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"We need to support and protect the other ships as they're leaving," Shepard ordered right away.
“I’ll do what I can, but you know my baby isn’t really designed to fight this kind of enemy.” Joker pointed out before banking heavily to open fire on a particular living ship that seemed intent on ramming one of the ships carrying students. There were simply so many enemy vessels that the headmasters couldn’t hit them all.
Shepard turned to Seraphiel. “You seem to have information on the enemy. Any ideas on how to turn the situation less dire?”
"Well, that depends on what your goal is," Seraphiel replied. "If you just want to save the students, then have the ship and anyone capable do what you're doing now. Maybe target specific synapse vessels."
“Wait, wait. Synapse?” Joker asked, now paying attention to her for the first time. “Oh, hey Sephy. Haven’t seen you in forever. You look younger.”
“And you look older.” Seraphiel shot back. “The hive mind controlling the Tyranids doesn’t control every creature directly. The commands are passed through specific creatures with a closer connection to the hive mind called synapse creatures. If you kill those, the other Tyranids turn feral and start attacking everything in sight, including each other. Also, having the control of the hive mind suddenly yanked does horrible, horrible things to them, the mildest of which is stunning them for a short while. On the other hand, if you want to save everyone on the planet…well, you’re fucked.” She felt a little bad about saying that, but she’d long since learned that saving everyone was impossible.
“OK, so good news and bad news. But how can we tell which enemies to target?” Shepard asked.
"Experience mostly," Seraphiel admitted. "The smarter enemies are also the ones that function as synapse creatures. If you can provide me with images, I can start tagging them.”
"EDI, you get on that. Joker, I'm going to go up top, so just bring us closer to large concentrations of enemies until she's done." Shepard ordered, before using one of the abilities that Seraphiel also had, only more advanced, [Psionic Charge], to suddenly exit the ship and effectively stand on the outside hull, with her magnetic boots holding her in place.
Seraphiel had to admit that the sheer precision required to charge just outside the ship, without ending up inside the wall or so far that you can't attach to the ship before it flies away from under you, was staggering. You had to be precise down to a millimeter, and the ability wasn't really designed for that. She could've done it in her prime. Maybe. But it would've been a difficult shot at best of times. Now she didn't even want to try.
"Love it when she does that," Joker commented.
“Seraphiel. Tags please.” EDI reminded her.
Seraphiel quickly went through hundreds of images, tagging every known synapse creature she could identify. As expected, the Tyranids had created new bioforms since the last time she’d seen them, but the basic principles were much the same, so it wasn’t hard to identify the new creatures and their function.
As she continued the tagging, Shepard sent a message. EDI had already explained that communications on very short ranges worked. “I still don’t fully understand the whole synapse thing, but tell Seraphiel she was right. Targeting the creatures she’s tagging is very effective. They seem to regain control after a while, but even a dozen seconds of confusion is critically useful in a situation like this. Get Haldir to send this information to all the headmasters as well. I doubt they’re aware.”
“Haldir?” Seraphiel asked, not recognizing the name. The person wasn’t a member of the original crew.
“An Elven mage we picked up. He’s in charge of our magical engineering.” EDI explained, clearly able to multitask. “With electronic communications down, magic it is.” It seemed the AI wasn’t fond of that fact.
The situation became a lot better after the headmasters started to systematically target the synapse creatures. Shepard alone could destroy them by the dozens or hundreds, so with every headmaster doing the same, the tactic became even more effective, and the effect became more pronounced as the living synapse creatures became rarer. The shock from losing so many of the creatures at the same time was also quite pronounced.
“It’s working!” Shepard announced. “The ships of the academies are not being harassed anymore.” She was quiet for a moment. “We’re still not going to be able to save the people on the planet, are we?” She still hadn’t entirely gotten over her need to save everyone.
“I’m afraid not.” Seraphiel was forced to admit. “The tactic is effective for a short time, but the Tyranids are great at adapting. They’ll be able to counter the tactic soon.”
True to her words, it only took some minutes for the Tyranids to start hiding the synapse creature deep within their ranks, in hard-to-reach places. It reduced their combat effectiveness somewhat, which is why they didn't usually do it, but by that time, most of the ships carrying students had already made their escape. The headmasters grabbed any local people they could before they too started pulling away. The Normandy was among the last to make the exit, as Shepard barely entered the ship in time to go through the gateway.
“Well, that was a disaster," Shepard commented, though Seraphiel was a little distracted by the sudden flood of announcements.
