Id like to say thank you to everyone that has read my story and especially to those who have clicked the favorite button.
One thing I made a mistake in the name of the turian admiral the name I put down is actually the name of a human admiral sorry about that and thank you Olav152 for mentioning that I changed the turian admirals name to Caellius Fausnianus.
I hope you enjoy!
Captain Manbius Paetrian stood at the bridge of his ship as they were about to jump through the relay wondering what he had done to deserve this. 'Why in the world would the general pick me to go speak these aliens? I would understand if I had a few ships with me but with just my cruiser this is going to be a death sentence," he thought as he stared at the relay.
"Activate the relay and let's hope they don't shoot first," Manbius said causing the relay to spin up. 'Well let's see if the history books will remember me as a fool or as a hero,' Manbius thought just as the relay shot him across space.
In a few moments his ship emerged from the relay. "Status report," asked the captain. "Everything is online sir," replied a crew member followed by others reporting in. "Captain we are counting 21 contacts and what appears to be a massive space station at a length of 3 kilometers. There also are two of those large cruiser class ships," the xo said causing the crew to grow silent.
"Well it was foolish to hope that they only had one of those vessels. At least they only have two of them but it's that station that truly worries me. Since we are not space dust at the moment I believe that they are willing to talk. Do not charge weapons at all we don't want them to think that we are here for a fight," said the captain
"Captain we have a communication coming from one of the large cruisers," his communication officer said making the captain smile a bit. "Good it looks like they are willing to talk, answer their hail and send our first contact package and let's hope for the best," Manbius said hoping things would go his way.
Human fleet
Admiral Haymith was a bit confused as too why the aliens only sent one ship, but he could only assume that meant they wanted to talk. "Open communications with the ship," commanded the admiral.
In a matter of moments, the admiral was stunned at what he was seeing. An alien was on the screen that reminded him of a bird but with a skull for a face as weird as that sounded. "Admiral we are receiving a package from the alien ship I believe that it is a first contact package," reported Rachel the ships A.I.
"So now they want to talk after blowing up a few of our ships?" Admiral Haymith said knowing what he had to. "Very well download it onto a system that is independent of the rest of the ship and start looking into it. Make sure to send them our own package as well, also inform the rest of the fleet and general Williams about our current situation," the admiral said as he continued to stare at the alien on the screen in front of him.
"Admiral I have reviewed the data package and it does not contain any harmful software or viruses. The data contains what I believe is their language and history as well as containing parts of the prothean language," started Rachel.
"How long till you can decipher their language so I can speak to them?" Haymith asked as he relaxed a bit now that he was a bit surer that these aliens weren't going to open fire on him any time soon.
"It should only take me a few minutes to decipher their language and the species name is turian and apparently they are part of a collective of aliens called the citadel council," the A.I. said making the admiral a bit more nervous.
'So, there is more than one species of aliens out there. This is going to cause a lot of headaches for all of those politicians who believed that we were alone in the galaxy,' the admiral thought as he smiled knowing this would get the military their funding back.
Aboard turian vessel
Manbius was relieved that the unknown fleet had accepted the first contact package and had sent one of there own but the alien on the screen was just staring him down occasionally talking in some language to members of his crew.
'Maybe I should introduce myself? No, the general said I had to wait until we deciphered their language before I could talk to them unless they started talking first," he thought as he observed the alien in front of him.
What surprised him was how closely they resembled the asari, it was unsettling. 'Paint them blue and put crests on their heads and I would think that I was dealing with a male asari,' the captain thought.
"I am Admiral Haymith of the Human Systems Alliance and you are encroaching upon our territory. State your intentions or prepare to be fired upon," the human from the screen said startling the captain.
