Halo - Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Systems Alliance gets an upgrade ❯ The Council meets the Alliance ( Chapter 4 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: charly120 
Non Anime: Halo - Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 05.26.2015 | Updated On: 05.26.2015 | Pages: 17 | Words: 12.3K | Visits: 135 | Status: Work In Progress
Non Anime: Halo - Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 05.26.2015 | Updated On: 05.26.2015 | Pages: 17 | Words: 12.3K | Visits: 135 | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter 4: The Council meets
the Alliance.
2156.06.05
Khar'shan
Batarian Home world
The& nbsp;Hegemony watched the footage of the attack on Vana and im mediately contacted their ambassador
on the c itadel. They sent the footage and told h im not to mention that they attacked and ;raided a
human colony hidden, since the council ;more than likely did not know about hum anity.
After seeing the footage, the bataria n ambassador requested an urgent meeting with the council. He
then messaged the Hegemony to see if any new information had surfaced.
Ten minutes later he was informed that the council refused his request. "This is outrageous", he
bellowed at the terminal. "What could they be doing&nb sp;that was so important they can't get off their fat
asses?"
Citadel Tower
Council Chambers
Councilor Tevos had already known that the Batarians were goi ng to request a meeting.
The Matriarchs on Thessia heard a rumor of a new space fairing species that was at war with the
Hegemony.
Tevos sat at her desk thinking about her meeting with Benezia.&nbs p;Her long time friend had asked her to
enlist the help of the salarian Councilor to see&nbs p;if the rumors were true. The Salarian STG h ad just
reported back with their findings to Councilor Valern, Tevos had a cop y of the report on her desk of.
"Ho w could a race so advanced go undetected", sh e thought before sighing in frustration.
Each councilor bared no love for the Hegemony. They all resented t he fact that the batarians enslaved
mem bers of each of their races.
It wasn't long before the Salarian&nbs p;Councilor was standing in front of the desk of Tevos' assistant. "Good
afternoon" he responded to her greeting. "I've business with councilor Tevos, please inform her I've
arrived".
"Certainly" said the asari behind&n bsp;the desk before she went to inform T evos that Valern had arrived.
Tevos was pulled from her thoughts when her assistant entered her office to inform her th at Councilor
Valern had arrived. "Very well p lease send him in" she said then watched the asari leave.
"Councilor Valern, Councilor Tevos is ready for you". "Good, good thank you", Valern said walking&nbs p;past the desk and into Tevos' office.
"A pleasure to see you Valern", Tevos g reeted the Salarian councilor. "Please take a seat", she gestured
with her hand to the chairs by a small round table.
"Thank yo u, we've much to discuss much of it troubling!". Valern said&nbs p;taking a seat, "have you read the
report?"
"Yes, I have read the report and it is very dist urbing", Tevos brought the back of her right hand up to her
he ad.
Valern could understand why she was fretting. This new species wielded extraordinary c apabilities, with
vessels of extreme strength and& nbsp;firepower. He was sure not even the asar i had anything to match them.
"We should initiate con-" Tevos began.& nbsp;
"Not without the support of Councilor Sparatus" interjected Valern before Tevos could finish her
sentence .
"I thought you'd say as much, so I sent him a message", she smiled as the door opened almost as if on
cue. "Councilor Sparatus, a pleasure to see you"
"The pl easure is all mine Councilor Tevos", Sparatus ;said flaring his mandibles into what passed as a
smile.
"Please sit down. I'm a fraid the Bartarians have brought war to our door if we don't act fast". Came a
venom filled sentence from the beautiful asari.
"Spirits, what have the idiots done now", Sparatus said before sitting down and listening to bot h
councilors. He was interested in the fact that there was a new space faring species. He ;laughed when
they told him of the capabilities of this species. "No one has that kind of power", the turian said
bet ween bouts of laughter.
Tevos stood up and walked to&n bsp;her desk. She picked up the data pad then returned to the group sitting at
the small table. "Look at this. It was recorded by the& nbsp;STG ten days ago".
"Send in a spec-", Sparatus started to say after watch ing the footage before Tevos cut in
"Abs olutely not", Tevos all but yelled cutting of f Sparatus. "The batarians did something to warran t the
attention of this species".
"The last colony they too k, they freed all the slaves. Including these creatures, they almost look like
asari". Valern spoke for the first time.
Sparatus looked at the picture, before speaking. "The batar ians want us to aid them in this fight, their
ambassador ambushed me", he ment ioned seeing the questioning looks on the&nbs p;other councilor's faces.
"He requested a meeting" Valern mentioned before going back to the data pad.& nbsp;
"We denied it. This is why they want our help". Tevos said looking Sparatus in the eyes.&nb sp;
Sparatus' mandibles were twitching from ir ritation. He returned Tevos' look before asking&nb sp;her why they
had made the decision without him.
"We didn't get muc h warning", Tevos said before continuing. "We need to vote, step in and initiate
contact&n bsp;or help the batarians". She said with a shiver of disgust running down her back.
"Contact" all three councilors said. Th ey each went their own ways to make it possible.
2156.06.19 ;
Elysium
Vetus System
Petra Nebula
Admiral Hackett stood at attention in his dress blues saluting as a 21 gun salute was rendered and taps
was played by a lone buggle in the distance. He had attended more militar y funerals in the past two
weeks, than&n bsp;he had in all his years actually in the military.
Normally quiet and stoic Hackett was close to breaking. He and Athena were at John and Hannah
Shepards funeral. The little girl never left his side when he was home. And today she was ;clinging to him.
Athena was dressed in black and held two roses, one for each of her parent's graves. She had not looked
up once not&n bsp;even when she was given her parent's folded flags. Instead she held them close to her&nbs p;chest
as she stared at her black dress shoes, her eyes red and puffy.
After the funeral Hackett made sure that Athena was nowhere near the press. "Vultures trying to exploit
the child", Hackett spat at a reporter who had&nb sp;managed to get close. He had an over whelming urge to
punch her in the face but turned and walked aw ay.
Not many people knew but Admiral Steven Hackett had adopted Athena Chelse Shepard. Once he heard
they were going to sh ip her off to an orphanage back on earth, he raised ten different kinds of hell with
the Alliance and pulled in a few favors until the adoption was approv ed. His wife was more than happy
t o take Athena in.
Athena was sitting quietly in the ba ck seat of the car with her Uncle Steven, she was looking out of ;the
window when she saw a pelican come flying overhead and&nb sp;land 250 feet in front of the car. Marines had
come out to fl ag down the car.
Hackett looked up when he heard the pelican go over. He saw it land and Marines getting out&nbs p;to flag his
driver down. He saw Athena trying to get a better loo k at what was going on. Hackett was a little
concerned as well, it wasn't everyday a pelican chased& nbsp;down a car.
"Sir you are going to h ave to come with us", the Marines yelled.&nbs p;
"Can I help you gentlemen?" Hackett asked&n bsp;over the roar of the pelicans engines.
"We've picked up a transmission Sir", one& nbsp;of the Marines said. "We need to get&nbs p;you to the Missouri like
yesterday Sir"&nbs p;
"I have a child with me, I need t o get her home" Hackett told both Marine s.
"No time, she'll just have to come with us", the Marine c loset to the passenger door said before walking
over to open it.
Athena saw the Marine walk over to&n bsp;her door and opened it before she bent in and asked if she wanted
to go for a ride in the pelican. Athena's eyes lit up for the first time in&nb sp;two weeks as she scrambled out of
the car.
The other Marine had already man&nb sp;handled Hackett onto the pelican. When he& nbsp;turned he saw a little girl
run up the ramp&n bsp;followed by his partner who was smiling.
Hackett wasn't happy about being&nbs p;tossed on to the transport, even less happy when they brought
Athena on board. "This transmission better be from a young and still living Scarlett Johansson, Marine"
Hackett& nbsp;told the closet one. Who laughed and wiggled his eye brows so Athe na wouldn't hear his
response.
"Who's Scarlett Johansson?" Athena asked looking at him expectantly.
"A very gorgeous actress from a very long time&n bsp;ago Athena" Hackett said
"Can I be like her when I grow up?" she smiled.
"Only if you want to, but that's not for a little longer" Hackett&n bsp;said in response.
The pelican shook as it broke through the atmosphere on its way to dock with the Missouri.
"SSV-Missouri,&nb sp;this is pelican SA-982MC requesting permission to dock" the pilot radioed the Infinity
class war ship.
"Permission granted pelican SA-982MC,&nb sp;welcome home goldilocks" the bridge officer&nbs p;quipped back.
"I'm a brunette, just because I had to try three beds…"&nbs p;the pilot trailed off laughing.
The moment they docked the two ;Marines escorted both Admiral Hackett and Athena to the bridge.
Samantha was talking to&n bsp;the communications officer from her holo terminal,& nbsp;monitoring the group's
progress. She listened to the message once again, tryin g to find any signs that it was forged.& nbsp;
"The galaxy awaits your peaceful arrival in the Serpent Nebula", the messa ge repeated.
