A/N: I had this idea stuck in my for a while so I decided to finally write it out.
Special thanks to my friends ,Veyron722skyhook, Mandalore The Freedom anda personal thanks to my beta, Zgogery, for helping me out with this story. It will span all three Mass Effect games and some Star Wars events as well.
Disclaimer: I do now own Mass Effect or Star Wars. EA and Disney do.
Please, read and review
UPDATE: Had to fix a few small errors, one noticeably to the timeline
Space. An endless void.
Full of wonders, perhaps?
Or that of death?
Some may call it 'The Final Frontier'. The ultimate goal.
In the 22nd century, after a brutal war, Humanity discovered it was not alone in the universe.
Humanity found a cache of alien relics on Mars.
Then, they discovered the Mass Relays.
Strange relics built by an ancient alien race called The Protheans. According to the data archive found on Mars, the Protheans built the Relays and a space station called The Citadel, but disappeared due to unknown reasons.
Humanity called it the greatest discovery in the history of mankind.
The rest of the galaxy called it, Mass Effect.
Alliance Cruiser SSV Sojourn
Captain Jack Matthews was what would you call a military man. Many generations of his family were military officials, dating as far back as the American Civil War. Matthews had short, blonde hair and blue eyes and an aging face. He wore a simple alliance uniform of a Captain.
The Sojourn was a cruiser that was around 700 meters long. Matthews was recently promoted to its Captain just a month ago, after the discovery of the Mass Relays.
The Sojourn made a recent discovery in the Shanxi System. Another Mass Relay, one dubbed 314, was discovered. Based on the discovery, it is part of a larger network. It was a dormant relay so they have scientists trying open.
All Matthews couldn't stop but think that he had a bad feeling about this
"Captain," A voice said from behind him.
Matthews turned and saw his first officer, Steven Hackett.
"What is it Hackett?" he asked.
"The probe that entered the Relay reported a system with habitable worlds, sir," Hackett revealed.
"Good, tell the pilot to move the ship into the Relay. God speed gentlemen."
Other side of Relay 314
The Sojourn exited the Relay without trouble and remained intact.
"Report," The Captain ordered.
"All systems are green Captain. No damage. We have successfully entered the Relay."
"Good, send probes to examine the nearby planets," the Captain requested.
"Sir, we are picking up several unknown signatures."
"Show me," he ordered.
A view screen appeared showing several unknown ships that weren't of any make he knew that the military or private industries were manufacturing. He then realized that they were approaching the Sojourn.
"My god, first contact."
Republic Dreadnaught King's Gambit
Captain Jaleer Arckeson was a tall man with dark hair and eyes. His most noticeable feature was a scar on the left side of his face. The Republic Captain and his fleet's hyperdrives had malfunctioned while they were in a battle with some slavers. The damage was severe enough that they had to drop out of hyperspace, and into this unknown system.
"Sir, we are detecting strange energy readings coming from the object," one of his bridge crew reported.
"Show me," he requested.
The object appeared on screen. To the Captain, it looked like an oversized tuning fork, but he couldn't begin to guess what the strange energy source on the one end of the object was. It seemed to be powering it, as the metal rings spun around it.
Then, the Captain saw the rings begin to spin faster, before locking into place. A few sceonds later, another object shout out of it in a burst of blue energy.
It was a ship of some unknown make.
"Give me an ID on that ship, stat," the Captain ordered.
SSV Sojourn
"Sir, we are being hailed by the fleet. Should we respond?" Hackett asked.
"Yes, send in a first contact package,"
King's Gambit
"Captain, we are getting what appears to be a data package from the ship. Its-Its a first contact package sir." The ensign stuttered out, worry clear on his face.
"Tell our droids to get it translated pronto, and send one in return, so they know a bit about who they are dealing with" he ordered.
Minutes passed, but it felt like hours to the crew, when the package was deciphered.
"That was rather quick, why did it take less time than what we would expect?" he asked.
The droid, an R1 unit, responded.
The Captain raised his eyebrow in shock. "Apparently, this new species is...Human." The bridge crew stopped, gaping at the captain, as the entire bridge grew silent with astonishment.
SSV Sojourn
There was a long silence among the bridge crew of the Sojourn. The news of the discovery of other sentient species in the galaxy started to sink in.
