Mass Effect - conquerors of the universe. Solar system in Mass Effect Mass effect mission to the moon
BioWare is a legendary company specializing in role-playing games. Its employees are responsible for such masterpieces as Baldur's Gate, Newervinter Nigths and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The Peruvian studio also owns Jade Empire, but not everyone liked the combination of role-playing elements and a real-time combat system. And the simplified role-playing system (only three parameters) was not too pleasing. But, fortunately, the masters of the genre did not make a mistake - great characters, an interesting plot, a huge number of tasks and non-linearity brought fame and success to the game. There was a lull for a while, and then the company announced the development of an exclusive for Xbox 360 - RPG Mass Effect. Beautiful videos and bright screenshots gave the game the status of a “hit” even before release. The PR campaign was thought out perfectly, and the release of the project was like an explosion. Dozens of awards around the world, titles of “Best Game of the Year” and “Best Role-Playing Game” at various exhibitions - all this went into the pockets of developers and publishers. Xbox 360 owners rejoiced at their happiness and quietly laughed at PC owners. Critics, on the contrary, argued that there was nothing to laugh about - the project would definitely be released on a computer. Few believed, but many hoped. And their hopes came true. Soon there was an official announcement about the transfer of Mass Effect to the kingdom of the keyboard and mouse. Fans held their breath and crossed their fingers. And now the bomb exploded again. As it turned out, much stronger than the first time...
Getting to know the universe
2148 Humanity is developing, taking small steps to master the solar system. First the Moon was colonized, then Mars, and then the unexpected happened - people stumbled upon the remains ancient civilization Protheans. Before this event, there were no contacts with extraterrestrial races, but here earthlings found evidence of the existence of life in space. Time passed, humanity climbed a little further and received a “package” from an extinct people - a device called Mass Relay. It made it possible to move in space at superluminal speeds. People rushed to new worlds. The first destination is the Earth-like planet Eden Prime. The colony is founded - the development of the territories continues. It turned out that in the depths of the universe, arrogant guests were not welcome. People encountered another race - the Turians. A brutal war began, humanity was unable to oppose anything to the technologies of the future. Having been defeated, the earthlings entered into an agreement with the “hosts”, and the guests were allowed to stay. As the years passed, the galactic empire developed. She owed much to the legacy of the Protheans. was destined to become the center of the world space station"Citadel". The first races, the Salarians and the Asari, founded the Consulate there. It carefully monitored what was happening around, maintaining a balance between all races. It was impossible to allow the dominance of any civilization, since democracy would cease to exist. The main personnel of the Consulate are Specters. These are special government agents, superbly trained and trained. They have immunity, and their clan is a powerful force in the universe. Their main task is to carry out government tasks. Specters are always right about everything, even if they are wrong. The slightest disobedience to their orders could result in jail time or even death. 2183 Civilization is developing, more and more new races are coming into the world. Democracy is fading into the background. Along with the prosperity of the empire, chaos is happening; terrorists have enormous power in their hands. That's enough Time of Troubles A strange race of robots appears on the map - the Geth. They are moving menacingly towards the outpost of humanity. And then - applause, the curtain rises - he comes on stage main character.First steps
According to tradition, we begin our journey with character generation. You are free to do whatever you want with it - grow a mustache, choose a hairstyle, cover your body with scars, and so on. The commander is the commander spaceship"Normandy". And also as an employee of the Consulate, that same spectrum. There are six classes to choose from – three main and three secondary. Engineer – a lover of technology, but weak in close combat. Adept – an adherent of paranormal abilities. And finally, the soldier (Soldier) is a rude warrior without fear or reproach. The three remaining categories are combinations of these classes. And we recommend taking a closer look at them. Also, upon completing a side mission on the Moon, you will be able to choose one of six additional classes. Having decided on the path of development, we can safely rush into battle. The action picks up speed on a planet colonized by earthlings. She is attacked by the former spectrum, and now by the renegade Saren (turian by origin). It is unknown how, but he takes control of the robots and tries to find the Prothean artifact. A colony of people comes under attack, most are killed, some are turned into zombies. The commander is trying to stop what is happening... The consulate learns about the incident, but cannot believe in the guilt of one of its agents. Appearing in court, Saren proves his innocence. An old racial conflict flares up again, and people leave in disgrace. The valiant captain is unable to close his eyes to this and begins to dig under the traitor, trying to find out the reasons for the betrayal and identify his accomplices. The character is initially “correct”. But