Disclaimer: I own nothing. all licenses belong to their respective owners.
OK, scared off the lawyers. This is something that was bouncing around in my head the last couple of years, and while experiencing some burnout and writers block on my other story i decided to try this one out. I'm aiming for larger chapters less frequently, but am going to aim for once a month. I almost said try but we know what Yoda says.
I left a couple of things and a bunch of characters out of this chapter, just to prevent full info and character dump. I kept the most important things and characters in but if anything confuses you feel free to ask.
Unknown Regions
12th anniversary of the battle of Geonosis
The bridge was quiet from his elevated position at by the windows. behind him and nearly at the opposite end of the bridge, the flag officers worked. Below him in the various working pits were the nearly 100 junior officers required to run the ship at any given time.
Tal Kote Wherda Ad. Jedi Knight, First Dark Hunter, Librarian of the Dark Side, Senior Jedi General of the 3rd Exploratory Fleet. 5'2 in his Beskar'gam- republic white and red with gold, green, and brown sigils- red hair shorn to just over a finger's width in height which despite his youth had started to take on some dignified grey streaks. He stood on the main bridge of his Flagship, the Force of Intent.
When the Clone Wars had ended, things changed quickly. The would-be Emperor was revealed to be a Sith Lord when a rouge clone trooper launched an assassination attempt, revealing the brain chips implanted in the whole army. The Jedi went in with the full force of the Senate Guard and the Force; 30 dead and every one of the survivors wounded apart from a few of the strongest Jedi Masters. The following three years had been the worst of Tal's life.
He missed the war, the purpose, the brotherhood, the attachment. That most taboo of things to the Jedi. Tal had never been a good Jedi, too old a recruit, too much of his culture in his blood- long memory and short fuse- the dark side had always been close to the surface, no matter how much his master had tried to keep him on the path.
With the war over, the Jedi had been forced to relinquish command of their troops; without their armies many of the newer Knights felt adrift, betrayed by the republic that they had served in a time of war. Errantry became the new custom of the Knights, wandering the galaxy in search of ways to help the people, to feel like they were making a difference again.
The Council, arrogant as they were, stuck in their ways as they were, couldn't see the issue. The Jedi had gotten a taste of freedom from the mold of emotional repression, they had developed attachments. They would not, could not, go back to the way things were before the war. So, when word reached him all the way out on the rim that the Jedi Council had been forced to step down by the lower ranks Tal had rushed back to Coruscant with full haste.
The new council had reformed the order, worked out a deal with the new Chancellor to recommission them in the newly formed Republic military. Master Yoda had gone into self-imposed exile to reflect, Master Windu had taken up training the new orders militant. Attachments were permitted, the dark side was tolerated and was now a part of the training curriculum.
They had offered Tal command of the 437th Legion, his Legion during the Clone Wars. Two years later they reformed into the 437th Dark Hunter Legion when it had been revealed that Palpatine had known about an extra-galactic threat he called the 'far outsiders.' They had found thousands of documents relating to thousands of secret projects spread across the galaxy. The new council refused to make the mistakes of the last; the chancellor needed no persuading.
Then things got interesting a year later. The cure for the clone's accelerated aging had been full developed, the new batches rolling in, the Republic volunteer army, navy, and Stormtrooper corps had been brought to full. Then on 7th anniversary of Geonosis, a massive fleet of ghost ships had appeared along the Hydian way. Dozens of new models of Star Destroyers from ones barely larger than an Acclamator that could match up with an ISD, to a monstrous 60km wedge that served as the inspiration for the much smaller Intent. Due to the quality and number of wrecks, it had taken a less than a year to reverse engineer the vessels and bring them into the fold.
The rest of the intervening years had been simple filler leading up to this. Taking an apprentice, hunting for the emperor's projects, hunting for dark side artefacts, taking command of the fleet. Looking out of the bridge at this thing that had most likely made the most recent of the Unknown Region colony fleets disappear.
Somehow, every one of the largest, most significant events of his life since becoming a Jedi Knight always occurred on the anniversary of the greatest and most terrible day of his life. It all came back to Geonosis; which is how he knew that the object that held his entire fleet's attention was ushering in a new chapter in his story. "Bring us in, no closer than 300km; have the Guardian and her battlegroup take the forward screen, no less than 15km between us and her."
"Aye my lord. Captain, bring the object to 340km off our bow. Comms get the Guardian to assume screening formation 20km ahead." Grand Admiral Khah was a surprisingly small man-physically- at 5'1 in his boots. His undeniable authority had seeped into his very being until he seemed to be a giant despite his height. While still fit, he was wiry to the point of near frailty. His mind had always been his weapon and was still as sharp as it had been in the academy if not more so. He kept his hair short, trimmed with care and precision enough to keep a clone WO happy.
"Aye Grand Admiral. Helm, bring us in to 340km. All Stations, inform me immediately if anything changes." Captain Selind was a man cut from the same cloth, unsurprisingly considering that Khah had been his direct superior on half a dozen ships throughout the Clone Wars and their time in the Republic Judiciary Forces beforehand. Selind had more than a foot height advantage and twice the mass yet had never won a round of combatives with his senior. The two of them had an odd sort of near telepathy, frequently finishing each other's sentences and a preternatural ability to cover the other's weaknesses and blind spots.
The Intent rumbled lightly beneath their feet, slowing gliding towards the object. Slowly, the Guardian and her battlegroup drifted to the front keeping the furthest forward ship- a Resurgent Star Destroyer- at exactly 300km.
Even through the bustle of the bridge Tal could hear the doors open all from all the way at the front. I really need to get engineering to look at that. He didn't need the sound of the two stormtroopers guarding the door snapping to attention, or the clicking of such a distinctive pair of boots to tell him who was approaching; he had sensed her approach when she entered the elevator from the Jedi hall. "Master." She greeted.
Larissa Sooth, a former Sith apprentice trapped in a vault of time by a Gree artifact, a Sith half breed given away by only the tiniest tint of red to her skin. At nearly 6ft she dwarfed her master, she had brown hair tied into a braid that fell to just below her shoulders. dressed in flowing black Sith robes that somehow stayed tight to her body reinforced with red leather, taloned durasteel boots and gauntlets, and a blackened piece of durasteel for a chest piece. A single Republic insignia on a tabard hanging from her left hip was the only sign of her allegiance.
"So, this is it?" Larissa had never gotten rid of her Imperial accent, or the tones of self-importance and command. Even after all these years, even with the massive strides in humility and difference, it was impossible to shake the yoke of her younger years as a Sith apprentice. Her voice was cold and clear, like glacial run off.
"It would seem." Tal growled, even on his best days Tal's voice had taken on a certain hoarseness from shouting to be heard over the sounds of battle, the ruik root and ti'haar didn't help any either. Strong, sharp, and loud; his voice could fill a parade ground and cut through the chaos of battle like a blade, honed by experience. The growl only helped in that regard, adding to the rough charisma that he exuded. "Just look at the thing. Shab, its nearly as big as the Intent."
