The Terran Navy is organized into 6 numbered fleets. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th (once it is finished) are the combat fleets and form its main offensive power, while the 5th and 6th organize its scouting and peace time power projection elements. The center point of the combat fleets are the "battleship" (dreadnought) wing and the carrier wing.
A battleship wing is formed of 8 battleship squadrons - consisting of 1 battleship, 1 light point defense (PD) cruiser, and 6 "destroyer escorts" (light frigates)- and 4 defense squadrons- consisting of 3 PD light cruisers, and 8 destroyer escorts.
A carrier wing consists of 6 fleet carrier squadrons- consisting of 1 fleet carrier, 2 PD light cruisers, and six destroyer escorts-, and 6 light carrier squadrons- consisting of 2 light carriers, 2 PD light cruisers, and six destroyer escorts- and 4 defense squadrons
These wings are then supported by 5 heavy cruiser wings. Heavy cruiser wings are formed of 5 heavy cruiser squadrons- consisting of 4 heavy cruisers, 1 PD light cruiser, and 5 destroyer escorts-, and 2 defense squadrons.
Finally, the fleet contains 3 destroyer wings formed of 5 destroyer squadrons. Each destroyer squadron consists of 12 destroyers divided into three flotillas of four destroyers.
Excerpt from intercepted Salarian Special Tasks Group (STG) intelligence report on Terran fleet Strength.
Captain Andrew Keys looked around the bridge of the Terran Federation battlecruiser FSS Sentinel with a smile. She was a Vindicator class battlecruiser. Notably smaller than a battleship - or "dreadnaught" as the Council races called them - she was far faster and more maneuverable, at the cost of less armor, kinetic barriers, and a shorter (thus weaker) main gun. Meaning in an engagement with a battleship Sentinel would be at a decisive disadvantage.
But she was never designed to fight battleships. Her speed and maneuverability where comparable to a heavy cruiser. Against one of them her barriers and armor could easily absorb anything a cruiser could throw at the Sentinel, while her main gun tore through their barriers and armor. Sentinel and her fellow battlecruisers were cruiser killers.
And Keys loved her.
She was the perfect ship for hunting the more dangerous pirates and the cruiser heavy Batarian fleet. If the Federation ever decides to act on any of the provocations those two-bit slavers have given us. We could crush them easily.
He sighed to himself, but there is probably a reason for it, and I am just a battlecruiser skipper.
Accessing the ship's substream Keys called up a display of the space around the planet they were orbiting, Eden Prime. In less than a second a meter wide model of Eden Prime and the other ships of Task Force 317 seemed to materialize in front of him.
Of course, there was no actual model. The image was simply projected onto his optical implants and by having a slightly different image sent to either one it looked three dimensional.
Three other battlecruisers, the Vindicator, Avenger, and Champion, and the battleship Ares orbited the planet. Together they were more than half of 5th fleet's battlecruiser wing, and. made up the heavy punch of Task Force 317.
The rest of the task force consisted of 5th fleet's second heavy cruiser wing and 3/5 of the 1st destroyer wing. Combine with the escorts from the capital ships TF 317 totaled 20 heavy cruisers, 12 light point defense cruisers (also know in the fleet as PDs), 36 destroyers (or frigates as most aliens called them), and 73 destroyer escorts or DEs.
PD cruisers and DEs, like battlecruisers and fighter carriers, were a ship types invented by the Terran Federation. Destroyer escorts where smaller than a destroyer and didn't have a spinally mounted mass accelerator, in fact they didn't carry any mass accelerators at all, instead they were able to carry between three and five (depending on class) of the most powerful point defense laser in the galaxy. Lasers that pushed past ultraviolet and into x-ray.
PD cruisers were built on the same concept, just scaled up. The Caen class carried ten x-ray guardian lasers, but also carried six mass accelerators of comparable power to a destroyer in three double turrets.
TF 317 had formed and dispatched to Eden Prime based on intel that the colony was going to be targeted by terrorists. Though no further details, like what kind of attack or when had been provided. And of course, by terrorists they mean Batarians, Keys thought to himself,
Of course, the fleet was also rife with the usual rumors that came from such vague orders, such as an imminent attack by the Citadel Council, or Eden Prime being quarantined because of a deadly new disease. But by far the most amusing rumor as far as Keys was concerned was the rumor that a Prothean artifact had been dug up and they were really there to protect it.
The chance of finding Prothean tech on Eden Prime had to be a million to one. No, Batarian backed terrorists are far more likely.
