A/N: I love how the Mass Effect Fanfiction Community has seen so many stories that some of the things I wrote in, that people haven't questioned. Do any of you not question why monster girls and long lost human cousins in space are doing in a ME/CnC crossover? Or the Stellaris aliens? Like yep, snake girls and communists gas people make sense, it conforms to the logic CnC adds to Mass Effect. Heads up, I should have clarified, that this story is mostly pre-Mass Effect 1. A natural reason as to why Shepard isn't on the character list.
thorison1080: I can't wait to see how it goes either. For real though, most of this fanfiction will be about the First Contact War. I don't think I can do Shepard justice yet, I'll wait until I'm a better writer until I try writing the events of the game.
Guest1: You're missing out. That's good to know. Did you saw it now then?
Guest2: Yes if I wasn't as obvious a writer as I thought. (I'm insulting myself, not you) Theres going to be conflict, but I always find the Turians to be too similar to humanity for them to be the main antagonists. Well if one pessimistic about humanity then they're the obvious antagonists.
Coment9: You pretty much surmised it right. The GSA I modelled around the closest real-life analogue, China. I could have modelled it around the USSR but China did last up until the modern-day intact. The SAS is just basically similar to modern western nations (and the pacific nations) but with less socialism. The FFCO is kind of a Gerontocracy, which kind of makes them dictatorial if one's criteria for a dictatorship would be having a life serving head of state. Which is a biologically immortal society is pretty much forever. I also always imagined a Foehn government to be a technocracy, where if your technology or skills can contribute to the state, you'll move up in society. And for your first review for the prologue, yeah it is an info dump, but it was either one 30,000 word prologue chapter or two 15,000 word prologue chapters. Either way, it would have been the same. I posted it together because it's what I put together in a week, and two prologue chapters felt like bumping up the stories chapter count for no reason when I wrote it as one chapter.
Guest3: Thanks. I think the Sci-fi spectacle tends to be like that.
Artyom-Dreizehn: Well I feel like I buffed the CnC humans too much. But when you have a good source of energy like CnC Nuclear Fusion and nanotechnology (from Mental Omega) or even the MCV tech, you're pretty much set as a society. You can go post-scarcity but I'm not an economist so they'll be run based on my shallow and superficial knowledge of socio-economics.
You're on the dot with the CC races and all their shortcomings. With biological immortality, the Asari being long-lived may no longer be an issue or their advantage over others and Salarians might not be ready mentally or culturally for it so it'll cause all sorts of a hassle for them. I like the story thread of the Turians getting passed at the others for not pulling their weight, just like the USA and NATO. Lack of diversity in aliens is a problem the CC races face, but don't all aliens in Sci-fi have that? Although doesn't it say in the game they have some diversity, like the unique colonial facial markings or the different Matriarchs/Dalatrasses the Asari/Salarians follow.
They won't start buffed but they'll attempt to catch up with humanity. The human calendar may be centuries ahead of canon, but the CC calendar is around the same with minor characters different. I.E characters like Wrex, Saren, Nihlus and Desolas exist but the Councilors, politicians and ambassadors are different. And I find any alien reactions to humans amusing, isn't there a subreddit for that? That's always fun. Thanks for the review! Thumbs up to you too!
S31tora: It was a crappy place and a crappy paragraph, thanks for pointing that out. I did say this is my first story. I still have a lot to learn. I could have taken your review badly, but thankfully I have thick skin and I make the most of what people give me. When life gives you sour oranges, crossbreed them with citrons to make lemons, then you give life lemons. Thank you anyway for helping.
Just a Crazy-Man: Glad to hear you feel that way. Love is nice, isn't it? Thank you.
Disclaimer: I don't own Command Conquer, Mental Omega or Mass Effect. They belong to Westwood, the Mental Meisters and BioWare (EA can piss off).
May 7th 2341 CE.
In orbit of "Shanxi Tuning Fork".
06:33. Shanxi Standard Time.
Velimir initially didn't expect much from this posting. He was a young and upcoming officer, but the core worlds were supposed to be quiet. For all the 'prestige' of guarding one of the first of Terra's colonies, Shanxi was as quiet as it could get. Being old for a colony was one of the few things it had going for it.
It wasn't a breadbasket like New Patagonia. It wasn't an Industrial powerhouse like Rodina. It also wasn't a tourist destination like Vekta, at least that's his impression when he was on shore leave there. The most notable thing about this system was the Tuning Fork.
