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.

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.

And here we have it...the very final part. In order to avoid dragging this chapter out I'm going to focus everything on the Fawkes except for cutting away only when absolutely necessary.

Here we go.

Xxx

Chapter Sixteen: The Shanxi Insurgency, Part 8, Legacies

ASV Fawkes

Crew Deck, Infirmary

0550 Hours (7 minutes to detonation)

It had been an ordeal to drag Saren all the way across the station, but as Desolas strapped his brother down he knew that he would have walked the distance a thousand times to keep him safe. The surface that the younger Arterius now lay on was part of what Desolas' men had identified as a surgical table, complete with restraints for holding down violent patients and doubling as a safety mechanism in case the artificial gravity went offline. Given how badly the room was shaking he felt it was a better idea to leave Saren secure before the ship took off.

They control the ship.

"Shut up." Desolas whispered as he finished strapping down Saren's remaining arm and then ran his Omni-Tool over the stump of his severed arm.

You saw the bodies. You no longer have control!

Even in his present state Desolas couldn't miss the bodies of his men strewn about the ship which he had passed on the way.

They will never let you leave alive...they will never let your brother leave alive.

Leaning his weight on the edge of the table, Desolas slammed the heel of one hand into the side of his skull repeatedly. "Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut. Up."

You abandoned your mission, General. Now you are abandoning your-

"I am not!" Desolas twisted away from the table and looked around the infirmary. "You...whatever you are. You're not fooling me." He shook his head. "I can hear you now, I know my thoughts from yours."

He tapped the side of his head. "You might have dug in here but back at the reactor you gave yourself away!" The General laughed. "You hear that?! Your tantrum gave you away! I know you're in my head now and you can't make me do anything!"

Pain spike in the back of his head and made Desolas groan, but soon he was laughing again. "Not so easy controlling me when I know you're there, right?" He demanded. "You can't control me now!"

...we have always controlled you.

This time the pain knocked Desolas to his knees as he gripped his head in both hands.

You have been granted the illusion of freedom by our whim so that you may remain useful. But now...you may serve only one purpose to us.

Desolas planted his hands against the floor plating as he tried to keep from blacking out, and saw light emanating from his wounds again. The cybernetics latched to his physiology pulsed with energy, each second adding a fresh wave of intense aching to his bones and muscles as his eyes somehow beheld swarms of microscopic machines flowing across the surface of bones and organs alike.

Desperately, he clawed at the opening, trying to rip the swarm away. He tried to scream as they spread outwards like an infestation, but no sound could be forced from his throat. A numbing sensation spread across his body as his arms fell limply to his sides and his head lulled back to stare at the ceiling blankly.

Assuming direct control.

The last thing Desolas heard was the familiar sound of a human energy weapon charging before he was consumed by darkness.

Xxx

"Don't. Fucking. Move." Sergeant Nathan Campbell kept just out of arm's reach of the kneeling Desolas, peering through the sights of Jane's Theta rifle. "Grump? I have them both in my sights. One's down, the other is almost right there with him."

"I have internal sensors up...wait, something is wrong with the one in front of you. I'm picking up a lot of EM interference from him." Grump muttered. "Crap, got no time to do an in depth scan. I need to help Parker get this thing in the air. You may wanna brace yourself in case the inertial compensation field gives out in this section."

"Noted." Nathan nodded, "Get back to Jane, I'll keep our guests company until we're clear."

He slowly moved around Desolas' right side, keeping the rifle pointed at the Turian. Now he could see the clouded over expression, the twitching mandibles, the eerie red glow...

And when Nathan reached the Turian's front he saw the horde of nanomachines expanding across Desolas like a tide of liquid metal.

"Jesus!" Taking a step back, Nathan lowered his rifle a bit...which proved to be a mistake.

Faster than any normal human could react, Desolas was suddenly on his feet and gripping Nathan by the throat with one hand that squeezed with enough strength to cut off his airway despite the presence of his hard suit reinforcing his neck. The Turian's other hand had forced the Theta rifle up as he slammed Nathan against the wall of the infirmary.

Now Nathan could see the red glow of his eyes.

"Direct intervention is necessary."

When Desolas spoke, it sounded as if a thousand voices echoed his words. His voice was distorted, lower...almost mechanical.

"I am Nazara," Desolas declared, "And your interference is at an end."

He began to squeeze harder, applying sufficient force that if not for the engines activating in that instant and launching the ship forward he would have easily snapped Nathan's neck. Just as Grump had predicted the mass effect generated compensation field that protected individual sections of the ship had failed to activate, resulting in both Desolas and Nathan being flung to the aft section of the medical bay. The door there registered them on its motion sensor and opened to admit them to the surgical bay, which they crashed right into, smashing through any equipment that had been left bolted to the floor or walls.

However, the compensation field within the surgical bay was operational, thanks in part to redundant designing aimed at ensuring the ship's CMO could continue operating in the event of a severe injury during a battle. Desolas slid down the back wall and landed on his feet while Nathan, who had crashed into the surgery table, pulled himself up and raised his rifle, which he had kept hold of despite the previous few moments. He fired, but Desolas twisted out of the way with speed that Nathan had only ever witnessed a Psyker accomplish; the Turian repeated this feat three more time as he launched himself off of the walls to avoid Nathan's shots.

