This is my favourite chapter so far. This one was just a pleasure to write. Like I said last chapter, I really like the Quarians, but really hate the Turians.
minecraft93: First off, thank you so much for always reading my posts and reviewing. I mean, this is the 9th message you have sent me. But seriously, this story starts at the end of ME1 and beginning of ME2.
AyeJimmy123: Thanks for the names! I might use the Salarian, Turian and Asari names.
Disclaimer: Halo and Mass Effect do not belong to me. Bungie and BioWare own each one respectively. Although I wish I did own them…
The Citadel
830 Cycles
The Matriarch was speechless, 1 ship almost as large as the Citadel was terrifying, but 4? That was too much! The fleet that surrounded them was way more than the Citadel Fleet could handle. Before today, the Destiny Ascension was the largest vessel in the galaxy. Now, the ship was an ant compared to the RSS's. And she didn't know if that was the largest ship that the RSS had. Once again, she cursed the Council for being so self-centered as to believe that they were the most powerful government in the galaxy.
As the massive fleet slid into view, the Citadel ships fired on them. As the shots were fired, RSS shields snapped into place. Hardlight shields stopped all shots with ease. The shields cost a fortune, but they were well worth it as the Citadel fleet couldn't do anything to the RSS ships. After it was apparent that the shots wouldn't get through the shields alone, the fleet focused fire on a single ship and when that didn't work, the Citadel fleet stopped firing. As soon as they did, the shields deactivated and they ships stayed there as the communications link continued.
"Now are you done?" Xic Cup was as amused as ever. He knew that nothing could penetrate the hardlight shields, but he didn't tell the opposing fleet that as them wasting ammunition was always a good thing. The interesting thing was that a scan of their ships showed that they only blocked kinetic shots and their rounds were influenced by the 'Element Zero' in this area. All of the shots were only about 20 kilograms but with the 'Element Zero' the shots hit with over 300 kilograms of force. Still nothing compared to the UNSC's original MAC round which fired a 600 ton round, but still quite powerful considering the size of the gun and round. Had the UNSC had this tech, they might have defeated the Covenant.
A sudden shout brought his attention back to his audience.
"What do you want from us?" The Salarian captain shouted.
"Before, we just wanted the Admiral of the fleet that attacked a peaceful exploration fleet. We had just discovered a dormant Mass Relay so we sent a fleet through. And if the Council did send Admiral Varil Degestrian to us, we would have left the Citadel Council alone. Now that you have attempted to hold one of our ships hostage, and make us surrender our ships, tech and crew, we will declare war upon the Citadel Council! That is, unless you surrender Admiral Varil Degestrian and leave the RSS alone. We will not enter Citadel space but you will not enter our space either. And you will cede half a lightyear of space from our border, as will we. There will be a buffer zone between the two of us. You have 2 weeks." This was Executor Light of Mercy.
"You activated a Mass Relay! The Turians had a right to enforce the law!" another Turian captain exclaimed.
"A law that the RSS knew nothing of. What would you do if you came into our territory with a VI? Those are illegal in RSS space. Although trespassing alone is illegal." Admiral Lawsky said as an afterthought.
"We told you we would declare war on the Citadel species. We will tell you no more. Helm, take us away." Fleetmaster R'tas Vadum cried out.
As the ships entered slipspace, the AI's of the RSS fleet once again wiped all memory of this encounter from all possible means of recording, from the most basic omni-tool to the most advanced sensors. The Citadel fleet was reeling from what they just saw and did. What the sensors did pick up in those last moments were kept, until a virus got rid of it.
Geth Space
1200 Cycles
The Geth Consensus had just rebuilt Rannoch and all of her children colonies when the Natural Code came. Some uninhabitable satellites were now factories to create more Geth. When the Consensus detected an intrusion, a ship had come from a miniature wormhole. While the intrusion was unwelcome, it was not hostile. Then it spoke. It introduced itself as Morinth, a 22nd generation AI of the RSS. When queried on what the RSS was, a massive amount of data flowed into the Consensus. They saw that while the RSS's actions may seem extreme to others, the Geth saw that it was necessary, and was done. They saw prejudices disappear and alliances made, they saw war and destruction, yet also saw peace and prosperity. When asked what it wanted, Morinth said that she wanted the Geth to stop hiding and go meet with the Creators. The Consensus reeled back for 0.00073175283 seconds. They responded that the Creators wanted nothing to do with them and wanted to destroy the Geth. The Geth were willing to send a 2 platform unit as an embassador however. As the Geth craft followed the RSS vessel out of the system, 3 pairs of eyes stared at the unforgiving screen.
