Chapter four: A cry for vengeance
Pain. Excruciating pain coursed though the woman's head as she struggled to awake from what seemed like an eternal slumber.
She struggled to recall whatever happened before she ended up dead, or at least she thought she was dead.
The Normandy, attacked by Collectors who somehow managed to detect it despite the stealth drive fully functional, a bright golden beam shooting out of its spinal cannon and bypassing the kinetic barriers, turning much of the ship to nothing more than molten slag.
She ran past the burning debris scattered around her as she tried to rescue the head pilot in a futile attempt to save the already doomed ship from crashing.
Hot, burning pain seared through her arm as a molten hot piece of the ship's frame touched her arm and burnt through her armor, the smell of burning flesh lost in the vacuum of space.
Ignoring it through clenched teeth, she still rushed to the piloting bay in the hopes of saving the pilot of the ship. Come on, there was still time, please let there be time...
Her hopes were fufilled as she found the head pilot still alive and wearing a respirator mask to avoid suffocating to death in the vacuum of space, fingers furiously typing on the holoboards before him.
"Joker, the ship is lost! We need to go!" She tried to persuade the adamant pilot, still unwilling to leave his chair.
"No way, Commander! I can still save her! Just gimme-" Joker started, but was abruptly cut off.
"Evacuate from the ship. Now. That's an order." She said with a stern glare.
The pilot was extremely reluctant as he spent a few seconds mulling on what to choose, the safety of his own life, or that of his ship.
He moved out of his seat with much reluctance, deciding to follow his commander's order and move into an escape pod.
Before the Commander could join Joker though, another flaming piece of palladium blockaded the way between the two, leaving Joker as the only man with access to the still functioning escape pod.
Realising that he could not rescue his commander, not that she wanted to be anyway, he operated the controls and watched at the escape pod left its confines and moved away from the burning ship, just as it began to fall apart once more.
The commander could not escape this time, as she was ejected from the ship into the dark void of space, her respirator tube suddenly came loose, cutting off her supply of oxygen as she was pulled by the gravity of the nearest frozen planet.
That was all she managed to remember; by now the Systems Alliance would have labeled her as Killed In Action, or KIA for short, along with whoever did not survive and escape from the Normandy, and the ship itself will have become a pile of scrap metal, inoperable even with repairs.
As she awoke, her heavy eyelids slowly opened to take in the surroundings, hopefully providing some answers as to her whereabouts.
She lay in a brightly lit room containing plenty of medical equipment and monitors, no doubt for monitoring a patient's heartbeat like hers. Scapels, syringes, bottles half empty or full of medical tablets or capsules, even a near-empty container of medi-gel, as identified by the characteristic light green glow.
From any viewpoint, it looked like a normal hospital room she lay in whilst recovering from her severe injuries. But there was one noteable thing in the room that told her it was no ordinary medical facility, or at least not under any organisation she knew better.
An insignia of a hexagonal shape with two polygonal lines below lay coloured in a bright orange on a nearby wall. She knew which organisation the insignia represented, as all Systems Alliance and Citadel soldier were briefed on. It was an insignia of a terrorist organisation.
The insignia of Cerberus.
She was almost disgusted upon learning that she was in the care of a terrorist organisation, reeling at the thought of her, an Alliance soldier, being nursed back to health by Cerberus personnel, but the notion also confused her to a great degree.
Why would Cerberus even make the effort to bring her back to health in the first place? Weren't they literally sworn enemies of both the Alliance and Citadel Council? Weren't they xenophobic militants that used the excuse of 'making humanity better' through outrageous experiments that ended up costing thousands of lives?
Weren't they humans who simply hated the notion of other humans mating with aliens and killed them for just that? Then why did they even bother saving her if she was one of those 'other humans'?
She would have her answers one way or another, but right now, she needed to get out of bed and talk with one of the personnel. If they are willing to talk in the first place.
Just as she moved out of bed, the doors opened, most likely to a Cerberus agent or personnel who happened to pass by...
Or someone ordered to talk to her.
The Cerberus agent who entered the room was wearing a catsuit, dyed in the customary white and black of Cerberus with the insignia tailored on both her sleeves. She had fairly young and crisp features befitting that of a commanding agent despite her rather odd outfit, blue orbs for eyes that were able to assess the abilities of someone just by staring him down.
Long, black hair cascaded down her shoulders in straight lines, and she carried herself as one with a sense of authority, never straying eye contact as she met face to face with the most famous human Spectre in all of Council history.
"Commander Shepard?" Her rather deep, accented voice sounded as she said the woman's name. "I am Miranda Lawson, a Cerberus agent as you can see, and I have come to bring you to talk with the Illusive Man."
The Illusive Man? The leader of Cerberus and its founder? My oh my, what an honor she had.
"Why does the Illusive Man want to talk to me, of all people?" The now christened Shepard asked.
"That's for him to say, and I can't question his orders," Miranda replied.
It made rather good sense, given that the Illusive Man received his name, or title, depending on people's preference. The Illusive man had always managed to slip through both Alliance and Council forces time and again, despite the authority and skills the renowned Spectres had, so he could only meet agents he trusted personally in person, rather than a complete stranger.