The Tuning Fork. A fortune of xeno-archaeological. A remnant of a long-gone empire. A technological treasure trove. What will this artefact teach us? To the first xeno-archaeologists, it taught them nothing. No reaction. No radiation. Not even the material it was composed of. Then up until this morning, it remained a dead weight.
The Yuht Commonwealth he heard had working theories on the device. Apparently, some alien ruins from one of their systems had mentioned some 'Mass Relay', or so the news said. They believed the 'Mass Relay' could be the Shanxi Tuning Fork. So naturally, the Yuht requested access to the device. That request was a year ago. The Yuht Researcher, Cutupi. What a name for giant lobster.
Now it seems one of their working theories that their Eezo Drives could activate the thing is proven true. Who knew that it had an alien invasion on the other side? We certainly didn't account for that, did we? We only prepared for pirate raids at most, and even then, those are unlikely this close to the core worlds. Why here? Why now?
It doesn't matter anymore. He's right here, right now, and the situation demands that he be in charge. A field promotion isn't how he wanted to rise the ranks. He learned as a child from his great-grandparents that that was how things worked in the past for the Red Army. That his forefathers had more men than the enemies had bullets.
Today now, he couldn't afford to waste lives. The GSA had progressed so far from those times, and the Shanxi National Guard Fleet had lost so many soldiers and sailors in one attack. He needed as many able bodies as possible.
"Lieutenant Menaldo, what's the status of the ship?", Velimir asked the new Comms Officer. Unfortunately, it seems most of the previous bridge crew needed replacements.
"We lost 81 crew members, 17 injured with 202 left uninjured."
There was the Lieutenant, of course, she at least had some experience as a Comms Officer, granted it wasn't for what's left of a fleet. Velimir had some reservations about the rest though. Bernardo Gabarain was assigned as the temporary Weapons Officer.
"Fires on all decks have been extinguished. Starboard torpedo bays are non-functional. Tesla Cannons are damaged, their range has been reduced to 100km range. Thankfully, we didn't lose any ammo or combat hardware. Repair Drones and engineers are working underway."
Bernardo was originally part of the ship's marine contingent. He seems to be taking the loss of the quartermaster quietly.
"Our Disparity Drive is intact; propulsion systems are at sub-par condition but are functional. We're manoeuvring around the debris field. Our two Zubr Transports have been picking up survivors from the wreckage. The rescue teams have also been picking up the ship's black boxes. It seems the Kunluns Synth Mentat has survived."
"A surviving Mentat is great news. We're in desperate need of one. Continue." It was true though, this Mentat could give more of an experienced hand in command.
"They're each towing back at least 8 escape pods a time. They're prioritizing those trapped in sealed off shipwrecks."
And of the replacements, there was of course the head chef. The head chef. Though he had to give Qín Nianzu credit as he was doing a good job so far as the Navigation Officer. Who would have thought the old man knew more than how to cook a good chilli.
"Sir! There's a gravity malfunction in the ship's pantry. My cabbages . . . MY CABBAGES!" The chef seems devastated. Is this normal? Or are the cabbages what broke the camel's back?
"Qín! Calm down! Lieutenant, have an engineering team fix that and clean up the rations, we're gonna need them."
"Yes, sir!", complied Menaldo. The live camera feed that supplemented a window, displayed the remains of the alien ambush. That's what it was, an ambush. They dropped into existence, struck out once and travelled straight to Shanxi. That was more than cause for concern, but thankfully Shanxi was on the other side of its sun's orbit It was as far away from the Relay as possible.
"What about Commander Julija? What's the status of Shanxi?"
"Reportedly dozens of clairvoyant capable psionics have warned the National Guard. The planet's on Red Alert, civilians are being evacuated out of major urban areas."
"That's good.", he sighed. "And our long-range distress call?"
"It was received and replied to 6 minutes ago. Reinforcements are to arrive in 24 hours. They're to rendezvous at the Kurskaya System first."
"Understood. Update me with any new development. Continue to search for survivors." He wanted to convince himself he knew what he was doing. That he wasn't stalling for time. That he couldn't possibly defend Shanxi without a full crew. That he wasn't hoping that someone higher ranking could be found and lift this weight off his shoulders. But now his crew needed him, so he kept up with this facade to keep morale up. Seeing more and more frozen corpses floating among gnarled metal, he asked with apprehension.
"What's the status of the fleet?" The fleet. And what a fleet he oversaw now. One Frigate and two Corvettes.
"The Kharkov is, fortunately, reporting in all hands-on deck. The Vologda has reported only 7 injured personnel."
