Just to be clear, Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert's works will not be used on this fic. Only the original Dune novels by Frank Herbert will be used, and maybe the Dune Encyclopedia. So no, Al and Jim are not machines, and in this fic, Omnius and Erasmus have never even existed. Only Marty and Daniel.
As for the Xenophobia, calling aliens "Xenos" may be considered Xenophobia I suppose, but 1. The humans don't really know what to call the aliens (This is a first contact scenario after all) and 2. It's just a term. No malice is intended. The aliens are just outsiders as far as humans are concerned.
Also, keep in mind that the humans in this fic are not members of the Systems Alliance. The SA doesn't even exist here. I replaced them with extra-galactic humans with a very non-western culture, and make no mistake, by Western standards, most non-western cultures can be described as very "Xenophobic."
However, I wouldn't use the term Xenophobic to describe Dune humans. Instead, it's better to describe Dune humans as tribalistic, which is how most of them behave even amongst other humans. Remember that the Fremen in the Dune series are based on Arabic culture, and they were portrayed as having a very tribal orientation. We take care of our own.
Finally, remember that in the Scattering, there is no fixed state system. Humans are now high-tech nomadic space barbarians, and how do nomads and stateless peoples behave? They behave tribally. So there's your answer.
Where are they?
Where is the Power of the Protheans?
Where are the Armies of the Inusannon?
Where are the Fleets of the Oravores?
Where are the Warriors of the Thoi'han?
Where are the Lords of the Zeiophs, the Kings of the Zha'til?
Where are the Warlike Ditakur, or the Pretentious Synril?
So answer me, where are they?
They are gone.
They have had their aeons of glory, their time in the sun.
Their banners had flown, their fleets had traversed the stars, their armies had marched through a hundred worlds.
But now?
They are gone. Their banners have burned, their fleets lost, the bones of their armies are no more.
They have had their time, and now it is done.
They had been destroyed by the Reapers, the Devouring Machines. Their legacy is gone, save for the hushed whispers of the stars.
But what of us?
What of us?
We are Humans.
We are not Inusannon or Oravores or Protheans.
We are not Ditakur or Synril or Thoi'han.
We are Humans.
A millennia for you is a great expanse of time. For us a short chapter in our history.
Aeons ago, before you knew the stars, we were already old.
Our Golden Path has existed long before your kind were born.
And we shall continue long after you are all gone.
- The Illusive One Speaking to "Ghola" Garrus Vakarian (1)
"Tell me about the skies of your Homeworld, Tevura..." a strange male voice asked, half menacing, half erotic.
Tevura Tsoni, daughter of Liara Tsoni and Garrus Vakarian could not answer. She could only scream out in horror, for Thessia burned. Her skies were colored red and grey, and they smelled of rotting flesh and shattered machines. Thessia's daughters had been devoured by the Reapers. Her memory lost. Her legacy and pride brought low.
Tevura felt this; felt the darkness in the depths of her soul. Thessia burned, just as Palaven, Surkesh, Tuchanka, Rannoch and all the other home worlds burned to ash and flame. This had happened long ago. She only heard of it from others, but it had happened long ago.
And yet... Here she was witnessing the bloodbath that had happened. Was this a dream, or was the future a dream? Tevura couldn't tell. It felt so real.
She then saw the Crucible activate, and inside it was her father Garrus Vakarian. She saw the great weapon as it slaughtered many of the Reapers, a weapon of desperation, but a potent one nevertheless. She saw the great machines fall down like chaff...
But not enough.
The Crucible was half finished when it was activated and it didn't exterminate the machine completely, and even now there were still more than enough of them left to exterminate all life in the Galaxy.
"Hello Tevura," her father greeted her. She wondered at this, for he took on the form of a young Turian boy.
"Dad?"
"Yes?"
"Why are you a child?"
"Oh that... Well, the Cerberii... you see they..." The rest of his words were muffled and incomprehensible. He spoke for a long time and with some weariness. Tevura wanted to hear his words, but could not hear anything, just vague whispers, as if he was far away.
