Evolution: A Mass Effect & Section 8 Crossover
Chapter 6
A/N: Yes I know it's taken me forever to get this chapter up. No real excuse beyond rewriting a section over and over again until I was happy with it. That and I made a model of the Hephaestus. Instructions to see it will be at the bottom.
Just a reminder of who I'd cast in these roles:
President Alexander Hall – Leonardo DiCaprio
General William Trezbitowski – Michael Clarke Duncan
/Earth Date/ –01.10.2538-
/Planet/ Shanxi
/Ship/ USIF Hephaestus, Estate Room
"Sir, we are approximately thirty minutes from subspace exit." A corpsman informed President Hall, before he saluted and left the room. Hall, currently sitting down at his desk, got up and began walking around. Sitting opposite him was General Trebiztowski, who stood up at the same time and watched Hall pace around.
"Something bothering you sir?"
Hall looked back at his general and smiled. "Not everyday that you meet with alien representatives." Walking back over and around the desk, he sat back down and fidgeted with some datapads. "Let's go back over what we know."
"Of course sir." Trebiztowski turned towards the office's wall, and tapped it. The entire wall turned into a huge datawall, blank for the moment. "Where would you like to start sir?"
Folding his hands together, Hall leaned back into his plush chair contemplating his options for a moment. "Let's start with an overview of the Council races."
Tapping the datawall brought up a range of options, from which Trebiztowski chose one. The wall brought up several groupings of information, each of which was highlighted by a central image of a different race. Trezbitowski tapped the closest one to him and it enlarged itself, covering the others as it brought up more images and diagrams.
"The Turians are a military based hierarchical society, every one of them enter their military at age fifteen and they train for a year before going active duty. Most serve until the age of thirty, at which point they typically enter some form of public service. Turians are known for having an extreme sense of public service, honor, and self sacrifice. These virtues of theirs are the likely origin for hostility between us." Trebiztowski began. "In the Citadel galactic scene, the Turians are the primary peace keeping force with the largest standing military. They have a race of merchants called the Volus under their protection. The Volus crafted the the Citadel's galactic economy and standardized all Citadel associate races to the credit currency."
Hall studied the vast amount of information quickly, "Turians, primary military for Citadel, aggressor at Shanxi, got it." Quickly tapping his own datapad, Hall brought up the information for the Asari on the datawall. "Let's talk about these Asari women next."
Trebiztowski smiled, "As you've probably read sir, the Asari are a mono-gendered race, capable of having children through a form of parthenogenesis with seemingly any species. Asari are widely considered the peace keepers of Citadel space as well as the most adept biotic users."
"Biotics..." Hall interrupted Trebiztowski, "That's the strange ability that our men reported being used in the field against them correct?"
"Yes sir, it allows any person with element zero nodules and enough training to manipulate the mass of a local object as well as other attacks."
Hall leaned back in his chair, contemplating something. "Have our researchers discovered a means to get our own soldiers the same ability?"
"Nothing yet Mr. President. The entire USIF genetic engineering and development department has shifted it's focus from producing more Rebirth injections to studying the potential effects of element zero exposure on human DNA."
Hall swiped his hand across his datapad, and the relevant information on element zero came up on the wall. "What do we know specifically about this new element?"
Trebiztowski smiled, "That we do have more information on. This mornings data burst from the Imperial Engineering Grounds & Foundries on Luna has revealed some interesting weapons tech improvements." Swiping his own hand over the datawall brought up schematics of the standard USIF weapons paired with schematics that looked nearly identical save for the addition of a couple capacitors. "By adding in our own mass effect field generators and modifying our gauss rails with a galavenium overlay to accommodate a massive increase in voltage, every gauss based weapon in our inventory will gain a substantial damage potential increase."
"Can you give me specifics?" Hall asked, "Hard weapon data I could potentially use in upcoming uh-, negotiations." Hall finished with a smirk on his face, which caused Trezbitowski to laugh deeply.
"I understand sir," Trebiztowski replied as soon as he regained his composure. "Our weapons will all double their muzzle velocity, becoming high-hypersonic projectiles but without any significant weight added. Every gauss weapon in our arsenal could potentially see a 400 percent increase in pure kinetic energy output. That actually brings up the last primary species in Citadel space." Trebiztowski brought up one last section of information.