"Grump, do you have gravity control?!" Nathan shouted as he back up towards the doors leading back to the infirmary.

"Yeah but we just lost the engines and there's a station literally five minutes from blowing up that's a lot closer than I'm comfortable with!"

Nathan resisted the urge to inform the AI that the operational status of the engines was at the top of the list of issues that were the furthest from his interest. "One crisis at a time, Grump! Enhance artificial gravity in the surgical bay on my mark, high as it'll go!"

"Ready!"

Nathan leapt back just as Desolas lunged at him. "Mark!"

Desolas suddenly lost all momentum and crashed to the floor plating, creating severe indentations in the floor where he landed. Growling, the Turian planted his hands and began to slowly push himself back up despite being exposed to a crushing gravity that would have killed any normal human or Turian. A stream of nanomachines began to spill onto the floor beneath him as he forced himself to stand up, and they pooled by his feet while fighting the pull of gravity to climb back up his legs. Slowly he began to step forward to cross the threshold into the medical bay.

"You...will not be permitted...to endure!" Desolas gasped, straining with each step. "Your kind is...an aberration, a mistake...a disease that has infested the cosmos."

"Grump, lower a security barrier over the operating bay door!"

A kinetic barrier appeared to bar Desolas' path. The Turian pushed against it and hissed at Nathan through the blue tinted energy field.

"You shall not taint the imposed order!" Desolas shouted, talons scraping across the interior of the barrier. "Resistance will inevitably lead to the same outcome, submit now and those among you who prove worthy shall be permitted to evolve."

"What the hell are you?" Nathan whispered while stepping away, able to stand now that the compensation field had flickered back on in the infirmary.

A pair of talons tore through the barrier, sprouting from the blue tinted energy field before it began to dissolve, allowing Desolas to step into the infirmary. Nathan now had a close look at the General's blood stained face and the stream of nanomachines trickling from the cracks in carapace across the forehead area.

Desolas held his arms out to his sides as a red aura surged along both limbs and gathered in his palms. "We are merciful oblivion." He answered, and as he thrust both hands forward Nathan felt a sense of nostalgia as he was flung back, reliving the moment back in the Bunker Vault when General Mycroft had displayed his apparent use of Biotics...right before he felt the window separating the infirmary from the rec area at the heart of the crew deck shatter when he hit it.

"Uhn..." Nathan groaned, counting how many times he had been a victim of a Biotic attack in the past few days...he was a little too dizzy to make a proper count but he was confident that he could count it on both hands now.

"Holy crap...what was that?" Grump asked. "It's like he's bleeding Eezo out of every hole in his body!"

This copy of Grump wouldn't be aware of the data that had been taken from the Turian frigate, or about the existence of Biotics due to being stranded on the Fawkes over the course of the Battle of Shanxi.

"Long story short...he's got space magic." Nathan gave an abridged explanation as he grasped one of the tables and used it to pull himself back to his feet. "But I've never seen that red glow before, they're supposed to glow blue like that Turian strapped down the infirmary did when he blasted me."

"Wondered why your army looked like it'd been put through a meat grinder. Oh, and now it's four minutes to detonation." Grump commented before Desolas leaped up into the shattered window frame and leered at Nathan before lunging at him. "Brace yourself!"

Nathan latched onto the table and locked the soles of his boots to the floor plating, and just before Desolas would have reached him the inertial compensation field protecting the central crew deck was deactivated and the Turian was flung to the side and towards the aft section where he rolled clumsily and dug his talons into the floor to steady himself.

"Thanks!" Nathan shouted and brought his Theta pistol up, squeezing off two quick shots that took Desolas off guard and actually blasted one of his arms off.

"Strike down one, and a legion will replace it." Desolas stated, seemingly ignorant of his newly severed limb as he casually stood up and emanated that red glow again. "Wound us, kill us, and we will rise back up stronger than before."

"I don't mean to make your confidence sink any further Campbell...but this guy is projecting Mass Effect fields that seem to be acting as an improvised compensation field." Grump warned Nathan.

True to the AI's statement, the Turian was able to stand upright and walk forward, seemingly unphased by the velocity that the Fawkes was travelling at.

"You know Grump, I'm thinking that trick isn't going to work anymore." Nathan said, stepping back to keep distance between him and the...thing that used to be a Turian. "Bring back the compensation field and kill the gravity in here!"

"Done!"

Desolas momentarily rose up off of the floor, but with a single gesture of his arms he generated repulsive mass effect fields which acted as a form of propulsion. Nathan unlocked from the floor plating and engaged the few functioning thrusters on his armour to glide out of the path of what was increasingly becoming a monstrous and almost demonic foe. Desolas effortlessly spun and held out one hand as his red Biotic aura flared, and Nathan found his course being altered by a red field of energy surrounding what at first looked like a black sphere...

"Holy fucking Death Claw balls don't go near that!" Grump shouted frantically.

