Reverse Engineering For Fun and Profit (Planetary Annihilation/Multicross SI)

[TikiTau]

Chapter 45

xXxXx
Illium
GLN Corporate Megatower
Executive Conference Room

Nassana Dantius looked down at the datapad in front of her, fury and shock roiling through the core of her body as she glared at the GLN executive sitting across from her. "This is blackmail."

The krogan grinned, showing off row after row of teeth, impeccably dressed in a suit of light armor sized to fit his frame. "Nonsense, Miss Dantius. This is a business transaction. We have something you want, namely data acquired on some of the predilections of yourself and your interactions with your sisters, and you have something we want."

Nassana slammed a fist on the table, biotics flaring for a moment before she forcibly settled herself. Tempting as it was, she doubted she could permanently smear this arrogant humpback before his security team, which was doubtlessly monitoring the room, would take her out. "Damn you to the void, this is MY company, krogan! You do not get to dictate terms to me."

The krogan's smile stayed there, just as wide, those beady eyes fixed on her. "Alright then. Let me make a counter offer."

He slid a fresh dataslate across the table to her. Reading it, she blanched at the data on it, feeling her shoulders slump. "...Damn you all to hell. Fine. Fine. I won't forget this, you bastards."

The GLN exec looked supremely unconcerned as Nassana started filling out the initial set of paperwork, initialing, stamping, and allowing the notary VI in her omni-tool to uplink to Illium's network to finalize the deal she'd been offered at proverbial gunpoint. "I certainly hope not, Miss Dantius. We've had quite enough dealings with your company, after all, generally in a hostile manner. Besides, don't think of it as losing your entire company...Think of it as being given a chance to radically restructure. You still have your warehouses and one of your freight lines, which should give you a perfectly acceptable nest egg to get back on your feet from rents and the like."

Growling, Nassana stamped the last digital page and stood, snorting, ignoring the snotty primitive bastard sitting across from her as she swept out of the room, finally free of his hours of negotiating and haggling as those damned upstarts ripped her company away from her control.

She really wished she'd had her sisters killed several years ago, instead of letting them end up being used to help those bastards blackmail her with the splashback from their misdeeds. If GLN had carried out the hostile takeover they were threatening, well...she'd find herself ousted in minutes if THAT information got out to her own stockholders.

Oh, they'd pay for this.

Seething, pondering the best way to bring force to bear against them, she shouldered past another asari as she stormed out of the GLN Tower.

As she activated her omni-tool, connecting to the wider network now that she wasn't in the sealed conference room, she frowned at the number of messages queued up.

Before she could start reading them, a voice interrupted her musings.

"Nassana Dantius?"

Looking up, she huffed. Grand, and now the rent-a-cops wanted to harass her. "What do you want?"

The security officer smiled. Nassana felt a hint of unease, as that was not a nice smile at all. "Detective Anaya, Illium Law Enforcement, Nos Astra district. I'm afraid you're going to need to come with us, Miss Dantius. We have questions you are going to answer for us."

Snorting, Nassana crossed her arms, glaring at the rental cop. She might be hurt, but she was still far too busy for this. "Oh? And on what charges? I believe you'll need to speak to my attornies first, regardless."

The detective smiled mirthlessly. "Not quite. In this case, I've been deputized. Justicar?"

Nassana felt her blood freeze, hearing the clack of boots, seeing the distinctive form of an asari matriarch clad in the raiment of a Justicar. "...What?"

The Justicar looked down at her, face cold. "Nassana Dantius. In addition to your warehouses having several shipments of controlled, undeclared and unlicensed substances, your employees have been observed and found to be aiding renegade Ardat-Yakashi." Biotic energy gathered around the Justicar's hands. "You may aid this investigation voluntarily, or I will be forced, by the code, to pass judgement right here and right now."

Nassana felt something break as she fell to her knees. Near bankruptcy could be fought, but with an Asari justicar there to observe her crimes, she was finished. Glaring up at the gleaming GLN megascraper, Nassana let out a scream of pure rage even as the detective moved to cuff her hands behind her back and disable her biotic amp.

"CHARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

xXxXx

Back in the conference room, Urdnot Charr double-checked his datawork, ensuring that everything was ready for GLN to take possession of Miss Dantius' former holdings.

He really had to hand it to the Boss...His bodyguard had a wicked sense of humor, honoring the spirit and the letter of their deal with Dantius. They hadn't tipped the authorities off about a single word of the sort of misdeeds her sisters got up to.

Any trouble she found herself in now would entirely be due to her own actions here on Illium.

Satisfied that he'd finished, he tapped a few keys on his dataslate, sending the various datapackets out and about to their respective departments. HR, Legal, PR, Advertising, Maintenance, Security...A thousand tiny details, it seemed.

Looking up, he started at the rotund figure sitting in the chair at the head of the table, a cane resting against the side of his seat, blinking and scrambling up to politely bob his crest politely to one of the most powerful Volus on Illium. "Boss! I didn't here you come in. Sorry about that!"

Waving a hand back to the chair, his boss, Kaknar Tar, bid him sit back down before coughing violently. Charr frowned, looking at the Boss with worry. That...that sounded unhealthy, even for the chronically wheezy Volus. "...Boss?"

