Nexus Effect

Ch.27

[6 months later, Year 2158]

Ensign Gey Ghaksowen sat at the sensor station of the Supremacy of Sodmerr, watching for pirates in the Nubian Expanse. Most governments would be worried about that, but to his people it meant more trade and slaves would be able to move through the region without illegal pirates attacking ships they shouldn’t.

Gey’s idle thoughts ceased and he blinked his four eyes when he spotted sixteen ships suddenly pop up on radar from the opposite direction of the Relay. He immediately began further scans and gagged when he saw their estimated tonnage.

“700m, 900m and 1500m? Those are not standard trade weights.” Gey muttered before shifting to Eezo readings and got nothing, which baffled him since no ship larger than a freighter could possibly run without Eezo.

“Ensign Ghaksowen, what is it? Is there a problem?” Admiral Bechia Gegcokk questioned from her seat of command.

“Sixteen ships ranging from corvette to dreadnought just came into the system at extreme range! I barely picked them up with one of the Sensor Sats we have playing watchdog! They don’t have Eezo!” Gey reported dutifully, yet could not withhold the disbelief in his tone.

“Primitives?” Admiral Gegcokk questioned curiously with her two sets of brows furrowing.

“I don’t know ma’am. They're moving in a pre-battle scouting formation, though that’s changing since they’re now making a beeline for us!” Gey reported nervously. Those tonnages weren’t impossible, if unusual, but the small patrol fleet the Supremacy of Sodmerr only had this ship as the lone dreadnought with four accompanying light cruisers. They were outnumbered 3-to-1, primitives or not, those odds are lethal.

“Get me a visual!” Gegcokk ordered and Gey did as he was ordered, displaying the ships in orange holograms in the center of the bridge. The ships were absolutely alien. None of the designs matched anything he’d ever seen, not even those curved and angular hulls of those upstart humans matched. What really stood out the most were the five triangular wedges that made the Batarian style look puny in comparison, in formation around an even bigger wedge that had the center of the sides indented before flaring back out.

That last one must be 1500m, only a few meters longer than the Supremacy of Sodmerr, yet it was easily twice as thick by deck, bristled with just as numerous guns such extra decks could accommodate, yet clearly had the bridge on that lone vertical tower that looked like a blade cutting through the vacuum of space like a dorsal fin.

“What in the name of...? Hail them!” Admiral Gegcokk ordered the Communications officer, only for a volley of glowing blue lights to rapidly travel the distance and turn the ship to their port into an exploding ball of violently decompressing horror.

“The Brapgoral just went up in a blaze! Some kind of plasma from those ships!” One of Gey’s fellow sensor watchers whimpered while the comms officer desperately tried to hail the attacking ships since there was no hope of surviving against such odds.

“Warn the Hegemony! Now!” The Admiral ordered her Comms unit as one of the dreadnoughts flew right on top of them.

“They’ve already killed our escorts, but at least we took out a few of those more boxy ships, but none of them were the dreadnoughts!” Gey called out through clenched teeth. “It looks like the ship overhead is extending breaching tubes!”

“I want all soldiers at the air locks! Stop those boarders!” Just then, the ship shook, groaning as if something had it in a vice-like grip. “What’s happening?!” Admiral Gegcokk demanded, her tone still full of steel despite the hopeless situation.

“We’re being pulled towards the dreadnought overhead!” Gey yelled as the pilot tried his best to pull the ship away from the impressively powerful tractor beam.

“It’s no use! Get the damn troops ready for battle! We need to repel the invaders!” The Admiral ordered with a growl.

“Boarding tubes, inbound!” Gey called out over the ship’s comms in the hopes that someone would be able to potentially reverse-board the other ship.

“Damnit, who are these kriffs? Are we getting any reinforcements?” Gegcokk demanded of the comms officer.

“I can’t get a signal out! They’re jamming us!” The Comms officer replied before they heard several metallic clicks attaching themselves to the ship.

“They’ve latched onto the air locks! Prepare for a breach!” Gey called out frantically, terrified since he was unable to do anything other than watch this whole nightmare unfold.

“Wait! I...I’m getting something…” The Comms officer said as he tried to make sense of it. “What...is that sound?”

“Get that garbage off our comms!” Snarled Admiral Gegcokk as she along with many of the crew covered their ears at the assault on their sensitive ears.

“I can’t! They’ve hacked into our Comm system!” The Comms officer panicked as he tried to shut off the system because the noise grated on everyone.

“They’re hacking into all our systems!” Slowly the bridge devolved into chaos as they lost control of their ship with the Admiral seething in contempt.

“Can someone explain to me why I’m losing control of my ship?!” She screamed in anger, her weapon in hand.

