Author's Note: Not a lot to say right now. Read, Review, Favourite and Enjoy!
Chapter 44: Collector Base Part 1
The Normandy's weapons were fully stocked, it's shields fully charged, it even went through a round of routine maintenance, all of the weapons were fully armed and ready to deploy and the armours inbuilt live-stream function was ready to go. Which led to the relevant question.
"EDI why are we live streaming this mess?" Shepard asked as she checked the load on her weapons one final time.
"Morale."
"Morale? We're going on a suicide mission, whose Morale are you concerned about?" Shepard asked EDI.
"Liches mostly, a large portion of the Flerkin as a whole. The 'War In Heaven' has been a long time coming, and while the death of Sovereign can be seen as the first victory the Death of the Collectors will be the second." Shepard just let out an exhausted sigh. No matter the way it goes down what happens here is going to end up all over the Extra net it would seem. "If it's of any consolation, the time dilation effect from the black hole will likely significantly slow down the flow of the footage to the rest of the Galaxy."
"Huu. Joker, are we ready to deploy yet?" Shepard asked trying to think of something other than her eminent death that's about to be broadcast across the Galaxy.
"On your mark commander." Joker stated making his readiness known. Thus the Normandy was flung through the Omega 4 Relay.
[1. They're going through the Omega 4 Relay?]
[2. Isn't that a death sentence?]
[3. No it's not you dunderheads! Damnit I should've sneaked aboard]
[4. Right there's morons that think there's a paradise on the other side of the relay]
The Normandy was caught by the Relay situated mere kilometers from the Collector's base, where they were working on building a monster that would haunt the dreams of the Citadel and Union alike, the Union because they understood the implications of what they were looking at, the Citadel because they didn't.
[5. Does it look like a paradise to you moron?]
It was a Reaper, but it was a Reaper that was larger than any that the Union knows of, dwarfing the citadel itself with it's sheer size and mass it looked like you could easily fit a civilisation inside of it. The worst part though? It wasn't even finished yet, the top part had yet to be added on or the various legs either. It was already this massive and they weren't even done with it.
"Is that a Reaper?" Garrus asked looking at the machine on the viewing window with clear concern.
"Yes, by the looks of things it's going to be Colossus class by the time they're finished with it." Shepard stated as she was already letting out a sigh, this was gonna be a long day.
"Colossus?" Tali repeated the word concerned.
"The Singularly largest designation for a ship the Union has." Shepard stated bluntly. Should they feel relieved that they don't have one that's bigger than what this thing is going to be? "Usually the Union builds them around a giant planet killing super weapon that they want to employ." Nope they don't feel better at all.
"So that thing...?" Samara was already swimming with a host of possible horrors that could be unleashed by such a thing.
"Aggressive terraforming, remaking the genetic structure of every living being on the planet, seizing control over the populace's hearts and minds, destruction of all tech on the planet, cracking the planet open like a egg and scooping the core out. Just to name a few of the trick's the Union's constituents know." Everyone went dead quiet at that. "There are several planets in Union territory that people either can't step foot on or are simply not there anymore because the Lich's, Lithoids and Dragons were all tearing each other apart with them. So naturally nowadays their use is classified as a crime against sapient life."
[6. Seriously!? The Union has something that's that scary!?]
[7. Hey Idiot she just said they're outlawed!]
[8. Hey Idiot number 2! She only said that using them is illegal, not owning them!]
Indeed, particularly the terraforming for making habitable worlds and the planet cracker for mining are both extremely useful, so long as you don't turn them against an already inhabited world that is.
"EDI Where's our back up!?" Shepard asked noting the distinct lack of Union ships other than their own Normandy.
"Apologies Shepard, the black hole appears to be distorting the signal from the Quantum Entanglement particle. Exact coordinates will require that the Normandy remain still for approximately ten minutes." Shepard stated noting that something else was going on from the Collector's base.
"Hey EDI what should we do if we can't stay still for ten minutes?" Shepard asked letting out a groan.
