Ok, I edited so Miranda isn't on the Normandy during the UN-Normandy first contact. Inform me if I missed something and her name appears earlier in the story. Otherwise it will mostly follow canon.
Also sorry for the long update. School got me preoccupied.
October 11th, 2913
Enroute to Horizon
SSV Normandy (Alliance Stealth Frigate)
While Coalition and Alliance forces clashed with Reaper forces across Citadel space, another fleet, consisting of mainly special forces and some of the best the Council could muster, rallying in an isolated system. Onboard the 2.4 kilometres long light carrier gathered many of these operatives.
Commander Shepard, along with Tali, Garrus, Liara, Ashely, Vega, and Grunt waited for the Enyo to come aside and dock (using Nano-technology, they can easily mold a few components to properly dock with a ship). The ships connected and the group entered the United Nations vessels.
"Can't believe that these super-dreadnaughts don't even qualify as full-on carriers or battleships," Tali said in awe as they entered the docking tube.
"A warship of this size must carry a large number of warriors and from what's happening in the Trebia system, they must be excellent ones." Grunt stated, excited to meet someone who could finally fight a Krogan on equal terms.
"Still, it makes you wonder what the United Nations are fighting if they need warships as big as the Citadel," Shepard replies.
"You don't know half the crap we have to deal with on a yearly basis. The Reapers are only a few steps up from the usual hostiles we deal with, only there's a million of them and they don't seem to die easily." someone says. The group turn their heads around to see two Humans in combat fatigues approaching. The male one bore similar Asian features to Ross, with short black hair, and had signs of being a bit Japanese. The other one was Female, with similarities to Admiral Limburn. Long gold hair, European descent, and a light skin tone. Both wore glasses and seemed to indicate that they were primarily in support or long-range combat role.
"Commander Shepard, I'm Colonel Chris Chow, United Nations Special Operations Command. And this is Major Mchill, also SOCOM. We're here to take you to the briefing room and will be assigned as SOCOM's liaisons," the male one smiles and extended his hand to Shepard. Shepard shook it.
"Pleasure to meet you, Colonel, lead the way." the group departs the docking area and approaches the briefing room.
"So, what exactly do you mean that the Reapers are only a few steps up from what you usually deal with?" Grunt asked, intrigued.
"When you're in the United Nations SOCOM or just any military branch in general, running into very weird anomalies, the unknown, and the downright terrifying is a surprisingly common thing. On the usual basis, we've had to deal with some ancient empires trying to enslave smaller nations, giant space-borne creatures that scare the shit out of civilians, pirates with advance weapons, slavers, some tiny empires declaring war on us and immediately getting curbed stomped, and one big Crusade that happened a few years after the Unbidden conflict. Our last major naval battle prior to coming here was against an Extra-Dimensional monster stuck in a wormhole while our last major planetary offensive was killing off one very pissed-off immortal and an endless swarm of people-eating monsters. So honestly, the Reapers are just another day at the office for us in the Crusader Corps." Mchill shrugged.
"I'm sorry what? An immortal? Extradimensional Monster?" Garrus asked, dumbfounded.
"Yup. The monster took over 2000 warships of the UNS and VPD navies to bring down, though we lost 52 vessels in the process. The Dust Wars was us saving a chapter of Humanity from one person who absorbed some sort of parasite, I believe it was called the Prethoryn Scourge or something like that. And said immortal was also psionically imbued, so shooting her with bullets didn't work out until we blew up some pylons which she channels her powers. Outside of those two instances, pirates with decent weapons and marauders were the main things we had to worry about." Mchill deadpanned.
"Seriously? Next, you're telling us that you have space dragons coming to invade the Reapers." Ashley joked, only for the two supersoldiers to give her a funny face. "What?"
"Umm, you're not wrong." Chris shrugged.
Some systems on the outskirts of Salarian space and near the Paz Star system.
At the Same time.
Spaceborne creatures, something the Reapers had eradicated before they could grow stronger. The Reapers thought that nothing would come of it. They were horribly wrong. The Reapers also thought they could cut off Coalition reinforcements by taking the PAZ systems so they brought 2000 Reapers, among them were 400 Reaper Capital ships. They thought they could win, and they were wrong.
