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"Ooh, things in orbit are getting interesting. The Republic fleet is back. They got some reinforcements. Not a lot, but some." Rangiku commented over the comms, as she was on watch duty.
“I’m afraid that’s not going to be enough.” Seraphiel retorted.
"Why not? The Republic fleet was almost enough to take on the combined fleet of the Separatists and the Eternal Empire with fewer ships. Now it's just the Separatists and there's even more of the Republic ships." Rangiku questioned.
"Do you really think the Separatists would've stuck around if they didn't have a plan? Once the Eternals left, it was only a matter of time before the Republic fleet returned. Staying here to bombard the planetary shield would be a suicide if they had nothing planned." Seraphiel explained.
“Yeah, I’m fairly confident the Republic fleet is about to get pincered once they commit to the fight. And if we can figure it out, they likely know it too. That’s why they waited until the last possible moment to attack. The planetary shield was slated to go down by tomorrow.” Yoruichi added her own thoughts.
“Why did they even return then?” Rangiku questioned.
This time it was Shepard's turn to interject. "Because there's always the chance that the Separatists were bluffing, and because Coruscant is too valuable. Both symbolically as the effective throne world of the Republic and because it's a Core World by this universe's standards as well. The Jedi Temple and the Senate are both here. Even if they have other forces and other leaders, the symbolic loss would just be too much. If they lose the world, they’re effectively out of the war anyway. That’s the problem with such centralized powers.”
"Still, the war's not over even if they lose in orbit. The Separatists still have to actually take Coruscant on the ground. Unlike many other worlds, they can't just bombard Coruscant from orbit, and this place is urbane warfare on a hellish scale. And the Eternals are still out there, so things can still change. I believe the Eternal Empire is happy to let the two exhaust each other, which is why they retreated in the first place." Seraphiel finished off the explanation.
“Fiiiine. Be that way.” Rangiku complained. “How are things on your end?”
"Team one has eliminated three Monstrum nests so far, and there's plenty more where those came from," Wrex reported cheerily. "Only one of them put up a proper fight. Just like you predicted, there was a Demi-Monstrum here leading them. That one actually managed to dent my armor. Otherwise, it’s been a bit dull actually.”
"Don't get complacent," Seraphiel warned. "The biggest threat with the Monstrum isn't their direct combat power. They attrition you in many subtle ways, mental, physical, and equipment. They love throwing expendably troops at you and lull you into a false sense of security, while the miasma eats at your stats.”
“What she means, is that team two has only eliminated two nests, and no Demi-Monstrum.” Shepard joked, obviously reading that off their tactical network.
"Hey, it's not my fault our nests are further apart," Seraphiel said faux defensively. "Wrex wanted the biggest concentration of enemies, and he got it.”
“Incidentally, team three has eliminated four nests and two of those demis," Teclis reported with a smug voice.
"…ok, we can't let the new guy win," Wrex called out. "Move it! On the double." Sounds of fighting came over the comms.
“I’m the new guy?” Teclis asked.
"Depends on how you calculate such things," Seraphiel reassured him. "Shen-Zoo is definitely the new girl, and by extension, you get to be the new guy."
“I haven’t been called a girl in over two thousand years! This is a fun group!” Shen-Zoo’s laughing voice could be heard over Teclis’ comms.
“We may have overloaded that group a bit when we put both of our best mages and Tatsumiya together.” Yoruichi pointed out. “They just so happen to be the three best equipped to deal with these enemies.”
As it turns out, Tatsumiya’s abilities as a Monster Hunter made her the bane of the Monstrum. Shen-Zoo was a Light Dragon, and her powers directly countered the creatures as well, and Teclis was not known as one of the greatest mages for nothing.
“Who’d a thunk it?” Seraphiel asked with a smile. “Should we hurry up as well, or are we letting the other two groups win this one?”
"I'm not fond of losing, but it's better for morale if we don't win every time," Yoruichi said with a bit of a pout.
They’d reported the Monstrum problem to the Republic authorities, who were apparently aware of the issue, but simply didn’t have the resources to deal with it with the war going on. Instead, they’d hired the group to at least help mitigate the problem. They of course insisted on getting paid at the end of every day, as they wouldn’t work for some vague future reward when the Republic may not even last to the end of the week. For the same reason, the Republic wasn’t shy about paying their exorbitant fees either. The Republic knew they were getting fleeced by the deal but weren’t in a position to haggle.
