A/N
I have spent way to much time playing games and reading other fanfictions to have even thought about writing on this one.
Sorry for this chapter taking so long. Next chapter will see the end to the SC missions and the UNSC fleet will be heading back to the peace and quiet of home...
Suddenly Covenant.
Legacy of the MANTLE
With friends like these.
Mira Han greeted her husband on the screen with a warm smile on her face. "Matthew, what brought you to my home? There have to be something important going on for you to actually come here and I would like to know what."
Warfield looked at the woman and then back to captain Horner. "How did someone like you end up married to a mercenary pirate like her?" Matt turned his face away, not feeling like answering but knowing that the general wouldn't let the issue slide, "I might have won her hand in a game of poker." His reply made the grizzled old veteran laugh heartily, and with barely restrained mirth he said, "Good for you boy, take good care of her or you'll get to personally experience why they say that 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'."
Matt swallowed his pride as the others made some light jokes on his behalf, no sense in taking them seriously when they really needed help. As he turned back to the screen, Mira looked like she enjoyed the way she had made him uncomfortable. "Mira, we need a full resupply and a refit of all our ships, even the UNSC and the protoss ones are in need and I know that your fleet base has the facilities to do that."
That got Warfield's attention. "Wait, you mean that this mercenary has a full fleet base on hand, how did she get one of those huge things?"
A fleet base was a huge space station designed to maintain the dominion fleet. There were only so many built and the loss of one was felt by the entire fleet. Three had been destroyed and one lost. If she had that one then that solved that mystery.
Mira smirked knowingly, "If you'll recall, general, the dominion misplaced one a few years back. When my team found it we claimed 'finders keepers' and made it our home." The general just scratched his chin as he thought about it. "So that's what happened to A1-D6. The dominion only found some drifting junk when it went dark."
Mira looked as innocent as she could, considering her ominously glowing ocular implant. "What ever do you mean, general? Me and my men have done nothing but our duty in cleaning up after the zerg had done it's thing on the fleet. Is removing space junk a crime now?"
"Hardly, but the question is how they found the damn thing in the first place. That base was located in deep space, far from any trade route, and defended by the 13th fleet. Somehow, no emergency signal ever came and there were no known zerg movements in that area before. Any way, I do believe that you found the remains as not even a mercenary group as big ass yours could have taken that base. As far as I know, only the Raiders could have done that."
Matt was quick to steer the conversation on to safer ground, "Tell us what you want from us, we're desperate so make it short and simple."
Mira laughed lightly, "I want you here, alone in a dropship, and I want your friends to deal with a problem of ours."
"What? Why would I do that?" Matt clearly disliked the idea of being alone with her. Warfield patted the captain on his shoulder and with a wide smile simply stated, "She's looking for some company, boy. If I had a wife as faithful as her, I'd never leave home."
Matt ignored his comment and instead pressed on. "What is the problem you have?"
"Some Kel-Morian pirates managed to steal a prototype stealth destroyer and are using it to raid my supply lines."
Matt reacted immediately, "A stealth destroyer? How did they manage to create a cloaking field large enough for a destroyer?" He took a deep breath, "Never mind, just tell me where it is and we'll see what we can do about it."
Mira transferred the data and then closed the channel after a short, "I'll be waiting in dock four." Matt rubbed his temples and turned to Anderson, "You have a stealth ship right, could we use it to hunt for another stealth capable one?"
David nodded. The prowler could do that and ONI would probably be happy to go hunting for terran stealth ships. It would serve as a great distraction at the very least. They would all be safer if those people had something to do other then experimenting on everything that was out here. He had visited them a few days ago only to walk in on a weapons test against a new armor that section 8 had created.
They had only been here for a few months and had already designed a new armor concept from the CMC armor used by the terrans. As he had observed, they had even managed to put shields on it. There were some large boosters on the back, something that had been designed so as to let the Helljumpers do their thing without a drop pod. This would let them control and coordinate their jumps with greater precision. There were more to it than just that but aside from hearing something about a 'Burn In', he had lost them in their explanation.
