The lights of the corridor where light up red as a woman wearing black and red robes walked down it. She walked to the end of the corridor and walked though the a set of doors at the end before walking into the centre of a round room. She walked to the middle and got down on one knee.
"The Empire has called for me, Princess Ulestia, to attend so here I am. What does the family ask of me?" she asked.
A few feet above her where a few chairs with hooded figures sitting on them.
"Beloved sister." one of them said. "Our beacon that we have sent to the Oriculas Galaxy has activated. This means that there is a civilisation there that requires our attention. Take your fleet and bring them into the light."
"Father, is this my mission?" Ulestia asked.
"Yes, bring them to the light of the empire." said an old man.
"Yes father." the princess said before rising and turned to leave.
As she exited the corridor light shined onto her. She was a humanoid, tow arms, two legs, five fingers and three toes. Her body was structured like an asari or human as was her head, but she had large curved triangular fin ears arching from the side of her head down to her collar bone. White bone crests replaced eyebrows and her eyes where a deep shade of purple. Her skin was a purplish blue.
She wore a golden metal headband with a cloth hanging from the back along with a long braided ponytail. Her outfit was similar to what monks would wear with a red sash that flowed into a dress around her.
"Prepare the Tel Makka fleet. Set course for the Oriculas Galaxy." she said.
OOOOO
The Article station tables was filled with the Holograms of the different Warlords sat at their respective chairs. Each of them had the same worried look on their faces with the news that Oda and John had delivered.
"So, we still don't know what we are facing?" an Asari asked.
"As much as I hate to say it no, what we found indicates a threat but that's about it. Mordin is working on the cocoons we have at the moment but that's about it." John said as he sent the relevant data. "This is what we have so far, we'll keep working on it but that's about it."
"But we do have a problem." Oda added. "That being when the threat arrives, we need to have a fleet comprised of all forces met here. Even 5% will do, as for Command I recommend that someone from Article with combat experience take command of the fleet."
"I agree," said Mikyle surprising the John and a few of the other warlords. "Thinking about this both logicically and tactically it would present the best idea to be under the command of someone who has no Warlord loyalties."
"Yes but then it comes down to the commanders and soldiers under Command who may revolt." and Asari Warlord said.
"My troops are mostly Mechs and troopers, not to mention I'm working on Strom soldiers. But the latter is taking some time, not to mention I'm spread quite thin." John said stroking his chin.
"Well given that this is a possible galaxy wide threat, we can make an agreement." the Salarain scientist said. "How about, no border action is to be taken until this crisis has been dealt with. However if this does happen no assistance will be offered until the threat has past, if the empire in question is still around it will be split up by other near by empires."
The other warlords nodded and a contract was soon shown up in front of each of the warlords. Each one sighed it before it closed.
"We can work on some of the details later." he said. "I'll send you all another copy once we have worked it out. Until then send 5% of your fleets to the location, we will stop this before it happens."
"I would recommend around 10% of each fleet." John then spoke up making eyes turn to him. "We're likely going to need a backup fleet as well. If we are going to be facing a vanguard fleet on the way then it's likely going to be small. And we are going to need to send a message, blow up the fleet and make their nose sore. That will make them think twice and allow us to get ready."
A series of nods followed with the Commanders statements.
"We cannot let another Reaper attack occur, I agree with Shepard." one of the Asari Warlords said before another one spoke up.
"Indeed, but there is also another problem we face, and that is the matter of when the threat arrives. Think about it, we have no idea when the threat will arrive. They could arrive 10 years from now, all this preparation is ok but we need to think about when they'll arrive." she said making everyone look at each other with a bit of guilty face. "I have an idea, we place long range sensor buoys along the edge of the galactic edge close to Pegasus. These buoys will be equipped with stealth tech in order to hide them from any kind of sensor tech and will communicate the threat arrival with a signal so low that no one but a specific piece of tech will detect it. I would also recommand that we have a staging area around a neutral planet to make sure that when the threat arrives we can move fast and upgrade the ships as needed."
"A fine idea, we'll make the plans." the salarian said.
"Let's do it now, so that if they do turn up we can move fast." John said.
OOOOO
After a few hours of talking and planning John walked into the med bay. Shoko has been looking into the beast that they faced on the planet as well as checking Jane's DNA to see if it was a match with his. As he walked in she yawned and cracked her limbs.
"Ahhhh, that's better." she muttered.
"Everying good?" John asked.
"Hai, I've been up all night trying to get this… thing sorted out." she said pointing to the beast on the operating table.
It was now little more then meat and tubes as it lay there.
