May 5, 2089
Unclaimed Space
As the Samar approached the Migrant Fleet, Neph stood on the bridge, waiting to open communications with her people. A quarian voice came over the ship's comm system. "Incoming ship, state your identity."
Neph took a deep breath, and then spoke. "This is Neph'Olis nar Rayya, I am returning from my pilgrimage and bring important information and alien visitors with me."
There was a pause on the other end. "Neph'Olis nar Rayya is believed dead, and your ship is not showing up on any database, please verify."
"After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began."
Another pause, and then "Confirmed. Approach the Rayya for docking and decontamination, and then you'll explain what's going on."
"Understood." Neph closed the comm and let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She turned to Henry. "Anyone that comes aboard with me will have to go through decontamination and wear an environment suit. I hope it won't be too much trouble..."
"Not at all. We're the guests here, after all. It wouldn't be good for first impressions if I threw a tantrum over having to take a bath." Henry joked.
Neph did her best to smile, not that it mattered much, and tried to quell the unpleasant nervous feeling in her stomach at the realization that her people thought she was dead.
Henry turned to Tim. "Major, I think both you and your officers should attend as well." As Tim opened his mouth to protest, Henry raised his palms in a placating gesture. "Yeah, I know, regulations don't like it when the CO leaves the ship when it isn't in port, but this is important. If what I've been reading hasn't all been bullshit and stereotypes, ship captains have a lot of cultural importance to the quarians. Having you stay behind could be seen as a slight. Docking with one of the life ships is kind of like being "in port" to them anyway, so if it makes you feel better..."
Tim turned to Neph. "Do you think this will help?"
Neph cocked her head to the side. "Yes. I just assumed you would be coming in the first place. Sorry, cultural biases showing, I suppose. Having your officers be present would also be seen as a sign of respect."
Tim let out a sigh and said "Alright. I'll have the others meet us in decontamination." he keyed his intercom. "Chief Paulo, you have the bridge." If the senior NCO of the ship was surprised at being placed in command, it didn't show in his voice. "Aye, sir. Making my way there now."
The quarian decon team ran their equipment over his environment suit, Henry couldn't help but feel like it was redundant, considering he'd just spent thirty minutes going through the lengthy process of decontamination on the Samar.
I suppose when a stiff breeze can kill you, there's no such thing as "redundant" precautions. He tried not to laugh at his own mental attempt at humor, a habit of his that his teachers in the diplomatic corps had gone to great lengths to break.
Neph felt her sense of unease grow as she watched Henry. I could've sworn I just heard him laugh. Neph liked Henry, but he was still very...odd. Even by alien standards. How anyone had looked at him and seen "diplomat material" was a mystery she had yet to solve. Jessica Okoro had seemed confident in him, but that didn't do much to reassure Neph. She had spent the trip to the fleet with him, cramming every bit of remotely useful information about her people into Henry's skull and giving him reading material to rapidly devour. She wasn't sure just how much he had retained.
As the decontamination procedure was finished, the airlock opened up and Neph stepped forward, Henry beside her, and the space force officers behind them. They'd agreed to let Neph do the introductions. As the group was revealed to the quarian greeting team waiting inside, Neph could see them visibly react to the sight of the strange new alien beside her. The officers behind them wore full ranger armor, and thus had their faces obscured, but Henry wore the open-faced helm of a civilian, and his alien visage was fully visible. The greeters' reactions were very subtle, and very quarian, Neph doubted anyone in her group besides herself had even noticed. Probably should've been a little more specific about the "alien visitors". Human FTL communication technology was still in its infancy, and ships like the Samar were thus heavily reliant on existing infrastructure for communication, and their technology was not yet compatible with the already existing infrastructure constructed by the Council. They had decided against sending a message from the Citadel, as their communications were almost certainly being monitored, and they did not want their intention to court the quarians to be known. Neph had tried her best to adapt the Samar's comm system for council infrastructure, but it was like trying to use the internet with a telegraph. She'd had no luck. A damned shame too. It would have been nice to be able to give my people some time to prepare.
The brief surprise was quickly suppressed by the quarians, and the lead one-a woman-stepped forward to greet them. "Greetings. I am Kitzri'Nin vas Rayya, captain of this ship. I know I already met you at your pilgrimage ceremony, Neph'Olis. When you failed to report in for two months in a row, we assumed the worst. You can imagine that we are very happy to be proven wrong." She glanced at the aliens with her. "It seems you've got quite a story to tell."
