Interlude 1: The Encounter


Batarian Space near Relay 427, HMS. Glory of Khar'shan:


Captain Veltoss looked over the projection of the 15th Expedition fleet. More than two hundred ships had been gathered for this operation, including five of the Hegemony's dreadnoughts. Outside of the main fleets, it was a massive gathering of the Hegemony's might. A part of him wished that they could turn this mighty fleet against the Citadel races, and begin the conquest of those who were beneath the superior Batarian race.

But Veltoss knew better. Despite what the propaganda of the Hegemony would have its citizens and slaves believe, the Batarian people were in no position to assert their dominance over the galaxy as they rightfully deserved. But as much as he hated to admit it, he knew the Hegemony could not take on the entire Galaxy, not yet. In time the Batarian people would gain the power needed to conquer the races of the galaxy and put them under the boot of the Hegemony where they belonged.

Veltoss smiled to himself, he would oversee the first step to that glorious future. His four eyes turned away from the fleet and towards what would become the symbol of the Hegemony's prosperity, as it was for the long-dead empire that built them. The mass Relay the Citadel designated as relay 427. The Council would decry his actions as illegal and putting the "galactic community" in danger.

"What a bunch of varren shit." He thought to himself. In his opinion, the law on mass relays had been created out of fear. Fear of the unknown and fear of what the other races would become if allowed to grow, particularly what the Batarians could become. For the longest time, his own people had so foolishly followed the law and allowed themselves to stagnate with the rest of the Galaxy. But no more, the Hegemony had finally gained leaders wise enough to realize the key to Batarian dominance. Leaders who were not afraid of what laid beyond the known galaxy as the citadel races did.

Soon the Hegemony would begin to walk the path to its destiny as the ruler of the galaxy and more. He saw the twin rings of the relay spin to life and a blue sphere of light ignite at its center. He smiled to himself, he would have the honor of taking those first steps. His name would go down in history and would be revered for generations to come.

Dreaming of the fame and rich's to come he gave the order, and it a matter of seconds more than two hundred ships disappeared beyond the relay. Never to return.


Two months later, edge of Batarian space:


Captain Kel'tis's mandibles twitched as his ship, the Jelton de-accelerated to normal space. "Report." He said.

"All ships have de-accelerated from FTL and are holding formation, sir." Came the response of a dutiful Turian officer. "On your orders, we will begin investigating the system."

Kel'tis nodded. "Very well, plot a course for the station. Keep an eye on the sensors I don't want anything to surprise us. We're already running on limited info as it is." He ordered. "Coms, try to open a channel to the Batarian station, inform them of our purpose here."

"Yes, sir."

On the outside, Kel'tis was the picture of a perfect Turian command officer, calm and collective, unwavering of his duties. He commanded his crew with precision and respect. Inside though he found himself unsettled and his mind raced with possibilities. He did not like the assignment handed to him by the council. There were too many unknowns and to be blunt he believed it was asking for trouble. He didn't voice his objects because he knew it would be pointless, and that they would choose someone else for the mission. With him taking it, he could at least ease his nervous state by knowing there was someone level headed taking charge, even if it was by a small margin.

His mission was to investigate the unusual activate occurring in Batarian space. By "unusual activate" they meant the disturbing lack thereof. Two months ago suddenly without warning the Hegemony closed its borders to everyone, and communication traffic ceased. When pressed for answers the Batarian ambassador was tight-lipped on the matter. Not even the STG could provide a solid answer for the sudden change in Batarian foreign affairs. This understandably caused several high ranking officials in citadel space to become nervous, especialy when news that several known warlords and pirate leaders lead their forces into Hegemony space, reached them. Everyone began to fear that the Hegemony was going to launch an invasion into Citadel space. In response the militaries of the Council Races were put on high alert and the border with Batarian space reinforced for such an attack.

But no such attack ever came, two months they waited for something anything to happen. Over that time the Citadel races only got more and more tense. Questions kept being thrown at the Batarian Embassy, and at one point the Council even threaten sanctions against them, but no answers ever came. Eventual the Batarian Officials closed themselves in their embassy and refused all petitions and summons for an audience.

With so little Intel on what was going on in Batarian space and the public demanding answers, the Council finally decided to take action. If they wanted answers they would have to seek them out for themselves. That's where he came in, his taskforce a cruiser with six frigates, was being sent to cross into Batarian space to find out what was happening. Under normal circumstances, this was a provocative action that could very well lead to a war, instead of preventing one. But the council was desperate for answers and were willing to risk an interstellar incident to get them.

Kel'tis inwardly sighed to himself, this whole affair was asking of trouble, and if something was happening here in the Hegemony he feared his task force would be swept up by it. 'Remember Kel'tis your just following orders. Like the Good Turian you are.' Sometimes it was hard coming from a civilization that valued obedience in its soldiers so much.

The system they had chosen for their mission was an insignificant one not too far from a relay that leads to Citadel space. It didn't have a colony, but it did have a station for trade.

"Sir, the station hasn't responded to our hails." He heard his coms officer report.

"Have you tried all frequencies?"

"Yes, sir. I even tried some that are not used often. Still no response."

"I don't like this Captain. By now we should have received an empty threat at the very least." His XO spoke up. "Something is definitely happening here."

"I agree with you commander, but orders are orders." He responded to her, and silently added to himself. 'Even if those orders are bad ones.' "Continue to raise them. Are there any readings on the station itself?"

"Negative sir." Came the reply of another officer. "There is some kind of interference surrounding the station. I'm trying to clean it up, but odds are we'll have to move in closer to the station if we want to know anything."

Kel'tis's mandibles twitched again. He really didn't like this situation. Damn it. Why didn't they send an STG team in instead, or even a Spector? "Very well, continue our course. Order the fleet to be ready for combat just in case the Batarians are laying a trap for us.

"You're expecting a fight here?" His XO question.

He looks to her. His second in command a beautiful woman who was only slightly younger than him with purple marks across her face. If he wasn't her superior officer he had would have strongly considered courting her, she did show signs of being interested. "With how little we know right now. It's best to be ready for anything." He said to her, receiving a nod of approval.

A few minutes of pensive waiting passed before he heard his officer report again. "Sir, we are now in visual range of the station."

