1050 hours, April 20, 2542 (UNSC military calendar)
Admiral Cole stepped off the shuttle onto the surface of New Ghent. His gait was still noticeably awkward for someone who'd spent most of his life aboard starships, but he strode forward with a purity of purpose that drew a respectful nod from the turian Primarch awaiting him.
He was surrounded by an honor guard of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, six of the finest men in his fleet. Awaiting him was a large table that had been set up in the middle of a large field on the outskirts of what used to be the colonial capital of Williamstad. Major Leonard Ross had assured him multiple times of the trustworthiness of the turians, but he still wanted a meeting place on neutral ground.
At the table were the military commanders of the forces this "Citadel Council" deployed to New Ghent. The diplomats would most likely be listening in, while they awaited the arrival of actual diplomats.
In the center sat the turian Primarch, with two guards in jet black armor standing behind him. Left of him sat a disturbingly human-looking blue humanoid, with two guards behind her, each clad in form-fitting combat suits and equipped with combat shotguns. On the other side sat a very lizard-looking alien with greyish skin and massive black eyes.
Cole wondered if the UNSC even had any diplomats left who could be trusted to conduct First Contact negotiations. The closest thing he could imagine the Security Council putting together would be a mix of colonial negotiators and ONI interrogators.
Cole had never trained for any form of diplomacy outside hostage situations or interrogations, but something about the way the Primarch met him in a full suit of armor, but without any weapons on his/her/its person, made him think he could speak to the alien as a fellow soldier.
His guards were cautious, but not jumpy. Their weapons were unloaded at the moment, but they carried ammunition just in case. He had a pistol in his dress uniform, and a cyanide pill in a hollow tooth. Again, just in case.
The birdlike alien stood up. "My name is Primarch Fedorian of the Turian Hierarchy. To my left is Matriarch Aethyta of the Asari Republic, commander of the Asari Expeditionary Force. To my right is Jondum Bau of the Salarian Union, of the Special Tactics Group."
He nodded at them. "I'm Admiral Preston Cole of UNSC Task Force X-ray. It is a pleasure to meet a sympathetic alien race. " He was actually serious. He remembered the pre-Covenant days when people still had hopes for a peaceful First Contact, and was happy to see that such a thing could still happen.
Cole took a seat at the table, and immediately got to work. "I do not have the authority to make lasting diplomatic decisions on the part of my government, but I do have authority over military matters. Which is what I want to discuss here."
The turian nodded.
"What are your plans for this world? I've received word that you have already begun fortifying it extensively." He said. "And we've seen signs of you constructing space stations as well. Do you seek to claim this system for your own?"
"No such thing." Said the salarian. "We're preparing to turn this system into a base for our operations against Covenant forces. We don't mean to cause you alarm, but we did not know when you would return to this system, and we intended to be ready in case of the Covenant returning."
Cole nodded slowly. "Technically I am supposed to see that as an invasion. But we already have too many enemies for such a technicality to matter. If you are sincere, I hope that this is the beginning of cooperation between our peoples. I have ordered my ships to give yours a wide berth until our ambassadors arrive. "
The Primarch clicked his mandibles and then spread them in a gesture Cole thought was a smile. "That would be prudent. Avoiding close contact until then might be for the best."
"That would be for the best. But that does bring me to my next question. Where have you taken the refugees?"
"Your Major Leonard Ross advised us the Covenant would be back, and therefore we've continued the evacuation to move this world's civilian population into our space. The colonists lacked transportation to evacuate everyone, and it was agreed by the freighter captains it was safer to come with us."
Cole felt a knot of tension in his gut. Millions of humans disappearing into alien space rubbed him the wrong way.
"I want to send observers to these refugees and ascertain their situation. We'll need to know before negotiations can begin."
Aethyta spoke up. "We understand your concerns completely. Do you want to send a team on one of our ships, or send a ship of your own? It's a thirty lightyear trip to the Mass Relay. From what we've been able to determine, your FTL speed is roughly three light years a day. It would be faster if you sent a group with our ship."
"How fast are your drives?" Cole asked.
"Roughly fifteen lightyears a day."
Cole's mind immediately began racing at the possibilities such FTL speeds could open up for the UNSC. With a fleet that fast, he could double, no, triple the amount of worlds an average UNSC battlegroup could feasibly defend. He had to get his hands on some of those.
"Hrmm. I take it you'll be able to bring my observers to wherever you took the refugees, and then back before our diplomats arrive?" Cole asked, already asking them to confirm.
The asari nodded. "A round trip within the week should be possible. Yes. Two days to the relay, then an hour to discharge the drive, and another to bring them to the planet."
"Acceptable." Cole reached into his pocket and took out the portal holographic emitter Dove used connected to Dove's mainframe aboard the Everest. He flicked it on. "Dove. Scan all crew records and assemble a group of twenty of varying backgrounds and experiences, as well as with clean criminal and medical records."
"Yes, Admiral. I have a few people in mind for just such a thing."
He looked up from the device to see an unnatural tension across the faces of the aliens, all of them looking cautiously at the holographic emitter.
The asari spoke up first.
"Is that.. an Artificial Intelligence?" She asked, biting her lower lip and looking at the projector like someone would look at a feral animal. "Its talking about scanning records, and called itself "I". Excuse me if I'm talking out of turn."
"Dove is a third generation Smart A.I, assigned to my flagship. Your species don't use Artificial Intelligences?"
The Primarch spoke up slowly, keeping his eyes on the device. "We do not. I trust yours are shackled and equipped with the necessary safeguards?" The turian sounded sure of himself, but also cautious.
