Chapter 2: Normandy meets Dreikruz
Inside unknown space, near an unknown alien device…
Lelouch sighed lightly as he looked over their prisoner. It was…well an alien. Four eyes. Green skin, big head. It seemed straight out of the old B movie films of the early twentieth. He still had his Zero mask on as he made sure to stand menacingly with his body covered by his cloak. The former demon emperor looked to his left. Seven was currently inspecting the captured gear. Standing guard inside the cell was Chirico inside of his machine. It was only three meters tall, perfectly tall enough to fit inside of the brig.
He was just observing for the time being. The alien was speaking in an alien language and staring at Chirico's armored trooper. For now he simply bided his time, standing impassively while watching the manacled down Batarian struggle against his binding.
"Seven. Have you found out how to work that device?" Lelouch asked through the distortion of his mask both amplifying and distorting his voice.
"Not yet. Buut." He pushed a button causing an orange knife blade to materialize and unfold before sparking with fire. "Nope. Not that button." He pressed the same button making it fold back in and dematerialize.
"Having trouble there?" Lelouch joked lightly.
"It's alien tech. You're lucky I'm making any progress at all. It's not like they have a rosetta stone on it-..." Seven stopped before falling silent. "I now have it translated. Turns out it does have a translation function." The power suited male turned to get up from his desk and walked towards Lelouch. "Hold out either one of your arms." Lelouch did as Seven instructed.
"-ever seen an Omni-tool before? Where are you from…the sticks?" The alien tried saying a retort before the Omni-tool translated it. Lelouch had to smirk as he looked at the tool.
"So it's called an Omni-tool?" Lelouch asked before presenting the tool. The alien gave him a stubborn stare before attempting to spit at him. "I see. Seven, I'll let you have a session. Our mutual friend is also more then happy to deal with him." Lelouch stated while flicking through the omni-tool's data.
Seven nodded as he calmly walked behind into the batarian's cell. "We broadcasted our intent to open peaceful negotiations. And yet not only did your ships open fire on peaceful vessels. You attempted to board. In wartime this would have resulted in your death. It still can. Should you prove…" He drew out one of his explosive kunai. "Uncooperative. Alien though you may be. I wonder how similar it is."
"Nnngh…your voice may be synthesized but you sound human- Grk–" The alien stopped as Seven skillfully lined up his kunai with the alien's jaw line.
Lelouch continued to peruse the Omni-tool finding quite a few interesting entries.
"I wonder does this have a google search?" Lelouch wondered aloud before spotting two entries that caught his attention. "Batarians…Oh. Oh my…" Lelouch drawled out before casually walking over to Chirico's suit and showing him the discovery. Seven arched an eyebrow as he watched Chirico calmly reach over and arm his heavy machine gun.
"W-Wait! What did you show it?!" The batarian demanded.
"Just that your kind's primary trade is something deplorable even amongst most Civilizations." Lelouch said theatrically. "Slavery."
Seven looked from Lelouch to Chirico, to the batarian.
"Give me fifteen seconds alone with him." He said politely with an edge to his tone.
"Forget fifteen seconds. I'm arming the pile bunker." Chirico responded in a synthesized voice. The bunker claw flexing as he stowed his MG.
"I'LL TALK! I'LL TALK! Just keep that SYNTHETIC AWAY FROM ME!" The Batarian screamed in terror.
"Why?" Seven asked, not so gently digging that kunai into the alien's shoulder. "I won't waste my time. Why attack our vessel? Slaves? Status? Or were you dumbasses thinking about trying to try and hijack one of our ships?"
"H-How were we supposed to believe you were genuine? Human's always lie and are pressing on our border. Ahhhh. Take that knife out!"
"I quite like where it is. Though it could always go deeper. I wonder. How many humans have you killed?" Seven wondered, digging his knife in further while slightly leaning above him. "Given your gear. I can imagine, and it makes me angry."
"N-None. I haven't killed any!" The batarian stated in desperation mixed with pain as that knife was twisted slightly. "Ahhhh, Stop!"
"Seven. It seems that there is a species called humans. It appears to be a Military government. I'll get this information to the Commander." Lelouch said while making his way to the door. "I'll leave you and Chirico to extract any more information. Leave him alive for me to deal with afterwards." He said simply.
