Welp got some damn good suggestions and comments. As well as a shocking amount of hate for the cosmo navy ships from space battleship yamato. Except for the yamato itself the other ships looked like legit space ships. Kinda sad no one guessed the Centaurions are Andilites from Animorphs. I loved those books cause the aliens were never humanoid. The taxxons gave me nightmares they were that legit. Plus the books were surprisingly deep for young adult novels. Now I thought long and hard and I came up with a way to have a little of everything.

Also due to the release of final fantasy 7 remake updates may be slow. Cause let's face it that game exceeded the hype. Like I cried it was that great.

Three months ago

Omega mining outpost office of Aria T'loak

For untold millennia the omega mining outpost was a haven for the worst of the worst. With a population of nearly eight million it was a lawless blight with only one simple rule.

Don't fuck with Aria.

It was a simple rule that was easy to follow. It was also a rule that none dared break. For the consequences of breaking this golden rule not only ended your life but often entire bloodlines. At the moment said dark queen of the underspace was holding a holographic meeting with the one other being in the universe she respected.

Aria was an Asari with litteral centuries of experience ruling the criminal underspace. Her people the Asari bore a disturbing resemblance to humans. With blue and violet skin they were a monogender race. With a headcrest made of slicked back tendrils. The queen of omega was in a tight form fitting white bodysuit. With an amused grin she looked at the blue silhouette before her. It was another asari the only asari with more power than her. The asari member of the Citadel council Matriarch Demtra.

With a grin Aria poured herself a strong drink. Taking the glass in hand she grinned as she waited for Demtra to speak. A classic power move if there ever was one. With cold calculation Demtra looked at her younger sibling with cold indifference. The fact the two were related would mean her immediate removal from the Citadel council. She had only just regained her foothold after the Votanis fiasco. Knowing Aria would gladly die of old age to one up her she decided to just get it over with.

"You said you had information."

Taking a slow drink of the VERY expensive alcohol Aria grinned and leaned back into her chair.

"Remember that race with that revolutionary new form of FTL. That race you tried to turn into your personal bitch to control. What were their names again? The Botans? The Vobons? No Votans that was it the Votans."

Only her centuries of training kept her in control. The people of the Votanis system should have been grateful the Citadel graced their worlds offering refuge in exchange for the secrets of none element zero based FTL drives. Something that would have allowed the Citadel to expand well beyond the ancient mass relay network. There had been rumors or something called Votanformming that had The Solarians practically foaming at the mouth to capture of a council spectre trying to steal the secret of warp technology caused discussions to nosedive. The council's demands of the Votans to submit to their regulations and laws went defiantly unanswered. Instead they destroyed the local mass relay making an invasion, no a police action impossible. By the time they got a fleet to the system The two stars had collided. The massive ark fleet long since escaping the Citadel's guidance.

Only the hard work of the spectres and the STG kept those that couldn't understand the importance of service to the council from finding out what happened. It had taken a century for her to get over the fiasco.

With barely controlled fury Demtra spoke slow and clear so that even a drunk Krogan would understand.

"Choose your next words well."

Grinning Aria finished her drink and said with the same smugness of a cat who caught the Canary.

"It just so happens I've come across your little Votans and they have found something that makes element zero look like Krogan piss in comparison. They call this little gem prometheum."

Holding up a small violet marble between her fingers Aria grinned as she now had the most powerful asari alive reduced to a begging Quarian.

Rule number one don't fuck with Aria. A rule the Rangers of Haven would soon learn.

Haven system the outer rim

Not long after the arrival of the Votans when the threat of extinction faded crime slowly arose. Beginning with simple petty theft and swiftly evolving to murder. It was only a matter of time before not even space itself was safe. The first 'official' case of piracy was done by indogene raiders trying to steal Centaurion technology to study. That incident was like a damn breaking. What followed was called the three years of hell. With no formal navy little could be done to stem the flow of crime. Not even the core worlds of Reach and Votanis were spared. It ended with the formation of the Ranger Corps. Formed from the best people from every race and world it was now the official navy of the Systems alliance. Tasked not only with protecting the system but with exploring neighboring systems for threats. Their bravery and skills had saved the system from hostile races several times. Apparently the refugee Votan fleet had been the target of some of the less honorable powers in the region. With the rare Prometheum which The system was rich in made it an even greater prize. The Rangers motto was simple and represented the Rangers perfectly.

Adaptation through diversity, strength through unity.

