Faith in Superior Firepower [Planetary Annihilation Multicross SI]
- Thread starter Faith
- Start date
Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
-Aussies are generally more than double insane. Example-My dad went and spent his postdoc Down Under. Within a month he was spearfishing off the Great Barrier Reef. You know, the one with the sharks? The insanity is so thick down there, it's contagious.-
Faith
Some idea of what I'm doing.
- Location
- Land of Waves and Warmth
Well, I mean, yeah, pretty much.
Actually, my siblings and I were down at the Great Barrier reef just a couple of weeks ago. Went snorkelling there. There was a pregnant shark. That was interesting. Very pretty place, the Great Barrier Reef.
I think it will be forever marred for my sister, though, because she brought her watch when we went snorkelling and it slipped off her wrist. >.<
Insert your own soundtrack, if you'd like, or listen to this, which is what I've been listening to recently.Amphibious assault via surfboards riding huge waves of water released from the dam to a heavily defended military research base.
Just need some awesome tunes and it will be perfect.
As soon as Hope's other SCIENCE! projects finish.
Sure
*cribs notes in return*
No. They're the AeroAvatar units. Aerial assault forces. You're thinking of the WispAvatars.
Bad Tiki. Take your terrible Pangolin sense of humor and get out
Of course Miranda Lawson is Australian. How could she be perfect if she wasn't? Duh.
*knows nothing about dam construction* / *incompetent commander Faith intensifies*
Take your pick.
Also note that it was Faith Foundation bombs, not Batarian bombs. The bottom and middle parts of the dam pretty much just flat out don't exist any more. Not as solid matter, anyway. The flash and the sound aren't that important, since the dam is only two kilometers away and the Batarians would have noticed the dam collapsing and the rushing water whether it was done silently or not. Which was why they went for blowing it up, rather than opening the dam.
Surfing down a waterfall is generally not considered 'clever', but I'll take your word for it. (The usual word, for those wondering, is 'moronic'. Sometimes 'suicidal', if it's a particularly high waterfall.)
Why have a bouncing bomb when you could use a guided torpedo/missile, or, better yet, get a sensor ping on the target and teleport a bomb right on top of it?
Scuba gear would have worked, but it would have been a fair bit more effort than rappelling, and since that's what Faith thought of first, that's what they went with. (Plus the Jaduk Nurr's militia members are more likely to be rappel trained than SCUBA trained)
Guards were easy to take out anyway, because nanite-based tranquilizer darts/grenades. Also, at least this way the guards will have the excuse that they were knocked out by the intruders, which will prevent the Hegemony from declaring that their criminal incompetence, which cost the Hegemony a large prototype lab, will be punished by execution.
That pun was bad, and you should feel bad. And, uh, yeah. Sure. Let's go with that.
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- Location
- Wellington, New Zealand
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That is an Australian way to approach the problem. If Faith was from New Zealand it would have involved some weird mix of white-water jet-boating and bungy jumping.
Seriously though, it strikes me that people are likely to assume at some point the Faith Foundation is the Fleet's deniable operations unit. Run by (apparent) humans, has a bunch of way too advanced technology, tends to deal with problems that offend human sensibilities but aren't in a place the normal humans can deal with it ...
On top of that, not that anyone will know that, they are getting information and targeting from the Fleet. It's likely to be a fairly obvious conclusion, at least to people (like the people she's currently working with) that have seen them in action enough. Technically they also have the same core tech base, but that's going to be hard to pick up on given both of them are not using Commander tech anywhere people can see it and instead going for stuff they have 'acquired' on their trips.
I would not be surprised at all if some people start assuming that the Faith Foundation is the Fleet's takes on Spectres down the line.
I have no idea what either of Faith, Hope, or Fusou will make of this, though amusement is my current guess.
Seriously though, it strikes me that people are likely to assume at some point the Faith Foundation is the Fleet's deniable operations unit. Run by (apparent) humans, has a bunch of way too advanced technology, tends to deal with problems that offend human sensibilities but aren't in a place the normal humans can deal with it ...
On top of that, not that anyone will know that, they are getting information and targeting from the Fleet. It's likely to be a fairly obvious conclusion, at least to people (like the people she's currently working with) that have seen them in action enough. Technically they also have the same core tech base, but that's going to be hard to pick up on given both of them are not using Commander tech anywhere people can see it and instead going for stuff they have 'acquired' on their trips.
I would not be surprised at all if some people start assuming that the Faith Foundation is the Fleet's takes on Spectres down the line.
I have no idea what either of Faith, Hope, or Fusou will make of this, though amusement is my current guess.
Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
-Gods yes. I went down to visit family and went snorkeling on the Reef. I generally hate the ocean, but I could float there for days on end and be happy.-
- Location
- Australia
Too bad it's almost dead at this point.
Sakuya's Butler
A refined Butler to a knife wielding Mistress.
- Location
- ↓, ↘, → + Punch
Yeah, but that's before you meet the great white sharks that are quite happy to jump on top of your board to say 'Hi, I want this!!' before you fully get back onto the board after finishing a wave.
- Location
- Australia
I get that my country is basically a meme in terms of wildlife, but you're really unlikely to find Great White sharks at the reef. You're more likely to find black or white-tipped reef sharks, which are both very timid and skittish. Off the coast of South Africa you might run into great whites, but on the GBR the most dangerous things you'd probably run into are venomous cone snails (don't go poking random shells on the seabed).
Finally, you don't get surfable waves on the reef, it breaks up the waves too much. You go to the reef for snorkeling, diving, and looking at the pretty stuff, surfing is for the mainland beaches.
Sakuya's Butler
A refined Butler to a knife wielding Mistress.
- Location
- ↓, ↘, → + Punch
Actually, I was referring to a GoPro video I saw where what I described EXACTLY HAPPENED. Shark's head/jaws were completely on top of the surfboard for about 2 seconds or so, swamping the board almost immediately, and only about an inch or so from the surfer's face who was hanging onto the board from the other side. And the guy GRINNED IT OFF after it swam away without biting him.
I can fully respect you Australians being badass, but.......brother, you guys be FUCKING crazy.
- Location
- Arizona
*shivers* ugh, cone snails. I once was on a dive cleaning up trash off a pier, I pick an object up, hear something, see my dive master frantically making Danger signs, look down and realize I just picked up the shell of one of the most poisonous things in the frakking ocean, and am now in striking distance.
I still have no idea if there was a snail in it, I still consider it the closest brush with death I've had in a long time.
(The other notable time was realizing I was a few feet from a mother feral hog who had babies with her. I ran like my ass was on fire).
I still have no idea if there was a snail in it, I still consider it the closest brush with death I've had in a long time.
(The other notable time was realizing I was a few feet from a mother feral hog who had babies with her. I ran like my ass was on fire).
Glitchrr36
Slick's Short Company, CEO
- Location
- The Wastes
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I actually have a couple of what I'm 95% certain are cone snails in a box of seashells. They're very pretty shells.
Can I get a link to this video? I want to see it.
Strunkriidiisk
THE LEGEND
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Did he boop the snoot?
Lazurman
This is fine.
