Outer Council Space
Relay 343
Turian Cruiser – Gladius
Admiral Lincus fixed his gaze on the mass relay's holographic image. The massive, 15-kilometre-long structure was lifeless in front of his ship, but this was about to change. The Gladius along with fifteen other ships waited patiently for the relay's activation.
The small fleet was made up of council species vessels, indicating the importance of this mission, but the ageing Admiral would have been happier with more ships or at least newer ones.
The three science ships were relatively new, with ten years of service, but their escorts were at the end of their service cycle.
The Republics had sent six frigates that were the last of their class, the Union had upgraded the science vessels with new sensors and state-of-the-art onboard labs. Lincus had the inkling feeling that the salarians had contributed more than just a few fancy equipments, he was willing to bet that somewhere nearby there was a stealth ship of theirs.
The Hierarchy was represented by 4 cruisers. Thankfully, these ships were from the mainline class which proved itself reliable in the past decades, but he was sure that he would hear about a new class soon.
And there were the last three ships from the 'newest' council race. Only the Asari still referred to them as new. For them, 200 years didn't mean too much, but everyone had moved on from this. The United Colonies of Kobol was the fourth government that could have a seat on the Council.
The humans were a weird bunch. They have twelve garden worlds as their homeworlds, but they claim that they were from another from where they had been banished by their gods two thousand years ago. They distinguished themselves as tribes as if they were still primitives, but the galactic community had grown used to this custom of theirs.
Their ships looked very alike, only their size was different.
The smaller ships were Valkyrie class battlestars which were the colonials' equivalent for cruisers with their 650 meters length. As much as Lincus remembered they were first introduced fifty years ago. The Valkyries had proved themself in light strike and reconnaissance missions ever since. This versatility helped that many were still active in the Colonial Fleet. Although their production had ceased a few years ago.
And there was the last ship, a Jupiter-class battlestar called Athena. It was a relic from another era. In Lincus's opinion, it should be a museum by now, but the humans thought it would serve well in this mission. The lumbering giant once had been one of the strongest and the longest ship in the human navy with its 1440 meters, but this title now belonged to the Nova-class. But this didn't mean it was useless because it was retrofitted with new weaponry, but Lincus would have been more relaxed with something newer.
"Admiral, Commander Stavros has arrived with the Ambassador." said the comm officer.
Lincus straightened and nodded, signalling his readiness to meet them. He exited the bridge and made his way down the sleek corridors of the Gladius; the soft hum of engines filled the otherwise silent corridor. When he entered the briefing room, he was greeted by two figures awaiting him by the table.
"Commander, Ambassador." greeted them Lincus.
Commander Stavros was an older human with grey hair, clean shaved face and lines in the corners of his eyes. The admiral briefly read his file, Stavros was a decent officer and commanded the Athena during the Second Cylon War. The Colonial Fleet clearly had faith in him, and Lincus found himself hoping that confidence was justified. Officially Lincus was the commanding officer of this fleet, and every ship was under his command, but unofficially the two smaller battlestars reported to Stavros since Lincus was not familiar with commanding those type of vessels.
The Ambassador was an older asari – as usual. Lenell D'raana. The Republics liked to throw its weight when someone had to be an ambassador. The matriarchs loved to imagine themselves as the galaxy's diplomats. Lincus held back a quiet scoff. He knew that they just liked to have a say in things, but they rarely put something behind it.
They were more fond of their influence than their commitments.
Lincus invited them to sit, gesturing towards the table at the room's center.
"So, what should we expect on the other side of the relay?" Stavros asked, leaning forward slightly, "The Council was tight on intel." The two military men looked together for a moment, neither of them liked that they hadn't been briefed beforehand about what should they expect in the coming hours.
"Projections estimate a 20% chance that we'll find a garden world, 30% for an empty system and 50% for a few lifeless rocks." replied D'raana from her datapad, "According to an STG calculation, we have less than a 3% chance of making first contact."
"After the Parnack incident, I thought that the Council would assign more ships to this mission or a few more modern ships. Even if it's not likely a contact scenario" Lincus interjected, a note of irritation in his voice.
"It's safety reasons mostly." the asari replied, meeting his gaze calmly. "Too many ships appearing at a colony, or worse at a homeworld, and we could be seen as aggressors or conquerors. Not speaking about what if they are trigger-happy. The Council wants to avoid an interstellar war at first contact."
"And the old ships?" Stavros asked with a frown.
