Uninspired
Mass Effect, Inspired Inventor
14
Commissioned by Rival.
Recipient: Liara T'Soni
Sender: Leon Reynolds
Subject: An archaeological find you might be interested in.
Message:
[picture]
Let me know if you'd like to see more.
Recipient: Leon Reynolds
Sender: Liara T'Soni
Subject: An archaeological find you might be interested in.
Message:
By the goddess, yes!
Where was this taken?! When?!
It's clearly a Prothean ruin! I have to know!
But, uh, it occurs to me that I should probably ask who you are, and how you got my name and address?
How did you know I was studying this field?
Recipient: Liara T'Soni
Sender: Leon Reynolds
Subject: An archaeological find you might be interested in.
Message:
All in due time.
My name is Leon, and I'm a human.
[picture]
As for how I got your address, I looked it up.
Asari are one of the oldest races alive today and one of the longest lived.
I assumed that if anyone would know about these ruins, it would be an asari.
After that, I did a little digging and found a young, fresh, enthusiastic face studying in the field.
So, how would you like to see them for yourself?
In person.
Recipient: Leon Reynolds
Sender: Liara T'Soni
Subject: An archaeological find you might be interested in.
Message:
…
Why didn't you contact the Citadel?!
I can't be the first contact you have with our race!
And goddess, you look just like us!
I mean, there are obvious differences, but the similarities—!
It's uncanny!
I would love nothing more than to see them for myself, and meet you if possible!
Recipient: Liara T'Soni
Sender: Leon Reynolds
Subject: An archaeological find you might be interested in.
Message:
Haha!
Oh no, you're not my first contact with an asari.
That was with a nice lady I met on Omega.
I noticed the similarities myself.
I'd love to discuss them with you in more detail, later.
And that's good to hear.
I wasn't looking forward to trying to find some other bright young asari prothean expert and having to repeat the whole 'Hi, I'm an alien, want to come to my planet and look at some ruins I found?' conversation.
[Date]
[Coordinates: Relay Route]
If you need a ride, I can pick you up.
Recipient: Leon Reynolds
Sender: Liara T'Soni
Subject: An archaeological find you might be interested in.
Message:
I'm sorry, Leon.
The furthest I can find a reputable ship willing to take me is Omega.
Recipient: Liara T'Soni
Sender: Leon Reynolds
Subject: An archaeological find you might be interested in.
Message:
That's fine.
I'll meet you there.
Liara's heart pounded in her chest as she reread the message chain on her omni-tool.
I can't believe I'm doing this!!! she mentally squealed, scrolling up to the 'human's' picture again and biting her lip, before hurriedly moving on to the picture of the ruins. It seemed like every time she looked at them, she found something new.
"You're going to miss the tryouts if you don't hurry."
Liara looked up, sending the turian who had approached a confused look. "Excuse me?"
"Tryouts. For dancer. At Afterlife," he repeated, as though she were particularly slow.
Liara laughed and shook her head. Her eyes tracked across the area around them and only then did she realize that it seemed that somehow, she was the only one left in the waiting area. It had been busy just a few moments ago, but suddenly, it had cleared out. Putting the thought aside, she said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm not actually here to try out. I'm waiting for a friend."
The turian frowned, his mandibles clicking briefly. Stepping closer, he lowered his voice. "Listen. You should find somewhere else to be in the next two minutes. Aria's bar is about the safest place around."
Now, Liara's heart was pounding in her chest for an entirely different reason. "Why?"
The turian nodded towards the distance, where she had spotted a taxi earlier. Liara turned to look and saw several people in yellow and black armor waiting, getting weapons ready. Her eyes went wide as the turian explained, "Those guys are one of the local merc companies. They've mustered up there. Coincidentally, I'm sure, Aria's new friend is making a visit. You'll want to be somewhere else."
"Uh," Liara quickly got up and moved towards the club. As she went, she sent off another message to Leon.
Liara: I think that some mercenaries are waiting for you!