"Sir?" a female Lieutenant asked the Captain.
"What is it Hannah?"
"We are recieving a message from the other ship. It looks like a data package."
"Well lets see if we can get it translated then." Captain Mathews stated, hoping they could do this without bloodshed.
"SIR! SIR! The other ship, it has humans on it! These 'aliens' are other humans!" Hannah yelled excitedly.
The captain slumped bonelessly back into his chair, as this realization hit him.
He wsa shocked, muttering, "I'm gonna need a drink."
"We need to make contact with these other Humans. The brass back home will need to be informed," she said.
Hannah Clarke was a young woman with fiery red hair and blue eyes and came from a military family.
"I agree. We need to make contact with them as soon as possible and relay any information back to Alliance Command on Earth. The brass are going to love this one. Get me in contact with the lead ship of that fleet," Matthews ordered, getting up as his communications officer shocked him out of his stupor.
King's Gambit
Captain Arckeson looked at the ship in front of his fleet. They sent a message to the ship but have yet to get a reply. "History tells us that there were sleeper ships that were sent to various worlds by ancient humans on Coruscant. Some of them seeded life on worlds like Alderaan and Naboo, maybe these Humans were part of the same group." He said, thinking out loud.
"Captain, we are getting a transmission," said Sergeant James Onasi. Onasi was a descendant of a war hero during the ancient Jedi Civil War.
"Play it," he ordered.
The crew became silent as a human appeared on the view screen. He was a tall man with blonde hair and light, sky blue eyes.
"I am Captain Jack Matthews of the SSV Sojourn and of the Human Systems Alliance of Earth. We need to know just what, and even how, other humans got out into the galaxy. I'll need to inform my superiors about this, as well as the fact that we have technically made first contact." the Captain of the other ship said in what appeared to be fluent basic.
Galactic Basic was the main language that most members of the Galactic Republic use, and it seemed that the ancient colonists had continued to use it, albeit probably renaming it as something else at some point.
"I am Captain Jaleer Arckeson of the King's Gambit. We are part of the Galactic Republic, a galaxy-wide group that consists of hundreds of worlds and races that has existed for thousands of years."
The man on the transmission looked shocked at the statement. "Did you say thousands?" he asked while Arckerson nodded in response. "The brass back on Earth are going to love this. We were meant to go through the Mass Relay in this system as we found a few more like it, including one in our home system. The Relay is the object that we arrived throught that has the pulsating blue energy coming off of it. May I ask what are you doing in this particular system? We weren't expecting encountering anyone else any time soon, especially not encountering other humans."
"We are tracking down some slavers when our Hyperdrives in our ships all simultaneously malfunctioned and were dropped here. Hyperdrives are our form of Faster-Than-Light travel, like those 'Relays' appear to be."
"Can you send us more information on this 'Republic'? We want to know more about our Human brethren before we decided to ally with you or not?"
"Captain, unknown contacts entering the system."
Turian Dreadnaught Independence
Captain Valkyrion Makos was a military man. His ancestors fought in the Krogan Rebellions, and he was a proud Turian who planned to serve in the military until the day he died.
Recently, his fleet was tracking a group of pirates or slavers that were seen messing with a relay. The scout ship reported no activity at the site of Relay 314 but he wanted to make sure it wasn't damaged or a danger to neighboring systems. Activating dormant relays was against Council laws and he was ready to put any law breakers down.
"Captain Makos, we found something at Relay 314," An ensign reported.
"What is it Ensign?" he asked.
"We are getting reports of the possibility of Relay 314 being activated from the other side. We don't think its Batarian Pirates, sir," the Ensign.
"Whoever it is, they are breaking the law. It is our job to bring these law breakers to justice."
"But, Sir? What if its a new race that doesn't know better?" The ensign asked.
"Then we will show then the might of the Turian Hierarchy. I will not allow a repeat of the Rachni Wars or Krogan Rebellions to occur." He said forcefully
"Prepare to enter a hostile combat zone. Prime our weapons, raise shields, and prepare out engines for a jump through Relay 314. We will end the threat here." Makos said, steeling himself for combat.
SSV Sojourn
"Sir, the probe returned"
"That's strange, I thought it came out into this system."
