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"Do you think it is a refitted quarian liveship?"
"Improbable, not impossible."
"They might now be on the path to try a push against the geth."
"Hah! As if they were so stupid."
"Then what you propose is their goal with such ship?"
"I think that they have it as a deterrent."
"Not a bad idea Tevos but they don't play that political game, I think they are going to try and take a planet over."
"Colony?"
"Yeah, they are not suicidal enough to take on the geth."
"Less when their ship may not have a powerplant to fuel shields to cover itself."
"Well, they managed to move it, that alone is a feat for their engineering."
"It has the size of a station, has no industrial precedent on the quarian migrant history, has no eezo and it can move. I propose we study it first."
"Better than that: we have to see it in action, just to test it."
"Oh, a political incident to gather information?"
"Now we're talking."
"You want to kill quarians to test their ship? And what would you even do with that data?"
"Depends on what the quarians plan on doing, if they want to take a batarian colony, let them have it, if they want to claim a seat on the council; we'll have a second Destiny Ascension for us to take or destroy."
"Devilish, might I recommend subcontracting batarians or a Omega-based company?"
"I know this might be a threat, but I think you are too invested in this weapon, shouldn't we see what their goal is first?"
"Doesn't really matter, the hierarchy already sent a fleet to investigate, if the quarians win or lose we'll apologize and will know about the ship, it's a win-win."
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- As they spoke, a lone man entered their room, the three people tilted their head to watch who was it. -
- Once they get who it is, they are relieved, and Valern points to the fourth seat of the room. -
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"You took your time, human."
"Let's speak about economy, we can resume this later."
"True. Welcome back, Udina."
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"Oh dear Miss..."
"Tali, Tali'Zorah, just that."
Her compatriots looked at her with weirded and insulted looks, but she didn't announce her complete name even with their pressure; the human wasn't going to use the full version anyways.
"Dear Miss Tali, the United Earth Government has de jure and de facto control thanks to their Space Command," - As he said this he lifted his hat for a second. - "and the Colonial Administration Authority of seven hundred fully and partially colonized systems and patrols or has semi-permanent dominion over thirteen hundred stars and I have never heard of something like what you describe, nor have we had contact with this council."
The tone was obvious, between annoyance, disbelief, and a hint of uncertainty.
"But... You are human." - She said, doubting herself, looking down at the possible realization.
"Heh, of course I am, little miss, all four of us are," - He then pointed to his two companions and the cockpit of the massive gunship, signaling that they indeed had a flesh'n'bones. - "but a second humanity is something I cannot take lightly, it's stupid, impossible, i-"
Tired of this, when she knew who humans were, and she absolutely knew for a fact they were the same kin as these people; she proceeded to flare an image from her Omni tool, and it was none other than herself hugging a certain someone, a man with short hair who looked unequivocally like your average Aussie ODST, even his armor was similar, yet less functional, like a medieval carapace, with no straps for ammo or equipment.
Next to him was someone with a purple mask, clothed, with a slim figure, Tali herself; on the other side of this human was what could only be described as an weird shrimp-mixed, interbred Sangheili, with armor that looked even more elaborate than the elite's.
That image alone was proof that there were humans in this place.
The newcomers got baffled and the officer immediately began babbling words in his own language, not caring to translate them as they were apparently directed to his fellow humans.
117 stopped moving crates and faced his superior, nodding from time to time.
He was apparently angry, and his troops were coordinating with whatever forces they had brought with them.
Some minutes passed before Mister Cutter faced the quarians again, just to be questioned by Miss Daro.
"What was that about?"
Frowning, she was answered. - "How would you feel if there was a..." - He signaled to Tali, apparently to get something, she, as clever as ever, said the name of their species in a whisper. - "Quarian! Yes, thanks... A quarian colony, in the middle of nowhere, and contacted whatever government the alliance is."
"I am lost on the analogy."
"And I am fucking lost on another galaxy and there is an unknown contact that just saw our ship."
The comment made the middle soldier burst into laughter before shaking his head and looking at people whose masks didn't seem to be as amused as he was by that.
