Hi and welcome to the third chapter! Please enjoy!
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(13th September 2569 - UNSC controlled Shield World 006 – Trevelyan – ONI Headquarters)
Silence prevailed throughout the meeting hall.
The entirety of the UNSC High Command as well as ONI's board of directors had gathered to review the data retrieved by the Shadow's Breath.
Each and every member present had been debriefed on the discovery of Terra as well as the scenario's that the prowler could have come upon.
However none could have predicted the reality.
"How is this possible? Their history is almost identical to ours! How could they have gone through two world wars and formed the U.N.? Hell the only point their history diverges from ours is when they found these Prothean ruins on Mars. And how come they are almost 400 years behind us?" asked Director Simon Dixon, head of ONI section II. His concerns were more than just the revelation of the data but also that he would be tasked with the dissemination of the data to the public when HighCom deemed it necessary.
"You need to remember that the Librarian is directly responsible for our existence. She ensured that we as a species would develop and grow along the path that she laid out for us until we reached space. From the data acquired from the Absolute Record, it shows that we, Humanity, were always destined to follow this path. The people behind the events might be different but our histories are near identical due to this plan. As to why they are behind us in time? That we cannot tell. They were seeded on Terra at the same time as we were reseeded on Earth after the firing of the Halos. They should be at the same time period as us but something has differed in our developments. What that is however, we simply cannot tell at this moment." answered the Director and Head of all ONI, Catherine Halsey.
As the members of the meeting sat in silence, reflecting on this truth, one among them asked the questions that have plagued her since the revelation of the Librarian.
"So does that mean everything we have done, our accomplishments, our failures, the Great War, was predestined? That we had neither choice nor control over our future? That the death of over 60 percent of our entire population was due to the whims of another?"
Director Halsey turned to face the Director of Section I. Halsey herself had wondered the same questions especially in regards to her actions. Was she always destined to create the Spartans? Was it decided since before she was born to carry the guilt of what she had done for her entire life? Her answer was given to her not long ago though it did not bring her comfort.
"No Admiral Dare. The Librarian's plan for our development ended the moment we reached out into space. Her plan was to ensure that no matter when we did reach space, we would have the foundations for our race to unite under one banner. For us it was the Interplanetary Wars which led to the formation of the UNSC. Everything since then has been our own doing. We forged our own place in the galaxy by our design. The Librarian only made sure that we would be united as a species. The Great War was never a vision of her plans, nor was the near extermination of our society at the hands of the Covenant."
Rear Admiral Dare and everyone present took some comfort in that but it still left them with the main issue of what to do about Terra and the Timeless Storm.
Admiral Lasky, wanting to know more on the future threat asked, "Was Pious able to gather any more information on the Timeless Storm?"
Halsey replied to the question knowing that no one would like what she would say, "As to what the Timeless Storm is or its motives? No. However with the information that Pious attained from Terra we now have a base from which to translate the Forerunner Archive. We now understand how the trap works with Nullium."
Within the meeting room a hologram lit up, showing the three dimensional representation of a structure that resembled a tuning fork.
"The Timeless Storm seeded these devices, known as Mass Relays, throughout the galaxy near worlds were life would develop sapience. Once discovered by a species, the Mass Relays would provide an FTL transport that allows near instant travel over hundreds to thousands of light years. And at the centre is this."
The hologram changed, displaying a diagram of a five pronged construct.
"This is the Citadel. A 44.7 kilometre space station that, when discovered, is often used to become the centre of galactic civilisation. However it is in itself a Mass Relay that when activated allows the return of the Timeless Storm. With the return, the head of civilisation is destroyed and the Relays become locked, trapping races within star systems as mass effect FTL is far too slow for effective galactic travel. The Timeless Storm then return to Citadel after destroying all advance life and wait for life to advance again. This repetition occurs roughly every fifty thousand years depending on the development of life but was stopped by the Forerunners."
Fleet Admiral Lord Hood was troubled by this revelation but he needed more information, "Why did the Forerunners never destroy the Relays or the Citadel for that matter? How is the Citadel activated?"