After running multiple scans, Samantha had told the ;comm officer that the message was coming&nbs p;from
the relay. Ready to answer any questions Hackett may hav e when he arrived.
Hackett arrived on the bridge to find Samantha waiting for him, her arms crossed as she stared at the
entrance. "Hello Sa mantha, what do you have for me?"
"Just your sta ndard cryptic message", The AI said. "I recommend sending it up the chain."
"What does the message contain?" he asked. "The galaxy awaits your peaceful arrival in the Serpent Nebula", she played the message for Hackett to
he ar.
Hackett thought for a minute before& nbsp;speaking. "I agree with sending it up th e chain, let the politicians
and those s harks they call lawyers deal with it"
"That could take almost a year" Sama ntha voiced.
"Yes but it gives us a year to finish finding our people", Hackett replied. The less who ever these peop le
had to use against us the better ground humanity stood on.
"Report away Admiral, what's with the little girl?" Samantha said looking at&nb sp;Athena.
"I'm here with Uncle Steven, that's all you need to know", replied the little girl.
"I like you Athena", the AI said and laughed when the little girl's mouth hung open.
2156.06.20
Earth
Sol System
Arcturus Station
"The galaxy awaits your peaceful arrival in the Serpent Nebula", the messa ge repeated in the
headquarters of the Systems Alliance.
Parliament exploded as dozens of its members started speaking at once.
Admiral Cole could not hear himself think. He bellowed out for the parliament members to shut the fuck
up. "I think waiting a year is best, I'd rather send Hackett with a sizable armada. Not just the 115 vessels
he currently has".
"That is not possible, we have to act now". One of&nbs p;the members spoke, and a few more agreed.&n bsp;
"So you would subjugate humanity to the will of these aliens?" Cole was starting& nbsp;to see his time was
being wasted, before he had an idea. "If they were so eager to meet us, then why let the batarians
attack. Why not&n bsp;stop them." He stopped to look the parlia ment over before continuing. "They are scared ;
they've seen what we've done to the batarians. The hegemony is in shambles, we've demoralized their
militar y and freed their slaves".
"We will need time to discuss this" the lead Member of Parliament said.
At this point Cole informed the Parliament that as Hackett had been destroying batarian fleet after&nbs p;
batarian fleet, he had been sending r ecovery ships to gather the debris. The Alliance&n bsp;had enough raw
materials between gathering debris and the mining operations, to&nbs p;produce 201 more vessels. It could be
done if earth, the moon, and mars joined in and helped the dry docks.
"If Elysium helps they co uld be done in 8 months" Coles personal AI told him.
"No they are our base of operations. I don't want secrets to get out". Cole Commented quietly to his AI
"Very well Admiral,&nb sp;start working on those ships" the lead Mem ber of Parliament said. "We will still
need time&nbs p;to discuss this message".
"I'll get those ships built" Cole said coolly before turning and le aving to lite the fires under every ship
yard in the system.
2157.06.10
Sol System
Acturus Station
Cole was impressed they had done it, built 201 ships in 11 months 355 days. He sent a message to
Hackett to let ;him know that he would have them in the ;next few days. His orders to Hackett were
simple, leave a&nb sp;fleet to protect Elysium, show up in force to the Serpents Nebula. In the words&nb sp;of a
famous well respected U.S. Marine General. Be polite, be professional,&n bsp;but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.
2157.06.11
Elysium
SSV-Mis souri
Vetus System
Hackett stood on the bridge looking&nb sp;out in to the void. He had received Coles' message and new that a
massive number of ships were headed his way. He had decided to leave first fleet& nbsp;to guard Elysium in
case the batar ians attacked again. Hearing Athena he turned to see what she was doing.
"Come back here Jasmine", Athena called to the Norwegian Elk Hound puppy Hackett&nb sp;had gotten her for
her birthday. She took her everywhere and it was no diffe rent today. Giggling as the puppy slid a cross
the metal deck.
"Athena, why ;is your dog running about the ship?" Hackett asked when the two trouble makers&n bsp;were on
the bridge.
"She needed to run around Uncle Steven", picking up the puppy she continued. "The quarters we have
are not big enough" she said innocently.
Lau ghing as he rubbed the back of his neck, ;"those are the biggest on the ship. They're also my
quarters".
"I know Jasmine just needed the exercise". She g iggled as the puppy liked her face, "Can I go to the chow
hall for dinner tonight. Then the armory afterwards?"
"Telling you no would be just about as&n bsp;useful as tits on a bull. Just put J asmine back in our quarters".
Hackett told&nb sp;the little girl who took off down the passage way skipping.
Serpents Nebul a
Citadel
Councilor Tevos' Office
T evos had asked everyday if the message had been an swered. She was starting to think that t hese
people were ignoring the council. No one had ever ignored the council. She ;sat lost in thought before
turning to& nbsp;the days tasks.
2157.06.19
Petra Nebula
Vetus System
Four days ago Hackett's offensive capa bilities doubled. 201 vessels had joined the armada, one being a
colon y ship to transport all the freed slaves.
Hackett was relieved to have&nb sp;such a boost to his armada. Facing the citadel fleet would be a challenge .
He was troubled that Samantha could no t find an accurate count of vessels in that same fleet. He was
confident in the abilities of each crew, should it end up ;in a fight.
"We will be ready to leave tomo rrow admiral", Samantha said as she appeared on the holo platform&nbs p;in
Hackett's quarters. "Are you sure about bringing Athena?"&nb sp;
"Yes I'm sure Samantha, she'll be safe on board", Hackett responded.
"She&nb sp;wants to bring her dog to the citadel", the AI put her holographic hand on her hip.
Hackett thought& nbsp;about that for a minute then laughed. "Let&nb sp;her, what is she up to anyways?"
"Watching Jurassic Park eating captain crunch",& nbsp;responded the AI.
Hackett was laughing a s he headed back to the bridge. He had&n bsp;a few more details to go over before the
next day.
Athena finished watching the movie and asked Samantha whe re Hackett was.
"He's on the bridge, but you need to go to&nbs p;bed", Samantha responded.
"I don't want to, and you can't make me", Athena said leaning back and crossing her arms.
The AI locked the hatch leading to the passage way saying, "watch me sun shine".
2157.06.20
0800&nb sp;
Destiny Ascension
Serpents Nebula
"Ma 'am I'm getting odd readings from the relay", reported one of the asari aboard the De stiny
Ascension.
"Define odd", Matriarc h Lindanya told the reporting asari.
Before the asari&nb sp;could report back 288 Vessels dropped out& nbsp;of FTL. The reporting asari quipped "that,
that is what was odd"
Matriarch Lindanya yell ed at comm to order C-Sec to secure ;the council. As she was doing this she was
momentarily b linded. Once she was able to see again s he saw a massive vessel deploying 10 more&nbs p;
vessels that had not been there before.
SSV-Missouri& nbsp;
"General quarters, all hands report to combat stations. Fighter escorts prepare for launch". Samantha's
voice traveled throughout the Missouri.
Hackett was already& nbsp;down in the hanger with Athena and her dog Jasmine. Hackett also had two
platoons&nb sp;of Marines acting as escorts while on the ground. Each platoon armed to decimate a company
sized element should the need arise.
"Admiral Hackett we've secured two pelicans for transport as well as two squadrons of lon g sword
fighters for escorts", reported Lt. Anderson. "We are just waiting on the clearan ce to launch".
"Samantha, establish contact. Let them know we will not fire unless&n bsp;fired upon". Hackett ordered.
"Working on ;it admiral", came the AI's response.
Destiny Ascension
"Stand by&nb sp;to fire if this goes sideways" Matriarch Lindanya said.
"We are receiving a message from&n bsp;the unknown fleet, audio only". The comm offic er yelled out.
"Let's hear it" spoke the Matriarch.
"The Galaxy awa its your peaceful arrival in the Serpents Nebula. We a re here representing humanity
and the S ystems Alliance", Played over the bridge speakers.
< hr> Matriarch Lindanya listened to the message aga in before being told that the council had informed them
to stand down. She was to inform them to send their rep resentative to dock with the citadel. "Radio the
Alliance they are clear to&nb sp;send their representative and only their representat ive over" Lindanya
ordered.
SSV-Missouri ;
Hangar Bay
Pelican SA-001MC
"We are cleared&nbs p;to only send our representative over admiral", Samantha piped through the pelican.
"Well tou gh shit, we're launching as we are", Hackett& nbsp;responded before having the pilot cut the lin e.
Samantha was amused by Hackett's attitude. "Launch pelicans and fighter escorts". Switching channels
she hailed the Dreadnought.
Hackett was talking&n bsp;to Athena when the pilot broke hard left as a roun d went flying across the pelican's
nose . "What the fuck, weapons free, fucking find who ever fir ed that" Hackett ordered grabbing Athena.
Sam antha was already ordering all fighters to la unch, within minutes thousands of long sword fighters
from the armada were streaking towards the offending vessel.
