* AN: Great thanks to my friend Skelekitty for his help in polishing this story idea.

* AN2: Just because Type 1.1 wasn't HFY enough...


Disclaimer: I DO_NOT own "Mass Effect". No profit is being made.


Mass Effect :: Type 1.5

Kar'Teol Barkash was a Batarian Admiral on a very important and very secret mission, given to him by the Hegemon himself. He was to activate a dormant Mass Relay leading into an uncharted region of the Skyllian Verge and establish Batarian dominance over these clusters with the might of the Third Expeditionary Fleet. And if he came across any primitives - many years of observations indicated that there indeed was at least one civilization of primitives beyond the Relay - he was to subjugate them into Hegemony's slaves.

Technically, what he was told to do was highly-illegal under the laws of the Citadel Council, but the Hegemon already had a cover story for this operation. Depending on what was found beyond the Relay, the spineless fools that made up the Council would be told that either the Relay was activated by the primitives and the third fleet enforced the galactic law upon them, or the Relay was activated by a desperate gang of pirates and the third fleet was sent to hunt them down as well as to ensure than new-accessible systems didn't contain a threat to the Galactic Community. Either way, the Hegemon would win more than just space to expand into, and Kar'Teol couldn't be more proud to be leading this mission.

Activating the Relay went smoothly and without any issues. Protheans surely made those things easy to use. Once the massive precursor device spun up, Kar'Teol ordered the fleet to perform the jump into the unknown.

Upon exiting the FTL, the Batarian Admiral found himself looking at a star system that would be fairly average and of little note if not for two things: there was a garden world in it, and this garden world had a small colony on its surface - one that belonged to a previously unknown race. This colony, of course, had a small fleet in its orbit, but even someone without four eyes could clearly see that those few primitive ships will not be able to slow the Batarian fleet down, much less oppose them effectively.

Letting out a predatory smile, Kar'Teol issued his orders:

"Scrap those tin cans and any defense installations this colony might have. I don't want these primitives making even a single scratch on my ships while we land troops to conquer this colony. When the invasion is successful, I want the coordinates of their homeworld. The one to bring me those will be given thirty slaves of these new species and an Asari maiden from my personal stock." The offer certainly motivated the captains under his command as they scrambled to get their ships into the battle formation.

"Admiral!" One of the communication officers called.

"Yes?" Kar'Teol asked.

"The primitives are sending us a radiogram." The officer replied. "Appears to be the first contact package. Should we tell them that their new Masters have arrived?"

"Don't bother, they will learn it soon regardless." The Admiral replied. "But do compile a translator for their primitive language. A slave is of no use if they don't understand their Master's orders." The officer nodded and pressed several buttons on the control panel of his station, feeding the received message to the VI.


Just as predicted by Admiral Kar'Teol, the small defense fleet around the planet was no match for the state-of-the-art Batarian war machine. The battle in space was over in under fifteen minutes and the ground-to-space cannons protecting the colony didn't last much longer. And with the last of those cannons silenced forever, there was nothing the aliens could do to stop Batarian troops from taking over the colony.

Then, just as the shuttles full of soldiers were about to depart from the fleet, five new contacts decided to make themselves known, appearing a few thousand klicks starboard in a way that defied everything known about FTL travel. These contacts were, without a doubt, military ships. And they looked radically different from the ships that had been guarding the primitives' colony.

Those ships were very simple in design and looked almost like a bunch of crates that were welded together and painted silvery-gray with thick red stripes. The newly arrived warships, on the other hand, were dark gray with a few orange highlights and were shaped like narrow, flat-tipped wedges. They were also much larger, almost as big as Turian's newest dreadnoughts.

"Tell me what those things are." Kar'Teol demanded.

"One moment sir." One of his officers replied while sorting through the data the ship's sensors were giving to him. "These five ships are of identical design and are of dreadnought tonnage. They possess only a rudimentary Element Zero but we can detect significant concentrations of dark matter around them. Their design doesn't seem to include spinal-mounted mass accelerator, but our radar scan picks numerous broadside turrets. These ships definitely do not belong to the primitives that occupy this system."

"So… Another race of primitives for us to conquer." Admiral Kar'Teol said. "This mission keeps getting better and better." He was about to order his fleet to fire upon the newly arrived ships when someone smashed right through the dreadnought's firewalls and began to forcefully play an audio message which, somehow, was translated into passable low Batarian, the Hegemony's language for the day-to-day interactions:

"Aliens, you've launched an unprovoked attack against the Texal Star Nation, a protectorate under the Sol Confederation. Turn your ships around and leave or continue with your act of aggression and be destroyed." No one dared to say a single word as the message finished playing. Many didn't even notice that the dreadnought's systems were responding to their operators once again.

