>>27046055
Bumping, hoping this crossover isn't dead.

>>27046055
Where have you all gone? These threads were so lively before.

I'm not dead guys, really!

>>27046055
I'm here. Might not be contributing much, though.

>>27046767
Well at least there's one.

Should have a bit of story in a little bit here, so at least I can contribute something.

>>27046817

Far above her head white clouds tumbled and turned, pushed across the sky by the vast power of the wind. They twisted and contorted, forced along by the maelstrom brewing behind and within them, the great tumult of the open sky laid out before her like a vast painting, the ever changing tableau of nature shaped by none lesser than the will of God himself. She breathed in deeply, letting out the sweet air in a long breath as the pre-storm wind made her hair flutter in the breeze.

“Gunnery Sergeant?”

She took in another deep breath, letting it out slowly through her mouth as she listened to the sound of distant thunder echoing over the hills.

“Sir?”

She opened her eyes, the memory of storm swept skies vanishing like a spell broken. Above her stretched the slightly uneven ceiling of the Reagan cylinder, actually the ground and structures on the far side of the rotating asteroid. Coolidge hab was one of many such habitats floating around Jupiter, home to thousands of citizens of the Jovian Republic. She breathed the slightly stale air of the habitat and turned to face the soldier behind her.

“Yes Corporal?”

“Sir!” The soldier snapped to attention, “The unit is ready to move on your orders!”

Gunnery Sergeant Williams nodded, reaching down to pick up her own rifle, the familiar heft of the weapon comforting her.

“Right then, let’s move out. No point in making brass fidgety by waiting.”

>>27046891

Williams walked across to where the rest of the team was waiting. Two squads worth of Jovian military might stood around rechecking their weapons and gear as they waited for the operation to begin. Williams nodded to her Corporal, the man giving the order he knew was needed.

“Platoon, attention!”

The soldiers quickly rose and snapped to attention, standing in a razor straight line, their rifles at the port. Williams clasped her hand behind her back, looking at them for a moment before speaking.

“By now you have been wondering why you are all here today, running the whole situation through your heads and probably coming up with everything from a snap inspection to all-out war with the ‘bots outside. Be thankful, because I am here to calm your nerves and tell you exactly what is going on.”

Williams looked over the stoic faces of the Jovian soldiers before she began to pace up and down the line.

“For one, no, we are not at war with anyone today. Nor is this a snap inspection, the far worse of those two possibilities. No, you are here because you seem to be the best this little hab has to offer me, and brass has a job for us to do, one that is vital to the security of this habitat. Put simply some idiot on this habitat has somehow gotten their hands on some unauthorized technology. We aren’t sure what it is yet, but it could be something potentially dangerous to the habitat and everyone onboard. You’ve all been through the training, I don’t have to tell you what might be at stake. Simply put, your job is to move to the location of the group holding this tech and retrieve it, forcefully if need be. My job is to make sure that you do your jobs will all the due discipline that the Jovian Military expects of you.”

>>27046901

“Now, we don’t have much information on exactly how many hostiles we are expecting to run into, but intel suggests no more than a dozen individuals, so we should have the dual advantages of numbers and surprise on our side. Now as for the target location itself…”

After that Williams devoted the remainder of the briefing to tactical information, going over the layout of the habitat block where the criminals were hiding out, entrances and exits, likely defensive positions, the kind of briefing this team had had a hundred times before. Nevertheless, Williams watched them each like a hawk to make sure that they were paying rapt attention. Eventually she concluded her briefing, looking up at the platoon before her.

“Any questions people?”

One hand raised.

“Yes sergeant, Bhatia is it?”

The other armored woman nodded. “Yes sir, it is. It seems to me that this force is a little, excessive. Two squads of troopers seem like a bit much for what should be a policing action.”

Williams considered, it was a fair point. But then, there were some aspects of this operation that were classified. She opted for an answer equal parts truth and convenient lie.

“Let’s just say that there are some rumors being passed around atop the ivory tower. I’m not privy to all the details, and frankly I don’t care, the day I trade niceties with a general at some dinner party is the day we get together with the Anarchists and sing kumbaya. But suffice to say that someone with far too many rank ribbons thinks that this little cell might be tied into something bigger. Probably just another fantasy from the intel boys, but no sense in being careless with something potentially dangerous.”