"And the rest?" He knew they were all either scrapped or dead in the water, but he wanted to hear it for himself.
"The Kunlun, Tornsk, Resistencia, Sao Luis are all inoperable. The Cuzco, Serena, Macao, Wuhan and Aryta are unsalvageable. The Yuht vessel, Mablia, is in two halves." This was awful, there are thousands of sailors that are dead and here he is worrying about himself and how he'll cope. But now, tens of millions more lives are in danger and now he can do something about it.
This was a tragedy, but they didn't account for aliens of all things popping out of the 'Relay'.
It was all due to that Mass Relay. Oh, he would just love to destroy the thing right now. But he wouldn't risk it. He doubts he even has enough firepower to even scratch it, it survived long enough exposed without so much as a dent. And who knows what would happen if it was destroyed. Would it explode and take them with it? Would it take out Shanxi? Would it destroy the solar system? What would the aliens do with no way home? Would they go down fighting? Or lose hope and surrender?
"Sir, the Mentat is on board. She's reportedly uninjured and combats ready." The good news was sparing but welcomed.
"Tell her to report to the bridge."
And what's more, all known ships indicated that they'd arrive out of FTL travel. GSA ships appear out of angry, red tears in the fabric of reality. SAS ships make an entrance with those bright, silver spheres, swapping the space around the ship and the space of the destination. FFCO ships arrive when you see light stretching to an outline of a straight 'road' in space. Even the civilian Slipspace Drives had holes widen to allow ships to pass through.
At least now they knew what kind of warning those alien ships gave. The Mass Relay would 'spin up' its rings, the core of energy would glow brightly, and the alien ships would drop into reality, leaving a glowing trail behind them. Just like this new fleet coming out the Relay now. Wait, what?
"More contacts! Defensive formation! Ready the torpedoes!", ordered Velimir. "If the invaders want to mop up their handiwork, they could have saved everyone the trouble and do it right the first time." The ships kept on coming. More than two dozen. The smallest of them being corvette sized. Then terror filled his heart at the sight of Heavy Cruiser at the head of the fleet. Dear Jesus, save us.
"Captain! They're hailing us!" This was unexpected.
"What they'll tell us how they'll kill us now, will they?"
"Their ships seem to be of different designs to the first fleet.", answered a newcomer to the bridge. There stood a young woman at the door. Her clothes appeared to be in 'there's with the navy but were definitely not standard issue uniform.
"Are you the Mentat I sent for?"
"Sir yes sir! Kunlun at your service!", she saluted. Well, she was certainly chipper. And Kunlun? Wasn't that supposed to be the name of the Destroyer she served on? He'll deal with that later. He had more pressing matters than some 'mental' Mentat, as some of his friends from the SAS would say.
"Lieutenant Menaldo, open a comms channel with the aliens. Sergeant Bernardo, have the repairs on the torpedo bays on double time. Ready the Tesla Cannons, we'll knife fight if we must. If they want to talk, let's talk. And if they're not going to, we can at the very least distract them and stall for the National Guard."
May 7th 2341 CE.
Alsava Arctic Region.
02:16. Alsava Standard Time.
Outside an unassuming building in the 'Arctic' of Alsava stood a figure. Despite being the centre of known space, this part of Alsava remained undeveloped. With billions of beings immigrating to the ecumenopolis annually, the temperate bands of latitude receiving the most attention. Here on this planet are where all organizations and corporations worth their salt are converged. Here in this region of the planet, is where the Hailhead Psionic Bureau is based. Out here, among the abandoned, frozen ruins of ancient humanity, where no one has bothered to settle yet. The snow, ice and the arctic night of the region serve to hide the largest concentration of Omega-class Psionics in the Milky Way. And at the head of the HIB, is the most infamous and oldest Omega Psionic, Libra.
The young at heart, and young in appearance, the woman stood outside one of her organization's entrances. She stared out towards the south. The snow of the blizzard moved around her small psionic shield. Her powers kept her as warm as it was inside. Though she still felt cold looking south though.
Although she wasn't looking towards 'the South' and she wasn't standing at 'the North'. This wasn't Earth and this wasn't the Conscious Slumber. But the 'Arctic' of Alsava was familiar enough to remind her of memories that are centuries past. Of memories when her mind was in a less stable state.
Either the years before she 'woke up' or the years after she did, those were the worst of her life. Whether it was when her consciousness drifted from gleefully homicidal to boundless, unbridled rage or whether after she regained her lucidity, and the realisation set in, the regret, the despair, the guilt.
