Chapter 17: Discoveries & Rescues
Cras amet qui nunquam amavit; quique amavit, cras amet
"May he who has never loved before, love tomorrow; And may he who has loved, love tomorrow as well"
-.
2157.07.26
SSV Rapture; Hangar Bay
Terminus Systems
The star systems located between the frontier with the Attican Traverse (under Citadel Council's control) and the Omega Nebula (where the former minning station known as Omega, the unofficial capital of the Terminus systems resided) were perhaps the most lawless area of the Terminus Systems, right outside the rule of the Citadel Council yet also still far from the reach of any warlord clan or organized coalition of petty kingdoms that could hold dominion over that portion of the galaxy, as no one could hope to keep those key systems in their hands, talons, tentacles or whatever for long.
Those systems had always been a battlefield for different factions struggling for dominance with centuries of war.
For the first time in history nevertheless humanity has joined the long endless history of space faring beings killing each other, in this god forsaken corner of the Milky Way. As a small flotilla of Black Fleet pirates had been ambushed by the Terran corsairs; it was like an echo of the golden era of piracy back on Earth with two navies bearing black sails refusing to hold the flags of their forefathers ended up fighting to the death; the terran corsairs advantage in technology and military coordination had won this round.
The Alliance light cruiser Rapture stood at the center of the small cruiser detachment which was surrounded by the debris of several destroyed black fleet vessels. Recovery teams in praetorian exo suits had boarded the crippled yet most intact ships in order to recover anything useful be it technology, resources or Intel.
At the hangar bay of the vessel, two members of Cyclone Squadron were checking their equipment after a job well done.
Cyclone 1 was the squad leader Lieutenant Commander Carl Andrias whiles his wingmate the squad's 2IC Lieutenant Jason Onoda was Cyclone 2.
The squad's tech expert, Cyclone 3 was Ensign Kim Mal-nyeon a thirty-some Korean colony woman of few words, whose black hair had purple dye over the tips of her long stands, onboard her fighter she had shown to be in possession of remarkable moves that still couldn't held a candle to their wing commander Andrias.
Yet the most interesting member of the original Cyclone squadron was the synth R8lph/ Cyclone 4 who operated a modified TF-15 fighter-bomber with additional titanium and Rearden steel armor plating to better resist short range explosions, something to take into account when flying close to their targets before dropping high yield disruptor torpedoes and bombs.
Ensign Louis Carver, the 161 fighter wing previous CO, was Cyclone 7 with Jordan now Cyclone 8 acting as his wingmate.
The rest of the squad had callsigns from 1 to 18.
"So Cyclone 10 how did the mission go?" Luz asked he wing mate Mina Sanders who had been assigned with the callsign Cyclone 10 as a member of the eighteen unit squadron; Luz instead had been given the callsign Cyclone 9 with Mina as her wing mate. With the induction of the 161 squadron wing Cyclone Squadron now held eighteen members, all in custom modded TF-15 Naginata star fighters.
"What do you mean Luz?" Mina answered confused more so when she looked at her wingmate teasing expression. "You were there with me, we took them down".
She thinks I am talking about the battle with the enemy cruisers and fighters
Luz playful expression grew even more, she had a grin from ear to ear. "I wasn't talking about the Batarian fighters I mean the other mission, with your new primary objective: Commander tall, blonde and ripped" she teased her partner.
"Ughh…very good, he winked at me the other day and we spoke a little" Mina answered.
"You are a terrible liar hermana" Luz countered. "How many words did you shared, two? Or was it three?
Mina's fake smile disappeared. "Ahh fuck" she said under her breath.
"You got me Luz, he is not interested or maybe he is hesitant because of the protocols regarding the fraternization of Commanding Officers with their subordinates"
"Ha, yeah right" Luz countered. "I heard that one before, as I also heard that LC Andrias has some kind of fling with our resident spook, our ASB liaison Lieutenant Caroline Roseburrow" Mina's eyebrows rose in interest, she was now listening with her full attention. "I saw them the other day in the mess hall, sharing a table and a long friendly conversation"
"Fucking spooks" Mina stated in low voice. "But come on, I don't buy it, an elite pilot and officer with an ASB inquisitor; it's like a police detective dating an agent of internal affairs"
"You watch too many old movies" Luz answered. "But I agree most people I know even high ranking officers are always nervous or at least uncomfortable next to ASB spooks".
It was a constant in the Alliance Navy that ASB agents were not well like by other members of the Navy, Marine Corps or Army; many nicknamed them the inquisitors behind their backs because of their secretive and sometimes extremely thorough or downright paranoid manners. Lieutenant Caroline Roseburrow was not the exception; she was amongst the first to board the disable vessel to recover Intel and demanded a copy of everything to send to their superiors.
"Maybe he thought she could use some company" Mina suggested. "Everyone is afraid of Agent Roseburrow, perhaps he was only trying to be friendly and you saw Commander Andrias, if he isn't afraid of fighting a krogan with his bare hands, why would he be afraid of a small ASB agent"
"Word of advice chica, try to appear less desperate" Luz suggested in a teasing tone, Mina frown at that, in that moment they were interrupted by a general call through their omni-tools.
"Cyclone Squadron, be ready for departure in one hour, we are leaving this system as soon as we finish maintenance" the voice of Lieutenant Commander Andrias sounded through the coms.
"Well you heard him" Luz said to Mina. "I am going to take a shower and grab something to eat"
-.
SSV Rapture, CIC
"This has to be some kind of mistake" Commander Mikhailovich stated looking at the set of coordinates shown at the holographic galactic map at the center of the room.
"Well according to the star charts there is a system at those coordinates" Lieutenant Carl Andrias said his gaze fixed at the blinking point in the holographic shape of the galaxy.
"But this does not make any sense" Mikhailovich added. "I mean Batarian space? Those coordinates are practically right next to Alliance Space, just a few thousands light years of Sol"
"All the evidence points to the Batarians as key players within this Black Fleet" Agent Roseburrow explained. "Much of the vessels encountered by both us and the Citadel forces are of Batarian design but I agree with Commander Mikhailovich, the coordinates make no sense: there is no mass relay connection at or in the proximity of that star system. How could they travel there?"
"And why does that system is flagged as 'restricted location'?" Andrias finished for her.
The Intel recovered from the cripple Black Fleet vessel was mostly encrypted and much of it had been corrupted by the damage caused by the battle and the technicians onboard the cruiser who attempted to purge all the critical data rather than risk it falling into enemy hands, something very uncharacteristic for a group of supposedly savage pirates only interested in pillage and destruction.
"We checked the data of the other ships, the information checks out" the Rapture's AI explained. "However there is no specified reason as to why that system is considered restricted, but there is a specified relay transition to the restricted coordinates from the Bahak System in Batarian Space; yet that information could be faulty as the Bahak System's relay is supposed to be only connected to the Kite's Nest, the Batarian home cluster"
"Once again everything points to the Batarians, how the Citadel Council does not realize that?" the marine detachment CO Tasha Cruz stated.
"They are politicians" Captain Dewitt finally spoke. "They cannot just condemn or subject the wretched Batarian Hegemony to any investigation even with evidence without paying the political and strategic cost"
"There are lot unknowns still" the captain explained. "But right now we have only two options: we either continue to travel deeper into the territories of the Terminus Combine facing increasing resistance most likely, more so if we try to follow the trail of the Black Fleet towards Parnack the Yahg homeworld or Vrisskan Space"
"Or we pursue our only lead" he finished.
