Author's Note: So this chapter just did not want to come out. I had a hell of a time getting past the first thousand words. Luckily I managed and the story won't get bogged down by this chapter anymore. I'd like to know what y'all think though as I'm a little shaky on some of the chapter. I kept hitting scenes where I could go on an exposition fest but didn't want to yet so I had to deflect it. I'm curious if the deflection was believable.
So yea, let me know what you think and thanks for reading!
Marcus leaned against the wall as he idly watched the inner door of the airlock while he waited. Having been able to clear his head some after he got out of the area of the ship the dead had been in. Now he waited while he flipped through his mindcom, checking the status of Lucy a few more times than strictly necessary. Trying to decide what he should do after talking with this other Asari, Shiala.
'Who do I contact? I don't have a particular desire to land this in just one of the big three. Frankly I'm not sure how anyone will react to this.'
Crossing his arms and tapping his finger against his elbow, he started to realize how big this all could be just beyond him.
'I have enough reputation with the Federation, Empire, and Alliance but if I just go to one I may very well be killed to keep it quiet.' Memories of various Thargoid sites and a faded "Aegis" symbol came to mind.
'So how do I get all three governments to listen? Can I get all three to listen?' He heard a muffled clunking sound and a screen next to the airlock door displayed a progress notice.
With a sigh that was almost a growl he pushed off the wall, "I'll have to figure that out after this. After all," an image of the Asari's black eyes staring at nothing flashed in his mind and he felt himself get pale.
"I'm not letting her get close enough to touch me."
He heard the airlock cycle, the machinery running in the wall until the pressure was equal. There was a pause and he half expected to hear a thump of her hitting the floor when the gravity turned on but was disappointed as the door slid open.
His thoughts paused for a moment as he regarded her, noticing the near perfect similarity to a human woman until you looked at her head. She had her helmet clasped on her hip so he was able to see her face unobstructed. The strange head ridges and no ears were the biggest thing that pulled his eyes before she stepped forward.
'It almost seems like a prank or a low-budget sci-fi show. Blue alien woman.' He ended that thought as Shiala moved closer to him, stopping just as she began to get close enough to touch and he tensed up unconsciously.
Putting a hand over where a human had their heart, she bowed slightly, "Marcus, I wish we could have met under better circumstances but I am glad to meet you nonetheless."
Shifting nervously on his feet, "Me too Shiala, I can honestly say I'd have loved if we had met under better circumstances too."
An awkward pause passed between the two before Marcus broke it, holding his hand out towards one of the paths.
"There's something of a conference room this way we can sit and talk in." Shiala nodded and Marcus led her down the hallway through a few twists and turns before coming into the room. A large table circular table in the center of the room surrounded by chairs. Various equipment on one wall suggested that this had been the mess hall for the ship. A closer look at the devices showed types of food dispensers.
Either way, they walked in and Shiala took a seat. Marcus took a seat that wasn't quite directly across from her but was still a few arm-lengths away.
"We can't change how we met but now that we're here, I suppose we can trade some questions. I would like to know about this Citadel Council. Different species working together, seems like a hell of a coincidence that it would be possible."
Shiala seemed surprised for a moment before clearing her throat, "Why would it be such a coincidence?"
"Well, the chances of meeting other species that were roughly equivalent in terms of tech in the galaxy at large seems….I don't know. Just not at all likely. We've encountered other life but they're too different to really tell much of anything about them."
Shiala perked up at that, the fact that they had encountered other intelligent life before this was a good thing. Even if that life was much more strange, after all the Rachni were nearly inscrutable during the entire war with them.
"So this isn't your species first contact, just first time with us?" Her shoulders slumped a bit, "We've made a terrible impression then."
"Well, better than our first contact but yeah, pretty bad." Shiala didn't know what to think about that.
They both had nothing to say for a moment after that, the situation weighing heavily on the room for a moment.
"I was able to contact my superior, she is on her way as fast as she can travel. I don't want to try to get into a bunch of questions over my head so how about we just ask about each other instead?"
That caused Marcus to sit up, leaning forward with his elbows on the table, "Well, I'd be interested to hear how this 'Citadel Council' works. I can't imagine how strange that's got to be with different species."
