URDNOT WREX, TON KARAMAZOV, FEBRUARY 3 2188
Wrex sat down on the sofa in his quarters and hit the 'Accept Call' button on his iTool. Moments later a hologram of his brother appeared, sitting in the armchair across his coffee table.
"Wreav?"
Wrex was slightly puzzled. Wreav never called.
"Wrex. Can I ask you something?"
"Go ahead."
"Do you think I did the right thing?"
Now that was unexpected. Wreav hardly ever second-guessed himself, and when he did he never asked anyone for advice, least of all his big brother.
"About the Novalith strike on Thessia?"
"Yeah."
Wrex scratched at his chin as he pondered the question.
"I think it's the right call. I know our species doesn't have the best history with weapons of mass destruction," at this the brothers shared a chuckle, "but I've been reading Human history. They had this war, called World War 2, where two clans, America and Japan, were at war. America was winning, pushing Japan back until all that was left was their home islands. The Japans were a lot like us, or perhaps the Turians - if America invaded they would fight to the last man, woman and child. In the end America decided to drop two fission bombs on two Japan cities, and although they killed millions they spared the lives of millions more of their soldiers who would have been killed if they invaded Japan."
Wreav nodded slowly.
"I understand. It's just ... Difficult. I know it's necessary but it feels weak, using a weapon like that."
"Believe me I know. For what it's worth, I think you made the right call."
LIDYANA T'ROAHÉ, TON KHRONUS, FEBRUARY 3 2188
"Sensors! What the fuck am I looking at?"
The Drell at the sensor station shrugged, hands playing across the console.
"A space battle."
"That much is obvious. I need details."
"Um ... Looks like a small collection of eezo based ships slugging it out with ... a giant egg."
Lidyana sighed and rubbed her brow, muttering.
"Okay fine. Can we ID the eezo based vessels?"
"Looks like a number of civilian models, refitted with military grade barriers, weapons and engines. The giant egg ... I'm not sure. But whatever it is, it's a monster. Damn thing must mass at least twice a Kol II, but it doesn't seem all that heavily armed. No fighters flying around, and Rumba Charlie-grade kinetic barriers. Best guess, I'd say it's a troopship."
"Alright. Affiliations?"
"I'm working on it."
Her XO got her attention.
"Lidyana-Captain? Incoming transmission."
She nodded at the Geth platform, then turned to the screen. The face that appeared was an olive green Drell.
"This is Captain Lidyana of the TON Khronus. Identify yourself."
"Hello Captain. Mind giving us a hand here? These Vasari are quite persistent."
She snapped out some rapid fire orders.
"All hands to battlestations. Helm, bring us about to 0769/9778/2100. Tactical, link Feron's group into the battlenet. Weapons, prepare for combat. Capacitors charge, engines full power. XO, instruct the battlegroup to form up in formation Gamma. Let's get some readings on the target people!"
The Khronus swung its two point six kilometre bulk around to point directly at the egg and its engines flared, propelling it towards the battle.
"What the ... Sensors say target has active energy barriers!"
"How the hell did the Vasari get that tech?"
"They had to figure it out eventually."
"Weapons range in forty five seconds."
"Main autocannon batteries spinning up."
"Abbadon missiles, load load load!"
"Deflectors at maximum torque. Energy shield at optimal levels."
"Weapons range in thirty seconds."
"All plasma cannon batteries checking in."
"Defensive autocannon turrets ready."
"Capacitors fully charged."
"Weapons range in fifteen seconds."
"Minor fluctuations in aft barrier. Within normal parameters."
"Discharge vanes ready."
"Power core at optimum."
"Weapons range."
"Fire!"
