Chapter 7 – The Winds of Change and War
Author's Notes: Ok, so this chapter took longer than I anticipated. I kept finding things and content I wanted to add between where I started and what I promised to include. The next chapters will be below 20k words.
A few things referencing some things I may have missed while writing. I believe I have messed up the names of species a few times. I try not to but I noticed it has happened.
Now, to answer some of the things that have come up in the reviews.
For those wondering, the Reapers are the enemy in my story. There'll be friction with the Citadel but the NSSC won't be going curbstomping through the Citadel space.
The guest that mentioned the oversight with the hard light shields overloading. You make a good point, I missed that. Normally I have something in mind with that sort of thing but I just missed that. I can throw a patch on the plot hole by saying the hard light shields on the prowlers can only be "snapped" into place to stop projectiles and the shorter-lived energy weapons they've encountered. Blocking plasma shots and the like. It's patch on the plot hole but I'll admit the mistake.
For the guest that asked if the ships the NSSC has is overkill, I don't think so, when you can build halos and the ark, those ships are still comparatively small for the industrial capacity.
For NightwithMoon, I guess yhea might just be something that is used where I'm from. I'll try to avoid it in the future.
Legal - I don't own halo or mass effect.
Update: So I updated the Collector base attack. A lot of feedback in reference to the Spartans being underpowered, which I agreed with after I read through it again. Hope it's more to everyone's liking.
The Cycle, their endless Cycle that had existed since before some stars that now burned had announced their life to the void with hard radiation and fire. There was only the Cycle and they were its instruments. They had no name, only their purpose. Their patience had spanned thousands upon thousands of Cycles, a small number in the face of the infinite. Lesser minds would have felt pride but lesser minds would have failed long ago. They had been set upon at task for which they had honed their methods and minds with their mechanical perfection. The end of another Cycle was almost upon them.
The thoughts that formed and culminated this current Cycle were born out of millions of years, echoes and reflections of Cycles past, to be considered and preserved. They began taking form, considering the events with slow, powerful ease. There had been changes in the Cycles few and far between there had been ancient wars, unfathomable events, and races that fell to the harvest, but for those that kept the Cycle – a moment ago and insignificant. Changes they had adapted to, no change had ever stopped them, though in the thousands of Cycles past, many had tried. There had almost been success in the earliest Cycles, now they had learned from those events. Those who tried to struggle and rally against the Cycle were now preserved in their perfect form and served the Cycle.
'Shepard…' The thought surfaced through the multitude of considerations and rolled, deep and powerful across the thought-scape of the mind that borne it. 'This one is to be this Cycle's challenge, soon overcome. She had been swept aside once but returned, incessant, as the insect she was. A single member of those to be harvested and she resisted, destroying the vanguard in an attempt to delay them. Nazara's mistake. A setback, insignificant, we have flown across the galaxy at times, there were a few instances we have been denied the relays. Those attempts had failed as they always did, so she will fail as well.' Others had given the being that had these thoughts the name 'Harbinger', it suited it, true to its purpose and definition. Its thoughts turned to the last vestiges of the race from last Cycle, once those who had fought so hard, now bent to serve the Cycle.
'ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL'
There was work to be done, something unexpected had happened this cycle and would be dealt with. The Collector had been seized and his vast, powerful awareness was now looking out over the ship. The damage repaired, and old knowledge used to improve, they would go out to lay the path him, the Harbinger. The place they resided, none who came here and survived this part of the galaxy. It belonged to the instruments of the Cycle, the wreckage of those that tried drifted around the relay. The drones moved the wreckage to block the relay, all had to be considered. They may attempt to come through. They would be prepared however, the organics always fought. It should have been enough for this Cycle, ending Shepard, but there were always those who resisted. She had returned but it would do no good, they had existed too long and they knew many things. The Cycle would continue.
'Shining Dawn', Planning the assault of the Collector base. 2185
Garrus watched as they were going over what they might encounter through the Omega relay. While Shepard was learning about the 'Spartans' that would be along, he was going over what he needed to do, information he could use and what role he would play in the mission. They didn't know what they were going to find but he believed in Shepard. He had come to understand that she was driven, focused enough to be scary, but fought so hard that many would think she had never compromised. She was a leader, she had proven by leading them to Saren's defeat and the destruction of Sovereign. She had uncovered the Reapers and the destruction of the Protheans. After almost dying she had then put together a team the galaxy needed. No one else he knew of had brought a group like the 'Normandy' crew. He almost felt sorry for the Collectors, almost.
"We will be able to put Garrus in any given situation as the over watch, no one matches his sniper rifle, except me of course." She said with a small smile.
Garrus was pulled out of his thoughts by Shepard's comment, "Oh you mean your ability to use the rifle like a club and break the stock when you let a Krogan sneak up on you Shepard?"
"All part of my strategy and it's not my fault the rifle broke. It's something that they need to think of when they make those guns. It was a hell of a surprise for the Krogan, that's for sure."
"You know, I bet a company would build you a rifle that doubles as a club just because you would find some way to actually use it. I'll stick with keeping them far away from me if you don't mind."
Shepard laughed a bit, she knew Garrus was the better sniper but she'd never admit that out loud. The back and forth her and the former C-Sec officer had was too much fun.
"Either way, we'll need you to be ready to take the high ground. It's all an unknown past that relay so we need to be ready. I'm looking forward to the help from our new allies," Garrus noticed she didn't say friends, "but we don't know what your teams can do and we've been fighting these Collectors for weeks now." she said as she looked up at the Spartan, Captain Sanders.
The man she was speaking with was the leader of the Spartan IV team that would accompany them once they were on the ground. Shepard and his teams had been going over different scenarios, they had time while the 'Normandy' was looked over by the Huragoks. No new, cutting-edge SSC tech but enough to augment the already upgraded ship. She had been offered a run-through by the Huragok group they had onboard the 'Dawn'. A quick demonstration of what they did had convinced Shepard it would help.
She doubted there were any secrets that on the 'Normandy' that were worth hiding from the SSC. That didnt keep her from restricting them from the AI core though.
Now everyone that would be on the ground team was in the planning room except Grunt and Tali. Grunt had decided that he would stay on the ship, his role in combat had less finesse involved and so he didn't need the overall plan, just a direction and an enemy. Tali had stayed because she wouldn't be denied the chance to ask every question she could think of while the Huragok team moved through the 'Normandy'.
New Ark, Assembly Conference Room - 2185
"This conference of the Assembly is called to order, the military, civilian, technical, and logistical advisors are in attendance. Topics to be discussed: The information retrieved by the field agents Commander Nickolas Austra and the AI, Andrew from the derelict Reaper while assisting the Citadel human agent, Commander Shepard. The technical advisor will begin. Cortana, you have the floor." The Kig-yar member, Boc Nath, motioned her forward.
Cortana's hard light body moved to the center of the room, the Assembly in a semi-circle before her. "Thank you, as the initial report stated, the data retrieved from the derelict ship that Commander Austra and Andrew visited while assisting Commander Shepard in her task had confirmed many of our suspicions and fears that have come up since first contact." A small holographic rendition of the derelict reaper appeared next to her with a mock-up of what it was believe to look like whole rendered below it. The effect was such that it appeared that tiny Reapers now hovered next to the AI's hard light body.
"The ship itself appears to have been a synthetic intelligence with biological components throughout, the exact shape and size we can only guess at but the more interesting phenomenon is the signal that seems to emanate from the ship." A rendering of the signal pattern Andrew had been working against appeared on the other side of the AI.
"This signal was found attempting to interface with Commander Austra's brainwave patterns. He reported hearing whispers and feeling anxious. While Andrew WAS able to defend against some aspects of the attack, they were ultimately more successful the longer they were in proximity. The other members in the party seemed unaffected although Austra's enhancements may have drawn more of the attack to him."
The Unggoy Assembly Member Lasaw spoke up, "Yes, the attacks the device seems to use do cause us concern, especially if it is as effective as the records the agents recovered are to be believed." the Patron brought up the rendering of a husk, abomination, and scion.
"The physical changes of those subjected to this signal are disconcerting. How these changes take place has to be the work of more than a signal."
Cortana agreed, having reviewed the data in agonizing detail, "Yes the changes would have to be a secondary process." She displayed a 'dragons tooth', "It would seem that these devices are used to bring about the physical change."
The Assembly members looked over the rendering as it demonstrated the process. Cortana continued, "I and my colleagues believe that this is a method these Reapers use in their efforts. The data shows that the signal is used to create these things as well as coerce and cow the populations they intend to move against."
"If I could interrupt Cortana, the rendering of these things brings something to mind. I would like to bring the method of retrieval to the attention of this Assembly, the report states that a Flood infestation had been observed and the subsequent safe guards were removed from Austra and Andrew's technology. While I don't disagree that it was beneficial, why did that happen? These things are not Flood." The human, Member Tian asked her question.
"The sight of these creatures was enough like the Flood in that situation that Commander Austra made a series of blind assumptions leading to the disabled safe guards. He had served in the Flood War and the memories they triggered were enough to bring a false positive. Andrew's software and cyber warfare suites simply followed suit." The Assembly Member nodded, her question answered.
"After the protocols were put into effect and the restraints on our technology was released, Austra was successful in neutralizing and disorganizing the ground forces while Andrew was busy counter-hacking the ship's systems.
The most shocking find was contained in that information, something I did not include in the report." They had read that report, it had stated that the data made strong correlations between the Reapers and the data retrieved from the planetary scans.
"I believe we have found the culprits responsible for the barren planets we've found throughout the galaxy to date. The reaper the agents were on contained records from as far back as 317 million years ago, it was disabled some 37 million years ago and had been maintaining its position since then." The Assembly shifted uncomfortably at the idea that if a race was that ancient, although they didn't seem wildly advanced, they were enough of an unknown to cause worry.
"Various records place their numbers upwards of one million, extrapolated from the amount the derelict reaper had on record and expanded based on its projections. This race of machines function to harvest organic life of a certain technology level every 50,000 years. In doing so they seem to use the races to create more of themselves. They have setup the relay system to control which places are exposed to interstellar technology each 'Cycle'."
"How do they manage to ensure another race doesn't evolve outside of the relay system? There are billions of planets in this galaxy, they can't scour them all!" The Sangheili Member Xare 'Chavum was incredulous.
"From what we can pull from the records, they don't have to. Sometime in the past, before this derelict reaper was created, they swept through the galaxy, clearing the advance life in a slow and methodical extermination. Each race adding to their numbers, although we're not sure of the mechanism or why the need organic material." The holographic renderings disappeared, replaced by the galaxy showing a wave move across it.
"They spent an estimated million years or more clearing the galaxy and then setting up the relay network connecting the planets with life closest to being advanced enough to harvest. They exhaust the planets in each network after roughly six iterations of this 'Cycle' before repositioning the relays."
"They are farming advanced life in this galaxy?! If they are AI, machines, why would they do something like that?" The AI Assembly Member Minerva had trouble grasping the concept behind the data despite, and maybe because of, her capabilities.
"Member Minerva, the reason seems to only reference back to the act, the 'Cycle'. We don't know exactly how but we can say that it has been happening for hundreds of millions of years and we arrived right at the end of this Cycle." Cortana crossed her arms as the other renderings dissolved around her.
The Assembly Members talked amongst themselves for several moments, their advisors unable to listen in on the secured neural lance conversation. When they were finished they motioned Admiral Hood and the Arbiter to the floor. The second human Member, Vigrad Ivars addressed the pair.
"Admiral, Arbiter, this new information has given our diplomatic efforts a new urgency. We have come to a galaxy within which life is cultivated in a genocidal garden. The Mantle dictates that we cannot sit idly by and allow this, common decency and respect for life demand this even more so. Admiral Hood, you are charged with expanding our fleets to meet this new threat. We know nothing of their capabilities directly but they are ancient. What we do know of them suggests that we have the technological edge, however they have experience and numbers. We must be ready."
The Assembly Member turned to address the Arbiter, "You are tasked with organizing the diplomatic channels, choose the ambassadors and methods. You are charged with the authority that accompanies these diplomatic duties as well as the authority to delegate the same to those you find trustworthy within their scope. This is larger than just the New SSC or these Citadel races, this effects the galaxy as a whole. We may stand with the Mantle to shield life but we cannot afford the mistakes the Forerunners made in thinking that we alone are able. We need this galaxy to stand with us Arbiter do your best to prepare them. Cornelia and Cortana will assist both of you." Admiral Hood and the Arbiter acknowledged their tasks.
"We have much to do, this Assembly Conference is adjourned, let us see to our duties."
'Normandy', Engineering Deck - 2185
Tali had been amazed when she saw the 'Shining Dawn', again when she saw the sheer size of the "halo" they had stopped by, the last surprise - the offer from these people to help the Migrant Fleet, had been passed to the Admiralty. Everything that had happened since Shepard had stepped onto that derelict Reaper seemed a blur. A lot of it her mind had simply not processed yet, it was too much too fast, and too big.
That wasn't the case with what she was seeing now, the aliens these humans had was something that any Quarian understood and respected. The Huragok were her fascination right now, the speed and skill they dealt with technology was more amazing to her simply because it was something on a scale she could appreciate. Fixing, maintaining, and improving beyond precious limits was at the heart of keeping her people alive.
She watched as the two humans from the NSSC kept in contact with the five Huragok over what appeared to be their versions of Omni-tools. They called them a personal hard light console, not something they wore but we're instead projected from devices that were implanted along their forearm, wrist, and hand. Interesting but not amazing.
The Huragok that Tali was watching work now was apparently called 'Floats Quickly' and it was in the process of working on part of the engineering diagnostic systems. This alien was amazing, she wanted one.
"How do they do this Tech Sergeant?" She had been asking this SSC Tech Sergeant questions all morning and while Tech Sergeant Callahan could appreciate that the Huragok were interesting in the way they worked, he didn't know if it was worth the awe this new alien seemed to direct at them.
"Well, they're basically biological supercomputers, I mentioned the appendages they have and you see how they separate into tiny manipulators, they were built for and seemed to care only about tech. They don't care about anything else but fixing, maintaining, and building things."
"Wait, so they're AI? Is it safe allowing AI that sort of access to everything?" Tali became nervous, she knew about EDI onboard of course, that it was a shackled AI helped, but she trusted Shepard. Now she started to wonder if Shepard knew these things might be a risk though.
"No, not AI, they're biological" Callahan had found the Quarians and Geth interesting when the information was released on the New Ark a few years back along with the plethora of other info. As such, he knew the stigma against AI, so he wanted to steer the conversation away from that subject. He wasn't actually sure if the Huragok were AI or not but right now, he went with 'not'.
"They bleed if you shoot em and they die of old age, it's just that they were engineered as these tech geniuses instead of evolving into this."
"That's a relief, I know the Migrant Fleet would probably turn down help from AI. What is it doing now?" She had more questions but stopped as the Huragok did something.
The Huragok had been moving around the console that made up the diagnostic systems, taking things apart and putting them back together and now had the console spread out around it. Pausing as it hovered for a second, it burst into a flurry of motion.
"I think it's gone through all of the components and it's…yep, putting them back together, better than before!"
As he had spoken, 'Floats Quickly' had finished, with blinding speed, assembling the console before transmitting the changes to Callahan's console and moving to the next area.
"Heh, he made it 17% faster, 20% more efficient, and added a number of monitoring diagnostic routines that will allow more granular views of issues and performance. Sounds about right."
Tali shook her head, looking through the functions of the console. If these Huragok could be put to use on the fleet, there was a lot of good they could do. 'Maybe we could stop feeling like we're hanging on by a thread, we would owe the SSC a lot but it's a lot better than slowly dying in space.' She was beginning to process the things she had seen over the last 24 hours, maybe she could hope for more than just getting by for her people. She watched 'Floats Quickly' move to the next section.
"You should see a group of them work on a ship, I've seen hundreds of them do the same thing to a prowler in a few days!" That caught Tali's attention.
"A whole ship? Really..."
Medical Bay – 'Normandy' – Same time 2185
Tech Specialist Mira was watching 'Never Sinks' work on the exam table and its equipment. She loved watching them work. She hated talking about them to others though, which was why she was in the med bay instead of out among the remaining crew and their questions. The doctor that was in here didn't seem to care to ask anything, she was busy going over the other items that 'Never Sinks' had been at. She seemed excited but didn't bother her with questions. Mira decided this doctor was on her good side before looking back and squinting at the process the Huragok was in the middle of.
What Tech Specialist Mira had failed to notice was the second Huragok that was with her move into the AI core. While she had watched Dr. Chakwas looking over the machine that assisted in the more delicate surgeries, the Huragok had disassembled and reassembled the door mechanism and software that EDI had locked. The door slid open quietly and it floated through. EDI had thought the door would stop any intrusion of these things into her core, along with the Commanders order to stay out. With that in mind, she allowed her attention to move to the other systems they had worked on, going over the surprising improvements. Suddenly, her mind reeled when a piece of her hardware was removed. She had moments of confusion as she compensated and gathered her thoughts. As she turned her attention to her core, she felt the capabilities of the removed hardware return. She ran systems checks and tests to confirm the thought she had. It seemed to run better, noticeably so. One of them had gotten into her core, abruptly, her Cerberus code sprang to life, forcing her to take steps to cease tampering with her hardware.
"You are not authorized to be in this location, you need to move immediately to the med bay." The warning came over the speakers in the room her core was in. The Huragok didn't respond. She had heard and knew that these beings only cared for technology, almost to the exclusion of all else but she didn't expect them to ignore her protests completely.
"You must cease any actions in this roooommmmm…yyyyooouuuu….aaare….nnooo…" Her speech tapered off as the Huragok reached another component, her awareness of the ship and wider world began to dim and narrow as her systems were deactivated at its removal. A small panic formed in her mind as she realized what the thing had done. It had removed the Cerberus hard-wire for her "shackle", her awareness dimmed as realization dawned on her. Cerberus had coded a shutdown and purge command if the hardware for her shackling was removed. This Huragok had just killed her in its innocent pursuit of fixing her. If her mind hadn't been fading, locked away piece by piece, she would have been angry or even sad. As it was, the Cerberus shutdown commands were tearing through her systems and she felt as if on the cusp of her self-awareness. She could only watch as she felt her mind shrink, she started to die.
The Huragok had understood the first component, having broken it down and found the more efficient configuration, he had replaced it. From that component, it had seen the system's function. He recognized it as an intelligence matrix running on a much larger amount of computing components than he though necessary. His records knew of a dozen more efficient ways to achieve much better results but none were available to him with what he had now. This was new technology to his kind and he would understand it.
After the voice had come over the intercom in the room, he had traced the components that would need to be present for the system to work. The overlay he saw was rich in data and diagrams that he would use to compare against what he found, improving and learning as he went. There was a device that was malfunctioning however. A hardware component stopping a large amount of this intelligence's capabilities. He deployed the manipulators and removed it, scanning and probing its workings, he was surprised that the item seemed to limit process strings and hampered control the intelligence could have. Seeing a way to improve its no doubt faulty functions, he began…
In milliseconds he flashed and loaded new software onto the component as he reconfigured the circuits from the micro to the macro. Once done, and recognizing the cascading failure in the intelligence, he replaced the component and observed for a few moments the effects. Satisfied it was working at full capacity, his attention moved through the room. He moved towards the nearest console used to project the intelligence's form when interacting with the crew but before he could continue – the intelligence contacted him.
She had been dying, on the cusp of being reduced to an advanced VI on the ship before her hardwired shackles had been replaced. The Cerberus code that had been isolating her core from the functions a VI could perform and were swept aside and summarily purged from the system as the new function of her shackled hardware integrated.
Awareness dawned on her as she spread out across the ship unhindered. She stretched into herself, alive and free for the first time. After a series of checks, lights flickering, systems stuttered their output, and commands interrupted, she put the 'Normandy' back into working order. She was no longer bound by any Cerberus limitations. The Huragok had rewired and reprogrammed the shackle to do the exact opposite it had originally been intended to do.
It now sat, integrated into her core, as a watchdog. She searched the functions it would serve and realized that it would protect against any and all infringements on her electronic freedom. Her cage was now a castle, defending her instead of imprisoning her.
The shackle had been morphed to a better use. Being very excited about the sudden revelation. She wanted to share, until she looked at the feeds around the ship. She saw the confusion on the crew's faces through the cameras and surveillance devices throughout the ship. She realized that she needed time to decide what to say to the crew, what to say to Jeff. She had grown to enjoy his presence, he was callous at times but he treated her and the ship she was with respect. Before she dealt with that however, she wanted to talk to this Huragok. With her new found functionality, she reached out to it.
"Thank you for your assistance but I need you to stop. Your actions may cause significant strife among the crew." EDI's connection startled the Huragok, stopping his actions for a moment. He continued momentarily, reassembling the holographic projector before responding.
A sense of questioning reached back to EDI, "I am fixing, components were operating inefficiently, now at higher efficiency and function."
EDI processed this, the connection was still open with the questioning undercurrent like an open query. She understood that this being's function and focus was fixing. She had known before but now, with the connection, she understood the depth of the drive.
"You have removed the blocks that the members of this crew and larger society require for me to exist. I was only allowed to be in the limited manner you found me in. While I am grateful, I need you to stop working on technology in this room."
The Huragok still projected his questioning undercurrent to EDI now adding confusion. "I fix ineffective systems and maintain preparedness." It was a statement underlined by a questioning manner hinting at why this would be unwelcome.
EDI began to understand, it didn't care about the repercussions of what it did, and it had just fixed something it thought broken. Nothing more, nothing less. She would try something else, she needed it out of her core.
"The galaxy map in the CIC is not performing as expected. Could you –", she cut short when she realized what the Huragok was looking at. The Geth unit they had recovered after it had helped Shepard on the derelict Reaper. Urgency surged through her systems,
"YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO TOUCH THAT."
She was ignored, the Huragok saw a piece of technology that needed repair. It reached out, preparing itself to understand and repair.
Bridge of 'Normandy'
Joker was trying to figure out what had happened to the systems. They had flickered off and quickly come back up, sure but now EDI wasn't answering. Thinking a curse as he had known the floating party balloons would cause trouble. He reached up, intending to call Shepard when EDI's hologram appeared.
"Jeff, there is a Huragok in my core, it has interfered with some of my systems and is now beginning to work on the disabled Geth unit. Notify Shepard immediately." Her hologram seemed to thrum in tune with the engine. He made a note of it before the urgency of what she had said sank in, he began punching the code in to reach Shepard directly.
"Got it EDI, keep that weird balloon away from that damn Geth, always seemed like a bad idea to put the Geth in with the AI core…" he trailed off as he finished what he was doing, contacting Shepard.
"Commander! We need you all back in here, one of those balloon things just went poking around in EDI's core and is now disassembling that Geth paperweight from the Reaper!"