- Location
- Classified
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I'llNameThisL8r
Bad at names
- Location
- Here
- Pronouns
- He/Him
86 - Flooded
Faith
Some idea of what I'm doing.
- Location
- Land of Waves and Warmth
Dear real life.
I am trying to write a fanfic here. I do not have time for your shit. Kindly fuck off.
~Faith
---
On a more serious note, very sorry about the delay. Work related shenanigans lead to four days in a row of 16 hour shifts. This was, as one might imagine... suboptimal, for fanfic writing purposes.
86 - Flooded
Let me make one thing perfectly clear. Surfing off a waterfall created by a collapsed dam and riding the river down to a military facility defended by artillery and anti-tank cannons is not a particularly wise move.
For one thing, the fall would kill most people. Whilst surfing down waterfalls was technically possible, it was not generally considered a particularly smart idea, especially on larger waterfalls. Attempting to surf almost six hundred feet of waterfall was firmly in the 'suicidal' category.
Of course, most people aren't hyper advanced robots with anti-gravity packs, glider wings, and microthruster systems. That kind of trivialized the threat, just a little.
The Aeros descended with all the grace of particularly heavy bricks, plummeting towards the swelling river below.
With a series of splashes, we landed, immediately clambering back on our boards to make the most of the powerful current. The river was strong enough to almost throw me downstream, but a combination of the board, the Aero's wings, and repeated application of the microthrusters was enough to keep me steady long enough for speed to take over.
I almost felt sorry for the Hegemony soldiers. Even though they must have been aware of the dam exploding, they had no idea what was coming.
---
For all that it was carrying us along, the water was still travelling faster than the Aero units, and it had a head start, too. By the time the strike force reached the base, almost two feet of the outermost wall were underwater, and a good chunk of the open ground inside the base was also submerged.
We made it almost right up to the gate on our surfboards before people actually started shooting at us, but thanks to the darkness, few of the bullets managed to hit, and due to the sheer strength of the shields the Aeros were equipped with, none of the accurately-aimed mass accelerator rounds did anything.
Unfortunately, the rather flimsy surfboards lacked starship grade energy shields, and under the deluge of fire we were taking from the squad of defenders and their two mounted guns, they were utterly shredded. Then again, at this point, they'd served their purpose.
As one, all twelve Aeros engaged their eezo cores and shot into the sky, hanging at around eighty feet easily. From our vantage point eight stories up, we could look down over the entire base, quickly pinpointing our targets - a number of Anti-Aircraft emplacements, mounted on the roofs of each watchtower around the facility. Wreathed in blue against the darkness of the night sky, we probably made quite a sight - a cluster of small stars hovering above the compound.
Inhabiting the body of the lead Aero, I reached over my shoulder, retrieving one of the weapons we'd specially made for this mission - a single use double barrel rocket launcher that fired a dual EMP/Nanite warhead. We called it the Arc Launcher, just to keep with the Mass Effect theme.
The EMP would activate just before contact, and overload the target systems temporarily. Then the nanites would take over once the rocket hit, subverting the target by precisely deconstructing its innards.
Used right, it 'merely' gave the appearance of an EMP so powerful it could even fry hardened systems, and it was that particular illusion we wanted to sell at this point. The Judak Nurr knew that the Faith Foundation, like the rest of Humanity, was very advanced. We weren't keen to let them know just how far ahead of them we were, though.
Twelve metal rockets the size of deoderant cans rained down on the anti-air turrets, each detonating with a flash of blue and a burst of sparks. The Hegemony defenders immediately found two thirds of their air defences useless, and quick follow-up shots brought down the last handful of turrets before they'd even turned to face us.
The side effect of using nanites to disable enemy technology was that whilst they were there, they were also able to scan it and add its blueprints to the Command Net. Not that the Batarian's flak accelerators or missile pods were particularly valuable to me, but more design reference points couldn't hurt.
With the last of their anti-air capabilities thoroughly fried on the inside, I sent a signal to the three nearby Skyhaulers, alerting them to the base's vulnerability. The force we'd taken to the dam would join us first, being the closest, but the other two would be only moments behind, and with all one hundred and twenty men available and armed with the Faith Foundation's latest weaponry, this base was certain to fall quickly.
With eighteen of our twenty four EMP/Nanite warheads spent, Hope and I spent a relative few minutes discussing where best to place the last six. Ultimately, we decided on putting one into the base's communications tower and saving the rest for if the Hegemony started rolling out the tanks. We weren't the only ones with heavy weapons, but we were the only ones with nonlethal heavy weapons.
From our perch above, Hope and I had a perfectly good view of the base, and once we accessed their computer network, we had control of all the base's major systems. It was a relatively trivial matter to pin down where the visiting SIU officers were - in a meeting room on the top floor of the central facility, alongside the facility commander, the factory head, the chief of security, and two Quarians who I assumed represented whatever interests they had here.
I quickly sealed the doors to that room, locking the group in. And then I locked down the rest of the base, too, cutting off the defending forces and leaving them scattered throughout the compound.
The first Skyhauler arrived, drifting low over the still-flowing water to drop the troops right on the water's edge - now well inside the complex. The resistance fighters dropped from the shuttle onto the dirt, shouldering their sleek new Tesla Rifles and rapidly spreading out.
As Hope and I had learned the hard way from our little excursion to the Might of Khar'shan, the Tesla Rifles were more than capable of dropping a Batarian non-lethally, as long as they weren't wearing a fully sealed hardsuit. Luckily, this base was built in one of the hottest habitable regions of Lorek, and from what we could see through the cameras, not one Hegemony trooper had their full suit. Most had chosen to forgo their helmets, and many more had also ditched their sleeves, gauntlets and shoulder pads, leaving their arms entirely exposed.
The Judak Nurr had surprised me with how well they'd taken to my less-lethal alternatives to their old T8 Mass Accelerator rifles. Well, after I suggested that they be allowed to strip and loot the unconscious Hegemony soldiers and then tie them up in embarrassing positions, anyway.
Of course, some of them complained that without killing people they'd never get anything done, but incapacitating, disarming, and imprisoning people seemed like just as effective a compromise to me.
The fact that Hope would then be able to create braindead clones of those imprisoned people and perform diabolical science on them made it actually useful for us.
Of course, that was assuming that the Judak Nurr didn't go around shanking all the unconscious Hegemony soldiers. I doubted they would, but it was still a slight concern of mine.
Still hanging in the air above the compound, I began directing the Judak Nurr, unsealing doors and allowing them access to the smaller groups of Hegemony forces scattered throughout the compound. Caught by surprise, outnumbered, and hopelessly outmatched, the Hegemony's soldiers began dropping like rocks.
Whilst I dealt with that, Hope moved off to complete her part of the mission, taking half the Aeros with her for a quick tour of the factory floor.
---
The door slid open with a near-silent swoosh as the Aeros approached, revealing the interior of the factory's primary engineering bay.
Hope glanced around, immediately noting three things. First, the large majority of the machines in the area were modular omni-fabbers, configured to create relatively small components. Second, the machines were not set up as part of a production line, meaning every set of components was put together by hand. Custom orders, then.