But what was the reason he, of all people, wanted to talk with her about something? Why would he go through the trouble to bring back the famous Commander Shepard from the dead when they did not even meet each other in the first place?
Having no other choice, and seeing that she was thankfully dressed in skintight clothing, though it was in Cerberus colors, she said, "Where does he need to see me?"
"Follow me," Miranda beckoned, "I'll show you the way."
And follow Miranda she did, as Shepard allowed herself a brief look in the mirror to see just how much of a good job Cerberus did at repairing her.
Apart from a few recent scars, no doubt from the constant surgery they had to perform, she dared to say Cerberus did a job well-done.
Her face covered in pockmarks was still the same as before, brown eyes that bore a steely gaze befitting of a soldier, ears unevenly matched in height and lush, scarlet hair that only touched the bottom of her neck.
It was truly a job well-done, though she believed that Cerberus had to spend quite a fortune doing so.
IIOII
As she followed Miranda through the various corridors segregated by multiple sets of doors, she allowed herself to look at just how Cerberus personnel went about their daily tasks and other duties.
Engineers tossing around tools and other equipment whilst either maintaining functionality of various vehicles or checking the state of weapons being tested, scientists researching on whatever project Shepard did not bother wanting to know about...
The list could go on and on, but Cerberus was as organised as any military in the galaxy, which could explain why they managed to survive for so long.
Eventually they stopped short of an entrance where few personnel were moving past, and as Miranda beckoned Shepard inside the room, she steeled her nerves and took a deep breath, then entered past the doors.
As she walked inside the room though, bright orange lights swirled around her figure before the atmosphere changed from a plain, brightly illuminated room, to a sight Shepard never expected to see.
The sheer size of the star in the distance, clearly visible from the glass panes that served to isolate the recycled oxygen from the emptiness of space, was the only light source that illuminated the entire room devoid of anything except a few holoscreens showing random bits of information, and a branded chair housing a lone figure.
That lone figure was a man, a middle aged man nearing the prime of his life as strands of grey matted part of his otherwise vibrant honey colored hair. His features bore a few wrinkles and lines, but the eyes were not natural at all. No, they bore artificial lights glowing turquoise and lacked the white sclera other eyes had.
From Shepard's point of view, something must have caused the man to lose his sight, which caused him to replace his originally organic eyeballs with artificial ones.
"Shepard," His baritone, slightly aged voice greeted as he acknowledged her presense, or at least her hologram, "Good to finally meet you. I'm the Illusive Man, as you can already guess."
"Suppose so." Shepard replied the gesture dryly, "Now straight to the point. Why did you bring me back?"
The Illusive Man did not seem offended by Shepard's disreguard of his authority at all, or if he was, he was not showing any signs of being offended. He then proceeded to explain, "Recently, not more than a few weeks ago, unknown aliens have begun abducting human colonists all over Alliance space. By the time the Alliance military respond, they are already well beyond the Alliance's reach."
He brought up a holoscreen that displayed images of what the unknown aliens looked like, and their ships as well; four-eyed, bipedal creatures that lacked any sort of orfice and bore sickly brown skin, an orange glowing rifle in its hands. The ships looked like they were made from nothing more than scrap, pieces of metal roughly hewn together under the premise of not falling apart. Otherwise, they looked like rough drillheads that had their edges dulled.
"These aliens are known as Collectors," He called the aliens, "And they were responsible for nearly killing you and destroying the original Normandy."
Original? Could that mean...
"Even though we do not... get along, with the Alliance, we still have humanity's best interests at heart, and as a whole, Cerberus wishes to put a stop to the human abductions happening in the galaxy."
"And that, Shepard, is where you come in." The Illusive Man finished as he inhaled a puff from his cigratte.
Now the picture became clear. In order for Cerberus to fully investigate how the Collectors managed to abduct humans whilst outpacing the Alliance military, they would need the aid of one of the best soldiers humanity has to offer, and the very first human Spectre, to top it all off.
She would try to appeal to the Council for aid, but the three pigheads simply outright refused to believe whatever she said unless it truly concerned them.
From the threat of an ancient threat returning to the galaxy to informing them that the Citadel was, in fact, one gigantic mass relay did warrant their concern, but they saw all of it as nonsense or threats to their positions of power, and to the galaxy's current status quo.
Most of all, the Alliance would sinply bring her in for questioning as they did not trust Cerberus at all, since they labeled the organisation as mere untrustworthy terrorists.
Already, she could feel her options beginning to lower in number, as the Alliance had suddenly become unreliable due to her KIA status, leaving... no one. No one left to lend her aid in such a desperate time.
"There is one more thing to bring to your attention, Shepard," The Illusive Man suddenly uttered, breaking the Spectre of her train of thought, "Three things, in fact."
Shepard could have sworn that the Illusive Man actually sighed heavily before bring several things to her attention.
"First, the entire Quarian Migrant fleet has disappeared off the face of the galaxy."
Now that was serious. The Quarian Migrant Fleet, most ships either salvaged or still holding through constant maintainance, still was the single largest fleet in the entire galaxy, boasting naval strength as high as more than 40,000 ships. The fact that they suddenly disappeared was disconcerting.
"Any idea why?" She inquired, eager to find out the fate of the Quarians, including one of her close friends and teammates when she chased the rouge Spectre Saren Arterius.
