Reviews
Carthienes
The pandimensional warp jumps are a product of the CYOA so that's not really relevant to your argument.
Assuming that Stargates will work in the 40K universe without making gateways into the warp which happens a lot in that universe they could be a great boon to the IOM despite their limits. Assuming that the gates can be held for long enough during a planetary invasion you can bring in a lot of reinforcements, even companies of space marines without their tanks. The gates would require massive defences but it's not as the IOM is a stranger to building huge fortresses.
Given the lack of resources and people a Sword class frigate isn't very practical right now, but doable in the future once Thrax no longer has to worry about the Reapers and can plunder worlds that the Reapers had wreaked.
The IOM using a new form of FTL is something outside of the scope of this story as Thrax doesn't really want it for his fleet because he can move a whole fleet anywhere he wants to go.
Not that this will stop him from simply purchasing shuttles and small freighters with ftl drives for the use of his Rogue Trader House it's just that the Ad-Mech would deal with it being used in the Imperium and that's not Thrax's concern as he wants to expand outside of the IOM. Sending back cool tech is just a way for him to make money. Improving the IOM isn't his job.
Nipplegunz
Well he can't have everything he wants. Besides having Tali means needing to set up a sterile area and get her special food she's simply not worth the hassle and then there are his allies to consider who will kick up a fuss. It's not as if the multiverse is lacking for human women that he can add this harem.
Hadrain Caeser
It could also result in the tech-priests trying to burn him as a heretic besides making him that powerful would spoil the fun.
Rogue Trader CYOA Story 3
Part 6
"If the Adeptus Astartes are the Emperor's wrath, and the Imperial Guard His hammer, then His Holy Navy is His mighty shield." — Cardinal Kregory Hestor
Normandy. Omega.
"Commander Shepard, the Council would like to talk to you" informed EDI over the comm.
Though they have no official power over the independent governments of other species, the Council's decisions carry great weight throughout the galaxy. No single Council race is strong enough to defy the others, and all have a vested interest in compromise and cooperation.
Each of the Council species has general characteristics associated with the various aspects of governing the galaxy. The asari are typically seen as diplomats and mediators. The salarians gather intelligence and information. The turians provide the bulk of the military and peacekeeping forces.
The human woman did not wish to talk to them, however it would not serve her interests to simply ignore them so she made her way into the briefing room and before long three holograms appeared. Unlike when she was talking to the Illusive Man there was a bit of a signal lag.
"Did you want something?" Jane asked.
Tevos, the asari, Valern the salarian and Sparatus the turian all made an effort to hide the disrespect in Shepard's tone of voice.
"Yes we'd like to find out if your report to Admiral Anderson was some sort of joke" Sparatus demanded to know "A five kilometer long cruiser in orbit over a human colony. Did you expect us to believe it?".
Jane hadn't as a matter of fact.
"I didn't even mean for you to see that report" she said "I knew you'd dismiss the truth even with the data from the scans so I only sent a copy to Anderson since he trusts me. How did you get a copy of the data? Wait, don't tell me it was Udina".
She'd never liked that guy and even via hologram she didn't wish to look at him.
"Why wouldn't you share this information with us?" questioned Tevos "Even if it is some fabrication we still needed to know about it".
Shepard had her reasons.
"This isn't a concern of the council" she argued "The ship is in the Terminus Systems and it's a human run vessel. I figured that it was only the business of the Alliance''.
They didn't like hearing that.
"The System Alliance had no knowledge of this vessel until Commander Shepard reported it '' insisted Udina "And no private organization run by a human could possibly have the resources to create a vessel of that size, this must be some kind of trick".
Jane very much doubted that, she'd walked the halls of that ship, breathed its recycled air and seen the results of the scans of the laser pistol they'd been given.
"That ship is violation of the Treaty of Farixen" stated Valren
Shepard shook her head.
"The Enduring Triumph isn't an Alliance ship so it isn't bound by the treaty and it isn't a dreadnought, it's only a heavy cruiser" replied the human woman.
That last part caused some alarm.