Outside the Dreikruz on patrol…
Banagher rested back inside of his Silver bullet suppressor as he watched his instruments. The former gundam pilot squinted as he didn't see or feel anything hostile since their first contact with those aliens. He looked around his panoramic view. The wreckage of one of the alien frigates currently served as his camouflage. He was on guard duty along with a number of other pilots. Nothing was showing on his sensors for the moment. At least until an open broadcast was sent out.
"This is the SR 2 Normandy. We are here to open dialogue. We are here under a flag of truce." The voice was broadcasting in english. "I am Commander Shepard, a SPECTER with the citadel council."
"Commander Mitsuba. Orders?" Banagher requested while checking the weapon on his beam magnum, turning up the magnification on his suit.
"We'll hear them out. Do you have a visual Banagher?" Mitsuba responded.
"Negative. Not from this angle." He responded before scanning around with his machine.
"I do, Commander." Koji responded. Banagher noticed the Mazinkaiser move more into position as the unknown was pointed out.
"This is Commander Mitsuba Greyvalley of the Dreikruz Autonomous Task Force. We are open to dialogue. Commander Shepard please proceed along the provided flight path. However any deviation will be taken as hostile intent." Mitsuba responded. Banagher continued to monitor the progress of the vessel as he spotted the two hundred and sixteen meter long ship quietly sailed past, entering into his Minovsky particle distance.
"Mitsuba, we're getting a lot of interference here. We'll need guidance, in the rest of the way if this gets any thicker." Came Shepards notification.
"I'll have two of our pilots help escort you in. Keep your heading." A moment later. "Banagher, Amuro escort the Normandy to beside the Dreisstrager."
"Wilco." Banagher replied, leaving his hiding spot and firing the silver bullet's thrusters to approach alongside the ship's port side.
"Roger that Commander." Amuro's hi-nu taking up an escort position alongside the Normandy's starboard side.
"All other suits return to the Dreikruz for shift change. All ship captains, please be ready to receive dignitaries aboard the Dreisstrager." Operator Lian's voice chimed over the radio.
However inside The Normandy…
Joker had been through the destruction of the first normandy. He'd done strafing runs on Sovereign. Dropped a mako on a twenty meter stretch. Extracted Commander Shepard and her ground team from an actively erupting volcano. But if Shepard had told him this morning that he'd see twenty meter tall walkers flying through space and escorting the Normandy, he'd have called shotgun on the first transport to alliance space.
This wasn't science fiction and yet there were honest to goodness robots buzzing about. The interference was playing havoc with The Normandy's guidance so he was having to take it slow and careful. With every passing second he still had to marvel at the behemoth they were flying up to. Its main cannon looked like it could chew a reaper for breakfast. For a ship that size with no Eezo core was way above his pay grade to comment on let alone think about fighting it.
"Joker. I advise keeping calm. Records suggest that this group is not hostile." EDI chimed in, making Joker roll his eyes.
" EDI. Is this the same Record that showed two frigates getting their asses handed to them on the platter they thought to serve?"
"We're following first contact protocol." The AI pointed out.
"And we have a marvelous track record for missions that go FUBAR." The Normandy's pilot retorted. "You heard that woman. If we deviate at all. I bet all those warships and those mechs would atomize us into galactic space dust. I'd rather take my chances with the sovereign run again."
"You are being hyperbolic, mister Moreau."
"Forgive me if I'm not to happy about our chances when I look outside my viewport and see a ship that has run out of fucks to give."
"Normandy, our hangar is opening up for you, please proceed to above the Dreisstrager, we can guide you from there." A different feminine voice said. More peppy and cheerful. Much like a kid fresh out of the academy.
"Hell...do they have kids operating that ship?" Joker wondered aloud while piloting the Normandy above the dreadnought. The pilot had to stop from gawking as The Normandy was guided down into the hangar. And they could see even more gargantuan robots that easily were half the size of the Frigate. "Are…those asleep? Or powered down?" Joker asked out loud.
"Unknown. However I am detecting a number of exotic and equally unknown energy signatures…" EDI chimed. "Mister Moreau. I believe this ship is hiding something."
The blast doors behind Joker informed him of the Commander's arrival as he swiveled around and gestured wildly before shrugging.
"Let me know if they suddenly scream about needing to purge heretics. Just so I can you know…get us the hell out of here Commander."
"Who knows, They may invite you over for tea Joker. So be nice." Shepard flashed him a smirk before nodding. "Stay ready. I don't expect hostilities but it's better to be prepared."
