For the Republic
AN: Got a lot of important info in the end of chapter Author's Note so please read.
It is well that war is so terrible. Lest we might grow too fond of it.
-General Robert E. Lee, United Republic Ground Forces 1860
Vigilo Confido.
-XCOM Motto
Empty space near Kar'shan
XCS Avenger
Since it was created XCOM has been preparing for the inevitable moment when it was finally revealed to humanity that it was not alone in the universe. For much of the 21st Century it sat ignored and considered by some to be a waste of money. That was until the prothean ruins were found on Mars. New life was breathed into the organization which quickly found itself being given the cutting edge of human technological development and a pool of the most skilled soldiers, scientists, and engineers in the world to recruit from.
Despite the Vietnam War being considered by many a great victory for humankind it was considered a source of shame for XCOM. The one thing they were created to do was over before they could participate. How many died simply because they were not there? In their first real test against the galaxy's threats XCOM had failed…
That would not happen again. XCOM's new commander Jack Harper, a former member of the Republican Black Operations Group, restructured the organization to deal with any threat the galaxy threw at it. Instead on large-scale battles more suited for a traditional military XCOM would covertly insert small teams of soldiers to deal with threats. This better suited the special forces origins of XCOM's soldiers. More focus would be put on XCOM's naval forces to help counter the numerical advantage the Council held over them. XCOM's Research & Development Labs will analyze Council technology and will learn from it, improve upon it, and eventually nullify it. Dr. Gavin Archer has already designed a special round to nullify biotic or kinetic barriers. XCOM's Engineering Division under Dr. Eva Core have already pushed the limits of human technological development by building improved energy weapon and power armor models. The Intelligence Division under Henry Lawson has made significant strides in completely destroying alien abilities to spy on humanity. His best agents had recently captured one of the Shadow Broker's top infiltrators and have begun interrogating him.
Although the Wanderer asked the other human nations to stay out of the Republic's war with the Batarian Hegemony he didn't include XCOM and they would have disobeyed the order even if he did. They missed the first war between humans and aliens and they certainly weren't going to miss another. Besides it gave Commander Harper a chance to refine his tactics and finally prove to the naysayers in the most spectacular way that XCOM was not a waste of money…
Kar'shan
Hegemon's Palace
Welcome to Kar'shan. For our first real combat mission the Commander has decided to go for broke. You'll be inserted directly into Kar'shan's capital city at the Hegemon's Palace. Once there you will attempt to capture or kill the Batarian Hegemon. Your secondary objective is to gather any and all incriminating information or information that will help the war effort. Your third objective is unimportant to the mission as a whole. If you can't accomplish it without jeopardizing the mission then you're given the greenlight to abandon it. Try to keep this quiet. We don't want our 'friend' slipping away. Good luck out there team. Central out.
No one cared as the 'StarRanger' landed at the Hegemon's Palace that evening. This was the Batarian Homeworld. One of the most heavily defended planets in the galaxy. An entire fleet was in orbit at all times with another a short relay jump away. Dozens of orbital defense stations were the second line of defense and hundreds of ground based mass drivers made up the third. After that they would have to get by millions of the Hegemony's elite troops. Military analysts believed it would take the combined fleets of the Turians, Asari, and Salarians to pierce the planet's defenses. Even though they were at war with the United Republic most of the fighting was in the Skyillian Verge with only the tinniest of skirmishes in Hegemony Space or at least that was what the news said. The Hegemony also had some of the strictest immigration & tourist policies in the galaxy beat only by the Turians who made it difficult for other species to legally live on Palaven. They didn't need any aliens polluting superior Batarian culture with their own or giving the lower castes ideas. This reputation was just seen as another weakness for XCOM to exploit.
All of this protection made the Hegemony's homeworld free from the threat of alien invasion whether through armies or ideals. This had the unfortunate effect of making Kar'shan's defenders lazy and inexperienced. Getting an assignment on the homeworld was seen as a cushy job by all in the Hegemony's military. A chance to kick back and relax. When a strange aircraft painted in non-Hegemony colors was seen flying through the air towards the Hegemon's palace few paid it any mind. Most assumed it was some new experimental military craft that was about to be shown off to the Hegemon himself. After all who would not only try to infiltrate Kar'shan but have the audacity to fly through the air with no attempt at disguising their ship?
