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The Citadel Council and Hyper-space Drives
For several minutes we stood there, both Captain Anderson and Nihlus had remained in a state of shock after learning that we had been sent here on our mission from another galaxy. After about four minutes they seemed to begin to stir from their shocked state, Nihlus was the first to form a whole statement by asking "How is it possible? Interstellar travel is hard enough without the use of the Mass Relays; how are you capable of inter-galactic travel when we can barely travel fast enough for interstellar travel?" I looked to Rtas and silently asked if he could explain it to our shocked guests, he nodded to me and then looked at Nihlus and Captain Anderson.
"The first thing you should know is that both of our primary means of FTL flight takes us out of normal space. In fact both the Hyper-Drive and Stargate systems use the subspace strata to achieve faster than light transit thus altering the equation of FTL physics on the base level. I will begin with how the hyper-drive works; when we activate our hyper-drive, we tear open a passage into the subspace strata and enter a layer known as Hyperspace. This layer of space-time is for one, physically smaller than normal space and as thus objects such as stars and planets are physically closer to one another. This is one part of the equation, the next is that inside of the subspace strata at any level the gravitational affects of normal space are not as pronounced as they are normally." Looking at them both Rtas gives them a few moments to process what he has just told them before continuing with his explanation.
Nihlus in a moment of understanding pointed out to us, "What you are doing is basically the same as the Zero Element Drive Core does; you use an energy field to adjust your mass to allow for faster speeds." Rtas shrugged his shoulders before responding, "Basically yes, but it is more involved and your ZE Drive tech does basically the same as our M/I Shields. The M/I Shields short for Mass and Inertia Shield system that lowers our overall mass to near zero; these shields are apart of our standard drive system. Our ships need to be able to perform maneuvers that any ship without an M/I Shield even with what we call Inertial Dampeners would tear itself apart attempting to achieve. Due to this design our M/I Shields are active when ever we are in flight; this is true weather we are in FTL or not."
This time it was Captain Anderson who voiced his thoughts, "Do you know what you have done? Every race within Citadel space is going to what access to your drive technology, and especially the M/I Shields. You have achieved something every civilization in this galaxy has been trying to do for god only knows how long." Both Rtas and I looked at him blankly before Nihlus filled in the missing information for us with, "Captain, Lieutenant; your people have found a means of generating a Mass Effect field without the use of the Zero Element. Due to the rarity of Zero Element itself, the construction of drive cores for ships is prohibitory high; just to construct a fighter roughly five meters in length would cost in the tens of thousands of credits for just the drive core." Now Rtas and I are starting to understand why they are surprised by some of the things we consider normal when it comes to our ship.
Deciding to ask them myself, "So when you said it would take decades to centuries to reach this Citadel with FTL. So I am guessing that your FTL technology uses Zero Element as the base and that you are limited in speed because you need to generate enough power to create the Mass Effect field." Nihlus nodded his head and responded "Correct, and because our means of power generation we can only generate so much energy to produce the fields around our ships. Meaning the bigger the ship and bigger the power generation costs as thus affect the Mass Effect field due to the increased mass of the ship." To Rtas and me, this sounds like an early version of Warp drive tech used by the people of the Delphic Nebula.
Thinking along those lines caused an idea to pops into my head; it was Rtas that managed to ask "So then the Mass Relays manage to provide a boost of energy to your Mass Effect field to allow the ship high grade FTL velocities and you use a Mass Relay at the destination to slow down and ensure you do not over shoot the target." Both Captain Anderson and Nihlus confirm our theories about what we now know of the Mass Relays; it does explain apart of the strange energy emissions coming form this galaxy. Nihlus continued with "We are uncertain about how the Mass Relays operate beyond the FTL flight and communications that they provide, but that is fairly accurate way to explain how they work." 'They are uncertain of how these relays work?' Looking at them I ask "How can you not know how they operate, didn't your peoples build them?"
Again it was Nihlus who answered, "No, the Relays were here long before any of our peoples knew how to make fire let alone travel into space. The Mass Relays and the Citadel were created by an ancient race known as the Protheans; their civilization spanned this galaxy until fifty thousand years ago when they went extinct for some unknown reason. In fact all of our current technology is based on the Prothean ruins from around the galaxy; Mass Effect fields are a Prothean technology that each of our races have learned about from Prothean ruins." Okay, this is odd but not unheard of; case and point is the Sangheili but still something worth investigating.