Garrus was soon replaced with a vision of her mother, weeping as others wept. They were huddled in pathetic little bunkers, clutching each other as the inevitable doom approached.
"I am the hope of both organics and synthetics... You cannot escape me," a powerful voice proclaimed, a being of energy and light. She tried to peer into it but all she could see was oblivion. The darkness gripped her, devoured even her dreams. The screams of hundreds of fallen alien races murmured pleas in the depths of the void.
Tevura screamed to the goddess for Salvation, to Athame, to her ancestor-mothers, to alien gods and even to demons, but they did not answer, and she was left with Reapers, the pitiless machines staring at her pathetic form, with monstrous eyes and voices that pierced her mind.
"Tell me about the skies of your Homeworld, Tevura..." the voice asked again.
The Reapers were then replaced by something else, an Asaroid-like being. Male? Perhaps. It stared down at her broken body, buried among the ruins of the Aras Sanctuary. Behind the creature stood others like it. They stared at her like pitiless shadows, their eyes blue in blue. They terrified her, but they also bore a strange attraction.
They spoke in a strange ancient tongue, older than the Protheans. Their eyes stared into her, willing her to share her secrets. Tevura resisted, but she failed, and soon they were inside her mind, her thoughts...
But she was also inside theirs...
And she saw a great golden river of light floating across universes and galaxies. These creatures, these aliens with blue in blue eyes and terrible powers flowed in this river. They were eternal and endless, and she saw the miracles that existed beyond time and space. She saw their visions and their dreams, and she saw their power...
"That is the Golden Path, Tevura... Do not be afraid. Take my hand..."
But Tevura could not... and the darkness devoured her.
"Tell me about the skies of your Homeworld, Tevura..."
And then Tevura awoke...
"Well now... It looks like the Warrior Princess is awake at last," said a female Turian voice. "For someone who's supposed to be half-dead, you sure make a lot of noise in your sleep."
"Nyreen...?"
"Yeah kid. Welcome back. You okay?"
Tevura got up, shook her head and stared at the face she thought she'd never see again. Nyreen was an old Turian warrior, but at the moment she looked like shit. Her arm was heavily bandaged by some unknown material, and her face bore the signs of stress and fatigue. Nyreen had been a soldier, a gang leader and a merc prior to the Reaper war. Rumor had it that she even knew the late Aria T'Loak, and at one point, had even been a Turian warlord in the Terminus Systems.
During the fading days of the Citadel, when the Reapers had begun their purge of the galaxy, she and her band of pirates and mercs had joined up with the rest of the Galaxy to fight the Reapers. They fought as irregulars, as scouts and as infantry... To no avail.
Years of blood and sacrificed followed in the wake of her decision. After the failure of the Crucible to eliminate all of the Reapers, Nyreen along with various irregular combat units were either turned into marines or as security forces for the recently built Sanctuaries, deep underground bunkers that acted as glorified refugee camps to house the millions of refugees retreating from the worlds that had already been devastated by Reaper attack.
No one wanted to say it, but the Sanctuaries were an admission of defeat. They were holes in the ground in obscure, barely explored planets, meant to hide what was left of the Citadel's once massive galactic population. Nyreen didn't like her posting. She was a warrior, after all and not a baby sitter, but she accepted was given to her, and over time she got used to her new role. She even became somewhat of an authority figure for most of the Sanctuaries inhabitants, including Tevura.
When Tevura's shock had worn off, she realized that she was no longer in the Aras Sanctuary, but on a small cot in some unidentified structure. It took her a few more minutes to realize that she was no longer even in Aras. The building was a pre-fabricated barracks of some kind, and it was definitely alien. The walls were lined with some kind of crystal-like material, nothing at all similar to any of the materials the Citadel used.
She lay on the lower bed of a double bunk, one among many, arranged in neat little rows with lockers and cabinets not far away. The temperature of the room was fairly cool, but not cold. Tevura was going to say something, but the shock of her new surroundings kept her from forming a coherent sentence. The only thing that she could do was to hug Nyreen tightly.
