A Canopy of Stars (Ace Combat/Mass Effect)

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It's just the start but I already like what I'm reading.

It'd probably cause aneurisms if Nemo (or an AI derived from him) gets deployed during some early conflict like Shanxi (if that's still happening) or the Blitz (more likely event to introduce an Ace and/or Shepard).

Also having an Ace get the name Butcher of Torfan seems in line with how AC aces get their infamy. A single elite fighter/squad spearheads the attack on Torfan, softening up the defending fleet and defenses for the coming task force.
 
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Ooh, I am liking this! Also, your 1993 estimate for Strangereal!Humanity outdoing the Citadel and Terminus species on DEW yield may have to be pushed forward a decade or so - the Morgans, canonically, were built in '85, but never fielded for one reason or another until AWWNB yoinked the ADFX-02 for Pixy in late '95 and whatever shenanigans result in the ADFX-01 being used canonically. And there's no evidence that AWWNB stole the TLS module from anyone else to mount it on Larry's Morgan, especially since Cypher's Morgan can have that, too. So while the Morgan's TLS was more bulky than later examples and not as powerful as those mounted on larger platforms like Excalibur, it's still a tank-melting, battleship-sinking laser module built in the eighties, and miniaturised and ruggedised such that it can be used on a fighter, if limited by onboard energy storage to mere double-digit blasts available before recharging.

Can't wait for the heart attack the powers-that-be in the galaxy have when they hear of humanity's laser tech, and that they'll arm AIs with it, and don't seem to be inclined to listen to the 'wiser' races and cease the creation of humanity's children so they can talk humanity into destroying them all. And I really hope to see Nemo, assuming he escaped Cohen's control - software-based AIs would be a new one for the Citadel species, considering they're used to non-Geth AIs having quantum blueboxes that they cannot be parted from and retain sapience! Would Nemo be remembered as the first 'true' AI by humanity, or was Cohen using a known technology in his work? I know David North had an AI in 2020, but I'm unclear as to how close it was to being truly sapient - and of course there's the Z.O.E. project in all its iterations, but I don't think they've ever really conversed with the player. Wonder if Huginn and Muninn were backed up anywhere? They were barely created before they were thrown into battle with Trigger, children forced into war after being built to be nothing more than disposable soldiers - hopefully they were recovered at some point and properly socialised, if they were true AIs...

Also, Quarians 'don't sell as well as they used to', huh? But they haven't reached peace with the Geth, despite the Quarian captain's remarkably mellow reaction to human AIs, because they're still in the Migrant Fleet and need defence ships, as opposed to the Geth inviting them home and protecting those that don't or can't yet come home with a swarm of Geth cruisers (although I guess they might be showing some awareness that the Quarians may not appreciate being protected by more tonnage worth of Geth warships than the entire Migrant Fleet displaces, but since humanity sells the First Contact cruiser to them for a single credit, I don't think the Quarians are in the 'coming to terms that Rannoch is theirs again and the Geth aren't hostile' phase). So I wonder why Quarians aren't worth as much to slavers as they used to be, has the Migrant Fleet started a new policy of aggressively going after those known to take, sell, and buy Quarian slaves, or something?

Looking forward to more!
 
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