>>26674709

Eating breakfast right now, will write when I am done.

>>26674919
More story soon.

>>26674919
Alright. /tg/ doesn't seem to be very busy at the moment.

Also currently downloading ME3. 2.4 gigs done, 9 to go.
My connection is such crap.

>>26675087

Um... Maybe I should have said earlier, but I play the xbox version...

>>26675185
Well this presents a slight problem as I don't have an Xbox.

So then we won't play together but I can still ask you for advice. And also hang out in this thread.

And /tg/ is really dead as fuck right now.

>>26675269

Damn, thought as much. Well, I might as well post some story, I got distracted by something but I am back now, we'll see how this goes, /tg/ is silent as the grave today.

>>26674709

“If you say so, but I have to see the package first, orders from above. If I don’t do what my superiors want me to…” Shepard let the sentence hang.

The men shifted uncomfortably. Their boss may have had some pull, but none of them wanted to anger the cartel. While it was unlikely their lives would end, they would become extremely unpleasant for a long, long time.

“Fine, but you better have what we want boy.” The no longer smiling man said, pulling out a data chip. The chip, composed of synthetic diamond and nano-scale circuitry, was the size of the nail of one’s little finger, yet contained massive amounts of data, or at least had the capacity to do so. Shepard didn’t know what was on that chip, but if the cartel wanted it this badly, then it had to be something important.

“Right, you show our payment then.” The lead man said, pocketing the chip.

Shepard drew another chip from his pocket, a currency carrier, loaded with enough Noyos to equate to a small fortune on Nova York, if used quickly.

“As promised, one bounty of Noyos, their expiration timers at full, spend these fast and you can live like kings, for a while anyways”

“Good then, throw it over.”

“Not so fast.” Shepard said, “The chip first.”

>>26675291
It is.

Yeah, post some story. Once it's there it's there and people that come in later will be delighted to have a lot to read instead of waiting.

Take your time though, even with only us 2 posting we somehow remain on the frontpage the entire time.

>>26675326

The man with the chip furrowed his brow, thinking. Shepard realized that he had come dangerously close to blowing his cover, so he quickly did damage control.

“I mean, that’s how this is supposed to work, right?” He asked, the tone of a man who’s nerve had just broke.

“Hah, I really don’t think so, you see we have a new contractor actually.” The man said, stepping closer.

“N-New contractor?” Shepard asked, gauging the man’s steps, judging distances and positioning.

“Yep, one a little more powerful than the cartel, and he is paying very, very well for this information, but hey, you can still pay us and leave here alive.”

Fat chance of that, thought Shepard.

/Shall I give the signal?/ Jennifer asked.

/No, I think I can do that myself./

/If you must indulge yourself, go ahead then./ She said.

>>26675440

Shepard shifted nervously as the larger man approached, looking up into the eyes of the bigger morph. Subtlety was apparently one of the things these people never learned to cultivate in their dealings with people.

“W-Wait, you can’t just.” Shepard stammered.

“Oh but I can, now give me the cash boy.” The man growled as he reached out a greedy hand.

“No, boy.” Shepard said, looking into the man’s eyes.

He saw sudden confusion in those eyes, and just a moment of fear. Shepard tensed the muscles in his arm, two long, curved blades launching from his wrist. He drove the cyber claws deep into the man’s side, eliciting a long scream. Shepard twisted, using the grip of the claws to spin the man around in the null gravity environment, holding him up as a shield. The first sniper shot impacted the man impaled on his claws, forcing him sideways.

>>26675717

Shepard deployed his other set of claws, electricity crackling down their length, raking the claws through another man too close for his own good. The other two jumped back, trying to draw their poorly concealed weapons. They had clearly assumed he was only armed with melee weapons, but you know what they say about assumptions. With a thought Shepard ordered the tiny lens of the laser pulser to deploy between the knuckles of his index and middle fingers, pointing the concealed weapon at the enemy closest to drawing his weapon. The shot took him in the neck, vaporizing flesh and sending him spinning off the floor into the middle of the tunnel.

>>26675726

Shepard glanced at one of the snipers out of the corner of his eye, watching for a moment as his head exploded, the corpse spinning off through the tunnel. Good.

Shepard flung the body impaled on his claws at another one of his assailants, the impact knocking the man off the floor and spinning out into space. A moment later a rifle shot tore through his chest, sending the corpse tumbling through the tunnel. Another sniper died a moment later. Shepard pulled a large pistol out of the jacket of one of the dead men floating by, and started pumping shots into the hiding place of the last sniper. The man panicked and tried to jump away, but was quickly hit by another rifle snot. That’s what happens if you don’t plan out an escape route ahead of time, proper planning pays off.