"If neither of you mind, I am going to ask for a science vessel to be dispatched to perform a full survey on one of the Mass Relays. We will be more than willing to share what ever data we discover with your governments." Both Nihlus and Captain Anderson take a moment before saying that we will have to discuss this with the Citadel Council. I understand their need to have this agreed upon by government leaders; I decide to mention, "I will also send a request during our next data burst to home for any information in our networks on the Protheans. It might take sometime considering that the people back home will have to shift through over fifteen million years worth our records and information, but hopefully we will have something to offer you in that regard." Again both of our guests appear to be shocked senseless for some strange reason, I wonder if it is something I am doing.
This time Captain Anderson sputtered a response, "Did you say fifteen million years?" I nodded in the affirmative and once again they were both silent until Nihlus managed to speak. "Captain Mazikowski, are you telling us that your civilization has been present for nearly fifteen million years?" Shaking my head, "No, not our current civilization; our current civilization is barely a few decades old. Some of the member races have perhaps a few hundred thousand years of space-faring history, such as the Asgard and the Sangheili. It is the Lanteans who are also known as the Ancients or Forerunners, whose civilization and history can be tracked into the tens of millions of years; even further into the billions of years if you include the time they spent as a wondering species across the universe." The look that they gave us this time said that they did not want to believe us; personally it does not matter to me if they believe us or not, but if we have some information on these Protheans then that is all the better.
We had strayed off topic in regards to our FTL methods and so "We strayed off topic and for that we apologize, perhaps we should resume our discussion about the hyper-drive technology?" Captain Anderson appeared to contemplate while Nihlus decided that he needed to report to the Council and dismissed himself to return to the Normandy in order to use the FTL communications on board. I ordered a marine to escort Nihlus off the ship and turned back to Captain Anderson; the look on his face told me that he wanted something.
We did not have to wait long as Captain Anderson took a breath and asked "Captain, can you tell me about your firearms technology? It appears to be different from the norm and I was wondering if you used Mass Effect fields for your weapons like we do." This is one discussion I would prefer not to have, but before I could respond from behind us came "They use what looks to be energy based weapons, but like none I have every heard of before." We turn around to find Gunnery Chief Williams and Mister Alenko, Williams continued with "Sir, these people have handheld energy weapons capable of rapid fire. When we reached the docks and found them being attacked by Husks, their shots passed through Kinetic Barriers as if they did not exist. And again when we faced the Geth, any shot fired from their weapons just passed through the Kinetic Barriers and devastated the Geth."
Letting out a sigh, I have to concede to explaining at least the basics if someone who had managed to understand parts about our weapons at a glance in combat. "Chief Williams is correct and incorrect at the same time; the P-90 that you have seen the marines use is our primary field weapon." Looking at Rtas we both nod in agreement that I should explain the P-90 to them; "The P-90 is a Kinetic/Phased Plasma ordnance weapons system; unlike its recent counterpart of the P-93, the P-90 can be switched between Energy and Kinetic based ordnance but can not fire both simultaneously. The P-90 is equipped with Inertial Dampeners to allow for more fire power in the MAC barrel, and this allows for the rounds fired too reach a fraction of light speed without the marine losing their arm in the process." Chief Williams gave me a hard look before patting what appeared to be her sidearm.
Rtas gave a growl at Chief Williams implied threat towards me with her patting her weapon; Williams looked at Rtas with a smirk "Like a growl will scare me Turian, all you aliens are alike thinking you are better then us." Looking back at me she continued "You, how can you stand an alien on your ship watching your every move. You should just be rid of him before he gets you killed and", but before she could go any further Rtas had her against the bulkhead by her throat. Growling, Rtas spoke with a level of angry that I have never seen from him before. "Human, the next time you think of threatening my Commanding Officer in any way I will personally show you the difference between yourself and a Sangheili Warrior." Just after saying this to her, Williams began to blue from lack of air; "Lieutenant, RELEASE her this instant!" Without delay Rtas released Williams and she dropped to the deck gasping for air, all the while Captain Anderson and Mister Alenko appeared to be shocked by both Rtas and Chief Williams.
