Council Tower, Citadel, FC+ 7 days
Councilor Sarlul blinked, he couldn't believe the length of Sparatus's current rant. Something deeply bothered the Turian but since they arrive for the emergency meeting Tevos set, Sparatus hadn't stop for a second. He was afraid the man would scream himself to death.
The only reprieve came when Tevos herself entered the room. Sarlul open his mouth to greet his colleague, but Sparatus had merely shifted the object of his irrational ramblings. "Tevos" he practically hissed, "why did you sent a DIPLOMATIC SHIP to meet with those damn primitives!"
The asari councilor merely took her city, ignoring the irrational anger her counterpart was showing. "Sparatus, please, stop screaming, it's unbecoming". Before he could launch another tirade, she kept going: "We all read the reports Rear-Admiral Gaius sent to us, right? The Turian Hierarchy attacked a just discovered race! They destroyed their scientific ships, their defense ships and invaded the colony!"
"And don't forget, Tevos, that the primitives launched a counter-attack against us that completely destroyed our fast reaction force. They crippled a dreadnought Tevos, a Dreadnought! Two cruisers destroyed, another one broken in half! 7 frigates destroyed, another 5 damaged! Our reports indicate that we just lost close to one thousand sailors in orbit, including an Admiral! We still can't verify what's the situation on the ground, but if Desolas is leading them, we can count on piles and piles of turians dead."
Sarlul put his hand in his chin, he always did when deep in thought, and spoke: "Most unfortunate, first contact botched, and with a race that can – and did – hold its own against the Turians. Advise restraint and opening of negotiations"
Sparatus got even more angry at the salarian's advice, "RESTRAINT? We have at least 1600 deaths, including the flotilla that discovered them at the first place. Probably close to 6000 deaths on the ground. We need to put these humans down once and for all, they are a menace to the Galaxy! You read the reports Sarlul, their missiles can jump in FTL! No amount of ultra-violet GARDIAN is going to defend you against that"
Tevos steeled herself now that she knew the salarian was in her camp. "I therefore call a vote, should we continue to prosecute military action against these humans, or can we diffuse this most unfortunate situation and open diplomatic talks with them?"
Sarlul raised his three-finger hand in support for Tevos, Sparatus was outmatched. But not defeated. "The Council may not act when necessary, but the Hierarchy will surely do what needs to be done" and with that, he left the room.
Tevos sighted, hot-headed turian, but she allowed herself a little smile that caught Sarlul's attention. "Something you care to share, councilor?". Recomposing herself, Tevos told the man what she did. "I've already sent an envoy ship to the system hours ago, but having your support to make it an official Council matter will surely facilitate things"
New Shanghai, Shanxi, FC + 8 days
General Desolas Arterius woke up in a cell room. By the looks of it, it was a normal prison, for your everyday drunks. Gathering his bearings, he saw another figure standing right beside him.
"I hope you slept well, General, for the remainder of the day will be less… comfortable"
Desolas stared the man, one of those damn humans! And speaking Palavani, had they broken their communications so quickly? Finding his voice once again, Desolas asked the man, "Who are you, primitive, and who in the Spirits can I understand you?"
The man lit a strange cylindrical object, put the unlit end to his mouth and exhaled a cloud of foul-smelling smoke. "My name is Coronel Yu Tao, from the People's Liberation Army. You lot has invaded Chinese territory, destroyed our ships, and killed good soldiers, what for? As for how I can speak with you, funny things these translators we got, I'm speaking in Chinese, but I assume you are hearing at whatever language you speak?"
Desola felt his anger swelling, how dare this primitive imply he was just a brainless brute? A Krogan? "I attacked your people because they were activating a dormant Relay, which is a contravention of Citadel laws, as far as I'm concerned, you are criminals"
Tao gave a small smile and threw the butt of his cigarette away. "Admiral Gaius told me you're a jingoist madman"
Desolas could stand no more of this situation, he lunged forward and grabbed the bars of his cells. "What did you do to him?"
