Here's Chapter 8. Note: THIS IS AU! There are things that won't be canon for both Mass Effect and Halo.
0930 Hours Military Standard Time, December 23, 2605(revised date, Military Calendar)/ Vice Admiral David White, FLEETCOMHQ, Sydney, Australia, Earth
"The intel we gathered by hacking the enemy ships has proven correct. We've detected a lot of signals coming from that sector in space. There's definitely something there," Commander Greene said.
"How sure are we this will work, Commander?" President Martinez asked.
"Fairly certain, Madam President," Greene said. "From what we've been able to discern, this "Citadel" is the economic, military, and government center point for the Turians."
"What about all these other species?" the President asked.
"Based on what we've translated, every species on the Citadel has a fair amount of autonomy, especially on matters of internal security, though they do contribute to overall security in all the systems that they govern. Odds are that the rest of them don't even know that a war has broken out. If we show up in a large enough force, we may simply scare them into forcing the Turians to surrender. We can end this fairly quickly."
"And if they don't surrender and instead attack us alongside the Turians?" she asked.
"Those are extremely low odds, Madam President. If it does happen, we just need to make sure that our fleet is large enough to handle it. A major advantage for us is how little they rely on advanced computer intelligences. If we need to, and if the rest of their ships are as badly protected as the ones we encountered at Shanxi, we could just shut all their ships down. None of them even have to die."
"Alright, I'm convinced. Admiral White," the President said.
"Yes, Madam President," White said.
"You are hereby promoted to the rank of Fleet Admiral of the Navy, either until the cessation of hostilities between the UEG and the Turian Hierarchy or until this government deems it fit. Congratulations," she said.
White straightened up and saluted crisply, "Yes, Ma'am. Thank you, Ma'am."
"That being said, Admiral, make it happen."
"Yes ma'am. I'll have an opplan on your desk by the end of the day," White said. This was no longer just an isolated incident. The UNSC was going to war and Fleet Admiral David White would be leading the charge.
1452 Hours Military Standard Time, January 5, 2606(revised date, Military Calendar)/ Fleet Admiral David White, Aboard UNSV Preston J. Cole, In Slipspace, 1 minute out from the Citadel
"Status report, please," Fleet Admiral David White calmly said.
"All systems check out and deep in the green, Admiral," Captain Lorrie York, XO of the Cole, said. "All fleet elements report green across the board."
"Very well. Socrates, please prepare the fleet for transition into normal space," White said.
"Yes Admiral," the AI said. "All hands, prepare for transition into normal space. Man your battlestations. This is not a drill, repeat, this is NOT a drill."
"Transition in twenty seconds, Sir," the nav. officer said.
The whole of Second Fleet dropped out of Slipspace roughly a hundred thousand kilometers from what the Turians called the Citadel. The forty three point six kilometer long structure hung serenely in space. It resembled a pentagram in design, with five massive arms coming out of a center ring habitat.
"TAC map updating now," Socrates said. "There are currently 1,415 ships in-system. Estimate 150-324 of those are combat vessels. Picking up increase in com chatter. They definitely know we're here, Admiral. That leaves us outnumbered by anywhere from 3 to 2 to 3 to 1."
"Thank you Socrates. Tell the cyber-warriors to get ready to shut down their systems and tell the fleet to prepare for combat. Nuclear and antimatter charges are to be ready for release on my command," White said.
"Yes, Admiral," Socrates replied. "All fleet elements report ready for combat. 19th, 21st, 22nd, and 42nd Orbital Shock Battalions report ready for combat insertion. Enemy vessels are entering into intercept courses."
White took a deep breath and then said to his com. officer, "Lieutenant, open up a broad-spectrum com channel with all the necessary translation protocols running."
"Yes, sir," the officer said. "You are currently transmitting to every vessel in-system and to the Citadel itself."
"Greetings," White started. In his mind he thought, We come in peace. Take us to your leader. Out loud, he said, "I am Fleet Admiral David White, Commanding Officer of Second Fleet of the United Nations Space Command Defense Force under the authority of the Unified Earth Governments." He took a breath. "We do not come seeking conquest. We are here not of our own free will. We are here because we were deliberately attacked by a force consisting of warships of the Turian Hierarchy. They then attacked and invaded one of our colonies. After we retook our colony, we found data that led us here. We know that there are several different species living on this space station. I, with the full backing of my government, now ask that you cease all hostilities with us.
"We do not come for war, though we will fight if we must," White started to finish. "We want peace. Please."
"Very well said, Admiral," the Captain said.
"Thanks. Now we wait."
"Sir, enemy warships are decelerating," Socrates reported.
Five minutes passed, then ten, twenty.
After half an hour of intense stare off between the fleets, a message appeared on the Cole's viewscreens. White knew that it was also being broadcast to every other viewscreen in the entire fleet.
A shockingly human face appeared on the screen. She appeared female but her face was blue and it looked like tentacles were sprouting from the back of her head. White recognized her as an "Asari." When she spoke it was in heavily accented English, "Greetings, Admiral White and those of the United Nations Space Command and Unified Earth Governments. I am Councilor Tera of the Citadel Council. I am one of three Councilors. My counterparts are a Turian and a Salarian. I am an Asari. We understand what you have gone through over the past few weeks. We are sorry to tell you that this has all been a terrible mistake and all the beings of Citadel Space are sorry for what has occurred. We invite you to speak with us. We are sure that there is much we can learn from each other."