“It’s AI heuristics! The VIs can’t keep up!” Gey shouted in horror, realizing the warning signs he was trained in. This wasn’t an organic hacker, this wasn’t some skilled tech genius, this was an AI! These invaders are using AI! “Admiral! They…” Gey wavered, his senses dulling as a very sweet scent filled the bridge. He watched his crewmates collapse, his Admiral too. Gey grit his teeth and stayed awake long enough to see fully Enviro-Suited troops casually enter the bridge.

[Year 2159]

“What is the Hegemony fighting? This threat has taken out several random border patrols. I would write it off if not for the fact the most recent one was of the 341st Exploration Defense Fleet, which counted Admiral Bechia Gegcokk aboard a dreadnought.” Qutien said as he poured over STG data on his Omni-tool in the Citadel Council’s secure meeting chamber.

“I don’t like the Batarians, but whatever it is, it's slow moving and doesn’t use Relays.” Sparatus mused as he looked over a strategic map of the attacks compared to the Hegemony territory. “They’re all near the Hades Nexus. Their base of operations must be there.” At least they can order patrols to be extra vigilant and ready to retreat if encountering alien ships coming from that direction.

“What about the missing Dreadnought?” Tevos asked with worry. “The Supremacy of Sodmerr had a capital-class railgun cannon capable of sniping ships from great distances.” Such weaponry was heavily restricted in Citadel space for good reason, even the lightest model on a frigate would be enough to concern people. The one on the Sodmerr could destabilize the orbit of a small planetoid.

“No trace, the STG can’t find it. The fleet it was with are now slagged derelicts left to drift and there is some debris from unknown ships, but nothing more. The ships that had attacked them are gone, including the ones felled in battle.” Qutien groaned and rubbed his brow. “I need to retire.”

“You’re only just past middle-age Qutien. You knew this job was stressful when you took it.” Sparatus replied and sighed as he too wished for simpler times. Being an admiral in the navy may have just as many duties, but at least you can shout at people for being idiots instead of having to bite your tongue all the time.

“Yes, but I didn’t think we’d be listening to the Batarian Ambassador on a daily basis.” Qutien said with a leer at his Turian compatriot. “He’s blaming your people and his people are threatening to leave if we don’t ‘stop our attempts at ‘suppressing his people’. I’m doing everything I can to placate him because we still need them to slow the humans down and keep the Terminus from becoming too much of a threat!”

“We know that and with how angry the Humans are, it's still hard to keep them from declaring independence. We can’t let that happen because if they do, they’ll be easy prey for the Hegemony once this new player is taken out by them.” Tevos groaned as she poured herself a glass of water, which Sparatus knew his clandestine mate wished was alcohol. “How is Saren Arterius’ training as a Spectre going?” Ah, yes, a topic Sparatus could appreciate.

“Good so far. He’s showing great promise, even with his injuries from the Relay 314 Incident slowing him down. He’s already taken down a crime boss under the tutelage of Vista. Even if the Asari has questionable contacts for a Spectre, she knows her job well and is passing that down to the former Black Watch operative.” Sparatus announced to his fellow Councilors with a hint of pride. He may not have been the lad’s direct superior, but the praise from Saren’s superior was glowing and his record was spotless.

“I still say that boy’s paranoia towards humans will come back to bite you both in the ass.” Qutien snarled as he shifted to a new report. “Plasma?”

“Hm?” Tevos asked at the non-sequitur as she produced a small flask of liquor and spiked her water. Sparatus withheld his humor at the inappropriate act. He’d be railing at almost anyone else for such a thing, but Tevos was special. She seemed to operate in an oddly enhanced manner when at least mildly intoxicated.

“The damage to the ships of the 341st Exploration Defense Fleet is consistent with plasma damage. That can’t be right, since it would take an extreme amount of power to control such a matter in a weapon and direct it. The magnetic mechanism alone would take a dreadnought main Drive Core simply to fire one shot every several minutes, yet the damage is telling us that this new threat is using not only directed plasma weaponry, but in vast quantities.” Qutien said with great concern. “We have yet to fully replicate Quarian pulse weaponry which works similarly, but with less volatile inert particles.”

“I can confirm that such weaponry is not impossible, but we never had the power to do so on Eezo Drive Cores. Our test models can only use city-scale reactors to power them consistently, but these newcomers don’t even use Eezo. Even if their ships are slow, they are powerful then.” Sparatus commented with his own concern. Those test model prototype plasma cannons on Digeris were powerful enough to not only imitate the impact force of a railgun, but imparted further explosive force as well as slagging most materials.

“I don’t like this. The attacks are spread in the direction of the Hegemony’s core systems.” Tevos observed astutely, something Sparatus had failed to notice right away, reminding him why Tevos shouldn’t be withheld from alcohol. “Could this be connected to the world they attacked?” Sparatus’s mind filled with understanding. It was the most logical conclusion. Coincidences rarely are just that.

