Chapter Twelve: The enemy of my enemy.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ A/N \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Let me ask you something,
"The Shepard"
The legend of a heroic figure from long ago.
Whoever your Shepard was, they were one heck of an individual,
leading the entire galaxy against the threat of the Reapers.
But legends of the past
are never quite accurate.
One person can do so much,
but not everything.
So I ask,
of the person who lead the finest team in the galaxy,
who stopped the Reapers' insidious plots,
who's past was debated on whether they were
a Hero, a Butcher, or simply a Survivor,
A Paragon who upheld the best ideals of humanity
or a Renegade that did whatever it took to save us all.
Could 'The Shepard' have really just been one person?
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Part 1:
Chairman Kavos - Torfan Bunker - a day after the end of the Skyllian Blitz
June 8, 2167 01:00:00 UTC
"Surveyor One, nothing on scanners to report for E-11."
"Affirmative Surveyor One, continued deeper in the marked engineering section."
"Roger Torfan Command. Proceeding into section E-13. Bypassing E-12, scanners report radiation spike."
Deep underground on a small moon at the outskirts of Hegemony space, the last of the Hegemony government bunkered down. Hidden away from the Federation's brutal liberation, the remaining few were still lead by their 'Great' Chairman Kavos. Less than a galactic week ago, he had found the true enemy of the Hegemony, who destroyed a small colony and caused what was once the worse war in the history of the Hegemony. A few days later, he was what was remaining from a war far worse; all of his own doing.
Kavos and the remaining flag officers stood there and listened as the recording played. For the past few months, he had been betting the hopes of the Hegemony military on this mysterious artifact Edan Had'dah found. It was to have the secrets to give them the fighting edge against the Council, power and technology beyond their control. Now his hopes were dashed that it would save them from a far greater threat.
It was a simple monitoring transmission, recordings of a surveyor team's audio record as they surveyed the ruins. After they heard the sound of them cutting through a bulkhead into the next section, they heard a conversation among two of the surveyors.
"This place creeps the hell out of me."
"Agreed, sir. Reminds me of the ancient temple of Luvcaf in Provin Valley."
"Yah, I heard of the scary stuff they did before the Hegemony. Worshipping their 'Dead God'."
"Who answered their prayers beyond death? Thank the Great Chairman, they exterminated that messed up cult."
"So, any plans after we are done with this place?"
"I got approved for shore leave after this."
"Really? Lucky. Where?"
"Have you heard of Camala?"
"Camala? Ha, nothing but desert and raw eezo. I have a sister there actually. Married to some fat aristocrat and has this bratty kid. But man, that bastard Edan. He knows how to throw a party…"
"Drugs from the far reaches of the Terminus, the finest liquor from the across the galaxy, and a beautiful Asari slave named Tarme?"
"How did you know about her?"
"That's… that's my memory. Edan is my brother-in-law!"
"What? No, he… I still remember their wedding, the… party…"
"Sir, are you alright?"
"My head… my thoughts… too… cluttered."
"Sir, what are you saying? What, Rafal? Command, Major Hessian and Corporeal Rafel have collapsed, requesting… requesting medical evac…"
The recording ended. Kavos stood there at the end of the table. In the small control room in the deepest part of the bunker, he stared down at the command table, hiding in distress. Scattered about were small holographic pieces representing what remaining ship squadrons they had. The table displaying the whole of Hegemony space on its surface, the line between Hegemony and Federation growing smaller as the red highlighted Terran control area grew larger by the moment. He looked up to his admirals and generals.
"Did we send a retrieval team?" asked Kavos.
A general responded, "Yes, sir. Two squads of Special Intervention Units. They were…"
"Were what?" he asked with an aggressive tone.
"We have a full holo recording of Sung and Un squads' insertion."
They all looked to the center of the table, where a holographic display of the squads' insertion was played. The hologram showed them cutting through the same bulkhead that the first team went into, having been mysteriously repaired. As they looked around, another officer reported in.
"Major Jang'il. Sung squad in proceeding. Un squad has taken point…
No sight of Team One…"
They watched as the squad advanced on the gangway inside the artifact. A loud moaning of the metal wreck rang out, but the squad was unfazed. But it was the faint, but too clear sound of a high pitch yell that deep down shock them a bit.
"Command, we have found some of Team One's equipment…"
The Batarian solider suddenly took cover with his squad as gunfire erupted. They fired outside their recoding as some of Un squad retreated to their position.
"Contact! Hostiles have us surrounded.
Return point has been cut off."
"This is Command. Report on enemy sighting."
"They appear to be some kind of… skinny husk creature. Grey skin and blue eyes…"
One came into view for the officers to see as it jumped on top of the officer. The husk tried to mall him, but the elite trained solider quickly overpowered it and used his power armor to crush his head. He got back up and continued reporting as he leveled his rifle and fired.
"This goo, organic like, but with many synthetic qualities."
"Report, goo substance? Like Geth?"
"No, its… confirm, it is organic, but not natural… Contact, right side, right side!"
"What Sung? Report."
"New enemy troops have entered, dropped from above….
Different profile, grotesque creatures with large hunchback deformation…
Great Stalkim's ghost! They're absorbing bio-mass from the fallen husk for energy…"
On the holoscreen, one of those cannibals fired a few bio-frag grenades at the SIU's position. They ducked and avoided the blast, but in the confusion, the cannibal charged at the officer. Unlike the husk, each one traded blow after blow as each one tried to overpower the other; the cannibal trying to aim it's arm cannon at the officer as he tried to push it away. All the while, Kavos looked on in horror as he zoomed the holo image at the cannibal's face. Four hollowed out eyes with a deep dark blue glow, but all the other features, they were the same. The office finally got the upper hand and killed it with a stab with a dual-omniblade as the remains of the squad circled up.
"Command, Command!"
"Yes Sung?"
"These creatures. Their tattered clothing… They're Team One!"
"What?"
"Whatever the hell is in here, they turned Team One into these monsters. Requesting reinforcements, we're about to be overrun…"
The recording ended. Kavos continued to stare on in horror as the officers looked away, having seen the recording earlier. In a switch, Kavos started yelling.
"Why the hell was I not informed of this?"
An admiral responded, "Chairman Kavos. This was recorded nearly a week ago, just after you were informed of the aliens at the Citadel."
"First those damn humans, now this… wait, where the hell did Had'dah find the Leviathan of Dis?"
Another general answered the chairman, "Sir, Mr. Had'dah reported he found this during a deep, off relay expedition nearly a year ago. It took him months to rig a special FTL rig to transport it here. Even borrowed a dreadnought in the process."
"Open the galaxy map! I want to see where he found it!"
The map opened up, showing their segment of the galaxy. From the lines showing Hegemony space, the map pinpointed where Edan found the Leviathan. It was far off from a remote relay, which itself was far from Hegemony space and in the open area of the Traverse.
Kavos looked up at the map, before noticing something.
"Computer, access all intelligence and display the border of the human's Federation!" He ordered, placing an emphasis of disgust as he said the word 'human'.
The computer complied and overlapped Federation space borders. There, at the edge of Federation space, far from even their remote colonies, was where the Leviathan was found. As soon as Kavos saw it, he yelled out in fury as he slammed his fist on the table.
"The humans! They created this… thing! I knew they were a danger to us. But they created this thing to destroy us!"
"But sir, we only found it recently. The effects of this thing could take years…"
"Effect? Have we found what caused… whatever the hell that was? We all boarded that thing. Are we at risk?"
