Chapter 7: The Blitz

Annalise sighed as she stared at the exact same data flooding in from the exact same place that Normandy had passed several times during its routine patrol of Human borders. Being assigned to peacetime patrols of fringe space was a nightmare, especially when on a stealth ship. Normandy was completely alone, off monitoring the border between the Attican Traverse and the UHE.

Annalise barely stifled a groan as she realized just how little time had passed. The Second Contact War was already nine months past, and she had gotten three of those as shore leave. She still had another month of aimlessly drifting along the fringes of Human space, the entire crew bored out of their minds. She relished the opportunity to finally have her comms ping with Joker's voice coming over them. "Shepard? We're detecting a distress signal coming from the Traverse, just popped up on sensors."

"Distress signal?" Shepard asked, earning a questioning look from Traynor, who was stood just a few feet away.

"UHE shipping vessel, light transport, registered under the Haken Corporation. It was supposed to be shipping raw materials and stuff to Salarian Space." Joker explained.

"Mechanical failure?"

"Unknown, I'd advise we check it out."

"Alright. Set coordinates and bring the Stealth System online." Annalise ordered.

"Aye, ma'am!" Joker responded, beginning to carry out his orders.

The jump to Fringe Space was short but tense. The few minutes-long FTL jump to the shipping lane between the small UHE Colony of Mindoir and Council Space was filled by a near-tangible tension. The ship's signal was emanating from a point in space that remained lightly guarded, due to it being between UHE and Council patrols. The Normandy, being the fastest vessel in the UHE Fleet would, without a doubt, be the first responder.

After a short, stealthy jump into the empty void of space between Mindoir's native star and the local Mass Relay, the sensors of Normandy were greeted with an interesting sight. The UHE Shipping Freighter was pinged on sensors almost immediately, but the existence of both the Neutronium Core's signature and a Mass Effect Core signature caught both Shepard's and Joker's interest. "Joker, do you have any idea who that second ship belongs to?"

"I'm not reading a transmitting IFF, but design and emissions point towards it being Batarian. It's barely larger than us, but it looks older." Joker explained. "There's also hull damage all along the shipping vessel, obvious mas accelerator impacts."

"Patch Fleet Command Alpha in, notify them of the situation." Shepard ordered. "Get an in-depth scan of the area and the two ships, but stay hidden."

"Aye, ma'am." Joker responded. "Running Deep Scan now."

Annalise scanned over the incoming data from her personal Datatool, most of it benign sensor data. There was one particular scan that caught her interest, the scan for UHE Neural Implant Transponders. Her concerns were given voice by Joker. "Shepard… I'm detecting around a dozen Neural Implants aboard that Batarian Ship."

"And given what we know about the Batarians, I doubt they're here to help the crew…" Shepard agreed, sighing deeply. Her attention was diverted by an incoming QEC Communication from Retribution. Already knowing the sender, she accepted the communication. "Admiral Hackett!" She says, snapping into a crisp salute as the hologram of the Galaxy Map is replaced by Hackett's image.

"Commander Shepard, at ease." Hackett said, waving off the gesture. "I'm scanning over the data from Normandy's sensors. I want you to cripple that vessel and board it."

"Sir?" Shepard asked.

"These Batarians are slavers, no question." Hackett responded. "I will not let our people be enslaved by these scum."

"Understood, Admiral." Shepard said, nodding. "Secondary objective?"

"Get any data from that ship's mainframe. I want to know if the Batarian Hegemony sanctioned this, or if it was just a small band of Traverse Pirates trying to get a quick buck."

"Aye, sir." Shepard said, earning a nod from Hackett before he killed the communication from his end. Shepard turned her communicator back online, connecting to the cockpit. "Joker, deactivate the stealth drive and target the Batarian Vessel's engines with our forward battery."

"Aye, Commander."

XXXXX

The Normandy, in a single swift maneuver, dropped its stealth drive and accelerated towards the Batarian Vessel. Shepard and Hackett's suspicions were confirmed when the vessel attempted to turn tail and activate its weapons, but the smaller and quicker Normandy was simply too fast for the Batarian-made cruiser.

