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TEMPORAL EFFECT - CHAPTER 4 Horizon of War
RRW Arcturus-A bridge
Commanding Officer's log stardate 85630.69, RRW Arcturus-A... Admiral Demala reporting. Today is our second day in the 'mass effect' universe and the beginning of our investigation of the Reaper threat, we have notified New Romulus Command of the sensor readings we took yesterday which suggest at least one cloaked ship passed into this universe recently, it remains to be seen what threat this poses.
"Satra, will there be any complications using the mass relays?" Demala asked, the mass relays were a foreign concept to say the least.
"No, according to the information I have received, we just need to calculate our relative mass and send the calculations through to the relay. Quite ingenious really, these mass relays seem to create a subspace field around a ship or a group of ships and then propel them to another mass relay." Satra replied, she was fascinated by the technology.
"Didn't Starfleet do something similar with Deep Space 9 before the Dominion War?" Tovan asked.
"Yes, they moved the station from Bajor to the wormhole using a subspace field to drop it's mass, came close to destroying the station a couple of times when the shielding fluctuated. Sensor have established that the 'mass relays' don't use the same method exactly" Satra answered.
"Notify the Enterprise that we are heading out to the colony Horizon. Rokall, set a course to Horizon through the mass relays." Demala ordered to her crew before the Arcturus started moving off at full impulse, it's four impulse thrusters glowing purple with the modified impulse engines taken off a Jem'Hadar battleship.
"Contact with mass relay in 3...2...1" Rokall called as the mass relay shot the dreadnought forth followed by the Normandy, it didn't take long to get through the relays, 30 minutes at most.
Normandy SR-2 - Approaching Horizon 27 minutes later
"What the...Where's the Arcturus?" Shepard asked Joker, they couldn't see the dreadnought ahead.
"According to these readings we had a drift of 1000 km, that dreadnought though only had a drift of 600...Man I'd love to fly that ship." Joker remarked, "Commander we're being hailed."
"We're detecting something that looks similar to an oversized termite mound, possibly a ship." Demala informed, the Arcturus had far better sensors than the Normandy.
"The Collectors are here. Also how the hell did you only get a drift of 600 kilometres?" Shepard noted, sorting through the data that Demala had sent.
"Our external inertial dampeners kicked in, plus I'm guessing that your pilot hasn't flown through plasma storms." Demala answered.
"We'll have an away team down there in 10 minutes max, try to keep up. Demala out." The channel was closed before the Arcturus bolted forward at full impulse.
Horizon - Surface 9 minutes later
As both teams closed in on the landing zone, they noticed multiple bipedal insect looking hostiles massing around the landing zone firing upon the runabout setting alarms off. Amber beams of energy shot out from the runabout obliterating the multitude of hostiles and leaving craters over the LZ.
"Landing Zone is clear, we should expect heavy resistance as we move closer to the ship." Tovan reported the obvious as they landed the Yellowstone Class Runabout and the away team got out all wearing Polyalloy weave armor. Shepard landed soon after in the UT-47 Kodiak Shuttle along with Miranda Lawson and Garrus, all looking astonished at the damage that the runabout made.
"I'm picking up several Human life signs, they're weak though. I'd say they're in stasis." Hivan noted scanning with his tricorder.
"Right, move out" Demala called out as her team consisting of Chief Williams, Tovan Khev, Hivan and Veril moved off followed by Shepard's team.
The away teams got their first contact with the enemy after they heard a distinct groaning and an odd fluttering sound.
Demala and her team instinctively engaged the enemy with a combination of phaser and plasma fire. "Tovan, plasma grenade," Demala called as they both hurled two grenades towards the hostiles, engulfing the surrounds in green flames.
"Husks, that's odd I don't see any 'dragon's teeth'." Garrus commented, as he shot several husks with his M15 Vindicator.
"Dragon's teeth?" Demala asked, looking confused while still firing on the incoming Collectors.
"Big spikes, they're used to turn people into husks" Ashley replied.
"Collector's must have brought the husks with them." Shepard answered firing at some of the Collectors.
"I am Harbinger" one of the Collectors called out as they started glowing with what looked like flames, both squads turned their weapons toward Harbinger, opening fire and turning the Collector to ash before finishing off the rest of the hostiles in the immediate area.
"Hivan, see what scans can pick up about those husks." Demala ordered.
"Err...Demala according to the scans, these husks were leeched of water and minerals, then injected with something similar to Borg nanoprobes."
"How similar?" Demala asked.
"I'd need to study them back on the Arcturus."
"Commander, you've had more experience with these husks. Is there anything we'd have to watch out for if we took this one back to the ship?" Demala asked Shepard.
"Some of them emit infrasound, ultrasound and electromagnetic fields to indoctrinate people. That's all I can think of" Shepard replied.
"Hivan, you have authorisation to take that back to the Arcturus if you can prevent the indoctrination effects."
"Simple enough, just block out both ultra and infrasound in addition to the EM field." Hivan replied before contacting the ship, "Arcturus, beam the item in front of me to the Medical lab, level 10 containment with sound cancellation, all frequencies".
"What or who exactly are the Borg, and you have technology to prevent indoctrination?" Miranda asked.
