A/N: ...Well, um...So...yeeaaaah...Super sick, super late, but...Hey. At least this one's going to be easy to name...
A/N2: *froths* *chews on tags*
A/N3: ...third times' the charm?
Edit #4: DEATH TO WEIRD COPYPASTA THING! YAY, IT FINALLY WORKED and stopped eating my italics tag what the hell copy-paste?
Chapter 42
xXxXx
The Rockyard
Legion Shipyards
Fleet Overseer Pallas had a number of rather important jobs in the Legion's Rockyard. Among others, he was the Intelligence charged with actually running one of the Arkship Yards.
The smaller shipyards were fairly autonomous. Build 'em, feed resources into 'em, queue up orders and they're good to go. But Arkships…
Arkships were something special.
The sheer size of the vessels required a more...hands on touch. So to speak, anyways.
For Pallas, the Arkship Assembly Yard was, in a rather real sense, his hands and body.
His sensors ran across kilometers of massive, battlecruiser-length struts of refined metal. The ultra-heavy Progenitor alloy that the Legion had taken to using for their Arkship's keels was grand stuff to use, but it certainly did have its own quirks. The assembler arrays tended to get 'sloppy' after a kilometer or so of perfectly forged alloy.
He did hope the R&D Flotilla fixed that bug someday.
Ah well. Not too hard to work around.
Satisfied, Pallas' construction vessels began to grip the struts, the massive cruiser-sized tugs' engines straining to carefully move the struts from the inspection area to the new Arkship's assembly area, carefully screened of any free-floating debris by carefully applied plasma shielding.
As tugs carefully held the struts together, a construction vessel glided forwards. Its assembly array came online, bonding and merging the paired struts on the molecular levels. Backing away, Pallas used sensor drones to inspect the weld. Satisfied with the two separate parts now being a single piece of pure alloy, the tugs brought the next section of the keel into position.
First welds tended to be the trickiest ones, really.
Pallas kept enough of his attention on the Yard to handle the assembly while tuning into the Legion Intelligence Backchannels.
They were rather busy today.
Mmm. Looks like Asclepius and Sun-Tzu were arguing over armament and technology choices again.
Pallas let out a digital huff as he continued to lay the new Arkship's keel down. Honestly, those two intelligences. Both of them were right, the overseer supposed.
Sun-Tzu had a point that Tal'darim capital ship weaponry and technology would be quite well-suited for dealing with large amounts of enemy units, making for a vessel that would be superb at dealing with swarms of enemies like the nasty little Cruiser three of his Warships had dealt with in the Terminus region.
On the other hand, Asclepius was correct in most Legion Intelligences did tend to model higher functions off of their own basic functions. Pallas could see how giving a capital ship more violent tendencies than the Behemoth-class line already possessed and an inclination to use it could be more troublesome than the current problem children of the Legion, the Pyre-class gestalts. At least those troublemakers were only a threat on a local level!
Pallas hummed to himself, starting to install the first main structural 'ribs' to the front of the new Arkship's keel, even as the main keel grew kilometer by kilometer.
He supposed it would come down to a Command Decision, in the end.
Well, as long as they had decided before he had to start installation of the new Arkship's AI Core and weaponry banks, he supposed it didn't really matter to him. After all, Hostile Negotiator had turned out alright, and her weaponry was optimized for heavy capital ship obliteration and bombardment. Pallas didn't suppose it would be too much more than your average Warship, really.
xXxXx
Perseus Veil
Gamma Legion Outpost
Command Arkship Praetoria
A message request bloomed in my consciousness as I glanced up from my usual workload, routed through by my faithful Command Arkship. "Praetoria?"
The cultured tones Praetoria had chosen for her voice responded as her avatar appeared in the corner of my vision. "Commander, the Auxilia have a status update. They are reporting that the last Geth program has been successfully transferred out of Quarian space. In addition, the Auxilia have finished relocating the abandoned Geth vessels at their shipyard and are beginning refitting and recycling."
I leaned back in my chair, steepling my fingers. "Excellent. Is the Nerazim Expeditionary Force ready?"
Praetoria hummed a moment before answering. "Aye, Commander. The Plan B has offloaded non-essential personnel at the Rockyard Stations. The CSV Network reports that they have construction assets in place at the worlds formerly occupied by the Geth. In addition, CSV Rainbow Cat has reported that it has successfully infiltrated the systems of the STG vessels currently observing the Quarian Migrant Fleet."
Mmm. I need a new faceplate.
I mean, granted, I can steeple my fingers properly now to DIGITS, but it's very hard to smirk when your face is made of armor slabs.
"Very well. Praetoria? Arkship Void Gate Clearance is approved for the Nerazim."
Praetoria smirked, obviously as amused as I was. Really, letting the CSV Network play was quite amusing. "Noted. Sending orders, Commander. The Plan B should be underway to the Migrant Fleet's current location in the Raheel-Leyya system within the hour."