The small Human frigate's forward Plasma Lance found its mark on the rear thrusters of the Batarian vessel, boiling the metallic plating protecting the delicate engineering. Once Normandy reached a closer distance to the Batarian ship, it made use of a new weapon given to it after its retrofits over Earth. A single torpedo was launched from an internal hardpoint on the underside of the frigate, which quickly accelerated to speeds in excess of Mach-25. Due to the angle, the Batarian cruiser was unable to fire any countermeasures or CIWS to intercept the dumb-fire torpedo. The torpedo impacted, sending the Titanium-Tungsten penetrator spearing through the weakly-armored engines. Once sufficiently embedded, the plasma core of the torpedo went up, cooking the vessel's entire array of rear engines from within.

After its pass, Normandy reengaged its stealth drive, disappearing from the sensors of the Batarian vessel. The larger, slower Batarian vessel was left drifting on its maneuvering thrusters. A few moments later, Normandy reappeared on sensors, followed by six quick bursts from its Plasma Lance. The kinetic barriers were now online, but the older barriers were no match for UHE weapons. The first two Lances were completely absorbed and stopped, with the third spearing through the barriers and finding its mark against the Cruiser's port-side turrets. The three other Lances were directed towards similar points on the armor, melting the barrels of the weapons.

After two more maneuvers like the previous, the Cruiser was left defenseless and adrift, completely at the mercy of the UHE frigate. Normandy's quick and agile nature had left it completely untouched by the lone Cruiser.

The Normandy moved to align itself with the top of the Batarian Cruiser, matching speeds with the larger vessel. A small hatch on the underside of the vessel opened up, just over the top of the Cruiser's hull.

XXXXX

Shepard and her team pulled themselves into the vacuum of space from the small hatch, designed to drop Atmospheric Insertion Pods from the underside of the vessel. Their sealed armor's compression thrusters lit up, allowing the operatives to align themselves with the vessels. Their thrusters allowed them to lower themselves towards the Batarian Cruiser's dorsal armor. As they touched down on the vessel, they activated the magnetic clamps on their boots.

With a quick hand signal, Shepard motioned for her team to begin moving across the hull armor. The silent, black void of space seemed to shift in their vision as they slowly marched across the armored plating of the Batarian Cruiser. Shepard glanced at the scanner data that Traynor was feeding through her suit's communications suite, giving her the exact location of her team on the hull of the vessel. They continued on their way towards the bow of the vessel, never dropping their guards.

Their spacewalk remained uninterrupted, all the way to their primary objective, the bridge of the vessel. Council vessels had a single, primary weakness that UHE boarding parties had exploited all throughout the Second Contact War: exposed bridges. The bridge of the Batarian Cruiser was no different. It rested near the top of the bow armor, giving Shepard and her team a prime insertion point.

Shepard held her hand up in a silent order to halt their advance. The clear, glass-like substance that served as the bridge's viewports was a mere few feet away, hilariously exposed. Noting that all UHE Neural Implant signatures were concentrated near the center of the vessel, Shepard had no reservations about her next course of action.

She reached up to her combat harness, grabbing a small, adhesive shaped charge. She strolled towards the exposed viewport, pressing the shaped charge onto the point where pressurized glass met armored plating, and stepped back with the rest of her team. She sent the signal through her suit's communicator for the charge to detonate, causing the small bundle of plastic explosives to go up.

The explosion in the vacuum of space remained completely silent, but its effects were devastating. In an instant, the entire clear surface of the bridge's viewport exploded inwards, causing the internal atmosphere to begin escaping. A single Batarian in an armored suit was sucked into the ageless void of space, and quickly found a coilgun round embedded in his helmet by Lawson.

Knowing that their window was short, Shepard ran towards the opening in the ship's pressurized environment. She pulled a slightly risky maneuver with her thrusters, assisted by her inertia, and managed to slip through the hole created in the vessel's bridge. Her team followed a few steps behind, Alenko barely making it in before the vessel's barriers created an artificial seal over the breach.

The crew of the vessel was strewn all around, moved about by the sudden change in pressurization. They all wore unmarked black armor that varied in make and protectiveness. Some wore lighter armor, while others wore far heavier armor that seemed designed for soldiers with heavy weapons. Shepard raised her coilgun and fired into the stunned bridge crew, along with the rest of her team. The disoriented crew of twelve was unable to effectively retaliate before they all lay dead at the hands of the four elite Human operatives.

