Hey everybody, I want to make an annoucement about a person who wrote about Sovereign being overpowered in chapter 20 and how he thinks it's kind of stupid, but you all have too understand that there will be an explanation on why Sovereign is so powerful. But you will have to be patient on that and don't be like that other guy who decided he had enough of my story and quits reading it. So I ask everyone to be patient and wait. And to the true Halo fans who can figure out why Sovereign is so powerful cudos to you.
UNSC Space March 25, 2684/2184
ONI
Freelancer HQ
ONI Infinity-Class Battle Cruiser "Susanoo"
Directors Office
On Board the Susanoo the Director of ONI was walking towards his office for some time alone, but when he got there he had an unexpected guest waiting for him. The guest was reading one of his books and holding a glass of brandy in his hand. The man had close-cropped silver-grey hair with "steely blue" eyes which appear to be prosthetics and he dressed in an impeccable futuristic-style suit, combined with the casual swagger of a charming billionaire.
As the Director walks in his office, the man speaks from a passage in the book he was reading. "I celebrate myself, and what I assume, you shall assume..."
Leonard Church recognized the passage and took the lead. "...For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you."
The man closed the book and grins. "That sounds like a description of family."
Leonard walked over to his desk and took a seat in his chair. "Not ours I hope! So Jack, or is it the 'Illusive Man' now?"
The Illusive Man put the book away and took a sip from his shot of brandy on the rocks. "Well you're the one who gave me the alias, so I am using it to the fullest."
Church pulled out a data pad and looks over it before responding to the Illusive Man. "So how did you manage to get past my security and onboard this ship undetected?"
The Illusive Man walked over to where Leonard was and took a seat right in front of him. "That's my little secret on how I got here undetected, but for someone who used to be the employer of ONI, I had extensive knowledge on security protocols and very extensive information on how the day to day operations that ONI goes by. Add a good number of Spartans keeping your own security forces busy does help in my case."
Church was impressed with his former protégé. Not only has he not allowed the power of controlling Cerberus soften him by forgetting the knowledge he acquired while working for him, but had made great advances that surpassed even him. Church could only be impressed and fearful at the same time. "I am impressed, but I trust that you didn't come all the way here to just to show how lazy my security is?"
The Illusive Man shakes his head. "I thought I should be the one to tell you in person what I've discovered when you sent information concerning the Shadow Broker."
Church then nodded his head in understanding; to him the Shadow Broker has been one of ONI's, UNION, and Cerberus's biggest problems. "What did you find out?"
Illusive man took a sip of his brandy before responding. "The Shadow Broker was going to use the cargo ships and Mercenaries to capture Humans across the Traverse to experiment on or to use them to activate any Forerunner technologies his agents came across. We immediately took action and destroyed the cargo ships and mercenaries before they could capture any Humans. And an added bonus, my best operative Kai Leng killed Tazzik, Shadow Broker's right hand man, we also managed to locate the Forerunner artifact his agents found. I wouldn't be surprised if he mailed the Salarian's head back to the Shadow Broker by now."
Church had an unpleasant look on his face. "That's not what I asked you to do, but you got the job done. What about the Forerunner artifact?"
Illusive Man took another sip of brandy. "My people are looking at it now. And no, I will not surrender the location to you."
Church chuckled. "Fine! I will let you have it this one time, but you only get one!"
Illusive Man looked confused. "One what?"
Church pulled out a cigar from his coat pocket and lit it before taking a drag and exhaling the smoke. "One chance to defy me."
The Illusive Man stood up from his seat and walked over to the brandy case to refill his shot with more of his teacher's vintage brandy and to add more ice. "I can't figure out what you hate more - the fact that my plan works, or that you didn't come up with it first."
Church took another drag from his cigar. "Just remember - empires aren't built solely on clever bookkeeping."
Illusive Man finished his shot of brandy and placed it on the table as he watched the man he once looked up as a role model with defiant eyes. "Leonard, you have no idea what I'm capable of." Illusive Man then walked out of the room, leaving the Director to mull over what the Illusive Man said.
UNSC Space
Sol System
Earth
Sydney, Australia
UNSC Highcom Facility Bravo-6
Deep underground of bravo six was the UNSC Security Council Committee discussing the battle of the Citadel. Particularly how Sovereign was able to survive not one but two Super Macs from the Albion. Lord Hood was taking charge of the situation. "Alright people what can we do in upgrading our Super MACs?"
Everyone looked at one another and had no clue on what they can do, until Ackerson stepped in. "Lord Hood if I may speak, ONI has an idea."