Third, there were four Hegemony engineers and two Quarians pointing guns at her.
Not even security forces, she thought with a sigh. I was hoping for a challenge.
Don't jinx it, Hope.
Ignoring her creator slash elder sister, Hope fixed her gaze on the foremost Batarian.
"Surrender now, and you will not be harmed."
The first volley of mass accelerator rounds slammed harmlessly into the Aero frame's Zoltan Phase Shields, dealing so little damage they failed to even breach the first layer. With a loud and dramatic sigh, Hope slung her Arc Launcher over one shoulder, swapping the heavy weapon for a smaller and more practical Tesla Carbine with exaggeratedly slow motions.
Apparently not recognizing the futility of their resistance, the engineers kept firing. The second volley of mass accelerator rounds also slammed harmlessly into the Aero's shields, but this time Hope retaliated, rapid-firing bursts of electrical energy with perfect accuracy into the weapons of each enemy.
One by one, the eezo-based weapons overloaded, sparks shooting and smoke billowing from burnt out electrical components. Given thirty seconds and access to omni-gel, that kind of damage could be easily fixed, but she had no intention of giving them that.
The other five Aeros in her group entered the room, bringing their own rifles up. The factory employees, suddenly realizing just how outmatched they really were, dropped their pistols and raised their hands in surrender.
Hope directed a pair of her Aeros to wander over and restrain them whilst she and the rest of her squad examined the factory's systems and products.
The omni-fabbers were merely worse versions of the Progenitor fabricators the Faith Foundation already possessed, their only advantage being the sheer degree to which they could be miniaturised - building one into a wrist-mounted omni-tool the size of a friendship bracelet, alongside a microcomputer and a sensor array, was not only usual but expected.
Hope scanned the devices for her database anyway. And then she turned to the end of the production line, where six large, bulky hardsuits hung from mesh frames supported by robotic arms.
All six were in various states of disrepair - or rather, in various states of construction. One was barely more than the inner suit and the exoskeletal frame, whilst another was almost entirely completed with only a few plates on the arms missing, revealing the gel layer beneath.
Approaching one of the more complete suits, she made note of the Batarian symbols etched onto the collar - the icons representing the SIU, followed by what appeared to be a name.
Turning to the restrained engineers, now sitting in the corner with their hands bound, Hope pointed at the exosuit. "Are these custom made for each individual operator?"
One of the Batarians spat on the ground at his feet before turning to his fellows. "Don't answer. Don't even talk to her."
Hope frowned. "Oh, all right. Ignore me then. That's fine."
Shrugging, she turned back to the exosuit, hanging idle. Reaching up, she placed a hand on the chestplate of the suit, nanites seeping through the palm of the Aero's glove and spreading through the exosuit's internals rapidly.
Between the physical suits and the design plans for the individual components courtesy of the omni-fabbers, Hope had a fairly comprehensive understanding of the suit's intended workings, even though none of the ones hanging in front of her were quite finished.
A grin spread across her face.
"Yoink."
---
In between guiding the Judak Nurr on their little jaunts through the base, I spared a few moments to glance at the flow of data entering the Command Network via Hope's Aero - currently the blueprints for suits of Batarian power armour, ones more advanced than those we'd encountered on the Might of Khar'shan.
These ones included an impact-dampening gel layer, for one, although I wasn't sure whether that was a direct response to my scissor kick trick on our raid or an upgrade that had been in the works for a while. They had a few other things, too. More power cells and emitters for stronger kinetic barriers, a more flexible exoskeleton to allow a greater degree of movement, and plates of armour running along the forearm that could slide down over the hand to serve as knuckle dusters, reducing reliance on Omni-Weapons.
It was rather fascinating, actually. In no way was the technology that made up the suit was nothing new or exotic or particularly game-breaking - it was simply put together in a way the denizens of the canon Mass Effect universe had never happened upon.
I found myself pondering the other universes I'd visited - would the Bright Foundation have developed their tech differently, given the right stimulus? The Zoltan, the Red Faction? What technologies had I missed out on because I'd been focused on improving what I had, instead of moving sideways and discovering new things?
Something to ponder once we returned to Miranda, I decided.
And then I turned my attention back to the raid.
I am trying to write a fanfic here. I do not have time for your shit. Kindly fuck off.
~Faith
---
On a more serious note, very sorry about the delay. Work related shenanigans lead to four days in a row of 16 hour shifts. This was, as one might imagine... suboptimal, for fanfic writing purposes.
86 - Flooded
Let me make one thing perfectly clear. Surfing off a waterfall created by a collapsed dam and riding the river down to a military facility defended by artillery and anti-tank cannons is not a particularly wise move.
For one thing, the fall would kill most people. Whilst surfing down waterfalls was technically possible, it was not generally considered a particularly smart idea, especially on larger waterfalls. Attempting to surf almost six hundred feet of waterfall was firmly in the 'suicidal' category.
Of course, most people aren't hyper advanced robots with anti-gravity packs, glider wings, and microthruster systems. That kind of trivialized the threat, just a little.
The Aeros descended with all the grace of particularly heavy bricks, plummeting towards the swelling river below.
With a series of splashes, we landed, immediately clambering back on our boards to make the most of the powerful current. The river was strong enough to almost throw me downstream, but a combination of the board, the Aero's wings, and repeated application of the microthrusters was enough to keep me steady long enough for speed to take over.
I almost felt sorry for the Hegemony soldiers. Even though they must have been aware of the dam exploding, they had no idea what was coming.
---
For all that it was carrying us along, the water was still travelling faster than the Aero units, and it had a head start, too. By the time the strike force reached the base, almost two feet of the outermost wall were underwater, and a good chunk of the open ground inside the base was also submerged.
We made it almost right up to the gate on our surfboards before people actually started shooting at us, but thanks to the darkness, few of the bullets managed to hit, and due to the sheer strength of the shields the Aeros were equipped with, none of the accurately-aimed mass accelerator rounds did anything.
Unfortunately, the rather flimsy surfboards lacked starship grade energy shields, and under the deluge of fire we were taking from the squad of defenders and their two mounted guns, they were utterly shredded. Then again, at this point, they'd served their purpose.
As one, all twelve Aeros engaged their eezo cores and shot into the sky, hanging at around eighty feet easily. From our vantage point eight stories up, we could look down over the entire base, quickly pinpointing our targets - a number of Anti-Aircraft emplacements, mounted on the roofs of each watchtower around the facility. Wreathed in blue against the darkness of the night sky, we probably made quite a sight - a cluster of small stars hovering above the compound.
Inhabiting the body of the lead Aero, I reached over my shoulder, retrieving one of the weapons we'd specially made for this mission - a single use double barrel rocket launcher that fired a dual EMP/Nanite warhead. We called it the Arc Launcher, just to keep with the Mass Effect theme.
The EMP would activate just before contact, and overload the target systems temporarily. Then the nanites would take over once the rocket hit, subverting the target by precisely deconstructing its innards.
Used right, it 'merely' gave the appearance of an EMP so powerful it could even fry hardened systems, and it was that particular illusion we wanted to sell at this point. The Judak Nurr knew that the Faith Foundation, like the rest of Humanity, was very advanced. We weren't keen to let them know just how far ahead of them we were, though.
