Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my multicrossover. When I went to look at the reviews you wonderful people left on my previous chapter, as well as the Library chapter for my Halo - Terminator crossover, I noticed something off. For some strange reason, your reviews didn't come up, and when I attempted to access the chapters in question, the page literally said 'no reviews', even though the review count changed. If someone can tell me what's going on, and how to fix it, I would deeply appreciate it. I like reading your reviews because it gives me good feedback, and I feel a little in the dark when I can't. Either way, I have reason to believe they were positive, so I want to say thank you for the continued support. As always, leave a review and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Halo, Mass Effect and MechWarrior/BattleTech franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of Microsoft Game Studios, 343 Industries, Bungie, Electronic Arts, BioWare, FASA Corporation, FASA Interactive, Catalyst Game Labs and Piranha Games Inc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developers and publishers. Any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to it's original composers and/or artists.
Deep Periphery
SLS/FWS Sojourner
June 15th, 3058
Out in the Deep Periphery, William Forrell was having a very good day, and it was easy to see why. Sitting in the command chair of the SLS/FWS Sojourner, William was currently issuing orders to the rest of the bridge crew, who were walking about the area, tending to the various needs and matters that was required for a ship like this to operate normally. Nearby, the holographic image of a human being wearing the uniform of a seafaring Captain from WWII era Terra was standing to attention, his face the very image of calm and collected.
Ah yes, Forrell thought as he remembered the Deep Periphery. The territory that Humanity controlled, and the territory that was unexplored, had been given a number of names. The territory that was fully under Terran control in this reality was known as the Inner Sphere, with the borders being marked by the outer borders of the Great Houses/Star League. Beyond this was partially explored space, which was known as the Periphery.
Finally, there was fully unexplored space, known as the Deep Periphery. The Deep Periphery was rightfully seen as unexplored space, the beginning of the unknown. Rumors and tales about what the Deep Periphery were in ample supply, from ancient, forgotten alien civilizations, to hazards that would drive any normal man insane. As a result, people would, half jokingly of course, write 'here be dragons' on maps of the Deep Periphery.
Looking at a holographic readout, William could see the star system they were in, which reminded him of what his job was. Following the Succession War, and the reclamation of all known LosTech, it was decided that the Star League needed a division that was solely responsible for exploring uncharted star systems, as well as finding out what was beyond the Inner Sphere and Periphery. Paul Davion II, realizing the need for a dedicated exploration corps, created the Star League Exploration Command, or SLEC, with the mission of exploring the region of space known as the Deep Periphery, in order to map any hazards, potential colonies, as well as to see if Humanity was the only sapient species in the galaxy, as up to that point, no sapient alien life had been found.
For the next 250 to 300 years, the SLEC had competently and dutifully carried out this mission, with the first SLEC Expedition being sent to map the area just beyond the Outworlds Alliance in the year 2840. The expedition was an overwhelming success, with multiple star systems being rapidly cataloged and mapped. One of the crowning hallmarks of the SLEC was the discovery of a stellar mass black hole that was roughly 100lys from the border of the Outworlds Alliance, prompting a Star League research team to begin studying and analyzing it from a safe distance.
By the time the interuniversal wormhole that led from the Inner Sphere to the reality the UNSC existed in was discovered, an area roughly twice the size of the current Inner Sphere had been mapped by the SLEC. Numerous planets in each of these star systems were found to be extremely wealthy in terms of mineral resources, prompting the Periphery Powers, and the Great Houses, to send AI operated mining expeditions to collect these mineral resources. Given that the Periphery Powers were now voting members of the Star League, and Great Houses in their own right, it was seen as a mutually beneficial arrangement for everyone in the Inner Sphere and Periphery.
The Inner Sphere and Periphery weren't the only ones that benefited from this exploration. The SLEC had also grown extensively, having proven it's worth as a worthwhile part of the Star League itself. Over the years, the succeeding First Lords of the Star League had poured more funding into the SLEC, with AI's making sure that none of this increased budget was wasted on frivolous things, such as nicer offices for high ranking personnel, that sort of thing. The end result was that the SLEC was the best equipped and trained Command in the Star League, with only the SLDF exceeding them in terms of budget, excellence and discipline. This was due to the fact that Star League regulations required all SLEC spacecraft to be heavily armed and armored, in the event that they encountered hostile lifeforms. They also carried a Compact Memory Core that held a First Contact Package in the event non-hostile, space-faring life was discovered.
