Serpent Nebula/Widow

The Citadel

Huerta Memorial Hospital

37 hours after the battle…

General Adrian Victus was sitting in the Hospital within the room of Desolas Arterius along with his brother SPECTRE Saren Arterius. Victus wished to know what happened to his son, and Saren explained to him what he had witnessed behind the relay—of the skirmish that took place on the planet, and the destruction of the fleet. He asked for the estimated time for recovery, but the doctors told him it that could be several days before he was conscious again.

Outside the room, he could hear the cries and screams of solders that have suffered wounds the likes of which the staff had never seen before; some had plasma burns that had broiled flesh off the bone, while others were peppered with gruesome wounds caused by chemical-propelled slugs that penetrated their armor! The few that had little are no injures reported to command to give their report on what had occurred—General Corinthus, the Turian that ordered the attack on the unknown species just because they had opened a dormant Mass Relay, was nowhere to be found. And despite their larger numbers, they were still pushed back and defeated having only 4 of their 15 ships left. What made the day worse for the good General was the fact that he was summoned by the Citadel Council to give his report. In general, Victus never cheered for someone going to face the Councilors, but this was an exception; if anything, he was hoping that that moron would suffer badly for what had occurred.

After some time, Victus sent a request for a transport for Palaven to speak with command on what was to be done with the situation at hand. The second he stepped out the door of the hospital, C-sec had met him at the bottom of the stairs with orders from the Council, wishing to hear his report on what had transpired at was now beginning to be called the "Relay 314 Incident".

Wishing not to delay them, he headed for the Presidium Tower. As he neared the central platform were the Council convened, he could hear them speaking to Corinthus about the action he just taken. "Your heavy-handed actions have just started a war with not only a new species, but a technologically advanced one at that!" Listening in on the conversation, he knew that the voice he just heard belonged the Asari Councilor Tevos.

"A war? My actions were compliant with Citadel law!" shot back Corinthus, "And we were obligated to punish an ignorant race for breaking said law! Besides they only had a few ships around their homeworld, how can they pose a threat to us?"

This time, it was the Salarian Councilor Valern's turn to speak. Victus was not an expert on reading Salarian expressions and body language, but it was clear to him that the councilor was not happy from his tone of voice. In fact, he could tell that the councilor was barely biting back the utter hatred in his words. "Be that as it may, this race has technology that outstrips most, if not all of ours! And if that weren't bad enough, you've compounded the error by leaving a door wide open to one of our colonies—who is to say that they won't be coming through that relay looking for revenge on the account of your stupidity?"

Before Courinthus could say another word, the Turian Councilor Sparatus beat him to the punch. "And due to your actions, you are being stripped of your rank and discharged from the Turian military! General Adrian Victus will be taking over your position."

He could not believe this! Corinthus was speechless, and Victus was shocked by this turn of events. After this was done, Courinthus stormed out of the council chambers while Victus stood in front of the council still stunned at what just happened. Sparatus chose this moment to speak. "To prevent this crisis from escalating any further, and prevnt this from turning into another Rachni Wars, we are sending in a diplomatic team to negotiate with the aliens."

As he took in this bit of information from the Turian councilor, Victus knew that this would be his chance to clean this mess up before it got any worse. "What would you have me do Councilors?"

"Due to your firsthand experience with the race, were are sending you with a team along with several of our brightest minds," began Councilor Valern, picking up a data pad for the list, "the team will include Liara T`Soni, Mordin Solus, and a Quarian named Tali `Zorah, along with several others. "

"Your actions will define what is to happen after second contact with them," added Tevos. Sparatus was about to speak up, but was interrupted by one of the officers in the chambers that handed him a data pad—once he read the contents of the message, his face had paled and melted into horror. "The diplomatic team will have to wait; a portal near the colony Macedyn just went dark, but STG teams near the colony were able to get the coms and video of what happened." He flicked his Omni-tool on to play the footage on a holographic screen.

As the holographic screen flickered into existence, the footage showed the Macedyn defense fleet moving to intercept an unknown ship. As the footage continued to play, the councilors were shocked at what happened next; from the area which would be designated as the hanger on the ship suddenly opened on the left and right sides, and from them came an object that was about the size of a fighter. The fighter-sized object moved in front of the unknown and appeared to interlock with each other forming a barrier-like shield in front of the ship while the others flew next to it. The captain of the Turian fleet ordered his ships to fire on the swarm and the unknown ship, only to be stunned to silence as the disruptor torpedoes and mass-accelerated cannons were stopped by the shields of the swarm that surrounded the ship. As they draw near, the ones flying on sides began to glow bright before unleashing multiple gold-colored beams; the first hit cut the frigates to pieces. What shocked everyone the most was that the beams not only went though their kinetic barriers, but the beams were able to go though multiple ships without any decrease in speed whatsoever.

The general ordered the last of the three frigates, the six cruisers, and one dreadnought the to fall back to the colony to warn the Council of the incoming attack, before his dreadnought, along with the 3 cruisers tried desperately to slow down the swarm and the ship. But as they fired on them, the ones on the side begin to interlock into a long tube-like structure and moved in front of his ship to begin charging a massive beam in the center. The last bit of the video showed the ships beginning to vaporize.

After seeing the footage of what had transpired on Macedyn, the sound of arguments began to fill the chambers over the course of action to be taken. "ENOUGH! ORDER!" shouted Tevos, getting everyone's attention, "We must calm down. We need to think over our next course of action before it is too late! We still have the diplomatic teams in assembly, we can end this crisis peac-"

"And let them march on over to our doorstep unopposed?" asked Sparatus, clearly angered at the idea, "No, I have a suspicion this is a retaliatory attack made on our borders. I say we intercept the unknowns, and we repel them back to their side of the relay!"

"For once, I agree with Sparatus," added Valern, "while I wish for there to be a peaceful resolution to this situation, the fact remains that we are dealing with an invasion. Before we can talk of peace, we must first secure our own borders."

Knowing she was beaten on the issue, Tevos' shoulders slumped. There would be war after all.

Beta by Kurogane7