Quick chapter here, thought I'd upload the next one since it's ready now.
Valkyrus: Thought the quote was quite funny when relating to a dreadnoughts main gun.
Mark1: Indeed! I'll hash out some real dates in upcoming chapters
Justinmil22: Automation is a factor, but you still want plenty of crew. There's not really a reason not-to, especially considering as you build a ship larger it gets easier to store food. (In space, vacuum storage is very efficient and effective)
Blaze1992: Sparatus is always a very bad boi
SSV Belgrade, CSG-75
The night cycle was well and truly on its way now. With the first round of contact having gone swimmingly well, the humans had retired to their ship for a day, crudely illustrated by indicating the rotation of the second planet from the local star. The quarians seemed to have grasped it, but tried to tell them something with drawings, using pictures of ships to indicate the giant artefact. Perhaps the artefact was a giant ship? Just waiting for an opportunity to move. Or they indicated that reinforcements were on the way. Either way with the Rear Admiral resting it was Grissom's turn to watch over their little flotilla. By now they had received word back from high command, they were sending the 2nd Heavy Squadron, comprised of the Heavy cruisers Mercury and Hades, along with a pair of light cruiser pickets, the Bristol and the Tomsk. It was likely they'd be accompanied by frigates, destroyers and whatever else the locals could spare, but it was a nice show of strength to bring a diplomat to formally begin first contact protocols.
ETA was a full week before they'd arrive, and until then, the humans had been told to try and get a basic language framework up and running. They had the computer banks of the Khalkin Ghol to attempt conversion and compatibility between their two computer systems, and already they'd figured out easy words. Like their respective species, greetings, ship, station, star, planet. Those kinds of words. The diplomatic team included four interpreters and four language experts who could attempt actual translation efforts from an alien alphabet which ideally would mean that actual understanding could be reached. Until that they'd make-do.
Grissom was just finishing his tea and debating refilling when the bridge suddenly turned from a calm yellow to a deep blue. "Conn Radar! New contacts bearing 099 carom 031. Romeo 4 – 9. Two frigate weight, four corvette weight. Lead ship looks like a warship". Immediately getting into action he quashed his wish for another cuppa and instead focused on bringing his ship about. The new designs were vastly different from the existing ship, and he wasn't going to risk anything. "Passive, What's Romeo-2 doing?"
"Communications sir, he's got radio signals moving back and forth and they haven't changed their energy levels at all, I think they're either the same people or allies. IFF certainly looks like a similar design. Just the architecture that varies".
"Conn Dradis, confirmed these ships have similar gravitational disruptions, they're of the same design, and all arrivals correlated with an increase of energy and local dark matter distortions".
"Crew, Conn, stand down to condition 2. Sensors keep me informed and get a message to the Rear Admiral. Since they haven't opened fire no need to mobilize everyone yet".
"Yes sir!".
QMFV Neema, Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema
When Han had first received word that the Noreh had found alien life, he had been quite sceptical of the chances (and sanity of Kar'Danna for that matter), now it was his aide laughing as the alien ships sat there in the flesh and blood, with glinting weapons attachments that looked pretty damn lethal. The new arrivals were clearly surprised by the arrival of his fleet, but not acting overtly hostile, and judging by Kar'Danna's reports, they might have a chance to actually make peaceful first contact.
Immediately the more political side of him was rubbing its hands together greedily. Those ships had no element zero, none, and yet two of them had just dropped out of nowhere, meaning they were either masters of stealth. (Unlikely given one wouldn't want to advertise something like that so soon), or they had mastered some sort of non-element zero-based FTL. The prospect sent the ship enthusiast in him scrambling to find out, something like that would be invaluable to the fleet, and would absolutely revolutionize the galaxy, enabling colonization outside of the typical 50-light-year range that even the largest FTL drives possessed.
"Capitan! Inform the Noreh I wish to contact these aliens immediately, on their ship this time, and make them feel comfortable. Also, get that Darsi T'vana up here. Let's hope we can get her to agree to provide a mind meld with them. Once we have, we can get their language, computer and naval systems integrated with our own and recognize them". His rough voice sounded out. The reply was smooth and quick. "Of course Admiral. Would you like a shuttle readied?"
