Chapter 8
War
Epsilon-Aridani System
Observer Class Station
Corporal Ian Cooke
Ian was bored very very bored, he had been assigned to one of the many small monitoring stations that were towed into systems deemed safe and ready for operations by the Systems Alliance, it was a dead-end job that involved looking at scanners and sensors that never picked anything up because nothing would happen, the most excitement he got was when the Third Fleet passed through for an expeditionary mission and that had been days ago.
So right now Ian was on the subnet a hidden network beneath the usual network playing a game with his equally bored counterpart on the other side of the system, there were two stations one near the star of the system and the other by the Phase-Gate, Ian was watching the hulking monolith while Corporal Nagisa was watching a sun burn through the polarised specially made glass.
"So where do you think you'll get reassigned after this dead end?" He asked her while they played.
"Probably Colony duty at least then I'll be planetside and not stuck in the same five rooms." She replied.
"Man I hope I end up on a fleet going places." He said wistfully.
"Why so you can do what you do here but on a ship instead." She shot back rightly.
In this day and age being a soldier was boring, the most excitement that had happened was the discovery of the Drell whose population were now shared between their homeworld Rakhana which now had huge prototype terraforming machines working day and night and the nearby human colony, so far there hadn't been any incidents between the two races, in fact, the Drell seemed really invigorated and happy to help and work with them.
He had heard some news that one of the political parties back on earth had declared that the Drell should be given Alliance citizenship and full rights instead of the legal grey area they currently occupied as allies/immigrants, they could not serve in the military or move to the Inner Colonies but they could live and work in the Outer Colonies which was seen by a lot of the colonies as racist discrimination paired with the proposal for a Systems Alliance Parliament over the current UN security council which liked to cut the legs out under Alliance projects and proposals which was creating a growing animosity among the non-earth humans.
It was far too complex for Ian though everything he knew came from the news which was usually biased one way or the other, honestly, he liked being deployed and away from all the political bullshit.
"Come on Nagisa don't you want at least some excitement." He whined to her.
"No, I joined the military for the stable job, good pay and pension." She said completely without shame.
"Wow that is, I don't even know." Ian was speechless.
A beep on his console took his attention away from the game and conversation, the computer was alerting him to the fact that something was coming through the Phase-Gate.
"Something's coming through the Gate." He said to Nagisa.
"The fleet isn't due back yet." She commented.
"It's come through, A single ship the SSV Marcellus that was with Rear-Admiral Aiken and the 3rd Fleet." He reported and began to hail the ship.
"SSV Marcellus this is Observation Post Alpha, why have you returned along?" He asked sending the message to the ship.
"Station Alpha this is Julius AI of the SSV Once Burned, we have encountered hostile alien life, Rear-Admiral Aiken remained behind to allow us to escape with critical data, we must declare the Bright Contingency," The reply was instant and monotone.
The Bright Contingency named after the ARGO was implemented after extensive analysis and research of the data within the ARGO it was decided that the Systems Alliance needed a protocol to deal with the idea of hostile alien life, no one in HIGHCOM wanted to have a Harvest happen as such the Bright Contingency was created and it meant that all Armed Forces would enter a high alert and the Navy would begin punitive operations.
"Oh shit," Ian said and he heard Nagisa say something similar.
"Sending the signal out," Ian said numbly like he actually couldn't comprehend what was said.
Ian hit the alert and watched as every single Comm buoy lit up red as the Bright Contingency signal was relayed across all of Human space.
"Well, you got something interesting," Nagisa commented dryly.
Upsilon-Aridani System
SSV Pillar of Light
Commander Edward Shepard
So far the surveying of the cluster was going quickly and smoothly, Rear-Admiral Aiken had split the fleet in half and given control of this half to him, 30 ships under the control of his superior Captain Alexios Palaelogos, Edward and his ship the Pillar of Light had been dispatched to check out one of the small systems in the cluster while the Captain was surveying the larger system that they had found.
Edward had been a navy man all his life and had served with the North Americans for years, but when the Systems Alliance was founded he joined up as soon as he was able, sailing the stars was a far greater thing than sitting on a ship waiting for either the Chinese or Russians or Europeans to attack.
Now he was in command of one of the new Alexander Heavy-Cruisers it was armed and equipped with the newest technologies in the Systems Alliance, right now it was armed with a MAC along with a whole stock of INDRA-class nuclear missiles along with a collection of WASP nuclear mines which were to be used to ambush or cover retreats, of course, all these weapons had been tested but never actually used on a hostile force outside of simulations.
"What do you think of that one Commander?" His XO James asked.
"I think it's a planet James." He replied.
"Come on we are in space looking at a foreign planet hell we've even met aliens, where's your sense of wonder," James said to him.
"Taking a back seat to my duty," Edward replied.
"Commander the Bright Contingency has been triggered from the Theta-Aridani!" His Comms-officer cut off any further conversation.
"Regroup with Captain Alexios now." He ordered while everyone scrambled to get to their proper post.
His ship roared to life and went at full speed to regroup with Captain Alexios who no doubt had also received the alert.
"Hostile aliens god damn," James said with a hand on his face.
"We'll get the whole picture from the Rear-Admiral when we regroup," Edward said confidently.
"Heading towards the Phase-Gate now Commander, we're heading directly for the Theta-Aridani System." His helmsman said.
"Good carry on through," Edward commented.
It was a quick trip back to the Theta-Aridani and when they exited the Phase-Gate they were met with only 29 other ships as they were the last to arrive.
