Preface (PLEASE READ)

Before I start this chapter, I wanted to say that it has been made apparent that I did not make it clear to the readers that there is a Battletech wiki! I can't post URLs on fanfiction, but the Battletech wiki is sarna dot net. I highly encourage you to read the author's notes and check the wiki for anything you do not understand. Not only does it have useful information, I also included imgur links to the way I envisioned some of the ships and vehicles of the KoES universe looking. If you have any questions, feel free to send me a PM and I will try to clarify whatever questions you may have!

14 Sep 3805, Hercules System, 250 km over Eletania

Admiral Vey'Hok was staring into the eyes of three very angry individuals on the holo-display. In the heat of the moment, he had forgotten about the STG vessel observing the battle in a higher orbit above the planet. It was the Asari matriarch that spoke first.

"Admiral, I do not think that you understand the repercussions of your actions. Mass accelerator strikes against a garden world are highly illegal. We have already sent recordings of your orbital strike to the council. You cannot bury this action. What were you thinking?" Hok frowned. He briefly contemplated simply destroying the Salarian vessel. If they had already transmitted the tapes, then that action would likely only make things worse.

"I had no choice in the matter. These unknown aliens had machines the likes of which I have never heard of. They were all congregated in one area, and a mass accelerator strike was the best way to deal with the threat."

"An illegal mass accelerator strike," the Turian Spectre replied. "I am tempted to arrest you and drag your pathetic hide back to the Citadel right now for your inevitable war crime trial." The Batarian shrugged off the threat.

"Yes, yes. I will take the relay to the Widow System after this research operation is complete." The admiral cut the transmission before he could get a response. He had no intention of going to the Citadel. The Council and their lackeys had no idea what they were doing, and most of Council law was ridiculous and went against the Batarian's culture. If they were going to arrest him, they would need to go through the Hegemony's finest fleet first. Hok was feeling angry; angry at the council, angry at these aliens, and angry at the mechanized battalion for losing half of their vehicles before he was forced to clean up their mess with an illegal orbital artillery strike. At least he could do something about the latter. Nothing compared with swift justice from a ranking officer in the Hegemony military.

Hok looked over at his personal shuttle operator.

"Get the shuttle ready. I need to put the fear of the spirits into what is left of that battalion."

17 Sep 3805, Hercules System, Eletania

Shepard looked through the optics of his M72 and saw a unit of aliens making camp for the night. It appeared to be about the size of a reinforced armored company, or about 200 soldiers and 15 tanks. The unit markings of the tanks matched those which he had ambushed with Zulu company, and he was able to see several dozen injured aliens laying on levitating beds that were being guided to what he assumed was a medical tent. He was located on a hillside approximately 8 kilometers from the hostile campsite.

The past three days had been an endless blur of slow movement and periods of intense stress as patrols marched past their position. In any other situation John would have said he was bored with the pace he had been moving at. After a mad dash to put distance between Ed and himself from their pursuers, he had found a natural cave. John and Ed had set up inside the cave to get out of the sudden and intense storms which seemed to plague the planet. After making a small camp and tending to Ed's wounds as best he could with a makeshift splint of a branch and rope, Shepard went back to try to recover more supplies from the mechs under the cover of nightfall. It had taken an hour to slowly crawl under 200 meters past the sentries guarding the wreckage, silently cursing everything the entire time. He was able to reach an older Rifleman V mech and had extracted its dead pilot along with a Mauser laser rifle, Needler flechette pistol, some food, and more desperately needed medical supplies. Unfortunately he was unable to scavenge more, as every other mech had at least a platoon's worth of alien infantry guarding it. John saw the aliens dragging two bodies out of their mechs, laughing. Was forced to crawl away towards his camp, feeling defeated. After three hours of scathing self-reflection he had arrived on the hill he was currently laying prone on. John set about the task of burying the Sergeant he had been dragging along. It was painfully long and sobering work. As he was about to turn to finish his trek to check on his wounded friend, a shuttle descended into the enemy camp.

18 Sep 3805, Terra II and Shanxi

Across Terra II and Shanxi, all vid and radio broadcasts were interrupted with the image of an attractive reporter of Asian descent looking out at them.