" Well, it helps that every race we've encountered have also encountered Prothean ruins…"
The bridge of the Asari cruiser was somber with a distinct undercurrent of excitement. The crew worked with more care than they normally would which given the minimum experience of two centuries of any individual, the best possible speed was being made to their destination.
The constant hum of the ship and the efficient movements of the crew were interrupted as Matriarch Benezia's personal cruiser dropped out of FTL to line up with the next relay. The approach charted to give a few minutes for their comms system to send and receive any information that was waiting for her.
Seconds after dropping from FTL the comm beeped just as Benezia had expected. When she had finished speaking with Shiala she had sent everything to the Council and explained that she would be making all haste to the location in question. Better to get the right expectations as quickly as possible for a first contact after the unmitigated disaster it had started as.
Without a word she stepped off the bridge into her quarters. After the door lock and security had engaged, the comm opened and three holograms sprung up from the emitters.
The Asari Councilor was someone she had backed for the position centuries ago and with whom she had no regrets having done so. Councilor Irissa was the perfect image of Asari wisdom and grace that the galaxy needed.
The Turian Councilor was standing at nearly perfect military parade rest, back straight with hands clasped behind his back although his stance was one that was imperceptibly relaxed in a way that let anyone looking at him know he was in command. Exactly what anyone would look for when seeing the Council's primary military and policing force. Councilor Sparatus was new but he was performing well so far.
The Salarian Councilor was more of an enigma as they all tended to be. Most certainly under the control of the leading Dalatrass on Sur'Kesh but with an independence born from their time in the STG that always made for an interesting mix for a male in the position. He was almost due to retire though. After this first contact would certainly see a change in Salarain Councilors. For now however, the never-to-be-taken-at-face-value but fair dealings with Councilor Bursik would continue.
Benezia bowed her head at the Councilors, she may be older than all of them by a good margin but they were the Council and deserved some measure of respect.
Given the information she had sent to them however it did not surprise her in the least that Councilor Bursik jumped straight into it.
"Matriarch, first contact is best left to a proper diplomatic team. That you sent us the information your follower sent you and then just decide you will make contact is not in the spirit of this Council."
Irissa shifted ever so slightly with discomfort at that, something that did not go unnoticed by Benezia. Whether from annoyance at the Salarian speaking first or annoyance that she would be forced to agree with the blunt statement was unknown.
"Councilors, when I heard from Shiala as to what had transpired, directly on the border of Citadel space, I felt this was the best course of action. You were informed and an experienced diplomat is on her way to deal with this first contact."
A few seconds passed as Councilor Bursik and Benezia simply held eye contact. Finally broken by Bursik with a sigh.
"Very well, you would have been one of the first we contact for this regardless. I would have preferred to have a Spectre accompany you however. That may be a border system but it is on the Terminus side of our border."
Sparatus spoke up at that, "The seventh Turian patrol fleet is being diverted there with all haste. They will hold on our side of the relay but be in position to jump should anything happen. No need to add any more guns to this first contact but they'll be there if needed."
A small worry that Benezia had whenever the Turian councilor changed over was alleviated at that. Sometimes it seemed the Turian councilor wanted nothing but war with anyone that wasn't the Council. That the new Councilor Sparatus had taken that stance during this event reminded Benezia why the Turians were trusted with the Council's protection. They knew their duty and the limits of it.
Council Irissa's subdued smile said she felt the same, "Which we are grateful for Sparatus. Now Benezia, how are you going to address this…" She looked down at something in front of her, "Commander Marcus?"
Benezia had put a lot of thought into that. If he had really shown up during a pirate and the subsequent melding with a dying victim of that attack she would need to do a lot of damage control.
"Much of that will be decided by him Councilors. I know the situation up to when I departed but not much else. I trust Shiala to not make mistakes even if she is not trained but I have no plan other than to make contact and introduce ourselves properly."
Councilor Irissa was satisfied but she saw Bursik stiffen at the mention of no plan. Not much of a surprise there. Sparatus was impassive however, seemingly disinterested in the minutia of the first contact beyond the security that he had routed there.
"When will you arrive on-site Matriarch? The patrol fleet will be there within a few hours, I suspect hours after you have arrived so there will be a time you are without immediate protection."
"We have will jump this relay and cross the system to the last jump so a few more hours."
