The Cosmic Age

by Familiar47

Long after the days of the Courier and the Lone Wanderer, humanity uses the technology of alien visitors to build themselves back up. When they reach out into the cosmos however, they discover that the galaxy is not always receptive to the adventurous. Rated for violence and language. Bashing kept at a minimum.

1. Prologue

Cosmic Age

Long after the defeat of Caesar's Legion and the liberation of New Vegas, the Courier and Lone Wanderer make use of the Theta Technology to bring humanity back from the edge of extinction and take to the stars. When humanity reaches too far they discover that the galaxy is not always receptive to the adventurous.

I do not own Fallout or Mass Effect

Also, for anybody who is sick to death of stories where the Council is incompetent/evil/out of character/childish/any sort of combination of those things...this is for you.

Also, sorry folks, but this is a timeline chapter. Feel free to skip and just use this chapter to reference events or characters that are mentioned in future chapters.

edit: A big thanks to Wanderer101 for pointing out an error relating to the Mid Western Brotherhood. Long story short: I should not have waited so long to post this while saving it on both a thumb drive AND a laptop, a certain fact was lost in between my bouts of writer's block and I didn't even notice until he pointed it out for me in a very constructive and respectful way.

(FALLOUT 4 RELATED SPOILER ALERT)

When Fallout 4 comes out and I play the hell out of it, I'm naming my first character in it after your username. Let the people of the wastelands fear and admire the man who shall be known Wanderer101...who apparently drew the short straw in the name department considering he's apparently from the pre Great War era according to the E3 footage.

Xxx

Timeline

2277- The Lone Wanderer, Logan Mason (son of James Mason) almost dies in securing the use of the Purifier for the Washington Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel.

After recovering he goes on to lead the Brotherhood in securing the Capital Wastelands against the Enclave and Super Mutant hordes.

Adams Airforce Base is destroyed and the Brotherhood of Steel, with technology and resources salvaged from Enclave outposts, goes to work on reconstructing parts of Washington D.C.

Logan secures Mothership Zeta and begins to use its advanced technology to assist the Washington Brotherhood by upgrading its arsenal and providing new technologies. The city of New Washington is formed, with the Brotherhood providing security and the denizens of Rivet City, Megaton, Big Town and Underworld providing workers.

2278- The Midwestern Brotherhood comes into contact with the Outcasts and becomes aware of the actions of the Washington Chapter. A whole company of Brotherhood soldiers enters the Capital Wastelands to arrest and execute Elder Lyons, only to be pinned down on the edge of New Washington by superior numbers. Their Captain agrees to meet with Mason and is persuaded to order his men to stand down, having been convinced that the Washington Brotherhood's new ways are better for the Brotherhood as a whole. Those who disagree are permitted to return to the west along with the Outcasts while almost a quarter of the invasion force chooses to remain in the Capital Wastelands.

Arthur Maxson is persuaded to send a message to the Midwestern Chapter along with any remaining elements of the Brotherhood in the west such as Texas, Montana, Mojave and California. Only the Midwestern Brotherhood receives this message, which implores them to stand down and accept that the Brotherhood of Steel must change.

A schism occurs in the Midwestern Brotherhood, resulting in almost a third defecting to the Washington Brotherhood after months of infighting, leaving the remnants of the Midwestern chapter at barely a quarter of its original strength as elements flee to the west or to Texas where Arthur Maxson's message is finally received. The Texas Brotherhood chooses to honour the Maxson lineage and proclaims allegiance to the Washington Brotherhood.

At this point Elder Lyons is made aware of the de-evolution of the once proud Midwestern Brotherhood, which had been founded with the intention of allowing for recruitment of tribals and non humans almost a century ago. After defeating every enemy close to its base in Chicago the Brotherhood began a slow decline, having only common bandits and mutants to fight-and often press into service if they had enough intellect to follow orders. Over time a stern but fair rule over the region had turned into a harsh dictatorship in which Brotherhood Elders would exercise their power over the tribals, forbidding them from possessing any form of technology (including basic electricity, medical supplies and running water in the last few years) unless they joined the ranks of the Brotherhood.

While kept safe, the people living under the Midwestern chapter were living in a dark age, and their guardians were more interested in maintaining their own power. This state was attributed to the fact that anybody who proved themselves useful as a warrior was able to rise quickly through the ranks...including former bandits, mutant raiders and criminals who joined up to avoid an inevitable execution. In addition, non human members of the Midwestern chapter have been receiving consistently poorer treatment in the past decades by the human dominant Brotherhood in Chicago.