"Bring it up on the display." He ordered. An instant later a holographic display of the Batarian station appeared. What they saw caused everyone including Kel'tis himself to freeze in shock. 'Not good.' Was all he could think of? Before them was indeed a Batarian station, or rather the carcass of one. The superstructure of the station was still largely intact but was riddled with holes exposing its interior to the vacuum of space. The rest of the station along with what was likely its defense fleet was little more than spinning debris surrounding the destroyed station. More than likely its inhabitants were also floating around it, their corpses frozen.

"By the spirits. What happened here?" He heard his XO say.

Kel'tis didn't know the answer to that question. But he intended to find out. He pressed a button on his command station to activate the ship's inter-coms. "Vakarian I have a mission for you." Wither he liked it or not things were about to get interesting.


Turian Shuttle enroute to Batarian Station:


Castis Vakarian watched as his shuttle drew ever closer to the ruined space station. At the age of twenty-nine soon to be thirty, he had done well for himself in his service to the Hierarchy Military. He held the rank of Commander and held the respect of the men and women under his command. He had hoped to retire from the service and join up with C-Sec once he hit the age of thirty. Especially after learning from his wife back on Palavan that she was with their first child.

But this assignment given to his unit rubbed him in all of the wrong ways. Investigating a ruined Batarian station two months after they completely cut themselves off from the rest of the galaxy, yeah that did not bode well for him. He could not help but feel as though he would not be getting that retirement as soon as he would like.

He shook his head, this was no time to be pessimistic. Besides, it was just as likely that this wasn't anything bad. That the Batarians were just in the process of suppressing a major rebellion, it had happened before, nothing out of the ordinary. But try as he might, he couldn't fully press down that tiny voice in the back of his mind that said. 'You don't believe that.'

He saw his shuttle was about to land in the only hanger bay on the Batarian station that was intact enough for a shuttle to land in. He took a deep breath, there was no going back now. He felt the shuttle land in the hanger. He got up from his seat and turned to his troops. "Alright people, I want this to be a nice clean sweep of the place. Once we exit the shuttle, we are to secure the landing zone and wait for the rest of our unit. After that, we are to begin searching the station and find out the cause of its destruction and any clues that might tell us just what is happening with the Hegemony. Understood?" A few affirmatives later he and ten other Turian soldiers exited the shuttle and began to search the empty hanger. Since there was no gravity or even an atmosphere they rely on their environmental suits to walk around.

It didn't take long to secure the hanger, due to how empty it was. There weren't any cargo crates or other shuttles in the place, all likely blown out to space when the mass effect barrier failed. Overall the eerie emptiness did little to calm Castis's already frayed nerves.

With the hanger secured, he signaled for the rest of his unit to begin their landing. A few minutes later there were four Turian shuttles neatly lined up together, with forty Turian soldiers standing in neat formations in front of them. He looks at the soldiers under his command, in many ways they were like a second family to him. They were good people who served the Hierarchy with all the determination and skill that their bodies could offer. Why did he get the feeling this would be the last time he would see most of them?

Ridding himself of the feeling he spoke to the assembled soldiers. "To remind everyone here, our mission here is a simple one. We are to investigate the cause behind this station's destruction and determine if as anything to do with the Hegemony's strange behavior over the past two months. To that effect, we will be splitting up so we can cover more ground so to speak. Squads 1 and 2 will remain here and hold the hanger bay. Squads 3 and 4 will make their way to the station's reactor core and see if they can get power back online preferably to life support and gravity. Squads 5, 6, and 7 will fan out and search the station for any clues. Squad 8 you're with me, we will head for the command center. Stay vigilant and report anything suspicious, aside from that keep your coms open and check in every five minutes. Am I understood?" He received several "Yes sirs."

Entering the darkened corridors of the station the Turians turned on the flashlights attached to their helmets. Soon enough the group of thirty began to break apart as they made their way to their destinations. As the small group of six Turians, lead by Castis continued their way to the station's command center, they encountered no signs of any life. A fact that only served to set Castis more on edge than calm him. He'd be less stress if he was in the middle of a firefight with a group of Blood Pack mercenaries in the middle of Tuchanka. At least then he'd know what he was dealing with. There wasn't a single body to be found dead or alive.

'Come on there's got be something here. Anything, even a thresher maw would be preferable right now. So as long it breaks this horrid atmosphere.' Castis had forgotten the number one rule when comes to a situation like this. Never wish for anything. He turned the corner. Because odds are the universe is waiting to grant your wish.

The floating corpse of a Batarian had almost caused Castis and the rest of his squad to open fire. It was a stomach-churning sight his lower body looked like it was violently torn away from him exposing his innards his red blood floating around him. His right arm was missing and his face looked like it was mauled by a crazed animal. Behind him though was a worse sight several more torn Batarian bodies either lied on the corridor or floated around. It was a scene of pure carnage.

In his years serving the Hierarchy Castis had seen plenty of disturbing scenes, one time he had seen an entire platoon be torn to pieces by a Krogan in a blood rage. The scene before him reminded him of that dark memory, and it took a lot of effort to keep the bile that was rising up, down. Unfortunately one of his soldiers was not as disciplined and he soon heard them throwing up. He turned around to see the poor soul hunched over, bits of the fluid still coming from his mouth, or rather through the filter of his helmet, bits of it floating in the air. A nearby squad-mate placed their hand on him, in an attempt to comfort him. He could not fault the soldier for his behavior, this was a sight that did most did not see, even soldiers.

Giving the soldier a sympathetic look Castis activated his comm to the ship. "Captain Kel'tis, this is Commander Vakarian. I have an update for you."

"Report." Came the voice of his commanding officer.

"We found several bodies of dead Batarians sir." He began to say as knelt down at one of the after-mentioned bodies. "It's not a pretty sight sir. They all look like they were torn to shreds by some type of crazed animal."

He heard a bit of chatter going on from the other side of the link. "Commander, can you send us a Visual?"

Vakarian sighed inwardly, he had hoped that no one else had to see the grizzly image. "Yes, I can sir. Sending it now." Pulling up his Omni-tool he activated his Armor's built-in holo-recorder. A few seconds later he heard gasps of horror coming from the crew of the Jelton's command center.

"What could have caused this?" Kel'tis asked, his voice showing no hint at him being affected by the image he was now seeing.

That was a question Castis wanted an answer to as well, at the same he didn't want to know. "It's hard to tell sir." He said looking over the corpse of a dead Batarian closely. Something caught his eye. "Hold on." He reached for a strange object embedded in the shoulder of the Batarian, one of many actually. Pulling the object out he was able to get a better look at it. It was a shard-like object that appeared to be made of a material he had never seen before, it almost look organic.

