RR

Orionastro

Yeah, I'm trying to get in as many of the old characters as possible, one way or another. Some will already be a part of the crew, like Jacob, others will be added through scenes.

Ive got no idea

Yeah, my bad, the maths doesnt work out. But this is FF so lets go with it. Besides, if I tried to do the maths we could say that they first needed to crush the other species, then they would need to make repairs and remove any trace of their existence, this could take years, maybe decades, and they are spread right out over the galaxy, meaning they need to regroup. So while 150 years is out there, not too much I dont think.

CReaper210

I was reading a FF on here not so long ago (Cant for the life of me remember its name) where first contact was with the Geth. Really interesting idea if you ask me. Wished the guy finished it. But yeah, Geth are awesome in my book. I want to play around with EDI, a Geth unit (Maybe Jeff for name sake, you will find out who jeff is this chapter) and Javik arguing over something menial or something. Maybe next chapter. I also might get first contact in when Javik asks a question regarding it.

Emperor Palps

I don't know if you intended it, but all I could think about when I read your user name was 'Call for Papa Palpatine." from robot chicken. Anyway, thanks for your comment! Hope you like where I take this.

Blue Marlin.

Ive been wondering what to do with Miranda. Cerberus will inevitably be different in this universe. I was thinking maybe they are established after the aliens are granted safe harbour and are dedicated to just keeping an eye on them, and maybe making sure humanity stays on top, or maybe even dedicated to the eradication of the Reapers. So that will change her view on things. For now though, I think I'm going to have as a Cerberus scientists who will show up much later on. (I won't say for what as that will be a big big big spoiler for what I have planned. Some of you may have already worked out what is planned.)

/.../

I know I promised Grunt / Wrex show time this chapter, but next chapter! I promise! (It will be worth the wait!)

/.../

As Shepard and team travel to the Lichtenstein via shuttle Javik asks, "Where is your ship, human?"

Shepard is sat with a casual, if not laid back posture in the passenger's compartment, to any outside source looking in, they would not think she has just met a Prothean. "She is out there." The N7 replies, eyes closed as she reflects on the day's events. "We are probably not even close to the GW."

"GW?"

"Gravity well. We bend light around the ship by manipulating gravity; it makes her invisible to any outside source further than 25,000km away." This is an upgrade; originally the gravity well was 150,000km.

"Huh," The Prothean grunts, "I remember a similar technique used by the Jahkar, we dominated them in under a year. Their stealth technology did not save them."

"The Jahkar?" Questions Liara, happy to have found some new information from the Prothean who has been less than forthcoming with her.

Both Javik and Shepard ignores the Asari's question. "Well, it has kept us alive. The Reapers could not detect our ships 150 years ago, and our technology has only advanced since then."

"You have known about the Reapers for 150 years!?" Javik asks astonished, and with slight anger in his voice. "What have you done to prepare for them?"

"You will forgive me for not disclosing that information to a random alien I have just met, but I will tell you we have been preparing for their onslaught."

"I should expect so, primitive. The pathetic herbivore has not revealed much, have they invaded yet?"

Shepard opens a single eye to look at the Prothean before closing it again and saying, "Only humanity still stands strong. We are harbouring the other species on our homeworld for now."

"Huh," The Prothean grunts again, "One alone can not stand against the reapers, it was a mistake we made, we lacked diversity which could have caused the machines much grievous."

"Then," Shepard replies, "You will be glad to hear they have their own shipyards and are constructing their own warships to serve in our Navy." It caused a lot of arguments in higher command when it was suggested to give the aliens a shipyard, many feared they would try something against humanity.

"Do not forgive me for being sceptical."

There is a small silence as neither party has anything to add, so Liara buts into the conversation again, hoping for information, "Who were the Jahkar."

"A bunch of Gastropod primitives. We hunted them for their kidneys." Javik releases a happy sigh as he thinks back to the food, "It was a delicacy in our prime."

"Is everyone a primitive to you?" Asks Ashley? Javik just turns to look at her before blinking once, his facial emotions express his answer. "How charming." Ashley in turn responds.

/.../

The journey back to Earth was mostly routine, the second the shuttle boarded the Lichtenstein from collecting Javik the relay turned warship immediately entered the relay highway back to Earth. Javik was impressed by the fact humans had created a ship around a relay, but other than that he kept to himself in a noticeably humid part of the ship near the water processors. Despite being allowed to roam the ships unrestricted areas, Shepard had EDI keep a hawk-like eye on it at all times.

Arriving at Earth, Shepard is instructed to bring the Prothean to the Systems Alliance Head Quarters, which is in a top secret location, deep underground, underneath the ocean. It is almost impervious to orbital bombardment, it is hard to reach to launch an invasion, and self-sufficient meaning the Reapers can not simply wait it out. After arriving at a dock at the top secret building Javik says, "Last I remember, you humans lived in caves, I see nothing has changed."

