Chapter 5: Decisions and Deliberations
December 7, 2187
Location: Refugee Flotilla Prime, in orbit around Mars. Destiny Ascension, Capital starship of the Species Alliance.
"This is preposterous. It's obviously the wild speculations of a group of unstable officers."
"Tevos, should we remind you about the last time something this big was dismissed as wild speculation?"
"No Councillor Hackett," the Asari Councillor Tevos's voice turned apologetic. "You don't."
"Good, then this discussion shall continue." Councillor Steven Hackett said.
Like a lot of things nowadays the Council's chamber within the Destiny Ascension was makeshift. A storage compartment that had been retrofitted to accommodate a large table and basic seating for every councillor. The Council itself was a little less ragged, comprised of the highest ranked individuals from every race, minus the Yahg and Vorcha. So far the Council's biggest concern had been a constant loop of who got what resource and which asset did what and where. Now, they were faced with a potential game changer.
"I still question if we should take these reports seriously," Councillor Tevos said, "What if it's been fabricated in some way."
The Salarian Councillor Valern spoke up. "The SSV Shanghai is a warship Tevos. Not a vid studio," he said while watching highlighted segments of footage from the expedition. "They do not have the equipment to fabricate something as complex as this.
"We agree," the Geth councillor platform stated. "Thorough review of files yield a 100% absence of irregularities commonplace in fabrications. We have reached a consensus that these reports are genuine."
"Well, what should we do?" Councillor Tevos asked. "Even with our recent history, a civilization that could not only provided aid but resides in a different dimension. It's too wild, too... good to be true."
The Asari looked crestfallen. Councillor Hackett couldn't blame her. They'd all suffered, and suddenly a golden opportunity was staring them in the face. It did seem to good to be true.
The Turian Councillor Sparatus had different thoughts on his mind. "What of Commander Vakarian's ships? Has there been any word?"
"No," Councillor Hackett answered. "Captain Bradshaw's last contact with Commander Vakarian was five days ago. When they reported successfully transitioning through the relay. There's been no word since."
Councillor Sparatus seemed to have made up his mind on something. "Then we should send warships to secure the system. It's not like Commander Vakarian to remain out of contact for so long. He may have encountered hostilities on the other side. If so then we must be ready"
All around the table councillors nodded or voiced their approval. The Elcor councillor named Melvel had something else to say. "Agreement: warships should be deployed." He said in his race's signature monotone voice. "Imploring: we should send Refugee Fleet Gamma as well."
Now Councillor Melvel had everyone's attention. He was talking about sending civilians along with a military deployment. The Elcor councillor was quick to clarify. "Explanatory: Refugee Fleet Gamma shelters a majority of the Elcor population in the Local Cluster. We are not built for extended life in cramped conditions, least of all in space. The planet described in the reports which the relay orbits has a gravity field too high for most races, but is perfect for my people. We could settle there, and begin producing resources. Also, the ships of Refugee Fleet Gamma could then be integrated into other fleets to provide more space."
A lot of the gathered councillors agreed immediately, and why not it was a good plan. The Volus Councillor Barla Von even had something to add. "Due to my people's "gasp" need of pressure suits. We could assist "gasp" in colonizing the planet, by "gasp" implementing the necessary infrastructure, and "gasp" forming a stable economy."
One however, had some complaints. "Why should the Elcor and Volus be the only races to settle this this world others need a home too?" the councillor of the Batarians Ka'hairal Balak asked.
"We don't have the time or the proper equipment to adjust a planet's atmosphere. Plus, terraforming technology has never been reliable, we could destroy the planet. So it must be treated like a pound of eezo, with extreme care," Councillor Hackett said. Councillor Balak glared at Hackett for a moment before turning away.
When no one else attempted to argue Hackett put the plan to a vote. "All in favor of deploying a fleet of warships to secure the relay and to dispatch Refugee Fleet Gamma and the Volus to begin colonisation efforts on the planet, show a raise of arms."