Quickly, Shepard scanned over the Bridge and connected to Normandy through her communicator. "EDI, I need a cyber-warfare attack on the vessel's systems immediately. Scramble their comms and get me a readout of the ship's internals. Pull any and all data from the vessel and scan it over."

"Underway, Commander." EDI responded, her synthesized voice sounding completely calm and collected as she diverted her processes towards attacking the relatively weak Batarian cyber-defenses.

After a moment, an internal readout of the vessel was transferred to Shepard's Datatool, allowing her to view the ship's internal design. After scanning it over for a few moments, Shepard motioned with her hand. "Let's move!" She ordered, moving towards the bridge's exit with her rifle in a low-ready position.

After stepping through, Shepard was greeted by the sight of an obviously older Batarian military cruiser. The metal of the internal halls were aged, brown splotches seemed to creep from the corners. Exposed wiring was quite clearly visible, indicating both the state of repair that the vessel was in, as well as its age. The dimly-lit halls were filled by the red emergency lights.

As she advanced through the vessel, towards the central decks, she was greeted by a very sparsely-crewed vessel. The Cruiser was obviously running with a skeleton crew. She covered three decks with her team before she finally encountered any resistance. A group of three Batarians were dug in behind a makeshift barricade of scrap metal and furniture. As Shepard rounded the corner, all three Mass Effect-Tech rifles opened up on her, forcing her to scramble into cover.

Shepard decided to stick in cover, seeing that her shields were almost completely drained by the combined fire of three automatic rifles. Luckily, it seemed that Lawson and Williams were more than willing to assist. As Lawson shimmered out of sight, activating her cloaking module, Williams pulled a small cylindrical grenade from her combat harness. In a quick motion, Williams activated the grenade and tossed it around the corner, earning a bright flash and a loud pop that were both suppressed by their armor's active visors and hearing protection. Lawson slipped out of cover, a pair of Coil Pistols drawn.

As Lawson spotted the three Batarians, obviously stunned by the tossed flashbang, she deactivated her cloaking module, and emptied her magazines into the helmets of the Batarians. "Clear!" Lawson stated, slotting new magazines into her handguns.

Shepard stepped out from her cover behind the opposite wall, her shields fully recharged. "Let's move." She said, nodding towards the hall containing three Batarians, their skulls splintered by the hypervelocity slugs.

Shepard and her team continued through the dimly-lit halls of the Batarian vessel, checking rooms as they passed. The layout of the vessel was nothing short of strange to the Human operatives, with the internal design showing very little practicality for combat. After examining the schematics for the vessel more closely, Shepard realized that the vessel was a refit civilian liner given weapons and slightly thicker plating.

After covering another short distance, the operatives were able to make out a faint conversation between two Batarians, their translators relaying the words to them in plain English. "Have we heard anything from the Bridge?"

"Nope, totally radio silent."

"Damnit… what the hell's going on?!"

"No idea. Humans are probably trying to board the ship."

"For such weak-looking creatures, they're pretty good fight-" The speaking Batarian was cut off as a coilgun round found a new home in his chest cavity, causing him to drop to the metallic floor. The second was dropped by a round from Williams' rifle, clean through center-mass.

As the N7 team rounded the corner, they were able to make out what the two Batarians were guarding. It was a large blast door, looking several inches thick and made of dense alloys. "Lawson." Shepard said, nodding to the door.

Lawson nodded, pulling up her Datatool and setting to work. After a few moments, the orange holographic display in front of the door shifted to green with a soft beep. Shepard stepped forward, her team in a tight diamond formation as she activated the door. As she stepped through, her shields were battered by incoming gunfire.

Shepard ducked into cover, her shields collapsing a mere moment prior. Her heavier armor was able to absorb the small slug, but the plating did not go undamaged. Her team was scattered throughout the room, which was obviously some sort of brig. There were Batarians in heavy armor, dug in behind makeshift defenses. Shepard counted at least twelve in the short time she had to look.