"Proceed to the Collector's base." EDI replied simply, Joker already getting ready to move the ship. "The Censor feed is also being affected. Could you tell me why we have to move?"
"Because we don't have ten minutes." Shepard stated bluntly. The Collectors had been expecting them, which makes sense since they already knew that the Union has their IFF, what they weren't expecting was the Normandy's stealth drive that would allow them to move around the area unnoticed, but not enter unnoticed. Anyone with the eyes to look would've seen the Mass Relay turn on to catch the Normandy as it entered the sector. The only reason why the Collectors ships weren't waiting here to 'greet' them is because they were expecting them to move in closer before they sprung their trap. "Steady as she goes Joker, so long as the bastards don't have a window to look out of..."
"Commander, you do realise that you're talking about extremely basic technology here right?" Joker asked by way of reply, liking nothing about what was happening here.
"How exactly can they build one that big?" Garrus asked looking confused and horrified. The Collectors were fast approaching their location, they were less than a minute into the count down to signal the Union.
"If I had to guess, something that we hadn't considered before. We were so concerned with trying to rescue our missing people we didn't even stop to consider what else the Collectors took from the battlefields they raided."
[9. Prethoryn? Prethoryn Reaper!? Horror compounds horror!]
"We do not have the fire power to destroy that." Shepard stated bluntly. "We need the fleet over here if we are to stand a chance against it."
"And to rescue the people that have been taken hostage. If the Collectors have been focusing all of their attention on the Colossus then the likelihood that the people they've taken hostage can be saved has gone up." EDI chimed in with the follow up.
"Are we moving for engagement or stealth?" Joker asked the fact that they were going to move having already been decided.
"Stealth. Dragon Scales are pretty sturdy after all and we're covered with them."
The basic idea of the stealth drive was that it traps emissions given off by the ship, heat and radiation being chief among them such as those given off by propulsion, however shielding itself is a type of emission, thus it's unreasonable to simultaneously stealth and shield at the same time. Like that they were able to smoothly fly a quarter of the way to the Collector's base.
[10. Tensions so thick you can cut it with a knife!]
[11. SSSHHH!]
"Prepare evasive maneuvers." Indeed for now they were avoiding the Collector's, perhaps the alien roaches thought the Union made another probing attempt. "Get us between that big ugly monster and the Collectors." Then the stupid bugs looked out a window.
[12. Oh Mot's hitting the fan now!]
Immediately the warship spun around, weapons full and at the ready. Joker Smoothly flipped off the stealth drive and flipped on the shields as he put the pedal to the metal.
The Ion Drive was flatly dismissed, this was their base of operations after all. Instead the Collectors fired a particle beam, the massive ray of energy chasing after the Normandy, which narrowly flew off to the side. Instead the massive particle accelerator carved a channel into the half built Reaper Colossus for several yards before the weapon was disengaged, the Normandy half way through to the enemy base.
"Bang!" Joker made a finger gun with his hand and pretended to shoot at the Collector Ship.
[13. That's one way to take a hostage]
[14. Works better when the guns are only pointing in one direction]
The Collector's base came alive with a wave of anti ship cannon fire. Fortunately they had shields, and when the shields failed they had back ups ready to snap into place. Just because the Normandy could fly through the swarm of gunfire and obediently tank every shot, in theory, and still make it all the way back to the other side doesn't mean that they should. Case in point.
"For My next trick." The Normandy's stealth drive operated by taking the emissions from propulsion and other ship systems and trapping them in a giant heat sink. However there was another use for them, that if you were to vent those same emissions into the void of space say for instance in front of a massive array of space guns that are designed specifically to lock onto those same emissions well... The Collectors weapons narrowly missed the Normandy, instead chasing after the suddenly much larger emission that was given off into the empty space to the left of the ship, straight into the Collector Ship that had been chasing after the Normandy.
[15. Damn! They got some moves on them!]
[16. I'm gonna actually have to remember how to do that one]
The victory celebrations were short lived. The Collector's weapons immediately corrected their course and continued their chase, and this time they had no fully loaded heat sink that was in need of a good venting to distract the weapons in question with, and having crossed three quarters of the distance the Normandy was in knife fighting range now. So naturally Joker opted to knife the stupid bastards.