Halsey looked at the Fleet Admiral, and replied, "The Timeless Storm itself activates the Citadel when it deems it time. As to how, we cannot say."
"When the Forerunners defeated the Timeless Storm the Relays were converted to be used by the Forerunners. It was of convenience only that the relays were not destroyed. As to why the Citadel remained? It lay within the domain of the Ancient Human Empire. The Humans of that time also fought against the Timeless Storm but sought to eradicate it. The Timeless Storm fled through Forerunner space and out into the void between galaxies. I should point out that it was Humanities actions against the Timeless Storm that began aggressions between them and the Forerunners. After the ancient empire fell, the Forerunners became far more concerned with the threat of the Flood than to do away with the relay network."
The Forerunners belief in the Mantle, while noble, almost doomed the galaxy to the flood as well as to the return of the Timeless Storm. And now it would be their 'cousins' that would have to stand against this threat that they had unwitting fallen victim to.
Director Charles Dane, head of section III decided it was best now to ask the question that had been concerning him, "Do these people have Reclaimer status?"
Everyone turned to Halsey wanting to know the answer. If the people of Terra did have Reclaimer status, the repercussions would be unfathomable.
Halsey remained quiet, contemplating her response before answering.
"We cannot tell. Not without placing Forerunner technology directly into their hands."
Fleet Admiral Hood, wanting a solution to the situation, brought the meeting back to focus, "How do we proceed with this then? We, the UNSC, have sworn to defend Humanity and while they may not be part of the UNSC they are still human. The Timeless Storm is a threat the Forerunners left for us and they will be the ones that will encounter it. What solutions are viable?"
Everyone shared his conviction. After the Great War, every man, woman and child learned how truly precious life was, and how little it takes to completely destroy it. Though the UNSC had some difficulty after the war, peace was established across all human colonies and while the name remained the same, the UEG was restructured so as to prevent another insurrection war from starting. Though it did help having vastly superior FTL communications than the ones used before the war in order to better administrate and manage colonies.
ONI, under Halsey's lead, had been running simulations on all potential options viable to them but the results were not encouraging.
"In short any direct action we take in revealing ourselves to them or if this galactic society discovers our existence, it will only lead to war."
All those present were confused. How could war be so certain?
"I'll explain. First the people of Terra are relatively new to this galactic society and their introduction was not a peaceful one. Even though the peace keeping force of this Citadel Council admit to starting the, as they call it 'relay 314 incident', the people of Terra have rapidly expanded out into areas of space that are quite unstable politically. Their actions have indirectly caused another race to break off and cut relations from the Citadel Council and increased piracy and mercenary forces in the galaxy. They have made humanity seem as an aggressive, expansionist race that cares little to nothing for the needs of the other races. This has led to wide spread suspicion and weariness to their actions. "
"From this standpoint the galactic community would be highly suspicious when our presence is revealed. They would never believe us about the Forerunners splitting up our race nor would the people of Terra ever accept the fact that they exist as a backup encase we died out before attaining the Mantle. Espionage, kidnapping and skirmishes would occur before all out war. We cannot reveal ourselves now nor can we be discovered." finished Halsey.
"If war was to occur how would we fair? What would be the outcome?" asked Admiral White, commander of the Home Fleet.
"Given what Pious was able to gather about their military and naval strength, while they do have advantages over us in certain areas, such as ship weapon range, rate of fire and numbers, they suffer from several critical weaknesses in their technology that we would win in any engagement as long as the ratio of ship to ship combat is on average just below 9 to 1 in their favour."
The board was stunned to say the least. The data showed that the combined forces of all races in this galactic society bar three aspects gave an entire force of just under 8,000 war ships. With the current standing of UNSC combat ready ships standing at 1,400 with a further 700 in various stages of construction with an expected deployment within seven years, the odds seemed greatly in the favour of the UNSC. But the question was how?
"I'm sorry director but how can the odds be so greatly in our favour?" asked Admiral Lasky.