The StarRanger landed on a landing pad in the rear of the palace. No one was on the platform though that would change quickly. The four man team quickly filed out taking cover and just in time as two palace guards walked through the door to the palace interior. They were walking towards the StarRanger no doubt to ask the pilot what his business here was. Their demeanor wasn't what you'd expect for the elite protectors of the Hegemon. Their weapons were undrawn and they were both talking & laughing completely unaware of the four highly trained enemy commandos less than ten feet from them. The two batarians last conscious thoughts were them registering that their necks had been snapped without getting a chance to see their killers let alone knowing they were even there. The bodies were quickly disposed of and the uniforms taken. The two disguised soldiers walked through the halls with purpose. After all who would stop someone that looked like they were doing something important?
Finding the Hegemon was a simple matter thanks to the information they stole from the Shadow Broker and STG. The Hegemon adhered to a fairly strict schedule. He always ate, worked, and slept at certain times meaning he could easily be intercepted by those that knew his schedule. He was currently in his quarters 'entertaining' himself with a few of his slaves before bed. They were to capture him and hack his terminal for any information they could get their hands on. Their third objective was freeing his slaves though if on the off chance he wasn't here but elsewhere then they were to abandon this objective all together. Judging from the sounds coming from inside this was unnecessary.
The door to the Hegemon's quarters had two guards standing next to it. Upon seeing the disguised XCOM soldiers approach the guards instantly relaxed. One of them walked up and said "Finally. I never thought our shift will end. After hearing the Hegemon with his slaves for the past hour I can't wait to get back home to mine."
Beating down the urge to shoot the batarian in the back the disguised soldiers took up position on either side of the door. The cloaked soldiers quickly slipped in unnoticed. The disguised soldiers stood at attention ready to turn back anyone that approached or if things went south be the first line of defense. Thankfully nothing happened. The only thing of note to occur was passing guards making comments on the 'overachieving new guys' who didn't move or make a sound while guarding the Hegemon's door.
The Batarian Hegemon Mallek was using his newest slave. A quarian female he bought a couple of months ago. Getting to see just what quarians looked like under their suits was worth the amount of credits he spent getting medicine to keep her from dying still the novelty was wearing off quickly. She still sobbed loudly while he did the act which ruined the experience for him. His other slaves had long since learned to keep quiet though it looked like he needed to remind her again.
"Be quiet!" he said giving her a strong slap across her face.
The quarian clutched her face and gave him a look of pained outrage. She looked like she was about to say something until she quickly corrected herself. Good. She was learning. Now to make sure she took it to heart. As he prepared to slap her again he felt something roughly grab his hand. Looking to his left he could see someone covered head to toe in black armor shake their head disapprovingly. The person was most likely a human male judging from the body shape since Asari were a lot thinner. How did humans get on Kar'shan let alone his private quarters!
"Now Hegemon." Said the human wagging his finger at him "Hitting defenseless women is a serious offence. Adding the slavery and being an asshole on top of that only makes it worse. Why that puts you in serious danger of…"
Hegemon Mallek was felt his collar roughly grabbed by someone else. Mallek then found himself face to face with a helmetless human female whose face was contorted into the very definition of rage.
"…getting your ass kicked." The female finished a cruel grin appearing on her face.
The next few minutes of consciousness Mallek experienced were nothing but pain.
"Hey. Are you okay?" the male asked kneeling next to the quarian
The quarian shrank back while making a futile effort to cover herself. "Thank you." She mumbled.
"Hey don't mention it. Getting to beat the shit out of this guy is a both a public service and a pleasure. Speaking of which. Hey Jack, how are you doing."
"Everything. Is. Going. Fan-fucking-tastic. We. Should. Do. This. More. Often." Jack said as she punched the Hegemon in the face with each word. "You. Want. A. Turn. Jacob?
"Maybe later though remember we're supposed to bring him back alive." Jacob warned.
"Just how alive are we talking about?" Jack asked throwing down the Hegemon whose face was almost unrecognizable.
"Enough to stand trial."
"You hear that Mally? We get to have more fun later." She taunted giving him a kick in the groin.
Jacob rolled his eyes and turned back to the quarian. "Does he have any other slaves here?" he asked.
She nodded and pointed to a nearby door. "In that room there. He keeps us locked in cages when we're not being… used."
