Prologue: First contact
The crew of the Ukrano Brergarr worked quietly as they ran through scans on the dormant mass relay. The captain tense as he dreamed of finding a rich planet ripe for the taking. New slaves and resources for the hegemony would bring his small band of fighters fame a plenty. Together his small fleet had 2 troop transports, 3 frigates and his cruiser. It was enough to hit and raid small, undefended human settlements. And even if they had some defenses, they were backed by the blue sun. Not many would risk fighting them.
"Sir! We've managed to bring enough power into the relay. Its active." The Captain of the Gevran reported. Her troop transport withdrawing as the twin rings started spinning. Very soon they would be swimming in credits and slaves. Only then did he notice something off. As did the other captain. "Wait. Something's wrong with the mass relay! Helmsman! Get out of here! Its gonna blow!"
The eezo mass at that base of the tuning fork like hull started distorting before reality itself seemed to distort. An ear rending screech working its way through the empty black of space as Ukrano's vision blurred. Was it a secret protection against tampering? No. It had to be a faulty, dormant relay.
"Hold position. The first ship to move out of this system will personally be shot." Ukrano bellowed as the relay seemed to have its Eezo core burst. At first nothing happened. The Relay seeming to power down before a ship jumped in. It was a strange, unknown vessel.
"By the ancestors. What is that?" Helmsman Cark asked in astonishment.
"Get me a scan yesterday!" Urkano demanded. It was about the size of a Turian Cruiser yet the profile was all off. It sported a narrow profile. "Zoom in!" It was a predominately white vessel with red trimming. The tell tale signs of warship cannons and point defense systems could be seen.
"Unknown Captain. Its not in any database." came the report he did not want to hear.
"Ladar contacts! Four more bogeys!`` Urkano looked at the initial vessel more. That large hangar bay door on the bottom concerned him. Some form of small carrier perhaps?
The second ship was no less strange then the last. More cobbled together sure. Except it seemed more specialized towards…that captain wouldn't be crazy enough to ram into things in space would he? That protruding cylinder bow seemed tailor made to crash into other ships. Maybe to initiate boarding?
The third of the vessels was strange to be sure. Red and gold in color but sharing none of the aesthetics of the previous cruisers. It sported a trident like appearance. No external weapons. Some form of support craft?
"Sir. Scans detect weaponry hidden within bogey three's hull. Bogey's one through three all seem to be some form of cruiser class carrier… Two are emitting some form of jamming!"
Bogey four was just pure outlandish. Like something belonging to a fairy tail. It seemed to have some form of cabling running the length of the vessel. Some rudimentary rail gun? He couldn't tell with the foreign make.
"We have a reading on bogey five its…" His radar officer said with his mouth agape. "I…Uh…Huh…"
"Bring it on screen!" urkano ordered. He couldn't even be bothered at this point. "Surely it can't be that bad." And then he saw it. The expensive cigar in his hand, lit falling into his lap as he could see it, even from LADAR distance.
"B-Bogey five seems to be two kilometers in length…." The radar officer said breathlessly and pale. The batarian captain couldn't blame him as he stared at the sheer mass of the vessel. It was clearly a macro dreadnought. It carried enough fire power to take on the alliance fleet. Wait a minute…
"Captain. I'm getting a communication from bogey five. Tight beam communicate."
"What? Who uses Tight beam communications? Patch it through."
"...is the special autonomous task force Dreikruz. We have suffered an anomaly and are requesting assistance. If you can understand me please respond with morse code."
Silence fell over the crew of his ship as Urkano thought carefully. They sounded human. If they could over power just five warships and gain access to that firepower they could be kings. But just the task of it astonished him. However he felt they had one thing in his favor. Mass effect fields.
"Relay the following message. This is Urkano Brergarr. Unidentified vessels, you are intruding on Batarian space. Submit your vessels for a routine inspection." He ordered. "Send it in the requested fashion!"
"Sir!" His communications officer nodded before getting to work, breaking out a pda on morse code as he got to work.
His weapons officer looked at him quizzically. "We're nowhere near Batarian space though."
"We know that. They don't." Urkano smiled wolfishly.
"Comms officer, direct the combat group into raiding formation. We'll be giving our new neighbors a Batarian welcome and taking all the women for ourselves." He ordered with a laugh. He despised humans and they spoke the human language. So Urkano was going to enjoy this for what happened on Torfan.