And so it was. The original structure was a long, two-pronged structure that looked vagally like something Tal had seen used to tune certain string instruments. The whole assembly was 30km from end to end at was centered around a massive glowing core of strange energy surrounded by a series of spinning rings. Then someone had gone and bolted about twelve more tines to it, along with what looked like massive radiator panel assemblies. The overall effect was surprisingly flower like.
Tal turned just as Khah reached him. "my lord. The scan results you requested." Khah was a man of discipline, and Tal indulged him.
"Report Admiral"
"Inconclusive my lord. The object is what we call 'cold' and is invisible to nearly all of our non-visual sensors. The only stations getting any results are signals and gravitational sensors. Signals is detecting a very faint call and response every 500 seconds on the dot; gravitational sensors are picking up an extremely anomalous signature and refuse to extrapolate a potential cause without more information."
Interesting. "Thank you, Admiral, you may return to your post" Tal watched as the Khah preformed a perfect about face and marched back to his holo-table. "tell me Larissa, what do you think?"
She took her time, reaching out with the Force to feel the object. When she spoke, it was slowly. "It's old. And bathed in misery. I can hear the echoes of thousands of years of pain and suffering rippling off it. Two different races built it, one created it, one modified it. I think we should destroy it."
Tal agreed for the most part. The thing was an ocean of Dark Side power, drenched in so much malice he felt like he could drown. And beneath it all was something far more intimidating: cold, calculating intelligence. Uncaring of the pain that it would cause the ultimate manifestation of the Dark Side.
The Force was telling Tal to interact with it, to follow where it led. "I know what it is." His voice cut its way to the Grand Admiral, who looked up at his declaration. "I know what it is. This thing" he turned as he spoke, marching to the command area waving at the object. "it is a gateway. To where I don't know, but we follow it. Admiral, set the fleet to condition one. Spool up the Cartographer, attempt communications with it, find a way to activate it. It took our people, let's get them back."
Tal could sense the unease in the crew, including the Admiral and the Captain. Too their credit, none of them showed either their unease or the surge of determination that came when he spoke of bringing back the people of the colony mission that had gone missing. The Admiral simply seemed to straighten further- somehow- before opening a line to the whole fleet. "Fleet to condition one, I say again fleet to condition one. My lord, I'll be on the Flag bridge. Captain, you have the ship."
"Aye Grand Admiral, I have the ship." Little ceremonies seemed to be the corner stone of their lives, but discipline was important to maintain, and the two of them were exceptional officers. The Captain simply took three paces and was standing where the Grand Admiral had been, effortlessly taking command of the massive bridge. "Fighter control, bring our fighters to ready and prepare to launch on my mark. Weapons, main batteries to full power, spool up defensive weapons, gunnery crews to stations, arm missile batteries and torpedo arrays. Communications, reach out and see if you can talk to that thing."
The bridge rang out with the voices of the bridge crew repeating their orders and a dozen shouts of "Aye Captain" Tal would never get used to navy's habit of calmly repeating orders back to their officers, he was used to the army way of doing things- shout loudly and hope they understood what you were saying.
Tal turned back to the window, gazing out over his fleet, his ship. In his mind the Intent was very much his ship, the navy just ran it for him. Tal had selected all of the ship's most senior staff and left the rest of the crew assignments to them. He had helped design the ship, been selected as her first commander- ignoring the fact that it was just as much to get him and his apprentice as far away from Coruscant as possible, as it was because he was the right person for the job.
Behind him he could hear one of the bridge officers reporting to the Captain. "Sir, the object has replied to us, we routed the message to the Linguist and are awaiting translation, all ships in our battlegroup are reporting having received the same message."
"Very good, keep me informed." As Tal gazed out over his ship, over the object, he was thinking. It didn't communicate with the colony fleet, so why us? When they found it, it grabbed them with some sort of tractor beam right before we lost contact with them. 100,000 souls disappeared into the void, and I want nearly 4 million to follow me after them. We know so little about what is out here, the star weird, old gods, hyperspace hallucinations, potentially hundreds of species like the Chiss, completely isolated from the rest of the galaxy. What am I leading us into?
Suddenly there was a commotion from one of the pits. "… make any sense! Are you sure of the readings?"
"Sir. The object has shifted a total of 1/700th of a degree at the tip, moving once every 500 seconds, immediately after the reply signal."
"and you think that the signal is extragalactic? As in what we are out here looking for. And you didn't think to mention it until now!"
"Sir. I just put this together a moment ago, I still have no way to prove it either."
At the word 'extragalactic' Tal turned and made towards the pit, his interest piqued. A gateway that was talking to something outside the galaxy, now that was worth getting personally involved in.
The Captain marched over to the sensor pit, a scowl on his face, nodding at Tal. "What is going on here Lieutenant?"
"Sir, my lord. The ensign here believes he has something on the object. I'll let him explain if you don't mind. Ensign." The Lieutenant stepped to the side and held out his arm towards the ensign.
"Ensign Yeoling my lord. The gravitational distortion is caused by fluctuations in the object's mass, these fluctuations occur less than a second after the call and return. At first, we had been unable to determine direction or range on either signal. It was your declaration about the object being a 'gateway' that got me thinking, gateways go somewhere right? So where did this one go? Looking outside, there aren't a whole lot of stars in that direction, so it's pointing away from the core. I spoke to navigation and asked them to see what it could be pointing at, turns out there are only three objects it could be pointing at, all of them galaxies.
The signals had to have some reason to be transmitted, you don't send superluminal comms for no reason. The most likely reason seemed to be a tracking signal to confirm alignment, we use the same thing for our own communication relays. Following that logic, I asked sensors for their LIDAR logs, in the four hours we have been here, it has adjusted its bearing by microscopic degrees every 500 seconds without fail. Lacking any visible means of propulsion, I asked to see the records of the gravitational signatures, there was a pulse before the outgoing signals and immediately before we picked up the reply and another when it moved. When the object moved, it's gravitational signature completely disappeared, only possible if the object had no mass. If it could do that to itself, it could do it to an EM spectrum transmission. A truly massless transmission could be sent with incredible speed, which is how they are able to talk so quickly. Further, I believe this is what it did to the colony fleet; negated the ships mass and propelled them to the other side which likely undid the mass negation applied by this object."
He stalled for a second realizing that gone more in depth than he intended to. Snapping back to attention sheepishly. "ahem… My lord."
Tal looked towards Captain Selind who was nodding with approval at the Ensign's discovery. "Very good Ensign, keep working at it. My lord, a word at the command station if you would." They walked together to the holo-table at the center of the bridge. "What do you think my lord? I find it a compelling theory."
"I think that man should be moved to first shift and made part of the primary bridge crew, he has a good mind and is willing to use it to its fullest. Keep an eye on him, I think he's going to make promotion." Tal liked a soldier who could think, it was one of the most valuable traits he believed a soldier could have, right behind courage and loyalty, and right before aggression. It was why he liked the clones, they were bred and trained to have all four in spades. It broke his heart of course, Mandalorians raised warriors, but breeding soldiers was something else entirely.