Admiral Rael tried to calm things down, he approached the humans, and to calm them down, he assured them. - "We didn't say a word, whoever they were, isn't part of the fleet, you have brought us surprises, but the arrangement we made has been fulfilled, you are a friend of us."
Normally, Daro and her section would be reluctant to agree, being cooperative and loyal were pillars of quarian society, but these were aliens; nevertheless, he was right, these people know nothing about them yet had come and given them place to have some growth on their population, so she nodded in agreement.
For a single moment the human looked everywhere before settling on the covered eyes of the man in front of him. Until he closed them and began breathing slowly.
"Alright," - A single movement from his hand made it so Forge moved onto the Pelican and 117 got besides him. - "We are going to move our ships next to yours, at least until we can sort all of this out."
"That would be for the best," - A glance to the other male admiral in the room Zaal, made it so said man got next to him. - "but be sure, we want no sly moves."
"If you are who you say you are, it is better to have some time for us to understand each other." - The 2nd admiral's hand then pointed to the two remaining boxes of surplus equipment for the humans. - "Also, you could get training, we weren't expecting to welcome someone to the galactic community, but it is better than leaving you in despair."
These quarians were hospitable, like some of the low-income families that had welcomed him and his unit when he served during the Insurrection; it was nice of them, and he was pretty dubious of accepting this from aliens, but he was on a tough spot, and it wasn't like High Command didn't know there was a high chance of dying on this mission.
Cutter took a step back, swallowing his human pride. - "Thank you," - Then, he signaled to the gunship to fly, and it quickly was on the air, and it went out of the hangar, pushing waves of air away as it rejoined the fighter coverage; going towards the emptiness of space. - "but first, I want you to tell me whose ship was the one that saw ours."
The third admiral joined her fellow officers and tacitly asked themselves what it could be and who would say it first, because they absolutely didn't know.
"It couldn't have been one of our ships, we would've received a report." - Daro'Xen deadpanned.
"Any idea on how it looked, sensor data?" - Mister Rael asked, prepared to receive an information dump onto his omnitool before noticing that obviously, the newcomers didn't have any, so he quickly retracted himself.
"Probably some travelers." - Added Zaal. - "Though there's a chance that they might be related to you, or they might be some patrollers."
Cutter began rummaging through his stuff until he finally found his 'Chatter', what cellphones had become after the invention of translight comms; and he searched on it for some seconds.
It was incredible that people that could build such a gunship without eezo had such primitive technologies, tabloids like these to communicate were lost the moment they got access to eezo and miniaturized them... Oh right, they didn't have any.
Then, the human showed them the image, it was sleek, like an arching dagger, but small, likely the size of the ship that carried that colony module they had brought here; but the lack of the tubes for accelerators meant possibly a pair of things.
"Scout ship, turian."
"Charter ship, council."
"Stray pirate."
Such were the opinions of Admirals Daro, Zaal and Rael.
James Cutter arched an eyebrow at the conflicting assumptions. - "I don't know either of those things mean for us and if it was pirates then they were smart enough to avoid combat, it was barely a hundred meters long."
"Huh." - Miss Daro found that claim impressive, given that these people lacked any form of eezo, their ships shouldn't be enough to mass accelerate things like they did; unlike her companions who just accepted it as fact. - "Why so?"
"Because the Spirit of Fire, the Casaba hugger, and the Felix Dzierznsky are at the very least four times as big as what showed up." - Confidently replied the human, his 117 soldier turning to see him like he had just committed sacrilege.
And this claim was bold, no one could build some 400-meter ship without eezo, it would collapse under its own weight unless it was made to never touch any atmosphere; only some of the lightest of cruisers could do so, even with the usage of eezo.
"Well I don't know if you know any phisi-!" - Before the woman could contest this claim with anger the hand of Rael stopped her, so she coughed, as if apologizing for the outburst.
Admiral Zaal thus took the turn. - "Sir, the Council, as Tali," - The alluded gal smiled under her mask. - "explained it, are the galactic concordance that reigns international matters, it would mean that they would try to contact you. Turians would mean that too, but on a more militaristic approach."
