Infirmary, Beacon Academy, Vale
March 18th, 80 AGW
"So, this is the man who fought both of you to a standstill?" Ozpin asked Qrow and Summer. He was still clad in his weird armour, but they had taken away his weapons and handcuffed him to the bed.
"Yeah, whoever he is, he's good," Qrow muttered. "We only got him when Summer took him by surprise. And whatever his weapons are, they hurt."
Ozpin looked at the armoured figure. The exterior was black but had red and white stripes on the arms. The helmet was an interesting colour as well: Purple and Blue.
The weapons were also unusual. Definitely, projectile-based but for some reason, when the trigger was pulled by a few testers, it didn't fire.
"So…..should we pull off his helmet?" Summer asked.
Ozpin thought for a moment. "No, wait for now. I'll have the doctors pull some tests. Get some rest you two."
The pair of Hunters nodded and left the room. Ozpin just stared at the figure.
"Just who are you?" Ozpin muttered.
Commonwealth Assembly, Bastion station
March 19th, 2205 CE
Bastion station is located in a system straddling between Geth/Rannochian and Alliance space. Established after the Citadel blew up in Earth's orbit, the species of the galaxy decided that it was time to break away from Reaper/Prothean influences and forge their own path. So Bastion station was constructed as a symbol of trade, unity, and a military base.
Designed by Turian, Human, and Rannochian engineers, the Bastion resembled almost like a heavily upgraded Citadel Starbase from the ancient game of Stellaris with the athletics of something like the old Citadel. The station itself was built around one cynical centre spire and then branching out into a hexagon. Bastion itself was 35 Kilometres wide and the spire 10 kilometres tall, it is considered the biggest spaceborne project conducted by the species of the Milky Way.
Unlike the Citadel, the species of the newly formed Commonwealth of United Species and Planets (CUSP some called it) decided to make sure the station was decently armed with 6 dreadnought grade mass accelerators, batteries of Geth plasma cannon, missiles launchers, and fighter bays so that no-one could steal this piece of work like the Reapers did to the old Citadel. There was also a Unified Defence Fleet with ships from all over the galaxy. Carriers from the Alliance, cruisers of the Hierarchy, frigates and corvettes from the Asari, and support vessels of the Coalition.
The Commonwealth Council, now everyone having a seat, discussed matters pertaining to galactic peace, stability, and growth. But today, they were here to discuss something more personal.
"What do you mean the artifact is gone?" the Asari Councillor, Irissa, growled at the archaeologist. The rest of the council, which included the Geth, Quarians, Humans, Turian, Salarian, Volus, Elcor, the Hanar, the Raloi, Krogan, and surprisingly the Batarians, all added to the frustration.
The head Archaeologist, an Asari, stammered. "Ma'am, we didn't do anything. It prematurely activated on its own."
Councillor Bakara, or Eve as many called, coughed into her hand. "So you're saying the Artefact disappeared? Do you know how?"
The Archaeologist nodded. "Yes, it seemed to be a former of teleportation. However we are unsure how it works fully, we're still going through the data."
"We need to get Javik here. Tell me something worse." Councillor Raan grumbled as well. One would ask why she had chosen to become the Quarian's representative to this Council.
The Archaeologist hesitated. "When the artefact aviated, it appeared to have spawned some sort of lighting effect. One of our escorts, an N-6, was hit and disappeared alongside the artefact."
Silence reigned. "Who?" Bakara growled.
"Lieutenant David Zorah Shepard, Systems Alliance."
"...crap." the Salarian councillor muttered. "The two Admirals are going to kill us."
That was the moment the door to the meeting room was banged on and the council could tell who it was going to be. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SON?!" a female Quarian all but screamed.
The Council knew they were fucked the moment they heard that one of the sons of the galaxy's heroes went missing. It was going to be a long day.
Meanwhile at Beacon at the same time.
Ozpin returned to the infirmary alone. When they entered, the trio were approached by a Doctor Wilson.
"Headmaster. We've managed to remove the patient's armour and done an I.D Scan." the doctor said. "He looked into the databases and we have both a Facial and a DNA i.d"
"Really? Who?" Ozpin asked.
"Um, that's the thing we can't explain. We have a positive….but this person has been missing for nearly 10 years."
"I…" the doctor cleared his throat. "Sir the patient's DNA and blood is that of Miss Rose's son, Garnet Rose."
Ozpin, for the first time in many years, looked stunned. "Are you absolutely sure?"
"I am extremely positive. We've runned blood tests, facial scans, finger prints, everything we could to properly i.d. It is Miss Rose's kid."
Ozpin just stared at the unconscious figure, suddenly seeing the connection between the last recent picture of Mr Rose and this figure. Hell, it was almost like a male version of Ruby, though the hair was cut a bit short and was partially dyed blue and purple.