"The Salarians are viewed as the scientific and covert operations of the Citadel. Visually similar to the Martian Grey's popularized in the 20th and 21st centuries. Their population is almost 90% male as they are amphibian haplo-diploid egg-layers, in that only fertilized eggs produce females. As such, their 'Dalatrasses' rule their clans. Due to their natural proclivity towards covert and intelligence ops, any dealings we might have with the Salarians will require a deft touch."
"So in all it'll be like an average day dealing with the Senior Senate Committee." Hall joked. Checking his watch, Hall stood up and straightened out his suit. "Well my friend, I do believe it's time to greet our new galactic neighbors."
/Earth Date/ –01.10.2538-
/Planet/ Shanxi
/Ship/ ARS Devout Grace
After the sudden appearance of the monster ship, Councilor Besea and the Grace's Captain quickly convened together in her ready room.
"Initial scans from our sensors describe the massive ship that just appeared as being a mobile shipyard. The other ships of the orbiting fleet have towed the crippled Turian Frigates inside of it's yard arms." The captain began.
"How many frigates did these humans manage to cripple?" Besea asked.
"Twelve Miss Councilor. All were crippled in the same way, uncountable perforations in their engine pods and engineering areas."
"And all twelve frigates are being repaired simultaneously?"
"Yes, the ships are arrayed perpendicular to the mobile shipyard, designated from now on as Omega-1, right by cranes that extended out from the ship. Clearly this race has mastered feats of engineering we thought to be impossible, as Omega-1 has actually begun to move out towards the systems asteroid belt with the Turians ships with it. Our best guess is that they are going to mine materials at the same time."
Besea looked over the scans of the ship, noting it's architecture. It held curves that reminded her of Asari ship designs, but despite that it also held an inner ferocity that clearly said to stay away from it. Moving her hands over the wall mounted data screen, she zoomed in on the bow of the ship. It held a very large indentation in it, that until now didn't make sense.
"Captain, have our ships monitor as best they can how Omega-1 operates, I believe that it also doubles as a mining and refinery plant to aid it's construction crews. I wish to see how exactly they go about mining asteroids."
"Yes Councilor. I just wish that these humans would do something soon besides make us wait." The captain grumbled.
Besea switched to a live feed of Omega-1, with it's engines now pointed towards the Grace she could see the Turian ships being repaired by what appeared to be hundreds if not thousands of specs. Unable to increase the zoom or resolution, she had to set that curiosity aside as she saw a much smaller ship, perhaps a frigate, leave Omega-1 and make for one of the Ascension class sized ships orbiting the planet. Despite having no mass effect drive to aid it, it made the trip, a distance of a couple hundred thousand kilometers, in about twenty minutes. At that speed, none of the Asari vessels could get an accurate scan of the ship, but what was gathered painted a vessel that looked to be built for speed, with an elongated main fuselage with two obscenely large engine pods built into it.
Besea smiled to herself, knowing the game being played by these humans. "Captain, prep a shuttle with an escort of the five best Huntresses on board. Have them wear the good commando leathers, no weapons besides pistols with those in plain sight."
The Captain was about to argue when the ship's intercom piped up, "Incoming message from the humans Councilor and Captain. Video and audio."
"Please route it to us in here if you will in a minute." Besea replied as she quickly looked in a mirror to be sure her facial tattoos were properly touched up and smoothed out her dress before waving her activated omnitool over the ready room's desk and tables. The lights dimmed slightly as the desk and table retracted into the floor and the data screen she was admiring Omega-1 on turned blank. Moving so she was standing in the center of the screen, she took a deep breath, held it for a second, then let it out before smiling. All the while, the Grace's Captain stood off to the side, out of view.
A few seconds later, and the data screen changed from blank to the image of a large winged creature holding two lightning bolts in it's claws, three stars arrayed around its head, all of which was surrounded by an outline of a shield. Before Besea had a chance to try and interpret any subtle meanings from it, the image changed to that of a conference room, where a number of armored human soldiers stood at the outside edge of a table, the head of which stood two unarmored humans along with a third whose helmet was off. The distance of the three humans at the desk from the sending visual recorder was too far to note distinct features, but one thing that was patently obvious was the fact that humans bear an extremely close resemblance to the Asari. Before the shock could set in, the human at the center of the trio stood up, the other two standing along with him.
