To be fair, EVE can honestly say she didn't want to fuck around with Human Artifacts which had already been provoked without a working lexicon. Getting a valid working Human language module took an embarrassing amount of time and effort. ("Salarian: If it was that hard for a Dark AI, how will it be for us?") . And if the Artifacts were already being prodded and hadn't nuked a system, getting the lexicon working was an acceptable risk.
Would it be accurate to say that humans focused a bit too much on impractical megaweapons at the expense of putting creativity into perfecting practical mass produced warship designs? I'm getting that vibe. Like an entire civilization of mad scientists.
Would it be accurate to say that humans focused a bit too much on impractical megaweapons at the expense of putting creativity into perfecting practical mass produced warship designs? I'm getting that vibe. Like an entire civilization of mad scientists.
No, it was apathy that hamstrung them. They made a handful of things to keep everyone else out, and once people stopped knocking, they turned inward and just started dicking around. So Art and culture took over and outside those that went out to travelt he galaxy a bit, they just focused on that.
No, it was apathy that hamstrung them. They made a handful of things to keep everyone else out, and once people stopped knocking, they turned inward and just started dicking around. So Art and culture took over and outside those that went out to travelt he galaxy a bit, they just focused on that.
It took a long time for the Light to finish the humans off though, right? Once the threat was knocking at their door I'd imagine they'd continue humanity's long and viciously inventive history of weapons design. With their rapid construction capabilities they'd be able to get at least some of whatever advanced warships they designed into the fight. Even if it was too few, too late.
It took a long time for the Light to finish the humans off though, right? Once the threat was knocking at their door I'd imagine they'd continue humanity's long and viciously inventive history of weapons design. With their rapid construction capabilities they'd be able to get at least some of whatever advanced warships they designed into the fight. Even if it was too few, too late.
One of the concessions to come out of the First Contact diplomacy with the Citadel was giving EVE a degree of oversight and legal control with regards to Elder Darkness technology and its study. We have, apparently, not really exercised that oversight or done any investigation into already existing Elder Darkness technology in Citadel and affiliate hands.
@Crystalwatcher I was wondering, does Eve have any estimate on what sort of Eventide forces it will take to take down a single Light warship? Like, is an Eventide Dreadnought an even match for a Light capital, or would it take X number of them, or would Y Ruin Killers be an even match.
The Ruin Killer-Class Battleform is your answer against the Mass Effect that the Light of Ruin wields as it's sword and shield. At 468 meters long, it was thirty meters shorter than the length of the Covenant's Preacher-Class cruiser, but was just large enough to fit the minimum sized Lance of Darkness Mass-Destroyer cannon that you could. If you had crunched your numbers right, the 300 meter FTL-Cannon, using the same principles as the Mass Relays, could accelerate a half-ton spike of novamarine alloy to roughly twice the speed of Light. And so long as the Light of Ruin didn't have sensors that could bypass the Light Speed Limit like you did, they wouldn't be able to even start dodging until after you've already killed at least one of them.
It took a long time for the Light to finish the humans off though, right? Once the threat was knocking at their door I'd imagine they'd continue humanity's long and viciously inventive history of weapons design. With their rapid construction capabilities they'd be able to get at least some of whatever advanced warships they designed into the fight.
Take a look at the threadmark titled "Decline of Humanity". While they had several hundreds years during the time the Light of Ruin hit the outer defenses until they breached it and reached Jupiter, Humanity at the time felt as if their defenses could handle things and kept on plugging away at what they usually did. The problem of not taking the Light of Ruin seriously was likely due to the emotional suppression modification Humanity did to itself before even making the first Singularity Core. Quite simply put it seemed as if the modification caused greater suppression of certain emotions when greater amounts of stress or danger were introduced. IE an extinction event would in turn cause all emotions to start becoming flatlined. In theory this would make it seem that Humanity would logically find a way to get its collected pride tossed into the trashcan and stomp on the latest annoyance, but I'm guessing the original makers didn't plan on the suppression mods lasting for over 50,000 years in the populace.
