1750 hours, May 8th, 2542 (UNSC military calendar)
UNSC Security Council, FLEETCOM HQ, Reach.
"We can't afford to lose New Milan, Admiral. Nearly half a dozen neighboring worlds are dependent on food imports." UNSC Marine Corps General Hogan stated bluntly. "We need to assign the next batch of Marathon-class cruisers to defend New Milan. We'll have food riots, maybe even a famine, if we lose more agricultural worlds before the Inner Colonies can set up their own farmland." Hogan was a middle-aged general, who seemed to be aging prematurely due to the stress of his position. He'd been gaining weight since Lord Hood had last seen him, and had begun balding.
Vice Admiral Whitcomb responded vociferously, "And our fleet is barely holding together as is. We'll lose more than New Milan if we don't keep up our patrols and push back against the Covenant. New Milan has been discovered. All we can do is hold it for as long as we can, but I won't sacrifice vital cruisers for a farming world. We'll just have to increase rationing and ban inefficient agricultural practices."
Admiral Terrence Hood looked at the two arguing Security Council members and thought of his own solution to their problem. Both men were right: the UNSC needed to keep its cruiser strength up, but it also couldn't let a famine happen. Lord Hood was the newest member of the Security Council, freshly promoted to the rank of admiral for his actions in the defense of New Constantinople.
Margaret Parangosky was the current de-facto leader of the Security Council. The oldest, wisest, and the most ruthless member of the board, she rarely spoke, instead preferring to put the information ONI had gathered on the proverbial table and then assisting the other Security Council members in finding a response.
President Roselynn spoke up. "Defenses are important, yes, but factories stop working when the workers are sick from malnutrition. The worlds that General Hogan is referring to may not be our most important industrial worlds, but they still provide vital materials to the war effort. In the worst case scenario, it could spark rebellion."
Major General Nicolas Strauss of the UNSC Army nodded. "It feels like every year the food riots get more common, and more intense. I'm even having to reduce the rations of garrison soldiers on many worlds. New Milan may not be the most important agricultural world, but we need at least one more harvest from it. Enough that we can continue land reforms on other worlds to promote self-sufficiency."
Lord Hood spoke up. "What Vice Admiral Whitcomb is saying is that our currently deployed fleet assets are already stretched and undermanned, and we need to keep them reinforced. The only force we have left which can defend New Milan is Cole's battlegroup. And he's currently engaging the Covenant near New Ghent. I'll send for him to redeploy. But there's only so much we can do."
Hood looked at everyone in the current Security Council.
CINCONI Admiral Parangosky was the only regular on the council, and she, no matter the occasion, always had the same chair. She had an iron grip on the intelligence organ of the UEG and was functionally the most powerful member of the Security Council. Not officially, but unofficially she was.
Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb and Admiral Lord Terrence Hood both had a seat, with Lord Hood managing defensive naval matters, while Whitcomb was in charge of offensive operations. Whitcomb was the younger of the two.
General Hogan was the newest General of the Marine Corps, after his predecessor suffered a nervous breakdown after the loss of a Punic-class supercarrier that had some of the finest Marine Corps and ODST regiments aboard, including his son, to a Covenant ambush. Hogan was effective, but the post was eating away at him.
Major General Nicolas Strauss was in charge of the ground defenses of the Inner Colonies, which made him the black sheep of the Security Council, and while his word was valued, he could offer little.
President Roselynn Charet was the current President of the Unified Earth Government, and although the civilian government had given up power to the UNSC, her voice still carried weight when it came to economic matters.
Admiral Parangosky stood up, and everyone went silent.
"I have a new matter to bring to your attention. Yesterday a prowler returned from a deep space patrol, reporting the presence of unknown ships in New Warsaw."
"Unknown ships?" Lord Hood asked. "Are we talking about a new type of Covenant ship? Or..."
"A new species?" Roselynn asked hesitantly.
"Unknown." Parangosky said. "The ships were spotted in orbit of New Warsaw, sending down shuttles onto the glassed world, for reasons we've been unable to determine. I've been doubling my patrols in those sectors, but I've not yet received any word back from them due to the distance."
There was a knock at the door, followed by it opening and the MPs escorting a captain into the room. A prowler captain.
The officer saluted the Security Council and stood at attention. "Captain Prescott of the prowler Fully Loaded, reporting for duty. I have an urgent message from Admiral Cole I was ordered to deliver in person."