Tao never even flinched, "your friend is alive and well, he contacted this... Council of yours to explain the situation, they sent him these translators I'm using. Right now, he's probably sitting around in a nice hotel we appropriated to house POWs. He was quite cooperative, after the main body of your fleet was destroyed, he made the smart decision and issued a general surrender, which included your ground forces, since you were… indispose"
With that, Tao left the cell, Desolas fell to his knees. The shame of being capture by primitives! The shame of surrendering to primitives! Even if the order wasn't his, it would mark his record forever. He didn't know he could bear such sin
ESV Bargation, Exodus Cluster, at large, FC+8
The stalling tactic worked wonders; the Matriarch gracefully accepted her requests. She told her about the situation, that she was abroad a European Ship, and the colony attacked was a Chinese one, and they didn't know of the attack until now because the Chinese government had blocked all communications coming in from Shanxi. Benezia was shocked, how could these humans keep playing their political games when certainly a much more pressing matter had revealed itself? She doubted the Turians would differentiate between nations should they decided to wage war against humans.
During the waiting for the diplomatic committee, the Asari started working on updating their translators to English, realizing that speaking directly to their hosts without the hurdle of a third language would minimize chances of diplomatic incidents. Some of the human crew helped them, serving as "test subjects" of the translations produced. An Asari would speak something in High Tessian, while making the action she was speaking of (for example, sitting, or walking, or punching her friend) and the humans would tell if the translation to English was adequate. In the end it was and provided ample time for both races to integrate with one another.
And it was going surprisingly well! The asari it seemed, had a sociable type very familiar to humans, and in no time the crews were telling stories, and making culinary discoveries with their foods (a doctor almost had a stroke seeing an Italian kid trying to eat something given to him by an asari, and ordered a full battery of tests before this could be considered a safe practice. The asari doctor on board only laughed, activated a strange orange disk from her wrist and scanned both human food and her food, finding them to be compatible and restarting the whole mess). Commodore Asfield-Salah, seeing this, made a mental note to warn the incoming dignitaries that they could use the oldest trick in the book and give their guest alcohol.
Said dignitaries were only 2 hours away, se was informed, so she went to her cabin to dress up, and so did the Asari delegation. An hour and fifty minutes later, they were both waiting for the shuttle to land. The first one out was, unfortunately, Vice-Admiral Pedro Baltazar, who scared the hell out of her. Behind him, came a woman she never seen before, but later learned was Julia Koopmans, EU envoy to the United Nations. She was shocked by the next two appearances: Katherine Wallerstein, the Ministry of Foreign Relations, and the boss himself, Prime Minister Jacques Casteux.
After the first round of pleasantries, she guided her new party to a conference room, the largest and cleanest she had onboard. Everyone sat, and Clara made a sign for her yeoman to bring glasses of water and wine. The Prime Minister and Baltazar looked happy when they saw what she'd planned. Casteux was the first to talk
"Ladies, I'm most honored to be here with you today. It is indeed a special occasion, to find that Humanity is not alone in our galaxy!"
Benezia smiled, "It's an honor to meet you too, Prime Minister, and I'm happy our first contact was less tumultuous than what the Turians had with the Chinese"
Baltazar smirked, hew was going to get his info direct from the source. "I'm afraid, Matriarch, that the Chinese government has not been forthcoming with the current situation in their colony of Shanxi, you speak of Turians? Are they another race?"
"Yes, they are, Admiral, a proud and honored race, but they can be a bit… zealous when making sure the laws of the Council are served. From what we gathered from the Turians involved in the altercations, these Chinese you speak of were trying to open dormant Mass Relays, which is a high crime in Citadel Space. There must have been a failure of communication, or one ship tried to escape… the turians would no doubt start shooting."
Koopmans's attention was conquered, and she started talking. "So, the Chinese did something that they couldn't know it's a crime, and then someone shot them? No wonder they are so tied-lip about this whole situation."
Benezia continued, "I do believe neither side could understand the other, so for the Chinese, it would seem that an alien race had decided to invade their world"
Koopmans replied, "Except Shanxi is not their home world, otherwise there is no way this problem could still be sold as a "Chinese problem" and not an "human problem".
