Disclaimer: I do not own Halo, Warhammer 40k, Stellaris, Kaiserreich, HoI4, Clannad, Star Wars, or Mass Effect. This is a fanfiction, and I don't have ANY monetary reward for making it. Any political or religious beliefs mentioned in this story do not reflect my own. This is purely for fun.
WARNING: This is an M-rated fanfiction. Sexual content and graphic depictions will appear from time to time.
This is not your normal Halo and Mass Effect crossover, it's a three-way crossover.
AN: First off, I'm incredibly sorry for posting this so late. This has been a hard semester, and I've been focusing on work. Second off, I want to point out as of today this fanfiction has 117 followers. Other than that, thank you for all of the reviews and support. I hope yall enjoy this chapter, but if you see anything inconsistent, let me know. I don't have a beta and write all this on my phone at random times at random locations.
Side note, you'll notice a lot of the advanced races and technologies are 99.99 something the speed of light. This is referred to as chasing the nines, and because of how relativistic physics works each 9 added after the zero is exponentially more powerful. For example, the difference of kinetic energy between a projectile traveling 99.99 and 99.9 percent the speed of light will be a larger difference than two going 90 and 40. I don't know if that's accurate, too lazy to do the math, but the point is valid. Because nothing can go faster than the speed of light, an object gains mass the closer it gets to the speed of light.
This is why I think the Covenant is so powerful in Halo canon. The Covenant plasma lance supposedly goes close to the speed of light. So even if the mass of the plasma was originally the equivalent of a gram, the mass of that same lance close to the speed of light could be as much as a UNSC mac round. If you take that into consideration, then it's no surprise the Covenant are slicing multiple meters worth of armor like butter.
Anywho, enjoy the chapter!
Ch. 10
Reapers
The SSV Mauna Kea orbited Eden Prime proudly as the flagship of the Third Fleet. She was the third ship of the new Mt. Olympus Mons-Class Dreadnought.
The Third Fleet was the third-largest fleet in the Alliance; the first two being the First and Second Fleet. Alliance fleet names were unimaginative, but effective. The First Fleet was stationed at Arcturus and used as the main fleet for reacting to external threats, and the Second Fleet was stationed at Sol for the purpose of Earth's first line of defense.
The Third Fleet was composed of the Mauna Kea, two Nicola Tesla-Class Carriers, twelve Everest-Class Dreadnoughts, forty heavy cruisers, one hundred and seven cruisers, and one hundred and eighty frigates.
All in all, it was designed to be both a fast reaction fleet and defensive fleet. However, it'd only be deployed if a potential threat required more forces than even the First Fleet could supply.
The Alliance doctrine focused on fast response frigate flotillas, or 'wolf packs', so a lot of effort went into ensuring the Alliance had the best frigates. However, in the event of war the use of heavy battle fleets were needed. If the Alliance was ever attacked, the wolf packs of frigates would hold off the enemy long enough for the Main Fleet to deploy. The doctrine wasn't perfect and heavily relied on steady communications, but it was perfect for the amount of space the Alliance had to secure and protect. Any other doctrine would simply be too costly or impractical for the Alliance.
However, the otherwise sound doctrine was about to have it's weakness pointed out to the Alliance.
A fifty-meter-long warship drifted above the orbital plane of the Utopia System; directly over Eden Prime. The position allowed for the light from Eden Prime to arrive at the warship in a timely manner. To ensure up-to-date information, a series of satellites were positioned around the System.
The satellites had a relatively primitive form of FTL communications; nothing that'd give a species an advantage over the Empire, but the warship was also tasked with guarding the satellites from nosy primitives.
The warship was more of a spy ship and was manned by seven clones. The main body was smooth but also had hard geometry, so it resembled a rectangle. Two 'wings' jutted off to the side, and the back of the wings had extra cooling vents for the repulsor engines to allow for the creation of more powerful gravitic fields without overheating.
Everything within the Utopia System was calm until the Mass Relay spun up. The Relay would normally activate every few hours due to regular traffic.
However, instead of transports or cargo ships, the Relay spat out a large fleet of warships.
They were clearly not Alliance.
Almost immediately, the clones on board alerted Imperial High Command and sent a live feed to the INS Intrepidus.
Once the large fleet fully exited the Relay, the clones aboard the spy ship could see the full might of the Xenos fleet.
The fleet outnumbered the defensive Alliance fleet by almost twenty to one. The nearest satellite could pick up hundreds of Geth dreadnoughts; each one an equal to the single Mt. Olympus Mons-Class of the Alliance fleet. However, it was a single dreadnought within the center of the formation that caught the eyes of the Imperials.
It wasn't Geth.
Everything from the design to propulsion screamed of different and far more advanced origins. While the Geth fleet plowed ahead with traditional, albeit advanced, thrusters; the odd warship simply moved.
The Alliance had no idea one of their most valuable planets was in danger. Before the attack, a mysterious cyber-attack caused the comm buoys to stop transmitting. All forms of communication were then destroyed before there was any hope of sending an SOS.
The Alliance defensive fleet moved into position and prepared to engage the Geth.
While the Geth and Alliance dreadnoughts opened fire with their large kinetics; the odd dreadnought opened fire with a weapon that shocked the Imperials.
Two long magnetic fields formed in front of the unknown dreadnought, then two dark red beams sliced through two Alliance dreadnoughts like butter; one being the large Mt. Olympus Mons-Class. The cameras on the clone spy ship and satellite couldn't precisely identify the speed the beam traveled.
However, it wasn't the fault of the camera.
When the velocity of a projectile entered into the high relativistic speeds, it was borderline impossible to calculate the speed through video alone. The clone spy ship could get close due to the gravitic sensors, but even they weren't perfect. However, the Imperials could easily identify the chemical make-up of the red beams from the color spectrum.
The weapon was a primarily Uranium based plasma accelerated to speeds in excess of 99% the speed of light.
The material of the red plasma lances were significantly heavier and denser than that of the sticky hydrogen-based plasma used by the Klonarmee des Geistes. If the Uranium lances were moving at a similar velocity as the sticky plasma lances, then the unknown Apex race would have a significant kinetic advantage.
Plasma lances were, in a way, a merger between a heat ray and particle accelerator. In layman's terms; the Klonarmee des Geistes' plasma weaponry leaned more towards the heat ray, and the unknowns leaned more towards the particle accelerator.
The unknown dreadnought charged the Alliance fleet. It accelerated far quicker than the Geth warships were capable of, and dodged and weaved through the Alliance dreadnoughts' fire. It was disturbing as even an Imperial destroyer couldn't achieve that level of maneuverability.
As it moved the two spinal mounted plasma lances, and four smaller plasma lances along its body bisected many of the Alliance cruisers and dreadnoughts. The parts that destroyed the warships that held the main reaction exploded and sent the other half flying off into space.
An Alliance cruiser was unfortunate enough to be in the unknown dreadnought's way. Instead of blasting the Alliance warship way, the unknown warship lightly shimmered in light blue and seemed to rip the Alliance cruiser in pieces with psionics.
A feat previously only seen from very powerful Avatars and the Emperor of Mankind.
Behind the acrobatic unknown dreadnought came a flood of Geth fighters and warships.