Selind smiled at him. "I think so too. Following the Ensign's hypothesis, I think I know what the object wants from us." He contacted the Grand Admiral over the ship's internal holo-comms and filled him in on the hypothesis. "I believe it wants our precise mass per ship."
Khah raised his hand to his chin, rubbing it. "why now? According to the last transmission of the colony fleet, it never opened communications with them."
All three of them had obviously been thinking the same thing, because Selind didn't even take a moment to formulate a reply. "Easy, it was a primarily civilian fleet with limited escort. You know how the science types get, I'd put down credits that one of them jumped the blaster and tried talking to it without letting anyone know."
Khah nodded. "I try to not work with assumptions, but that is a distinct possibility. You still want to go ahead with this course of action, my lord?"
Tal looked him dead in the eyes. "I do."
"Grand Admiral Khah to all ships. All ships transmit exact mass towards the object. Be prepared for anything. I say again. All ships transmit exact mass towards the object."
There was a moment of calm before one of the bridge officers shouted. "Captain! We're being pulled towards the object!"
Selind frowned slightly. "Commander, unless we are taking fire, you do not shout information at your commanding officer from across the bridge. Report properly or not at all. No, don't bother now, remember it next time. Keep me appraised."
Tal kept his opinion of shouting information to himself; navy matters were navy matters. he'd have a good laugh with the lads of the 437th down at The Plank-one of the many cantinas on the ship- later. They weren't much for formalities these days, not that Tal had ever observed more than the most basic.
The map showed something that would normally be extremely anomalous, but considering what they thought about the object, was much more in line with what they expected. Every single ship in the fleet was being pulled in at the same rate. There was a call from the front of the bridge, one of the lookouts. "My lord! You might want to take a look at this." Thankfully the crew knew Tal's habits.
"Master, you definitely want to see this." Tal didn't run, not on the bridge of his own ship, and never in a situation like this. He needed to show confidence, that he acted with deliberation; haste was not the same as urgency. He could feel the effect he had on the crew, knew just how much they depended on the actions of their officers. The speed at which he moved, the way he stood, even his tone of voice all played a role in their morale and combat effectiveness. That was true for any officer, a Jedi even more so.
Knowing that, it was still hard not to run when his apprentice called him, and he saw what she was looking at. "what the shab." One by one, as ships approached the object, they were struck by a massive bolt of lightning before disappearing. Directly in front of them, the Guardian herself, all 19km of her, rippled with lighting like she had been hit with the largest ion bolt in history, and vanished like she had never existed.
The Force of Intent was next in line. He heard the Captain shouting behind him but had focused his attention on the Force, it was telling him there was nothing to fear, he felt no danger, no coming of pain. Instead, he felt something spectacular, something momentous; he felt destiny approaching. There would be pain and struggle in time, the Force had a plan for them. And today was not their day to die.
Suddenly the object disappeared, and he could see battlegroup Guardian. They were scattered and out of formation, but they were accounted for in full. The Endeavor and the Manticore- the fleet's two other Executor class SSDs and the Flagships of the other two battlegroups that made up the 3rd exploratory- were next, then their escorts. And finally, the Intent's own escort, who's size and positioning put them further back than the most forward parts of the larger vessels.
As the ships arrived, Tal noticed something. A flash of light across the hulls of the fleet, then another. A suspicion filled his mind, and he sensed a ripple in the Force, turning to look at the holo-table and see if he was right.
There was a second object here, now behind the fleet. The flash of light had been the structure failing, clearly having not been able to handle the strain of transporting the fleet. Perhaps they had sent the wrong numbers, perhaps their systems were not compatible. Whatever the reason, two of the arms had exploded, another three were sparking wrecks. And the shining blue core of light had faded, dying even as Tal watched. Though he held hope of return, for the rings still spun, albeit slowly.
"My lord! The whole fleet is through and the Grand Admiral is requesting your guidance." Tal nearly jumped at Selind's voice right behind him, the Force was his danger sense and gave him no warning. So, while surprised, he reacted with utmost calm.
"Very well, put him on the display. Larissa, get Cuir up here, I want the Grand Army in the loop. Actually, get all senior ground commanders and section heads either up here on the comms."
"Yes master."
"Aye my lord."
Khah stood on the main display. "I have the battlegroups reforming and preparing a recon force. The Cartographer has no idea where we are and has been unable to identify any nearby hyperlanes."
"sounds like you have the situation well in hand, what did you need me for?"
"I was hoping that the Force might be giving you some guidance, my lord." That was the first time Tal could remember Khah requesting input from the Force. Khah was a man of facts and the things he could interact with, it made him an excellent officer but left him in a difficult position when he had nothing solid to work with. It was why Tal had chosen Khah, he would make solid decisions based on the information and facts at hand where Tal basically just applied military logic to whatever the Force told him.
And so, Tal did what the force told him. A star stood out to him, striding over to the nearest console he pointed it out. "here, but not now. First, we find the colony ships, they can't have gone far and likely left a beacon."
Khah nodded. "Already in progress my lord. Ships have been dispatched to a signal on Republic channels on the edge of our sensor range, the report came to me not a minute ago. I wasn't going to bring it up until I had confirmation of its exact nature. This star, I'll make sure a picket heads that direction. Do you wish the ships to avoid the system?"
Tal thought about it. "For now, the star is a guiding light only. Get us close, but nothing more until my order." One of the lessons his father had taught him before he died was about the importance of timing 'never try move quickly, never try move slowly, never try to be on time, act at the right moment and you will strike apparently without effort.' He had been talking about fighting- like everything ended up being with Mandalorians-, but Tal had turned it into a way of life; using the Force as his guide, he had learnt to sense the exact moment to move, act, strike, even speak. A greater weapon than any fleet.
"You called Tal?" Cuir marched on to the bridge, helmet in hand alongside Tal's former master: Jedi master Islarra Wyrtyr. Cuir- or six in basic- was the 437th's clone Commander and filled in as the Marshal for the 9 legions on the Intent, he had no distinguishing features, preferring his natural appearance, nor did he decorate his armor beyond the neon green markings of the 437th. The only way Tal had found to distinguish him from his brothers was his habit of having one hand loosely curled with his index finger extended, like he had a blaster in hand. Thankfully Tal- like all Force users- could tell them apart with their signature in the force.
Islarra would always be the same woman Tal remembered the first time he saw her. Her hair greyer than the silver he first saw, deeper wrinkles in her face. She had been nearly fifty when the Force guided her to him as he slowly died by that river, the intervening twenty years had done nothing to change the way she stood, the genuine affection she held for every living being, or the pure strength she radiated in the Force. She was a crusader for what she thought was right, which had frequently put her at odds with the council, who were more concerned with what was proper and traditional in her opinion.
Tal couldn't help but grin at the sight of one of his best friends and the closest thing he had to a living parent- his surviving clan didn't really count, family they might be, they hadn't raised him- which promptly faded with his master's words. "What in the nine hells did you do this time? I was just telling Cuir- not that he needs reminding- that you can't go unsupervised for more than an hour without getting into some new adventure."