"What is that?" He heard Kel'tis say.

"I don't know sir. I'll try scanning it with my Omni-tool." Castis responded, putting the strange shard into his other hand. Activating the scanning function of the Omni-tool he brought it over the object. A few seconds later he got the results.

Unknown organic material detected.

So it is organic. Castis thought to himself. He had heard of rumors of research being done into creating organic bullets, not unlike what he was holding now. Mostly done by fringe groups in the Terminus regions. But nothing had ever come of it, and most abandon it in favor of more traditional ammunition.

"According to the results, this shard is made of an unknown organic material." He said not really bothering to hide his surprise.

"Organic?"

"Yes sir, I'm sending you the results now." He said transmitting the data.

"I see. Collect a few more samples and we'll have our forensics teams analyze them once you get back. Continue your way to the command center, keep the holo-recorder on." Kel'tis ordered.

"Yes, sir." Castis said collecting more of the shards and placing them in a container he had on him. He also collected some blood samples to be looked over.

With the samples collected and several scans recorded, Castis and his team resumed their course to the Station's command center. The dark corridors of the station now seem more unsettling than they were before. Around every corner Castis saw shadows moving, his mind creating horrible images of monsters waiting to tear him and his squad apart.

'Calm yourself Castis. Whatever is or is not on this station you and your team can handle it.' More bodies like the ones they found earlier, were strewn about the corridors, all of them in similar states of dismemberment. The silence that dominated their search, was only interrupted by the occasional report from the other squads, they too encounter similar scenes of dead Batarians. Yet no matter how much time they spend looking through the corridors they found no sign of whatever had attacked the station.

They came to the station's command center. Entering in they noticed that the room was a complete mess of debris and the lifeless bodies of the command crew. Signaling his squad to fan out and secure the area, Castis moved towards what should be the master control station, usually manned by the commander of the station. There was no one there, the commander was either one of the dead bodies spread across the station or had mange to get off the station before it was lost. In either case, Castis found himself not caring. "Captain Kel'tis we've secured the command center." He reported. "So far we have encountered no sign of whoever or whatever attack this station. Only more dead bodies, debris, and a whole lot of questions."

"That much we can see commander." The Turian captain responded dryly. "How goes with the progress on getting the stations power back online?" "I was about to check in on the reactor team. I'll notify you of their progress once I have it. I imagine you want answers as much I do." Vakarian said doing his best to hid his unease. The fact that they had encountered no trouble so far had done little to ease his mind. From his experience it was when everything was going perfect is when disaster decides to rear its ugly head.

"That I do." Castis imagined that his commanding officer was also having the same thoughts about this whole situation. He switched the signal over.

"Reactor team report on your progress." He ordered.

"Reactor team here." Came the dutiful report. "We just arrived at the reactor room. Not a pretty sight I tell you. But we should be getting the power back on in." There was a loud sound of something coming to life. An instant later the lights of the station came on illuminating the entire room, and at the same time, there was a series of loud crashing noises vibrating throughout the station as the gravity system came back online. On the other side of the link, he heard several curses of indignation. "Right about now." The officer said with an edge of humor in his voice. "Life support should be coming back in a few moments."

Castis shook his head at his officers' antics. "Just keep the power online and secure the area. Also, try to get internal sensors back online." He ordered before switching the signal back to the command ship. "Vakarian here, we just got the power back sir." He said as his hands began to work over the command console.

"Good work Vakarian. See if you can't access the logs of the station's commander. I want to see if he can provide any answers."

"Already on it sir," Castis responded as he used his Omni-tool to hack into the Batarian computer system. Thankfully with it being of Batarian origin and being placed on a low priority station, the security system was easily bypassed, and he quickly gained access to the commander's logs. To his horror though the majority of them were corrupted with only a few being accessible. "Sir, most of the data have been corrupted. I can't tell if it is from an attempt to purge the system or damage to the network itself, I'd wager it's a little bit of both."

There was a long pause before he heard the Captain speak. "Can we access the most recent files? Specifically the last two months."

Castis looked through data files. "A few of them sir, but for the rest, we'll have to download what we can of the system and have it look over by the analyst back on Palavan."

"Very well Commander Vakarian. Download what you can, and go ahead play those logs. I want answers." The Captain order.

"Yes, sir. You two ." He said pointing at two of his squat-mates, who stood at attention. "Access the station's network and download everything you can." The soldiers nodded at him and went to an access terminal. His orders given Castis accessed the uncorrupted logs and began to play them.

While he waits for the logs to began playing he checks over his Omni-tool and noted that the station now had an internal atmosphere. Not a very good judging by the readings, but that was breathable. He took his helmet off and placed it carefully on a nearby terminal, just as the logs began to play.

An image of the station's commander appeared on the display of the terminal.

Seventh day in the month of Gervith of the year 1709 A.G.H. I have received orders from Khar'san to stop all outgoing transmissions to the Citadel and to prevent ships from leaving or entering our space. As such I have ordered the 67th defense group to begin more aggressive patrols of the border with Citadel space. They have orders to destroy all intruders on sight. I do not why Khar'san as deemed to give such orders. But my sources tell me that there as been reports of a large scale slave rebellion occurring all across the Hegemony of the likes that have not been seen in over twelve hundred years. Bah! I knew our leaders on top were fools, but to allow such a disgraceful series of events to occur in our space? It's unthinkable. Hopfully once the military as crushed this rebellion, our leaders will have finally stop being so foolish and take such matters seriously, or we will have new leaders who will. Either way, it is none of my concern.

Castis highly doubt it was a slave rebellion, not after what he saw in the station corridors. Something else was going on here. A log began to play this one was a few weeks later.

Twenty-third day in the month of Gervith of the year 1709 A.G.H. While the propaganda machine of the Hegemony would have me believe we are winning this war against the rebels. The current deployment of our military forces says otherwise, further my sources in the higher levels of both the military and government paint a much bleaker picture. We are losing this war and badly. More than half of our fleet has been destroyed and an estimated one point two billion loyal Hegemony soldiers killed in action. I do not know who we face, but one thing is for certain, they are not rebels. These are dark times for the Batarian people. I will continue to investigate this matter to the best of my ability.