As a former Spartan I, he had used and trained in the earliest versions of the legendary Mjolnir armors that the Spartan II's were using. If there was a way to let the ODST's catch up, then he would be all for it. Especially if they could coordinate their jumps to be more precise.
If all it would take to gain a safe harbour and free repairs was to let his prowler hunt for another ship, then he would take it. Helping pirates might not sit too high on his list of things to do, but right now the fleet would require some work and then, after Mengsk had fallen, he could take his fleet home and report on all that he had learned here.
There was a lot to report on. Among the most notable ones were the new races such as the Protoss and the two Azerothian species: the Worgen and the Tauren. Then there was the new tech; the power armour and the Yamato, a fully functional particle canon with astonishing power. The micro fabricator units in the barracks could fabricate a complete CMC suit in less then five minutes and the ones in the factory building could fabricate a fully functioning Crucio Siege tank in ten minutes. It took longer then that to even start one M808 MBT. The twin plasma canons would really hurt anything it hit.
There were more vehicles beyond just the tank, such as the Diamondback, a hover tank with nearly unrivalled speed and it's twin Eviscerator Rail Guns would do some serious damage. and then there was the Viking, a variable transforming aerial combat walker. Someone actually built a transforming mecha and uses it for rapid insertion support or aerial superiority. They would tremendously improve UNSC ground warfare capabilities. And the Jedi, psychic humans with supernatural abilities, would help improve their fight against the insurrection.
In short, there was just so much to report on that he would probably have to spend his return trip sorting it all out.
"I have an idea," he began. "How about some of your Jedi come with the prowler and together, we'll find and board it. If it's true, the part about it having fully functional stealth, then we would stand much from studying the ship intact."
Warfield leaned heavily on the starmap and let lose a short laugh. "That's the spirit, let them fear us and when they're weak, we strike. You'll need some heavy support if you intend to take a destroyer with nothing but a strike team." He walked over to the comm station, ready to call on his marines when Shepard stepped forward, "I'd like to volunteer for this mission." When Warfield looked at her she gave him a crisp salute. "very well, I'll have a team of heavies ready in an hour." Shepard raised her hands, "Calm yourself, general. I'd like to gather a team of my own for this quest."
She was standing in the unusually luxurious shower on the Hyperion, getting ready for deployment on the UNSC prowler; Dark Light, when she noticed a presence behind her. She was surprised that someone had managed to sneak up on her. This was unusual and she whirled around, ready for anything. She had expected to spot a former Spectre, not the furry chest of a worgen female.
She was just there to take a shower, but the fact that Shepard couldn't sense her at all was slightly disturbing. "Hi, I'm Shepard, former Magistrate of..."
"...Mar Sara," The worgen finished. "I know who you are. I was a part of the Colonial militia when you took the title." As the water started to flow she stepped in to allow the warmth to envelop her and she released a content sigh. "I haven't gotten a proper shower in ages. The standard sonic showers aren't enough for us worgen."
Shepard wanted to know how she could sneak up on her like that. If it was something that worgen could naturally do, then she would know exactly what soldiers to pick. Just imagine a squad of stealth capable marines, that really got her tactical mind running wild.
"How did you hide your presence from me? as a Jedi that should have been impossible."
The female smiled easily. "As an apex hunter, all worgen have learned how to fade. In short, we can reduce our presence to the point that we effectively become invisible. Those with psychic powers won't be able to sense us until we are close, others with enhanced senses might see a slight disturbance but that's it. It's very useful when you're hunting something big and dangerous. Most of us call it camouflage."
So they are all capable of that. "I see, that's really useful. Want to come with me and raid a stealth destroyer?"
"Sure."
"Got any friends, like nineteen more?"
Once she had showered, Shepard picked her team. They would have to be fast and durable. The tauren was out of the equation because while big, they were far from subtle, and she had never met a stealthy marine.
That left the worgen and they would do perfectly. Their natural speed and healing abilities along with their natural cloaking ability would turn a bloody battle into a precision strike. It could probably be done rather swiftly if executed correctly. All she needed was some luck and a healthy portion of guts.
