Bluemarlin
Thanks! We will look into their reactions to the human crew next chapter
CReaper210
Cheers. Hope you like the update
Guest
Haha, yes! Someone was vigilant and picked up on it!
PacifiX
I think it was Sun Tzu that said, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer". The entire idea of putting them on Earth was that it is the most heavily defended, and any uprising could be put down with out much of a struggle, then add in the fact that the aliens would see how heavily defended it is, and they aren't likely to try anything. I also like the idea of by keeping them close you keep them on a tight leash and can watch over everything with a careful eye. If I'm honest though, I did initially have them on Mars, but I had a massive argument with myself over the 0.4g gravity messing things up and making it unfeasible. Put them on a colony that isn't as well defended and maybe out of sight and you will inevitably start to lose control, not something humanity wants or needs.
As for the political system on earth, I will admit I have not explained that very well. My idea for it was after the first contact war, the military becomes the most powerful body in human politics after they are given virtually unlimited power to fight the aliens, and people are not elected in the military, they earn their rank. I sort of touched on this very lightly a few chapters ago but obviously, I need to expand on it some more.
And yeah, the humans in this story still want the aliens gone, just right now they would prefer the Reapers to be defeated first. For the shipyards, the idea there is the Alliance wants variance in their ships to stop the Reapers from adapting for any one type. Anyway, from what I have planned, this won't be too much of a problem, muhahaha. (I really feel like I need a cat to stroke right now as I give my evil laugh)
/.../
Garrus waits patiently for the hanger bay door on the SR1 to lower into an open position before walking down the ramp with Grunt and Tali by his side, while they are heavily armed with their guns unholstered, their weapons are not looking for a target. All of Garrus's team remember Justicar Samara, and they hope that their friendly faces will quickly end any possible hostilities.
As Garrus walks off the SR1's ramp he notices at least 6 guns trained on himself from various dug in positions, and he knows there are probably some others he has missed. "Hello!" He shouts to no one in particular, but he hopes Samara is around, somewhere, "You requested aid!"
After a moment Samara makes herself known by coming out of cover behind a large tree trunk, her weapon is in a defensive position, which means it is aimed at Garrus and team, "Garrus Vakarian?" She asks suspiciously, "I was unaware Turians enjoyed such a long life span." It would not surprise the Asari if he was a Reaper pawn now, after all, he has spent a lot of time around reapers, more than enough in her opinion to be won over by their devious whispering.
Garrus expected this line of questioning, had he not spent the last 150 years in deep slumber on board the Lichtenstein he would have perished long ago, Tali would be in the same boat. "I was put into hibernation." He responds before continuing, "Ready to be called upon when needed. That time is now."
The Asari blinks, she accepts the excuse, barely, but she keeps her weapon raised, "And what of the humans? I am under the impression that this is a Systems Alliance War Vessel?"
"This?" Garrus gestures behind him to the black frigate, it uses the same impossible black that the Lichtenstein once supported "Is an Alliance war vessel, but not the one you established contact with. I was sent by my..." Garrus leaves a small pause before he says, "Captain, to render assistance." The once proud Spectre still struggles to accept his demotion at times. It is easy to climb the ladder, but bloody hard to come back down.
"You are no longer a Spectre?" Inquiries the Asari of Garrus.
"No." Garrus tells her, "When the Council surrendered to the Humans they outlawed Spectres, and the Humans are still too wary of the Council species to let them have much power beyond anything aesthetic."
"I find such a motion concerning when an existential war is ongoing."
The Turian shrugs his shoulders, "The humans left us with no choice. They have done the unthinkable, but it may have saved our species, all of ours."
"The relays?" Samara asks. She can still remember the day as if it was yesterday when telescopes picked up the supernova like explosion originating in the Asari home system. "Are they responsible?"
"Yes, they deemed our home worlds lost and took out as many of the bastards as they could. I may not like it, but it is the cold calculus of war." Kill a few here to save the many there.