"This is Emily Wong with the Alliance News Network coming to you with breaking news from Alliance High Command. Nearly two weeks ago the Fourth Fleet was investigating a strange signal spinward of Shanxi when it came under attack by extraterrestrial forces. The Fourth Fleet was able to defeat the alien fleet before escaping to safety. One live alien was captured and is being held in an undisclosed location off planet. The Second fleet assigned to protecting Shanxi is already on their way back to the Hercules System, where it is reported that a dropship had to be left due to damage to its parent ship's docking port. One research vessel and one fighter were destroyed in the exchange. The identities of those aboard the ship left in the system and killed aboard the research ship and in the fighter are unknown, but relief is rapidly approaching the system to bring our service members home safely."

18 Sep 3805, Hercules System, Eletania

John watched the shuttle land and what was likely an honor guard march out down a ramp. The alien company had quickly formed into some sort of formation, and brought their hands across their chests in salute as a figure stepped out. The alien was wearing some sort of cloth uniform with an almost comical number of ribbons sewn all across its front left side. It almost looked like the uniform of one of Earth's 19th century dictators. He looked at his chronometer, showing it was just after midnight on planet. John depressed a button on his optics, which laser ranged the distance to another hill about 4km closer to the enemy base. He remained prone; slinging his rifle across his back next to the Laser rifle he had found and began to crawl forward.

Thirty minutes later, John arrived at the top of the other hill. He was surprised to see that the alien doing what he assumed was some sort of inspection of the unit, and the leader did not appear to be pleased. He carried a metal rod which he used to beat soldiers that failed to deliver whatever answers he was looking for.

John Shepard had grown up in one of the few rural areas of Terra II, on an island approximately 50 square miles. His father was a farmer, and John had helped the small community by hunting the local Jendo, an animal which looked somewhat like a gazelle/ram hybrid when he was not working on the farm. Upon joining the Alliance, he had opted for Special Forces training in addition to mechanized warfare, and held the designation of N7. The N7 were highly trained and the unit was designed to operate behind enemy lines and primarily used to gather information or assassinate high profile targets. The original purpose for the unit was to find and eliminate the pirates on Terra II that attacked oceangoing supply or trade ships. John managed to get a rare command billet in a mech company and had only served in a N7 unit for his first two years in the Alliance. Between his time hunting and the training he had received, Shepard was a highly capable marksman with long range rifles and pistols.

John looked through his scope and set the magnification to 18X before using the laser range finder to determine the distance to the enemy commander. 5,121 meters. His M72 had an effective range of 9km, but anything outside 4.5km was a very difficult shot. John deployed his bipod to steady the rifle, and observed the surroundings around the enemy commander. The trees rustled a bit, but he was not able to accurately determine the speed of the wind. He adjusted the focus of his optics a quarter turn counter clockwise to see the mirage. Luckily, the tropical planet was still very warm even at night, and he approximated ten miles an hour of wind moving to his right. He applied four left minutes of angle and seven and a half minutes of angle up to his optics and slid the bolt mechanism directly back before pushing it forward again. A four inch long metal sabot was pushed forward into the chamber of the rifle from the magazine. John adjusted himself one last time and set his cheek on the stock of the rifle.

18 Sep 3805, Hercules System, Eletania

Admiral Hok inwardly smiled to himself. He had successfully scared the shit out of the unit for losing so many tanks to the enemy force. Now he just had to deal with their commander, Captain Xel. Xel was a very capable officer, and while Hok knew the Captain was not directly at fault, the ultimate responsibility of the unit fell on him. And Xel's subordinates had failed. Miserably. It would show weakness to not punish him in front of his unit. Hok stood in front of his target wordlessly and raised the rod to strike the man. Suddenly, he was on his back looking up at the sky. That's strange. The thought occurred to him that one of the troops had attacked him to prevent their commander from being disciplined, but he couldn't even feel anything. Also, his guards had not fired a round, but it was difficult to tell as his hearing was distant and fuzzy. It almost sounded like somebody was screaming, but the voice seemed so very far away. He tried to move to sit up, but found that he could not. One of his guards appeared over him, and tried to move him before the guard's head jerked back. Orange brain matter squirted from the Batarian, and the dead man fell over, only the lower jaw was left of the Batarian. His body had shifted slightly as the dead guard fell on him, and he was able to see down at his chest. A two inch wide hole slightly offset to the right stared back at him. Movement caught his attention, and he was able to see Xel writhing on the ground, his right leg missing from the thigh up. Xel was the one screaming if his face was anything to go by, but he sounded at least a few hundred yards away instead of right beside him. The Admiral looked once again at the hole in his chest and could see blood spilling from the hole. Admiral Hok's eyes went wide at the sight before he relaxed a final time and knew no more.