As he looked at the readouts, he spotted something that hadn't been there before the last refit that his ship had undergone. Normally, this would've concerned William Forrell, but since he was a highly reputable member of the SLEC, and a native of Terra, he was allowed insider knowledge into new technologies, as long as he signed an NDA (Nondisclosure Agreement) from the Star League Intelligence Command. Once he had, he had learned about why there was a new technology onboard his ship.
About four years ago, just a month after the Covenant-Human War ended, a major discovery was made on the planet Kentares IV. During a routine seismic analysis, seismologists discovered anomalies in the data they had received, prompting them to investigate. The anomalous data pointed them to a section of Kentares IV's polar regions, about 20 miles from Kentares IV's Magnetic North Pole. Once there, they used ground penetrating RADAR, which had discovered hard, metallic objects that were located roughly on kilometer underground.
As soon as this discovery was made, the Star League immediately sent an excavation team, as well as an armed SLDF Special Operations Command team, to uncover what was going on. After two weeks of continuous digging, they found that the hard, metallic objects were, in fact, part of a subterranean facility of extraterrestrial origin. After opening up the structure, they found the desiccated corpses of what appeared to be an alien species, as well as a number of still functioning computer terminals that were located inside of the facility. Further exploration revealed an alien Memory Core inside of the facility, as well as reserves of a previously undiscovered chemical compound.
Following standard SLIC protocols, the team kept the discovery from being broadcast throughout the Inner Sphere, especially through the interuniversal wormhole that led to UNSC territory. Over the next two months, specially chosen scientists from the Great Houses went to the underground facility, in order to study it and find out what species manned this facility before it's mysterious demise. During the first day that the scientists and technicians were working there, the technicians had managed to crack the encryption on the ancient Memory Core in just half an hour.
Almost immediately, the scientists were able to uncover the vast majority of secrets in the facility. Apparently, the place they were in was a depot/research facility for a sapient alien species known as the Protheans. According to the contents of the ancient Memory Core, the Protheans had used the facility as a supply depot for their research expeditions into the Orion-Cygnus Spur, the minor arm of the Milky Way Galaxy that the Inner Sphere called home. Most of the information in the Memory Core was corrupted due to age, but there were unsubstantiated rumors that this was just a cover story for something the SLIC found, and didn't like. Only after careful consideration was the information released throughout the Inner Sphere.
The discovery was hailed as the greatest scientific discovery of Human history, aside from the interuniversal wormhole. For the first time since the invention of the K-F Drive, Humanity in this reality could definitively answer the age old question: were they alone in their home universe? Following this discovery, the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere began to increase the strength of their armed forces, as a precaution against an invasion by hostile aliens. When asked why, one scientists said, "To quote Arthur C. Clarke, 'There are two possibilities: Either we are alone in the Universe, or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.'" Following standard protocol, the Covenant and UEG hadn't been informed, though recently, it was decided that it was best to go ahead and inform them.
There was also another major scientific discovery that came about thanks to the facility. The chemical compound inside of the facility had a unique property: it was capable of altering the mass of a volume of space and time. This property was activated when an electrical current was run through the substance, with positive currents creating a mass increasing field, and negative currents creating a mass decreasing field. This meant that this substance, called Element Zero by Free Worlds League scientists, had a significant amount of applications in the fields of construction and manufacturing. As for how much of the stuff was created, it was found that Element Zero was created when the supernova of a star affected any material and debris nearby, with the radiation and energy of the supernova creating the substance, which usually ended up in asteroids, planets, moons and stellar remnants, such as neutron stars and white dwarfs.
There were a number of other amazing innovations that had resulted from this discovery, as well as the study of Covenant and Forerunner technology, all of which were so numerous that William couldn't name them all, at least not in a reasonable amount of time on the job. Instead of pondering the massive amounts of innovation that had been made, he kept his mind focused on their current task: surveying the star system that they were currently inside to determine if it was habitable or not. Looking at the AI onboard his ship, who was named MacAllan, he said, "What's the status on the drone swarms we sent to the planet to scan it's atmosphere and terrain?"
"Atmospheric scan is complete," MacAllan replied, keeping the stance that he had assumed when they arrived at the star system's Zenith Point. "Genera terrain scan is 40% completed, and will be completed in the next four hours I recommend scanning the asteroid belt to determine the possibility of Element Zero being present."