To enhance their chances, Shepard talked to the ONI group and managed to convince them that their latest armor could use the live testing in a combat situation to test it's reliability. Reconfiguring it for the worgen was easy as they used the onboard fabricator on the Hyperion.
The worgen were happy as they got to play around with new armor.
Slowly gliding through the dark space among the asteroids, the dark shape of a terran capital ship dominated it's surroundings. The Kel-Morian designed ship Had a slightly pointy design and was most likely built as a primary fleet destroyer. The ship lacked the classic hammerhead that the battlecruisers had and so it's crew was seriously reduced to 700 and it lacked the space to carry equipment. It did manage to fit a proper fighter squad.
The combine had managed to build a ship where all the latest technology could be used on one ship. A destroyer capital ship that would tip the balance in the favour of the combine and leave the Dominion in the dust. At least that was the idea until one of the pirate groups managed to raid the shipyard and steal the prototype. To make it worse, they then turned their newest acquisition on the space platform and destroyed it, killing all who knew about it.
They then turned it on any and all cargo ships they could find. Once they had raided the cargo, they vanished behind their cloak and fled before the escorts could get there. For several months they raided their way across the stars in Combine space, taking any and all the loot they could find. Soon, they managed to gain a reputation as the epitome of hunters.
Now they were the prey as a UNSC prowler slipped up to it and released a few armored figures. They propelled them self using small boosters on the back of their armor. Getting to the service airlock took some time but once they were there, the lock opened and allowed them entry.
"Thank you, 054," Shepard said to the spartan who had placed himself beside the door. The large man slowly shook his head. "I didn't do this, you should thank Jormungand, he's the AI who unlocked the door for you." 054 was only going as far as the door, his only real job was to open the door for them. ONI had given him specific orders.
"The process was far more difficult than expected. It would seem as if this ship is using an older cybernetic Adjutant. If I didn't know that it was basically an organic supercomputer, I would not have managed to out process it. Instead I simply cheated. It would never have worked against a pure AI, but against a organic one, well..." The AI said over her internal speakers. "At least it worked..."
She nodded at the spartan as she slipped into the dark interior of the ship. Twenty armored worgen and a Jedi passed him before the doors closed and he returned to the prowler. Hopefully, they could remain undetected long enough to reach the bridge.
Shepard placed her hand on the door and sensed the room beyond. It was clear and she pushed it open. The group behind her readied their weapons and moved up to ready their charge. Carl, the Jedi, took ten worgen with him and began making his way to the engineering deck.
Shepard stalked down the corridor and stopped at one door. Behind it she could feel some men. They were unaware of the boarding party and she wanted to maintain the advantage. They would be fighting the pirates soon enough, no need to rustle the bees nest just yet. She concentrated and soon she faded from view. The group of worgen hid in the shadows and remained still, their forms fading and the corridor looked abandoned.
She activated her force sabre and started decimating the pirates. Some worgen had large knives in their hands and stabbed those who didn't have armor on. They proceeded to silently remove any threat on their way to the bridge. Some rooms had more pirates than others but nothing that really challenged them.
The bridge loomed ahead, it's doors guarded by one bored looking guard who suddenly died when a worgen grabbed his head and twisted it. Shepard walked on in and looked around. What she saw was poor upkeep and bad discipline. She was actually expecting better from these pirates but she didn't mind fighting those who were unprepared.
The captain slipped from his chair limply as his head hit the floor some distance away. At the same time, ten worgen materialized and began reducing the number of staff. The surprise worked as planed, for once, and the bridge was under their control less than 20 minutes after boarding the ship.
(This is Carl, we have the engines.)
(Perfect)
Shepard turned to the worgen manning one of the technicians consoles. "Tara, I want you to vent the ship."
"At once, ma'am."
The ship was vented, all crew who didn't wear sealed armor died immediately. It was a fast and efficient way of removing the pirates and the ship was under her command.
"This is Shepard, I have the ship. I repeat, I have the ship."
