Chapter 3
Alien Discovery
Epsilon-Beta System
SSV Light The Way
Captain Samuel Goldman
Sam watched the creation of the final ODP (Orbital Defence Platform) with interest there were already 4 in orbit and this would be the final one needed for a colony of this size, these were the newest designs that incorporated Mass Effect technology instead of using the usual 'Super Coil Gun' design, now instead of propelling their slugs with electromagnetism alone a Mass Effect Field would envelop the slug and make it weightless before being sent through the coil to be shot out, this meant that the kiloton yield was doubled this made them far more deadly than the original designs, estimates said that one shot could kill a dreadnought full stop.
This was to Sam the embodiment of human ingenuity and the System Alliance's dedication to the protection of human colonies in all of space.
"Captain the science vessels are ready to leave now." His XO Thomas informed him.
"Send the Alexander, Clad In Red and Dawn Bringer with them, I don't want any chances taken." He ordered.
The Alexander was a new Heavy-Cruiser one of the first improvements made to the Navy since the Tech boom years ago, they were now the most numerous type of ships used now within the Alliance Navy and of course, it had the special Titanium-A Alloy as armour since it was far superior to what they were using before. The Clad In Red and Dawn Bringer were modified frigates updated with the latest technology but still built in the old style they only had plates of the new armour but they were simulated to perform better than the old Frigates.
The rapid expansion had not stopped since then Rear-Admiral now Admiral Jon Grissom and then Commander now Captain James Clark made their discovery, the information was suppressed and everyone involved was given a gag order and also lead to the creation of the Systems Alliance Intelligence Agency (SAI) the first Intelligence agency that was not based on Earth and they were zealous in making sure that the general population never found out about the existence of parallel worlds and of the other humans who were trapped in a genocidal war with aliens.
The only way to have that information was to be high in the ranks of the Alliance like Sam was, he was worried about their brothers from the universe but he knew deep in his heart that they would win their Great War with this so-called Covenant, Humans were stubborn creatures and would do anything to win when pushed to the limit.
"Captain, General Sheridan reports that all defensive measures have been completed now." His Ships AI Cybele told him.
She appeared in a hologram from a nearby pillar, she was dressed as an ancient Roman woman with dark hair and eyes clad in a white toga, AIs were one of the first creations to come out of the Shine Bright's examination, they made them through digitising a donor's brain and uploading them into a specialised quantum BlackBox computer, as such they retained elements of humanity despite their synthetic nature, Sam found them good company especially with their quick wit and admired their genuine determination to defend humanity, they, of course, knew about the parallel universe and even of the 'Rampancy' that could affect them, the first AI was only created 5 years ago so the first created AI Magni still had two years left before any rampancy was set to happen. Of course, countermeasures had been put into place for the occasion but as it went right now AIs were nothing but beneficial.
"Thank you, Cy, send the signal out to Arcturus." He replied.
"Got it Captain sending Summer Contingency message." She confirmed and shut her eyes to send the message. That was her one quirk whenever she had to do something while completing normal tasks, like a child shutting their eyes to concentrate on a maths problem.
The Summer Contingency was a message that essentially meant a colony was cleared for full immigration efforts, this was a response to the knowledge of the Great War, and all it meant was that every colony has to begin as a military installation and has to have a standing garrison along with defensive fortifications and at least 3 ODPs that are operational at 100% efficiency.
It was truly amazing to think just how far humanity had come in the 10 years since that fateful day, with knowledge from an alternative universe they had been able to refine a lot of material processing and improve factory efficiency by a massive magnitude, the creation of AIs also helped greatly since they could think at the speed of light and process information and problems faster than any human ever could.
Down on Bastion right now was an Air Force, Garrison Army and even a Wet Navy all of them well trained and prepared to die in defence of the colony especially since their families are the first immigrants on the planet and starting the civilian industry, right now Bastion had a population of around 10 million not including the military personnel on the planet.
