Chapter 2: History lesson required
Thanks goes to Ghost501 for Beta Reading this chapter.
General Oraka had a mixed expression of anger, surprise, and shame. No one could blame him. The thought of a general who survived through Krogan Rebellion allowing himself and his fleet to be caught in a surprise attack was one thing.
But to get caught by pirates, criminals with no sense of tactic and disciple to lead people properly and were driven by greed and the desire to cause chaos, of all people. Now that was an insult to his title and his experience as the best general Hierarchy had to offer!
The fact that an alien ship, only the size of a Frigate, was his savior didn't help either. Armed with Anti-Capital Ship grade Direct Energy Weapon or not, he had been saved by these newcomers of the galactic community who has yet to discover Element Zero technology. His pride has been wounded.
Still, as the elder general of the enforcer fleet stared at the alien fleet, which were regrouped with their reinforcement which just jumped into the system a few hundred thousand kilometers away from where his fleet is regrouping, he couldn't help but wonder in amazement how can these aliens were able to create something that the best scientists of Salarian Union, with the backup from vaults containing technology of Prothean, could not do. It was something thought impossible for thousands of years, a direct energy weapon and Faster-than-Light travel without discovering Element Zero…!
His musing was cut short as his XO tell him that the Citadel Council was on the line waiting for him…
Finally, he thought irritably at the slowness the politicians. Granted it was just one hour after his clash with pirate, but the point still stood since they were the one who sent him after those pirates in the first place with underwhelming fleet that were nearly wiped out by a surprise attack…
It was no surprise that Oraka was less than pleased when the face of Turian councilor Sparatus appeared on the main holographic projector on the bridge along with their associates Citadel councilors: Tevos from Asari Republic, who looked just like those 'Female Human' he just saw in the first contact package they sent, except that Asari had blue skin and squid-like hair. And lastly, someone from Salarian Union, the race of amphibian, big eyes, tall, lean figure, that he doesn't bother to learn his name because they had such a damn short lifespan compared to his species. Oraka thought he would go crazy trying to memorize them all.
Still, they were his bosses and the bosses of the rest of people in known space in Citadel Species. He would have to hold his attitude for now and provide them with straight answers to all actions he made. After all, he valued professionalism just like any other Turian, even if he had to work for someone he doesn't like for the greater good.
"General Oraka, we've read the report about your pirate hunt and the Relay 314 incident…" Councilor Sparatus spoke with clear satisfaction, "First things first, your action is commendable. I'll give you credit for doing good to uphold our laws in Citadel space no matter the cost…"
The aged general narrowed his eyes a little when thinking about his dead comrades and shook his head, "No sir, I should have done better; if I had my subordinates wouldn't have died…"
"Their sacrifice was for the greater good of the galaxy. Their service will be remembered," Sparatus cut his rants short and Oraka fell silent once more as the Councilor continued, "Your second in command and the rest of your fleet also vouched for you. It was not your fault; no one ever used those tactics of ramming warship just as they exited the Relay before."
"As much as you wish to comfort your General, Councilor Sparatus," the Salarian Councilor spoke up in his distinctly unique rapid-fire streams of words, "we have more pressing matter at hand; namely, the first contact with new species on the other side of Relay 314. The reports say that they have yet to achieve light speed travel but have already invented a direct energy weapon. Fascinating…"
"Actually," Oraka tried to speak but was interrupted by his own Councilor who questioned the Salarian, "They seem to progress in a strange way. We should annex them into our community for the greater good."
Salarian shook his head, "No, no, too complicated. Aside from their energy weapon and surprisingly fast ship, without Eezo, nothing else will benefit us. They'll be a burden. Considering they have such advanced weaponry suggests they are a warlike civilization. We don't want another Krogan Rebellion, do we?"
Salarians always saw the here and now, a side effect of short lifespan. Just another thing that made Oraka dislike them. The Asari on the other hand…
Tevos glared at her fellow Councilor before she voiced her thought in her species trademarked calm, ethereal voice, "Denied. They're obviously intelligent being like us and to say they're warlike just because they helped General Oraka fight pirates in self-defense is uncalled for. They were just defending themselves, Councilor Sarltin. If they were really bloodthirsty warmongers, like you suggested, General Oraka wouldn't be here with us anymore."
'Ah, so that's the name of the current Salarian Councilor', Oraka thought bitterly. Salarian only say the aliens as some resource to be harvested, which pretty much put him in the same category as those pirates.
He decides to interrupt the two arguing Councilors, "Excuse me Councilors; it seems that the information I sent to you earlier seem to be outdated…"
The Council shared a look of confusion as Oraka explained, "Their reinforcement used some form of FTL to jump into the system, just few minutes before you called me. And yes, we still have no Eezo reading on their ships."
"Impossible…!" Tevos's eyes widen, hands over her mouth, while her fellow Council shared the same surprised face or whatever the equivalent of that to their respective species, "Element Zero is the basis of FTL flight in all known space. How can they achieve that without discovering Element Zero at all?"
"This is interesting…" the Salarian Councilor attitude seemed to almost 180, "I think we should keep them around, provided that they share their knowledge with us of course…"
"I think we're getting off topic here, with all due respect," Oraka commented barely hiding his irritation at the political game playing out in front of him, "I'm asking for instruction about what to do next regarding our First Contact? They have sent us a package contains only pictures describing about their home world. How they're here so far and asking to study our language. It seems that they've discovered and activated the Mass Relay in their home system. Not that I can blame them for not knowing our laws, but it still strange that despite discovering the relay, yet they seem to not reverse-engineer Element Zero into their tech at all."
The reason for Oraka got these packages was because Prairie changed her decision at the last minute regarding translation from Captain Shepard. Seeing that the translation was in new language, sending First Contact packages in such language could result in a misunderstanding.
And although there was Turian language in the data they downloaded from Batarian pirate, using it might alarm them of their hacking ability. So just to be safe, she edited all the texts in Batarian out before sending them, much to chagrin of Captain Shepard who worked hard for that package. But Prairie decided that it would be better if they wait for these 'Turian' to send them their package to study first before trying to use their language so they don't need to answer some complicate questions.