The members of the council all turned to look at him. Cole rarely sent reports of good news back. It was usually his captains who did that.
"At ease, son. What happened to Admiral Cole?" Lord Hood asked.
The prowler captain looked far from at ease, but began his story. "Admiral Cole is requesting a deployment of diplomats to the New Ghent system. He has made first contact with a new alien species named "turians". He discovered them after these aliens had defeated a Covenant invasion and saved the world in question. The leader of these turians is asking for an alliance against the Covenant, and Admiral Cole sent for diplomats to negotiate this."
The silence in the council chamber was deafening.
"An… alliance?" Vice Admiral Whitcomb said incredulously. "This species is at war with the Covenant as well?
Captain Prescott nodded. He looked out of breath and exhausted mentally, but didn't show it. "Indeed. These turians claim to represent a coalition of races named "Citadel" which is also at war with the Covenant." There was a pause. "Their ships did not go beyond a frigate in terms of size. But they had ten thousand of them."
"That's ten times as many as our fleet at its height! They may be smaller, but still." Lord Hood stated. "And you are sure they are at war with the Covenant?"
"They sent us a first contact package, as well as combat logs. We also managed to detect wreckage of several Covenant ships in orbit. The Marine Corps major stationed on the colony also confirmed his forces had been rescued by these aliens. ONI AI are currently looking through the first contact package for any malicious code. I'm sure it will be delivered here when they are done."
Parangosky nodded. "We can expect a transcript within the hour if that is the case. Well done, captain. Is there anything else?"
"They have managed to capture a part of a Covenant battlecruiser and offered to study it together." The captain nodded.
Parangosky immediately leant forward when she heard that, her natural calm broken.
"Then you are dismissed. You will leave tomorrow with our message back to Cole."
The Captain saluted and was escorted out of the room, leaving the Security Council to process what they had heard.
"I can't believe it." General Hogan muttered. "Surely this must be some kind of jest? Or a Covenant trick?"
Lord Hood looked at him. "Alien life has already been confirmed to exist. With the Covenant being as aggressive as it is, is it so inconceivable that other species might fight against it? We need to send ambassadors, and quickly. The best we have." He turned to look at Roselynn.
"I'll make the calls and put together what civilian advisors and experts we'll need for successful negotiations. But ONI will need to provide xenoscience experts if this is to work." The President nodded.
Major General Strauss spoke up. "Did you hear that? A captured battlecruiser to salvage. The Covenant would never offer to hand such a thing over to us, even if for a ruse. It has to be real."
The door opened again, and a pair of ONI agents pushing a cart covered with dataslates walked in. They began handing them out to the security council. Each contained a letter from Admiral Cole describing what he'd found, the first contact package the new aliens had sent, verified messages from UNSC forces on the ground, and camera footage from both human and alien soldiers. It had been compiled and categorized by ONI Smart AI to quickly bring them all up to speed.
There was a stunned silence as they inspected the footage on the datapads. It really was almost too good to be true. Another species that wanted to fight on humanity's side. Large interstellar polities. "Mass Relays" that could transport ships from one galactic arm to the other. Superluminal communications. Hood read through it all, growing increasingly determined that it was in fact real. There was just too much information to fake.
After finishing the summary, Lord Hood spoke up. "I'll send word to the Trafalgar and the Punic to head to New Ghent. We -need- this alliance. They will serve as a show of our strength and help us to salvage the battlecruiser on the planet. The Golden Fleece protocol means that other UNSC ships will also be moving to begin salvaging operations."
Parangosky nodded. "The Covenant will come back for their ship. And with a big fleet. This will be bloody, to say the least. Send construction ships as well to construct a Super-MAC in the system."
Lord Hood looked back at the datapad. The sight of the Covenant corvette breaking up, as captured by an alien camera. It was a sight for sore eyes.
1750 hours, May 9th, 2542
New Ghent. Dig site beneath the fallen battlecruiser.
General Pallonis and Major Ross had been waiting ever since the discovery was announced, and their waiting had finally paid off. The STG teams that had landed to aid in the excavation had declared that the tunnels were finally safe to enter, and the ruin could be examined.
The entrance was a large prefabricated building two hundred meters from the battlecruiser crash site, which was still being cleaned up of dead Covenant and Covenant salvage.
"So. What have we found?" Pallonis asked as he stepped through the decontamination chamber. He and the major, accompanied by two guards each, had come to inspect the site in advance before the UNSC diplomatic team and the actual commander arrived. It was a simple inspection, and they were -not- allowed to go in.
