AN: Sorry for the massive delay here, I've been forgetting to work on this a lot recently. But I can say you get to benefit somewhat to me reading a bit to much other stories. Now without delay, let's continue our encounter.
Chapter 8
The Normandy was quiet and clearly on edge. They had been surrounded by a fleet that could take on a much larger Reaper fleet and come out without even their paint, or what counted as such, being touched. That little bit of knowledge wanted Shepard to either try and run, or talk to them.
He was figuring that running would be a very bad thing, and near futile, those ships were clearly fast and could probably snipe the Normandy out of existence before they could even get to a position to jump. Which left fighting, a death wish if ever there was one.
Shepard put a hand on Joker's seat and leaned forward, "Joker, hold her steady. I have a feeling we'll have to talk our way out of this."
Joke let out a light chuckle, almost strained, "Whatever you say commander."
Shepard nodded and leaned back then took a deep breath, but before he could issue a command all of the lights flickered and EDI's body suddenly went completely slack. Soon instead of ordering he questioned, "What just happened?!"
Joker's hands were flying, "I don't know. EDI isn't responding, she seems to be working overtime. I can't get half of the ship to even respond. I think we are getting hacked, and hacked hard."
A voice suddenly came over the line, "Shepard," It was Liara, "I don't know what's going on, Glyph has gone dark and every ping I send him reports as busy. My computers are also showing massive slow down. I sure hope you know what is going on."
Shepard activated his side of the com line, "I wish I knew. Everything is reacting the same way; I'd be willing to bet good credits that it's the unknowns in front of us."
The line was quiet, and before anyone else could say anything the lights flickered again and EDI's body came back on, with it looking around quickly and then settling back down. Her hands went to the console before she spoke, "I am sorry about that commander, We were hacked and I was forced to direct everything I could to deal with it. I don't think I succeeded, but the hack has stopped."
Shepard shifted feet, "What did they hack EDI, I need to know If I have to worry about loss of operational security."
"You don't need to worry about that commander, the hack was only directed at our communications, languages and history records. And I believe they got every last bit. And even if they had wanted to go after the rest, there is a low probability that I could have stopped them, or known about it."
"I don't like the sound of most of that…"
EDI's arms suddenly starting hitting all sorts of things, "Commander, we are receiving a transmission, Audio only…but I can't understand it."
"Let's hear it." The oddest sounds then started to come over the com lines. The sound didn't remotely come across as words, it was just a bunch of clicks, twicks, gurgles and other strange sounds. "What the!? That sounds like a damn bug! Someone get Javik up here!"
EDI quickly passed the line along and as quickly as the painfully slow elevator would allow, Javik was on the bridge. And he didn't even have time to ask what was going on as the com line started to repeat itself, the same sounds as before in the exact same pattern.
When he did hear it Javik froze and looked at the ship, then at Shepard, "I do not know of these people commander. But I can tell you that these beings are more bug than my people. I can only understand bits of what they are saying, and even that is doesn't completely form words to my knowledge."
Shepard groans, "Well that doesn't help any…"
EDI was pressing several things on her consul, "What eludes me is why they are sending in this language, if what they acquired from their hack was correctly assumed, then why would they not send in our languages."
Shepard seemed to think for a good while with that, than he had an Idea, "They're giving us something to go off so we can create our own translators later." Those there didn't seem to have a response to that, but message repeated itself, and now Shepard had enough of it. "EDI open a channel to them."
"It is done commander, we are broadcasting on all frequencies."
Shepard nodded and got to talking, "This is Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy SR-2, System Alliance, we have received your message but do not understand it. I am requesting a better line of communication and hopefully explanations for everything that we have seen you do and what you did to my ship."
There was silence on the other end for a bit and then a booming voice returned, there was no accent just the monotone voice of a thrown together translator, "Oh thank Hintush, I was starting to wonder if you would EVER respond. You are currently speaking to Grand Master Reanifict Sheok, the ship in front of you is what I command and its name is best translated into iDefiance/i, that is not her original name but it is the name she goes by now. I am sorry for the not exactly customary introduction but we didn't exactly come out like we had hoped."
