From the Ashes

by erttheking

Even after seeing their world burned, Humanity was able to stand up again, and push beyond their pre-war status and reach the heavens. But how will a hardened Humanity handle life among the stars? And how will others react to this aggressive newcomer?

10. The Blitz

Chapter 10

The Blitz

Author's Note: I hope that you weren't too attached to the characters of Hannah Shepard or General Williams because we're not going to be seeing a lot of them from this point. Oh they'll show up, but they're more or less going to be supporting characters. That's right, it's time for a TIME SKIP!...OF SCIENCE! Next stop, the Blitz...but you knew that already, the title gave it away. I thought about sticking around the Citadel for a chapter or two...but then I realized that I couldn't think of anything of substance to write about, so I said "screw it".

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November 5, 2715: The Coalition publicly refuses to apply for an embassy on the Council, instead requesting a station on the Citadel for an ambassador to maintain friendly ties. It is granted, but it is notably separated from the rest of the embassies in terms of quality. Some of the guards for the Coalition ambassador reportedly overheard rumors that it was once the Krogan embassy, which had at one point "hosted sparing matches"

January 9, 2716: Through second hand sources, the Coalition learns of biotics, the ability to create and control Mass Effect fields, which sparks their interest. A handful of Standard-Human and Deathclaw children have already shown biotic potential after being exposed to Element Zero pre-birth. No Necro-Humans or Meta-Humans have shown any biotic potential, although some believe that these two being unable to naturally reproduce play a hand in it. Some theorize that exposing artificial wombs containing unborn Necro and Meta-Humans may yield results, but the Coalition is reluctant to experiment.

May 25, 2717: Saren Arterius joins the Spectres, becoming the youngest Turian to do so.

September 16, 2721: The Coalition begins experiments to create an "advanced" artificial intelligence. A current Coalition A.I.s have limited capabilities, being roughly on par with organics, and in some cases sub par. The Coalition intends to create a sentient super-computer capable of operation far beyond anything that current A.I.s or computers are capable of. This operation is classified from the Coalition public, and the Council as a whole.

October 1, 2722: The L1 biotic implant is issued among Coalition biotics, but the results fall vastly short of expectations. While the biotics are capable of controlling Mass Effect fields, they are too weak for applications in combat.

April 11, 2723: Tensions spike between the Batarian Hegemony and the Coalition. Today, the Batarians approached the Council for permission to colonize the Skyllian Verge, only to find that the Coalition had already established several settlements in the area. The Hegemony and Coalition ambassadors were reportedly at each other's throats, the Hegemony ambassador arguing that the Council had promised the Verge to them, while the Coalition ambassador pointed out that the Coalition had been in the Verge for the better part of a year. No compromise was reached, and the few trade arrangements between the Hegemony and the Coalition are broken.

July 28, 2725: The L2 implant is issued, but due to Coalition inexperience with biotics and no Council support, many of the biotic trainees die as a result. The few that survive do display high biotic potential, but the L2 is also classified as a failure.

August 7, 2727: A Coalition cruise liner on the edge of the Traverse is attacked by Batarians slavers and many of them are captured, the latest attack in a string of raids among the boarders of Coalition territory. Tempers flare at the Citadel, but the Hegemony ambassador claims that these actions are the acts of pirates and criminals not connected to the Hegemony. With no evidence to oppose this, the Coalition takes no action against the Hegemony.

May 24, 2728: The L3 implant is created, with mixed results. Many of the trainees only exhibit low levels of biotic potential, just as many show moderate levels of biotics. After much debate and despite the implants still falling short of expectations, the 100% survival rate causes the Coalition to declare the L3 a success, but more funding is pushed to create a successful L4.

June 12, 2729: Jane and John Shepard both join the Coalition military.