Holding up a finger, Boss tapped a button on his encounter suit, then relaxed, letting out a wheezing sigh. "My apologises, Charr. I hadn't wanted you to see that. I understand the transaction with Miss Nassana has gone well?"

Charr nodded, still looking worriedly at Boss. "Yessir. We'll be able to take possession of the Dantius Towers by the end of the week, and Nos Astra PD and a Justicar just picked her up outside, according to Security."

Kaknar Tar leaned back, his elaborate red encounter suit gleaming in the room's lights as he let out a sigh. "Good...Good. Mister Charr, I must say, I am impressed. I will admit, I only hired you on originally because of Miss Ereba's recommendation, but you have gone above and beyond in your duties working for me."

The krogan ducked his head, scratching his crest sheepishly. "Ehhh...Well, I know everyone thinks krogan are warriors and nothing more, Boss, but my clan's always had a strong mercantile bent, too. Economic warfare or something like that. Anyways, I enjoy my work for you, Boss...And...Boss, are you okay?"

The red-suited Volus folded his fingers across his belly. "In all honesty, Mister Charr...No. No I'm not. I know I don't look it now, but I used to be a humble asteroid miner. It's a dangerous job, that, and I took a suit puncture back then. I survived, and thought that would be the end of it...But according to my private doctors, it's just taken this long for symptoms to manifest. That puncture weakened my lungs, and while I've held out this long, my symptoms have been getting worse in recent days."

Charr felt alarmed, half-standing. "...What are you saying, Boss?"

The Volus chuckled, just a bit weakly. "I'm saying, Mister Charr, that I think it's time for me to retire. GLN's my creation, but it's always been bigger than just me. According to the doctors, I could be fine for years, or I could deteriorate in a day now. I'm on borrowed time, Mister Charr, and there's far too many people who depend on GLN for it to fall or stumble because of that."

Charr sat, staring at the Boss, still shocked. "...So, what are we going to do about it, Sir?"

Kaknar huffed, wheezing, and flicked his omni-tool up, sending an encrypted file to Charr's device. As he read it, Charr felt one of his hearts start to clench, his stomachs pulling backflips as he looked at the text floating emotionlessly before him. "...Mister Tar...are you sure about this?"

Kaknar Tar chuckled quietly. "Hit accept on that file, Mister Charr, and you'll be given my shares of GLN as well as my official endorsement for taking over the big chair. I've already cleared it with the rest of the Executive Board, and we all agree that while you're relatively young, you've got the right stuff to make it as a CEO. The Dantius Merger was the last test we needed, and you passed it with flying colors."

The krogan sat, stunned, and looked down at his hands, at the table before him. Looking up, he nodded once, and tapped the document. "Yes sir. I won't let you down, Boss."

The volus leaned down, huffing as he pulled a small metal case up and slid it over the table. Opening it, the krogan eyed the small square of polycirc with some curiosity. "Well, a going away gift, then. That, young Charr, is a signed and accepted broker contract with the Nerazim. They've agreed to contract with GLN to provide supplies on a large scale for themselves and the Quarian Flotilla."

Charr stared at the small data chip, then up at his Boss. "...Spirits of the spaceways, Boss...How the hell did you pull THAT off?"

The volus let out another chuckle, pausing as it turned wet at the end. "Eeegh...Hah, well, let an old volus keep a few secrets, hm?"

Charr paused, then eyed his boss. "...Alright, fine...But still, hot damn, Boss. That's going to be worth a good sized fortune, right there."

Groaning, Kaknar Tar pulled himself to his feet, leaning on the cane. "Well, that's that, then. You're officially the CEO incumbent, now, and I'm just a filthy rich and retired volus who's going to disappear from the public eye and enjoy a nice, quiet retirement. Give my regards to your Blue Rose, will you?"

Smiling, Urdnot Charr nodded, walking around the table to get the door for his ailing mentor and boss. "Of course, Mister Tar. I'll walk you out. I take it Miss Nis will be waiting for you at the airpad with your personal car?"

The volus chuckled, wheezing as he slowly moved. "Hah, that she will. Always treasure competent, loyal subordinates, young krogan, for they're worth their weight in platinum."

Chatting about small inconsequential things, Urdnot Charr escorted his former Boss to the private airpad, nodding politly at Miss Nis as the silent quarian waited for their employer with his private car.

As the pair left, Charr watched until he couldn't see the hovercar anymore. Stepping out to the edge of the pad, he looked down, eyes roaming over the cityscape of Illium before he let out a quick sigh. "Well...Boss left me a last job, so I guess I'd better get to it!"

He wondered if his dear Blue Rose had been expecting this when she recommended him to her employer all those years ago, and looked forwards to letting her and their darling flower know the bittersweet news.

xXxXx

++Update to Legion Covert Network. Agent Red and Agent Green, reporting successful exfiltration of assignment. Current infiltration frames have boarded exfiltration vessel. Legion covert assets have been withdrawn from GLN Corporation.++
-+Network acknowledges. Return to the Rockyard for frame rebuilding and redeployment.+-
++Acknowledged. Agents are en route.++

xXxXx

 

[TikiTau]

I'm hoping there's some Legion units still in GLN.