According to Alliance intelligence, the Terminus Combine has started to deploy Yahg shock troopers across Illium and the rest of the Citadel planets under occupation or threat of invasion. The Yahg were towering humanoids twice as large as krogans and about five times as savage and vicious; huge black skin monsters with four pairs of eyes and a monstrous looking jaw.
Journalists across Citadel Space have started to call this mess the Terminus War; the Citadel was at war with a confederacy of various warlords and pirates as well as a few minor small space faring powers in the lawless corner of the galaxy.
Officially the Terran Alliance was staying neutral, refusing to support any side but under the table they were conducting secret operations against the Black Fleet in order to find any information about their technology and motives, many in High Com suspected Reaper involvement. Yet many in the Citadel Space were claiming that the Alliance was aiding or even directing the actions of the Terminus Combine, as much of their technology such as that of the Terran Alliance was based on that of the Reapers, and their movements circumnavigating strategic choke points located at key mass relay connections made it seem like they had access to the Alliance's rift gate network and rift jump.
This new confederacy the Terminus Combine was composed of three main players: the Batarian factions in the Terminus Systems (the Hegemony had denied any involvement, yet few actually believe them), the Yahg who had been apparently uplifted to be used as expendable cannon fodder and a small space faring nation with their territory not to far from the station Omega known as the Vrisskan Dominion.
So far the pirate queen of Omega Arya T'Loak had denied any connection to the Terminus Combine claiming that the occupation of Illium and the war were costing her a substantial amount of credits, even though she was making a killing by selling weapons to both sides.
The Vrisskans were like the Terrans a young space faring race with highly peculiar biology; they were humanoid taller than humans or turians yet they had four arms instead of two like most bipedal species, making them look as some kind of insectoid race while being more closely similar to cephalopods or reptiles.
Also all the Vrisskans had protrusions like tentacles growing out of their chins, as if they were the half-human monsters from H.P. Lovecraft's stories: the inhabitants of Innsmouth or something. Hailing from a world with a higher percentage of ocean coverage than Earth and extreme humidity the Vrisskans have adapted to live in ocean type planets with levo amino acid environments. The Dominion was a military autocracy with a populistic type of rhetoric.
As an emerging power their reasons for attacking the Citadel races were clear to all; they needed territory and resources to expand their nascent empire and the systems within the Traverse provided all that. Alliance Intelligence has recorded much of the recent engagements of the war and the roles each member of the Terminus Combine had: The Black Fleet/Batarians provided most of the capital ships and firepower; the Vrisskans had smaller picket ships that made the bulk of the Combine's raid fleets and the Yagh possessing no fleet of their own only served as ground troops or cannon fodder for the invasion and occupation of the colonies at the Traverse like Illium.
Now the Alliance for better or worse needed to claw its way into the heart of their operations and disrupt them if possible for the wellbeing of humanity and the galaxy as even though the Terminus Combine stood an enemy of the Citadel Council there were times when the enemy of your enemy was just another enemy.
"We will be deploying a gravity well beacon in order to rift jump to the Sigma class rift gate in the Scorpio-Epsilon system that is closest to the coordinates" he made a pause. "Then we will send a probe to confirm suitable coordinates for rift jump; whatever the reason that system is restricted to the ships of the Terminus Combine, we need to find the truth" the captain explained his senior officers.
"I still think that is either a goose chase or a possible trap" the ship 2IC countered with doubt in his voice.
"Maybe so, but this is so far our best clue, remember we are not only the Alliance's eyes and ears, we are the tip of the spear" The captain answered.
"Prepare for rift jump as soon as we are able" he ordered his crew before turning towards to the star fighter squad leader and marine platoon CO.
"Commander Andrias prepare Cyclone Squadron for an scouting mission and possible combat engagement; Lieutenant Cruz have your marines ready for deployment and tell our resident krogan mercenary unit to be in standby" the two officers nodded in response.
"The rest of you know what to do" he finished. "In any case I have one last order; stay strong, stay confident and stand vigilant"
The CIC officers saluted him and immediately broke ranks to depart for their respective duties.
-.
A few hours later
Scorpio-Epsilon System, proximity of the Sigma class rift gate
SSV Rapture, Corsair flotilla about to rift jump into unknown system
"Well pilots ready to dive straight into the unknown?" Commander Carl Andrias asked the members of Cyclone squad, they were all standing by in the ship's hangar bay right next to their strike crafts ready for battle.
"That's why we signed up sir" Ensign Louis Carver stated, the rest of the squad nodded and stood tall with their heads held high, their wing commander nodded as well in response.
Across the vessels the alarms flared as the captain ordered them to be ready for rift jump at his mark.
A current of static energy crossed the skin of almost every crewman as the ship crossed the angry maw of energy that made the stable tear in the fabric of space and time right at the center of the rift gate.
-.
With the blink of an eye they arrived at a normal star system located in the middle of the uncharted space between the Terran Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony.
As protocol ordered the vessels of the fleet released several probes to survey the star system and scan for any anomalies or points of interest.
The system looked completely unremarkable: one sun, a few rocky planets according to the probes and sensors; a pair of large gas giants, the farthest planet of the system was a brown dwarf gas giant yet right at the fourth orbit there was a little exo planet in the habitable zone of the star's orbit that made for a small continental type garden world like Earth although it's size was only a little larger than Mars.
That was interesting, a habitable system so close to a sapient species home cluster without relay connection? As charted by humanity and most space faring species, the planets with suitable environments at close proximity of the homeworlds of sapient races more often than not contained one or more mass relays.
It had been the design of the reapers according to the analysts and xeno-archeologists: After the prothean extinction they had reconfigured the relay network to allow for primitive (at that time) species to be able to develop their respective empires through that collection of planets at their immediate disposal. No one could deny that the mass relays connected each system far too well from the origin point that was a space faring species homeworld: Turians had a small group of dextro based planets right in the proximity of Palaven; Salarians three original colonies Aegohr, Mannovai, and Jaëto were planets with a high percentage of ocean coverage, high temperatures and humidity in most areas, perfect for Salarian biology and the same could be say about the Asari and humans who had continental type planets with levo based ecology right beyond the next relay.
The Alliance of course through the use of the rift jump FTL method had a wider area of expansion and had found planets with evolutionary simple lifeforms and ecosystems but those exo planets like Praxis, Shinnon, Arcadia, Columbia or even Chiron had required decades of terraforming to better adapt them for high scale human settlements.
The planet in particular looked to be in possession of a smaller ocean surface coverage percentage than Earth and it had an abundance of savannahs and deserts areas like Africa, more so in the areas closest to the equatorial line.
Someone needed to give this planet a name as they probably just have discovered it, or at least they had been the first human to ever lay eyes upon it.
In every deck of the Rapture the crew began to work.
-.
A few minutes later
SSV Rapture's CIC
"A distress signal, are you sure?" Captain Dewitt asked the holographic avatar of the ship's AI.
"Yes captain" the AI explained, it's an SOS signal in all Citadel Council frequencies; broadcasted in Asari, Salarian, Turian, Volus and even Hanar languages. "The signal is coming from the fourth planet, the only habitable world in this system; I have already moved the nearest probe to the orbit and it has confirmed the presence of a distress beacon at the top of a medium size mountain in the main continent, not too far from a small inhabited settlement in the lower vale" she explained as holo images of the orbiting probe appeared over the main table.
