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Chapter Text

The sheer idiocy of these pirates shocked him. Quineus Ennitis, captain of the Turian cruiser Victorious watched in confusion as the mass relay activated. Not only had these slavers been willing to open one mass relay, but two?!? He called for his communications officer to hail them again.

"This Quineus of the cruiser Victorious, surrender now or we will be forced to destroy you!"

The pirate ship seemed to ignore them, and before they could enter effective range the ship jumped.

"Captain, are we going to keep following them?"

Quineus thought deeply. If they continued the chase the pirates would eventually be caught and face justice, but they would also further intrude into non Citadel space.

"Continue the chase."

The Victorious jumped, crossing hundreds of light years in seconds.

Quineus wasn't going to envy Councilor Sparatus.

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The Victorious reappeared in a flash.

"Sir, pirate ship is already amongst the inner planets!"

Quineus groaned.

"Follow it! Keep the sensors at full power, I don't want to run into a Rachni battle fleet without seeing it coming."

He considered the likely hood of the pirates escaping again. Very low, given that they would have to pass him before reaching the systems relay.

"Sir... the Relay has destroyed a planetoid during its activation."

Wonderful.

Tiny fragments of ice and rock splattered off their kinetic barriers to no real negative effect.

The engineer would have to turn down the sensitivity of the barrier system, no use wasting power on something the Victorious's several cm of armor would be unaffected by.

The pirate ship reached the third planet from the systems star, and then it slowed and turned.

"What are they doing..."

A alert sounded.

"Captain, the third planet is inhabited! Something large is leaving its atmosphere!"

As the bridge watched, the display showed a frigate sized object leap from one of the planets oceans at incredible speed, thermal plume from its titanic thruster lighting up every sensor on the ship.

The pirate ship turned and began to flee, GARDIANs firing.

It was not nearly fast enough.

By the time the pirate ship had moved 10 km it was done.

The frigate, or whatever it was impacted it at a speed more fit for a mass accelerator shell.

Jaws dropped as the pirate ship was disintegrated by the force of impact.

"What, what was that..."

The answer came as a titanic explosion erupted from the dead ship as a warhead designed to kill dreadnoughts detonated, a miniature sun expanding and incinerating the remains.

Quineus wanted to scream, this was a diplomatic storm in the making if he ever saw one, a potential upheaval of the galactic balance of power, and likely to be included in the Hierarchies official statement for why opening Mass Relays without knowing what is on the other side is a horrible idea.

Luckily, his gizzard of Silaris was enough to keep him from showing his crew the inner panic he was experiencing, and his command came out fairly calm given the situation.

"We need to inform the council, pull back."

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Councilor Sparatus groaned as he prepared to exit the elevator into the councilor chambers. This was bad, and the only thing worse than the tirade the other councilors were going to give him was the media storm once the news broke.

A entire new species? One that had first contact with a bunch of slavers? The media would make sure no one in the galaxy would be ignorant of it, no matter they be a Vorcha gangster or Asari Matron.

"Sparatus."

Valern stated, without blinking.

"What are you calling us here for," Tevos said calmly "Have you gotten into your "Lets go to war with the Batarians" phase again?"

Sparatus walked to his station, and pulled up a video clip on his omni tool.

"No. This is what I called you for."

The other councilors watched as the footage taken from the pirate ships destruction played. Tevos flinched at the impact and detonation, while Valern simply watched.

"What was that?"

Sparatus felt tired already.

He also felt that the Indomitable class dreadnought, already reaching the limits of their budget limits, would see yet another drastic increase in capability, this time for improved armor or kinetic barriers.

Atleast it shouldn't be too difficult to explain to the public why the Turian Navy continued to insist on gradually larger and large dreadnought anymore.

"Sparatus, that does not match anything known to Citadel intelligence. Is this first contact."

Tevos visibly cringed.

"A pirate ship opened a pair of mass relays. It discovered a new species currently bound to a single planet, and was destroyed by a missile of incredible size."

Tevos slowly raised her omni tool.

"I suppose there isn't a chance of us sweeping this under the rug?"

Sparatus stated factually "No, there isn't. Within a few days the Turian Hierarchy will release a official press statement confirming what happened. I believe that counter intelligence has already began to have to squash rumors of a mass relay being opened, but they will eventually be unable to prevent it from reaching the press."

Valern merely sighed. "I will begin preparations. Have you sent through any more ships?"

Sparatus nodded, "A small fleet is going to be sent through in two days. I was ordered to inform you so that your respective governments could assist in making contact."

The other councilors began to make calls, messaging government agencies and their superiors.

Within 10 minutes they were done.

Tevos spoke first. "The Asari Republics will send a diplomatic ship. It will arrive soon."

"The Salarian Union will send some scientists and a detachment of STG." Valern said in the quick speech that most salarians had.

Sparatus found his large eyes and small mouth unnerving, not that he would ever say that out loud.

"Then it is agreed, we will prepare for contact and disclosure at once." Sparatus did not look forward to the coming days.

At least Tevos took it rather well.

Chapter Text

Benezia looked at the command console as her ship appeared near the Turian fleet in a flash of light. Being one of the most influential Asari Matriarchs, the Republics had called upon her to captain a diplomatic ship and make peaceful first contact with a newly discovered species. While not much was known about them, they were restricted to a single world and had most likely barely even developed space flight. It was only luck that allowed them to destroy the pirate frigate that discovered them, according to Commander Sabelus.

She sighed. While she was excited about making contact with a new species, she would have preferred more time to prepare. But there was very little time. The media would be informed of the events within a week, and by then she had to have made successful contact. Luckily she was adept at things related to culture and religion, and if needed she could always meld with the natives.

"Ma'am, Sabelus is hailing us."

"Accept his hail."

Sabelus's painted face appeared on screen, crimson streaks denoting his colony of origin. He was a veteran of the Terminus Systems, personally participating in the destruction of a extremist Salarian sect and several pirate groups, and she felt confident he could handle any problem should a fight break out.

"Matriarch, we are preparing to jump. Please know that this is uncharted space, and if needed we are willing to protect you to the last Turian."

Benezia nodded, "Thank you for your service, Commander. I will jump as you do."

Sabelus turned, then looked back at her.

"We will jump in 2 minutes."

They moved near the Mass Relay, the machine spinning as enough power to fuel a thousand dreadnoughts was built up in seconds, time and space bending as the colossal artifact began to fully activate.

In a flash of light they were gone.

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Sabelus looked to his crew.

"While you have been told some of the story, you haven't been told all of it. The natives did destroy a pirate ship, yes, but it was not even a fight. The footage I am about to show you is classified. I trust all of you to keep it to yourself, until it is available to the public. Not a single person can be aware of this other than the people in this room. The reason why it was kept hidden is that we cannot afford to cause additional anxiety among the diplomats. Because if they mess up, and fighting starts..."

Sabelus looked almost worried, not for his own life, but rather the success of his mission.

"...we will likely not survive."

His crew replied with "Yes sir!"

Sabelus nodded, before walking over to the command console.

A video was pulled up.

"Watch this, commit it to memory."

The video started.

A small spec, which upon the camera zooming in became a pirate ship. On the other side of the screen, technical data was displayed from the ship that was recording the videos sensors.

Various information flashed on screen, ranging from the class, known modifications, date of first sighting, and other vitals regarding the ill fated vessel.

The camera zoomed towards the blue and grey planet behind the pirate ship, focusing on a bright object that quickly entered focus. It was huge, easily as large as a small frigate. A long, rocket shaped craft moving at speeds more than that of a fighter. It quickly left the atmosphere, pirate ship turning to evade it. It was too late.

"Our sensors indicate that at terminal velocity the missile reached speeds of 1% C."

Several officers were visibly shocked, knowing exactly how difficult it would be to accelerate such a massive weapon at such a high speed.

The playback continued, the object racing towards the ship, GARDIAN lasers failing to penetrate its armored nose. The impact was immense, the pirate vessel ripped in half and torn into several pieces, barriers not even having a chance to protect it. Then the missile detonated, and the entirety of the pirate vessel was consumed by a titanic fireball. A miniature sun.

"This species is not primitive. They have extremely advanced missile technology, and power sources. In addition, we found this on the planets moon."

Another photo. This time there were ten massive craters, perfectly aligned.

"We believe that this species was invaded by another race. This explains the devastation to their planet, and the incredibly advanced weapons. They are likely traumatized as a society, having barely clung on. We all know how outclassed most single planet species would be if, say, even the Bartarians were to decide they shouldn't exist. This means they will be very untrusting, and may react with hostility. It is understandable, but will only complicate this mission."

The ship exited the Relay.

"All hands to your stations. Lets make sure that this doesn't start another Rachni war!"

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Benezia looked at the system. It was average, with the only thing standing out being the Third Planet in the system.

"Ma'am, the Turian fleet has hailed us. We are to follow them into orbit of the Third planet with out shields and weapons powered down."

That shocked her. "What? That can't be right, we will be defenseless!"

The ensign quickly, if timidly, responded.

"No, it is directly from Commander Sabelus. We are to not make any hostile actions."

She had been alive for more then enough time to know that with regards to military matters, the Turians typically knew what they were doing.

"Fine, but the instant we come under fire we are activating defenses."

"I will inform him immediately."

The Asari ship cruised gracefully through space, and jumped with the Turians into the systems inner planets.

They sent a first contact package to the third planet on all available networks, making sure not directly aim sensors at it.

A burst of radio and other communications was the response, the garbled message failing to come through as anything intelligible.

Benezia sighed again, considering if she would regret her actions.

"Move us into orbit. Send the package."

The Turians moved into position, weapons still offline, unarmored radiators extended as a sign of peace.

They hadn't been fired at, that was good.

"Bring us closer, make sure to be listening on all channels."

"Ma'am, we are being locked on to!"

Benezia continued looking at the planet. It was a molted mix of dull green, grey, and orange on land, but had pale blue seas that dominated much of the surface.

"Ma'am!"

The ship began blaring warnings as it reported incredibly powerful sensors being focused on the ship.

The natives hailed them, the source being one of the oceans.

"EThisde Isvsd ttehT Capatasin of Thsesd EDF Despina to unidentified alien craft."

Benezia gasped.

The crew members stared.

The video feed showed a grey haired, furred Asari with pale skin. The resemblance was uncanny, but it appeared to be male.

"Well then, looks like Star Trek had the right idea! Richard Epcar of the EDF Despina, at your service."

Chapter Text

Captain Richard Epcar of the EDF Despina looked at the shocked alien faces and grinned. Wow, these ones were a lot more pretty than the last ones who decided to take a camping trip on Earth.

"What, you don't have some kind of translator? Well neither do we. How about I talk to you through picto grams. Despina! Fire up the main computer!"

The aliens only looked at him in response.

His crew also stared, but mostly quickly returned to their duties. Some were visibly on edge, others going into complete silence.

Despina answered.

"Main computer initiated, what are your orders Captain?"

The ships cool voice was a welcome break in the short silence.

"Despina, simulate the attack vectors we would use on our blue skinned guests. Put a exclusion zone over all remained EDF bases and cities, and another at 150 miles up. Also, run a simulation of our response to any fire from them."

Despina began producing a briefing, simulation based on current information, and displayed both of them in front of Richard.

"Broadcast this to the alien ship."

Epcar grinned as the aliens received his message.

"Now, lets pull up that first contact package."

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Benezia watched as the aliens talked to each other. While they couldn't understand each other, the Captain (no other person would act like that) had a dominating and bombastic voice that seemed to echo.

If they were anything like Asari, he was enjoying himself.

"Ma'am, message received! It is a video, should I play it?"

She glanced momentarily at her communications officer, a bright young woman who was quite clearly both worried and excited.

"Yes, it is most likely their first contact package."

The video began. It wasn't a first contact package. Instead a crude picture of their ship was placed above a triangle. It was suspended over the planet, with a line going from the ship to the planet. Next to the line was what appeared to be some kind of alien text.

Next it showed the triangle slowly descend. Once it reached the outer atmosphere, a line appeared slightly below it. In addition, several red boxs appeared above several locations on the planet. The triangle moved through a box, the lines of the box flashed red, and a line flew from a location on the planet and the triangle winked out of existence. The same occured when the representation of the ship went past the second line.

The ship reappeared and launched smaller triangles towards the planet, only to be hit by a line again.

"They are establishing where we can and cannot go. Stay out of the atmosphere, and avoid the boxed areas, and transmit the message to Commander Sabelus."

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Sabelus looked up as a message arrived from Matriarch Benezia.

"Put it on screen."

What played was a some kind of warning.

"Hmmmm... stay away from the planet and do not fire."

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The crew of the Despina watched the first contact package as Epcar began to call Command. The package was comprehensive, full of important information about the aliens. Plural.