"The Borg are a cybernetic-organic hybrid pseudo-species, I'll explain that later. If anything gets through level 10 containment, then everything will go FUBAR. Any other questions?" Demala said.
"I've only heard Humans refer to something as FUBAR." Garrus commented, rather confused at the use of the acronym.
"First, I'm half-human. Secondly, I grew up around Humans and thirdly I mainly work around Humans." Demala explained.
The sound of Collector particle weapons near one of the prefabricated structures got the away teams attention.
"I'm detecting human lifesigns on the other side of that door, seems to be a warehouse. I'm also detecting 15 Collector's trying to break through." Shepard noted looking at her omni-tool readings.
Demala silently signalled her away team to take cover on both sides of the road leading to the warehouse while Shepard did likewise, switching to her sniper rifle she squeezed the trigger sending a slug through the back of a Collector's head killing it immediately and drawing the rest of the Collector's that previously had their attention set on breaking through the warehouse door towards where the shot came from.
"Fire on my mark" Demala communicated to both squads telepathically, waiting just before the Collector's could see the squads taking cover behind several crates and vehicles on the road. "Fire!" Demala ordered using the same telepathy as both squads sprung the trap sending a torrent of phaser fire and mass effect slugs through the opposing Collector's.
"Right, let's see who's in here." Shepard said loudly whilst approaching the warehouse door, "Damn it...Collectors jammed the door shut, can't get through".
"Yes we can." Demala said setting her phaser rifle to beam mode and set about cutting a hole through the door big enough to fit through.
The Colonist's inside were huddled into a corner, panicking as the door was being cut open and finally fell in revealing the two away teams who proceeded to enter the warehouse.
"Are you mad, you'll let those godamn bugs in. By the way who the hell are you?" One of the male colonists exclaimed loudly after getting out of cover.
"Does the name Shepard ring a bell?" Commander Shepard enquired.
"So you're that 'big shot hero' from the Citadel," The colonist replied snidely.
"Yeah well, do you want to get out of here?" Shepard asked.
"It'd be much appreciated," A female colonist replied before Shepard signalled Demala away from the group.
"I haven't got enough room on my shuttle for all these colonists." Shepard said looking across at the colonists counting 45 all up.
"Demala to Arcturus, can you get a point to point transport for 45." Demala asked over her communicator.
"What's the destination?" Satra asked.
"Normandy shuttle bay, just wait for my say so." Demala said before turning to the colonists.
"We're going to get you out of here, I need everyone to stand up and not lean on anything." Demala said to the colonists reassuringly.
"Joker we're about to transport 45 colonists into the shuttlebay." Shepard said over her omni-tool.
"Ah commander that's going to take a while with one shuttle," Joker replied.
"Something tells me we're not using the shuttle...Shepard out."
"Demala to Arcturus, begin point to point transport of the colonists to the Normandy shuttlebay."
"Locking on to colonists...Allocating additional storage space to transporter buffers...Calibrations set on Heisenberg compensators...Transporting." The transport officer said before the colonists disappeared from the warehouse and appeared in the Normandy shuttlebay moments later.
"Joker to Shepard...We got the colonist's in the shuttlebay, they just appeared."
Both away teams headed out of the warehouse and continued through a gate leading to the largest concentration of pre-fab buildings which contained the controls for the colony's anti air defenses.
"That is one ugly ship," Tovan said as he turned his attention to the Collector cruiser, which resembled a giant termite mound.
"How the hell are we supposed to take that thing out," Garrus said as he took in the enormity of the ship.
"I could get the Arcturus to target it, but we could cause a lot of collateral damage, a dreadnought lacks the necessary finesse." Demala said.
"EDI, suggestions." Shepard asked the Normandy's AI using her Omni-tool.
"If you activate the colony's anti-air defences, I should be able to link them to the Normandy's sensors. It will take some time however." EDI answered.
"We'll provide overwatch. Hivan, Veril your on right flank, set up a phaser turret and quantum mortar. Tovan, Ashley and I will take left flank." Demala ordered before moving to an elevated position to their left and giving Shepard the 'all clear'.
"Hostiles inbound," Tovan yelled as several Collectors along with another Harbinger flew over the pre-fab buildings.
Before long the quantum mortar had got a lock on the Harbinger and proceeded to fire a high yield grenade, exploding and sending ash and dust over a large portion of the battlefield.
Groaning from under the platform that Demala, Ash and Tovan were on signalled the return of the husks. Demala proceeded to slash through the husks with an odd elegance using her Tsunkatse Falchion, whilst Ash and Tovan provided covering fire.
"Anti-air defences at 95 per cent" EDI informed.
"That is one ugly..." Tovan commented at the inbound Praetorian, a hideous fusion of husks and metal which seemed to be only targeting Shepard with it's particle beams.
"Tovan...Shut it, if you say 'That is one ugly' one more time I'll have you cleaning the outside of the ship." Demala said, silencing her first officer.
"Geez, they really want Shepard dead." Ashley said while firing at the Praetorian with her M-8 assault rifle to minimum effect.
"You don't say," Demala said, firing her full auto phaser rifle at the praetorian knocking it's shields down by one eighth.
