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

Unknown Regions

Ancient Megalith

The three of you decide that charging in to fight the wraiths immediately is too reckless. But on the other hand you aren't willing to just let the wraith's run off to ravage colonies unopposed. So you plan on the somewhat risky method of tailing them through hyperspace.

Laverna builds a handful of ghosts to get close and try to record the wraiths' hyperspace signatures as they leave. From that you'll calculate their destination and jump the whole fleet forward to catch them before they can start raiding anywhere.

The plan immediately runs into several difficulties. The ghosts manage to slowly glide into position. Their holographic fields make them look like pieces of random debris, and mix in with the debris orbiting the megalith quite nicely. However it immediately becomes clear to you that the information they are able to transmit back is too limited. Their sensors are barely up to the task of tracking quantum fluctuations and what they can transmit back during stealth is only a small subset even of that.

Second, the Wraiths jump into hyperspace far more quickly than you were anticipating. Even with the extra time it takes for the ghosts to slowly extricate themselves from the Megalith's orbit and fly back so you can analyze their sensor logs directly it still barely gives Laverna enough time to produce a buckler and a handful of slingers.

"Should have been making more at the Conclave. Foolish of me," she complains.

You are too busy running quantum calculations to console her and Ulysses too focused on the mission so the three of you lapse into silence. Then finally you manage a vector. Locking in the most likely coordinates you reach out with your hyperspace module to envelop your friends and jump the whole fleet. That still hasn't become normal.

When the quantum gates eject you back into realspace you are pleased to see the wraiths on your sensors. You weren't sure you'd get them on the first try given the data you had from the ghosts. You might need to make some upgrades to them if you want to try this tactic in the future.

However you are very much not pleased to see the Wraiths attacking a small flotilla of Taiidan militia ships. Attacking is too weak a word. The militia is putting up a valiant fight, but the Wraith's outmatch them in every way. They're being slaughtered.

So you engage of course, but the following flight is difficult, or at least a tricky one. Its not like the times where you've desperately withstood waves of enemy attacks. Or the ones where you had to face terrifying enemy capital ships. You've fought wraith carriers before. They don't hold many fears or surprises for you anymore. No, the problem is the militia is on the almost exact opposite side of the wraiths from you. And letting them die simply isn't an option you intend to countenance.

That means you and Ulysses burn hard to engage the Wraiths directly while Laverna sends fighters up and over the Wraiths to try and intercept the missiles and fire they're sending at the militia. The buckler especially suffers as it is forced to travel too close to the Wraiths in its trip and takes quite a bit of fire before it even reaches the militia.

Ulysses can't use his siege cannon given how close the militia is and you have too few slingers to overwhelm the wraiths in a single volley. So you are forced into a slugging match. And while you might have developed a defense for the Wraith subversion weapons there's isn't much of a defense for high velocity rail gun slugs the size of fighters.

It is a reminder that Wraith carriers are actually fairly formidable foes. You've faced so many terrifying capital ships that it can be hard to remember, but they are in fact quite deadly in their own right.

You however are more deadly. The battle is hard fought and you take more damage than you'd like, but in the end the wraiths are so much debris and you even managed to save most of the militia ships. And more importantly you've prevented any damage to the colony at all.

It is a satisfying feeling to have managed to save people and give a blow to the wraiths. Ulysses of course wants to immediately jump back to the Megalith and deal with it. However Laverna wants to stay here for a while. To help setup a few defenses for the colony since they are on the Wraith's target list. And also to build some more drones.

[ ] Build some defenses for the colony
This colony is clearly on the Wraith's list of targets. A few drone defense stations and stripped down acolytes would help. Plus if you're helping them build defenses they'd probably be happy to supply resources to build a proper drone force before you do go back to the Megalith.

[ ] Jump back and finally assault the Megalith
The sooner you clear the Megalith of Wraith forces the sooner every colony in this area will be safe, not just this one. Plus a quick strike will help prevent them from being alerted to the fact that their raiding party was destroyed before you can attack.

Quest Note: Both of these options will result in you attacking the Megalith next update. It's just a matter of timing.

Unknown Regions

Ancient Megalith

It's time to stop putting it off. You're going to deal with that Megalith once and for all. After a final check with the militia fleet to make sure they're okay you calculate the jump algorithm and pull Ullysses and Laverna back into hyperspace.

The trip seems quicker this time. Either from anticipation or simply because you're getting better at using the Far core. Either way the gates deposit you back in the megalith system in seemingly no time at all. All three of you immediately deploy resources drones and Laverna starts to churn out some acolyte coverage while you and Ulyssses use your sensors to check the Megalith.

You don't see any new Wraith ships guarding the opening so after Laverna makes a wing of Adept bombers as well your fleet pushes forward. They shouldn't know what happened to their forward force so hopefully you'll be able to catch them off guard.

Nothing emerges to hinder you as you approach the rocky form of the megalith. Only a kilometers deep borehole indicates this is anything other than a random moon. But this isn't your first time assaulting one of these things. As your fleet descends you begin reconfiguring your weapons. You switch your capacitors from storage mode to rapid discharge. You'll need to be able to shoot frequently and at close range if you're going to fight the infestation you expect down there.