Hood nodded his head and allowed Ackerson to speak. Ackerson took charge and pulled up a holo image of a Super Mac. "The MK VI super MAC is one of our most powerful MAC cannons and we were able to apply this weapon on our ships, but during our engagement with Sovereign it showed it can withstand a Super MAC something we have never seen before. We now need a new form of MAC cannon to help us and this is what ONI has come up with."
The Hologram changed to show a new form of a MAC cannon. "We call it a P-MAC a Plasma-Magnetic Accelerator Cannon which will fire a tungsten/depleted uranium projectile round enshrouded in plasma so as to penetrate shields and armor easier. Due to this proposed power, we have also dubbed this weapon as the Excalibur Cannon."
Everyone in the meeting nodded their heads impressed with ONI creating something new. "How long would it take to equipped this P-MAC on all ODP's and ships?"
Ackerson did the calculations and presented a number. "For all of them, it would take ten years, but if we concentrate all our engineers around the Relay Network, just two years it would take. Also the Titan-class ships are being redesigned and upgraded as we speak, we can apply the P-Mac on the dreadnoughts design as they begin building them off of the assembly line."
Everyone thought it over and agreed on the P-MAC idea.
Lord Hood then directed everyone's attention to him. "Alright gentlemen we need to discuss on what to do about the Geth situation, do we attack them or do we monitor their activities?"
Everyone thought about it until a woman voiced her own opinion. "We attack of course!"
Everyone in the room turned to pinpoint the origin of the voice, and to their shock it was the UEG President Hwang Mei. Lord Hood and by extension the rest on the Council Committee saluted to their superior before responding. "Madam President! It is an honor for you to appear at this meeting, but also a shock to us."
Hwang Mei walked in the room wearing extravagant business attire that highlighted the beauty of her Chinese descent. She walked towards Lord Hood's chair and took a seat in it. "Please Anthony, any concerns about retaliating always comes to me first. Now we should attack the Geth to show all other races to never attempt to attack us in the future."
Lord Hood was one of the few people who knew Hwang before she became President and knew that her definition of 'retaliation' meant using a Nova Bomb to make an impression. "Madam President, I believe it would be ill advised to attack the Geth right now, while we are preparing for a much greater war on the Horizon. I believe we need to monitor the Geth using our AI's to gather as much Intel for us."
President Hwang thought it over and agreed with her old time friend. "Alright, but I want them partnered up with our best Quarian agents to do it. Seeing as they created the Geth, this will be their opportunity to correct their mistake—plus, it'll give them an opportunity to shake off their hatred of AI's."
Ackerson agreed with the President. "The President is right about that. And it will be easy for the Quarians to do so seeing as they have the designs for the Normandy's heat emission sinks to use on one of their frigates and monitor the Geth for any signs of hostilities."
Lord Hood conceded and went to send a message to the Quarian President Shala 'Raan
OSA Space
High Charity
OSA News Network
The OSA News Network was a public coms channel for all the civilians to watch on board High Charity to learn anything new about the day to day operations on High Charity and by extension OSA space.
"Welcome to OSA New Net. I'm Emily Wong and today is a historical day on board High Charity. For some time now the Jiralhanaes have been taking on many responsibilities of late. And today we find out why! The Jiralhanaes are being accepted into the OSA Senate, this has caused quite a controversy amongst the citizens on High Charity as many believe the Jiralhanaes should not be given a seat, while others are praising them for their hard work and success for reaching where many wish to be at."
The channel then switched to a planet in the Serpent Nebula in the Boltzmann System. "In further news, the new OSA colony Bekenstein is finally completed. Bekenstein was given to the OSA Senate by the Citadel Council to help increase employment and trade for both the OSA and Citadel, but unfortunately Bekenstein has no ODP's as the Citadel Council has forbade any such orbital weapon be placed because of such close proximity to the Citadel. Instead the Council has allowed for the OSA to send in limited number of ships to protect the Colony. As it stands, there are thirty OSA ships guarding the Colony from any attacks."
The channel then switched back to Emily Wong. "Bekenstein has been considered number one on the galactic market for trade between the OSA and Citadel thus far. It is also number one in the most abundant of the many different species from both the OSA and Citadel that flock to Bekenstein for a better living, this is Emily Wong OSA News Net reporting to you live."
High Charity
Senate Chambers
Inside the Senate Chambers were three powerful individuals who held much power in deciding on the future of the OSA. On this day the Senate welcomes its newest member, although a certain Sangheili Senator was not at all pleased by it. Tartarus walked in the chambers wearing his usual jewelry to symbolize his status. He walked up to the Senate waiting for them to approve his Senate seat.
Anita stood up with her arms behind her back. "Tartarus, is the Jiralhanae Confederacy ready to take a much greater responsibility when joining the OSA Senate?"