Tal turned his head to Cuir, a plead for support in his eyes. "sorry boss, I'm with her on this one. I saw Troch down at the Plank while I was on patrol and realized you had somehow convinced him to let the navy babysit you." Cuir reached into one of his belt pouches and pulled out a length of brown root. "brought some ruik though. And your blaster."
Tal shook his head even as he reached for the proffered length of ruik, he had finished the root he brought to the bridge nearly an hour ago. Jokingly he said "what ever happened to the much-vaulted loyalty of the clone army. Siding against your own General. I never." He knew better than to appeal to his apprentice, even in jest she could be more ruthless than the Vornskr that had imprinted on him on the day of the crash, the same day Islarra found him.
They shared a laugh before Tal bit into the root and brought them up to speed with the situation. "Is the Legion ready?"
Cuir almost looked insulted that Tal would suggest that there was a possibility they weren't. "all of them are ready. The other commanders should be coming on comms in less than a minute."
All at once the ground commanders joined the call, leaving just as quickly once they had gotten a feel for the situation. There was nothing much they could do at this point and were content knowing that they would be contacted as soon as there was something they could do. To Tal's considerable frustration, the next two hours were spent waiting and talking circles around the issue of not knowing where they were or where they were going. Seemingly everyone had an opinion or a 'good idea' to put forward. The Grand Admiral handled it for the most part, when he spoke, people listened, there was just a lot of information to go through.
Tal left halfway through, returning to the front of the bridge, they would call him if he was needed, and he had no patience for sitting through hundreds of reports all saying the same thing. 'we're lost and cut off from the Republic.'
Sensing a surge of both excitement and disappointment from Selind, Tal returned to the table. "Credit for your thoughts." Selind waved away the root that Tal was about to offer him absentmindedly.
"My lord, good news and bad news."
"hit me with the bad." Tal was no pessimist, he just liked to know what the problems were so he could either fix them himself or find the person who could fix it.
"The transmission over known channels was not a beacon, it was an open call from the wrecks of the colony fleet's escort. It seems they collided upon transit and have been drifting since."
That hit Tal like a brick wall, 10 days of floating after a major collision. He knew there was nothing more he could have done, but it still felt like he let those people down. He knew what the answer would be but needed to ask any way. "any survivors?"
"We have troopers searching the wreck, but basic scans show no life signs. Total casualties are suspected."
Tal lowered his head and gave them a moment of silence. "shab. Give Cuir the crew roster, we'll add their names to the recital tonight. What's the good news?"
There was a gleam in Selind's eyes. "The Cartographer has cleared us for hyperspace travel, reports indicate that while there are no true lanes, it has established that there are many safe paths."
"What are we waiting for, Oya!"
/-\
If a month ago someone had asked David Anderson what the largest issue he had to deal with was and why it was Shepard, he would have been able to give an hour long rant about his concerns. Ranging from his own disastrous bid at being the first human Specter, the issues surrounding how to handle the Normandy, talks with the council around who Shepard's evaluator would be, and Shepard's own troubled history.
Then there was Eden Prime and the Beacon they had dug up. It tied everything up nicely. A Prothean Beacon found by the Alliance and given freely to the galactic community. Recovered and transported by a ship designed by Turians and Humans working together. A Turian Specter, Human candidate. It was a perfect way to test the ship, the crew, and Shepard; the perfect mission to prove that humanity was ready to take the next steps.
Then three weeks ago, the first of the ships had been seen out on the southern edge of the Terminus. Pirates had been the first to make contact with them, word trickling in from chatter in bars across the galaxy. The council had dismissed it at first as preposterous rumor, pirates were great yarn spinners once a few bottles were behind them. Then the pictures, and the sensor logs.
The smallest ship they had seen-that wasn't a fighter- was bigger than the largest Citadel cruiser at 750m. It was shaped like a wedge, solid, strong, and thick with a long tail between its engines. Light grey with painted red trim along the edges.
At the time, they had only identified one other class of ship. A 1100m ship with the same triangular shape and a narrowed middle section revealing a large hangar bay. They had thought that some new species had taken to the stars and that these were their first forays out into the galaxy. They overlooked the fact that no one sent dreadnaughts scouting.
The STG blew that theory out of the water by the end of the week. No element zero signature whatsoever, and a form of FTL that no one had seen before. The ships made a joke out of everything they thought they knew about space travel and naval doctrine. They appeared wherever they wanted without warning, disappearing the same way. They knew they were missing the majority of their movements, but the overall trend was the ships were moving towards the core, towards Eden Prime.
A week after their first appearance, the pirates got bold. Three cruisers and a dozen frigates descended on one of the oversized cruisers, the STG got the whole thing. The counselors had left the analysis to their species command staff at first. The footage showed a complete slaughter of the pirate forces, the cruiser held its own against the attacking fleet. It carried an impressive number of armaments for its size laying waste to two of the cruisers before they could launch their third shot. The attackers spinal mass accelerators were almost completely ineffective, shots simply bouncing off the cruiser's hull.
The cruiser's reply was a withering barrage of blue fire, the main guns shredding the attackers with a single volley and the deck guns left frigates as charred wrecks. The reports were clear, energy weapons; the energy peaks, the radiation flashes, were consistent with the general understanding of energy weapons. They had GUARDIAN lasers, but nothing on this scale.
But that wasn't what started the panic that was gripping the highest levels of command. It was the 3km behemoth escorted by a fleet of 1600m dreadnaughts, that arrived in a perfect spearhead formation less than two minutes after the first shots had been fired. A quick reaction force covering the scouts. It put everything in a new perspective; those weren't cruisers that they had been seeing, they were frigates.
After that incident the vessels started moving in packs, one 1100m with three 750s escorting them. The 1600m and the 3km started being seen blockading relays, preventing anyone from moving around while their recon groups were in the area.
Of course, there was a reprisal, Anderson would have done that same. It was bad form to let someone attack your forces and not strike back in any way, it made you look weak, unwilling to escalate or defend yourself. The newcomers dispelled everyone of that notion with their response.
This time it was a N7 team on a long-term recce of an outpost known to be a stopping point for bandits, pirates, mercenaries, and slavers to offload their captives to a more organized outfit. The Alliance was very interested in this outpost due to the increase in demand for human slaves by the Batarians since Elysium and Torfan; both of which were Shepard's work.
The footage once more shook the Citadel's senior command. The Lieutenant in charge hadn't been able to confirm that they hadn't been spotted as there had simply been too many aircraft flying overhead.
Four ships had appeared almost directly above the outpost. One 1100 and three of the 750. Two of the 750s had parked themselves above the outpost and released swarms of gunships, each carrying up to 30 soldiers in white armor with bands of red paint. The other two ships had landed.
Armies of walking and hovering tanks and artillery, thousands of soldiers. Each and every one carrying energy weapons. The battle on the ground was less of a slaughter than it had been in space, the pirates were able to do some damage this time. It was only less of a slaughter though; half an hour from touchdown to extraction was all it took for them to walk over the outpost. They did it methodically, building by building, room by room, walking away with dozens of prisoners and nearly a hundred slaves when the last of the garrison had put up their arms in surrender.