The three Councilors looking among themselves in thought, before Sarltin spoke up, sly looking on his face while snapping his finger, "I'd say ask them to send a diplomat to Citadel with you escorting them, this way we can demonstrate the might of our galactic community, quelling any thought of repeating the Krogan Rebellion. Plus it might persuade them into sharing tech and knowledge with us, or give a chance for STG to steal it"
"Sarltin…" Tevos warned her fellow Councilor, "Although I agree to have them board the Citadel to discuss with us in term of joining galactic community, I'll not allow your STG to ruin thing by such stupid plan you cooked up. We still haven't forgotten your handiwork in uplifting Krogan yet. Do you agree with this, Sparatus?" she asks Turian Councilor with a voice that sounds like she's making him an offer he can't refuse.
And how can he refuse it? Her reasoning was sound, "I have to agree with Tevos, there's a better benefit for building a long-term trust compared to your plan, Sarltin…"
As Salarian Councilor shook his head in resignation to the vote, before Tevos changing their topic,"Let's list up things we need to prepare then…"
No one heard Oraka's complaint about his fleet needing to be fixed before they could guide the newcomer to the Citadel at all. The Turian general was resigned to giving orders to his comrades without caring whatever those politicians were discussing. In the end, they had to brief him afterward anyway…
Twelve Earth standard hours later…
In the void of space of Serpent Nebula sector, one colossal structure with five gigantic 50 kilometer long arms spreading out in five directions around its center drifted gently. Between the arms, ships of various sizes are leaving, docking carrying passengers and cargo without rest.
Far away from this structure float another Mass Relay, the only gateway into this fortified fortress, its core spinning slowly without any care in the universe…
Without any indication, a kilometer-long Turian dreadnought along with two Turian cruisers and frigates appeared in front of the artifact flew slowly toward the gigantic structure that was guarded by a token fleet composed of various design ships of various sizes from all corners of the known space... the Citadel Fleet.
Soon after, another five capital ships emerged from the Relay. Three of them were Konigsberg Class Patrol Cruiser; another two was a ship which shared the same basic design as Konigsberg, larger than Konigsberg, but smaller than Turian cruisers by a few hundred meters. Their bows had a large hole bored through the front of the ship. Two tri-barrel shock cannon turrets were on the main forward deck and one at the rear. The bridge superstructure, although bigger than Konigsberg's, was equipped with a much smaller sensor array, point defense lasers scattered throughout the ships, two side missile launchers on both side of its hull.
These are the workhorse of the Earthnoid Cosmo Force, Borodino Class Battleship…
On the bridge of the lead Patrol Cruiser Light of Sol, crews were staring in awe at the colossal structure where the meeting was supposed to take place. They wondered just how can these race managed to achieved such engineering feat, while some sensible comrades reminded them that this thing was found, not built by them if the first contact data Turian gave to their Admiral, who shared it with everyone aboard, were anything to go by. After a few rounds of explanation, the crews, Reploid and Human alike, settled to watch the scenery. The blue-tints reflection of Serpent Nebula surrounding this place created an awe-inspiring art of nature they never seen anywhere in the explored space before…
As for the Captain of said ship (also the Admiral of the fleet) herself, however, she was busy reading her data in bored expression more than paying attention to the beautiful scenery outside of the bridge…
21XX AD Dr. Cain discovered capsule containing Dr. Thomas Light's latest creation, X, and using X's template, the first Reploid comes to be in the next year, making X the father of all Reploid.
21XX+2 AD Day of Sigma, Beginning of the first Reploid rebellion
22XX AD Elf War ended with Omega sealed away in space and Dr. Weil exiled
2332 AD. Ragnarok destroyed, Dr. Weil presumed dead, Reploid and Humanity finally united together after centuries of strife and struggle.
2532 AD. End of Maverick war as the last piece of Biometal W and Maverick on earth destroyed, Beginning of the Age of Space Exploration
2632 AD. Present day…
"So… Master Thomas," Prairie asked annoyed. She turned away from the data pad displaying wall of texts explaining the history of their kind towards the holographic displaying the two member of Legion, the Sage Master Thomas and Master Mikhail, who somehow quickly contacted them after they exited the Relay thanks to the nanosecond-accurate ETA calculation on both sides, "Tell me why I have to relearn history class like this again when we have giant Alien space station sitting in front of us?"
The gruff-looking red haired Reploid with a huge beard and dressed in robes gazed back from screen, before replying with seriousness in his voice, "That's exactly why, Admiral Prairie, this community of Aliens has some culture that's quite… hostile… toward us…"
Prairie's eyebrow raised a little, "What do mean by that?"
"Based on data that Captain Shepard gathered during battle, it seems that we have made contact with a collective of species, not a single one."
"That much I know. Two of them were fighting each other when we found them," Prairie reminded the Legion Councilor in sour mood. Working for the good of their kind or not, she couldn't shake the fact that this man once made a plan to reshape world in his image, which wasn't better than Master Albert in a slightest, "My memory isn't that rusty you know, Master Thomas."
Master Thomas's face barely changed. His eyebrow furrowed as if something interrupted his thoughts and let the short-old man-looking Master Mikhail take the stage, "Ah, my apology, Prairie, the point Thomas wanted to make is their collective policy toward Artificial Intelligence or in other word, us…"
After quickly tabbing a few times and scrolling down the datapad, Admiral found the article in question. In seconds she read it all; her expression colder by a few degrees "I see. So you're going to ask me to refuse joining their Citadel Convention, correct?"