A lone batarian cruiser rammed in to a heavy&nb sp;frigate. The force of the impact merged the two ships,
Marines and Batarians wer e fighting on every deck that had surviv ed. The ships AI took control of the&nbs p;
engines and moved the crippled vessel away from the armada. Pelicans and life pods screaming form it
before it disappeared in&nb sp;a massive white light.
Destiny Ascension&n bsp;
"By the goddess those poor people" a shocked commando gasped.
The Matriarch looked on in disbelief, before ordering citadel forces to aid in the recovery of survivors.
She then had comm message the Alliance to notify them& nbsp;they would help with search and rescue. Notify
the council she ordered.
Council Chambers
"THEY DID WHAT" screamed a shoc ked Tevos. This is just fucking great she was thinking. "Allow t he
Alliance to dock. They can bring what ever they deem necessary". She cut the channe l and warped a
chair out of existence. She then got up and le ft, the Alliance would be docking soon.
Pelican SA-001MC
Citadel Docks
The pilot dropped the ramp and Marine s rushed out to set up a perimeter. ;Once they gave the all clear
Hackett&n bsp;and Athena disembarked. The pilot had to show off some jaw dropping abilities to get the
pelican to where they landed.&n bsp;
The second pelican carrying the other pla toon landed moments later after the pilot lit erately had to
stand it on its tail . Scaring the shit out of every C-Sec of ficer on the dock.
As Hackett and Athena headed towards the citadel tower with Marines on all sides&n bsp;and trailed by them.
Athena noticed all the aliens were watching what was going on and ta lking amongst each other.
"Don't worry Athena, they would have to be stupid to& nbsp;try anything", Hackett assured her. "Just don't let
Jasmine off her leash".
"I'm not worried Uncle Steven I'm just curious, I won't let go of Jasmine". Athena said scratching&n bsp;her dog
behind the ears.
"Your soldiers are going to have to stay here" ;an alien said as they approached and elevato r.
"Under who's authority?" retorted Anderson.&nbs p;
"Mi-"
"That won't be necessary Saren"& nbsp;a calm voice said over the radio.
"Councilor I must protest", Saren began before being cut off again.
"Understood" was all the voice said.
Anderson was watching the whole thing. He did not like&nbs p;this guy, "I want two Marines to come with me
the rest guard this door". With that they loaded on the elevator and took the slow ride up.
"Uncle Hackett, Jasmine cr apped in the elevator" Athena said plugging her nose.
"Good maybe now they'll speed the damned thing up" Hackett&nb sp;covered his nose. The Marines just
laughed.
Once the elevator doors opened Hackett and Athena all&n bsp;but ran over Anderson to get to fres h air. They
informed someone that the dog messed up the lift and it needed to be cleaned.
The c ouncil chamber was beautiful but offered many places to&n bsp;set up defenses. Open areas for cross&nbs p;
fire, stairways that doubled as choke poin ts, and ledges for sniper nests. This set And erson and his
Marines on guard.
At the top there was a single platform exte nding out just under three consoles. "Probabl y for whoever
runs this joint to feel superior" Hackett said to himself.
Three figu res walked out and stood at the terminal s looking down on the members of the Alliance. The
cent er one started to speak.
"Greetings I am councilor Tevos, the Asari representative. To my right is coulcilor Sparatus the Turian
representative and to my left is councilor Valern the Salarian representative." Tevos began before being
cut off by a strange creature making noise.
"Jasmine stop it be quiet" Athena was trying& nbsp;to get her dog to stop.
"What ;kind of creature is that little one?" T evos asked looking at Athena.
"She is a Norwegian Elk Hound " Athena answered back.
Tevos looked at the strange creature now sitting at Athena's feet. "Interesting, is it a pet?"
"Yes, My Uncle Steven got her&nb sp;for me, her name is Jasmine" the little gi rl said looking at Hackett.
Sparatus interrupted and asked for the representative to&nb sp;step forward.
Hackett stepped out in front of the councilors, "I'm authorized to speak on behalf of the Alliance".
"Why are you at war with a member of the citadel?" Sparatus began. "Were you even aware they had
all ies?" The other two councilors looked at him with shocked faces.
"Before you reprimand us-", Hackett&nb sp;began
"Answer the question" the turian councilor demanded.
"Shut&nbs p;the hell up and listen ass hole". Hackett r etorted, "Those allies of yours attacked our colon y
unprovoked. They enslaved our people raped and murdered thousands including this girl's mother. Hell
they enslaved your people too, which we freed and are now on one of my s hips out there" Hackett said
pointing o ut the window.
Before the turian could&n bsp;respond Tevos cut in, "we are grateful fo r humanities efforts to free our people".&nbs p;
Sparatus just fumed quietly glaring at Hackett.
"Will you join the rest of the galaxy on the&n bsp;citadel?" Tevos asked Hackett.
"We will but we want all our people back from the Batarians or we'll be fighting on their home world
next". Hackett said and stunned the whole room.
"We cannot allow that" Sparatus said venomously.& nbsp;
Hackett stared right at the turian sayin g "then you support slavery?"
"No we can 't have members fighting", Valern started to say before the Batarian Ambassador charged in.
"How dare you threaten the home worl d", he started before Hackett calmly turned t o him.
"Give back our people, I'm only ask ing once", was all he said looking at&nb sp;the Ambassador.
Tevos cut in before anything else was said, "is what he says ;true? If it is then the Hegemony needs to
offer reparations"
"The Hegemony will do no such thing". The batarian ambassador retorted. "Stupid bitch, I've been
authorized to close our embassy and leave the citadel",& nbsp;He screamed.
"So you admit to the& nbsp;charges?" Sparatus said looking at the ambassador. "It appears I owe the humans
an ap ology"
"The humans will suffer for this", the ambassador yelled running off.
"I'll be seeing you soon"&n bsp;Hackett retorted as he turned to face&nbs p;the council. "If you will excuse me I've&nb sp;an
invasion to plan"
"Try for peace" Tevos pleaded before asking, "would you like to lea ve the child in my care?" earning
confused looks from the other councilors
Hack ett stopped and looked at Athena who looked e xcited at the thought. "Only if I can leave two
platoons of my Marines" Ha ckett began as he turned to face the asa ri.
"Understood, they'll stay with me" T evos agreed with Hackett, "Your Marines can&n bsp;stay in my
commandos quarters".
SSV-Missouri
Hanger bay
As Ha ckett disembarked he told Samantha to prepare for the invasion of Khar'shan. He did not want the
Batarians to try anything. The colony ship would be&nbs p;done unloading in two Hours then head back to
Elysium
"I take it things went south?" Samantha asked as Hackett got on the elevator.
"About as south as things could go" Hackett responded. "I also left Athena with the asari councilor and
two platoons of Marines"
"Will she be safe?" Samantha asked
"Between Tevos' commandos and the Marin es I left, she'll be fine" Hackett told her before ordering
"Have the armada prepare to jump to Khar'shan"
Samantha sent the order out to the entire human a rmada. "All vessels acknowledging orders Sir", she ;
relayed to Hackett.
"Good, prepare for slipstream jump" Hackett ordered her&n bsp;as he stepped off the elevator on to ;the
bridge.
"All hands secure for slipstream jump" Samantha sounded throughout the ship.
2157.06.21
Harsa System
Khar'Shan
Batarian Home world
"Exiting Slipstream in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" Samantha sounded through the ship. "Armada reports heavy&nb sp;
resistance".
"How's it look Samantha" Hack ett said standing on the bridge.
"It's a soup sandwich Sir" Samantha responded just as they exited f rom slipstream.
The view they had was astonishing, long sword fighters were engaging batarian interceptors. Gutted out
vessels cluttered the battle field
"Fire when re ady", Hackett ordered the weapons officer.
"F iring MAC 1 and 4" the weapons officer&n bsp;responded.
One of the bridge crew screamed when she saw ;a batarain body hit the screen. "I'll n ever get used to
that" the same crewmen yelled.
"AA guns have opened fire" both Samantha and the weapons officer s aid in unison.
"Getting awful crowded in my&n bsp;sky" Hackett sighed.
Once the Alliance had broken through the Hegemonies lin es the planets orbital defense fell within&nb sp;six
hours. The Alliance ships launched Pelicans loaded with Marines and all the equipment needed&n bsp;for a
successful invasion. Long sword&nbs p;fighters targeted military instillations and ham mered away at any AA
defenses that they found on the ground. Creating a path for the drop ships to land and unload.
Pelican S A-982MC
Khar'Shan
"Fuck sake that was close" the pilot yelled pushing her pelican to&nbs p;its limits avoiding the AA. Suddenly the pelican lurched to the side as it was hit by a rocket. "Damage report" goldilocks yelled out to her crew
chief.
"Got a nice hole on the st arboard bulk head" the chief responded. "Nothing&n bsp;important was hit but you
can kiss space flight good bye"
"Fucking cunt sne ezes" she mumbled causing her co-pilot to&nbs p;laugh.
The pelican continued on to it s LZ with the co-pilot call sign war hawk firing away on the 70 MM&n bsp;at
batarians unlucky enough to be in&nbs p;the LZ.