Shepard spotted Alenko, who was ducked behind a metal crate, clutching his arm. Her HUD signaled that he was wounded, and that his armor's bio-gel dispenser had activated. As his arm was temporarily immobilized, he switched his scattergun out for one of his two machine pistols, firing over his cover.

Lawson shimmered back into a visible state just behind a pair of Batarians that were separated from the main defensive line. Her combat knife found itself embedded in the exposed neck of a rifle-wielding Batarian. In a blindingly fast display of agility and speed, the knife was ripped outwards, the heated metal blade smashing through the eyepiece of the other Batarian's helmet. The Batarian let out a short scream before the knife was ripped from his skull, and Lawson disappeared again.

Williams activated a fragmentation grenade, tossing it around her cover. The grenade forced the Batarian defenders into cover long enough to allow her to slip behind the same crate as Alenko, her attention shifting to his wound.

Once Shepard's shields fully recharged, she leaned out from behind the slab of metal that she was using for cover. Her Coilgun fired in rapid succession, six slugs finding their place in a Batarian skull. Before the return-fire forced her back into cover, she tossed a single fragmentation grenade behind a bundle of four Batarians. Their curses were cut short by a loud detonation, scattering metal shards in all directions.

Lawson reappeared behind a group of three Batarians, her presence making itself known as one's neck snapped, drawing the attention of the other two. Before the two could react, one found his head slammed into the metal wall. The helmet covering the Batarian's head cracked under the sheer force exerted by the N7 Shadow, the wall also suffering a rather large dent. As Lawson turned to face the third Batarian, she found him to be activating his Omni-Tool, a rather large orange blade folding out from the holographic interface. The alien made the mistake of engaging a Shadow in close quarters.

Lawson swiftly ducked out of the way of the poorly-executed jab with the Omni-Blade, grabbing the Batarian's wrist as she moved. She wrenched the armored gauntlet up and twisted, a sickening crack sounding out over the cacophony of gunfire as the Batarian's shoulder was dislocated. The alien let out a shout of agony, which was swiftly silenced by Lawson forcing the alien's head to the floor with another twist, followed by a quick downward stab with her combat knife.

The now thoroughly disoriented Batarians found themselves quickly dispatched by a combined effort from Lawson, Williams, and Shepard. The remaining four Batarians, being spread out, were easy marks for the N7 fireteam.

Shepard stood up from her cover, scanning the area to ensure that it was clear. "Williams, status?" She asked, slotting a new magazine into her coilgun.

"Flesh wound." Williams responded, matter-of-factly. "He'll be fine."

Shepard looked around, checking their position on the ship's schematics. They had finally arrived in the room that held the Neural Implant signals. "Fan out, search this room." Shepard ordered.

Shepard moved about the dimly-lit room, her rifle in a low-ready. She and her team, after scanning the room, came upon a rather large detention cell of some kind. It looked ramshackle in its construction, seeming to be an afterthought addition to the vessel. Shepard walked over to one of the panels lining the wall, her Neural Implant translating the Batarian text to a decipherable Human language. She pressed a quick series of keys, prompting a small door to hiss, and slide open.

Shepard looked through the now-open door, her stomach churning in disgust as she saw what it contained. Inside were four Humans, their clothing torn, tattered, and looking almost burnt. Each of them looked to Shepard with wide-eyed fear at first, then a look of excitement crossed their faces as they saw a UHE Soldier standing before them. Three of them were male, while one was female.

"Oh thank God!" The woman said, seeing Shepard and her team. "We knew the UHE wouldn't abandon us!" Shepard shuddered slightly as she saw that the woman was almost completely naked, bruises covering most of her body. The only thing providing her with a sense of decency was a rag garment covering her waist, and her arm covering her breasts.

Shepard let her rifle collapse back down to its portable form, re-attaching it to her back. "You're all okay… were you all the crew of the Haken Corp freighter?"

"Yes, we are." One of the men, wearing a tattered button-up shirt and slacks said. "We were making a standard stop to flush our Void Drive's heat sinks when we got attacked. The Batarians took us in here… I think they were taking us back to their Space." The more well-dressed man seemed to much calmer than the three others.

"Four-eyed freaks…" Williams commented, stepping past Shepard to check over any wounds that the four captured crewmen might have.

