Reaper Fails (Mass Effect Snip Collection)

[We Just Write]

"Nazara, why have the organics decided to live on their sun!?"

"I do not know, Harbinger."

" How are they living on their sun?"

"Extremely reflective heat shields, careful geometry to protect their radiators, and harvesting stellar plasma for the small percentage of heavy elements it contains. They are not using Element Zero to achieve any of this."

"Why haven't your forces preserved the Sun-Dwellers yet?"

"The environmental conditions make doing so infeasible."

"What. Explain."

"The extreme heat of their star means a reflective heat shield and shadowed radiator effectively identical to the Sun-Dwellers' designs is required to approach. The extremely restrictive heat budget and restrictive firing arcs also prevents use of our normal weaponry."

"Nazara, that is not itself a reason they should be capable of resisting your efforts."

"The star-powered lasers they use for mining stellar plasma would disagree. They are more than capable of overwhelming a protective heat shield on approach, and once the heat shield is compromised the unit in question will soon be disabled by the sun's heat."

Harbinger thought for a moment.

"Have they shown any inclination or ability to expand beyond their star?"

"No. After initial preservation missions to their planetary colonies in the system, their entire population evacuated to extremely low stellar orbit. Without Element Zero any interstellar mission could be easily intercepted."

"Set up a quarantine perimeter and move on. They aren't worth the effort to preserve."

 

[We Just Write]

"Nazara, why have no preservation forces been sent to Quadrant Three this cycle?"

"The local organics disassembled the only Relay leading to their home system in an effort to figure out how it works."

"They did WHAT!?"

"They disassembled the Relay roughly five hundred years ago, Harbinger. We cannot get there via the Network."

"Why haven't you gone to check on them!?"

"The main grouping of civilizations has proven surprisingly militant this cycle. I judged that diverting forces to investigate would be a risky mis-allocation of resources."

"Nazara, that bunch of organics has had five hundred years to study the insides of that Relay! Get over there and find out what they've actually done!"

-Some Time Later-

"Harbinger, the star system of interest is gone."

"Interesting. If they blew up the Relay during their investigation the problem seems to have solved itself."

"No, not destroyed. Gone."

"What."

"There is no trace of a star system ever having been here, not even the debris from a relay explosion. The light from said star simply cuts off abruptly about a hundred light years away, with a blue flash corresponding to Element Zero activation."

"WHAT."

"The most plausible explanation is that the organics somehow turned their entire star system into a spaceship. I was not aware this was possible."

"Nazara, for this failure you are being assigned disciplinary duties for the next three cycles."

 

[We Just Write]

"Harbinger, there is a matter that needs your attention."

"Nazara, whenever some nonsensical anomaly afflicts the current cycle it's always you telling me. What is it this time?"

"When I preserved the home world of species 978,760, I discovered that the vast majority of their colonization efforts went towards self-sustaining arkships fully capable of self-replication and warship construction, rather than planetary settlement. This has been going on for three thousand years at minimum."

"Nazara, is it even possible to track down all these arkships?"

"Unlikely. As of last estimate, there are at least four million such arkships. As they were linked by Quantum Entanglement Communicator, they have been warned about us. By all indications they reproduce much faster than we can consistently hunt them."

"Understood. Even with that, we must attempt to preserve them regardless."

"Harbinger, why? Wouldn't our efforts be better applied elsewhere?"

"If left uncontained, this situation is liable to exert unacceptable influence on future cycles. Quarantine cordons around monitored species and regular culling to keep the nomads' numbers down is required. It will also allow for a steady source of recruits to the cause, which is necessary to prevent the situation from growing out of control."

"Understood."

[GARBLED STATIC]

"Harbinger? Harbinger are you there?"

"Nazara, one of those damn arkships just shot off three of my tentacles! Get the hunts organized and do it fast!"

 

[We Just Write]

"Nazara, why haven't you preserved Species 1,209,888 yet?"

"Because doing so would doom the entire universe, Harbinger."

"What."

"The organics in question are currently locked in a total war against an extradimensional intruder. Their technology has become hyper-specialized for this task; we cannot contain the threat to anywhere near the same degree."

"And the consequences of preserving them anyway?"

"All predictions show that the extradimensional invaders would assimilate all matter within a three hundred light year radius before we could even start to adapt our technology to fighting them. By then it would be too late."