"We have cities on the surface, but our infrastructure is mostly underground. Prevents reaper bombardment."

Javik laughs at this, a hand near his stomach, "I pity your species, commander. You think some dirt and soil will stop the Reapers?" He starts to laugh again, "The fact you are even alive means you have not seen their worse yet. In my cycle, once they gathered the required genetic material they unleashed hellish worms that could sink cities. We called them Maws and they came from a primitive planet with some lizards."

"Thresher maws?" Asks Liara curiously while searching her omni-tool for a picture of the beasts, "We came across a one a few hundred meters long, it crushed a Reaper destroyer."

When Liara finds a picture of the creatures in question she turns it to face the Prothean, and the insectoid tilts its head slightly, "I forgot how ugly they are."

"If what you say is true," The commander injects, "Then we are in trouble."

"You have no idea, commander."

After disembarking their shuttle, the group is greeted by Admiral Anderson. "Admiral, Sir," Greets Shepard with a swift salute.

Anderson returns the salute before responding to Shepard, "Good to see you again Commander." The admiral eyes the Prothean and the rest of Shepard's company before saying, "This way, the council is in session."

The 'council' is constructed of Generals, Admirals and anyone else with significant power in the systems alliance. There is also a representitive for each of the species that live on Earth. If it concerns Earths defence, it is the council's job to work out what should happen. At the end of the day, while the aliens have representitives, they hold no power.

Since you need a certain security level to enter the council chambers, Liara is forced to stay outside, but the Commander and Ashley Williams are allowed to enter, in order to put down the Prothean if it turns hostile. The dynamic duo are also N7's, meaning they are sworn to the secrecy act anyway, so they know not to reveal what happens in the chambers.

Javik in all likelihood will be ordered to silence regarding what goes on in the room, with death being the punishment for breaking his silence.

When Javik enters the council chambers, it causes a few murmurs, but it is nothing compared to what happened when Legion entered 151 years previously.

/.../

151 years previous

Udina taps his foot impatiently as he waits for Shepard's shuttle to land, the Commander is bringing in a Geth and the diplomat knows that this will cause all sorts of wonderful problems for him to solve. The Council hate AI and will likely have something to say, the Quarians are probably going to declare some sort of war, and the Systems Alliance will probably want to prod them with a stick to see how they differ from their own AI. It is going to be interesting, to say the least.

Jumping out her shuttle Shepard approaches the diplomat with a Geth unit she has taken to calling Jeff, why 'Jeff' she is unsure, but she calls a lot of people she doesn't know the name of as 'Jeff' out of habit. It caused some confusion at first with the Geth unit, but somehow, the name stuck. "Commander," Udina greets.

"Udina," Shepard returns, she is not the most friendly with the diplomat as her tone shows, but she is usually hostile to the pencil pushers anyway so this makes no difference. "This is Jeff, Jeff Ambassador Udina."

"Greetings Creator Udina," The Geth unit says with a synthetic voice. Usually, the Geth would not have said anything, but EDI has been training it to be more approachable, in the hopes it could win some friends among the Alliance.

"Greeting." The Ambassador says slowly before nodding to Shepard, "You are late, we need to get going."

"No time like the present," Shepard replies while gesturing the way to the Council Chambers.

The moment Jeff entered the Council chambers the aliens acted as expected, in an absolute uproar. "What is that thing doing here?" Shrieks Tevos. The Turian is noticeably stiff, the Salarian is rubbing its horn in an almost nervous manner, Urdnot Wrex chuckles at his fellow aliens as they squirm and the Quarian representative has a hand hanging near its thigh where its pistol would usually hang. Eagle eyes would notice a small blade that it has somehow smuggled through security. The humans in the room erupt into curious chatter.

"I will have order!" Demands the man overseeing the session, as he slams a small wooden hammer into a block of wood, and when the room quietens the man continues, "I will remind our foreign guests that this court is Human. You are nothing but guests here, and I will remove you if you prove problematic." After a pause to let that settle in the man continues, "Now we will listen to what the Geth has to say," He gestures to the middle of the room where a podium is awating and the Commander walks the Geth to the podium. "Greetings, Human Creator," The Geth says when standing at the podium, it looks around a little, as if gauging its audience, "This unit is thankful the human creators are willing to reason. We have no allegiance with the old machines, the geth only wish to help with the demise of the old machines."

"Tell that to the Geth which practically destroyed the Ascension and half the citadel fleet!" Tevos tries.

The Geth looks to her with its optical sensors, "Greetings, Tevos Councillor, this unit and remaining Geth had no participation in the Citadel assault. We do not condone the actions of the Heretics."

