Disclaimer: I do not own Zootopia or any of its characters, they all belong to Disney. I do not own Halo or any of it characters, that are all belong to 343 Industries.
First Contact
Chapter 6
"They don't like being called devils!" Judy exclaimed, tapping her foot on the deck and poking the man in the chest with each word. "Their species has a name – Maika! Now please use it!"
"Sorry Judy," the crewman said, actually taking a step back from the angry Rabbit, "it just slipped out."
The Judy turned on her heel and stomped out of the mess hall. He listened and after a minute the man sighed.
"You'd of thought I called her cu..."
Nick had his hand over the man's mouth before he'd complete saying the dreaded 'c' word.
"I see you have a death wish," the Fox said quietly. "The last time I used that particular word in her presence I regretted it for a week." Well at least in public, he thought.
Then the alert sounded, letting everyone know that they were coming out of slipspace in ten minutes. Quickly things were stowed and made secure and everyone was strapped in. They hadn't had slipspace accident yet, but according to records on the 'Dawn' it had happened in the past. Everyone was ready and the 'Forward Unto Dawn' reentered normal space without incident. Then the signal affirming that fact was given. Nick squeezed his bunny hand, unstrapped, and stood. They would enter orbit of Dune within the hour.
"I wonder what Jill, Maria, and the rest will think of our new friends," he said.
"At least they won't be calling the Maika devils!"
"Judy, I admit I've slipped up a few times myself," he said and she looked at her Fox and made a face. "Of course some humans say that 'He's only a Fox.'"
Judy tried, but couldn't stop herself from smiling.
"But you're my Fox," she said, running a hand through his fur.
"And you're my bunny," he said and hugged her.
The shuttle ride down was uneventful and as they flew over the capital, Arrakeen. They noticed that it had grown over the last few months. Their drop ship set down at the spaceport and then they were driven to the planetary administrative center.
"Judy, Nick, and friends," Jill said, seeing the new species in the flesh for the first time. "Do you speak..."
"Yes," she said. "My name is Abesi and this is my sister..."
"Etuca," the Maika said.
"So are all your people settled?" Jill asked and two sisters looked at each other.
"Our people seem to like either world and we fit right in with the Rabbits," Abesi said and smiled. "This planet is interesting. Are there sandworms or..."
"Fremen?" Etuca finished and both Jill and Maria laughed.
"Could we see some of the walking trees?" Abesi asked.
The ride up to the 'Dawn' had been again uneventful and Jill and Maria agreed to share the same cabin near the delegation of Maika.
"It's going to take a week to get to the Neanderthal's home system," Maria said as they headed to the mess hall for breakfast.
"It'll give us time to get to know the Maika better," Jill said and stopped at the next cabin.
She knocked and a few seconds later Etuca opened the door.
"Good morning," Etuca said and opened the door wider. "Come in. We're almost ready." The two adult Maika, sitting at the table talking, stood as they entered. "This is my mate, Tye, and his brother, Tyo."
"Good morning," Tye said and touched horns with the Gazelle.
"And the same to you," she said and smiled.
Tyo did the same and then looked at the Rabbit.
"Unfortunately we Rabbits don't have horns," she said and then hugged him instead.
"Usually adult males and females don't touch like this unless they are mated."
"I won't tell if you don't," she said and raised an eyebrow.
He laughed and returned the hug.
"I've never touched a female," he said.
Jill thought he might be blushing, but with his red fur she couldn't tell.
"Then I'm glad to be your first."
He laughed again and Abesi entered the room. Then she stopped and looked at the pair.
"Apparently I missed something," she said and raised an eyebrow.
He released her like she was red hot and then stepped back.
"Well let's go to breakfast," Maria said breaking the awkward silence.
Judy and Nick were already in line when they entered the mess hall. By the time they were making their choices the Rabbit and Fox already found a table large enough for all of them. They'd already begun eating by the time the Maika, Jill, and Maria had joined them.
"Good morning," Judy said and took another bite of her salad. "Any problems getting your people settled?"
