The Cosmic Age

Long after the defeat of Caesar's Legion and the liberation of New Vegas, the Courier and Lone Wanderer make use of the Theta Technology to bring humanity back from the edge of extinction and take to the stars. When they reach too far they discover that the galaxy is not always receptive to the adventurous.

Before we start things off in this chapter I'd just like to extend a big thank you to my readers. I got FOURTEEN REVIEWS for the last chapter. That is a record for me! And this story now has over three hundred followers and over two hundred people who have added it to their favourites!

For this chapter I have decided not to post individual responses to every review since I don't want the post-chapter notes to be several pages longer than they already are. Instead I shall personally thank every person who reviewed the previous chapter by the point of this chapter being posted.

Ngrey651, 5 Coloured Walker, buonadonna, TLau18, OMAC001, reality deviant, Mecaldar, Guest #1, Radon088, tylermech66, metaladdict, Chronus1326, M6I99 the second and Guest #2-

...aaaaaand Space King Wizard Duck who posted a review right as I was typing this.

Make that fifteen reviews.

Thank you all for your support. Every suggestion, criticism, conspiracy theory and speculation on what is to come is appreciated.

I do not own Fallout or Mass Effect

Also, for anybody who is sick to death of stories where the Council is incompetent/evil/out of character/childish/any sort of combination of those things...this is for you.

Also, I will be taking SOME liberties with material from both Mass Effect and Fallout.

Oh and before we start this chapter...to Mecaldar regarding the bit about the Cloaking Death Claws...

WHY?! WHY WOULD YOU TELL ME THAT MAN?! Oh man now I'm going to be watching every corner with paranoia whenever I play that game on my main character! Nightmare Fuel, that's what it is!

Xxx

Chapter Eleven: The Shanxi Insurgency, Part 3, Monsters & Demons

Serpent Nebula

Citadel Station, Citadel Tower

Four days after Turian landing (March 15th)

"The Hierarchy has already taken steps to ensure that Desolas can't call for additional military assets, and just in time I might add." Councillor Sparatus informed his colleagues as they reconvened in the Council Chambers, which had been cleared of the usual rabble of delegates and aides and filled in by military advisors, STG members and a few Asari Matriarchs choosing to appear personally with their own entourage. "He attempted to requisition another dreadnaught just before the Nova arrived at Aephus Shipyards along with other damaged ships from General Arterius' task force. The commanding officers have been detained for debriefing and the Primarchs have authorized the mobilization of the 24th Reserve Flotilla to secure the 314 Relay."

Councillor Zenthis remained still as a statue throughout Sparatus' opening speech, his gaze unnerving the Turian until Councillor Tevos spoke.

"What information has the Hierarchy gained from these commanders?" She inquired.

Sparatus examined his findings again. "They claim that General Arterius responded to a hostile first contact scenario, with another race being the aggressor in the situation." He answered, "I have information straight from the Cruiser Valor, which was leading the initial reconnaissance of the system. Captain Pridius encountered a group of five unknown ships and proceeded to follow first contact protocols to the letter. One Commander Onkari of the cruiser Seeker intended to initiate first contact with his own battle group before three additional vessels arrived through the relay and opened fire."

The Councillor swallowed a bit as his eyes scanned the next line. "...and I have testimony of Captain Pridius confirming that in the aftermath of the battle that ensued he did discover evidence from the combat recordings giving him reason to believe that the three vessels from the second group of unknown ships were the aggressive party and separate from the initial five." He announced. "When the unknown hostiles opened fire on Commander Onkari's battle group Captain Pridius had reacted in haste and had his entire flotilla initiate a short range jump to assist. There is also an unaltered record of the battle included that STG has already been provided."

"Indeed, and they have verified that there are no signs of tampering." Councillor Zenith nodded slowly, "Captain Pridius' actions are understandable but shall require some manner of disciplinary action. However I can only assume that General Arterius was made aware of this information and has chosen to act in spite of it."

Sparatus sighed. "...yes." He admitted, "It was in fact General Arterius who revealed this to Captain Pridius. The General used his own authority to gather his task force and initiate a campaign to pacify this unknown race or at least secure any routes connecting their space to Council territories. But the most disturbing news is in the reports on the technology and...biology of the specimens recovered from the battle."

The Turian activated his Omni-Tool and quickly tapped in a command, causing projectors built into the walls of the Council Chambers to activate while the windows showing the nebula outside were covered by metal shutters. Images of the enemy ships and recovered bodies were displayed, each large enough to be examined by the ring of military advisors lining the audience chamber.

"As you can see from the medical reports, there were no less than two distinct species inhabiting these ships." Sparatus continued to elaborate. "And among one of these species there were three sub species with genetic similarities and signs of what appears to be genetic alteration along with signs of minor to moderate radiation damage in some while others..." He could hear a chorus of shocked and horrified whispers as an image of what they would come to know as a Ghoul was shown next to that of a human and a Super Mutant. "Show signs of radiation damage that would kill even a Turian or a Krogan."

Tevos actually took a step back, her face a mask of horrified shock as she struggled to form words.

"And as for their weapon technology...they utilized a form of weaponized plasma far superior to our own efforts in the field and direct energy weapons of superior quality to GARDIAN laser arrays. With these weapons they inflicted significant damage and in many cases bypassed Kinetic Barriers entirely."

