Hey everyone back with another chapter, i had to delete the one previously uploaded because I felt i rushed it a bit
Glad people seem to be enjoying and thanks for your reviews!
UNSC Prowler Sahara: 1900 LY from Rannoch, unknown star system
May 26th, 2229 C.E. (3123 C.E. UNSC calendar)
Two portals wreathed in white burst into existence, out of them deposited two sinister looking craft, before they faded out of existence as suddenly as they appeared. The newest class of UNSC Prowlers were a sight to behold, just under 300 metres long and shaped like a falcon in flight there was an almost majestic beauty about them. The vision lasted mere moments before, like the portals that proceeded them, both Prowlers faded from sight and scope as they activated their camouflage and heat retention.
"We have exited Slipspace Commodore. We seem to be in a system with an M class star orbited by two planetary bodies, a gas giant with approximately 0.7 times the mass of Jupiter and a barren rocky planet. Sensors indicate that the rock is rich in iron and titanium and would be a good base to begin strip mining operations in system." The A.I. drawled lazily. The Commodore would usually be miffed by such blatant unprofessionalism, but he couldn't help but smile at his tone, when one is constantly in your head you develop a certain bond.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves Jordan, we still have to find and catalogue the relay in system to determine if it is like the one we saw before our departure from the Milky Way. Have we located said relay yet?" Replied Commodore James Ellis.
"We have Commodore, it is on the edge of the system approximately 0.6 light years distant, if we conduct an in-system slipspace jump we will arrive almost instantly, I have begun calculations for the jump and will input them into the navigation computer momentarily."
"Well done Jordan, as efficient as ever I see, no problems on your end from our 3-year journey?"
"None whatsoever Commodore, I mean, you should know, considering that I'm literally attached to you in more ways than one wouldn't you say?" He replied in a jovial manner.
"As professional as ever Jordan, what would we do without you." The banter between the pair was helping calm the bridge crew down, after spending almost 3 years in cyrosleep while they made their way across galaxies, they were understandably on edge.
"Jordan, inform Captain Hill that we are preparing to make an in-system slipspace jump, give her the relevant coordinates and tell her to follow us, inform Ensign Tyrell that he has permission to initiate the jump." Ellis continued.
"At once Commodore beginning countdown to slipspace transition, 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1 engage."
They left the wreathing magenta portal as soon as they had entered it, taking less than 1 minute to complete the small distance to the relay. The sight that greeted the two ships was gratifying, in front of them was an unusual mass relay, exactly the same as the one they had found in the Milky Way. From what Ellis could tell, the intergalactic relay was far larger than a standard relay, the data had stipulated that a mass relay was a 15km long structure that looked suspiciously like a tuning fork, this one was far different. Measuring 30km in length and 10km in height the Element Zero core of the relay was far larger than standard, almost 12 times the mass of a standard relay core. High command had reasoned this be due to the vast distance the relay covered. Far from being the largest thing Ellis had ever seen, he had trained on Contender station for crying out loud, there was still something almost ethereal about the Relays. The UNSC barely knew anything about them, the material they were made from matched certain Forerunner alloys, but they couldn't be sure. The one thing that James Ellis knew however, was that they were beautiful, and although aesthetics was clearly not a number one priority due to the functionality of their design, to Ellis that made them even more beautiful. He was cut from his thoughts when Jordan spoke again.
"We have arrived at the relay Commodore; sensors indicate that this is indeed the pair to the supposed intergalactic mass relay in the Milky Way. The mass and dimensions of the core and body are an exact match to our earlier sensor readings."
"Excellent, thank you Jordan. Tell Captain Hill she is a go to begin stage two of Operation Veil, have her keep in constant communications as she explores nearby systems. It is our hope that we will find a habitable world within 10 Light Years. She will take to investigating the systems to the galactic west and south of our current location while we shall be investigating the galactic north as our area of interest. Inform her that she is under no circumstances to reveal herself to anything and anyone, if she does, she can expect a lovely trip back in chains when the rest of the expedition arrives. Now Jordan, have you finished scanning nearby systems?"
"Yes Commodore, from my scans I have located 5 promising systems within a distance of 10 Light Years that all contain G class stars like Sol, the nearest is 2.6 LY away. I have calculated the jump already; we shall arrive 2 minutes after we initiate."
"Very well Jordan you have permission to jump."
