AN: It's been a while. "heartfangs," That'll happen eventually. "frankieu," Wrong, it's not the Reapers. And the CNN codex thing was a general look at it, because I have more to cover. "Clare Prime of Ultra," that's how I always saw Shepard when I played him, a soldier who just wanted to do his part and knew that others could have done the same in his shoes. Sadly the world isn't that nice and neat, plus if I used too much Deus Ex Machina it wouldn't be fun to write this. "Guest," you are SO far off it isn't even funny. "Slim A Lou Prime," A new threat. "ShadowCub," first off good to see another old reader here, but the batarians are being completely rewritten, it's not so much letting them in as it is destroying their culture and rebuilding them in the Imperial image. "EvilTheLast," He's actually not that OP compared to later things, or to Legion Commanders. "ThedemonlordPingu," all the Halo xenos are classified as extinct at this point in time. As for that, well, it held the Imperium together for all those years, and Chaos is no longer a threat, so the Emperor tolerates it and religion. Or if you want a more asshole reason, too low a population for a civil war to be a viable means of the Emperor purging religion, but again why would he want to at this point. "green cunt," thanks, and yes no Mass Effect Humans. "Trooper007," I'll probably throw a codex entry in somewhere…Although it wasn't Taldeer but her pure blood Eldar daughter, cause I was a young and foolish writer who though 6 was gonna be the protag for the entire trilogy. As a side note, Omega is in Citadel Space, you'll see why I chose to do that. Time to start the show.
Speech
Thoughts
Radio/machine speech/scene change
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Terminus Region: Warlord Krulk's Territory: Ranalf System
Warlord Krulk was an OLD Krogan. Krogan were long lived, perhaps even longer lived than Asari, though their warlike culture prevented most from reaching their natural lifespan. To be long lived in Krogan society one must be strong enough to crush their rivals. But only the most cunning and intelligent lasted this long. He was old when the Krogan Rebellion occurred, and people said he would be still alive when the galaxy ended.
He had carved a large swathe of territory in the terminus system; it was just a little smaller than that of the Turians. And he had turned it into a militaristic state to surpass them. True the Citadel had been modernizing, but the old Krogan hadn't been wedded to the ways of the past, and technology had been one of their strengths.
Ranalf 1 was one of the primary defensive outposts of this hegemony; it was defended by twelve dreadnoughts, fifty cruisers, one hundred frigates, and twelve massive space stations. It was a world that would be the pride of many nations of the galaxy, it had a populace of one billion, and provided resources to the Warlord's domain for his plans of defeating the Citadel and the Imperium to bring Krogan, and those who would obey them willingly, back to dominance over the galaxy.
They thought they were safe, they thought the protections they were provided would be enough to hold all but the Imperium back long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Indeed this had proven to be the case in the border clashes between Krulk and his neighbors.
But they were not ready for when a massive rip in reality, discharging raw warp energy into real space, appeared in the system. They were not prepared for it to disgorge a ONE HUNDRED KILOMETER LONG WARSHIP and its escorts into the system. The smallest of which was twenty five kilometers long.
In the brief time before a first contact was attempted, the defenders took in the sight of the vessels. They were obviously gigantic, only the primary defensive station was equal in size to any of the new comers, and even then it was still dwarfed by the gigantic flagship. They were crude in appearance, hammered plates painted red made up the bulk of the ships' hulls, with various "figure heads" of crudely made skulls and other iconography on their prows. Despite their crude appearance they were bristling with weapons. Most of which the defenders couldn't make heads or tails of.
As the first contact packet transmitted, the newcomers ships accelerated towards the planet. One last attempt was made to resolve this peacefully, but it was ignored by the newcomers. The defenders sent a request for reinforcements as they opened fire, sending mass accelerator rounds through the void at their targets.
Despite the attacking ship's crudeness, their defenses were active. And the mass accelerator rounds, even the main gun from the primary station, a gun developed to theoretically destroy any ship built on Mass Effect technology up to a seventy five kilometer one, did nothing to the attackers. In fact it seemed to amuse them...This comes from the fact that inexplicably, coming THROUGH the walls and the void of space was a sound that could be vaguely described as "singing."