"No, sir, it went to another. This relay confirms our suspicions. There is a bigger Relay network."
"What's going on Captain?"
"Sir, new contacts appearing."
Independence
Makos watched as his hip shot through the relay, coming face to face with two different ships, neither of which were of any make he had seen before. He was about to order the bombardment of the two ships, when more ships shot into the system, attacking the two cruisers that were drifting in the space above the planet below. The two shot a bit to the right, the smaller sleeker one gliding out of the way of the shots, as the bigger one hunkered down, shields taking the hits rather easily. The ship was absolutely massive, dwarfing some of the largest ships that the hierarchy had. Several opening appeared along the sides of the ship, as hundreds of fighters began to pour out of the ship, rushing towards the attacking force. The smaller ship drifted behind the nearby moon, sending a few small probes off towards the unknown relay. Makos growled, realizing it was robably a call for reinforcements, and sent some probes of his own, calling the hierarchy for additional ships. he gaped when he saw the literal hundreds of ships that were dogfighting before him, as the two forces fought what looked like a small-scale war.
TIMELINE
100,000 Galactic Time or GT:
A race of beings known as the Celestials rose to prominence in the galaxy. They accomplished numerous feats, such as the creation of Centerpoint station. Centerpoint station is a massive space station that can move objects such as moons and planets to form other stations. They subsequently disappeared not long after.
90,000 GT:
Galactic City on Coruscant rose to prominence as new levels of the city is being built and will continue to do so for thousands of years to come. The Human race comes to prominence here. Several Humans are taken by the mysterious Celestials years prior.
68,000 GT:
A race of beings called the Protheans achieve space flight. They achieved numerous feats by building a form of FTL travel called the Mass Relays and a giant space station called The Citadel. They formed an empire that lasts for the next 18,000 years
50,000 GT:
The Protheans disappear from galactic society entirely.
36, 453 GT:
The mysterious power known as the Force is discovered. What would be the future Jedi Order is formed.
35-30,000 GT:
The Rise of the Rakata Infinite Empire. The Rakata creates the Hyperdrive which allows a ship to travel faster than the speed of light.
27,700 GT:
Korriban, homeworld of the Sith species, is attacked by the Rakata. The Sith drive them out, and manages to steal hyperdrive technology in the process, and expands out into the galaxy
27,500 GT:
The Humans of Coruscant start to develop sleeper ships to seed populations to other worlds. This is proven successful in the centuries to come.
25,200 GT:
The Rakata Infinite Empire is struck by a mysterious plague and collapses. Leaving many to believe the Rakata species to be extinct.
25,053 GT:
Human scientists on the world of Corellia reverse engineer the Hyperdrive, using it to colonize various worlds.
25, 026 GT:
The Galactic Republic is formed with the signing of the Galactic Constitution. Coruscant is made its capital.
25,000 GT:
The Republic encounter the Jedi Order on Ossus. The Jedi pledge themselves to the Republic.
22,800 GT:
Illum is discovered and becomes an important religious world for the Jedi Order and a source of power crystals for the Lightsabers, main weapons used by the Jedi.
5000 GT:
The Great Hyperspace War between the Galactic Republic and the recently discovered Sith Empire begins and ends not long after with the fall of the Sith Empire.
3976 GT:
The Mandalorian Wars begin.
3963 GT:
A group of Jedi led by the Jedi Knight known as Revan leave the Jedi Order to fight the Mandalorians after the Jedi Council refused to fight in the war.
3960 GT:
The Mandalorian Wars end at the Battle of Malachor V with Revan killing Mandalore the Ultimate. A Mass Shadow Generator is used to destroy the planet to wipe out the Mandalorian fleet, but does the same to the Republic fleets and will leave a lasting impact for the years to come.
Not long after, Revan, his friend Malak, and most of the Republic troops that followed him, disappeared into the Unknown Regions.
3959 GT:
Revan and Malak return from the Unknown Regions as Sith Lord and bomb the world of Telos IV, beginning the Jedi Civil War.
3957 GT:
During the battle of Taris, Revan is killed, betrayed by his apprentice, Darth Malak.
3956:
Republic Officers Carth Onasi and Naver Marik escape the Endar Spire, under attack by the Sith Blockade of Taris, and crash land there. They regroup to find Bastila Shan, a powerful Jedi Warrior and crucial to the war. They escape the world by stealing a freighter known as the Ebon Hawk.
