Super Commander 4

Super Commander



A/N: Those are the essences docs!

Crafter, Commander

After reading Inspired Mass and A Terran Resolution, I decided to make my own Mass effect fic but starting with a Quarian Female MC.

------○ ○------

Part 2.2

------○ ○------

January 1st, 2169
Back with Yuna…
Yuna’s base



It's been two weeks since I started the renovation of my base/shop. The construction drones were busy reinforcing the walls with plastcrete and putting adamantium in the layers. Like new, the building and the bridge didn't have the same rusty look as everywhere on the station. Zithor and I debated about what the best defenses for the shop would be and we came to the realization that it needed to be a death trap for anyone with bad intentions toward us and the goods.

Traps, mines, force fields, turrets, drones, hard light avatars for a security force. The ideas were literally flowing in my mind after that. I dumbed down how force fields worked, after all it was just a matter of creating a stable electromagnetic barrier and finding a method of controlling the particle density of the field.

I devised shield emitters that need to be embedded into the ground, ceilings and the walls around and inside the shop. Thank the ancestors for fabricators, I wouldn't have liked doing it by hand myself. Designing the hard light system relying on the emitters was fun as I could model the avatars on some of my favorite stories' soldiers.

The security avatars guarding the bridge and the shop's entrance which look like StormTroopers from Star Wars are purely coincidental. They looked like regular human people, but their aim was so fucking accurate that if Lucas Film tried to sue me, I could point out that fact.

Zithor was made head of security, and I had to design a security center on the second floor for him. He said that they were people already sending applications to him on the website. Before receiving anyone for interviews, I decided to buy the land next to the bridge to create a bar/restaurant. This eventually led to creating my own hydroponic system to allow the growth of fresh products for all types of physiology; Quarian, Turian, Drell, Human, Krogan… I may be speciesist but I wasn't going to bar people from doing business with me.

That's what the black boxing is for on all my products, they will get nothing from me. Not even me addressing them when we logically take the steps to become a galactic power. Ignoring those fuckers is the best course of action for now. Zithor also helped craft the rules of our business, Omega was a lawless place so it needed to reflect them as well, so he fabbed a plaque that said:

You draw, I draw, you die

No credit, cash only

Pay now, not later

No refund accepted

On the website we also wrote some of the rules we will abide by. We didn't use any legalese, just bluntness and honesty:

Trades and re-sales get 10% automatically reduced, this is because of cleaning, repairs and storage fees.

Deliveries are made under certain conditions; for a delivery to happen, the client must sign a non-ambush contract clause where it is explained that if you were part of the ambush on the convoy bringing the goods in any way, they forfeit their initial payment, get black listed from the shop, banned from any services from Hurrel Tech and possibly hunted down for retribution.

In case of traps and ambushes, the thieves will be killed or taken for experimentation.

There were no clearer rules than this, now I needed to start directing the drones in the construction of the traps and emitters for the hard light constructs and force-fields, then design some new weapons for my business. Shit… I am so busy.

------○ ○------

(Trurax Rarm)

January 10th, 2169
Omega
Kima district
Hurrel Tech

It was curiosity that brought him before Hurrel Tech, there was something queer about the building. There were two Quarian constructing a building next to the bridge leading to the Hurrel Tech shop. A multitude of white colored drones were flying over the construction site, and tall unmanned mechas were building the foundations and the bones of a two story building.



Trurax was confused, Quarians are supposedly scared by robots and other types of synthetic life since the Morning War on their homeworld. Curious, he walked toward the opened tent where the male and female Quarian that were directing the mechas and drones.

When he staggered on the construction site, the Mecha about to pass near him stopped. The Quarian Female exited the tent and stomped toward him, unafraid. “Oh, hey this is dangerous. What are you doing here, Mister Krogan?”

With a squint of his eyes, Trurax stared at the young sounding Quarian girl. “I've come here to see what the fuss was about, Quarian. The name's Trurax Rarm, I am a mercenary. I saw the weapon you say that you're selling on your website. I'm particularly interested in this widowmaker shotgun you came up with, the specs make it too powerful for a normal humanoid to wield. So, my Intuition told me that you want a Krogan to wield it.”