It was slow going for the crew of the Sahara, some of the systems they had seen looked promising in terms of resources and would make perfect mining outposts, there were even worlds that would be suitable for terraforming in the future but habitable garden worlds seemed to sparse, as usual, in the region. It took 12 attempts before they found a habitable world and calling it habitable would be a stretch at best. Ellis looked at the world below him, at the poles it was a frozen hellscape and even near the equator the average temperature was a steady 5 Degrees Celsius, his ship had checked all class G systems when they found this planet, in orbit of a red dwarf the weak light of the small star barely heated the world; but it had an oxygen rich atmosphere and clearly had flora and fauna on the surface, so it was better than nothing. He just hoped that Captain Hill had better luck then he had. He felt that if the expedition for Operation Veil was forced to settle here then it would not be off to a good start and could affect it later in its life. As luck would have it at that very moment, he was receiving a call from the UNSC Nightwatch.
As he accepted the call the screen revealed a very severe female face; not unattractive James thought, in fact she was very attractive, just off putting in a 'I will castrate you if you try anything' sort of way.
"Captain Hill I hope you are calling to report the success of your mission." James said Tiredly.
"Why, just so you can stop star searching already Commodore? It's only been 8 hours surely you can't be tired already?" The mirth was clear in her voice.
"As you already know Regina patience is definitely not the strongest of my virtues, I'm always eager to finish fast, but enough chit-chat, have you found what we're looking for?"
She was stifling back a laugh. " I will; with great regret, forgo the obvious innuendo to inform you that indeed we have Commodore, I would like to present to you L459-21, or as my crew are calling it, 'Frontier'. It is to the galactic south of the relay system; it orbits a bright class G star and shares the system with 6 other planetary bodies. 2 gas giants and 3 terrestrial, they all look promising for resource extraction but of course we will have to perform more in detail scans to make sure of the fact. The planet has a small satellite that orbits at a distance of 300,000km, estimates place it at 1/3 the size of Luna."
As she spoke pictures of a beautiful and verdant garden world filled the screen. It looked temperate, had oceans and what was presumably freshwater lakes and rivers and had massively diverse Biomes much like Earth used to have before it was turned into a planetary city. This development made James happy, he and every colonist that arrived would not have to settle on a frozen piece of shit rock just for the operation to progress on schedule.
"Well Captain this is a most welcome development. As you and your crew discovered the planet, naming rights belong to you and I must say that Frontier is an apt name for our new home. So congratulations."
"Thank you, Commodore, it was actually Bella, my A.I., that came up with the name, but the crew agree that it is the right name for what is going to be our home for the foreseeable future. I will send you the coordinates so you can join me here, it is in a system approximately 8.7 LY away from the intergalactic relay, a most agreeable distance."
"You are correct Captain, now that we have found a world suitable the next step will be to scan and catalogue it for Human habitation. Once that is completed, I will inform high command of the development and they can begin operations to start activating the relay from their side. I will join you momentarily to examine the system and the world itself." The screen and Captain Hill's face winked out of existence.
The 22 LY journey took the Sahara 15 minutes to achieve, when he arrived he gazed at the planet that had been found by Captain Hill and found himself to be significantly pleased, it truly was beautiful, it could match any of the resort worlds that had become so popular within UEG space. The vibrant greens of the northern continents mixed with the subtle blues of the vast oceans had his crew giddy as well. He took this opportunity to contact Hill again.
"Well Captain from what I can see you can be incredibly pleased with yourself. It really is quite something and should make a more than suitable staging point for our expedition. Please inform me when you have completed the cataloguing of the world, the Sahara and I will be travelling back to the relay system while you do so." With that the comm was cut and the crew readied themselves for a transition to slipspace.
"Jordan you are cleared to jump."
It took 27 hours for the Nightwatch to catalogue Frontier. It was safe for Human habitation, almost perfect in fact bar one small issue; the fauna was incredibly hostile. The planets animal life attacked the probes sent down on sight, it is then easy to presume they would also do so with any Human settlers. This was not an insurmountable obstacle, the preliminary colony hubs contained walls and automated defences to allow for the safe colonization of new worlds, the issue only arose after the colony was established and ready to branch out beyond the hubs and that would be a worry. Then again, James gave it little thought, that was for the office of colonial affairs to determine and definitely someone higher up the food chain in the UNSC than he was. As he thought about this his mind turned to the upcoming briefing he had with Vice-Admiral Osman. His trepidation at such a conversation was palpable, the woman was a legend among legends, as sly as a fox and as cunning as a viper she was not someone to be trifled with, he just hoped the rapid achievement of his objectives would allow this conversation to go smoothly as possible. The woman was known for being harsh and unnecessarily cruel to her subordinates, though he couldn't fault her, she has been in the UNSC's most dangerous job for almost half a millennium, there was something in her methods that obviously worked.
