Mass Effect: The Traverse

[Prince Kyros]

A Buried Nest​

406 After The Fall of Nashar 352,321 BCE - Refuge
A'vil, shivered as the earth trembled. The sounds in the distance were so loud that they shook her beak and rattled her bones. The voices had been shouting for what felt like eternity, the desperation clear and mounting, but all she felt was a bleak sort of twisted euphoria intermixed with the instinctual fear that has permeated her existence for the past year. The exhaustion from living with this terror was unbearable, especially for a people who held freedom from misery as the highest of virtues.

The earth shook again and the falling dust reminded her of another fact of her new miserable existence. Living underground has always been viewed with disgust by her species, the only one that truly thrived underground were the Mi'thraili and those no-beaked hermits could barely scrape together a civilization to present to their overlords. The underground has always been the domain of the foolish and the weak. She guessed that is an apt description of the last of her people now... foolish and weak.

She jumped as the doors to her room were thrown open and her mate stormed in. "A'vil, A'vil, grab your things. we have to move!" his eyes were wild, shifting from one corner of the room to the other as he shakily held on to the frame. Heh, a manual door, such an archaic thing, but the elders were so afraid that their last hiding spot would be found that anything civilian that wasn't shielded against scans were ripped of their electronic parts. it did not achieve anything of course, except that now they died sweaty and tired. Another crash reverberated throughout the bunker, this time much closer and K'ira grabbed her wrist and began to drag her out towards the hallways.

"We have to get to the shuttles, I've hidden the ship nearby, we'll get there in minutes and then ... and then..." he was panting now, his formerly black feathers now a raggedy grey. when she finally saw the exiting maw of the shelter and the beautiful mountain in the distance, she reached out to the pillar and halted, poor K'ira was so weak and slim from stress that he couldn't even budge her, almost falling onto his back from the sudden stop. "what are you doing? why are we stopping? have you forgotten something? don't worry we could ju-"

"-Where are we going to go, K'ira?" Her voice was even, oddly lacking in emotion as her sluggish mind had not yet found out how to feel. K'ira froze at her question, completely still in stark contrast to his previous attitude, He did not even move as the light of a nuclear explosion washed over them from the opening. He did not know how to answer that, no matter how desperately he tried to rake his mind for a solution, he could not find one and she knew it as well. There was no other place left to go. The Bringers have scoured them all, cleansed them of life and replaced them with puppets of flesh and technology, cages for their people's souls to suffer in eternally. This was the end.

She slowly unraveled his hand from hers and moved on to a a better spot to look out onto the sky. K'ira meekly followed, head bowed and beak slackened.

She could see them from here, the Bringers. Their tormentors. Their end. Their claw-like forms twisting and turning at impossible angles and impossible speeds. their inky black flesh radiating a bleak miasma of death and hunger. They grappled with Pinion-Ships, tearing them out of the skies and sending them crashing towards the surface. beams of baleful red ripping star ships apart when they hit and digging trenches of molten metal when they missed. From time to time a nuclear missile would hit and wound one of the Bringers or one of her people's ships would stab the Enemy with their vessels, the explosions sending shock waves that shook the ground underneath her feet and sent an awful sound echoing through her ears.

She could see it too, one of the Arch-Bringers. like a towering talon pointed towards Refuge, as if it were poised to rip out the hear of the planet itself. A ship so impossibly large that it dwarfed it's smaller brethren.

The mountain was quivering, growling, roaring. Lava was running down it's side as if it were Refuge's own blood. The end was nearing, her senses told her.

She felt K'ira's wings wrap around her, his beak resting on her shoulder and his hands resting on her midriff. She let her eyes shut and leaned back into his embrace, trying to feel what remained of his warmth for one last time. She thought of the future they'd planned, of what they've been through to get to where they were. Tears ran down her cheeks as she thought of all the ones lost and the one yet to live, the one conceived in a dismal time, the one that would not see the light of he stars, the one that would not feel the wind in her wings or the feeling of the love her parents would shroud her in, and she wept.

That unholy sound of the Arch-Bringer, a maleficent horn that evoked the tortured screams of civilizations drew her attention back to the night sky. It was hovering there, closer than ever. It's eye shining a sinister red as it readied itself to unleash evil onto their world.

