Author's Note: Hello to everyone who's reading this. Thanks again for taking a gander at this bunch of words I've been putting together. Thanks so much for the reviews and notes sent to me. I greatly appreciate your feedback! I'm still getting used to using the site, but I'll master it eventually. Well, without further ado, please enjoy Chapter 2~!


Garrus Vakarian stood off to the side in the med-bay on board the Normandy, nursing his shoulder. He had been leading the second group holding the collectors at bay as Shepard, Grunt and Miranda went off to deal with the Reaper Embrio monstrosity, doing a fair job at it too. No one had died under his command, something that he was deeply grateful for. It was a needed boost to his self-esteem that had been pushed into the mud after the events on Omega. When Shepard had sent the signal to head back to the Normandy, he had led his group through the ever-encroaching Collectors when he had taken a shot that had snuck through his over-worked shields to the shoulder, hence why he was in the med-bay.

It wasn't anything serious, beyond leaving a nasty bruise and yet another scuff mark on his armour's collection, but Chakwas was ever the dutiful physician even despite her abduction and insisted on giving him the once over. The turian had agreed to the check-up but as the other crew members were in worse condition than him, he had hung back to allow the others to go ahead of him.

That's when the ship began to shake and sway, as the Normandy took off to first pick up Shepard, then race out to the relay to escape the bomb on the Collector base. The artificial-gravity generators on board were worked to their limit, barely compensating for the wild acrobatics Joker and EDI were putting the ship through in order to escape the graveyard and the explosion behind them. The turian was tempted to call Joker up to complain about the 'bump ride' but decided against it, knowing the human pilot needed all his concentration for the task at hand, namely their continued survival. It wasn't until the rocking of the ship stopped and smoothed out that the collective sigh of relief was let out from the entire crew around Garrus. They had made it to the relay. They were safe.

As those in the med-bay and those outside in the crew deck too injured to have assisted in the escape let loose ragged cheers and calls of joy, Garrus took the opportunity to slip away. Chakwas was too focused on her current patient to see him go, something that the turian would thank the spirits for. Everyone on board knew to fear Chakwas' wrath.

Making his way to the elevator behind the mess, he found Tali'Zorah already inside the lift, tapping away at her omni-tool and went in to stand beside her. As the door closed and the lift began the arduous rise to the CIC, there was silence between the two for a moment.

"We survived," Tali commented, her voice sounding tired behind her mask. Continuing to type on her device, the quarian continued, saying, "It's funny really, how many times we've dodged death today alone that is. Thank goodness Shepard listened when I said she should upgrade the core's shielding. Without it, we'd be dead in the water. Or just dead in general. As it is, we're just leaking a small amount of eezo. Nothing dangerous as of yet."

"Your shields were a good addition Tali. Just like my Thanix Cannon idea," Garrus said, feeling pretty good about that upgrade. "With it, the Normandy's guns tore through the collector ship with ease. If every ship could have those cannons, the reapers are going to get a hell of a welcome when they show up."

"You turians and your guns," the quarian's smile was evident despite it being hidden behind that visor of hers. Finally finishing whatever she was working on her omni-tool with, Tali put it on standby, the glowing holographic display fading out just as the doors of the elevator began to open.

"After you," Garrus said with a rakish turian grin. The turian could feel the rolling of Tali's eyes as she left the elevator, Garrus a step behind her.

Few crew-members were up in this section of the Normandy, those that were stood in small groups, talking excitedly to themselves. Those that noticed the two aliens passing gave them smiles before going back to their previous conversations.

"Not too bad of people these humans. Despite being Cerberus," the turian thought as he and Tali approached the cockpit of the Normandy. He could see Joker in his seat, while Miranda Lawson and Shepard stood next to pilot. EDI's avatar could be seen on its projection screen. All the humans looked tense. The pessimist inside him commented, "This doesn't bode well."

"Shepard," he called out, watching as their red-headed leader turned her head to see their approach, her green-grey human eyes watching them. When they were close enough she gave them both a halfhearted smile.

"Anything wrong downstairs," she'd ask. Garrus would shake his head, but Tali spoke up.

"The core is slightly damaged and is leaking some fuel, nothing dangerous, but we need to get to a dry-dock and repair it, otherwise conditions will begin to deteriorate."

That caused Shepard to grimace and look outside. Garrus turned to follow her gaze, about to ask her what was wrong when his eyes caught sight of what she was looking at. "Um... I'm not an expert on stars," he began, "But I'm fairly certain Sahrabarik's star is not a red giant.."

