Five Months before the battle of New Ghent
It started promising. Just two months ago, after years of travel, exploration ships had managed to find the partner of a dormant mass relay leading into the, leading into the Orion arm of the galaxy, a so far unexplored part of the galaxy. Shortly after arriving within the uncharted zone, they found a world, just four light-years from the Relay that had been turned into glass. It wasn't the first world the Council had discovered which had been destroyed by orbital bombardment, but this one was different.
This one had been destroyed just decades earlier. Broken dreadnought-sized ships, and beyond, had been found adrift in the void throughout he system, still leaking radiation. Upon closer inspection of the ship, the explorers had found it to be filled with corpses. Thousands of bodies, as far as the eye could see, crammed together tightly inside of a massive cargo hold. They'd died where they fell, clutching throats and the vacuum claimed them. The final body count had revealed there to be fifty thousand two hundred and nineteen bodies in the ship. The computer systems had been damaged, but they had managed to reconstruct its data core.
This repeated in neighboring systems, orbital habitats destroyed, refugee ships hunted down. A Ruthless interstellar genocide. All of this had been taking place within the last two decades going by radiological and orbital decay. The cycle repeated itself in a few systems in range of the relay. Then, twenty light years from the first world that had been destroyed, they found another.
This world had only been bombarded partially, a large southern continent had been turned into glass, while the others were relatively untouched besides pinpoint orbital strikes. It was in this world that the STG had a lucky break..
An isolated community on the more unscathed northern continent had survived the scouring of the world, although its people were nowhere to be found. During their examinations, the STG team had discovered a small school and it still had some educational materials left. Meant to help teach children, the STG had finally been able to translate the mathematics and language of the so-called "humans". WIth this, they could finally begin deciphering the data they had retrieved.
"From: Captain Donnager of the UNSC Cruiser Are you feeling lucky?
Sent: April 9th 2527
Covenant ships are approaching New Warsaw. Remnants of the battlegroup are holding the line. Move to secondary spacepart to aid in immediate evacuation."
The news had struck a nerve with the the higher echelons of Citadel government. Someone was out there destroying a whole civilization, and committing genocide against a race much more technologically inferior than themselves. All three council races preparing contingencies and making preparations for what was to come, with the burden of coordinating these actions falling to the Citadel Council.
The Council chamber was quite like usual, ever since the word from beyond the Orion Relays had reached them. Tevos sat in front of Sparatus and next to Valern, inspecting the latest scouting reports. This was a small chamber, isolated from all outside noise, and was where the Council discussed unofficially when not in official meetings.
"Valern. Any news from the STG?"
The aged Salarian shook his head. He'd been with her in the briefing room almost every day since the first explorers had returned from the other side of the Relay. He'd even had his bed moved in. "Nearly all our STG assets have been deployed beyond Orion relay. But we have found scarcely more than burned worlds and destroyed ships and habitats. What technology remains is being taken to remote outposts for analysis." Tevos nodded.
Sparatus spoke up. "Our best scientists have been able to determine that whatever destroyed them were plasma and laser weapons of incredible yields. We're currently refitting Turian ships to counter these weapons the best way we can. It's a challenge, and we might need to reach into the private sector for eezo-mining grade heat shields."
He brought up a hologram of a Turian Cruiser on the central table. "We're improving the thermal protection on our ships, and modifying our kinetic barriers to attempt to shunt aside energy projectiles. Our efforts are… adequate, but a retrofit is not as effective as a dedicated ship." He changed the hologram to a large space station, half the size of the Citadel. It was bristling with guns and missile silos.
"We're also currently researching ways to improve our odds in the event we get attacked. Some of the Turian Engineering Corps have proposed that we construct large battle-stations, fitted with weapons too large to place upon any normal Citadel ships. We're bringing over some of the Asari working on the Tirii Supercollider and testing for viability, as well as buying Quarian information on their old Haratar-class stations. We're seeing if such a project is viable.."
Tevos nodded. The cost would be astronomical. "I'll talk to the Matriarchs of the Asari republics. We'll see about the possibility of raising new taxes to finance the construction, if the suggestion proves feasible."
Vallern spoke up, his omni-tool lighting up. "I just received news from Salarian science team." He brought up a helmet camera of a Salarian agent moving through what had to be a human vessel. The ship was filled with plasma scoring, and human bodies scattered all over the decks of the ship. Hundreds of them. The sight was revolting.