"Alright, Socrates. Begin the file transfer," White said.
1522:135 Hours Military Standard Time, January 5, 2606(revised date, Military Calendar)/ UNSC AI MIL-ID SCTS 0567-62 (Socrates), Aboard UNSV Preston J. Cole, Serpent Nebulae, The Citadel
For the humans of Second Fleet, the past half hour had been tense, but incredibly boring.
For Socrates, boring couldn't begin to describe how the past thirty minutes had played out. Socrates was a fourteenth generation Grade-SSS Naval "Smart" Artificial Intelligence. As such, he was capable of processing feats hundreds, if not thousands, of orders of magnitude beyond computer programs of the past centuries. At peak capacity, and with the proper equipment, he could perform trillions of calculations per second. If need be, he could run the combat and maneuvering operations of an entire fleet. Needless to say, he had been, as his creators would have said, bored out of his mind.
That was about to change. Socrates was about to release the largest information package in human history. It included everything about his creators, with the obvious exception of classified material and a few hand-picked files that he had censored himself. The spooks at ONI probably wouldn't approve, but there was nothing they could do about it.
As he started the data transfer to the Citadel, he made sure that the flow was little more than a trickle. This had been approved earlier by HIGHCOM to assuage any fears that the locals might have that they were under electronic siege. At the current rate, the transfer would take several days, but soon Socrates would open the proverbial flood gates, cutting the transfer time down to minutes. He hoped the Citadel systems would be able to cope. He didn't pay all that much attention to the transfer. It was a fairly routine operation, one that had been occurring for centuries now. Instead he focused the majority of his very vast intellect on the surrounding space. The nearest non-UNSC vessel was a mere 4,152.125 kilometers away, though it slowly moving away. Socrates guessed a 97.859 percent chance that it was a cargo vessel of some sort. The nearest confirmed combat vessel was 7,502.199 kilometers away and holding steady. The thing that really drew Socrates' attention was the vessel tagged as Hostile Alpha-1. The "Alpha" designation meant it was at the very least capable of being a flag ship. The "1" meant that it was the largest vessel in-system. Based on its size, Socrates was fairly certain that it was the C&C for the Citadel's defensive fleet. He checked the readings again just to make sure there hadn't been a mistake the first time around. It still read in at an impressive 1.7561 kilometers in length. It was staying at a constant 89,752.159 kilometers.
As Socrates double checked and triple checked the fleet's status reports, he saw several of the data files being transmitted. There were files on the Covenant, ranging from its beginning to what had happened to the separate species after the Human-Covenant War. One of the largest, and most redacted, files was about the use of Artificial Intelligences. It covered the three different types of AIs used by Humanity: Combat Intelligences, used by military ground personnel, "dumb" AIs, used aboard individual starships and in things like city maintenance, and "smart" AIs, used for important and oftentimes taxing assignments, like fleet management. Socrates' attention, at least, the part that was monitoring the transfer, was caught by the Spartan file. He found it rather amusing. It was so short and censored that he hardly saw the purpose of even sending it. All it said was how good the Spartans were at winning wars. He moved on. It wasn't his job to question the motives of his creators, however strange they might be.
"The file transfer is progressing smoothly, Admiral," Socrates updated.
"Excellent. I just got off the horn with FLEETCOM. A diplomatic convoy is en route. They'll be here within a few days. Keep a good watch, Socrates. I'll be in my quarters," the Admiral said as he turned around and walked off the bridge.
If Socrates didn't know better, the man seemed a little disappointed at the lack of bloodshed.
January 7, 2606: President Patricia Martinez arrives at the Citadel along with the top other members of government. Very limited contact is initiated between humans and the Citadel Races.
January 9, 2606: The first formal meeting between the UEG leadership and the Citadel Council occurs. The meeting goes on for 26 Standard Earth hours.
January 15, 2606: The UEG applies for an embassy on the Citadel. The Council says that Humanity must greatly decrease it naval strength, cease all AI research and development, shut down the Spartan Program, and mothball all Orbital MACs and cease production of all nuclear and antimatter weapons until Citadel certified weapons inspectors were allowed access. While the UEG is willing to bend on some of the issues, such as military spending and arms production, a major outcry from the UNSC and pro-human elements of the human government stalls all negotiations.
January 16, 2606: The UEG application for an embassy is denied. Tensions in the Serpent Nebula increase dramatically.
January 18, 2606: Fearing either an armed conflict with the UEG and UNSC or a second major power outside their control, the Citadel Council compromises with the UEG. A new condition is created called "a consulate." Under this condition, humanity does not play an actual role in Citadel policy, being placed below embassies but above non-Citadel states like the Quarians. While humanity is allowed to carry on in issues like Artificial Intelligence, humans are not protected under Citadel law. Nevertheless, 1.2 million humans emigrate to the Citadel over the next five years. While all of the other species are apprehensive of humanity, individual acts begin to improve human relations on the Citadel, especially among the non-Council races.
There you have it. Hope you liked it.
Expect a little bit of time skipping to occur over the next few chapters as I set things up for the story proper. Speaking of the next few chapters, don't expect them anytime soon. School is being a real pain, especially with my coursework. Also, Halo: Reach comes out in two days.
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