Okay, so honestly, I've never expected 'The Address' to gain as much attention as it did. I just decided to write some random stuff and post that when I became convinced it was a good enough story. So thanks for reading!
With that being said, let me explain a few things. Because it just wasn't.
It's not really Mass Effect.
Yeah. I know. The thing about this is that this is primarily written in the Stellaris, what I like to call 'multiverse'. So imagine if the Citadel races were in Stellaris. The Unified Planetary Federation's whole concept was actually from one of my saved games, though its inner workings like the Planetary Congress are all headcanon. All in all, Stellaris plays a huge role in this because I play Stellaris more than Mass Effect. Whoops. I am somewhat familiar with Mass Effect lore, just so you know. Also do note that my Stellaris game saves are heavily modded.
The UPF aside, why IS the Commonwealth so advanced?
So, Stellaris players. Remember "On the Shoulders of Giants"? One of the origins in the Federations DLC? Non-Stellaris players, please refer to the Stellaris Wiki if you have no idea what I'm talking about. This origin is amazing!
But if you really want to know, I'll indulge in just a little bit of information. Through this origin, you get to have a headstart in research in quite a bit of technology because of the sheer number of Archeological Sites in your home system. Depending on individual games, the technology can be more advanced, which usually appears later in the game. Plus, if you have the Distant Stars DLC *chef's kiss*, technology galore, man! All those archaeology sites! Or at least that's what I've experienced.
And I think that's it. Hopefully, this gives you a bit of insider info into the thought process that went on for the 'The Address". And that you find my answers satisfactory. I appreciate the feedback that you have been leaving because, especially for Mass Effect, the people who have played the games more than me know best.
"Now approaching the Citadel, sir," a helm officer announced.
The bridge of the UCS Antares was bustling as usual, with officers going about their duties. Captain Charles Armstrong was seated on his command chair, overseeing operations of his vast bridge and its complement of some forty officers.
The Antares was an absolute behemoth of a vessel. Classified as a Juggernaught, the Antares was easily one of the largest vessels ever constructed by the Commonwealth Navy. Granted, the Commonwealth Civil Defence also had its own Juggernaughts for planetary defence, but they mainly served as floating command centres for the Commonwealth's many Colonial Defence fleets.
"Very good, drop us to impulse thrusters," the Captain ordered from his chair. Complying, the helm officer disengaged the ship's jump drive, and the colossal-sized Juggernaught slowed down, the Citadel now in full view.
"Impressive," the first officer, Commander Anna Lewis, remarked. Meanwhile, seated to the Captain's left was none other than Senator Simon Moreno of the Unified Planetary Federation. Only this time, he wasn't representing the Federation. As a former President, he still played an influential role in Commonwealth politics and had been called from time to time to diplomatic events on behalf of the Commonwealth. Apart from the fact that it was a formal Commonwealth visit to a previously uncontacted alien state, this was no different.
The Senator took in the view of the Citadel. He understood that this station of titanic proportions served as the capital of the Citadel Council. Supposedly, it was constructed by an ancient race called the Protheans, which had mysteriously vanished around fifty thousand years ago. Moreno was intrigued by this, despite being a former Navy man. He quite a bit of the older civilisations of the galaxy and their history. The Protheans, however, remained relatively not understood, and Moreno remembered asking a Kenjodan diplomat if there were any records of the Protheans - the obvious choice since the Kenjodans have been around for a little over fifty thousand years.
The diplomat answered that while there were records of a Prothean civilisation, the records only noted down the existence of it. The Protheans as a whole were relatively elusive to the Kenjodans, coupled with the fact that they were a relatively young race at the time, having been a space-faring civilisation for only two hundred years - practically young children compared to the Protheans. The Kenjodan also briefly touched on the recent discovery of Prothean ruins on Mars, which was surprising given that it hadn't been found when Mars was still being terraformed at least a hundred years ago. However, no Prothean artefacts were found around or on Venus and Titan, which had also long been terraformed.
The Citadel held extensive records of the Protheans compared to Commonwealth databases, given that its member races had practically mostly achieved interstellar prominence using leftover Prothean technology. Despite this, Commonwealth archaeologists had a quiet suspicion that the Mass Relays weren't built by the Protheans themselves.
