AN: Hello everyone, it's been a while. You know what time it is folks, for review. "Axcel," make a profile so I can answer all those, because there is enough to fill a whole chapter. "MEleeSmasher," to be fair, he didn't NEED to be subtle…Plus the perceived arrogance of the Council and being attacked by a merc group hired by someone who the Citadel SHOULD have been able to capture long ago kinda put him in a bad mood. "Dany79," that was a general description of the weapon by an outsider who didn't know their name, aka the CSF officer. "Astrobot1745," This version of the Milky Way is about four and a half times the size of the cannon one…so they have the same amount of territory staked out, just not the populace. As a side note, I would like to apologize about my constant harping on about the Western part of the Imperium and the war there…But it is kinda central to the plot. Anyways, on with the show.
Speech
Thoughts
Radio/machine speech/scene change
Interlude: The Quarian Question, and Days of Peace
Reach System: Shipyard 10: At the same time as the space battle between the CDF Squadron
Captain Zorah sighed as he looked out the window of the conference room, and thought back on his impressions of the system they had arrived in. It had taken half an hour to get to this system via the relays in "Imperial" space.
The system was VERY different from the one they arrived in first. For starters there were four giant stations, all roughly fifty kilometers in diameter and spherical, arranged around the relay. They were bristling with guns and other weapon emplacements. Beyond this line was another more impressive one, with dozens more stations.
Then there was a final line closer the primary planet, but strangely not in orbit. This one was made of over a hundred stations of these monstrous stations. Beyond that there were multiple garden worlds in the system, only one of which was inhabited, and numerous shipyards that dwarfed those at Palaven…and were producing new warships even now.
There were true monsters there. He knew he saw several SEVENTY FIVE kilometers long warships being built, the sensor logs backed that up. But he swore he saw an even larger leviathan being constructed just out of sensor readings.
The primary planet itself was massive, roughly four times the size of Rannoch if the old sensor logs were accurate, however there was only one major settlement on the planet. The rest was still how it was before the colonization began. The one oddity of note was that the planet had seven moons, two of which were in irregular orbits…but it didn't really stand out.
At least it didn't until the sensors, which had been badly damaged during their flight from the Batarians, reported that six of the seven moons around the primary world were…Artificial, unsurprisingly the two at the poles were artificial too. It had taken a moment to understand what that meant, but then it sunk in. Battle stations…four of them…Each with a radius of two hundred kilometers, any assault on the system would be pure suicide.
They had then landed in one of the shipyards surrounding the planet. After they were escorted off by heavily armored soldiers, their ship was deconstructed, much to their horror. Though that had swiftly dissipated when they saw the ship yards arms recreate the ship from the ground up. After seeing this, he was separated from his crew; who, according to the assurances of one of the guards, were being sent to medical facilities.
He had wanted to protest, but he knew it would be futile to do anything. These "Imperials" held all the advantages. And so here he sat for over a half hour. Just when he was thinking that the Imperials had something sinister in mind, the door opened.
He blinked in surprise at what he saw. The figure that entered was dressed in a sharp business suit, and could be described as what a male Asari would look like roughly, granted this individual had hair and was of a tan complexion rather than blue or some variant of purple like most Asari. The man had green eyes and black hair, as well as a sardonic smile on his lips.
After taking a seat, he spoke in a calm tone: "Sorry about the wait. Some things came up in the medical exams of your crew that were rather…unexpected shall we say."
A slight chill ran up the Quarian's spine, but before he could react, the man leaned forward: "Tell me, what do you know of your people's origins?"
Rael was puzzled, but he summed up what was known of his people's origins. Their days in the caves of Rannoch and through their bronze and iron ages, ect. The "diplomat" listened quietly, and intently.
At the end of the summary he was quiet, before an amused chuckle left his lips: "Sounds about right, though your people got one thing wrong…You are not natives to Rannoch. Instead you are descended from a ship we lost due to events far beyond our control."