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[Congratulations! [Path of the Seer] has leveled up from 123 to 124! Free Stat Points +280.]
[Congratulations! [Path of the Seer] has leveled up from 124 to 125! Free Stat Points +280.]
[Congratulations! [Path of the Seer] has leveled up from 125 to 126! Free Stat Points +280.]
[Congratulations! [Path of the Seer] has leveled up from 126 to 127! Free Stat Points +280.]
[Congratulations! [Path of the Seer] has leveled up from 127 to 128! Free Stat Points +280.]
[Congratulations! [Path of the Seer] has leveled up from 128 to 129! Free Stat Points +280.]
[Congratulations! [Path of the Seer] has leveled up from 129 to 130! Free Stat Points +280.]
[Congratulations! [Celestial] has leveled up from 123 to 124! Strength +40, Vitality +40, Agility +40, Perception +40, Charisma +40, Willpower +40, Manipulation +40, Acumen +40, Free Stat Points +40.]
[Congratulations! [Celestial] has leveled up from 124 to 125! Strength +40, Vitality +40, Agility +40, Perception +40, Charisma +40, Willpower +40, Manipulation +40, Acumen +40, Free Stat Points +40.]
[Congratulations! [Celestial] has leveled up from 125 to 126! Strength +40, Vitality +40, Agility +40, Perception +40, Charisma +40, Willpower +40, Manipulation +40, Acumen +40, Free Stat Points +40.]
[Congratulations! [Celestial] has leveled up from 126 to 127! Strength +40, Vitality +40, Agility +40, Perception +40, Charisma +40, Willpower +40, Manipulation +40, Acumen +40, Free Stat Points +40.]
[Congratulations! [Celestial] has leveled up from 127 to 128! Strength +40, Vitality +40, Agility +40, Perception +40, Charisma +40, Willpower +40, Manipulation +40, Acumen +40, Free Stat Points +40.]
[Congratulations! [Celestial] has leveled up from 128 to 129! Strength +40, Vitality +40, Agility +40, Perception +40, Charisma +40, Willpower +40, Manipulation +40, Acumen +40, Free Stat Points +40.]
[Congratulations! [Celestial] has leveled up from 129 to 130! Strength +40, Vitality +40, Agility +40, Perception +40, Charisma +40, Willpower +40, Manipulation +40, Acumen +40, Free Stat Points +40.]
[Congratulations! [Shinmei-ryū Kamigoroshi] has leveled up from 120 to 121! Free Stat Points Strength +20, Vitality +20, Agility +40, Perception +40, Psionic Power +20, Psionic Control +40, Tolerance +20, Psi +20, Free Stat Points 100.]
[Congratulations! [Shinmei-ryū Kamigoroshi] has leveled up from 121 to 122! Free Stat Points Strength +20, Vitality +20, Agility +40, Perception +40, Psionic Power +20, Psionic Control +40, Tolerance +20, Psi +20, Free Stat Points 100.]
[Congratulations! [Shinmei-ryū Kamigoroshi] has leveled up from 123 to 124! Free Stat Points Strength +20, Vitality +20, Agility +40, Perception +40, Psionic Power +20, Psionic Control +40, Tolerance +20, Psi +20, Free Stat Points 100.]
[Congratulations! [The Path of the Firstborn] has leveled up from 75 to 76! Strength +20, Vitality +20, Willpower +20, Charisma +20, Conviction +20, Free stats +40]
….
[Congratulations! [The Path of the Firstborn] has leveled up from 91 to 92! Strength +20, Vitality +20, Willpower +20, Charisma +20, Conviction +20, Free stats +40]
“What the hell System?!” She asked aloud, so caught off guard. “Where did all these levels come from?”
"You got a bunch of levels?" Shepard asked. "Likely because while you didn't do it directly, your actions led to the deaths of a huge number of enemies and the rescue of many people."
“That seems a little too easy. And a bit of an exploit-y way to gain levels.” She pointed out.
EDI interjected. "You have to keep in mind that it only works if you actually give good advice that those being advised didn't already know about. If you just spouted something that they would've done anyway, there would've been no reward.”
“Narrows down the exploitative cases but doesn’t eliminate them.” She wasn’t quite ready to let it go.
“So far, the System has had an almost perfect recognition of any such attempts. If you try to go around the rules, the System simply adjusts. It’s not a rigid set of rules that it follows blindly.” Shepard insisted. “Believe me, people have tried for a very long time to find loopholes. Even if they do find one, the System might allow them to keep the reward once for being clever, but removes the possibility from you and everyone else in the future.”