"Security. Losing ships with more common and streamlined technologies that most of our fleets use was deemed a major strategy and tactical threat. Even if reverse engineering takes years, the military leaders didn't want to take this gamble. By sending ships with older, less standardized tech, we minimize this risk. This way a hostile species will have a big surprise when they meet us again in battle." elaborated D'raana.
Stavros's frown deepened. "I don't like this gamble. Thousands could die."
"Thousands are nothing if the rest of the galaxy is at stake." D'raana replied. Lincus didn't like this attitude, he was the commanding officer of this fleet, and it was his duty to make sure that everyone under his command got home. Yet, the council would easily throw away their lives.
Lincus decided to change the conversation before he would say something that he would regret later. "Why did this relay get chosen?"
"The Protheans left a few titbits mention of this part of the galaxy. It's a little vague, but as much the experts managed to put together it appears the Protheans were looking for something here." D'raana explained, even she appeared as unsure as Lincus felt about this.
"Do we know what?" Lincus asked.
"Something named 'Erde-Tyrene'. This is most likely the name of a place or an area, we are not entirely sure. When this word appeared, there were usually some paragraphs of text nearby in an unknown dialect or language. The linguistics could only translate one word so far, but it was important enough to use it frequently in those paragraphs."
"What was it?" asked Stavros.
"'Mantle'. Whatever it is or was, the way the Protheans wrote about this, it was important for them. It was often mentioned in a context like it was a safe place, a force that would protect them from something bad. And it is somehow connected to 'Erde-Tyrene'.
"This sounds like some religious thing to me." Lincus muttered, crossing his arms.
"Maybe," D'raana admitted "but since we know next to nothing about Prothean religious practises, these could mean anything. But the Council deemed this enough to choose this area for exploration"
"We might as well be looking for the Thirteenth Tribe." scoffed the human commander.
Oh yes, the legendary Thirteenth Tribe. Lincus had wondered when they would come up. In the past 500 years whenever the Council had been willing to open up an inactive relay, the more religious humans had always brought up their long-lost sister tribe. This was still an interesting debate among the academics, whether they existed or not. They hadn't been seen for over 4000 years and this pushed the galactic public to that Earth and the Thirteenth Tribe were either long gone, or they had been just a legend in religious texts to begin with.
But this had never stopped the colonials from their endeavour to find them. Lincus had heard some whispers that the turian higher-ups were a bit worried about the existence of these humans. Ever since the Colonies were allowed to build as many dreadnoughts as the Hierarchy, the turians were far from happy. Allowing to have a large number of their strange battlestars that lacked a spinal cannon but were deadly in a close quarter combat was a concern for turian space battle strategies. With an equal number of dreadnoughts and the Nova class battlestars, the Colonies were close to matching the Hierarchy's might. Only the number of frigates and cruisers gave his people an edge in an imaginary war with the humans.
"Who knows? Maybe this is the relay that would lead you to them." replied the Ambassador.
2559.08.30.
Belmont System
Orbit of Velence
Captain Jonathan Blackwood looked out of the bridge's window. The countless pieces of debris gently floated and spun aimlessly in the deadly vacuum of space. He played a grim game in his head: Try to find out which ship that debris once was part of. The part he was currently looking at was definitely the aft section of an Able-class destroyer, the engine's shield on its port side had been blown off and was lost in the debris field.
The next piece of debris was a bridge section, most likely from a Stalwart-class frigate. He recognised it from the missing antenna dish, but it could have been lost in the explosion that destroyed the ship, so his deduction could be wrong.
The final debris for today was not really a debris but an almost intact ship. Intact as long as someone didn't notice that the bridge had been melted off. A Marathon-class heavy cruiser. Once a powerful warship that protected millions, now just a nameless big block of titanium.
Blackwood sighed. He hated this game, but there was nothing else to do while he waited for the survey groups to finish their investigation on the planet.
This colony's name was Velence, an agricultural world on the edge of UEG territory. Founded by a Reach-based company in the last century. In 2532 more than 75 million people called this planet home.
In 2533 none.
The Covenant had made sure of that.
Velence now was a lifeless molten rock. What made it stand out of all the glassed worlds was a continent-wide glyph that had been carved in the planet's crust. The only other one in human space was on Kholo, a few systems away. That glyph meant faith.
This one meant devotion.
Looking at the glyph made him feel a curious mix of cold rage and emptiness. All this destruction and carnage in the name of 'gods'. Billions had died for nothing. Everyone had lost someone during the war, Blackwood too.
"Anything from the teams?" asked Blackwood in the hope of distracting his mind.
"Team alpha is almost finished with the geology survey at the… glyph, beta is still going through the city ruins. They should report back in twenty minutes." reported his XO.
