AN: You know what time it is, time for WAR! But first your reviews… "Captain Titus Invictus," if I do give Humanity a Council Seat outright, it's not for a long time if at all. Leaning towards multi, as Imperial augmentations increase THAT kind of stamina and drive…Primarchs are a distinct possibility…And no, that is obsolete now, but it was a SECTOR flagship. "Imoneoldfart," they might, though who's to say the Imperial AI haven't already penetrated everything already? "MEleeeSmasher," and everyone else asking about the Citadel Council considering an Imperial Spectre, they really have nothing else to offer besides influence to keep from getting curbstomped…And short of a Council Seat, a Spectre is A LOT of influence for a non-Citadel member. Not so much warn as react negatively to what the Reaper was doing…though what that was is a secret for now, it's not Indoctrination though. "ArcChaser," as I said in the PM, I forgot to mention them on the timeline…They are cautiously trading with the Imperium and each other, though they don't trust each other at all. Also, one last thing of note, this is where the story starts to earn its M rating so keep that in mind. Anyways, time for the chapter.

Speech

Thoughts

Radio/machine speech/scene change

The Lion of Arcadia

Sand Pebbles Resort, Arcadia: Day of the Batarian Assault

Michael Shepard rose shortly before sun up; a combination of his internal clock still set to the schedule he was on in Stormtrooper training, and the augments cutting his need for sleep down to a mere four hours. As he got ready for his day, the blond thought about the planet he was on.

Arcadia had been a barren ice world before the Imperium seized it. Now it was a carbon copy of Earth, minus the city locations…and the fact that unlike the home world, Arcadia was a tourist trap for Citadel citizens. A good amount of whom never left, in fact the customs agent he talked to before going planet side was an Asari who once worked for C-Sec.

After showering and shaving the beginnings of a beard, he switched on the news as he ordered room service. Not much had changed overnight in the galactic scene, a few minor incidents had happened though. Chief among them was that the Batarians were apparently massing their fleets, there was specialization over what the target was; most agreed that they were going to intervene on the side of the pirates against the Blue Suns.

Another thing of note was the Tsonis had come to Arcadia for a mini vacation. He had seen them in the space port from a distance…surrounded by a small cadre of commandos. It was a little amusing to him to watch them try and get the marshal to clear them to land, what with them being armed even if they weren't that powerful. He idly wondered if they had been allowed to keep their guns.

A knocking at the door alerted him to his room service having arrived. After paying for his meal, he sat down to a breakfast of three sunny side up eggs, twelve slices of bacon, two oranges, four slices of French toast, and a large glass of juice.

However, just as he finished his breakfast, the emergency alert system activated: "Warning, warning! A pirate fleet of approximately one thousand ships has just arrived in system. The defensive stations are down due to maintenance, all tourists and inhabitants are to report to bunkers and other safe locations near them. Any military personnel present are to join the CDF attempts to hold the attackers at bay! This is not a drill! Repeat, this is NOT a drill!"

Cursing to himself, Shepard quickly used his personal quantum lathe to create his armor and weapon. The armor he stepped into was a virtually featureless combination of blocks and angles, looking more like a statue than an actual suit of armor; however once inside the armor the micro cameras activated, giving him a full view of his surroundings along with his HUD. The gun he created was the standard M7 in LMG mode; the M7 looked very similar to the old rifles used by the Imperium, it was linked to the HUD of the armor, allowing the user to rely on the inbuilt targeting systems, though in a pinch the gun could be used with iron sights (picture the stoner 63 family for what the M7 looks like).

Tapping into the CDF communications he reported in, his voice calm and clear: "This is Sergeant Shepard, eighty second ODST regiment; I'm at the Sand Pebbles resort. Where do you need me?"

After a second a gruff voice responded: "Hold the resort Shepard, we don't have enough manpower to protect all the areas of the planet. We need you to lock down the area, we will be redirecting all tourists outside the main city to your area. You are authorized to take any action need to your position. Hold until relieved sergeant. Hold until relieved."

Acknowledging his orders, Michael quickly made a pair of drone engineers to fortify the resort in every direction except one. The main entrance had to be kept open for the civvies to enter, so that is where he would make his stand.