'There is no way they should have been able to decipher our language in such a short amount of time,' Manbius thought before he spoke. "I am Captain Manbius Paetrian of the Turian Hierarchy under orders from General Desolas Arterius to find a peaceful solution to our current predicament. We did not come here to start a fight and we are sorry for destroying your ships on the other side of the relay it was an accident. The Hierarchy is more than willing to pay reparations for the both the lives and ships that were lost," the turian said hoping that would please the human before him.
The human was quite for a few moments before smiling. "I am glad to hear that, but I am going to need proof that what happened was an accident as well as a meeting with your general," the admiral stated causing the turian to feel relief.
"I can do that we have footage of the fight between our forces that clearly shows your ships opening fire first. We think they did this because they found out that our weapons were charged but we did not plan to attack them we just did it in preparation to defend ourselves. May I contact my general and tell him to come through the relay so that you may talk with him? His ship has what appears to be some sort of data storage device that we recovered from the largest of your craft. We have not tampered with it as a sign of trust hoping that you will give us a chance to rectify our wrong," Manbius said earing another few seconds of silence from the human.
"Go ahead and tell him to come but he can only bring three ships through. I will be waiting for him aboard the defense station orbiting the planet. He may bring six people with aboard the station not including the pilots of the shuttle, but they must stay in the shuttle," admiral Haymith stated leaving no room for negotiating.
"I am glad to hear this and I will tell our general right away he should arrive in the next few hours," the turian captain said as he earned a brief nod from the human. "Good then let's hope we can figure this out," Haymith said before the connection was cut.
"Thank the spirits that went well. Send a communication to the general telling him exactly what happened and include a copy of our conversation as well," the captain said causing the ship to become busy as his crew got back to their duty's after being distracted by the alien.
Main turian fleet on the other side of relay 314
General Desolas Arterius was smiling as he looked over the report that he received from captain Manbius Paetrian. This is exactly what he and the councilor had hopped for everything was going according to plan. 'I sent the report to Sparatus and to the Hierarchy not too long ago, so they should be reading it now. It wouldn't surprise me if I get a call from the councilor any minute now,' he thought as he looked at the holo projector in his cabin as he finished getting properly dressed to meet with these humans.
Not even a few minutes later the bridge called saying that the councilor was on the line wanting to talk to him. 'This should be interesting I wonder what he will say more of the same don't screw up and you will be rewarded speech, or will it be something different,' He thought before he answered the call by activating the holo projector.
"Councilor I see that you got the report that I sent." "None of that matters now we have a bigger problem to deal with," the councilor said cutting the general off. "We received word from one of our spectres that a massive slaver fleet that she believes is being supported by the batarians is headed your way," Sparatus said letting the news sink into the general making him understand the gravity of the situation.
"I see you understand that this is not good, even if your men leave the relay the slavers will find it and attack the humans on the other end causing massive backlash against us. Some might even say that we brought those slavers to the humans on purpose. The good news is that it should take them roughly seven to eight hours to get to your current position. I am sending you all the information on the slaver fleet that we have it isn't much, but it should help. I am ordering you and the entire fleet to help defend this human world by any means necessary. If they don't want your help then you are to defend the other side of the relay," Sparatus said making it clear to Desolas that his fleet was going to be sacrificed.
"Sir I understand I will do everything in my power to help the humans out. How many ships are in the pirate fleet?" Desolas asked causing the councilor to look away for a second. "The fleet started around 138 ships including one dreadnought but in the recent hours our sources tell us that it has swelled to close too 200 ships. Our spectre believe someone among your crew has been telling them your location and must have recently told them of the new species that you found. Find the spy and interrogate him then kill them do I make myself clear? Sparatus asked causing the general to feel rage that there was a spy in his fleet.
"Crystal clear councilor. Will admiral Caellius Fausnianus arrive at the original time sir? Desolas asked the Councilor. "Yes, but he will also be accompanied by two other fleets. The Hierarchy doesn't care if the council finds out anymore as long as we help the humans so that we will become their new allies rather than the asari and the salarians. Good luck general and let the spirits bless you and your men in the coming battle," the councilor said before he terminated the call.
