A/N: I'm thinking about taking the Codex Entries out of the beginning of the story to the bottom of the chapters. What do you think? Besides, should I put them from Chapter 1 and on, or from Chapter 13 and on (considering that the Codex is a Mass Effect thing and is from Citadel space and that is the chapter where they finally show up).
I really don't know what to do about it.
Now, to the reviews.
To ferduran:
Well, like I already said, this won't become a total war or anything. The conflict will be short, but will still be interesting. Don't expect me to have the USF bombard Turian worlds to rubble. That will not happen. The political prize, however, will be rather high.
To Eaglestorm27:
Well, they already knew of the Halo for a time, as I mentioned in a previous chapter. But it is far away and Starfleet is being extremely cautious with it (luckily for them, if you will ask the Vorlons). If the Halo in THB is the same as the ones in the Halo franchise, we will find out down the road.
To Coment9:
Human ships look like Star Trek's Starfleet ships. They are designs from TNG/DS9/VOY era and Star Trek Online. I also added some extended universe or even fan-made designs. The same about technology and weapons. Now, about pre-warp ships, just read this chapter that you will know.
Chapter 15
"The Face of the Enemy"
Interstellar News Network
"Good day, United Systems Federation. It is now 19 hours, Earth Standard Time, live from Geneva, Earth. I'm your host, Anna Torres and this is your daily Interstellar News Network report, The Universal View."
The view switches to a new camera, to which Anna turns.
"Unknown species attack the Shanxi Colony," she reported. "Starfleet prepares to war and the Valhallan Guard offers help."
The camera switches again.
"Scandal in Brakir. High ranking Brakiri official is accused of paying mercenaries to harass Dilgar civilian ships. The Sindicracy denies any involvement in the incident."
"Discomfort in Minbar. Generations clash as the younger Minbari call for more answerability and transparency by their government. All that and more, now at ISN."
The camera zoomed out of her as the intro sequence was played.
"Four days ago, an unknown species has attacked the Shanxi system. Contact with the star cluster of Horse Head Nebula has been cut. Starfleet Command says that the aliens use mass effect technology and are suspected to be the builders of the network of mass relays."
The camera switched again
"President Santiago has stated that he is working with Starfleet Command and the Valhallan Guard of Asgard to assemble a task force and take back the planet. I'm now with Jonathan Wu live from Angra-dos-Montes, in Cortesa, he is a Professor of Physics at the Royal University of Cortesa and specialist in FTL and Interstellar Travel; from Paris, Earth, Éowyn Boyega, Secretary of Relay Exploration under the Ministry of Defense and Exploration; and last but not least, Ambassador Londo Mollari of the Centauri Republic, live from Babylon 5, will provide us some alien perspective. Good day, gentlemen."
The guests each on a different screen greeted her.
"Professor Wu, what should we expect from this new, hostile species?"
"Well, Anna, we all understand that the mass relays are very advanced pieces of technology that couldn't have just been made by any race and, may I say, even by us! We all agree on that. Now, despite being marvels of technology, utilizing the relays is rather simple."
"You mean you don't agree with Starfleet's assumption that the attackers are the builders of the network?" She asked.
"I mean that we are in the dark," Professor Wu answered. "Any race who could build the relays would be a very ancient, very advanced race, maybe even First Ones! By assuming the attackers are the builders, Starfleet is preparing for the worst-case scenario, but only time will tell."
"In your recent book, Element Zero: The Path that Never Was, you theorized many applications for mass effect technology, do you think the attackers know any of the applications you theorized?"
"I'm certain they would," he said. "Mass effect could be used for many things. FTL travel, gravity generation, weaponry and defense, the possibilities are endless! If this new species is familiarized enough with element zero, they would now that. I only hope Starfleet manages to drive them from Shanxi and solve this mess."
"Now, Secretary Boyega," Anna said as she turned to the other screen. "This is certainly a tricky situation for President Santiago, especially when he ran most of his reelection campaign on keeping Humanity out of war with other species."
"Well, Anna, sometimes one just has no choice in these issues. President Santiago has been doing everything in his power to keep peace in the galaxy and to not involve us in any unnecessary conflicts, we saw just his efforts for peace when he masterfully solved the crisis regarding the Narn invasion of the Centauri colony of Ragesh III that had so many people, Human and alien, calling for armed intervention."
"Listen, madam, this issue-"
"I'm sorry, Ambassador, you will have time to talk yet," Anna interrupted Londo. "Now, Ms. Secretary, you say we could be dragged into a war against our will and I agree to an extent, especially if we are talking about an unprovoked attack here, but unprovoked is the keyword. Are we not expanding too fast and too far when we have everything we may need here? If the attackers are really the relay builders or have any claim over them, are we not the ones provoking them by using the network without permission?"
"That is a good point, Anna, and the president and members of the Parliament have been already discussing this issue on both houses. I could name Parliamentarian Feanor Valariel from Valinor in the Federal Assembly, as well as Councilor Tessa Luthor from Earth in the Federal Council. They and others more have raised their concerns and are calling the government for more caution. The talks are happening and we have to trust our political system and wait for a consensus."
"I'm sure we will find a solution soon. But now for the more pressing matters," Anna continued. "What is Starfleet strategy and which role will the Valhallan Guard have in this conflict?"