A moment later, she got a response.
Leon: Thanks for the heads up. Take cover. I'll come get you when it's over.
Liara frowned, not wanting to just leave the human to get jumped by a band of mercenaries and have to fend for himself. But there wasn't much she could do. Sure, she was confident in her strength with her biotics, but she wasn't a trained fighter! She was just an archaeology student! A, well, nerd. Not some gun toting badass asari commando!
I want to watch, she decided, and ducked behind what had once been a planter, but now only held dead soil.
The turian saw her stop and kept moving. "Your funeral," he shrugged, hurrying into the doors ahead of him.
Liara watched as the mercenaries quickly moved up, taking up firing positions to either side of the entrance from the docking bay. A group of three of them stood in front of the entry, visibly waiting with weapons at the ready, but not aimed. The rest, and largest group, remained out of sight of the dock—obviously backup for the others.
Leon strolled out of the docking area with seemingly not a care in the world, wearing a set of black and red armor and flanked on either side by a pair of human? women—one a black haired woman with triangular ears sticking from the top of her head, the other with short silver hair and pointed ears where Leon's were round. The human looked around, taking in the ambush as the three Eclipse mercenaries approached from the front, an asari taking the lead.
"You three are coming with us. We can do this the fun way or the easy way," the asari merc's smirk was audible in her voice as she cocked her hip and rested a hand on it, the other tapping her SMG against her thigh.
"Quick question," Leon asked, looking around at the men. "What happens if you lose? If we fight and, by some miracle, we win? Is anyone going to care that we dropped a bunch of bodies, here on Omega?"
"It's Omega. No one gives a fuck, as long as you're not fucking with Aria."
Leon laughed, breathing a relieved sigh. "Oh, thank goodness. That makes this easier, then. Kill them all."
The mercenaries were quick on the ball and opened fire the moment the word 'kill' left Leon's mouth. It didn't seem to matter, as hexagonal shields sprang up around him and his two companions, soaking up enemy fire. Fire which was abruptly joined by the sounds of some very large weapon firing nearby, drawing Liara's eyes to where the backup group were getting mowed down by a group of women—two wielding burning red energy swords, one perched up on a ledge with a sniper rifle, and the other using a column as cover while she fired into the group with some kind of energy rifle.
"What the fu—"
The blue haired girl darted to Leon's right, swinging one arm in a wide arc. Something extended in front of her hand—one of those hexagonal shields, Liara realized. Shields around the mercenaries taking shots at Leon's group abruptly failed and bodies fell to the ground in splashes of blood.
The black haired girl launched herself into the group on Leon's left, a shield collapsing under the force of her fist, before it continued on and collapsed a batarian's helmet with a sickening crunch. Her foot snapped out, breaking another shield and impacting a turian's crotch, causing it to fall to the ground with a scream. Clawed hands flashed out at a third, punching through shields, chest armor, and going wrist deep into an asari.
Leon pointed his hand at one of the three mercenaries in front of him, the palm of his armor lighting up for just a moment, before a yellow-white blast hit the salarian and sent them spinning away. A second blast from the other hand did likewise to a turian on the other side of the asari in charge.
The asari raised her hands, glowing with biotic power as she reached out to grab Leon, possibly to use a throw to send him flying. Liara raised her arm to try to stop it, only for her jaw to fall open as the human began to glow as well, throwing off the technique before it could do anything.
"So. You want to tell me who hired you?"
The Asari growled wordlessly, winding up for a big biotic slam. Leon shrugged and blasted her off her feet, sending her tumbling back. When she tried to stand, he shot her again, sending her crashing back into the floor as he approached.
"Sure you don't want to tell me?" he asked, kicking her SMG away and reaching down to lay his hand on top of the woman's head.
"Go fuck yourself."
"You don't have to bother, master. I've already cracked her omni-tool. It was the asari councilor for the Citadel," the silver haired girl answered as she approached, wiping a spot of blood away from her cheek. "She wanted us dead or alive. Either way, shipped back to Thessia."
