Hey guys, TheDoctor1998 here with another chapter! Last time we saw Desolas' fleet attack and destroy the UNSC ships in the Shanxi System, despite the heavy losses for just a few civilian ships and a single military ship, as well as some Turians discovering that this isn't some illegal colony. Now, on with the show!

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30th June 2657

THV Bird of Prey

Unknown planet's orbit

Unknown system

Admiral Desolas was watching the readouts of the planet below. By all accounts, these Batarian pirates have found a perfect garden world. Once this mess was over, it could act as a good frontier for the Citadel in this unexplored region of the galaxy.

Hell, if he was lucky it could even be a dextro world, but he wasn't counting on that. The Batarians wouldn't even bother settling there if that was the case, outside of making their slaves grow produce to feed their Turian and Quarian slaves.

All the more reason to kick them off the planet, after all. He didn't care about any Quarians in the Batarian's claws, but he'd be damned if he'd allow the four eyed bastards to sustain even more Turian slaves!

"What's the situation?" He asked.

"We've detected numerous settlements across the planet, each well developed." Litrinox replied. "It seems the Batarians have been here for a while. I'm guessing some of our patrols somehow missed them before." The XO seemed to ponder a bit. "Maybe their sensors were malfunctioning? I don't know how they could miss an activated Mass Relay otherwise, but it's the only explanation that makes sense at this point."

"Time and place, Litrinox. Time and place." Desolas sighed.

Litrinox blinked and shook himself out of his thoughts. "Apologies sir, merely wondering how we could miss an entire colony for, presumably, several years."

"We'll find out soon enough, I suppose."

Litrinox looked back down on the holographic map of the planet. "Still, I recommend we attack this settlement first." He indicated a red dot on the largest continent, one very close to the ocean. "It's the largest settlement on the planet, and the easiest to access from the ground. Then I suggest we attack the other large-scale settlements on the planet, before focussing on the minor settlements on this world. They're small enough to ignore for now while we take care of the upper castes."

"Excellent. And seeing as we've already established orbital supremacy, we can easily shoot down any pirate stupid enough to flee from justice." Desolas nodded before opening communications to the ground forces in his fleet. "Attention soldiers, prepare for invasion. Take down as many of these pirates as you can." He then looked at Litrinox. "Send in the fighters and bombers."

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30th June 2657

THV Bird of Prey

Unknown planet's orbit

Unknown system

Saren Arterius heard the voice of his elder brother over the intercom, and had already prepared his squad of Cabals.

Saren wasn't exactly a beloved figure within the ship, and not just because of the cultural bias against Turians with biotic abilities. No, the reason he was so disliked, and in some cases outright hated, was because of the presumed nepotism that got him in his position.

Now, he did get why people thought that that's the case. Not only is he younger than most Cabal captains, but his brother is also an admiral. This led some people to think that Desolas used his authority to make Saren the leader of his own squad, and got him put on the Bird of Prey.

None of that was true of course. Sure, both Desolas and Saren requested that they'd be put on the same ship, but neither used their authority to force others to greenlight the decision. No, they'd only shown that the two work together excellently, despite their vastly different positions.

But when it came to his position, Saren could proudly say that he'd gotten no help from his brother to obtain it. He'd managed to do it all by himself, through nothing but sheer skill and determination, having shown his superiors his talents at combat and leadership.

Regardless, that did not stop the rumors from spreading about. And with it, the anger at the biotic. Saren ignored the idiots of course, only reacting on the rare occasion that things got physical. He always managed to send the morons to one of the medics without even using his biotic abilities, not only showing the falsehood of the rumors, but also to act as a warning to those who were arrogant enough to think they could take him down.

Thankfully, the Cabals would generally scoff at the rumors, all having seen the captain in combat. They know that he could even give a Spectre a beating if the need arose. Hell, there were rumors among the Cabals that he was on the candidate list, already a Spectre or that he'd managed to kill a rogue Spectre.