"As I told your sister there haven't been any problems on either world," she said and took a bite of toast, "but some humans seem just a bit wary of us."
"Your people do resemble their version of the..."
"Nick!"
"I think they all know this by now."
"Nick..."
"We do know and it's only a minority of them," Abesi said and sighed.
"Trust me I do understand," Nick said and glanced at his bunny. "My people also resemble our version of the Devil, but without the horns."
"That must've made your lives... difficult," Tyo said.
"Yes, but you had it worse," he said and looked at the Rabbit beside him, "Some Animals can see passed that and we can make a life together." Judy leaned against his arm. "Well changing the subject I must say you've picked up our language very quickly and speak it quite well."
"It certainly helped that Peter was able to learn ours so quickly," Tye said, "and then create a dictionary of our language with audio translations of your words. Of course your written language is a bit more difficult since ours had been lost over time."
"That's all the fault of 'the others'!" Abesi said and struck the table. "They destroyed our civilization and were in process of killing us all. I wish you'd helped us destroy them!"
Abesi stood and left the mess hall.
"Sorry," Etuca said. "It's been hard on her, losing her family. Most of the time she's like she was before, but then she remembers and she's like another person."
"There are a number of our people who think we ought return to our planet and destroy them all," Tye said and sighed.
"But not all of 'the others' are responsible," Judy said.
"And you haven't seen them kill us for no other reason than because we simply exist," Tyo said. "I think all my people feel like that at one time or another."
They stopped at the Maika homeworld to make sure they hadn't missed any of them and to see how 'the others' were faring. Even without the probes still in orbit they could see that most of the cities on the planet were burning.
"Now they are killing each other!" Abesi said, watching the monitor, and clapped. "Our people will celebrate when they see this!"
Everyone knew what 'the others' had done to the Maika. The people in the common area looked at her and some imagined they might act the same way if the same thing had happened to them. The rest simply left.
"Abesi stop this!" Etuca said.
"I want to watch every last moment of this!" she said and looked back at the monitor. She smiled. "I just hope they exterminate themselves!"
"Abesi!" she said and grabbed her sister's arm.
A moment later Abesi turned, shoved her sister away, and then went back to watching the monitor. Several people came over to see if they could help.
"Let's just leave her be," Etuca said and sat at one of the other tables to keep a watch over her sister.
They stayed another three days and discovered from their atmospheric probes the reason for the fighting. Those probes, using Forerunner tech, were developed by the Huragok and were disguised to resemble native insects. They could and did get close enough to overhear conversations between individuals.
"Isn't there anything we can do?" Jazmel asked and they watched the monitor in Captain Key's office.
"I don't see what we could do?" Miranda said.
"Tell them we took the Maika."
"How?" she said and looked back at the monitor. "There's simply no government left."
"Couldn't we go down and..." Jazmel began and Miranda began shaking her head.
"Just where would we start?" she said, still shaking her head. "I'm not going to risk anyone's life."
"This is kind of our fault, isn't it?"
"And if we hadn't taken the Maika," she said, leaving the rest of her thought to the other woman's imagination.
Jazmel slumped back in her seat.
"Do we know why they're fighting each other?"
Miranda sighed.
"It's stupid."
"I'm not surprised."
"There are two different types of 'the others'."
"Yes, light fur and dark fur."
"Each of them accuses the other of helping the Maika to escape."
"You're right, it's stupid!" Jazmel said and shook her head. "I know from Peter that some of them saw us helping the Maika."
"All I can think is they weren't believed when they reported back to their superiors," she said and then tapped her fingers on her desk. "Remember all 'the others' that hunted the Maika and were camp guards had black wings."
"Could it really be that simple?"
"I'm sure glad we left," Judy said and looked at her Fox. "It was so depressing to watch."
"I agree," Nick said and hugged his bunny, "but apparently not by everyone."
"Abesi," she said and purple eyes met green ones.
"Abesi," he repeated. "She threw an absolute fit when they cutoff the video feed."
"And the doctors had to sedate her."
"I'm just glad we weren't the ones on duty when security had to haul her down to sickbay," he said and Judy stared at him. "I wouldn't want anything to happen to you."