"Hold, Hold on Commander let me grab my bullshit list." Joker retorted before pretending to hold a clipboard. "Out running an improvised Nuclear explosion…check. Hot pickup for the ground team from an actively exploding volcano…check. Hovering right next to the ship that blew us up the first time?! Check. Charging Sovereign with the alliance fleet, after saving the council. Check. Need I go on?"
"What are you talking about Joker. That's the old days. Great times in most of those cases." Garrus teased back before tilting his head with a curious gleam in his eye.
"Mission is one of diplomacy. Shouldn't be problematic. Still unsure of species however." Mordin nodded while thinking heavily. "Doubt Illusive man understands the situation."
"Also Shepard, as this is first contact I've sent over all translation protocols and programs to your omni tools. It would be beneficial for us to establish allies here."
"Noted. For now. Ground team with me. EDI make sure we have a response team ready." Shepard ordered before jerking her head to the airlock. The shore party moved inside for decontamination.
Shepard had to stop herself from blinking as she saw the tall machines. The noises of the hangar crew echoing around them. So many towering robots and in front of them stood a blonde woman who looked fresh out of a military academy, flanked by two other people. One looked to be someone in power armor so Shepard couldn't get an accurate read on their face. The other was someone clad in a normal suit, piggy backed by a silver haired Yakuza?
What really made Shepard do an internal double take though was that they were all human.
"I thought our technology wasn't this advanced. The council would throw a fit." Jane joked lightly, which allowed the blonde to shrug.
"That saves us some explanation. We're not from this universe. We're displaced." The female Captain sighed.
"Displaced?" Garrus asked, testing the tone from his helmet.
"Dimensionally. Our world's boundaries are…unstable to put it mildly." The blonde nodded. "This is ULTRAMAN. A human from another earth, he was displaced along with his compatriots. Mikazuki Augus and..."
"You can call me Olga. I'd normally say pleased to meet you but we've only just met. And the first people we met did so with guns blazing."
"Another 'Displaced' human?" Solus chimed in before nodding. "Some robots in the hangar, don't share the same architectural minds. They are of different methodologies, not an area of expertise of mine. Just layman understanding." The captain nodded while Mikazuki just seemed to idly stare at the wall, staring holes into Garrus and Shepard respectively.
"If you'll come with us, we'll talk where there's less noise." As they turned to walk, Mikazuki and Garrus both narrowed eyes at each other. Garrus hummed as his visor zoomed in on that lame eye. Once they were under way he internally killed his suit's speakers.
"Never thought I'd say this shepard. But beware of the soldier getting a piggyback." Garrus paused. "He's got a killer's eyes." Solus on the other hand noticed a particular hump that didn't seem standard on a normal suit; it also didn't look like an EVA propulsion backpack. He then gave his omni tool a few taps.
"Shepard. When we get back to normandy. Must talk. Probably nothing." He said casually in salarian while waving his hand. His omni tool briefly flashes and then dissipates. The movement wasn't lost to Shepard nor the security cameras in the hangar. "Must ask though Garrus. Why the paralyzed one. And not the armored one?"
"You see enough of those types in C-sec. Buut I could have also argued Instinct."
"Fair on both points. Won't ask more."
* * *
Overwatching the proceeding from the security room, Lelouch was idly twirling a white rook chess piece. His opponent, ACE was grunting over his next move. He was most curious about the woman in the center, Commander Shepard. It was clear she had served in some form of special forces. So he spent his time perusing the 'extranet'.
"So Earth's government is still segregated. This Earth Alliance is only loosely affiliated as the de facto government as far as intergalactic politics are concerned." He mused aloud.
"So what does that have to do with anything? TAKE THIS! Knight takes pawn!"
"Bishop takes knight, mate."
"What? How the hell?" Ace grumbled. "Still. What the hell does that have to do with anything? So this earth still has its own governments and a government for dealing with aliens?"
"It means that while this Alliance has the military power. It has almost zero clout with its own home planet." SEVEN spoke brusquely.
"Well that seems backwards." ACE retorted with a snort before rocking back and for and moving to reset the board. "Should the one with all the power be in charge of the government?"
"In reality it probably is. But politics is a muddy battlefield in and of itself." Lelouch nodded.
Seven noticed the subtle hand movements. "Lelouch. It seems our friends want to know more about Mikazuki and Orga."
"And I have the public file on Commander Shepard. Sure it's not quite the same value but it gives us a peek into the woman." Lelouch pointed out.