It was Casteux turn to intervene: "Well, now that we are here, what can we do? We can't just go to Shanxi; those paranoids bastards would shoot us. And we can't let you go alone as well; they would shoot you too"
Benezia was confused, surely, she was going to pass trough unclaimed space to get to that system, why would they shoot her? She asked this question and Admiral Baltazar answered it
"Matriarch, the truth is, we're inside human territories. You exited the Relay at Exodus Cluster, a European Union extrasolar territory, the only way to get to Shanxi is to go trough the relay that connects to ours, here. The Chinese are certainly monitoring it very fiercely. The whole incident with the turians probably happened on the other Relay on the system, one that leads to Argos Rho.
Benezia was shocked. How could a race so powerful stay hide from the Council for so long! These systems they spoke about are only a couple of relays away from Citadel, from Thessia!
"Gentlemen, if you mind me asking, how long have you been colonizing these systems"
PM Casteaux answered, with no small amount of pride: "For only ten years! We started with the first system closer to Sol, Arcturus Stream, and from there, we went expanding, mostly eastward"
Benezia froze, that would put them in direct contact with the Batarians, and that would not end well.
She was broken from her trance by various voices in discussion. Apparently, they still had no formalized plan.
"We must contact the Chinese!" said the woman, Walerstein, "tell them we have negotiators, let the Asari deal with the turians"
"And then what? They get all the praise for winning a war and negotiating a peace?" said Koopmans
"I believe we may have a middle ground, gentlemen, ladies, asari". The grave voice of Admiral Baltazar put an end to the squabbling
"I'm very curious to hear your plan, Baltazar," said the Prime Minister
"We go public with our first contact, with the Asari, then, we let her explain why she was here and offers the Chinese her mediation with the Turians and this Council."
Everybody seems to have liked the idea. Benezia, tough, she was not certain of it. The idea of being used as a pawn in the geopolitical games of a newfound race did not appeal to her. But it could avert a large-scale war, that would benefit none but the Batarians and the Terminus. So, she gave her consent.
BREAKING NEWS: FIRST CONTACT MADE WITH ALIEN RACES
By: European Broadcast Corporation
BRUSSELS Today marks an enormous milestone on European galactic exploration! Approximately 40 your ago, an unidentified vessel entered the Exodus System. Commodore Clara Asfield-Salah, commanding officer of the battlecruiser Bargation, leadership of the Exodus Cruiser Squadron managed to establish peaceful first contact with the aliens called "Asari". The Asari has surprisingly similarities with humans. Their facial and body structure is practically identical, but they do lack hair, their skins are shades of blue and they have appendages on the top of their heads. Technically a monogender species (i.e., their individuals do not present the sexual dimorphism of females and males), reports indicate that they looked feminine to human standards. We advise our reader to NOT assume that all asari have our own preconception about gender, and to be polite and try to use neutral language until you can be certain of their preferred pronouns.
The Asari representative, Matriarch Benezia, has told Parliament in Brussels that she was on a mission to investigate a skirmish between Turian forces – another alien race – and the People's Republic of China on Shanxi, ending weeks of speculation about the true nature of the disruption occurring on the system. Chinese authorities are scrambling to control the narrative in their own country, but a spokesperson from the Presidency said that "the alien incursion on Shanxi was treated with the utmost confidentiality because China was not sure about the intents or capabilities of our enemy. Although they inflicted heavy casualties on our proud sailors and soldiers, China was victorious at the end, destroying their main fleet and capturing the soldiers on the ground. We kept guard of our system in case another wave of invaders came. We invite representatives from all countries, and Matriarch Benezia, to visit Shanxi and see for yourselfs"
The Matriarch has said that the incident was likely cause by a misunderstanding between turian and Chinese forces. Turian patrols found Chinese explorer opening a dormant gateway, which is a crime by Galactic Council's Law. Of course, the Chinese could not have known it at the time. She has called for all parts involved, the Chinese, the Turians and the Galatic Council, the ruling body of the Milk Way, to attend a conference to negotiate the terms for peace, and the introduction of human nations into the galactic stage. European leaders, and Matriarch Benezia, have offered their services as mediators to the negotiations, should they occur.