Tartarus stepped forward. "Senator, on behalf of the Confederacy, we are ready to take responsibility when joining the Senate."
Anita then looked to her fellow Senators; each of them began typing on their holographic consoles inputting Tartarus as a member of the Senate. After that was done Tartarus took his seat next to Tranquility who greeted Tartarus with a smile. When Tartarus took his seat, Anita went straight to work. "Okay people we have a lot to go over so let's get it done."
Anita took a seat and called in a Sangheili from the Union's intelligence division. The Sangheili walked before the Senate. "Senators, I thank you for taking the time to see me," he said, bowing his head, "I have urgent information for you. It concerns the Citadel Council and the prototype dreadnought they are creating."
The Senators look to one another and back at the Sangheili. "Tell us what you have found." said 'Rolamee.
The Sangheili continued with bringing up an image of a planet. "This planet is located deep inside Council space where Turians, Asari, and Salarians are protecting it. We believe this is where they took the remains of Sovereign and what was left of the Geth fleet as well, to create their prototype dreadnought."
The Senators looked at each other concerned. "Have you found anything else about this dreadnought?" asked Anita.
The Sangheili nods his head. "Yes, we believe the Council will incorporate the engineering skills from each of their species like how we did when we built the Titan-class dreadnought, but will also incorporate the technologies they recovered from Sovereign and the Geth into this dreadnought. I am afraid we will not know the capabilities of this new dreadnought until it is fully operational."
The Senators nodded their heads and thanked the Sangheili for this information. The Sangheili walked out of the room leaving the Senators to think about what to do. After some time of deliberating, Anita then brought up the next thing on their list. "Senators, for some time now the scientists at the Ark have been trying to uncover information behind the locked information inside the database," she then looked to everyone in the room, "They have finally unlocked said information, and discovered something very interesting."
She then connected to the Ark and a hologram of Professor Anders appeared before the Senators. "Senators! I have been expecting you!"
"I believe you have something for us?" asked Anita getting straight to the point.
Anders, agitated by the Senators lack of a hello or any kind of greeting and just nodded her head. "We managed to break the passwords and codes that were blocking sensitive information. Information you might want to see." Anders then brings up a holo image of a ship with the same configuration as Sovereign.
The Senate was not surprised by this: they assumed the Forerunners did encounter the Reapers at some point. "So the Forerunners encountered the Reapers?" asked Anita
Anders nods her head. "Yes! According to the information we found. The Forerunners encountered the Reapers during their three hundred year war with the Flood. They attempted to stop the Reapers from harvesting the races at that time, but were stretched too thin from fighting the Flood.
"How effective were the Forerunners own weapons against the Reapers?" asked 'Rolamee
Anders brought up information on a holo image. "The Forerunners' success against the Reapers was due to their advanced technology: their ships were powerful enough to destroy a single Reaper with ease, but five Reapers were powerful enough to destroy a Forerunner ship without much difficulty either."
This had the Senate very concerned about the Reapers capabilities, they then asked about the Reapers encountering the Flood, Anders answered. "The Reapers did encounter the Flood. The outcome of that encounter wasn't good either. Both the Reapers and the Flood were fighting each other in space and on the ground."
Tartarus like the war chieftain he was answered a question. "What was the final outcome of their fight with each other?"
"There was no final outcome. During that time, the Forerunners completed the Halo Array and were prepared to fire it, but the Reapers almost stopped them." said Anders
Anita was confused by that. "What do you mean 'almost'?"
"Well as you know there were originally twelve Halo rings, five of them were destroyed. We never knew how until now. The Reapers managed to destroy five halo rings, but left the galaxy before the remaining seven could activate."said Anders
The Senate was really confused. "Why would the Reapers try to prevent the activation of the Halos, you think they would want all sentient life destroyed easily instead of destroying it every fifty thousand years themselves." said 'Rolamee
"Maybe they wanted to eliminate the competition!" replied Tartarus
Anders shook her head. "I don't believe that was the case Senator. I have been talking with Vigil, the Prothean VI Commander Shepard found on Ilos. It has given me information about the Reapers and I believe the Reapers need organics to acquire the resources they need to sustain themselves."
"Is there anything else we should know?" asked Tranquility
Anders nods her head. "Yes, I also learned that there were Mass Relays in our area of space. Across the Orion arm of the galaxy, but the Forerunners removed and disabled the Mass Relays when the Reapers began invading their territory. I have assigned Dr. Garret Bryson to lead task force Aurora to investigate ancient legends about the Reapers."
The Senate nodded their heads and thanked Anders for this information. Anders then disconnected the feed, leaving the Senate to think about the information that had been laid before them.