Jacob nodded quickly heading over to the room and giving the Hegemon a kick of his own when he passed him. When Jacob opened the door he gagged from the stench that assaulted his nostrils the moment he opened the door. The room itself looked very much like a medieval dungeon with its stone walls & floors. The only thing modern was the single light hanging from the ceiling which did a poor job illuminating the room. Inside were 8 iron cages like what you'd see at a zoo. In 7 of those cages were women from various races. 3 Asari, 2 batarians, 1 turian, and 1 drell. They all had nothing to wear let alone sleep on. In each cage was a bucket which he quickly guessed the use of. Explained the smell.
"What the fuck!?" Jack said upon looking inside herself. She then turned back towards the Hegemon who had the good sense to look scared shitless.
"Jack." Jacob said quietly grabbing her attention. "Call in the StarRanger. Let's get the hell out of here. Until it gets here however. Do your absolute worse…"
"Yes, sir." Jack said as she stomped over to the Hegemon
Jacob tried to ignore the screams as he unlocked the cages.
The screaming of the Hegemon was ignored by the palace staff. It was a lesson they learned the last time that happened during the reign of a previous hegemon. When his screaming was heard throughout the palace the guards rushed in weapons at the ready. Turns out he wasn't in danger like they initially assumed and that he was just 'experimenting'. Since then any noise coming out of a Hegemon's quarters during their private time was ignored. It looks like this hegemon was into the 'kinky stuff' as well.
The only point when the guards realized this wasn't that kind of situation is when a strange aircraft hovered near the balcony of the hegemon's quarters. There was absolutely no rational explanation for that happening. By the time anti-aircraft guns could get a lock on it the aircraft flew away. It must have had some kind of advanced cloaking or jamming systems because once it went above cloud level they lost it and the defense fleet found no sign of it. The only ones with tech that good was the humans but the frontline was lightyears from here. If they could still perform operations this far into hegemony space…
A lot of heads rolled when it was discovered the Hegemon was gone. The Captain of the Palace Guard was stripped of his rank along with him and his being demoted down the lower castes. Hegemony leadership is currently in the middle of deciding who would become the new hegemon. There is a line of succession in place in case something like this happened but recently a faction within the Hegemony had gained significant traction. They advocated making peace with the humans and restricting slave raids to the Terminus to avoid antagonizing the Council. This kidnapping of the hegemon and the Republic's success on the battlefield is giving them more and more support. Hopefully this could be resolved before the humans find out and capitalize on it.
Operation: Shadow Hawk
Success
Batarian Hegemon Captured
Seven non-human slaves freed
Participating Soldiers
Lieutenant Jacob 'Corsair' Taylor
0 kills
Corporal Jacqueline 'Jack' Nought (Recommended for Promotion)
0 kills, 1 severely beaten batarian
Sergeant Miranda Lawson
1 kill
Sergeant Kai Leng
1 kill
Jack Harper allowed himself a rare smile as he read the after action report. For XCOM's first real mission this couldn't have gone any better. While the Hegemony will no doubt be on their guard from now on this had done much for XCOM and humanity as a whole. The Hegemon of the Batarian Hegemony was kidnapped from his very home by humans. No matter how much they try to water it down with propaganda the fact that Kar'shan isn't safe from humanity has dealt a serious blow to the Hegemony.
The shocks were felt throughout Council Space as well. Even on its best day the STG wouldn't be able to attempt something so unreasonably insane which was admittedly part of the reason why it worked. The slaves they freed have been released back into Council Space baring half of them who wanted to stay. The ones that left wasted no time in telling of the horrors they experienced at the hands of Hegemon with the Asari having spent up to a century in captivity being passed down by hegemon to hegemon. This for lack of a better term lit a fire under the Council ass who was being bombarded with demands, mostly from turians, to join the Republic in its war with the Hegemony. For now they've kept silent but the pressure was mounting up. His sources in the Republic Military say that the war might be over by the time they join in. The Wanderer has called for a massive assault on hegemony space saying that 'it's time we took off the kid gloves'. The days of the Batarian Hegemony were numbered.