Tali looked at the Turian like he'd suddenly grown a second head. "What are you.." Her gaze matched Garrus'. Her hand went to her mouthpiece as she gasped softly "Keelah."

A red fire glowed in front of them, a giant red hot mass of burning gasses swirling around in the cosmos, as it had for millions of years before being seen by the eyes of those onboard the Normandy. Those looking out at the star, however, did not see this celestial beauty as something to look out at in awe. Rather, they looked upon it as something of no small concern.

The digital voice of EDI filled the air. "The star in front of us is a class M red giant star. Sahrabarik's star is considered to be a class K star. I can only posit that this is not the Sahrabarik system."

The declaration from the AI hung in the air for a few moments, during which silence reigned.

"How is this possible? The relay should have taken us back to Sahrabarik," exclaimed Tali, who was wringing her hands as her nerves began to overtake her.

Miranda answered the quarian's question. "It was the Reapers. It had to be. They built the Relays. They must've done something to the Omega-4's sister relay in the galactic core, something that sent us here."

"But where is here," the confused voice of Joker asked.

Again there was silence. Garrus was looking at Shepard, trying to get a feeling for how the human was doing. Her expression looked… lost. The stress of the entire day, compounded by the prospect of being lost with a leaking engine and a damaged ship must've been wearing on her shoulders exponentially as each problem arose.

"Shepard…" he thought to himself, reaching out with his hand to put on her shoulder, a sign of solidarity common to both turians and humans. She'd glance up at him and give him a smile, one that gave off the 'Don't worry about it. I got this.' vibe. Garrus never liked it when Shepard took on the entire responsibility onto herself alone. Before he could say anything, however, the Commander stood up straight and turned to EDI's avatar.

"EDI, run a scan, maybe you can figure out where we are."

"Of course Shepard. Running star analysis no-" the AI flickered for the scantest of seconds. The AI's voice sounded a bit… concerned, as she spoke. "Commander, I am detecting four vessels to the port side of the Normandy. Scans indicated one vessel at approximately one-hundred fifty metres, two ships at approximately three and a half-hundred metres and the final one is approximately six-hundred metres long."

"What," shouted Joker, whirling on his chair back to his screens. The rapid movement of hands typing and button pressing followed. "The hell EDI! You're supposed to be the amazing supercomputer! How do you miss four ships that size!?"

"There was no Eezo signature coming from the spacecraft and the radiation from the star hampered my scanners. It was only when I expanded my search beyond the immediate vicinity of the vessel that I picked up on their presence."

This statement dumbfounded everyone. Miranda was the first to recover.

"No Eezo? That's impossible! Your scanners must be off EDI," claimed the field operative.

The AI replied "I have run the scan multiple times. There is indeed no Eezo emanating from anywhere on the vessels."

"Ships that big without eezo at all? Garrus is this some secret Hierarchy military stuff," Joker asked from his seat.

The turian in question shook his head. "No. Every starship in the galaxy uses Eezo. Everything in the Turian fleet is built using Element Zero."

"Also The ships do not match any turian ship design profiles on record."

Garrus blinked. "EDI, how do you know that," he asked cautiously.

The AI was silent.

"Look, maybe we can ask them for help? We are sitting ducks in the water here," Shepard spoke up, cutting off Garrus' want to interrogate the Normandy's AI. "It's worth the chance. Until we know where we are, we are stuck here, and these guys, whoever they are, are our best bet to getting back home safely."

"Yeah, but with our luck, this'll be batarians who'd rather enslave us than help us," groused Joker.

Everyone gave the pilot a glare. The human blinked.

"What?"

Miranda rolled her eyes with an annoyed huff, about to give Joker a lecture on maintaining high morale during crises by the look of it when EDI flickered again.

"Shepard, I'm receiving a large data stream from the unknown fleet. The smallest vessel to be specific. I'm parsing through the data now, but already I can ascertain that whoever is on board is very advanced. The code the packet came in is beyond even the Geth's capabilities to instantly decipher. At least, from what I've been able to tell with my interactions with Legion."

"Shepard-Commander."

