June 24th 2161. Somewhere near the border of the Attican traverse. 23:12. Terran standard time. Aboard the Turian Cruiser 'Vigilance'.
Spirits damn it! How could this keep happening? For the third time in just as many months Arminius had lost the Quarian fleet. Even after refitting and upgrading the ship with the newest and most expensive Salarian spy tech available to the Turian Hierarchy the damned suit rats still managed to evade them. It looked like the equipment wasn't enough. And worse, his continued inability to keep track of the Quarians made him look bad. Command was constantly breathing down his neck, his continued failure was making his entire race a laughing stock, and the Council was getting annoyed. To add insult to injury the council had sent a spectre, an Asari spectre, to 'assist' him and aid him. Like I need some help looking for a fleet of suit rats.
He marched over to his communications officer, a female with some very supportive legs, and looked intently on her screen as she received reports from various Batarian communications buoys around the sector. The Batarians hadn't exactly been helpful in their search for the Quarians, but they didn't really like the idea of a fleet of scavengers and thieves running rampant in their sector of space, and so they had given Arminius permeation to use their comm buoys.
"Minia, Report!"
The female turned around and snapped a quick salute before bringing up various charts and graphs and a map of the galaxy.
"Sir, some of the scanners in this sector has picked up some unusual activity lately. Especially around here and here."
She indicated some areas of the sector map. The two areas were close to the borders of Batarian space, but otherwise there wasn't anything special about them. I was, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere. No mass relays, no populated planets or colonies, no fuel station, there was nothing but unpopulated, empty space.
"And why would the Quarians go there? Are you sure it isn't just some pirates hiding from the law? If I'm going to act on this I need more than just speculations officer."
The female officer quickly brought up more graphs and charts.
"Surveillance officer Tibanus believes that these are more than simple pirates sir. See how the detectors fluctuate here."
Pointing at the charts, he could indeed see that the activity in the sector had had a large increase in the movement of stellar objects. These were incredibly delicate sensors which could pick up any movement of something metallic. As long as it had a certain mass. To his surprise the fluctuations were quite significant. Marching at the least three dozen ships. One of them a dreadnought sized ship, albeit in the lower end of the scale.
"But that is ages away from anything. What would the suit rats gain from going there?"
There was little doubt in his mind that they had indeed located the Quarians. No other citadel race had any ships out here, or at least not in numbers. So when his sensors told him that forty ships were seen traveling through a system he logically had to assume that they were the refugees he was looking for. Still it would look bad if he raced off into an empty part of space on what turned out to be a goose chase.
"Call the spectre. She's going closer to that system than we are. Give her the report and 'request' that she check it out."
The female officer complied and sent the message immediately. Now, his ass covered, Arminius could relax a little. If the Spectre didn't find anything he wouldn't have wasted precious time on something that turned out to be a false alarm. And if she did find something then it would be thanks to his keen eyes and his competence as a commander. Finally he might get some elbowroom out there. If he could turn in a few good reports, complimenting the new systems and tech, with evidence that the Quarians could no longer hide from the watchful eye of the Citadel, then he might get fast tracked for his long overdue promotion. Finally things are going my way.
June 24th 2161. Somewhere near the border of the Attican traverse. 23:36. Terran standard time. Aboard the Asari republic cruiser 'Graceful ascendance'.
Vamara Me'ana had spent more than a century in the service to the council as a spectre. She had in her years of service foiled acts of terrorism, taken down slaver rings, smuggling corporations, murder cults, corrupt officials and bands of pirates. As one of the most famous and successful spectres ever to have served the council, she found her current assignment to be far, far beneath her.
Having seconded the Asari cruiser as her transport and her base of operations she had quickly traveled towards her rendezvous with the Turian Captain in charge of the surveillance of the Quarians. Since he was apparently unable to do his job properly, she had been sent to assist him in any manner she saw fit. She had initially thought that he would be hostile, or at the very least, uncooperative. But he had complied with her every request, send her all the documents, reports and charts needed. She had been unable to find any fault in his procedures. It seemed that the Quarians were, indeed, very elusive. Therefor when she received his request to search a system on her route for traces of the Quarians she had complied.
"Arriving at the system in ten seconds ma'am. Might want to get up to the bridge."