Every councillor raised an arm, though the Hanar councillor rose a tentacle. The only one who didn't was Councillor Balak, who simply stared blankly at the table.
"Which fleet is to be dispatched?" Councillor Sparatus asked.
"The 1st fleet as well as the 2nd, 24th, and 40th patrol fleets are all within one week of FTL travel from Patrol Fleet 33's location," Councillor Hackett answered. "I also intend to send the Normandy whose enhanced FTL drive should get there in about the same time. Just as soon as the absent crew members can be gathered."
"Why so many ships and who will command the Normandy?" Councillor Tevos asked.
Hackett already had an answer. "Because if Commander Vakarian did encounter hostilities, we need a strong presence at the relay. As to who is going to command the Normandy, I'll have to think about that.
"What if the people prove to not be hostile, but talkative?" asked Councillor Valern.
"Then we prepare for diplomacy, but remain on alert," Councillor Hackett said. "Are there any more questions?" No one said anything. "Then this meeting is adjourned until further development."
/
Refugee Flotilla Prime is the largest concentration of starships in the galaxy. At a total of almost 100,000 active vessels, it's twice the size the Quarian Migrant Fleet ever was, even using many vessel from the Migrant Fleet, and provides shelter to seven billion people, roughly one seventh the accumulated Local Cluster population. Since it also acts as semi capital city, it sees a majority of the small number of people still travelling the galaxy delivering and picking up cargo. As well as an even smaller number of those who simply traveled just to do it.
Another group of people that came and went, that the flotilla saw quite a few of were criminals. People who preyed off the abundance of vulnerabilities throughout the refugees to enhance their lot in life or those who simply raided cargo freighters and deprived others of much needed supplies.
Although, a life of crime was very dangerous and not commonly successful due to martial law and tight military security. That didn't stop many desperate people from trying. As was the case with a small freighter, located at the edge of the Sol system, hauling basic rations and one of the last crates of Asari wine, a commodity on the verge of extinction. The four hijackers were all ex-mercenaries, remnants from before the three main mercenary gangs had been forcible disarmed and absorbed into military service or displaced to prison ship's. The ship was barely 100 meters in length which made storming the vessel a breeze. Rounding up the minimal crew of ten, two of the four, a Krogan and a human, stood guard over them. Meanwhile, the other two, a pair of Batarians, worked on getting the freighter moving out of the system.
The did not know however that the freighter carried an eleventh passenger and in accordance with the code, these four had to die for taking hostages and stealing supplies from the needy. Samara was crouched down up in the rafters of the freighters cargo bay examining the situation below her. A human and a Krogan, both armed with assault rifles, patrolled closely around the captured crew who'd been tied up and clustered together. The situation was delicate, a stray bullet could kill an innocent and biotic attacks could do the same. So an expert use of subtlety was necessary.
Forming a plan on the spot, Samara silently cloaked herself in biotic energy and launched a biotic throw at a stack of crates on the other side of the bay. As she'd hoped the stack tumbled over making a violent amount of noise, and caught the attention of the two mercs. Both pointed their rifles at the disturbance, and the human wasted no time ordering the Krogan to investigate.
Just as Samara hoped the Krogan kept his rifle at the ready and after rooting around in the fallen boxes, proceeded deeper into the bay until he was out of his friend's sight. Keeping pace with the Krogan from up in the rafters, Samara waited for the right moment. It came soon enough. Prepping a Reave attack in both hands Samara launched them down at the Krogan. Both attacks struck the Krogan eating through his kinetic barriers and began tearing him apart at the molecular level. Not intending to let the Krogan cry out, Samara leapt down onto the massive lizard's humped back and effectively severed his head off with a swipe of her Omni-Blade. She kept her balance as the large corpse slumped to the deck then clambered back up into the rafters.