"Our exposer was short, sir. I don't think we are in danger. We canceled all other surveys and sealed the artifact shut," replied an admiral.
"And the other surveyor teams? I want them put in quarantine. With guards!"
Another general replied, "They are no longer a problem."
"How so?"
"They were not evacuated from Khar'shan with us, sir. We can presume they are now dead by the humans' doing."
"Speaking of which. Those ships we used. They won't be able to track us?"
"No sir. The stealth ships were straight from Salarian Research and Development. The human Federation will never find us here."
Kavos thought for a moment as he planned his next move. He turned around and walked to the large, panoramic viewport. He looked out, where the wide-open viewport gave the entire command room a wide open view of a deep cavern. He stared out at it for a moment.
"We will rebuild." He turned around and walked back to the table, "Move our ships away from Leviathan and position them along the moon. We won't spend another moment with that human trap!"
"Yes, sir!" replied the flag officers
"And our, 'guest'?"
"The ambassadors have been locked away, along with the Council service men we rescued."
Kavos nodded. There was nothing the Hegemony could do now. He knew it. But he could still try to stop the humans.
"Good, I'll speak with them immediately."
Part 2:
Admiral Roland - FSS Brighton - Khar'shan
June 8, 2167 05:00:00 UTC
Roland laughed as he continued his video call with his wife while over orbit of Khar'shan. He seemed to be growing just a bit tired. But after nearly two days of non-stop management of the invasion of an alien home world, he was doing his best to show less of his actual condition. Working himself up and bringing up the past and the Revival wouldn't help either. Debra could tell he was growing weary in age.
"So I trust everything there is fine?" She asked from her office in New York.
He drank down a bottle of water on his desk in his quarters and replied, "Of course, dear. I stared down an alien with double the eyes and won!" He then sighed, "It's been a week, though."
"Oh yes. I haven't seen this amount of turbulence in New York since Bishop reappeared in full support of Bowman's election."
"Speaking of the past…" He clenched his eyes and rubbed them as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his desk. He yawned, and then moaned as he lost his chain of thought. "What…?"
Debra responded quickly, "Andrew, are you all right?"
He looked back up, "Wha? Yah, yah I'm fine. I didn't undergo three years of psychiatric treatment on Eden just to relapse now."
She grumbled, worried, "I wouldn't want you in the same shape you and the others like Bowman were after the Revival."
He stared for a moment, remembering how nearly lost his mind after the bombing. He rubbed his eyes for a moment before remembering the real reason of Bowman's stressed induced condition.
"Yah, the war… It took a bit out of everyone."
"Yes it did."
She could tell her husband was thinking of something else. She had just learned recently that he knew of the Bowman's voyage. She felt bad, not that she knew of it since the Revival, but that her husband didn't know she knew also.
Roland smiled a bit and changed the topic. "How's Josh?"
"The General is fine. Last I heard, he, Mom, and baby Joey were discussing the finer points of the Army's deployment." She replied with enthusiasm. "Nothing but criticism for Williams."
"How did the daughter of an Army family become a congresswoman?" He asked before chuckling.
She gave a quick snip back, "How did the son of a famous British Marine family join the Navy?"
He shook his head and smiled as he rubbed his forehead. He then gave out a loud, long yawn before running his red eyes some more.
"You should sleep now. I think your job is over."
"And you, Debra?"
"Still the same shit here in New York. Getting Guzman and Kelso to do what I want."
"Guzman is the party whip, and Kelso is one of the most powerful political AIs in New York."
She titled her head and gave a fake face of confusion. "And I care why?"
He burst out in laughter before growing more exhausted, "God I love you. See you in New York then?"
"The ceremony is in Washington actually."
He rolled his eyes, "Of course, because America rules the galaxy."
"Sweet dreams, Andrew."
The call ended. Roland turned of his screen and stood up, slowly lurched his way to his bed. He fell in and quickly fell asleep. Only a few minutes in though, the day was only beginning.
"Admiral Roland, sir."
He rolled around in his bed, reaching for his comm device. He quickly over shot and fell on to the ground, startling him to quickly jump up in a fighting stance. He shook his head and snapped out, and grabbed his comm.
"Yes Hanson, what is it?" he said as he sat back down on his bed.
"We have a problem. Report from Military Intelligence. You may want to see it for yourself."
He rubbed his eyes and placed the comm back on the table. "I'm sure you, Rodriguez, and Villyard handle it." He then laid back down. "Now unless Bowman or Debra calls, bugger off."
"Uh, well. We had a confirmation from Intelligence…The Hegemony Chairman is alive."
He moaned for a moment before responding, "Yes, I threatened to nuke Khar'shan if he didn't surrender…" He looked at a clock next to his bed, "Twelve hours ago." He laid back down, waiting for the call to end.
"Not him, sir. The actual one. Ut'lok Kavos. We have reports indicating we didn't actually kill him or the Hegemony Brass. They're now in exile."
Roland closed his eyes and exhaled as he began to rest again. He thought for a moment. Then it suddenly hit him as he quickly got up and ran to the door, grabbing his coat.
Part 3:
General Williams - FSS Brighton - Khar'shan
June 8, 2167 06:00:00 UTC
Williams continued down the hallway, looking at data on the holoscreen being projected from his watch. As he finished his cup of coffee, he finished through looking data he obtained days earlier. He shook his head in disbelief over what he read, trying to hold his excitement in as he laughed a bit to himself. It made killing one of his highest ranked agents and the wound in his arm worth it.
"The four eyes had the freaking Holy Grail and didn't know any better!" He smiled as he finished his cup and gave it to a Marine standing guard at the Brighton's conference room. "Just amazing. I can't believe we didn't find it first."
He arrived and assembled with the other Army officers at the conference table.
Roland finally arrived in the private conference room under the bridge, his coat over his shoulders as he entered while still dressed in evening attire. Across the table were his upper admiralty staff, twenty admirals along with the visiting Army and Marine staff. He sat down and signaled Hanson to begin with the meeting.
He stood up and began typing as he addressed the staff. "Admirals, generals. Twelve hours ago, we…"
"Skip to the part that matters. We were all there," said Roland.
"Yes, well. After the surrender, Williams' Blue Beret forces were sent into the ruins of the capital to confirm the bunker was destroyed. What they found was something different. Several starship launch ports, open and only recently used." He opened a map of the Hasha System. "During the battle with the Council, they launched several ships and alluded our sensors. And that of the Council's."
Villyard turned to him, "How is that possible? Our hyperspace or infrared scanners should have seen them!"
"Well, sir. Special forces are saying they have stealth ships."
General Zhao spoke out, "Stealth in space? Like a cloaking device?"
"Cloaking device, interesting… Oh no, no. I should answer that," said Williams, who took command of the holo display. A ship appeared of Batarian design, but with many different variation features from normal Hegemony ship. "The Berets managed to download data from their computers. They have special heat syncs that absorb heat naturally given out by the ship. They are also using a completely new form of mass effect engines to move the ship without thrusters. With no heat signature, we can't detect them with short or long range sensors."
"What about LADAR pings?" asked LeBeau.
"That can only work within a thousand kilometers, the beam dissipates afterwards. They appear to have also flown close to the battle site against the Council Fleet though. They must have employed chaffs to block our pings."
"There is no way the Batarians have that level of tech. I'm certain even we don't have that kind of tech either," said Roland.
"No. But based on what we got from the Batarians and data we got from the raid on the Citadel, the Council has that type of capability, in development anyway. In summary, they stole it from the Salarians, who stole the special FTL drive from the Turians, who stole the mass effect knowledge from the Asari, who most likely got it from the Protheans through some ruins."