In Orbit: Bridge of the Eyes of Harkon

Balak's eyes narrowed as he watched two of the defending warships leave their berths as the rest exploded under the barrage of the massive armada the Hegemony had gathered for this mission. The two defensive stations had been taken out swiftly by the fleet, as they were down for maintenance as their informant had told them.

Issuing a quick order, the fleet focused fire on one of the "frigates" at a time. While it still took three minutes to down one of the frigates, and an additional five to down the other, it took less time than it would have if the firepower was split. Still though, they lost three hundred ships under a barrage of weapon fire…granted they were mostly frigates and destroyers, but it was still a loss of men and materials that would force them to continue. As if they withdrew now with nothing to show for it, it would mean all their heads.

Grunting in annoyance, the batarian barked: "Slave! Relieve my tension!" At his barked command a light blue skinned Asari maiden crawled to him on her hands and knees, naked as the day she was born. The maiden was in her fifties, around a decade older than the veteran slaver, but still illegal in Citadel space on her age alone, never mind the slavery bit.

As she worked his cock free, and Balak had always prided himself on his size, the slaver ordered the ground forces to commence their assault. While the Asari was working the shaft and balls, he monitored the situation; when he reached his climax, he would lead his elite guard against a point of resistance of his choice…probably the heaviest unless something else suggested itself as a better target.

This was not out of concern for his fellow pirates, but rather because they were the best equipped, and anywhere with that level of resistance would have the best loot or most slaves. He grunted as the slave started to suck on the tip. For now though, he was content to wait, and to use his Asari slave…He didn't plan on joining the fight until he had painted her face white.

Arcadia's surface:

Liara T'soni was running. She had been at the beach with her mother and their cadre of commandos when the warning came in. They had assumed it would be easy to get to the parking lot and use their rented hover cars to get to a safe location. But the slavers had put a stop to that plan when a cruiser's round leveled the lot and all the vehicles in it.

A police officer had directed them north, towards the Sand Pebbles resort. Minutes later slaver ships had deployed their cargo of ruthless criminals and mercenaries. Miralia, one of the commandos who had served her mother faithfully since Liara was a child, had been cut down in the opening salvo. Her blood sprayed across the scientist's face and swimsuit clad form.

As she had fled the strings on her bikini had been severed, either by purpose or accident; similar had happened to other tourists, leaving a mass of partially to fully nude panicked civilians fleeing to the resort. Just as the mass of civilian crossed onto the boundaries of the resort, a round severed the Asari's tendon, causing her to stumble.

Thankfully her mother, who was in a similar state of undress, caught her before she fell. The two hobbled along, and manage to make it to the main road, something was odd though. The resort was surrounded by a massive curtain wall, except for at the main entrance, where there was a gap in which stood one armored figure.

They fled towards him, even as more of them were cut down or captured by the slavers chasing them. The crowd, with one thought, split evenly to both sides of the road; this gave the soldier the opportunity to fire on the slavers. Angry scarlet beams of energy scythed through the attackers, killing dozens with each burst.

Within seconds the pursuing band, which had numbered over two hundreds, was reduced to a mere dozen. Those few survivors fled in terror. When the fleeing civilians came level with the soldier, Liara finally got a good up close look at the armor he wore. Much like the rest of the Citadel, she was familiar with the standard "Enforcer Mk VII" the Imperial Marines wear, and this bore a similarity to it…In so much as a Turian Praetorian tank resembles a King Tiger.

This armor looked much more advanced and better defended than the normal Marine plate…But his weapon was easily recognizable as a M7 in the LMG configuration. Before she could inspect him more, the crowd made it into the resort where the staff tended to their wounds and gave them clothes. For better or worse, they were now stuck in the resort.

The gap in the Sand Pebbles new wall: Shepard

The ODST Sergeant exhaled a breath as he constructed several stealth UAVs, tiny drone cameras with optic camouflage and radar absorbing materials. The first wave had been repelled easily. But with the Batarians holding orbital supremacy, he would need eyes in the sky to the spot the attacking groups.

Normally building a gate would be a VERY wise idea, but not for the strategy he had in mind. The walls themselves were heavily fortified with auto turrets, limiting the Batarians to approaching from the main road. With turrets and a heavy gate, the Batarians would be held at bay and probably convinced to attack elsewhere.