"Nick, I can take care of myself."
"Still."
She sighed and laid her head on his furry chest. He ran a hand down her back and smiled. She propped herself and looked at him.
"Nick," she said and pulled herself up closed to his face. "You ever think it could have every gotten that bad for Foxes?"
"Like the Maika?" he said and put his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. "No."
He was quiet for so long that Judy began to wonder.
"Nick?"
"I was just thinking."
"Did I say something to make you..."
"You can say you like to me," he said and smiled. "Just be honest with me and that's all I ask."
"Remember when we first met?"
"Vividly," he said and chuckled.
"I thought all Foxes were..."
He put a hand over her mouth.
"I know," he said, "and I was an asshole."
Judy smiled.
"Well not in the beginning," she said and he laughed.
"The one thing I haven't done is apologize."
"Love means you never have to say you're sorry."
He smiled.
"Well I am anyway," he said and Judy kissed her Fox.
She felt his hand slide down her back and gently squeeze her fluffy white tail. A bit later they both found another way to say they were sorry.
The 'Forward Unto Dawn' arrived in Neanderthal's star system several days later, but not near their homeworld or any of their solar system's inner planets.
"I still think we simply could've gone directly there," Jasmel said and shrugged.
"I just didn't want to make of your people... nervous," she said and the female Neanderthal rolled her eyes. "There are several of your ships nearby. So let's stick with the plan and contact one of them. Please."
"Yes."
"Would it be possible that you might know some of the people on these ships," Miranda said and handed her a list.
"Miranda, it's been 166 years."
"Ah, that slipped my mind," Miranda said and thumped her forehead.
Jasmel chuckled and looked down the list and stopped. Then she smiled.
Roch woke and stretched. Then he reached over and touched his wife's arm. She signed and smiled up at him.
"Good morning," she said and reached up to pull him closer.
"So what do you have in mind?"
"Do you have any orders for me Leader?"
"Orders no, but I do have a few ideas."
She laughed and then he kissed her. Just as things began to get more a bit more intimate the comm signaled. He sighed, rolled over, and touched the control. His XO's face appeared to the screen.
"Sorry sir, but..."
"I was awake."
"We've getting a signal for you."
"Who's it from?"
"It doesn't say."
"Is it from a ship or from in system?"
"It does say that either."
"Well do you know where it's coming from?"
"Toward the Oort cloud," the XO said and leaned closer to the camera. "Currently we're farther out than anyone else in this sector."
"I'll come up to the bridge," he said and grunted as he switched it off.
He had his communications tech put the message on the main screen and immediately recognized the face. It was Jasmel, but she shouldn't have returned for at least another two hundred years! She was his – and had to count in his head – grandmother 7 generations back. He'd even named his ship after for her.
"Leader, I'd like to announce that we're back," she said and smiled. "Also, as you may have guessed we are currently too far away from you to hold a real time conversation. Yes, I know we've returned a bit earlier than expected," she smiled and 'a bit' was an understatement, he thought, "but we visited the first five stars on our list. When we reached that last star we met another spacefaring race who happens to be related to us and they have faster than light capable ships. Please respond and let us know where and when you'd like to meet."
Roch looked around the bridge at his crew's surprised faces.
"Leader," communications tech said.
"Let me get with the navigator and I'll have a response within the hour."
"Yes sir," she said. "There are instructions attached on how we're to respond."
"Good."
He sat in his command chair and tapped on its arm waiting for the response. They'd already set course toward the massive gas giant only a day away and he hoped that was acceptable. He'd also considered sending a message back to their homeworld, but that would take six hours to be received and only if they'd respond immediately, which he knew that wouldn't, it would take another six hours to get a response. So he sat and waited. Eventually he got hungry and went to the mess hall. He returned half an hour later and again he waited.
"Leader, I'm receiving a response!" the communication tech said excitedly.
"Put it on the main screen!" he said and a few seconds later Jasmel's face appeared.
"Leader Roch, we've received your response and we're here and already here waiting for you," she said and chuckled. "Since we have some time before you arrive we'll begin surveying the planet and its retinue of moons. Who knows we might even find something interesting. See you in twenty-two hours."