Saren scoffed at them, of course. While he'd trained with Turian Spectres before, and even beaten a few during said training, he never actually fought one, rouge or not. And no, the Council hadn't seen fit to make him a Spectre. He did like to think that he was a candidate though, but only in his more ambitious dreams. He didn't know if the Council had its collective gaze on him though, but he'd be honored to be even considered as a candidate, even if he ultimately didn't become a Spectre.

But that was neither here or now, so Saren chose to focus on the mission at hand. "Alright men, you heard the admiral, and you know what we're dropping into. These pirates have illegally opened a Mass Relay and managed to set up a colony on this garden world. Our own mission is simple: Go down, hit them hard and fast, and gather any intel we can."

"Prisoners?" One of his subordinates asked.

"Negative, any pirates are to be shot on sight." Saren replied. "In the case that the pirates have prisoners of their own, they are to be rescued by our non-biotic colleagues. We are to focus on our own mission. Any other questions?" He then looked over his men, seeing nothing but disciplined soldiers who knew what to do. "No? Then get aboard the transport. We'll make these pirates wish that they never crossed the Hierarchy!"

After his little attempt to boost morale, Saren and his men started climbing into the transports along with the other Cabals, and headed down towards the garden world.

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30th June 2657

Shanxi City

Shanxi Prime

Shanxi System

Seelac was staring at the monitor in worry. "Are you sure?"

"Unfortunately there's no doubt, ma'am." Answered a hologram of an armored Human replied. "We managed to spot over a hundred different alien ships exiting the Space Bridge, which promptly destroyed the Grand Discovery and its accompanying science ships before heading towards Shanxi in realspace FTL."

Seelac set aside the knowledge about this new technology for now, considering it was nothing more than a distraction for the moment. "General, can we evacuate the planet?"

General Williams shook his head. "Unfortunately, it seems that the aliens have us surrounded. Without any military backup, it would be suicide to try and leave the planet."

The Silurian sighed. "Damnit Danny." She quietly said in grief, mourning the man who she'd started to see as a friend these past few weeks. After a small moment she composed herself again. "Is there anything we can do?"

The general quickly replied to the administrator. "All we can do at the moment is try to bring as many civilians as we can to a safer location on the planet while my men hold the aliens off as long as we can, and hope that the Second Fleet arrives before Shanxi falls."

"Do it." Seelac said without hesitation, caring more about the safety of Shanxi's people than anything else. She then started typing some commands on her console. "I'm already authorizing your emergency powers for the duration of this crisis."

The Silurian was, of course, referring to the Emergency Powers Act drafted into the United Earth Government's laws in the wake of the Great War, after the UNSC restored the civilian government. While the wording of the act was extensive and somewhat complicated, it essentially allowed the UNSC to take control during a crisis when authorized by their civilian counterparts, but forces control back to the UEG after the crisis was over. It could also be done on a local scale to deal with smaller events, such as a natural disaster and the destruction those things cause, and this was what Seelac was doing. Handing control of Shanxi over to Williams so he could do what he can against the invaders.

Seelac's office then started shaking as explosions erupted in the city, cries of pain and panic soon following. The Silurian just hoped and prayed to the Elder Goddess that this wouldn't evolve into a second Great War.

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30th June 2657

THV Bird of Prey

Unknown planet's orbit

Unknown system

Desolas was staring at his monitor in horror. "You're certain of this?"

The woman on the other side of the call, a crewmember of the Raging Claw who was sent out to retrieve the surviving crewmembers of the enemy ships, was staring back at him. "Absolutely, sir. These people aren't pirates, it's a new species."

Some murmuring could be heard all over the bridge, but most were silent due to a mixture of regret and Turian discipline. The silence was broken by Litrinox. "What can you tell about the ship?"

Crala quickly gave her report. "Most of the technology seems to have been damaged beyond any use, and our scans have reported a total absence of any element zero."

Litrinox seemed to ponder. "This must be a young species then, likely a pre-FTL civilization that just found the Relay."

