Review responses
Warmaster Tzeentch- I agree totally, after all the point of a space battle is to secure an objective, usually a planet. One you're there all fancy dodging achieves is allows gaps in your formation and take you away from the objective. A slow implacable navy allow for advances to be uniform and defense absolute. The compromise is hit and run tactics of the enemy will cause damage in transit.
mr I hate znt nobles kill em- I think that I might use interaction of electric fields to allow humanity to form co-operative shielding. This would also justify the slow nature of human ships as these shields would be incredibly powerful making mass effect weaponry ineffective. And what does the "znt" mean?
Garm88- Psykers don't develop till much later in human history. Lasers are limited by the dispersion of light, don't worry I'm working on it. Personally I'm going to leverage the fact that humanity hasn't signed the citadel accords in combination with the Kasrkin ruthlessness. After all what good are puny primitive light shows against a million tonne asteroid sent at your planet. I'm actually planning on making this standard doctrine. Blow defence to hell from orbit, then land on the rubble.
Lost Guy- wouldn't it be ironic if the emperor was Australian. As I recall the jury is out on whether it's the San (bushmen) of South Africa or the Australian Aborigines that are the oldest race of humanity. So that might be one way, in terms of the Kasrkin, nations ceased to matter a long time ago. And despite being an Aussie, I have no clue how and not desire to, write that dammed stereotypical accent. So Queens English all the way here.
Tel Janin Aman- I agree with the losses of joining the citadel, though there might be advances in the mass effect tech. But then I realized I had the Kasrkin tool all their science to make the mass effect obsolete. All humans use it for is FTL and the relays. And like I mentioned above it would involve signing the citadel accords which goes against what I'm planning for humanity. Thanks for the advice on space battles.
He stirred, returning from his meditation, eyes glancing from monitor to monitor. His choices were many, but his options were few, as it stood he had millennia of experience but little else. He had grown idle, lulled by humanities successes and trusting the ferocity of the Kasrkin. They had not failed him, but they had not succeeded either. He needed resources and a cause, a banner for humanity to flock to. For the first time in ages he contemplated direct action, not since the age of Rome had he interfered, content to let his race develop, he had fought. But never ruled, never influenced and never commanded. That time appeared to be over, it was time for it all to change, time for the prodigious might that was the human war machine to wake. It would take decades, but humanity would be strong, all that remained was a banner. A symbol for humanity to flock to, a flash in the corner, his shield from Troy, its symbol igniting a thought process. Yes a Cerberus would do well, the military, scientific and economic might of humanity with a body to support it, Cerberus would be the name, humanities many headed guard. It was time for humanities immortal protector to act, humanity would not fail, and we will not fade.
The council was in an uproar on a scale not seen since the Geth uprising. The might of the Turians forced back, this was an unprecedented event and dangerously reminiscent of first contact with the Rachni.
"I propose that we send a diplomatic team through the relay, peaceful relations with this race will benefit all in citadel space, and the Turians have lost nothing that can't be forgiven," Councillor Tevos stated breezily, completely ignoring the realities of the situation presented to her. The slaughter on prisoners and the destruction of nearly an entire Turian fleet "reparations will be made of course but it was nothing but a minor incident,"
"They slaughtered Turian prisoners, employed never before seen technology, and killed our crews without damaging the ships." Roared the Turian councillor " the Hierarchy will not let this go un-avenged, we will crush them, these savages will bleed,"
"Interesting their technology is, superior to ours, an advantage for them," the hyper speech of the Salarian councillor seeming out of place in the aggression charged meeting.
"yes yes Valern, and while I'm sure there is pain on both sides as our esteemed Salarian colleague pointed out, they have technology we have never seen before and that in of itself is well worth the cost of accepting them." Tevos aired
"There will be…"
"There will be NOTHING done without my consent Turian. You forget your place, it was the Asari who found the citadel and together with the Salarians founded the council. We led an era of peace and prosperity before the Rachni. It was us who uplifted and armed the Krogan and it was us who developed the genophage. You merely deployed it, your species always has and always will be a vessel for the councils will." Raged Tevos, the Salarian councillor looking more and more uncomfortable as it wen on. " Learn your place councillor, and that of your people. You have a vote but you are one of three, any attempt for revenge will result in sanctions, am I clear?"