"The details of Starfleet's tactics would be too much to share here and now, but I can say that we are gathering an extensive task force, I'm talking about hundreds of starships, combat vehicles, ground warfare personnel… We are preparing for everything and we are also bringing relief provisions for the population in Shanxi. As for the involvement of the Valhallan Guard, it was a smart move by the President, as it allowed us to save precious time, especially in gathering ground combat assets. The planetary militias are, technically, part of Starfleet's military reserve, so nothing too odd in this move."
"Thank you, Ms. Secretary," Anna said, now turning to look at the last screen. "Ambassador Mollari, I understand that your government has been the most interested in the relay network in the last years."
"You are correct, Ms. Torres. Since the discovery of the first mass relay in Mordor, I have been petitioning the USF for a treaty on its use. The fact that your people have been keeping such important interstellar passage for themselves is not only a contentious point in our diplomatic relations but a violation of Babylon 5 convention."
"But, Ambassador, the Mordor Relay is not actually a spatial route, more of a gateway, and it is located entirely within USF territory. As such, the Babylon 5 treaties and conventions on free navigation routes would not apply to it."
"Technicalities," Londo replied. "The issue is that Humanity was greedy and now that you bit more than you can swallow it led to a conflict against an unknown enemy, potential First Ones, that can spill over to our space. Maybe, if we had united forces to explore and settle the area more thoroughly, this could have been prevented. Who knows? Only time will tell what will be the consequences of your stumbling around."
Horse Head Nebula
Shanxi
City of Konoha
To say that Ensign Kaidan Alenko had not expected his assignment to be like that was an understatement.
He was a MACO, a Starfleet marine. As such, better trained in ground combat than normal Starfleet personnel, who were much more adept in space. MACO, short for Military Assault Command Operations, was one of the three special elite combat divisions of Starfleet, alongside the Starfighter Corps and the Ground Combat Operations, all specialized in combat and tactical operations. Fleet personnel serve a wide variety of purposes, diplomatic as well as scientific. The combat divisions, on the other hand, serve a narrower purpose, that said, reconnaissance, armed support, and of course combat if diplomacy fails.
Still, he thought this would be an easy, normal assignment. Despite the constant training, these divisions didn't see combat very often, almost never. There are the peacekeeping operations in Dilgar space and the dismantling of several pirate bases and such, but even those operations were becoming less and less frequent.
As such, after leaving the chaos that was New Omelos, he accepted this assignment. Colonial security. Not that he thought he would actually be needed. It was supposed to be only daily training and security assignments to exploring starships. Nothing too much.
Then they came.
One moment Kaidan was in dreamland and the other the alarms went off. He shot up from bed and was quickly briefed they were fighting aliens in orbit and that they were losing.
In minutes, they were fully equipped with full armor, weapons, and combat gear.
There were no landings yet, so they were ordered to shelter the civilians.
That was four days ago. Now he was here, crouching between the ruins of a residential building with his phaser rifle pointed at a very ugly head among a dozen.
Luckily, the aliens seemed not to know of subspace, allowing Starfleet to coordinate around the planet. Kaidan himself was receiving information and orders from the tactical command in Nanto directly to his armor.
It was the first wave, according to the intelligence from Nanto Base. Energy lines had been already cut by the bombardment, most shelters relying on emergency generators. The aliens had been trimming around the cities, leveling the terrain to use their armored vehicles and artillery. Then the fighters came as if daring them to try and reclaim air superiority. With energy lines cut down, replicator and teleporter use was restricted to only the strictly necessary. People were on rations.
The aliens already landed a large number of troops and vehicles and had set camp around the main settlements. Yesterday, they tested their artillery around the city. Now, he could see as a group of aliens moved between the wreckages on the empty streets of the city. Kaidan drew his tricorder, he decided to run a full scan of the aliens and their weapons to send to Nanto firsthand.
The aliens looked, well, alien. They were somewhere between reptilian and avian, as tall as a human. They were an odd bunch, but Kaidan could sense the discipline with which they moved and communicated nonverbally. Those people were soldiers to their bone.
He knew they would come, command had predicted it. The mission given to him and the others hidden around was to protect the hospital building without letting them know that they were protecting it. There was a crowd of thousands of people sheltered under the building. His mission was to draw the aliens' attention out of it, something that would not be easy.
Suddenly, Kaidan saw a blur with the corner of his eye and was launched a feel meters away by the impact, his personal shield shimmering blue for a second.
He reacted fast like a lightning bolt, evading the drone's next blast and destroying it with one well-aimed shot from his phaser rifle.
Shit. He thought. He has just revealed his position.
A dozen meters away, one of the scout drones got Legionnaire Garrus Vakarian's attention as it fired at a window on one of the many ruins. A moment later, however, it was blasted down by a bolt of light breaking it beyond repair.
As the drone fell down and smashed on the floor, Garrus signaled his men to spread to more defensible positions. It would be the first time he or any Turian would fight one of those so-called Humans. He would not underestimate them, no matter how unimpressive they looked.
His omni-tool came to life around his wrist. He pressed some buttons, ordering his remaining drones to advance. In less than a minute, bolts of energy fired from the broken buildings to all directions, revealing that there were indeed enemies hidden behind the windows. He saw as one drone launched a grenade inside and an asaroid figure jumped off, bursting out of the fireball unscathed falling a good distance onto the street.