"From what I've been able to find out, it's a type of biotech virus. Something that can not only integrate itself with bio matter but also tech. It corrupts the person it infects and turns them into this," she waved at the body again. "...and turn it into some kind of soldier. I contacted Mordin and he agrees, that beacon was made to subdue the population and send out a signal at the same time. So it's likely we are going to be dealing with an advanced race that can use the population to it's advantage."
"So we need to make sure that those canisters are destroyed." John muttered.
"I'm not so sure it will be that simple, I mean yes that is one of the possibilities. But if we take the subject into consideration we may have a hard time short of a nuke to destroy it. What I can to is try to work on a retrovirus that will make the virus inert or something, I need to work on some ideas."
"Ok, send the data to the other Warlords. Now I believe that there is something else you wish to tell me."
"Hai." she said as she stood and walked over to a cabinet and took out two vials of blood with a tablet. "Me and EDI ran the DNA test 10 times to make sure. Jane, is your half sister." she said as she looked at the vials then handed him a tablet.
John nodded as he took it and walked out. He walked over to the brig and walked in, only two cells where occupied one containing his sister and the other one her friend. Moving over to her cell he looked at her as she was doing some press ups, aware of his presence she looked up and stood.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"You are my half sister." he said as he lowered the force field and handed her a tablet.
She took it and looked at it. "This is impossible." she said. "You faked it."
"And why would I do that?"
As much as she wanted to she could not think of a reason why he would fake this. "Ok so we're bother and sister, now what?"
"We are about to be attacked from an extra galactic threat. And I need all the help I can get, you being my sister. That gives me a new card to play with, two Shepard on the field not one. Trust me the name alone wet peoples pants."
She just looked at him with a raised brow. She wasn't ready to accept this, but she may as well tag along and increase her reputation.
OOOOO
The Princess walked down a corridor followed by a group of six honour guards. She walked onto a large bridge with her personal guard. The members of the crew stood and placed their hands over their hearts as the Princess walked around a chair and sat down. The guard then took their places beside her.
"Are all ships accounted for?" she asked.
"Yes princess they are, all 500 ships are ready as well as their crews." said the ship head.
"How long until we reach out destination?"
"Around 60 cycles till we reach Midpoint then another 60 till we reach the galaxy." he said. "Around 120 cycles in total."
"So be it, prepare for deliverance. All ships move out."
OOOOO
Shina Jack sat cross legged in front of the statue of the goddess along with a number of her students. The meditation session was a major part for the code. While they where warriors, they where also a religious sect and that had some expectations as well as worship. While Shepard wasn't religious he allowed her to teach people the way of the goddess she worshipped in return she would offer her monks for war and train a new generation of biotics.
It was a mutual relationship even if he didn't agree with some of it. As she prayed the bell outside began to chime and her eyes opened to look at the goddess and bowed. After dismissing her students she turned on the cushion she was on as Ashley walked in. She walked in and knelt in front of Jack.
"Ashley, I was expecting John." she said.
"He's at a major meeting at the moment, but has ordered a few of us to get this ready. We need as many of the monks as you can spare, we maybe at war soon. And we need all the help we can get." Ashley said making Jack look at her.
"Very well, it is part of the deal. But we need protection."
"We are already ready to help with that."
OOOOO
The standard LOKI mechs that were once made on earth had been changed, mostly due to the lack of tech to make them. Now they were completely different, they where still humanoid but more angular and rectangular. The head was now a simple red slit with three eyes above the slit while the head itself was in the save of a v with a white chevron painted on it. It's chest had a tight piece of webbing over it. The joins were covered in an armoured cloth to ensure that the points could be obvious weak points.
But this was just the standard soldier while another one which looked the same had more advanced armour and had a rocket launcher on the back. But both had a weapon specificly designed for them. It was an old M60 machine gun but modified with mass effect tech. This would make them effective combat soldiers but despite the lower tech level they were slow to make.
Tevos walked into the main mech manufacturing plant and up to the man in charge of the facility.
"Chief we have to step up production of the mechs." she said walking up to his desk.
He looked up at her with a raised brow. "How?" he asked.
All she did was smile.
OOOOO less then 3 months later.
A fleet of around 500 ships ranging from a single dreadnought to frigates exited from hyperspace to basic frigates. The ships themselves had an oval round shape to them with several weapon hard points on them. Due to the long journey the ships needed to rest and cool down for their engines. As they rested the Princess stood and looked out at the stars in front of her. New words for the empire to take a hold of. She smiled, even as her knowledge operator looked to her.
"Princess we are detecting a galaxy wide nexus of knowledge. I'm looking into it now." he said.