While these conditions appall Elder Lyons, he is not willing to begin a war so soon after finishing the skirmish with the Enclave, and chooses to consolidate power while planning how to eventually deal with the totalitarian Midwestern Chapter's remnants. Those who fled to Texas or Washington bolster the ranks of both chapters, who condemn the actions of the Midwestern Brotherhood.

As for the Outcasts who had gone to the Midwestern Chapter for help...they soon discovered that the only thing they and their brothers in Chicago agreed on was the need for keeping technology out of the hands of outsiders. When they realized how the Midwestern chapter was recruiting mutants their stay quickly turned grim, and only a few of their number succeeded in escaping, scattering into the wastelands to either rejoin the Brotherhood back east or die alone in the wilderness, devoid of any further purpose.

2279- With the technology of Mothership Zeta and command over two sections of the Brotherhood of Steel, Logan Mason is declared to be the new Elder by Lyons before his death. Logan promises that once Arthur is of sufficient age and experience he shall surrender command to him, and begins to train Arthur alongside Sarah Lyons.

Elements of the Enclave hidden in Canada come out of hiding and reveal that they had been hidden in Vaults secretly constructed after the annexation of Canada, each containing soldiers in stasis pods with pre-war weaponry, robotic soldiers to supplement these armies and numerous samples of technology developed by Vault-Tec. These divisions were awakened by surviving members of the Washington Enclave who fled north after the destruction of Raven Rock to enact the 'Winter Soldier Protocol' by reactivating these vaults.

The Enclave makes numerous attempts to raid the Capital Wastelands, managing to capture samples of Theta technology and soon begin to attempt a full scale invasion, only for Mason to reveal Mothership Zeta and annihilate an entire division of Enclave Vertibirds and a small fleet of Enclave warships on route to New Washington. Enclave President William Irons' first act as president is to sue for peace, which his predecessor zealously opposed, and a treaty is created between New Washington and New Washington...the latter of which was forced to change its name as part of the Treaty, resulting in the Enclave capital being renamed Capital City.

An uneasy peace hangs between the two cities, which quickly turns into a Cold War as the Enclave persists in achieving its Manifest Destiny of ruling over what used to be the United States of America. Attempts are made to infiltrate Mothership Zeta, but advanced sensor equipment allows Mason to pick out and eliminate spies and traitors before they can achieve any significant acts of sabotage or espionage. The Enclave stops similar attempts at infiltration, and looks to conquering the Canadian wastelands in the meantime.

2281- The Courier, Alice Shepard, is shot in the head and left for dead while transporting a package to New Vegas. After recovering she tracks down her would-be killer, Benny, and chooses to strike an alliance with him to depose Mr House on the condition that they use the Securitron Army to bring protection to the people of Mojave rather than conquest.

The Brotherhood of Steel's Mojave Chapter is convinced to join what becomes the Mojave Alliance, which consists of the Boomers, Kings, varying settlements and even elements of the NCR army who wish to defect. Fringe elements of other tribes such as the Great Khans join after the majority of their ranks are decimated. Mr House is presumably killed, and Benny and Shepard pretend to assist the NCR at Hoover Dam, driving Caesar's Legion out after inflicting heavy casualties. The NCR is then forced to leave Mojave, the majority of its already thinned ranks either under equipped or injured by the end of the war.

2282- The Mojave Alliance is established, with the Brotherhood of Steel making use of production facilities to increase production of Securitrons, power armour, energy weapons and even a single Zeta energy pistol claimed by Shepard from a crashed alien vessel, which is also taken in for research. The NCR begins to bolster its border garrisons and makes long term plans to retake the Mojave before being invited to a summit by Shepard.

Shepard and Benny offer to make use of Hoover Dam and provide energy to the NCR in addition to selling limited amounts of advanced technology such as outdated laser and plasma weapons or power armour to the NCR along with assistance in creating production facilities to create more weapons and armour. The NCR eventually elects to put any plans for conquering the Mojave on hold and use the next few years to incorporate these technologies into their armies.