"Captain Keys," a lieutenant called from Sentinel's main sensor station, "drones show activity from the Mass Relay." She paused for a moment, presumably checking the feeds being sent to her optical implants, "incoming transit mass."
Keys gave the mental command for the Sentinel to go to General Quarters. In addition to telling crewmembers to get to their battle stations, raising kinetic barriers, and charging and loading the ship's weapons, General Quarters pulled the entire crew into an extremely shallow streamdive that enabled neural to neural communications.
Neural to neural comm was faster than verbal communication and enabled the sharing of more detailed information that was difficult to relay through words alone. But also allowed the crew to interface directly with the ship and perform actions as quickly as they could think them.
This didn't eliminate the need for a crew, however. Even if a ship like the Sentinel were automated there was no way one person could direct her alone, the amount of information would overload a lone mind.
Each officer oversaw their specific role in the ship, and the captain oversaw them, coordinating their efforts and setting the goals. As such Terran ships were in essence run from the bottom up, each crew member expected to have the initiative to do what needed to be done without being told. As opposed to Turian ships which were very much run from the top down, and individual initiative was discouraged.
"Thirty contacts have just arrived at the Relay," the lieutenant reported as Keys tapped into her feed, "destroyer tonnage, unknown electromagnetic signature. They're destroying the drones."
Keys could see that for himself as the drone feeds began dropping off. At the same time a transmission passed through the fleet's battle-substream, "this is Admiral Karry Sprag to all ships of TF 317, form up for defensive action. All ships set condition one."
Sentinel's helm officer began moving the ship into formation without needing to be told as Keys asked the lieutenant, "did you see the telemetry from those lasers?"
"Yes, sir, ultraviolet. Also, one of our drones got close enough to get a LADAR silhouette before it was destroyed."
Definitely not Batarians or terrorists. The only species we know of that uses UV lasers is the Salarians. Could this be the start of a Citadel invasion?
"Analysis," Keys demanded
"The silhouettes don't match any species the Federation has had contact with," Mirage, the Sentinel's AI, reported, "including Citadel races. I have extended a ship silhouette query to all members of the crew and am analyzing the results now."
Keys mentally nodded. Mirage was basically asking the crew to recall any ships silhouettes they'd seen and then comparing them to the LADAR scans. Yet another advantage of neural implants.
"Sir, drones are picking up FTL wake echoes. The enemy ships have made an FTL jump," the lieutenant reported.
"Acknowledged," Keys replied as he made sure comm had sent their observations to the admiral, "they're going to bullrush us." Odds where others had seen what they had and Admiral Sprag had probably also realized what was happening, but it was still good practice to send them just in case.
"Sir," Mirage said, "to cut a long story short two members of one of our damage control teams knew someone who got ahold of some Quarian literature, in it where images of Geth ships from a century ago. They are consistent with the LADAR silhouette."
"Upload to Admiral Sprag, enemy ships are likely Geth!" Keys ordered the comm officer.
3.6 seconds later Admiral Sprag sent another message to the fleet. "All ships of TF 317 enemy ships are believed to be Geth, data indicates they are proceeding to our location at FTL. Our ships could cover that distance in twenty minutes, but we know nothing about the Geth and have to assume they are faster. Expect enemy contact in ten minutes, any ships that can't reach our position before that are to form up before attempting to link up with us. Stand together, fight hard, and we will win this. Good luck, may any gods you believe in watch over you."
"We are in formation with the Ares," the helm officer reported.
"As is the Avenger," Ops added, "combined screens are forming up along with two cruiser squadrons and a destroyer squadron. But there is no way the rest of the Task Force can form up with us in less than ten minutes."
Looking at the sensor feeds Keys had to agree. They'd been spread out evenly around Eden Prime to protect against small raiders. The Mass Relay was currently 64,819 light seconds away, a Terran ship could make that in just over twenty minutes, and they couldn't afford to underestimate the Geth.
There just isn't enough time, and we can't drip feed ships into this. The others need to come together.
Less than five minutes later forty-six ships suddenly popped into existence just over 100,000 km from the Sentinel. Keys scanned through the ships as the lieutenant at ops read them off.
"Reading 30 enemy destroyers, fifteen cruisers and…" she reported. Suddenly fear welled up through the link just as Keys saw what caused it.
"What the fuck is THAT!?" Keys wasn't sure if he said it, the Ops officer, or maybe the entire CIC crew as a fresh wave of fear surged through the link.