Tali'Zorah vas Rayya.
Tali had proven herself a skilled engineer and hacker in both battlefield and at home, her expertise extremely helpful in overcoming many of the technological traps and blockades Saren and his agents set up to prevent them from succeeding.
To hear that she along with the rest of her kind was beyond disconcerting, though the Council wouldn't care since they labeled them as the famous boogeymen of the galaxy for creating the Geth.
Even so, she would not abandon them so simply like that.
"Second, over seventy percent of the Geth suddenly left, and no trace of Rannoch has been found, leaving only a small fraction still causing widespread mayhem."
The Quarians were the first to go, but the Geth as well? Especially the news about Rannoch suddenly disappearing sounding especially fishy to her, and no doubt the Illusive Man as well.
"Third, both a huge number of Krogan clans and the planet of Tuchanka have also disappeared in the same way, leaving no trace as to why such a thing occured. The only Krogan left are those of the Blood Pack and a particular Warlord Okeer."
Now it was getting more and more incredulous by the second with every word uttered from the de-facto terrorists' leader's mouth.
"And how did they exactly disappear? All of them?" Shepard demanded, her mind leaving no room for politeliness.
The Illusive Man simply reclined in his chair, his earlier smile fading and replaced with a grim, uncertain expression as he took another puff of smoke.
"I hope you are ready, Shepard, for we knew that one of them was a good friend of yours."
That did not sound good. At all.
"What about them?" Shepard asked, trepidation beginning to fill the tone of her voice.
The middle aged man sighed heavily, as he cooled his burning cigratte in a nearby ashtray, moving a hand to a built-in console on the armrest of his chair.
"It would be easier to show you."
As he brought up an image on screen. Shepard's worst fears came true in front of her eyes, as she gasped visibly, not believing what was happening before her very eyes.
On the holoscreen, thousands upon thousands of ship wreckages, Quarian in design, lay adrift and derilict in space, all bearing visible damage; some were cut cleanly in half by a sort of laser beam, others were lucky enough to simply bear large, gaping holes along the hull whilst miraculously still intact from all the damage sustained.
But other than shipwrecks, bodies, Quarian bodies lay scattered in space all around the graveyard of ships, some still retaining the dignity of having their faces intact, others burned or disected beyond repair.
Shepard spent every minute praying to God, hoping that Tali, and perhaps a few thousand Quarians had managed to survive the veritable massacre; the worst massacre she had ever seen in her whole life.
Not since the sacking of Torfan had she seen so many dead in one place at one time. Not since she saw many of her neighbours and beloved father die before her very eyes.
Not since she lost her beloved brother to the damned Batarian slaver gangs.
"Are there any survivors?" She asked the most logical question anyone would after seeing the horror being displayed.
"Not many, but there were," The Illusive Man answered, allowing Shepard to heave a sigh of relief. "Before they faced certain extinction, they managed to activate the nearby Relay 214 and flee through before it unexpectedly shut down."
To better illustrate his point, he replaced the image with a video that played footage captured from a Cerberus scout vessel.
In the video, many Quarian ships that showed major fires burning along their hull scuttling towards the mass relay they had managed to activate just moments before another one was bisected in half from a lance of bright emerald green.
As the first few Quarian ships managed to escape through the relay, another green lance shot forth towards the recording camera, then... nothing but static; undoubtedly the camera was destroyed during the recording.
"We've sent forth scout vessels to try and reactivate the relay, but to no effect, even after numerous attemps and simultaneously sending streams of code." The Illusive Man said after the video ended, pinching the bridge of his nose as hard as he could.
Shepard could swear he was actually crying before her.
"We could not even decipher the mystery behind the sudden, bleak disappearance of the two planets either, and much of the galaxy's Krogan population gone in the process, which narrows down two possibilities we could think of; one, another organisation or perhaps, another race used a form of FTL that did not rely on using the mass relays." He explained, trying his best to school his expression.
"And the other?" Shepard inquired, eager to know.
He fought to keep calm as he opened his mouth and uttered the very answer which was such a huge embarassment.
"Magic."
Suddenly the Illusive Man's embarassment became far more understandable. Why? It is because Cerberus, despite its repute as a man-slaughtering, supremacist organsation, has always prided itself on offering the best technology humanity had to offer through long-established beliefs of hard logic and dismissing of the impossible.
Now though, the Illusive Man, the very leader and founder of the organisation, who had also established those very ideals, was forced to accept the facts and bite on his pride doing so.
However, it was no laughing matter at that point. If there really was another race, organisation, or more importantly, perhaps... another galactic power which had such capabilities at its disposal; the ability to change the locations of entire planets to other star systems, to be able to shut down a mass relay and prevent its reactivation, to suddenly transport massive populations without using the mass relays as a form of FTL...
Shepard was sure the Council would suddenly encounter a massive titan too massive for it to subdue or coerce into submission. Not by the Turian Hierarchy, not by the Asari Republic, and most likely, not even the Salarian Union.
She shuddered at the potentially cataclysmic events that would follow soon afterward.
"As disappointing as it may seem, we will have to focus on the Collectors for now, Shepard," The Illusive Man said, causing Shepard's features to soften slightly, "We can investigate this mystery later. Right now, the Collectors are the more immediate threat."