The energy weapons were a sideline compared to getting a first good look at the aliens. They were humanoid, two arms, two legs, knees bent the same way as humans and asari, five fingers, and identical proportions. They were tall, about 6ft, and using the footage they were able to compare against the heights of known objects and discovered that each one of the soldiers was uniformly the exact same size.
That had sent the Turians and Salarians into a tizzy. The idea of a warrior caste was thrown around, so was the idea of a clone army, so were robots. But they still had no idea what the aliens looked like aside from their shape. The only thing they saw was the armor, white with red markings, a menacing black T-shaped visor with a split at the bottom invoking an angry visage.
That was the first good piece of information they got; the first piece that let the analysts start making predictions about the aliens. They likely had facial expressions similar to what the Citadel species knew and were familiar with. Which was a good starting point.
They took prisoners, so they weren't in the habit of complete ruthlessness. They took the slaves, no one was sure why, but they did. That left open the possibility of getting them back, if they were able to make diplomatic contact.
The Citadel Council was up in arms, they almost kicked off a war when Sparatus started going off about the strategic implications and Valern started salivating at the thought of all that technology. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed, and a diplomatic team was assembled. The STG was tasked with finding their home world if possible or -at the least- somewhere they had a semi-permanent presence.
Which is when they found it, just a week ago. The thing at the edge of their sensors. The aliens had a pattern to their movement, defined edges and boundaries. Their furthest thrust was straight towards Eden Prime, the edges of their recon forces never more than ten lightyears from the center line. That was how they found the center point, ten lightyears from the spearpoint, ten from the edges.
They had predicted the path of travel and seeded STG vessels along the path. Two days later the largest fleet anyone had ever seen, appeared in the middle of the system. It was headed by a 19km wedge of a flying city, a dreadnaught of proportions beyond anything the Citadel could have imagined. It had drifted towards the relay and pulled alongside, blockading the system by itself. Its escorts- a trio of 7km ships- fanned out to complete the blockade as the rest of the fleet drifted in formation. Occasionally one or two smaller ships would FTL out or in, the recon ships no doubt.
The fleet had been the final nail in the coffin of the idea that this was some species new to space, reaching out to expand with the largest ships they could build. Or the idea that they might be fleeing a dying world with the last of their resources, this was a well-established empire striding forth with a goal and a direction.
They had to be heading for Eden Prime, there were no other candidates, not with the precision of their movements or the timing. Sure, it could be coincidence, but gut instinct told Anderson and his peers otherwise. And then it arrived.
It was a flying wing 15km long and 30km wide, nearly 5km tall. The Flagship of Flagships, there was no doubt that this would be the largest of their vessels. It didn't matter at that point, that one ship could lay waste to the Citadel, so could any ship that these aliens would call a cruiser. The STG ran, no one blamed them. They called it a tactical retreat, they called it information delivery expedience, they called it whatever they wanted.
The council readied a fleet, positioned it near the relay to Eden Prime, and waited to see how their first official interaction with the aliens would go. The only thing to enter the Eden Prime system was a diplomatic team in an Alliance cruiser to help avoid suspicion.
The things were all over the news, thankfully none of the bigger ships had made it in. But it was enough to stir the hornet's nest. Everyone was talking about them, the new aliens in the Terminus, the 1100m ships, dreadnaughts leading cruisers that were appearing throughout the Terminus, that laid waste to pirate fleets on their own.
If someone asked David Anderson what the biggest issue he had to deal with right now. It would be the distress call that the Normandy had just picked up from Eden Prime, and the blockade of insectoid ships that the Normandy now had to sneak past.
/-\
Water splashed, dripped, and gurgled though the shallow creeks and tributaries that flowed around the rocks and the steppingstones, between the flowerbeds and the trees. Roaring over the waterfalls that fed the creeks, and the ones that linked them to the lake in the center of the garden. A gentle wind blowing the mist in bands around the room, whispering through the leaves, humming as it touched the reeds, setting the chimes to ring and the pipes to sing.
Tal was in his meditation garden, slowing moving through the stances of each of the lightsaber forms, as he tried to make time to do each morning. He would never allow skill fade to set in, not with his lightsabers, nor his blasters. He was in the middle of a movement in form three when he felt it. The shadow of the Dark Side.
It fell across the guiding star they had learned was the home to a world called Eden Prime. It felt like an eclipse in the Force, the bright light made dark by something massive traversing the space between them. How he hadn't felt it coming, this malice, this cold desire to consume, Tal would never know.
It fell across his mind and his sanctuary, it reached out and touched his soul. It dug at the sharp corners, where the Dark Side hid in him, where he let it live and lie until needed. It terrified him, the influence it had from stars away, the way it reached into him. Despite this, despite his failings- myriad they were- he was a Jedi, and his first weapon was the Light. The Light Side was not always peace and calm, sometimes it was courage in the face of the Dark Side.
A touch to his comm was all it took. "The shadow has fallen, send everything we have, battle stations all."
Khah had been waiting for this moment since they arrived. "Aye my lord, standing up all stations, battle stations all. I'll handle briefing the navy on the overall plan. Khah out.
The garden was specifically made with few direct paths, the largest spiraling throughout the entire chamber between waterfalls and through plant beds. There was one path- only seen if you knew to look for it- that went straight from the obelisk at the center of the lake to the door that connected the garden to the rest of the ship, opposite his official quarters.
Even at a time like this, he made the effort to take a slower path, letting the garden calm him as he went. There were very seldom times that Tal accepted actually using the Dark Side outside of controlled environments-the use of combat powers not included- this was not one of them. He hadn't found tranquility, balance, or peace by the time he left the garden; instead, he found his apprentice waiting at the entrance.
She fell into step with him. "Master, what was that?" Tal could hear the faintest tremor of fear in her voice, admirable considering the amount of fear radiating from her in the force, nearly as strong as his own in fact. He glanced over at her, noticing that her normally grey eyes had turned to the vibrant yellow of one in the grips of the Dark Side.
"I… don't know. The shadow of the Dark Side can mean many things, but I've never felt anything quite like this." Tal stopped and turned to her. "You need to release your grip of the Force; your soldiers deserve you at your best and this is not it."
"How do you do it, stand there so calmly even with this shadow above us?" Slowly the yellow faded from her eyes, but not the fear. She had only been his apprentice for just over a year, before that having spent less than a year learning from Master Windu. Not nearly enough time to have unlearnt the ways of the Sith.
"Did your former masters never teach you how to deal with fear? Let me bring you in on a little secret." Tal held out his hand, showing how it was slightly shaking. "This is your first time going to war, isn't it? I can't have you thinking I'm invincible, fear is good, just don't let it control you. Remember, your men are counting on you to have a clear head. Take care of them, they will readily lay down their lives for yours."
"I… yes master, I should know better by now."
"It is not your fault that you were trained as a warrior instead of a soldier. I was much the same way when I was but a few years younger than you, a Knight for not a week when I was called to Geonosis." Tal sighed and led them to continue their previous course. "It is a mixed blessing that the council repealed the age requirement, I was a violation, so was Master Skywalker; but you would never have been allowed. Already an adult when we found you? Trained in the Dark Side by the honest to the Force pure blood Sith? Never.