Roland slammed his fist on the table, "Well everyone? Where are they? It is now the top priority of the Second Fleet to find and apprehend them. If surrendering Hegemony forces get word they are alive, this war will spark back up like a wildfire!"
"Do not worry, Admiral. My forces have begun investigating and we have been able to create a basic trajectory of where they went."
The hologram changed, changing into a map of the Hegemony space. Four lines appeared, connecting from the Hasha system and into three more star clusters.
"According to Williams, we have recovered trails of massatanium that are consistent and do not match any ship we have encountered. They all lead to this empty system overlooked at the start of the war," said Hanson.
"I see. Villyard, send a flotilla in. I want the damn Chairman, now!"
As the rest of the officers begin to converse on the next step of plan, Williams spoke out.
"Admiral Roland. This matter is of the highest importance. We must be fast if we are to find the planet they are on and take it before they rally a government in exile."
Roland stood up, "And what do you propose, Williams?"
"As the head of Unified Military Intelligence, I know where to strike and how. As an official, and personal, request, give me Averil's ships and Marines. I'll have this last attempt of resistance crushed before Bowman even knows."
"Give Averil's flotilla to the Army?"
He chuckled as he held his hands out, "Please, Roland? I'm the man you want to take on what is most likely the best the Hegemony has to offer."
Williams smiled as he stared at Rolamd and tapped his chest full of ribbons. On his left chest over his standard operational uniform of green and blue camouflage, it consisted of the top nine ribbons, three rows with three rectangular ribbons in each column. The Terran military did not like the unwarranted flashing of medals or awards. The Army technically had the most, capped at nine, while the only way to tell the difference between a new ensign and an elder fleet admiral in Naval blues was to stare at the small rank insignia on their neck. For Williams, on top of them all in the center column was a blue one with five vertical green stripes, his Star of Terra award.
Though at his age and the things he had been through, he couldn't care less for any of it. "Unlike the bastard that killed Averil, I earned all the pieces of metal on my chest."
Roland looked on, beyond his smile were the cold calculating eyes of who was considered one of the most mysterious officer in the entire Terran military. It wasn't long for him to conclude he had ulterior motives, but he relented. If there was one Army jock he wasn't going to mess with, it was Williams. Williams knew that very well also.
Roland leaned over the table, "Fine. Take the ships. I want this handled by day's end. Understood?"
Williams quickly nodded to him, "Yes, Admiral. We aim to please."
As Williams and the other Army officers left from the other door, Roland began to leave as well. "Hanson, don't bother me again."
"Sir, it's already seven hundred hours. You are to meet with the new occupation government."
"Villyard, deal with it."
He left promptly, taking his coat as he made his way to bed.
The rest of the admirals turned to Villyard, who sighed at the task at hand. He thought for a moment as he rolled his fingers on the desk.
"Talking to the four eyes… I'm going to need my glasses."
Part 4:
Chairman Kavos - Torfan Bunker
June 8, 2167 12:00:00 UTC
"You must believe me!"
"And why the hell should we?" yelled the Turian ambassador as she, the Asari and Salarian ambassadors struggled about, tied up on the ground.
"The humans are the real enemy!" yelled Kavos as he walked around them. In a small supply room in the deeper part of the bunker, Kavos continued pleading with the Council ambassadors. "It's all their fault, for everything!"
"What do you mean?" asked the Salarian as he continued to undo his restraints.
Next to Kavos, the Batarian ambassador for the Council spoke, greater in passion than the Chairman. Naturally, since the Terrans had claimed more from him on a personal level.
"You've seen the destruction they have wrought. They have destroyed our worlds, our capital! They are slaughtering my people! But this isn't the first time."
"The first time?" asked the Asari, scared and confused, "We all made First Contact with them just days ago."
Kavos answered, "Aratoht! Do you remember Aratoht?"
The Turian moaned in annoyance, "Not that again."
He quickly knelt down and got his face right in hers, "It wasn't you... It never was. Great Stalkim, if only we realized it sooner. It was the humans! They wandered about, found our colony, destroyed it with weapons beyond any of our capabilities, then retreated back into the Traverse. Now they're back, ready to destroy us all."
The Turian ambassador stared at him, growing annoyed by the insane story of the Chairman. She blew air at Kavos' face to get him to back up, then spoke.
"So these humans caused the war and are here to finish the job? How can we help you? They destroyed half of the fleet meant to rescue us! You are dead!"
Kavos shouted at her, his deep voice suddenly increasing in pitch to near screeching levels. He began to shake, his eyes flashed momentarily in a haunting dark blue glow. In a sudden fit of rage, he grabbed the Turian by her neck and picked her up, before slamming her into the concrete bunker wall.
He squeezed his hand around her throat and shouted, his voice mixed with a corrupted synthetic tone as the Turian struggled about.
"I will not lay down and die! The humans must be stopped! You will help us!"
He suddenly lost his composure and stumbled back, dropping the ambassador. The Batarian ambassador caught him before he regained come form of consciousness and looked about. All the while, the other ambassadors looked back at their Turian colleague as she struggled and gasped for air. Kavos stood back up, still delirious of what just happed.
As he grabbed on to his head to put pressure and get rid of his headache, the speakers in the storage room activated. They all looked up at it as the feedback sound of all the speakers in the bunker resonated into the room. Kavos turned to the ambassador, who was just as confused over what was happened. It soon explained itself.
"My fellow Batarians…"
That voice resonated into the Batarians, a mix of emotions consuming them. The ambassador was shaking, almost in fear of who was speaking. But Chairman Kavos was suddenly alerted once more, boiling over in rage as the speaker spoke.
"Turn it off!"
A nearby guard, typing furiously on his omnitool, replied. "We can't turn it off. The carrier wave is overpowering our instruments!"
"We… We are free!
The Terrans have liberated us all from the oppression of the Hegemony!
Welcome our liberators with open arms, for they fought for our freedom.
In cooperation with our liberators,
I, Ja'hal Derik,
declare the formation of the new post-war government.
For the billion living under Hegemony oppression,
We are no longer slaves.
Down with the Hegemony
Long live the Free Batarian Confederation!
And our liberators,
the United Terran Federation!
"Ah! That bastard Derik!"
With equal rage and power, he threw a fit and began throwing supply crates of his own size across the room, prompting the guards to move the ambassadors out of the way as he wrecked up the room. As he did so, he yelled out a frightened screech, almost like that of the monsters that attacked them on the Leviathan. As he did so, the others heard as the speakers spoke, a new voice.
"This is General Williams, acting commander of the Terran 31st Naval Flotilla and 14th Marine Division.
To all Batarian forces in the region. The war is over. The Hegemony has been defeated.
Surrendered immediately, and you will not be harmed.
This is your only warning.
No quarter will be given."
As the speakers turned off, it was quickly followed by the ground shaking above them. Their last strong hold had been found. Kavos stopped, noticing the shaking and the bits of rocking falling from the ceiling. Their time had come. He growled in frustration; he wasn't to going to give up yet.
"I… will not surrender!"
"Give up, Kavos. You lost!" said the Turian, before she laughed at him with a smug smile.
"Shut up you…"
His omnitool activated, an officer from an upper level reporting.
"Sir! We have a situation."
Kavos turned away from the tied up ambassadors, "What situation?"
"The Council troops we captured. They started to break out and fight back against us right after that broadcast."
"What the hell are you telling me for? Kill them all!"
The Salarian ambassador objected, "You so much as touch them, and the Council will leave you here to die!"
