This story is meant for a mature audience hence the mature rating. Eighteen and over please and if you are not please act like it.
PB-Patrol Base
Bellona: Goddess of War, Conquest and Peace.
Nemesis: Goddess of Retribution and Fate. She keeps balance in the world, making sure no one has too much of a good or bad thing. She is the force of balance and justice.
************************************Yes I gave the Alliance a huge advantage with their newest flag ship. Reapers that is all I'm going to say, in this universe they are stupid strong (stronger than cannon) and can easily destroy an Infinity class warship you've been warned. It's just coincidence that the SA has made them. **************************************************************
I've made the YSS-1000 proto type anti-ship spaceplane no longer a proto type. It is in mass production in this universe and makes its debut in this chapter.
The MJOLNIR Gen2 armor that the SA is using is the Blood Dragon Armor from Cannon but olive drape, it can also be changed to blend into an urban enviroment. Each set of armor can and does interface with an AI and is spec'd towards the individual Marine. In Shepard's case since she is just a grunt it greatly enhances her combat capabilities to be on par with Master Chief from the Halo universe.
Immunes: legionary soldiers who possessed specialized skills, qualifying them to perform duties atypical of a Roman soldier
Chapter 10: War Ends and Sovereign begins watching the galaxy.
May 3 2175
Palaven
Cipritine
Garrus was not having a good day, if you were to compare it to his other bad days this one took the crop. When war broke out with the SA he left C-Sec and rejoined the Turian military like any good Turian would. He was ordered to follow a Spectre named Saren, and at first he thought it would be the realization of a lifelong dream. Now he couldn't stand the bastard, sure he hated to retreat and really hated seeing his home in ruin but this was turning in to a slug fest that the Turains couldn't win.
Now almost a year later he sat on his home planet behind cover wondering if what he felt was what was what other races had felt when the Hierarchy fought and subjugated them. He had fought Humans, Krogans, Asari, and those bugs they called Arachnids. The bugs scared the shit out of him. He had seen one tear through an entire platoon before being brought down.
There was a lull in the fire fight that was going on so Garrus ran out of cover towards the command center. Once he made it in he found Saren prepping to go back out by himself armed with a Phaeston rifle and a Phalanx pistol. Garrus was about to turn around and leave Saren to his own devices when his attention was called by said Turian.
"Garrus good that you're here, resupply and meet me outside I'll brief you then".
Garrus cursed under his breath before responding, "Yes sir". He went to grab more grenades and dextro rations. With that he headed outside of the command center to meet with the Spectre.
Saren had been going over reports about heave casualties in the northwest sector of the city. He decided that he was going to head out to that area by himself before he saw Garrus and decided he could use his help. Now he stood outside the command center waiting for said Turian to meet him. He heard footsteps come up behind him and stop.
"I'm ready, what are the mission details?" Garrus asked.
"We're going to be heading to the northwest sector of the city to help shore up the defenses" Saren responded. With that he stepped off headed to hopefully slaughter more humans with Garrus in tow.
PB Bellona
Athena Shepard stood with her personal arachnid Mr. Snuggles going over the intel she had just received. This Saren guy was a piece of work it seemed he relished in brutalizing humans and only humans. She also saw that one survivor was quoted as saying that this Turian was under the belief that the Hierarchy would conquer the SA and subjugate them to being a client race forced back to their planet. She studied his picture before closing the file and heading out with her arachnid in tow. This would be the fifth Spectre that she and Mr. Snuggles would be going after. It was starting to get repetitive and every time their target would finally lose it when they realized that they were fucked and about to die. The last one was an Asari that broke down after Snuggles ripped her leg off before Athena shot her in the head.
Athena figured that she would head out to the northwest sector of the city seeming as how that area contained the most reports of this Turian. She left her squad to reinforce the patrol base before she stepped outside of the wire. It took her twenty minutes to get to the front lines and find the officer in charge. Once she located him she got more up to date intel on her target. "Have you seen this guy?" she asked the officer showing him the picture she had.
"Yeah he slaughtered thirty of my Marines before we were able to retaliate. He loves explosives the fucking prick, we also captured his partner a Garrus Vakarian".
Athena just looked at the officer like he had kicked her dog. She was starting to wonder if this guy was stalking her. "I want to see him now" her tone left no room for debate.
"Very well he's over their" the officer said and pointed her in the right direction.
Garrus was sitting under armed guard while he ate one of his rations. He looked up and his mouth dropped at who he saw. Standing before him was a certain red head he wished to never see again and with her was one of those bugs.