"How is that possible?" Ozpin asked.
"I honestly have no idea. It's possible that a semblance did something to his age but- that wouldn't explain the scars, the tech, and the weird powers." the doctor shrugged.
"Go on." Ozpin urged.
Doctor Wilson pulled out his scroll. "Well the most obvious part is his age but we'll get to that later. Physically, there isn't much difference to that of a normal Human though the tests we did shows that he is more muscular than the average male of his age. However he has a number of minor cybernetics in his lower cheek and left arm. His Aura is still locked. And here's the biggest thing, there's something in his blood that I've never seen."
"Is it harmful?" Ozpin questioned.
"Honestly, I don't truly know but it looks safe. I'll run some more tests but- I'm not sure how to break this to Miss Rose." the Doctor shrugged.
"...no, I don't know either." Ozpin sighed.
How was she going to explain to Summer that her son aged twenty decades since she saw him?
6 hours later, Patch
Tai instantly knew something was wrong when he came back to his family's house. What tipped him off?
The stench of alcohol? A shattered door? A drunken (well more drunken) Qrow? No, that was pretty normalish.
No, it was the fact that both Qrow and Summer were drunk. That was…..concerning.
"I'm a terrible mother!" Summer wailed drunkenly, swirling a glass of Remnant's version of Vodka. "I don't deserve the mother of the year award from Ruby!"
Tai rushed over to Summer and hugged his wife. "Summy? What's wrong?"
"I failed as a mother!" She cried incoherently and then started sobbing in Taiyang's chest.
"Sum?" Taiyang stroked Summer's back in a attempt to calm her down.
"I ATTACKED GARNET!" Summer cried out.
"What?!" Taiyang asked, confused.
10 minutes later
Taiyang felt like chugging a bottle of whisky or alcohol now after what Summer had told him. Apparently the man they had brought back from the fight was Garnet Rose, but somehow he had aged up to 25 years of age.
Dear god, why did he every think becoming a huntsman was a good idea again? First this business with Salem, now his lost son?
"Have you told the girls yet?" Tai gently asked Summer, who was comfortably resting in his strong arms.
"No…..no not yet." Summer blabbered out.
Tai sighed. "Let's head back to Beacon, bring the kids along. They deserve to know."
Summer nodded. This was going to be one ugly family reunion
?
David blinked, then blinked again. He was laying on the ground in his N-6 armour. Looking around, he was in a sort of forest that was black and hazy.
"Didn't dad say he had these sort of dreams during the war?" David muttered. What happened again?
Ah right, he got his ass kicked by a huntress.
"Vortex?" David asked out loud. No response.
….he. Ha…. David shot up. That was the laughter of a Human child. A female.
Why did it sound familiar?
"Brother! Your home!"
Brother? David frowned. He looked around.
The forest shifted to a field of some sort. Grasslands, not dissimilar to the ones on Earth or the more forested regions of Rannoch.
The flapping of some sort of cloth alerted David to his own surroundings. He looked down and saw a red….cap? And he was no longer wearing his Alliance armour. It was replaced by some sort of clothes that predates the Alliance by a long shot. A red leather coat, hiking boots or a kind, and something that resembled those combat vest from the 21st century.
What the hell was he wearing? He had never worn something like this?
Ha….ha. The laughter again. That was definitely not David's brother Reala, unsuited or not, nor any of his cousins. But…..why did it sound familiar.
David turned to see two blobs of hair. Black with red tips and pure yellow. Two younger children
…..Brother, you're back…. The red haired one said.
Brother?...suddenly memories flashed before David's eyes. A memory he thought lost before the war.
"Ruby…..Yang?" David whispered. Wait a second, who were they?
The two children ran off, the red one disappearing in a flood of rose petals, and David hesitantly followed.
The N-6, who faced everything from rouge Batarian and Turian pirates to the occasional rouge VI to stopping Cerberus Remnants, felt lost.
They called him brother though, which oddly enough made him happy.
David needed to know more. He had lost anything, from his memories to his name during the war, only recovering when he, Reala, and Juso were adopted by Shepard and Zorah.
Something he did remember were two flashes of yellow and black each. Something which infuriated his family.
The laughter and the rose petals attracted him towards a cliff. Then the laughter became…sobbing?
….Brother…..
David's feet took him closer to the cliff.
…..Come home….
The scene changed, and now it was a dark sky and lighting?
….Please….
David's body ached, but he pressed.
Then he found himself in front of a tombstone.
Garnet Rose ~ Through the Darkness, we shine bright
"Garnet…..Garnet Rose" David muttered. The name was drilled right into his head. Suddenly memories whipped right through him. Patch, Vale, Remnant.