On your fleet net you can see that Ulysses is doing the same and Laverna has started building a few gunships to better protect herself. When you finally reach the bottom of the borehole however it isn't quite what you expect.

Instead of a cut out section of monomolecular hull plating you find an actual door. A massive gateway that is currently closed. Fortunately your interface still works and after a bit of searching you are able to find the command to open a door and transmit it.

The gate slowly opens and your fleet prepares for combat, but again you are surprised by nothing more than silence. The chamber beyond is massive, and you can see hundreds of docks. But they are all empty. Were the Wraith ships you destroyed the only ones here?

As you move further in however you start to see signs that that wasn't the case. There is debris floating in the chamber, and charred spots that your sensors registers as bits of the crimson bio matter that have been completely destroyed.

You finish the job and keep moving forward with curiosity added to your mix of emotions.

You pass through another gateway and find yourself in a chamber that is altogether more chaotic. There are wraith ships fighting each other. Some are being aided by the crimson flesh constructs you expected. But the ones that aren't seem to be radiating even more energy than usual.

You don't know what is going on here, though you have your guesses. You've had a few theories about the original wraith ships being subverted themselves before. But it doesn't really matter. You came here to destroy the Wraith and the fact that they are fighting among themselves just makes it easier.

Your ion cannons start sending pulses of destruction into the fray. At first you avoid targeting the energized Wraiths, but when they start targeting you you return fire. It seems whoever they are, they aren't interested in making friends.

If all the wraiths had been fighting you along with the crimson constructs, then it would have been a hard fight. You'd have won, but with potentially severe damage. With the Wraiths split however the fight can have only one outcome. Your fleet scythes through both sides. Switching targets every so often to ensure the sides remain balanced. Wraiths ships explode and fleshy constructs are immolated with fusion bombs.

By the end the only ones left alive are you and your friends, and you have surprisingly light damage. You're just considering examining the wreckage of the energized wraith when your sensors pick up a massive energy surge. It seems to be gathering in the megalith all around you, and rapidly reaches extreme levels.

With that much energy being thrown around the entire megalith could explode and you certainly don't want to be inside it in that case. So the three of you rapidly evacuate back the way came picking up what fighters you can on the way. It isn't quite as easy going out as going however as you have to dodge huge quantities of debris as you ascend through the borehole with chunks of rocks the size of frigates hurtling in every direction.

Pushing your engines to redline you finally make it out and looking back you can see what's really happening. The megalith is shedding its outer debris coat. What is revealed underneath is a sleek black structure that isn't in the sphere you expected, but a set of prongs that look disturbingly like a truly enormous railgun.

That isn't what it is however. As revealed when all that surging energy suddenly spikes and an enormous ship simply appears in the vicinity. It looks like a Wraith flagship, but it's even bigger. Oddly enough not the biggest you've ever seen as your mind flicks back to your memories of the Progenitor ship at Balcora, but easily the second biggest.

And unlike the Progenitor ship this one is very much alive. A voice roils out and overpowers your fleet net, "BENTUSI, YOU HAVE GRASPED THE RUDIMENTS OF GREATNESS, BUT YOU REFUSE TO TAKE THE FINAL STEP."

"YOUR TIME TO CHOOSE HAS RUN OUT. WE RETURN WE WILL ELEVATE YOU INTO YOUR TRUE DESTINY."

"GO NOW AND PREPARE THE GALAXY FOR OUR ARRIVAL. PREPARE FOR YOUR ASCENSION."

---

You do not need to be told twice. Grasping Laverna and Ulysses with your far jump core you rip open a quantum gate and make a hyperspace jump.

Your gate deposits you in a remote system and Laverna is quick to exclaim, "By Sajuuk, what was that! It was huge, and those power readings. Was it threatening us? What did it mean by ascension?"

"I have no idea. I mean I suspected that the Wraith ships were being corrupted by that crimson stuff, and thought that might mean that they had an origin, but I've never really had a chance to look into it."

"So you think that ship was that origin?"

"Yes, the megaliths must have jumped it in from somewhere."

"If it's related to the Megaliths it's going to be nearly impossible to destroy. You know how hard it is to cut through their armor."

"Well hopefully it's not that tough. It's not as big after all, but yeah."

"It didn't actually start shooting at us. Maybe it's not hostile."

You all consider this for a few moments. "I suppose it's possible, but still we should warn people."

"We should tell the Sentinels first. Get them prepared."

"What about Iuno and Aurora! We should make sure they're okay."

On the other hand you think it might be better to tell the galactic council. Maybe this will finally get them to do something.

[ ] Warn the Bentusi
Find the nearest Sentinel bastion and warn them of what you've seen.

[ ] Collect your friends
Find Iuno and Aurora and finally get your whole fleet back together so you'll be ready for whatever might be coming.

[ ] Tell the Galactic Council
Let the Galactic Council know what is going on. They probably need the most time to be able to actually prepare anything worthwhile.