2283- Mojave finally begins to rebuild and secure settlements while Securitron units accompanied by newly built Boomer airplanes scour the countryside to the east, wiping out pockets of Legionnaires and ensuring that the Legion cannot make a second attempt at invading. The Hoover Dam provides energy to the NCR and Mojave settlements while both sides settle into a cold war similar to that of the New Washington and Capital City factions. While the NCR possesses superior numbers the Mojave Alliance has superior weaponry, a sizable Securitron Army, reconnaissance planes equipped with scanning equipment taken from the Big Mountain R&D Center that can spot any approaching invasion force and a united wasteland that the Republic cannot take advantage of.

2285- The NCR makes an attempt at invading the Mojave Alliance territory, having acquired enough information to slip a small force past the border and establish a foothold in several abandoned Vaults where they begin to conduct raids on settlements and convoys. While preparing for war Shepard hears rumors of the Washington Brotherhood and sends a single Vertibird east to gain assistance.

The NCR begins a full invasion, committing almost thirty five thousand soldiers against the Mojave Alliance's seventeen thousand soldiers and ten thousand Securitrons. For the most part the two armies are left in a standoff, exchanging shots from trenches west of New Vegas while the Boomers attempt to bomb the Republic lines only to be met with Anti Aircraft artillery.

The messenger Vertibird is shot down in the Midwestern Chapter's territory, which is embroiled in a vicious war between the brotherhood and remnants of Caesar's Legion, and Paladin Jack Carson is the only one to escape. The Midwestern Brotherhood refuses to assist him and even killed his few remaining companions upon discovering their mission. Jack abandons his armour and continues east on foot, trekking through hostile territory for months.

2286- The Washington Brotherhood is informed of the situation in Mojave, and Mason departs on Mothership Zeta with an army of Brotherhood warriors and Super Mutant Shock Troops gathered by Fawkes. They arrive at the Mojave within minutes of leaving the Capital Wasteland and, in a shocking attack, systematically blast Republic artillery emplacements and then deploy their army right amongst the Republic lines. Over a hundred Brotherhood Paladins and just as many super mutants sew chaos into the NCR ranks while the Mojave forces push forward, their Securitron infantry clearing a path and allowing the regular Mojave army to flank the disorganized NCR from the and the Boomers to bombard the northern flank far from where the Washington forces have landed

The Mojave Alliance and New Washington army route the Republic Army, killing upwards of ten thousand soldiers and taking as many as five thousand prisoners (many requiring medical treatment afterwards) while the rest flee back west. Shepard and Mason officially form a treaty between their two factions. Mothership Zeta is used to force the NCR to declare an unconditional surrender after appearing in Republic air space and threatening to bombard military installations. Mason forces the new president of the NCR, Janet Gray, to sign a treaty that will allow the NCR to remain independent while forcing it to recognize the Mojave Alliance and New Washington province as allies.

With the NCR no longer a threat Mason and Shepard look to the holdouts of the Midwestern chapter. With help from the Texas Brotherhood they begin to occupy the Midwestern Chapter's region with soldiers transported by Mothership Zeta and force the Midwestern chapter to surrender while annihilating the remains of Caesar's Legion. Caesar himself is executed by Benny, who comments 'From where you're kneeling it must seem like an eighteen karat run of bad luck. Truth is: the game was rigged from the start' before shooting Caesar in the head.

Benny and Shepard later have a daughter, Joanna 'Jo' Shepard (Benny admits that he lacks a proper surname and they mutually agree to use Shepard's name).

2287- With a large amount of land under their combined protection stretching from the west coast to the east coast, the leaders of New Washington, the Mojave Alliance and the NCR see an opportunity to truly rebuild civilization across North America. They begin to make use of production facilities to create Securitron divisions, modifying designs to allow them to operate in difficult terrain and even adapting anti-gravity technology from Mothership Zeta to allow the Securitron armies to serve as the vanguard of a combined effort to secure land.

All three factions agree to divide different regions of the United States. The NCR receives the west coast states along with Mexico, the Mojave Alliance receives the Midwestern states, and New Washington receives the east coast along with parts of the Canadian Coast and Quebec. They declare the founding of the Allied States of America.

2290- Logan Mason and Sarah Lyons finally have a son, and Logan steps down to allow Arthur Maxson to take command of the Brotherhood of Steel, with all divisions across the ASA answering to the young but capable leader, who names himself to be the High Inquisitor of the Brotherhood while each chapter is granted an Elder of its own to administer day to day activities. Arthur Maxson's first decision is to scout to the north and south, deploying long range reconnaissance drones newly developed by Benny and his corporation: Mojave Robotics and Aerospace.