Vamara roused herself from her meditation. The cruiser was one of the biggest and most elegant in the Asari fleet. She felt like she was on a luxury barge when in truth it probably outgunned any other vessel of the same class. Whit its state of the art shields and cannons and the new alloys in its armor it was truly a formidable ship. It was a true testimony to the superiority of the Asari republic.
Coming up to the bridge she instantly called out for reports, readings and scans. After a minute when the different crewmembers called out their reports she came to a conclusion that she wasn't really that surprised with. Nothing. The system was empty. No ships had discharge their FTL drives nearby, or left an Eezo trail. No element zero leaks, which the Quarians always had some of with their old ships, not even a piece of scrap metal or ejected garbage.
"Sorry ma'am. Looks like a false alarm"
The Asari captain looked genuinely disappointed. And she had to admit, she too didn't like the idea of a fifty-thousand ship fleet just disappearing. Especially in an uncharted, unexplored sector of space.
"Alright, lets continue towards the rendezvous with Arminius. No reason to loiter around in an empty system."
She turned to leave when the woman on her right suddenly jerked in shock, her monitor blaring alarms.
"Madam! Captain! I detect a large number of constructs on the fourth planet in the system. I also detect a lot of radio waves and other forms of communications".
So the Quarians had indeed been here. Even worse, they had built emplacements on the planet below them, perhaps intending to colonize it.
"Bring us close. I want a live feed up on the screen within the minute."
It took about thirty seconds before they got close enough to the plane, a beautiful garden world even, before the sensors and cameras on the ship was able to get a picture up on the vid screens of the cockpit. The first pictures were of the beautiful green valleys and forests of the planet. Vamara was surprised by the beauty of the planet. They were far, far away from any mass relay, but this planet had real prospects of colonization. Once they had evicted the Quarians she decided that she would contact the Asari council member. This planet was way too good for some beggars like the Quarians.
"Vid coming up. Looks like they have been real busy down there."
Vasari was stunned when she saw the number of buildings on the surface. It looked like they had crashed a large ship on the surface of the planet, there was a lot of buildings surrounding the ship, buildings of every shapes and sizes. It looked like a colony with a capacity of a few thousand colonists. Despite herself Vamara was impressed. They had only been gone a month and they had already established a large colony. She could even see two orbital canons on the edge of the colony.
"My my, they have been busy". The captain smiled. While the Quarians weren't as hated by the peaceful Asari as they were by the militaristic Turians, they still weren't a particularly loved race. They had little in the way of economy, almost no culture and their rugged, ugly ships were real eyesores on the Citadel whenever one of them docked.
They tried to zoom in on the colony, but then suddenly their cameras began blurring. One by one, the cameras lost their view of the planet. Disturbing. They are probably trying to hide. Well too little too late.
"Open up a comms channel. I want to talk to them."
When the communications officer had established a channel to the planet surface, Vamara stepped up and cleared her throat.
"This is Council spectre Vamara Me'ana onboard the Asari republic vessel 'Graceful ascendance' calling the surface of undesignated planet. Your occupation of this planet is an illegal action against established Citadel laws, and you will acknowledge our hails and surrender yourselves into our custody. Respond immediately!"
There was static for a long while. She started to get annoyed. If they were childish enough to just ignore her she would have to use force. She turned to the captain.
"Power up the guns. Have them lock on the large building in the middle. Show them we mean business."
The captain did as she was told. She had no intention of actually using the guns, but she would be forced to if they didn't acknowledge her. Vamara tried to contact the colony once again.
"This is Council spectre Vamara Me'ana to the surface of undesignated planet, respond immediately or we will have to use force!"
She didn't like to do this, but it was necessary. The Quarians had ignored a Council edict. They were not to colonize any new worlds, and now that they were ignoring her she would have to show them what ignoring council law meant.
Suddenly the static was interrupted by the blaring of several alarms on the ship. Red lights filled the deck and the crew started running around frantically, occupying their seats and manning their battle stations. Vamara couldn't believe what was happening. The Quarians had the nerve to point their guns on them. Them!
"Ma'am we have several weapon locks from the planet. We also detect a ship inbound. It should be here in about…"
A large explosion rocked the ship. Vamara was thrown of her feet, her head smacked against the bulkhead. Stars were swimming before her eyes and blue blood was coursing from a gash on her forehead. She managed to get back on her feet and grasped the pilot's chair, trying to steady herself.