"That vessel is far too well armed and large to be considered a cruiser" said the turian.
Shepard just shrugged.
"If it's just a fabrication then what does it matter?" asked Shepard.
They had nothing to say to that.
"Go see for yourselves" suggested Jane "I have my own problems".
If not for the fact that Garrus was in the medical bay hanging on to life only because he was too stubborn to simply die then she might be more inclined to hear out the Council.
"Yes we saw the data and footage of the Collectors" said the asari "We're having our own experts examine all of the information you sent to Admiral Anderson".
It wouldn't lead to anything, even after exposing Saren all the council had done was give humanity permission to solve the Saren issue themselves. They were too cautious and that had nearly cost them everything.
"As for the Alliance we have already dispatched a diplomatic team to Freedom's Progress" Udina informed everyone "It should arrive soon".
The rest of the Council didn't like hearing that.
"Without informing the rest of us," said Tevos.
Udina didn't make eye contact with the others.
"I did not make that choice" said the human representative "Besides Freedom's Progress if a human colony outside of Citadel Space and if this Captain Thrax is human then this a human affair not the Council's business ".
Shepard could see how the council was divided in this matter.
"The Alliance's eagerness to met with this Captain Thrax wouldn't have anything to do with the rumour that he is selling laser weapons would it?" Sparatus questioned "The idea that some human has managed to create handheld laser weapons is beyond foolish".
Shepard couldn't help smiling.
"Oh they're real" she said "I have one".
That alarmed them all.
"It works?" asked Valern.
The scans and tests showed that it did.
"Captain Thrax gave me a free sample of the weapons he's selling to the people of Freedom's Progress" said Shepard.
This was another thing the aliens didn't like hearing.
"Human colonists have laser weapons!" the turian actually yelled.
Given that the colony had been attacked by the Collectors it was a good thing in Shepard's mind that they had extra defences. The Terminus Systems were not a safe place even without the minions of the Reapers targeting human colonies.
"I saw the colony's militia training with them when I visited," Shepard told them "They have both pistol and rifle versions".
There was no sense lying or holding back as she'd already shared most of this information with Anderson, the Council just hadn't believed until now, they might still totally trust this news still, but they would try to find out more on their own and would do so soon.
"The Council needs you to go back to this Captain Thrax and make sure he stays put until our diplomatic team arrives," the asari woman was now saying "Keep him in that system so we can find out if this is some sort of scam or not".
Shepard had no intention of doing that.
"Councillors, I have other matters to look into and I don't work for you any more" she reminded them.
That brought them round to the subject of her new allies.
"Yes we've heard that you're now working for Cerberus' ' said Valren "A terrorist group known for its extreme xenophobia".
The people she'd met seemed to tolerate aliens just fine. Pro-human didn't always mean anti-alien.
"I'm working with them not for them" Shepard corrected.
That was an important business.
"This could be considered treason," Udina threatened.
Shepard wasn't concerned.
"I'm legally dead" she reminded the former ambassador "And in the Terminus Systems, so I'm outside the authority of both the Council and the Alliance".
They had no claim to her.
"We're willing to reinstate you as a Spectre if you'll assist us with this Captain Thrax" offered Tevos "Your alliance with Cerberus will have to be addressed after you've dealt with these Collectors, assuming they are the threat you believe them to be".
Shepard decided to take the offer as Spectre authority would be helpful if she needed to travel outside of the Terminus Systems.
"I had less to go on when I proved Saren had turned against you" she reminded "You trusted me then".
The Councillors exchanged looks but didn't speak for a few moments.
"Just get this Captain Thrax to talk to the diplomats" ordered Udina "Everything else can wait".
The channel was closed and Shepard ordered Joker to take them back to Freedom's Progress.
(Line Break)
Imperial Fortress. Freedom's Progress.
I would have expected the diplomats from the Systems Alliance to want to meet on my cruiser instead they requested a site within the colony so I chose the fortress that the Ad-Mech had built to defend the colony so as to show off Imperial might and because it was well guarded by the militia who had laser weapons. No harm in showing off the merchandise.