"You're alive!" Tevura said in a half-sob, her voice filled with surprise and relief. Nyreen had been like a mother to her, and many other children actually. The Aras Sanctuary was full of refugee children whose parents were either dead or who had opted to stay behind to fight the Reapers.
"You're alive," she repeated, as if fearful that she was dreaming. During the initial hours of the Reaper attack on Aras, Tevura saw the Sanctuary command post overwhelmed by hordes of Husks, killing off most of the command structure before they could warn the rest of the Sanctuary of the attack.
Nyreen had been in the command post. It was chaos.
Tevura remembered her shock when she, along with the rest of the security force, stared in horror at the devastation that the Husks had unleashed on their home. The scorched flesh, the terrible sounds of Reaper indoctrination, the lights and screams, the agony and fear. Memories of the battle went through her mind like a blur. Friends and family, beloved for decades, dead in an instant. Then she remembered the tunnel, of being buried under rubble, of her friends screaming her name and the hulks being cut down like so many toy soldiers.
Aras. What had happened to Aras? She suddenly remembered the twisted bodies of friends, of family, of little children. Little purple colored Susa – she and her parents didn't reach the escape ships in time. Loud mouthed Keraph, the 3 year old Salarian, who always bragged about how his father's cousin's friend personally knew the late Mordin Solus. Eager little Merala, a beautiful little Elcor if ever there was one – torn in half by Reaper swarms. Kalo, the little Hanar who wanted to be just like Blasto, the famous Hanar spectre from the vids. Tevura remembered how the invading armies had destroyed her home – the home that she hated so much until she lost it.
Sensing her questions as well as the chaos within her mind, Nyreen answered her unspoken question, "I was buried in the rubble during the attack, just like you. The husks left me for dead... Thankfully, our friends rescued me, and so here I am."
Tevura smiled, tried to say something but couldn't find the right words. She just stared at Nyreen.
"Well? Say something."
Tevura shook her head, and for a moment, she almost looked like Liara, her mother. "I... I'm just glad you're alive, Nyreen." And she hugged her again even harder.
"You too kid. You too. Though I have to say that you had us scared for awhile too."
"What?"
"You were pretty messed up when the aliens found you, but the spirits decided they didn't want you to ascend to the heavens just yet."
"Heh. Yeah well, I'm a pretty tough bitch," Tevura answered with her old cocky self, but she paused for a moment and something Nyreen said sparked memories of the attack on Aras. "Aliens?"
"Yeah, the aliens," Nyreen said with some humor. "If I didn't know better I'd say they were related to you."
"This isn't funny, Ny."
"Who's trying to be funny? They really do look like the intergalactic cousins of the Asari."
She remembered what she saw in the tunnels, but it was all a blur. "I didn't get a good look at them. So you'll have to let me in on the joke."
"Huh? Well, your loss then. Some of the other Asari really do seem to like the aliens. Maybe once you're all healed you can go join them at trying to seduce our captors"
"That's nice Nyreen. Poke fun at the girl with the broken leg. How about you tell me more about the aliens?"
"Heh. Well, at least your sense of humor is back," Nyreen said. "There's not much to say really. The aliens evacuated those of us who couldn't get off the planet, gave us food and medical care, and then shoved us here. At least, that's what the others said. I was as fucked over as you were when they got us off Aras. We're currently inside one of their ships. Spirits! This thing is even bigger than the Citadel."
Tevura shook her head, and she focused on the situation critically. She was impatient, and wanted to know as much about the new situation as possible, but she also knew better than to ask whatever questions entered her mind. Be patient. Focus on the important things first. "How many of us did they save?"
"213. Mostly those of us who stayed behind to cover the evacuating ships... And before you ask," Nyreen held up a clawed hand to silence her questions. "Most of our people left Aras' orbit. If the spirits are generous, they'll be able to link up with a Citadel fleet."
Tevura's face hardened and she asked, "How many didn't make it?"