"Captain report! What happened?"
The captain looked shocked. No one had thought the Quarians would dare fire at a Citadel species, let alone a Council Spectre.
"Our engines are dead! They cut right through our shields!"
But how? The Quarians didn't possess that kind of weapons. The Asari cruiser easily outgunned almost anything the Quarians had in their fleet.
"Ma'am! An unidentified cruiser has just entered the system. It doesn't match any known signatures or patterns employed by any armed forces. It's heading straight towards us!"
"Send a message to the Council! Tell them the Quarians are…"
Another explosion rocked the ship. This time Vamara stayed on her feet. But only just.
"They took out or communications!"
"The cruiser is launching some kind of pods! Their heading towards us!"
Vamara could guess at what the pods were. But she still didn't believe it. First the Quarians attacked their ship, ignoring the direct order of a spectre, then they would try to board it. The nerve!
"Everyone grab a weapon! Prepare to repel boarders!"
Vamara had faith that the crew could easily repel the Quarians. Even though the Quarians were experts in ship-to-ship combat the 'Graceful ascendance', apart from carrying a council spectre, also carried a squad of Asari commandoes.
"Everybody get a gun and find some cover! Captain you're with me!"
The captain nodded before removing a gun from a hidden compartment. They ran towards the CIC and got into cover behind some of the many sleek and esthetically pleasing bank of consoles. They didn't have to wait long. The shipped shook as pods clashed into it. She saw a huge dent in the side of the bulkhead, near the cockpit and facing the length of the deck, where Vamara had just stood moments before. The edge of the dent started glowing read as the invaders were preparing to breach.
"Hold steady. Prepare to fire. On my mark…"
She looked around her and saw much of the crew huddling down behind whatever cover they could find. There were perhaps fifteen Asari, all armed with sleek and elegant shotguns and pistols. White and black, the guns looked like pieces of art but were in fact, very deadly. The red glow disappeared and Vamara prepared for it to come loose. But she still wasn't ready for what came next.
An explosion blew a large circular piece of the bulkhead right across the cockpit, sending it smashing into a bank of consoles, obliterating the two crewmembers using them as cover. Before she had even registered what had happened, four grenades flew through the breach and exploded, sending shrapnel in every direction. Crew members screamed as they were turned to shreds. And then out from the pod, Guns blazing, ran six giant red-armored creatures. And belatedly, Vamara realized what was happening. These, weren't Quarians.
She had never seen anything like them. They had the shape of Batarians or Asari, but they were much bigger and brawnier than any of the respective races of the council. Within half a second her brain took in their appearance and look. It was clear that whatever they were, they were dual-gendered. The armor made it hard to be certain but she could see that at least two of them were noticeably smaller and had two mammalian glands on their chest. Much like the females of many of the other species in known space. That would mean that the other four were male.
They were about two meters tall with the females being shorter and less bulky. Their legs had one bend each, going forward, like the Asari and, their helmets had two eyespieces which would suggest that they probably only had two eyes. All in all they were remarkably similar to Asari. Which meant that their organs would be in the same places.
She whirled around the corner of the consoles and fired her shotgun twice at the nearest alien, aiming for where the heart would be. The alien stumbled, its shields flaring brightly and it grabbed its shoulder, but otherwise stayed up. Seeing their comrade hurt, the other aliens fired at her. She ducked, not really believing their shots would penetrate the solid consoles. The captain pitching over, some large holes in her torso, proved her wrong. Despite herself, she was impressed. The aliens clearly were quite advanced, their shields were more resistant than anything she had ever seen and their weapons. Their weapons were loud and bulky, but incredibly powerful and deadly. The crewmembers were being slaughtered around her. She had to do something, she had to save the people under her command.
Concentrating, she threw up the strongest biotic barrier she had ever made. Blocking the aliens in their half of the CIC. They stopped in their tracks, looking confused. They started pounding on her barrier, ripples going through it. She felt her energy drain, but she didn't have to hold long.