"Good, first and foremost we need to find out where this Commander Marcus' race is from, the fact that they still use reaction control systems to keep their ship in a stable position suggests that they are still early in their development."
"I will make no assumptions Councilor, the Salarians can go over everything afterwards but I will not confine myself to the assumption they are primitive. There is nothing anywhere near that system that suggests that there is another civilization within range of early mass effect engines."
Sparatus looked thoughtful at that, "That is true and curious. That they do not simply manipulate mass effect fields in the same manner as us is something to investigate, Benezia is correct. There is little survey evidence of any system near there that could support life, much less a space faring species that we've not detected. We do keep very close eye on the terminus borders more often than not."
"Hmph, very well. In the absence of evidence I will ask that you ascertain everything you can. Shiala's description of the newcomer's ship suggest frigate size. Regardless of where they come from, we need to know why there were in that system."
"I assure you, that is all on my list of questions. I do intend to find out as much as possible. That he can already speak Thessian will help."
Councilor Irissa cut in, "Benezia, we are holding you up from continuing your journey at this point. We will need to think of the steps after this as well, inviting Commander Marcus' species leaders to the Citadel for a formal introduction and integration. We have this kept under the strictest of confidences at this point as we are unsure of what will come of it."
Benezia nodded, she knew all of this of course, she had been a diplomat before Irissa had decided to stop getting shot at in the Eclispse a few centuries ago. That it was being said out loud was simply for the benefit of getting it out in front of the others and for the records.
"Should all go well we look forward to an exciting meeting with this new species. Now, if no one has anything else…" The Asari Councilor looked expectantly at the other two in a way that appeared inviting but somehow left no doubt that she expected there to be nothing else. The other two did not disappoint, signaling they each had nothing.
With a nod, Benezia dismissed herself as well as conveying her thanks to Irissa for the timely window to exit.
"Thank you Councilors, I will have something for the Council soon."
The holograms flickered out of existence and the security in her quarters relaxed, lights brightening and the door unlocking. With no wasted movements she turned and moved back onto the bridge. The crew all turned to her quietly and looked at her expectantly.
"We will continue, Navigation, take us through the relay to our destination with all haste."
With that the crew moved into action, an undercurrent of excitement in the air.
Marcus just sat, silent and nearly slack-jawed looking at Shiala. The enormity of what she had told him about her Citadel Council sinking in. Ten separate races of nearly equivalent technical and societal progress meeting. Not only meeting but working together for thousands of years. If not for what he had experienced already it would be too much to actually believe.
"Oh yeah, I'm about seven pay grades out of my depth here."
"I'm going to have a hell of a time explaining this to anyone back in Human space Shiala."
Shiala sat across from him, her helmet off and a cup of tea she had made earlier held in front of her, the half cup of tea sitting cold in it. She had managed to talk about Citadel space for a few hours, Marcus asking a few questions occasionally but really it had been her just going on and on. To her credit she had seemed a bit embarrassed about it a few times but Marcus' attempts to add things to the conversation were a bit stilted after she had continued her explanation.
She had the good sense to look a bit embarrassed after he said that. She apparently had someone to call that was right nearby, or near enough they'd be arriving soon and it'd only been a few hours. He'd have to first, head back a few thousand light years, then figure out who in the hell he'd even bring this to.
He had some contacts in the Federation and the Empire but for all the work he had done it was basically just for access to a few systems and the permits to buy the faction-specific line of ships. Still, it did give him a channel he may exploit.
Shiala seemed to pick up on his confusion with the situation. "Marcus, I am sure there is someone you can speak to in your government. There must be some protocol for alien contact?"
"Well, there's a lot of contact with alien life. Just primitive life, single-celled life, animals, weirdly intelligent plant life, Thar-"
Then it occurred to him, Professor Palin! Sure, he'd pissed off the Federation and the Empire but everyone knew of him, even those in the Alliance knew about him and if he talked about aliens, people listened.
"So there is a way for your species government to deal with alien life, even if to just catalogue it?"
"Well, we've actually got three major governments but there's a few ways I can go about getting them all in one place. In fact, I think that I may know just the person for it. Thanks Shiala, I was getting worried that I'd not be taken seriously but I got it now."