Cole did not know how to respond. The idea of a species disliking AI surprised him. He was thinking of a diplomatic response when Dove spoke up.
"All UNSC AI are equipped with shutdown commands and control codes in the event of the onset of rampancy, and we are programmed to be naturally loyal to humanity."
The turian and the asari slowly nodded, but the salarian leant forward and started to speak. "You were created to be loyal? So you were created fully functional instead of raised?"
"Yes. I was created four years ago from the donated brain of a human. Alas, his identity was asked to be kept anonymous per his organ donor information."
The salarian became more excited. "Fascinating. An AI created fully functional and socialized using donated brains. So tell me, you do not run on a quantum computer? Instead you are created fully functional, socialized, as well as, dare i ask, moralized?"
"Indeed. You could liken us to being born from our donor brains. A human mind converted into nanocrystalline form." Dove's avatar stood up, took off a hat, and put the dove inside. Then sat back down.
The salarian turned towards the other military leaders. "Primarch Fedorian. I believe these AI are a whole new classification of synthetic life, or perhaps even life altogether. Citadel AI laws fail completely when it comes to categorizing them."
The turian nodded, and the tension faded from him and the others. "That is some truly impressive AI, if what you said is true. We've tried and largely failed to create stable AI based on Quantum Computing. I'll have an FTL tightbeam sent to the Citadel to recommend the creation of a new classification for this kind of life. To avoid confusion with quantum-computing based synthetics."
Cole suddenly spoke up. "You have superluminal communications?" He asked, disbelievingly. Such a thing would be worth its weight in platinum. It could revolutionize UNSC naval deployment and colony defense. He'd tell the diplomats they had to convince these aliens to share such technology, it could save billions of human lives by organizing evacuations or fleet movements.
The asari spoke up, grinning and sounding supremely confident. "We do. Our comm buoys allows for near-instantaneous communications from anywhere in the galaxy connected to a comm buoy. We call it the extranet."
[i]They have an interstellar internet without lag.[/i] The idea sounded ridiculous to Cole, but he dearly hoped they were speaking the truth. That technology could revolutionize human society, and finally unite all the colonies in ways courier ships never could.
"I'll be sure to inform our diplomats in order to hash out a trade deal. We could greatly use such communications technology. I am sure we can arrange a trade. But that's beyond this meeting."
Cole put his hands together and put them on the table.
"Just what kind of military assistance is your Council planning on providing to us? I am convinced the Security Council will accept any support you'll offer."
The turian Primarch spoke up this time. "The Covenant poses an existential threat to the species of Citadel space. We will throw every soldier, ship, and bullet we have at the Covenant until they're broken. You have that promise from the Turian Hierarchy."
Aethyta spoke up next. "The Asari Republics don't have a large standing military, but we are marshalling our fleet for war. Our army is small, but highly trained and organized. We are also the richest polity in Citadel Space, and will be able to provide humanitarian and economic support to your war effort. Your refugees have been settled on one of our colony worlds, and we can open up more space for refugees. I assume you have a refugee crisis with the amount of worlds you've lost?" The asari looked graceful, but she sounded surprisingly blunt and to the point.
Cole nodded. "That is true. Evacuation ships are always in very short supply. I'll inform our ambassadors of this offer. As well as the offer to house refugees. You are very kind."
The Salarian nodded now. "Technological assistance and cooperation. We'd gladly trade technology to improve, or even create new weaponry for use against the Covenant. Our scouting fleets and warships will also be coming to join the fight."
This was all too much for Cole. He had trouble wrapping his head around just how much these species wanted to fight the Covenant, and how much they'd be willing to help the UNSC. He tried to put this aside and finish what he came here for.
"From what I have heard, if you are speaking the truth, this can be the beginning of a great new age for humanity. I can't make promises on behalf of my people in any matters but military, but know that we will gladly join forces with you. My fleet will be deploying our contingents of ground forces on this planet and begin setting up bases, while my fleet will be prepared to defend the system."
Cole mentally switched over to his warlike mindset, something he had more actual experience with. "You might not know this, but the Covenant will be back soon to retake their crashed ship and finish glassing this world. The ship crashed on our world, but you captured it. I believe the best course of action is for both of our forces to guard this system, as well as the wreckage. The diplomats can decide the fate of the ship."
The Primarch nodded. "A reasonable proposal. A mixed guard force might be appropriate. Half Citadel forces, half human. We already have salarian scientists examining the wreck, but we will share the data with your scientists when they arrive, and can negotiate salvage rights later."
Cole still didn't know whether he could trust these aliens or not. He wanted to, no doubt about that. But at the same time, he was worried this could be a trick, or a deception. Best not to offer anything, while carefully asking for as much information as possible.
"I will be heading back aboard my ship for now. But I will remain open for communication."
He stood up to leave, but was stopped when he saw his guards tense up. The asari, Aethyta, had moved around the table.
"I understand that your species has been traumatised by what the Covenant have done. I don't blame you for not trusting us. Nobody should have to go through what your people experienced."
He cautiously nodded.
"So please trust me when I say we're going to kick them in the quads and send them running back to whatever pit they crawled out of!" She said, slamming a fist into her open palm.
He actually laughed at that, which made his security detail drop their guard and look at him as if he'd suddenly grown a second head. They quickly snapped out of it, escorting him back aboard the shuttle. He found his seat and sat down, clenching his hands together.
[i]Please, Lord, let this be real.[/i] He muttered under his breath.