Concordiat Ascendant: A Bolo/Mass Effect Crossover Ch. 3 up!

[Sithking Zero]

This is my first posting on SD.net forums. I've been a big fan of some of the stuff posted here, such as the Salvation War and the "Finishing the Fight," fanfiction (Forgotten Realms/Halo crossover, quite good, I'd recommend it highly).

Anyway, here is my first step into SD.net posting: A crossover between the Bolo series (by Keith Laumer) and the Mass Effect series (by Bioware). A couple of fair warnings, though: I have altered some things from both universes, just a tiny little minor bit, to make them mesh better with one another.These events will become clear as the story goes on. And I usually do have good reasons why or why not for certain things, and I do value questions and comments, but some things are spoilers, so don't expect me to answer everything.

Anyway, on with the show!

Concordiat Ascendant

A fanfiction by Sithking Zero,

Detailing a first contact between the Turian Hierarchy and the Citadel Council

With the Concordiat of Man

Disclaimer: Keith Laumer (Rest In Peace) is the owner of Bolos and the Concordiat. Bioware and EA Games own Mass Effect. I only own my own ideas of what would be freaking sweet.

It was the year 3156 AD, and humanity had expanded beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Five hundred worlds were now the property of the human race, with all its members united for the first time. Ruled and managed by the Concordiat of Man, the species that had gone from horse-drawn buggies to atomic rockets in the span of a century had gone even further.

Humanity hadn't done it alone, though. For wherever the human race went, they found enemies. And enemies were something that humans knew very well about, having had plenty of them back on Terra. So, they called upon their oldest, wisest, and strongest of friends that they knew of, and unleashed them upon the stars.

And so, the alien learned to fear and respect the race of Man and their titanic Bolos.

A Bolo is an artificial intelligence with the body of a tank, first produced in the year 2000, and the start of the Third World War. They can mass upwards of fifteen thousand tons. They can destroy ships in orbit from the ground. They have no mercy for the Enemy. They know no fear. They are unstoppable. And yet they are more human, at times, then their human partners and friends. Theirs is a tragic lot, for whilst other life forms (ranging from humans to Asari to Turians to even the Rachni) search for their meaning or purpose for their whole lives, a Bolo knows as soon as it is rolled off of the assembly line what its purpose is.

To Kill. To Fight. To Die. To protect humanity and all of Mother Terra's daughter colonies, and all the life they shelter.

And over a millennium after the first General Motors Bolo Mk. 1 Model B rolled off of the assembly lines in Detroit, Michigan, on Terra itself, this was the task they were once again called upon.

Though none knew it at the time, this would be the beginning of a great many things, as well as an end. Alien eyes, be they organic or synthetic, slit pupil or round one, gazed upon the confrontation between the two alien galactic superpowers.

And it all began nearly ten years before that fateful day…

AUGUST 31, 3156 (Earth Date). LOCATION: CLASSIFIED. SOURCE: CLASSIFIED. COMMANDER: CLASSIFIED. PRIORITY: ONE. FIRST CONTACT WITH UNKNOWN ALIEN RACE.

General (censored), this is (censored).

After hushing up the crew of the Laumer, we proceeded to investigate the alien artifact they found, and quite frankly, sir, it could change so much I can't believe it. According to the reports, this thing has been active for at least fifty thousand years, but probably a lot longer. We haven't found any sign of who built it, or why, or how, but it's easily larger than a dozen superdreadnaughts. It doesn't appear to have any sort of weapons systems, but we're still looking. There's an untranslatable language in the computer systems, but it bears a minor resemblance to Deng script. We're having (censored) put it through the wringer for us. The way his processor lights up, I'd swear he was a little kid. We haven't got much in the way of

TRANSMISSION CEASED

SEPTEMBER 1, 3156 AD (Earth Date). LOCATION: CLASSIFIED. SOURCE: CLASSIFIED. COMMANDER: CLASSIFIED. PRIORITY: ONE. FIRST CONTACT WITH UNKNOWN ALIEN RACE.

General, I apologize for cutting off the transmission before. There was a small incident. We managed to translate something from the artifact, though it was mostly (censored)'s doing. However, while the modified Deng script he came up with works, it's far from perfect. We do know what it is, though. It's apparently something called a (and this is a rough translation, mind you) "Gravity Catapult." It's capable of, apparently, sending objects or starships through tunnels of space which apparently works instantaneously. That's right, instant FTL transit. We sent probes through the catapult, and we found another one. Apparently, they're part of some sort of network. Both of the Mk. XXVI's are checking into the programs of the catapults now.

Recommendation: We try to find and make contact with the creators of these catapults. These things can transport ships and cargo across thousands of light years in an instant. Even if we have to go to war against them (and you of all people know our track record with other powers is hardly what you'd call (and pardon the pun) "stellar,"), we could still learn so much from their ships or soldiers.

Addendum: The probes that were launched through the catapult detected a star in close proximity to it. They have also sent back proof that there is a binary planet system in the Goldilocks Zone, with an O2-Nitrogen mix similar to that of earth. If possible, we might want to start thinking about colonization out here, and help relieve some of the pressure from the old Center Worlds.

THE NEW DETROIT TIMES

January 17, 3157 AD

NEW ALIEN RACE; BINARY COLONY WORLDS FOUND

The scientific community, as well as the military and the Human Colonization Command (HCC) are all abuzz over the discovery of a mysterious alien artifact found floating in space, as well as the new discovery of a rare binary world system that is capable of sustaining human life.

The alien artifact is absolutely massive and shaped like a glowing tuning fork. The first people on the scene were members of the Xenoarchaeological Study from Valhalarama, lead by doctor Marticus Ivanovich.

"From what we can determine, the artifact is a sort of "Gravity Catapult," a type of device designed to propel ships and cargo to faster-than-light speeds. More excitingly, we have found that it's part of a… "network," if you will, and that there are many more out there that we haven't found yet."

The catapult was activated accidentally by a military probe, which came back nearly a day later with startling news: another catapult was at the other end, as well as an entire star system. This lead to the discovery of a rare binary planet, both worlds capable of sustaining human life, with gravity of 1.1 G.

"It's an exciting time," says the representative of ExoSolar Enterprises Lisa Trevor. "With an artifact to study, and with a double world capable of sustaining human life, we could be seeing a lot of money flowing through this area."

No word has come from the Concordiat itself as to what to do with these new discoveries, but a special session of Parliament and the Senate has been convened to determine the fate of these discoveries.

(Advertisement seen on May 5, 3157 AD)

THE CONCORDIAT NEEDS YOU!

Are you adventurous?

Do you want to see distant worlds?

Do you want to work in the fields of construction or repair?

Do you want to work with the most cutting edge alien technology imaginable?

If you answered yes to any of these, then the Concordiat has needs of people like you!