In addition to the compensation, they were getting a bunch of EXP. All of them. Even Shepard had gained a few levels, and she was the highest level out of all of them. The Monstrum were very specialized enemies., requiring specific means to dispose of. The System liked to reward you for such things. Even if most of the enemies weren't the highest level, many of the stronger Monstrum were quite decent in level on account of having such an easy feeding ground. There were over a trillion people living on Coruscant, and they'd already killed thousands of Monstrum. There was no telling how many locals the Monstrum had killed, gaining them a lot of levels, which in turn meant a lot of EXP for the group. And it didn't seem like there was an end in sight.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“This really is a widespread infestation. No wonder we ran into a couple stragglers so close to the surface. How bad is it below?” Yoruichi wondered. “This is worse than Hollows, based on pure numbers.” At the same time, she sent a blast of Kidō at a group of insect-looking Monstrum. Apparently, Kidō counted as magic for the purposes of the resistance. The other Soul Reaper abilities didn’t.
“They’re quite a nuisance, that’s for sure. I don’t imagine there are many survivors on the bottom levels, though in fairness, not too many people lived there anyway. It was dangerous way before the Monstrum arrived. Though I’m not sure I want to think too hard on how many people must have died for the infestation to spread like this.” Seraphiel muttered, as a large burst of flames incinerated another group of plant-like enemies.
“How did you deal with them in the world they originate from?” Yoruichi questioned.
“There the problem didn’t get this bad. And there was a big bad that could be killed to essentially eliminate most of the threat in one attack. I have no idea if there’s one here. I honestly can’t even remember what the big Monstrum was called…” Seraphiel shook her head wryly. She’d run into so many similar situations that they tended to blur together. “There was also a hero on that world that did most of the heavy lifting, while I mostly provided containment and support. The threat was also constrained to a single small-ish city and not an ecumenopolis like Coruscant. There were only so many enemies to kill and so many places for them to hide. Honestly, back then, it seemed like a rather mediocre threat all things considered. Just that here the problem has been allowed to escalate, and there are so many more places for them to hide and increase their numbers. If there had been this many Monstrum back then, I don’t think Celesphonia would’ve been able to deal with them without much more help from me.”
“Celesphonia? Sounds fancy." Yoruichi laughed while easily dodging attacks from several caster-type Monstrum, before blasting them too.
"It honestly wasn't. She was a rather normal schoolgirl, and the name was invented by a nerdy classmate. A nerdy classmate who liked to take kinky pictures. Not exactly the most glamorous adventure I’ve ever had.” Seraphiel laughed as the vast majority of the enemies were killed. “Ok, I’m running the locator spell again.”
"Are you sure we can leave the stragglers behind?" Yoruichi pointed at a few odd Monstrum that pulled away from the fight. Even the almost mindless beasts exhibited some guile.
"Yes. The normal Monstrum don't actually multiply by themselves. It takes miasma and some specific conditions. The stragglers might be dangerous to civilians, but every nest we destroy saves a lot more lives than hunting down a few stragglers.” Seraphiel stated, before casting a relatively simple detection spell in the air. They’d used the same spell to track down most of the nests so far.
Their comms crackled again while they traveled towards the nearest nest. "Just wanted to report you were right," Rangiku said. "The Republic forces were flanked, and are now in the process of getting wiped out. I don't think this battle will last more than a few hours. Which means, we'll be getting an invasion force landing pretty soon. Do you think they'll approach the arena?"
"I doubt it," Shepard replied. "They'd be pretty stupid to pick a fight with the Champions. That said, we might want to end this hunt early and get our rewards. The Separatists might not want to pick a fight at the arena, but they’ll be less discerning if they find us battling on the lower levels. Besides, we won’t get any rewards from the Republic if the world is invaded. I don’t particularly mind wiping these Monstrum out pro bono, but why do something for free, when you can get paid for doing it?”
All three groups made their way towards the Senate building. Getting inside to meet the senator paying them was a bit challenging, but the fact that two of them were Champions and could’ve slain their way inside if they’d really wanted to, swung things in their favor. The senator in question, one Bail Organa from Alderaan, was staring at the projection of the space battle and the Republic fleet getting their ass handed to them with a mix of stoic acceptance and quiet resignation.
“Senator.” Shepard greeted the man quietly, taking the lead.
“Champion.” The man said with a thick voice. “I believe you’ve already gotten the news, with how early you returned.” He was still a relatively young man, surprisingly so for someone in his position, though young senators were not so uncommon in the Republic, as oftentimes their role was more symbolic, and all votes were dictated from home.
"We have very good access to information," Shepard said circumspectly. "It's not going great for the Republic."