"Everybody get up and lay down your arms. Put your hands in the air, make sure not to look threatening"
She got up, making sure to maintain her barrier but still look unthreatening. After a slight moment of hesitation, the rest of the surviving crew, five in total, followed her example. This was her only chance. If the aliens didn't accept, what she hoped they interpreted, her surrender, they would all be dead anyway. The aliens raised their guns but didn't fire. Good, at least they seemed to understand the gesture. The aliens started talking amongst themselves. Shuffling around, looking confused, they started to lower their guns.
Vamara cautiously dropped her barrier, ready to send a warp through their ranks if they tried anything.
"Nobody do anything stupid. No sudden movements."
The crew looked around at the remains of their cremates, most of them almost sawn in half by the guns of the aliens. Vamara noticed the alien she had hit still clutched his shoulder, red blood trickling out from between its finger. But otherwise the male looked fine. They're as tuff as Krogan.
One of the aliens spoke, then walked over towards Vamara. She assumed that it was trying to communicate with her.
"I'm sorry I don't understand. I don't…"
Faster than she would have thought possible, the alien brought up the stock of its weapon to connect with her forehead. Her head ripped backwards and the last thing she saw before her body hit the floor, was the red clad aliens attacking her crew with the blunt ends of their rifles.
June 25th 2161. Somewhere near the border of the Attican traverse. 00:16. Terran standard time. Aboard the imperial cruiser 'Mailed fist´.
He couldn't believe it. They had made first contact. They had met aliens. He was baffled. It was impossible, improbable, it was amazing and terrifying. As the captain of the 'Mailed fist' Johan Merts had been the first to hear the distress call form the colony nearby. They had been patrolling the nearby area, simple procedure, when suddenly they had received the distress call from the newly established colony. They had assumed that it was some pirates or terrorists. They had become a far bigger problem these last few months, but they were usually only a few groups of malcontents. Usually they were armed with some ancient weapons and flew a civilian spacecraft. But when their scans showed that they were talking about a small cruiser he had immediately thought that it was some traitor in the fleet. It would be the first time an imperial ship had been lost, but the only other possibility was impossible. Inconceivable.
The ship didn't match any known signatures. It looked so sleek, so elegant, he had never seen anything like it before. A fear gripped his intestines. Could it be?
The boarding parties had only been able to see the heat-signatures of their targets. There had simply been too much smoke and fire. But then the party that had boarded the bridge had reported that they had made contact. The legionnaires had been stunned. They had, as the legionnaire had said, "Made contact with hot blue alien women". This was all way over his head. He had never thought that he would actually make first contact. After three years as a spacefaring species traveling outside their home system they hadn't made contact with any sentient species. They hadn't found anymore of the Prothean caches. But they had found enormous antennas floating around in space. It was quickly decided to leave these well alone and focus on systems away from these.
The boarding parties were being collected with shuttles, researchers and scientists were replacing them aboard the alien ship. The attack had been devastating, imperial forces having taken only light casualties, five dead and nine wounded, while the aliens had lost a significant number of crew, one hundred and fifty-five dead and nine captured, it was a huge success. The prisoners were being led to the brig. He had personally gone down to take a look at them and was surprised to find that they were indeed "beautiful blue women". The cosmos really did have a sense of humor.
Noticing his gaze, one of them looked up from her place on the floor, a large nasty bruise on her forehead. She had an intense stare, he could feel it searching him, reading him. It felt like it was reading his very mind, his very being. He quickly moved on towards the soldiers guarding the brig.
"If that one as much as looks like it is going to try anything, put a bullet through her brain."
He then went to the communications room to have a holo-conference with his superiors. The blue, grainy images of the Grand Admiral and four other admirals appeared before him. They were all sat at a half circular table, facing him. The Grand admiral grave voice started.
"Captain, we have received your report. Now please say that this is your idea of a joke."
The man had not a trace of humor or mirth in his voice. He truly hoped that this wasn't true. And Johan hated to tell him that it was.
"I'm sorry sir. Twenty minutes ago, we received a distress signal from the nearby colony on planet T1-XXV. We came into contact with a cruiser we presumed to be in the hand of traitors or terrorists."
He brought up a picture of one of the blue aliens, along with several of the interior of the ship.
"We made hostile first contact with the species of the ship. After a short, but brutal, fight we were able to pacify the crew and take some prisoners."
