Evolution: A Mass Effect & Section 8 Crossover
Chapter 5
A/N: Insert usual 'real-life-gets-in-the-way' statement here. I am going to use a different style for this chapter to try and cover as much ground as possible while still giving you the proper amount of action and drama. Pay attention to the dates in the scene headers is the best advice I can give you.
Actors I'd cast for these roles:
President Alexander Hall – Leonardo DiCaprio
General William Trezbitowski – Michael Clarke Duncan
/Earth Date/ –01.08.2538-
/Planet/ Earth, Pentagon Fortress
"Commander-In-Chief is on deck!" An armored USIF trooper bellowed out to the Situation Room of the Pentagon Fortress as the leader of the USIF and all her colonies walked in. The generals and admirals in attendance all stood up from the large circular conference table, turned and saluted as the President walked in. President Alexander Hall, being a former USIF trooper, stopped as soon as he entered the room and saluted in return.
"At ease gentlemen," He ordered as he moved to his spot on the table. Alexander Hall, being 42 years old, was the youngest member sitting at the table, and it showed. Standing only six feet tall and 165 pounds, he's in the lower percentiles for human physical attributes in the post-Rebirth era. That didn't sway him from joining the USIF at eighteen, serving two tours, then getting into politics to ensure that the voice of the common human was heard. Having been born on Demeter, the USIF's oldest extrasolar colony, it was seen as a coup by the long standing Earth-born elder statesmen that made up a majority of the Senate. President's ever since the formation of the USIF had all been Earth-born, and as such had massive support from the Senate for their agendas. While the USIF's colonies do have equal say in policy and legislation in the Senate as the Federal Districts of Earth do, it is hard to beat the super block that all of Earth makes up in the Senate. Now two years into his first term, Hall has had to deal with things no other USIF President had to in the past.
"Give me the summary first General, then take me through step by step." Hall beckoned with his hand towards the wall sized holographic screen behind him. The man to his right, General Chief of Staff William Trezbitowski, stood up and walked over to the screen with a datapad in hand. Keying in a few commands, images of radically designed ships of multiple classes, as well as schematics of weapons and armor popped up behind him. Trezbitowski, a tall man even by post-Rebirth standards at six and a half feet, stood square with the screen and his hands clasped behind him.
"Mr. President, my fellow officer's," Trezbitowski's bass heavy voice began, "General Stone and Task Force 33, along with the engineering and colony construction supervision crew of New Shanxi, have made violent first contact with an alien race called the Turians."
/Earth Date/ –01.04.2538-
/Planet/ New Shanxi
With their burn-in maneuver complete just beyond the horizon line of New Shanxi's yet unnamed city and all ground units reporting in, Major Blackburn immediately set up communications with Colonel Williams.
"Colonel Williams, this is Major Blackburn of 8th Armored Division, 1st Battalion, 801st, 3rd Recon, commander of ground forces prepping to counterattack the alien invaders. Do you copy?"
Heh... Never thought I'd say 'counterattack the alien invaders'.
"Major Blackburn, this is Colonel Williams. It is damn good to hear that Section 8 of all people have arrived."
Blackburn smirked at the recognition, "Copy that sir. Do you have updated intel on enemy encampments? The fleet is currently performing orbital maneuvers to catch the opposing fleet off guard and can't provide intel at this time."
"Affirm Blackburn. Sending data over TACNET now."
As the data began pouring in, Blackburn immediately saw that the enemy had created their encampment in a way that made assaulting it a difficult prospect. It was set up in layers, with identified critical buildings (communications, armory, etc) in the center, surrounded by rings of other less critical buildings (mess hall, barracks, etc). Add in the constant patrols and numerous scouting posts they had set up around the cities circular walls, and it would be tough to move nearly an entire battalion within attack range without being discovered.
I didn't get to be a Major for nothing, thought Blackburn as he maintained contact with Williams to plan out the attack in detail. Of course, working with an ace up his sleeve made the planning that much easier.
/Earth Date/ –01.08.2538-
/Planet/ Earth, Pentagon Fortress
"All right, so what do we know thus far about these Turians?" President Hall asked no one in particular.
Trezbitowski entered a few more keys on his datapad, bringing up a diagram of an atom with no protons, but rather a single electron orbiting around a single neutron. Between the two particles was another, unlabled particle that connected the neutron and electron together. "The Turian's entire technology tree is based on the use of this element, referred to by them as element zero or eezo. Our scientists are still working out how exactly the unknown particle keeps the neutron and electron together, which according to our data the Turians don't know exists, it is thought to have some relation to the Higgs Boson, which we have observed before but never contained long enough to manipulate directly.
The element itself is particularly intriguing. When refined and electrically charged, it allows for the manipulation of dark energy in ways previously thought impossible. Using refined emitters and polarity inducers, they are able to manipulate the dark energy into mass increasing or decreasing fields, and have applied that principle to everything. From their weapons, to how their armor is constructed, to their ship based weaponry, shields, and faster than light travel."
Trezbitowski then pressed a single button on his datapad, which brought up an images of a Turian facing forwards and to the side.