"If I may. That is probably outdated. It looks like she's going through the motions. Did she not just get clinically revived, in a similar manner as me?" Jeremiah chimed in politely while observing the commander on the security console. This prompted Lelouch to look from Shepherd to his omni tool, then back to Shepard.
"That would explain a few things. Good eye as always Jeremiah."
Jeremiah bowed before speaking. "You would have caught it my lord, if you hadn't already."
"Kissing his ass again Orange boy?" ACE said with a cocky smirk as his face was exposed.
"Jealousy doesn't beget you ACE. I wear that title with pride now." Jeremiah countered with a challenging smirk.
"Bite me." ACE pouted before flipping the peacock off. "I could kick your ass!"
"You'll kick your own ass and you know it." SEVEN stated matter of factly.
"What was that?! You wanna go too, you Stuffy Stickler?!"
A rumble was heard outside before the door opened up and the face of Officer Deckard was revealed, poking his head in.
"My data says in a typical police drama, this would be the perfect time for coffee." And like a gust of wind, all the tension was gone.
"Mine has cream and three sugars right?" Ace asked jokingly.
"I brought them black. With the cream and sugars separate. I do not know how to make good coffee yet. It is a surprisingly complex science."
"And you are learning quite well. Unlike the boy who still has servants serve him tea in maid outfits." Said boy who was twirling the rook piece soon almost crushed it out of reflex. Lelouch simply sighed.
"And you don't argue against the fact. But what brings you here my witch?" Lelouch asked with a rueful smile.
The witch in question simply smiled before drinking from a coffee mug. She hummed appreciatively over the aroma before adding in some cream and a couple of sugar packets before stirring idly.
"She reminds me of me after someone had cut me up like a prized dairy cow."
That got the attention of both SEVEN, who grabbed his coffee and calmly sipped from it. Lelouch grabbed some creamer cups first, pouring out one cup and then pouring himself coffee. Not wanting to be outdone, ACE grabbed a cup and downed it black before hacking and coughing violently. With childish motions ACE started to add the desired amount of condiments to his coffee.
"Why not give Deckard a chance to play detective with all the information you've observed and collected thus far on Commander Shepard."
Lelouch hummed in thought before setting the rook down on the chess board. A smile appeared on his face as he liked the idea.
"Let us indeed test this detective. Deckard, here's what we have found thus far." He nodded before searching his omni tool before finding a packet function. "Transmitting it via wi-fi now." Deckard's eyes flashed in recognition.
"Commander Shepard, 31. Born on Earth, she grew up not knowing her family. It seems she was raised in the gang life. A xenophobic, pro humanity group. She enlisted with the Alliance navy the moment she became old enough to enlist. Her service record rivals that of many medal of honor winners. She single handed held off an enemy invasion of…Paradise? Elysium?" Deckard briefly quirked an eyebrow. "Either way. It saw her awarded this universe's highest honor in the Alliance, The Star of Terra. After that her information is mostly tied to news feeds. However, one set of interviews by one…Khalisah Al-Jilani show's her having remarkable composure in the face of a…pardon the metaphor; witch hunt. I think most people would have punched her in the face. In fact further research supports this assessment." The machine frowned briefly. "Other than that. There's not much else besides those she served with. Her being assigned to the SSV Normandy. After becoming a specter she was sent after a Rogue Specter Saren. Anything beyond that is down to conspiracy theories and wild speculation, due to the nature of specters having sealed and confidential information. However Six months later she and twenty hands aboard the Normandy were declared dead after a Geth Ambush."
"So how then is a dead woman and a dead ship, onboard the Dreisstrager?" Lelouch asked rhetorically.
Deckard hummed and scratched at his metal chin in thought.
"In the words of the immortal Sherlock holmes; when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Jeremiah quoted with a dignified sip of his own coffee.
"There is the human supremacy group Cerberus. They might have the capital to fund such an endeavor." Deckard pointed out as lelouch brought up the intercepted transmission from the now destroyed satellite. "However, for that same amount. They could have easily fielded their own private army and accompanying armada."
"Indeed. The question then becomes. Why her. Why Commander Shepard?" Lelouch nodded, skillfully and dramatically turning around in his chair without spilling his coffee with one foot. He smiled at Deckard as if the answer was obvious. "Perhaps what Cerberus needed was not an army or an armada. But a Single Woman. Their very own Joan De Arc. An interesting Concept."
"So they brought her back after this supposed 'Geth' attack to deal with the real culprits!"