He snarled, "You already have!"
"Sir, we already put them down, but a small group managed to escape and are making their way out."
"You incompetent idiot! Channel them in and lead them out into the cavern exit point. Those stupid raiders hiding out there will handle them."
"Yes, sir."
As Kavos turned back to them, the Salarian ambassador broke free of his restraints and sprang into action, quickly dispatching two of their guards. He quickly killed them and went for the Chairman. But Kavos quickly took notice. With seeming control of the power that was corrupting him, he sidestepped the unusually skilled Salarian and grabbed him by the throat. He grinned as he stared down the struggling man with his glowing eyes. With a strength far exceeding a regular Batarian, he tightened his grip and snapped the ambassador's neck. After a moment, he returned to himself and dropped the lifeless lizard onto the ground.
He turned back to the ambassador.
"He was an STG agent, wasn't he?"
The ambassador seemed confused, unsure of what to say. Kavos groaned once more as he restored himself.
"Well, we had our suspicions…"
"The damn humans will be on us shortly. I need to return to the command room."
"B-but the ambassadors?"
He pointed at him, "You will watch them, here! If they make so much as a twitch, shoot them. They're as good as useless now."
He left the room, his guards in tow. As the Batarian ambassador took point and loaded his side arm, the Turian inched her way back to the Asari.
"We're going to die, aren't we?" asked the Asari, shaking in absolute fear.
The Turian replied, almost unfazed, "Yah, probability."
Part 5:
Lieutenant Mitchell - Torfan Tunnels
June 8, 2167 12:00:00 UTC
The Harpers Ferry charged through the void, followed quickly by the aircraft and escort ships from the Richard J Gatling task force. Near an uninteresting gas giant was the moon of Torfan and Hegemony ships that failed to surrender hours ago. They took formation and fired on the Terrans, but the Ferry's shield brushed them off as the fighters and bombers dodged and began their run.
The Ferry fired her guns; the one-ton tungsten slugs began their slow flight at the Hegemony formation. All the while, the fighter and attack corvettes left their directional plane and took position a few hundred kilometers above the Batarian formation. The remaining Batarian cruisers kept firing, but their outdated weaponry was no match for the Saint-Nazaire Battle cruiser's shields. The first of the slugs then hit, smashing though a cruiser's barrier and drilled straight through the ship, gutting it whole before it exploded. The volley destroyed more ships.
The Ferry then dove down to avoid the main formation. From above, the B-5 Vultures took aim and let out their omni missiles, a hundred missiles from its top and bottom carriages launched before they overwhelmed the cruisers and destroyed them. Only a few minutes into battle, it was over, debris floated over the small moon. The Gatling then jumped to warp from afar and took position next to the Ferry as her aircraft returned and her Marine drop shuttle deployed. All the while, the Ferry began her bombardment, opening up the landing zone for the Marines.
Under the dead surface was a series of caverns several tens of meters under the surface. As the first shuttles landed, they opened up to a squad of Marines in full gear; Mark III Hahne-Kedar power armor and armed with Lancer rifles or Raider assault shotguns. They all quickly leapt out and took point at the numerous tunnels intercepting the dead end they had landed in. As more ferrying shuttles landed, they regrouped into their platoons and began their advance into each tunnel. As the next wave of shuttles landed, their platoon leader jumped off followed quickly by his two sergeants.
Mitchell checked his armor watch, reading a breathable atmosphere in the cavern they were in. He removed his helmet and took a deep breath of the air as his sergeants gathered.
"Well Lieutenant, what's the plan?" asked Matheson.
"Fourth and Second Platoon are to take the tunnels flanking the main passage. We will be taking the main passage there," he said, pointing at the central tunnel ahead of them, dark and obscured in the light haze that filled the tunnel.
Jenkins adjusted the visor on his helmet and attempted to zoom in with the night vision. "Not much beyond the horizon. Should we light flares?"
"No. We should try to keep the element of surprise. Ready your squad and advance ahead and secure the ground."
"Yes, sir."
As Jenkins left to gather his squad at the opening, Matheson turned to Mitchell.
"You talk to Jenkins yet?"
Mitchell turned to him as he began to adjust his headband visor. "I haven't really talked to him. He was just transferred into my command a few days ago."
"He was on Elysium helping that 'Hero' of theirs. There at the start of the war. Here at the very end."
He laughed a bit as he placed his visor on and put away his helmet. "It has been a nice war, hasn't it? Let's finish this. No need to lose anyone now."
"Here, here. I'm looking forward to shore leave after this, well, the rest of it anyway."
"What a waste of a two week pass."
They ran up to the tunnel entrance, Matheson's squad waiting as they prepared to meet up with Jenkins. At Mitchell's command, they began to advance into the tunnel as he radioed in to his own commanding officer for Bravo Company. Confirming his orders to find the entrance of the bunker, he continued on.
The tunnel passageway was dark. The Marines advanced swiftly through the rock formations, assured that Jenkins' Alpha squad had cleared the way. Behind them, the light from the blown out roofing of the cavern began to fade away as they got deeper, until the tunnel was finally pitch black. Matheson ordered their flashlights on and they continued advancing unimpeded.
"These tunnels are clearly artificial, huh?" asked Mitchell. He walked along the rock side, noticing the clean cut of the tunnel, before looking up at the ceiling and its circular shape.
Matheson looked over and slowed a bit, walking with Mitchell in the back. "A clean cut. Must be machinery. I doubt slave labor would have cut this cleanly or accurately."
On the walls of the tunnel, the echo of an explosion rang out. It was quickly filled with chatter on the radio as flashes of light from down the tunnel lit up and back down. The squad took cover and aimed their rifles at the direction of the gunfire. Mitchell ducked behind a rock for cover and got on the radio, sorting through the yelling at the other hand.
It didn't take long for Jenkins to get through, quickly reporting they made contact, a hundred meters away. Mitchell patched the info to Matheson and the squad advanced to reinforce them. They disengaged their lights and began their dark approach. Relying on the blinding light of gunfire through their night vision, they ran down the tunnel and towards a fork.
At the fork, Jenkins' squad and Echo squad from Captain Kyle's platoon were holding ground at the fork. But the tunnel leading deeper in was inclining and the Batarains held the high ground. They fired down on the Terran Marines, heavy weaponry bearing on them as a machine gun post and firing zones kept them from advancing.
They finally arrived, a full platoon of troops taking cover behind abandoned sandbags or fallen pillars of rock. As they kept cover form the sand grain fire, Mitchell crawled over to Jenkins.
"Jenkins, sit rep!"
Jenkins quickly peered up and ducked back down as rounds flew at him. "Twelve up along the tunnel. Machine gun centered and two rifle kill zones on either side covering the advance up the middle."
"Two of your men. Flash bangs." Mitchell turned to Matheson, a few meters away yet too far to yell orders. He got his attention and signaled him to have two frag grenades to be tossed after the flash.
He took aim and fired his rifle, suppressing one of the rifle teams up the tunnel. As he got back down, one of Echo squad's Kinetics shifted position to cover near him. Mitchell grabbed him and pointed him to the machine gun post. "We're charging that post." He then energized his kinetics, a light blue glow over his armor. The other one nodded and did the same. As the rest of the squad laid down suppressing fire, they stood up, took aim and charged.
Mitchell waved off Jenkins and then with a quick thrust, they kinetically charged up the hill. In the split second, they phased through the air at light speed and through the make shift structure of the machine gun post. Mitchell made contact on a Batarian officer as the other charged the gunner. From their point of view, they were frozen in their last second action of trying to dodge the kinetics. They rephrased back in and tackled both of the ground, engaging in hand-to-hand combat behind the Batarian's defenses.