>>27046916

Sergeant Bhatia did not look very heartened by the revelation, but didn’t seem to want to make any more of a scene, at least in front of the troopers. Williams gave the team another moment to ensure there were no issues, before turning towards the waiting transports.

“Right then, move out troopers, we’ve got a job to do!”

>>27046055
Codex: Ultimate Mercenaries in the wider galaxy
After the loosening of the TEZ, the galaxy was flooded with Transhuman culture and products. One of the least savory results of this exchange was the introduction of Ultimates into the Terminus. Ultimates took the Terminus by storm, in some cases literally. Thanks to the Ultimates' obsessive training, high degree of unit cohesion, use of genetic and cybernetic enhancement, and use of sophisticated infowar techniques including AGI and infomorphs, the Ultimates quickly proved themselves superior to the established mercenary companies. The Ultimates became a fad within the uncivilized parts of the galaxy.

>>27047035
How much of the previous threads and fluff are you aware of? Because while a reasonable assumption to make, the TEZ would not really allow for that.

Yet.

>>27047068
Thank you for the contribution though, not meaning to come across as rude, it's nice to see someone else contributing to this.

>>27047035
However, this fad quickly died back when the true nature of the Ultimates became clear. More specifically, the Ultimates considered themselves a civilization, they were as likely to declare themselves the true owners of a particularly valuable instillation after securing it, rather than turning it over to their employer. People quickly learned not to rely exclusively on Ultimates, using other mercenary companies as, essentially, political officers to prevent the Ultimates from pursuing their own agenda on their employer's dime.

>>27047068
This is supposed to be from after the TEZ has been relaxed, or removed entirely. Anyway:
Ultimately, the Terminus' honeymoon with the Ultimates came to an abrupt end with the conquest of Omega. The Eclipse and Blood Pack forces on the station were unequipped to deal with cutting-edge nanowarfare, and command-activated nanoplagues, disassembler swarms, and other nano weapons made quick work of the defenders, with Ultimate commando teams clearing out the survivors. The operation, in total, took a little under two hours, killed 300,000 people, and left the Ultimates in total control of the station.

>>27047330
Okay, the timeline I can accept.

As for the Ultimates taking Omega... I'll consider it.

Since EP-Cerberus isn't going to be as evil, or idiotic, as the normal ME version, this could happen, and give Aria a reason to come to Shepard for help rather than trying to handle it in-house.

>>27047330
Currently, the Ultimates are the most powerful and least trusted mercenary group in the Terminus. With control over Omega, the Ultimates are in a dominant position over all of the criminal activity that uses the station as a hub. Further, most of the competing mercenary groups had major bases on Omega, which were, of course, completely destroyed. However, this commanding position is compromised by the fact that nearly everyone is too terrified to do business with them. In recent years, most of the Ultimates' efforts have gone towards convincing the rest of the Terminus that it is, in fact, safe to do business with them.

>>27047459
Yeah, I see that ending well.

Codex: Citadel Nanoweapon defense
Out of all of Transhumanities' weapon systems, it was nanoweapons such as disassembler swarms that gave Citadel militaries the largest shock. None of the Citadel's weapon or defensive system could handle nanotechnology, short of orbital bombardment of affected areas. The Turians and Salarians, in particular, immediately began pouring immense amounts of funds into effective countermeasures.

>>27047617
ME shields would, in my mind, be very effective against nanoswarms.

>>27047647
You know, the really big ones that are so powerful you can actively see them and form an airtight bubble, not average infantry shields.

>>27047647

Biotic barriers should, too. I mean, the Collector swarms were nanoswarms.

>>27047679
More like microswarms, they were way too big to be nanotech, but the idea is roughly the same.

Having a fully encompassing shield to protect you is a nice defense against little flying robots. Especially if you get one of those massive barrier projectors to throw up a bubble over an entire platoon, or have a biotic keep up a big shield for you.

>>27047723

I'm pretty sure Mordin mentions at some point in ME2 that the microscopic-scale Collector bugs are made up of smaller, nanoscale bugs. But don't quote me on that. Been a while since I played.