The human mercenary was now on edge, having briefly heard the scuffle. Assault rifle at ready he stalked towards the center of the bay glancing at every shadowy corner, but he never looked up. A biotic pull smashed into the merc's head, yanking him towards the ceiling. He then found himself face to face with the calm Asari Justicar. Samara snatched away his weapon and tossed it aside, then she calmly reached forward and snapped the helpless merc's neck. At that moment the pull wore off and dead mercenary fell limp to the deck.
Samara landed gracefully next to him and began cutting the crew free with a plain knife she had.
"Damn, I thought we were goners," one of them said. "Thanks ma'am. We wouldn't have ever been able to pull that off, especially with the Krogan."
A handful of crewmen had dragged the dead Krogan out into the open, and begun stripping both bodies of their weapons and gear. They came away with two assault rifles, a pair of pistols, and an SMG, as well as a nice supply of thermal clips. The weapons were distributed with Samara herself taking a pistol.
"I don't mean to be rude ma'am but how did you get aboard? We didn't take on any passengers," a person Samara assumed to be the captain asked.
Briefly, Samara appeared regretful. "I stowed away when your ship departed Refugee Fleet Bravo."
The captain simply grinned, "heh, I'm not complaining."
Another, much younger crewman walked up holding one of the assault rifles. "We gotta get the other two bastards," he said. "Some of us got family on Prime. They rely on our shipments, we can't let'em be stolen."
The captain nodded in agreement and turned back to Samara. "You take the bridge. Me and my boys will check engineering." Samara agreed and walked off. Meanwhile, the captain turned to his crew. "Alright, everyone with a gun follow me. The rest of you strip off their armor and space the corpses."
The freighter was secure within minutes. Samara killed the Batarian on the bridge while the Batarian in engineering surrendered in the face of five guns and a very angry freighter crew.
Finally docked with the Rayya, previously the flagship of the Migrant Fleet, the freighter was able to offload its cargo. There on the docks Samara was confronted by a delivery man with a shocking message.
/
Oriana Dominique, once known as Oriana Lawson, was shopping for clothes with her family. Vendors nowadays didn't haggle very much, the threat of the customer just walking away was all too real. Living on a fleet of ships in space didn't have many perks, but luckily for Oriana and her family, living next door to a market definitely counted as one.
Her family also had another perk, one that they weren't entirely aware of. Even though Miranda was on good terms with her sister and had paid her multiple visits and conversations, Miranda still preferred to keep an eye on her sister's family from a distance. Not that it was necessary, it was just a comfort, stopping by, making sure they were fine, and occasionally visiting. If Miranda had to be away for any lengthy period of time she had arrangements in place with ship's security just in case.
"Have you ever considered that your "watchful guardian" act is a bit shy of stalking?"
Miranda sighed. Jacob Taylor, ex-Cerberus operative like her, and a thorough dork. The man joined her in leaning on the upper floor railing carrying a paper bag in one hand.
"Ever considered getting a family of your own?" he asked.
Miranda didn't even blink. "I'm sterile remember, and who'd be crazy enough to raise a family in these conditions."
Jacob's attention turned down towards Oriana walking next to her husband while carrying an infant in her arms. "I think she's doing a fine job."
Desiring to change the subject, "what do you have in the bag?" Miranda asked.
"Just a small stash of Volus military rations," Jacob answered. "They're pretty good."
"Volus military rations? Define good." Miranda said unconvinced.
"A small military with a better food budget makes a higher quality ration." Jacob sounded quite pleased with himself.
"What are you buying those for anyway?"
Jacob's smile vanished and was replaced with a grim look. He pulled a brown envelope out of his pocket. "Just got this today. There's been some interesting developments."
Miranda grabbed the envelope and slipped the contents out. Quickly reading through them,, Miranda caught on fast to what was going on. It looked like she'd have to rely on her arrangements with the local security.
/
Sandbags, scraps, and storefront dummies, how the Hell was she supposed to create a decent firing range out of this junk.