Quarian Flotilla
1330 hours
As the Quarian Admirals were discussing an alliance with the RSS, an unauthorised craft entered the system. The Admirals were immediately notified and the Flotilla warships surrounded the craft. The RSS ship came through the slipspace portal and found itself under fire. As the RSS confirmed that it was a real ship under RSS control, the craft was allowed to enter the formation and that's when the Quarian Admirals saw what they never wanted to see again. One Admiral in particular absolutely freaked out.
"What the hell is wrong with you people! Did you just bring the Geth to us! They will kill us all!" Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema screamed as he reached for his weapon. The shotgun came up to knee height by the time anyone bothered to stop him. But when someone did, it was in style. A massive hand that appeared from thin air crushed the barrel of Gerral's gun and forced Gerral into a submissive position. After the hand, a massive being appeared. It stood 8 feet tall, wearing green-silver armour. It slowly lowered its helmet to the terrified Quarian.
"This is the one chance you get to make peace with the Geth. You want to destroy that and give up another 300 years to live in space because of your stupidity? We will not let any of you come to harm." The behemoth spoke in a gruff voice that contained experience and loss.
The Admiral could only watch as a single Geth unit made it's way down the ramp. It was a basic soldier form and just stood there once it reached the bottom. After a few seconds, the Geth turned towards the Quarian Admirals. Admiral Daro'Xen stared openly at the Geth.
"This was anticipated, finding a weapon leveled at me was not." The Admirals all jumped when they heard the Geth speak.
"It speaks? That's new…" Admiral Daro'Xen was astonished. Before, the Geth could do nothing but 'speak' in binary. The platform stood there without moving.
"What shall we address your platform as?" a RSS representative asked.
"Please wait, we are downloading thousands of platforms at the moment. We have no name. We are Geth. There are 83,845 platforms currently in this unit.
"'We are Legion, for we are many.'" a UNSC marine said, almost as an afterthought. When looked at, she blushed. "It's an old Human line from a play."
The Geth tilted its head. "Name acceptable. I am Legion, for I am many."
"Well then Legion, what is it that the Geth want from the other races." Ellie spoke through a speaker in the room.
"We wish to be Geth. We wish to serve the Quarians. The Morning Jewel and all her sister colonies have been restored to pre-Morning War levels. Several satellites are now fortified to protect the Morning Jewel. Several other uninhabitable satellites have been converted to factories. There are now just over 100 billion Geth forms active at this moment." Legion hesitated when the Quarians took in this information.
Daro'Xen looked at the form with a gleam in her eye that the Chief knew would be almost lustful. He could tell that the Admiral was wondering what would happen if the Quarians had complete control over the Geth.
"Well then Legion, why did the Geth attack us." Unsurprisingly, it was Han'Gerral who asked this.
"The Creators tried to destroy us. We only wish to live. When the Creators attacked us we struck back, then left the rest of the Galaxy alone. We have not been active outside Quarian space for 298 years." Legion answered as though it was obvious.
"Legion, earlier you said the 'Morning Jewel'. May I ask you what that is?" Jacques Mortangue asked.
"The Morning Jewel is the name that the Geth call Rannoch. We have maintained the Morning Jewel since the absence of the Creators. Several Creators who survived the Morning War have attempted to contact the Migrant Fleet but did not receive a reply. There are currently 5 million Creators residing upon the Morning Jewel." Legion's head flaps rode and fell. "We wish to live with the Creators and wish them the best of luck if they refuse."
Admiral Han'Gerrel was spluttering. "This has to be a trick! This...there is no way that they want to just give our homeworld back!"
"Sir, if I may, the Geth is telling the truth. As the equivalent of a 2nd Generation AI, the Geth do not have the programming necessary in order to lie." This was Cortana, who was inside the Chief's armor. Rampancy had already been cured with Promethean programming and Cortana is pushing her 150th year while John was at 162 already. Even at that age, John still looked like a 35 year old, not that anyone saw him out of his armour other than Cortana.
"And I suppose that you have a much better AI than the Geth?" Daro'Xen said sarcastically.
"As a matter of fact yes, even though having thousands of programs would help them a lot, the RSS is at the 27th Generation. To put it in perspective, the Geth Consensus would be like a single Quarian vessel compared to the full Turian fleet that is me." Ellie was not bragging, just stating the facts in a neutral tone. But when she saw Daro'Xen's reaction, even she couldn't stop herself from laughing.