Nyreen sighed and considered lying to her, but her Turian sense of honor quickly quashed the desire. "About a quarter didn't make it. The Reapers were using stealth countermeasures." Nyreen's own face then became as grim as Tevura's.
"Goddess." The Aras Sanctuary held about 15,300 refugees. When the Reapers first attacked Aras, most of those refugees left the planet's orbit via evacuation ships armed with optimized stealth fields. The possibility of a Reaper attack had been anticipated early on in the construction of the Sanctuary, but there was no such thing as a perfect plan.
A quarter of failed evacuation attempts meant that 3,000 souls had perished attempting to escape the slaughter, with the rest given no assurances of survival.
"Don't think too much about it, kid. That's just the way things are."
Tevura looked at her, wishing she had something to say. Instead, she could only tighten her jaw.
"Come on. You've been asleep for too long. It will do you good to talk to the others."
As Tevura left the barracks, what greeted her outside overpowered her senses. They were in a relatively large area, even bigger than most of the living areas in their Sanctuary at Aras. It was about the size of a large park. There were other small housing buildings spread around the area, mostly barracks structures similar to the one she came out of. It was spacious with ample lighting, and its shape was that of a perfect cube. The walls, ceiling and floor were made from some kind of exotic metal that she had never encountered before – grey but with a strange luminosity – almost like crystals.
However, it was not the area that awed her. It was the artificial environment. The place was an extremely sophisticated greenhouse of some kind, with all kinds of plants and greenery. Fruit bearing trees and shrubs were all over the place and there were even a few alien insects hiding among the shrubs here and there, but no animals. The lighting and temperature were also very good, better than anything she'd had in the Sanctuary. Tevura didn't know what to make of the situation, but she was certainly overwhelmed.
The greenhouse was nothing like anything she'd ever heard of, and she wondered what it was doing inside a star ship. It could be for oxygen production. Tevura curled her toes on the grass underneath her feet, reveled in its feel, and soon remembered that she was wearing a simple white long robe (clearly given to them by the aliens), just like Nyreen. She felt odd not having her hardsuit, but it was a tolerable situation.
High above were strange little objects that seemed to her like giant security cameras. As they tracked her movement, she came to the conclusion – Yep, definitely cameras.
The way the entire space was constructed, however, she imagined that it used to be a storage area of some kind. For what, she was not entirely sure of though. It was just that their new temporary home did not feel like a proper prison. There was simply something off about it, like it was meant to do other things other than confine things or people in.
This would have felt like a cramped little refugee camp with around 200 beings inhabiting it, but the area was simply quite large. Is this a cargo ship or maybe a Luxury Liner? A luxury liner? Really Tev, what's wrong with you?
Tevura was awoken from her ruminations by the joyous calls of her friends.
"Tev! Tev!" Vero, her best friend, called out, and Tevura saw the Quarian run up to her along with her friends from the surviving Aras security force. She wore a simple purple suit, but she was tall for a Quarian and her voice was kind, gentle even. "Keelah! You look good! Nothing at all like the mess we dug out in the tunnels."
"Vero! I'm glad to see you alive," Tevura said as she hugged her. They exchanged simple banter, and the kind of hugs that close friends share after decades of parting. And after them, the rest of the team crowded around Tevura, greeting her and being happy that she was alive.
"Wux. You're looking good," Tevura said to a hulking, but soft-spoken young Krogan.
"Tev." Tevura waited for more words, but Wux only nodded and allowed the others to greet her.
"Good to see you alive you flat little bitch," said an older Asari maiden, her hips and breasts larger than Tevura's, and she had a way of standing that could provoke irritation even from a Hanar.
"You too Kalos," Tevura said. "Although I'm surprise you didn't try to fuck the Reapers to death during the battle."
"Heh, those rust buckets couldn't handle me, Flattie." Kalos was a loudmouth Asari with a reputation for having a good aim and a loose virtue. She was also one of those types of Asari.
"Well, I'm just glad to see you alive... though you seem to have put on weight since the attack."
"Heh. Not as much as you, Flattie."