Mikhail nodded, "That would be correct, and I had decided to make you Reploid representative while Aile will handle the Human side. As existence of Legion and Reploid contradict to their law, I doubt that they'll listen to what you wanted to say if you go alone. So having a human alongside might lessen the antagonism enough for us to have at least peace talk…"
Ah, she nearly forgot that the relief force was sent from Arcturus station where her old friend and subordinates, wielder of the legendary Biometal, Alie spending her vacation during her long off-duty for the first time in 70 years. Thus it was no surprise that she would hop aboard one of these Borodino when the distress signal hit that station and the dispatch order were carried out.
"At least I won't have to think this by myself…" Prairie sighed tiredly before addressing Master Mikhail once more, "Anything I needed to know in particular?"
"Well, there's one thing I want you to be careful of," Master Mikhail fidgeting his fingers nervously, "You should try to keep Aile in line. She's… a bit hothead. If their diplomats tell you to go to hell for being an outlaw existence, I'm afraid that she'll Megamerge and kicks their ass, as in human words 'consequence be damned'".
"No kidding. I can almost imagine she'll do just that…"
"Imagine I'll do what?"
Prairie nearly choked on her word as a familiar voice interrupted her from behind. Whirling around, she saw a tall woman in black bodysuit covered by blue flak jacket and white pants whose look seem no older than 20, with brown hair tied in a long ponytail that shot past her hip, exposing her metallic earpiece. Her playful green eyes gazed at her and the Legion's image communication with interest.
And next to this woman, a floating metallic object that looks like a head with blue helmet and white face along with triangle crystal on the forehead also gazing back and forth between Prairie and the woman as if it wasn't sure what to do.
"Er… hello, Aile…" The Admiral spoke first, smiling nervously as she just gossiped about her friend not a second ago, "When did you come aboard my ship? I haven't heard my crews saying anything."
Aile crossed her arms while smiling mischievously at the Reploid which seem to promise retribution for gossiping, "You saying that I'm a hothead with 'talk to the fist' policy aren't you?"
If Prairie could sweat, she was sure she would to be soaking wet. She tried to back away in vain while trying to calm her friend down "Now, now Aile, I'm just stating the truth, aren't I? We're going to negotiate with an alien species soon. So we're discussing about you to be Human representative and how you should behave yourself least they got the wrong impression; you should put that Taser away. Wait, why do you have it aboard in the first place?"
The bridge officers of the Flagship Light of Sol erupted into laughter as their admiral was being chased around by her friend. All composure of her position got thrown out of the windows; greatly lighten the atmosphere of trying a peaceful negotiation with other spacefaring species that weigh on their mind at the expense of their admiral's dignity. Even the sentient Biometal refused to stop the rampage; he knew Aile well enough that getting in the way now is asking for trouble.
Master Thomas and Master Mikhail looked at the chaos from the communication panel with unsure expression, before the giant red haired Reploid ask his partner, "Are you sure we can trust them to do this job?"
Master Mikhail adjusted his glasses a little, before replying, "Like you have other suggestion, and besides, they're already there…"
Master Thomas sighed in resignation while watching the Human woman catching their Admiral in a headlock earning a groan of pain from the receiving end, "We just hoping for the best are we?"
"Indeed…"
Soon the convoy passed the patrol of the Citadel consisting of one three-kilometer dreadnought that looks like a Mola fish with an additional horizontal fin and oval hole in the center of the hull from bow to stern, dozens of cruisers and frigates of design not belongs to Turian, along with Turian's own fleet. When coupled with the fact that those "arms" of the giant station could be closed down into a giant cylinder tube protecting everyone inside from invasion, it was a formidable defense.
After the small, angular and slightly singed shuttle from the Turian dreadnought docked with Light of Sol to retrieves two diplomats and their escorts from the Earthnoid, it disengaged from the Earthnoid Cruiser and sped off toward the colossal structure in the distance passing through those Citadel fleet without a fuss.
As to why they didn't just move their cruiser to dock with the Citadel, Master Thomas, the Sage Trinity, who seemed to be on a cynical steroid for most of his life, reasoned that they were protecting the secret of Wave Motion theory and teleportation technology better this way. Master Mikhail approved of this in advance. Prairie and Aile had been asked for a ride from the Turian General instead.
Speaking of which…
"Sorry if the shuttle is a bit roasted, Miss. We both just out of a frying pan after all…" an aged Turian General Oraka commented from his seat right next to the pilot's cockpit to two of his guests sitting on the opposite side. Meanwhile, their escorts, two human and two Reploid soldiers in full battle uniform with mask covering their whole face sat behind them with their Buster sidearm, "But I thought that your race have only two genders like us Turians from your first contact package sent to us. Why did they choose only females for this job?"
"We're the only suitable candidates at the moment," replied the blonde haired girl who was dressed in a pink long coat and form-fitting pink dress. Her strange pink hat was on her lap revealing a red triangle marking on her forehead while her blue eyes glanced at the Turian's scales-like face, especially the mandibles that acted like a mouth with curiosity,"Aile here was a representative of humans while I'm the eldest person and holding highest authority on the patrol fleet. Thus I have to come as her support, and…" she pointed her thumb at their back where her escort seated, "They're male, only that they don't take off their mask to let you see."
"Do the elderly mean experience in your culture, Admiral Prairie?" Oraka inquired again after her explanation, as trying to not make his guest nervous. Their guard just acted as if they weren't there; a good quality for those in such duty that he must commended though.
But to tell the truth, somehow Oraka felt on edge as he looked at the blonde companion. Despite her looks, shape, form and expression looks pretty much like her seemingly airhead brunette friend or any organic species in Citadel space for that matter. Her very presence seems to extrude wrongness that he couldn't quite place a finger (or talon) on what was off with her. And it was not about how fluent she spoke Turian language, since it's just a translator at work after all…
Still, such negative thought or antagonism has no place in such crucial moment like trying to make peaceful first contact. He would have to endure it for now.
"For me, it is…" Prairie replied, her eyes look distance "But for other, it depends…"
Aile looked at the Turian for a moment before turned back to enjoying the scenery again causing the Turian to chuckle, "Well, I see your reason now. It seems that you'll do most of the talking."