"Not quite, I'm afraid." SEVEN spoke up, adjusting his glasses. "It's more likely she has been strong armed into a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation."
"What do you mean?" ACE asked while leaning forward.
"This Cerberus. They hate aliens. Vehemently. Much like those we fought in our world and the extremists of the old SSP's era."
"What about these missing colonists? Information regarding these incidents seem to get quickly squashed. Almost like somebody doesn't want the truth coming out." ACE pointed out with a small smirk, pointing to the paper copies of said information.
"So we have a dead specter being brought back. By an organization that hates aliens. To stop these abductions. But that one," Deckard pointed out the alien called 'Doctor Solus'. "Is an alien species, clearly not human. So is Cerberus that desperate?"
"Or could they be wanting Shepard to be in a comfortable environment?" Lelouch further extrapolated. "What better way to get a former enemy to work for you. Then to provide them with operational freedoms?"
"I wouldn't be so brazen as to let a loose cannon run off with a state of the art stealth frigate. It would be as bad as when the kid got into the ULTRAMAN suit for the first time. Power went straight to his head. Which one? There's a betting pool on that." SEVEN counter argued.
"No. I'd wiretap every little nook and cranny I could on that ship. What better way to keep tabs on someone who doesn't like you very much?"
"I bet you it is being monitored. By people and machines." Lelouch gestured. "Maybe a Cerberus loyal XO?"
"That is sometimes the best way. A loyal aide to follow the loose cannon to keep it on target, lightly of course, or failing that. Clean up the mess." Jeremiah nodded.
"Ah. Now I understand much better. Military intelligence gathering and Civilian police work are vastly different indeed. Still. What is Shepard doing all the way out here? Was it by choice or order?"
"Perhaps it was more along the lines of a suggestion?" Another voice chimed in. "We were rather explosive in our first engagement. Multiple pirates were destroyed in our opening volley. If Cerberus is potent enough to have stealth satellites hidden in asteroid fields in the middle of seemingly nowhere. Then it stands to reason they value the power of information, and we are an unknown quantity. Captain Mitsuba is going to find that out, and then we'll decide our own actions from there." Bright paused to pick up the final cup of coffee and slowly but steadily drained the cup. "Personally we don't have many options. We don't have a star map, it's all our navigators can do at the moment to match stellar drift…As well as also from what I've been able to glean from these…terminals…" he brought up his own rudimentary omni tool. "Their method of FTL focuses on point to point relays combined with some sublight travel. We don't have much in the way of supplies, nor a reliable method of resupplying. Surveys of nearby asteroids show no signs of Luna titanium or similar metals. Which means our mobile suits, not counting super robots, can't sustain prolonged engagements."
"And that also means by extension no Sakuradite for knightmare frames." Lelouch gathered while thinking heavily. "A work around is required."
"But Robots like us brave police, the mazingers and the Getter teams are unaffected by this resource crisis, whether through being made of mundane materials or being able to regenerate those materials, and self sustaining energy sources like cosmic radiation IE getter rays, and Photon energy." Deckard figured it out as a fist in hand AHA moment. "But why then the whole ploy of hiding us away? Is that not dishonest?"
"Most people would probably have a heart attack if a police car told them to stop resisting." ACE pointed out with a shit eating grin.
"Ah. I understand a bit better now."
"According to this codex. AI research was banned long before an incident that is dated three hundred years ago of a whole "worker" AI turning against their creators the quarians… this only made the citadel races far more "active" in the enforcement of this ban and also punishing the quarian people by denying them the ability to resettle upon a world and removing their embassy from the primary seat of power.. This Citadel." SEVEN explained.
"If they have issues with AI research. Imagine the heart attacks some of our psycho framed suits will induce. The NT-D system of the Unicorn gundam, the Narrative, and the Phenex could all be considered violations of council law. The Zeta Gundam is also pushing it." Bright sighed. "I'm sure Captain Mitsuba is going to take all of this into account in our negotiations."
"And we especially need to keep THAT under lock and key more tightly than ever." SEVEN emphasized. And Everyone in the room understood what he meant by that.
"Circling back to our logistics issues. Perhaps we could create a filter for our knightmare frames and mobile suits with getter rays. For the risk of Drawing the Invaders I would rather that, since we can deal with Invaders until we return home. Rather than being forced to adjust our machines to both the benefits of this world's technology AND its weaknesses." Lelouch offered. SEVEN stared at Lelouch for a moment before nodding his head in agreement along with most everyone else.