With that he explained, briefly, how the Imperium came to be…And of the great cataclysm that resulted in the creation of the current galaxy. Naturally, the captain was incredulous. At least, until the evidence was presented…It was reality shattering. They were indeed related to these Imperial species, and the footage of what the final battle of the Chaos War was, he could not truly deny it anymore.
Zorah said he wasn't able to allow anything one way or the other, as he wasn't a member of the Admiralty board; however the diplomat had already predicted that, and revealed that the conference room had a communications suite capable of contacting the Quarian Flotilla so he could contact his superiors.
The call was a long one, but in the end, they decided to agree to join the Imperium, albeit it was by majority decision rather than unanimous…But the Admirals would support the decision no matter their opinion, if only so their people wouldn't be divided over this.
Timeline:
11 After Unification/2657 Citadel Calendar: The Quarian people are absorbed into the Imperium after it is revealed through genetics that they are descended from a warship that crash landed on Rannoch over sixty thousand years ago during the height of the warp storm that afflicted the galaxy. As the Imperium has a secondary objective to absorb any remnants of old humanity into it, they are welcomed with open arms for the most part…Though there are groups that are resistant to doing so, as they believe them to have lost the right to identify as related to the Imperial species.
The Quarians are given colonization rights to several worlds within the vast borders of the Imperium and allowed to settle on Imperial colonized worlds as they desire. The family of Captain Zorah settles on Shanxi, in the same block as the Shepard family.
Of course certain forces within the Citadel Alliance were not exactly happy about this. The Batarians were the most vocal protester, claiming they were escaping their punishment, though everyone knew they were really angry about not being able to prey on them for slaves. Though the sighting of the Corvus on their borders made them shut up real fast, no one wanted to tangle with the XIXth Legion's flagship.
Saren's artificial arm is examined by Turian medical personnel and scientists. They find it is far beyond their comprehension, and while the Imperials could modify it with further tech if they were generous, any attempt by non-Imperial personnel to detach it from Saren would result in the arm becoming useless until reattached to the Spec Forces soldier in question. The only thing they WERE able to find out about the arm was that it operated off of Saren's bio electricity, taking slightly less energy to operate than it did to move his original arm.
6.11 AU/6.2657 CC: With the Quarians now settled in Imperial space,scientists could now begin testing various ways to normalize the Quarian immune systems, as well as bring them closer to humans in abilities via implants. The Quarian genome, while obviously human in derivation, was different enough in many subtle ways that many trials and test runs took place, all with volunteer Quarians.
During this time, the Imperium took possession of the systems ceded to them by the Citadel, and heavily fortified them all.
There were complaints and protests about the heavy militarization of those worlds, again the Batarians were the most vocal, but the treaty that ended the conflict basically let the Imperium do whatever they wanted with the systems, so nothing came of it officially...besides denying those systems to pirates and other criminals. Unofficially though, the STG and other intelligence services were having a hell of a time infiltrating or bypassing the defenses.
Saren starts dating one of the nurses who worked on his arm; coincidentally, it's the same medic from Shanxi, one Tullia Vitanis.
The trial of the millennia happens, the higher ups of the Seventh Fleet are publically tried for their actions. No lawyer from any Citadel race is willing to defend them in court. It looks to be an open and shut case, especially with no defending lawyer…But then an Imperial by the name of Denny Crane takes up the case. In a whirlwind half an hour he overturned the entire case. Not only did the officers get publicly apologized to, not only did they receive monetary compensation, but the politicians who tried to get them removed from the military got removed from their positions for "unpatriotic and subversive activities."
As a side note, this marked the first time an Imperial had been seen outside of combat armor…As such their appearance sent shock waves through the galaxy. The Asari are especially rocked, though after the scientific community gets its collective heads screwed on straight, it is decided that parallel development was what caused this.
12 AU/2658 CC: The Quarian immune system is normalized, while there were casualties, estimates place the number of deaths at three hundred Quarians, they were remembered as heroes of their people for their sacrifices.
The population of Quarians triples in the first year post being able to go around without enviro-suits. While some more puritanical factions within the Empire express concern, they are strongly reminded that they are genetically related, so any action taken to reduce this population explosion would be not well received by the Emperor.