The only human representative aboard Turian shuttle didn't reply because she still didn't get used to the translation software installed on her cybernetic implant yet, unlike her Reploid friend who has already studied it beforehand. And unlike Prairie who had an impressive experience in both warrior and political role, Aile preferred the former and throw the latter out of the consideration despite having so many opportunity in the past to do so.
"Well, she just installed the translation software seconds before you arrived. It'll take a while to adjust before she can talk with you." Prairie formed up an excuse as her friend glared at her embarrassed by the possible implications.
Small revenge for putting her through that painful headlock, Prairie smirked inwardly.
But that revenge came at a price. Suddenely, Aile broke the silence by snapping at Prairie, forgoting that her equipment was still active and translate whatever she said for Oraka to hear as well "Yeah, I'm not a Reploid like you, even with my implants it still take time to adjust you know…"
That caught attention of the aged Turian general, as he just heard the term that not even the first contact package contained. Thus he asked the two who comically pouting at each other, "What is 'Reploid', you called yourself Earthnoid in the package you sent to us had you not?"
Blood seems drained from Alie's face as she realized she just said something she didn't supposed to. Prairie frowned at her friend but as her eyes glanced at the curious alien nearby she knew that damage was already done. When she thought about it, they're going find out eventually anyway. She might as well tell them on her own term.
Especially when they're still in the pickup range of teleporter from their ships…
Steeling herself, Prairie looked at the Turian with both eyes before replies casually, "Have you ever tried to use any scanner on me since we met?"
The Turian general replied back without thinking, "No, that would be rude for first contact. It's just as bad as we're trying to dissect a new species on sight; if they realized that we're doing it, the peaceful part may gone south in an instant."
"I see…" The Reploid representative nodded in agreement, "but to answer your question about Reploid, unless you scanned me and compared the result with Alie's scan using your so-called Omni-tools…" she eyed the general's right wrist where that yellowish hologram bracelet showed up once when he opened the shuttle door for them some time ago, "…even if I tell you what I really am I doubt that you'll believe me considered that I looked just like her. And on that topic, that was quite useful tool you've got there…"
Useful or not, Oraka pondered the girl's word for a moment as if to discern something hidden, but he gave up in a matter of second and proceeded to do as this alien representative asked.
The result that his Omni-tool gave nearly made him choke. While the brunette has nothing special apart from some cybernetic implants on her ears, eyes limbs, etc, she was an organic being. The blonde in front of him, on the other hand, was composed of nothing but a cybernetic, unknown substance that's surprisingly looked like normal organic skin yet it wasn't covered her frame, unknown liquid metal in place of her blood.
In short, this girl was a synthetic!
Seeing the shocked look on the Turian face, Prairie knows that the scan was finished, thus she asked in teasing manner "So, like what you see?"
Oraka blinked twice as he regains his composure while sparing a glance at the cockpit warily, before he replied rather awkwardly as he still not sure how to act around this individual, "You're right about scanning part, Er…"
"Just call me Prairie like before…" the Reploid suggested sincerely, "As much as I'm synthetic, I'm still a person not some random indigenous animal right?"
Oraka nodded before continues "Your outer appearance can easily fool anyone into believing you're the same as any other Earthnoid. Had you not telling me to specifically scan you…" then he narrowed his eyes, "But why you reveal this now?"
"If there's one thing I learned from the war 300 years ago, it's this kind of secret that can create frictions and eventually start conflict," Prairie replied.
Oraka noticing some details that missed out from the first contact package, namely the war, and asked,"So you once waged war against humans?" He pointed one of his talon at Aile who sat nearby with her arms crossed, perplexed at what transpired.
"We fought because our other option was to lie down and die. Obviously my friends and I had to make a choice to ensure our survival." Prairie answered in matter-of-fact tone, "If your race had, say, faced an alien who will stop at nothing short of exterminating your race, what would you do?"
Oraka understood her point immediately from historic study of his own community about how brutal the Rachni war and Krogan Rebellion were, "I never thought of that before. All we Citadel Council races ever saw was the AI rebelling against its organic creator, seeing them as useless for the being like them."
Before any of them could say anything more, the shuttle shook a little as it landed on the Citadel and both parties departs to the waiting vehicle which the Council has prepared for them at the hangar
However before they stepped in, the Turian general then spoke again in low voice to not let the driver eavesdrop what he spoke, "Your species' mere existence may violating the Citadel law. For what it is worth, I know that you saved my boys today. You could not choose being born as synthetic. And I'll keep that in mind when we see the Council, but I doubt it'll help much…"
His guests were silent for a while as the air car they stepped in began to speed toward the presidium where the Council will hold audience with them. Before the brunette who spent most of the trip in silent finally replied in place of her synthetic companion "I thank you for acknowledging my friend and help us. May peace come from this negotiation. I really hope…"
"Same from me…" Prairie opined, but then she revealed a mischievous smile "However, please let me tell your Council when the time is right. Oh… Aile, wanna make a bet?"
"I'll be even more appreciative if those politicians forgot about it entirely so to save my headache," Oraka muttered to himself silently while the two girls conspired with each other about betting or something that he's too tired to eavesdrop in. But from the heartfelt giggling and what he heard from the organic one, he was quite sure that it was just some trash talk and nothing serious.
After all, what could five flimsy-looking organic and one synthetic do in a Presidium full of C-Sec and SPECTRE guarding Councilors?
The Presidium, the place for most races who had embassies and by extension connection to the Citadel Council, a place where lush green plant life from all across the known space was planted to create park worthy the gathered representatives of each races, a place that was the symbol of power, the pinnacle of the known space.
And at the center of it all, the Citadel tower had become livelier than before, as many aliens from different species came to gather near the Relay monument situated in a large park next to the Citadel tower's entrance to witness another event that was sure to be engraved in page of the galaxy history: The day where another spacefaring race was discovered and brought to the galactic-stage community.