David slumped down, falling to his knees. "Yang, Ruby, Tai, Summer." He whispered
David then felt two pairs of arms wrapping around him. He recognized them as Ruby and Yang.
"Brother? Garnet? Please…wake up" The pair pleaded.
At Beacon
Ruby Rose, now a Student of Beacon, did not expect to feel…anxiety.
The first few weeks at Beacon were rough, especially with her partner Wiess. And the rest of her team was still getting into shape. But it was going well.
And then both her and Yang were pulled from class and brought to the Beacon Infirmary. The sisters were then treated to a sight of someone they didn't expect to see: their brother Garnet.
The sisters immediately broke down when they save their baby brother (Garnet being the youngest of the three) somehow an adult and bearing many scars. Scars of battle, one the sisters were familiar with.
The Rose family was taking the fact of their missing family member, now an adult, hard. The fact that it was Tai keeping both Summer and Qrow from going drunken insane was an unusual situation.
Now Ruby was sitting next to the bed of her long lost brother, now an adult. Questions raced through her head, but there was one among them:
What happened to her brother?
Ruby held onto her brother's hand, remembering the last time she embraced him. The last time was a day before Garnet went missing.
She wanted to know what happened, why he disappeared.
Ruby looked down at the arms of Garnet. It was scared. From Signal academy, she knew that it was from bullets and cuts.
"Brother? Garnet? Please…wake up." Ruby pleaded.
That was when the patient stirred and then the eyes fluttered open.
That was the moment two pairs of Silver eyes stared at each other
Commonwealth Reports…...Post War situation
As of 2205, the naval situation for the galaxy is extremely different than when it was prior to the Reaper invasion. With economies rebound, planets restored, new resources deposits found, and a new age dawned on the galaxy. The military situation changed dramatically for all species and nations.
Rannochian Coalition: The Rannochian Coalition, a government formed between the Geth and Quarians, is one of the few powers to survive the war with relatively intact infrastructure. The Quarians and Geth went from beggars and an existential threat respectively to a major player in the reconstruction of the galaxy. The Quarians, with over 40,000 of their ships surviving the War, became the biggest merchant fleet and patrollers of the Eastern side of the galaxy. Their technicians and ships are vital to rebuilding colonies. The Quarian population is still relatively small, at around 40 Million Quarians, but they are growing quickly.
The Geth, on the other hand, now possess the largest naval formation in the galaxy (if combined with the Quarians). With their robotic nature and surprisingly large stockpiles of raw materials, the Geth were able to nearly single-handedly restart the Galactic Economy, ending any unease about the galaxy's new Synthetic superpower.
Note that the Coalition is beginning to integrate their Plasma Weaponry into their forces and are attempting to develop full-on plasma-based weapons. Also note that the Coalition, alongside the Alliance and Hierarchy, are beginning to introduce stealth frigates into their fleets.
Human Systems Alliance: Being one of the few nations to come out with its colonies somewhat intact, the Alliance, with the help of the Coalition and stripping the Citadel, was able to restart it's economy and industries by the 2190s. By 2193, Alliance ships helped reactivate the relays and began founding new colonies to house the billions of refugees. Shipyards, industries, factories, and cities were all rebuilt at a rapid pace. At present, the Alliance has a population of 15 Billion citizens, a fifth of which are of non-Human origins. The Capital of the Alliance is currently in the city of Makala, one of the few cities on Earth not hit hard by the Reapers.
The Alliance military is now surpassing its pre-war strength. Frigates, Cruisers, and dreadnaughts dating back to the First Contact War are now being phased out with new ships like the Denali class Dreadnaughts and the Sagan class of Supercarriers entering service. Now posing 9 dreadnaughts (4 Kilimanjaro class, 5 of Denali class), 13 carriers (6 of the Hawking Class, 7 of the Terekhova class), and 2 Sagan class of Supercarriers, making the Alliance the 3rd race to field a ship bigger than 1.5 Kilometres long. The Alliance now boasts a fleet of 3000 ships of Frigate, cruiser, support, and destroyer class. However the Alliance is beginning to introduce a number of new ship classes, chief being the Battlecruiser and the Arsenal ships. There are even unconfirmed reports of the Alliance trying to construct a 4 kilometre vessel, calling it the Punic Class. On the ground with a further ground force of 300 Million soldiers (Includes support personnel and forces from Earth's national armies).
It should be noted that the Alliance is the first species to integrate AIs into their militaries. With the AI known as EDI showing that AI's are not the genocidal beast they were known as, the Alliance lost much of their hatred for Synthetics and are now looking to integrate more into their military and civilian force. Another thing to note that while much of the Alliance fleet still uses mass accelerators as their main weapons, successful testing of a Particle Beam weapon derived from an abandoned American project has convinced the Alliance to retrofit their entire dreadnought and carrier force with spinal and turreted Particle Beam weapons. The Alliance has also reportedly tested a new FTL drive and is planning to move away from Eezo FTL systems.