13 AU/2659 CC: Michael Shepard, son of Onrys Shepard and Hannah Shepard, goes for his psionic testing. The five year old's rating comes back as a Third Class Psyker, equivalent to the old Delta Class of the Imperial Rating system…with proper training and augmentation, he might even become a First Class Psyker one day. He has no real specialization he is pre-determined towards, and can do any discipline equally.
Liara T'soni leaves the T'soni estates on another expedition, this time to a system with a new alien species' remains in it. Unbeknownst to Dr. T'soni, the ruins she and her expedition are investigating belonged to the Sangheili. This information will remain hidden until Imperials find out about the site, as much of the information in the settlement has been destroyed.
Garrus Vakarian and his sister, Acria, start training in the Turian Youth corps. Garrus quickly distinguishes himself as the best marksman in his year group. Meanwhile his sister distinguished herself as a hacker and AR specialist.
Saren marries Tullia Vitanis, the two would eventually have three children, one daughter and two sons. Laria, the daughter and eldest, is born later that year.
14 AU/2660 CC: The new designs of Imperial Warships and Mobile Suits enter full scale production. While the Navy lauds its new ships as the most important step forward since the foundation of the branch, as even the CDF versions of the designs are four times more effective than the old design equivalents. It is the Mobile suits that took the greatest leap forward.
The Geara Zulu II family is a huge leap forward, much like the new ships, formerly theoretical devices and improvements are jammed into the bulkier, and much heavier armored, frame of the new MS types. For example, the generator has been replaced with a much smaller, but absurdly more potent generator, taking advantage of the pocket dimension the Quantum Lathes get their resources from to make a power plant equal in potency to that on an older capital ship. This new MS line includes: the Geara Zulu II, Zee Zulu II, Geara Gouf, Geara Dom, and Geara Gelgoog.
Imperial Intelligence contacts two officers, Lieutenants Zaeed Massani and Vido Santiago, and gives them an offer to control a mercenary band called The Blue Suns as a front for I.I. and a way for the Imperium to wage proxy wars in Citadel and Terminus space. The two accept, and set about organizing their force using old tech, albeit modified to prevent unauthorized access to the tech.
Ashley Williams, now five years old, meets Michael Shepard and Tali Zorah, five years old, in a park in Shanxi's capital's "military" district. They become fast friends.
Kaiden Alenko, a half Imperial half UNSC, is found to have biotic abilities. This is hypnotized to be due to his mother being on Shanxi when the Turians invaded. The excess element zero from the destroyed warships must have affected Alenko's development. He and several others with biotic abilities are gathered together and an Asari instructor is hired to train them, thus is born the Empire's first forays into biotics.
15 AU/ 2661 CC: Several Marine and CDF tanker officers present a competitor to the Leo I. Called the Tiger II, it is slower than the Leo I D, the improved variant of the 1 developed after the Geara Zulu IIs, by a good amount, but its armor and defensesare greater by a large amount. After much debate, the Tiger II is accepted as the standard Marine and CDF MBT, albeit the CDF one is less well equipped than the Marine one…Mostly due to politics.
16 AU/2662 CC: Blue Suns start to aggressively expand into the merc market in the Citadel. Their services are soon in high demand, and eager recruits from around non-Imperial space flock to Blue Sun recruiting stations. The training these new bloods go through is tougher than every Citadel Military forces basic training, with only spec force branches producing tougher soldiers.
However, behind the scenes Vigo begins subverting other merc bands through a mix of force, black mail, and favors owed the Suns. These merc groups soon find themselves subcontracted by the Blue Suns to gather information and supplies for the Suns.
Several attempts are made to curtail the growth and power of the Blue Suns, including new laws to restrict the number of combat forces a pmc/mercenary group can have under their employment. But these are not too effective, as the Suns can just claim that the majority of their group is support personnel, and that they just receive the same training so they can defend themselves effectively.
Saren is recruited into the Specters, where he rapidly rises to prominence within the organization due to his ruthlessness and competence.