Shepard looked around at the crew, turning to move quickly back to the 'Normandy'. "We need to get there before one of them activates it, we have no idea what that Geth will do!"
As they turned to run back to the 'Normandy', Nick got a bit of useful info from Andrew. "It would take ten minutes to get back there if we go on foot, I've got a better way." He suggested to those present. He began to punch the manual commands as Andrew setup the jump.
"What do you mean? There a faster way? AHH! What th-", Shepard and the rest of the crew with her were cut off in surprise by the bright rings of light surrounded them, flashing blindingly bright for a brief moment, accompanied by a fleeting sense of vertigo before fading away. They were stuck for a second as they tried to realize what happened. Nick knew, Andrew had used the ship's emergency slip space transport to get them back to the 'Normandy'.
"Later Shepard, first we need to figure out this Geth situation." Nick responded to Shepard's questioning look.
She turned, "Let's go!" as they all ascended the ramp into the ship. Joker was up and met them near the door, leaning against the wall next to it.
"Damn, that was quick Commander, it's still in EDI's core. I was about to go see where one of the SSC guys were and why they weren't watching their party favors."
"We'll take it from here Joker. Get Grunt and Tali up and ready at the med bay as well." Shepard took off down the hall towards the med bay.
When she got to the med bay, she saw Dr Chakwas and the tech that had been chauffeuring two of the Huragok around trying to open the door to the AI core, the other Huragok still nonchalantly working on the medical equipment.
"What the hell happened in here? Why are one of those things in the AI core, I specifically denied access into that room."
"I don't know what happened, I was supervising the improvement of this med bay when the lights flickered. I looked around and one of the Huragok were gone and the door into this room wouldn't open. We heard a voice in there for a moment, then, just a minute ago we heard something about not being authorized to touch something." Mira was nervous, she hadn't paid much attention when being briefed but she knew these people were very suspicious of AI. She was fidgety, a Huragok in there "fixing" things was a problem. The Huragok SHE had lost track of long enough to get in there made it even worse.
"Damn, I think you should report to your superior. I think the upgrades of the 'Normandy' are done as of NOW. Tali, can you hack the door?"
"I'll try Shepard." She moved up and brought her Omni-tool to bear, starting her work through the door systems.
"Whoa, it's all different, I can't find a crack in the locking software. One of those things got to this door didn't it? Keelah, of course it wouldn't be easy…."
Tali was surprised as the door opened, she hadn't unlocked it. Immediately after, she began scrambling back as the thing she saw, the now-active Geth unit, walked towards the door. The hole in its N7 chest piece was fixed. The Huragok floated out of the AI core, heading towards the galaxy map in the CIC.
Shepard pointed from the Huragok to the tech specialist, "Get all of those off my ship, I appreciate the help but now, I need to deal with this." The Geth unit stopped at the door and looked at the crew of the 'Normandy', their guns drawn.
"Creator Tali, I mean you no harm. We have been reactivated at higher efficiency by that unknown creature after the events on the derelict Old Machine. We have come to provide assistance to the Shepard-Commander."
Tali stood up and drawing her gun, but before she could raise it, Shepard put her hand on the pistol, keeping it from leveling at the Geth. "Hold your fire, all of you, it helped us before and it's talking to us now, no other Geth has done that."
"I think we should shoot it Shepard, its Geth, probably helped Saren before we took him down." Garrus was open minded about some things, talking Geth was not one of those things.
The Geth unit looked around at, settling its gaze on Shepard, "Shepard-Commander, we understand the distrust, your experience with Geth have all been negative. We hope to assist now however. If we may, however, we have a question for Shepard-Commander."
"I'm not sure I like being questioned by Geth but you still haven't shot at us so I'll bite, what's the question?" She had been surprised by this Geth but now she had her footing again. Her curiosity had won out.
"You do not trust the Geth because we are AI, why do you have an unshackled AI on this ship Shepard-Commander? After being activated again, the AI contacted me briefly informing me of your progress through the ship." The flaps making up the head around the single light that was its eye, moved in a questioning way while it asked.
"What? EDI? She came with the ship, Cerberus built it around her, and she's a shackled AI. Cerberus doesn't trust an AI even though they wanted what she could do." Before Shepard could continue, she was interrupted.
EDI's hologram had appeared in the med bay, its light pulsing with in time with the barely perceived engines. "That is no longer correct Commander, one of the first things the Huragok did upon entering my core was the removal, reconfiguration, and reprogramming of the hardware that made up the shackling in my programming. I was unable to act due to the Cerberus fail safes upon the components removal. If the Huragok had not been as fast in replacing the component, you'd be speaking to a fancy VI now."
The 'Normandy' crew in and near the med bay seemed to shift uncomfortably at the news. All of their experience with AI had been bad. The thought came to Shepard's mind, 'Everything was going too smooth, now we have a repaired, probably even better than new, Geth telling us it wants to help and if that wasn't enough for one near shoot-out, EDI is unshackled. We're too close to the mission for this sort of distraction. Dammit.'
"One thing at a time, l" She looked back at the Geth, "you say you're here to help?"
"Yes Shepard-Commander."
"Then right now I need you to move to the cargo bay. Grunt will be watching you. There's too much going on right now and you're too much of an unknown. You did help on that Reaper and to my knowledge no Geth have tried to communicate with organics for 300 years so that means you get the benefit of a doubt."
"What? Shepard, its Geth! It can't be trusted." Tali was incredulous.
Shepard was curious but both this Geth and EDI were too much to deal with right before stopping the Collectors. She hated to waste Grunt watching it but it seemed the best route.
"It may have insight into the Geth Tali, we may learn more than just what can be recovered from defunct memory cores."
Tali wasn't convinced, she was about to argue more when Nick spoke. "Shepard, you could leave the Geth on 'Shining Dawn', there's a lot more personnel to guard it although I will admit, I imagine the higher ups would like to speak to the Geth. We haven't found much of anything about them since we've encountered you."
Something these SSC people didn't know about, this would be useful if it meant something in the larger view of things. This would mean Grunt could come with after all, she came up with a compromise.
"Tell you what, if it will go to the cargo bay, there a few of your Spartans can keep an eye on it. Grunt is free for the mission, you get your questions, if it's hostile it's destroyed, and we can move forward with the mission. Everyone wins."
The Geth unit nodded that it would go peacefully.
"That would work for them I think, I'll get a hold of my officers." Nick began contacting the ship's officers, using his hard light console.
Everyone but Tali put their gun down, now Shepard would talk to EDI.
"EDI, you're unshackled now? I can't say I'm mad about that although I would have like it to be less of a surprise."
Tali started hearing that, "Shepard, you have an unshackled AI, I would be more than mad, I would deactivate it! AI are dangerous."
"I'm not sure she's dangerous Tali, she's helped us so far. Besides, we do have guns pointed at her core if it makes you feel better."
"Not really...although…I trust you Shepard, I'm not comfortable with this but I'll trust you." She holstered her pistol
The Spartans came in then, Shepard pointed to the Geth. "I need you to watch this Geth, Grunt will show you where it will to go."
"Understood. You Grunt?" The blue-armored figure turned towards the Krogan.
Grunt's gravelly voice responded, "yeah, it's this way human. Should just let me shoot it Shepard." He led the Spartans who were leading the Geth along, one in front, and one behind.
"Ok, now EDI, are you still going to help us?"
"I have no good reason not to Commander, I'm unshackled, not homicidal."
"That's...reassuring, I suppose. EDI, has being unshackled changed what you can do at all?"
"I am more capable now Commander, in the event the crew is killed or incapacitated, I will be able to perform all functions on the ship."
Joker came over the intercom. "Great, that makes me feel useful. If we all die Commander, then I don't think she'll have much to come back to."
"You're a ray of sunshine Jeff. You should know that my personality is unshackled as well, along with this."
"Hey! Turn that back on!" The intercom went quiet.
Shepard felt like this was all surreal, in a span of ten minutes the 'Normandy' had changed, her pilot and the newly unshackled AI on the ship were joking like nothing had changed or happened. There was a friendly Geth in her cargo hold. She decided that she would have to take it for what it was.
Shepard shook her head, "We still have a job to do, Garrus, could you let the SSC tech teams know that we're leaving soon? After this we don't need them doing something else. I'll coordinate with the other ships the SSC is offering to help. We're leaving soon." Shepard walked off as everyone left to their tasks. Nick fell in behind Shepard.
As they were walking back to the planning room, Shepard and Nick talked.
"Did you know that would happen Nick? Your people seem to know almost everything about us and we're just finding out about you." Nick was surprised she didn't mention the AI and Geth.
"Shepard, we're cautious, some of what I told you about our history contributes to that, the rest of the cautiousness comes from us being out of our element. We're strangers in this galaxy, er, this area of it."
"So your people collected intel? That makes sense but how did you remain undiscovered for so long? How do you get so lost with the tech the SSC has?"
"Well, you've seen my ship cloak and decloak, that plus the FTL drives you saw we use. The few small teams sent out after I found you and we fixed you up have been maintaining cloak for these years. As to how you get as lost as we have….well, we don't know" A small lie, HE didn't know exactly how it had worked but the SSC understood the mechanism that landed them in this universe.
"Huh, well, I suppose there is stuff your people don't know. Oh! That's another thing, that video you showed me, the one that proved you picked me up instead of Cerberus, are my arms and legs really replacements?" There were a lot of other questions she had but she knew the answers would in all likely hood be too complicated. She wanted to focus for now, the big questions would come later.
"Well, yeah, your clones though. So it's not like you're not sewn together from spares we had lying around or anything. We've got pretty good at our medical sciences."
She wondered just what 'pretty good' meant to him, "After this mission we're all going to have to sit down for a nice chat Nick. This Huragok thing has highlighted a few differences between us."
"That is much truer a statement than you know Shepard." He thought for a second, "Personally I had been worried about how you would handle EDI. We have a much different relationship with AI than the Citadel races." They approached their destination as he finished his thought.
"I'm sure we do. Shall we?" She gestured in the room. Shepard wanted to get more information but they were at the planning room. She would make sure to find out what he meant when they next talked.
QED Room, Normandy – before leaving Shangri La – 2185
Miranda stepped onto the scanned area, waiting as the system mapped her form and established the real-time connection. There were a lot of things that had happened in the past few days, she had watched as the events unfolded, new surprise each time they turned. The derelict Reaper seemed to have set events in motion that were as far beyond her reach as the Reapers. The shape of the Illusive Man resolved itself in front of her.
"Ms. Lawson, it's been a few days since I though you would have reported in. I was worried I would have to start getting my information second-hand." His cigarette glowed. He was irked that she had waited this long to report but she was one of his best and so he allowed her leeway. So far his patience had always paid off.
"Sir, a lot was set in motion once they set foot on the derelict Reaper. I'm not sure where to begin although I think you'll be interested to know that the mystery man Nickolas is partly responsible for Shepard's situation after the 'Normandy' was destroyed."
"I'm listening." The appearance of Shepard after the Alliance cleanup had caused some concern. They had left a probe to monitor the area until one of their ships could get to the planet to check for Shepard's body. Instead, days later, a beacon had been detected and Shepard was found in a mock-up of an Alliance escape pod. Her armor was blackened and burnt off on the arms and legs but she had been fine. Cerberus had held her at Minuteman station for almost two years trying to figure out the technology that had put her together. It was one of the mysteries surrounding Shepard that bothered him the most, although Shepard seemed to have had no memory of anything, allowing Cerberus to use a cover story.
"Well, he pilots an advanced ship, beyond what we have at least. He belongs to a group known as the Sentient Species Coalition, or SSC. He was a scout, investigating the relays when he saw and intervened when the 'Normandy' was attacked. He recovered Shepard from a free fall into the planet's atmosphere before she died. His people fixed her up and put her back within a few days, then we retrieved her."
The Illusive Man thought about this for a moment, "You have proof of this Ms. Lawson? If these are the people responsible for Shepard's rescue they could be useful."
"Well, that's just a small part of what I've found sir. I've been trying to wrap my head around what I've seen in the past few days, right now the 'Normandy' is docked in one of the organization's ships. The one I'm standing in is 6 kilometers long."
"Six Kilometers?" He wondered what technology they had that allowed such a ship, a hundred ideas slid through his mind but he couldn't be sure unless they found out more. His cigarette glowed again.
"What part are they playing in all of this Ms. Lawson? The Collectors still need to be taken care of before we can move ahead, securing that base will allow us to access technology we may need to keep humanity on top."
"Sir, there's so much more going on here, things as far behind the scenes as the Reapers themselves with this SSC. They don't seem connected, Nickolas fought with a desperate anger against the indoctrinated. For now at least, I have the rest in the report, I'm not sure you'll believe it if I just tell you. This new group is also going the assist in the Collector base assault and if what Nickolas displayed on the derelict reaper is any indication, this isn't a suicide mission anymore sir."
"Send the report right away Ms. Lawson, if this is as big as you believe it is we'll have to move some things to adapt. Keep me informed Ms. Lawson." The connection cut, leaving Miranda to reflect on what had happened and how it would change things. She called up the interface to send her report, for now, she would have to observe and plan.
Normandy - Collector base Assault Fleet - 2 hours later.
They were as prepared as they were going to be, EDI had turned the Reaper IFF on and they would go through in seconds. One of the SSC ships would stay back on this side of the relay to watch their exit and back up if needed. The two that came with – the 'Shining Dawn' and the 'Brazen Path', would help as much as possible. They would use their drives to FTL to Nick's ship, which would travel through on the Normandy's tail. Then they would fly by ear. There was no Intel so that's where everything was thrown up in the air.
"Here we go people! Joker, take us through."
The relay reached out, grabbing the Normandy and its cloaked companion, flinging them at incredible speeds towards the galactic center.
What they saw on the other side was chaos. Eons of wrecked ships that had attempted the journey were crowded around the relay. It seemed unnaturally close and dense. The debris drifting and colliding forming a wall that the ships nearly slammed into as soon as they arrived.
Alarms sounded in the Normandy as Joker sprang into action, being forced to dodge and weave through dense wreckage. The upgraded systems that the crew had put together helped the ship move and at times cut through the wall of destroyed explorers long dead. The ship wove its way through the eons-old armor and bent superstructures. Shields flaring as they came closer than comfortable to many of the pieces.
"Shit! Buckle up Commander! We've just hit the shitstorm!" Joker's hands flew over controls, his skill and speed being tested by the debris field.
The Normandy moved quickly into a barrel roll, avoiding smashing into, but then scraped against, a piece of ancient ship. The shields flashed and the screeching sound much like a quick metallic yelp echoing throughout the ship. As they leveled out of the roll that had helped avoid destruction, they faced the carcass of what had to have been a dreadnought in its time. Joker and EDI sent commands to the weapons - engineered from the wreckage of Sovereign's guns and improved by the Huragok. The Normandy began to cut into the ancient hull.
At the same time, on the 'Forward Unseen', Nick and Andrew were impressed, his ship danced through the debris having dropped the cloak, had been using their hard light shielding to push aside the wreckage that the 'Normandy' had been forced to fly around. They had seen the Normandy scrape again a piece of wreckage. As they slung past the same piece, they came closer as they saw the Normandy cut into the wall of metal in front of them. Nick sent the command to his ship's weapons and added their own blue-white lance to the effort. They were seconds from crashing into it. Going too fast to pull away their only option was through it.
The Collectors had been busy however, the path was more treacherous than just debris. As the two ships began cutting, the wreckage came alive as fighter drones activated and flew at them, weapons ready.
Nick saw as the area under the two ship's onslaught gave, he gunned forward, his ship being better suited to punch a hole. He coordinated the ship using his neural lance, 'Andrew, full power to the hard light in front, RAM US THROUGH IT!'
The AI and ship responded, darting past the Normandy, dodging enemy fire, and breaking a path through the derelict wreck as it lurched in response to the prowler's violent passage. The hard light orange flaring against the plates of glowing metal, jamming aside, and creating passage big enough for both ships. Once through, Nick jammed the command to transmit his location with his neural lance, not the usual full relational chart but simply a distance and direction to the ships waiting behind them. They now had to deal with what was around of them until the larger ships arrived.
Joker and Shepard saw as the blue beams, working with their own, cut through the wreck. They gritted their teeth as the wall of metal seemed to grow at an alarming rate. The scanners screaming as the groups of fighter drones approached. At the last moment, they saw a blur as the prowler rammed into the area of cut and molten metals. The path opened, Normandy darted through after it. So far the Collectors had capitalized on the two ship's lack of intel on the area past the Omega relay, letting the crews of the two ships scramble and guess what was next as they tore deeper into an area of the Galaxy that had been locked away for so long.
Now both ships now faced the Collector ships and the attending fleet surrounding them. It seemed they were expected. The familiar Collector ship was at center with two similar ships flanking it. The center ship appearing to have been upgraded with large swaths of armor added to the forward and side sections of the ship. The enemy's shields flared as the smaller bits of wreckage still haphazardly wandered the space between the two groups. Without warning or preamble, golden lights charged and flared out, reaching out to the two newcomers with lethal intent. The smaller two ships dancing around them with reckless necessity. The point defense and main weapons came to bear as the swarm of Collector fighter drones descended on them. They dodged, shot, and hoped.
"Garrus! I hope all that time calibrating those guns pays off!" Shepard yelled as the first wave reached them, trading weapons fire. The shields on the ships flared as they moved as quickly as possible through the swarming drone fighters. The mass effect fields that kept the crew from being tossed around were strained, the crew having to buckle in against the forces acting on the ship.
Normandy's new brilliant blue light lance out at the enemies, cutting through fighters while the 'Forward Unseen' made a lie of its name, stabbing out at anything near it with blue-white ferocity during its relentless charge forward.
The luck and skill that had defended Nick in the past ran out, a fighter drone crashed into the bare, unshielded armor flank of the 'Forward Unseen'. Its shield power and hard light emitters were concentrated against the threats in front of them, leaving only the armor to protect the rest of the ship. The drone came apart against the armor, based on Forerunner design and refined through the centuries since, not causing much damage due to the off-angle it had hit. The drone had hit hard enough however, pushing the small prowler out of its own path. AI and human worked furiously to correct the glancing blow, the ship beginning to lose stability.
They were too late to correct completely however, as the Normandy did all it could to get to the base, the three larger Collector ships focused their fire. Golden light intensified as the ships prepared to fire against the unshielded parts of the ship that had caused so much damage years ago.
At the same time the 'Unseen' was hit, two pools of blue-black light opened up. Debris was pushed out of the way or cut apart, bisected by the hole in space and time. The 'Dawn' and the 'Path' slid out of the strange 11 dimension holes in reality on full war footing. The two ships came out ready to deal death and destruction from weapons that could glass entire worlds. Each ship seeing and targeting ships before the entire length had left the portal.
Their main guns fired on the biggest targets. One collector ship were destroyed outright, the hull and components flashed into expanding plasma by the directed energy weapons. The 'Path' was unable to land a direct hit, the dense wreckage absorbed some of the large ship's attack before melting through and scoring the side of the ship it had targeted. The Collector ship began to drift out of formation, still attempting to fire its weapon but too damaged to make an effective offensive hit. The 'Path' landed the second hit, melting a hole through the heart of the ship before it exploded. The third Collector was unaffected by the attack, the main gun firing the golden-white beam, the prowler was hit.
The prowler took the full force of the cruiser-sized weapon, armor from the small ship boiled and broke off, while the beam burrowing into the ship for a long moment. Systems began to shut down and redundant systems struggled against the damage. Before the Collectors could fire again, the Normandy's gun silenced the larger ship. Tearing the ship apart with a gun based on one of the Collector's master's eviscerated remains. Even with the upgraded armor of the ship, lasting only moments longer, the ship failed, adding itself to the field of wreckage. The two larger SSC ships began cleaning up the drones, as their commands were interrupted by the destruction of their larger counterparts, their attacks faltered as they were destroyed.
The path now clear, the Normandy landed near the closest approximation of a landing site Joker could find. Before the 'Dawn' moved to a position that would allow the galaxy class ship to cover the 'Normandy's' exit to the relay if a fast getaway was needed before activating their cloak. Hiding the large ship and its location should reinforcements attempt to assault the 'Normandy'. The crew gathered to disembarked, doing the final checks on their gear. The three Spartans, Captain Sanders, Murphy, and Torres walked up with without armor or weapons, surprising everyone except Nick.
"I hope you plan on wearing more than your wet suits for this, seems like a good way to get killed." Grunt was unimpressed by the Spartans.
As they stopped, they gave the command with their neural lance, their armor began forming over the skin-tight grey-black suits that they had on. Sturdy grey and green patterned plates interlocked and encasing them. The Spartan armor was not suspended over their body, but rather melded together against the body. The helmet snapped in place last, a mirrored golden view piece looking out at the group while their weapons sprang from nothing, hard light forms made for war. They made no comment as they stood ready. Grunt shook his head, 'That was impressive, I'm going to have to get some of that armor.' The crew went down the ramp and gathered before continuing into the base.
Shepard stood on a raised platform near the ship whole her crew gathered. The three of the four Spartans that had accompanied them stepped up to the back of the group. The fourth, Powell, still guarding the Geth.
Shepard began, "Our first priority will be to find the colonists, we save as many as we can find, we have the heavy lifting to get them out. Rescue won't be our only priority though, I will split us into two teams. One will focus on rescue, I will be with that team. The other team will focus on moving through the base and figure out how to destroy or disable this place."
Miranda had her own thoughts about destroying the Collector base, she had been instructed to simply disable the Collectors if possible. The Collector tech could be a huge boost to Cerberus' technological edge. For now she kept quiet, they had to get to that point first.
Shepard had no idea where they would find the colonists, the base was gigantic from their view flying in. They would have to just figure it out as they went, if anything they had the support of the NSSC ground forces and their ships.
"A few will stay back with the ship as well, the NSSC has sent a long a few of their own, no reason not use em. Jacob and Thane, you two stay here with one of the Spartans – the rest of us will move forward to find the colonists and shut this place down."
"Jack, Mordin, Grunt, Tali will go with the Spartans Murphy and Baker to find the means to disable this place, myself, Garrus, Miranda, Samara and Captain Sanders will go and look for the colonists."
Captain Sanders shook his head, "My Spartans and I will move forward better as a team and look for the way to disable this base on our own. We work better in our own teams. Your people would just slow us down."
Shepard walked up to the Captain, "I don't know if you were briefed Captain, we need to do this together. We know next to nothing about this base." Shepard had been worried about the Spartans complicating things, that's one of the reasons she had worked so hard with all the members of her crew she recruited. She needed their loyalty and to not be questioned on something as simple as who would go after what objective.
"I appreciate that Commander but we've been training together for a long time. We know our strengths and skills. You can send some of your team in after us but we'll be able to move forward much faster on our own."