And speak of the devil, as the human saying went. Legion, the Geth sniper platform that had joined them in their quest against the Reaper's goons the Collectors, walked up into the already crowded cockpit. Tali shied away from the machine slightly. Garrus could understand why. The Quarians and the Geth had been locked in a state of war for over three hundred years, the machine race having driven the quarians off their homeworld and out of what once was Quarian Space. While progress between the two had been leaps and bounds beyond what anyone would've expected in the time spent working on missions together, three hundred years of animosity does not just go away. Old habits die hard. Not that Legion would noticed Tali's movement, instead focusing onto Shepard.

"This platform has received a signal originating from unknown sources. It is.. Alien to us. We have no record of this data. We ask for clarification," the Geth asked, polite as always.

Shepard let out a long-suffering sigh. "We don't know Legion. We just received word of the signal itself. EDI's working on it as we speak."

"Understood. This platform shall offer assistance to deciphering this data to EDI."

"Appreciated Legion," chirped the AI.

"Well then," said Shepard, straightening out before stretching. "Briefing room, all of you. Joker, hold our position. I don't want to give whoever is out there a reason to blow us all to stardust." The Pilot nodded. "Good. Legion, stay here and help EDI. The rest of you, follow me."

"Never a dull day on this ship," chuckled the turian as he turned and followed the group away from the cockpit.


In the digital banks of the Normandy, EDI wrestled her processors against the wall of code that had come in. More like slammed in. It had come into her sensors so hard, that the effect could only be likened to the event of a organic shouting through a megaphone into someone's ear, that someone standing right next to the shouter. The cyberscape was stacked high as EDI tried to isolate and translate the digital coding into readable script for her to understand. For this task, it was a hard workout. So the added assistance of the Geth conscience Legion and all its one thousand one hundred eighty-three programs was a great boon the the ship AI.

"Do we have any progress?"

"No."

Somewhat. The problem was that the data was far too complex to work on as a whole, so they had to break the data into individual parts in order to process each part individually. This, however, led to occasional breaks in the code that would cause errors. So they had to continually rebuild and deconstruct data byte after data byte, and that was just to get the code to a stage that they could interpret and translate into workable data.

Imagine having a five-thousand-word puzzle. Dump the box out and, without sorting any of the pieces or looking at the box, try to assemble the puzzle. Blindfolded.

However, progress was being made. Bit by digital bit, the two AI's worked on their task until finally, something made sense.

"Normandy-EDI, we have deciphered enough data to uncover what appears to be a visual and audio file. The consensus was to bring it to your attention and watch it together, so as to better interpret the data."

"Understood Legion. Begin playing the file."

The data, which formed a glowing block of code before them, began to play a moving image, a video, as an alien voice began to speak in an unknown language. As it spoke, the video played out a series of images. Three Unique alien species were shown in succession, each one showed with their, presumably, planet of origin. What came next sent the processors of both AIs buzzing and whirring madly as they tried to process the existence of an entirely new race of AIs! AIs that apparently weren't feared, as they were shown living beside their organic counterparts, albeit with what looked like limited numbers according to what was being displayed by the video.

"We find such information… concerning," stated Legion. "Organic and synthetic races living side by side in a state of apparent equality. This goes against all known organic protocols and the Geth's own history. Consensus cannot be reached on this matter."

"It is different," acquiesced EDI, watching as the video continued on to show what could possibly be the capital of the alien species. It was large, situated on a low mountain and gleamed with steel and glass with many tall buildings. Then the camera cut out to show all the races standing beside one another with banners that had sigils, probably the symbols of their races, along with one larger one standing behind the four banners. Each of the species had their arms stretched out wide, in a surprisingly human-like welcoming gesture. Then the screen faded out, displaying the biggest banner's sigil, with alien writing underneath it. After a minute or so passed, the video began to play again, with EDI watching it more closely than before, pouring over each detail with the digital equivalent of a fine-toothed comb.

Legion also did the same. While examining the video data again the geth asked his AI counterpart, "Should we inform the commander about this?"

The Normandy's AI was silent for a moment before replying. "No. We need to work on the audio data. Without it, the video lacks vital information that would be of great value in understanding its meaning."

"Understood. We will continue to work on translating the audio data."

More time passed in the cyber realm. Eventually, as they parsed the data byte by byte, they were able to make a rough translation. With the limited speaking that did take place, they were unable to fully understand all the words given, but they did get enough to understand the gist of what was being said. Feeling confident enough to present their findings to Commander Shepard, EDI partially turned her attention to organizing their findings and readying them for presentation, leaving some of her processors to continue assisting Legion in working on making a better translation for them to use.