In the center of the Geth formation was what must be a battleship, but it was the biggest battleship he'd ever seen. It was more than twice the size of the Ares.
Keys swallowed and he steadied his nerves as the CIC crew followed his example. He had no idea how they were going to kill that thing, but they were going to give it a damn good try.
"Thrusters… check, navigation… check, internal emissions sink engaged… all systems online," Lieutenant Jeffery 'Joker' Moreau read off from the various displays in his optical implants. Smiling he leaned back in his chair and added, "drift… just under 1500K."
"Fifteen hundred is good, your captain will be pleased," said a voice behind Joker with an odd resonance that made him think of a metallic echo. A voice that raised his hackles.
The voice belonged to Nihlus Kryik, a Turian Spectre who was officially aboard the FSS Normandy for a joint research project between the Citadel Council and the Terran Federation, the first joint project of any kind between the two powers.
And Joker HATED the Turian.
Joker fixed his eyes on the displays as he listened to the sound of Nihlus's retreating footsteps. Once Nihlus was far enough away for Joker to plausibly claim he thought the Turian was out of earshot he said, "I hate that guy," just a little louder than necessary.
Joker wasn't entirely sure whether he wanted their guest to hear him or not. Leave it to fate to decide.
"Nihlus gave you a compliment, so you hate him," Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko said incredulously.
"You remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom, that's good. I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead, so that's incredible," Joker said, his frustration with Nihlus's uptight attitude spilling out. Belatedly he added, "besides I don't like having him onboard. Spectres are trouble. Call me paranoid."
"You're paranoid," Kaiden replied immediately, "relations between the Citadel Council and the Federation have been improving in recent years. Seems they've finally decided they'd rather have us as an ally they can keep an eye on then an enemy. Nihlus is here as part of a mutual research project. Considering the councils fears of AI it's little surprise they sent a Spectre."
"Yeah, that is the official story," Joker said leaning back in his seat, "but only an idiot believes the official story."
"You are a Lieutenant in the Federation Navy, try to act like it," Lieutenant Commander Johnathan Sheppard lightly reprimanded Joker, even as the Lieutenant gave voice to his own inner thoughts.
Even with the concerns about AIs a Spectre was overkill, and research into human colonies didn't really fit within their mission parameter. But it was part of his job to uphold the official story in public, regardless of how little he personally believed it.
"Shutting up sir," Joker replied, snapping his seat back upright.
"Sorry Commander," Kaiden said as well, looking a little ashen.
John often cut Joker a lot of slack as far as comments went, most of it he actually found rather funny. And he was even fine with officers or enlisted questioning or griping about their mission orders, as long as they did it in the right place and time. And the bridge was definitely neither.
"Joker, status report!" Captain Anderson's voice snapped from the ship's comm interrupting John's musings.
"Just cleared the Mass Relay Captain," Joker said instantly, "stealth systems engaged, everything looks solid."
"Good. Find a comm buoy and link us into the network. I want mission reports relayed back to the brass before we reach Eden Prime."
"Aye, aye sir." Leaning back Joker added, "better brace yourself sir, I think Nihlus is headed your way."
"He's already here Lieutenant," Anderson growled. "Tell Commander Shepard to meet me in the comm room for a briefing."
Sheppard nodded, "I'm on my way."
As he walked away he heard Joker ask, "is it just me or does the Captain always sound a little pissed off?"
"Only when he's talking to you Joker," Kaiden snarked back.
John allowed himself a small smile as he headed down the catwalk that connected the Normandy's bridge and CIC (Combat Information Center). He glanced at the three weapons stations recessed into the floor on either side, only two of which were currently crewed.
The Normandy carried an impressively heavy armament for a destroyer. For point defense she had six GARDIAN lasers, which was fairly standard for a destroyer, except these were the high-powered x-ray lasers normally only deployed on dedicated point defense ships.
Her main armament was 2 spinally mounted mass accelerators that ran the length of the ship just under deck 1. 4 ten cell Javelin disruptor torpedo launchers mounted on the engine pylons rounded out her armament.
Few ships carried two main guns for the same reason x-ray lasers were normally only mounted on dedicated point defense ships. Power. But the Normandy class was different because of her stealth system.
Hiding a ship in space was normally impossible because of the heat and other emissions they give off stand out against the near absolute zero background of space like a flare in a dark room. Normally. The Normandy class was equipped with a set of internal emission sinks (IES) that could trap her emissions. Thus, hiding her. Almost every detail about the IES - especially what they were made of, how they were made, and how they worked - was highly classified.