"Commodore we are receiving a slipspace communication from Reach, ONI headquarters in New Alexandria to be particular, would you like to accept the call?" Jordan asked with a hint of glee
"She's calling from the Olympic tower complex?" James sighed, if she was calling from such a secure building it did not bode well. "This should be good. Yes Jordan go ahead." Not willing to play his companions little game at a time like this, god knows he needed all his wits about him and to be focused on the briefing.
"Vice-Admiral Osman has informed me that she wants this call to be taken in your private quarters Commodore." Jordan said suspiciously. 'What was going to be said that could not be uttered in front of his bridge crew?' Ellis mused as he made his way from the bridge to his quarters.
When he arrived the screen blinked on, Vice-Admiral Osman was sat at her desk, her stern features accentuated by the standard stark greys of her ONI uniform. It complimented her severe look, James thought, but he was not to think about that, only his report.
"Commodore Ellis I trust that your mission in Andromeda has been a veritable success?"
"Yes Vice-Admiral, we arrived in Andromeda approximately 2 days ago, once we had arrived we immediately sought out the relay pair in the system, preliminary scans show that is indeed the pair for the intergalactic relay in the home galaxy. It has the same mass and dimensions; the element zero core also has the same mass and dimensions leading to the conclusion that we were correct. After examining the relay, myself and Captain Hill began phase 2 of Operation Veil and started searching for habitable worlds within 10 LY of the relay system. It only took 8 hours for Captain Hill to find an ideal site for our colony, in the system that has been designated 'Safehold'. The planet is a verdant continental world with a temperate climate, an oxygen, nitrogen rich atmosphere and an abundance of freshwater, all viable and promising markers for a future colony site. I have instructed Jordan to send all relevant data regarding the planet designated 'Frontier' to your personal datapad. The planet is ready for colonization as soon as you give the go-ahead mam."
"Very good Commodore give my congratulations to Captain Hill and her crew, I am impressed Commodore, you have completed your mission promptly and without fail, especially after 3 years of cyro. I will be suggesting to Fleet-Admiral Kasimov that you receive a promotion for your quick and succinct work."
James's eyes widened at the suggestion that he was the subject of praise from Osman. While it was not unheard of, it was exceedingly rare and there had to be a catch.
"Thank you for your praise Vice-Admiral it is very much appreciated."
"If all goes well then you shall be promoted to Rear-Admiral within the week, I will also make the suggestion that the 2nd FRF be placed under your direct command and for Vice-Admiral Vostok be transferred to the Sangheili border systems for the time being." James paled at the suggestion, he had lead battle groups of 30 ships before, but never in his life would he have commanded so many ships. The 2nd FRF consisted of 200 top of the line ships, led by two Dominion class battlecruisers, behemoths of the stars, the 5km long vessels along with the aging Denali class cruisers were the mainstay of the Navy's capitol ships, James was honoured he truly was, but grew more suspicious now there had to be a catch.
"My word Vice-Admiral that is an honour, but I cannot accept such a prominent position that would be far better suited for someone more capable than I am. If you would allow it, I would appreciate commanding a battlegroup of the 42nd fleet, I have served on the Denali class before and feel my strengths lie there instead of at the helm of a Dominion."
Osman's calm façade broke instantly, her eyes narrowed and homed in on him like a lion stalking its prey.
"This is not an offer Commodore this is a order, you will accept command of the 2nd FRF, you will follow my orders and my orders alone do I make myself clear?" James gulped and nodded. The smile that graced Osman's face was cold and calculating as she continued. "I'm glad you're seeing sense Commodore. Admiral Gantz of the 42nd will have overall command of the expedition and you will follow his orders to the letter so long as they do not conflict with mine, this shan't be happening until Operation Veil has progressed adequately enough for mine to become relevant. So, for the time being you need not worry about anything being a problem. I expect your absolute loyalty in the matter at hand, Operation Veil cannot be allowed to fail, not when we have placed such a significant amount of capital in it already. I have already been in contact with Fleet-Admiral Kasimov and the relay is currently being prepared for activation, you should expect reinforcements within the hour. That is all Commodore."
