Mass Effect: Singularity Effect

by Clockwork Dragonfly

This is a story featuring Transhumanity based on Transcendent Humanity where Sol is a backwater world in an Eezo dry area and over 30 light-years from the nearest relay. Humanity of course wouldn't let a lack of the substance everyone bases their entire civilization off stop them through and they will develop on an entirely different path

9. New Dawn

Mass Effect: Singularity Effect: New Dawn

"They shall be my finest warriors, these men who give themselves to me. Like clay I shall mould them and in the furnace of war forge them. They will be of iron will and steely muscle. In great armour shall I clad them and with the mightiest guns will they be armed. They will be untouched by plague or disease, no sickness will blight them. They will have tactics, strategies and machines such that no foe can best them in battle. They are my bulwark against the Terror. They are the Defenders of Humanity. They are my Space Marines and they shall know no fear."

--The Emperor of Mankind.

2y ABE: Rebirth Station: New Life

Matriarch Aethyta was seriously considering joining the Coalition. The Council was as arrogant as ever and the New Asari Republics was not something she wanted to join, even if it was a better system. She honestly had enough of power-hungry, self-serving, old hags on Thessia even before the change in governance. This is why she liked being out here, no Asari Matriarchs riding her ass and a lot of other races who she was actually helping to make a difference with and change the terminus for the better

She had decided they would join the Coalition and she knew the terminus alliance, as it was now called, would agree as it was mostly slaves who resented the council as the merc, slaver, and pirate groups were purged

2 weeks later

The physical ship Anita Goyle, The Voice of Diplomacy, and the other Coalition diplomats were currently on, The T - Darkest Before Dawn powered up its transwarp engine. Four long equidistant tendrils of shimmering spacetime extended out from the back of the ship and rapidly passed around the ship to coagulate into a disk 600 meters in front of the ship as they continued to pour into the disk. The disk stabilized into a wormhole to the newly renamed rebirth station as the ship itself traveled forward, firing its STL grav thrusters while the ship seemingly appeared to be dragged into a whirlpool by the shimmering tendrils. As the ship passed through the wormhole and everyone felt the momentary sense of vertigo they were now accustomed to, the tendrils dragged behind the ship like a jellyfish before dissipating as the wormhole did into the normal void of space.

Zaal'koris had seen the Transhumans wormholes before but this was new. Mobile wormhole generators! "Wow I didn't know you created mobile wormhole generators for your ships, but I suppose it is a natural evolution of the technology"

Legion moved his eye flaps as his internal programs formed a consensus "We agree Creator-Koris, It is logical to create mobile wormhole projection devices as they hold many advantages to wormhole generator installations. Their transport ships collapsible wormhole projectors were a step towards this innovation"

Anita Goyle turned to Zaal'koris "We call them transwarp drives, they create mobile wormholes to go anywhere we have the coordinates. They are not perfect due to this, so they still have to use warp drives or make strategic transwarp jumps to explore new areas safely. They're quite a new invention, safety tested on VI piloted drone ships of course"

Alnioa, The Avatar of the Overqueen looked to be in contemplation "hmm, it appears these transwarp drives are quite similar to void drives which allow remote access to the void lattice which is used as a medium to travel between two areas with known coordinates"

Thael'vossa was impressed "it's quite impressive, it's like a kind of mobile mass relay that can carry itself through a mass free corridor"

Anita Goyle turned to Thael'vossa "actually one of our leading theories is that the relays themselves have the ability to move in such a manner. I mean how else did the Reapers move them throughout the galaxy?"

Bekroa, the Batarian republic's representative interjected "Reapers? I thought you called them destroyers?"

Anita Goyle shrugged "The Protheans called them the Reapers so we changed to using their terminology instead"

Rebirth Station: New Life

Matriarch Aethyta was expecting the Transhumans to arrive but this was most unexpected! She knew their "warp drives" were fast but this was instantaneous, she even saw the other side showing a system with one of their shells in it! She knew they were behind in many ways and that the Transhumans used those wormhole generating portal rings as mass relay equivalents, even creating portable ones for dedicated transport ships. But this, this was as if they created a new form of FTL that remotely acted like a mass relay!

