I wanted all your opinions on something. Should I keep the Codex chapters or should I put them into a separate story? Say whatever you think would be best in the comments.
response to comments:
1. A Possibly to Babylon 5
2. The overheating part might be a little exaggerated (though I do plan for there to be a hive city in Proxima Centauri with a larger population then America[not the U.S, the continent, both of them]) I mostly put it there because most hive cities are on planets without atmosphere, and are more heavy industry focused than most cities. The hive city in Dà Líng Sān is on a lifeless rock, and is mostly focused on heavy industry and resource extraction.
3. There are no guidance or sensors, they are controlled by autopilot from the ship. It causes problems at longer ranges (light lag), but it removes the sensitive component that can be damaged by guardian lasers. If they lose the connection, they will attempt to hit the location the last data they were given determines the target will be.
3. Organic bodies can only take so many Gs for long periods of time. During the combat they were at near constant horizontal 5G acceleration to dodge the cruisers Mac (mass accelerator canon) rounds. Modern fighters can do five Gs but the pilots aren't constantly taking that amount of acceleration for multiple minutes, or even hours on end, like they would in a fight like this.
4. Prometheus is a civilian exploration ship that is the size of a Dreadnought. It was originally designed to act as a sort of gardener ship, creating colonies in the Kuiper Belt, but after the discovery of element zero it was converted into a long range exploration ship. The giant railguns on the front were meant to give colonists in the Kuiper belt a headstart by creating a large hole that they could easily put the colony in to protect against radiation, and be surrounded by what they are extracting. When it was being refit, it was decided to keep the guns so they could excavate any relays they found and not have to reenact the sol relay excavation (which included a lot of mining drones, lots of munitions, and a few nukes the American colonists on Pluto technically weren't supposed to have).
5. Everything during the initial first contact happens within only a few seconds. Everything is basically happening simultaneously so no one can react to what's happening with anyone else. That's why everything went hostile so quickly. The alliance didn't get informed about the Prometheus's guns heating up because the captain hadn't gotten a chance to tell them yet. Neither side had gotten a chance to send their first contact packages when the dreadnought sized ship's giant guns started lighting up like a Christmas tree. Look at this from the turian commanders perspective, you go into a system, find 30 armed ships (remember citadel civilian ships are not armed, meaning that these are A. Civilian ships equipped by a know faction with guns, most likely pirates or criminals. Or B. An alien species who thought it was necessary to give their civilians ships guns,most likely meaning a violent species, like humans), then before you can even send out a first contact package or hail the ships to figure out what's happening, what you believe to be a dreadnought (citadel civilian ships aren't dreadnought sized with the exception of some giga yachts) starts powering up its main weapons, which if they are even half as strong as a citadel dreadnoughts main weapon, will slice through anything you have. Considering that situation, it's kind of obvious he would open fire.
6. I altered how Mass Effect Ftl works.
7. The Babylon 5 part was supposed to be comedic. I understand the nuances of the particular character, and (although I do not approve of how he ended up facing off against more minbari ships than humanity probably destroyed in that war) given the situation, I understand why he fired. A group of ships begins jamming your sensors and preventing you from leaving, then begins moving toward you with their guns at the ready. In that situation anyone besides the most saintly or idiotic would fire.
8. I completely forgot the Babylon 5 part was in there when I wrote the thing about spotting the cameo. The actual cameo was a halo reference to the shaw-Fujikawa translate engine (a.k.a. the slip space drive).
9. you are correct, there are many a court-marshal in his future.
10. I thought it was a common reaction to seeing something that you were charged with protecting getting damaged. Also, invoking the super possessive captain trope (not sure if that's the name, but you should understand what I mean)
11. There isn't exactly much special maneuvering you can do in open space.
12. They picked up the cruisers fighters in their cargo bays (like the one with the Kodiak in the Normandy), that was the package he wanted them to pick up.
13. It would be difficult to disengage in a situation like that. For the Frigates, if they try to disengage, they would have to, for the turians, put their back and where the least of their guardian lasers are to the systems alliances glorified missile barges (loaded with more missiles then a pick up truck during the second American Civil War) and for the alliance, giving a clear shot to the spinal mass accelerators on the turian frigates that can slice clear through their shields. Neither commodore was willing to sacrifice their frigates so the cruisers had to stay until the fight was over.
14. Coffee analog.
15. How the electronic warfare equipment on the drones work is that they drown the area the opponent is in with signals to confuse their active sensors. They also send out low level laser, Mazer, Grazer ect (all of the electromagnetic spectrum) beams to disrupt any passive sensors they have working in those ranges.
LOOK AT THIS:
I am planning on possibly starting a new story, I will not be abandoning this one, but I will be alternating between writing chapters for this and for the new story. I have 4 ideas that I wanted you all to vote on, so pick your favorite and whichever gets the most votes I will do.