"I see," William replied. It wasn't uncommon for a planet's terrain to require a few hours or even a day to be fully scanned, even with drone swarms like the ones he had sent to the planet. Even in the 31st Century, one needed to wait to get the results of a planetary terrain scan, during which one could do something useful, such as scan asteroid belts or the makeup of the star they were orbiting.
In this case, they were looking at a Type A Blue Giant. Type A's were highly desirable stars when it came to colonies as they had a lack of a solar wind. This meant that, if a planet in the star system was habitable and had liquid water, it was highly likely that it could easily sustain life. In addition to this, Type A blue giants were also favorable for ships that used Solar Sails to charge their K-F Drives which, while rare, were still out there.
Looking to his right, William could see one of the numerous non-human members of the SLS/FWS Sojourner. After the Covenant-Human War ended, many Elites were actually curious to see what the Inner Sphere was like, with many asking if they could come for a visit. After a brief discussion with the House Lords, it was decided that the Elites could come and visit the Inner Sphere, with some deciding to take up civilian jobs in order to acclimatize to life after their military service.
In this case, Varo 'Protam, who was one such Sangheilian, had decided to find an occupation in the Star League Exploration Command. An older member of his species, 'Protam was a Sangheilian scientist that had worked at a research facility out in deep space as a geologist. When the Star League arrived, he was one of hundreds of scientists that were reassigned to projects in order to counter the SLDF's technological advantages, though it was clear that he preferred geology over weapons research. After the war, though, he had expressed a desire to see new worlds before he died of old age, so he had volunteered to join the crew of the Sojourner. He still wore armor, as did all Sangheilians that were part of the Covenant, but he had the symbol of the SLEC, a WarShip with a contrail that curved around a blue star, embossed onto his armor, signaling his position in the SLEC as a Senior Geologist.
Pulling up an InterCOM link to the Med-Sci section of the WarShip, he found Varo examining what appeared to be the current geology readouts of the planet. A holographic image of the planet they were over was present, which was a bright green color with large sections of blue, indicating large oceans. "Varo, what's the terrain of the planet we're orbiting so far?"
"Mostly subtropical," Varo replied, his eyes darting across the holographic screen he was looking at. "The planet has a very minimal tilt, as far as I can tell, and the polar ice caps are not as large as I was expecting. So far, this is looking like a promising colony planet."
"Atmosphere is similar to Earth, with 26% oxygen, 70 percent nitrogen, and 4 percent trace gasses," another scientist reported. "If all goes well, we'll be looking at another planet to colonize in the near future, once colonization efforts begin."
"Good," William replied. "Continue surveying of the planet. We will be making an in-system jump to the asteroid belt nearby. If our luck holds out, we'll be finding some Element Zero in this asteroid belt."
"That would be nice," a bridge crewmember replied. "If we find Element Zero out there, then this will be a major Shipyard system." All William could do was nod at that. It would be nice to find some Element Zero out here in the Deep Periphery.
A few moments later, the WarShip jumped towards the asteroid belt, entering the multicolored domain of ezzo induced FTL flight before coming out near the asteroid belt. Once in position, the ship launched off another drone swarm, before using it's powerful scanners in a wide spectrum scan of the entire asteroid belt. The primary means of finding Element Zero was to look for anomalous mass signatures coming from an asteroid, while scanning for the chemical signature of the element itself.
It didn't take long for the drones, and the WarShip, to find the actual substance, as several asteroids, as well as a few planetoids, immediately showed signs of Element Zero inside of their rocky husks. "Bingo," the crew member remarked. "Scans of the planet's moon also shows signs of Element Zero located inside of it's crust. Looks like we might be in business."
"We might," William replied.
He was just about to order the ship to head back to the planet when MacAllan spoke up. "Sir, sensors have detected an anomalous gravitational signature moving towards us. It is coming from nearby the planet."
"What," William remarked. "That's not possible. There are no other SLEC WarShips in the area unless…" Then it hit him. Turning immediately to the AI, he said, "Get us to the planet now! I think we might be encountering a new form of alien life! Have the weapons powered up, but do not engage unless we are fired upon."
"Aye, sir," MacAllan replied, with the ship jumping back towards the planet moments later. Once they were in orbit, the crew began to perform a number of duties, from getting to battle stations in the event they were attacked, to scanning the immediate area with LiDAR and RADAR to determine what was near the planet. For two minutes, they scanned the area, looking for the unknown contact that had appeared on sensors.