The images depicted an array of small buildings made of metal, wood and stone around an open central plaza; a village of sorts.
"Are you sure they are not primitive aliens?" a CIC officer asked.
"100%, I have been unable to detect any other settlement in the entire main continent, also the colony's buildings appear to have been fabricated with recycled ship bulkheads and other pieces" she made a pause.
"The village appears to have a power source in an array of solar panels and wind turbines, alongside a plain of harvested crops and a water purifier at the edge of the river, it's closest water source" she finished as the images highlighted every point of interest.
"So" the deep voice of Commander Carl Andrias began. "It looks like a large community of castaways then"
"Most likely yes" the AI answered.
"I wonder, how long have they been there?" Caroline Roseburrow asked with curiosity.
"You can ask them when you meet them" the Captain stated to everyone's surprise. "We will prepare a first contact away team; Commander Andrias you and Lieutenant Roseburrow will lead the party accompanied by a squad of marines"
"Pardon me sir…?" Carl stated. "Me? I am pilot not a marine, much less an ambassador…"
The Captain cut him off. "Yes, but you have more experience dealing with aliens than most of us, also your plasmids abilities could come in handy if there are any issues"
"Should I invite our krogan friends then?" Carl asked with some concern.
"For the time being, it's better if you lead an exclusive only human team, we don't know who or what is down there and how they will react to the presence of a group of blood thirsty krogans alongside you Lieutenant Cruz and a marine squad will be joining you commander Andrias, but you will be leading the team"
"Understood" Commander Andrias nodded. "I will prepare my team at once" then he and Lieutenant Roseburrow exchanged gazes for a second before saluting and departing from the CIC.
"Very well" the captain then turned to his 2IC. "Mikhailovich have the fleet assume a defensive formation in orbit of the fourth planet, I don't want any surprises"
"Yes sir" the officer answered.
-.
Shuttle craft, G-89 Raven, flying towards the planet's surface
Luz examined her L-3 Naegling Pistol while sitting on one of the passengers' seats of the shuttle craft, the gun's weight was familiar and its balance simple, it was a simple gun with a respectable rate of fire and the ability to use multiple types of ammo, that was one of the reasons the model was so popular within the Alliance Marine Corps and other services, she had fired that same gun model in training many times. Amongst the pilots of Cyclone Squad Luz Kowalzcyk and her former CO Ensign Louis Carver were the ones with more small arms experience; and Commander Andrias needed someone to watch his back.
Also their electroshock plasmids were critical for the mission, if they were forced to neutralize any hostile aliens through non-lethal means.
The combination of weapons and plasmids worked better with pistols: you held the small pistol in one hand and throw plasmid blasts with the other; at least any type of plasmid that made use of a blast for combat purposes, the same applied to biotics in a way. Luz Kowalzcyk may have been a pilot but her dexterity with a gun was nearly as good as her dominion of the electroshock.
She was just hoping she would not need to use neither of them.
Accompanying her in the shuttle were half a dozen alliance marines under the command of the praxian Tasha Cruz, the woman scared her almost as much as their ASB local spook Lieutenant Roseburrow.
Praxians were a weird bunch within humanity, every third, fourth or whatever generation of colony born humans had their respective genetic adaptations to their originally mostly alien homes and pseudo creole cultures as a result of their sometimes mixed heritage, but in most cases they were minor mutations and barely distinguishing features:
For example the inhabitants of Arcadia one of the core worlds of the Alliance that served as the bread basket for the central colonies had developed in various cases small purple reddish spots on their skin due to the consumption of a type of an enzyme native to Arcadia and the planet's sun's radiation.
Or in the case of Chiron (the Alliance oldest colony) or Hoysala where the gravitational force was several times higher than Earth; the colonist needed to subject themselves to bone density enhancement treatments through gene modding, so as to prevent the damage to their muscular and osseous system.
But Praxians were different. Due to the heavy radiation particles in the atmosphere, extreme cold temperatures and abundance of eezo; alongside multiple other examples of nature's inclemency in their environment most of them lethal to most humans, they were like a whole new race. Stronger bones, muscles, more resilient lungs and cells, a whole majority of biotics within their population; at the waypoint chat forums the Praxians were referred to as the equivalent of a medium stage for the next step of human evolution.
The only problem with the Praxians it was that they knew all of that; and while they still considered themselves terrans and citizens of the Alliance; they called themselves Praxians instead of simply colony born humans. Also as a result many of them have developed a sense of superiority that in various cases nearly bordered that of a Nazi complex.
And to add it all up, the Praxian Directorate had an enormous amount of leeway in the Alliance Parliament having a voice even more influential than several of the largest and oldest nations of Earth as Praxis and its sister world Glacies were the main suppliers of eezo within Terran Space and had a very large economy and industrial complex.
Well to be fair Luz was also a colony born terran of fourth generation but her planet was certainly not Praxis. Her homeworld Amanecer was a massive tropical world and one of the few planets within Alliance Space to contain an evolutionary complex biosphere, almost at the level of Earth, with a gentle 0.8 G and a dense rain forest covering most of the major continents. The atmosphere was also richer in oxygen than Earth, if it wasn't for the high percentage of humidity in the air and carbon dioxide the planet would constantly suffered from forest fires.
The city of Makondo her hometown was fortunately a pair of kilometers above the sea level so the oxygen level was very similar to that of most areas of Earth; so her family, neighbors and her were as closer to Earth born humans as they could be, easily.
Her butt jumped in her seat as the shuttle crossed the upper atmosphere with a slight shake.
She focused her mind towards the mission, she looked around and it seemed that the rest of the survey team was doing the same.
-.
To prevent any type of surprise attack or give the aliens a massive scare the shuttle flew low only about one hundred meters from the ground coming from the eastern vector, approaching the town before landing at its outskirts.
They should have brought a tank or kept a gunship covering them but they wanted to appear as less threatening as possible, all observation pointed to these aliens being castaways or some kind of lost colony; according to the scans there were barely above 100 beings in the settlement, they were not a threat unless they turned them into one.
Their shuttle settled down a few hundred meters from the village; before the door opened Luz made a quick check of her armor, adjusting her helmet and visor. She kept her pistol holstered, but channeled the Eve in her bloodstream focusing her plasmids.
A group of electrical sparks appeared on her left and right hand; she was ready for any surprise.
Commander Carl Andrias was the first to disembark, flanked in each side by the praxian marine and the ASB spook, both women had their weapons drawn, but Carl had his riffle magnetically glued to his back and his pistol holstered. In full body pitch black marine armor Commander Carl Andrias looked as if he had nothing to envy of an N7 operative. The ASB agent and Marine unit were also encased from head to toe in pitch black titanium and Rearden steel armors, there were no Alliance markings. No blue and white flag, no golden tower with the three stars, a true testament of their state as independent corsairs.
Tasha Cruz the praxian marine had a combat riffle and their favorite ASB spook held a long sniper rifle, the rest of the team had either riffles or pistols.
Commander Andrias signaled them to follow him, the group moved as one, towards the town. The buildings of the village were small in size not too different from those of a research outpost or an archeological survey camp.
As they reached what appeared to serve as the town's main street, their HUDs lighted with flares of alert as their recon drone detected two dozen alien weapons with their crossairs aiming at them.