At Lidyana's command the forward autocannon battery flung a ten-barrelled barrage of solid osmium fury at the offending space-egg, four high-yield Abbadon missiles hot on the heels of the opening volley. The energy barriers of the hostile ship flared bright, each impact of a hyperdense slug sending ripples out across the shield's surface, a handful of shells managing to slip through spot failures in the defensive curtain to smash into the hull of the space-egg. Then, punching through the ragged mess left by the autocannon volley, the Abbadon missiles hit home, the first pair blossoming into miniature suns on the surface of the armour plate, the second pair soaring through the rapidly expanding field of plasma to erupt in the ship's inner workings. When the fires died down Lidyana felt a surge of vindictive satisfaction at the cherry red hole in the armoured shell of the space-egg, lit from within by internal fires. Nevertheless the vessel ponderously turned, angling its wounded side away from the TEC vessels as it brought its frontal maw to bear.
"Launch all bombers, detach the Stilat and Garda from formation. Designate Force Beta. Beta will manoeuvre to bring fire to bear on the damaged section of armour on the hostile. Percheron, Hoshiko, fall back out of engagement range. All other ships, standby to engage forward."
She glanced over at her helmsman.
"Helm, keep us steady. We need to keep that ship focused on us and let Beta do their jobs."
"Copy that, Captain."
"All ships in Force Alpha. Fire at will."
A wall of osmium shells and incandescent plasma poured forth from the TEC warships.
FERON TAYSANDA, MSV RAKHANA'S RAGE, FEBRUARY 3 2188
"Tell all Broker forces to form up and lay down a concentrated barrage on the hostile."
He sat back in his chair, sighing with relief. He had been so certain his ships, all that remained of the Shadow Broker's forces, were doomed, until those other ships had turned up. He still had no idea exactly who they were, but clearly they were opposed to the Vasari. That was good enough for him.
"Open fire."
His vessels joined in the bombardment, hurling their pointed chunks of metal with as much force as they could muster. In return the three ports along the starboard side of the hostile lit up green with shimmering energy.
"Flayers! Evasive manoeuvres!"
The green beams snapped out, one missing, the other two finding their marks. Two of his ships were struck, the beams spearing through them, completely ignoring their kinetic barriers. He watched in mute horror as the layers of armour protecting the converted civilian ships sloughed off, as if the ships were being stripped down layer by layer. Flayers was an apt name for the pulsing beams - they quite literally flayed the ships they hit. He cut the comm link to the stricken vessels, unwilling to listen to the screams of the crew as their ships were peeled apart around them. He refocused his attention on the unknown ships battling the hostile.
It looked like the hostile had its strongest shields up front, considering they were still holding after the relentless pounding from the friendlies. He looked at his tactical screen. Looked like mass accelerators, but firing many smaller rounds instead of one large one, combined with some sort of directed plasma weaponry. As he watched, four of the strangely shaped frigates unleashed barrages of missile fire, what he assumed to be the flagship joining in with its larger but less numerous torpedoes. He had scarcely believed the amount of damage done by their first volley of torpedoes. He prayed that the open maw was a vulnerability - he wanted these Vasari bastards consigned to the deep as soon as possible.
It seemed whoever was in command of the Vasari ship had other ideas. The maw pulsed with an ominous golden glow before releasing a whirling orb lit with the same hue. The orb streaked through the space between the two opposing groups, latching onto one of the missile frigates as pulses of green energy were spewed from weapon ports across the bows of the hostile. This could be interesting.
LIDYANA T'ROAHÉ, TON KHRONUS, FEBRUARY 3 2188
Lidyana watched in disbelief as something ate one of her ships. Whatever that golden orb was, it had spread over the missile frigate's thin armour, attacking the ship as if millions of tiny mouths were chomping through the plating.
"TON Vareali reports critical armour damage and atmosphere venting on all decks. Crew abandoning ship."
The escape pods began puffing out from the stricken frigate. Even as she watched, horrified, golden motes of light jumped to the escape pods.
"All escape pods from TON Vareali reporting hull breaches and loss of structural integrity."
The Javelis frigate's power supply failed as it split in two, each part still being disintegrated by the golden light.
