This is the first chapter of the story so far. It's really a sample so you all can get a taste of what's coming. It will still take me awhile to actually begin writing out multiple chapters for this story since I'm still concentrating on New Vegas Effect.

Updated: I just fixed some grammar and spelling problems. Also, just for everyone to know, the Earth in this story is our Earth not the ME Earth (Though there's hardly any difference) only 7 years in the future

Sol System, Quarian Migrant Fleet, QSV Traithee

Admiral Rela'Zeen vas Traithee gazed out of the window of the command deck at the other ships that made up the flotilla. There were so many, more than she could count, all ranging from live ships to combat vessels and scouting ships to simple supply shuttles. Each ship served a purpose in the fleet and no matter how insignificant it seemed, they all were necessary because, being a quarian, one could not afford to be picky.

Once again, that sense of sadness came over her. Something that all quarians experienced whenever they thought about the flotilla. Despite the size of the Migrant fleet, being the largest one in the galaxy, it was not the most powerful. Every one of those ships was not just scouting vessels or combat cruisers, they were homes. Places where quarians lived and worked. Each ship was literally a large mobile home and the whole fleet was the home of their entire race. It was not like the asari or turians who, if they lost a ship, they could simply build a new one. For the quarians, the lose of a single ship would result in a devastating blow to them, considering the quarians did not have a home world anymore. If the fleet had any hopes of survival, they had to obtain more ships to replace ones that were no longer functional, had or maintain and repair their current ones, usually by stripping asteroids and planets of minerals and resources. This was what they were doing, or preparing to do actually.

Not to long ago, the Flotilla had arrived in a new system, in an uncharted star cluster, and had found something interesting. First was that this system had planets, only four having been identified so far, and they turned out to be rich in resources. Second was that there was an asteroid belt that probably suggested more planets beyond. Third, and more importantly, was that there was a Mass Relay orbiting around the last planet of the system. Sure it was frozen over in ice, but such a discovery had caused a lot of confusion with the Conclave.

With all this new information, the Conclave had difficulty about what to do. First, they had decided to send several ships to explore the system in more detail, specifically the inner planets. Rela's ship had been on of those chosen to undertake this task, which suited her perfectly. She always was the adventurous type and standing around, waiting for the Conclave to decide what to do about the Mass Relay, did not really appeal to her.

As she came to the present, she noticed that the fleet had vanished off into the distance and they were coming out of the asteroid belt. She had been so deep in though that she had not noticed the time passing by the change in scenery outside the window. Now, looking out the windows, she saw that her ship was nearing a barren read planet. Soon her mind was beginning to wander as she gazed at it, however she was interrupted when one of the communications officers spoke.

"Admiral Rela. I'm getting some strange readings. I think it's a signal or a hail, multiple ones, but I do not detect any nearby ships transmitting any such signals."

Rela frowned as she turned to walk over next to the officer, "What are you saying? Is there a space station nearby or a communications outpost on that planets next to us?"

The officer shook his head, "No. Not from the red planet. I detected no structures on it." There was a pause before he continued, "They seem to be coming from beyond, like probably the next planet or something. I'm not exactly sure, they are odd signals that I've never seen."

Rela nodded, "give us the coordinates of where these signals are coming from. We need to investigate this in case it turns out to be something dangerous. We can't have a threat to us in the same system as the flotilla."

The communications officer nodded and did as order while Rela turned and began walking off. She was not sure what to make of this information. She doubted that it could be a council patrol group. The council was not one to send ships into unknown regions unless they sent a particularly large group, which would have instantly been noticed by the Migrant Fleet. Geth were definitely not a possibility. All that was left was pirates, though Rela did not think that it was, such groups were more common in the Terminus Systems.

Her suspicions were soon to be answered. After approximately twenty minutes of thoughtful silence, the communications officer spoke up, "Admiral, we are approaching the source of the signals. It seems to be coming from the nearby planet."

One of the pilots quickly cut in, "Admiral, I have the planet on sensors. I'm bringing it up on screen now." Static appeared upon the large screen before fading away to show the planet.

To say that Rela was surprised would be an understatement. This planet was unlike many of the others that she had seen. This planet had multiple colorations on it. A majority of it was blue which she suspected was a type of liquid, probably water. The white could be something that was apart of the atmosphere. Then there were the brownish green colors of landmasses. All of this led to a suspicion, which was confirmed by the ship's analyst, "I'm getting readings on the planet… it's… I can't believe it. It's a garden world. Habitable. I detect life on it…"

Her voice was drowned out by the excited murmuring and exclamations of the crew. The discovery of a garden world, unclaimed by any of the council races, was a rarity indeed. However, Rela was confused and soon managed to quiet everyone down so she could hear more. The analyst spoke up, "As I said. It's a garden world. However," his voice dropped to a tone of depression, "It's already inhabited by another species. I'm not sure which type but none that I'm familiar with. The readings show that the inhabitants are a pre-space faring species, though they could have space stations but our communications officer has not detected such yet."

Rela stood stunned at the explanation. They had stumbled upon an unknown species in an unexplored section of the galaxy. The possibilities, consequences, and potential benefits were incomprehensible. Never before had the quarian people come across an alien species that was not already aware of the galactic community as a whole, therefore they had no experience in a first contact situation, the turians were the ones who usually did that… though many such species were considered a threat to the galaxy and conquered by the turians. This briefly caused her to wonder what would have happened if the turians, instead of the quarians, had been in this situation.

Suddenly she realized that everyone was looking at her while Uleena'Sera, her second in command, asked, "What should we do Admiral?"

Real knew what she meant, and what she had to do, "Send a message to the fleet and tell them of our discovery. Things have now become more complicated." As Uleena left, Rela turned to face the screen as she pondered what this discovery would mean for the quarian people.

Wells Nevada Space Research Center, September 17, 2020

"And I'm telling you I'm still getting those strange reading!" Exclaimed Larry.

"Are you sure you're not just picking up an approaching meteor shower? There was going to be one coming up some time toady. Maybe this is it?" Questioned Ralph.

"Impossible. The objects slowly approached Pluto in a tight group before stopping. Several hundred are remaining motionless while a few circle around an object near Pluto. Not sure what yet." He paused while examining the screen and his eyes widened slightly, "and a few of these objects are approaching Earth, but not on a direct course like an asteroid would."

Ralph scoffed as he leaned back in his chair, "So you are telling me that some unidentifiable objects just headed for Pluto, and a few of these objects are approaching Earth?" He smiled as he turned to face his associate, "You know how far Pluto is from Earth? It would take months for any object to make a trip between the two planets, maybe even years."

Larry pushed away from his monitor, "What if you don't believe me look for yourself."

Ralph rolled his eyes as he slid his chair over to Larry's monitor. His look of disbelief slowly changed into confusion before turning to surprise, "No way… that's not possible."

"What do you think it could be? You don't suppose it could be aliens."

Ralph almost instinctively laughed at Larry's assumption, but he was right, was he not? Nothing could move with such speed as these objects were. Larry's guess was the only possible explanation that made sense.

"What should we do?" Asked Larry.

"You've got this recorded right?" At Larry's nod Ralph continued, "Get a printout of this and continue keeping track of these… things, I've go to get to a phone."

Larry went back to his screen to do as ordered while Ralph when off to get a hold of a friend in the SETI program.