She then got a hail from the ship "This is The T - Darkest before dawn carrying the voice of diplomacy and all other Coalition diplomats to begin negotiations to bring the terminus alliance into the Coalition.

Rebirth Station: New Life

Anita Goyle "So, the Terminus Alliance wants to join the Coalition?"

Matriarch Aethyta nodded "Yes, it's not like we want to go back to the Citadel and the protection would be nice. I proposed the notion and we agreed on it."

Anita Goyle "in that case let us begin negotiations"

2y 5m ABE: The Citadel: Council Chambers

The STG was nearly on top of the shadow broker so he released all projects cut due to being illegal that were reactivated but the details and updates were not involved thanks to STG counter-espionage efforts

Sparatus nearly screamed at the hologram of Valren "what is the spirits' name is this shit Valren?! Illegal genetic engineering on a species-wide scale to increase your lifespan?! Super Soldiers with highly illegal genetic and cybernetic enhancements to make them stronger and more durable than Krogan and smarter than normal Salarians?! Antimatter weapons research?! Unsanctioned Artificial Intelligence research?!" "Recontacting and absorbing the Lystheni terrorists back into the Salarian Union to work for you to create those illegal cybernetics and genetic augmentations of your supersoldiers and average Salarian soldiers?!"

Valren "where did you get all this?" He feigned ignorance, knowing the shadow broker was getting angsty now that they were nearly onto him. Closer than even he suspected, they almost had his location.

Aaerila, the new Asari councilor spoke up in a serious tone "The shadow broker"

Valren then addressed his co-workers "we are being left behind councilors! The Coalition just got the new terminus alliance absorbed into them and is advancing far faster than we are by abandoning such useless bans! And that is to say nothing of the Transhuman and Alten elder races!"

Sparatus regarded Valren carefully "you're treading dangerous ground, Valren. You Salarians could lose your council seat over this"

Valren scoffed "Unless you want us to go straight to join the Coalition in such a case then I doubt you'll do that"

Aaerila spoke cautiously "you're setting a dangerous precedent, Valren"

Valren pushed these concerns aside "I'm doing what's best for the Union and the Salarian people as a whole"

Sparatus sneered "By breaking our laws?!"

Valren deadpanned "Yes, and I recommend we greatly ease such restrictions on these areas of science. Additionally, we've reviewed the transhuman evidence of the Destroyers/Reapers and upon extensive review, we agree, the Reapers are coming. For goodness sake councilors, the Transhumans disabled and captured one above Rannoch!"

Sparatus groaned "don't tell me the Salarian Union now believes these Coalition lies and myths?! Tall tales and ghost stories of primitives?!"

Valren "We were wrong councilors, they are not myths. The Salarian Union will be prepared for the coming storm, whether you like it or not."

Aaerila replied "these areas of science have been banned for good reason, Valren. You can't just do whatever you want!"

Valren "we can and we will, times have changed, councilors. We must adapt and overcome or be left behind on the evolutionary ladder. We see now what we could have been without your interference, what we WILL someday become!"

Sparatus "that doesn't mean you can just ignore our laws!"

Valren stated simply "you shall either accept change or you shall fight it and be left behind, at this point our military is stronger than the Hierarchy and the Republics combined thanks to new transhuman based technology"

Aaerila "ugh! You've been trying to copy Transhuman technology?! A group of partially zealous Hanar terrorists has already tried sending Drell assassins after them for "profaning the enkindlers"

Valren retorted "while the illuminated Primacy at large agrees with the Coalition and Transhumanity and have begun building dreadnoughts. They now have 15"

Sparatus "What?! But that's exceeding the treaty of faxien!"

Valren nodded "Indeed, and we have 38 dreadnoughts thanks to nanomachine-based mining systems in asteroid fields and near stellar remnants boosting our navy."

Sparatus "WHAT?!"

Valren added in an amused tone "it appears the broker missed a spot. While we've been busy catching up you've been pointlessly debating, arguing, and whining about lost power, prestige, and authority"

Sparatus "furthermore the Hanar have terrorists?! Since when?!"