The Enclave is revealed to have conquered almost half of Canada, and possesses a population of almost a million. It makes use of a cloning facility to create expendable and loyal soldiers, and is preparing to go to war with the ASA to 'reclaim American soil'. President William Irons was deposed when he attempted to oppose further plans against the ASA, having grown weary of constantly plotting to reclaim lands filled with people who didn't even want the Enclave or their ideals.

Mason infiltrates the Enclave with help from Colonel Boone and Dr Arcade Gannon of the Mojave Alliance and assists Irons in winning the loyalty of the Enclave's citizens with campaigns discrediting the current president, Robert Hayes. After several months William Irons leads a coup that ends with him returning to office and declaring that the Enclave would focus only on expanding through Canada and Alaska, and would no longer attempt to conquer the territories of the ASA.

Elements of the Enclave, now named Manifest, flee into secret arctic bases in order to build up and eventually 'return the Enclave to its true path' of restoring Post-War America.

Logan Mason, upon returning to New Washington, was immediately met by his wife, who then proceeded to brutally beat and berate her husband in front of an entire crowd for leaving just after their son had been born. Logan spent the entire time just smiling and laughing before being dragged back to the Mason residence where they spent the entire night racking up noise complaints. Their son Alex spent the night in the care of Fawkes.

2300- In the previous decade most of North and South America have been explored and reclaimed by either the ASA or by local governments supported by the ASA. Total population figures across both continents reach nearly fifty million. The ASA, which now includes two other factions across South America begins to look to the rest of the world and deploy expeditions.

Africa was not as badly hit during the war over two centuries ago. It is lightly irradiated in some areas, but there are even whole countries that are not too different compared to how they had been before the war. However mutant hordes migrated down from Europe or developed in South Africa over the centuries. Africa has only several regions that have stable governments, and all are without the advanced technology that Post-War America has benefitted from. Inquisitor Maxson plans to deploy a Brotherhood Inquisition Force to Africa to begin constructing a stable region to operate from.

Europe is in a similar state to America, having been hit in no less than six major cities during the war. There are three major factions: The New British Empire operating from the security and safety of the British Isles, which were only hit by a single nuclear missile (which struck London while the rest were intercepted) and had decentralized a great deal of its assets prior to the war, and since then had focused on consolidating its remaining resources and defending its borders from pirates and aquatic mutants; The Sun Legion, led by a man who, in a manner similar to Caesar, had styled himself after a French monarch known as King Louis XIV, or Louis the Great in order to gather a massive army from across Europe; and finally the Roman Catholic Protectorate operating in Italy with its capital in Rome, which had been spared from the nuclear holocaust along with the Vatican (which had been spared intentionally). President Gray plans to send an envoy to contact the NBE and RCP, as they appear far more reasonable than the Sun King and his legion.

Russia, despite being a heavy target in the war, has maintained a civilization since the beginning of the twenty second century. It had dozens of vaults built, and unlike Vault Tech's each had been designed with a nuclear holocaust specifically in mind rather than to conduct tests on the inhabitants. Each vault held at least ten thousand people, and led a strict lifestyle in which every vault dweller was trained in multiple fields. Once these vaults opened the inhabitants hooked up with one another to form an alliance as per the plan set out by the Pre-War government, and within a decade they had managed to establish settlements across Russia and by this point had been simply dealing with raids from Asia and the Sun Legion. Maxson plans to dispatch envoys while President Irons plans contingencies in the event of Russian hostility.

Asia is mainly ruled by the descendants of the Chinese government, which also had protocols for a nuclear war similar to Russia's. The re-emerged Chinese Empire, operating out of the Forbidden City, has been focusing on both reclaiming lost knowledge and on eventually resuming battle against their American foes under the leadership of their emperor. A nuclear missile that has recently finished construction is set to be fired upon the site of the Lost Hills Bunker based on outdated information of it being the headquarters of the Brotherhood of Steel. Maxson arranges for Mothership Zeta to monitor China and intercept any intercontinental missiles fired, and deems relations with the Chinese Empire to be a priority.