"I love you 'ira." She felt him tighten his grip in response to her shaky statement. "I love you too 'vil"

And then night turned to dusk as the Enemy's beam smote the mountainside and kept drilling until it stopped. and just as the blood in her ears began to ease and her eyes stopped watering the earth heaved and thundered and it was as if the world itself was screaming in pain from the blow dealt to her. A wall of embers spewed out of the now devastated volcano, pressurized magma spraying themselves in kilometers long arcs, vaporizing entire forests and covering vast swaths of land in glowing molten blood.

She could barely breath as she though of the end. She did not know wether to feel relief at the coming catharsis or panic at the sight of her inevitable demise. It did not matter though, as the storm billowed through the opening and swallowed her and her lover in burning ash before she could even come to her conclusion, turning her and the others of her kind into still, lifeless statues. The rest doomed to die a slow death beneath the ruined surface.




Present Day - Perkwunos
"Governor Raynor, I'd like to ask if the passageway has been cleared for travel yet?" that scratchy voice rang out with the smoothness of rusted iron on chalkboard, asking the same question for the umpteenth time. and Jim was getting annoyed, the scientist teams had been getting more and more jittery by the minute and they were bugging him constantly about the situation. they acted like goddamn children, pestering him constantly on when they could move in to the ruins and set up their goddamn toys.

"As I've said before Doctor, we'd be ready when the experts tell us we're ready." he managed to grit out. god, he needed a smoke after this. the headache alone would bug him all day and slow down his work speed.

one of the nearby privates moved towards him "Mr Jones says everything is green sir." he briskly said after snapping off a salute. the scientist besides him who was no doubt going to ask the same damn question again visibly perked up and began to animatedly chat with his fellow loathsome colleagues.

"hallelujah son" he immediately began moving through the dug out tunnel, doing anything he could to get away from those pests as quickly as he could. After about a few minutes of walking he emerged into a giant chasm illuminated by carefully placed spotlights with a few more archaeologists hanging around, poking at the buildings and the same bipedal statues found on the outside perimeter, although these ones were much more well preserved.

"good, now that I've made sure that you have all reached your intended destination, I have fulfilled my end of the bargain." he said to the same annoying scientist from before. "try not to cause a cave-in, it'd be a shame to lose all of this expensive equipment" he made sure that the guy felt his glare this time as he turned around. But just as he was about to leave, he caught sight of an odd pair of statues near the entryway, he'd passed them by before without really noticing, but the pair were oddly well preserved, the rough shapes of their bodies not being warped by the heat of the catastrophe and not much of their forms having crumbled or broken by the passage of time. The way they were placed were also strange as while the rest of them were cowering, hiding or taking cover, these two must have been standing in what must have been the open courtyard. standing straight and close, looking out towards the now hollowed out mountain.

He grunted and tore his eyes away as he began to crawl through the tunnel back towards his ship. He had places to be, people to protect, homes to defend, standing here and wondering about some long lost civilization isn't going to help that. He had more important things to do, and he'd scoff at the idea of this ever being something important.



____________________________________

Well, my plan probably isn't gonna win, but here's an omake anyways. I had this whole thing planned out but midway through the first paragraph I completely changed mind and let my muse dictate my words... like I always do *sigh* and I had some thoughts about mortality on my mind so this kinda... popped out. I had some epic battles all planned out and everything *grumble*. hopefully someone enjoys this steaming pile of undirected mess I've cobbled together on my phone. there's probably a boatload of errors I've missed and am too tired to correct... I'm especially not happy with the "current time" part but it's getting very late and I've been very busy today, so I can't bring myself to care too much about that for now

 

[Darik29]

Well, that makes this easier


Damnbeast

Imagine a tiger. Now, make it at minimum 3-5 meters in length, weighing in at roughly two to five tons depending on size, and make it the most angry monster you have ever met. Give it six legs, each with a gecko pad like foot with claws that can shred tank armor, and skin that laughs at anything hand held. It's mouth can expand to swallow humans whole, and the damn thing is terrifyingly smart. It learns. You can only set a trap for it once, and if it lives that trap never works again, and it's smarter the longer it lives. It is a thing of horror, and the Only reason it's not killing everything is because it's a genuine solitary apex predator. It's territory seems to be massive, spanning hundreds of miles that it claims against all competitors. And finally, as if that wasn't bad enough, the damn thing can apparently use biotics. Like, actual semi coherent biotics, not just a natural trait. It can make itself lighter or heavier, it can move like greased lightning, and the older ones can generate there own damned biotic barriers.