"Message has been sent." His comms officer reported while his ships moved into flanking positions idly. However, one thing happened that he did not expect.
"Bogey one is charging some form of weapon! Incoming projectile!" A bright yellow beam raced across his vessel's port side and continued off into the distance. A warning shot was understood universally. Cease your foolish behavior or suffer the consequences.
"Did they call our bluff? Or…" Urkano thought for a moment.
"Captain Urkano. Order your ships to cease moving or we will assume you mean to escalate to hostilities. Your survival depends on your answer." The cool female response came. The Batarian grit his teeth in annoyance.
"Order all ships to open fire and provide our corvettes covering fire. The corvettes are to try and board the same flag ship and take the crew hostage!" He ordered.
"Aye aye sir!" All hands responded as a flurry of activity happened on the bridge. The mass effect shields powered up as his ship's prow mounted cannons fired their first defiant shots at the macro dreadnought, aiming for the bridge.
"Bogey five is hit! Preparing another…sal…vo…" Damage was on the vessel for sure but it only looked to be healing as if the metal itself was organic and not too keen on being shot. The frigates flew forward aggressively to act as a missile screen for their corvette's and firing their main guns as quickly as possible. Streaks of mass effect rounds slamming into Bogey one with good effect. They didn't even have shields?!
Bogey one then returned fire and the display was frightening. Instruments registered six different heat sources manifesting before firing one after the other. The frigate Cagdakk valiantly tried to evade the incoming fire. Its mass effect fields briefly flaring before becoming overloaded and losing one of its engines in a heated afterglow that could only be some form of energy weapon. A second lance of energy completely sheering off its port wing, making the frigate list uncontrollably into two more separate beams that busted through the hull like a hot knife through butter. Not even the crew could be seen in the gaping holes as its lights slowly winked out. Life pods deployed successfully however, prompting Urkano to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Ladar contacts!"
"Doesn't matter, don't stop firing!" He bellowed as he watched one of the bogeys deploying something. Coming into view was a large walker of some sort sporting a crimson paint job. "Stop THAT whatever it is!"
"Firing!" The report of the twin rail guns boomed away. The first round impacting the shoulder and seeming to just deflect off of it. Then the unfathomable happened. The second round, traveling at 273 thousand miles per hour, was caught in between the machine's middle and index fingers.
"Great light…" The weapons officer cursed in astonishment. The walker seemed to tilt its head and gazed at the projectile with human-like eyes. It then seemed to shrug and shift its hand position as if taking aim. Like one would do when flicking away a gnat, The frigate Salor in its sights and it made a flicking motion with its fingers. A bright flash of light seemed to emanate from the machine just mere moments from the flick as the 23 pound slug impacted the frigate before punching clean through the barrier and impacting the bridge before tumbling through the vessel. A short second later the mass effect core detonated.
"The Salor is down. Mass effect fluctuations detected from core detonation!" The corvettes wobbled as they attempted to evade the space debris. The last remaining frigate spinning end over end as its thrusters flared in an effort to right itself. The deployed life pods from the Cagdakk destroyed in the ensuing explosion
"Helmsman! Engines to full. Load boarding torpedoes. Comms officer send an emergency message to the Omega branch commander. Warn them about this ship if it's the last thing you do!"
"To the unknown hostiles. Cease hostilities and surrender. No more blood needs to be shed."
Urkano grit his teeth.
"Ignore her. Have our finest commandos in those boarding torpedoes and aim them at the dreadnought." He ordered. The commands being given out as he remained firmly in his chair. The captain taking a drag on his cigar to calm his nerves.
"I can't get through. Communications are jammed!" Once again that cigar fell from his lips mid drag before being snuffed out on impact with the flooring.
"What? How? Warfare officer! Explain yourself immediately!"
"Its not electronic warfare. All we've got now is Ladar out to a few hundred meters!"
"Switch to manual target acquisition! Point our bow at that Dreadnought!" Urkano ordered, standing from his chair and grasping the railing tightly.
His cruiser lined up with the dreadnought and fired as the bridge crew watched the tell tale trails of many unknown craft circling out from each cruiser and most of all from the Macro-Dreadnought.
"Fire boarding party!"
"Firing!"
