First contact

…

Walking out into the galactic stage Humanity had huge expectations from those that roamed the galaxy. They soon found out that many species were cruel to each other. Cruel to the Qurians, cruel to the Krogan. Humans were just beginning to get their space legs, and luckily for them the first species they met were friendly. Luckily for the Quarians, they got to make first contact.

…

When humans first stepped out into the stars, they were greeted with silence. This was to the relief of some, and to the dismay of others. One little boy aboard a starship in particular was distraught. He expected big, scary, intelligent, and even pretty aliens. His name was Jonathan Shepard, and nonetheless he was a young, eager, and exceedingly intelligent boy in space. Accompanying his mother, Hannah Shepard aboard the most cutting edge Frigate the Alliance had cooked up, he remained hopeful that they would encounter new life. Friendly life hopefully, he thought to himself.

The group of aliens, Humanity would come to know as the Council, had long abandoned their patrols of the Sol cluster and the relay that had been discovered nearby. This, unbeknownst to Humanity was a blessing. Due to the council's removed presence from the area, another species known as the Quarian decided to investigate the area for any possible resources.

"Anything to report Lt Davies?" Hannah walked onto the main bridge, hands behind her back as she inquired for the latest updates.

"Uh yes ma'am, our long range sensors are picking up something massive and unmoving" Lt Davies replied quickly.

"This will be interesting" Hannah thought to herself, and a small amount of Adrenaline worked into her system. "All hands to your stations and prepare for a possible contact" She stated into the intercom alerting the staff. Her thoughts briefly drifted to her son. Her eyes faced the display and they began to approach a gigantic oblong structure that they would later come to know as the mass relays.

…

"Captain we are 5 minutes out from the Sol Cluster" Rael'Zorah nodding as he received his helmsman's message. He was curious and hopeful as to what they would find in this unexplored cluster. His people needed something, as extinction lay just around the corner, and the council would do nothing to help them. Squeezing his fists tight at the thought of the Council he, looks ahead with a positive feeling creeping upon him.

Jumping out of the mass relay's FTL they immediately pick up unrecognized signatures on their scanners. "Sir we got company!" his helmsman shouts to him.

"Prime our primary cannons but do not fire just yet, I believe we are dealing with a new species" Rael says, eyes glued to the screen and on the alien vessels, his envy hardly contained. Their ships were slightly more primitive but they had resources. Silently he prayed to the ancients that they were friendly. "Begin broadcasting on all frequencies and start a very, very slow approach and stop at 1200 kilos out" Rael was a experiencing a wave of emotions. Primarily fear, as he decided to bring his wife and young daughter on the accompanying vessels that were due shortly behind them. "Contact the Fleet and have them hold off on their approach for now, let them know I will be attempting contact with a new species and will immediately be setting up diplomatic relations. We must get to them before they are spoiled by the poisonous galactic community" Rael stated firmly, fists squeezing once more at the mere thought of the Council.

…

"Ma'am we are being hailed on multiple frequencies and the alien vessel is making a slow approach" Lt Davies reports clearly excited.

"Ahh come one now Davies! Don't get a nerd boner from meeting aliens ok?" The second helmsman Sargent Allie Jenkins gives him a hard time and Hannah has an even more difficult time containing her laughter before instantly returning to business.

Striding closer to the main bridge she takes a deep breath, "Jenkins, patch me through"

The screen flickers to life, and all the crew aboard the main bridge of the Human vessel take a deep breath, Hannah looks upon their visitors. At first they were both slightly frustrated, contact with new species is usually slowed severely by the language barrier. After sometime, they decided to use graphs, and images to get a baseline for each other's languages. The alien showed them a picture of his little one "Na'Vera" he said struggling to pronounce the human word, "Dauuter." Hannah made a motion that indicated a desire to see the image larger, to which the alien seemed happy to oblige. Moving closer he was met with a human chorus of "awe." Continuing the alien said her name "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya" and then pointing to himself "Rael'Zorah nar Rayya."