This thing is an Apex Monster. Fear it.



Stalker Gheists

Stalkers are gods way of letting the people of Perkuwonos know he hates them. These little bastards are the definition of horrifying. For one, they can turn near invisible, leaving only a shimmer in the air to Mark there location. For another, the damn things have Hands. And are smart enough to use them. They can open doors and windows, operate locks, press buttons... you name it, these creepy little monsters can fuck with it. And they can generate a static charge for self defense, enough to act like a taser on people it hits. They also have the horrifying ability to mimic sounds. Perfectly. Like someone calling out to someone else on the perimeter, and when they go to investigate they find no one there, until the beast drops down and shreds them. The only saving grace is that the monsters are small, barely more than child sized, and unable to pierce modern armor. Unfortunately, they can figure out guns, but no ones dumb enough to leave armories unguarded like that on this hellhole of a planet.


Doom Turtle

These guys are actually some of the easiest beasts to deal with. Mostly, because the creature in question appears to be a scavenger more than a hunter. It forms a large biotic barrier around itself, and whenever anything hits the barrier it hits back with a contact warp. It shreds anything that touches its barrier, then floats over it and eats it. The barriers are pretty tough, but all that's really needed to drive them off is a decent lightning strike. Or a machine created fake lightning strike.


So. Thoughts?

 

[Silver719]

Spoiler: Apollo Shipyards

synopsisApollo Shipyards, established in 2087, was at first a (relatively) small time refurbishing and repair company. Their largest contribution to the technical sphere was being one of the first to take advantage of the sudden price reduction in zero-G construction, building some of the first orbital shipyard facilities humanity had the pleasure of using and pioneering many of the methods still used today when building in space. With the Space Boom, they expanded as fast as they could spend money, being one of less than ten companies who could facilitate the space craze everyone was so hyped on.

Unfortunately, that's right about where their story ends. Fat and bloated off the profits from the initial space boom, Apollo Shipyards did the bare minimum to maintain their position as a competitive leader in the Space-worthy Vessel industry, being a cheap yet slow builder of civilian grade ships of every type. While they made an effort to step things up to match the more military demands of the first contact war, this retooling left them flatfooted when renovations were complete and the war was suddenly over. And not just over, but with a sudden trade partner who wielded advanced technology and methods vastly in excess of anything they could do.

Unlike most of their competitor companies, Apollo Shipyards had spent too much of their reserves on a single massive wave of upgrades that were made for a war they never got to profit from. They were left woefully vulnerable to the economic giants that were Asari Matriarchs and Volus Prospectors. It took only a few short months after peace began for Apollo Shipyards to be pounced upon and ruthlessly dismantled, being one of the first Human companies to be throttled by the larger economic power, lacking the funding and standing needed to survive the attentions of the wider galaxy.

Many of their shipyard structures were unique for being standalone stations that acted as dedicated shipyards, which meant that buyers willing to foot the costs of retrofitting them were somewhat common, as the facilities could be bought, moved, refitted, and put to immediate use without a lengthy integration process. As such, the only shipyards remaining are the ones that most folks would never actually use personally; those capable of fitting Destroyers and Carriers in their berths, deemed too cost-inefficient to be worth the hassle, especially when such ships were rarely, if ever, for personal or company use.

Of course, if such a group WERE looking for a somewhat expensive way to skip a few steps into building such large shipyards, there are still a few on the market, just waiting to be bought and upgraded. Not CHEAPLY, but skipping steps is always nice.

@Doomed Wombat

 

[Brogatar]

Motherlode part 1




As Nireen Nal'vatanis quickly strode down the corridor to Raynor's office her hands shook even with the pad in them. This ... this was the discovery of a millennium maybe more. She knew she was in shock the size and purity of the find was a once in Asari lifetime find.