>>27047758
I don't ever remember that, but it might have been mentioned in some text note in a corner of the game I never found.

But suffice it to say that the citadel races have decent, if not perfect, defense against nano scale weapons. They're still quite dangerous though, especially effective at destroying vital hardware and logistics.

>>27047617
The first countermeasure developed was simply a modification of the software of existing kinetic barriers, erecting a permanent impermeable barrier between the soldier and the outside world. This had the advantage of being completely and totally effective at stopping disassembler swarms. However, it had several disadvantages. First, since it prevented air exchange, the soldier using it had to be equipped for total vacuum. Second, it was more power-intensive than a normal kinetic barrier, as it required a barrier strong enough to be airtight to completely and continuously surround the user. Third, and perhaps most inconveniently, it resulted in a loss of traction, as total protection required that the user's feet be encased as well, preventing them from actually touching the ground. Finally, it only protects against direct attacks, doing nothing against indirect threats like EM haze, surveillance swarms, or the disassemblers eating the ground and trapping you in a giant pit. Despite these downsides, it remains the most common anti-nano man-portable countermeasure in Citadel space, for three reasons: One, it contains only Citadel technology, meaning that the average Citadel citizen will trust it more readily over Transhuman-manufactured alternatives; two, it is a relatively simple modification to existing defense technology, allowing it to be distributed and implemented quickly and cheaply, and three, it provides total protection from all direct attacks as long as the shield remains up.

>>27047839
I approve of this.

Fluff and crunch legal countermeasure with logical downsides.

Consider this a part of the setting.

>>27046927

The platoon split by squads into the two armored personnel carriers waiting to move them out. When the solid armored door clicked shut behind them the armored transporter lurched into motion, crawling off down the thin street of the habitat. Thankfully the streets had been cleared, at least the prep work had been taken care of properly. They progressed at a quick pace, not so fast that they would blindly run into an ambush, but not so slowly that they would lose the element of surprise if they waited too long. The problem with running armored transport through a habitat though was that there were only so many streets on a hab, if you wanted to reach the more closed off areas you had to get out from behind the armor and proceed on foot. And these particular radicals had entrenched themselves deep within a warren of tunnels and service junctions, like ticks on a dog as he grandfather would say.

So eventually the armored transports ground to a halt, forcing the squads to disembark. Williams took a steadying breath and prepared to disembark.

“Alright, get your war faces on people!” She said, clipping her face shield onto her helmet. Now clad in head to toe armor, the gunnery sergeant charged out of the troop bay, racing over to a piece of solid cover up against a wall. She waved the rest of the squad over, armored bodies slamming into solid walls as the other troopers, their brownish-tan armor blending nicely into the drab wall.

Not that a platoon of Jovian troopers tended to go unnoticed for long.

“Right, breach and clear!” She radioed to her platoon, “Sweep this facility clean!”

>>27047927
Wonder where everybody went. There used to be a lot of people interested in this.

>>27047839
A second defense was based on the technology of omnitool hacking attacks. A specialized omnitool is used to emit a continuous field of electronics-damaging radiation, similar to an EMP grenade. While it is possible to use a normal omnitool for this, a dedicated device yields the best results. Since nanobots typically do not mass enough to mount effective shielding, such as a Faraday cage, this method is immensely effective at close range, although effectiveness drops rapidly with range. This system has the advantage of disabling nanoweapons the total shield does not, such as surveillance swarms. Its primary disadvantage is that this EM field will effect friendly equipment and nano as well. While hardened equipment will typically fare better than fragile nanites, enough jammers on the field at once will force your soldiers to use the Mark One eyeball, iron sights, and voice and hand signals instead of AR visors. Therefore, this system is most often used by technologically inferior forces who have the most to gain from disabling all nano in the battlespace.

>>27048035
I think it was that you disappeared for three weeks.

>>27048162
I feel bad about that, college and all.

But I plan to have these threads up whenever I can get time.

>>27048099
The third and most reliable defense is, of course, bombarding the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
>Captcha: General Pobacki
General Pobacki is well-known among the Turian military for his masterpiece, 'The Singulitarian Battlefield: Adapting to and coopting Transhuman technologies'.

>>27048253
I like these so far, carry on codex-anon.