With that the screen went blank, Jordan was the first to speak up "Well that went well don't you think?" Sarcasm laced his tone.
"Shut up Jordan now is not the time for jokes, I am fairly sure that Osman just commanded me to be an ONI mole in this operation, that does not bode well for my life expectancy and I'm only 406!"
"Well think of it this way, if you go I'll be quite sad about it. I may even shed a figurative tear at your funeral." He dramatically held his hand to his head, which looked puzzling at best due to the fact that he was wearing the attire of an ancient Greek Hoplite.
"Well I don't have a choice in the matter, hopefully if I just follow her orders to the letter, she will see fit to bring me into ONI where the UNSC will be unable to get me. Otherwise I am totally screwed."
"That you are my friend that you are. By the way, Commander Davis would like to see you on the bridge at your earliest convenience James."
As the hour passed James grew more and more nervous. Osman wasn't lying when she said he was getting reinforcements; he knew most of the information surrounding Operation Veil, but he didn't all the specifics so when the relay began to activate, he wasn't prepared for what was going to come through.
First were the fleets; 2200 of the UNSC's newest ships from the lowly Lisbon class frigates to the behemoths that were the leviathan class flagships. When the 42nd fleet flashed into existence the Leviathan outsized the relay significantly, 144km long by 5km tall the UNSC Pride of Elysium was a sight to behold. He'd only ever seen one before, when he was on shore leave visiting his wife and daughter on Reach and seeing another one up close only enhanced his awe. Slate grey like all UNSC ships it truly was a masterpiece of engineering. Over time all UNSC ship designs evolved into something more akin to their progenitors vessels, no longer did they look like the utilitarian monstrosities of old, they had an air of refinement to them, this was mainly due to the vast resources the entirety of the UEG had access to and to the passage of time. Surrounding the leviathan were 4 carthage class fleet carriers, once the largest ship in the UNSC navy by a significant margin even they were dwarfed in size. Not that they were small in any way, 52km long by 3km tall they were carriers for an entire battlegroup of their own, contained in its vast docking bays were 40 Lisbon class frigates along with 12 of the newest Elbrus class cruisers, completing the complement were upwards of 6000 Claymore fighters and over 1000 lance bombers. The massive ships were surrounded by thousands of smaller ones, he could see over 100 Dominion class battlecruisers and stopped counting there. He knew the composition of the fleets already, the sensors on his Prowler already identifying the numbers, they would be supported by 1100 Lisbon and stentorian class frigates, fine ships about twice the length of his Prowler they were the main support ships of the UNSC; alongside that was 700 Denali and Elbrus class cruisers, this was all to work in tandem with 8 Carthage Class fleet carriers and the 2 Leviathans.
As the fleets arrived, they began to split into their respective formations and made their way in system, 2 Dominions stayed by the relay to guard it but gave it a surprisingly wide berth, James wondered why that was. He got his answer almost immediately. It flashed into existence, the entire crew of the Sahara gawked as they laid eyes upon a colossus class star forge, if he was being honest James thought they were a myth; the only thing he'd seen that was larger was Contender station. The 800km long forge was legend around the UNSC, known to be able to build shipyards capable of Carthage class production in under 3 days the fact that one was here meant that high command meant some serious business. As he and his crew were literally stunned into submission, he did not notice that he was being pinged for a communication and Jordan had to break him out of his Reverie. Admiral Gantz popped up on the screen.
"Ah Commodore it's good to see you again, good work regarding the opening stages of Operation Veil. Vice-Admiral Osman has already informed me of her recommendation, and it will be going through in due time, so congratulations future Rear-Admiral."
James smiled at the man "Thank you sir I was indeed surprised by Admiral Osman's praise, but it is great honour, nonetheless. I trust you have been informed of the continuing stages of Operation Veil. And my part in them?"
"Yes Commodore Fleet-Admiral Kasimov informed myself and Admiral Richardson what were to be doing over the period of the next few months, after were done here I will be jumping the fleets and the colossus as soon as the colony ships arrive. The planet you've found, tell me personally, how viable is it? I've read the reports, but I would like your opinion on the matter."
"Of course Admiral. From what I've seen and what Captain Hill has told me the world is almost perfect in every way bar one potential problem, the wildlife is extremely hostile, so we will need to take great care with how we expand the colony. When I saw the photos of it, it reminded me of Jericho VII without the moons orbiting it. It does have a small satellite however and we could use that as a staging point for our fleet once the colossus has finished construction on the space elevator and shipyards."