Shepard was a bit taken back by the ease this 'Grand Master Reanifict' responded, but he recovered quickly, "I can agree there, but I must admit you have me at a disadvantage, You seemed to have hacked my ship and acquired a vast amount of information while we have none."
"Sorry about that, standard first contact procedure for my species. They may be old but our AIs know them easily. I'll send over a data package later, but right now, we need to talk. For starters, What the hell are Hooken doing here! We came here trying to escape them!"
The bridge was a bit taken back by the fear and anger that was in that last sentence, but also confused by Hooken and the fact that they have AIs. But first was first, "I am assuming by Hooken you are referring to the beings we call Reapers, the massive living ships that you faced and demolished without worry."
There was a tad of silence then the voice Grand Master Reanifict came back on, "Yes. Though these ships seemed to be greatly weaker than what we ever faced. This fleet is strong yes, but those ships could have gotten much closer and at least damaged half of my ships, which are currently all in some states of damage already. Which brings me to another issue, I am assuming you have never encountered any of our fellow ships before."
"Wait, there are MORE of you!?"
A new voice came on, "At our last count there were 58,589 ships, but that was many years ago by our best easement. We do not know how many of them made it here or where they are."
Joke let out a shocked explanation, "You got almost 60,000 thousand ships! That's not much more than the quarians! That is a shit tone of ships!"
The GMF came back on, "Sadly we are the last of our race and our galaxy. We do not know how many are still around, and even those that are still around…only a quarter of the fleet was any form of military, there is no telling how many could have survived to this day."
Shepard sighed, "I wish we could help you. But this is the first time I have ever heard of you….what are you by the way?"
"Oh…sorry about that. My species is known as Treanoniman. And do not concern yourself too much, we will find our people with time."
"I would still like to help. But until then, maybe you can help us. As you saw we are in conflict with the Reapers, and losing. You may be able to help."
"If the, Reapers as you call them, are here, we will gladly destroy them. That last ship, that was made from my people, and it is responsible for billions if not trillions of deaths. This ships is the only one capable of going up against it and I will gladly sacrifice this ship if it means the destruction of that abomination."
Shepard let out a slight sigh of relief, "Good, because I don't think we would even stand a chance against a ship of that size and strength."
The response was brutally short, "You're right, only a flagship fresh off the docks could go against it and have a chance to survive. But sadly my ship is the closest we got, and it isn't exactly in the best shape as it is. But enough of this talk of military, we need to proceed to figure out what is next. I am going to trust you commander, but what I say of your people will come later. Most likely after I have read up on your history, and you mine."
The ships that had surrounded the ship started to move, all of them forming up on the massive ship in front of them. Shepard watched this and responded, "Understandable, I hope our two people can work together."
"So do I commander, So do I."
Codex:
Treanoniman – A treanoniman is a bipedal creature that is best compared to a bug that is reported to have come from the Andromeda galaxy. The closest looking species would be the Prothean. The biggest difference is that they have six very long, almost claw like finger. Another major difference is that they have no affiliations to Element Zero or biotics and yet as a species they have gained the ability to affect gravity.
Their data package reported that they evolved in a solar system that orbits a black hole. And despite many scientist saying that shouldn't be possible, they have maintained what they have said, and have even provided some forms of proof. But they have also brought forth that because of this unique solar configuration their planet was not the sphere that many other planets are, but instead an elliptical style and all beings that evolved on the planet evolved to have thick and hardened skin to protect from the radiation. It is believed that they could survive on Palaven just as easily as the Turians.
It is also reported that they do not and cannot be indoctrinated thanks to their evolution and horrors on their homeworld. But even they admit they can be made into husks.
Treanoniman History - Their overall background is as rich as it is complex. If they are to be believed they are so old, they make the Protheans look like babies. They have said that they are the oldest race in their galaxy with an age range around 95 million years old, but even they admit they've only been in space for about 72.3% of that time. But even still, all of that time has allowed for them to become a technological power house.
They had a good many wars on their Homeworld, the biggest of them called "The Hive Mother Over Throw." Not much is known of this war other than it was brutal, and covered their planet. And that after this War their technology started to advance by leaps and bounds and there were just about no wars, at least they did not earn the tittle of such.