Click to shrink...

Well, duh. I mean, who do you think some of more covert 'intellegence assets' and 'minor shareholder' was?

Click to shrink...

Cross Post from SB on Legion Assets currently remaning in Mass Effect as of the start of the Ghost In the Shell Arc.

Agents Red and Green finished their initial infiltration assignment ("buff the locals techbase by propagating heavy power armor that doesn't use Eezo (and is thus easier to equip militia and the like with, ensuring they are hopefully less likely to die to 'Basic Tech Zombie') and assorted other useful toys") and are returning to the Rockyard for debriefing, database backup, and resleeving (Shh. Eclipse Phase is open source, I can therefore steal terminology from it if I want. :3) into humanoid frames for redeployment.

They did quietly pull out any remaining Legion infiltration units, now that GLN is self-sustaining (IE, doesn't need Conveniently Misdirected Shipments From A Real Factory That Is Honestly In The Terminus And Not A Legion Constructions Vessel, Really!) and leaving it to be run by the locals. Hence Urdnot Charr becoming the NEW COMMISSIAR new CEO, and Viridian Securities still running strong and providing security.

Gamma decided he didn't need to hang around, as he has three very competent subCommanders and an extremely proficient Nerazim administrator hanging about, and has returned to the Rockyard to resume administrative duties and to see where the Wheel O' Exploration punts the probe out next.

Reports of him letting out a high pitched 'Squeee!' noise upon realizing what the Auxilia were staring at are obviously false, no matter what footage Praetoria or White have.

There's a battlegroup slinking around (stealthily) following Nova while she relaxes and explores a bit, enjoying the change of pace from 'hanging out with crazy robots' or 'hanging out with nomadic psionic space ninja' as she gets her own nomad on and putters about to see the sights in the Terminus, goes shopping on Illium, that sort of thing.

There's the afore-mentioned trio of Warships who are managing Legion Assets that are doing things like helping the Geth resettle in their Off-the-Grid Resource Rich Future Dyson Sphere (Or maybe Ringworld, there's been some debate on the Consensus about which is more efficient with the Legion kindly providing Neo-Steel. Probably a Dyson Sphere, tho'. 51.583% of Geth Programs believe that is the superior design, but that is close enough for reexamination of data and they have time while their own industries ramp up to debate it and re-check Consensus, anyways) and bankrolling the Nerazim with whatever they need to help the Quarians resettle (granted, helped along by GLN scoring a nice Broker's Contract with them to act as their agents and buying whatever the newly resettled Quarian Republic requires).

But Red & Green are done with GLN and Mass Effect, yes.

...Green was the one who tipped off the IPD and the Justicars on Nassana, and also covertly arranged for ALL THE ILLEGAL (IE, stuff she didn't have a license for) GOODS to be shuttled to her remaining holdings before GLN took possession of the others. She's kinda vindictive, and finds Nassana's suffering amusing.

The ardat-yakashi link was just gravy they found while rummaging through her stuff without her knowledge and that Nassana probably didn't realize the importance of. Nassana doesn't have Geth and Auxilia data analysis on call, after all.
(Fic Reasoning for that: Nassana's got a good deal of pull with Eclipse on Illium, Morinth used Eclipse to smuggle her further onwards from Illium, Nassana's a big business asari as well, so it seems reasonable to go 'well, the ship they used may have been one of hers or one of her subordinates, even if she never heard jack about it personally.' It's what I went with for this anyways)

 

[TikiTau]

Gamma Legion Technical Tech List

Spoiler: Koprulu Sector

Spoiler: Terran Technology

In general, the Gamma Legion has acquired a comprehensive tech database of Koprulan technologies, and have a number of civilian goods and designs as well.

Adjutant Tech: Picked up out of a wrecked Command Center. Very basic virtual intelligence, formed the backbone of the Legion's non-standard equipment. Single units used to 'pilot' powered armor and vehicles, chained together in mass numbers to form the core of Science Vessels and Covert Support Vessels. Hardware based, with only a few experimental 'software' based Adjutants built.

CMC Powered Armor (Including Firebat variants): Originally scavenged off of Mar Sara during the initial Zerg outbreak. Fitted with a simple Adjutant frame inside to brute force create a basic Legion Mechanized Marine. Legacy feature includes a nano-dissassembler explosive.
-Mech Marine: Basic Legion infantry bot. Gauss Rifle, decently heavy armor (for infantry), cheap.
-Plasmabats: Basic Legion assault bot. Flamethrowers upgraded with Plamsa torches. Tendency to develop pyromanical behaviors.