He nodded, "Indeed, get a pair of fighters ready as well to escort it. They can return to the mothership once I've disembarked, but I'd like to send the same kind of message they sent us". Marching from the bridge in almost military fashion, he nodded to the marines, before approaching Sergeant Halia'Lana vas Neema, the marine captain of the Neema, who was leant against a bulkhead checking his rifle. "Admiral! You have orders!". He snapped to a swift salute, expertly keeping his rifle in position before raising a hand to his helmet. "Sergeant get three of your most trusted marines and meet me on the hangar deck in 10!". The marine saluted briskly, his blue and purple suit indicating him of one of the more prestigious families. Indeed the Lana clan was renowned for their artistic slant, so it was even stranger that Halia had decided to join the Migrant Fleet Marines, perhaps devotion to duty was of greater importance than one to the family tradition.
Moving through the cramped corridors, he couldn't help but pray that this new race was levo-amino acid-based. Then they might be able to co-exist without stepping on each other's toes, and if it came to it, he suspected the Conclave would agree to become a vassal state. No one wanted to admit it, but the fleet was dying. Too many ships were damaged, not enough raw materials to repair them, and with the last scouting mission against the Geth ending terribly, even Gerrel had been outvoted by Raan and Xen.
Damned cowards.
As far as Gerrel was concerned, any colony they landed on was a staging ground to eventually retake their home-world. And Admiral Zorah agreed. Nevertheless, the ticking time-bomb was onboard the Shellen, one of the three enormous Liveships. Its food processors were still fine, but at several points in the hull, dangerous amounts of metal fatigue had built up, in an instant, the outer shell would shatter and kill millions, both directly from the explosion and decompression, and indirectly from starvation. Almost 5% of the fleets' food supply came from the Shellen, and she fed thousands upon thousands, as such her destruction would mean a culling. And since the other Liveships were of a similar age, they weren't far behind. The Rayya had about 2 years of life left in her, and the Jansen had already suffered a catastrophic explosion that killed 20 and injured 100. It was a few months from hull failure. They needed a lucky break, and Han (while he would never admit it), was desperate at getting this new race to see their plight, even if it meant…. Exaggerating the truth.
It's unlikely, but maybe the ancestors will finally shine down upon us. Who knows, perhaps they'll even help us retake our homeworld. Hah, as if. No, we'll be lucky if they let us settle near them.
The shuttle was already warmed up by the time they got there, and he saluted Lana as he boarded, behind him was a blue-skinned figure in a commando uniform. "Good day Miss T'vana, enjoying yourself?"
The asari brought up the handcuffs, "Bite me you damned suit rat. We should have finished off what the Geth started".
Han rolled his eyes, she was an unpleasant person, and he'd occasionally entertained the idea of spacing her, but the other Admirals had insisted that holding onto the prisoners from the battle would be a good bargaining chip if worst came to worst. "As charming as ever Miss T'vana, listen I have a deal for you and I think you'll want to listen".
"What makes you think I'll make a deal with a pyjack like yours-".
He grabbed her by the arm, pinning her against the shuttle. "You can speak all you like. But right now we're facing a first contact scenario, and you are the barrier that is standing between my race's extinction AND another Rachni war, so I'd suggest you listen up".
She stopped and immediately froze. Gotcha. "W…. What?".
"Yes, Captain Kar'Danna made contact with a new alien race out here in the Attican Traverse, and we need you to act as a translator, or to at the very least allow our men to communicate".
She struggled, "Get… OFF". He let her go, the marines readying their weapons. "Shouldn't you inform the Citadel Council? A new contact needs to be-".
He laughed out loud suddenly, catching her off-guard. "Were we a Citadel client race we would, but as a non-citadel species, we aren't under any obligation for the Council to spin its lies and try to subjugate them. We made that mistake once already. So we will be making first contact with or without your assistance. If you refuse to help, the galaxy might just face another major war if they screw up…. And we all know what happened last time…"
She gulped likely thinking of the Geth Rebellion, (which caused a three-decade economic depression and famines across the Terminus systems), the Krogan rebellions, and the Rachni wars. "And…. If I help you. Make contact I mean".
"Then we'll give you a corvette and you can beeline it to the Terminus systems, I'm sure Eclipse will want one of their best mercenaries back…". He retorted, a classic method of manipulation. Threaten grave consequences on the other party if they decline, present the moral dimension, and then dangle a lovely sweet reward like exoneration in front of them. And like the pest she was, the asari swallowed the bait greedily".