However, with the sheer number of attackers, reducing the amount of viable targets would merely result in them concentrating all their forces on the sole city. But, if he left an obvious weakness, especially with only one defender… he would suck in a disproportionate number of slavers, alleviating the pressure on the CDF force, which barely numbered five hundred.

This then was his plan, tie up as many enemy combatants as possible by presenting as tempting a target as possible. Another reason for this plan was that an Imperial Intelligence group, code name Cerberus, had tested the armor he was wearing in Batarian weaponry; it could stand up to frigate grade weapons firing nonstop for an hour before experiencing any difficulty…Which was perfect, as that was the largest caliber the Batarians could bring to bear without losing potential slaves.

A warning beep from one of the UAVs he deployed notified him of the approach of the next slaver group. A quick report flashed up on their numbers and equipment. Roughly two hundred, armed with cheap gear, and escorted by a pair of obsolete Turian Talon tanks, probably purchased off the black market.

Shepard contemplated building a few additional defenses, either static or attack drones, or arming some of the tourists to help as he waited; but in the end he decided against it for the same reason he left out the normal gate, to present a more welcoming target. Aiming his LMG in the direction the pirates would come from, he waited for them to come out of the woods.

He didn't have to wait long. Within a minute the next wave had appeared, already firing on him. The rounds fired by this band bounced off his shielding, creating a sound almost like rain falling in a forest. Michael took a second to let the sound relax him, before he returned fire.

His LMG was in the standard laser mode, as such his rounds didn't trigger the shields of the attackers…and merely scythed through their armor. The first burst gutted one of the old tanks, detonating its Ezero core; the resulting explosion instantly killed the ten closest slavers, consuming them in the blast…those a little further away were thrown around like rag dolls, their bodies broken by the concussive blast.

The next burst destroyed the second "tank," resulting in similar carnage. That was the problem with the old Talons, Shepard reflected as he proceeded to leisurely pick off targets with his rifle, they were relatively powerful for a Citadel tank…but that power came at the cost of a highly volatile power core, which led to its inevitable retirement by the Turians, as it resulted in unacceptably high casualties amongst the infantry support.

As the lone survivor tried to flee, and Shepard put a single round through his back, the radio channel Arcadia CDF command used came to life: "I've got good news and bad news people. The good news is Highcom knows our situation, so we can expect a relief force in the future. Unfortunately they couldn't give me a time table for that, as the latest push on the Western periphery is occurring simultaneously. Reports of fully cyberized Mega Nids are streaming in. But Lord Castellean Creed has promised that as soon as forces are available we will be relieved. But for now our enemy out numbers us at least ten thousand to one, each of you must be an army in your own right! For the Imperium, we will hold the line and bring DEATH to the invaders!"

As the micro speech wound down, the next wave, double the size of the last, exited the woods over two kilometers away. Shepard opened fire immediately, putting hundreds of rounds down range and shredding the column. He would hold the line.

Shaxi:

Ashly Williams was on leave, visiting her family, when the news first broke. Her first reaction was denial, there was no way the Batarians would be stupid enough to attack an Imperial world. And there was even less of a chance of them happening to strike when automated maintenance was underway. But most of all there was no chance in hell of her best friend being on the world they attacked.

But as the reports became more solid, and supported the initial one, her denial turned to disbelief…then shock…and finally ANGER. She was halfway to calling the local garrison to cancel her leave and get a transport to Arcadia when her family talked her into staying. After all, Shepard had gone through additional training and had better equipment; it would take more than pirates to kill him in the time it would take for the relief force to arrive.

Even so, she kept an ear on the news, waiting to know when it would be safe to contact Shepard, and promising vengeance against the Batarians for their stupidity in attacking an Imperial world.

Citadel Station: Four hours into the assault

The Citadel was in an uproar, they had finally found out where the Batarian pirate fleets had disappeared to. The Council was ill pleased with this, and had summoned the Batarian envoy, and the Imperial ambassador to meet about this. The Imperial ambassador had arrived quickly, and was keeping an eye on the situation on Arcadia; but the Batarian one was late.

When he finally arrived, the envoy swaggered into the meeting chamber like he owned the place. He probably had demands or chips that he thought he could use to get the upper hand for the Hegemony; especially as none of the ships were officially part of their navy.