Sparatus dismissed these images. "According to the reports General Arterius is justifying this action based on the perceived fallout of this collective gaining access to the galaxy at large."

Zenthis straightened up. "I've heard enough." He said quickly and firmly, causing Sparatus to clamp his mandibles shut immediately. "As a former member of STG I can appreciate General Arterius' foresight...but it is not his place to make these decisions, and it is certainly not his place to bypass the Primarchs and more importantly this Council. If he had at least waited for STG or Turian Black Watch to acquire information on these aliens before attacking I would at least credit him with some measure of self control."

The Salarian turned to Tevos. "Councillor Tevos, General Arterius has declared war against a coalition which we have next to no vital tactical information on. We have no idea of their numbers, how many worlds they control or their full capabilities and he has already committed over a hundred ships to invading their space without authorization from his leaders. With this in mind we no longer have the luxury of time...we must act now."

Tevos composed herself and placed both hands on her pedestal. "Yes," She nodded, "You are correct Councillor Zenith. I may not be a strategist but I do know that we have two choices now. We may either support General Arterius in his campaign or oppose him...and I doubt that anyone on this Council would need long to come to a decision."

"My thoughts exactly," Zenith said before addressing the collection of military advisors. "Clear the Council Chambers."

Dozens of aliens from several species filed out silently, the knowledge of General Arterius' decision weighing heavily on them. Certain words could be commonly found being exchanged in hushed conversation such as 'war' or 'genocide'.

For centuries the galaxy had enjoyed a relative peace. Save for the raids of pirates from the Terminus Systems and the under-the-table tactics of criminal organizations there were many who could not remember a time when worlds had been in danger of invasions the likes of which some older Krogan could still remember either repelling in the Rachnii War or conducting in the Krogan Rebellions.

What was decided in the Council Chamber over the next few minutes would change the face of Galactic society for centuries to come.

Xxx

Shanxi System, Shanxi Orbit

Turian Dreadnaught A'kalez

Command Deck

"An entire patrol group?" Rear Admiral Kravos Pridius stared at the system map. "Just gone without a word?"

Hen'ar, recently transferred from the Valor and promoted to Commander to continue serving as Kravos' XO nodded grimly. "The wrecks were found an hour after they went dark. It was just on the outer edge of the system's asteroid belt...and the damage is consistent with the weaponry on the Alliance fighters. Direct energy weapons that bypassed the barriers and targeted defensive guns and communication arrays first to declaw and silence the patrol followed by holes being melted in every deck."

She expanded the image of a Turian Cruiser, specifically one of several Myrdimion Light Cruisers that had arrived as part of the wave of reinforcements accompanying the ground force. Myrdimions were favored as patrol ships due to being faster than the conventional eight hundred meter Centhian class cruiser like the Valor and for how a new form of mass accelerator design allowed it to pack the same punch while being almost three hundred meters shorter. The only criticism it faced was the reduced amount of armour and anti fighter screens, but that was usually balanced out by a frigate escort...for what little that had done.

"Given the lack of evidence of Alliance casualties I would assume that they hit the group hard and fast before they could launch their own fighters or even get a shot off." Hen'ar indicated areas where the GARDIAN turrets had been melted into misshapen husks. "That sort of ferocity and lack of casualties would require a large amount of fighters, and if I do recall the Alliance did employ a dreadnaught sized ship that appeared to utilize a large amount of them."

That had caught many Captains off guard. The presence of the ship had made them think that the Alliance was about to unleash a dreadnaught based plasma weapon against them that could annihilate whole ships, but secondary analysis had revealed that it lacked any spinal mounted guns and instead had several rows of hangars traversing its length, containing and disgorging more fighters than any single patrol group possessed. The lack of a main cannon appeared to be balanced out by stronger barriers, broadside guns and defensive turrets, as the ship had been able to limp away from the fight mostly intact in spite of how much the Turians had thrown at it.

The ship had been labelled a 'Mobile Fighter Platform' or MFP-0 for short.

"So the human-no, the Alliance fleet still remains within this system," Kravos said while leaning on the display, still adjusting to having a proper label to identify his foe by after spending too long simply referring to them by race. "I shouldn't be surprised. We didn't catch them at the relay, but I'd assumed that while we were busy overwhelming their defences they would have retreated back to friendly space."

Hen'ar nodded. "Instead they are still here and conducting hit and run attacks on our patrols." She added, "And this success might embolden them to take further action unless we either find their hiding place or manage to intercept their next attack."

Kravos peered at the map, noting the position of the ambush. The Alliance had chosen their target well and executed their attack quickly enough that it had been the lack of contact rather than a distress call which alerted him to the destruction of the patrol. They would feel a surge of confidence from this victory, but they would not act so hastily with all Turian ships now on guard. And presenting them with a vulnerable target would not do...

There was a bit of wisdom passed down from a Krogan Warlord back in the days of the Rebellions: your enemy is always most vulnerable when they think they're winning, it's your job to put the thought in their head and then to let them do the rest.

"Double patrol strengths in the outer areas of the system," Kravos ordered, "Two cruisers, each with a frigate escort. And add another cruiser to the relay guard flotilla."