"Time is 13:52, February 3 2188. Javelis-class missile frigate TON Vareali lost due to enemy action with all hands presumed KIA. Logged."
The tac officer's voice was the only sound in the bridge for a couple of moments.
"Captain! Incoming fire!"
She mentally chastised herself for losing focus in the middle of a battle.
"Damage control to maximum alert. All personnel brace for impact."
The flares of green energy tore into the energy barrier but were luckily dissipated before they could reach the hull.
"TON Scleri reports imminent shield failure!"
"Discharge teams, reinforce Scleri's shields."
A brilliant spark jumped from the battlecruiser's dorsal blister to the battered Cobalt light frigate, jumping her shield power meter almost back up to maximum.
"Capacitors recharging."
"Abbadon volley impact imminent!"
The Abbadon missiles fired almost forty seconds ago drilled into the weakened, spotty defensive bubble on the prow of the space-egg, something referred to as Swiss Cheese Shields because of the amount of gaps in them. The sensors in the warheads quickly analysed the Swiss cheese, talking at the speed of light to plot the optimum mess of trajectories allowing the missiles to neatly slip through the gaps in the shield coverage and ram themselves down the enemy's throat.
The volley struck home, lighting the inside of the maw up with antimatter fire, paving the way for the rest of the missiles. The four torpedoes from the Khronus, each one painted with the message 'From Khronus with love' and signed by every member of the missile crew, lagged slightly behind the smaller missiles, meaning that when their proximity sensors finally tripped they were at the end of a very large hole carved by forty other Abbadon impacts. The warheads triggered, detonating in a sunburst of antiparticles, the rapidly expanding cloud shooting forward to smack into the target ship. The impacts blended together into a massive gout of fire that belched from the ruined maw, bringing with it huge chunks of the five kilometre behemoth.
Cheering filled the bridge of the Khronus, cheering which was compounded as force Beta, finally finished their roundabout arc, came in hot, hitting the energy barriers as they tried to rebuild and tearing holes in them before the bombers soared in, each one releasing a pair of antimatter presents into the gaping hole left in the ship's side armour. More blossoms of fire rocked the dead egg.
"Take that you sons of bitches!"
The Krogan at the weapons console roared his joy at the victory before cueing a recording of Ride of the Valkyries to general amusement. The celebrations were cut short by the Rachni Queen resident to the Khronus, Sings-of-Savage-Joys.
-It still sings! How can it still sing?-
The sheer disbelief in her thoughts turned Lidyana's attention back to the stricken egg, just as its main drive lit off. She stabbed a finger down on the command channel.
"Immediate saturation fire!"
Ride of the Valkyries blared on ignored as her weapons officer mashed buttons with his stubby fingers, hollering some choice curses through his headset to the weapons crew. Moments later plasma and autocannon shells streaked off through the void to stitch lines of ripples across the barriers of the hostile ship. But it was on the move - they couldn't focus their fire enough to create an opportunity for Abbadon missiles to slip through the energy barriers. Feron's group scattered as the egg ploughed through them, one ship not quite fast enough and shattering on the armoured prow of the Vasari vessel. Then there was a slight distortion of a mass effect corona and the ship jumped to FTL, leaving Feron's scattered squadron alone with the TEC patrol group.
Lidyana scanned over her contact protocols. Deploy marine groups to the ships to screen the crews for indoctrination, then take under tow to the relevant fleet depot.
"This is TON Khronus to Feron. Marine teams will ride across to secure your vessels against potentially indoctrinated agents, then we will take you under tow to our depot."
JEFF MOREAU, TON NORMANDY, FEBRUARY 4 2188
"So how do I look?"
Joker valiantly attempted to stop his eyes from popping out of his skull. He knew that it was standard procedure on the Normandy-class infiltrator frigates for the AI to have a physical body for damage control and repelling boarders, but damn, he'd expected a Geth or something. Not ...