"Easier said than-" Nathan unfolded his Xiphos and stabbed it down into the floor plating in an effort to halt his progress towards the singularity. "Done!"

"That's a miniature gravitational singularity! Damn, I actually thought it was a mini black hole or something! He's created an area covered in intense mass effect fields drawing everything in towards a sphere of dark energy! How the actual hell does somebody do that?!"

"Grump, I already told you!" Nathan grunted as he locked the gauntlet of his free hand down to the surface beneath him and began to crawl, fighting the pull of the singularity. "Space magic! Now less science stuff and more strategizing! You're a combat AI so start making combat strategies!"

"At this point I'm ready to suggest that you get Super Mutant Jesus to walk down a river of FEV and save your ass. Oh, and three minutes!"

"The countdown is not helping!" Nathan shouted as the singularity finally faded and he was able to push off of the floor just in time to avoid Desolas' claws, which glowed and emitted so much heat that when they carved into the floor where the human had been they left deep gouges lined with red to indicate that the metal had been superheated to the point of melting and the circuitry beneath had been fried. "That is not helpful, Grump! What would be helpful is ANYTHING ELSE!"

"Well I'm sorry, a lot of my internal systems are down so I'm practically working with all but a few broken fingers here!" The AI replied defensively. "And in case this flew over your head: I'm a copy! A fragment! I've got maybe ten percent of the power the real deal has!"

"Less defeatist talk and more THINKING! Ten percent of a state of the art military AI has to be worth something so put that ten percent to use before he-" Nathan was cut off by Desolas grabbing his ankle and flinging him around.

Nathan raised his arms just in time to keep his nose from being broken against the ceiling. He coughed and twisted around, kicking at the hand firmly wrapped around his ankle, "Does that."

"Okay, okay, got something! Stand by!"

"For what?!"

"Just stand by!"

Nathan fired his Theta Pistol, but Desolas barely flinched even as the armour and carapace covering his chest was melted away to fully unveil the cybernetics cradled in what used to be his chest cavity. Gravity was restored without warning, causing Nathan to land on his side and lose his grasp on his weapon while Desolas landed effortlessly on his feet. The sound of the doors to the stairwell opening made the Turian turn his head.

"Your life is meaningless," Desolas decided and made his way towards the base of the stairs, leaving behind a trail of red tinted ripples from the aura of dark energy surrounding him. "This vessel shall serve our purpose."

Before he could even reach the stairs Desolas spotted a figure stepping down into view.

"Uhhhhhh not likely," Jane replied as she flexed her prosthetic hand and stepped forward to block Desolas' path. "This thing is drifting, so you're not likely to drive this into the city if that's the idea. So are you going to finally give up like a good little boy or am I going to have to finish what Campbell and Mason were too soft to do themselves?"

Desolas tilted his head as the presence known as Nazara considered its tactical options. If the Ghoul spoke truthfully and there were no means of getting the vessel operational long enough to use it as a projectile in place of the station then it had exhausted all plausible means of carrying out its plan, meaning that there was only one thing left to do.

Cover up any evidence of its involvement.

"You have the attention of those far beyond your comprehension," Desolas growled as Nathan unsheathed his Xiphos again and took up position behind him. "Your insolence has stayed the coming end, but only for a time." The Turian turned to present his sides to both opponents and looked at Nathan. "Die knowing that your resistance today was useless in the grand scheme of-"

A Power Fist slammed into Desolas' jaw, snapping off every mandible on the left side and sending the possessed Turian flying back past Nathan. Jane Parker's hand retracted as she charged forward.

"I've had about enough of your fucking mouth!" The Inquisitor stated and reared back her arm, delivering a downwards blow to Desolas' head before he could even finish standing up. "Because of you I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be in a hospital for fucking months after this so do me a favour and either lay down and die or shut the hell up!"

Before she could land a third blow Desolas reached up and caught her fist in his palm...and then twisted Jane's arm as he rose up to tower over her, bending the prosthetic in a way that forced the Inquisitor to get down on one knee. Now from this pose she could see the inside of Desolas' shattered mouth and the opening to his throat as well as sections where her punches had shattered and knocked loose more sections of the Turian's crumbling outer shell.

Desolas forced her to stretch her arm out and then rammed one knee up into the elbow section, breaking clean through the limb and tearing it free from the Ghoul. Before Jane could even process what happened she was struck on the head by her own dismembered arm with enough force to knock her on her side.

"JANE!"

Nathan's sword sank deep into Desolas' chest as the human collided with the Turian, who by now resembled a walking corpse with how much damage had been done to his body. Pulling the Xiphos free, Nathan stabbed up into the mess of organs and cybernetics while pushing Desolas back towards the shattered window of the infirmary.

Within the separate room, still strapped down safely, Saren Arterius opened his eyes and beheld the view of his brother pinned against the remains of the window, one arm attempting to fend off the almost rabid assault of the human known as Campbell who repeatedly impaled Saren's elder brother. Campbell bore a savage snarl on his face as he continued to tear into Desolas, spilling blood and globules of organ tissue from a large opening in the Turian's torso.