He was right, the Collectors were currently the threat to all humankind and the Systems Alliance as a whole. As it was mainly human colonists being abducted, Cerberus had every reason to be invested in combating the threat.
"And do not worry, Shepard. While you were still being rebuilt, our best engineers have made the effort to build a new stealth ship for you to commandeer. As for the aesthetics, it would be best for you to see for yourself. Miranda will guide you to the hangar bay for that."
"I hope we can talk again, Shepard." The Illusive Man finished as he cut the connection, changing Shepard's environment back to the plain, white room she was always in.
IIOII
Miranda was waiting at the exit, arms crossed and fingers tapping in calm observation. With a motioning of her hand, she guided Shepard through the corridors to a large, spacious facility that looked able to house a dreadnought-sized vessel.
And right before her very eyes... was a sight she did not expect at all.
Although painted in Cerberus' standard black and white, the aesthetics were exactly the same as the one she had commandeered when she was still in active service. The sloping angles that gave the ship's look as an insect's head, the large thrusters that would always glow blue whenever burning fuel to power the ship's movement...
And on the sides were painted the words Normandy SR-2.
It was truly a sight for sore eyes as she reveled in the beauty of the newly-rebuilt Normandy resting in the hangar bay. If only a certain head pilot were here to bring out its full potential...
"Like the new beauty, Commander?"
That voice... could it be? Shepard's thoughts raced in her mind as she turned around to acknowledge-
Joker. He was alive this whole time. Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, head pilot of the Normandy and best in the entire Systems Alliance.
Well, was the best, given that he was wearing Cerberus colours now.
And he was still the same man Shepard liked to talk to about the Normandy's performance and how upgrades could influence it as a whole. A fairly young man, limping from Vrolik's Syndrome making his bones brittle, his soft features bearing a slight beard and brown eyes filled with vigor.
"So why did you come to Cerberus?" Shepard asked, though not out of anger considering that Joker was one of Shepard's close friends.
Joker's earlier smile disappeared and set into a tight line as he said, "Ever since your death, I've been pleading to Alliance Parliamentary time and again to put forth a search party to find you, or at least... your remains."
"And I'm guessing they refused?" Shepard guessed.
"Exactly. No matter the reason, they simply refused to grant permission to do so, giving me bullshit like 'We can't risk showing weakness' or 'It's not worth the trouble' and stuff like that. Eventually I just... left."
The two then stayed silent for a while, allowing themselves to recollect their bearings and reflect on all the events that transpired the past two years. For the Asari, it would simply be a blink in their lives. For the others though, it felt like an eternity, especially since they did not have the same lengthly lifespan Asari had.
"I heard about what happened to the Quarian fleet, Commander. From the Illusive Man." Joker said, trying to alieviate the tension in the air.
"Figures."
The silence became pregnant to the point that the tension was so thick, every moment stretched for an eternity. It was becoming uncomfortable to think about the fate of the Quarian survivors for even just one second.
"We'll find Tali, Commander," Joker suddenly said in an effort to ease the pain Shepard was feeling, "I'm sure."
"I only wish I could share your enthusiasm," Shepard said solemnly.
"So when do we start?"
IIOII
Frustration. It was all Captain Ghazig of the six dozen strong slaver fleet he was currently commanding. In all honesty, he found absolutely no value in trying to reactivate Relay 214 as it stubbornly refused to respond to the code somehow.
The Citadel Council had originally implemented an iron clad law that no one, absolutely no one was to reactivate the mass relays without proper permission eversince the Rachni wars.
In the case of Relay 214 though, the law did not need to be enacted at all. The Relay just sat there... inactive and unresponsive. This was a huge mystery that needed to be solved, but being the Council, the Councilors were simply content to leave it be if it meant no foreign enemies were able to invade.
There was a possibility of encountering other hostile races beyond the relay, of course, but to the numerous Batarian slaver gangs, the prospect of enslaving huge numbers of a new race was always so lucrative, so attractive that they were willing to forego precautions to make a quick buck.
But the damned relay was still unresponsive, even after thirty continuous minutes of sending the same code over and over again.
Ghazig was tiring of this cherade. Either the relay would activate in the next five minutes, or he and his gang will simply leave and find their fortune elsewhere.
Just as he was about to give up, however, the relay suddenly came to life at the last possible minute, the gyroscopic rings in the relay's core surrounding a fresh core of dark energy.
Seems that waiting for half an hour wasn't so bad after all, Ghazig thought to himself as he ordered his ships through Relay 214.
No one would realise the huge blunder he had made in his entire career; a blunder that would cost him his very life.
IIOII
Amarthathor was sipping the last drops of his Elven tea when ship ensigns began scrambling to their stations as alarms began blaring throughout the ship, arming themselves in the case of boarding parties as they maintained military-grade coordination despite the chaos that ensued.
Quickly finishing his drink, he put down the cup and rushed towards the main strategy room where a large, round holoboard began to show new ships of unfamiliar design entering their space.
Many of the larger ships looked bulky and rather angular like the Foward Unto Dawn, though their largest size was only about a kilometer or more, whilst many smaller ones were simply less angular.
"Taenith, what have you managed to find from their databanks?" The Emperor asked.