Wait, aren't Eventide ships relatively sluggish because novamarine is incredibly massive and they don't use much Eezo? Does that mean Gravitic Armor does away with that because it basically only has whatever characteristics of mass or energy are desirable at the time?
Are we going to go sanic fast all of a sudden because we're playing the mass energy equation like a slide whistle?
So guys, the timeline helped make something clear to me. The numbers of Light of Ruin warships thrown at the Milky Way in the last war have me...worried. They came through in the initial attack with billions of destroyers and lost quadrillions in total taking Sol. (Admittedly over a lengthy period where they had probably turned the entire galaxy into a shipyard, so they don't keep numbers like that just hanging around. Or at least they didn't.)
Even in a best case scenario we're going to need millions of current Ruin Killer firepower equivalents to make up the gap between what the Light have and what the other races can bring to the table. That's assuming we can do a lot of whittling down enemy numbers without facing them all at once, too. More realistically we're going to need a billion or more.
I don't know how much time we have, but even with exponential growth on our side I'm not sure we're gonna make it.
If we can't, that leaves super weapons and hiding through the purge to get another 50,000 years of buildup.
@Crystalwatcher wanted to check if this write in is feasible for a Learning Option to extend on Gravitic Armor.
[] Yer a wizard, Eve!
Gravitic Armor, it was less an actual armor and more a complex system of high order energy and advanced matter manipulation techniques. The resultant 'material' this system projects into the world has all the benefits of physical matter mixed with the varied benefits of pure energy systems, with few if any of the necessary drawbacks of either. By itself the energy and matter manipulation techniques you have learned would have been considered a godsend especially to you're varied fleet forces, which while tough are sluggish in space combat. Replacing Novamarine layers with this "material" allows you to maximize your Gravity Ram drives matching and in many cases exceeding current capabilities of the younger race vessels in terms of speed and maneuverability. Then you applied what you learned of the Shadow Language to it. This expanded your understanding of its capabilities, making you think about use it in non-"traditional" manners. You could potentially use this to create 2-dimensional panes of "barriers" to be used for defense that were as tough as any ME barrier, or a spear of "material" that could be an alternative to the ammo used by your Lance of Darkness or railguns. Who knows you might even be able to make your own stable black holes, and finally get your Gravity Beam.
Cost:???
Chance of Success:???
Time to Complete:???
and this one for adding gravitic armor/godkilling blades to the fleet ships
[]Upgrades! Upgrades! Upgrades
Too many upgrades to count, but if you want to get them to your ships you need to re-furb the ones you have while adding this to your ships in the configurations. You already know your God Killing blades require more power than your Grav Shear weaponry. Moria point defense too will require more power, and don't forget with Gravitic Armor requiring its own generators! All this means your ships have be re-optimized and upgraded. Normally these kinds of upgrades would take years for anyone. That is anyone who wasn't you who had access to Shadow Construction capabilities and ships that could partially upgrade themselves to some extent.
Cost:???
Chance of Success:???
Time to Complete:???
[]Upgrades! Upgrades! Upgrades
Too many upgrades to count, but if you want to get them to your ships you need to re-furb the ones you have while adding this to your ships in the configurations. You already know your God Killing blades require more power than your Grav Shear weaponry. Moria point defense too will require more power, and don't forget with Gravitic Armor requiring its own generators! All this means your ships have be re-optimized and upgraded. Normally these kinds of upgrades would take years for anyone. That is anyone who wasn't you who had access to Shadow Construction capabilities and ships that could partially upgrade themselves to some extent.
Cost:???
Chance of Success:???
Time to Complete:???
@Crystalwatcher wanted to check if this write in is feasible for a Learning Option to extend on Gravitic Armor.
[] Yer a wizard, Eve!