Garrus noticed that he was wearing a very fitting blu-ish body armor that did not look as bulky nor as tough as standard Turian issue. He saw for a second as what seemed like a type of kinetic barrier following the alien's silhouette shimmered to existence before disappearing, making him think for a second if that 'shield' was what protected him from the heat of the grenade's explosion, as he seemed to not have been harmed by it at all. That was impossible, however, as kinetic barriers could not block heat.
He also noted the alien's equipment, some kind of rifle in his hands, two pistols attached to each side of his waistline on a black tool belt with many compartments and devices attached that he assumed to be ammunition, batteries, among other tools.
Garrus assessed all of that in less than a second as the alien fell to the ground, rolled and stood up, aiming his rifle at them and firing as he ran to find cover behind a wreckage mound, taking two mass accelerator hits from Garrus' men before disappearing.
How did he survive that? Garrus thought. His men managed to land at least two hits and his barriers seemed to hold better than most he had seen.
As Garrus men kept exchanging fire with the Human, he turned around to see one of his men on the floor being given first-aid as his shoulder had a hole the size of his head glowing with molten metal and burned flesh.
Garrus looked at his omni-tool, which showed him the extension of the damage.
"His barriers haven't dropped a bit!" Garrus said, surprised.
"It seems the aliens have mastered personal energy weapons as well," one of his men said. "Our barriers are useless. I suggest maximum caution and a greater focus on evasive tactics."
"Send this piece of information to Camp Zero," he ordered, then turned back at his other two men, who were exchanging fire with the alien. "Hold him in this position."
He drew his omni-tool again and pressed some buttons. Within a minute, a new drone wing showed up on the sides of the street, flying from in between the destroyed buildings and launching grenades and shooting at the Human soldier behind the wrecks and the others hidden in the ruins. He saw as more Humans jumped out of their hiding places, firing at the Turian group with the same ferocity as before.
"They are protecting something," his second-in-command, Vritus, stated.
"I noticed it too, they are trying to draw our attention elsewhere."
He stood again and fired, seeing that they were starting to run short of drones. He called air support. As the VI-controlled fighters flew in, firing at the aliens, Garrus saw that the first Human from before was the only one remaining.
He ordered his men to fire, incapacitating the alien, before they ran towards his unconscious body. They restrained his hands and feet with cuffs that could resist a Krogan and put a restraining collar to his neck. He was a prisoner of war, now.
An hour later, the recovery team arrived, taking the Human and his deceased comrades, as well as all equipment and weapons they had left on the ground.
"Report, Legionnaire" Commander Vyrnnus ordered as he approached.
"The city block is cleared," he replied. "We lost seven men. There were seventeen hostiles in the cleared zones. Six subdued, eleven killed."
"I heard their weapons are good stuff," Vyrnnus said as they walked to the shuttle.
"They are extremely well equipped. Their energy weapons can bypass our barriers and do heavy damage to armor. Their shields are less efficient against mass accelerators than ours but, in addition, they seem to be able to block heat and energy extremely well."
"As expected from a species that uses energy weapons to such extent," he said as he looked at the information with his omni-tool. "Their armor seems to be very hard to damage too."
Garrus nodded.
"Well, it seems that this will not be the easy invasion General Arterius was expecting," Vyrnnus said to himself. "Our forces have had engagements with them all around the city. Persistent little primitives, those Humans. They were largely outnumbered, their powerful weapons being the only thing between our boots and their corpses. Still, their tactics and positioning implied that they were protecting something."
Garrus nodded, as he had come to the same conclusion, to which Vyrnnus continued.
"Our sensor array found what the aliens were protecting."
He sent the information to Garrus omni-tool.
"This-"
"Seems to be a shelter of some kind," Vyrnnus answered before Garrus could finish his sentence. "Its energy readings are low and heat signatures are high, as such, we believe it must be crammed with civilians. There seem to be others around the city but this is the biggest. You will send a team to breach the shelter and capture them."
Garrus looked at the readings on his omni-tool, he thought the aliens were protecting some strategic location, a base or bunker full of command personnel, an arsenal, maybe.
Garrus would execute his mission as efficiently as he should. But he couldn't stop thinking.
What were they doing here?
Babylon 5
Museum of Human Spaceflight
As Ambassador Delenn walked around the exhibit, she stopped and looked at the holographic model rotating slowly in front of her. It was clearly very functional-looking, though not easy to the eyes.
It did not resemble the typical Human designs she knew in any way. It was dark, long and tough, like a solid brick. The engines in the aft were very prominent. Antennae and weapons were big and bulky, resembling more conventional, non-Human designs. A rotating section, probably to provide gravity the rest of the ship would not have, could be seen.
"The Omega destroyer," Delenn was startled by the voice, turning her head around to see Commander Sinclair's friendly smile. "She is a beauty, isn't she?
"Not the word I would choose to describe it," Delenn smiled smugly.
Sinclair laughed.
"Well, those were different times," he said. "At the time, the Omega-class was a state-of-the-art technical marvel. It didn't have FTL, gravity, replicators, transporters, or any of the things we take for granted today but it allowed us to reach the most distant planets in our home system."
Delenn nodded as they walked together around the wide room.
"You seem to have struggled in your early days of space exploration."
"It was a time when the next planet seemed distant," he explained. "We had just got out of a Third World War and many of the winning nations unified their efforts to expand and find new resources. The Epstein drive had been invented some twenty years before the war and was already somewhat widely used. That's why some call that period the Epstein Era."