"Children! Let's leave the jokes for later, okay?" warned Nyreen with her serious voice "Right now, I'm sure everyone's just glad that Tev isn't dead."
Tevura shut her mouth immediately, a little bit embarrassed at the situation, as the rest of her team, mostly Asari and Turians, closed in to wish her well.
"H-h-he-hello, T-Tev," stammered a young Turian boy, about a head shorter than her. He was the last one to greet her. "I'm glad to see y-you okay."
"Heh, you too Fail," Tevura poked his forehead with a warm smile and the young Turian boy backed away, embarrassed and stuttering to himself. "And thanks for saving my fat blue ass back on Aras." She then gave him a hug, which only caused him to stutter harder.
His name was Faelus, nicknamed Fail, and not only was he the rookie, he was also the squad fool. Too short, too shy, too frail. Everyone was sure that he'd die in the first wave, but to everyone's surprise the little stuttering Turian boy actually did pretty well during the invasion.
The other refugees, clustered together in groups of three to seven, looked on as the team had their reunion. They knew better than to interrupt, but they waved to Tevura with warm smiles and companionship for a fellow survivor of death and doom.
Tevura waved back to them, but the the reunion happened like a blur. She was back from the dead, and she couldn't believe that she was on an alien ship. One moment dying on an abandoned planet, and now she and her friends were having their very own first contact scenario. It was enough to give a girl a headache.
When they have had their joyous reunion, Vero told Tevura everything that she had missed during her rest. It turned out that only a few days had passed since the fall of Aras, but despite their misfortune, most of them seemed to be more than happy to have survived. The survivors of Aras were not soldiers, nor were they diplomats, politicians or scientists. They were kids - most of them anyway - and in a situation, like this, they didn't really know how to react to their situation.
In general, most felt relief at being saved, but on the other hand, they also had mixed feelings about their timely rescue by the aliens. Most were, of course, naturally scared. They were in a strange ship, crewed by a strange alien race that, if their theories are correct, came from beyond the limits of the galaxy.
Vero and Nyreen told Tevura all of this under bright artificial light and the gentle touch of the grass, with Wux, Kalos and a few others making a comment or two here and there. They all wore the same white robe she wore, and they seemed strangely happy. Despite their unusual situation, they were still alive, and that counted for something.
However, Tevura wanted to go back to beginning, to Aras. She wanted to know precisely how many made it out to the evacuation ships, how many died and how many were unaccounted for. The humans saved 213 refugees from a total of 15,300. She wanted to know what happened to the rest. So everyone gave her their own accounts, both the messy and the ambiguous.
Everyone knew why she did this. She needed to talk. They all needed this. Talking makes them stop thinking, about what happened and what will happen next.
"It wasn't your fault Tev. It was no one's fault," Vero said, her voice heavy with sadness after Tevura settled down and got used to the situation.
"No, it was the Reapers fault, and I swear by the Goddess that I will make them pay," Tevura hissed.
"A lot of people say that these days, kid," Nyreen added.
"Yeah well, I'm Garrus Vakarian's daughter... and I have these idiots to back me up," she jabbed a thumb at her friends. Nyreen rolled her eyes, but kept quiet.
"Yeah, but first we'll have to deal with the humans," said Wux, breaking his silence, at the back of the crowd. Wux doesn't say much but when he does, it's always with a very deliberate purpose, and in this case, he seemed to want Tevura to remember the situation.
"The what?"
"The aliens – They call themselves humans. Can you believe it?" Faelus interjected, breaking his silence too now that Wux gave him the precedence, then added in a fanciful voice, like those seen on old Salarian science fiction movies. "Wooo... The Humans from the Pla-net HUUUUUME."
"That's a stupid name for a planet," retorted Wux.
"Well, why do they call themselves human then huh?" Everyone just raised their eyebrows at him. Clearly, his companions had no taste in good jokes. "I'll just be quiet now."
"The humans..." Vero explaied, "are the name of the aliens who saved us. Oh they're quite incredible Tev. They look very Asari-like..."