"I understand," Samara blinks, "I too have been forced to make calls for the greater good." By now Samara is slowly lowering her weapon as she grows in confidence that the Turian before her is her old acquaintance.
"Haven't we all?" Asks Garrus rhetorically, "Now I am under the impression you need some help?"
"Yes." Samara turns to order her soldiers to stand down before continuing, "Ideally I would ask you to take us from this barren world, but I understand if that is not possible."
"How many of you is there?"
Samara does not stop to think about the answer; the number is ingrained in her brain, "235, of which 27 are requiring medical aid, and I have 13 in a critical condition."
"That is a suspiciously high number," Garrus tells her, curious as to why there are so many injured and in a critical state.
"I am afraid our position is known by bandits who are yet to be harvested. They come here looking for slaves, food, and anything else of value we can provide. We are simply not equipped to deal with their heavy weaponry."
"Ah, the galaxy is in a war for its existence, and people still turn to profiteering off others. I'll have to get permission to bring you onto the Lichtenstein, but she is a big ship and I doubt there will be any problems."
"Your words bring me great hope, but there is something else here that we can not leave behind."
"I'm listening."
The Asari begins to lead Garrus and team towards the complex her people call home, "This facility houses numerous Ardat-Yakshi and researchers. Thier research will be invaluable in the war effort."
Garrus's mandibles come close to his face at the news of the Ardat Yakshi, the Justicar will not like the news he is about to tell her, "The research isn't a problem, we will bring it with us. The Ardat Yakshi will probably cause a problem for you. The Human view on them is quite opposed to the Asari doctrine, and when they reach the Lichtenstein they will be given free reign like any other Asari, and Justicars are outlawed."
"Outlawed? The republics.."
Gurrs interrupts her, "Don't exist anymore. Any Asari living on a human world is forced to obey their rules, and that means no Justicars." This is only partially true, the city the survivors set up in Australia obeys both Human and Citadel rules, but Citadel rules do not incorporate anything regarding Justicars, so essentially, they are banned.
"I... see. Then I will stay here with the other Ardat-Yakshi, and ensure they can not harm anyone."
Garrus blinks grimly at the Justicar, he knows arguing with her will be futile as her loyalty to upholding the Justicar code is unbending.
4 hours later
The SR1 is almost entirely loaded up with the surviving Asari, but Garrus still needs to report into Shepard via QEC hologram. "Captain, we have 229 aboard, along with all research data, we are making final preparations to return to the Elrich."
Shepard raises a brow, "6 are staying behind?"
"They are 5 Ardat Yakshi and a Justicar, the Justicar is not willing to let them go to a system where they will have free rule."
Shepard thinks for a moment, "Are the Ardat Yakshi willing to stay or are they being forced?"
"I would say a bit of both," Garrus tells her, knowing from a small interaction with them that they had hoped to leave their planet, but they became reluctant once told by Samara they were to stay.
"What job do they do?"
Garrus moves his eyes to the side as he thinks back slightly, "If I remember rightly, a few of them are scientists responsible for the research." Ardat-Yakshi focus extensively on work or research to forget about their 'problems'.
"And what research is this?" The captain has learned that they were bringing research with them, but as her hands are full on the Lichtenstein, she is yet to look over its contents.
"A few weapon designs, some theories on listening to Reaper communications and deep analysis on primary Reaper weapons, with suggestions on methods of dampening their destruction." This is what the Asari have told him, but he too is yet to verify this claim. Really, all of this research has already been undertaken by the Systems alliance, but the Asari may have found something that the Alliance has missed.
"I see," Shepard says as a dark look comes over her face. "Then get the researchers onboard, by any means."
Garrus felt his mandibles move closer to his face; he knows what that means and he does not like the idea of facing Samara in combat, the Asari will prove to be a powerful foe.