Geists: Developed after acquiring information on the Terran Ghost Program from Mar Sara and a patrolling science vessel. Geists are some of the most advanced Legion infantry bots, and the ones most likely to develop individual personalities. Lacking a Terran Ghost's ability to cloak, with the Legion's R&D positing that Ghosts use their psionics as both power and control for the ability, they make up for it with a modified version of the cloaking device developed from the Wraith-class fighter, with power and processing requirements offloaded to a Covert Support Vessel. Preferred weaponry is a very heavy gauss rifle with Lockdown rounds, sidearm, and mono-edged knife.
-Agent Black: Prototype Geist. Tends to get into trouble, has developed very, very lethal combat protocols as a result. Specialty: Overt Action
-Agent White: Production-model Geist, Pre-Tarsonis. Fussy about network security, acts as the Legion's head network administrator. Specialty: Cyberwarfare and Cybersecurity
-Agent Red: Production-Model Geist, Post-Tarsonis. Deployed as a liaison to Terran forces. Developed a knack for business and interaction with organics. Specialty: Economic Warfare, Organic Resources
-Agent Green: Production-Model Geist, Post-Tarsonis. Usually acts as Agent Red's support. Can be a bit vindictive. Specialty: Security, Sabotage.
-Agent Blue: Production-Model Geist, Post-Tarsonis.A Geist that creeps the absolute hell out of everyone. Extreme Uncanny Valley effect. Remains on station at the New Gettysburg Institute of Technology as the university's bursar to monitor Terran tech research and to keep it out of more volatile hands. Specialty: Psychological Warfare, Security, Accounting.

Goliaths: Acquired from Mar Sara. Basic Legion Bot unit. Decent armor, decent speed, missile system ripped out for additional cannon system making them quad-cannon variants capable of flak and armor piercing fire. Nose-mounted gauss turret, for dealing with minor infantry.

Vultures: Picked up on Mar Sara. Not used that much, especially after acquiring Diamondbacks, which are just as fast and much heavier armed, but the Legion does use them now and then to transport infantry bots.

SCVs: Picked up on Mar Sara. Became the basic Legion ground construction unit. Also come in an Electronic Warfare variant, that forgoes construction capability for Legion ECM and ECCM modules as well.

Spider Mines: Not used too much, but they're in the inventory if needed.

Siege Tanks: Picked up while mucking about the Koprulu sector. They have large guns. This is good. Legion Variants usually have a light anti-air weapon turret as well as the usual armament.

Dropships: Picked up on Mar Sara. Pretty much unmodified at first, later versions have cloaking devices.
-Legion Gunships: Modified from Dropships, majority of cargo space ripped out to support multiple Goliath-class heavy cannons. Six in a belly mount, two on top, with nose, wing, and tail light gauss turrets. Very heavy armor. Some may have a basic vehicle clamp.

Wraiths: Picked up in Koprulu. Cloaking system became a Legion standard for covert units, once the R&D Flotilla figured out how to off-load the power requirements onto dedicated generator ships. Come in General Strike, Space Superiority, and Bomber variants.

Various Small Ship Designs: Mostly acquired by ferrying Mar Sara refugees to the Sons of Korhal evacuation fleet and dropping covert nanomachine assemblers on them to 'read' the ship designs. Legion design doctrine generally keeps at least some point defense on even a minor ship, to ward off opportunistic fighters.
-Space Construction Vessel: Adopted from a Terran light freighter design.
-Hauler-class: Cheap troop transport, adopted from a Terran heavy ore hauler. Eventually more-or-less phased out in favor of more robust units. Specialized in swarms of Mech Marines and Goliaths.
-Juicer-class: Basic generator ship, adapted from a Terran heavy ore hauler, and packed to the gills with Progenitor-tech generators. Used to provide energy for Legion forces operating outside of occupied systems. Phased out in favor of more robust designs.
-Tanker-class: Mobile Energy/Metal storage unit, adopted from a Terran heavy ore hauler. Designed to give forces reserves of material until they can establish local resource operations. Generally phased out once more efficient designs were created.
-Scout-class Survey: Extremely cheap design made up of a basic freighter, some generators, a top-notch sensor suite, and a bay full of expendable probes. Designed to be launched at a system, and to then begin surveying it until a proper production fleet arrives.
-Longbow-class: Built from a Terran frigate design. Small, cheap, multiple missile and flak turrets for anti-fighter work.
-Spear-class: Built from a Terran frigate design. Small, cheap, packs some point defense and several laser batteries to threaten other light craft and help support attacks on heavy units.

Leviathan-Class Battlecruiser: Acquired from Mar Sara. Small, obsolete battlecruiser design by Terran standards. Main ship of the line for the Legion until it could acquire the Behemoth-class, after which the much cheaper Leviathan was used as an escort cruiser. Standard Leviathan loadouts included heavy flak and anti-fighter weapon screens to deal with the Zerg, a simple aerospace production facility and hangar, and a SSX Lance Turret to offer orbital support and a heavy anti-ship punch.

Behemoth-Class Battlecruiser: Other than the 'Legion Special', Behemoths are more-or-less unchanged from their base loadout. Contain upgraded strategic weapon production facilities, heavy turrets. Some variants have Gatling Ion Turrets, to make them dedicated anti-ship combatants.