Fear is natural, it is a mechanism to protect you from danger. But you have been called to a higher purpose than your own safety, and you answered that call. Use your fear, it makes you faster, stronger, and more cunning when tempered. Use your fears; they tell you where you aren't confident in your preparations or skills, they make you aware of your weaknesses, and they make you aware of what you have to lose.
You want to know my biggest fear? Artillery. Not even the Force can protect you against it fully, it can lay waste to armies, shatter the minds of the hardest soldiers. My father taught me all about it before I ever saw it in action. That first night, tiny little me, in my tiny armor, with my tiny pistol, in that trench; I shook like a leaf in a storm, sweating and crying as the rounds landed less than half a klick away. You know who never forgets to dig a trench?"
"That's why you carry a shovel everywhere." They stepped into a turbolift that connected to the first hangar deck, rapidly descending.
"End of the second day, the sound of the artillery was better than rain to put me to sleep. Fear is exhausting if you don't manage it, and its contagious. Alright no more lectures, we'll be on the ground in less than an hour. Take Troch and the airborne regiment, soon as we know what we're going into I'll have objectives for you. Listen to Troch, he knows his trade and he's used to working with Force users. This is going to be something completely different from the fighting you've seen since you joined us. Trust in the Force, trust in your soldiers, and trust in yourself."
The door hissed open revealing the largest of the Intent's hangar decks, home to two clone Legions, two marine Stormtrooper Legions, and two Republic Army Legions: a number just shy of 60,000 personnel plus their vehicles and aviation assets in total. Rows of hundreds of AT-TEs, AT-ATs, AT-RTs, AT-STs, UT-ATs, and more rested throughout the hangar. Racks of LAATs and AALs hung from rails that stretched across the ceiling in multiple levels or sat in loading stations on the floor. Beneath the hangar was another service deck full of spare vehicles ready to be brought up by the hundreds of elevators that serviced the hangar.
The two of them made their way towards a section of the hangar overtaken by troopers and vehicles bearing the bright neon green markings of the 437th. The officers stood loosely clustered around one of the holo-tables, the vehicle crews sitting on their tanks and walkers, infantry played cards and checked their weapons; even with a battle on the horizon, the men knew how to make the most of their time.
"They never taught us how to trust, the opposite in fact." The sound of Larissa's voice almost surprised him after her drawn out silence.
"Trust is something you have to practice, it is a much a skill as fighting with a lightsaber, you'll learn in time." Tal gave a sharp whistle as they approached, grabbing the attention of the troopers. "Commander's briefing, everyone else as you were."
The officers cleared out quickly, scattering to join their respective units. Cuir and Troch were the only two from the original group to stay behind, they stood at opposite sides of the table with their helmets off poking at a display of the hangar itself. Tal took his normal place at the midpoint of the table, Larissa stepping to the left-hand side where Troch stood. "Something wrong?"
"Nothing that will affect our operational abilities, a few of our Tridents are down for emergency maintenance and a larty just blew a repulsor. Replacements are being brought up as we speak." Cuir nodded in the direction of one of the nearby lifts was descending with a trio of UT-ATs and a LAAT/i.
"Bad timing for a breakdown; if the Cartographer was right, then we're just under an hour out." Tal brought up the images of Eden Prime captured by the stealth scouting group they had sent a few days earlier and from recovered copies of something the locals called 'the Codex' -a miniaturized archive with incredible amounts of information on the local species, star maps, and technology.
Not for the first time since finding the Codex, Tal felt vindicated in his decision to let the 220th handle the pirates without a Jedi. Realizing that humanity here was- officially- united and in a precarious political position, he had no desire to compromise an entire species due to something they had nothing to do with. He held no bonds to humanity; he was as different to a Corellian or Kuati as they were to each other. While the species of his galaxy understood that, the ones here would very likely not. And that could cause uncountable problems for the 3rd Exploratory.
"Alright vode. Eden Prime, population of 3.7 million, mostly rural and agrarian industry. We have no idea what we're getting into here, thankfully intel has determined that there is only one location of strategic importance on the planet's surface. Right here, the planet's primary cargo handling facility and star port. We believe this" Tal magnified the display on a cluster of activity on the outskirts of the star port. "is a archeological dig, gut feeling tells me that this is the cause of what ever is happening down there but I have no hard facts to support it.
The general plan is to deploy the 437th to the area surrounding the Starport, the 317th, 141st, and 383rd to the plains around the other population centers. Troch, Larissa, I want the airborne regiment to take the dig site. Its going to be tight quarters without much room for vehicles, AT-STs and MCV-4s look like the biggest armor pieces that you can fit in there. Larissa, you're in charge, but if Troch says something, you listen and you follow." Tal nodded at Troch. "Rest is up to you."
Tal continued by widening the display to cover the whole starport. "Cuir, you and I will be capturing the starport. Full heavy maneuver, organic artillery support, Juggernauts, AT-TEs, the works. We have a lot more room to work with, so let's take advantage of it. Plan to run full scale evacuations back here. Without more information about the situation, we can't make our plans much more detailed. There might not even be a ground game for us to get stuck in. Questions, comments, complaints?"
Troch looked at the table and tapped his chin. "Yeah, what kind of shabla brief doesn't have snacks? Also, who came up with this, we are trying to help these people, right? You want to shell their only starport and run tanks through the city streets?"
Tal was honestly surprised at the comments. "We've been on this ship for nearly three months. And you haven't figured out that those crates behind you-close enough for you to sit on-are full of candied nuts and a dozen things besides?"
The phrase 'candied nuts' got the attention of both officers and every trooper within hearing range. Tal laughed at the look on their faces. "oya, fill your boots lads, no point fighting on an empty stomach. As for your other points, when has any of that been an issue to you?"
Troch didn't even have the common sense to at least appear to be ashamed of his antics. "Never, I'm all over it. Our boys are good at keeping the collateral down. I just like throwing you for a loop occasionally. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to secure some sweet and salty warra nuts. Vor'e vod"
"Cuir, anything to add?"
"Special forces deployment?"
"Organic. Imbedded commando units will be deploying via stealth LAATs as objectives arise."
"Stormtrooper and army assets?"
"You were at that briefing. They'll be securing beachheads and coordinating the wider evacuation effort respectively."
"Aviation and naval support?"
"You're testing me. Aviation will be restricted to what's in this hangar unless the navy is willing and able to spare some TIEs, orbital support is at the navy's discretion and will be provided by a Resurgent class Star-destroyer parked in high orbit."
"Never hurts to double check. And I'd like to remind you that this is all based around the assumption that the planet is being invaded."
Tal admitted that was a good point, he really was guessing. Either way, an army's worth of evacuation would be of use to the people of Eden Prime. He also had an additional source of intel. "I see no other reason for the Force to guide our fleet- the second largest fleet in the Republic- to a remote colony world only weeks before the shadow of the Dark Side would fall upon it."