"That will...leave our position around the human colony rather weakened sir," Hen'ar pointed out.

"I know." Kravos nodded, "But we need the enemy to think they have us scared. In the meantime deploy probes throughout the inner system and keep a watch on the asteroid belt. Set them all to emit passive scans, high intensity ones would get noticed and they'd have time to jump away before we get anywhere near them."

Hen'ar nodded. "At once, Admiral."

Xxx

Shanxi System, Shanxi

Turian Airbase Iaecalas, Frigate Wraith's Wing, Cargo Hold

March 14th, 2353, 1435 hours

"Cover!" Owen bellowed, pulling Edward to the side and behind a pillar as the aliens flooding out of the elevator locked onto their position and sprayed it with gun fire.

Zero moved in the opposite direction and smoothly rolled behind a row of consoles near the cargo hatch. She fired several bursts with pin point accuracy, managing to bring down one of the armored soldiers and two of the Raptors who had originally been in the hangar-the latter lacking the personal shields and armour of their counterparts. One of these soldiers knelt and set their rifle on their back while holding one arm parallel to the ground. When Zero tried to draw up a bead on his head an orange barrier appeared in the form of an arm mounted shield and sent her bullets ricocheting away.

"...well," The android leaned back into cover just in time to avoid being riddled with holes, "That's certainly new."

The shield bearer began to advanced under the protection of his newly revealed defence while one of his companions moved behind him in a half crouch. Both Owen and Edward fired on them only to waste an entire clip without so much as making the shield flicker.

"The hell is that thing?" Owen demanded while swapping clips.

"Analysis indicates that it is an intensely focused mass effect field holding silicon carbide in the form of a shield," Zero answered while firing blindly around the corner of the console row, her shots just as accurate as that of her human companions if not more so.

"English!"

"It's a solid hologram shaped into a shield and reinforced to the point of being stronger than diamonds, minus the brittleness."

"Thank you." Owen exhaled, "Rice, grenades on my mark. Try to roll it to their sides and don't overshoot!"

Edward nodded and produced one of his grenades at the same time as Owen. Both primed the explosive spheres and counted down before spinning out from cover and using a light underhanded toss to roll the grenades along the floor. The shield bearer saw this through the transparent barrier and babbled something to his companion while backing up quickly, but Zero took this chance to toss a grenade of her own. Unlike Owen and Edward however she possessed a brain as strong as a super computer and was able to instantly calculate the landing point of this grenade with a single glance before tossing it overhead so that it landed behind the retreating pair.

By the time they realized the gravity of their situation the Raptors had no time to react before the first two grenades went off. Their back pedalling had saved them and allowed the shield to take the brunt of the attack, but the force of the combined detonations was enough to push them off balance and left them helpless when the third grenade went off and turned them into a bloody mess of shattered limbs and chunks of meat that were scattered around the site of the explosion.

With half of their response team down the remaining Raptor soldiers began to pour suppressing fire on the trio of intruders while the regular crew retreated towards the elevator.

"If they go up that elevator they could lock us in here," Edward pointed out.

Zero looked over at the two men. "I knew that, but I needed a thorough scan of the elevator shaft to find it out. How did you know?"

"Because it's what I'd do if my security team sucks." The Knight replied plainly.

"Don't let them pull out," Owen summarized, "Simple yet unlikely to happen."

"I can stop them if you can draw their fire." Zero suggested as she slid her SMG onto her back.

Owen nodded. "Do it," He gestured to Edward, "Move across, I'll cover you. On three. One. Two. THREE!"

Edward dashed out into the open at the same time as Zero. While he rushed across the open cargo bay to the row of sparking and smoking consoles the android vaulted out of cover and began to easily navigate the vast room, leaping over obstacles and sliding between cover so fast that the Raptors were hard pressed to even land any shots close to her as she moved with the speed of a cheetah. Within ten seconds she had managed to cross the room and reach the elevator, surprising the five crewmen who had been in the process of stepping inside.

Zero grasped the closest from behind and twisted his neck with more force than necessary, not knowing how much pressure she needed to apply compared to a human and ending up twisting the poor alien's head around a full hundred and eighty degrees. She let him drop without stopping for even a moment and grabbed the outstretched pistol of the next Raptor crewman, tearing the weapon from his grip with inhuman strength and damaging at least one of his fingers before she brought the gun back around and smashed it into the side of his face. One of his lower mandibles clattered to the floor along with what must have passed for teeth as the Raptor collapsed in a pool of his own blood. In that same moment Zero's left leg struck out as she leaned in the opposite direction and hit her third victim in the neck with a perfectly executed roundhouse kick-and Zero had already calculated based on her earlier move that the blow had been enough to fatally fracture the alien's spine.

As the android dealt with the remaining crew Owen and Edward managed to bring down one of the three soldiers still focusing on them and were quickly focusing their fire on another who took shelter behind a shield similar to the one from before. As Owen continued to let loose short and controlled bursts to keep from wasting too much of his continuously depleting ammo Edward move around to flank the soldier from the left. The Knight knelt and took aim before noticing something.

"Wait..." He counted off how many soldier he had seen exit the elevator. "Six..." He took count of how many had fallen since then. "Four..." His eyes returned to the soldier crouching behind his shield, "Five...where's six?"