I nodded, satisfied, before pausing. "...Praetoria, did the Nerazim representatives on the fleet inform the Quarians of their Arkship's arrival? Or, rather, just WHAT was showing up?"
Praetoria paused. "According to message logs, notification of arrival, yes. Uncertain if they have mentioned the actual vessel, Commander. Also, System Overseer Aristotle would like to report that young Miss Terra's vessel just darted through the Void Gate ahead of schedule."
I sighed, armored hand clapping to my faceplate. "Order the CSV Network to put together a discreet reactionary force in case she gets in over her head and shadow her. Also, please endorse any reprimands for her issued by the System Overseer in my name for messing up the Void Gate transit schedules."
"Noted, sir!"
Ugh. Psionic Young Adults Who Got Therapy And Are Deciding To Be Independent Again. Haven't decided if they're a bigger pain in my shiny alloyed skidplate than Traumatized Psionic Teenagers.
Yet.
xXxXx
Quarian Migrant Fleet
Quarian Civilian Flagship Qwib-Qwib
Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib had been having a most excellent month. While some of his fellow Quarians of the Migrant Fleet might argue that their young alliance with the Nerazim would probably allow for a stronger defense and maybe even to retake Rannoch, Zaal knew the truth.
The greatest benefit of their new friends was provided not to their military, but to the average Quarian.
He smiled underneath his helmet, paging through report after report, civilian vessels and the mighty liveships reporting increased efficiency and increasing morale as long-neglected repairs were carried out. The Nerazim's most precious gift, in his opinion, was that they bought his people time.
He was rather looking forward to what their next scheduled supply run, really, to see what new goodies they were bringing along. His job got easier with each generous supply drop, his Fleet's life support margins increasing by steadily increasing increments.
He'd done the math in the privacy of his own quarters. He knew that the Quarian people couldn't remain on this fleet indefinitely...but even the Geth had a right to existence, and destroying them and crippling their population retaking the homeworld was no option either.
Now, if he could just convince his hard-helmeted fellow Admirals of that, to see if they could find a new world that could sustain them-
His wandering thoughts were rudely interrupted when the Qwib-Qwib's alert sirens screamed on, his ship's watch officers putting the ship on high alert. His head snapped up, eyes widening as he tossed his data slate aside and charged out of his cabin, sprinting for the bridge, ducking around his ship's Marines as they moved to their duty stations. As he grabbed the zip cable leading down the old non-functional lift shaft leading to the Bridge Deck, his omni-tool activated, his XO's strained voice coming through.
"Admiral! The Patrol Fleet just sent a priority message on fleet wide. They've detected a massive set of energy emissions that just appeared on the edge of the system, and they're moving towards us. I've taken the liberty of ordering the Civilian Fleet to prepare for emergency relay transition. Our escorts are moving into screening positions, but some of the captains are getting nervous...especially the Refueling Flotilla."
Zaal cursed under his breath. The refinery ships were deployed. It would take hours to safely retrieve them, and they were horribly vulnerable when deployed...and if the Migrant Fleet lost them, it would quickly cripple the Fleet itself...but defending them would be a costly battle, as well.
Shaking himself, shaking off the dread of being caught between two unpalatable choices, he sent a reply back to his trusty XO. "Acknowledged. Very good, Commander. I'm nearly to the Bridge."
Zaal'Koris skidded around a corner, sprinting down the last stretch of hallway leading to the Qwib-Qwib's bridge, the pair of Fleet Marines on duty slapping the door controls, allowing him to stride onto his deck without needing to slow down.
Dropping into his command chair overlooking the bridge crew's operating systems, his XO having vacated it to stand at the side of the chair, Zaal frowned, eyes narrowing under his helmet. "Status Report?"
The XO glanced at his omni-tool, nodding. "Reports coming in. Civilian Fleet is at eighty-five percent readiness and climbing. Emergency drills have definitely paid off, sir."
The Comms officer suddenly started, slapping a control on his console. "Priority one data coming in, Admiral! Putting it on screen!"
Zaal'Koris glanced up from the bridge crew, checking the ship's main display projector mounted on the wall...and then, he stood up, eyes wide, the entire bridge falling silent.
Displayed on the screen was a massive structure of gleaming silver plates, organic and built on a scale he just couldn't comprehend at first. Shaped vaguely like a dart, glowing green lines running along it, gigantic engines propelling it serenely through space towards the Migrant Fleet.