This entire process took no longer than the time for Shepard and Co. to arrive at the briefing room, damaged as it was, to discuss the current circumstances they faced.


Jacob Taylor, Kasumi Goto, Urdnot Grunt, Samara, Thane Krios and Zaeed Massani had joined them in the briefing room as Garrus and the others had filed in. Mordin Solus was busy helping Chakwas with the injured downstairs, while Jack had skulked off to her hideaway in engineering, which was alright as far as anyone else was concerned. They didn't need their resident temperamental psychotic biotic for this discussion.

"Alright. For those who aren't up to speed, we're lost, stranded, leaking eezo and have a fleet of unknowns sitting just outside on our doorstep," Shepard stated bluntly, a bit of exhaustion leaking into her voice as she spoke. Most of those present merely grimaced at the news, though some, such as Thane, Samara and Kasumi perked up at the mentioning of unknown aliens outside. "We've received a transmission from them, which EDI and Legion are working on as we speak. EDI?"

The avatar of the Normandy's ai popped up. "We have deciphered the data and have uncovered an audio and visual file so far." A screen popped up in place of EDI's avatar and began to play, showing the video that had been sent to them. "Legion and I have reached the conclusion that it is a first contact package of sorts. It gives minor details that described at least four unique space-faring races. The Avani are the first race mentioned, having an appearance interestingly similar to that of Canidae Vulpes, otherwise known as foxes from Earth. They are mammalian in nature, bipedal, walk upright and seem to come from a prairie-like world called Esorith." The AI pulled up an image of a red fox in comparison.

For Garrus, this was the first time he'd ever seen a fox creature from Earth. It was a very furry creature, covered in what appeared to be the same strand-like material that humans had on their heads or faces, except it covered their entire body. His eyes were drawn to the large fluffy tail the animal had and he wondered how exactly that fur would feel in his hands. Would it feel similar to Shepard's hair at all? Putting that question aside for the moment, he compared the image of the fox to the alien, the Avani as EDI put it. The two did look similar, their muzzle, ears and fur similar in shape and structure, but not exact. How strange that an entire alien race looked so similar to a wild animal from the Human homeworld.

EDI continued on as the picture changed to show a hulking, reptilian-looking alien. Its size seemed to rival the krogan in bulk, the horns present on it's skull and the sharp carnivorous teeth in its maw giving it a rather intimidating visage. "This is a Talrani. They are a warm-blooded reptilian-like race. At least we assume them to be warm-blooded due to living on an icy world called Jorba. They appear to have great strength compared to the other races."

"The third race is called the Hinu and they are aquatic in nature, coming from a tropical ocean world full of atolls and small islands called Bannu." The image showed an alien with smooth, moist looking skin, with strange fin-like appendages hanging from either side of its face. It somewhat reminded Garrus of the Hanar from their watery world Kahje.

"Three alien races all together eh," chuckled the turian, "This sounding familiar to anyone?"

Shepard quirked a small smile at the comment before focusing back onto the paused video screen. "You said there were four races EDI. What's the last one," he asked.

At this, the AI seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"EDI?"

"Apologies Shepard. The last race according to the content of the first contact package is a race of synthetic AIs known as Tobor. They are unlike the geth, in that each Tobor seems to be a fully fledge artificial intelligence separate from one another, not connected together in a hive mind network like the geth, though they can network with one another. While only a few seem to possess physical mechanical bodies, they are regarded as being equals to their organic counterparts and some even seem to be civic leaders."

This stunned everyone in the room. Garrus himself was struck dumb by this news. If the Council knew about this, they'd lose their collective minds. Tevos would ramble about in her unintelligible manner. Sparatus would of course instantly rattle his sabre and desire to take the fleets to put down this alien race under the turian boot. And Valern... well, Garrus wasn't too sure about what the salarian councillor would do. The idea of the councillors and their underlings on the Citadel running around like chickens with their heads cut off appealed greatly to the humour of the Turian's brain and he let out a small chuckle, quickly covering it up with a cough.

This seemed to restart everyone else in the room, who looked uneasily at one another. Tali looked a bit ill behind her mask. Garrus patted her shoulder, the quarian looking up towards Garrus with an expression of shock and fear evident to everyone around her despite no one being able to see her expression.

Shepard appeared to be deep in thought, mulling what she had been told around in her head. She glanced up at the rest of the group and took a breath. "AIs or not, these guys are going to be our only chance of getting everyone back home safely. We can handle this," she said, nodding as if to confirm the idea to herself, "EDI. What else do you have?"

