Chapter 5

Relay 314, Aboard the dreadnaught Infalable

Captain Alcarus watched as his patrol fleet formed up for relay transit. After years of scouring known space, the Council had hesitantly decided to investigate their only real lead on the Migrant fleet; sighting in nearby systems indicate the Quarians were converging on relay 314. While most species may not like them very much, most people didn't want them to wander off and get slaughtered by some unknown race. The captain was hoping to find them waiting on the other side, maybe colonizing a large moon 'Spirits, anything would be better than finding that they went extinct or not even finding anything at all' with a sigh he faced his crew "prepare for transit, send the order, we jump in five"

Arcs of energy latched onto their ships, sending the dreadnaught and it's accompanying fleet of 10 cruisers and 90 frigates into the unknown. "All ships, check in." ordered the captain once they reached the other side. As each ship reported in, on of the crew members reported "Captain, sensors indicate a large mass of objects giving off unuasual energy signatures. Given the number of relays in this system and the lack of habitable planets, my guess is that they are either ships from another system or an anomalous cluster of space debris."

"Well then, bring up a visual already, let's see what we're dealing with. Scan for element zero and prepare for combat." Just as he finished giving his orders, the Turian at communications yelled out "Sir, we're being hailed." Immediatly the captain was at attention "Move the fleet into a defensive position around the relay, If this goes bad I want on of the frigates to return to the Citadel and inform the council. Answer their hails when everyone is in position."

While he waited, Alcarus took in the information on his displays. There was obviously millions of tiny fighter craft, but their constant shifting places and moving through the shadow on one of the planets made it impossoble to count them all. He wasn't worried about the fighters, numerous though they may be, no as far as he was concerened the only real threat was the massive dreadnaught. The thing was a disturbing sight to the Turian, flapping it's wings as though it were not in a vaccuum, it felt as though the giant beast was looking directly at him. 'well of course it is, this is the largest ship in the fleet.' laughing to himself, Alcarus was given the signal that they were transmiting. "This is Captain Alcarus of the Turian hierarchy, here on behalf of the Citadel Council. To whome am I speaking?"

The main viewscreen on the bridge was filled with the image of a bipedal creature in black armor that had large swaths of glowing blue crystal. The alien had the same profile as an Asari and had just removed it's mask, revealing a face that also bore resemblance to an Asari if you ignore the pale skin and long flowing hair. The left half of it's face was painted blue and it spoke in Turian with a strange accent, obviously translated "I am known as Mjoll the Lioness, Grand Admiral of The Empire of Nirn. Now, why is a fleet of Turian warships entering Imperial space unnannounced?"

"We had no prior knowledge of this Empire's existance, we were merely searching for a lost fleet that was last seen near a relay connected to this system." Replied Alcarus, hiding his surprise at the news of an Empire so close to Citadel space going unnoticed.

Mjoll took a moment to choose her words before saying " Yes, the Quarians. They have been through here and have even met the Emperor himself. They are no longer a concern of your Council's, so your business here is concluded."

"You don't understand, the Quarians have broken Citadel law and must be found. While I have no personal vendetta against them, my orders are to locate the Migrant Fleet return them to Citadel space before they do more harm. If you know where they went, you must tell us now." Explained the Turian.

Of all the possible responses he could have gotten, the laughter he recieved from the other side was not one of them "I have known of many criminals in my day and the Quarians are not them. Before you interrupt, let me finish. We know that the Quarians accidentally created the geth and broke your laws... Centuries ago. We also know that the Salarians uplifted the krogan, who rebelled against the Council, yet the Salarians were not punished. We know that the Turians used Kinetic strikes on garden worlds during the Krogan rebellion, Yet were given a Coucil seat instead of damnation. We know that the Genophage was a bioweapon created by the Salarians, approved by the Asari and used by the Turians, and it's victims are still suffering. We know that slavery is illegal under Council law and yet the Batarians go unpunished to this very day. Lastly, we know that activating a dormant mass relay is against Council law, yet you did just that to get here and claim to be acting Justly while saying 'there may be laws against this but it is fine as long as we are the ones breaking them.' You are like a family of theives, punishing their neighbor for keeping money found on the ground instead of trying to return it, and those who know my opinion of theives are many. I give you one last warning; take your warships out of our territory or i will have them removed by force." with that, the connection was cut.

"Orders captain?" asked the helmsman. 'The audacity of these people, to not only insult us during first contact, but to think they can threaten us with a single warship.' Alcarus didn't hesitate "I want frigate wolf packs to advance and clear their fighter screens, all available fighters are to support them. All ships fire main guns and torpedoes at that dreadnaught in synchronized salvos; no need to waste everything at once and find them disabled from the first 10 hits."

The captain watched as his fleet reorganized and brought their weapons systems online. Wolfpacks made FTL jumps into the cloud of enemy fighters with GUARDIAN lasers primed, mass effect cannons and disruptor torpedoes fired while the Turians awaited their immenent victory... It was not to be. GUARDIAN lasers were having no effect while the swarms of alien fighters condensed around the frigates, followed shortly by large explosions that could only be caused by a drive core detonating. Moments before the first volley was about to hit the dreadnaught, it dissapeared in a swirling mass of light, leaving the rounds and torpedos to tear through the advancing swarm as it continued to come out from behind the planet. "What just happened?! Where did that ship go?" asked the captain before his ship was rocked by an impact. "Captain numerous hull breaches on the upper deck. The enemy dreadnaught had latched onto us and is using us as a shield, point defense systems are having no effect!" The bridge creen chifted to the massive ship with lights appearing along its hull as its tail began smashing the Infalable's thrusters. One by one, the lights on the tactical display winked off as the frigate IFFs stopped transmitting upon destruction.

With no viable counterattack and no way to control their own movement, the crew of the Infalable were forced to watch as the enemy ship threw them towards the horde of fighters and burning wreckage that was once a proud Turian fleet. The last Image they saw before being surrounded was the enemy dreadnaught spearing all 10 cruisers with beams of light, one after another as the frigate that was ordered to stay back escaped through the relay.