For the next twenty-one hours it felt like time was literally standing still. Everyone did their job, but he'd seen some of his crew checking the external cameras periodically as the planet grew larger. In fact over those hours he'd done it several times himself and even had the thought of ordering an increase in speed. Finally they were only an hour away from achieving orbit and the image of the planet filled the main screen.
"Leader, I've detected a ship in orbit," the sensor tech announced, "and it's very large and we will be preceding it when we achieve orbit."
Again time seemed to crawl over the next hour and just as they achieved obit their external cameras caught the other ship come into view around the limb of the planet. Their sensor showed that the ship was slowing and would still catch up to them within the next thirty-two minutes.
"Leader, we're receiving a signal," the communications tech said and Roch gestured to the main screen.
Again Jasmel's smiling face appeared.
"Leader Roch, thank you for meeting with us," she said and smiled. "I'd like to introduce you to the Leader of the 'Forward Unto Dawn'. This is Miranda Keys."
The camera pulled back, showing a person that looked something like them, but with a number of differences.
"Leader Roch, I'd like to invite you to my ship," she said and he noticed that her lip movements didn't match the words. "You may bring as many of your crew as you wish or you may either dock your ship to mine or set down in my ship's landing bay."
To do that they'd have to stop his ship's spin and only then noticed that the other ship wasn't. The implication hit him and her felt his jaw drop. The two women smiled.
"Yes Leader Roch, this ship does have artificial gravity," Miranda said.
"And it's fairly close to the homeworld's," Jasmel said and winked.
"How?" he finally said.
"When you come over our engineers will explain it to yours," Miranda said and smiled as she thought of the Huragok.
The massive ship matched relative position with them and their thrusters fired, slowing their ship's spin. After five minutes their spin finally stopped and they became weightless. Then a large hatch opened amidships and the 'Jasmel' turned, slowly entered, and extended it landing legs. Then the hatch shut behind them. As Dawn's gravity was gradually increased it drew the smaller ship to the deck. It touched down on the indicated spot and hastily built clamps locked their ship in place.
"Sir, we are down and secured to the deck," the XO said.
"Gravity is ninety-eight percent of normal," the sensor tech reported. "The air outside the ship is a oxygen/nitrogen mix with the normal trace gases present with just a bit higher oxygen content."
"Leader, we're receiving a message."
Again Jasmel's face appeared on the main screen.
"Time to come out and meet the aliens," she said and laughed.
"We'll be there in five minutes," he said and grinned. "We need to get a few things locked down and run a few checks."
"Take your time," she said. "We have a few things to do ourselves."
The cargo ramp lowered and large group awaited them with at least one representative of each species crewing the 'Dawn'. He knew he was just standing there staring as he guessed the rest of his crew was also. Eventually Jasmel strolled up the ramp and stopped before them.
"Leader Roch, welcome to the 'Forward Unto Dawn,'" she said in their language. "Trust me I was just as surprised when I met them too."
She put an arm around him and led down the ramp. Then she glanced back and the others followed. Miranda waited at the bottom of the ramp.
"Leader Keys," he said and her pad translated.
He grasped her arm and again she knew by the next day she'd have a bruise.
"Welcome to my ship," she said and smiled. "Let me introduce you to some of my crew."
"Can I ask you a question?" he said and noticed that the other twenty-two members of his crew began to filter in with hers.
"Of course."
"Why didn't you just go directly to our world?" he said and they heard Jasmel chuckle. "Somebody else," she looked at Jasmel, "suggested the same thing, but I thought it might alarm some of your people, seeing my ship simply appear over your planet."
He rubbed his chin.
"I guess I can see your point," he said and looked at Jasmel.
The other Neanderthal rolled her eyes and took him by the elbow.
Let's go meet some of the 'Dawn's' crew and then we'll get some lunch," she said.