Castis was left stunned with what he had learned. Half of the Batarian fleet annihilated! Billions dead! And all in under a month? What in the name of the spirits had the Batarians been fighting? While he was confident that the forces of Hierarchy could defeat the Batarian military, but not without a bloody toll to pay, and most certainly not in such a short amount of time and to that extent. Whatever they had been fighting could very well pose a significant threat to the Galaxy.

Now more than ever they had to find answers here. Another log played, this time the commander looked more distressed, and there was an almost dead look in his eyes.

Seventeenth day in the month of Jilveth of the year 1709 A.G.H. It has been over two weeks since Khar'san as gone silent. No one is willing to say it, but I will put it forth for the record, for what its worth. The Hegemony has fallen to the enemy. An enemy that now threatens the galaxy. About an hour ago I receive one last data transmission from my remaining sources in the Hegemony. Based on the frantic nature of the transmission I am forced to conclude that they are dead now. I have gone over the information and found myself disturbed by its content. A few days before this whole mess began a fleet of two hundred ships including five dreadnoughts engage in a secret and to be truthful highly illegal action known as Operation Or'Scqu. Named after an old Batarian god who supposedly ordained my people as the rulers of the universe, hahahaaa, what arrogance. The project entailed the activation of a dormant mass relay. The fleet was to then go beyond it and seize whatever resources were there. Instead, they found a horrifying new foe that made the Rachnii look like a bunch of naked Quarians. They have torn through all of Batarian space and are now in the process of finishing the last vestiges of resistance. They will likely arrive here soon to destroy us. I have prepared my people for one final battle. I have contemplated the possibility of contacting the Citadel of these events. But ultimately I have decided against it, even if they did believe me they would just simply throw me and my people into a prison cell. I would rather die as a warrior on my feet than die as a prisoner on my knees.

A thousand and one thoughts and emotions warred inside of Castis as he was left in shock. A new kind of silence dominated the command center as everyone tried to comprehend what had been revealed to them. So deathly silent it was Castis would look back this moment and swear that he heard the slight movements of his mandibles.

The reaction of the Captain on the comm-link was what finally broke them out their stupor that seemed to last years and elegantly summed up their thoughts. "THEY DID WHAT?!"

The Batarians had opened a mass relay. They had violated one of the most sacred laws of the Citadel, a law that was meant to protect the Citadel races. For what? Power? Prestige? Well, they had found none, only death. Worse yet what they found had followed them back through the Relay and devastated the Hegemony, devastation that could very soon spread to the rest of the Galaxy.

Castis was really wishing he had taken that shore leave when he had the chance. This was starting to become too much for him to handle. The next and final log played. The sounds of battle sounded in the background as the commander now looking like he went through a proverbial meat grinder spoke.

Twenty-second day in the month of Jilveth of the year 1709 A.G.H. Station Commander's final log. The enemy has come to my station. Our protection fleet has been destroyed to the last ship, and our weapons array overwhelmed. They have boarded the station and are literally tearing through the security teams. They are unlike anything we have seen before, their technology by all intents appears to be entirely organic in nature. Further, their soldiers appear to possess advanced regenerative abilities and are highly durable thus requiring concentrated fire to put them down. High caliber weapons also appear to work on them and I speculate that armor-piercing and incendiary ammo will prove to be effective as well. But right now that means nothing these monsters have overrun the station which itself is on the verge of falling apart. No matter what we do here we will lose this battle, and in truth have already. I and several others will attempt to make it to the hangers and use a shuttle to escape to the terminus systems. From there, haha, well first we'll have to survive the ordeal. To anyone who views, and I imagine you are a Turian team or an STG agent sent to find out what hell is going on here in the Hegemony. Well now you know, and I ask of you please warn the Citadel of this threat before its too late. And please forgive my people for our hubris.

The logs ended and Castis was left shaken. He had learned so much in the last few minutes, that it was both unbelievable and overwhelming. The Batarians opening a relay. A new threat unleashed upon the Galaxy. And all he could do was stand here and be dumbfounded. Then something clicked in his mind. The date of the final log, he quickly went over his mind and converted the date to the Citadel time.

His mandibles twitched and eyes narrowed. That was a few days ago, the enemy could still be here. He opened a link to all of his unit to warn them.

Then he heard a loud ear-piercing screamed followed by the sound of weapons fire.


Moments earlier, Batarian Station, corridors


Gilven nervously looked around the abandon corridors. Moments ago power had been restored to the ruined station, illuminating the corridors. The young Phlan had thought that with power restore the dark atmosphere of the station would evaporate. Instead, it made the feeling of unease worse. The lights that were supposed to brighten the hallways barely functioned, and now that there was an atmosphere he could hear the creaking and shuddering of the station. Worse, he could now smell the spirits awful stench of the decaying Batarian bodies.

Gilven was fresh out of the Turian Military academy, like most young Turians he was eager to serve the Hierarchy. He had dreamed of fighting pirates, warlords, and other threats to the stability of the Citadel. He wanted to earn glory for himself and his unit. That eagerness had quickly turned to boredom as he learned that being apart of the military entailed a lot of waiting around and falling into monotonous routines. Routines he was now convinced were designed not to keep the Military in top efficiency as the higher-ups would have him believe, but instead to stave off insanity via boredom. Sure his unit had been in a few engagements that got his blood boiling, but they were few and far in between. Dammit, he wanted action! Was that too much to ask for?

Then the spirits answered had seemingly answered his prayers. The fleet his unit was assigned had been given the task of entering Batarian space and finding out what had caused their sudden and radical isolationist polices. He didn't care what they were doing was technically considered unlawful and could be construed as an act of war against the Hegemony. For him, this was a chance to prove himself in the eyes of the Hierarchy. Besides odds were the Batarians were up to something and they would catch the four-eyed freaks in the act.

Now he was sorely wishing the boredom would return. The moment they had set foot on the station he had gotten a sinking feeling that disaster was larking close by. At first, he brushed the feeling aside and thought of it as nothing more than pre-mission jitters, even he could get nervous. Than that feeling got became more pronounced as his squad search the station. The darkness and silence of the corridors with only the sounds of his breathing only served to worsen his growing feelings of dread and paranoia. Those feelings reached their peak when they found the bodies.

He had seen the aftermath of battles before and seen the bodies of the fallen. An unsettling sight he had to admit but he never been truly been bothered by the sights. None of them were like what he was seeing now. For the first time in his life, he understood what it meant to be "unsettled". No matter how much he tried he couldn't get those horrible images out of his mind. Imagines of some clawed creature lurking behind every shadow and around every corner, ready to pounce on its unsuspecting prey.