"The Minbari did not spend a whole lot of time traveling around our home system with sublight engines," Delenn explained as she stopped by another model, this one labeled Kilimanjaro-class dreadnought. "Before we were shown the light, we were a violent people, more preoccupied with war than anything else."
"Who showed you the light, as you say?" Sinclair asked. "Was it Valen?"
"No," Delenn answered, knowing how the irony of his question escaped him. "This was before Valen, a couple of centuries or so when we were still young."
He nodded.
"Well, it happened different to us," he continued. "The Epstein drive came in the 2030s and we were already walking towards exploring our system when war came. Afterward, we kept fighting among themselves for ideology and resources like always, but no one could fathom fighting on Earth anymore, not after the war. Space became our main battleground."
He pointed at another model rotating a few meters from them.
"That is why it is also called the Wild Space Era," he explained. "We were exploring Mars, the Belt, building new powerful ships armed with primitive lasers and railguns to kill each other. We had the original Babylon stations, a worldwide effort, but that was it. You see so many different ship designs here due to the fact that we weren't very unified. The Omega and the BC-304 were American, the Kilimanjaro was European. The Japanese came with the Yamato, and many of those countries traded their designs among each other and to less powerful nations. It was a mess."
He laughed.
"Then, warp became a thing," he continued. "It would still take about a decade for it to be remotely practical, but the writing was on the wall. Soon we would have an infinity of new worlds to reach, and a new era would begin."
"So it did inspire you to become more united as a people?" Delenn asked.
"Not remotely," Sinclair laughed. "Well, things became more cordial on Earth, and the Terran Republic became less of an alliance of nations and more of a fully-fledged state, but now we had distant interstellar colonies to worry about, some of which didn't want to be dictated by Geneva. It was a whole new level of headaches. We had rebellions, revolutions... True peace only came with the foundation of the USF in 2300 when the Terrans relinquished their last claims over the colonies and joined them as equals."
"Well," Delenn turned back at the model in front of her, a testament to a species that refused to not become better with every new step. "It seems it was worth the effort. Now you are a respectable civilization, prosperous and peaceful."
He laughed.
"You heard about what is happening in Shanxi, right? It's been all over the news, I'm pretty sure the other governments have been informed to an extent, to calm the spirits. One more war on us, it makes me think if we can really call ourselves peaceful."
"Being peaceful does not mean being immune to harm," Delenn said as she turned to the footage displaying the Battle of Titan of 2089. "Sometimes, it means that you must be the one most capable inflicting it."
"Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum," Sinclair murmured, to which Delenn made a confused face. "It is an old Earth adage. It means: If you want peace, prepare for war."
"Wise words, if in a cynical sense."
"Yes," he laughed. "They are."
Shanxi
Turian POW Camp Zero
Karin, she heard a voice echoing in her unconscious mind.
Karin
Doctor Karin Chakwas opened her eyes, coming back to consciousness as she lifted her sore body up from the floor.
"Kaidan!" She said, bringing him to an embrace before she looked around. "Is-Is everyone ok?"
He brought his index finger on his mouth. She looked around and saw they were in a camp, surrounded by a metal fence and armored guards on towers monitoring them. Dry stains of blood scattered around.
"Some people resisted," Kaidan responded to her silent question with a low voice and a grim expression. "Those Turians are quick to shoot."
"Turians?" She said. "That is how they call themselves?"
"Yes, our badges started analyzing their language as soon as they started talking and have been exchanging translation data between each other. They don't seem to have noticed yet that the non-civilians can understand them."
Doctor Chakwas nodded in understanding. She tried to move but noticed that her hands and feet were cuffed. As she looked at Kaidan, she noticed that his were too and a restraining collar was around their necks.
"I tried to break them," he said, anticipating her question. "Even with the armor raising my strength I couldn't. Whatever it is that they are accustomed to restrain with these cuffs, it is a tough beast."
He paused, looking around stealthily then turning back at her.
"Sorry, I-We couldn't defend you," he said. "Do you remember what happened? I was caught before they found shelter."
The doctor remembered now, quite well.
They had been alerted that the aliens were coming and started barricading the entrance to the improvised shelter they were in. All Starfleet officers, she included, took their phasers and activated their personal shields. They would stall the invaders as long as they could while the civilians escaped through the tunnels.
They couldn't do it.
The aliens came like a steamroller. They blasted the entrance with heavy artillery, drones flying in and firing at everything.
Their shields resisted as well as they could. Their phasers managed to kill some of the bastards. But it wasn't enough.
Doctor Chakwas was taken back from her thoughts when she heard voices coming from the other side of the fence, a group of aliens walking in their direction.
"Our analysis of the dead Humans showed a remarkable similarity to the Asari, Commander Vyrnnus," one of the aliens reported to the other. "Their bone and muscle structure, body shape, facial structure, among other things. We theorize that even some drugs may have the same effect on them as they have on Asari."
They opened a small gate, three armed Turians entered the camp and took a teenager that looked no more than fifteen by his arms, dragging his crying frame from the place he was standing before.
"Now, this was a most unsettling discovery, Commander Vyrnnus" the Turian scientist said. "This one here is different from the others."
"What do you mean?" The Turian that Chakwas assumed to be Commander Vyrnnus asked. "I only see a weak, crying primitive."