Gravitic Armor, it was less an actual armor and more a complex system of high order energy and advanced matter manipulation techniques. The resultant 'material' this system projects into the world has all the benefits of physical matter mixed with the varied benefits of pure energy systems, with few if any of the necessary drawbacks of either. By itself the energy and matter manipulation techniques you have learned would have been considered a godsend especially to you're varied fleet forces, which while tough are sluggish in space combat. Replacing Novamarine layers with this "material" allows you to maximize your Gravity Ram drives matching and in many cases exceeding current capabilities of the younger race vessels in terms of speed and maneuverability. Then you applied what you learned of the Shadow Language to it. This expanded your understanding of its capabilities, making you think about use it in non-"traditional" manners. You could potentially use this to create 2-dimensional panes of "barriers" to be used for defense that were as tough as any ME barrier, or a spear of "material" that could be an alternative to the ammo used by your Lance of Darkness or railguns. Who knows you might even be able to make your own stable black holes, and finally get your Gravity Beam.
Cost:???
Chance of Success:???
Time to Complete:???
and this one for adding gravitic armor/godkilling blades to the fleet ships
[]Upgrades! Upgrades! Upgrades
Too many upgrades to count, but if you want to get them to your ships you need to re-furb the ones you have while adding this to your ships in the configurations. You already know your God Killing blades require more power than your Grav Shear weaponry. Moria point defense too will require more power, and don't forget with Gravitic Armor requiring its own generators! All this means your ships have be re-optimized and upgraded. Normally these kinds of upgrades would take years for anyone. That is anyone who wasn't you who had access to Shadow Construction capabilities and ships that could partially upgrade themselves to some extent.
Cost:???
Chance of Success:???
Time to Complete:???
Shipbuilding
-[X] Heaven
--[X] Ruin Killers (including all 46 on back order)
-[X] Delirium
--[X] Spiritrunners
-[X] East Mirror
--[X] Spiritrunners
Research
-[X] Shadow Frame 142/400
--[X] 8 Dice
-[X] Digidaptive Combat Systems 482/1,000
--[X] 9 Dice
-[X] A Mass Relay (With Obvious Meta Results)
So, here is my contribution to the quest. This is a War and Industry focused plan, taking most of the actions that contribute directly to the war and building up industry to maintain a war footing. The Badlands, The Metacon Hordes, The Hunt, Data Mining, and Grand Theft Metacon all directly contribute to fighting the Metacon.
Transient Paradise was chosen because it effectively replaces Fall of Olympus. It's the same number of turns but we get all the IO and conversion from disassembling Olympus now and not in 6 turns. IO we really need with the increasing pace of exporting materials to the Covenant and Citadel. Advancement Through Imperfection because we really need a source of Eezo that isn't importing it. Stairway Beyond Heaven with 9,100 IO is to massively increase Heaven's Conversion rate to get as much IO as is possible.
Most of the other options I chose because they are relatively cheap, but still help with the war effort or advance research priorities.
"Nrrrgh!" His partner groaned in annoyance, her arm flopping across his chest.
"No, just ignore it. They know I'm supposed to be out of contact right now." He encourages her, his free hand coming up to guide her arm back to her side, his bare exoskeleton brushing lightly across the soft skin of her back.
The communicator beeped it's priority override to open a channel.
Saren Arterius, Citadel Council's premier Spectre, almost jerks himself into a sitting position with a wrathful grunt of annoyance, his companion chuckling from her position on top of him. "You do remember I'm supposed to be on vacation right?" He half-grumbled into the screen where Councilor Valenea's unusually stiff face was returning his glare.
"Yes, I know. But we have a major problem and you're literally the only one in range to handle it before we're all fucked over by it." Is the councilor's immediate response.
"I doubt that." He grunts, flopping back down into the amazingly soft and gritty sand of the beach. "Besides, I'm not even in jurisdiction, Covenant space is great like that. Which is why I'm here and not taking vacation somewhere like Thessia."