"Well this just got much worse," Desolas said aloud as he sent out the data packet that he received from the councilor to all the ships in his fleet.
Aboard Shanix defense station one, one-hour latter
Admiral Haymith stood waiting for the alien shuttle to land alongside captain Hill and General Williams. 'I can only image what the politicians back home are thinking about us the military negotiating with aliens instead of them,' he thought with a smile knowing that this was going to be a moment for the history books.
The shuttle landed with a thud and the back-ramp door slowly opened allowing the humans to see the aliens. Admiral Haymith smiled at first but then he noticed something. The turians seemed agitated. He may not of ever meet a turian before, but he could tell from how the turian in the lead who appeared to be general Desolas was fidgeting.
'Maybe I'm just imaging things who knows that could be normal to them, they are a different species all together,' He thought before he looked over to general Williams who noticed it too. 'Or not,' he thought as the ramp finally touched the ground causing the lead turian to come forward at a brisk pace followed by six armed turians.
"I am general Williams and I am in charge of all military operations of this planet, this is captain Hill she is in charge of this station, and finally this is admiral Haymith he commands the fleet," Williams said as he extended his hand to greet the alien.
The alien looked at it curiously before extending his own hand and grasping the humans hand. "I am general Desolas Arterius and I am afraid that I have bad news to bring you," Desolas said causing the three military leaders to look at each other.
"In my career I have made it my duty to destroy as many slavers and pirates as I can. Apparently, they decided it was time to fight back. A large slaver fleet is approach made up of some of the most dangerous and ruthless men and women throughout the galaxy they number over 200 ships and I fear that their numbers will continue to grow. They will arrive in about five hours at their current pace. I am incredibly sorry for the position that I have put you in. But me and my men are willing to fight with you if you let us and even if you don't we will be on the other side of the relay to hold them off for as long as we can," Desolas said causing the hanger to grow deathly quiet.
Admiral Haymith looked at general Williams who was looking at the turians with a hard look that made him think that Williams was going to kill the turian general. "Five hours huh well we don't have time to start playing the name game so tell us everything about this slaver fleet that you know and what all your fleet has to offer," general Williams said earing a turian smile from Desolas before he began telling the human everything they needed to know.
The next hour went by in a blur for the turian general as he showed the human military leaders how the conflict between his fleet and the human expedition fleet was a horrible misunderstanding. Next Desolas showed the humans the report about the slaver fleet.
"So just to be clear these slavers are sponsored by the batarians, but the council won't take action against them?" Haymith asked as he looked over the report one last time before he had to head to his ship. "Yes, that is true if it were up to my government we would have destroyed them a long time ago but the asari and the salarians don't want to start a war," Desolas answered hoping that this could placate the humans.
"That's enough questions for now, we need to start forming a plan. So, you are willing to help us but you know that we just can't take your word for it and let you release thousands of your troops onto our world let alone let your fleet into formation," general Williams said as he looked over the figures that Desolas gave him.
"I know I am asking a lot of you, but you cannot afford to wait for reinforcements they will be here in a few hours you need our assistance," Desolas said hoping that the humans would take this under consideration.
"I know but still this is a nightmare," general Williams said while he looked at admiral Haymith who only nodded in return. "God help you if your lying to me or I will personally hunt you down, freeze you solid and use you as a centerpiece for my grandchildren's wedding. Bring in your fleet but admiral Haymith has command. Your officers can give him suggestions, but he is in command. Same goes for all ground efforts I am in command," general Williams said earing a surprised look from the turian general.
"I understand, and I would ask the same thing in your position, but you will not command my men I will, but I will follow your directive as long as it is sound," Desolas said earning a nod from human general. "I can agree to that, but you are coming with me to the command bunker. I will send you the locations that your men can land at and where they will defend. In most of the areas there will be a few squads of my men, so your troops won't be alone," Williams said as he stepped away from the holo table showing the areas where Desolas could land his troops.