Trurax thought that she was about to kick him in the quad, but the Quarian girl’s mood did a 180 as she said peppily, “You're smart! That's exactly the clientele I want to attract!”

The Krogan was confused by her sudden amicability.

“My name is Yuna'Hurrel Nar Laekor and as you can see, I am currently building a bar/restaurant .” She showed the signs that were at her side in the tent.

There were big holo-emitters on the three signs. Quarian owning business was a dangerous affair, in general they became targets of gangs for racketing or simply didn't see much client traffic who ignored their services despite their skills in engineering being unmatched.

Trurax then stopped thinking of the girl as a Quarian and saw the armored suit she wore, the weapon kits and the mecha in the large tent that wasn't a construction Droid. It was six meters tall, sleek and menacing; there was a large cannon on its left arm, and on its right was some kind of system that Trurax didn't recognize. It emitted some kind of blue white energy.

On the mecha’s there were two missile launchers mounted on its shoulders.



The Krogan knew that this Yuna girl meant business as she didn't act like one of those scared and defeated Quarian he had met before. He had seen the video she made where she executed those two thugs and he pitied whoever tried to look for trouble from her.

Her equipment looked new, the robot as well. “You seem to roll in the credits for a young Quarian on her pilgrimage…”

The girl snorted in an unladylike way. “Well yeah, I've been preparing for this pilgrimage for years, ya know?”

The Krogan looked as the huge mecha walked up to them, there around the fence of the construction site a bunch of people were gathering to see what happened in the site. The mecha posted itself between Yuna and the crowd fifty meters away.

Trurax had a question to ask, he couldn't hold on to his curiosity. “I see… I am surprised that you use robots and VI. Why made you, a Quarian, go against your people's fear?”

The girl started to say, “I am a rather logical person, and I am only one person. As an engineer and scientist, using automation to build is a completely rational and logical step to become productive and successful.”

“Are they… I mean do they have the potential to evolve?” The old Krogan was worried that there would be Geth-like threats on the station.

Yuna'Hurrel waved his fears away. “Nah, don't worry. All my synthetic helpers are actually managed by dumb AIs. They follow directions and the schematics I want but they have no ability to become sapient.”

“Are you an expert or something?” The Krogan chuckled.

The girl nodded. “Actually computers and Artificial Intelligence are one of my specialties; not that I am certified outside the Migrant Fleet though.”

Trurax averted his eyes, species on the outs with the citadel government weren't treated well. Krogan, Quarian and some others could not work well in citadel space. If they did, their employer often stiffed them from part of their pay or gave them horrible work conditions.

The old Krogan spat on the ground and said, “Yeah, the council made it impossible for both our species to have gainful employment. Being a mercenary is good and dandy, but a Krogan needs to have hobbies outside fighting.”

Yuna'Hurrel stood closer to him and said with a curious tone, “Oh what might your hobbies be? Huh where are my manners, do you want to join us under the tent?” She pointed a finger at the huge tent.

Trurax thought about it, and he was still curious about the girl and maybe he could get in for the guns she's selling.“Why not?”

And this is how Trurax was sucked in the orbit of Yuna'Hurrel, that crazy Quarian offered him a job as a weapon tester due to his experience and he never regretted it.

------○ ○------

January 15th, 2169
Omega
Hurrel Tech HQ
Morning

Trurax was having the time of his life!

Yuna'Hurrel was a genius, a true one; the girl has already revolutionized the fields of energy generation, computing, engineering, material science and physics and it was all there in a dingy looking three storey building on Omega. The council would kidnap her and make her churn Tech for them if they knew.

Trurax didn't want them to know! Such a mind and weapon maker shouldn't be imprisoned or shackled. That is why he took his side job protecting and mentoring Zitor'Widor, Yuna'Hurrel's subordinate in security and overwatch. Back in the day, Trurax had done some bodyguard jobs with his Krant.

The guns that Yuna'Hurrel designed were getting more and more lethal, she did away with the mass effect style weapons entirely.

Yuna explained to Trurax that she took the idea from the humans of all people. The new guns worked on a simple principle: A specific type of magnetic-induction projectile weapon which uses a series of electromagnetic coils to fire a magnetically-neutral metallic projectile by a series of pulsed electromagnetic fields induced step wise in a set of coils surrounding the barrel of the gun.