Twelve metal rockets the size of deoderant cans rained down on the anti-air turrets, each detonating with a flash of blue and a burst of sparks. The Hegemony defenders immediately found two thirds of their air defences useless, and quick follow-up shots brought down the last handful of turrets before they'd even turned to face us.
The side effect of using nanites to disable enemy technology was that whilst they were there, they were also able to scan it and add its blueprints to the Command Net. Not that the Batarian's flak accelerators or missile pods were particularly valuable to me, but more design reference points couldn't hurt.
With the last of their anti-air capabilities thoroughly fried on the inside, I sent a signal to the three nearby Skyhaulers, alerting them to the base's vulnerability. The force we'd taken to the dam would join us first, being the closest, but the other two would be only moments behind, and with all one hundred and twenty men available and armed with the Faith Foundation's latest weaponry, this base was certain to fall quickly.
With eighteen of our twenty four EMP/Nanite warheads spent, Hope and I spent a relative few minutes discussing where best to place the last six. Ultimately, we decided on putting one into the base's communications tower and saving the rest for if the Hegemony started rolling out the tanks. We weren't the only ones with heavy weapons, but we were the only ones with nonlethal heavy weapons.
From our perch above, Hope and I had a perfectly good view of the base, and once we accessed their computer network, we had control of all the base's major systems. It was a relatively trivial matter to pin down where the visiting SIU officers were - in a meeting room on the top floor of the central facility, alongside the facility commander, the factory head, the chief of security, and two Quarians who I assumed represented whatever interests they had here.
I quickly sealed the doors to that room, locking the group in. And then I locked down the rest of the base, too, cutting off the defending forces and leaving them scattered throughout the compound.
The first Skyhauler arrived, drifting low over the still-flowing water to drop the troops right on the water's edge - now well inside the complex. The resistance fighters dropped from the shuttle onto the dirt, shouldering their sleek new Tesla Rifles and rapidly spreading out.
As Hope and I had learned the hard way from our little excursion to the Might of Khar'shan, the Tesla Rifles were more than capable of dropping a Batarian non-lethally, as long as they weren't wearing a fully sealed hardsuit. Luckily, this base was built in one of the hottest habitable regions of Lorek, and from what we could see through the cameras, not one Hegemony trooper had their full suit. Most had chosen to forgo their helmets, and many more had also ditched their sleeves, gauntlets and shoulder pads, leaving their arms entirely exposed.
The Judak Nurr had surprised me with how well they'd taken to my less-lethal alternatives to their old T8 Mass Accelerator rifles. Well, after I suggested that they be allowed to strip and loot the unconscious Hegemony soldiers and then tie them up in embarrassing positions, anyway.
Of course, some of them complained that without killing people they'd never get anything done, but incapacitating, disarming, and imprisoning people seemed like just as effective a compromise to me.
The fact that Hope would then be able to create braindead clones of those imprisoned people and perform diabolical science on them made it actually useful for us.
Of course, that was assuming that the Judak Nurr didn't go around shanking all the unconscious Hegemony soldiers. I doubted they would, but it was still a slight concern of mine.
Still hanging in the air above the compound, I began directing the Judak Nurr, unsealing doors and allowing them access to the smaller groups of Hegemony forces scattered throughout the compound. Caught by surprise, outnumbered, and hopelessly outmatched, the Hegemony's soldiers began dropping like rocks.
Whilst I dealt with that, Hope moved off to complete her part of the mission, taking half the Aeros with her for a quick tour of the factory floor.
---
The door slid open with a near-silent swoosh as the Aeros approached, revealing the interior of the factory's primary engineering bay.
Hope glanced around, immediately noting three things. First, the large majority of the machines in the area were modular omni-fabbers, configured to create relatively small components. Second, the machines were not set up as part of a production line, meaning every set of components was put together by hand. Custom orders, then.
Third, there were four Hegemony engineers and two Quarians pointing guns at her.
Not even security forces, she thought with a sigh. I was hoping for a challenge.
Don't jinx it, Hope.
Ignoring her creator slash elder sister, Hope fixed her gaze on the foremost Batarian.
"Surrender now, and you will not be harmed."
The first volley of mass accelerator rounds slammed harmlessly into the Aero frame's Zoltan Phase Shields, dealing so little damage they failed to even breach the first layer. With a loud and dramatic sigh, Hope slung her Arc Launcher over one shoulder, swapping the heavy weapon for a smaller and more practical Tesla Carbine with exaggeratedly slow motions.
Apparently not recognizing the futility of their resistance, the engineers kept firing. The second volley of mass accelerator rounds also slammed harmlessly into the Aero's shields, but this time Hope retaliated, rapid-firing bursts of electrical energy with perfect accuracy into the weapons of each enemy.
One by one, the eezo-based weapons overloaded, sparks shooting and smoke billowing from burnt out electrical components. Given thirty seconds and access to omni-gel, that kind of damage could be easily fixed, but she had no intention of giving them that.
The other five Aeros in her group entered the room, bringing their own rifles up. The factory employees, suddenly realizing just how outmatched they really were, dropped their pistols and raised their hands in surrender.
Hope directed a pair of her Aeros to wander over and restrain them whilst she and the rest of her squad examined the factory's systems and products.
The omni-fabbers were merely worse versions of the Progenitor fabricators the Faith Foundation already possessed, their only advantage being the sheer degree to which they could be miniaturised - building one into a wrist-mounted omni-tool the size of a friendship bracelet, alongside a microcomputer and a sensor array, was not only usual but expected.
Hope scanned the devices for her database anyway. And then she turned to the end of the production line, where six large, bulky hardsuits hung from mesh frames supported by robotic arms.
All six were in various states of disrepair - or rather, in various states of construction. One was barely more than the inner suit and the exoskeletal frame, whilst another was almost entirely completed with only a few plates on the arms missing, revealing the gel layer beneath.
Approaching one of the more complete suits, she made note of the Batarian symbols etched onto the collar - the icons representing the SIU, followed by what appeared to be a name.
Turning to the restrained engineers, now sitting in the corner with their hands bound, Hope pointed at the exosuit. "Are these custom made for each individual operator?"
One of the Batarians spat on the ground at his feet before turning to his fellows. "Don't answer. Don't even talk to her."
Hope frowned. "Oh, all right. Ignore me then. That's fine."
Shrugging, she turned back to the exosuit, hanging idle. Reaching up, she placed a hand on the chestplate of the suit, nanites seeping through the palm of the Aero's glove and spreading through the exosuit's internals rapidly.
Between the physical suits and the design plans for the individual components courtesy of the omni-fabbers, Hope had a fairly comprehensive understanding of the suit's intended workings, even though none of the ones hanging in front of her were quite finished.
A grin spread across her face.
"Yoink."
---
In between guiding the Judak Nurr on their little jaunts through the base, I spared a few moments to glance at the flow of data entering the Command Network via Hope's Aero - currently the blueprints for suits of Batarian power armour, ones more advanced than those we'd encountered on the Might of Khar'shan.