"Y'all be landing in a hot LZ" the Chief told the Marine lieutenant.
"Why do I get the feeling we're ab out to storm Tarawa" gripped one of the Marines before the Lt
smacked him.
After the Lt smacked the wayward PVT he turned ;to his Marines. "Marines like us took Tarawa back in
the 20th century after being told that it was&nbs p;impossible. The same is going to happen here on this back
assed planet".
"Dropping the ramp" the chief yelled before catching a ricochet to the face.&nbs p;
The Marines charged off of the pelican ;slamming their backs into cover. Rounds were ;starting to chew
away at the broken&nbs p;down wall currently offering cover.
"Suppressing fire, put a few grenades through those windows", the Lt ordered. At once the Marines
opened up on the batarians while two Marines tossed& nbsp;grenades into the mist of the batarians.
"Frag out" they called and the Marines took cover as their party&nbs p;favors went to work.
The batarians had ducked for cover when the humans leveled over whelming firepo wer at them. Once
there was a break in the fire they stood to advance on the hu man position before the group was
scatt ered by two detonations.
Chunks of the enemy& nbsp;and dirt started to land on the Marines who cheered.&n bsp;They hopped over the wall
and advanced&nb sp;to the next enemy position calling goldilocks&n bsp;and war hawk for air support once they&nb sp;
came under heavy fire getting pinned down.
"Goldilocks, we got a&nb sp;building full of dysfunctional bears. Can you negotiate with them" yelled the&nbs p;radio
operator. "What do you mean which building?, it's the only one standing". ;
"Roger I've got eyes on target" goldilo cks radioed. "War hawk bring that son of a bitch down".
"On it, tell those Marines negoti ations have begun"
The missiles tore away&nbs p;from the pelican quickly eating the distanc e to the building. Upon impact the top < br> floors were destroyed, silencing the batarians ;shooting down towards the Marines.
SSV-Missouri
Orbit of Khar'Shan
The last of the Batarian&nb sp;fleet had been destroyed after six hours of constant battle. But now the Alliance
armada could focus on the ground&nbs p;war.
"I want the frigates to enter the atmosphere, begin landing&nb sp;operations at any LZ that's clear". Hackett
told Samantha. "Assist ground forces& nbsp;to clear the area if necessary before landing " he finished.
20 vessels descended to& nbsp;the planet's surface bringing much needed reinforcements and supplies. One
such vessel the SSV-Texas was headed to the LZ cleared by&nbs p;the Marines from SA-982MC.
"Sir, we g ot incoming friendlies" the RO told the Lt.
"Good it's about time, how many?" h e asked the RO. Then looked to where he& nbsp;was pointing, his jaw
dropped when he saw the frigate preparing to land.&nb sp;
"Jesus tap dancing Christ that is awesome" one of&nb sp;the Marines left standing said.
Batarian& nbsp;Hegemony
Command Center
The Hegemony&nbs p;had watched what was left of their fleet&nb sp;fall to the Alliance after six hours of fighting.
The AA defenses had been syste matically destroyed by human fighter craft and&nbs p;drop ships that had
discharged their cargo.
"The humans have landed some of their ships". One batarian yelled in the command center
"That's not possible" another batarian responded as the&n bsp;building shook from a nearby explosion. < br> The Hegemony leadership could only stare as&n bsp;surviving batarian troops surrendered to the a pproaching
Alliance.
The Special Intervention Unit had engaged and been completely routed from t heir defensive positions
after only 30 minute s of combat. The bombardment from orbit had completely& nbsp;destroyed their military
bases after a day. All slaves that hadn't been killed were freed and evacuated.
The Hegemony was offered the chance to surrender wha t was left of the batarian forces and themselves but refused.
"Samantha, order all Alliance troops to move in behind the tanks", ;Hackett ordered
Samantha sent out the order. "We making hamburgers sir?"
"Something like that" Hackett responded
The Hegemony saw the humans advancing behind their tanks.
"We're receiving an order from Ad miral Hackett to surrender, it's our last cha nce". The Batarian radio
operator said.
"Admiral the Hegemony says fuck off" Samantha told Hackett.
"Very well&n bsp;try to keep one of them alive" Hackett&nb sp;said as he walked away.
Of the entire ;batarian government only one member survived ;to be taken in to custody.
2157.06.21& nbsp;
Persidium citadel
One week before the fall of the Khar'Shan
Lt . Anderson could not believe that Hackett agr eed to let Athena stay. He wished the elevator would
move faster since Athena had stayed with Tevos. Once he finally reached the bottom and the&nb sp;doors
opened he saw some of his Marines sparing with a few of the turians.
"Your Marines know how to fight Lt." one of the turians said as he walked up sporting a freshly broken
f ringe.
"Did one of my guys do that? " Anderson asked
"No one of your female s, no wonder the guys don't argue with them" The turian said l aughing
Anderson face palmed causing the turi an to laugh harder. "Winner Vakarian" Anderson&nbs p;heard before
calling his Marines attention ;to inform them that they'll be staying with Athena.
Tevos Residence"
This is where you will sleep Athena" Tevos told an exited little girl. She couldn't help but smi le at her
enthusiasm. "If you need anything my staff will assist you".
Athena looked at the room she was going to be staying in and was excited. The bed was soft and she sunk in to it when she sat. The sheet s felt like silk, and the blankets softer&nbs p;then what she had on the
Missouri. She turned to Tevos nodding her head in understanding.
"Lt. Anderson if you'll ple ase follow me" Tevos turned to the Lt. < br> "Certainly, Athena behave yourself", Anderson said& nbsp;as he left to follow the councilor. ;
"Yes sir" Athena answered before returning to exploring her room.
Anderson followed tevos and her aid&nbs p;to what looked like military barracks. "I'm guessing that the troops
stay here?" He asked more to ;himself than anyone else.
"Yes Lt." an asari said walking out of one of the ro oms completely naked.
Anderson immediately av erted his eyes feeling blood rush to not only his face.
"Is something wrong" the asari ask ;smirking seeing Anderson blush.
"um-uh n-no ma'am" Anderson finally managed to choke out the words.
"Emela Iallieri" Tevos began, "This is Lt. Anderson of the Systems Alliance Marines. He and his Marines
will be staying with you and your commandos".
"Yes ma'am" Emela responded then turned to Anderson, "I'm Commander Lallieri, I am in charge of
councilor tevos' commandos".
< hr> "Pleasure to meet you commander", Anderson&nbs p;snapped off a crisp salute. "I've got two p latoons of
Marines with me"
"They l ike asari?" Emela asked.
"A few yes, one Marine is seeing an asari we saved, Suleem I think is her name" Anderson folding his
arms and taping his chin in thought.
"Did you say suleem?"&n bsp;The commander stammered grabbing the wall for support.
"Emela, are you okay?" Tevos rushed to her side. She had never seen the&nb sp;commando this close to tears
sense her&nbs p;sister had been taken by slavers.
Anderson was confused by the events going on in front of him. "Is she okay?"
Emela looked up at the&nb sp;man called Anderson, catching her breath she told him that suleem was her
sister and she had not seen her for 300 years since slavers had taken her.
"Jackson, are&nb sp;you the one seeing that asari named suleem ?" Anderson called one of his Marines on ;his
radio.
"Yeah" the Marine responded.
"Do me a favor and grab her when she gets off the colony ship", ordered A nderson.
"Yes sir on my way now" he responded back.
Tevos looked at Anderson questioningly while still helping Emela up. "What are you doing Lt.?"&n bsp;
"Family reunion Ma'am", least I hope so&n bsp;the thought to himself.
The Marine s howed up with suleem about 20 minutes after&n bsp;the call. She was nervous it had been 300
years since she& nbsp;had seen the inside of Tevos' estate. It wasn't long before she was& nbsp;knocked over by
someone who turned ;out to be her sister. They visited as&n bsp;the Marines settled in and got to know&nb sp;the
other commandos. Before long Athena ran in being chased by Jasmine causing a huge scene with the
commandos.
"what i s that thing chasing the girl" one of th e commandos jump up ready to warp it before&nbs p;Tevos came
in behind Athena.
"It's a pet, she belongs to Athena" tevos told ;the commandos.
The commandos relaxed and went back to studying the humans. Some of them made a game of seeing
who could make the humans speechless first. Others just talked or practiced hand to hand with the
Marines.
After a week of being around the asari Athena was developing a fondness for the blue aliens. They had
caught her sne aking around the barracks more than once.&nbs p;Every time she had been caught the
commandos just laughed and returned her to her room, now she had Marines posted on her door under& nbsp;
orders to follow her everywhere.
21 57.06.28
One day after the fall of Khar' shan
"Athena, can you come out here litt le one?" Tevos spoke.
The little girl&n bsp;ran out of the room and blushed when she saw the asari standing in front of her. "Yes?"
"Your uncle will be here tom orrow little one" Tevos told Athena before she walked down the hall to her < br> room. She was still in shock seeing the Hegemony&nb sp;fall so fast, as were the other councilors. She needed
to think about her next steps in dealing with the humans.