"Fakir, we are approaching the Paz system. Coalition forces have grown to at least 6000 warships. We've also detected two new megastructures, both the size of the Citadel and one of them is emitting the energy signatures of a wormhole." one of the Reaper destroyers reported.
Fakir, a Sovereign-class, simply did the Reaper equivalent of brushing off their destroyer counterpart. "It does not matter. These organics will fall like the rest."
"Wait, new contacts have been detected. Composition: Organic. Vessels: Organic, threat level: extreme. Fakir, We're detecting thousands of spaceborne creatures en route to our location. All are of the Ether Drake, Amoebas, and Sky Dragon class. Also detecting several Leviathans."
Every single Reaper in the fleet paled (or did the equivalent). These space-borne creatures were the only singular organic beings that could take on a Reaper and win with ease. "Move us to the PAZ system and dest-"
That was when thousands of creatures leapt out of hyperspace. They truly were a flock no, a Swarm. Many were space Amoebas, Tikyankis, and Crystalline entities. But each one of them surrounded dozens of Titanic beasts.
Thanks to the Elder Alliance, the former Pact and now Coalition nations helped repopulate the galaxy of spaceborne. Tens of thousands were bred each decade, and among them were the newly revived Ether Drakes, Sky Dragons, and Void spawns. Pisnoics, which were in plentiful supply from the Elder Alliance and later from the Remnant Protectorate, were able to communicate with these Leviathans. Many joined the United Nations or Commonwealth navies, becoming actual citizens, being paid (they are paid a ridiculous amount of credits), and the right to vote for leaders. Soon, technology was developed which allowed the Leviathans to communicate with regular Organics. And they were amongst the many species that were pissed of against the Reapers, believing that the Reapers should be safeguarding civilization, not wiping them out.
The Reapers could only watch in horror as the Levithan and Spaceborne fleet grew from thousands to 12,000 creatures. Then the Reapers were blindsided but the sheer rage they emitted as the Reapers were incapacitated but large screeches from the Leviathan fleet.
And then the spaceborne descended on the Reapers. Thousands of Energy Siphon rays suddenly appear in front of the Reaper formation and like a tidal wave, sweeps through most of the Reaper formation. Most Reapers are drained of electricity and their Eezo cores stop working. From both the Tikyanki and Amoebas, large beams of pure energy strike the hulls of the Reaper ships. Many Reapers scream in agony as their limbs are cut off, their hulls cracking under immense pressure, and their internals being fried by the sheer heat.
Then the Leviathans unleashed its full power and any hope of victory vanished.
From the mouths of the Leviathans, beams of energy, as powerful as those of a Titan's main cannon, erupted. In a split second, these beams swept through the entire formation and hundreds of Reapers disappeared, turning into space dust. Many more Reapers were unlikely enough to be shredded by crystalline projectiles, screaming in pain as
Fakir, along with what was left of his fleet, turned to flee, only for 2 Eldar Alliance battlecruisers to jump right in front of their escape path. Particle beams and Gamma Laser shredded what was left of the Reaper fleet and after a mere 9 minutes of combat, only Fakir was left.
Left adrift, Fakir watched as one of the blue Leviathans slowly approached him. Reminiscent of Earth's dragon, Fakir shivered as it spoke in a voice that terrified him (or her, do Reapers have genders). There was one message he heard: I AM THE SKY DRAGON. WE ARE THE LEVIATHANS. YOU HAVE FAILED IN YOUR GOAL OF PRESERVING CIVILIZATION AND WE ARE HERE TO BRING AN END TO YOUR INSIDIOUS REIGN! Then Fakir's mind went blank as he was burned up in an instant.
UNS Enyo
"Never mind, we'll tell you later," Chris said as they entered the briefing room.
"Ah, good. You brought Commander Shepard and his crew. Please, sit." the figure turned and it…. Admittedly, Shepard and his crew weren't expecting to find an Elf but they did. She had Emerald Green hair and tall pointy ears but seemed Human in many ways.