“It might be, but it’s so damaged that we couldn’t find anything on the species that lived there besides a massive statue with a bell. We have no information on that incident to make informed judgements. The Hegemony is still not talking about it.” Sparatus told her with a grumble. The images of the statue were deliberately hazy, since the data was censored even within the Hegemony’s databases and the STG can only pull what is there.

“Are they really that stubborn that they would choose death over telling the truth?” Qutien inquired with exhausted disgust at the oafish stupidity that most could agree the majority of Batarians suffered as a species.

“We’ve sanctioned them repeatedly ever since we found out about their slaving practices continuing even within Citadel space. It’s been thousands of years with those sanctions and they still haven’t given it up.” Tevos grumbled in irritation as she sipped her ‘water’. As an Asari, she understood the value of having servants, but there was a key difference to legal, fair and well-treated indentured servants to illegal, cruel and abused slaves. Sparatus didn’t think it was much better, but at least most indentured servants enter it themselves since they get room, board and food on top of a paycheck even if it is meagre. Also, it isn’t life-long in most cases.

“I’m willing to bet it was exactly that crude practice of theirs that got them in trouble, but without any further evidence we’re in the dark.” Qutien said with a shake of his head.

“Not like we can do anything. If it was becuase of slavery they’d just pull out their, ‘its part of our culture’ card and cite article XXXXIZ section XXII and how we can’t supress a civilization’s culutural idenity. I wish counselor Geliyhin T'dolyt had not drafted that bill just before the Batarians were found. Sure, it stopped the Asari of the time from overtaking Salarian culture, but it’s been a pain in our ass for centuries!” Tevos bemoaned her predecessor’s well-meaning and strongly-supported bill. If only there wasn’t a clause in it stating that it cannot be revoked save under the most strenuous circumstances.

“That may be true, but these newcomers do not seem to care. Besides, they are not a part of the Citadel, meaning the Batarians have little to no sway. They are on their own with this new front.” Qutien raised a good point, but Sparatus interjected.

“You’re forgetting the Defensive Pacts all three of our cultures signed with the client races. While the Batarians are no longer a client race to the Asari, my people and yours Qutien still have a Defensive Pact with them, which will still drag your people along with us Tevos. If the Batarians go to war, then we’ll still have to join their side.” Sparatus explained as he stopped pacing and sat down, of course next to Tevos, who reached her hand over and ran her fingers along his thigh while Qutien was peering at his Omni-tool intently again.

“I could convince the republicans to denounce the Pact.” Tevos suggested while her hand drifted to his groin and Sparatus looked into her eyes, seeing the hunger the Turian-like blue woman always held within her.

“That would only make the Hegemony feel like we’re isolating them. Right now we have no real target or declaration of war, so the pacts don’t have to be followed. Right now we’re on a knife’s edge due to the Humans. We need better ties with them before we can do anything drastic to the Batarians.” Sparatus replied as he slid a hand over to her own thigh and her mandibles clicked eagerly when his claw reached for her groin.

“Yes. If we can possibly calm them down, we could suggest they help the Batarians in exchange for a proper embassy and other trade deals.” Tevos said as she leaned in, Sparatus subconsciously mimicking-.

“That wouldn’t work. Humans, from what STG has brought up, are very much against slavery in any form, including Asari indentured servitude. Also, if STG projections on where the Humans are planning on colonizing in the next ten years is anything, then the Hegemony and the System Alliance will come to blows in proxy wars.” Qutien said and the two lovers quickly realized they were a bit too close and backed away, yet left their hands lingering before their oblivious colleague noticed they had nearly kissed. “We can’t do anything at the moment and our only power move may make the Hegemony leave and we’d lose a buffer to the Terminus.”

“We should guide the Humans towards that role, then let the Hegemony stew in whatever mess they got in until this newcomer makes themselves known. We should try and broker peace then and convince them to join the Citadel.” Tevos said, following the same logic she had for her past 300 years as a counselor.

“Or we could send a representative to these newcomers, speak with them and find out what the Batarians have done to anger them so?” Qutien proposed and Tevos chuckled.

“Well, that is similar to what I said.” Tevos commented in amusement while Sparatus was trying to remain calm. Her fingers had found his genital slit and she was probing deeper...

“No. You just want to wait it out and see what the outcome will become. What I’m proposing is moving forward and discovering the truth. Maybe then we can settle the matter quickly rather than later.” Qutien retorted, his species’ impatience showing once more, reminding Sparatus why this council always had one from each race rather than unbalanced counts, since their own innate qualities helped offset and bolster one another.

