The Shadow of Old Transgressions (Homeworld/Mass Effect Crossover Quest)

Honestly I'm not sure what I want to do regarding the shadow broker.

Codex: The Shadow Broker​

Most of the galactic empires and republics have their own intelligence services, but for the individual and even the less apt governments there is own primary way of gaining information that others don't want you to have. This is by contacting the shadow broker. The process is not an easy. First an interested buyer needs to locate a data drop. These can take many forms from dysfunctional terminals to random codices in the datanet. Once located they need to be unlocked using keys found elsewhere, usually sold by other lesser data brokers, or decrypted manually.

Once a data drop has been found and unlocked it only serves as an address pointing to somewhere in the galaxy, usually nearby, but potentially light years away. Once the buyer arrives they need to locate a shadow platform either in the void of space or secreted on a planetoid or in a gas giant's atmosphere. This finally allows them to access the Shadow Broker's catalog, which contains vast stores of data all available for a price. From the secrets of politicians to progenitor wreck locations to Bentusi schematics. The Shadow Broker sells anything and everything as long as it is information .

The only exception are the secrets of the Shadow Broker themselves, and this has given rise to many rumors as to what exactly the broker is. Some think it's a rogue Bentusi trading in information rather than goods. Others think it's another relic of the progenitors. An automated intelligence system keeping tabs on the galaxy with no master to receive its reports. The more mundane think it's a network of criminals and spies operating from within the galactic civilizations themselves.

Whatever the case the Shadow Broker has been selling information for hundreds of years now, and no one is any closer to revealing their identity.

Wild Space

System 8793

After much discussion your fleet left the rachni queen to her own devices. Whether or not it would be a mistake remained to be seen, but for now she seemed set to fight the Void Wraiths, and you needed more allies in that battle.

Instead you discussed the other work that had been done to prepare for the next battle as the fleet jumped closer and closer to the nearest active megalith. Aurora had done good work on the cherubs. Their once jumbled systems had been carefully sorted out. Extraneous weight had been removed, and their engines hardened against attack. They weren't invulnerable, but they would certainly last longer the next time they had to fly through an enemy's point defenses.

For your part you had been working on the subversion beam salvaged from the wraith flagship. Although you had been very careful not to ever touch it directly for fear of contamination you had made some interesting discoveries. It seemed that in essence it was a particle beam. However rather than deliver high velocity particles intended to destroy armor and internal systems it delivered hardened nanite particles that would shed their shells and instantly infect their victims on contact. Of course at the speeds they were fired at they also did damage which explained what happened to all your fighters lost in the range of the beam.

You still have work to do to figure out the exact mechanics of how the infection particles managed to survive their transit and work so quickly, but you had a good feeling about it. In time you were sure a solution could be found.

You'll have to do that later however for the fleet has just exited in the system your ancient chart had pinpointed as belonging to another of the megaliths. As the quantum gates close behind your sensors reach out. At the same you the fleet network blazes as everyone does the same thing and masses of astronomical and tactical data is collated and analyzed as all of you look for anything out of the ordinary.

And it didn't take long at all to find just that. Unlike the other megaliths this one is obvious. It was orbiting one of the local gas giants and while clearly it had once been disguised as a moon, that camouflage had long since been shed. Massive hole had been bored in its rocky surface exposing the purple black hull armor below. And more importantly it blazed with an immense power signature.

No actual wraith ships seem to be present, but they could easily be hiding inside the megalith itself. Given the cavernous bays you know it has an entire fleet could be in there. So you are cautious in your approach. At first only sending a flight of acolytes to see if any response is triggered. Nothing happens so you order them into the boreholes. At the bottom they find a gaping hangar door and inside it the disturbing mix of organic tumors and ancient technology that characterized the last megalith.

There's still no sign of any active defenders. You are starting to get the feeling that the organic moss loses its flexibility after a while. Otherwise why would the other megalith have converted the scientists into guards. They might have been readily available, but they were only a fraction of the biomass that was already present inside the megalith.

With no one to convert and no wraith ships in sight it appears this megalith is undefended. Or at least nothing but the megalith itself. It's radiating a power signature that overpowers your entire fleet combined by an order of magnitude. If it has any weapons and decides to fight then you'll be obliterated.

So the question is what now?

[ ] Investigate the Megalith
Move the fleet closer and send resource drones in to interface with the megalith and see if you can pull any useful data out of it.
-[ ] Cleanse the Megalith
While you're at it you can have the drones burn away the crimson matter. It seems incredibly infectious, and you don't feel good leaving it there.
-[ ] Don't cleanse the Megalith
That said it also seems to be siphoning power out of the megalith itself. You aren't sure if you want to see what a fully operational megalith can do.

[ ] Move On
This megalith is a bust. You suspect there were wraiths here at one point given the boreholes seem to have been excavated from the inside, but they're long gone. There's one more megalith you know of that you haven't investigated yet.. It's further away, but worth checking.

[ ] Return to the Conclave
Well you checked the Megalith, and it was empty. You've thinned the wraiths out a good bit by now, but if there's a new fleet of Wraith ships roaming about. Potentially including another flagship, then you should let the galactic council know about it.

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[ ] Work on the Fleet
-[ ] Pick a Research Project.
-[ ] Pick a Character to work on the project.
-Current Options: Valerius, Ulysses, Laverna, Aurora, Iuno, Flicker Friends

[ ] Pick a Codex/Interlude
-[ ] Write In
Pick something you'd like to know more about.