So was the thoughts of the super biotic Jack as she stalked up and down the makeshift firing range coaching her trainees on the finer elements of using Warp. Teaching had turned out to be a surprising blast. Jack had even found the company of other biotics provided something like the family she'd never before had. At least before Shepard had sprung her from prison and made her part of his crew. She'd even permitted her hair to grow out into a ponytail.
She caught something out of the corner of her eye that right pissed her off. "Jenkins!" the trainee in question spun on a dime to face Jack. "How many times must I tell you to never angle your vectors at targets who aren't in COVER!" Jack walked over to Jenkins and grabbed his arm thrusting it out towards a melting dummy that wasn't in any kind of cover. "Is he in cover Jenkins?"
"No Jack."
"Good to see you've got both eyes. Now, see that other one?" Jack pointed his arm towards another dummy who also wasn't in cover either. "I want you slag his plastic ass HEAD ON!"
"Yes Jack."
It may have seemed like harsh treatment, but these kids didn't care. They all preferred her methods of teaching over studying in a classroom. It also helped that she deeply cared about them, though she'd never say so out loud. Many of the older kids who'd survived the War could attest to how protective Jack could be, and how it had saved many of their lives.
Suddenly there was a man, an officer by the looks of him, behind Jack. She spun around expecting something different then what she got.
"Your Jack right?" The man asked. Jack nodded. "Councillor Hackett has requested you and two squads of your best report to the Normandy ASAP." He pulled out a brown envelope from his uniform. "This has the finer details of what's going on," he said handing the envelope to Jack.
As the officer left Jack tore into the envelope and scanned the letter within. She quickly determined that this situation involved family. So it was top priority.
She'd have to put someone senior in charge and replace who she put in charge. "Jenkins!" she called, and the kid came sprinting.
"What's up Jack?" he asked.
"Pack your bag. I'm placing you in second squad." First and Second squads consisted of Jack's most skilled and powerful biotics, and they'd be coming with her. "We're going on a field trip, Jenkins."
/
The SR-2 Normandy was bar none the most famous ship in the galaxy. However, it would never have attained such recognition without its stellar crew. Each were masters of their respective fields, hand picked by Commander Shepard himself.
So tight knit were these people that the return of four previously wayward crewmates was handled in a way akin to a real family reunion. Joker made his signature jokes over the intercom, and everyone else play catch up.
Although underneath the excitement was a sense of apprehension for the five others who weren't there. Grunt and Wrex were easy to explain. They were simply too far away and too busy rebuilding the Krogan people. Nobody knew where Kasumi and Massani were, and Garrus was the main point of conversation for many.
"What do we know?" Tali'Zorah asked. She was sitting at the central table in the Normandy's crew deck with a few other friends.
"Not much, only that Garrus went missing on patrol," Liara T'soni said. That was as much as the messages had said.
"Whoever the Council's sending over to command the Normandy must have more information," Ashley Williams added. "How's our friends settling in?"
"Pretty well, they've taken over their usual spots. Samara's in observation, Jack and her boys have seized the lower deck, and Jacob and Miranda have taken bunks with crew," James Vega answered.
At that moment the voice of the Normandy's comedic pilot Joker sounded over the intercom. "Shine your boots, we got a VIP coming aboard and he wants a meeting in the war room."
"Who exactly is it Joker?" They all more or less called.
Instead of Joker the Normandy's resident AI EDI answered. "Councillor Hackett is currently waiting for you in the war room."
"I was gonna say that," they heard Joker mumble in the background.
Quietly they filed towards the elevator. Passing the memorial wall as they did. There were many names on the wall. Among them were a handful of close friend, Mordin, Thane, Kaidan, Legion, and Shepard. They all died in defense of the galaxy in one way or another, and now it was time to defend one of their own.
The war room was located behind the CIC through a security checkpoint. There all present members of the Normandy squad had gathered around the central holographic display.