"Hey Garrus, how's it going?" Athena asked with a sickeningly sweet smile on her face. "Where's Saren? I've got a bone to pick with him".
Garrus blinked a few times hoping that his eyes were playing tricks on him. After he established that they weren't he saw her smile and immediately felt that if he didn't answer her question things would go very bad for him. "I've been better and I don't know where that sick bastard is at Shepard".
Athena looked at him for a few more seconds before turning around and leaving. She figured as much since Garrus was left behind. "Well Mr. Snuggles it looks like we'll be setting a trap".
All the Arachnid did was let out a low hiss.
Four Hours Later
Saren heard reports of a human with red fur on her head fighting alongside one of those spirits damned bugs. If his reports correct she had already killed four spectres and a handful of turian troops. "How hard could it be to kill one human bitch" he said to himself.
Athena had set the trap using herself as bait. She figured killing off a turian platoon would draw Saren out and she was not disappointed. She currently had eyes on him and had to give him credit he was good at hiding. "You can come out now I already know you're here".
Saren was surprised that she knew he was there. He chose not to stand but to continue hiding before he felt his left arm get snapped up in a vice like grip. After that he found himself being dragged towards the human female. He saw that it was one of those bugs that had him and for a second he was speechless.
Athena looked at saren with disgust. This bird had delighted in killing humans in the most brutal of ways. She wasn't above fucking with him but she needed information on what was left of the turian troops. "How many turian troops are left?"
Saren just glared at her his mandibles twitching in irritation.
"Answer my question ass hole".
Saren still kept quiet refusing to give out the information this human female wanted.
Athena really didn't want to play around anymore so she told her arachnid to take sarens left arm as a snack. Which the arachnid did without having to be told twice.
One minute Saren was in mild pain the next he was screaming on the floor clutching at the stump that was left of his left arm. "Fuck you bitch, I'll fucking kill you and your whole fu-"
"Shut the fuck up stumpy you've out lived your usefulness". With that Athena shot saren in the chest six times before walking way and heading back to PB Bellona.
She should have checked him over just to be sure he was dead. When a turian patrol found him he had a weak pulse but they were able to save him. That day he vowed that humanity would pay and that red haired bitch would be the first.
May 10 2175
Palaven
Cipritine
The newest primarch stood looking over what was left of the capital city. He saw explosions from enemy artillery and bombed out buildings. This really didn't bother him what bothered him the most was all the dead bodies of his troops. Right outside of the medical tent there were lines of dead Turians there were more scattered throughout the city some that would most likely never be recovered. He weighed his options if he continued fighting as any good turian would do many more would die and his species could possibly go the way of the Rachni. If he chose to surrender then he would go down in Turian and citadel history as the only Turian to ever surrender and be branded a traitor by many.
"You can't surrender to these primitives sir" Saren all but yelled at the Primarch.
"Those primitives managed to drive the strongest military us back to our home world. One of the human females managed to get the jump on you and remove you from your left arm with the aid of a bug. I suggest you show them the curtesy of the respect they deserve." The Primarch snapped back.
Saren clenched his one good fist in irritation. He could not believe that the Primarch was thinking of surrendering to primitives. He remembered one of the Salarian Spectres talking about a derelict ship that was massive that might be able to fight off the SA. He decided he would hunt this ship down and use it against the humans.
The Primarch turned to one of the Turians manning a communications console and ordered him to contact the SA commanding officer. After that was done he ordered all Turian forces to lay down their weapons and surrender. After he confirmed that the order was sent he stepped outside and put his pistol to his head and pulled the trigger.
When the Turian forces received the order to surrender they were shocked. Sure it made sense but for the Turians to surrender they were emitting that the primitives as many of them called the humans were in fact superior. The last of the council races and citadel forces fell to the combined force of Humans, Asari, Krogan, Quarian, and Geth. To say that the galaxy was shocked was an understatement.
Same Day
Council chambers
Citadel
Councilor Tevos sat with both the Turian councilor and the Salarian councilor. Tevos knew what was going to happen next after being a counselor for decades and seeing what the Turains did to races they subdued.
"So how long do you think it will take the SA to demand our heads?" the Salarian councilor asked.
"Could be a few hours or a few days." Came the response from the Turian councilor.
Tevos wasn't so sure about that. Sure they would most likely come to the citadel and demand an explanation and every document that pertained to the war to go after the main protagonists.