The incoming Turian Councilor, Spartus, was the first to speak, cutting off whatever Drothan, the envoy, was going to say: "When the Council summons you, Envoy, you are expected to be punctual. Anything less is not only gross disrespect on your part, but reflects badly on your people. So what's the excuse this time?"

The Batarian fumed at Spartus' tone, but really couldn't do anything about it. So he delivered the state approved line: "Honored Councilors, the Batarian Hegemony has nothing to do with the actions of pirates and slavers as you well know. We would be happy to work with the Imperials to retrieve their people…for a small fee."

Before the Councilors could step in, Balerion's successor, a UNSC Human by the name of Donal Udina, spoke: "We have a counter offer. The Batarian Hegemony will return all slaves to their respective races, disband their pirate fleets, and abolish slavery. In return the Imperium will modernize your industries to the point where you do not need slaves any more. If you refuse however, we will retaliate."

The Batarian snapped: "They aren't connected to my government, so any retaliation against us for us is unjustified." It was an old line, one Tevos and the Galactic community at large had always been stymied by…Not so the Imperials.

Udina's cold voice countered the argument: "Whether or not they are affiliated, the fact that they have top of the line technology from your nation implies either flat out supports them, or that your military is so grossly incompetent as to allow this tech to fall into the hands of criminals. Either way our ultimatum stands. You have two hours to get your government's reply."

Drothian glared in anger as he turned and left to make the call to his government. Everyone already knew the Batarians would never give in to those demands, even if it helped them in the long run. Their arrogance and hatred for all things not Batarian would never allow it. This was just a formality really, reinforcing the fact that the Imperium had a cassus beli against the Batarians, and even came off as merciful by giving them the option to handle the slavery problem themselves.

Citadel: Rae's Bar:

Tali took a sip of her beer in contemplation. She wasn't surprised at all by the actions of the Batarians, merely that they had gotten lucky enough to hit Arcadia at just the right time when the automated defenses were down.

She took another sip as a flash of amusement crossed her mind. If she had lived in the fleet till her teens, she would have distrusted the automated systems the Imperium used intensely; the young Quarian considered herself lucky she wasn't. Her people were in a time of prosperity unseen since the Morning War, and safer even then when the Geth were under their control.

Even so, she didn't have to like that her friend was in combat on Arcadia, and there was nothing she could do to help. By the time she arrived, the battle would already be over. Tali blamed the slowness of the Citadel News Network in transmitting the news about the battle.

Still, everything was going well it seemed. Already the slavers had lost over three million combatants, and the Navy hadn't even shown up yet; and with the ultimatum from the Empire, the Hegemony's day was going to go from bad to worse.

Arcadia: Slaver Landing Zone Four, six miles away from Sand Pebble Resort

Balak scowled as he read the reports. For over four hours, a single Imperial had prevented them from seizing the captives there. That ended now. The pirate lord had gathered his Elites, one thousand strong and clad in the closest equivalent to Imperial Power Armor the Hegemony had produced. They were to be supported by two squadrons of Pillar Heavy tanks, one of Vengeance Gunships, and one of the brand new Fist Mobile Suits.

None of this was individually a match for an Imperial version, but it would give them a fighting chance against the actual soldier stationed there. Briefly Balak considered turning his Elites on the city and the PDF, but in the end he reasoned that there must be some hvts in the resort to warrant a soldier of that caliber being stationed there.

As such he issued the order: "Advance, kill that soldier and claim the slaves inside."

Shepard:

For the past four hours he had destroyed attack after attack; if his kill tracker on his hud was accurate, he had single handedly put down forty thousand slavers and mercs, not to mention all the "heavy" equipment such as tanks. He had made a nuisance of himself, as the mass piles of bodies proved. The smell of roasted flesh permeated the air, making Shepard extremely thankful his suit filtered out smell along with everything else.

He had been keeping an ear on the battle in the city. The CDF was still being pushed hard, they had lost the outer parts of the capital city of Neo Athens, but now that they were in the inner parts the concentration of forces had increased to the point the Batarians couldn't make any more progress. It was a pity that Trooper war droids weren't authorized for the CDF in Eastern part of the Empire yet; they would have annihilated the attackers by now if they were, but the traditionalists fought against such a move on the relatively quiet Eastern frontier tooth and nail.