He saw some movement in his peripheral vision and looked over, spotting the missing Raptor climbing over the stacks of crates and positioning himself above Owen, who was focused on keeping his target pinned.

Edward swung his SMG around. "Captain look out!" He shouted and fired, catching the Raptor off guard and making his barriers flash.

Xxx

Owen was keeping up the fire on the shield bearer, waiting for Edward to finally flank and drop the avian soldier. He noticed that the Brotherhood Knight appeared to be taking a little too long after going through yet another clip, leaving him at just two spares for his rifle. While ejecting the empty magazine Owen pondered calling out to Edward only to hear the younger man first.

"Captain look out!" Bullets flew overhead, bringing Owen's attention to the form perched several feet above him. He let his rifle drop and instead pulled out his sidearm, aiming up just as the second Raptor leapt from the stack of crates and landed on Owen before he could get more than two shots off-one of them luckily pierced the alien's barriers and tore a hole through their rifle. Both combatants went down, wrestling with one another and now too close for Edward to get a clean shot.

Xxx

Edward saw Owen go down beneath the Raptor. "Shit!" He muttered through clenched teeth as he tried to get a clear shot.

Only the shield bearer opening fire reminded the Knight of his own problems. He moved back behind the console and quickly checked his remaining ammunition: three clips for the SMG, three for the pistol and two more grenades along with a proton knife. Edward swapped one clip into the SMG and palmed his second grenade. Before priming and tossing it he glanced over the top of the consoles and tried mimicking Zero's earlier throw, lobbing the grenade over head and landing it close to the Raptor.

Unfortunately he didn't have a hyper competent synthetic brain or hand-eye coordination like Zero, so his grenade landed short of its intended target and only succeeded in staggering him. This still gave Edward a chance to take aim at where the alien's gun arm was now exposed. The grenade appeared to have weakened the alien's barriers in spite of the arm mounted shield, as he was able to breach them on his second burst and tear through the armour beneath, splattering blue blood on the floor plating and making the alien cry out as his weapon clattered to the floor.

Xxx

Owen in the meantime was wrestling with his own opponent, who managed to pin him down and rear back one arm. The same orange gauntlet seen before appeared, but instead of projecting a shield it formed what looked like a twelve inch blade which it plunged towards the human's head. Owen twisted out of the way at the last second and saw the blade easily sink into the plating just a few inches away; he noted a warning in his visor regarding the intense heat coming from the new weapon, not that he needed it when he could see the metal floor panel beginning to glow and melt around the blade.

"Holy shit," Owen whispered and brought one leg up between him and the Raptor sword bearer, pushing the alien back and tearing the orange blade out of the floor while giving Owen a chance to roll out of reach. At this close distance he couldn't go for one of his guns, and when the sword bearer saw him reaching for his Proton Knife it more than likely came to the same conclusion and chose to lunge at him.

The knife hilt came free of where it was secured to Owen's upper body and the blade of blue energy sprang to life just in time to parry the orange blade, forcing a stab to Owen's chest far off to the side so that it barely grazed his armour. Owen then flipped the weapon around in his grasp, recalling the months of training and the regular sparring that he had attempted to keep up with over the past thirty years and bringing his hand back towards the center while aiming the knife towards the side of the sword bearer's neck only to miss by a mere inch when the Raptor leaned back out of the way.

It occurred to Owen over the next few moments that even with his regular sparring and exercise sessions this alien had either significantly more recent training with a blade or superior physical qualities. His Proton Knife had come as a surprise to the sword bearer, but now Owen found himself dodging or blocking more often than he was attacking. It was all he could to avoid losing a limb or having a hole burned in his torso.

"Grump, I could use a hand!" Owen gasped for breath as he quickly stepped back to avoid a slice to his stomach.

"Mason, do I look like I watch kung fu movies? How the hell am I supposed to help you in a knife fight?"

"Anything would help!"

Grump groaned. "Try your VATS!"

If Owen had the time he'd have slapped himself. "Grump, I'm buying you an upgrade if I survive this." He said before triggering his VATS with a sub vocal command, causing the word to slow to a near pause just as the sword bearer was winding up for another swing.

Owen locked onto the searing hot blade first and watched as his arm move almost automatically, parrying the strike aside and leaving the sword bearer's arm vulnerable for the second hit. Owen's knife sank into its elbow joint before the sword bearer could recover, and the orange blade dissipated as a pained sound escaped from the Raptor before Owen's knee met its unprotected face and knocked it on its back.

He exhaled and deactivated his Proton Knife, placing it back where it belonged. "I'm really too old for this crap." Owen murmured before scooping up his rifle and then moving to check on Edward.

Xxx

The shield bearer had tried to retreat towards the elevator, but Edward had succeeded in getting around the shield and held his SMG close enough that even the Raptor's recharged barriers didn't save its life this time. One squeeze of the trigger later and the cargo bay was finally clear.

Zero in the meantime was administering a single shot to the head of any of the crew who either registered as still functional on her scanners or just did not seem quite dead enough for her taste. She looked over to the two as they approached. "Took you long enough."

"Well I didn't see you helping," Edward replied bitterly.

"You seemed like you had it handled."

"Enough." Owen stepped inside the elevator, "We're wasting time. Zero, can you hack this elevator to make sure they can't just lock us in?"