Edi smiled somewhat self-consciously as Jeff ogled her new mobile platform. For the time being she was only watching through the EM sensory units built into the platform's head, although if she wished she could observe through any of the visual inputs in the ship.
"I have to say, I was not expecting your platform to look so much like, well, you."
"This isn't a problem, is it?"
He shook his head so violently he ran a real risk of fracturing his skull.
"Not in the slightest. Uh ... you might want to put some clothes on though."
She quirked an eyebrow in puzzlement, quickly switching to one of the cockpit's visual inputs to examine the new platform. The mech was designed to perfectly emulate a female human body, more specifically her holographic avatar. The engineers had certainly done an admirable job. She turned her attention to Jeff, checking his vitals. Breathing fast and shallow, increased bloodflow to certain regions of his body, dilated pupils - all positive responses to her new platform. She analysed his last statement again ... Oh.
Jeff raised one eyebrow as the pigmentation in the platform's skin shifted slightly. They even made her capable of blushing? She suddenly looked down at herself, then mumbled something and walked out of the cockpit, the door closing behind her. Moments later her holographic avatar popped up, nonchalantly perched on the communications console.
"Jeff, I have a query."
"Go ahead."
"Are you physically attracted to my mobile platform? I detected several indicators of arousal when you ... What?"
Joker slumped in his chair, his hand over his face.
STEVEN HACKETT, TEC WARGAMES FACILITY (LOCATION REDACTED), FEBRUARY 4 2188
The hologram of Thessia hovered over the table, the assembled Admirals looking at it with some trepidation, as if it was a coiled snake waiting to strike.
Admiral Ines Lindholm of the First Fleet and Admiral Nitesh Singh of the Third Fleet talked quietly, Admiral Kastanie Drescher of the Second occasionally adding in an aside. Admiral Urdnot Bakara of the Fourth fleet, directly on his right, stared mutely at the projection while on his left Admiral Adrian Victus of the Sixth and Admiral Shala'Raan vas Callisto of the Seventh discussed the pros and cons of miniaturising Thanix weaponry for use on cruisers and frigates. Admiral Marielli Irissa of the Eighth looked close to tears as she regarded the projection of her homeworld while Admiral Aaron Mikhailovich of the Ninth laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. Beyond them, Admiral Linron Esheel of the Tenth and Admiral Jensen Kahoku of the Eleventh were having a hushed yet heated debate over the hologram of a Dunov-class battlecruiser while Admiral Sings-in-Cold-Starlight of the Twelfth sat in silence, aside from the occasional twitch of his forelimbs. Eventually Admiral Hackett, as elected High Admiral, stood, bringing the hushed discussions to a halt.
"As you already know, the decision has been made to neutralise Thessia." He cast a glance at Admiral Irissa, who looked distressed yet kept herself composed. She was one of the few Asari who agreed with the decision to destroy the planet, saying 'Better to die than be the Reaper's plaything. I guess it can apply to whole planets.' She gulped and nodded at him to continue. "The Conclave of Representatives have passed a secret resolution to send in a team of Sigma operatives to recover databanks from a Prothean relic site at the Temple of Athame." A section of the holographic planet expanded, showing a three dimensional display of the section of planet in question. "It's up to us to get the operatives in and out undetected. Admiral Raan?"
He took a seat again as Raan stood, tapping her console until the image of a ship appeared unlike any the Admirals had ever seen.
"This is the Normandy-class infiltration frigate. It uses a Tantalus mass effect drive core to move undetected as well as optical camouflage. Theoretically the frigates are completely undetectable by the Reapers unless they actually make physical contact with them."
Admiral Hackett leaned back as Admiral Raan quickly and efficiently went over the capabilities and limitations of the Normandy class. Some of the old Council races reflexively looked disapproving at the mention of AI but quickly quashed it.
"... and we currently have three examples operational, the Normandy, the Hastings and the Stalingrad. Four more are under construction with one, the Somme, ten days from completion."