The Alliance fleet was ripped apart in moments, but that was expected because of the technologically and numerically superior Geth fleet. However, it was the actions of the odd dreadnought that alarmed the Imperials.
For the Imperials it was a wake-up call.
For the Alliance at tragedy.
Once proud Human starships now drifted cut cleanly in half, or in shredded pieces. The planet they were tasked with defending was now defenseless to the horde of Xenos above them.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the passageway.
They were steady and filled with purpose.
The door to the bridge opened and the man walked towards the center of the room.
He stopped next to the two men sitting in large ornate chairs.
Above the man was a hologram of a starship, at least he assumed it was a starship.
The three men inspected the odd-looking starship for a second. Not fully believing an advanced species would build something so absurd.
Otto heard about the Alliance being attacked, and it could possibly be by the ones who set up the Milky Way as a massive farm. However, he never expected to see such an odd ship standing like it was a primitive.
"A cuttlefish." Commodore Engle broke the silence.
"What?" His Majesty asked.
Commodore Engel gestured his hand in an upward motion.
A small hologram appeared showing an ugly fish.
"It was an old species of molluscs on Terra back in my day. That starship looks like a cuttlefish." Commodore Engel explained.
It kinda did.
Both had a similar shape and were ugly as hell.
"Why would they need landing legs, and why make them so big?" Otto asked.
The cuttlefish starship was standing on the surface of Eden Prime. Literally standing… on five massive legs.
"It blew past the defence fleet with ease, and moved in ways that shouldn't be possible. Not to mention it used psionics in a way only an Imperial warship could even dream of using. I'm hesitant to judge the design principles of a race capable of creating such a starship." His Majesty explained.
"Though, the warship looked like it was trying to avoid the Alliance dreadnoughts' main cannons. If they were even close to our level, then that amount of firepower would be almost inconsequential." Commodore Engel said.
"Should we warn the Alliance? They don't even know their world is under attack." Otto asked.
"Even if they brought their main fleet, they'll be slaughtered. The thing also arrived with a fleet of Geth. Under normal circumstances, the Alliance couldn't deal with that large of a Geth fleet. If you factor in the unknown starship, then it only gets worse." Commodore Engel answered.
"The Commodore is right. The Geth fleet alone could have probably taken Earth." His Majesty affirmed.
A hologram of Ares appeared next to Otto.
"I told you we should have dealt with those abominations. Now we have more than half of the Geth attacking a lost tribe." The Ancilla complained.
"Not now, Ares." Supreme Commander Wolff told his AI.
"Are we going to deploy the Klonarmee des Geistes? This is no longer a matter between squabbling children; the Alliance isn't prepared for such a threat." Ares asked.
"No." His Majesty simply replied.
"What, why not? We could probably capture the cuttlefish. By the way, good name for that thing, Commodore Engel." Ares asked before complementing the Commodore.
Commodore Engel gave a small nod towards the Ancilla's hologram.
"These have to be the Xenos that built the Mass Relays, we need to know what their goals are. They attacked Eden Prime for a reason, and chose to use the Geth instead of just marching in with force." His Majesty explained.
"So let's capture that thing. See what technology they have, then give it to the Klonarmee des Geistes. Worst case scenario, we have to abandon the Milky Way. We could just run while building a bunch of supercarriers. It'd be a long haul, but eventually we'll be able to handle these upstarts; especially if we have a Halo." Ares argued.
Otto could tell His Majesty was thinking about it; he was good at reading Erwin.
"No, for now we wait." His Majesty decided.
"And, what? You want to gather information by letting one of their warships run around the Galaxy with half the Geth fleet?" Ares asked sarcastically.
His Majesty just stared at Ares, and Otto thought he saw the AI sweatdrop.
"Dear God… that's really your plan? What about the lost tribes, they'll be slaughtered?" Ares incredulously asked.
"And you think these unknowns will just ignore the primitives if they swarm this Galaxy? Not to mention we're under no obligation to save the primitives from anything less than genocide." His Majesty rebuked.
"The Alliance is Human, then there are two humanoid races inhabiting the Milky Way." Ares pointed out.
"The Baselines are not members of the Empire, so we're under no obligation to defend individual members of the Alliance. As for the Asari and Quarians; they're not Human, so they're little more than Xenos. It's far more important to gain information about why this Apex Xenos race made farms out of potentially thousands of Galaxies. There's something we're missing." Commodore Engle explained.
"Not to mention the response the unknowns would take. We have no idea what kind of assets they could possibly field. They are easily as advanced as the Covenant, God forbid the Forerunners, and we all know what they were capable of." Erwin added.
Otto was glad Erwin seemed to agree with Commodore Engle not referring to the Quarians and Asari as Human. Many of the more Xenophilic societies saw species that could reproduce with Anglian males as Humans. However, everyone knew that was a very loose definition as seemingly anything remotely Human could reproduce with Anglian males. Otto didn't even like the idea of defining anything that could reproduce with Baselines as Human. The Imperial genome was unique and very identifiable, so anything more is an excuse for Xenophilia in Otto's mind.
"And we're in no position to take on even a few hundred thousand of those things," Ares concluded.
Ares sighed.
"Fine, but please tell me there's more to this plan?" Ares conceded.
Otto didn't blame the Ancilla for quickly agreeing to the risky plan. He was probably given the same data packet on his way here.
The cuttlefish warship used a Uranium-based plasma lance that cut through the Baseline warships easier than an Astartes warship would. It was over four kilometers long, but a good bit of the frame was legs and an odd tail at the end. It had a few secondary plasma lances, multiple point defense lasers, and it was able to rip apart a cruiser with psionics.
Overall, the warship was poorly designed, but undeniably advanced. Even if these people built the Mass Relays, they seemed to have very little engineering talent. Which was odd considering they were probably a high tier one on the ICL scale.
"Otto."
Otto's thoughts were interrupted by Supreme Commander Wolff.
"Yes, Your Majesty?"
"I want Thor squad on Eden Prime. Find out why they chose to attack that world. If you can, capture any of the unknown Xenos you come across." Supreme Commander Wolff ordered.
"Yes, sir." Otto snapped a salute then started to walk out of the bridge.
"Otto." Supreme Commander Wolff called him before he left the bridge.
Otto turned around and looked at the last member of the Wolff Dynasty.
"Be careful down there. I don't want to lose any Jaegers over this." Supreme Commander Wolff told him.
Otto grinned.
Otto remembered watching Erwin as a kid for his grandfather. Now that same kid was a Supreme Commander of the United Terran Empire, and Otto couldn't be prouder of him.
He knew that same kid was still in there. König Wolff reminded Otto a lot of his grandfather, but he also had a lot of his mother in him.
"As always, Your Majesty," Otto responded before marching out of the bridge.
It's been a few months since Thor squad deployed on a combat mission. Otto was luck his squad was the one on standby. Tyr squad was out on leave, and Odin squad was making a particularly annoying political donator disappear.
The Jaegers have been acting as enforcers of sorts for the Empire within the Galaxy. At this point Ares gathered enough resources and political power for him to shit on the Human Councilor's desk and have them applaud Ares for his daringness.
