AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys, hope y'all are staying safe with all the BS going on. Doom eternal is fantastic btw. And should have another chapter out before too long. Hope you enjoy!
Commander John Shepard
Chakwas had made sure I was unconscious for the duration of the battle to make sure I wouldn't feel discomfort or pain from being strapped down as the gravity was turned off, all power going to combat related systems. But she also ensured I was woken up shortly after so I could be present for the debrief. On the plus side, I was finally cleared to walk around and stop being bedridden. And a bit early too. Still not cleared for combat, but at least I'm able to use my damn legs, take a shower, stop needing a bedpan and catheter. Naturally I ensured to take a quick shower before getting Garrus and Tali to join me on the shuttle to the Hawking. Garrus as he was my XO taking command of the ship for the battle, and Tali as Garrus had dropped a mention of her Cyclonic shield tech. Garrus took control of the shuttle while I remained in the crew cabin with Tali, a display by the cockpit entrance showing what was in front of the shuttle. The fleet was still in system but had repositioned away from any debris while smaller craft were going around picking up escape pods or jettisoned fighter cockpits while damaged ships were undergoing what minor repairs they could without a shipyard. Patchwork. Without hassle we came to dock inside the Hawking, the ship itself untouched by the battle. Though I imagine it's missing several wings of it's single-man craft. And boarding craft.
The shuttle made its landing, and I stood, Garrus entering the cabin from the cockpit and the doors opening. My breath still felt shallow, but I was used to it and in control of it. It also was still weird feeling hollow in the left portion of my chest. We stepped out and the pair of Marines on Guard duty I saw shift immediately from a more casual stance to rigid attention. Either out of discipline or recognition. We simply got into the elevator and made our way down to the bridge, where the Yeoman directed us to the war room. In the security room beforehand, there was a moment of hassle with the shield generator prototype Tali had brought along, but Spectre status comes in handy. As annoying as it was to need it here. The war room was dimly lit with a holo table displaying the planet and the fleet's current position. On the far side, centered, was Vice Admiral Bradford and the CO's of all surviving ships. As well as any recovered surviving CO's of lost ships. My mother was waiting by the door, happy to see me and pleasantly surprised to see me on my feet.
"My apologies, Admiral. My medical officer cleared me to leave the med-bay and I needed to ensure I was presentable. One of the Captains spoke up before Bradford could.
"Commander I understand the Normandy is in an… unorthodox position, and that you chose a Turian for your XO, considering the nature of the ship's construction and your history with him, but why the Quarian? Mom shot a glare at him, I noticed, Bradford with a disapproving glance.
"Captain Abrams do not speak out of turn. However, while I would have phrased the question differently, why has she accompanied you here, Commander?"
"Tali'Zorah vas Neema is my Chief Engineer and was also present and a key member for the entirety of my campaign against Saren. As for why she is here," I still would need to interrupt myself to take a breath, but less frequently than when I was still adapting to the one lung. "I understand that Garrus mentioned a new development in Barrier tech perhaps in exchange for the Normandy receiving new weaponry. Tali is the genius behind its design, construction, and it's testing, and has brought a working prototype for that discussion after the debrief." It was not lost on me that Tali had begun wringing her hands.
"Very well. I'll alert the Hawking's Chief Engineer to come and run our own tests to verify after the debrief," she keyed at her console quickly and looked back up. "Now, as should be obvious today's operation was a success. The Geth fleet has been wiped out and all Prothean artifacts, at least those that were being stored, have been recovered and secured aboard the Hawking. The Alliance is sending an Occupation task force, salvage teams to harvest and reverse engineer from the remains of the Geth fleet, and a Battalion of Marines to secure the Geth dig sites with reinforcements available if needed. Additionally, a Human led Council Excavation and Archaeological team will be arriving after the all clear to find any and all artifacts that the Geth may not have had the time to recover themselves. All moderate to critically damaged vessels will be cleared to return to an Alliance shipyard for repairs once all ships are cleared for relay transit. You will be under escort by a squadron of frigates. The rest of the fleet will remain in system until the Occupation task force arrives."
"All ships performed their assigned tasks to the letter. The immediate neutralization of the cruisers and the bomber wings damaging the Heavy Dreadnaughts main weapons and several GARDIAN batteries were no doubt crucial to the outcome of the Operation. Keeping the remainder of the Geth fleet scattered and disorganized proved simple. Despite the loss of several of our own Corvettes and Destroyers. Normandy, once again your role was also critical, and we likely would have suffered severe losses if not for your presence. Unfortunately, all together, we lost approximately Fifty-six percent of our fighters, bombers, and interceptors ensuring the boarding craft reached their destination. Two were still lost with all hands, and a quarter of the surviving boarding craft were destroyed by Geth fighters. However, no Marine was left without extraction, finding a place among the other surviving craft. Marine forces suffered losses of twenty-four souls. We're still picking through the wreckage for survivors, but I'll see to it that each member of every wing and every marine involved in the operation, living and dead, will be receiving medals for this. I want a full status report of every ship and a timetable on readiness for transit by the end of the hour. You will receive your orders after I read through them. Anything to add?" Bradford asked the room. No one spoke.
"Dismissed. And send in Chief Engineer Holland."
"Permission to remain, Vice Admiral? I can inform my XO of your orders," mom requested.
