…
"Boss... you were right. It's not about changing the world. It's about doing our best to leave the world... the way it is. It's about respecting the will of others, and believing in your own."
(Big Boss)
…
Pacem Proving Grounds, January 18th, 1:22 PM, 2184
…
It was a beautiful afternoon for a test drive. There were scattered clouds, no showers, and there was a crisp breeze in the air. I loved being able to work in such a lovely environment.
I looked over my current report for the X1 Cobra prototype, seeing that the finishing touches to the primary plasma engine system were done. I looked up at the parked gunship, taking in how cool it was to see one of my old concepts not only in person, but fully functional. Rael and Gerrel really liked the idea behind the ship, hence why it was the first one chosen for construction.
I walked over, climbing up the extended ladder and into the ship itself. The interior was slightly cramped but cozy, packed with a basic sensor suite, gunnery computers, and a host of other equipment. A lot of said equipment was deliberately designed to be more basic and mechanical in style, especially the ship's cockpit design and controls. They closely resembled what you'd see in a 21st century attack helicopter like the Apaches used by the U.S. military, but with obvious differences.
There was reason behind this decision. I wasn't a big fan of all the holographic displays used to control most flying craft nowadays. I always had a lingering fear of being inside such a craft and having the displays all fail on me. As such, the entire craft was built with many contingencies in mind. All the seats in the ship were equipped with harnesses, there were handles on most surfaces, and for worst-case scenarios we had even included parachutes. Ruggedness, durability, and survivability were the name of the game.
If the Cobra performed properly and went into production, it would have a revolving 20mm turret placed on the top that could either be manually controlled by a gunner or by a V.I. A pretty simple change to the overall design, but could help a lot if the Cobra was ever given chase by something faster.
"Oh, you are already here." Dimitri remarked with a little bit of surprise in his voice as he climbed into the ship.
"Hello Dimi." I greeted, looking back at him for a moment before looking back at the co-pilot's seat.
"So, is Cobra ready for test?" He asked, walking over to me as he looked out the cockpit window.
"It's ready to go, we're just waiting for our volunteers to arrive." I said, tucking my datapad into my pocket as I walked to the back to look over the NM reactor one more time.
After some exhaustive work between me and Dan, we've successfully managed to miniaturize our reactor system enough that it could fit on a ship like this. In its current state, it was configured to produce more plasma than usual for the engines, but still generated more electricity than the ship would ever need. Due to the nature of this craft, the fusion chamber did not have a viewing window.
The ship couldn't be equipped with a Gravity Drive, however. Due to the way it functions, the centrifuge at the center of the drive had to be a certain size in order for a proper magnetic field to be formed. If we were to add a Gravity Drive, we'd have to scrap the cargo bay and increase the NM reactor to its standard size. It was alright, though. This wasn't meant to be a long-range scout ship anyways.
I already had something else in mind for that purpose.
"So… you still haven't told me if you're impressed." I brought up, looking over at Dimitri as he looked down at the ground through the open cargo bay.
"I'll let you know once test is over." He replied, looking back at me for a moment before shifting his gaze back.
A few minutes later, our four volunteers arrived. They hadn't been briefed much to my annoyance. That was supposed to be Sira's job, but she forgot yet again. I plopped on my helmet, sealing it with a hiss.
"Alright, so this test will consist of five parts." I started, looking between my datapad and the four volunteers as I spoke. "The first will be standard flight, where we test basic maneuverability. Second, we will perform the speed test, pushing the ship as fast as we can. Third is the atmospheric weapons test, where we attack stationary and moving targets with the cannons and missile systems. Fourth will be the orbital engine test where we transition between space and atmosphere, and last we will finish off with a combat test in orbit. Any questions?"
One of the volunteers, a fresh private from Dolor, raised their hand as the others stood completely still. I nodded to him, granting him permission to speak.
"Sir, what are some of the parameters for a failed test?" He asked, immediately pulling his arm back to his side as he spoke.
"Well, there are several, private." I answered, putting my datapad into my rucksack as I focused exclusively on him. "If we crash, explode, vent air while in space, or burn up while reentering the planet's atmosphere, we fail. Does that answer your question, private?"