Halsey, for a brief moment, gave a look of disappointment before schooling her features into a mask of calmness, "It's the basis of their technology. This mass effect is the driving force of their development and these mass relays have only further confined them to studying this one technological pathway. Their ships are only capable of moving in space due to Nullium decreasing the mass of the ship. By using this method of travel, their ships have subpar engines and thrusters for the actual mass and size of their ships. In the heat of battle, they have to adjust the mass reduction and thrusters output to increase manoeuvrability. However such an action decreases the power output for the primary weapon and generates increased heat within the ship. Their methods for dealing with excess heat are highly inefficient and as such, more often than not, the commanders of these ships focus more on firing the main weapon at full strength than increasing manoeuvrability, letting their shields take the damage. But no matter what they do, their ships will produce excessive amounts of heat that will cripple them rather quickly."
All the Admirals frowned at that. During the war, the ability to dodge and out manoeuvre the weapons of the Covenant was paramount. It was a far better scenario for ships to survive while managing to fire successful M.A.C. rounds at subpar that combined in force, destroys a Covenant ship than for ships to fire one M.A.C. round and then be destroyed.
"What about the main weapon? How does it compare to our M.A.C.'s." asked the Fleet Admiral.
"The primary weapon fires a round weighing roughly 15 to 20 kilograms up to 4,025 km/s, depending on the class of ship. Their largest class of warships, dreadnoughts if you can believe that, have a maximum firepower of 38 kilotons of kinetic energy at a rate of fire of one slug every two seconds."
"However this comes at a cost. The weapon suffers recoil equivalent to the round's impact force as well as the heat produced from the weapon. They cannot possibly maintain such a rate of fire beyond three shots without severely damaging the ship. The advantage of range is negated as our ships are far more manoeuvrable, bringing their effective range within the range our M.A.C.'s"
"What about their shields? How much force can they tolerate before failing?" questioned Admiral Roland Jerome, commander of the Seventh Fleet.
"Their shields, which they call Kinetic Barriers, are designed to stop their weapons not ours. The barrier focuses on repelling small objects travelling at high velocities towards their ships. They do nothing to stop heat or radiation hitting the ship and given the size of a standard M.A.C. round, it would be as if there was nothing in the way. They would be completely outgunned by us alone."
Rear Admiral Dare decided to ask in regards to a matter that affected the people of Terra recently, "What about the kidnapped citizens of Mindoir?"
Lord Hood answered that for her, "Fire-team Valiant has been dispatched to where the colonists are being held. They will neutralise the enemy forces there and activate a distress beacon broadcasting on Alliance frequencies. After ensuring that the people are safe they will return, leaving no evidence of our involvement."
While the members of the board felt relieved that the colonists would be saved from slavery but it still left them the question of how to help the people of Terra, especially with the threat of the Timeless Storm.
Halsey, knowing what they were thinking smirked, relishing the start of her plan.
"I have a solution however."
Once again everyone turned to her waiting for her to speak.
"The Systems Alliance, as they call themselves, is attempting to increase its power on the galactic scale as well as its naval force. I believe that we can be of assistance in this matter."
"In order for them to gain a council seat, and as a result allowing them to expand their naval forces, they first need a member of their race to become a Spectre. You all have the files pertaining to them so I won't bore you with the details on what Spectre does but you should know that the Alliance wishes to have a Human Spectre. Here is where I propose a member of the UNSC becomes involved."
"Our operative would gain the membership and help strengthen alliances with the galactic society and the Systems Alliance. Then when the Timeless Storm returns; we can reveal ourselves and the operative can help bridge a peaceful alliance between us and the galaxy."
"Assuming the galactic society survives long enough for us to form an alliance." muttered Dane.
After giving Dane a withering look, Lord Hood faced Halsey and asked, "Who would you recommend for such a mission?"
Smirking in victory, knowing full well that all present would agree with her, Halsey replied, "Why who else would be better for such a mission than a Spartan?"
