So this was something I wrote up as a Kantai Collection Prompt last year. Not very long but I am considering writing follow-up chapters. Took me a long time but I managed to finish last Autumn. Figured I posted this here, a Stellaris/Kancolle/Mass Effect Crossover.

In the year 2593 CE, the galaxy once again found itself in war. The Citadel Council once again found itself pitted against a new foe that threatened all of civilization. But it was not a new alien race hellbent on conquering Citadel Space or an old one.

It was the forces of the Great Beyond. From a plain of existence beyond the physical world. They were called many names: the Ones from the Great Beyond, the Nara Sa'ki, the Sapient Rage, and many more.

But most knew them by one: the Abyssals. The spirits of the past come to seek retribution and revenge for the past. A mysterious force, yet so powerful that it smashed any defence, counterattack, raid, or strike with ease.

It took the Citadel Council half a decade to stabilize the frontlines, losing dozens of worlds in the process. It seemed hopeless as fleet after fleet was battered or smashed.

But a new force arrived on the scene to save them. Spirits of the past first arrive and then are summoned to fight for all of civilization.

The spirits of the ships of old, of vessels that had been destroyed or scrapped yet dutifully returning to serve their species.

In the Asari trade language Sari, they're known as Rebekha or Gaurdians. In the Salarian tongue Vresh, they're the Garit or the Reincarnate. In the ancient Krogran tongue the New Krestnock, they go by Bhad-Ynei or Voidstars.

But for the Turians, they're simply known by one name: The Ship Spirits. Simple, but simple is all the Turians needed when it came to naming.

It's been over two hundred years since the First Abyssal War. Two hundred years of uneasy peace, occasional flare-ups, and Abyssal raids, as the galaxy prepared for the next invasion.

But it would be apparent war that would not come to the species of the Citadel.

Instead, they would search for war. And end one with a new ally.

()

Tribune System, Turian Hierarchy

2729 GST (Galactic Standard Time)

Hierarchy 43rd Combined Strike Fleet

"(Comms) THS Rena, come about to heading 048903, engage VI fighters in the region. Engage at your own discretion."

"Yes, control! Burning to head 048903, attacking VI fighters," Rena acknowledged as she heaved herself upwards and lit her thrusters.

Her LiDAR and Radar lit up her Visor, scanning for every target within range-

"Gotcha," Rena whispered to herself as she caught the half a dozen unmanned fighters. "Oh, this will be fun."

"(Comms) Careful not to crash into one Rena. Rolon complained about fixing two dozen spirits with collision injuries in a day."

"Yeah, got it control," Rena sighed as she primed her pair of light mass accelerators and Gaurdian lasers.

Rena, formerly the Claw class frigate THS Rena, was a ship spirit summoned from the void to defend the Turian people. Summoned to defend the world of Chatti when the Abyssal forms of Krogan Rebellion ships wanted to burn the Turian colony to the ground.

It was a hard fight, but in the end, they won.

Now decades later, she was retraining with upgraded Gaurdian and Mass Accelerator weaponry added to her rigging and sparring against several VI-controlled drones.

Speaking of which-

Rena raised her arms and her rigging responded to her commands by spatting a pair of 5-kilogram slugs right at the fighters from her arm-mounted Mass Accelerators.

One of the fighters exploded as its kinetic barriers was ripped by the pair of slugs. Another had their wings clips by collateral damage and spiralled out of the way.

The remaining unleashed their tiny mass accelerators, flinging hundreds of rounds narrowly missing or smacking into her.

The frigate didn't mind, with kinetic barriers taking the damage for her. She was focused on the fighters that zipped past her.

She flipped, her thrusters pushing themselves to the limit so that she could see the ass end of the fighter's engines.

Not ideal for MAC rounds.

So instead, the 6 Gaurdian Laser Nodes that Rena carried took this chance to burn right in the drones.

3 of them suddenly found their kinetic barriers worn down and then broke as invisible beams began cutting into the fighters' engines.

"And there goes three," Rena commented as the trio of fighters spun out of control with portions of their hull burned away.

Where was the last one-

Rapidly, she let off another pair of Mass Accelerators at the remaining fighter, ripping the poor machine in half.

And with that, her sensors went dark, clear of any hostiles.

"Control, this is Rena. All drones destroyed," the frigate simply stated into her comms.

"(Comms) We see it Rena. Good shooting. Running last analysis…..rigging is good. Diagnostics complete. 6 drones dead in less than a minute. Not bad."

"Thank you Control. Standby for new orders."

"(Comms) Now that tests are complete, we're lifting the system-wide network block. You are free to rejoin your flotilla, where you will receive new orders. Control out."

Rena waited until she was sure control was gone before toggling her communications systems and strategic network.

Her hud rapidly shifted and soon her comms started to light up.

"(Comms) -range, 18,000 klicks. All dreadnaughts, lock on-"

"(Comms) -Ravan, you've been destroyed. Disengage and head to heading-"

"(Comms) -Nezza 3 and 6, follow me in. Lock your disruptors and-"

"(Comms) -Flotilla 7 and 45, new orders and engage hostile frigates-"

"(Comms) -someone makes sure those supply ships are ready to receive. We've expended enough fuel-"

"(Comms) -THS Fela, Kova, Jana, Jeko, you are cleared for landing on the Courageous-"

The Tribune System was home to the Turian colony of Rocam, a major Turian industrial world and various orbital shipyards that produced a vast number of products like weaponry and colonization equipment for the Hierarchy.