"Anything on the probes?" He asked Cybele.
"Nothing so far sir, all early-warning sensors are clear." She replied looking at her non-existent nails.
"Let's hope it stays that way." He muttered and looked down on the colony, he could not explain why but he got a bad feeling in his stomach.
SSV Newton
Doctor Karl Muller
"Karl what do you think?" Someone asked him.
Karl looked up from his screen and stared at Luca Romano a colleague aboard this Science Ship.
"I wasn't listening, what are you asking?" He said honestly.
Lucas's face screwed up in annoyance and she sighed before talking. "I was asking about aliens, do you think we'll encounter any or are we alone in the universe."
Karl took a moment to think about the question before answering.
"I think that it is statistically improbably that we are the only space-faring species right now, though the Protheans are 50,000 years dead it could be that we either have not encountered another species since space is so large or we are the first to rise from the ashes of the Protheans." He answered.
"That's the boring answer," Luca complained and went back to her desk.
"I told you so." Matthew Fields said with a smile watching her.
"Shut up Matt." Was the response.
Karl went back to calibrating his sensors, they would be activating the Phase-Gate soon and travelling through to scout another new system to be claimed for the Alliance.
"Attention, Phase-Gate Activating travel will be conducted in approximately 60 seconds." The Dumb AI announced over the PA System.
Karl looked out the window that was on the far side of the Lab and watched as the Phase-Gate's core began to send out probing arcs of Element Zero which were surrounding the ship and communicating with the Element Zero Drive Core on the ship, thousands of complex calculations taking place all at once, a great marvel of engineering and computer technology.
There was a slight shudder and then the Newton was propelled across space going faster than light itself, covering a ludicrous distance in a relatively short amount of time such was the wonder of Mass Effect technology.
Within a few minutes of going through the Phase-Gate, they arrived at the next system in the network. They went through a secondary Phase-Gate which meant that it connected to multiple other Gates but they were not sent as far away as the primary Phase-Gates would send ships.
"Never gets old," Matt said with a smile as he watched the blue wash over the windows, as they were propelled through space.
"I think the pinnacle of this technology would be to create our own. There must be hundreds of systems out there that don't have a Phase-Gate." Luca mused aloud as she fiddled with her Omni-Tool.
"That would take years of research and even longer to build them." Karl pointed out.
"Yes, but it is in the realm of possibility now." Luca retorted.
That comment summed up the current attitude of the scientific community within the Systems Alliance, since the tech boom of 10 years ago there was a lot of optimism for the future now and things that were once thought to be out of reach were now slowly becoming possible.
"The future of humanity is bright my friends and we're doing the thankless work that the big discoveries are built off," Matt said dramatically arms wide.
"You really should have gone into the theatre as your Mother wanted," Luca said in a flat tone of voice.
"You mock but what we do here will be used later for something big." He replied and went back to work.
"Ship Arriving in 3...2...1..." The announcement they had been waiting for finally happened.
There was a slighter shudder as the Newton dropped out of the jump and began to decelerate to normal speeds once again.
Karl looked at his scanner as soon as they entered the system, from the preliminary scans they were in a system with a yellow sun and 6 planets present, two similar to Neptune and Uranus back in Sol and the only gas giant present in the system, 3 solid planets seemed to be barren, the first two were like Mercury and Venus while the third was in the golden zone but his scanners were telling him it the air was polluted and the oceans were acidic which was not the ideal conditions for any life to evolve and reach sentience or sapience.
There was something strange however it was unclear on his sensors at first but as they went further into the system and began more detailed and in-depth scans the picture became clear.
Artificial satellites were surrounding the planet, they were crude and basic but a man well alien made looking nothing like the satellites used by Earth and the various colonies.
"Artificial structures detected on the scan." He announced loudly and all of his tea ran over to his station.
"Holy shit no way," Matt said in shock.
"Alien life." Luca breathed in amazement.