Science Vessel: Schematics acquired by Agent Black. The 'base' Science Vessel containing multiple lesser intelligences working in a chained or hive mind, working on the 'Infinite Monkey' theory of brute-force research and development. One of the more common units in the Legion's support structure. Have basic weaponry, as Gamma and the R&D units find it annoying to lose a ship to a few lucky fighters. The Science Vessels as a whole tend to develop personalities and are considered advanced Virtual Intelligences by the Legion.
-Philosopher-class: The 'original'/baseline Legion Support Vessel. Also act as System Overseers for the Legion, acting as a sort of space-based SubCommander.
-Sun Tzu-Class: A Philosopher-class optimized for weapon development. Less individual Adjutant-minds, but extra raw processing power via more computer cores.
-Aristotle-Class: Philosopher-class designed to research Psionics and the Zerg, with extra space devoted to biological research labs and containment protocols (AKA, Strategic Weapons)
-Pythagoras-Class: A variant vessel and the backbone of the Covert Support Vessel flotilla. Pythagoras Class Science Vessels have the least amount of individual Adjutant-minds and Computer Cores, but have the best sensors, cloaking, cyberwarfare suites, and limited production facilities for making Wraiths, Dropships, and Infantry Bots, as well as supplying power to the same so they can remain cloaked indefinitely.

Diamondback Tank: Stolen on Tarsonis. Twin Railguns, a basic anti-infantry turret, and it's fast and hovers. Used by the Legion as their basic heavy skirmish unit. Later variants may have shields or kinetic barriers.

Hippocrates-class Medical Station: Originally modified from a normal Terran station design with the intent to supply medical support for the retrieval of November Annabelle Terra, to keep her out of Zerg and Dominion hands, the original Hippocrates-class was lost due to Tal'Darim attacks in the Sara System. The station's gestalt was retrieved and rebuilt, providing medical support to Tarsonis in the aftermath of the Great War.

Psi Emitters: Acquired from Mar Sara. The Legion knows how to build them, but needing a Ghost's psi signature to start them up relegated them to the 'interesting, but not very useful' list by the R&D Flotilla's standards.

Psi Disruptors: Stolen by Agent White from Tarsonis. The Legion stripped out most of the bulky facility required to run and power a psidisruptor with superior power tech, then strapped several of them onto a 'dumb' Science Vessel hull to replace their sensor bays. Used to screw with the Zerg and retake Char.

Gatling-to-Far-Orbit Turret: Original plans were stolen by Agent White from the Tarsonis facility. Legion R&D stripped the turret's bulk down and, after consulting with Gamma Legion Design Doctrine BRAVO-6, decided that a Gatling Design would be preferable. Standard Legion Anti-Orbital Defense turret. A lighter version is used by some heavier Legion assets and space stations as an anti-ship weapon.

Thor Siege Walker: Developed by the New Gettysberg Institute of Technology, the Thor is a heavy siege walker designed to blow up stuff by the ton. Naturally, the Legion loves it, and the R&D Flotilla probably has an orbital drop capable variant somewhere.

Viking Variable Fighter: Developed by the New Gettysberg Institute of Technology, the Viking is one of the primary Legion support vessels, being a viable threat in space or on the ground. More expensive than the Wraith variants or Goliaths, though, so the cheaper units still see use.

Spoiler: Protoss Technology

Most Legion-utilized Protoss Tech comes from their Purifier subfaction, of which they have basically a full data dump, from scanning a Khalai Arkship and its in-stasis army, or salvaged loot from the Tal'darim.

Arkships: Possibly the most important blueprint the Legion pulled out of Koprulu, Arkships are the Legion's go-to preferred SubCommander unit for securing a region. Designed by the Protoss to be a final bastion for their civilization, the Legion uses them in much the same way. These massive vessels have extensive docking and construction bays, heavy shields, heavy armor, heavy armaments, heavy sensors, and generally the most intelligent Legion units.
-Solar Core Generator: An ancient Protoss device, these heavy duty generators are basically small artificial stars that give immense power output. The Legion loves 'em.
-Construction Bays: An Arkship is fully capable of running its construction bays flat out, thanks to advances in resourcing, and can build entire fleets in short order.

Warship: A variant of the Arkship. Give up much of their resourcing, storage, and construction capability in favor of one thing, and one thing only: Sheer firepower and defenses, as well as heavy strategic weapon batteries.

Legionnaire Frame: A synthetic Protoss Zealot, these are the Legion's go-to close heavy assault frame. Fast, shielded, self-repairing, and they tend to regard doors and walls as suggestions, not obstacles.

Carrier: The basic heavy Protoss ship-of-the-wall. Contains basic heavy weaponry and bays for launching fast moving automated interceptor units.
-Megafreighter: Jointly developed with the Nerazim, this variant strips off most of the armament and all but two of the launch bay facilities in favor of cargo space. The Nerazim are also amused that it has almost the same sensor signature as a Carrier, allowing them to use Carriers as Q-ships when in convoy.

Probes: Basic Protoss production unit. The Legion generally tends to prefer building on site, but will use stripped down probes to supplement Commander-class Frames, as they possess superior maneuverability and are smaller than their older SCVs.

Corsairs: Basic Nerazim space superiority fighter.

Scout: Basic Khalai superiority fighter.

Shields: Reverse engineered from a mix of Tal'darim and Khalai technology, the Legion has developed personal shielding for some of their more expensive units. Cheaper ones, such as basic infantry bots, may or may not be shielded depending on resource surplus.