"And delta?"
"Nothing so far, sir. The ONI site was deep underground, it's unlikely that we will hear of them till they finish their objective."
"Fantastic." his tone clearly indicated his displeasure with this. "Anything from the Inferno?
"No, sir. The ionised particles in the debris field weaken the transmissions' strength; the Sunset, Sahara and Romeo are close enough to Ragnarök that the particles wouldn't affect us. We would have to break low orbit and distance ourselves from the planet to 150,000 kilometers to make contact with the Inferno."
"But we would lose contact with the survey teams and the frigates."
"Yes, sir."
The Ragnarök and Inferno were two Marathon-class heavy cruisers escorted by five Paris-class heavy frigates. Three here, two with the Inferno. The seven vessels attempted to form a Gorgon battlegroup, but they were short by three frigates to be a standard formation. The eight Paris were needed to balance the Marathons' incomplete hulls, but sector command had deemed that eight frigates would've been overkill for a simple survey mission.
"Can we use a Pelican or two as relays?" Blackwood asked.
"We can, but the particles have formed clouds, and their different densities could still cause communications blackouts."
"Send them out. I don't like that we have no idea what's happening in the system. And ask Sahara to send someone to get info about delta team."
"Right away, captain."
The Inferno's group was investigating a domed mining outpost on an inner planet. Blackwood was the battlegroup's commanding officer; he felt uncomfortable that he didn't have information from the three ships and the team below.
He didn't want to mess this up, he wished to pretend for himself that he had earned his command and rank with honourable service; and not for what he did at Essex. He ran a hand through his brown hair and let out a sigh. He was less than 30 but he felt himself much older than that, and his instincts whispered that something was coming.
Outer Council Space
Relay 343
Turian Cruiser – Gladius
"Relay is powering up. No activation anomaly detected so far." reported an officer.
Lincus watched with a moderate anticipation how the relay's giant gyroscope rings start to come to life. This was the first time he saw an activation process in person which was often considered a once-in-a-lifetime event. The rings first slowly moved but within a few minutes, the rings spun so fast that they were hard to track them.
"Element Zero detected within the rings. Steady increase."
A blueish hue appeared among the rings which soon started to concentrate in the middle of the gyroscope.
"The rings have approached their maximum speed. Mass Effect core is stabilizing in a few moments."
The floating element zero in the core of the gyroscope formed a big bright ball whose light would've blinded anyone who didn't look at it through polarised glass. Then seconds later the light dimmed, and the spinning rings slowed down to their usual speed.
"Mass effect core has stabilized and powering up the rest of the structure. Mass Relay 343 is officially active, sir." declared his officer.
"Alright, 30 minutes then we jump."
"Yes, sir."
Lincus walked back to his command post, turned his communication officer and ordered him to make a line with Commander Stavros.
"Athena actual is here." came Stavros's voice through the call.
"Commander, in 30 minutes the relay will be ready to travel. I want you to prepare all of your ships and Vipers to be ready for combat before we exit from FTL."
"I can do that. Are we expecting trouble?"
"Just in case, commander. As soon as all of our ships exit FTL, we will scan the entire system for anomalies and if we find something, we move closer and launch a few probes. Hopefully, the system will be empty."
"So say we all." replied the ageing human.
Admiral Lincus ended the call with Commander Stavros, feeling a slight weight lift from his shoulders. The Colonial battlestars were well-equipped for knife-edge combat thanks to their artillery batteries scattered through the ship. Once a battlestar gets close, its batteries overwhelm most kinetic barriers in minutes and destroy the enemy ship unless it jumps away.
As the final preparations were underway, Lincus observed the relay's lazily spinning rings. His crew busied themselves with checks, while the other ships fell into their assigned positions, ready for the jump. He glanced out at the vast emptiness ahead, a familiar feeling creeping upon him. Despite the meticulous planning and the fleet's combined strength, venturing into the unknown always carried a certain risk. Lincus hoped it was nothing more than a deserted system waiting on the other side.
2559.08.30.
Belmont System
The sixteen Council ships poured through the relay as they arrived at the uncharted star system. After every ship exited from FTL, the turian admiral started giving orders. "Start scanning the immediate area."
"No ship detected, sir. It's just us and the relay." reported a young officer.
"Then let's see what it's in the system."
Within minutes the Gladius's long-range sensors skimmed through the unnamed system. Everyone on the bridge watched the incoming data.
A main-sequence star, an asteroid field, and six planets – one in the habitable zone. No artificial signal or sign of intelligent life thus far.