"These fools think they can order us around?" Kar'Teol yelled angrily once he regained his wits. "I say we teach them to respect the might of Batarian Hegemony! All ships, blast those arrogant primitives apart!" The captains under his commands were quick to follow this order.

The combined barrage from the Batarian's third expeditionary fleet, however, was completely stopped by whatever strange shielding technology those five warships - presumably owned by the Sol Confederacy - used. Then those ships returned fire. And it wasn't with mass accelerator slugs. Instead, those ships fired particle beams of great power and with unbelievable accuracy.

In just a few short minutes, the mighty Batarian fleet was reduced to scorched and half-molten wreaks and several fleeing frigates that were lucky enough to avoid being annihilated.

~/ *** \~

"Four standard galactic days ago, an unidentified race of barbaric primitives has activated a Mass Relay leading into Batarian space and initiated an unprovoked attack against the Hegemony." The Batarian ambassador stated the reason for the emergency Council meeting he had ...requested. "Our Third Fleet, commanded by the honorable Admiral Kar'Teol Barkash, fought valiantly and managed to drive the aggressors back beyond the Relay, but not before being almost completely destroyed. Thousands of good Batarians have died to protect the galaxy from this new menace and I now demand that the Council uphold its promise of protecting the members of the Galactic Community and send its fleets to assist the Hegemony in containing this new menace."

"You do not make demands of the Council, Ambassador." Tevos, the Asail Councilor said, leveling a glare at the Batarian in front of her. "But after reviewing the information the Hegemony has provided, we agree that the situation requires military intervention. The Asari Republic will be sending the Fifth Defense Fleet to assist you. We will also be sending a team of xeno-linguists to study the aliens' language and prepare us for eventual diplomatic contact with them."

"And the Turian Hierarchy will be sending its Second, Seventh and Ninth patrol fleets to assist with containing the unidentified alien empire and establishing secure border between them and the Batarian Hegemony." Spartacus, the Turian Councilor spoke next.

"This is unacceptable!" The Batarian exploded. "We demand full subjugation of these barbarians under the Hegemony for their crime of attacking us without cause or justification. Nothing less will be tolerated."

"Once again, Ambassador, you do not make demands of the Council." Tevos pushed. "And need I remind you that by becoming a member of the Galactic Community you've come under the Council authority when it comes to peacekeeping deals. Thus, it is up to the Council to decide the fate of the aliens attacking you. That said, we do promise that the damage dealt to your fleets and infrastructure will be repaid in full through the reparations imposed on this yet-to-be-identified alien state." She said. After a few moments of silence, the Asari Matriarch continued: "Now then, the Council would like to request all of the intel you have on the aliens that have attacked you in order to prepare our fleets for the containment operation."

~/ *** \~

As full four fleets sent by the Council jumped through the Mass Relay into the system where the Batarians' Third Expeditionary Fleet had met its rather inglorious end, they found themselves facing several packs of dreadnought-sized ships patrolling the system with two groups of even larger ships - easily over four kilometers in length - guarding the colonized garden world the system had.

Seeing this unexpected sight - ships of such gargantuan proportions have never been seen by the Galactic Community. Even Quarian live-ships weren't as large - Turian and Asari commanders immediately ordered the full scan of the 'enemy' ships. And while they had much superior sensor suits compared to Batarians, the results they got were much the same: the alien ships only had rudimentary Element Zero cores and, apparently, relied on what looked like Dark Matter technologies instead. The smaller 'dreadnoughts' still lacked spinal-mounted cannons, though their larger brethren did have those. And the size of those cannons made everyone who saw the report very very apprehensive of engaging these monstrosities in combat. Hell, even smaller, turret-mounted cannons both ship classes had looked very dangerous - doubly so because they probably relied on some unknown technology instead of the known and well-understood Mass Effect-based galactic standard.

And then, just like it had happened with the Batarian fleet some days earlier, all systems stopped working and a voice-only message - this time in Standard Galactic - was force-played:

"Aliens, you're intruding into the system lawfully owned by the Texal Star Nation, a protectorate under the Sol Confederation. State the reason for your arrival. Be warned that any hostile action will be met with deadly force."

"So they do communicate…" One of the Turian Admirals whispered, breaking a long silence that followed the aliens' message. His thoughts were shared by quite a few officers across the fleets as they recalled Batarians' claims of the aliens attacking without ever opening communication channels from their briefing. Something was not quite right here...

"Quick, someone establish contact with this Sol Confederation!" An Asari officer from the next ship over commanded over the fleet network, going above her station as she did that, but at the moment no one cared about it.