As the others looked back to see what was happening, Jenkins and others tossed flash bangs in front of the rifle guards, their backs to them. They looked forward only to be blinded, giving Matheson and his squad time to lob grenades into their position. Before they could reorient, they went off and blew their cover along with a few of them into pieces. Matheson ordered them ahead and they rushed to engage the collapsed line.
Behind, Mitchell continued to engage in combat, locking rifles with the officer as they struggled to overpower the other. The other Kinetic quickly dispatched his target, but was forced to attend to the ones falling back to their position. The officer took the first advantage, using his better-gripped rifle to shove Mitchell's sleeker rifle out of his hands. He quickly attempted to hit him, but Mitchell blocked it with one hand and punched him with the other.
The officer fell back and Mitchell charged at him. But the officer then reached for his omnitool and opened his omniblade. Mitchell stopped and dodged as the officer tried to stab him, quickly tip toeing between each slash. Mitchell then punched him in the face and forced him backwards. As he stumbled back, Mitchell reached for his shotgun and took aim. But the officer fought back and slashed at him. Mitchell quickly blocked with his shotgun, the blade cutting the outside coating. But he then took aim and fired, several BB sized shredded rounds came out his shotgun and spired out in a wide cone and into the officer's chest.
The officer fell to the ground and looked onas Mitchell approached him. Mitchell looked at the top of his shotgun, disgruntled at the large scratches by the blade. He aimed and fired at the officer, finishing him off.
Part 6:
Lieutenant Mitchell - Torfan Tunnels Primary
June 8, 2167 13:30:00 UTC
"What do we have here?"
Mitchell crouched down and skimmed over the dead officer's body as his two sergeants looked on. He padded down the armor with his right hand, while he held his left hand over it to scan using his watch. After a moment, his watch went off over the Batarian's left arm. He padded it own and found the omnitool implant in the armor. He yanked it out and began scanning it.
"One of them alien watches?" asked Matheson.
He continued scanning the omnitool implant as he examined the wire connectors, "I'd like to see the look on their faces when I stab them with that bright holo blade of theirs."
"You sure you can hook that thing up? You can fry that watch just trying to connect a different company's gear, let alone alien tech," said Jenkins.
Matheson chuckled, "You never saw the Lieutenant here as a kid. A total wiz kid."
"You knew the Lieutenant?"
"Me and the LT here were part of Tenth Street Reds back on Earth. Damn, I still remember when me and Finn found him, alone in the gutters after the Fallen Angel deployment."
"My parents died during the Revival." said Mitchell as he tried connecting some of the wirings to the watch's adaptive I/O port. "Tom and the gang were the only family I had."
"He was always the smart one, Jenkins," said Matheson, "Always reading and stuff. Finn never liked it, but it helped us nail our biggest score."
"I may not be a fancy engineer, like that hero of yours. But with some street smarts…" He hooked the omnitool to his watch, crossing the wiring to the right ports as the watch began its adaptive interface, writing up a new interface program with its quantum processor. Mitchell stood back up and opened up the omntiool's menu. "You can do a lot to survive."
Jenkins looked back to check the squads, all of them formed up ahead. "So how did you end up in the Marines?"
"Our biggest score was for not. I messed up and well…"
"We were going to be caught, just a matter of time," said Matheson as they began to walk back. He continued explaining, "But there was a way to escape it! I reached eighteen first and joined the Marines first thing. Normally, you have to join the Navy as punishment, but if you are already in the service when convicted of a crime beforehand, you can continue service instead. A few years later, Mitchell did the same. Hell, they let him stay in the Academy!"
"They wouldn't turn down a kinetic like me," Mitchell groaned as he kept flicking his arm to activate his new omniblade, to no success. "But it almost went to hell. That damn bastard…"
Jenkins looked at him, a bit confused, "Everyone got along with Roosa back on the Kitty Hawk."
"You never seen him in the academy. A testament to Navy incompetence."
"No offense sir, but given your past record and the incident of '65, I'm wondering why they let you stay in either case."
With one more flick, Mitchell nailed the motion and activated the omniblade. Using the watch as a master control, the omnitool attached pumped out molten silicon while projecting the invisible barrier to contain it. Across his forearm and around his fist, the molten silicon blade flash forged into place, before the barrier gave out a red glow to showcase the physical parameter of the blade. They turned to look at it as Mitchell made some cutting motions in the air.
"It's the Marines, sergeant. Being an officer is a dead end career. If I don't die by the Navy's leadership, I'll just end up in the Navy altogether."
As they regrouped with the squad, he received a comm signal. Mitchell ordered the platoon out and opened his comm.
"Lieutenant Mitchell, First Platoon, Bravo Company."
"This is General Williams."
Williams was on the Ferry, scrolling through holoscreens on the bridge's command table. He spoke as he turned to the moon outside the bridge's massive viewport.
"General, sir! Is there anything you need?"
On the bridge of the ship, he opened up his communication data while reading a profile of Mitchell. As he continued reading, he opened back the comm.
"What's your sit rep? I lost radio contact with the others platoons in your company."
"We made contact and have broken through the first line of defense. Captain Kyle's Echo has joined us. No word on him though."
"Roger that. We'll continue monitoring from here. Also, we did an updated sonar scan of the tunnels. Only your platoon is near the bunker. Continue ahead and complete the mission…"
"Sir?"
The line began to break up, more static bleeding into the signal. Then it began to merge with the comm lines with other squads scattered across the tunnel systems. It finally broke off from Williams and into Kyle's.
"Is anyone there? Second Platoon is pinned down! They're swarming from everywhere!"
Mitchell quickly readjusted his radio, "Captain, this is Mitchell. Your Echo squad is with us, do you need reinforcements?"
"We're in sector D-2, they're coming in from the air ve…"
Static filled the air, but the signal merged back to Williams' frequency. He could hear explosions from that end, which were quickly explained as he overheard the general.
"What the hell was that?" yelled Williams to a LADAR officer.
"A few ships of unknown design have begun an attack run. We are maintaining active LADAR on them, but no register on regular sensors.
"It's the stealth ships! Divert assault corvettes, I want those ships!" He turned back to the table, noticing the comm signal was open. "Belay that order from Kyle, Mitchell. Take out the Chairman now! The Hegemony is launching a counterattack. Kyle will be reinforced. Now go! Williams out."
The comm cut, Mitchell disgruntled at the order of leaving them hanging. He rejoined with his squad and directed them to continue into the tunnel. Past the first line of defense, the tunnel was lit, small lanterns lining the walls. On occasion the entire tunnel shook, followed by bits of rock and dust falling down. Above, bombers continued scorching the surface of the moon near the bunker facility.
As they continued deeper, the tunnel began descending back down deeper into the moon. The lighting became sporadic as numerous dark spots filled the approaching tunnel section. Along the wall, the rock formations began to become more rough and uneven, with numerous large holes that led upward.
They ignored it and continued ahead, where they arrived at a point where the rock turned to concrete. Just further ahead, they arrived at the entrance of the bunker. The main hatch was a large metal vault door. Flanked on either side were abandoned machine gun posters with pillboxes oriented to aim at each other's side, creating a perfect kill zone ahead of the entrance, which lacked any cover.
Mitchell looked around and analyzed their surroundings.
"Matheson, is this the bunker?"
He walked up to him, "I guess so. It most certainly looks like one. This position looks heavily fortified."