Moreno's thoughts were cut abruptly when the Antares' communications officer announced that she had picked up quite a bit of slightly panicked comm chatter.
"Looks like they weren't expecting a ship as big as the Antares to drop by," Moreno stated.
"Yeah, which leaves the question of why even pick the Antares in the first place. A smaller ship would have been better," Captain Armstrong added.
"Well, you were the closest ship to the Amaterasu colony," the Senator explained. Armstrong let out a sigh, then turned his head to his communications officer.
"Open a channel, lieutenant."
Meanwhile, onboard the Destiny Ascension, the Asari officers on the dreadnought's bridge were absolutely taken aback by the sheer size of the vessel in front of them. It was easily at least twice the Destiny Ascension's size, and the Asari superdreadnought was the biggest ship in the Citadel Fleet.
"By the Goddess," an Asari helm officer gasped, "It's massive!"
Matriarch Lidanya, the Destiny Ascension's commanding officer, could only gawk at the vessel. She was aware that an envoy from the United Commonwealth of Nations would be arriving, but she didn't expect said envoy to arrive at the Citadel in such a colossal ship. It essentially reinforced the Citadel Council's general perception of the Commonwealth, and she took the appearance of this particular vessel as them being on guard. The Commonwealth was here for the interests of diplomacy but could quite easily defend itself. She knew that with the Commonwealth around, it was in the best interest to not antagonise them in any way.
"Matriarch," another helm officer announced, "we're receiving a transmission from the vessel. It's on audio."
"Let's hear it," the Matriarch said.
The helm officer tapped several icons on her holographic console interface, and the transmission began to play through the audio system.
"This is the UCS Antares of the United Commonwealth of Nations. Our envoy is preparing to disembark via shuttle." a deep masculine voice spoke.
Lidanya ordered for a channel to be opened.
"This is the Destiny Ascension. We are in contact with Citadel Control. You have been given permission for your shuttle to dock."
"Acknowledged. If it's alright with you, we'll remain in orbit for the duration."
"Of course. We'll inform Citadel Control."
"Thank you. Antares out." With that, the transmission was terminated.
"Antares...isn't that a name of a star system in the Commonwealth?" Lidanya wondered aloud.
A shuttle launched from the Antares' main shuttle bay and made its way to the Citadel's spaceports located in the station's central ring. All onboard got a good view of the Citadel, which resembled a pentagon, with its five wards connected to the central ring.
As far as they knew, the Citadel was ancient. It was supposedly constructed by the Protheans, and it once served as the capital of their galaxy-spanning empire. It was also one of the most well-connected locations in the galaxy, with major Mass Relay networks ending and beginning at the Citadel itself.
As for the current species, it was the Asari that had first discovered the Citadel. As time went by, the Salarians and the Turians followed, and the station soon became the political centre for these species and their clients.
The shuttle landed in the spaceport to a small waiting party of C-Sec officers. The shuttle was sleek, with a white and blue colour scheme and a glossy hull. It had a relatively flat profile, with a pair of winglets at the front and a larger pair of wings at the rear. The shuttle's engines hummed as the craft landed softly. The lack of any sound emitted from the shuttle placing itself on the ground surprised the C-Sec officers.
The shuttle's doors slid open, and two humans and an alien stepped out of the craft. The appearance of the alien unsettled the welcoming party - it appeared to be almost a living, walking...plant. A Vetirisian, if the officers remembered correctly. They had been briefed on all known species of the Federation before the visit.
One of the C-Sec officers - a Turian - stepped forward.
"Welcome to the Citadel," he said, "We're Citadel Security. Normally I would ask for any sidearms to be turned over, but you are special guests onboard the Citadel."
"Thank you. That is much appreciated," one of the humans stepped forward. "I'm Simon Moreno. The gentlemen to my left are Captain Charles Armstrong of the UCS Antares and Commander Hesolfir, Security Chief of the Antares."
The Turian nodded his head in acknowledgement, "We are honoured to have you onboard the Citadel. If you will follow me, I'll take you to the Council Chamber."