30 Sep 3805, Hercules System, Eletania

Killing that alien may have been a mistake. Ed and John were moving yet again, and it seemed the whole damn enemy fleet was looking for them. John's XO was laid over his shoulder and had his teeth gritted in pain. Shepard knew Ed must be miserable having his leg bounced around with his steps, but there wasn't an alternative. An alien fighter roared overhead, and John dropped to his knee before pausing, relieved when it did not turn back around. He had no idea how much longer he and Ed could continue like this. It took a great amount of energy to carry the man, and they would run out of food within a week or two. John noticed a hollowed out tree trunk, and made his way to it. He set Ed down gingerly and took out his command tool, a matte black object comparable in size and shape to a brick. The tool flared to life, projecting a hologram of the surface of the planet that showed his location. John and Ed had trekked nearly 450 kilometers from the battle site, mostly in the past two weeks. He could scarcely believe that they were still alive after everything. John had deployed timed explosives set to touch off in the opposite direction that the pair was moving. Shepard had no idea if it had worked to draw enemies away from them or not. He changed to his transmit tab, and saw that no new Alliance contacts were within the transmitter's 400km range. Ed grimaced in pain and looked over at him.

"Jesus John, you could be a little gentler. Maybe you need me to crack you over the shin with something to see how it feels."

"I'm sorry princess. It would help if you weren't hiding bricks in your pockets. Maybe you would have liked me to leave you in your mech. I am sure these friendly people that have been looking for us have actually wanted to give us a steak dinner." Ed chuckled weakly.

"You know, I would have left you a week ago if they were giving out steak. I think you pissed them off when you killed that one alien."

"Yeah, I think you're right. I may have killed three; but definitely two. I don't know. The first sabot went through the boss' chest and hit another guy he was about to work over with a metal pole. Took half his leg off. I went to make a follow up shot on the other guy to put him out of his misery but somebody stepped in front of him at the last second and may have deflected the shot. Hit some poor guard trying to reach the first target."

"Fuck his misery, man. I can't even move around without my leg feeling like it will fall off. And the bastards killed the whole rest of the company. I hope nobody else was alive when they got to our mechs." Shepard unhooked his canteen and took a drink of water before offering it to his friend. The last comment cut him deeply as he thought of the laughter of the aliens as they had drug his dead companions out of their mechs.

"Me too, Ed."

15 Oct 3805, Hercules System, 742 km over Eletania

Kirrahe was still amazed that anything had survived the mass accelerator strike the Batarians had used on the planet below him. He was unsure if it had been a mistake in letting the two alien craft leave the system unsupervised as a dozen Batarian cruisers and frigates gave chase. Ultimately, he had assumed that the Batarians would bring back any crew they captured and he could observe them from there. It had been a good decision, as they had returned in system a few hours ago with the large oval shaped ship attached to a cruiser. The smaller torpedo bomber was not present. Apparently the two craft had not succeeded in their escape. He had already radioed the new Batarian commander that the aliens were not to be killed or tortured, under penalty of very strict Citadel sanctions. While the Salarian could not truthfully know the repercussions of the Batarians killing all those aboard the ships, he figured the Council would not be lenient after everything the Batarians had done. The second surprise was when Admiral Hok was killed. He shook his head. Kirrahe watched the holo in front of him as an infantry carrier slowly advanced with a platoon of Batarian soldiers, looking for the sniper.

"Captain! High energy signatures at old battle site!"

15 Oct 3805, Hercules System Nadir Jump Point

Rear Admiral Hackett floated in space next to Vice Admiral Kahoku on the bridge of the battleship Constellation. The entire Second Fleet was in system, and they weren't alone. Hackett looked at the scope carefully. There were 89 non-human ships in the system. Forty six frigate class ships, thirty cruiser class ships, two massive battlecruiser class ships, and ten support craft were in a blockade orbit around the planet, 250km above the surface. A single frigate was in geosynchronous orbit high above the blockade, and the sensors showed that it had a slightly different energy output than the rest of the fleet. A more disturbing detail was that the aliens seemed to have captured the Hard Boiled. Well, the second fleet was outnumbered, like his Fourth Fleet was. Unlike before, however, the second fleet had some of the biggest hitting ships in the human arsenal. The second fleet consisted of 70 combat ships; two McKenna II class battleships, four Interdiction class carriers each housing four Retaliator heavy bombers, six lances of Gladius fighters, and three Overlord III class dropships. The fleet was rounded out with 24 Lance class cruisers, 36 Trident class destroyers, and four Packhorse class resupply and repair vessels. The Second fleet was a clone to the first fleet, and the best that humanity had to offer.