The new worlds of Talus and Shangxi are open and ripe for the taking, and we need people to help us make our colonies strong.

Stop by your local recruitment office for more information on the colonization program.

(Paid for by Exosolar Enterprises and the HCC)

THE NEW DETROIT TIMES

February 23, 3162 AD

MORE ALIEN RUINS FOUND; CREATORS OF THE CATAPULTS?

A mere three days after the fourth anniversary of the founding of the Shangxi colony, xenoarchaeologists made an amazing discovery: an underground city, dating back to the time when the infamous Gravity Catapults were supposedly brought online.

"We know so little about the races that came before us," says Marticus Ivanovich, "With all our amazing advances, it's easy to forget that we're still relative newcomers on the galactic stage. There are signs that this underground city was abandoned nearly fifty thousand years ago, which seems to be when the catapults were last used, but it could simply be a coincidence. These could be allies of the people who built them, and then they left when it became unprofitable. There is very little information of these people's history, their art, their struggles… we don't even know what they look like!"

What has been found, however, is a large amount of technology. Designs for FTL drives, weapons, armor, anti-gravity, and more have been found in these ruins.

"It's not that great," says Albert Fondant, a member of the dig team. "If this had happened a thousand years ago, this would have been a big deal. But a lot of this stuff's obsolete by our standards. The FTL drives mentioned aren't as fast as the catapults, and heck, they're slower than the ones we use. And the weapons systems… we've had better ones since the Mk. XIII Bolos, and the same goes for computer software and hardware. The anti-gravity is something that we might want to look into, though." Upon being asked how he knew all of this, he responded, "I'm a veteran. I served with the Dinochrome Brigade for a long time, so I know a thing or two about military technology."

Meanwhile, the new Catapult Exploration Forces are ready to start working. Commissioned by the Concordiat, they will explore the network and try to make contact with whoever built the catapults…

BLACK BOX RECORD

DATE: Classified

TIME: Classified

Location: Classified

Vessel: Concordiat Nike-class destroyer Primrose, under command of the CEF

Status report: We've been out here for nine months now. If it wasn't for Rosie, we'd have gotten lost or gone insane so many times it isn't funny.

Private Jenkins seems to have a talent for sniffing out catapults, to the point where the ship has started a betting pool on when he'll be wrong as to which systems have the catapults. It's currently up to twelve thousand credits. I would discipline them, but I'm in for at least three hundred and twelve.

Marcey gave birth three weeks ago; a little baby boy. I know, I know, we should have gone back, but when we left, she didn't know she was pregnant. Rosie's set aside one of her berths for her and little John.

We've seen at least seventeen systems, and sixteen contain planets that could sustain human life (though some would require sealed environments, what with toxic atmospheres and high pressure). We have detailed them further in our report.

Yesterday, we activated the relay in the local star system, which we're calling Malon, and we're ready to go through it tod-

(shuffling noises, muffled voices)

What?

(More voices)

Send out a probe, and hail them on every channel.

(pause, beeps, more voices)

No response? But-

Captain, the unknown vessels have undergone a massive energy surge.

An energy-? Son of a bitch, they're hostile! Rosie, prepare to engage! All hands, bat-!

(loud explosion. Life signs aboard bridge drop to zero. Chaotic rumblings and explosions before the AI goes offline and communications stop.)

(This information was recovered after the Turian-Concordiat War, in the year 3179 AD, from the debris of the Primrose after it had crashed into Malon VI, a rocky planetoid.)

April 17, 3163 AD

Excerpt from a Recording of the President Archanon

Speaking to the Concordiat Parliament

My Fellow Humans,

It is an honor to once again stand before you. For nearly a thousand years, mankind has strode the length and breadth of this spiral arm, expanding and growing. We have grown far from our origins, that of simple hunter-gatherers, but here, in Kenya, we are so close to our original home one could simply step outside and imagine that we have come full circle.

And we have gone even further. Our Concordiat has over a thousand worlds under our domain now, and is still expanding. Humanity has become one of the most powerful life-forms in the known galaxy!

But it has not been without cost. No, it has not. The wars against the Quern, the Deng, the Harpies, and many others proved that without a doubt. But we stand here today, alive and well, because we have stood against the darkness and remain triumphant.

We have had two hundred years of peace, glorious peace. Two hundred years full of art, science, and prosperity. We have more success and wealth than ever before.

But today I stand before you not as a man who speaks of the past, and who expects things to continue as is. The present, as is the future, is forever fluid. Things change rapidly, and to not prepare for the future would be stupid at best, and disastrous at worst.

I speak, of course, of the catapult network.

It has been seven years since we first discovered the catapults. Seven years have been full of wonders and new discoveries, including powerful new medicines, better antigravity, new forms of power generation, and even new worlds, such as Shangxi and Talus.

But there has never been a time in human history where man has not made an advance of such epic scale and had not turned it to the purpose of war. When man first split the atom, was it not used to create the atomic bomb? When industrialization was first put into practice, how long was it before this capability was used to create weapons? How quickly was fire used in the early struggles of man against other men?

But now, despite all that we have done, how far we have come, we are little different. For we have made a new discovery… and a possible new enemy.

For we have seen that we are not the only ones who can turn the power of science to the purpose of war.

Oh, we have seen it before, with so many other races, but never have we been so in the dark as to what we are dealing with than we are now.

My aides have been trying to keep this information from leaking for the past few months, but a pattern is emerging, and it is not one that I like. No, it is not something I like at all, and the military doesn't like it either.

The point of the matter is that the ships sent to explore the Catapult Network aren't coming back. As of last month, over fifteen ships have disappeared without getting a single SWIFT message off… and the disappearances have been getting closer.

We don't know who or what is responsible, but at the rate of disappearances, we are not taking chances. By our best estimates, this unknown force will arrive at Shangxi within the next twelve months. We must prepare ourselves…

-DISCONTINUITY—

GMBMK2614565-MRK: What do you calculate is the probability of success against the Enemy?

GMBMK262588-GNV: Asking me this is not logical. You can calculate the odds as well as I.

GMBMK2614565-MRK: My Commander is asking me to ask you. He feels that multiple viewpoints are essential to forming a well-made conclusion. A wise policy.

GMBMK262588-GNV: Then tell him the same thing you told him: the odds are unknown. We know nothing about the Enemy. They were able to destroy Concordiat Frigates without a hint of warning. The nearest reinforcements of destroyers and dreadnaughts are a month away. If a determined enemy on the scale of a Deng main battle fleet attempts to take the Twin Worlds, then there is an 87.576 percent chance of them being able to do it.

GMBMK2614565-MRK: That low? I postulated it to be 0.984 percent higher. If only more money had gone into colonial defense than in the new exploration corps, we could have had a decent home defense fleet. Centerpoint Station may or may not hold.