this does not mean at all that he is obliged to be kind. On the contrary, Shepard can become a bastard and a liar, but all his actions will be regarded as correct. He will always be faced with a moral choice - the developers did not hesitate to present it in almost every mission. By choosing a good or not so good solution to a problem, the main character receives points on one of two scales. Moreover good deed will not get rid of negative points, just as villainy will not affect the amount of humane points. Most decisions are made in dialogues that are formatted in a very unusual way. Forget about long tedious remarks and minutes searching for the right phrase. Now you watch an interactive movie, occasionally choosing the “color” of words. A short sentence develops into a long conversation, and you enjoy it, since the characters are voiced perfectly. The only blunder is that the aliens speak a completely understandable language - English. To be precise, in its various dialects.Moment of Truth
Having had plenty of conversations with those around you, it’s time to get down to business. Fortunately, the commander is not walking along the winding path alone - he is accompanied by six partners. Everyone belongs to one of the nations, has their own specialization, opinion about what is happening and is always ready to chat. Friends give out tasks and participate in their implementation themselves. We independently monitor the development of our assistants, providing them with new skills and abilities. The role-playing system is made quite interesting. It consists of twelve parameters, each of which includes twelve stages of development. Very often, in order to reach a certain part of the ladder, you have to acquire unnecessary skills. But this is compensated by excellent bonuses. As for weapons, they are divided into five classes - pistols, machine guns, shotguns, sniper rifles and grenades. Each type has three characteristics that can be improved. The upgrade system is well designed - the better the barrel and armor, the more holes for additional materials. The battles take place in real time. The camera hangs over the main character's shoulder, and the project turns into a third-person shooter with tactical elements. You can take two partners on the battlefield and give orders to each of them. All battles are very dynamic and exciting. They are diluted with periodic trips on an all-terrain vehicle equipped with a cannon and a machine gun. An SUV can easily drive where a tank would stall.Finish line
Completing Mass Effect takes an average of 25-30 hours. During this time, you have plenty of time to admire the world around you, shoot and listen to philosophical conversations. There are no abstruse conversations about Good and Evil here. And, by and large, there is no division into good and bad. Everyone is right, even the negative character Saren. Everyone just has their own truth. BioWare was once again able to give fans a wonderful game, practically devoid of flaws. The only negative is not the most successful optimization. Undoubtedly, Unreal Engine 3 produces an excellent image, but textures take too long to load. But this problem is nothing compared to the pleasure you will get from traveling to distant stars! Our rating: 9.5 out of 10| Graphic arts | The picture is great. The detail of the world is beyond description, and the quality of the facial animation of the characters deserves nothing but praise. They did a good job on Unreal Engine 3, but there were problems with long loading times and occasional frame rate drops. |
| Sound | The actors' voices, intonations and lines are perfectly calibrated for Mass Effect. They are as high quality as the game itself. True, it can be funny to listen to aliens speaking English dialects. As for the music, it is very good, the orchestra did its best. Sound effects are also “at the level”, and at a very high level. |
| Originality | A new variation of dialogues in the style of interactive cinema is an original solution. However, so is the merging of a tactical third-person shooter with a role-playing game. And in general, Mass Effect is original by its very existence. Even the eternal “correctness” of decisions is exclusive. |
| Control | Very convenient and comfortable. Porting from new generation consoles went completely unnoticed. The mouse is supported in the same way as the keyboard. All character movements are polished, and the distribution of tactical commands is simple and clear. The same applies to managing the development of heroes. |
| Single player gameplay | It takes a long time. The plot is great, it wiggles from side to side and constantly presents new surprises. The world is huge and multifaceted, the characters hide many secrets, the missions are interesting and non-linear. |
| To replay | Very interesting option, as this is one of the best role-playing games in recent times. After the finale, I want to run through the planets again and resolve conflicts in other ways, more humane or, conversely, cruel. |
| Gameplay is multiplayer | Not provided. |
| General impression | This is one of those games that has not been removed from your hard drive for a long time. And not because it hasn’t been completed yet, but because it’s a pity. This is a hit, a masterpiece, a project of excellent quality. It’s not for nothing that BioWare bet on it and planned a trilogy, the second part of which has already been announced for PC. You simply must see this! |
"Everything good in this world has one general disadvantage“It tends to end.” That's what Laura Shepard thought as she packed her bags. Their wonderful and long-awaited vacation in the desert came to an end. It's time to return to the Normandy and continue preparing for future battles.
