Disclaimer: I do not own Halo, Warhammer 40k, Stellaris, Kaiserreich, HoI4, Clannad, Star Wars, or Mass Effect. This is a fanfiction, and I don't have ANY monetary reward for making it. This is purely for fun.

Author's notes: This is my first time writing an action scene. Full disclosure, I was never really planning on posting a story. My Ex and I used to write... stories... to each other. About a month ago, we broke up. It was my first real heartbreak. I'm fine now, so this ain't a sob story. I started writing to get my mind off of things, and it just sorta took on a life of it's own. My point is, this story was very similar to the one I wrote for her. It originally had a LOT of smut and not a lot of action. I have much more experience writing settings and romantic moments.

However, I'm starting to like writing more and more as a hobby. I might rewrite a chapter or two, if I come back and it's not to my liking. Also, if you have recommendations on how to improve the combat or action scenes, it'd be much appreciated. I know the chapters have some odd sentence structures, I'm trying to work on that. A lot of times; it's me changing part of the story, and not doing a good job integrating it.

I'll look at some online classes for writing, in the future.

A simple thing for me to know, that'll help my writing, is more or less detail.

The paring was chosen because the Shepard/Miranda pairing was always my favorite. Oriana doesn't really have a character in Cannon. All we know is she's adopted, nineteen, and the reason they didn't put Miranda in ME3 as a crew member. Oriana is a blank slate. Not a lot is given about Erwin's past. I will say, he's not what he seems, neither Oriana nor Erwin are. In some ways, Oriana and Erwin are a personification of yin and yang. I always like romances with compatible yet fundamentally different characters.

Shepard will be a paragon, and Miranda won't be as... rude... at the beginning of ME2.

Thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites. As always I appreciate the support and feedback.


Chapter VI

The Example

Near the edge of the Batarian Hegemony was a garden world peacefully orbiting its Class G star. A relatively average system, excluding the garden world.

It didn't seem like a very pleasant world to Erwin. It was far too humid and warm for his preference. It didn't matter what the planet's name was. Only that it had a Batarian population of three billion and a slave population of one hundred thousand.

Many of the Humans were born into slavery, the practice of breeding humans was popular within the Batarian Hegemony.

The Empire wasn't necessarily Xenophobic, that would imply we feared the Xeno. Erwin understood a healthy distrust of Xenos was important for a society. They weren't human, it was foolish to treat them as such. Even the Chimpanzees had their differences, and they were much closer to Humanity than most.

Even these Batarians, who were most likely mutated humans, had their fundamental differences. They even dared to enslave Humans.

Slavery was illegal in the Empire, the thought of owning a sentient being was revolting. Even more so when sexual acts were forced upon the enslaved being. Though Erwin has raped Ilythiirian prisoners before, it was during wartime and only Elves. Slavery was abhorrent even to Erwin, but he did support a caste system.

The Empire would eventually have multiple different races under its banner. Each one would have protection under the law, but rights would be withheld. Only Imperial Humans should have the right to vote, for example. It probably wasn't a good idea to allow Xenos to bear arms either.

Before Erwin was pulled out of his Universe, the Empire was already implementing such a system. It was a merciful system. Even the lowest of the caste would be protected from enslavement, personal harm, and poverty.

Slavery was a horrible institution, but to enslave Humans? That was unforgivable, especially when the Batarians like to "sample the product." They even posted videos on porn sites of poor human girls being raped. Human boys weren't exempt.

Never before has a primitive species had the audacity to do such a thing. The threat of Imperial retribution in the form of glassing kept the Xeno in line. Even the Alliance would have already decimated the Hegemony by now, if not tied down by the Council.

Though, the Batarians haven't directly raided Alliance worlds since the Human government gained a Council seat. It still didn't stop them from raiding worlds outside of Alliance's protection and breeding humans.

That was Erwin's goal here. To put the fear of the Empire into the Xeno. He couldn't glass the planet, but he wouldn't worry about civilian casualties. If they got in the way, they'd be incinerated by the gamma lasers.

Lasers weren't as noticeable as Reaper plasma lances. Erwin didn't want the Reapers seeing the unique scars their weaponry made, on the garden world. It'd be a clear indicator that someone successfully reverse-engineered their technology.

Erwin had no idea what a Reaper response to such a situation would be. The threat wasn't worth it for glassing a primitive world.

Erwin could always turn down the laser's power output. It wasn't as simple as just lowering the wavelength of the photons to x-rays, the gamma laser was specifically designed to fire photons within the high gamma range.