Said figure sighs. "Yes, I know. I'm an Elf, or an Aqarun by my people's name. I'm Rear Admiral Long of the United Nations Space Force and Commander of the Enyo battlegroup."
Everyone snapped out of their stupor and sat down, along with the two crusaders and sat down.
"Alright, welcome to Operation Bunker Shot." Admiral Long said as he activated a hologram of the galaxy. "Bunker Shot's main goal is to eliminate Cerberus, the black ops group running amuck across the galaxy."
The hologram zooms in on a single planet. "UNIS has picked up some weird transmissions from the planet of Horizon. The sentry array has detected a number of ships, unmarked and not aiding in Council refugee efforts, entering the planet's atmosphere. We believe these to be Cerberus ships for some secret project."
Ashley sat up. "Horizon! How can we forget! The private shelter of Sanctuary is located there, hundreds of thousands of civilians are there."
Chris nodded. "One of our scouts made scans and discovered a large facility housing materials similar to what's inside a Reaper. Currently, Cerberus is the only faction researching Reaper technologies, with Council forces smart enough to not touch those things and the Coalition has little need thanks to the ancient Archives."
"Keelah, that's not good," Tali said.
"However what is more troubling is that the scouts can no longer detect any comm frequencies coming from the planet. Even more so is that a task force of Reapers has been seen moving towards the planet. This is the last major Reaper fleet group in the Terminus systems, as all others have withdrawn to Batarian, Alliance, or Council space." Long said, before trying to Shepard.
"Commander Shepard, you will be leading an assault onto Horizon and launch an aggressive investigation into Sanctuary itself. You'll be supported by the 537th Ranger Battalion of the 7th Ranger Regiment. The Enyo battlegroup will keep the Reapers off you while you sweep the facility."
"Are we to eliminate or capture indoctrinated agents?" Chris asked.
"Capture will be preferable." The Normandy crews look at the Admiral as if he were insane. That was when Major Mchill spoke up.
"Thanks to the Elder Alliance and Research from the Leviathans, we've figured out how this indoctrination works. As it turns out, the Reapers are actively trying to physically convert the mind into their servants using these weird signals, kind of like the Beacon from Dead Space. Either way, Elder Alliance and the Remnant Protectorate have concocted a nanite drug that essentially clears the mind and rids of this indoctrination. The Protectorate has also developed a Synthetic Dust Crystal that when detonated, essentially wipes a brain clean of indoctrination. However, it has a limited radius and is in short supply so we only have a dozen of them."
"You...you cured indoctrination?" Liara stammered.
"Lady, brainwashing went out the window when Psionics and Aura users became more available. That and brainwashing can easily be prevented by traditional signal jamming, a neural implant that allows for AIs to check on users, shields which block out the harmful effects of indoctrinations, and a myriad of other things that all militaries have adopted. And we tested these things before, tried them on some Reaper artifacts that the ancients had lying around before we blew them up." Mchill deadpanned.
Everyone's mouths dropped (much to the amusement of the UN personnel). What kind of people brushed off the biggest threat to civilization like it was nothing.
"Ok, before you people go into shock, are there any questions?" Ross asked.
No one moves. "Very well then, dock the Normandy to the Enyo, we'll be at Horizon in a few hours.
UNS Enyo and SSV Normandy (SR2)
Horizon, Oct 11, 2913,
Fully armoured up and armed, Shepard and his crew waited in the Normandy's cockpit as they approached Horizon.
"(comms) Shepard, this is Rear- Admiral Long. looks like we were right. We've detected 4 Reaper Capital ships and 2 dozen destroyers. We'll clear the skies and orbit but we need Normandy to scrap out a landing zone and secure the entrance for us."
"Got it. Good luck."
"Thank you for that. Enyo is releasing the Normandy, Godspeed Commander." the ship shudders and the Normandy drops out.
"(Comms) All ships, focus on the Reaper destroyers. Don't let those escape."
The Enyo battlegroup, which consisted of the Light Carrier Enyo herself, two light cruisers, one command and control ship, and a dozen and half automated escorts craft (destroyers and corvettes) under the control of the command and control ship.