Looking at Rtas, I can see that he is disgusted by Chief Williams's words and to an extent so am I but I still will have to do something about his actions. "Lieutenant, you are to remain in your quarters as long as our guests are aboard bearing when you are on duty. I am sorry but your actions have consequences and you will have to take responsibility, Dismissed." With a salute in response Rtas turned and left for the bridge, his head down as he left; I feel sorry for him but he knew full well what would happen if he acted without permission. Turning back to our guests I see Chief Williams once more glaring at Rtas, but as she began to smirk Captain Anderson pronounced on her, "Gunnery Chief, you are to report to the Normandy and remain on board in the mess hall until further notice. Dismissed Solder!"
Williams was escorted off the ship shortly after being reprimanded by Captain Anderson, with a heavy sigh he turned back to me "I apologize for what she has done. I want you to know that not all of us hate aliens, but for some it is harder than others; we have been like this since the First Contact War with the Turians in twenty-one fifty-seven." Without hesitation I respond "I fully understand; for me it is the Cylons and what they did to my original home-world. So I can understand on some level how Chief Williams feels, but at the same time I can not and will not have a blind hatred of aliens because of the actions of a few." Captain Anderson looked at me for a moment and then inclined his head "I am glad that you understand where she and others like her are coming from while at the same time taking the moral high ground."
After a few more minutes both Captain Anderson and myself decide to return to our respective commands and that both of our ships will remain here on Eden Prime until Commander Shepard regains consensus or the Citadel Council demands Nihlus' immediate return. As Captain Anderson disembarks, I agree to inform him the moment Commander Sherpard's status changes in any way. After the departure of our guests, I make way for my office; I pull aside one of the Privates and ordered him to have the XO report to my office.
Stepping inside I look to my desk and the Communication Stones; I did not want to inform anyone outside of my crew that we still have real time communications with home. Just as I sit down to retrieve the stones, Rtas enters the room but he refuses to make eye contact with me. "Rtas, I know that you were trying to protect me from what could be considered a threat; but we both know that out here away from home we need to tread lightly. For what it is worth I am sorry that I had to pull rank like that, but we need to try not to make enemies of anyone we come across." He looked up at me and with a sigh, "You don't need to apologize, it's my fault; my Sangheilian pride overrode my better judgment. I let you down when you needed me as an Executive Officer instead of a comrade; I won't let that happen again."
I give Rtas a small smile, "Thank you for being worried about me Rtas. I think it is time that we report these new developments to the Supreme Council as mandated in our mission orders." Handing Rtas one of the stones and me taking the other, I turn to the dais unit and activate the system. The next thing I know is nothing but darkness; I have never liked the idea of projecting my mind across the universe to another location.
Location: Milky Way Galaxy – Orion Spiral Arm –Sol-Terra
Planet: Earth
City: New Atlantis
Local Time: 19:37:52 of 27-03-07
Within the Central Tower of the two hundred mile wide New Atlantis class city-ship that forms the core of the artificial super continent floating in the Atlantic Ocean, is the center of government for the GRA. The tower is home to the General Assembly which is formed by the representatives of nine hundred plus worlds that have either been colonized or are home-worlds of the member species of the GRA. First there are the Tollan, having officially joined in the GRA calendar year fifteen; it is the Tollan who now make up the majority of the scientists and researchers of the GRA.
The next member species is the Asurans; originally created as a means of fighting the Wraith over ten thousand years ago by the Lanteans of the Pegasus Galaxy, the Asurans developed into a sentient species within a short four years since the conception of the nanite weapon project on planet Asuras. The Asurans officially joined at the end of the seventh year of the current calendar; this occurred due to political upheavals taking place in the Andromeda galaxy and the unknown stance of the Systems Commonwealth. It is noted by historians that the Asurans might not have joined if the Aurora had been present to lead her nine sister ships in a show of force too the Commonwealth and peoples of the Andromeda galaxy.
The next species is the Athosians who were a leading force during the Atlantis Expedition during the earliest years of the GRA's founding. The Athosians represent the human worlds of the Pegasus galaxy in the Supreme Council and are known officially as the fifth member species. The remaining Four species are the founders of the GRA; the forth is the Artificials (AIs, robots, etc.) having been apart of the first Star Forces ships and adding in the creation of hundreds of colonies across the galactic group. The third is the Tua'ri of Earth; the second is the Asgard of the Ida galaxy and the first being the Lanteans themselves.