Spoiler: Hybrid and Unknown Technology

Resourcing Monolith: Reverse engineered by the R&D Flotilla, these heavy structures are designed to fill in the Legion's need for resourcing on the go. Derived from heavily overcharged chronal accelerators, taken off of a Purifier Sentinel, cheap feed stock is used to simulate the unusual conditions of Antigua Prime, where mineral rich crystals and vespene gas pockets slowly rebuild themselves. The Monolith is horribly power hungry, but can produce minerals, which are easily refined into large amounts of production materials. The deployed version of the array is encased in extremely heavy armor covered in arcane, alien-looking sigils that contains several power generators and a covert nano-assembler, allowing the monolith to slowly 'build' mineral fields and vespene gas pockets.

Void Ring: A strange, unknown blueprint given to the Legion. This spaceborne ring, when powered and with Gamma's IFF nearby, allowed the Legion to travel to a new dimension.
-Void Gate: An Arkship-scale Void Ring. Expensive to build and power, but it allows the Legion to move massive Arkships into new dimensions without having to build them on site.

Trailer Deployable IFF Station: Built by the Legion to solve the problem of Void Rings shutting down when Gamma isn't near them, this deployable station has a basic repair array, several anti-ship weapon systems, and an IFF array that both allows the Void Gate to operate and acts as a Legion Fleet Beacon, giving them a warp target for incoming reinforcement vessels.

Spoiler: Citadel Space and the Perseus Veil

Through GLN Outfitters, a corporation run by Agent Red, the Legion was able to acquire most commercially available technology in the so-called 'Mass Effect Universe'. Medigel, Eezo, mass effect based weaponry, kinetic barriers, ship designs, that sort of thing.

They remained extremely paranoid about Systems Alliance systems, due to the heavy influence of the elusive, and worryingly erratic, Commander Fusou, and the fear she might have booby-trapped that tech.

Auxilia Program Consensus: Debugged of Reaper influence, the Geth split into two distinct factions. The majority remained Geth, and, with Legion assistance, removed themselves from the Mass Relay Network to pursue their peaceful construction of a Dyson Sphere. The minority, deciding that the proper way to pursue Geth Synthetic Evolution was to observe a more advanced Synthetic, literally enlisted with the Gamma Legion. Redesignating themselves as the Auxilia, they now serve the Legion in a number of support roles, such as orbital drop infantry, construction, resourcing, survey missions, and the like.

 

[TikiTau]

Naihama, Japan
Public Security Section 9
Briefing Room

xXxXx

The wizened figure of Chief Daisuke Aramake, head of Public Security Section 9, sat at his desk, tapping a finger on the aged wood as he watched his agents make small talk among themselves. Glancing at a clock, he cleared his throat.

"Thank you for coming. We have quite a lot to cover, so let's get started. First, Ishikawa. Any news on the anomaly that the Tachikoma units reported a few days ago?"

The older agent and hacker shook his head from his seat. "Nothing actionable, Chief. We pulled logs from both the Tachikomas and various servers around the region, and while it looks like the think-tanks were being truthful about some unusual and momentary access, it doesn't appear to have been anything directly harmful or illegal. Just a massive number of serial connections to the national data networks. We backtraced the access as best as we could, and from what a few contacts and discreet inquiries, as well as the actions of some of our opposite numbers, it looks like the original origination point was in one of the American Empire's networks."

Aramake hmmed. "Hmmf. Well, given it doesn't appear to have been an actual act of cyberterrorism, and that it originated outside of our jurisdiction, we'll just have to set it aside for the moment. Still, do keep an eye out for any unusual activity, beyond what we usually have to deal with."

Batou snorted, the ex-Ranger sarcastic as he lounged back in his chair. "Nothing but the easy orders from you, Chief!"
Target sighted. Confirming identity.
The section head merely raised an eyebrow, looking at the burly agent impassively, then shook his head slightly. "Moving on. We do have something more recent to deal with." The old man tapped a control, a map of Japan appearing. A second tap, and red dots appeared scattered across it.

"We appear to have had a rash of industrial espionage. In the last few days, we believe at least fifteen companies have suffered a break-in and data theft, as well as several military bases."
Identity confirmed. Adjusting for wind and weather conditions..
Section 9 shifted, straightening up, frowns gracing a number of faces. Major Kusanagi, the head of his field agents, shook her head, a bemused smile on her face. "I haven't heard of this, and that's a little bit unusual, Chief. Where'd this info come from?"

Aramaki acknowledged the point. "Well, naturally, the companies and the government are playing this close to their chest until they have a culprit, or at least have covered their own culpability. Ironically, the only reason we were aware of several of the thefts because they came from some of the smaller companies that have less advanced security. Whoever our thief is, they apparently were able to easily disable high-tech security systems, but missed a few lower tech back-up measures. In this case, a firm used by three of the victims had put an air-pressure sensor in a closed system in the data vaults that were robbed as part of the standard 'off the books' package that was not written down in any of the publicly recorded work orders."

Kusanagi nodded knowingly. "Ah hah. So, they know the vaults were opened, and when, but the monitoring systems didn't catch anything?"
Ready to begin my own assault. Ready when you are.
The chief nodded again. "Exactly. Frankly, if one of my contacts hadn't brought the initial breach to my attention, we still might not have caught on."