Shepard looked back to Lawson and Alenko. "Get the rest of these cells open."

"Of course." Lawson said, nodding. She led the way back into the hallway, stepping out of sight.

Shepard pressed a hand to the side of her helmet. "Joker, bring the Normandy about and dock with the cruiser. We've located the captured crew."

"Yes, Commander." Joker responded. "I've notified Admiral Hackett, and he's sending a fleet to relieve us. He wants us to jump to Mindoir as soon as possible."

"What for?" Shepard asked.

"Batarians hit Mindoir." Joker explained, a slight discomfort mixed with disgust in his voice. Shepard tensed up, looking down to the four that Williams was tending to. "Fleet estimates that well over a thousand people were captured by the Batarian raid."

XXXXX

Stratton was normally a rather calm and collected man. His temper very rarely ever made itself known, he liked to think that he had enough control over it to remain calm. It was taking almost every ounce of willpower that he possessed to not start punching bulkheads.

He stood in the agonizingly slow elevator of the Presidium's tower, the Council having summoned him for an audience. He was halfway to New Eden when the news about the Batarian raid on Mindoir reached his ear, and he honestly did feel bad for whoever had to clean up the damages to his office on board his ship. Joining him on the elevator were two agents of the Imperial Intelligence Corps, codenamed Cerberus, each of them concealing compact coilguns and body armor underneath their suits. "Tell me… exactly how rhe Batarians hit Mindoir." Stratton said, taking a deep breath through his nose. He probably should have asked about the details of the attack before he started cursing in his office.

"Their attack on the small civilian freighter on the edge of the Relay System was simply a diversion." One of the two agents responded. Stratton recognized her as one of the agents that generally accompanied him to events like this. She was a synthetic, Maya Brooks, and one of his most respected agents. Her being a previous-gen N7 Project Operative made her quite intimidating, even without the armor. "They used the hole created in the patrol pattern to jump a small fleet from the Relay System to Mindoir's system. Mindoir's small defense fleet put up a fight, but they were outnumbered three to one."

"How the fuck did that happen?" Stratton asked. "How many ships were in Mindoir's orbit? Orbital Defense Platforms?"

"The Orbital Defense Grid for Mindoir is still under construction." Brooks continued. "As for the fleet, Mindoir is a small colony on the fringe of UHE space, barely 200,000 residents. Seeing as Mindoir is not in a system containing a Relay, Naval Command didn't see a reason to commit a defense fleet any larger than a few Wyvern Frigates and a single Ares-class to it."

As much as Stratton hated to admit it, it made a certain kind of sense. There was no point in defending a world that would be near-impossible for a Council Fleet to reach, most of the time, with a massive fleet. "And this fleet was able to jump into UHE space… how?"

"We initially believed them to be a military escort for a small Batarian merchant fleet that was passing through the native Relay to trade. By the time we detected that they were diverting from their course, they were well out of range of our defenses, and could jump straight to Mindoir." Brooks continued. "By the time the fleet arrived, their ships were already in-atmosphere over the colony itself. Orbital bombardment was impossible, and the Batarians had the balls to make an in-atmo FTL jump out of the system. One of our Wolf-Class Destroyers was able to intercept one of the ships as it jumped, but the rest managed to get away."

"The ship we intercepted? Did we save anyone?" Stratton asked.

"Roughly 50 colonists, most of them women and children." Brooks responded, her face remaining level and calm. "We sifted through their ship's databanks after the surviving Batarians were executed. We believe that the Batarian Government sponsored this attack by paying off this third-party slaver group with military technology, credits, and ships."

"What do you mean, 'we believe'?" Stratton asked.

"Our technicians uncovered the data of a deleted general message to the entire slaver fleet. The message came from the Batarian world of Torfan's governor. The content of the message was corrupted, but the metadata was still there."

"Son of a bitch…" Stratton muttered through clenched teeth. This elevator wasn't doing much to relieve Stratton's growing stress.

Just as the Chancellor honestly considered drawing his pistol, shattering the elevator's glass door, and taking the service ladder instead, the elevator came to a stop at its destination, the Council Chambers. As the door slid open, a small collection of reporters were present at the exit, all of them held back by C-SEC. Humans were not an uncommon sight on the Citadel, not with how many passed through the station to do business. A few Humans even owned shops or restaurants on the Citadel. There was certainly a feeling of tension between Humans and the Council Species, but the market certainly desired Human goods enough to look past the tensions.