"Welcome Councilor Besea to New Shanxi. A newly founded colony of the United States Empire, the governing and military body for all of humanity. I am the Empires political and military leader, President Alexander Hall."
For the first time in a long time, Besea was stunned to near speechlessness. The humans either had mastered Galactic Basic in an impossibly short amount of time, or they had extremely sophisticated real time translation programs running. She could see no visible technology on the human who spoke, but that didn't mean anything necessarily.
Once she got a hold of herself, Besea replied also using Galactic Basic. "Thank you President Hall for coming out to meet me. I feel I must apologize for the actions that have taken place here on your sovereign ground. The Turians in charge only meant to prev-"
"Prevent another Rachni type incident. I understand Madam Councilor. I also realize that the Turians did not understand what exactly they have done by attacking with out having all the facts. The simple truth of the matter is that they have gotten off easy."
Besea was not off to a good start. Not even five minutes into meeting this new race for the first time, and they already knew more about Citadel space and it's history than some school children did. Add in the human leaders rudeness in interrupting her told Besea that this new race would likely cause numerous problems down the road.
"The actions taken thus far need not go any further President Hall." At this point, while she could clearly see that the humans were similar in build to Asari, she could not make out the fine details of the human leader as his position was simply too far from the camera. "I have come here to negotiate a permanent cease fire between your people and the Turians. I feel there is much we could learn from each other if peace was allowed to flourish."
The human leader took a moment to consult with the other unarmored human, who held a much larger frame and very dark skin tone to him, for a moment before leaving his position and walked forward towards the camera. As he did, Besea could finally start making out the fine details of his face and build. Had they met under different circumstances, Besea could see her self falling head over heels for this human. Well defined jaw line, energetic gait, expressive blue-green eyes, and what looked like well kept brown fur on top of his head, that also surrounded his jaw and upper lip. Besea managed to get herself under control as President Hall finally stopped at a distance so that his chest and head took up most of the screen.
"Madam Councilor, let me get one thing clear here. Humanity has been exploring the galaxy by itself for the past few hundred years. We've colonized dozens of worlds, our total population is rising by the tens of millions every year, we've made technological discoveries that would cause the whole of the Salarian Union to die from utter shock. Humanity in short, does not need the Council to make any advancements with element zero or mass effect technology. Which if my experts are correct, would only serve as a stepping stone to greater discoveries, not become one in and of itself as it has for you.
In the short time this conflict began, we have learned of your entire history, technological developments, societal norms and taboos, and your tendencies. It is my belief that the Council, by your desire or not, would seek to limit humanity's growth by outlawing our own technological development while at the same time increasing your own by forcing us to give you technology we discovered, invented, and perfected. It is my personal belief that technological advancement gained by sharing is not advancement at all." President Hall took a moment for that to sink in, which Besea needed as she could barely comprehend the long lasting implications.
"However, that does not mean the United States Empire will not have diplomatic relations with the Council." Besea let out a breath she didn't know was holding before Hall continued. "To that end, provided you are able, all Turians now on Shanxi, dead or alive, will be returned to the Citadel on your ships. We have provided the best care possible to them, short of psychiatric care. The ships that we have damaged will be repaired to their original specifications with their power plants and engines upgraded with our most basic technology. From there they will be sent directly back to Palaven once repairs are complete.
It is the mind of the United States Empire that all hostilities between the Turian Hierarchy and ourselves are now at an end. Any further aggression will warrant equal or greater response on our part upon the aggressor, regardless of impact it will have on Citadel politics. What the Turian forces experienced here at Shanxi is only just a taste of what our military is capable of. I would suggest you have your Salarian Special Tasks Group analyze what ever data that has been collected, and increase it's projected results by a factor of ten.
Once the Turians planet side have been transferred to your ships, the USIF Texas will accompany you back to the Citadel where talks will take place between the Council and the Empire. Further talks, if deemed necessary will from that point on take place in the Empire home system."
When Hall ended his speech, Besea was surprised to say the least. The humans wanted little to no compensation for the destruction of three of their ships, the damage of property, or resources lost due to the Turian assault. Instead, they were willingly giving up prisoners of war, who they treated, as well as repairing the ships they damaged. With minor upgrades to boot.