Since there inception safety and stability returned to the system. Only the outer rim colonies still held onto the outlaw lifestyle. The raw materials and freedom offered made many venture out into the dark. But even in the dark of space the most hardened of criminals feared a Ranger craft. For they fought like a demon and taking one down brought hell upon whomever killed a Ranger. Yet it was in the outer reaches of the Haven system that a small fleet was hidden behind a barren lifeless moon. Hidden from the monitor webs and sensors was Battlestar group eight. Comprised of ten vessels led by the mercury class battlestar the Pegasus. Supported by twenty Vulcan class heavy gunships and two Heplot class cargo/maintenance ships. This was the group sent to rediscover the Rogue pathfinder expedition. Led by Helena Cain it was supposed to be a simple policing mission. Find them and based on their condition return them to the colonies. It was now potentially the most critical mission in colonial naval history.

Deep in the bowels of the Pegasus in the ships main operations room it was controlled chaos at it's finest. Officers working observation and surveillance terminals tirelessly recorded and forwarded every broadcast and observation of the inner systems. Over one dozen of the finest intelligence officers were in a situation they had never genuinely trained for. Every possible piece of data was meticulously catalogued and studied. Scientists that had been on hand to try and talk sense into the pathfinder descendents were now trying to comprehend science and technology several centuries beyond what they thought possible. In the center of everything at a table covered in images of Votans cities and ships was the legend herself rear admiral Helena Cain.

The admiral herself was just as lost as her officers and crew. It was only through sheer will power and training that she looked like a rock in the storm. But inside she hadn't been this terrified in a long time. Not since a day she refused to EVER forget. For nineteen days since they arrived in this system she had barely slept. Every time she turned around she was confronted with something that shattered her perception of the universe. At first it was signals from thousands of ships some larger than her own battlestar. Then when they picked up transmissions from the core it was like a nuke had gone off. In one single image she had confirmed for all the colonies that not only were they not alone but colonial citizens had been living among aliens FRAKING aliens for nearly half a century.

Looking down she looked at images of over a dozen types of fighter craft. The Rangers she had heard about used over a dozen different fighter craft. Such diversity gave them a disturbing amount of versatility in combat. Her trained eye told her they outclassed her mark VII vipers easily. She then looked at images of Votans and humans living side by side. Some had even married. It was with great hesitation that she had sent a recon shuttle to a nearby world the natives called Horizon. An entire world dedicated to free trade amongst the worlds. According to what they could overhear anything was fair game short of slavery. If they were lucky they could get samples of valuable tech for study or even samples of this 'prometheum'. As they studied and planned she picked up an image from a news broadcast of a Ranger. Apparently said Ranger had apprehended a group of pirates singlehandedly.

The Ranger appeared to be a young human in her mid twenties. Clad in the standard field uniform of a Ranger. Baggy black pants giving freedom of moment. With a utility belt holding twin heavy handguns that bordered on the impractical. A large combat knife was tucked into the back of her belt. Large heavy boots covered in metal plates hid some sort of glow from underneath the plates. Protecting her upper body was a dark violet undershirt made from a leather like material. Over that was fine chainmale shirt with sleeves slightly shorter than the undershirt. Lastly over the chainmale shirt was a compact black metal chestplate. Engraved over the left breast was the symbol of the Rangers. An eight pointed star in a braided circle. On her arms was a pair of metal gauntlets that clearly had some technical function. The woman at first glance could pass for human. With only her bronze skin conflicting with her snow White hair making her stand out. But looking closer Cain noticed what truly set her apart from humans. It was the woman's eyes. Slightly larger than a normal humans her eyes were almost a disturbing solid silver, narrow almost feline like pupils. Even from a still photo Cain felt a sense of being hunted just looking at the image. Trying to snap out of the growing daze she looked at the bottom of the image and read the woman's name.

"Jane Tyr'ahnee Sheppard"

With a tired sigh she looked around and said.

"Alert me if we get any news from the recon team."

With that she left to get some attempt at some rest. Little would she know her fleet was being observed by another. A silent predator that had eyes on the newcomers. At three light minutes out hidden by the most advanced stealth systems their people had a captain gave an order to his comms officer that would soon ignite a war.

"Contact the Citadel council. We have found a means to acquire the Votan's ftl technology. We may finally bring these anarchists to heal."

Horizon market city

The Horizon market was founded by the Irathian merchant guilds. Founded not long after the alliance was founded it was originally a black market to escape Ranger inspection. It was now a thriving legal merchant city. Due in large part to the Rangers defending them from an invasion by pirates. With the guarantee of a full squadron of Rangers the trading outpost became a center of trade for nearly half the system. With plans down the line to build resorts to further help the local economy.