February 28, 2732: The Quarian Migrant Fleet passes by the edge of Coalition space, prompting first contact to be made between them and the Coalition. Initially, the Quarians were wary of the Coalition, due to their laid back approach to A.I.s, but the negotiations went better than expected. While the Quarians asked for samples of the FEV to experiment with in hopes of curing their immune system and were denied, the Coalition gave them 50 freshly constructed merchant ships in exchange for advanced starship designs as well as blue prints for experimental ships, such as a stealth frigate. They Coalition also replaced the filtration system of the three live ships, which were in danger of breaking down, in exchange for surveys of nearby systems, which revealed hidden element zero veins among other things. The Migrant Fleet would always remain within a week or two from Coalition space for years to come and a large amount of their young would make their pilgrimages there. While the Coalition had not declared the Quarians their closest allies and done everything in their power to help them, the reception that they received was far warmer than anywhere else in the galaxy.

October 29, 2735: Present day. The 20th anniversary of the First Contact War.

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The Coalition colony of Elysium had a population of around 14.5 million and was the pride of the frontier. Unlike most of the Coalition's new colonies, this planet had three cities and smaller outlying settlements instead of just one. It was currently playing host to a Coalition ceremony, honoring veterans of the First Contact War.

In the city hall of Elysium's capital, New Jamestown, dozens of First Contact War veterans had been gathered to be awarded for their diligence in fighting an unknown enemy. There had been some deliberation in this, many wondering if they should be honoring soldiers for killing the men of a galactic power that they were now allied with. However, eventually the decision had been made and the event approved. A line of soldiers stood at the far end of the hall, all of them First Contact War veterans...or to be more accurate, most of them.

"God, if I have to stand here much longer I'm going to fall asleep," a man with short brown hair in power armor without a helmet said, standing at the far end of the line of veterans.

"Shut up," a woman with long black hair that was tied up into a bun and also wearing power armor with no helmet hissed. "Honestly John, being forced to stand still and listen to a couple of speeches isn't going to kill you. If anything else, do it for Mom, she couldn't make it to this and we got sent in her place, the very least that you can do is."

"Oh, fine," John grumbled, "honestly you're so uptight Jane."

"Only because you seem to have a problem with every single military regulation ever created by every species."

"Just the stupid ones."

"Which to you is all of them. Now shut it, they're about to start."

Sure enough, a man in a pure white naval uniform was walking towards a plinth between the hundreds of people who made up the audience, military and civilian alike, and the veterans. "Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce myself. I am Captain David Anderson, and I am touched that the Coalition gave me the privilege of honoring the brave men and women who fought for us all in the First Contact war."

"Twenty years ago, we thought that we were alone in space, many of us were worried about the Protheans lurking far beyond our sight and waiting to strike, but we had no evidence to support this claim. We were, for the most part, at peace, we were united as one and were expanding father and father out every day. Life seemed almost utopian."

"But as we all know, twenty years ago, we learned that we were not alone in the galaxy, that it was filled with countless other races, governments and organizations and not all of them were friendly. Even though we are now at peace with the Turian Hierarchy, our first encounter with them ended with one of our planets being invaded and hundreds of lives being claimed on both sides."

"However, despite being caught completely caught off guard by not only learning that there was another species that lived among the stars but that they were also hostile, the men and women of Shanxi held their ground. They fought back, pushing the Turians off of our planet and took the fight to them. They showed the Council that while we want nothing more than peace, we will not hesitate to defend ourselves."

Anderson paused, earning a round of applause from the audience, before continuing. "I am very sorry to say that General Williams, the man who led the ground forces at Shanxi, could not make it to this ceremony. Very recently, his son has fallen seriously ill as the result of a heart condition and the entire Williams family has chosen to stay nearby him, delaying all other appointments." Out of the corner of his eye, Jane saw John lower his head slightly, as if in sadness. Before she could say anything though, Anderson had continued. "However, I am pleased to say that he is being treated by some of the finest doctors in the Coalition and that he will make a full recovery."

"Now then, allow me to introduce the men and women that have gathered here today, as well as the awards that they have won for their valor." He stepped away from the podium, holding a fist full of medals in his hands and walked towards the line of veterans, another officer taking his place in front of the podium as he did.

"For taking part on the assault on the Turian's HQ, Hannah Shepard is awarded the silver star." Anderson approached Jane and John, and instead of pinning the medal on them, simply pressed it into Jane's outstretched hands.