He scrolled forward until the agent entered a large room, where a large broken triangular device was located. It appeared to have been subjected to explosive demolitions.
"This ship was discovered broken above a Human world, and shows signs of what we've come to expect. Skeletons, plasma scoring on walls. However, our agents reported this device's peculiar radiation signature."
"Some sort of weapon?" Sparatus asked. "A radiation bomb?"
"Unsure. The radiation signature matches research done into high-energy physics at some Salarian research institutes, mostly research into higher dimensions. Perhaps it could be their power source? Or maybe even FTL via an alternate dimension? "
Tevos thought it over. Perhaps a dimensional power-tap? The concept had been theorized, and could perhaps explain the weapon yields, but she had trouble believing it. "I'll recommend Asari scientists look into these readings, as well as the STG. ."
"The knowledge of the existence of alternate dimensions does not allow access to said dimensions. We'll need luck, or a working device to discover how this works. In any case, the STG will happily accept asari assistance in our research. We have also found some undamaged datapads and logs which we've taken back for a further language analysis. We found what we believe to be a field manual for their soldiers, which mentions names for the enemy ground forces. I'll send copies to your station after this meeting. What's interesting to me, is that the ship's navigational data and computer cores had been wiped clean. Perhaps this race is trying to hide?"
Tevos nodded and brought up the second topic of the agenda. "What about the public? Has word leaked onto the Extranet yet?"
Valern shook his head. "Not yet. But rumors of a discovery beyond the Orion relay as well of an arms buildup are starting to spread. We don't know how long we'll be able to keep things hidden."
"Just do it as long as we can. We need to avoid a panic." Sparatus said, nodding in agreement with Tevos.
Tevos now took control of the holographic display, bringing up the framework of a spacecraft. "In better news, I've received word the Asari republics are setting up dedicated Dreadnought production facilities, allowing new ships to be installed with Silaris armor and modified Cyclonic barriers although the price will be… exorbitant. We'll be making some cuts to their capabilities. Crew comforts are minimal, and they can no long skim orbits. They're purely spacebound."
"Valern. Any news from your government?"
"We've sped up our planned fleet-expansion, and will be installing Ultraviolet GARDIAN lasers on all Salarian warships before the end of the year. The Joint Turian/Salarian Stealth ship development project shows promising results."
Tevos was counting the cost in her head as they discussed. The war preparations were expensive, not unfeasible for the Citadel, but still more than they'd devoted to their militaries in centuries. She was glad the Citadel had been at peace for so long, and therefore had a sizeable warchest to draw from.
"Sparatus, what about the Hierarchy?" She asked him, to which he responded as proudly as a Turian could. "The Primarch is prepared to draft the entire Turian race if it proves necessary. We've also begun breaking out the old planet-killers from the Rebellion. High yield fusion, and fission bombs." There was a pause. "We are also restarting researching the feasibility of antimatter warheads for planetary bombardment purposes."
"The Primarch has ordered that the first retrofitted ships will be deployed through the Orion relay soon to begin looking for Human colonies, or isolated Covenant ships. One fleet every week. We hope to find these "Humans" as soon as possible, and gather intelligence on the Covenant and their technology. We'll try to avoid confrontation, but if we find a world under assault the admirals have permission to engage so they can launch an evacuation. The remainder of the Turian fleet not tied up in peacekeeping will be stationed at the Relay."
Normally Tevos would have been angry at the prospect of the Turians engaging an unknown race, but the sights of the massacres painted a bleak picture of what this Covenant was like. They had to be ready, and forming an alliance with the humans could be vital in defeating the Covenant.
"We'll have a newly colonized world prepared to house human war refugees. They could give us vital intel on what is going on. Any news on their biology?"
Valern spoke up. "Analysis and dissection of bodies revealed Levo-Amino acids, with gravity and atmospheric preference roughly similar to most species." She could see Sparatus look relieved at the revelation. Dextro worlds were rare, and hoarded jealously by the Turians.
"We'll come back together at the next official meeting with everything we've talked about planned out. Agreed?"
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
As Tevos walked out of the room, she thought back on how many new initiatives and research programmes they were throwing billions of credits at. Antimatter warheads, Citadel-sized defensive stations, Full fleet refits, research into alternate dimensions. She knew for sure that each of their races was hiding their own secret projects. Her own species was exploring creating a crops of gene-modded and augmented Asari "supercommandos", while the Salarians and Turians undoubtedly had their own secret projects.
She headed out to a private terminal. She had a few calls to make.