Hackett was not in command of the second fleet; that was Kahoku's position. He was simply here to advise the other admiral, as Hackett was the only commander to fight against these aliens. He had already briefed Kahoku extensively on what he had seen, and would likely remain a spectator for this battle. Kahoku placed his hands behind his back and relayed his orders to the comm officer.

"Order the fleet into attack formation. Deploy the fighter and bomber screens. We need to hit them before they have a chance to regroup. Try opening a communication to one of the larger ships." The second fleet began splitting into four distinct elements as they moved toward Eletania. Two larger units each containing 20 ships, including the McKenna II's were positioned above and below, while the flanking elements consisted of cruisers and destroyers. Each group also contained one carrier. Once in formation, the whole fleet MAD jumped to within 1000km of Eletania's South Pole. The lone frigate in high orbit immediately rabbited away, and scanners tracked it to a position of 100Mm from the planet.

"No response Captain, I don't know if they ignored the transmission or are unable to respond."

"Approach the planet in formation. Fighters and bombers are clear to engage. Prioritize one of their capital ships and try to disable the cruiser with our boys on it. Let's see if they want to become more talkative." As the human fleet approached the unprepared alien forces, Hackett knew that the battle was a foregone conclusion. The other forces weren't ready, and as the bombers reached their effective range, two dozen Sunburn torpedoes streaked out across space towards one of the alien's two larger ships. The targeted battleship class warship managed to swat over half of the torpedoes with a laser defense system before seven Sunburns found their mark. The results were gratifying. The fission warheads detonated, sending destroyer sized pieces of the starboard section of the warship tumbling off into space. The ship began listing and developed a rotation, clearly dead in space.

"Try opening another transmission. Have the Retaliators hold fire on the other large warship." The bombers turned back, just as the clone of the destroyed ship opened fire on the formation off to the right. A slug streaked across space at nearly .05c, and impacted a destroyer neatly in the nose before tearing the front quarter of the ship off. Kahoku reacted immediately.

"Second fleet, weapons free! Get our mobile fleet units to the far side of the planet to engage! Turn broadside!" The Constellation and its sister ship slowly turned under power of its maneuvering thrusters to engage the fifty-off contacts in line of sight. Once in position, the McKenna II battleships let loose with their PPC barrage. Each ship had 12 gimbaled heavy capital class PPCs on all four sides. After firing one salvo, the ship rotated 90 degrees before firing another. The combat was chaotic. Slugs from the alien ships streaked across the void at Second fleet, and were answered by the lightning bolts of PPC fire, lasers, and missiles. By the time the Constellation was suffering from heat buildup from its third salvo, there were no more targets in range.

15 Oct 3805, Eletania

Ed was keeping watch as John slept. He had the M72 laid across his lap as he peered through the opening to their small shelter. It had been a rough month. Between evading the aliens, his broken leg, and the strict rationing of food that left him constantly hungry, the Lieutenant was beginning to wonder if it would be better to just eat a bullet. Ed gave a frustrated grumble and looked out into the jungle as large globs of water fell through the trees. Does it ever stop raining here? Then, the last thing he could imagine happened; the radio cracked to life.

"Zulu six, this is Second Fleet. Respond." Shepard had sprung up at the noise and snatched the radio.

"Second fleet, this is Zulu six. I am stranded on-planet with my XO. The rest of the company is either KIA or captured. Request pickup."

"Roger Zulu six, we will send ground forces to your location to secure an evac. Sit tight." John smiled and slapped Ed on the back. It hurt his leg, but Ed could not find it in himself to wince. They would be going home.