/.../
Garrus had tried his damned hardest, he had even pleaded with the Justicar, but eventually, the Turian was forced to follow through with the Captains orders, and now he is burying an old accomplice. He is thankful the fight was short lived, the weapons he carries are some of the most advanced the Systems alliance have developed meaning they cut straight through the Justicars shields and barriers. It is a grim day for Garrus, but then again, it has been a gloomy day every day since the Reapers came calling.
/.../
Captains mess.
While the ground team were making final preperations to bring the Asari back Shepard is consulting with her senior staff again, "I don't want theories!" She snaps at Jeff the Geth, "I want answers. How did that bastard Reaper get into our computer systems!"
This question has been puzzling her entire team, and so far, the best people have been able to come up with is theories, and most of those theories are wild ideas at best. Shepard does not like it one bit, they can close all possible holes they know of in their computer systems, but if they can not prove how the Reaper got in, then they could potentially be leaving open a huge hole in their defences.
After a sigh to calm herself she turns to another officer, "Have you been able to salvage any more information regarding the ship?"
The woman Shepard directed the question to nods, and brings up an image of the ship that attacked them; the ship looks like Harbinger, just a lot bigger, along with different colour lights illuminating its hull. "While the ship looks the same," The officer begins, "It has fundamental differences from the standard Reaper. For starters, a 'normal' Reaper's hull is a biomechanical substance, a skin almost, but this reaper is purely mechanical. This hull, from our spectrograph readings, is made from the same elusive metal that makes the Relays." The Alliance has a mind boggling reward for the person that can mass produce the metal that makes the Relays as it is currently the strongest substance known to the Alliance, and they would love to build ships with it. It's even stronger than the biomechanical hull of a Reaper. While they have been able to produce some of the elusive material, it is only enough to coat the Kraken's hull with a thin layer.
The officer continues, "There is more bad news too, I am afraid. The weapons of the ship are not typical of a Reaper, instead of firing molten tungsten at us at a fraction of light speed, it seems this beast prefers more directed energy weapons which ignore our shielding. Right now my technicians are referring to them as phasers from an old tv program. As we were unable to fire back we can not evaluate its shield strength, but we do have sensor readings which suggest they are incredibly powerful, and more than capable of taking a dozen hits off our most powerful warships." The officer is not able to speak for the Kraken as she is ignorant of its real potential.
The officer took a moment to sip some water, "It's cloaking technology is something too, we have combed over all the sensor readings of the last few weeks, and we think it was following us since we entered the system where the Reapers were building the relays. While it is good at hiding, its cloak is not perfect meaning I believe we could prevent a repeat occurrence just by looking for its gravity well. What worries me the most about this ship, however, is something I am still struggling to come to terms with, sensors were unable to detect element zero or a tachyon trail, how this thing achieves FTL is beyond me."
Shepard swallows hard, this news is disturbing, if this Reaper ship does not need element zero, then its FTL capabilities are beyond measurable as there are no other known means of achieving FTL. It could be capable of travelling 20 Light Years a day, or a 1,000 and there is no way to know for sure. "Do we know how it was able to find us while stealth systems were active?"
The woman nods, "Yes, we think it was following the moon." The 'moon' is the nickname for the Lichtensteins eyes. Since the gargantuan ship bends light around itself to hide in the visible spectrum, it falls foul to its own trick and can't see outside the bubble of bent light itself, so it needs a small satellite outside of this bent light to guide it. This satellite is tiny, however, and made to look like nothing more than a boring old meteor.
Shepard accepts this is how the Reaper found them as there are no known theories on how to find a Lichtenstein when all of its stealth systems are active, other than looking for its 'moon'. "Then this is what I suggest, next time we think that thing is on our tail, we recall the moon, and we jump to a new system. I think we should all be agreed that we can not fight that thing without serious cavalry to..." Shepard pauses for a moment as the lights in the room flicker, something she assumes is just the result of the engineering teams fixing her ship, "...back us..."
Shepard never finishes her sentence as a siren they are all familiar with fills the airwaves, that siren being red alert.
/.../
Cheers for reading!