17 AU/2663 CC: The Citadel council approves an Imperial embassy; the first Imperial Ambassador is a lower ranking Farseer, Balerion. He soon proved to be a headache for the Councilors, constantly challenging the status quo, and provoking the Batarians.
Urdnot Wrex works a job alongside Blue Suns on a job on Omega, Aria T'lok hired them to clear out a group of Vorcha. There are ten times the number reported, but the mission is successful. In the back of his mind, Wrex begins planning to unite the Krogan people with Blue Sun, but preferably Imperial, support to ensure the Citadel doesn't interfere.
6.17 AU/6.2663 CC: The Imperium begins "The Great Purge." Five Navy Squadrons launch into "Terminus" systems run by pirates and purge fifty separate bands. This brief and violent operation showed the modernized power of the Imperium for the first time, as well as gained the approval of every power in the Citadel Alliance…Except for the Batarians, who had used those pirates to weaken the other powers for a potential assault as well as just general slaving.
As of this point, while neither nation would announce it to the galaxy at large, the Imperium and the Batarian Hegemony were in a state of cold war.
18 AU/2664 CC – 22 AU/2668 CC: Citadel and Imperial forces conduct several joint exercises, these are designed to "improve relations" but in reality they are a way for the Citadel to try and get a closer look at the Imperial War Machine outside of an actual combat scenario. They learn much, and yet, they don't learn anything at all about how the Imperial tech works. A Salarian scientist, Professor Jornart Cadrilo, assigned to the expedition commits suicide over the sheer impossibility of some of the things he saw during one of the exercises.
Several Imperial companies set up shop in Turian and Asari space, selling improved Ezero based tech, but nothing that would make their users a legitimate threat. These corporations become fabulously wealthy, chief amongst them are Aquila Industries, which sells armor and weapons, and Asclepius Medical, the creators of Medigel (a toned down version of the medicine used in the Imperium).
Michael Shepard, Tali Zorah, and Ashely Williams start the standard basic training all Imperial citizens receive. Shepard turns out to be an effective squad leader and a perfect "shock trooper," aggressive and good with nearly every weapon he tested with; Tali is the best hacker in the year group (a class of over a thousand), and an excellent shot with a carbine version of the M-8 general purpose weapon; Ashely turns out to be highly aggressive, which would be perfect for an assault trooper, but her mid-range marksmanship is also rather high. ODST and Stormtrooper commanders overseeing the training ear mark them for potential recruitment.
In a further display of the better political situation, dignitaries from the Citadel, as well as any veterans who wished, are allowed onto Shanxi on the anniversary of the battle. The televised event is the first time Imperial music is heard in Citadel Space. The piece in question was Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture, and the galaxy at large fell in love with the piece...although for different reasons. For example, the Asari loved the overall composition and the sounds of the instruments; while the Turians adored it for the militaristic feel to the piece, and the usage of real cannons.
Of course this wasn't fully accepted by the denizens of the Imperium, while the Citadel alliance was no threat to the Imperium the principle remained that xenos, outsiders, were allowed on one of their worlds. One upon which Imperial blood was spilled to keep it in Imperial hands…it was a sacrilege in the eyes of the puritans.
Kaiden Alenko, now sixteen and with his biotics training complete, joins the Imperial Marine Corps; due to his skills, upon leaving boot camp he is granted the rank of sergeant. He serves with distinction on the eastern front, earning several minor medals and a promotion to gunnery sergeant.
Saren, now one of the Council's top fixit men, starts training Nihlus Kyrik, the younger brother of Andronicus, as a Specter.
6.22 AU/ 6.2668 CC: The Blue Suns start waging a war against the slavers and pirates the Hegemony funds and uses but keeps away from Imperial patrolled areas.
This proxy war sees Batarian Death Squads disguised as pirates fighting against Imperial forces for the first time. It is a valuable learning experience for both the Hegemony and the Imperium.