Before any of the councilors could continue with their conversation and plans an aide ran in to inform tevos that the SA was sending a delegation to the citadel in two days to discuss terms and that they were to be prepared and have any and all military forces stand down.
"Well looks like the decision has been taken out of our hands councilors" Tevos sighed before getting up and leaving the two idiots that started the war to think.
May 12, 2175
Citadel
Admiral Hackett stood on the bridge of the newest flag ship for the Alliance. She was a mixture of Asari, Geth, Quarian, and Human engineering. At just over ten kilometers long and one kilometer wide she was one of the biggest if not the biggest warship turned loose on the battle field. The ship was given the name Nemesis with her sister ship too be given an Asari name. The Alliance only planned on making five of these vessels each named after a member race of the Alliance.
Her bow was slightly bulbous and angled so as to provide as much armor as possible towards her enemies. The bridge was located in a slightly raised island that was only three decks high so as to limit the chances of being hit. This also left the bridge raised above the many weapons systems that were mounted to the deck. She was powered by a more refined Shaw Fujikawa slip stream drive that instead of relying on brute force to punch a whole into slip space used just enough to gently cut into slip space greatly reducing the drag that the vessel encountered making the use of the relays and mass effect cores obsolete. The rest of the power was used to power the hard light shields and weapons. Older Shaw Fujikawa drives were modified to provide power to the eight hundred and eight MAC weapons systems on board.
She was armed with nine hundred M85 anti-aircraft guns modified to use hard light as ammunition. Eight CR-03, series-8 MAC, four fore and four flank running along the keel of the ship. Four hundred Mark 2551 portable magnetic accelerator cannons capable of rotating one hundred and eighty degrees. Two hundred on the port side and two hundred starboard side of the ship. These could also traverse forty five degrees vertically. Their purpose was to keep the enemy under constant fire. Four hundred Mark 2488 magnetic accelerator cannons. Two hundred on the port side, Two hundred on the starboard side of the ship. These weapons could also rotate one hundred and eighty degrees as well as traverse forty five degrees vertically. The Nemesis was also the first ship to feature eighteen hard light cannons nine fore and nine flank. These cannons were set in turrets that resembled battle ships from the twentieth century. Each turret held three cannons and could rotate two hundred and fifty degrees and traverse sixty degrees vertically.
On top of all the armament the ship boasted a complement of ten fighter wings of F-41 Broadsword fighters. Five wings of YSS-1000 anit-ship sabre fighters. Six hundred D77H-TCI Pelican drop ships equipped with troop deployment pods. The Nemesis also contained six regiments of SA Marines to preform ground side engagements as well as rebel boarders and board enemy vessels.
The Nemesis had an escort of twelve Infinity class warships each of which carried ten strident class heavy frigates which were currently launching. There were also forty destroyers staged in ten groups of four all in a wedge formation.
This was what the Citadel and councilors were faced with on the day the Alliance said they would be arriving.
Citadel
"BY THE SPIRITS" shouted the Turian Councilor when he saw the SSV Nemesis and its escorts.
Tevos just stood quietly having recovered quickly from her shock at seeing the force that the SA brought but she supposed that the citadel rated this over whelming show of force. Tensions were still high since the end of the SA Citadel war.
The Salarian councilor stood with their mouth open in shock. They were regretting even being part of the Salarian Union and having a hand in the mission that started the whole damn war.
They saw one pelican depart the Nemesis escorted by two squadrons of F-41 fighters. They waited at the docks for the SA dignitaries and the future of Citadel Space.
Pelican SA-444MC
Admiral Hackett looked over at Matriarch Benezia who was currently talking to Liara and Athena about some political bull shit. Hackett hated political bull shit he hated it with a passion.
"Liara how about you and I skinny dip in the Presidium" Athena slyly whispered while rubbing her lower back.
Liara blushed at the idea before swatting Athena's hand away. "Athena I know I said I like you but please show some restraint." The now furiously blushing Asari shot back.
"Athena, little wing will you two both stop it. We are here to dictate terms and according to Admiral Hackett leave an occupying force to inforce those terms". Benezia chastised drawing a stifled laugh from the rest of the Marines present.
Just at that moment the crew chief informed Athena that they would be landing in thirty seconds. In a flurry of motion every Marine present from Human to Quarian checked through their equipment and drew their weapons.
"Admiral, Matriarch Benezia when we land you'll stay on the pelican until I give the all clear. The pilot was already briefed to get the hell out of dodge if anyone tries anything nine tenths stupid." Athena said turning serious before securing her helmet.