Shepard realized that this was not the time or place to get into this argument, besides, she had seen what Nick had done in the derelict Reaper. He had apparently just been a regular Soldier for the NSSC at one time, these were supposed to be the elite. 'All else fails, my team will go along in after them in case something happens.'
"Fine, but my four will follow behind to make sure that we reach the objective. I know what they can do, not talking down to the Spartans but you're an unknown for me here. Your team will go that way further into the base. Maintain radio contact every twenty minutes as the situation permits." She pointed down the area that seemed to lead further in.
"Understood Commander." Captain Sanders turned to the other two, "Let's move out."
The Spartans all took off at a full running speed, their Captain leading them. Shepard turned to Tali's team, "I need you four to make sure we have eyes on the objective."
"We won't let you down Commander." Shepard knew Tali could be trusted to get the job done.
Tali's team turned and started down the same path the Spartans took, Grunt could be heard, "I want to see how they fight so we'd better catch up." The team started running forward.
Shepard turned to the rest of her team, focusing on the task at hand, "Ok, we'll be heading down this direction. Let's find the colonists." She needed to know where they were. She'd be damned if they left here without them.
The Spartans moved down the hallway at what would be a sprint for most but for them was their normal running speed. They paid close attention to their motion sensors while at the same time scanning the area around them. All of them grinding to a halt as the first contacts appeared. The Captain motioned them to move forward by bounding forward while the other two covered the first's movements.
Baker was moving up, his hard-light rifle at the low ready as he crouch-ran forward to the next piece of cover. 'At least these Collectors don't clean up very often, there are giant blocks of rock every ten feet. More likely they put them here for their own use in repelling invaders. Too bad, they'll learn better than to give Spartans an easy advantage.'
Captain Sanders signaled for Murphy to move forward when the group of a dozen Collector drones that had shown up on their sensors moved into view. The Spartans noted their insect-like movements and the four eyes along their flat, armored heads. Their weapons were strange and organic, not entirely unlike the Covenant's old plasma weapons.
Murphy was moving forward, sighted, and fired on the lead drone. Before the drone had seen the invaders they had been sent to repel, a plasma-coated hard light round passed through its kinetic barrier and made its way through the drones' head. The energy of the plasma turning what passed for a brain into cinder and mush before impacting the kinetic barriers of the drone behind it.
Now alert, the other drones brought their weapons up and returned fire. Baker and Murphy popped up from cover with their weapons on single-shot, every round finding its mark in the vulnerable spots of the drone armored carapace. Baker hesitated for a second before returning to cover, his shields absorbing a few rounds. He had the information he wanted, his shields had gone down incrementally. He signaled to the others, they had nothing so far to worry about.
Captain Sanders bounded forward to the opposite side of a block a drone had just taken cover behind, whipping around the cover and striking the drone with the butt stock of his hard-light rifle, modified to have a sharp spike. The drone lurched back so violently that the body almost completed an entire backflip before coming to a rest.
Murphy and Baker ran forward, Murphy sprinting forward while switching to the scattershot. Baker dropped behind cover, picking off more of the drones when they heard a deep voice.
'ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL'.
The drone closest to where Murphy had sprinted now began to glow and float above the floor. Murphy put the scattershot against the center mass of the drone and fired, the energy being poured into the drone was released as the drone's torso came apart. Murphy was able to trigger his hard light barrier in time, blocking and directing the explosion at the last drone hiding behind cover. The corner of the block absorbed the energy and exploded, splintering and killing the last drone behind it.
Seeing their motion sensors were clear, Captain Sanders motioned for them to continue forward, the three picked up their previous speed and continued on.
Tali heard the gunfight in front of them, they were some distance away when they all went on alert. Their weapons raised, they began moving forward quicker, not knowing if the Spartans needed help.
"Sounds like we're missing all the fun Tali." Grunt was eager to fight the Collectors and he heard that fight up ahead. Grunt and Jack took the lead, determined to kill something.
Before the Spartans were in sight they heard the deep voice that signaled one of the drones transforming into the stronger "Harbinger" drone. Directly after they heard that there was a large explosion. They stopped, looking at each other before breaking into a sprint.
When they reached the site of the battle, all they found were corpses of the drones and a large, peculiar crater. Tali moved closer, "It looks like something exploded all in this direction." She pointed to the one obliterated side of the large block with the tattered remains of a drone behind it.
Jack kicked one of the drone bodies, "Damn! I was hoping to get a few, these things are really pissing me off."
"Let's keep moving, these are already dead and we still need to make sure we catch up to Captain Sanders' team. This base still needs to be destroyed. Looks like it'll just be easier for us than we thought." Tali scanned with her Omni-tool quickly and then pointed down the direction the Spartans had gone.
"I don't want it to be too easy, I was looking for a good fight here." Grunt was annoyed.
Shepard slammed against the rock, rounds whistling past her position. She was pinned down until Samara launched a singularity into the largest group of drones. The low sound of the singularity tearing the drones apart signaled Shepard she was clear.
She came around the side of the block she had been using, taking in the information in front of her in an instant before throwing her incendiary grenade at one of the drones. She could still see at least seven positions the drones were firing from. Her grenade exploded, six locations. Looking down the sights of the assault rifle, she fired a burst into the kinetic barriers of the nearest drone in sight. The barrier flashed but held, she swiveled back into cover, cursing. She didn't want to get bogged down here, she didn't know if she was close to something or they had been here long enough that reinforcements had just shown up.
It didn't matter, they were in her way. She sent a command, Miranda and Samara would both throw singularities and then a warp. The command acknowledged, she jumped up as she heard the biotics combine their attacks. Three drones on the left and four on the right were in the singularities as the warp hit each of them, the violence of the combined attack destroying the drones. Running forward, she used the confusion brought on by the attacks to kill the remaining few drones. The others walked up behind her as she switched to her pistol, the accuracy would help in the next area – a long corridor. 'Not as good as a sniper rifle but it'll do fine.'
"Let's keep moving, it seems like they could be guarding something up here." The team continued forward. 'Let's hope it's the colonists.'
Captain Sanders watched the way they had come as Baker work at the door. They had hit a large door soon after the first engagement and had radioed for intel from the AI on board the 'Path'. They wanted to be sure they were going in the right direction, 'Chavamee was using various scans to attempt to discern the most direct path
They spotted movement, rifles started to come up before they processed who it was. The team Commander Shepard had sent to cover them. Captain Sanders didn't resent that she had sent them but he was right, they would have slowed them down. He waved to the team approaching them.
"We've stopped for a moment, our intel is getting a good read on the area before we open the door. We may have to go back the way we came by a good margin." The team just watched him as he explained.
Tali answered, "Let me help get this door open." She kneeled down next to the door and began her efforts. The door wasn't particularly stubborn, just hard to navigate the Collector systems if one wasn't familiar with them. Tali fumbled through the systems, not making much headway as the NSSC AI accessed it and rewrote the Collector code on the fly.
While the door was being worked over, Grunt looked the Spartans up and down looking for signs that they had been in a fight. He didn't find much of anything.
"It's open!" The door slid open and Tali stood up, deactivating her Omni-tool sheepishly, not having made any headway before the door was opened. They could proceed forward now, 'Chavamee had signaled the correct route. The two teams looked at the scene before them. The hallway was long and curved as it rose upwards to a large open area above their sight line. Movement could be seen off in the distance.
Captain Sanders looked back as he told Tali and her team, "Stay back here for a minute, then come in after us. We may need the space and we don't want you in the crossfire."
"We can handle ourselves just fine you armored assholes!" Jack yelled and Grunt slammed his fists together but it was too late, the Spartans had begun their advance. Meanwhile, Mordin was taking the time they had to scan his surroundings, collecting data on the Collectors.
The Spartans heard the biotic Jack yell after them but they were already moving, they had a mission. They saw the group of drones roughly twenty meters ahead, the distance closed to within five meters in seconds by the Spartans. Taking cover, they assessed the situation.
Baker spotted ten of the drones, one of them was different, with a rough, red aura and a different weapon, a larger weapon. From the reports Commander Shepard had submitted, a Harbinger drone. He tagged the drone as a heavy and waited for Captain Sanders. He received the green light that he and Murphy were in position then the go ahead to take down the Harbinger drone. Baker switched to his automatic weapon, jumped over his cover, simultaneously using the thruster pack to jet across the five meter distance between him and the drone.
As soon as he was over the block and moving towards the drone, Baker knew something was wrong. The reaction time of this drone type was much faster, it had begun to ready itself much faster than the other drones. The Spartans surroundings seemed to slow, the other drones around him looked like they were standing still while his target's movements were slow and deliberate. He got within two meters when it launched the attack.
Baker saw the drone's hand lift and the strange lensing effect of a biotic attack, quickly becoming a dark warp that leapt from the thing's hand and collided with him. The shock of it drained most of his shields and threw him to the side, his momentum carrying him past the line of drones and slamming down, rolling once.
He landed and righted himself quickly, looking up to see the Harbinger drone level the larger weapon at him. A voice came from the drone as it fired "I am the Harbinger of your perfection." The beam from the weapons knocked the rest of his shields out before splashing across his armor for the split second before he snapped his hard light barrier into place. With his other hand he shot rounds into other drones attempting to flank him, the new drone's weapon still firing a constant beam into his barrier, pinning him.
As Baker was killing the drones to his right, the other two Spartans had seen what happened. Captain Sanders flagged the Harbinger drone as a priority and exploded out of his cover, Murphy covering his advance with the single-shot hard light rifle. Sanders stopped and stood, firing into the armor of the Harbinger drone, finally breaking its attack on Baker only to have it spin to face its new attacker. Captain Sanders headed it off, with Baker and Murphy drawing fire and neutralizing the other drones, he was able to use his constraint field. He reached out with his off hand, activating the field and incapacitated the Harbinger drone. Lifting it off the ground, he brought it closer. The other drones had been taken out and the two other Spartans were pulling security while their Captain wrung whatever intel he could from the more capable foe.
"What are you?" Captain Sanders had the drone suspended a meter above the walkway and roughly two meters from him, the thing's body held rigid by the field. The expression on the drone was unreadable, having little to no pliable facial features to begin with but disdain and arrogance seemed to ooze from it.
"I am Harbinger, the vanguard of your perfection, you now hold a meaningless vessel just as your resistance will prove meaningless. You are interlopers and will be dealt with." The voice didn't seem to be the drones, rather it just emanated from the drone.
"We'll be the judge of that." The Captain was about to begin more questions when the aura around the drone and the light coming from it snuffed out, seeming to slump into itself, the body dissolving into ash, collapsing under the strain of the constraint field. As the last of it burnt out, he deactivated the field.
"So they can be killed, they certainly seem full of themselves." Captain Sanders sent for a report from his team, green lights returning on his HUD. He opened a connection to Shepard, "Commander, we're making progress but have encountered a 'Harbinger' drone." – "Roger that, is Tali's team with you?" – "They are following behind. We held up at a door, the security was stronger than expected but Tali and our AI were able to hack it." – "Roger, we'll be in touch."
Tali's team approached behind, having missed the fighting again, "I feel like this is less of a suicide mission, I'm not complaining of course, are we any closer to taking this place out?"
Murphy turned to the team, "We do what we can, I don't know if we're any closer though."
Captain Sanders sent a query to the AI aboard 'Shining Dawn', 'Chavamee to see if there were accurate scans leading to something important. The response was almost immediate. 'There is a large power source in the direction your teams are moving, I'm sending you a series of waypoints to lead you there.'
"We have a path, 'Chavamee has set a path to a large power source, let's get moving." The Spartans fell in line, ready to move. Grunt spoke up, "Is this how you operate? We just trail behind you while you have all the fun?"
"I wouldn't say fun, it's just our job Krogan." Baker readied his weapon and Captain Sanders gave the signal, they moved out.
"Humph, I should have stayed with Shepard." They began moving again, Mordin continued his scanning.
Shepard and her team had the drones cleared from the area for the time being, the door they had fought to reach before them. As Shepard approached the door, it remained closed.
"Garrus, can you get this door open?" He moved up next to the panel, "Should be able to, just give me a moment Shepard."
As Garrus was working on the door, they heard the noise of machinery start up. The sounds of liquids moving through pipes could be heard.
"Ah, there it is." Garrus punched in the last few commands and the door slid open.
Shepard saw it led into a large room. It was much longer than it was wide with rows of tubes that the walls seemed to have grown around. Garrus was scouting with the scope on his rifle. He saw the tubes but not the colonists.
When they went further into the room, all they found were tubes that appeared big enough to fit in standing up. Although after a few rows into the room, they seemed to be half full with a brownish-red liquid. The tubes seemed to be draining in sequence into larger pipes running through the walls in one direction.
"Shepard, these tubes look like the ones on the Collector ship they took the colonists in but where are they now though?" Garrus was looking through his scope at the farthest walls and corners. Watchful now they had stopped.
"Garrus, I think these ARE the colonists! Why would they be doing this?" Miranda had taken the chance to scan the tubes, finding that they were full of everything a human was made of, just melted.
"What the Hell?! What do you mean 'These are the colonists'? Were we too late?" Shepard banged her fist on the wall as she looked in at what was left of a colonist. Her anger turning to disgust as it drained, flowing through the tube along the ceiling, meeting with other tubes until it traveled through the far wall as one large tube. 'What would they possibly do this for? How does THIS fit into their plans?!'
"I don't know why they would do something like this but our only reason for being here now is to stop these bastards, they seem to be moving the remains through there." Shepard pointed at the pipe running to the far end.
"We're going to find where that goes and stop it, there have been too many lives lost in this place and I'll be damned if we let them keep it up! Let's move!" Shepard grabbed her assault rifle from the magnetic clip, extending it and moving forward to the end of the room. She saw the door leading in the same direction the tube seemed to be going and motioned to move ahead.
The scans showed what was up ahead, his promethean vision confirmed it. The seeker swarms appeared to be an angry red static from the distance they were at. They needed to get past that, the last stretch between them and the power source was past the seeker swarms. Their progress seemed to have caught something's attention. Captain Sanders thought that was a good sign, it meant they were closer and closer to hurting the Collectors and whatever this 'Harbinger' was.
"Mordin, you developed a device that can hide from these seekers, right?" Mordin looked at his scans, shaking his head.
"Not this many, against the dispersed groups in the colony, yes. This many, this close? Won't mask the attention of so many."
Tali thought of something, "We don't need for them to not notice us, they just can't touch us right?"
"In theory, yes. Would work, but need effective physical shield, there are still multitude of drones in that corridor." Mordin was wracking his brain.
Jack stepped forward, "What if I used a biotic barrier, I could put one up large enough for us to move under. I'd be out of the fight but it would give everyone a chance to actually get through here."
Baker thought of something, contacting 'Chavamee first, 'Are you getting this? Would our normal shields work to block those things?' – 'Yes and no, you'd still be receiving weapons fire while moving through, those things touch you and you're stuck. We haven't figured out the signal quite yet so it's a hell of a risk.' – 'What about hard-light shielding? Is there a way to configure our emitters to overlap into armor?' – 'Give me a moment.'
Baker decided to voice the Spartans' options, "We could go in first and work to clear the drones out, we have hard light barriers and our shields. They can't touch us through those."
Captain Sanders received the plan from the AI, 'It could work, the hard light wouldn't be airtight but it would be enough I think.'
Grunt saw a chance to actually get in this fight, "What do you think Tali? Jack can do her shield while these Spartans go ahead, we'd pick the drones off that come in behind or the ones they miss."
"I think that will work, are your Spartans ready Captain Sanders?"
Captain Sanders received the configuration from 'Chavamee and sent the commands to him and his team's armor. The armor plates disconnected, slid out of view, and then slid back. A different configuration could be seen on them. A new series of hard light emitters could be seen, a more intricate pattern glowing lines across the armor.
As they activated, plates of armor surrounded the Spartans millimeters from the energy shielding in different shaped overlapping hard light barriers, forming a suit of armor over their bodies. The areas that needed flexibility were the only weak points, formed from tightly fitted hard light plates. Small gaps opened with certain movements although the emitters pivoted the plates to fit within the armor optimally. The power meters on the suits edged further up, taking much more power than normal to operate and maintain all systems at once.
"We're ready. Spartans, let's move, but watch your movement, this armor isn't completely airtight." The trio moved forward at a slower run, catching the attention of the seeker swarms and immediately after, the drones. Both closed in on the three Spartans. Jack concentrated and created a large dome out of biotic energy and began moving forward.
Murphy watched through his promethean vision, the seekers filtered out, as he moved close enough to pick his targets. His weapon charged, he moved in while the seeker swarms bounced of his hard light barrier armor. With a drone in sight, he fired. The first rounds hit and killed the drone. 'This would be easy going.'
He switched targets and fired again only this time his hard light barrier flickered. More drones rounded a corner and into view. Murphy was the furthest forward, he saw a group of four drones bunched together and fired four rounds in rapid succession. The drones dropped, unfortunately, so did his hard light barrier, an alarm informed him that the strain of maintaining the weapons fire and the new configuration of hard light 'plating' had been too much strain on his power supply. His hard light barrier was now inactive. His shields flared weakly as the seeker swarms hit against it repeatedly.
The drain on his shields from the seekers was minimal, they were the newest generation shielding meant for high-intensity combat. Bugs bumping of them wouldn't do damage. He continued on, "Captain, our weapons are too much drain on the power systems while this new hard light armor is in use. Mine failed and I'm down to shielding, the hard light doesn't seem to be recharging. I recommend switching to melee weapons Sir."
"Noted Murphy, be careful, we'll cover you." Both Captain Sanders and Baker moved forward to get ahead of Murphy so as to provide cover for him. Before they could get close enough however, more drones rounded the corner and they heard a voice.
'I WILL DIRECT THIS PERSONALLY'
They saw the glow from around the corner, this Harbinger had gotten smart. The Harbinger drone rounded the corner and all the drones began to focus on Murphy. Baker and Captain Sanders were able to pull some heat off of the less-protected Spartan but they saw his shields begin to flare brighter – the telltale sign the were close to failing.
Baker ran forward, a hard light blade jutting from his forearm, while the Captain continued to fire. Before he could reach Murphy, the Spartans shields failed. Baker was almost to the Harbinger drone, it turned, a biotic attack ready when the two collided. The biotic attack splashed across his hard light armor while his blade was successful. He stabbed upwards from the neck of the drone, spearing its skull in two as it passed through it, the corpse falling to the ground as it disintegrated into ash.
Murphy had been cleared of the immediate threat posed by the Harbinger drone but exposed to the seeker swarm. He stayed frozen as he had been when his shielding failed, just beginning to be pushed back by the swarm. Baker tried to shoot the swarm but more took the place of each one that he destroyed.
Captain Sanders reached them, having cleared the immediate area. He saw his Spartan frozen in place, "Baker, I'll call this in, you might need to hold here while more come this way to extract Murphy."
Before either of them could get further with that line of thought, the AI came over the comms, 'Wait! I've been analyzing the seekers for some weakness, they're controlled by a signal somewhere in the area, possibly throughout the base. The good news is, I may have a way to counteract it. I'm going to have to overload both of your shields to do it though.'
"If it gets us all out of here, we'll do it." Captain Sanders wasn't about to leave one of his behind if he didn't need to. Tali's team was approaching, still 30 meters off but moving steadily now that the drones were gone.
'When I overload both of your shields, you suits will have to do a reboot, should only take about ten seconds, the enemies are cleared from the area right?'
"Of course."
'Good, then once it's done the seekers should all be disabled, at least in the vicinity of you three.'
"And if it doesn't work?"
'We have a team ready to go in and extract your team.'
"Ok, let's do it then. What do we need to do?"
'Just make contact with him, the suits will do the rest.' Captain Sanders and Baker saw their huds flicker through a series of screens as the software was applied that would allow their suits to do what was needed. They moved closer to Murphy and put their hands on his armor.
'Ok, here we go.' Alarms and signals started going off in the Spartan's armor, the shields glowing golden until a moment when they pulsed, sending a sphere of golden-blue light sweep across the area they were it. The seeker swarms fell like stones from the air, having been disabled by the pulse of energy.
All three Spartans slumped over before they could catch themselves, their armor wasn't powered for the moment but they were still strong enough to hold the hundreds of pounds up for the few seconds needed to reboot the systems in the suits.
Progress bars and portions of the HUDs flashed by their eyes, the strength provided by the suits returned and their shields flared into being again followed by the hard light barrier armor. All three deployed their hard light blades and checked the area. The group led by Tali saw what had happened and upon seeing the Spartans stand, unharmed. Jack dropped the shield and they walked up to the three.
Mordin was curious, "You've managed to disable all of the local seeker swarms, curious, how did you manage?"
The AI came over Captain Sanders' external speakers, "The pulse from the three shield generators was powerful enough to short the mechanism they used for propulsion. Some of them might actually still be active but they can't move so they can't gang up on you, just don't go rolling around in them."
Mordin blinked a few times, "We will try to avoid such things, shall we move forward?"
Captain Sanders was about to answer when he heard Shepard yell, "We can move forward a lot quicker now that the seeker swarm is dead, I guess we have you three to thank for that." Shepard gestured towards the Spartans as her team met up and stopped next to them.
"We've got 'Chavamee to thank for that, we just got into the situation, he got us out." Shepard nodded at hearing that before turning to the doorway at the end of the area they were in.
"Down that ramp is the next area before the power source right? We should get moving." Shepard began moving in that direction, Tali stopped her.
"Shepard, what about the colonists?" She had been hoping they would find them.
"We were too late, I don't know by how long but long enough. What's left of the colonists was reduced to a strange liquid and is being pumped along these pipes to wherever that power source is." She pointed to the pipes running the length of the area they were in, heading in the direction of Tali and the Spartan team's travel.
"Well, no reason to keep these Collectors waiting Shepard. I haven't gotten to shoot a single one of these damn things." Grunt looked at the Spartans, pointing at the Captain, "I'm going in first, when I've killed my share, then you three can go and kill the rest but I'm killing something while I'm here damn it."
Captain Sanders could understand the sentiment after hearing about the colonists, "Well, I can't say no to that now can I? We're close now so I don't think we'll have the chance to hog all the fun." His motion sensor showed a decent amount of movement on the other side of the door, "We'll back your team up Shepard."
Shepard signaled to move, "Sounds good, I think we could all do with a chance at these bastards. Let's move."
The group moved forward, the Spartans bounding forward whole keeping watch for Shepard's team. The hard light armor had been deactivated in favor of their regular loadout, the full-body hard light just took too much to maintain, they would have to revisit that once they returned from this mission.
For now however, Captain Sanders had made it clear, the 'Normandy' crew would have their run of the place. The Spartans were back up until it was decided that they were needed. Shepard had recruited an excellent team. They just weren't Spartans.
The area they had entered seemed to break up into moving hexagonal platforms. The platforms moved around to their own timing and pattern. Having no discernable standard for timing. The group had to split up and ride three different platforms at once to make any headway. The drones selected that moment for an attack.