15 Oct 3805, Hercules System, 200km over Eletania

Kahoku and Hackett looked down at the planet. The battle was won, but the aliens had managed to take out four destroyers and a cruiser from the second fleet's mobile elements when they reappeared behind Eletania, as well as damage four other cruisers. The results for the second fleet were one battle won, at the cost of and 1232 injured and 2209 dead. Hackett could imagine how his counterpart was feeling. They were the only two commanders to lose men under their command against an alien force. Well, one of three. 12 Overlord IIIs were deorbiting to settle down on the planet, each holding a reinforced battalion containing 40 mechs along with with two lances of Gladius aerospace support, and other personnel. Lieutenants John Shepard and Edward Raven were being picked up from the planet and the remains of most of the mechs and bodies would be recovered as well. The alien ground forces had apparently run back to their dropships or scattered like ants from a kicked over anthill. The humans had intercepted nearly every transport trying to leave the surface. Most had been destroyed, but six had been captured due to the marksmanship of Gladius pilots, and their ability to disable the craft's engines. Thankfully, the Hard Boiled was retaken, but the bloodstained and bullet-pocked walls told the tale. Only three individuals were alive on the dropship by the time the marines had stormed aboard. The remainder of the 24 man crew and Gladius pilots had been killed attempting to repel boarders or had been executed upon capture. Of the alien fleet, only ten enemy ships had a chance to engage their jump drives, and two of them were intercepted after the human semi-AI cyberwarfare suites managed to disable their power systems. Not including that other frigate. It had remained stationary and well away from the battle, and Kahoku had allowed it to go unmolested thus far.

Recovery of the mechs and two stranded officers had taken four hours. The second fleet had deployed into a defensive cube formation in orbit, wary of more threats. A pair of cruisers had moved out towards the frigate and parked halfway between the two to deter any hostile moves on its part, if having an entire fleet in the system wasn't enough. Ed had immediately been moved to the medical bay in the artificial gravity section of the Constellation where he was admitted to surgery for his leg. John was not so lucky. He had time to shower and change into a set of unmarked coal grey fatigues before being escorted to Admiral Kahoku's cabin. He arrived at the door and knocked three times.

"Request permission to enter." A muffled force replied.

"Enter." The mechwarrior pressed the door entry button and marched in before coming to attention in front of a Vice Admiral he did not know and Rear Admiral Hackett. He saluted smartly. The two flag officers briefly returned his salute before sitting.

"Lieutenant John Shepard reporting as ordered, gentlemen."

"Stand at ease, Lieutenant." John complied and looked at the unknown Admiral. Vice Admiral Kahoku. Don't know much about him.

"We need you to fill in the gaps, Lieutenant. Hackett ordered you to go to ground and we get back with an entire alien fleet in system. Your dropship had been captured; there was no trace of Zulu company. Tell us exactly what happened from the moment Fourth Fleet left."

It took John over an hour of talking to relay the events of the past month to the admirals. He left nothing out, and answered their questions respectfully and concisely. When he finished, Kahoku sighed before running his hands up his face and through his hair.

"It seems like you didn't make the best call in setting your command down on Eletania instead of another planet in the system. While it was blind luck that had these aliens touched down so close to you, the whole thing could have been prevented if you had avoided the planet."

"Sir, I thought that the natural foliage of the planet along with its weather and high temperatures would mask our presence better at the time. We also would have access to water if our supplies ran out before we were rescued. I did not have a choice in the matter when the alien fleet arrived, and I was forced to engage once it was clear that the opposing armor was going to discover our location. After being hit by the ortillery, I was just trying to keep Ed and myself alive." Hackett nodded and motioned for him to settle down.

"We aren't here to condemn your actions, Lieutenant. The point just needed to be made. It would have been much less likely that you would have been discovered if you had powered down on an unoccupied planet or moon, but you made the best out of a bad situation. The Hard Boiled's capture along with the destruction of Zulu company was somewhat out of your hands-" Shepard cut in before Hackett could continue.

"The dropship got captured? Is the crew ok?" Kahoku sighed and shook his head.

"The majority of the crew was killed. There were only three survivors. The Retaliator accompanying it was destroyed when it tried to buy time for the dropship to escape once the two had been forced to degauss the MAD drives." John's shoulders drooped and he felt like someone had punched him in the gut. He had been given command of a mech company, a dropship, a bomber, and a lance of fighters, and only five people had walked away from it.

"Lieutenant Shepard, you may have been discovered no matter where you landed. It is unknown. You did the best that you could after landing, and that is to be commended. This was a job with a large number of unknowns, as you were evading a species we have never encountered. The fact that you got out at all is a testament to your command acumen. Hackett and I are going to decide what to do about that frigate that is watching us. You are dismissed." Shepard went back to attention and saluted before exiting the cabin. John asked the guard for directions, and moved towards the medical wing to check on his XO.