Tevos crosses her arms as she stems in her chair, "Regardless," The man overseeing the event interrupts, "As you can imagine, it is of concern to us that some of your people have allied with the Reapers in the past."

"We understand such trepidation. We wish to offer the Systems Alliance a gift to prove our loyalty." The Geth lowers a mechanical hand to its thigh, where a small port opened and a pre-prepared disposable drive ejected. At seeing this, the Quarian representative stiffens and its hand grips its legs near the knife. "This data log contains hazardous heretic code for analysis, please ensure caution when subject to analysis. The code is virulent."

For each species saved, the alliance essentially demanded absolute surrender for safe harbour, meaning any and all technology must be shared with them as well as their fleets, but the Geth were given an exception, they did not need to share with the systems alliance the technology or software which made the Geth. This would be akin to a human race handing over its own organs and brains for the alliance. This makes the Geth gift to the Alliance that little more meaningful, as the Geth did not need to provide this code, as it could be considered a part of them that has gone bad.

It is ridiculously rare to find intact Geth code, as most Quarians know, so for the Geth to provide some Heretic code for the Alliance to study is a great show of trust.

"We thank you for your gift," The man says, "And we will use it to its fullest to ensure every advantage over our nemesis." The man then looks at some paper pages arranged in front of him before looking back to Jeff, "So we have it recorded, and to inform those of us in this room ill-prepared for this meeting, can you reaffirm what the Geth are going to deliver to our alliance?"

The unit takes a second to compile its answer, "Human Creator, The Geth will provide any technology developed that is not essential to Geth operation. We will provide any knowledge we have of the old machines, in addition, our fleets and forces shall merge with your own. We will work with Human Creators with the aim of bringing the Old Machines demise. We only request safe harbour in Human Creator space."

The man nods along with the terms, "And you shall get your safe harbour. And for the record, I want to make it clear now, the Geth will fall under a modified version of the civil rights for AI." He looks at the aliens in the room when saying this, "The only difference being we will not treat them as natives to Earth or her colonies. Unless they prove hostile, we will act against any illicit action towards them."

/.../

Present.

The meeting went mostly as expected; with the only exception being the Hanar representative being forced to leave the room when Javik revealed himself as Prothean, the dumb Hanar tried to rush the alien for 'speaking blasphemous things'. The news that many of their underground installations are at risk did alarm the Alliance, and the meeting almost immediately turned from learning what insight Javik had to give, to what they could do against the maws.

After a while of debating the maws the meeting eventually returned to conversing with Javik, who revealed that there are other Protheans in stasis, but he does not know where in case he ever became indoctrinated. He reveals he has a few educated ideas as to where they could be, but he reinforces that those are just ideas, however, it is enough for the Alliance to decide someone needs to investigate.

Shepard wanted to roll her eyes when it is suggested her crew takes the job, but deep down she is thankful for the job, it will get her out of Sol and doing something productive. While many of the systems Javiks people may have taken refuge in are destroyed from the Relays going pop, there are a limited few that Shepard can scout out.

With Javik in pursuit, Shepard leaves the council halls to gather her crew.

/.../

Alliance Ship Yards - Mars - 2 days later

Shepard has 7 months to complete her mission of finding more Protheans, but her task is not saving the Protheans, rather the technology they can give humanity. As she watches her ship be resupplied for their long mission, she hears a voice call to her, "Commander? Commander!?" Shepard turns to see who it is, and the face is a one from 150 years ago. An asari dodging and dipping past heavy forklifts is trying to reach her. When the Asari arrives shepard stands there expectantly.

"Commander," The Asari tries again, "I have a request."

"Go on." The commander replies to the once glorious Councillor Tevos. The last Shepard knew the woman was an outcast in Asari society due to her surrendering to the Alliance and terrible leadership during the war. No one wanted to know her or have anything to do with her after her term as Asari councillor finished 8 months after surrendering.

"I wish to join your crew."

"And why would I let you?" Shepard asks humoured at the request.

"I have 600 years of teaching Biotics under my belt, and Aria learned her flares from me. I only seek a chance to prove myself."

Shepard pinches her nose before sighing heavily, "Fine, I already have a Prothean, another Asari, a Geth or two, a bird, a suit, a walking tank, and some whizz kid on speed on board. Welcome to my motley crew. You have one footlocker of storage space, and no, you can't bring your omni-tool." Usually, Shepard would have laughed off this request, but she knows of Aria's flares just from videos circling the internet, and she wants to know how the blue alien does that as it could prove to be very useful.

/.../

Question, is my Shepard too anti-alien?

Also sorry to any vegetarians / Vegans / whoever in advance, Javik will, without doubt, provoke someone at some point as I'm going to give him some extreme views. Do not take it as my own views though, just me making someone the character I think they are.