Fin Dovah Junaar
Chapter 1: First Contact
Disclaimer: Do you really think I own anything here?
Location: Shanxi Colony, Citadel Space
Date: February 2nd 2525
"Sir, contacts ahead!" yelled the ensign. "Covenant?" questioned Captain Varen Severus, "No sir, unknown!" replied the ensign as he frantically checked the monitor. Varen looked out the view port on the bridge and saw a large, golden ship emerge through an aurora-like burst of light. "This is first contact people! Action stations!" He yelled as he rushed to the comms station.
A burst of static greeted him before clearing into an image. It showed an alien that looked somewhat like an Asari with hair might. It, or He, Varen assumed judging by the stockiness of its body, began to speak "Drem yol lok, zu'u Kinbok Jacob Keyes. Zu'u bo ko drem wa hin lein."
"What is he saying?" Varen asked, not really expecting an answer. To his shock, what like holographic Asari with hair materialised next to the alien. "He's saying. 'Greetings, I am Captain Jacob Keyes. I come in peace to your worlds' just so you know." Said the hologram in perfect Turian. She seemed to be smirking at his slack-jawed expression.
Varen tried to get over his shock. An AI? How? He thought furiously to himself. Don't they know how dangerous they are!? Attempting to maintain a calm face, he replied "I am Captain Varen Severus, Captain of the TSF Fides. We are the protectors of Citadel space. What brings you to our worlds?" The alien broke into what he assumed was a smile and said something to the AI. The AI turned to look at him, "Why don't you come aboard and we can talk all about it." The AI said…
By the time Varen was heading back to his ship, he couldn't believe how long and complex just the first negotiations had been. The sheer volume of their culture, history and science had awed him. The fact that they had been spacefaring before most species had even thought of it was something he found intimidating. Despite his reputation as one of the worst diplomats in the fleet, he had managed to get things off to a decent start, or so he thought. The irony that the captain who had nearly caused several diplomatic incidents and had been sent off to a backwater world to prevent that happening, had been the one to make first contact with an alien empire, was not lost on him.
The meeting had ended with the agreement that the Nirnian Empire would provide a diplomat to be taken to the Citadel and so he was travelling back to his ship with a Breton named Jandette. He still couldn't quite tell the difference between some of the different races. Most of them looked the same with a few superficial differences and then to make it even more confusing, some had pointed ears and some didn't. He did notice that some of the visually similar races showed very different behaviour.
He did notice the ones called "Nords" were quite warlike, he would have to introduce Arus to them sometime- "So what exactly is this Citadel place we're going to?" The Breton's voice interrupted his musings. "Well, the Citadel is a large space station that serves as the seat of government for known space, with the exception of the Covenant." He replied. "The Covenant, what's that?" She asked innocently. "The Covenant is huge, theological empire that seeks to convert or destroy other races. We've been fighting them for years. The only thing stopping them destroying us entirely is the fact we never send all our forces to a battle and that they don't know the location of most of our worlds." Jandette suppressed a shudder as she heard this. She hoped she would never meet them…
Location: Council Chambers, Citadel Station
Date: February 3rd 2525
"What!" the councillors shouted in shock. Discovering a huge, powerful alien empire will do that to you. That and the fact it was your least favourite captain who was responsible.
"And how many races did you say there were?" Asked the Salarian councillor disbelievingly. "Fifteen, they told me." Varen replied calmly. "That can't be right, that would almost double the known number of races. Where are their homeworlds then, if there are so many?" He asked sceptically. "They told me they had all evolved on a single world called Nirn." He replied.
This of course set of a new round of arguments as the councillors erupted into cries of shock and disbelief. Varen sighed to himself before saying "If you want to know all this so badly, I suggest you speak with the ambassador they sent with me." The councillors stopped speaking and looked at him. "Very well bring the ambassador to us then.''
Varen silently apologised to Jandette before stepping outside the chamber and saying, "It's your turn now. Good luck."