That made her smile even more but that smile dropped as ships then came out of space. But they were not uniform, some them had a different style to others.
"Incoming fleet." said the seer operator.
"Well, it seems that they have come to greet us." she said as she sat down. "Communicate with them, tell them that the Dolmus Empire wishes to extend greetings to the beings of this galaxy. We also wish for them to join us in our empire."
They waited for a few points before they got a response.
"Princess they just sent a reply. They say 'We are not interested in joining your Empire, please leave now and we'll forget about this'." said the speaker operator.
"They refuse to join us in peace?" the princess asked. "Tell them that if they do not wish to join us then they will be purged from this galaxy."
The speaker nodded and sent the message. A few points after the sent it the fleet opposite then then open fired. Their craft shook as the shots impacted their barriers and hulls.
"They said 'That is a declaration of war'." the speaker said. "Prepare to be destroyed."
"Very well open fire." the princess said.
The enemy fleet began to break up and move towards the fleet. The faster ships moved as fast as they could taking on the larger ships of the fleet. Rounds impacted the barriers of the Princess' fleet as the ships moved in close and began to take them on.
Warlords perspective.
"All ships move to intercept, disable if possible destroy if necessary!" yelled a commander from an Asari dreadnought.
Battrian raiders, being the fastest in the fleet moved up as fast as they could and began to harass the cruiser like ships. All milky way ships all had fixed weapon hard points, the downside of this was the fact that they could only target one way. These extra galactic ships didn't have fixed hard points making them easy targets but also able to target whatever they wanted. As the fleet began to slip off the cruisers and frigates then began to target the biggest threat ships. Rockets and ship batteries began to fire at the enemy ships as they began to move closer. The weapons from both sides where similar, whatever tech the threat used was not Mass effect tech but it was also not lasers.
The only difference was the Thanix cannons from the Solar Empire ships. It was a standard thing for all of their ships and they provided much more damage to the threat fleet then the other ships did. The area was now a mess of ships, missiles and debris. The Article commander smiled as he opened a channel.
"Commander, you have a clear shot go get them."
Normandy.
"Ok the fleet has opened up a path." Joker said as he turned to look at the team next to the airlocks. "Ready?"
"Joker, punch it." John said as he cocked his weapon.
The pilot smiled and hit the engines to full. The capitol ship of the Solar Empire flew past all other ships undetected and got close to the threat's capitol ship. As they got close Jack hit the airlock control and a team of six flew across space and onto the enemy ship. They passed through the shield with ease and landed on the hull. Ashley then grabbed a beacon and placed it on the hull and the group backed away. Ships then targeted the beacon and fired, the shield collapsed and ripped a hole in the hull.
"Let's go." John said and the team jumped in to the ship as a field covered the hole.
Ashley, Jack, Jane, Garrus and Wrex followed. The ship they where in was very… exotic as like they paid attention to the detail of the ship itself.
"Commander, I have hacked a small portion of their systems and have found their bridge." EDI said over the comm.
"Thanks EDI," John said as he turned to the others. "Me, Ashley and Garrus will take the bridge the rest of you find a terminal, get what intel you can."
They nodded and split up.
OOOOO
The princess could only watch as the fight in space was taking place. Whoever these people were their fighting style was extremely sloppy. No beauty, no complexity to it. They just charged in and began to fire at anything that moved. This was just painful to watch, at best they lost a few craft and the loss of their barriers and part of their hull.
"This is so boring." she moaned as an alarm went off. "What's that?"
"Intruders, someone has gained access to the ship!" one of her operators said.
"WHAT?!"
OOOOO
Jack ran up as fast as she could and kicked a soldier in the head before swinging her bo and took the helmet off the soldier. Before he could recover she punched him with a biotic blast sending him to into members of his team. More solider came and she spun her bo round creating a shield blocking the projectiles coming at her.
Jane charged in fast with a curved blade drawn. She dived as they tried to shoot at her but she rolled and slammed her knife into the jaw of one of them and unloaded several round from her pistol into another one. Wrex on the other hand just charged into a group of them knocking them to one side and crushing another against a wall. He then turned and unloaded shotgun rounds into the ones that survived. As the last one fell the three regrouped with each other and got a good look around.
The room was large with a cylindrical device above them. It rotated around them and EDI's map showed that this was the primary server room. Or at least the equivalent of a server room.
"We have to move fast." Jack said as she placed a hand on the ground. "There are more coming."
"Right, EDI which is the main console?" Jane asked as she tapped her comm.
"It should be directly below the device you are under." the AI replied.