"That…. That's acceptable. I'll meld with one of the Aliens and then meld with you to get you two talking… But I want a condition….".
He turned, marking her with a hard glare. "I want my sisters freed as well".
Perfect, we get rid of the other mercs as well, we're running out Levo food anyway.
"Deal". The asari smirked, thinking she had got the better deal, before turning her nose up and taking a seat on the shuttle as the marines boarded. The thrusters lit up, and the slight rocking began. One of the refinement tubes in the number-3 thruster was malfunctioning, and the replacement had been marked low priority, so it was shuddering due to fuel abnormalities, with no risk of failing thankfully.
The shuttle ride proceeded in silence, the two blocky fighters expertly remaining to the flanks of the shuttle as Han'Gerrel affixed his holographic medals to his chest, and smoothed down several creases in his envirosuit.
"Admiral… What are these aliens like?". He looked up, it was Darsi, she was staring directly at him.
"From what Kar'Danna has said they look a bit like an Asari… but with hair".
"What the hell is hair".
"Thin flexible and strong fibers that grow from parts of the body. They range in color. Kind of like Varren fur, but much longer. It varies in length depending on the individual". She ignored how quickly he had answered the question, now even more curious.
"They Levo or Dextro?".
"Levo. They're also dual-gendered like many races, spacefaring, and not half bad looking. I'd imagine your people will have a field day if they introduce themselves to the council". He added a hint of suggestion in his voice and her eyes hardened, clearly, it was a jab at her people's…. Indiscretion. "Yeah, yeah Pyjack. We'll see for ourselves. Is that their ship?"
He looked through the viewport, the Alien cruiser was quite large and beautiful. The central hull was thick and heavily armoured, with a very lethal-looking spinal armament resembling a mass accelerator. Two more slightly smaller accelerators were arrayed in long thin compartments that ran the length of the ship, slightly slanted. At the rear, they merged seamlessly with the primary hull, before sloping downwards to the accelerators and secondary hull. The vessel design was quite ingenious really. Its silhouette from the front was very thin, quite like a quarian ship, while any shells that hit the two largest hull components may ricochet off, reducing strain on the Kinetic barriers (Though these aliens apparently didn't use them).
"You know it's going to look bad if you drag someone on their ship in cuffs". His thoughts were interrupted by Darsi again, her examining the yellow glowing Omni cuffs. Damn it she's right, it'll make them look like victims and may jeopardize our relationship. He sighed profusely, before reaching for his omnitool and de-activating them. "You try anything and we fill you with enough plasma to pop an M96".
She nodded, stretching her wrists and sighing contentedly. "Damn…. The pyjacks can really build a ship can't they, that thing looks fresh out the production yards".
As the shuttle entered the bay, the enormous armored doors began grinding closed. The metal jaws were sealed shut. Almost. Like we're being swallowed up by the ship. He grimly thought. This would be a defining moment in Quarian history, and he couldn't afford mistakes. "Soldiers… Weapons down and appear non-threatening". They nodded, powering down weapons but keeping barriers charged. The shuttle suddenly clanked down and then stilled, clearly, they had arrived.
"Hold on Admiral, pressure is only 0.6 bar, look like they are pressurizing now, the atmosphere is oxygen-nitrogen, practically indistinguishable from the galactic standard".
"Well at least they're similar enough that breathing their air won't kill us. Are you ready Darsi?".
She nodded, calming herself and stretching out her hands. "Admiral I should tell you, I can't pass along the information without having direct skin-to-skin contact. So…..".
Bosh'tet. The thought just hadn't occurred he'd need to at least make some sort of physical connection so her biotics would be able to merge through the nerves in his body. "Atmospheric pollutants and contaminants".
"Looks comparable to Citadel standard Admiral. Small numbers of airborne micro-organisms, mainly coming from the main entrance, looks like the humans have rolled out a welcome party for us".
Grasping his omnitool. He programmed the injection of several antibiotics and immune supplements, he'd been saving them for his wife later that week, and it'd been hard, but if things went well here, they might not have to worry about short supplies for much longer, if they could secure some sort of guarantee. "Fine… I'll have to remove my glove to allow the transfer. If you screw this up for us Darsi, I'm airlocking you myself".