"Thank you, Beta."
The woman below Leon went wide-eyed. "They're going to kill me! My family—!"
"Not my problem," Leon shrugged, letting her go and standing. "I need to go pick up our passenger and talk to Aria. Beta, would you mind handling the cleanup?"
"Not at all!" the silver haired girl, Beta, beamed a happy smile as she moved over beside the fallen mercenary. "Delta, go with master. Eighty-eighth! Begin mop-up operations! Full deployment!"
Distantly, Liara heard confirmations from the four-man group who had taken out the backup. The now named Delta nodded and hurried after Leon, who Liara belatedly realized, was walking right towards her. Behind the man, Beta's smile fell off as she looked down at the asari mercenary in disgust, before raising her booted foot. Liara flinched as the woman brought her boot down, the mercenary screaming only briefly before Beta's foot stomped down straight through her face and head, sending brains, blood, and bits of skull flying. She marched over to do the same to the other two enemies Leon had left alive, before turning and rushing off to join the other four wearing black.
Liara shakily stood, dusting herself off. "Ah, hello!"
Leon sent her a smile, offering his hand. "Liara. Nice to meet you in person. Sorry it couldn't be under better circumstances."
Liara took the offered hand and blinked as Leon pulled her into his side and towards the club. Briefly, she caught sight of numerous human men and women, all identical and armed to the teeth, sprinting ahead of the four-man group, followed by Beta, all heading deeper into Omega.
"So," Leon began, distracting her. "We won't be going straight to the dig site, unfortunately. There's a little social gathering I need to attend first, but it shouldn't take more than a day or three. You're welcome to come along. In fact, I think you'll enjoy it. What do you say?"
Liara chuckled. "That sounds fine. I don't mind at all."
"Excellent," he smiled, and Liara felt her heart thump in her chest.
Oh, is this how everyone else sees asari? I uh, I might be in trouble…
"—not going to be that fun, just a bunch of politicians talking about political crap. Sending out feelers to different races who aren't Citadel races and seeing who wants to join into our own bloc."
"Ah?" Liara blinked, realizing she had zoned out and had been staring, watching his lips move and hearing the sounds he made, but not actually processing the words. Her body felt hot, her sex aching with need. "Sorry, I got distracted."
"It's okay," Leon smiled, and pushed through the doors leading into the club, the noise abruptly drowning out any potential for conversation. He led them up to a raised section, where a woman sat on a couch. She sat staring at a data tablet, showing a camera feed from deeper in the station. On it, those identical men and women sprinted through halls, moving from corridor to corridor in teams, killing anyone that wore the yellow and black Eclipse armor.
"Aria. How've you been?"
The older asari looked up, her eyes briefly going wide as they met Leon's—for just a moment, fear visible. Then, she frowned and it vanished. "Leon. You're making a mess of my station."
"Sorry about that. Civilian casualties?"
Aria glanced back at the tablet. "None, so far. But you knew that already, didn't you."
He simply smiled. "I've come to extend an invitation for a little get-together we're having. We've put together a station and we're inviting everyone who can reasonably make it and isn't already under the aegis of the Citadel—or those individuals who've stepped out from under their umbrella and hold territory within the Attican Traverse and Terminus Systems, such as yourself. The main event is happening soon, but we're going to leave the place open for business indefinitely, kind of like our own Citadel. A place where humans and other species can work out their differences peacefully. Port of call to diplomats, entrepreneurs, wanderers. A little piece of civilization, all alone in the night."
The elder asari considered it for a few moments before shaking her head. "If I leave now, someone will try to take over. Someone just created a void in Omega, where the Eclipse used to be. I need to see to that—"
"Come with me and I'll make sure Omega is still here when you get back, and no one sits in your chair while you're gone."
Frowning, Aria asked, "Why do you want me there so badly?"
"Because you have a reputation. If you go, if anyone asks, you're the closest thing to a neutral third party who can vouch for its authenticity. An ambassador to the Terminus Systems, in a way."