"And that is why you're the only one we have available!" Her words finally make him forcibly sit up and take notice, his partner sighing her own frustration out as she is forced to sit in his lap. From there, he rests his chin on her shoulder as she somehow folds her neck in a way that allows her to lay her head across his and still see the communicator. "The Fourth Covenant Border Patrol Fleet just sent in a report of seeing a pack of unregistered Batarian warships crossing over using the Termius Crutch. H.I.S. projects it's destination as a Covenant colony Mind's Door. We've already sent an alert to the Covenant Council, but they can't contact the local defense forces. We need you to get over there and raise the alarm!"
His partner's head is no longer on his, but then again he wasn't really paying attention to that. "... But I'm vacationing on Mind's Door." It was actually recommended for you by three different people. The beaches were already one of the best tourist attractions in the Lucid Sea, and it's position as a relay to a vast section of the rest of the said Sea meant travel to and from it was cheap. It was also in the outer reaches of Covenant space almost entirely opposite of the direction of the Citadel and thus so far out of your jurisdiction the Council would have zero clout to 'call you in' on a 'local problem', and potentially cut your vacation short.
"Then get over to the planet's security office and raise the alarm! I don't have the information to know how long until that raid arrives, and if it hits the diplomatic scene is going to turn into a fucking crater!"
"I'm on it." Is his only reply before cutting the connection. From there, he turns to his partner and asks, "Can I trouble you for a ride Kyon? I need to go speak with your boss."
The blue haired dustling simply grinned before kissing his mandible, "Happily. Let me get my swimsuit back on first though."
The ride from the beach to the central colony's Self Defense headquarters was short, little more than half an hour. Most of that time Saren spent in the back seat of the aircar trying to perform the physical gymnastics required to get into his hardsuit. Something he ironically failed in embarrassing fashion. So when Kyon pulled her vehicle to a stop on the restricted landing platform of the HQ, he was forced to hop out with only the leggings and his helmet which he decided to swallow his pride and carry with him.
"Commander!" his escort shouted as they almost sprinted through the entrance. "Commander! We have a priority problem!"
Saren almost tripped over his own feet when one of the Brambier in full armor turned around with a, "What is it Kyon? Can't you see we have an issue here already?" The tiny alien waved a hand to the chaos around them, where multiple 'officiers' -soldiers really, Saren knew the Covenant didn't really distinguish between Law Enforcement and Military Service like most of everyone else int he galaxy did- were all trying to make different calls on outbound transmissions.
"I might be able to give you an answer to those problems as well sir." Kyon's firm comment manages to make everyone else in their immediate vicinity come to a halt and gain the undivided attention of her commander. "My companion here just got a message from his government-" Saren raises the hand holding his helmet in reflex. "-and they said a Citadel Border Patrol noticed a group of unregistered ships crossing before they could stop them. Projections have them coming here, but the Fleet can't get any messages through."
The Brambier nods slowly before turning to Saren, "And you? How did they get a message to you?"
He shrugs, "Citadel Spectre. I'm here on vacation, but my ship still has a QEC link back to the Citadel. It forwards messages to my omnitool when I'm not on the ship itself." The brambier nods before letting out a loud whistle.
"Listen up!" Once he has the room's attention, he hops onto the desk he had been sitting behind. "Communications are down because we have a bunch of asshole slavers coming down! Someone sound the alarm, and everyone else down to the armory to get a gun!" He gives Saren and Kyon a quick look over. "... And the fuck were you two doing?"
"Today was my day off sir..." She mutters awkwardly. "I ran into Saren last night, we got talking, and this morning we were down at the beach when his call came through." The dustling is blushing when the brambier looks at back at Saren.
"You do realize you're going to have half the precinct after you right?"
Saren simply looks at Kyon's adorable pout before nodding firmly. "Worth it."
Then the wall explodes as an orbital strike hits it.
The Batarian raid hits fast and hard. The attack itself is contained almost fully within the central colony, with the surrounding cities virtually untouched outside a handful of outliers.
The Colonies' defense forces struggle valiantly, but Mind's Door is on the outer most rims, destined for importance but not yet there. This isolated world had little in the way of dedicated defenses, with an aged Prophet and a pair of old Sabot as it's defenders. And as powerful as even these weathered guardians were, they were ill prepared for the fifteen raiders that poured into the system, and after killing six were overwhelmed.