"Attention: Alien Structures detected around planet designated Gamma-3.
Repeat: Alien Structures Detected." An alarm went off as soon as the data was processed properly.
"Crew of the Newton we're heading for that planet I want everyone performing the most in-depth scans and recon they can." Their Captains voice echoed throughout the ship.
10 minutes later they were right by the planet, far enough to not be detected but close enough to perform the scans they needed to do.
"I'm detecting a lot of life down there even with how bad the environment is," Matt announced looking grim.
"How many?" Lucas asked.
"Billions." Was the answer.
"Damn, are we thinking it's an overpopulated planet?" She said.
"That is what it's looking like, these aliens have seemed to do environmental damage and are suffering from overpopulation," Luca said with confidence.
"We won't know anything until we can hack their satellite network and translate their languages," Karl said.
"Well, let's get to work."
Later
SSV Light The Way
Captain Samuel Goldman
Samuel sighed as he stood before the System's Alliance top brass. The most powerful men & women in human space and were all looking at him, they were all holographic and lagged a few minutes behind him but that did not diminish their gravitas.
"As I have said, we have encountered sapient alien life they reside on the 3rd planet from the sun within the Epsilon-Gamma system, from what we have observed they are a bipedal race with two legs, arms and a head, honestly they look like walking lizards and as of right now are in a state of societal decline, their industrialisation has begun to kill the planet's ecosystem and they are also suffering from overpopulation." He explained calmly though on the inside he was sweating.
"And what of their technological level?" Fleet-Admiral Carlos Ramon asked after a moment of silence.
"Currently around early 20th century, they can launch satellites into orbit but do not seem to have constructed any space stations or even launched ships into orbit." He answered clearly.
"So a pre-spaceflight race of lizard people who are currently on the downturn then." The head of SAI said with satisfaction, she was the only person here who he could not see, instead of a holograph of a person it was a simple monolith that said AUDIO ONLY.
"What are our options, has the UN Security Council been informed." Asked General Abdullah.
"Not yet." The Fleet-Admiral answered though by the tone of his voice he also had no intention to do so.
"Options are limited, we can make contact, leave them or even begin covert infiltration operations and try to take over the planet." The monolith spoke again.
"We should take the diplomatic option." Anita Goyle said, she was the head of the Diplomatic Core of the System's Alliance which had never been used before and her presence at these meetings was more a formality than anything else, well at least before today.
"What sends a ship down and negotiate with them." The General said sarcastically.
"We have a lot they would want especially in regards to ecology." Anita shot back.
"Terraforming their planet back to perfect health." The Fleet-Admiral said as he put together what she was hinting at.
"And what do we get out of it?" The head of SAI asked.
"11 billion grateful lizard men," Anita said with a smile.
"You want us to assimilate an alien race?" Abdullah said in outrage.
"We are the System's Alliance." Anita pointed out.
"Enough, we shall put it to a vote," Carlos ordered.
Sam was very uncomfortable now, he was pretty sure that a mere Captain should not be present for important votes like this.
"Captain your report and service are appreciated but this is beyond your pay grade, we shall inform you of our decision soon." The Monolith informed him and then cut his feed.
Sam sighed and rubbed his temples.
"Tough call Captain?" Cybele asked innocently.
"You know full well it was." He bit back and then sat down in his chair.
"Well look at it this way, you're detachment is the first to discover actual alien life, this will be in the history books." She said cheerfully.
"That doesn't help and you know it." He said back.
"Captain the verdict has been decided." The female anonymous voice echoed throughout the room.
He stood up and faced the monolith that just appeared on his ship. "What are my orders?" He asked as the prefect soldier would.
"You are to identify the strongest nation on the planet and make contact, start with radio communication and then physical interaction." She said in a tone that would not allow any argument.
"Of course I will begin right away." He said with a nod.
"Do not disappoint us, Captain." With that ominous message the hologram disappeared.