"Good a reason as any. I'll brief the rest of the Legions commanders. Once I get a bag of those nuts." Tal left him to his business, his boys knew how to do their jobs and Tal was more than happy to let work at their pace.
/-\
"You're certain you can get us through that Joker?" Captain Anderson was staring at the largest concentration of firepower he had seen anywhere except the Citadel. Eden Prime's defenses had been swept away by the invaders; so overwhelmed that there was no evidence of resistance. The ships were a dark purple so close to black, bulbous and oily; overall they were disturbingly insectoid, like a swarm of armored maggots.
The Normandy was the most advanced stealth ship in the Alliance, with a hand-picked crew of some of the Alliance's best personnel. Of the crew, there was only one who gave Anderson this much attitude: Jeff 'Joker' Moreau. "Yeah sure, so long as the stealth systems hold. You know me sir, I'll get the girl down safely."
"bring us down near the dig site. I don't like the look of the activity near the spaceport." The readings weren't clear, but that amount of activity was always worrisome.
"Aye-Aye sir." Joker brought them in carefully, even with his skills he wasn't going to risk getting the attention of over a hundred cruisers. It only got worse as they closed with the planet, it was clear that the invaders were attacking the colony indiscriminately. Even from orbit they could see trails of smoke from the towns and villages that were under attack. Fortunately- or perhaps not considering why they were there- the attacks seemed focused on the areas around the spaceport.
As they Joker brought them down on their final approach, Anderson made his way down to the cargo bay. The ground team was waiting for him. Nihlus, turian Spectre. Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, reasonably powerful biotic. Corporal Jenkins, capable- if green- rifleman. And Commander Jane Shepard herself.
Shepard was one of the most naturally gifted combatants Anderson had ever met, she had disgustingly powerful biotics with an Asari's control and one of the best marksmen in the Alliance. Anderson had seen the aftermath of Shepard's capabilities on more than one occasion, wrecked vehicles, buckled walls, twisted and shattered bodies. Her presence was easy to track; especially if Batarians were involved. Between Mindoir, Elysium, and Torfan, it was no surprise she had a sore point around them.
Anderson dispensed with the formalities this close to combat. "Your team's the muscle in this operation, Commander. Go in heavy and head straight for the dig site.
"What about survivors, Captain?" Kaidan's heart was in the right place at least, but the Normandy wasn't equipped to handle civilians or provide sufficient medical attention for survivors; they had to focus on their mission.
"Helping survivors is a secondary objective. The beacon's your top priority."
Joker's voice came in over the ship's PA. "Approaching drop point one."
Jenkins turned to look at Nihlus. "Nihlus, you're coming with us?"
Nihlus shook his head as he checked over his shotgun. "I move faster on my own." Jogging towards the end of the lowered ramp and jumping off.
Anderson continued his brief. "Nihlus will scout out ahead. He'll feed you status reports throughout the mission; otherwise, I want radio silence." He tilted his head to the side. "Shepard a word in private."
She stepped forward so that they could talk without being overheard. "I want you to be careful, humanity is counting on you. Nihlus wants you in the Spectres, and he wants that beacon. But he hasn't been briefed on everything. You've been watching the news, those ships everyone is talking about; that information is weeks out of date, they're on a dead line to here. I have a feeling that we might be seeing them, and I want you ready."
Shepard frowned for a moment before nodding with resolve. "You can count on us, Sir."
"I know." Speaking up as Shepard walked back to her team. "The mission is yours now Shepard, good luck."
/-\
Tal was sitting on floor of the LAAT/i that would be carrying him and Cuir to the surface when his comm chirped in his ear, he quickly opened the line via his helmet's HUD. "Tal here."
It was Khah. "My lord, we have just arrived in system and I believe that our worst fears have been realized."
The Force wasn't the tool Tal had come to rely on over the years in this moment, the sheer weight of the Dark Side hung like heavy fog in the Force, obscuring from him even those no more than a hundred paces away. Faint whispers and distant screams echoed through the fog. It was disorienting and disquieting, but nothing more. "I believe you might be right Grand Admiral. What's the situation?"
"Roughly one hundred hostile vessels are blockading the planet, most appear to be combat vessels while the minority is made up significantly of transports. We outnumber and outgun them if they preform similarly to the pirates we encountered. The hostile force has full control over the system, including another fleet of roughly 50 vessels near the relay, which appears to have been deactivated. Further, we have received a distress signal from the planet which shows the landing of a currently unidentified vessel."
Tal crunched the numbers quickly, if the second fleet joined then the Intent's battlegroup would be outnumbered. No matter how you cut it though, the Intent's battlegroup out gunned and out massed the hostile fleet by an insurmountable degree. The locals also were pretty bad at moving large amounts of ground forces if the Codex was accurate. "We go in. Respond to the distress signal, try to get the hostiles to stand down, use your judgement on when to start shooting. I'll kick off the ground action."
"Right away, my lord. And Tal, may the Force be with you."
"And also with you my friend." Tal cut the link before accessing the PA. "All ground forces, this is General Wherda-Ad. We have received a distress signal from Eden Prime, and we will respond. Nearly four million people down there are at risk, their defenders butchered, and their homes burning. We will not fail them. By force or by the Force, we will succeed. Watch each other's backs, keep your eyes up and your heads down. Come back alive, all of you. First round is on me when we get back. Launch in five, may the Force be with you."
"Ready up there, Tiov?" Tiov was his pilot, best of the best when it came to piloting LAATs. He had a penchant for quiet confidence with a habit of showing off his skills by preforming complex maneuvers that would leave even the hardiest passengers sick to their stomachs.
"Ready, Sir." Tiov replied.
"how's the bird?" Tal tried to engage him once more.
"Green, Sir." Tiov replied. After twelve years of the same osik, Tal was convinced that Tiov was doing it just to spite him; he knew that Tiov got a kick out of it. Even with the Dark Side messing up his senses, Tal could feel Tiov's amusement flare for just a moment; whether it was at the pun he had just made or at having completely shut down his General's attempt at conversation.
Two squads of troopers ran up to the LAAT, just 18 out of thousands of soldiers and vehicles getting into position for the coming liberation. Four Legions, 40,000 troopers, would be descending on spaceport and its surrounding area. Overkill of the highest order, which was exactly what Tal wanted as it was the best way to get most of his men back alive.
Tal stood as the doors on the LAAT closed, grabbing onto the handholds on the roof. The troop bay lights went out leaving him with only his helmet's low light filter to see by. Red lights flooded on as the LAAT took off, experiencing crushing acceleration for a brief moment as they got up to combat speed.
"Five minutes to landing. LZ is hot, say again LZ is hot. Stormtroopers will arrive 60 second ahead of us." Tiov spoke clearly and emotionlessly even as he brought them trough a roll and dive that left Tal's heart in his throat. The ship shook as they hit atmosphere, the howling of the engines becoming pronounced. Tal pulled the door on his side open as a trooper on the other did the same, troopers moved to sit on the edge or stand above their brothers.
Tal knelt down and raised his blaster. "Watch and shoot!" The world was beautiful, massive plains of thick grass, lush forests, almost untouched by the ravages of heavy industry. It reminded him of home, of the forests in the northern hemisphere where he had grown up before leaving to join his father.