Erwin was currently sitting in his starfighter, looking upon the Xeno world from above. The Batarians had no hope of spotting Erwin, his starfighters' stealth systems were far too advanced.

Holograms floated on both his left and right, displaying a variety of sensor readouts and status reports. The holograms were set to be transparent, as not to annoy Erwin too much. Even if he was also sorting through massive amounts of data with his neural lace, physical readouts eased the burden.

Erwin had the mental capacity to compete with Ares, but it was tasking on Erwin. His thoughts would have to uncomfortably speed up exponentially, far beyond what he was used to.

A Batarian fleet jumped out from FTL. The fleet took up position around the planet. It was a relatively small fleet with only a single Batarian dreadnought.

A frown formed on Erwin's face.

Even the hideous bastard's ships were ugly.

They were thick and brown with a few rough curves, and four wings near the rear of the starship. Erwin was ashamed to even call the flying turds starships.

Ares decided to "helpfully" inform the Batarians of a potential Alliance raid on their system. He dropped hints, and subtly manipulated a Batarian fleet deployment.

The fleet was not going to survive.

Two droid battlegroups were ready to jump in at Erwin's command. They were Ares' creations, so Erwin let his brother command their first deployment.

Erwin was just going to watch. He had faith in his Legacies. His Clones would gracefully, yet ruthlessly complete their objectives. Ares would command the fleet with mastery only matched by high Imperial Admirals.

The Clones could use the experience of fighting an Ezo-based military. Their experience gained would be shared with their brothers through the quasi hive connection.

"Permission to engage?" Ares asked.

"Granted."

The sensors in Erwin's starfighter fed Ares a real-time view of the battlefield. Normally the distance involved in space combat, meant real-time information about even your own fleet was impossible.

Entire fleet formations could span light minutes. Enemy positions in a star system could be light hours away. By the time the light reached your sensors, the information could be ten hours old.

The sophisticated Imperial sensors gave Ares a blatantly unfair Intelligence advantage. The Imperial sensors primarily gained information from slipspace and other dimensions.

One hundred and four slipspace ruptures erupted near the garden world. One of the fifty-two starship battlegroups emerged on one side of the planet, and another on the opposite side.

The planet's defenses and the Batarian fleet were effectively pincered.

Chatter over the Batarian comms became frantic. One of the two and a half kilometer starships would be terrifying, but when eight six-kilometer starships emerge… it filled the Xeno hearts with dread and hopelessness.

The Batarians only had a hundred starships in the fleet. Most of them are frigates.

The two battlegroups opened up with gamma lasers. Before the Batarian fleet had time to react, multiple ships exploded.

A heavy ship targeted the Batarian dreadnought. One of its large gamma lasers swept over the kilometer-long ship.

The laser left a trail of melted armor that was ripped from the ship by the vacuum of space. Debris that were once Batarians and solid equipment were sucked into the void. The laser's heat turned everything behind the armor into charred remains.

The excess gamma radiation from the laser filled the primitive ship. Every Batarian in the dreadnought was most likely dead.

One more beam of photons targeting the Ezo core caused the dreadnought to explode.

After a few seconds, many of the Batarian ships scattered. Darting off for the Mass Relay at FTL speed.

"No survivors." Erwin commanded.

"What of the civilian ships?" Ares asked.

"No survivors, Ares."

"So be it."

Many of the light, eight hundred meter long droid starships darted for the fleeing ships.

Ezo drives had a subspace signature that screamed out of their location. Most likely intentionally designed to be easily tracked by tachyon sensors.

The Mass Effect FTL was an advanced form of warp. The warp method of FTL was normally the first, and sometimes only, method discovered by a space-faring species. It was relatively easy to achieve and didn't require dimensional travel. Warp drives simply warped space-time around the starship.

The biggest weakness of Warp travel? A ship can still be fired on while in the warp.

In a line between the planet and the Mass Relay, ships fell out of FTL as spiraling dead hulks. Flames and explosions would occasionally fragment the dead ships into smaller pieces.

"It's done." Ares informed him. He didn't seem too happy killing civilians.

"Good."

Ares spaced the heavy ships around the planet in low orbit. The medium ships filled the gaps, and the lightships held back in geosynchronous orbit. The planet was effectively blockaded.

A hologram of a Clone appeared next to Erwin.

"My Lord, we're prepared for deployment."

"Good, Commander Blitz. The operation is yours now."