She shivered at the thought. It was well known that Asari biotics could protect their skin from the freezing temperatures and crippling pressure of low-pressure, But all this meant was that getting spaced was a slow death as their lungs literally froze, And without any sort of spacesuit, biotics wouldn't last forever, and as she starved, her skin would freeze at the same time as her nerves, absolutely brutally painful, whereas most other species would die within 2 minutes from bubbles forming in their blood.
Giving her no time to reflect on the matter, he rose up, nodding at his marines and pressing the button to open the doorway. They were greeted by an impressively organized hangar. He couldn't see any of the large blocky shuttles, but he could see several smaller aircraft. Both lethal-looking three-winged fighters, and a larger and blockier transport of some sort. The humans had laid out two long double lines of marines, all standing at ease. When Han stepped down, the human leader yelled something, and the marines snapped to attention, a full military greeting!
Stepping from the ramp, his marines were stoic in the face of the alien presentation, and as Han'Gerrel neared the aliens, he took a risk and did a classic quarian salute. The humans responded with what (he assumed) was a human salute. Raising his hand to his forehead and then indicating outward. He then noticed Darsi and his eyes widened considerably. There is an uncanny resemblance, kheelah it's like their long-lost sister race.
Darsi stepped forward, her yellow and white armor glinting under the light. The human held a hand out, wanting to do his greeting, though his eyes were still staring (unashamedly) at the Asari, quite obviously off-put by her similarity. Once they had shaken hands, Darsi took a step forward, placing a hand on each shoulder. The Aliens tensed, and Darsi began her breaths, taking a deep breath in, then out, closing her eyes. The Alien admiral made a gesture, and his troops lowered their weapons. Han did the same, asking his marines to place their weapons on their backs. For this to work, he needed their complete trust, and it wasn't like their weapons would be of any use in a confined space, surrounded by the aliens.
His attention focused on Darsi, purple wisps began to form around her, as she closed her eyes again. "EMBRACE ETERNITY!".
Codex Entry: Geneva class Light Cruiser
"The typical human cruiser is perfectly representative of humankind and their race. They are aggressive, they are go-getters, they don't need to wait for the rest of the pack to catch up, they can be faultlessly loyal and defensible, and they draw a certain level of brutish elegance to them, whether or not they're on your side or not" - Admiral Septimus Oraka, The Pheiros Campaign
Number in Service: 512 (12 Variants in active service, 1 under decommissioning)
Length: 520 Meters
Crew: 1520 (Minimal crew complement of 700)
Electrostatic Decomposition Barriers: Cruiser Grade Electrostatic Barriers
Engines: 3 Rolls Royce CE-109 Anti-Proton thruster
Powerplant: 3 Mk IV Aerospatiale Antimatter Reactors
FTL: Internal Spinner Alignment, Standard Jump Drive
Weapons:
- 38 Point Defense Plasma Shotguns
- 6 Arm-Winch launchers
- 12 Vertical Launching Missile Tubes
- 2 Spinal Cruiser-Grade Plasma Lances
- 8 Turret hardpoints compatible with: Short Range Torpedoes, Coilguns, Light Plasma lances, Arm-Winch launchers
Utilities:
- Basic Barracks and Troop center
- Small internal hangar bay
- Internal Hydroponics and resupply bays
Lore: As venerable and recognizable as humanity itself, the Geneva class is the mainstay cruiser of the Alliance, fulfilling a central and pivotal role in the Alliance fleet, and an incredibly versatile naval platform for small patrol groups. On its surface, the Geneva is an escort ship. With its plasma shotgun complement, interceptor missiles, VLS systems, and defensive hangar bay, the ship is powerful in its escort role, and the first three flights of the class were purpose-built escorts, however during the height of the Insurrection, Admiral Kannedy refitted four of his Geneva class vessels with short-range torpedo launchers and scored an impressive victory against Federal forces, as such, the ship has become an incredibly versatile strike platform, able to mount whatever it's mission parameters require. The ships are now the most common cruiser in the alliance fleet, and have become a staple of the Alliance Navy, found everywhere from Earth to Eden Prime. From the Citadel to Arcturus Station. While certainly not as powerful as their larger Budapest class sisters, the Geneva class is just as vital.