Normally, such event wouldn't make public news until the deal was already settled, let alone live-broadcasted on Extranet and the Citadel News Channel. However, as two out of three Councilors decided to impress this new upstart spacefaring race and tempt (or intimidate) them to join the community due to the benefit of strange never before seen technology those Earthnoid possessed, even Asari Councilors, who normally would rather not doing this kind of negotiation, ended up getting dragged along reluctantly.
From the platform hovering slightly above the ground next to the Tower's entrance, the three Councilors in their formal attires stood behind their respective console. Matriarch Tevos, the representative of Asari Republic, scanned the crowd with patience gaze in contrast with the nervous and impatience look of Salarian Union's representative Sarltin and the Turian Hierarchy's representative Sparatus, waiting for their guests to arrive as three Turian SPECTRE agents in full battle uniform stand guard behind them.
Their nervousness was not unfounded. Aside from the normal nervousness when faced with the unknown, this new species somehow found a way to create faster than light travel without using this galaxy's common knowledge of Element Zero. Then there was the weapon that once thought impossible for practical use. All these sign pointed to another disturbing conclusion: this species had a completely alien culture incomprehensible to the rest of the galaxy and one misstep could plunge them into another conflict yet again.
And around the platform and the park, dozens of C-sec agents from different races, all armed and in combat uniform stood attention. They kept public order of the gathered crowd in control and guarded the three most important figures of the Citadel space diligently. Their eyes scanned the surrounding for a sign of danger as what was required from their line of work.
It didn't take long to wait, as the C-sec suddenly began to form up and pushed the crowds away creating a way leading from one end of the Presidium to the platform. And finally, their guest strides down along that path with C-Sec escorts around them. General Septimus Oraka led their way toward the Councilors before stepping up onto the platform with them.
Two young 'females' of this new species, 'Earthnoid' ,stepped forward while the other four in some sort of uniform standing still behind indicating that these two will be their representative. Matriarch Tevos couldn't help but curious at their appearance which resembles her own kind, if not for the fact from their first contact package mentioned that they were a two gendered race.
Speaking of first contact package, Tevos's mind brought up several images contained in it. This in itself wasn't that strange considered that both sides were aware that they had yet to learn each other's language. Thus she resorted to image-based first and put the language into software to be downloaded and translated for use separately after the success of initial image contact. But it was strange for the single-apparently minor detail.
That there were two images displaying these 'Earthnoid' that look pretty much the same except for one having a red triangle marking on the forehead while the other wasn't with the texts describe as 'Human' and 'Reploid' or so she thought how it was spell. This was strange because for one fact: even Turian Hierarchy whose culture had their population painted the marking of their birth colony on their face didn't put those things into their first contact package at all!
'Perhaps their culture was quite different from us after all…' Tevos mused, thinking that she was overthinking it too much.
The Matriarch squashed those silly thought out of her mind and focused back to the present as the aged Turian general stepped forward and announced their presence. "Councilors, I present Admiral Prairie and Aile of the Earthnoidrace…"
Tevos took that as her cue to greet her guests, but not before thanking the aged General first "Thank you, General Oraka for your service and greeting to you," she then faced the blonde hair, somewhat pale skin, alien clad in pink long coat, dress and black bodysuit who had a matching color hat on her head, "Admiral Prairie, I have heard much about you from the general. How you helped him against the pirate. I must commend your bravery and for helping us bringing public orders to the galactic community as a whole despite just got to meet another species for the first time."
The blue skinned Councilor glanced at her Turian partner who nodded at her in approval. Before shifting her attention back to another female newcomer, a brunette clad in blue long coat and black and white bodysuit, "Although I haven't heard much about you, let me extend my greeting to you as a representative of your government as well, Miss Aile. I am Councilor Tevos of the Asari Republic. It's been a pleasure to meet all of you."
The first one to react was Prairie who smiled warmly and replied with courtesy, all because the human representative was still looking around these marvelous architects with joy and curiosity like a child, too busy… in her own way, "A pleasure to meet you too, Councilor"
Prairie spared a glance toward her friend to check what she was doing before introducing herself "I'm Admiral Prairie of the Earthnoid Cosmo Force and one of the representative to the Earthnoids," she lowered her hat, revealing a red triangle mark on her forehead which seems to caught Tevos's attention instantly as it was the same marking she saw in first contact package. Before Prairie put it back and gestured politely toward her friend, "And this's Aile, my friend and another representative sent by The LEGION, our government, to act as support and assistance."
"But it seem your friend hadn't have much interest in 'support' role," another alien Councilor who looked like, well, an alien straight from some movie in 1980's, stated while glancing at Aile.
Tevos send silent glared at her fellow Councilors telling him to shut up before he accidentally ruined the whole affair, but luckily that the pink clad Admiral paid him no mind while sending her a knowing smile as if to tell her that she's okay with that. Sighing inwardly, the Asari councilor continued introducing her fellow councilors, "This is Councilor Sarltin of Salarian Republic… and this is Councilor Sparatus of Turian Hierarchy," she waved hand politely toward them slowly and they nodded politely in return.
As the councilor observed their guest, Prairie couldn't help but prod Aile's side to get her attention back, which was quite comical in itself considering she was about a head shorter than her (apparent) airhead friend, but it still worked nonetheless before the brunette coughed nervously and spoke for the first time, "All right, sorry for not paying attention before…" this made someone in the crowd below chuckled loud enough for those on the platform to hear, but Aile paid them no mind ,"…but I'm not that good with this political stuff, so I guess we should get down to business… Councilor Tevos, Sarltin, Sparatus?"
"I see…" Sarltin answered, "…not like small talk are we? But you still listen in nonetheless."
"I think I speak for the whole community… the Citadel Council and any associated member that we want peace…" Tevos continued sincerely with a smile on her face, "thus that bring us to the topic regarding relation between your people and the Citadel."
"Ah, finally…" Aile muttered while Prairie shot her a look that said "mind your manner please, my friend, don't ruin your own first impression image!" Of course, it was futile as Aile never had a knack in politics anyway.