"Fucking-" Nathan grunted as Desolas' one hand found his throat again. "Die you piece of shit!"

This time he stabbed the sword down through the top of Desolas' head, sinking it in down to the hilt. The shattered and mutilated body of Desolas Arterius seized up once...and then finally went limp as the red glow of the cybernetics sustaining him began to shut down. Throughout it all the Turian's brain functions were preserved for a few precious seconds, longer than he would have lasted without the mechanical infestation in his body.

The red glow faded from his eyes as he slowly turned his head down to look at the human before him stained with both red and blue blood, covered in bruises and clad in badly damaged armour...

Desolas' few remaining mandibles spread as a rattling breath escaped his throat.

"Thank..." He whispered. "You..."

And then the nanomachines sustaining him shut down, no longer able to support even themselves without a functioning brain and nervous system to draw on power from. The presence known as Nazara shrieked once again as it felt the signal of its puppet blink out of existence, leaving it alone in the void to stew in the aftermath of its failure; all that it had was the final image transmitted through a link between entangled particles straight from the Turian's eyes, the face of a scourge upon all that it was intent on upholding.

But in that room, to Nathan Campbell, all that he witnessed was General Desolas Arterius finally collapsing to the floor, never to rise again...and leaving him exposed to the shocked and devastated stare of the now conscious Turian who had witnessed the final moments of the madman who had almost destroyed Shanxi.

Xxx

"B...brother...?" Saren whispered, his remaining hand attempting to reach out to the limp form of his brother before it fell out of view, leaving him face to face with the yellow haired human from before.

A pair of blue orbs met Saren's eyes, and both of them remained still as the rest of the universe faded away around them. To Saren there was only that one being, the sole cause of the fresh wave of pain that filled every portion of his body and unleashed itself as a choked scream, either one of rage or sorrow. Now he struggled against his bindings, his hand attempting to reach out and grab the savage that had extinguished his brother's spirit and mauled his body before his very eyes.

He screamed and cried...because that was the only thing he could do anymore.

His brother was dead.

He was alone.

Xxx

Nathan felt a pang of guilt as he turned away from the window, trying to block out the cries of the Turian. He walked towards the fallen form of Jane and saw that the entire side of her skull had shattered...he could see grey matter glistening within as well as several globs on the floor amidst a spreading pool of blood surrounding Jane's body.

"Jane?" Nathan knelt and saw one of her eyes twitch open and slowly turn up towards him.

"Uh..." A long, strained breath escaped from the Inquisitor. "Uh...wuh...always..."

Somehow she managed to bring her mouth to curve into a smile. "Knew...you kids would...be...the death of..." Her smile faded and her eye clouded over.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Nathan bowed his head and reached out, closing both of Jane's eyes. "Yeah," He smiled humorlessly, "You were right this time, Janie." He gently rested his hand on an undamaged section of her skull. "But you pulled us out of the fire more than once...you're probably the only reason I'm still alive right now."

"Campb...Nathan." Grump said softly, "You aren't out of the woods yet. If you don't do something quick we're all gonna burn up on re-entry."

"I know." Nathan stood up and turned away from the corpse of a person he had come to know as a friend. "The engines...can I get them working again?"

"If you get to the engine core I can guide you through the steps to jump start the-"

Whatever the copy of Grump intended to say never reached Nathan's ears. The entire ship was rocked by a sudden and violent tremor that knocked Nathan into a wall. He latched onto the surface and held tight. "Oh shit...Grump, did the station just blow?!"

There was no answer.

"Grump?!"

Then Nathan was torn away from the wall and crashed into another surface. A flash of red consumed his vision as pain lanced through his skull, and then he saw only darkness.

Xxx

Turian Dreadnaught A'Kalez

Command Deck

Several moments earlier

"The Fawkes' primary engines are still inactive, Captain." Zero stated, now seated at the helm. "I am sorry, but based on the specifications of this vessel any effort to bring us into low orbit for rescue operations would result in a sub orbital descent that we would be unable to pull out of. We would be placed on a crash course with no means of assisting the Fawkes."

"What about those frigates they sent? Are they moving in?" Owen demanded.

The android shook her head. "Negative. They are still maintaining a safe distance from the Chairman. Due to the engine failure of the Fawkes it is still in range of any electromagnetic waves generated by the station's detonation. Based on the build up I am detecting the countdown has reached less than a minute. I do not know if the Fawkes will be able to survive such an encounter even with the distance generated between the two."

Owen paced urgently. "Shit...shit..." He muttered, "There has to be something we can do from here, anything!"

A firm hand clasped his shoulder, and Owen turned to see Jack Harper, who shut his eyes and shook his head. "I'm sorry Mason, but they've been out of our hands ever since General Arterius cut us off from the station."

"Warning!" Zero shouted. "Detonation imminent! All hands: brace yourselves!"

She cut the feed of the descending Chairman station as well as every other external hull feed.

Xxxx

Shanxi

New Taiyuan

"Impact in less than five minutes," Noland sighed, glancing up from his Pip-Boy at the growing ball of fire. "Perhaps we should have saved that flask a bit longer."