There were several species in the package, the blue skinned humanoids that were apparently either only female or had very few males, avian aliens with plates, and lizard people. These seemed to be the main ones, but the package showed quadrupedal creatures and space suited humanoids. After several minutes of interpretation and connecting what were rather obvious dots in hindsight, It seemed from the video that the Blue Skins could somehow create a psionic link between themselves and aliens to exchange information.

Much of the ships crew was assembled in the mess halls, Captain Richard Elcar standing on a platform at one end of one, microphone in one hand and radio in the other. A large screen broadcast the alien first contact package to the crew. He knew that the other mess halls had similar screens to allow most of the crew to see the message.

Elcar put down the radio and gave his crew orders. "We are to establish peaceful contact with the aliens on Earth, more specifically on Despina. I know that letting some filthy aliens onto our beloved ship and planet seems impossible, but if they turn out to be hostile better it happen on the most powerful ship on Earth than in a city."

He cleared his throat. "Also, we need a volunteer enlisted with a low security clearance who is willing to make a psionic link with a hot blue space babe. Anyone up for it?"

No one raised their hands.

"What, you scared of the pretty space ladies? Fine. Ensign Herbert! You are up!"

The man, whose specific name was only remembered by Epcar due to a previous incident involving a Speed Star type drone and a water balloon.

"Sir yes sir!"

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Benezia was nervous. The natives had sent another message that showed (presumably) a shuttle leaving her ship and landing on a ship. A actual, water based ship. These people were so advanced in someways and so primitive in others.

Her Asari Commando guards stood silently, ready to die for her.

Benezia only hoped they wouldn't have to. The shuttle decelerated, and she could hear the pilot audibly gasp.

The shuttle doors opened, and she saw what was so surprising. The ship just did not stop. Her eyes followed the deck of it for hundreds of meters before seeing the end.

"Goddess..." One of her commandos was also stunned.

She looked down, and saw the ship was so large that the only thing that even compared was when she spent a day on board Destiny Ascension. While the Asari dreadnought was still far larger, the fact this vessel even compared was incredible.

Rows of aircraft, hundreds of them, were placed on the decks. The shuttle flew past them, over a thousand aircraft of various models including a few that were more corvettes than normal aircraft placed in orderly rows. Some slowly taxied on to section of the deck marked by yellow lines, before shooting off into the horizon.

The shuttle swerved, a colossal battery of guns each the size of a aero bus nearly impacting them.

A flare shot up.

The shuttle turned and landed on a small landing pad on the side of a giant elevated bridge the size of a light cruiser that was bristling with sensors and guns.

A few humans walked towards it and gestured for them to exit.

Benezia recovered, and lightly stepped onto the metal landing pad. A small group of humans walked out of a door, among them the Captain.

He was muscled, tall and well dressed in what appeared to be some kind of uniform. A strange object was covering his head, and he had the characteristic blocky form of a pistol on his hip.

"Nice to meet you ma'am, Captain Richard Epcar at your service."

'Matriarch Benezia of the Asari Republic at your service."

Both spoke at the same time, and the human grinned a wide smile.

Benezia waited for him to finish introducing himself before introducing herself.

Another human walked up to the Captain of the ship.

"Ensign! Prepare to initiate psionic link!"

The other human saluted the Captain.

He was younger, most likely around 200 years old. Benezia did admit he was somewhat attractive, but his lack of breasts was somewhat disturbing to her.

He pointed towards himself.

"Herbert"

Benezia spoke what was likely his name "Herbert"

A odd name but not too bizarre. Especially given some of the names she had heard over the centuries.

The human nodded.

The Captain motioned for her to look at a small tablet.

It played the video of a melding from the first contact package.

"Oh."

That was rather fast.

He then gestured towards "Herbert".

Herbert walked towards her.

Benezia motioned for her commandos to step back.

"Embrace Eternity!"

The meld began, their thoughts and minds becoming one.

Matriarch Benezia was a Asari, part of the Citadel Council. She had multiple daughters and was over 1000 years old, having served her country through war and peace. She was sent here to make peaceful contact with a new species.

Smith Herbert was a average man before the war. He had a family, and went through school happy that his country was the strongest their was. Nothing could stop him. The future was bright. Then THEY arrived.

He remembered when the news broke.

"Extraterrestrials discovered by NASA on their way to Earth! Arrival expected in 4 years!"

His mom and dad were excited. They believed that the aliens would be peaceful beings travelling for the discovery of brave new worlds full of strange new people.

They seemed correct, and the EDF thing the UN created seemed like a waste of resources. Sure, all the old alien movies showed them as monsters, but their is no way actual aliens could be like that. No way, no how.

The years passed and humanity prepared. Celebrations of contact were planned. Speeches were made about the Utopian world where alien and human lived in harmony that would be created in less than a decade. Scientists theorized about the aliens. Even the EDF eventually began to seem less focused on the aliens being hostile.

Then the day came. And they arrived. And the sky fell.

The Mothership, a colossal flying orb over a kilometer in diameter entered orbit, descending to Earth above Japan. Humanity prepared to initiate contact, the world held its breath in anticipation of the day that would create a new world.

One hundred thousand. That was the death toll on day one of the First Ravager Invasion. The Mothership attacked, using weapons straight out of science fiction to vaporize everything in its path, immune to all variety of human weapon.

It deployed hordes of drones, unmanned hunter killers that struck down the worlds air forces and murdered civilians at the same time with machine precision. Large flying saucers flew through the now burning skies, crossing over 2000 miles in the first day, their deadly cargo waiting to be released.

And monstrous giant insects, ants the size of buildings, mindless creatures with jaws capable of ripping apart steel and acid that melts concrete, erupted by the thousands from the ground.

The worlds militaries fought hard, but were overrun by the insects and obliterated by the aliens. The Mothership crossed Asia, Europe, and North America leaving nothing in its path. Moscow was obliterated by a giant energy cannon that hit it while millions of people were still in the city.

Germany fell in less than 2 months to hordes of all consuming giant insects.

Paris was destroyed by the aliens walking foot soldiers, 5 story tall robotics infantry with laser cannons and plasma launchers.

Shanghai was erased from the map by a Quadruped Fortress, a walking weapon as large as a aircraft carrier capable of physically walking through skyscrapers.

Africa was abandoned by the outside world as it struggled for survival.

Washington DC saw the remnants of the US military launch a final, desperate delaying action to hold the line until as many people as possible could escape.

Herbert still remembered when the news broke.

America was lost.

His family was lost.

But the EDF kept fighting. Even as the aliens shattered humanities final combined offensive, the EDF fought.

Even as their numbers dwindled and Japan was left the only nation still standing, the EDF fought.

Even when the Mothership arrived to finish the job, the EDF fought.

Even when the final attack of the EDF was destroyed and it seemed as if everything was lost, the EDF never stopped fighting against the aliens.

And they won. A single infantry soldier managed to fight his way directly under the Mothership, and as the world burned he struck it down in its single weakpoint, accomplishing what all of the worlds might could not do, dying in the process.

Humanity won. Humanity rebuilt. But the Ravagers came back.

Chapter Text

By this time Herbert had joined the EDF navy. While some considered the EDF as unneeded now that humanity had won, EDF survived as the government simply because they were the only ones left.

The Ravagers returned 8 years later. By then EDF was the most powerful force that ever existed on Earth, and had rebuilt much of the planet. Advanced technology reverse engineered from the Ravagers solved world hunger, the economy was booming, and nanomachines eradicated any virus that had survived antibiotics of incredible power. Most of the planet was living in better conditions than they were before the first war, but while EDF had prepared, so had the Ravagers.

It was announced in 2025 that 10 Ravager mother ships had lifted off from the moon and begun to enter Earths orbit.

EDF was ready. Titanic missiles hundreds of meters long, a massive linear gun capable of boiling through the Himalayas instantly, space fighters, and orbital laser cannons.

On the ground the EDF land forces waited.

EDF waited until the Motherships were blinded by atmospheric entry, and half the Motherships were destroyed or disabled before making earthfall. The rest activated shield screens once they became aware of being attacked, the impenetrable barriers defending them from all fire.

The civilians evacuated into shelters as the EDF deployed.

The giant insects that once proved able to shred anything less than tank battalions were being exterminated as soon as they appeared.

The Ravagers hadn't been idle, their own advancements in technology and weapons giving a bloody nose to the first operations to defend Earth, but EDF was able to quickly adapt via deployment of their own improved ordinance and elite soldiers.

Even the mighty walking soldiers and Fortresses were destroyed by EDF combined arms. Giant insect nests were sought out and destroyed by subterranean soldiers.

Several more motherships were downed within the first few months at relatively low casualties, with EDF able to fight toe to toe with the Ravagers and win.

But the Ravagers had not even used their main force yet.

Giant monsters hundreds of feet tall were dropped to tear apart human cities. New types of insects evolved, spider like giant insects capable of spitting thread to take down helicopters and aircraft. Mutated variants of the ants, some able to melt through bunkers, others able shrug off assault rifle fire like a car in the rain.

Bases began to go dark, as giant floating weapon stations simply appeared, as if by magic, in the sky in numbers sufficient to blot out the sun. The Earth itself was being swallowed whole.

EDF fought back but could not hold against the overwhelming numbers and technology of the Ravagers.

50% of the human race was gone as the war entered the final stage.

Blast by blast, bomb by bomb, Earth was dying.

Then, as all hope was lost the hero from the last war reappeared.

Storm Team, the most elite soldiers in all the EDF launched a final attack to take down the control center of the Ravager battlestations.

The battle was fierce.

Despina itself was damaged holding off a army of Ravager battleships and drones.

Across the world the remnants of EDF held the line.

And Storm Team succeeded.

The Brain of the battlestations fell to the ground.

The Ravagers retreated to the stars, leaving their monstrous cannon fodder directionless, and their machines of war shattered and inert, stranded on a nearly dead Earth.

And a cry of victory filled the now silent air.

"EDF! EDF! EDF!"
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The meld ended as Benezia fell backwards in horror.

"I- I."

Herbert spoke.

"Hello Matriarch Benezia."

The Captain looked at him in confusion.

"The meld was successful."

Benezia spoke in English. "That was, interesting. I am Matriarch Benezia of the Citadel Council. We are happy to welcome humanity onto the galactic scene."

Epcar introduced himself. "I am Captain Richard Epcar of the EDF Despina. Pleased to meet you. We should probably move inside."

Benezia nodded. "I agree, it would be best to discuss with your commanders in a place where they can also see us."

The party went into Despina's bridge.

Chapter Text

Benezia followed the humans into the bridge of the Despina. She was still taking in the incredible amount of information she had learned. Ensign Herbert hadn't tried to hold back anything, either by lack of awareness that he could or simply not caring.

The amount of pain and suffering these people had gone through in less than 50 years, barely a blink of a eye for a Asari, it was mind boggling, and only reinforced her commitment to peacefully bring them into the Council.

Captain Epcar led the way, not even glancing back as her Asari commandos followed her with military precision.

Not that she would blame him, from what she had seen his pistol could blow a hole through a charging krogan.

The Turians would definitely want to take a look at the humans weaponry.

"Just follow me, careful not to get lost! Despina is the largest ship in the fleet."

The Captain was boisterous and loud, his voice booming in a way that only a few people had.

And his voice was very clearly male.

While Benezia knew that humans were a two sex species, it still took a while to get used to.

And to think that the man in front of her was only 50.

The insides of Despina were narrow corridors and passages.

A memory of why they chose such small spaces when designing the ship flashed through her mind.

"So cadets, before you go moaning about how everything is so damn enclosed, how about you rub your two surviving brain cells together and think why we might build a ship like this.?"

"To save space, sir?"

"WRONG! The main reason why is because why the Ravagers show up again with their giant crawly things, we don't want them dropping them on our ships and becoming impossible to remove!"

"Drop and give me 20!"

Benezia shook off the memory.

EDF training was difficult, recruits training for every conceivable situation. And this was the Navy.

The walk took over 20 minutes before they reached a large bulkhead and turned off through a door next to it.

"Welcome to Despinas command center! It has everything we need, computers, radios, even a entertainment system!"

The Captain was correct. The command center was large, filled with various computers and displays, many of which hilariously enough would fit right in a antique store back on Thessia, being big blocky metallic things with actual fixed monitors as opposed to the more advanced holoscreens preferred by advanced races.

A extraordinarily large holographic projector sat in the center of the room.

On the walls were actual (presumably) oil painted pictures of old naval ships, primitive vessels with sails and chimneys spitting black smoke, alien flags and symbols flying over them.

"Incorrect, Captain. The battle simulator is not for personal use or entertainment purposes."

The voice, a feminine and almost robotic one, came from a speaker mounted on the wall.

"Eh, just ignore her. Despina doesn't really understand humour."

The voice, the ship responded.