"Thanks to the data we've recovered and our treatment of prisoners, we know more about their biology than their leadership is probably comfortable with. Their skin is metallic in nature, the result of coming from a world with a weak magnetic field. Also, their amino acids are dextro-based rather than levo-based, meaning they can't eat the same food as us. Their blood is blue in color thanks to the presence of hemocyanin. They are similar in stature to post-Rebirth treatment humans, but do not have the same genetic advantages as we do. In short, we know everything we need to in order to devise several contingency plans should matters come to blows."
Trezbitowski took a moment to go to the conference table to grab a drink of water from his glass before continuing, his audience remaining quiet.
"Military wise, they seem to employ the time honored strategy of 'over-whelming combined fire'. As seen on New Shanxi, they will use every element available to them to advance, and even when repulsed they fall back in an orderly fashion. This discipline is clear evidence to our battlefield psychoanalysts, and further backed up by recovered data, that the Turians are from a military minded society. If the USIF were to have faced the Turians before Rebirth, the results of New Shanxi could have been much different."
/Earth Date/ –01.04.2538-
/Planet/ New Shanxi
/Ship/ Battlecruiser USIF Texas, 8th Armored Infantry Division Flagship, Task force 33
With all the drop ships, save one, returned General Stone gave the order for Task Force 33 to perform the gravity slingshot around the planet.
"Lieutenant, I want our primary rail guns charged and ready to fire as soon as we exit the slingshot. Target to be designated by me." Stone ordered. The CIC was flurry of activity, every one in their full armor as the whole ship was decompressed to preserve precious power. Amongst the numerous armored bodies, Stone and the huge gold eagle paldrons on his armor made him stand out as others walked around him. Even artificial gravity was turned off, so every one had to make their movements deliberate due to the magnetic boots of their armor. Looking over the central holographic console, which was where he stood whenever a mission was on (as evidenced by the wear mark in the floor plating), he brought up an external camera. Seeing the planet zip by him below allowed him a moment's peace.
This is what we are fighting for... Humanity's right to live in this universe.
"Exiting slingshot in Five... Four... Three... Two... One... We have enemy contact!" His executive officer's voice counted out and declared over the TACNET. His moment of peace over with, Stone looked over the enemy fleet's positioning. For the most part, they were in a high orbit save for one frigate sized ship that was maneuvering itself to be in orbital bombardment position of New Shanxi's colony.
"Fire on enemy frigate designated B-4 now! Before they fire on the colony!" Stone ordered.
There was no confirmation of his orders beyond the subtle throbbing of the ship's superstructure absorbing the recoil of the dual rail-guns, followed by the enemy frigate in question being gutted clean through before an explosion from some kind of reactor destroyed it completely.
"Frigate B-4 terminated General. Enemy fleet is moving into attack position. Corvettes are forming into packs ." His XO continued, more so for posterity as Stone was able to interpret the data just as fast as he.
"Task force is to maintain formation, prep point defenses but only shoot to disable. We need some of these bastards alive for questioning." Stone calmly ordered. While his voice didn't waver, he did have some doubts about the exact attack range of the enemy's corvettes. Data provided by Colonel Williams showed that it was well within range for the standard USIF point defense system, Stone was more worried about how many shots it would take and how long.
As the escort fleet for the colony construction crews witnessed first hand, the alien's surprisingly fast ships when in packs could easily chew through the heavy armor plating of USIF frigates and cruisers. The Texas having the thicker armor and dual layered point defenses afforded to battlecruisers could take the punishment. It was the other nine ships in his command that Stone was worried about. USIF frigates and cruisers were primarily support craft for the battlecruisers and ground elements of their task force, which required them to be able to enter and exit atmosphere on a whim. Battlecruisers could enter a planet's atmosphere, but it took tremendous planning and maneuvering to execute so as not to expose one section of the armored hull to the ionized/plasmized atmosphere for too long.
Watching the data feed tick down the distance to engagement with the oncoming corvette packs, Stone simply breathed in a steady manner, careful not to betray the image of the General who always knew what he was doing. As soon as the data feed hit zero, the vibrations of dozens of point defense guns firing at the same time spread throughout the ship. Bringing up another external camera, Stone could see the alien corvettes silently gliding past his fleet, their once burning thrusters twisted into unrecognizable shapes by hundreds of tungsten pellets fired at a fraction of light speed.
"Sir! Scans show the enemy fleet is retreating towards the unidentified object at the edge of the system!" A sensor tech exclaimed.
"Excellent." Stone turned around and faced the ground operations comm technician, who was looking at him expectantly. "Irene is go." The tech just nodded and turned back to his post to transmit the mission go word.
/Earth Date/ –01.08.2538-
/Planet/ Earth, Pentagon Fortress
"How does this all relate to the data package that 1st Recon recovered from SPEAR forces last week General?" Hall asked. "That was the original intent of this briefing if I remember correctly."
"That it was sir. After our analysts combed through the data, and compared it to what we have recently found at Shanxi, we now know that prior to SPEAR's disbanding, one of the planets they had 'secured' held a race very similar to one of the races known to the Turians. While they had not yet achieved space flight, and the planet's current galactic position is currently being calculated, we know the indigenous race evolved around eezo that was locally present in the biosphere. SPEAR logs indicate that the planet is already suitable for colonization, and was rich in eezo. Eezo at the time had baffled the SPEAR officers, but they executed their orders nonetheless." Trezbitowski informed the room.