Shiala just blinked a few times, slightly confused at apparently being the catalyst for his train of thought without actually having a clue as to what he was alluding to.
"Wait, three governments?!"
It was that moment that her Omni-tool began chirping urgently again, it pulsing on her wrist brightly and interrupting their conversation. Immediately she opened it and felt a wave of relief pass over her.
"Marcus, good news! Matriarch Benezia is here with the blessing of the Citadel Council to make actual diplomatic contact."
She looked up at him and saw his attentive gaze on her, "Er, well, not that I didn't enjoy speaking to you about the Council and Council space…"
With a slight chuckle and glancing around the room absentmindedly, "It's ok, I'll be relieved once I can pass this off to someone else on my end too."
Shiala nodded and read the rest of the message Benezia had sent her, ordering her to bring Marcus, if he is willing, onto Benezia's cruiser.
"I've been told to ask you to accompany me to my Matriarch's ship. It is much, much better equipped to receive you. Should you be comfortable with boarding another alien ship."
Marcus hesitated, he had managed to put the fact that he was on a ship with a murdered crew out of his mind for the time being but he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to board another ship if it was Asari. He was sitting a distance from Shiala for a reason and being on a ship with only her race set his nerves irrationally on edge.
'Still, it may be for the best, their artificial gravity is nice.' He looked sat back in his chair and tapped the table a few times before picking up a small piece of metal and dropping it a few inches off the table.
"I suppose I can manage, will it be just Asari on the ship?" He looked up at Shiala and suddenly felt like an idiot.
"Not that there's anything really wrong with that! Just, I'd like to meet a few more species than just Asari today."
He tried his best joking smirk, feeling foolish the entire time, "Preferably when they're not shooting at me."
'Good job, I sounded racist and then recovered by making it sound like I expect them to just be shooting at me. I really need to spend more time talking to people if I'm going to be contacting a bunch of aliens.'
To his relief, Shiala either did not notice or simply decided to not comment on what he thought were faux paus. Instead she simply nodded as she stood up.
"The crew is mostly Asari as it is my Matriarch's personal cruiser and as such tends to be predominantly Asari crew. Though she is usually involved in diplomatic affairs and as such has a number of other species on her crew. If I remember correctly we have a Quarian crew member even in our engineering."
"They're the ones with the AI rebellion right?" He mentally kicked himself again, that was a hell of a way to downplay a race that lost their home planet to AI that rebelled against them.
"...Yes, the Geth. My Matriarch does not view them as the rest of the galaxy tends to. She still remembers them as they were before their mistake and does not allow that prejudice sway her decisions when selecting her crew."
Shiala stood next to the door for a second before Marcus realized that they would be heading towards the shuttle she had. He doubted they would be boarding her matriarch's ship the way he got on this one. He hurriedly got up and moved just outside arm's length from Shiala before they both made their way to the shuttle.
"Well, I suppose it's further down the rabbit hole then."
"What was that Marcus?"
"Nothing, just nervous."
He could hear her confident smile even though she was walking ahead of him and he couldn't see her face. Her Matriarch was near and she seemed to have confidence in the situation again.
"You needn't be worried Marcus, Matriarch Benezia knows what to do, you don't need to worry about things now."
Benezia stood at the entrance of the shuttle bay watching Shiala's shuttle move gracefully into the bay through the blue sheen of the kinetic barrier keeping the atmosphere in. A Turian and Salarian lieutenant standing by behind and to each side of her with a few of her Asari followers as well. She had requested Hon Tolan vas Geedor to accompany her but he had asked to stay in engineering. Apparently his scans of the newcomer's ship were exciting enough that he didn't want to actually meet the new race yet.
As the shuttle settled she looked to one side at one of her Matrons, "You are to discretely take the shuttle back to the Elcor freighter and investigate what happened. Get their names, the manifest, everything you can. At the very least we can inform next of kin and arrange for proper burials."
The Matron bowed her head in assent as they saw the door of the shuttle open. Benezia's attention focused as Shiala and the Human, Commander Marcus stepped out. She moved forward to greet them, Shiala stood in front of her and bowed respectfully at the waist.
"Honored Matriarch, I am glad you came so soon." Benezia smiled at her, for everything that had happened, the Matron had done well.
