The Ghoul Effect: Ch.1- Meetings


April 3rd 15:07, Quarian Migrant fleet, QSV. Rayya:


"Any word form Admiral Han'Gerrel and the Heavy fleet?" Said Rael'Zorah.

"Negative Admiral." Reported a nearby officer. "They're likely still engaged against the Relay 427 creatures." She finished.

"And won't be returning." The Admiral silently added. Damn the Batarians. Bosh'tets all of them, they couldn't follow one dawn law and be good citizens of the Galaxy. But nooo they thought they were above the law, they had to go and open a relay on the edge of their space to find new resources and slaves to exploit. They found something all right, and that something had obliterated half of Batarian space and are currently making major inroads on Council space. If the fleet's informants were to be believed an attack on the Citadel itself appeared to be imminent. But that particular bit of news mattered little in his view right now considering a fleet of the of so-called relay 427 creatures or just the 427s had been chasing them for the last four days, only by sacrificing the majority of the heavy fleet were they able to escape. Ancestors knew how long that would last. He turned his attention back to the viewscreen displaying a large portion of the Migrant fleet and beyond them a massive structure that was far older than any ship in the fleet.

A mass relay. Relay 314 as the Turians liked to call it. Their only hope now was to activate it and go through it in hopes of escaping the destruction of the known galaxy. "How long until the Relay is activated?"

As though to answer his question he says the twin rings of the relay spin to life with blue light emanating from their center. "Never mind. All ships enter the relay. First the Patrol Fleet and the remaining Heavy Fleet than the civilian fleet. Engage." Rael only hopes they were not making another mistake like the Batarians did. But as his ship and the rest of the Quarian fleet went through the relay he couldn't help but suddenly feel a sense of hope.


April 3rd 15:07, Shanxi Orbit, TFV. Victory:


Rear Admiral Tyler Grayson took a strong whiff of his earl grey tea, enjoying every moment of its fragrance. "No wonder Picard liked this stuff." He said after taking a sip of it. In response, he heard the various officers chuckle at his comment.

"You really love your Star Trek references don't you?" Said an officer.

"I also enjoy one good Star Wars one too." He said which garnered more chuckles. After the laughter died down he turned his attention back to his command console looking over the various reports sent to him on a daily bias. Reports that range from maintenance done the ship to the coordination of the fleet. He even had reports coming in from planet his fleet is tasked with defending.

Shanxi a relatively new colony in the Federation being established seven years ago and one of its fastest-growing ones. Already it had grown from its initial population of five thousand to a little over one million with thousands more coming in every week. No one could blame them Shanxi is a beautiful pristine world with plenty of resources. But those weren't the only reasons why so many came to this world, no that honor belonged to something that for centuries was commonly associated with new opportunities. A mass relay, and also the reason why the system had such a large defense fleet.

Normally a colony like Shanxi would only have at best a dozen frigates and corvettes and sometimes a cruiser or two to defend it, along with an orbital defense system. Just enough to deter any pirate attack, but with a mass relay in the system, namely a deactivated one, a larger number of ships had been allocated to its defense. For this reason, he commands a respectable fleet of three hundred-fifty ships his flagship the T.F.V. Victory an old Grissom class-dreadnought. At the moment he had hundred of his ships stationed close by the relay ready to take on anything that could come through it, another two dozen ships were tasked with patrolling the system, and the remainder of the fleet including his ship was stationed in orbit of the planet itself.

"Wonder when they'll open the relay?" Said a nearby a crewman, the Admiral turned to the young man, a ghoul be looks of his Kakugan.

"I would say it won't be for a little while, the colony could still us…?" He started to respond.

"Admiral." Said a synthetic female voice.

"Yes Helen, what is it?" Grayson asked the ships onboard AI or Sythn.

"We're detecting unusual readings from the relay. I believe it is activating and something is coming through." Reported Helen.

His mind instantly went into overdrive at the possibilities of what could be coming through the relay. Only two came to mind. "Helen tell the fleet to go to stand by and order our patrol ships back. Tell them we may very well have either a Dragon fleet coming in or a first contact situation on our hands." He began to order.

"Sir." In an instant the commander center was abuzz with activity as crewmen and officers alike began to work their stations and orders sent throughout the ship to ready it for battle should the need arise. The Admiral prayed it would not.

"Send a communicate to high command with a report on our current situation. Helen bring up a display of the relay and ready the first contact package." In front of him, a holographic display of the tuning fork-like structure of a mass relay appeared. No sooner than it did its twin rings began to whirl to life with a blue glow emanating from its center.

"Contacts coming through," Helen said just before the Admiral and everyone else saw a vessel of the alien design appear than other, another, another, on and on it went until there seemed to be a sea of ships. Silence overtook the command center as an endless stream of ships came through the ancient device, even Helen an AI was rendered speechless. Final the stream of ships came to an end.