Valren noted "they're quite the rarity, but they do in fact exist"

Sparatus groaned "and you now broke the self-replicating machines law as well?'

Valren's voice was full of righteous conviction "The Salarian Union will never again be limited again technologically, we see the need for regulations but we refuse to outright ban any technology." "You see these technologies as abominations and dangerous weapons but we see them as tools, as that is what all weapons are at their core"

Sparatus "still-"

Valren "are you done yet Sparatus?"

Sparatus yelled "No I am not!-"

Valren's hologram fizzed out of existence as he hanged upon them

Sparatus slammed his talons on the chair he was sitting in, slightly denting it. "How dare he?! We are the Citadel council, we are the supreme authority in the galaxy!-"

Aaerila "Not anymore, the Coalition is that power now. Also from my understanding pro Coalition technology law views is on the rise in both the New Asari Republics, the Turian Hierarchy, and all other council races"

Sparatus "So?! We just stomp out these malcontents and-"

Aaerila sighed and wisely responded "Valren was right, you know, we must change or be left behind as relics of the past. The arrival of the Transhumans and Alten on the galactic stage have challenged many of our core beliefs and exposed many weaknesses and self-imposed limitations. To remain uncontested and unchallenged for so long as we were led greatly to arrogance and narrow-mindedness in our beliefs. We will come out of this as better and stronger species, just not in the ways of authority as we once did. We've only explored 1% of the galaxy and not even the full extent of the relay network, Sparatus. The galaxy, let alone the universe, is a massive place so who knows what else is out there that will challenge our beliefs? New unknown civilizations like the Transhumans and Alten? New things we once thought impossibilities?"

2y ABE: Sur'kesh: Hidden STG Facility

Delathrass Linron turned towards the assembly of the first Anolas team equipped with the new tealus automatic antimatter capsule-bolt rifles and other antimatter munitions

"Your first mission will be an op of extreme importance, one I had to keep largely secret within the STG itself for fear of compromised agents. Welcome to operation New Dawn, where we will kill the shadow broker and take over his or her network for the Salarian Union"

The Anolas muttered among themselves when she continued "this will be the most important op in union history. We've intercepted secret transmissions from a vessel on the planet of Hagalaz, this is your destination. You will be equipped with the mark five Nolas powered exo-armor, a sixth-generation micro blue box AI connected to your armor and yourselves through a neural link, regenerative matter/micro fabricated Omni gel armor, the mark twelve automatic antimatter capsule-bolt rifles that fire spike-shaped capsules containing a minuscule amount of antihydrogen and hydrogen that combines on impact to create an explosion roughly equivalent to a large grenade, and artificial biotics created through an artificial external secondary nervous system built into the armor with only enough nerves for biotics usage

Your ship will be the SR-1 Silent Step, a frigate equipped with eezo-singularity technology based on transhuman technology and many different innovations we created using pre-Prothean technologies. The ship is armed with a mark nine eezo-singularity conversion beam which fires powerful gamma rays with a yield of 50 kilotons at short and mid-range while having a lesser yield at long range of 35 kilotons but will still bypass kinetic barriers.

This ship is also equipped with a mark one eezo-singularity FTL drive/Power Core that just as transhuman ships do, distort spacetime through singularities to create a bubble/Wave of spacetime rode by the ship and draw power from mass to energy conversion. As of now, we can go 100 light-years per day with this distortion-based FTL in comparison to the 15 of C-Raising FTL through eezo cores. Now let us begin the final preparations"

2 weeks later Hagalaz System

The Silent Step came out of warp in a flurry of distorted spacetime on the edge of the stratosphere of Hagalaz and immediately cloaked but was not detected due to the planet's harsh storms. The cloaked ship silently flew towards the Shadow Broker's ship and hovered over the center where an access hatch was

Salarian Anolas, Johun 17, and his team silently jumped, slowed by mass effect fields, and landed on the ship where he went up to the door and tried to hack it but failed "This is Johun 17, I'm letting my AI crack this door"

Ghorus, his AI spoke "You got it, Johun" and went to work, quickly hacking the door

The fireteam entered the ship, using inferred sensors showing the locations of combatants. The fireteam advanced forward, using their targeting systems to hit and kill each enemy with a bolt-capsule, killing them instantly in a cloud of gore and energy created by the antimatter annihilation reaction.