She spent a few moments staring at Leon as she considered. Her eyes trailed down to the tablet for a moment, checking the progress of Leon's troops. Finally, she nodded. "How long will we be gone?"
"About three days."
"I'll go pack. Wait for me at the dock."
With that, the woman stood and left. Leon pulled at Liara's elbow and led her from the club, back out into the relatively quieter station. They made their way past the bodies and into the docking area proper, Liara looking away from the sight of the pulped asari head.
"So," Leon began as they found a couple of seats and sat down to wait. Holding out his hand, something flashed there momentarily and he offered her a little metal triangle, identical to the one at his temple. "This is a focus. It's your identification, key to be allowed onto the ship and other places in human space, and proof that you're approved to be somewhere if you aren't with me. It'll also let you access our own network, separate from the extranet."
"Oh! Thank you," Liara smiled, accepting the device and asking, "How do I…?"
"Just press it to your temple and it'll bond to your skin at the molecular level. To remove it, you have to go into the settings and manually tell it to disengage," he explained, and Liara pressed the device against her skin. A moment later, the world was overlaid with menus, tags, and other things and she blinked, taking it all in.
Turning to look at Leon, she blinked as a name tag propagated above his head, followed by other lines.
Leon Reynolds
Ambassador, Systems Alliance
Speaker for Humanity
A glance at Delta returned,
Delta
IV
Lone Wolf
Her attention was drawn to a sudden projection popping up in the middle of her vision. "This," Leon began, "is what we found on Mars—one of the planets in our home system."
Liara's mouth fell open as video played of a much younger Leon and another woman with pointed ears (also young) walking around inside what was clearly a prothean facility. She watched as they explored ships, then the rest of the facility. When it finished, Leon played another video, this one of ruins out in the open on a lush, green planet.
"And this is on one of our colony planets," he explained.
"It's all real," she murmured. "They're definitely prothean in origin. The ships were actually working?"
"They were. Mostly. It seems like they did a bit of sabotage and deleted the VIs that had been running them and the facility. Probably to keep anyone from getting at whatever secrets they held. It's where we got our map of the relay network. Otherwise, yeah, everything else was pretty intact, for being about fifty thousand years out of date."
"Ah, I can't wait!"
Leon chuckled, before looking up as the sound of heels clacking against the ground greeted them. They looked up to see Aria approaching and Leon stood. Aria raised an eyebrow. "What about your friend?"
Holding up a hand, he looked aside and said, "Beta, we're leaving. How's your progress?"
Immediately, there was a note of sound and a flash of light, as Beta reappeared. "Almost finished, master. The 88[sup]th/sup] have things in hand from here. I've already given them their assignment to maintain station stability and deal with anyone attempting to claim Aria's position while she's with us."
"Thanks, Beta," he nodded. "Alright, let's go."
Humming quietly, Aria asked, "You walked into that, didn't you?"
Leon turned and sent her a grin as they made their way into the docking collar and the door on the end opened for them. "Why Aria, I have no idea what you're talking about. What possible benefit could there be to tipping my hand and showing some of what my troops are capable of?"
The asari make a skeptical noise. "Oh, I think we both know the value of a demonstration."
Beta stopped at the door and gestured them inside, and Liara flinched away from the woman as she hurried past. Raising an eyebrow, Beta followed her in as the door closed behind them. "Is something the matter?"
"It's nothing," Liara answered quickly.
Aria snorted. "I saw the feed. You put your boot through an asari's head like you were crushing a particularly disgusting bug."
"Mm. That's unfair. Do you know why I did it?"
"They were out of the fight and you executed them," Liara said, as they entered what appeared to be the bridge level and Leon took a seat, as a couch rose from the floor off to the side of it, which Aria dropped onto and slipped her bag underneath. "What possible justification could you have for executing prisoners?"
Delta leaned forward, looking around Leon as her purple eyes met Liara's blue. "They attacked master."
"That doesn't mean you should kill them."
