has been taken out."
"Exalted EVA," Shepard says as she stared at the ship in awe. It was Black Sister's personal assault ship, she'd only seen it in vids and pics on the extranet.
"Sir," They turn to see the bird brain prisoner being escorted by the two soldiers. "Prisoner is secure and cooperative."
The bird brain looks up and appears to be shocked by the Exalted EVA. It makes some kind of sounds from it's mouth before staring at them. It's mandible like appendages where wide apart...
"Well then time to exfil," Kaiden says as the alien was being put into the shuttle. "Lucky for you our mission is to find any Lowee and guild personal in need of assistance and extraction. That's why it's just me and three others. Shuttle has room for all of you."
"Right," Shepard says as she looks at her partner. "Guess we're getting that bonus."
IF said nothing as she just simply pulled out her cellphone and hopped into the shuttle.
"Wait up, Iffy!" Shepard hops in after her. "At least let me take the window seat."
After a minute of getting everyone in the shuttle, it flies away from the wrecked building and towards the basilicom.
"Saren we have to go!" Vakira yelled as he pulled on his squadmate's arm. "Most of our forces have been either wiped out or captured. Any squads that are left are falling back!"
"They...killed my brother..." Saren slowly says as he stared at the three kilometer long dreadnought above them. "The dreadnought...was destroyed...they killed him..."
The new ship appeared as soon as word got around that their fleet had been destroyed by new unknown enemy ships. Ones vastly different in design than the ones they were fighting, it was devastating and shocking.
Vakira had briefly wondered if it was another species that has come to the defense of the ones they were currently fighting. But he put those thoughts aside as orders came in to fall back from the city. So they would set up resistance against the two? new species. And await eventual rescue by the Hierarchy, or even Citadel Forces if it comes to that.
But he has to get his squadmate to move else they be captured or killed.
"Saren, we must go now." Vakira said as he tugged his arm. "We have to await reinforcements from the Hierarchy or from the council themselves. Then your brother can be avenged..."
"Avenged...yes..." Saren looked down then nodded after a few seconds. "Let's move..."
His squadmate moves past him and towards a direction leading outside of the city.
...
And thus ended the first engagement of the First Contact War. Casualties for the Lowee forces were estimated to be under a few hundred, while the Turians experienced numbers much higher.
The first engagement was but a stepping stone to the events to come.
For the CPUs, will not be so forgiving for the Turian's actions...
A/N: That was a rather long chapter...was thinking of making it two parts but decided to go with a long one.
Anyway, hopefully that was a decent chapter. Hopefully the characters are done well enough...
I'll be honest about the Turians not getting immediately curbed stomped.
To be a hundred percent honest, I wanted to give the Turians a 'fair' chance. Even though as soon as Blanc went HDD and changed her armor, it was an inevitable loss for the Turians. Seriously any of the CPUs that used HDD become really strong, and their strength can be determined by the number of shares they have.
And since they have ascended and colonized various worlds and moons. Yeah, they have gained an insane number of shares...which makes them really overpowered.
In case anyone figured it out, yes Blanc's armor changed form has inspirations from her NEXT form in Victory Two. Most of the CPUs will have some aspects of the NEXT forms, but they will have some originality. And of course the candidates will have such forms as well, can't let their sisters have all the fun now can they?
As said in the previous chapter, read, review, or find or make a better story than this one. Tis your choice...
-Raiden312
jmspikey: As hilarious as it would be, it wouldn't be fun for some of CPUs. Specifically that of Plutia in HDD form...I will not dare say more.
Logitech0: Here's another chapter, hope you enjoy it.
Gilgamesh The King of Heroes: Thank you and I hope I do not disappoint.
forlorn hope11: Thank you, hope that I do not disappoint.
Guest: The reactions to the Citadel races and the Citadel's reaction will come soon. Even the Hanar...
Kuro-tan: Well there may be times were Neptune and her sister(s) will have their own little spotlight.
PocketDuelMonsters: Yes, humanity is a 'bit' OP, even though it wasn't showed in this chapter. Still rather interesting idea of powering ships with share crystals...
On Green Heart/Vert not having a sister of her own, it wouldn't feel right to add an OC sister. At least as of right now, but not sure if chapters would bear such a possibility. Also it's a bit of a running gag in the Neptunia series for Vert not to have a sister.
As for the tech from other games and anime. Neptunia has been known for making references to various anime and games, so it likely possible for such things to exist in this fic as well.
Pocket: Whoa, that was rather dark and interesting idea...
If only I'd actually thought of something like that, though I don't want to any of the CPUs to feel that kind of pain even if it's an OC. Plus the Turian's probably didn't suffer that much...anyway thanks for the sharing of that idea.
Twas rather unique...