Desolas closed his eyes in shame. "That just makes things even worse." He then looked at the image of the Turian woman who called for his attention. "How are the prisoners?"

"Our medics tended to the wounds of the survivors as best as they could, using knowledge of common baseline biology in combination with our scans, tissue samples and autopsies of the bodies." Crala winced as the last words came out of her mouth. "They seem to be a levo based species though, and we don't have enough levo rations on-board to feed them for a prolonged period of time."

"Bring whatever tech they have to the Bird of Prey, we might gain some kind of useful insight. Inform your captain to join the Citadel Fleet, and request for levo refills." The man then looked at his XO after cutting communications with the Raging Claw. "Do you think we can negotiate a cease-fire?" He hoped to whatever spirit might listen that his friend could figure out a way to stop more innocent blood from being spilled.

Litrinox sighed. "It's too late for peaceful contact now, admiral. From the perspective of these primitives, we just attacked without any provocation. We've already destroyed their fleet, and attacked their cities with our own ships and men."

Desolas sighed. "Then we've got to pacify these people until we manage to break the language barrier. Maybe, if we're lucky, we can make these people another protectorate of the Hierarchy."

Litrinox stood still for a moment while he thought it over. "I do see the merit in that plan. The Volus have done wonders for us by streamlining our logistics and economy, allowing for the unprecedented growth of our army and navy. If P-Alpha is any indication of their shipbuilding capabilities, we could end up improving our own ships by a significant margin. After all, a species capable of engineering a dreadnought of that caliber without utilizing the Mass Effect would be a significant boon to anyone."

"Sir?" One of the communications officers asked.

Desolas sighed again. "It's either that, or our collective disgrace. We've already started the fight, so we might as well make sure that this incident won't worsen into another Rachni Wars."

While there were some within the fleet who felt uneasy about what they were about to do, nobody started voicing their concerns. They were Turians, the best soldiers in the galaxy. They would do as ordered, and would have no reason to fear a species that has just escaped the boundaries of their homeworld.

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30th June 2657

Shanxi City

Shanxi Prime

Shanxi System

Private David Anderson was, to put it bluntly, afraid. Not for himself mind you, his mother didn't raise a coward after all. No, he was afraid for the people of Shanxi.

It was obvious that these aliens were hostile, but he didn't know what they were planning to do with them. Were they another Covenant? Did they seek to enslave Humanity? Were they simple conquerors who've discovered a new land that they wanted to call their own? He didn't know. Whatever the case was though, it didn't change the current fact.

That he was in a firefight with these things.

"I need suppressive fire over he-!" His fellow soldier was cut off, his personal shields failing under alien fire, which in turn allowed their bullets to penetrate his brain.

"Shit!" Anderson yelled, firing back at the attackers. From the looks of it, they also had some kind of energy shield, though significantly weaker as they fell faster than their own.

Despite that, these particular aliens seemed to be far more skilled than Anderson and his squad, taking them down with sheer precision. There was a clear difference between them and the token planetary defense force, many of whom had never partaken in active combat before.

At this point, he and his squad holed up inside an office building, taking potshots where they could in order to distract the aliens from any civilians that might still be in the area. They'd constructed a barrier made out of various office supplies at all potential entrances, the thicker and sturdier parts of which were able block the alien weapons entirely. At the moment, it didn't look like the invaders could get in.

Then the enemy squad seemed to glow with blue fire, and gravity seemed to shut down.

Anderson and the others just seemed to float in the air, along with the constituent parts of their barricade, as the aliens breached the perimeter and shot at the disorientated soldiers.

Strangely though, it seemed like they weren't shooting to kill this time, focusing more on their weapons while knocking the other soldiers out with a blow to the head.

Anderson had barely grabbed his secondary weapon, a simple pistol, when he too got a knock on the head. Only one thought managed to form in his fading consciousness before darkness set in. 'Guess they want slaves after all.'