These ones included an impact-dampening gel layer, for one, although I wasn't sure whether that was a direct response to my scissor kick trick on our raid or an upgrade that had been in the works for a while. They had a few other things, too. More power cells and emitters for stronger kinetic barriers, a more flexible exoskeleton to allow a greater degree of movement, and plates of armour running along the forearm that could slide down over the hand to serve as knuckle dusters, reducing reliance on Omni-Weapons.
It was rather fascinating, actually. In no way was the technology that made up the suit was nothing new or exotic or particularly game-breaking - it was simply put together in a way the denizens of the canon Mass Effect universe had never happened upon.
I found myself pondering the other universes I'd visited - would the Bright Foundation have developed their tech differently, given the right stimulus? The Zoltan, the Red Faction? What technologies had I missed out on because I'd been focused on improving what I had, instead of moving sideways and discovering new things?
Something to ponder once we returned to Miranda, I decided.
And then I turned my attention back to the raid.
Glitchrr36
Slick's Short Company, CEO
- Location
- The Wastes
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Jesus Fuck, are you alright?
kairuf
(Verified Kaiger) (Not the Siberian)
- Location
- The land of Potatoes
Dear Real Life,
Have a present! And don't be concerned about the mysterious ticking noise.
Love,
Your friends at SV
Glitchrr36
Slick's Short Company, CEO
- Location
- The Wastes
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Silvercrystal
Some form of jewel?
- Location
- The Silver palace of Crystal
I feel your pain, I just finished 5 12-14's in a row... Sunday was 8 (5 of driving and 3 In a circle-jerk by security to get my site pass... Literally only needed a picture taken and cards printed) I am soooooooo looking forward to the 4 hour drive home and a weekend full of renovations...
On the story, you seemed to be having way too much fun for a raid on a base! I completely approve.
On the story, you seemed to be having way too much fun for a raid on a base! I completely approve.
87 - Uprising
Faith
Some idea of what I'm doing.
- Location
- Land of Waves and Warmth
On the one hand, taking all these free overtime shifts is a huge time and energy drain and leaves me pretty much no free time.
On the other hand, I really can't afford to pass up so many hours of overtime pay. Ugh, damned Australian economy.
---
87 - Uprising
As Hope and her team joined the Judak Nurr in scouring the facility and tazing the defending Hegemony forces, I dropped from my own high perch, making my way to the base's garage. No one was inside, luckily, which meant that our imposed lockdown had completely isolated the defenders from their tanks and heavy firepower.
Not that the tanks and IFVs we found would have been worth much. The whole point of me and my team staying in the air was so that if the tanks rolled out, they'd be instantly taken out. The fact that we hadn't needed to do so was merely icing on the sweet sweet cake of victory. The tanks themselves were of a neat design, aesthetically, but as I sprayed the inactive war machines with nanites, I couldn't help but notice that these were clearly of a bulkier and less efficient design compared to the tech I'd seen in the power armour.
The tanks were clearly decades, at least, behind the armour. Then again, in the real world militaries kept tanks around for fairly long periods, as I recalled, so perhaps there was nothing odd about it in this context either. With the heavy mass accelerator and the rocket pods, it probably could have made mincemeat of the Jaduk Nurr had we not dealt with them quickly.
A ping from Hope drew me from my reverie, and I turned my attention back to the raid.
---
The Jaduk Nurr acquitted themselves well during the raid. They stuck almost entirely to their non-lethal weaponry, leaving the Hegemony guards and the Batarian State Arms employees tied up and humiliated but otherwise unharmed. Hope and her Aeros followed suit, although they took the time to take blood and DNA samples from the incapacitated Batarians.
The Quarians, all seventeen of them, surrendered willingly once their Batarian guards went down, and though they too were restrained, they were left conscious. We didn't want to risk damaging their suits by overloading their systems, or anything.
The Jaduk Nurr made only six exceptions to their 'no killing' rule. The two SIU officers, and their four subordinate bodyguards, were brought down first with non-lethal weaponry, and then executed via rifle rounds to the head.
I was… somewhat displeased that they hadn't even told me until afterwards, but…. They needed to die. It was… for the best. I think.
Mostly, though, I was glad I didn't have to watch. I buried the news of their deaths deep within my mind and ignored it, focusing instead on continuing to loot and sabotage the facility. Once the omni-fabbers had been stripped for parts, the doors had all been sealed and welded shut, the air conditioning had been clogged with foam, and the sewer systems had been turned off, I signalled to Hope that I was ready to leave.
She conferred with Nukrae, the leader of this particular assault, and after a short deliberation they called in our air support for pickup. The Skyhaulers emerged from over the top of the still-flowing Kuvinara dam, rocketing across the plains towards us.
---
The Kurapp Valley Factory raid was only the first in a series of rapid strikes pulled of by the Jaduk Nurr. Following a short rest at the landing site of the Jacob Keyes, the resistance fighters got to talking, jokingly planning to take the fight to the Hegemony in Lorek's capital city, Jalnor. And then it stopped being a joke.
Emboldened by their success and the proven superiority of their Faith Foundation equipment, small teams of six to twelve individuals hopped into Skyhaulers and scattered across Lorek's capital province, launching minor attacks on Hegemony checkpoints and control zones throughout the more restless districts of the city.
More often than not, they returned mere hours after they left. According to more than a few of the returning resistance fighters, they'd taken to dropping in from above, stunning the surprised guards - a process they came to call 'sparking', for some reason, and then spray painting anti-Hegemony propaganda and slurs all over their armour and checkpoints before taking their gear and leaving.
I couldn't blame them. The Hegemony were kind of dicks. As long as they weren't killing anyone, I figured a little embarrassment wouldn't hurt.
Following their highly visible dam raid and the chain of minor attacks, the Jaduk Nurr retreated to safe houses and bases across the Lorek countryside, staying long enough only to grab what little the Hegemony hadn't before fleeing back to the rally point, going to ground before the Hegemony could retaliate. By the time the military forces who had been on route to Kurapp had turned around to return to deal with the spate of attacks in Jalnor, the Judak Nurr forces were already on their way out.
---
In the shade of a five hundred metre cruiser, two dozen Batarian Skyhaulers, six Asari-made Kimbeyla Aircars, and a single Batarian picket corvette rested on the frigid grass. Scattered around the array of vehicles was a multitude of tents, thrown together by the Judak Nurr so they could spend their last night on Lorek sleeping on the soil.
Personally, I thought it was a little silly, but I'd never been particularly sentimental about leaving my home.
The number of Batarians in the group had risen to almost four hundred now - before we'd come here from Miranda, Krilak Thol had gotten in touch with the few agents who hadn't been captured, and told them to wrangle up some more manpower for the cause. The fact that the Hegemony had let over two hundred wanted criminals slip through their grasp, whilst transporting them via dreadnought, had been a huge boost for morale, and a handful of the Judak Nurr cells had brought themselves back up to a 'full' member count.
Those second-generation rebels had only been too happy to sign up when the veterans returned to their safehouses and hideaways, pooling supplies, equipment and transport to get everyone back to the Jacob Keyes without issue.