Not caring for delving into it, Cutter frowned and coldly asked. - "And would you aid them in that approach?"
For a single moment, they kept silent, the troops themselves knowing the answer before the brass could speak it up.
"No, but we wouldn't help you, our situation is precarious enough so that we can only offer you aid in staying until things clear up. In a battle, we would not help."
Seemingly these quarians knew how to play the politics game, or were experienced enough in these things.
For cutter it was enough, so he waved it off and smiled. - "Good enough for us."
Miss Zorah decided then to take a step forward. - "If you don't have anything to discuss... Are you open to some questions?" - She asked up, embarrassed at herself, thinking she would get a negative.
Instead, Cutter closed his eyes and nodded. - "I am."
These humans were strangely receptive to talking as if they were optimistic about this situation, or at least the captain was, for the towering soldier didn't say a single word, preferring to look to the marines still present; who now had laid down their weapons as the humans meant no immediate danger.
The admirals were going to tell Tali to shut it, for they were speaking, but her father stopped them, knowing that she had a special interest in humans, and was avid enough to be able to speak well with them like they had their own little diplomat.
"Then, how does your ship look?" - She asked, her eyes showing clear emotion, the fear lacking for she had grown already fond of these people.
That question also sparked the interest in most quarians, for they were all avid engineers by nature, knowing about these unknown designs and being the first ones on the galactic community to know about them (bar that lone ship) meant a lot for them, so even the Admirals gathered to hear the answer.
Instead of words, Cutter answered by showing them images.
And following suit, waves of questions and answers came.
These quarians sure did love humans.
And they were going to love when their ships arrive.
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"Commander?"
"Yes?" - A young voice, not older than thirty, spoke.
"Any word?"
"No, dear." - He sarcastically replied.
On the bridge the sight of thousands, no, tens of thousands of ships blinked.
It was like what you first saw when you jumped directly to Turul, a moon-turned weapon testing facility; absurd amounts of craft and explosions which gave the background space a rival in the number of lights flaring.
Every crewman was ecstatic to know about these people.
Mostly because they wanted to kill any alien that they knew about, but having Mister Cutter himself, a rational humanist who no one on this flotilla dared say they did not respect; say that these quarians were friendly was enough to make the gunners of the ships stop pointing directly to any alien ship they saw.
They had all just raced to some sort of slipspace bubble in the middle of a system that just a day prior was being lost by the humans due to an overwhelming Covenant attack, and now they were facing an alien species that did not hate them.
Half of the people there thought this was risky and were prepared to kill aliens no matter what Cutter had said, but even they wanted, no, they hoped that they had their arms open, and if it was true, then they would do whatever so that they remained allies, in a war for extermination that was what they needed after all.
Some even hoped that the ship that they just saw was friendly and just scared by the size of the Spirit of Fire.
The lieutenant commander, whose skills did not match his rank and had only achieved it thanks to the lack of officers for the mission; was also happy, and so was the AI, Serina.
"Oh, you are such a sweetie, contemplating our possible demise?"
"They have three ships bigger than the Spirit of Fire, they wanted us dead, we'd be dead the moment Cutter arrived to their hangar."
The remark made her giggle.
"Yeah, but those are even uglier than us, and I've decrypted some of their comms, which was very easy by the way, and ends up they are like this ship before it was turned onto a glorified Orion." - Her holographic hand moved and showed images of scans of the ships and text in a strange language which was turned then into English words.
"Too lazy to read, too invested to not do something," - A glance at one of the crewmen, Officer Blake, got his answer. - "Blake, read it for me, pretty please." - His arrogant tone was annoying, but in its own self-aware way, it was comical enough to make the crewman snort and speak in response.
"Aye, captain." - He then got the text transcripted to his console, so he read it in a passing way before starting. - "Chayym, Rayya, and Shellen, Liveships, only point defense guns, 'eeso' powerplant? What does that mean?"