"This is a matter that required it Shiala. Now, I believe this is the newcomer? The Human Commander Marcus?"
The helmet he was wearing did little to obscure the human's face although he had stopped a small distance away and his stance, if he were an Asari, would be standoffish. His one-piece suit was a dark green color with lines along contours of his musculature. Insignia of what appeared to be a stylized bird on his shoulders were just about the only markings beyond a few lights on his wrist.
The distance he seemed to keep from her wasn't very surprising given that she knew an Asari on that freighter had melded with him in a moment of desperation, that much could be understood and very easily forgiven. She watched him for a brief moment as his eyes met hers for a moment before roaming around the shuttle bay. The soft curves and blue tones seen in most Asari ship construction seemed to interest him as she saw him seem to mutter something to himself though through his helmet she didn't hear what he had said.
As his gaze moved to her Salarian and Turian lieutenants she was amused to see his eyes widen slightly and dart between the two. She was sure the culture shock was a lot to take in.
The entire glance took a mere moment but she had noted it all and was happy to see him seem to compose himself, standing a bit straighter.
"Yes, I am, Human and Commander Marcus Rein. You're Matriarch Benezia that Shiala has mentioned?"
"I am, thank you for coming. If you would follow me we can move to a room much more comfortable."
With a shrug and a nod, Marcus followed Benezia, the Salarian and Turian following him as the doors slid shut behind them.
Marcus had to admit, the chair was very comfortable. It felt like sitting on a cloud because if what he felt when he ran his hand under his thigh briefly, he wasn't actually sitting on anything. Just floating an inch or so above the cushion. It felt and looked amazing. Which if this was a diplomatic ship that would make sense. The few politicians he had shuttled around the bubble had always needed the better cabins. He'd have to remember that since this ship made Lucy look like a garbage skiff.
After the tea was served, the steaming cup in front of him, he picked it up and smelled it. The smell wouldn't have been out of place in an Imperial meeting, the fragrant floral scent that wafted up from the cup was oddly familiar. It did a little to calm him to know that there were some more similarities between them.
"Well, I do appreciate your hospitality Matriarch and we can agree that it is good that at least one of us has the right people for this first contact."
"How far away are the right people for your race? There are no settled worlds that we are aware of near this system."
"Anyone that would could do more then drink your tea and have a chat, anyone with any sort of authority, is about seven and a half thousand light years away from here. I'm really just a freelance explorer out here right now."
Benezia raised an eye and the small shifting of the others in the room didn't go unnoticed. "Seven and a half thousand light years? That's quite the distance, your race includes the distance traveled by relay then as well?"
Marcus felt the question was a fairly innocent one but was a bit confusing. Then again, that would be expected considering even if they looked generally like a human and weren't a weird pile of tentacles or something, they were still aliens.
"Relay? I'm not sure what a relay is, I made that distance in my ship. It's not entirely stripped down but I still make a good thirty or forty light years a jump."
Marcus immediately knew that he had hit on something when everyone else in the room tensed up. Benezia's eyes widened and her hands holding the tea froze.
"I…..I'm guessing your species don't routinely travel thousands of light years?"
That seemed to snap Benezia out of it, she cleared her throat quietly and set her tea down.
"No, we do. The relays afford us that ability. They provide the means to move between the clusters in our space but our ships are not so capable for a variety of reasons."
'Alright, so they need a relay to move far distances. Why did they all get so tense though?'
The Salarian in the room seemed like they could no longer stay quiet and proceeded to start talking, Marcus assumed they were questions but considering it wasn't in Thessian but rather whatever language his species spoke, it came across as a good approximation of two frogs fighting on a wet balloon.
"What."
Benezia frowned slightly at the Salarian's display, "Lieutenant, he does not have a translator. He only understands Thessian."
More squeaking and croaking.
"I haven't gotten to giving him any of that. Now please sit back down."
The Salarian sat down and Benezia smiled apologetically, "He is enthusiastic and gets ahead of himself at times."
Marcus waved it off as nonchalantly as possible, "Not a problem, it happens I suppose."
Another pause in the conversation started to stretch on before Marcus made a decision.
"Look, I realize that there's probably all sorts of protocol and things to talk about, things not to talk about. Knowledge exchange, all that sort of stuff."