Beta sighed, shaking her head. "It does, actually. We have to set a very visible precedent that attacks on Leon will not be tolerated and there will be no survivors from any such attempts. He's too valuable, both to us personally and to humanity as a whole, for attacks on his person to go without immediate and violent reprisal."
"Anyone who attacks master dies. No exceptions," Delta nodded, before turning forward as screens came to life around them showing the exterior of Omega as they pulled away quickly.
"Right. Aria, here," Leon tossed her a focus. "Press it against your temple. You can only take it off using the menu built in. That's your identification for this. Anyone not wearing one of these is going to get a 'warm' welcome, so keep it on."
"I see," she murmured, pressing it to her head. Taking in the simple map of the local system floating off to the side of the display, she said, "You're not heading for the relay."
"Noticed that, did you?" Leon grinned. "Delta, take us out."
"Mm!" the woman perched on the arm of Leon's chair nodded. A blue-white distortion in space flared to life in front of the ship and they rushed into it. "ETA is just under half an hour."
"Come on, I'll show you around. You've got time for a shower if you want to clean up," Leon said, pushing himself out of his seat and gesturing for them to follow.
Half an hour? Even at FTL speed, we can't be going that far out of the Omega system. That can't be right, Liara mused.
A short tour, quick shower, and a snack later she was proven wrong as they dropped out of FTL and they took in their destination. "No way."
"Five minutes to relay exit, captain."
"Thank you, helmsman," Rix acknowledged, mentally preparing himself for what they were likely to find on the other end.
He was high enough in the chain of command to know where their orders came from, but scuttlebutt was pretty close to accurate this time. About fifty years ago, before his time in the service, the Migrant Fleet had up and disappeared—which was a feat in and of itself, considering just how many interested parties were keeping an eye on them, and how many of those within the fleet had loose lips, or were just flat out paid by interested parties to send back reports on the goings on in the fleet.
That was public knowledge. Everyone was aware of it, even if it hadn't exactly been broadcast in the news. When the quarians on pilgrimage abruptly left mid-pilgrimage when ships came to track them down and pick them up, people had wondered. All but a few hundred quarians had disappeared entirely from Citadel space.
What wasn't public knowledge were the events surrounding that. First contact with an alien race, somewhere deep on the eastern side of the Attican Traverse, past relays that had since been disabled—intentionally, many thought. That was worrying, because when the Council started taking note of which relays no longer worked, everyone put together just how large a section of the galaxy was simply unavailable by mass relay any more, and the implication that there was a race out there who knew the relays well enough to just turn them off like flipping a switch.
And then, there was the ghost ship. The ghost ships, really.
Occasionally, one of the ghost ships came through a relay, sat still for a minute or two, then turned and ran right back into a relay before disappearing. Theories suggested they were mapping the relay network and what was on the end of each relay. Few people had ever gotten a good look at one and fewer still had been in the right place and time to get even a partial scan.
That is, until the Migrant Fleet's disappearance.
Right before the quarians disappeared entirely, a transmission came in from one of their agents within the Migrant Fleet. The first actual good scan of one of the ghost ships—not that it did much good, as apparently the vessel was made of some material that was resistant to scanning. But even that told them something. They had an idea of what they were working with. Small, presumably fast and agile ships, for their size. Very stealthy. Some salarians had run the numbers and given both theoretical and most likely performance models, and they were nothing particularly special. On par with a turian corvette of around the same size.
For fifty years, they were silent, save for the occasional sighting passing through a relay. That is, until the Omega incident. A month ago, one of the ghost ships—perhaps even the same one from the Migrant Fleet disappearance—had dropped out of the relay in the Omega system and proceeded to dock at the station. Everyone got their first good look at the aliens who owned those vessels and the general consensus was 'like an asari, but pink, and with hair.' Even Rix could admit that the females—or he thought they were females, at least—were appealing, in the same way the soft, curvy bodies of the asari were.