And had events differed even slightly, that would have been the highpoint of the raid. But events conspired to change that. Cut off from the rest of the galaxy with it's communications cut, the Batarians never expected the world to have a way to contact anyone outside. But between the Temple -a structure that they, in their arrogance, ignored save for the fact most of the colonists fled their for shelter they couldn't overcome in the window they had- and a single easily overlooked visitor in the form of one Saren Arterius, Council Spectre extraordinaire who was on vacation, their window was far smaller than projected. So when the reinforcement fleet from all the other colonies that had also been cut off from the Network arrived the raiders were caught with their pants down still attempting to fight through far more resistance than they had ever expected. As well as a living storm trying to outright kill them all.
And it is in a panic, with the local defenders chasing them, they packed up all they had captured and made a break for safety through the rapidly forming blockade over the colony.
An escape only a single ship managed for the simple expedience of being the one the raiders had loaded their entire haul onto in their rush to leave.
"My head..." These are the first words out of one Saren Arterius' mouth as he finally comes to from the deep unconsciousness he had been knocked into before his capture. But then again trying to blow up an APC when all he had to wear was pants was kind of asking for it. "Where are we?"
"We're in a happy box!" A disturbingly youthful voice answers him. He grunts as his vision starts to clear up, a slight drone in the background coming into focus as his head clears. "Hello Mister!"
"Hey kid." He groans out, rolling onto his arms and knees so he could look about. The cell itself is small, a massive gilax -who looked to be female, but he could never tell for sure with their species, much like many others- and a group of sabin and brambier. And next to him, the child that had woken him up.
His immediate thought was the fact she is the same species as Kyon, who he doesn't know the status of. But his second thought is what escapes his mouth.
"... Where's your mother?"
The little bundle of adorable smiles brilliantly at him, throwing one arm into the air, "Mr Eyes said he'd take me to her! A bunch of evil people were attacking the colony, and it was scary! He said if I played quietly in here, he'll get my mommy to me! I've been waiting ever since!" Something cracks as Saren feels a piece of whatever was left of him die at her words. He looks around the cell, but none of the other prisoners could meet his eyes. Jerkily, his gaze returns to the child who was still gazing up at him as if asking for praise. But a strange sound cut into the momentary silence. The child blushed, "I'm hungry."
On complete autopilot Saren replies, "I'll see what I can do." The child cheers as he climbs slowly to his feet, no sign of a concussion from whatever had knocked him out. She crawls nimbly over to the gilax in the corner, who is drawing something onto the floor of the cell as he makes his way to the bars where he can hear the muffled voices of the guards. "Hey, can any of you hear me?"
The chatter outside the cell stops, immediately followed by the sound of boots against the metal decking.
The two slavers look like any generic batarian you can meet on the side of the road anywhere in the galaxy to him. Ugly, four-eyed, as still shorter than him. "What is it birdy?"
Saren bites back his knee-jerk reaction to the insult, "There's a kid in here and she's hungry. Is there any spare food for her?"
The first of the two, the one closest to the bard but still out of reach, laughs in his face. "Really? You waste our time for a animal? Because it's feeling a bit peckish? Tell the little shit to stuff it, no food for any of you until we get to Torfan. Maybe someone there'll feed you."
He can feel the eyes of his cellmates on his back as the bartarians start laughing again. Obviously getting a kick out of rubbing their predicament in their faces. "Look, I know I was out cold, but even I know it hasn't been that long since we left Mind's Door. This kid is starving in here and I can smell the food you have out there from here. Just a bit to tide her over is all I'm asking, four eyes!" He knows he shouldn't have said the last the instant it leaves his mouth but it is too late.
The humor leaves the batarian's eyes and everything happens in seconds.
Saren attempts to push off the bars, but his concussion flares up and he stumbles. The guard in front of him leaps forward, a hand going for her waist. A fist closes around his throat as a gun unfolds. The child screams, and the other prisoners shout as the gun is discharged.