A warning beep warned him of a new formation approaching. An eyebrow raised as he looked at the composition, the fact that Mobile Suits were present, especially as the Batarian military didn't even have several divisions of them yet, only proved that this operation was cleared by the Batarian state. But even that wouldn't really be enough.

Calmly he switched to sniper mode, and took aim. Imperial Intelligence had identified the major weakness with the Fist class as soon as it was introduced. It was built for intimidation, and sheer overwhelming firepower. As such, its generator was extremely powerful, almost matching a frigate, but unstable…And lacked proper armor.

A single low powered shot exited the barrel of the rifle, and speared the leading MS through its cockpit. The laser round flash fried the pilot, and set off the generator. The explosion was rather satisfying, creating a small blue mushroom cloud from the Ezero, but it didn't really affect the attackers. Their armor was specifically designed to counter explosions from Ezero cores.

But that was fine, his weapon and training would emerge triumphant. By the time the Batarians started firing on him, he had destroyed half the Fists and Pillars, and shot down the entire gunship unit. Their fire was accurate, but nothing really to worry about too much; only the Pillars or the Fists could really put a dent in his defenses at that range.

It was just a matter of aim and shoot, each pull of the trigger destroyed a vehicle, or killed multiple slaver infantry. That was when he finally caught sight of the sigils on their armor, they were the "Elites" of Balak's crew. These men, and indeed a few women, were the most ruthless and well equipped pirates in the galaxy; with good reason, Imperial Intelligence had already determined that the majority were either Death Squad members, or recruits.

That just made eliminating them all the more important. After he picked off the last MS, spearing it with a crimson beam of light, he rapidly transitioned his weapon back to LMG mod. The slavers were getting closer, with a wry smirk he switched to volkite rounds. The quasi power armor worn by the slavers was exceptional for Ezero based tech, but it wasn't designed to stop pure heat weapons.

Slavers cooked alive in their armor, screaming in pure mind destroying agony as their bodies melted off of bone, or exploded in the armor depending on their race. It was grisly and would have broken the morale of any of the earlier forces, but these were fanatics…They believed themselves invincible, and believed totally in their superiority over other races, they would never withdraw.

That suited Michael just fine. His weapon reaped a bloody toll on the attackers, however a dozen or so managed to within fifty meters of his position. Rather than continuing to fire, he discarded his LMG, and created a witch blade, modeled after an Imperial Fist power sword. The blade however was fast and light despite its size, and easily sliced through the slavers that charged him.

Each swipe claimed a life, spraying the area with the blood of his victims, and turned his armor from gun metal grey to red. It was a massacre, nothing stopped his blade, and soon all that was left was him and Balak. The slaver had emptied multiple clips into him, as had the other attackers, all for nothing though as his shield had absorbed it all.

A decision was presented to him through this. Either kill the Batarian, or take him prisoner, minus his arms. In the end he chose the latter, and with two quick swipes gave the slaver a "flesh wound." After then knocking the bastard out, he proceeded to apply basic first aid, it wouldn't do for the probably leader of this attack to die before Imperial Intelligence got their hands on him.

Inside the Resort:
Liara shakily watched as the most dangerous Pirate band the Citadel faced was slaughtered by one Imperial soldier. The brutality was horrifying, but at the same time that was vastly tempered by what she knew would be their fate if the soldier hadn't stopped the slavers. She had met several cousins who had been rescued or manage to escape after stints in captivity, and they were always changed; it was as if most of the fire had gone out of them, and they were just living day to day out of necessity, rather than enjoying life.

She had thought some unkind things about the Imperium before, what with their hording of tech and secretism, but this had more than proved them right. If they had shared their tech, it is very likely the Batarians would have overrun the planet with ease.

Shaking her head as her mother put a hand on her shoulder, Liara spoke: "We were wrong mother. The Imperium is much more dangerous than your friends in the STG ever dreamed. And now the Batarians have kicked over a vespoid nest."

Benezia nodded, "You are correct little wing, though when the Imperium retaliates the Batarians will face them alone. Even with the possibility of the Imperium gaining even more influence in our culture and politics, it is a preferable scenario to the Batarians dragging the galaxy into a war we cannot win. The council would sooner leave them to drown then damn the rest of the races to a total war."