15 Oct 3805, Hercules System, .7 AU orbit over Hercules

"Solus, try opening comms with one of the alien dreadnaughts."

"Sent, no reply from ship. Probable that alien ships unable to communicate via mass effect comms." Kirrahe frowned and Matriarch Aethyta nodded at him.

"Begin to slowly move towards the fleet. Keep trying to contact them. Weapons offline, reroute power to engines. If they fire at us, FTL to the relay."

15 Oct 3805, Hercules System, 800km over Eletania

The speakers in the Admiral's stateroom crackled to life.

"Gentlemen, the alien frigate is moving towards us slowly. We also keep getting hit with some kind of energy reading that we can't identify." Kahoku stood quickly and began talking as he arrived at the door.

"Keep an eye on it. Have the Jutland and Waterloo maintain their distance towards the target, moving back towards the fleet. I will be on the bridge shortly."

An hour later and the alien ship was 5000km from the fleet. Kahoku ordered a warning shot to be fired in order to signal it to halt, which it did abruptly. After a few minutes, a small shuttle sized craft emerged from the ship, and slowly flew around the fleet before landing on the surface of Eletania.

Hackett smiled.

"I think they are trying to tell us something." Kahoku nodded and turned to his fellow commander and senior Marine of the fleet, Marshal Williams.

"It's your ball game now."

15 Oct 3805, Hercules System, Eletania

Nihlus fidgeted in his armor, quadruple checking his weapons. Aethyta rolled her eyes at the Turian's antics. If the aliens turned hostile, there was nothing they could do but submit. For his part, Kirrahe seemed to be studying the ship, no doubt to be included in some report made after the fact. The Matriarch looked up as the giant ship approached. The egg-shaped craft left her slightly confused, as every other craft of the aliens she had seen was angular and dangerous looking, with fins and flowing lines. The giant egg was almost comical in comparison. Looking closely at the ship, she could see that weapons had been deployed from behind armored doors, and said weapons were all pointing directly at them. The ship landed about two kilometers from their shuttle gently on four long legs. The large door opened and a ramp was lowered. She gasped at what she saw.

The footage earlier was not exactly clear, and nobody could exactly tell what it was that exited the alien craft. Now they knew. Huge machines over a dozen meters tall walked out and down the ramp, approaching them. The ground tremored slightly with each step of the giants as the three Council ambassadors were surrounded. Eight of the machines stood in a rough semicircle around the ambassadors about 100 meters in front of them and to the sides, with four more standing several hundred meters behind, presumably to cut off any escape. Kryik narrowed his eyes at the formation. The current formation would allow all of the machines to fire at them without the danger of friendly fire. The aliens clearly were tactically proficient. At this point, a strange machine was rolled out of the cargo bay and two rotor blades began spinning. The craft took flight and landed just behind the machines. A group of five aliens disembarked before walking to the trio of ambassadors. It was clear that all were armed, and four of them had rifles of some sort grasped comfortably in their hands. The one not holding a weapon walked several paces forward, stopping within thirty feet of the trio. He slowly unclipped his belt, and tossed it aside and waited. Kirrahe mirrored the alien's actions before turning to the Turian.

"Nihlus, discard your weapons. If they want to kill us it isn't like they are going to help anyways." The Spectre looked like he had eaten something sour, and slowly deposited his four weapons in a neat pile behind him before stepping away. The alien walked forward and held out his hand before saying something which they didn't understand. Kirrahe and Kryik looked puzzled, but Aethyta figured he wanted the gesture reciprocated. She walked to within five feet and held her hand out as well. The figure laughed slightly before closing the distance between them cautiously and grasping his hand in hers, moving it up and down. He pointed at himself and said a word.

"Human." The Asari was delighted that they seemed willing to get to know the Ambassadors, even if he was only willing to do so with overwhelming firepower behind him. She stepped forward once, and the alien seemed slightly uncomfortable in their close proximity. She placed her hands on his shoulders and bowed her head briefly before raising it. She caught the man looking trying to look anywhere but her bust. I guess men are the same everywhere.

"Embrace eternity!"

They appeared in his memories. She saw another human, which Aethyta guessed to be his mate, smiling at another, younger, image of him with four daughters. She saw a beautiful water world, with metal cities that stretched into a clear blue sky. Another flash revealed a second world that was cold and seemingly inhospitable, but which also had great cities. She kept going back in his mind before she arrived at memories he seemingly didn't actively remember. His first words, his first steps. Learning in a schoolroom about his native language and history. The Matriarch was slightly disturbed at some of the history she discovered about this new race. Judging that it was enough, she ended the mind meld and stepped away from him. He seemed slightly disoriented and turned back to the other soldiers behind him.