Both teams fired on the Praetorian with a combination of phaser, plasma and kinetic weaponry, obliterating its shields and doing significant damage to it's armour, Miranda threw a biotic warp at the Praetorian, damaging it's armour further.
At half of it's estimated health the Praetorian slammed into the ground knocking Commander Shepard over and throwing Miranda into a stack of crates.
"Hivan, check their vitals, rest of you turn weapons up to maximum." Demala ordered as the rest of the squad continued firing on the Praetorian.
"Wait, did that thing just scream?" Ashley asked.
"Common side effect, the energy weapons were set high enough to destroy several bulkheads." Demala answered.
"Commander Shepard is fine, Miranda on the other hand has concussion and intra cranial bleeding, we need to get her to sickbay immediately." Hivan reported as he closed his tricorder. Demala simply gave him a nod, giving him clearance.
"Emergency transport to sickbay." Hivan said into his wrist mounted communicator before they both disappeared in a sparking green light.
Just as they finished talking the anti-air cannons powered up, this did not go unnoticed as the Collector Cruiser charged up a particle beam and destroyed the cannons.
"Demala to Arcturus...deploy Peregrine Fighter's for a low pass, target Collector Cruiser 1km ahead of my position."
"Order confirmed. Deploying fighters. ETA 2 minutes... Enjoy the show." The flight controller replied.
Two minutes later the loud whistle of thrusters could be heard before three fighters flew 10 metres overhead and began firing on the cruiser with their dual phaser cannons the cruiser then fired it's thrusters and shot up from the planet's surface. Demala's combadge started it's high pitch beeping.
"What's the problem?" Demala asked as she pressed the combadge.
"A Khnial class battle cruiser just uncloaked and is attacking us, we're holding it off but we could probably use you up here." Satra informed Demala.
"We'll be up there soon. Four to beam directly to the bridge." Demala replied.
RRW Arcturus-A orbiting Horizon
"Report," Demala commanded as she moved to the Captains chair.
"We have minimal damage and the primary shields are holding at 80 percent. Satra replied as she returned to her console.
"What about the Khnial Class?" Demala asked.
"Moderate damage to outer and inner hull, they're using standard disruptors and plasma torpedoes." Satra reported.
"Hmm, we're lucky. Deploy fighters in V formation, attack pattern Gamma." Demala ordered.
Twelve Peregrine class fighters launched out of the main hangar and started attacking the battle cruiser with dual phaser cannons and photon micro-torpedoes, the Arcturus joined in with it's multitude of phaser cannons and beam arrays, charging toward the battle cruiser the Arcturus banked hard to it's starboard side and vented plasma over the battle cruiser, causing several fires within the enemy's hull.
"Target's shields are below 50 percent" The tactical computer reported to the bridge crew.
The Khnial class retaliated with it's disruptor banks and plasma torpedoes, smashing against the dreadnoughts shields, "Activate secondary shields, " Demala ordered just after the computer had warned the shields of the Arcturus had dropped to 75%, before too long the primary shields recharged.
"Fighters are requesting clearance to return to base." Tovan reported.
"Clearance granted, bring us around to a bearing of 0-2-0 mark 0, keep the hangar away from the enemy." Demala ordered.
"Changing course to 0-2-0" Rokall repeated as she changed the ships course to collect the fighters while protecting the hangar deck from incoming fire.
"Prepare a full spread of quantum torpedoes and set the cannons to rapid fire. If it's not destroyed then begin attack pattern beta-3." Demala said as the ship rocked from another torpedo impact on the shields knocking some of her long hair across her face. Rokall brought the dreadnought around for a final attack, releasing a barrage of torpedoes and phaser fire and heavily damaging the ship.
Primary shields down to 75%, secondary shields have been depleted. All Khnial class shields have been depleted." The ships computer reported.
The crew of the Arcturus finished the battle by maneuvering well above the Khnial Class, once they were far enough away they set the impulse engines down to quarter power and pulled a quick turn to starboard to face the enemy before setting the engines to full impulse and blasting the enemy with another torrent of phasers and quantum torpedoes, destroying the ship.
"Stand down from red alert, Tovan you have the bridge, I'm checking up on our new patient." Demala said, getting up from the Captains chair.
"Where the bloody hell am I?" Miranda asked irately as she woke up, the lights felt like they'd burnt her eyes her vision was blurry to start of with but she noticed someone approach her, she charged up a biotic throw only for Demala to nimbly dodge out of the way.
"I didn't know my bedside manner was that bad, you're in medbay aboard the RRW Arcturus due to getting knocked unconscious on Horizon. Could you tell me what you can remember before you were knocked out?" Demala asked.
"I remember fighting Collectors and husks, then something that Praetorian attacked, your squad fired what looked like directed energy weapons." Miranda replied, sitting up much to Hivan's concern.
"Hivan, what's her condition?" Demala asked her Chief Medical Officer.
"She's stable, intracranial bleeding has been stopped and her neck has been realigned. You're free to go Miranda, just don't get thrown into another pile of crates." Hivan answered, while scanning her.
Miranda turned and slid off the bed, standing upright she waited a moment to get her bearings. "What happened to the Collector cruiser?"