The escort ships surged forward, guns blazing. Stormfire cannons opened up, emp and ASHE (Anti-Ship High Explosive) rounds raking the Reaper destroyers. Elerchic death machines and war-proven warships danced around each other. Reaper liquid metal cannons sliced through space, while United Nations torpedoes, auto-cannon rounds, plasma cannons, and Gamma Lances provided a beautiful answer.
2 UN automated corvettes (300 meters), linked to the crew of the Command ships, zipped past an isolated Reaper Destroyer and burned towards its rear. Its dark matter thrusters easily outmatched its ancient counterpart. Dodging a narrowly missed Reaper lance, the corvettes responded with a short barrage of plasma, burning off the appendages of the monstrosity. The Reaper did not have to suffer for long as a pair of Devastator Antimatter torpedos turned its hull into molten metal.
4 Reaper destroyers duelled with one of its United Nations counterparts, Reaper energy weapons harmlessly absorbed by its shields. The destroyer returned the favour, 8 gauss cannons, housed in 4 double turrets like their old Earth maritime cousins, barking one short but devastating reply. Mere seconds into the skirmish, 4 more Reaper destroyers turned into wrecks, the result of 800 years of combined knowledge along with thousands of years of experience.
The Enyo, considered underpowered and mediocre in ship-to-ship combat in its home galaxy, surged forward towards like a motorcycle on a flat and empty street.. Eclipsing the speeds of what the Reaper could do in sub-light, it's dozens of kinetic artillery batteries peppering the Reaper ships. Megatons worth of kinetic energy ripped straight through Reaper barriers. One smart Reaper Capital ship attempted to ram using it's FTL drives but was stopped cold when a Gauss Cannon shell bisected it.
"Damm, just 3 years ago, we were getting our asses kicked by Sovereign. Now it's almost the opposite way around." Joker comments.
"When we spent the first 500 years after unification day preparing to go to war, ships tended to grow big and well-armed. Things only got bigger when we became the enforcers of the galaxy." Chris said as he stepped behind Shepard. He was wearing standard UNMC armour, with the signature light blue used by the UN on his soldiers and the flag of Japan underneath the UN flag. (Imagine this armour though camouflage, add two flags to the should patch, and blue stripes down the sides: artwork/WKbGyv)
"What's that you got there?" Shepard asked.
"Standard M3A2 Carbine used by SOCOM and UN marines. Fires 4.5 by 34 rounds, though they hit harder than a 50 Cal. BMG from the 21st century. Uses magrails to accelerate at over 6000 meters per second and with 90 rounds per mag, plenty to go around. It also has an underslung plasma launcher to take out hardened targets or groups of softies, though it can be swapped out for grenade launchers." Chris said as he hosted his weapon. (the weapon looks like this, with an underslung plasma launcher of any design: artwork/wVJOY)
"Why are you still using chemically propelled weapons?" Garrus questioned.
"Even with our technology, it's still pretty expensive to arm everyone with energy weapons. A handheld energy rifle is still triple the cost of a regular chemical-hybrid propelled weapon. Other factors include training, maintenance, logistics, cost, tradition, and a couple of other things. Besides, hybrid chem-magrail weapons served us well for hundreds of years, no reason to change now. Though we've integrated plasma weapons into our arsenal as those are quite reliable." Chris said as he pulled the bolt back and inspected the chamber.
"We're approaching the drop zone commander. You might want to get ready for the shuttle." Joker reported.
"Copy, get us down there in one piece," Shepard ordered.
Over the lush world of Horizon, the SR2 Normandy deploys the Kodiak shuttle from its belly. downwards. Just above Sanctuary, the Kodiak decelerated and hovered, allowing for a squad to jump out. Shepard, Garrus, Grunt, Ashley, Liara, and Chris jumped out, armed and ready.
"We're on the ground, Cortez. Head back to the Normandy.." Shepard ordered.
"(Comms) Aye Aye sir. Good luck." The Kodiak disappears into the sky, leaving the ground team below.
"A Lot of damage here Skipper." Ashley comments.
"But nobodies. Probably Cerberus's doing." Liara adds in.
"Colonel Chow, did your AIs figure out what they're doing here?" Shepard asked as they moved from the landing zone.