He shook his head trying to get rid of his thoughts. As far he was concerned whatever had attacked the Batarians here was long gone now.

Thump!

He whirled around his rifle ready to fire at the source of the sound. Seconds pass and his eyes scan the area. Nothing. "You're just being paranoid Gilven. Hearing and seeing things that aren't there." He thought to himself.

He turned to rejoin his squad. His chest exploded with pain and he screamed.


Moments ago, Batarian space, HWV. Jelton


"And please forgive my people for our hubris."

The Log ended and Captain Kel'tis remained silent for the longest time. His mind a chaotic mess of thoughts and emotions. Surprise, anger, relief, and regret battled for dominance. Chief among them was a single thought that was slowly gaining dominance in his frantic mind. The Batarians had activated a dormant relay, and in doing so unleashed a new horror on the galaxy.

It was this thought that finally spurred him to action. "Get me the Citadel Council now. Tell them its an emergency." He ordered his com officer. "The Citadel needs to know about this new threat, the Batarians have created."

"Sir."

"Commander Vakarian I need yo-." His order die in his throat when he heard a piercing scream followed by the sounds of weapons fire. "Vakarian what's happening out there?" He shouted seeing that the commander was now running out of the command center.

"I don't know sir, I was about to warn the other squads of the possibility that whoever attacked this station may still be here. Then the screams started." The commandeered responded about as calm as one could get in this situation. "I'm enroute to investigate."

"Alright Commander, but I advise caution. We still don't know what we're dealing with here."

"Understood." The link terminated.

"Tell the fleet to prepare for battle. If the enemy still has a presence on the station they may have ships nearby." He ordered the coms officer. Years of experience and training told him that things were about to deteriorate far faster then he would like, and he intended to be ready for whatever chaos was coming.

"Aye, sir. Also, the Council is on the line waiting to speak to you."

Kel'tis nodded, at least this part was going right. "Put them on now." Less than a second later the three holographic images of the current members of the Citadel Council appeared.

"Captain Kel'tis we were told you have an urgent message for us." Tevos the Asari Councilor spoke.

Kel'tis braced himself for the storm of questions that would be coming soon. "Yes, I do Councilors. I have an update on the happenings of the Batarian Hegemony. I'm afraid what I found is only the beginning of a new conflict that will threaten the survival of the Galaxy."

The Councilors looked at him with worry. "Surely you must be overstating the fact." Said the Salarian councilor spoke, an older female near the end of her life.

"I'm afraid not Councilors. I'm certain that by the end of this, you'll agree that the Citadel is about to enter another dark chapter in its history. By the spirits, I pray it will not be our last."


Batarian Station


Vakarian ran through the corridors, being careful not to trip on anything. Close behind him were two of his squad-mates, the other three he had ordered to stay in the Command center to continue their downloading of the station's data logs. Once they finished they had orders to return to the shuttles immediately.

His heart was pounding in his chest, and his Mandibles twitched in anticipation. Glancing at his Omni-tool, he saw that they were nearing the location of the squad that was attacked. The sounds of weapons fire had long since ceased, confirming to him that the squad was dead now. A pang of guilt welled up from within him, five good Turians were dead now and he wasn't there to help them. As a commanding officer, he knew that there were times that no matter what decision he would make he would lose someone, yet it still did not provide enough comfort knowing that people were going to die under his command.

The only other comfort he had was that he would see to it that they did not die in vain. Whoever or whatever was attacking them would soon learn what Turian steel was made of. They rounded the corner.

In time to see the head of a Turian soldier be ripped-off of his ravaged body. The perpetrator of the action standing atop of the corpse. It was a strange bipedal creature with dark red skin wrapped around a muscular body. At the end of its hands were five distinctive claws that look like they could tear through armor. Its head posed no distinguishable features not even having eyes and only head a large set of teeth, visibly stained with blue blood, Turian blood. There were two others behind it, and all three stood taller than the average Turian.

The Corridor itself was stained with the remains of three maybe four Turian soldiers, it was hard to tell with how badly they were torn to shreds. Castis had almost lost his composure right then and there. But years of training experience kicked in the moment the creatures roared and lunch at them. His heart burning with furry for the monsters he fired his rifle and was quickly joined by his squad mates. To their horror, the creatures did not go down immediately as they expected. But discipline held out for them about a second or two of sustained fire felled the monsters. Though not before one of them managed to get to Castis and swipe one of its claws at his head. He managed to step back and only got lightly grazed at his nose.

"What were those things?" He heard a squad-mate inquire.

"Apparently whatever the Batarians have unleashed on the Galaxy." Was the venomous response that Castis gave the soldier. As of right now, the Batarians were his second least favorite thing in the galaxy, next too whatever these monsters were. He heard a chirp from his com-link. "Yes?" He said opening the link.

"This is the reactor team, we're about to get internal sensors back online." A male voice reported.

Castis allowed for a small happy twitch of his mandibles, at least something was going right. Then he controlled it remembering that at any moment disaster would strike. "Good, as soon as they up, set them to find the following bio-readings." He transmitted the scans he got from the shards they found earlier. "We may have a large enemy presence on this station and I want to know where they are." He commanded.

"Aye, sir. Sensors coming on right now. Adjust them to find enemy bio-readings in 3…2…" The Turian's voiced hitched, and Castis began to worry. "Spirits! … Their …their." The sound of his voice becoming more and more laced with panic.

"Soldier get a hold of yourself!" Castis all but shouted over the link. He waits for about a second or two, to let the man calm down enough to speak coherently. "Now tell me what exactly are you seeing?"

"Sir, it's not good. Not good at all. I think you need to see it for your self." The voice responded edges of fear still lacing its tone.

An instant later Castis's Omni-tool beeped as it received a data package. A chill creeping up his spine, he opened the data package and gazed at its contents. He nearly had a heart attack.

"Everyone we are getting off of this station now!"


HMV. Jelton,


"And this everything we have until now." Kel'tis finished his report to the Council.

"Oh, goddess." Was the only response from Tevos, her expression looking horrified.

The Salarian councilor's eyes were rapidly blinking and just as quickly she was muttering. "Problematic. Very problematic.