2300- Alice Shepard arrives in the Forbidden City as part of a delegation to the Chinese Emperor. Despite not being an official dignitary she convinces him in private to agree to a peace summit with the ASA, as well as saving his life from a planned assassination by an insurgent group within the Empire. An alliance is formed between the Chinese Empire and the ASA, and the intercontinental missile is surrendered in return for Inquisitor Maxson assisting in founding a Chinese Brotherhood of Steel to serve as Imperial Special Forces and shock troops.

Joanna Shepard and Alexander Mason are kidnapped by spies from the Sun Legion during their stay in the Forbidden City, revealing that the Sun Legion has access to a sister ship of Mothership Zeta which King Louis intends to use to conquer the world. King Louis attempts to threaten Mason and Shepard into surrendering over a live conversation between both mother ships, only for Joanna to break free with Alex and escape via a teleporter after using her knowledge of Zeta technology to cause the ship to plummet. The Sun Legion Mother Ship is saved in time, however Joanna and Alex's location is unknown and Maxson is able to lock onto the now revealed ship and fire the Chinese missile at it, striking the ship as it hovers over Paris and causing it to fall on the Eifel Tower, killing the Sun King and a good portion of his legion camped within the city.

The NBE and RCP agree to meet with dignitaries from the ASA and Chinese Empire, with Russia sending its own diplomat to the meeting in the ruins of the Palace of Versailles. Inquisitor Maxson agrees to share technology and information with all of the factions that agree to sign a charter that arranges the creation of a substitute for the United Nations of old.

The Alliance of Nations is formed after numerous attempts by insurrectionist elements within several factions and outsider groups attempt to turn rulers against one another and spark a new war. Mothership Zeta is deemed property of the Brotherhood of Steel, which is to remain independent of all other nations and interests so as to avoid attempts at hijacking it in the interests of one power or another.

Shepard and Mason focus on searching for their missing children while Inquisitor Maxson is engaged to the commanding officer of the Russian Winter Guard (the equivalent of the Brotherhood of Steel, and has been absorbed into the BoS' ranks), Agatha Bdeniye.

Plans are drawn up to bring order to any other regions in Eurasia and then eventually to Africa and Australia.

2303- Sarah Mason gives birth to Owen Mason.

Regions across Europe and Asia are pacified and secured along with islands in the Pacific and Atlantic that have not even suffered from any nuclear radiation.

2305- Joanna Shepard and Alex Mason still have yet to be found. Alice Shepard has recently given birth to another daughter, Hannah. Sarah Mason has fallen ill. Agatha Maxson gives birth to Jason Maxson.

Alliance armies have established coastal settlements on Africa and begin to deploy companies to recruit from local villages to begin establishing both an African Brotherhood of Steel and Inquisition Force to begin restoring order.

2306- Joanna Shepard and Alex Mason are discovered in South Africa where it is revealed that the source of the Super Mutants is really a third Zeta Mother Ship. This time the crew is taken alive by a covert Brotherhood squadron that succeeds in rescuing over four hundred human captives that were due to be turned into mutants by the aliens.

As the Shepard and Mason families are reunited, Agatha Maxson handles interrogating the captain of the mother ship using a translation device that establishes a non-invasive telepathic link between the two. She discovers after some coaxing that the Zeta Mother Ships are part of a small fleet that fled from their destroyed home world following a global conflict and attempted to use humanity as test subjects to develop a servant race to use as a work force in rebuilding their civilization on Mars. The mother ships were the majority of their still functioning military vessels, and now two have been destroyed and another two captured by the Alliance.

Joanna Shepard and Alex Mason had been teleported to South Africa after escaping from the Sun Legion Mother Ship in France, and had spent the last few years attempting to contact their families and free people trapped in South Africa by the aliens. They had only recently been captured after sending out the transmission which had drawn the Brotherhood to South Africa in the first place.

Joanna Shepard and Alex Mason are rewarded for their valor and the long time spent behind enemy lines. They are both granted positions in the Brotherhood of Steel by Maxson. Logan and Sarah Mason retire from service and return to New Washington where Joanna and Alex begin their training. Alice Shepard and Benny retire in New Vegas to care for Hannah and take time to visit Joanna.

2316- Benny is killed in a surprise attack on New Vegas by Manifest forces, which have usually just raided the northern frontier of the Enclave. He is killed while protecting his wife and daughter Hannah from a fragmentation grenade, and dies after delivering the following statement: 'Lasted a lot longer than I thought I would, but I guess even my good luck had to run out.'