Reborn from the fires ashes, we walk upon these broken land, and shall spread our wings and soar : halo/RWBY crossover
Upon escaping the shield world, the UNSC spirit of fire is caught in a wormhole and stranded on remanent. Deciding to create a refuge for humanity if the UNSC loses the war, the crew of the spirit of fire build a colony upon remanent. A new player is on the board that will either save mankind on this forsaken world or doom it to extinction once and for all.
notes: inspired by "halo:Phoenix of remanent"
UNSC blood of many:halo, human-covenant war
Follow the story of a reaper class electronic warfare Corvette of the United Nations space command. From its beginnings as the flagship of a small outer colonies defense force, to its role as a ship in the second escort squadron of battlegroup ironclad, to its destruction protecting humanity. This is the story of the blood of many and it's crew.
remnant of the soaring eagle, spartan B-170: halo-rwby crossover
spartan jade B-170 thought he would die in operation torpedo, he believes he was proven right as the world fades to black with the refinery in flames. But instead he wakes up in an unfamiliar world with strange creatures and stranger people. Now, he must accept his new home, and all that comes with it.
stargate ascension, rise of the Tau'ri: stargate, early disclosure (end of season one, you can't hide spaceships and multi megaton nukes), more powerful Tau'ri, more resilient Goa'uld empire.
The enemy that enslaved humanity for millennia are not pushed aside for greater threats, a empire that has lasted longer than humanity has known to work metal will not fall like a deck of cards. The nations of earth must fight tooth and nail together to save their homes from being conquered, and they cannot hide it from their people.
pick whatever you like best.
now onto the story
Orion frontier, Xìngyùn cluster,Dà Líng Sān system, geostationary orbit of Shanxi, SSV Montana (system defense force flagship).
"... and that's the end of the report, admiral, general, governor" Isaac finished his report. The shock and horror on his superiors evident after learning of the disaster that had befallen the expedition.
The admiral is the first to recover and speak "What should we do? We can either dig in and inform the government, or we can immediately counter attack to forestall any invasion preparations."
"We will not start a war with an alien species over this incident!" the governors screams, the fear of what would happen to her people if they failed outweighing the wish for vengeance for the lost sons and daughters of sol.
"you call the loss of thousands of lives an incident! You bitch!" Isaac screams
General Williams speaks up "commodore-though I don't think you'll have that rank after high command hears was about what happens-you are out of line. It is my opinion that we should request the second fleet reinforce us here and wait for either an invasion, or a proper first contact attempt. We gain nothing from further attacking them, except guaranteeing that this turns into a war, and not a isolated incident." William stares at the young man with something that looks like pity and understanding. "son, I know it must hurt losing so many of the people under your command, the people who trusted their lives to you. But we do nothing but harm their memory by making this the beginning of an interstellar war where 1000 times as many will die."
Isaac wipes the tears of rage and sorrow from his eyes and says "I understand sir, and thank you sir"
The governor speaks up "I agree with General Williams. We should not blindly attack like rabid animals, but we should not leave the system undefended."
"I also agree" the admiral says. "Governor, you have the most experience talking to politicians, you should write the update and request. We should also prepare for a possible defense in case the aliens attack before the second fleet arrives."
"OK, I will begin a draft after the meeting" the governor says "What military resources do we have in our disposal?"
The admiral begins the briefing "for big ships we've got the North Dakota class carrier Montana, 2 ranger class cruisers, the wasp, and the hornet, three Gāngtiě yìzhì class cruisers, the Wúqióng, Yǒnghéng, and Guānchá zhě, the Mombasa- though I don't know how effective it will be with the damage-, the pufferfish-unfortunately it was unable to retrieve most of its drones, making it ineffective-and the Pegasus class light carrier unicorn. for the smaller ships, we have 41 frigates -38 old refitted frigates plus the three from ninth cruiser group-, 72 pt boats, and the 7 gallant class light gunboats"
"OK, what about on the ground?" The governor asks, turning to General Williams.
Williams thinks for a few moments than responds "The 165th army corp is stationed on Shanxi, for the planet we also have about 25,000 ULIC from the colonial guard. There's also the human defense front, they exist because of fear of aliens so they won't miss out on the chance to fight them. That gives us an additional 20,000 soldiers, though their effectiveness is questionable, so we should station them in low combat areas to free up troops. For hive city mount Glados, they've got 100,000 ULIC so they should be safe from ground attack."
Everyone in the room thinks on the force at hands. They don't have the capability to defend against a full fleet, but they could hold out against a couple forces the size of the one met at relay 314, and a sizable ground attack. So their best option is to wait for reinforcements from the second fleet.
everyone leaves to do what must be done to prepare a defense. The air is tense, and no one is sure what is to come, but they know it will not be pleasant.
Orion frontier, Xìngyùn cluster, Goliath system,on turian dreadnought vindicator,
Sitting in a relatively small meeting room are the most powerful turians in the cluster. Sub-admiral vibius Ebetius, general nonus Eranius, system primarch sivana Oscius, admiral Septimus Velanius, and General Desolas Arterius. Primus Evasius also joins them because he is the only officer to have faced this new species in combat, and so the leaders in the cluster wanted him to be close in case they needed additional questions answered.