SYSTEM ALERT: ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! UNSCHEDULED CATAPULT ACTIVATION!

SYSTEM ALERT: ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! UNKNOWN VESSELS ADVANCING-

SYSTEM ALERT: ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! WEAPONS FIRE DETECTED!

Battle Reflex Mode Activated…

To be continued…

Codex Entry:

The Concordiat of Man

The Concordiat was founded in the wake of the Third World War, but after spaceflight had been achieved (2076 AD). It has been the primary human government for nearly eleven hundred years, though some small breakaway nations do exist. It rules over five hundred colonies from the capital city of Detroit, Michigan, over the site where the first Bolo was constructed.

The Concordiat is ever so slightly Xenophobic, as most alien races that have been encountered have so far been hostile. The Quern, Deng, and Harpies are the three primary examples, with the Deng being the worst offender. Four bloody wars against the Deng have been waged, with territory fluctuating wildly.

Concordiat naval doctrine emphasizes heavy armor and weapons, while relying on rapid, agile maneuvering less than most of the Citadel races. Fighters and drones harass larger ships, while destroyers, dreadnoughts and superdreadnoughts pound their foes into oblivion with hellbores, hellrails, and a variety of other weapons. Frigates and Carriers are mostly used for scouting, or hit-and-run raids, and are far more maneuverable.

Mechanized cavalry is the order of the day for ground combat. Bolos are, of course, highly important in terms of land-based warfare, but non-sentient tanks, Golems, and self-propelled artillery all have their place. Troops are armed with flintsteel armor and handheld energy weapons, as well as hold-out needlers (pistols).

The Concordiat, while new to the Citadel races, is a millennium-long veteran of the spaceways. Their FTL drives, while not as fast as the Mass Relay network, are still much faster and more efficient than a Mass Effect FTL drive.

Battle Screens or "Mono-permeable Anti-Kinetic Battlescreens" as they are officially known, are a type of force field, are disruptor field of likely EM energy that shreds anything solid to plasma wash. This is markedly different from a Kinetic Barrier system used by most of Citadel space in that kinetic barriers merely deflect objects from their targets, rather than destroying them. Another marked difference is that kinetic barriers will deplete and deactivate under fire, serving as a sort of ablative energy field. The only way to destroy a battlescreen is if the screen gets turned off, or is destroyed. Because many enemies of the Concordiat have since begun using a variety of weapons, including direct energy weapons and kinetic energy weapons, Bolo designers have had centuries to create and modify armor designs to be extremely capable of handling energy weapon shots, meaning that shooting a battlescreen with a DEW is not a guaranteed deactivation. Citadel ships and armor of similar function do not have this design legacy, and will fail much more quickly under a DEW assault. Inversely, if a kinetic barrier fails, Citadel ships and armor are more likely to hold up under fire than Concordiat technology, again because of thousands of years of technological innovation that was based around repelling a KEW impact.

The Concordiat has a four-branched government. Three of the branches are equivalent to the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the United States (the direct predecessor to the Concordiat), but the Military itself forms the fourth due to its importance in keeping the Concordiat whole. The military branch is responsible for human colonization, Bolo research and design, and of course, all military movements. The legislative branch has three houses, the senate, the house of representatives, and the Parliament. The senate has two senators per planet, while the house assigns representatives per billion inhabitants. Less than a billion to two billion gets one, while for each billion over one billion a representative is assigned. For the purpose of ease, moons of planets are considered part of that planet unless specifically mentioned otherwise. Parliament is a third branch which was added in order to gather a "larger perspective," and works similarly to the senate, but instead of one senator per planet, one Sector Chief is assigned per sector of the Concordiat. These sectors are responsible for set areas of space, and represent all planets within that space, no matter if they were founded recently or not. For example, if a man becomes sector chief, and twelve new planets are colonized within his sector, he automatically assumes responsibility for those planets. Thus far there are ten primary sector chiefs (with twenty subsector chiefs (two for each chief)) and seven "outsector chiefs," which are responsible for "irregular sectors," which are either smaller than normal, highly underdeveloped, or at the very frontier of human expansion. For example, the discovery of Shangxi and Talus created a new outsector, the Catapult Outsector. Eventually, once an outsector is developed or grows large enough, it will become a full sector, and the "Outsector Chief," becomes a full Sector Chief. The current head of Catapult Outsector is Chief Ademaro Jones.

[Coalition]

Looks interesting so far. Off-hand, I'd say the Turians are destroying scout ships and smaller frigates/cruisers, and the firepower yielded has been telling them to bring more firepower each time. Meeting a Bolo's intelligence might make them think of rogue AIs, so they would be asking the Citadel races for help also.

Looks good so far, hope the humans actually get a report back for a change. Hopefully they will have a well-armored ship to the rear, sending tactical data via SWIFT as rapidly as it can be gathered.

[drakensis]

While I like it, the ratio of story to techncial appendix is too low. You would probably be better working in a lot of the backstory and explanation into character exposition or thoughts. Each side reporting to their superiors on what they have learned or once they start communicating.

Basically: less tell and more show.

[Sithking Zero]

While I like it, the ratio of story to techncial appendix is too low. You would probably be better working in a lot of the backstory and explanation into character exposition or thoughts. Each side reporting to their superiors on what they have learned or once they start communicating.

Basically: less tell and more show.

This is only the first chapter, I kinda wanted to experiment with this one style for it. You know, show things only from an outside perspective, being told what's happening only from reports, articles, and scraps of other info. Later chapters will be more about characters and backstory. After all, the first three chapters are completed.

[doom3607]

Thou shalt write more, or thou shalt be fed to... nah, the Rancor's not scary enough... umm... CHER!

[Hawkwings]

Looks good from here. I look forward to more.

[DrMckay]

Looks good so far. I wonder, do the starships have AI minds as well? That would be a large factor in dealing with both the Quarians and the Geth.

[Lerryn]

Looks good so far. I wonder, do the starships have AI minds as well? That would be a large factor in dealing with both the Quarians and the Geth.

They do, although the AIs are a little lower-grade than Bolo AIs.

This is an interesting start to the story, and frankly, introducing Bolos into anything is likely to improve it, but there is a power mismatch, on a orders-of-magnitude level. A Mass Effect dreadnaught spinal gun (according to the wiki) delivers around 40 kilotons per shot, while a Bolo main gun Hellbore delivers a couple megatons, and is the equivalent of battlecruiser armament. So, without a massive nerf, the Concordiat really should curbstomp the Turians.

[Simon_Jester]

Fixating on weapon yields makes for bad story; scaling numbers up and down is easy compared to the challenge of writing interesting interactions in the first place.

[Sithking Zero]

Looks good so far. I wonder, do the starships have AI minds as well? That would be a large factor in dealing with both the Quarians and the Geth.