"Rules of engagement, my Lord?"

Erwin knew what he was really asking.

"Unrestricted. Don't kill any slaves."

Commander Blitz gave Erwin an Imperial salute.

"Your will be done, my Lord."

The hologram disappeared. Only to be replaced by Ares' human avatar.

"You know what you've done, right?" Ares seriously asked.

"I know."

"They're going to kill anything that has four eyes. Even the civilians."

"What happens to that excitement from yesterday?" Erwin asked.

"I'm all for killing slavers and abominations, but Erwin, what do their civilians have to do with this?" Ares asked

"War assets." Erwin defended.

"We both know you really don't feel that way."

"If the Xeno didn't want to deal with the Sixth Child, then they shouldn't have harmed Humans."

"What would Oriana think?"

Erwin's eyes widened for a moment.

"She's a sheltered primitive, she knows nothing of war."

"Whatever helps you sleep, Brother."

Ares' avatar disappeared.

Erwin wasn't heartless, but sometimes examples had to be made. Ares always argued against seeing civilians as war assets, especially when not in a state of total war. He'll follow orders, but he gets moody afterward.


A boy no older than thirteen, stood obediently by his master. Puberty just beginning to transition his body into a man, the boy never felt empowered.

His master just got done "enjoying" himself with his mother and fellow Asari slaves he liked.

He could do little but grin and stand by. The chip embedded into his neck kept him in check.

"Boy, more liquor." He snarled.

"Yes, master." The boy bowed before heading for the liquor cabinet.

He filled the empty glass with the high-priced liquor.

The boy couldn't stop the tears from forming, the master's son was even harsher. He rubbed the tears away, he was born into slavery. It was his fate, but he could help but wonder why?

The boy made his way back to the Master, but the front door mysteriously opened.

He looked over to see a Batarian soldier with yellow patterns walk in. Two more followed behind him. They carried an odd gun he's never seen before.

Now that the boy thought about it, the visor wasn't shaped very well for four eyes. The man was tall and we'll build, but his armor made him look oddly slim.

"What are you doing here!?" His master yelled.

Instead of answering, the unknown soldier aimed his weapon. It made a meaty clicking-whining noise.

Then a loud but dull noise filled the room, along with a flash of red.

The boy looked over to see the Master with a large hole in his chest, dead on the floor.

The boy dropped the glass, and it shattered on the floor. His legs started to shake as fear overtook the boy.

"Is this how I die?" He thought.

The Master's son came out naked with a gun. He didn't get far, as another flash and dull noise filled the room. The bastard was dead with a large hole in his head.

At least if he died, those bastards would be coming with him.

"But what about Aleena and Mom?" The boy thought in horror.

The man walked up to him. The boy was expecting a quick headshot, only for the man to place the gun on his thigh and take off his helmet.

The boy's eyes widened.

The soldier was human.

He never saw a man standing with such pride and strength.

"It's okay, son. We're here to set you free."

All the fear left his body, and for the first time in his life, the boy cried with happiness.

"Find the other two. Kill the rest." He told the other soldiers.

"Don't hurt them, sir."

"Don't worry, son. Your Mother will be safe."

A few more loud dull noises and he could hear a woman screaming, then a final noise filled the room.

His Mother and Aleena were covered in sheets.

The boy looked away in shame.

He looked up at the man, if only he could be like them.


Rav and his squad were in a firefight with some of the Xenos. They were in a thick forest, assaulting a Xeno military base.

The technological inferiority of the Xeno was laughable. However, his Commander ordered them to treat the Xeno as a major threat.

The whole operation felt more like a live-fire exercise. At least Rev and his Brothers got to spill Xeno blood.

The Xenos were picked off left and right, the red bolts of plasma melting through their primitive armor like butter.

"Rav, we've got incoming armor!" One of Rav's brothers yelled.

He looked to see an armored vehicle approaching the Xeno barricade, it looked kinda like a tank.

Rev placed his carbine on his right thigh and shouldered his rocket launcher. It was most likely overkill, but it'd clear out the pesky fortified Xenos.

He jumped out from behind the tree and kneeled.

The rocket instantly locked onto the large vehicle. Rev pulled the trigger, and a rocked created a large backblast before zooming downrange at Mach fifteen. The small nuclear explosion destroyed the tank and most of the fortifications.

"Good job, Rev!" A brother yelled.

"Let's go! Move it troopers!" The lieutenant yelled.

His brothers started to quickly advance. Members of his squad ran past him. Sprinting towards the base.