Life tossed one hell of a fucked up monkey wrench my way right now. I'll update when I get a chance, I'll
try to keep it at once a week but don't be surprised if i t is a little while between updates. Thank you for < br> reading and I hope you continue to follow the story as it progresses
Charly120&n bsp;
2156.06.05
Khar'shan
Batarian Home world
The& nbsp;Hegemony watched the footage of the attack on Vana and im mediately contacted their ambassador
on the c itadel. They sent the footage and told h im not to mention that they attacked and ;raided a
human colony hidden, since the council ;more than likely did not know about hum anity.
After seeing the footage, the bataria n ambassador requested an urgent meeting with the council. He
then messaged the Hegemony to see if any new information had surfaced.
Ten minutes later he was informed that the council refused his request. "This is outrageous", he
bellowed at the terminal. "What could they be doing&nb sp;that was so important they can't get off their fat
asses?"
Citadel Tower
Council Chambers
Councilor Tevos had already known that the Batarians were goi ng to request a meeting.
The Matriarchs on Thessia heard a rumor of a new space fairing species that was at war with the
Hegemony.
Tevos sat at her desk thinking about her meeting with Benezia.&nbs p;Her long time friend had asked her to
enlist the help of the salarian Councilor to see&nbs p;if the rumors were true. The Salarian STG h ad just
reported back with their findings to Councilor Valern, Tevos had a cop y of the report on her desk of.
"Ho w could a race so advanced go undetected", sh e thought before sighing in frustration.
Each councilor bared no love for the Hegemony. They all resented t he fact that the batarians enslaved
mem bers of each of their races.
It wasn't long before the Salarian&nbs p;Councilor was standing in front of the desk of Tevos' assistant. "Good
afternoon" he responded to her greeting. "I've business with councilor Tevos, please inform her I've
arrived".
"Certainly" said the asari behind&n bsp;the desk before she went to inform T evos that Valern had arrived.
Tevos was pulled from her thoughts when her assistant entered her office to inform her th at Councilor
Valern had arrived. "Very well p lease send him in" she said then watched the asari leave.
"Councilor Valern, Councilor Tevos is ready for you". "Good, good thank you", Valern said walking&nbs p;past the desk and into Tevos' office.
"A pleasure to see you Valern", Tevos g reeted the Salarian councilor. "Please take a seat", she gestured
with her hand to the chairs by a small round table.
"Thank yo u, we've much to discuss much of it troubling!". Valern said&nbs p;taking a seat, "have you read the
report?"
"Yes, I have read the report and it is very dist urbing", Tevos brought the back of her right hand up to her
he ad.
Valern could understand why she was fretting. This new species wielded extraordinary c apabilities, with
vessels of extreme strength and& nbsp;firepower. He was sure not even the asar i had anything to match them.
"We should initiate con-" Tevos began.& nbsp;
"Not without the support of Councilor Sparatus" interjected Valern before Tevos could finish her
sentence .
"I thought you'd say as much, so I sent him a message", she smiled as the door opened almost as if on
cue. "Councilor Sparatus, a pleasure to see you"
"The pl easure is all mine Councilor Tevos", Sparatus ;said flaring his mandibles into what passed as a
smile.
"Please sit down. I'm a fraid the Bartarians have brought war to our door if we don't act fast". Came a
venom filled sentence from the beautiful asari.
"Spirits, what have the idiots done now", Sparatus said before sitting down and listening to bot h
councilors. He was interested in the fact that there was a new space faring species. He ;laughed when
they told him of the capabilities of this species. "No one has that kind of power", the turian said
bet ween bouts of laughter.
Tevos stood up and walked to&n bsp;her desk. She picked up the data pad then returned to the group sitting at
the small table. "Look at this. It was recorded by the& nbsp;STG ten days ago".
"Send in a spec-", Sparatus started to say after watch ing the footage before Tevos cut in
"Abs olutely not", Tevos all but yelled cutting of f Sparatus. "The batarians did something to warran t the
attention of this species".
"The last colony they too k, they freed all the slaves. Including these creatures, they almost look like
asari". Valern spoke for the first time.
Sparatus looked at the picture, before speaking. "The batar ians want us to aid them in this fight, their
ambassador ambushed me", he ment ioned seeing the questioning looks on the&nbs p;other councilor's faces.
"He requested a meeting" Valern mentioned before going back to the data pad.& nbsp;
"We denied it. This is why they want our help". Tevos said looking Sparatus in the eyes.&nb sp;
Sparatus' mandibles were twitching from ir ritation. He returned Tevos' look before asking&nb sp;her why they
had made the decision without him.
"We didn't get muc h warning", Tevos said before continuing. "We need to vote, step in and initiate
contact&n bsp;or help the batarians". She said with a shiver of disgust running down her back.
"Contact" all three councilors said. Th ey each went their own ways to make it possible.
2156.06.19 ;
Elysium
Vetus System
Petra Nebula
Admiral Hackett stood at attention in his dress blues saluting as a 21 gun salute was rendered and taps
was played by a lone buggle in the distance. He had attended more militar y funerals in the past two
weeks, than&n bsp;he had in all his years actually in the military.
Normally quiet and stoic Hackett was close to breaking. He and Athena were at John and Hannah
Shepards funeral. The little girl never left his side when he was home. And today she was ;clinging to him.
Athena was dressed in black and held two roses, one for each of her parent's graves. She had not looked
up once not&n bsp;even when she was given her parent's folded flags. Instead she held them close to her&nbs p;chest
as she stared at her black dress shoes, her eyes red and puffy.
After the funeral Hackett made sure that Athena was nowhere near the press. "Vultures trying to exploit
the child", Hackett spat at a reporter who had&nb sp;managed to get close. He had an over whelming urge to
punch her in the face but turned and walked aw ay.
Not many people knew but Admiral Steven Hackett had adopted Athena Chelse Shepard. Once he heard
they were going to sh ip her off to an orphanage back on earth, he raised ten different kinds of hell with
the Alliance and pulled in a few favors until the adoption was approv ed. His wife was more than happy
t o take Athena in.
Athena was sitting quietly in the ba ck seat of the car with her Uncle Steven, she was looking out of ;the
window when she saw a pelican come flying overhead and&nb sp;land 250 feet in front of the car. Marines had
come out to fl ag down the car.
Hackett looked up when he heard the pelican go over. He saw it land and Marines getting out&nbs p;to flag his
driver down. He saw Athena trying to get a better loo k at what was going on. Hackett was a little
concerned as well, it wasn't everyday a pelican chased& nbsp;down a car.
"Sir you are going to h ave to come with us", the Marines yelled.&nbs p;
"Can I help you gentlemen?" Hackett asked&n bsp;over the roar of the pelicans engines.
"We've picked up a transmission Sir", one& nbsp;of the Marines said. "We need to get&nbs p;you to the Missouri like
yesterday Sir"&nbs p;
"I have a child with me, I need t o get her home" Hackett told both Marine s.
"No time, she'll just have to come with us", the Marine c loset to the passenger door said before walking
over to open it.
Athena saw the Marine walk over to&n bsp;her door and opened it before she bent in and asked if she wanted
to go for a ride in the pelican. Athena's eyes lit up for the first time in&nb sp;two weeks as she scrambled out of
the car.
The other Marine had already man&nb sp;handled Hackett onto the pelican. When he& nbsp;turned he saw a little girl
run up the ramp&n bsp;followed by his partner who was smiling.
Hackett wasn't happy about being&nbs p;tossed on to the transport, even less happy when they brought
Athena on board. "This transmission better be from a young and still living Scarlett Johansson, Marine"
Hackett& nbsp;told the closet one. Who laughed and wiggled his eye brows so Athe na wouldn't hear his
response.
"Who's Scarlett Johansson?" Athena asked looking at him expectantly.
"A very gorgeous actress from a very long time&n bsp;ago Athena" Hackett said
"Can I be like her when I grow up?" she smiled.
"Only if you want to, but that's not for a little longer" Hackett&n bsp;said in response.
The pelican shook as it broke through the atmosphere on its way to dock with the Missouri.
"SSV-Missouri,&nb sp;this is pelican SA-982MC requesting permission to dock" the pilot radioed the Infinity
class war ship.
"Permission granted pelican SA-982MC,&nb sp;welcome home goldilocks" the bridge officer&nbs p;quipped back.
"I'm a brunette, just because I had to try three beds…"&nbs p;the pilot trailed off laughing.
The moment they docked the two ;Marines escorted both Admiral Hackett and Athena to the bridge.
Samantha was talking to&n bsp;the communications officer from her holo terminal,& nbsp;monitoring the group's
progress. She listened to the message once again, tryin g to find any signs that it was forged.& nbsp;
"The galaxy awaits your peaceful arrival in the Serpent Nebula", the messa ge repeated.
After running multiple scans, Samantha had told the ;comm officer that the message was coming&nbs p;from
the relay. Ready to answer any questions Hackett may hav e when he arrived.
Hackett arrived on the bridge to find Samantha waiting for him, her arms crossed as she stared at the
entrance. "Hello Sa mantha, what do you have for me?"