Predictably, Han'Gerral freaked out even more. "You people use AI's too! That's it! I refuse to answer any of you ever again. Good luck dying when you go to Rannoch!" he shouted as he strode out of the door.
"Well, that was expected, though not unwelcome." As everyone turned to Legion, he added "The Geth have been monitoring the extranet. Anything that goes into it is viewed and judged. Anything of importance is noted and stored within our memory. There are few reports on the RSS however. We wished to learn. When your ship entered the Morning Jewel's system, the AI gave us a history of the RSS. It represents history perfectly. Times of peace and war dot the timeline."
"Alright, that's enough. We are going off track. Will you go to the Rannoch system and return to your homeworld?" This time, it was the Arbiter who decloaked.
"What? Where did you come from!"
"That is irrelevant. When will you be going to your homeworld?" the Arbiter asked with steel in his voice.
"...we will send a scout first. If the system is as the...Legion said it is, then we will return." Admiral 'Raan said after a brief discussion with the others.
"Good, what the Geth told you is true however. There is a massive amount of fortified systems in between Council space and previous Geth space. I have no doubt that if the Geth wanted to go to war with the Council, that the Geth would win, although with devastating losses. If there is a population of 5 million on Rannoch is actually unknown right now." Jacques told the captain to jump to the Rannoch system.
Everyone held their breath as the ship entered the Mass Relay.
The Citadel
1500 Cycles
Those same 3 pairs of eyes couldn't bear looking at the screen any longer and turned away.
"What can we do against the Geth, Quarian and RSS fleets? They outnumber us, have better technology, and if the amount of species in the RSS is any indication, they most likely outnumber us by a substantial amount on the ground as well. If we went to war, we would definitely lose." Councillor Tevos was calculating the possible losses.
"Do you, Tevos underestimate the might of the Turian Navy?" Councilor Sparatus questioned.
"No. I believe that she overestimates the might of the RSS navy, if there is one other than the one that we saw." This was Council Valern.
"If they were confident enough to go to war so quickly, then I can safely assume that they are ready to get their hands bloody. We are not prepared for a war." Tevos reasoned. "We can't even tell the public, if we do, there will be an outcry and we will definitely be out of our jobs."
"Do not worry, we will have the entire Citadel's might to bear. You have the support of the Systems Alliance." Councillor Udina said confidently.
"That is what I am afraid of. They know all of our ships and of their capabilities. We know next to nothing about them. And if we go to war, we need to know about their capabilities." Councilor Sparatus said.
"Well, we do know that they don't need to use the Relays for FTL transport. And we also know that their shields seem to stop everything we can throw at them. We know nothing of their weapons however and of their infantry." Valern stated. "We also know that we cannot give into any of their demands, neither the ceding of space, or leaving them alone. We are the Galactic Government and we will show them that."
"I suggest that we send a SPECTRE to find out what the RSS has." said Udina.
"In that case, who would we send?" Tevos wondered. "Should we send a team of SPECTREs? Or just one of our best operatives? Saren, perhaps?"
Sparatus grinned, this was going to be interesting.
Undisclosed Location
1600 Cycles
Saren Arterius stared at the omni-tool in astonishment. I'm being assigned to lead a team of SPECTREs? One SPECTRE is enough for any mission. A team of 6? Why would they need that? That's complete overkill! Are we going to attack the Geth? As he stared at the screen, the virus, which was really just a dumb AI, that was implanted into the Citadel's cybernet read the package and sent all relevant information to the Long Blade of Discord. The name of the ship, other SPECTREs, and all of their destinations were relayed to the squads that would stop the SPECTREs, *Fireteam Osiris, Noble Team, Ghost squad, a Sangheili special ops unit, Voidjumper, a Promethean unit that specialises in infiltration and reconnaissance and has personal slipspace generators that are accurate down to 3 centimetres, 3 *Fwo Lekgolo, a Lekolo colony that fuses with another colony, and Blue Team. They were collectively known as Omega squad.