"Escaped, another ship pinned us down and acted as a diversion, which we just destroyed. I'm about to call Commander Shepard over here for a debriefing, you're welcome to come along if you want, or you can head straight back to the Normandy." Demala replied before heading out of sickbay with Miranda following.
"Hail the Normandy," Demala said when she entered the bridge.
"Shepard here" Commander Shepard replied.
"We require you over here to debrief on what just happened and you're XO is ready to leave with you," Demala requested.
"I'll be there shortly," Shepard answered, it had been a long day so far and the mission didn't go as planned.
Arcturus Station
"What's going on at Horizon?" Admiral Hackett asked, he was receiving reports of a heated battle happening in orbit of the colony.
"A civilian ship picked up what looks like two dreadnoughts in orbit of Horizon and forwarded it to us." An Ensign replied, showing the footage to Admiral Hackett.
Admiral Hackett was shocked when he saw the amount of firepower both ships where packing and the durability of what looked like the Arcturus from the description that Councillor Anderson gave him. He was impressed however at the manoeuvrability of the Arcturus, managing to turn at an estimated rate of 35 degrees per second the whole time.
"See if you can get in contact with Councillor Anderson." Hackett responded.
RRW Arcturus A
As Shepard and Miranda along with Ashley and the 'senior' bridge crew of the Arcturus gathered around the conference table, Demala began the debriefing.
"Most people in this room should already know, within the last hour this ship was attacked, and we have reason to believe that the occupants of the attacking vessel, which we have identified as a Khnial class adapted battle cruiser were the Tal Shiar may be working with the Collector's."
"Why would they be working with the Collector's?" Shepard asked.
"Simple, they're out to further their own agenda or they believe they are. The fact that they only appeared when the Collector ship was about to escape leads me to believe they're working with the Collector's." Demala answered.
"Definitely sounds like Cerberus." Shepard answered
"So what were that ships abilities?" Miranda asked, looking disgruntled at Shepard's comment, by what she could see of the Tal Shiar vessel it looked like a dreadnought.
"The Khnial class is reverse engineered Borg technology fitted onto a D'deridex class battle cruiser. They are fitted with multiple directed energy weapons and plasma torpedoes, which act as incendiary ammo, the most dangerous ability the Khnial class has in it's arsenal however, is the ability to 'indoctrinate' other ships. Quite frankly, I'm surprised they didn't use it." Demala explained.
"How can you be certain they didn't use it?" Miranda asked.
"Because as you can see out the window, the Normandy is still there undamaged." Demala pointed out the frigate that was in clear view, Miranda and Shepard where looking a bit confused.
"If that ship had indoctrinated the Arcturus, the Normandy would be a pile of molten slag and we wouldn't be able to do anything about it. If the Normandy was indoctrinated, it would have most likely targeted us with whatever weapons you have and we would be forced to defend ourselves." Demala clarified.
"If I remember correctly you mentioned Borg on Horizon." Miranda enquired, to which Demala responded by showing them a shortened presentation on the Borg, making Shepard and Miranda visually ill.
"If you want I can replicate a bucket" Demala quipped.
"I'll be fine" Shepard replied, after she finished feeling like she was going to puke.
"Wait what do you mean replicate." Miranda asked, analysing everything she heard.
"One glass of water" Demala said when she moved over to the replicator, "We can replicate food, drinks and other supplies using these replicators to varying levels of success." she said when the glass of water appeared.
"What about weapons?" Shepard asked.
"Yes, although we generally have sufficient weapons ready in strategic locations on the ship. If there's no other questions for the time being then I'd better report this to the Citadel Council" Demala replied, before everyone vacated the room, both the young Admiral and Shepard lagged behind.
"Hey, you want to hit the bar when we're at the Citadel? Drinks will be on me." Shepard asked, there was something attracting her to Demala and she wanted to get to know the red haired admiral better.
"Thanks, I need it after Horizon." Demala replied, the sound of dread filling her voice.
"Hey, don't beat yourself up over it, we'll get the Collector's." Shepard said reassuringly.
"It's never gets any easier seeing colonist's abducted in that quantity, and it pisses me off when the Tal Shiar just have to get involved."
"Tovan to Demala, we've just received word from command, they're sending a diplomat..."
"Who?" Demala asked, curious to hear who it might be.
"It's seems Sienae passed her diplomacy training, also Veril has come up with an idea to increase our combat effectiveness on the ground." Tovan said before closing the comm.
"Thanks, I'll be down to see her later. Hopefully she doesn't blow anything up this time."
"Personal log, Operations Chief Ashley Williams reporting. The mission on Horizon didn't go as planned, the Collector's got to the colony before we could and began abducting the colonists, we only managed to save a small number of people. The technology that I've seen since my assignment on the Arcturus is way beyond anything we could have thought of, including matter/energy transporters, I'm not even going to guess how they work. The energy weapons that the people from the other side use seem to be way more effective on armor than kinetic weapons.
Citadel Station - Human Embassy
Councillor Anderson had just gotten back to his office after the meeting with the Federation diplomats. He would have to say it was one of the longest days he'd been through, no thanks to Ambassador Jiro Sugihara, the guy never shut up. The talks had ranged from their cultural differences including their varying uses and legalities of genetic manipulation to the extended history of the different races and everything in between.