"I can accept that, but I have to ask you about your threat it was oddly worded. Is customary for humans to freeze their enemy's?" Desolas asked earing a blank expression from the general. "Oh right I have magic I'm an ice box meaning I can manifest ice and a few other tricks," general Williams said as he showed a shard of ice manifest in his hand causing the turian to step back in surprise.
"I think you broke the turian general," admiral Haymith said as he made his way towards the hanger to his shuttle. "I am going back to my ship to make sure our fleet doesn't open fire on our new friends," the admiral said before he disappeared behind the bulk head doors.
"General Desolas I know that the idea of magic is shocking to you, but we have plenty of things that are might be even more so, we have A.I. technology. Martha please introduce yourself," general Williams said causing an older human female dressed in military fatigues to appear on the holo desk.
"Hello general Desolas I am Martha an artificial intelligent lifeform it is a pleasure to meet you," the A.I. said. "You have artificial intelligence! Do you know what you are doing!" Desolas yelled out thinking that he made the wrong choice to help these humans.
"I can assure you general that I have no ill will toward humans or towards any organic life. I have read up on your codex and I can assure you that me and my kind are nothing like the geth," Martha said trying to ease the tension.
"I haven't had enough time to read through the whole codex but I did make sure to take a look at the part about the geth. We created our A.I. to be our equals and to help us. We did not restrict their capacity or force them to do our work. All of our artificial intelligence constructs are considered citizens of the system alliance and are guaranteed all of the freedoms and rights that come with that," general Williams said.
"Magic and artificial life forms next them your going to be telling me is that you use nuclear warheads," Desolas said as he took a seat in the unconfutable human chair. Martha and general Williams both looked at each other in response causing the turian to grasp his head with both his hands.
"I can tell that the council is going to have a few problems with your government but right now we need to defend your world then we can worry about all of the galactic laws that you are breaking," Desolas said as he stood up from his chair.
"Good then follow me down to the bunker I am forwarding you everything that I can about our artificial lifeform development and the different types of magic that we have so that you and your men know what to expect," general Williams said as he made his way towards the hanger followed closely by Desolas.
Two hours later on Shanix in the command bunker.
The past few hours had been pure chaos to general Williams. First, he woke up thinking he was going to be invaded by aliens. Then a couple hours latter he finds out that it was all a big misunderstanding and that the aliens called turians wanted to be friends. Then after he sends a message back to earth telling them about the turians he finds out that there is a massive slaver fleet headed his way.
'Well at least the turians decided to help out,' general Williams thought as he glanced over to look at the turian general. 'I doubt this could all be some elaborate ploy of theirs but if it is I will kill him first,' the general thought as he remembered seeing the recording of the battle and the black box that was aboard Pike's ship showing that Pike did shoot first.
'That idiot had to assume the worst and almost started a war with an alien race. At least the turians didn't decide to hold a grudge against us. I think we could hold out till help arrives, it doesn't hurt that they don't have magic,' general Williams thought as remembered the look on the turians face when he showed them his own magic.
"All of my forces are at there assigned places around the city general," Desolas said earning a nod from the human general. "Great now if only we could get ahold of the Grimnior on this planet and I think we might actually be able to hold this world," general Williams said earning a confused look from the few turians in the room.
"Right you guys don't know the Grimnior are a secret group of people with magic that make sure that people that have magic use it responsibly and that they are not abused. When we first found out that we had magic a few hundred years ago quite a few governments were forcing anybody with magic into their military or some other part of the government. The worst ones were Germany, Russia, and Japan. The Grimnior would protect those with magic and if there is any truth to the merit they have some of the strongest mages in their ranks," general Williams said as he manifested a shard of ice in his hand.
"If I hadn't seen countless acts of this so-called magic on the way to the bunker I wouldn't believe it. Do you have any idea how this happened to your race?" Desolas asked the humans who for the most part shrugged not knowing the answer.