Those years hit her hard. The loss of her innocence and her freedom made her feel stunted. Her hand moved over the metal plug at the base of her head. Her body was tampered with and modified beyond the scientific and moral standards of even today. Her mind, though one of the most powerful to this day, came at the cost of her humanity.
Her mind drifted from those thoughts to better ones. She smiled, thinking of the good years. She thought of the last of the old family she had, her cousin Yunru. Her clouded memories of the grey farmhouse. She thought of the old school. Then of the government test, where Yunru proved what Libra always knew. That she was a genius, a prodigy they called her. She was proud. Instead of being given all the tools in the world to invent like how her cousin always wanted, the army forced her to invent weapons. She remembered Yunrus shame, she thought of herself as the cause of so many deaths. Libra had wanted to be there for her.
It was soon after then, that they found out that she also was 'gifted'. They presumed Yunrus genius would run in the family, so they tested Libra. They then discovered that she was special in another way. Instead of a laboratory, inventing like her cousin, they brought her to confinement. They kept her away from her family, inside a mobile prison for years. She started making friends of her own, moving them around and moving the world around her without even noticing. Then one day the men in purple came, taking her away from the army. Trading one nightmare for another.
That was when her memories became fuzzy. She vaguely recalls meeting the man himself, Yuri. Then being in a rocket. Her next recollection was being in two places at once, she was inside a tank of liquid somewhere warm and at the same time, she was inside a tank of liquid somewhere cold. The warm one's body only felt a flash of nuclear fire for a fraction of a second, but her other body felt it all afterwards as if it were her own death.
She felt sombre about that. Right now, she was as close to all her clones as if they were the sisters she never had, a role she previously relegated solely to Yunru. Still, that one clone, and so many others during those years, never had a chance at living a normal life.
That first one never even had a proper name. All her sisters had chosen their own name, but it always had to their choice. Libra respected them as people so couldn't bring herself to name the first clone. She visited her at the family mausoleum in Kashmir as often as she could, to pay respect to her, her sisters and her uncle and aunt. Of course, some tourists go there too. They usually went there to pay respect to the dead of the early Foehn Revolt. She can also remember her friends from the village that sacrificed themselves for Yunrus survival. She even remembers killing a few of them.
When was the last time she visited Kashmir? Ah yes, it was three years ago. That was when she first met her great-great-grandnephew, Gabrielle. He was Thera's if she wasn't mistaken. A beautiful baby.
All her sisters managed to recover from their enthrallment to live like normal people. Each being their own person. Making a living, making friends, meeting new people, starting families, they all did so. For 'imperfect' clones, it seems as the days go by, that she's the imperfect one. A break is what she needs. She should visit her sisters; it's been a while. She talks to Yunru enough during her work, she wouldn't mind.
Speaking of work, if she isn't mistaken, that's her new assistant coming this way, the Kakapo Harpy. She couldn't see her through the storm or the office walls, but she could sense her thoughts. She had a pattern of thoughts that Libra had grown accustomed to. Usually, thoughts of food and enthusiasm, something in her experience was normal for most tropical variants of a harpy.
"Boss! Boss! I have a message for ya!", yelled the blustering bird of a harpy. The young woman was a bit too loud for their line of work. Why did she recruit her specifically?
"Compose yourself, Miss Kana. That's no way to act in front of your elders.", said Libra, acting as sternly as she could muster.
The harpy attempted to make a cumbersome salute. She instead succeeded in waving a gust of wind powerful enough to cut steel. Thankfully her impromptu 'attack' was directed up towards the blizzard, and only managed to carve a wave out of the incoming snowflakes. Ah yes, that was why she recruited her, for her powers and her own safety. It was more to protect the people from this girl than the other way around, but that's about the same really. Kana remained standing attention, stiffly keeping her wing in an awkward salute. She should probably help the poor girl.
"At ease Miss Kana. If you were meant to be in the army, you wouldn't even be here. Just keep quiet next time, you might wake someone up from hibernation. You have a report for me I gather?" The girl seemed to brighten with that, it brought a smile to Libra face.
"Yeah! Yeah!" And she's loud again. There's no helping it. She's not ready for field operations yet anyway. "A report meant for you only! Protector Porky told me so! He also said for you to 'Answer your pager!' and to 'Do some actual work!'", she said the last parts mockingly imitating 'Protector Porky'. Libra chuckled at that, partly at how surprisingly accurate Kana's voice sounded. That was likely the 'parrot' side of the harpy.