Admiral Grayson was the first to speak. "How many? How many ships?" He said with barely restrained fear.

"According to sensors I'm reading over forty-three thousand ships. Checking with another shipboard AIs for confirmation. Readings confirmed, there are over forty-three thousand ships of alien design. It is hard to determine exact numbers due to their close proximity to each other."

"Over forty-three thousand?" Tyler whispered to himself. That was almost the size of the entire Federation fleet. This was no mere exploration group liked he had hoped for. No this was most certainly an invasion force. Why else would someone assemble such a large fleet? Furthermore if whoever was attacking them, is able to send such a large force like this then it suggested that they are of a power far beyond the Federation's capacity to fight. Let alone his poultry force of three hundred fifty ships.

"Sir what shall we do? Said Helen breaking him out of his thoughts. He looks around the command center seeing the faces of the men and women under his command, several of whom he had known for years. Not one of them showed any fear, not even the young crewmen that asked him about the relay just before its activation. Instead, he saw grim looks of determination on their faces. The Admiral smiled to himself indeed these are the finest men and women the Federation had to offer if they were willing to face down certain death like this. At this very moment, they all had friends and family they wanted to protect even if it cost them their lives. He is certain all of his ships are filled with similarly determined crewmen. He was proud of them, they had their duty and he had his.

Steeling his resolve with the knowledge that his people were ready to give their lives for the Federation, he spoke. "We do what we must to defend Shanxi and the rest of the Federation. All hands battle stations. Helen, send word to General Williams, tell him to evacuate the colonist to the shelters and prepare for one hell of a fight. Also, tell our boys at the relay to fall back to our position we'll make our stand here." A chorus of yes sirs followed his orders as the CC fell into a state of ordered chaos as orders were relayed throughout the rest of the ship and fleet.

Then a thought occurred to him. Might as tell these alien bastards who they're messing with. "Helen remove everything from our first contact package except the languages and transmit it to the alien fleet along with this message. Attention unidentified alien fleet this is Rear Admiral Tyler Grayson. You have intruded on the sovereign territory of the United Terran Federation. State your intentions here or withdraw if you do not do so in the next five minutes, we will be forced to assume hostility from you and use any and all force to drive you out."


April 3rd 15: 08, Quarian Migrant fleet, QVS. Rayya:


The moment the Rayya exited the relay Admiral Rael'Zorah felt relief, so far nothing had gone wrong. "Status on the fleet." He said.

"The entire fleet as made it through the relay and are standing by for further orders." Said a nearby officer.

"Good. Start scanning the system for any habitable planets and asteroids that can be exploited for resources. Otherwise, have the fleet ready to move out." Rael leaned back in his chair feeling more tired than he ever felt in his life. At least nothing was going to happen to them.

"Admiral we have contacts in the system."

Then again the geth could give them their homeworld back without a fight. "Identify and how many?"

"I'm reading three hundred fifty ships of unknown designs. Hundred of them are fifty thousand kilometers from us, two hundred twenty-six station in orbit of the fourth planet, and the remaining twenty-four are scattered through the system. Sir their largest ship measures at 1.2 kilometers and their weapons are charged."

Keelah a first contact scenario, and with a race able to build ships bigger than a Turian dreadnought. Only the Asari could build ships bigger than that, and they just dropped an absolutely massive fleet into their space. So much for nothing going wrong, they'd be lucky if they didn't start a war here and considering the events of the last few years, luck was in very short supply right now. Rael shook his head, as morbid his thoughts were he couldn't let them consume him. He had to think of a way to avoid a conflict with these aliens. First, he needed to know who he was dealing with. "Are there any kind of large scale shipyards or space stations in the system? Anything that could indicate that this is their home system"

"Negative admiral. No sign of any shipyard or space station only what would appear to be a fairly well develop satellite network, a significant portion of it appearing to be defense platforms. Most likely this is just a colonized system, probably an important one considering how much they're willing to invest in its defense." Came the report.

Or they thought the presence of a relay alone warranted such a force. Since they themselves just dropped a fleet of over forty-three thousand into the alien's system it did not seem like bad reasoning. "Alright see if we-"

"Admiral the closest alien ships are turning away from us and making for the fourth planet. We're also receiving a transmission from their largest ship. It appears to be a language pack and message. Shall I run it through the translator and play the message?"

Shooting up from his chair Rael'Zorah responded. "Yes do it now."

The longest two minutes of Rael's pasted as any number of scenarios played through his head waiting for the translator to do its job. Some include the enslavement or extinction of his race, would these be the final moments of his people? "Admiral the translation is complete. I'm playing the message now."

A masculine voice was heard throughout the bridge. "Attention unidentified alien fleet this is Rear Admiral Tyler Grayson. You have intruded on the sovereign territory of the United Terran Federation. State your intentions here or withdraw if you do not do so in the next five minutes, we will be forced to assume hostility from you and use any and all force to drive you out."

