The Fog Disperses - Chapter Zero: An uneasy truce.
It had been three months since the Peace Deal struck at the Citadel, less than that from the Quarian Deal. The Fog was no longer united, and the Galaxy seemed to slowly come to realize that.
To the Asari, this meant striking deals with each factions and trying to get at least some of them to join the Citadel Council.
To the Salarians, this meant a potential chance at aquiering Fog technology by diplomatic means.
To the Turians, this meant that the Hierarchy was facing civil war after the devastation of their Fleets by the Fog.
To the Batarians, this meant actual civil war where every single small Warlord was trying to get their share of what was one the Hegemony.
To the Krogans, this meant a chance at getting a cure for the Genophage and kicking Salarian and Turian butts.
To the Quarians, this meant a division between Fog-Quarians and Flotilla-Quarians.
And to the Reapers, this meant that their greatest Threat was splintered into pieces that they could assimilate with ease.
The Peace Deal meant that every Fog faction had to sign it separately, as the FSKSA was no more.
Cerberus, The Sirens and The Nebula Systems Alliance did not sign the Peace Deal. All other Fog Nations did.
The Big Three Sol System Earth
Yamato had 19 Kagerou -class Destroyers, 16 Yuugumo -class Destroyers and 10 Asashio -class Destroyers tending her.
And that was all she had to defend Earth, as her Sister Kotone Amaha guarded Jupiter as her own Queendom. Kotone had 3 Yamato Refits including herself, 4 Kongou Refits and 3 Maya Refits to protect Jupiter. Together the two sisters were the guardians of The Admirality Code. Iona had taken Neptune as her HQ, and the rest of the system belonged to the other two new nations.
The Big Three Sol System Mars
Cerberus had Mars, and all ships of that nation were of the new type: Nagara Refit -Class, as Cerberus preferred the mass produced ship type over the specialized custom built ship types unlike most of the fog. Cerberus after all was a Human-centric Organization, they just happened to be Mental Models. The Nagara Refit was a Light Cruiser, just over 600m long but packing what usually goes with Fog Ships. 30 Nagara Refits patrolled around Mars, another 30 had the luxury of trying not to get lost while patrolling Saturn. Attican Beta had 60 more Nagara Refits, spread rather thin through the various Star Systems in the Area.
The Big Three Sol System Venus
The Sirens had aquaformed Venus, as it was faster than terraforming. Well, almost aquaformed as there was still a lot to do to get there. 96% done, so 3-4 more years and the planet would be totally habitable. The Sirens had resurrected old Human designs from the Human-Fog war era: The Japanese Manta Ray looking submarine, The Super submarine the Americans had used and of course the remote cannons Blue Steel had employed during the war. The Sirens used all they could to make some ships for themselves, and each Command Ship was different to anything ever made before.
The Pawn -class Destroyer had two secondary hulls, one to each side.
These secondary hulls had a Light Photon Cannoneach, while the main hull had two Medium Photon Cannons. Each secodary hulls also had two small space photon engines each, while the main hull had two medium space photon engines. Each secondary hulls had 24 corrosive missile launchers each, while the main hull had 12 corrosive torpedo launchers. And of course the main hull had the Heavy Graviton Particle Cannon (Axial).
The Pawn was small, fast and agile. Easy to mass produce and armed with a Cruiser's main gun.
The Sirens had 50 Pawns guarding Venus, 50 more guarding Uranus and 100 patrolling the Voyager Cluster for outsiders.
The Big Three Sol System Pluto
The Asteroid Field was divided by the Three, Mercury was something only the Siren were crazy enough to claim as their own. Pluto was the Neutral HQ and was guarding the Charon relay, and the Three had signed several treaties for their mutual defence if the System was attacked by outside forces.
Since Pluto was managed together by the Three, each brought 5 Cruisers or 10 Destroyers to guard it. Yamato sent 5 Yuugumo Refit Cruisers, Cerberus sent 5 Nagara Refit Cruisers and the Sirens sent 10 Pawn Destroyers. The exact same number of ships were guarding the Relay, just in case. And all these ships were away from each Nation's Planetary Defense Fleet.