And to hide her from active sensors the Normandy was also coated in radar absorbent material and her hull was designed to produce the smallest radar cross-section possible.
All that would be rendered meaningless if the Normandy's thrusters, then gave her away. Which was where her Tantalus Drive Core came in, proportionally two and a half times the size of a normal drive core it could generate mass concentrations that the Normandy "fell into." Enabling the ship to move without the thermal plume firing a thruster would create.
But the Tantalus Core required an equally powerful reactor to function. Meaning the Normandy's reactor was also larger and more powerful than on a normal destroyer, and when the stealth systems weren't engaged meant she had enough power for her heavier armament as well as kinetic barriers twice as strong as a normal destroyer.
But for the same token when the stealth systems were engaged the Normandy wouldn't be able to charge the capacitors for her mass accelerators or lasers, nor would she have the power to raise her kinetic barriers. She was able to fire Javelins while in stealth, and the Javelins carried by the Normandy were programed with a longer delay after being launched before they engaged their own engines to give the launching ship time to clear the datum before the target could engage them.
And of course Mass Effect field maneuvering is less efficient than thrusters, meaning we are slower and less maneuverable. Something else to keep in mind, John mused as he maneuvered around the people that surrounded the large holotank in the middle of the CIC which was currently displaying their position in the galaxy.
Ever since the end of the First Contact War the Terran Federation had known if their cold war with the Citadel Council had ever gone hot it couldn't defeat it in a conventional war.
In the 26 years since the war the Federation had built 10 more battleships with 4 more soon to commission. But in the same time the Turian had built 22 new battleships, the Asari had built 7, and the Salarians 5.
The Normandy was the first of a new class of stealth destroyers that were the first fruits born of the Federation's efforts to develop technologies that would create a paradigm shift in space warfare.
Though more practical thinkers doubted even if the Federation was able to create its paradigm shift that it would be enough to put them on par with the Council. But it could make them a big enough threat that the Citadel Council would try to avoid war with them.
"… marched right through here like he owned the place," John overheard Pressley grouse.
"Well, he's not. We might be working with him, but Captain Anderson won't take any orders from him," replied Lieutenant Gregory Adams, Normandy's chief engineer.
John looked back wondering why Adams was up here as opposed to being in main engineering. Nearing the back of the CIC and the door to the comm room he caught sight of someone else who normally wasn't up here, Dr. Karen Chakwas.
She was leaning against the small free-standing bulkhead that separated the comm room door from the rest of the CIC talking to a marine. It took John a moment to remember the man's name, Corporal Richard Jenkins.
"…have a choice Doc. Spectres can go anywhere, do anything, kill anybody who gets in their way," Jenkins said with more than a little excitement in his voice.
"Even if that were so Nihlus can't kill the entire crew, especially not Major Sheppard," Dr. Chakwas countered.
So that's what everyone is doing, John realized, gawking at the Spectre.
Taking a deep breath John turned to look at the entire CIC, at least half of the people here didn't need to be. "I see we haven't assigned enough work. If people have time to loiter and chat don't worry, I can find some more tasks to assign to anyone finding themselves with too much free time." He said, voice raised just enough to carry across the room. The chatter quieted, and all eyes turned to him for the briefest of moments, before sudden recollections of pressing tasks led the gawkers to take their leave.
Shaking his head John stepped into the comm room. It was a large, or at least large for a destroyer, round room with fold away chairs around the edge and a console at the far end.
Nihlus was staring at the console like he was trying to memorize it, maybe he was. Behind him was a human woman with shoulder length red hair leaning against one of the chairs. She was wearing the uniform of a Federation Marine, the gold oak leaf on her shoulder identifying her as a Major.
Major Jane Sheppard looked up as her twin brother entered the comm room. He had close cropped dark hair and crystal blue eyes so much like their mother's. Where Jane's scarlet hair and emerald eyes were more reminiscent of their father.
She breathed a mental sigh of relief at seeing him. She'd never been good at small talk, and the Turian she was sharing the room with wasn't doing anything to make it easier. But if anyone could break the ice it was John.
John's mouth curved up into the diplomatic smile of his that most people couldn't tell wasn't genuine. Most people couldn't, but Jane could. She'd known him all her life, and John was far better at this kind of thing than her. He had a natural charm that she didn't.
Jane would far prefer to just punch or shoot a problem then spend hours talking around it. She just didn't have the patience for it, though she like to think she was more intimidating than her brother.