Shepard gave the room another scan with his T-Ray emitter, but nothing showed up, it seemed that all the hostiles in the room had been neutralized. Shepard hopped over and grabbed the man with the chip, pocketing the important data before latching back onto the floor. He drifted over to the entrance he had come through, looking at a seemingly average stretch of wall.

“Thanks for the fire support James.” He said.

“Any time Loco.”

A moment later the wall seemed to shimmer and shift, the synthmorph clinging to it fading into visibility as its cloak disengaged.

>>26675889

The synthmorph was a fairly small one, really just a weapon pod with four legs attached, the silenced sniper rifle being the largest thing on the morph.

“Long range really isn’t my style, but I wasn’t about to leave you hanging.”

James Vega disengaged from the wall and floated over to Shepard, little puffs of air maneuvering him through the open space.

“Glad you could make it, I would have hated to go in alone.”

“Hey, you should give me more credit Loco, since when have I ever just left you flapping in the wind huh?”

“Never to my recollection, but thanks again.”

“I don’t suppose you could tell me what this was about huh?” James asked, looking at the tunnel full of corpses with a mechanical eye.

“Afraid not, classified and all that.” Shepard says. James was a good man, but he wasn’t Firewall, and the higher ups would not appreciate something like this getting outside the firm.

>>26676096

Doing other things right now, be back in a little while.

bump

>>26676710

Sorry for the long wait, I will be back in a little while.

>>26676096

“Well, you just call me up the next time you need some backup. But do me a favor Loco and give this thing a shotgun next time or something, you know I work close up.”

“I hear you Vega, thanks again.”

“Right, well, I should go egocast out of here, see you around Loco.”

Vega let out another puff of compressed air and vectored off down the corridor, Shepard flitting along some distance behind him. Eventually he found his way back to his private rooms.

/Jennifer, give me a secure line to Hackett./

/Working./

A few moments later the secure channel opened up, the wizened face of Shepard’s longtime confidant Hackett looking back at him.

“Shepard, good to hear from you, everything went well I trust?”

“Without a hitch sir, we got everything we needed, at least I trust we did.” Shepard said, holding up the chip he had obtained.

>>26674709
You are completely fucking awesome.

>>26677619

Thank you very much. Some people in another thread were claiming that I was raping the original concept and completely ignoring the main themes of the original idea.

As I was afraid, they did not actually have any specifics to back up their complaints, just the usual mary sue argument.

>>26677661
By 'original concept' did they mean the original EP&ME threads, or EP and ME individually?

>>26677754

The original EMPE threads, going so far as one of the original posters from those threads having somewhat of a meltdown about how I was destroying his creation and throwing him the middle finger. Hence my entreaty to him in one of the earlier threads.

>>26677567

“Excellent Shepard, send the data now, then dispose of the original.”

Shepard nodded, inserting the chip into the wall port.

“Might I know what this is all about sir? Someone seemed to think this data was worth a lot of money in the wrong hands.”

Hackett looking off into space, probably confirming the data had been sent. “Afraid not Shepard, but know that his was something very valuable to Firewall, let’s just say one faction was about to get a massive advantage over another.”

“And then they would have used that to gain power over the rest of transhumanity?” Shepard reasoned.

“Exactly. Something like this will let us level the playing field a little. Nice work Shepard, you may not know how important this was, but rest assured that you really came through. Sit tight on Ithaca for a while, enjoy some time off, I imagine you are going to get pretty busy in a little while. Hackett out.”

Shepard nodded one last time, the channel closing.

/What do you think that was all about?/ Jennifer asked.

“Not sure, but if it had Hackett spooked like that, it must have been something big. Regardless, job well done for us, I think it’s time for a little R&R, if my insticts are right, things are about to get very interesting.”

He flitted over to the door and slid it open. He let the comfortable personality of Kyle Hudson wash over him, a young man with a bright future. It was time for Shepard to rest for a while, young Mr. Hudson was looking to have a night on the town.

He leaped off the railing and spiraled out into the open air, leaving his worries and fears behind in the room of a very old soldier.

Any problems that came of this job would be an issue for tomorrow. Today, life was good.

>>26677944
I must say, I prefer your Vega to Bioware's. Then again, that goes for most of your writing- keep it up!

As this piece is set before the First Contact War, does that change Shepard's relationship with Vega by the time ME3 rolls around?

Hey. If the Pandora gates don't exist, how did the TITANS leave the solar system?

>>26678083
The yet undiscovered Mass Relay at Charon.

>>26677944
Sorry, had to go do something, am back now.

>>26678107
Can eezo-less ships use Mass Relays? Because if I recall correctly, there is very little eezo in the solar system.