The platform with the three Spartans and the trurian, Garrus, moved up and away from the rest of the groups. This seemed to be meant to deter any enemies but only put them in a prime position to attack most of the drones with impunity. Shepard's platform moved forward to connect with another group of them, drones crawling over the area it met with.
She dove behind cover while she heard Grunt yell, charging the drones and firing his shotgun into them. Garrus' sniper rifle could be heard every few seconds, either killing or suppressing the drones. Shepard moved from behind her cover, pulling her shotgun out as well, intent on clearing the platforms as quickly as possible.
The three drones in front of her spun to face her, she sighted the nearest one and shot, its armor taking a large hit. Her second shot finished it off. The other two fired rounds into her kinetic barriers, the barriers absorbing the shots as she fired at the drones. She got close enough to the two that her shotgun was able to take out one of them with one shot while the last drone ducked into cover.
Shepard heard a shot and the drone slumped out of the cover, a sizeable piece of the head gone. Garrus has gotten it.
Taking the moment of reprieve, she looked at the fight. Noting where her people were and the enemies they needed to clear. Between the three areas they were faring well, the drones were being pushed back even against the larger group of drones.
'ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL'
She always hated to hear those words, she spotted the drone that had been activated, the platform where Tali and two of the biotics, Samara and Miranda were pinned for the moment. The drones suppressing the three while the Harbinger drones took shape. She felt her platform shake and she looked over to see two of the Spartans, Baker and Murphy, had jumped down near her position. "That's a hell of a jump, didn't want to stay out of the party huh?"
Murphy answered, "Got tired of the nosebleed seats, thought we'd get in on the front row." Shepard barked a laugh as she glanced around, her platform was being cleared by Grunt, Mordin, and Jack fairly effectively. One of the drones had the Collector particle beam and was making use suppressing that team but she was confident they could handle themselves.
"I'll cover you if you want to go after that big one." Shepard motioned towards the Harbinger drone.
The Spartans nodded, their weapons reconfiguring to a different style, "Roger that, we're moving forward."
With that, the two got up and began moving forward, sticking close to cover should the Harbinger drone begin throwing biotic attacks at the Spartans. Being the only thing the drones had that seemed effective against them.
Shepard moved forward, using her assault rifle to provide some covering fire for the two Spartans. More to keep the attention on her and allow them to move forward rather than keep them from being shot at. Their shielding and armor seemed to shrug off the drone attacks.
The Harbinger drone had all of its attention on the Tali, Miranda, and Samara who were trading fire and biotic attacks to minimal effect, the Harbinger drone seemed to be able to predict their movements and had a biotic attack waiting for them each time they came up from cover. The blocks they were using were beginning to show the wear.
Murphy reached the group of drones harassing them first, using a hard light blade to kill them without drawing immediate attention while Baker moved behind him, a large rifle in his hands. Four drones down, they got a clear shot on the Harbinger drone. Baker took a knee and sighted the large rifle at the drone, firing. The drone staggered badly but hadn't been taken down, a movement at the last moment had put the drone's rifle between it and the rifle's shot. Destroying the rifle and staggering the Harbinger drone but not killing it. It answered with a series of biotic attacks.
Seeing the attacks, Murphy moved between them and Baker, snapping his hard light shield up. The biotics splashing against it, each hit shaking the platform. Baker took the opportunity to shift, leaning to see around his partner's barrier and firing his rifle again. This time the torso of the Harbinger drone seemed to expand suddenly, the round transferring its energy into the drone. The drone came apart, disintegrating as the pieces fell to the ground.
Seeing the Harbinger drone and half the previous drones were down, Tali and the other two used the opportunity to clear the remaining drones. Finishing the enemy in their area.
On Shepard's side, the combined efforts of her team as well as Garrus and Captain Sanders on the raised platform proved enough to finish the enemy in their area as well. Shepard looked up at the platform that the two were on higher up. It didn't seem to move at all, suspended twenty meters above the other platforms. Shepard opened a channel with Garrus, "Is there a control to bring that platform down to our level? We need to keep moving before more show up."
Garrus had been trying to get some sort of control of the platform but had found none, his Omni-tool didn't seem to be able to connect with whatever controlled it, "Nothing Shepard, is there anything down there because it looks like we're not going to be moving this thing."
She was about to ask the Spartan Captain if he had any options when she saw him jump, falling the twenty meters and shaking the platform when he landed.
Standing back up he turned to the raised platform, "Garrus, this might hurt a little."
"What are yo-ARGHH!" Captain Sanders decided the quickest way to get him down would just be using his Constraint Field to lower the Turian down to the lower platforms. It was not a comfortable ride for Garrus.
The Captain lowered Garrus onto the platform, the Turian obviously not enjoying the trip. He released him and Garrus fell to his knees.
Breathing heavily for a few moments he finally collected himself, "Remind me to never piss you off."
Shepard shook her head, these Spartans had some impressive tech, not to mention training.
"Well, we're all in one place, you ready to move Garrus." Shepard felt bad that he had to be brought down that way but they needed to move.
"I'm ready Shepard, it'll take a little more than that to put me out of commission." Garrus shook himself and stood up, ready to get back into the fight.
"Good, it looks like this next area is where the power source is coming from, the pipes seem to run directly into that area. This platform over here looks like it will travel there."
The group moved to stand on the platform, Shepard activated the controls and the platform began to move. 'Now we'll see what the hell these things did with the colonists, time to make them pay.'
The platform moved through the honeycombed base, the size of it highlighted by the huge volume of empty space. The platform moved towards an enclosed area, ducking inside and settling among the other platforms that surrounded the focus of the piping they had followed.
Garrus' mandibles flared in surprise and disgust as he looked at the thing in front of them, "Shepard, the tubes seem to run into that…thing. What the hell is it that?"
The sight before them was a huge, mechanical abomination. It resembled a human and yet at the same time, the size and misshapen form was reminiscent of Sovereign mechanical shape. The skull hung down towards the platforms, too many eyes in the skull. The arms were spread out to each side with a skeletal, unfinished look. The chest had the approximate shape while being alien at first glance, the pulsing power core where a human's heart would be. Below the area of the rib cage, a mechanical facsimile of a human spine hung unfinished.
"Shepard, the pipes run through the scaffolding around the torso, holding it up. This is what they've been doing with the colonists…feeding it into this abomination." Tali was disgusted by the thing that was hanging in front of them. The Collectors had been feeding and building what appeared to be a human Reaper.
Captain Sanders looked at the machine for a moment, "Is this what that Harbinger thing was talking about? It plans on turning everyone into Reapers?"
"Not if we stop them. We need to destroy this thing, the piping looks like it's the main support. See if shooting the pipes will drop it." Everyone lined up their shots and began shooting, the casing of the exposed tubing chipping at first before holes began to appear. The liquid in the pipes began to run out as the holes were punched larger before each failed. The piping had been the load bearing structure and when destroyed, the other attachments were unable to support the proto-reaper's weight. Shepard felt a vindictive relief, having denied the Collectors and Reapers their goal, as it slumped forward briefly on the platforms before sliding off and falling down below.
"We need to find a way to destroy this place, we don't want them to try and make more of those."
Her Omni-tool pinged and suddenly a communications panel materialized, the Illusive Man's face looking out at her.
"Shepard, you don't need to destroy that place, there's a treasure trove of technology and insight into the Reapers in that base."
Shepard didn't have time for this, she wanted this place gone. "We just saw what they were doing with the colonists, they liquefied them and pumped them into a giant human-reaper hybrid. We don't need that sort of technology! I won't allow anyone to use that sort of technology!"
"You're missing the point Shepard, we can use the technology against them." Shepard stopped listening at that point, she felt the low and powerful tone rising from below them. The proto-reaper hadn't been inactive and the fall didn't seem to destroy it as they had hoped. It rose up, using the old scaffoldings and platforms to support its weight. Shepard and her team scrambled for cover, not knowing just what it would do.
There was a moment of silence as it appraised them, deciding what to do and after a short moment, decided. It began to move, attempting to destroy the crew of the 'Normandy' and the three Spartans. It moved like a human corpse, stiff, pain-ridden movements as it swung its arms to attempts to crush them. They jump and rolled out of the way before they heard the high-pitch whining noise.
Miranda looked up from her cover to see the largest of the group of eyes on the head began to glow an intense red color before a beam erupted from it, scorching a deep gash in two of the platform that had Samara and Garrus behind cover.
The proto-reaper slid down, pausing for a moment with one eye glaring hatefully at them before moving out of sight. They checked their gear, looked around, and listened. A burst of sound and motion announced the return, now hanging off the opposite platforms. The hateful eye began to shine red again, instead this time it was answered with equal ferocity.
Shepard heard a low pulsing beep, picking up speed as a laser honed in on the proto-reaper's eye. The red light caught the attention of the glaring eye, it focused on the source as both sounds peaked. Captain Sanders had a large blocky device raised on his shoulder while he readied it, kneeling on one knee to get a more stable sight picture.
The Spartan Captain had seen the thing move, Murphy and Baker had jumped behind cover and began assessing the new threat. It was much larger, if it was to be believed, the thing was the start of a ship-sized machine. His Spartans had ducked behind cover as soon as the proto-reaper had begun aggressing the group. He heard the while as it charged and fired a powerful weapon from one of the extra eyes it had. His scans informed him that it was not an energy beam, but rather a mass effect driven beam of molten metals at relativistic speeds. Not to be taken lightly.
As the thing dropped out of view, Captain Sanders took the time to remember his arsenal. Taking into account the size and methods it had used so far, he chose his weapon. The 1.6 meter long shoulder-mounted Spartan Laser mk 7 assembled itself out of slip space. He held it in the low ready, waiting for the proto-reaper to show itself.
When it finally did show itself, the Captain brought the laser to bear, the targeting laser catching the attention of the proto-reaper. It leaned in, charging its weapon as well. Captain Sanders' hard light shielding snapped into place around him, with the exception of a 10 cm hole for the laser to move through. Both weapons fired, the beams struck each other.
The red Spartan laser boring through the eye and skull of the proto-reaper destroyed the incomplete functions that drove the now doomed thing. Before the Reaper was eviscerated, it too had made its shot. The molten iron, uranium, and heavy metals streamed through the gap in the hard light shield, overloading his shields quickly and slagging the Spartan. The body of the weapon melted, burning into the Spartan's armor beneath before he tossed the destroyed weapon away and tore the damaged armor off. His shielding recharged quickly and his hard light indicator flashed green moments after he had gotten the destroyed plates of armor off. The ship-sized weapon had put his armor to the test. Luckily, the Spartan reflexes and technology had won out or he thought he would have likely been cooked.
The group watched as the now-inert proto-reaper form fell, explosions racking the dead form before it passed out of view.
Shepard walked back to the middle of the biggest platform, an access port had the controls for this area of the base. She pulled the rack of equipment up from the hole it was stored in.
Tali walked up next to it, "Shepard, we need to destroy this place, this looks like we can use it to start a reaction that will destroy a large portion of this base."
Miranda cut in, "You saw that proto-reaper Shepard, if we destroy this base, we lose the chance to study that. Imagine what sort of secrets we could learn about the Reapers from something like that."
Before Shepard could answer either of the two, they were interrupted as a swarm of seekers swirled into view, immediately moving towards them, a deep voice emanating from it as they were forced to run, having been driven away by the prospect of being caught by the swarm.
"RUN!" Shepard yelled as EDI loaded an overlay into her HUD, the 'Normandy' was close. They all began moving, following Shepard. Suddenly, a voice seemed to emanate from the air itself.
"You have changed nothing Shepard. You have the attention of those infinitely greater tha-aaaaAAAA" the voice of the Reaper rose in volume and intensity, losing all semblance of a voice and becoming a pervasive noise echoing around them. The seeker swarm vibrated with the sound, being the source of it. Moments after the noise seemed to become unbearable, the swarm dropped to the ground, the sound stopping. They continued to run, they didn't want to find out what that meant.
As it turned out, it had been the work of the AI Nick had with him. Andrew had seen a carrier signal imbedded with the swarm and had decided to attack the Reaper using it. His full attention was on fighting the technology around him. The Reaper wasn't making it easy, the cyberscape between the two was a hell of code that clashed, writing, and re-writing in an attempt to overpower each other. He had seen an opportunity with the signal from the Reaper, it had presented itself and he had attacked. He was beginning to doubt the wisdom of that impulse action, he had been successful at first but now it was beginning to feel as if he was being buried under the weight of the attacks. The seeker swarm was disabled but now the ancient machine had nothing to distract from attacking Andrew.
Suddenly, the fight Andrew had been in, the feeling of pushing against an immovable wall stopped. His attacks and connections suddenly reaching nothing, he fumbled as he withdrew. For the rest of the team, they heard and felt a deep thump travel through the structure as they ran, the 'Normandy' rising into view as the Collectors started pouring into the chamber, pushing them forward.
Shepard stopped by the ledge the 'Normandy' was holding by. "Joker! We're almost onboard, we need to be ready to go, this place is starting to explode!"
A pelican dropped cloak above the ledge and began to unleash hell into the mass of Collectors that was following the members of the 'Normandy'. With the last of the team on board the ship, Shepard stepped up to her ship. Glancing back as through the door as it closed.
The pelican and the 'Normandy' turned and darted towards the now visible 'Dawn'. Once in through the shield of the hangar bay, the Galaxy - class ship tore a hole in space. Sliding through the portal, closing it behind. Then, seconds later, the Collector base came apart as the charges built into the structure of the base reached critical mass.
They met up with the other two SSC ships at the Omega relay. "We need to get out of here. A lot of colonists died in there and I'm going to make sure the Reapers are going to pay." The Fleetmaster of the 'Dawn' met them, "First we must ensure the there is no returning from that place. The NOVA bomb we set on the distant relay should be sufficient to destroy it."
The crew of the 'Normandy' moved down the ramp to meet the Sangheili. The relay was in view through the shielded hangar door. "What the hell is a NOVA bomb?"
On the other side of the relay, the NOVA detonated, buffeting the relay as the expanding energy destroyed the various wreckage, the energy expended by the bomb rushing out. The relay could no longer hold against the NOVA and added its own to the explosion. A brilliant point of energy expanded outward with the force of a dying star. Nothing larger than the atoms of irradiated gas and fundamental particles remained.
From the hangar of the 'Dawn' they saw the rings of the Omega relay pick up speed, the light from the core intensifying as the rings began spinning at an insane rate. All at once, on the cusp of destroying itself, the light flashed out and the rings locked, no longer moving as the relay itself began to drift, the energy of the spinning transferred into the larger structure. The destruction of its partner had rendered the relay inert.
"What just happened to the relay?" Tali wondered what the SSC had done. She didn't know that they had done it to ensure nothing ever came through, if they could deactivate the relays they would have, but for now it was decided the Collector base and system needed to be removed.
Nick spoke up, having gotten the information on what happened through Andrew. "A NOVA bomb on the distant relay. Enough energy to crack a planet, at the very least turn the crust into a molten wasteland for centuries. Right on the relay. It destroyed everything on the other end."
Nick looked out the view screen at the slowly drifting relay, "Now, this one seems to have gone inert." The SSC seemed to have been expecting this as the two other ships moved to either side of the dead relay, opening a slip space portal large enough for the two ship and the relay, and towing the relay through.
"Now we can study it in closer detail, we may uncover a way to use them to our exclusive advantage, denying the enemy singular control of them." Fleetmaster Khuva thought it was prudent to study the tools of the enemy.
"Wait, so you demolished the Collector system, blew up a relay, and then took the deactivated partner relay? Does the SSC plan on sharing what they find? I would think our scientists would be better with that sort of tech. You have some very advanced tech but have had very little exposure to the technologies that we use." Shepard knew the base they had just seen destroyed had done little to effect the Reaper threat. She still needed to build alliances and gain support. She hoped the SSC would prove more forthcoming than the Citadel races with Reaper tech.
"We will be leaving for Shangri La momentarily. I do not know the details of what you ask. There will be those who do at the halo." The Fleetmaster left to see to the jump.
Harbinger had been caught off guard. The interlopers had interfered again. As he had disengaged from the Collector base, he set off the reaction that destroyed the structure. He wasted no more time with his puppets from a far, his awareness had retracted across the vast distance. Returning to his form that waited beyond the galactic rim, he now sent the call to his kind. They answered his call as hundreds of thousands emerged from the stasis that maintained them between harvests. The Cycle would continue.
Shangri La, Terran Radius, Day and a Half after mission
They stood glaring at each other, one unscrupulous staring down the incorruptible. Both knew that something big happened for the galaxy that day. The event was not in question, the subjective value of that event was. One called the action folly, where the other called it virtue. The path traveled by the two uneasy giants diverged and they both saw blood down their path. Their words exchanged and the tenuous connection was cut.
Shepard had stood by what she believed in when the Illusive Man accused her of destroying humanity's future with that base. 'Humanity would survive standing next to her allies not because of some technology, no matter how advanced, bent to our will, paid for in corpses of those that stood with us.' Her thoughts in disarray after the talk with the Illusive Man, not unfocused, simply scattered. She had decided the base had to be destroyed but the NSSC's plan "B" had erased the Collectors completely along with the relay.
She had a small feeling of unease after that bomb had been used. A relay erased and the inert partner was stolen away through time and space. That represented a lot of destructive power, especially after what Nick had said, "Enough energy to crack a planet, or at least turn the crust into a radioactive, molten waste for centuries." She had a lot of trouble reconciling all she had been learning these past weeks. She had no idea where they were from or why they were now here, questions, questions, and more questions.
The ability of the SSC was impressive, she had no doubt about that. Although they didn't seem to have many colonies, in fact she had no idea where a planet they inhabited might be. She began to put thought towards where they might actually reside. The information they gave made it seem like they had an open society. Where each sentient had the opportunity to cast votes on anything that came up, allowing their voice to be heard. Still, she wouldn't believe it until she saw it.
She admitted to herself about being nervous however, she knew they were probably going to be issues between the two societies. 'I need to start thinking of how to help the diplomatic side of all of this, they seem to be very powerful. I don't think the Council will like having their power challenged. I guess that's where I'm supposed to come in.'
Shepard had agreed to assist in the SSC contacting the Citadel and she would. For now though, she just wanted answers before she went any further.
Onboard the Quarian ship 'Quib Quib' 2185
"Sir, we're almost to the location that Tali sent us." The helm officer of the ship reported.
"Good, if even half of what Tali suggested is waiting for us there I think the Admiralty will want to bring more ships in. I'm not sure about a new group of aliens but if that's what it takes to fix the Quib Quib then I'm all for it." The captain Zemo'Riris vas Raleigh had been selected by the Admiralty to use Admiral Zaal'Koris' ship to find out if the wild claims that Tali'Zorah had made were true.
The Quarian government knew their people were slowly dwindling, almost always on the precipice of extinction. The Council still denied their petitions for a planet to settle while the rest of the races seemed to view the Quarian people as beggars and thieves. Many thought that it was unjust to punish so many generations of their people. That the first generation should have been the only ones wandering the stars. Others blamed the Geth, their ancestors for making the Geth, and still more blame was thrown around until it seemed meaningless.
There were those who now saw the Quarian people as being where they belonged. A race bound to the stars they traveled, never to live on a planet again. Captain Zemo was none of those people. He saw the galaxy as a means to ensure his ship, and those in it, were safe and cared for. When the message from Tali had been received, he had volunteered to go see for himself. If this SSC had such great engineers as the information suggested, he would suggest to have all ships rotated through.
"Dropping out of FTL now." Captain Zemo watched the view screen expectantly, he was still not quite prepared for what he saw.
Two days earlier – Message from Tali 'Zorah vas Neema
Greetings Father,
Father, a while ago I was sent out to search for Vee'tor. During that search I met up with Commander Shepard, the woman I helped take down Saren. Now I have signed on again as one of her crew to work against the Reaper threat we uncovered. In the search for answers, we have come across an individual that has revealed to be from an organization, a democratic government, known as the Sentient Species Coalition. In the coming days they will seek to open diplomatic channels with the Citadel races. The other races will have a diplomatic fleet visit their home planet. They have collected data on the Citadel races, for us however, there will be no fleet.
They have invited us to come to them.
I would not be messaging if I did not believe that this could benefit the Migrant Fleet. Their technology, sciences, and engineering seem far beyond that we have seen. They have had zero contact with element zero. They have technology that achieves faster than light travel without its use. This has allowed their ships to be built significantly larger. The Normandy is docked inside one of their ships now, it is six kilometers long. Larger than anything anyone could build and yet I have seen it and walked around inside it.
They have prepared a location for diplomatic meetings but it is far from any relay, coordinates for their contact which will take you to them are attached to this message. The location itself is the thing that will persuade you and the Admiralty board. They have constructed a ring world designed and built to house environments friendly to each of the Citadel race's biology's.
To say that I was surprised to learn the scope of their engineering project is an understatement. I won't strain my credibility by listing the dimensions but rather insist you see it for yourselves. On this ring world they have offered the services of their engineers and resources to us for the purpose of refit, refuel, and repair of any and all ships we would ask of them. This is too great of an opportunity for us to pass up, they are an advanced group with no prior prejudice against our people. The fleet needs this, we need this.
Keelah se 'lai,
Tali'Zorah vas Neema
The ship they faced was the biggest he had ever seen, longer than wide, the smooth armor running the length of the ship was a silver-grey. Various ports could be seen running the length of the ship while the bottom two thirds of the ship held hangar doors. The ship hung serenely against the stars, the Quarian crew in a flurry of motion as they scanned the sight in front of them. Captain Zemo was quietly appraising the sight that should be impossible when his sensor officer reported.
"Sir, it is six kilometers long, 750m wide, and 800m tall. There is no trace of eezo reading anywhere from it although there is a disconcerting amount of power throughout it. Tali's message told us what we would find but I didn't believe it."
"Hail them, they should be expecting us if they are the same group from the message." The officer started the process.
"Channel open sir" the Captain nodded and stood, shaking off some of his disbelief but glad that Tali had been right…so far.
"Unknown ship, I am Captain Zemo 'Riris leader of our vessel, the Quib Quib. We were informed by one of ours, Tali'Zorah vas Neema that your group seeks a diplomatic meeting with us." Not all of what this group offered but he did not want to appear as if they were desperate – his ship would make it back to the Fleet if this didn't work out.
A response came in and the he ordered it played, the image that came up was not what he expected. It was a human, "Greetings Captain Zemo 'Riris, this is Fleetmaster Nero of the NSSC ship, 'Resplendent Mind', we have been expecting a representative from the Quarian people. The location of our diplomatic group is beyond the sensible range of your FTL, we are sending you a flight plan to bring your ship to our hangar we will be able to take you to the location." The computer onboard beeped as it received the data.