But that wasn't where the story ended. No, apparently the local STG agent had made the call and tried to steal the ship. According to intel from the salarians, shared with the Council, shortly after they got the ship to a dock to start looking it over, another alien ship had shown up—this one much larger. It was a bit bigger than a turian frigate, but that's what they were calling it. Once more, the big brains had given estimates of its capabilities and they were within expectations for a ship of that size.
Where the story verged into 'tall tale' territory was in how it was resolved—with site to site teleportation or 'beaming' technology, off-relay FTL that was faster than relay travel, stealth capabilities to slip down to the salarian home world, and a threat by the humans not to strike first, before they disappeared again. Rix thought there might be some kernel of truth in there somewhere, as did turian high command, but the majority of it sounded like the delusional ravings of a madman. The only thing that lent it credence were the data logs taken from the station itself, the omni-tools of those involved, and the fact that they all showed up on Sur'Kesh in a time-frame that should be impossible by relay travel—let alone, getting down to the planet undetected.
That was why they were out here today. Apparently, a human ship had been spotted at Tuchanka, backing up the claims that they were inviting the krogan and other non-Council races to a meeting at a newly constructed space station, somewhere in the Attican Traverse. That part was absolutely true, as turian intelligence had captured one such invitee and gotten confirmation out of him themselves, along with the location of the meeting.
High command had decided that they couldn't let the threat, the unspoken challenge, stand. The Council agreed. A message needed to be sent. That the Council were the only game in town and attempting to form some kind of alliance to counter them wouldn't be tolerated. They needed to show the strength of the Council and their ability to project power, even outside of Citadel space. Which was why Rix was here, along with an entire turian battle group. Over a hundred ships, including one of their dreadnoughts. It was, some felt, an excessive show of force.
Rix was pulled from his thoughts as the ship dropped out of FTL. Around them, the rest of the fleet began dropping out of FTL as well, as they began to muster and organize themselves, moving into formation.
"Sir! You're going to want to see this!"
"What is it, crewman?" Rix asked.
"Putting it up now," the sensor officer said, and the bridge holo tank sprang to life, displaying a view of the system—combined visual and sensor readings playing out in the air.
Rix wondered why they were using visual sensors, when he got his answer as something flashed, highlighted for his attention. It was a structure, impossible in size. It was a ring within a ring—the outer ring roughly ten times the size of the inner ring.
Reading off the sensor data, the inner ring was approximately 1600km in diameter, while the outer ring was 10000km in diameter. The thickness of the inner ring was roughly 22km. The outer ring, both the inside and outside of it, appeared to be covered in land. There was atmosphere there. Trees. Water. Clouds. It even appeared to have a gravity on par with the Citadel.
That's just not possible, he mused, his mandibles clicking in a nervous tick as he studied the display. I'm sure this system was explored and determined to be barren. Mined out a long, long time ago. Something like this would've been discovered centuries ago.
Then there was the other… oddity. A network of satellites surrounding the mass relay—currently silent, but sensors showed they were active, had scanned them, and then done nothing. It looked to his eye very much like proposed theoretical defense satellite installations to isolate a mass relay without shutting it down. The problem was, such a system was deemed to be both too costly and impossible for it to actually function as intended—that being, shooting down enemy ships exiting the relay—due to the distances involved.
"Sir," the communications officer announced. "Orders from the admiral. The fleet is to move towards the rings."
"Engage FTL and maintain formation," Rix ordered, moving back to his seat.
Several minutes later, they dropped out of FTL again, nearer to the rings. As soon as they did, his communications officer spoke up again.
"We've been hailed by the ring, sir. We've been given a flight path for docking and a warning. Also, I'm detecting ships on the surface of the ring. Hundreds of them."
Rix glanced at the display again, where it showed a path for landing on the outer ring. He recognized quarian ships, krogan, civilian models from a bunch of different factions, and more he didn't recognize but suspected were from the Terminus System. One of them, however, was very obviously one of the ghost ships—just parked right out in the open for anyone to see, in the designated docking area.