Anderson noticed a light flashing on his terminal signalling he had messages, he noticed he had missed a call from Admiral Hackett. The councillor decided to reply by contacting the Admiral directly.
"Councillor, I have received reports of combat in orbit of the Horizon colony...the RRW Arcturus was involved, and a ship similar to the one which destroyed the Normandy escaped." Admiral Hackett said.
"Talking about the Arcturus, Admiral Demala seems to have sent a priority one message, she's requesting a meeting with the council in about an hour." Anderson reported.
"I'll be coming to the Citadel, interested to see the Arcturus first hand. Hackett out." Admiral Hackett said before closing the channel.
Serpent Nebula - 30 minutes after debriefing.
Admiral Hackett had decided to visit the Citadel when he heard of the RRW Arcturus returning, he waited aboard the SSV Orizaba, flagship of the 5th or Arcturus fleet and also under the command of Hannah Shepard.
"I'm not sure if that's a dreadnought or a cruise liner, hull markings list it as 'USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F'," Captain Shepard said looking out one of the windows in the bridge, pointing out the almost gleaming white Enterprise ahead of them.
"According to the reports that I've received the Enterprise is the flagship of a group that calls themselves the United Federation of Planets, or more specifically Starfleet. Also according to the report, and yes this sounds ridiculous but they come from an alternate universe." Admiral Hackett informed.
"Captain, we're picking up another ship on sensors, it's big and it doesn't match any known designs," one of the sensor officers reported.
"That's the RRW Arcturus-A, she apparently belongs to a group called the Romulan Republic and is under the command of Admiral Demala, apparently she's 25 years old and only been in official military service for 2 years. Looks like Commander Shepard's back again." Hackett said to Captain Shepard.
"How did she get up through the ranks that quickly?" Captain Shepard asked.
"That's what we're about to find out, we'll be taking a shuttle to the Citadel," Hackett replied.
Citadel Station
All four councillors, Captain Hannah Shepard and Admiral Hackett were seated around a conference table in a room just off of the council chambers when Admiral Demala walked in flanked by two security officers in Polyalloy weave armour followed soon after by captain Va'Kel Shon and finally by Commander Shepard.
Councillor Anderson stood up to introduce Admiral Hackett and Captain Shepard who gave Demala and Captain Shon a salute, Demala gave the Romulan salute which consisted of bringing her right hand up to her chest and bowing slightly before moving to one of the seats around the conference table.
"Hi mom...Admiral Hackett...Councillor's" Commander Shepard greeted.
"Fiona, you have some explaining to do." Captain Shepard acknowledged her daughter being in the room.
"I presume you've heard that Cerberus rebuilt me not long a go and currently they're the only ones giving resources to track down the missing colonies in the Terminus Systems, I'll be cutting ties when the mission is over. Also I've got 45 colonist's on the Normandy who wanted transport away from the Horizon." Shepard said.
"We'll be able to take them off your hands." Anderson said.
"One and a half hours ago the RRW Arcturus was attacked in orbit of the colony of Horizon by a group we know as the Tal Shiar, which used to be the intelligence department of the Romulan Star Empire, now they're a rogue faction and partly responsible for the destruction of Romulus, the Romulan homeworld. Any questions?" Demala said as she showed the battle on a screen sitting on the wall behind the conference table.
"What was that ships capabilities?" Admiral Hackett asked.
Demala explained the capabilities of the Khnial class battle cruiser, alarming everyone in the room when they heard it could indoctrinate other ships.
"Is there much likelihood that more of these Tal Shiar are in this universe," Councillor Sparatus asked."
"I'd say so...The standard protocol for circumstances such as this is for the Romulan Republic and it's allies to mobilise a portion of their fleets to defend anyone who happens to be involved in diplomatic activities so as to attempt to prevent any further damage, however that is also subject to approval by all parties and they'd be subject to the laws of whatever space they would be in. I'm also aware that it may make certain parties nervous." Demala explained, getting concerned looks from most present.
"I'll admit it is a bit...quick," Councillor Tevos said.
"I apologize for the shock councillor, but where I come from speed is essential."
"Could you tell us what ships the Tal Shiar operates," Councillor Anderson enquired.
"All right, you'll have to find out anyway...Demala to Arcturus can you beam a portable holo-projector down with data on Tal Shiar ship types." Demala said, making a request to the Arcturus. Soon after a sparkling green light appeared, depositing the holo-projector onto the table.
The holo-projector started showing various ship classes from the T'Varo light warbird which classed as a frigate, the D'helan class warbird and Mogai class heavy warbird which classed as cruisers, the D'deridex had the councillors alarmed with it's 1041 metre length and it was classed as a battlecruiser or battleship, and finally the Scimitar class dreadnought which to date was the most heavily armed and feared warship in both the Alpha and Beta quadrants due to the Bassen Rift incident over 30 years ago.
"The reports that we have say your 25 years old and have only been in the military service for two years. Is that correct?" Captain Shepard asked.