A nearby projector illuminated and motes of light materialized to reveal a hologram in the form of an Elf bearing silver hair and dark skin, wearing the customary slim-fit dark coloured armor of Dark Elves and a cape in a lighter shade of auburn, a bow slung across his torso.
Taenith was one of the new generation combat AI made to be able to serve as both hackers and shock troopers, and the current AI serving on board the Lone Survivor who had yet to see actual combat.
The AI reported, "Managed to pull data far easier than pouring hot water without tongs. Have to say, their Cyber defenses are far weaker than I expected, and their ships bear heavy traces of Element Zero, to add to insult."
That would mean this new race had simply copied Prothean technology rather than finding other ways to use the element. It also meant that instead of using advanced AI, they used rather simplistic AI that passed off as VI, or Virtual Intelligences for short.
Just then, a holoscreen reported signs of the shield gauge dropping to 93% from a full salvo of Eezo projectiles fired from their cannons; obviously the now-turned enemy thought them easy pickings as they were outnumbered.
How eager Amarthathor was to prove them wrong.
"Taenith, send a call for aid to the Foward Unto Dawn and Hyperion," The draconian-in-elven-form ordered, "I don't want to risk any of these ships escaping through the relay before we dispatch them."
Taenith wordlessly nodded, and his avatar vanished in a mass of swirling pixels as he went about his duty.
Aldrige had already donned his combat armor and brought his favourite weapons as well, a customary sword and shield for all Crusaders ready to fight their enemies.
"The ship crew is ready, High Emperor," An Elven ensign reported, "We await only your order."
His fangs flashed as his mouth curled into a savage grin, ready to give the order his crew would faithfully follow unto their deaths.
"Fire."
IIOII
Ghazig only had time to blink before a large projectile of coalesced emerald energy spouted forth from the large spinal cannon that revealed itself once several metal plates concealing it began to retract.
It completely reduced the only dreadnought they had into scattered pieces of wreckage unrepairable and scorched beyond recognition.
Before he could issue the order to retreat, however, another orb of emerald green had sped towards his ship, smashing it to pieces by burning the armored hull.
It was the last thing Ghazig would ever see.
IIOII
Satisfied at the first two largest ships being taken down, he ordered the crew to spare at least one ship, so that when they boarded it, they could take a few prisoners to interrogate and find out why they attack them.
Despite the ship not having sustained any damage or casualties, Amarthathor was unwilling to allow the provocation to go unanswered.
Once again, the main cannon fired and took out yet another of the pathetically puny-sized ships that tried to dodge the orb of energy, to little effect. Afterwards, the metallic plates that originally concealed the cannon shifted back to their original positions.
Now it was the secondary arnaments' turn to deal the damage; the Extrasolarium used in the manufacturing of the various turrets should do their job of lowering the mass of the projectiles and energy lances fired from them, so the enemy ships should have a hard time dodging them.
"Just one thing, Emperor," Taenith interrupted his command briefly, "These enemies call themselves Batarians and... practice slavery."
The last word was uttered with venom lacing the AI's voice, and it caused Amarthathor's mood to sour incredibly, and everyone else's as well; every last Thedosian hated slavery to the point of being disgusted at it's very existense.
Now their objective was to interrogate them to find out just who ordered them to invade their territory in the first place.
Unfortunately, much to their frustration, the sheer firing rate of the Batarians' ships have ruled out the option of boarding even one of them; even if the shuttle were to manage to reach it's intended ship, the sheer number of fighter craft that they call 'destroyers' would swarm them in minutes, taking them out by ramming if they realise that it was the only option they had.
Damnit, slippery bastards will manage to call for help.
Which meant that they had to scatter what little fighter craft they had; only about five fighters currently rested in the hangar bay, as the Lone Survivor had to compensate it's lack of supplies for a lengthly observation of the relay by taking space in the hangar for supply storage, and the nearest colony's garrison was severly understaffed at the moment.
Not to mention that none of their fighter craft were stealth-capable, due to lack of a proper stealth drive.
Their only hope of preventing any surviving ships from escaping now, was to wait for reinforcements currently on their way. The Foward Unto Dawn and Hyperion, no one could compete with their ship commanders when it came to maintaining battle concentration. Well, at least no one who thought waging war was a piece of cake.
The battle continued to rage on, as Batarian ships begin to pound the Lone Survivor's shielding through continuous barrages of their main cannons, hoping to wear down the shielding in the process.
It was a very lengthly process; for every salvo of Eezo slugs impacting the robust iridiscent barrier protecting the Lone Survivor, it only weakened by a fraction of its original strength, causing more Batarian ships to be taken down whilst sacrificing valuble time they could have used to escape the pointless fight.
Eventually, the odds began to tip towards the Thedosian side more, as they already had a huge technological advantage, which greatly aided the Thedosians in the battle despite being outnumbered seventy-two to one.
More and more Batarian ship wreckages began to litter the space surrounding the mass relay, whilst the Thedosian ship barely suffered any scratches on it's paintwork.
Unfortunately, their sheer numbers meant that some would be able to escape through the mass relay that they blockaded using special jamming employed by Taenith.