"Incorrect. I understand humor, your attempt at it was not funny. Ha ha ha."

Epcar sighed and looked towards the Asari.

"Despina, please contact Command."

Was Despina a AI?

Benezia tried not to think about how the use of a AI on the humans most powerful warship could go wrong, but she supposed that EDF knew what they were doing. After all, Despina had obviously never even tried to betray them.

Or, as would be more comforting, Despina was a VI programmed with a massive array of potential commands and responses.

"Aye Aye Captain."

The machine responded as smooth as ever.

Epcar sat down in a chair and Ensign Herbert invited them to do the same.

It was a hard, metal chair with little concern for its bare bones appearance, definitely military.

"While we are waiting, how about we hail your friends in orbit?"

Benezia considered it. They would probably want to be informed about what was happening.

"Yes."

The Captain turned and pressed some buttons on a console.

Benezia walked in front of the holoprojector, watching as the transmission was sent.

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"Sir, incoming hail from the natives!"

Sabelus stopped and looked towards the display screen.

"Accept it."

The image of the inside of a ships bridge appeared, recognizable by the computer systems and layout, despite the seeming primitive nature of said systems.

In it stood Matriarch Benezia, standing next to a-

What?

Some kind of pale Asari stood next to her.

She had relatively rough facial features, no distinguishable breasts, grey hair and more muscle than the average Asari.

Benezia spoke.

"I have made peaceful first contact with the EDF, which is a human defense organization that was functionally become their government after the near total collapse of all other nation states following the invasion of Earth by another race."

Chapter Text

Sabelus looked in shock at the Asariod human.

The resemblance was uncanny.

"I am Commander Sabelus of the Turian 122th Cruiser Division."

The "Human" looked at him before turning to speak at several of her bridge crew, the other hairy Asariods clearly not knowing what exactly to think of their guests.

Benezia began to speak.

"They are currently trying to get in contact with their command. I successfully melded with Ensign Herbert" she gestured to another Human, this one looking quite young for a Asariod. "And discovered their language and much of their recent history."

Sabelus approved of only using a Ensign for a Meld.

"I will send a detailed report once I have finished negotiations. I personally think the Hierarchy will get along well with these humans, and I have full confidence that we will peacefully establish contact with galactic society."

Sabelus nodded, and Benezia turned back to the Humans.

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Captain Richard Epcar looked at the stunned face of the EDF Chief Commander (ex EDF Japanese Branch Commander).

"They, they look just like us! Two arms, two legs, a head! These aliens are almost identical to humans! They even have EYES!"

He chuckled, before speaking.

"She can understand you."

His face when he realized that was something Epcar would treasure for the rest of hi-

Benezia cut off his thought.

"I am Matriarch Benezia of the Asari Republics, pleased to meet you."

"Oh, I am, uh, my real name is classified so call me..."

He looked around before a steely feminine voice answered his question.

"Call him John Doe."

Always on time, Tactics Officer.

Benezia, somehow managing to take this completely seriously, simply nodded and continued.

"I would like to establish formal contact between the Citadel Council and the EDF."

"John Doe" responded quickly.

"What is the Citadel Council? Is it the Republics equivalent of Parliament?"

Good guess, but given that blueberry looked like she was about to do a lot of complex explaining, it was presumably wrong.

"No, it is a intergalactic community including multiple species. The three most powerful species are allowed to appoint a single councilor, and the Council governs much of citadel space as a whole, determining trade laws, international borders, and such. Each individual government may choose to become part of the Council or remain outside of it, but even as a proper council member it retains full independence and control over internal matters. All members of the Citadel have the ability to voice their own concerns and desires to the Council proper.

While certain laws are required to be followed, they are for maintaining intergalactic peace. In addition, being part of the council will put you under the defense of the Turian Hierarchy, which is the most militarily powerful nation in existence."

John Does eyes poked up at that, obviously interested.

"Well, that all seems fine but shouldn't I negotiate directly with your "Council" on this?"

Benezia nodded.

"If needed we can provide transportation for you and your personal retinue."

His face shifted into one of deep thought, surprising Epcar who personally did not have that high of a opinion of his ability to do such a thing.

"Well, then we should probably decide when that will happen. Hmmmm, how about in a month? I need to finish up some business on Earth."

Benezia nodded.

"It was good to negotiate with you."

Chapter Text

Sabelus watched as Benezia's vessel returned to formation.

It seemed the first contact went well, without violence.

"Hail them."

The Asari Matriarch appeared on the screen.

"The negotiations were successful, the EDF is interested in continuing them on the Citadel. But I am worried about what will happen after that. These humans have been through enough, and need time to rebuild from their repeated invasions."

Sabelus nodded.

"Take us away, set course for the Citadel. We can debrief on the way."
----------------------------------------------------------------

Sparatus waited for Benezia and Sabelus to start speaking.

"Councilors, I would like to inform you of the result of the first contact with the Earth Defense Force, a organization acting as the government for the Humans after a pair of invasions by a as of yet uncontacted genocidal alien race left much of their planet in ruins, significant portions of their population dead, and every preexisting nationstate functionally destroyed.."

Sparatus nodded, but then stopped as he realized that the human government was called a Defense force. Huh.

Tevos spoke.

"Humans? That is what they call themselves?"

Benezia nodded.

"They call themselves Homo Sapiens, and are mammals incredibly similar to Asari."

Sabelus motioned to speak.

"They are almost identical, with the key differences being the presence of fur on their heads instead of crests and tan or brown skin."

"May I show a picture?"

Benezia raised her omni tool.

Tevos and Valern nodded.

A picture was broadcast, holographically projected into the air.

"What."

Tevos spoke as Sparatus stared at the strange Asari.

It was nearly identical to what he would imagine a Asari would look like without breasts or a crest if said Asari had pale, vaguely pinkish skin.

In addition, the Human had short graying hair covering her head.

Sabelus began to explain.

"They are very similar to Asari."

Benezia nodded.

"The main difference is skin and their head, but they also have two genders."

Benezia pulled up another picture.

A larger, more muscled human stood next to a slimmer one with prominent breasts.

"They are similar to most races in reproduction. With a male and female producing a child together through live birth."

This of course led to questions from the Asari in the room.

"Odd, especially that they are so like us in appearance."

Tevos seemed interested.

"Yes, I would recommend having our scientists determine if there is any relation."

As did Valern.

Sparatus considered this.

Benezia spoke, this time without a photo.

"They age at a similar rate to Turians however, with a average life expectancy of only 120 years naturally, but recently only 20 years.."

"Recently?" Tevos asked.

She nodded.

"They have been invaded multiple times by a alien species known to them as the Ravagers, a apt name given they ravaged much of their planet using incredibly advanced technology with the intention of completely exterminating them. It was only luck and sheer determination that allowed Humanity to survive at all, and the devastation from the war reduced most of their cities to rubble."

The Council paused, with Tevos and Valern taken aback.

Sparatus already felt some respect for these Humans.

Fighting off not one, but two invasions by more advanced aliens before even having space flight was very impressive, and would make any Turian proud.

"I, we should begin negotiations with their government to send relief at once!"

Tevos almost shouted.

Seems that their resemblance to Asari struck a nerve.

Not that he could blame her, it seemed that these Humans needed all the help they could get.

And who knows, maybe they would accept the Hierarchies protection in exchange for being made into a client race?

Benezia quickly nodded.

"I have already made arrangements, they will send a diplomatic team to the Citadel in 2 months. I will personally transport them to the Citadel as they lack space flight."

The Council agreed.

Chapter Text

Captain Richard Epcar looked over his command deck as Despina cruised to her dock.

While EDF had lost most of its navy to the Earth Eaters or the Motherships, Despina survived intact enough to be repaired, and she played a decisive role in winning the Second Ravager War.

And now she would play another decisive role in making contact with peaceful aliens.

"Sir, we will arrive in 20 minutes."

Epcar nodded.

"What of the Chief Commander?"

Ensign Dickens spoke from her communications console.

"He is waiting with his entourage, Storm Team has already arrived."

Epcar smiled.

If he knew one thing, it was that Storm Team would ensure the Commanders safety no matter what.

"Sir, we are docking."

Epcar sat down as Despina docked, her body moving into the titanic dockyard specifically constructed for Fortress Aircraft Carriers, the sun being blocked out by a wall of metal as they entered the steel cavern, spidery engineering vehicles and giant cranes moving to begin their tasks.

When the EDF fleet was first ordered, it was facilities like this one that built the new navy.

Epcar thought to his first deployment on Despina, the first time he saw her.

How it felt to look back at the corvette he previously commanded, then to the single largest warship ever built.

His reminiscing was cut off by one of his bridge crew speaking.

"Sir, we are docked. The Chief Commander would like to speak with you. Oh, and bring Ensign Herbert."

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

"John Doe", as Tactics Officer suggested his name should be anxiously waited for Captain Epcar to arrive.

He turned to Straussman, looking at her as she examined him for any fault in his uniform.

"You look decent."

Of course he was only decent.

Well, Tactics Officer was typically correct about this kind of thing.

The only thing sharper than her features was her mind, as her various successes in the field had demonstrated.

But those were also the result of EDF determination and willpower.

"Captain Epcar is here with Ensign Herbert."

John turned to look at the incoming people.

"CAPTAIN EPCAR REPORTING AS ORDERED, SIR!"

Herbert and Epcar both saluted.

"Ensign Herbert reporting as ordered, sir!"

Tactics Officer looked over them, before gesturing towards the Weapons Operator and Storm Team.

"Weapons Operator reporting as ordered, Commander!"

John felt his expression soften.

Weapons Operator was a example of how the Ravagers had destroyed the innocence of humanity of a whole.

She was petite, and young with soft features. And yet she had killed more Ravagers and saved more lives than most people in the EDF.

While in another time she might have been a civilian, now she was one of the most hardened soldiers he knew, ready and prepared for anything.

Storm Team reported as a single unit.

"STORM TEAM, REPORTING FOR DUTY AS ORDERED COMMANDER!"

Doe smiled.

With Storm Team, he could consider himself one of the safest people on the planet.

While they were hit hard by the retirement of Storm 3 and 4 after they both suffered severe injury in the battle with the Brain, they were still the deadliest soldiers on the planet.

Tactics Officer spoke.

"Now that everyone is here, we should begin to discuss what we will do about this "Citadel".

John nodded, and began to speak himself.

"As the men with the most amount of contact with the aliens, I would like to ask you for your suggestions."

Epcar seemed to think.

"My suggestion is accepting their offer for diplomacy. Herbert has spoke to me about what they are like, and it seems to me as if they are actually reasonable."

The EDF Chief Commander nodded.

"What are they like? They seem to be almost identical to us."

Epcar spoke.

"Herbert has the most knowledge about them, having psionically linked with one of the strange female aliens."

Herbert confirmed that with a nod and began to speak.

"They are essentially like us, the only real difference is that they are aliens."

Storm 1 spoke.

"We are leaving in a month, correct?"

Tactics Officer quickly confirmed.

"Yes, a Citadel vessel will take us to the Citadel for negotiations."

Storm 1 stepped back.

John thought.

"Well, then I believe this meeting is over."

Tactics Officer sighed in exasperation before quickly stopped him from leaving.

"BUT, I request that Ensign Herbert creates a document showing all information he has on the aliens."

Herbert saluted.

The meeting was over.

Chapter Text

The Asari vessel descended, landing on one of Despinas titanic flight decks.

It was large, around twice the size of a AC-2025 "Orca".

And K. Straussman, also known as the EDF Tactics Officer, watched as the sleek vessel dropped a large ramp.

While she hadn't personally faced the Ravagers in combat since her service in the Wing Divers, her blood still ran cold at the sight of the alien vessel.

Relax, it isn't Ravagers. The Asari are nice aliens, good aliens.

And yet she still wished she had a pistol on her.

"John Doe" walked up behind her.

"You sure you want to come? I mean, we still need someone running operations back here on Earth."

She shook her head.

"No. Epcar can handle it for now. And do you really think I would let myself miss the opportunity to be one of the first humans to make friendly contact with aliens? What, should I just trust you to ensure everything goes smoothly?"

John Doe nodded.

"I guess so."

A group of Asari walked down the ramp, clearly some kind of diplomatic team based on their elaborate dress.

John Doe quickly focused on them.

"Greetings, I am John Doe, Chief Commander of the Earth Defense Force."

Straussman recognized the first Asari.

"Matriarch Benezia."

The Asari was straight to the point.

"Tactics Officer."

Her voice was soft, and her clothes clearly designed to draw attention to certain features.

The other Asari were also dressed similarly, except for a pair of Asari completely covered in some kind of advanced armor system, obviously security.

The sight of alien weapons almost caused a panic attack, only for the realization that said guns were hilariously tiny compared to those used by the Ravagers replacing fear with amusement at how different things had become.