Roch found this lunch to be quite memorable. They had foods from two dozen different cultures and he did try a little from each. Afterward he thought that he'd never been so full in his entire life. The Dawn's crew was so different. Some were obviously different species and others were animals which he recognized, but had opposable thumbs, could talk, and walked upright! All his crew got along with them quite well as did Jasmel's, but of course they'd known them for a while longer. Afterwards they were given a tour of the ship.
"Then your ship's a warship," Roch said and they entered the bridge. "I noticed the railgun in the bow."
"Yes," Miranda said.
"You were at war?"
"With the Covenant," she said as they walked onto the bridge. "They were an amalgam of seven species who wanted to destroy humanity. In the end with the help of the Sangheili who'd broken with the Covenant and allied with us we won. We've no idea what's happened since."
"You haven't returned?"
"Earth is over 200,000 light years away and it would take longer than several lifetimes to return."
"How'd you get here in the first place?"
"That's a long story and John and Thel's report is on your pad," she said and he glanced at it. "Or you or any of your crew may speak to them if you wish."
"Thank you," he said and looked at the main screen. "When do you plan to leave for our world?"
"I'd like you to contact them first."
He did as Miranda asked and they just had to wait for a response. In the meantime he and his crew were given a tour of the ship. By the end of the tour he and his XO and their respective spouses were left on the bridge of the Dawn with Miranda and Jasmel as the rest of his crew remained in the different sections of the ship that had matched their specialties.
"So how long do you think we'll have to wait?" Miranda asked.
"Most likely till we're old and gray," Roch said and chuckled. "You know how politicians are."
"Trust me," she said and smiled. "I most certainly do." She looked at the clock on the main screen. "It'll be supper time soon. We have room for you here on the Dawn or would you like to go back to your ship?"
"I think we'll stay here," he said and moved close. "I think if I tried that I'd have a mutiny on my hands."
"Your crew does seem to be enjoying themselves."
"Especially my engineers," he said and chuckled again. "Those Huragok are amazing!"
"Yes, there are," she said. "They've made many changes to the Dawn and when they fix something it's always better then it was before."
"Maybe I ought to let them loose on the Jasmel."
"They probably could build your ship FTL drive."
"Really?!"
"I wouldn't doubt it," she said and touched his arm. "We could ask."
"Captain!" the sensor tech said and she stepped to the Deer's station. "One of probes reports that it has found generated power on the largest moon."
Miranda looked at Roch.
"Your people?"
"Not that I know of."
She walked to the navigator's station.
"Captain, we can be there in seven hours and ten minutes," the navigator said. "I already have our course plotted."
"Well then take us there."
The news spread through both crew like wildfire and that seemed to be only topic of conversation during dinner.
"This must've something to do with the Forerunners," Thel said and looked at Cortana.
"We now know for sure that our people didn't originate on our world," Klast said and patted John's arm.
"And we're positive the Forerunners brought the Animals to Zootopia from Earth," Cortana said and smiled. "Maybe they had base here and simply forgot to turn something off before they left."
A few people around the table chuckled.
"We certainly have the same animals on our world as you do on Earth and Zootopia, but like Earth ours aren't intelligent," Klast said and looked at Judy, Ben, and Nick. "When we do a DNA comparison of the same animals we should learn a lot about what parts of the DNA relate to intelligence. As I've told you we do have a few animals you don't on Zootopia."
"Primates," Judy said.
"Yes," she said and then looked thoughtful. "You do have Lemurs, but not gorillas, chimps, orangutans, or monkeys. Those larger apes are somewhat intelligent and we've taught some them our sign language. They do recognize themselves in mirrors and there's still a debate among biologist whether or not they are truly sentient and sapient."
"What do you think?" Miranda asked.
Klast sighed and looked at the ceiling for a long moment.
"I myself think they are," she said and smiled. "We've done much better with Dolphins and everyone agrees that they are truly intelligent. Also, we've even establish true communications with them."
"We haven't with ours," Ben said and Klast looked at the Cheetah. "It might be interesting to bring some of your dolphins to our world and see how they react to each other."
"I wonder if the Forerunners uplifted ours or if it occurred naturally."
"Have you asked them?" Nick said and smiled.