"Shoot at my ship will you?" It was a well known fact that ship bound shields were oval shaped.
There were a few reasons for this, firstly because it was the easiest shape for the shields to project given the shape of most ships, but a secondary less important but also relevant reason is because of deflection. When a projectile hits something at an angle it is more likely to bounce away instead of simply breaking through or stopping, thus wasting the majority of the power behind the strike, which is why it is necessary to repeatedly strike the target to ensure the best results. If you're really lucky, or if your fortress is mobile and your piloting skills that good, then you can even angle the shots so that instead of flying off into the distance they crash back into the enemy forces that they came from in the first place. The Collector's weapons hit the Normandy's back side, Joker gave the side thrusters a hard push, turned the ship over to expose it's underside, and let the energy beams bounce off like they hit a giant mirror and strike the Colossus a second time. Naturally the weapons stopped firing and instead Joker hard reversed the thrusters and flew into the hole that had been carved into the Reaper by his antics.
"Nicely done Mr. Moreau!" Shepard stated as she patted her pilot on the back.
"We aren't off this coaster yet boss." The drones approached the base from the black hole. EDI revealed footage she took with the censors. The Collectors have their own matter decompressor, and these drones were part of the set up for operating it. Massive round spheres of metal with a pupil like energy laser and two irises of grinding mining blades that spun in opposite directions, most likely made out of neutron matter.
[17. Huh mining drones, I always wondered where those came from]
Indeed these Ocular monstrosities that were busily chewing up neutron matter so that it could be processed into new material were a frequent giant pain in the rears of the constituent members of the Union back in their early days of exploration. They were equally content to chew up ships and process them for raw materials as neutron matter. Luckily though, they didn't have to worry about those things. The Collectors want to avoid further damaging their pet project after all, so they aren't going to unleash their space moles to carve them out. Yet.
"We have three objectives in very simple terms." Naturally a meeting was gathered together. "We have to rescue any of the people who are still alive aboard this base, we have to establish contact with the Union to save all of us, and we have to ensure the complete and total destruction of this station and the monster being born on it." Three jobs to do, three teams to do it.
"The Quantum entanglement signal is working to reestablish itself, at current estimates it will take three hours." The group was shocked at EDI's statement.
"Three hours!? What happened to Ten Minutes?" Shepard asked sounding shocked.
"We've moved closer to the even horizon that is distorting the Quantum entanglement signal. If it can be eliminated then the connection will be established instantly." To EDI's explanation a holograph appeared depicting the Collector Base/Reaper Colossus and a location represented by a pin inside of the body of the Reaper.
"The Reaper is the source of the distortion." Garrus stated letting out a sigh. To escape the Collector base they have to destroy the planet killing super weapon. "Talk about putting the trailer before the shuttle."
"One team needs to go here." Shepard stated making her opinion known.
"I recommend Garrus and Tali for that." EDI stated bluntly.
"The Collector base has an atmosphere inside of it, meaning that it's capable of transmitting sound. If the lack of explosive decompression on the Reaper when it was blown open is any indication, it doesn't." The Root of EDI's decision making process wasn't a matter of 'Garrus and Tali are the most qualified for this mission' but rather 'Garrus and Tali are the least vulnerable on this mission.'
"If demolition is the job then we're your men." Zaeed stated bluntly, patting one of the Blue Suns mercs he had with him on his shoulder. "If you can get Trome here over there then he can blow it up." Trome, not a Human name.
"I'd need to salvage some parts from the ship." Trome stated, in the familiar rough voice that they were all familiar with, gruff and seemingly locked in a perpetual state of unfriendliness.
"I thought we weren't letting the Batarian's join in." Tali stated and indeed Zaeed's subordinate removed his helmet to reveal familiar yellow skin and four black eyes.
"No one told me!" Trome barked back angrily.