>>26677997

Vega now is like Vega at the beginning of ME3, tough and competent, and looking up to Shepard as a kind of figure to aspire to, the kind of man he wants to be someday. By the time of ME3, they will probably be bash brothers of the finest caliber.

>>26678107
It's a bit of a spoiler, so I don't want to say, but I have decided how they do it, and it does not involve using the Charon Relay.

>>26678252
Yes they can, in fact everything can use a mass relay given the right access codes.

>>26678255
Oh, well tha'ts just what I guessed they used.
And of course you have something way better up your sleeve.

>>26678252

Ships without eezo can use relays, you just have to fly up and tell it where you want to go, provided you know how to talk to it.

>>26678282

Using the relay would have revealed its presence ten years too soon, and the transhumans would have noticed a fleet of TITAN ships flying to the outer system. My way has their disappearance still being a mystery. Though I suspect that if you think about it long enough you could figure it out.

>>26678301
Sovereign was somehow involved?

>>26678301
Well, the obvious (and useless) answer is 'TITAN technomagic bullshit', but we already knew that. Maybe they didn't leave physically, but transmitted themselves into space and co-opted some alien hardware they found lying around?

>>26678325
No, I believe the earlier threads stated that the TITANs have yet to make contact with the Reapers.

>>26678364
Correct, the Reapers are currently unaware of the TITANs existence.

>>26678301
Space folding tech? The exsurgent virus is a passcode to all sorts of sci-fi bullshit weirdness
Or the obvious, self destructing Pandora Gates. Or even Pandora gates built into TITAN ships, ala the jump bridge systems from EVE

>>26678395
Maybe they never actually left, and are just sleeping and waiting for the Reapers to get back.

>>26678486
But where would they hide?
Sure, space is large but so are the TITANs.

With todays technology we have already discovered 1.5 million asteroids, with course and all. And these don't have any energy output. Every year we discover 40-60 more.

With EP technology I don't think they could hide on the solar system.

>>26677944

Stephen Hackett leaned back in his chair after deactivating the communication channel. A moment later his muse informed him that the download was complete. QE communications systems were expensive, but an operative like Shepard deserved the best. He pulled the tiny crystalline chip out of its nook, holding it up to the light.

“An awful lot of trouble for such a small thing.” He mused to himself.

“Hardly small I would think.” A familiar voice behind him said.

Hackett turned to see David Anderson walking up behind him.

“World shaking is more like it.” Anderson continued, “If our reports were accurate, what is on that little chip could rearrange the very fabric of transhuman civilization.”

“If our reports were accurate.” Hackett echoed, gazing into the twinkling light shining through the chip, as if he could read the information on it with the naked eye.

>>26678558
Well, there's always Earth. And Venus. The depths of the Gas Giants. The Sun. They could be piggybacking on the mesh as seemingly-innocuous scraps of code, or be scattered around the asteroid belt as nanotech spores waiting for the right signal to eat everything around them and turn into a giant warship. They're the TITANs- they could hide in places we can barely imagine.

>>26678642
Them leaving makes much more sense, the virus the Reapers infected them with compels its victims to link up with the Reaper. Even the corrupted version found by the TITANs would force them to leave the Solar System

>>26678617

“There’s no reason they wouldn’t be.” Anderson said, “These agents have come through for us in the past, I think they went to a lot of trouble to smuggle this information out considering the, unconventional, methods of conveying it.”

“True, true, but still. Something on this scale, it’s breathtaking. To think a discovery like this might have been under the noses of the hypercorps this whole time and only now did they find it. It defies belief just a little.”

“Mars is a big place.” Anderson countered, “I should know, I spent some time there back in my rebellious youth, but it does strain the imagination a bit.”

Hackett nodded, looking back to the innocuous little chip in his hands.

“I can only begin to imagine the kind of impact a discovery like this will have on our way of life.”

Anderson nodded. “Agreed, but there is one thing for certain.”

“And what is that?”

“That we’re going to need a lot of people like Shepard before all is said and done.”

>>26678715
Then I would assume that them leaving somehow involves async abilities, since that is the absolute most technomagically bullshit explanation I can think of, which, the TITANs being TITANs, means it is most likely the correct one.

>>26678721
Just got done catching up from last thread.

So this is where we are. I must say I like where this is going.

>>26678721
You still there, proxy?

>>26679567
Be back in a few minutes, family came home and I had to step out for a little while.

>>26679610
Also thinking of where the story should go from here.

>>26679619
Skip to the next interesting bit, which would probably be Shanxi. I'm not sure the actual formation of the Systems Alliance would be that interesting.