The four other squads of the platoon were assaulting from other directions.

Rev placed the rocket launcher on his back and grabbed his carbine again.

He saw two Batarians pop their heads up.

Rev quickly blasted both of them. Clean shots through the head.

A brother ran up to him.

"Come on, Rev! Let's kill these Xeno dogs!"

He got up, off his knee, and ran into the base with his brother.

The base already had multiple of his brothers cleaning out the buildings.

Rev was slightly disappointed. Sure he got to nuke a few Xenos, but his Brothers go to have all the fun.

An explosion rocked a nearby barracks, and a few Xenos jumped out of the building on fire.

He raised his blaster but was stopped from firing.

"Let them burn, Rev!"

A dark grin formed.

It's a good thing his brother stopped him, those Xenos were whaling in pain. The filth tried to rub their bodies into the ground, but that fire wasn't going out. That was flame jelly.

He could tell by the green flames. It was impossible to put out and emitted a lot of radiation. Rev loved the flame jelly, he was fortunate to be given a few anti-personnel grenades.

The base was filled with gunfire but quickly died down. Rev and his Brothers made quick work of the Xenos.

A group of Batarians came out of a tunnel system. They had no helmets, weapons, and waved a white flag.

Rev and five of his brothers walked up to the Batarians. There were twelve men in the surrendering group.

"We surrender." One of the Xenos said. Rev's translator converted the ugly Xeno tongue to Gothic.

"Who do these Xeno dogs think we are? The Alliance?" One of his brothers joked.

His squad leader was one of the clones standing in line formation with Rev.

"Lay 'em low, boys!" The squad leader commanded.

Rev was not going to be told twice.

All six clones raised their blasters and fired into the Batarian group. Each blaster was set to full-auto, firing at twelve hundred rounds per minute.

The fast pace, dull whining of the blasters filled the air. The bolts pierced multiple bodies, making the firing squad seem more like a massive meat grinder.

The result was twelve Batarians dead. Their bodies were mangled and missing large chunks of flesh. Rev admired the growing puddles of Xeno blood.

"Good work, brothers." The Lieutenant praised.


Invert ran down the street, along with two other brothers. He was the one put in charge, they were looking for a slave. A nine-year-old girl; bronze skin, brown eyes, brown hair.

Her owner was supposed to live in a penthouse with his family.

Invert turned the corner and found the tower. The building was only about twenty stories. It could hardly be considered a tower.

He saw a few people leaving the building. Males and females, and a few adolescent Xenos.

"Take 'em out!" He commanded.

Invert and his men fired into the small crowd. The four rapid-firing blasters made short work of the unarmored Xenos. Civilians are what the softer First Child called them, but he's never seen any difference. They're just Xenos who couldn't find a gun or future Xeno soldiers.

Then men walked up to the building, stepping over the bodies.

Invert heard a whimper, and saw a small Xeno adolescent shaking.

Tears leaked down her ugly black eyes.

"We missed one." One of the brothers said.

The brother lifted the blaster with one hand, aiming at the Xeno. He squeezed the trigger, and a bolt of plasma ripped through the little primitive's head.

For some reason, a small spark of regret flashed through Invert. Then quickly shook them off, she was just a future Xeno factory.

If these primitive Xenos wanted to live, they should have bent the knee to the Empire.

To his Lord...

Invert and his four brothers walked up to an elevator and called it down.

A few seconds later, it opened. Except there were five Xenos in it. Two females, two males, and an adolescent. The four Xeno adults raised their hands as if that'd spare them. One only had a single hand up, its free hand was shielding the adolescent.

Invert and his two brothers took aim and lit the elevator up with rapid-fire blaster fire.

The Xenos fell to the floor dead.

Normally the blasters, or any energy-based weaponry, don't cause massive blood loss. The heat cauterizes the wound. However; sometimes the blood pressure can push past the burnt tissue or the bolt over penetrated.

That's what happened in this case. The bolts passed through the Xenos too quickly, and blood started to pool in the elevator.

"Great, they dirtied the elevator." One of his brothers complained.

The five bodies with many scorched holes littered the elevator floor.

Once again that pesky blip of regret raised its head when he looked at the little one's face.

The elevator finally reached the top floor. The primitive lift was beyond slow...

The elevator door opened to a short hallway, with a door at the end.

"Let's go." Invert told his brothers.

They stepped over the bodies and made their way to the door.

The sound of boots filled the quiet hallway.