"Just your sta ndard cryptic message", The AI said. "I recommend sending it up the chain."
"What does the message contain?" he asked. "The galaxy awaits your peaceful arrival in the Serpent Nebula", she played the message for Hackett to
he ar.
Hackett thought for a minute before& nbsp;speaking. "I agree with sending it up th e chain, let the politicians
and those s harks they call lawyers deal with it"
"That could take almost a year" Sama ntha voiced.
"Yes but it gives us a year to finish finding our people", Hackett replied. The less who ever these peop le
had to use against us the better ground humanity stood on.
"Report away Admiral, what's with the little girl?" Samantha said looking at&nb sp;Athena.
"I'm here with Uncle Steven, that's all you need to know", replied the little girl.
"I like you Athena", the AI said and laughed when the little girl's mouth hung open.
2156.06.20
Earth
Sol System
Arcturus Station
"The galaxy awaits your peaceful arrival in the Serpent Nebula", the messa ge repeated in the
headquarters of the Systems Alliance.
Parliament exploded as dozens of its members started speaking at once.
Admiral Cole could not hear himself think. He bellowed out for the parliament members to shut the fuck
up. "I think waiting a year is best, I'd rather send Hackett with a sizable armada. Not just the 115 vessels
he currently has".
"That is not possible, we have to act now". One of&nbs p;the members spoke, and a few more agreed.&n bsp;
"So you would subjugate humanity to the will of these aliens?" Cole was starting& nbsp;to see his time was
being wasted, before he had an idea. "If they were so eager to meet us, then why let the batarians
attack. Why not&n bsp;stop them." He stopped to look the parlia ment over before continuing. "They are scared ;
they've seen what we've done to the batarians. The hegemony is in shambles, we've demoralized their
militar y and freed their slaves".
"We will need time to discuss this" the lead Member of Parliament said.
At this point Cole informed the Parliament that as Hackett had been destroying batarian fleet after&nbs p;
batarian fleet, he had been sending r ecovery ships to gather the debris. The Alliance&n bsp;had enough raw
materials between gathering debris and the mining operations, to&nbs p;produce 201 more vessels. It could be
done if earth, the moon, and mars joined in and helped the dry docks.
"If Elysium helps they co uld be done in 8 months" Coles personal AI told him.
"No they are our base of operations. I don't want secrets to get out". Cole Commented quietly to his AI
"Very well Admiral,&nb sp;start working on those ships" the lead Mem ber of Parliament said. "We will still
need time&nbs p;to discuss this message".
"I'll get those ships built" Cole said coolly before turning and le aving to lite the fires under every ship
yard in the system.
2157.06.10
Sol System
Acturus Station
Cole was impressed they had done it, built 201 ships in 11 months 355 days. He sent a message to
Hackett to let ;him know that he would have them in the ;next few days. His orders to Hackett were
simple, leave a&nb sp;fleet to protect Elysium, show up in force to the Serpents Nebula. In the words&nb sp;of a
famous well respected U.S. Marine General. Be polite, be professional,&n bsp;but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.
2157.06.11
Elysium
SSV-Mis souri
Vetus System
Hackett stood on the bridge looking&nb sp;out in to the void. He had received Coles' message and new that a
massive number of ships were headed his way. He had decided to leave first fleet& nbsp;to guard Elysium in
case the batar ians attacked again. Hearing Athena he turned to see what she was doing.
"Come back here Jasmine", Athena called to the Norwegian Elk Hound puppy Hackett&nb sp;had gotten her for
her birthday. She took her everywhere and it was no diffe rent today. Giggling as the puppy slid a cross
the metal deck.
"Athena, why ;is your dog running about the ship?" Hackett asked when the two trouble makers&n bsp;were on
the bridge.
"She needed to run around Uncle Steven", picking up the puppy she continued. "The quarters we have
are not big enough" she said innocently.
Lau ghing as he rubbed the back of his neck, ;"those are the biggest on the ship. They're also my
quarters".
"I know Jasmine just needed the exercise". She g iggled as the puppy liked her face, "Can I go to the chow
hall for dinner tonight. Then the armory afterwards?"
"Telling you no would be just about as&n bsp;useful as tits on a bull. Just put J asmine back in our quarters".
Hackett told&nb sp;the little girl who took off down the passage way skipping.
Serpents Nebul a
Citadel
Councilor Tevos' Office
T evos had asked everyday if the message had been an swered. She was starting to think that t hese
people were ignoring the council. No one had ever ignored the council. She ;sat lost in thought before
turning to& nbsp;the days tasks.
2157.06.19
Petra Nebula
Vetus System
Four days ago Hackett's offensive capa bilities doubled. 201 vessels had joined the armada, one being a
colon y ship to transport all the freed slaves.
Hackett was relieved to have&nb sp;such a boost to his armada. Facing the citadel fleet would be a challenge .
He was troubled that Samantha could no t find an accurate count of vessels in that same fleet. He was
confident in the abilities of each crew, should it end up ;in a fight.
"We will be ready to leave tomo rrow admiral", Samantha said as she appeared on the holo platform&nbs p;in
Hackett's quarters. "Are you sure about bringing Athena?"&nb sp;
"Yes I'm sure Samantha, she'll be safe on board", Hackett responded.
"She&nb sp;wants to bring her dog to the citadel", the AI put her holographic hand on her hip.
Hackett thought& nbsp;about that for a minute then laughed. "Let&nb sp;her, what is she up to anyways?"
"Watching Jurassic Park eating captain crunch",& nbsp;responded the AI.
Hackett was laughing a s he headed back to the bridge. He had&n bsp;a few more details to go over before the
next day.
Athena finished watching the movie and asked Samantha whe re Hackett was.
"He's on the bridge, but you need to go to&nbs p;bed", Samantha responded.
"I don't want to, and you can't make me", Athena said leaning back and crossing her arms.
The AI locked the hatch leading to the passage way saying, "watch me sun shine".
2157.06.20
0800&nb sp;
Destiny Ascension
Serpents Nebula
"Ma 'am I'm getting odd readings from the relay", reported one of the asari aboard the De stiny
Ascension.
"Define odd", Matriarc h Lindanya told the reporting asari.
Before the asari&nb sp;could report back 288 Vessels dropped out& nbsp;of FTL. The reporting asari quipped "that,
that is what was odd"
Matriarch Lindanya yell ed at comm to order C-Sec to secure ;the council. As she was doing this she was
momentarily b linded. Once she was able to see again s he saw a massive vessel deploying 10 more&nbs p;
vessels that had not been there before.
SSV-Missouri& nbsp;
"General quarters, all hands report to combat stations. Fighter escorts prepare for launch". Samantha's
voice traveled throughout the Missouri.
Hackett was already& nbsp;down in the hanger with Athena and her dog Jasmine. Hackett also had two
platoons&nb sp;of Marines acting as escorts while on the ground. Each platoon armed to decimate a company
sized element should the need arise.
"Admiral Hackett we've secured two pelicans for transport as well as two squadrons of lon g sword
fighters for escorts", reported Lt. Anderson. "We are just waiting on the clearan ce to launch".
"Samantha, establish contact. Let them know we will not fire unless&n bsp;fired upon". Hackett ordered.
"Working on ;it admiral", came the AI's response.
Destiny Ascension
"Stand by&nb sp;to fire if this goes sideways" Matriarch Lindanya said.
"We are receiving a message from&n bsp;the unknown fleet, audio only". The comm offic er yelled out.
"Let's hear it" spoke the Matriarch.
"The Galaxy awa its your peaceful arrival in the Serpents Nebula. We a re here representing humanity
and the S ystems Alliance", Played over the bridge speakers.
< hr> Matriarch Lindanya listened to the message aga in before being told that the council had informed them
to stand down. She was to inform them to send their rep resentative to dock with the citadel. "Radio the
Alliance they are clear to&nb sp;send their representative and only their representat ive over" Lindanya
ordered.
SSV-Missouri ;
Hangar Bay
Pelican SA-001MC
"We are cleared&nbs p;to only send our representative over admiral", Samantha piped through the pelican.
"Well tou gh shit, we're launching as we are", Hackett& nbsp;responded before having the pilot cut the lin e.
Samantha was amused by Hackett's attitude. "Launch pelicans and fighter escorts". Switching channels
she hailed the Dreadnought.
Hackett was talking&n bsp;to Athena when the pilot broke hard left as a roun d went flying across the pelican's
nose . "What the fuck, weapons free, fucking find who ever fir ed that" Hackett ordered grabbing Athena.
Sam antha was already ordering all fighters to la unch, within minutes thousands of long sword fighters
from the armada were streaking towards the offending vessel.
A lone batarian cruiser rammed in to a heavy&nb sp;frigate. The force of the impact merged the two ships,
Marines and Batarians wer e fighting on every deck that had surviv ed. The ships AI took control of the&nbs p;
engines and moved the crippled vessel away from the armada. Pelicans and life pods screaming form it
before it disappeared in&nb sp;a massive white light.