"But no one is here…" He kept looking around, then up as he examined the entrance.
"A trap maybe."
"Now that you said it, yah. Your squad, take position on the left and man that gun. Jenkins, your squad takes right. Echo squad, you're up. Check the door."
Echo team reached the vault door, two large slabs of concrete blocked with an additional metal door that rolled into place in front of it. Mitchell stood watch as they checked for any cyber hook up to force the door open. When that wasn't the case, they began to lay demolition charges.
"Lieutenant!"
Mitchell turned back to Jenkins, "Yes, Sergeant… what the hell?"
In his arms was a body of a dead guard from inside the machine gun post. As he dropped him, Matheson waved over to him where his own men were moving dead bodies out of the defense post.
"Shit, Reggie. Someone beat us here…"
"I don't like the feeling of this."
As they investigated, the doors then began to open up and Echo quickly fell back to take aim. As the door rolled to the side and the others opened up, only pitch-blackness was there. But that quickly broke as several small round cylinders came flying out in an arch projector and right at them.
"Grenade! Get down!"
As each one landed all across their position and exploded, one landed right in front of Mitchell. He quickly raised a kinetic barrier and tried to charge backwards. But the grenade exploded and pushed him back. He landed a few meters away on the ground dazed and concussed. All the while, elite Hegemony shock troopers came out of the doors, guns a blazing.
Part 7:
Corporal Themius - Torfan Tunnels Secondary
June 8, 2167 13:30:00 UTC
"Themius, down here!"
The young Turian Marine took aim and fired, pinning the refuge raiders as the rest of the escaped Council troops fell back down the tunnel. For the past few hours they had been running and wondering around the unending tunnels under the surface of Torfan. Every turn they made, they ran into Hegemony hired raiders that pursued them ruthlessly.
As the last made it to cover, her Salarian officer came to her.
"Corporal, we can't hold position here."
"We have to meet up with Council forces. It's clear the Batarians are under attack."
"Council? We're deep in Hegemony space. These tunnels could easily be crawling with those Terrans!"
She took aim and fired, blasting the helmet of a Batarian clean off, his head along with it. She then bashed her rifle to open the cool down vent.
"Better them than these bastards."
The officer looked around their surroundings. He looked behind them where they came from, hearing gunfire from that direction. He peeked over cover to look at the Batarians coming at them, over twenty strong as they aimed up at them and fired, filling the air above them with sand grain rounds. He then looked to the sides, seeing the rest of them, six in total.
As he looked to the wall next to them, he noticed several large cavern holes dotting the walls, like long shoots going downward. He crawled over and looked down, examining it.
"Corporal, I think we found our escape route."
She ducked back down and looked to the shoot vents.
"There?"
The Salarian smiled and began his hyped up explanation. "We'll jump into these tunnels and escape from the Batarians."
She took aim again and fired before ducking back down to address him. "That would work, if it wasn't for the fact that under our feet is the bunker we just escaped from. Those shoots could take us right where we started. We must go up!"
A grenade landed right to her. She quickly side kicked it back over, where it exploded in midair. The officer signaled for the others to come over.
"We don't have a choice. We're flanked on both sides and need to get away from here, now!" An Asari projected a biotic barrier and covered the others as they ran over to them. They then laid down suppressing fire as she broke off and jumped to cover with them. "No more time. Take point, Themius."
She looked around a bit, but relented and approached the vent. With gunfire getting louder on each side, she holstered her rifle and went feet first into the shoot. Another Turian and the Asari went in from the other shoots as the officer directed another Salarian to follow after them.
As the next one prepared to go, another grenade landed a few meters away from them. They ducked as it went off, dodging the shrapnel but getting thrown back by the concussion wave. They hit the wall and fell back down dazed as the Batarians advanced on their position. They quickly surrounded them, the Salarian officer and another Turian Marine. The Salarian looked up as they took aim, ready to fire.
But in a moment, the raiders were rifted with gunfire from up ahead in the tunnel, killing them all as they fell to the ground in front of them. He slowly looked over to his right, were Captain Kyle and his platoon were advancing down the tunnel, his rear guard holding off the Batarians. He and his men quickly surrounded them, examining who they were.
Mitchell looked up, a haze of dust in the air. His hearing then restored, the sound of a gunfight underway as his platoon attempted to turn back and stop the advancing guards. One of Echo got to him and tried to drag him to cover, but was quickly gunned down by a shock trooper. He took aim with his rifle, but Mitchell deployed his new omnitool and slashed at his rifle, cutting it in half. Mitchell then swipe kicked him to the ground and they locked arms in hand-to-hand combat.
With one arm grabbing on to each other, Mitchell tried to stab him with his left, but the Batarian grabbed on to his forearm and held his blade back. They rolled around the ground as the rest formed up and matched the Terrans in firepower. As he tried to get closer, Mitchell heard an unrecognizable shot ring out through the cavern and over the others, but paid no attention to it as he broke his right arm free and punched the Batarian in the face.
He fell back and broke off from Mitchell. Mitchell quickly pursued and attempted to stab him, but deployed his own blade and they clashed. With each thrust and swipe, their orange blades crossed and hot molten silicon splashed off. As they battled, the ground slowly littering with bodies from both sides. After a short minute, Mitchell backed up and took out his pistol, but the Batarian changed his blade into a shield and charged at Mitchell as he fired.
They fell to the ground and the Batarian began to bash Mitchell with his shield. Bloodying up, he blocked the shield and punched him in the face, but the Batarians responded in kind and hit him, nearly knocking him out. Mitchell looked up, the Batarian switching to his blade and ready to stab him. As soon as the blade deployed, a round traveling what seemed like light speed shot through his head and out, before the sound of the distinctive gunfire came through.
The Batarian fell on top of him and Mitchell pushed him aside as he tried to get up. Matheson and Jenkins ran up to him as the remains of the platoon surrounded them and took aim at a group coming from their rear. After Mitchell got up, he pushed through his men and approached the group.
He reached him arm back for someone to give him his shotgun. He then yelled over to the group.
"Identify yourself!"
The group finally came into the remaining light in the tunnel, revealing themselves. They raised their weapons up as they approached and Mitchell waved for his men to lower theirs. He took a quick look at the four of them, two were reptilian like, with rough plating for skin, one with spikes across his head. The other was clearly more feminine, blue skinned with a crest pointing back that almost looked like a hairstyle in the dark. The last one was skinny, his helmet preventing anything else distinctive about him to be identified.
The one reptilian without the curving head spikes took a step forward and called out. Her talons up, holding the handle of her rifle in one of them.
"We are with the Council! Don't shoot!"
Matheson walked up to Mitchell. "Hey, those look like the aliens we rescued on Grazun and Camala."
"But they don't look like slaves. They're soldiers." He turned to them and walked up, Matheson and Jenkins close behind. "Identify. Who are you and why are you here?"
She looked back and checked the others. The others didn't make it, she was now the highest ranking one among them. "Corporal Julia Themius. Hierarchy Marine, Council Detachment. We were captured by the Hegemony when they were fleeing from your forces on Khar'shan."
"Captured? Aren't you supposed to be allied with them?" asked Matheson.
She groaned, "I wouldn't use the term 'allied'. Admiral Fedorian was to assess the threat your invasion force was and aid if possible. He was to also recover Council diplomats. It was clear he was over his head on that."
The other Turian spoke out, a bit angered by her last words, "The last day was utter hell. We were all serving on the Larisa when we were ambushed by your fleet. Our pod was recovered by their remaining ships. They should have fled to Council space, not here. It was clear then that we were not their guests."