"Yes sir." He answered, still standing ramrod stiff.
"Alright. Man your assigned stations." I finished, giving them a good nod as they fell out.
Dimitri was going to be the one piloting the ship, and I was his co-pilot. The co-pilot's seat was located slightly below the pilot's seat closer to the front of the ship. Both of us were capable of flying the ship independently from one another. We were both wearing newly modified masks that were equipped with specially-designed HUDs for flight control. All quarians who would pilot this and any other attack craft we designed would have this system installed into their own masks as well.
"Alright… pre-flight check." Dimitri started, as he began listing everything off in order, making sure they were all up to snuff. I did the same with my own instruments, making sure there were no differences between us. "OK, we are ready for launch, my friend. Transmit test code to Fleet Actual."
"Fleet Actual, this is Captain Michaels, code Charlie Option Baker Roger Able. We're beginning our test, please confirm." I called out into the secure testing channel, wanting to make sure we weren't mistaken for anything else by the Fleet during our flight.
"Understood Captain. We've got you pinged." A voice replied back in confirmation as I secured my harness. "Good luck with the test flight."
"Thank you for the vote of confidence." I finished, killing the connection as I turned around and gave Dimitri a thumbs up.
The entire ship rumbled slightly as we fired up the NM reactor, getting ready for takeoff. The ladder lifted back up into the ship as the cargo bay doors sealed shut, the entire cabin pressurizing to ensure we were good to go.
"Alright, here we go." Dimitri announced, as he slowly gave the engines some life. We lifted into the air just slightly, hovering in place. I flicked the switch for the landing gear, letting it all retract back into the body of the ship. "OK, let me get a feel for this…"
Dimitri slowly rotated the ship, first giving it a full right turn, then a full left turn. He then pulled the ship up a little higher, giving me a slight lurch to my stomach.
"I knew I forgot something. I forgot about inertial dampeners." He said with annoyance in his voice, flicking the switch as my center of gravity returned to normal. "There we go."
He pitched back and forth slightly, still getting a feel for the controls.
"You feel good enough for the second phase?" I asked, looking into the mirror that let me and Dimitri see each other.
"Da, I do." He replied with a smile, letting a huff of air exit through his mask.
"Alright… give it all it's got." I finished, unfolding the wings and locking them into the flight position.
Dimitri then fired up the plasma engines, sending another rumble through the hull. We then accelerated very fast, so fast that I could still feel some of the acceleration through the dampeners. The speed gauge was climbing incredibly fast.
"2,000…2,500…3,000…3,500…4,000…4,500…5,000…5,500…5,890." I counted up as I held myself back slightly." We appear to be peaking around… 6,120 kilometers per hour."
"In atmosphere, too!" Dimitri replied, sounding rather happy. "Imagine how fast we will go in space!"
I smiled at his comment, taking down some notes before looking back into the mirror.
"Alright, now it's time for the combat test!" I announced, looking over my shoulder into the cabin to look at the two gunnery stations. "The targets for today should be within firing range within… one minute. You two ready back there?"
"Ready!" Both of them replied, leaning forward into their stations to scan for targets.
"Alright, let's blow some shit up!" I encouraged, shaking myself in my seat in anticipation.
We flew in silence for 45 or so seconds before our radar pinged, indicating hostile signatures. Over the next forest range was the far end of the proving grounds, where a dozen targets in two different groups. It was all automated junk on wheels, but they would do.
Since we were already moving incredibly fast, we'd be starting off with strafing attacks on the first group. As soon as the targets appeared, the computers locked on.
"Engaging targets!" The gunners announced, as several muffled thumps and bangs resonated through the hull. Several missiles and 100mm cannon shells ripped into the targets below us as we sped past.
"Did we get them?" Dimitri asked, looking over his seat into the back.
"We eliminated all the targets in Group 1!" One of them announced, as a small cheer of approval went through the cabin.
"Good work, people. Let's mop up the rest of them." I congratulated, as we zoomed back to the test site.
This time, we launched our attack while in hover mode, hanging about thirty yards back from where the targets were moving back and forth. It took less than ten seconds for each one of the six targets into slag.