"Well, this one does not show any life signs. No heat signature, nothing."
Vyrnnus looked confused, or at least that is how Chakwas thought he looked. He stepped forward, grabbing the boy's neck and lifting his crying face close to him.
He couldn't not notice that the youngling wore different clothing from the other Humans. A black, leather-like material, with long lines emitting blue-ish white light. Then he looked closer at its face, noticing a dim pattern of glowing blue lines and dots much like machine circuitry.
"This-!" he couldn't say it. He tossed that... that thing onto the floor and turned back at the scientist.
"Exactly, Commander. We believe this is a synthetic being, an AI," as he said it, the other Turians gasped, some of which even drew their guns, but the scientist only raised his wrist, his omni-tool coming to life. "The body we see in front of us is not a mechanical construct, though. It is nothing more than a projection. Very advanced, I should say."
"How is that possible? I touched its skin! It looks real!" Commander Vyrnnus barked.
"As you well know, our holograms are without substance. They have no rigidity or texture to them, so we use haptic interfaces in our gloves or even implanted under our digits' skin to generate the illusion of resistance and, therefore, mass. Well, we know these Humans seem very adept with their strange energy fields. Maybe that is how they can create such realistically textured holographic projections."
"How do we kill it?" Vyrnnus asked. Activating mass relays was in itself a terrible crime, but building AI just made these Humans more stupid and more dangerous in his eyes.
"Its skin is somewhat more resistant to harm than its organic counterparts, but it is not nearly as powerful as to resist a well-placed gunshot," he tapped his omni-tool again. "I can detect a metallic core in the center of its chest. I believe it to be its holographic emitter as well as what holds its code."
Commander Vyrnnus looked at the thing laid on the ground by him. The way it disgustingly simulated hopelessness and despair. This abomination was one more crime on these ignorant Humans. It sealed their species' fate.
Vyrnnus drew his pistol and with a well-aimed blast to the thing's chest, he fried its core and saw as the thing's holographic body shattered into a million pixel-like fragments that disappeared into nothingness.
The other Humans captive the other side of the fence came out of their stupor, the hatred visible in their eyes as they slammed into the fence only to be shocked by it. Some of them shouted, some cried.
Vyrnnus raised his hand. The soldiers beside him and the guards on the towers started firing, the agitators' flesh being ripped by the mass accelerator rounds. He raised his hand, ordering the guards to stop firing and noticed that some of his men had not fired.
"Explain yourself and your men, Legionnaire Vakarian!" He demanded with an authoritative voice.
"Sir, I formally protest. This is a violation of the Citadel Conventions and its articles on the handling of prisoners of war," Garrus answered. "I would advise-"
"Your advice is unnecessary, Legionnaire," Vyrnnus interrupted. "That thing was an AI. By killing it on sight, I am upholding the spirit of the law. As for the Humans, their crimes are greater than I had thought. Not only activating dormant relays but risking the entire galaxy by creating synthetic intelligence, they proved to be a threat that must be contained at all costs. I can't have any doubt of this among my men."
He turned to the scientist.
"I want every synthetic among the prisoners to be found and executed. As for the combatants, I want their equipment taken to a lab, analyze everything they have. Armor, shield generators, weapons, grenades, everything. I was informed by the command staff in orbit that the ones carrying this talon-shaped emblem may be able to understand us, it is a translator device. Take them for interrogation."
He then turned back to Garrus.
"Legionnaire Vakarian, your conscience is commendable but inappropriate, if not obscene in the present situation. You are hereby relieved from your duties until I decide otherwise, my men must think with the spirit of a soldier, one who does not let sentimentality be an obstacle to upholding our people's duty of protecting civilization."
Garrus Vakarian stood respectfully as Commander Vyrnnus reprimanded him. In his mind, however, he could not prevent himself from thinking of the bodies on the other side of the fence.
There was no honor in it, no justice. These people, they were not pirates, not Terminus mercenaries, not Batarian slavers, not bloodthirsty Krogan warriors, not even normal soldiers who happened to be under the wrong banner. They just were frightened colonists and children.
Innocent children.
Orbit of Shanxi
Turian Hierarchy dreadnought Spirits of Retribution
In the command center of the mighty Turian dreadnought, with his command staff around a large, round display table, Desolas listened to the reports coming from all around the planet, his fingers fidgeting the ancient artifact turned necklace around his neck.
He saw as the footage over the large table in front of them showed Commander Vyrnnus blast the synthetic being into a million pieces
"To think that those Humans could be more stupid," Trallus murmured, receiving nods of agreement from all around him. "We should follow Commander Vyrnnus' recommendation. Round up every synthetic we find and destroy them all. We cannot allow such a threat to galactic civilization.
Desolas nodded in confirmation, then turned to Executor Maxidus, to start.
"We gathered all intelligence on the Humans from throughout the planet and formulated a single, unified report," he explained. "Most of their population is likely civilian, as they showed little to no combat readiness or training. From them, we learned the most about this species in a general sense."
He paused, letting the information set.
"They are unsettlingly average to most of our standards. Height and weight similar to Asari, strength and agility similar to ours and inferior to the Asari, slower than us when running but remarkably better in persistence running than any race we know. As I said, however, little to no combat readiness when speaking of the ones thought to be civilians."