But no sooner had John opened his mouth then Nihlus suddenly turned around. "Commander Sheppard," he said, "I was hoping you'd join Major Sheppard and I before Captain Anderson… on a different subject I am aware humans change their family names when they are mated. I assume you two…"
"Oh, HELL NO!" Jane roared.
"She is my sister," John said far more diplomatically.
Jane shook her head as if she could physically dislodge the idea from her mind. The thought was repulsive for more reasons than John being her brother, though that was certainly enough. The second reason was that he was a man, and Jane preferred the fairer sex.
It hadn't escaped her notice that she was almost a stereotype of a butch lesbian. A point which had been the source of a great deal of ribbing, both good natured and otherwise.
"My mistake," Nihlus said before continuing as if nothing had happened. "I am interested in the world we are heading for, Eden Prime, I've heard it is quite beautiful."
Jane rolled her eyes as John said, "I can't speak to it personally, but yes I've heard talk of it becoming a good vacation destination."
"Yes, it's become one of your flagship worlds for future colonization efforts. Proof the Federation can not only establish more distant colonies but also protect them. But how safe is it really?"
"Is that supposed to be some kind of threat?" Jane asked, perking up.
"Not at all," Nihlus said raising his hands in a very human gesture. Proof that he had studied humanity enough to know some body language. "But your people are still newcomers, and the galaxy can be a very dangerous place. Do you truly think the Federation can stand on its own?"
"Whereas the Council would be so willing to help us?" John asked with a touch of sarcasm.
Nihlus nodded, "that is part of its function, to help younger civilizations. I personally think a lasting peace is in the best interests of both your people and ours."
"How so?"
"Your knowledge of cybernetics has a great deal of applications on the wider galactic market for a starter."
John raised an eyebrow at that but was floored by what Nihlus said next, "but the biggest thing we could learn from you is how you managed to safely harness AIs."
"I thought the Council believed that our society was one small nudge away from imploding into an organic/synthetic war," John replied, recovering quickly.
"Some do," Nihlus said with what was probably the Turian equivalent of a shrug. "Most do, but there is a growing minority who realize that if Terran society was truly so unstable it would have already collapsed. Instead, you've thrived, and if we can learn to do the same not only could AIs revolutionize our own civilizations, but it could even prove the groundwork for a peace with the Geth."
"Those are the AIs the Quarians accidentally made right?" Jane asked.
"Yeah," John answered first. Turning back to Nihlus he pointed out, "AI technology is just one of the problems between the Federation and the Citadel Council."
"True," Nihlus conceded, "but it is the one most likely to result in an armed conflict."
"And I think we would all prefer to avoid that," Captain David Anderson said entering the comm room. "Holly, seal the comm room and initiate level one counter surveillance protocols."
A hot pink hologram of a human woman with long braided hair wearing a navy uniform appeared on the comm console. "Of course, Captain," Holly said with a salute.
"Ah, the Normandy's AI I assume," Nihlus said with obvious interest. "A pleasure to meet you, though I have to say I am surprised we haven't met earlier."
Holly's avatar regarded the Turian, "a pleasure to meet you as well Spectre Kryik. We have not met because I was attempting to stay out of your way on the assumption that you would find my presence uncomfortable."
"Not at all, in fact I'd like to get to know you better. I have many questions."
"I believe that can wait until later," Captain Anderson said.
"Of course," Nihlus replied bowing his head, "forgive my enthusiasm."
Turning back to the Sheppard twins Captain Anderson said, "I think it is time you were both told the full story of what is going on. Nihlus isn't here to conduct research on human colonies."
"I figured as much," John said.
"No offense Captain, but most of the crew has already figured that out," Jane added and John nodded thinking about his conversation with Joker and Kaiden.
A slight smile tugged Anderson's lips, "I figured as much. But what none of them know is that Nihlus is here to study a Prothean artifact that was found on Eden Prime."
"Prothean?" Jane said, shock coloring her voice.
"What kind of Prothean artifact?" John asked instantly, his mind whirling with possibilities.
"A Beacon."
John ran his hand across his close-cut hair. Who knows what kind of information is contained within that Beacon. It will obviously be defunct but still…
Captain Anderson spoke again before John could finish his thought, "A functional Beacon."
John's knees trembled. The only thing he could think to say was, "fuck."
"No offense sir," Jane said, "but even a grunt like me knows what a treasure trove even a disabled Prothean Beacon would be. So why are we sharing an active Beacon with the Citadel Council?"