"Excellent, thank you for your candour Commodore, I trust Vice-Admiral Osman has informed you of your continuing objectives?"
"She has informed me that she would recommend I take command of the 2nd FRF but apart from that she had refrained from doing so Admiral." Ellis received a raised eyebrow from the Admiral at that statement.
"Well as luck would have it Commodore I have been informed. Before you take the helm of the 2nd FRF you will be in command of a strike group of 22 Prowlers, at your own discretion you will begin scouting the systems surrounding the Perseus Veil and Far Rim. I have read in the reports that this is former 'Geth' space, so it is entirely probable that you won't come across another living being, but ONI was very particular about this. It has been suggested that while you will not find any active space craft there is a possibility you will chance upon probes or secret listening outposts, Vice-Admiral Osman has told me explicitly that you are to destroy any you find. While the Prowlers have to benefit of stealth the standard fleet does not, and we do not want to risk discovery before we are ready."
James interjected. "But sir if we go around destroying their outposts and probes wont that make these aliens more suspicious not less?"
"That is a chance we must be willing to take, we do not know the extent of this Citadel's probes or outposts, they could have one in every system from here to the Perseus Veil! Imagine if we were to be spotted as early on in our expedition as we are now, that cannot be allowed to happen. We do not want a probe to discover any of our uncloaked ships, imagine if they see a Carthage or god forbid The Pride or the Unshakeable, no we cannot chance that at all. ONI believes it would be better to risk upsetting the aliens than risk being discovered outright, even if they know they're being deliberately destroyed at least they won't have collected any data that could potentially expose our capabilities. We know they will have sensors so I believe ONI has hedged their bets on them detecting the Cherenkov radiation from our slipspace drives and will hopefully play it down as natural stellar phenomena. This is all compounded by the fact that there are no Relays within 1500 LYs of Frontiers location, so even if they were to notice they wouldn't be able to do anything about it anyway, time and convenience are on our side for now but we don't know how long that will be for."
"Of course Admiral that makes sense, when are the colony ships due to arrive?"
"They should be transitioning through the relay at any moment, we just needed the chance for the colossus to move away from the relay before they came through."
On cue 12 Sirin class colony ships flashed into existence, ungainly in appearance the 200-year-old class of ships were the black sheep of the UNSC navy. The navy had decided that spending the funds to upgrade or replace the class was unnecessary as colonization was a constant gradual process in the UEG and its directives hadn't changed in over 400 years. This freed up money from the office of colonization that could be better spent on Orbital planetary defences and strategic infrastructure necessary to a colony's development.
"With their arrival my fleet and I will take our leave, I have already informed the Captains of all 22 Prowlers their directives and that they are to follow your orders even when on solo exploration. I trust you won't fail me or the UNSC Commodore. Admiral Gantz out."
As the fleets began to transition to slipspace a giant maw opened in front of them. Blocking out the star in the system the dimensions of the portal were staggering and watching the colossus transition to slipspace was quite something to see. When it was over, he got into contact with his new subordinates, Prowler Captains always came from a certain breed, not normally in command of one Ellis felt like a rose among thorns. After explaining their objectives once again they departed on missions of solo exploration and probe hunting, James and his crew prepared to do the same and as the Sahara prepared to transition to slipspace he knows he is going to have some very slow weeks ahead of him.
Terminus Systems: Perseus Veil, 14 LY from Rannoch
June 10th, 2229 C.E. (3123 C.E. UNSC calendar)
For Dholen the boredom of his job was almost oppressive, when he had been inducted into the Special Tasks Group working alone on an isolated listening outpost on the edge of what used to be Geth Space was not exactly what he had in mind. Nothing ever happened here, even the newly reformed criminal triads of the Terminus knew better than to trespass on what is literally a grave to 2 dead races. He was going stir-crazy and was not due to be relieved for at least another 2 weeks. In his 4 months working as the operator of a deep space listening outpost his job was simple, monitor anything and everything within the range of over 2000 light years. The advanced suite of FTL sensors and communication technology and a multitude of probes meant this was a surprisingly easy and simple task, aware of the readings given off by natural phenomena he had not detected anything unusual during his entire station on the outpost. He checked the records dating back a decade and no one ever had, Geth space was dead, the ruins of the Quarian Fleet lay in orbit over Rannoch, a reminder of their hubris and recklessness, no ships ever entered the Far Rim or Perseus Veil anymore, the Council threatening any who do so with drastic consequences. It was only 20 years prior that the Council themselves had been in system to travel to Rannoch. The memorial placed on the surface of the arid world was laid during a sombre occasion; Dholen remembers the vids, Shepard stood there, an unmistakeable sorrow laced his eyes along with something else; Guilt. Everyone knew it was he who made the call to upgrade the Geth with reaper upgrades, that action had resulted in the destruction of the Quarian Fleet. No one blamed him, it was objectively true that the Quarians did it to themselves when they refused to back down but Dholen suspected Shepard blamed himself for the loss, especially considering one of his crew was a Quarian.