When Zaal saw the small dots emerging from enormous docking bays, engines igniting as they cruised alongside it, it took him a moment to recognize what those dots were. Well, until a Patrol Fleet picket vessel zoomed in on one, and he was able to recognize the Dreadnaught-scale vessels the Nerazim liked to use as supply freighters. That...that gave him an idea for just how big the Nerazim vessel actually WAS. The only thing he could do once that sunk in was to just fall back into his chair, shaking his head. "Comms. Send a message to the Civilian Fleet. Recording. 'Attention, all Captains. This is Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib. All Civilian Fleet vessels are to cancel Alert status and resume normal operations. Repeating, all Civilian Fleet vessels are to cancel Alert status and resume normal operations. That is all. Admiral Zaal'Koris, out.' Send it."
Watching the crew go about their tasks, he just snorted in amusement, finally breaking into outright laughter. "The Nerazim have arrived. Hah! 'We're bringing our flagship', they said! Hahhahahha!"
His XO glanced at him, worry in his voice as his admiral laughed like a maniac. "Sir?"
Zaal grinned, amusement in his voice as he glanced up at his XO. "Son...We know the Nerazim are friendly. Now...Imagine how those bosh'tets on the Citadel Council are going to react when pics of that monster leak out? After that mess on Ekuna, I can't help but enjoy something that gives them some sleepless nights! Comms, I'm sure that the Admiralty Board will be contacting the Nerazim Flagship when they finish panicking. Patch them through when ready."
Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib continued lightly chuckling as he listened to the Migrant Fleet's communication flow, the badly startled quarians finally managing to relax from combat positions.
He had to admit, his initial gut feel for today was right, despite the scare: Today was going to be a good day, indeed!
xXxXx
STG Observation Vessel QMF-01
The Legion Auxilia observed the Salarian-STG Organics through their vessel's own monitoring systems, its main program node housed comfortably on a specialized Legion Covert Support Network Vessel. Per Gamma-Commander's instructions, the programs had erased Nerazim FTL methodology data and arrival time, overwriting the targeted records with 'junk' data. Quite easy when it was running its programs in the background of the STG Vessel.
It had been vaguely curious as to the rationale behind this assignment, querying the CSV Network for information. The response 'Stettmanism' was a bit odd, but after cross-referencing its databanks on Koprulu Terrans and their knack for engineering, as well as some of the data uploaded on Void travel by the Nerazim and the Purifier Collective, it could now understand the concern.
It noted that this data and conclusion set should be tagged for upload to the Auxilia Consensus, as well as suggesting that the Tribune-Platform send it along with the regular data upload to the main Geth Consensus.
It recorded as the Senior Operative of the STG Observation mission showed several factors that, after cross referencing with one of the Medical Support Vessels, were signs of extreme stress in a Salarian species.
Its junior, slightly scarred and missing a 'horn', seemed much calmer, analyzing what data the Auxilia allowed.
The Auxilia noted that the younger STG operative had an excellent reaction to sudden circumstances, tagging this new observation for uploading to the Auxilia Consensus.
After several minutes of observation, the STG Vessel Operators attempted to bounce a transmission by several reflections to a concealed comm buoy that the CSV Network had detected earlier during the intensive scan preceding the Nerazim Arkship's arrival.
After querying if it was allowed to permit the transmission, the Auxilia programs infiltrating the STG Observation Vessel allowed the data transfer, idly uploading a copy of the STG Operative's report to the Auxilia Consensus for intelligence analysis and interpretation.
xXxXx
The Citadel
Councillor Tevos' Quarters
In her long centuries serving the Citadel Council, Matriarch Tevos had learned to automatically dread certain noises.
A Turian Councilor's flanges clicking in irritation, usually signalling a headache. A Salarian Councilor noting 'We have a problem'. The Hanar petitioning for admittance.
Goddess, those long, dry speeches on the Enkindlers. Eesh.
But few sounds were more effective at filling her with dread than her apartment's comm-unit chiming in the middle of the night with the priority buzzer indicating an emergency call.
The list of people willing to risk the Matriarch's wrath by awakening her from her sleep, well-earned after a hard day of going about her duties, was a short one.
Anyone from that very short list calling her at this time of the night cycle?
Well.
It NEVER meant anything good.
Swearing, she grabbed a nearby robe, cinching it up as she dropped into a chair next to her communication unit, slapping the activation key to relieve a small bit of the tension she could feel building. "This is Tevos."
Her secretary, a young maiden she'd been grooming for a position in a decade or three, didn't waste any time answering her. "STG Priority message. We have new data on the Nerazim. They've requested a secure briefing in fifteen minutes, ma'am."
Tevos pinched her nose. If it wasn't a threat...it would be on the top of her task list in the morning. Sighing, she stood up. "Have an aircar prepared. I'll be down in ten." Shaking her head, stepping into her quarters' shower, she prepared to wash at least SOME of the sleep out of her eyes before finding out what had spooked the STG into requesting the presence of all three Councilors.
xXxXx
The secure briefing room was fairly crowded today.