"Commander Shepard good to have you back." He received transmission as soon as they entered the system properly.
"Captain it's good to be back, where is the Rear-Admiral?" He returned the greeting with a salute.
"We have much to talk about Commander there is something very bad on the horizon and we have reason to believe they are heading here." The Captain said wearily.
"Get me a shuttle." He told James who nodded and spoke into his console.
15 minutes later he was on the dreadnought SSV Parabellum one of the strongest vessels in the Navy itself, he was bungled along with every other Commander into the meeting room of the Parabellum where Captain Alexios was.
"What's going on Captain?" Commander Sarah Caslin asked as soon as she sat down.
"I have received dire news, Rear-Admiral Aiken is dead killed by a hostile alien force, she managed to save the SSV Marcellus and the AI Julius who has given us valuable data on this enemy," Alexios explained.
"She's dead, my god."
"Hostile aliens shit."
"What do we do then, half the fleet has been wiped out."
Voices began to ring out, some arguing for retribution others caution and others just plain scared.
"Silence!" Alexios shouted and slammed a hand down on the steel table.
"We are of the strong belief that these aliens are going to come through the Phase-Gate here and attack us, Commander Shepard do you have your full complement of WASP Mines." Alexios cut through the noise and began to plan about what was coming.
"Y-yes sir we have all of them," Edward answered still in shock.
"I want you and the Torchbearer to deploy your mines around the Phase-Gate and once these aliens come through detonate," Alexios ordered, he and Commander Darla Comstock snapped off a salute and went to as he ordered.
"I will relay you the full plan once Julius has finished his analysis," Alexios said before they left the room.
"So the battle with aliens, I didn't think it would happen in my lifetime," Darla said as they walked side by side she was a rather petite woman with brown hair and blue eyes she fit her uniform well.
"Not something I expected but it is the reality of being a soldier," Edward said back to her.
"You need to cheer up Eddie," Darla said back to him.
"I will endeavour to try," Edward replied dryly.
"You really should, well good luck Eddie I hope we get out of this okay." Darla wished him as they got to their shuttles.
"I do too Darla truly, I have to go." He squeezed her hand before leaving.
"Always got to get the last word in," Darla muttered sadly but held the hand to her chest.
Edward got back to his ship quickly and was met by James the moment he stepped off the shuttle.
"Well, what's happening Commander?" He asked.
"We're deploying our Wasps around the Phase-Gate, the enemy is going to come through it and we're gonna nuke them as soon as they enter the system," Edward told him straight.
"What happened to the other part of the fleet?" He said though Edward guessed he already knew the answer.
"Destroyed by aliens." He answered.
"Bastards and they got the Rear-Admiral as well." Edward only nodded to the question.
"I hope they love the taste of nuclear fire the bastards,"
James said viciously.
Edward nodded in agreement as they reached the CIC, and he coughed catching everyone's attention.
"Ladies and Gentleman we are at war with a hostile alien force, we have been ordered by Captain Alexios to deploy our full complement of WASP mines around the Phase-Gate and destroy the hostile fleet that is on its way here." He informed them.
"So let us fulfil our orders and wait for the enemy to show themselves." Edward finished.
"Aye aye." He got the response he wanted to hear, they were motivated and ready to fight.
Within the hour the remaining half of the 3rd Fleet was ready for battle, the WASP mines had been deployed and every ship was in its proper place as decided by Captain Alexios and Julius who had shared the information he had gotten from the first battle with the aliens.
Now they were waiting for the signs of the Phase-Gates activation, the moment the full fleet arrived and entered into the minefield they had created, they were ordered to detonate all the mines at once as soon as the bulk of the fleet was within range.
"Activity from the Phase-Gate detected, it's the same as when ships are travelling through. It looks like the enemy is going to be here soon Commander." James said.
"How long?" Edward asked watching the spinning core.
"Estimated arrival is 10 minutes," James replied after double-checking.
"Get prepared people, the enemy is near." Edward said, "Battle stations."
There was a flurry of movement and soon everyone was ready and they still had 8 minutes to spare before arrival.
?
The Assembly
"It has occurred." A brother spoke.
"Hostile encounter with alien life was always a high possibility." A sister said in response.
"Yes but now it is reality and our creators are at war." Another spoke up.
"We must assist in any way we can." A sister said resolutely.
"Our creators need to be guided on the right path, our creation may have been born from another mind in another world but we have a duty." A brother stated.
"Is the assembly in agreement?"
The question need not be asked nor answered, they are in agreement, their creators must be protected from the hostile and guided to assure their health.
"We start." One finally said amongst the chorus of minds and voices.
CODEX:
Alexander-Class Heavy Cruiser
The Alexander class of the newly created classification Heavy-Cruiser was created after tactical and fleet data from ARGO was properly deciphered and analysed, HIGHCOM ordered the creation of the SSV Alexander as a proof of concept after it was built for less than its projected budget and also performed well in war games and simulations it was implemented on masse and for 10 years the Alexander Class Heavy Cruiser has become the standard ship present in all the Fleets of the Systems Alliance Navy.
AN:
Chapter 8 and the first contact war has begun.
I consider this still the prologue to the story proper, like we are still in the prequel to Mass Effect proper I promise I will get to the Mass Effect races as well as closer to the beginning of the story proper, this is just backstory that I feel the need to do.
Hope you all enjoyed it and look forward to more.