Stratton kept his gaze forward as he strolled past the C-SEC officers that were keeping the press away from him. He made his way across the Presidium's courtyard, his agents walking in-step with him. He could see the Council awaiting him, all of them standing atop their floating pedestals. Joining them, on a slightly lower pedestal, was a Batarian in obviously formal attire. All four of the Batarian's eyes seemed to regard Stratton with distrust, possibly even downright hatred.

The Human Chancellor stepped up to the small platform, standing before the Council and Batarian. Tevos gave a small smile as he approached, finally speaking when he came to a stop and clasped his hands behind his back. "Chancellor Stratton, thank you for coming." Tevos said, her voice diplomatic and her expression turning neutral. "I'm sure you already know why we asked you to come?" At this, the Batarian seemed to almost snarl at the Chancellor, prompting him to clench his fists in frustration.

"Indeed, I do." Stratton said, his voice carrying all throughout the Presidium thanks to the acoustics of the room. "And I must say, of all the things I wasn't expecting to deal with when I woke up this morning, it would be hearing about Humans being captured and enslaved." Stratton seemed to spit the last word out like it left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Lies!" The Batarian shouted, earning glares from Tevos and Mesu. "Your fleet attacked a merchant fleet! They barely escaped from your accursed vessels with their lives!"

Tevos looks like she was ready to speak up, but Stratton cut her off. "Oh really?" Stratton asked, sarcasm laden within his words. "Is that why they jumped to a small Human colony, destroyed its small defense fleet, and took over a thousand people as slaves?!" Stratton's shout caused the Councilors and even the Batarian to recoil slightly. He continued. "I was kind enough to allow your degenerate species to trade with my own! I was kind enough not to send a fleet to blockade you during the Second Contact War! I was kind enough to look the other way once the treaty was signed, even as innocents were being enslaved! Hell, I was feeling diplomatic enough to come to the Citadel and shake hands with the Batarian Hegemon! You spit that in my fucking face, lie to me, and enslave my people?!"

"Your hollow words mean nothing, Human." The Batarian responded. "You've given no proof of this other than through your own words! You spit on ancient Batarian tradition and culture! The Caste System is as old as our species!"

"A culture that enslaves is not one worth existing." Stratton said, glaring at the Batarian. As the Batarian representative crossed his arms, Stratton was able to make out a small imprint on his clothes, looking suspiciously like a pistol's grip. "The Council has outlawed slavery, yet for some reason, they seem content to allow their people to be taken from their families and turned into property!"

"Batarians have had their Caste system since they first made contact with the Council." Tevos said, hoping to defuse the heated discussion. "They were allowed to keep it as a gesture of good faith from the Council."

"Tell me, Tevos… how many Asari do you think are some Batarian's plaything right now?" Stratton asked, earning an audible gasp from some of the members of the press. "How many Turians were captured in skirmishes against Batarian slavers? How many Salarians were taken from fringe colonies in the Traverse? Their caste system enables this kind of degeneracy, legitimizing a corrupt and morally bankrupt government."

"Coming from an Empire?" The Batarian asks.

"An Empire that has outlawed slavery for longer than your species has been spacfaring, enforces strict rules of engagement, and prioritizes freedom and individual liberty." Stratton responds. "Your disgusting government prioritizes social stagnation, corruption, enslavement, and exploitation. I don't care how long you've exploited people and enslaved. The age of a practice does not make it right."

"Perhaps we could move onto a more… amicable discussion?" Tevos asked, catching the arguing pair's attention.

"Yes!" The Batarian responds. "The Hegemony demands reparations for our destroyed merchant fleet, as well as all of the goods that it carried." Stratton could see that Tevos was honestly considering tossing the Batarian out of the nearest airlock. He shared the sentiment.

"How about this instead?" Stratton asked, glaring daggers at the Batarian. "In exactly twenty four Galactic Standard Hours, every missing Human from Mindoir will be returned to Human Space. Failure to meet these demands will result in us taking them back on our terms."