Chris shook his head. "Nothing much yet, though analysts made attempts to guess. From the intel reports, my guess is that Cerberus is using the refugees as test subjects for indoctrination or experimenting with Reaper implants."
"Disgusting, we saw what they did to their soldiers on Mars," Ashely grumbles.
The group moves forward when a Cerberus shuttle crashes in front of them and a Harvester jumps overhead.
"You see the Harvester?!" Garrus yelled.
"We saw it. Stand by." Chris activates his comms. "This is Comanche 2-1 to Enyo Actual. Reapers on the scene. We need air assets on stations for Air superiority."
"(Comms) This is Enyo, good copy. Starchasers are en route to clear the skies. ETA is 8 mikes."
"Copy that, we're continuing." Chris nods to Shepard and they keep moving. As they approach a crashed shuttle when several Cerberus Phantoms appear.
"Phantoms! Take them out before they get close!" the squad unleashes a torrent of mass accelerated and chemical-propelled weapons, taking out the Cerberus troops before they could become a threat.
"Cerberus has the high ground!" Ashley yelled as a number of Cerberus assaults and Nemesis troops appeared.
"Clearing them out!" Chris yelled. That was when a blue ball of plasma shot out from the underside of his rifle, engulfing the Cerberus troops in one big explosion.
"Now I am jealous," Garrus said as they continued on.
"Cerberus was evacuating, the Reapers must be pursuing.'' Liara comments.
"About time they killed each other," Shepard adds in.
The group continues forward, battling Cerberus and Reaper forces alike. The group proceeds to head to the tower.
"Casualties, both Reaper and Cerberus," Shepard notes.
"Contact left!" Chris shouts and takes out two Cerberus troopers. A short burst and Tungsten slugs rip through the troopers' shields and their heads explode.
"Good shooting Colonel," Shepard said before the group continues on. Eventually, they find a message left by Miranda.
This is Miranda Lawson. If you managed to get this far, you must be desperate or stupid. Listen to me, this is not a refugee camp. This is a Cerberus facility run by my father, Henry Lawson. Turn back now, there is no help to be found here. All communications are being blocked from the central tower. Sanctuary is a lie, stay away.
"Looks like the UN was right, Sanctuary is a lie," Garrus said as soon as the message finished.
"Comms are blocked, can't contact the Normandy. Chris, you comms use a completely different system, are you still in contact with your fleet?"
"Affirmative Commander. Tachyon comms and the neural link are still active. Enyo is deploying the Rangers now." Chris replies.
"We'll need their help. We got Cerberus, the Reapers, and Miranda's crazy father involved. Any idea how this all fits?" Shepard asked.
"According to the Enyo's AI, wasn't Henry Lawson a perfectionist in genetics? Maybe he's working with Cerberus to gain something?" Chris commented
"Maybe, we still need more information. Let's move on." after that, the group moves on.
After discovering and draining an artificial lake that leads to a secret lab, the group moves in.
"This place is looking more like a factory than a refugee camp." Liara states.
"And Miranda's caught in the middle, let's get her out," Shepard responds.
"Enyo's rangers are moving in. They've already secured our LZ" Chris adds, giving some hope to the group.
Eventually, the group finds a control center. After both Chris and Tali reactivate the console, they discover a horrifying truth.
"Keelah, Cerberus is turning the refugees into husks." Tali gags as she watches one of the videos.
"And those Cerberus shuttles appear to have been making a break for it. Trying to hide their dirty secrets" Chris adds.
"Let's just find Miranda and figure out what else the Illusive man is hiding," Shepard said as he approached a locked door. "Shit, doors locked uptight, need to hack it."
"Hang on, let me give it a shot." Before anyone could say anything, Chris promptly kicks the door with so much force that they go flying. The door flew off and landed with a clang several meters away.
"Woah! What the heck are you?" Garrus asked, slightly startled.
"A Crusader super-soldier, now let's move." Chris deadpans.
The group moves forward, until they run into a Banshee. Said Banshee is immediately burned up from another plasma shot from Chris.