Casting an irritated glare at the Super Mutant, Williams shook his head. "That bar is sounding pretty good right now." He held up his Pip-Boy and projected the image of an old photograph from the screen.

"Would those be the grand children you mentioned?" Noland inquired.

"That they would be," Williams sighed, looking at the image of all three of his granddaughters at a previous birthday party he had failed to attend, "Did you have any kids before you got mutated?"

"Can't say I did," Noland replied, "I can barely remember any of my life before I got dunked in FEV to be honest."

"They say that right before death your life flashes before your eyes, so you might remember pretty soon." Williams pointed out, "If you did though...bet they'll be saving us a seat at that bar."

Noland laughed. "They'd better be in that case!"

The banter helped to calm to dour mood of the group as they sat by and waited for what they believed to be the end...

And then a blinding flash illuminated the whole city. Some began to glance up only to quickly look down and cover their eyes while those wearing helmets had to tint their visors to protect their vision. What followed next was a series of tremors that swept through the city, accompanying a deafening explosion of sound and a shockwave which shattered windows, wrecked weakened structures and caused many to clap their hands over their ears. Everywhere electronic devices not designed with protection against EMP sparked and shorted out, though thankfully a history of nuclear warfare had left the Alliance with a habit of making all vital systems and military equipment EMP hardened. Lights flickered and died throughout many buildings while the Turians still camped out several dozen miles away experienced a similar occurrence.

A miniature sun briefly formed over New Taiyuan as the Chairman Benny exploded. The Shell flickered and sputtered in different regions and even failed entirely in others, but any damage to the city itself was minimal compared to what it would have been otherwise.

Colonel Williams and Sentinel Noland waited until the blinding flash had subsided to raise their heads alongside the men and women around them, peering up to see how the cloud formations had been utterly dispersed, leaving a massive gap of clear sky polluted only by the fading ball of fire.

"It's...gone?"

"It blew up!"

Williams released a breath that he hadn't realized he was holding. "Oh God," He didn't know if he was about to laugh or burst into tears. "Oh my God!"

Noland gripped the Colonel's arm to hold him steady. "Easy there Colonel," He grunted, "I think that we just got a very light taste of what our ancestors went through centuries ago. We should be thankful that we didn't just have a full re-enactment of the Great War."

Xxx

Turian Dreadnaught A'Kalez

Command Deck

"Sensors back online...and picking up a strong concentration of nuclear radiation in the stratosphere." Zero announced, "It was an air burst, sir. Long term damage to Shanxi will be minimized. However, the radioactive cloud is blocking our remaining sensors, so I can't verify the condition of New Taiyuan."

"What about the Fawkes?" Owen asked. "Is she still out there?"

"Current status is unknown as of yet sir, but the Alliance frigates are moving in now and should be reporting back soon."

Owen stared at the main screen as the external hull cameras came back online. He stood still as a statue as the three frigates passed by the dreadnaught and made their way to the Fawkes' last known position.

Minutes began to tick by, and nobody on the bridge dared to move a muscle as they waited for confirmation. Meanwhile other Alliance ships began to move in, several coming up alongside the Turian flagship but making no move to board.

Finally, Zero spoke. "Confirmation received, sir...they found the Fawkes."

Xxx

High Orbit over Shanxi

0925 Hours

The three frigates dragged the burnt and shattered remains of Owen's ship back up into a stable orbit utilizing some sort of magnetic field that seized hold of the Fawkes and gently eased her off of a slow descent towards Shanxi. The frigate had been left vulnerable to the explosion created by the Chairman due to the severe damage to its hull and the internal mechanisms and circuitry, resulting in vital systems being partially or completely exposed to the electromagnetic pulse that had been produced.

After positioning the Fawkes in a stable orbit and making sure the ship was still pressurized in the primary compartments such as the bridge or crew deck they had dispatched teams in Haz-Mat armour to scour each section for survivors. Owen and Hannah had both repeatedly attempted to gain some insight on what the teams had found and the condition of Victoria and her team; they were soon joined by Colonel Williams and Sentinel Noland once they had returned to the New Taiyuan Citadel and re-established communications.

Owen and his people were finally able to get off of the A'Kalez while the Alliance took possession of the vessel. Meanwhile the Turian fleet was corralled into orbit over Shanxi's moon and were kept under watch while the Alliance worked on assessing the full damage done to Shanxi and New Taiyuan, an ordeal that would leave the Turians stuck for hours. In the meantime more ships flowed in through the relay with disaster relief supplies and additional ground troops to secure the Turian ground forces stuck planet side.

There had been a few incidents with Turians refusing to surrender, but these were quickly handled by Turian officers who swiftly put their subordinates in place before the situation could escalate and give the Alliance an excuse to start shooting. So far the Turian base camp was only just now being occupied by Alliance marines and Brotherhood of Steel troops disarming tens of thousands of soldiers.

Down below the position which the Fawkes was being held it one could still view the aftermath of the air burst that had rocked New Taiyuan. A large circle of clear sky still existed, filled with the minimal amounts of radioactive material that were even now being diluted and spread out by natural weather patterns. Despite this the Alliance still took the appropriate measures of arming any disaster relief teams with Haz-Mat equipment and followed Fallout Protocol to the letter. The populace of Shanxi's capital were forced to remain underground for the time being until it could be verified that there was no risk of severe contamination within the city limits.