The slaves that didn't leave outright pleaded with him to join XCOM. They were the quarian, turian, one of the batarians, and one of the asari. While at first he was a bit loathe to let aliens join XCOM he could see they at least some of them had some value to them. The asari was a former commando and biotics instructor though before being enslaved attempted to leave that life behind and pursue a career in science. Ms. Rana Thanoptis would be invaluable when Dr. Archer's research into creating human biotics finally bared fruit.
The quarian like many of her species was a mechanical prodigy. She and Dr. Core had an hour long discussion on the possible melding of human & mass effect technology which only ended when Dr. Core remembered the quarian wasn't supposed to be on the engineering level in the first place. He couldn't tell between the two of them who was unhappier when the guards escorted the quarian back to the clean room she was staying in. Ms. Gabbi'Danells will no doubt be surprised to find herself officially added to XCOM's engineering division come tomorrow.
The turian was the leader of a small group of mercenaries that was decimated by a slaver group on their way to Omega. She and the few other survivors were enslaved. Since turian females were rare captures she was snatched up by Mallek as the new addition to his 'collection'. She was a biotic also and a decent fighter. Ms. Nyreen Kandros would be added to XCOM's pool of soldiers.
The batarian was the hardest place. She was a slave all her life leaving her with no special skills and no combat experience. It would take too long to train her to the level of the rest of XCOM's soldiers who were experienced special forces from all of nations. She knew that on some level and has been keeping herself busy helping out everywhere she could. She was a pretty decent cook as well making some traditional batarian dishes in the Avenger's mess hall. She had no official name just being referred to as slave, wench, and other less polite names. One of her kinder masters gave her something approaching a name. The closest English translation would be 'One who tends the crops'. XCOM personnel naturally shortened that to Gardner.
When he informed the Leaders of him accepting the freed slaves into XCOM the responses were 'mixed' to say the least. None of them were against it but both Caesar and Bismarck warned him against possible attempts to take what they learned back to Council Space. He informed them that he made precautions like having the Director of XCOM Intelligence Henry Lawson keep near constant watch on them. Once that was done he returned to Mission Control. He had more operations to plan out. There was a war going on after all.
Torfan
Republic FOB
'This is going much better than expected' Shepard thought as he waited in the briefing room. Since landing here a couple days ago the Battle for Torfan proceeded quite smoothly. Nearly all pirate, slaver, and military installations were wiped out in the first six hours of combat. Unfortunately the surviving enemy forces retreated within Torfan's single city and dug in. In a normal circumstance they'd blast the city to pieces with bombers or artillery but they were still inhabited by large numbers of civilians. The brass was loathe to do anything that might kill loads of civilians which wasn't at all help by the tendency of the batarians to set up in residential areas or keep 'refugees' near their bases.
This left them having to take the city block by block. In the past this would be a long hard battle but the sheer differences between Republic and batarian forces made it much easier than it had any right to be. Though that was to be expected when you pitted a professional military with energy weapons, power armor, and orbital/air superiority against a force of pirates & slavers who were more suited for quick raids than extended battle. The only ones who showed any real competency were the mercs and the few Hegemony troops sent her in preparation for the Republic's assault.
The battle looked to be coming to an end with the only major enemy force being in what looked to be the governor's mansion. It was this overly extravagant building built on a hill overlooking the city so the governor could look down on all he ruled. It had since been heavily fortified causing it to resemble a military compound. Due to being out of the way of any civilian buildings they'd ordinary bomb the place to oblivion to not waste any forces attempting to take it. Unfortunately the commander of the hegemony's forces no doubt foresaw this. He had his troops round up any slaves, civilians, and Republic prisoners. They then brought them within their compound and broadcasted a warning saying that if they were attacked then the hostages would be executed.
The brass was unwilling to have a massacre on their hands especially with Citadel News watching them. That was something Shepard disapproved of though he didn't voice his opinions. The brass was using this as a chance to show off in front of the cameras. He could see the logic of it. Showing the galaxy what they could do to help deter any more attacks. He still didn't like it though.
The briefing soon got underway. All Rangers present on Torfan were in this mission. They were to covertly infiltrate the mansion through the sewers. They would no doubt be guarded so AIs would jam the communications of those stationed down there allowing them to slip in unnoticed. Shepard grimaced he didn't like stealth ops that much but anything for this battle to finally be over. He was getting paired with another Ranger Donnelly for this. That was one silver lining to this. He trained with Ken back at the academy and every minute he spent with that scot bastard was one worth remembering. Scots were descended from the barbarians that originally lived in the area where Liberty City now sits. They along with other defeated tribes were absorbed into the Republic. He was a damn fine soldier and always had a funny comment no matter the situation which was a plus in Shepard's book.