"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that current estimates place this planet being in proximity or beyond our current sphere of influence?" Hall guessed.
"You are correct sir. We know that the indigenous population was completely pacified and never had made any attempt at space flight, so it is unlikely the Turians or other associated races even knew about them. It is my recommendation that, once we obtain the coordinates, we immediately create a task force to secure the planet for mining of eezo. Even our early estimates and brainstorming by our engineering think tanks are showing a massive improvement in weapons technology, metallurgy, and sub-light speed travel that utilize eezo in some way. That's after only a day's worth of analysis Mr. President."
Hall leaned back into his chair, brought his hands together, resting his elbows on the chair arms, and his head on his fists he contemplated his General's recommendation for a few moments
"Agreed. Start getting the proper ships allocated from other task forces, and have any new ones coming out from dry dock within the coming two weeks crewed and tested for the new task force. If events are heading where I think they are, then we're going to need every advantage we need when dealing with these new elements." Hall then stood up, causing all the other generals and admirals to do so as well. "Gentlemen, I'm sorry I have to cut this briefing short, but as you know with the current circumstances I must do the political half of my job. Trezbitowski, if you would join me so you can brief me and the Senate Committee on the next steps I would appreciate it. Have a good day gentlemen."
With his data pad in hand, President hall left his military aides behind and headed for Senate Hill, to inform the rest of the USIF leadership of the developing situation.
/Earth Date/ –01.04.2538-
/Planet/ New Shanxi
"Irene confirmed. Your mission is go." Those six words were all that Blackburn needed. It had been an hour since the burn in, and everything was in place. Patrol patterns were monitored, snipers put in position, vehicles prepped, and ammo mods double checked.
Keying his TACNET comm to the several fire teams that had taken up sniper roles for this mission, Blackburn uttered a single word. "Execute."
Within a fraction of a second, five different patrol squads were taken out by the snipers.
A second more and all kills were confirmed.
"8th Armored, move out!" Blackburn uttered, "I want 2nd and 4th Recon to maintain sniper duties. Tag targets of opportunity and provide over watch. All remaining battalions, proceed with the battle plan. Once we make firm contact, 1st Recon will be joining us."
Sitting in low orbit, Corde could feel the familiar rush of stims being applied by his suit, prepping his already finely honed body for combat. The subtle shaking of the drop ship reminding him as always of his childhood, biking down the mountainside by his home on Earth.
"Corde, it's Blackburn." The TACNET comm broke his reverie, "Firm contact with enemy has been made. I need you to drop at these coordinates, enemy AA will be neutralized by the time you get in range."
"Confirm Blackburn. See you in a few." Corde opened up the TACNET comm line reserved for 1st Recon next, "Alright 1st Recon, time to prove yourselves. Earn your armor and place amongst the elite!"
"T-minus thirty to drop 1st Recon. Good hunting." Were the only words that came from the pilot the entire mission thus far. They were followed closely by the drop ship flipping itself over, and the harnesses the entire platoon were strapped into moved them into the launch tubes. Moments later, the outer hatches opened up, showcasing the outline of the city below them, and the tracers from weapons fire being traded between two forces outside the city's walls.
With a burst of jet propulsion, twelve armored soldiers were sent speeding out of the drop ship and into the atmosphere. With their plasma shields activated, they carved white trails through the atmosphere just like a meteor. The MOTHER node in each of their suits used the TACNET to calculate the exact path each of them needed to follow to reach their requested landing zone.
Having launched at an altitude of roughly five thousand meters, the platoon quickly reached the break off point where they could deactivate their plasma shields and right themselves to glide to their landing zone. Nine of the sixteen did at the height of fifteen hundred meters, while the other seven remained ballistic. Six of those seven then triggered their own glide procedures at a height of nine hundred meters. The lone remaining one did not trigger his until he was five hundred meters above ground. At that height, thanks to the tagging of enemies by other troopers already on the ground which was then relayed to all TACNET receivers in the area, Major Corde saw an excellent opportunity to show the aliens who they were dealing with.
As he triggered his own glide procedures, he brought out his combat knife. The same one that had been used to take down Commander Soren and numerous other enemy combatants. As he got closer to the ground, Corde brought his body roughly parallel with the ground and his knife arm back. The adrenaline pumping through his veins made time slow down, he could see his target look up at him in what Corde could only assume was shock. Pushing that aside as his enemy got closer to him, Corde's body tensed up, ready for the familiar action coming up.
When Corde was within arms reach of his target, going near terminal velocity, he swung his knife arm down. It struck true in the aliens neck, a spurt of blue blood hitting Corde's helmet. The alien's body had the unfortunate responsibility of absorbing the impact force of Corde and his armor traveling at insane speeds. SPEAR and ORION armor, which was copied from USIF Patton-class Powered Assault Armor, could easily deal with the impact and keep it's occupant contained within. The alien's armor was no where near as sturdy, as it burst at several locations, spewing forth the alien's internal organs onto the ground below. None of that mattered though as it all was smashed into unrecognizable chunks of meat as soon as Corde and the alien's body fully impacted the ground.