And the Councilor Filtius looked about ready to murder something. "The damn Batarians, I knew they were nothing but trouble. But to break the law on Mass Relays? I and all of my predecessors knew we should have done something about them sooner. Now its finally come back bit us in the asses." He said doing nothing to hide the anger in his voice. "Our forces need to bee warned about this." The other two councilors didn't bother to say anything in response. Instead, their images winked out, doubtless to warn their respective governments of the disastrous events to come. "Captain Kel'tis I want you and your forces to get whatever information you can on this new threat from the station and then get back to Citadel space. Meanwhile, I'll have to inform the primarch of this new development. Am I understood?"

"Loud and clear sir." Kel'tis responded with a salute, then the image of the Councilor vanished. With the councilors gone the Captain turned his attention back to the live feed from Vakarian's armor. He saw that the commander was now running at an increased pace than he was before. Actually, now that he thought about it shouldn't have reached the source of that disturbance? "Commander Vakarian what is your status report?"

"Sir, I'm having my unit withdraw from the station," Castis said through sharp breaths.

Kel'tis's eyes widen. "What?"

The commander turned a corner. "Sir, a moment ago the reactor team manage to get internal sensors operational. I ordered them to scan for bio-readings similar to the shards we picked up. I assumed that would be the same if not close to it. I was right, oh so very right."

Kel'tis did not like the way that the commander phrased that. "What were the results." He asked half of already knowing, and the other afraid of it.

"Their everywhere sir and there are far too many to fight. And their all converging on my people. Squad 7 as already been wiped out, they were the ones that we heard screaming and shooting. I haven't heard anything from squad 5, I fear they have suffered the same fate. The squads that are not in the hanger are on their way but are already reporting fatalities."

The Captain's breath hitched, their ground side teams had been engaged by a previously unknown enemy presence while he spoke to the Councilors and had suffered loses. This was telling to him, as the enemy would have to been on the station before they arrived. Before they had restored life support to the station, which meant they could survive harsh environments either through technological means or on a biological level. He prayed it was the former as the later meant more trouble for future engagements. "Commander I wa-" His order died in its breath as he saw that the moment the commander and his team rounded the corner and came to face to face with what Kel'tis could only describe as monsters. They were bipedal with red skin raped around muscular frames and held not distinguishing features, one of the creatures though had a spiked appendage on its arm. In that same instant the commander and his team held their weapons up and fired at the creatures, and to his and the rest of the command crew's surprise the monsters did not immediately go down. Instead, it took a couple seconds of sustained to kill just a few of them.

Then the monsters sprang to action several of them rushed towards the Turian squad and the one with the spiked arm raised its odd appendage towards them. Mandibles twitching in realization Kel'tis tried to shout for them to take cover.

Thankfully the commander was much quicker than Kel'tis and shout the same order. The command crew was treated to the sight of the command dove behind a corner, followed by the sounds of projectiles soaring through the air and harmlessly impacting on a wall. Or so they thought as the commander's gaze brief turned towards the falling body of turian soldier who had not been quick enough to avoid his death. Seemingly not lingering on the thought, the commander and his only surviving Squad-mate turned their attention back to the oncoming enemies and began to fire their weapons. First concentrating their fire on the ones that were running towards them, killing them with sustained fire. Then a second wave of weapons fire tore through the enemy from behind and seconds later their lifeless bodies fell to the Corridor floors. For a second Kel'tis had a hard time comprehending what had occurred. Then he saw through the commander's view that on the other end of the Corridor were four more Turian soldiers in firing positions.

Not wanting to waste time commander and his squad-mate ran out from their cover and joined up with the soldiers and they continued their way through the corridors. "As you can see Captain we are in no position to fight those monsters. Spirits I think I met Krogan who were less durable than those freaks." The Commander's voice rang out in the command center snapping everyone back to reality.

Deciding that the situation had span too far out of control to be able to salvage Kel'tis spoke in a firm voice. "Commander get to the shuttles as quickly as you can. The moment your out of range we're destroying that station."

"Yes sir." He heard Vakarian respond. "Come on men you heard the Captain on the double."

"Cut the live feed. I've seen enough but maintain the communications link." He heard and not a second the image of the Batarian corridors disappeared. "Order the fleet to lock their weapons on the station and to be ready to fire on my command." He said bringing up a tactical display of the fleet station. "Once the station as been destroyed and the shuttles safely returned we'll-"

"Sir! Contacts appearing on sensors!" Why was he not surprise that something else had gone wrong?

"Give me a visual now!" He barked. The image shift from his fleet and the station to a cluster of ships of a design he had never seen before. There were two things noted about them, the first being that while all shared a baseline design, a rather predatorial looking one, they all appeared to be different from each other, some were smaller, others wider, one looked sharper, and another dull looking. Secondly, he noticed there were a lot of them and they flew close to together, almost give the impression of being a swarm of insects. He really not like that. "What are they?"

"They are of unknown design and material. They are unlike anything we've seen before." An awestruck officer replied, disbelief evident in his tone of voice. " What little we can get is that they some kind of… organic starships."

So these are the enemy's ships. Kel'tis thought to himself. "It appears as though the commander of the station wasn't exaggerating when he said back their technology was entirely organic in nature." He heard his XO speak.

"How many are there?" He said almost afraid of the answer.

"Heard to tell sir. But the ship's VI estimates between… spirits. Estimates between sixty and seventy ships. They'll be onto of us in less than a minute."

Kel'tis didn't need to look around to gauge the mood of his command staff. He was certain they were feeling the same thing as he was. Fear, fear that this would be their last day. Even if each of the individual enemy ships were several weaker than one of his, the number disparity was too great for them to overcome. By the way, the opposing fleet was operating together he was certain that they would take full advantage of their numbers. Worse yet they would likely arrive at the station before Vakarian would get to the hanger. Which meant if he wanted to get the fleet out of the system unscathed he would have to sacrifice the ground side team.

An unacceptable option, for two reasons. First, Vakarian's team could be carrying valuable information that could help Citadel forces combat this strange new enemy. Secondly, even if they were to run there no guarantee that they would be able to out-run the enemy. Someone had to stay behind to keep them busy.