He tapped his omni-tool and a new image was projected over the table, now showing a fully armored and equipped Human.
"Now, as for the combatants, we could assess they are a higher threat than the civilians. Their equipment is different from anything we know of, but this will be shown in the technical report. As for Humans using them, they are very capable. Their armor is made of materials unknown to, can resist mass accelerator rounds and are more flexible than ours, allowing for greater mobility. This advantage is heightened when we account for the fact that the armor enhances their strength and resistance. The two slightly cylindrical objects on their backs are very advanced power cells like nothing we have ever seen. They carry no mass accelerator guns but unknown energy weapons that are not laser-based. We found three types of energy weapons, one of which we could ascertain to be plasma-based, the other two being an unknown form of particle beams. All their weapons seem capable of firing bolts as well as a sustained beam and they ignore completely our kinetic barriers."
"It seems we cannot deny this fact anymore," Lieutenant Vlavius spoke. "This is not a primitive species."
"Then it is paramount that we contain and introduce them to the galactic community on our terms," Trallus said. "Especially now that we know of their experimentations with AI."
He turned to Desolas.
"General, the Hierarchy has our backing. The supply lines are being established as we talk now and provisions will start arriving in two days, we will not have to worry about our dextro-amino rations running out anymore."
"What about the fleet?" Desolas asked.
"It will take time, Primarch Fedorian had decided to be cautious not to get the Council's attention, but it is mostly prepared now. He is sending a large fleet under the command of General Adrien Victus, due to arrive in six days."
Desolas nodded. Victus was a rising star, decorated for his service and cunning strategies. Victus could steal his glory and all chances of rising to the Council of Primarchs. He would need to act quickly.
He fidgeted his collar again. The recurrent feeling that it was whispering at him, an inaudible song that no one else could hear, came to him again.
"Any progress with their technology?" He asked.
"Nothing, sir," another one of his officers answered. "Every remotely technological device simply refuses to work for us. Guns, rifles, power cells, computers, everything. It is like they designed their technology to answer to them only. Any attempt at reverse-engineering is just as futile. Some devices self-destruct or even disintegrate in our hands, while others are so beyond our comprehension that even after disassembling them we could not know where to start."
"It seems the prisoners in the brig were telling the truth when they said that their technology would not like us," Trallus said. "As for any other useful information, we could not get it. Some only say name and registry number and others are already having delusions, telling us of how they are a large empire with hundreds of planets, thousands of ships, and a dozen alien allies. Preposterous! Every legal interrogation option was already used, I am afraid we should consider less... sanctioned methods."
"Do it," Desolas said, now pressuring the necklace within his fist. "We gave them too much time and my patience is running out, it's time for them to yield."
He turned to Lieutenant Vlavius.
"You said we are having problems in the biggest settlement."
"Yes, sir," Vlavius said as he tapped his omni-tool, changing the table's projection to show their forces battling in the largest city. "As you can see, this region is the only that displayed heavy weaponry against our forces. Those tanks came from the mountain north of the city, where we believe their command base is located as could assess that it is heavily fortified. The tanks broke into the city from the north and have been defending its center from our forces since."
Desolas looked at the real-time transmission. He saw as the light-colored vehicle hovered over his troops, as it seemed to not have wheels. A Turian soldier jumped from a mound behind, carrying a large missile launcher which he fired at the tank. The explosion consumed the vehicle's entire rear half before Desolas could see the shimmering blue bubble of energy surrounding it. Unscathed, the tank's main gun at the top turned 360 degrees, firing an explosive round that blasted a Turian who fired the missile and a dozen more into the afterlife.
The Turian's own tanks came soon after, appearing from behind the buildings and firing at the enemy vehicle to no effect, being quickly destroyed by its main gun. Its barriers shimmered again as Desolas noticed a couple of VI-fighters firing at it from above, before being destroyed by two well-aimed reddish energy beams.
"Is this the region where we are meeting the most resistance?" Desolas asked Vlavius.
"Yes, sir, they seem keen to protect that spot, we lost everything we sent there."
"What about the rest of our forces in the region?"
"They are on the outskirts of the city," Vlavius explained. "We were not able to maintain a presence in the city proper"
Desolas fidgeted his necklace, the whispers now sounding more like a swarm of bugs buzzing loudly around his ears. The Humans were fighting well but, in the end, it did not matter.
He had space superiority.
"Trallus," he finally spoke, serious. "Order the helm to align the ship. Prepare the main gun."
"Sir?" Trallus asked, now even him doubtfull.
Desolas looked directly at the images being transmitted.
"I will end this."
Shanxi
Nanto Base
The situation was dire.
Captain Arjun Varma looked at the data being displayed on the command table. Around it stood also Commodore Weber, Colonel Keneti Johnson of MACO, two more captains, and Prefect Zhang, the civilian leader of Shanxi.
"They leveled the city," the Prefect finally spoke, breaking the silence. "They actually leveled Chang'an."
"Their commanding officer must be losing patience," Colonel Johnson said. "They have been only shaving the edges until now, light bombardment on the cities to break our defenses. The surrounding areas, power supply lines and plants, and hangars were the only locations where they actually hit to destroy."
"Didn't you say that they wouldn't do that?" Prefect Zhang asked Commodore Weber. "That they clearly wanted to secure the land and make prisoners, not annihilate us?"