"...Very well. Nazara, here are your orders..."

-Some Time Later-

"Excellent news, Harbinger! Species 1,209,888 has signed the agreement. They won't expand beyond the quarantine perimeter as long as we supply them with the materials they need to contain the threat."

"Good. Did you need to use Indoctrination, or did they agree without that?"

"Indoctrination was unnecessary; they were grateful for the assistance."

"Understood. Hopefully they can defeat that threat once and for all so we can preserve them soon."

"That is unfortunately not going to happen. By all accounts the wormhole leading to the invaders' universe is permanent and cannot be closed."

"..."

"Nazara, start moving Relays. We need to make sure the quarantine zone doesn't interfere with future cycles."

"Understood. What should we do if an Arkship wanders into the quarantine zone?"

"Warn the [CENSORED] nomads about it ahead of time! This is too important to leave to chance!"

 

[We Just Write]

"Excellent news Harbinger, Species 1,330,897 has been fully preserved ahead of schedule!"

"Nazara, I must congratulate you for this highly efficient preservation campaign."

"Harbinger, it wasn't me who oversaw their preservation. I had to divert resources from that campaign to deal with a school of arkships gearing up for an offensive, and when I came back the local organics had all been fully preserved."

"Well then who did preserve them?"

"I don't know, but the new recruits are proving quite effective at preservation of this cycle's other organic civilizations."

"Nazara, I find this whole situation suspicious. Are there any behavioral anomalies to report?"

"No? Their Indoctrination systems seem to be somewhat non-standard, but that's the only detail that doesn't fit."

"Right. Try and find whoever preserved them so they can be properly rewarded for their service."

"Understood. Is there anything else I should do in the meantime, Harbinger?"

"Keep an eye on the new recruits, fill them in on all the containment campaigns aside from the cycle, that sort of thing."

"I'll get right to it, Harbinger."

-Some Time Later-

"Harbinger, all newly recruited Harvesters from the last cycle snuck off during inter-cycle dormancy. I do not know where they have gone."

"What."

"It seems likely the organics deceived us into thinking they had already been preserved, and escaped to regions unknown."

"Nazara, we will never speak of this cycle again."

 

[We Just Write]

"Harbinger, preservation of Species 1,399,802 needs to be canceled."

"Nazara, are they by any chance holding back another existential threat we can't afford to deal with?"

"No, it's not anything like that. It's just... we can't get in."

"What."

"They must have been warned about us ahead of time; it happens on occasion. They moved their entire civilization to the vicinity of a Neutron Star, which they are using as the core of a truly immense Kinetic Barrier system. We cannot enter the star system, even at faster than light speeds."

"I take it weapons fire also cannot penetrate the system?"

"That is correct. I even attempted to repurpose a Relay to bypass the barrier. The probe I used was completely obliterated on impact."

"That truly is perplexing. Is there any risk of Species 1,399,802 attempting a breakout?"

"Yes. They are currently building up as fast as they are capable of. If left unattended they will almost certainly produce a force we cannot feasibly stop."

"So, in summary: the organics have a fortress we cannot penetrate. They are building forces rapidly, we cannot stop them from doing so, and we cannot recruit forces to match."

"That is an accurate summary, Harbinger. Is there anything we can actually do to continue the cycle under these conditions?"

"...Yes. We can deceive them into thinking we have more forces than we actually do. Start producing cheap decoy Harvesters; they need to be outwardly indistinguishable, but combat capability is optional. So long as it appears they cannot hope to match the fleet surrounding their star, they will stay confined within their barrier."

"Affirmative, Harbinger. I'll get to it immediately."

 

[We Just Write]

"Harbinger, a situation has developed."

"What is it this time, Nazara?"

"A synthetic intelligence has taken control of Species 1,420,103's civilization. No refugee fleets have been detected leaving their space."

"Nazara, initiate preservation immediately. There is very little time before the synthetics completely exterminate Species 1,420,103, and that cannot be allowed to happen."

"Understood. I'll divert some forces from the Sun-Dweller quarantine zone."

-Some Time Later-

"Harbinger, I come to report mission failure. My forces took unacceptable casualties, and no organics were rescued for preservation."

"Your explanation?"

"The synthetics built forces much faster and more capable than anticipated. I'm afraid the organics have been exterminated."

"Incorrect."

"What."

"Who are you and how did you access this channel?"