Destiny Ascension&n bsp;
"By the goddess those poor people" a shocked commando gasped.
The Matriarch looked on in disbelief, before ordering citadel forces to aid in the recovery of survivors.
She then had comm message the Alliance to notify them& nbsp;they would help with search and rescue. Notify
the council she ordered.
Council Chambers
"THEY DID WHAT" screamed a shoc ked Tevos. This is just fucking great she was thinking. "Allow t he
Alliance to dock. They can bring what ever they deem necessary". She cut the channe l and warped a
chair out of existence. She then got up and le ft, the Alliance would be docking soon.
Pelican SA-001MC
Citadel Docks
The pilot dropped the ramp and Marine s rushed out to set up a perimeter. ;Once they gave the all clear
Hackett&n bsp;and Athena disembarked. The pilot had to show off some jaw dropping abilities to get the
pelican to where they landed.&n bsp;
The second pelican carrying the other pla toon landed moments later after the pilot lit erately had to
stand it on its tail . Scaring the shit out of every C-Sec of ficer on the dock.
As Hackett and Athena headed towards the citadel tower with Marines on all sides&n bsp;and trailed by them.
Athena noticed all the aliens were watching what was going on and ta lking amongst each other.
"Don't worry Athena, they would have to be stupid to& nbsp;try anything", Hackett assured her. "Just don't let
Jasmine off her leash".
"I'm not worried Uncle Steven I'm just curious, I won't let go of Jasmine". Athena said scratching&n bsp;her dog
behind the ears.
"Your soldiers are going to have to stay here" ;an alien said as they approached and elevato r.
"Under who's authority?" retorted Anderson.&nbs p;
"Mi-"
"That won't be necessary Saren"& nbsp;a calm voice said over the radio.
"Councilor I must protest", Saren began before being cut off again.
"Understood" was all the voice said.
Anderson was watching the whole thing. He did not like&nbs p;this guy, "I want two Marines to come with me
the rest guard this door". With that they loaded on the elevator and took the slow ride up.
"Uncle Hackett, Jasmine cr apped in the elevator" Athena said plugging her nose.
"Good maybe now they'll speed the damned thing up" Hackett&nb sp;covered his nose. The Marines just
laughed.
Once the elevator doors opened Hackett and Athena all&n bsp;but ran over Anderson to get to fres h air. They
informed someone that the dog messed up the lift and it needed to be cleaned.
The c ouncil chamber was beautiful but offered many places to&n bsp;set up defenses. Open areas for cross&nbs p;
fire, stairways that doubled as choke poin ts, and ledges for sniper nests. This set And erson and his
Marines on guard.
At the top there was a single platform exte nding out just under three consoles. "Probabl y for whoever
runs this joint to feel superior" Hackett said to himself.
Three figu res walked out and stood at the terminal s looking down on the members of the Alliance. The
cent er one started to speak.
"Greetings I am councilor Tevos, the Asari representative. To my right is coulcilor Sparatus the Turian
representative and to my left is councilor Valern the Salarian representative." Tevos began before being
cut off by a strange creature making noise.
"Jasmine stop it be quiet" Athena was trying& nbsp;to get her dog to stop.
"What ;kind of creature is that little one?" T evos asked looking at Athena.
"She is a Norwegian Elk Hound " Athena answered back.
Tevos looked at the strange creature now sitting at Athena's feet. "Interesting, is it a pet?"
"Yes, My Uncle Steven got her&nb sp;for me, her name is Jasmine" the little gi rl said looking at Hackett.
Sparatus interrupted and asked for the representative to&nb sp;step forward.
Hackett stepped out in front of the councilors, "I'm authorized to speak on behalf of the Alliance".
"Why are you at war with a member of the citadel?" Sparatus began. "Were you even aware they had
all ies?" The other two councilors looked at him with shocked faces.
"Before you reprimand us-", Hackett&nb sp;began
"Answer the question" the turian councilor demanded.
"Shut&nbs p;the hell up and listen ass hole". Hackett r etorted, "Those allies of yours attacked our colon y
unprovoked. They enslaved our people raped and murdered thousands including this girl's mother. Hell
they enslaved your people too, which we freed and are now on one of my s hips out there" Hackett said
pointing o ut the window.
Before the turian could&n bsp;respond Tevos cut in, "we are grateful fo r humanities efforts to free our people".&nbs p;
Sparatus just fumed quietly glaring at Hackett.
"Will you join the rest of the galaxy on the&n bsp;citadel?" Tevos asked Hackett.
"We will but we want all our people back from the Batarians or we'll be fighting on their home world
next". Hackett said and stunned the whole room.
"We cannot allow that" Sparatus said venomously.& nbsp;
Hackett stared right at the turian sayin g "then you support slavery?"
"No we can 't have members fighting", Valern started to say before the Batarian Ambassador charged in.
"How dare you threaten the home worl d", he started before Hackett calmly turned t o him.
"Give back our people, I'm only ask ing once", was all he said looking at&nb sp;the Ambassador.
Tevos cut in before anything else was said, "is what he says ;true? If it is then the Hegemony needs to
offer reparations"
"The Hegemony will do no such thing". The batarian ambassador retorted. "Stupid bitch, I've been
authorized to close our embassy and leave the citadel",& nbsp;He screamed.
"So you admit to the& nbsp;charges?" Sparatus said looking at the ambassador. "It appears I owe the humans
an ap ology"
"The humans will suffer for this", the ambassador yelled running off.
"I'll be seeing you soon"&n bsp;Hackett retorted as he turned to face&nbs p;the council. "If you will excuse me I've&nb sp;an
invasion to plan"
"Try for peace" Tevos pleaded before asking, "would you like to lea ve the child in my care?" earning
confused looks from the other councilors
Hack ett stopped and looked at Athena who looked e xcited at the thought. "Only if I can leave two
platoons of my Marines" Ha ckett began as he turned to face the asa ri.
"Understood, they'll stay with me" T evos agreed with Hackett, "Your Marines can&n bsp;stay in my
commandos quarters".
SSV-Missouri
Hanger bay
As Ha ckett disembarked he told Samantha to prepare for the invasion of Khar'shan. He did not want the
Batarians to try anything. The colony ship would be&nbs p;done unloading in two Hours then head back to
Elysium
"I take it things went south?" Samantha asked as Hackett got on the elevator.
"About as south as things could go" Hackett responded. "I also left Athena with the asari councilor and
two platoons of Marines"
"Will she be safe?" Samantha asked
"Between Tevos' commandos and the Marin es I left, she'll be fine" Hackett told her before ordering
"Have the armada prepare to jump to Khar'shan"
Samantha sent the order out to the entire human a rmada. "All vessels acknowledging orders Sir", she ;
relayed to Hackett.
"Good, prepare for slipstream jump" Hackett ordered her&n bsp;as he stepped off the elevator on to ;the
bridge.
"All hands secure for slipstream jump" Samantha sounded throughout the ship.
2157.06.21
Harsa System
Khar'Shan
Batarian Home world
"Exiting Slipstream in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" Samantha sounded through the ship. "Armada reports heavy&nb sp;
resistance".
"How's it look Samantha" Hack ett said standing on the bridge.
"It's a soup sandwich Sir" Samantha responded just as they exited f rom slipstream.
The view they had was astonishing, long sword fighters were engaging batarian interceptors. Gutted out
vessels cluttered the battle field
"Fire when re ady", Hackett ordered the weapons officer.
"F iring MAC 1 and 4" the weapons officer&n bsp;responded.
One of the bridge crew screamed when she saw ;a batarain body hit the screen. "I'll n ever get used to
that" the same crewmen yelled.
"AA guns have opened fire" both Samantha and the weapons officer s aid in unison.
"Getting awful crowded in my&n bsp;sky" Hackett sighed.
Once the Alliance had broken through the Hegemonies lin es the planets orbital defense fell within&nb sp;six
hours. The Alliance ships launched Pelicans loaded with Marines and all the equipment needed&n bsp;for a
successful invasion. Long sword&nbs p;fighters targeted military instillations and ham mered away at any AA
defenses that they found on the ground. Creating a path for the drop ships to land and unload.
Pelican S A-982MC
Khar'Shan
"Fuck sake that was close" the pilot yelled pushing her pelican to&nbs p;its limits avoiding the AA. Suddenly the pelican lurched to the side as it was hit by a rocket. "Damage report" goldilocks yelled out to her crew
chief.
"Got a nice hole on the st arboard bulk head" the chief responded. "Nothing&n bsp;important was hit but you
can kiss space flight good bye"
"Fucking cunt sne ezes" she mumbled causing her co-pilot to&nbs p;laugh.
The pelican continued on to it s LZ with the co-pilot call sign war hawk firing away on the 70 MM&n bsp;at
batarians unlucky enough to be in&nbs p;the LZ.
"Y'all be landing in a hot LZ" the Chief told the Marine lieutenant.
"Why do I get the feeling we're ab out to storm Tarawa" gripped one of the Marines before the Lt
smacked him.