He was abruptly cut out of his thoughts by a radiation warning blaring throughout the small space, he was so surprised that he almost fell out of his chair and had to steady himself for a moment. He glanced at the console in question and shut the alarm off fastidiously doing so, he then began to search for what had caused the commotion, it took him 5 minutes before he found the location of the anomaly. According to the sensors and a probe that was approximately 42 LY away from it a large burst of Cherenkov radiation had been detected in a star system approximately 1879 LY away from his position almost 2 weeks ago. Normally that would not be an issue and would be chalked up to any number of stellar phenomena but when the first burst was almost instantaneously followed by a second it caused some curiosity to sprout in his mind. This curiosity grew exponentially when the burst of radiation ended as abruptly as it started sending Dholen's mind spinning, it was still probable that it was a natural incident but the consistency of the two bursts working in tandem meant that it was also entirely possible it was artificial in nature. That also got his mind racing, if it was indeed artificial there could only be one explanation, an undiscovered space faring civilization. He had come to that rather far-fetched conclusion based only on the fact that no known species could travel to the system, due to a lack of relays in the area, and that element zero FTL and ships did not give off significant amounts of radiation like what had been detected by the outpost.
However, whatever Dholen was thinking was inconsequential, in 2 weeks he would be back on Sur'Kesh in a new position working for the bio-engineering division; stationed in a facility just on the outskirts of Talat. He would chalk it up as a natural occurrence and hopefully forget about the whole thing; still he was saddened, the alarm was the first interesting thing to happen to him in 4 months and now that it was over it was back to the monotonous grind of listening for nothing. He prayed for anything interesting to happen just so he could be cut out of his currently miserable existence. As he was wallowing a second burst of radiation, this time coming from within the Tikkun system stopped him in his tracks, the same radiation had been detected not 2LY from his position but apart from that he couldn't tell anything was different. Although his sensors were FTL there was still a significant time lag between the event and the time the scanners picked it up, but he swore he correctly analysed the first event occurring 2 weeks ago. If it was artificial in nature how had they travelled almost 2,000 LY in only 2 weeks, that's completely impossible without the use of the Relays and the area the first burst originated from had none. On that fact alone he dismissed its artificial nature and went about distinguishing where the radiation had come from exactly.
Time made him wish he hadn't said anything as suddenly proximity alarms started blaring all around him. He was confused, nothing had been detected on the scanners and he would have been able to detect an approaching object up to 12 LYs away so what the hell was going on? He looked out the viewport and there was his answer. The ship was directly in front of his listening outpost, to say it was menacing would be to suggest that Turian's were stubborn, an understatement in every way, halfway between the size of a frigate and cruiser the mysterious ship hovered close to his outpost. Black in colour the darkness enhanced its sharp features, the wings spread out past the fuselage clearly contained weaponry of some kind and it looked aerodynamic enough to rate in atmosphere. The fact that the best sensors the Salarian Union could provide had not detected it made it clear to him that this was an advanced unknown stealth warship a fact he did not have much time to ponder. As he was thinking about what to do a single missile was launched from the undercarriage of the craft and began to strafe towards his outpost. That's when he knew he was going to die, there was no way the outpost would survive a direct hit, and his last thought before being engulfed in flame was 'At least I wasn't bored'.
At the same time: Tikkun System, Perseus Veil
UNSC Prowler Sahara
Commodore Ellis gazed at the destruction through the viewport of his Prowler, he had destroyed approximately 6 probes over the last 2 weeks, but this was the first time he had chanced upon a listening outpost. He knew he had just killed something, the fact that it was most probably alien made him feel a little better, but he still felt it was unnecessary. There was no need for its destruction, the system he was in was almost 2000 LYs away from Frontier and the intergalactic relay but his orders were explicit. He had to decloak in order to fire his argus missiles and he hoped that it wasn't sending data automatically instead of at the behest of its operator, time would only tell.