"Thank you, Raan. Esheel, you've got the best track record for stealth missions. This one's your show. One other thing to clear up before we get to the operational details - there is a possibility that the Reapers have acquired a phase engine. I need you all to sign a navy wide order for maximum readiness."
To their credit, the Admirals didn't panic. They simply added their signature and DNA sample to the order on their screens, then got back to business.
GA'HERIEL BALAK, FIST OF KHAR'SHAN, FEBRUARY 5 2188
"Admiral Balak? There's something up ahead."
"What do you mean, something up ahead? We're in deep space!"
"Sensors picking up mass and magnetic concentrations directly ahead."
"Reapers?"
The sensor tech pinched the ridge between his top and bottom pairs of eyes as he frantically scanned his readouts.
"No."
Everyone on the battlecruiser's bridge let out a sigh of relief.
"Then what?"
"I have no idea."
He thought fast and made a snap decision.
"Order the fleet to hold position and take us in for a closer look."
The eight hundred metre battlecruiser nosed forwards, leaving the mismatched refugee ships behind as she closed on the obstacle ahead.
"Sensors, exactly what am I looking at?"
"Derelicts, sir. Hundreds of them. They seem intact, but no biosigns."
"Atmosphere?"
"Ah ... No sir. Very faint power signatures, though. Gods! Look at that!"
There were two enormous ships in the centre of the derelict fleet, each one nearing eighteen kilometres long. One was an ornately wrought sculpture reminding Balak somewhat of a Khar'Shan butterfly, the other a solid organic looking shard of silvery blue with a large ring protruding from the top.
"Take us in and prepare the warrior caste. I want to get aboard one of these ships and find out exactly what the hell we have here. If we can take control of this fleet ..."
The bridge crew glanced around with varying degrees of excitement.
"Think how many refugees we could house! And what kind of weapons could be on these ships! We may be able to challenge the Reapers!"
"The warrior caste is ready, Admiral."
"Very well. Being me my armour. I shall accompany them. Find us a way into that ship."
He pointed to the one that looked like a butterfly.
"Of course, sir. Right away."
EDI, TON NORMANDY FEBRUARY 5 2188
She had never given any indication of it. She had hardly even thought about it. But there was no escaping the fact that Edi loved Joker.
Joker's parents had been a fighter pilot and the helmsman of a Percheron light carrier. Flying was in their blood, and the pilot's genes had been distilled into Jeff. He was a flier, pure and simple. And any flier loved his ship.
Edi was based on personality imprints from no less than seven ace pilots, the love of flight hard coded in her core programming, and like any ship she felt a connection to her pilot. But it went further than that. Edi had evolved emotion, against all the odds, and those nascent feelings told her that Joker meant more to her than anything else. But she hadn't allowed that data to influence her program outputs, aware that any relationship between a living, breathing creature and an AI with an easy on the eyes hologram would be doomed from the start.
Until now.
Her mobile platform was designed to perfectly emulate a human body. If she wished to she could pass herself off as just another human. That emulation included webs of servo filaments in the exact same pattern as the Human musculature, fibre optic cables in the same arrangement as the Human nervous system and power conduits in the same arrangement as the Human circulatory system. She wasn't sure if it was the ultimate extension of her organic emulation or just the creation of some lecherous engineer, but her body was equipped with everything she needed to pursue a relationship with Joker.
She had been out around the nearest orbital terminus in her new platform, borrowing one of Joker's pilot uniforms, and used her thus far untapped credit account to purchase some new clothing. Now back on the Normandy she had sequestered her platform in the Engineering deck to try on her new attire.
While one of her processes crafted a database for her purchases another one flicked to the cockpit, confirming Joker was still there. She ran through her new database, selecting an outfit from her collection, then had her platform put on the low cut black dress and boots before hopping her main focus back into the platform.