“I’d say we try Qutien’s action and if that fails, fall back to Tevos’ suggestion. We don’t all have centuries, Tevos.” Sparatus declared and Tevos paused in providing him pleasure, a forlorn look filling her eyes as she looked him in his. She was only middle-age for an Asari, him too for a Turian, but she would still outlive him for centuries yet.

“Splendid, I will order the STG to get more proactive in seeking out this new civilization.” Qutien announced and stood. “I will also put forward suggestions for a Spectre to send. Let me know who you decide on.” Qutien did so on his Omni-tool and left to administer the STG.

“Hm, finally. So Spara, who should we send?” Tevos questioned as she got up and sat on the table in front of him, her legs spread wide and her pants already having their crotch seam wide open for him to have access to her nethers.

“I’ll think about it after I ravish you.” Spara grabbed her thighs and leaned down, causing Tevos to moan as he began to feast on her nectar-drooling flower.

[Year 2160]

The Citadel isn’t all it’s cracked-up to be. It’s just like any other large space station Yola and I have been to the past years. Sure, it was big, it was architecturally unique, it was also full to the brim with C-Sec and various other government’s military police. It was a rough place for a Quarian to get by with soldiers and guards constantly demanding our time for ‘inspections’ which were really just shake-downs.

Too bad for them Yola and I figured out how to section our credit accounts, so they only ever got chump change from us while our various hacking programs stole vast amounts of money from assholes and crime syndicates the galaxy over. Hopefully the pony’s god of Commerce doesn’t get huffy with us for so much thievery.

“What do you think is going on? The Batarians all over the station are tense.” A Turian who was sitting at our table asked us. We were in a Dextro restaurant, mostly after we learned Quarians were so allergic to Levo there was a standing order for Levo restaurants to not serve them, even if the Quarian insists they’ve built up a tolerance. Turians might be able to eat Levo with little issue besides gas, but the weak immune systems of Quarians meant that they would have to spend weeks eating small amounts to adjust.

Which sucks for Yola and I, because Levo food is delicious. “Probably some other glorious fuck-up by the Hegemony raising tensions with the Citadel again.” I casually commented while Yola sucked on the purified tube of Turian food at her helmet’s mouth port.

“Yeah, probably right.” The stranger sighed while I leaned my visor-shielded cheek on my left hand and looked out the window at the Citadel streets. I’ve been here for well over a year now, occasionally leaving and coming back with an official travel Visa I applied for and legally obtained regardless of authorities insisting I must’ve faked it somehow.

I miss Rannoch. I miss my children. I’ve only been able to visit twice in as many years and they’ve grown up so fast. They already function as adults with adult bodies after such a short time, yet they all fawn over me the instant I’m around, wanting my attention like needy kids. “Sis, Home is where you make it.” Yola digitally commented and I sighed.

“Miss the Migrant Fleet?” Our Turian table guest questioned curiously as he took another sip of dextro-variant caff and looked up from the news feed on his Omni-tool.

“No. We weren’t born on the fleet. Our parents were Exiles. We lived on Ekuna Station for the longest time, but decided to travel the galaxy. We’ve ended up here and I’m getting tired of this place and it’s too-clean structures, too-strict policies and still-corrupt police shaking us down despite that this place is hailed as the safest place in the galaxy.” I replied irritably, letting out some of the cover story Yola and I fabricated for us to coordinate and weave into our daily lives.

“Then why do you stay? I’m sure the port authorities wouldn’t stop a Quarian from leaving like they would try to stop one of your people from entering.” The Turian male questioned casually and Yola pointed at him.

“Look, buster. Are you going to let us be informants for the Shadow Broker or not?” Yola quietly demanded since this corner booth was far away from any listeners and there were no devices recording or transmitting audio nearby. I would know, I checked and disabled any that might, including our guest’s Omni-tool. Surely he must’ve noticed he is only viewing saved snapshots.

“Only if you’re willing to answer my initial question, because you would have to know to be worth the risk.” Our tentative contact with the Shadow Broker replied mildly as he took another drink.

“The Hegemony has fucked up by destroying the frontier colony of a powerful new civilization with advanced technology that diverges greatly from what the rest of the galaxy has at large. They don’t have Eezo-powered ships or FTL, yet get around with speeds that defy pre-FTL capabilities. They have powerful plasma weaponry that makes our pulse guns look like slingshots. They’re tearing into the heart of the Hegemony and they’re panicking.” I easily replied and flicked a thumb drive to him. “There’s a taste.”

“You understand I need to have this verified before I get back to you?” Our potential contact said and we nodded. “Very well, we’ll be in touch.” He finished his caff and left us be. Hopefully this will help grease the wheels. Yola and I can only do so much working around the Shadow Broker. Hopefully with this shoe in the door we’ll be able to do more than whisper and hope.