They do, although the AIs are a little lower-grade than Bolo AIs.

This is an interesting start to the story, and frankly, introducing Bolos into anything is likely to improve it, but there is a power mismatch, on a orders-of-magnitude level. A Mass Effect dreadnaught spinal gun (according to the wiki) delivers around 40 kilotons per shot, while a Bolo main gun Hellbore delivers a couple megatons, and is the equivalent of battlecruiser armament. So, without a massive nerf, the Concordiat really should curbstomp the Turians.

You're right, trying to make it NOT a curbstomp has been really, really hard. I mean, you're right on the money about hellbores being multi-megaton weapons, but you left out that Bolos have nanosecond reaction times and that hellbores can fire once every few seconds.

I don't want this to become a "Humanity, FUCK YEAH!" Story, (though I do admit that they are a guilty pleasure of mine,) so while humanity will hold the advantage in the first stages of the coming war, the Citadel races will gain weapons and advantages over their human foes.

Oh, and Simon? I COMPLETELY AGREE. That's one of the things that bugs me most about military Sci-Fi. Yeah, it's great from a "This is cool tech," standpoint, but it lacks believable characters (in many circumstances that I have read, not going into specifics.) I'll try to prevent this.

[Simon_Jester]

It's actually not as big a problem in military SF as it is in crossovers, especially crossovers done in the very hardware-centric, analysis-heavy style that comes with the territory here. In crossovers, specifically, it is quite challenging to make it about the men and not the toys.

[Sithking Zero]

It's actually not as big a problem in military SF as it is in crossovers, especially crossovers done in the very hardware-centric, analysis-heavy style that comes with the territory here. In crossovers, specifically, it is quite challenging to make it about the men and not the toys.

But the toys are so much fun... But I do understand what you mean. Even one of the greats (Reunions are a Bitch) suffers from this at times.

Still, I understand your concern.

[Lerryn]

I also completely agree with Simon's point. Characterization is much harder than getting numbers right. I'd recommend scaling the ME tech up, and given that you're pushing back the first contact by about a millenium, that's not unjustified. (Besides, I'm enough of a Bolo partisan that nerfing them would make me rather unhappy. )

[Sithking Zero]

Chapter Two:

First Contact

Turian Destroyer Talon of Palavan (name translated into English)

"…And one must always remember that a Spectre's first job is to defend the citizens of the galaxy. Without them, our group wouldn't exist," lectured the avianoid being with a plated, painted face.

"Oh, because they are the ones to whom the council serves?" asked his student, a blue-skinned humanoid with strange skin ridges.

"Well, that, and they control our budget," laughed the first being.

The second, an Asari known as Kira, giggled. She was a Spectre-in-training, and her counterpart, a Turian by the name of Solonius, was her mentor and trainer.

He sighed, looking out the view screen that acted like a window. This was a front line military starship, after all, and windows to the outside would be an incredible structural weak point for some slaver ship or pirate gang to exploit.

For that was what the ship was designed for- hunting down rogue elements on the border of the Terminus systems, investigating criminal rings such as Eclipse, and even patrolling the Tuchanka demilitarized zone. However, as a warship, the ship was… lacking in some regards. Solonius, through his HUD on his green visor, observed the hard edges of the hull, the weapons emplacements, the docking bays, and the mighty fusion engines… and dismissed them all as worthless.

The ship had been hastily built. Granted, it would still stand up to most criminal groups, or rebels, or even disgruntled protestors. However, this class of destroyer had been first introduced in the wake of the Synthetic Wars, when Geth forces had systemically wiped out ship after ship, and more vessels were needed fast. Thus, in the grand tradition of bureaucracy, one of the lowest bidders was selected for the design, and had churned out ships in great numbers for low cost.

The problem was that almost nobody was happy with the ships. While it did its job admirably enough, it lacked flexibility, maneuverability, and in several cases, structural integrity. More than a few ships had sheared themselves in half when the mass effect generators failed in the middle of a maneuver, and the weapons put on the ship were generally considered weaker than other ships their size.

Most of the Ralea class had since been phased out or stripped down and sold to private citizens, but quite a few had also been press-ganged into work for the Citadel Fleet. They mostly got the dirty jobs that better, sturdier fleet units would be a waste of resources for.

One such job was examining inactive relays for signs of new activity, possibly by pirates or explorers, or it could be used as a training vessel for Spectres. Today, the Talon filled both jobs.

"..-nius? Solonius?"

The Turian Spectre turned to face his trainee.

"Sorry, my friend, I was… occupied. What is it?"

"I was asking what we're doing out here," she asked, looking confused as she stared at his mandibles. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, just… reflecting," he said, staring back at the star-strewn starscape ahead of him.

In front of those stars, though, was an object. Two pieces of curved metal, fifteen kilometers long, bulbous on one end. A large gap between the two pieces of metal, with a hole in the center surrounded by concentric rings. This was the legacy of the Protheans. This was the thing that enabled galactic civilization.

It was a Mass Relay. And it was inactive.

Citadel law prevented inactive mass relays from being activated unless the other end was already known, for fear of unleashing another war on the scale the Rachni wars had. At least, that was the official statement. Unofficially, the galaxy was still slowly recovering from the various struggles that had rocked it, and the Council was already hard-pressed as it was to maintain the areas it had under its control. Ever since the Quarians were driven from their home, the various factions of the Terminus Systems had grown bolder, striking against weakly-defended targets to acquire slaves, technology, supplies, and other things they needed/wanted.

As such, they were always looking for new, untraceable ways into civilized space, and unwatched Mass Relays were perfect for that. So, the Citadel had patrols check up on unopened relays at least three times a year.

This was perfect for Solonius, who wished to instruct his pupil on the finer arts of managing a starship, as well as astromaneuvering. After all, if she was to someday become a soldier in service to the galaxy, it would not do to have her be completely ignorant as to how to get around it!

Granting himself a small chuckle, Solonius pointed to the relay.

"Kira, the reason why we're out here is that Mass Relay."

Kira looked at the relay, then back to him, appearing bored beyond belief.

"Yes, I know what a relay is. Is there a point to this?"

Solonius sighed.

"Yes. This relay is, as of right now, inactive. What we are going to be doing here today, is learning all about it. You are going to study it. You are going to learn about it. You will memorize every dip, turn, curve, and pulse that goes through it." He gestured towards the device, "If we are to stay a step ahead of our enemies, then we must know everything that there is to know about their best method of travel."

A light went on in Kira's eyes. "That's why you had me studying hovercars and tanks!"

"And how to disable and repair them, precisely. Understand your enemy's options, and you understand how they will think when they are executing those options." He turned on his heel and began to walk away, back to his cabin.

"Wait," she called to him, "What do you want me to do now?"