"Well it's a good thing we have started to prepare." said Anita, "Which brings me to asking, how is everything going in regards to preparing for the Reapers return?"
'Rolamee took this opportunity to speak. "The Titan-class ship that was co-developed by Human, Sangheili, and Jiralhanae engineers showed how powerful we are when we combine our strengths together. However, during the battle of the Citadel, the Albion went up against Sovereign and taken heavy damage. When the battle was over, I commissioned the engineers to add upgrades and modifications to the Titan-class dreadnoughts for when the Reapers arrive."
Anita nods her head. "How is it progressing?"
"Very well!" said 'Rolamee proud of his accomplishment. "The upgrades and modifications will be on every Titan-class dreadnought that comes off the assembly line. We already have three ready for battle, we just need the personnel."
Tartarus then steps in to ask a question. "What about the Albion? Will it be decommissioned or be upgraded along with the rest?"
'Rolamee replied. "The Albion will be upgraded the same way the Titan-class dreadnoughts are being created. The crew of the 'Albion' is currently training the new personnel on everything."
"Good! I am glad to hear that. What about our military? As it stands, the Empire, Confederacy, and UNSC has the resources and manpower to fight the Reapers. Are your governments prepared for war when the Reapers arrive?"
'Rolamee nods his head. "My people are always prepared. We have already started drafting all Sangheili who are capable of fighting and preparing them for war."
"The same with my people, we will take the Reapers and rip them piece by piece and use their mechanical parts to pick our teeth from the flesh of their soldiers." said Tartarus with an evil grin on his face, the thought of reverting to the old ways of the Jiralhanaes brought back fond memories for him.
Anita shook the image from her head of what Tartarus said, as she went on to talk about other things. "Tartarus how goes your Alliance with the Krogan?"
Tartarus' evil grin switched to an unhappy look. "The clan chief of clan Urdnot has becoming quite difficult to negotiate with."
Anita raised an eyebrow curious. "Why is this clan leader being difficult? Did we not help them by removing the DMZ from their system?"
'Rolamee just snarled. "What can you expect from a bunch of savages who know nothing of honor and loyalty?"
Tartarus was staring at 'Rolamee with anger in his eyes. "The Krogan are a proud people who have been wronged by the Citadel Council."
Anita stepped in before the two gets into a pissing contest. "What is the problem with this clan leader? Or better yet, why not negotiate with a different clan?"
"The clean leader of Urdnot is trying to unite the Krogan without the interference of outside influence, but he is not without honor; for the removal of the DMZ by our part he is willing to provide Krogan support in terms of warriors for us. And as for trying to negotiate with a different clan, it is impossible as Urdnot is the strongest clan when we made contact with them and with this new clan leader all other clans are uniting under clan Urdnot."
Anita nodded her head in understanding. "So where does this leave your Alliance with the Krogan?"
"As of right now, I have people talking with the clan leader to negotiate on where this Alliance will take us." said Tartarus
Anita nodded. "I hope it works out for you, now moving on to more troubling issues. As you know, our outposts were under attack from a race known as the Collectors. They have been abducting the personnel at the outposts and god only knows what the Collectors are doing to them. The defense Committee at Asgard station then put a stop to these attacks and managed to destroy three Collector Cruisers. So far we have not heard anything from them since."
Tranquility was not pleased by this. "They attack us, take our people, and we destroy only three of their ships! We need to make them pay for what they did."
Anita shakes her head. "As of right now, it's impossible to attack the Collectors directly. So we'll have to let things play out, and await the perfect opportunity to strike."
The Senate agreed on that as they were too busy preparing for the arrival of the Reapers to care about the Collectors. They dismissed for the day to think things over.
Krogan Nebula
Aralakh System
Tuchanka
Clan Urdnot
On the wastelands of Tuchanka was a group of Jiralhanae talking to the clan leader of clan Urdnot, they were discussing future plans for their Alliance. Flavius Scipio was a Jiralhanae diplomat sent by Tartarus to continue further talks with the clan leader. "Urdnot Wrex! I understand you wish to unite the Krogan. My kind was once divided by feuding tribes, but when we joined the OSA, we came together for a better future."
Wrex was sitting on his concrete throne listening to Scipio. "I know the benefits if we join the OSA, but many Krogan believe the OSA is no better than the Council; that the minute they give us power, they'll take it away from us," said Wrex while leaning back on his chair, "besides now is not the time to join the OSA, as I am trying to unite my people together and it is difficult to do when I have all these distractions."
Scipio looked away from Wrex, looked at the Urdnot camp, and then back at Wrex. "You do realize that by forming this Alliance you may be able to sway other clans to your side Wrex?"