That was when they found it, or rather it found them. Looking up, William watched as the sensor contact came into visual range, popping into view from what appeared to be ezzo induced FTL flight. Visually speaking, William noticed that the unknown contact resembled a Conventional Fighter from the 21st Century, as it had a sharp, angular profile to it, as well as two wings that jutted out from the sides. He could see what appeared to be weapon mounts, as well as what appeared to be armor.
Looking at MacAllan, he said, "MacAllan, get me a scan of the unknown contact. I want to know what we're dealing with."
"Aye, sir," MacAllan replied, performing a penetrating scan moments later. "Sir, it appears as though we are dealing with a Common Tech level species," he said a moment later. "Scans of their armor indicates that it is not ablative. Given the quality of the material, as well as the tech level of this new species, their ship's BAR rating appears to be a low to mid five. I have also detected a large Element Zero Core, though it is certainly primitive compared to our own."
"I see," William remarked. Looking at the unidentified WarShip, he said, "It looks like a military ship that is being used for exploration, much like our own ship." Turning to MacAllan, he said, "Begin a scan of their computer networks, but do not engage in cyber warfare unless we are fired upon. I do not want a First Contact War to begin because we stepped too far over our boundaries. Also, inform the other WarShips in the Exploration Fleet to power up weapons in the event we have to make a quick exit. Their ship might be significantly less advanced than our own, but there might be more. Quantity has a quality of it's own, after all. Understood?"
"Aye sir," MacAllan replied. Turning back towards the unidentified WarShip, William looked at it some more. He could see what looked like words, though they were in a language that he didn't comprehend in the slightest. What am I looking at, he thought to himself. Who are you people?
A few moments later, MacAllan completed his scans. "Sir," he said a moment later, "their computer networks have some of the poorest cyber security I have ever encountered before."
"I see," William remarked. "Prepare the First Contact Package and install an auto-translation program inside of it. It should gain access to some of their information databanks in order to create a translation matrix so that our language can be translated into theirs and so on." With that, MacAllan got to work, while William continued to look at the unknown WarShip.
. . .
On the other side of the encounter, Captain Xavoria Jhirix of the Turian Hierarchy Navy was having similar thoughts. Looking at the single ship before her, she could clearly tell that this species cared little for aesthetically pleasing appearances. The hull of the ship was rectangular, with angular, geometric protrusions at various parts of the hull, though she could see some curves and rounded shapes as well. Scans of the hull had revealed that it was, to Xavoria's shock, an advanced nanocomposite that was also interfering with penetrating scans, making it impossible to determine what was inside the ship, as well as if there were any weapons on it.
A mandible twitched on Xavoria's plated face as she mulled over earlier events. The reason why she and her ship, the HDF Spirit of Palaven, were out here in the Attican Traverse was due to a simple reason: resource scarcity. While the Council races were fairly resource efficient, everyone knew that the nodules of strategic resources that they had, along with more conventional resources, weren't going to last forever.
Therefore, roughly 150 years ago, the Citadel Council granted the Council Races permission to begin exploring other Primary Mass Relays, as well as Secondary Mass Relays, while also exploring beyond the Mass Relay network. Many had thought that decision was foolish, and at any rate, impractical given Mass Effect Physics and technology. Still, the Council had enough popular support that the decision went through despite substantial resistance.
It turned out to be the wisest decision that the Council had made yet, as it was quickly discovered that their current natural resources were starting to run dry. To allow for further exploration, the Council Races had begun intense research into advancing Mass Effect Field technologies, while also making further studies on possible alternatives to the Mass Relays. While no new methods of FTL flight had been discovered, this had led to better ships, better Element Zero Cores and other forms of improvements to their own technology.
In fact, the HDF Spirit of Palaven was escorting an exploratory team that had been sent to this star system in order to survey it for any resources. They were about to begin the survey when the Sensors officer detected an unusual energy fluctuation over the sole, habitable planet in the system. Now that they were at the source, Xavoria knew they now faced a First Contact situation.
Looking at her Comms officer, she asked, "Any response from the unknowns yet?"
"Negative," came the reply. "They might be as surprised as we are that we're here."
"Can you determine anything else about their technology, other than their armor?"