"The sensors detect water in the asteroid field, the planet in the green zone has a strong magnetosphere." said the sensor officer.
Water and a shield against the deadly solar wind in the habitable zone.
The bridge's door opened and the asari ambassador entered. She gracefully walked over to Lincus.
"Anything interesting?" she asked friendly.
Lincus continued to view the data. "The second planet looks promising. Good magnetic field, water in the system, and the planet is in the green zone."
"The only thing we need is an oxygen filled atmosphere, and we can call it the day." she said with a smile.
The admiral snorted. "Any good name in mind?"
"Hmm, how about Prosperity?"
"Isn't it a bit early to be this positive?"
"I like to call it hopeful optimism. Maybe it's a nice tropical planet with lush forests."
"Or an ocean world without a square meter of dry land." countered Lincus.
"Could be, but we won't find out from here."
The turian understood what the ambassador meant. He pushed a button to open a channel to the ship's bow.
"Helmsman, take course to the second planet, full sublight."
"Yes, sir." came the reply.
"Lieutenant Velicus," Lincus turned the scanner post. "Focus on the second planet but keep an eye out for anything else."
The fleet began its steady glide toward the second planet, the council ships maintaining formation as they accelerated to sublight speed. Admiral Lincus kept his gaze on the holographic display of the system, his eyes tracing the orbit of the second planet.
After a while, Lieutenant Velicus spoke up. "Admiral, the sensors spotted something at the planet."
"What is it?"
"Large numbers of metal objects in orbit around the planet." said Velicus.
The bridge stilled for a moment.
Metal objects in orbit. What were they? Satellites at best, warships at worst. Or maybe just asteroids with large amounts of metal.
"Deaccelerate and launch probes." ordered Lincus then turned to Velicus, "Anything else?"
Velicus studied his display with great intensity. "Ionized particles prevent more accurate scans of the orbital objects, but the planet emits massive radiation."
Metal objects and radiation. They were not the first here.
"Probes in visual range, sir!" called out a crewmember.
"Put it on screen."
A big screen on the bulkhead which showed information about the ship changed its screen.
Everyone on the bridge gasped, most loudly the asari ambassador.
Shock and horror took hold of Lincus and the bridge's crew. A planet appeared on the screen. Its surface was scorched, not just a few places but the entire surface was shimmered like glass. Entire continents were a uniform, dull black, their once-natural features erased forever. Massive cracks and scars marred the surface, some spanning thousands of kilometers, glowing faintly with the residual heat like the crust was cracked and the mantle was visible.
The oceans, if there had ever been any, were long gone, replaced by sprawling, dry basins of obsidian that reflected the dim starlight like lifeless mirrors. Clouds of ash and debris hung in the upper atmosphere, swirling slowly. What little atmosphere remained was a sickly brown hue that filtered the light from its star.
But the most bone-chilling thing was the continent-wide carving in the surface that glowed red on the dark side of the planet.
"High level of radiation, the atmosphere is saturated with ash and debris, surface temperature is above 423 K."
"Open a channel to Battlestar Athena." said the admiral. "And send a message to every ship to raise their barriers and be combat-ready, the frigates protect the expedition ships, cruisers create a formation between the frigates and the planet with us." ordered Lincus.
"Stavros here." came Stavros's grainy voice.
"Do you see what I see, commander?"
"Affirmative." said with a shaky voice, "Vipers are ready to launch on all three battlestars."
"Good, but don't launch them until we know what we are dealing with. Link up the Athena and the other battlestars with our formation."
"Aye, aye. I keep this line open."
"Admiral!" called an officer. "Probe 3 moved into the debris field, putting it on screen."
The glassed planet was replaced by the next probe's feed.
A graveyard of shattered warships was drifting aimlessly. Twisted hulls, large chunks of armor plating, ripped from the bodies of alien ships, gleamed dully as they tumbled slowly through space. Some pieces were as small as a dropship while others were as big as the Athena. The graveyard was dominated by burnt and blackened wreckage and melted armour.
"Guide the probe into that wreckage." said Lincus.
The probe slowly moved closer to a bigger grey part of a ship that looked like it was cut through by a giant sword. As the big debris came nearer, the open inner structure became more detailed. The small reconnaissance craft was a dozen meters from entering when Admiral Lincus noticed something.
"Stop!" he ordered, "Magnify grid 6, section 5."
A shape drifted in one of the corridors. At first, he thought it was part of a ship, some twisted fragment, but as the probe's image magnified, the figure took on a familiar form. The figure was unmistakably human, a figure cladded in some tattered remains of uniform, its face obscured by a shattered helmet. The body was drifting slowly, turning over and over in the weightless void, with its arms frozen in a macabre pose as if he was reaching out for something.