"Granted, Captain." Mom thanked her and quickly typed a message on her Omni-tool as the last of the other Captains departed. After them came a brown-haired woman wearing the Alliance engineer's uniform, marked with fresh grease, oil, the kind of filth one gathers working on engines and its parts in this day and age. Especially during combat and any repairs after.
"What can I do for you, Ma'am?" she asked Bradford. "Chief Engineer Samantha Holland, this is Commander John Shepard of the Normandy, his XO Garrus Vakarian, and his Chief Engineer Tali'Zorah vas Neema," she introduced, gesturing at each of us.
"Honored to meet ya, Normandy. Sorry I'm not more presentable. But I'm guessing this isn't a social call."
"I've been informed that Ms. Zorah has developed and successfully simulated a new development on barrier technology that improves on the current method."
"Apologies, but, no. The prototype I have here, of Cyclonic Barrier Technology, I ran countless simulations before building the prototype, then tested it physically. After some fine tuning, this prototype works exactly as projected. I have tested it working in concert with two other prototypes spaced apart as they would be on any starship, and it also works as projected, tripling even the best barriers we have at this time."
"And I would simply like you to verify the simulations and test results," Bradford added. Holland let out a whistle. "Alright, you got my attention," she began approaching, already getting her Omni-tool prepared. How'd you accomplish this? I don't imagine it was as simple as throwing more juice to it."
"No, but the truth is comically simple. Instead of generating a static kinetic barrier, as in that it just stays in place, emitted, Cyclonic Barriers oscillate, rapidly. They don't take the impact rather than redirect it. As a result, it may even be effective against disruptor torpedoes."
"Huh, go figure," Holland remarked, hooking up to the prototype as she began to run her own simulations before activating the prototype for the test run. And they quickly descended into talking shop. "So, it's like shooting a target at the center of a ball of… swiss cheese I guess." That comparison got a laugh from me. "Eh, ball full of holes," she added, quickly noticing the confusion. "Just so happens that the ball is spinning fast as shit. But with all that movement I imagine they'll need maintenance if not replacement frequently."
"They would, but it's my belief that improving defensive capabilities to this extent is worth the additional maintenance."
"Fair, the brass may wince at the thought of putting these on anything more than a Frigate, at least until someone develops parts with more longevity. And what if an emitter breaks? Could mean some unpredictable ME fields going through the ship."
"If it can be locked in the emitting position, it will be while the rest of the emitters continue to oscillate. One portion of the shield that's weaker. However, if it can't, that emitter will be shut off and the array will return to acting like a standard barrier array to maintain full coverage. And that was when they descended beyond my realm of understanding. Mom tossing me an amused smirk at watching my girlfriend go off about tech she developed, until they finished some baseline simulations and tests.
"Ma'am," Holland called out. "The eggheads on Arcturus are going to have one sad bar crawl when they hear about this and know that they didn't think of it."
"Excellent. Commander, your XO mentioned how this technology might be a useful exchange to receive new armaments?" You know what? Why not really go and try to screw over Cerberus more?
"Not quite, Vice Admiral. I would like to request that we contact Admiral Hackett."
"Very well," Bradford eyed me curiously. "Holland, dismissed."
"Yes Ma'am. Here, Zorah," Holland transferred contact info to Tali. "I'll let you know if anything about this comes to mind for improvements." As Bradford began making the call, she waved us back to join her on her side for the call. Not even a minute later Hackett responded, a display appearing behind the holo-table's projections. Despite being Fifty-One and likely with a little under a century left, he still looked aged. The stress of Command. Older man in his dress blues, Alliance cap.
"Vice Admiral Bradford, Captain and Commander Shepard. I've just given the orders to the forces on their way to Verr. What's the purpose of the call?"
"I mentioned briefly in my report the potential advancement in shield technology that was mentioned by the Normandy's XO, Vakarian, developed by Chief Engineer Tali'Zorah. My Chief Engineer has just finished validating the results and we do indeed have the next advancement. I am calling as the Commander has an… alternative idea as to the exchange of this information for Normandy's armaments."
"Very well. Go on, Commander."
"While I want to ensure that Tali's name stays forever tied to her creation, with the Reapers on the horizon, we're all of the same mind that this technology needs to be spread amongst the Council races and of course the Migrant Fleet. Somewhat similarly but more liberally than that new main weapon that a playback of the battle showed the Kilimanjaro firing. I'm aware of the Thanix cannon and how it was developed by reverse engineering Sovereign's weaponry by a joint Turian/Human effort. The Normandy needs this weapon if we're going up against the Collectors. To say nothing of the Reapers. However, I am very far from eager to allow Cerberus any amount of ease in gaining Thanix or Cyclonic Barrier Technology short of them developing it themselves. I'm not confident that the Normandy could receive a Thanix cannon or replace the current shield array with Cyclonic Barriers in any Alliance port or Shipyard without it becoming very simple for specs or components to end up in Cerberus hands. It is my belief that a wiser course of action would be for the Alliance, in exchange for being among the first to have access to Cyclonic Barrier technology, to arrange for the Co-Designed Normandy to receive these upgrades from a Turian shipyard. However, I believe I can ensure that neither the Alliance nor the Hierarchy are the ones footing the bill for any of the work either." Hackett began to smirk. And then chuckled.
"Commander, I like the way you think."
"Deviously petty. Atta boy," Mom added.
"I'll work my angles on the Hierarchy and share your plan with Anderson so he can work it from the angle of a Councilor. I'll send word of any developments."
"Thank you, Sir."