>>27047927

Williams brought up her rifle, scanning the hall as she slid into it, checking the corners with the instinct of a longtime veteran. The rest of the platoon fanned out as well, searching every doorway and side passage. So far nothing, but unless intel had seriously fouled up this operation there should be a decent number of radicals, probably armed, down here.

Then again this wouldn’t be the first time Jovian intelligence had royally screwed up one of her missions.

To her mild surprise she received a request for a private communication from Sergeant Bhatia. She shouldn’t be that surprised though, something like this was bound to happen based on the woman’s psyche profile. Williams keyed the private channel.

“Yes Sergeant?”

“Why are you here?” Bhatia asked.

Well, at least she was to the point.

“I thought I made that clear sergeant, I’m here to oversee this mission, make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible.”

“That’s what I mean sir, why bring in you to oversee this mission? I like to think that my record, and that of my squad speaks for itself. With all due respect, we don’t exactly need a babysitter from off-hab to come in and tell us what to do. Sir.”

Williams smiled behind her faceplate. She liked this one.

>>27048318

Any requests for codex entries people? I will gladly try to write one up for you.

That or a short mesh or extranet article based on one thing or another from either side of the TEZ.

>>27048484
Still here, but getting dinner at the moment.

>>27048318
Codex: Scum Swarms
Scum Swarms are one of the greatest ambassadors for transhumanity in Citadel space. As soon as the TEZ was opened up, the nomadic scum swarms immediately set out on immense tours of the galaxy. With their cornucopia machines and lack of laws, the scum swarms quickly fell into the role of itinerant merchants and entertainers, mining out asteroids with bot swarms and manufacturing goods for sale in the systems they passed through. By bringing even remote corners of the galaxy into direct contact with actual transhumans, the scum swarms acted as ambassadors, allowing the Citadel races to see firsthand that transhumans are, in fact, people. In any system they pass through, the scum swarms become instant tourist attractions as thousands of curious individuals come aboard to see the exotic new species. Anarchic and freewheeling at the most orderly of times, the swarms rarely disappoint.
However, this is not to say that the relationship between the swarms and the Citadel are smooth. Most of the friction comes from the fact that the swarms are an anarchic new economy passing through traditionally-governed old economies. The swarms have no easy way to change @-rep for Citadel credits, and many of the services and goods available on the swarms are blatantly illegal off of them. Additionally, the more conservative elements of Citadel society frequently go into a state of moral panic any time a scum barge pulls in, accusing the scum of 'corrupting our youth' and other typical moral-panic nonsense. The scum, if anything, go out of their way to enrage the conservatives farther. To date, despite several close calls, no barge has ever enraged the authorities enough for direct action to be taken, although terrorist attacks on the barges are common.

>>27048484
Infomorphs loose in the Extranet.

>>27048759
okay, give me a few minutes to get food and think something up.

What exactly are you requesting? A codex entry on OMG INVADING INFOMORPHS, mesh article about those crazy fools who decided to screw about in the extranet, or an account of one such informorph, or a citadel native encountering one?

Or do you not care?

>>27048737
I like this also.

The scum being the respectable ambassadors of transhumanity. Who would have guessed.

Getting some transhumans out to show the panicky citadel races that we are in fact people, as you put it, is the best way to relieve tensions between the groups.

>>27049186
Right, sorry for the wait, working on infomorph codex article right now.

>>27049450

Codex: Infomorph infiltration.

It is no secret to the denizens of citadel space that the race calling itself ‘transhuman’ makes frequent usage of mind-uploading technologies, allowing them to digitize their consciousness and transfer their minds between bodies. Lesser known is that many transhumans seem to prefer abandoning physical bodies altogether and existing as disembodied minds within computers. Many sociologists theorize that this is due to the fundamental disconnection between transhumans and ‘normal’ life, as they prefer to abandon the real world and live within emotionless machines. That or they like to play videogames all day long and live within virtual reality paradises that conform to their every passing whim.

While the council has permitted the existence of such technology within the Transhuman Exclusion Zone, many citizens are fearful about the prospect of such bodiless entities invading the extranet and corrupting the galaxy’s most vital and important information network. To respond to this the citadel intel defense agency has enacted new countermeasures guaranteed to prevent such hostile entities from gaining entrance to the extranet. Besides, most infomorphs are much more interested in the mesh, the extranet’s bigger, faster, cooler brother.