Once they reached their space age, things become more complicated. Their first forms of inter stellar travel involved slingshot maneuvers with their star and the black hole it orbits. And their first true form of FTL did not come until they had their first interstellar war, a war that was one sided it seemed. Even by that time the Treanonimans had been using plasma technology, or at least weak forms of it, the reason being is that their skin was so thick and strong, not only did it stop any radiation, heat or cold problems they came across, it could stop near any bullets too.
This became abundantly clear to them when they had their First First Contact situation. It was a battle between a small research team of theirs and a large party of soldiers from the other. The research team had three fully armed and armored guards and one unarmored but armed scientist. And the party of soldiers was all fully armed and armored with what can be considered power armor and primitive rail gun. The soldiers got the fire off first, and it hit the scientist, but the round merely bounced off the thick skin and hardly left any bruise or mark. The stunned soldiers were then quickly annihilated by the plasma weapons that the guards had and thus started the war.
On the ground, the battles were one sided and had the Treanonimans annihilating their enemy, but in space it was a tad more even, but not by much. The Treanonimans were still able to easily defeat their enemy and force them back to their home planet, where history says they stripped of them of their technology, de-evolved them and quarantined them. The last report was saying that the species had only just discovered stone tools again.
After the first war their history gets more diverse, they appear to make many friends, and a few enemies. They have several more wars, but they never our right kill their enemies, just do to them what they did to their first enemies. Their history says they made many allies, even becoming the center peace for a galaxy wide government much like the Council. But they never shared their tech, saying that all must choose their own tech and deserve it themselves. They did sell a few different advanced equipments to governments and planets though, most notable of which was a planetary shield that was almost indestructible.
But then the Reapers Came.
Treanoniman Gravity wonders - The cause of the gravity affection near all Treanoimans have, is reported, as attained by a first contact data package, by special spores from within the treanoniman body. These spores appear to use a special chemical reaction to cause the unique affects to gravity. And from this chemical reaction massive amounts of heat are given off, this allows a treanoniman to be cold blooded but still have enough heat that they never have to worry about heating units, if they were forced to step into the coldness of space, all they would apparently need is a breathing mask.
The cause of these spores appears to have come from where they grew up in relationship to where they evolved.
Andromeda Reapers – The Reapers that the Council is currently at war with is much like the Reapers that first came to the Andromeda Galaxy, but in much fewer numbers. It is believed that a portion of the Reaper fleet broke off from those of the Milky Way and went to the Andromeda, most likely because it is the next largest Galaxy in the local cluster.
Treanoniman history says that when they first arrived the Reapers tried to come straight out and attack all there, but they were quickly destroyed. So they tried a different much slower approach, They went after extremely young races, races that had just gotten space travel, of which there were many, this allowed the Reapers to both advance and gain new ships. The change in tech was not much, just enough to allow them to work their way up the food chain as one would say. In time the Reapers advanced to the point where they could go up against the elder races and fight them to a stalemate. What stopped the Reapers from taking over all were planetary shields, but the Reapers ultimate weapon helped with that, indoctrination. Indoctrinated agents disable the planetary shields and allowed the Reapers to move in and harvest the planet.
These planets allowed the Reapers to gain their first ships made from Treanonimans, a ship that was radically different from all others seen today. It is not known why Treanonimans make a different style of ship, but it is believed to be caused by their uniqueity.
Once the Treanoniman made Reapers were finished they were sent against strong holds and used to destroy them. In time the only planet still not under Reaper control was the Treanoniman home planet, but when the Reapers came to take it, they found it near deserted, and when the fleet moved closer to crack the shield, with almost all of the Treanoniman made Reapers doing the dead. But when the shield was destroyed the planet blew up. The Treanoniman had made their homeplanet into a giant bomb, and when the planet when, the shockwaves caused the sun to go supernova prematurely, and from that explosion the Black hole became unstable, and dislodge from its galactic orbit, causing it to slowly drift out of the galaxy. The Treanonimans believe that it will continue to do so, until it hits another black hole, but then what happens next is a mystery to them.