The android pried open a panel of buttons on the side wall and reached in, pressing one finger to the circuitry. "Just watch."

The elevator doors closed and the box of metal and glass began to ascend...rather slowly...it ridiculously slow actually.

Owen got impatient after almost half a minute. "Zero, speed it up."

"I'm already moving it at full speed."

"You're kidding...we're dealing with an advanced alien race that's mastered space flight but not the construction of an elevator?" Owen demanded, slamming a fresh clip into his rifle.

"Uh...apparently so," Zero shrugged, "I could override the safety limits if you desire, sir."

"How long will it take if you don't?"

The elevator began to slow down, its progress measurable by glancing through the clear side walls at the metal walls of the shaft and the lights they passed.

"Ten seconds."

Owen hefted his rifle and aimed it at the doors while Edward knelt next to him. "Then don't bother, just get in front of us and have your shield up and ready."

"Yes sir," Zero repositioned herself between them and the doors , the cocoon of energy beginning to glow around her.

"What's that?" Edward asked, lowering his rifle a bit as he examined the phenomenon.

"What you are observing is the activation of redundant emitters projecting a conventional kinetic barrier over my personal force field." Zero answered while checking her gun and swapping out a half empty magazine for a full one.

"You mean an...Over Shield?"

Zero looked over her shoulder. "I mean redundant barrier generators that absorb damage in place of my regular shields so that I can act as what you call a 'bullet sponge'."

Owen sighed. "Over Shield it is, now both of you clamp down on it and keep your eyes forward."

Xxx

Turian Frigate Wraith's Wing

Command Deck

"Elevator controls have been overridden!" A crewman called out, "I can't regain control, they've locked me out of the system! I'll try to reboot or at least cut the power."

Commander Oramius glanced over his shoulder and looked through the holographic map at the center of the CIC towards the elevator doors. "Forget it, too late!" He pulled the man out of his seat and threw him to the floor. "Everyone down! Weapons free!"

It was generally unwise to fire weapons within a star ship, given the risk that a stray shot could damage vital systems or even pierce the hull if one used a heavy weapon of enough yield. Thankfully there were no such risks with the Wraith's Wing parked firmly on solid ground. The Turian personnel were able to pull their side arms or fetch assault rifles from the emergency weapons rack which they quickly distributed until there were no more to spare.

Oramius grasped one of his crew by the shoulder and directed him towards the cockpit. "You need to initiate a data purge." He told the younger Turian, "We can't take the chance that they might gain access to restricted data. Go, now!" He sent the Lieutenant on his way and accepted a rifle from another of his subordinates as ten Turians spread out and took up positions around the CIC, using consoles and the display table as cover as the elevator reached their floor.

For several moments all was silent as the elevator settled into place.

And then the doors opened and a demon bathed in blue light roared through the opening, its opening shot taking out an unshielded Turian on its right. He had been positioned next to the elevator with a pistol in hand, prepared to administer a bullet at point blank range, but before he could even squeeze the trigger his torso began a shredded mess of meat and bone as he flopped lifelessly to the floor. By the time the rest of the Turians had opened fire this demon had repeated this on two more crewman who did not have the benefit of Kinetic Barriers. The Turians' return fire pounded on the shield surrounding the demon but appeared to do little to affect the barrier, allowing the demon's two companions to step out while using their companion as cover and pick off another of Oramius' crew.

Within moments Oramius' numbers had been cut in half, but now the rest were in cover and returning fire only when they saw it as safe. Oramius himself generated an Omni-Shield which he used to protect both himself and a crewman cradling an assault rifle behind him. The demon's barriers burst after enough rounds were poured into it, but a second barrier deflected the Turians' rounds entirely and seemed to absorb much more damage.

"Fall back to the cockpit!" Oramius shouted, "Funnel them in towards us!"

The Turians began to fall back, keeping up suppressing fire on the human strike team and not breaking even when one of the humans took an unfortunate Turian's head clean off with a shot from a pistol sized weapon with a resounding explosion of noise and gun powder. The remaining three Turian crewmen took shelter behind Oramius and continued to lay down fire as they backed down the corridor towards the cockpit.

"Lieutenant!" Oramius called into the cockpit. "Sound an alert and open the cargo bay doors back up! We need reinforcements here five minutes ago!"

It had been a foolish oversight not to allow reinforcements on board, but Oramius had been confident that they could contain the humans if not eliminate them entirely. Now most of his skeleton crew on this deck and the cargo deck were dead and the rest would likely not fair much better.

All of this done by only three humans.

Oramius felt fear for the first time since training, but he managed to suppress it and focus on simply staying alive.

Xxx

"Zero, try to access their computers!" Owen shouted as he inserted his last full clip into his rifle, "And pass me your SMG while you're at it." He caught the weapon with one outstretched hand and helped Edward to keep the Raptors fleeing towards the front of the ship while Zero approached the table at the center of the room and lay one hand flat on its surface.

"Accessing interface," Zero announced. "Access achieved. Disabling security protocols, please stand by."

By the time she spoke again Owen's rifle was empty and he was now using her SMG with carefully placed bursts. "Security protocols disabled. I'm in, but they're trying to purge their systems."

"Grab what you can!" Owen ordered.