"Yeah, you're not the first clever person to try and cheat," Joker added his voice into the mix. "Everyone tries at some point. I certainly did.”
"Well, I just got a huge chunk of levels that says I succeeded." Seraphiel insisted.
“Levels that you earned fair and square.” Shepard wasn’t letting go either. Seraphiel wasn’t sure why she was being so ardent about it but decided not to argue further.
Despite the benefits of combining magic and technology, and the fact that distances worked a little odd between certain portions of this mish-mash of a universe, travel between worlds was still far from instantaneous, except in a very limited number of cases. It was also a fact that the escape hadn’t been exactly the most ordered retreat ever designed.
“Did we coordinate a gathering place for all those that escaped?” Seraphiel asked.
"No," EDI replied. "With the communications being hampered, such coordination was impossible. That being the case, there are a couple of very obvious potential destinations that most escaping vessels would choose as they provide both supplies and safety.”
“We’re not actually that far from our part of this universe. In a way." Joker pointed out. "That's how we could arrive here so quickly. Citadel and Thessia are some obvious destinations, although they're a bit far away."
“Thessia being one of the Academies would make for a clear target, but it's a bit too far." Shepard nodded. "For one, most of the fleeing vessels will be packed with students and other assorted refugees, which I doubt they're equipped to handle for long. It's one thing to cram everyone into the cargo hold to get them away from the teeth and claws of the enemy. It's another to ask them to stay in the hold for weeks of travel, even if you can handle the rations with summoning magic."
“Citadel is a better option in that regard, though still a bit far. It’s going to take a week and a half for most vessels.” EDI pointed out.
"Isn't the Citadel right in the middle of your galaxy? How is that only a week's travel away then?" Seraphiel asked. She'd never had the travel between worlds fully explained to her, even if she'd heard snippets here and there.
"The gateways," Joker said as if that explained everything. At Seraphiel's look, he elaborated. "Travel between worlds without gateways is possible, as we've just seen with the Tyranids, but it's very dangerous. As far as I've understood, as soon as a new piece is added to the universe, the System adds magical gateways to most habitable or valuable worlds to connect them to the rest of the universe. Thing is, the System can be a bit of a dick about those gateways. Usually, a newly added portion has a couple of major gateways that connect to the universe at large, while minor gateways connect the worlds themselves to these hubs with the major gateways. The destinations the gateways connect to are also somewhat random as well as the worlds they appear at, although I think the System is just being a dick about it. For instance, there’s a major gateway only a single connection away from the Citadel, but that major gateway takes you nowhere near where you’d expect if you were looking at a map of the universe. If those Tyranids wanted to reach our galaxy without the gateways, it would be impossible, because our galaxy is nowhere close.”
Shepard joined in at that point. "I believe the System is forcing strategic thinking around the chokepoints of the gateways, as well as encouraging making connections with other races that might or might not result in a struggle. Also, seeing as the Tyranids are creating trouble, I’d say it’s a very good thing we’re not close.”
“Wait. We just went through a gateway. Where exactly are we going?” Seraphiel asked.
"That gateway is connected to a dozen different destinations as it was a minor gateway. Minors usually have more options by the way. In general, we're traveling towards the Citadel. Many of the minors we could’ve picked connect with the Citadel gateway. It’s a bit of a long hop, but it is the safest destination within reach.” Joker explained.
"Which means we have a cargo hold full of people that need to be taken care of, and about a week to do it. Our ship is faster than most, though the difference will be a few days only." Shepard declared. "And while this ship is in many ways improved over the old Normandy, something hasn't changed, by which I mean the lack of comfortable billeting. There's isn't a whole lot of space available for beds on a ship like this.”
"And if I remember correctly, the food wasn't great," Seraphiel commented.
"We've made some improvements on that front," EDI said. "Or so I've been told." She corrected herself.
“Oh? So, if I were to ask the crew, they wouldn’t tell me the food tastes like ass again?” Seraphiel well remembered that she’d been forced to take over cooking duties in the past just because she couldn’t tolerate the slop they served.
“They can’t match your cooking, but I have heard they’ve put in more food and less ass this time.” Shepard grinned. “Although with so many people on board, we’ll be forced to do some rationing. How many people did we pick up anyway?”
"We lifted off a bit lighter than most thanks to needing to join the defence, but we still picked up fifty extra people," EDI reported.
“Right. Time to do some logistics. The boring but perhaps the most important part of any fight.” Shepard made a face at that.
"Don't worry, I'll help," Seraphiel promised, which mollified Shepard somewhat.