The C-Sec officers led the three-man party into the Council Chamber. It was a relatively long walk, but they managed to get a glimpse of the Presidium - the heart of the Citadel.
In the Council Chamber, Councillors Tevos, Sparatus and Valern had assembled, along with Matriarch Lidanya, standing opposite them on the lower platform. They discussed recent events, including the "incident" of the Citadel Fleet scrambling to their battle positions when the Commonwealth vessel arrived. Granted, it was a very large ship, so the Council could forgive the fleet being assembled as if for a battle to a degree. When Matriarch Lidanya gave her accounts on the ship's size, the Council was shocked, that the Commonwealth could construct a vessel so big. Even Councillor Tevos, who had visited Earth, wasn't aware that the Commonwealth already had such vessels in service, but she did know that it could very well build them.
The Councillors listened to Lidanya's report intently. While Councillors Tevos and Valern were quite fascinated and surprised, Councillor Sparatus was not happy. In fact, he was angered by the Destiny Ascension's encounter.
"That thing is at least twice the size of the Destiny Ascension!" the Turian Councillor exclaimed, "What if they had fired on us?"
"Sparatus, the Commonwealth, for all its military prowess, is peaceful. By numerous accounts, Commonwealth vessels would not fire unless they were directly attacked or otherwise provoked. They would almost never fire first," Tevos explained, trying to get the Turian to calm down. She had been to Earth, and she had been in almost constant contact with Commonwealth diplomats. Among the Councillors, she understood the Commonwealth the best, though there were things even she didn't know about this particular space nation.
"But why need a ship that big?" Sparatus continued questioning, "It wouldn't unless they were trying to intimidate us!"
"You are getting too paranoid, Sparatus," Valern said, "The Commonwealth has been sincere in every diplomatic overture. Besides, if there were any tensions, the Unified Planetary Federation would have stepped in by now."
"Can you seriously doubt that sincerity now?" Tevos added, her eyes fixed on Sparatus.
The Turian Councillor grunted in disapproval and mild protest. The Asari and Salarian Councillors were all too aware of the uproar the mere mention of the Commonwealth had on their own home governments. The Asari Republics were interested in opening other diplomatic channels, the Salarian Union was interested in proposing research agreements, while the Turian Hierarchy was frantically trying to squeeze out any military information on the Commonwealth as much as possible.
The Turian Hierarchy, in particular, had been scared out of its wits after the Unified Planetary Federation had allowed Council access to certain sections of its database. It included recordings of Commonwealth engagements against Tendrakkian forces during the Federation's most recent conflict - apparently called the Second Tendrakkian War. Even without the Federation's assistance, the Commonwealth managed to single-handedly trump the Tendrakkian fleets almost every time. This was also coupled with the fact that the Commonwealth used energy weapons rather than mainly kinetic weapons.
That horrified the Turian Primarch, so much so that when a Commonwealth ambassador paid a visit to Palaven, he grovelled in the ambassador's mere presence, which created an awkward situation for the ambassador. Sparatus wouldn't admit it, but the mere mention of the Commonwealth sent uncontrollable shivers down his spine.
Just then, an Asari assistant walked into the chamber.
"Councillors, the Commonwealth envoys have arrived."
"Send them in," Valern replied.
The assistant nodded her head in understanding and stepped out of the chamber. Three men walked in - two humans and what seemed to be a large walking plant - a moment later. All were wearing Commonwealth Navy unforms except one, and that person was someone very familiar to Councillor Tevos.
"Senator Moreno," the Asari Councillor said, surprised.
"Hello, Councillor," the UPF Senator greeted, "Good to see you again."
"Likewise, though I must admit my surprise."
Sparatus turned towards the Asari Councillor. "You know him?"
"Yes. This is Senator Simon Moreno of the Unified Planetary Federation. We met at a major diplomatic conference during my visit to the Commonwealth a few weeks ago," Tevos explained.
"But why would a Federation official be here?" Valern asked.
"The Senator has a unique political position due to him also being the Commonwealth's former head of state," Tevos answered.
"Well then, in that case," Valern turned, facing the Commonwealth envoys once again, "The Council welcomes you to the Citadel."