What's more, that coil gun, like Yuna calls it, does not have element zero cores or mass effect field generators.

Trurax had been skeptical at first, but when Yuna'Hurrel fired it at an armored mannequin with the standard kinetic barrier, the first shot overwhelmed the barrier and the second slug penetrated the armor as if it was Asari tofu. Then Yuna'Hurrel did him a solid and showed the love of his life, the Widowmaker MK1, a semi-automatic tactical shotgun which uses coil technology.

The reloading system was where everything became even more ingenious and why those guns will be expensive. Instead of a shaver in the weapon like any mass effect powered weapons; Hurrel Tech coil gun use a micro fabricator which produced the round out of omni-gel cartridge of different volumes. Sure there wasn't going to be that feeling of infinite ammo that mass effect guns give, but those overheat all the time with sketchy heat sinks technology.

Another reason those guns were going to be expensive is that the heat sink made by Yuna'Hurrel converted the heat back into energy for the coil system, offering different and more powerful firing modes to the weapon. Shooting people with a way to turn the projectile into an almost relativistic slug throwers of high explosive destruction made Trurax’ heart sing.

Evidently, a normal humanoid won't be able to fire this weapon without getting their hands or whatever appendage unscathed. That is why Yuna'Hurrel paired up her weapon technology with what she calls power armor to be able to use them and sow untold destruction to enemies.



Trurax was currently using the shooting range built by Yuna'Hurrel by combining three storage rooms. He pumped his Widowmaker, fired at the holographic hard-light mannequin. The construct exploded in shards of light, and then with a satisfied smile, Trurax reloaded his shotgun by changing the cartridge.

He looked at the pile of empty omni-gel cartridges next to him on the stand. His job was to find the point of failure of each prototype weapon and give his opinion to Yuna'Hurrel to make them better. So far she enhanced the heat sinks of the weapons, who barely heat up anymore. Trurax could shoot for half a day before something jammed in the gun.

The doors behind Trurax separated and here came Yuna in her usual blue armored suit, her dangerous smart pistol at her waist. She staggered inside the shooting range and sauntered next to Trurax. “Hey, Tru, my man, do you want to have more fun?”

Yuna was an unapologetic and socially stunted engineer/scientist as Trurax learned from Zitor'Widor. Her enthusiasm and blunt honesty could be grating; but to a Krogan it was refreshing to have someone be that direct. Trurax put down his Widowmaker on the counter of the stand and asked, “What is it, girly? You came up with something new?”

Yuna'Hurrel's visor became transparent and she smiled at him. It was one of the things that Trurax liked with her, she showed him her true face. The Quarian girl giggled mischievously and said, “Something super fun, you'll be able to get a good workout!”

Trurax thought about it, he liked the fun and Zitor'Widor might steal the opportunity, the boy was attracted to the crazy Quarian girl after all. It was so obvious that it was funny. “Sure, lead the way, boss.”

The Quarian girl made a fist pump and led him out of the range after he secured the prototype widowmaker shotgun back in the armory. There were protocols made by Yuna'Hurrel to always secure and check the weapons and computers around the HQ to avoid any spies, saboteurs and infiltrators getting their hands on her intellectual property. The old Krogan liked the paranoid streak the girl had, he couldn't wait until the Spectres and frogs would start trying to steal her stuff.

As they walked to the elevator, Yuna'Hurrel typed a code on the panel inside the cage and they felt it move as they descended toward the basement.

Ding! “Basement 01” The VI managing the building announced.

The three armored doors opened and they passed through a series of scanning devices. As usual, the Krogan chuckled at how paranoid all of this was; biometric, DNA, chemical, X-ray and something called a quantum signature were all being checked by those machines.

When the scans actually stopped, a door at the end of the metal corridor opened. *This is new, there wasn't a room like that before.*

“What's this place?” The old Krogan asked as he saw a small room barely able to fit the two of them.

“This is the danger deck. It is a holographic environment simulator which can run holographic programs with a creative tactical computer matrix managed by an AI. Tru, say hello to DANGER.”



A beautiful human-like female appeared before them and the room that could barely fit them expanded under Trurax’ eyes. She didn't look real, her face and body were too perfect and asymmetrical. There was no expression on her face as she spoke. “Greetings, user Trurax Rarm, I am DANGER. My job is to help train and entertain employees of Hurrel Tech.”