He's watching the door when she walks in. "Nireen what is so important that you couldn't comm me with this news?" "Raynor we just found a new massive cavern with Eezo in it. Filled completely with Eezo. Multiple samples from all across the deposit confirm it. This deposit will barely need any refining it's 99% pure." "What!" "That's the best news of it, the two problems are with that much purity it's going to require a lot of careful mining and a great amount of extremely precise equipment. The other problem is that the deposit is monstrous in size. Conservative estimates put it at the size of half a mass relay mid-line estimates are that it's the size of a relay. And generous ones even larger. There's a couple of extreme one's that put it at the size of the Citadel or Omega. Though we probably can disregard those ones. It's a once in a lifetime find for an Asari."


"This is huge we're going to have to call the Prime Minister." "The council is going to need to know as well. It's too big to hide we are going to need a fleet to hold this system. It could start a war with the Batarians or the Terminus Systems."

 

[Thanatosra]

Omake (not sure if correct info for fun) Aria reaction

Aria T'Loak the Queen of Omega is siting on her chair looking out as people come and goes when she hears footsteps walking towards her. She turns and spots her Lieutenant Grizz walking towards her. Once he reaches he asks "my queen you called for me?"
Aria turns towards him and nods and says "yes, I am sure you watched the news, Grizz."
Grizz nods and says "it seems the Batarians are having a hard time holding onto their parts of the Terminus."
Aria smirks and says "yes, it wont be hard to shove them of now." Aria then stands up and continues "but we do need a way to increase our ships building capacity."
Grizz frowns and says "yeah, the Humans finding all that Eezo and the Turian Hierarchy announcing the building of several new Dreadnoughts."
Aria scowls and clenches her chair while saying "which means they might make a move against us. Grizz I want you to get in contact with some contacts and see if the Council know something we don't. Meanwhile I want our Eezo to be sold a bit cheaper then Perkwunos so we get some buyers here so we can build up our own forces in case."

 

[Thanatosra]

Rewrite (trying to be a bit better)
Aria T'Loak is standing in her office hidden away from all prying eyes when she hears a knock on the door and the voice of Grizz asks "my Queen, can I come in?"
Aria answers "yes."
Grizz then walks in as Aria turns to face the door and Grizz says "I manged to find what the Council has been hiding."
Aria responds "well, spit it out then."
Grizz nods and activates his Omni tool and presses some buttons. After a few seconds an Alert on Aria's Omni tool and Grizz says "that is all the information on the mega dreadnought that the Council just discovered."
Aria activates her Omni tool and pulls up the report. As she reads the report titled the Leviathan of Dis her eyes widen, and she says "there could be more of these monster ships."
Grizz nods and says "that is what the Council believe my Queen."
Aria growls out "I want as many agents as possible to infiltrate this project, I don't care if you have the pay the Shadow Broker for ways to do so, I also want you to keep an eye out if they are any more of these monsters hiding out there. I don't want the Batarians getting hold of them as well."
Grizz nods and says "it will be done."

 

[Brogatar]

In the end we knew the reapers were coming and we were ready. ... Mostly. If the Reapers came from the north it would be worrying for the north was weak full of brittle Terminus warlords. It is likely only Omega could hold. It would be the Geth and Quarians and Perkwunos who would be the eastern flank and hold the reapers there. The Turians and Humans would have to send their ships to bolster the western flank for that would be the direction the reapers would attack from the north. If the reapers attacked from the north east well it would be the Quarians and the Geth who would be on the front lines or in a pocket surrounded by the reapers as they passed by and then it would be up to Perkwunos to hold the line in the north east likely being the front line of the war anchoring the lines as ships would bolster the lines stretching from Omega to Phoenix Massing to Perkwunos to the Caleston rift to the Hades Nexus and Nubian Expanse, it is these location where the battles against the reapers would rage and Perkwunos would hold the line. For Perkwunos would ship its eezo from their possibly surrounded cluster through the newly discovered relay to Sentry Omega down the line to Attican Beta and to the rest of the galaxy.

-An Excerpt from Miranda Lawson Head of Perkwunos R&D just before the start of the Reaper War.