"Productive and yet boring" I commented as the Alliance people left to go report back to their superiors "I don't think I'll ever get used to these kinds of meetings".
That had taken far too long. My wife must have the patience of a real saint to have been dealing with those people while I'd been away. They'd wanted to go over every detail of the treaty between the Imperial Expedition and System Alliance which included an exclusive contract to buy the AER12 model of laser rifle which was the successor to the AER9 model that I would sell to human civilians. Later I would offer up the AER14, but that could wait.
At least the System Alliance had purchased the laser weapons in the thousands for a good price and they even handed over a decent down payment much to my delight.
"When I was young I sat with my father when he was having a few meetings like this" Miranda Lawson let me know "I remember once when my father had someone use symbolic logic to analyze a recording of a two hour long meeting only to discover that everything of importance was handled in a few hundred words and everything else was meaningless"
Thinking about it, I very dimly recalled in one of the books by Issac Asimov there was a character, some kind of diplomat, who speaks endlessly during a visit. Only after recording and analysing his speech some experts come to the conclusion that the envoy never said anything of real substance. He was a master at speaking without actually saying anything of worth thus his entire visit was meaningless. The Alliance diplomates weren't quite that bad.
I didn't need symbolic logic to know that the Alliance diplomates could have discussed everything that mattered with me in a matter of moments. They'd just wanted assurances that I wouldn't attack them without provocation, which I wouldn't since I had no desire to slaughter my own kind. They also cared about having the best laser weapons, not that they did have those, but they were welcome to try to improve on what I had given them, and to buy the better models later on.
"The Council will send their own diplomats" Miranda warned "They will be even worse".
I liked having Miss Lawson around. She'd been easy to bring into my service, she had a need for approval that stemmed from her unsupportive and overly controlling father, it was easy to tap into those feelings. Aside from approval she also wanted to achieve things on her own merit so I offered to make her part of my personal staff and to have her take part in the talks that would affect the entire galaxy.
Dany would have been here only if she'd not already spent time dealing with the diplomats. She had returned to the cruiser so as to care for our children. I didn't plan to prevent her from taking part in future talks; she just needed some family time.
"I have no intentions of meeting with any aliens if I can help it" I said "The quarians sure, but the Council is of no importance to me unless they become hostile".
As such I planned to make excuses not to talk to them, letting them know I was busy elsewhere. It would annoy and only delay matters, however the Council was slow to react and wouldn't want to cause trouble in the Terminus Systems so that left me free to react. Perhaps Dany could help distract them.
"Why did you trade directly for Kowloon Class freighters and raw materials?" asked Miranda Lawson "Why not just take the money offered".
Those vessels are basic freighter starships originally designed (and mostly used) by humans so the Ad-Mech should have trouble blessing them and putting them into service so that goods and people could be transported by Imperials without needing them to tag along with my cruiser.
Each class of what ship was built on a standard design, likely for easy mass production. They generally carry a large cargo bay with smaller compartments for additional passenger haulage, but their design means these compartments can be swapped or exchanged to customize the ship. According to the date I had access to, Kowloon-class ships are hardy but carry no armaments and only a standard engine core, they were nothing to write home about.
Unfortunately this makes them easy prey for privateers or mercenary bands looking for a quick score, but since I intended them to travel between Freedom's Progress and Thrax II that wouldn't be much of an issue as that route was rarely travelled and defences could be added to the ships. Besides, they would be easy to replace. Those trips would also take a lot of time, but I needed my cruiser to be elsewhere.
"Because my dear I have goods that need moving and so I would have ended up buying those ships anyway" said "I might have gotten more for my money if I'd gone to the dealers, I just don't have time for that".
I planned to leave the freighters in the care of others.
"My lord don't forget you're due to meet with Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay" Miranda reminded me "She's an alien".
Yes but the Inquisition didn't mind me allying with the quarians so as to take down the geth and while I had a special permission slip that allowed me to met with xenos to advance Imperial interests outside the Imperium I was just using Imperial xenophobia as an excuse not to have to go to more meetings.
Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay was a member of the quarian Admiralty Board. She is an old friend of Tali'Zorah's father, having known the Zorah family long enough that Tali considered the woman to be her aunt.
When Tali'Zorah vas Neema is accused of treason against the quarian people in the game, Admiral Raan is seen presiding over her hearing, but had to recuse herself from taking part due to her relationship with the Zorah family. She instead acts as the moderator and the spokesman for the trial so it made sense that Tali took my offer to Admiral Shala'Raan.
"She's asked to meet with you on board your cruiser" Miranda let me know.
I was distracted for a moment by the tight all black body suit that the biotic kept wearing. She'd removed the Cerberus symbols and replaced them with the Imperial aquila as well as the symbol of House Thrax very quickly. I had to wonder if she'd ever really been loyal to Cerberus or if she'd just gone to them for protection from her father which I could offer more of along with a use for her talents. I'd happily have her father shot on sight if Miranda requested me to or send Black Widow to deal with him.
"No aliens on my ship" I said "She can meet us here".
I had no issues with quarians even though they did make the geth as they were decent enough people on the whole but I had Sister of Battle on my ship and other fanatics. I didn't want the admiral getting purged when she was supposed to be meeting with me. Besides I wouldn't put it past the quarians to learn a lot about Imperial tech just by looking at some of it and hearing more than they should.
"Let's get some lunch" I decided "You can brief me on the admiral while we eat".
This wasn't what I'd imagined myself doing. I'd wanted to be the pirate-king of the Terminus System, not whatever I was now. So I spent a few moments reminding myself that I would be able to get back out there soon enough once my dues were paid.
(Line Break)
Imperial Fortress. Freedom's Progress.
Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay entered the meeting room along with some unimportant, to me at least, quarian officers she'd brought with her from the Migrant Fleet. They took seats and unlike with the Alliance they got to the matter at hand rather quickly. I assumed that since the quarians were always working to survive that they didn't waste time with needless small talk.
"As I understand it you want to help us retake our homeworld" said the Admiral.
That wasn't exactly the case.
"It's more that we want to wipe out the geth before they become a danger to us" I explained "To do that we'd have to wipe out all of their platforms and we can't do that without invading or destroying your homeworld, but I don't have enough troops to invade".
I had more to say.
"You have a fleet and enough bodies to try to retake your world. It would just be too costly" I was now saying "I can add a lot of firepower to your fleet by combining forces with you. I propose that we work together and once you have your homeworld back we go our separate ways. That is all I want from you".
It felt good to be able to talk so directly.
"I have three ships I can bring into battle, the smallest of which is bigger and better armed than a turian dreadnought," I said.
Dreadnoughts range from 800 meters to one kilometer long here in the Mass Effect universe and when compared to the Firestorm-class frigate which is 1.8 kilometers long even the local dreadnoughts seem puny.
"You've had a chance to go over the data I provided. You know what kind of fire power I'm willing to bring to this cause" I said.
The main weapon of a dreadnought in this universe is a 800-meter mass accelerator which is capable of accelerating one twenty-kilogram slug to a velocity of 4025 km/s (1.3% the speed of light) every two seconds. Each slug has the kinetic energy of about 38 kilotons of TNT, about two and a half times the energy released by the fission weapon that destroyed Hiroshima.
Imperial Macroweapons which made up most of my ships firepower, are ranks of large cannons typically mounted on starships. They destroy their targets through powerful broadsides and volume of fire. They have effective ranges vs ships on nearly the same scale as the Nova Cannon, which fires shells at near-lightspeed so not only did I have bigger guns they fired slugs far faster and I had a lot of them. That didn't even include laser cannons and lance batteries.
I'd compared it to bees trying to take down a bear because the only hope the locals had of even stinging my cruiser was if they were too agile for me to simply swat. To help deal with that I had fighters and two escorts which were much faster than my massive and bulky cruiser.
"You're willing to provide that kind of fire power to use against the geth?" I asked.