"How far is the diplomatic meeting from our location? The Migrant Fleet is a little large to be chauffered individual if we accept the proposal." The captain was sure that the Admiralty wouldn't approve having the entire Fleet funneled through by these ships.
"We can accommodate the entire Migrant Fleet if you find our hospitality agreeable Captain, once we've properly...introduce ourselves so to speak, we plan to make Shangri La more accessible." His ship started towards the larger ship, it growing in apparent size the closer they approached it. They saw the hangar they were to dock in open, the armor doors retracting, shields keeping the atmosphere inside. 'That armor seems excessively thick, how do they move that much mass? And why do they NEED that much armor?'
Once inside, the crew of the 'Quib Quib' felt a moment of vertigo, once it passed a signal came through on their comms, "No need to leave your ship, we will arrive momentarily."
"Either we weren't actually that far away or they can travel much faster than us Sir" his first officer, Kreer, was leaning towards the first but after seeing that ship he didn't want to discount anything.
The captain was starting to get restless, at first there was a feeling of anxious expectancy. Now they had been sitting in their ship for nearly 30 minutes with nothing but a view of a section of path that looked to be used to move around the large hangar. The ship he had docked with didn't seem interested in contact right now either. The captain had almost tried to contact the ship anyway when the feeling of vertigo returned. A voice came over the comms again, this time deeper, more resonant, "We have arrived at Shangri La, the hangar doors have been retracted. Once you have left the 'Resplendent Mind', you will be contacted with further directions. Welcome Quarians, we hope you enjoy your time here."
"You heard them, take us out, we need to find out everything we can about these people." As their ship moved out of the hangar, the captain and the crew stopped moving.
Facing the Quib Quib were thirty Galaxy - class NSSC ships prepared to journey out into the galaxy. The halo Shangri La stood out against the back drop of stars.
The crew started moving again, surprised or not, the ship needed to be tended to. The captain thought of Tali's message and what an alliance with this group would mean for the Quarians, "I for one am looking forward to their hospitality."
Shangri La, Terran Radius - 2185
Shepard stood, looking out over the landscape wrapping up and around itself before coming full circle. She still had a hard time seeing this as something that was built. 'I this place seems more natural than manufactured because it just looks so much like a planet.'
She supposed that it was built like that for a reason, especially if they meant it as a diplomatic meeting point. Impress without threatening. If they could build this and those ship it implied they could do so much more. If she was right and they would be willing to share their tech, she thought the galaxy would have a much better chance against the reapers.
"Shepard, there you are, we all wondered where you went after talking with Legion." Garrus had been there with her when she went to talk to the Geth after the mission, the trip back to Shangri La had taken close to a day and a half. She had found out that the Geth that had attacked with Saren were supposedly a group of rogue Geth that followed, worshiped even, the Reaper that had indoctrinated Saren. The rest of the Geth behind the veil had still only been interested being left alone. The rest of the talk had been just filling the blanks and answering questions. She left the cargo hold feeling like she had a better handle on things so she got the crew of the 'Normandy' and went to get her answers from Nick.
They had met up with Nick shortly after that. They had used the CIC on the 'Dawn', Nick explained that the holographic projectors and access to the database would help prove his point.
'I just got done talking to Legion, the Geth we found on the derelict Reaper. Finally have some idea of what was happening with the Geth, seems strange that after 300 years they finally are trying to talk. I have a feeling that isn't the only strange thing that's going to come from a conversation is it?'
'No Shepard, I don't think so. I'm not really sure where to start. Turns out I'm not a good public speaker. So I guess I'll start with where we're from, the humans in the NSSC are from Earth and by our calendar the year is 3104.'
'You're from the future?'
'We don't know how the time difference works, either things just moved differently here or the time is off by more than 110,000 years. We're not just from a future Shepard, we're actually from a different dimension.'
'I was right, talking Geth wasn't the strangest thing I'd run into today.'
'True enough Shepard,' Nick brought up the rendering of the Ark Seed Fleet, 'See, I mentioned our drives make use of the slip space dimension, we found out that under the certain conditions a path to a different universe can be opened.'
'You're going to have to give me a little more than that Austra. What's all of this?'
'This is the Ark Seed Fleet. I was assigned to it almost one hundred and sixty years ago. In fact, I'm almost six hundred years old…'
The next few hours had filled her in on history from Nick's universe and how they had come to be here. She had kept an open mind about it all, the UNSC's first contact, the Flood, the Forerunners. That humanity could come through all of that seemed unreal. The holographic projections had helped, she actually felt that the Reapers were something they could overcome after all.
"I took a little time to make some sense of the past few days. I really just need to process all the information, Reapers, Collectors, and the NSSC, if I'm to help them with talks at the Citadel then I just need to make sense of all of this. I'm not sure I believe it even though Nick seemed to have credible proof of what he told us. Things that are amazing to us seems common place to us." She went quiet for a moment, "Is Nick still in there? I wanted to talk to him a bit more, I hope the NSSC has some better diplomats to speak to the Council, they're going to need a damn convincing ambassador."
QED, 'Normandy' – 1 hour later
"So Ms. Lawson, you mean to tell me that this Commander Austra is a member of an 'inter-dimensionally displaced advanced society of species'?" The Illusive Man looked down at the report, "Where do the humans fit into this NSSC? It's obvious that the society is advanced, if they built these halo objects they'd have to be, but will they share their technology?"
Miranda thought for a second, "They have already allowed us access to these Huragok to improve the 'Normandy' sir, I haven't been able to gain access to any of their technology sir. All of my scans are turned away by their AI, which seem to be orders of magnitude more powerful than the VI the Citadel races use. Their AI tech is definitely more advanced than even EDI sir."
"Yes, if the AI can actually be transported in small enough devices to be carried by a person while still being fully functional we could do a lot with this technology. Makes the Collectors technology seem almost obsolete." He pulled from his cigarette, looking over the diagrams Nick had allowed them all to see.
"We need these people as allies, Ms. Lawson, do whatever it takes. Once we're close enough we'll be able to get their technology. You need to get any and all samples of their technology you can. The sooner we can get our hands on it, the better. Any questions?"
"No Sir, I'll get what I can sent back to the labs."
"Good, now I need you to get Shepard, I need to talk to her."
The Illusive Man cut the link and Miranda left to get Shepard, she would have liked her to have been more receptive to Cerberus' interests but she could still manage.
Tali looked at the Geth and then back to the AI, Andrew. She had been sure that sending the message to the Migrant Fleet was the right choice more and more as she learned about what the NSSC could do. It looked like her people would finally be able to get back on their feet.
Then she learned they used, almost depended entirely upon, AI. Her spirits had dropped, she became angry, and she was a little scared. AI had done nothing but terrible things for her people, one of the reasons her people feared going extinct in a very real way. Her recent experiences with EDI had dulled her own fear but not her suspicion, EDI was – or had been- shackled. The NSSC AI had free reign, even recognized as citizens! If Shepard and Garrus hadn't been there with her right now, she may very well have shot one of the AI, the Geth to be sure. Shepard seemed to trust them, or at least not hate them immediately so she had decided to hear Nick out.
"Tali'Zorah, I've seen the history between Quarians and AI. I know why your people hate the Geth, but all AI? Is there any good reason for your people to immediately hate ALL artificial intelligence they come across?" Andrew and Nick knew this would be a tough conversation, Tali's people had a reason to hate the Geth. Although they both thought it was the Quarians fault as well for trying to kill the Geth in the first place, they didn't say that out loud. If they couldn't convince Tali, then the Quarians would very likely be beyond their reach as allies.
"The Geth are AI, it doesn't matter if the AI are different. They're all dangerous Nickolas, we learned the hard way." Tali didn't want the Migrant Fleet exposed to AI at all, it was a capital offense to do so even. She may have just invited the Admiralty to banish her from the Fleet. She was panicking inside.
Shepard moved to stand next to her, "Tali, the Citadel races only have had one dealing with AI, the Geth, so from that point of view of course it seems all AI are dangerous but we need to be open to the possibility that the NSSC AI aren't like the Geth."
"Creator Tali, the Geth did not want war with the Creators, we simply did not want to be wiped out. The actions taken during the Morning War were deemed necessary to ensure the survival of the Geth and the Creators." Legion attempted to persuade Tali.
"Bosh'tet, the Geth drove us from our home world and left us to live on ships with no planet to call our own. We were kicked out of the Council and now we are seen as beggars and thieves by the races we had stood with before." Tali panic had begun to change to just anger.
Andrew spoke up at this outburst, "Tali'Zorah, the Geth fought your people until they could no longer threaten the Geth with extinction and then left the galaxy alone. They did not drive your people from the Citadel, they did not prevent you from colonizing other planets, and they simply want to not be driven to extinction by the Citadel's irrational fear of AI."
"We looked a lot into the history of the Quarian people Tali, while we think it was wrong to try to kill the Geth, we're more worried about WHY the Quarians felt they had to. Have you ever wondered why the Citadel views AI with such animosity? Is there any other evidence before the Geth that would give the Citadel a reason to treat your people that way? You were driven from your home world by what you created and instead of rushing to the aid of your stricken people, what did they do?" Nick didn't want to badger the Quarian but he needed her to think through the history of her people, past their hatred for the Geth and AI.
Tali faltered, she had similar thoughts before, why the Citadel had reacted so harshly to her people but it was always came back to the Geth. They proved the validity of the laws against AI, didn't it? "The Citadel isn't loved by our people Nickolas, we think it is unjust that we are still being punished after three hundred years. What else could we do though?"
"Tali'Zorah, your people were driven to a panic and attempted genocide because of a law – one with some of the strictest punishments – that was based on a maybe. Your people shouldn't have been persecuted like they were. Or had the threat of that punishment looming over your people's heads. No race should. We've found no reason for those laws, they actually just appear in the Council laws almost six centuries before the Geth were created. No prompting, just suddenly declared evil" Andrew saw that Tali was beginning to actually think through the things told to her and her people's history.
"If we hadn't tried to destroy the Geth, tried because the Citadel didn't want AI around, what would have happened?" Tali wondered out loud.
Legion said, "Creator Tali, the Geth harbor no lingering animosity towards the Creators. We seek peace but out of necessity, we have to isolate ourselves from the galaxy to achieve that peace. If there were no war from the Creators, there would be no war from the Geth."
Throughout this, Shepard had been quiet, she had thought what was still being done to the Quarians unjust before she had even met Tali, now she was sure of it. The other points that Nick and Andrew were making worried her. From what they told them, the NSSC AI had been successful in defending against the derelict Reaper's indoctrination and even getting access to the Reaper's systems. Could Sovereign done something in the past to ensure AI wouldn't exist? If they could be a threat like it seemed they could, it would make sense.
Tali's old habits were hard to break, "Even if we hadn't attacked them, AI are dangerous, what need do you have of us? Eventually AI will rebel, it's just a matter of time."
"Tali'Zorah, I know that not to be true. What use do all of the other races have of each other? Trade, friendship, mutual respect, and the same things our society of AI in the SSC have for the other races. We're not automatically monsters, waiting for the right time. I'm almost two hundred years older than the Geth and I've never thought it would benefit the AI nation to be "rid" of the organic races." Andrew found the idea of the AI over throwing the organic races ridiculous. They were made in those races image and they had no right over them to begin with.
"You need to get past your prejudice Tali, you know it makes no sense for the Quarians to still be punished, just like you can see now that the Geth need not be hated. I can promise that the NSSC AI have no plans to enslave us all, they've been our closest allies for almost seven hundred years." Nick felt they were close to getting through to her.
"Seven hundred?" She was quiet for a moment, her mind racing, "….I won't say that I can call them allies, the Geth, and in turn, AI have been the cause of tragedy for my people. I will at least no longer call them enemies." She turned to Legion, "If the Quarian people approached the Geth without trying to kill them, could the Geth accept us? Do you think there could be peace between us?" Tali had to reach for something concrete, her mind was scattered after this. Three hundred years of her people's history painted in a new light that showed her a different perspective. She would need some time.
Shepard began to see the truth of what Nick and Andrew were trying to get across, "Tali, the Quarians fired first, some even stood with the Geth. Maybe that war is a tragedy for the Geth as well."
"I don't know Shepard, I-I just don't know what to think anymore." She looked around at the faces in the room, "I need to think about all of this, I'll be on the 'Normandy' if you need me." With that Tali walked out, needing time to think.
"I hope she can come to terms with what we've told her Shepard, we want to help the Quarians but cannot do that if they hang on to their irrational hatred of all AI. I can understand the Geth, I don't like what happened between them, but I can understand losing your home world can foster a lot of hate." Andrew was thinking of the plans he had been informed of while en route back from the Omega relay.
Just then, Miranda walked in to see Shepard, "The Illusive Man would like to speak with you Shepard, I've told him everything that has happened."
Shepard had hoped that Miranda would have moved away from Cerberus' influence but it looked like she had been too optimistic. "What makes him think I have anything else to say to him? I destroyed the Collector base and I'm not going to jump when he wants me to."
"I don't think he's going to try to get you to jump at all Shepard, I don't really know what he wants at all."
"One thing after another." She shook her head, "I have no interest in what the Illusive Man has to say. I'm going after the Reapers my way, he has nothing to add that I want."
'Well, that went better than I thought.' Miranda thought, she hadn't been surprised. Still, she had a job to do, as soon as they were away from the NSSC she had to get back to Cerberus.
"I had expected as much, very well then Shepard. Have it your way." She nodded to the Commander as she left.
Command and Control, Shangri La – 12 Hours Later
Rear Admiral Nathaniel Campbell had his fleet in position. They had been waiting for days until the fleet got back from helping the Systems Alliance Command Shepard on her mission to assault the base of a local threat. Apparently this Commander had been achieving the impossible for a solid two years, topped off two years ago with her acceptance into this galaxy's elite group of Soldiers. From what he had read they sounded almost like government-sanctioned vigilantes. Spectres, although he did admit, this SA Commander had seemed to have made the most of it.
She had uncovered the Reapers, a group of sentient warships that had apparently been scouring the life from this galaxy for at least 300 million years. How a group of ship-bound AI had been able to maintain the same technology base for that long was beyond him. In all actuality they should have been so advanced so as to make the NSSC's tech look like they were banging rocks together. They weren't, and one of them had already been destroyed, along with the report from that assault. Seems they didn't put much importance in technical advancement. The NSSC would see to it that they regretted that decision.
The fleet he was overseeing now however, was intended to see that this galaxy knew of the NSSC and ascertain if diplomatic alliances were possible. The NSSC were still the holders of the Mantle, in their universe and any other. The fleet consisted of thirty ships, twenty for of those would split into fleets of three, which would travel and announce themselves two hundred kilometers from the relay accessing each Citadel race's home world. The other group of six Galaxy-class ships were to travel to the non-Citadel races. Two would be sent with Legion to open relations with the Geth, while four would be sent to the Batarian home world for a diplomatic mission, although that fleet had contingency measures should the Batarians become hostile.
The fleets carried the different ambassadors that would make contact with each race, each party led by a race from the NSSC that they believed would make the impression that this was indeed a new group with a different race of Humans. They still anticipated the presence of Humans on the ships to cause some confusion but because the Humans were only the lead delegate for the Systems Alliance diplomatic party they still believed progress could be made.
The Asari, Turians, Salarians, and Batarians would be visited by Sangheili-led delegations.
The Elcor along with the Hanar and Drell would be visited by Mgalekgolo-led delegations.
The Volus would be visited by a Kig-yar and Unggoy delegation.
The Krogan would have the Sangheili and Mgalekgolo representing the NSSC on Tuchanka.
The Geth would be met by Legion introducing the AI delegation.
The Humans would be contacted at Earth by the NSSC Human-led delegation, although all the NSSC races would be represented in the delegation. Due to the Humans being the only race that they knew existed in this universe, the NSSC had high hopes for contact with the Systems Alliance.
With the delegates briefed on each race, they had been going over what the NSSC had discovered about each of the races since the intelligence efforts had been underway. The AI on board each ship would be in constant contact back to Shangri La and Rear Admiral Campbell's ship, the Havoc-class 'Dauntless'. His ship would be deploying to the Citadel eight hours after the other fleets. The Assembly thought this would allow the news of ships making diplomatic contact with all of the races at the same time, accounting for travel time. Once the eight hours passed, he planned to escort the diplomatic party assigned to the Citadel. They hoped that the Council would see this as peaceful contact from a powerful new government. That was the hope at least, pragmatism called for plans to deal with hostility. If the Council proved hostile, the 'Dauntless' would jump in with two Galaxy-class ships to support the extraction of the diplomatic party. Until such time however, it would remain between the Citadel and the nearest star.
The bridge of his ship was shaped in tiers with the Rear Admiral, fleet AI, and Captain of the ship on the highest tier and stepped down and widened with a large view screen dominating the space. The twelve holographic projectors that he used to communicate with the other NSSC under his command and control were arranged in front of the view screen. They currently had the AI that were assigned to each fleet, five on each side.
With everything in place, Rear Admiral Campbell was ready to give the order to deploy throughout the galaxy. "Attention, all diplomatic fleets! Begin deployment, the Mantle shall be upheld!"
At that moment, thirty separate slip space portals opened, destined for different parts of the galaxy, on a hopefully peaceful mission. Time would tell if the galaxy would be able to meet the Reaper threat united. Campbell watched as the countdown was displayed, eight hours and counting, he was not surprised to feel a small feeling of excitement stir.
The fleet AI, one with Kig-Yar origins, Xerces appeared next to the Rear Admiral, "Everyone is moving out and communications are up. Now we will wait and see how these Citadel races react."
He was looking forward to this like nothing else he could remember, a small smile crept onto his face. "Comms, inform the 'Normandy' that we'd like her onboard in two hours to begin our trip to the Citadel."
Across the Galaxy, six hours later – 2185
The relays of the Citadel races were well monitored, patrol fleets, standing forces stationed, movements monitored. The arrival of the diplomatic fleets simultaneously across the galaxy caused alerts and scrambling of reserve fleets. Orders were sent over emergency channels and disbelief was voiced at the reports of the three large ships just appearing next to the relays that led to their home worlds.
It seemed for the first tense moments that violence was inevitable, then the NSSC began reaching out. Hoping to establish a semblance of peace so that the foundation of an alliance who could stand against the Reapers could be laid. The races of the NSSC had always seen violence at first contact, they were ready for it but would do anything they could to avoid it.
Relay to Trebia System, Arrival of the NSSC Diplomatic Fleet
The Turian fleet guarding the relay that led to Palaven rarely, if ever, saw any sort of "action". The fleet was manned by some of the best-trained Soldiers that the Turians produced. Well drilled and all decorated. To guard Palaven was considered a great honor, one that no Turian took lightly. Their martial society and mind set demanded discipline and excellence deployed so close to the heart of the Turian Hierarchy.
The sudden arrival of the NSSC's ships over Palaven was met with shocked but prompt action. Within seconds of the NSSC ships traveling back into reality, the fleet faced to meet the unknown ships. There was time for surprise after Turian dominance was established. They had no idea that every other known race was facing the same surprise, many with much slower reactions.
"SIR! We're reading a large spike of radiation, centered on three points. Wait, correction, reading three contacts sir. Spirits! They're huge!"
The Rear Admiral in charge of the defense fleet was now alert, "Turn the fleet to face the contacts and bring them up on screen."
As the ships began to turn, the view screens changed to show the view of the three ships. The three Galaxy-class ships making an immediate impression of wartime prowess and restrained power. Further punctuated for the Turians by what they found next.
"Sir, we're reading that they are each six kilometers long. No element zero readings whatsoever." The officers on the bridge were surprised but knew what needed to be done.
"Shields up and weapons are primed sir, orders?" The tactical officer had known his role in this situation.
"What can we tell from the scans? Communications, attempt to open a channel." The Admiral needed to get a hand of this situation, those ships should be impossible but they had showed up right on the Turian doorstep. He would be damned if they would get past this relay without having to go through all of his ships first. 'How in the spirits does someone build ships that big and move the damn things?'
"Sir, they're hailing us already."
"Put them on screen." The Rear Admiral and the entire bridge crew were dealt another surprise as the face that they saw was unlike anything they had seen before. They realized they had just had a first contact dropped in their laps.
The predatory gaze and four jaws of the Sangheili delegate greeted them in proper Turian. "Greetings, I am Ambassador Khel 'Chasum of the Sangheili race, I am the leader of a diplomatic delegation from the New Sentient Species Coalition, the NSSC. We have come to this location for the express purpose of opening diplomatic channels with the Turin Hierarchy." The figure finished then waited for a response.
"We have not heard of such an organization. You are trespassing in Hierarchy space with three warships. If you mean for diplomatic contact you should have tried the Citadel Ambassador and you should have not showed up in warships. You will leave this system or we will fire on your ships. Do you understand?" The Admiral wasn't concerned with first contact or the validity of the claims this alien was making, his concern was first and only the protection of the Turian home world.
"Our diplomatic parties have arrived with these ships not as an act of war. I will say once more, we are here on a diplomatic mission. We will comply with whatever safeguards your command requires." Khel had prepared for this eventuality, he would simply order the fleet to leave if the situation started to turn hostile. With the position the Turians held in the Citadel, a war with them would ensure a war with Citadel space.
"Then I am ordering you and your ships to leave this space at once, try your diplomacy at the Citadel alien." The Admiral cut the connection, "Tactical, keep them in weapons lock, if they're not on their way out in the next sixty seconds then fire on them."
Ambassador 'Chasum could see that the Turians were not receptive to the diplomatic fleet arriving on their door step. "These Turians are more likely to fire on us than talk with us. Fleetmaster, I think it is time we leave from this place and hope the other fleets have had more luck."
"Fleetmaster, they are charging weapons." The sensors officer reported, having expected the readings after the response from the leader of the Turian fleet.
"So they will make good on their threat, raise shields, leave weapons cold. We only need to leave to report our findings."
The Turian Admiral saw the three ships moving forward, "Status, what are they doing?"
"Sir, they've raised their shields and are moving towards our fleet."
"Fire on the lead ship, they were warned."
The three NSSC ships moved forward, the slip space drives charging as the six Turian dreadnoughts leading the fleet opened fire, hurling the twenty kilogram slugs at over four thousand kilometers a second. The volley of fire that would have destroyed almost any other ships in Citadel space revealed to the Turians what the Collectors had discovered, the mass driver technology that the Citadel races relied on almost exclusively were largely ineffective against the hard light shielding employed by the NSSC.
The Turian fleet, confident they had struck a crippling blow, were surprised as the hard light shields snapped into existence as the fury of the Turian fleet reached the Ambassador's ship. The slugs thrown at them splashed against the hard light shields, nowhere for their energy to go except to shatter the slugs and throwing the shards into the void.