Fortunately that the councilors didn't hear what Aile said and thus Tevos continued smoothly as if nothing happened, "I would like to offer the Earthnoid species an embassy on the Citadel as an associate member of the Council… to foster friendly relationship among other species in this galaxy."
'Here it is…' , Prairie thoughts still ran wild with how to refuse this politely and not making a Aile's eyes narrowed down at the Asari Councilor in suspicion before asking with serious tone, "I guess that there had to be some conditions that needed to be follow right?"
"Indeed it has…" Sparatus, as the Councilor from the law keeper species of the Citadel space, took his turn to explain to the now focused newcomer's representative, "You'll have to sign and agree upon Citadel Convention including the Treaty of Farixen."
"Clarify 'Citadel Convention' if you would please," Prairie demanded. Despite already know what it was from the data hacked from those space pirates; she didn't want them to know the information they had gathered just yet.
Asari Councilor took over for the Turian at that question and explained with her trademark sincere smile, "Of course, the Convention governs and limits the use of weapons of mass destruction to prevent devastation of the garden worlds. You see, while the galaxy is vast and contains many planets, only few were habitable. Reckless use of such thing will be… non-beneficial to any life form existed in this galaxy…"
Prairie and Aile looked at each other and nodded, letting the Councilor continue, "The Treaty of Farixen serves similar purpose as the Convention, namely, limiting the destructive capabilities by limiting the creation of Dreadnought class warship."
"That would be the vessel longer than 800 meters? Like that big one that Prairie rescued?" Aile piped up while glancing at the Turian general who stood on the sideline.
"Yes, it is… number of Dreadnoughts each associate member are allowed to have one Dreadnought for every five of Turian, and one for every three of Asari and Salarian" General Oraka elaborated in place of his Councilor before falling silent again. Although his eyes glancing nervously at the girl in pink now and then, unnoticed by the councilors.
The representative of Earthnoid looked impassive at the blatant attempt to limit fighting capabilities of any species that chose to join their community but showed no sign of protest. Their analysis showed that such colossal spacefaring vessel would create more problem than its worth. Using Mass Effect technology or not, and if they really needed a weapon of mass destruction, they already had a wave motion gun that offered them a better alternative, as even their Patrol Cruiser can carried one!
Of course, the Citadel didn't need to know about this, Weil's Ragnarok was bad enough!
The Asari Councilor continued, "Another law we wished to enforce whether you join our community or not is that you cannot open a dormant mass relay freely without consulting the Citadel Council first. I know that you had already opened some to get to Relay 314, but please don't do it anymore. Because accidentally finding hostile species on the other side of the mass relay nearly wiped out the whole galaxy 2,000 years ago."
Aile quirked an eyebrows at this, while Prairie observed Councilors' body language and facial expression before concluded that what Tevos said wasn't an exaggeration, in their opinion at least…
Seeing the understanding look on their guests' face, Councilor pushed further, "So you can at least promise us about the mass relay?"
"Yes, we have an agreement about the mass relay whether we join you or not…" Prairie answered without hesitation. They were too busy exploring every nooks and cranny in their own border around the Sol system where no Mass Relay presents anyway. It was unlikely that LEGION was going to open more doors to another side of the galaxy anytime soon. Master Thomas and Mikhail assured her of that since they first met Turian on Shanxi already.
At that point, Sarltin of the Salarian Union realized that they showered their guest with so many laws and conditions but has yet to speak about any benefit of joining them. Judging from Prairie's word 'whether we join you or not' was a bad sign that they were considering turning down this offer!
Good thing that the Earthnoid still had enough courtesy to signal this to them instead of bluntly refuse at the end of explanation.
The technology and Prothean artifacts that may leave lying around in their border;The Council should have them! With that in mind, the Salarian Councilor spoke up. "I'm sorry for bothering your species with so many laws and conditions on joining the Citadel. Please understand that we're responsible for keeping peace in this galactic community."
"We understand…" Aile concurred while the Reploid merely nodded. Seemingly Aile didn't read the memo about another rule this Citadel enforced. But on that note, why it didn't mention yet?
"But of course, being the associated member also carries benefits," Sarltin continued what he left off quickly, hoping to persuade them, "namely reduced tariffs on Element Zero and related material, as well as inclusion into numerous academic, social and political organizations across the galaxy."
Seeing that the topic she was waiting for hadn't come up, perhaps they just forgot about it, or deemed unnecessary as they saw Earthnoid as 'upstart race' that barely understood Mass Effect technology thus impossible for them to advance enough to that criteria. Prairie didn't know, so she decided to ask them instead, "What about computer programs. I read about your first contact package, the second one that contained translation, it talks about restriction in computer tech, but I didn't delve further due to limited time…"
Of course, Prairie lied about the limited time part to make up an excuse to have them explain this restriction in details…
The councilors looked confused for a moment before realization hit them. Tevos spoke for the rest, "Ah, we nearly forgot that part, thank you for reminding us," she paused for a bit, "Computer technology in question are Artificial Intelligence and synthetic beings, the Citadel put a ban on research, creation, experiment and using of any self-aware, self-decision computer system."
At that, Aile abruptly interrupted the councilor, "Hey wait a second, you're saying that existence of self-aware synthetic beings are outlawed and dispose on sight?" seeing three Councilors nodded simultaneousl. Aile dropped the bomb before Prairie could intervene "What warrants such action from your community then?"
"Because…" Tevos begin to sense something in this Earthnoid's question, yet she wasn't sure what it was. She couldn't answer it before the Salarian Councilor does.
"It's because, by their logic, the organic have no use for them at all. Whether information or resource trading, needs, drives, desires, you name it, thus it's logical that they'll wage a genocide war against organic being. And on that note; this law has been implemented for more than 300 years now…" Sarltin added at the end of his explanation.
"Did you just pass the law because of your predecessor watched too many lame movies about Robot War?" Aile quipped with a drip of sarcasm. Her attention now grounded on the stage, surprising even her Reploid friend, "Because, from my point of view, that's the most illogical reason I ever heard."