She took the elevator up to the main deck, passing through the CIC and up to the cockpit, retrieving the two glasses and the bottle of champagne on the way up. Cueing the doors open, she stepped through. Jeff turned around in his seat and once again his eyes bulged as he took in her appearance.
"I thought we could have a little celebration."
She held up the champagne, handing one glass to Jeff as she perched in her seat.
"To the Normandy."
Jeff smiled and clinked his glass against hers.
"To us."
Edi drank the glass of champagne, a warm feeling spreading through her chest that had nothing to do with her internal fusion reactors metabolising the alcohol.
GARRUS VAKARIAN, SPECTRE TRAINING FACILITY, FEBRUARY 5 2188
"Recruits!"
Here we go again.
"Today we're going to be playing with some new toys. Welcome to Gratuitous Firepower 101."
He eyed the variety of weapons racked up against the wall of the firing range, a sudden surge of excitement making him grin in anticipation. He had a feeling this was going to be a good day.
"Sometimes the Vendetta isn't enough. When that happens, we use Sigma pattern UEDs."
The Lieutenant gestured to the heavy weapons.
"These, ladies and gentlemen, are your thunderbolts."
Beside him Karina stepped forward.
"Permission to speak Lieutenant?"
"Yes, Recruit Shepard?"
"What does UED stand for, Lieutenant?"
"Unholy Engines of Destruction. You may also hear them referred to as PSEs or ATBs, which stand for Personal Space Extenders and Armour Trouser Browners respectively."
At that last one the recruits all cracked up, chuckling for about twenty seconds until the Lieutenant restored order.
"Recruits, may I introduce the Sexy Seven of UEDs you will get to play with. Form up into your fire teams, head for stations one through fourteen and have a play with the guns. Be careful though - some of these are antimatter weapons. Do not fuck up, you get me?"
"We get you sir!"
Kari and James joined him at Station 5, which held a tripod mounted autocannon fed from a very, very large drum magazine slung beneath the barrel. Kari fired up her iTool, looking up the weapon.
"Sig-Sauer MG14. Normally used as the primary weapon of an Eagle APC, portable by a very tenacious Sigma. Not recommended for firing without use of the tripod, on account of a high likelihood it'll knock you flat on your ass."
Without further ado James lay down behind the weapon, jammed the stock into his shoulder and let loose a barrage of solid osmium slugs downrange. Over the next hour or so they fired the Hahne-Kedar Icarus plasma scattergun, the M4A4 Raccoon plasma lance, the Heckler&Koch G-643 Oblivion high yield grenade launcher, the SWARM Dienekes missile launcher and even the Swordfish IX armour penetrator missile launcher. The Lieutenant didn't let them touch the Hahne-Kedar Liberator however. Understandable, considering the thing was essentially a miniaturised Abbadon missile launcher.
JACK MASSANI, ASCENSION TRAINING FACILITY, FEBRUARY 5 2188
Jack tapped the back of her neck, then held up three fingers, jerked her hand twice and then held up four fingers.
Three biotics, forty metres that way.
Kaidan acknowledged her hand signals, then waved one hand at her.
Shockwave on my signal.
She nodded and narrowed her eyes as she watched their three foes closing in.
"Now!"
She unleashed her biotic energy, letting loose a colossal shockwave that ripped through the group, knocking them all into the air. With three wrist-snapping gestures Kaidan launched three Throws, each one finding its mark and launching the unfortunate targets flying upward. From Miranda's position on the other side of the small gulch came three more biotic projectiles, slamming the unfortunate foes to the ground and winding them, making them groan as they lay on their backs gasping for air.
Jack was the closest so she biotically charged forward, appearing over the three incapacitated foes and rolling them over, snapping handcuffs and biotic inhibitors on their wrists behind their backs, then cuffing their ankles and gagging them. The three of them - one Human, one Krogan and one Drell - managed to recover function of their lungs just in time to start snarling muffled abuse at her through the gags. She patted the Drell on the head crests.