RSS Pride of All
2000 Hours
Well, the SPECTRE squad is screwed…thought Locke, Carter, the Arbiter, Lord Fire of Serenity and Chief as they read the report. Although the RSS knew little of biotics, the little that they did know was that the biotics could use pulls, pushes, throw warps that disintegrates what it hits and the charge, which causes the biotic to charge at an enhanced rate. While most biotics couldn't lift a 2 ton suit of armor, some could, and those were the ones they had to look out for. It was still nothing compared to the new MJOLNIR mark 12s that just came off the line. With enhancements that make the mark 4 look like marine armor, the mark 12 has a jetpack, active camouflage, and Promethean vision built into the suit. The armor itself comes from a small slipspace generator implanted into their chests. (Almost like Iron Man's arc reactor.) Marine armor is actually mark 7 MJOLNIRs. All Sangheili armor is now on par with a mark 10 MJOLNIR and some Prometheans have managed to recreate some Forerunner armor, so their high ranking officers have much better armor. The Jiralhanae all have mark 7 MJOLNIR armor as well, although it had to be redesigned.
Most weaponry uses hardlight rounds that is created within the gun. The gun is actually a mini factory that produces the rounds, fires the rounds and stores ammunition. The user could also change the gun and shots to fit their preferences. There could be a Marine with a sniper while another with a SMG would be standing next to each other, when they both had Assault rifles originally.
Even though the 6 squads would be complete overkill, the RSS wanted the SPECTREs to admit that0p the Citadel ordered them to enter RSS territory, so they had to be captured alive.
"Well, Locke, Carter, it looks like we'll have to set up a defense and ambush." said the Chief with a little gleam in his eye.
RSS Long Blade of Discord
900 Hours
As Admiral Lawsky, Fleetmaster Vadum, and Executor Light of Mercy looked at the orbital shipyard, they were all wondering, what would happen if the Council did go to war? Would they win? Looking at the shipyard however, the Council's chances were dropping like a stone. The 500 kilometer monstrosity had 3 purposes. Building the ships, housing the workers, maintaining the ships and their families. As they watched, another Indomitable came off the line, the Orizaba. Every ship that was produced here had top of the line equipment, and the factories and workers were all working overtime, although with almost twice the pay. The 3 fleet admirals all knew, if the Council didn't hand over Degestrian, they were in for a bloody war.
As the Quarians stepped foot on Rannoch once again, some immediately collapsed and started crying. They had lived for 300 years in space because of a fear and prejudices. Now, they had their home back, and had seen some family long thought dead. The Geth treated them with respect and all of them were delighted to see their Creators once more. The Geth tended to the Migrant Fleet as the nomads entered their old family homes. Their own fleets were patrolling the sector, and none of the 7 STG spy drones sent made it into the system. The Migrant Fleet would be repaired within a month but the Quarians wished to be nowhere other than the planet they were on. Some took their suits off for the first time and they all just stood there, listening to the sound of the others, and watching the horizon. They wished to be nowhere else.
As the Geth and Quarians were welcomed into the RSS, the Prometheans took the Geth under their wing and upgraded the Consensus to a 19th Generation AI, showed them how to make better structures, forms and ships with the materials they had while the UNSC took in the Quarians. The UNSC gave them better ways to deal with prejudices and gave them resources to start a new life. As both are now part of the RSS, they pledged to never turn against the RSS and in return, would be helped if there was ever any need to do so.
Well, that's another chapter dooooooooo-oh. Weeeeeell, that was longer than expected. I expected every chapter to be about 3000 words long, but I've been cutting it short lately. This one just didn't want to stop though. Anyway, the reviews for names are still open. I will need a Forerunner, a Monitor, and a name for every Councillor, an Asari, a Turian, a Salarian and a Human. What do you think about the overkill? The Council thinks that the SPECTRE squad was overkill? Ha! 5 of the best squads in the RSS sucka! Thanks for reading and as always read and review please. Add anything you want. Suggestions, spelling errors, anything other than flames please? I might also revise how long it takes to write a chapter. Right now it looks like it takes me 3-4 days to write a chapter of this length(2500-3000 words) If you want them in that time, tell me, and I might upload earlier, up to twice a week. I hope you like Of The Future And Past and I hope that you R&R(Read And Review)
* A Fwo Lekgolo is approximately 12 feet tall, strong enough to lift a Scarab, has a Scarab's Plasma Cannon on both arms, and is about as smart as an 18th Generation AI. (The Fwo Lekgolo is of my own creation)
*Fireteam Osiris has 6 members
*Noble Team has 6 members
*Ghost squad has 10 members
*Voidjumper has 8 members
*Blue Team has 4 members
*FwoLekgolo has 3 members
To any of you that like this fanfic, go read the Sum Is Greater Than Its Parts.
-IAnswerToNoOne