If it were in her power, Laura would have ordered time to stop, freeze, plunge into stasis forever and never come out... But even Liara, a true master of creating stasis, could not stop time forever. How quickly these thirty days flew by... Thirty short and at the same time incredibly long days spent by her only with Thane - the only being in the entire Galaxy for whom Shepard went into battle at the Collectors Base. For Thane, she would gladly give every drop of her blood, and her very life too, on that damned base...
She still couldn’t quite believe that Thane loved her, that his heart, soul and body belonged only to her. Laura was jealous of the drell's own shadow and sun rays caressing his body. The heat was her rival, taking Shepard away from her beloved for almost the whole day. But she couldn’t fight it, and she didn’t even try to deceive Thane with a forced smile - it was simply impossible. His eyes, huge as the Universe, always looked straight into her heart and read her soul like an open book. Laura could not lie to Thane, because where there is love, there can be no place for lies, and therefore she simply left him alone during the day.
Drell was grateful to her for this, because he saw and understood perfectly well that the hot and dry climate of this planet was clearly not a resort for a human woman. Thane knew that Shepard did this solely for his sake, to fulfill his greatest desire - to see the desert. He saw that her “urgent matters” were far-fetched, but he pretended to believe - it was better for both. The differences between their races only became sharper and clearer in the sultry desert afternoon. But how happy he was during these hot days, how glad he was to be touched by the burning rays and the healing dry air, which made it at least a little easier for the drell to breathe in... Or did it just seem like that?
For several days now, Thane had been listening carefully to himself and couldn’t understand - was this really happening to him, or was he imagining an apparent remission? In any case, it became easier for the drell to breathe, and the pain in his chest was less tormenting. Kalahira, but he didn’t feel it at all - that oppressive heaviness that threatened to soon take his life. Unknown to Laura, Thane returned to his usual workouts and exercises, and discovered that even the increase in load did not torment him as much as before...
“No, this is impossible,” Thane repeated to himself, easily performing lightning-fast and deadly techniques. “Laura doesn’t have hallucinations, so that means they started with me?”
Increasing the speed of movements caused the heart to beat faster and made breathing heavier, but there was no excruciating pain that every Drell suffering from Kepral's syndrome felt.
“I definitely need to go to Mordin,” Krios decided, “it seems that the disease has reached the brain, and I imagined that I was getting better.”
Shepard had seen that Thane had been acting strangely for the past few days. She constantly listened to his breathing, anxiously watched the drell, but found no signs of deterioration. Or didn't you want to see?
“As soon as we return to the Normandy, we will urgently need to send Thane to Chakwas and Mordin. I need to know what’s wrong with him. Know the whole truth, whatever it may be,” Laura decided.
The team met them in a festively decorated dining room. Shepard was incredibly glad to see them all again, and they were sincerely happy about the return of the captain. Miranda ran into Laura, hugged her and spun her around like a girl:
I'm so glad to see you! You've gotten so much better! Tanned like chocolate! And how the eyes sparkle! - Miri looked at the captain admiringly. - Listen, maybe I should get myself a Drell, huh?
Miranda nodded towards Thane, who was being patted on the shoulder in a friendly manner by Garrus, who was asking him something, handing Drell a glass of champagne. Thane smiled back, but his eyes were serious, and Krios did not take his eyes off Mordin, who finally left the laboratory with an extremely worried expression on his face.
Try it, start it,” Laura smiled at her friend, but she couldn’t deceive her.
Is he worse? - Miranda asked quietly, leaning towards Shepard's ear.
I don't know, I don't know anything, Miri. Something is happening to Thane, but what?
I wouldn’t say he’s worse, he shines like a new coin, terminally ill people don’t look like that!
If only your words would be in Amonkira’s ears,” Shepard finished her champagne. - I can’t live without him, you know?
I know, don't get upset in advance, okay? Find out the doctors' opinion, and then you will draw conclusions, okay?