"His name is Proctor Porcel, Kana, not 'Protector Porky'. It's for my eyes only is it?" As Kana handed the datapad to her, she couldn't help but wonder if 'Porky' didn't just give Kana the report because he thought she couldn't read it.
When she pulled out the files, she noticed they were from undercover agents, all either in Mandarin, Russian or Spanish. Well, Kana couldn't have read it then, the only Tellurian language she knows is English. She skimmed through all the files. She noticed that these reports all had three things in common. They were all from GSA space, specifically the GSA Inner Core. They all had to do with some sort of mass premonition event, predicting a coming major conflict. Well, that doesn't sound ominous at all. And that the GSA is redirecting resources to Kurskaya of all places.
Something was amiss. She recounted from memory what systems border Kurskaya. There's Nueva Amazonia, Tobolskaya, Shanxi and San Dominica. They were the most reasonable systems to launch an attack from Kurskaya. But why attack their own planets? She read through the reports again to see if she missed anything. When she visualized in a map of her minds making, the reports came from hundreds of the GSA Core Worlds. Kurskaya was approximately in the middle of the rough circle of reports.
Then she noticed Shanxi. There were apparently no reports from the small world. An eye in the storm. What was in Shanxi again? Of course, the inactive alien derelict, the 'Tuning Fork'. The anomaly was closely guarded by the GSA politically, even if that system had a small a fleet as they can manage. The Soviets, Allies and Foehn all had the policy of fortifying their borders and frontiers, as a show of force if nothing else. The Yuht were the first outsiders to be let even near the device, an overt move to bring another alien species under their sphere of influence.
If there's a threat from Shanxi warranting two-thirds of the GSA Core Fleet, it could well put the whole of known space in danger. Now, why would the GSA keep hush-hush about something so important? This surely warrants her warning the other members of the UN, for the safety of the greater galaxy of course. But first, there is the simple matter of finding out exactly what the danger of Shanxi is. She'll have to contact her people within the GSA military.
Does she really need to report this? This development will surely raise tensions between the big three. She and her people could keep quiet about this, but why? Everyone would find out eventually, and when they will, questions of the Hailhead Psionic Bureaus effectiveness will crop up. They always will. Tellurian purists such as Terra Prima, the Galactic Liberation Army and the Federal States of America would always find something to scapegoat the Psionics. But then again who cares about bigots, terrorists and rogue states? In any case, dealing with these things is her job, and right now she should get to work.
"Kana, let's go inside. I must speak with Porcel. We're going to be visiting Yunru soon.", she said, leading the younger woman from the blizzard. As they treaded along the turquoise lit hallway, one of them was walking with a renewed anxiety. After three hundred and forty-three years of peace, the war would finally break out. Would they be ready for war again? Not just militarily or industrially, but culturally. Most of the people alive today were born after the last major war. Who knows for sure? But most of all she was afraid. She was afraid of losing her mind once again. What if 'he' used this opportunity to return? Would he resume control of her? Was there a hidden switch in the depths of her mind? Even if he wasn't to be going to make a move, she still had more to lose than ever. She had her family, her home and her people at stake. Things she never had during her first wars. Whatever will happen, at the very least she'll live and die free.
August 17th 2841 SC.
In orbit of Unknown System.
18:08. Alelius Standard Time.
Octarius for the tenth time in three minutes looked over the pirate's handiwork. If things weren't already dire enough the spirits felt like cursing Octarius once more. This was one of the worst possible scenarios to happen. The Batarians not only opened a relay to an alien species world but saw fit to attack the unknowns. He didn't know what could only make this situation worse, was whether this was a nascent civilization, nipped at the bud or a stellar empire, ready to lash out at anyone. All of this only compound his failure, as much as he deserves to answer for the death of these new aliens, he first needs to aid the survivors. That being the three spaceships circling what must have been what escape pods they've gathered. That was a good indicator if anything, that they would defend their defenceless. They didn't have the completely animalistic mindset of the Rachni, they didn't have the reckless abandon of the Krogan, and they didn't have the cold logic of the Geth. If these people were like those aliens, they would have already thrown themselves at his ships.
The largest of the three was according to their sensors 362 metres long. The other two were both 136 metres, those two would likely be the same class of ship. All of them had a strange profile. The underside of those ships was all smooth and curved, with no protrusions of any kind. They seem to have kept all their weapons, communications and sensor systems on their ships topside. The closest analogue he could think of was the Drell wet ships. He kept in mind that these new aliens would have their own way of classifying ships, so he didn't bother to put Council Classifications on them.