Alice Shepard returns to active duty despite counsel from others and leads a crusade against Manifest, raiding numerous bases. Thanks to Zeta medical technology she is able to perform as though she is twenty or thirty years younger, but her consistent injuries slowly being to affect her health. Joanna Shepard, now a Knight of the Brotherhood, travels to Canada to assist her mother alongside Alex Mason, who is a part of the Brotherhood Inquisition Division (Intelligence and Espionage).

2317- Alice Shepard is killed while raiding the final known Manifest base, which appears to house the Zeta scout craft that she had stumbled upon decades ago in Mojave. Manifest was attempting to reverse engineer it to create a fleet of space capable fighter craft. Alice dies of wounds inflicted while storming the command center where Manifest personnel had been prepared to launch the remotely piloted fighters to bring down both Zeta Mother Ships owned by the Brotherhood of Steel. She killed over forty three Manifest Personnel, four Super Mutants fitted with control collars, six security robots and most importantly of all the commanding officer of Manifest: General Mycroft, who was survived by his son Ian Mycroft.

Sarah Mason dies two months later, her health having degraded over the past decade and only sustained by Zeta technology. She is buried alongside Alice and Benny in Goodsprings Cemetery while Mason raises Hannah Shepard and Owen Mason.

2340- Logan Mason dies of natural causes at the age of eighty three years and is buried with his wife in Goodsprings Cemetery. On his death bed he mused on where the last 63 years had led him and leaves a journal detailing his adventures to his heir, Inquisitor Alexander Mason.

By this period almost every region on Earth has been reclaimed and secured by the Alliance, who have spent the last few decades researching space flight technology based off of what Manifest had developed and their own findings from the Zeta Mother Ships and lab facilities.

The first human built star ship is finished and is christened The Wanderer. It is able to hold a crew of twenty and is able to utilize Zeta based FTL, albeit at a much slower speed and with lower energy efficiency.

The Alliance, lead by High Inquisitor Arthur Maxson, prepares an invasion of Mars after a single probe dispatched to the planet reports that the Zeta population has begun building new warships.

The Wanderer, accompanied by the two captured Zeta Mother Ships (Zeta I and Zeta II) is dispatched along with a force of over a hundred space flight capable fighters that are 'tugged' along through FTL flight by the Mother Ships. When they appear in orbit over Mars Maxson issues a statement to the Zeta, commanding them to surrender or be fired upon. When the Zeta response was to deploy their few warships and scout craft constructed in the last few years Maxson simply smiled grimly and ordered the landing force to prepare for a fight.

The human fleet lost over forty fighters while Zeta II was badly damaged and later had to be dismantled. The Zeta fleet, which consisted of three warships and thirty scout craft had been decimated while two incomplete ships were captured along with the total Zeta population of one million. The groundside invasion had taken the lives of over eight thousand Zeta soldiers, which turned out to be the total body of their military strength; three thousand Alliance soldiers had died in securing the colony, and High Inquisitor Maxson had been wounded while duelling the alien commander to the death.

Once the final Zeta soldier was cut down the rest of the population surrendered quickly. As it turned out most of the Zeta on Mars were in fact just 'breeders' brought along by the military and administrative castes in order to ensure that the Zeta would have sufficient genetic material to repopulate.

The true name of the Zeta is revealed to be 'Prolat'.

When asked about why the Prolat Military and Admin Castes did not simply use this large number as a work force, it turned out that their culture was so rigid and unwilling to adjust that the civilians were forbidden to do anything but their own jobs. Barely two hundred thousand of the Prolats were builders, and they had been forbidden to assist in military projects such as constructing the warships. The rest were all farmers, meaning that the Prolat colony at least had enough food to sustain itself.

The Prolat had terraformed Mars using a process similar to the G.E.C.K, and decades of this prolonged effect had rendered Mars perfectly habitable for humans, Ghouls, Super Mutants, etc.

As his final order Maxson annexed the Prolat colony of Mars and then gave up command of the Brotherhood of Steel. He passed the mantle of leadership to his son, Jason Maxson (Age: 35) and returned to Earth to live in New Washington with his wife, who also retired from her position among the Brotherhood now that the final threat to mankind had been conquered.

High Inquisitor Jason Maxson hands over control of Mars to the Alliance and posts a division of Brotherhood Knights and Inquisitors there to form the Martian Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel. Rather than focusing on collecting technology the Brotherhood's new edict was to act as protector in both peace and war. The Martian Chapter would also focus on analyzing and converting Prolat technology for Alliance use.