And amidst this Owen could only care about the condition of the three souls he had sent aboard the Chairman as he watched the airlock doors that led to the Fawkes, which was connected to the Alliance Carrier Einstein. The remaining members of the original boarding team, minus Harper and his rangers, were with him along with Hannah, who had been given the shock of finding out that she had a niece who was already grown up. Needless to say Alex would have a lot of explaining to do when he arrived in the next wave of reinforcements.

"Is she like Jo?" Hannah asked, breaking the silence shared between the four of them as they waited for the airlock to open.

Owen nodded. "All too much, and she's also got a bit of my dad in her too. She's a real fighter...I know they'd both be proud to see her."

'They' were of course Logan Mason and Alice Shepard.

"I'm more worried about Nathan, to be honest." Rice admitted, now wearing a clean set of Brotherhood fatigues. "He's a lot more reckless and...injury prone than Vic."

"And knowing him he'll have the biggest smile when they carry him through there." Owen countered, "The man may be a moron but he's too tough to let a little radiation or turbulence kill him."

The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a team of medics pushing several hovering gurneys towards the airlock entrance. The doors opened to reveal the armoured forms of the Haz-Mat team carrying shapes clad in badly damaged black armour on stretchers.

"Victoria!" Owen shouted upon seeing her being set on a gurney, but was stopped from approaching by one of the Haz-Mat soldiers.

"Sir, they're all in need of extensive treatment right now." The man said firmly, "I'm sorry but you need to step aside now!"

Owen hesitantly obeyed and watched as Nathan, whose head was coated in blood all along the back was transferred to a second gurney. Compared to him Victoria appeared to have gotten off easy in terms of how badly wounded she was, but when Owen saw Jane however he knew immediately that no form of surgery would save the Ghoul, whose head was cracked open like an egg in addition to her arm being torn off.

"Command this is Hazard-One, the ship is clear and we have two Xenos on board." The Haz-Mat squad leader said aloud into his radio, "One in critical condition, one deceased. I have a fire team keeping the survivor stable and they need a sealed medical capsule and any information pertaining to the physiology of these...Turians if you want it to stay breathing."

As the gurneys were ferried away Owen was left standing in the middle of the open airlock, left to watch as the soldiers he had been in charge of were carried away in varying conditions of injury. Jane was gone and there was no telling if Nate and Victoria would be joining her...and the idea of either of the two dying made him want to break down right in the middle of the room.

"...I failed Alex," Owen whispered, "I failed him and Jo."

Hannah wrapped her arms around Owen. "You did no such thing, Owen Mason." She shook her head. "She'll be alright."

Rice had collapsed back into the chair he'd been occupying when he saw Jane's condition. He'd taken no more time than Owen had to deduce that he would never again hear the rough and blunt humor of the Ghoul Inquisitor. The Knight bowed his head and whispered a prayer, wishing Jane Parker a safe journey to a well deserved paradise.

Xxx

Turian Cruiser Valor

Captain's Quarters

1045 Hours

When Hen'ar found Admiral Pridius he had already downed half of a bottle of brandy. The commanding officer of the Third Fleet had disassembled his armour and was now just wearing the innermost layer of clothing Turian soldiers were permitted when off duty on board a military vessel. He was slouched in a chair with a data pad in one hand and an open bottle in the other.

Hen'ar approached him carefully. "Sir?"

"At ease."

She had not been saluting him to begin with.

"Sir...the Alliance commanding officers have informed us that they have received orders from their superiors." Hen'ar informed him, "They will begin relocating crews down to the surface to our initial landing site once they have cleared it of any heavy weaponry, and will allow us to maintain skeleton crews on each vessel to maintain a stable orbit. They will also allow us to retain small arms and air craft for the purpose of maintaining order among the camp."

"But they'll be keeping no less than twenty primary guns locked on the base camp to ensure the good behaviour of these crews and anyone groundside who might feel tempted to make a break for it or cause trouble." Kravos tossed her the data pad, which contained the same data package which she had received mere minutes ago from the Alliance flagship. "I'm not that drunk, Lieutenant. I still keep track of incoming transmissions addressed to me."

"I...did not mean to imply-"

"Oh don't worry about it." Kravos pushed himself to his feet and set the bottle on his desk. "There is an increasing likelihood that after this you'll never have to speak respectfully to me again."

He didn't require any assistance in pulling his officer's jacket on or stepping outside with her.

"Sir...none of the crew blame you." Hen'ar told him, keeping pace with Kravos. "They all know that you were forced into a tough position because of Trisun and Arterius."

"And the Hierarchs will care about as much as I do about their opinions." Kravos replied, "To them I'll be the one in the wrong because they won't have anybody else to string up. Desolas is dead...Trisun is dead, Saren is a rising star who they'll want to cast in a sympathetic light and I'm the highest ranking member of the whole task force still alive. And what do I have to show? A complete breakdown in command, Hierarchy ships firing on one another for the first time in centuries followed by a sound defeat at the hands of what should have been a race of primitives."