On the prowler, the captain nodded appreciative. The mission had been a success and now they could see to fixing their fleet.
On the destroyer, Shepard was studying the captains log. Even on a pirate ship like this, the captain had kept a rather competent record. Some of the dates only contained the basic information like positions and travel routes. Others told of attacks and what cargo had been stolen, and where it had been sold. Several merchants guilds had bought the stolen goods. They would be reported and dealt with in time.
Stealing and selling and hoarding the credits. The pirates were behaving exactly like she imagined that they would. While it was interesting to learn where they stored their haul, there really wasn't anything out of the ordinary, then she got to a log about three months back.
Log number 986-54
Captain Nikolai Humm.
We found something rather interesting. A massive construct in space Shaped like a ring. It was massive, nearly 30.000 km in diameter and seemed to hold position in the system. It was clearly not of Xel'naga
End log.
Shepard sat down in the exclusive leather chair that was the captains seat. She sighed contently and ordered the helm to take them to the fleet base. Then they would probably disassemble it and learn how to make more. As she looked over the ship data there were some things that she could instantly see as a potential upgrade.
The twin-linked Yamato Type VI. It could rapid fire a less powerful shot from each barrel or unite them into a full power shot. It's stronger power unit, the Behemoth Reactor could probably be enhanced with the Raider's new Cellular Reactor unit. That might actually allow the Yamato to fire rapidly. At least three shots in one charge. The Ultra Capacitors should recharge the reactors in a minute or two by recycling excess energy.
The Yamato wasn't the only thing that she saw as an improvement, the massive shield generators, three on each side, would allow the destroyer to survive hits that would cripple or destroy others. The fact that they had their own power supply meant that the main reactors would be strained far less, allowing for a smarter usage of energy.
Then there were the missile pods, one on each side. They could swarm any target if they ever got into 'knife range'. The equipment list also stated that they carried a full complement of Griffon-class fighters. Their plasma weaponry would burn any zerg that got close enough to the ship. If they worked smart, then the point defence guns could cooperate with the fighters and provide a defensive screen of fire.
The EMP weapon system could prove to be useful for capturing ships. It didn't seem like the thing a destroyer class capital ship would have use for. It was probably built by the pirates, or the Morians really had collapsed and even the once mighty Combine had turned to all out piracy.
All of these were good upgrades for any ship, but to have all of these on a front line destroyer would probably make most captains drool. It certainly did for Shepard.
Now that the mission for Mira had been taken care of, they could finally see about having their fleet repaired and then join the Protoss in finding Raynor.
It turned out to be unnecessary as the former queen of blades had already fixed that little problem. She had been re-infested, with some extra upgrades, and had used some form of meditation to track his soul and then launched a full invasion. The prison world of Moros was overrun and Raynor was freed. When she suddenly appeared with a massive zerg invasion fleet, led by her Leviathan, most humans thought that their end had finally come.
Lucky for them, only one overlord travelled over to the docking bay and released three unexpected individuals. Raynor, Kerrigan and Stukov. The former had some very odd mannerisms. Among them was the fact that he could control the zerg forces not directly under the control of Kerrigan. His explanation for this was that the zerg had infected him and then the protoss had cured him, after that the Moebius foundation had experimented on him in a failed attempt to gain control of the swarm, as a result the cure failed and he once more became infested. He had been freed when some terrans had assaulted the facility.
He had been somewhat cured, and given control of any zerg not under Kerrigan's control, by the psionic terran medic Amanda Haley using her Ability of psionic healing. Something reacted thanks to that and he not only regained his own mind but also gained the ability to command the zerg. Now he was a walking somewhat infested terran-zerg commander. As he had no other options left he had elected to stay with Kerrigan.
As for Kerrigan, she had apparently decided to re-infest herself with the original zerg strain and then devour the essences of the most evolved zerg creatures on planet Zerus. Raynor was not happy, but agreed as she had a valid reason. The zerg would either be under her command, or that of Amon, the fallen Xel'naga. The choice was easy, if a bit costly. Now that they had amassed the full might of the Raiders, gained the most powerful warships in the sector, the Loki and the pirate capital ship, they could finally launch a full invasion of Korhal.