Where the alien once stood, a black armored embodiment of death took it's place, with a widening puddle of blue beneath him.
/Earth Date/ –01.08.2538-
/Planet/ Earth, Capitol Hill
"You mean to tell the Senate Committee Senior Chairmen and women that Imperial Forces have executed aggressive First Contact action against an alien species, of which we know next to nothing about I might add, on a colony world that hasn't even finished it's primary construction!?" An older Latino woman rehashed from her position at the raised platform, beside her sitting five other Senators, each varying in ethnicity and age. These six Senators were the oldest and longest serving in the Senate, and as such were considered to be the general leadership of the Senate. While not necessarily party leaders, their votes and voices carried a great deal of weight. Respect for elders was one thing that humanity learned from the Rebirth, as the older generations had seen impossible things happen in such a short amount of time.
That weight however could sometimes impede the process of democracy. Even though Earth and her colonies are united under the United States Empire, it is actually considered by political science professors to be somewhere closer to a federated republic, where the civilian leadership handles nearly all matters not under military jurisdiction. That fine line has often been toed before, by Senate Command (the Committee of the Senate that has control of the USIF budget and general direction of forces), but it has never been fully crossed until now.
"Senator Feliza, I am aware of our aged First Contact Protocols." President Hall began from his own position, which happened to be seated below eye level to the Senior Committee. "However, given the reports of our commanders in the field, it has become a military matter regarding the events of New Shanxi. General Trezbitowski here," Hall gestured to his right, "Will go over what we know so far of the alien species calling themselves Turians."
/Earth Date/ –01.04.2538-
/Planet/ New Shanxi
Once 1st Recon had landed directly in the middle of the Turian encampment, the rest of Section 8 had a much easier time with their duties. The Turian's were no doubt a fine fighting force where they came from, as none of the USIF troopers ever saw one turn and run. Despite the over-whelming technological and tactical advantage, the Turians didn't break rank even when they saw their own squad mates get entire limbs torn off from close range rifle rounds or just out right knocked out by concussive force of rounds passing by.
Part way into the attack, Major Blackburn ordered those with medical training to hold back from the front lines and begin administering first aid to any survivors they came across. As soon as a private had asked how they were expected to do so, Corporal Coré of 1st Recon had replied that each enemy soldier had a dose of some kind of salve to close up wounds. When asked how she found that out by Corde, Coré replied that she found one of the aliens data pads and a multifunction tool lying around that she was able to hack into, letting MOTHER comb through the enormous amount of data they held.
Eventually, after coordinating troop movements like a dance choreographer, Blackburn managed to get the last pocket of Turian resistance into a large building, which was thought to be their Command and Control Center (CCC, or Triple C). With it surrounded by an entire section's worth of troops and vehicles, Blackburn and Corde managed met up to discuss their next step.
"Blackburn."
"Corde." They greeted each other with simple nods, not taking off their helmets just yet.
Corporal Coré came up next to Corde shortly after and saluted, "Sirs. Going through the data on the alien devices MOTHER and I were able to find language files for not only these Turians but a number of other races and even a galactic standard they have set up between them."
"Great." Blackburn sighed, "That means that we probably just kicked over a hornet's nest."
"Not necessarily sir. MOTHER has forwarded the data to the General for further review, but one piece I noticed was that the Turians form the military and law enforcement backbone of a combined alien government."
"That... Doesn't sound the greatest there Corporal." Cord deadpanned.
"It gets better Major. One of the other races, one of the oldest in their system is one that favors peace amongst all races."
Corde and Blackburn looked to each other and shrugged.
"Alright. Good to know that their entire system doesn't revolve around war." Corde acquiesced. "For now, have you managed to get a translation matrix going so we can ask these remaining holdouts for their surrender?"
As Saren walked around, he could see the worry and despair in his fellow Turians. He himself had to push back the shock of seeing his brother killed in the most horrific manner possible to join the fight against the aliens. Using his biotics and limited tech knowledge this time around did little to help. The armor these aliens wore was much more advanced than what they previously faced, and it shrugged off every warp and overload he launched at them. Their numbers were outrageous as well, as seemingly an entire battalion had appeared from no where to assault the base.
The command center and the remaining Hierarchy troops occupied was secure for the moment, but they were surrounded. With no portholes to shoot out of, it was only a matter of time before the aliens came bursting through to slaughter them all.
Making his way to the communications center, Saren found the highest ranking officer left, a major, who was trying to raise comms to any forces outside the building.
"Repeat, are there any Turian elements outside of the command post. I need an update now!"
"Sir!" Saren shouted to get the major's attention. "Anyone capable of fighting is already inside. What are your orders?"
The major looked at him blankly for a moment, then smashed his fist into the console, leaving some spiderweb cracks in the glass. "Spirits! There is no way we can fight against the force out there! We don't have the men or firepower..."
"Si-" Saren was cutoff before he could make a suggestion.