With the destruction of their planet the Treanonimans became a Quarian style society, and not just them, but also all others that had managed to escape the harvesting of the planets. But the Reapers are nothing if not methodical and patent; they searched the whole galaxy looking for all that remand as they began to construct their own versions of the Mass Relay system and Citadel. As they ran the different species also placed different time capsules, hoping to warn the next generation, much like the Protheans had tried. In time only the Treanonimans remained, until they left the Andromeda and came to the Milky Way.
Shield Crackers – This version of Reaper is as rare as it is powerful. There used to be many, but now there is just one. These monsters were made from Treanonimans and required billons if not trillions of Treanonimans. Not only that but there was a time limit to how long you could build them, wait too long and the whole construct would degrade and fall apart.
The ships themselves were massive, bigger than Harbinger and believed to contain far more fire power than Harbinger. They had a form of plasma shielding which has made any but energy style weaponry ineffective against it. Their main weapons were able to tear anything apart, so much so that only a Treanoniman Flagship could even chance to go up against one and come out alive, but sadly only one remains, for both of them.
The first and only one ever seen in the Milky Way was reported to be known as Grindshen, the first Shield cracker ever made, and thus the most powerful and dangerous of them all. If one were to ever encounter this abomination, run, you can do no damage to it, all you can hope for is to live another day.
Treanoniman ships: Treanoniman ships are the most advanced ships the galaxy, their smallest ship is said to be able to go up against the Destiny Ascension and come out on top. It is known for a fact that they can put up a mighty fight against any Reaper from the Milky Way and at least take one down before itself would be overwhelmed.
From lowest to highest tonnage their rankings are: Corvettes, Frigates, Destroyers, scout carrier, Cruisers, Light Carrier, Battle Cruisers, Battleships, carriers, Dreadnoughts, Heavy Carriers, and Flagships.
The lowest three classes are the least equipped in terms of weapons, armor and shields. The weapons are all rail guns. All higher classes have a wide range of energy weapons as well as stronger armor and shields.
These ships are powerful by themselves, but when put in a fleet they are near unstoppable unless you are able to through massive amounts of large body firepower at them.
Their Cruisers are the size of Council Dreadnoughts while a battleship is as large as the Destiny Ascensio making all bigger ships larger than anything ever seen. The flagship would be mistaken for a space station if it wasn't for the engines and the similarities in looks to all lower class ships.
Treanoniman Flagship: The Treanoniman Flagship is to be considered the most deadly weapon of war every developed by them, though only one still remains. These monstrosities have the widest range of weapons ever devised on a ship, from rail guns to anti matter weapons. But the most deadly weapon is one they use rarely and take great pride in keeping out of reach of all other races as well taking care of it.
The weapon is some form of crystal that when charged will launch a beam of pure destruction, the beam itself reacting to some unknown subatomic particle causing the very atom to go nuclear. It was said that no ship could withstand the fire power of the weapon, though the Treanoniman history reports their scientist were starting to devise a shield that could counter act the beam.
Treanoniman engineers are work tersely to keep both the ship and it's weapons in the best repair possible. They refuse to allow any other species to even get with in scanner range of the ship saying that copping what they have already constructed would cause technology to become saturated and thus stall out all species. It is only with a diverse technological galaxy can they continue to advance as they find ways to counter what they see or even do it themselves in their own ways.
AN: Well there you go, that whole last bit with the Codex, I read that from a few other stories with Mass Effect in it, and I loved the idea. I figured it would be the best way for me to tell you guys the vast history and technological mobo Jumbo I will make a vast amount of use of. I will admit a lot of this information took me a long time to come up with, and a lot of talking with a friend of mine. But in time I figured things out and got it squared away.
That Poll I got up is still there, and Though I have one vote, I would still like more. I am working through my third playthrough of Mass Effect and doing completely different this time around so I am hoping to get a wider range of what I can type, but I would still like to know who you all think should survive Virmire.
Now yes I realize that a large portion of this was taken up by the Codex, but this was my first time using the idea so I sort of had things to make up. And I got even more to do as I go along...as well as bit of research into different scientific research, lovely. Hopefully doing that will actually allow me to figure out a few other things as well.
But until my next post, I hope you enjoy what you read, and please Review, it's always nice to read them.