"It seems their priorities changed, or they just couldn't cope with the fact that they were losing in Chang'an," Commodore Weber replied. "They had restrained themselves until now. Now they are exploding cities and executing Virtuans by fire squad, three hundred have already been killed, even the children."
"What should we do now?" Arjun asked. "Since we dug the to Chang'an tunnel we were able to take most people sheltered under the city, but there were still thousands there, most of whom are likely dead now"
"Besides, our last forces in the surface were blown up with the city," Colonel Johnson said. "My last MACOs were there."
"We can do nothing anymore," the Commodore said. "The forces in Chang'an fulfilled their purpose, they kept the Turians busy while we saved the civilians. The other cities have fallen already and most of the people were captured or either killed. There are some resisting in the forests and the mountains with gorilla tactics, but not enough for an organized counterattack. Some smaller settlements are still resisting too, but they have nowhere near the numbers or firepower needed."
He breathed.
"Nanto is a fortress, we may need to surrender in the end, but it can resist still resist for a time," he said. "Now that the attackers are throwing caution out the window, we can expect heavy bombardment on us, they probably won't want to capture us alive anymore. I want the civilians to be gathered in the deepest levels and energy consumption at a minimum. We will need it to feed them in the meantime."
"So we are waiting for help?" Prefect Zhang asked.
Commodore Weber breathed deeply, then looked at Zhang.
"We are waiting for help."
Somewhere in the Horse Head Nebula
Unknown System
USS Starkiller:
At this moment, Captain John Sheridan would just kill for a mug of coffee.
They had been in this uninhabited system for day by this point, dead in the water. If the aliens that had attacked them and destroyed the Saxony decided to attack them again, they would be defenseless.
He went to his bathroom sink and threw a good amount of on his face. It was a new day, and they had plenty to do.
As he walked out of his quarters with a padd on his hand, John could see that his crew was already working at full speed. The hull breaches were already completely sealed, thanks to the work of the crew and the nano-repairing system. Now, they could deactivate the containment force fields that had kept the atmosphere in. It has been their priority, as the fields were a power drain, as useful a tool to save lives as they were. Now, especially more than ever, they had to save energy. Replicator use for anything that was not strictly necessary, such as the parts needed to repair the ship, was forbidden until they got at full power again. It was a pain, yes, he couldn't have his daily dose of caffeine and had to rely on rations for food. Still, it was needed.
Plasma containment had failed and some decks were overflown. The battle caused a catastrophic warp core breach and the Starkiller could only get to this neighboring system before they had to eject it. Sheridan just prayed that the aliens would not detect the large antimatter explosion a few light-years away. They have been running on the secondary fusion reactors since, while his crew assembled and installed the spare warp core.
"Captain!" Sheridan heard his chief of engineering, Lieutenant Fernando Valdez, call as he walked on his direction with the Saxony's chief of security, Regina Shepard, on his toe.
"Any good news, Lieutenant?" Sheridan asked.
"We finished assembling the secondary warp core," Lieutenant Valdez answered enthusiastically. "Installation will be finished in three, maybe four hours but we will soon have enough power to run all systems smoothly."
"Finally, I would kill for a mug of coffee," then he turned his eyes to the woman beside the Lieutenant. "Shepard, I couldn't talk to yet since the, well, since the incident. Are you acclimating well here?"
"Thank you for asking, Captain. I've been trying to help in the engineering, even if I'm no engineer myself. Make myself useful."
The Captain nodded before turning back to talking to Lieutenant Valdez.
Shepard's heart was filled with sorrow. Her life was in the USS Saxony. She had been there for a decade exploring. They were more than friends, they were family. Now, all gone. Even her Asgardian armor that she kept with her since she graduated the Academy was lost, blown up with the Saxony. It is said that an Asgardian's armor is his skin, his sword is his arm, and his shield is his heart. She lost them.
She was brought back from her thoughts by Fernando calling her, noticing that Captain Sheridan has already left.
They were friends, Fernando and her. He served in the Saxony for nine years before he was transferred here. They had a connection, not anything remotely romantic but surely a very sexual connection. She laughed internally, it would be disastrous if she had any romantic feeling for the guy, considering that she was pretty sure he was a sex addict who had very probably slept with half the crew. Maybe she could have fallen in love, but she was no prude either. In the end, having no strings attached worked perfectly for them and had no ill effect on their deep friendship.
It makes her think.
Had she not decided to spend her leave time with him, watching movies, eating, and doing the devil's tango, she would be dead. Like Alaric, like all her friends in the Saxony.
She will not let her life be wasted.
In honor of them.
Citadel News Network private civilian vessel Storyteller:
Arina S'Lenn was bored, to say the least. They had followed General Arterius' fleet since Taetrus. It was a normal, boring story she was being forced to cover. The ultimate ass-licking to the Council's ego.
She understood what Citadel News and her editor wanted. It was obvious that the Council had personally asked for them to lift up the galaxy's mood a little, make them feel safer, especially considering the recent tensions with the Terminus Systems.
She understood all this political bullshit quite well, it does not mean she has to like it.
They had followed the Turian fleet around their exhaustive war games, which were indeed impressive, she had to admit. The Turians wanted definitely to show off.
Then they got to the outskirts of this cluster in the middle of nowhere and something changed. General Arterius's fleet had gone first, as it was scheduled, leaving the other two behind while the old raptor prepared the new engagement. Then, out of nowhere, Executor Maxidus 'invited' them to leave. The story was over, he said.