The only real reason to have such political soft power for primitives was to allow for a smooth Imperial takeover, and the advancement of the Alliance along a more desired path. Notably the emergence of Terra Firma as a rising political power, and guiding the Alliance down the path of militarism and nationalism.
However, gathering enough power to challenge the pre-existing power structure goes a lot quicker when you can make someone disappear in an instance.
It was odd, this Universe seemed so peaceful, but their upper class could be very ruthless. Almost as if the law doesn't apply to them. The Empire wouldn't dare let someone think they're above the law; princes have been executed for foolishly thinking otherwise.
The Jaeger squads were responsible for eradicating entire private armies. Particularly in the Terminus Systems; it was a region of warlords and crime syndicates.
Plus they had to deal with any primitives who wanted to dig into the appearance of a few eight-foot Humans around the Galaxy. The running cover story Ares fed to the authorities was that a Human nation within the Terminus Systems embraced genetic manipulation with the help of Cerberus.
The primitives were honestly too easy to manipulate, almost as if their society was structured for corruption.
Though in all honesty, deploying the Jaegers for such minor task was most likely His Majesty's way of occupying the Jaegers' time in a somewhat fruitful manner. Though in situations like this, they were lucky His Majesty decided to always have a Jaeger team on standby.
When it came to hard power, the Imperials couldn't really do anything but train. While an army of drones and clone engineers built a massive industrial base around them.
As a whole, the only thing Supreme Commander Wolff's forces have done in the past five years was building Astartes assets, and creating a few hundred fortress worlds.
With the arrival of this odd warship, it seemed like things were going to get interesting.
Otto used the teleportation network to appear in one of the primary hangars.
It wouldn't take long for him to deploy his team. Otto had Thor squad armor up, and the INS Letztes Licht was ready for launch.
The INS Intrepidus was just outside of the Utopia System, so it wouldn't take long to get on Eden Prime. In the worst-case scenario, the Intrepidus could deploy into the System and quickly gain space superiority.
A traditional Jaeger squad has six members.
Six was deemed an appropriate number due to the ease of division into smaller units, and the ability to take a few losses without greatly diminishing the squad's combat effectiveness.
After Thor squad landed on Eden Prime it was divided into three hunter sub-groups. The hunter units were composed of two Jaegers, and were capable of higher stealth and mobility than if the entire squad was together. Plus the three small units could cover more ground quickly.
Otto took along Buchwald for his hunter group, and currently they were making large jumps towards a spaceport that was hit pretty hard by a plasma lance.
Jumping was one of the faster methods used by Jaegers to move throughout the battlefield. They literally jumped into the air, and the artificial muscles helped carry them over fifty meters into the air.
The Jaegers could use their thrusters to just fly, but that came with the danger of being shot down. Only idiots placed themselves in front of every anti-air placement, and every prying enemy eye that just so happened to be looking up. Jumping was already risky enough, but they could quickly get back to the ground in an instant.
They were careful, and had their thrusters ready at a moment's notice in case the enemy somehow saw through their cloaking devices.
"Sir, why aren't we repelling the Geth?" Buchwald asked.
"Because we don't know what consequences that will have. Just trust the higher-ups. You'll save yourself a headache." Otto said.
"It's just hard seeing a lost tribe hurt by Xenos like this." Buchwald said somberly.
Otto sighed.
"You're young; didn't see the battles that took place in the core. Sometimes you need to take a loss now, so you can gain an advantage over the enemy." Otto explained in his rough but understanding voice.
"Is it worth it?" Buchwald hesitantly asked.
Otto had a flashback to Ruhe. His homeworld and family were victims to that kind of harsh calculating used in war.
"I hope so." Otto honestly answered.
Nicola Buchwald was a replacement for a Jaeger lost a few years back. The kid was a Jaeger so Otto didn't doubt his ability to fight. No, the kid could clearly fight. He was the squad's psionic specialist, and Otto can safely say he's not met such a strong psionic before. Rather, he was just a little green by Jaeger standards.
Otto received a transmission from the group headed by Köler. He stopped jumping, landing one last time. Buchwald wasn't far behind.
"Sir, we just saw the Geth impale some Baseline civilians on a large spike. There are a lot of people on spikes, sir." Köler reported.
A video of the event was sent to Otto, and he pulled it up on his hud.
The Geth had multiple spikes erected outside, and most of them had Baselines impaled on the top.
In the video two Geth held a man down, and a spike shot up through the man's stomach. The man didn't die, and many previous victims were still alive on the spikes.
Otto's blood boiled when Baseline children were seen on the spikes.
"Understood, Jaeger. Record any interactions, and keep me updated." Otto ended the transmission.
The three Jaeger groups were connected to the Imperial battle net through their neural laces, but they tended to still use voice channels for anything not important. The Imperial battle net told every Jaeger the location of all Imperial forces in the System, and relayed information gathered by the prowler orbiting above them.
"Commander Hettinger, I think they're after the recently discovered Prothean beacon," Ares informed Otto through the audio comms.
"Protheans, why'd they want a primitive artifact?" Otto asked, confused.
"Don't know; the unknown Apex Xenos are acting erratically. An Apex race should have no use for a primitive relic." Ares admitted.
"So, we have an Apex race attacking a primitive colony for a relic from a different long-dead primitive civilization." Otto surmised.
"Yep, pretty much. However, those abominations need to be stopped; and if they want that beacon, then so do we." Ares said.
Otto rolled his eyes at the Ancilla's referral to the Geth as 'abominations.' He wasn't sure why the Anglians allowed the Ancilla to add machines as part of the criteria for Abomination.
Actual Abominations were a serious threat. Including a few malfunctioning machines would only diminish a very important term.
Otto wasn't even sure the Geth would even fall under the current definition from what he's heard.
"That's why we're here. Find out why the trash cans are here with an Apex starship." Otto growled.
"I've sent Nadin the last known location of the beacon," Ares said before disconnecting.
"Got it. Let's go big guy." Nadin chirped.
Armin Luxenberg was partnered up with his friend and comrade Ulrich Harrer. They got word from Köler that the Geth were impaling civilians on large spikes, and were intent on finding the rationale behind such a meaningless and random action.
Armin and Ulrich carefully walked down a dirt road leading into a small settlement. Armin took the lead as he was the one more specialized in CQB compared to his friend. Ulrich was Thor squad's sniper, and was hauling around his large sniper rifle; however, Armin was glad to have the extra firepower.
Ulrich was a crack shot, but at its highest power the sniper almost doubled as an artillery piece. Instead of firing a 1mm and 1kg projectile like the assault rifle, the sniper threw massive 3mm projectiles up to 30kg in weight with relativistic speeds. However, Ulrich did carry a modified full-auto heavy kinetic pistol, but it wasn't nearly as powerful as the assault rifle.
They were both cloaked, and carefully inspected the approaching building for any signs of movement. The Geth may have been primitives, but those Mass Effect slug throwers were deadly; the heavier Geth weapons could possibly harm them if they were careless.
Armin and Ulrich walked up to a building, and followed the wall until they eventually turned the corner and got a good look inside the settlement.
The sight that greeted them was gruesome. Armin should have been used to such sights, but it still made his stomach turn.
Hundreds of spikes.