Sparatus spoke up harshly, "It was the first-hand experience from our community, Madam Aile. The Geth uprising that forced the Quarian to run away from their home system was hardly a movie."
"So, the synthetic have no uses of organic you said," suddenly the small girl clad in pink spoke up, her hands covering her mouth as if she's about to burst into laughter, "thus synthetics have to wage war to exterminate all life you said."
"That was pretty much it, Admiral Prairie," Sparatus repeated Sarltin's reason as if he was a parent explaining to a child. Meanwhile Tevos now become alarmed and looked at the representative's reaction more closely. Something definitely off!
At that, Aile smirked and add her thought a little dryly, "Oh, but my first-hand experience says that no sane Reploid will ever consider that unless there's an extremely good reason to do so. And the reasons you stated earlier wasn't on their list..."
"Reploid?" Sarltin piped with interest, though confusion evident in his expression "I saw first contact package contained name of your species 'Earthnoid' with 'Human' and 'Reploid'are subspecies. Was your kind split in tribes and colonies before and use that triangle marking as a symbol to this day?" he pointed at Prairie's forehead where, under the hat was the aforementioned symbol painted on her forehead he saw earlier.
Prairie couldn't hold it any longer after Salarian's question and giggling openly, and then turned toward her companion and hold out her hand while smiling "Pay up! Aile…"
The brunette pouted rather cutely while gesturing toward the confused Councilors and crowds below the platform "Shouldn't you wait until we get back to the ship first?"
"So you're going to cheat our bet again…" Prairie shot back, before seemingly noticing that they were making quite a fuss among the crowd and the councilors. She stopped, "I'm sorry, Councilors, but this opportunity is too good to pass up…"
"Wait, what kind of ambassador bets while at work?" Sparatus's scowled as this kind of behavior somewhat offended the disciple of his people, "And what exactly did you bet? It involved us somehow weren't you?"
Decided that it's time to stop playing around, Prairie assumed serious expression, hands on her waist and dropped the bomb, "I bet to Aile that all of you can't figure out that Reploid are synthetic beings until I say it out loud. And of course, Aile thought that you could figure it out by asking about related topic. Is that clear?"
'So that's why she asked me to keep quiet about it…' Oraka thought, before his eyes went wide in realization 'Wait, they did that just so they can bet!? What in the Spirits name was that synthetic thinking!?'
The Turian general glanced around the platform and saw that all councilors with disbelieving look in their eyes. Sighing, Oraka stepped forward and requested to them that he upload the latest data to their Omni-tool: the scan result of the little girl in front of them… pretending that he just scanned her.
It felt like temperature of the Presidium dropped to freezing point. The Salarian Councilor asked in small voice "So, Reploid are race of synthetics created by Human?"
"Do I have to repeat that again Councilor?" Prairie inquired in a sing-song tone, "Of course, Reploid are synthetic, and I'm one of them too!"
Mass panic erupted from the crowd as most of them take a step back from the raised platform. SPECTRE agents who stood guard behind their Councilors began to draw their weapons and pointed squarely at the self-admitted synthetic, which prompted the Earthnoid's own escorts to do the same. They lowered their own devices however after Prairie held out her hand and told them to stand down first.
"No civilized man threatens a messenger. Please, we've come this far without violence, and I prefer it to remain that way to the end…"
The standoff last for a few more seconds after Prairie has spoken, before Asari Councilor ordered their SPECTREs to stand down and step back to their position as well. At which point, the Reploid Admiral nodded, "Thank you, for understanding us… and forgive me for bad manner earlier… like I said, the opportunity was too good to pass up… for a good laugh…" she chuckled.
"Your apology accepted," Tevos replies hesitantly, "After all, action speaks more than word, and it seems that you're quite different from what we expected from a synthetic being…"
"How can we sure that this's not an act?" Turian Councilor spoke up, questioning his fellow Councilors while still glaring at Prairie "Pretend to be friendly to let our guard down before they attack us?"
"You failed your logic, Councilor Sparatus…" Prairie replied amusingly "If I really want to kill you I would've done so the moment we met when you had yet to realized what I am and when you still assume we come here for peace talk." She turned to General Oraka, "Or even better, I should've let General Oraka here get smoked by pirates before we swept up the rest and jumped away from your Relay 314. That way, we take minimal risk, pirates will take all the blame and our existences remain hidden," she then looked apologetically at Oraka "No offence to you, General."
The councilors paled at the many scenarios the synthetic listed up and were unable to counter its… her reason at all, leaving Prairie free to talk, "I know that you must have some kind of bad experience with synthetic beings consider you passed this law in the past, but you shouldn't assume that every synthetic will be the same as the one you encountered."
Seeing that they were still silent while the crowds murmured between each other in the background and glancing at Prairie once in a while, Aile sighed "Let me guess, you thought that we humans created Reploids to be labor force, but they gain sentience later?"
"Weren't they?" Sarltin questioned "From history of war against synthetic we studied from Prothean records, the reason organics created synthetics was to have them do menial tasks or labor work. However because we tried to make them intelligent enough to perform complex tasks, and from those advancements comes their sentience of sapient with brought about that logic to exterminate all life?"
"Prothean this, Prothean that…" Aile muttered before retorted back sharply, "Like Prairie just said earlier, you shouldn't assume that your, or Prothean experience, will always be true in every situation. And after all her acts and talk, you still assumed that all Reploids will be the same as those synthetic in your history?"
"Aile…" called Prairie in tired tone, her hand nudging her forehead as if all these talks gave her headache before reasoned, "We never elaborate our history to them so of course they fall back to related on their own experience and history… am I right Councilor?"
Tevos blinked at the exchange before trying to help calming the situation, "Indeed, the first contact package you sent didn't elaborate history between Human and Reploid, perhaps some insight will help ease our worries and really appreciated… Madam Aile… and… Admiral Prairie…" Tevos still feel uneasy to call the synthetic in front of her in title like normal sapient being despite part of her mind reasoned that the being in front of her had showed such wide ranges of emotion enough that she could not categorize her as mere machine anymore.