"Galactic Space Cousins," said Nyreen offhandedly, which caused Tevura to smirk at her in annoyance.
Now, that the cat was out of the bag, the topic of the conversation turned to the humans. Vero did most of the talking, with Nyreen and Wux giving some helpful details and Kalos making a few lewd comments. Fealus cracked a couple of lame jokes but everyone chuckled respectfully.
"So humans... Giant ship. Saved a bunch of us from the Reapers," and she would have added but couldn't be bothered to save everyone else. "What else do I need to know? Aside from the fact that we seem to be in some Horny Maiden's idea of a Sci-fi movie."
"Oh, what are you whinning about? The Quarians kinda look like us, the Drell too. Sorta," retorted Kalos. "So what if these humans look like they came out of a poorly imagined science fiction romance drama. They saved our hides... Saved by hot aliens from beyond the galaxy, and their beautiful alien prince will wed me, and I shall become Kalos, Asari warrior princess."
"Your sense of humor sucks, Kal."
"Keep up that attitude missy and you're not going to make a good impression on the humies."
"Uh, really, Kal? Way to play into the stereotypical horny Asari role," said Tevura.
"More for me then."
"Uh! You were saying Vero?" Tevura said to the female Quarian, who then continued her exposition about the humans along with some of her own observations. According to Vero, they only had a brief encounter with their rescuers on Aras, when they saved them. After they were brought to this holding area, however, they've had seen a lot of the humans for past few days.
The humans would enter their holding area from a hidden entrance in the ceiling, while standing on floating suspensor platforms. They would just float around in a small area, letting the refugees get a good look at them before leaving. They never initiated contact, and they always left very quickly. It was clear that they were trying to help the refugees get used to their appearance before they do initiate contact. With their motives for revealing themselves clear, the refugees became a little more relaxed with their routines.
No doubt the humans are now pondering what to do with their captives, and this made the refugees more than a little edgy. Still, it was an interesting experience, and considering the circumstances, Vero and the others had observed a lot of interesting things about the aliens.
The humans, as they called themselves, were creatures of contradictions. On the one hand, they were utterly alien. Most of the refugees had observed their fighting prowess on Aras, how they attacked husks and swarms in melee – MELEE! Who attacks Husks in melee? - using weapons so exotic that they required a different military doctrine – monomolecular bladed weapons that could cut through the hardest metal, shields that could withstand the particle beams. And their speed! No organic being had ever been seen to move like them.
On the other hand, they resembled the Asari in body and facial structure, but instead of blue skin the humans had strange tan or pale or pinkish flesh with soft (and some Asari maidens would argue attractive) furs on their heads. They also had colorful eyes: Blue within Blue, Green within Green, and some Blue, Green, Brown, Grey and Black against White Sclera.
Vero's words, however, were interrupted, by some commotion. The refugees were rushing towards a particular area.
"What's going on?" asked Nyreen.
"The humans! The humans are here!" A Batarian said.
"Like on the suspensors?"
"No, they're on foot. I think they want to make contact with us!"
"About damn time too," added a Salarian.
Vero, Kalos, Faelus and Wux followed the others to the now growing crowd of refugees at the far end of the area from where they were having their talk.
"Well kid," Nyreen said to Tevura. "Looks like you woke up just in time.
The human delegation was small and consisted of about a dozen individuals. About half of them looked to be like soldiers, grim faced warriors who wore heavy plate armor, while the other half wore sombre robes of grey and black. They almost all seemed to be male, with the exception of a female who wore a long and elaborate black robe. The female was dark haired with tan skin, and she looked at them with a mixture of curious intelligence and knowing wisdom... as well as twisted humor.
The refugees regarded the delegation with curiosity even as they kept their distance. When a young Elcor attempted to walk up to the humans, Nyreen, who was the defacto leader, held her back, and told her to be patient. Both groups knew that this was a delicate situation, but even so, the excitement was palpable. The Aras refugees chattered amongst each other excitedly in front of the aliens, an act that would have horrified the Citadel diplomatic corp had they been present.