Every one held an innocent Baseline; their faces contorted in horror and pain.
Some of the people on the spikes looked different. Their skin was becoming dark blue and was slowly being covered in wires. On their right arms grew a metallic looking tube of some kind that ended at the knuckles.
"Dear God, what the hell are they doing?" Ulrich asked, horrified.
"Don't know. Turning them into something, but not sure why." Armin numbly answered.
The centerpiece of the settlement was a large building designed to be an entire town to limit the impact of urbanization upon the environment.
The paved road leading to the tower was lined with the spikes, and the sound of blood slowly falling into the sewers was scarred into Armin's head.
Outside of the large entrance into the main building was a Geth transport. It had more spikes collapsed into their tripod base, and some black canisters. Some Geth were guarding the transport, and Armin was holding back the urge to waste the ones responsible for this massacre.
A mechanical sliding noise could be heard from behind Armin and Ulrich. They turned to see one of the blue and black abominations fall off the base of the spike. It started to groan and stood up.
It then calmly walked towards the large building.
A Geth trooper walked over to the now-collapsed tripod and grabbed a black canister from underneath the base. It was the same canister as the ones on the transport.
"They're turning them into abominations!" Armin exclaimed.
"The canisters. We need to get one for the doc to look at." Ulrich said.
Doc was what many within the Weltraumwölfe called their resident mad scientist, Edward Richtofen. He was second only to Supreme Commander Wolff in his understanding of Imperial science.
"We'll do more than get a few jars." Armin seethed.
"Amen." Ulrich agreed.
A few seconds later, two more of the blue abominations walked out of the large building.
However, they weren't alone.
In their arms was a screaming boy, no older than ten. He momentarily stopped his fearful yells when his gaze landed upon a woman on the spikes. His shouts and cries soon returned, but they were different. There was a level of grief that wasn't there before.
It was all made clear when the boy cried out for his impaled mother.
The Geth outside we're getting another spike ready.
"Now?" Ulrich asked.
"Take 'em out," Armin said in a quiet menacing voice.
Armin and Ulrich aimed at the two abominations dragging the boy towards the spike.
"Once you take out the abomination on the right, kill the Geth around the boy. I'll deal with the ones further off." Ulrich said through the neural lace.
"Roger, once the ones out in the open are dealt with, I'll scan the large building." He responded.
"You gonna clear that thing?" Ulrich asked.
"Yeah, then after we make sure the survivors, if there are any, are safe we'll grab a few spikes and canisters," Armin said.
"Understood. Open fire!" Ulrich initiated their attack.
The heads of the two abominations that were dragging the boy exploded into many pieces. Bits of what was once brain matter and skill fragments blew sky high.
In quick succession, twenty-four more shots were fired by Armin at the remaining hostiles. Due to the enemy being in the open and having slow reaction times, they had no time to react.
The boy fell down next to the spike. The emotional damage and fear seemed to be unbearable, and he fell to his knees in a panic attack. Lucky for the boy, he was still alive. If those rounds weren't purely the penetrators, then the collateral damage could have been his life.
Armin decloaked, and sent out a thorough scan.
He raised his left hand and shot out a wave of orange energy in a semi-sphere. The wave engulfed the entire building. The structure was a little over 300 meters tall, and had the shape of a pyramid. However, it wasn't a solid shape; the pyramid had many hollow sections to allow for an open feeling.
The scan indicated there were only a few dozen people left. The Geth were efficient and meticulous, and the abominations helped subdued the civilians.
Along with the few remaining civilians were a hundred Geth patrolling the building and around the settlement.
Armin sent the information to Ulrich through the neural lace.
Armin placed his assault rifle on his back and ignited both of his wrist-mounted hard light blades. The base of the blade was blue, indicating the hard light was room temperature. The blade gradually changed color to crimson, indicating the hard light was hot.
Hot…
Armin personally thought the manuals undersold just how hot it was.
The air around the red end of the blade burned away. A small amount of white smoke slowly rose from the blade, and waves of heat could clearly be seen rising above. If it wasn't for the thin insulating layer of hard light around the tip, then the blade could potentially form a layer of plasma around it. The insulating layer of hard light was designed to break when Armin thrust into a target.
The reason it had to be cool at the base was that the blade was so hot it could melt the Adamantium armor; a temperature most stars couldn't reach. There was no justifiable reason to have something so hot near his hands.
Then because of it being hard light, the blade could be perfectly sharp; the edge was as thin as an electron.
They were wonderful blades.
Armin cloaked again as Ulrich decloaked.
It was generally good practice to have at least one person within the hunter group cloaked at all times. So if an enemy got the jump on the uncloaked Jaeger, the cloaked one could quickly counterattack with the element of surprise.
"Take care of the kid. I'll deal with the ones inside." Armin said.
"Will do." Ulrich nodded in agreement.
Ulrich held his hand up and scanned the rest of the settlement to find the location of the remaining Geth and abominations.
Ulrich then took off his helmet and walked towards the boy on the ground.
Armin sprinted towards the large building's entrance. The front doors were glass, but they were backed out preventing anyone from looking inside or outside.
He sent a psionic wave towards the glass door and jumped through as it shattered.
All the remaining civilians were herded towards the back of the lobby, and screamed once they heard glass breaking. Whether it was from the sudden and violent noise, or them being able to now see the gory streets; Armin wasn't sure. Probably a mixture of both.
The Geth and abominations inside snapped towards the glass door seemingly breaking on its own.
The hostiles were already alert due to them knowing the units outside were destroyed.
The Geth made electronic screeches in a form of audio machine language. It was very primitive in Armin's opinion, and his armor's translation software could easily decipher the information.
Armin wasn't sure why the Geth used such an odd and inefficient form of communication. Perhaps it was a way to prevent the reliance on a battle net, decrease the bandwidth, or even lessen their exposure to hacking. Either way, it was odd.
Armin warped to the other side of the room at relativistic speeds. A trail of residual light blue psionic energy in his wake despite being cloaked. Like vapors of a fast vengeful ghost.
He landed next to a Geth and spun around on his heel. His right blade cut the Geth in half as he turned around.
The abominations immediately knew where he was once he landed. All the abominations turned to a still cloaked Armin, and quickly raised their right arms. Their arms became rigid, and Armin immediately knew what the purpose of the strange tube on their right arms was for.
The civilians were already on their knees and hugging the ground. The rapid firing of mass effect kinetics busted many of their eardrums and caused them to try and further bury themselves into the floor.
The reason the Jaegers didn't warp often as a form of transportation was twofold.
First off, it was exhausting; the massive power output of the armor only magnified certain psionic powers. The user of the armor still had to have the energy to perform the psionic ability normally for the armor to assist.
Second off was the reason Armin quickly jumped away in another psionic jump.
When he landed next to the Geth, the abominations could feel the psionic spike indicating someone just violently entered normal space.
Once Armin landed behind a slowly responding Geth, he swiped both swords in front of him. The Geth fell to the floor with a third of its chest area cut away with two parallel horizontal strikes.
The abominations snapped towards Armin's location again and opened fire with the rapid and powerful gun embedded in their right arms. They only had a fraction of a second to turn and fire at Armin.