Then there was the room which had been the size of a small storeroom which now expanded to be at least the size of an arena. Trurax realized that the entire space was a dome with walls that were strangely dark and reflective.



He looked down at the ground and saw that it was also covered in grav-plate. Was there a way to get gravity training here? But Trurax’ gaze came back on the transparent avatar of the artificial intelligence,  her placid face made him feel wariness.

“Boss Yuna?” The Krogan called the name of his boss with a bit of fear.

He was imagining armies of synthetic humanoids attacking the whole of Omega and taking it over now. Intellectually he knew that Yuna'Hurrel was able to make artificial intelligence, but having one shown to her was different.

“Yeah, Tru?” Yuna'Hurrel chirped.

The Krogan saw her face through her transparent helmet, she was smiling and taking a lot of pleasure in his reaction, Trurax thought that she was trolling him hard right now. Trurax confessed, “I think I almost shat my suit, did you really make an AI?”

Yuna'Hurrel waved her hand to dismiss his fear. “Yup! Don't worry, DANGER has no intention to harm any of us; I've worked on her for months.”

The AI's face shifted into a smile. “I am glad to exist, my creator.”

*Did she just use sarcasm?!* Trurax reeled at that, DANGER was able to show emotions.

Yuna'Hurrel started to enter a command on her customized omni-tool. “So, Tru, in this place you'll be able to fight stuff, anything, monsters from fictions, or even Rachni armies. Just ask DANGER to come up with a simulated scenario or use a preloaded one, though… you could craft your own as well.”

All of a sudden, the room changed around the Krogan and Quarian, the sky became blue with soft clouds roaming around, a beach white sand, sea and a jungle appeared. The krogan was shocked as he felt the wind on his face, the consistency of sand under his feet, the air smelled just like the sea.



It was the first time that the Krogan experienced such a sudden change in environment. Trurax turned to Yuna'Hurrel and exclaimed, “This is incredible, you came up with an immersive scenario in real life with holographic technology.”

Yuna'Hurrel continued to smile as Trurax asked, “What must I do to have access-”

Ding! A window panel appeared before Trurax, it was querying what environment to choose. But just to be sure, Trurax asked, “What's that?”

“DANGER just gave you access to the menus.” Yuna'Hurrel helpfully explained.

Trurax consulted the holographic panel and saw diverse scenarios available to him.

Preloaded scenario:

• Alien 1, 2, 3: Against Xenomorph hordes
  
• Resident Evil Movies: Zombies and Biological Weapon of Wars
  
• Diablo 1: Against Demons
  
• Devil May Cry: Against Demons
  
• Bayonetta: Angels
  
• God of War: Against Titan, Earth Mythological creatures
  
• Godzilla: Against Mutated creatures
  
• Bonus secret stage
  

Yuna'Hurrel grinned at Trurax. “But wait! There's more! I have a thing for you to test, my Krogan friend.”

She typed something on the holographic screen of her omni-tool; next a huge rectangular case appeared in blue light. It was laying on the sand, then it opened a ‘hiss’ sound; then a suit of black and silver armor fit for a Krogan appeared in separate racks, with some weapons and other gears.

“What is that?!” Trurax demanded.

Yuna sauntered next to the armor and put her hands on it. “This, my friend, is the Man of Arms Power Armor, my latest invention. It's rather simple technologically, ya know. Basically an advanced combat exoskeleton system designed to vastly improve the strength, speed, agility, reflexes, and durability of the user.”

With a movement as if she threw something at him, Yuna'Hurrel sent the specs of the suit of power armor to Trurax. He didn't understand what he was seeing, just flow charts with numbers. He rolled his eyes and asked, “Can you dumb it down? By how much does it raise those attributes? You know that I'm not good with that science stuff.”

Yuna'Hurrel looked disappointed that he couldn't read all the big numbers and science systems. Who did she think he was? A salarian?

Yuna'Hurrel began to think and do mental calculations like Trurax sees her do most of the time when she's not playing video games with Zitor'Widor or drinking. “For now? 150%? That's because of the mundane material it is made of, I am not putting my best stuff in it yet, I wanna master the tech first. With this you should be able to kill a lot of bosh’tet.”