Senator Moreno nodded his head in appreciation, then gestured to the two men beside him, "This is Captain Charles Armstrong, commanding officer of the UCS Antares, and Commander Hesolfir, security chief of the Antares."
At the mention of the Antares, Matriarch Lidanya, who had been silently observing the initial exchange, extended a hand as per human custom towards the group.
"I'm Matriarch Lidanya, commanding officer of the Destiny Ascension." She then turned to Captain Armstrong, "I must say, your vessel is quite a sight."
The human Captain chuckled lightly, "Well, I've never expected to command a ship like the Antares, but thank you nonetheless."
Tevos allowed herself a small smile. Despite the reservations from the rest of the Council, the meeting had already gotten off to a friendly start.
The Council meeting didn't last very long. After it had ended, Matriarch Lidanya had taken up Captain Charles Armstrong's offer for a tour of the Antares. Lidanya couldn't deny that she had been interested in seeing what a Commonwealth vessel looked like on the inside, so she had readily agreed to the offer.
Almost immediately upon stepping foot into the vessel, Lidanya could only marvel in amazement. For one, it was extremely high-tech. Holographic screens were seemingly everywhere. The aesthetic was incredibly sleek and almost seemed like a sci-fi film set with the white colour scheme. Also, one thing that intrigued the Matriarch was the sheer number of windows present along the bulkheads. For a ship with incredible military power, it had a lot of wide windows. Of course, she couldn't deny that the placement of these windows had, in fact, made the whole interior looked spacious and pretty.
Another thing that intrigued her was the plants. There were entire sections of the bulkheads that were covered in vegetation. It was almost as if the Antares was just one massive cruise liner. She also took notice of the personnel on board. They all wore the same uniform, but their upper halves were in differing colours. She managed to pick out five - blue, grey, red, white and gold. When asked about it, Captain Armstrong said that they represented the different divisions each personnel belonged to. It was an interesting choice of uniform, to say the least.
The Antares' crew all had the same professionalism expected of a ship crew, but the atmosphere seemed more hopeful than vessels of the Citadel Fleet. Even more, each officer they passed by politely greeted Lidanya and the Captain. It reminded Lidanya that the Antares wasn't supposed to be a dedicated warship despite its immense power.
Regardless of size, Commonwealth vessels were actually multi-purpose and could adapt effortlessly to any role required of them. In particular, Lidanya was told that the Antares was a Britannic-class Juggernaught. Ships like the Antares were designed primarily to be mobile space stations, even coming with dedicated shipyards to build and maintain fleets. However, with their immense firepower, advanced sensor systems and hanger bays filled with dedicated fighters, they could also serve as command and support vessels in any given battle. Being heavily defended, they were an absolute pain to engage, which was why the Commonwealth tried to construct as many of them as possible during the war.
While they weren't necessarily the fastest ships in the fleet, they were certainly the most durable. A Juggernaught could hold its own in a battle, which was why after the war, they were either mostly sent on solo exploratory missions or relegated to managing strategic operations throughout the Commonwealth. The latter was a particularly smart move, as it meant that the Commonwealth didn't need to constantly build stations to serve as minor command centres.
Lidanya was introduced to Main Engineering, where the first thing she saw was a large globular construct which she learned served as the main power reactor of the ship. Her jaw dropped at how big Main Engineering was.
"Very impressive," was all she could muster, thanks to her amazement, "What is it powered by?"
"If I say it, you might not believe it," the Captain replied.
"Hit me," the Asari countered.
"Okay," Captain Armstrong said, "The reactor is powered by dark matter."
Lidanya's jaw dropped at that statement. Dark Matter? The Citadel races, not even the Salarians, had not even begun to research the potential uses of dark matter. Yet, the Commonwealth was already utilising dark matter to power its ships? It almost sounded impossible. But, if the past weeks had taught her anything, it was that in space, anything was possible.
"Actually, the technology is still rather new. Up until a few years ago, Commonwealth vessels were still being powered by zero-point energy," Captain Armstrong explained, "In fact, current vessels each have a secondary zero-point reactor just in case the main reactor goes offline."