"Colonel, has anyone done anything like Cerberus is doing in your galaxy?" Liara asked as they moved through another room.
"I can only think of two scenarios where this happened. The first one was with the Saibugo race, where they willingly turned themselves into cyborgs. However, that was entirely voluntary and there are still billions of their kind that chooses to live without said cybernetics. The second was with Salem, with her hounds. Humans and Fanus turned into soulless monsters, only things worse than husks." Chris said the last part with a bit of venom.
"Uh, how did that happen?" Tali questioned.
"I'll tell you later about Operation Beacon of light. " the conversation ended when another Banshee appeared, though another overcharged plasma shot and a burst of kinetic fire brought it down with ease. The group fought through another horde of husks until they found another console. This was a recording from Miranda, showing what she had done.
"Guess we opened Pandora's box." Chris comments.
That was when on the console, another figure appeared.
"That's Kai Leng! The assassin." Ashley hissed.
"Former Alliance dishonourably discharged. Cerberus Assassin. Of course, we run into Cerberus's right-hand man." Chris grumbled. "We're gonna need some help getting further into the facility."
"Uh, aren't your rangers still at the entrance?" Garrus reminded.
"You forgot how you and the Formosan Tiger and Australian Snake couple met do you?" Chris asked before activating his comms. "Enyo Actual, this is Comanche 2-1, I need Comanche 2-2 here along with a squad. We've encountered heavy resistance and could use some help."
"(Comms) Wilco. Major Mchill and Reindeer 4-2 are being teleported in. Enyo Actual out."
"Why didn't we just teleport into the facility itself?" Garrus asked.
"Protocol. We don't teleport troops directly into battle zones because we don't know what's on the other side. Typically, Rangers, Crusaders, and Hunters go in first and then call in the reinforcements." Chris responds. "That and the Enyo is in a combat situation and probably needs all the juice it can get right now."
Suddenly a flash occurs and 10 figures appear. All are wearing armour similar to Chris's, though they had several different flags underneath the UN flag. Mchill was singled out for wearing armour with the flag of Canada on hers.
"Major Mchill reporting. What do we have?" she salutes Chris as she approaches.
"Major, we have a Code:8887 and we're pushing through to the center of this facility to retrieve a VIP," Chris said.
"Damm thought the last time we had to deal with an 8887 was on Remnant. Alright boys, let's move!" Mchill yelled as she pulled out a large handheld device.
"What's that?" Shepard asked.
"Portable Arc Emitter. Shoots a high voltage of lighting energy meant to take out large groups of enemies. First deployed during operation Beacon of light and does wonders against technology or soft organics." Chris smiles. "Considering husks are mostly cybernetics, these things will come in handy." (Think the Arc-Tool from Titanfall 2).
"Also good for stunning large beasts for capture. It's meant to supplement conventional shotguns in the UNSOCOM's armory." Mchill smiles as she heaves it. "So what's with the Code 8887?"
Chris shook his head. "Didn't I send you the information over the Neural link? Cerberus is making husks. We need to kill them all."
"Good, let's get to work then." Mchill turns towards another locked door (sliding ones remember) and kicks it down with one motion.
"Spirits, what do they feed you people?" Garrus asked in a bit of awe as the Crusader promptly kicked the heavy door down.
"Chemical enhancements, gene-therapy, a hint of muscular growth drugs, a bunch of crap you don't understand." Chris replied as he failed his partner/subordinate. Soon the Rangers followed through, along with Shepard's crew. Not long, they encountered a group of husks and a few brutes.
"Hostiles front, light them up!" one of the rangers yelled. A cacophony of Plasma and bullets erupted from the ranger team, killing all but the Brutes in a few short seconds.
"Hang on, let me deal with the heavies," Mchill said as she points her cannon at the approaching Brutes. "Firing."
The Fusion-Dust core spun up rapidly, and in a millisecond, a great flash of lightning shot out of the Arc Emitter. There seemed to be an artificial thunder boom and great light. The Brutes were hit and after a second, looked extremely burnt, their internal cybernetics fried and organic internals damaged. The Brutes collapsed, not moving, dead.
"PAC-01 is good. Looks like we got another effective weapon." Mchill said as she scans for the appear for more husks. "Let's move."