"TO ALL TURIAN FORCES. SURRENDER NOW AND YOU WILL BE UNHARMED, TREATED FOR ANY INJURIES, GIVEN ANY FOOD AND WATER NECESSARY AND ACCOMMODATIONS. YOUR FLEET IN ORBIT HAS RETREATED, AND YOUR BASE OF OPERATIONS BELONGS TO US. THERE IS NO NEED FOR ANY FURTHER BLOODSHED."
"How is that possible?" Saren and the major both thought out loud. The message had been played in standard Turian, but it was stilted and electronic. Even with the most sophisticaed VI's, it took days for proper language translations to be set up, and even then most species used Galactic Basic when conversing in public rather than their own language. How the aliens had even accessed any data pads or omni-tools that held translation matrices baffled them. Standard Hierarchy encryption was in place on all electronic equipment, and the only encryptions tougher than that were used by the Spectres or Salarian STG.
Before either of them could say anything again, the message repeated once more in Galactic Basic. This time through their omni-tools. As the message continued, switching between Turian and Basic, Saren could see what fight was left in the major's eyes vanish.
"Sir, we can't just surrender!" Saren pushed, "We have a responsibility to the Hierarchy to fight until reinforcements arrive!"
"There is no hope of holding out Lieutenant Arterius. We are in an impossible position. This building has no food, water, or other facilities to sustain us in a siege like manner." The major then made to leave the comm room, pushing past Saren.
"MAJOR!" Saren roared as his superior officer moved past him, towards the outer section of the command building. The major however, just kept moving towards the entrance of the building.
/Earth Date/ –01.08.2538-
/Planet/ Earth, Capitol Hill
"In summary Senators, the entire event surrounding New Shanxi is nothing more than a misunderstanding on both parties parts. Had it not been for the construction crews curiosity and desire to check out anomalous readings at the edge of the system before informing both High and Senate Command, we may never have even encountered the Turians in our lifetime.
On the flip side, the Turian Captain of the flotilla that engaged our own ships was being overzealous in carrying out his duties. The follow up Admirals of the invasion/occupation force had no way of knowing until they made planet-fall that New Shanxi was just nearing completion and had no inhabitants yet."
With that Trezbitowski sat back down, earning a nod and smile from Hall who then stood up.
"Seeing as 8th Armored and Task Force 33 is already on site and 'accommodating' the Turian prisoners of war as well as the unexpected arrival of a peace emissary, I am going to take Task Force 26's USIF Hephaestus and her full compliment of fighters to New Shanxi to begin talks as well as offer repairs to damaged ships as a gesture of good will." As he finished, Hall grabbed his data pad and began to leave the hearing room.
"Mr. President!" Senator Feliza yelled, "The Committee hasn't dismissed this hearing yet!"
As Hall reached the door, he turned around and looked directly into the Senator's eyes. "In case you've forgotten Alicia, this is a military matter. I am the Commander-In-Chief of our forces as well as the head of our entire civilian government, and a third party has shown up at the site of battle between our military forces and an alien threat. Time is of the essence, and I am well within the powers given to me by the Imperial Constitution to do what I will with our ships while going on diplomatic missions. While I am gone, the Vice President will be in temporary command. Good day, and if all goes well you'll be conversing with alien diplomats within a week or two." Without looking back, Hall continued out of the hearing room. Leaving a shocked Senate Committee in his wake, and a smug general on his tail.
/Earth Date/ – 01.05.2538-
/Location/ Andura Sector, beyond Relay 314
/Ship/ ARS Devout Grace
Having spent a full day traveling through the relay system, even aboard a ship as grand as an Asari dreadnought, could get boring sometimes. As such, Councilor Besea was doing biotic exercises in one of the many biotic practice rooms. With hardened and heavily shielded walls, no biotic living or dead could manage to even come close to putting a dent in the room.
Besea worked through her typical routine, Asari Huntress martial arts stressed using every movement in a flowing manner, never ceasing the outpouring of energy in a controlled, precise manner when in a close quarters combat scenario. Throws, lifts, slams, and warps all flew from her fists as she seemingly fought with an invisible army of opponents. With each attack, her biotic aura grew, until finally she expelled all of her energy in a final biotic move she had come up with herself, the nova. With a punch to the ground, it released all of her biotic energy in a wave all around her for nearly seven meters.
Standing up from the maneuver and breathing hard, she could see several of the ship's crew staring wide eyed at her display of power from the viewing deck that was situated a good ten meters above her. She merely smiled at the young Asari maidens and left the room to hit the showers.
After a grueling workout, the feel of an alternating hot and cold shower provided Besea just the proper stimulation to relax her muscles. While she did miss the days of being a Huntress, when her people elected her to be Councilor, she couldn't refuse and wouldn't give up the past two decades for anything. Despite the headaches it's caused.
Feeling rejuvenated from the workout and shower, Besea put on one of her traditional Councilor dresses on and fired up her data terminal. Being a Councilor allowed her to have priority access to the extranet feeds and not have to wait an overly long time to get what she was looking for. Answering messages personally was something she preferred to do as often as she could, but with thousands of messages coming in every minute that all wanted her attention, she used a VI suite to filter through the mundane stuff her assistants could handle.