Wrex just chuckled at that. "I don't need this Alliance to get other clans to join my cause. A lot of clans like what I'm doing, and this Alliance of ours is just a push to get the stubborn clans to join us."
Scipio thought it over for a minute. "Very well, but as a gesture of goodwill we would like to offer any supplies you need to help in your quest to unite the Krogan."
Wrex nodded his head. "That would be appreciated and welcomed by many; growing food here is quite difficult."
Scipio then excused himself and took his body guards back to the phantom to begin preparations.
Council Space
Aethon Cluster
Oma Ker
Turian & Salarian Base
Oma Ker was a temperate garden world currently in its megafauna stage. The planet's nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere and dextro-amino-acid-based life wasn't particularly attractive to the Volus, so they sold the colonization rights to their Turian partners. On this Colony, in an undisclosed location was a research station co-developed and built by the Turians and Salarians.
The Base itself was an R&D research base dedicated to the creation of new weapons and technologies. On the main floor of the base in a secured room was Primarch Fedorian of the Turian Hierarchy and Dalatrass Linron of the Salarian Union. Both were discussing the success and failures of their attempts at matching the OSA's own technologies.
As he spoke, Fedorian's frustration was made clear in his voice. "I am telling you Linron, the Human ODP's and MAC's cannot be duplicated unless we have their designs and schematics for them, and their 'Single-Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicles' have been an utter failure to create ourselves along with trying to create our own super soldiers to combat their Spartans."
Linron nods her head in understanding. "Yes it has been difficult to acquire anything from them with their own Intelligence agency that has been working for over five centuries! While my species has been directing the primary espionage and intelligence operations for the Council for the last two thousand years, they still manage to beat us back. But this Cerberus group has been quite a nuisance for us and is a troubling group."
Fedorian looks at Linron with confusion. "What do you mean troubling?"
Linron then recounted reports from STG teams. "During a mission inside the Terminus Systems, my STG stumbled upon a Cerberus base and infiltrated it for any information, but as you know the OSA use AI's extensively, which prevented my STG teams from acquiring any information from their own systems, but what they found was very disturbing for them. Cerberus was experimenting on our own people; Turian, Asari, and Salarians, but before they could do anything, they were discovered so instead of rescuing the captives they gave a quick death and escaped with this information."
Fedorian slammed his fist on a table angered at this. "What race was doing the experimenting?"
"The STG team said they only saw Humans and no other OSA race." said Linron
Fedorian wanted to strangle a Human with his own claws, ever since the Relay 314 incident he wanted the Turians to wipe out Humanity, but couldn't as long as they had their allies. "We should have done something to them."
Linron tried to relax Fedorian. "You know as well as I do that the OSA will deny any such actions. It seems likely to me that this faction went rogue."
Fedorian didn't care if they were rogue Humans or not, he hated all of them. "How is the new dreadnought we are building in Asari space?"
Linron brought up the information on her omni-tool. "Everything is on schedule; our engineers are installing the latest technologies we have created and putting the best equipment from all three Council races. It should be operational at the end of the year."
Fedorian then looked at Linron. "What about the Geth fleet and the Geth dreadnought known as Sovereign?"
At that, Linron had a wide grin on her face. "We have already begun dissecting their technologies and adding them to our own. The Geth are an amazing group, their technology should help us greatly in making this dreadnought powerful."
"What about this Indoctrination process? One of your STG agents by the name of Ganto Imness was complaining about it and wanted us to destroy the dreadnought. Have you found anything about what he said true?"
Linron shook her head. "No we did not; I believe whatever signals Sovereign was emitting is not there anymore."
Fedorian was happy about that at least. "Good! Speaking of new technologies, my people have been working on the secondary weapon Sovereign used during the attack on the Citadel and are working on reverse engineering that weapon: they are calling it the Thanix cannon."
Linron was impressed with Turian engineers, but her people had been making some advances of their own. "My people have finally created a cloaking device that can make our people invisible; not as advanced as the OSA's version, but still an impressive accomplishment."
Fedorian nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, we are making incredible technologies, but we need to do something about our soldiers; specifically in the area of trying to create super soldiers to combat their Spartans, especially after what happened at our listening outpost." said Fedorian hearing the reports about Turian and Salarian heads that were cut off and placed on spikes sending chills down his spine. He always knew the OSA were savages especially since they invited savages to join them.
Linron nodded her head in understanding. "Yes we do, I'm getting my best people to begin trying to create super soldiers if we had volunteers."
Fedorian look at Linron with a cynical look in his eyes. "You do realize if we go down this route, many volunteers are going to get hurt from these experiments."