Suddenly another man entered the conference, the blue holo projector on his right lighting up to make room for the extra person. He was tall and fair, dressed in a the dark green armor of the imperial line infantry, but without rank pins on his shoulder. His short black hair made him look as if he was a soldier, just returned from duty. Everyone in the room instantly knew who it was.
Johan immediately bend his knee to the emperor before standing back up. Out of the corner of his eye he saw all the admirals do the same.
"Captain, what is the condition of the prisoners? How many did you capture?"
Johan had, of course, seen pictures of the emperor, everyone had, but he had never met him in person. He had trouble speaking but managed to convey his message.
"We took nine prisoners my lord, all of them were wounded in some way but only three of them seriously so. My medics report that their biology seems remarkably similar to humans. Therefore we should be able to provide medical assistance to the wounded crew."
The Emperor looked satisfied with the answer.
"Good. Bring them back to Earth ASAP. A fleet is on its way to patrol the system. You are to speak to no one but the admirals about what you have encountered. When you reach Earth you will cut off all communications and remain in orbit. No one is to leave. Understood?"
Johan nodded.
"Yes your majesty. I understand completely."
The emperor nodded to him before his hologram disappeared. The admirals eyed each other before they deigned to talk to Johan.
"Seeing how the case has developed we will await your full report when you arrive back in the home system. Despite everything, you did good captain. Admiral board out."
The holograms blinked out, leaving a sweating and nervous Captain standing in a dark room. This is all well above my pay grade. After all these years they had thought that it would be the evil aliens who would attack the poor defenseless humans. For all he knew, that might still happen.
June 25th 2161. Empire City. 02:16. Terran standard time. The chambers of the inner council.
The chamber was deathly silent. The emperor, still dressed in his line infantry uniform, had perhaps dropped the biggest bombshell ever to fall in those hallowed halls. The assembled council sat motionless. Other than the emperor, the Grand Admiral and the Grand Marshal, no one had known about what had transpired out on the fringes of human space. Augustus had been on a four day training exercise with the imperial infantry, as a publicity stunt, and had received the news from the Grand Admiral. He had immediately returned to the City where he briefly took part in the holo conference with the captain.
"Well it was only a question of time after all".
The prime minister had been the first to recover and despite his shocked expression he took the news in a remarkably calm mannerism, once the initial shock died down. But he was right. After more than three years as a colonizing species, the human Empire had truly become an Empire of gargantuan proportions. Evaluating, searching and researching every system and planet near Earth which seemed like it might make a lucrative colony, humanity had spread its influence over more than two hundred systems. The colonization effort had grown and grown. Several enormous wharfs now produced colonial ships and public transport vessels even faster than they had once produced frigates and cruisers.
The large colonial effort had quickly become a key part of the Imperial economy. New mines and undeveloped farmland gave a tremendous boost to the resource available to the factories and to the general human populace on Terra. The transportation of civilians had given rise to a whole new range of civilian space crafts, both private and government sector producers were able to make billions in profit. The construction of prefab houses and buildings along with the machinery to support the new cities employed millions of citizens. However all of this came with a downside.
The endlessness of space and the distance to the colonies meant that the Imperial government were no longer able to control its citizens to the same extent as it previously had. Anti-imperial groups had sprouted up on the different colonies. Some even had their own, small senates calling for the abolishment of the "Dictatorial rule of the Tiberius house" and the enactment of a Human Republic to take the Empires place. The groups would sometimes privately fund pirates or extremists which had started to plague the trade routes between the different systems. But these incidents were quickly dealt with by the Navy and the Imperial army. But they still remained an issue to the imperial government.
Augustus had immediately called the council into session. Indeed many of the councilors had looked half asleep when they had arrived. But they had all snapped to attention when he had told them about the incident.
"Indeed. First contact is now a reality. The question is, what are we going to do about it?"
It was chaos. Each councilman had his or her own idea of what they should do. Dozens of scenarios were discussed and rejected. It quickly boiled down to two general questions. Will the aliens declare peace, or sue for war? They agreed on the simplest answer. Ask for peace, prepare for war.
The recordings and pictures they had received from the ship left no doubt that the aliens were a war capable species. The early report concluded that had it been a fair one-on-one fight, then the human cruiser would still have won. But the loses would have been significantly greater. But the surrender of the aliens on the command deck suggested that the species were able to negotiate to some extent. Augustus cut through the chatter to speak.