Raynor would lead the Raiders from the Hyperion, he would act as the overall commander and direct the flow of the battle. It was a unanimous decision as they all agreed that he was probably the best tactician in the sector. Warfield would be his second in command and would lead the Dominion renegades. He and Valerian would take the Loki and hold of the main fleet in orbit. This would let Kerrigan and her zerg attack Mengsk directly and with little resistance. Hopefully this would keep civilian casualties to a minimum.
Valerian would concentrate on evacuating the civilians from the city, leaving a relatively clear path for the zerg to strike directly at the palace. He would be assisted by the UNSC ships and the destroyer that Shepard captured.
Codex
Races
worgen
The worgen are one of two races from the planet Azeroth. They are a humanoid canine species. As a predator, they have a mostly meat based diet and all worgen are natural hunters. They have enhanced senses in smell and hearing and are far stronger than most humans. The males stand about seven feet tall and have very broad shoulders. The females stand about eight feet tall and have a slender shape. The one defining trait they all share is their speed. Few can run as fast as they can. This in combination with their size and strength makes the worgen a force to be recognized.
Tauren
The Tauren are the second race from Azeroth. They are a humanoid bovine species with a primarily vegetarian diet. They stand between nine to twelve feet tall and are easily recognized by their massive size and bulging muscles. When they are in their specialized CMC armors they often wield their devastating Impala Rifles. The Confederacy once used them as shock troopers to overwhelm the defences of what ever was unlucky enough to fight them.
Protoss
The protoss are a sapient species hailing from planet Aiur. Though the planet has fallen to the zerg, the protoss are still fighting, now relocated to planet Shakuras. They stand between seven to ten feet tall and are a fully psychic race of telepaths. They have no mouths nor noses and do not in fact breathe air at all. They instead absorb moisture and sunlight through their skin. This photosynthesis makes them more related to plants than any other species in the galaxy. They can be considered one of, if not, the most advanced race currently alive.
Terran
The humans from the Koprulu Sector have evolved, thanks to the unique radiation from the stars, into a latent psionic race of metahumans. To separate non psionic humans from those hailing from the Koprulu sector, the term 'Terran' are used instead. Most Terrans are psychic at a low level, but that level has risen and they are theorized to be a fully psychic race within the span of a few generations.
Technologies
Psionics
Protoss and Terrans have special powers ranging from telepathy and telekinesis to more exotic powers like energy blasts and lightning storms. The most powerful ability so far recorded is the protoss Archon. This ability lets two high templar merge into one being of nearly infinite power. Few protoss have the power to maintain this enhanced state for more then a few hours. If they don't separate, then they run the risk of burning out.
Terran psionics have been enhanced using midi-chlorians. These micro organisms form a symbiotic relationship with their host, empowering them with their strength. By using terrazine and jorium, they became psi-sensitive and after bonding with a psionic host enhanced their natural powers. These enhanced individuals are called Jedi. They all have telepathic talents as well as other skills that might be unique to the individual.
Armor
Terran CMC armor
The need for soldiers to fight effectively in zero gravity and the vacuum of space resulted in the early development of what would eventually become the CMC suit. A powered armor similar to the MJOLNIR Spartan armor, it enhanced the capabilities of it user and allowed for a better combat performance. The most advanced variant in existance is in use by the Umojan protectorate, faster, stronger and with a generally smoother movement.
Other variations include the worgen and Tauren armors, built to accommodate their non-standard biology. The Worgen marines seemed to dislike the bulky CMC armor and instead opted for the less heavy Light Combat Armor as it allowed them to better utilize their speed.
Protoss Power Suit
The Protoss use a psionically enhanced armor that vastly improves their combat talents including their physical strength and agility. Upgraded armors would even let them teleport short distances to reach their targets faster or to get around cover. Their shields are very strong and makes the general Protoss even more dangerous to fight.