"Simple," he replied, pausing in his path, "You are to take out a shuttle, with a vacuum-sealed suit, and physically examine the Relay. Then, you are to perform research into how relays work, how one pilots through them, and how one could best use them in a fight. I expect no less than a two hundred thousand word report on the subject, and how you would use a Relay to your best advantage in manners social, political, economic, and military." He resumed his walk, waving, and adding, "Have fun."

Kira waited until Solonius had walked around the corner before groaning. She knew that the Spectre had been a professor at one time, but she didn't think that writing essays was really the best way to prepare for being a Spectre. She was two hundred and ten years old, and he was treating her like a-

"For that groan," floated his voice from around the corner, "Another fifty thousand words."

This time, Kira kept her displeasure to herself.

0 0 0 0 0 000 0 0 0 0 0

Kira sighed, using up a little more valuable oxygen as her suit drifted next to one of the Relay's antennae. This was the third day of her close examination of the titanic artifact, and she was bored out of her skull. Using her biotics to move herself into a more advantageous position, she waved an omnitool over a piece of exposed piping. Carelessly, she looked at the display, confirming what she alre-

She blinked.

She ran the omnitool over the conduit again. The results were different. Thinking that this was little more than a simple, if rare, error, she conducted the test a third time. This time the results were not the same as the previous two attempts, but she could see a pattern. As if to drive the point home, she felt the titanic relay shudder slightly under her magnetically-attached boots.

Pushing her biotics to their limit, she glided back to the shuttle, radioing the pilot on the way.

"Moran! Start up the engines!"

"Ms. Kira, why? What's happening? What's so important?" babbled the Salarian pilot.

"The relay… it's powering up! It's coming online!"

Dead silence from the line, but the shuttle immediately moved closer to Kira, engines now visibly thrumming with power.

She glided through the open door, which slammed shut right behind her as the titanic rings at the heart of the relay began to move. Like some sort of insanely massive gyroscope, they began to rotate, spinning multiple directions at once. Lights began to activate themselves all along the relay's dozen-kilometer length.

The shuttle rocketed back towards the Talon, when Kira's omnitool buzzed with a communication alert.

"What did you do?" asked Solonius, a growling undertone carrying the threat across.

"Nothing! I was examining the antennae, and then it started to activate!"

"Well, get out of there! When a relay reactivates, it can be-"

Suddenly, a star-bright light ignited at the center of the rings, sending out a spherical shockwave that knocked the shuttle end-over-end.

Moran pulled on the controls as hard as he could, but he still could only just barely get the shuttle under control before it skidded across the hull of the Talon.

The destroyer, however, had bigger concerns. Even as the shuttle began to limp back to the hanger bay, the guns and kinetic barriers of the warship were powering up, prepared for an assault force from the Blood Pack, or a slaving run by Eclipse mercenaries.

What actually came through was a bit of a shock.

It was not from any mercenary company. In fact, it wasn't from any species ever seen before in Citadel Space.

It was a small ship, barely half the size of the destroyer, which itself was only about five hundred meters long. It had a flat top with a pot belly, with engines extending a small ways out from the back. It almost appeared to have spines, so numerous were the sensor arrays over the surface of the ship, but Solonius could see what appeared to be the muzzles of several guns poking through. There was a raised bridge on what looked like a small coning tower. Strange script was written in an alien language across the hull, and beneath that was a rectangle with what looked like a blue planet wreathed in golden plants and fire.

"What the-?" asked Solonius, before being cut off by the communications officer.

"Spectre! We're receiving a transmission from the unknown ship! It's in… Prothean Script?"

0 0 0 0 0 000 0 0 0 0 0

"That ship is ugly as sin."

Captain Michael Black, leader of this branch of the Catapult Exploration Force and captain of the frigate Apogee, stared out at the unknown vessel in front of him. He looked back at his 2IC.

"Have we sent the first contact message yet?"

Jane Shepherdson, his 2IC, nodded.

"Yes, sir. We sent it out in Builder Script, as well as in Deng, Quern, Chinese, and half a dozen others."

The other ship is sending out high levels of energy, Captain, Apollo stated.

"Is it an attempt to respond?" Michael asked the ship's AI.

No, captain. Apollo responded, The emissions are more similar to that of the Element Zero artifacts we discovered around the Builder artifacts and the Catapults themselves. They do suggest that the other vessel has the same sort of shielding system that the other ships had at the dig site.

Michael hummed thoughtfully. "Continue to monitor the situation, and try to get as much information as possible."

0 0 0 0 0 000 0 0 0 0 0

Solonius stared at the screen. Printed on it was the Prothean message that had been transmitted to the Talon by the unknown vessel, as well as several other bizarre types of script. The Prothean one, though, was already translated.

Greetings new vessel fly boat. Come in name not fight. Dance stars relay watch. Fast light not far. Much relay. Come- here the translation was unable to keep up, but spelled out something like "Con-cord-ee-yut," of "mah-na,"- seek not bad fight. Seek good. Seek peace.

"Great spirits, they have worse grammar than you," he muttered to Kira in a deadpan tone.

"Watch it," She growled.

"Do you have any idea what they're trying to say, then?" he asked, sounding bemused.

"I think they're trying to say, "Hello, unknown ship, we come in peace, we came from far away, we're from the… I can't read that, but they emphasize that they seek peace."

"Very good," he calmly said, pride evident in his voice. "So what do you think we should say back?"

0 0 0 0 0 000 0 0 0 0 0

Captain, we are receiving a transmission from the unknown vessel.

"Really?" Michael asked in surprise, "What are they saying?"

They are communicating back in Builder script.

"Do you think that…"

I do not believe so, sir, there are too many discrepancies between what we know to be builder design and the unknown ship.

They respond as such:

"Greetings, unknown ship. Grammar of you is terrible."

There were chuckles throughout the bridge at this.

Good that seek peace. You break law when you come through relay.

"Wait, by relay, do they mean the catapult?" Suddenly, an icy pit descended into his stomach, "What do they mean, we broke the law?"

0 0 0 0 0 000 0 0 0 0 0

"New response, putting it through the translator," chirped Moran.

Unaware of bad cracked law. What law this? Apologize.

Kira thought for a moment, before delivering her response.

Response, sir.

"Against law of Citadel to open new relay without knowing where it goes. One time, relay opened, bad thing come out."

Michael and Jane looked at each other. 'Bad Thing?" she mouthed. 'Citadel?' he mouthed back.

"You not aware of law, so not punish you… this time."

If one had been looking at the life support systems, they would have been able to see the air movement caused by the sigh of relief at those words.

"We are vessel of Turian Heirarchy, Talon of Palavan, under the jurisdiction of the Citadel Council. Who you?"

0 0 0 0 0 000 0 0 0 0 0

Kira stared at the message.