"I agree. It's odd that for as wonderful this mass effect technology is. It's almost designed to stagnate." SEVEN said.
"You're saying someone wanted the galaxy to reach a specific point before slapping the giant delete button?" ACE asked cheekily. SEVEN blinked as he fixed a rather intimidating gaze on the junior ULTRAMAN.
"You know, you really can hit the nail on the head. Sometimes." SEVEN acknowledged
"Was that a compliment? From SEVEN? Lelouch pinch me!" ACE Replied with great and playful sarcasm.
"And now you ruined it, young one." C.C teased lightly before daintily sipping from her coffee.
Commander Shepard had to silently admit to herself that she didn't want to be the one told to try and capture this ship. Between the crew, the morale and the bond they all seem to share, it reminded her of the original Normandy and her crew. And across from her she viewed Captain Mitsuba as a younger cadet, and yet the ship itself seemed to exude a forbidding sense of danger.
Shepard looked over to Garrus and could see his Skyllian five tells. The Turian could feel it too. The red head sighed internally before squaring her shoulders and putting her hands on the table before them, For each of them was a trio of manilla envelopes.
"I have to thank you once again for meeting with us. In those envelopes you'll find our Earth's history. What we know about Dimensional Boundary Distortions. And Non classified intel that we are free to share." Mitsuba offered smoothly and officially.
Mordin Solus was slow to pick things up as he looked at them curiously.
"Physical paper? Intriguing. Fallen out of practice. More signs of Alternate world ringing true."
"Some of the inhabitants from other worlds have stopped using paper for such tasks altogether." Mitsuba nodded with a wry smile. "The first DBD's threw us for quite the loop. I've even seen magic."
"Magic. Like Houdini?" Garrus chimed hopefully only to get a shake of Mitsuba's head. "Sooo…physics defying magic…Ok. Who opened the portal to Dungeons and Dragons. And have you seen a troll yet? I hear they're weak to Fire and acid."
"We squished about thirteen trolls with our gundams." Mikazuki chimed in from Orga's back with a cheeky smile. He then plopped a piece of fruit into his mouth.
"I'll have to ask my DM if I can pilot a mecha next session."
"Garrus No." Shepard sighed with a face palm. "Joker would chase after you with his crutches for ruining his game."
"Ah but see there's the fun! Exercise." That got a chuckle from everyone in the room. Except for Mika who seemed to only grin. His face soon returned to his resting poker face. "I see some things transcend Dimensional boundaries."
Orga seemed to narrow his right eye. His left seemed to be closed. To Shepard he had the bearing of a leader, albeit one with a heavy burden.
"Now that we've broken the ice. Onto First contact as it were." Mitsuba offered helpfully.
"Technically Second contact. First contact, batarian pirates. Negotiating skills…Absent." Mordin Chimed morbidly. "Approve of devastating force used. Pirates like roaches. Everywhere when least wanted." Orga scoffed, clearly he had run-ins with pirates as well. However ULTRAMAN, who had folded his helmet back, cringed. Mitsuba herself nodded in agreement.
"True. However that is of little consequence to us. Getting back to our world is of a more direct concern." The blonde woman nodded in agreement.
"I have been asked to investigate that incident and to interrogate any Battarians about colonists that have been abducted."
"Ah. These Battarians…Four eyes? Sharp teeth?" Mitsuba asked. Shepard nodded. "We have One. In our brig. He is currently passed out on account of fright I believe. Sleeping and the fetal position are the most often recorded activities since his capture.
"Fetal position? Must be scared for life. Would have killed him after extracting information. Dangerous to keep living." Moridan said.
"It's also dangerous not having enough information." Orga piped up. "Our interrogation specialists are quite convincing. Trying to break out would be…problematic for his health if you catch my drift."
"Ah. Of the muzzle velocity Variety of health issues." Garrus nodded.
"Thirty millimeters of health issues, yes." Mika supplied cryptically. Garrus moved a hand to his chestplate at that statement. Mordin showed complete and simultaneous fascination and horror.
"That's…excessive…You're not worried about those rounds penetrating the ship, or causing an air leak, or explosive decompression?" Mitsuba shook her head to Shepherd's question.
"While your concern is appreciated it's not the first time we have been boarded. And by forces far more capable then the batarian, and by the sand size projectiles were fired in that incident." Mitsuba paused. "We would rather hand him off to the appropriate authorities as we don't have medical staff skilled or trained in xenobiology."