"What in the name of the Spirits?" Lincus murmured, disbelief creeping into his voice.
The bridge fell silent as others noticed the body on the screen, the quiet hum of the ship's systems the only sound. This was supposed to be an uncharted system – unknown and untouched.
Lincus pushed a button on his console and spoke. "Commander Stavros, can you tell why I am seeing a human body in the debris field? There's no record of human activity this far out."
"I would like to, admiral, but I can't. The Colonies are on the other side of the galaxy, and we have never ventured this far or fought on this magnitude. The wreckages don't match any ship even remotely in the Colonial Fleet." came Stavros's explanation.
"Then how this is possible?" asked the asari behind him.
"CONTACTS!" shouted an officer. "20.000 km and closing."
"Battle stations!" shouted Lincus then the klaxons started to blare. "Where are they coming from?"
"From within the debris field, they are about to emerge. Probe 2 has visual."
"Show me."
From the massive orbital graveyard, six vessels cut through the thousands of debris. Admiral Lincus stared at the incoming ships on the display, his mandibles twitching with curiosity. The alien vessels, five smaller ships flanking a larger, more imposing one, approached swiftly, their silhouettes unfamiliar to him. He studied them closely, trying to assess their threat level and design.
Five smaller ships that looked as if someone had built a gun into a spaceship and then put on it a pair of engine blocks. Their hulls were angular, gunmetal grey and it looked thick enough to stand a few direct shots, but Lincus was not sure how his ships would perform against those ship's spinal guns. From their numbers and size, he thought that these were escort ships or something like that, these aliens might use them differently.
His attention turned to the command ship. The larger vessel followed them behind dutifully as it dwarfed the smaller ships. This one looked rugged, a blocky, brutish rectangle, but its hull was uncompleted. Why? He could imagine how this ship looked fully armored – a brutal warship which was any krogan's dream ship. Then why was it unfinished? Despite the missing armor plates, this flying brick still gave him the impression that it could take the punishment if it was necessary.
All ships were angular, constructed with harsh lines without any aesthetics, utilitarian to their core. They were undoubtedly military ships, not refitted civilian ships.
These vessels were designed to wage war.
And now, they had set their attention on his fleet.
"Five of the ships measure 535 meters in length, while the capital ship spans 1,192 meters. They are currently within 15,000 kilometers and closing in." Five cruisers and a dreadnought.
"Lead ship is broadcasting, audio only."
"Admiral! I'm detecting several nuclear and growing electromagnetic signatures from all six ships. Spirits, the electromagnetic signatures are growing exponentially. They're exceeding fifty-five billion units and still growing." said the officer with trembling voice.
Spirits, this is going to end badly. The admiral silently prayed that their numbers meant something.
"Commander, this is Lincus. Launch all Vipers into defence position!"
"Understood. Launching Vipers."
"ADMIRAL! Enemy ships are firing!"
Lincus helplessly watched as the enemy dreadnought spit out a yellow beam of light from one of its muzzles which seconds later connected with Stavros's battlestar. Whatever was the projectile, it went through the Athena – from bow to stern – without resistance. The ageing battlestar's top pair of engines broke off from the ship's body when the shot exited, then half a second later the entire ship exploded, the two flight pods survived the destruction, but they crashed into the neighbouring cruisers, damaging their kinetic barriers.
The shots fired by the enemy cruisers had led to exactly the same result for their targets. One cruiser and three frigates disappeared in a massive ball of flames, one of the targeted frigates miraculously managed to dodge the shot that had meant to it.
The aliens destroyed five of Lincus' ships in one salvo.
"Return fire and retreat immediately to Citadel space! All fighters land in the remaining battlestars now!" yelled Lincus.
The remaining eight ships with spinal guns returned fire.
The slugs were either bounced off from their hulls or if they caught the ship in the right angle the slugs stuck into their armor. The Gladius belonged into the former when it took its shot at the dreadnought.
"Turn us around and prepare to FTL jump!" As the cruiser moved to turn, the alien dreadnought changed its position, aiming its spinal gun at Gladius. Noticing this, Lincus yelled at the top of his lungs. "MAXIMUM SPEED!"
The cruiser's manoeuvre engines were at their limits to push the starship. As the turn was almost complete, a yellow beam passed just above the ship's bridge.
They missed.
Barely.
"Jump!"
The Gladius entered FTL speed along with the rest of the fleet and they did not stop until they were back in Council space.