"I didn't think the accuracy would be good with cannons so far from fuselage." Dimitri observed with an impressed tone to his words.
"They swivel out slightly for more precise aiming." I replied back, looking into the mirror. "Anyways, three down, two to go, people! Time for the space tests."
I received various responses as Dimitri gunned the engines once more, sending us soaring into the sky. The blue sky peeled away slowly as it was replaced with stars. I took a moment to admire the view once more. The large, blue nebula that Geltonas slowly generated could be seen very clearly, even though the gas giant itself was many, many thousands of miles away.
Now that we were out here, we would run diagnostics on the ship while in a space environment.
"Ok, running… running… there, I think that's it." I said, looking over the log to make sure we had everything. "Wait a minute… Dimi, did you fully decrease throttle on all the engines?"
"Yes. Why?" He asked, looking down at me from the side of his chair.
"I'm still reading a power signature from engine number three." I observed, looking at my own panel to check it twice. "Please make sure the throttle is down on number three."
"I did, all throttles are down." He replied, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Well, maybe it's an instrumentation error." I hypothesized, tapping my datapad onto my faceplate. "Try turning off all the engines and restarting them, perhaps that will fix it."
"Alright." He agreed, shutting down all four engines. About a minute later, the engines were still dead.
"Um, are you going to restart the engines, Dimi?" I asked, looking back at him in the mirror.
"They aren't turning back on." He replied in a much more serious tone, flicking the ignition switches over and over again for all four engines. "I've lost power to all of our engines."
I looked as the status screen, seeing that they indeed were no longer connected to the power grid.
"Oh fuck." I exclaimed, flicking the switches on my board with similar results. I then undid my harness, hopping out of my seat. "I can fix this, I can fix this! Just let me take a look at the back."
I ran into the back of the ship, opening up the access panels to see if I could find the cause of the power loss. Inside the main panel, I immediately saw what the problem was. The insulation on the main engine power conduits looked as if they had burned off, and there was an intense amount of heat coming from inside the access panel. That wasn't good.
"I think the heat from the engines might have overloaded the power conduit." I assessed, looking back into the cabin. "I'll have to run a bypass to get it working again. Someone come back here and lend me a hand!"
I quickly opened up the auxiliary panel, looking for the circuit panel that fed into the primary conduit.
"Alright… hand me the rubber gloves and the socket wrench." I ordered, as one of the volunteers gave me what I needed with haste. I began removing the four bolts that covered the panels, making sure not to hit any of the live wires. I then pulled the panel off, revealing the main circuit breakers. "Alright… shutting off power to the primary bus bar. Standby…"
I flicked the switch, an audible clunk resonating through the hull.
"OK, we're good so far." I remarked out loud, grabbing a small spool of emergency wire from the inside of the access hatch. "Now, run this to the reactor auxiliary port and make sure it's in there tight."
I then pulled out the main conduit between the reactor and the circuit board, replacing it with the emergency wire. I pulled on the breaker hard, making sure the wire was in there as far as it would go.
"Alright, let's see if this works." I said, taking in a deep breath as I flicked the circuit breaker back on, reconnecting the primary engine bus bar. There was a quick flash as the connection was made, making me nod in approval. "That should do it. Now take that fire extinguisher and just empty the entire thing into the main panel. We need to cool it down before we start the engines back up."
My new helper nodded back to me, taking the extinguisher off the wall and firing its entire contents into the area. There was a surprisingly noticeable drop of heat in the air.
"OK, let's start it back up." I finished, running back to the co-pilot seat and strapping myself back in. "Dimi?"
He hit the ignition switch for all four engines as a rumble resonated through the hull for a second, then petered out.
"It's still not working." He remarked, looking into the mirror at me with what I could only assume was an unamused expression.
"Give it a minute." I urged, holding up my index finger as silence filled the air.
"Sean, just admit that it didn't-" He started as all four engines fired at once, fully reactivated.
"See, I told you!" I remarked with a gitty sense of accomplishment. "Let's dock at the Cairo Station and assess the damage there. I don't want to risk re-entry with a patch job."