The most organic member of the unit, Togusa, frowned slightly. "Chief, if the companies aren't fessing up, and you only have confirmation of three targets, what makes you so sure those other companies have been hit?"

Aramaki smiled. Intelligent subordinates were a treasure. "Excellent question, Togusa. In thise case, we have circumstantial evidence." He manipulated the controls again, revealing a picture of a smiling Caucasian man in a dark maroon suit, red-haired and with a red tie, shaking hands with a Japanese businessman. "This is general surveillance data from the first of the companies that we have a confirmed theft from, Toro Security Technologies. This man is an accredited negotiator working for a technology brokerage firm in Norway. According to his papers, his name is Sven Erickson, and he is officially here on business to negotiate the purchase goods and technology for a number of clients in the European Union."
Secondary units, in position, ready to engage.
Aramaki ignored the snorts of amusement from his team at the generic, and most likely false, name. He clicked his controller again. "And here we have the same man meeting with a representative at Yoshiro Medical Suppliers." Click. "And now we have a picture of Mr. Erickson meeting with a representative from Kenbishi Heavy Industries." Aramaki turned back to his team. "Once is a coincidence, twice is happenstance, but three times is a pattern. Once we cross-checked Mr. Erickson's movements, we noticed that he had visited several companies that are now in what we can state to be electronic lockdown with a reasonable degree of accuracy."
Taking the shot. Begin your assault.
Aramaki clicked the control again, bringing up the map. "It's a bit weak, but he's the only lead we have right now on this case. Saito, Boma. I want you to follow up on where our Mr. Erickson has been. Backtrack him, see if he's gone off the grid. Major, I want you to investigate the companies that have been hit. See if you can figure out what was stolen. Togusa, Ishikawa, you'll be her back up for this. Batou, Paz. Check and see if our suspect has been in touch with some of the underground elements or the black market. I'll follow up with my own contacts in the government. You have your orders, so-"

The door to the briefing room was opened suddenly, one of Section 9's Operator Ladies standing there. "Pardon the interruption, sir. Priority message from the Minister of Home Affairs. We've just had a member of one of the Cabinet Intelligence Services publicly assassinated via sniper fire. Section 9 is being mobilized to assist."
Target silenced. Exfiltrating. Status on secondary targets?
Aramaki frowned. "Damn. Major, deploy immediately to the scene via helicopter. I'll follow shortly once I have more information. Move out, people. Time is of the essence here."

Section 9 braced to attention, a chorus of "SIR!" escaping them before the agents left, hurrying to arm themselves and deploy.

Aramaki sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose for a moment, before activating his video phone, the image of the Minister of Home Affairs appearing on screen. "Aramaki."

The white-haired old man inclined his head politely. "Minister. My team should be en route within five minutes. I can brief them en route. Do you have any further information for me?"

The toad-faced minister frowned, nodding. "Mm. Well, it is a bit odd, but the target was a fairly minor functionary who headed up one of the data manipulation divisions within the Cabinet Intelligence Services. Hitori Gohda, the functionary in question, was leaving a regular staff meeting when his head was taken out by an armor piercing high-explosive round. No chance of any recovery from that. Security forces are sweeping the area, but we haven't found the sniper yet."
First set down of secondaries down on our end, moving on to the next.
Aramaki hmmmed, already pondering who in the government, and outside of it, would have a stake in provoking the usual responses by eliminating a functionary in such a public manner.

He idly acknowledged a communication as the Major indicated that they were airborne, sending back a silent message with the basic information, already typing a message in to the Section 9 support staff to begin pulling data.

Assassinations and espionage...Looked like the previous stretch of relative quiet Section 9 had been enjoying after its previous case was definitely over.
Warning to network: Public Security Section mobilization orders sent.
xXxXx

A/N: Yeah, yeah...I know I let things slip, schedule wise, but I'mma gonna try and pull out of the slump a bit. Not the longest bit, but I had fun with it, and hope it comes off well. In hindsight, trying to write Section 9 is haaaaaaaaaaaard. *whiiiiiiiiiiine* xD
Edit: Had to tweak a name for maximum amusement value. It's even a canon joke!

 

[TikiTau]

Crossposting from SB, since some folks aren't familiar with Ghost in the Shell (Shamefurl Dispray~)
Crossover Synopsis: Ghost in the Shell takes place in a future version of the world in the year 2030. The world had a good deal of deviation from our own, with World War III breaking out in 1996 and Non-Nuclear World War IV broke out in 2020. As an aside, Berlin got destroyed in both world wars, according to Batou, and China and the USA went head to head at one point. The USA has broken up, with the American Empire as one of the succesor states. A good deal of the damage from WWIII has been repaired thanks to advances in nanomachines that are used as radiation scrubbers, as well. The setting is quite advanced, with cybernetics being common and a robust network infrastructure.