"Yes," the Sensors officer replied. "From what we can tell, they use Element Zero, but I've only detected a small amount in the ship. That's unusual, given that it's projecting a much stronger than normal mass effect field. It could be that, either their technology is not as advanced as ours, or they've found a way to break past the limits created by Element Zero."
That was hard for Xavoria to believe, but it was the only real possibility that they had. Her father, who was a C-Sec Investigator, gave her some of the best advice a father could give a daughter: "Once you have eliminated any impossibilities, whatever remains, however unlikely or absurd, must be the truth." Xavoria could clearly tell from the scans that the unknowns were highly advanced, which eliminated the Sensor officer's first possibility; that left the possibility that this species was more advanced than they were.
She was almost startled when her Comms officer said, "Ma'am, we're getting a tighbeam transmission from the unknown ship. Looks like a large data packet, possibly a First Contact package."
"Can we view it," Xavoria asked.
"That's the strange part, Ma'am," the Comms offier replied, a confused expression on his blue painted face. "It appears to be running a program of some sort. It blew past any cyber defenses we had; from what I can tell though, it doesn't appear to be doing anything that might compromise any classified information we have." A moment later, Xavoria's Damage Control officer confirmed the Comms officer's words.
Looking at her own haptic interface, Xavoria could see what appeared to be a small progress bar that was filling to completion, with some incomprehensible words flashing at the bottom. After roughly 120 seconds, the bar was fully filled. Suddenly, the words shifted, becoming almost immediately understandable. The words merely said, Translation Complete. Initiating First Contact Protocols.
Moments later, Xavoria saw what she assumed was what this new species looked like. To her surprise, the aliens resembled Asari, but with a number of major differences. For one, this species had sexual dimorphism, with males having flat chests, broad shoulders and clearly masculine features, while the females had mammary glands, were shorter, and had wider thighs and hips. Xavoria also noticed that the aliens had fur, of all things, on their heads, with males having short fur, while the females had long fur.
Further examination revealed that the aliens called themselves 'Humans', 'Terrans' or more formally 'Homo Sapiens.' A scale revealed that, on average, the average human height was roughly 6'2'', with males being taller than the females. This was shorter than most Turians, but Xavoria had a feeling that these Humans compensated for that height difference in some way. On top of that, Xavoria also noticed that Humans had a huge amount of variety; some were short, others were tall, some had dark brown colored skin, while some had light tan skin. Some had blue eyes, others brown, some had blond fur on their heads, while others had dark brown to black fur.
A moment later, she saw an image of what she assumed was the Human's homeworld. To her surprise, the planet was covered in 71% water, with the remaining amount being land. According to the title of the image, the planet was called 'Earth' or in one of their languages 'Terra'. She then saw what appeared to be a short video clip of sounds and sights from the Terran's homeworld.
That wasn't all either. Apparently, the Star League, the government that the Humans had formed, had encountered other alien life forms as well. The first looked like a bipedal lizard with digitigrade legs, powerful musculature, elongated heads, slit eyes as well as what appeared to be mandibles in lieu of a normal mouth. Another alien species resembled bipedal birds, others giant insects, as well as large, hulking masses of worms that, according to the Human's first contact package, were telepathic, and often traveled in hives as a gestalt consciousness.
By the time the film was finished, Xavoria could clearly tell that the Terrans were a highly advanced species with a vast amount of diversity. It was clear from many of the images that they wanted peace, though some images showed they were more than willing to fight if necessary. With that in mind, Xavoria said, "Comms, send the aliens our own First Contact package."
"Affirmative," the Comms officer replied. "Ma'am, it appears as though the program the Terrans sent us has also created a translation matrix for our language, as well as the other languages in the First Contact package. They'll be able to understand what we're showing them as well."
"Excellent," Xavoria replied. As her officer got to work, Xavoria turned to look at the alien ship once again. Hopefully, they would see the Turians as a strong, but peaceful species.
. . .
Onboard the Sojourner, William waited in silence for the alien's response. It had been roughly thirty minutes since he'd ordered the First Contact package to be sent, and there was no response yet. Still, he hoped that these aliens were reasonable. He didn't want to end up having to fight for his life against genocidal aliens..
Apparently, that hope was well founded, as MacAllan said, "Captain, I'm detecting a data packet being sent in our direction. I have successfully translated the information that has been sent to us. It appears that we met one member of a galactic coalition."
"Really," William remarked. "Well, don't keep us in suspense. Let's see what the aliens have to show." With a nod, and a slight smile, MacAllan showed them the aliens First Contact package.