"Look! That one has golden fur! Almost like molten sunrise. I wish I could touch it, just to feel what it's like," an Asari maiden had giggled to her companions.
"And that one! Look she has those bright blue in blue eyes, like an exotic Varren. How silly they look," her young Batarian companion chuckled. The refugees chuckled among themselves like this, observing the humans with unbridled curiosity, just as the humans – mostly Mentats and Sardaukar – observed them.
"I wonder why they look like that... so Asari-like I mean," another Asari maiden wondered.
"Really? They sort of look like Batarians to me," the same Batarian female said, "though with 2 less eyes of course. But observe the shape of their arms..."
"So... These are the humans. I think I shall have one or two," giggled another hormone addicted Asari maiden.
"Annoyance and Amusement. Can you not think about sex at a time like this?" complained their Elcor friend.
Of course, not all of them looked at the humans as curiosities. A good number also remembered their technology, mostly the potency of their weapons and how they managed to destroy one of the Reapers that had attacked their Sanctuary at Aras... and how they are another potential threat to Galactic life.
"... With their help, we could finally defeat the Repears," a Drell said to his companion as he eyed the human delegation carefully.
"What makes you think these creatures are our allies? It's equally possible that they are the scouts for a much larger invasion force, an invasion force that also wants to wipe us out," a Turian refugee said.
"Agree. Situation premature. Require further data to ascertain 'human' intentions and goals," a Salarian had added. "Technology, however, remains interesting. Very interesting..."
"Well, let's say that they do want to invade the galaxy. They haven't killed us yet. That's certainly worth something. Surely, that proves that they are not worse than the Reapers."
Now, that the humans seemed ready to talk, all of the questions that the refugees had came bubbling up at the forefront of their thoughts. Where did they come from? Why did they come here? Why did they save us? Will they help the Citadel? Why did they come to Aras? Are they fighting the Reapers? Are they friend or foe?
The humans were very patient. They allowed the aliens several moments to get used to their presence before making their move. The refugees were clearly irritated at the waiting, but they knew the necessity. For both sides, the whole situation was like meeting an unknown and dangerous predatory animal, and such events require extreme caution. For even though, they've met the humans before, they've never actually interacted or spoken with them.
Up until this point, they were a mystery.
"Hey look. Goldie's coming closer," Kalos called out to her friends, as one of the humans, apparently the leader left his party and approached the refugees. Kalos' descriptive name for him was rather apt, because of his reddish, golden hair.
"Goldie," the human who stood before them was resplendent in military pagentry. Tevura gasped in surprise when he was up close. The alien did look like an Asari – a male Asari with light tan skin and, she had to admit, exotic golden red fur on the top of its head. Tevura felt confused and more than a little wierded out. Some of the other Asari giggled when "Goldie" came into view, and quite a few other females as well, before giggling to each other about the exotic creature in the strange military uniform, pointing at him.
Goldie saluted the aliens, and not just Tevura's party particularly, with a clenched fist to the head, while the others behind him were content to simply observe. To their surprise, the human began speaking to them in heavily accented Havala, which had been one of the major languages of the Asari Republics, back when Thessia was still under Asari control.
"Welcome. I welcome all you. My name Faradan Ibn-Corrino Al-Korsig Shepard, Lord Burseg of the Red Dragon Legion, Sardaukar in Exile, Lord Captain of the Normandy, Descendant of Harq Al Ada, Corrino Prince and Ghanima Atreides, Atreides Empress. This ship. Brazil. Human ship. We sorry we no save others... From Aras... Your Friends Family, but too many. Danger to us and to other things. But we assu-" he chatted briefly to the woman behind him and nodded. "Yes, we assure you that we mean no harm. We not like machine. We no hurtings you. We saving-life you from machine. We ask trust, and you stay with us. For short time. Little time. Then we return to people – your people. Please excuse poor language speakings. Just start learning Asari a few days ago. Thank You."