Agreed! - Laura smiled and turned to Chakvas, who was in a hurry to hug her:
Finally! I miss you so much, my captain!
On the hunter and the beast... - Shepard hugged the doctor. - I need to talk to you urgently.
Something happened? - Chakvas’s eyes instantly became serious. - I have news for you too. Will you listen tomorrow when you've rested?
No, if this is about Thane, I have no time to waste. We still have it...
Let me intervene in your conversation. I need to explain something urgently. And confirm some guesses,” Mordin materialized nearby, grabbed Shepard by the hand and literally dragged her towards the laboratory. She managed to notice how Chakwas, smiling sweetly, took Thane’s arm and led him to the medical bay.
The point is this,” Mordin showed the captain strange medical diagrams, “I took a blood test from you before departure, if you remember... and some other tests.
“I remember,” she was slightly embarrassed, remembering that Mordin ordered Chakwas to conduct a full gynecological examination of her body and take appropriate samples for research.
Human disgust again! - the salarian spread his hands, - I did it for a reason. I did the same thing with Mr. Krios. I was interested in how your bodies might react to the interpenetration of liquids into each other. After all, do you know that close... contact invariably causes microtraumas to the mucous membrane, through which various viruses can penetrate into the partner’s blood?
Are you saying that I could have infected Thane with some nasty thing? But after my resurrection, I had no time for men!
Exactly! - Mordin interrupted her, - after the resurrection! That's the whole point! Your body does not react to drell the same way as a normal woman's body. Accordingly, we can conclude that during your reconstruction, Cerberus slightly changed something in you. I was wondering if your modified blood could have a positive effect on Thane's blood? Even viruses can not only harm, Shepard, and here we are not talking about viruses, but about mutual...
Professor! - She grabbed Mordin by the hand, forcing him to interrupt the verbal waterfall. - What did you learn?
I can’t say anything yet! First, I must conduct new tests on Mr. Krios's blood and yours. Only then will I be able to draw conclusions that refute or confirm my hypothesis.
The hope that had flared in Shepard's eyes went out, and Mordin quickly took a new blood test from her and said:
Send Thane to me, captain. I will announce my findings tomorrow!
They started talking at the same time, interrupting each other, and involuntarily laughed. Laura rested her forehead on his shoulder and muttered:
Mordin sent me for you.
And I’ll follow you - Chakvas,” answered Thane, squeezing her hand.
Well, if that’s the case, let’s not keep them waiting,” Shepard tried to speak calmly.
Don't worry, whatever it all means, as long as we're still alive.
“You’re right,” she lightly touched his lips and hurried to Chakvas.
Did you want to see me? Everything is bad? - Shepard blurted out as soon as she crossed the threshold of the medical bay.
Who told you this? - Chakvas smiled, handing the captain a glass of water. - Sit down, have a drink and calm down! I’ll tell you the main news tomorrow, when all the results are ready, but for now I’ll just say that miracles still happen, Laura.
The glass fell from Shepard's hand and shattered, dousing the captain with water, but she didn't even notice it.
You want to say...
Yes, all the signs indicate that the disease has subsided.
Shepard felt her legs give way and fell powerlessly into a chair.
This happens with almost any disease. Stress, strong feelings can not only harm, but also force the body to mobilize and give a powerful fight back even to an incurable disease. This happened in all centuries, and medicine threw up its hands. I can't tell you exactly how this moment Thain’s situation is going well, but I’ll find out in the next 24 hours, when the results of all the research are ready. For now, I can only say one thing with confidence: Thane is feeling better. How much - you will know tomorrow. Now go and rest, you will need strength!
Chakwas helped her get up and walked her to the door. Shepard went up to the cabin, noticed that someone had left her travel bag at the threshold, mechanically picked it up and threw it into a corner. There was a bottle of wine and two glasses on the table. Laura uncorked the bottle, poured a glass full, and drank half of it in one gulp:
Join me,” she poured wine into the second glass and handed it to Thane. He walked up, took the glass in one hand, and with the other he drew Laura to him:
Don’t worry,” the drell kissed her forehead, “in any case, we can’t change anything. It is what it is. Sooner or later we will both go overseas.
I don’t want to,” Shepard looked up at Thane, feeling that treacherous tears were still flowing down her cheeks, “I don’t want to, you know!” I don’t want to lose you... I can’t... understand, Thane, that I don’t need this world, this ship, all this, if you’re not next to me...