Liara nodded, in her opinion any retaliation by the Imperium was long overdue. She hoped the Imperials didn't leave a single stone on another by the time they finished with the Batarians. (if you think Liara is out of character, remember she gets quite vicious during the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC)

Orbit:

Finally, after over four hours, the Imperial Navy relief force arrived. Ten warships, none under fifteen kilometers long, appeared out of the darkness of space, their wedge shapes striking fear into the hearts of the slavers. In mere moments a third of the slaver fleet had been vaporized under a barrage of high intensity lasers.

Another third tried to flee to the planet, only to be shot out of the skies by hidden anti-orbital guns. Those guns then proceeded to destroy any remnants of those ships, to prevent any damage from bing done to the planet by their descent.

The last third tried to leave…emphasis on tried. The worm I.I. planted in their systems activated at that point, locking their controls, allowing boarding actions. Something the avenging navy ships did by launching tens of thousands of boarding pods, each loaded to capacity with trooper war droids.

One of the ships boarded by the merciless mechs was the Eyes of Harkon. And much like on every other ship they boarded, they carried out a slaughter. Not a single slaver was left alive after this attack, though unlike the other ships they disassembled, Balak's flagship was left alone. As I.I. needed the ship to put the final nail in the op, even though the Batarians had already dug their own nation's grave.

Beyond that, Trooper pods disgorged on the planet to finish securing it, as well as take Balak into custody for the I.I. agent in the fleet. Within ten minutes, Arcadia was Batarian free, and under Imperial dominance again. As a final cherry on top, Western Front grade defenses were being installed throughout the Empire, as this assault finally gave the reformers the last bit of clout needed to remove all restrictions on the arsenal of the CDF.

Citadel: Two hours later

The Batarian answer to the Imperial ultimatum was clear the moment their envoy reentered the council chamber with his head held high and full of smug superiority. Holding up a finger, Balerion opened a com channel to the Imperial Palace, and informed the Emperor of this expected outcome.

Within seconds of Balerion's call, every electronic device stopped their regular broadcast, and piped the Emperor through. For the first time in the brief history of Imperial Citadel relations, the inhabitants of the Citadel Alliance saw the master of the Imperium. It was awe inspiring, like seeing one of the great heroes from mythology made manifest.

When the Emperor spoke, his voice was full of power: "People of the Citadel, hear me. Six hours ago, our trading colony of Arcadia was attacked by a massive slaver fleet. Our forces were hard pressed, but due to the heroism of our forces in the face of overwhelming numbers, we prevailed over our foes. I am pleased to report that not a single slave was taken by the raiders, and that not a single one of the attackers made it out of the system alive."

"However, this attack has pushed my patience to the limit. Two hours ago, my representatives on the Citadel issued an ultimatum to the Batarian Hegemony, the sponsors of this attack. Dismantle their slaving institution and renounce their pirate fleets. In return, we would have modernized their industry to keep them competitive."

"Out of pride and hubris, they refused, now the only recourse left to the Imperium is war. But any war would only lead to them taking back up slavery if we left their way of life intact. As such I declare this to be a war of cultural destruction, in as much as it is one of conquest. We will tear down the old ways, and rebuild the Hegemony into a law abiding people."

"To you of the Batarian Hegemony, I say this. Make whatever preparations you wish. Raise armies of slaves. Hire Mercenary specialists. Bolster your defensive installations. In the end, it will not matter. The chastisement I bring upon you shall not be stopped, or averted. As of this moment, the Imperium is now at war with the Batarian Hegemony, and its culture."

Shanxi System:

Shepard looked out the window of his troop transport. He had volunteered for the counter strike the Imperium was gathering out of a sense of duty, as well as vengeance for the forty CDF troopers who died against the slavers. The task force consisted of twenty frigates, fifteen destroyers, ten cruisers, five battle cruisers, two carriers, a fleet carrier, and a single battle barge.

This battle barge was a deep arterial red with ebon sections. It was larger than the old Corvus, and bristling with guns. Emblazned across its upper surface was the emblem of a book with an Aquila seated across Earth, and inscribed on its bow was the name: "Bearer of the Word."