Valern paled, the vast fleet of the Hierarchy strained their economy, any sanctions would be ruinous. As always economic realities precluded any political or social movements, in this case revenge.
The Conclave of humanity, made up of a representative of all the worlds, a Kasrkin representative, the grand admiral, the head of the scientific advancement, the chief justice and the elected president of the Alliance prepared for their decision.
"It is clear that while we performed well on the ground, our weaponries vulnerabilities easily exploitable by the enemy in future engagements." The Kasrkin representative worried.
"True, but we have allocated additional funding to the military sciences division to compensate for this." The president reminded him, " What do the fleets need admiral?"
"Quite frankly, I need better men, but I'm not going to get that so I'll settle for the Thunderhead contingency,"
"Better men?"
"Perhaps more experienced would be a better way of saying it, at the moment we lack experience at space combat and an effective doctrine. The Thunderhead contingency should compensate for our men's inexperience and lay the foundations of a new doctrine we're cooking up."
"But that contingency is ludicrously expensive," chided the representative for Asthos. "We need that money for planetary defences,"
"Defences only defend one world, fleets defend many," the Kasrkin reminded
"Our fleet struggled to defend one," Chimed in the representative from Shanxi.
"So give me Thunderhead, within 6 months our fleet will have quadrupled in size, and with the technology we are developing as well as the stuff we reverse engineered from the Turians it will be at least twice as advanced as well." The Admiral borderline pleaded.
"I agree, significant advances have been made, but cost restraints have mitigated them. Thunderhead will allow us to release that constraint." The scientific advisory stated, his enthusiasm barely restrained "in fact, advances in the field of Quantum…"
"As soon as you hear the 'Q' word you know its time to move on, I thought I banned it in my office," laughed the president, then his voice took on a more serious note "next, what do we do when they return?"
"The only thing we can, play for time, and hope Thunderhead is ready before they are. I'm already deploying the 6th, 15th and 38th in support so ground forces are taken care of." The Kasrkin responded "I would deploy more but we have to reinforce the other worlds as well, however the regiments deployed o Shanxi have just returned from the Janus insurrections so they're veterans and are eager to kill something either in a uniform or not human. This satisfies both needs.
"You deployed those butchers to my home" the representative of Shanxi squeaked in fear.
"They were the only unattached regiments near the 4th fleet. Besides, the Janus insurrections were fuelled by governmental corruption, and you're not corrupt are you?"
"N, n, n, no" was the stuttered response.
"Then you have nothing to worry about, and these men are hard, I doubt that even the 1st could beat them with their current mind set."
A long moment of contemplation as the President came to his decisions.
"I'm approving the Thunderhead contingency, our planetary defences are based on the same technology as our fleets, and will be useless against this enemy. Don't let me down admiral." The President turned to the Kasrkin representative. "Keep you're boys in line Mark"
"Will do Sir."
"Now, what do we do with Williams?" The president addressed the next sensitive topic. One he was not looking forward to.
A/N sorry about all the politics in this paragraph, but its setting the stage for the 'awakening' of humanity. Cerberus is going to be little different in this fic. Much less focused on indoctrination for one. Thought the biotic death camps will most likely happen, I highly doubt the emperor would let the aliens have such a significant advantage. The next chapter will see the beginning of alien human relations and the explanation of the Thunderhead contingency.
A/N/2- not many changes when edited, just a bit more depth on the regiments deployed and a few contextual changes. Also changed the contingency name to avoid copyright infringement. I really respect the author who came up with the original Cheyenne class cruiser and had forgotten where the name came from so I changed it to something more original and oddly more fitting.