>>26678721
"We're gonna need a whole lot of people like Shepard..."

"Alright Commander, start churning out those Alpha Forks."

>>26679778
I think Shepad would also be involved in exploing the Prothean ruins and finding and going through the Charon relay. Two inteesting bits I'd want to hear about.

Please excuse any missing Rs, the key is kinda boken.

>>26679778
It could be if it was written as a political farce, like Guess who's coming for dinner crossed with Yes Minister

>>26679830
Absurd Alpha forking is the thing that would most break this setting, both EPME, and normal EP over its knee with a sickening crunch.

So therefore ignore this massive elephant in the room and let us go on with our story.

>>26678721

“So, the data has been delivered?” The man asked.

“Yes, Firewall sent Shepard to retrieve the package.” A female voice said.

“Good, at least they understand the gravity of the situation. Sending Shepard at least indicates they know they hold the golden apple in their hands.”

“Shepard? I know Firewall considers him a prime agent, but surely you don’t think that his involvement indicates Firewall is taking this seriously.” The woman says, her voice cold, disdaining.

“Do not underestimate that man, many have, to their cost.” The man says, taking a pull on the cigarette he was smoking. It was still terrible for his health, but the man refused to give up at least this vice.

“What do we even know about this Shepard? Our own files on him are very sparse.”

“Nice to see you did your homework, I would expect nothing less.”

“Of course I did.” She says, “I would hardly leave a factor like Firewall’s chosen delivery boy unresearched.”

“Be careful what little we know about Shepard shows he is not a man to be trifled with.” The man chides.

>>26679889
So the illusive man has switched fom cigarettes to cigars? Interesting.

>>26679889
I'm going to guess... Oversight.

>>26679889

“And just what do ‘we’ know about him?” The woman asks.

The man smiles, the smile of a man who holds all the cards. “Most records on the man seem to have been destroyed in the Fall. We know he was military before then, but how far back is unknown. After the Fall, we know he served in the Titanian military holding off Jovian forays, before he went rogue and started fighting his own battles. He became a Firewall agent some time after that. Shepard is one of the most dangerous men you can run into out there, do not underestimate him, he has killed a lot of incautious fools over the years.”

“Luckily, I am neither of those things.” The woman says.

“Indeed you are not. Now if you’ll please excuse me, I have a call to take.”

The woman nodded and walked out of the office. When the doors close behind her a large holographic projector came online, a full body hologram of a rather agitated man in a business suit coming into focus.

“You, I know you were behind this.” The man fumes, “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

The man seemed to think about it for a moment, crossing a leg and leaning back in his chair. “I think I have a fairly good idea. Please though, enlighten me to the wickedness of my ways.”

>>26680031

It says cigarette.

>>26680031
And apparently I just can not read.

>>26680058
I noticed moments later.

>>26680052

“You have ruined everything!” The man spluttered, pointing an accusing finger at the man in the chair. “Everything!”

“You shall have to be more specific.” The man said, blowing another puff of smoke.

“The Consortium was poised to be the inheritors of the stars, we would have led mankind to glory, and ourselves to unimaginable wealth. We found the single most valuable piece of information in the history of mankind, and you just gave it away!”

“I must say I am disappointed.” The man said reprovingly, tapping a bit of ash into a silver tray. “That you would set your sights so low. Is that all that you can conceive of, profit margins and contracts?”

“It wasn’t about profit, it was a dream!” The other man said, his face livid, “We would have led mankind to the stars, a glorious destiny was laid out before us. We, and we alone, would have been the shepherds of transhumanity into a new golden age.”

The man frowned. “Your dreams are small, and your mind narrow. You could never conceive of the consequences of your actions, or the ramifications a revelation like this would have if left in your trembling hands. I am playing for much bigger stakes than profit margins and indenture contracts, you could scarce even comprehend.”

“You’ll burn for this Jack, I’ll see to that myself.”

“You cannot burn a ghost.” The man said, another puff of smoke filling the air. “You will find that my assets have vanished from the company accounts, and everything important to me has been relocated. You have no hold left over me.”

“You can’t run forever Jack, we’ll track you down eventually, this system isn’t big enough for you to hide in.”

“Best of luck then.” The man said, tapping out a last bit of ash. “But you will find I can be quite illusive.”

He killed the transmission.

>>26680217
>this system isn't big enough for you to hide in
True, but that is no longer an issue

>>26680217

The Illusive Man leaned back in his chair, savoring one last puff of smoke before grinding the cigarette into the ash tray.

[Miranda, I want you to reach out to some of our contacts in the outer system, start getting them ready for the revelation that they are about to have, make it look natural. I would prefer to avoid showing our hand in this matter, I suspect we will have to be in hiding for a long time.]