Hearing the Asari Councilor's word, Prairie looked at Aile and asked for something which the Councilors couldn't hear. As if on cue, the taller brunette shook her head in denial which prompted the synthetic to pout, muttering something incomprehensible under her breathe, and then held both her hands up pointing to the center of the platform, her blue eyes focused…
Prairie white glove glowed eerily red as crimson liquid seeping its way out of her hands in small-yet-visible stream converging at 1 meter above the platform. Everyone there turned attention toward the swirling red mass in curiosity and fear; SPECTRE guards stepped forward to block their charges from the sight of that… thing…
Prairie's brows furrowed as she concentrated more processing power toward controlling the floating red liquid. It began to changed, some of the liquid emitted trails of vapor signifying the heat generated from changing into substance of another properties. Faint blue wireframe like a holographic model of object formed up as the red liquid quickly rushed to fill the empty spot turning into a real physical object, which looked like a blue-white round disk with light bulb in the center sitting on the ground.
As the object stood there in the center, Salarian Councilor was the first one to spoke up "What is that… red liquid? How can it formed and shaped into a tool like this?"
Aile smirked at the surprised alien before trying to explain, but was interrupted by Prairie sending glare at her, "We can discuss about that another place, another time, because now we have History Lesson to be conduct…"
Codex Entry: Nano material [1]
Although most technologies developed by Earth in 22nd century, like time or weather manipulation, has become lost and required extensive research in order to make a practical application again. Some surviving technology, which is the foundation of basic power and abilities most Reploids had, is Nano material.
Often mistaken for "blood of a robot", the Nano material is a substance that is, at first glance, looks like red or grey liquid flowing through bodies that most of later model Reploids after Elf war had installed. These substances are the reason for a more 'human-like' appearance of Reploid as they overtook some functions from the more bulky servo motor, namely augmentation of limbs, and damage control.
Nano material responsible for help repairing any superficial damage for the host without going back to maintenance depot, they can augment strength by forming 'artificial muscle layer' around their desired part of their body akin to blood being pumped into cells.
Nano material need replenishing when depleted via Energy-Mass fabricator by spending energy and processing power to synthesize more Nano material, some Reploids, particularly those who were born between Elf-War and the end of Ragnarok incident always has this function in their body to be self-sufficient in dangerous exploration of the once devastated Earth. While the newer model Reploid only use pre-fabricated material supplied by the government which is vastly inferior as they acted autonomously without control from host, thus limited their functions to damage control and augmentation of servo motor.
Those who has personal Nano material fabricator (often called: Personal-type Nano Material) were able to use them to create any tools by forcing them out of their body and using their processing power to "Command" those Nano material to form into anything they wanted.
Speed of construction varied depend on size of the tool, processing power, Nano material storage (if the tool required more Material than their storage capacity, they have to fabricate more on-the-spot. Although using small amount of Nano Material to reclaim concentrated Mass [such as Metal Deposit or Trees] to use as raw material lower the fabrication time significantly provided the Reploid had sufficient Energy sources) and power generator of each Reploid, though the processing power has the most impact. Those who designed for command and control tend to be able to craft complex items such as personal shock cannon in time it take for other Reploid to craft a simple table given the same material and power capacity.
Author's Note:
[1] So to explain those bloods from Reploid in Megaman Zero in Japanese Version. Because American Version has it edited out. Seriously, and I thought for so long that American is hardcore before when looking at the Original Megaman Box Art. (Or rather 'Bad Box Art')
Sorry for getting Prairie's eye color wrong in the first chapter, it'll be fixed, well…
I got idea of Nano material from several sources, but the most prominent one tend to be Total Annihilation and the recently Beta Planetary Annihilation (Battle rages across the cold void, annihilating Planets, Moons and Asteroids!) and Arpeggio of Blue Steel. The reason I included it in because it's the most plausible thing to explain all those transformations in Megaman Zero series onward. (Look at you, Copy X! Guardian's Armed Phenomenon, if those didn't count as 'Transformation' I don't know what does.)
And if you ask why Prairie had it, well, hope that excuse in Codex above and that this's in future after ZX Advent, is plausible enough.
Now as to the reviewers, thank you for your contribution, it really make me realized how bad my grammar are and move to fix it by asking some to Beta read it.
Regarding Energy Weapon in Mass Effect'verse, the official fluff (Codex) says Kinetic Barrier cannot do anything against that. But in game on the other hand, when you encountered Collectors equipped with Energy gun, your shield seem to block it just fine because "Gameplay and Story Segregations Syndrome" as otherwise the game will be near impossible to beat if it ignore your shield.
The "Ruby Laser" that Reaper use isn't an Energy Weapon, it's a stream of molten liquid shot out with a fraction of speed of light, apart from GARDIAN laser and Collector energy gun, no other form of Direct Energy Weapon existed in Mass Effect verse as far as my data search go.
And the reason Council Space didn't use bigger GARDIAN is because it's impractical to field anything bigger with their technology, namely the power output from generator needed to keep it running. And don't forget (This's a spoiler for those who didn't played Mass Effect before) that it's intentional from their precursor so they develop along the path they desired.
Same as the first author's note I'm still not sure if I'll continue this fiction into the main game... because, as it stands now, it's guarantee to turn into an original fiction that has nothing related to the game at all except for tech and setting, events in game sure to not happened the same way it was in game or flat-out not happening altogether. And that's a lot of headache coming consider I'm still writing another two of my fiction...
Consider this's Mega Man Crossover we're talking about. Then this mantra is appropriate… when asking for review from all of you
BURN! ~BURN! ~BURN TO THE GROUND! ~BURN! ~BURN! ~BURN TO THE GROUND! ~BURN TO THE GROUND! WOO! ~ WOO! ~BURN TO THE GROUND!
Sorry if it bring up bad memories of someone who played Megaman X7... he he...