"Fifteen Orks on a dead man's hulk. Starin' down the barrel of a gun. Gruntin' to each uvva through big sharp teef Sayin' 'this one'll give us some fun.' " The massive ships, would have been recognizable to the Imperials before, but now the singing would have confirmed it. Orks. The Green Tide had returned from beyond the grave.
The "song" continued: "Fourteen orks on a ship. Killing everything that ain't green. Grunting to each uvva through big sharp teef 'Saying times are getting lean.' " The massive Ork warships barreled through the defenders fire, heedless of the pathetic weapon fire arrayed against them. They had yet to return fire.
By now the defenders were getting desperate, even anti orbital batteries on the surface were having no effect: "Thirteen Orks on the captain's chest. Looking to quench their greedy thirst. Grunting to each uvva through big sharp teef Saying 'I was da wun dat found it first!' " The Ork ships didn't stop, and they were going at such speeds that the defenders couldn't get out of the way. As a consequence, the Greenskin warships PLOWED through the inadequate defenses with their sheer armored bulk, shattering whatever they hit into debris.
The invaders continued singing as they reached geosynchronous orbit around the world: "One Ork left to steal the loot. Wishing it hadn't turned out so. Grunting to itself through big sharp teef Saying 'I shoulda let the pilot go!' " For a few minutes nothing happened. Then several meteors dropped from the one hundred km long ship, the Imperium would know them as Roks.
Planet Side:
The defenders on the ground had just barely started mustering then the Roks landed outside of the primary space ports. The impacts shattered windows, threw air cars into buildings and the ground, and tossed the defenders into the air and back to the ground. As the defenders got to their feet and took stock of their situation it was already too late.
Pouring out of the Roks came millions of Orks. They were not the ones the Imperium would remember, ie unarmored, but slightly more technologically advanced. Every single one was clad in heavy armor, and carried a heavy caliber auto gun, the ubiquitous "shoota." Backing up the horde of infantry, many of whom were in primitive "truks," very well armored APCs, were tanks and artillery.
The vehicles of the Orks, while crude looking, were highly effective. The defensive guns of the port, designed to shred Citadel made vehicles up to three hundred years from now, had minimal effect, only managing to scratch the paint jobs of the crude tanks and armored vehicles. The return fire on the other hand, while extremely crude by comparison, had no trouble destroying their targets with high caliber explosive shells.
Artillery shells arced high into the air, and came down on the skyscrapers. These shells punched through floor after floor before landing in the basement and detonating, collapsing entire mile tall structures with a single blast. The tank round flew at a flatter trajectory, but whatever they hit was erased, whether it be a shielded and armored gun emplacement, or a civilian building.
The intensity of this fire drove the defenders into the cities, allowing the Ork Infantry to gain a foothold. This was the key mistake the defenders made, as Imperial tactics would dictate, the only way to WIN against Orks was to stop them from gaining a foothold…But the mixed force the Warlord had assigned to protect the planet didn't know that, and doomed themselves to defeat.
With a foothold established, the Orks made rapid progress. The hand held weapons of the defenders had more effect than the defensive guns did against the tanks, by which I mean a two squads could take down one Ork. So strongpoints were established that the Orks flowed around. For a while, it seemed like this would slow the horde long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
But then, they arrived. If the regular Orks were heavily armored, these were walking tanks. Thick slab shields covered their fronts, with slots just big enough for shootas to poke through, and behind that was armor even thicker than that of the other orks. These assault Orks cleared the strongpoints from the ground floor up using grenades or pure firepower.
When that took too long, Stormboys, the rokkitpack equipped assault specialists, were deployed to hit from the sky. This combined arms attack over ran the positions in rapid succession. Any who stood against them were slain, only the civilians were spared but not out of mercy, the Runt Herders needed as many as they could get their hands on them and learn of where the Orks were now.
In the end the ports were secured in less than an hour after this tactic was employed. And with the star ports secured, the Orks set about securing the rest of the world…and constructing several strange structures on the surface. It would be another few hours before the world was secured and the buildings completed, but in orbit there was another battle waging.
Orbit:
"Admiral" Kraalus was one of the one thousand Battle Masters who followed Krulk into exile. He had been granted the title of Admiral for being the most experienced Krogan when it came to naval warfare, though he was just a captain in the Krogan navy back in the "Rebellion."