The system he was in intrigued him though, there was a habitable world orbiting a dim yellow star, from orbit it looked almost grey in complexion, however it wasn't the world that caught his eye though, it was the vast wreckage that orbited it. He knew where he was, he had the read the files meticulously, what he was looking at were the remains of an entire species of sentient lifeforms. It made him morose, that could have well been Humanity had they lost the great war, nothing more than a memory, a memory that would remain only in the minds of those that had hated them just for their mere existence. He was not alive during the Great War, born during what has been dubbed 'The Great Rebirth' he has only known what it meant to have a good life. That doesn't mean he doesn't know, there are scores of Humans still alive from the Great War or the period immediately following it, around 40 billion or so, and if not the ones who were alive during then the children of those that fought and bled to protect their entire species existence. He knows what happened when Humanity met aliens, they had almost been wiped out, but would that always be the case?
"What are you thinking about James?" Ellis liked it when he was in private with Jordan, the air always felt far more personable than when he had to call him Commodore in front of his crew.
"Jordan, I know you've read the files on Operation Veil, are we doing the right thing here? I mean these Humans that we have tasked ourselves with 'saving' they seem content, well as content as they can possibly be in their backward galaxy. Why are we trying to take that away from them?"
"Well James I don't know what to tell you, I don't particularly have an opinion on the matter but look at the facts. Since the Great War Humanity has been in a golden age, no citizens ever want for anything, if they want a job, they get it, if they don't, they don't have to. Civilians aren't forced to do anything; they live their lives without want and without troubles. There is no piracy in UEG space, crime is at an all time low, less than 0.001% of our population is incarcerated, and the only ones that are; are there because they are a threat to our security. If you look at this galaxy its chaos, despite the hit they took Batarian's still enslave sentient species, including Humans, I read, in the profile of the man, that Councillor Shepard's entire family was killed during a slave raid, don't you think he would have preferred the security the UEG provides rather than watching his family die? Crime is still rife within the Terminus Systems, lowlifes and criminals used the post-war recovery period to get an even tighter grip over almost half the galaxy! That should not be able to happen. If the UEG were present they would have been dealt with centuries ago, yet they still remain, a menace to people just trying to live their lives in peace. This coupled with the fact that if they were to join the UEG they would live much longer lives, have healthier offspring and in general live to a higher standard of life unseen even by the wealthiest in this galaxy puts together a strong case for us."
Ellis sighed. "I guess you're right Jordan, I just hope that we can do it peacefully, despite their obvious deficiencies this Humanity seems to be content and, in most cases, pleased with living with other forms of life. It would be a shame to take that away from them so suddenly, the culture shock would be immeasurable."
Jordan hummed in agreement before saying, "You forget though James, they have only been living with Aliens for just over 70 years, meaning there are a large amount of Humans still alive who remember when it was just them in the blackness of the void. Although I know what you mean, they fought their own kind of Great War with these aliens, they fought and bled with them just to survive their own genocide, that kind of bond will be hard to break, if at all possible. We will have to just wait and see, only time will tell. Now how about you stop moping and finally pour yourself that drink you've clearly been thinking about for the past couple of hours eh?"
James smiled at that "You know you're pretty damn good at calming me down Jordan."
Jordan's reply was indignant "I bloody well should be, I've only been inside your head for the last 4 centuries. Well that and I know a good time to increase your production of serotonin." The A.I. smiled sheepishly from his pedestal.
James chuckled. "Jordan you sly dog! You've been drugging me this whole time!"
"Only in the most subtle ways I assure you James, it would be bad form for a Rear-Admiral to be seen off his nut wouldn't you say?" Jordan's features were schooled but he knew internally that he was laughing.
"Damn I had almost forgot about that, I can't wait to see what Osman has in store for me, being ONI's puppet is going to put a downer on things that much I can tell you."
"Look on the Brightside James, if you succeed you'll most likely get a nice pay rise for your troubles, then you can finally buy your wife that damn stupid bracelet you keep on checking out on waypoint."
"That my friend is a very good point." James poured himself a glass of whiskey on the rocks, lay down on his bed and contemplated his future.