Tevos' fellow councilors, of course, and their various aides. An STG delegation. A member of Turian Fleet Intelligence. The captain of the Destiny Ascension, another protege of hers. Their newest Spectre, Nihlys. Tevos supposed this would be a good learning experience for him.
It took a bit for everyone to be seated. A STG analyst stood near the holoprojector built into the conference table. He nodded sharply, large eyes blinking once. "Good morning, Councilors. The STG apologizes for the rude awakening. We received an intelligence update from one of our observation vessels three hours, twelve minutes, and five seconds ago. It took the Analysis department two and a half hours to determine that, unfortunately, the data was genuine."
Sparatus clicked his mandibles slightly, voice irritated. "Alright, you've danced around this bad news long enough. Get on with it."
The Analyst tapped his omnitool, and an image of a ship appeared on it. Glowing silver, green panes of crystal and lines, surrounded by small dots flowing in and out of a large bay. "This is the first reliable image of a Nerazim vessel that the STG has managed to acquire, despite following up on reports of Nerazim encounters within the Terminus regions. The... delay... in this briefing was due, specifically, to the docking bay."
Tevos kept her face impassive, glancing at the image, trying to grasp what had rattled the STG so much.
"...Those dots swarming around the Nerazim vessel and docking with it are some of the heavier units in the Quarian Migrant Fleet. Comparing to known Quarian vessel dimensions, the Nerazim main vessel is roughly seventy five kilometers long, up to seventeen kilometers wide, and about nine kilometers tall. That would make it roughly twice the size of the Citadel, Councilors. You...can see why STG had to recheck the integrity of all their data."
Oh.
Tevos felt faint, leaning back in her chair, looking at the image.
Oh.
Her fellow councilors were about as shocked. Sparatus had his mandibles clenched, staring hard at the massive vessel, while Tass was blinking rapidly.
The STG Analyst turned, tapping another image up, pulling a different vessel, still all silver metal and glowing green crystalline structures, up onto the holo-viewer. "We've also finally obtained footage of this class of vessel docking with the Quarian Migrant Fleet. STG Analysis is divided on whether it is a simple bulk freighter, or whether it is a warship. If it is a warship, size estimates put it at dreadnought class."
He tapped his omni-tool again, bringing up grainy image of the Migrant Fleet from different angles, drive signatures highlighted on the hologram. "Low-profile stealthed probes. Our operatives managed to catch the main vessel's escort. We have counted fifty five distinct drive signatures, in addition to the Nerazim vessel Analysis is tentatively calling a 'Citadel'-class vessel and smaller escorts. The escorts are difficult to obtain sensor data upon, however, given the massive power outputs the Nerazim capital ships are emitting. Creates quite a lot of 'chaff', so to speak."
Tevos winced, feeling a migraine coming on as she leaned down to rub her forehead. Shaking off the moment of weakness, she straightened up, glancing at Sparatus and Tass. "...Well, I suppose we know that the Nerazim are able to backup their claims of being able to support the Quarian Migrant Fleet if they have a fleet including that monster. Goddess…"
xXxXx
Perseus Veil
Gamma Legion Outpost
Command Arkship Praetoria
Ah, excellent. I leaned back in my delightful chair.
Confirmation that the Nerazim and Quarian leadership are now in the same system. Most excellent, I suspect that they will have quite the fruitful discussion.
One more item off the ol' list of 'Things To Do'...a couple thousand more to go.
Lessee...Ah.
Yes.
I held my armored hands up in front of me, admiring my DIGITS for a moment, before Praetoria obligingly projected a holographic keyboard for me. I mean, yes, I could have just used direct input, but some things require a formal touch!
Dear Commander Fusou and Other Associates Mucking About With Slipspace Drives,
Please stop throwing megastructure-scale vessels through Slipspace. The wakes they kick up in the Void are creating a fair amount of 'noise' on our sensors. It's quite annoying, and makes my navigators surly.
Sincerely,
Gamma-Commander of the Gamma Legion.
There. Short, to the point, and not wasting time with flowery bits.
Just right!
I casually tapped 'send' on the archaic overlay, sending the quick missive off to my last known communication links with Commander Fusou and her friends, then hmmmed at the next item on my task list.
Tsk. Slipspace again?
Sighing, I leaned back, humming. "Praetoria, pull a Carrier group and request that the Nerazim dispatch some of their own to the little science experiment the Salarians are running, please. Auxilia have the coordinates, I believe. We've already seen evidence that mucking about with Slipspace can result in large-scale disruptions to whatever hell-dimension it uses other than the Void. I'd like assets in place just in case the locals start prodding things that really should remain unprodded. Last thing we need is them letting the local Xel'naga out."
"Of course, Commander. Carrier Taskgroup Fist of Polaris has been dispatched and should meet the Nerazim enroute."
Well, another thing done! Onto the next!
xXxXx