Doubts for everyone, no answer though, so Serina came to the rescue. - "They keep mentioning it, took some of the files they had in some sort of open internal network, very very easy by the way; and ends up that it is some sort of unobtanium they use for propulsion like we do with hydrogen, I am currently reading to know more about it."
"Thank you," - The commander told her. – "but and the rest of the ships?"
"Their mainline vessels are ships the size of Sharpfins-Corvettes, with their categories being frigates for them; and others akin to our Hillsborough-destroyers, I don't have insight on their power, just that they have two kinds of the latter category that they call 'cruisers', one that fires in quick succession, like machine guns, exploding like a low-yield archer with each hit; and heavier ones with the force of a MiniMAC, probably like one of our spitfires."
And the map showed that there were at least two thousand of these cruisers pointing to the human ships advancing.
It was eerily aggressive, but once they approached the range for light-speed comms to arrive to them quickly they became flooded, every single console showed messages that even Serina struggled to try and translate due to the amount.
They were mostly questions, who were them, how did they make the ship, what was it called, if they were humans.
The crew marveled at the interest of these... aliens, that weren't attacking them and instead receiving them almost like they were friends, or family.
Soon the Spirit of fire and her accompanying ships were swarmed by shuttles, small ships, even corvettes and miscellaneous vessels that tried to get a look at the humans.
Those on the windows of the human craft were able to see up close the faces of the masked quarians, taking photos, waving at them, or the odd one flashing at them.
They were like humans, they acted like civilians when UNSC ships traveled through some of the calmest inner colonies, acting as a show, a morale boost to everyone, especially the lazy troops that patrolled these systems.
An uncanny feeling settled on the crew, for they weren't sure of how to react. Everyone hated aliens here, but having them be… So close to what they were was an experience like no other.
Gunnery data still showed that they had preselected at least one archer missile for each ship near them, but they were dismissed.
It was already an hour since their captain had went onto the quarian liveship, forty minutes since they saw the unknown scout.
Then, Sargeant Forge, who in all but name was the soldier in command of the land forces of this voyage bar Mr. Vaughan, entered the bridge of the ship.
"Pretty nice people actually, but they have absolutely no AI, some chatter actually seems to indicate that they do not like them…" – Serina was commenting as he entered.
"But we still love you, don't worry, we didn't mention anything about you existing." – The voice of Forge alerted them, though Serina obviously knew he was there already, but faked surprise by placing one of her holographic hands on her 'mouth'.
"Thank you Mister, wouldn't wanna be shot by bunch of space gypsies for having an AI." – The commander said.
"Ouch? Gypsy jokes are too much 25th century, we hate aliens now? Thanks." – Forge ironically replied – "Still, ends up our welcomers are actually pretty nice, like when you meet an introverted kid at school and he became attached to you."
A weird explanation of the situation, but it was understood by the bridge crew.
"Yeah, I still think we gotta wait for the Captain to speak to everybody, I am too stunned to even remember how many nukes we have onboard."
"We carry twenty ground-destined Fury Model 2513 nukes and ninety-six nuclear or casaba-tipped archer missiles" – The Artificial Intelligence of the Spirit of fire quickly exposed. – "With our accompanying ships co-"
"I think the commander meant it as an exaggeration." – Forge, slightly annoyed, explained.
"Yup, I know, but I have doubts if he actually remembers so I did it anyways."
"And I didn't, thanks a lot."
In a few minutes after this, the human ships finally settled in front of the liveships, surrounded by quarian cruisers, their guns prepared to melt every single ounce of Titanium that they had brought.
And in that moment, quarian shuttles began flying around the Spirit of Fire again, this time, all asking to board it.
Serina was going to have a bad time.
But this was one step forward, for these two species.
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"What weapons do you think it has?"
"Obviously mass accelerators."
"Don't get sassy with me Septimus, you just were the first to show up on the list."
"You still got to have me as first officer, I am sorry for your luck."
"We only had about an hour to assemble, shut up."
"You know you love me Ravis."
"Now, answer the question."
In the prow of the Dreadnought THS Filai was a pair of old Turians, a male and a female, both highly condecorated; travelling for about four hours just to reach this place, all energy to the engines.