"Give your mother my regards," he whispered before moving on down the row as the officer called out another name.

"You ok?" Jane whispered to her twin. "You're worried about George Williams aren't you?"

"We've been good friends with the Williams family for years, of course I am. Are you saying you're not?"

"Of course I'm worried, I'm just confident that he'll be fine. Being the son of a war hero gets you a good medical plan." She smirked slightly, "then again, you're a little closer to that family than I am."

John turned slightly red. "Shut up," he whispered.

"Oh, now you want me to shut up?" Jane chuckled, "you're too much."

John said nothing at merely stared ahead as Anderson continued to hand out medals, the officer calling out names as he did. After what seemed like an eternity, to John at least, Anderson reached the end of the line and returned to the podium. "I thank you all for coming here today, please take this time to mingle and enjoy the refreshments that we have to provide. That is all."

"Finally," John muttered, as the line of veterans and the crowd dispersed, approaching tables laden with snacks and drinks that were being rolled out. "That was agonizing."

"It lasted half an hour!" Jane said, "I can't believe you." She fought back the urge to groan as they sat down at a table idly reaching forward to grab sandwiches.

"Pardon me, are you related to Hannah Shepard?" Both of them looked up to see a man in pure white armor decorated with golden crosses approaching them, his hair pure white. He was flanked by a yellow Meta-Human and a Necro-Human in Ranger armor.

"Yes...do we know you?" John asked.

"She didn't tell you about us?" The Necro-Human asked, "I feel insulted."

"Wait a minute yes she did," Jane said, understanding dawning on her face. "Charon, Fawkes and Adam right? You fought with her in the First Contact War."

"Yes indeed," Adam said, sitting down at the table along with Fawkes and Charon. "She was a very...forward woman. How come she couldn't make it?"

"She was promoted to Captain a couple of weeks ago," Jane explained, "she's been given command of a dreadnaught that's stationed near the Council boarder. She couldn't get the time off."

"That's a shame," Adam said sadly, reaching towards the center of the table and grabbing a bottle of Nuka-Cola, flicking the cap off with his thumb before taking a sip.

"Duty calls though," Fawkes pointed out, "if you accept a promotion to a rank that high you need to be willing to accept the responsibilities that come with it. I am glad to hear that she is doing that."

"You three have all been in the military for around 20 years now, aren't you high ranking officers?" John asked.

"Us? Nah,' Charon said, "we're fighters, not leaders. Not everyone is cut out to lead entire armies, and those of us who aren't would rather not get promoted and get people killed."

"Wasn't there a Pre-War policy saying that you couldn't do that though? That you had to either be promoted or leave the military?"

"Yeah, but only the United States did that, and I think anyone who even paid the slightest bit of attention in history classes knows that the US did a lot of stupid shit," Charon pointed out. "I mean what sense does that make? Did they think that fighting as a grunt for a year or two would make it so that a solider would be capable of commanding a squad? Then again that may or may not be the nation that started the Great War, I shouldn't be too surprised."

John and Jane chuckled. "Well to each his own," John said, "but Jane and I are both Lieutenants and we're going to try and aim higher."

"Hey," Charon said, holding his hands up, "if your mother is a Captain then I'm sure that you'll do a better job than us at-" he was cut of as, without warning, the entire building shook violently, causing several people to loose their balance.

"What the Hell was that!" John shouted grabbing the table to regain his balance and looking around.

"Yeah, we're going to know," Jane dryly.

Before he could reply, a voice shouted across the COM lines of all soldiers present. "WE'VE GOT INCOMING HOSTILES! BATARIANS! THEY'VE BROKEN THROUGH OUR ORBITAL DEFENSES! THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!"

All five of them froze, looking at each other. "Slavers," Adam whispered, "they'll probably hit the most populated areas."

"Well we can't just stand here can we?" John said, taking his helmet off of his back and sliding it over his head, Jane, Adam and Charon doing the same.