Jandette stepped nervously into the council chamber, taking in her surroundings. The spacious chambers, richly decorated with scenes from the council's past, seemed designed to intimidate visiting diplomats. It wasn't such a bad idea, she mused, to be able to display your own glory over whomever you may want to impress.
Her attention was drawn back to reality as she looked towards the councillors sitting before her. They immediately started firing questions at her. "What are your empire's intentions? Do you recognise the Citadel Council's authority? Is it true that your races came from a single homeworld? How many ships do you have? Do you have AI technology?"
Varen winced at the number of questions, regretting sending her in there. He steeled himself to go rescue her. It was clear she was out of her element- "Well are you quite finished?" She asked, crossing her arms and glaring. "My apologies, it appears I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in the interrogation room." She levelled her gaze towards the astounded Council "Could any of you gentlemen possibly direct me to the Council chambers?"
An awkward silence followed. The council members shifted uncomfortably before one spoke up. "These are the council chambers." She smiled. "I see, then I suppose it wouldn't be too much trouble for one of you fine gentlemen to summon the council so that we may get on with the process of diplomacy?"
Varen was struggling to contain his laughter at the councillor's expressions. It looked as though they had just swallowed a thresher maw. Even the guards at the door seemed to be stifling grins.
"We are the Council." The same councillor said. "My apologies noble councillors." Janette said, the gleam in her eyes revealing she had known all along. Varen nearly laughed outright at the look in her eyes but just managed to contain himself.
"Had I known I would have reacted differently." It was clear she wouldn't have but no one bothered to point that out. They were either too busy trying not laugh at the councillors' reactions or reacting in a way that made everyone else want laugh.
"Well then, I suppose we shall have to get on with the business of diplomacy." She said leaning forward with a grin…
Location: Harvest Colony, Nirnian Space
Date: February 3rd 2525
"Fleet master! We have new contacts!" Announced an elite aboard the covenant ship, Ascendant Justice. Shipmaster Vul'Drumee gnashed his mandibles together as the ship and the small fleet behind it exited from the relay. "Shipmaster! The Luminary is detecting thousands of Reclamation glyphs as well as strange ones. They seem to translate into 'Guardian' glyphs." Another elite called out.
Vul'Drumee growled out "The scouts did not lie then, this is a new empire's world" Just then the holodeck flickered and came to life displaying another elite, this one named Kyhra Vulree. He wore the armour of a Sangheili Field Marshal and served as the commander of the ground troops attached to the fleet.
He just so happened to loathe Vul'Drumee, partly because he was jealous and partly because he was always disagreeing with him. Annoyingly enough the prophets had decided to elect him their representative on this mission, so he had authority over everyone in the fleet, even the Fleet Master.
Kyhra immediately started speaking, "We must strike before the inhabitants can respond and obtain the artefacts as well as some of these 'Guardian' glyphs for study. My zealots will move in immediately and prepare the landing zones for the troops to arrive."
Vul'Drumee just stood there in shock for a moment before responding, "Are you a fool? We can't just charge in and attack them! They could be vastly superior to us in technology. We shouldn't attack until we know more about them."
Kyhra just growled, "I am the voice of the prophets. You are to obey me and I order the invasion. Besides the sensors aren't detecting any eezo. (A/N the Covenant uses eezo drives like the other ME races but have a much faster design) This must be their homeworld then, as it's impossible to use FTL without eezo-""Yes! I'm aware of what eezo is for! What's your point?" Vul'Drumee exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.
Khyra's grin grew larger. "Therefore it's impossible for them to counterattack our fleet effectively and no way to attack our colonies even if they did have ships that could beat ours. We can't lose." He finished simply.
"I don't like it." Vul muttered irritably. "But I'll give the order."
"Sir, we have unknown contacts! A whole fleet of them!" A bridge officer yelled out. Captain Uriel Akenfaer looked to his CIC viewscreen. He supressed a groan. A week ago he could have happily taken this fleet on, the ships of 5th fleet fighting alongside him. Now, however, he was in command of an ONI research ship with minimal armament and no shields rather than a top-of-the-line United Nirnian Systems Command light cruiser with enough weapons to put a hole in a small moon. Even a frigate would be welcome here.