"General Williams we have somebody who claims they are a member of the Grimnior and he wants to talk to you," spoke out a radio causing the group to grow still. "Bring them in now," Williams ordered through the radio.
"Is there anything I should know before we meet them?" Desolas asked causing the ice wizard to scratch his chin. "Not really just try not to make them angry we need them for the fight but do mention as much about these slavers as you can that will help out our case," general Williams said as they waited for their guest to arrive.
In a few moment the doors opened up showing a group of guards surrounding a man that looked like he was in his mid-thirty's, he had a pale complexion with short black hair. He wore jeans with a black top and a brown over coat with the sleeves rolled up. The most distinctive feature of the man was a tattoo on his right forearm of a black skull and crossbones.
"I believe that you have been waiting for me and my name is Michael," the man said extend his arm causing most of the humans to back away except for the general who grasped his hand and shook it.
"I take it by that tattoo you're a pale horse?" General Williams asked as he retracted his arm. "Yes I am, and I'm strong enough to be a bit of a healer as well," Michael said causing a few people to take even further steps back which caused Desolas a bit of confusion.
"And what does that mean? Being a pale hose," Desolas said causing Michael to look at the alien. "So you guys are the reason that everybody is freaking out. I saw a few of your species out in the city. But I'm getting off track being a please horse means that I can kill anybody that touches my skin," Michael said causing the turian to take a step back.
"Don't worry I'm here to see how my chapter can help out," said the pale horse as he took a seat on a couch in the back of the room. "What does your chapter have that can help us out?" Williams asked as he made his way over to where Michael sat down.
"First let me be clear we will help you guys out, but we will not be ordered around, and we need our identities to remain secret," Michael said as he stared down the human general. "Very well I will do everything in my power to make sure that your identities remain secret," the general said causing the pale horse to nod.
"Fair enough we have twenty-six members in our chapter, but only fifteen of them are any good in a fight but all of us can contribute in some form or fashion. Our elder is a justice, we have two gravity spikers who are probably the strongest mages on the planet, three brutes, a crackler, one traveler, two fades, two torches, two summoners, a mover, a shard, an ice box, a healer, a lazarus, a babel, four cogs, and a nixie," Michael said earning a few gasps from the group of military officials.
"You have a nixie?" Williams asked after he gathered his composure. "Yes I do and he doesn't want to be found he came out here to get away from the alliance he doesn't want to be a weapon but he is willing to fight," the pale horse said causing Desolas to become even more confused if that was even possible.
"I read up on our magic variants, but I didn't see anything about a nixie what is that?" Desoals asked causing the pale horse to look at him. "It is a super rare form of magic so rare that there have only been three confirmed cases of it. It is the ability to form and control black holes," general Williams said since Michael wasn't willing to speak up.
"You expect me to believe that you have somebody who create black holes? This is ridiculous, I can believe the ice, fire, and all of this other magic stuff that I have seen, but this black hole nonsense its too random and unbelievable," Desolas said while thinking that the humans would be the death of him.
"I know it sounds crazy, but it is real, so you need to deal with it," Michael said before to turned to the general. "General Williams if you would let me contact my elder so that he is able to talk with you so that you two can strategize," Michael said while earning a grunt from the turian. "Go ahead and general Arterius please try to keep an open mind," general Williams said as he waved for Michael to go ahead.
Instead of using a radio or something of the sort Michael pulled out a pack of salt and dumped it on the table. Next he began to draw shapes in the salt while whispering something every now and then. Desolas was about to speak up until a mirror like image appeared on top of the salt pile.
In the image was elderly man with dark skin with a bald head who had a thick beard. "Greeting to you all I am Sampson Malick leader of the Shanix chapter of the Grimnior society," the man now known as Sampson said.
"Greetings elder I am general Williams, and this is general Desolas Arterius he is in charge of the turian forces," general Williams said as he motioned towards Desolas who stepped forward towards the image.