Trying to pronounce his name Hannah started, "Rieal…" To her surprise that alien started laughing as did most of the bridge. The alien apologized, "Me sorry for laughter, just remind me, children language learn."

Johnny had heard they made contact with aliens and despite all of the lower deck crews warnings and efforts he had made his way to the bridge, he was going to meet some aliens! Making it to the bridge he seen the alien on the big screen and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Cool! So cool!" Grabbing the attention of his mother and alien he rushed up beside his mother and held her leg.

She gave him a glare but soon chuckled to herself thinking, "What curious boy could possibly resist meeting aliens for the first time?" she proceeded to introduce him to the alien. "Na'Vora, my son," she looked at the alien, trying to observe his body language because she couldn't see his face behind the visor.

"Suun" he nodded his head. Hannah continued introducing herself "Hannah" she then pointed to her son, "Jonathan" she smiled at the alien.

He then attempted to say their names, "Honnoh, Joinathen" the alien seemed confident in his pronunciation until Hannah let out a small chuckle that was then followed by a burst of laughter on his end, presumably from his crew.

Things continued like this back and forth for quite about 12 hours or so until both of the captains understood enough of each other's language to have a coarse conversation that frequently butchered the words in their languages. They had agreed to remain where they were and make face to face contact in 10 hours, allowing them both time to rest and prepare their reports. In this time another ship left planeside and made its way to them, this ship contained one Admiral Hackett, decided by the alliance to be the best representative of humanity alongside Admiral Hannah Shepard.

…

"Are you sure about this captain? We don't know very much about this new species" a crew member of the ship voiced some concerns.

Laughing softly, he replied, "I understand your concerns but I talked with them for over 12 gsh, if they were evil I'm sure they would have gave away some tell by now" his voice reassuring them.

…

His helmsman chimed in over the comm system, "Sir you wife and child have child have just come into system, they are asking to board" It went without saying that they were granted permission to board, as Rael was missing them both and feeling the need to see his bondmate once more.

"We will remain cautious but this is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss out on, a new seemingly friendly species, untainted by the poisonous smug of the Council. Potential friends. Keelah! This is the ancestors answering our prayers!" Full of hope he mused silently to himself.

His musing was interrupted once more by an announcement from his helmsman. "Captain we got another Human vessel that just left FTL, should I prepare main guns?"

"No, they told us that their government was going to be sending another group of people to help with first contact, but on second thought prime those guns just in case, can't be too safe. We should prepare to be boarded; the contact is scheduled to be soon."

The arranged meeting time finally came and Hannah, Jonathan, and Admiral Hackett along with some armed marines boarded a small shuttle and began their journey towards the Quarian shuttle. Hannah glanced down at Jon, who seemed barely able to contain his excitement. He had decided to bring along his dinosaur toy so Rael's daughter would have something to play with, because Jon wasn't sure if they had toys like him. "Such a sweet boy" she thought to herself.

Admiral Hackett had been brought up to speed on all available reports as well as the Keelish that Hannah had managed to learn. They had both been practicing in effort to show their good will and desire for friendship. "This is big Hannah; Alliance brass is really pushing for us to bring them into the fold, into the Alliance."

They finally reached the Quarian vessel and prepared to board, the anxiety in the air was palpable to some, as the foreseeable future of Humanity would be heavily affected by this. Not yet familiar with the languages of each other, they clumsily requested to dock in the best Keelish they could muster. Unsure whether or not the aliens breathed oxygen, they decided it was best to wear their armored space suits. They weren't sure what diseases they might contract from them either.

They were lead to a larger area of the ship, but Hackett couldn't help but observe that the ship look beat to hell. These people were certainly more advanced than them but their equipment and their ships were heavily worn, with clear evidence of extensive maintenance. "What could push these people to this extent" Hackett wondered to himself, his worn hands caressing his stubble.