"Order the Light of Palaven to stay by the station to receive the ground team. Once they receive them they are to leave the system at maximum speed and make for the relay. The rest of us will engage the enemy fleet. If possible we will try to escape with the Light of Palaven. But I will be blunt with you." He turned to face his crew proud to see looks of determination plastered on their faces. "I doubt our odds of surviving this battle. In all likely hood, this will be our last battle together. But in our deaths, we will show this menace what Turian steel is made of. They will see precisely why we have been the defenders of the galactic community. Our sacrifice here today will pave the way for the great victory that Hierarchy will achieve over these foul creatures." He turned back to face the projection of the closing enemy fleet and held his left arm out to it. "Today these demons meet their death. All ships to battle. For the Hierarchy! For the Galaxy!"

"For the Hierarchy!"

"For the Galaxy!"


Space near the Batarian station


Their orders given and determination burning in their hearts the seven Turian warships went to work. Of that seven, one frigate the Light of Palaven stayed near the station to receive the ground side team. The rest of the fleet surged towards the attacking fleet determined to slow them down. In less than a minute the Turian fleet had entered into effective weapons range. With a single order from Kel'tis the fleet opened fired with all of its weapons, his cruiser's spinal cannon included. A stream on of kinetic rounds and disruptor torpedoes flu from their ships and serge towards the swarm of ships. The Swarm was quick to react to the attack but not fast enough. In a single second, much to the surprise of the turian fleet about 12 of the Swarm ships were destroyed and five others damaged.

However seemingly angered by their losses unleashed the swarm unleashed its own torrent of weapons fire. Organic like shards sailed across the empty void of space and clashed against the barriers of the Turian fleet. They held but took a fair amount of damage. Then in the brief few seconds, it took for the two opposing fleets to close the gap between them, the turian the fleet was able to get off another barrage of weapons fire destroying five more enemy ships and damaging a dozen more.

For a moment the crews felt a sense of hope surge through them, as they realized that they managed to destroy almost a third of the enemy Fleet and damaged several other ships. Then that hope died as the battle descended into knife-fighting range. As it turns out the enemy vessels were at their deadliest in knife fights. It wasn't they had powerful broadsides, for they no such weapons. Their lethality was a tribute to their size, almost all of their ships were around the size of a corvette, as such they were faster and more maneuverable than anything the true and fleet had at its disposal. The enemy knew this and used it to deadly effect, as they flew around their targets at speeds that made them difficult to hit. All the while their weapons tore into the barriers and eventually the halls of the turian ships. Creating hull breaches that would vent atmosphere and any unlucky crewman nearby into the cold void of the space.

But Turian discipline held true as it always had for thousands of years. While difficult to hit the oddly organic ships were stilled felled by kinetic rounds from their prey. While one turian warship was cut to pieces it was able to take four or five of the attackers with it. Then the worst happened unknown to the Turian fleet in the center of the swarm were three ships that would qualify as cruisers one of them had what could only be described as an equivalent to a spinal mounted cannon.

That same cannon was pointed directly at one of the three remaining frigates in the battered Turian fleet. It fired, while not as powerful as its Turian counterpart it was still enough to shatter the hall of the ship. Seeing the threat in the enemy's ranks Kel'tis order his command cruiser to, re-ordinate itself to face what he had assumed to be the enemy's flagship. The two ships began to exchange fire at long range, determined to annihilate each other.


Batarian station


Castis and his squad quickly rounded another corner to see the entrance to the hanger. Of the seven troops in their group, only four remained, himself included. The three missing having been picked off by the creatures. In the process, he had learned that monsters they were fighting came in different forms, as they had encountered a group of varren like creatures that tore one of his men to shreds.

They entered the hanger, one of them shooting a console to close the doors behind them, preventing any pursuers from entering. On the far end of the hanger taking cover behind a hastily made barricade, and support by two of the shuttles flying in the air were squads 1 and 2. What was left of them, six soldiers were fighting for their lives against a pack of enemies charging at them.

Without the need to give orders Castis and his group held up their rifles and fired at the enemy. With angles of fire, they were able to open a hole in their ranks, which the Turians charged through to group up with the remains of the hanger team. Only losing one soldier, a poor soul who had been tackled by one of the varren creatures and was quickly silenced as several of the monsters descended on her.

Now having joined up with their brothers and sisters in battle, they turned weapons to the enemy, greatly slowing down their advance. "Has the team from the command center made it back here yet?" Castis shouted above the sounds of the fighting.

"Affirmative sir. They arrived right before the enemy began to enter the hanger with overwhelming force." Shouted the leader of the Hanger team.

Castis nodded to himself, glad something was going right. He hoped whatever information they manage to pry from the station's computer core would be useful. "Good, once the reactor team and squad 5 get here we're leaving." Last he heard them the two groups had managed to hook up and were on their way. "Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

Ducking down behind cover Castis activated his comm-link and opened a channel to the command. "This Commander Vakarain to the Jelton we have arrived in the hanger and are awaiting the remainder of our forces to join up with us before withdrawing. Be ready to pick us up."

On the other side of the link, he was met with sounds of chaotic shouts and muffled thunders. "This Captain Kel'tis I'm afraid the Jelton will not be able to pick you up." There was an inaudible shouted grabbing the captain's attention as he barked an intangible ordered. "An enemy fleet arrived in system and we were forced to engage them."

Castis's stomach sunk at the news. "Will you be able to repel them?" He asked, a part of him already knowing the answer but refused to accept it.

There was a pregnant pause before the Captain's response came. "While we have mange to inflict significant damage to their fleet, we are down to two ships. This will be our final battle." There was a finality in the tone of his voice. One Castis desperately wanted to argue with, he had severed under this man for years. They had been in more battles and skirmishes together than he cared to count. For spirit's sake! The man had even introduced him to his wife! To know that the man would die today, and in such a remote region of space. He didn't want to accept it. He refused to accept it.

But before he could argue his point the Captain cut him off. "I had the Light of Palavan stay behind. They will receive you and your team. Castis please don't argue with me on this. Whatever information you manage to get from the Batarian station could prove to be vital in the coming war. We all knew the risks when we joined the military and accepted them. So please just get to the ship and get out of this system. We'll buy you as much time as we can."

Castis opened his mouth to argue, then closed it then opened it again and closed it before finally nodding. "Yes, sir. Once the reactor team is here we'll escape to the Light of Palavan." He said feeling like someone had torn one of his mandibles off.

"Goodman. Now get to work."

Before he terminated the link he said. "It's been a pleasure serving with you sir." With the link terminated Castis turned his attention back to battle in the hanger. Seeing the enemy was getting close to overwhelming their position, he knew he had another tough decision to make. He could stay here for the reactor team and risk his position thereby losing the information, or could have what remained of his unit withdraw now and leave them for dead.