As the first few began to engage their FTL drives in an attempt to escape, the Thedosians' morale is instantly boosted by the arrival of two ships they were very familiar with.
Two ships entered the fray, one angular and slightly straightfoward in design. Composed of a dark, shining steel blue, it is armed to the teeth with the latest Inferno laser turrets and the most powerful Magnetically-Accelerated Cannon to date. On it's side are the words UNSC Foward Unto Dawn.
The other ship, made of a much darker, dull black metal exits through a black hole, smaller in size than the Foward Unto Dawn. Though much more utalitarian in design, it bears the latest and most powerful Yamato cannon glowing an amber orange and brimming with energy. It is easily identified by the large name of Hyperion printed on its side.
Reinforcements had come.
It was time to begin the fight in earnest.
IIOII
The Captain of the frigate he commanded was in the worst of situations as of now. Two more unknown ships have arrived and joined the fray as allies of the strangely designed ship whose barrier they desperately tried to break. To make matters worse, said ship began to intensify it's assault by sending out fighter craft and several shuttles to swarm the ships.
The shuttles, he would have ordered the ship's crew to immediately gun them down where they were, but in a seemingly suicidal fit of aggressiveness, they sped up to speeds thought impossible even for shuttles, and rammed straight into several frigates, catching them off guard.
The Batarian commander began shaking in his pants, unsure of what to do next, except...
His eyes lay on the pistol magnetically strapped to his waist, and he knew there was only one way this whole scenario would end.
He unstrapped his pistol and primed it, prompting the rest of the crew to do the same with their other weapons, whilst fully aware of the carnage that ensued in the battle.
Just then, the ship rocked from sustaining a heavy impact, causing many crew members to lose their footing and drop their weapons in the process.
"Captain!" A ship ensign called frantically, "We're being boarded by several contacts who just rammed us with a shuttle! We have to-"
Whatever he wanted to say next was abruptly cut off as a shard of solid ice imapled his head like a kebab stick, spilling rivers of blue blood all over the metallic floor.
As he fell, soldiers dressed in varying colours streamed into the command room brandishing all manner of weapons that should have bided their time as antiques or artefacts in musuems, along with firearms that did not resemble any design they knew.
The crew's weapons did nothing to pierce their armor, and their kinetic barrier did nothing to try and protect them from whatever manner of bullets or energy lances were fired from the barrels of the enemies' guns.
Worse, their coordination was on a scale never seen before in any military; even the Hierarchy's forces weren't capable of such a feat, but at the same time, they were not Geth at all as they were the only others ones who could do such a thing.
Somebody help me, somebody-
Within seconds, all of the security guards were finished before they could even escape, whilst any surviving crew members were captured and bound by strange glowing, turquoise coloured energy cuffs.
No matter how much he struggled, the cuffs were as sturdy as a thresher maw's hide, impossible to break out of with sheer brute strength.
The Batarian captain could only speculate what kind of interrogation he would be subject to, as these new aliens-
No, they were human, or at least some of them are, while others had some sort of pointy ears or were short and stubby, or were very tall and had large horns protruding from their foreheads, which meant that they did not attack one, but many races.
The Hegemony is surely going to pay the ultimate price for such a blunder on their part, the Batarian captain thought to himself as he was hauled away.
IIOII
A lone ship lay still, operational and waiting in space as it observed the battle waged between the Batarian fleet and unknown ships whilst trying to find out the reason for Relay 214's inactivity, using a camera unit they managed to install on one of the Batarian ships without their knowing.
The unknowns had turned out to have much more advanced technology than the Batarians and both experience and knowledge in waging all-out war, making the battle extremely one-sided.
But the way they managed to jam the interconnected relays and make sure they stayed that way did not make sense at all. No matter how many simulations were run, no matter how intelligent they were as evolved Intelligences, none of it computed at all.
They were Geth, and they would avenge the deaths of their creators at the hands of the alien species known as the Ethereals; no one, not even the Geth knew the real reason why they simply attacked the Quarian Fleet, but so many had died that they were sure they became extinct.
In a quest for vengeance, they had abandoned their creators' homeworld of Rannoch to find the Ethereals and make them pay dearly for their transgressions.
Since then, they had assimilated their advanced technology and become much more; no longer were they simply advanced VI who only operated by logic. They were true AI now, and they would find the Ethereals, with or without the Council's help.
No one would stand in the way of their revenge. No one.
"Have you managed to find out the cause of Relay 214's jamming?" A Geth prime asked.
"Not yet, but soon we will find out." Another Geth answered back.
"What about the causes of Rannoch's disappearance?"
"Still unknown as of now."
"Send out a probe beyond the relay," Another Geth suggested, "Maybe we can find out more if we scout the space on the other side."
"But what about the unknown ships?" A Geth hunter interjected, "All three have different IFFs, and we do not know how they will respond to our presense if they detect us."
"We will proceed," Said another Geth unflinchingly as it made itself known to the rest in the command room, radiating a clear sense of authority over the Geth present.
"Legion..." All the other Geth muttered its name as it assumed a commander's posture, observing the endless void of stars blanketing space.
Legion was one of the Geth assigned by the rest of the Consencus two years ago to search for Commander Shepard and try to find her, or at least what remained of her. When they found her remains, they found her body in a pile of charred meat and shattered bones, with only the helmet and brain missing.
