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(AN: If you see any mistakes, do let me know, it will improve my writing.)
At the edge of the Shanxi system, four human vessels approach a dormant alien megastructure commonly known as a Mass Relay, a massive two-pronged construct with a turning fork at its center where it contains a vast amount of dark energy relating to Element Zero, its purpose was that of near instantaneous transportation of vessels from one point of the galaxy to another zone where a partner Relay would wait to receive them.
Moments later, the turning fork sparked with light, the once asleep structure awoke from the presence of the nearby human ships with their Element Zero drive cores, making their way towards the alien object.
After waiting for an indeterminate amount of time, the lead vessel flew towards the structure where its systems interacted with the Relays own, and allowed itself to be influenced by the Relay's nature, sparks of blue lighting lurched from the turning fork, striking the lead ship and then in an instant, accelerated the ship to inconceivable speeds and then shot them across the stars.
The rest of the human vessels followed suit, each one being sent to the same location where the lead ship went; they journeyed on into the unknown with a mission of exploration and expansion.
Yet unknown to them, they set in motion a series of events that would forever change the course of human history.
Not too far away, hidden from view with a specialised form of cloaking technology, two dozen or so Prowlers and Sloops began spreading themselves around the Relay to set up a complex web of Hornet Mines just right outside the Relay's influence zone.
These Mines were one of many variations of a Nuke; in short, they are a stealthy, plutonium-cored, nuclear device with a nominal yield of 30-megatons. (AN: which is really weak and about 20 megatons under the Soviet Tsar Bomba, honestly it's nearly impossible to get accurate information on Halo power levels, like nobody can agree if a MAC round is fired at 40%, 0.4%, 0.004% or even 25% of the speed of light, and 343 aren't going to clarify given Halo is meant to be a fun shooty gun game rather than a nerdy nick-picking science paper thing)
These human made items were devastating devices, yet in action against opponents like the Covenant, they were sometimes an asset when used correctly and other times a minor inconvenience to the alien juggernaut, question is, are they powerful enough to stop a Turian patrol fleet from attacking, well time for some math, in comparison to the Systems Alliance's current dreadnought class, the Everest's, this ship class can output firepower around the 38-kilotons range of TNT, this may be an overestimation of their current capabilities or perhaps it is an accurate measurement of their firepower, now if you convert it to megatons, then you only get about 0.038-megatons of TNT.
Turian vessels are more than likely to be more advanced than their human counterparts in practically everything, including firepower, but Kali estimated that it might not be by that much at most, it will likely be that their firepower ranges above the 40-kiloton mark maybe even higher, but in the grand schemes of things, it wouldn't matter considering what they'll be running into.
Kali's Frigates for instance, are able to output a 5-megaton yield from their MACs, and bear in mind these are Frigates not Cruisers the most numerous ship type in the Black Fleet, and they are currently outfitted with Mark II light coils, meaning that once the System finally levels up, there's a strong possibility of the ship MACs being upgraded in their Marks meaning a higher firepower output yield.
Now, these mines were keyed to only detonate when a non-human vessel flew into their maximum damage zones, so there would be no friendly fire unless Kali or someone else acted stupid enough to get close to one when there's already an alien ship nearby as well.
Once the Prowlers were done with mine laying, it would then become a waiting game, so that meant Kali would be twiddling their thumbs for who knows how long waiting for the remnants of the expedition fleet to return.
Well, she thought back on the last few days, after giving Fenja SCP-686/A and the Caldron power vial, the AIS Agent was exploring the limits of her newly acquired abilities, and she naturally had almost the same exact powerset as Kali, only it gave off a sickly green energy coloration to it when used, and next was her status as a Tinker.
Now, in the Worm verse, Parahuman powers were categorised into various different designations with further sub-categories and a numerical aspect to measure the level of the power in question.
For now, we'll highlight the main categories that a Parahuman power could fall into.
Mover: an ability that grants enhanced speed or mobility.
Shaker: an ability with an area effect.
Brute: An ability that enhances strength or durability.
Breaker: An ability that allows a person to shift into another state of being.
Master: An ability that allows a person to control others or create minions.
Tinker: An ability that allows someone to create or alter devices with futuristic technology.
Blaster: A long-ranged, offensive ability.
Thinker: An ability that focuses on information gathering.
Striker: A melee/touch-based ability.
Changer: An ability that allows a person to alter their form or appearance.
Trump: An ability that allows a person to manipulate powers in some capacity.
Stranger: An ability that focuses on stealth and/or infiltration.
As mentioned, Fenja is a Tinker, more specifically a Bio Tinker.
This means Fenja has been granted blueprints on how to improve the human body in the smallest ways to the extreme, so she's been granted access to all the resources the Orion currently housed within its bays, and Kali herself using the [Store] function to purchase various items across the unending multiverse from magical items, mythical elixirs and advanced forms of technology in liquid form.
Kali has a method for the production of superpowered females, but now, she wanted a way to gain male super soldiers that didn't require them drinking from her milk and suffering its effects, well, not unless they didn't mind of course, but it would be nice to have something like a Space Marine on hand or perhaps something more powerful and just as capable.
The results were promising, Fenja has come up with numerous magical vials, synthetic organ theories, and surgery plans to elevate a normal person to something unique, most would have some unintended side effects that probably resulted in death, perhaps the consumer will be riddled with cancer cells or worse they'll be reduced to a mindless genetic horror, unfortunately Fenja at the moment had no idea what would happen given there was no one to test these on so she could improve her batches to be less lethal on the human body.
As to how powerful Fenja was as a Tinker in the numerical sense, Kali hazarded a guess of her being at Tinker 6 with the potential possibility of her growing to a rating of 10 or more.