"I never thought of that," Klast said and took a drink. "Their brains are very different from ours and they actually might possibly be more intelligent then we are. I'll send the suggestion along to my colleagues after our people contact us."
"I need to get back to the bridge and then get a bit of sleep before we get there," Miranda said.
"We don't have go down there the moment we arrive," Roch said and shrugged. "Let's just let everyone get a good night's sleep and go down in the morning."
"I'll continue to monitor things," Peter said, now needing sleep.
They achieved orbit after 1am ship time and after scanning the surface on their first orbit Peter soon located source of the power generation. Then he sent several probes to that area of the moon's surface and they found the power source and soon thereafter found an underground base. The moon didn't have an atmosphere which made the examination of the entrance somewhat simpler. From his examination of the Forerunner database over the last year he concluded that it was definitely one of their designs.
Miranda arrived at 6am.
"Captain Keys, I have determined that there is an active Forerunner base this moon."
She smiled.
"And you haven't learned all its secrets yet?"
He understood the organics penchant for sarcasm.
"I've only located the power source, examined the outside, and with the help of the information contained in the available Forerunner database determined it was of their designs," he said and smiled. "I left the easy part for you and the other organics."
Miranda laughed and flopped in her command chair.
"So when do we go down?"
"I've had three drop ships prepared depending on the number of personnel going," he said and her pad pinged. "I've also prepared a list of personnel necessary for the examination, but I assumed that you and some of the other command crew would wish to accompany them also."
Miranda laughed again.
"I assume you're going too."
"My name is at the top of the list."
There was laughter heard around the bridge.
The first of the three drop ships touched down an hour and a half later. John, Cortana, and the other Spartans went first once the cargo bay was depressurized. Peter caught up and soon walked ahead of them and then stopped before the entrance. With everyone's help a portable airlock was laid out, sealed to, and then inflated over the entrance. They waited until the air was warmed to a comfortable temperature and then entered. Then two Huragok began examining the door and five minutes later were able to open it. They'd pressurized it before opening the door so the pressure in the portable airlock was identical to the one in the entrance to the base. There was only a very slight breeze toward door when it was opened.
The Huragok were then able to open the inner without closing the outer one. Peter, the Spartans, Marines, and the Huragok entered Forerunner base and followed the tunnel deeper into the moon. After five minutes they were halted by a set of doors.
"An elevator," Cortana surmised and the pair of the Huragok came forward and immediately opened the doors. They signaled the others to join them.
"Captain Keys," John said, "I suggest you and the others wait while we, "he looked at Sergeant Johnson and his Marines for a moment, "do a pulmonary survey of the base."
"Of course," she said, not looking happy.
"If our comms don't work I'll send someone up when we're finished."
The Spartans, Marines, and Peter entered the elevator, but they wouldn't quite all fit. Sergeant Johnson had to leave two more of his Marines behind. The doors shut and the Huragok touched the control panel, sending the elevator down to the underground base. Thirty seconds later they came to a stop and the doors automatically opened. A pair of drones controlled by the Huragok went first and their return images were displayed real time on one corner of John's, Cortana's, Peter's and Sergeant Johnson's heads up displays. After two minutes nothing was found and John signaled them forward.
The lights had come on as the drones had moved around the large room. They broke up into five search parties of four – three Marines and one Spartan while the sixth was made up of John, Thel, Peter and Sergeant Johnson. The Huragok went around the room ahead of them unlocking doors. After half an hour all the rooms were explored, but the one that opened into a corridor which led to another larger room. The Huragok opened the door and same procedure was followed again. The last room was labeled as a hospital. The Huragok opened the door and John stepped through first. He stopped, looked around the room, and then turned back.
"Sergeant Johnson, send one of your Marines back and retrieved the others," he said and stepped aside. "Also, please tell them we'll need more personnel and to bring all the Huragok that can be spared."
The others looked passed him and could easily see why.
Miranda stepped into the room and stared at what looked to her like row upon row of coffins. Then she saw John and Cortana.
"How many are there?"