They stopped at a viewport which had been uncovered now that the battle was over. From there they could see Shanxi above, the Valor having been oriented in a way that made the world appear to hang over the cruiser from their perspective. Other ships of the Hierarchy could be seen close by, many of them sporting damage from friendly fire.

"Why did I have to care at all about them?" Kravos wondered aloud as he leaned on the railing in front of the window. "If I'd just stuck with Desolas' plan and stopped the humans from blowing the station I could have gone home and the Hierarchy would have put a spin on it to make me look like a damn war hero. But no, I had to grow a conscience and start thinking too much about what was right and wrong."

He looked at Hen'ar. "I don't even know who to be angry with anymore. Desolas...Trisun...this 'Alliance' or me."

"It should be Desolas then, with Trisun in second." Hen'ar insisted, "You were just following orders and they turned this into a civil war right on the front lines. Even worse, they pulled you into it and didn't have the decency to stay alive long enough to receive the punishment."

She reached over and grasped one of his hands.

"You know that every person on this ship would gladly fight the Hierarchy for you after all you've done today." Hen'ar continued, "You may not have conquered a planet, but you did something better. You helped stop a war. Don't let them tell you to feel ashamed for that."

"I'll remember that," Kravos nodded, "And I'll make sure to tell them right up until I'm in front of the firing squad."

He felt Hen'ar wrap her arms around him, one around his back and under his arm and the other across his chest and up to rest a hand on his shoulder. Kravos couldn't stop himself from leaning into her and letting her embrace him, or from disregarding how many regulations they'd be breaking right now. The weight of his decisions and experiences in the past week bore down on him and only Hen'ar's support, both physical and emotional kept him from breaking down on the spot.

Less than a week ago he had been a minor but promising Captain of a patrol group with a promising future. Now he was an Admiral with no future at all, but the most stressful part of the situation was the knowledge that when he went down so would many other good people who hadn't been anywhere near Shanxi. His family, various Turians who sponsored his promotions over the years, previous unit and battle group commanders and crew members who would somehow be tied to his actions, their families...he was Ground Zero for an explosion that would ripple outward and destroy the lives of hundreds.

Their collective pain and suffering would be Kravos' true punishment for not being a by-the-book soldier and thinking with his heart.

Good soldiers follow orders, great soldiers refuse bad orders.

He could carry that phrase with him to the execution grounds on Palaven.

Xxx

Skyllian Verge, Unknown Location

In a debris field circling an aged red star, a gargantuan form began to shift. Mass effect fields that had long held it in a steady orbit pushed debris out of its path as the form began to pull out of the endless rotation of the asteroid belt.

"He has failed."

Locking onto the nearest mass relay, the colossal being reached out through space and time, transmitting data throughout the relay network and receiving it at speeds that would contradict humanity's understanding of transmitting data across vast distances. It was unable to control the relays as it once could have, but it was still able to acquire navigational data on any active relays attached to the network utilized by this cycle's latest civilization.

"These interlopers threaten the parameters of the cycle. Action must be taken."

It began to move towards the relay, taking its time as it deduced the most efficient place to begin its task...and the most suitable beings to make use of. When it came to a conclusion on where to begin it sent out a cry across the void, bending space-time to its will as it emitted a call that would ripple across many light years. This ripple would touch many worlds and be perceived by tens of billions of beings, only a few of whom would be able to comprehend what it really was. It was not something that could be perceived by machines, only heard through the minds of living beings, and only a rare few who could interpret it into what it was meant to be.

They would see a galaxy in flames, chaos rampant and corrupting everything it touched. Then they would perceive a flood of darkness from the edges, consuming whole stars until everything was silenced, cleansed from the cosmos.

And they would hear three words to accompany this vision.

"It is TIME."

Xxx

End of Chapter

And...there we have it folks. The Shanxi Insurgency is now over, and the Systems Alliance has claimed victory over a disorganized and weakened Turian Hierarchy, but there have been losses on both sides and distant events have been set into motion as a result.

CODEX OPENED

Accessing Files...

Files Opened: The First Contact War (Aftermath)

Once the Systems Alliance and Brotherhood of Steel joint taskforce finished securing the Shanxi system against further incursions on March 15th, 2353, their first duty was to see to the condition of New Taiyuan, which was afflicted by light amounts of radiation which were easily countered with Rad-X and Radaway treatments that reduced any risk of mutation or radiation sickness among the population. Ghouls and Super Mutants were dispatched in Search & Rescue operations to evacuate Alliance citizens, and later were ordered to round up any stranded Turian units. This resulted in isolated firefights generated by a communication failure among the Hierarchy forces present on Shanxi, but casualties were minimized and Turian soldiers were returned to their base camp and were treated by their medical officers for mild irradiation that their physiology was suitable for resisting.