15 minutes later (Insert the rest of Priority Horizon because I'm terrible at fight scenes and lazy. It's simply how it goes in cannon with the UN kicking ass).
After several minutes of fighting with Husks and discovering that Kai-Leng was in the building, the group approached the last room.
"(Comms) Comanche 2-1, 2-2, this is Enyo Actual. Heat detectors show at least 3 people within the building. One is armed and is holding another one hostage. Recommend flashbangs."
"Stack up." Chris orders and the Rangers stack up on the wall next to the door. Shepard and his team do the same on the other side.
"Ready?" Chris asked, holding up a flashbang. Shepard nods.
"Breaching!" Mchill aims her PAC at the door and fires off an electrical discharge. The door opens and Chris throws in the flashbang.
The telltale detonation of the flashbang goes off and two Humans were heard yelling in shock. Shepard, Chris, the Normandy crew, and the Rangers burst in a second after the flashbang goes off.
"UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL FORCES! ON THE GROUND!" Chris bellows, aiming his weapon at an aged Human is seen clutching his ears, pistol on the ground. Two Human females, Miranda and Orina Lawsons, are seen disoriented.
One of the rangers immediately tackles Henry Lawson and the two drop the ground. Said Ranger, a Vulpine (fox-like), stands up and smashes the butt of their rifle into Henry Lawson's head, knocking him out.
"Miranda! You alright?" Shepard yells as he runs over to Miranda.
"I'm fine. Who are these new friends of yours?" she asked once she got her bearings.
"Colonel Chris Chow, United Nations Special Operations Command, Crusader Corps," Chris said as he turns towards Miranda.
"Never heard of this United Nations Special Operations Command. Pretty sure the UNIN got destroyed during the invasion of Earth." Miranda said as she got up.
"Oh, we have nothing in common with the UNIN. We're actually from a different galaxy." Mchill said. Miranda looked puzzled.
"Save the questions for later Ma'am. Wasn't there a Cerberus assassin in this area?" Chris asked.
"Kai-leng. He took the research and disappeared. I placed a tracker on him however, you should be able to find him. And yes, I will have questions for you." Miranda said, before noticing that three of the Rangers weren't even of any species she recognized.
"(Comms) Comanche 2-1, this is Enyo Actual. The orbit is clear. Rangers have secured most of the facility and were able to locate a few dozen civilians hiding in a storage room. Status on the VIP?"
"Enyo, this Comanche 2-1. VIP secured, also have an HVT captured. Be advised that an enemy SF operator has escaped the facility. Recommend deploying additional air assets to secure the airspace." Chris said.
"(Comms) Wait, standby 2-1. We got a Cerberus Frigate trying to run. Do you want us to shoot it down?"
Chris looked at the Normandy team, who all shrugged. "Let him go, for now, Enyo. We still don't know where Cerberus HQ is. Have the C&C ship travel it though, don't let it out of your sight."
"(Comms) yes Crusader. Ordering the UNS Houston to shadow."
"Great, so what did I miss?" Miranda asked.
Tali and Shepard both chuckle. "Keelah Miranda, you missed a lot."
Accessing United Nations SOCOM database: PAC-01, Mark 3 (Portable Arc Emitter)
The PAC-01 is considered one of the newer weapon systems to enter the service of the United Nations and its Coalition allies. The Current model, Mark 3, is powered by a dual Fusion-Lighting Dust core that only needs to be replaced occasionally. Working similarity to the Arc Emitters of the United Nations Space Fleet, the use of lightning dust has proven that it can be used not only as a lethal weapon, but a stunner, a charger, a battery, a jump starter, a wielder (preferably only as an emergency), a light source, and many more. When used in combat, its area of damage is akin to a flame thrower. However being somewhat more Humane, the UNAF (United Nations Allied Force, the military, scientific, exploration, construction, and defence branch of the United Nations) has phased out what portable flamethrowers it had in it's arsenal by the PAC and used it to supplement shotguns. It is also one of the few 'energy' weapons outside of plasma to be used extensively by the United Nations Allied Force and Commonwealth of Man.