However, unlike the Geth, the abominations had very powerful weapons. The shots that hit Armin's dark matter deflector were deflected away from the civilians. The ones that didn't hit Armin hit the floor or wall and created small explosions. A minuscule amount of matter underwent fusion and the slug disintegrated when it hit something solid.
Armin jumped to two abominations standing close together. The one to the right was closer, and he stabbed through its chest. Then sprinted towards the one to the left with his right blade still impaled in the other abomination. The loud popping and rapid vaporization of liquids filled the room as the area around the blade quickly turned to chard remains.
The other abomination didn't have time to think when a blade went into its stomach. Armin pulled the sword up through the abomination's abdomen then its neck and head, leaving it cut in half from the stomach up. Deformed guts poured onto the floor, and the abomination fell to the floor with a sickening squelch.
Armin twisted his right blade so it was horizontal and turned around again, cutting through the chest and an arm.
In quick succession, Armin jumped to the Geth and abominations. Once the room was clear, he decloaked.
He turned to the civilians. The ones not digging their heads into the floor looked at Armin with dread. He slowly reached for his helmet and took it off.
"It's okay. I'm here to help." Armin said in the broken English that became the common language of Mankind in this Universe.
However, most of the civilians were temporarily or permanently deaf from the loud gunshots.
"Ulrich, there are survivors inside. The lobby is secure. Bring the boy in, and guard them while I deal with the remaining hostiles. Hurry, I'm sure the abominations are running here now; they're able to sense psionics." Armin told Ulrich from the neural lace.
"Got it. I'm going to scan the area again." Ulrich said.
A wave of orange passed around Armin, his armor reflecting the exotic energy away from him. Armin was sent the information from Ulrich's scan.
Ulrich came in a moment later with the boy tightly wrapped around his neck, whimpering. He walked towards the civilians and kneeled down as one of the women wrapped the boy in her arms.
"Thank you." She said loudly as blood trailed out of her ears.
Ulrich looked at him curiously.
"Mass effect kinetics were too loud for Baseline ears," Armin said.
Ulrich nodded, stood up, and took a protective stance in front of the civilians.
"Slaughter em," Ulrich said.
Armin smirked and warped down a long hall as a few abominations turned the corner.
It didn't take long for Armin to warp through the building and kill every hostile. The area was now filled with bisected bodies and butchered limbs.
He returned to the main lobby just as Ulrich domed an abomination walking through the shattered glass doors. The quiet suppressed shot was misleading as the power behind that round was immense despite the low velocity.
The Imperial kinetic violently turned the blue bastard's head into mush.
"We can't exactly leave them here. More of them are completing their transformation into abominations." Ulrich said.
Armin nodded.
"We'll need a transport." Armin said.
"Sir, are we just going to let them kill her?" Buchwald incredulously asked.
Otto didn't blame the kid.
He wasn't there for the Core Sieges.
The Covenant and Elven forces got all the way to Terra before the Empire stopped them. The Core worlds were known for having some of the largest populations; which meant too large to move.
Reach was a prime example.
Months worth of time for evacuation was brought with the blood of good men, and only a fraction of the ecumenopolis was able to be evacuated.
Otto was glad the site of a few dead Baselines got to the kid. It was a sign every drop of blood in the defense of Terra and her Colonies was worth it. A generation of Mankind sheltered from the cruelty of war and evolution on a macro scale. However, warriors would always be needed, and the kid chose this path.
"Yes, we are." Otto emotionlessly answered.
The kid might not be used to it, but he was.
"Sir, we could just snipe these bastards. It won't blow our cover, and we weren't given any rules of engagement." Buchwald pleaded.
The girl he was talking about was currently being chased by a large group of Geth. A large red one was gaining on her quickly. The Geth could have killed her by now, but they seemed to want her alive.
Otto and Buchwald, we're currently on top of a large tower far off in the distance.
Buchwald had his rifle aimed and his scope zoomed in on the Geth; its metal pieces connected by hard light floating in front of his helmet, and the diffraction of light could be seen due to the scope's localized gravitic field.
Imperial scopes didn't use glass but rather used gravitics to bend the light in a manner that produced an enlarged image.
"Sir, please." He begged.
Otto sighed.
He grabbed his own rifle from his back and shouldered it. Part of the front hood broke apart and floated in a circular pattern to the gun's top left, creating a scope with hard-light and gravitics.
They were only a few kilometers away, but the scope allowed Otto to see the girl's pores.
She looked to be a soldier in pink and white armor.
It was odd seeing a girl as a soldier.
Only the Americans, British, Latins, and Japanese allowed women on the front line; at least among the original Empires. A living womb was more valuable growing another human behind the front lines for the Empire to throw them away en masse in a meat grinder.
To the girl's credit, she was moving like he'd expect a Baseline professional soldier to move.
"Fire, on my mark." Otto gave into the kid's pleading.
Otto could practically hear the smile the kid was probably wearing. It was probably a good thing the kid was part of the squad. He was younger than everyone else by at least two thousand years. He was part of the generation that didn't see the destruction of Core worlds.
"Yes, sir!" Buchwald enthusiastically snapped.
Otto zoomed in close on the large red Geth. It was substantially larger than the other ones and was probably much stronger.
He steadied his aim and squeezed the trigger.
The small one-kilogram projectile left the rifle at only twenty c.
The suppressor made the gunshot sound like a little tap. Unlike the ancient suppressors of the past, the state-of-the-art Imperial designs could more accurately be defined as a series of energy fields. It was hard for even for the Empire to make relativistic projectiles quiet, and they still made quite a snapping noise when they reached their targets.
The large red Geth that was leading the chase was immediately destroyed.
No, Otto realized 'destroy' didn't describe how utterly devastating the Imperial kinetic weaponry was.
It was a traditional explosive penetrator round. An Adamantium alloy penetrator would allow the round to pierce into the target, and the internal antimatter payload would ensure the target was neutralized.
The round dug into the Geth's upper body, and would most likely have drilled through all of the Geth and into the ground. However, the internal atomics payload detonated inside the red Geth's chest.
The central area of the chest exploded in a massive explosion, and the heat from the matter annihilation disintegrated the Geth. Shrapnel from the Geth's body was blown all over the area; the shields of the girl and other Geth lit up.
The red Geth was now a few limbs and chunks of metal.
A vapor trail momentarily appeared between Otto and the now very dead Geth.
The Geth didn't have much time to think about what happened as loud snaps filled the area. The Geth were all quickly destroyed in awe-inspiring explosions.
"Hold fire," Otto ordered.
Buchwald followed his order and lowered his assault rifle as the scope folded back into the rifle.
"Damn, they really are primitives." Buchwald happily inspected their handy work.
The area of forest was covered in shrapnel and Geth body parts.
"Happy now, son?" Otto grunted.
"Awe, come on, sir. We saved someone, isn't that a nice feeling?" Buchwald pouted.
Otto's helmet sensors zoomed in on the girl. She stopped running, stunned at the near-divine intervention.
Otto's eyes slightly widened when he felt her praying.
She then turned on her heels and kept running through the forest.
"She has a chance. Now, let's get to that beacon, Jaeger." Otto growled.
"Yes, sir!"
Commander Shepard looked down at Jenkins' body; he was shot multiple times in the chest.