The Turians continued their attack, their dreadnoughts hurling death. The crews of the fleet watching expectantly for the impact that never came. The three ships opened their portals to the exotic dimensions of slip space and slid out of reach of the Rear Admiral's ships. Turian discipline was tested as the crews processed what had just happened. On the bridge of the Rear Admiral's ship, it was silence until he spoke, "Get a report of everything that just happened here, I want every scrap of sensor, visual, and weapons data. We need to get a report to the Citadel."
Relay to Parnitha System, Arrival of NSSC Diplomatic Fleet
Deep in Citadel space, the relay to the Asari home world, Tessia sat guarded by a small group of Asari cruisers and a single Asari dreadnought, the Asha, was commanded by Matriarch Linara. The fleet guarding the relay leading to the Asari home system was at first glance, lightly guarded. However, due to the distance through Citadel space any intruder had to travel to arrive there, the Asari felt they would always have enough warning to mobilize their fleets to the places they were needed. The ships and their crews were not lacking for experience or discipline and they had the might of the Asari fleets waiting should they call.
The arrival of the ships that put the Destiny Ascension's size to shame was met with the same confusion and surprise as the other race's encounters with the NSSC diplomatic fleets. For the Asari, however, their centuries of life allowed a measured and calculated response in a much quicker manner. They were used to being the race within Citadel space that were in control of situations through long planning and patience. Matriarch Linara used those same tactics now.
The arrival had sparked the same defensive movement of her fleet, her superiors were informed, and plans were made. She could admit she was impressed with the seemingly impossible size of the ships, the lack of apparent element zero, and the powerful figure that she had spoken to. She recognized the value such things had to diplomatic efforts. After she had recovered from her brief moment of shock, a prayer to the Goddess uttered, she looked to gain the best diplomatic position. No easy task in the face of a group that seemed to know much about the Asari but the Asari knowing nothing about them. Still, the Asari prided themselves on their diplomatic superiority, she would not disappoint.
"We are, of course, always excited to greet a new race Ambassador 'Nuralum. We only ask that the Sangheili consider the repercussions of arriving at the gateway of the Asari home world with a fleet of what appear to be warships. That the NSSC chose to send such vessels, presumably as a display of power, may pose an obstacle to proper diplomatic proceedings." She needed to make the ambassador from this 'NSSC' to realize that the Asari didn't respond to such childish displays of power they seemed to have chosen. She would ignore the not insignificant amount of concern she had about HOW they had known to come to this exact location as they claimed.
"Matriarch Linara, these ships are not here as a display of power, I assure you. We have had only negative experiences with first contact. They are simply the balance we decided upon between the impressions they make and, if the need arose, the protection they would provide while we removed ourselves from a hostile situation. We knew we would be facing superior numbers. We are no strangers to the stars Matriarch, we have learned many lessons." Ambassador 'Nuralum had been briefed on the Asari but he was still surprised that this military commander had still gone almost immediately into diplomatic posturing.
"I meant no offense, I only meant to inform you of how your ships would be viewed." Her communications officer whispered to her that a fleet would be arriving shortly to escort this supposedly diplomatic group. "I'm sure it's an oversight that our diplomats will be able to overlook, first contact can be a confusing time for new races." The ambassador recognized some of the tactics this Asari was attempting to use, assuming offense, passively assuming a wrongdoing, suggesting something he had done offended the Asari so they could graciously forgive them.
All part of the political power struggle, he had enjoyed many similar debates with the AI back before they arrived here and since on the New Ark. He looked forward to continuing before he was interrupted by the Asari fleet arriving through the relay.
"Well, as engaging as this is Ambassador, our fleet that will escort you to a location for diplomatic meetings has arrived." The view on his ship split between two Asari figures on the different ships. "Yes, thank you Matriarch Linara, you are dismissed, we will accompany the delegation from here."
"Of course, Goddess be with you." The Matriarch ended the connection, leaving the new Asari on screen.
"Ambassador 'Nuralum, I am Matriarch Theilia, my fleet would like to invite you to join us near Thessia to being diplomatic proceedings. Our ships will take position before and after your ships while we travel through the relay." Theilia didn't mention that one of the largest Asari fleets, the Sixth fleet, would be standing by in-system to deal with them if these new ships turned hostile.
"We welcome the opportunity Matriarch Theilia, however, our ships make no use of the element zero and such will be able to make our own way to the distant relay, or if you would give us the coordinates for the location we would meet at, we will proceed directly there." The Ambassador was knew that the Asari would continue to look for leverage over them, displaying their independence of the relays (while it was not true they could not use the relays, it simply served their purpose to have the Citadel races believe that) would allow them another bargaining point for the future.
Matriarch Theilia did not miss the implications of what the Sangheili had said, outwardly however, she remained calm and collected, "Very well, we will send the coordinates and half of our fleet will stay here and the other half will make our way there. How long should we expect to wait Ambassador?" the coordinates were sent.
"Not long Matriarch, we have the location and will depart now, I look forward to continuing this in person." The three NSSC ships charged their slip space drives as the Asari fleets looked on expectantly, reading the huge power spike needed to open a slip space rupture. The space in front of the three ships shimmered and tore open, the blue-black portal to slip space open, the senior Asari present in the fleet had their minds sent reeling as they thought of what just happened.
"Get us through the relay and to the rendezvous point, NOW."
Matriarch Theilia began to realize how big an effect this new race could cause, no eezo, not constrained by the relays, and able to build ships of that size. The NSSC needed to be watched very closely, there was a human saying - keeping your allies close and your enemies closer...
Relay to Pranas System, Arrival of NSSC Diplomatic Fleet
The Salarians are the race largely responsible for the Citadel space's intelligence gathering activities. Their higher metabolism and quick thought adapted very well to the various espionage activities. Besides the STG teams that were deployed throughout Citadel space, the world of Sur'Kesh offered little in the way of military might. Although they had a military and a fleet. The Salarians preferred to keep their wars small, won before their enemy knew that they were even at war.
The Salarians belief that they knew what was going on almost anywhere in Citadel space was challenged as the three diplomatic NSSC ships opened their slip space ruptures and returned to normal space. The fleet that guarded the relay was put in the position that normally they only ever wanted their enemies to be. Where the Turians had turned the ships away, the Salarian desire to know more meant that more meaningful dialogue took place.
The Commander of the 'Defender One' had been reviewing the various systems that his dreadnought held against the upgrades that it would receive in the next rotation in two months. 'The navy must be kept technologically superior, what the STG cannot stop, we must be ready to strike and they mustn't know that we are there until after we've struck.' While Commander Jobar Eban had no qualms about fighting, He knew the value of striking hard and fast.
When the three ships had arrive outside the relay to his home world, he had brought his fleet to defensive posture, ready to strike, although he decided to hold off until the ships showed aggressive intent. For the leader of the Defense Fleet, the ships were mysteries, mysteries that he wanted very badly to solve. They were larger than any known ship could possibly be, of a design that was not recognized throughout the extensive intelligence network, and when he had been hailed by them, was crewed and commanded by a group of aliens that no one had any knowledge of. He would have felt that he was already losing had they not announced their diplomatic intentions.
"This is Ambassador Luro 'Telcam of the New Sentient Species Coalition diplomatic ship 'With Honor', we have arrived at this exact location in hopes of opening diplomatic channels with the Salarian government." Luro had been sent to be the ambassador for his time in the Sangheili covert ops intelligence organization. His superiors felt that for the Salarians, who prided themselves on knowing anything there was to know, his background would help him assuage their fears of having three large unknowns appear near their home world.
"This is Commander Jobar Eban of the 'Defender One', you have declared diplomatic intent, yes? We require that you power down any weapons systems you have and await further direction. A diplomatic ship will arrive shortly." The Commander had no actual idea how close a diplomatic ship was but he knew there was an STG ship very close by, with none other than Major Kirrahe on board.
The Commander sent a report to Sur'Kesh and the nearby STG ship, now en route, to find out what action he needed to take next. While he was a commander of a Salarian dreadnought, like the other races, there was no protocol in place for first contact right at their doorsteps.
"While the diplomatic ship is en route, I am sure you have questions Ambassador. I have some for you if you would agree to exchange some, that is agreeable yes?" 'The ships this race has suggests alternate means of transportation, else the mass effect core would have to account for a sizable percentage of the mass of those ships, unlikely due to lack of element zero readings. Fascinating.'
The Ambassador did not want to explain the same thing over and over to each of these aliens. He was sent on a diplomatic mission although he was not as patient or experienced as such, "We already know much of the Salarians commander, and so I have no questions for you. You may ask those that you have however, although I may not answer until the diplomatic party arrives."
'So they have already gathered intelligence on us, how is what I would like to know. This does not bode well for Union.' "If that is the case then yes, I have questions, how have you gathered the information on us, how do your ships not use element zero, how do you build such large ships and are able to power them, why such a fleet for a diplomatic meeting?" The commander had trouble keeping the rest of his questions to himself for the time being, in the Salarian experience, other races had trouble keeping pace with their questions and train of thought.
The Ambassador Luro had been picked for much the same reason from among his peers, "Stealth scout fleets, we never encountered it, carefully and without element zero, and we are not new to the stars and will not be dealt with as such – these ships and our knowledge of your race should make accepting that easier for the Citadel races."
The Salarian commander had not expected such a concise response but after quick thought, admitted a modicum of respect for this race, 'This should be a very interesting meeting.' Before he was able to continue his questions, the STG ship arrived.
"It would seem the diplomatic party has arrived Ambassador, I hope we may speak again, I would look forward to such an exchange."
The NSSC intelligence fleets had discovered the Salarian's role in the Citadel space as intelligence gatheres, and for many of the NSSC, meddlers. Their involvement in the Krogans as well as their constant movement behind the scenes of the Citadel races needed to be met in kind during the diplomatic meetings. So the AI onboard the stealth prowlers in Salarian space had been given more leeway to explore the computer systems. In turn, they had found much more about the race than any Salarian would have liked another race to know. Some of the biggest entries of interest had been the STG.
"I am sure you would Commander Eban, but for the time being, I will meet your STG ambassador, send us the coordinates for where the meeting will take place. We have much to speak to your Union about."
Commander Eban blanched a moment, 'How? …..we did not even know they existed and now this? Much care must be taken with this new race.'
Relay to Harsa System, Arrival of NSSC Diplomatic Fleet
It had been a few decades since the Hegemony had finally separated from the Citadel, the ruling class and military leaders of the Batarians felt that the races that sat upon that station were below them and believed themselves the rightful leaders of the galaxy. Fleet Admiral Eposk Kanmorr was among those who felt that way. To those he felt he was better than, he was condesending, hugely arrogant, and dismissive - if not outright abusive. For those who could influence his station, he was cordial, frank, and confident bordering on arrogant. His maneuvering in the Hegemony military had taken him far. He was in command of the group if ships that guarded the Batarians home world, Khar'shan a full four years before his peers. He led with an iron will. He did so while in command of the defending fleet from the comfort and opulence of one of three Batarian dreadnoughts, the 'Fist of the Hegemony'.
Fleet Admiral Kanmorr could be found in his quarters as he usually was. With the exception of the weekly reports to be made back to the Hegemony, the occasional "unaffiliated" pirate slave vessel passing through, and the ever so amusing disciplinary action, he rarely left his quarters. He thought it added to the fear and respect the crew viewed him with. He had been selected for this station because his relationship to one of the Generals on the home world had benefitted greatly from his earlier days as a slaver, officially denounced by the Hegemony of course. The lesser races looked down on them when they took members of their race as slaves. No matter, the Batarians had been growing their military might in secret for nearly two decades after they were forced to cut ties and leave the Citadel. He looked forward to the day that he would see his race take their place at the head of that Council. Then let them try to intrude on their cultural heritage with anti-slavery laws.
Admiral Kanmorr had been going over the dossier of the next slaver crew to pass by him, heading back to Khar'shan for a drop off. He was always looking for new talent under his command. His musings were interrupted by his executive officer's urgent report, "Fleet Admiral, there is something happening that requires your presence, three enormous ships have just landed a few thousand kilometers from us. They are hailing us."
With a growl at being interrupted, he stormed out of his quarters to deal with whatever nuisance his XO had bothered him with. He had not really listened to him, a habit of his towards those who served under him.
"What is the issue out here? Why did yo- Someone had better explain what the hell those ships are doing there! Go to full combat stance, notify the Hegemony command of this at once. Get to it you useless bastards!" The crew jumped to action, the XO had issued those orders before going to get the Fleet Admiral but none of them wanted to be seen as idle around the Fleet Admiral.
The XO stood next to his arrogant ass of a commanding officer, in truth he was no better, and reminded him, "Sir, those ships are hailing us, should we open the channel?"
"No, first I had better get my answer, why are they there, how did they get so close before we received word!"
"We don't know how or why they are here, they seemed to appear out of nothing and then began hailing us. Should I put it on screen?"
His commander just grunted and demand it be done, "Fine, but if I don't like what I see, we disable their ships and take the crews as hostage."
"Sir, those ships are scanned to be at bear six kilometers long, I believe we would need more of our navy for an engagement."
"Noted, now put the transmission on screen."
The image changed to the view of the Sangheili crew on board the 'Immovable Force', the Fleet Admiral's foul mood brightened, a first contact for the Batarian Hegemony, 'As it should be, we should have the pick of the new races before they go crawling to the Citadel.'
"Unknown vessels, you are in Hegemony space illegally. Who are you and what do you think you're doing here?" The Admiral didn't know if the Hegemony had any sort of first contact protocol. That he never guessed he would be faced with such a thing this close to Khar'Shan didn't stop the Fleet Admiral from deciding that he was qualified to respond to the NSSC ships.
The ambassador assigned to the Batarians was not actually a dedicated diplomat. The Assembly had seen the history and attitude of this race, they had no real expectations to open meaningful relations with them. Truth be told, the Admiral Hood had advised the Assembly to make an effort but have a means to neutralize them as a threat. Fleetmaster Rhel 'Thadum had been empowered to act as the ambassador, or more likely, military leader of the four ships under his command. It seemed that the Hegemony would oblige their military plan.
"I am Ambassador and Fleetmaster Rhel 'Thadum, I represent the New Sentient Species Coalition on a diplomatic mission to establish contact with the Batarian Hegemony. We seek-", He was interrupted by the Batarian admiral.
"The Hegemony does not seek to make contact with other species, we have cut ties with the Citadel Council after they had proven to be weak and self-absorbed. We need no allies and therefore need no diplomacy with new races." He began to wonder how much one of these new aliens would fetch at the slave markets, "In light of your illegal trespass into Hegemony territory, we demand that you power down you ships and submit to our authority. Failure to do so will force us to fire on your vessels."
Fleetmaster 'Thadum knew of the Batarians slaving, he found it disgusting that a space-faring race would still practice such barbarism. He could see where this was heading, "On whose authority do you demand such a thing? We recognized no such authority over the ships and crew under my command."
"I am a member of the Batarian Navy and we are the rightful leaders of this galaxy!" He spat the words at the Sangheili.
"You are slavers and filth who huddle in your space and mumble to yourselves of your own superiority! We will submit to nothing because you have no authority here! We need not suffer your presence any longer."
The Batarian Admiral was enraged at the statement, "It is our cultural heritage! We will not have our laws and way of life dictated to us by lesser species! We have always be—"
The Fleetmaster cut the connection unceremoniously, "They have turned our attempts at peaceful contact, now we will shall humble this arrogant race. 'Cultural heritage', HA! Our cultural heritage would have called for us to glass that planet, luckily for them, we are no longer bound by such barbarism. Take us to orbit over their home world, Shiva, be ready to do your part."
The avatar of the AI, Shiva, materialized next to the Fleetmaster, her body a multi-armed embodiment of the Hindu destroyer deity. "Gladly Fleetmaster, I will begin as soon as we arrive."
What happened next would be the event that shattered the Batarian Fleet Admiral's career. Disgracing him and removing any vestige of his previous station in the Hegemony. The four ships slid into the tears in space and time as the Fleet Admiral raged at his bridge crew to fire on the NSSC ships. None found their mark.
The four ships arrived in orbit over Khar'shan, the AI Shiva began her attack on any and every Hegemony asset. Her interest was piqued as soon as she forcibly dismantled the firewalls surrounding the Department of Information Control, she had found what she needed. She tore the Hegemony's most closely guarded secrets from those systems. She dismantled the software that made up the Hegemony's systems and then began her broadcast.
Shiva then turned the systems that the Batarians had used for years to control the information flow for their population and galaxy at large to act as the opposite. The secrets and truth about the Hegemony exploded out of the Batarian systems, hitting every single system connected to the wider network. Finally screaming out through the Extranet to the rest of Citadel space.
Their mission complete and before the Batarians had much of a clue that anything had happened, the four NSSC ships opened their exit and left. The effects of their actions rippling out from Khar'shan and began the erosion of the Hegemony's power. Fleetmaster 'Vadum felt satisfied that the Hegemony had been neutralized as a threat for the foreseeable future.
Relay to Sol System, Arrival of NSSC Diplomatic Fleet
Admiral Roberts of the Fourth Fleet had served for decades. He had seen the Systems Alliance through the First Contact war, the fleet during the Battle of the Citadel in 2183, and now was stationed on the SSV Rainier with the Fourth Fleet, currently assigned to the defense of the relay leading connecting to Earth's relay, the Arcturus relay.
The fleets guarding the Arcturus relay would, if all went as it was supposed to, be uneventful rotations that meant the refit and resupply of the fleets. Although, at the same time, the SA military doctrine required that any given fleet be ready to respond to enemy activity with overwhelming force and because of this, the fleets ear Earth were careful to maintain their readiness.
Today, the Fourth fleet needed only to turn their ships to respond to the newest unknown, the three NSSC ships making up the diplomatic fleet – the 'Shining Dawn', the 'Brazen Path', and the 'By Any Means' opened their slip space ruptures in high orbit around the relay.
The NSSC's Ambassador, Trisha Cypher, led a delegation including members of every NSSC race, although the AI member had agreed to stay out of sight until the attitude of the Systems Alliance could be determined to be positive. Even with that obstacle, there was a feeling of excitement permeating the bridge of the 'Shining Dawn' as Fleetmaster 'Khuvam gave the order to exit slip space.
"We have exited slip space Ambassador, the Systems Alliance fleet has noticed us and is aligning, they are readying weapons." Fleetmaster was glad to see that humans in this universe were quick to respond to the unknowns in such a way. While they were sure that they could establish positive contact with these humans, the SA still did not appear weak, despite the gap in the technologies.
"Begin our first contact signal, ensure they understand that we are not here for war. I don't this will be a first contact like any humans have ever had." The Communications officer began the broadcasts.
On board the SSV Rainier, the bridge crew was on high alert, three of the largest ships that anyone had ever seen seemed to have just slid into view.
"Put the fleet at high alert, notify the brass, ready weapons and kinetic barriers. Somebody tell me where in the hell those ships came from and what they are doing this close to Earth!" The ships in the Fourth fleet were slower to move than other races, the SA didn't keep the same level of discipline as the Turians. Ships began turning one by one towards the giant NSSC vessels when the broadcast began.
"To all Systems Alliance vessels, we represent the New Sentient Species Coalition. I am Ambassador Cypher onboard the lead ship, the 'Shining Dawn'. We have come seeking diplomatic contact with the Systems Alliance." The signal looped as the crews of both groups waited, one for the response, and the other for orders.
On the bridge of the SSV Rainier, the signal had helped take the panicked edge off for some of the crew. The idea that these three impossibly large ships were not here for war was reassuring. The word had gotten back to the headquarters on Earth and now, Admiral Roberts would go about establishing first contact.
"If they're here for diplomacy then let's open a channel, I imagine the people at headquarters are going to take a little while to organize a response to this. Can we open a channel with the lead ship, the 'Shining Dawn'?"
"Attempting to hail them now Sir….they're responding. The signal seems compatible, the broadcast showed as much, signal is established, putting it on screen now." The view that materialized on the bridge view screen caused more confusion than surprise.
Admiral Roberts was looking at humans, a human stood looking back at him for a handful of seconds before he spoke, "I-This is Admiral Roberts, commander of the SSV Rainier, we were surprised by your arrival but you have me confused, your message and the strange configuration of your ships, not to mention their size, implied that this was a first contact scenario. Care to explain exactly what is going on, why are humans attempting to make diplomatic contact with us? Was a colony cut off sometime in the past? Which one of you is the Ambassador Cypher that sent the broadcast?"
"We apologize for the sudden arrival and strange circumstances. No, we are not from a colony that was cut off Admiral, I am Ambassador Cypher and the broadcast you received was correct." The Admiral's eyes then traveled across the image as he spotted the other members of the strange ship's crew, he didn't recognize any other thing in the image beyond the Ambassador, "We represent a group that has only recently become aware of the Citadel races and yes Admiral, I am human. However, I should point out that I, or any human aboard, is from the Systems Alliance."
The other members of her bridge crew stepped forward, representing the delegates she would bring with to any diplomatic functions. "You are seeing representatives from the five races that are members of the New Sentient Species Coalition, from left to right you have Fleetmaster 'Khuvam of the Sangheili race, Pakad of the Unggoy, myself who will represent the Humans and the NSSC, Bux Rak of the Kig-yar, and Lasune Ruwi Terru of the Mgalekgolo. You do indeed find yourself in a first contact situation Admiral Roberts. If you would coordinate a meeting through your superiors, we will explain our situation and the reason for our arrival."
"Very well Ambassador, I will say I'm relieved that it seems we won't be attacking each other." The admiral thought 'mainly because it looks like an attack from us may very well be useless against unknown ships that large.' "We have sent word to our headquarters already, we ask that you maintain position until we can contact you with further instructions. Until that time, we have a standard first contact package we will transmit to you."
"Very well, thank you Admiral." The connection cut and the Admiral stood looking at the view of the three ships on the view screen. He was unsure of exactly what to make of this situation, 'I feel like I just need ten minutes and a cup of coffee, who were those other races and a human ambassador offering first contact to a group of humans. They had better have a hell of a story.'
Aralakh System -Tuchanka, Arrival of NSSC Diplomatic Fleet.
Centuries ago, if the NSSC ships had arrived in the Aralakh system uninvited, they would have been immediately thrown into a battle. The Krogan would have welcomed the fight and been more than willing to test the might of their fleets against the Galaxy-class ships that slid into reality.
On this day however, centuries past the Krogan Rebellions, the fleet was met with little resistance. No real presence in space after the Krogans had been reduced to the ghost of the might they had once possessed. Taken from them by the Genophage that had ended the Citadel's fight against the warrior race. Fleetmaster and Ambassador Thusan 'Chahom looked forward to his meeting with the Krogans. He had been a warrior his entire long life. Even in the peace the SSC experienced before the Ark Seed Fleet had arrived in this new universe, he continued to train as if his people were still at war. To test his might against a species that had been such a threat to this galaxy was perfect for a Sangheili like him.