"There are no Humans to return, so your demands are impossible to meet." The Batarian responded, nearly causing Stratton's teeth to grind to a powder in frustration.

"Very well… then consider this a formal declaration of war against the Batarian Hegemony." Stratton said, causing the entire Presidium to fall into a stunned silence.

"You dare threaten us?!" The Batarian responded. "We are a Council member, you would be declaring war on the Council as a whole."

After a few silent glances were exchanged by the Council, as well as a few nods, Tevos spoke up. "Due to recent events, reasoning stated by Chancellor Stratton, and budding relations between the UHE and the Council, the Citadel Council will not come to the defense of the Batarian Hegemony." The Batarian, and the entire Presidium, stood in stunned silence once again. Stratton smiled a predatory smile as he turned to the Batarian representative.

"Thank you, Councilors." Stratton said, nodding to each of them in kind. "Now that this is out of the way, I will excuse myself. I have preparations to make." With that, Stratton turned on a heel and strolled away from the Council, leaving all of Citadel Space stunned.

XXXXX

Shepard stepped onto the CIC, her armor completely replaced by her normal Commander's uniform. The ship's crew was all working in a solemn silence. She noticed one part of the CIC was missing, the quirky Comms Specialist. In her place was the second shift's Comms Specialist, Kelly Chambers. Shepard didn't remember altering the sleep cycle, Samantha should be at her station right now. Shepard walked over, catching Chambers' attention. "Specialist Chambers, what are you doing on-deck? You're not on this cycle."

"Oh… Commander…" Kelly said, surprised by the Commander's questioning. "Specialist Traynor… is down in the Med-Bay on Deck 3."

"What happened?" Shepard asked.

"I don't know… Doctor Chakwas just asked me if I could take her place for a few hours, so here I am."

Shepard nodded. "Very well, as you were." Shepard said, allowing Kelly to return to her terminal.

Shepard made her way back into the elevator, taking it down to the Crew Deck. Once on-deck, she rounded the corner into the Mess Hall. There were a few Marines and off-duty crewmen sitting at the metal tables, eating their meals. She made her way into the Med-Bay, on the opposite side of the room from the XO's quarters.

Upon entering, she was greeted by the sterile white medical facility of the Normandy, easily one of the most advanced in the fleet. She could make out the ship's chief medical officer, the silver-haired Doctor Karin Chakwas, standing over a terminal, typing incredibly quickly. The privacy shutters around a single bed were up, blocking it from sight. "Doctor?" Shepard asked, catching the doctor slightly off guard.

"Oh!" Chakwas said, jumping slightly. "Commander… I assume you're here about Specialist Traynor?"

"I am." Shepard said. "I like to know what's going on with my crew." Shepard explained.

"You know that I'm not obligated to share the intricate details, but I can tell you that she experienced a nervous breakdown about two hours ago." Chakwas explained. "She's fine, physically… I'm giving her a day's rest from her duties."

"Very well…" Shepard said, choosing not to argue with or prod the Normandy's resident mother-figure any further. "Would you mind if I spoke with Specialist Traynor?"

"Not at all, just keep it as brief as possible." Chakwas said, earning a nod from the Commander. Once Shepard turned towards the single occupied bed in the room, Chakwas returned to her terminal.

Shepard took a deep breath before stepping through the privacy shutter, the metal moving aside as the Commander pressed a few keys on the shutter itself. As she stepped through, she saw the normally-quirky and upbeat comms specialist was lying on the medical bed, curled up. Her arms were wrapped around her abdomen, and Shepard could make out the faint lines of fallen tears on her cheeks. Traynor bolted upright as the Commander stepped in.

"C-Commander!" Traynor said, sitting upright and giving a salute. Shepard could now see quite clearly that Traynor's eyes were still heavy with sadness.

"At ease, Sam." Annalise said, her voice heavy with concern. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Y-Yes, Command-… err, Annalise." Traynor said, remembering her discussion just a few months ago. "Just some motion sickness from Joker's fancy flying a few hours ago." Sam lied through her teeth. She knew that she was a terrible liar, but she secretly hoped that the Commander would buy it.

"Motion sickness, huh?" Annalise said, sitting on the bed next to Sam. "Chakwas said otherwise."