Behind a hastily prepared barricade or aiming from the top of rooftops were several individuals of species already discovered by humanity: there were various Asari, Salarians and even a couple of Batarians.
Luz didn't need to be a lilim psi operative to see that many of those aliens especially the asari with their expressions so similar to humans looked to be nervous, confused and perhaps hopeful.
How long had this people been stranded there?
Commander Andrias made the first step to introduce himself; ordering them to wait as he walked towards the alien barricade, both hands held high as to show that he carried no weapon and meant no harm.
The ASB spook followed him closely doing the same, her riffle clamped to her back.
Finally their CO spoke through his universal translator, adjusted to the Asari main dialect. "Greetings" he began. "We mean you no harm" his voice strong and confident, then he moved his hands towards his helmet, removing it with ease.
The Asari at the barricade gasped as they looked at his face; that was interesting it looked as if they have never seen a human before.
"I am Lieutenant Commander Carl Andrias of the Terran Systems Alliance vessel Rapture, we have just arrived at this system and we are responding to your distress call" he explained, the Asari and Salarian defenders instantly relaxed upon hearing those words, yet remained solely focused at the aliens in front of them.
To everyone surprise the ASB agent Caroline Roseburrow also removed her helmet and moved to the front, making a salute with her right hand holding two pairs of fingers together and the thumb outstretched to the side, Luz recognized the gesture.
"Live long and prosper" she stated, next to her Commander Andrias's expression switched from a smirk into a frown and then looked at Roseburrow with a playful gaze.
"Really?" he asked, while Roseburrow just smiled and shrugged.
Several meters away Luz suppressed a giggle.
"I don't get it" the soldier next to her said.
"I will tell you later" she whispered to him, the Vulcan salute… praised be Ez for convincing me to watch that documentary of old science fiction, I don't know what is more surprising… This whole situation or the fact that our ASB inquisitor has a nerdy sense of humor…
One of the Asari at the barricade immediately jumped it and moved towards Andrias and Roseburrow, she repeated the Vulcan salute with hesitation and looked at the two human officers with curiosity. The Asari in question had a purple-bluish skin tone with the distinct facial markings of a matron and the aura of wisdom and maturity associated to it.
"Terran? That is the name of your species?" she asked with a voice laced with interest.
"You could say that Asari" Roseburrow answered. "You look surprised to see us, and by the look of this place" she waved her hands gesturing at the village. "It seems like you have been here for a very long time" she finished.
The Asari gulped and nodded. "You speak our language. Have your species come into contact with the Council species then?"
"About two years ago" Carl Andrias answered. "We had a little disagreement with the Turians after we activated a dormant mass relay leading to Citadel Space, fortunately it never evolved into a full scale war" he explained, to the concern of the Asari.
"We have peaceful relations and trade arrangements with the Citadel species, nevertheless, don't worry we are not your enemies" Roseburrow further explained.
"I see" the Asari relaxed, at the barricade all the defenders have lowered their weapons at that point and several of them had jumped it moving towards them. There was another Asari, this looked younger than the first, four Salarians who looked old and tired and two Batarians that held none of the usual cruelty present in the most notorious four eyed aliens, also to Carl's surprise one of the Batarians was a female; he had never seen a female Batarian before not even in vids.
"What is your name by the way madam?" Carl asked the Asari.
"My name is Aleya Hunel and I serve as the unofficial leader of this settlement" she answered.
"A pleasure to meet you Aleya then" Carl responded nodding and smiling.
The Asari smiled and looked between her people and the human survey team. "Have you come to rescue us then?"
"If that is your desire we can take you back to Citadel Space" Carl answered. "But first we have a couple of questions for you and your people: How long have you been here? And how did you ended up here?" he began.
The Asari sighted. "It's a long story".
-.
After receiving their captain's confirmation, several shuttles descended carrying medical supplies and food alongside a full medical team for the people of the village. The inhabitants of the settlement were not malnourished but several of them were sick; most of them of simple afflictions like food poisoning, minor allergic reactions or fever; yet a few of them were in near critical condition because of sepsis, insect stings or other animal bites, etc.
The medics help and the arrival of food supplies familiar to the inhabitants of the village allowed them to earn a lot of good will. After a short exchange Captain Dewitt himself finally arrived at the village to hear about the castaways' history.
Apparently all of the village's inhabitants were the survivors of a Batarian Slave ship that had somehow crash landed at the planet. They didn't know much about the accident but according to the few survivors from the ship's crew rather than those of the "cargo", their ship had experienced drive core malfunctions during mass relay jump FTL that left the crew no choice other than land at the nearest planet to perform repairs but they had ended up crash-landing instead, with most of the crew dead or incapacitated the surviving slaves from the cargo bay rebelled and escaped.
Only to found themselves lost in an alien world with no chance to return home; the ship in which they have arrived was crippled beyond repair and there was no technician skilled enough amongst them capable of recycling the debris to make a new smaller ship.
Worse still was the fate of several of the former slaves, their new home was certainly capable of sustaining life and had the conditions for most of them to survive but not all. Amongst the slaves were eight turians and even one quarian, and unfortunately for them the planet in which they had ended up had a levo based environment: they were condemned to starve as soon as the dextro food supplies had run out, most of them including the Quarian chose suicide over slow starvation after the last piece of dextro rations disappeared.
For 21 years the survivors of the slave vessel had made this planet their home, in the whole settlement were 108 individuals: 43 Salarians, 28 Asari and 37 Batarians, a third of them have been born in the planet and knew nothing else. Also to the humans' surprise and the captain's disgust most of the Batarians of the village had also been slaves, half of them women meant to warm the beds of powerful Hegemony's officers, others were former crewmen who had been released after several months of forced labor or isolation and fully integrated into the community.
The Village's leader was Aleya who kept things running; the harvest fields tended, and was the primary responsible for the construction of the distress beacon at the nearby mountain to call for any passing ship. She also had a young daughter born of a relation with a male Salarian who had died after ten years living on this planet.
To celebrate their new understanding and their imminent departure from the planet various members of both groups were drinking tea in the village's long house, many of the villagers were delighted to have something new to eat and drink other than their simple food.
The villagers diet was primarily centered on a small crimson color vegetal similar to a potato in shape, and with very little flavor. The only eatable animal that the villagers hunted and raised in captivity was a small mammal that looked like a mix between a pig and a rabbit, it was clear that this planet's biosphere was still in early stages of complex evolution.
"How do you call this place? This planet?" Captain Dewitt asked matron Aleya.
Aleya hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath. "The Quarian who was part of the original slave group Tainh'Marrus vas Durdure called this planet Tru'Merin as in their ancient language means…"
"Final haven in the old Khelish language" Carl answered for her.
"Yes" the Asari answered with surprise looking at him. "He saved all our lives when he managed to hack the control terminal of the slave ship's cargo bay; we honored him by calling this planet in his name"
"Fascinating" the Captain began as he rose from his seat.
"Well in any case let's get to the point, my vessels are ready to take you back to Citadel Space but I need something first" he made a pause. "We found this system after finding the coordinates within the computer logs of a Batarian pirate ship that we disabled in the Terminus Systems"
"This system was flagged as 'restricted'" he made a pause. "Do you have any idea as to why? And also how did you arrived at this system if there is no mass relay connection to this star system"
The villagers exchanged confused and troubled gazes at that statement.
"There are no mass relay connections?" Aleya asked with disbelieve. "That's impossible, for what I know we jumped from the mass relay in the Bahak System" she made a pause.