As Legion had lost an arm in a fight against an Ethereal ship, he had to replace his arm by welding a piece of Shepard's armor to where its arm was supposed to be. He was easily identifiable by such a change in appearance, and quickly rose through the Geth ranks as a capable commander.
"One way or another," Legion said as he stared out through the large windshield, "We will find the Ethereals, and we cannot hide ourselves from the rest of the galaxy any longer."
The amount of weight Legion's words had on the rest of the Geth present had a profound effect on them, and without hesitation, they deployed a probe through the mass relay, watching it disappear in a flash of bright blue light engulfing it and shooting it past the construct.
Other Geth were monitoring the probe through a series of sensors built into the unit, which displayed the current information it was gathering on various holoscreens.
So far there were no complications; the probe was fully functional and no malfunctions were reported. It was all good. No one would interrupt them.
The probe extied FTL in a bright flash of light, proceeding to gather-
It was immobile, unable to respond to commands from the Geth ship on the other side of the relay. It received the command to self-destruct, but it would not; something was jamming its functions entirely.
"What is happening?" Legion demanded, eager to know how the probe's responsive sensors are not responding.
"Something is jamming the probe somehow," A Geth reported, "Not even the self-destruction protocol is working properly."
It should not be possible. None of it should be possible. They had upgraded their probes to have the latest anti-jamming and anti-EMP systems built into their systems ever since last month, and yet, somehow these unknowns have managed to do the impossible.
"Legion, an audio message is being sent to us through the drone right now." Another Geth said.
"Play it." Legion ordered.
It complied, and pressed a few buttons to allow the audio message to run through a translation matrix, though it seemed such an action was unnecessary, as it seemed already prepared for the Geth to easily hear.
"We are not fond of uninvited guests, but colour us interested. Who are you?"
Such a statement almost offended the Geth, but they could tell that these unknowns had fought other aliens before, and as such were much more wary of foreign powers next to their doorstep.
More information was being uploaded to the Geth probe, which in turn allowed the Geth to stream through the few megabytes of text that began displaying on the holoscreens at all the ensigns' stations.
Focusing on the more important parts, Legion could see that these unknowns were actually from three different superpowers, all possessing much more advanced technology than the whole Council combined.
The largest of the three ships was identified as the Lone Survivor, and it was the greatest unknown of all three, belonging to the largest superpower beyond the relay known as the Thedosian Empire; the Thedosians gained their name by evolving on the same planet.
The second largest was the Foward Unto Dawn. At just slightly less than nine hundred and eighty metres in length, it had a less impressive design than the Lone Survivor, but had a large spinal cannon capable of eliminating an Ethereal ship, with strange readings detected by the drone at various sections of the ship. Legion was actually surprised to find that the Foward Unto Dawn was actually part of another fleet belonging to this 'UNSC', but it was now part of the Azerothian Coalition's fleet, yet another multi-racial galactic like the Empire.
The last one, called the Hyperion was from an Alliance of only three species, known as the Korprulu Alliance, and the Alliance was actually the weakest of all three factions the Geth had encountered, and also had a large spinal cannon raidating huge energy readings, but had the most utalitarian design out of all three, the colour a dull grey that was hardly impressive to the eye.
The suspense hung in the air like a sharp knife, as the Geth realised they confronted not one, but three powers at once, each individually more powerful than the Council as a whole. If they were organic, they would do the organic action of swalloing their saliva in tremendous fear, shaking nervously as well.
But they were the ones who initiated First Contact with them, and they would see it through.
"Move us through the relay," Legion ordered, to which the crew members complied, albeit uneasy.
The Geth ship was flung foward from the mass relay in a blue spectrum of light, as the dark energy reduced the ship's mass until it was faster than the speed of light. Everything outside the ship became a blur, as its speed became too fast for the naked eye to follow.
Anxiously the Geth waited, waited for the imminent moment that they would meet the three superpowers through the ships that waited for them on the other side.
Legion himself was filled with both dread and trepidation, the tension beginning to intensify as the ship began exiting FTL travel.
Once they exited through, they were about to try and put up a valiant fight at the sight of the ships arming their weapons, but a last minute message popped up on a nearby holoscreen, displaying a message.
"Forgive us for the recent debacle. If you wish to talk, it will be aboard the Lone Survivor. A maximum of three guards is allowed."
It was almost ironic to the point of simply laughing madly. One time the unknowns were brutal fighters and masters of war against the despicable Batarian slavers, next they suddenly become friendly and apologize for nearly killing someone by accident.
It was a plethora of sheer pressure when faced with a larger superpower who could destroy you at its leisure, and even more so when it has much more advanced technology non-dependent on ruins of any deceased civilisation.
At least the way for negotiations has been cleared.
Now the Geth had to do the one thing they were least experienced in.
Politics.
IIOII
65:85 Eternal
Survivors of the Quarian Migrant Fleet manage to gain asylum within Thedosian space, numbering at only about three million and a half. They make a rather flimsy First Contact with the Thedosians at first, then the Azerothian Coaliton and Korprulu Alliance.
The Survivors are initially ticked off at the prospect of being surrounded by AI and Rachni, but Thedosians strictly enforce a society of coexistense, putting off any complaints the Quarians had about their new neighbours.