Although I was still unclear as to how exactly they'd gotten their hands on the picket corvette. It wasn't a particularly large ship - less than thirty metres long, two levels, and four shared bunks for a total crew size of sixteen, - and its firepower was nothing impressive - it was just a corvette, and in this universe that basically translated to 'really big tactical bomber', - but the fact that they'd even somehow stolen it was staggering.
They'd probably find some use for it, though. Likely running supplies to the front, or something.
That was what it was currently being used for, anyway. The lower deck, the cargo bay, was almost stacked full of crates of weapons, equipment, armour kits, explosives, and vehicle part fabricators, along with four suits of SIU power armour.
Although it certainly seemed a lot of supplies to look at, I couldn't help but recall that we were facing a galactic power. This was probably just a drop in the bucket for them. Power armour excepted, of course.
Overall, we hadn't really accomplished much on the first day of our new partnership. Nothing on the scale of our end goal, anyway.
But hey, small steps.
---
Time passed, as it is wont to do, and for months the Judak Nurr remained holed up on Miranda. Hegemony forces swarmed over Lorek, fleets scouring the system whilst SIU teams trawled every scrap of data they could get their hands on to find where we were hiding.
From their new base of operations, the Judak Nurr reconnected with their other cells throughout the Hegemony, taking census on member numbers and counting supplies. Those cells that believes themselves to be under investigation by the Hegemony were marked as priority targets to be extracted, whilst the more hidden cells remained in place, spreading anti-Hegemony propaganda and disrupting the system from within.
The combat arm of the Judak Nurr were kept busy running supply runs and extraction missions in their newly acquired corvette, although it was hardly suited for transporting the larger cells and we often provided assistance on those missions by sending along our Elysion Pioneers, upgraded to mount Kinetic Barriers and Marauder Shields in addition to their pre-existing Phase Shields.
In that sense, Fusou's presence was both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it meant we could be a little more liberal in applying our out-of-universe technology, as we already had with our Tesla weapons and Phase Shields, but on the other hand it totally invalidated the work we put into keeping the Birch, Rowan, and Juniper class vessels within acceptable bounds for the 'canon Mass Effect universe' tech level.
Which wasn't really a huge issue, but it still ticked me off. Hope was more than happy to sort those problems out, retrofitting the Frigates and Cruisers to be more in line with the rest of our Progenitor-level spacecraft. Well, when she wasn't busy making a mess out of our testing grounds, that is.
Anyway, the long story short is that in the six months following the Kurapp Valley raid we did a lot of plotting and skulking about and the occasional stealthy recon run, but not a lot else. The number of Batarians on Miranda obviously began increasing - to the point where Hope and I had to decorate and furnish another couple of highrise buildings for them to live in, - and morale amongst the Judak Nurr was soaring.
Today, especially. Because today was the first time that every member of the movement currently on world was to come together in a huge rally. Krilak Thol was giving a speech, and everything. Just under three thousand Batarians were crammed into the New Bondi Concert Hall, reconfigured temporarily to serve as a gathering point for the burgeoning resistance movement.
At this point, Hope and I were legitimately considering getting them their own damn city. Then again, given the reason for this rally in particular, perhaps they'd be sorting that little issue out themselves soon enough.
Vendul Kohm, a preacher and a member of Krilak's core team, approached my holographic avatar, hovering above a small terminal backstage. "Faith. The last of our people have arrived, and Krilak is ready to begin. Are the cameras ready?"
The geometric avatar bobbed. "They are. Once you hit the stage, I'll start the stream."
Vendul nodded and made his way back over to Krilak and the rest of his entourage, gathering up near the stairs up onto the stage proper. I switched my perspective, abandoning the cameras backstage for one in the centre of the room, pointed directly at the stage. From here, I got the same view everyone in the galaxy was about to get for the most significant political act since… well, actually, only since the Citafel's first contact with Humanity, but if one didn't count that then it was easily one of the most important political acts in the last three hundred years.
Krilak Thol emerged from behind the curtains, flanked by Vendul and Jarruk, his two most senior assistants. The other members of his inner circle followed behind, quietly spreading across the stage until they created a line of Batarians, shoulder to shoulder in the classic v-formation with Krilak, obviously, taking the centre position.
They were met with much applause, cheering, and general jubilation from the crowd. For many of them, this was their first chance to see Krilak Thol in the flesh - he spent much of his time running his resistance, communicating with cells on other planets, and working out in the gym on the first floor of his hotel. Due to his efforts, the number of Batarians present had increased almost tenfold over what it had initially been, as minor cells from across the Hegemony abandoned their homes and fled to Miranda. But nevertheless, the man was a recluse, very rarely emerging for longer than a few hours at a time, and usually then only for important meetings.
This was, in fact, the first time I'd seen him leave his hotel in almost a week.
He stepped forward, allowing his inner circle members to slink back into the darkness at the rear of the stage, and brought his arms up wide in a gesture that engulfed the concert hall. As he did so, I dimmed the entire room's lights, shining a single spotlight down onto the stage from above.
No one asked me to do that. I just thought it would look cool.
And I was absolutely right.
Krilak took a deep breath and began to speak. His voice, amplified by a throat mic and a number of speakers throughout the building, echoed through the hall, and two thousand voices fell utterly silent.
"Brothers and sisters of the Judak Nurr!"
"For millennia, our people have languished under the cruel reign of the slave masters, the highest lords and kings of Khar'shan. Our freedoms and liberties suppressed, our contact with the greater world, and the greater galaxy, abolished."
"For centuries, the Hegemony have destroyed the proud culture of our people. Where once we were strong, now we are cowardly. Where once we were poets, musicians, artists, creators, now the galaxy at large sees us as nought but slavers, pirates, and thugs. The Hegemony is viewed as nothing more than a wretched hive of scum and villainy, a den of liars, thieves, and petty warlords."
"For decades, we have starved. Forgotten and left to rot by a government which does not care for our lives, or the lives of any others, only its prepetuation and the chance for further glory, further power, and further riches."
"For years, we have struggled, our voices unheeded, our cries of pain and desperation ignored, our very liberty nothing but a distant dream. Our faith in the pillars was shaken, our hopes for a better future cast aside."
Krilak's mournful tone shifted, becoming lighter, more focused.
"For months, we have fought, striking out against the cowards and the fools, the slave masters in their ivory towers. First with our words, and then by force of arms, we fought to rise again. Together, we brought the lights of truth, of dignity, and of freedom to the people!"
"Now is our time! Now, we rise above the bounds of our past! We tread the path to a brighter future, and we do so without fear, without doubt, and without a thought of surrender! We will not let our cries go unheard! We will not let the Hegemony silence us!"
"We will visit upon the Hegemony the pain they have inflicted upon us one hundred fold, and they will pay in blood for their crimes! We will be the heroes who stood against the lies and the fear! We will be the heroes who stood against the corruption and the greed, and we will be the heroes who struck it down!
"In light of those injustices caused by the Hegemony, we will scream our defiance until the stars echo our calls! And we will be remembered!"
Anything further Krilak wanted to say was drowned out by immense cheering, many of the present Batarians jumping to their feet and raising their hands into the air, making some sort of gesture with their hands.