150%? Trurax imagined a Krogan charge with that kind of power… ramming into doors and treating the world like Asari tofu as it became fragile. “That’s like putting the equivalent of 10 Krogans in a suit!”

Yuna'Hurrel shrugged. “Yeah, not much.”

The Krogan was shocked, the performances of that armor were well beyond that of a battalion. “Girl, that's a lot of power!”

Yuna'Hurrel sighed and reassured him or tried to. “Keelah, calm your quads, Tru. This is just the first prototype, I'm sure I can make better ones. But I want you to test it to see if there's something that can be improved upon, K?”

“Alright, alright.” Trurax breathed in and out, until he calmed down. Yuna'Hurrel had a way to break someone's worldview and common sense. He looked at the armor and decided to try it, he began undoing his suit under the clinical gaze of his boss.

# # #



Why was there the smell of the new shuttle interior in the suit? It was agreeable while he started the tutorial on how to use the suit; it magnified Trurax’ movements, making moving really difficult. But eventually, Trurax adapted and could run ten laps around the beach.

The suit was intimidating when it was assembled, Yuna'Hurrel knew what psychological warfare was. He was proud to have decent motor control of the suit already, the neural link control system was a nice touch to this new technology.

With an impatient tone, Yuna'Hurrel pressed Trurax. “Are you ready?”

“Not yet!” The Krogan called out.

On the menus, Trurax chose the first scenario by clicking on it. He helpfully informed Yuna'Hurrel, “I chose the first option, the one with the Xenomorph thing.”

The Quarian smiled evilly. “Okay, then I will let you choose your weapon load out from the list. It will show you the weaponry and support kits available for the MA armor.”

The beach disappeared and then he found himself an impossibly infinite white room room. All of a sudden, Trurax saw racks and shelves full of ammo, weapons, kits, and vehicles.

With a tone filled with awe, Trurax said,“By the Hollows… Those are… a lot of guns.”

He turned to Yuna'Hurrel. “Is this heaven?”

The Quarian girl giggled at the Krogan’s reaction. “Choose the stuff you want, each new scenario will unlock more weapons.”

The Krogan didn’t hesitate and took in everything he fancied after reading the specs and how those weapons are supposed to be used. He was surprised that there were some CQC weapons available, such as blades with a monomolecular edge or two hand cannons named ‘Law and Order MK1’ with different firing solutions with smart ammunition. Trurax chose the trusty Widowmaker MK1 to supplement the  grenade launchers mounted on his armor’s shoulders.

“I’m ready!” Trurax shouted enthusiastically.

It was at this moment that the white room and gun heaven disappeared, and the Krogan found himself inside a ship. An eerie music started blasting and a text slowly wrote itself before the Krogan’s eyes.

In deep space, the crew of the commercial starship Nostromo is awakened from their cryo-sleep capsules halfway through their journey home to investigate a distress call from an alien vessel. The terror begins when the crew encounters a nest of eggs inside the alien ship. An organism from inside an egg leaps out and attaches itself to one of the crew, causing him to fall into a coma.

“What the…” All the lights went off suddenly. For a moment there was nothing but darkness, and then the emergency lights came on, dyeing the corridor Turax found himself in an eerie scarlet color.

Trurax held more tightly on his shotgun, and used his omni-tool to scan around him. There was no one around him, not even a camouflaged enemy; for whatever reason, Yuna'Hurrel always included ways to detect cloaked enemies in her security.

His omni-tool connected to the ship’s computer, and he extracted a basic layout of the decks. The Krogan turned southward toward the engineering deck, where the beasties he was supposed to kill are. The sensors picked up sounds coming from the engineering deck.

Trurax armed his hand cannons, they audibly charged and he opened the corridor’s door with a neural command. It looked disgusting inside, there were many fleshy egg-like things standing in the way. The walls inside were covered in a weird green substance that adhered to the walls; Trurax regretted not taking the pulsed-plasma thrower on the weapon rack.

The Krogan passed his scanner over the wall and immediately he detected multiple heat signatures in the vents and behind the damn engine of the ship. Trurax activated the force-field automatically as a spray of acid was spat at him by a really ugly creature with black chitinous armor with an elongated domed head and long spiky tail which seemed more like a weapon.



