Some tragedies are so great that they can leave a million people sobbing, can leave a scar on the collective psyche of an entire culture that never heals. But if you ask me? It's the silent tragedies that are the saddest. The tales of men and women forgotten by their own people, who've lost more than anyone can possibly know. The Diamond Dogs are those tragedies, every single one of them.
Revolver Ocelot in confidence to Big Boss following the Sahelanthropus incident
Following the failed assassination of the US President by US Senator Armstrong, the policy of war as a business began to decline in popularity among many nations. Technology developed by one Sunny Emmerich guaranteed the interconnectedness of many nations across the planet, and brought the people of Earth closer together than they ever had been before. With the largely unknown threat of the Patriots extinguished, World governments were once again allowed to develop policies according to their own metrics of justice, unbound by the strings of all-knowing and all-controlling AI. It was only natural the the United Nations use the newfound interconnectedness of the world to forge a new national identity, one based in species rather than in geographical or political boundaries. With the full resources of Earth at its disposal and only one way to go from there, the United Nations revitalized the space programs of the former rival superpowers with the intention to begin colonizing the stars. Humanity was still plagued by inequity and a myriad of other issues, but still found that in this time of its history more prosperity than in any before it. Humanity chased the stars with a vigor that left none idle, all worked to see their new nation spread and prosper.
With her unrivaled intellect, Sunny Emmerich quickly earned generous world government grants to research extra-planetary manned space expeditions for the purpose of resource exploitation and exploration. Spear-headed by Emmerich, the program went beyond expectations by allowing colonization on Luna and Mars in mere decades and exploration of the farthest reaches of the solar system in just as long. It was at the completion of the first Martian colony dome that the relay was discovered past Pluto.
The structure was enormous, putting any construction of mankind to shame and proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were not alone in the universe. Excavations on Mars shortly afterward revealed archives of inhuman design. Translation was a laborious effort, but invaluable, as a treasure trove of information within the archive allowed for the acquisition of technology far beyond what mankind had available to itself, namely a new element.
This element was crucial to the use of the relay itself and for the use of lightspeed travel as a result. It was dubbed Element Zero, a special place on the periodic table of elements reserved for the element that would rocket man into a new golden age. Despite the many revelations of these new discoveries, there was much mankind collectively did not know. Who had left the relay, where had they gone? Where did the relay lead to?
These questions might've been answered in time, but with the discovery of Eezo (Element Zero) deposits within the Solar system they fell by the wayside. With its recent prosperity and peacefulness, mankind had multiplied and found the solar system grew too small for its large numbers.
From there the relay was found to lead to others of its kind in other solar systems, traversing the distance between stellar entities by using Eezo as fuel. Manind spread quickly in this time, relying on the technological advances of Emmerich and her think-tank to continue bringing them to new heights.
Though humanity was united as it had not been in any other age, the beast within all men was not dead, and its desire for war and destruction manifested in the research and development of new warmachines. With the United Nations (now turned Systems Alliance), many of the weapons developed by Sunny's father Hal Emmerich were deemed inhumane and the blueprints for these weapons restricted within sealed info-vaults on Earth. This did not stop the Systems Alliance from green-lighting the production of a fleet of warships based on designs created by Sunny Emerich but repurposed for warfare. The Systems Alliance also began the development of weapon systems based on Eezo tech without Emmerich's awareness or approval. Seeing the return of mankind to its barbarous ways, Sunny Emmerich despaired that the work done by her father and his friend Snake would be for not and that war was an inevitability.
The rising industry of private space-travel insured that piracy would be inevitable however, and the Systems Alliance was well prepared for any attempts by the opportunistic to stymie their forward march of progress. The fleet the constructed was heavily based on the United States naval doctrine during the rule of the Patriots, with large carriers forming the center of fleets with smaller combat ships acting as support vessels. Fighter superiority often proved to be the cause of many decisive victories, as pirates could not field their own fighters to counter the small and maneuverable craft. The captains of these carriers became the leaders of their own fleets, and members of the small yet growing admiralty board that represented the System Alliance's military leadership.
Despite Emmerich's fears, the militarization of the System's Alliance was minimal. Several carrier-groups were created to patrol the burgeoning territory of mankind while picket groups escorted research vessels as the continued to unlock new relays and explore the systems they led to. Rather than relying on military force to exploit frontier colonies and enforce their cooperation, all worlds under the banner of the Systems Alliance were represented in the collective government of mankind. There was a barrier in regards to population, in order to prevent gerrymandering of smaller populations to unfairly influence wide-reaching decisions, though most were satisfied with their representation in government.