Despite this, it is advised that all citizens practice caution when dealing with the possibility of transhuman digital infiltration attempts. Despite the level of security enacted, it is possible that a breach might occur. In fact this is extremely likely because transhuman hackers are the best in the universe, how dare you doubt them? Should you suspect a security breach is in process, disconnect the compromised device immediately and contact the nearest security professional. That or just say hello, we’re not that bad really.

>>27049614
Hah. Perfect.

>>27049676

Citadel digital defense is about as protective as the tinfoil around a baked potato, at least in the early days.

Glad you liked it.

Next request?

>>27049702
Anybody?

>>27049994
Any requests?

I'll try to think of something.

>>27050167
The opening of the TEZ.

>>27050217
Well, I plan on having the actual scene of the opening of the border in the main story...

When I get to it, engineering is quite time consuming.

For the moment I will write up an article about the TEZ opening, and the reasons therefore.

>>27050244

Codex historical database: The opening of the TEZ.

The Transhuman Exclusion Zone, erected as a barrier to prevent transhumanity from encroaching into citadel space, stood for decades despite many logistical issues in enforcing the quarantine of an entire civilization. Many individuals on both sides of the defensive line speculated that it might stand for millennia, or only be breached by an act of war. While the second prediction was technically correct, the circumstances were hardly what either side had anticipated.

The TEZ had stood resolute for years, despite increased pressure from elements on both sides of the line to begin opening it to wider traffic, most notably from certain elements of the Salarian Union. While the issue was hotly debated for years, the end result was as expected, the Turian Hierarchy was unwilling to ever let the wall crumble. This all changed with the attack of the Citadel by the rogue Specter Saren, and his force of Geth.

Turian forces were withdrawing from the border and attempting to relieve their allies at the Citadel, and thus were unable to prevent the Alliance First Fleet from crossing into Citadel Space. Much to everyone’s surprise and relief, this large force came to assist the defenders of the Citadel, and were crucial in turning the tide, many individuals crediting them as the reason the Citadel forces won the battle.

Following this example of seemingly selfless heroism, and the actions of one Commander Shepard, an Alliance leader during the battle, the restrictions on the TEZ began to slowly relax, allowing certain groups and ships to pass through, though security was still tight. Eventually though the Turian’s great wall crumbled entirely, with continued goodwill ventures from the transhuman Alliance winning the support, if not outright acceptance, of most of the galaxy.

>>27050244
What about council views on the various factions and uplifts in transhumanity?

>>27050585
Before the Battle of the Citadel, the same as every other bit of transhumanity.

"Scary powerful, probably malevolent and aggressive, and out of our control, therefore we have to contain them" The Balkanization of transhumanity would just scare them more seeing as they are fractured, and therefore could break up and various factions might spill over into Citadel space without the consent of the others.

But in the glasnost that follows the fall of Sovereign they would start to warm up to them, or at least get curious.

While AGIs would still scare the crap out of them, they would likely become interested in the uplifts. Well, probably not the Turians in general, but the Asari would be interested in the culture of a race uplifted from animals, and the Salarians would be really interested in the methods used to effectively create a sentient race from whole cloth.

Eventually, as with all other things transhuman, the citadel races will warm up to them, with no small part of goodwill outreach and personal sacrifice on the part of transhumanity to earn that trust.

File: 1378432379643.jpg-(147 KB, 1124x1074, combat bot MK7.jpg)

147 KB JPG

>>27050673
Anything else?

>>27050550
>>27050673
Would these goodwill outreaches also include porn?

>>27051144
If joker has anything to do with it, yes.

And I have no doubt that some anarchist hackers will flood the extranet with the best transhumanity has to offer.

>>27051185
Bump.

>>27051390
What about various scum fleets making morphs based off of Council races, not for infiltration, but because they can?

>>27051992
That's basically canon for this setting, 'citadel morphs', mainly Turian morphs are fairly easy to make.

Getting them into citadel space for infiltration and teaching the ego to behave like a Turian is more difficult, but just sleeving into a Turian morph for shits and giggles is no more difficult than any other biomorph.