Mitchell looked at them in confusion, "You're… Turian, right? Why the hell would your Council try to aid the Batarians. Do you have any idea of how many of your own people they enslaved?"
Julia tried to answer that, surprising herself with her lack of words. "Well… Who are you again?"
"Lieutenant Reginald Mitchell, Terran Marine."
"Lieutenant Mitchell. My race just came out of a war with them decades ago. We have been politically and economically isolating them since."
"Sanctions? When this is all over, the Council should be thanking us for dealing with the four eyes."
The Asari spoke out, "Thank you? Your people destroyed the Destiny Ascension!"
Mitchell waved her off as his radio received a signal. "Ships can be rebuilt. We built seventy-five thousand in just thirty years. We'll rebuild our losses by next week."
"What?"
"This is Lieutenant Mitchell, come in, over."
Williams came in over the comm. From his position, he could watch as the corvettes chased the Batarian stealth ships, trying to get close enough to latch on and disable them, "This is Williams. I want a sit rep."
He walked away from them, pushing Matheson and Jenkins to deal with them. "We just gained entrance into the bunker."
"Copy. The rest of your company is not coming through. What's your casualty count?"
Mitchell turned to Matheson. "How bad was that ambush?"
He walked over and removed several chains from his armor compartment. "Seven, including Echo's sergeant."
Mitchell grabbed the dog tags and took a look at each one. Across the entire company, he had taken the time to get to know each one. It wasn't the first time he had lost what he viewed as an unacceptable count, but he knew the war was basically over. Their loss seemed pointless. He looked around the rest of the platoon and then reported as he put the tags away.
"We lost seven, down to seventeen. Sir, we have another problem. We encountered Council troops. They were captured by the Hegemony during the battle with their fleet near Khar'shan."
"If they're not a threat, let them be. Continue on the mission…"
He kept adjusting the radio, but only static came through. From Mitchell's side, he overheard more side chatter.
"The damn moon must be made of lead… Why the hell haven't the AIs disabled their ships?"
"We're trying to maintain LADAR lock to allow communications with their systems. No luck yet."
"The one moment they're actually competent... Mitchell, if you're still receiving, continue on. You have discretion. Williams out."
He then turned it off and looked at the four Council troops. Then he looked back at the open vault door into the bunker. After a quick moment to decide his actions, he made up his mind and walked back to the front. He loaded a new battery into his shotgun as he addressed the highest ranking one.
"Themius, right? Our mission is to take out the Chairman. I think we have a mutual interest to help each other. We need aid to take the bunker."
"We are not going back in!" The Salarian walked up to her and removed his helmet. "And we can't help them either, it would be treason! And neither of us has the firepower to take the bunker."
"We're the finest Marines in the Federation, short of the N7s. We will take this bunker. You can rescue your diplomats as well."
"They have Special Intervention Units! We need Spectres to take them on!" yelled the male Turian.
Mitchell leveled his shotgun and took aim at them, prompting the rest of his men to raise their weapons in surprise with him. "You have two choices. You're with us, or you're against us. We can't afford to have our rear being flanked."
"You would shoot us as a precaution?" asked Themius, shocked as she discreetly prepared herself, opening the cooling vent on her rifle.
Mitchell turned his eyes, seeing Themius slowly prep her rifle in her talon as she lowered it, "I could shoot you. Or we could each put a bullet in each eye of the Chairman, the bastard that's responsible for you being here. Your call."
They stared off, the other three nervous as to what she would say as the Marines paced their breathing and awaited their orders. Themius tried to stare the human down, but Mitchell kept his composure as he locked eyes with her, his shotgun aimed right at her.
"You Terrans can keep the eyes." She lifted her barrel and tapped her forehead,a "I go for the spot in between."
Mitchell stared on for a moment longer, then smiled, "Then we are at an agreement."
She then asked, "A lieutenant, right?"
"That's right."
Themius holstered her rifle, quickly drawing the attention of the others, though Mitchell kept still and observed. She closed the vent and prepped it as she stared back at him and smiled.
She sighed, "You're... our commanding officer now. Lead on."
Terran Wikipedia
(By the Authority of the Federal Communications Committee, this document has been created and monitored in accordance to the 'Orwellian Freedom Act' to ensure non-biased and informative information for the Terran People.)
Ja'hal Derik
1st President of the Free Batarian Confederation
Assumed Office: June 8, 2167
Military Service
Service: Hegemony Navy, Dishonorably Discharged;
Years of Service: Grand Hegemony Navy (2852-2873 GS; 2107-2133 UTC);
Rank: Commodore
Battles/Wars:
Frankian Altercation:
First Assault on Franka
Third Assault on Franka
Turian-Batarian War:
Breakthrough at Alptine
First Battle of Taetrus
Battle of Philippi
Second Battle of Taetrus
Awards:
Stalkim's Cross (Rescinded)
Heroic Stand of Courage (Rescinded)
Hegemony Medal of Valor (Rescinded)
Hegemony Chairman's Recognition Award (Rescinded)
Personal Details
Born: Ja'hal Tozen Derik Bucos; 2832 GS, 2085 UTC (Age: 75 GS; 81 UTC)
Nationality: Batarian Hegemony (Former), Free Batarian Confederation (Current), United Terran Federation (Current)
Ja'hal Derik is the 1st and currently acting president of the Free Batarian Confederation. A former high-ranking official and political prisoner to the Hegemony, he was viewed upon by liberal minded people in both the Council and the Hegemony as a progressive and reformist, but grew wary as political dissident within the Hegemony government grew. A once high-ranking politician, the last Hegemony regime viewed him as a traitor, but was too influential to outright kill. He was court martialed under false charges and sent to prison.
Born to a high-ranking diplomatic family, he conducted most of his study in the finest schools on Thessia and was considered one of the finest intellectual minds for his age. His early fame came from his successful debate against Matriarch Irissa on the structure of the Confederation of the Asari Republics. Returning to the Hegemony, he assumed a position as governor over his home colony. His family ties quickly earned in a position in the Hegemony government. However, Derik was open minded and preached reformation, which was considered dangerous to the old order.
During the Frankian Altercation, he was forced into service, but his family influence gave him an appointment as a captain. After a minor support role in the failed assault of the home world of Frankian, he was given command of the 3rd Hegemony Fleet. Here, he orchestrated the break through the Frankian Fleet, before intervention by Salarian forces arrived to end the fight.
At the beginning of the Turian-Batarian war, he became the second in command to then Admiral Ut'lok Kavos and led the surprise assault through Turian space. In command of the fleet, he led major breakthroughs that pushed the fleet deep to the Turian coreworld of Taetrus. Under Kavos' command, he participated in the famous battle of Philippi. He, however, was relieved of command by the last Chairman, resulting in a loss of leadership in the second battle of Taetrus and Quentius' Counter-Offensive Campaign.
After the war, he continued with his reformation agenda in the People's Lower Congress, but could no longer be protected after he received blame for the loss of the war. In spite of serving as an advisor for Chairman Kavos, he was arrested and thrown in prison.
During that time, he was still able to help lead the Batarian resistance. His once high profile statue and ideas was well known amongst the general Batarian and slave populations. He helped organize resistance forces to aid Terran forces in the Skyllian Blitz, his major contribution being the orchestration of the inaction of his former fleet in the battle of Rigeno. He was liberated during the Fall of Khar'shan and was chosen to lead the new provisional government. He presided over the Batarian race's entrance into the Federation and is currently serving his position until confederate territories can be properly brought into the Federation.