Then came the First Contact War. An exploration group had recently unlocked a new relay and were holding position on the other side until they were cleared to fully explore the new solar system. They were greeted by warships of alien design. When it was clear that their ships were holding position near the relay while interacting with it, the alien ships opened fire with little warning. The picket vessels of the group sacrificed the lives of their crew in order to escort the science vessel safely back through the relay to human space. When this vessel returned to the world of Shanxi with word of hostile aliens and the complete destruction of their escorts, the Systems Alliance gathered its fleets together. The aliens had pressed their attack beyond the relay, disabling Systems Alliance ships and blockading Shanxi. A flotilla with a core of bulky, durable carriers and a wide array of destroyers, cruisers and picket frigates met the alien ships, who had been reinforced since the initial encounter. A pitched battle took place, with the durable and hard-hitting alien ships picking apart the support craft of the humans while being whittled down by the fighters and bombers deployed against them. The aliens did not share humanity's fascination with smaller maneuverable craft and had little answer for them, but their destruction of the larger support craft left the carriers vulnerable. The battle ended in stalemate, with the aliens withdrawing beyond the relay and the human craft left to lick its wounds and count their dead.
The conflict escalated as the aliens returned with a yet-larger fleet not but a month later. While the Systems Alliance had rallied more of their protective carrier-groups to support the battered fleet, the efficacy of the alien weapons against the support craft of their fleets left them heavily depleted. It was noted that not a single carrier vessel was destroyed over the course of the conflict, the heavy armor and shielding of the vessels combined with fighter/bomber screens made approaching the warships a dangerous prospect, and was ultimately the reason Shanxi held. This did not mean the conflict was decisive, humanity barely held the line and lost a significant amount of its naval power in the defense, though not so much as to reduce its ability to defend itself in the long-term.
Aware of the potential of a long and drawn out campaign of defense, the Systems Alliance subsidized ship production and quietly began updating the designs of Hal Emmerich previously sealed away with modern Eezo technology. It seemed as though with this new enemy the devil within humanity had resurrected, though those wise enough knew that it had never left, nor had its bloodlust abated.
What came next through the relay as humanity braced itself for another savage conflict was not an invasion fleet of many more ships, but an escort for diplomatic envoys. Broadcasting messages of peace and requesting a meeting of diplomats, a ship unlike the other alien vessels carried an early end to a potentially devastating war. Though the Systems Alliance and many of its people breathed a collective sigh of relief, others were far more skeptical.
The peaceful aliens introduced themselves as Asari, and their warlike allies as the Turians. With them they brought peace but also tore away the veil of ignorance, revealing the galaxy at large and also yoking humanity to the rule of the council. Such a large conglomeration of alien powers working together would not be overcome by humanity, despite how well they had performed against the military arm of the council. As such they needed to bow to the council's restrictions or risk brining sanctions and worse upon themselves. The era of man's unhindered expansion was over, though the council did allow for limited continued growth.
The war's cost was in more than lives and ship however, as humanity had forever branded itself to the galaxy as a warlike species capable of going toe to toe with the Turians. The Turians themselves nursed their bruised pride and did not forget the black eye the upstarts had given them, nor the lives lost. The Asari were wary of a race containing powerful biotics and the determination to match the Turians at their own game, and quietly took steps to slow humanity's rise in power. The Salarians were impartial, though took up with the popular view of humanity as an upstart for political reasons, as well as expanding their STG operations to encompass the Systems Alliance.
With the end of the First Contact War came an end to the brief revival of the war economy that had once enraptured mankind, and now again threatened to do so. The galaxy was not a friendly place, and one of the System Alliance's closest neighbors was the infamous Batarian Hegemony, a well known slave-owning state. The colonization rights given by the Citadel Council ran right up next to the territories marked by the Hegemony for their own colonization. With such a dangerous rival within reach of the most vulnerable territories of the System Alliance, further spending on defense and weapons development was approved. The metal gears of the past continued to be resurrected into the future, and would no doubt revolutionize warfare again as they had before.
The System Alliance's vigilance against the Hegemony was proven wise when rampant piracy, worse than ever before, struck their new frontier. Many batarian nationals, secretly funded and supplied by the Hegemony to stymie the Alliance's colonization, raided and enslaved the colonists on a massive scale. The metal gears were held in secret, however, until the infamous Skyllian Blitz, where the largest raid on Alliance territory on record occurred. The family of one Anne Shepard was killed in the Blitz, but the rapid deployment of various metal gear types was able to quickly repel pirate forces on the ground while a reinforcing fleet moved in to route or destroy all pirate vessels above the planet.
The reveal of such powerful weapons further stigmatized humanity to the galaxy, especially since Systems Alliance had not reported that they had developed such weapons to the council. The Turians in particular were incensed by humanity's flagrant disregard for the approval of the use of these bipedal weapons. The general opinion of humanity was that they were scheming war-lovers, no better than the Hegemony at best, and a new krogan threat at worst.
While the political situation for humanity seemed grim at this time, those who resented the rash actions of the Turians and the restrictions imposed by the Citadel Council among humanity had long been working silently to advance the goals of humanity despite the fears of the aliens. It was the influence of these radicals that shaped such decisions as the continuation of the metal gear redevelopment, as well as the decision to deploy them. The political blowback from their unsanctioned use resulted in consequences imposed on humanity by the Citadel Council that severely hamstrung the System Alliance's ability to continue the growth and prosperity of humanity at the pace it had up till now.
The end result was a purge of radical "pro-human" elements in politics as well as a significant effort to become more appealing to the Citadel Council, with the long-term goal of becoming a council race. Unlike other smaller races, humanity had the strength and many qualities that suited a council seat-holding race. It would be a long road of laboriously following Citadel Council laws and edicts, but after cutting several costly deals, the Systems Alliance would eventually be able to remold their public identity into something more resembling the truth, as well as something close to consideration for a seat on the council.