In 2698, Apex House Industries, a key supplier of weapons for the UNAF began work on a Portable Arc Emitter to be used by UNSOCOM. Thus born the PAC-01 Mark 1, which proved to be sufficient for UNAF needs but required improvement. However, the project was shelved as the Unbidden War and the need to expand the navy took priority. After the Unbidden wars, the United Nations had to focus its resources on expanding its military force size so not many new weapons projects were started over the centuries. This changed however during Operation Beacon of Light: The Dust Wars.
Realizing they needed an effective weapon that was capable of wiping out large Grim swarms but could leave the surroundings mostly untouched. Apex House Industries would cooperate together with Crusaders to restart the PAC program. A newer version was developed and the PAC-01 Mark 2 was developed and hurriedly manufactured to be deployed with the 2309th Unified Assault and 34th Armored divisions. The weapons proved effective against both the White Fang Revolutionaries and Large Grimm swarms. However only units deployed during Operation B.O.L received such weapons, as other nations and units were hesitant to use acquire the PAC-002 as it was designed to be used against large swarms of enemies and armies, something the galaxy hadn't seen since the age of conflict and Great Khan Crusades (which happened 60 years before Operation B.O.L). However the PAC would see a major improvement once Remnant's primary industrial cooperation, the United Kingdom's Company, and Apexhouse redeveloped the weapon into something akin to a multitool. The PAC-01 Mark 3, powered by a dual Gravity dust-Fusion core, eventually found it's use outside the military and amongst many organizations. Despite it's lightning-based attacks, the PAC has an impressive range of 145 meters on open fields, and is deadly in CQC scenarios.
The PAC saw its first use during the Battle of Sanctuary, where UN Special Forces and Rangers deployed the weapon against Reaper forces. Kinetic Barriers were found to be somewhat useless against both the sheer energy produced by these lighting blasts and the energetic nature of these weapons. Field Marshal Ross has advised sharing some of these weapons with Citadel Forces to help combat Reaper Swarms.
Accessing United Nations Space Force database: Command and Control Ships
Traditionally, fleets are headed by either battleships or carriers. However, in the Coalition fleet, a new type of capital ship has entered service. As the United Nations, core Pact members, and Commonwealth of Man became the key enforcers of galactic law, they ran into a major manpower issue as they expanded their militaries. Traditional carrier battle groups and patrol fleets, once enough to patrol allied space, suddenly ran into the risk of being over-extended as the need for trained crews increased. Thus the United Nations navy came up with a solution, provided by an old video game, to automate the escort fleets and have them be controlled by one single ship.
These command and control ships are around 4.5 kilometres long, moderately armed, and staffed by a mixture of and organics. They share the same designs are their battle carrier and battleship brethren, however, the C&C ships have communication equipment in place of heavy gun batteries and large hangar bays. A C&C ship is capable of controlling anywhere between 2 to 400 automated escort ships, which fall into either the Corvette or destroyer classes.
There are two ways a C&C ship can control an automated escort craft. The first is an AI on the C&C manually controlling the said craft. It is the easiest and simplest way, however, AIs are hard to come produce, especially in a navy that has the need for AIs for hundreds of thousands of capital ships. The second involves organic crews. In uplink pods, a crew of 6 can easily take over the function of a traditional corvette crew. Essentially, these 6 become the ship, networked together like a hivemind. This allows major cutbacks to crew needs but still requires an organic presence. It should be noted that the larger and more complex a ship becomes, the more efficient an uplink crew becomes. Thus it has been decided to restrict remote controlling ships to escort craft and below. Scientists and attempting to work out a solution for a single organism to take control of an entire fighter swarm, but so far there have been no notable developments.
Despite them being under-armed than their carrier and battleship cousins, C&C ships and their escorts have proven to boost the combat range of traditional fleets and taken up roles that would strain the numbered fleets of the Coalition. Flotillas built around C&C ships have proven more effective against Reapers fleets numbering less than 500. Fleet Admiral Limburn has ordered several C&C fleets, along with Battlecarrier strike groups, to begin advancing on HSA's homeworld, affectionately known as Terra by Coalition forces.