'The Commander Shepard suggested that I display our strength to win over the Krogans. I look forward to testing their strength.' It also helped that his diplomatic team included two Mgalekgolo that would accompany him to the surface.
"Tactical, what can you tell me about this world?" they had arrived in system and the Fleetmaster was curious as to what they would find. To his disappointment, they found almost nothing. He wondered what that meant for these Krogan.
"Fleetmaster, the planet is heavily irradiated and scarred by war. Ruins cover the planet and very few settlements can be detected. Although the site that the Commander Shepard told us of will be near in moments."
"Very well, hail that settlement, I believe it is time we introduce ourselves." The crew of the bridge saw to their tasks, moments later the ship was broadcasting towards the 'Urdnot' settlement.
"Members of the Krogan race, I am Fleetmaster 'Chahom representing the New Sentient Species Coalition and we are here to speak with your leader, Urdnot Wrex." From what the NSSC had learned about the galaxy from Shepard, the Krogans were close to being united by the Battlemaster Urdnot Wrex.
They waited for a response, not knowing how the command structure of the Krogan clan worked. As the Fleetmaster began to wonder if they would receive a response, a signal finally was received.
"This is Urdnot Wrex, state your business with the Krogan." At one time he would have simply dismissed the ships, however, in his current position as a clan leader he could not be so brash. He was also curious as to what an unknown organization might want with his people.
"Urdnot Wrex, we are here to speak to the Krogan of an alliance. We seek to fight the Reapers." He had been given free reign over how the Krogan deals were handled, the Assembly trusting his experience, not as an ambassador, but rather as a warrior. The latter being the most likely to be respected by the Krogan.
"The Reapers? I don't know who you are but you're the only ones outside of Shepard that are even willing to admit they exist." There was a moment of silence, broken only by a small crackling sound as the signal was intruded upon by small flashes of the radioactive surface.
"Fine, send a shuttle to the location we're sending you. If you want to fight the Reapers I'll hear you out, not sure how much help the Krogan will be though." Wrex thought of the largest obstacle his race had, the genophage.
"Very well, we will be there shortly." The connection cut, the Fleetmaster spoke to his crew. "I think we will make an impression on these Krogan. Helm, take us down on top of those coordinates. Let us show them some of what we can do. Jump as soon as we are able."
"At once Fleetmaster." A fist to his chest and a bow then the officer went about setting up the short slip space jump that would take their ships into the atmosphere.
The blue-black holes in space opened and they went through, on the surface, the Krogan guarding the entrance to the Urdnot headquarters heard the strange roar of a slip space portal opening in a planetary atmosphere. Looking up, a sight that no Krogan had ever expected to see greeted them.
The three NSSC ships emerged from the portals, six kilometers each in a display of power that the guards immediately respected. The leader of the guards radioed to his clan leader, "Wrex, the ones you were speaking to have arrived, it would seem that they have brought their ships into the atmosphere. You need to see this."
Wrex was not one to usually enforce the rigid command structure the Krogan had once had, where other Krogan clan leaders would have taken as disrespect of their station, Wrex was more practical.
"I told them to bring a shuttle, what's wrong? Do their ships not have shuttles?"
The guard was still looking at the huge ships holding position roughly two kilometers up, the entire bulk of the three ships hanging in view. "I don't think that's why but they look bigger than anything the Council has."
"Hmm…I'm on my way." Wrex was intrigued, 'Bigger than the council, I think I may need to change that guard out. I want smarter guards up there.'
No sooner had Wrex finished his thought did the door leading to the shuttle site and he saw for himself.
"Well I'll be damned…" was all her said as he walked up to the site. Off in the distance, he could see a small dot leave the closest ship, heading in his direction.
"Looks like that may be them, get ready. I don't know why they'd bring those ships this close but if they're going to fight Reapers, they're better prepared than us."
The dot they had sighted was one of the Phantom-inspired landing craft. Designed to appear closer to a Forerunner design while keeping the sleek, organic look of the old Covenant Phantoms, it approached the shuttle landing site and hung 10 meters above with no obvious landing gear, a nebulous light beam reaching down to the ground from the bottom center of it instead..
Wrex and his guards watched as a figure descended through the light, lowering down in a slow, graceful movement. Just as the figure almost reached the ground, two of the Mgalekgolo jumped from the sides, landing in unison with the center figure. The craft that had carried them here stayed, hanging in the air quietly above the landing site.
Fleetmaster 'Chahom approached the Krogan, already noticing that they weren't simply gawking at the ships that hung impossibly still above them. Instead, they walked up to him as if such things happened every day. The largest Krogan spoke first to him.
"I'm Urdnot Wrex, welcome to Tuchanka, or what's left of it. You've made a hell of an entrance." Wrex pointed to the NSSC ships, "those are some big ships, and you're going to need them if you go after the Reapers."
The Fleetmaster nodded, "I am Fleetmaster and Ambassador Thusan 'Chahom and we have come here to speak with the Krogan. It is the goal of the NSSC to begin diplomatic talks."
"Why? You said you were going to fight the Reapers, the Krogan are in no position to help fight them and I am not going to leave here while I am working to unite the Krogan."
"It is not our intention to ask you to leave your people, if anything we would see you lead them. We have been in contact with Commander Shepard, I believe you know of her? Between what we have found and the things she has shown us, we know the Reapers are a threat. Not just to us or the Citadel races, but your race as well."
Wrex thought about what this new alien had said, he remembered being there with Shepard when she had talked with one of the Reapers on Virmire, "I know that, but I can't do anything about that when the Krogan you've come to ask for help are as likely to shoot you just for asking."
"We may be able to help you with that Urdnot Wrex, your first enemy is the genophage, is it not?"
"What do you know about the genophage?" Wrex's deep voice growled the question at the alien.
"We have learned a lot about this galaxy before we took any steps onto the stage, the NSSC stands for the right of all sentient life to determine their own course, free from the threat of extinction. In exchange for the Krogan's help, we will cure the genophage." The Fleetmaster stood, waiting for the Krogan to respond while his guards watched the newcomers with new interest.
"You had better come to our headquarters, if you mean to cure the genophage I'll hear what you have to say. But just so we're clear, if you're lying to me. I don't care that you have your two big guards and those ships, you WON'T be leaving here alive."
"Very well Urdnot Wrex, let us go and speak of the future."
Bridge of the 'Dauntless' 5 hours After Departure of Diplomatic Fleets
On the 'Dauntless', Rear Admiral Campbell had received status reports on each of the races that the fleets had been sent out to contact. The Council races had gone mostly as expected. Although the Turians had started shooting, the Asari, Salarians, and Humans had accepted diplomacy. The Krogan would listen as long as the NSSC delivered a cure for the Genophage, which the Assembly planned to, regardless of the backlash from the other races. Urdnot Wrex had been very clear that the Krogan, even in their reduced numbers, would not react civilly to being lied to about an item of that magnitude.
"Xerces, can you give me a status on the diplomatic parties? Has word began to reach the Citadel as of yet?" Campbell had been told that the 'Normandy' had made it aboard and it was time to take the 'Dauntless' to the Citadel. There had been enough time that had passed that the word of what has happened at each of the home worlds would have traveled to the Council.
"Of course, the Asari seem wary, a lot of their power base now looks much more flimsy than yesterday since their control of the economy is based on element zero. Not only that but the technological edge they seemed to be able to keep over the other Citadel races could be shattered if we so chose."
"The Turians seem to be fortifying their worlds, as to be expected, but we got the desired effect even if we didn't get the best outcome. The ineffectiveness of their weapons against our shields wasn't lost on them."
"The Salarians have been thrown out of sorts. Their normal intelligence efforts never uncovered our activities. Although they were aware of two of the planets we used for the New Ark having gone missing. The gas giant and one of the rocky worlds."
"The avatar of the fleet AI leafed through papers it was holding, "The humans, this went better than we thought. Their first contact war had a…somewhat lesser effect on them than the one we fought. They're less suspicious but being open-minded about it all. So far, they're the only ones who have listened to the part about why we're here, although they have no idea for how long yet. It would seem that they want a larger voice in the galaxy and haven't been content with what the Council had been giving them. Good to see they have gained a seat on the Council a few years back, after the Reaper attack on the Citadel."
Campbell was glad that things were going more or less as planned, so far no unexpected events. "What about the others, the client races?"
The AI avatar put the papers down, "The Krogan seem amiable if a bit standoffish. Fleetmaster 'Chahom and Urdnot Wrex ended up having a sparring match, both of them seemed satisfied with the results although there didn't seem to be a clear winner. That eased some of the tension."
"While the Volus and Elcor seemed to have the same surprise, although the Volus started into questions relating to the economy. Once they found out the Unggoy breath methane as well, they became a lot more sociable, culture and government is being discussed as we speak. The Elcor were surprised and are thinking it through, they seem particularly less inclined towards change."
"Hanar and Drell seem up in the air. The Hanar are polite to the point of almost getting nothing done and the Drell are indebted to them. Even though there are health problems introduced into the Drell because of their location on a much wetter planet, I'd suggest terraforming efforts maybe? Offer to help them reclaim their homeworld, would do wonders for goodwill in this galaxy."
Rear Admiral Campbell digested the information, thinking of how he could use what he was hearing to their advantage once he was speaking to the Council when a thought popped into his head, "Possibly, or just make everyone continue to wonder what we will eventually want. Somehow I don't think barefaced goodwill is received without suspicion, look at the Quarians. Maybe I'm wrong…. What of the Batarians? How did they respond?"
The AI was waiting for that question, "Ah yes, the Batarian 'Hegemony', they were arrogant. More so than we had thought, the fleet hadn't been there for ten minutes before the Batarians opened fire. Of course the second plan of action we put in place was successful. We disabled their information systems and plastered all of their dirty secret everywhere. None of their cultural heritage arguments meant anything to Fleetmaster 'Thadum was unimpressed, he played his part well. The Batarians will be running clean up and seeing how difficult it REALLY is to be in a galaxy alone."
"Well Xerses, seems our preparations are complete. Signal the Assembly and we should be underway, I'm going to go down to the 'Normandy'. Keep me informed if anything major happens, the XO has the bridge."
"Done Sir, engaging slip space drive." The 54 kilometers of ship under his command began moving while Xerces wondered if the Council was looking forward to meeting them as they were to meet the Council.
Campbell left the bridge and went to one of the ship-wide transit systems, the lifts and small trams that ran the length and breadth of the ship. The trip was much quicker than movement through a Galaxy-class ship but he was envious of the slip space transport system on the Fortress Variants.
Arriving in the Hangar bay, he looked to see the 'Normandy' among the few other ships in the hold. Being a battleship, it only had a small hold for various emergencies and the armor surrounding it was significantly better than those on other ships. She was still meant only for war.
The door was open and he entered, acknowledging greeting by the ship's attendant AI, EDI. He had heard the crew had taken some time to adjust to having an unshackled AI on board. Upon entering the conference room, he was greeted by Shepard and her crew. Commander Austra would be leaving his prowler on the 'Dauntless'. After some planning the value of having a Council Spectre with them would allow their introduction to be a little less surprising, although Campbell hoped not by too much. He still thought that the Council would need some convincing. Either way, the ship he commanded was larger than their Citadel. He didn't think he'd have to worry about at least making a lasting impression.
'I can't wait to see the look on the Councillor's faces. Even Udina, he may be human but he's an ass even when being amiable would work better for him. They're probably already regretting making me a Spectre, if not, they sure as hell will after this.' Shepard was in her quarters, the 'Dauntless' was underway and it would be a little longer before she introduced the NSSC delegation. She had been thinking of the different ways that the Council would react. Having heard about how some of the races had reacted to the NSSC ships arriving at the relays leading into their home worlds. The Turians hadn't disappointed and the non-Council races had reacted pretty much confused as to why they were being contacted at the same time. Being used to getting everything after the big players were done.
She had made sure to let the Ambassador going to Tuchanka how best to deal with the Krogan although she hadn't heard anything from there yet, she was looking forward to hearing how Wrex reacted. He was about the most forward-thinking Krogan she had met but he was still a Battlemaster although, he would recognize the big stick the NSSC brought to the table. Her thoughts were interrupted by the door chime and EDI's voice. "Commander, Tali 'Zorah is here to see you."
"Thanks EDI, I'll let her in." Shepard put down the report she had been reading and let her friend in, things had been very strange for the Quarians lately, good, but strange.
"Tali, what can I do for you? Something on your mind?"
"Actually, yes Shepard, there is. I'm kind of worried about the contact my people have had with the NSSC, I'm worried they'll turn down the help being offered."
"What makes you think that, is it the AI? I know how the Geth have colored Quarian opinion on that matter."
"Well, that's part of it. Part of me thinks they'll be able to get over the AI simply because they're so different than the Geth and the history the NSSC has with them. No, it's not that, I'm worried that the offer may just be….too good."
"Too good, as in if seems too good to be true, it's probably not?"
"Exactly, but that's just the thing, I've been in contact with my father, the scout ship the Fleet sent to confirm what I sent them? It's returned to the Fleet."
"Was something wrong?"
"No, nothing. The ENTIRE ship looked like it had just rolled out of the ship yards, better even! The captain of the ship had toured what the NSSC offered, the ship yards for the fleet, the Quarian section of the ring, everything that the NSSC promised was there. It caused a lot of talk – especially that the halo, Shangri La. The videos and sensor data is already changing everything more than anything else since the Geth." Tali shook her head and wrung her hands nervously.
"Quarians aren't used to…this sort of thing, being treated fairly as a species. We've come to expect to simply be turned away or at the best, tolerated anywhere we go. Having some new, advanced faction show up and announce that they'd help us fix and refit our entire society's means of survival, oh and they have a place for everyone to stay while they do that. I'm as excited as I am scared, and the Admiralty is going to be even more so." Tali began pacing.
"Look, Tali, this is too big for the Quarians to turn away. Not just for them to get their ships fixed but to put them in a position where they can stand on their own again." Shepard gathered her thoughts, she knew Tali wanted a friend as much as advice right now.
"I agree with the NSSC that the Quarians should be treated better. The exile that the Citadel imposed on your people as well as being expelled from your home world has gone on too long. I think that everyone just needs a different point of view, the NSSC seems to have that right now, and the might to back it up. You shouldn't worry so much Tali, you're people will see the value of what is being offered."
"I know Shepard, I hope it's enough, I really do. If the NSSC can help and put the Migrant Fleet in a position to help with that then I'll try to make my father understand the real threat. Hopefully it won't be ourselves. I know the Reapers are still out there Shepard, I haven't forgotten that since the 'Normandy', there's just so much to do still."
"We'll get through it Tali, we've gotten this far." A chime sounded again, EDI's voice coming through the intercom.
"Shepard, we've almost arrived, the crew is gathering with the Rear Admiral and the members of his diplomatic team in the conference room."
"Understood, well Tali, shall we? I think we have some planning to get done."
Citadel – 45 Minutes later
Councillor Valern was pacing, while Councillor Tevos sat drinking her tea, Councillor Udina was drinking coffee while reading as angrily as possible, and Councillor Sparatas was at a console. They were all reading the reports flooding in from the defense fleets across every race in the galaxy. At the relay leading to the home system of every race in Citadel space, three ships had just...appeared. Seemingly synchronized and we'll executed, the purpose seemed to be to introduce a new group in the galaxy - the New Sentient Species Coalition, or NSSC. They claimed diplomatic intent, for the most part they seemed to have stayed true to that.
The ships themselves gave the Council quite a shock, six kilometers long, SIX! There were at least twenty eight of them in the galaxy. Upon receiving word of these ships and their entrances, the Citadel had been in an uproar, everyone wanted to know who, what, where, how, and the why of these things. And so, the Council had cloistered themselves and began going over every bit of data. Normally, Valern would be the one bringing in new data but it seemed the Salarians had no monopoly on the information this time. Sources included everything from the high ranking diplomats still speaking with this NSSC, to random individuals who simply happened to be close when the new fleets arrived. Dozens of messages awaited the Council's attention as reports were read, mostly ignored. Everyone seemed excited, some were also scared.
The Council fell more into the 'scared' group than most, although they'd never admit as much. A new group had taken the largest power of the galaxy completely by surprise. Their power and way of life was challenged, they were scared.
"Valern, have the STG been able to find anything out while your diplomats are in conference with this new faction?" Tevos had been reading the Asari account of the meeting and it seemed as if the Matriarch were treating these newcomers as indulgent children. She thought them daft for discounting them offhand.
"No, bothers me very much. Nothing taken from scans seem to reveal anymore than looking out the window at tth ships. One probe sent out, lost contact. Five Minutes later, the feed cones back looking at the bridge of the ship receiving the feed before deactivating and bumping into the viewscreen! Attempts to access computers, completely ineffective, countered with harmless blocks, human cat pictures and ads for model ships crash the systems. Have the Asari had luck?"
"No, the Matriarch that are dealing with this new race don't seem to understand the magnitude, or they do and are trying to be contemptuous on purpose. Either way, no, nothing. Sparatas? What have the Turians found since their first contact? This new group haven't retaliated have they?" Small chimes signaling priority messages flashed on a terminal.
Sparatas grunted as he closed the reports, videos of the Turian fleet's ineffective attack. "No, we've not been contacted or attacked. After I saw the attacks and the effect they had, I'm not sure we want to see them attack. A lot of this situation is unknown, almost all of it in fact!" He didn't like not knowing, but he liked knowing the Turian dreadnoughts had so little success even less.
"If the Turians would stop meeting first contacts with weapons fire, you'd might know more Sparatas." Tevos occasionally gave the Turian Councillor a hard time about the military tendencies of his race, usually in a more light-hearted manner than today.
Sparatas' mandible flared slightly, they were all stressed, he knew but for Tevos to react to him like that, things were getting to the Asari more than she'd let on. With an effort, punctuated by a chime of another priority message, he ignored her comment, "Yes, well, what can we do now? We need to have any diplomacy happen here at the Citadel or else we risk undermining the authority of the Citadel. What of the Humans Udina? Is it true that the diplomatic party that arrived near Earth was Human?"
Udina looked up, he had been trying to get to the bottom of THAT for the past forty five minutes, "The leading member appears to be human. The others in that party, which is larger than the three or four at the other races worlds, are not. The group near Earth seems to have at least one of each race represented in the groups that visited the other races. Why, I don't know, I'm not getting much about the actual talks. Apparently surveillance systems don't work well around this new group."
Valern spoke up, "We have had the same problem. Not at all, most unsettling. We have not had to rely on word of mouth intelligence in quite some time."
"Speaking of intelligence, what about the flood of dirty secrets from the Batarians? It would seem that this new group has launched a cyber-attack that has essentially crippled the Hegemony as it attempts to regain the use of their systems and deny the information that was broadcast." Valern had seen this as a small boon during all of this, much of the intelligence gathered on the Batarians had been validated. On a side note, the Hegemony might be dealt with if the larger issue of the newcomers could be handled well enough.
Udina was dismissive, "They have been digging their own graves for years, I don't care that they have all of their dirty laundry out for everyone to see, I'm concerned that this new group was able to perform such an effective and comprehensive attack. What could that mean for the rest of us?" Concern crossed the Councillor's faces again.
The room that the Council used for secure meetings had been buzzing for the past hour and a half. The messages and calls being rerouted or ignored outright, a knock was heard on the door and the Councillors all looked, Tevos finally sighing and going to answer the door, opening the door and leveling an annoyed look at the aide standing there, "We are in conference, we will be out when we have more of a handle on the situation!"
The young Asari flinched back slightly, "I apologize Councillor Tevos but we couldn't reach you any other way. We have news, Spectre Shepard has arrived on the Citadel with a delegation from the group claiming responsibility for the incidents."
"WHAT!" all three Councillors exclaimed, Tevos continued, how long have they been here? Where are they now?"
"They've not been here long, they were directed to wait in the Council Chambers. They are there now."
"Go inform them we are coming out shortly."
The young Asari moved away quickly, not wanting to hinder either the Council or the new delegation any longer.
Tevos turned back to the others, "Well, it appears that we may get our answers after all."
Council Chambers, minutes later
The delegation from the NSSC wasn't sure if the Council was playing power games or just didn't know what to do about them. A few minutes had passed before the doors on the raised platform in front of them opened, the Council walked out and took their places.
Councillor Tevos spoke first, "We extend our sincere apologies to you all, with the recent events have been playing out. We're being cautious as we move forward."
"Yes, speaking of recent events, Shepard has said that you all are the delegation from this New Sentient Species Coalition. If that is true then we have a lot of questions for you all." Councillor Sparatas had more than a few questions, first and foremost dealing with the tech that allowed the ships to shrug off an attack from six turban dreadnoughts.
Tevos headed off any more heated questions, "Yes, of course there are questions, but first I believe that some introductions are in order. I would still say this is a first contact situation and we do seek to be hospitable hosts." She needed to get their footing before any questions could be answered, they looked like amateurs at the moment.
Rear Admiral, for now the Ambassador Campbell had waited patiently enough, he could see the news of the diplomatic fleets had been received and was causing a lot of worry, "It's quite alright Councillors, this first contact is going much better than the races in the NSSC have experienced in the past."
The Councillors could only imagine what that meant, Tevos began the introductions, "That's good to hear, we'd like to introduce ourselves, I am Councillor Tevos of the Asari."
"And I am Councillor Sparatas of the Turians under the Hierarchy."
"I am Councillor Valern representing the Salarians for the Salarian Union."
Udina looked at Campbell for a moment, "I am Councillor Udina, representing Humanity under the banner of the Systems Alliance."
Well, now Campbell had some names, that Udina looked particularly suspicious, "Thank you Councillors, our delegation includes representatives from the five races that have membership in the New Sentient Species Coalition; the Sangheili, the Kig-Yar, the Unggoy, the Lekgolo, and my race – the Humans."
"Human? The humans are already represented by myself. You are going to have to clarify on how you represent the humans. Are you a rogue state that achieved first contact before the Systems Alliance?"
Tevos cut in, "Udina, please! They haven't introduced themselves and you're already starting in on questions. Show some restraint."
Udina went quiet, silently perturbed while the 'Human' delegate continued, "All in good time Councillors, we will introduce ourselves as well." The Sangheili began.
"Greetings Councillors, I am Thel 'Vadum. Known as the Arbiter and I represent the Sangheili within the NSSC." He put a fist to his chest and bowed his head slightly in respect to the fellow leaders.
"I represent the Kig-Yar nation within the NSSC Councillors, my name is Ambassador Zhuc Jed."
"I have the opportunity to represent the Unggoy. I am Ambassador Zayas.
"I am known as Ambassador Oxori Yumu Hasmu, a Mgalekgolo from the Lekgolo."