The pro-human elements that had been purged were not all simply gone however, and many highly influential individuals that held such views simply became far more quiet about them while working secretly to further their agendas. Many worked in concert, putting their considerable resources together in order to legitimately represent their case in Systems Alliance politics. One did not. Rather than relying a government that had cast him out, a man known simply as the Illusive Man went far more underground than his fellows, and dug further down to find the tools he needed to realize his "bigger picture". He found the Patriots, as well the real story of the Boss's will. The Patriots had long ago been made obsolete, and had been rendered harmless as a result, but yet they lingered, like parasites attached to the body of humanity, the strings they once pulled to control humankind had not truly been severed.
The Illusive Man took advantage of this fact, building a vast fortune and numerous contacts through bribery, blackmail and threats. His intelligence seemed omnipotent to many within the Systems Alliance, but did not extend beyond that. Knowing this, he founded the group Cerberus with the intention that they might carry out his will and extend his control, and by extension humanity's, to every star in the sky.
While this and the ingratiation of humanity to the rest of the galaxy was under way, the events of Sovereign's rampage with the Geth took place. Sovereign was first spotted by Anne Shepard on Eden Prime, and finally destroyed by the same woman over the Citadel in a climactic battle that saw the Council members rescued and the threat ended. Anne Shepard claimed that the ship Sovereign was in fact a Reaper, and was the first of a vast armada of similar ships that would return soon. These claims were dismissed, though the Systems Alliance was recognized for their aid in the rescue of the Council and the Citadel by being given a seat far earlier than the Turians or the Salarians.
This might have caused outrage, had it not been for how closely the Systems Alliance, the Turian military and the STG had worked together in order to defeat Saren and his master Sovereign. The sharing of metal gear technology among council seat holders also mitigated the potential blowback of the Systems Alliance's rapid ascension within the Citadel Council's hierarchy. In the end it was the ostensibly peace-loving Asari who remained the most skeptical of humanity.
Anne Shepard's warning to the intelligent races of the galaxy, that the Reapers were returning was ignored by many, including her own government. It was not ignored by the Illusive Man, who's own investigations and evidence corroborated Anne's conclusion. Before he could contact her and offer an opportunity to act, she was lost with her ship in a Collector Attack, the only confirmed death of the conflict.
Through grit teeth, Venom Snake let out a pained breath. One of his last, he was sure. Outer Heaven was in flames around him, the self-destruct would be going off any second. If he didn't bleed out through the massive hole in his gut, the explosion would take him for sure. Everyone was gone now, either run away from the coming explosion or dead from Solid Snake's infiltration. All of his men, his Diamond Dogs, killed like pawns in a cruel game played by those Patriots. They should've been free, but Cipher had turned their fortress into a tomb.
Well, Snake wasn't as much a victim as they were, he had used them just as much. A smoke-screen, a diversion for Big Boss, the real one. That's why he didn't feel like he had lost as much as he should've. With a shaking hand, he reached into his left breast pocket, taking out a cigar. His hands were shaking so much he nearly dropped it, but he was able to bring it to his mouth. Then, slowly and painfully he took out a lighter, and lit his cigar. One more before the end, before the Reaper got his mark.
Taking a drag, Snake began to notice the blackness in the corner of his vision. That self-destruct sure was taking its time, looks like bleed-out would get him. Not too bad of a way to go. Snake thought of all the men that had followed him, he thought of Miller, the angry old bastard. He was probably giving some recruits in America one hell of a bad day. Snake thought of Ocelot, so level-headed and useful. That man could be anywhere, but if one thing was certain, he wasn't dead yet.
Then he thought of Quiet. The one that got away, even from him. That still stung, even all these years later. She still meant something to him, and her disappearing forever had wounded him, another phantom pain to go with all the others. Snake's mind was slowing down now, heavy with a cocktail of chemicals meant to make his passing a little less painful. No pain killer could ever give him back what he had lost though, and the pain of his loss was sharp still. Blackness took him then, his final thoughts were the mourning of others that had been close to him. When everything else had left him, Venom Snake only had grief left to keep him company.
((Okay hi everyone, I know I probably should've been working on my other fic The Twin-Tailed Comet, but I got this idea in my head and it wouldn't let go until I put something to writing. This 6 or so pages long of mostly backstory, on reflection, is ultimately not super necessary to enjoy the fic! The differences between this timeline and the canon Mass Effect timeline are kind of small, especially after the events of Mass Effect 1, where super paragon Shepard kind of single-handedly fixes humanity's PR problem by being way too trusting of the Council members as well as being too nice in general. I want to make it clear that some version of Snake will be in this story, and will change the events of Mass Effect 2 and 3 significantly, as any good crossover fic should imo. It will also follow the events of Mass Effect 2 with a version of Snake as the protagonist, since Shepard is dead. Hope you all enjoy, and please have patience, chapters will come out when they can come out in a relatively high quality. Forcing writing is a good way to make it a chore to do.))