That, and his loyalty to the older Krogan. Krulk was his Krant, and he would never betray the trust placed in him. Even so, as his forces emerged from the relay, one thousand ships strong, the task before him seemed impossible.
No matter how he approached it tactically in his head as he ordered his fleet to attack in "Fist" formation, there was no way to overcome the behemoth at the heart of the fleet. But he was Krogan, and to run from a fight was disgraceful. As such he commited himself fully to the fight, KNOWING he would lose.
Mass accelerator fire from the ships he brought, as well as torpedoes, slammed into the enemy, and did miniscule damage. The fighters and bombers he deployed did about as well against the Orkoid fleet. This kept up for a minute, before he decided to concentrate his fire on ONE ship at a time. But even as he issued that order, the Orks made their move.
Hundreds of thousands of "flakk" guns opened up, scything the attacking craft out of the sky even as they deployed their own "Foighta Bombas." Then the main guns, or he hoped they were primary weapons, opened up. The sheer WALL of fire thrown at his fleet was staggering, but the damage done was even worse. In seconds his frigate escorts melted away under the firepower directed against them.
Without the frigates and the fighters for dedicated anti-fighter duty, he had to order power to be taken away from the guns to be shunted to the Guardian Lasers. This helped deal with the incoming Ork craft, and their missiles, but this slackening of fire was fatal. The Ork fleet maneuvered the few badly damaged ships behind the one hundred kilometer warship, which bore the name "Conquera," and continued their attack.
Within two minutes the majority of Kraalus' fleet was in ruins. The "Admiral" ordered one ship to retreat and bring tactical recordings of the battle to Krulk. As soon as the ship withdrew, and it was just his flagship facing the enemy fleet, he received an even nastier surprise. A new portal opened, and a ship THREE times the size of the behemoth that had annihilated his force emerged along with its escort.
The Krogan knew that if that ship survived, nothing Ezero based could stop it conventionally. So he did the one thing he could. He ordered the ship to go FTL aimed right at the massive ship. He hoped it would at least cripple the leviathan of a ship. As they spun up their drives, a single shot exited the massive ship. It was half a kilometer in diameter, and moved far too fast to be reacted to. Knowing his fate, the old Krogan bellowed out his defiance even as the round vaporized his ship.
The Orks now had their entrance into the Galaxy, their beacons allowing the rest of their kind to arrive.
TIMELINE: 6.24 AU/6.2670 CC -12.25 AU/12.2671 CC
6.24 AU/6.2670 CC: The Orks rapidly spread into the territory of Warlord Krulk. The Krogan seeks aid from his neighbors, and is only given it when the Orks attack in their directions.
7.24 AU/7.2670 CC: The STG presents evidence of a new race emerging in the Terminus to the Council in a closed session. It is instantly marked as classified outside of the highest echelons of government, the Politicians not wanting to cause a panic or have the Imperium ruin the first contact.
The Orks continue their assault on the Terminus, having driven the nearest Warlords out of their territory and forcing the Terminus to unite against them.
Saren Arterius begins observing the Orks in preparation for the diplomatic mission in a month's time.
Shepard and Ashley begin a stint as instructors in a wargame, code named "Operation: Breaker." It is a theoretical scenario in which the Citadel forces manage to match the Imperium tech wise and open war is waged.
Tali's pilgrimage takes her close to the Perseus Veil, while there she gathers observations on Geth Space for report (knowing in the back of her mind that the Imperium probably knew more than she could observe already.
Alenko starts another stint on the Western Front.
8.24 AU/8.2670 CC: Saren turns in his report on the Orks. He assesses that they are warlike and would be more likely to attack then negotiate. He suggests that the Council allows the Imperium to beat this highly aggressive race down before negotiating, that way they negotiate from a position of strength. His advice and report is ignored.
The Citadel sends a diplomatic team led by Matriarch Alesia to meet the Orks. They get to Greenskin territory easily enough, but are prevented from entering for a whole week by the "Navy." Eventually they are granted an audience with Warboss Battlebrakkah. The negotiations go well.