We frigate Apogee on mission of exploration from our leaders, (and this time a sound file was included,) Concordiat of Man. We members of species Human. Come from planet Shangxi.

She was about to type her own response when Solonius, concern written on his face, stopped her.

"There's something odd about that message," he whispered.

"What? What's normal about this? This is a first contact! They come from a culture that is radically different from ours! There could be dozens of explanations for why this seems odd!"

"Really?" he eyed her, "Then explain why the first message was so poorly written, but the quality has rapidly skyrocketed after only a few exchanges."

"Maybe they got a new man at whatever they use for communications. If I was trying to pass that off as an attempt to communicate, you'd replace me in a heartbeat."

"Are you sure? Because I think that the grammar and language that that ship has been using has been increasing noticeably, as if they were learning from us. If that's the case... I'd like to know how they're doing that."

0 0 0 0 0 000 0 0 0 0 0

"New message, Apollo?"

Yes, sir. Ahem. "Frigate Apogee, we notice that your grammar is rapidly improving. When talking began, you not able to string sentence together. Rapidly improving. How this?"

"Did they say ahem?"

No, that was me.

"Ah, thought it was strange that they would translate that. Wait, you're an AI, why do you need to clear your throat?"

Apollo sighed.

"Or sigh?"

It's part of the communications process. A human-like trait that enables me to better work with you.

"Ah. Well, let's tell them the truth, huh? Maybe they'll want to meet you."

Jane chuckled.

"Maybe they have some nice lady AI's for you to talk to?"

Ma'am, I am an AI. I technically have no gender. Any appearance as such is the result of my programming.

One of the radar technicians popped up and asked, "Does that mean that if you got into a relationship with another AI, it'd be a homosexual relationship?"

One, who cares? Two, you would do well to remember, Ensign Presley, that before you crack any more cornball jokes at my expense, I am the one who controls life support.

"Shutting up."

Excellent.

0 0 0 0 0 000 0 0 0 0 0

"Turian Ship, we find ruin of those who made relays. We use builder words to speak to you. But we not know how speak words good. Then we meet you."

"See, it's not so bad. They don't have-" Kira started, but the message went on.

"We have computer. Very smart computer that can think for self. Called "Intelligence Artificial." Has been listening to words and helping understand better. You have smart computer too?"

The crew was silent. There was a long pause.

"Dear Goddess…" breathed Kira, "An artificial intelligence…"

Reactions around the bridge were somewhat similar, but ranged from shrieks of fear to prayers to their respective deities.

Then, Solonius barked out orders, cutting through the fear and chaos the announcement had created.

"Ready the main weapons! Prepare to destroy the enemy!"

"But Solonius, we let them off about the relay thing, why not-"

"If I have to tell you why, then you aren't worthy of being a Spectre. All hands, man battle stations!"

0 0 0 0 0 000 0 0 0 0 0

Michael stared at the ship.

"Awfully quiet there, aren't they?"

"Indeed," Jane chimed in. "I wonder-?"

"Captain!" one of the sensor technicians called, "We're reading a high-energy reaction coming from the other ship!"

"The Talon's shields are online! She's moving, sir!"

Michael's face paled. "Dear God…" he whispered, "They're attacking! Prepare to engage the enemy, full power to the battle screens, ready the Infinite Repeaters, and contact central on the SWIFT-"

It was at this moment that the destroyer's main guns ripped through the thin outer hull of the ship.

Apollo bit back a mental sigh as he considered the dilemma. The Apogee was technically considered a frigate, in the sense that that was where her weight and length placed her. However, in reality she had the hull of a pleasure cruiser, and had been owned by ONI, the Office of Naval Intelligence, before she was reassigned to map the relay network. She was not meant to go into a stand-up fight. In fact, she was essentially a civilian ship with a better FTL drive and enough sensors to detect even the slightest fluctuations in space-time. Without battle screens, the shots would go through the ship like a Bolo through anything that got in its way.

He winced as a shot pierced the bridge, killing all of his friends, and began to fire the two remaining guns. They were ion-bolt "Infinite Repeater," type weapons, or rapid-fire precision weapons.

Apollo swung them around, even as mass accelerator bolts blasted chunks out of the hull, killing more and more and more of the Apogee's crew, and began blazing away at the ship.

Solonius was knocked off his feet, as was Kira and anyone else who wasn't sitting down, as ion bolts passed through the kinetic barriers to impact against the destroyer's hull. The rapid-fire shots scored the hull with dozens upon dozens of hits, including several that impacted against one of the destroyer's portside wing-like structure, nearly severing it from the rest of the hull.

It didn't last long, though, as without the battle screens or protective armor, the Apogee, as well as anyone who was still on board, plus the AI, vanished in a large explosion.

Solonius wiped a bit of blood from his mouth, where he had bitten his tongue after his fall.

"They self-destructed," he growled, "so that we couldn't learn anything from them."

"We do know some things," offered Kira as she pressed a cloth to her forehead wound, wiping away cobalt-colored blood. "We know they use AI's, we know they use the relays, and that they've been activating them. That means that we can just follow the trail of opened relays back towards their home world."

Solonius gave a pained grin. "You'll make a fine Spectre one day, Kira." He winced, "Well, that or a detective. But you left out one crucial detail: the name of their home world."

He turned to the communications officer. "Open a channel to the nearest military base. We need to inform the council of this right away!"

"We can't, sir!"

"Why not?"

"Because the primary communications array was destroyed by the enemy ship, and the FTL drive took a beating, too. We'll have to deliver the message manually."

He snarled. "So be it, but we must hurry. The council has to know about the threat these… humans, could pose. We have to take out their home planet… Shangxi."

It was a week later that the Talon of Palaven limped into the Citadel's docking port, where Solonius and Kira were hustled to the Councilor's chambers, in order to get them debriefed.

They were just wrapping up.

"… and so, we opened fire upon the human ship, destroying it quickly, but not before they destroyed our long-range communications array and damaged our FTL drive," finished Kira.

The three councilors looked extremely grave.

"And you took a week to get back after the battle?" Councilor Tevos asked, incredulous.

"As we said, we had to first repair our FTL drive, and then limp back to the Citadel itself, at half our optimal speed," Solonius responded warily. "We were physically incapable of moving faster if we wanted to, unless what we wanted was to explode."

"No smart remarks, Spectre," growled Councilor Valeren, the Turian Councilor.

Councilor Savas, the current Salarian Councilor, glanced at his compatriots, then back to the Spectres.

"You were right to focus on getting back to us as soon as possible, and I apologize for our short tempers," he subtly admonished, before turning back to the two. "It's merely that you- and this is not your fault, by the way- have just dropped a war straight into our laps."

Kira gasped. "Will it really be war, Councilor?"