"That... Is very generous of you President Hall." Besea managed to get out after a short pause. "While the other members of the Council would not appreciate such a speech, I am sure they will agree that peace and some diplomatic relation is better than all out war."
At the mention of 'all out war', Besea heard a deep rumbling laugh, joined by a slightly higher chuckle. Hall turned around, spoke a few words that did not translate through the video feed before turning back to face her with a slight smirk on his face.
"My Chief of Staff and the general in command of the forces here at New Shanxi just said that you're idea of 'all out war' is nothing compared to what humanity has inflicted upon it self in nearly seven thousand years of written history. Believe me when I say this Madam Councilor. Our military uses technology and tactics that every military power in Council and Terminus space would wage war over to get."
"Forgive me, but I did not mean to imply anything other than peace is the preferable solution."
President Hall smiled widely, "Excellent then. Now, I'm sure you and the crews of your fleet there are anxious to get out and stretch their legs. Have your captains arrange for the arrival of numerous ships. Your crews will be permitted to go planet side in shifts for the remainder of the solar day which is for another," Hall glanced off screen quickly, "Twelve Citadel Standard Hours. While there isn't much at the moment on the surface beyond living facilities and basic recreation areas, planet side is always relaxing after being on board a ship for an indeterminable amount of time. I will meet you and your own escort at these coordinates while the rest of your crews can relax at these coordinates."
That piqued Besea's interest a bit, "May I ask the purpose of this?"
"Well." Hall began, taking a deep breath. "If there are to be diplomatic relations between our people, I would think that we need to sit face to face and talk about things other than just politics, don't you agree?"
What strange mannerisms these humans have... First they are firm in their demands, confident bordering cocky on their military strength and experience, then down right overly considerate.
Putting on a wide smile, Besea answered, "I would be delighted to accompany you President Hall."
MOTHER Network File Access: Granted
Subject: USIF Rolling Equipment Upgrade Procedures
The Patton-class Powered Assault Armor currently employed by the 8th Armored Division of Task Force 33 are the latest in Imperial weapons technology, utilizing the newest 'clean' power source available: anti-matter. The previous generation, the Sherman-class, utilized the latest in cold-fusion and is the most common amongst the USIF troopers. The biggest difference between the classes is in the effective shield strength/duration and speed of the nanomuscle fibers, in which the Patton out performs the Sherman by a factor of five.
The USIF's REUPs currently place complete distribution of the Patton-class at one year's time. Currently, beyond Task Force 33, only Task Forces 1 through 15, and 26 through 28 have received the Patton.
MOTHER Network File Access: Granted
Subject: USIF Task Force Composition
The USIF has it's main military force divided into Task Forces, with only a quarter of them being kept at full military preparedness. The others provide vital roles for the protection and expansion of the Empire.
Task Force 1 – 15: These Task Forces are the dedicated Earth Federal District Defense Corps. Even though Earth in the Post-Rebirth era has become a verdant garden world once again, there are still groups that seek to destroy the unity that has been fostered over the past few centuries. Task Forces 1 through 15 are dedicated to protecting all innocent lives on Earth from such extremists. While they are not the main police force, they do act with their own jurisdiction much like the U.S. Marshall program of the 20th and 21st Century. Their authority in matters relating to the capture of criminals and protecting the peace is only matched by each Federal Districts Special Agent divisions, which exercise the same authority within their own district.
Task Force 16 – 25: With the need for more and more resources to fuel the ever running Imperial industry worlds, these ten Task Forces are dedicated to scouting out, terraforming, and establishing colonies for the Empire. Staffed by thousands of engineers of every specialty imaginable, these men and woman are responsible for the majority of a new colonies breathable atmosphere, pre-built buildings and defense structures, as well as mapping out the best mineral deposits for incoming colonists to mine. Each colony has a huge head start thanks to these Task Force's work. With an emphasis on construction, each Task Force only holds the minimum number of combat trained troopers required by law. These troopers themselves are typically combat engineers who consult with the civil engineers to provide the best defensive lay out possible for a colony.