Public Security Section 9, headed by Chief Daisuke Aramaki and with field operations lead by Major Motoko Kusanagi (Incidentally, that name is a hundred percent suspicious. It's basically like someone calling themselves something like Jane Excalibur), is part of the Japanese Government's security apparatus, and is a semi-covert unit (in that the general public doesn't really know about them specifically, but the higher ups are familiar with them). They report to the Minister of Home Affairs, and while written down on paper as a search-and-rescue unit, their actual purpose is counter-terrorism and anti-crime, acting in an independent manner for maximum results. Given that they are lead by a straight shooter like Aramaki and outside of the normal chain of command, they tend to end up butting heads with their own government and some of the Shady Illegal Corrupt crap they do as much as actual criminals. Or punch out actual criminals who were working for corrupt members of the Government. They also often end up being sent out on tangentially related jobs, as one reason that Aramaki is so dangerously influential is that EVERYBODY owes him favors, and he does pay those favors back. Or his superiors owe someone a favor.

Very fun cyberpunk series, highly recommend checking out Stand Alone Complex and 2nd GiG.

Their main roster is:

Spoiler: Section 9 Roster and Tiki Summary

-Chief Aramaki: A veteran bureaucrat with a reputation for both getting the job done and being nigh-incorruptible.
-Major Motoko Kusanagi: A super-class A Hacker, full conervsion cyborg, and a general high-end commando.
-Batou: Another full conversion cyborg and an ex-JSDF Ranger. He tends to be pretty laid back about his job and is basically Big Fun, but is also hilariously lethal when provoked given his love of large weaponry.
-Togusa: a former Japanese Cop, Togusa was brought into the unit both to balance out their skill sets and to provide a bit of a human touch. He has one of the lowest amounts of cyberization as well, and is actually quite good at his job and an excellent investigator. Married, with a wife and two kids. Section 9 is also -extremely- protective of him. A domestic abuser and his lawyer who tried to drag his name into the mud to get off ended up suffering an extremely unfortunate car accident. Coincidentally, Batou checked a car back into their motor pool that had been in a wreck that same evening.
-Ishikawa: One of the older members of the team, Ishikawa is an old-fashioned hacker and info broker. He tends to be the main member of the unit overseeing data gathering and the like. Also has a mean left hook. Owns a pachinko parlor, and will use the cyberbrains of the players there as extra processors in a pinch, setting the parlor's machines to pay out to reward them for the time.
-Saito: Team sniper, and one of the other members with low cyberiziation. Has a cybernetic eye that links to satellite uplinks. Unfortunate tendency to get Worf'd, however, since 'and then Saito shot him in the head from ten blocks away with an anti-tank rifle' would end most conflicts too quickly to be interesting.
-Borma/Boma: Explosives expert. ...Yep. He tends not to get a lot of focus, unfortunately. Huge, vaguely sumo-shaped, though. Also a jack-of-all trades, as he has been support for Saito when he's sniping, Ishikawa when he's hacking, and often partners up with Paz for general work.
-Paz: Really quiet general backup guy. Probably an ex-Yakuza. Bit of a Casanova, never sleeps with the same woman twice.
-Proto: A technician for the Tachikomas, he eventually gets promoted from support staff to the main unit. A bioroid, not a cyborg.
-Tachikomas: To quote TVtropes' excellent description, 'If you mushed together a puppy, a philosopher, and a machine gun, you'd get a Tachikoma.'

As for changes to the canon, so far several events have occurred, some of which were noted by Section 9:

Spoiler: List of Current Changes To Canon

-First, the Tachikomas, adorable AI spider tanks that serve as Section 9's organic armored support and general transport, got a bit weirded out when Something (which Certainly Wasn't An Auxilia Node) suddenly popped through one of the internet sites one was screwing around on, accessed every link on available, then left. This then led to them wanting Mister Batou, their favorite member of Section 9 (they like them all, but Mister Batou is their favorite. He gets them Real Organic Oil!), to read them a bed time story so they didn't have nightmares. They can be kinda childish.
-Second, due to a stroke of luck, Section 9 has found out that a number of large companies in a variety of fields have been hit by industrial espionage. The thefts of both prototypes and data have been mostly traceless, with high-tech security countermeasures bypassed flawlessly. The only reason they have a hint is that several of the 'lower tier' companies had used the same security company, which had installed the vault equivalent of a thread in the doorjamb off the books, and someone went to one of Aramaki's contacts to admit help. The 'higher tier' companies haven't admitted anything happened yet, but are in what is obviously 'scramble to cover our asses/figure out what happened' mode. The unifying thread was a Man In A Red Suit visiting each company on legitimate business before anything happened.
-Third, during the briefing on the Industrial Espionage, a middle-ranking member of the Cabinet Intelligence Service, Hiroto Gohda, was assassinated by sniper fire. Given that it was an open strike against a government official, the Minister of Home Affairs has ordered Section 9 to mobilize to attempt to find the culprit.

It is unfortunate that this is taking them away from examining their industrial espionage case.
-Fourth, although it hasn't come to Section 9's attention yet, someone has begun a series of personnel removals to take advantage of the furor of 'government official assassinated near government building'. They appear to be coordinate with the sniper.
-Fifth, a third member of said group appears to have noticed that Public Security is being mobilized. It doesn't require hacking, just a camera and noting the large VTOL that just took off from Section 9's building.