(This article of a Person is a Stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.)
Last Edited 1 July 2167 00:00 UTC
BBC War Correspondent; Special Report; June 25, 2167
Weapons of the Future!
"There's only two things a colonist every needs to survive and thrive in a harsh galaxy. A John Deer tractor and a Kalashnikov rifle."
– A colonist for the Russo-American Star Alliance.
Every day, the latest technology comes into play in strengthening the military. Until the late 2150s, chemical based weapons were the main form of weaponry for the Terran Military. Using self-contained cartridge ammunition, it is still standard for all civilian grade weaponry and is mass-produced on colony worlds. Current military grade weaponry is now magnetic propulsion based, using a compact magnetic rail gun that is now the corner stone of Terran weaponry.
Before magnetic weaponry, the official standard weaponry of the Terran military was the KC-10 assault rifle, the M-11 pistol and the M-96 Carbine. Since the formation of the United Earth, all rifles are chambered in the 5.75x42mm RASA, and pistols and submachine guns use the 9x19 mm EURO parabellum. The current common civilian weaponry, the AR-25, is also chambered in the Alliance 5.75x42mm round.
The move to standardize magnetic rail guns came during the early fifties, as part of the modernization of the Terran Army. This call came after heavy casualties during the Revival, fighting rebel and uprising forces with similar weapons to their own. The Army chose the new Hahne-Kedar M-7 Lancer over a re-chambered version of the Colt-Kalashnikov M-96R Mattock. This adoption quickly spread to the Marines and the Navy. Both the M-3 Predator and the M-5 Phalanx pistol were chosen for adoption.
The weapon's initial advertised advantage to older style weapons was its reduced need to reload in combat. When used, a metallic block of a tungsten-lead mix and a micro fusion battery are load into the weapons. They acted as the two 'ammunitions' for the weapon. When firing, the battery is used to heat the block to a molten state. Energy fields would carve a measured amount of metal and reform it into a ball the size of a marble at 13mm. The battery is then used to charge a rail gun, which would propel the marble sized round. The heat is then channeled from the rail to the block, allowing a heat cycle to keep the block molten and removed energy drawn from the battery.
While initial reports have shown an increase in effectiveness in soldiering, logistic management has been a key factor in supporting this new weaponry. Micro fusion batteries that are used primarily as long-term power supplies are drained quickly with weapon usage and are expensive. The military logistics core is also responsible for supplying and managing the delivery of both new military munitions and civilian colonial munitions, which still uses the older form of weaponry.
BBC War Correspondent; Special Report; June 25, 2167
The Terran Kinetic Storm!
"Oh my God… I'm a Jedi!"
– The most common reported reaction by most kinetic enabled children upon learning of their abilities, as reported by the Terran Kinetic Foundation.
A mass kinetic, or Kinetic, is a person born with the biological ability to control and manipulate quantum mass effect fields. The creation of such personnel has been recorded to be caused from an exposure of massatanium to a human embryo during pre-natal infancy. This usually stems from exposure of the mother to dust and crystalized forms of massatanium. Most common exposures come from mining or ship construction. During the early years when such personnel started to appear, most forms of exposure had been link to cause fatal forms of cancer. While kinetic abilities were also tied to this, research was done to reduce development of abnormalities with the side benefit of allowing promoting nerve adaptation to massatanium. After a massive exposure at the end of the Great Revival on Earth, a spike in Kinetics is believed to have occurred in the following years.
Kinetics are able to perform their abilities due to the embedment of massatanium into the central nervous system. Though such infusion of compounds is considered non-natural, the proper adaptation of such nervous systems in those who are Kinetic suggest that the nervous system is almost design to adapt and infuse with it. Kinetics can learn to control mass effect fields generated by the compound through mental and physical discipline. Basic abilities include light duty telekinesis and kinetic barriers. More powerful, military based techniques require an amplification of the mass effect fields in the nervous systems. In 2142, the first generation of kinetic amps was created. In combat, they are emplaced in a surgically placed port at the base of the back neck and can be swapped out as needed. It is against standard procedure to have one installed when off duty.
Since First Contact, information has shown that many other races in the galaxy have their own variant. The galactic term for people with these abilities is 'Biotic'. Though the Federation has been promoting the birth of more Kinetics, with strict anti-discrimination laws, most races still tend to be wary of such people. The main exception is the Asari, who are all 'biotics', due to their home world being rich in massatanium. With access to galactic knowledge of these people, dating millennia in age, the Federation has been fast accelerating research of Kinetics to match alien counterparts.
As currently allowed by the Evolutionary Progression Act, all Kinetics are to be conscripted at the age of adulthood, where the government has placed much of its resources in rising Kinetic populations. This usually comes at the end of high school, with a five-year delay, full scholarship, and enrollment into the Terran Cadet Program if a Kinetic is college bound.
NBC War Correspondent; Special Report; June 30, 2167
Inter-service Rivalry: Part Two
"The Army hates the Navy; the Navy hates the Army; both hate the Marines; the Marines hate both of them; all of them hate the National Guard; the National Guard hates all of them. All of them hate Congress. Congress simply reallocates their budget so they hate each other again."
– Congresswoman Debra Weatherman's description of her family.
In the days before Unification, many military families held up to the time honored tradition of joining the same military branch in their respective country as their parents. After Unification, the borders of division became very emphasized on the branches, so the reverse began to occur, until the opposite is often now the norm for many families. Many families with deep military roots can be found to have numerous generations serving in the different branch of the United Terran Military.
The most prominent example of this is of the family of Admiral Andrew Roland and Congresswoman Debra Weatherman. Though Weatherman never served, she is a decedent of a long time American Army family. Her father is an early retiree Army Field Marshall from the Revival, while her mother spent a long career in the Army before serving an honorary position as the commanding officer of the Terra Nova National Guard. Her younger brother and sister are currently colonels in the Terran Marines.
Her husband, Admiral Roland, is in the Navy and descends from a Royal Marine family, who traces its linage to the first Royal Marines in the seventeenth century. His disqualification for joining the Marines nearly got him disowned by his family. Their children are both in the Marines themselves, and joined for the purpose of spiting their father. They continued the family tradition, gaining fame in the service during the Death World Campaign. Though Weatherman never served herself, having once ironically been an anti-war, anti-Federation protestor during the Unification years, her skills serving in the political arena have made many believe she controls her family using those skills, bringing justification to her quote above.
Though this rivalry is ingrained in Terran society, the military itself, however, operates in direct opposition to it. There is no such thing as an "Army" or "Naval" operation. In accordance to doctrine, all military operations are Joint Operations, requiring the active participation of troops and officers of every branch of the military. Even in solely star bound or planetary operations, a represented flag officer of all branches must be present. This is in the form of a Naval ship, or a platoon of troops. Near randomly timed war exercises draw all parts of the military into participation. The military officer corps are also trained together. Until recently, the Navy (and its Marine Corp) and Army trained its officers at the same academic institution. Even separated now, it is not unusual to see classes and drills with officers of all branches, with cross training being a requirement to become an officer.
In spite of this heavy rivalry, joint training has proven to pay off. In the Skyllian Blitz, the after-report indicated a high efficiency in the planet hopping campaign to Khar'shan, the Navy working in sync to support Marine landings and Army occupation. Casualties from all branches were remarkable low, especially for an invasion that involved securing the equivalent of 20% of the entire Federation in one week. Still, now that the war is over, each branch is back at each other's throat, as tradition and as required.