He activated his comm again but this time he connected to the leader of the reactor team. "Reactor team, what's your status?"

"This is the reactor team." Came a gruff voice after a second or two of waiting, weapons fire in the background. "We're at one of the hangers secondary entrances, the one on the left." Castis looked to the general direction of where that would be. Sure enough, was a pair of large closed doors. There was a small enemy group between them.

"I see it." He said to the man.

"We're about to open it, and join up with you."

"Good. We'll try to clear a path for you on our end. Once you hav-" There was a deafening roar on the other end of the link.

"Spirits! What is that thing?" Shouted the man in fear.

"Trooper. What's going on there?" He asked fear coursing through him. No response, only the frantic sounds of weapons fire. "Trooper!"

"No, no. StaY AWAY. AAGGGHHH!" The man's terrified scream was cut short as the sound of something heavy lashed through the air. Followed by a sickening crunch and squishing sound. Not a moment later, almost like a cruel joke by the universe, the doors on the left side of the hanger opened, revealing what had happened.

Almost three times bigger than its cousins, the red-skinned monster let out a roar of triumph. "Spirits," Castis muttered to himself, at the sight of a new variant of their attackers. Just how many variants did these abominations have? Next to the creature were two shell shocked Turians standing helplessly as the massive monster lifted its blood-drenched arm. Castis screamed for them to move. But it was already too late as the creature swing out its arm catching the soldiers and sent them flying in a nearby wall with a sickening thud, their lifeless bodies falling to the ground. The reactor team was no more.

With its prey dead the monster turned its attention to the remaining turians. With little choice left Castis shouted his next set of orders. "Everyone retreat to the shuttles." A hail of fire rained on the massive monster as the remains of the Turian force began a fighting retreat. The two airborne shuttles swiveled around to bring their weapons to bear on the creature. The monster was pushed back by their combined firepower. In response, the titanic monster roared in rage, left another of is arms into the air, a spiked appendage attached to it.

Castis's blood went cold, he was wouldn't be surprised if it was frozen at this point. Before he could give a warning the massive shard fired from the appendage. It sailed through the air and smashed into one of the airborne shuttles, piercing its cockpit and coming out of the end of the shuttle. Without its pilots the shuttle flew out of control and crashed into its partner, resulting in an explosion destroying them. Their remains scattering across the hanger, in a stork of luck they took out a sizable portion the attackers.

Not wanting to tempt fate anymore and risk another disaster striking Castis now the last one out, threw himself into the closest shuttle. The moment he heard the door shut, he felt the shuttle larch as it lifted off of the ground. Sounds of projectiles hitting the hull sounded and Castis prayed that the large one would not fire on them. To his relief, he felt the craft shuddered as it suddenly accelerated, and was briefly thrown back by the force. A moment later the stabilizers caught up and he was able to stand up properly. Giving himself a moment to catch his bearings, he moved to the cockpit of the shuttle. Through its viewport he saw the rapidly approaching form of a turian frigate, its hanger bay doors already opening.


Space near the Batarian station


The moment the two shuttles land in its hanger-bay, the Light of Palavan acting on its orders turned away from the station and began to accelerate away from it. Close by the enemy swarm continued its attack on the Jelton the only ship left in its group.

Seeing that the groundside team had made its escape, Captain Kel'tis said a final prayer for himself and his crew, tapped the controls on his command console. Seconds later a blinding flash of light enveloped the turian cruiser as its reactor core detonated. The resulting explosion destroyed several of the enemy ships and severely damaged the command cruiser.

Its attackers unable to pursue it, the light of Palavan the sole survivor of the onslaught from the mysterious enemy flew on.


Light of Palavan, hanger bay


The moment the commanding officer of the Light of Palavan had informed them had made their jump out of the system, Castis Vakarian allowed himself to let out a sigh of relief. While it was still possible that the enemy could be pursuing right now, they would not be able to catch them.

He looked over to see the wary survivors of his ground team. Eleven other survivors plus the shuttle pilots, three-quarters of his men dead. Worse yet were the rest of the forces he command, that he did not bring with him. Most of them would have perished with their ships, the only survivors being here on the light of Palavan. In effect, he had lost almost everyone under his command. Good men and woman whom he fought alongside for years, all gone now.

In most cases, he would face series charges for such loses, and would likely his rank and command. However since most of them were killed on their ships before they had a chance to fight, he would not be faulted. He still felt guilty.

Regardless of how he felt, he knew this was only the beginning of a greater conflict to come. He and his men had the pleasure of experiencing the outer edges of a coming storm. A storm he feared that would consume all of Citadel space and beyond.

'Spirits if you are listening. Please grant our people the strength to wither this storm.'


Space near the Batarian station, mysterious cruiser


The creature that commanded its lessers sensed the departure of the others. Its fury held back, it had wanted to continue its hunt of the new prey. But the several losses to its swarm had stopped. Even now the creature could feel the pain vibrate throughout its vessel. Such a terrible pain that it incited a fury it had never known before. It wanted vengeance. It wanted to tear the new prey to pieces. To taste its flesh, to feel their strange life fluids drain down its throat. It wanted them to suffer.

But it held its anger in check. It knew that while the new prey was weaker than the progenitors, they still strong enough to kill many of them. To uselessly throw itself at them would gain nothing for the great swarm. It smiled to itself, it mattered little they were still weak, and the swarm was strong. By decree of their King, the swarm would devour the weak. They would devour all things and grow in strength. Then one sweet day they would devour the in knowing that the future was set in stone, the creature turned its attention to the healing of its swarm.


And so the Turians and by extension the Citadel has their first encounter with the Dragon Orphans. Yay, I don't think the Batarians are going to be the most popular people after this mess is dealt with.

At first I thought about going on with the story showing the Terran's entry into the war. But I go this idea instead and It kinda took control, and so instead we get to see how the war started. It also took me a fair bit figure you the main character was, at first I thought about Nihlus. But than I realized that might be in the Hierarchy Military at this time, so then I went to Saren. Looking at the timeline he would have been in service at the time, possibly fresh out of training. Then the idea of using Garrus's father came to me, there is not that much information on him in cannon so it gave a lot of freedom in terms of where he would in this time. Might see him later in the story as I'm strong leaning towards him staying in the military instead of switching over to C-sec as he did in cannon.

See you next time.