"Anyone got a plan?" Charon asked, taking his shotgun off of his back as John unholstered a laser rifle and Jane a plasma rifle.

"You five! With me!" All of them turned to see Anderson approaching them, a rifle in hand. "I just got off of the radio with command, our ground forces are already countering the Batarians but they caught us off guard, we're taking heavy loses. The most that we can do right now is organize and escort the local civilians to safety and keep any Batarians off of their backs. Now come on! We need to get outside, this place has a bunker underneath it and we need to keep any hostiles away until everyone gets in. After that we will head out into the city and provide help wherever we can? Understood?"

They all nodded. "Ok, move out!"

"I really hope that power armor of yours holds out," Charon whispered to John and Jane as they ran towards the entrance, soldiers and the honored veterans doing their best to heard the now panicking civilians towards the shelters. "This is going to get real ugly."

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A young woman panted as she ran through the streets, a light pistol in her hand. She tore around a corner and pressed her back against a wall, panting heavily. Holding her pistol up, she peaked around the wall, her hands shaking. It was winter time on Elysium and the streets had a healthy coating of snow, as did the cars and buildings. Her eyes scanned the streets up and down, desperately looking for anything. The Batarian invasion had started half an hour ago and ever since then she had been running for her life, trying to escape the slavers.

Upon seeing that the streets were deserted, the woman allowed herself a small breath as she slid into a sitting position, heaving deeply. She tried not to think about all the people that had been on the same block as her when the gunship had flown overhead, dropping soldiers that had proceeded to shoot person after person with concussive rounds, knocking them out. A small part of her knew that at least dozens of people had already been captured but she shook her head at the thought. She had heard stories about what Batarians did to their slaves and she didn't want to think about it.

As her breathing returned to normal, she got to her feet, weighing her options. She had not been thinking when she had run, she was now in the outer sections of the city, only a couple of blocks from the boarder. There weren't any bunkers out here, they were all back in the inner city where more people lived. If she wanted to be safe, she would either have to take her chances and leave the city and hope that there weren't any Batarians outside of it, or run back towards where they had landed and hope that she could get to a bunker before they noticed her.

Before she could come to a decision though, a shot rang out and something slammed into her stomach with the force of a sledgehammer, causing her to smack into the wall behind her and sink to all fours. "Got one!" a voice shouted, causing the woman to look up with dread. Four Batarians were approaching her, all of them holding weapons.

Desperately the woman raised her pistol and aimed it at them, but the front one casually kicked it out of her hand. "Still got a little bit of fight in her," he remarked, aiming his rifle at her and pulling the trigger. Another concussive round shot out and smacked her in the face, causing her to collapse to the ground, her body smarting as she panted heavily. "That should do it."

"Idiot, you could have killed her, you're supposed to aim for the body," one of the other Batarians chastised.

"Really? Turians can handle it just fine."

"Yeah, well she's not a Turian dumbass. These people don't have metal in their skeleton. They're more like Asari."

"And they managed to beat the Turians?"

"Don't forget that this is just a Standard," the third one said, walking forward. "She probably won't fetch that much. Keep an eye out for Metas and Deathclaws, that's where the real profit is.

"I can't believe that we had to get this many men just so that we could make a raid," the fourth one grumbled.

"Well, that's the Coalition for you," the third one said, noticing that the woman was attempting to get to her feet. He swung his foot forward and kicked her in the stomach, causing her to fall back to the ground as she cried in pain. "They think because they won a couple of skirmishes with the Turians they own the galaxy. Arrogant pricks."

"We're burning time here," the first one said, "we can't stick around for too long, someone give me an implant so we can get on with-" he was interrupted as a bang roar out and his head exploded.

"SNIPER!" one of the Batarians shouted and all three of them raised their rifles and fired in the direction that the shot had come from. Bullets impacted on the top of one of the many metal buildings that surrounded them, kicking up snow and smoke. After fifteen seconds of continuous fire, they stopped.

"Did we get him?" one of the Batarians asked.

"I don't think so, I don't see a body," another replied, squinting at the spot with all four of his eyes.