Pluto had 4 Cities: Central, the Governmental Capital. Yard, the Defense Fleet HQ. Kirino, the Fog recreation Center.
and lastly Garden, the non Fog Recreation Center. The last City was mostly for Quarians and others that were visiting Sol.
As the uneasy truce existed, there were many that still wished to come to the heart of the Fog: The Sol System. One such person was Urdnot Wrex, but he was far from the only one to brave dangers to get here. Thane Krios was her for one single reason: To get rid of the Kepral's Syndrome for good, as he had heard that the Fog could even cure the immune defects of the Quarians DNA.
Wrex wanted the cure for the Genophage, and he hoped that it would not come at a too high price. (Sure, we could join them if that is all it took to get rid of the Genophage.) He thought, as he exited the Quarian Merchantman that had taken him and so many others to the City of Garden.
The City had only female Fog Models, as the Males were in Kirino or busy at work. There were always more females among the Fog, making it 83% females to 17% males if you counted the entire Species in total. Cerberus had strangely 85% males to 15% females and held no interest in meeting aliens, so they had all but 3 representatives in the City. The Sirens on the other hand were entirely female, and had only 1 person in the City.
None of this affected Wrex as he was ignorant of the inner politics of the Fog, as was most of the Galaxy. He watched the beautiful Fog girls and thought (They are prettier than the Asari, maybe that's why Aria was so uneasy with them around). Everybody greeted him in a friendly manner, and Wrex knew better that to get on the bad side of the Fog.
They all seemed sweet or just coldly beautiful, depending on who he met on his way to the Genecist Center of the City. But beneath the beauty and sweetness lied a monster so terrible that it nearly tore the Citadel Council to shreds, Wrex had wondered why the Fog stopped their retaliation but the splintering of the Fog into various new Nations was the answer to his question. (Now they are as splintered as the Krogans, but at least they care about the future of their species.) He thought as he walked on.
Wrex was followed by a male Drell (Well, maybe he needs a cure for that disease of theirs?) he thought (But the cure for the Genophage takes priority over small illnesses that his kind had.). As he walked, as Fog maiden gave him a flyer for a bar and it even had one free drink for all newcomers. (Have to check it later, I wonder if they have Ryncoil?).
Thane also received a flyer from the same maiden, he stored it inside his pocket and moved on towards the Genecist Center. Thankfully the artificial climate here was set for dry and warm, which must be due to the Quarians in the City.
Thane was surprised to see Quarians without their masks on, some even dressed differently and without their suits!
(The universe is changing, and it would seem for the better.) He thought, and followed the Krogan inside the Genecist Center.
Wrex had finally reached the Genecist Center, and entered through the doors into the compound. There was a long street inside the compound, surrounded by stores offering several kinds of genetic enhancements. Wrex walked to the other side of the steet to meet with a Fog maiden behind a desc called 'Info'.
"What can we do for you today, Warmaster Wrex of Clan Urdnot?" asked the maiden (How did she know who I was? Ah, yes she must have all the data of newcomers interested in genetics. Smart business move, the Fog sure knows how to do both war and trade.) Wrex said "The cure for the Genophage" The maiden checked something on her flying holoscreen and then said "If this is only for you personally, I can direct you to a genetic revitalization store. But if this is for your entire species, I will have to contact the Admirality Code" "It is for my entire species, so contact your Admiarlity Code" Said Wrex as he leaned over the desk, huffing with excitement. It was bad enough that this maiden was one of the most beautiful maidens he had ever seen, but she was smart and souave. Wrex would need to figure out how to court a Fog maiden, or maybe even dare to date one of their Matrons.
Meanwhile Thane had entered the Compound and looked for a store to fix his Kerpal's Syndrome, he saw a Quarian female exiting a store. The store interested him so he went to have a look, and entered 'Immunogem Suprima'.
A sky blue haired Fog maiden entered the Compound, dressed in a white long uniform coat. she was bowed to by every Fog maiden in the Compound, so Wrex thought that this must be the one holding the title 'Admirality Code' (Was that not the name of their Nation as well?) He thought as the maiden came close to him and said "What will we get from giving you the cure you desperately deserve?".