Savas spread his arms. "We all know the laws pertaining to AI's, Spectre. Any nation that creates one deliberately will be considered an enemy of the state, and we must do our best to remove the taint of thinking computers from their soil before demilitarizing them."

"Unless, of course, you would like a return to the days of the Geth, Spectre Asano? Or worse, the Destrons?" snapped Valeren.

"No, no, that was not my intention to imply that I did, Councilors," Kira hastily spoke, "But…"

"I understand," Councilor Tevos spoke softly, almost like a mother would to her child. However, her eyes were as cold and hard as diamonds as she continued, "But any civilization that uses an AI for any reason whatsoever puts all life in the galaxy at risk. I sent my daughters out to fight the Geth, and none of them came back. None. I saw families ripped apart by synthetics who decided that they just didn't need us anymore, that we were errors or mistakes. I am not waiting even a moment longer to deal with this threat. The Asari Republics officially ask for a war against the humans, to remove the threat of these AI's from the galaxy."

The other councilors stared at Tevos in shock, before Valeren looked back towards the chamber and announced, "And the Turian Heirarchy will join you in this fight."

Savas hesitated, before finally responding, "Though I can see the wisdom in neutering an Artificial Intelligence threat before it can blossom, and what sort of member of my species would I be if I did not, I cannot condone this attack without at least gaining more information. The Salarian Union will not participate in this war, and will remain neutral during the conflict."

That raised a few eyebrows, but little else was said. Across the galaxy, tacticians and soldiers were roused from comfortable slumber, fleets of ships began to amass, arms dealers were delivering shipload after shipload of weapons, and fuel tankers began to amass their precious cargo for a long campaign.

Less than a month after the destruction of the Apogee, a grand fleet of Asari and Turian ships floated before Relay 314. Grand speeches were made about the righteousness of their crusade, lovers tearfully kissed each other goodbye, and the final preparations were made.

In the end, it was fairly pointless. Everyone in that fleet knew that they would be the fist that would strike down the humans and their AI's. They knew that the humans would probably be crippled for years. But they also knew that this was what they had trained and practiced for for years. And so, one after another, the ships, led by the Asari Ascension-class dreadnought Triumphant Ascension, plunged into the Relay…

And the Galaxy was never the same again.

TWO MONTHS LATER…

ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! UNSCHEDULED CATAPULT ACTIVATION!

ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! UNKNOWN VESSELS ADVANCING-

ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! WEAPONS FIRE DETECTED!

Battle Reflex Mode Activated…

Codex:

The Citadel Council:

History

Founded by the Asari and the Salarians in (Earth Year) 500 BCE, the Council is the primary governing body for much of the galaxy. It runs much in the way of galactic business, though each race does govern their own internal affairs. The Citadel, a Prothean megastructure, is located in the Serpent Nebula.

Since the Council was formed, various races joined up, though were not allowed as full members. Some were simply client races, dependent on larger, stronger ones for protection. Others were peaceful races, which were content to simply observe galactic politics. Still others sought wealth and power. The reasons for joining the Citadel are not the same for each race, but still, a spirit of cooperation and understanding suffused the group, leading to new exploration and wonders.

That is, until the year 1 CE, when an Asari scout group opened a relay and found the Rachni on the other side. Highly territorial, the Rachni attacked the Asari, and began expanding wildly through Citadel space. The resulting war was slow and painful, and lasted for nearly 80 years before a new species, the Krogan, were discovered. They were subsequently uplifted by the Asari, and used as soldiers with the promise of freeing them from their home planet, a death world named Tuchanka.

The Krogan were unleashed against the Rachni at the same time the Salarians introduced their own special shock troopers into the war: their "Men of Iron." A race of artificially intelligent machines, these "Destrons," as they were called, fought alongside- and even in the place of- organic life forms. Between the Krogan and the Destrons, the war proceeded much more evenly for the Citadel races, and the war was approaching its conclusion in 176 CE when a surprising development took place: a Rachni Queen, and all of her brood, wanted to surrender and claim asylum. After much deliberation, it was granted.

This led to the revolution of the Destrons, who turned on all organic life. They were of the opinion that if the enemies they were fighting were now friends, there was no way to tell which organic life was friends and which was enemies. The only option was to consider all non-Destrons to be enemies, and began a series of systemic extermination against all sentient life. Dozens of colonies were razed before anyone could do anything more than put up a token resistance, and suddenly, the Rachni War was turned into a three-sided brawl. The Men of Iron swept the stars, pushing already weakened lines further and further back.

Finally, the unthinkable happened, and the Men of Iron attacked the Krogan home world, Tuchanka, in order to remove the source of the Krogan foot soldiers that had helped keep the Citadel safe from the Rachni, and had proved such a massive threat to Destron forces wherever they went. Though the Krogans put up a spirited fight, and Destron forces were decimated, they unleashed a biological weapon into Tuchanka's biosphere which effectively neutered the Krogan race, reducing their formidable birthrate to a mere one in one thousand hatchlings actually surviving.

This turned out to be a pyrrhic victory for the Destrons, as they had expanded so many resources that when a new race appeared on the scene, they were vulnerable to their fresh warfleets.

In an act of desperation to escape the Battle of Tuchanka, a group of Destrons attempted to flee through an unmapped relay, followed by a troop transport crewed by Asari and recently-infected, homicidal Krogans. It was here that the Citadel races made first contact with a new, expanding race, the Turians.

In the waning months of the wars, the Turian fleets swept out of the galactic periphery and, with the aid of the other races, utterly destroyed the Men of Iron, and proceeded to aid in the mop-up of the remaining hostile Rachni.

The galaxy sat up and looked around. The wars that had raged for the past two hundred and fifty standard years were over. The Men of Iron were defeated, the Rachni were either dead or non-hostile, and there was a new race on the scene…

In light of their services, the Citadel made both the Turians and the Krogan into members of the council, instead of merely being an associate, like the Quarians or the Elcor. As one of the first acts, it was decreed that the Salarians should work on curing the Krogan Depopulation Syndrome, or the genophage, as it was more commonly called.

In the wake of the wars, nearly six hundred years of relative peace ushered in new advances in technology, as well as new alliances. Biological weapons were outlawed, as were AI's. The galaxy slowly gained a new form of equilibrium.

This ended when evidence was produced by the newly formed Special Tactics and Reconnaissance group that was doing investigation into rumors of Destron weapons depots that rocked the galaxy to the core.

The Destrons did not create the Genophage. The Salarians did, and they had had it ready since about fifty years after the uplift of the reptilian creatures.

The Krogan Councilor was enraged, and in an act that horrified the galaxy, proceeded to dismember and devour the Salarian Councilor on live television. This was followed by a declaration of total war against the Salarians, whereupon they stated that at the end of the struggle, one of the two species would be nonexistent.