The Hawk arrives on the Jedi world of Dantooine where it is revealed that Naver shares a force bond with Bastila and is trained in the ways of the force. He discovers a star map in ancient ruins on Dantooine that lead to a mysterious artifact called the Star Forge, which may be Malak's ultimate weapon
Naver, Bastila and their group discover three star maps but they are captured by Darth Malak. While captured, Malak reveals the truth: Naver is actually Revan, mind wiped by the Jedi in order to figure out his own fall to the dark side and the ultimate weapon. Naver fully accepts that he is Revan but refuses to follow the dark side once again. Bastila is captured by Malak but the rest escape.
Revan and the others discover the remaining star map that led to Lehon, the unknown world. There, Revan discovers that the Rakata survived and created the Star Forge, a weapon that creates a near, unlimited supply of ships. Revan and his allies enter an ancient temple and encounter Bastila, who has turned to the dark side. Bastila escapes to the Star Forge as the Republic fleets arrive to finish destroy the Star Forge.
Revan confronts Bastila on the Star Forge and redeems her, professing his love for her in the process. Revan confronts and defeats Malak and the Star Forge is destroyed.
Two years later, Revan disappears.
3955 GT:
The Great Jedi Purge begins by an unexpected attack by the Sith Triumvirate.
3952 GT:
A Jedi conclave on the world of Katarr is convened. A Sith Lord named Darth Nihlus uses the force to wipe out all life on the planet, virtually destroying the Jedi Order.
3951 GT:
An exiled Jedi named Meetra Surik finds herself on the deserted mining station of Peragus. Meetra was exiled from the Jedi Order due to her role in the destruction of Malachor. She meets Kreia, a former Jedi master, and Atton Rand, a smuggler, and escape to the captured Ebon Hawk with the help of the droid T3-M4.
The ship is grounded on Citadel Station of Telos but they managed to escape. Meetra finds an old recording of her exile and wants to know why by finding several Jedi Masters.
On the world of Dxun, she encounters remnants of the Mandalorians under Mandalore The Preserver, who wants to restore the glory of the Mandalorians and help the Republic.
Meetra gathers the remaining Jedi Masters on the rebuilt Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. She is betrayed by Kreia, who is revealed to have been one of the three main sith lord and kills the Jedi Masters. The Battle of Telos IV begins and ends with the death of Darth Nihlus.
Meetra heads towards Malachor V and defeats Darth Sion. She encounters and defeats Darth Traya One of her companions activates the Mass Shadow Generator one last time and destroys the planet for good.
The Jedi Exile disappears soon after.
1900 GT:
The Krogan homeworld of Tuchanka enters the Nuclear age. The Krogan waged war among each other and caused their world to be a barren wasteland. For the next millennia, the Krogan will fight among themselves as warring clan
580 GT:
The Asari discover the Citadel and start to colonize.
520 GT:
The Salarians discover the Citadel and open diplomatic relations with them. The Turians follow soon after.
500 GT:
The Citadel Council is formed in hopes of starting a bigger, galactic community.
500-1 GT:
The Citadel Council makes contact with the Volus, Elcor, Batarians, Hanar and Quarians.
27 BC-476 AD: Rise and Fall of the Earth Roman Empire.
Calendar Timeline is reset to meet with Current Human Standards
GT or Galactic Timeline will be used to represent the Republic timeline to avoid confusion.
1 Common Era/CE:
A dormant Mass Relay is opened and the discovery of a race called the Rachni. The Rachni attack a Council expedition ship and starts what is known as the Rachni Wars.
80 CE:
The Salarians make contact with the Krogan and uplifted them due to their aggressive nature and immunity to harsh environment in order to combat the Rachni and reach their homeworld.
300 CE:
The Krogan drive the Rachni back to their homeworld and kill their leaders. Rachni are declared extinct and the Krogan are rewarded several worlds for colonization.
300-700 CE:
The Krogan begin to expand rapidly, worrying the Council. The Special Tactics and Reconnaissance or Spectres is formed as a branch of elite agents for the Council.