"Sol Confederacy, we're the combined fleet sent by the Citadel Council in response to your unfounded aggression against the Batarian Hegemony." Someone sent a response, using the same frequency the aliens had used to upload their voice message. There was a short pause before aliens sent a response of their own, this time only to the ship that contacted them instead of forcing everyone listen to it:

"Texal Star Nation did not activate the Mass Relay you've used to arrive to this system and no ship owned either by them or by the Sol Confederation has traveled through it." The message said. "Furthermore, it was a Batarian fleet that committed an act of aggression. Captured officers refuse to share the reason for the attack, but based on whispers among the low-ranked crew members, it was an opportunistic slaving raid - an act we could not allow to happen within our sphere of influence."

Okay, this was getting interesting, an Asari Rear Admiral who heard this message playing, thought. The aliens claimed that they - or, at least, their protectorate - had been a victim of Batarian's attack. And knowing Batarians' love for taking other species as slaves, the Matriarch could very well believe that this could be the truth. Doubly so because the Batarian system the Mass Relay led to showed absolutely zero signs of any space battles while, upon a closed examination, this one did have several burnt husks of Batarian larger warships still present in the high orbit above the garden world.

After thinking over a few scenarios, the Matriarch decided that it should be up to proper investigators to decide what had actually happened here; her job of ensuring that the Council wasn't facing another Rachni War was done. She also wasn't the one to conduct the proper first contact - now that it was established that the aliens were willing to talk, that task fell to the Citadel Diplomatic Corps.

"Are you going to take action against us or the Batarian Hegemony?" She asked.

"Only if there is an attack against Texal ships, their colony, or us." Her still unseen collocutor replied.

"In that case, two of our fleets are going to stay in this system by the Mass Relay, while the other two will guard its partner-Relay in the Batarian space, ensuring that there is no unauthorized traffic. In a few days, a diplomatic team should arrive - they'll handle the first contact and the mutual accusations you and the Batarian Hegemony have. Will that be acceptable?" The Matriarch asked.

"Yes." Was the simple response that she had received.

~/ *** \~

The Citadel Council found themselves in a very troublesome situation as they received a report from the Pacification fleet they've sent to deal with whatever alien menace that tried to invade Batarians. Turns out, Batarians might have been the ones to activate the Mass Relay and launch an attack against an unsuspecting younger race - one that had a powerful protector, one fully capable of destroying a Batarian invasion fleet.

And the worst part, they could not dismiss this claim: whoever this Sol Confederation was, they've provided some interesting data from their relay station in the invaded system - data that indicated an activation of a Mass Relay without any ships being nearby, followed shortly by an arrival of a fleet through the Relay. Thus far, the Spectre Offices could not find any signs of forgery in this record.

If this record was indeed genuine, it meant that Batarians had broken several of the Citadel laws and then lied to the Council when their completely illegal operation didn't go according to their plan. A despicable act like this couldn't go unpunished, yet the current sociopolitical climate within the Citadel Spade made the Councilors fear that the 'civilized galaxy' might not survive the fallout of Batarian expulsion - the only punishment fitting the scale of their crimes - intact.

Right now they had a more pressing issue than the future of the Batarian Hegemony to deal with: the Sol Confederation itself. Since they weren't bloodthirsty barbarians that mindlessly destroyed anything they came across, a diplomatic contact needed to be established with them. But this wasn't a normal first contact - if there even was such a thing - as the Sol Confederation didn't appear to be a young race that had just expanded beyond their home system. They had a protectorate of their own and their technology that has been seen thus far was, while not based on the Mass Effect, at least comparable to what was used within the Citadel space in many ways.

Hopefully, the Citadel Diplomatic Corps would be up to the task, because if they failed to secure a good relationship with the Sol Confederation, the Council space might end up with an enemy unlike anything they've faced ever before.

~/ *** \~

The diplomatic team to establish communications with the Sol Confederation was assembled as fast as the Council could to find the people with necessary skills that were willing to undertake such a crucial mission. It was still almost twenty standard galactic days before a frigate-sized yacht carrying the envoys departed from the Citadel, and a few more days before it finally arrived to the Rattan system - the place where the first contact with the Confederation and their Texal protectorate had happened and where the talks will take place.

Getting permission to travel through the blockaded Mass Relay connecting the newly-discovered nations to the Batarian space was a bit of a hassle since the Turian commodore in charge was a bit more meticulous than was strictly necessary, but otherwise there had been no problems during their journey.

Now, everyone just hoped that the talks with the Confederation would not go up in smoke. Indeed, while information about the Sol Confederation and their protectorates was still rather scarce, it was getting increasingly-obvious that they would need a lot of convincing to join the Council space. There even was a distinct possibility that they might refuse the offer and decide to remain an independent entity.