As for what the numbers mean and represent, it is a numerical system within the Worm verse that highlights the threat level the Parahuman in question could pose to people and offers a slight insight into how to deal with them.
Threat level estimations are as follows
1: Poses a threat only just above human norms, an unexceptional individual may be able to cope with the ability or walk away unharmed from an altercation where the abilities in question were leveraged. The ability should be assumed to be a non-threat and need not be identified if other matters prove more pressing.
2: An alert, exceptional, well-equipped, or trained individual should be able to answer or address the ability in question, but it can still prove problematic. Team members are reminded of standard countermeasures and should put these measures into effect when there are no pressing other matters.
3: Civilians, even alert or fit civilians, will not be able to handle the ability (or abilities) in question. Several trained individuals may be required to deal with the situation. Care should be taken to remove civilians from the area and discourage them from participating.
4: One full squad of trained operatives should be able to deal with this situation alone, but exceptional circumstances, context, and environment may bias things one way or the other.
5: Additional countermeasures come into effect. A typical parahuman or one parahuman assisting a squad of operatives should be able to deal with the power in question. Operatives can engage until assistance arrives.
6: A typical trained parahuman or one parahuman assisting a squad of operatives should be able to deal with the power in question. Operatives should postpone engagement. Parahumans and operatives should assume that traditional actions are going to be met by a complication. Acquiring further intel is recommended where possible, but not mandated.
7: Parahumans should engage in pairs or trios at a minimum; two fully equipped squads should be deployed. Acquiring further intel is mandated; all acting parties should shift to the defensive or delay until intel can be acquired.
8: Evacuation of civilians should take priority for all squad members. Engaging should be avoided outside of specific missions and tasks. Parahumans should engage only when supported by their team to ensure a minimum of complications or danger.
9: Assume extreme complications, with standard tactics not applying, or the power in question having an additional factor that exaggerates its effect. Parahumans and local Authorities should evacuate where possible and should only engage when a specific mission and strategy have been outlined. Major countermeasures should take effect.
10+: In the event of a serious confrontation, additional teams or specific high-rated individuals should be called in to manage the crisis.
15+: Planet-level threat. Functional loss of humanity in the host
If Fenja gained her parahuman power through the natural yet artificial way, then her mind and brain chemistry would have been meddled with by a stupid crystalline alien super computer that would push her towards inciting conflict, as for some reason those aliens deemed it to be the ideal way to gain that juicy [DATA] they were after.
Due to the fact that her power came from a Cauldron vial (AN: I'm not explaining them, look them up), that meant she wouldn't feel inclined to seek out conflict nor be prone to making stupid decisions based on ridiculous misunderstandings.
Kali however, made a promise to the Agent to collect some alien specimens for experimentation, only the lowest of the low, of course, and she had given Fenja consent to use her creations on some human death row inmates; how she got them was up to her, Fenja had free range to do as she pleases but with clear boundaries, such as no experimenting on innocent humans nor releasing her more powerful works into the public domain, some things needed to be kept privet after all.
Kali, thinking about how Fenja was producing her Tinker items and how she herself also produced power-giving liquid allowed Fenja to experiment with her milk, just to see what she could do with it, but other than that, Kali also realized that she needed a dedicated scientists to form research teams, including a collection of engineers and designers to be able to figure out the items she could bring to from other realities.
She needed to find like-minded individuals whom she could allow to work under her supervision, and one such person came to mind, Jack Harper the founder and leader of Cerberus, right now, the man was serving as a mercenary and was not on Shanxi, though once the news of hostile contact goes out, he and his team are more than likely to travel to this system and help against the alien incursion.
It was Kali's hope to recruit such a man for his talents in creating and managing such an organization that was Cerberus and directing its many cells, along with the numerous storefronts and corporations that he gained at his beck and call, all while the Alliance was clueless on how to find them.
In order to keep the man check, Kali would need to make sure his companions remain alive and were also more than willing to help out with her future efforts as well as to destroy a certain Reaper Artifact on Shanxi, which, by the way, spoiler alert, she has already done that.
Other than that, Kali would also recruit Alec Ryder, right now, he is a soldier for the Alliance, but in time, he would become interested in the creation and research of AI's, more so he believed that AI's would be the answer for his wife's incurable disease, and that particular interest would see him dishonourably discharged as the development of AI's under Citadel Council law is strictly prohibited.
Kali would be proactive and get to him first before anyone could do anything against him; she would cure his wife and grant him free range in his pursuit of creating an AI, she would give him everything he wanted just so he could become something important, she also hoped that he would be at the forefront of one of her many research teams in the future where she would give him foreign technology to figure out and find ways to mass produce them.
Jack and Alec would be the start of Kali sourcing talent, she would bring more people into the fold in the future so she could recruit them.
Until then, she first needed to deal with the Turians and then handle the shenanigans that came from a certain General named Desolas Arterius.
It would be easy to kill that bird, however, it would be slightly difficult to deal with the indoctrinated individuals who were in his service, Kali wasn't certain if they were just isolated on Palaven, the Turian Homeworld or perhaps had other conclaves outside of their home system.
Either way, the presence of an unknown fleet warping within their home system would be promptly intercepted, and the subsequent orbital bombardment of their Homeworld would send them into a frenzy.
Destroying those indoctrinated birds and their temple would require a more surgical strike, but for now, any attempt on them would be on hold as Kali may gain more options on how to deal with them in the future once her System levelled up.
For now, she would focus on the upcoming battle, making plans with Fenja regarding her Bio Tinkering, and seeing how to recruit Jack Harper.
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