"Indeed I do captain. May I introduce Henry Calloway, an ambassador from the newly encountered species known as humanity." Neph said.
"I am honored to be the first human to extend greetings to your people, captain." Henry said smoothly.
"And I am honored to receive them, Ambassador." Kitzri replied.
Neph pressed on. "May I also introduce Major Timothy Li, the captain of the Samar, the ship which brought me here, and his officers, Lieutenants Lisa Smith and Ozan Fahri."
Kitzri nodded at the trio. "I welcome you aboard my ship captain, lieutenants."
"I thank you for your hospitality." Tim said in response.
Kitzri nodded again, and turned to Henry. "I imagine you'll be wanting to speak to our leadership?"
For some reason, Henry seemed amused by the words. Smirking, he said "Yes, I would. Is now an acceptable time, or will you require us to wait?"
"It is currently the evening on our fleet time, so I would request that we hold off your meeting with the Admirals until tomorrow. We can show you to guest quarters until then. This way, the Admirals will have time to be briefed, and Neph'Olis will also have the time to meet with her family." Kitzri said.
Henry nodded. "Of course."
Neph rang the door buzzer, and her grandmother answered the door. For a moment, the woman was completely still, and then she seized Neph in a hug, sobbing.
"When they told me that you had returned...out of nowhere. I didn't dare believe it. But you're here, alive." she squeezed harder. Neph squeezed back. After several long moments, Neph's grandmother reluctantly broke their embrace and gazed upon her grandchild. "Oh Neph. When you didn't report in...you have no idea. I...I mourned for you Neph. You were dead. You were all I had left, and then you were gone. I couldn't bear it-!" Neph hugged her again. "It was so terrible, grandmother. The batarians, I was captured. I tried to be brave, to be an adult like I was supposed to be, but I could barely hold it together. I don't know if I could have survived. If I would have let myself survive as a-"
"Hush, child. No more talk like that. You can tell me everything when you're ready, but I won't hear anymore talk of you going right back into the grave when you've just climbed out of it." her grandmother's words were steel. There would be no debate. Neph entered her grandmother's house and for the first time since her capture by the batarians she cried, like a baby. She had kept all of it, the fear, the despair of her ordeal, locked up inside so that she could help her rescuers. Finally, here in her home, she could release it.
May 6, 2089
Aboard the Rayya
Henry stepped out of the quarian guest room, fresh oxygen making its way in through his suits scrubbers, and carbon dioxide making it's way out. Everything was sore, his suit was not designed with sleepwear as an intended use. His three companions had slept like babies, having both a soldier's uncanny ability to snatch any sleep available to them, and a ranger's experience with sleeping in their vacsuit (a common occurrence in the Ranger Corps' training exercises). Henry, on the other hand, had been forced to take a knockout pill (which, mercifully, he had remembered to put in his suit's internal storage). He didn't like depending on drugs to get his sleep, but he couldn't risk sleep deprivation for such important negotiations.
Henry made his way out the door, the three rangers following close behind. Neph was waiting for them at the end of the hallway, Captain Nin beside her. Neph seemed in good spirits. Or at least, Henry was pretty sure that was what he was seeing. Deciphering alien body language would have been challenging enough, but having to do it through an environment suit made it drastically more difficult. The captain greeted them. "Hello. I hope you have rested well. Our Admirals are waiting for you. If you would follow me..." the woman turned to go, Neph on her heels, and the humans followed.
The room that they entered bore a resemblance to a conference room, with a large table and chairs being the centerpiece. Three quarians, two women and a man, walked over to greet them. One of the women spoke. "I am Admiral Inris'Yoza vas Fadesh" she gestured to the man "this is Admiral Kilen'Tun vas Kali, and beside me is Admiral Ren'Zilv vas Eim. We are pleased to meet you." Further introductions and pleasantries were exchanged, and then Neph and Henry, with the occasional input of Tim, launched into a description of the events of Neph's capture, and her subsequent rescue.
The Admirals seemed genuinely interested by their tale, but then Admiral Yoza interrupted. "This is a fascinating story, but I highly doubt that you have come all this way just to bring one of our pilgrims back to us."
Henry and Neph shared a glance, and then Henry spoke. "You are correct, Admiral. I will spare you the sob story, but the simple answer is that my people are anticipating war with the batarians. We have come here to offer you supplies, repairs, and access to our manpower, in exchange for your sharing of your technology and skilled personnel."