Benezia watched Straussman scan the diplomatic party.

"I suggest we board my ship. It will take us half a day to get to the Citadel from here."

Doe nodded.

The Asari turned and escorted Tactics Officer and the other human diplomats into the ship.

Upon entering it, the door sealed behind them and a artificial voice sounded.

They were in a clean white room, without any visible exits or entrances.

Benezia turned to the EDF diplomats.

"We are simply doing a routine decontamination. Making sure to wipe out all foreign bacteria and micro organisms that may have been brought on the ship."

Storm 1 nodded.

A mist filled the room, dissipating as soon as it appeared.

The voice sounded again and a door appeared in front of them, as part of the wall slid sideways.

"The decontamination was successful."

The Asari walked into the ship, and the humans followed, obviously uncomfortable about being inside of a alien spacecraft.

No need to worry. It is just a Asari ship. It is basically like Despina but smaller and it flies.

Oddly those thoughts failed to reassure Tactics Officer.

Memories of the last time she saw the inside of a alien vessel returned.

No.

She shook off the invasive thoughts and continued.

Hopefully the others are taking it better.

As they moved through the oddly beautiful and yet disturbing internals of the vessel, Benezia turned and walked into what was likely the Bridge.

She gestured to another Asari dressed in what she assumed was military garb. The Asari turned and began to activate something on a console, before Benezia turned to face a holoscreen that was projected from somewhere on the bridge.

"This is Benezia to Sabelus. We have successfully made contact and taken on the human diplomats."

A bizarre alien face appeared, that of a "Turian". While Straussman had been briefed on what to expect from the aliens, actually seeing them was something else.

It, no He, was covered in metallic plates.

His face was avian and yet reptilian at the same time, reminiscent of the dinosaurs she used to see in museums.

Tactics Officer could see how they would be good soldiers given their natural armor and presumably predatory nature, and each Turian in view were wearing some kind of armor or uniform.

The Turian spoke, his voice having a odd flang to it.

Benezia responded in a alien language.

She then turned and spoke to another Asari as the Turian vanished from the screen.

"Now, we have lifted off and are currently en route to the Citadel. We will arrive within a hours."

Tactics Officer did not even notice the ship lifting off.

That must be the work of the so called, "Mass Effect Core."

Apparently these aliens had the ability to increase and reduce the mass of a object using a special element, and she could easily see the widespread uses of such a ability.

In addition, apparently some aliens had small mass effect cores inside of them, allowing them to manipulate mass with their minds, almost as if they possessed some kind of powerful psionic ability.

Asari were apparently all "biotics", as these aliens called psionics.

That would make sense, as it was common knowledge only women could be psionic, and the all female Asari likely had incredibly advanced psionic abilities and technology.

Benezia turned to face the humans.

"I assume you would like a place to sit down, so please follow me into the recreation room."

The recreation room was large, even more spacious then the oddly roomy bridge and corridors, and had several alien couch like objects.

In the center of it was a holoprojector, which seemed to be playing some kind of alien news program.

"Oh, and if you have any questions just ask and I will answer to the best of my ability."

Tactics Officer grinned.

John Doe stepped back.

Chapter Text

"We have arrived."

The Asari operator announced as they reappeared in a flash of light.

"Bring us in, hail the Citadel."

Benezia watched as her ship cruised smoothly through the nebula, the youngest member of EDFs diplomatic part, a small girl with yellow hair and pale skin looking at the holographic representation of the ships exterior.

"Wow... never thought I would see one of these up close..."

Benezia smiled.

It was nice to see that EDF was slowly becoming less tense.

When they had first arrived their hands were held tight, eyes alert and scanning for danger.

Luckily it seemed that they were realizing that this wasn't a trap, that the Council wasn't like those things.

Benezia shook off the thought of the monsters that EDF had fought.

While she did not actually focus specifically on the moments Herbert had faced the "Ravagers" she had seen more then enough to understand their fear of aliens.

Memories of Herberts, that of a black tide of legs and jaws that consumed and massacred all in its path, of alien vehicles that cruised through the air with impossible, mechanical precision only matched by advanced drones.

The sky itself going dark as a chittering armada rises over the horizon and blots out the sun, the thunderous rumble of a million aerocar sized wings.

Benezia was shaken out of it by her pilot.

"We are docking now."

The ship emerged from the Nebula, and she could here several humans gasp at the sight of the Citadel.

The massive space station hung in space, the Citadel Defense Fleet in front of it, mere specs compared to the titanic Prothean structure.

While they did not seem very impressed with the Destiny Ascension, which they passed relatively close by, that was unsurprising as they had at one point operated a entire fleet of similarly sized vessels.

Either that or they were still staring at the Citadel proper.

They slowly pulled into dock, and connected to the Citadel.

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

Storm 2 marched next to Storm 1 as they left the ship.

The decontamination procedure was completed quickly, but she wasn't sure why they bothered with it.

After all, the last diseases and illnesses were exterminated years ago after the implementation of nanomachine hospitals.

But then again, she supposed that it was better to be safe then sorry.

The amount of people dead from preventable illness before EDF attested to that.

"Come, follow me." Benezia addressed the EDF diplomatic team and gestured for them to follow.

They walked onto a cleared section of the station, and Storm 2 looked around and winced as their were thousands of aliens surrounding them.

These aliens luckily had a significant resemblance to humans, which was enough to prevent her from instinctively raising her weapons to the ready. She still felt the smooth, cold metal of her Rapiers hilt as she firmly gripped it.

While most of the aliens were being held back by several groups of alien police officers, this wasn't very reassuring.

If they attacked, Storm 1 and 2 would be incredibly outnumbered, and while EDF weapons were strong trying to fight against the aliens and protect the diplomats at the same time would be impossible, especially in such foreign environment.

Luckily, the aliens seemed to be completely unarmed, most of them visibly shocked and confused themselves, and the diplomatic team was rapidly brought onto a strange flying vehicle and away from the prying eyes and flashing lights.

It took off without the typical roar of jet engines or thumping of rotors, and they watched the crowds disappear as they flew at high speed towards a tower, the aircraft somehow managing to avoid affecting them with G-Forces from the rapid shifts in course.

This must be the "mass effect core" that the aliens used.

Would make flying easier.

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

The diplomatic party arrived.

Sparatus prepared, making sure he was completely clean and well dressed.

He wanted to make a good impression.

Leaving his room, he quickly took the elevator to the Council Chamber, and took his seat.

Well, stand.

The EDF would soon be here.

Tevos walked in, wearing a well fitting suit that seemed to enhance her curves.

Damn Asari.

While he personally did not find her attractive, the humans might.

Valern arrived, no doubt absolutely bristling with various intelligence gathering equipment hidden within his formal attire.

Tevos spoke.

"Hopefully this goes well, EDF is reasonable from what Benezia had reported."

Sparatus nodded.

Valern seemed to think.

"I believe we will be able to successful negotiate with them."

Quite a insightful statement from the amphibian, but Sparatus could sense his unease.

"I hope so."

Sparatus agreed.

While they would likely not be willing to become a client species, he still was confident that he could negotiate with EDF.

The elevator finally arrived, and the humans stepped off it.

Their were 5 in total, two with weapons.

Sparatus held back a chuckle as Tevos's face momentarily because one of shock as she stared directly at the female soldier.

Seems like she is jealous.

The humans moved closer, and took their own positions.

"Greetings, I am Councilor Tevos of the Asari Republics, and my fellow Councilors are Valern and Sparatus, of the Salarian Union and Turian Hierarchy respectively."

The humans nodded, and a single human male stepped forward.

"I am the Chief Commander of the EDF, John Doe."

His voice was odd, very similar to that of a Asari.

"I am the Tactics Officer of EDF."

The taller, more mature human female introduced herself.

"I am the Weapons Operator of EDF."

The small, meek human female spoke.

"I am Storm 1 of the Ranger Corp."

The male in armor spoke.

"I am Storm 2 of the Wing Divers."

The female soldier introduced herself.

Tevos nodded.

"Now that we are introduced let us begin."

Chapter Text

The negotiations began.

Tactics Officer noticed to her annoyance that John Doe, while a experienced diplomat, was no match for Counclor Tevos and her likely hundreds of years of experience, having to intervene several times to stop him from making a poor deal.

Not that any of the deals and offers made by the Council were poor, given they all included incredible amounts of support that only a galaxy sized government could provide.

Trade deals were negotiated.

Borders were set.

A communications buoy giving (initially) limited Extranet access would be provided free of charge.

Regulations on imports and exports to protect Earths tiny economy.

Aid with rebuilding, and exchanges of technology, the Council wanting basic information and technical specifications on EDF Plasma Reactor, Nanomachine, and Force Field tech to start with in exchange for assistance with Eezo technology and advanced, extraordinarily lightweight computers.

The Turian Hierarchy wanted to station a defensive fleet over Earth until reconstructions were complete.

This was reluctantly accepted, as it wasn't like EDF was able to defend itself should the Ravagers come back.

Information on both governments was exchanged.

While the Turian Councilor approved, the others were less impressed by the EDFs mandatory civilian training, even if they were understanding.

Finally came the elephant in the room.

The Ravagers themselves.

While the Councilors were obviously briefed on them, the shock on their faces when descriptions of some of the Ravagers forces and invasion proved it was not indepth.

"You are telling me they used 10 metre long, 5,000 kg monsters capable of ripping apart tanks with their jaws as mere throwaway forces?"

Tactics Officer quickly responded.

"Yes, the Aggressive Giant Insect Alpha was one of the most common soldiers deployed by the Ravagers. They caused heavy casualties during the Wars, and have evolved into several variants, each more terrifying then the last."

Sparatus considered this.

"And with their ability to dig and breed rapidly... it is like the Rachni all over again."

Tactics Officer nodded.

"From what we have heard of the Rachni, they are very similar yet different."

While she personally doubted any connection, the idea that insectoid monsters were previously fought and exterminated by the Council was somewhat reassuring.

The discussion continued.

Hectors, Quadruped Fortresses, Drones, Flying Machines, Deroys, all were described to the growing concern of the Council.

The end result was the Council agreeing to begin to sweep Citadel space for any traces of the Ravagers, and a full scale investigation into records and historical databases to attempt to find any historical traces of Ravager activity, or other signs of their existence in Citadel space.

"Well then, I believe that is it." Tevos spoke in a soft and calm voice, obviously honed with years of practice.

"Yes, the EDF is grateful for the chance to speak with you." John Doe declared and began to prepare to leave.

Tevos nodded.

"The Council is grateful for the chance to speak with the EDF as well. Farewell, John Doe."

Upon entering diplomatic ship, Weapons Operator immediately collapsed onto her assigned bed, welcoming the soft fabric and promise of sleep.

Codex Citadel

Ravagers.

A until now unknown species, the Ravagers are a genocidal race with incredibly advanced technology which encountered and attempted to invade Earth, the home planet of the EDF and the human race. Search for their potential origins and territory is underway. No further information currently available.

Ravager Forces.

Hector.

A several story tall, 250 ton unmanned walking weapon clad in silver armor and armed with a wide variety of deadly weapons. EDF reports that these are effectively Ravager foot soldiers, and possess incredible combat power. Weapons include Particle Cannons, "Spark Launchers", and Plasma Cannons, all of which utilize as of yet understood phenomena to devastating effects to unfortunate targets, described by EDF internal documents with terms such as "spontaneous ablation", "instantaneous structural failure event", and "fatal plasmo-radiological thermal impulse" respectively for each weapon.

EDF records provided show the existence of a "Blue Hector", a variant which through means unknown generates a powerful electromagnetic barrier across its surface, providing resistance to attacks by kinetic and energy weapons alike. It is armed with advanced versions of the weapons previously described.

Drone.

Seemingly the standard Ravager aircraft, filling a similar role to Citadel fighters and attack craft. Similarly to the Hector, a Ravager Drone is seemingly unmanned, and possesses incredible acceleration capabilities combined with 360 degree flight via a "gravitational drive". It is lightly armored, and armed with a battery of particle cannons which cause similar if far less destructive effects on their targets to those used Hectors. EDF records show that these machines were typically deployed enmasse, with swarms of over 200 individual drones being common, with the single largest complement being sighted at the Third Battle of New Moscow (New Moscow), where Mothership 4 and 7 reportedly deployed "in excess of 5,245" drones to overwhelm EDF air forces.

Records show the existence of a "Red Drone", simply referred to as "Reds" in internal EDF documents, which possesses extraordinarily durable armoring and powerful "hypervelocity particle cannons", in addition to higher speed when compared to the standard Drone.

Wrex put down the omni tool.

Huh.

Seems these Ravagers had some pretty nasty weapons.

Makes a Krogan wonder if they could handle him.

