Migrant Falling: Prologue 01
"There are no secrets time does not reveal."- Jean Racine, Human Playwright
First contact between the Citadel Races and Humanity occurred during the Relay 314 Incident in 2657CE. That's the official story. Written as doctrine in every history book, official file, and taught in each classroom in Citadel space. Its common knowledge, ingrained in the psyche of each race, and preached as gospel from the pulpit of the sanctioned position. There is even an element of truth in the official story. When a Turian patrol encountered a small group of Human craft at the Relay, it was the first contact between legitimate members of each faction. But it isn't the truth. It wasn't the first encounter between these races.
Beyond Citadel Space and the Attican Traverse, the dubious Terminus systems slowly and steadily expanded their nebulous borders. New races were encountered, ships from distant and bizarre ports, and places far beyond the realms where the Protheans had ever dwelled. Actual contact had been off and on for centuries, it was second and third hand, mysterious, rumors from the edge of space that were denied, ignored, or buried in labyrinth bureaucracy of the Citadel.
In 1674CE the Batarian Tarak Vorhess wrote a book Beyond the Relays. He claimed that he went on a decade long voyage beyond the Relays in the Terminus systems into unexplored space. During his journey he meets a strange alien he dubbed "the Shadow Man", a strange Asari like figure wreathed in darkness, who became his traveling companion. While exploring the Shadow Man advises Vorhess to hide from a massive dreadnaught that he claimed claims belonged to the "Hive," as it would likely attack them. While it was written as an autobiography Beyond the Relays was widely regarded as a fiction, but did spawn several conspiracy theories and developed a cult following that lasted for several decades.
In 1858CE Salarian STG examined the planet 433 Spidau in the Attican Traverse. They found several derelict orbital satellites, drifting hulks of spacecraft, and scans showed the ruins of over ninety cities on the planet with considerable ambient radiation. Close examination of the planet revealed that the damage was recent, barely seventy years old. It was declared to the galactic public that the Spidau killed themselves in several nuclear wars. However several on site investigators found evidence that revealed alien involvement. All evidence, reports, photographs, and data were filed into the STG Archives and given a vermilion grade security clearance. As per STG regulations all evidence was expunged in the 2400 centennial Archive review, after it was determined that no one other than Archive reviewers had looked at the files and evidence in two hundred years.
Beginning in 1903CE, there are dozens of reported contacts over the following centuries in the deep Terminus systems with "Dark Ships". The ships trade bits of advanced technology for unusual objects, information, or people. Urban myths of the "collectors", a strange humanoid race with spiked armor and advanced weapons become common. Dozens of investigations by Specters, STG, and other organizations produce no reliable evidence or witnesses to prove the existence of these "Collectors". Rumors persist.
In 2395CE the Geth revolted against their Quarian creators, driving them from their homeworld and all their colonies in the Perseus Veil. When the Geth didn't follow, the Citadel Council breathed a collective sigh of relief and simply ordered the region off limits. But just because the Geth did not invade the Citadel, did not mean they were idle. Their fleet and armies burgeoned, their shipyards swelled, and they began to expand under the blind eyes of the Citadel. By 2398CE they encountered the abandoned outer colonies of mankind and began entering into conflict with Human warships and soldiers over the remains of their shattered Empire. There was evidence of conflict of course, a steady stream of Geth Warships and legions of Geth warframes out of the Perseus Veil… but if anything ever reached the Council it was so thoroughly repressed that by 2657CE all of it had effectively never existed.
But these are shadow events, hidden wrinkles in the tapestry of history stretching over a millennium. Easily overlooked minutia further obscured by the passage of time. But the real contact, where the citadel censors and bureaucratic defenders of the status quo swung into overdrive, where facts and uncomfortable truths were executed behind chemical sheds and relevant witnesses ostracized and discredited, began in 2399 when the Migrant Flotilla were banished from the Citadel Council and exiled to the Terminus systems. Rather than live as refugees in a fleet of dying ships, The Migrant Fleet set a course beyond known space, past the Traverse, Terminus, and Perseus Veil, into the unknown regions beyond relay 314. Into Darkness.
I'm way too rusty for my own good
I just wanted to give some honorable mentions here… The Destiny/Mass Effect community is a small one, and if these guys hadn't tried to get the ball rolling I wouldn't have tipped my hat into the game. So thanks guys, my hats off to you… and I'm an Admiral. It's an impressive hat. Wide brim, big feathers, baby seal upholstery. Seriously no expense spared on this monster.
TheLastEidolon: The Gathering Darkness. An interesting take on what happens when the Citadel goes exploring. I found the Human side of his story rather bland, but the Citadel characters interesting and boldly going somewhere... which is unusual for Mass Effect fics and an always welcome change.
Fyiad: Son of Light. A character joins the Mass Effect 2 crew story. It's well written, and worth a read, and occasionally the main character's thoughts and dialogue are genuinely interesting. The only minor annoyance I have with this fic is that Odin seems to have every exotic in the game, and always seems to have the right power ready to go. It's probably a terrible thing to say, but I find myself desperately wanting a scene where he gets creamed because he has the wrong weapon or subclass equipped.
What is Migrant Falling? My take on a Destiny/Mass Effect Universe. Best regards- Admiral Saris.