"Already doing that...and they have opened the cargo bay doors back up. Enemy reinforcements are inbound. Disabling elevator to buy time, but they can override it the same way I did directly from the controls." Zero was working at a million miles a minute, her hands practically dancing over the three dimensional display as she began to download data directly to her on board computer. "Accessing data archive...acquiring intact files."

A couple rounds from the Raptors bounced off of Zero's shield, and she responded by swiftly drawing her sidearm with one hand and firing three times in retaliation without even stopping. Her shots struck home in the chest of one Raptor who had stood up to get a clear shot from behind the orange shield.

"Kindly keep them from interrupting my work." Zero requested.

Xxx

Wraith's Wing, Exterior

"Commander Oramius has upgraded to full alert status and is attempting a data purge." General Oraka announced to the assembled Turians as a team worked on getting the cargo elevator working. "You know what that means, so get the maintenance shafts open and start climbing. We're short on time!"

He opened his Omni-Tool as a full squad made of a mix of Turian Black Watch and Ghosts rushed to get the two maintenance shafts in the corners of the cargo bay opened. "Arterius, Victus, status?"

"The fuel depot is completely gone, sir!" Colonel Victus answered, "Security footage showed it to be a single detonation creating a chain reaction...and that at least three humans were present moments before the explosion and utilizing personal stealth technology."

"Arterius, mobilize your unit and pair them up with Hunter-Killer teams." Oraka commanded, "Sweep the camp, make sure the armoury and supply depots are clear and under guard at all times. Set combat drone sensors to high intensity scans, Oramius confirmed that that can pick them up."

"At once, General." Arterius replied, noticeably calmer than Victus.

Xxx

New Taiyuan

Brother of Steel Citadel, Command Center

1450 hours

"It looks like Mason has stirred up the hornet's nest." Sentinel Noland chuckled, looking at a satellite produced image of the Raptor air field. "We shouldn't have expected anything less."

Williams nodded, for once setting his latest cigar down in an ash tray and not even looking back to it. "But now he's surrounded." He traced the circle of troops surrounding the enemy frigate. "Too many AA emplacements, too many hostiles to sneak by and even if he did get past them he's still out in enemy territory."

"Without assistance he is certainly doomed." Noland mused, looking down at the Colonel. "And the enemy intelligence will die with him."

Williams stared at the scene unfolding in the enemy air base, watching as Raptor soldiers surged aboard the grounded frigate.

"...tell the Crusaders that they're authorized to deploy." Williams said to Noland, "High altitude drop, no chutes. To the best of my recollection they've done low orbital drops before...correct?"

Noland grinned. "Right you are, Colonel!" He answered while opening his Pip-Boy. "This is Sentinel Noland to Crusader-Actual: you are authorized to deploy. Primary objective: secure an escape route for Captain Mason and his team. Secondary objectives are destruction of enemy assets on site and denial of Alliance prisoners."

"This is Crusader-Actual, we are deploying." Without another word the speaker on the other end of the link cut out.

Noland crossed his arms and waited in anticipation. "...are you sure we should not have just sent the Ranger?"

"So he can keep squeezing my wallet?" Williams scoffed, "To hell with that!"

Xxx

Turian Airbase Ieacalas, Frigate Wraith's Wing

Command Deck

"I have everything I was able to salvage." Zero said as she reloaded her pistol, "I suggest we evacuate the premises immediately."

"No, really?" Owen asked sarcastically as he tossed her SMG back to her and pulled out his own side arm. "Suggestions?"

"Calculating," Zero answered as she looked at the elevator, keeping her SMG aimed down the corridor towards the cockpit as she examined the ship layout again. "Hostiles are ascending through maintenance tunnels. They will be at our position in approximately twenty seconds."

"Less of that negativity and more giving me solutions if you wouldn't mind!" Owen demanded.

"Well I did just find the door controls, expanding those twenty seconds into several minutes," Zero shrugged, "Give or take depending on how fast they can cut through them."

Owen sighed and shook his head, glancing over at the android. "I don't suppose you have any solutions involving us escaping, do you?"

Zero glanced between the Turians guarding the cockpit and the doors leading to other areas of the deck. "...actually sir, I don't believe that we have any means of escaping with this data on our own." She answered, "However if the exterior sensors are accurate we may have help coming."

Xxx

General Septimus Oraka was standing outside the besieged Wraith's Wing, receiving reports from both the teams sent to assist Oramius and the Hunter-Killer units scouring the camp. The humans continued to elude the latter, but he had a feeling that they may attempt to assist their companions on the frigate if this was an Intel Grab like it appeared to be.

"General! We have an alert coming from Fleet Surveillance!" An officer informed him, "A single human air craft is approaching. It's too high for our AA batteries to hit but our fighter pickets are moving to intercept it."

Reinforcements for the humans already present? Or an evac ship...but that would never get through the AA cover that Oraka had personally arranged when this base had been set up.

"Keep me informed on that situation as it develops." He responded to the officer, "In the meantime I need to keep myself focused on the matter at hand."

"Of course sir."

Oraka contacted the teams he had assigned to the maintenance shafts. "What's the status on those entry points?"

"We're in sir! On the Command Deck now, but they somehow sealed the other doors. We're cutting through them as I speak."