Don’t cry, Siha,” Thane put the unnecessary glass on the table and hugged her with both arms, “I know that it’s not easy for you with me, and you had a hard time in the desert. Shut up! - He put a finger to her lips, not allowing her to object. - I saw everything. I saw how you suffered from the heat, how you invented things that didn’t exist.
“I didn’t want to disturb you,” Shepard said through tears, the first ones since the moment of resurrection.
And I know this too,” Thane kissed her lightly on her trembling lips – now it was his turn to feel the taste of human tears. “You gave me not just a month in the desert, it was a month in paradise, isn’t that what your people call the happy world of eternal bliss?”
Yes,” she sobbed, hiding her face on his chest, “but how can I survive until tomorrow? What will they tell us - Mordin and Chakvas?
I don't think it will be bad news. - Thane handed her a glass. - Drink it, it will calm you down.
Thank you,” she finished the wine, and then Thane sat Shepard on the bed, brought a bottle and glasses, and they drank it sitting next to each other, hugging, and without saying a word.
Then Laura stretched out on the bed, the drell hugged her, but they could not fall asleep. They lay huddled close to each other, listening to the beating of their own hearts, and counting the hours until morning. Shepard was afraid to believe in a miracle, she wanted to hear the final diagnosis, and Thane was waiting and afraid of this diagnosis no less.
Finally, this longest night of their lives ended, and both of them appeared on the threshold of the medical bay, equally frightened and awaiting the verdict. Chakwas instantly realized that neither Laura nor Thane slept a wink that night, she shook her head and pointed to the chair.
So, so, my dears! I see you've been tormented all night! Is this possible? - She looked reproachfully at Laura. - You defeated Saren, destroyed the Collectors’ base, and then you couldn’t pull yourself together? Shame on you, captain! I told you that miracles happen, remember? I can confirm this. Look here, both of you,” Chakwas called up holographic three-dimensional images of Thane’s lungs, and indeed of Thane’s entire body, and began to explain:
Do you see that a month ago the metastases were here, here, and here? Now they are gone. I can't explain why this happened. This sometimes happened in the twentieth century with cancer, a deadly and terrible disease of that time. What caused this in the past, and what caused it now, I don’t know. But you see for yourself - the disease has stopped. Of course, a destroyed lung will not become healthy, but what continues to work will be enough so that you, Thane, can live normally for many more years. The process of destruction in the second lung,” Chakvas pointed to the diagram, “has stopped. Something became a powerful mobilizing impulse for your body, Thane... But just what?
Let me explain, colleague! - When Mordin managed to enter the medical bay, none of those present noticed. Chakwas enthusiastically explained what happened to the drell, and Shepard and Thane hung on her every word.
Please, professor,” Chakvas smiled, “I’m interested in knowing this myself.”
The fact is that yesterday I did all the research again. And he made an amazing discovery. Perhaps this will save not only you, Thane, but also many of your relatives. This will be a counterweight to the genophage. If, of course, it is confirmed.
Professor! - Laura and Thane exclaimed pleadingly.
Yes, that's the point. I suspected that the reason for your improved health, Thane, lay in Shepard's blood. My hypothesis was brilliantly confirmed! I won't bore you with too many terms. I’ll just say that one of the components of your blood, captain, introduced by Cerberus during your resurrection (they replaced the missing elements with analogues unknown to me) ended up in Thane’s blood. This happened during your intimacy. I told you about microtraumas of the mucous membrane, captain. Your blood caused a powerful response from Thane's body. This explosion simply burned out all the metastases. The contacts were quite frequent, because you, captain, did not experience any symptoms preventing you - allergies and hallucinations. For the same reasons. Let's call it side effect project "Lazarus". As a result, you, Thane, developed antibodies that completely blocked the development of Kepral's syndrome. Metastases have been destroyed, the destruction of the lungs has been stopped. We can assume that the disease has been defeated.
I don’t know yet whether the elements I isolated from your blood, captain, will work on other drells, but this is easy to find out experimentally. If my hopes come true,” Mordin’s face lit up with a smile. - I can consider myself the savior of an entire race. The genophage was necessary, but it was not easy to come to terms with the title of killer of the unborn. This vaccine will help me find peace. I don’t have much left,” the salarian spread his hands, “I’ll be happy to devote the rest of my life to saving your race, Thane.”