Benezia nodded, "Yes, we have a first contact package with languages and information about our civilizations. We've refined first contacts in the two millennium since the Council was formed."
"Right, see that's just it, I'm an explorer and a fairly accomplished one at that but I've never come across other space-faring life. Not even any sentient or sapient that I'm aware of. I have literally zero idea what to do here. The only people that do are in my space, human space. That's pretty far away right? Judging from your reaction to me mentioning how I travel, namely not using these 'relays', there's probably stuff that there's be a lot of people that got very mad about me talking about back in the bubble."
At this point there was tension in the air, not hostile but a sense of foreboding was beginning to build and Marcus was oblivious to it.
"We're close to your space but not mine. I don't know how you'd get where I need to go but I do know I can bring some of you along. Unless you all have a better idea or plan, that's what I'm suggesting."
Benezia and the other two, salarian and turian, were simply staring at him wide-eyed for the brief pause as Marcus fidgeted.
"I really don't have, nor want, the slightest idea of how this should go."
The Salarian squeaked and croaked something to the Turian next to him and the Turian answered in some trilling whistling sounds that were entirely out of place for what Marcus envisioned the mandibled and predatory alien would sound like.
Benezia frowned up at the two of them and they both looked away sheepishly before she answered him.
"How long would such a journey take Commander Marcus and how many could you accommodate?"
"Well, it I make my best time, a few days but it would be best to plan on five days in each direction."
A low whistle distracted him as the Turian seemed rather surprised at that.
"And you say you do not use relays?"
Marcus shook his head, "No, nothing but my ship and my SRV. If it's just you three that should be fine. I can fit a few more but they wouldn't really have seats on the bridge with me."
"Only that many? Your ship seems much larger than that."
"Well, it is but most of it is taken up by the different modules. The permanent crew space is fairly small since it's just me out here."
"Only you? You are full of surprises Command Marcus, a ship that size would take dozens of crew for our races."
"Well, we've put a lot of time into miniaturization and automation. She's a big ship but in the right hands she can fly like a fighter."
The Salarian raised his hand and began typing into his Omni-tool at that as Benezia picked up her tea and took a thoughtful sip, seeming to savor while looking into the cup before looking up and setting it down suddenly.
"I cannot pass up such an opportunity. If you would excuse us, I will see to the arrangements on my end and then we can discuss how to proceed?"
Marcus felt relief, back on his ship he could handle the situation, he had started to get very anxious with what was happening but just the thought of getting back behind the controls of Lucy and travelling again began to put him at ease.
"That sounds fantastic Matriarch, are your two friends going to be accompanying us?" He motioned vaguely at the two with her.
"I don't think I could keep these two away from something like this although I may need to ask you to accommodate one more as well. But we can speak of that after."
She began to stand and the other two quickly stood before her as Marcus followed.
"These two will guide you back to the shuttle bay, I apologize for not introducing them previously. The Salarian's name is Uolon Soldar and the Turian is Velictus Surlinus."
Marcus waved to the two as they left the room for the shuttle bay. Just as he crossed the door though, Marcus looked back at Benezia and caught the look of excitement on her face.
It could be bad but at the moment, Marcus decided that it was a good thing.
Irissa's hologram looked at Benezia dumbfounded but it was Sparatus that got the first word in after she had dropped the news.
"I cannot advise for this Matriarch, taking a trip with an unknown member of a newly contacted race? How can we be sure you will be safe? You are one of the most respected Matriarchs within Asari space. If what you've explained is true, we may very well not even be able to reach you where you are going."
Irissa finally shook herself out of her stupor, "Benezia, Sparatus is right. We cannot risk you going off into the void. We've no assurances that you will be safe-"
"That is true during nearly every first contact Councilors. I am willing to take the risk. Commander Marcus has seen some of the worst that our species have to offer on that Elcor freighter, we owe him some trust to introduce ourselves properly."
That calmed the three Councilors down a bit and Benezia took the opportunity to tap a few controls, sending a file to the three of them. She could see all of them look to the report she sent. Bursik was the first done, his eyes darting over the report before he gasped in shock. The other two were soon after.
"Benezia is this true? The Asari he melded with...died during the meld? No one survives that, not even us!"