"I want this frigate back in our hands in the next ten minutes, soldier!" Oraka stated firmly before closing the link, and just in time for the officer from before to report back to him.

"General, that air craft I told you about just accelerated and descended!" The officer opened his Omni-Tool and transferred the sensor readings to Oraka's for his convenience. "It's coming down on us fast and hard!"

Oraka's mandibles flared as he examined a counter marked 'ETA to impact' which was currently at about thirty seconds. "Where are my fighter pickets?"

"Moving to intercept now!"

Xxx

The Vertibird's engines were pushed to their limit as the drop ship roared high over the plains separating New Taiyuan from the alien base.

"We have Raptor craft coming at us from behind." The pilot informed the occupants in the troop compartment, "We may have to drop you early so I can clear out."

One of the bulky forms glanced through the door separating him from the cockpit and nodded. "Understood," It turned to the rest of its group and bellowed, "Crusaders, prepare to drop!"

"DROP!" Eleven voices greeted their squad leader, who shut the door to the cockpit.

"We are the right hand of the Brotherhood, the unholy terrors of all who would threaten the sovereign ground of the Alliance, of humanity and our allies!" The squad leader shouted as he watched his subordinates strap themselves in to areas on the side of the troop compartment where there would usually be seats, but instead there were tubes lining these walls with enough space for a single large form to squeeze into comfortably.

"TERROR!"

"We all entered the Brotherhood thinking it would be a shining, wonderful experience. We all came along at different times and from different places but Logan Mason or Arthur Maxson and even Jason Maxson took all of us under their wing and squashed those day dreams out of us, gave us a slap upside the head and a fistful of reality! They took a bunch of panty waist kids playing at being soldiers and made us into bona fide bad asses!"

"BAD ASS!"

"And under them we have faced mutants, robot hordes, bandit armies, self appointed emperors, alien invaders and everything else that's crawled out from under a rock to mess up our fine day!" The squad leader banged one fist against his chest, "This is not the end of humanity boys and girls! This is just a fucking Tuesday for us!"

"HELL YEAH!"

"Now we have some uninvited guests who have decided to set up shop here on Shanxi. The son of the man who trained us is down there with them, kicking ass and doing what his father would have done: take it right to these so called Raptors' teeth! Now it seems that the party has gotten a little too crowded, so Sentinel Noland has seen fit to bring us in to clean house! NOW GIVE ME OUR OBJECTIVES!"

"Sir!" One of the soldiers, a woman from the sound of her voice shouted back. "Secure perimeter around the enemy frigate!"

Another one spoke up. "Sir! Ensure continued survival and escape of Captain Owen Mason!"

"Sir! Deny Raptors Alliance prisoners and intel!"

The squad leader nodded. "Damn straight, Crusaders!" He chuckled, "Now let's go show these Raptors that if they wanna play with the Alliance, that if they wanna play with the big kids then they'd better be prepared to play rough!"

He squeezed into the one vacant tube and pulled a lever on the side causing it to slide shut.

The pilot's voice could be heard over a speaker in each tube. "Approaching drop point." The ship shuddered a bit, "Don't mind the turbulence."

"For the courtesy of others, kindly fly this thing better." One of the Crusaders quipped.

"Old man if I wanted a backseat driver then I would have done as my mama said and go into taxi driving." The Pilot retorted, "Now buckle up, you drop in ten!"

The ship continued to shake as alien fighters closed in behind it. Turrets on the back of the Vertibird returned fire, but these fighters were far too nimble, certainly more than their own VTOL dropships were. One of the engines were hit and began to sputter, causing the vertibird to veer off to the left as smoke trailed behind it.

"Five! Four! Three! Two-"

All twelve Crusaders roared in unison. "DROP!"

The pilot slammed one fist down on a red button, causing twelve pods to shoot down away from the Vertibird and towards the alien camp below. Each pod had a large thruster on the top and several smaller ones for manoeuvring which guided the containers, ensuring that they would land exactly where they were intended.

Xxx

"Enemy air is moving off sir, but it just dropped something right down towards us!"

Oraka looked up and cursed. "EVERYONE GET CLEAR!" He shouted as loud as he could, "CLEAR THE AREA! NOW! BOMBING RAID!"

Turian soldiers scrambled for cover as large objects dropped down. At least one actually landed on several Turians, crushing them into an unrecognizable paste while others kicked up massive showers of dirt. In moments it was all over and the area around the Wraith's Wing was silent.

From where he had dove to the ground General Oraka slowly tilted his head up to examine one pod that had landed just far enough away from him to avoid causing injury from its impact. He climbed to his feet along with the hundreds of other Turians who were staring warily at the twelve large canisters which had formed craters around the Wraith's Wing.

"Get everyone back." Oraka's voice broke the silence, "You heard me! Everyone get away now! We don't know what these are! MOVE IT!" He shoved a few soldiers along as the Turians regained their senses and took flight, vacating the site around the frigate or moving inside the cargo hold for cover. General Oraka himself remained closer than most to make sure that none of his men were in danger.

One of his officers performed a scan of the nearest pod. "Sir, I can't find any indications of explosive compounds or element zero in it but...I think there's a life form inside it."

They'd just dropped...pods with humans inside them?