If I went for the quarian homeworld the geth would move to defend it by placing themselves between my cruiser and the planet allowing me to wipe out most of their ships. The tricky part would prevent any of the AI fleet from escaping and letting the geth rebuild elsewhere hence my need for the quarian fleet.
"Yes" I said "In support of your effort to retake your world".
Working with aliens was unclean and so it was best to get this over with as quickly as possible.
"What about these laser weapons of yours?" asked one of the officers "Will you supply us with them?".
There was no chance of that happening. They'd get their hands on some sooner or later because someone in the Alliance would sell the design but I would not give aliens any of my tech directly.
"No" I firmly stated "All I am offering is direct military support in destroying the get. That is all and it is not up for discussion. Take the offer or leave it".
They discussed it anyway. Some claiming not to trust me others thinking that they could barter with me if they just had something to offer.
"If I have to battle the geth alone I will simply burn them all" I warned the quarians "That means losing your home world and your colonies. Retaking them will be costly but you are a race of survivors and we have time to prepare. The Reapers won't be here for months".
The admiral stood up.
"We'll return to my ship and I will contact the other admirals to see what they have to say" she decided.
That suited me as I'd done enough talking today.
(Line Break)
Normandy. Terminus Systems.
There wasn't much free space on the Cerberus made frigate so the briefing room was rather crowded with her guests here. Shepard had been surprised to find Miranda Lawson with Captain Thrax as the woman had seemed loyal to the Cerberus cause and Jane had to wonder if Lawson was deep undercover for her boss in some way or working with both factions for her own advancement.
Thrax brought along Subject Zero aka Jack who had for a short time been on Shepard's list of potential team members, and not long after meeting the biotic, Jane couldn't help thinking that she'd dodged the bullet with that one and the rate things were going she wasn't going to have much time to build a proper team.
As for the rest they seemed to be military officers of some kind and they did like being in the same room as GarrusThese Imperials must not like turians for some reason, which was not odd for humans as not everyone had been able to put the First Contact war behind them, although these humans were supposed to be from outside the galaxy so why'd they would care about that conflict she didn't know. Maybe they were just xenophobes.
"So why did you request that I come over to your ship?" wondered Captain Thrax.
Jane would never admit this but his cruiser did make the Normandy seem rather puny even if the commander still loved the new frigate, her stealth systems were what made her special, and she'd wanted to show off just a little. Thrax at least had seemed impressed and also not that surprised by anything he saw.
"I wanted to tell you in person that the Council is sending a team of people to come speak with you" said Shepard "Well perhaps warn is a better way of putting it. The Council ordered me to get you tos stay put, not that I can force you to do anything".
The Normandy's weapons wouldn't even dent the armour of that cruiser. Tali had sent a very well protected file filled with data she'd gotten from Thrax directly and a copy of the scans that her ship had picked up, having a better sensor suite than a shuttle the quarians had collected quite a bit of information that Jane had not shared with anyone. Shepard had once done something similar for the young quarian involving data recovered from the geth.
"It's hard to say what they want from you since they're not even sure if you're real" Jane was now saying "Apparently they require more proof".
The Alliance seemed happy to accept her report, they'd jumped on the chance to make a powerful ally, which made the commander wonder if the Alliance's denial of the Reapers was just official policy and they were really just covering it up so as not to cause a panic. The N7 commando wasn't sure there was much the Alliance could do to prepare even if people were willing to listen.
"I have no interest in speaking with the Council's minions" stated the Rogue Trader "They might as well not bother sending anyone".
Shepard often wished she could ignore those fools yet they were too important not to talk with.
"I'm not sure if that's a good idea" Jane said "They are a powerful group of people".
None of the Imperials seemed at all concerned and it made sense that they weren't since if any of the data on that super-dreadnought (Thrax could call it a cruiser if he wished it didn't change anything) and unless a lot of mistakes had been made even Sovereign couldn't take on the Imperial vessel it might take a fleet of reapers. It depended on how well these void shields compared to kinetic barriers.