"I could probably send word through specter channels of a pirate in need of incarceration to the Alliance." Shepherd offered helpfully. "It gets a pirate off your ship before he does something stupid like take a hostage." Once again Orga scoffed, ULTRAMAN simply sighed while Mikazuki grinned.
"I'm afraid he already tried. He tried to take Hikaru-chan - AHEM. A school girl captive. I'm afraid he won't look at a school girl the same way again. She lit him on fire and for a while it was a batarian candle running around until we put the fire out, out of pity." Orga said while grinning brightly.
"Ohhh…that's gotta be a burn on his ego." Garrus audibly winced.
"It was funny for the first few minutes. Then it got old. Couldn't understand a word he was screaming though. Took a tooth in order to remind him that keeping quiet was better for him." Mika deadpanned. Garrus turned his helmet towards shepard.
She simply gave him a 'yes I know. Beware the paralyzed one. Congratulations. Moving on.' nod.
"So…touchy subjects first then. Do you employ child soldiers like Mikazuki?"
"Now hold on a-" Orga started to say before Mistuba interrupted him.
"Orga please. It's a perfectly understandable question." Mitsuba sighed. "Tekkadan helps us whenever they see fit. They are not required to Sortie into any battles they do not personally agree with. In return we provide them with food, shelter and a way back home. Once we discover that method. It's the same with ULTRAMAN or any other displaced with our organization, the Dreikruz."
"Tekkadan? Meaning Iron Flower. Different nomenclature from Dreisstrager and Dreikruz. Separate organization?"
"That is correct." Mitsuba nodded. That prompted Mordin solus to open up his own package and rapidly perusing the contents. Shepard was handed the envelope titled history. Garrus himself was excitedly opening the technology folder. She sighed and delved once again into history class. The first thing she noticed was no exploration of mars. Instead mankind focused on combating overpopulation by building space colonies at Earth's lagrange points. Things diverted even further with the founding of the Universal century calendar and discovery of the Minovsky particles.
Shepard had to sigh internally though as she reached the most recent ten year calamity. A war that could only be described as war-ception. A series of wars tightly woven together and interconnected by alliances, betrayals and desperate measures. Roughly 75 percent of the human population was wiped out during this period of warfare. The One Year war being the most devastating with over fifty percent of earth's population being wiped out in only a single year. What she was reading about made the krogan rebellions seem tame by comparison.
"Ah I see." Mordin hummed in thought while tracking the words with the help of his omnitool. "So Displacements are likely intentional. Means of experimentation? Or a goal of unknown end. Former preferred in this case. Latter implications. Problematic. Would need to survey displaced individuals for establishment of commonality." A small humm later. "Further problematic now with displacement of a specialized unit…Specialized unit? Oh my."
"So they use a combination of railguns and plasma to sling beams of energy? We only just figured that out from that reaper Sovereign's wreckage…" Garrus said in amazement. "Those batarians didn't even know what hit them."
Shepard recalled the beams of energy that had been used against those pirates. Shepard sighed before she found the segment on the Dreikruz and its official role as an autonomous unit to combat numerous threats and investigate unstable dimensional borders.
"So what kind of threats does your unit fight? And do we have to worry about them on top of what our current worries are?" Shepard asked, leaning forward and observing Captain Mitsuba.
"As far as Neo Zeon's remnants and our world's criminals, no. no you won't have to worry about them. As for more extraterrestrial threats. Hard to say. The invaders exist wherever there is getter radiation. But all of our records on them point to dark space being where they are most prevalent." Shepard breathed a sigh of relief in that regard if only that reapers sounded like the only thing they'd have to worry about. "Dr. Hell was killed in action in one of our latest engagements."
"Was there a Dr. heaven? Please tell me there was a Dr. heaven." Garrus chimed in.
"Sadly no. But I do get the joke." ULTRAMAN said with a smile. "He was a real piece of work though."
"Oh? What did he prefer doing? Given the name I doubt it was sunshine, rainbows and unicorns." While Garrus was distracted, Shepard childishly swapped folders with him to get a better look at some of the technology they were dealing with.
"He was obsessed with an ancient civilization called the Myceneans. And tried to take over the world several times." Mitsuba nodded to the history papers that were now in front of Garrus.