"What the hell was that? How long was I out?" Another man behind him responded.

"What's wrong sir? She just put her hands on your shoulders and said something. It was over in a second or two." She regained the man's attention before responding in a language she now knew was called English.

"Greetings, Marshal Gregory Williams. I am Matriarch Aethyta. I would like to greet you on behalf of the Citadel Council and Asari Republics. I hope that our species will share a peaceful and prosperous relationship." She was greeted with silence. Finally, Williams responded.

"What did you do and how do you learn our language suddenly?"

"I conducted what is known by my people as a mind meld. I accessed your memories to learn about you and your race, including your language. I also shared with you some details of the Citadel and Asari races. I elected to avoid all military related memories. If you will allow it, I would like to transmit an English translator to my two colleagues' omni-tools so that they can communicate with you as well." The Marshal nodded his permission and rubbed his head. She activated her omni-tool and transmitted the language patch to the Turian and Salarian.

"A meld can be overwhelming the first time you experience it, but the feeling will pass shortly. Are you well, Gregory?"

"I will be fine."

"I am glad. I am Matriarch Aethyta, an Asari. With me are Spectre Nihlus Kryik of the Turian Hierarchy and Captain Kirrahe of the Salarain Union. We are ambassadors and represent the Citadel Council, which is the governing body of the majority of the galaxy. We would like to extend your Systems Alliance an invitation to the Citadel in order to speak with our leaders."

"Who were those other aliens, then? The ones that attacked us?" Nihlus scoffed at his question before answering.

"Those vermin are known as Batarians. They are a client race of the Council, but constantly cause problems. After attacking you unprovoked and launching a mass accelerator strike on this garden world, they will likely be expelled from the Citadel though. Between that and the constant pirating, raiding, and slaving, the Council has lost patience for the barbarians."

"Well, I am glad to hear that you don't condone their actions. I also appreciate your offer, but I don't have the authority to accept or deny it. I am just a Marshal. I command the Marine detachment for the fleet that is in orbit around the planet. This will have to go to the parliament to be decided on. If you would like, I can take you to the Admiral in charge of the fleet. He isn't my superior, and only holds as much authority as me, but he can send a message home and wait for a response."

"We would greatly appreciate that."

An hour later, the ambassadors arrived in the hangar bay of the Constellation. They were surprised upon entering that they needed to wait for the hangar doors to close and the bay to be pressurized before they could exit. They were equally surprised at the lack of gravity on the ship. After an uncomfortable wait, trio disembarked and was guided through a decontamination system before being escorted through the ship. Nihlus and Kirrahe were allowed to carry their weapons stowed on their magnetic clips. The crew around the ship stopped and stared as they entered each section before being reprimanded to get back to work. After being introduced to the two human Admirals, the human ship transmitted a message to Terra II using something called a Hyperpulse Generator. The ambassadors were forced to sit and wait for a reply. It came 42 minutes later.

Proceed to the Citadel with the Constellation. Remaining Second Fleet forces report back to Shanxi. Report back on situation as able.

A/N

Wow, I checked the traffic on the story and I was pretty stunned to see so many people had read the first two chapters! Reviews really help me out a lot. If you don't like something in the story, then please do not hesitate to let me know! I also still haven't made my decision regarding a LI in KoES. This is probably my biggest hole in story planning, as so much could change based on who it ends up being. Your input on the matter is welcome. Unfortunately, a chapter a week may prove to be impractical to promise with real life getting in the way. I will do my best to post weekly or every other week. All reviews will be read and considered in future chapters. If you want to, feel free to shoot me a PM about the story, yourself, myself, the weather, etc. I neglected to respond to the two reviews I got from chapter 1, and chapter 2 got some reviews, so here goes.

Wolf: Thanks for the review! I am glad you liked it!

Darkmando: Thank you for the review! I was pretty shocked to see the relatively few number of Battletech related fanfics on the site, and I hope that this story will help that.