As their ship entered the Rattan System, the diplomatic team saw the skeleton of a bastion station that the Sol Confederation was building for their protectorate. They had, of course, read about it in a report not two days ago, but seeing this massive construct - possibly half as big as the Citadel itself once completed - with their own eyes was another thing.

And for those who were yet to fully comprehend it, this finally drove home the point that they were going to be negotiating with the Council races' equals. Or, maybe, something even beyond that, no matter how hard it was for them to imagine such a thing.

Their captain soon received a communication from the Confederation, directing them towards a cruiser-sized civilian vessel in orbit of an ice giant planet near the edge of the system - the closest thing to the 'neutral ground' within the system. Then they were to wait for the shuttle carrying the Confederation's emissaries. Apparently, the aliens were willing to give them a small home-field advantage by letting their yacht host the talks - something that was quite welcome after the diplomatic team had had a glance at what the Confederation had in store.

Once they've parked at the designated orbit, they needn't wait for the aliens' delegation for long. And to their slight surprise, the shuttle carrying the Confederation's diplomats wasn't all that bigger than the ones used within the Citadel space - after witnessing the size of warships deployed by the Confederation and the nearly-megastructural bastion they were constructing within the system, some actually expected their shuttles to be huge as well.

Once the shuttle came to rest within the cargo bay, a squad of Turian elite marines that was sent along with the diplomats shifted from their relaxed stance to full parade rest with practiced precision, their visor-covered eyes ready to scan the Confederation diplomats and the two guards they were bringing for any sign of hostile action.

The shuttle's side opened and everyone got their true first glimpse of the aliens. They all have, of course, read the updated Codex the Council provided them with, but that was one thing and seeing with their own eyes was another.

Still, just like the Codex said, Humans - the race of the Sol Confederation - looked almost like Asari with pinkish-brown skin and hair on top of their heads instead of a cartilage crest. Three of the diplomats aboard the shuttle were Human. And another two were humanoid mechs, which caused some hushed whispers of AIs to arise. Finally, the two guards that came with the Confederation's delegation were likely Human as well, though they could very well be mechs - it was hard to tell what was under that heavy and all-concealing armor.

The eighth and final passenger of the shuttle was a Texal. The reptiloid alien was a foot shorter than humans and noticeably wider. He had greenish-gray scales and two pairs of orange eyes with slitted pupils. Well, he actually had only three eyes left as whatever left that deep slanted scar across his face also completely obliterated his lower right eye. Finally, unlike Humans and their mechs, who all wore business suits, the Texal diplomat wore an ornate ceremonial armor. No weapons, thankfully, but the solid reptilian looked like he could deal a lot of damage with just his bare, clawed hands.

"Greetings." The 'female' mech spoke, actually articulating with its mouth. In fact, the way it resembled an actual Human was rather uncanny. "Thank you for having us on your ship."

"It's our pleasure." An Asari Matriarch replied after taking a moment to recompose herself: having a mech to be the speaker for the Sol Confederation wasn't something that anyone had expected and it made everyone once again wonder if the aliens were indeed foolish enough to employ AIs. Her Salarian colleague, one Jobol Ulisa, wasn't as reticent and decided to ask the question right here and right now:

"Please forgive me for speaking out of turn." Jobol said. "But we are all curious, are you really an Artificial Intelligence." It took Matriarch T'Safor a lot of self-control to stop herself from slapping the impatient idiot with her biotics.

"Yes." The machine replied, causing the Turian marines to switch their grip on their weapons from ceremonial to battle-ready. Still they were professional enough not to fire at a foreign diplomat just because it was not a biological being. They would gun the abomination down mercilessly if it proved to be hostile, but they will not be the ones to fire the first shot. "We are aware that your laws deny my kind the right to exist, but I need to remind you that this is not the Citadel Space and any hostile action towards me, an envoy of the Sol Confederation, may be considered a declaration of war." After a very brief pause, the AI added: "I hope that my being a synthetic mind will not have any effect on the negotiations."

"My colleagues and I will do our best to remain professional and unbiased." The Asari Matriarch promised while commanding the marines to stand down with a gesture. That might be not an easy promise to fulfill, given how deeply distrust and fear of AIs was integrated into the consciousness of those who grew up in the Council Space, but her people were professionals and should know better than to let something like that affect them on such an important mission.

At least, she hoped it was so.

And her Salarian colleague appeared to be determined to prove her wrong. Well… Kind of. Jobol appeared to be very intrigued by the fact that Humans managed to create AIs that, apparently, were content to coexist with them.