"Yes, I joined the Republic Navy in a command position after the colony of Virinat was attacked by the Tal Shiar and another force that we call the Elachi, it's a long story and we'd be here for hours if I tried explaining it conventionally. Councillor Tevos if you still want to conduct that mind meld now would be appropriate, I can't guarantee that you'll keep your sanity though," Demala said, finishing up by turning to the Asari councillor.
"Embrace Eternity" the Asari councillor said when she started the mind meld.
The first vision was of the colony world of Nimbus III or the so-called 'Planet of Galactic Peace', the only reason the colonists from the Federation, the Klingon Empire and the Romulans weren't at each others throats were the street gangs and the Aehallh Worms in the desert surrounding the settlement of Paradise City, which someone retagged as Paradise Lost a long time ago. It was a traumatising time for Demala, and when she first noticed her ability to link her mind to another.
"I'm curious, I can sense a significant level of hardship. What is the significance of Nimbus?" Tevos asked
"Not a lot of people know it, but I was born there. Lost both of my parents when I was 10 and forced to fend for myself, I'd rather not go into further detail as it still brings too much pain." Demala answered.
The second vision was of the Virinat colony being attacked by the Tal Shiar and several drones which turned out to be the Elachi.
"Why did they attack?" Tevos asked telepathically.
"The Tal Shiar wanted to maintain control over the Romulan people and the Elachi abducted colonists to turn them into more Elachi." Demala said before they slipped into another vision.
The next visions were the hunt for Colonel Haakev, and their attempted indoctrination of Demala. The scene changed to Haakev's death by Demala's hand in a city plaza as it was being bombarded from orbit.
"Who was this Haakev, and how did you escape indoctrination?" the Asari asked.
"Haakev was the leader of the Tal Shiar. I managed to ward off the indoctrination with the assistance of a undercover agent of the Romulan Republic." Demala explained.
The vision continued with the fight against the Devidians, Tholians, Dominion, Borg, Breen, Undine, Vaadwuar and numerous other hostiles, Demala being at the forefront of each fight and getting promoted from Commander to Admiral in the span of a few months and then there was the infamous and crippling Iconian war which lasted for 5 short months which cost the Romulan Republic, Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets billions of lives and half their combined fleet.
"How did you defeat them?" Tevos enquired, sounding shocked.
"Determination, plus most races on my side have a few tricks up our sleeves as the Humans would say." Demala replied.
The Asari councillor collapsed back into her seat with the other councillors, Admiral Hackett and Captain Shepard looking concerned.
"What did you see?" Councillor Valern asked.
"Enough to give anyone nightmares, the Romulans lost their homeworld in 2387 and Demala has been through enough to send anyone mad. I'll need some time to recover from the meld then I'll send the report. I also sense that she is sincere with her request to bring reinforcements to this universe." The Asari councillor replied, looking exhausted.
"How did you lose your homeworld?" Admiral Hackett asked.
"In 2387 the star in the Hobus System was artificially sent into a state of supernova using technology from a race we know as the Iconian's, it converted any matter it came into contact with into energy and managed to proceed towards Romulus at FTL speeds, which needless to say is extremely unusual for supernovae. It's progress was eventually stopped, but by that time it was already too late for the planets Romulus and Remus." Demala explained.
"Who are the Iconian's?" Hackett asked.
"Ancient superpower that could move fleets instantly across the galaxy using some form of gateway. Then around 200,000 years ago they were sent into hiding after several races joined together to attack the Iconian homeworld with an orbital bombardment, making it uninhabitable. Five months ago, the Iconian War started and it only finished three weeks ago with the Battle for Sol."
"I'm curious, what are the capabilities of the RRW Arcturus." Captain Shepard asked.
"The Arcturus-A is suited to three main roles, first being stealth and reconnaissance, second being spearheading fleet movements, and thirdly due to the Arcturus being what humans would call a 'heavy hitter' the Arcturus-A is suited to intercepting and disabling multiple ships and it has a combination of 52 phaser cannons and beam arrays also the availability to launch 27 torpedoes from independent tubes and is durable enough to survive a hit from a planet-killer. Other than that most information is still classified," Demala explained.
"You expect me to believe that a dreadnought is suited to a stealth role," the Turian councillor said, as arrogant as ever.
"ih'feanna dha'rudh" Demala groaned while rolling her eyes, receiving a confused look from everyone at the table, her security guards seemed to be amused though.
"With respect councillor, it's not that hard to believe even with our current level of technology, all you need to do is keep one step ahead of the sensor technology, it's mainly just financially impractical." Hackett replied, silencing the councillor.
"We can give a demonstration but in return we need a guarantee that the Arcturus will not be fired upon." Demala said after calming down.
The councillors and Admiral Hackett all looked to each other uneasily before they nodded, "Very well, as long as the RRW Arcturus doesn't take up hostile action against any of our ships or the Citadel." Admiral Hackett said uneasily.
"Admiral Demala to RRW Arcturus A, engage the cloak for 1 minute then uncloak." Demala said.
The Scimitar class dreadnought looked like it had distorted before it vanished, earning a few fearful looks.
"This is Councillor Sparatus to C-Sec traffic control, can you detect the RRW Arcturus-A?" the Turian councillor asked when he pressed a button on the conference room table.