Trurax pointed his arm at the creature and fired at it. It immediately dodged and then lunged at Trurax with a swiftness that was mind-blowing. Trurax however shot it with his Widowmaker shotgun and sent it careening in a bunch of eggs; he didn't stop her and fired his right repulsor cannon into the creature right into its domed head.

Then a second creature jumped Trurax, but thanks to his enhanced reflexes he had time to duck, roll and shoot it as well. It evaded the coil shotgun Salvo, but not its weapon-like prehensile tail. It screeched in pain as the member fell on the grav-plate and its acid blood splashed on it, corroding it.

“Acid blood? Fuck!”

The creature screeched at him in pure hatred, the Krogan laughed at it, “That's all you got?!”

It lunged at him and Trurax, just in time, made it eat tungsten two times with the pump action. “Die!”

Die it did as its head simply disappeared in an acidic shower of gore. Trurax was lucky that the force-field was protecting him from the chemical hazard. He looked down at the eggs everywhere and decided to start destroying them. For this, Trurax used his cannons and put them in wide beam dispersion mode so as to start burning the eggs.

The cannons hummed and with a ‘fwoosh’ sound started burning the wet squishy eggs in the engineering room. It would have been better if he brought the plasma thrower…

It took 10 minutes to thoroughly destroy all the eggs in the nest, having an omni-tool to scan for them helped a lot. No stragglers will be left! In the end, Trurax arrived at the last room where he was confronted by a Xenomorph way bigger than the last two he killed.

He didn't play with it as it charged him and spit acid at him, he threw three adhesive graviton grenades at her. Before the gravity grenades could reach it, they exploded into a vortex that sucked and squeezed everything within radius into a small black hole.

Congratulations

Scenario cleared!

“This was too easy!” Trurax pumped his fist in victory as the room returned to the white empty space.

“Not bad, Tru! How did you like the Power Armor?” Yuna'Hurrel's voice rang behind him.

The Krogan turned, only to see her smiling at him. “This feels like a dream, I was faster than those black bugs, but I doubt I would have survived without the armor and forcefield. Acid blood really?”

She crossed her arms and said, “Hey, it's not my fault, it's the humans who came up with it you know?”

Trurax shuddered. “How disturbing.”

Yuna'Hurrel giggled, she stood up and walked next to the Krogan. “So… ready for the next scenario? Do you want to switch weapons?”

“Please!” Trurax yelled happily, ready to spread more death, even if it was in a simulation.

# # #

For another week, Trurax fought against unspeakable horrors such as Demons, Angels and titanic creatures. He learned to hate Demons with a passion burning like a thousand suns; they were cunning, cruel and too smug to be kept alive. Though his favorite scenarios consisted of taking down gigantic creatures like the giant Iguana Yuna'Hurrel called Godzilla.

When the creature emerged from the bay in Manhattan, Trurax launched a photon rocket as it roared and destroyed half of downtown in the process. Yuna'Hurrel made a note about adding an orbital bombardment satellite weapon as an add-on to the Armor’s capabilities.

The Krogan became hyper confident in his ability to prevail thanks to the MA Power Armor. “Give me a challenge!”

On the intercom he heard, “You… asked for it, Tru.”

Trurax felt a chill after being told that; the white space of the armory suddenly disappeared to give way to a cavernous room made of stone. On a throne of skull sat a copper haired man in golden armor, staring balefully at Trurax. The Krogan found himself frozen as he stared into the pale eyes of the newcomer.



So much bloodlust was directed at the Krogan that he didn't move at all, as if he was looking at a beast that was beyond him. The giant human man stood up, an ax in his hand and walked up to the Krogan. His ax ignited into action, the sounds an angry roar as the teeth of the ax started to spin.

When the human struck Trurax with the chain ax, it started emitting a high pitch scream as it bit into the Man at Arm's Power Armor and bisected the Krogan who heard, the man snort and say, “Weak xeno space marine wannabe.”

Trurax woke up in the white space, breathing in and out, the fear he felt receding slowly.

“So, did you like my challenging course?”

“Yes. Yes I do.” The Krogan said as he stood up slowly. “Never in my life have I ever needed something so much and never known till I've received it.”