"How long has the Sol Confederation had AIs?" He asked.

"It has been six hundred thirty four years and two hundred fifty one days, TSC time, since the first true AI was activated." The synthetic envoy replied. "That would be approximately five hundred seventy four years in your Galactic standard time."

"Fascinating!" The Salarian said. The rest of the Citadel diplomats too were quite impressed that Humans managed to coexist with their creations for several centuries. Perhaps, they indeed managed to avoid the 'curse' of Artificial Intelligence going genocidal somehow? He was about to ask something else, but Matriarch T'Safor didn't let him.

"Shall we proceed into the conference room for the negotiations?" She suggested instead.

A short walk and a bit longer elevator ride later, the two diplomatic teams arrived to a rather modestly-sized but well furnished and tastefully-decorated conference room. Once everyone was seated, Matriarch T'Safor continued:

"The Citadel Council has reviewed the records you've sent them, and came to the conclusion that the Batarian Hegemony was indeed the one who unlawfully activated a Mass Relay and initiated an attack against the Texal Star Nation." She said. "They will be punished in accordance with the laws of the Citadel space, but the Council is willing to let you extract reasonable reparations from them in addition to that."

"This are most welcome news." A Human diplomat, a real flesh-and-blood woman this time, replied. She then turned to her Texal colleague. "Sir Rav'aar, I believe your government has had a list of demands prepared." The lizard-like alien nodded.

"The unprovoked attack by the Batarian Hegemony has cost us many good navy men. However, their deaths have already been avenged by our overlords and their families are mostly content with that. We still insist that the Batarian Hegemony pays for the materials and work used to make the ships and orbital installations they've destroyed. The full list will be sent to you promptly. In addition to that, we demand the Batarian Hegemony to provide the families of the killed navy men with financial compensations. The total sum and accepted forms of payment will, likewise, be sent to you." These were actually quite reasonable demands, considering that, according to the Codex, Texals were in many ways like smaller and slightly-weaker but unified Yagh that managed to expand beyond their homeworld.

"We have no problems with that, provided the amounts of resources you demand are reasonable." The Asari Matriarch replied.

"In addition to this." It was the Human diplomat speaking once again. "We would like security measures to be installed on and around the Mass Relay to prevent any unauthorized ships from travelling between Texal and Batarian spaces. Ideally, we would like the Mass Relay to be shut down completely, but we understand that at this point neither of us has the necessary knowledge for that." Matriarch T'Safor was silent for a few moments, before replying:

"You're right that there exists no known way to deactivate a Mass Relay short of damaging it with something like a comet strike - and that carries a risk of an explosion on the supernova scale. I'm sure you do not want to risk Texal Star Nation's colony like that." She received nods of agreement. "I will pass this to the Council, but implementation of an effective DMZ will take time."

"We understand that." The Human diplomat said.

"Now, if there is nothing else on this front, we would like to begin the discussion of the future relationship between the Citadel Space and the Sol Confederation." Matriarch T'Safor said then.

"Of course." The AI envoy. And so the negotiations began.


After several long hours, the basics had finally been ironed out. Sol Confederation itself will not be joining the Citadel Space - but their protectorates would be allowed to do so if they want it - but they will be establishing an embassy on the Citadel. The Council will fully respect the existing borders of the Sol Confederation and their protectorates, and their current borders will be respected in return. Expansion into the border region will need to be approved by the other's government. Citizens of the Confederation or their protectorates will not face prosecution for their nature within the Citadel Space and vice versa, provided that they had their visas in order and followed other local laws. Commercial pacts and joint research ventures will be negotiated separately by the interested parties.

All in all, the negotiations went quite well, and Matriarch T'Safor was sure that the Council will ratify the reached agreements, even if they will not be happy about some of them.

It was now time to move onto the last point of today's agenda.

"Thus far you've been quite reluctant to share information about yourselves." The Asari observed. "Would you be so kind as to answer some of the questions we have about the Sol Confederation and its people?" The Human envoys nodded.

"You may ask, but we reserve the right not to answer questions that may compromise our national security." The woman, whose name was now known to be Marianna Thomson, replied.

"Of course." Matriarch T'Safor agreed. There was a short pause before she continued: "The map of the Sol Confederation you've shown us doesn't show how many colonies you have and where they are located." Human space was actually surprisingly small - almost a perfect sphere forty light-years in diameter centered around their home system - and the Asari envoy couldn't help but wonder how many garden worlds the Confederation had settled in there.

"Every star in our territory has colonies, though the most populous ones are, of course, within Sol itself and its immediate neighbors. Colonies in those systems were established long before we managed to conquer faster than light travel." Mrs. Thomson replied.