"Sir, the largest of the ships are responding to our hails. They appear to have video capabilities.", said Officer Malsia.
"Good. Put them on screen. Let's put a face on these newcomers. Follow protocol and record everything. The circumstances of this meeting may be unfortunate, but this is still the first contact. Do the Turian people proud."
He neglected to say 'Hierarchy', but his subordinates knew why so didn't question it. Thank the Spirits that the aliens decided to communicate with them rather than conclude that they were just more pirates. When the vid display from the alien ship appeared, an uncanny face greeted them. The alien looked so much like an Asari, yet so different. Octarius could see the general facial features of an Asari, but on this alien, it seemed 'masculine'. Or similar enough to artistic interpretations of how a male Asari would look like. Their face looks just as fleshy and vulnerable like how Asari do.
But then there were the differences. Its skin was a pale brown colour. Instead of a crest, it had fur on the top of its head, with shorter fur along the bottom of its face. And the ears were unlike anything he's used to. It seems, unlike most species these aliens had external hearing organs. It was standing at the centre of its ships bridge, where he could see other aliens. Some of them looked more Asaroid. They could always be different species, but it was likely that they're the same species, and the differing appearance is just sexual dimorphism.
"Greetings. Welcome to Shanxi. I am Captain Velimir Gorsky of the Galactic Socialists Alliance, a member of the United Nations. I am a Tellurian. I come in peace. Do you?", said the alien, in an understandably incomprehensible language.
'His' language even sounded like an Asari language. Although he obviously couldn't understand the content of his words, the sound of his intent was clear. At least if he was going by Asari emotional cues, this alien sounded and looked calm. He stood to attention more deliberately. Even if after all of this when his name and memory would be dragged through the mud, he carried himself as if he were a better Turian. He wouldn't have it any other way.
"I am Admiral Aedinia Octarius of the 449th Legion. I am a Turian, a member species of the Citadel Council. We welcome your people the galactic community.", he said methodically. This was all part of the protocol. Although the chance of making the first contact with a new species is rare, the matter of the pirates takes precedence, so Octarius couldn't dwell on the novelty of the experience. Officer Malsia once again broke him away from his thoughts.
"Sir, we're receiving a data packet from their ship. Preliminary scans say it appears to be a first contact package; no malware can be found. Do we reply with one of our own?"
"Yes, as you may. Open their data packet. This is promising, if they had their language codified within the package, the shipboard VI could create a rudimentary translation program if given enough time."
"Sir, would we have enough time until then? It could take days if not weeks to create such a program."
"We'll make do with what we will get." As the first contact package was opened to the whole bridge a video played. It opened with the shipboard view of the garden world, likely their homeworld. It was a colourful planet with blue oceans, white wisps of clouds and green continents. He had seen Asari colonies like this world, and the fact they once again shared some similarities solidified the idea in his mind that they were biologically similar.
The next scene was of presumable males and presumably females giving what appeared to be greetings. What surprised him was the sheer diversity of these aliens. Not just in their appearance, but their style of clothes and by the sound of their greetings, the variety of languages they speak. There are ones with pale brown skin tone such as the one who greeted them to ones with earthy brown skin tone. There are ones with brown, black, yellow, red and even white coloured fur. Some even had no fur on their heads. There were little ones, he guessed that they're children. All the aliens gave greetings in about a dozen different languages. Some sounded harsh and guttural, some sounded light and lyrical and some breathy and nasally. Were these languages from different colonies? Or were they not United under one government? That could pose a problem. Each species was united under a single government each, if not by the time achieve spaceflight then by the time, they contact the Citadel Council.
The vid changed the scene to what he assumed was a historical re-enactment of their species warfare. They progressed from stone to bronze, bronze to iron, iron to firearms. All the while switching between the different looking variants of their species. Well, now he knew that their diversity originated in their homeworld.
What was shown next would interest him the most. Two young soldiers, that looked superficially like him, dressed in different uniforms shot blindly at each other from trenches. Images of chemical warfare, primitive grenades, chemical propelled ballistic weapons and strange-looking aircraft and armoured vehicles. The vid zooms out to a map of the whole world, with most parts painted in either blue or black, what he supposed were either side of the war. The paints borders pushed and pulled but as that progressed the colour red started growing along with the large eastern blue nation. At this war end, the world is once again divided in two, with mostly blue in the west and red in the east.