Everyone felt the pelican touch down before the crew chief dropped the ramp. With that Athena and the rest of the Marines moved to secure the landing dock.
Councilor Tevos was not surprised to see SA Marines come pouring out of the pelican. She noticed that more than a few tense up and hoped that they would not do something stupid. Especially with the force that was parked right outside the citadel.
Athena scanned the crowd before giving the all clear. She saw the three councilors had come to greet the SA dignitaries. "You're not planning on using that ridiculous room we used last time to try and seem all important, are you?" Shepard asked the councilors.
The Turian and Salarian councilor puffed up their chests but before they could respond Tevos cut them off and told Athena that they would be using a conference room with a live feed for all of Citadel space to see the proceedings.
"That will be sufficient Tevos, it is good to see you again" Benezia said walking up behind Athena.
"It is good to see you too Matriarch Benezia, you as well Liara and if I'm not mistaken this would be Athena" Tevos replied with a warm smile.
Admiral Hackett interrupted the trio to get things moving along. "Are those cameras live?" he asked Tevos
"Yes they are why do you ask Admiral?"
Hackett just turned and walked up to the Turian and Salarian councilors. "Arrest these two and charge the Salarian with war crimes and crimes against the Asari."
This brought a gasp from crowd before a few shouted out in outrage. Hackett quickly shut them up by informing them what the Salarian Union had been doing when Sur' Kesh fell.
Tevos was horrified to hear that the Salarians had been running experiments on her fellow Asari trying to cross them with an arachnid. She was pleased that the SA had terminated the results and destroyed the data on the project. She heard one of the crowd yell at one of the SA Marines.
"Get out of my way suit rat"
"Go fuck yourself bosh'tet" a female Quarian replied.
"Tali please don't kill the locals" Shepard yelled out while spinning on her heels to get to the somewhat trigger happy Quarian. "I never should have introduced her to shot guns" she mumbled to herself. by the time she made it to where the little Quarian was at she saw that tali was about to turn an STG member into her own little puppet.
Tali had knocked the Salarian over and was about to make him her personal puppet when she felt her shot gun get yanked out of her hands. "What the hell?" she began saying.
"Tali I said not to kill the locals. I think you proved your point with the Salarian." Athena said returning the shot gun to her favorite little Quarian.
Tali sighed before taking back her shot gun then glared at the STG member on the floor.
After this little encounter the group from the SA moved towards the designated conference room.
Ten Hours Later
To say that council space was shocked was an understatement. The Alliance had left councilor Tevos along with Solana Vakarian and Mordin Solus and the new Turian and Salarian councilors. The council was allowed to keep their spectre program but under much reduced funding and fewer members. The Alliance would help rebuild and stabilize citadel space but the citadel had to do the majority of the work.
2177
Sovereign
Saren spat at the monitor after watching a recording of the proceedings. The Alliance pretty much neutered the Spectres as far as he was concerned. As for the new Turian councilor he thought she was weak just like her idiotic brother. He approached the Salarian councilor when he discovered Sovereign a year ago but was promptly chased off the citadel. Now he sat aboard his flag ship with Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh. "Are the upgrades finished Admiral Xen. Can Sovereign cut through the Alliances defenses?"
"Yes the upgrades have been completed." The Admiral began saying before being cut off.
"Can we challenge the Alliance or not?"
"Yes we can. Although I advise waiting to see what the Nemesis class warships can do." An unknown voice sounded off in sarens mind.
Admiral Xen had approached Saren with the ten thousand ships she took from the Quarian Flotilla and offered her services to the beleaguered spectre. Services he was all too happy to accept and for the last two years they had been watching the alliance and studying their technology. They even added some of the technology to sarens flag ship. "If that is all I will continue to study some of this ship" she said to saren.
"Fine, I've business to attend to." Replied the turian spectre. After he was certain that Xen had left the room he tried to figure out where that voice had come from. It wouldn't be until later that he discovered it was actually the ship.
Akuze
Same Time
Shepard was leading a team of fifty Marines and twenty five arachnids. Her mission was to locate a colonial pioneer team that had gone missing. They had arrived at the last reported location only to find it deserted. She noticed that the arachnids were agitated by something but couldn't see what it was. As she and her fellow Marines cleared a small hill they saw an empty valley with small sand dunes littered throughout it.