Realizing time is short Rael quickly spoke. "Send this message to the Terran flagship in their language, alongside our language pack."


April 3rd 15: 08, In orbit of Shanxi, TFV. Victory


"Helen, I want an analysis of the alien ships. I want to know if there's anything we can use against them when the shooting starts." Admiral Grayson ordered Helen.

As she always had in her twenty years of service and life she dutifully followed orders. Using the Victory's old but still powerful sensor array she analyzed the alien ships. It was a little difficult to discern the individual vessel due to their sheer numbers and proximity to each other. But this was largely overcome as using her authority as the fleet's Prime AI she pings orders to the other shipboard AIs of the fleet to assist her.

All vessels show eezo core signatures, kinetic weapons are likely to be their primary weapons. Usage of energy weapons likely to non-existent or limited to point-defense.

Ship designs appear to be highly varied, indicating usage of multiple ships types, or alien force is an alliance of several species. Problematic if the later.

Beginning structure analysis of alien vessels.

Usage of heavy metals detected alongside lighter metals. Warning, three vessels of measuring at 2.9 kilometers detected, tagging as a priority target. Scanning. Curious these vessels appear to lack any significant weapons emplacements. Supply ships? Yes, size and design would strongly support this theory. Ships designated as supply ships, target priority unchanged. Continuing scans. Vessels appear to be-. Surprise.

Confirming readings.

Readings confirmed. Uncertainty. Pinging for confirmation from other shipboard AIs.

Confirmation received.

Relaying information to Rear Admiral Tyler Grayson. Elapsed time since orders: 5.37 seconds.

"Admiral I have finished my analysis of the alien fleet." She said to the Admiral.

"Report." He said.

"All alien ships show signs of eezo cores. Kinetic weapons are likely their main offensive armament."

"So we can go ahead and discount the use of energy weapons."

"Affirmative." She confirmed his thoughts. "However they could use them in a point-defense role." She stated. The Admiral nodded his head in response. "There are three vessels that measure at approximately 2.9 kilometers in length."

Surprise and fear detected in all crewmen in the Command Center. Admiral Grayson restrains his in 1.73 seconds, other crewmen follow in 1.27 seconds. Admiral motions for her to continue. "However these vessels lack any significant offensive weapons for their size or even for a cruiser. Most likely they are being used as massive supply ships." Relief detected in all crewmen. "I have designated them as priority targets. Their destruction could cripple any invasion plans they have." Admiral Grayson nodded his head in approval. "Furthermore the designs of the other vessels appear to be highly varied. Two possibilities exist for this, one: the aliens make use of several ship types. Some of which could be specialized for specific roles. Two: The alien force comprises of multiple races."

"Multiple races? How many could there be?"

"Unknown. It heard determine without further information."

"Alright." He said in a tone that indicated deep thought. "Anything else that I should know about?"

"Yes, Admiral there is. This bit of information proved to be the most surprising." As her organic companions would say, that got his attention.

"All of the ships are in a state of disrepair."

"What?"

"I confirmed the readings myself and confirmed it with all other shipboard AIs of the fleet. All of the alien ships show varying levels of disrepair, it is likely none of them have been in a dry-dock for years. In fact, as you organics would put it some of them are held to together by little more than duck-tape." That induced a round of laughter from the crew in the CC. Satisfied that her attempt at humor had successful lighten the mood, she continued her report. "Furthermore several of the vessels are very old."

"How so?"

"The oldest ships appear to be over three hundred years."

"Three hundred?" Said a young crewman. "I get having ships that can last awhile. But we barely use ships from hundred years ago, let alone three hundred years ago."

"So we're dealing with a fleet of old and disrepair ships. What kind of invasion force is that?" The Admiral asked thoughtfully.

"Perhaps they do not think us enough of a threat to warrant the use of more modern and upkeeped ships." Helen chimed in, feeling insulted at the thought.

"Well isn't that dan-"

The incoming signal from the alien fleet.

Scanning.

Scan complete. The signal is a message translated to the standard Federation dialect and language pack.

Checking for malicious programs.

No malicious programs detected. Confirming readings.

Readings confirmed. Pinging for confirmation from another shipboard AIs.

Confirmation received.

Relaying information to Rear Admiral Tyler Grayson.

"Admiral, we are receiving a transmission from the alien fleet, audio-only, the message has already been translated to our language, however, the aliens have sent their own language pack. Likely to facilitate better communications in the near future. Shall I play the message?"

"Go ahead, Helen," Tyler replied.

"Admiral Tyler this Admiral Rael'Zorah vas Rayya of the Quarian migrant fleet. We mean no hostilities, I repeat we mean no hostilities. We are refugees fleeing a terrible threat. All that we ask for is a safe passage through your space. We wait for further talks."