"Our own Psyker vouched for him." Zaeed stated putting his hand on the Batarian's shoulder. "Care to do the same?" Shepard narrowed a glare and put her hand on Trome's shoulder.
Yellowed skin with the lightest tinges of orange, a Kolear gleam in her eyes that most other races with their limited single set of eyes would never be able to understand or appreciate, the light of my life. And then one day she was gone, sold like common slave caste. I even got a promotion at work, my colleagues telling me about how much of a honour it was that she had been chosen to ascend! I didn't feel like it was an honour though, it felt like someone had gouged my eyes out! And now I know that what they did to her was not an honour at all!
Shepard took a step back letting out a low whistle at the amount of raw emotion on display.
"That's an impressive amount of hate." Shepard stated bluntly.
"For us?" Garrus asked bluntly.
"For Collectors, why is something I'll leave to him." The group nodded their heads in response. "EDI, show him around the ordinance, see what kind of boom he can put together." Shepard gave the latest order and the Batarian explosive expert followed EDI's hologram. "Garrus is already enough to lead the fire team into the Reaper, I'd like to see you leading the second strike team." Zaeed nodded his head. "Samara can take the third." Samara nodded her head as well.
"Then what are you going to do?" Zaeed asked looking at Shepard suspiciously.
"Leading the first strike team, the one where me and my siblings kill as many Collectors as possible so that they can't go after you guys." The others nodded their heads in the affirmative and divided each other out in order to deal with their own multi-prone attack on each part of the impending war-zone.
They lost contact with the advance team, that close to a black hole? Possibly several blackholes? With fully functional matter decompressors set up too?
"It's a pity that place is probably rigged to the nines with indoctrination tech or other nasty tech." Aethyta stated with a glass of brandy in hand.
"In the amount of time it would take to find and dismantle all of those 'nasty surprises' you would probably be able to build your own matter decompressor." Admiral Hackett stated bluntly.
"Which would be fantastic if we wouldn't only get one out of the process." The Matriarch replied letting out a sigh. "Or if we had the time to actually build it. Do you think that we have the time to build something like that?"
"A matter decompressor would be up and running in about fifteen years, depending on how much resources and man power you sink into the project full construction can take up to fifty five years." The Admiral explained shrugging his shoulders and prompting a scoff from the Matriarch.
"Do you think we have fifteen years?"
"The Reaper's harvest of a single race can take up to a hundred years, and they still have yet to get here. That is of course built on the assumption that you're going to be able to defend your territory for that long." The Matriarch's face cringed at that. "That of course fails to take into account our own traps we have in place to deal with them."
"Traps that you refuse to share." The Mini-Salarian stated sitting off to the side.
"As you are aware Telepath's can read another person's mind, as you are equally aware that a person with sufficient training can block those attempts for mind reading by layering on thick with massive quantities of irrelevant information, the phone book method." Sparatus could only think of a few reasons why the Admiral was addressing the Salarian directly like this, all of them made him sigh. Name, Serial Number, Planet of Origin. Name, Serial Number, Planet of Origin. "What you fail to realise though is that a telepath of sufficient power can simply just tear through those barriers anyway to directly access the information, though at the cost of severe brain damage to the subject in question. Thus we usually don't resort to those measures." 'Usually?' "The Reapers on the other hand have no such restrictions. So the best way to keep a secret is to simply not tell it." Then the admiral visibly switched tracks. "It's something I hope you learn how to do, you chatty little brat. Not only do I now know that the Salarian's have cracked telepathy but I even have a idea of how based on your different skin tone. Eezo and Thorian sperm? I hope you realise how lucky you are to exist in the first place let alone still be alive." The Salarian shrugged her shoulders.
"Salarian's grow to adulthood quickly, and unrestrained by our own laws on the matter have a high rate of reproduction, our genetic diversity is greater than that of the Vorcha these factors together makes our species the most logical candidates to perform eugenics experiments. As for the Eezo there was an existing program to breed biotically capable Salarian's."