Inquisitor Victoria Grey (later identified as Victoria Mason) and Alliance Marine Sergeant Nathan Campbell were both treated for severe injuries aboard the ASV Einstein and stabilized. Inquisitor Jane Parker would later be granted a post-mortem promotion and a number of awards for her involvement in the sabotage of the Chairman Benny and General Desolas Arterius' plan. The rest of Owen Mason's strike team would face similar praise and honors but would refuse public appearances even when under pressure by Alliance Command before the Brotherhood of Steel's High Inquisitor Jason Maxson used his authority to end this matter and allow the team some measure of peace and solitude.

Admiral Kravos Pridius remained aboard the cruiser Valor and oversaw the evacuation of crews from the Turian fleet, ensuring that his subordinates complied with the Systems Alliance. Back in Sol the Alliance Parliament as well as the Brotherhood of Steel's Council of Elders debated on what to do with the Turian prisoners of war. Some advocated slaughtering them to the last-though thankfully this category was limited to representatives of developing communities who lacked the power to authorize such a travesty; others argued that based on the information gathered by Owen Mason during the Battle of Shanxi it would be prudent to attempt to open up communications with the Citadel Council before they could send more fleets after the first.

President Gregory Irons came to a decision on March 18th to establish a line of communication with the Citadel Council and the Turian Hierarchy in order to prevent further hostilities. Pro-war parties were silenced when they were informed of how vast the military and industrial capacity of the Turian Hierarchy was, and that the circumstances leading to an Alliance victory in Shanxi had been due to an internal conflict among the Turian chain of command. It was estimated that any attempt at retaliation against the Turian Hierarchy would invite a much larger and better organized assault that would overcome the Alliance Navy in a matter of days or weeks, and that was only when assuming that only the Turians would retaliate.

Irons concocted a plan to quickly establish contact with the Council by dispatching one of the rare Zeta Class mother ships, which would tow a single Turian ship from Shanxi through FTL to a point close to the Serpent Nebula where the Citadel itself lay. Admiral Pridius as well as General Septimus Oraka would be on board this vessel to provide their testimony to the Council while Colonel Victus would remain on Shanxi to oversee the Turian population there.

The Alliance would maintain an orbital and aerial perimeter around the Turian base camp in order to ensure that no Turian would be able to leave by ground or air, and to prevent the construction of anti-air artillery or other heavy armaments that would enable an offensive against New Taiyuan. However it was on Sentinel Noland's advice that the Alliance did not move to relocate the Turians to a detention facility under the belief that to do so would incite further resistance among the Turian landing force, and that contacting their leaders to bring about an end to the conflict would be more preferable. When arguments were made against allowing the turians to retain their base camp, vehicles, weapons and supplies Noland would calmly point out that the Turians would be unable to mount any offensive against New Taiyuan or attempt to escape Shanxi without their camp being bombarded, and that relocating them would mean having to provide for them in the event that negotiations with the Council were drawn out for weeks or months, and the Alliance lacked any worlds that could provide food sustenance for the Turians' unique dextro amino based physiology. Leaving the Turians on Shanxi with access to their own dextro amino acid based food supplies and under heavy guard would prove to be the most cost effective and least risky move for the Alliance to make.

The Turian cruiser Valor would be selected to return to Citadel space, carried along by the Zeta Class mothership Zeta, the original Prolat star ship captured by Logan Mason and part of the Brotherhood of Steel's 1st Flotilla. It would depart from Shanxi on March 19th and be deposited by the Zeta in a Relay Cluster system on the edge of Inner Council Space close to an FTL relay that would allow for the first official negotiations between the Alliance and Council to begin mere hours after the Citadel Council came to the decision to censor Desolas Arterius and dispatch ships to retrieve the Turian Hierarchy's Third Fleet, unaware that the battle was already over.

File Closed

Opening File...

File Opened: What happened to Desolas Arterius?

Official reports state that General Desolas Arterius was killed in action in orbit over Shanxi aboard the human frigate ASV Fawkes, however his body allegedly vanished. When the Turian Hierarchy attempted to claim it the Alliance claimed that the General's body was missing. Nathan Campbell stepped forward several months after the Battle of Shanxi to claim that after killing Desolas Arterius he had 'flushed that bastard out an air lock'. For years there would be rumors ranging from Desolas' body being withheld by the Alliance to the General actually being alive, but Saren Arterius would go on record and claim that Campbell had lied to the public and that his brother's body was being held by the Alliance.

File Closed

Opening File...

File Opened: Saren Arterius

Saren Arterius is the second child of the Arterius family next to his brother, the disgraced General Desolas Arterius. During his early military career Saren was identified as a fully capable Biotic and assigned to the Turian Cabal divisions, but would still manage to excel thanks to his brother's influence. By the time of the Battle of Shanxi Saren was considered one of the best in his division and was considered for Spectre status, and after the Battle of Shanxi when he was cleared of all charges regarding his brother's actions he was granted full Spectre status. He is known for his public statements condemning the Systems Alliance and for being one of the most efficient and ruthless members of the Council Special Tactics & Reconnaissance, and also for being one of the few Turian Biotics to achieve such a respectable rank.

And...I think that I'll skip the summary for this chapter since it was fairly straight forward. The next Arc, First Contact, will be up soon.