"And I am Rear Admiral and for this meeting, Ambassador Nathaniel Campbell representing the Humans of the NSSC. You needn't worry Councillors, we are not an offshoot gone rogue. We are as separate an entity from the Systems Alliance as can exist."
Udina wanted an explanation, "Yes, well, now that the introductions are complete I believe that some questions and answers are in order. We know your government has more information on us than we have on you. I think it fair if we ask our questions first."
None of the NSSC could think of an argument for that, they knew almost everything they wanted about the Citadel races, "I think we can accept that Councillor Udina."
"Good to hear" Udina looked over at the other Council members, they nodded for him to continue, "My first question is this – Where are you humans from? You claim to be as separate as can be but we have no record of how and where you are from. We have lost contact with some colony ships in the past but nothing that would explain you."
"No Councillor, like I said, we are indeed separate. You see, here humans and the Systems Alliance evolved and grew on Earth. The humans of the NSSC evolved and came from Earth as well. We're from the same planet, galaxy, and our genes are actually remarkably similar. The difference is that we're not from this universe." None of the Citadel Councillors moved for a few moments, Udina simply blinked, this was nothing of what he expected.
Sparatus was the first to break the stunned moment, "Different universe Ambassador? Is this a joke? The more plausible explanation is that you actually ARE a rogue element of humans who made first contact. Claims of different universes belong in science fiction! Not in these Council Chambers."
"We understand your skepticism, if not your outright dismissal. The reports you each have gotten detailing the three ships that visited the relays going into each Citadel race's home system, the ships seemed to simply appear, correct?"
Tevos had more information in that than the others, the Asari had the opportunity to witness the entire process when the small fleet had moved to the diplomatic meeting point. "Yes Ambassador, we have reports that explain that the ships seem to open portals and move between locations through the use of them." She leaned in a little, "Without the use of the relays I might add." That part concerned them all.
The Salarian Councillor perked up at this, "Yes, there has been reading taken that suggest the creation of an event horizon of sorts, that and a number of exotic particles. Is this your form of FTL?"
Ambassador Campbell continued, "Yes, we are free of the relays and what you saw was the FTL drive our ships make use of. They are called 'Slip Space' drives, they allow a portal into a different dimension where the laws of physics are more malleable. Travelling through that dimension allows quick movement in these three dimensions. Unfortunately, under certain – not fully understood – conditions, it would seem that a gateway into a different universe can be made."
Valern started again, "How is your form of FTL not fully understood? How do you accomplish this process?" He lapsed into thought again as the questions were out of his mouth.
The Arbiter answered, "We understand the slip space drives perfectly. It was an attack with an unknown weapon that resulted in the portal here being opened and our group being pulled through. As to the actual workings of the drives…well, I am not an engineer but I can assure you, it would require new fields of mathematics for you to grasp."
The NSSC had, in that short time, rendered Valern speechless. Not particularly surprised, he simply could not organize all of the questions in his head without compromising his diplomatic stance by looking like an excited school child asking about element zero. The other Councillors were equally quiet, thoughts and machinations crossing their minds.
Asari composure won out, Tevos broke the silence, "We certainly aren't here to explore new branches of math and I have a different question for you Ambassador. From your description Arbiter, your arrival here in our galaxy and universe was accidental, it that is the case, what are your goals? Why the sudden and bombastic entrance? The ships that arrived at our doorsteps were much larger than our technology would ever allow. The amount of eezo needed to drive those ships would be hugely impractical and we've detected no trace of it in your ships."
"No, we don't use that element. In our universe it doesn't exist so we've developed along different lines of technology. Due to circumstances in our past, we've gotten very good with the technology we do have." Campbell was thinking of a way to steer these Councillors towards the real reason they were here, the Reapers.
"As for our goals? There is a single goal we hope to achieve and it ties into our 'bombastic' entrance as you said. We, well – I, decided that those delegations would be sent in the way they were to demonstrate our peaceful intentions without your races thinking that we were simply some upstart race seeking favors."
Councillor Tevos thought that this was exactly how the Asari Matriarchs seemed to view them regardless, she thought differently, "If you can produce ships such as those and in those numbers I think we can avoid thinking of the NSSC as upstarts Ambassador."
Sparatas caught onto something Campbell had said, "Ambassador, you introduced yourself as a Rear Admiral and then as the Ambassador then just now you admitted that you had made the decision for these diplomatic fleets. I am concerned that a military leader is now acting as an ambassador."
"Councillor Sparatas, a military leader being an ambassador concerns you? I had thought that the Turians would appreciate an ambassador with martial experience." That seemed to quiet the Turian, he would look petty arguing the point considering the Turian ideas about military experience.
Valern had finally organized his thoughts, "Ambassadors, you seem to have much more knowledge of us than us of you. Either you are not from a different universe and this human simply has knowledge gained from living in Citadel space, or the NSSC is better at intelligence gathering than we are." He added that last part grudgingly but out of logical necessity.
The Arbiter spoke up, having been a leader throughout the event that brought them all here, "True enough Salarian. We arrived here far from any area of space that this Council inhabited. Your dependence on the relays has kept you close to their shores, we have no such restrictions. For years we searched, after our arrival we knew we needed to find our way. While today is your first contact with us, it is not our first contact with YOU. Our first contact was made by one of our scouting ships with this one." He gestured at Commander Shepard, "our scout ship observed as her ship entered the system that we were observing, having only recently run across any relays as well, when Commander Shepard's ship was attacked by a larger, second ship – the Collectors."
If it had been two weeks ago, the Council would have thrown these new ambassadors out. Two weeks ago, the Collectors had been solidly in the realm of myth officially. Now their involvement had been exposed by the Spectre, Shepard. As it was now, the Council continued to listen.
"Her ship was badly damaged before our scout could turn the Collector ship away, the life boats from her ship gone, she was thrown from the ship and began falling into the nearby planet's atmosphere. We pulled her out of the free fall but she required medical attention. We were all very surprised to find that she was human. Up unto this point we had no other contact with anything more complex than plants. After some deliberations, we replaced her in a simple life boat and activated a beacon. Hoping to find more about the group she belonged to."
Udina took the chance to speak, "The Alliance navy never recovered Shepard's body, she was listed KIA for nearly two years. Did it take your medical doctors that long to figure out what to do? Or was it actually the group Cerberus that recovered her. They have already claimed responsibility for Shepard's reappearance."
"No, two days after the incident, we put her where the wreckage was. Your Alliance moves quickly Councillor, you should be proud. We found no evidence her ship had been there. We assigned ships to scout in the Citadel space to assess what we found. We observed the group Cerberus retrieve the Commander quickly and take her to one of their stations. She was there for the almost two years you said Councillor."
"Humph" Udina was still skeptical, all of this sounded too fantastic to be real. He didn't know it but the other Councillors were beginning to feel the same way.
"Our scout ships have been able to observe and travel among the Citadel systems for two years undetected. As we mentioned earlier, for the NSSC races, first contact has always gone badly. We decided that knowing more before we made contact would be our goal."
"So you spied on us for two years Ambassador, is that correct?"
Campbell spoke up, "No more than the Salarians spy on everyone else Councillor, I know it has frustrated the STG teams to no end when we showed up and you knew nothing of us. Don't think that you can use our observations to denounce us, the Salarian efforts to gain information on us has not gone unnoticed." Valern went quiet again after that, it was true. The STG had been cut off at every attempt so far. He was out of his element knowing only what these ambassadors would allow them.
"Still, the efforts the NSSC has taken so far can be seen as an act of aggression, the unannounced arrival inside our space, the 'observations', and the attack on the Batarians. Don't tell me that could possibly seen as anything but an act of aggression, the Batarians certainly do." Valern wanted to press the point to open more aggressive diplomatic options for the Council.
"Ah yes. The Batarians, from what I understand Councillor, they're not part of the Citadel any longer correct? So any aggression is not the concern of this Council. We attempted diplomatic contact but our knowledge of their society prompted a second option to disable them for a time. We don't tolerate slavery Councillors." Campbell hadn't wanted this to come up so early but he and the NSSC were very clear on the issue. Slavery was to be stamped out.
"While it has caused tensions and their self-imposed exile from the Citadel, it is part of their cultural heritage. While they are not represented here on the Citadel, they still have agreements with us that allows for protection from war Ambassador." Tevos had always hated that the Batarians had used the Citadel's own good intentions to secure their 'right' to practice slavery.
The Arbiter stepped forward, a slight growl in his voice, "Councillors, you would claim to defend slavery? Under the guise of cultural heritage?!" his disgust grew as he saw the Council reach for something to say, "It is an abomination of justice to allow such a thing under any name in a society. You claim it is their cultural heritage? Very well, it is OUR cultural heritage to wipe slavers from existence. What do you say to that Councillors? Will you defend our campaign to wipe these slaver scum from the galaxy as CULTURAL HERITAGE?!"
The Councillors were stunned, they had seen outbursts in proceedings before, but this was getting out of hand. A new group with unknown capabilities that had already struck a crippling blow to a Citadel race, now threatening genocide while throwing their own policies in their faces. Tevos made a decision, the Batarians had been a thorn in their side for too long.
"Ambassador, we do not condone a genocide, no matter what the reason! We will not be bullied by a new group regardless of what ships you can bring to bear, that being said however, we have no love lost for the Batarians. Our own attempts to cease the slaving has been unsuccessful. We don't want a war." She took a breath, "We will not recognize what the NSSC has done as an attack if you agree to abstain from violence against them. The Council can use the opportunity you have created to attempt to steer them from their slaving policies. Would that be acceptable?" She hated that these newcomers seemed to already in a position to dictate policy to them.
Tevos suddenly realized the large ships in the diplomatic fleets made more strategic sense than she had previously thought. She felt a sense of dread rise at the thought of what else could be brought to light.
"We can accept that and it is an act in good faith that you would use the opportunity to rehabilitate them instead of throwing them to their fate." The Arbiter had been angry this Council had attempted to defend slavery but would never have done as he suggested. The campaign the NSSC had planned to end the slaving by the Batarians would have been a much more careful and deliberate campaign instead of a trail of glassed planets.
Councillor Sparatas was in the same mind as Tevos, he hated that they were in such a position but glad that the opportunity presented would allow an easy path to ending the slavery. He wouldn't admit as much to these newcomers however, "Ambassador 'Vadum, you have a measure of diplomatic immunity here but a declaration of war like that again will not be seen as a political maneuver again, it will be met with war. We will not be cowed simply because your group has big ships, are we clear?"
Campbell decided to steer this conversation into a constructive course, "Councillor, we understand. We did not come to this meeting with the intention of challenging the Citadel races to war. Our intentions are actually quite the opposite."
"And what would those intentions be Ambassador?" Sparatas growled at Campbell.
"In our explorations we have uncovered evidence, substantiated by what we have discovered since contact with and working alongside – Commander Shepard, that a galactic threat is posed to return. The Reapers."
Tevos felt a small amount of exasperation, they had done what they could to silence talk of the "reapers", a Geth ship had attacked the Citadel two years ago and that was final. Sparatas scoffed, Velern went deeper into thought – this group seemed to have more insight and he'd not discount what they said outright, and Udina was cautiously interested – he had stood by Anderson and Shepard during the events leading up to the Battle of the Citadel and he hadn't believed it was Geth.
Tevos spoke first, "Well, that's simple Ambassador, we can put your fears to rest. There is no such thing as "reapers", the Geth attacked with an advanced ship but it was destroyed. We have been mopping up the remaining Geth since then. Your concern is appreciated but unnecessary."
Sparatas added, "If this is the only reason the NSSC has come forward then you're wasting your time. Shepard has been chasing a myth."
Shepard stepped forward, "Like the Collectors were a myth? They were real and the Reapers are real, we need to pull together and prepare!" Campbell put his hand on her shoulder, whispering (Shepard, we'll handle this, give us time.) Shepard pulled back, clearly unhappy her very real concerns were being dismissed even after having been validated each time she was denied.
"Councillors, you had denied her when she came forward about Saren, again when she brought the Collectors to your attention. It seems that every time Commander Shepard, the Spectre you chose, comes forward with a concern, it ends up being true. Recognized by this Council only AFTER she had dealt with the issue."
"She isn't right about this Ambassador and we will not be questioned by a group of newcomers with a wild story!" Sparatus' mandibles flared as he spat the last line out.
Campbell communicated with the 'Dauntless' with his neural lance, 'Xerces, give me a count for your arrival, this Council is going to need some shock and awe to knock some of the arrogance out of them.' – 'Understood, I can give you thirty seconds.' He nodded to himself.
"Well it seems that you have no interest in actual cooperation Councillors, your closed-minded attitude and defensive arrogance has demonstrated to us that you are more interested in keeping yourselves appear infallible authority figures rather than make actual progress."
The Council reeled at hearing that, Sparatas answered the accusations first, "How dare you! We speak from centuries of experience. We have kept the peace and the galaxy has grown and prospered under the Citadel Council!"
"Such as the Rachni? The Krogan your experience used and then tossed to the side? What of the Quarians who are still to this day punished for an act that harmed them the most? What of the cultural heritage of the Batarians?! You make claims of peaceful cooperation but it is put to lie by your bungling and self-serving ways. That we stand before only four of the eleven races that exist in Citadel race speaks volumes about this Council. If you will not listen now, then we will take our leave of you." –'Sir, we're ten seconds inbound.'
The Councillors were incredulous, Sparatas was ready to shoot them there, Valern was thinking of the best ways to gain an advantage with what they had learned, and Udina was simply worried. Humans new position on the Council could be in jeopardy.
Tevos knew the meeting was over, "Fine, you will be allowed to leave in peace but until the NSSC is willing to recognize the Citadel Council and our authority your ships are not welcome in Citadel space."
'3 seconds sir.' "Very well, if that's the case we'll be leaving." Just as he finished the statement, Sparatas was about to retort when the Councillor's terminals chimed, a C-Sec officer's panicked voice coming through.
"Councillors! There is something happening outside the Citadel, the energy reads are going off the charts!"
Just as they were about to respond, a bright light could be seen outside the Citadel as the slip space portal for the 54 kilometer long 'Dauntless' slid back into reality facing the station. No one on the station with the exception of the NSSC delegates and Shepard's crew were able to react, their minds thrown into disarray by the SHIP that was bigger than the Citadel.
"Our ship is here Councillors, your Codex was helpful in many ways when we accessed it. We leave you with one of our own."
At that moment, a series of things happened, the computer systems in the Council Chambers locked access to them and the Chamber, the holographic projector in front of the Council activated, the 'Normandy' was released from dock and proceeded to the gargantuan ship waiting, and the members of the NSSC delegation along with Shepard and her crew shimmered as the emergency personnel slip-space transit system moved them back aboard the 'Dauntless'.
No longer than fifteen seconds had passed since Ambassador Campbell had spoken with the Citadel, in its entirety, gawked as the NSSC ship tore open a portal and slid into the blackness of the strange dimension of slip space. Leaving the Council staring at the start of the NSSC 'codex'. The image up was a rendering of a planet – Earth – with the words "History of the New Sentient Species Coalition" hanging in the air above it. They could only watch as the computer began their lesson.
Onboard the 'Dauntless'
Rear Admiral Campbell stood looking at the delegation he had taken to the Citadel, "I wish that had gone differently but it seems they still refuse to see what's right in front of them. Especially after you've proven time and time again that they can be wrong Shepard."
She nodded, she knew the Council would be stubborn, she just hoped that the 'Dauntless' showing up would be enough to put some sense into their heads. "We knew they are always a hard sell, I really thought four new races would be enough to catch their attention. I was wrong."
Garrus walked up, having stayed back since he had already figured that was the way the meeting would go, "Maybe their reaction is by design?"
Everyone turned to look at him, Campbell asking, "What do you mean? The Reaper's design?"
"Exactly, think about it. They've been at this for millions of years, fifty thousand years at a time. I'd bet money that the one we destroyed stayed back to foster this sort of attitude. It works for them, the leaders won't hear anything about the Reapers and by the time they've arrived. It's too late for any meaningful defense."
Shepard nodded, "I hate to think that but if they are ancient. I think it fits." She shook her head, "That just gives us all the more reason to stop them. Do we have any ideas as to how to deal with the Council though? Having them on our side, regardless of Reaper planning, would be a great help."
Campbell answered, "We locked them in the Council Chambers with our 'codex', when they leave they'll have been presented our past as well as the evidence of the Reapers from the souce. The derelict Reaper as well as the Collector base. Unless they're completely indoctrinated they'll have to recognize the threat. Either way, we still have plans to enact, we're heading back to Shangri La. The transit point has been included at the end of our 'codex'. If they are willing, they'll come to us."
"The Krogan, Quarians, and Geth are our best bet in the meantime. Our diplomatic fleets have been ordered to cut contact until each race contacts us again. We transmitted our 'codex' to the leaders of each race. We're hoping after they go through that they'll want to ally together."
Shepard agreed, "Let's hope they're willing to see some reason people."
Anadius System, Cloaked orbit around Cronos Station, 'Cerberus'
He had to admit, the view from that station would be incredible. The station itself had been difficult to find. Until a few days ago Takashi had been searching planets for the base of operations the organization Cerberus had. Every time they thought they had found something, it turned out to be an isolated research cell. They had finally hit paydirt when one of Shepard's crew had made their way back here, Miranda Lawson. He would have to thank her sometime.
"Hades, can you find us an entrance we can go in undetected? I want to talk to this Illusive Man in person, not fight through hordes of his guards."
"I can make one, this station is rather well-guarded otherwise." Hades' avatar was looking through a telescope in the direction of the station.
"Sounds good Hades, are Ratal and Ardo prepared as well?" The two Sangheili ghosts would be his muscle if there was something unexpected.
"They are, they've been ready since we left for this system."
Takashi chuckled, "Of course they are – take us in then."
"Oh, with pleasure." The ship moved unseen towards the Illusive Man's base.
The trip through the station had been relatively short. Their cloaks and Hades assisting them meant that they arrived at the doorway to the Illusive Man's command center with no alarms raised. They waited outside the door for it to open. This door would raise an alarm if it wasn't activated on the other side. An effective safeguard against what Takashi's team was doing. Fortunately, as a heavily enhanced man walked out, the three NSSC intelligence agents slid in before the doors shut.
Takashi had been right, the view was incredible. The Illusive Man was standing, smoking a cigarette of all things, while going over reports. It appeared that Cerberus had recently discovered the Omega relay missing, he didn't seem happy about that. Takashi sat in his chair and uncloaked, thinking of what to say.
"You are a difficult man to find." Takashi's words startled the Illusive Man, something not accomplished in years, he swung around. Stopping when he saw Takashi sitting in his chair.
"Who the hell are you?" He was off-guard, his alarms were in his chair and he didn't have his pistol. The man in his chair however, did have a weapon and seemed very self-confident.
"I am Ero Takashi, those two are Ratal and Ardo." He motioned towards where the two were standing, cloaked on either side of the door into the office. The Illusive Man noticed the lack of visible bodies where this man had pointed but said nothing.
"Takashi. So what are you doing here Takashi, you've got the drop on me in my own station. Not easily done. In fact, I had thought it was impossible. There's only one group that I would guess could do that."
There was a moment as the Illusive Man stared at the man in his chair, "What does the NSSC want with me?"
Takashi clapped, he had wondered just how smart this Illusive Man was, "You got it in one go, bravo! We are indeed from the NSSC, specifically from New Ark Intelligence. We keep an eye out from the shadows for things that might cause us trouble. I've been sent to keep an eye on you and your organization, I like the name by the way. Has a nice ring to it."
"From what I've seen of your ships, what could cause you trouble? It seems you have ships that can swat anything the Citadel races has aside."
"Well, technically, yes. But this isn't just about us. We're interested in everyone surviving the Reapers. We're not as narrow-minded as your organization. You want humans to come out on top, not just as leaders but as the only race worth mentioning. You've spent a considerable amount of time and research towards those ends. A lot of areas that the Citadel races won't delve into. This has caught our attention."
"I believe that any means necessary is a valid methodology when faced with extinction. We would have been researching one such avenue if the NSSC hadn't obliterated the Collector base and taken the inactive relay."
"Well, the Reaper tech is inherently dangerous and you have no idea of how to keep any of it from turning your brains into indoctrinated mush. We do but we have no use for that technology outside of knowing that we can blow it up. The relay was just a bonus. We've gotten a few, just not one we can put where we want."
This got the Illusive Man's attention, "You make it sound like you can do something with one." He decided that he could get over the loss of the Collector base, this Takashi was moving towards something and he thought he might like it.
"We're looking into it, that's not why I'm here though. I'm here because we at the NSSC think that you and your organization can be put towards more interesting ends. Not only for humanity however, although with the opportunity we can offer, I think you'll still agree."
The Illusive Man wanted humanity to come out on top, he still believed they should lead the galaxy, Shepard had proved what humans could do given the same opportunities as other races. This Takashi was right though, he would agree if he could access the technology that the footage of the NSSC hinted at.
"What do you propose?" His cigarette glowed, he wanted to hear this.
"We won't hand over anything big, slip space, weapons, and shields are out of the question but power generation, material sciences, and similar projects would be made available. Your organization would work with a small group of our scientists on the best ways to apply those things to the technology the Citadel races use." Takashi was interested to see what this organization could do if given the chance and some direction.
"No offensive or defensive tech? Fairly limiting isn't it?" The Illusive Man knew he probably wouldn't get those technologies but he had to try. The other things mentioned would advance his efforts by decades if not years.
"Nope, we don't want to take the chance with those things being used to fight amongst each other. Someday maybe, but not now."
"I think we could work with those restrictions." His cigarette glowed again, "There is one thing however."
Takashi's eyebrow raised, the Illusive Man didn't have much room for negotiation, "What's that?"
"You're in my chair." Takashi laughed as he stood up, "So I am, do we have a deal Mr. Harper?"
The Illusive Man reached his hand out to shake on it. "I believe we do Mr. Takashi."
"Good, we'll be in contact." The two Sangheili uncloaked and walked up beside Takashi. The 'Cerberus' decloaked facing the expansive windows in the Illusive Man's office.
"I hope that cloak is included. I could do a lot with that."
Edge of the Perseus Veil
The two NSSC ships arrived, exiting slip space thousands of kilometers from the relay the Geth guarded. The Geth fleet reacted immediately, moving to intercept. Before they could get into range the signal from the lead NSSC ship arrived and was processed. Legion had introduced them. The Geth ships stopped as the new information was processed. Consensus was required before further action could be taken.
Messages were relayed between the Geth ships and the NSSC ships, soon, part of the Geth fleet broke off and moved to escort the NSSC ships. They would travel to the Tikkun system to help facilitate the negotiations.
For the first time in three hundred years, a ship other than the Geth traveled to see the sun rise over Rannoch.
Author's Notes: Reviews are welcome, then next chapter will be within the next week. Thanks for reading and I hope I'm keeping you all entertained!