The discovery of the underground structure had caused a stir amongst the commanders of the forces stationed around New Ghent, and the excavation of the Covenant ship had taken a back seat to fully uncovering the entrance. So far only a small select ground team knew, and they had been digging a secret tunnel to approach the exterior of whatever it was they had found. Besides them, only the military commanders in space, as well as General Pallonis and Major Ross, knew what they'd found.
The salarians had dug a reinforced tunnel beneath the crashed Covenant ship which terminated over fifty meters below in a reinforced spiral staircase that led down to the hull of the installation.
Pallonis turned to the scientist, a young Salarian named Mordin. "How did you even find this?" He asked incredulously.
"We were digging deep to set up supports for the recovery efforts when we detected the hull. We've been tunneling towards it ever since."
"You said it was a ruin." Pallonis stated bluntly, stepping over a pile of dirt. The room was cramped, and he'd had to duck. Still, what they'd found looked to be pretty interesting. "But from the drone images I've seen, it looks pretty intact."
"On first glance, yes. Additional survey revealed presence of engine-like structures. Possible crash landing or deliberate burial. But we can not be certain. Lack understanding of engine design of this species. Could always be design choice or exotic technology."
At the bottom of the staircase was a long hallway that led under the dig site and towards what the salarian survey team claimed was the entrance. The tunnel was currently being additionally reinforced by salarians and construction mechs so as to avoid a collapse.
Pallonis and Major Ross had informed their commanders, and both had been told to inspect the ruins, but wait with opening them until dedicated xenoarchaeology teams could arrive. However, Pallonis had insisted on a tour of the preliminary excavation site to see just what was going on.
With most of the ruined Covenant bases on the surface, as well as the bodies, cleared away, the excavation had begun in earnest. They were digging around the underground structure, carefully reinforcing their tunnels as they did so. Normally they would have just unearthed the structure, but there was a battlecruiser lying practically on top of it.
They eventually came upon a large door of a gleaming silvery-looking metal, with no sign of any kind of mechanism to open the door. The only fixture was a large blue holographic panel that only activated whenever someone got near it.
Major Leonard Ross walked up closer. "Fascinating. I've heard stories of ruins like this."
Pallonis looked at him quizzically. "There's more ruins like these in your space?"
"Not officially." The Major said and then added, "But it's a quite open secret that the Covenant only stops glassing a planet when they want something on it. They must have known -something- was here. But not what. Otherwise they would have sent a bigger fleet."
"And you are sure of that?" Pallonis asked.
"It's what I've been able to pick up over the course of the war. Good thing Rickard is gone. He'd have taken over the whole site and kicked you turians out, most likely."
"What makes you so sure of that?
"It happens occasionally. Someone announces they found something. Some rock formation, ruins, or any kind of alien remnant. And then they say they never did, and ONI rocks up and locks the site down, and begins destroying any mentions of it on whatever passes for a local internet. I've seen it happen before." The Major said, taking a good look at the door to the ship.
While the Major was telling his story, he gesticulated animatedly, and his right hand got a bit too close to the door. Despite being two meters away, a hologram lit up on the doorway, and blue lines running across the surface of the ship started to glow.
The door flew open, and a foul noxious smell emerged from the ship. A smell of death, decay, and rot.
Everyone not wearing a helmet almost immediately began to vomit profusely. The only ones unaffected were the major, Pallonis, his guards and Mordin, who seemed unphased, but put a helmet on anyways.
Pallonis turned on the olfactory sensors in his helmet and took a sniff of what it was. His eyes went wide. It was disgusting. He'd heard of it before. Crashed ships filled with bodies, isolated from outside air. If the power and life support stayed on, who knew what kind of ecology would be created inside.
"The airlock opened for a reason we can't determine. We've got a petri-ship situation." "Petri-ship" was the term for a ship filled with rotting corpses that had been left alone long enough to create its own little ecosystem.
Pallonis was horrified at the implications. This ship must have been closed for thousands of years. This muck had to be as lethal as could be. He felt sorry for the salarian workers, and was relieved he, the major, and their guards had kept their helmets on.
"Close off the entrance and prepare quarantine procedures. The air might be contaminated. Remove flammables. The air looks to be filled with methane."
Pallonis looked into the doorway, seeing the thick black muck that covered the walls. It looked to be at least ankle-deep in places. A thick stream of the sludge was pouring out of the ship, staining the metal floor.