History Fanfic / StarshipsDontGoIndoors

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:The bydo-corrupted Prothean Beacon draws [[HumanPopsicle Javik's]] sleeping mind into it, but he regains lucidity and splices off the portions of the MentalWorld born from him into his own private hell. When the humans unbury him, he turns out to be fine, implying he was able to destroy the living bydo incarnation of [[YourWorstNightmare the worst day of his life]] without much difficulty or even bydogen corruption.]]

* GreatOffscreenWar: By the time the Citadel races made contact with humanity, Operation Last Dance had been accomplished, with the Bydo Empire already defeated at its source.

** The kikai versus the humans - the humans at the time have barely ventured into space, while the kikai were a ProudWarriorRace with significantly better technology. Had it not been for Arrowhead travelling back in time, the humanity would have been wiped out right then and there.

* MainliningTheMonster: Among the Bydo remnants are flocks/squadrons of "wild" Meltcraft(Liquid metal mooks in the shape of the R-9A). The Space Force actually farms these for materials and to turn into "Metallic Dawn" fighters.

''[[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/starships-dont-go-indoors-mass-effect-r-type.1015953 Starships Don't Go Indoors!]]'' by Myuu is a [[VideoGame/RType R-Type]]/ [[Franchise/MassEffect Mass Effect]] [[FusionFic fusion fic]].

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Even while herds of Bydo roamed the Solar System, it only took a few moments of relative peace for ideological friction and civil disorder to absolutely shatter human civilization for a while.

** The Krogan Schism, between more moderate krogans, and rebels who wanted to conquer everything. Ultimately as both sides were exhausted fighting, the boondoggle arrived and put an end to the war by [[KillThemAll destroying the rebels utterly]].

* CanonCharacterAllAlong: On the Eden Prime mission, it becomes clear that some members of Arrowhead's squadron are indeed Human characters from Mass Effect. Notably Leo Leo, Sunday Strike, and Charon are Kaidan, Ashley, and Jenkins respectively.

* CanonCharacterAllAlong: On the Eden Prime mission, it becomes clear that some members of Arrowhead's squadron are indeed Human characters from Mass Effect. Notably Leo2, Sunday Strike, and Charon are Kaidan, Ashley, and Jenkins respectively.

* CanonCharacterAllAlong: On the Eden Prime mission, it becomes clear that some members of Arrowhead's squadron are indeed Human characters from Mass Effect. Notably Leo2, Sunday Strike, and Charon are Kaiden, Ashley, and Jenkins respectively.

* CanonCharacterAllAlong: On the Eden Prime mission, it becomes clear that some members of Arrowhead's squadron are indeed Human characters from Mass Effect.

* TimeyWimeyBall: Thanks to both Bydo and humans liberal application of TimeTravel during the war, the timeline of the war is best described as a pretzel. It got so bad that the humans ''can't even tell whether the war lasted 20 or 200 years'' - and it actually lasted ''300'' years to the outside observer. Arrowhead herself notes that she's been cloned temporally hundreds of times, and what finally stopped Solar Pupil from [[DeathIsCheap replacing himself with temporal clones of his own]] was her finally killing the proto-bydo in their original future...which destroyed ''only'' him and forces under his direct command, as a large minority of the Bydo Empire were inside [[EldritchLocation Dimension 26]], where time does not exist, and had enough warning to adapt to the [[TimeCrash paradox wave]]. And everyone remembers previous iterations of the timeline.

* TitleDrop: After Arrowhead made her and humanity's impression to the Citadel Council, an exasperated Valern conclude them to be a "highly illogical species. Starships don't go indoors!"

-> Reaper: '''ABOMINATION.'''

* TitleDrop: After Arrowhead made her and humanity's impression to the Citadel Council, Valern conclude them to be a "highly illogical species. Starships don't go indoors!"

* BigDamnHeroes: Arrowhead, Wrex and Garrus all arrive just in time to save Tali from batarians trying to silence her.

* TrickedOutTime: Generally how time travel works in this universe; the paradox wave created by altering past events is something everyone is aware of, so a lot of the time, creating anything ''close'' to a StableTimeLoop needs a lot of effort and even more luck. Arrowhead saving humanity from its disastrous first contact with the kikai is an example, and Operation Last Dance was effectively using one to destroy the proto-bydo, since that was the only way to truly kill Solar Pupil.

** The one between [=EAAF=] and Granzella Revolutionary Army, further complicated when [[RenegadeSplinterFaction Solar Liberation League]] split off from [=GZRA=]. Ultimately ended in the victory of [=SLL=] when combined [=EAAF=] / [=GZRA=] fleet got bydofied upon destruction of Amber Pupil, although their victory ended up being short-lived as the bydofied fleet returned, kicked the tar out of [=SLL=], before committing HeroicSuicide by flying into the Sun.

* TheCorruption: Downplayed and partly subverted with bydogen, the pseudo-matter the bydo are composed of. Exposure to the stuff gradually converts both other lifeforms and machines into bydogen-based life. It does ''not'' turn them into bydo by themselves, simply makes them far more vulnerable to MindRape that converts said lifeforms into [[TheSociopath bydo mindsets]], but it's possible to resist that, and by themselves, bydogen lifeforms are just possibly-sapient animals. In fact, bydogen probably singlehandedly saved Earth's biosphere, as the feral lifeforms it created, like the Meltcrafts, replaced a bunch of ecological niches the Bydo Empire's invasion destroyed.