"Agreed." He nodded back, pushing the throttle back up about mid-way, heading towards the massive space station.
"Cairo Station, this is Captain Sean Michaels, requesting permission to land in one of the shuttle bays." I called out over the radio as we approached the station.
"Affirmative, Captain." One of the traffic controllers answered. "Shuttle bay delta is clear for landings, you may proceed."
"Thank you, Cairo." I finished as Dimitri took us in. As we neared Delta, the heavy shuttle bay doors slid open, giving us plenty of room to slide inside and land. We hit the deck with a clunk as the wings on the sides of the ship folded back up.
We all climbed out of the Cobra, seeing that a small security team had arrived to check up on us.
"Is everything alright here, Captain? Your arrival wasn't scheduled." The team leader asked, holstering their rifle as I walked over.
"Yeah, for the most part." I answered casually, scratching my neck as everyone stood behind me. "We experienced some heat issues after breaking atmo, and lost our engines for a few minutes before we managed to work out a temporary fix. I decided it would be better to come here instead of risking re-entry."
"Understood, sir." He replied, nodding in acknowledgement. "Would you like me to inform Captain Keno?"
"No, I'll tell him myself." I waved off, taking in a breath of air. "It's been a while since I've spoken with him anyway."
"Very well, sir." He finished as he and his team walked back off.
I turned around to face Dimitri and our four volunteers, wondering what would happen next with our ship.
"You guys can relax, we won't be going anywhere until the Cobra is fixed. For now, the test is on hold." I told the volunteers, letting them all go off so I could speak to Dimitri. "So, it looks like I forgot to account for the heat buildup in the engines. You think I should reduce the engine output to compensate?"
"No, I was thinking we could install heat sinks along outer hull to trap excess heat." He theorized, looking at the Cobra with folded arms as he spoke. "It might be enough to keep heat out of ship."
"It might, then again a liquid nitrogen cooler on the inside could also do the trick." I added, looking back at him as I pointed to the engines. "The issue didn't seem to be with the actual engines, but more with the internal components themselves."
"Perhaps an internal cooling system with triple jacketed power conduits?" He continued, looking down at me.
"Yeah… that sounds like it could do the trick." I agreed, nodding as I looked harder at the engines. "I'll know for sure what we'll do once I go over the data, but I think we'll be abl-"
I was suddenly cut off as the station's yellow alert lights and alarms activated, sending everyone running to their stations.
"What the hell?" I exclaimed in surprise, looking around as everyone began running off.
"Something must have entered the system." Dimitri guessed, looking ready for anything.
"Let's get to the command center and see what's going on." I urged as we began running as fast as we could.
We passed through the habitat, ignoring the monorail as we ran straight through the pressure doors and into the transition area between Delta and the command center itself. The two guards in full Type IV exos stopped us, checking our IDs before letting us inside. We then walked up the stairs to the upper platform, where Captain Keno was looking over something on his datapad.
"Captain Michaels." He greeted quickly with a small nod.
"Captain Keno." I greeted back, walking closer. "What's happening? We were in shuttle bay delta when the alert went out."
"According to one of our probes, a single ship entered the system about seven minutes ago." He explained, handing me the datapad as he walked to the railing that lined the platform. "It made its way to Reach, and is now holding on the edge of the kill zone. We're arming the MAC, and we've got ships taking defensive formation behind us in case they try anything."
"Who are they?" I inquired further, looking at the white ship off of the edge of the planet's influence.
"That's an Alliance ship, a York-class cruiser." Dimitri answered, as we both stopped to look at him as he gazed at the primary screen. "They're not here to attack."
"How do you know?" Keno asked, walking over to get a better look at the view screen.
"Standard Alliance protocol for approaching another ship or planet for communicative purposes is to arrive in single ship." He replied, crossing his arms with confidence. "If they were here to scout system, they would have brought scout frigate. If there were here to attack, they would have brought more than one ship."
"What if it's some sort of trick?" Keno prodded further, considering all the options.
"There's only one way to find out." I said, leaning on the railing. "Hail them on the broadband, see who it is exactly we are dealing with.