The Aras refugees looked at each other, a thousand questions exploding into their minds, but at this very moment, they were simply speechless. Each one wanted someone else to ask the first question, to make the first move, so that he or she could voice her own question. The aliens had made their move, and it was now their turn, but they were all too scared, cautious and wise to take the leap. They wanted someone else to take their lead.
And someone did.
"Um, hi. A... Are you really aliens?" The extremely retarded question came from a Turian boy. Everyone looked to Faelus who carefully lowered his claws. "I... I just want to c-confirm."
Goldie/Faradan turned to the female and asked her to Translate the Turian's words.
"Yes," Faradan answered.
"Okay," Faelus nodded.
Now, that the first stone had been cast, the rest of the refugees were now more willing to ask a few of their own, and where there had once been silence, there was now clamoring excitement.
The questions ranged from wise...
"Where are you from?"
"Why are you here?"
"Why did you save us?"
"Will you help us defeat the Reapers
To the completely retarded...
"You have tentacles, don't you? Don't lie to me! Show me your tentacles!"
"Are you going to probe us? You're going to probe us aren't you? I knew it! You sick monsters!"
"If you're going to probe us, can I go first? I'm really into that. Oww! What?"
One Asari even shouted, "Hey! Your kinda cute!"
This lack of discipline would have horrified the Citadel Council's diplomatic corps, but most of the refugees were kids, kids who just had their homes blown up, and their families and friends killed or lost. And here they were thrust into an adventure with Asari-like aliens. Many of them did not really understand their situation, of course, and quite a few preferred to pretend that they were in an exciting adventure.
Tevura felt like she was in the set of a cheap science fiction, but even she was swept up by the situation. She then felt Nyreen's clawed hand grip her arm.
"Relax kid. Relax. We're making history today," she said smiling to Tevura.
Soon the rest of the human delegations came forward, and soon they were speaking with the refugees of the Aras Sanctuary. Tevura felt overwhelmed at the situation. Only a few hours after waking up, and she was meeting with extra-galactic aliens.
But something else entered Tevura's mind as she watched the humans, a memory of a dream. She remembered the words very clearly, but couldn't quite understand what they mean.
"Tell me about the skies of your Homeworld, Tevura..."
1 - Almost forgot to add this brief note. This particular quote comes from an fictional story called: The Revival of Rhomaion: An Age of Miracles by Basileus 444.
The original words were:
"Where are they?
Where are the Kings of the Goths?
Where are the Khans of the Huns, the Khagans of the Avars?
Where are the Lords of the Bulgars, the Chiefs of the Cumans?
Where are the Caliphs of Baghdad, the Shahs of the Persians?
Where are the Doges of Venice, the Sultans of Konya?
So answer me, where are they?
They are gone.
They have had their hour of glory, their time in the sun.
Their banners have flown, their tents pitched, their armies covering the countryside.
But now?
They are gone. Their banners have burned, their tents crumpled, the bones of their armies littering the countryside.
They have had their time, and now it is done.
But what of us?
What of us?
We are Romans.
We are not Goths or Huns or Avars.
We are not Bulgars or Cumans or Venetians.
We are Romans.
A century for you is a great expanse of time. For us a short chapter in our history.
A thousand years ago, before you knew letters or God, we were already old.
Before you were even born, we were already here.
And we shall be here long after you are gone."
AN: The Aras Sanctuary is not the only one of its kind. There are other Sanctuaries scattered all over the galaxy, and they aren't so much attempts to repopulate the dwindling population of the aliens in the ME galaxy as they are desperate attempts to save as many civilian refugees as possible. It's not a good plan nor is it even a smart one, but it's the only one the Citadel has left, and they have no choice but to take it.
Remember that in this story, the Citadel's main forces are already in full retreat. Retreating fleets and armies cannot take care of refugees. They needed to store their non-combatants somewhere, and that somewhere were the Sanctuaries.
The Sanctuary idea was actually based on the Prothean idea of cryogenically freezing their best and brightest in the hope that they will be able to survive until the next cycle, hidden away inside underground bunkers. The same idea applies to the Sanctuaries in this story. Imagine the vaults in fallout. It's kind of like that, except without the experiments.