The vid then appeared to show another war. It showed two young soldiers in different uniforms, that once again looked like each other. Their technology obviously progressed, with their aircraft and armoured vehicles looked somewhat modern. Then they showed things that baffled him. They displayed along with their archaic weapons, and anti-armour energy weapon, plasma weaponry, active optical camouflage, primitive cybernetics and energy shields. This race could develop what no species could all before spaceflight? They then showed images of the map once again. The red would expand south-east and west. As they neared the coast of the west of the large eastern continent, most of the north-west continent was coloured blue and the tide turned. With the map slowly turning blue, an image of a building-sized device was shown. It started glowing, a silver bubble enveloped armoured vehicles and they disappeared. The map showed blue dots appearing deep in the red territory. He didn't need to be told, and he didn't want to believe but the implications were clear. This species could break the laws of physics by inventing a strategic teleportation device. The red was then coloured paler, while the blue glowed. That war was won, and the blue nations were divided into three.
The years progressed and the map was painted once more with another red nation in the south-east, and a brown nation south of the first red nation. The young soldiers shown now were of the six states, all looking different from each other but most like their neighbours. The weapons shown next were just as terrifying and alien to him. Visible light lasers concentrated light weapons, cryogenic weapons, personal flight units, artificial storms, single person nuclear weapons, EMPs, invulnerability coating and large-scale cloning. The scenes pan out to the map showing the blues losing ground, the light blue turning on its allies and joining the brown on turning on its allies.
All the while a purple side started inside the red nations. Knowing how that turned out the last time he knew what to expect. The purple started growing and growing until a fourth turquoise faction popped up. All the other sides then turned on purple. The map then zooms out to a star system map, where the last of the purple is destroyed on the fourth planet of their system. They showed people of all side celebrating. Did they all hate the purple side so much? What did they do? Were they too culturally divergent?
All three colours then expand out in the Galactic map. What was curious to him was how their expansion was from star to star, unlike how the Mass Relay Network skipped the stars in between their jumps. They were quick to expand as well. Did they discover an FTL method other than Eezo Drives? With what they showed him they could well have. This video alone was a treasure trove of information on this species. Even sending this to the Citadel Council will get their attention. A war with these people would be disastrous, and with how much they warred with each other up until their early spaceflight era, they would be stubbornly keeping their technology.
He almost wants to keep them a secret from the rest of the galaxy. The Asari and especially the Salarians would find some way to destroy the whole of civilization if not just themselves with this species technology. Then again, the alternative was giving the technology to the Hierarchy and the Primarchs. They would use this as an excuse to prove his supposed duplicity, that he'd bribe the Hierarchy with technology to get out of his punishment. Either option was unfavourable.
With the Council though, knowing them their gratitude would once again fall short. This species would receive no commendations for their 'contributions to the galaxy'. The Volus had contributed the most to the galaxy and look how far they've gone in thousands of years. His people of course fought to save the Council, but that was from their own mistake, the Krogan. They sought to replace their attack Varren with the ones that put the last ones down. And what contributions did the Asari and Salarians give? Being the first two to find the Citadel? Sterilizing their rapid Varren after millions of Turians gave their life? Imposing their way of life on everyone like the cultural imperialists they are?
At least Galepia sought to change them from the inside, no matter how futile Octarius said it was. Both the Hierarchy and Council were poor choices, so he found the best option.
"Officer Malsia, send this package to both The Citadel and Palaven. They can fight amongst themselves while we work to help these people.", he ordered. He felt sorry for Galepia, but they all had their battles. Galepias battle is political while he was literal.
"Sir, the lead alien ship has sent another package. It appears . . . to be . . . a translation program. Sir?"
"What? They couldn't have possibly created one so quickly. That's impossible." In his mind with what he saw, with how advanced they were even before they started colonizing worlds, they can make the impossible, possible.
"Run the program."
As they did, they re-watched the alien's greetings and the first contact vid. This Captain Velimir was dutiful if nothing. He had so many questions. What was going to happen to these aliens? Would they trust him enough to help him? Why are they so different? And most importantly, who are they? Who are they to his people? Who are they to the galaxy? They have so much to prove. From what he saw they can be as ingenious as a Salarian, as cultured as an Asari and as proficient at war as a Turian.
Codex Entries:
Science: Psionics: Abilities;
Apportation – The ability to undergo materialization, disappearance or teleportation of an object.
Astral projection or mental projection – The ability to voluntarily project the consciousness, being associated with the out-of-body experience, in which the consciousness is felt to temporarily separate from the physical body.