According to the Ork, who stood a head taller than an Elcor, they fled some kind of calamity, and they were in need of supplies and reliable maps to survive.
The Council readily starts supplying the greenskins with food, information, and citadel weapons and armor. The one glaring hole in this info, due to the Specter Corps, fearing the Orks would not be as peaceful as the Council believed, calling in favors to hide this piece of info, is that the Imperium is not mentioned.
Needless to say, this was just a ruse on the part of the Orks. Their "Big Boss" had ordered information gathered on the races of the galaxy beyond the territory they were conquering now.
9.24 AU/ 9.2670 CC: The Imperium gets the rights to build several outposts in Citadel space, provided Citadel Navies could: rearm, repair, and refuel.
The Orks take even more territory. The Meks have finished analyzing the information given by the Council. The Citadel is determined to be weaker than the Orks, from a pure technological stand point. "Da Big Boss" begins planning probing attacks against the Citadel.
12.24 AU/12.2670 CC: The Terminus systems make their final stand in the Tural System.
Tural System: Space
The last holdout of the Terminus Warlords had become the most fortified system outside of the Imperium. The last one hundred thousand ships in Terminus had gathered together, and the system had hundreds of small stations designed just to fire a main gun on par with a dreadnought. The warlords knew they were doomed to fail, but their pride prevented them from calling for aid, they would die on their own terms.
The first Ork ships to arrive were kilometer long "Dakka Boats," basically engines strapped to oversized cannons. The dakka boats opened fire instantly, their guns were inaccurate but powerful, each shot that connected destroyed a Terminus vessel, no matter the class. The Terminus forces closed to weapon range and opened fire.
While the dakka boats were heavily armed, they lacked the armor of other ork vessels, and were quickly destroyed. But this attack served another purpose. It had drawn the Terminus forces out of position, just as the "Big Boss" had planned.
Between the Terminus fleet and their defensive stations and guns appeared the true vanguard of the Ork Fleet. At its head was a fifty kilometer long warship, the "Bad Omun," and it was led by Warboss Dreambasha, an ork who stood at ten feet tall and was one of the primary war leaders of the "Big Boss."
The Warboss ordered his fleet to attack as soon as they entered real space. Their sudden appearance and firepower allowed them to destroy the orbital defenses and guns quickly. Within a minute the space was clear except the ninety nine thousand Terminus ships and the one hundred Ork vessels.
The Terminus fleet turned and engaged Dreambasha's fleet, they moved as fast as they could to intercept the Orks, trying to prevent another Rok Drop. As they crossed into their maximum range, the Orks fired. The space between the two fleets was filled with massive cannon rounds from the Orks, and mass accelerator rounds from the Teminus. It was a beautiful display from a distance, blue rounds intermingling with golden-orange shells from ork cannons; due to the density of fire, the rounds would sometimes intercept one and other.
The Terminus had to concentrate their fire to down any of the Ork vessels, but the Orks could just fire and kill…eventually. Terminus weapons were much more accurate compared to the greenskin guns, but they fired MUCH slower. For every hundredth shell fired, the Orks claimed a kill.
The one hundred Ork ships claimed one thousand kills, but had been dropped to twenty four in number. But that was fine, they had done their job. Behind the Terminus fleet emerged the bulk of the Ork Fleet, sixty thousand ships, led by a two hundred kilometer behemoth.
Caught between the dwindled number of the vanguard, and the main fleet, the Terminus forces died quickly. Within a minute the entire Terminus Alliance navy was exterminated. This led to the Orks deploying their Roks to seize the world.
Tural Prime: Ground
A month ago, Goskam was a regular boy in his mob, but he had shown aptitude for assault tactics during several of the previous campaigns, and had been transferred to an assault mob. Now in addition to the standard 50mm thick armor, shoota, and choppa he carried before, he had twelve stikk grenades and a 100mm thick shield.
Earlier in the Ork invasion assault units like him were held back, but now that the Orks knew their foe, the Assault Mobs were deployed as the vanguard in every battle. The superior armor they were issued allowing them to wade through even more intense fire than other Orks.