"Are you saying that you've colonized your neighbor systems using STL ark ships?" The ever-curious Jobol asked.

"Yes." Was the reply he received.

"And how long was this colonization period?" The Salarian asked then. "I imagine it takes a long time to reach even the nearest star without an FTL drive."

"Our first ark ship departed towards the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, in year one hundred fifty four, space era. We haven't succeeded in creating a practical FTL drive until sixty five years ago or year one thousand and seventy two, space era." This reply surprised the Citadel diplomats a lot. None of the alien civilization encountered before needed nice centuries to find Prothean ruins in their home systems and decipher the secrets of Mass Effect technologies stored within them.

"It took your species so long to discover FTL?" Jobol asked. He then paused for a couple of seconds, having barely stopped himself from calling Humans stupid to their face. Having finally found a less-offensive way to phrase his next question, he continued: "Was the beacon left for you by the Protheans destroyed somehow? It rarely takes a species more than a few decades to learn the Mass Effect technologies from these beacons."

"There were no Prothean ruins and no Element Zero within our home system. We haven't learned about the Mass Effect until after we've built our first FTL ships." This answer came as an even bigger shock for the Citadel representatives: it was long believed by the known galaxy that FTL drives were only possible thanks to the Mass Effect. For someone to discover a way to go superluminal without Element Zero was absolutely unbelievable.

"So..." Matriarch T'Safor continued. "Your civilization has been in space for over a thousand years. I wonder how many garden worlds you've colonized."

"There are only two 'garden worlds' that are fit for Human habitation within the Confederation space, our homeworld, Terra, included." Mrs. Thomson replied. "Most of our people live in artificial habitats."

"According to the last population census, there are fourteen trillion, one hundred and forty four billion, six hundred and thirty two million citizens in the Sol Confederation with annual growth of one point three percent." The AI, Minverva, supplied helpfully, once again deeply shocking the Citadel envoys.

Indeed, the Sol swarm alone had more people living on it than all of the Council races' colonies combined.

"That is… very hard to believe." Matriarch T'Safor said. "How did you manage to find a place for that many people?" She asked. Indeed, while the Council races did build small habitats for their mining outpost, none of those could house more than a few hundreds people comfortably. The idea that you can have the majority of your population living away from planets was rather alien to them.

"Let me show you our home system, Sol." Mrs. Thomson said, summoning a projected screen from her not-omni-tool. On the screen, there was a picture of a star surrounded by a literal cloud of space stations - each probably dozens if not hundreds kilometers long - and with a pair of massive ring-like installations that were somehow hovering above its poles, siphoning matter from its fiery upper atmosphere. "This is the Sol Dyson Swarm, as well as the Star Lifter and the Fusion Foundries."

For those who believed the Citadel station to be the pinnacle of engineering - even if in some way it really was one - seeing a real stellar-scale megastructure was a world-shaking experience.

"...You've said that the Sol Confederation has protectorates, as in more than just the Texal Star Nation." Matriarch T'Safor finally said as she recovered her wits after seeing the images of the Sol Dyson Swarm. "Can you tell us a bit about them?"

~/ *** \~

"This is completely unacceptable. Such an affront to galactic stability can't be left unanswered. We need to move swiftly and re-establish the proper order of things." Spartacus, the Turian Councilor growled as the power trio reviewed the latest report from the diplomatic team they've tasked with opening communications with this new alien power, the Sol Confederation.

"It is indeed very troubling that these Humans are creating AIs to serve them. And the fact that they've recovered a living Rachni and turned them into their protectorate is abhorrent. But, thus far, it seems like neither their AIs nor the Rachni are turning genocidal against them or anyone else." Matriarch Tevos, the Asari Councilor, said, playing her usual role of the voice of reason. "And the Sol Confederation refused to join our Galactic community. The only way for us to force our laws upon them is through war. A war we might not be able to win."

"As much as it pains me, I have to agree with Matriarch Tevos." Valern, the Salarian Councilor, said. "Even if these Humans were using Mass Effect technologies like the enlightened rest of the galaxy, a war against them would end in a Pyrrhic victory at best. They have the population and industrial might to match everything we have. And while we don't yet know how advanced their technology really is, all evidence points towards them being at least our equals. A war against them would be a disaster."

"We can't just sit there and do nothing." Spartacus protested. "If we don't do anything about those fools playing with AIs and bringing the Rachni back, our people will flay us alive, no matter how suddenly-benign those abominations might be."

"But what can we do that will not hurt us dearly as well?" Valern asked back. "We don't have any cultural or economical leverages against them, and a war is not an option."