An hour later, with the priority messages done, a chime came from the terminal, signaling a communication request from someone inside the ship.
"Yes?"
"Madam Councilor." The captain of the ship, Devout Grace, greeted her. "We have arrived in the Andura sector, and I think you should come to the bridge."
"I'm on my way."
As with most military designed ships, one could never travel in a straight line to get where one needed. Besea navigated a labyrinth of halls, elevators, and stairs to finally reach the bridge. When she reached it, the captain of the Grace immediately came over to her and bowed out of respect.
"Madam Councilor, thank you for coming up here." The navy blue hued Asari spoke, a hint of urgency and worry in her voice.
"Of course Captain. What is the matter that you requested my presence though?"
Rather than explain, the Captain ushered Besea towards the holocomm terminal, then nodded to another Asari nearby. The Asari technician punched some commands into her terminal, and the holocomm terminal brought forth the image of a Turian Admiral.
"Councilor. What in Spirit's name are you and your 'fleet' doing here?"
Besea smiled, "Admiral Suqwal, nice to see you again." She spoke with a hint of sarcasm. "I am here to try and reach a peace settlement with this new alien civilization the Turian Hierarchy has come across and begun violent acts towards."
Suqwal looked aghast, his mandibles simply dropped to their lower position while his jaw also went slack. His face stayed like that for only a fraction of second though, before he continued.
"I do not believe that to be the best course of action Ma'am. Review this footage and tell me this is a species that even the entirety of the Citadel races could hope to beat."
Suqwal's image was replaced with a compiled video sensor log that detailed what happened less than a day ago. The tactics, weapons, and monstrous ships used by the aliens in such a precise manner spoke to her.
"I beg to differ Admiral. Notice how they clearly could have annihilated your entire fleet in the opening salvo. Rather they only took action upon the one ship that threatened their world, while waiting until the last possible moment to fire defensively on your frigates. Even then they only disabled them." Besea paused. "I believe these aliens may be more open to peace than you think."
"I think, Ma'am, that we need to establish a fully dedicated fleet here at this relay in case these aliens decide to come through and exact vengeance for what the Hierarchy tried to do once. I have already filed my report, and it's already under way. The new fleet is expected to arrive after five days."
Typical Turians. Always thinking and seeing the world through a gun scope, Besea groaned inwardly. "I see. What are your orders until then Admiral?"
"My fleet is using what munitions we have to blockade the relay via minefield. Once that is complete, we will have a cruiser remain nearby to provide advance scouting for the rest of the fleet which will be half a system's length away. Any ships that come through the relay without a recognized identification signal will be destroyed."
"How long until you are finished with your... Blockade?"
"We'll be done in a few hours."
"Excellent. Carry on with your duties Admiral, and I will continue with mine." Besea closed the comm link to Suqwal down, then walked over to the comm technician.
The technician's station was set below floor level, and when Besea reached her she knelt down. The young Asari had a look of shock on her face at seeing one of the most powerful Asari in the galaxy kneeling right next to her.
"Hello there Private." Besea began, using her well honed 'pleading Councilor' voice and smile. "If you could activate ship and fleet wide comms for me when I look to you next, I would greatly appreciate it."
"O-of course! Madam Councilor! Ship and fleet wide comms will be ready Ma'am."
Standing back up, Besea simply smiled. Going back to the Grace's captain, she pulled her in close.
"Captain, I know I can't ask this of you, but the future of the entire galaxy may rest on us making peace with this new race. I need your ship to carry me through the relay, potentially face down an alien fleet, then back through and have to face the coming Turian fleet."
The captain smirked. "My ship is at your disposal Councilor. I know what you've done in your military career, and let's just say in the grand scheme of things I owe you one. This is me repaying that debt."
Besea smiled, nodded, then bowed gracefully to the captain. "Thank you. I will inform the rest of our fleet of my intentions.
After making her speech, Besea was pleased that the entire Asari fleet had agreed to continue on their original mission. Seeing as the system they were traveling to via Relay 314 was relatively small, Besea stayed on the bridge through the relay jump and the short FTL jump to it's inner planets, where the alien colony laid.
"Captain! Sensors show ten unidentified vessels in orbit of the alien colony, with an additional ten Turian frigates." One of the sensor techs reported.
The Devout Grace's captain, for her credit, took it in stride. "Any classifications on those alien ships?"
"Yes ma'am. They number as follows: Five light cruisers, three heavy cruisers and one... Goddess!"
"Corporal! One what?" The captain demanded.
The sensor tech swallowed, "O-one Destiny Ascension class super dreadnought."
The entire bridge, which had the usual hustle and bustle noise of Asari doing their duties suddenly stilled. The Destiny Ascension was the pinnacle of Asari astroengineering, having been in service for nearly two thousand years and requiring very little in upgrading as the years went by. Of course the Ascension was also one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken by the Asari, who haven't produced a dreadnought of that size ever since. To see a race besides themselves using a ship of similar qualification took a lot of that pride out of them.
Besea though saw it differently, and acted. "Lower power out put as much as possible. Barriers to minimum as well. We want to look as non-threatening as possi-"
"ATTENTION ASARI VESSELS, YOU ARE ENCROACHING UPON SOVEREIGN UNITED STATES IMPERIAL TERRITORY. LEAVE NOW, OR RISK BEING FIRED UPON."