The American president has expressed joy with the first contact by the Europeans, saying that his country wishes nothing more than pacific coexistence with all other races. He also condemned the secrecy of the Chinese, saying that if other countries were involved, the situation could have been prevented from escalating so quickly.
From: Councilor Tevos, Galatic Council
Greetings Prime Minister Casteux,
It's most unfortunate that we still do not posses the means to interact directly with one another, and we must use poor Benezia as an intermediary, but I'm happy that your contact with Matriarch Benezia went so well. We would be honored to attend negotiations to settle the Relay 314 incident and to introduce humanity to the Galaxy. Shall we discuss the details?
BREAKING NEWS: NEW SPECIES DISCOVERED!
CITADEL NEWS NETWORK
CITADEL Our galaxy grows larger still with the news that a new species has been discovered in a most dramatic way. When a turian patrol stumbled upon unknown ships trying to open a relay in the Attican Traverse, little did they know the impact their discovery would have. Sources say that, after an unsuccessful negotiation to apprehend the perpetrators, turians ships fired to disable a vessel trying to flee the scene. What happened next was a space battle that left only one turian ship, a cruiser, still standing. Her captain immediately called for reinforcements and, led by Admiral Nixem and General Arterius, they entered the relay and stumbled upon a world inhabited by the so-called humans. Arterius, mistaking it for a pirate base, according to Turian sources, launched a policing action campaign to pacify the settlement. Little did he knew that it was a brand-new race, who fought fiercely to defend their homes. The invasion force was defeated when a relief fleet from the Humans took Nixem's fleet by surprise.
While all of this was happening, the Asari Councilor, having read the reports from a source involved in the fighting, decided to send a diplomatic team led by famous Matriarch Benezia T'Soni to investigate. The Matriarch then met another faction of humans, calling themselves "Europeans". They explained to her that they did not know about the attack against "Shanxi", apparently a territory of another nation called "China", who decided to not reveal the extent of the problem at their system to the rest of the world. She, therefore, became the first "official" contact with humanity. Lady T'Soni is currently on Earth, organizing a summit to discuss the settlement of the invasion, acting as a mediator, along with the European leader, to negotiations between China and Palaven.
Caxus Felirius, professor of international relations on the University of the Citadel has this to say: "what began with an overzealous interpretation of the law by a turian patrol ended up with the most important discovery since the krogan. To see a race divided into so many nation-states, and still achieving space flight and outfighting the Hierarchy is certainly a privilege. This sure will send shockwaves through galactic politics"
Council officials say they will be involved in the coming negotiations, and that humanity, or the human nations will be invited to join the Citadel. No word has been given about how it would work, since the humans do not consider themselves as such, but as members of each nation, and there's a lot of them.
Turian Hierarchy has claimed that they did not know, or authorize, the full-scale invasion of a new specie's planet. While claiming that stopping criminal elements from opening dormant relays is lawful, they insist that the escalation was the responsibility of overzealous commanders in the field, and not direct orders from Palaven.
Casualties are not yet known, but estimates put Turian casualties at just 1700 deaths for both the space and ground campaign together. Chinese casualties are estimated just above 2300 deaths.
Little Wing,
By know you must be wondering what in the goddess's name have I got myself into. But fear not child, I'm safe, and so are all the others from the Neframe. We are being treated like royalties in Europe, our accommodations are even in a proper castle! I will be away from home for the foreseeable future. I don't think you will have problems you cannot deal with; you've grown so fast Little Wing…
I want to bring you here one day, you would love their cities, their history. They wear their past openly in every street, even their sins. I hope we can make good allies out of these people; the Asari people would have much to benefit from them.
With love,
Your mother, Benezia T'Soni
A/N So, FC is almost over! Took me more time than i expected. Answering some reviews:
morri3000 : I changed the timeline to be earlier than cannon because I wanted a specific set of political conditions to be able to make this story. Since cannon's timeline is already super fast for humanity, I thought "why not?"
Please send your reviews! It's my first time writing fan fics!