Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owner, namely Bioware.
Relay 207, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way.
18th March, 1918 CE.
Underneath the surface of the moon of a dwarf planet that was in a ecliptic orbit around the system's star, the dormant Mass Relay, Relay 207 suddenly received a command for it's activation, in anticipation for arrivals from another linking relay, Relay 782.
Even though deeply buried, the two rings started to move, causing the ice surrounding the relay to crumble, in effect, causing the whole moon itself to start breaking apart.
And the crumbling caused massive fractures across the moon's surface, which then resulted in massive chunks of ice/rock meteoroids that later started orbiting the Mass Relay.
The rings, which were now revolving at a normal place, started emitting a blue glow from the core of element zero.
Soon, the dwarf planet, which was becoming 'gravitationally anchored' to the Mass Relay, was suddenly changing it's orbit from ecliptic to a circular orbit.
Once fully operating, the Relay's rings now starting revolving at a much faster pace, as it detected several ships about to exit the Relay.
Immediately, the Rachni Scout Ships came out first, each one in quick succession, before the Rachni Dreadnaught finally came out of the Relay.
Soon, the ships began moving, heading towards the 8th planet within the system, managing to pass it and get on a heading to the 7th planet, when the Relay started spinning it's rings again, in anticipation for another round of ships that were about to exit the relay.
Bridge, Aifa's Endurance class cruiser Talat's Sentinel, exiting Relay 207, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way.
18th March, 1918 CE.
Captain Morik Tolos of the Talat's Sentinel, braced himself against the BattleSpace Table as the Talat's Sentinel exited the relay, after four days traveling through 782.
And after the ships exited the relay, Tolos ordered his ships to maintain a holding pattern by the relay.
"Analysis of system?"
"Scanning commencing. 2 minutes".
And once those two minutes were done, the BattleSpace Table displayed the entire system.
Tolos could see one dwarf planet in close proximity to Relay 207, two ice giants, two gas giants, an asteroid belt and four terrestrial planets (some with their own natural satellites, others with none), orbiting a yellow dwarf star.
But then, his eyes picked up one small detail. No Rachni ships detected.
Frowning, Tolos then decided to confer with the captains of the other ships.
Captain Sydrus Vakarian of the Spirit of Xerksulus, Captain Desolas Nyx of the Estivus Erax and Captain Ayssena Kesth'ra of the Kurinth's Keen Sight were soon in conference with Tolos, who was still going over the BattleSpace Table.
After asking for the location of the Rachni ships, Captain Tolos got his answer from Captain Kesth'ra, who reported, "No sign of the Rachni at all".
Tolos and Tepak exchanged glances, and the First officer expressed his opinion very clearly.
"It's not like the Rachni for them to sneak and hide their dreadnoughts. They know that our cruisers are no match for their dreadnought, so why are they hiding?"
The Captain agreed, "This is most curious".
Captain Nyx concurred, "What's even curious, is that they've not even left the system. I've taken the liberty to check out the computer systems of the Relay, and they've not used the relay to jump out anywhere".
Captain Vakarian agreed with her fellow Captain and added, "So, that means they're still within the system".
A pause and Tolos concluded, "They must be heading deeper within the system".
"Indeed", Tepak agreed.
Nyx slammed a fist in his hand and said, "Then, we must draw them out, and destroy them".
Tepak spoke up in alarm, "Wait, destroy a Rachni dreadnought and 5 Rachni scout ships? With a mere four cruisers? Can't we get some backup on this?"
Tolos interjected, "No, we cannot. And even if we did call for reinforcements, do remember that it took the Rachni and us four days to reach this system at normal speed. Even if they exceeded speed limits, the reinforcements would never reach here in time to save us".
An awkward silence fell amongst the Captains, as they faced quite a situation. In that, they were outgunned, but unable to call upon reinforcements and they could not allow the Rachni to do whatever it is they are planning.
Captain Kesth'ra, spoke up and asked the obvious question, "So, what do we do?"
Tolos came to a decision quickly, "Isolate the dreadnought from it's escort ships. Destroy those scout ships, one at a time. With it's escorts gone, the dreadnought will have to continue hiding, enough time for reinforcements to arrive".
Captain Nyx asked the obvious question "But what if the dreadnought decides to come out of hiding?"
A really, tense pause followed that question, and Tolos sighed, "Well, let's hope that it doesn't come to that. But maybe, if we're lucky, we could do some significant damage to the dreadnought. That could really help even the odds between us and the dreadnought".
A period of silence and Captain Vakarian nodded her head, agreeing, "Well, it's better than just sitting around and doing nothing. But I think we need to get to it, before the Rachni decide to make the decision for us. Your orders, Captain Tolos?"
Tolos took immediate action and stated "Estivus Erax, you are to remain at Relay 207, while we leave to engage the Scout ships. The Talat's Sentinel will take the center, Kurinth's Keen Sight is to flank our right, Spirit of Xerksulus is to be on our left".
Commander Tepak ordered the bridge crew to "Engines to quarter thrust".
But as the Talat's Sentinel powered it's engines into a gentle cruise, Captain Tolos engaged the FTL communications and sent a message to Suluk Base, where his flotilla had departed from, to begin their investigation.
"Emergency Message to Suluk Base: This is Captain Morik Tolos of the Talat's Sentinel in unchartered system beyond Relay 782, a relay that Rachni force has been observed reactivating and using whilst in the Myrik'tah system, Arcturus Stream. Exited undiscovered Relay 207. Intentions of Rachni is still unknown. System is consisted of one dwarf planet, two ice giants, two gas giants, asteroid belt, four terrestrial planets, with accompanying natural satellites, all orbiting a yellow dwarf star.
Will attempt to isolate Rachni dreadnought by engaging and destroying Rachni scout ships. Requesting immediate reinforcements, to secure the system. Exceeding relay travel speed limits necessary, as time is of the essence. That is all".
With the Rachni and Tolos' flotilla in our Solar System, a confrontation is inevitable! Four cruisers vs a Rachni dreadnought and five scout ships.
For the next few chapters, we're gonna be focusing on Captain Morik Tolos and his flotilla for a while before we get round to Earth.
So, next chapters, will be the start of starship engagements between Tolos' flotilla, and the Rachni, in the Sol System.
But have no fear. We'll get around to Earth eventually.
Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!
Update (21/6/17): Changed "Exceeded relay travel speed limits" to "Exceeding relay travel speed limits necessary". Because this is essential in future chapters.
Update (27/6/17): Changed holographic communications to italic.
Update (29/6/17): Spaced out the paragraphs so that they don't seem bunched up. Special thanks to Apollonir for pointing this out. Also, added some additional lines.