"That's a negative councillor, the Arcturus just disappeared and I'm not picking anything on scanners." A Human C-Sec officer answered then after a few seconds added, "Wait councillor something's happening where the Arcturus disappeared. The Arcturus just reappeared from nowhere."
"Is the Arcturus the only ship with this 'cloaking device' fitted?" Admiral Hackett asked.
"No, all Romulan ships have cloaking devices fitted, although most aren't as effective as they used to be. The Scimitar class dreadnoughts, which the Arcturus-A classified as also the sub-variants of the Scimitar class, the Tulwar and Falchion classes have more advanced cloaking devices." Demala explained.
"I'm guessing you can't tell us, but how does it work?" Councillor Valern asked.
"I can't tell you the exact details, but it works by bending light around the ship and can also soak up it's own energy emissions with varying levels of success." Demala said.
"How do you supply enough power for such a thing?" Captain Shepard enquired.
"They tap energy out of a singularity contained in their ship." Anderson answered, still astonished at the level of technology they were being shown.
"Also, I should notify you that the Romulan Republic is in the process of sending a more qualified diplomat. Is there anything else?" Demala said.
"No, that'll be all. We'll consider your request." Anderson said after the councillors and Admiral Hackett shook their heads slightly.
"There is one more thing. Admiral Hackett if you'd like I can give you and Captain Shepard a tour of the Arcturus-A." Demala offered.
"I'd be honoured to, just give me 10 minutes to get a shuttle ready. Also I'm sure you'd understand that I'll need to bring a couple of guards along." Hackett said.
"I'd expect it." Demala said.
"Admiral Demala to Warbird Arcturus, three to beam up." Demala said into her communicator before both her, and the guards she brought disappeared in a green light.
RRW Arcturus A - 1 hour 50 minutes later
"How big is this ship?" Hackett asked as they entered the bridge of the Arcturus.
"The Arcturus-A has a wingspan of 1,350 metres, a length of 890 metres and a total draft of 245 metres. This section that we are currently in is the bridge, as with most ships we operate tactical, security, operations, navigation and engineering from this room." Demala said.
"Not even half the amount of crew we have on the Orizaba's bridge." Captain Shepard commented to Admiral Hackett.
"To our left is Chief of Operations, Lt. Commander Sara McPherson, next to her is Chief Helmsman, Centurion Rokall. To our right is Chief Science Officer, Subcommander Satra. In the centre of the bridge is the Chief Tactical Officer, Leiutenant Saren and my first officer, Subcommander Tovan Khev and last but not least is the Chief of Security, Lt. Commander Sobaak. If you'd like we may proceed to the ready room." Demala introduced the bridge crew that where currenty at their stations.
"I've never seen so many different races on one ship before, especially a millitary vessel." Hackett commented.
"The RRW Arcturus-A is one of the few Republic vessels that have officers from the United Federation of Planets serving aboard." Demala commented. "Is there anything else that you'd like to discuss?"
"There are two more things, if it would be acceptable I could assign a Communications Specialist from the Orizaba to your ship to assist with your investigation into the Reaper's, I understand that you already have Chief Ashley William's aboard. Since you investigating what's happening to our colonist's I'd like Chief Williams and Comm Specialist Traynor acting as Alliance representatives." Hackett said.
"As it happens we are lacking a dedicated Communications Officer." Demala answered.
"Good, I'll send her over soon. Also I'd like to assist by sending potential missions through to you, nothing classified of course."
"That will be greatly accepted. We'll get the Comms Specialist settled in as soon as she's transferred." Demala replied with a nod.
RRW Arcturus-A Hangar - 10 minutes later
"Admiral Demala, I'm Comm Specialist Samantha Traynor." An olive skinned woman with black hair just above shoulder height introduced herself cautiously with a British accent.
"Welcome to the Arcturus, don't worry I don't bite. Also I expect Admiral Hackett would have told you a bit about this ship and your assignment." Demala answered reassuringly.
"Yes, and I saw your dreadnought activate some form of stealth field when Admiral Hackett was on the Citadel." Traynor replied.
"I had a mild difference of opinion with the Turian councillor and that stealth field we activated earlier is called a cloak, I can't go into too many details on how it works though." Demala said before signalling Traynor to follow her to the turbolift.
"Everyone has a 'difference of opinion' with Councillor Sparatus," Traynor informed.
"What duties are you best suited to, apart from communications?" Demala asked.
"Intelligence gathering and R&D," Traynor answered.
"Astrometrics" Demala said as she entered the turbolift, baffling Traynor.
"This is Astrometrics, where we conduct most of our in-depth and long range scans," Demala said as they entered the dimly lit room, the hologram of the galaxy taking up half of the room, providing most of the light in the room.
"This is massive compared to the galaxy maps we use in the Alliance, and the resolution is incredible. What method do you use for your scans." Traynor asked, deeply intrigued by the astrometrics charts.
"Our main method for long range scanning is FTL subspace radar, at close range and when in an orbital position we also use optical sensors. We also have a plethora of specialised scanning methods at our disposal." Demala explained.
"Wait, you can scan faster than light?" Traynor was astonished.
"Yes, anyway I'll show you some of the other areas of the ship," Demala said, walking out of the astrometrics lab and heading down one of the corridors.