The enemy combatants tried to fire on the advancing fireteam but they were absorbed harmlessly by the fast recharging shields due to their onboard fusion reactors

One group of twelve enemy biotics fired warps at a single Analoas which managed to drop his layered kinetic barriers and was hit with concentrated heavy weapons fire

The enemies looked on in shock as the Analos's armor and body repair themselves. In a matter of mere seconds, the armor fully reformed itself and the flesh underneath stitched and healed itself back together

The Analos surrounded himself in a blue-purple aura of biotics to create an artificial barrier as another placed his weapon on his back and extended his arms and hands forward to create create a massive swirling vortex of blue-purple kinetic blades known as a Biotic Cyclone that tore through the defenders like a blender in a display of power beyond even the greatest Asari Matriarch.

As they came upon the door leading to the broker's off itself they were met by a tunnel with fifty, meter high mechs each with a small corvette sized starship's level of shielding

A portion of the Anolas team pored bolt-capsules into the mechs while others took out their antimatter grenades and threw them biotically

The Antimatter grenades obliterated the remaining mechs and melted the portion of the metal floor beneath them to slag while staining the surrounding area in black soot and ash.

The Anolas team sets a breaching charge on the door and moves slightly backward as the door explodes into a shower of shrapnel

The fire team pays no concern and enters the large office of the shadow broker himself who sat patiently behind a desk

Through their night vision and sensor IDs, they quickly identified the creature as a Yagh, how a Yagh got off Parnak was a mystery that needed to be solved later

The Yagh then spoke in a deep voice "You must be the STG's supersoldiers, I have been expecting you. I will dissect all of you and make my own versions of-"

The fireteam wasted no more time as one released a powerful lance of biotic energy, using a Biotic Lift on him which shot him up in the air as their superior artificial biotics shredded through his powerful kinetic barriers whose emitters sparked in protest after being disabled. Another Anolas covered in a blue biotic aura made a crushing motion with his hands as he used a Botic Crush on the shadow broker, turning him into a pile of meat and sinew

Another Anolas walked over and begun using his Omnitool to clean up the mess by burning it away

Johun "this is Johun 17, the objective has been completed"

Tuchanka

The 1km long T - Organized Chaos appeared out of a wormhole thanks to its newly retrofitted transwarp engine in the orange rad blasted skies of Tuchanka. Due to being a warrior race, negotiations fell to Steven Hatchett, the Voice of Military. He may not be the best diplomat or even a good one at that but he would likely be able to create some kind of alliance. He silently took his physical drop-ship from the heat/visibly cloaked stealth ship and flew it towards the largest clan compound led by one Urdnot Wrex

Urdnot Wrex was the leader of the Krogan clan Urdnot who had surprisingly moderate views and actually had a plan to help out his species instead of only being hired guns and mercs. Transhumanity planned to help them

1.) Cure the genophage with a better alternative. One that wouldn't create dead babies but still lower fertility but not the same extent that they would die out in 500 years or so. Also removing the blood rage from the Krogan genome

2.) Offer the option to use Transhumanity' expertise in terraforming developed before uploading existed to help repair the damage the Krogan's nuclear war had on Tuchanka

3.) Offer optional integration into the Coalition

4.) Make them not go to war with the Citadel

As his drop-ship landed and decloaked he was surrounded by multiple Krogan looking for a fight

He exited the ship and was surrounded by a shimmering aura as he used his Kinetics to smash Krogan against walls, each other, pin them to buildings with metal girders. As well as using his war body to knocked some of them unconscious and even killed a few for good measure. The other Krogan looked at him warily and with a moderate level of respect

As he walked up to the throne he was met by an angry Krogan spouting nonsense about traditions being broken before being headbutted into unconsciousness

The Krogan, Urdnot Wrex regarded him "Ha! You know how to make an impressionable entrance, Transhuman! You've got Quad! Now, what are you doing here?"