"Wait a moment, if there are no relay connections then how did you arrive at this system?" she asked.
"Well that is another long story" the captain stated. "In any case our scout drones located your ship's crash site a few miles from here, we would like to ask for your permission and your aid in recovering any surviving logs and records explaining why this system is restricted to a faction of Terminus pirates known as the Black Fleet who had been spreading destruction across the Attican Traverse"
The villagers exchanges gazes as a wave of heated murmuring began, all of them looked troubled.
"I see" Aleya began. "We would like to assemble a group to accompany you to the crash site as it is a sort of sacred spot for all of us" she took a deep breath. "Those who didn't make it, the eight turian prisoners, the Quarian and many others are buried there. It's our cemetery"
The captain solemnly nodded in response. "I understand" he said before returning to his seat.
"If it's fine for you, we will rest for an hour or two so as your people can prepare before gathering a joint recovery team" he suggested, Aleya nodded in response.
"I am sure you are curious about us and what has happened during the last 20 years in Citadel Space" he stated. "Do you want to know anything first?"
Aleya hesitated for a moment. "You said you had some troubles with the Turians two years ago during the first contact after you activated a mass relay…"
"Without authorization…" Tasha Cruz interrupted her. "Yes we have heard that before, as it is illegal in Council Space, yes we got it"
"Cruz" the Captain frowned.
"Sorry sir" the scolded officer answered before turning to Aleya. "Beg your pardon ma'am"
"Don't worry" the Asari answered. "So there was a skirmish then? I am sure the Council intervened before the situation evolved into any conflict of sorts…"
"Skirmish…?" the captain smiled. "Well it went a little further than that…"
And so the captain began talking about the first contact war: Beginning with the skirmish in the Zodiac-Alpha system, the battle near the Fujian-Alpha Relay between the fleets of the Turian Admiral Varkus and Commodore Lillian Meltzer; he activated his omni tool and began showing holo recordings and images of the battles… to the amazement of the entire room.
Even though his tale had gathered a large group of villagers who stood mouth agape at the tale for Luz Kowalczyk it had been enough, she didn't need to hear more of the First Contact War, she stood from her seat, walked towards the door and left the long house.
Upon standing right at the middle of the village's central plaza she took into the environment and her surroundings as a calm breeze stroked the skin of her face and made her long dark brown hair flutter like a flame; she looked at the sky a calm blue sky so similar to that of Earth or Amanecer; how far yet so close.
A group of giggles broke her from her thoughts… as she lowered her gaze, she saw three children all of them Batarians, with the heights of human children between the ages of eight and twelve. It was hard to tell if any of them was a girl or a boy, but the thinnest of them looked like a girl; it was cruel to admit it but not one of them looked especially cute; they were these small creatures of four eyes and orange near yellow skin with sharp teeth. It didn't help that the three of them were practically naked with only their small clothes made of leather and cheap fabric.
"Are you some kind of Asari?" the smallest of them asked. "You look like one but what is that long thing coming out of your head?" she had the voice of a girl; despite her dislike of Batarians Luz smiled at that.
"No, I am a human" she went to one knee to put herself at the child's line of sight. "Don't worry everyone thinks that we are very similar to Asari or the Quarians under those suits"
"Didn't they say your species was named terran?" the oldest of the kids asked.
"It's complicated; Terra was the ancient name for the human homeworld Earth, even thought our species are called humans. We refer to us as Terrans as an honor to our shared heritage, also there are multiple alien species living within the Terran Alliance not only humans and they all call themselves terrans" she tried to explain.
"Multiple alien species?" the last kid asked. "What like slaves or servants?"
"NO" Luz frowned. "Like free individuals and respected citizens, we work side by side to bring a better future for each of us and…"
A stung of pain hit Luz as her hair was jerked brusquely…
"Whooaa" the smallest of the bunch had approached behind Luz and grabbed a large strand of her hair; she was caressing it with curiosity and fascination. "It's so soft and pretty" she/he squealed, it was a girl most likely.
"How did you get this?" the child asked.
"Our homeworld of Earth can be very cold sometimes, we had to adapt, and hair help us to keep ourselves warm" she tried to explain as she began caressing her hair.
"Hey stop bothering our guest" a sharp feminine voice came from the side as Luz turned around to see a tall light blue skin Asari coming towards them, she looked much younger than the matron Aleya with much softer features.
The three kids dispersed at her call, running in every direction.
"Sorry for that" the Asari said to Luz, before pausing for a moment looking at her expression and manners as if she was studying her from head to toe.
"Checking if those kids were right?" Luz teased her.
"Huhhh…?" the Asari asked confused.
"They said that we humans looked a lot like the Asari" she made a pause. "They may be right" Luz said smiling.
The Asari returned the smile; it was a little unnerving staring at those deep blue eyes, so shinning, so mysterious and above all so disturbingly human.
She looked young, a maiden perhaps with a generous bosom a nice round ass.
"Yes they were" the Asari stated in a friendly tone. "Sorry for the troubles, I was supposed to take care of those kids while their parents are in the field but I was call to help repair a busted water purifier…"
"Water purifier?" Luz asked as she followed the Asari's gaze to a large machine near the river. "Are you an engineer?"
"As close as I can be for this town at least" the Asari answered. "Are you one yourself…?"
"No" Luz countered. "I am a pilot, but I have experience in fixing simple tech; my name is Luz by the way Petty Officer 1st Class Luz Kowalczyk" she stated as she went into a military posture and spoke in a confident tone.
"Naleia Vasori" the Asari said a little unnerved perhaps. "A pleasure to meet you, I could use your help"
"Very well Naleia let me assist you if am able"
-.
The water purifier was a simple piece of tech that filtered and boiled the water extracted from the river transforming it into drinkable water before releasing the flow into a small dike that carry the current back to the town.
As a pilot Luz Kowalczyk had experience in ship maintenance and mechanics; a good Alliance pilot needed to know her fighter from the inside out, how to maintain it and how to feel when something was wrong with its hardware. She could feel the fighter while flying and check for any issues or misalignments.
So the water purifier of the settlement was not a challenge for her, the filters were nearly exhausted and needed to be clean and the boiler had a few crossed wires, yet the biggest trouble was the fact that the purifier's systems did not respond to a restart and needed to be jump started.
"No good" Naleia explained. "I need to get a battery and connect it to the power nodes" she was about to leave when…
"No need" Luz countered as she summoned her plasmids powers, the Asari's looked mouth agape as in the human's right hand sparks of energy danced around her fingers; finally a short electroshock hit the machine which immediately began to function once again.
The Asari Naleia turned to Luz. "Your people can control electricity?" she asked.
"More or less" the human pilot answered. "Powers like mine are known as plasmids; they are like biotics, control of elemental powers in simple terms through focused energy capable of shaping anomalies in different ways. There are several types of plasmids nevertheless amongst my people nevertheless"
"Fascinating" the Asari stated. "So what other types of powers your species has?"
For a moment Luz hesitated, revealing critical information to an alien, more so a member of an enemy alien species like an Asari was not wise; yet in the end the large collection of plasmid powers used by the humans was not a secret, at the extranet info regarding them was open for all to see… what would be the danger in telling this apparently innocent girl (who was most likely decades older than Luz) something like this… Still she was conflicted in speaking so open, thankfully she was spared for making that decision…
"Kowalczyk?!" a voice she knew too well called her and she turned to the side to see Commander Carl Andrias and Ensign Louis Carver walking towards them.