Instead he was the only UNSC ship within range. Against a whole Oblivion-damned fleet! The main viewscreen flickered before displaying a large alien with a strange set of mandibles instead of a mouth.
"You are an affront to the Gods! Your world must be cleansed and your artefacts retrieved for the Great Journey!" The alien growled out, low and menacing.
Uriel's head was racing. Another genocidal theology! This is Thalmor all over again! The Second Great War had claimed the lives of nearly a third of the people alive then and still was the second most devastating war ever fought by Nirnians among one another, Daedric invasions notwithstanding and then in the age of spaceflight the Thalmor movement had been reborn on many colonies causing a colossal war among Nirnians. Billions had died and worlds were still uninhabitable because of it. That had been the most devastating war…
He wouldn't give this world to these aliens without dying first…
"Then you will burn with your gods in the fires of Oblivion, Sithis take you!" He growled out in an even more menacing tone. He abruptly shut down the viewscreen before yelling out, "Send a drone to Nirn with a warning! Then prime all weapons! I want all fire concentrated on the troop ships!" Surmising that the large, lightly armed ships must be transports. He was going to die, that was certain, but he would buy Harvest as much time as he could before that…
Vul'Drumee watched as the alien turned white, then red on the viewscreen, before replying in a blood chilling voice, "Then you will burn with your gods in the fires of Oblivion, Sithis take you!" The viewscreen then turned black. He stood there for a moment trying to understand why the alien had displayed such vehemence at his mention of the Gods.
He was interrupted by his thoughts by the yell of a bridge officer, "Shipmaster, they are firing on us!" The volley of rounds impacted, followed by a strange fiery mass resembling a plasma torpedo. The rounds could be seen hitting the shields of the transports and, in some cases, breaking through them destroying the transport itself.
The Eternal Faith, a CCS battlecruiser manoeuvred in front of the transports to protect them with it superior shields. Vul could only watch in horror as the fiery mass impacted The Eternal Faith, passing straight through it shields and cutting through the ship like a hot knife through butter. The Eternal Faith broke apart, shattering into pieces, much like Vul's confidence.
He was sure they could overwhelm the ship with plasma fire, as this race couldn't be advanced enough to create shields. They only had one military ship! It had to be an experimental ship, one they would crush before teaching this race not to attack empires older and more advanced than themselves…
Uriel looked to his diagnostics screen, the firing of the magicka anti-ship cannons (MAC) ceasing as they reloaded their rounds. The HAVOK-armed tactical flames torpedo had destroyed a large enemy ship but they had none left. It had been an experimental weapon from ONI, the one they had been here to test in the first place. (That and to discover what the alien artefact floating in space was. Now he'd managed to test both and get some combat experience. And they said he wasn't efficient…)
The techs back at the lab would be pleased to know they had created yet another weapon capable of making targets look like wet paper bags.
Of all the colonies to pick, they just had to choose one so new there weren't even UNSC forces stationed there yet…
"Enemy firing, Sir!" He closed his eyes and tried to make peace with himself. He managed to do so as the plasma torpedoes tore into his ship, wiping it out of existence.
Voda'Tramee laughed to himself, this was too easy. There weren't even any soldiers! Most people seemed to have some strange kind of biotics but for the most part he didn't even have to try. He had been on the planet for eighteen hours now as part of the second wave and the world was almost theirs. These aliens seemed to have no grasp of martial skill. They didn't even have an army on their homeworld!
Such incompetence practically deserved to be punished and he was only too happy to do so.
All too soon however, he was recalled to the dropships, the planet's inhabitants dead, with the zealot teams searching the ruins for the artefacts the luminary had discovered.
The Covenant had conquered this world…
That's the first chapter down! I'm going to try get the next one out within the next week or two. Feel free to review, everyone who does gets a cookie (sadly no, but still review!)
DaNinja101