Aura reading – The ability to perceive "energy fields" surrounding people, places and things.
Automatic writing – The ability to draw or write without conscious intent.
Biokinesis - The ability to change and control DNA.
Clairaudience – The ability to acquire information by paranormal auditory means.
Claircognizance – The ability to acquire psychic knowledge utilizing intrinsic knowledge (just know).
Clairgustance – The ability to taste without physical contact.
Clairolfactance – The ability to access spiritual or mediumistic knowledge through smell.
Clairsentience – The ability to psychically feel, that is to receive messages from emotions and feelings.
Clairvoyance – The ability to perceive people, objects, locations, or physical events via extrasensory perception.
Conjuration – The ability to materialize physical objects from thin air.
Divination – The ability to gain insight into a situation using occult means.
Dowsing – The ability to locate water, sometimes using a tool called a dowsing rod.
Energy manipulation or energy work – The ability to manipulate physical or non-physical energy with one's mind.
Energy medicine – The ability to heal with one's own empathic etheric, astral, mental or spiritual energy.
Levitationortransvection – The ability to float or fly by mystical means.
Mediumshiporchanneling – The ability to communicate with spirits.
Precognition or premonition – The ability to perceive future events.
Prophecy – The ability to predict the future.
Psi electronics - Psi electronics is the study of paranormal phenomena concerning the application of electronics.
Psychic surgery – The ability to remove disease or disorder within or over the body tissue via an "energetic" incision that heals immediately afterwards.
Psychokinesisortelekinesis – The ability to manipulate objects with the mind.
Psychometry or psychoscopy – The ability to obtain information about a person or an object by touch.
Pyrokinesis – The ability to create and manipulate fire with the mind.
Remote viewing, telesthesia or remote sensing – The ability to see a distant or unseen target using extrasensory perception.
Retrocognition or post cognition – The ability to supernaturally perceive past events.
Second sight – The ability to see future and past events or to perceive information that is not present to the physical senses, in the form of a vision (precognition or remote viewing, a seer).
Scrying – The ability to look into a suitable medium to detect significant information.
Telepathy – The ability to transmit or receive thoughts supernaturally.
Thoughtography – The ability to imprint images from one's mind onto physical surfaces—such as photographic film—by psychic means.
Chronokinesis - The ability to alter one's own perception of time causing one sense of time to appear to slow down or speed up.
Science: Psionics: Extra Sensory Perception;
Extra Sensory Perception (ESP), also called sixth sense, includes reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed with the of the term goes back to 2,000 years and encompasses three types of possible extrasensory perceptions: telepathy, clairvoyance and omniscience. The term was adopted to denote psionic abilities such as intuition, telepathy, psychometry, clairvoyance, and their trans-temporal operation as precognition and retrocognition.
A second sight is a form of extrasensory perception, the power to perceive things that are not present to the 5 senses, whereby a person perceives information, in the form of a vision, about future events before they happen (precognition), or about things or events at remote locations (remote viewing).
Second sight may have originally been so-called because the normal vision was regarded as coming first, while supernormal vision is a secondary thing, confined to certain da shealladhor "the two sights", meaning "the sight of the seer", is the way Gaelsrefer to "second sight", the involuntary ability to see the future or distant events. There are many Gaelic words for the various aspects of second sight, butan da shealladhis the one mostly recognized by non-Gaelic speakers, even though, strictly speaking, it does not really mean second sight, but rather "two sights".
"The termda-shealladh(pronounced "dah-haloo"), often translated as "second sight", literally means "two sights". It refers to the ability to see apparitions of both the living and the dead. The taibshear (pronounced "tysher") is the seer who specializes in observing the energy double (taibhs). A dream or vision is abruadar ("broo-e-tar"). The bruadaraiche ("broo-e-taracher") is more than a dreamer in common sense; he or she is the kind of dreamer who can see into the past or the future."
A/N: Yay! Another Shitty cliffhanger! For real though, I will work on fixing that sort of thing. I always said I'll never use Gaelic again outside of school, now look at me, using my education as if it was truly useful. Hiatus Notice; Heads up to this stories readers, as of the 17th of May I got a lot of things going on IRL, no drama though, good things. I have graduation committee work, graduation, final exams, family visiting for the summer, college accommodation hunting and the Debs (Irish Prom). I have tried to keep this stories chapters posted regularly, roughly. I usually posted around Friday. The next one you'll probably get an update on would be after June 25 at the earliest. Sorry for not being able to update for a while. And if you never hear from me again, thank you very much for taking your time reading this story.