"Cybele how far along is the translator?" He asked.
"90% complete, I can have it finished and refined by the time we move to get into position." She answered clearly.
"Well let's move." He ordered standing up.
Rakhana
Kuka City
President Koye Shiost
Koye was true without hope now, diplomatic negotiations with Dictator Sana had completely broken down and now it looked like war was inevitable on Rakhana now.
"Is this the end of the Drell Race?" He mused aloud looking out of his window onto the city he served, much of it was still intact and far better off than some of the other nations who had fallen into anarchy over the battle for resources.
"President what do we do now." His aide asked desperately.
"We pray and hope." He answered, this war would be the last the Drell people would wage, most of the natural resources of the planet were gone and if they both bombed each other into the ground there would be no recovery just a slow death.
"Then it's over." His aide collapsed into despair.
They sat in silence for many minutes Koye stared out on his city where he was born and now would probably die, the twilight of the Drell was inevitable if Sana declared war for the last underground lake.
He understood her people were thirsty but so were his, he had to ration the water very carefully and even so the deaths were mounting higher and higher as many of his people dropped and never rose again.
His musing was interrupted when a loud knock on his door broke his concentration.
"What is it?" He asked.
"President you must see this." A voice answered.
"General Kolyat please come in." He said in surprise, his General was usually an unshakable man to hear him like this was certainly a shock.
General Kolyat burst into the room with a radio under his arm and placed it on his desk.
"What's going on General." His Aide asked.
"Approximately two hours ago we have received radio contact with extraterrestrial beings." He said which silenced both men.
"General if this is a joke.." But Koye cut him off.
"And what happened?" He demanded.
"They spoke to us about making contact." He answered.
"How they are aliens but they can speak Rakhanan." Now he was getting on Koye's nerves.
"It was a synthesised voice so it's a machine translator, These are beings which have achieved what we haven't interstellar travel and probably even FTL travel so a translator would be within their capabilities." General Kolyat said.
"I imagine they have been intercepting the radio signals from our satellites and built a translator from there." He said.
"So why is there a radio here?" Koye asked.
"So you can make official first contact with them." He answered.
The radio began to crackle to life then the voice spoke, "People of this world, we are the System's Alliance and we wish to make contact with your leaders."
"By Amonkira."
Koye picked up the receiver and spoke with all the authority he could muster. "I am Koye Shiost President of the Nation of Kukala if you wish to speak with a higher power there is none."
Then silence dreadful silence after he had finished speaking, but soon after the radio crackled to life again.
"Greetings President Koye Shiost, I am Captain Samuel Goldman of the System's Alliance I have been granted authority to make contact and negotiate with you." It said.
Koye smiled a terrible smile taking both his Aide and the General aback, he had prayed for a miracle to save his people from extinction and now he had a chance.
"Captain I believe we have much to talk about." He said into the radio.
"I'm glad we agree." That was the reply.
CODEX:
Codename: ARGO
Classification: Omega (Highest)
This has been classified as the greatest secret in the Systems Alliance and has even been hidden from the nations of Earth only the highest levels of the Alliance Military know of its existence which has been hidden on an undisclosed colony staffed by only the most trusted members who are monitored by the Systems Alliance Intelligence Agency anyway.
The ship from a parallel or alternative universe, identified as the UNSC Shine Bright a Marathon-Class Heavy-Cruiser which was on an exploratory mission to find the source of an unknown signal, whatever the signal was Alliance scientists have speculated that it interfered with the FTL system and caused a radiation leak which killed all personnel on board.
All bodies on the ship were tested and came back as human but there were no matching people so the hypothesis of the same people being born in alternative worlds was discarded for more reasonable theories about humans existing in other worlds but the people born within it are different.
Most of Humanities technological progression in the last 10 years have been derived from this single ship and new hybrid technologies are being developed through the fusion of Mass Effect based technology and the technology from this ship and the information contained therein.