The message broadcasted through out the ship's intercom in electronically stilted, but accurate, High Thessian. Out of the three main languages used in Citadel space, the Asari language of High Thessian is often considered to be the hardest to grasp. As the Asari evolved from hunter-gatherer tribes with their own languages into a galactic force, they never quite lost that tribal nature in their language, as each cultural area on Thessia used High Thessian as the base but used their own syntax, inflections, slang, and just about every other variation possible in their day to day speech. Documenting each different version of just High Thessian has been an ongoing process for the past two hundred years by numerous classes of anthropologists and linguists at the University of Serrice.
"Captain..." Besea quietly spoke, "Please tell the other ships to drop back a fair distance from us, and continue our course."
"Of course ma'am."
As thoughts raged in her head, Besea could only hope her plan worked. Once the Grace's captain informed her of the fleets other ships dropping back, she turned to the communication station technicians.
"Give me an open broadcast, try to use the same frequency as the one used to send us a message." Her request was carried out with no acknowledgment. A tense minute later, and one of the technician's nodded to her.
"Ready when you are ma'am."
Nodding to the captain, Besea took a step forward, putting her self forward, but not directly in front of the captain, then activated her omnitool to broadcast on the ship's communication array.
"To the members of the nation who call this world their colony, you have us at a disadvantage. You already know our language and of our people's name." Besea swallowed and took a deep breath before continuing. "What you do not know is that I come here as an emissary of peace. The Turians have wrongly attacked you, and you responded in kind. I merely wish for an end to all violent actions between you so we all can learn from each other, and hopefully in time improve ourselves."
As Besea ended her transmission, she and no doubt countless other Asari prayed to the goddess Athame that the aliens would see reason.
/Earth Date/ –01.10.2538-
/Planet/ Shanxi
/Ship/ ARS Devout Grace
Time can be a tricky thing. Especially when the ship you and countless other people occupy is ordered to maintain a strict geosynchronous orbit in range of what could only be devastating anti-orbital ground based weaponry.
After Besea had ended her message, the only response which again came from a synthesized voice, was for them to await further instructions. Several hours then passed before they were told to move and hold at their current position. After a day had passed, they received word that the aliens representative was en-route for talks with her.
That had been three days ago. Thankfully, the aliens did send them some very basic information on themselves for her to go over. Nothing ground breaking, just that they called themselves humans, their home world was Earth, they were completely united under a United States Empire which itself was a misnomer as it's outline read more like the Asari Republic's electronic democracy. There was no other information beyond the extremely basic though.
Most likely so as not to come into talks on an even footing. Speculations between Besea and the Grace's captain led them to believe that the human's had managed to confiscate some Turian omni-tools, of which all makes and models held the translation matrices for all Citadel races. Add in some extra data recovered by them from Turian ships, and they most likely had a very clear picture of what the Citadel Council races were like.
While it wouldn't be the first time Besea had been on the wrong end of a nathak in a political meeting, this circumstance was completely different. Never had she played negotiator with not only her life on the line, but an entire fleet of Asari. Possibly even millions or billions more lives if the entire discussions were ruined like an elcor trying to dance in a club.
As she pondered her approach while sitting at her cabin's desk, like she'd done dozens of times already, a soft chime came from her omni-tool. Reading it revealed that her presence was requested on the bridge by the captain.
A short while later, and Besea once again stood by the captains chair.
"What's going on Captain?"
"We received a message from the human's. It read 'Observe. One light second bow-ward. Fifteen Earth standard minutes. According to our conversions, you arrived with a minute or two Citadel standard to go." The captain informed her, her own curiosity not showing in her voice.
"So, the humans have something they want to show us..." Besea mused out loud. "I can only guess it's the arrival of their diplomat. What else would they call our attention too? They haven't said a word since we moved our fleet into orbit."
"My thoughts exactly Councilor." The captain pulled up her omni-tool, it's screen counting down to the appropriate time. "What ever is going to happen will occur in five... Four... Three... Two... One..."
All eyes on the bridge moved to the holographic screen at the bridge front, which showed an external camera's view of the space in front of the ship. Right on time, a swirling mass of some kind of energy appeared, growing in size until it dwarfed the Grace itself. Sensor alarms went haywire from trying to log all the information of the event in front of them. That paled in comparison when a ship began to emerge from within the energy field.
Sensor's measured it to be at least as wide as the Grace, but could not measure it's length as it kept coming out from the portal. When it passed the documented length of the human's biggest ship, that's when Besea knew something historic for all members of the galaxy was about to occur.
MOTHER Network File Access: Granted
Subject: Pre- and Post-Rebirth Humans
Prior to the climatic upheaval period known as Rebirth on Earth, humans of the 2400's were not that much different from the previous generations from four to five hundred ago. Average male height being around five foot ten inches (1.789 meters) and women averaging five foot five inches (1.648 meters) with average weight being around one hundred ninety pounds (88 kg) for men and one hundred fifty pounds (66 kilos) for women. The main reason for this stagnation in average size of humanity was primarily a lack of advancements that allowed for the proper combination of skeletal, muscular, and other tissue growth that came over previous centuries.