Currently? The outer system was occupied by the Turian 7th Fleet and the accompanying 43rd Spirits Fleet. Regular Turian navy hull ships and their Spirit counterparts trained alongside each other in a live-fire combat exercise.

500 warships and nearly a thousand spirits engaged in combat-

"(comms) Barefaced Spirited Tuber!"

Ah, there was the rest of her wolfpack.

"Pazur? Something wrong?"

"(Comms) My Controller is an asshole, that's what."

"(Come) Don't mind Pazur," this was another sister frigate, Wendra. "She's just mad her controller denied her advances."

"(Comms) he's such a dense brick of Omnicrete!" Pazur screamed.

"(Comms) She tried to bribe him with Graxen, high-quality stuff," Karom, another frigate spirit added helpfully.

"You know regulations prohibit flirtations in a field combat environment, right? Spirits you're like horny teenagers." Rena sighed, being the older sister sucked.

"(Comms) But we are teenagers," Pazur responded drily.

"..." Rena looked down at her body, reminded that when she self-summoned, she was summoned in the body of a Turian Teenager like all other frigates were.

While being a ship spirit was absolutely great, it also meant they had biologies of Turian kids. That included hormones.

Damn puberty-

"(Comms) This is Indomitable Spirit Control to Wolfpack 23. Wolfpack 23, come in over."

Ah, there was control.

"Indomitable Spirit Control, this is Spirit THS Rena of Wolfpack 23. What can we do for you?"

"(Comms) Apolgize for intruding in your family bonding but we have something new. You can link up with Wolfpacks 17 and 92 for torpedo drill training. There's an old derelict freighter that needs ripping apart. You still up for it?"

"Well, that sounds fun. Send us the coordinates. We'll join in."

"(Comms) Understood Rena. Coordinates heading your way. Safe travels."

"Well, hear that girl? We have torpedo practice tonight!"

"(Comms) I'll go get Pazur, don't want her curling up and crying in the void." Karom sighed and Rena could her own riggings lighting up their thrusters.

"Alright, on the way," Rena lit off her own thrusters, before beginning the traversing back to her wolfpack.

A simple, quiet training mission with friends and family. That was all.

Citadel Codex…Claw Class Light Frigate

A staple of Turian design, the Claw Class Light Frigate has been a staple design for the Turian Hierarchy for over a millennium of Citadel Years. An updated variant of the post-Krogran Rebellion Kraxus class, the Claw, has been produced and updated until the Council-Abyssal War where designs were eventually phased out by designs meant to counter the Abyssals.

The Claw Class follow the praying hunting wing design followed by most Turian military ships, with the iconic pair of wings and long, narrow main body. The Claw is around 244 metres long, and 122 metres wide, and displaces around 360,000 tons in its latest variant. Like most Citadel ships, the Claw is built around a Mass Effect Core that allows for FTL and faster sublight propulsion and is powered by a Fusion Reactor Plant (Can use either Helium 3 or Deturieum) and a secondary hydrogen energy plant in emergencies.

The ship relies on articulating three fusion torches for baseline propulsion in non-combat situations. In combat or in need of speed, Claws can inject antiprotons into a reaction chamber filled with hydrogen. The matter-antimatter annihilation provides unmatched motive power for a short time, with Claws capable of maintaining this state of high speed for 5 hours before requiring a refuel. The Mass Effect Core also allows Claws to have a modest FTL speed of 15 lightyears a day.

For protection, Claws are covered in forms of Ablative Armour wherever possible. This provides modest protection against kinetic and energy-based weaponry (primarily lasers for the latter). Kinetic protection is provided by a light kinetic barrier system capable of protecting against light or point defence, such as mass accelerator rounds, micro missiles, and shrapnel, but does little against directed energy weapons like lasers.

Where the Claw shines is its armament, considered disproportionately heavier armed than most frigates of her time. She's built around a pair of light frigate grade light mass accelerators capable of firing slugs for a force yield impact of a half-kiloton nuke. It's also capable of firing at a sustained rate of fire or in a rapid burst depending on the situation. Claws are also equipped with 8 Guardian Laser Defence Nodes capable of defending against missiles and starfighters. Finally, Claws were eventually retrofitted with a pair of disruptor torpedo launchers, with Claws carrying 16 and able to launch 4 in a single barrage. This is all fed with sensor data from various Laser-based LADARS and Radar systems.

Thousands of models of Claws have been produced over the generations, ranging from the Pristine Shipyards of the Trebia system to frontier yards bordering the Terminus systems. While the base design and idea of the vessel have been updated to keep up with new technologies and doctrine, Claws built before the Abyssal War were nearly identical to those built generations ago.

Unfortunately, the Claw would see its end as frontline warships during the Citadel-Abyssal War. Abyssal forms dating back to the Krogan Rebellions would engage their manned counterparts, wrecking bloody toll after bloody toll against their Turian opponents. While the Claws did serve admirably, they were eventually phased out of Hierarchy Service by the more modern Gannet class that was better suited for anti-abyssal warfare. Still, Claws serve to this day as third-line warships or in the independent force like the Quarian Patrol and Scouting Fleets.

However, the Claws would come back with a reckoning in the years after the Abyssal War, in the form of Space/Ship Spirits. Summoned, either intentionally by the Hierarchy or by themselves, to defend the Turian people and its vassals from all threats, the Claws have continued to fight for the civilized galaxy in their new personified form.