The XVIIth Legion, the Imperial Heralds, were here, ready to win for the Imperium.

Next time: The Death of a Culture

Codex: Non-Imperial Mobile Suits

While not nearly as powerful as Imperial MS, the governments of the Citadel Alliance and Terminus Systems have tried their best to develop their own mobile suits. A trend among the races was to make their suits look like their normal combat armor expanded to gargantuan size. None of the races MS really did the same thing; for example the Turian Talon class was built around armor and heavy firepower…while the Salarian Slink class was built with a micro stealth generator, which didn't leave room for much firepower or armor.

Another example would be the Batarian Fist. Designed to be easy to use and produce, it sacrificed a lot of "extras" to meet the production demands of the Hegemony. The Fist are highly maneuverable in space, easily outperforming nearly every other race's mobile suit, this is to allow them to out maneuver the targeting systems on most citadel style craft. They also carry a relatively heavy armament, with a gun almost as strong as that on a frigate as their main weapon and a pair of head mounted CWIS.

The present designs are one of the largest steps forward that Ezero was able to fuel…but this was the limit, if they want to advance any further, they would need new tech.

Codex: Cyber Meganids, an abomination

We have seen partially augmented meganids before, they were much more dangerous than their more common brethren. However, a new abomination has taken to the field. Made completely out of crude metal, but acting exactly like their organic counterparts, Cyber Meganids are a new force on the battlefield. Each is ten times more durable then their organic counterparts, and even the smallest can carry heavy weapons.

Imperial Intelligence is currently working on finding the source of these Cyber Meganids. But considering they have yet to even find the source of the regular Meganids, it is unlikely they will anytime soon.

Codex: Battlebarge: Bearer of the Word

A fifth generation Battlebarge, the Bearer of the Word is one of the XVII Legion, the Imperial Heralds, command vessels. At thirty kilometers in length, in outweighs the earlier iteration of the Battlebarge by a substantial amount; and can bring a lot more fire power to bear, carrying double the amount of turrets as the older class of barges. The armor on this behemoth, despite only being ten meter thick, is equivalent to one hundred meters of armor. Its power plants are multiple redundant anti-mater reactors that produce twelve times the output of the last generation power generator, this allows for an even more rapid fire rate for the turrets as well as a much higher shield rating.

Beyond that, the Bearer of the Word has several EMP weapons intended to be used in culture destruction ops; as well as numerous lathes for use in mass producing war droid support/pacification units.

Codex: Legion XVII, the Imperial Heralds

Like every other Legio bearing the number and name of a former Traitor Legion, the XVIIth Legio has a lot to prove. The scars of the long war run deep, and many Eldar and Imperials distrust their motives because of this. However they are, much like their cousins in the other Legions, loyal to the Emperor, and have yet to fail any mission given to them…but this is the first time they will be exercising their specialization, cultural destruction and rebuilding. Some privately question why this mercy is being given to the Batarians, after all it would be far more efficient to simply Exterminatus them, and be done with it. However, this decision was taken so that there would be a buffer to the south east of the Imperium until such a time as the when the Imperium can claim dominion over the entire galaxy.

Codex: Imperial exports to the Citadel

While Aquila Industries and Asclepius Medical have cornered the Citadel market in their respective industries, other Imperial Companies have started exporting video games, movies, music, food, and even clothing to the Citadel Alliance. Imperial fashion is all the rage amongst the Asari and Turians, the Asari because of how well the clothes fit their physiology withough any modification…and the Turians due to the clean cut, and militaristic feel of several of the lines.

On the movie front, the most popular series of movies to exit the Imperium is the Heresy series, with the Cain saga in a close second. The Heresy series is a grand historical drama, covering the events of the blackest days of the Galaxy, the Horus Heresy; the Emperor lent his voice as the narrator for the movies, and is rumored that he will appear further down the line. Meanwhile the Cain saga covers the life of HERO OF THE IMPERIUM Ciaphus, and has the bonus of the roles of Cain, Amberly, Jurgen, and a few other roles being played by the real life individuals.

Beyond that the "Edge of the Empire" game series of strategy games had gained a lot of traction. The premise of the games was to be an Imperial commander, and deal with threats, real or "imagined," that threatened the Imperium through whatever means necessary.

Review please and thank you