Jane looked around and saw something that looked like a terminal, but the problem was that the controls on it. It had four fingers and she had five, looking around at the dead bodies around her she could tell that the threat was an alliance of alien races. Walking over to a body with four fingers she cut off both the arms and used them to access the terminal.
Princess perspective.
She had never thought it possible but here it was. Three aliens had managed to breach the ship without being detected, did these people have teleportation technology? She didn't know but what she did know was that she was going to crush these people like insects. They would pay for this transgression. Before she could do anything the door to control burst open and three aliens came in.
John's perspective.
As soon as he and the others entered John open fired at the nearest soldier dressed in gold. His rounds impacted its shield as it turned and advanced. Ash and Garrus jumped to the side taking over as the crew grabbed weapons and began to fire at them. However he was busy as the golden soldier came at him with it's staff. As it was swung he grabbed it before delivering a kick the gut of his opponent forcing the golden soldier to let go of it. At that point everything began to slow.
There was six golden soldiers each of them with their own weapons, and each of them stood next to a chair which sat a person who John could only describe as the leader. She was the target, assuming it was a she. That mean that these golden soldiers were some form of honour guard and they needed to be dealt with. As the room moved back into normal speed he swung the staff around and thrust it into the guard killing him outright.
The others came in fast but Ashley moved in fast with her own blade. She drove it into the leg of one of the golden soldiers before beheading the soldier. That evened the odds evened the odds even more, in their favour. The four golden soldiers left backed up with their weapons aimed at John. But he smiled and used his boosters and grabbed two of them bring them to the other end of the bridge.
The two guards turned to follow them surprised at the boost. But that didn't last as one of them had their head explode due to a sniper rifle round and the other had their leg severed and fell to the ground before a knife slit his throat. At the other end John ducked as one of the soldiers tried to swing at him but it ended up hitting his friend. This combat style he was using was not something that these soldiers where used to.
That was something he could use and kicked the leg from under him before slamming his fist down on the head knocking him out. Turing to the other he then delivered an uppercut to other one with his omni blade activated. The blade went though his head killing him outright. Allowing him to focus on the others in the bridge. Bringing his rifle up he opened fired at the ones who were easiest to target.
With the guard down Ash jumped out of cover and charged in. Pistol and knife in hand she moved towards the nearest crew member and slammed a knife in the head. Letting go she then grabbed the member and used him as a shield as rounds came at her. John was already in cover trying to take out as much of the bridge crew as possible. Garrus looked around and took cover, grabbing a grenade from his belt and armed it.
"GOING LOUD!" he yelled before throwing it.
It landed in the middle of the bridge and detonated. A loud bang and a blinding flash of light made people drop their weapons and cover their ears. After it died down the three came out of cover and killed everyone else except for the VIP who John walked up to and looked down on.
"Welcome to the milky way." he said before punching her so that she lost consciousness. "Target secure," he then clicked the comm. "Jane did you get the intel?" he asked.
"Yep, we're already at an airlock." she said.
"Ok move it." he said before turning to the others. "Ready?" he asked.
"Let's do this." Ash said. "Joker we need a pick up." she said over the comm.
Garrus then placed a device on the VIP and the guard before he and John picked one up. Activating their mag boots and walked up the wall next to the door. Ash then aimed her pistol at the bridge window.
"3, 2, 1," she yelled before she fired and at the same time they deactivated their mag boots.
The team got jettisoned from the ship at speed, they flew away from the ship far enough before the Normandy came from below them and picked them up in the hanger. The team rolled as soon as they got into the ship. Security came up fast and pointed their weapons at the two guests they had as the team got up.
"Take them to the brig." John ordered before hitting the comm. "Shepard to fleet, mission complete, let'm have it."
OOOOO
The Knowledge operator was not at the bridge when the intruders bordered. As he walked back he was stopped by a door blocking his path to the bridge. Confused he turned to a terminal on the wall.
"Craft, why is the way blocked to the bridge?" he asked.
"The seal is no longer active in the bridge, all systems have been diverted to secondary control." the system said.
"Is the princess still on board?" he asked in a panic.
"Negative."
"Set course to midpoint! Order all ships to flee back to midpoint!"
OOOOO
The space battle did not die down but the captains realised that something was up as the ships began to turn. John looked out of the main cockpit of the Normandy as he could see all the ships begin to turn.
"Commander, the Article commander has ordered a withdraw to all ships." Joker said.
"Pull back." John nodded. "We don't know what their FTL is like."
Joker nodded and pulled the Normandy back along with the rest of the joint fleet. They watched as the ships turned and fled back into dark space, people began to cheer in the ships. John however didn't, after all this was just the beginning.