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(25th September 2569 – UNSC Fire-team Valiant, Aratoht, Bahak System, UEG Standard)
The camp was dead.
Every Batarian lay dead within a pool of blood. There was no discernible cause as to who had killed them. No tracks. No spent thermal clips. No sign of the enemy that had slaughter them.
This is the sight that greeted Valiant Team.
Spartan Thomas Harrison, leader of Valiant, was worried. The records showed that the Batarians were waiting for a buyer for the humans they captured, but it seemed that the buyers, whoever they were, weren't willing to pay.
"Captain, we've searched every holding cell and the video logs. The people are gone and the tapes are wiped clean. The trail's cold Sir." Spoke Valiant II.
Sighing to himself, Harrison gave the order he hated the most, knowing that the brass were going to grill him and his whole team, "We're scrubbing the mission. Head back to the prowler but leave no trace of our presence. We don't know when someone else will come by."
"Sir."
As he made his way back to the ship, Harrison wondered who could have taken the colonists. The Batarians made every effort of avoiding to name them so who were they? And what did they want with so many people?
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(Location Unknown)
He was terrified.
After the attack on his home and being left in the 'care' of the Batarians, Nicolai was terrified.
Now after being taken again by a race he never saw before, he was being dragged through corridors of some alien structure.
The ones dragging him had an insect like look to them, with no discernible mouth but the feature that gave Nicolai dread was their eyes.
All four, glowing, yellow eyes.
Finally they stopped dragging him when they reached a strange device. It contrasted sharply with the dark and organic look of the structure he was currently in.
The device was metallic silver, shining like a beacon within the darkness of the structure. It had sharp, angular edges with what appeared to be long glowing lines of blue energy coursing through it.
Nicolai honestly believed it to be some form of art.
Suddenly one of the aliens started to glow, yellow light crackling out of it body and levitating in the air. Nicolai had seen biotics before but this was nothing like that. As the light from the alien faded, it turned to face him, lines of volatile yellow energy pulsating over its body and spoke, "Human... You will place your hand on the artefact before you."
"Wha-What are you?"
"We are beyond your comprehension. Place your hand on the artefact now or you will be forced."
Not wishing to suffer whatever the...thing would do to him if he didn't; Nicolai crawled over to the device and slowly dragged himself to stand above it.
In the centre of the device was some form of sphere-like holographic interface. It seemed to be the only Place to interact with the device that he could see.
"Do not try my patience human. Place your hand on the artefact."
Nicolai jumped out of his skin. The glowing alien was right beside him, watching his every movement. Its eyes, its voice unnerved him so much but he felt a need to comply with its demands.
Slowly, Nicolai stretched out his hand towards the sphere, not knowing what would happen but knowing that he had no choice, continued.
As his hand was about to touch the sphere, he closed his eyes, praying that he would not die. That this nightmare would end and he would wake up back on Mindoir.
Seconds passed and nothing happened.
Nicolai opened his eyes and looked at his hand. His was touching the sphere but all he could see was that the areas his hand touched were flashing red.
Withdrawing his hand the flashing stopped, and the sphere returned to its normal appearance.
"It seems your kind are not the chosen. Take him and place him with the others. Begin their ascension."
Nicolai felt a pair of claws grab his shoulders, and dragged him away from the artefact.
As his screams died down the glowing creature stood staring at the artefact, its claws gliding over the sphere producing the same flashing red lights as the human before it.
"Releasing control"
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Chapter End
Well how was that? Did you enjoy? Stayed tuned for the next chapter!
Why are the human of Mass Effect not Reclaimers? Why are they behind the UNSC by 400 years? What do the Reapers want with Forerunner Technology? All will be revealed soon.
Also everyone should know by now. Halsey keeps secrets. And when neseccary, lies.
Just so you know the next chapter might be a little late next week, but it still will be next week.
As for the references in the first two chapters, the ship name in Chapter 1 as well as the A.I.'s name came from Majora's Mask and the names of almost all the OC's in the Chapter two came from Eternal Darkness.