[I’ll get right on it sir. I know a few high class hackers who would love to be in on a discovery like this.] She paused for a moment. [Sir?]

[Yes Miranda?]

[Why did you chose to give the data away? That man may be a pompous fool, but he was right in saying it was a very powerful bargaining chip, why hand it over to Firewall and the outer system?]

[Because it was too powerful a revelation for one to possess.] He explained, [In the hands of those fools on Mars it would have become a weapon, a cudgel to beat down all opposition to their will and profit margins. Sharing it with everyone levels the playing field, and makes it a reason to unite.]

[So that’s what you’re hoping for, some kind of alliance between the various factions? I highly doubt they will go for that.]

[Mutual survival will drive them together.] The Illusive Man says [They will figure the rest out from there.]

[I hope you’re right sir, this is a momentous occasion in human history.]

The Illusive man nodded to himself. [Yes, it is. My old friend was right about one other thing as well.]

[What is that?] Miranda asked.

[This system isn’t big enough for me.] The Illusive Man said. He looked down, opening his hand to summon a small holographic image. It was a strange little object, shaped like a tuning fork with two spinning rings in the center. [Not big enough at all.]

>>26680449

I think I am done writing for the night, I have to give this a little more thought before I am sure where it will go.

Any suggestions? Also discussion general if anyone is interested in talking tonight.

>>26680638
Are you going to be continuing the First Contact War quest?

>>26680750
Yes, would tomorrow be good? I have other plans for tonight. But I will gladly continue it to make my good readers happy.

>>26680783
If you can start it a little earlier than last time, yes.

>>26680783
Tomorrow is good. Well, for me, anyway.

>>26680822
>>26680823

I will start a thread in the morning, if this thread has died. We can begin questing whenever you like.

>>26680896
Sounds good to me.

>>26680896
I'm probably not going to be able to be here in the morning, because a. I sleep late and b. church. I will be here around noon, though. Just giving you a heads up.

>>26681058
>>26680946

I will make the thread in the morning, we can quest whenever enough people show up.

>>26681131
Still here.

>>26682126
So how does the Alliance and the coucil actually keep the TEZ shut?
Because I can come up with about 30 different ways how people and infomation can get both in and out.

>>26682468
Blockading the relays and setting up sensor buoys to monitor and disrupt comm traffic. Flimsy as hell yes, but it sort of works.

>>26682571
Bump.

>>26683648
Bump.

>>26684144
What about various generation ships that were sent out before the discovery of element 0?

>>26684339

Probably still en route to their destinations. They wouldn't be able to reach council space in any event, not for centuries, if at all.

File: 1376792953301.jpg-(140 KB, 900x650, 1376426159354.jpg)

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>>26682571
Would that catch any "slow" ships?

>>26684482

Probably not, but they would have a tough time evading Turian patrols for long once they got to council space, being slow ships, they would be unable to escape if detected, and the Turians are crazy obsessed with patrolling the border systems.

>>26684540
Space is really, really big though. No way they could catch them all in the vast emptiness

>>26684573

True, but systems get smaller when you have the ME cores the Turians put in their ships. It would be very difficult to remain undetected for any length of time.

Still though, with the distances involved, it is unlikely that slow ships would ever get to council space in the first place.

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>>26684636
Bump before bed.

I would love to hear some banter between Shepard and Wrex about who's home planet is the shittiest, with Shepard winning, than feeling depressed about the fact.

>>26691680
Yeah, can't let any Council races have anything.

>>26686555
Back, thanks for keeping it alive.

>>26691680
>>26691701

Earth is a shittier place to be than Tuchanka, but the Krogan still live on Tuchanka as their primary homeworld, whereas the only humans on earth are the ones who got left behind.

I imagine Wrex is a little proud of the fact that his people are standing strong in their hell hole, rather than skipping out to greener pastures.

>>26693044
>>26692952
I'll be here all day more or less, so once people show up we can continue the quest from where we left off.

>>26693615

Reporting in.

>>26693615
I'm here too.

>>26693723
>>26693680

Cool. I'm hoping for more than two people though, there really don't seem to be very many players for this.

>>26693824
Sure, I can wait. I'm here all day.

>>26693824
Oi! People! I'm here, we can start whenever you guys all show up.

>>26694268
Still here.

>>26694688
At this point, a new thread might be best, assuming this one's archived.

>>26694860
I agree. And start it with the quest right away. That attracts people.

>>26694909
>>26694860
Okay, I will start a new one in a few minutes here.

>>26694945
New thread online.

>>26695060
Guys, the new thread is up, head on over there.