"They have nothing that I can't get from the Alliance or simply take from the Terminus systems" said the Lord-Captain "And I don't care for their treatment of humanity. They did next to nothing when the geth began attacking human colonies and they do nothing now, when the Collectors do the same, they clearly only care for themselves even if humanity has a seat at the big kids table".
Shepard opened her mouth to say something in defence of the council only to find that she had nothing good to say.
"I wouldn't be sure that the council won't be a danger to your operation" warned Garrus ``My people might try to seize the colony and take the laser weapons you sold to Freedom's Progress in the name of galactic security".
Thrax did now look a little concerned.
"Freedom's Progress is protected by an Imperial Fortress which would have to be taken or destroyed if anyone wanted to secure the colony" said the Rogue Trader "Since its considered to be an embassy attacking it would be like attacking any other part of the Imperium, an act of war".
Thrax might only have one ship and an escort, but even the escort was bigger than an Alliance dreadnought so it was a real threat to whole worlds, and if the super-dreadnought were to strike at the council races they might not be able to stop it, at least not before they did massive damage.
"We can't be fighting with each other when we have the Collectors and Reapers to worry about" insisted Shepard
There was a moment of silence before the Lord Captain spoke.
"I have no intention of starting any hostilities with the Citadel races" he assured Shepard "I'll only respond with force if they attack first. Let them know that Freedom's Progress is under my protection and that I'll consider speaking with them".
Not a long term solution but if any conflict could be avoided for long enough it would all be put aside once the Reapers came in force, or at least that was what she hoped.
"You're talking to the quarians I noticed" mentioned the N7 commando.
Tali hadn't mentioned why in her letter.
"The Imperium has a bad history with AI" a female Imperial officer answered "These geth are a threat to all sentient life and need to be destroyed".
"To that end we're willing to work with the quarians" Thrax added "but only against the geth we have no interest in making friends with aliens".
Shepard had been worried that the Rogue Trader would say something along those lines.
"But you are selling your laser weapons to the Alliance" mentioned Jacob.
After taking one apart Talyor was willing to accept that the Imperials might not all be a scam. It was hard to deny the evidence as the laser pistol they'd taken apart was clearly of human make yet different from any laser technology that the Alliance had seen before.
"The AER12 laser rifle" said one of Thrax's friends who was a cyborg under a heavy red robe "Superior to the AER9 which we are producing for civilians, aside from the focusing crystal array which is housed in gold alloys, making it more vulnerable to exposure to the environment without proper maintenance".
If there was one thing any Alliance member from clerk to captain could do it was take care of their rifle.
"I don't suppose you have any weapons with a bit more kick in them do you?" she asked.
She hadn't been expecting for the Imperials to actually offer anything, at least not so easily.
"You mean like a Gatling laser" Thrax said.
The cyborg, who everyone tried not to look at too much, explained how this weapon used multiple rotating barrels to fire off an impressive stream of light radiation laser beams without overheating too quickly.
"I could sell you a few UB-FRIED 3000 Gatling lasers if you can offer me a good price" offered Thrax.
She liked what she was hearing.
"Can you carry one of them?" she asked.
It was the cyborg who answered.
"While the UB-FRIED 3000 is not fully automatic it does have a much larger ammo capacity than other models, it requires a back-mounted battery pack, but with the right armour you should have little trouble managing the weight".
Jane had an image of herself using something like a M134 Minigun she seen a few times in a museum as a child. A portable laser version of that weapon would be perfect to use against the Collectors who were reported to have superior kinetic barriers and perhaps biomechanical armour.
"We only sell weapons to humans to be used by humans" stated Thrax.
Garrus Vakarian was the only non-human onboard not counting EDI and he was a sharp shooter not a heavy weapons expert.
"I can promise you that I will only allow human members of my team access to any weapons you sell me," said Jane.
It would be Cerberus paying the bills and aside from Garrus the only aliens she wanted on her team were Tali and Liara neither of which would want something large to play with. Unlike Shepard they had no proper respect for heavy weapons.
"Then let's talk price" Thrax was now saying "I'll assume you'll want some laser rifles too?"
Yeah she was going to need a lot of firepower.