Getting up from the bench and ignoring the concerned stares of the onlookers, he made way for the nearest port.

Chapter Text

The voyage home was pretty quick.

The engineering prowess of the Council was impressive, but it still was a little unnerving to be surrounded by alien technology.

By the end of it "John Doe" was practically flying onto Despinas bridge when they landed.

Based on the fact that Storm 2 literally flew away after leaving the vessel, the others were feeling similarly.

Debriefing was swift, as was decontamination by nano machine hunter killers, the tiny machines ruthlessly exterminating any foreign material.

EDF was not taking any risks, and full battery of tests was applied to the diplomatic team.

Once they were declared clean, John gave Storm Team a day of leave, knowing they would likely be wanting to get back into the action soon enough.

While the Ravagers were defeated, stranded war machines and giant insects were still a threat, and constant bombardment from aircraft was the only thing keeping them in check.

Global population of giant insects had long ago overtaken human populations, with over 200 million ants estimated to be living in the abandoned cities and ruined wilderness, and that was just those within range of EDF recon!

Luckily, Despina had erased the giant hives near the remaining major cities with her wave cannon, removing the threat of air attack for the moment.

Still, the campaign to exterminate all remaining giant insects would be a long one, and John wasn't even sure if EDF was capable of it on their own.

With the Council supporting... maybe.

They certainly had enough manpower.

But manpower was not nearly enough to handle the Ravagers.

John looked over the blue sea, taking note of the roar of jet engines in the distance.

"Negotiations went pretty well."

Tactics Officers voice caused him to jump, the steely eyed woman sneaking up on him.

"Yeah, they definitely knew what they were doing."

They both stood for a moment, before Tactics Officer moved over to look at something.

He followed, and they both stood right on the edge of the deck.

Below them various crewmembers went to and fro, busy as always, the red skies painting the scene with variety of colours.

The sounds of the sea was drowned out occasionally by the noise of engines, several vehicles moving on Despinas decks.

"I am going to get some rest, it has been a long day."

Leaving Tactics Officer to her duties, he made way to his room and dreamed of fire and blood, past battles and lost friends.

Chapter Text

Burning Skies.

"Break!"

The F-35s swerved, massive jet engines just barely throwing them out of the path of fire.

A salvo of superheated bolts of energy screamed through the space occupied by them seconds before, each one capable of blowing a man in half and turning metal to vapor.

The drones that fired them silently streaked past, the squadron of Ravager warmachines splitting to avoid the counter attack launched by Viper team.

One of the pale silver craft split upwards with impossible speed and smoothness, spinning around to begin another run before the humans could even evade.

It fired, crimson energy bolts leaping from its thin wings with deadly precision, ripping and melting several fist sized holes in one of the aircrafts wings.

The other banked, letting the drone fly passed before falling in behind it.

"I AM HIT, EJECTING!"

The pilots panicked cry came through the radio as he shot out of the cockpit, the stricken aircraft exploding in a ball of fire.

"Fox 1!"

The missile streaked from under the F-35s wing, crossing the distance between the jet and drone in mere seconds.

Boom.

The drone was struck as it slowed, one "wing" ripped clean off, the Ravager machine sent spiraling out of control.

"WE GOT ONE!"

The pilot cheered, before veering out of the way of another drone, this one chasing a F-16.

"I NEED SUPPORT!"

Cursing, he brought his aircraft around, only to nearly collide with another aircraft chasing after another drone.

The F-16 vanished from sight, diving into a cloud to avoid its pursuer.

"Omega 5, do you read me?"

Omega 5, the F-16 in question responded quickly and with fear in his voice.

"I read, I am-" he was cut off by a explosion "I am fine, just got a drone or two on my tail."

Omega burst from the clouds tailed by several drones, desperately bobbing and weaving as the killer machines slowly caught up with him.

"I see you, guns, guns, guns!"

The 25mm automatic revolver cannon in the nose of the F-35 spun up, General Electrics finest sending a hail of metal into the drones, forcing them to evade.

In retaliation, the unmanned hunter killers spun in place, bringing their own deadly weapons to bear.

With a shrill hiss the photon cannons fired, and the F-35 launched chaff and flares to confuse the machines as it banked to the left.

Several shots barely missed, the others harmlessly flying into the horizon.

The drones accelerated, moving to cut off angles of escape for the aircraft.

"THIS IS USS NIMITZ, COMING TO SUPPORT!"

A white wall of smoke came from below, hundreds of missiles guided onto their alien targets by the most powerful sensors mankind had ever created.

Following the missiles were carrier jets, F-18s and 35s in the hundreds soaring into the combat area.

The sky was lit up by several massive fireballs, drones falling out of the sky as the US Navies wrath was unleashed.

Having lost much of its forces to the failed attempt to hold the Ravagers in the Mediterranean, the Navy was back with a vengeance.

"WE GOT TRANSPORT SHIPS INCOMING, YOUR NEW OBJECTIVE IS TO PROVIDE SUPPORT TO THE GROUND FORCES! THERE IS STILL OVER HALF A MILLION PEOPLE DOWN THERE, WE MUST HOLD THE LINE."

The surviving fighters cheered and dove, diving through the clouds.

Some of them broke off, returning to the makeshift airbase to refuel and re arm.

Viper Team, a squadron of 12 F-35A "Lighting 2s", descended to only 10,000 feet.

Following them came Omega Team, with the others hot on their heels.

Beneath them the evacuation continued, brave police officers and national guard packing as many civilians as possible into buses and transports, the line of trucks stretching for as far as the eye could see.

A child waved at them as they flew past, and the pilots spirits soared.

This is what they were fighting for.

This is what they were protecting.

"WE GOT INCOMING, RADAR SAYS 20, NO, 50 TRANSPORT SHIPS ESCORTED BY THOUSANDS OF DRONES."

Steeling their hearts, the fighters flew to meet them head on.

As they did, the Commander in Chief came over the radio.

That was impossible, he was supposed to have been evacuated hours ago!

"To all Americans, this is the President speaking.

I know that many of you believed that I had already left the city, but instead of running and hiding from the enemy while I send brave soldiers to their deaths I have decided to stand with those on the front lines!

We are here not because we have to be, but because we WANT to be. Because every last man, woman, and child in America is in danger. The enemy is coming, there is no doubt about that. They are coming in numbers sufficient to blot out the sun.

They are coming with monsters, and slaughter machines, and things even I can't imagine. But I know this:

No matter what the odds are, no matter if we face hell itself,

WE. WILL. HOLD. THE. LINE!."

As he spoke his voice rose up to a thunderous crescendo, raw might and human emotion ablaze in his words.

"WE WILL MEET THEM HEAD ON, AND WE WILL FIGHT UNTIL THE END!

FOR EVERY HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND BOUGHT BY OUR BLOOD, OUR PEOPLE HAVE A CHANCE TO SURVIVE!

AND THAT IS WHAT WE ARE FIGHTING FOR, NOT NATION, NOT RELIGION, NOT RACE, BUT FOR HUMANITY AS A WHOLE!

SO THAT WHEN THE SUN RISES IN THE MORNING OVER THE REMNANTS OF OUR WORLD, OUR CHILDREN CAN WAKE UP AND LOOK TO THE HEAVENS WITH HOPE!

THIS IS THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO ALL SURVIVING HUMAN FORCES,

COMMENCE OPERATION BURNING SKIES!"

The transport ships entered view, titanic metal disks with a pair of nacelles branching from their rear.

Bizarre glowing runes covered their silver frames, glowing a unearthly red.

Escorting them were hundreds of drones, each one a self contained fully autonomous slaughter machine.

The transport ships were the larger threats despite being unarmed, acting as flying aircraft carriers for the other Ravager forces.

As the fighters dived on the Ravager machines, the drones split off from their motherships and charged without care into the fray.

Streaks of light crossed the sky followed by explosions as human and alien were sent spinning out of the sky by the others weapons, missiles and photon cannons exchanging fire on a scale unprecedented.

Viper Team broke formation just in time to avoid a swarm of drones, the alien machines turning impossibly fast to follow their human prey.

Just as the drones closed with their targets, Omega Team intervened.

While their F-16s were not as advanced as the F-35s flown by Viper, they were just as effective in the trained hands of Omega.

Like a flash of lightning the aircraft descended onto their foe, casting them down with missile and cannon, drones cut down by the tens.

"Good kills Omega!"

The F-16s broke off towards another furball.

Viper Team flew into the thick of the fighting, a massive dogfight between F-18s and over 50 drones.

Missiles streaked from hardpoints to their targets, slamming into drones and sending them crashing out of the sky.

The drones responded with impossible maneuvers followed by hails of energy bolts, several aircraft torn apart, pilots ejecting from their doomed planes.

Viper 1 turned to chase a drone, the machine just barely avoiding his fire.

He banked, chasing the aircraft as it dived towards the ground.

Holding down the trigger, Viper 1 dragged his 25mm cannon over the drone, the line of shells piercing the armoring of the machine and causing it to burst into a ball of flame.

A blue flash and Viper 2 went down, a stream of fire from the ground bisecting his Lightning and sending molten chunks of metal raining on the streets below.

"WE GOT HECTORS ON THE GROUND, EVASIVE MANEUVERS!"

Viper Team broke off, twisting and weaving through fire as multiple other aircraft went down.

On the ground, a pair of titanic walking machines, steel soldiers over 50 feet in height, strode out of the dust and smoke.

Each one was inhumanly thin, almost skeletal. In complete silence, they raise their massive weapons and fired.

The humans responded in kind, the ground shaking as the apocalyptic fury of those still standing was unleashed.

Even when the Ravager forces blotted out the very Sun, brave soldiers held the line to the last.

Every second bought was a live saved, and when the final man fell...

A light.

And clouds were shattered, the sky itself torn asunder by atomic fire.

Chapter Text

EDF FIELD GUIDE VERSION 2024

READING CREDENTIALS...

CREDENTIALS ACCEPTED.

WELCOME BACK, RICHARD EPCAR.

Entry select:

EDF Air and Space Force.<

EDF Air and Space Force Aircraft.<

EDF FIGHTERS.<

EDF EJ-25

A further development of the EJ-24 used in 2017, the EJ-25 is the standard fighter of the EDF. It is powered by a single high performance fusion jet, giving it the ability to super cruise at mach 2.6. The cockpit is fitted with a helmet mounted display system allowing the pilot to see through the aircraft and give commands with his or her voice. Armament is pair of 30mm UT-10 rotary cannons with 900 rds and up to 10,000 kg of ordinance carried in a single internal bay and several externally mounted weapons pods, able to be fitted with everything from micro missile launchers to Vulture laser cannons. The most advanced feature is a reflector mounted on the nose of the aircraft, a advanced piece of technology which uses incredibly powerful but short lived force and electromagnetic fields to reflect objects, typically weapons fire, in the opposite direction from which they entered. Range is in excess of 12,000 nautical miles, and the max altitude is over 70,000 feet allowing it to engage suborbital targets.

EDF EX-26

A advanced air superiority fighter, the EX-26 is notable for being exclusively piloted by female pilots due to its advanced psionic link control system. The pilot controls the aircraft as if it were their own body, allowing near instantaneous reaction times and super maneuverability. Due to the weight of the armored cockpit, ejection is impossible short of detaching the entire cockpit. Engines are a pair of thrust vectoring plasma jets in combination with several smaller maneuvering hyperchemical thrusters, the plasma jets powered by a single 250 mW grade plasma reactor. Maximum speed at altitude is in excess of mach 3. Armament is a pair of nose mounted Psiblade 5S psionic blade projectors and twin wing mounted Mirage Rapid EXs. Both types of weapons are Directed Energy Weapons, and both can be manually guided via the brainwaves of the pilot to ensure exceptional homing capability. Range and altitude is effectively unlimited, as is ammunition, but constant use of all systems can overtax the reactor and force a period of cooldown. Orbital flight is capable with reduced effectiveness, and the EX-26 is not armed with heavy anti ship weapons.

Chapter Text

"You want to do WHAT?"

Aria T'Loak, Pirate Queen of Omega, stared in confusion at the Batarian slaver in front of her. Had she been stupid, she would have merely taken him for a idiot thinking he could pick on the new kids on the block, somehow thinking the "EDF" was a easy target. The subtle tilt of his head down and the presence of a well clothed Batarian that had done nothing since he came in but watch the slaver and occasionally raise his omni tool to his mouth told her that wasn't true. Seems the Bartarian Special Intervention Unit wanted to get information on EDF abilities directly, and probably remove a loose end while doing so.

"That is a nice offer, but no. I do not believe your little operation could succeed, and even if it could, it would not be worth it."

The man looked over his shoulder towards the agent, before nervously continuing.

"I don't need much, just for you to stall the defense fleet a few hours. And if I do succeed, you will be given a fair share of the spoils."