"Better luck next time, Castannah."
The Drell girl's expression clearly said 'Bite me, Massani'.
Kaidan and Miranda joined them, Kaidan tutting as he looked down at the three immobilised trainees.
"Too easy."
The Krogan jerked his legs, sweeping Kaidan's knees out and making him faceplant in the muck. Jack chortled with laughter as she hauled him upright again.
"Come on, ya pussy. Let's get moving. There's at least three more teams out there."
KASUMI GOTO, N7 TRAINING FACILITY, FEBRUARY 5 2188
Thane bounced on his knees, fists held in a classic guard posture as Keiji took a couple of steps forward, cautiously approaching his sparring partner. From the sidelines, Kasumi watched as the two boys squared off, feeling a thrill of excitement as Keiji lashed out, Thane seeming to flow around the punch to rematerialise behind the other boy, a flat handed slap on the back making him stumble as Thane exploited his momentum. Watching Thane and Keiji spar was watching Chuck Norris fighting Bambi - although Keiji's grasp of stealthy movement and long range killing was unparalleled, Thane was by far the best in close quarters that Kasumi (and possibly the instructors) had ever seen.
Keiji turned to face Thane, just in time to receive a power kick to the solar plexus that catapulted him across the ring. Thane was almost immediately on top of him, a flat fingered strike into the neck and then a knee slam knocking his opponent out cold. Kasumi winced as he flopped to the floor. In typical Thane style, it was efficient, painful and looked almost like a dance to the uninitiated.
GA'HERIEL BALAK, UNKNOWN VESSEL, FEBRUARY 5 2188
Balak gripped his Eviscerator shotgun tight as he followed the three warriors up the shallow, curving ramp and into a wide chamber. The pointman held up his hand, signalling the small squad to hold position.
Aside from Balak there were four warriors on the squad - three Enforcers, armed with Saber marksman rifles and Eviscerator shotguns and carrying inferno grenades and ballistic blades, and one Slasher, a biotic powerhouse armed with an Eviscerator and a Carnifex pistol. Balak himself was a Sentinel, with the same armament as the Slasher but more limited biotics, making up for it with his use of blade armour and submission nets.
The Slasher peeked round the corner before waving the rest of them onwards. As the only female in the squad, the Slasher more than made up for it by being a calm, competent leader. Balak rushed in with the rest of his squad before stopping short at what he was seeing.
Bodies floated in the chamber. All of a strange species he had never seen before, bearing a passing resemblance to Batarians but only having two eyes, an Asari-like face and strange tufts of white fur protruding from their heads. The bodies had been shredded and burned bey almost beyond recognition, looking to have been torn apart by biotics or incinerated by blasts of plasma.
"What in the names of the gods ... What are these things?"
Suddenly glad of his magnetic boots, Balak waded into the room, plucking a strangely shaped firearm from the air. Despite his prodding the weapon remained inert.
"All teams check in."
The five other units of warriors combing the ship all reported in.
"Admiral, we've found rooms and rooms filled with bodies of an unknown species. They sort of look like furry Asari ... It seems like they annihilated each other."
"We found them too. Every creature in this room ... It's like they just got up and decided to kill each other."
"Admiral? We think we found the bridge."
That last one grabbed his attention.
"All units converge on the bridge."
It took them a good hour to pick their way through the silvery blue interior of the ship and reach the bridge.
"Admiral? Are you ready?"
He nodded at the warrior by the door, who cued it open. The Enforcers, Sentinels, Brawlers and Slashers all poured into the room, fanning out to secure the spacious compartment.
"Admiral!"
He spun at the shout, deactivating his mag boots and floating in zero gravity over to the source of the commotion.
"Looks like a survivor, sir."
The alien sat in the throne, looking serene, encased in what appeared to be a stasis field of some form. Balak couldn't help but get an air of regality from her, underpinned by the quivering in his gut that warned him that whoever this woman (unless in this species the males had breasts) was, she was dangerous.