The Hierachy had given permission to some elements of the 6th fleet to join a hastily made 54th AdHoc fleet to have a look to the most enigmatic ship there has ever been before the Salarians could even put a single finger on this discovery.
Fifty vessels ready to board the ship, take it, make sure the quarians don't use for stupid things, or destroy it; whatever happened first.
After all, you don't always find a moving 2 kilometer vessel with guns tens of times bigger than your dreadnought, all without eezo.
It was hastily made operation, just to make sure of things, because again, the Salarians would be pretty happy to infiltrate the ship, and the Asari would probably give the quarians an entire world to colonize in exchange for the ship.
But the honor had to be of the Hierarchy, said the Patriarch, and so it shall be done.
That and the ship that made the discovery was theirs, so it was rightfully their job to investigate further.
And just as they hoped, they arrived to the system, calm as ever, for the Turians were confident on their abilities, they weren't the police of the galaxy for no reason, and this would be no different than a police action.
Granted, they would do whatever was necessary to not damage the quarians, that would be a political mistake that would earn the death of every single crewmember of the fleet; but still, they had to have things done, and they were sure that they would react accordingly.
"Doesn't matter, I know you can direct things well enough for it to not matter." – Slyly said the previously retired general.
"You are such a sweetheart." – She replied with an ironic tone. – "Now, please, to the Migrant fleet, prepare all fighters and a shuttle."
The Turian navy had arrived, and they were ready to act.
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A/N: So… Yeah, next chapter will have our turian – human engagement. Contact war 2: electric Bogaloo?
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Answering reviews :D
1) Otto Morris: Don't worry mate, I am more than happy to answer any questions thrown.
-I do not plan on it, but it is an option, once the Covenant gets actively involved with the Mass Effect and it gets... messy. Or messier than the soon to arrive contact conflicts.
-I'll try to balance it going by the mid-calcs of each universe for matters of energy, resource, weapon, and output numbers, but I'll have to modify some (especially ranges and speeds) so that it doesn't become a super-boring sniper fight.
-Not really, though I learned that small chapters uploaded on a regular basis are better than big-ass chapter, if I press myself and get enough time... there might be an average of one chapter per week, though a bit more or a bit less should be expected. My liceo is pretty harder than the rest of the country, bar a few that share the same denomination.
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2) KingOfSummer 245: Nope, it isn't, it's 2530. It's the onset of the harshest part of the Outer Colonies Massacre, or it would be had not the divergence of this fic happened.
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3) Brother Bov: I am thankful for your uplifting words, brother; I shall now go and keep on going with the standard of this story forward.
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4) silent23: Thank you mate, I hope you got to enjoy this chapter. :D
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5) shypunk: Yah, it's the magic of the race, they have something against humans, and by extension, quarians.
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6) Zero: The timeline is set in Early 2530 for the UNSC side and Mid-2185 (Around when... You know c; ) for ME side.
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7) Chronus1326: Aww, thanks mate.
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8) A nobody: Owww, thank you too.
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9) Alphasdragon: I hope that what I'm writing is pleasing you.
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10) Andres DMB: It will be hard to manage it, because being too unflexible would mean that the UNSC would hit a wall, and it wouldn't be fun to have just this humanity waging another war without a reason, but I think I found a compromise in them only trusting the Quarians and a select few, but hating Turians.
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11) Genesis: Everybody has different abilities, I've had people say that when the perspective changes I am sorry that my style isn't of your liking but that's how things are.
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Guest reviews:
-The ship is the Spirit of Fire, a Phoenix class Support Vessel, though that denomination is a bit weird so here is a Support Carrier, an Orion, but hastily made, I wanted to use Cutter as a character and he's attached to said ship, using OCs would've worked too, but the Spirit of Fire has the cheap yet still powerful type of ship that the UNSC would use for this kind of mission.
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-That's a very good rant about Mass effect, but I don't know what to do with this information mate.
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-I could include it mate, it's just that he comes four years down the line, I am currently thinking on how to do it.