23 AU/2669 CC: The Imperium takes a system recently taken from Pirates, and turns it into a mercantile and tourist oriented planet for Citadel Alliance inhabitants to visit. The system was "lightly" defended by four squadrons of drone frigates, and four "small" battle stations (each a 25 KM in diameter sphere). The system had no official designation before the Imperium set the world up for trade and tourism, but afterwards it was named Arcadia.
The taking of this system is the final straw, the Batarians begin preparing a full assault on the system…But they know they can't take it down right now.
I.I. catches wind of the Batarian plan, and gets the blessings of the Emperor to turn Arcadia into a casus belli against the Batarian Hegemony. As such I.I. begins preparations for "helping" the Batarian assault.
Shepard, Williams, and Tali join the ODST. The training is intense, as they were augmented before joining the ODST Corps with standard military augments, marches go on for forty miles at a bare minimum, PT lasts for hours on end…perfect accuracy is the only acceptable type of shooting….ect. But once they finish training they are more than capable of holding their own against any threat in the known galaxy.
Imperial music and art begins to trickle out of the Empire.
6.24 AU/6.2669 CC: I.I. finds the perfect fall guy for the assault, a Batarian slaver by the name of Balak. The man had a nasty reputation, and it was an open secret he was bankrolled by the Batarian state. As such once the assault began, it would be all too easy to hack into his personal files and "retrieve" all the information needed to have the Citadel stay out of the fight.
Nihlus finishes his training under Saren, as a celebration the two investigates a strange derelict. After a few minutes Saren's arm starts acting up, so they leave. The derelict is nowhere to be found when extra Citadel forces appear to investigate in greater detail.
Garus and his sister join C-sec. During these early years in their service they are approached by Saren to keep an eye on his daughter, who is studying on the Citadel. The two agree, after all it doesn't do to turn down a specter without good reason.
Michael, Ashley, and Tali complete their training in the ODST and are assigned to units out in the Eastern part of the Empire. There they gain combat experience fighting pirates and slavers.
Liara moves back to studying Protheans after exhausting every avenue of exploration of the ruined Sangheilli colony.
Benezia T'Soni comes down with a mysterious illness that lasts a day, no negative after effects are reported by her physician.
In another move forward diplomatically, the first of several Human Specter candidates is put forward, but the veteran Imperial Stormtrooper proves unable to work effectively with non-Imperials during his test phase. He is subsequently denied Specter status.
24 AU/2670 CC: Shepard elects to take cross training in the Stormtrooper Corps. Because of passing ODST training, he is put through much tougher conditions than the other recruits, both out of service rivalry and to push the man to his limits.
Garrus is promoted to detective, while Acria hits sergeant. They had hit it off rather well with Laria Arterius, and when off duty the three can usually be found together.
Ashley Williams is promoted to Gunnery Chief in the 222nd ODST regiment due to actions during a raid on a slaver base that results in the rescue of over two hundred members of various Citadel Races.
Tali takes a leave of absence from her unit to perform her "Pilgrimage," a Quarian tradition largely abandoned in this time of plenty…She wanted to connect with the traditions of her people pre Imperium.
6.24 AU/ 6.2670 CC: The Batarian plans to attack Arcadia are in their final stages, soon they will attack the planet and show that not even the Imperium can truly stop the Hegemony.
Upon completing his Stormtrooper training, Shepard heads to Arcadia for some RR…A day before the Batarian assault is scheduled to begin.
Next time: The Lion of Arcadia
Codex: Imperial Modernization: While strange to outside observers, the Imperial Modernization of 14 AU/2656 was well justified. Cybernetic Mega Nids, and other monstrosities have started to appear on the Western Edge of the Imperium. As the threats evolved, even the current tech had been having trouble keeping up, so an evolution across the board was needed.
Everything from the standard service weapons to the largest capital ships was upgraded or superseded. For example, the old M5 family of weapons was superseded by the M7 family. The M7 is a modular design able to be configured in any way from a pistol to an hmg or a sniper rifle, it is a highly effective weapon. Similarly the Gladius pattern bolter was upgraded to the Hispania pattern bolter, featuring larger bolt rounds and higher damage potential over all.