"Can we shut down the stasis and revive her?"
The soldier bending over what looked like a diagnostics panel on the throne suddenly jerked back in alarm.
"She's warming up. We must have triggered an automatic system when we entered the room!"
The news sent twenty five Batarians scrambling for cover, weapons aimed at the visibly shrinking stasis field.
"Nobody shoot unless she attacks first!"
The field finally died with a pop sound and the woman stood, surveying the array of weapons pointed at her.
"Ga'heriel Balak. Welcome to the final resting place of the Unity."
CODEX- DUNOV BATTLECRUISER
The Dunov battlecruiser originated as another hastily converted civilian model at the commencement of the Advent Wars. The civilian model Dunov was designed to resupply remote space stations and so carried extensive cargo space for supplies and enormous banks of capacitors to recharge the power cores of small outposts that didn't warrant a reactor of their own. The cargo bays in the military model were converted into magazines for missiles and autocannon rounds, as well as a small hangar and limited living space for a detachment of Marines, and the capacitors were initially removed. However with the introduction of a discharge vane system submitted by the original designer of the Dunov the capacitors were added back in and used to form the main utility of the Dunov as a support battlecruiser.
Using these discharge vanes the Dunov class could pound energy into the depleted shields of friendly ships, detonate EMP bursts that proved lethal against the delicate electronics aboard Advent ships, magnetise the hull of an enemy ship to make fighters literally smash into it if they got too close and even set off an enormous energy cascade, creating a magnetic flux field that allowed TEC ships to use specialised systems without draining their secondary power cores. The Dunov class quickly became a mainstay of the support elements of the fleet, enabling ships to stay in the fight far longer and providing a game-changing edge against numerically superior Advent forces.
After the defeat of the Advent, the TEC peacekeeping fleets no longer saw the Dunov as a necessity, their Kol battleships more than capable of anchoring their forces against the sporadic pirate attacks they usually faced. However, almost forty Dunovs remained in service with planetary defence forces thanks to their ability to extend the survivability of smaller vessels, which the local PDFs could not replace as easily or as cheaply as the peacekeeper fleets.
When the Reaper war started and the planetary defence forces were brought under the overall command of the TEC there was some debate over the issue of the Dunovs. Aside from the Kol I class they were the most numerous capital ship available to the TEC, yet their weaponry on paper was inferior to both the Kol I and the Marza class. Nevertheless two were deployed during Operation Thresher Maw, where the Dunov crews unequivocally proved that they could alter the course of a battle without firing a shot. Magnetising the hull of a Reaper capital ship as it attempted to launch Oculi caused serious damage, making the fighter drones smash into the sides of the hangar and not only destroying the entire swarm but causing internal explosions in the Reaper's fighter bays. An EMP charge, though only slightly affecting the Destroyer it was deployed against, managed to deactivate several more Oculi caught in the blast, and telemetry showed that the shield boost ability prevented the destruction of no less than nine frigates that would have succumbed to Thanix fire had the Dunovs not boosted their shields. Although between the pair of them the two Dunov class only managed to log minor damage on a single Reaper destroyer, they neutralised more Oculi than the rest of the fleet put together and indirectly caused severe internal damage to a Reaper capital ship, proving that combat vessels didn't need superior firepower to be indispensable in the fleet. The Dunov class were deployed to Operation Nomad Empire as well, hiding behind the Kol IIs deployed there and reinforcing their shields while effectively locking down the Oculi of at least twelve Reaper capital ships who were supremely reluctant to launch them while in range of the discharge vanes of a Dunov class battlecruiser.
Though the crews of Dunov battlecruisers may not have the most glamorous or glorious postings in the fleet, it is almost certain that they get more rounds bought for them while at liberty than any other station. It is rare to find a veteran sailor who will not swear up and down he or she owes their lives to a Dunov Battlecruiser.