Quarian children are astounded by the feats of magic performed by Thedosian magi, but when a Quarian child tries to use his biotics in an environment heavily concentrated with magic, only a split-second usage of a shield prevents the boy from meeting certain death.
A mandatory order to remove all Eezo nodules in Quarian children is passed, making their parents unsure if magic is really more powerful than biotics.
Biotics apparently gain their potential when suffering prenatal exposure to Eezo deposits, but since the incident, Quarians are encouraged to spend more time near Amado-rich environments to bring out magic potential. By using an Amado-based cure to strengthen the Quarians' atrophied immune systems, many are already beginning to develop magic potential.
As many begin to miss their homeworld of Rannoch, a stealth ship carrying a full platoon of magi travels to the Tikkun System and use a portal spell to transport it back to their space.
The Quarians are unsure why the planet was abandoned; when asked, they said that a race of AI called the Geth used to take residence. The fact they suddenly disappeared is disconcerting at best, and patrols are advised to avoid shooting at them if possible if ever found.
Not long after, an Ethereal scout group enters Thedosian space and begins to attack the planet of Rannoch, frightening the Quarian survivors.
Fortunately, the Ethereal fleet numbering a dozen encounter a much larger fleet of eighty-four, quickly turning the skirmish into a one-sided battle, with the odds in the allies' favour.
To the Quarians' shock and surprise, before an Ethereal ship could release a nuclear bomb on the planet, a Thedosian AI travels onboard the surviving ship and detonates the bomb before it could launch, sacrificing himself to ensure the deed was done.
Never before did they have an AI sacrifice itself for their sake, so although they still remained rather uneasy towards AI, the Quarians at least do not bear outright hatred towards them now.
As a safety measure, a Thedosian AI is dispatched on the Lone Survivor to deactivate the relay and jam it to prevent any signals from reactivating it.
65:86 Eternal
Using technology adapted from the aspects of all three superpowers' technology, along with those of the independent factions, the Quarians begin to build themselves back up on Rannoch, with the first Quarian ship entering service.
It was over five kilometres long, though it paled in comparison to the size of the Eternal Guardian serving as the Thedosian Flagship.
Although Quarians have begun filling the ranks of the Thedosian military, they are a very small minority at best, due to the huge population decline they suffered.
Their expertise in engineering and hacking begin to receive notice from the other superpowers, so Quarian soldiers are offered a chance to enroll in engineering classes alongside other technicians in an effort to bring out their full potential.
A covert stealth ship travels to the planet of Tuchanka to initiate First Contact with a species called the Krogan, whom they found out about from the Rachni.
Many Krogan are unsure if being allies with the Allied Truimverate, relating to the Thedosian Empire, Azerothian Coalition and Korprulu Alliance and the independent factions was any better than with another galactic power called the Citadel Council, and as a result refuse the offer at first.
One Krogan clan however sees the alliance as an opportunity. The leader of Clan Urdnot by the name of Wrex agrees to the offer, and under his command, Krogan forces unite the other warring clans and secure the entire DMZ.
A large bomb is discovered in the middle of a ruined city square, which is disarmed and quickly disposed of by a few Specialist operatives.
Once Tuchanka is completely secure, magi teleport the planet back to allied space, and the Krogan who are amazed by their lifeless planet suddenly beginning to regain its greenery, simply decide to acknowledge the sovereignty of the other powers.
Xenobiologists and technicians manage to develop a partial cure for the Genophage, allowing all Krogan births to have 100% survival rate, but at the same time population growth is carefully reduced to the point that it is stable enough for the galaxy to handle.
Once the last Eezo deposits are removed and destroyed in Tuchanka, Krogan then undergo the mandatory Eezo removal in various hospitals and begin to assimilate themselves into a new society, with many applying for military classes and reconstruction efforts beginning in earnest.
Elven liquors and Dwarven beer become especially popular among Krogan personnel off-duty; some love the taste of Draconian liquor, but few ever dare to get drunk on it, as there were reports of Krogan doing absolutely embarassing things in public whilst being blissfully drunk.
65:87 Eternal
Thanks to advanced technology, Tuchanka's infrastructure is completely rebuilt and the thresher maw population roams freely outside city boundaries thanks to measures implemented to ensure they did not go on a rampage.
The first few Krogan ships enter service, mainly serving as the defense fleet of Tuchanka in the case of an enemy invasion.
Quarian and Krogan scientists are given free reign to experiment with Extrasolarium, opening a new range of new breakthroughs in technology and creation of their own branches of Exso tech.
As much space on both Rannoch and Tuchanka still remains unoccupied, the leaders of the respective native races give permission for immigrants to inhabit the planet until their population became more stable.
Reports of an unknown alien species trying to reactivate Relay 214 come in, alerting the Lone Survivor's crew.
The High Emperor who happened to be commandeering the ship, orders an SOS to be sent to the Foward Unto Dawn and Hyperion who are not far off.
The new alien species are identified as Batarians and the ones attacking them happen to be a slaver gang.
Disgusted, the allied ships mercilessly take out the fleet, leaving only a few survivors from one ship to be captured and sent to interrogation.
Soon afterward, First Contact is made with the Geth.