Aria began to laugh, before stopping abruptly and glaring the slaver dead in the eyes.

"75%"

The shocked expression of the Batarian perfectly matched his strained and bewildered response.

"What?"

Aria sighed and lounged back on her chair, while her security officers began to grip their weapons tight.

"You heard me. 75% of the loot, take it or leave it."

The Batarian began stuttering.

"B-but then even if I do succeed I get nothing! How could you consider that a fair deal?!?"

The fact he was raising his voice to a shout showed he had forgotten just who he was talking to. A quick display of biotic power that sent him to his knees shook him back to reason, and he began to stammer a apology before Arias single raised finger silenced him.

"Shut. The fact I am even considering supporting your insane scheme is more then you deserve, and unless you want to fight through a entire Turian battlegroup you WILL find my offer fair and final."

He rapidly nodded.

Aria tilted her head to the right, the Batarian equivalent of telling someone that she owned them.

"Now do we have a deal?"

The slaver managed to get out a "Yes" before quickly leaving the club. Aria turned to watch the SIU agent give her a knowing look, before he followed the other four eyes out of Afterlife and into the neon illuminated streets of Omega. Aria took a moment to relax, taking in the strobing lights of the club and the electronic Salarian music blaring.

"Good riddance, I was getting close to smashing that idiot like a damn bug."

Grizz, her right hand man, nodded and gazed over the club.

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

EDF FIELD GUIDE VERSION 2024

READING CREDENTIALS...

CREDENTIALS ACCEPTED.

WELCOME BACK, RICHARD EPCAR.

EDF Ground Forces<

EDF Infantry<

EDF Ground Forces Infantry Weapons<

M1 Stingray Personnel Artillery Piece.

Classified as a personal artillery device to denotate its use as both a anti infantry, anti air, and anti robotic weapon, the M1 Stingray was the first weapon, and as such first rocket launcher, designed for and built by the EDF, all the way back in 2017. The massive number procured of both the launcher itself and its powerful 102mm HEAT rocket has ensured it remained in use by the EDF as a reserve weapon up until today. The modern version of the Stingray features minor improvements, specifically in that it can now fire modern, improved ordnance. It is otherwise the same multi shot, reliable weapon that will be familiar to almost all EDF veteran frontline personnel.

Chapter Text

Sirens.

The screaming of the “Howling Banshee” sirens echoed through the tight metal corridors of Base 354. Soldiers scrambled awake, rushing to their feet and equipment lockers.

Sargent Juan "John" Heinlein, startled awake, groaned as his somewhat blissful sleep was ruined.

“Damn! Must be another flock of hornets, eh?”

Michelle “Frosty” Freda, his room mate and the meanest girl he ever knew cursed as she rolled out of her bed and threw on her jet black undersuit with a scowl on her face.

He quickly put on his own, ignoring the cold texture of the rubber composite and dashing out the door.

The long grey walls of corridor were sporadically illuminated by the flashing red light of the sirens, and he could see other soldiers rushing from their own rooms towards the equipment lockers.

He fell into line behind some men and women from Ranger Unit 26, Michelle keeping pace with him.

His fellow Power Frame pilots scrambled to fall in line, before the soldiers dispersed throughout the massive reinforced armory that contained the equipment lockers. He ignored the low whine of the ZE Gun turrets mounted on the ceiling as he passed underneath them, and rushed to his locker.

Fencers and Rangers rushed to and from their own lockers, and he lost sight of Freda momentarily before she reappeared from the mass of people.

Reaching into his locker, Heinlein grabbed his armor and suited up quickly before leaving towards the Power Frame Hanger, Freda in close pursuit.

“Damn, what do you think it is this time, more bugs or a abandoned robotic?”

Freda glanced at him as they ran, pale face hidden by her helmet.

“Probably just more bugs, but it must be something serious if they are scrambling everyone.”

Juan nodded, before coming to a stop as he reached the Power Frame Hangar.

“Come on, suit up!”

Freda yelled as she leapt into her own unit, strapping into the giant robot.

Juan grinned and climbed into his own suit, strapping in and feeling the electricity surge through the vehicle before lifting the frames arm with the movement of his own, closing his fist and watching the skeletal graspers do the same.

Freda did the same, and ran though the check list at breakneck speed, testing hydraulics and thrusters before using the machines arms to pick up and mount a pair of titanic rotary cannons on the underside of each arm. Ceiling mounted mechanical pistons placed a pair of VLS racks on each shoulder, and Freda slammed shut the canopy of the machine.

She raised both arms into the air, revolver cannons spinning as she roared through the speakers.

“All systems go, Möbius 2 ready for deployment!”

Juan mounted his own weapons, his own pair of rotary cannons. A pair of chirps confirmed the successful installation of the weapons, then he raised his (human) hand and pressed a small red button on each side of the cockpit.

With a mechanical hiss, his own VLS was mounted on each of the machines shoulders.

As the vehicle began feeding information on the diagnostics of the suit, Juan slammed the canopy of the frame shut, fully covering him.

A rush of air filled the cockpit as the CBN protection systems activated and it sealed, completely airtight with no gaps that might allow the acid of a giant insect to seep through. A incredible amount of information was displayed and cleared from the screen by the pilot in seconds, and he activated the floodlights of the BM 03 Vegalta as he repeated Fredas declaration.

“ALL SYSTEMS GO, MÖBIUS 1 DEPLOYING!”

Chapter Text

Breaking into a sprint, Juan pushed his Vegalta to the limit as he rushed towards the intercept point. Checking over his shoulder to see the other member of Möbius keeping pace, he sighed.

Barely a month of peace and they were once again back in the fire. While he wasn't complaining, it would have been nice to have some actual time to rest.

God knows Frosty needs it...

While everyone was hit hard by the Ravagers, Freda had a particular hatred of them. It was understandable, few people would forgive those who killed their family. Especially not a girl like her, who would casually hold a grudge against someone who cut in front of her in the mess hall for 1 year, 5 months, 21 days.

"This Scout 27, intercept point is clear, no bugs in sight!"

Based on the trajectory of the bogeys, they would land somewhere in a abandoned metropolis a few miles from the actual EDF base. Apparently, from what he had managed to pick up on, they were not part of the Citadel Council the friendly aliens had, but were instead pirates.

While normally he would find the notion of fighting alien pirates funny, fighting 10 meter insects and literal fire breathing dragons made the concept downright normal.

He leapt, Vegalta propelled into the air by powerful hydraulics, and seeing he wouldn't quite clear the ruins of a house he fired his thrusters.

Twin wings of fire blasted from the back of his frame, causing it to shoot clean over the building and come down hard.

It took a half a second for the machine to recover, and Juan was already starting to run when Freda came over the building herself, brilliant gold paint job reflecting the dim afternoon light.

The pair continued to move, before coming to a stop a few hundred meters outside the skeletal city. The wall of steel seemed to stretch up and to the sides forever, desolate and empty.

"Hundreds of thousands of people used to live here, now its just a ghost town..."

Freda muttered under her breath.

"I will make them pay."

Looking into the vast blue sky above, Juan could swear he saw a burst of red among the heavens.

Wait.

A streak of fire hurtled into the sky, and another burst appeared as it left view.

Followed by another.

"This is Strategic Command Headquarters, hostile vessels have begun to attempt earth fall. All units are to be on high alert, we will broadcast the results of the space battle to you."

Juan shrugged, the movement copied by the Vegalta.

"Well then, lets get into position."

He began to run, moving into the empty city, ignoring the fact that the area was dead silent.

Freda pursued, and the two began to seek out a ambush position. While attempting to ambush a enemy that you knew little about was difficult, it was possible, and finding a proper position was crucial.

He leapt onto a small building, before using it as a launch platform onto a larger one.

Having the high ground was always a good choice.

"This is Weapons Operator, all silos, open, Despina, locked on!"

A few moments later several streaks of orange light shot into the heavens at a speed that would have seemed impossible just 20 years ago.

"Tempests away, impacting in 10 seconds!"

The pair looked over the city scape, the orange of the sun reflecting off of grey concrete and steel.

"IMPACT! All targets destroyed!"

The voice was cut off by the Tactics Officers, anxiety obvious in her own.

"Hostile warships have launched dropships, and begun counter fire."

Several speck of light fell from the sky in the distance, crashing down to earth. They weren't close, being over 50 kilometers away, but even then he could tell that the impact was devastating.

Despina...

They must be trying to suppress EDF ground defenses.

Panicked and frenzied screams and calls for aid burst through the radio as the last of the shots impacted.

Tuning out the radio chatter, Juan concentrated on his sensors.

Suddenly, several red blips appeared on his radar, the objects descending at a blazing speed towards the city.

Each one was around 5 meters in length, quite small, but given the technology of the aliens...

They must be the dropships.

"Möbius 2! Heads up, hostile aircraft incoming at 1250 kph!"

Freda reacted, rotating the top of her Vegalta to face the incoming dropships. They were nearly in visual range now, and the Vegalta chirped as its VLS systems locked onto them. All 10 of them.

"Damn, we are heavily outnumbered... fire a salvo, then retreat."

He could see them now, 10 small aircraft that resembled a flying box more then anything that should be airborne.

They were of various makes and models, weapons hanging of the sides of them, doors opened like the helicopter gunships of the pre war world. Nose art depicting a variety of alien and familar objects and scenes adorned the fronts of some, while others were completely bare.

The head aircraft entered range, and was met by twin streams of fire from Fregas revolver cannons.

The object seemed to shimmer for a second before the shells began ripping into it, causing it to fall from the sky like a rock.

Juan also opened up, his own fire impacting another dropship to once again being met by a odd shimmer, but no actual damage.

He continued firing, and eventually whatever was blocking his fire disappeared and the vehicle exploded as the shells torn through it.

"FIRE MISSILES!"

The deadly projectiles launched from the shoulders of the Vegaltas, soaring above before dropping onto the aircraft, exploding into balls of fire.

Some fell, but yet again some managed to survive, shimmering barriers blocking the explosions. They returned fire, cannons blazing with strange light that launched streaks of silver at the machines. Frega was hit, multiple times by the projectiles, flashes of light as the rounds glanced off her Vegalta, inflicting damage to the outer plating. A streak impacted the arm of the machine, and part of it was torn off. Another smashed clear into the chest of the Power Frame, and Juan realized that the powder exiting the impact crater was the pulverized remains of armor and shell, turned into dust by the impact.

"PULL BACK!"

Juan leapt back, firing his jump jets as he did to control his fall.

He impacted the earth with a crash, Frega landing next to him a second later. Her Vegalta was damaged, dents and scrapes in the more heavily armored sections, and holes in the lighter areas.

"FROSTY, STATUS REPORT!"

She replied with a shaky voice.

"Damn, they got me pretty good. No penetration of the cockpit, but my left cannon is screwed and another shot to the chest would go clean through."

Juan responded as he shifted to face a dropship that dived onto the pair, maneuvering through the tight skyscrapers easily.

"We have to find cover! They will tear us apart in the open!"

Frega leapt back to avoid the hail of fire, and launched a pair of missiles that sent the dropship spiraling to the ground. Another one rounded a corner, before it landed and several humanoid figures left it.

The humanoids began firing at them, miniature versions of the weapons on the dropships impacting to little effect.

Freda raised her good arm and fired, the hail of shells tearing through the aliens like paper, shimmers appearing only to "pop" a millisecond later, the humanoids impacted dying instantly.

One of them, which resembled a blue woman, raised her arms and to Juans shock a ball of... something materialized and launched at high speed at Fredas Vegalta.

It impacted, and the armor touched seem to warp and distort, being wrenched apart. Several aliens begin concentrating fire on the shot, shells that were previously glancing off now starting to tear off small chunks of armor. He quickly responded by laying down a wall of fire that blew apart the dropship and sent the aliens to the ground.

Several of them tried to get back on their feet, but Freda swept her cannon across the area, tearing them and the wreckage of the dropship apart.

The pair of remaining dropships roared overhead, almost seeming to weigh the odds of attacking the pair of Vegaltas.

Juan advanced, raising his nearly spent cannons towards them while opening and closing his VLS pods.

The blue woman slowly stood up, watching the dropships fly off into the distance before dropping her weapon as she looked up to the Power Frame towering over her.

She raised her hands in the universal sign of surrender.

Chapter Text

Pathetic.

That is what Wrex thought of these pirates.

Looking across the cramped bay of the tin can they considered a shuttle, he examined the expression on the face of the poor Turian that was clearly on something.

Damn, this really is a cake walk if they are sending this group of idiots.

He took note of the way the Turians armor was haphazardly thrown on, the sorry state of his rifle, a Batarian made toy fit for a Vorcha.

If anything the Codex said was true, a weapon like that wouldn’t even piss off the wildlife on the ground here.