He had already guessed that they lived on their spacecraft due to the extensive maintenance and the fact that they keep their suits on constantly. His feelings shifted back and forth from wary, to empathetic for these people. They clearly had the ability to destroy them and good incentive to, but they had chosen instead to seek peace and friendship. This sat well with Hackett; he decided that he would do everything in his power to help these people.

…

They were brought to what Hannah could only assume was the captains quarters. It was very modest, but she got the feeling that this was how they lived. They lived here. Jon interrupted her musings when he spotted the child he ran over to her, speaking a better Keelish then all of the Alliance so far. "Tali'Zorah! He yelled "Caz'in? Play?" and although Tali was just a toddler, no older than 2 by human standards, she responded with a head nod. It was difficult for her to play with the boy because she was inside of her bubble but that did not seem to bother the young boy. He looked towards Rael, "Benir?" Much to Rael's shock the young man had held up the spare toy and asked him to sterilize it.

Rael had earlier held a brief discussion with them on the way to his quarters explaining the need for them to remain in their suits due to their inability to adapt to environments fast. He explained that they haven't been able to adapt fast enough to colonize another world, after they had lost their first.

Hackett had been too deep in his musings to overhear that they had lost their home planet and such, he didn't question it.

As their meeting went on they learned more and more words in each other's language, the barrier slowly falling. Hackett's curiosity made a slow and unwavering push and he finally cracked, "Why do you live on your ships? This ship looks like it has seen better days Rael." Rael and his wife sighed simultaneously as Rael got up to sit by Hackett.

"We lost home planet, make Geth, they kick off world, nearly extinct. Will be soon, ships can't last forever" Rael said that last part with great difficulty and sorrow lacing his voice, sorrow even aliens could pick up on. Switching to anger he continued, "We get no help from Council, they let us die! They treat us like trash!" His anger only lasts for a moment before he lets it drop and apologizes to his guests.

"Wait a moment Rael; you said there are other species in the galaxy?" Hackett inquired. Slightly deflated Rael replies, "Ahh yes… there are others. We will under…" He started to explain that they would harbor no hard feelings if Humanity had instead chosen to make contact with other species. "Rael you didn't let me finish, we would like to know of these people but I'm more curious of what you said earlier" Hackett paused for a moment before continuing. "You created these AI's, the Geth you call them?" Rael simply nods his head. His wife Hyal'Zorah grabs his hands as they prepare for the worst. "And you're saying that this "Council" hasn't lent you any help at all? They are just letting your people going nearly extinct?" The irritation is his voice slowly becoming more apparent at the mention of such gross inaction. "Ahh…Yes, they treat us like scum, criminals those bosh'tets."

Musing this for a moment, Hackett finally replies, "You may have created the Geth, but no one deserves to be treated like that" he looks Real in what he is sure are his eyes. "I will be honest with you Rael, my people would like to form an alliance with you, and we will not abandon you like the council. We stand by our own" Hackett said his smile spreading, infecting Hannah who also started smiling.

"This… I don't… know what to say!" Rael exclaimed grabbing Hackett's hand. "Thank you for this, we can't… you have already saved my species, thank you" Rael said finally containing himself.

"We must go now, I have to contact my superiors with all of this new information and determine where to go from there" Hackett said motioning for all of his fellows to follow. Hyal had been teaching Jon more Keelish when they had to leave; muttering something in Keelish, Jon reluctantly gets up and walks over to his mom. He looks back at the toddler Tali, and says "She can keep it!" smiling ear to ear he follows his mom out before running back for a second and yelling, "Bye Tali!" before returning to his less than pleased and rather embarrassed mother.

Finally reaching their own ships Hackett sighed at the injustices these people have had to face. He had a report to make to Alliance brass. Things were about to change. He would make sure of it.

End of chapter

A/N: No this is not necessarily a Council hater story, might make it one though. Likely not. Im just trying my best to verbally describe the frustration and anger of a people who feel wronged by inaction.

Caz'in: Play

Benir: Clean

Gsh: Galactic Standard Hour