"You did what, Commander?" General Desolas Arterius stared into the eyes of the patrol commander's hologram.
"We attacked the ship that had activated the Mass Relay. Unfortunately, its kinetic barriers where able to withstand our attack until it was able to flee to FTL. We posted a scout to watch for their return, but they haven't reported anything yet," the young Turian stood firmly as he gave his report. Desolas could see the resolve in the young Turian; he truly thought he had done the right thing and was willing to defend his actions if need be. Not that Desolas disagreed with him.
"You did well Commander to uphold the laws. Resupply and prepare your men for deployment."
"As you command General." Desolas sat back into his chair, terminated the communication. This was a headache. Now there were going to have to find this group of law breakers who activated Mass Relay 314. If it was probably some new group trying to get around the Citadel Council's prohibitions on activating Mass Relays, trying to find untapped resources and so for. If that was the case he would need to organize a search in all the local clusters to find their home base. But, if the Relay had been activated on the other side by this ship, he may find himself facing a First Contact scenario. Which could prove quite troublesome, considering his patrol commander had attacked their ship.
Unfortunately, that was the most likely option as the ship design was unlike anything they had seen before. It could always be the Geth, but no, the Geth hadn't been seen in years. That, and there was the disturbing lack of any sign that the ship had an element zero drive core. Nor had any of his patrol frigates detected any sign of ezeo. Yes, they were probably aliens, ignorant to Citadel law, but the guilty still needed punishment. And if they chose to fight back, the Turians would crush them.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Four frigates and a destroyer. That seemed like enough when all we had to deal with was the occasional pirates. Now we got another Covenant war on our hands." General Williams sat heavily into the proffered chair. His host Captain Cunningham, the commander of the Eden Prime naval defense force, offered him a drink.
"Don't worry General; Commander Taylor preformed the Cole Protocol. Even if they could track them, they won't be coming here. Not anytime soon anyway." He calmly sat down in a chair facing General Williams. "By the time they found us, there will be several task forces within a several minutes jump of us."
General Williams waved his hand dismissively. "I've heard those arguments before, but I've also heard something that disturbing me." Captain Cunningham looked expectantly at him. "As you know, my forces are mixed species. Well, one of the Elites under my command knows the Elite researcher that was on the Shanxi. Apparently, she told him that the artifact took them to another artifact, like some kind of relay station."
Captain Cunningham raised an eyebrow, "and this troubles you becauseā¦"
"Because she thinks the aliens have based their technology on them."
"General, I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you are getting at."
"Maybe it is because I'm army and your navy," He let out an exasperated sigh, "but the idea that that thing is some kind of relay station is stuck in my mind. If that thing is like a relay station, then they should be able to find out where it leads."
Captain Cunningham thoughtfully looked past his shoulder. He swore, his eyes widening. "They know where we are!" Springing from his chair he sprinted to his desk. "Ending Summer!" A small long robed holographic AI appeared. "Get me Admiral Checkskey! And get a Pelican here on the double! General," Captain Cunningham lifted his gaze back to him, "Get your men ready, and pray that you're wrong."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"General Desolas. Your presence is required in the CIC." General Desolas looked away from his letter to Saren, up at the vid screen displaying the Sword of Gothis' Captain.
"I'll be there in a moment." Closing his letter, he stood up and made his way to the nearest elevator. Things should be getting exciting; otherwise he would not be needed on in the CIC. If it was anything routine, he knew the Flag Captain would take care of it.
"Report!" He barked as soon as he walked into the CIC.
Flag Captain Lantar held out a data pad. "One of the scout frigates that went beyond the Relay has returned. It's the only one that made it back and it's severely damaged sir."
"I see. What did they find, Captain?"
"They found our Relay activators. The scans are incomplete, but they appear to be a young race. Only four warships could be found in system. Unfortunately, the scouts were attacked by said warships soon after arriving through the Relay."
General Desolas nodded. "I see. Prep the fleet. It is time to we put these upstarts and lawbreakers in their place." He turned to the holographic representation of his fleet, once again glad Command had been serious enough to send him two additional Dreadnoughts and their escorts. He would teach these aliens what it meant to break Citadel Law.
Author's Note:
This chapter is a little shorter, mainly because that is what I felt was more appropriate for these events. I also thought I would point out the paradigms that would help lead up to the coming chapters. Have a cookie if you spot them.
As always, if you have suggestions and so forth, I do take them into account. Or if you have questions, PM me or ask it in a Review and I will address it.
Some things that I was made aware of:
Point of view of the last chapter was from Kialn, a female Sangheili.
Susan is the human AI on board the research vessel the Shanxi.
The SA is the Species Assembly, kind of a UN but for the humans and some of the former Covenant member species (Hunters will be a part of them Matt, fear not).
The USA is the United Species Alliance. As the UNSC(United Nations Space Command) is for the UEG(United Earth Government), USA is for the Species Assembly.
Wingofpain: A Mass Relay just creates a corridor of space of near absolute zero mass. A mass effect core is not needed.
The ABC sucks and Reviewer 196: "Girls, girls, you're both pretty!" Roxanne Ritchi. I have taken your comments into account but I must kindly ask you to not turn the review section into a forum board for arguing with other reviewers. If you a feel a correction is in order, please do so in a kind and constructive manner, or contact me so that I can address it in an author's note. I do not want to invoke my rights to delete and ban anonymous reviews.