"As you can see this is medbay," Demala stated as they entered a room surrounded by small rooms with biobeds, one biobed in the middle and the Chief Medical Office on the left hand side.
"Is that...a husk?" Traynor said, sounding horrified at the husk in room 01 with a force field engaged, and one of the medical staff taking scans.
"Finally found a use for the EMH and it's perfectly safe, all necessary countermeasures are in place." Hivan explained.
"EMH?" Traynor asked, confused.
"Emergency Medical Hologram" Demala clarified, getting handed a report from Hivan as she explained.
Medical/Science Report
Subject: Husk
Species: Human ('Reaper' indoctrinated)
Place of origin: Horizon colony, mass effect universe. According to Operations Chief Ashley Williams and Commander Fiona Shepard, husks are the result of Reaper engineering implanted into a human through the method of injecting nanites through a large spike called a dragon's tooth.
Tests
Moisture content: DEPLETED, replaced with synthetic liquid polymers
Mineral content: DEPLETED
Comparison of Reaper nanites to Borg nanoprobes: 52.470001% similarity, Reaper nanites show signs of being a crude and primitive form of Borg nanoprobes.
Chance of recovery: 0%, Reaper nanites and implants appear integral to hosts 'survival'.
Notes
Husks have limited tactical capability and seem unable to use handheld weaponry, their main use is to charge the enemy and attack using melee and electrical methods. The most alarming features are the similarity to the Borg, and their apparent ability to 'indoctrinate' any organic life form within a close proximity.
Advise any science or medical teams conducting tests to enforce level 10 containment, sound frequency cancellation on all frequencies including infra- and ultrasound. The use of an EMH is recommended as an additional precaution against indoctrination.
RRW Arcturus-A Chief Medical Officer: Subcommander Hivan
"O...kay. We'll have to watch that one" Demala said thoughtfully while reading the last of the report.
"I've already taken the liberty of sending the report to command," Hivan stated.
"Thanks for that" Demala replied appreciatively, "Specialist Traynor if you'll follow me, I'll show you some of the other areas on the ship".
RRW Arcturus-A Bridge - 1 hour later
Demala swiftly exited the turbolift with the cloth from her pauldrons showing her rank of Admiral flowing behind her.
"This is the bridge, where of course we operate most of the ships operations from comms, operations and helm. You'll most likely be working over here with Subcommander Satra," Demala said.
"Not many people on the bridge." Traynor said, seemingly impressed.
"Ship functions are classed into 6 main groups, science, tactical, security, operations, engineering and helm control, other functions are managed automatically by the ships computer." Demala explained briefly, "Is there anything else you'd like to ask?"
"No, nothing for the time being," Traynor replied.
"Before I forget, your quarters may be a bit larger than expected." Demala said.
Dark Star Lounge - Citadel Station 1800 hours (Standard time)
Shepard was waiting by the entrance of the Dark Star Lounge wearing a casual shirt, navy combat slacks and black lace up boots when Demala exited the skycar wearing a short form fitting black dress and matching high heels which contrasted her pale skin.
'Damn...Is it getting hot in here?' Shepard thought to herself whilst letting her eyes travel up Demala's elegant long legs, taking in the curves of her body as she sashayed towards Shepard.
"Hope you can handle your liquor, Shepard." Demala said playfully.
After a few drinks Shepard decided to take to the dancefloor much to Demala's amusement who was stifling a laugh at her rather poor dancing, if it could be called that...it was more of a shuffle.
Some sleazy Turian had decided to try and hit on Demala while she was downing a shot of Batarian ale not seeming to take no as an answer, she slowly turned around to face the Turian with a glint of fury in her eyes and grabbed the side of the Turian's neck in a nerve pinch, instantly knocking him unconscious before turning back to get another drink.
"Damn, you sure you don't want a job here as a bouncer?" The Turian bartender asked while checking his omni-tool readings of the one unconscious on the floor.
"You know you're kinda cute when you're angry. I'm guessing drunk Turian males aren't you're type." Shepard commented with a sly grin.
"Yeah, although I wouldn't exactly limit it to drunk Turian's if you know what I mean." Demala replied, giving Shepard a rather lascivious smirk.
"So, I'm guessing you've already done you research on me, I'd like to know a bit more about you." Shepard asked inquisitively.
"I'm 25, I like long walks on the beach and going to bars." Demala replied, before laughing when Shepard rolled her eyes and groaned.
"Come on, you're not going to dodge me that easy."
"Well I was born on a planet called Nimbus III in 2385, completely barren wasteland not unlike Tuchunka in this universe. Lost both parents to a Tal Shiar raid and I was kidnapped when I was 10, escaped the Tal Shiar when I was 14, then I moved to the Virinat colony with my sister when I was 15. When I got to 18 I started working as the colony's security officer until last year when it was attacked, then after that I joined the Romulan Republic Navy and started beating the hell out of any enemy that got in the way, in amongst discovering our homeworld which we named New Romulus, brokering peace between the Federation, the Romulan Republic and the Klingon Empire and recently I fought in the 5 month long Iconian War." Demala summarised looking grim, both kept chatting right into the small hours.
That's the end of chapter 4.
As always I encourage constructive feedback.