"Get me heavy weapons up here." Oraka ordered, "Double time! If there are humans in those pods, humans who managed to survive such a fall then I want to be ready for when they bust out-"

At that moment all twelve of the pods burst open in unison. Out of each leapt a massive form covered from head to toe in gun metal grey armour decorated with symbols of what Oraka had been told was called a 'Brotherhood of Steel' from Pridius' interrogation efforts. Six of them appeared to be fairly similar, but three others somehow looked even bigger while two more were shaped differently with multi jointed legs and shorter arms. And another was...a Death Claw wearing its own variant of the human power armour based on the shape of the form and the tail flicking around behind it as it hefted a massive weapon with three gun barrels arranged in a triangular formation.

"Spirits help us all." Oraka whispered in horror.

Xxx

They were Crusaders.

They were men and women. They were mutants. They were monsters. They were aliens.

And right now for all the Raptors cared they may as well have been gods stepping down from their divine realm to personally apply some divine wrath.

Crusader-Actual grinned beneath his helmet and hefted his Theta-Caster, a rotary cannon based on a minigun which acted as a rapid fire energy weapon for clearing out whole companies. "Crusaders! LET THEM HAVE IT!"

And then all Hell broke loose within the camp.

Xxx

CODEX OPENED

Accessing Files...

File opened: The Crusaders

A team formed by the Brotherhood of Steel as one of its elite armored infantry units. It consists of twelve members, each a highly trained Paladin and a veteran of at least fifty years except for the two Prolat members among them. They are nicknamed 'The Iron Elders' by their younger counterparts but are respected both for their accomplishments under both Inquisitors Logan Mason and Arthur Maxson (and more recently Jason Maxson) in addition to how they continue to remain effective in the field thanks to a combination of cybernetic augmentation and Prolat medical ingenuity.

One thing that sets them apart from the rest of the Brotherhood is that they use older models of armour predating the development of Element Zero based technology. They have upgraded their suits with modern computers for enhanced squad tactics, but have refused the use of Kinetic Barriers or mass effect fields despite the advancements made possible by adapting the mass effect to human or Prolat technology. However they have made use of Prolat technology in developing shock absorbers, built in thrusters and other devices to enhance their performance in the field. Their justification for this can be summed up in the following statement.

"People have continuously told us that this mass effect is more efficient, more 'practical' to use. But here is what I find myself wondering: if it is so bloody useful then what happened to the people who developed it? I for one shall stick with something made by an alien race that I can at least meet with and discuss the details of their inventions with." – Paladin Mazin, Crusader-4.

Another feature setting them apart is the variety of their roster. Six of its members are humans who joined the Brotherhood while it was ruled by Logan Mason, three are Super Mutants personally recruited by Logan Mason or Arthur Maxson, one is an intelligent Death Claw and two are Prolat who were among the first to be inducted into the Brotherhood of Steel and personally trained by Jason Maxson before being inducted into the Crusaders for exemplary acts of bravery.

File closed

And here we have another chapter in only a fraction of the time that it took for the previous one to be finished. Can we expect more like this?

...

Not likely. I am unfortunately a very lazy man.

I'd like to clarify a few things that I think people might wonder about after reading this chapter-some are actually based off of questions asked by a friend who looked over it while others are based off of reviews and private messages I've received in the past.

1) Why did the Ghosts use those extendable blades instead of Omni Blades?

My answer: Because Omni-Blades are a tad too bright to be used covertly in the dark.

2) Weren't Omni-Blades introduced around the time of Mass Effect 3?

I kept trying to find out if the Omni-Blade (and by extension the other Omni weapons) was relatively new by the time of Mass Effect 3, but couldn't find an exact date of creation. However...you see Mordin Solus making use of an omni blade against a hammer wielding Krogan woman on a mission to Tuchanka years before Mass Effect 2-on the very mission to reintroduce the modified Genophage to prevent the Krogan from overcoming the original strain. It was also the mission that led to him losing his horn. This mission took place years before the first game, meaning that it's safe to say that Omni weapons were not made just in time for the Reaper Invasion.

3) Will the Institute be making a full appearance in this?

Yes, but not immediately. I can't just throw them into the events of Shanxi, they'd be like a monkey wrench in what I already have planned. But they will play a part in this story.

4) Why didn't Owen and Victoria have more time to discuss the rather shocking revelation about their connection?

Because there were bigger things to worry about and Owen knows that as an Officer he can't afford to sit around worrying about his own personal drama...that and it got him angry enough at his brother that he's able to focus more on his job now instead of the fate of his previous team.

5) I thought this wasn't going to be a stomp-fic!

I'd say the Turians have had their own victories. They're slowly overtaking Shanxi, overwhelming regular Alliance forces and even adapting to the terrifying Death Claws. But Owen and his team have something called Plot Armour, allowing them to pull off their mission with minimal losses. Bear in mind that in Mass Effect 2 you singlehandedly storm a massive space station and destroy a dreadnaught sized ship with Particle energy weapons while also personally killing a Larval Reaper-and all of that is done using a single frigate sized ship and a team of twelve or so elite warriors. And in all three games you take on numerically superior enemy forces in every mission with just two allies at your side.

The Crusaders are meant to be THE best that the Brotherhood has available on Shanxi, and it's about to show in the next chapter.