After the Lt smacked the wayward PVT he turned ;to his Marines. "Marines like us took Tarawa back in
the 20th century after being told that it was&nbs p;impossible. The same is going to happen here on this back
assed planet".
"Dropping the ramp" the chief yelled before catching a ricochet to the face.&nbs p;
The Marines charged off of the pelican ;slamming their backs into cover. Rounds were ;starting to chew
away at the broken&nbs p;down wall currently offering cover.
"Suppressing fire, put a few grenades through those windows", the Lt ordered. At once the Marines
opened up on the batarians while two Marines tossed& nbsp;grenades into the mist of the batarians.
"Frag out" they called and the Marines took cover as their party&nbs p;favors went to work.
The batarians had ducked for cover when the humans leveled over whelming firepo wer at them. Once
there was a break in the fire they stood to advance on the hu man position before the group was
scatt ered by two detonations.
Chunks of the enemy& nbsp;and dirt started to land on the Marines who cheered.&n bsp;They hopped over the wall
and advanced&nb sp;to the next enemy position calling goldilocks&n bsp;and war hawk for air support once they&nb sp;
came under heavy fire getting pinned down.
"Goldilocks, we got a&nb sp;building full of dysfunctional bears. Can you negotiate with them" yelled the&nbs p;radio
operator. "What do you mean which building?, it's the only one standing". ;
"Roger I've got eyes on target" goldilo cks radioed. "War hawk bring that son of a bitch down".
"On it, tell those Marines negoti ations have begun"
The missiles tore away&nbs p;from the pelican quickly eating the distanc e to the building. Upon impact the top < br> floors were destroyed, silencing the batarians ;shooting down towards the Marines.
SSV-Missouri
Orbit of Khar'Shan
The last of the Batarian&nb sp;fleet had been destroyed after six hours of constant battle. But now the Alliance
armada could focus on the ground&nbs p;war.
"I want the frigates to enter the atmosphere, begin landing&nb sp;operations at any LZ that's clear". Hackett
told Samantha. "Assist ground forces& nbsp;to clear the area if necessary before landing " he finished.
20 vessels descended to& nbsp;the planet's surface bringing much needed reinforcements and supplies. One
such vessel the SSV-Texas was headed to the LZ cleared by&nbs p;the Marines from SA-982MC.
"Sir, we g ot incoming friendlies" the RO told the Lt.
"Good it's about time, how many?" h e asked the RO. Then looked to where he& nbsp;was pointing, his jaw
dropped when he saw the frigate preparing to land.&nb sp;
"Jesus tap dancing Christ that is awesome" one of&nb sp;the Marines left standing said.
Batarian& nbsp;Hegemony
Command Center
The Hegemony&nbs p;had watched what was left of their fleet&nb sp;fall to the Alliance after six hours of fighting.
The AA defenses had been syste matically destroyed by human fighter craft and&nbs p;drop ships that had
discharged their cargo.
"The humans have landed some of their ships". One batarian yelled in the command center
"That's not possible" another batarian responded as the&n bsp;building shook from a nearby explosion. < br> The Hegemony leadership could only stare as&n bsp;surviving batarian troops surrendered to the a pproaching
Alliance.
The Special Intervention Unit had engaged and been completely routed from t heir defensive positions
after only 30 minute s of combat. The bombardment from orbit had completely& nbsp;destroyed their military
bases after a day. All slaves that hadn't been killed were freed and evacuated.
The Hegemony was offered the chance to surrender wha t was left of the batarian forces and themselves but refused.
"Samantha, order all Alliance troops to move in behind the tanks", ;Hackett ordered
Samantha sent out the order. "We making hamburgers sir?"
"Something like that" Hackett responded
The Hegemony saw the humans advancing behind their tanks.
"We're receiving an order from Ad miral Hackett to surrender, it's our last cha nce". The Batarian radio
operator said.
"Admiral the Hegemony says fuck off" Samantha told Hackett.
"Very well&n bsp;try to keep one of them alive" Hackett&nb sp;said as he walked away.
Of the entire ;batarian government only one member survived ;to be taken in to custody.
2157.06.21& nbsp;
Persidium citadel
One week before the fall of the Khar'Shan
Lt . Anderson could not believe that Hackett agr eed to let Athena stay. He wished the elevator would
move faster since Athena had stayed with Tevos. Once he finally reached the bottom and the&nb sp;doors
opened he saw some of his Marines sparing with a few of the turians.
"Your Marines know how to fight Lt." one of the turians said as he walked up sporting a freshly broken
f ringe.
"Did one of my guys do that? " Anderson asked
"No one of your female s, no wonder the guys don't argue with them" The turian said l aughing
Anderson face palmed causing the turi an to laugh harder. "Winner Vakarian" Anderson&nbs p;heard before
calling his Marines attention ;to inform them that they'll be staying with Athena.
Tevos Residence"
This is where you will sleep Athena" Tevos told an exited little girl. She couldn't help but smi le at her
enthusiasm. "If you need anything my staff will assist you".
Athena looked at the room she was going to be staying in and was excited. The bed was soft and she sunk in to it when she sat. The sheet s felt like silk, and the blankets softer&nbs p;then what she had on the
Missouri. She turned to Tevos nodding her head in understanding.
"Lt. Anderson if you'll ple ase follow me" Tevos turned to the Lt. < br> "Certainly, Athena behave yourself", Anderson said& nbsp;as he left to follow the councilor. ;
"Yes sir" Athena answered before returning to exploring her room.
Anderson followed tevos and her aid&nbs p;to what looked like military barracks. "I'm guessing that the troops
stay here?" He asked more to ;himself than anyone else.
"Yes Lt." an asari said walking out of one of the ro oms completely naked.
Anderson immediately av erted his eyes feeling blood rush to not only his face.
"Is something wrong" the asari ask ;smirking seeing Anderson blush.
"um-uh n-no ma'am" Anderson finally managed to choke out the words.
"Emela Iallieri" Tevos began, "This is Lt. Anderson of the Systems Alliance Marines. He and his Marines
will be staying with you and your commandos".
"Yes ma'am" Emela responded then turned to Anderson, "I'm Commander Lallieri, I am in charge of
councilor tevos' commandos".
< hr> "Pleasure to meet you commander", Anderson&nbs p;snapped off a crisp salute. "I've got two p latoons of
Marines with me"
"They l ike asari?" Emela asked.
"A few yes, one Marine is seeing an asari we saved, Suleem I think is her name" Anderson folding his
arms and taping his chin in thought.
"Did you say suleem?"&n bsp;The commander stammered grabbing the wall for support.
"Emela, are you okay?" Tevos rushed to her side. She had never seen the&nb sp;commando this close to tears
sense her&nbs p;sister had been taken by slavers.
Anderson was confused by the events going on in front of him. "Is she okay?"
Emela looked up at the&nb sp;man called Anderson, catching her breath she told him that suleem was her
sister and she had not seen her for 300 years since slavers had taken her.
"Jackson, are&nb sp;you the one seeing that asari named suleem ?" Anderson called one of his Marines on ;his
radio.
"Yeah" the Marine responded.
"Do me a favor and grab her when she gets off the colony ship", ordered A nderson.
"Yes sir on my way now" he responded back.
Tevos looked at Anderson questioningly while still helping Emela up. "What are you doing Lt.?"&n bsp;
"Family reunion Ma'am", least I hope so&n bsp;the thought to himself.
The Marine s howed up with suleem about 20 minutes after&n bsp;the call. She was nervous it had been 300
years since she& nbsp;had seen the inside of Tevos' estate. It wasn't long before she was& nbsp;knocked over by
someone who turned ;out to be her sister. They visited as&n bsp;the Marines settled in and got to know&nb sp;the
other commandos. Before long Athena ran in being chased by Jasmine causing a huge scene with the
commandos.
"what i s that thing chasing the girl" one of th e commandos jump up ready to warp it before&nbs p;Tevos came
in behind Athena.
"It's a pet, she belongs to Athena" tevos told ;the commandos.
The commandos relaxed and went back to studying the humans. Some of them made a game of seeing
who could make the humans speechless first. Others just talked or practiced hand to hand with the
Marines.
After a week of being around the asari Athena was developing a fondness for the blue aliens. They had
caught her sne aking around the barracks more than once.&nbs p;Every time she had been caught the
commandos just laughed and returned her to her room, now she had Marines posted on her door under& nbsp;
orders to follow her everywhere.
21 57.06.28
One day after the fall of Khar' shan
"Athena, can you come out here litt le one?" Tevos spoke.
The little girl&n bsp;ran out of the room and blushed when she saw the asari standing in front of her. "Yes?"
"Your uncle will be here tom orrow little one" Tevos told Athena before she walked down the hall to her < br> room. She was still in shock seeing the Hegemony&nb sp;fall so fast, as were the other councilors. She needed
to think about her next steps in dealing with the humans.
Life tossed one hell of a fucked up monkey wrench my way right now. I'll update when I get a chance, I'll
try to keep it at once a week but don't be surprised if i t is a little while between updates. Thank you for < br> reading and I hope you continue to follow the story as it progresses
Charly120&n bsp;