"Didn't someone back at the base say that the Coalition had people that could turn invisible?" the third said, sounding scared.

"Don't be stupid, that was with Deathclaws, not snipers," the second said, scanning the buildings with his rifle. "We just need to find him, and then-" another bang roared out and the upper half of his head was blown off, his lifeless body failing to the ground.

"THERE!" one of the two surviving Batarians shouted, spotting a figure in pure white clothing that was crouching on a second story rooftop two buildings away from the one that they had fired on, holding a sniper rifle up to its eyes. Both of them raised their rifles and began to open fire, but as they did, the figure got to its feet, dropping its rifle off of the building as it did, and jumped off of the building.

One of the Batarians' eyes widened in horror as the figure flew right at him. He raised his rifle to take aim, but before he could fire so much as a single shot, the figure smashed into him, forcing him onto his back and sending his rifle flying. Before he could do anything to recover, the figure had pounced on him, drawing a knife from its waist and stabbing down. Sharp agonizing pain filled the Batarian's body as the snow around it was stained with blood.

The final Batarian lined up a shot, but before he could shoot more than a handful of bullets, the figure had grabbed a weapon off of its back and fired a shot at the Batarian. A sharp pain tore through the Batarian as he was knocked off of his feet. As he landed, he attempted to get back up, only to look down at the source of the pain and feel a pang of fear. A long wooden shaft was sticking out of his throat, blood trickling down around it. "A...A arrow?" he whispered as he slumped back onto the ground and his body went limp.

The figure got to her feet, pulling its knife out of the Batarian beneath it and sheathing it, sliding the crossbow that it had used to kill the last Batarian onto its back as it did. As it did, the woman got a better look at the figure. The person standing in front of her wore pure white winter combat gear and had a quiver full of short arrows designed for a crossbow on its back. The figure turned to look at the woman, who had recovered from the concussive shots and had gingerly got to her feet.

The woman gaped in horror. The figure had been wearing face wrappings that had been knocked askew when it had jumped off of the building, revealing its face. It was the face of a young woman that had eerily white skin, as pale as the snow around them, with long silver hair and blood red eyes. She spoke, doing so in a quiet voice. "Are you all right?"

"You're...you're from Alaska aren't you? You...you're a cannibal," the woman stuttered.

The pale skinned woman shook her head stepping forward as she did. "No, I'm not. My name is Sheryl Hayah, I'm"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" the woman shrieked, causing Sheryl to wince, as if she had been struck. "You're not a cannibal? Don't lie to me! I heard what they do in that shit hole back on Earth, stay away from me!" and without another word, the woman turn and ran, heading towards the edge of the city.

Sheryl watched her go, a blank expression on her face. As the woman left her line of sight, she readjusted her face wrappings, covering her entire face with the exception of a slit for her eyes. 'I thought things would be different out here,' she thought, walking to where her sniper rifle had landed and picking it up and sliding it onto her back too, crossing it with her crossbow. 'But people out here...they're the same.'

For a moment, Sheryl stood there, alone with her thoughts. She was jolted back to reality when her COM unit beeped through. "To any Coalition ground forces, this is Captain David Anderson requesting reinforcements near city hall! We have a massive concentration of civilians in the area and Batarians are not far!"

Sheryl paused, looking up at the top of a nearby building as she did. Reaching towards her back, she grabbed her crossbow and removed the clip from the bottom that held around 15 arrows and slid one in, replacing the one that had been used before reattaching it. She then reached towards her waist and grabbed a grappling hook and a length of rope and inserted it into her crossbow before taking aim and shooting it at the building.

The grappling hook caught on the edge of the roof and Sheryl grabbed the rope, using it to climb up the edge of the building. Before long she reached the top, taking the grappling hook and wrapping it up and placing it back on her hip before she began to run across the rooftops, heading in the direction of city hall.

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CODEX UPDATED

ENTRIES ADDED

The Attican Traverse: The frontier of civilized space, the Traverse directly boarders the Terminus Systems, a region of space dominated by criminals and referred to by many in the Coalition as "the New Old West." The Council has refrained from colonizing this section of space since its establishment, worried about provoking the Terminus Systems. However, the Coalition saw the Traverse as an untapped gold mine and began colonizing it almost immediately after establishing contact with the Council.