The senator gave a small mirthless chuckle. “That’s putting it mildly. I suppose our own lack of preparation is to blame. The Republic has the industrial might to win a war of attrition, but with the Ruusan Reformations having effectively de-militarized us…”
"I believe you were one of the senators often voting to uphold that principle of pacifism." Seraphiel couldn't help but point out.
"Yes, I suppose I was." The man admitted. "I still think trying to find a peaceful way to live is the right thing to do, and all the credits we saved in warships and troops could be put to better use, but we probably weren’t being realistic enough. Some might say this is our just reward. Though, ironically, I might be among the senators to be spared, as I was also among those that supported many of the Separatist issues before things broke down. Assuming they’re going to spare any of us, of course.”
They were quiet for a moment, before the man reached behind him for a briefcase, and pushed it over. “Your reward, and a small bonus. I do hope you’ll continue to deal with the issue even if the Separatists take over. I don’t think they’re going to be able to dedicate too much effort to such issues, and yet, civilians will keep dying if nothing is done.”
Shepard pushed the briefcase to Kaede, who opened it, nodded, and closed it, storing it inside her shadows.
As they were preparing to leave, the senator called out. “Tell me honestly Champion. I’m curious. Could you stop this invasion if you wanted?” He pointed at the display.
“Me?” Shepard asked. “No. Her?” She pointed at Seraphiel. “Probably. She destroyed an entire Tyranid Hive Fleet while she was 500 levels lower than now.”
“Hmm. The one I’ve noticed has the most disdain for the Republic. I won’t shame either of us by asking.” The senator nodded.
"Good. Because I wouldn't do it. Not because I think the Separatists are better, however. I simply don't want to bail out thousands of years of bad decision-making from the inevitable consequences of those decisions." Seraphiel stated with a cold tone. "I'm all for second chances. But I'm not one for third, fourth, or fifth chances. That's just masochism disguised as good intentions." She considered for a moment. "However, as you said, the civilians will need protecting. I think we can agree to continue our efforts through the transition, as soon as we get guarantees the Separatists won't start shooting at us by mistake."
The senator gave a small smile. “I suppose that’s all I can ask. We should take our small victories wherever we find them.”
“Are you going to be working on the ship again?” Wrex asked eagerly. The Krogan loved to watch her work. Both because the precise use of telekinetics fascinated him, but also because he liked to see actual weapons being installed.
“I suppose it would be a good time for it. I have the weapons themselves made, and I already replaced most of the power conduits on the ship with Wraithbone in preparation for installing the weapons, so all I need to do is mount the weapons on the ship. Then I’ll need to do some work on the power core.” Seraphiel pondered.
“Why tinker with the core?” Shepard asked curiously. Their ship was rather similar to those her people used, so any upgrades interested her.
"Well, as it turns out, installing several brightlance batteries draws more power from the core than it can currently handle. And the heavy pulsar cannon I'm installing on the prow will definitely need much more power. I can make a more efficient secondary power core, but I'll need to create enough space for it. Unfortunately, that means moving the walls a bit, which isn't hard, just time-consuming." She explained.
“Brightlances? Pulsar cannon?” Shepard asked again, not familiar with the terms.
"Yes, well, while I have little else positive to say about that particular universe, the first universe I was exiled to does have rather advanced weapon technology. It's not the most advanced, but much better than most. They have been in a constant state of war for tens of millennia.” Seraphiel shrugged. “And the Aeldari have some of the better weapons as one of the oldest races around. I suppose I could’ve tried for some of the Necron gauss weaponry, but that would’ve required a complete redesign of the ship.”
"We might construct a new ship entirely at some point when we have the spare time, but that'll have to do for now." Kaede nodded in agreement.
“Yes. It won’t allow us to fight entire fleets of less advanced ships, but it’ll give the ship some teeth at least.” Seraphiel nodded in confirmation. “What did the senator give us?”
Kaede smiled. “Let’s just say that combined with all the stuff we managed to get from the Empire last time, all of us are set for our next Class Evolution.”
Shepard gave a small whistle. “That was generous of him.”
“It makes sense in a way. This is a Core World producing many of the rarer materials, based almost solely on the density of people present. The Monstrum, if left unchecked, are a real risk to that population density. Combined with the upcoming invasion, and perhaps future trouble, there’s a real risk that Coruscant will lose enough people that it can no longer function as a Core World.” Tatsumiya revealed. “The Core Worlds won’t necessarily stay the same, and if the gods or the System decide to shift things around, there’s little the people of this galaxy can do about it.”