Linron nodded her head. "Such is the way of science; if we do not pursue it, we may never know how to perfect it and that is why the OSA is beating us."
Fedorian took in what Linron said and made up his mind. "I will go along with this under the condition we test this out on prisoners and not soldiers at the beginning; at least until you have perfected it."
Linron nodded her head and both left to make preparations.
Omega Nebula
Sahrabarik System
Omega Space Station
Afterlife Club VIP section
The Afterlife Club is a nightclub on the Terminus Coalition-controlled space station Omega. It is comprised of three floors, with the first floor resembling the layout of Chora's Den on the Citadel, featuring a large circular bar with Asari dancers performing atop the center section. The second floor features a large circular opening in the center, above which more Asari dancers perform on a large ring suspended from the ceiling and surrounding a large purple holographic cylinder that extends all the way to the ceiling.
At the back is a private and well-guarded lounge from which Aria T'Loak, the Asari ruler of Omega, Queen of the Terminus Systems and de facto ruler of the TC, was in a meeting with a Batarian named Jath'Amon from the Batarian Hegemony.
Aria was not pleased by a lot of things that happened last year; she had her own people in the TC go behind her back, attempting to attack the OSA which almost started a war for her. The last thing she wanted was a war with the OSA. The only good thing that came out of anything last year was the hundred million credits she was able to get from the deal with the OSA, which was used to increase her power in the Coalition.
She had a grin on her face for a moment before she had to get back to talking with Jath'Amon. "Amon, how is the Hegemony recovering from their civil war?"
Jath was a large Batarian who sat on a hover chair facing Aria. "Everything is moving forward Aria; Balak has become a great leader among the Hegemony. Much better than the originals and are fleets are strong as ever before the civil war broke out and we are prepared to help you in anyway."
Aria smiled at that, she loved it when people were willing to do anything for her. "Since the Hegemony has joined the TC, I am going to give you responsibility for the Nemean Abyss."
Jath was speechless. The only time Aria gave control of territory to anyone was either if they were in her inner circle or they were unflinchingly loyal to her. Add the fact that the Nemean Abyss was a gold mine for the Batarian Hegemony, and it spoke volumes of her trust. "On behalf of the Hegemony, we accept this generous offer."
Aria chuckled at what Jath said. "Generosity isn't in my vocabulary; whatever you mine from the Nemean Abyss I get thirty percent of it."
Jath didn't like what Aria asked for, but he knew better than to argue with the Pirate Queen. He then nodded his head in acceptance, and floated away to go report to the Hegemony.
After Jath left, an Asari walked into the lounge area and sat next to Aria. "So mother, do you think it was wise for you to hand the Nemean Abyss over to the Hegemony?"
Aria looked at her daughter Liselle, showing her softer side as a mother if only slightly. She treasured these moments with her as she groomed her daughter to take her place. "The Nemean Abyss is too far away for us to deal with, I may have claimed the Abyss for myself when the OSA attacked the pirates and mercenaries that were hiding there, but I cannot afford to send any of my inner circle to govern it and risk taking any of our ships to guard it. Giving it to the Batarians will make it easy on me; they have their own ships to guard it with, and to mine any resources from the many worlds in the Abyss."
Liselle was not at all trusting of Batarians, after all they turned her own people into slaves and she didn't like that. "Do you really think they are willing to send ships and personnel to the Abyss? After all, it is on the other side of the galaxy from Batarian space."
Aria smiled at her daughter. "Ever since the OSA came into our part of the Galaxy, they have been colonizing planets left and right. As of now, they cover the entire Attican Traverse, and the UNSC has moved into the Skillian Verge. The Batarians are desperate to get some colonies, and if they have to colonize across the galaxy then they will do it."
Liselle then switched to another topic. "Speaking of colonies, you do realize that the OSA is colonizing Virmire as we speak?"
Aria's warm smile faded away and was replaced with a frown of concern. "Yeah, I'm aware of that; they colonize like vermin. Their appetite for new worlds is like a black hole unable to fill their needs. Like that planet Nodacrux was a planet suitable for colonization, but many problems with it that would have cost an arm and a leg to terraform and yet they managed it."
"The OSA has advanced terraforming capabilities; they can take a world that once had an un-breathable atmosphere from a nuclear holocaust and return it to its former glory, but I'm not talking about their capabilities. I'm more concerned about how the other members of TC are going to react to the OSA colonizing Virmire."
Aria was concerned too. "I will keep them in line like I always do and if comes to it I will shoot anyone who defies me in the head."
Liselle nodded her head, and enjoyed a drink of human-made whiskey with her mother.