She immediately went into a salute, her ingrained discipline overriding her. "Commander" she said to one and then the other. "Ensign" she stated.
"Sightseeing Cyclone 9?" Ensign Carver asked.
"Apologies" Naelia stuttered. "She was helping me to repair our water purifier" she explained.
Commander Andrias smiled. "It's that so?" she looked at Luz with his dark blue inquisitive eyes, she simply nodded. "Very well then, in any case Kowalczyk be ready to depart in ten, we are going to the crash site to recover the slave ship's data logs"
"Understood sir" she answered.
Meanwhile Ensign Louis Carver had taken out a cigarette and was holding it between his fingers.
"Sir if you mind, could you give me a light" he asked the commander outstretching the cigarette holding hand towards Carl.
"Not at all ensign" Commander Andrias answered, summoning a flame between his fingers that was blue instead of the typical red associated with the Incinerate plasmid; next to Luz, Naelia stood mouth agape her eyes fixed on the flame lighting the cigarette.
Ensign Carver took a deep breath before exhaling smoke from his nostrils.
"Do you want a sip commander?" he offered the cigarette to the much taller officer.
"No, thank you, I do not smoke" Andrias answered. "Ensign would you mind return to the camp and began assembling the team, I will join with you in a while"
"Yes sir" the officer answered and turned around, walking away.
"Kowalczyk, miss" he said to both women. "Would you join me for a short walk?" he offered with a smile.
Luz exchanged gazes with Naelia who nodded and smiled.
"Of course sir" the Asari stated surprising Luz.
Commander Andrias guided them walking right next to the river and then towards the town, looking at his surroundings with Luz and Naelia taking either side of him.
"So miss, I have to say your planet is remarkably beautiful and has a peaceful feeling about it that is unlike any place I have ever seen" he stated to the Asari who gulped nervously and then smiled; blushing as well Luz could tell.
"Thank you sir, my name is Naelia by the way" she made a pause. "And yes it is peaceful, peacefully boring perhaps" she released a short laugh. "It was not the home any of us wanted but it was the home the goddess or fate gave us"
"It reminds me a bit of my home planet, the colony of Amanecer it's a jungle type world, with beautiful rain forests and immense blue and green oceans; it has three big moons, in a clear night the largest an orange one shines like a rusted cooper coin. My brother and I often made kayaking during nights with three moons" Luz explained looking to both Naelia and Commander Andrias. "Where are you from Commander? Your file doesn't says much other your participation in the First Contact War and your performance within the Second Fleet"
Carl Andrias smiled. "I am from Earth, the city of Rapture but I have spent most of my life in space, since I was fourteen I have been moving from planet to planet, living and serving in various starships as well as training at various planets. I briefly applied for the Alliance Marine Corps but I eventually settled at the Starfighter Corps. I am better at the cockpit of a fighter than at the trenches in any case"
"Still have family back home sir?" Luz asked.
"My dad, three sisters and a nephew" he made a pause. "I haven't seen them in a while, in person at least. What about you Cyclone 9?"
"My parents and youngest sister back home, a brother in the Alliance Engineering Corps" she explained.
"What about you miss Naelia?" Carl asked. "Eager to meet your family once we take you back home?"
Naelia looked at the ground as in deep thought. "My mother lives in Illium I think, she sent me away to a frontier colony with other children, for a population development project in Attican Traverse colonies; I was 40 years old…"
"For an Asari that is quite young" Carl intervened looking at Naelia with piercing inquisitive eyes. "You are a pureblood? Are you not?"
Naelia froze in place looking at the human Commander, mouth agape. "How… how do…you know?"
"Asari don't send children away unless they want to protect them and themselves from family troubles like racial persecution. I fought against mercenaries from the Eclipse Corporation during a pacification operation in the Terminus Systems; the Eclipse Commandos or sisters as they call themselves were mostly pureblood Asari sent away by their mothers, half of them fought more like trigger happy rebel teens than soldiers" he made a pause.
"Also according to Alliance Intelligence, Batarians generally do not kidnap registered citizens of Citadel Space; they go after colonists at the frontier and people who would not be missed" Carl openly stated surprising both Luz and Naelia, but his expression somewhat softened looking at the Asari.
"In any case I am sorry miss for all you have suffered yet in the end here you stand after all a true survivor, draw strength from it Naelia. Never forget who you are the rest of the galaxy will not, wear it like a kinetic barrier and it will never be used to hurt you" he finally declared before turning around and leaving the two but he turned towards Luz for a moment.
"Be ready in five Kowalczyk" he ordered Luz.
"Yes sir" she answered.
After he was out of earshot, Luz turned to Naelia. "Are you okay?" she asked. "I apologize for…"
"He was right" the Asari stated with some hesitation. "Every word he said was true but everyone else has been ignorant of all that, while the Asari who knew about it always looked at me with some level of disdain or worse still pity but no one has ever spoken to me like this, confronting me about it and telling me to draw strength from it. Are all humans like you or him?" she asked the human pilot who didn't know how to answer until she did and smiled.
"There is no one like him, there is no one like me and honestly I doubt there is an Asari exactly like you Naelia. In any case would like to accompany us to the crash site, we could use another guide, if you are not too busy" Luz said to the Asari.
"Sure it would be a pleasure" the Asari answered once again smiling in a way that made her look completely human in soul if not body.
"Speaking of which…" Naelia began. "That ability with the blue flame was also one of your…"
"Plasmids yes" Luz answered. "It's a type of power known as Incinerate or pyrokinesis, fire control through energy fields; yet it's strange in Commander Andrias case nevertheless, unlike him every other human with mastery of the incinerate plasmid creates and control a red flame like a chemically created fire; but in the commander's case he has a blue one: most likely as result of a more disciplined control that holds a flame that somewhat does not produce carbon monoxide or something…"
"Do all humans have plasmid powers?"
"Hard to tell, it's mostly a large percentage of our populations with several differences between them" Luz answered. "Also various humans have more than one plasmid power: Commander Andrias for example has both and Incinerate type plasmid and an Electroshock like mine; and maybe even more… I do not know. For example my brother has a cryo type plasmid known as winter blast that creates a wave of freezing cold air" Luz explained as best as she could omitting the fact that plasmids were the result of gene mod therapy splicing.
The Asari looked at Luz with a weird gaze.
"What?" she asked.
Then to her surprise the Asari moved her hand towards Luz's face caressing her ears and then the hair, a little bewildered Luz abruptly pushed her hand away.
"Que diablos chica?" Luz ranted, staring at the Asari with confusion.
"Sorry it's just I never imagine that there could be something so similar…" she made a pause. "To myself in the universe and I couldn't resist, those kids were right, your fur is incredible soft and beautiful"
Luz actually blushed at that.
-.
At the other side of the village
As the rest of the team began to gather for the expedition Commander Andrias stood next to Captain Dewitt looking at the alien village with curiosity.
"Fascinating isn't it Captain" Carl stated. "How such a diverse group of people could come together living such simple lives after being brought here against their will, not only surviving but managing to thrive even"
"Yes Carl, it's remarkable, I am sure the tale of these castaways will become a favorite amongst the Terran people. Another testament against slavery and in favor of peaceful coexistent between different space faring species" Captain Dewitt smiled.