For now the Prolat are confined to Mars and are under strict watch. Builders are permitted to assist in constructing the two new warships: Zeta III and Zeta IV while Zeta I watches from orbit. The Wanderer is returned to Earth while construction begins on new ships for other purposes such as mining or exploration.

2345- Inquisitor Alex Mason and Paladin Joanna Shepard are brought to Mars to oversee the induction of the first Prolat recruits to the Brotherhood of Steel. After being deemed to be of no threat to humanity due to their submissive nature and the fact that the Military and Administrative Castes had been the ones responsible for the experiments conducted on humans over the centuries the former worker castes are now permitted full rights as citizens of the Alliance.

Forty two Prolat civilians are inducted into the Brotherhood of Steel, but the ceremony is attacked by remnants of Manifest forces lead by Ian Mycroft, who has heavily modified his body with Prolat based technology. He condemns the Alliance for how it would allow aliens to join its ranks, and swears a bloody vengeance before duelling and killing Joanna Shepard. Alex Mason drives Mycroft off and mourns for the loss of his old friend and lover. It is revealed that Joanna and Alex had secretly married several years after fully joining the Brotherhood but had never been able to conceive a child.

2346- Manifest forces seem to pop out of nowhere more often, harassing Alliance operations throughout the Sol system. Mycroft is deemed a terrorist, but so far no success has been made in apprehending him. An exploration ship analyzing Pluto discovers a hidden mass within the ice while a survey team on Mars finds a hidden ruin that bears no signs of Prolat design.

Hannah Shepard gives birth to John Shepard.

Manifest forces, believing that a new mining operation on Pluto is a cover to recover more alien technology, attacks the site. Alex Mason responds with his personal ship and takes part in the Battle of Pluto. Over two hundred Manifest personnel and eighty Alliance miners and forty soldiers are killed. A resulting explosion causes Pluto to begin to crack apart in the area of the mining site, revealing a massive construct that begins to activate and further shatter the entire planet. Both sides retreat to their vessels and watch as Pluto is reduced to nothing, leaving only a massive artificial construct that contains a core of some unknown material in its place.

More Alliance forces arrive and drive away the Manifest raiders before securing the constructs.

The alien outpost on Mars suddenly activates in response to the construct. Alliance marines secure the site under command of the Brotherhood of Steel and wait for Jason Maxson to arrive.

Analysis of the outpost and construct reveal that the apparent builders were named Protheans, who had observed earth around fifty thousand years ago but had abandoned the outpost for unknown reasons. The Alliance discovers Element Zero and begins to implement it along with Mass Effect technology into both military technology and every day appliances. The most important discovery is that the Mass Relay is capable of transporting entire fleets across the galaxy within mere moments, and that there is an entire network of similar relays.

Prolat ingenuity and the designs derived from the Prothean Cache on Mars push development of star ships forward, skipping past decades or centuries of development and allowing the Alliance to begin full construction of space capable ships in mass. In addition the Alliance is able to heavily upgrade its computers with the creation of micro processors derived from Prothean technology (which turns out to be more easily adaptable than Prolat designs), but for the most part only minor features of the new technology are adapted to the Alliance's military hardware.

While there is wonder at what lays beyond the relay...there is also fear for what might come through it one day.

2347- Fixed gun emplacements are moved into position near the relay along with the entire Alliance 1st Fleet and the Brotherhood of Steel's flotilla is on standby to assist.

Alliance President Gregory Irons, grandson of William Irons, decides to arrange for a manned mission through the Mass Relay, lead by Captain Jon Grissom aboard the Wanderer. This result yields the discovery of a new system with several other relays located throughout it, appearing to be a hub system of some kind. Once confirmed that the relay in Sol connects only to the relays located in the Arcturus System. The Brotherhood of Steel's fleet is positioned there to keep an eye on the area while the 1st Fleet guards the Sol side of the Charon Relay.

Within several months a series of survey platforms and drones are dispatched into the Arcturus System, but it is only when Arcturus Station itself is pulled through the relay that the Brotherhood of Steel is able to recall its fleet. Arcturus Station was constructed quickly at the Titan Shipyards and was dispatched along with the first battle group of what is to become the Alliance's 2nd Fleet.