"In this room there are 2,048 and there are one hundred and twenty eight levels below this one which are all much larger," he said and indicated the elevator across the room. "We haven't finished counting yet."
"Neanderthals?"
"So far yes," Cortana said and Miranda frowned.
"What else do you expect?"
"There were humans and other hominids on Earth at that time," she said.
"And animals too," Nick said and winked at his bunny.
Judy rolled her eyes.
"And possibly species from other planets," Thel said and shrugged. "We won't know until we look or the Huragok finish looking through the computers."
A day later Roch received a reply from the homeworld.
"Well they'll be here in a eight days."
"Do you know who?" Miranda asked.
"A bunch of idiots!" he said and smiled. "They even had the nerve to try to order me not talk to you! My family owns my ship and I told them I can talk to anyone I please!"
"I don't want you to get into trouble."
"Trouble!" he said and then made a rude noise which on Earth would be known a Bronx cheer. "Wait till the other ships join us here."
"Other ships?"
"I sent out a general message for assistance to every ship in our system," he said and chuckled. "I told them about what they told me to do, Jasmel returning, your worlds and the ones you found, and what we found here – everything! There are other ships much closer and they'll be here in a lot less than eight days! I even attached video of you and your crew with mine and I set it all to repeat every thirty minutes! The first ship ought to be here by late tomorrow."
Miranda laughed.
As Roch said the first ship arrived just before midnight the next day and its crew immediately pitched in to help on the moon base. Fortunately the ship was a water hauler and even though the Dawn's water recycling system was good it wasn't perfect. So the influx of water that hadn't been recycled a hundred times was welcomed.
Miranda entered the bridge at exactly 9am as she did almost every morning and received her morning briefing from the XO.
"The water certainly tastes better," she said, leaning back in her chair.
"Three more ships will arrive today – two ore haulers and a single ship."
"Single ship?"
"An asteroid prospector flown by a single person," he said. "We have some of those in the colonies back home."
"That ought to be interest," she said.
The XO continue with his report and she felt her mind begin to wonder.
"Captain, the Arbiter wishes to speak to you," Communication Tech reported.
"I'll take it in my office," she said and stood.
She sat and touched her monitor and his face appeared.
"I assume you found something."
"On the 107th level we found Sangheili," he said, "and I want to begin waking them."
"I don't see any reason not to," she said and smiled.
"We've also found Huragok in stasis," Cortana said, joining him. "They come out of stasis periodically to do visual checks on the base. We've also completed to review of the computer records and the Forerunners have setup other colony worlds in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud with many different species - a number we nor the Covenant have never contacted."
By the time the three ships from the Neanderthal homeworld seven days later thirty-two other ships had arrived in the intervening time. Needless to say neither the military nor the politicians were happy. When they also demanded the repeating message be stopped Roch refused and then added footage of the confrontation with the new arrivals to the message which made them even angrier. Then Miranda showed them what they found on the moon and took them there.
Also within those seven days hundreds of people from a dozen known species had been awakened from stasis. Then this was also added to Roch's message which now was being rebroadcast from over a hundred ships. Of course the leaders on the homeworld couldn't exactly keep it a secret from the public since it had been received and then put on their version of the internet by hundreds of people. The public was now demanding answers and private ships were being launched from the homeworld and other parts of their solar system. Within a week protests sprang up around the world and after another week the Neanderthal leader bowed to public pressure and promised to visit the moon and the visitors. Her ship arrived ten days later and she soon stood on the bridge of the Dawn.
"Watch," Miranda said and pointed to the main screen.
A slipspace portal opened and three drop ships emerged and the portal close behind them.
"That's your method of faster than light travel."
"Yes," she said. "Jasmel has suggested that we send our ships to contact yours. According to the schedules two of them should now be in star systems easily reached. One other should be entered a solar system within a couple of months, but the rest will still be in interstellar for years. We can get to them all eventually."
"Things have changed so much just in the last few weeks," she said and Miranda patted her arm.
"And they'll change a lot more in the next few years," she said and looked at the moon. "From the Forerunner records we found there's a large number of planets they'd planted life on and we'd like you to join us exploring them."