The city itself was massive. Covering two hundred square miles some shops were little more than shacks. Others were full on multistory complexes. With entertainment of every variety. The Rangers had several hangers to launch fighters In emergency situations. In a single day over a thousand ships came and went. Thus when a colonial transport shuttle set down with no gravity repulsion only a few noticed. When a group of ten humans exited none cared anymore and went about their day. Leading this group was captain Lee Adama. Son of the infamous William Adama. He and his men were dressed in casual clothes with only their service sidearm hidden.

Looking around Lee Adama was amazed at the sights before him. Things so familiar like vendors calling out deals. Mixed with things so alien he couldn't begin to figure out how he was going to put this in a report. From behind him one of the solders asked him calmly.

"So how are we gonna buy anything? Pretty sure they don't accept colonial Navy bills.?"

Looking back at him with a carefree grin Lee zipped open his jacket. As he reached in he replied calmly.

"Well corporal the admiral in her supreme wisdom thought long and hard about that and decided certain regulations could be waved."

Pulling his hand out partially revealed three plates of a goldish green metal. He enjoyed watching the squads eyes widen as he held three plates of pure electrum. The rarest metal known to the colonies. A critical component in ship computers. A single plate was worth a fortune. Lee was holding the entire spare supply of the Pegasus. Kept under the heaviest guard at all times. Setting the plates back in his jackets he looked at his men and said excited.

"Let's get this mission done. Gaeta you stay hear on comes. If anything happens contact us immediately on channel two."

As the ten left to gather Intel a pair of silver eyes watched them mix into the clouds. Watching the nine colonials head off a young woman's voice said bluntly.

"This is new."

Six hours later.

Cain had gotten barely four hours sleep. Far more than she was getting lately. Headed to the command room to see if anything had arisen. Walking down the corridors her mind was racing. Their was just no way to come out of this with the colonies on top. As she tried to think of a plan the ship lurched hard. Nearly falling down she grabbed the bulkhead as sirens blared overhead. Without hesitation she broke out into a full run. All but exploding into the bridge she roared out in fury.

"REPORT!"

Snapping into there training the crew was already reacting as her second in command said bluntly.

"Six ships snuck up on us and attacked. No fighters. We lost two Vulcan and one support ship. The rest are engaging and Vipers are in the tubes."

With fury unmatched she roared out like a malevolent deity.

"Launch them all fire all guns fire prep the nukes all silos."

Outside the Pegasus the battle had begun. The vulcan class was a heavy gunship made to support a battlestar. Heavily armoured and built to shield her mothership. At one hundred meters long it had the appearance of an oversized viper. With a crew of sixteen it was armed with two heavy forward guns and ten intercept light chain cannons. The standard vulcan came with four multi missile pods. The ones in Crain's came with ten.

Like a swarm they tried to surround the attackers. The ships had a long frame. With a long gap down the middle. The gunmetal grey hulls had red edging as the sides of the ships ended in single fins. Like a swift predator the six fired what appeared to be small glowing blue shells. Yet when the hit their target the damage was far beyond what should have been possible.

In return the colonial unleashed metal hell on them. Thousands of armor piercing rounds made to explode on impact streaked through space like fireworks. Just before the rounds found home they collided with a translucent blue barrier. The hulls of the ship received only cosmetic damage at worst. From the pegasus dozens of Mark VII bikers launched. The vulcans did there best to fight back. Moving as randomly as possible to avoid a target lock but they were slowly being picked off. Then from the lead attack craft a heavy blue glow from under the craft. A split second later a six foot diameter slug was launched at one hundredth the speed of light at the Pegasus. The round vaporized a Vulcan trying to shield the Pegasus, only to continue on tearing off the starboard flightpod and damaging half the engines. The ship lurched as secondary explosions rocked the ship.

Aboard the bridge sparks erupted as the admiral was knocked to the floor. In a daze she barely registered a Viper pilot radio in.

"Holy frak the whole ship is a mass driver."

Dazed but not out she yelled out.

"Status of the FTL!"

Getting the green light she grabbed the comms and radioed her orders to the fleet.

"All hands emergency jump to Reach. Repeat emergency jump NOW! Launch the nukes to cover their escape."

Within mere moments the remaining five Vulcans vanished in a flash of white light. From the Pegasus one hundred missiles armed with nukes launched. Of the one hundred on nineteen found their targets. Damaging one of the ships to the point large sections of the hull drift into open space. When the Pegasus jumped soon after the framed damage was worse than expected. The entire back half of the ship not only remained it was shattered into billions of pieces.

Aboard the lead Tuarian cruiser the Bladed honor a lone Tuarian spectre watched with pride as the rouge warships were destroyed. Whoever these fools who dared build a dreadnaught without citadel approval were would be punished. Below him a comma officer looked up and said.