Shepard isn't a stranger to losing people, but it never got easier.
Kaidan kneeled down and closed Jenkins' eyes.
"Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said as he stood up and looked at Shepard.
John didn't need his last remaining squadmate distracted; else he bury another comrade.
"We'll see that he receives a proper service once the mission is complete, but I need you to stay focused," Shepard told him sympathetically in a serious tone.
Shepard and Kaidan continued through the valley and engaged a few Geth troopers. After the firefight, Nilus informed Shepard he was going to investigate some burned-out building. The plan was for them to meet up at the dig site.
A few minutes of jogging later, Shepard and Kaidan came across a soldier in white and pink armor. She was walking away from what could best be described as a Geth bloodbath.
Shards of metal and chunks of Geth laid across the forest floor.
"Solder, what happened here?" Shepard calmly asked.
Shepard learned long ago, the best thing to do in a bad situation was to keep your head. Even if you had to fake it for your subordinates.
"I don't know, sir. One minute I thought I wasn't going to make it, then the next Geth started exploding from sniper rounds." The soldier answered.
"Sniper rounds? It looks like these things were each hit with a Mako's main gun!" Kaidan exclaimed.
"I don't know, sir. That's all I know." She said apologetically.
"Are you wounded, soldier?" Shepard asked.
"A few scrapes and burns. Nothing serious. The others in my unit weren't so lucky." She answered.
"Oh man…" The woman looked sick, then turned towards the valley full of dead Geth.
"We were patrolling the perimeter when the attack hit. We tried to get off a distress call, but they cut off our communications. Then the Geth started picking us off one by one. Only injuring us, so they can take us alive to place us on those spikes. I've been fighting for my life ever since." She informed Shepard.
"Spikes?" Shepard asked.
"You'll see them soon, then wish you hadn't." She morbidly answered.
"The Geth hasn't been seen outside the Veil in nearly 200 years. Why are they here now?" Kaidan asked, confused.
"They must have come for the beacon." The female soldier concluded.
"The dig site is close. Just over that rise. It might still be there." She added.
"What's your name, soldier," Shepard asked.
"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. Are you the one in charge, sir?" Williams asked.
"Yes, and we could use your help, Williams," Shepard said.
"Aye aye, sir. It's time for payback." Williams said determinedly.
"Move out!" Shepard told his squad.
"Umm… sir?" Buchwald called for Otto's attention.
"What is it, Buchwald?" Otto asked.
"That Turian, there's something odd about his psionic presence." Buchwald informed him.
Otto and Buchwald made their way to a nearby tram station in search for the Prothean beacon.
They were standing atop a cliff overlooking the area with their stealth systems activated.
Below them were two Turians talking.
Otto immediately knew it was the one in grey armor that Buchwald was talking about. He looked normal for a Turian male, but his psionic presence was twisted.
Almost deformed or sickly.
The two were talking for a few seconds when the grey Turian casually got behind the one in red armor.
Then, the grey Turian took out his pistol and shot the red one in the head.
"The hell was that?" Buchwald asked.
"Don't know," Otto answered.
"Nadin, bring up any information on those two Turians," Otto commanded his Servitor.
"On it." Nadin faithful replied before going to work.
"Oh, wow. That definitely mixes things up a bit." Nadin said in surprise.
Otto groaned.
"You're damn right it does."
"Sir, this ain't making a lot of sense," Buchwald added.
Otto tried to think of an explanation for why a Spectre would kill another Turian Spectre. However, nothing was adding up.
Was the grey Turian with the Geth?
That only created more questions.
"Nadin, bundle everything up into a data packet and send it to the Intrepidus," Otto ordered.
"Sir, those N7s are on scene." Buchwald pointed out.
Sure enough, the N7s were there along with the girl from earlier. There were only two N7s, so Otto assumed there was a casualty or he was just split off from the squad.
The Empire knew of every single Alliance military asset on Eden Prime. There were only a few N7 teams currently on Eden Prime, but only one with a mission.
Otto and Buchwald overheard the conversation with a worker that was hiding and didn't really get much information out of the interaction. However, the worker did drop where the beacon was at.
"Well, that confirmed it," Buchwald said.
"Yeah, move out, Jaeger," Otto replied then jumped towards the spaceport.
"Umm, sir. That warship is taking off." Buchwald called arot for Otto again.
Otto looked at where the unknown warship stood and saw it slowly rise into the sky. He sent a message to the Intrepidus, but they probably already knew.
"Do you think they already got the beacon?" Buchwald asked.
"My ass they did! Double time it, son!" Otto snapped.
"Sir, those look like atomics," Buchwald stated the obvious.
"Of course they are." Otto could recognize the weapons from a mile away.
Atomics, or nukes as the primitives call them, was a nasty application of physics. It was almost always the first weapon system primitives developed that had the ability to harm Apex races.
Of course, the issue of how to get atomics in a position where they could harm Imperial assets was nearly impossible for any primitive race.
However, the weapons themselves will never really be truly replaced.
The fussing and splitting of atoms…
It was almost nostalgic.
"Buchwald, deal with those atomics. I'll secure the beacon." Otto ordered.
"On it, sir," Buchwald said seriously before jumping into action.
Otto didn't have to worry too much about stealth at this point. So, he decided to go in with a bang.
The Turian wanted the beacon destroyed; which meant the unknown Apex race wanted it destroyed, along with the entire colony. The fools decided to use simple Geth and primitive atomics to achieve their goals, a decision they'll soon regret.
Stealth and the element of surprise were vital to the Imperials, but there were times when action was necessary. Supreme Commander Wolff trusted the judgment of all the Jaeger Commanders under his command; so if a Jaeger thought the risk was worth it, then they'll take action.
Otto felt almost ashamed of having to compete for the Prothean artifact. It was a primitive device, and he was going to be competing with primitives for it. Under any other circumstances, it would hardly be worth his time.
Otto jumped into the air, and his thrusters sprang to life.
He flew high into the sky, then allowed gravity to pull him back down. It was a simple ballistic parabola from his location to the platform; basically a very large jump.
Otto landed on the platform with a thud.
The Geth surrounding him aimed their rifles at the intruder and started firing. The high-velocity micro-slugs were slapped aside by his dark matter deflectors.
Otto raised his hand and the eerie violet light and vapors of psionic energy formed around him, then all the Geth around him floated a foot in the air. Their arms held to their sides, no longer capable of firing.
He simply formed a fist, and the Geth began to crumble and emit a strange electronic scream.
A second later, the now balls of synthetic material landed on the platform with a thud and squelch.
"Damn right." Otto sneered in satisfaction.
Jaegers were powerful psionics, and Otto's powers were exponentially greater when inside his armor.
Otto calmly walked towards the black and green artifact that hummed with an odd psionic presence.
"Maybe the Protheans weren't so primitive," Nadin commented.
His suit's sensors were picking up the psionic energy clearly. The beacon was trying to project a message by the use of primitive psionics, but his armor's shields were easily blocking the unknown psionic projection.
"Hm," Otto grunted in response.
He stood directly in front of the artifact and inspected the psionic projection. The beacon didn't seem to be a threat of any kind and the intent of the message seemed desperate, so he obliged.