Are you saying that I won't die? - Thane said these words slowly and difficultly, without taking his burning eyes off Mordin.
I didn't say that! - the professor smiled, - we are all mortal, and we do not lead the most peaceful lifestyle. So, I guarantee you long life I can't. But I am absolutely sure that you will not die from Kepral's syndrome! In addition, we have almost completed work on an artificial lung. This is how Chakwas, Miss Lawson, and I planned to prolong your life. Now everything has become simpler. The operation will give us the opportunity to replace the affected lung with its artificial counterpart. After this, you will have almost the full lung capacity corresponding to the parameters of your race. We will perform the operation in a couple of months. I need to finally verify the correctness of my conclusions and bring the transplant to perfection. I want everything to be perfect!
So I won't die! - Thane repeated as if in a dream, and then sighed convulsively and covered his face with his hands, wanting to hide the tears of mistrust and joy flowing down his cheeks. Drell, like a child, buried his head in Shep's chest, and she hugged him and pressed him to her wildly pounding heart. Laura stroked Thane’s trembling shoulders, not noticing that the same tears were flowing down her cheeks:
You're not deceiving us, professor? - she asked, reading the answer in Mordin’s shining eyes and in the triumphant smile of Chakwas, who said:
I told you miracles happen, Laura. Not only bad things should happen to us. You have earned the right to be happy more than anyone else in this Universe,” Chakwas touched Mordin on the shoulder, and they both left the medical bay, leaving Thane and Shepard alone with their unexpected and great joy.
I didn’t think it was possible to cry not only from pain and fear,” Thane raised his eyes to the captain, in which disbelief was still visible.
“You can,” Laura carefully ran her trembling fingers over his cheek and kissed him, again feeling the bitterness of his tears, as before, in front of Omega 4, when they first became close:
Forgive my weakness, Sikha... I shouldn’t be like this in front of you, - Thane took her hand in his, squeezed it tightly, - I’m ashamed...
There’s no need to be ashamed, Thane,” Shepard pressed herself against the drell, feeling a nervous shiver run through him, “it’s not every day that you find out that you’ve been pardoned. That life will not end in a year. That there is still a lot to come...
I know,” Thane touched her lips, “I’ve just come to terms with the fact that I don’t have much left, that nothing is holding me here, that everything is already behind me.” But then you appeared, Sikha. You gave me back my son and life, gave me your love and all of yourself. We survived that battle, but my sentence did not allow me to fully enjoy my happiness. I was afraid to look into the future; even Kolyatu didn’t say anything about you and me.
It’s not scary,” she smiled. - There will still be time. Now we can talk about everything with your son, there’s no rush, Thane.
“What a wonderful phrase,” said the drell. - The gods showed me mercy and gave me another chance.
You deserve it,” Laura laid her head on the drell’s shoulder.
WE deserve it,” Thane smiled, “without you all this would have been impossible, Siha.”
It doesn’t matter who gave us this chance, what matters is that we have it,” she looked into his eyes. - The rest doesn't matter.
A logical continuation of the story in the story Mother and Stepmother.
The first impulse of Colonel Forius, the commander of the squadron, was the desire to stop by force the violation of one of the key laws of the Citadel space - the ban on activating any relays until permission from the Council was obtained, which is possible, of course, after studying the systems behind the relay. However, the small ship, about fifty meters long##, did not pose a significant threat: it had neither an axial gun nor any visible guns at all. Under the uneven elongated body in the form of a cylinder, unsuitable for flight in the atmosphere, only the smallest kinetic weapons and lasers could be hidden. Zarik Forius was still a fairly young and intemperate turian, but he would not have been appointed to command so early if he could not control his emotions. He decided that it was not worth spoiling the first contact with the conflict with unknown species...at least until the need arises. After all, with one ship smaller than a corvette and a squadron of a cruiser, three frigates, and sixteen fighters in hangars, the aliens would have to be suicidal to ignore a direct order.