"According to the package, all these species make up what is called the Avani Commonwealth. It is a unitary parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, much like the United Kingdom on Earth. The King, or High King as he's called, rules with the Prime Minister, and is viewed as being the protector of his people, a benevolent guardian against a hostile galaxy. Unfortunately, any other information is currently inaccessible as Legion and I have yet to work out some sections of data. There is, however, an audio message that was broadcasted alongside the Contact package."

"Go ahead EDI," said Shepard, knowing that the AI was waiting for permission.

The partially transmitted message was played, the speaker's voice reaching everyone's ears in the form of English, to which each alien's own translator's then put into their own language.

"This is the science and exploration vessel ACN Beselador of the Avani Commonwealth Navy, escorted by the vessels of the Utaris Task Force. We are here to render aid and assistance to your damaged vessel and to any injured you have on board. The Commonwealth wishes to foster good relations and peace between our two nations. We are pleased to meet you."

It was quiet as each person in the room digested this declaration.

It was Jacob, the dark-skinned ex-Cerberus operative, who broke the silence first. "At least we know that these are friendly aliens. The last thing we needed was to run into someone worse than the Collectors."

"Can we trust them," asked Miranda, looking at the pictures of the Aliens displayed before the group. Now that was a question thought Garrus. Maybe it was the cynical part of his mind that had grown since his time on Omega, but he couldn't help but wonder about the alien's offer. What was their angle? No one was truly altruistic, not in this galaxy.

"We have no choice," said Shepard, her Commander persona coming into effect. She looked at each of the crew members. "Without help, without knowing where we are, we have little hope of making it back to known space." The others around the table nodded, resigned to the course of action that was no doubt coming. "EDI, prepare a response. Send it out on all frequencies. Make sure they hear it."

"Yes, Commander."


Sarim was idly tapping his fingers against the console in front of him, his species claws making a rather sinister 'tap-tap-tap' sound as they struck the metal below. He glanced around to the other crew of the Beselador, Avani, Talrani and Hinu alike demonstrating their respective species nervous traits. The avani's tail twitching behind them. Talrani stood tall (or sat straight if they were sitting) with their arms crossed, looking menacing with their scowls. Hinu's facial fins twitched under the weight of their nerves. Even Ulfric, an AI, looked perturbed by the long stretch of silence. Captain J'Khan looked particularly murderous.

"This is taking far too long! What are they even doing over there? Did they even receive the transmission," asked the captain sharply, glaring outside the viewport at the alien vessel that just sat there, motionless.

"I sent the Package out on all frequencies possible. Even if they were just newly entering the space age, which judging by the design of the vessel seems unlikely, they would've received the transmission," the AI replied, looking rather insulted that it was implied that he made such a simple mistake.

"Well, then why are they just sitting there," growled the reptile.

"It may be that their communications array was damaged in whatever fight they came out from. Or perhaps their technology is just far too alien to interpret our signals correctly. There are over a hundred different scenarios that could be in play here."

The captain huffed in annoyance and went about grumbling under his breath as he sat in his captain's chair, taking a bite out of his dinner that had been delivered to the bridge. Normally, the captain would take his meals with the crew in the Beselador's mess. However, given the current situation, the ship's cook and his helpers had taken it upon themselves to deliver a small meal to everyone currently working on the bridge and elsewhere on the ship. No doubt similar actions were being taken by the other ships' cooks and their subordinates, their crews most likely not being able to leave their posts.

Sarim himself had taken his meal on the bridge, not wanting to miss a possible second of this first contact. Though he himself had to admit that he was getting tired of waiting for a response.

"Perhaps we should send out another package, in case they were incapacitated at the time we sent the first one," the avani scientist suggested.

Ulfric shook his digital head. "I think we only need to give them a bit more ti-"

The AI was cut off suddenly as the systems registered an incoming signal with a loud Ping noise. Instantly, everyone on board the bridge was alert. J'Khan even put down his dinner, something near unheard of for a talrani. 'Never get between a talrani and its meal', the saying went, 'Unless you wish to join it." A bit racist of a saying to be sure, but it did have some truth to it. Talrani were very protective of their food.

Sarim shook his head free of such thoughts and refocused his attention to the task at hand.

"Well, what is it," he'd ask aloud, his brain calling out for answers.