Keno looked harder at the image for a few seconds, as the magnetic accelerator cannon's loading mechanism readied a round in the background.
"Captain, the MAC is fully charged!" One of the fire control officers announced, as Keno looked down at them for a moment.
He continued to ponder his choices for a moment, before looking back at me.
"Hail the vessel on the broadband, scan their frequencies for any irregularities." He ordered, standing straighter as he maintained his focus on me. "I hope you're right about this."
"I hope so too." I agreed with a bit of a nod, acknowledging his doubts.
"Alliance vessel, this is Captain Cyi'Keno vas Cairo of the orbital defense flotilla. You have entered restricted quarian space. Please state your business here." Keno hailed, leaning towards the console as he spoke clearly and with authority.
"Captain Cyi'Keno, this is Admiral Steven Hackett of the Systems Alliance Fifth Fleet. I'm here on behalf of Prime Minister Amul Shastri seeking an audience with your leadership." An old, familiar grizzled voice replied back, instantly making me remember Aldrin Station.
"Hackett… huh." Dimitri huffed out, still maintaining his arms in their crossed position.
Captain Keno paused for a moment, looking back at us. We nodded to him in agreement.
"Affirmative, Admiral. Please hold your current position until further notice. I will contact the Conclave and the Admiralty Board to arrange a meeting." He finished, leaning back up.
"Understood. I look forward to it." Hackett ended, as the line went dead.
"Did you pick up anything during the transmission?" Keno asked one of his communication officers, leaning on the railing to get a good look at them.
"No anomalous signals detected, sir." One of them replied, looking up at us.
He then stared down as the floor for a few seconds, before nodding his head. He then walked back to the comms console, putting out a priority message to all Admirals and Conclave members.
"Attention, this is Captain Cyi'Keno vas Cairo on priority channel four alpha. Admiral Hackett of the Alliance Fifth Fleet has entered the system in a single ship, looking for an audience with the Admiralty Board and the Conclave. Please acknowledge." He said into the comms network, sending the message to everyone of leadership in the system.
He then got hundreds of notifications back as everyone began acknowledging his message. There were so many flooding in on his end that I couldn't even keep track of all the names.
This was going to be an interesting next couple of hours.
…
MFV Rayya, January 18th, 4:02 PM, 2184
…
The last two hours had been a massive clusterfuck of messages as everyone across the system scrambled to get together a team to meet with Admiral Hackett. I think they were very aware of what kind of impact this talk could have, especially the Admirals. Hackett himself was being very patient throughout all of this, though I suspected that he really wanted to go back and re-join the rest of his Fleet soon.
Unfortunately, the Admirals all insisted that I be one of the eighteen Conclave members to go with them, despite my protests. I was afraid that Hackett might recognize me, possibly demand that I be handed over to the Alliance or something like that. I had no idea what he remembered about me.
I now stood with the other seventeen members of the Conclave and the Admirals in the same meeting hall where we first met two years ago, back when we were all broken-hearted Alliance patriots who were desperately looking for a safe, new home.
That will always be one of the worst periods of my life.
I shook my head, focusing back on the people all gather here. There were a lot of people here, and I wasn't even counting Rayya crewmembers and exo-suited Migrant Fleet marines armed with plasma guns. Hackett hadn't even arrived yet, and the security here was already more than I imagined them needing.
"It looks like we've had quite the turnout, huh Captain?" A familiar voice from behind me remarked, as I flipped around to see Captain Mal.
"Hey Mal!" I greeted, giving him a firm handshake and an unseen smile. "How have things been going? The Idenna is still in one piece, I presume?"
"More than ever, actually." He replied, crossing his arms. "We've recently finished our refit in the orbital shipyards. The ship hasn't looked this good since it was first built."
"Well congratulations!" I nodded back, giving him a nudge on the shoulder.
Before I could continue, everything suddenly grew quiet. I turned around to see Admiral Steven Hackett walk into the hall, followed closely by four Alliance marines armed with holstered rifles. Hackett was wearing a transparent breathing mask, while the marines wore fully-pressurized hard suits. Their helmet visors were polarized, preventing me from looking at their eyes.