Hourglass Nebula
Sowilo System
Hagalaz
Shadow Broker Base
The Shadow Broker was once a powerful and feared individual that had been locked in a three-way war in the shadows with the spies of the OSA and the Salarian STG. They had been a pain in his back for over thirty years, and continued to meddle in his business to this day. Two months ago, the Shadow Broker was preparing to capture Humans to learn how they were able to use Forerunner technologies, but was stopped by Cerberus…and worse, he lost Tazzik in the process.
Then the last straw came when he was in the middle of making a deal with the Collectors, Cerberus and that traitorous Drell agent Feron along with the Asari bitch Liara T'soni interfered by taking back Shepard's body before he could finish the deal with the Collectors. That was something he did not want to happen, after all it's not every day he makes a deal with Harbinger.
The Shadow Broker was in his office thinking of a new way to survive the coming invasion and his only plan would be to ally himself with the Collectors. Unfortunately, he knew full well that when the Collectors begin attacking OSA colonies, the OSA will declare war on them and come after anyone who worked with them or helped them. But if he was going to survive and get anything of value out of this, he would need to work with the Collectors.
The Shadow Broker pressed a few buttons and opened up a connection to Harbinger. "I have a proposition for you."
Galactic Core
Collector Base
Inside the Galactic Core of the Milky Way Galaxy was a space station sitting on the accretion disk of a black hole. This space station was home to countless Collectors, Seeker swarms, and Collector-controlled Husks, Abominations, and Scions, while also housing the Collector General, who was directly controlled by the Reaper Harbinger. Through the Collector base were Collector drones experimenting on the captured OSA species from their outposts, dissecting them and studying their anatomy and physiology along with their DNA structure.
The Collector General was an insect-like Collector with a larger head, a short body, and multiple limbs, enabling it to operate numerous command interfaces. On the console it was working on, it brought up images of each species of the OSA and describing their strengths and weaknesses.
"Kig-yar: insufficient life span shows fragile genetic structure."
"Unggoy: too primitive to be viable, but high reproductive rate allows for greater numbers."
"Jiralhanae: viable possibility, aggression factor useful if controlled."
"Mgalekgolo: reliance upon a number of Lekgolo worms for increase intelligence shows genetic weakness."
"Sangheili: viable possibility if emotional drives are subjugated."
"Yanme'e: useless in insufficient numbers."
"OSA AI: useful utility if Matrices can be reprogrammed to serve us."
"Human: viable possibility impressive technical potential! Human viable possibility impressive genetic malleability as proven by Spartan super-soldiers! Human Viable possibility Great biotic potential!"
The hologram shut off and the Collector General walked away.
UNSC Space
ONI
Freelancer HQ
ONI Infinity-Class Battle Cruiser "Susanoo"
Directors Office
Church was sitting by his desk looking over the information he acquired from the Forerunner installation. But as he was thinking of how much he was going to benefit from his find, he suddenly got a chilling sensation from the door. He turned his chair in the direction of the door and to his shock was a female Admiral he never thought he would ever see again.
"Margaret Parangosky! The last time I saw you, you were handing control of ONI over to me. Why are you here?" asked Church with suspicion in his voice
Margaret walked into his office with a smile. "I come bearing gifts."
"So did the Greeks, and look what happened to Troy." From his tone, it was clear that Church was not pleased with Parangosky's attitude.
Margaret took a seat across from Church and looked at him. "So Leonard, how is being in control of ONI been for you?"
"It has been quite fulfilling, how has being with section zero been for you?" asked Church with a forced smile.
Margaret was not at all surprised of how well Church was when it came to information. "I can tell you this: Section Zero has been well aware of your activities Church, even when you try to make them disappear."
Leonard got up from his chair and leaned on his desk. "You came into my life, thinking you could shake me down just 'cause I'm just some spoiled rich brat who needed his daddy's protection. Trust me - when I make things disappear, they stay buried."
Margaret chuckled. "Listen Church, Section Zero is not going to do anything to you. In fact, they have brushed off everything under the rug." Church was a little surprised by that. "You're confused, so allow me clear it up for you. You're what they euphemistically call the 'lesser of two evils'; while you may bend the rules in some areas, we're willing to over look it for what you have access to in your computers."
Church was not at all pleased with this olive branch Section Zero was handing out. "Save the cloying maternal posturing for your own agent, Margaret. I heard you all talking. Little Section Zero cabal...such a selective group, aren't you? And so secretive too! I thought that after that little stunt to send me off to the loony bin, you would've learned!"
Margaret shook her head. "It's sad to see a man who's lost his mind. But it's tragic when he's convinced himself that he's sane."
Church sat back down and poured himself a shot of brandy neat. "When you're rich, you're not crazy- you're eccentric."