The ship's AI was quiet for a moment before glancing up at Sarim. "They were kind enough to provide a translation matrix. Turns out they were having trouble understanding what was being sent to them, that's why it took so long for them to reply."

The researcher groaned. "Not that! What was their reply? Did they tell you who they are? What happened that damaged their vessel?!"

If Ulfric had a physical form he might have found himself being grabbed by the lapels of his clothing by the excited scientist. Inwardly he merely chuckled at Sarim's energetic display. Organics were so interesting to watch at times.

"Yes, sir. Sorry, Sir. The message is this," the AI began, bringing up the recording.

"This is Commander Jane Shepard of the Normandy. Our ship has been damaged while fighting against the alien race known as the Collectors. We escaped, but in doing so, we found ourself sent to an unmapped part of the galaxy. We ask for assistance in repairing and returning to our known space. We wish for nothing but peace as well and swear we mean you or your people any harm."

The transmission ended, the buzzing of voices from the various crew on board the bridge filling the gap left by the alien's message.

Sarim himself was deeply intrigued by the message. The title Commander was a military rank, so did that make this vessel one under a military's command? Who were these Collectors? They must've been advanced to cause such damage to the ship, the Normandy he corrected himself. He rolled the word over his tongue. So strange. It must've been an important name to earn itself a place on a ship's side. And then there was this Jane Shepard character. The voice was female, that he could tell. He smiled at that. A female in the military. The avani scientist felt pleased to know that at least this new species let their female's fight in wars.

But there was another part of the message that bothered the scientist. Namely, what wasn't said. The aliens gave no information on their affiliation. No political entity to identify themselves with. "Did this make them rebels," wondered Sarim, pacing back and forth on the bridge, deep in thought. Outcasts? Exiles perhaps? Why were they fighting these Collectors? Who were they? Commander Jane Shepard didn't even introduce her own species. All these unanswered questions were worrying to Sarim. He didn't think it would go down well with his superiors if the first race(s) they met since the Arrival turned out to be pirates or outlaws of all things. Though the ship, for all its damage, did look a bit too shiny and new to belong to brigands. Perhaps though they were bandits who cared about their ship's appearance. Maybe…

He was taken out of his thoughts by J'Khan gripping his shoulder firmly. Puzzled, he looked up at his reptilian co-worker, blinking in confusion.

"You're gonna wear a hole through the bulkhead pacing like that," the captain chuckled in his deep, throaty voice. "Also, Ulfric has been trying to get your attention for the past couple of minutes."

Blushing under his fur, suitably embarrassed for zoning out as he had just done, he turned to the AI. Ulfric, bless him, didn't comment on the avani's previous actions.

"Should we send a response, sir," asked the AI.

Sarim nodded. "Er, yes. We should."

Clearing his throat, and at Ulfric's nod, the scientist spoke, saying, "Normandy, this is Chief Scientist Sarim den Pagor, leader of the scientific expedition in this system you have just entered. We have heard your call for assistance. We reaffirm our previous statement: We are here to render aid and assistance to your vessel and its crew. Unfortunately, we do not have the materials nor the workers available to repair your vessel here. We can escort you to our nearest shipyard for repairs if that is agreeable to you. Otherwise, you may be stuck here for an unknown amount of time until such supplies can arrive."

The message was sent and he waited for the reply. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait as long for it as he had to for the last one. It was five minutes later when the reply was received.

"Beselador, Commander Shepard here. We are grateful for your offer, but as we lack the star charts to know where we may be possibly heading, the task may prove difficult. Also, with our current FTL abilities limited due to our damage, it is unknown whether or not we could make it the entire trip to this shipyard.

'Hmm, that could prove difficult indeed,' the scientist thought. He pondered the thought for a moment, looking to J'Khan for assistance. The talrani smiled at Sarim, the solution to this problem having come to him easily.

"Normandy, this is Captain Batchu J'Khan of the Beselador," the talrani's deep voice carried itself clearly into the broadcasting equipment, "If the situation is not too critical, we can send for a specialized transport vessel big enough for your ship to fit inside. If you can spare us the details on the size of your spacecraft, I'm certain we can find a suitable ship to assist you in getting you and your vessel underway."

The wait was a bit longer this time for a reply.

"We can send you the appropriate details Captain. Thank you."

"Not much of a talker these aliens," chuckled J'Khan.

Ulfric was busy receiving the necessary data from the Normandy, scrolling through his database for an appropriate transport ship for the size of the alien vessel, followed by eliminating those ships too far away to make it in a reasonable amount of time.