One of the door gunners saw them first. "Clankers! Would you look at that, galaxy away and it's the war all over again." Even with the helmet comms it was hard to hear him over the beam cannon he set raking across a group strangely organic looking droids.
The troopers opened fire, stitching lines of blue bolts into a formation of droids attempting to overwhelm a freshly landed pair of AALs and the stormtrooper platoon pushing out to secure a beachhead. Tal joined his fire with the troopers, searing hot white-blue bolts flying out to meet their targets.
Tiov brought them into a circle as he bled off speed, touching down so that Tal was facing the enemy. Tal charged out alongside the troopers, using the force to tell him how best to protect his men. He took three hits meant for the troopers by the time he had closed with the droids, blocking the pain through a combination of heavy armor, thick padding, and years of practice. Ballistics- no matter how advanced- were no real match for good beskar.
He had replaced the vibroblades in his gauntlets with lightsabers years ago, slinging his blaster on to his back, he lit both; deep blue blades, crackling with white veins of energy like lightning sprung from each of his arms as he closed.
/-\
Shepard hit the dirt fast and hard, Jenkins and Alenko right on her heels. They fanned out and formed a brief all around defense before Alenko shouted. "Perimeter secure Ma'am" none of them spoke as they approached the edge of a cliff that gave them a view of the situation. Shepard had seen the like too many times, on both sides.
Invasions were always the same to an extent. The ships rolled in and secured orbital superiority, then the transports came. The people would run, the soldiers would try to defend. At Mindoir, they had taken slaves and killed -and worse- for fun or sport. But she had never seen an invasion quite like this, the goal seemed to be to cause as much chaos as possible. In the distance she could see burning towers and pockets of resistance marked by the occasional red or blue tracer.
Even from here, she could tell that the defenders were completely outmatched. Platoons of the invaders fought squads of marines, and for every Mako or Grizzly, the attackers had at least two walker tanks. From her side Jenkins spoke up, his voice cracking. "Commander. Can we move, please? This is my home, I… I can't just."
She nodded. "I get it. You know the area? Lead the way. Nice and slow, they could have ambushes set up along the way."
"Thank you, Ma'am." Jenkins led them through a patch of forest, pointing out the local wildlife, advising of dangers, and navigating a path through the forest will a confidence born of obvious familiarity. Shepard could see that he was itching to go running and defend his home, but he kept it professional, right up until he didn't.
They had just cleared the forest and were about to head into a small gully when Shepard's Omni-tool flared to life and Captain Anderson's voice came over her comm. "Shepard, this just got a whole lot more complicated. A fleet of the unknown ships just showed up right on top of the Geth fleet, they just issued a system wide hail. I think you should see it."
"Sir, Geth?" Shepard knew about the Geth and hearing the name made why the invaders had looked so familiar make sense. But the Geth hadn't left the Veil in three hundred years, so why now, and why were they attacking civilians, why did they want the beacon? Wanting the Beacon was a safe assumption, there was nothing else of value and the timing was too perfect.
"Intel assesses that it is highly likely the hostiles are Geth, never mind that. I'm sending you the video file of the hail." Anderson sounded frustrated and confused, not things he was normally prone to being. Her Omni-tool lit up as it received the message.
The video showed an individual from the waist up, wearing a grey uniform with gold trim and two rows of six pips on the left side of their chest- six blue on the right, three yellow above three red on the left- the thing that stood out the most was that the man was human. He was in his mid-sixties perhaps, grey hair cut short and hard grey eyes. "This is Grand Admiral Khah of the Galactic Republic. Eden Prime, we have received your distress signal and are responding, we ask that all Systems Alliance forces contact our own so we can assist. To the invading fleet, you can see we have you out matched. I am giving you five minutes to surrender or flee. If you choose neither, I will give you no mercy. I await your decision, Grand Admiral Khah out."
What the actual fuck did I just watch. That was a human, with the rank of Grand Admiral, at the head of a fleet of the unknown ships. And he's here to help. It can't be possible, but I can't think of any other explanation unless this whole thing is a joke. Shepard was confused, by their looks so were Alenko and Jenkins. "Sir, please tell me this is a tasteless joke."
"Afraid not Shepard, that transmission came from a ship nearly as big as the Citadel. And it brought a fleet with it. They have launched fighters and ground transports. I'm going to make contact; you focus on getting the beacon. Anderson out."
That was when it happened. The waiting was getting to Jenkins and he had started to move ahead while Shepard and Alenko wrapped their heads around another group of humans in the galaxy that could build a ship nearly the size of the largest object the Protheans had ever made. There was a small ridge between them and the gully. He was about to run up it to scout when two drones buzzed overhead.
Jenkins' shout alerted Shepard and Alenko who both turned to see what was happening. At the same time, Jenkins dove to the ground and fired at the drones from behind. Caught in the crossfire from three rifles and a devastating singularity deployed by Shepard, the drones fell quickly into a twisted mess. Suddenly there was a whole lot of shooting as the quick firefight had drawn a squad of nearby Geth to the team's position.
Shepard surged forward in a wash of Biotic light, smashing into the geth soldiers before turning to unleash a shockwave. Between the three of them it was almost easy, but they were too focused to notice the sound of multiple aircraft approaching at high speed. It wasn't until Shepard took cover from an incoming barrage of rocket fire that she saw the first one, and very rapidly realized that there were hundreds more coming.
They were big, twin cockpit with rear mounted wings and a whole lot of firepower. As the first one flew past, she could feel the engines on it. Then the door gunner fired a beam of green energy that tore through geth, rock, and earth alike. Another slowed to hover overhead, firing green bolts from its nose cannons as it deployed a series of rappel lines.
Soldiers in white armor with neon green markings and grey belt spats descended from the gunship. Their helmets had a narrow visor that wrapped around the sides and a complex series of air intakes built around a vertical depression in the helmet. It would have been comedic, the pew and womp of their weapons, if it wasn't for how much more intimidating it was than in the vids. The troopers charged forward, laying down brutal amounts of precise fire. One of them ran up to Shepard.
"You with the Alliance?"
"Commander Shepard, Alliance navy."
"Commander Troch, Grand Army. Saw you could use some help, there's a whole pile of the bloody clankers just past that cluster of rocks. I have a Regiment of troopers coming down on this area, we'll stay with you until the first evac point."
Shepard shook her head. "I have a mission, pick up of high priority package, no go on evac until.." there was a massive crack as a round passed right over their heads.
Jenkins screamed as the sniper round caught him. Suddenly it was chaos, the troopers laid down covering fire as Troch and Shepard ran towards the downed soldiers. The wound was bad, right below the heart, probably fatal. Troch was on top of him and applying pressure before Shepard even got a good look at it. "MEDIC!"
Shepard made her decision, there was nothing more she could do for Jenkins-even with medi-gel the wound was to severe without a proper medic- so she would help the troopers. She took three steps, bringing herself to a run before using her biotics to blink into the center of the now much more numerous geth. Arriving like an airstrike she unleashed devastation.