"The hording of Prothean technology is against galactic law," Nihlus said simply. "And while it is true that the Terran Federation doesn't have to follow that law because it isn't under Council jurisdiction. It would still be a strong sign that you are willing to be part of the larger community if you followed it."
"In other words, it would prove that we can be a team player," John simplified.
"Yes."
"But there is also a practical side to it as well," Captain Anderson stated, "the Citadel Council has a larger pool of experts with more experience working with Prothean technology then we do."
"So basically, they help us examine it and we share the data," John summarized.
"We will learn more from the Beacon by working together than either would alone," Nihlus agreed pragmatically.
"Given the unique nature of this find it has been classified top secret and Task Force 317 under command of Admiral Sprag has secured Eden Prime's orbit." Anderson smiled, "though they have been told they're there to protect against a possible terrorist attack."
"Batarians," Jane spat.
Anderson nodded, "that's probably what TF 317 thinks."
Holly suddenly popped back up on the console, "Captain Anderson priority communication from the bridge, Joker has something urgent for you."
"Very well. What's going on Joker?"
After a moment Joker's voice came over the comm. "We're picking up a distress call from Task Force 317 sir, audio only, along with some sensor telemetry that… well, it doesn't look right."
"Let's hear it," Anderson said.
Then a new voice, thick with obvious stress, began. "This is Captain Andrew Keys of the FSS Sentinel part of Task Force 317, we are under attack by what are believed to be Geth warships. They are led by an enormous battleship; it destroyed the Ares and the Avenger. The rest of the fleet is holding but taking severe casualties. I am going to attempt to ram that battleship and have ordered all other personnel to abandon ship. I'm sending all data we have collected on that monster in case I fail, or it is able to survive the ram. For the Federation."
For a moment no one spoke and just stared at the console.
Captain Anderson's voice shattered the silence, "Holly bring up the telemetry of that battleship."
The LADAR silhouette of what looked like a giant cuttlefish hung in the air above the console along with EM profiles, thermal output readings, Mass Effect field distortions, and more than a dozen other data points. But the two that drew John's eye were the ship's power output and its size.
"That thing is more than two kilometers long and producing nearly eight times the power output of our largest battleship," he said stunned.
"Size alone would account for it producing around four times as much power, which suggests that their reactors are far more efficient or that they have proportionally more room for a larger reactor," Anderson analyzed.
"Or both," John added.
"Or both," Anderson nodded his agreement.
"How about you Spectre, ever seen anything like that?" Jane asked Nihlus with a little bit of hostility in her voice.
Nihlus shook his head never taking his eyes off of the telemetry, "no. No, I haven't. But then no one has had direct contact with the Geth in nearly two centuries."
Anderson sighed, "regardless, it looks like our mission just got a lot more complicated."
Hey, Chapter 1 already! To tell the truth I already had this written before I wrote the prologue.
So first of all I have made some changes to the Normandy. Because I plan on her being a much more active combatant I needed to give her strengths and weaknesses, but also they make logical sense. Realistically she would need a larger reactor to run the Tantalus core, and when she is out of stealth that additional power would be put to use.
As for the idea of giving her enough power and element zero to fight and be invisible, well she is already using far more that is normal and every attempt to keep her costs reasonable is going to be made. So she is going to have just enough to be stealthy and no more.
As for the torpedoes, it is never stated in the game how she fires them or from where. I have seen many people suggest they are fired from tubes connected to a central magazine, but given that the success of a disruptor torpedo attack depend on volume of fire that doesn't make sense. Far better to have them in cells so they can all be fired at once, especially since with cold firing there is no need to stagger fire them.
As for John and Jane, as I hope it is already obvious I intend for John to command the Normandy and Jane to command the team. The idea that you would be in command of the ship and going on ground mission never made any logical sense. It is the Captain Kirk issue.
Also, the System's Alliance's combining of the Marines and Navy into one service also made little sense especially given how we see ground combatants promoted to command levels of starships.
It makes sense for game design but not for world building.
Also as you can see I am adding new types of ships that logically should have been there, but space combat was very underplayed in Mass Effect which I think is a shame.
Anyhow see you the next upload, this is going onto Deviant art and . If you like my style keep any eye on my Deviant Art page for original stories.
PS. I am trying to come up with a nickname for battleships in the Federation navy, because I feel the old battlewagon nickname would be too old. I'd appreciate any suggestions.