Once in front of the door, Invert raised his Omni-tool.

His Lord found it necessary to equip him with such a tool. Invert had to admit, it was cool. It used hard light, but strangely it wasn't solid. The inside of his glove would vibrate, to emulate touch.

The tool allowed for a quick connection with Invert's neural lace. He quickly used his suit's hacking program to crack the door's security.

They walked inside the penthouse, only to find the area empty.

"Nice place." One of his brothers complemented.

"Na, you should have seen some of the places the Covenant nobility had." the other countered.

"Cut the chatter. We got a job to do." Invert intervened.

"Right." One of them agreed.

"Split up, and search the place. Ares said they were here." He commanded.

"Yes, sir." His two brothers acknowledged.

Invert walked up to a door, and kicked it down. The door slammed into the ground from the excessive force.

The room looked like a large bedroom. He noticed a smaller door across the room and another adjacent to the main door.

He walked to the door closest to him and kicked it down. Like the last door, it slammed into the floor hard.

This room looked like a bathroom. It was also empty.

Invert never understood how people needed such large facilities for cleaning and sleeping. Perhaps it was him being a Clone.

His thoughts were interrupted by shuffling behind the door across the room. He could only hear it thanks to the suit's sensitive sensors.

He walked up to the door. The blueprints identified the room as a closet. It was small, so he couldn't bust down the door. Not if the girl was in there.

Plus it was hard to kick down a forward opening door.

He raised his carbine and used the other hand to open the door. With a quick motion he threw open the door, his under-barrel flashlight lit up the small room.

Invert grinned, he found the girl.

Unfortunately, there were a few Xenos with her. A male shielded a female, two adolescent Xenos, and the girl.

Invert couldn't kill the Xenos, the girl would also be killed. He wasn't going to harm a child, and he wasn't going to fail his Lord.

He used the hand that was holding the carbine's foregrip and took off his helmet.

He was furious he'd have to talk in a Xeno tongue.

"I'm just here to liberate the girl. Give her to me, and I won't harm you." He told the male Xeno.

"H-Human!?" The male Xeno was scared but furious.

"Yes, now give me the girl. She's under Mankind's protection." He said a little more firmly.

"You promise you won't hurt her and leave?" The male Xeno asked in a revolting scraping voice.

How could this filth enslave a creator, and be worried about her?

"We're her people, Xeno. No one's going to harm the girl, and live to tell about it." He sneered.

"Okay, fine." The Xeno reached for the girl and pushed her towards Invert.

The little girl looked scared.

Invert placed the carbine on his thigh, it wasn't like the Xeno was a threat. He got on one knee.

"Hey, little one. Come with me, we're here to help you." Invert said in a genuinely compassionate voice.

"I-I don't wanna." She answered in the Xeno tongue.

Part of him raged hearing that. Not at the girl, but the Xeno. She was a slave and lived with Xenos. Why wouldn't she want to live among her own?

"Why not, little one?" He spoke in a gentle tone. One that was the polar opposite to the one he talked with a second ago.

"They're nice." She quickly answered.

"Little one, what's your name?"

"Sandra."

"What about your parents, Sandra? We can get you back to them."

She shook her head.

"Mom hates me because she hates Dad."

Invert heart yearned to help the little girl. It sounded like she was the outcome of breeding. He prays that his Lord burns the planet after they liberated the slaves.

"Sandra, you're Human. There will be Humans who will befriend you, and care for you. You're a Human child, we're here to protect you, care for you. Humanity protects and loves its children." He compassionately explained.

Invert hoped the girl accepted the childish explanation. It may have been childish, but every word was true.

He opened his arms hoping the girl would accept his protection.

Every Clone was fiercely protective over children. They were the reason their creators pushed forward, they themselves were defenseless creators. She may not have been one of The Creators, but she was nonetheless Human.

Invert would never have children, he was fine with that. You couldn't have millions of clones out producing children, hell he didn't even find girls attractive. Yet that human instinct to protect children was still a part of Invert, he was also a member of Humanity.

The girl seemed to accept his protection. She walked into his arms.

Invert embraced the little girl, careful not to hurt her.

It was the first time he held a child, she was fragile. Her weakness only provided more motivation to protect.

He stood up, carrying the girl.

Invert walked out of the bedroom, and made it out of the penthouse. He passed one of his brothers and nodded. Sending him silent commands through the neural lace.

Invert waited in the hallway, holding the girl.

His brother walked towards the bedroom. A second later, rapid blaster fire could be heard coming from the bedroom.