Krilak held up his palms, waiting for silence. The crowd's cheers died down and people fell back into their seats. Krilak held the pose for a moment whilst the last whispers died out before he continued to speak, voice booming.
"In the coming months, we will rise against the Hegemony, and take back our freedom!
"In the coming years, we will war against the Hegemony, and reclaim our worlds in the name of freedom and prosperity!
"In the coming decades, the Batarians will once again become a true galactic power! Not through lies and fear and threats of violence, but through prosperity, unity, purpose, and strength of will!
"In the coming centuries, the Citadel will sing songs of the Batarians - not songs of fear, of violence, or derision, but of liberty, of equality, and of strength, in its purest form!
"In the coming millennia, historians will look upon this day and know that it was now, this very moment, that the Hegemony's death began! And for that, we will be remembered!"
And then, having just declared war on the Citadel's strongest non-Council power, Krilak Thol pulled the mic from his throat, dropped it on the ground, and left.
On the other hand, I really can't afford to pass up so many hours of overtime pay. Ugh, damned Australian economy.
---
87 - Uprising
As Hope and her team joined the Judak Nurr in scouring the facility and tazing the defending Hegemony forces, I dropped from my own high perch, making my way to the base's garage. No one was inside, luckily, which meant that our imposed lockdown had completely isolated the defenders from their tanks and heavy firepower.
Not that the tanks and IFVs we found would have been worth much. The whole point of me and my team staying in the air was so that if the tanks rolled out, they'd be instantly taken out. The fact that we hadn't needed to do so was merely icing on the sweet sweet cake of victory. The tanks themselves were of a neat design, aesthetically, but as I sprayed the inactive war machines with nanites, I couldn't help but notice that these were clearly of a bulkier and less efficient design compared to the tech I'd seen in the power armour.
The tanks were clearly decades, at least, behind the armour. Then again, in the real world militaries kept tanks around for fairly long periods, as I recalled, so perhaps there was nothing odd about it in this context either. With the heavy mass accelerator and the rocket pods, it probably could have made mincemeat of the Jaduk Nurr had we not dealt with them quickly.
A ping from Hope drew me from my reverie, and I turned my attention back to the raid.
---
The Jaduk Nurr acquitted themselves well during the raid. They stuck almost entirely to their non-lethal weaponry, leaving the Hegemony guards and the Batarian State Arms employees tied up and humiliated but otherwise unharmed. Hope and her Aeros followed suit, although they took the time to take blood and DNA samples from the incapacitated Batarians.
The Quarians, all seventeen of them, surrendered willingly once their Batarian guards went down, and though they too were restrained, they were left conscious. We didn't want to risk damaging their suits by overloading their systems, or anything.
The Jaduk Nurr made only six exceptions to their 'no killing' rule. The two SIU officers, and their four subordinate bodyguards, were brought down first with non-lethal weaponry, and then executed via rifle rounds to the head.
I was… somewhat displeased that they hadn't even told me until afterwards, but…. They needed to die. It was… for the best. I think.
Mostly, though, I was glad I didn't have to watch. I buried the news of their deaths deep within my mind and ignored it, focusing instead on continuing to loot and sabotage the facility. Once the omni-fabbers had been stripped for parts, the doors had all been sealed and welded shut, the air conditioning had been clogged with foam, and the sewer systems had been turned off, I signalled to Hope that I was ready to leave.
She conferred with Nukrae, the leader of this particular assault, and after a short deliberation they called in our air support for pickup. The Skyhaulers emerged from over the top of the still-flowing Kuvinara dam, rocketing across the plains towards us.
---
The Kurapp Valley Factory raid was only the first in a series of rapid strikes pulled of by the Jaduk Nurr. Following a short rest at the landing site of the Jacob Keyes, the resistance fighters got to talking, jokingly planning to take the fight to the Hegemony in Lorek's capital city, Jalnor. And then it stopped being a joke.
Emboldened by their success and the proven superiority of their Faith Foundation equipment, small teams of six to twelve individuals hopped into Skyhaulers and scattered across Lorek's capital province, launching minor attacks on Hegemony checkpoints and control zones throughout the more restless districts of the city.
More often than not, they returned mere hours after they left. According to more than a few of the returning resistance fighters, they'd taken to dropping in from above, stunning the surprised guards - a process they came to call 'sparking', for some reason, and then spray painting anti-Hegemony propaganda and slurs all over their armour and checkpoints before taking their gear and leaving.
I couldn't blame them. The Hegemony were kind of dicks. As long as they weren't killing anyone, I figured a little embarrassment wouldn't hurt.
Following their highly visible dam raid and the chain of minor attacks, the Jaduk Nurr retreated to safe houses and bases across the Lorek countryside, staying long enough only to grab what little the Hegemony hadn't before fleeing back to the rally point, going to ground before the Hegemony could retaliate. By the time the military forces who had been on route to Kurapp had turned around to return to deal with the spate of attacks in Jalnor, the Judak Nurr forces were already on their way out.
---
In the shade of a five hundred metre cruiser, two dozen Batarian Skyhaulers, six Asari-made Kimbeyla Aircars, and a single Batarian picket corvette rested on the frigid grass. Scattered around the array of vehicles was a multitude of tents, thrown together by the Judak Nurr so they could spend their last night on Lorek sleeping on the soil.
Personally, I thought it was a little silly, but I'd never been particularly sentimental about leaving my home.
The number of Batarians in the group had risen to almost four hundred now - before we'd come here from Miranda, Krilak Thol had gotten in touch with the few agents who hadn't been captured, and told them to wrangle up some more manpower for the cause. The fact that the Hegemony had let over two hundred wanted criminals slip through their grasp, whilst transporting them via dreadnought, had been a huge boost for morale, and a handful of the Judak Nurr cells had brought themselves back up to a 'full' member count.
Those second-generation rebels had only been too happy to sign up when the veterans returned to their safehouses and hideaways, pooling supplies, equipment and transport to get everyone back to the Jacob Keyes without issue.
Although I was still unclear as to how exactly they'd gotten their hands on the picket corvette. It wasn't a particularly large ship - less than thirty metres long, two levels, and four shared bunks for a total crew size of sixteen, - and its firepower was nothing impressive - it was just a corvette, and in this universe that basically translated to 'really big tactical bomber', - but the fact that they'd even somehow stolen it was staggering.
They'd probably find some use for it, though. Likely running supplies to the front, or something.
That was what it was currently being used for, anyway. The lower deck, the cargo bay, was almost stacked full of crates of weapons, equipment, armour kits, explosives, and vehicle part fabricators, along with four suits of SIU power armour.
Although it certainly seemed a lot of supplies to look at, I couldn't help but recall that we were facing a galactic power. This was probably just a drop in the bucket for them. Power armour excepted, of course.
Overall, we hadn't really accomplished much on the first day of our new partnership. Nothing on the scale of our end goal, anyway.
But hey, small steps.
---
Time passed, as it is wont to do, and for months the Judak Nurr remained holed up on Miranda. Hegemony forces swarmed over Lorek, fleets scouring the system whilst SIU teams trawled every scrap of data they could get their hands on to find where we were hiding.