Addendum: Task Force 19 was the force in charge of prepping New Shanxi and the ones who faced the Turians on the ground for three days. While minor to severe wounds were inflicted later on by the Turians biotics and tech capabilities, only one trooper died in action on the ground. The three cruisers destroyed by the Turians held altogether a total of 1400 lives. The Turian Hierarchy has yet to disclose their number of wounded and dead from the action at New Shanxi.
Task Force 26 – 33: Should the Earth or any of her colonies come under attack, these task forces will be amongst the first to go into battle. These men and women receive the best training and equipment as it passes testing by Task Force 33 - 8th Armored Division (aka Section 8). They train in every type of environment possible to perfect their art form. Each of these Task Forces have been assigned special tasks and mission to accomplish the the Empire, and they fulfill these duties with no questions asked.
Task Force 26 & 27- 1st & 2nd Armored Infantry Divisions: Besides Task Forces 1 through 15, these are the only other Task Forces that maintains a permanent presence within the Solar system. Based on Luna, they operate the massive ring station that encircles the moon which acts as the second to last line of defense for Earth. TF-27 operates strategically placed early warning systems throughout the system and the asteroid belt, monitoring any incoming asteroid, meteor, or ship traffic. Exact numbers on fleet or trooper composition has never been released to uphold the operational security required by such a mission.
Task Forces 28, 29, & 30 – 3rd, 4th, & 5th Armored Infantry Divisions: These Task Force's are tasked with the patrol of all Empire space, checking in on colony garrisons and bringing supply shipments. While not the most exciting posting in the Empire, these Task Forces are vital to keeping the Empire running smoothly.
Task Force 31 - 6th Armored Infantry Division: If the USIF were ever to face a situation that required immense defensive measures, TF-31 would be called upon. Specializing in creating living nightmares for invading armies, training and arming local populations, and guerrilla warfare, these men and women are expected to last against incredible odds for an indefinite amount of time in any environment imaginable.
Task Force 32 – 7th Armored Infantry Division: When the USIF knows a target will need to become inundated with over-whelming firepower, the 7th Armored is brought it. Specializing in siege tactics and heavy weaponry, these men and women have adopted the unofficial slogan, "When in doubt, dial 7" which itself is a play on an old US Army saying from the second world war which went "When in doubt, call in an airstrike." Members of the 7th are also trained demolitions experts, and often are called in when miners face problems their own engineers can't solve. Or when another Task Force needs a really big explosion to occur.
Task Force 33 - 8th Armored Infantry Division: When a mission absolutely cannon fail, the vaunted 8th Armored is called in. These men and women have earned the nickname Section 8 for their invention of the Burning In method of battlefield entry, which until a few years ago was thought to have been suicidal. Section 8 also acts as the Empires elite quick reaction force, often being the first ones to experience battle. Section 8, in particular 1st Recon, have single handedly ended the militia rebellion of the Arm of Orion in the Europa cluster, centered around New Madrid. When it comes to bleeding edge or even next gen technology and tactics, its guaranteed to have to pass Section 8's standards before it goes to the rest of the USIF.
A/N: Not the biggest chapter I've done, but I feel I set the tone for Empire and Council meetings, especially Hall's personality. Add in the outline of how the USIF operates it's military, and I feel that the wait has been justified.
Now, if you want to see the Hephaestus that I designed follow these instructions
1 – Download Google SketchUp, its free and an excellent tool to have in my opinion.
2 – Head to tinyurl com / n8asy6k to get the file and see an isometric viewpoint of the ship.
3 – Download the file with the .skp ending, then open it with SketchUp.
4 – Viola! You can see the Hephaestus as I imagine it. Roughly anyway.
Next bit of news. I am working on a website to house all of the codex entries and designs I come up with so you don't have to dig through the chapters to refresh your memories on what I've covered thus far. In the mean time, please follow me on Twitter to get weekly-ish updates on where I'm at with writing and other projects.
Final bit. Piecing together and enhancing one of the Eagle logos from Section 8: Prejudice took me some time as well. It is the image I describe Besea seeing before the video call starts. To see it at my DA page, head here: tinyurl com / mspvx4z
It has huge zoom, so feel free to download it for wallpaper or what have you.
That's it from me. My next project is chapter 4 for The Unsung Hero: Redux. Be on the look out for that, or go check it out if you haven't yet!
~DN7