"Sirs," the digital being began, "The construction and repair vessel Anetham is located nearby. If we asked, they could be here within a standard galactic day's worth of time."

"I know the Anetham. Good captain, for a Hinu. She'll do," the talrani said, nodding. "Is she currently on assignment?"

"No, sir. Actually, she was assigned to come to this system anyway to dispose of the system's Key. So it will not be a difficult change for the Anetham to change tasks. Merely only to hurry up in getting here."

"How fortuitous," commented Sarim. "How soon can she be here?"

"Just over twenty standard hours if she pushes it," came the AI's reply after it finished its calculations. "At her current rate of travel, the Anetham would take at least three days to arrive."

The avani nodded. "Send the orders Ulfric. Make sure they understand what is going on."

"It will be done sir," chirped the AI.

J'Khan smiled, which to anyone unaccustomed to a talrani smile may find more than intimidating. He spoke into the broadcasting system, "Normandy. Captain J'Khan speaking. We have found a suitable transport that will be able to take your spacecraft to the nearest Commonwealth shipyard for repairs. It will take some time, but it will arrive before too long. Don't worry. We'll get you fixed up in no time at all."

"In the meantime, while we wait. We'd like to invite Commander Shepard over for a meeting, to further exchange the knowledge between our races and nations." This was Sarim speaking, barely able to keep his tail from twitching at the idea of all the possible data such an exchange might involve. "We'll accept a guard detail, and we swear by our forefathers that they'll be treated as guests of honour on board the Beselador. We can even offer a shuttle to bring you over if need be."

They waited for approximately five minutes before a reply was sent.

"We accept your offer to meet on board the Beselador. Would you please allow us some time to prepare? We'll send you a message once we are ready. As we have our own shuttle, we will not require the services of your own. Thank you for the offer though."

"We eagerly await your message and your arrival then. Beselador out," Sarim said, before turning off the transmission feed. He slumped into the nearest chair, a mixed wave of excitement, nerves and exhaustion hitting him.

"Are you alright sir," asked Ulfric, the AI looking the faintest hint concerned.

"I'm fine," the scientist grumbled, rubbing his hand over his muzzle. "Just imagining all the possible things that can go wrong from this meeting."

"Don't be like that sir," the AI chided the avani lightly, "There is no need for such downward thinking. My calculations say that the chance of this ending poorly are extremely low. By the way, I've taken the liberty of alerting the captains of the task force that they can stand down and go to low alert, since we've established that these aliens are not hostile, at least at present. I've also notified them to not be alarmed when the shuttle leaves in the next few hours. While we wait, perhaps you should go lie down for a while sir. You've been up past the standard time allotment for healthy energy levels as is recommended by the Commonwealth navy."

"You know… I think I will do that. Thank you Ulfric," Sarim said, getting up and heading for the portside exit of the bridge to head for his quarters.

J'Khan took a bite out of his neglected dinner, almost immediately spitting back out onto its dish. He glared at the cold, offending meal and tossed it into the nearest recycler as he too left the bridge through the starboard exit. He'd grab something fresh to eat while he waited.

"And a drink too. Ancestors know I'm gonna need it," he thought to himself.

In the digital realm that Ulfric resided in, the AI pondered over a certain bit of information he had discovered, still debating over whether or not he should bring it to his superior's notice. When he'd scanned the vessel a few more times after the initial scan, he came across something that had piqued his interest.

Two unique digital signatures. Two distinctly separate artificial intelligences resided on the alien vessel, the Normandy. Two alien AIs.

Now that was something of great interest to the Commonwealth AI.

Ulfric hoped he'd be able to meet them soon.


Author's Note: And that's chapter two! So, we're seeing the Normandy's view to their abrupt entry into Commonwealth space, the crew's reactions to the discovery of an alien navy knocking on their door, their response, and then we switched over to the Beselador for their thoughts on the ensuing conversation. Not going to lie, it was difficult to write this chapter. SOOOO much dialogue, and I wanted to be able to write interestingly without getting too overly expositiony about it. I think I did an alright job at it. What did you guys think? Questions? Ideas? Suggestions? Let me know!

Next Chapter, worlds collide as Shepard and co prepare themselves to meet some new aliens and think about what they can say that isn't classified. The Beselador gets a message from the very top of command. And EDI and Legion are greeted by their newest digital counterpart. That and more, coming soon.