Codex: Summery of the Imperial Diplomatic Relations with the wider Galaxy: The Imperium's diplomatic relations with the galaxy is varied depending on the race.
They have cordial relations with the Asari, as the mono-gendered xenos have no real reason to attack or hinder the Imperium. The sole point of contention, if you could call it that, is the desires of many maiden Asari to visit Imperial worlds, and the Imperium at large's desire to keep tourism under control for now.
The Salarians are largely neutral towards the Imperium, though they are envious of their technology…And fearful of what they might do to the Genophage if given a reason to react.
Surprisingly enough the Turians and the Imperium get along the best of all Citadel races. As their warrior culture respects and admires the Imperium, while they mourn their dead, their culture ground the possibility of death in the line of duty into their psyche, so there are no grudges on the Turian side.
The Volus are in something of a trade war vs the various Imperial corporations that have started to muscle in on their territory by providing superior products for cheaper prices. Though that competitiveness has not spilled out beyond commerce, as they respect the Empire's might too much to do anything…Besides it's all in good fun to the larger merchant houses of the Volus Protectorate.
To the Elcor the Imperium is a worthwhile trade partner, and a valued friend for their actions against pirate groups who had been ambushing their trade. Their economy had been in a slump before the Imperium came on the scene, but now with the dramatic drop in pirates they are starting to flourish.
The Hanar DESPISE the Imperium for "shunning the gifts of the Enkindlers." They take great delight in hindering Imperial efforts in any way they can, while the Imperium finds them amusing little buggers. A few have contemplated making live action adult movies with Hanar, but discarded those ideas soon after and instead used members of the Engineers instead for those niche films.
The Drell have no real opinion of their own as a whole, as they are little better than slaves to the Hanar.
The warlords of the Terminus are fearful of the Imperium, every day they wake and don't see an Imperial Navy squadron over their world is one they give thanks to their deity for.
Lastly the Batarians are outright in a state of conflict with the Imperium, though currently that is through proxies, such as the slavers and pirates of the Hegemony and the Blue Suns of the Imperium. Though open conflict between these two is inevitable.
Codex: Imperial Intelligence Dossier: Balak:
From the desk of "Keeper," head of Section 10 of the OMI
Balak is a rather interesting character for a pirate. Born to a high class family, Balak learned the art of breaking slaves from his maternal grandfather, a former master of the Camalaian slave markets. He is fond of psychological torture mixed liberally with physical abuse. He often brags about the time he broke an Asari Matriarch and turned her into his crew's pleasure slave, Agent Cipher 9 has managed to confirm that this is not idle boasting.
On the battlefield Balak favors a Batarian State Arms "Ripper" assault rifle, a vicious weapon capable of firing slugs able to penetrate a Krogan Warlord's battle plate as well as fire "non-lethal" rounds for when he wants to capture someone alive. His armor is a custom piece of work, it's much bulkier than most other suits of armor produced outside of the Imperium, and qualifies and civilian grade power armor in our systems.
When he is cornered, Balak is likely to try and take hostages to negotiate his escape. When negotiation is not possible he will kill every hostage or slave he has captured just to spite his foe.
Despite all this Balak is a smart being, and if not for our manipulating events he may never have gone along with the plan to attack Arcadia. He may escape the trap if we do not have the proper counter measures in play, thankfully Operative Slicer 30 has already inserted a worm into the Batarians ships, which will allow us to stop the Batarians from fleeing the system once the Navy arrives.
If all goes according to plan, the Emperor will have his Casus Beli with the Batarians, and the suffering of our cousins will be avenged.
Codex: Oddities developing among the Mega Nids: As of the latest waves, the Mega Nids are appearing in even larger numbers, this is not unforeseen…But what was unforeseen was the mechanical augmentations some of them sport.
They are crude looking things. Jagged blades of titanium, heavy guns firing bio-plasma at alarming rates, armor attachments made of ceramite…ect.
These are far more complex than anything the primitive hive mind of these creatures should be capable of. The evidence is pointing more and more at these Mega Nids being sent against us by some unknown power.
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