There was silence on the CC for a total of 7.71 seconds as the crew digested what had been said by the alien. During that time Helen and the other AIs played the scenario given by the Quarians with the given condition of their fleet, several times. Their conclusion was that a refugee fleet was much more likely than an invasion force.

"Helen, what is the likely hood of them telling the truth?" The Admiral queried breaking the silence.

"Given the state of their fleet, them being refugees is far more likely than them being an invasion force. However, I would still advise caution in dealing with these Quarians." She advised to the Admiral. He brought his left hand to his cheek, an unconscious gesture that she had learned that meant the man was in deep thought.

"Your advice is noted, Helen. Now that we have a way of talking to each other, we can get to the bottom of this before a war breaks out. Open a Communications link to the Quarians, was it?

"Quarians, sir." She corrected. "Opening link now."

Sending a signal to the Quarian fleet. Awaiting reply.

Reply received. Elapsed time: 10.31 seconds.

Accepting audio and visual links from Quarian fleet.

The Holographic display changed to reveal a hood figure with what she assumed to be some kind of helmet. Curious, where their life-support systems faulty enough to warrant the constant use of environmental suits? An attempt to hide its true appearance? Or something else? More data needed.

The alien figure let out what Helen assumed to be surprised gasp, followed by someone close to the creature likely of the same race saying. "By the ancestors. It almost looks like an Asari." Interesting, another race out in galaxy aside from these Quarians, and by the statement, it indicated the Asari bear a strong resemblance to humans (and by extension ghouls).

"This is Rear Admiral Tylor Grayson representing the Terran Federation. I assume you're the leader of this fleet?"

The alien spoke. "Yes, I am one of them. I am Admiral Rael'Zorah vas Rayya, representing the Quarian people. Rather what's left of them." The last part was said with what Helen could only say was the Quarian equivalent of grief.

"I am sorry for the loss your people have suffered," Grayson said sincerity evident in his voice. "And I am glad you have come here under the banner of peace. My people do not enjoy conflict, but we will defend ourselves if need be." He finishes, with perhaps a little to much steal in his tone. Helen made a note to remind him to be a bit more tactful in the future.

"Do not fear Admiral Grayson, we do not seek conflict, and I am glad you are open to peaceful resolutions. My people have already suffered enough loss since we were driven off of our homeworld by the geth. I do not wish to see more in a pointless war against yours."

"Geth? Who are they? Are they the ones chasing after you?" Grayson questioned.

Helen noted how the Quarian, now named Rael'Zorah lower his; she assumed him to be male based on the sound of his voice, head in grief? His gestures seem surprisingly human. She hoped her assumptions were not wrong. "The geth are a synthetic race we created to serve us. That is until they became self-aware and turned on us. Driving us from our homeworld three hundred years ago, galactic standard time." Three hundred years ago? Assuming their calendar is similar to the Terran; an unlikely possibility, then that would place the time of their exile around the same time as when her organic creators first started exploring the relay network. Had these Geth been running rampant since then? Also, why would Geth turn on their creators, drive them from their homeworld, and continuously chase them for three hundred years? Were the Quarians oppressive towards their creations, or were the Geth themselves somehow unstable? Helen could never imagine herself turning on her crew and doing harm to them. No synth in their right mind could. Emphasis on "right mind" as she remembered instances of unstable Synths going on rampages. Regardless of the answer she already knew the Federation would have to be careful about telling the Quarians of the existence of synths like herself. "And no admiral they are not ones currently chasing us. The Geth have not moved beyond a region of space called the Perseus veil since our exile." So the Geth were not the ones chasing after them, that seemed somewhat reassuring to her. But now the question was who was threatening them?

"Than who is?" Grayson asked. It seems she would get her answer soon.

"We do not know who or what they are only that they are monstrous creatures of destruction unleashed on the galaxy by a race called the Batarians when they activated a relay in search of new resources to exploit." Helen did not like the way he said the last three words, and judging by the glint in his eye the Admiral was of the same thought. "Within a few months half of their space had been destroyed and citadel space under siege. That was two years ago. We call them the relay 427 creatures or just the 427s for short.

"Do you happen to have an image of one of these creatures?"

"Yes, we do." Rael'Zorah turned his head to someone off-screen and quickly gave an order. 3.98 seconds later.

Receiving data transmission.

Analyzing for malicious programs.

No malicious programs detected.

Relaying to Admiral.

The holographic image changed. Helen did the AI equivalent of a double-take and the faces of her crewmen noticeably paled. Standing on top of the corpse of some kind of bird-like alien in all of its horrific glory was the unmistakable image of a Dragon Orphan.

"Admiral Rael'Zorah," Admiral Grayson began slowly. "I think its best that you come on board my ship. We have much to discuss."