Dozens of colonies sprung up, some massive settlements sponsored by Parliament, some isolated mining outposts owned by corporations, establishing a firm Coalition presence in the Traverse. These colonies are heavily guarded by the Coalition military, to the point where one fifth of the Coalition Navy can be found in the Traverse at all times. Still, these prospering freshly colonized planets are too tempting for Terminus System organizations to pass up, and while raids on Coalition colonies are more rare than Terminus system forces that attack Council colonies, when they do attack the Coalition, they tend to be more well equipped and organized.

Alaskan Tribals: When the Coalition turned its sights away from Earth, it overlooked small isolated communities that were still on Earth, the Alaskan tribes were one of them. Alaska was hit particularly hard during the Great War, mainly due to its oil supplies and heavy military presence. Most of the infrastructure was destroyed and the most animals that survived were mutated into hostile and dangerous creatures.

The survivors grouped into small isolated tribes and fought often, among themselves and with the hostile wildlife, but the bombing had destroyed most of the weapon stockpiles and by the late 23rd century, it had all dried up. As they did, the tribes became isolated from one another, doing the best that they could to live off of the brutal environment, using what makeshift weapons that they could craft.

A few years before the First Contact War, a Coalition shuttle was forced to make an emergency landing in Alaska when it was damaged during reentry and, as a result, accidentally made contact with the tribals. Initially the tribals were hostile to the Coalition ambassadors, their only contact with the world outside of the state being the occasional shuttle that flew overhead, but were pacified by gifts of advanced technology that made their lives much easier.

Shortly after making contact, the tribes were annexed by the Coalition, some of them even learning how to use Coalition weaponry and joining the military, their skills as hunters and scavengers making them useful scouts and snipers. Because of their isolated contact from the rest of the world, many of the tribals were superstitious, mistaking genetic defects as signs of impurity. Many of the young of the tribes fled to the Coalition after making contact, seeking to throw off the old and narrow minded views of their ancestors. Many found comfort and peace in their new homes. However, some were not so fortunate. A string of rumors followed the Alaskans, some suggesting that they were mutants, cannibals or rapists, because of the high radiation levels in Alaska and a veil of distrust settled on many Coalition soldiers who watched them from a distance.

Alaskan Automatic Crossbow: The Alaskan tribes quickly depleted their supply of firearms and ammunition, creating the need for a new type of weapon, resulting in the creation of the Alaskan automatic crossbow. Holding a clip of fifteen small arrows, the crossbow can be quickly fired and reloaded, the ammunition being recyclable.

Many of the tribals that joined the Coalition military still use their crossbows in addition to their newer and more advanced weaponry. They modified the weapons slightly, making it so that the arrows were launched with less force, making them slow enough to not be stopped by kinetic barriers but fast enough to pierce flesh, although they are fairly useless against armor. A grappling hook can also be fired from the crossbow, enabling the user to reach higher ground with ease.

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Author's Note:...I just saw an ad for 20 bucks off of Mass Effect 3. Do you know what it said? "It's not about the destination, it's about the journey."...EA/Bioware is fucking trolling me now, I just know it. They're saying "We fucked over your favorite game series and we made money off of it and we're STILL making money, fucking sucker HAHA" I think that I should change the subject before I lose control. And from what I hear they're fucking over Dead Space now...never played that series, but my feelings go out to the fans of that franchise, I'm pretty sure I know what they're going through...yeah, it's been three months and I'm still pissed off.

You know, I learned a little bit of something while writing this chapter. I may enjoy living in the United States, but taking jabs at my home country is slightly cathartic. I know that the chapter was a little short, but the main point of it was to provide a transition, so I'm ok with that, don't want to throw too much at you at once now do I? Also, in case you're wondering, I got inspiration for Sheryl's name from Simo Hayha. Who was he? Look him up, you might learn something interesting.