His mob had been assigned to breach the trench lines of the Terminus forces in Secta A, one of the most heavily defended zones, and also where "da best scrap wuz." And they were looking forward to it. At five thousand meters out they locked their shields and advanced into the maelstrom of fire that started to pour out of the defenses.
To most sentients the sound of mass accelerator fire sheeting off metal armor was very disquieting, no one likes being under fire after all. But to Goskam and his fellow assault Orks? It was a relaxing sound, as relaxing as rain on a tin roof would be to a human or an Asari.
By the time they were one thousand meters out they had lost one hundred of their number, completely due to heavier caliber guns, and had not fired once. Then, they broke into a dead sprint. Most would find running in a ton of steel and other metals unaided exhausting, but this was nothing compared to training. Where the Nobs in charge of churning out fresh Assault Boyz made sure they could run at a dead sprint in three times the dead weight for two thousand meters.
Ten meters out they lobbed their stikk bombs, the grenades arcing right into the enemy defenses. Thousands of detonations occurred simultaneously all along the trench line, and then the Orks were among the defenders.
Compared to the individual weapons of Terminus and Citadel forces, or indeed the Imperium, the garden variety shoota was nothing special or worth really noting. It was a chemical propelled solid slug firing weapon, with a range of one thousand meters roughly, which fired massive rounds rather inaccurately. But in close quarters the shoota was devastating, as the assault boyz proved.
Goskam emptied ten rounds down a section of the trench, claiming six kills at five meters and another twelve who were beyond them. He then moved towards one of the identified command posts, his shoota speaking for him when the guards tried to stop him. After the area around the bunker was cleared, Shokum, one of the demolition "experts," in so much as he hadn't yet blown himself up, rigged breaching charges.
The boy counted down till breach as the "team" huddled up: "Ten, noine, eight, sevun, sex, foive, foor, free, tuu, une. KABOOOOM!" That was swiftly followed by the whole side of the bunker imploding, allowing entry. The assault boyz rushed in, shootas blazing away at anything not Orky.
Goskam was in constant motion. Looking around, "aiming," pulling the trigger, ending another target's life in a puddle of blood and gore that stained the floors and walls…rinse and repeat; he had racked up thirty kills in the complex when an eight foot tall Krogan barreled into him, knocking the shield out of his grip and embedding it into a wall.
This angered the Ork: "OYE! DAT WUZ MOI SHIELD IT WUZ! YER GONNA ZOGGING PAY FER DAT YA GIT!" He opened fire with the shoota, but the Krogan was wily, and managed to evade the shots or misdirect the enraged Ork's shots. It would be almost comical to watch if it wasn't for how blood thirsty the two races were, as it almost looked like some weird dance.
But the assault boy grew tired of it, and tossed his shoota aside while drawing his choppa. Now, the term choppa is a general term for melee weapons in the Ork vernacular, it could be anything from a simple "knife" with a two foot long bulky blade to a massive ten foot or longer one with a power field. Goskam's would be called a "power dagger" by the conventions of the Imperium.
The Krogan was understandably weary of this blade, and tried to keep his distance…But the ork was having none of it: "COME 'ERE YOU! I NEED YER SKULL FER ME TROPFEE RACK!" And lunged after the Krogan, who was constantly trying to stay out of reach of that deadly blade, and failing for the most part...but not in a major way, at most the Krogan was getting nicks and shallow cuts.
But he couldn't keep it up forever, and in the end he stumbled, and the power weapon cleanly severed the Krogan's head from his head. Goskam hooted in joy: "Dat's more loike it!"
He swiftly picked up the severed head and stashed it in his pack before retrieving his gear. The fight on the planet was far from over.
TIMELINE: 1.25 AU/1.2671 CC-6.25 AU/6.2671 CC
1.25 AU/1.2671 CC: The final resistance in the Terminus systems dies out. The Orks, in a very unorky move, set about securing their new base of operations. Factory worlds and shipyards were set up outside of the Mass Relay network so the Citadel couldn't find them, and ships were "decomishuned" to make the Citadel lower their guard.
The Imperium beats back another wave of mega nids, it's becoming a monotonous routine at this point for the frontline troops. However, the higher ups and intelligence believed that these were just probes due to how few nids were being sent in the last few waves, and redoubled the fortifications around the western frontier.