Desolas begins the meeting "we've already sent a report to paleven informing high command about the situation. I believe it would be prudent to eliminate the immediate threat to the system by determining the location of the species forces and eliminating the threat."
"I agree, do we have any way to determine their location?" Sub admiral vibius Ebetius asks
Primus gulps and answers the sub admirals question "the military ships were cautious, their FTL vector were pointed to interstellar space-unless they're going to a system a few hundred light years away, but unless they are significantly more advanced than us, that is unrealistic-, but the civilian ships weren't as cautious. We were able to determine the vectors of two of the large cargo ships and multiple scout ships heading to a system roughly 6 light years away from the 314 system and 12 light years away from Goliath. We believe it to be either their are home system or a colony." The turians in the room digest the information and each come to a conclusion.
Primarch Oscius is the one to say it out loud "We should attack the alien system and neutralized any military threat before they can counter attack. Velanius, Arterius, how long would it take to prep the 32nd fleet and Legion and reach the system?"
The elderly admiral ponders for a few seconds before responding "The fleet could be brought together by tomorrow morning, and it would take about 84 hours to reach that system if we include the time to wait for the element zero cores to cool down. So, about four days, Arterius?" Velanius turns to the general.
"most of the Legion lives on the titan, only going planet side for shore leave, so including the time to get them all up to the ship and refuel, we could leave with the fleet" Arterius responds
The young primarch smiles, and tells her subordinates "good, begin preparations, I don't want my people to be attacked by some primitives when we could've stopped them, good luck to everyone, dismissed." at this all of the officers leave the room. Preparing for the war that is about to begin.
Codex: Turian assault ships
length:943 m
width:46 m
height:94 m
armament:24 120x24 m mass accelerators (55.3 kt per shot, triple turrets), 60 guardian lasers
Background: Before the use of the assault ship, legions were carried into battle by 10 sub legion troop ships. These ships were extremely vulnerable to attack and many sub legions were lost to ambushes. After a devastating ambush in 2327, which caused the loss of nearly half of the 29th legion, hierarchy high command we're desperate for a solution. This was found with the guardian class dreadnought that were being decommissioned at the time. The turians were required to make them nonoperational as dreadnoughts, but the treaty never said anything about the using them in a different military role. And so the 12 ship class had their main guns removed and replaced with facilities capable of holding an entire legion. The concept was that even without their main guns, the dreadnoughts had greater shields and greater weaponry then almost any threat they could face with the exception of a different dreadnought, and so the legions would be safe. This was put to the test in 2335 when the assault ship Defender of the 31st legion was attacked by two dozen pirate ships and survived. They're are currently not enough assault trips to equip every Legion, so every turian dreadnought that is to be replaced are refitted into assault ships. The assault ships have created minor concerns that in a war with other council members, the turians would just put the guns back in the ships. So the council forced the hierarchy to publicly destroy the guns instead of using them as planetary defense weapons as they always do with decommission dreadnought guns.
Codex: classification system, relays,
Relay classification : upon the discovery of the relays by humanity, they attempted to create a classification system to easily identify each relay. Systems Alliance translators are designed to transfer the alien designations of the relays into the human designations. There were three components of the relays numerical designation. Type, home super cluster, and destination super cluster/cluster.
humanity designated three types of relays, though no type 1 relays have been found, and they are purely theoretical.
Type three: also known as primary relays, these are relays that send ships thousands of light-years away to their destination and can only travel to one location.
Type two: also known as secondary relays, these relays can send ships to multiple separate clusters, but they have a limited range of only a few hundred light years Maximum.
type one: a theoretical type of relay called a galactic relay. These are relays so large that they could travel to separate galaxies. Possible ranges, unknown, and whether they can go to a single location or multiple is unknown. Due to the energy required, It is theorized that a galactic relay activation would be detectable from thousands of light years away, given enough time for the light to travel.
Home Supercluster: this is the Supercluster the relay resides in. Each Supercluster is given a numerical designation based off of the order of discovery. The Orion vault is designated 0 because of the fact it is the origin supercluster of humanity. In the theoretical situation of type one relays, this would be the home galaxy.
destination: if the relay is a primary relay, the destinations number is the Superclusters number of the destinations. If the relay is a secondary relay, it is given its cluster number. Each cluster is given a designation based off the order of discovery in the Supercluster. For instance, the Pleiades cluster was the third cluster discovered by humanity in the Orion vault so its numerical designation is 3 and the relay that connects it to the rest of the Supercluster is designated relay 203. In the theoretical situation of a type one relay, this would be the destination galaxy.
example:the sol relay is a type 2 relay, in the Orion vault designated 0, and the local cluster is the origin cluster of humanity giving it zero. This makes the relays designation relay 200.
Author notes: all right, boys, girls, everything in between, and our future robot overlords waiting for their chance to take over the world. This is the end of another chapter.
There is another science fiction reference hidden within the story, first person to find it gets an imaginary cookie and a shout out, so good luck.