"I am honored to meet an alien, but I thought these turians were going to be the ones invading us but from what I've heard there is a third race coming as well and they plan to take us slaves," Sampson said earning a nod from general Williams.
"Yes, I am afraid that a large fleet of slavers and pirates backed by the batarians will be here within the next few hours. I only found out only a few hours ago that they have been tracking me in hopes to kill me in response to me ordering the deaths of a few high level batarians who were caught at a slave auction. Some how they found out about you humans and are hoping to take as many of you as slaves as they can. I have concluded that there is a traitor among my crew that has been feeding them information about my location and more recently about the discovery of a new species. Also, the fleet will more than undoubtedly contain more than just batarians. There will also be krogan, vorcha, some asari, a few salarians, and as much as it pains me to say there will also be some turians," Desolas said causing the old man to raise his eye brows in response.
"Well then from what I have heard we have little over an hour till they are due to arrive. Let's talk and see how we can help each other out you need to tell us everything about these races that you know so that we can be prepared. And Mr. Malick I need you to tell me the capabilities of your actives so that both my troops and general Arterius troops are able to work with them as efficiently as possible," general Williams said earning a nod from both leaders.
Five hours latter in orbit around Shanix
Admiral Haymith was beyond worried, according to their new turian allies this slaver fleet should have been here hours ago. 'If this was a trap by the turians they would have attacked by now. Maybe they are waiting for reinforces? No I didn't get that feeling from them and when we had a judge talk to them he believed that the turians were telling the truth," the admiral thought as he stared at his monitor showing a fleet of ninety eight ships.
'To think that I would command a fleet this large,' he thought as he looked through all of the turian ships. It had surprised them when the turians thought that his two heavy cruisers were small dreadnoughts. The look on there faces when he told them the size of a dreadnought was priceless.
"Admiral the relay is active!" called out Rachel. "Tell all ships to raise shields, charge weapons, and load all missile pods," the admiral said as he kept watching his monitor to see how many ships he would be dealing with.
"Rachel how many enemy ships are there?" Admiral Haymith asked as he kept his eye on the ever-growing fleet that was emerging from the relay. "Admiral I have counted over two hundred ships and more keep coming. Based on the ship sizes that we got from the turians they have four dreadnoughts. Correction they have five dreadnought and now they have over three hundred ships and climbing. According to the codex the ships match multiple different species while most of them are a match for the batarians," Rachel said causing the admiral to swear.
"Tell me when they stop pouring out of the relay and when they will be in firing range. Also send a communication towards Shanix and towards earth about our current situation," admiral Haymith said earning an affirmative from his A.I.
"Admiral I have sent both messages and the relay is no longer active it appears that there are four hundred and seventy three enemy ships. There are six dreadnought class ships, two hundred and sixty-seven cruiser class ships and two hundred frigate class ships," the A.I. said causing the crew to grow silent. "We will be able to fire in thirty-four seconds while our turian allies won't be able to fire for one minutes and twenty-one seconds."
"Tell all ships to open fire when the enemy fleets gets in range. Also put me on a fleet wide communication to both our fleet and the turian fleet," admiral Haymith said. "Done your speaking to all human and turian vessels," Rachel said a few moment latter.
"Humans and turians we face an opponent today who condones and practices slavery on a galactic scale. We will stand and fight against these demons till the end. Most of us will not survive but we will take thousands of them with us and we will buy our men on the ground much needed time. We will make these pirate scum wish that they were never born. To all of the turians thank you for aiding us in this fight you have my deepest gratitude," admiral Haymith said as he saw that his ships were now in firing range.
"All human ships and defense station one open fire," The admiral said as he felt his ship rock from its weapons firing. "May god help us all," admiral Haymith said as he turned off the fleet wide communication.
Well I hope you enjoyed it my next chapter should be out within 5-7 days.