"It reminds me to the story of the forgotten slaves of Tromelin Island, a group of castaways Malagasy - Negro slaves who survived in a small insignificant island near Madagascar during the eighteenth century after their transport ship the French corvette Utile wrecked there"
Carl listened patiently as his captain and longtime mentor began narrating the story of a tragedy within one of humanity darkest chapters.
"A navigation error, due to the use of two conflicting charts, caused the vessel to wreck on the reefs of Tromelin Island (then called the Isle of Sand)"
"After the wreck, the crew and about 60 Malagasy people managed to reach the island, but the rest of the slaves, locked in the hold, drowned. The crew retrieved various equipment, food and wood from the wreckage. They dug a well, providing drinking water, and fed on salvaged food, turtles, and seabirds"
"Captain Jean de Lafargue lost his mind as a result of the wreck, and was replaced by his first lieutenant, second-in-command, Barthelemy Castellan du Vernet who lost his brother Leon in the shipwreck. Castellan built two camps, one for the crew and one for the slaves, a forge and an oven, and with the materials recovered from the wreckage, they began construction of a ship"
"Finally on 1761, a contingent of 122 French sailors (crew and officers) left the Sand Island aboard the ship which in honor of Christian custom they dubbed her the Providence. But as the ship was too small to transport them all so they left the surviving slaves – 60 Malagasy men and women – on the desert island, promising to return and rescue them; liberating them as free men and women back at their homeland eventually"
"The sailors reached Madagascar in just over four days and, after a stopover in Foulpointe, they were transferred to Réunion Island, and then to Mauritius. When the crew of the ship reached Mauritius, they requested that colonial authorities send a ship to rescue the Malagasy slaves on the island. However, they were met with a categorical refusal from the governor, with the justification that France was fighting the Seven Years' War and thus no ship could be spared, the island of Mauritius being itself under threat of attack from British India"
"Castellan left Mauritius to return to France in 1762 and never gave up hope to one day return to the Isle of Sand to save the surviving Malagasy people. The news of the castaway slaves got published and stirred the Parisian intellectual milieu; yet later, the episode was all but forgotten with the end of the Seven Years' War and the bankruptcy of the East India Company"
"In 1773, a ship passing close to Tromelin Island located the slaves and reported them to the authorities of Isle de France. A boat was sent, but this first rescue failed, as the ship couldn't approach the island. A year later, a second ship, Sauterelle, also failed to reach the island. During this second failed rescue, a sailor managed to swim to the island, but he had to be abandoned by the ship due to bad weather. This sailor remained on Tromelin Island and, sometime later, probably around 1775, built a raft on which he embarked with three men and three women, but they disappeared at sea"
"It was not until 29 November 1776, 15 years after the sinking of the Utile; that Ensign Tromelin-Lanuguy, captain of the corvette Dauphine, reached Tromelin Island and rescued the survivors – seven women and an eight-month-old child. Upon arriving there, Tromelin-Lanuguy discovered that the survivors were dressed in plaited feather clothes and that they had managed, during all these years, to keep a fire lit (even though the island did not have a single tree)"
"The Malagasy people, who had been left on the bleak little island, built a shed with coral stones, for most of the wood had been used in the construction of the raft for the crew. They also built a lookout on the highest point of the island in order not to miss the ship that would, they hoped, come to their rescue. They were all from the Central Highlands of Madagascar, and had no knowledge of how to produce food in the coastal environment. Most had died within the first few months on the island"
"The survivors remained with Jacques Maillart, governor of Mauritius, who declared them free and offered to bring them back to Madagascar, yet they refused"
"Captain Tromelin of the Dauphine was the first to precisely describe the island that now bears his name. The story was certainly a statement in opposition of the disgraceful practice of slavery"
"A fascinating story Captain" Carl answered. "And it also gives me an idea about how to call this planet in our galactic charts"
The Captain turned his gaze towards the Commander and smiled. "Yes Tromelin would be a suitable name for this planet; certainly better that the alternative"
"Which was the alternative captain?"
"Following the naval tradition and calling the planet Dewitt" the captain erupted in laughter with Carl joining in as the rest of the team looked at them puzzled. "And believe me; my ego is not big enough for that"
Their moment of laughter was interrupted when their omni-tool simultaneously biped. Their holographic coms began showing the latest survey data of one of their scout probes sent to every celestial body in this solar system.
"Captain, Commander" the voice of the Rapture's AI began speaking.
Soon the hologram began zooming into the upper atmosphere of a large brown dwarf that was at the last position in orbit of the system's sun: a mass effect field was the very epicenter of a large storm that made a spot similar to Jupiter's red spot back at Sol. Beneath the gas and flowing hydrogen, helium and other gases that made the atmosphere was a large solid object with a shape certainly familiar to every space faring civilization in the Milky Way.
"It cannot be" Carl stuttered. "It's that a…"
"A mass relay, Commander" the AI answered for him. "Now we know why this system is somehow both connected and disconnected from the mass relay network; the gas giant at the edge of this system experienced an increase of gravitational force several thousands of years ago and due to its powerful gravitational force; it literally swallowed the mass relay in orbit whole"
"How could that be possible?" Carl asked.
"Our chief science officer has theorized that it is likely that a black matter asteroid might have made impact on the gas giant upper atmosphere, due to the helium and hydrogen contained there, the mass effect reaction could have led to the gravitational anomaly; it's not so different from what happened in the Juttenheim system" the AI explained.
"Incredible" Captain Dewitt stated, now they knew why the slave ship had crashed landed into this planet. When the ship exited the mass relay it came out directly within the violent atmosphere of the gas giant instead of open space so it was severely damaged and the crew had no choice but to land/crash into this unknown world.
"Yet while this explain why is that this system is flagged as restricted by the Batarian pirates; this does not explain why is that the other mass relay is capable of connecting to this system" he made a pause.
"Unless the Bahak System's relay is capable of more than what the Batarians have informed the galaxy" the AI countered.
"After all the protheans records said about a primary mass relay capable of connecting to multiple locations, switching from exit relay to exit relay" she suggested. "We may have found the location of the Alpha Relay"
A cold ominous feeling crossed the back of Captain Dewitt and Commander Andrias; they may have just stumbled upon one of the oldest secrets of the galaxy.
-.
CODEX:
Citadel Report - Terran Colonization efforts: Humanity under the leadership of the Terran Systems Alliance has expanded across the stars with a scale and speed unmatched by any other race in galactic history, even the krogans during the height of their empire didn't spread with such swiftness and voracity as humanity has.
Through the technology of the rift gates the humans have been able not only to reach systems far too distant from the closest mass relay for normal mass effect FTL to travel and efficiently colonize but also to expend far less resources than the other races in each step at building up their empire. Dozens if not hundreds of rift gates now connect critical sectors and strategically significant solar systems with each other without the need of mass relays or even mass effect FTL.
The discovery and reconstruction of the superstation known as the Erebus Nexus catapulted the Terran expansion several decades forward; through the use of the Juttenheim System as the primary nexus for all rift gate connections, the Alliance economy and military is in possession of a considerable strategic asset. Dozens of planets, mining stations, research outposts, factories and star forges are all linked to Erebus and each other allowing the consolidation of an ever growing economy that is almost a match to that of any of the oldest and most powerful civilizations of the galaxy. The position of the Erebus Nexus has also given the Terran Alliance a considerable military edge over the rest of the space faring nations of known space: they can transport entire navies and armies from one side of their empire to another with ease, making almost any long term campaign against them nearly inconsiderably costly.