Citadel Council meeting room
High Earth Orbit
June 12th, 2229 C.E. (3123 C.E. UNSC calendar)
The Salarian, Councillor Vertas rushed into the room his colleagues were taking their luncheon in, it was strange to think that not 60 years ago there was only 3 who were granted entry to this room. He looked around at his colleagues all 6 of them. Shepard and Urdnot Bakara were having an animated conversation about something, the subject of which didn't interest him, Irissa and Quintus were taking their lunch in a comfortable silence while the Elcor Xantan and the Volus Drul-Nod were arguing as usual, their back and forth excruciatingly slow for someone with a mind like this. What he said caused them all to stop and look at him.
"We have a major problem." He said exasperatingly.
The silence in the room was tangible, when it was clear he wasn't going to continue of his own volition Shepard prompted him. "Go on"
"Over the period of the last two weeks STG has lost contact with over 40 probes and 6 listening outposts in the systems surrounding former Geth space and the relay blackspot in the Far Rim."
"That many? What could possibly be the cause? Is their equipment malfunctioning?" Irissa said ever the diplomatic pragmatist.
Vertas shook his head. "Not possible their equipment is the most up to date the Salarian Union has, they even have the metals we synthesised with the help of the Asari Prothean beacon there is no way they malfunctioned."
Quintus's mandibles clicked. "Then how? I would suggest stellar phenomena but that many in such a short period of time seems very unlikely. Have we detected any supernovae coming from the region?"
Again Vertas shook his head. "None whatsoever, the only thing detected during the period before they were destroyed was an extremely and unusually large amount of Cherenkov radiation being detected in systems around 1500 LY away. STG can't come up with a reason as to why it is happening. That was until yesterday when we received a transmission from our listening post in the Tikkun system. Before it was destroyed deliberately."
Irissa gasped. "Deliberately; you're sure of this?"
"I can say with 100% certainty that it was destroyed, if you could direct your attention to the vid screen, it is most intriguing and terrifying."
A grainy video began its broadcast on the screen, the councillors looked on in curiosity. That was until the Prowler decloaked on screen, for all of them to see. Irissa gasped again and you could hear the pained inhale of a Volus who had sucked in too much air. They watched in trepidation as the unknown ship did nothing, until its undercarriage opened and fired a single missile. They watched as the missile got closer before the broadcast cut at the detonation of the weapon.
The councillors sat there for a moment to gather their thoughts; they had just seen an example of active camouflage a technology thought impossible in Citadel space. Shepard was the first to recover.
"That ship was invisible for a moment there, am I correct?" Vertas nodded. "Then who are we dealing with here? Its certainly none of us because there is no way we have technology like that, and I highly doubt Terminus pirates or Batarian slavers have suddenly discovered a technological holy grail."
Quintus spoke up next. "I hate to say it John but I must say that ship looked remarkably Human, almost like a bird of prey from your Home World, I know The Alliance wouldn't do anything like this but do you think another organisation has risen to take the place Cerberus left vacant?"
Shepard sighed. "It's a possibility, but Alliance intelligence has been working around the clock to stop things like this from happening, I don't know how they would have been able to succeed in creating a ship much less technology we would literally kill for, it doesn't make any sense. Why does it seem like we can't go more than 20 or so years before another crisis breaks out, I'm getting too old for this shit."
Xantan suggested something no one else had thought of. "With great trepidation, what if the destruction of these probes and listening posts is the work of a previously unknown civilization. With stark realisation, if these beings originated from the Far Rim blackspot, we would never know about them, while they could have accessed the probes and know everything about us."
"Yes Xantan that is exactly a hypothesis the STG are working on, while it does seem unlikely, it doesn't make any sense why an unknown civilization would destroy, what are in essence harmless probes and outposts, they weren't weaponised and provided no threat to them. The STG will continue working on the hypothesis and seek to send more probes into the area, but it will take years for them to arrive. Councillor Shepard if you could inform the Alliance of this development and have them make sure Alliance intelligence is doing everything they can in this regard the STG would greatly appreciate it."
Shepard smiled at him. "Of course Councillor and let the Dalatrass know that The Alliance will be willing to help out in any way regarding this matter, I will personally contact Prime Minister Veritas to suggest it."
"Of course Shepard. Now if there is anything else, I must get in contact with my government."
The Salarian rushed out of the room worried about the current state of affairs, he knew things were bad when he wished that what he had just witnessed was in fact the work of an offshoot Human supremacist organisation. It was too much to contemplate that a new species had arisen in the Far Rim blackspot, a species with extremely unknown advanced technology that was destroying probes in what he presumed or more accurately hoped, was free space. He just hoped it was not a harbinger of things to come.