Zero-point energy? Though she did have a bit of physics and cosmology knowledge, the technobabble was rather beyond her. She reminded herself to pass these specifics along to the Salarian research teams on the Citadel to see what they would think.
Senator Simon Moreno leaned forward against the railing of the bridge, taking in the view of the Presidium. It was landscaped to resemble a lush parkland, not unlike the ones found in Earth's cities. There was even artificial sunlight and gentle cooling breezes. The Presidium also went through brief day-night cycles, experiencing six hours of daylight and six hours of darkness. Right now, the 'sky' in the Presidium was beginning to darken, signalling that night would arrive soon.
However, to the Senator, it had only been late afternoon. He was still on shipboard time. While he stood against the railing, most of the inhabitants began to clear the public areas. It was a peaceful moment, one which Moreno knows that he often didn't get enough of. If he thought being President of the United Commonwealth of Nations was hectic, then being a Senator of the Unified Planetary Federation was frenetic. However, being Senator was far more humbling than being President. As Senator, he was on the front lines to represent the Commonwealth and humanity and fight for the advancements of common interests. As President, he was more concerned with trying to administer the wide-spanning Commonwealth.
Having gained insight into the day-to-day affairs of the Citadel, he was reminded of Earth's political landscape in the early 21st century. It was messy; it wasn't exactly cohesive. If there was one lesson he took away from the fifteen years he spent as President of the Commonwealth, it was the public may not necessarily be a coherent mass. Each group would have different needs and priorities. The UPF Senator now fully understood what Councillor Tevos meant when she told him Citadel politics was an 'unorderly business'.
Councillor Tevos suggested that the Senator stay for a few days on the Citadel so that proper diplomatic exchanges could occur. This was due to the unfortunate reality of Moreno's nature as Senator. As a representative of the Unified Planetary Federation, his job often took him away from Commonwealth space. He did have a permanent home on Planetary Central. Still, with his hands full with facilitating the developing Citadel-Federation relations, Moreno knew that the next few weeks would be busy.
As for Councillor Tevos' request, Valern had agreeable sentiments towards it, though, considering the Salarians and their seeming inclination towards espionage, Moreno believed that the Salarians would be trying to discreetly gain information. Even before he had stepped into his room, his scanner had already detected at least fifteen different intelligence devices.
Sparatus, meanwhile, almost immediately protested against the offer. Moreno had expected this response and noted that more work would need to be done with the Turians to allay concerns against the Commonwealth and the wider Federation as a whole. Part of the reason was that initial contact between the Citadel government and the Commonwealth was when a Commonwealth vessel stumbled across a Mass Relay, activated it, and entered a brief standoff with a Turian cruiser. Luckily though, the Commonwealth vessel's commanding officer had managed to diffuse the situation, and everyone went home in one piece.
Talks had progressed rather quickly, even by the standards of the Unified Planetary Federation. The Planetary Council of States and the Planetary Congress had advised that the Federation hold off on diplomatic overtures temporarily and foster common ground. Moreno felt that it was a sensible measure. The last time the Federation went this fast with establishing contact with an alien nation, it ultimately resulted in the First Tendrakkian War - the impetus for the Unified Planetary Federation's formation.
Other questions had arisen regarding what about humanity should be made know to the Citadel Council. Humanity's dark past as an advanced militaristic race hell-bent on galactic domination was certainly something that even humanity had to condemn to the deepest darkest part of the Commonwealth psyche. What about the Benefactors, who left behind data caches for humanity to rediscover its past? Should the Commonwealth release this information too?
Then there was also this question: If there had been Prothean ruins on the now-terraformed Mars, where were the Mass Relays in the Commonwealth's general vicinity? Not even the Kenjodans could answer this question, and they had a recently-discovered Mass Relay in one of their frontier systems. The Vetirisians themselves, formerly a scion to another ancient fallen empire, couldn't answer this question too. Did the Protheans destroy them? Or the Benefactors? Or were they still hidden, disguised as some standard subspace anomaly?
Moreno knew that there was still a lot of work to do in the coming weeks, but he knew that as long as the galaxy grows smaller, there would be a greater need to connect with other interstellar governments like the Citadel Council. And to be honest, he could do with seeing new alien cultures.