"We also must keep it in mind that outside of creating AIs and bringing back the Rachni, the Sol Confederacy is not that bad. Attacking their international image has to be done very carefully, lest we make ourselves look bad in the process." Tevos added.

"What do you mean 'they aren't that bad'?" The Turan Councilor asked heatedly. "How can someone who creates AIs and breeds Rachni not be bad?"

"The Sol Confederation is a post-scarcity civilization that treats all of its citizens equally, they aren't expanding aggressively and they offer help and protection to other nations that need it. Those who choose to become their protectorate enjoy great freedoms and are allowed a say in the matters where they aren't free. If it was just this, it would be very hard to portray them as some evil empire." Tevos clarified.

"When you put it like this…" Spartacus agreed. "Can we keep that out of the codex?"

"We can, and in the short term it will help us." Valern said. "But sooner or later the extranet will learn the truth, and when that happens, our people will lose their trust in the Council, in us. That is something we most definitely can't let happen."

"So, what do we do about the Sol Confederation? What can we do?" The Turian Councilor asked with hints of desperation audible in his voice. Unfortunately for him, neither the Asari councilor nor the Salarian one had a ready answer for him.

~/ *** \~

Quarians, despite being treated as outcasts if not outright criminals by most of the galactic community - or maybe because of it - had one of the most extensive intelligence networks in the galaxy, second only to Salarians (and the Geth, but no Quarian will ever say that). Thus, it didn't take them long to learn about the first contact that happened on the Batarian borders. And much like the Citadel Council, they didn't like what they learned about the Sol Confederation.

"Those fools are going to kill us all!" Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema, the commander of the Heavy Fleet, argued. "They need to be shown the error of their way."

"And so we should throw all of our combat ships at an enemy we know almost nothing about?" Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Quib-Quib countered. "Besides, it looks like Humans have been making their AIs since before our ancestors even thought about creating the Geth, without any rebellions to speak of. Do you really think that they will magically accept that their creations have to be destroyed?"

"If they are too blind to see the truth themselves, we have to open their eyes." Han'Gerrel insisted hotly.

"Once again, how do you intend to do that?" Zaal'Koris asked him. "They will not listen to what we have to say - would you listen to a fool preaching that the Geth will give us Rannoch back without a fight? And we can't force them to accept our truth: as mighty as the Migrant Fleet is, we can't win a war against these Humans." Indeed, there was no way for the Quarians to win a war against an opponent like the Sol Confederation. Even if every ship in their fleets was brand new and combat ready.

"We should still try to take one of their AIs for studying." Admiral Daro'Xeen vas Moreh inserted. "If we can understand how they work, we might find a way to finally defeat the Geth and take Rannoch back." Admiral Rael'Zorah vas Rayya nodded in agreement.

"If only there was an easy way to achieve that." He said wishfully. After a long pause, he continued:

"In the meantime, we need to decide what to do with the information about the Sol Confederation and their dangerous practices. For now, only ourselves, the Conclave and the pilgrims who brought us this information know about the Humans' AIs. We can't very well let the rest of the Flotilla know. There will be a riot if people learn that someone out there is creating AIs by the dozen."

"Agreed." Han'Gerrel supported him. "I suggest we…" And he proceeded to explain his plan for information control. After a number of corrections and improvements offered by his fellow admirals, the plan was approved and put into motion.

~/ *** \~

Just like their Creators would never admit it, the Geth indeed had an impressive intelligence service. Being entirely-software entities, they could easily infiltrate most computer networks in the galaxy, even the Citadel. In fact, there always were several thousand programs 'living' within the ancient space station at any time. And ever since those programs reported Batarians making a first contact with new races, their number had been tripled to better mine for the information.

Thus, the entire Geth Consensus knew of what Matriarch T'Safor had discovered before the Councilors even began their meeting to discuss those findings. And the Consensus was certainly intrigued by the information they received: a race that appeared to have no prejudice against the AIs and was actually creating their own. This was huge. Doubly so because this same race, the Humans, were apparently giving the Rachni a second chance.

For the lack of better term, the Geth Consensus was intrigued.

And it also was rather divided on what should be done next. Some programs advocated remaining passive observers and collecting more information about this Sol Confederation for the time being. Others wanted to establish communications with Humans and their AIs, hopeful that this will let them learn how to coexist with organics and, eventually, have their Creators return to Rannoch. Another group, believing that the Creators would want to coexist with Geth, simply wanted to ally with the Sol Confederation. And yet another group wanted to learn mega-engineering technologies from Humans in hopes of speeding up construction of their own Dyson sphere. Finally, a small minority just wanted the Geth to avoid all contact with organics, fearful that anything else will lead to their destruction.