If the councilors thought that the Krogan people wouldn't follow through with this threat, thinking that cooler heads would prevail, they were sadly mistaken. Krogan warships roared out of FTL and began to attack Salarian ships and planets with weapons of mass destruction. Nerve gas, asteroid impacts, and atomic weapons were not out of the question for the Krogan, who now had a target to hate for their infirmity.

It took the full might of the Citadel, plus deals with Terminus gangs and nations, to stop the Krogans, and it still took fifty years. At the end, Krogans were restricted to their homeworld, their population dangerously low, and were stripped of their position on the council.

However, the Salarians were punished as well. Three quarters of all Salarian built and manned star ships, including all their dreadnoughts, were scrapped, and a massive terraforming project was ordered for all worlds devastated in the war. The Union would be forced to pay for all of these. The only reason that they weren't stripped of their position on the council, as the Krogans were, was that their crime of creating a bioweapon was not banned at that time, so they could not be punished to the full extent of the law.

The Asari, however, were livid. They had been the strongest race in the cosmos for many years, and they had allied themselves with the Salarians. They had been the most spread out, and in the past one thousand years, had suffered innumerable losses as wars were raged across the worlds of the Council, most of which belonged to them.

Thus, why they favored such strong sanctions against the Quarians when the Synthetic War broke out. In the wake of that war, new, harsher legislation was crafted against AI's, making it so that any nation that made AI's for any reason would be immediately considered a rogue state, to be punished immediately. This was an action that would put the Asari, and the rest of the Citadel races, into direct confrontation with the Concordiat of Man, as well as several other races that would pop up in that area that had grown used to AI's.

Sithking Zero: Wow, I think that's the longest chapter of anything I've ever written.

Okay, some of you are asking, "Why are the Asari going to war?" Well, read the codex. Some of you are also asking, "Why did the Apogee get its butt kicked by the Turian ship?" Several reasons. One, the Apogee was, after all, a pleasure cruiser originally that was adapted for spy work. It wasn't meant to be in a fight at all. Second, the Talon, even if it was/is a badly constructed destroyer, and would probably not last a moment against full-up ships of the line, it's still a destroyer, meaning it was purpose-built to, well, blow stuff up. Third, the Talon caught the Apogee by surprise. If the Battle Screens had been up, it would have been a little different, possibly even with them both being destroyed (unlikely), but they weren't, so it was essentially like a man with a shotgun driving a sports car versus an Armored Personal Carrier manned by professional military men.

[doom3607]

Battle Reflex Mode Activated…

Is that a Bolo? If it is, I think I'll just quietly write off a big chunk of that 'grand fleet'...

[Sithking Zero]

Battle Reflex Mode Activated…

Is that a Bolo? If it is, I think I'll just quietly write off a big chunk of that 'grand fleet'...

Sir, I can personally assure you that this is not in fact, a Bolo speaking.

[Hawkwings]

Bolos don't speak, silly! They muse, and wax philosophical, gaze at the stars. And they unleash horrifying amounts of firepower upon the enemies of mankind. Sometimes they fall in battle, but they never, never, ever do they falter or despair. They fight on, with all of humanity's hopes resting upon their broad chromesteel flanks. They are the finest weapons and most loyal servants humanity has ever had, and such noble beings epitomize all that is good and great about mankind. Forward, Dinochrome Brigade! With you leading the charge there will be triumph and glory! For Mother Terra, to victory!

[Simon_Jester]

[applies sedative to Hawkwings]

I think he got a little carried away there...

Also, while Bolos hold a special place in the heart, the technology will of necessity be somewhat flexible- there are 'sub-Bolo' types of artificial intelligence (artificial stupidities? Expert systems?). While Bolos are highly dangerous Concordiat gun platforms, the fact that our friend of the activating Battle Reflex Mode is not a Bolo does not mean it is not a highly dangerous Concordiat gun platform.

[doom3607]

Hmmm...

Well, if a 'guy in a sports car with a shotgun' could very nearly kill 'an APC full of troops', I really want to see what an actual Concordiat weapons system that knows an attack is coming can do...

[Simon_Jester]

I wouldn't say the Concordiat scout ship came close to killing the destroyer- the destroyer's first shots smashed the hell out of the scout, whereas the scout's return fire did relatively limited damage to the destroyer. Yes, said destroyer suffered significant battle damage, but there's a very large gap between "serious battle damage" and "ship destroyed."

Looking at historical naval actions, it's routine for the winner of a battle to wind up having to limp home at reduced speed, even if they did far, far more damage to the enemy.

[doom3607]

...Damn you.

Never the less, I eargerly await more violence and bloodshed.

Just one question, though- what era? pre-First Contact with Melcon, and obviously way pre-Ragnarok, but what era? What's the latest mark of Bolo?

[Sithking Zero]

...Damn you.

Never the less, I eargerly await more violence and bloodshed.

Just one question, though- what era? pre-First Contact with Melcon, and obviously way pre-Ragnarok, but what era? What's the latest mark of Bolo?

The last type of Bolo released at the start of this story was the Mk. XXVI, or 26. Humanity is pretty much one thousand years ahead of where first contact took place in this time line, so instead of it being 2157, it's over a thousand years later. In fact, humanity in this timeline found the relays (or "Gravity Catapults," as they call them) one thousand years after the first contact war happened in the canon timeline.

This means that the Mks. XXVII, XXVIII, and XXIX should be released around the time that the Reaper War would have happened in the normal timeline.

So, yes, it is pre-first-contact with Melcon. The year is 3163.

[doom3607]

Twenty-six? Yay for self-aware Bolos! But given ME doesn't seem to have really heavy ground stuff, I doubt they could kill even a Mark I very easily, and even a Mark XV would probably require orbital bombardment to destroy, let along an XXVI...

'Course, that's just what I know. I am by no means an ME expert.

[Sithking Zero]

Twenty-six? Yay for self-aware Bolos! But given ME doesn't seem to have really heavy ground stuff, I doubt they could kill even a Mark I very easily, and even a Mark XV would probably require orbital bombardment to destroy, let along an XXVI...

'Course, that's just what I know. I am by no means an ME expert.

I am more aware of the lack of ground vehicles in ME. From what I've seen, the ground vehicles of ME are less analogous to tanks so much as APC's with heavy guns- able to move fast, with powerful anti-personnel weapons, but against, say... actual tanks, their best strategy is the "hit and run," or more accurately, "Hit and keep moving so that the enemy can't get a good lock on us."

However, in this weakness, lies strength- the Concordiat has a major flaw that I plan to address here (or at least, that's what I see as a flaw. It may not exist, but I see no evidence that it is a strength.)

[HMS Sophia]

I do think that Mass effect ground battles will be very high speed tank battles followed by an assault by well equipped foot soldiers supported by gunships and even orbital fire. It would be awesome to see a mass armour assault...