A second later, both of his brothers walked out of the penthouse.

"Sandra, close your eyes." Invert quietly whispered to the girl who clung to his armor.

"Why?" She asked with a hint of fear.

"Please, for me? I promise nothing bad will happen."

"Okay…"

"If you keep them closed, then I'll see if I can get you some ice cream." He offered the girl.

"What's ice cream?"

"It's the best thing ever! It's a sweet food, you'll love it."

"Okay."

His other brothers took point. They still had a no-witness order from their Commander to uphold.

They walked the quiet streets, the Xenos not dead on the street were hiding like rats.

Eventually, they made it to the landing zone, a few pelicans were on the ground. One, in particular, was used to transport the slaves to a heavy starship.

The rest of the slaves in the sector were already in the pelican. They were the last ones.

"You can open them now, Sandra."

He walked up the pelican's ramp and placed the girl in a seat.

"What's your name?" Sandra asked him.

He finished buckling up the girl. Checking to make sure the harness was secure.

"It's Invert."

He stood up and gave the pilot a thumbs up.

Normally the pelican was automated. However, a Clone pilot seemed appropriate for such valuable cargo.

Invert walked off the pelican, then the ramp started to rise.

Sandra waved to him, and he waved back. Then the ramp finished closing. The heavy interlocking of nanolaminate could be heard.

Invert watched the gunship fake off. The four main engine units propelled the pelican quickly high into the atmosphere.

"Let's go, Invert. We still have some stragglers to finish off." One of his brothers told him.

He placed his helmet back on.

Invert saw one of his brothers walk down a pelican ramp. He was carrying a flamer.

"A flamer?" He asked his lieutenant.

"Some of the slave owners left their homes and their slaves. They're held up in a bomb shelter for the ruling class."

Invert met his Lieutenant's malicious gin with his own.

"So… burn the Xeno out." Invert concluded.


Erwin laid in the starfighter's bed. It's been three hours since Commander Blitz was given control of the operation.

Ares had a few light droid ships posted around the Mass Relay. They'd destroy anything unlucky enough to pass through.

Hopefully, the Batarians will see this as an Alliance raid. Sure, Alliance didn't use laser-based weaponry. At least they didn't for anti-ship purposes. But, the Batarians would brush aside the odd method of destruction of their fleet.

The animosity between the Hegemony and Alliance is close to a breaking point. Either this leads to war or heavy militarization.

For the political benefits to become realized, the entire system had to be blockaded. No ship that came through the Relay could be allowed to survive. Then the System's databases had to be cleared of all digital proof.

Erwin was completely hands-off, only to be notified of the most extreme of situations. He didn't see that happening. The Batarians had a relatively unorganized and brash military. Not to mention their technological inferiority to the Clone Troopers.

It would take a hundred shots up close to break a clone's shields. The clone would have to be brain dead to take that many shots. Their reaction times were superior to Imperial drones. A Batarian should be moving like a slug to the Clones.

He got a ping from Commander Blitz.

Erwin walked over to his chair and took the call. A small hologram of Blitz appeared in front of Erwin.

"Commander Blitz."

"My Lord, the operation is complete. No casualties."

"Good, Blitz. What did you think about fighting against an Ezo adversary?"

"The Batarians were unorganized and were poor fighters. I suspect that might be due to the Xeno race, not the technology. If Batarians used our Ezo in their rifles, I think we would have taken casualties."

"True, the Alliance is much more organized and motivated. They use Ezo, but would probably put up a much more coordinated resistance. But, what are your thoughts on the technology itself?"

Commander Blitz was quiet for a moment.

"My Lord, it seems Ezo technology heavily favors mobility. The ability to change the mass of an object with such little energy favors equipment produced for speed. I'm not sure why they don't use more armor, Ezo could potentially be used for heavier equipment."

"That's how this Galaxy developed. The technology needed to produce armor strong enough to shrug off relativistic projectiles is beyond them. Then the form of Ezo they use is too weak to make armor practical. However, even the Reapers seem to favor mobility over protection. So you're correct, it favors mobility."

"What about Reaper shields? If their shields are strong enough, they don't need armor." Blitz asked.

"They're advanced but unknown. The videos from the Citadel battle are shit resolution. I can't see how their shields behave. It seems like dark matter deflectors, from the little I've seen and the Reaper remains."

"Is it a safe assumption that Reaper ground forces will primarily rely on shields?"