The artifact was highly unstable, so he carefully connected with the beacon.
It was a simple message at first. The one many well-meaning primitives filled the void with. Art, music, beliefs, biology, architectural wonders, scientific achievements, and philosophy; all the data could be simplified into one phrase.
"We were here. We are Prothean."
Then the message took a much darker tone; images of primitives being slaughtered filled his mind, but it was more than that. They were being harvested and deformed by the unknowns.
The message became clearer, and he started to actually feel the emotions of the Protheans. The images became gruesome; they were cosmic children trying to fight off their frighteningly strong attacker.
They knew the fight was over.
They wanted to be the last victim.
They left a warning.
It was all a trap.
A warning to the next cycle.
Don't trust the treasures.
The Reapers are coming.
Thousands.
Hundreds of thousands.
Millions.
Otto snapped his eyes open.
He was used to wars of genocide, but this was something else. They were harvesting the Protheans like they were crops and deforming the primitives into monsters.
Otto clenched his fist in anger. This entire Universe was just one great insult to everything the Empire stands for.
War and the competition of life were allowed. However, those who arrogantly committed genocide and created abominations were taught a harsh lesson like the unruly children they were.
He quickly recorded the message with his armor and stepped back from the beacon.
The stomping of boots on metal came from behind.
Reflexes developed from thousands of years worth of combat experience kicked in.
He grabbed the heavy kinetic pistol on his right thigh and snapped it towards the three primitives that turned the corner.
The three primitives aimed at him in retaliation with needlessly complex kinetic weapons. They were the N7s that were looking for the beacon, and the girl they saved was with them.
Otto looked at the Baselines in a new light. They were members of Mankind, and these Reapers had dark plans.
Luckily for them, His Majesty wouldn't allow his new subjects to be defiled by a few psychopathic machines.
However, the Protheans wanted to warn them. That message was the dying breath of a young species, and he'd respect their wishes.
"Who are you?" The lead male calmly asked.
Otto knew everything about the N7s.
Kaidan Alanko, biotic and distinguished N7.
John Shepard, also a biotic but also specialized in marksmanship. John had the more impressive record, and one many in the Weltraumwölfe could sympathize with. He lost his entire family to the Batarians when he was sixteen, then joined the Alliance when he was only eighteen. What he was most known for was holding back a Batarian attack on Elysium. One of the more impressive primitives, Otto thought.
A quick data burst sent to the Supreme Commander was immediately followed by instructions for Otto's next action.
Otto smirked and used his free hand to remove his helmet.
The shocked faces of the Baselines were quite humorous, and Buchwald seemed to agree based on his chuckling through the comms.
"Just another Human."
"Just another Human." The large man spoke in a heavy, but strange, European accent.
He seemed amused.
"Are you with the Geth?" Shepard asked diplomatically.
"No."
"With the Alliance by any chance?" Shepard asked hopefully.
"No."
So, he was a large human not associated with the Alliance. Shepard hoped the large man wasn't with who he thought. If they really were Human, that'd complicate things.
"We're here for the beacon. Are we going to have any problems?" Shepard asked with the most diplomatic voice he could muster.
The man was looking at him almost fondly, and Shepard wasn't getting any bad vibes from the large man.
"No, the beacon is yours." The man answered in his thick and gruff accent.
The large man lowered his pistol, and Shepard shortly followed.
"I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance Military." He introduced himself.
The man looked into the sky and gained a cocky grin.
Sharp blue eyes met his own.
"Jäger Otto Maximilian von Hettinger of the Imperial Military." The large man introduced himself with pride, but also with an almost quiet fondness.
Like he was talking to a friend he hasn't seen in ages.
Imperial…
How could they possibly be Human? Did a splinter group find a Prothean beacon? There were those who wished to declare their independence from the Alliance, and genetic modification could allow Humans to grow quite large. A brain-dead body donated to science was modified a few decades back to grow to an impressive thirteen feet.
In one of the few measurements agreed upon by the Alliance and Council; genetic manipulation to that level was strictly forbidden. However, the Alliance was gradually and cautiously poking at the Human genome. Humans were slowly becoming stronger and more intelligent.
The average woman didn't look any different than one from the eighteenth century, but their muscles were dense enough for women now to be as strong as men were in the eighteenth century. Plus the average IQ slowly crept up to 160. However, this splinter group took genetic manipulation to the extreme.
If the Council found out they really were Human, then the improving relations could crumble overnight.
Things became much more dangerous.
"Same ones that destroyed Khar'Shan?" John calmly asked.
He could tell his two companions were also nervous.
Alenko was ready to gun down the man at a moment's notice.
Williams was oddly relaxed.
"It wasn't destroyed, just glassed, but yes. The ones who glassed that planet were Human." Otto answered the unasked question.
Shepard felt slightly uneasy that he'd make a point to call what was done to Khar'Shan with a different term. Shepard didn't like the Batarians, but Khar'Shan was clearly a war crime.
"Are you with Cerberus, or did you find a Prothean beacon somewhere?" Shepard asked.
He needed to get some kind of information for the Alliance to work with.
"No, we didn't ordinate from Earth," Otto said.
Shepard hid it well, but what the large man said shocked him.
"You can't possibly be saying-" Shepard said before he was cut off.
"I am. We didn't originate from Earth. In fact, it is your people that are the splinter group." Otto curtly reaffirmed.
Before Shepard could ask another question, Otto looked over to his right.
"Buchwald, we're leaving."
Another man in similar armor appeared next to Otto, holding a large weapon to his chest.
Shepard didn't show it, but he was spooked. Normally at this range, he could make out active camouflage. This new man just seemed to appear out of thin air.
The two men walked away from the beacon, next to the balled-up Geth and edge of the platform.
"Why did you destroy Khar'Shan, why are you here, and how are you Human? What did you mean by 'not from Earth?" Shepard rapidly asked.
The Imperials being a splinter group with Prothean technology was the worst and most likely scenario; the actions of the Imperials tended to mirror that of Cerberus. However, if what this man said was true, then this could potentially be a first contact situation with an entirely different Human civilization.
Shepard liked to dabble in the current scientific theories. A habit almost beat into him by his girlfriend. One of the theories was that Humanity was once part of a precursor species that inhabited the Galaxy. Something happened, and their civilization fell apart. The remaining survivors adapted to their environment over the course of millions of years.
It was one of the many theories that explained the apparent similarities between Humanity and the rest of the races in the Milky Way. So, perhaps the theory isn't so far-fetched. Still, the large man in front of Shepard looked far too Human. Why didn't he look like a different species?
The large man looked over at him like Shepard was a child. It wasn't insulting, but parental.
He didn't answer a question, and Williams tried asking a different question.
"Are you here to help?"
Otto looked at Williams then Shepard before gazing at the destroyed portion of the spaceport.
Otto gazed out at the warped metal and burning earth almost tranquility; it was off-putting for Shepard to see someone look at destruction in that way.
"Mankind is far older than you could possibly imagine. Your journey to adulthood will begin with that beacon. Have faith, young tribe; you have the blood of Mankind pumping through your veins. Fight with the tenacity that made our people feared across all creation." Otto spoke like a prophet.