Saren's back hits the deck as blood is already filling his lungs.
"Fucking BIRD! I TOLD YOU! NO RATIONS FOR ANY OF YOU SWINE UNTIL TORFAN! NOW LAY THERE AND BLEED OUT YOU INFERIOR WASTE OF FLESH!" The guard screams some more, but Saren's hearing is fading in and out too much from the new wounds and his concussion to hear them all, but he is aware enough when his vision is filled by the visage of his self-appointed charge.
"Mr Birdy!" Tears are streaming from her eyes, and there is nothing he can do aside from lay there as his blood seeps from his new wounds. "I'm sorry, please don't go!"
"S-saren." The girl's cries cut off as he forces the words out. "The names... Saren, kid." His correction on his name is enough to calm the child down, even as the laughter of the guards becomes clearer. "Sorry, I couldn't get you any food."
The child nods somberly, "It's o... Mr Eyes was lying wasn't he? About bringing my mommy here."
"'Fraid so. They're the badguys that were attacking the colony."
And for the first time in his life, Saren knows how it feel to watch innocence die.
He's not sure how to describe it, aside from the fading of light in the child's eyes, but somehow he knows that is what it is. Her tears still flow, even as her sobs peter off through her too-small hands trying to hold him together from the wounds he got in his attempt to help her. And as he watches, he sees a resolve overcome the child. Something as indescribable as watching her innocence die changes her from an adorable child into a living reminder that her species were made by the Covenant's Gods.
"It's okay, Mr Saren. Even if Mr. Eyes was lying... I'll get us home." And with those words, The Weapon stands.
The laughter of the guards redoubles. "You? What exactly do you expect to be able to do here kid?"
"It's only been a few hours since you said the ship took off. Meaning you haven't gotten far enough away for Mama Eve to track. So if I stop the ship now, Mama Eve can catch up and bring us all home, and save Mr. Saren." The words are childish, but there is nothing childish in the voice. It is a mechanical statement of facts that almost manages to distract Saren from the fact he's dying.
"And how do you plan on doing that from in there brat?" The guard is smug, but it doesn't phase The Weapon. A tiny, too-small hand reaches out like the world was little more than playdoh and metal screams.
The guards and Saren stare at The Weapon as she steps through the new gap in the Cell with makeshift spear in hand. "Time to die." She adjusts her grip, as if testing it's weight. "Mr. Eyes."
Saren knows for a fact no one in that cell will ever forget what happens next.
"And there we go~! Now, remember to visit an Island at least once a month for the next year to get these checked out. After that, you only have to check in once every ten years to make sure everything is still running smoothly." Saren Arterius grunts an affirmative as the julka doctor drones on instructions on how to take care of his new cybernetic implants. When to clean them, when to bring them in to get checked up on, when to know something broke, and so on. Honestly, he was surprised at how efficient they were; considering they had to replace one of his lungs, both kidneys, half his stomach, and a significant portion of the rest of his chest due to the fragmentation rounds. In Alliance Space such extensive repairs to his body would have left him a half-flesh-half mechanical monstrosity, but here in the Covenant such repairs were streamlined enough that no one who wasn't already aware would have never known a batarian had emptied half a thermal clip worth of fragmentation rounds into his unprotected torso at point blank range.
"Thanks Doc."
"No problem Saren. You just make sure not to go into a firefight without your barriers up again, got it?"
The Spectre can't help but choke out a half-laugh. "Oh, don't worry Doc. I think I've learned my lesson the hard way." Chuckling at their shared joke, the massive alien helps the mostly-recovered Spectre to his feet.
The trip to the hospital exit is a slow one, but only because Saren proscribes himself to a careful stroll to prolong his stay just a little bit more. Though it's not because he wants to stay, or doesn't wish to return to his work. No, he tries to put off leaving because he knows what awaits him at the exit in the waiting lounge.
Three feet nothing with long white hair.