700-800 CE:
Krogan warlords leverage veterans of the Rachni Wars to annex territory from other races in Citadel space. Eventually the Council demands withdrawal from the asari colony of Lusia, but the krogan refuse. A preemptive strike is made on krogan infrastructures by the Spectres. The Krogan Rebellions begin.
The Turians, with the help of the Salarians, create the Genophage. The Genophage is a virus meant to halt Krogan birth rates from every 1-5 Krogan females as successful. The Krogan Rebellions have stopped, but at a grave cost as they came close to attacking the Citadel.
A group of Salarians believe that it was their own fault for not educating the Krogan further on the aspects of Galactic peace. If they had, the Rebellions would never had happened. They viewed it as their responsibility and planned to withdraw from the Council but were blackmailed and stopped by the TurianHierarchy. The few Salarians that knew of this would keep this to their graves.
1000 GT:
A Sith Lord known as Darth Bane convinces the Brotherhood of Darkness to use a thought bomb, which would eradicate all living beings in a certain era. This killed the Brotherhood and a group of 100 Jedi. Bane disappeared soon after.
1400 CE:
Extensive and unchecked industrial expansion on the drell homeworld Rakhana begins taking a significant toll on the planet's environment. 1775: The British colony of America declares independence as the American Revolutionary War begins. Ends in 1783. 1861-1865- American Civil War 1895 CE: The geth, machines created by the quarians as a source of cheap labor, become self-aware. Fearing a geth uprising, the quarians begin dismantling them. The geth revolt against their quarian masters. In the resulting conflict-known to the geth as the Morning War-the geth systematically drive the quarians from their own worlds. The surviving quarians are reduced to living as spacefaring nomads aboard the Migrant Fleet. Contrary to expectations, the geth do not venture outside the former quarian systems into wider Citadel space, instead isolating themselves from the rest of the galaxy behind the Perseus Veil. As punishment for creating the geth, the Citadel Council closes the quarian embassy on the Citadel.
1914-1918-The Great War, or what would later known to be as World War 1, begins and ends.
1929-1930/40's- The Great Depression
1939-1945- World War 2
1969: Neil Armstrong becomes the first man on the Moon and the first Earth Human to set fit on another world.
2000 CE
The drell make first contact with the hanar around this time. With their homeworld Rakhana severely depleted and no spaceflight capability, the drell were poised for a massive population crash by 2025 CE. Agreeing to help, the hanar mount a large-scale rescue operation and evacuate approximately 375,000 drell to their own homeworld,Kahje, over the following decade. The remaining 11 billion drell on Rakhana gradually perish, warring over the last reserves of food and water.
2125 CE
The yahg, an intelligent pre-spaceflight race, are discovered on the planet Parnack. Ambassadors representing theCitadel Council arrive on the planet and attempt to open diplomatic contact. After the ambassadors are killed by the predatory yahg, the Council ceases all contact with the yahg and declares Parnack off-limits.
2148 CE: Humanity Discovers Mass Effect Physics
Humanity discovers a small cache of highly advanced Prothean technology hidden deep beneath the surface of Mars on the south polar region of Promethei Planum. Building on the remnants of this long extinct race, humans quickly explore the science of mass effect fields, leading to the development of faster than light travel and beginning detailed exploration of the Sol system. Following information from the translated data cache on Mars, humans discover that Charon, Pluto's moon, is actually a massive piece of dormant Prothean technology, a mass relay, encased in ice. Once activated, Jon Grissom leads the first team of explorers through the relay, which instantaneously transports them to another relay in Arcturus, 36 light-years away. The explorers discover that the mass relays are part of a vast network, making travel across the galaxy possible.
2149 CE
The Systems Alliance charter is signed by the eighteen largest nations on Earth. The Alliance soon becomes the military and exploratory spearhead of humanity.
A/N. That's a rap. I felt like the timeline was necessary. Now, before people ask, this will not follow the typical cliches of most alternate first contact wars. No Council bashing. I am not saying how I will handle the Quarians or Krogan either. There are some important changes to the Mass Effect timeline I made as well. If you are wondering which Star Wars era this is, its the Prequel era, roughly twenty years before Phantom Menace. I promise that I will limit the Gungans and Jar Jar as much as possible. I used the Mass Effect Wiki and Wookieepedia with help on my timeline.
Now, if you excuse me, I need some sleep.