The arachnids were starting to act more aggressive now towards the valley. This did not go unnoticed by the Marines but the warning came too late. The ground suddenly started shaking before it exploded upward. The Marines hear a loud roar before they realized what had happened. They had walked right into a thresher maw nest. Now Marines were firing at the oversized killer worm to no avail the arachnids were attacking it the best they could before the maw killed eight of them in one swipe. As suddenly as it had appeared it disappeared only to pop back up like a demented game of wack a mole.
"Fall back now fall the fuck back" Athena yelled towards the Marines. She watched in horror as a group of ten disappeared when the ground exploded underneath them. She was tossed by one of the arachnids out of the nest before she became the maws next victim. When she hit the ground she was knocked out by the force.
When she came too she radioed for any Marines to sound off. All she got was static over the radio. She heard a noise and turned seeing only one arachnid which was missing a good majority of its body. She recognized it as her arachnid Mr. Snuggles. Athena was pissed this had all the signs of a fucking trap. She was finally able to radio the Mania and report what had happened. Shepard was then told to head to the LZ for evac.
Once Shepard had made it back aboard the Mania she headed towards her quarters to ditch her gear and then head to the gym. She ran into Wrex on the way and head butted him when he asked what the hell happened.
Wrex was stunned for all of two seconds after Athena had head butted him. After that he lifted her up with his biotics and slammed her into the bulk head. "PULL YOU HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS SHEPARD. NO ONE KNEW THAT THAT THERE WAS A FUCKING THRESHER MAW ON THAT FUCKING ROCK." He bellowed at Athena while she was still pinned to the bulkhead by his biotics.
Shepard just glared at him before finally looking away. "Are you going to release me now?" she asked.
"Are you done pitting yourself?" Wrex retorted.
"Fuck you, now let me go I've got shit to do".
With that Wrex let Athena drop on her ass and walked away, mumbling something about temperamental red heads.
Arcturus Station
SA Parliament
"So we are agreed then that the alliance will be creating our own version of the spectres?" a member of the parliament asked.
Hackett had to sigh at this. "This group will be nothing like the spectres. They will not be above the law."
"So more like special forces? We already have those why do we need more?"
"To do what other special forces can't do" Hackett responded.
The parliament debated amongst themselves for a few minutes before authorizing Hackett to create one company of these so called Immunes (see A/N).
Hackett had one person in mind when he walked out of the parliament. He hopped the event on Akuze would not dampen her spirit. With that thought he told his personal AI to contact Shepard and set up a meeting for them as soon as possible.
Aug 02, 2177
SSV Mania
Sol Relay
Shepard was glad to be back in the sol system. Granted it had a lot to do with Hackett wanting to see her for what she had no idea. She had received the message two weeks ago and she informed the Admiral that it would be two weeks before she arrived. Athena also wondered what Liara was up to she hadn't seen that blue socially awkward Asari in almost a year. Last she heard Liara was on Mars studying the prothean ruins.
Once the Mania parked itself in orbit of Earth Athena was met by Hackett and on their way to the pelican bays he started to tell her about a new company he was authorized to create. He had already started and recruited a platoon so far and they were showing promise.
"So what is this group called and how are they identified" Athena asked Hackett while they continued towards the pelican bay.
Hackett just activated his omni tool and forwarded the relevant file to her.
Once the two of them reached the pelican bay they boarded a pelican headed to the surface of Earth. After they had boarded Athena activated her omni tool and looked over the relevant data. She found out that the group that Hackett asked her to join was referred to as Immunes after an ancient Roman Legionary. And that they could be identified by their unit insignia which was also taken from ancient Rome. The insignia was two gladius swords crossed surrounded by a wreath the only thing missing was the SPQR from the center.
Hackett just let Shepard look over the file he had sent her before being notified that they were about to land. He got Athena's attention and told her to follow him once the ramp dropped.
Athena followed Hackett as he led her to a relatively new building that had the same insignia on the doors. Once she entered the building she was immediately greeted with three phrases written in Latin with a translation underneath each phrase. SEMPUIS EXERTUS (often tested). SEMPER FIDELIS (always faithful). FRATERS INFINITAS (brothers forever). "I'm assuming that's the unit motto?" Athena turned asking the Admiral.
"Yes it is, I think it speaks true of our newest unit" the Admiral answered back.
After Athena reviewed the mission of the Immunes for a few days she agreed to join their ranks. She would miss being assigned to the Mania and seeing her friends but with this unit she could be temporarily assigned to them again if her mission so required.
Hackett was happier than a pig in shit when Shepard agreed to join the Immunes and as she left his office he had to resist the urge to shout in triumph.