"This Conclave is brought to order. Blessed are the ancestors who kept us alive and enabled us to reach this season. Keelah se'lai." Raan began as per tradition, as everyone repeated keelah se'lai in unison. "Admiral Hackett, welcome."
"Thanks for having me." He replied, looking up at them on their podium. "I know you weren't expecting this, but I appreciate your willingness to meet with me on such short notice."
"I'm sure we both have a lot of questions to ask one another." Gerrel said, adjusting his footing so he was directly facing Hackett.
"That's a bit of an understatement." He shot back, focusing on Gerrel as his expression hardened and became more serious. "I have just as many questions for you, but that is not why I came here today."
Hackett then took another step forward.
"I have come here on behalf of Prime Minister Amul Shastri, offering a partnership between the Systems Alliance and the Migrant Fleet." He announced, as everyone in the hall, including me, shifted in place as the weight of such an offer landed right on our heads. Raan quickly quashed the smaller comments that had popped up, shifting all focus back to them.
"This offer didn't just come out of nowhere." Koris observed, crossing his arms. "Why are you offering us this partnership?"
"I'll be honest, there are different motives floating around for this." Hackett began, looking down for a moment before raising his eyes back up. "Shastri is worried about the political implications of the Council discovering that the Gravity Drive was created by the Alliance and is now being widely used by the largest fleet of ships in the galaxy. Personally, I'm more interested in the fact that you believe the Reapers actually exist."
"Why would you care about us believing in the Reapers?" Rael immediately rebuked in his usual, belligerent tone. "The Alliance is large enough that it shouldn't have trouble making decisions on the matter."
"See, that's the problem." Hackett argued, cocking is head slightly towards Rael. "The Alliance Parliament and the Citadel Council would much rather bury their heads in the sand and ignore the warnings than actually accept them as fact. Now that Shepard is dead and his testimony is gone, the Alliance is going nowhere fast in terms of preparations."
"What do you expect us to do? Give you ships and supplies?" Gerrel replied in a slightly mocking tone. "We've got our own problems, Admiral."
"Gerrel, that is enough!" Raan silenced, waving her hand at the man. "Admiral Hackett, what kind of partnership are you proposing, exactly?"
"A quiet one." He replied calmly, looking at all five Admirals. "Like I mentioned before, Shastri is terrified that the Council will discover that the quarians are using Alliance tech. We're looking to create this special arrangement because we see you as a potential ally."
"Or a potential threat." Rael muttered under his breath, looking off to the side.
"At this point, do you think we really care that you're using our tech? You look content here in this system, and we're happy to just let the Council think that you really did disappear." Hackett pushed, motioning with his hands. "We both know that the Reapers are coming. If we all want a chance to survive, we need to work together and come up with possible defenses, weapons, countermeasures. If we wait until the last minute, it'll be too late."
The entire hall was filled with silence as all the Admirals thought over what he said. I started feeling personally responsible for what the Alliance was trying to deal with, but then again we had no other choice. If we hadn't gone to the quarians, we might be dead right now.
"We will… consider your offer, Admiral." Raan said, nodding to him. "We'd like to ask you to return to your ship while we debate this. We will invite you back as soon as we've come to a decision."
"Thank you." Hackett finished with a slight nod, before he and his four escorts turned around and left for their ship.
The entire hall was filled with silence while we watched them leave. Even after the doors to the hall closed, everything was still silent.
I could only imagine the shitstorm that was going to erupt from this.
…
A/N: So, Sean and Dimitri got to test out a new spacecraft, and a sudden, unexpected visit from the Alliance. What will the Admiral and the Conclave decide on? What will happen between Hackett and the rest of the Quarians? Find out next time.
This chapter was actually a lot of fun to write. I made sure that I got a lot of detail in for the Cobra, since I plan on it being a big part of the story later on. I've also got a few more crafts planned for the future, and I can't wait to start writing about them.
Once again, I'd like to give a big thanks to entroz on deviantART for allowing me to use one of his ship designs as the basis for "The Cobra." It can be seen here: fav me da05jtk (Put a period between fav and me, and a slash between me and da05jtk.)
I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!