During the Rebirth period, where humans on Earth had to once again fight to survive, genetic manipulation allowed for artificial increasing of human abilities, maxing out what nature already provided, and providing the best possible base for future generations to build upon. It was discovered by Imperial geneticists that a person's DNA holds information that limits the maximum potential for their body to achieve, that normally without going through extreme conditioning would be impossible to achieve. These 'superhuman' abilities, thanks to a Imperial designed retrovirus, could be activated over a period of time, gradually increasing a person's natural abilities (speed, reaction, healing time, etc) and thus allow them to survive the hell scape that had become Earth.
Once the Rebirth ended, 98% of all humans on Earth had either been given the genetic treatment, or were offspring of those who had taken it. These post-Rebirth humans with their superior abilities, and technology forged during the Rebirth, were seen as vastly superior to any of the humans in the colonies and thus began the Empire's path to get every human injected with the treatment, which has since been coupled with a permanent immuno-booster to increase health. Due to the length of time it takes to administer all the doses of the retrovirus, the Empire has only completed treatment for around 65% of all humans under USIF domain.
Currently, the average human male (post-Rebirth classification) now comes in at an average height of six foot two inches (1.879 meters) and two hundred pounds (90.7 kilos), where as women come in at an average of six feet even (1.8288 meters) and one hundred seventy five pounds (79.37 kilos). This puts humanity on, if not above, par for physical comparison's to Turians. Krogan and Elcor still drastically outweigh humanity, but Krogan are roughly at eye level with humans.
MOTHER Network File Access: Granted
Subject: Battlecruiser - Mobile Construction/Repair Dock Hephaestus (BC-MC/RD)
The USIF Hephaestus BC-MC/RD is the only ship of it's class within the US Imperial Navy. Coming in at over 1600 meters long, Hephaestus is the USIF's response to any heavily damaged ships in need of repair that can't make it to a dry dock. It is not a combat capable ship in any sense, but does contain a full battalion of fighters (45 flights, each comprised of four squadrons, each squadron having four fighters for a total of 720 fighters) as well as a triple layered point defense array.
While it is incredibly long, it's total tonnage is less than a battlecruiser as the Hephaestus is designed in a horseshoe shape, allowing it to bring any other ship between it's arms (which make up for approximately 1400 meters of it's length), which then act as rails for heavy duty cranes for moving of material. When working at full capacity, the Hephaestus's twelve cranes and massive engineering crew can construct a brand new battlecruiser within eight weeks. However, raw materials have to be brought to Hephaestus in order to keep the pace going. With it's on board suite of refinery, smelting, welding, and forging centers, the Hephaestus can 'eat' several hundred thousand metric tons of material in a week. However, most systems where the Hephaestus travels do not have the mining facilities nor the capability to move such quantities of material in a timely fashion. In reality, Hephaestus' best time for completing a battlecruiser has been thirty two weeks.
MOTHER Network File Access: Granted
Subject: Ship classification – Citadel vs USIF
Due to the nature of differing technological development between the Citadel races and humanity, the ship classifications each party uses do not match up in the physical sense, while their military roles are much the same.
An easy to remember rule of thumb is that a USIF ship is one class above a Citadel ship. For those more interested in exact naming and classifications according to size, please refer to the following chart.
Ship Size (meters)-Citadel-USIF
10 to 25-Fighter/Bomber-Shuttle
25 to 75-Corvette-Fighter/Bomber/Dropship
75 to 100-Light Frigate
101 to 200-Frigate-Corvette
201 to 299-Heavy Frigate
300 to 450-Light Cruiser-Frigate
451 to 599-Cruiser
600 to 799-Heavy Cruiser-Cruiser
800 to 1000-Dreadnought/Carrier
1000 Super-dreadnought-Battlecruiser
A/N:
Well. I hope you enjoyed this extra long chapter. If I hadn't been careful, this chapter could easily have ended up being over 10,000 words long. Prior experience has shown me that editing chapters that long is simply not worth it, nor is the wait in posting them. I apologize for the ship classification chart not being the most readable, FF's auto formatting takes away a lot of freedoms in regards to that kind of thing.
As for my explanation for element zero's make up, I did some research and it seems to make the most sense that it would have a relationship of some kind to the Higgs field and Higgs Boson. I chose to have it be one neutron and one electron for that sheer shock of it being an impossible by normal understanding thing to occur.
Now for a real piece of news. I appreciate all reviews, I sincerely do. However, when anonymous reviewers ask me when I'm going to update, I get slightly ticked off. I have said it in earlier chapters, in my other fics, and have it posted on my FF profile that I have a Twitter account (Mitchell_DN7) that I use to update you all on my writing progress.
However, given the scope of Evolution and my other fic The Unsung Hero: Redux, I have been considering putting together a website. There, I will post updates, as well as logs of old codex entries for each fic, and anything else that is relevant to my fics.
All you have to do to let me know which you prefer is go to my profile and vote on the poll I set up. Simple as that. I will keep the poll up through the month of May. June 1st it is coming down, so be sure to vote!