"Show them our pride as Batarians!" Urkano roared at the top of his lungs. The guns of his cruiser pounding away in a desperate attempt to leave some lasting damage.
The last remaining frigate's captain seemed to lose their nerve. The vessel briefly blueshifting before it FTL'd out of the system to escape the massacre.
"Coward!" Urkano snapped, breaking the guard railing with the help of his suit before letting go in frustration. The fate of the corvettes sealed as they tried approaching the 'support vessel'. Urkano felt a pit of despair hit his stomach as the front of the ship opened up to reveal some form of cannon. A blue lance of energy streaking out and impacting one of the corvettes. "Some form of Gardian laser on steroids?!" And soon flashes of light appeared in rapid succession as the final corvette made a valiant effort to ram into Bogey one. Its mass effect shields rippling at the projectiles hammering it from one. However the beams lancing out from Bogey two made those self same barriers quickly pop from overheating. The hull melting and getting holes punched in it with each impact. The nail in the coffin though was when it entered range of the Dreadnought's Anti-fighter defense system. Chunks getting blown out of it as it was soon left a drifting hulk filled with the mulched remains of its crew and boarding party.
Urkano did feel at least some satisfaction and dread for the one boarding torpedo that made it through the hell that was the point defense systems opening up. The missile slamming home into the Dreadnought. Even from ten kilometers away he knew something terrible was on its way from the way the first four cruisers evacuated the area in front of the dreadnought.
"Great light guide me to eternity. Glory to the Hegemony!" He roared in defiance while raising his right hand and erecting his middle finger.
"Energy spike from the dreadnought! Its locked onto us!"
"I can't get us out in time!"
"Exo. Order all hands to abandon ship." Urkano ordered.
"What about you?"
"This is my ship. My decision. My consequence. NOW GO!"
Only three escape pods cleared the blast radius as urkano stared down the blinding light filling his vision. A great, bright light of death. He knew his ship couldn't withstand such a blast as he closed his eyes. Alarms briefly screamed before death took him and all remaining hands on the batarian cruiser.
Gunnery Sergeant Crath FadMalok grit his teeth in pain as his boarding torpedo slammed into the hull of the dreadnought. He'd watched his brothers and sisters get torn to shreds from the storm of odd energy weapons and projectile fire before reaching up and pulling the hatch handle. The Batarian bursting forward and gripping his shotgun as he landed inside the strange warship. The commando rushing forward quietly as his suit protected him from the brief yet harsh exposure to atmosphere escaping through the hole made by his torpedo. He made his way to the first blast door in his way and got to slicing after locating a panel.
The only thing that spared his life was he was lucid enough to notice the shadow behind him, diving out of the way as an ancestor's damned katana stopped inches from the floor where he had been. The batarian briefly bringing up his shotgun and getting a single shot off before a thrown knife impacted the weapon and fucking exploded. His barriers only flashing and coughing out with the explosion. The Batarian flaring his biotic amp in desperation, prompting the odd power suited man to cooly strafe before letting his guard down.
This was his chance! The batarian threw back his left hand before he heard a brief hiss of air before two sharp prongs impacted his spinal cord. His muscles immediately going rigid as the crackling of a stun gun could be heard clicking angrily as he briefly planked before falling to the ground and spasming.
"Commander, the alien is secure. Have the brig ready." The power suited figure said before he saw a violet helmeted figure hovered over him and sought to hoist him up. "Heh. You need to exercise more, young man. Maybe I should have you train."
"Oh give it a rest. I already died once." The other retorted before touching a few panels.
A stealth drone monitoring the situation continued trying to send a transmission back. Jammed by the odd particles it was recording while the density lowered. The alert level of the five ships seemed to drop as soon as it recorded repair efforts being made. Soon enough it did manage to get out a data stream to one TIM.
Illuminated by the light of a star. TIM watched the recording of a Batarian raiding party's final moments. He smoked a cigarillo. "Interesting." He pulled up a data console in a bored fashion before typing away and pulling up the contact information to the one Asset he could call on to acquire more information. Making sure to take the video and leave none at the source. The video feed stopped as a purple mechanical face loomed in front of the drone before reaching up and closing its fist, making the drone feed blink out. "Shepard. Something important came up and it can't be ignored."
Next chapter: A new mission confirmed.
Author's edit note: I spotted projectile file rather then projectile fire. It has since been fixed.