It was upon the Aurora's return to GRA territory, that the decision to equip all ships with a Lantean/Ori communications stone was made. Due to the limitation of the original design a new control system was designed to allow the travelers to gain a holographic body and their mind be apart of a specially designed mainframe mimicking the Asgard ARK project. This modified design has allowed for travelers to far more readily gain access, since they do not need to wait for a host body to become available to switch places with them; additionally the design change has allowed for travelers to disconnect with a simple verbal command that can be said at any time to their original body.
Shortly the darkness recedes and I find myself within the Communications Center of New Atlantis' Galactic Star Forces Command. Looking to my left I see Rtas just now shaking himself out of the normal shock of disembodiment that is common with using the Communication Stones. Turning to find one of the normally assigned Ensigns who work in the within this area of Command, "Ensign, I need you to contact General Ronson and Supreme Commander Phoenix of the First Fleet. Use code EXG-171-Alpha, First Contact with multiple space faring civilizations of possibly equal technological development." The Ensign salutes and moves off to follow the order I have just given to him; code EXG representing that the source is extra galactic, with code 171 meaning hostile and friendly contract established with multiple species. The remaining segment, in this case Alpha representing the area of coverage of possible contact; Alpha meaning near galaxy wide, Beta meaning star cluster range, Charlie for stellar system, Delta for planetary system only. The rare Echo code meaning either galactic void or none planet based first contact; the Sangheili during first contact fell under Echo, while the Colonials fall under Charlie.
Calling code Alpha has only been done once before and that was during first contact with the Systems Commonwealth of the Andromeda galaxy. The standard response for when a code Alpha First Contact occurs is an immediate meeting of the Supreme Council and if needed a call for the General Assembly. "Rtas, I hope you are ready for this; we are going to be in probably one of the biggest meetings since the academy." We look at each other for a moment before requesting access to the verbal recorders to provide an update to our mission report that was transmitted early this past week. We end up spending the next three hours updating our reports, while we wait for the Supreme Council to call upon us.
It is fifteen minutes after submitting the new mission updates that we are called to stand before the eight most powerful political members of the GRA. Upon entering the council chambers both Rtas and I find ourselves standing with not only General Ronson and Supreme Commander Phoenix, but there is also former Admiral now General William Adama. Our surprise does not end there, because sitting at the table is not only the Councilors but also Representative 'Vadam with Representatives from the Free Jaffa, the Followers of Origins, the Delphic League and the Trade Alliance Guild. The most surprising is the Vedran the Representative of the Systems Commonwealth from the Andromeda galaxy is present; this means that the next few hours will be just that much more important.
For the next six hours the Council debates the possible ramifications of our report; the most prevailing idea thus far is that we pull out and return home. This motion was put down when information from the Atlantis database revealed a Lantean outpost with a Stargate is present near the Citadel, roughly eight light years rimward and that information that was recovered from the outpost included how the Protheans were hunted to extinction by a machine race called the Reapers. When this was reviled, it was then argued that a fleet be sent to secure the outpost against these Reapers; it was decided that three task forces from First Fleet be assigned the task of not only securing the outpost, but to also provide aid to additional ships that will secure strategic areas if the Citadel Council agrees.
With the meeting now ending I nod to Rtas how logs out of the link and then I turn to my father, "Sir, I will attempt to convince the Citadel Council to allow First Fleet entry into Citadel space." Saluting me, he then relaxes slightly "Laura, right now what I am going to say is not from one officer to another, but from father to daughter. Please be careful, we don't know what might happen in the next four weeks during our deployment. Promise me that you will be careful okay." Nodding "I will daddy; I will see you and mom in about four weeks then. I love you," then standing straight "Sir, see you in four weeks and good luck Sir." With one last salute between us I call out the verbal Logout command and once more my awareness goes black.
As my awareness returns to me once more I find myself back aboard the Truth; I turn to Rtas "Looks like things have just gotten serious. It looks like we will have to meet with this Citadel Council soon." "Well Ma'am, things have just gotten a little easier." With the confused look on my face, he explains "Commander Shepard has just regained conciseness and seems to have had some kind of vision. More than likely he now has knowledge of the Reapers; he says that we need to report this to the Citadel Council immediately." This might indeed make it easier to gain at least an audience with the Citadel Council.
As agreed I called Captain Anderson and informed him that Commander Shepard had regained consciousness. Not even ten minutes after the call, Captain Anderson and Nihlus had arrived to talk with us and Commander Shepard. The conversation was short, mostly as we did not mention any information that was not already discussed earlier while Shepard had been unconscious. In the end it is agreed that Nihlus would remain aboard the Truth to help us navigate the Mass Relays to reach the Citadel.