He was quite correct, as William saw the first of what he realized were a series of images of different alien species. The first image he saw was that of the aliens they had encountered; apparently, they were a tall, reptilian species with avian and mammalian features. Their slender bodies, combined with their digitigrade legs, suggested they could move at high speed, while their talons and images of their teeth showed they were a carnivorous species. The oddest feature they had, however, was what appeared to be large sections of body and facial plates, which were made of a material similar to that of a bull's horns.
On top of that, males of this species had elongated heads with flat faces, as well as a horny crest that extended a round 11 to 12 decimeters from the backs of their heads. Females, on the other hand, tended to have rounded heads, slit pupils as well as no horned crest. Beyond that, they had many of the same differences between genders, such as mammary glands, height differences and other minor details. The image of the aliens was titled 'Turian'.
The rest of the alien images were just as unusual. One image showed an alien species known as the Asari. What surprised William and the crew was how human they looked, with the only differences being tentacle crests and blue colored skin, on top of them appearing to be a mono-gendered species. The next showcased the 'Salarians', an amphibian species with a passing resemblance to the 'little green men' from various works of fiction.
The men had snickered and even outright laughed at the sight of the 'Volus', while growing more serious at the appearance of a 'Krogan'. The rest of the aliens, which were the 'Batarians', 'Elcor', 'Hanar', 'Drell', and 'Vorcha' were just as alien and unique as the Turians. Looks like MacAllan was right, William thought when the videos of each alien species homeworlds was shown. We're dealing with a coalition of alien species. Funny how they never bumped into us early in our history.
Either way, he was thankful that the aliens wanted peace. Looking at his Comms Officer, he said, "Alright, now that we know that they want peace, try establishing a com-link with these Turians. I want to arrange a meeting with them."
"Aye aye, Captain," the officer replied. After conducting the proper procedure, the officer said, "Captain, you have the comms."
"Thank you," William replied. Clearing his throat, he said, "This is Captain William Forrell of the Star League Exploration Command to the alien fleet. Do not engage our ship, we have peaceful intentions. If you can understand me, please respond."
For a few moments, there was nothing but silence, then he heard, "This is Captain Xavoria Jhirix of the Hierarchy Defense Force. We received your First Contact package. We also want peace with your kind." To William, the Turian's voice, which was obviously feminine in tone, sounded like another pair of vocal cords were chiming in. "I would like to be the first Hierarchy Admiral to establish peaceful relations with a new species. Can we arrange a meeting?"
"I was just about to propose that," William replied. "I will speak to my superiors and request permission to continue this meeting." With that, he put Xavoria on hold and contacted his CO aboard the SLS Guardian of Freedom. "Admiral Carter, this is Captain William Forrell. I have made peaceful first contact with a new species in this star system. They are requesting a meeting on neutral ground. Permission to conduct this meeting aboard the SLS Sojourner."
There was a moment of silence, but the reply made Edward smile. "Permission granted," came Admiral Carter's reply. "We've been monitoring the situation as it is developing. Your ship will serve as neutral ground for the duration of this meeting. Should all go well, we will continue talks with this 'Turian Hierarchy'. As of now, you're our Acting Ambassador for the Star League. Understood?"
"Affirmative," William replied. "Fair winds and following seas, sir."
"Likewise," Carter replied. Moments later, the com-link was terminated.
Switching frequencies, he said, "Captain Xavoria, my superiors have granted me permission to use my vessel as neutral ground for our meeting. We will be sending you an approach vector shortly. Before we continue, know that any act of aggression against Star League Exploratory Command personnel will be appropriately countered."
"I understand completely," Xavoria replied. "My men will not engage your personnel unless they are engaged first. I want this meeting to set a precedent for our respective species. We will be arriving shortly."
"Affirmative," William replied. "Captain William Forrell over and out." Looking at his Comms officer, he said, "Send the Turians the approach vector for the shuttle/cargo bay onboard our ship." While his officer went to work, William looked at his XO, Second Lieutenant Alfred Wright and said, "Lieutenant Wright, inform Sergeant Albuquerque that his men will serve as my body guards. Make sure that his equipment is fully functional and online. Also, bring some Battle Armor equipped personnel. I want to make an impression on these Turians." With his XO getting to work, he got up and headed for his Captain's Quarters. He needed to look at his best on this occasion.