Wrex lifted his own weapon slightly. It was a heavy sniper rifle made by a Turian company. Even he had to admit the Turians made some pretty awesome weapons.

While the rifle had the slight drawback of being able to only fire a single shot before overheating, said single shot could blow a hole clean through a Elcor.

He thought for a moment.

The side of one.

The shuttle suddenly shifted, the pilot beginning to scream.

The pirates took this as cause to start yelling themselves, a cacophony of different languages and accents.

Wrex merely looked towards the cockpit, his eyes widening as a shuttle ahead of his burst into flame and went spinning out of view.

The shuttle dived, the passengers thrown back into their seats as the pilot deactivated the inertial dampeners in favor of increasing speed, roaring through the air at a near vertical dive.

Within seconds the ground had entered view, the shuttle reactivating inertial dampeners and pulling up sharply just in time to avoid a hill, weaving through the mountainous area at low altitude.

Wrex stood up, ducking to avoid running into the relatively low ceiling, before the side doors opened revealing rolling hills covered in green plant life. Several large holes occasionally broke the ground, each one large enough to drive a Tomkah into.

Another pirate walked to the door, looking out and quickly noticing the holes as well.

“What do you think made em?”

His voice was rough and gravelly, and Wrex turned to face a scarred Batarian with a cruel grin.

Wrex thought, then answered in a deadpan.

“Thresher Maws.”

The pirates grin suddenly disappeared.

“Thresher Maws? Seriously?”

Wrex nodded.

“Yeah, and big ones.”

The pirate took a step back.

“You’re joking.”

Wrex stared him dead in the eyes.

“No, last time I saw holes like that one the size of a frigate came out of the ground and nearly swallowed me whole."

The Batarian began looking over his shoulders at the holes, staring into the abyss, likely imagining the titanic subterranean beasts that dwelled within.

“Out of the 20 people on that contract, I was the only one to survive.”

The pirate quickly went back to his seat, allowing Wrex to resume examining the landscape.

The shuttle decelerated, coming to a stop a meter above a small primitive building constructed of wood and plaster. Several others stood nearby, and in the distance a much large group of buildings were clearly visible.

Wrex dropped out of the ship and rushed into cover, ignoring the cries of the pirates as they too left the dropship and began running towards the town.

Watching the shuttle pull away, Wrex pulled up his omni tool and started collecting data.

Hopefully the STG would be less pushy, or less obvious the next time they wanted him to do their dirty work.

At least the pay is good.

Chapter Text

The first thing Wrex noticed on entering the human structure was how small it was. Of course, that made sense, given these humans were supposedly the size of Asari at best, but it didn’t make slamming his head into a doorframe any less embarrassing.

Ducking under the offending structure, he scanned the small room he found himself in, searching for both any danger and anything his employers would be interested in.

Anything of cultural or technological importance.

Importance meaning what is obviously commonly used or could be used to gain more insight into humanity, in this case.

The place looked abandoned, and in a hurry, dilapidated clothing left on racks and chairs left pushed out, pillows and random objects laying on the floor, a blanket left in a bundle on a couch.

Wrexs eyes locked onto a framed picture on a small wooden structure.

He picked it up, and examined it. It captured a small group of humans, two males and two females, with one older male and one older female standing begin a pair of children and smiling.

Taking a moment to consider how convenient it is that most races expressed happiness through the same facial expression, he carefully put the object into a small container, the picture suspended in the air by Mass Effect fields to avoid damage from collisions or sudden movement. Just because he knew exactly what it was didn't mean that the Suits wouldn't find it useful.

Turning around, Wrex moved through the nearest doorway, entering a small kitchen area, with primitive cooking equipment and a table. Cabinets were left flung open, a small line of native lifeforms not even the size of a credit chip crawling up the wall into what must have been leftover food. Ignoring them, Wrex opened one of the still closed pantries and grabbed a pair of boxes of food, the logo on the front of them showing a smiling man wearing a uniform and giving a thumbs up.

He took a quick snap of the text: “Ranger Rations”

Oddly, one of the boxes was ripped open on a slight seam in the odd, flimsy material, a single package missing. There didn’t appear to be any signs of animal activity, meaning that a human must have done this.

Wrex grabbed a handful of the packages and placed it in another container before heading up the wooden stairway to the second story of the building.

The second story consisted of a hallway leading to a large room with a bed, a second room branching off from the main corridor halfway down it. Once again both were left open, the larger room possessing a large, flat, black object of some kind adjacent to the bed, mounted on the wall.

The smaller room had a interesting arrangement, with a single bed below another one, the top one like the larger bed still perfectly made, the bottom one seemingly having been left as it was the last time it was used. Several small toys were scattered on the floor, Wrex slightly smiling as he noticed that some of them were miniature representations of military vehicles. While they obviously weren’t as functional as Krogan military toys, it was still interesting to see that the humans had much the same ideas for childrens toys.

He grabbed one, a tiny armored vehicle with as single large turret and gun, shoved it in a container and made his way back down the stairs, the sound of something moving outside catching his attention as he did.

He rounded a corner and spotted something quickly dart across his field of view. Reaching for his sidearm, Wrex stalked towards the disturbance in near silence.

Another sound, that of something light rapidly moving over the wooden floorboards.

Wrex shot around the corner, side arm raised before coming to a immediate halt. A small human, likely a child, stood staring at him in what was likely shock and confusion.

Wonderful.

Wrex took note of her disheveled appearance and nearly slapped himself when he put the state of the food items and the lower bed together.

The girl started to open her mouth to scream, before she was silenced by Wrex crossing the distance between the two with a single step and covering her mouth.

Switching on his translator, he hoped the tech head who programmed it did a good job as he attempted t-

The child slammed her fists into his stomach to no effect, before attempting to make a break for it. She dived, letting his hand slide off her before preforming what he could only describe as a attempt at a combat roll backwards out of reach.

Wrex thought quickly, and opted for moving in between her and the doorway, only to be shocked at the human attempting to bust out the window by rolling into it, only to come to a immediate stop as she went motionless, gazing out the window.

He followed her stare, and glimpsed a massive black object cross his line of sight, the thin thing stretching out of view, before vanishing behind a house.

What the hell...

The girl began to slowly walk backwards, shivering in terror as a loud clicking, like that of a titanic switch being flipped repeatedly came from behind the house in front of him. A long black form stretched from behind it, spindly and thin, before the tip of it slammed into the ground with incredible force.

Another entered view, then another, these ones merely hovering above the ground and twitching, all three objects over 5 meters in length. It was when the next two came around the building that Wrex realized they were legs.

Chapter Text

Wrex silently raised his sidearm, slowly approaching the girl from behind, keeping the weapon aimed at the... thing that was on the other side of the street.

The clicking noise came again, the pair of what he realized must have been massive feelers twitching as it did. Another leg came out from behind the building, this one coming crashing down onto a small wheeled vehicle, ripping into the metal and crushing it.

The girl jumped at him lightly touching her shoulder, shocked back into her senses, before turning around to see him cover her mouth with his hand.

Thinking quickly, Wrex remembered Asari body language for shut the hell up and shook his head as he mimicked closing his mouth and covering it.

The girl either got the idea or was simply too busy being terrified to scream, a tiny squeak all that escaped her as Wrex let go of her and holstered his sidearm. Silently reaching for the massive rifle on his back, Wrex kept a eye on the feelers of the creature.

The thing moved, with strange twitching motions as it stepped out into the open on too many gigantic legs. Wrex felt his blood run cold at the sight of the massive insectoid form, before he lowered his rifles barrel directly onto a massive, black, soulless compound eye that seemed to follow his movement with a small section of shimmering hexagons.

Above the eyes, two feelers came from the top of its oval head, twitching and flinching as the creature repeatedly opened and closed its razor jaws, each one less a jaw and more a massive blade of chitin over 2 meters long, the sound of the mandibles sliding over each other producing the loud clicking noise.

Wrex stared down the iron sights of his rifle, and silently began to squeeze its trigger when the thing twitched and moved, darting across the road at a incredible speed, and vanishing out of view.

He stood still for another minute, waiting to see if the creature was truly gone. The girl stood silent, occasionally shivering, before she finally looked up towards the door.

Which was now unguarded.

The girl looked from Wrex to the door, then back out the window, before looking him in the eyes and beginning to quickly walk backwards into the kitchen.

“Wait, I am not going to harm you.”

Attempting to speak to her in a voice that was better suited for young Varen might have been a mistake, but the translator must have worked because she immediately stopped in favor of staring in confusion.

She squeaked something at him in a odd language, falling backwards as she scrambled into a pantry.

Wrex calmly and smoothly advanced, holstering his weapon before holding his hands up to show he meant no harm to her.

“I am not going to harm you, I was just taking a look around when you surprised me. Now I would like to continue with my...”

He considered what to call what he was doing, not wanting to outright state that he was basically a spy.

“...investigation into Earth.”

The girl seemed to perk up at the last word, before reluctantly nodding and saying one word.

“EDF?”

What is that supposed to mean.

The girl looked almost expectantly at him, but she was clearly still highly distressed.

“Yes?”

Her facial expressions slightly relaxed, or at least Wrex thought they did. If human body language was similar to Asari, then he would say she was no longer completely terrified.

“Look kid, I don’t want to eat you or turn you to soup or anything, I just want to get on with my mission and get it done before some 50 foot robot comes smashing in and killing everything.”

The girl seemed to get some of it.

“But... I will be damned if I leave you alone with some kind of super Rachni abomination lurking around here. So you are coming with me.”

Not that he would have left her there anyways, given that she would have probably been discovered by the pirates after they returned to the drop zone.

Chapter Text

Shattered Skies

Richard Epcar watched as a group of red dots moved smoothly past the line representing Mid Earth Orbit, representing the alien vessels streaking across the void towards Earth.

Having been alerted by the immense surge of energy from the titanic "Mass Relay", EDF knew to expect visitors. Based on the fact that said visitors hadn't actually responded to their hails and did not match the admittedly limited database of Council designs, High Command had decided to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

While according to what information was available on Citadel Space there were no current major conflicts, it was stated that apparently there were some... pirates.

Literal pirates, complete with alien equivalents of the Jolly Roger, this time taking the form of a specific type of transmitted message that indicated to the receiving civilian ship that they should surrender or lose not only their cargo but also their lives instead of the good old fashioned clothe flag.

In addition, Earth was apparently located with the "Attican Traverse", which was the closest thing to a Frontier that existed in Citadel Space, being on the edge of the lawless Terminus Systems, the home of pirates, slavers, and rogue states, a no mans (aliens?) land that the Citadel does not police.

Due to these factors, EDF intelligence currently suspected these specific alien vessels must be either pirate or slave ships, either one likely to see Earth as a potential target.

In that case, EDF would once again be defending Earth against a alien threat...

"Despina, have they responded to our hails yet?"

The artificial intelligence responded in her typical monotone voice.

"The aliens have not broadcast any signals to us. They will be entering Low Earth Orbit momentarily."

Damn.

"Fine, we will hail them one more time..."

Despinas main communications array shifted, bringing several massive transmitters and receivers to bear on the incoming alien vessels.

"Begin recording, active automatic translator."

Despina answered.

"Translator activated, communications established with alien vessel."

A small chip shaped device on the deck in front of him chirped, as the automatic translator that had been given to him by Matriarch Benezia began recording.

"Attention unidentified vessels, this is Captain Richard Epcar of the Earth Defense Forces. You are violating EDF space and are ordered to immediately identify yourselves. If you continue your current course I will be forced to act in defense of Earth and shoot you down. Respond immediately!"

Epcar watched as the alien vessels continued moving, before they began shifting to face their bows towards...

Towards Despina.

Epcar knew what was happening even before the alien vessels began to increase their power output and the shrill early warning systems went off as Despina began to be targeted.

"ALL HANDS TO BATTLESTATIONS!"

The crew on the bridge had already begun to react to the warnings appearing on their monitors, and they quickly leapt into action, the crew launching to their stations and beginning to report the status of the ship in a whirlwind of information.

The lights dimmed and neo titanium shutters half a meter thick slammed shut, covering all windows on the bridge and isolating it from the outside work.

Emergency lights flashed and sirens rang out throughout the ship, alerting all crew to man their stations.

A red light began to flash on Epcars semi analog bridge console, the flashing panel indicating that Despina had detected incoming fire as he turned to face the main display.

Several red dots streaked from the nose of the alien vessels at extreme speed, leaping from orbit to the atmosphere and then the ground...

A dull boom resounded throughout the ship as the projectiles broke up and detonated in atmosphere, having been apparently unprepared for the amount of friction they experienced.

"Damage report!"

Despina responded even as Epcar began barking orders at the crew.

"No damage, all hostile projectiles detonated 5000 meters above the surface."

A sensor operator completed the report.