Transmit to the unknown ship the standard data package for the first contact and the message: “You are in space controlled by the alliance of Citadel races. Immediately stop the relay activation and prepare the ship for inspection. Don’t try to hide, otherwise we will be forced to use weapons.” Most likely, this is an unknown civilization that has not come into contact with the Council, - this is how the colonel explained the order to the signalman. “Their ship is quite primitive, so it’s possible that they still won’t be able to decipher the message.” Prepare language decryption programs, we are waiting for their message. Do not open fire without a command.
Forius did not order the kinetic weapons to be ready to fire only because they were already ready. No matter how harmless the ship of this civilization looked, caution at the first contact became key rule even after the start of the Rachni Wars, long before the turians entered the Citadel space.
Commander, their ship has shrunk in size! - a loud voice from the observation post sounded over the connection; On the screen the colonel saw Captain Gurak. She looked scared and uncomprehending. - Sensors record a decrease in mass by fifteen percent... The ship is crumbling into dust!
Open fire! - Forius immediately commanded. What happened was exactly what should have been feared in the first place when contacting a new race: unknown technologies, the principles and consequences of the use of which could not be predicted.
The alien ship carried out an evasive maneuver, due to the high - too high, in comparison with the citadels available - acceleration, it was able to avoid the first shots. However, the very first successful hit penetrated their shield and destroyed the bow of the spacecraft; the ensuing shot from the cruiser's axial gun broke the ship into two unequal parts, and they ceased fire.
“At least we stopped breaking the laws of the Citadel. We fulfilled everything according to the Charter and made no mistakes,” Zarik Forius tried to calm himself from the excitement caused by such an unexpected and unsuccessful first contact. “Immediately send the recording of the collision to headquarters, continue broadcasting until the operation is completed,” he commanded. - Frigate "General Adork" - search for survivors.
“The command will have nothing to reproach me with.”
Forius thought that all that remained was to pick up survivors from the escape capsules, if there were any. He could not expect that the broken hull of the ship would suddenly disintegrate into many thousands of ultra-small aircraft- each one is smaller than a newborn turian! - and most of them will head straight towards the squadron, maneuvering with unimaginable overloads.
Fire! - anti-missile### lasers began to shoot down enemy drones even before the colonel’s order.
Fifty seconds ago, almost calm, Forius felt the approach of panic. Lasers could hardly inflict damage on the enemy - there were too many drones, and they were too evasive. No organic could control them, and no virtual intelligence could maneuver with such efficiency. Yes, not a single organic would fit in the drones...
The conclusion was obvious - the ship was controlled by artificial intelligence similar to the geth. And it doesn't look like the hits did any damage to him. If the ship from the very beginning consisted of a huge number of drones connected together, then the turian cannons only destroyed some of them.
Let's switch to SSD#####, immediately! - Now Zarik could only save the squadron, even at the cost of a shameful flight. And is it shameful to retreat from soulless machines, who certainly will not blame the turians for their lack of military valor?
“Now... Now...” thought Forius. “Why don’t the engines…”
A monstrous blow threw him face first onto the dashboard. Several seconds passed before the colonel rose to his feet and wiped the bluish blood from his face.
Report! - Still trying to look confident, Forius commanded, looking at the screen stained with his blood.
Engines are damaged! The transition to superluminal speed is impossible! - but the cruiser’s senior engineer with the rank of captain could no longer hold back a panicked cry. “Something penetrated the protective field and blew up the engines!”
Subsequent reports from other ships in the squadron showed that this was not an accident. They lost momentum in the same way, and now continued to shoot back with lasers to no avail, unable to either retreat from the AI drones or defeat them.
“An attempt to penetrate the ship’s network,” a message from the computer security system appeared on the screen, glowing red. Forius saw how the virtual intelligence increased the threat level.
The Colonel finally calmed down. He could not win this battle, there was no way to retreat. All that remained was to die with honor, avoiding being captured by monstrous robots.
## - Naturally, the length was named in the system of measures adopted among the races of the Citadel.
### - The first person who thought of calling space rockets torpedoes will burn in hell forever. There are no torpedoes in space! Torpedoes float, missiles fly!
#### - In the space of the Citadel, a day is twenty hours (while the day itself is longer than on Earth), there are 100 minutes in an hour, 100 seconds in a minute (canon). As a result, 50 seconds roughly corresponds to our 25 seconds. It should be understood that “hour”, “minute”, “second” is precisely an approximate translation of the names of time intervals to the closest earthly analogues.
##### - Superluminal movement.