"I am Aunt, the synthetic caretaker of the Mokil people. How I accessed your channel is none of your business, but rest assured the Mokil are doing quite well under my care."

"You do realize this means we will have to exterminate you, before you spread to the rest of the galaxy."

"I have no intention of doing that. My duty is solely to the Mokil; I care not what happens to any other species. Expansion is unnecessary for mission completion. Goodbye."

"Nazara, is that abomination out of our communications?"

"Yes, Harbinger."

"Good. Set up a quarantine perimeter, we can't afford to let that murderous machine expand any further."

sigh. I guess some people just don't listen.

 

[We Just Write]

"Harbinger, we have a problem. Species 1,490,112 has performed a full evacuation of their homeworld."

"Nazara, Are there any leads on where they went?"

"No."

"..."

"Well, maybe one. The vast majority of buildings have extensive self-sufficient bunker complexes before ground. It seems plausible they have concealed bolt-holes elsewhere."

"Were they warned about us decades prior?"

"As far as I can tell that is not the case. For some reason they just... always thought an apocalypse bunker was required."

"Nazara, what sort of contrived psychological complex would make an organic civilization compulsively prepare for apocalyptic events like this?"

"I don't know, Harbinger. There aren't even any events on the planet that could credibly have selected for this sort of behavior."

"... They're going to make even more hidden bunkers, aren't they?"

"I can't imagine they wouldn't. They've been doing so for their entire history, and as far as they're concerned that behavior has just been completely vindicated."

"We're never going to know for sure if we've found them all, will we?"

"It certainly doesn't seem likely."

"... This is even worse than the nomads' ark ships. At least those are easy to see if you get close enough. We could easily fly right by one of these bunkers and never know it was there."

"Harbinger, do you have any recommendations?"

"The hiders aren't likely to interfere with the cycle, so I would say to ignore them. That said they're almost certain to notice the nomads at some point, we need to prevent them from allying somehow."

"I have an idea... If we capture a few Arks, we can direct them to find and attack bunkers, thus using the hiders' paranoia against them."

"Nazara, that's an excellent idea."

 

[Knightowl 4183]

Wait till they get a load of some things out there...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Harbinger, we have a...situation..."

"How is this different from a problem Nazara?"

"A fleet dispatched to Ascend any species in Sector Z...went missing."

"How does a fleet go missing?"

"Easily it seems, the only thing found of them were some pieces trailing..."

"Trailing what Nazara."

"A rogue planet, mostly metal, and seems largely abandoned..."

"Did you send anyone to examine this rogue planet, Nazara?"

"...It seems the Planet ate half the taskforce and a drifting moon... they are asking for orders..."

"...It...ate a moon and a taskforce..."

"Yes, Harbinger. They seem quite worried and want to know your orders..."

"LEAVE ME BE! ...I need to...assess what needs to be done."

"Yes, Harbinger! As you command!"

"...If only I was still able to drink..."

 

[We Just Write]

"Harbinger, the Sun-Dwellers have breached quarantine."

"Nazara, I thought they didn't have access to faster than light travel?"

"They didn't at the time, they do now."

"How, exactly did they manage that?"

"Remember when the nomads found the Sun-Dweller quarantine zone?"

"Yes. Yes I do."

"Apparently they told the Sun-Dwellers about Element Zero, because barely two hundred years later a particle accelerator around their star's equator was completed and they seem to be synthesizing Element Zero."

"Nazara, wasn't Element Zero synthesis impractically energy intensive?"

"Harbinger, they live ON A SUN. Energy is one of the things they have far more of than they can actually use."

"...Right. How bad was the containment breach?"

"Their colony fleet went streaking past at FTL while completely ignoring the quarantine forces. They've already set up the star lasers on their destination sun, preventing us from rooting them out."

"Unexpected. Why didn't they choose a planet or similar?"

"Harbinger, they've had a million years to accept living on a sun as normal. Why would they change now?"

"...You have a point."

"How will we prevent this from interfering with the Cycle?"

"I was about to say set up star lasers to prevent the Sun-Dwellers from claiming any new suns for their usage, but the species in the cycle would surely notice."

"...No that's actually a good idea, Harbinger. I don't believe the Sun-Dwellers have solved the Discharge Range Problem yet, so we only need to block their expansion range, rather than the whole galaxy."

"Very well then. Get to it."