A large red no fly zone marked off the area directly in front of the inner ring as a danger zone and displayed a countdown timer, currently sitting at a minute. He wondered briefly what that was about, but a broadcast on all channels from the admiral aboard their dreadnought cut the thought off.
"Attention all vessels within the ring space and docked on the ring. This is Admiral Corinthus of the seventh turian patrol fleet. You are here in violation of Citadel law and ordered to leave the ring immediately and return to obit, where you will await boarding. This area is being put under quarantine by order of the Citadel Council. Any vessel that fails to comply, or who tries to flee the quarantine, will be de—"
"Admiral!"
"Captain!" Rix glanced up at his own sensor officer's warning tone, the transmission from the admiral closed to display the inner ring. "The ring is powering up!"
"Is it a weapon?" he wondered.
"No targeting from the ring, captain."
A moment later, he got his answer as to why the space in front of the ring was a no fly zone, as a silvery-blue blast of energy arched out from the interior of the inner ring, looking for all the world like a geyser of water. The font of energy settled down into the middle of the ring, a puddle of water dancing with silver light.
"We're picking up transmissions and receiving one ourselves. Looks like flight paths out of the ring."
"Out of the ring? What? You mean through?"
"No, sir. They originate from within the ring."
Rix stared at the display as, a moment later, ships began to come through the ring. It took him a moment, but the implications would have floored him if he hadn't been sitting. Those ships weren't coming from the back side of the inner ring. They hadn't been hiding somewhere and chose that moment to make a flashy entrance. No, what he was seeing was a means of FTL aside from mass relays. A portal of some kind.
Wormholes were always theorized, but no one has been able to make one…
The ships were of an unknown make, but not the ghost ships. As he watched, more and more poured through the ring. Frigates, destroyers, cruisers, fighters, a large carrier. Fifty of the larger vessels and hundreds of fighters. Then, his jaw dropped as an absolute beast of a ship came through the ring. It dwarfed their own dreadnought half again at 1.6km in length, and was visibly more heavily armed than any three ships in the turian fleet combined, including their dreadnought.
Rix swallowed thickly as the possibility for a fight, an actual fight that they might not win registered. "Ready weapons," he distantly heard himself ordering, falling back on his training.
A new transmission began—broadcast on all channels from the big dreadnought. The interior of a bridge appeared, where several humans could be seen sitting at their stations, all wearing tense expressions. Centered in the view was an older human male sitting in his own chair, and a younger looking male standing beside him with a smile. The older man wore a pristine white uniform with gold trim and had the bearing of a military man. Like recognizes like, and Rix pegged him as the captain of the dreadnought immediately. The other man wore some kind of dark suit, but not a uniform. He looked like a politician. Rix hated politicians, but the Citadel loved them.
"Good day, Admiral Corinthus, and welcome to Babylon. I am Victor Manswell, president of the Systems Alliance and with me," he tapped his hand on the chair, "is Admiral Grant of the Systems Alliance Navy, and captain of the First Out. You are currently in territory owned by the Systems Alliance and as such, neither you nor your Citadel have the authority to issue any quarantine or, in fact, give any orders to anyone in this system. The Babylon station you see before you is ours and any attack on it or anyone approaching or leaving it will be met with decisive force. Now, that being said, the purpose of this station and the reason we're gathered here today is to foster peace and new alliances. You're welcome to send a delegation down to attend, so long as you acknowledge that neither you nor the Citadel have any authority on Babylon whatsoever."
Admiral Corinthus joined the communication, his mandibles pulled into a deep frown as he glared at the humans. "The Citadel contests your claim over the system and this 'Babylon' ring. Take your ships and go back through that ring, or this will be considered an act of war."
Manswell sighed, shaking his head. "I'm sorry you feel that way. Unfortunately, that's just not how things are going to play out, admiral. You're outnumbered."
"By those on the ring? Civilian vessels and Terminus scum. They won't fight for you," Corinthus scoffed.