An attempt by Manifest to destroy the relay is unsuccessful, as it appears that conventional explosives and weaponry cannot even damage the relay's hull. The Manifest battle group is destroyed, and plans are made to explore further beyond the Charon relay and even to attempt to explore systems that are not linked to the Mass Relay network.

By this point the 1st Fleet numbers at 132 vessels (8 Mother Ships, 15 Paladin Class Cruisers, 104 Wanderer Class Frigates, 5 Carriers)

The Brotherhood of Steel Fleet numbers at 53 vessels (45 Wanderer Class frigates, 6 Paladin Class Cruisers, 1 Mother Ship (Zeta I) and 1 Carrier)

The 2nd Fleet currently consists of 24 ships (1 Mother Ship, 1 Paladin Class Cruiser, 22 Wanderer Class Frigates) with around a hundred more planned within the next five years.

Total Fleet Number: 10 Mother Ships, 22 Paladin Class Cruisers, 6 Carriers, 171 Wanderer Class Frigates. (209 ships)

2348- First habitable planet discovered. Designated Demeter and marked for colonization.

Demeter Colony founded with a population of over 50 000, a mix of human, necro-human and Meta-Human with even a hundred Theta citizens. The Brotherhood of Steel posts a single company at Demeter on an orbiting space station protected by elements of the Brotherhood's new second flotilla, which is being divided between future colonies alongside the Alliance 2nd Fleet.

2352- Alliance now possesses 5 colony worlds, the latest of which is Shanxi.

The Brotherhood of Steel has been given land on Shanxi to build a new Citadel to act as the Brotherhood's arm out in the colonies.

The 2nd Fleet is now complete and the 3rd Fleet is half finished.

The Brotherhood of Steel has 5 Flotillas now.

First Fleet (Assigned to Sol as the Home Fleet): 135 ships

Second Fleet (Assigned to Arcturus Station): 127 ships

Third fleet (Assigned to patrolling new colonies): 65 ships

1st Flotilla (Assigned to Sol as part of the Home Fleet): 62 ships

2nd Flotilla (Assigned to Arcturus and divided among the colonies): 34 ships

3rd Flotilla (Assigned to patrol between the colonies): 29 ships

4th Flotilla (Assigned to patrol resource colonies and stations): 25 ships

5th Flotilla (Assigned to Arcturus as a reserve force and quick reaction force): 16 ships

Total Fleet Strength: 493 ships

2353- In the latest authorized expedition, first contact with an unknown alien race ensues.

The First Contact War begins.

Total Alliance Population Projection as of 2353

-Base Human (Homo Sapien): 343 million (including any with minor mutations from prolonged and treated radiation exposure and genetic disorders)

-Ghouls (Homo Mortuus): 84 million

-Super Mutants (Homo Mutata): 6 million

-Intelligent Death Claws (Homo Indomitus): 2 million

-Prolat: 1.5 million

-Total Alliance population: 436.5 million

Alliance Member States (not including states still claimed by any of the following)

-New Washington

-New America

-New California Republic

-Mojave Alliance

-New Chinese Empire

-New British Empire

-Roman Catholic Protectorate

-Russia

-Mars (declared a Prolat state)

Other states (extrasolar colonies) are free to petition for independence and representation in Alliance

Xxx

SHIP DESIGNS

Wanderer Class Frigate

-Standard compliment of twenty + six security personnel (can carry up to sixty soldiers)

-Armed with a standard forward plasma cannon and rotating laser turrets, forward and side torpedo bays, kinetic barriers

-Two assault shuttles

160 meters long,

Paladin Class Cruiser

-Standard compliment of ninety + forty security personnel/marine compliment (can carry up to four hundred soldiers)

-Armed with two plasma cannons, broadside laser cannons and laser turrets, forward and side torpedo bays, kinetic barriers

-Six Assault Shuttles

-Twelve Fighters

-840 meters long

Liberty Class Carrier

-Standard compliment of one hundred-ninety + sixty security personnel/marine compliment (can carry up to seven hundred-fifty soldiers)

-Sixty Assault Shuttles

-One hundred eighty Fighters

-Anti Ship Laser Cannons mounted on the side, laser turrets, kinetic barriers

-1060 meters long

Zeta Class Mother Ship

-After modifications, standard compliment of thirty + twenty security personnel (Can carry up to three hundred soldiers)

-Six assault shuttles

-Four Fighters

-Advanced Zeta Beam technology + shielding