Wrex smiled and licked his lips "Because I am the only one that can unite the Krogans!" he yelled the last part and hit his fists into his chest. "What do you need from us to help you unite the Tribes scattered all around Tuchanka?"asked the maiden, which made Wrex more than a little worried.
This was probably how they had gotten the Quarians to join them, so if he was not careful his species would be next to be part of the Fog! (Wait, is that actually a bad thing?) Wrex pondered (Better ask straight away to avoid misunderstandings, which is the last thing I want to have with the strongest power in the Galaxy.) So he did jus that "At what price?".
"Ally with us, Join us or at least become our friends. As long as you do not join the Citadel Council, we should be fine with you Wrex." she said to him without showing any kind of emotion (Maybe the rumors about them having A.I.s was true, or maybe she is just one of the cold ones emotionally.) Wrex had seen the two types of Fog maidens: The cold unemotional ones, and the happy joyful very emotional ones. "I need your fleets, some few of your maidens and the cure for Genophage and I will unite the CLANS. We are not tribes, but CLANS. Got it?" Wrex said that while thinking what it would cost his own hide, but any price was worth curing the Genophage.
Terminus Systems Sahrabarik System Omega
Bismark, Graf Zeppelin, Akagi, Kaga and Jean Bart jumped into the System without anykind of support. Aria was watching the five Fog Vessels appear in system without using the Relay, it had always bothered her why they used them against the Turians. (Maybe it was since the Turians were so adamant about the Fog breaking Citadel Laws about opening new Relays, even if it was a Quarian ship doing so while trying to escape Batarian slavers.) Aria received the message that the Fog ships belonged to Iron Blood, Sakura Empire and Vischya Dominion. These new Fog Nations baffled her, but so far nobody had been foolish enough to try to take out a Fog ship no matter what faction it belonged to.
"Message coming through, do you want to respond to them Aria?" What she wanted was to hear the message first, and it was both audio and visual, A blonde Fog Matron in a black and red uniform greeted her "Greetings Aria of Omega, we represent the Crimson Axis."
Asari Republics Space Crescent Nebula Tasale System Ilium
Prince of Wales, Duke of Yord, Saratoga, Enterprise and Saint Louis jumped in system, which alerted Ilium's defences.
"We have the Fog here, five Dreadnought-Cruiser equivalents." Said the commander of Ilium's Defense Forces Sensor Operations Command. "Let's see if they are here to talk, but prepare for the worst. Whatever you do, do not power nor point your weapons or target them at any cost" Admiral Shia N'lia ordered the third Ilium Fleet, while watching what took so long to get the other two fleets into a defense screen. (Damned shore leave, Goddess. What the hell will I do if the Fog is here to take us out?) She thought with fear in her mind about the outcome of a Fog invasion, as she had seen what the Batarian homeworld looked like during and after the Fog had mowed everything over.
A message came through, and she took it on screen, and she was greeted by a blonde Matron of the Fog wearing a red and gold uniform "We are the Azure Lane" All Asari blushed at the name, and thought about something very sexual and very perverted conserning the Fog and the Asari. "We come in peace" At that, Shia knew that the Fog had shifted from war to love. (Advanced Species like us can do that at ease, of course the Fog knew that to conquer us Asari guns are not needed. All you needede was the loving Embrace of the Fog) "Wel.. welcome, Matrons of the Fog."
Almost a 'Prologue, part 2' but I think this counts as a chapter of its own. But since it is a mixture of Prologue and Chapter One, I went and called it 'Chapter Zero'.
I posted four new Stories, so this one took like forever to write. The next Chapter will not need much explanation,
so I can focus on the story itself much more. Wrex, Thane, Aria and tons of OCs based on ME characters and with a lot of Azur Lane characters. That was what I thought when reading Chapter Zero, I wonder how my readers will be able to follow this if they are not familiar with: AZUR LANE, AOKI HAGANE, KANTAI COLLECTION, and MASS EFFECT?
Review and check my never ending number of Stories, and you can DM me if you have some ideas that you need my input on. On another note, if anyone want to beta something: DM me about it.
Thank you for reading, see you in the next Chapter of The Fog Disperses