1156 hours, September 10th, 2186(Alliance Calendar)
Voyager Cluster, Open Space
Onboard SSV-Normandy (SR-2)
The stillness of space was suddenly broken as the Normandy exited FTL. Ahead was a fleet of twelve ships.
One Alliance Dreadnought accompanied by an Alliance Carrier, two Destroyers, and a Frigate.
Also present were the Turians. One Turian Dreadnought, two Destroyers, and two Frigates.
The surprising, and most recent, additions to this fleet were from the Quarians and the Geth. One Quarian Liveship and one Geth Dreadnought that was similar in design to the Dreadnought destroyed over Ranooch.
Normandy moved in on the Alliance Dreadnought Trinity. The two ships move alongside one another and docked.
_
Shepard stood, in her Alliance Dress Uniform, at one end of the War Room as high ranking officers began to file in. Representatives of all the races who were involved with this mission were present, including the Krogan, Asari, Quarians, Geth and Salarians. Apparently the Krogan had hitched a ride with the Turians. The Salarians were from the Special Task Group. The Asari were Commandos. With the Salarian and Asari fleets stretched thin, the Alliance had agreed to pick them up from previous deployments. She only recognized three of those present.
Shepard saluted Rear Admiral Galloway, commanding officer of the Trinity, as he stepped to a console next to her. Galloway was in his late fifties, but still had the look of a man who was dangerous. A Veteran of several skirmishes against the Batarians, his career took off shortly before Sovereigns attack on Eden Prime.
Galloway was the first to speak, "Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming. As you all know, each of you was invited here at the request of the Turian Hierarchy and the Alliance, but as to why you are here has been kept a secret… until now." The Rear Admiral began to type on the console, "Yesterday we deployed a Long Range Stealth probe that the Salarian STG was so gracious to allow us to use." Galloway looked towards the Salarian who was present, "Major, if you will."
This Salarian Shepard knew well, or at least as well as any survivor of Virmire could know one another. "Thank you, Sir." Kirrahe inserted a data disk into the console. A grainy video from the prospective of the probe could be seen as it exited FTL. "We launched this Probe in FTL. Once in normal space it was programmed to investigate the Cerberus activity in the sector, then before transmitting its Data it would shut down. What it found was beyond all expectations."
The video was nothing but Static for a few seconds, as the probe adjusted to the transition to normal space. When it cleared it showed something that made everyone around the table focus and whisper to one another. The object on screen was beyond belief. A massive star shaped station, even larger than the Citadel. The video froze suddenly as statistics filled the side screen. Measurement of the object placed it at approximately 79,243 miles long, from its longest point to the other. It was even bigger then Earth. Hell, even bigger than Jupiter.
If Shepard had not been minding her reactions, she was certain her jaw would have dropped.
According to the readings, its surface was not only habitable but thriving. According to the read outs this Artificial World has what appeared to be an atmosphere surrounding it similar to that of Earth. How it could even maintain such a thing was unknown to her.
Across the table the Quarian representative, Admiral Daro'Xen, was now had her full attention on the image and was talking to herself, "Keelah... This is... Oh, I must go to this place! Oh what marvels such a massive structure holds." Admiral Xen began to focus on the data available.
The Geth Representative, a Geth painted black with white strips, studied the image closely as it shared its data with the rest of the Geth. "The technology to create such an installation is beyond Cerberus capabilities. Possibly beyond that of the Reapers."
The representative of Clan Urdnot, a massive Krogan with a cracked head plate, growled a bit. His name was Urdnot Jark. A veteran against the Reapers. He and his men were some of the first Krogan to step foot on Turian soil as they battled the Reapers, "If this is such a big deal, then why have we not heard of this before? Before the Reapers showed up there were plenty of ships flying around back and forth between systems. How could something this big have been missed?"
The Turian representative was the one to answer. He was Captain Endar Jel'tol. He and his crew were one of the few Turian ships to survive the Geth invasion of the Citadel. when the battle was said and done, the Turian Dreadnought he commanded at the time was little more than a wreck, but he and his crew had destroyed an estimated ten Geth Heretic Warships. He himself was brown with blue war paint, but he was missing his right mandible. A scar from the Battle of the Citadel. "We do not know. What we can tell you is that three months ago, this thing was not there. In fact there was nothing but empty space. Who built it, and where did it come from is just one of many questions we all share."
"Questions that we will have to save for another time." Admiral Galloway stated, "Before the Probe went offline, we identified a Cerberus held Forward Operating Base on the surface of this installation." The video image changed to an image from high above the surface of the installation. It looked like a massive flat land surrounded by mountains. There were three main compounds, two of which were part of the installation itself. "Cerberus seems to be using this position to refuel and launch shuttles and fighters. They have also established a defensive net around this base. All of which is controlled here, "A set of buildings that was definitely added by Cerberus was highlighted. The Admiral turned towards Shepard, "This is where you come in Shepard. All our intel suggest that the base is lightly guarded, but if any other ships besides the Normandy move it we will be destroyed. The Normandy will approach under stealth. You and your people will move in, and deactivate the defense grid. Then we will turn their own defenses against them. Any questions?"
Shepard looked towards the image of the base once more before asking one questions, "When do we begin?"
Rear Admiral Galloway looked at all those present and gave a simple answer, "Now."
1346 hours, September 10th, 2186(Alliance Calendar)
Voyager Cluster, the Gateway
Cerberus held Forward Operating Base
Two Cerberus soldiers were patrolling the perimeter of the base. They were going about the same routine day after day with nothing to show for it. They were aware of a disturbance on the on the other side of the installation, but beyond that they knew nothing.
They were about to return to base when suddenly both of their heads suddenly exploded. In a dense rock outcropping near the mountains two figures lay still, looking into sniper rifles.