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30th June 2657

Unknown city

Unknown planet

Unknown system

"Take the survivors and put them in one of their cages." Saren said, annoyed at the situation. As it turns out, the so-called pirates that they were fighting weren't pirates at all, but a new species. And so, his orders had changed.

Instead of exterminating them like originally intended, they'd now be arrested for their violation of Citadel law. The reasoning didn't make much sense to Saren, but after the fight had started, they needed a reason to justify this. After all, a Turian never starts a fight that they did not intend to finish. An old piece of their culture, but one that remained since the dawn of their civilization.

And a piece of their culture that bound their very honor to keep fighting until their goal was reached. And when the first goal was revealed to be nonexistent, they needed another reason to justify the fight. They were Turians, not mere beasts that fought without purpose!

Some people might call it warmongering, mostly the much more pacifistic Asari or the arrogant Batarians, but they would stop fighting if their goal was reached in one way or another. Say, if they finally tried to force the Hegemony to stop its practices of slavery, they'd just fight to do so. Whether that meant conquest of their territory, the extermination of the higher castes or accepting a peace treaty that'd force their hands, it wouldn't matter. The results would justify the very existence of the war.

Still, there was something that was… off, about this whole situation. These primitives had no element zero in any piece of their technology, that was certain. No FTL drives within P-Alpha, their weapons still used ordinary bullets instead of element zero propelled slices of metal the size of a grain of sand, and their soldiers seemed to lack kinetic barriers.

Yet the reality of the situation didn't quite seem to fit the facts. The weapons, despite lacking any use of the Mass Effect, still packed more than enough of a punch to compensate. Sure, that's not that far out of the realm of possibility, the Turians were always working to improve their weapons where they could. It would not be a huge stretch of the imagination to say that a species without element zero would attempt to do the same.

But the seeming lack of kinetic barriers was troubling, considering he knew he landed a killing blow on the enemy soldiers more than once, only for the same soldiers to fight like nothing happened after ducking for a moment. Something that was impossible without kinetic barriers, which themselves were impossible without element zero. Yet these soldiers fought just like they did have them, ducking into cover to let their barriers recharge.

Most blatantly though, was the fact that this did not seem like a homeworld. Even a primitive species that was on the cusp of discovering FTL would have their homeworld be far more developed than this. The layout of the cities, the small amount of settlements, the lack of any indication that this species was here for the entirety of its existence, they all pointed to this being a colony instead of a homeworld.

Yet they did not have any eezo. Saren thought that maybe P-Alpha was a generation ship of some kind, the Quarians dabbled in the technology prior to their discovery of eezo themselves. The concept was relatively simple, a large ship taking enough people to start a colony drifting through the stars without FTL taking an enormous amount of time to get to the nearest habitable planet. All known species had the idea at some point or another, but only the Quarians actually researched the necessary technology prior to the discovery of the Mass Effect, which rendered the very concept of a generation ship pointless.

It's possible that these primitives actually succeeded where all other races abandoned the idea, which would indeed make this a colony instead of a homeworld. It's also possible that P-Alpha was that very generation ship, only converted into a warship after its task of acting as a generation ship was finished. Or maybe these aliens had built it as some kind of hybrid vessel to act in both roles.

But there should've been a drydock somewhere in this system if that was the case. A dreadnought, even one that can act the part of a generation ship, needed maintenance and fuel like any other ship. The lack of a drydock might've made sense if this species could breach the light barrier, but evidently that's not the case.

If Saren didn't know any better, he might've said that these aliens managed to figure out the staples of eezo based technology without eezo. But he immediately wrote that idea off, he wasn't some crazed Salarian science fiction junkie who believed in the impossible. For now, he'd just continue this job and capture as many of these alien soldiers until dolt otherwise.

Despite the difficulty of doing so when his squad had prepared to take no prisoners.

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And that's a wrap. The Turians have realized that these so-called primitives aren't pirates at all, just after they've started attacking the planet.

Still, Saren has figured out something is off about Shanxi, even if he doesn't know what's truly going on.

TheDoctor1998 here, signing out!