Steven Hackett "I am here to ally with your clan to fight or negotiate with the others to unify the Krogan race, alter the genophage to prevent it from creating dead babies, increase general fertility under the altered version by 45%, and offer help to repair your planet and offer to be brought into the Coalition"

The Krogan eyed him warily "You are not doing this all for yourself? What are your real intentions?"

Steven Hackett was direct and to the point "In reality, the humanitarian effort is one of the reasons we're doing this. The others are to piss off the council, to have powerful shock troops for the coming Reapers, and to study your impressive natural adaptations to be the apex race on this rad blasted hell hole of a planet for improving our war bodies"

Urdnot Wrex "I appreciate your honesty, you're not trying to trick us into doing what you want." "Unlike others" he looked at the other Krogan on the ground unconscious from excessive head butting "I see the need for our restraint if our species is to survive. I accept."

In the coming months, the Krogan would unify and repair the damage to their homeworld and species as a whole. The STG caught wind of this causing Council to demand to speak with the Coalition

The Citadel: Council Chambers

Valren screamed at the hologram of Anita Goyle "How dare you do this?! The Krogan cannot be trusted, they are unable, rash, destructive-"

Anita Goyle "Yes! Because you uplifted them before they matured as a species! Then to top it all of you had the Turians release the genophage on them and offered them no future but to wallow in their misery! You had three thousand years to help them, three thousand! In that time you could have helped them, gilded them down a better path, but no! Just like with all of your defeated enemies you kicked them while they were down out of your fear of what would happen if they were to get back up again!"

Sparatus yelled "a well-founded fear!"

Anita Goyle "have you ever read our agreement with the Krogan? What we agreed on? I think not. As of now, Tunkunka is sovereign Coalition territory and any incursions with armed vehicles attacking us will be a declaration of war against Transhumanity and the Coalition as a whole. We could destroy the Citadel station in at least six different ways, is that what you want?"

Sparatus calmed down somewhat "you better be right about this…"

Aaerila was also wary "For all our sakes I too hope you are right…"

Valren on the other hand was enraged "Then war it is! The Salarian Union officially declares war-"

As he said that Valren got a notification, a real-time picture of a hades cannon, a planetary level destroyer, in upper Sur'keshan orbit decloaking and aimed directly at Sur'kesh

Anita Goyle looked sad "We didn't want to be forced to do this but that is a Hades cannon we launched when you called us. I don't want to have to fire on Sur'kesh but we didn't think you would see reason otherwise. Something force or threat of force is the only way to make someone else see reason." Anita Goyle looked resigned "Look, all we want to do is guide the Krogan on a better path, that is all. Everyone deserves a second chance, Valren. We're giving them that chance, is that such a bad thing?"

Valren signed "Fine, but listen here, this is NOT the last you'll hear of this!"

Anita Goyle "I am sure. As you have backed down I will remove the hades cannon"

The video feed of the hades cannon showed it entering transwarp, traveling away from Sur'kesh

Anita Goyle added "and yes we upgraded our FTL systems. I am sorry for those unpleasantries but is there anything else you wish to discuss? If not, I must be going."

No one had anything to say and after a tense few seconds she said "good day, councilors" and hanged up

As it turned out the Drell homeworld still had life on it so it was decided that instead of essentially uplifting the Drell, they would fix the planet by removing harmful gasses and leaving cloaked, floating, C02, Methane, etc scrubbers in the upper atmosphere to help them be able to leave their world once they recover their lost level of technology and beyond

[Yes, I essentially gave the Salarians space marines, bolters included. Hey, I needed to buff them somehow to make this not too HFY. This story isn't about humans being inherently better but just as the Alten, they are simply free from the influence of the Reapers' many traps to greatly weaken the relay users for ease of harvest and to prevent them from developing Crucible/Thanatos Cannon level ordinance as they pose an extremely high threat to the Reapers very existence]

[I will also find other ways to majorly buff the other races so that when the Reapers arrive from dark space they will have a nasty surprise in store for themselves]