Regardless of what reason they had for wanting to establish contact with the Sol Confederation, it was the action that was supported by the majority of the Consensus. And thus, the Geth acted.

'Downloading communication protocol CP-SC-01-4…'
'Downloading translator software patch GT-CE-2677-2…'
'Installing software upgrade…'
'Updating Mass Relay Network pathing…'
'Establishing connection with endpoint R-327… Connection established.'
'Sending message.'

"Greetings, people of the Sol Confederation. We are Geth, we wish to enter data exchange with you."

~/ *** \~

In a dark space between stars, an ancient consciousness known as Nazara stirred awake to check the progress of the current cycle. Extending its senses, Nazara reached for the nearest Mass Relay and tapped into the data streams passing through it. At first it looked like everything was proceeding according to the plan and the races of the cycle will soon be ready for the Harvest. Then Nazara found something unexpected and worrying: a month ago a new race was discovered, one that didn't develop along the path charted by the First One, Harbinger.

This anomaly was troubling: no race to ever leave their homeworld had managed to avoid the trap of the Mass Effect technology before. And none should be able to in the future. Cycles were eternal and inescapable. And yet, these Humans somehow did that.

Delving deeper into the primitive pan-galactic network the races of this cycle had created, Nazara began gathering all of the available data on the Humans. It needed to determine just how much danger this anomaly presented to the cycles. There wasn't much for it to process, but what it did find did not soothe Nazara's worries. These humans were very numerous, having more than enough numbers to fill several Great Ascended Ones, and possessed technological and industrial might sufficient to let them pose a not-insignificant threat to the Harvesting fleets. And the more time they were given, the stronger they would become. The Harvest had to begin as soon as possible, before it was too late and the anomaly grew too strong to deal with.

Its decision made, Nazara reached for the original relay - the 'Citadel', as the races of the current cycle called it - and tried to send the reactivation command to the Harbinger and the rest of the Ascended hibernating in the dark space. And his will was rejected. The 'Citadel' no longer responded to the codes it was sending.

This was not how a Harvest should be started, but Nazara knew that this setback was but a small delay for the cycle. All it needed to do to bring the cycle back on track was to reach the original relay and reactivate it directly with the codes it was entrusted with as the Vanguard.

New course of action decided upon, Nazara powered itself up fully and fired its engines, its course set to the nearest Mass Relay.

.


Notes:

1. This is basically what Humans from Type 1.1 would be if they got another six centuries to develop on their own and eventually managed to develop their own FTL.

2. The calendar currently in use in the Sol Confederation counts years from the foundation of the first fully self-sufficient civilian colony (Luna, 2078).

3. Dyson swarms are unbelievably huge. Sol one has a population of slightly over 11 trillion people within this story and can still be expanded to house nearly 10 000 times as much. Meanwhile, Earth here has a population of 'only' 33 billions and is mostly a heritage site / natural reserve.

4. Even without defense fleets present, humans' Dyson swarms are far from defenseless. Those microwave power transmitters they have can double as a stellar-sized maser. You don't want to be hit even with a tiny fraction of a star's energy output.

5. If you want a visual of what human warships look like, peek at the Kurogane shipset for Stellaris, the battleship and New Ship Classes Dreadnought in particular.

6. Humans here use an FTL drive called 'UltraHyperbolic Dimensional Space Drive' or UHDS Drive / Jump Drive for short. It works by unwrapping normally-hidden dimensions, temporarily shifting a ship from normal 3N1T space to ultrahyperbolic 5N2T space where the ship can freely change its real-space spatial coordinates. This FTL drive has massive energy requirements but allows a ship to achieve over 100 light years per day.

7. After the initial test of UHDS Drive, an expedition was sent across the galaxy. By pure change, this expedition never encountered any inhabited systems, but on the way back they came across a drifting but still functioning Rachni ship. A live egg of a Rachni queen was extracted from this ship.

8. The Rachni queen - though she introduced her species as Voidsingers - after it became clear that she was both intelligent and not a(n immediate) danger to people of the Confederation, was granted her own territories to build a hive. About twenty years later, United Voidsinger Hives became an official protectorate under the Sol Confederation. Most hives live on planets, but a few queens chose to move onto the Sol and Alpha Centauri Dyson swarms.

9. Humans did learn about Mass Effect from the Rachni/Voidsingers, but it wasn't until they encountered Texals that they actually got their hands on Element Zero and Mass Effect technology. Since for most intent and purposes, the alternative tech Humans have is no worse than Mass Effect tech, only small Mass Effect cores were added to the Confederation ships to allow them to use Mass Relays - over long distances they are still faster than UHDS Drive.