The figure on the left, Ashley Williams looked towards the figure on her right, "I got the first kill."
The figure on the right, Garrus Vakarian, laughed at that, "In your dreams Williams. It's obvious I got the first kill."
Before they could continue, Shepard called them over to the Shuttle which had been snugged into a space between the mountains and the boulders. Present was the entire team. James Vega, Ashley Williams, Liara Ti'soni, Garrus Vakarian, EDI, Tali Zorah, and Javik. All were armed with their favored weapons, and ready for a fight. They were circled around her. Here Omni Tool was activated and projecting a layout of the battlefield for them to see.
"Alright. The enemy does not know we are here yet, but that can change quickly." She looked about her team as she laid out the plane, "Our first objective is the Control Center for the Cerberus Defensive systems, which is closest to our position. Garrus, you and Tali will go along the right flank towards the Control Center."
Garrus studied the layout for a moment before nodding, "Were on it Shepard."
Shepard nodded, "Good." She looked away from Garrus toward Javik, the last of the Prothean known to exist. She had hoped that Javik might have known something about this place, but he claimed that he knew nothing. "Javik, you and Liara will move up the left flank towards the Command Center."
Javik replied, "Yes Commander."
"Ashley, you stay behind here and guard the shuttle with Steve. Mount up on one of the taller boulders and cover our approach with your sniper rifle. Radio in any enemy movement, and kill any of them that cross your scope," Shepard ordered.
Ashely was going to argue, but nodded her understanding.
"Vega and EDI are with me. We will move up the…." She paused, and looked out over the rocks at the structure. She was at a loss as to what to call it. The structure began as a pyramid, but became flat about thirteen feet off the ground. Then on the top was a tower of sorts that released A mass burst of energy that fired into the sky only to dissipate. Perhaps it was part of what kept the atmosphere stable? Whatever it was for, Shepard had no idea how to fully describe it, "on the Alien Structure. We move out at once, and keep the enemy off balance. Once we have taken the Control Center, Garrus and Tali will remain there as they bring down the defensive net. In the meantime, the rest of us will start clearing out the other buildings while we await our reinforcements." She paused for a moment as she looked around at all those present, "Move fast, think smart, hit them hard, and we will make it through this. Nothing we have not face before. Move out!"
At once the Normandy team moved out. The ground ahead was relatively open, but there were pockets of rock out cropping's. Those were where each team was moving. Using the rocks as cover before moving on to the next rock outcropping, then the base. As Shepard's team approached the rocks she heard the all too familiar sound mechs coming online. From behind nearby boulders the familiar form of Rampart Mechs came into view. Over the comms the sound of gun fire could be heard, then Garrus's voice, "These are those weird Mechs you told us about from Omega right? I thought you said they were only used there!"
Shepard fired side long as she ran, knocking one mech off its feet only to have the one next to it raise its shield. She dove behind cover with EDI and Vega right behind, "I thought they were!" she replied over the radio. All three of them would look out from cover and fire at the approaching mechs.
Just as Shepard looked out of cover she witnessed the head of on mech suddenly explode. Two heart beats later another mech toppled over, its leg becoming nothing but scrap, "I have you covered commander." Ashley spoke over the radio as she began snipping the approaching mechs.
As the Mech numbers began to dwindle, Cerberus soldiers began to rush out of their bases. Shepard could only guess that Cerberus was far to spread out to maintain control of this area. Perhaps it was only a small base?
She didn't have enough time to continue contemplating this as the fight was once again joined.
_
As Shepard and the rest of the team worked on taking control of the Cerberus FOB, the Normandy was making a fly by over the surface of the installation at approximately 10000 feet. Joker glanced at the read outs, even as the Normandy flew straight and true. While it seemed Cerberus has bases spread all across the installation, they were few and far between and their primary base seemed to be on one of the installations large arms.
For the time being Joker was fine with this boring assignment. After all the mayhem that has spread across the galaxy, it was nice to be able to do something boring like this.
The Normandy was approaching the other end of the energy field, opposite where the Alliance forces would land but away from Cerberus.
Suddenly the sensors began to ping. A strange energy signature from below. Normally he wouldn't concern himself with something like this, but the fact that it was disappearing and reappearing in different places caught his attention. On and off, as if something was moving. Suddenly a new signature appeared, but larger than the small one. It was coming from directly ahead.
"What the hell?" Joker said as he looked over his console to the window. Ahead was the edge of the field, rapidly approaching. Its holographic façade began to ripple, then broke as a massive grey ship entered right in front of Normandy's path.
"Shit!" he shouted, as he put the Normandy into evasive. Changing course straight down to avoid whatever that was. Even as he watched more of the objects were crossing the energy field.
Then it acquired to Joker just what this was. A fleet of ships. Some were almost the shape of bowling pines, with grey and purple metal while others were of varying shapes and painted black. The Normandy suddenly turned in retreat. He had to warn the fleet. Had to warn Shepard.
_
Special Operations Officer Henr'ak 'Takalu stepped onto the bridge of the Avatar of Truth as the fleet began to cross the Slip Space field that surrounded the Forerunner installation. It seemed that the field only showed ships within the field at a certain range. They had realized this only after nearly ramming into an unknown vessel which has sense retreated.
Fleet Master Grenar 'Kelacal stood before a holographic display, where a three dimensional image of the vessel in question was being projected. Henr'ak approached the display to get a better look at the image.
What caught his eye were the markings on the side of the vessel. He had seen similar characters before on Earth. A memorial to a battle long sense passed, one which shouldn't have been here.
N-O-R-M-A-N-D-Y
The two Sangheili looked at one another. Fleet Master Grenar simply said, "I think it is time we had another conversation with Admiral Churchill."