OMAC001: Alliance/Citadel relations are going to be a huge part of this story; probably more so than combat. As you can probably see with how this chapter ended, chapter 4 will start getting deep into diplomatic relations, and chapter 5 will include more of that as well. KoES has been very combat-oriented in the first few chapters to kind of show what the some of the combat will be like in the story (both mechanized and infantry based) and to build interest. I was afraid a lot of people would get pretty bored and hit the back button in the opening few paragraphs of chapter 1 when I was universe building to be honest.

Jabbarules: I don't really want to say yes or no about that quite yet due to the potential of spoilers. I have a pretty good idea of where KoES will be heading in the long-term, and have events in mind that are relevant in this ME AU through the complete ME trilogy. I will say that if there are other humans coming into the story, it will definitely not be in the next few chapters.

FranticHamster: Yeah, it wasn't the best command decision by any means. It would have been a lot safer to land on an uninhabited moon/rocky planet in the system and hide, which is how I first planned the chapter out. I am trying to depict Shepard as a good (but flawed) commander. He doesn't always make the right call. This is definitely one of these times. I also wanted an opportunity to write some mech and infantry based combat, and the next few chapters probably aren't going to contain much (if any) of that. I appreciate the feedback!

dragonzoid2001: I am glad you like it so far! Battletech is a pretty awesome universe. There are over 50 books on it, and several great games as well. If you are interested, check chapter 1's author notes for some recommended reading. Epubs are the best way to get the books that I have found. Mechwarrior 3 is an amazing game, but can be difficult to run on modern computers. Mechwarrior 4 and Mechwarrior 4:Mercenaries are enjoyable games, and while not as good as MW3, it is still a blast; and easier to get to work. Mechwarrior: Online is the newest game in the franchise, but does not contain any single player story based mode. It is free to play, and can be fun, but be prepared to drop $20 or so for mechbays if you really want to get into it. Battletech also has a board game variant similar to how D&D works. There is a free program called MegaMek that allows you to play the board game online with people, or against the computer.

fuzzyidioms: Haha, will do!

Blackholelord: I included a preface to this chapter to address this. I love sarna, as it is a great tool to use. Thanks for the review!

Codex:

HPG: The Hyperpulse Generator uses KF based physics to send a message up to 1000ly instantly. Like a KF drive, it takes a week to charge, but is charged using the onboard ship power plant instead of a solar sail. Each cruiser sized vessel and larger carries one HPG, while Terra II and Shanxi house a farm of a dozen. It can contain video, text, image, or sound files, but is incapable of maintaining a connection with another HPG. Thus, real time communication back and forth or live video chat is not possible.

McKenna II Battleship: The McKenna II Battleship is based on the nearly 1200 year old original design. It is the heaviest hitting warship in the Systems Alliance arsenal, and for all purposes can be considered comparable to a Citadel dreadnaught. It is 1405m long, masses 1,930,000 tons, and has a crew of 758. It is armed with 12 huge class 40 naval autocannons, 12 large naval lasers, 6 capital class LRM 50's, and a staggering 48 heavy naval PPCs. While Every other ship in the human arsenal typically fires forward, the majority of the McKenna II's firepower is held in its broadside. The McKenna II is also unique in that it houses two HPGs, allowing it to send a message, receive a response, and then send another message instantly.

Interdiction class carrier: The Interdiction class carrier is based on the old wet navy tradition of aircraft carriers. Able to carry a huge array of fighters, bombers, and dropships, the Alliance's Interdiction class carrier is actually what each fleet is built around, and are considered more tactically important than the McKenna II Battleships. An Interdiction class carrier is 1610m long, masses 2,140,000 tons, and carries a crew and marine compliment of 5750. It is armed with 6 large pulse laser defense turrets, 18 paired medium laser defense turrets, and 30 point defense laser anti-missile systems.

Overlord III: The Overlord III is effectively the bigger brother of the Union Mk IVdropship. While the Union can only carry a mech company, the Overlord can carry a full mech battalion of 40 mechs along with aerospace support, artillery, recon, medical, and other support personnel. The Overlord III is 99m long, masses 9,700 tons, and has a crew of 43 (not including the battalion personnel). It is armed with mech-class armaments consisting of 6 PPCs, 2 AC20s, 6AC5s, 12 medium lasers, 6 large lasers, and 3 LRM20s.

Heavy Class Weaponry: Weaponry is divided ascendingly into handheld, mech/vehicle class, and capital class. Mech/vehicle and capital sized weapons also have heavy variants available which deal vastly more damage at the cost of extreme power requirements and heat generation.