Margaret stood up from her seat and headed to the door, but turned around to look at Church. "Be careful, Leonard. Don't forget, Judas hung himself with his own rope when he sold Jesus out to the Romans for ten pieces of silver."
She then walked out of the room leaving Church to himself. Church was not happy at all, and he showed it by throwing his untouched shot of brandy against the wall as soon as Margaret shut the door behind her.
So as you have seen this is different then the previous chapters where all the major players in the Galaxy consolidate their power and what they should do next. In the next chapter we will be getting back on the story and continue all the way until Shepard's resurrection. Also please keep voting on whether or not I should keep PRoject Crusader. You can fine the poll on my profile and like I said before the poll will end when we get enough votes.
New Codex:
OSA Melee Weapons:
While melee weapons have long been deemed obsolete by the Citadel Council, they have seen a significant resurgence in OSA after the Sangheili had attacked during the Human-Covenant War. Since that time, a renaissance had come about to equipping soldiers with all manner of melee weapons. The OSA currently has the following common categories:
Energy—not a subtle weapon type, but it has reliable cutting power (enough to cut through ship-grade armor) and portability on its side; it makes use of superheated energy (usually plasma) held in place by a magnetic field in the shape of a blade. Examples: the Sangheili Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword standard among Sangheili officers/swordsmen and Ulfberht Industries' "Zweihander" prototype currently in use by John-117.
Vibration—in an attempt to make melee weapons cheaper, these weapons have solid edges that are equipped with a vibration unit to increase the cutting power of the blades. Examples: Muramasa Arsenal's "Katana" currently being field-tested by Cerberus Agent Kai Leng and Imperator Arms' "Pugio" combat knives and "Securis" hatchets which are standard-issue to Jiralhanae ORC Black Ops units.
Monomolecular/Monofilament—simple blades and edges that are a single molecule thick that can cut through any solid substance as though it were nonexistent. Frequent sharpening and lubrication is often required of these blades, especially when used to cut through a Citadel Hardsuit. Examples: Misriah Armories' combat machetes that are standard-issue to all SOCOM operatives (especially Spartan Headhunter units), Muramasa Arsenal's "Tachi" which is Cerberus Agent Kai Leng's signature sword, and Kōga Industries' monofilament garroting wire and exploding shuriken sometimes issued to UNSC spies and assassins.
Gravity—common on bludgeoning weapons, these are normally issued to police officers at lowered power levels. Examples: Misriah Armories' gravity tonfa and gravity gloves which are standard issue to all police officers, and the infamous Type-2 Energy Weapon/Hammer which are given to Jiralhanae chieftains as a status symbol and a weapon.
Second Codex: Upgraded Titan-Class Ships
Titan-Class Ships:
Role:
-Command and control
-Planetary occupation
-Orbital Patrol
-Ship-to-ship combat
-Fleet command
-Air and ground warfare
-Infantry and materiel deployment
-Glassing operations
-Fleet Support
Length: 31, 980 metres - 31.980 kilometers (104 921.26 feet)
Width: 13, 567 metres - 13.567 kilometers (44 511.1549 feet)
Height: 5764 metres - 5.764 kilometers (18 910.7612 feet)
Engine(s):
-Repulsor engine along with manuverable thrusters
-Next generation slipspace drive using Forerunner designs from key-class ships
Hull(s):
-Forerunner Alloy
-Titanium- D armor & battle plate
- The unknown Covenant material; Resistant to greater than 1 Shiva missile & two plasma torpedoes
Shielding:
-New Advance shields desgin from Human and Sangheili engineers.
Counter-measures:
-Ablative baffles
-Counterelectronics
-Texture buffers
-Insulating layers
Navigation system(s):
-Navigation computer
Advance slipsspace navigation computers. Works in conjunction with on board A.I.
Armament:
- 4 Super P-MACs
-Energy projectors
-Plasma turrets
-Pulse laser turrets
-Unconfirmed number of Modified Magnetic Accelerator Cannons
-Lancer missile pods (20,400 missiles)
-Several 150mm AAA Helix guns (450,000 blocks)
-Ares-class nuclear missiles (2005)
-WASP mines (1400)
-150 mm Point-defence guns
-50 Fusion rockets
-Deck guns (200 or more)
-ATAF missile turrets
Sensors:
-Radar
-Spectroscopes
-Advance Forerunner sensors
Complement:
-Pelicans
-Seraph Starfighters
-Yss-2000 Sabres
-GA-TL5 Longsword-class Interceptor
-B-85 Suborbital Long-Range Bomber
-200 Cougars
-200 Wraith
-200 Scorpion Tanks
-75,000 OSA Soldiers
-ODSTs
-SPARTANs