A deep part of Shepard grabbed onto those strange words and left him stunned yet empowered. Shepard knew those words weren't for any individual, but for all of Humanity.
Otto placed his helmet back on and stood next to the other large man.
Shepard didn't have time to ask what they were doing when they shot into the air. Eerie blue thrusters on their armor quickly rocketed them into the sky until they were out of sight.
To see such quiet and calm rockets accelerate the man made Shepard realize just how advanced the Imperials were. His claims didn't seem so crazy now.
"I can't believe they're Human," Kaidan mumbled.
"I'm glad," Williams said, almost content.
Kaidan was going to argue. Shepard could always tell when his squadmate wanted to say something.
"Keep the discussion for after the mission. We need to secure the beacon." Shepard ordered both of them.
"Sorry, sir." Kaidan apologized, knowing he was caught by Shepard.
Shepard looked over towards the glowing Prothean beacon.
"Normandy, the beacon is secured." He radioed in.
The next thing Shepard knew, Williams was being pulled towards the beacon.
He didn't know her, but like many times in his life, Shepard's body moved on its own.
The six Jaegers of Thor squad regrouped in a valley. Köler's hunter group gathered specimens of the deformed residences of Eden Prime and a few Geth. Luxembourg's group brought a few of the spikes and black canisters.
"Sir, do you think it was wise to reveal ourselves to the lost tribe?" Köler asked.
"They're about to go through a tough time; it'll be a little comforting if they think they have older siblings," Buchwald answered.
Köler ignored the idealistic reasoning of their youngest squadmate and looked to Otto for his answer.
"I think it'll keep them on their toes. Also, if we need to take control, it could potentially make the process smoother. Plus if the Alliance is anything like us, then they'll classify that little conversation. Their leaders need to think something big is going to happen." Otto answered.
"Hm." Köler hummer, simply acknowledging a given answer without inputting his own opinion.
"Isn't there a chance we have to abandon the lost tribe? Why are we preparing to rule them?" Luxembourg asked.
Otto raised an eyebrow.
"I could ask the same to you. Why break mission parameters for a few dozen primitives?" Otto asked harshly.
Luxembourg looked nervous and sheepishly looked to Harrer for support. Harder just shrugged, not wanting to be the target of Otto's ire.
"It was a spur of the moment thing. It was primarily to capture enemy equipment used to transform the Baselines into abominations. Rescuing a few primitives was only a secondary objective." Luxembourg said and gestured towards the collapsed spikes and canister.
Otto knew it was a valid reason, but he couldn't shake the feeling it was Luxembourg making up bullshit.
"And taking your helmets off?" Otto pressed.
"We've done it before. Makes the primitives more likely to obey our commands." Luxembourg smoothly answered.
"As for your original question. It's mainly for the scenario in which we secure the Milky Way from the Reapers. Once the war is over, the Alliance will have to be annexed into the Empire under König Wolff. Better they see us as liberators." Otto ignored the bubbling annoyance and answered the first question.
"Reapers?" Buchwald asked.
"It's what the Protheans called unknown Apex Xenos," Otto said in an uncharacteristically light tone.
The large prowler decloaked, and gracefully hovered in front of the Jaegers with its forward ramp open. The forward ramp was formed from six large slabs of metal held together by hard light.
"Let's go home, men," Otto said as he led Thor squad up the ramp.
Once the squad was inside, the hard light moved the metal pieces back into the form of an airlock like a jigsaw puzzle. The interlocking of Adamantium prices was heard, signifying a secure and air-tight seal.
The prowler then accelerated forward and up in a gentle arc, but the action was all but gentle. The ear-splitting booms and vapor trails formed from a large craft traveling far too fast within the atmosphere. However, within the fog of war, no one would ever guess the prowler was on Eden Prime.
"Sir, the Letztes Licht is secured within the port hangar." An ensign informed Erwin.
It was more of a verification of the data he was fed through the neural lace a few seconds before. It was an extra layer of verification and was also a tradition for information to be personally validated. Mankind had a lot of rituals, no matter the culture; something Erwin was fascinated by.
"And the Geth?" Erwin asked.
"They're leaving the system, sir. It seems they got what they were looking for." The same ensign answered.
"Good, helm, get us out of here." Erwin verbally ordered after sending the helmsmen his orders in detail.
"Aye aye, sir." The helmsman compiled from the front of the bridge in his specialized section of the bridge.
Erwin was taking a slight risk in revealing the Empire to the Baselines, but there was potential for reward. Having a civilization willingly joining the Empire was a lot smoother of a process than forcing them in through military action.
He didn't have any reservations for forcing in the other races of the Milky Way, but Erwin had enough of warring with fellow members of Mankind.
The risk of gaining the attention of the so-called 'Reapers' was also a potential benefit. Place a few crumbs, and when the mice come picking, the trap will spring. Erwin wouldn't be surprised if that was also their line of thought with attacking Eden Prime the way they did.
It was odd, two Apex races fighting through proxies. Erwin was a little ashamed in admitting it was kinda fun; like a game of chess played on the Galactic scale.
The relatively calm past five years was coming to an end, and Erwin had little doubt that his forces weren't enough to hold back the Reapers. He needed information on the Reapers above all if he wanted any chance in successfully defending the Galaxy. This little game of "who's who" was probably the best way to gather that vital information.
"If you know the enemy and know yourself, then you need not fear the result of a hundred battles."
Erwin understood why the Chinese still looked up to their ancestor, Sun Tzu.
Erwin didn't even know the reason behind harvesting primitives, and little of their culture besides the fact they were AI. Which was an even larger mind fuck because Erwin couldn't think of a reason machines would need that much biological mass.
For now, the best hope they had was weaponizing the IHA Korn der Ruhe. However, that also had its own risks and weaknesses. If the Halo array was in direct combat, it was very susceptible to swarm tactics and ground assault. It was the reason Erwin had the second and fourth Cohorts permanently stationed on the ring, along with a few hundred million clones. Under no circumstances were the Reapers to capture the Halo.
Erwin wasn't going to be able to compete with the Reapers on the battlefield for long. Even if the clones still had the technological edge, Ares was able to command the clones with perfection, and the fortress worlds could hold on for a hundred years each; the Reapers were just too entrenched. Any species that had the intelligence to conquer tens of thousands of Galaxies knew how to mass-produce was assets.
He couldn't produce Imperial assets quickly, not unless he introduce some kind of breeding program; something he wouldn't dream of. So, even if a single legionary trooper could take on a Reaper starship, the math still wouldn't work out. The Weltraumwölfe was a sharp knife that could cut through any enemy force but that knife would eventually dull, and Erwin had no way to sharpen it. The technology of the Empire was designed to work for only naturally birthed Imperials, a double-edged sword that was now cutting Erwin.
The war would mostly be fought by the Astartes; clones that'd do their duty without question. Imperials couldn't be mass-produced, but clones could.
If Erwin could somehow increase production, and ensure his forces had an edge, then there was hope he could bring the Reapers to the negotiating table.
However, he was worried for the first time in a long time about the possibility of the enemy having a technological edge over the Empire.
One question rang in Erwin's head, and the more he thought about it, the more he worried.
How did the Reapers make a machine that can use psionics?