Beside President Manswell, Admiral Grant spoke up. At the same time, the display added more flight paths coming from the ring. Many more. "First Fleet inbound, ETA ten seconds Mr. President."
Chuckling, Manswell held his arms out in a 'what can you do' expression. "I guess we'll see, won't we?"
The timer ran down and from the ring, more ships started pouring through. These Rix recognized as the ghost ships. The smaller ships they had classed as corvettes, frigates like the one that had shown up to intimidate the STG and recover their stolen ship, and then more—larger. Cruisers. Carriers. More dreadnoughts that dwarfed their own. Then, the first of what must be some kind of capital ship came through—one hundred times the length of their dreadnoughts.
Rix felt his heart stop in his chest for a moment as panic flooded him. No one had ships that large. No one built to that scale. It was just impossible. It would bankrupt entire civilizations!
And then another of them came through. And another, and another. More and more. So many that Rix began to laugh quietly.
This, this must be some sort of cosmic joke!
That was when he noticed that the other ships, which had all moved out to fill the space in front of the inner ring, had left a hole in their formation. An impossibly massive hole. A premonition came over him then, along with a feeling of horror, and Rix realized that they weren't done yet.
His premonition came true only a moment later as one final ship came through the ring. Ten times the size of even the largest of the ghost ships—something his mind could scarcely grasp, when he tried to think about the sheer cost in materials, manpower, and energy required to make the damn thing. It was easily sixteen hundred times the size of the turian dreadnought Admiral Corinthus was on.
A new transmission joined the call and a view from inside the biggest ship dropped into place between President Manswell and Admiral Corinthus. Standing up from her chair, a blonde human woman brushed her hair away from her pointed ears and settled into parade rest, her uniform one of the form hugging variety similar to those the asari preferred and showing off every mouthwatering curve of her body.
Blue eyes stared into the display as her lips pulled into a small frown. They shifted in the direction of President Manswell. "Victor, stand by for beaming. I'll send you to where master Leon is waiting. Admiral Grant, Beta is sending you and the Systems Alliance fleet a new course. Please move into orbit around Babylon along the designated route."
"Thank you, Alpha," President Manswell chuckled, and a moment later he disappeared in a note of sound and a white flash.
Admiral Grant nodded, turning off to the side. "Helm, follow the course provided."
The human ships quickly began to clear out of the inner ring space, leaving behind only the fleet of ghost ships. The now named 'Alpha' turned a look on Admiral Corinthus. After a few moments of silent contemplation, she nodded. "Admiral Corinthus. You and a retinue of not more than ten plus a pilot are welcome to take a shuttle down to Babylon and attend the proceedings. Your fleet, however, is not welcome. Choose one ship to remain behind to act as your transport out of system, when you're ready to leave. Not your dreadnought. Your fleet has one hour to leave this system or they will be destroyed."
"Now see he—" The admiral disappeared in a flash of light and sound, only to reappear on the bridge of the other ship, standing in front of Alpha. "—re…"
Alpha reached out and laid a land on the admiral's shoulder, who had fallen silent. She smiled, patting his armor hard enough to nearly make him collapse. "One hour, Earth standard time. Starting now."
With that, the admiral was beamed back to his own bridge and the transmission shut off. Rix reached up, palming his face. We're all going to die, aren't we? I had hoped to one day go in a glorious battle, but this? This isn't going to be a 'battle,' it'll be a slaughter. I didn't think it would be today… And how long is an 'Earth standard hour?'
"Sir," his communications officer spoke up. "Orders from the admiral. We're to stay behind to act as his transport. Everyone else is to leave immediately. He's, he's sending down a shuttle. We're receiving a flight path from the Avalon—that's the big one, apparently. They're putting us in orbit above the ring with the rest of the ships."
A quiet chuckle escaped Rix. "Not today, then."
"Sir?"
"Helm, follow their instructions. Comms, tell the admiral we're at his disposal. I'll be in my quarters."
Unspoken, he tacked on, Checking my suit.