Councillor Hackett was there giving them a quick briefing. "As you all know, about one month ago Patrol Fleet 33 consisting of the cruiser SSV Shanghai and the frigates SSV Palaven's Pride and Menae's Might were dispatched to investigate an abnormal signal. What they found could have major impacts on the galactic situation."
"What did they find, sir?" Tail asked
A brief flash of annoyance crossed Hackett's face. "They found an active mass relay not of Reaper origin. Scientists from the Shanghai discovered and made contact with an AI whose purpose is to manage the relay and a research base location the nearby planet."
The mention of an active relay and an AI caught everyone's attention. Most especially Liara and Tali's, who were experts in those fields respectively.
"Now," Hackett continued, "after an exchange of information between the science teams and the A.I, the frigates under the command of Commander Garrus Vakarian was sent through the relay. They briefly contacted the Shanghai. Confirming that they made it through." Hackett's face became troubled. "That was almost six days ago, there's been no contact since."
As disturbing as this news was there were details that needed clarifying. "Councillor, you said that the relay wasn't of Reaper origin. No known species has come close to perfectly replicating mass relay technology. Who built the relay?" Liara T'soni asked.
Councillor Hackett pondered his response a moment. "The answer is very complicated." He turned to the display which until then had been showing a visual representation of the system with the relay. Hackett manipulated it for a moment and a segment of video from the expedition began playing.
The recording showed a Quarian presenting a hologram of the galaxy to what looked like a holographic eye. "My creators never resided within this galaxy. They hailed from a parallel dimensional plane." Hackett further manipulated the display to show another clip. "...sadly, all attempts of connecting with the Ecumene or the Domain have resulted in failure for the last 99,632 local years." Hackett played one more recording. "While it is true that any attempted communications with the Ecumene has resulted in failure. There has been an increase of superluminal communications echoes filtering through the relay. I have been able to decipher some basic codes within this echoes, and have come to the conclusion that there is a stable civilization within the home dimension."
These revelations shocked everyone. None so much as Liara, whose archaeological side was reeling from the implications. "A civilization from another dimension?"
Hackett simply nodded, "This system has labeled a top priority location. The Council is hoping that the "stable civilization" might provide aid. If they don't or prove hostile, we're authorized to destroy the relay. Until then, the 1st fleet as well as the 2nd, 24th, and 40th patrol fleets have been deployed. They should arrive in around seven days. Meanwhile, the Normandy will collect some extra personnel and rendezvous with the fleet. With her enhancements she should get there in around the same time."
Miranda had a pretty serious question. "Who will command the Normandy? She hasn't had a true CO for a year."
Hackett turned to face Miranda. "I am Miss Lawson." Quite a few jaws dropped at this revelation. "I never retired from the navy, so I still carry the rank of admiral. I've left a representative in the Council, and intend to use the Normandy as a flagship."
"Admiral, who are the extra passengers we're taking on?" James Vega asked.
"Mostly additional scientists to complement those already on the planet. We'll also be taking along some Geth analyst platforms, some will go to the planet and rest will remain onboard." Hackett said. "Any more questions?"
"Yeah," Jack said. "Are we gonna go find our friend now?"
/
Location: undesignated system. December 14, 2187.
The military fleet occupying the system numbered upwards to forty vessels of every class. Meanwhile, a civilian fleet was on the way to begin a colony on the planet below.
Under Admiral Hackett's orders the Normandy deployed a majority of the extra science crew it had picked up. Then, after a transmission from the planet in forming them on what to do in case they encountered dimensional barricades. The Normandy along with a fleet of twenty vessels, including the SSV Shanghai entered the relay.
AN: One of the handful of reviewers of this story asked what elements of recent Halo games I was going to use. For the most part, this story branches off from main canon after Halo 4 but will use some things from Halo 5 (weapons, ships, details). Spartans will be playing a role, possibly not a major one but a role nonetheless. Throughout this chapter I paid homage to another frantic that mildly influenced mine, Mass Effect: Clash of Civilizations by Eterna1soldier, mainly in the way I structured the chapter.