"Your machines in the hangar are quite unique. We have walkers of our own but nothing quite that heavy." Shepard nodded, thinking of the ATLAS and security drones that they periodically fought. "Hell, even the geth don't have anything exceeding five meters in height."
"Actually that is one of our super robot hangars. Most of the mobile suits or smaller are spread out in separate hangars and even onboard our other capital ships." Mitsuba nodded. "However the Dreisstrager is the only vessel suited to service and maintain Super robots in our fleet. Which brings me to one of our core issues." The blonde paused before continuing. "Without diving into the specifics. Most of our super robots are capable of self repair and don't require traditional fuel. You want the specifics on any given machine. I'd ask you to direct your questions to either the head scientists of that unit or in some cases the pilots themselves."
"And the units that can't repair themselves?" Mordin asked.
"Their maintenance needs can be looked after for the next six months provided we don't get into any serious engagements. However I doubt our location will remain a secret for that long. We don't have a means of instantaneous FTL. Our sublight drives are good enough and only a handful of our suits are capable of FTL naturally."
"Wait. Run that one by me again. You have walkers that are capable of FTL? What about the pilots inside?" Garrus asked incredulously.
"The pilots of those units are for those suits specifically and have specialized cockpits and equipment to help them remain conscious during peak performance maneuvers." Mitsuba said vaguely. "If someone were to pilot say either the Silver bullet which was one of your escorts in or the V two gundam, without the appropriate protection. They'd likely die from the amount of gravitational force the thrusters apply on the human body without proper protections."
"How many G's are we talking about?" Garrus chimed in again
"About twenty or more with those two in particular." Shepard blinked at Mitsuba's response.
"Twe-twenty? Pilots should be Liquified?!" Mordin said incredulously.
"They say seeing is believing." At everyone's nod she turned to activate a monitor screen. "This recording is a declassified recording from a deactivated unit that we'll call singularity one. The pilot is Banagher Links. He flew you in."
The scene unfolding on the monitor was like a science fiction film. The read out in the bottom left was a time stamp, The name of a unit, the NZ-666. The pilot name: Marida Cruz. Current location; Side 1, L5 colony. Ahead of the mobile suit they saw a single horned machine still in dry dock quickly coming alive. The charred remains of a body could be seen floating away in zero g when the docking clamps disengaged. Lights flared alive as the pilot of the recording unit adjusted their stance. It angled forward and the brief flash of thrusters could be seen out the back. Marida Cruz briefly activated one of the suits' weapons only to be bull rushed. A diagnostic screen briefly flaring to show that the airbag had been deployed upon detecting a collision. The Kshatriya's own thrusters were shown to be at full power and the machine was still being outperformed and pushed out of the station. The diagnostic screen flared up once again showing damage to the right hand and a 'beam saber' going offline. Once out of the station the larger battle could be seen around the station and yet the two pilots circled one another with the Kshatriya kicking the Unicorn like mech away and deploying another weapon system labeled 'funnels'. The mobile suit seemed to undergo some form of activation sequence as red lines could be perceived running along the armor as green lasers streaked out only to defy physics and bend around the mobile suit. Surprise could be heard from the female pilot as she fired again only for one of her funnels to get destroyed by what could only be a more powerful beam saber as the Unicorn like mech now sported a face.
However it was there that the screen paused just as the screen was filled with the 'singularity's' face right in front of the camera.
"Due to the classified nature of that suit in particular we can't show any more."
"And this Marida Cruz?"
"Lieutenant Junior Grade Marida Cruz was Killed in action several months later. Her actions helped secure peace with the Minerva Faction. As did the actions of Banagher Links who remains a part of Minerva's faction by choice."
"To overpower another vessel. Impressive."
"Uhhhhh Shepard!" Chimed in a voice over her comlink.
"Joker? Kinda in the middle of talks at the moment, what seems to be the problem?" At the same moment klaxons started sounding.
"EDI just told me that the Batarians are back. With an unregistered dreadnought!"
"Please tell me you're joking." Shepard said while gesturing for Mordin and Garrus to gather the first contact package. "Captain Mitsuba?"
"Yes. I'm aware. An unknown vessel just passed our outermost patrol."
"Perhaps we could survey the battle from your bridge Captain. Batarians likely don't know we are here. Only after revenge."
Mitsuba nodded and gestured for them to follow.
"Then follow me." One one hand it would help Shepard learn just what had landed on her lap. But she couldn't help but wonder if it was a good or a bad thing. Only time would tell.