It took all of twenty minutes for the remaining marines to return to the Truth and for the Normandy and Truth to clear the ground and make for orbit. Once in orbit, we set course for the Mass Relay; due to the ZE drive as Rtas is calling their engine tech our track to the Exodus Cluster Mass Relay took roughly seventeen hours. During this time the Normandy transmitted star charts to us and Bob 'who had yet to reveal himself to Nihlus', converted and matched the star charts to our system giving us a greater mapping of this galaxy.
Once we reached the Mass Relay, with the data from the Normandy and aid from Nihlus we made our first Mass Relay jump. Coming out of the jump, "Lieutenant Knight, give me a sensor scan of the area." Nihlus shock his head, but the Lieutenant spoke before Nihlus could, "Ma'am I have several objects ahead of us. It looks to be mostly ships of Frigate size, some Battlecruiser and at least one Gunship sized." Nihlus gave a sigh "That would be the Citadel Fleet, the largest fleet ever assembled."
Both Knight and Rtas gave snorts at what Nihlus considered large, while I said nothing one way or the other. The one hundred some odd ships would perhaps be considered half a fleet. Sensors also showed us the Citadel itself; the station is a bit more impressive than the fleet guarding it. What we could detect shows that it is roughly thirteen kilometers wide and forty-five kilometers long and has a gross mass of roughly ten million metric tons. Sensors also show that there are approximately eight million life-signs on board the massive five tier station.
After waiting three minutes the Normandy transitioned through the Mass Relay; with their arrival Nihlus, myself and Team-1 of the marines on board transferred over to the Normandy via Jumper. Prior to leaving Eden Prime, it was agreed that the Truth will remain near the Citadel Mass Relay while the Normandy carry me and some of my marines to the Citadel to meet with the Council.
Our approach to the Citadel was quick compared to the amount of traffic; this was explained when a message for Captain Anderson stated that Ambassador Udina had ensured that we would have priority landing clearance and that we are to immediately report to the Citadel Council. Landing and then marking our way to the Citadel Tower took at least twenty minutes.
We passed what I was told is a C-Sec officer; he appeared to have been arguing with his superior about his investigation into Saren's activities. I paid it little mind, but noted the look on the officer's face as we passed and how he mentioned to Commander Shepard that he believes that Saren is up to something.
As we walked up the remaining stairs to the Council Chambers, I can hear yelling "He is responsible for the attack on Eden Prime. I demand that his Spectre status be revoked before he can cause anymore harm." Reaching the top step I see what has to be one of the Council reply "The investigation has shown no evidence to support your claim. Ambassador, we warned your people about colonizing near the Terminus systems and now you are paying the price for not heeding our warnings."
I see three beings on the other side of the room, the first from my left to right looks like Nihlus and as thus must be the Turian Representative. Next is a blue skinned woman that according to Nihlus is an Asari and the last is a robed being that I have just learned once more from Nihlus is a Salarian. The human ambassador continued yelling for another minute about how Saren should not be allowed to walk away unpunished. Before the Councilors could dismiss the ambassador, I step forward "Perhaps I can be of some assistance in regards to proof of Mister Saren's activities in relation to Eden Prime."
The different Councilors whispered to each other for a moment and then the Turian Representative turned towards us, "Just who are you and want proof do you have about Saren that can support Ambassador Udina's claims." Looking straight at the Councilors, "I am Captain Laura Mazikowski; Galactic Star Forces of the Great Races Alliance and commanding officer of the Icarus class Fast Attack Frigate the Truth's Light. As for the proof, I have brought with me a team of my marines whom had encountered Mister Saren on Eden Prime."
Each of the Councilors looked at me; the Turian with distrust evident in his look, the Asari and Salarian with curiosity. This will more than likely be a long meeting.
Next Time: First Contacts, Fights and First Fleet
Captain Mazikowski has a hard task before her as she tries to convince the Citadel Council that she represents some other than the Systems Alliance. Commander Shepard, Alenko, Williams and Team-1 search the Wards for additional proof of Saren's betrayal after the Council dismisses the Marine Testimony and Video logs provided by the Truth. And back in GRA home space elements of the First Fleet prepare for the mission to join the Truth's Light in Citadel space