From their new base of operations, the Judak Nurr reconnected with their other cells throughout the Hegemony, taking census on member numbers and counting supplies. Those cells that believes themselves to be under investigation by the Hegemony were marked as priority targets to be extracted, whilst the more hidden cells remained in place, spreading anti-Hegemony propaganda and disrupting the system from within.
The combat arm of the Judak Nurr were kept busy running supply runs and extraction missions in their newly acquired corvette, although it was hardly suited for transporting the larger cells and we often provided assistance on those missions by sending along our Elysion Pioneers, upgraded to mount Kinetic Barriers and Marauder Shields in addition to their pre-existing Phase Shields.
In that sense, Fusou's presence was both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it meant we could be a little more liberal in applying our out-of-universe technology, as we already had with our Tesla weapons and Phase Shields, but on the other hand it totally invalidated the work we put into keeping the Birch, Rowan, and Juniper class vessels within acceptable bounds for the 'canon Mass Effect universe' tech level.
Which wasn't really a huge issue, but it still ticked me off. Hope was more than happy to sort those problems out, retrofitting the Frigates and Cruisers to be more in line with the rest of our Progenitor-level spacecraft. Well, when she wasn't busy making a mess out of our testing grounds, that is.
Anyway, the long story short is that in the six months following the Kurapp Valley raid we did a lot of plotting and skulking about and the occasional stealthy recon run, but not a lot else. The number of Batarians on Miranda obviously began increasing - to the point where Hope and I had to decorate and furnish another couple of highrise buildings for them to live in, - and morale amongst the Judak Nurr was soaring.
Today, especially. Because today was the first time that every member of the movement currently on world was to come together in a huge rally. Krilak Thol was giving a speech, and everything. Just under three thousand Batarians were crammed into the New Bondi Concert Hall, reconfigured temporarily to serve as a gathering point for the burgeoning resistance movement.
At this point, Hope and I were legitimately considering getting them their own damn city. Then again, given the reason for this rally in particular, perhaps they'd be sorting that little issue out themselves soon enough.
Vendul Kohm, a preacher and a member of Krilak's core team, approached my holographic avatar, hovering above a small terminal backstage. "Faith. The last of our people have arrived, and Krilak is ready to begin. Are the cameras ready?"
The geometric avatar bobbed. "They are. Once you hit the stage, I'll start the stream."
Vendul nodded and made his way back over to Krilak and the rest of his entourage, gathering up near the stairs up onto the stage proper. I switched my perspective, abandoning the cameras backstage for one in the centre of the room, pointed directly at the stage. From here, I got the same view everyone in the galaxy was about to get for the most significant political act since… well, actually, only since the Citafel's first contact with Humanity, but if one didn't count that then it was easily one of the most important political acts in the last three hundred years.
Krilak Thol emerged from behind the curtains, flanked by Vendul and Jarruk, his two most senior assistants. The other members of his inner circle followed behind, quietly spreading across the stage until they created a line of Batarians, shoulder to shoulder in the classic v-formation with Krilak, obviously, taking the centre position.
They were met with much applause, cheering, and general jubilation from the crowd. For many of them, this was their first chance to see Krilak Thol in the flesh - he spent much of his time running his resistance, communicating with cells on other planets, and working out in the gym on the first floor of his hotel. Due to his efforts, the number of Batarians present had increased almost tenfold over what it had initially been, as minor cells from across the Hegemony abandoned their homes and fled to Miranda. But nevertheless, the man was a recluse, very rarely emerging for longer than a few hours at a time, and usually then only for important meetings.
This was, in fact, the first time I'd seen him leave his hotel in almost a week.
He stepped forward, allowing his inner circle members to slink back into the darkness at the rear of the stage, and brought his arms up wide in a gesture that engulfed the concert hall. As he did so, I dimmed the entire room's lights, shining a single spotlight down onto the stage from above.
No one asked me to do that. I just thought it would look cool.
And I was absolutely right.
Krilak took a deep breath and began to speak. His voice, amplified by a throat mic and a number of speakers throughout the building, echoed through the hall, and two thousand voices fell utterly silent.
"Brothers and sisters of the Judak Nurr!"
"For millennia, our people have languished under the cruel reign of the slave masters, the highest lords and kings of Khar'shan. Our freedoms and liberties suppressed, our contact with the greater world, and the greater galaxy, abolished."
"For centuries, the Hegemony have destroyed the proud culture of our people. Where once we were strong, now we are cowardly. Where once we were poets, musicians, artists, creators, now the galaxy at large sees us as nought but slavers, pirates, and thugs. The Hegemony is viewed as nothing more than a wretched hive of scum and villainy, a den of liars, thieves, and petty warlords."
"For decades, we have starved. Forgotten and left to rot by a government which does not care for our lives, or the lives of any others, only its prepetuation and the chance for further glory, further power, and further riches."
"For years, we have struggled, our voices unheeded, our cries of pain and desperation ignored, our very liberty nothing but a distant dream. Our faith in the pillars was shaken, our hopes for a better future cast aside."
Krilak's mournful tone shifted, becoming lighter, more focused.
"For months, we have fought, striking out against the cowards and the fools, the slave masters in their ivory towers. First with our words, and then by force of arms, we fought to rise again. Together, we brought the lights of truth, of dignity, and of freedom to the people!"
"Now is our time! Now, we rise above the bounds of our past! We tread the path to a brighter future, and we do so without fear, without doubt, and without a thought of surrender! We will not let our cries go unheard! We will not let the Hegemony silence us!"
"We will visit upon the Hegemony the pain they have inflicted upon us one hundred fold, and they will pay in blood for their crimes! We will be the heroes who stood against the lies and the fear! We will be the heroes who stood against the corruption and the greed, and we will be the heroes who struck it down!
"In light of those injustices caused by the Hegemony, we will scream our defiance until the stars echo our calls! And we will be remembered!"
Anything further Krilak wanted to say was drowned out by immense cheering, many of the present Batarians jumping to their feet and raising their hands into the air, making some sort of gesture with their hands.
Krilak held up his palms, waiting for silence. The crowd's cheers died down and people fell back into their seats. Krilak held the pose for a moment whilst the last whispers died out before he continued to speak, voice booming.
"In the coming months, we will rise against the Hegemony, and take back our freedom!
"In the coming years, we will war against the Hegemony, and reclaim our worlds in the name of freedom and prosperity!
"In the coming decades, the Batarians will once again become a true galactic power! Not through lies and fear and threats of violence, but through prosperity, unity, purpose, and strength of will!
"In the coming centuries, the Citadel will sing songs of the Batarians - not songs of fear, of violence, or derision, but of liberty, of equality, and of strength, in its purest form!
"In the coming millennia, historians will look upon this day and know that it was now, this very moment, that the Hegemony's death began! And for that, we will be remembered!"
And then, having just declared war on the Citadel's strongest non-Council power, Krilak Thol pulled the mic from his throat, dropped it on the ground, and left.
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Glitchrr36
Slick's Short Company, CEO
- Location
- The Wastes
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Also, isn't humanity the strongest non council? They aren't part of it IIRC.