"They appear to have been moving so fast that when they impacted the lower and denser atmosphere they simply exploded."

Epcar watched as a second salvo streaked from the vessels, this time at half the speed.

"Seems they wised up.... they won't make that mistake twice. EVASIVE MANEUVERS! SET POWER TO FULL AND EVADE STARBOARD!"

Despina began to accelerate. She had already been moving at 30 knots, and within seconds her titanic plasma reactors spooled up and began driving her forward at speeds inconceivable to ships a hundred years ago. As she ran, massive hydrojets and rudders began to shift, causing her bow to shift starboard as the ship began turning.

Epcar knew that this wouldn't be enough to cause the aliens to miss on their own... but when combined with the atmospheric friction asymmetrically burning away at the projectiles as they flew at blazing speeds...

The projectiles impacted the ships movement and slight shift in trajectory caused by reentry leading to them missing their target.

Despina shook as each impact threw up plumes of steam and water hundreds of feet high, before she prepared to respond in kind as batteries of missiles opened and gun turrets swiveled to face the aliens.

The chill and collected voice of the Tactics Officer came over the comms as Epcar ordered a immediate counter attack.

"This is Strategic Command Headquarters, hostile vessels have begun to attempt earth fall. All units are to be on high alert, we will broadcast the results of the space battle to you."

Weapons Operators anxious voice followed as Despina targeting arrays locked onto the alien vessels, which had now begun their own evasive maneuvers while simultaneously launching smaller craft.

"This is Weapons Operator, all silos, open, Despina, locked on!"

Epcar quickly responded to this with orders to fire.

"TEMPEST A1, LAUNCH 5!"

Each one of the 5 missile silos opened, their armored shutters splitting to allow the massive Tempest A1 missiles a clear path to their targets.

The magnetic catapults fired, slinging each sky scraper sized missile hundreds of meters into the air before their secondary thrusters engaged, and with a ferocious roar they began to climb into the deep blue sky above.

Once they had reached altitude, their main thrusters engaged, and they streaked at speeds more appropriate for cannon fire towards their targets.

The Tempest series of missiles were designed to engage and destroy Ravager capital ships before they entered range of smaller weapons, and while even the mighty SA1 failed to penetrate the Ravager shield screens, they were still effective against even Motherships without said shielding.

Epcar did not want to under estimate the pirates, even if the first deployment of a Tempest against a similarly sized non Ravager spacecraft resulted in its destruction.

The missiles flew true and struck their targets, even as defensive laser fire began to carve into their armored nosecones.

Each pirate vessel disappeared into a cloud of fragments as miniature suns filled the black void of space.

"IMPACT! All targets destroyed!"

Weapons Operator was cut off by Tactics Officer, whose normally calm demeanor was undermined by the slight anxiety in her voice.

"Hostile warships have launched dropships, and begun counter fire."

Several more projectiles fell towards Despina... but this time they shot overhead and instead smashed into the harbor facilities several kilometers behind her.

Even as damage reports began to come over the radio, large amounts of smaller contacts appeared on the sensor network as what must have been alien landing ships entered atmosphere.

Epcar ordered for a second salvo of Tempests to be fired, and for fighters to be immediately scrambled to intercept the drop ships.

EDF was at war once again.

Chapter Text

Extraction

The distinctive sound of mass accelerator fire shattered the air, followed within seconds by a bizarre high, shrill screaming sound comparable to the galaxies largest and shoddiest aerophone.

This unnatural call was ended by rapid clacking that echoed through the abandoned town, carrying on for miles.

Wrex knew exactly what that meant, especially when it was answered from the valley below by similar cries. The pop of automatic fire continued even as he turned to keep track of the human child, who had apparently decided the best course of action was to hide behind one of the pieces of furniture strewn across the house.

He himself took a vaguely similarly course of action, ripping a wooden table off the ground with one hand, turning it to form a makeshift blockage on the nearest window.

While it wouldn't withstand anything close to mass accelerator fire, it might just prevent him from being noticed by either the wildlife or any trigger happy pirates.

Thinking of pirates...

"What the hell is happening out there?"

He still had access to their local communications.

A panicked pirate, recognized as the annoying Batarian from the shuttle, was quick to answer.

"I don't know! We are being attacked! Marcerius went out 5 minutes ago with his group and hasn't come back, an- Oh by"

A cacophony of mass accelerator fire, explosions, and then a crackling rattle cut off the Batarian's words momentarily. Wrex was getting annoyed.

"Where is the shuttle?"

Another voice responded, that of the shuttle pilot herself, clearly struck by panic.

"At the tallest building in the town center! You have a minute to get hear before I am ditching this hell hole!"

The sounds of battle drew closer, along with a odd rhythmic thumping noise. The ceiling shook, dust and chips of wood raining down. Through a slit in his impromptu barricade the Krogan Battlemaster saw a blood splattered Asari dragging a armless Turian around the corner of another house, the Asari turning and screaming, then firing at something... above him, or rather, his position.

Great.

A chittering howl came from above him as the giant creature began to step down from the roof, the pitch black underside of its massive head momentarily blocking out sunlight before a new source rapidly appeared behind him, caught in his peripheral vision, as he turned at once to find a massive black spike falling through a weak point in the roof and impaling a large table.

The roof continued to deteriorate, and the human child ran from her hiding place screaming as Wrex moved with grace and speed that would cause onlookers who hadn't actually met a Krogan to be shocked, movements honed by literal decades of battle experience and the rush of adrenalin.

He brought his sidearm to the side of a joint in the giant leg, firing into it as he ducked underneath falling debris to snatch the human out of the way of a second massive limb.

The creature made another clattering noise, and one of its limbs was ripped clear from the shattered roof, while the other one was simply dragged through the collapsing structure like it was foil, knocking aside the makeshift barricade and creating a structurally unsound new entrance to the building.

Screw that.

Ignoring the momentary flash of biotics from the front of the house that was cut short by a sickening crunch and the sound of chitin rubbing on chitin, Wrex instead opted for a "dynamic exit", blasting out a window with a biotic shove before lightly tossing the kid out, followed shortly by himself smashing through the flimsy wall next to her.

For her part, the human seemed to recover quickly, scrambling on all fours momentarily before rising to her feet and pointing, screaming something that didn't translate at a pair of massive black shapes rapidly crawling down the side of a much larger house.

Maybe the front door was the right option.

Without any time to consider the validity of his previous choices, Wrex opted for instead using the great negotiator: superior firepower.

Jumping in front of the squishy human, yelling for her to get back, he slung the meter long rifle from his back and took aim. Half a millisecond after pulling the trigger the rifle fired with a blue flash and bang, the oversized mass accelerator round the size of his pinky hurtling forth at quite literally blistering speeds, a streaking trail behind it. Wrex would have been knocked onto his back had he not be crouching, and took a moment to admire his handywo-

The damn thing was still moving.

The first creature reacted to the slug hitting home right below one of its mandibles not by falling apart and dying, but instead by losing said part of its mandible in a spray of sickly green fluid before it retaliated by opening its still functioning other mandible to reveal its proper mouthparts and a od-

Wrex felt his eyes widen as the thing sprayed a boiling, fizzling, fragmented blast of something at him, the bright orange liquid screaming "danger" even as it cleanly missed his general vicinity in favor of spurting sideways out its mouth and onto the ground below, where upon it revealed its nature as it hissed and popped and scorched the earth, blasting up a small cloud of dust and partially liquified debris as the creature continued to charge at him.

The second creature launched its own barrage, this one far more concentrated and accurate, likely dead center onto Wrex had it's companion not moved in-between him and its fellow, the liquid instead bursting against and off the abdomen of the first creature, rolling off it it's chitinous body as rain does on a umbrella, scorching and melting the ground beneath it.

The first creature opened its good mandible wide and seemingly prepared to fire, but was cut short by a Warp slamming into its leg, rending shards of black exoskeleton and then green flesh, throwing it off balance.

Wrex brought his now reloaded rifle to bear on its eye and fired, the round hitting true and downing the monster, its ruined eye leaking bright yellow fluid as its antenna twitched rapidly.

There was no time to celebrate, the second thing giving no heed to its fallen comrade and swiftly climbing onto and over the still twitching body, mandibles raised as it brought its head downward. Wrex ducked to avoid the massive blades and turned to grab the kid, the deadly scythes of the creature finding no resistance in the walls of the ruined house behind him.

The kid had seemingly decided that she didn't need to wait for him, and bolted before tripping over a piece of shattered wood, recovering mid fall into another attempt at a combat roll that just ended up with her on her face.

The giant creature had already ripped free from the house, and turned to find another target, finding it in the now exposed human child.

Oh no you don't.

It rapidly clicked its mandibles open and shut as it took a step forward, covering almost half the distance in a second before suddenly finding itself halted by one of its front legs being shattered by a mass accelerator shell and just over 350 kg of Krogan standing in its path. The creature attempted to bring its jaws shut but was momentarily dazed by a biotic charge smashing in a chunk of its head's exoskeleton, before immediately reacting by tossing Wrex to the ground and snapping its mandibles shut, opening them again to slice at the Battlemaster on the ground before it.

Without the distance for a charge, and needing something to keep the snapping jaws at bay, Wrex opted for sacrificing his long rifle, firing it once more regardless of the screaming warning about overheating in his ears and then using it as a spear to stab into the open and now artificially widened true mouth of the creature, giving him time to turn and follow the once again sprinting child. The thing behind them took a moment to shatter the rifle impaled in its mouthparts with a swing of its still functional mandibles, before continuing the chase.

He hoped the shuttle was still there.

Rounding the corner into the main street, Wrex took note of several pirate bodies without limbs or in one case lower legs strewn about, the shuttle hovering a few meters off the ground with its door open and a panicked Turian mounting a heavy machine gun.

Said gun was quickly slung in their direction, or rather, behind them. Before he even got the chance to yell at the shuttle the door gunner opened up with a hail of fire that flew barely over them, causing him to rush in front of the human and catch a stray slug that glanced off his barriers.

There was no need to turn around to confirm his immediate thought, as the girl suddenly attempted to push him to the side, prompting Wrex to pick her up and do as she asked, the massive black creature limping at a worrying speed past them towards the now ascending shuttle, jaws snapping at the sky. So focused on the creature in front of them, the Turian manning the side gun and the pilot of the shuttle didn't seem to notice the titanic pale, bulbous creature with far too many limbs and eyes that had climbed onto the top of the tallest building behind them.

At least, they didn't notice it in time.

The thing twitched and shifted, the odd fleshy nozzle on its furthest rearward portion launching a bizarre but lethal salvo of several giant white strings or threads, which sizzled slightly in the air as they landed onto and rapidly entangled the shuttle, seeming to catch onto and begin rending at the metal, smoke coming from the stricken shuttle as it barreled forward, nose towards the ground, strings holding onto their prey tightly even as the panicked pilot attempted to fly higher.

Something important in the shuttle was either destroyed by the strings which were now gradually but surely cutting their way through vehicle, or by the attempts to free it overloading the power core, and the shuttle dropped like a rock.

Directly onto the black creature.

The pale thing on the building released its grip, threads seamlessly falling off the creatures abdomen as it launched, powered legs acting like pistons to throw it through the air onto the downed shuttle and by doing so the other creature.

The added weight must have caused the Mass Effect generator of the shuttle to suffer what a engineer would call a "spontaneous catastrophic failure", the bright flash and wave of heat and force reducing the creature below the ship to a simmering, toasted and twitching husk, while the no longer quite as pale bulbous thing let loose a screech in pain as it leapt back and over another building out of view, leaving the lower portions of three of its limbs behind.

Wrex took this chance to get to cover, the girl instead standing in the open and pointing further down the town, where the sounds of rapid, heavy explosions could be heard, followed by silence.

Before he could yell for her to get out of the relatively clear area the distinctive sound of multiple sets of wheels split the air followed by a large grey, mechanical object roaring into view, small turret sweeping side to side before the obviously human vehicle came to a drifting stop.

Taking a moment to recover, Wrex watched as a group of armored and armed humans disembarked the rear of the vehicle and began talking to the girl, who was gesturing frantically in his vague direction.

One of the probably male humans turned to his direction, rifle raised.

That wasn't good.

He was stopped by the kid taking it upon herself to try to drag the EDF soldiers arm down, failing in this, and then standing in-between the still hopefully hidden Krogan and the raised rifle, causing said rifle to be quickly lowered.

The child rushed towards Wrex, taking no time at all to find his location and begin "dragging" the Krogan into view.

The shocked faces on the humans was worth a picture, but Wrex instead opted for raising his hands to show they were empty.

The closest soldier spoke.

"Damn, and I thought the kid was crazy when she said a Space Ninja Turtle saved her life."

Half of that sentence didn't properly translate, but at least they hadn't started shooting him.