"We have successfully captured an enemy vessel and several pilots of those apparent fighters."

Clicking his mandible in pride the spectre gave a calm order to retreat to a STG facility to prepare a full invasion. As the damaged Vulcan was loaded and the crews captured the spectre said as if it was a prayer.

"The council is order the council is wisdom"

In six streaks the Turians were gone before the Rangers could even be alerted.

The planet Reach had changed Even more. The capital was now home to three million souls. With many buildings simply floating in the air. Transplanted animals and plants had taken root. Over two dozen thriving cities flourish. It was a calm almost tranquil night sixty miles outside the limits of the city of Vacuo. Only the sounds of blade bison filled the air. It was with a flash of light and a sound like lightning shattering steel that two million tons of high grade colonial duratanium dropped onto the planet in a deformed mess. Fires bellowed from within as explosions echoed from the wreck.

Primus Central medical Ranger wing.

When the beam fell she knew that was it. The metal raining down had crushed her legs and pierced her torso. In her final moments Helena Cain refused to surrender. Her last act was to try and stop the bleeding. But if she was dead how could she be awake. With that thought she fought to get her bearings. The first thing she felt was the warmth. Like she was in a bath of warm mud she couldn't move. Next was the stinging in her legs. Like thousands of needles stabbing into her thighs. The more she fought the more aware she became. Whatever she was submerged in she could somehow breath it. Slowly she managed to open her eyes to see some sort of green haze. As her vision improved she found she was lying in a tank filled with whatever made her vision green. Looking down was the biggest mistake of her life. She could see the hole through her chest like an open wound. Her legs were gone completely along with her left forearm. Panic filled her as the worst possible scenarios played through her mind. She never heard through the fluid a doctor say.

"Increase depa morphine ten percent and be reconstruction."

As Cain once more lost passed out metal coils flowed into the fluid like snakes. Going to her wounds they began to stitch on new tissue. Almost like a three d printer her limbs would be restored in a mere hour. That same voice said after the procedure began.

"Inform the Ranger she'll be ready in three hours."

In another haze Cain steadily regained her bearings. The first thing she remembers is the tank her injuries. With a panicked gasp she sat strait up. Seeing a white blanket over her legs she tore the cloth off to see her legs perfectly fine. Her breathing leveling out her training kicked in. Taking her situation in she found she was in a featureless room with light blue walls. One entire wall was a window overlooking the city of Primus. Her bed was clearly a hospital bed. A monitor attached to the head showed her vitals. She was dressed in a plain white hospital gown. With no hesitation she moved her legs and slowly got out of the bed. The memory of her injuries made her doubt if it was real. But the floor was cold. Placing her right hand were her chest once held a gaping hole. A lone tear escaped her eyes as the full weight of it all came rushing back.

"My men my ships."

The rage was like molten magma in her veins. She swore to avenge them even if she had to turn entire worlds into graveyards. Looking for a means to escape she found no doors. Just as she was about to punch the walls in her fury a woman's voice came from behind her.

"If you want out you're gonna tell me everything you know."

Turning around she was face to face with none other than the Ranger Jane Sheppard herself. Standing calmly with her arms folded. Cain saw red as without hesitation she tried to tackle her. Only to pass straight through her like she wasn't even there. Stumbling from the failed tackle she stood back up to see those damn eyes looking down at her with indifference. Spitting on the memory of her slain men. With slight grim Sheppard looked at her and said in a commanding tone.

"First off hologram not even here. Second you were the ones who dropped two million tons of warship on our largest blade bison herd. Third we didn't attack you but with your help we can get the bastards who did."

That got her attention just enough to hear her out.

Picon fleet headquarters Negala's office.

It was a standard day for the admiral. The only thing he was nervous about was hearing from the Cain expedition. Signing paper after paper he was content to finish the day on a high note. That all came crashing down when a lieutenant ran into the room in a panic. A set of papers in hand.

"Sir a Vulcan just arrived heavily damaged broadcasting this Fleetwide!"

Grabbing the papers his trained eyes read the message in seconds. Blood running cold he picked up his personal phone to the command deck.

"Control alert the fleet as of this moment we are at WAR!"

Dropping the message revealed it to say.

Cain fleet attacked all hands believed lost. Repeat the pathfinders have destroyed the Cain expedition! All hands believed lost!"

Within hours every battlestar would be mobilized. Within two days the retaliation fleet would be launched to bring them to justice. Unaware that the people of Reach had no hand in the death and destruction of the Battlestar group.

Welp another chapter down. No idea when the next one will be out maybe a week. The Rangers will have the carrier from Robotech. Also just how the Rangers fucked with Aria will be in the next chapter.