Operation Breaker ends. Those assigned to the op are given a month of leave.
Wrex carries out a mission for the Shadow Broker to raid Hanar convoys.
2.25 AU/2.2671 CC: Captain Anderson undergoes a specter candiancy run under the watchful eye of Saren. The mission they undertake is completed successfully with no civilian casualties, however Saren says that the navy officer does not have the versatility to be a Specter. Something Anderson begrudgingly agrees with, as his area of expertise in ship to ship combat.
STG operatives raise concerns over the lack of visible factories and shipyards in Ork space, but their concerns are suppressed by the Chief of the STG, Daltress Dala.
3.25 AU/3.2671 CC: A strange incident happens on Terra, but the details are quickly classified. But keen observers would note that five divisions of marines and two Legion Companies, one Raven Guard the other Imperial Herald, were redeployed to Terra for some unknown reason.
Imperial Intelligence deploys Spartan Vs, the latest generation of non legio super soldiers, to hunt for the source of the nids, and to reinforce various Imperial outposts. One such outpost that receives three hundred operatives is code named "Thermopylae."
4.25 AU/4.2671 CC: Small bands of Orks begin probing attacks into Citadel space, these bands are beaten back at moderate losses by the Asari and Salarian navies. Diplomats scramble to find out what was going on.
According to the official statement from the Ork Warboss Battlebrakkah, these were breakaway tribes within the Orks who wanted their own clan lands. He reassures the Citadel that they are doing their best to contain further such incidents.
The losses are blamed on Terminus forces, as the general public doesn't know about Orks yet.
5.25 AU/5.2671 CC: In the wake of the largest attack to date, the Orks stage a demonstration for Citadel top brass where they destroy a "breakaway" fleet of two thousand ships that had been heading to Citadel space. While not fully comforted, the Citadel military officials back down their mobilization orders.
This was another trick of the Orks, the ships they destroyed were controlled by a skeleton crew of grots, and no real threat.
The Blue Suns take on a job escorting a Citadel exploratory force into the unexplored East of the Galaxy.
6.25 AU/6.2671: The Orks launch a full scale invasion into Asari and Salarian space. This assault surprises the Citadel, and shows them how badly they had been misled by the orks. Their diplomats try and get ahold of Battlebrakkah, only to find he's leading the invasion under orders from "Da Big Boss."
The Citadel scrambles desperately to halt the advance, while trying to keep the information about the invasion as quite as they can.
Next time: Savagery Unmatched, Heroism Unparalleled
Review please and thank you
Codex: Ork Hierarchy in the Khanate
Within the Ork horde there is a strictly enforced meritocracy. The most violent and intelligent orks advance, those who fail fall down the totem pole.
At the top is "Da Big Boss," not much is known about this being, save for the fact that this one Ork has kept the horde together, he must be an Ork of immense power.
Below him are "Da Generals," each a powerful warlord in their own right. However they are unable to unseat "Da Big Boss," either due to being too weak or too loyal to do anything.
Below them are the Warbosses, the lords of various clans and mobs. They hold their own fiefdoms and seats of power, but in the end answer to "Da Generals" and "Da Big Boss."
Then there are the "Underbosses." These orks are not as powerful as a Warboss, and mainly take care of the day to day affairs of their boss' territory or lead detatchments of Boyz and Nobz from the front.
Then there are the well-known positions of Nob, Boy, and then the Gretchens.
Outside of the chain are doks and mekboys, who serve under patrons who found use for their talents…As well as brainboyz and weird boyz.
Codex: Progress Report on finding the source of the Mega Nids
So far Imperial Intellegence has found several artificial worlds that spawn the nids, and several others that augment them. We obviously destroyed those worlds, yet the tide keeps coming. We are no closer to the source than we were before.
Codex: ISD progress report as of 6.25 AU
Mk XI Legionary armor entering production
Marine next generation power armor entering prototype phase
Mijonlr Mk X Entering production
Aegis Armor production started for the Custodes
"E" series entering prototyping
M9 Family of weapons prototyping
Fleet production rates rising
Western front, 90 percent upgraded
"G" Series Bioweapons first batch ready for deployment, next batch will be ten times as numerous
XF project blueprinting