"Minister Raulman, have you been able to decipher the alien language?"
The minister looked at the most current update of the report, but apparently she did not like what she read.
"Apologies my lord, but we still haven't had a breakthrough. The few recordings we have been able to salvage through the ship are worthless when we don't have anything to compare with. We need to have a few basic words from their language, then connect them to ours before we can use the information to make a temporary upgrade to the translators."
So we have little way of communicating with them. It was a major barrier. They had quickly, through the reports of the medical staff tending to the wounded aliens, learned that their biology was largely the same. Which was strangely comforting to Augustus. But without a common language they were severely handicapped in any diplomatic talks they could enter in.
"Minister Le'chaun, how does the reconnaissance effort progress?"
The female minister of imperial intelligence filtered through her notes.
"We have established the route of the ship. Using what we know from our own experiments with the alien technology found in the archives we have been able to backtrack the course of the ship. We have launched a total of two-thousand and fivehundred spy probes in different directions to get the most information possible."
Good, they were getting somewhere. If they knew the home of the aliens that meant that they could retaliate in case of an attack. They had already agreed that if the aliens attacked Earth they would respond as if they intended to annihilate the human race. By annihilating their race in retaliation.
"Grand marshal, Grand admiral, what is the situation of our armed forces?"
The two men had, as the ones who knew about the attack the longest, already worked out a plan and alerted their men. Dao Uong was the one to speak.
"All the branches of the armed forces has been alerted to expect an imminent attack on human held territory. All the fleets are ready and every legion and regiment is standing by for further order."
Augustus nodded his head in approval. There was no way humanity wouldn't protect itself against any form of aggression. This was why the empire had been built. To protect humanity against any extraterrestrial force or act of aggression.
Now, he only needed to address the general population.
"Consul Kiel, have you called the senate to assembly?"
The man, who had won a landslide victory over his competitors for the rank of consul, seemed most displeased at the entire affair.
"I have my lord. But many of them are on holiday away from Earth. The Senate is, after all, closed for the season. I expect a great number of them won't appear."
Perfect. That meant that there wouldn't be as many people to address, and he would have a tighter control of the proceedings.
"Make sure that they are ready within three hours. I intend to pay our honored guests a visit.
There was a collected intake of gasps around the table. But his mind was set and he was already leaving the room before anyone had time to protest.
"Everyone, return to your posts and await further information. Prepare for anything."
He opened the door but couldn't make himself leave quite yet. He turned around, addressing the gathered council.
"We all knew this day would come. It was inevitable. But now that it is here it is more important than ever that we work together, as a single unit. We have no idea what the aliens want, it might be war, it might be the enslavement of our race, it might be our very extinction. But maybe there is a possibility for peace. And if there is, I will do my utmost to grasp that possibility. Be ready, everyone. The day of judgment is upon us."
He then turned and left, but he couldn't help repress a small smile as he descended the height of the building. He was beginning to get the hang of this he thought.
Lore:
The Imperial armed forces: The mighty Imperial Navy.
As of 2160 the Imperial navy employs eight classes of battleships.
Corvettes: Small, fast and lightly armed, the corvette serves as small escorts to civilian ships. Working together in groups of seven the fast ships can prove deadly to frigates and cruisers but are very vulnerable alone or pitted against larger ships. They are some of the newest addition to the Imperial navy. An average corvette has a crew of between ten and fifteen.
Numbers: About 1.200 ships have been built.
Frigates: By far the most numerous of the battleships, the frigate are a versatile ship. Used by many of the land forces as close naval support or by the navy as a quick response ship, the frigate is a reliable class of ship. However their small armaments and weak armor means that they are easy prey for many of the other ship classes employed by the Imperial nay. Working together in groups of five they are a very real threat to any person who underestimates their potential. An average Frigate has a crew of between forty and sixty men.
Numbers: A total of 24,564 frigates are employed by the Empire.
Cruisers: This, the largest of the small ships, is the true workhorse of the navy. Employed in any theater, in any role, the cruisers are the main ships employed by the Navy. Used to patrol the borders or hunt for pirates the cruiser can hold its own against even a pack of frigates, if in the hands of a seasoned crew. They are used in any role but at a much higher effect than the smaller frigates, or the larger destroyers. Nevertheless, the cruiser is only considered a medium ship and very little prestige is attached to steer one of these. But within the higher command of the navy, the cruiser is greatly appreciated. The average cruiser has a crew of between eighty and one-hundred-and-fifty.