Damn… Sam thought to herself. "I-It's nothing, Commander… I'll be fine."

"Sam…" Shepard said, her voice going from that of an officer, becoming that of a concerned friend. "You don't have to tell me anything, I'm not going to force you to say anything you're uncomfortable with… I just like to know what's wrong with one of my crew… and one of my friends. Let me know if I'm stepping over any boundaries, though."

"No!" Sam said, catching herself in her sudden excitement at the Commander's words. She's actually concerned about me… as a friend? "I… I want to tell you about it. Might make me feel better." Annalise nodded, beckoning Sam to continue. "My parents are Earth natives… they always wanted the freedom that a colony life could offer. That's why I lived on Horizon for a few years before University." Sam took a deep, shaky breath. "My… my mother is a nurse, usually works with kids. Once I graduated from Oxford, she and my father always talked about moving back to the colonies, and they did a few months ago."

Despite Sam's best efforts, she couldn't stop a few sobs from escaping. In response, Annalise placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. After a few moments, before Annalise could let her know that she didn't have to continue, Sam resumed speaking. "And of course, the bloody colony they chose was Mindoir…"

Codex Updated

Wolf-Class Destroyer- A next-generation Destroyer spacecraft designed for the sole intent of patrol and ship-hunting. It is equipped with negative energy and Mass Effect detection sensors, as well as one of the fastest Void Drives ever created, only beaten by the Normandy's. It is exceptional at hunting ships, intercepting fleets, and patrolling the fringes of Human Space.

Cerberus- Humanity's guardian and protector, Cerberus is the UHE's largest intelligence division. They function as both a domestic counter-espionage force, and a rather shady black ops force. Cerberus Operatives are hand-picked by the director of Cerberus, a man known to most of Humanity and the Galaxy at large only as The Illusive Man. Many special forces divisions, fleets, and a single Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate are at the disposal of Cerberus. Very little happens in the Milky Way that escapes the knowledge of this shadowy organization.

The Illusive Man- Known to a select few as Jack Harper, The Illusive Man is the director of Humanity's Cerberus. Harper was chosen by Chancellor Stratton to direct the organization that would be Humanity's guardian against potential incursions. Despite Cerberus being the youngest of Humanity's government-controlled organizations, it is by far one of the most powerful. This, effectively, grants Harper more power than most Admirals and Planetary Governors.

UHE Orbital Defense Platform- A static orbital defensive platform, designed to protect Human colonies from invasion. While the ODPs of the Council utilize Mass Accelerators, the UHE uses more… unconventional methods. Their ODPs fall into one of three categories: Fighter Hangers, Orbital Ion Beams, or Orbital Hypervelocity Cannons. Every orbital defense grid has a mix of the three, varying by the importance or population of the colony in question.

Haken Corporation- One of Humanity's three corporate giants. The Haken Corporation emerged as a conglomerate of dozens of European companies, most of them civilian in nature. The Haken Corporation is one of the largest exporters of civilian goods to the Citadel Council, exporting everything from clothing, foodstuffs, civilian vehicles, personal electronics, raw materials, and refined materials.

A/N:

More updates, yay!

I really appreciate all of the reviews you guys have been leaving. I honestly can't believe the amount of feedback, favs, and follows that this story has gotten so quickly. It's honestly amazing to me, thank you all.

To address something, someone asked me what I based the UHE off of, if I got it from a Sci-fi universe, or if it's an entity of my own creation. I actually just kinda… mashed a few fictional and historical governments together. The UHE could best be described as a mix between the German Empire under Bismarck, the UEE from Star Citizen, a little bit of the Imperium of Man, and a little bit of the UNSC sprinkled in there too. Basically, Humanity: Fuck Yeah.

And for BlackMyst, thank you for your review about the thought that went into this Humanity. A lot of their tech, like the Neutronium Reactor or Focused Gallium Ion Beam, is either something that would be theoretically possible that I happened to think up with a few friends of mine, or already exists in some form today. Most of Humanity's tech actually came about thanks to some lengthy discussions about why we need Sci-fi where Humanity isn't a little bitch compared to the aliens they fight.

As always, thanks for the follows, favs, and reviews. I appreciate every one of them and read them all.