He went to the armory to collect his weapons. He went with something different from his usual arsenal due to this being a stealth mission. A suppressor equipped MP5 along with an AER7 Laser Pistol. While not a Republican weapon the guns the Germans made was decent in his eyes. The laser was incase things went bad which given his luck was no doubt going to happen…
Civilopedia
XCS Avenger- The prototype to the Roman's Executor-Class Superdreadnought the Avenger is the mobile headquarters for XCOM. While no meant for combat the ship is heavily armed and equipped with humanity's best weapons, fighters, and soldiers
Length: 10 KM
Weapons: 200 turbolaser batteries of varying sizes, 100 point defense turrets, 40 Concussion missile launchers, and one experimental ion cannon.
Compliment: 20 F-170s, 20 TIE Fighters, 20 ME-901s, 20 MIG 75 A-Wings, 20, 10 B-71s, 20 TIE Bombers, and 40 Republican and Russian Y-Wings. 10 StarRangers and 20 LAATs.
Crew: 1500 assorted personnel (crewman, engineers, scientists, etc.), 10 digital AIs, 80 platform equipped AIs (Humanoid bodies, disposable 'droid' bodies, armored assault walkers), 40 six soldier squads (240 troops).
Cultural Civilopedia
Name: World War Z
Type: Literature
Year: 2004
Nation of Origin: United Republic of States
Plot: A novel by Max Brooks detailing what would happen if a zombie outbreak happened in real life. Presented in an oral history format the book was a best seller and was later adapted into a film.
AN: The infection starts by Carthagian archeologists catching the virus in spore form and bring it back to their homeland. The virus quickly spreads from Carthage to the entire world due to Carthage's status as a trade hub. All nations fair terribly in the war. Much of Rome remains irradiated due to failure of nuclear power plants. The mainland United Republic is abandoned after the disastrous 'Battle of Broker'. Much of Germany is lost with them having them flee to the Republican city of Stilwater which becomes a fortress in a sea of undead. Russia continues fighting the undead for years after the war due to the cold temperatures making it difficult to find and kill every undead. The city-state of Hanoi is wiped out with its remaining populace living in the Republic dreaming of one day reclaiming their homeland. A barbarian confederacy rises up in the unclaimed areas of the world.
Name: Apocalypse Now
Type: Film
Year: 1998
Nation of Origin: United Republic of States
Plot: In the 1960s a Republic Ranger defects to a large tribe of barbarians and attempts to turn them into a powerful empire. The URGF is sent in to take them out. Based on a true story.
Famous Quote: 'I love the smell of Napalm in the morning'
AN: Apocalypse Now is a true story in this world. Colonel Kilgore is a highly respected figure in the URGF especially with the air cavalry who play 'Ride of the Valkyries' in his honor.
Name: Enemy at the Gates
Type: Film
Year: 1973
Nation of Origin: United Socialist State of Russia
Plot: Takin place in the First World War the film follows a squad of Russian soldiers who attempt to hold the city of St. Petersburg from the Romans. The film is famous for being the originator of the 'Roman Army Ending' trope when film ends with the two surviving members of the squad run towards an entire roman platoon firing their weapons.
Famous Quote: 'Not one step backwards!'
AN: This film is very popular in Rome strangely enough despite the number of Romans getting gunned down on screen. Probably because the battle is kept largely in the background with much of the focus being the squads reactions to fighting a losing battle.
AN: Alright got some big news! The place where I'm getting my job training wasn't being entirely truthful when they said 'no electronics'. What they meant was that 'you can bring electronics but we not responsible if something happens to them'. I promptly collected my laptop and been writing in my spare time so you guys will get chapter. Just don't expect them that often.
I'm also planning on starting to write the 'Republic in a Sea of Time' story. It will be a low priority story like Wanderer101's Adventures through the Multiverse so updates will be rare. By the time this posted I will have placed a poll asking people to vote which civilizations will be present. I will then play that game the results of which will affect the story.
I might let you guys vote on which Wonders and other mods I'll use. Depends on how quickly the first poll goes.