"I'd say yes, everything points to that. However, don't be too surprised if the Reapers have fantastic armored ground pounders."

"Flexible strategy then. It explains the equipment given to us, my Lord."

"Yes. In the meantime, don't hesitate to request new equipment."

"Understood, my Lord. Before I forget, some of the men put in some odd requests. I understand if it's not possible to facilitate them, but it'd be much appreciated."

"I'll take a look at them. I'm proud of yours and the men's performance."

"Thank you, my Lord. I'm sure the men will be ecstatic."

"What do you recommend we do with the planet?" Erwin asked

"Now wait a minute, space is my domain." Ares interrupted. His hologram formed next to Blitz's own.

"Last time I checked, it was our Lord's." Blitz counters.

"Listen here, youngster. The Ancilla have helped far longer than some rest tube babies."

"Until our Lords needed an upgrade."

"Why you-"

"Enough!" Erwin interjected.

A moment of silence hung over the three.

"Sorry…"

"Apologies, my Lord."

Ares and Blitz apologized.

"I'll ask both of you, then. What do you recommend we do with the planet?"

"Blitz, you first." Erwin added, he felt both of them start at the same time.

"My Lord, we should glass it. The Xenos in this Universe must know the consequence of defying the Empire."

"Of course, you would." Ares scoffed.

"Brother, we should just leave. We don't want to draw the attention of the Reapers. Even using gamma lasers for a glassing would be suspicious. Not to mention there are just civilians down there. Twenty million less, thanks to the Sixth, but still almost three billion."

"Twenty million less Xeno filth. You also took out a good million." Blitz snarled.

Ares' hologram glared at Blitz's.

"My Lord, then use Nukes. It's a primitive technology that is still capable of wiping out the Batarians. It'll also help clear evidence of our technology. Those Xeno dogs treated Humans like animals, and defended their actions with Human morals!"

Ares rolled his eyes.

"Human morals? I saw what some of your men did down there. The Asari are clear examples of Xenos acting like compassionate Humans."

"It matters little. They used morals not their own. The Batarian scum were also raping those blue freaks, you're so fond of."

Erwin sighed.

They were like fucking children sometimes.

Then at the worst possible time, he got a call from Oriana.

Erwin was not going to touch that with a ten-foot pole, at the moment…

Ares must have known Blitz was winning because his hologram gained a triumphant smile.

"I wonder what Oriana would think?" Ares asked with a faked innocence.

Erwin scowled at him, Ares quickly lost that shit-eating smile.

"Who?" Blitz asked.

"I suppose she's my girlfriend." Erwin admitted.

Blitz looked pleased.

"Are we in due for an heir soon, my Lord?"

"I swear, they're like medieval knights…" Ares mumbled.

"Not for the foreseeable future."

"Is she adequately protected, my Lord? When you're not around, of course." Blitz quickly added that last part.

It wasn't like Erwin was offended by the question, he was just trying to be helpful. Ares did have a point, they borderline praised Erwin.

Erwin thought about the question for a second. Her father was an N7, and Oriana knew how to shoot. Her biotics were very impressive, and she really could take on an Asari commando. But…

"He has a point." Ares begrudgingly admitted.

"I don't know, it depends on the threat. She can hold her own, and her father is an N7." Erwin said.

Blitz looked horrified.

"My Lord! Lady Oriana could be the future carrier of your heir! One clone could wipe out a fully equipped squad of N7."

Yeah… medieval knights...

"Let me send a platoon to her location. They'd protect Lady Oriana against any threat." Blitz offered.

Ares lightly shook his head.

"You're insane. If you want to terrify the poor girl, go ahead and send over fifty of those psychopaths."

Ares looked at Erwin for a moment, then his eyes widened in mild horror.

"Erwin! No!"

"I wouldn't have to worry about Cerberus or Henry trying anything." Erwin reasoned.

"No! Brother, they'd scare her to death! Could you imagine the fallout from her talking to one of them!?" Ares desperately tried to squash the idea.

Erwin shuddered at that though.

Oriana was unhappy about the existence of an Imperial dreadnought. She broke down from some scars. Fifty deadly killing machines, showing up treating her like royalty? That would be very hard to explain.

"We'll talk about it later." Erwin put the topic of Oriana away for now.

Erwin started to chuckle.

Ares laughed.

Blitz looked confused.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"We were just talking about the fate of a planet, and we get off-topic about a teenager!" Ares joyfully explained.

"My Lord?" Blitz asked.

"Oh check this out! This is Oriana."