Admiral Tun cut in. "What exactly are you prepared to offer?"
Henry smiled. "We may be primitive by your standards, but we are still a spacefaring species with a developed interstellar civilization. The "supplies" could be just about anything you need. Raw materials, tools, even ships. Hell, if are ships are too outdated for you, help us design new ones, and we'd be more than willing to share what we can build."
"And why, exactly, didn't you go to the Council with this problem? You can perhaps see how that might make us suspicious, yes?" said Admiral Zilv.
Henry sighed. He had never liked lying, although it was sometimes an important part of his job. Knowing when to tell the truth was important too, however. It might put him at a disadvantage in the current situation, but lying here would only cause problems later on. "In short, the Council has washed their hands of us. The batarians fed them a version of events that was obviously a lie, but they happily swallowed it. The Council is unwilling to help us. We don't know why, though we have our suspicions."
Admiral Tun gave a harsh bark of laughter. "Sounds like the Council."
Admiral Yoza spoke. "Your offer is...intriguing, ambassador, and you've picked an interesting time to present it to us. Serious discussion about retaking the homeworld has flared up once again."
Admiral Zilv scoffed. "Oh yes, and we're more determined than ever to commit mass suicide, believe me."
Admiral Tun took issue to that. "We've been languishing for generations, half dead, while the geth have only gotten stronger. Every year we decide to forgo retaking our homeworld is another year for the geth to build ships and troops and fortifications."
"All the more reason for us to not go charging right into those ships and troops and fortifications." Zilv said.
"I'm not suggesting we send the whole fleet charging into Rannoch, Ren, I'm suggesting that we finally start being at war with the geth again, instead running away for another century."
Zilv scoffed. "Yes, because that worked so well the last time."
"Admirals." Yoza admonished. "Can we try to avoid devolving into a shouting match in the presence of our guests?"
Henry spoke. "I'm not qualified to tell you what the best course of action. All I can tell you is that we have a saying among my people: 'You scratch my back, I scratch yours.' If you decide to pursue military action against the geth, while I can't promise direct military support, I can promise you supplies and a place to make repairs, and of course a place to shelter your civilians. If you decide to pursue other options, we will gladly lend you the same support you would be lending us, and you'd always have a safe harbor in our space."
The Admirals exchanged glances, and then Yoza spoke. "Your offer is admittedly enticing. While of course we also cannot guarantee direct military support in your war with the batarians, we will discuss the possibility of providing you other aid, if you would give us a moment in private..."
"Of course." Henry said. He left the room, his companions in tow.
May 6, 2089
Unclaimed Space
Prator had been surprised when he hadn't been executed upon his return to the Hegemony. Instead, they'd allowed him to take command of what remained of Halmak's flotilla (plus a few extra), and tasked him with tracking a human ship as it left the citadel, a task that had proven less difficult than he'd anticipated, as it seemed the humans either weren't aware of modern sensor technology, or they didn't know how to properly cover their tracks from it. He'd been confused and more than a little surprised when the trail had taken a sudden turn towards unclaimed space, instead of continuing on back to human space. When his probes reported that they were approaching what was obviously the migrant fleet, Prator had been even more surprised. He had contacted the Hegemony, asking for further instructions, and they had given him a very straightforward directive: set an ambush, and destroy the human ship. Prator still thought that the supposed invasion of human space the Hegemony seemed determined to make was an idiotic idea, but he could see the logic in taking steps to delay the formation of any alliance between the suit rats and the humans.
As a side bonus, it would also delay word of the fiasco at the Council from reaching the human government for slightly longer, which would allow the fleet to take the humans by surprise. Hopefully. Prator was no tactical genius, but he had plenty of experience setting up an ambush. It helped if you knew which relays your prey would have to use on their trip.
The batarian leaned back in his command chair, content to wait.
Hey all. My original plans had this chapter turn out a very different way to what you just read, but I decided I didn't like the direction that it would take the story, so I scrapped it. Hence the extra-long time between chapters (although that's hardly the only reason for the delay). This one came up shorter than the typical chapter, but that's because I decided that continuing on would effect the pacing and flow of the story in a way that I didn't want it to. As such, you can think of this chapter as a sort of bookend, I suppose. The "end of act 1".
As always, thank you for reading, following, and favoriting, and please share your thoughts in the reviews!