Turians, Asari and Salarians as well as the other major space faring powers in the known galaxy have sector wide fleets that cannot move from quadrant to quadrant without a considerable spend of resources and time. Terrans have a similar mindset but the presence of the Erebus Station and other critical rift nexus points allows their navies to change position in days if not hours instead of months or weeks like the other races of the galaxy. Battle lines and borders would mean little for the Alliance fleet.
Many Citadel analysts have debated on the nature behind the Terrans swift expansion since the very first's attempts to reach the stars.
Many believe that as the humans are still a young space faring civilization and the national, cultural and racial identities within mankind are still fresh and strong their expansion was propelled forward as they colonized the stars not as a single nation but as many: the nature of Terran occupied space supports much of this claim, while still under the oversight of the Terran Alliance government, the nations of Earth have claimed dozens of planets for themselves and their populations.
For example the North American Commonwealth, led by the US, Mexico and Canada; alongside China claimed joint colonization of their first extra solar colony the planet of Chiron located in the Alpha Centauri System.
The European Union claimed several planets like Arcadia, Demeter, Columbia and Sirius; many of them critical centers of industry, breadbaskets for their sectors and massive urban centers.
The Republic of India one of the most populated nations of Earth took over the planet Hoysala; a large continental world terraformed for human settlement that is growing rapidly into of the most developed central colonies.
Russia took many planets like Persephone or the artic world of Altay for their terraforming and eventual settlement. Altay is the primary human colony of Russian sponsorship; a massive mining and forge world.
China and the US are always engaged in a situation known as cold war at the Alliance Parliament for the colonization of new worlds. China took over planets like Shinnon, Chongsheng and Shambala; while the US claimed critical prospects like Rodin (main industrial center for production of synthetics) or Terra Nova.
Rapture despite being one of the smallest nations of Earth took over a few planets with their most successful colony being the world of Hera.
Yet many of the planets at the Alliance were colonized by coordinated efforts of multiple larger or smaller nations: Eden Prime, Tyr, Benning, Amanecer, Alaisijam, Hades Prime, Wakanda or Hephaestus.
In the end most Citadel analysts, xeno anthropologists and even military advisors coincide in their declarations stating that the fast pace of Terran colonization was due to a strategic necessity for resources and territory that was determined critical for the survival or at least the prosperity of mankind after discovering the fate of the protheans and then the existence of the Citadel Council; an external threat is always a powerful source of unity after all.
Perhaps the swift expansion of the Alliance, their technological supremacy, their innovative military tactics and even their dynamic and diverse culture can be resumed through a single maxim that has always guided some of the greatest and vilest achievements of the human race: we do this because we need to be the first.
-.
AUTHOR'S NOTES – ANSWERS TO REVIEWS:
stylo1: I am amazed by the time and attention you took in criticizing my story; you have more reviews than anyone else I think.
-Neutron - antimatter reactor: The neutron stars are the densest celestial body in the universe after the black holes: it is say that a single particle with the volume of a human hair could have as much density as all of Mont Everest. More interesting though is the theory that inside a neutron star is substance known only as 'Strange matter' that somehow turns every other particle it comes into contact into more strange matter by super compressing the other matter. Antmatter can create a powerful release of energy by coming into contact with normal matter and the release of energy is greater the denser the normal matter is. In simple terms strange matter + antimatter = enormous release of energy (maybe even enough to power a rift in the very fabric of space-time).
-To better explain in this story the rift gates and rift jumps can only be powered by a Neutron – antimatter reactor; while mass effect drives can only be powered by an eezo core as in cannon.
-Mass effect drives; eezo; helium-3: Helium-3 is the optimal fuel for the ships of the mass effect universe, the Terran Alliance uses both rift gates and mass effect drives (with the extraction of helium-3 and eezo as a necessity) to save resources and avoid itself for being entirely reliant in a single FTL method. Also the use of mass effect drives in normal ships be it civilians or non-capital military vessels prevents much of the risk for capture of a rift jump drive or a neutron – antimatter reactor by the enemy. The Alliance can use both the mass relays and rift gates to travel from place to place, they rely more in the rift gates but if the rift gates were to fail or their systems compromise, they would still be able to use normal FTL to travel through the stars.
-Colonization of planets: With so many exo planets at their disposal the Alliance was eager to find which of them were the most suitable for high scale colonization. Even a planet similar to Earth can have serious troubles: disease, hostile ecosystem, chaotic weather, poor quality or poisonous soil, etc. Many of the planets colonized by the Alliance had to be terraformed first, also there is a hunger for raw resources, it is natural that the Alliance wanted to build as many outposts as possible to claim those systems and began harvesting those resources.
-Some of those vessels had to stay in the planets as a mean of evacuation for earlier colonies, what is solar flare, change of weather, bacteria, etc; puts the colony at risk.
-Sentient/ sapient: I use the term sentient to refer to beings capable of feeling pain both physical and emotional in a way, this term can be used to speak of animals or sapient beings; and to be fair is a way to simplify things.
-This is a brave new world, the integration of my version of Rapture (this one much more developed and populated, founded by Nikola Tesla originally and reformed by Andrew Ryan and others) into the world economy and politics changed a lot.
-The encounter with the Quarians was an unplanned first contact for the crew of the Michigan but a possible secret plan by the 'shadow council' that secretly guides the Alliance through proxies and long standing projects; the original Cabal who received the information from the future is long gone but their successors still struggle to keep their plan going. The presence of AIs is one of the changes made through the integration of Rapture; they are critical for the inner workings of the Alliance economy and military.
-If I were to write this story again I would certainly change the encounter with the Quarians, now I realize that it was too naïve and simple, but I needed a way for mankind to learn about the existence of the Citadel Council through other means and be prepared for the true first contact.
-ivanacco1 – Population numbers: There are many plotholes in the history of the Mass Effect universe and few are as complicated as the extend of each race space, population and economy; there are supposed to be a very limited amount of garden worlds suitable for each population and how is it that a population in the trillions has only a few planets with a pop of barely a few billions. I made a few changes in the CODEX increasing the amount of colonies for each species. Also many of those planets could be what in sci fi are known as Hive worlds with a population of dozens of billions; let it be clear that those Hive worlds were planets subjected to terraforming, previous death planets turn into habitable ones. While natural garden worlds like Earth, Palaven, Thessia and Sur'kesh have limitations in population growth, resource exploitation and expansion of cities as you have a mandate to keep the original ecosystem intact and don't build over natural wonders like the Amazon Jungle or the Himalayan mountains.
-Pirates and Krogan DMZ: In Citadel Space mercenaries and gangs employ krogans for criminal purposes, like the Bloodpack, with pirates from the Terminus Systems pressing from the border; it is natural for the Council to remain vigilant for any internal threat.
-The Quarian Intel is 40 years old there could have been many changes during that time frame and the intent of the Alliance at least in the case of a first contact scenario is trying to solve it through any diplomatic purposes if possible.
stylo1: Once again I am impressed at the amount of attention you put in every little detail of my story; nevertheless I am tired of answering these observations, so if you like it just continue reading it. And if you think you can do better then write your own fanfic.
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Hope you like this chapter; this is a transition more than anything, future chapters will delve into the Ellusive Man's origin story within this new AU.