"They simply used the fruits of the existing program as the basis of the new program then." The Admiral stated letting out a sigh. "Let me guess, one of the many recent Salarian programs to receive the Union's sweep of cease and desist orders." Hackett just let out a sigh.
"Did you know about this?" Hackett's thoughts were immediately picked up by a familiar presence.
"The Salarian's gave me a rather excellent boon. Their tendency to imprint upon the first person that they spend any length of time with was useful to my advantage, and the Union's. I merely made it so that they completely ignored the affection of their Matriarchs and instead imprinted solely upon me."
The Thorian was scheming again.
"Are we going to have to restrict your privileges again?"
"I informed your investigators about the program in question, and with the permission of your intelligence gathering wing ensured that thousands of potentially absurdly powerful individuals with the ability to throw people around like ragdolls wouldn't hold any lingering loyalty to common criminals."
"We will speak again later, at length." Hackett stated as he breathed out a sigh.
"The Salarian's and their unethical programs beside the point, we should prepare to deal with the Reapers after this mission is over." Everyone in the room froze up at that statement. "Either we destroy their advance scouts, or we block them from continuing to operate in this galaxy. Either way the next logical step is that the Reapers will invade the Galaxy proper, in force. Even if we do suddenly manage to completely sever their hold over what remains of the Mass Relay network their FTL technology is just as advanced if not more so than our own. Entering the Galaxy from where they are currently hiding would at most take them a year. And that just assumes they didn't start approaching us the moment Sovereign died."
"Meaning that we need to know a bare minimal amount of information about whatever trap you're setting up for them so that we can make sure that we don't get caught up in them." 'Unless you plan on feeding us to the Reapers to buy more time for yourselves.' You didn't need a telepath to know what Sparatus was implying.
"We've no intention of sacrificing anyone." Hackett stated bluntly. "People will die, because people die in war, but we want to reduce the Reaper's forces. We intend to park a fraction of our forces on the edge of the Terminus system, and we will send the rest to the Galactic border." 'If the Reapers have already realised a ambush is being set up then they will naturally try to avoid that ambush and flank us from behind. So we advise that you join us at that ambush and make sure that your potential points of entry are fully guarded before you do anything else.'
"The scientific fleet also has observatories set up around the galactic rim of Union territory." The Head of the Scientific fleet chirped up, despite his eyes being focused down at the multiple data pads playing games that were in each tentacle.
"To look for Reapers?" Sparatus asked sounding vaguely interested.
"To observe the cosmos." The Fleet admiral corrected. "That said if we see reapers then we report them."
"This is based on the presumption that they can be seen in the first place." Reaper Ships are black to begin with, against the backdrop of space the only way to tell that they're there in the first place is to keep track of the stars behind them in the neighbouring Galaxies. Even then light years are called as much for good reason: a single light year represents the distance that light travels in a single year, thus visual contact is a difficult thing to rely upon for tracking beings who move faster than light. By the time the Reapers do appear in their line of sight the information could be centuries out of date, or they're already effectively on top of them. That speaks nothing of existing Union based active camo technology that they should at least assume the Reapers have access to too. In layman's terms...
"We're not sinking a lot of weight into surveillance, not nearly as much as we are in guns being pointed in the same direction we would be looking anyway." Saying that the head of the scientific fleet went back to his game.
"And which direction would that be?" Sparatus stated folding his hands together.
"You have the Coordinates of the ambush, I recommend putting them to use."
Author's Note:
RonaldM40196867: True. Afraid not. They do their job well.
Guest: Yes. It's part of the power tech tree from Stellaris, I believe the concept was taken from Stargate. Zero Point Energy refers to the background radiation of the universe which according to Stargate helps to keep the universe stable by preventing the creation of Exotic particles, when you remove that energy the laws of physics go out the window and solar systems goes with them, this led the Precursers of the series, the Ancients, to create the Zero Point Modules or ZPM's which creates a pocket dimension inside of the ZPM that you can draw energy from without releasing reality destroying exotic particles. The Union uses them sort of like super batteries usually charged by Dyson Spheres.
Gianfranco Cembran: Pretty much