Numbers: 7.580 cruisers are currently employed by the Empire.
Carrier cruisers: Used mainly by the Legions, the Carrier Cruises have found their niche within the Imperial navy. Providing bombers and fighters to harass the enemy lines and fleets the Carrier cruisers are a small version of the bigger carriers used by the fleet. It has however proven invaluable to the success of the fleets in many simulations and large scale practice fight. With a capacity to carry sixty planes plus crew, the carrier cruiser has sacrificed its big guns and batteries in return for better shields and defense turrets. Apart from the crew of the spacecrafts and their maintenance crew, the carrier cruiser has a personal crew of between one-hundred-and-sixty and two-hundred men.
Numbers: 2.200 carrier cruisers are currently employed by the Empire.
Destroyers: As the smallest of the main battleships, the destroyer is easily the most numerous of the large ships. It carries an assortment of guns and defense turrets and provides the heavy fleet support of the legions. It is a ship tried and tested and can meet almost any challenge it may face. At about 1,5 km in length the ships are large compared to those of smaller make, but pale in comparison to the larger ships of the Empire. They have a crew of between two-hundred-and-fifty, and four-hundred.
Numbers: 1.090 destroyers are currently employed by the Empire.
Dreadnoughts: Once the biggest ships humanity possessed, the Dreadnought has since given ground to the large carriers and the gargantuan capitol ships. But the Dreadnought still remains the backbone of the Human heavy fleet. Used to defend Earth and other key colonies, the Dreadnought is a large clumsy vessel, but one of the most deadly fielded by the Empire. They possess firepower equal to that of two whole legion fleet support, and can hold their ground against a medium group of smaller ships. They are space superiority vessels and are often used in couplings with Carriers. They are the third largest vessel in the Emperial Navy, coming in at between 2,6 and 3,2 km long. They have a crew of between one-thousand-five-hundred and two-thousand-five-hundred.
Numbers: 62 Dreadnoughts are currently employed by the Empire.
Carriers: Used in much the same way as their smaller cousins, the carriers are some of the biggest ships employed by mankind. Having little in the way of armaments, the large ships boast a capacity of eight-hundred fighters and bombers. With strong armor and stronger shields, the carriers can take an enormous amount of punishment. They are the second largest vessels in the human navy at 3,8 km in length. They have a crew of between four-thousand and five-thousand.
Numbers: 16 carriers are currently employed by the Empire.
Capitol ships: The largest, toughest, meanest and nastiest ships employed by mankind the capitol ships has more firepower than ten whole legions and enough destructive power to lay waste to continents. The Capitol ships, although few in number, are perhaps the most vital ships in the defense of Earth. With their gargantuan 'Behemoth' guns, spanning a full quarter of the length of the ship, firing a nuclear warhead with ten times the yield of the Tsar bomba employed by the Russians in 1961 they are able to destroy a Dreadnought in a single shot. With a length of 5,4 km, They are the single largest and most destructive engine of war ever created by mankind. They have a crew of ten thousand men.
Numbers: 5 Capitol ships are currently employed by the Empire.
*Note. All number are included the fleet support of the Imperial legions.
TOP SECRET.
Caution: Anyone reading this document without the proper authorization are guilty of high treason. Perpetrators will be executed without trial.
Project "Supreme ruler".
Ship class designation: Imperator class.
One ship under construction. Construction commenced: 2138.
Current total cost of project: .000 Denarii.
Project expected finished: 2149. Changed to 2152, changed to 2155, changed to 2159, changed to 2162.
Length: A total of 10.860 meters.
Crew: 45.500 men.
Primary armament: 'Titan slayer' experimental gun.
Project manager note: Currently, a total of 3.402 men have died during construction. Mostly due to accident and exposure to vacuum. There have been no reported accidents in the last 22 days.
A/N
Bet none of you saw that one coming. Still it was hard to write a first contact scenario that didn't involve the Turians and their aggression or the poor Quarians. Why with all the hate for the Quarians out there? But I think it turned out well in the end :) Thanks to all those people who took the time to review. You are the ones who make it worth writing.