The dustling child who had single-handed slaughtered the crew of a batarian slave cruiser in the most brutal fashion he had ever seen from another sapient sits curled up shyly in a chair vastly beyond her own size, her pink-haired mother speaking with a sabin security guard.
(Another facet of Covenant culture he didn't think he'd ever be able to adapt to, how mixed all the different races were.)
Sighing, he gives into destiny and strides over to the massive chair, sitting down next to the no-longer-child. "Hey kid."
She squeaks an almost-greeting.
"Getting out today. Chances are I'm going to have to go right back to work after this. Though..."
"..." Saren cuts off as she says something. Silently imploring her to continue.
"Shep." Is the quiet squeak that makes it through. "My name."
Saren blinks. Then smiles. "Nice to meet you Shep. I wish it could have been under better circumstances."
"Me too, Mr. Saren." The two sit in silence for several moments before she continues. "Do you think... I could ever be as brave as you were?"
"Brave as I was?" The image of a batarian having a pole shoved through him so it could tear open his chest cavity fills his mind's eye but he doesn't flinch. She doesn't need that from him right now.
"I was so scared... I just shut down. Then..." She trails off.
Yeah.
Then.
It is so easy to forget a dustling is nearly self-sufficient at a single year of age. And fully capable of reproducing by the time they're five, even if it isn't safe for the child nor the mother. And that by the time they're ten they're fully mature physically.
It is so easy to forget an ancient hyper advanced race made them to be prototype-terraformers.
"You know what? I think you can be." And somehow, he knows he believes it. He looks down just as Shep looks up. "But between you and me? I think you'll be better."
Her smile is brilliant despite being brittle. "Then, I'm going to be a Spectre, just like you!"
He can't help but laugh, "Then I'll make sure I see you there then, got it?"
Her mother smiles to him even as they bump their fists together.
Saren fighting his way across the colony like an action hero wearing nothing but his pants before being captured because he was standing too close to a fuel refiner when it blew.
Shia flipping her shit because her daughter is missing.
The arrival of the Lucid Sea's outer colony defense forces and their curbstomp of the Batarian raid party.
Shepard turning the cruiser into a setting fit for a saw movie.
E.V.E. finding the cruiser dead while the last living batarian is begging her not to open the airlock which lets Shep through.
Saren's "We Can Rebuild Him" scene.
Shia praising Saren for being a hero.
Shep being adorable visiting Saren in the hospital.
And Saren commenting to Nihlus not to go drinking with dustlings, otherwise it won't be until after you're out of the hospital and back to work that you realize it wasn't actually your idea to have sex on the beach the following morning. Regardless of how good it was.
Covenant Codex: Interstellar War:
Sparkler: Sparkler Storm Front
A little known tactic that is favored by Sparklers as a species along the frontier. Military-wise it is known that Sparklers prefer to deploy in small "Sparkle Clouds" in support of fellow Covenant units.
"Sparkler Storm Fronts" are these clouds brought to their logical conclusion in the defense of Sparkler Colonies. Whenever a Covenant World comes under attack, the local Sparkler population normally swarms into a single massive super-colony referred to as a "Sparkler Storm". These "Storms" commonly range from several quadrillion on frontier planets, to several septillion on more developed worlds capable of sustaining such populations.
Easily living forces of nature under sapient control, these vast storm fronts are guided by their Sparkler conjurers in an attempt to utterly annihilate an invading force, or to forcibly ground bombarding vessels from orbit by using combined biotic techniques commonly strong enough to tear apart and reshape entire regions.
A mixture of logistical limitations of transporting the required populations and the near-suicidal nature of the technique from the raw energy being discharged within the Storms render this a purely defensive formation among Sparklers and restricted to planetary counter-invasion.
Sadly I think the diplomatic scene has been cratered, nuked, cratered again, had the remaining rubble nuked and then salted for good measure. Did no one tell the Batarians this was an extremely bad idea (tm)? Oh wait...all the people that might have warned the Batarians due to first hand knowledge are dead.
So anyone else looking forward to the Covenant and Eventide response?