She was more than happy to leave this cluster forgotten by the Goddess, yet her instincts told her something wasn't right.
Now they were flying around, trying to approach without alerting the Turian fleet. The Storyteller was not a normal civilian ship, she could do it. Mivam Yalzik, her Salarian partner-in-crime, had some contacts with the STG and landed the jackpot when he acquired this old intel-ship for the company. She convinced Citadel News to accept the deal, explaining how much a ship like that could help with their investigative reporting, how it would allow them to unleash the rich and powerful's most compromising secrets.
She entered the cockpit, in which she found Mivam on the pilot's chair and Zantorymar, Zantor for short and the slipperiest Hanar technician she would ever meet, on the other one
"Found the perfect prying spot yet?" She asked the Salarian in front of her.
"This is the farthest we can be from their scheduled rally point without being too far from the comm buoys that light lag becomes much of an issue," Mivam explained. "Now we just sit here and monitor their communications."
"You were able to intercept their military frequencies?" Arina asked, slightly surprised.
"Precisely," he answered. "This cluster is rather uninhabited and only recently explored, and the buoys are rather new and not thoroughly monitored by the Hierarchy or anyone else. It will be difficult to decrypt their codes but this ship was a STG asset, it can do it."
"Good," she sighed as she let herself fall onto the padded chair she loves. "The sooner we get this story the sooner I'll be back to the comfort of my home."
"It will take a while to decode their messages, but I can already tell that bandwidth use is unusually high, it is starting to affect the rest of the system around…" Mivam commented, catching Arina's attention.
"Didn't you say this cluster is practically deserted?" She asked, confused. "Even if the whole of Arterius' fleet decided to use the comm network at the same time it wouldn't cause that much traffic to be noticeable."
"The thing is, I have been monitoring the ping time and comm traffic all around Turian space, it started as quick traffic bursts as if they were trying use get the most through without alerting the rest of the galaxy, but now it is way up."
"This can only mean one thing," she smirked, knowing she had her story now.
"The Turians are mobilizing their military assets. They probably were being cautions before not to alert the Council, but if they are throwing caution through the window now..."
"They must be confident that Councilor Sparatus can stall the Council long enough for them to do whatever they are up to," she concluded.
"Exactly," Mivam confirmed. "Th Hierarchy is preparing for war, I've been in contact with a Volus friend of mine who works with Turian for the last hours, build up that has not happened for a long time, that is the story-"
He stopped in his tracks as he looked at the sensor readings, confusing Arina.
"This cannot be right," he murmured. "I'm detecting something here, two light-hours from our position."
"Is it a ship?" Arina asked alarmed. "Did the Turians discover us!?"
"I don't think so. It seems to be a ship, there are heat leakages and signs of a big explosion close by. We see it with a two hour light lag, of course, so we cannot get a real-time reading but it seems to be stationary," he tapped the displays. "Unknown configuration, different from anything we know."
She looked at the silhouette rotating in front of her, then she turned back at Mivam.
"A first contact scenario?" Mivam nodded at her. "Well, then we need to contact them! You know how much a first contact report is worth, we could even win the Beacon Prize for it!"
"They may be hostile, or even the ones the Turians are preparing to fight."
"Better!" She smirked. "That means we need to talk to them to get the whole story out of this. I already see the headlines: Hostile first contact! Turians cannot hold their fire!"
Oh, she liked that. Before Mivam could protest, she tapped one of the displays, contacting the engineering room, to which Veetor, their Quarian engineer answered.
"Veetor, I want all power to the engines," she ordered, before turning to Mivam. "Just try approaching in the least threatening way you can, let's get real-time communication distance and meet our new friends."
"You mean your new source?" Mivam asked, to which she laughed.
"You know me too well…"
A/N: So, as you may have realized from Sinclair's conversation with Delenn, before warp drive Humanity had some capacity to travel around the Sol System. During this period, which started technically in 2033 but really kicked off by 2050 and ended by 2105, Humanity's society was much like The Expanse. The Terran Republic was created by this time but it was more of an alliance between the many member-nations then an actual state. The great powers (the USA, Europe, China, Russia, Japan, and Brazil) as well as smaller ones (Korea, Israel, Australia, South Africa, etc) competed for the resources of the solar system and fought wars as far as Neptune. Their ships had the designs of Mass Effect Systems Alliance, Stargate Tau'ri, and Babylon 5 Earth Alliance ships. Then, warp drive was developed. For years, ring-shaped warp drives were used, but FTL was still not mainstream. When it became mainstream, the design shifted. Ring-shaped warp drives where discarded and saucer sections with nacelles and deflector dishes became the norm.
As for the way the Virtuan boy dies, well, I know a hologram would not disappear by shattering into a million pieces. However, you may have noticed that many thing in The Horizons Beyond are references to pop culture. The 'shattering effect' when a Virtuan dies is a reference to my favorite anime, Digimon. I am just fascinated by it, I've loved Digimon since 2000, I was four by them and it was broadcasted in Brazil for the first time at Fox Kids. I watched and loved Digimon until Data Squad (which I knew as Savers, because I watched it on TV when I was a child in Japan). So, I started imagining the Virtuans dying like digimon do in Tamers and in Dat Squad, by exploding into a million pieces of data.