Ares sent Blitz a file of Oriana.

Blitz quickly looked it over with his neural lace. He cracked a smile.

"See, funny right?"

"It's... interesting." Blitz said flatly with a smile.

"Well that's your equivalent of laughter, I guess." Ares said.

"I laugh at plenty of things, Ancilla." Blitz disputed.

"Normal things… not using Xeno guts as Christmas decorations…"

"Of all the things our-"

Erwin filtered out their… whatever they were doing.

He was honestly unsure about the correct course of action. He was about to order a full nuclear bombardment, but that one mention of Oriana was enough to extinguish his rage.

However, Blitz had solid points. An example had to be made.

If the Empire saw this Galaxy, a single Legion would be enough to tame these primitives. Maybe a minor fleet for the Reapers.

The Imperial fleet would for sure glass a Batarian world or two.

Erwin balled his hands into a fist.

"When did I become so weak?" Erwin bitterly thought.

Erwin took in a deep breath, calming himself down.

"We're not going to nuke the planet." Erwin said, interrupting Ares and Blitz.

"Good! Now let's get back to R Prime. We got one hundred thousand people, and no idea where to put them."

"My Lord, I have a suggestion." Blitz said.

Erwin raised an eye.

"Go ahead."

"The planet has multiple bunkers used by the ruling class. The Clones cleared a few, but they're still numerous. The bunkers could be targeted with shaped nukes."

That was a good idea.

"Brother, the Citadel treats the use of nukes on garden worlds very seriously." Ares informed.

"Since when do we care what primitives think?" Blitz shot at Ares.

"Since we arrived in a totally different Universe, and especially since Erwin got a hard-on for one." Ares brushed it aside.

"On a serious note, that's going to tell the Reapers someone has mastery over nuclear technology. I'm not saying the Council has any legitimacy, but we need the Batarians to be seen as the bad guys. It'll help the political situation. Dropping nukes on their garden world like their goodie bags, ain't going to do that." Ares continued.

"But they must be punished!" Blitz vehemently countered.

"And they will be. We have millions of Clone Troopers. For the moment, that's plenty of manpower. I can make a database of every slave owner, and every sicko that puts a video on the web. Just create a Clone unit to abduct these individuals."

"Go ahead and make that database." Erwin agreed.

"Would that be enough? We have a Xeno planet under us right now." Blitz asked.

"Younger brother… you have no finesse. Sure we could blow this garden world into a barren rock, but why? Think about it. Every slave owner and Xeno rapist, at the Sixth's mercy. The Humans of this Universe would cheer you on. They'd see the errors of relying on Xenos for protection. Don't you see? You'd be making Humanity stronger, AND get your pound of flesh." Ares temped the Sixth Child.

Blitz thought about it for a minute, then smirked.

"You make a good point, older brother. What about the Empire? These Humans are part of the Alliance. By Imperial law they're traitors."

"True. But, is it fair to punish them for breaking a law, they had no idea existed? This is an entirely different Universe, we can't come at this like a sledgehammer. Rather we should be a precise scalpel. Also, making the Alliance strong and pro-human makes the Empire stronger."

"How so?" Blitz asked, his attention fully grabbed.

"Well, the only reason the Empire exists in this Universe is because of Erwin. We're never going to be able to go back to our Universe, but that doesn't mean the Empire is lost. With every child Erwin has, the Empire grows stronger. His sons need mates too, right?"

"Of course."

"Wouldn't a strong and prosperous Alliance give the sons of the Empire a strong stock to pick from? Also; if the Empire is seen in a good light, then females would clamor to become his sons' mates."

"You make sense, Ancilla."

"My Lord, I agree with the First Child's recommendation." Blitz told Erwin.

"Blitz, make sure the freed slaves are ready for departure."

"Ares, clear any digital evidence of our existence. Then gather the fleet, and take us home."

Erwin commanded.

"Yes, my Lord. Will that be all?"

"You're dismissed."

"My Lord." Blitz snapped an Imperial salute before disconnecting.

"Illium, or R Prime?" Ares asked in a snarky tone.

"Ares…"

"Right, setting course for R Prime."

Ares' hologram disconnected.

"Ares."

The hologram reappeared.

"Quit manipulating your sibling."

"But it's so fun!" He quipped before his hologram disconnected again.

Erwin looked over the odd request Commander Blitz sent him. He's never had the clones assigned to a rescue mission. They never requested anything, except for maybe a few comfort items.

"... ice cream?"