The Turian Hierarchy: Though slower to rebuild than the Alliance and the Coalition, the Turians preserved onwards to rebuild their civilization. Eventually by the 2190s, they had established basic services and partially restored their economies. However the strain of losing many precious Dextro planets has hindered the restoration of the Hierarchy military. Thanks to the Coalition and the opening of new Mass Relays however, planets are able to relieve their overpopulation by moving portions of the Turian population to mass built orbital habitats. Current population is around 150 Billion Turians.
While the population of the Hierarchy is returning to Pre-War levels, their military has unfortunately not been able to keep up. Currently the Hierarchy maintains a fleet of 17 Dreadnaughts, 5 Carriers, and 1 Dreadnaught. Costs from rebuilding the economy has meant that the Hierarchy is focused on building new cruisers instead. Currently the Hierarchy fleet is around 10,000 ships strong, compared to the 32,000 fleet strong before the war. Still, the Hierarchy, being one of the few species able to fight the Reapers in a conventional war, has gained large amounts of prestige and is expected to return to Pre-War strength by the 2260s.
The Asari: The Asari Republics most undoubtedly took the biggest hit after the Reaper War. The Revelation that the Matriarchs held onto a Prothean Beacon that could have been used to prepare the galaxy for the Reaper War hit the Asari's reputation hard and their reputation as diplomats and negotiators were usurped by the Humans and Quarians. After the War, the Republics fell into a civil war that only ended in 2192. Though they have repopulated their species to around 92 Billion, they still have a long way to go to rebuild the trust the galaxy had for them.
Military wise, the Asari are considered the weakest of the big races (the Turians, Humans, Coalition, Salarians). Much of their fleet was destroyed in either the battle of Thessia or the Liberation of Earth. Any attempts to rebuild were hampered by the civil war. Though the Asari are rebuilding their dreadnaught fleet, now numbering at 11 Dreadnaughts, rebuilding infrastructure means that they are hampered compared to other races. Current fleet strength is around 4,000 ships.
Salarians: While also surviving the Reaper War intact, the Salarian Union has fallen into Civil Strife due to linger animosity between the STG/ Salarian military and the Dalatrasses. Eventually, the STG and Salarian militaries overthrew the Dalatrasses and restricted the Union into something resembling a Human democracy. Since then, the Salarians have been working on repairing their relations with other species, most notably the Krogan.
The Salarian military and STG have recovered to full strength at around 7,000 combat capable ships. Although their technological advantages are being challenged by the Coalition (who have both the Geth and the Quarians working together) and the Alliance (who are using reactivated projects pre-ftl to boost their technological capabilities), the Union is now more prepared to fight a conventional war. The STG has also eschewed the stigma of AIs and AIs being created.
The Krogan Clans: The United Krogan Clans has dedicated much of their resources to rebuilding both Tuchanka and their new colonies. Thanks to the leadership of both Urdnot Wrex and Eve, the Krogan are shedding their extreme warlike traditions. Krogan programers, game programers, chiefs, and more are becoming more common in place of Krogan Merc bands. Though many species are still somewhat worried of a Krogan mass resurgence, medical care provided by both the Turians and Humans have ensured that the Krogan will not have another population crisis. The Krogan population is around 5 Billion Krogan.
Surprisingly, the Krogan military is rather small for it's reputation. It operates a rather small fleet of older Alliance and Hierarchy ships, the biggest being two Human Assault carriers. Much of the fleet is cruisers and transports. The Krogan's strength comes in it's ground forces. Much of the force is made up of armour legions and mechanised infantry (the Krogan have a surprisingly robust mechanised force). However it admittedly relies on help from the Geth, Turians, Salarians, and Humans for support. Joint wargames with other species have begun to draw interest for the Krogan to expand their military capabilities.
Minor species (Batarians, Elcor, Volus, Drell, Hanar, Rachni): The Batarians are still undergoing a transition to a democratic nation after years of rule by the Hegemony. They are still stabilising. The Elcor have fully rebuilt their nation and are becoming key players in the galactic economy. That goes for the same with the Volus, though they are beginning to upgrade and update their armed forces. The Drell and Hanar are still dealing with uncertainty due to the how business with the enkindlers. The Rachni are interesting. Though they have politely declined offers to join the Commonwealth, the Rachni have become a common sight around the galaxy's frontier, providing raw labour to outer colonies. It helps that no one is alive from the Rachni War.
Ending Report