Benezia just nodded grimly, "There is no other phenomena that would leave an Asari dead with her eyes still in the meld and there was no other near with any signs of having melded. Marcus has been very reluctant to be even within arm's reach of an Asari. I do not think he survived the ordeal easily."
The four of them were quiet at that. A race that had the neurological fortitude to survive the death of an Asari during a meld would be fascinating if it wasn't overshadowed by the acquisition of that knowledge.
Finally, Bursik spoke up, "There is a Spectre close by, Spectre Odoln. He can be there in a few hours. If you can wait for him to accompany you I think I speak for all of us that would be acceptable."
"I believe we can wait that long, yes. I can work with Commander Marcus on the beginnings of translating between our languages since I doubt he will volunteer for another meld or suggest it to any others."
A look passed between the three Councilors, this first contact was shaping up to be one of the more interesting ones.
Marcus typed on the data pad Uolon had given him as the salarian poured over the last one he had finished. He had found he could read Thessian as well as speak it and that the writing he had seen so far had been in different languages. Now he was working on writing the same thing in English and Thessian. Of course he had to draw out the alphabet first and he wasn't looking forward to explaining the various rules and vagueries that English had but then again he may very well not have to worry about that.
The door to the small conference room he had been in with Uolon chimed as it opened and Benezia and another Salarian walked through.
Marcus had done many things and met quite a few people in his life. Some were friendly, some not. Some overtly hostile and would tell you just exactly how they wanted to kill you. Others simply seemed to exude an aura of 'I have a plan to kill everyone in this room.'
The Salarian was the latter.
Which did not surprise him in the least although it was a bit unexpected. Having security for a diplomat was prudent after all and as long as it wasn't an Asari who wanted to touch him, he'd be ok with the dangerous alien.
"I am going to assume you're here as the Matriarch's security?"
Then the Salarian surprised him with a smile that didn't quite fit on his species' face.
"Good to know newcomer is observant, yes. I do not expect to be needed in that capacity with what I've been told but still. Precaution."
Marcus just nodded and handed the partially complete data pad to Uolon, "I'll complete this later if I have the chance."
Then turning to Benezia, "I assume everyone is here? Are we ready to board my ship?"
"Yes Marcus and let me introduce Spectre Odoln. As you have ascertained, he is here for security but moreover as another representative of the Council. He is part of the right-hand peace keeping force that answers only to the Councilors."
Marcus stood and nodded to them and with that they all proceeded to the shuttle bay.
Once they arrived, Marcus saw the new shuttle parked next to the one he had come over on. Beyond that he could see the ship he had been on as well as Lucy keeping position where she had been left, cargo hatch facing the airlock on the aliens ship a few meters from the hull.
With a thought he accessed his mindcom and gave a few commands to adjust his ship's position, turning it around to face the Asari cruiser he was on. The Spectre was the first to notice, his head snapping over to Marcus with a clear question on his face despite being alien.
Marcus tapped the wrist of his Remlock suit and then his forehead.
"Mindcom. Gives us in the Pilot's Federation a better way to fly our ships since it's just us in it."
Benezia just smiled, seemingly amused by the surprise and the Spectre's reaction.
"Well Marcus I'm sure there will be plenty of time to speak about it during the trip." The five of them stepped onto the new shuttle, the smooth contours of the door sliding shut behind them. Velictus sat in a seat in the front and Marcus moved behind him, looking at the controls and trying to figure out what did what.
He was failing miserably too. Velictus tapped some controls and he felt his hears adjust as the shuttle became airtight. Then he felt a nearly imperceptible movement as they took off, the view outside the shuttle shifting as it lifted off and spun around before moving out of the bay.
Velictus guided the shuttle out slowly towards Marcus' ship a moment before lifting his Omni-tool and speaking Turian into it, translated to Thessian a moment later.
"Where can we dock?"
Marcus nearly slapped himself upside the head, "Technically nowhere but if you go in through the cargo hatch."
With a thought he sent the command and the hatch opened and lights came on Lucy.
"Just there, you'll have to nearly bounce off the hatch and go straight up but you'll see space to land in there."
He turned to the other three in the shuttle, "It's hard vacuum in the cargo bay so we'll all need suits until we get into the corridors."
As the shuttle moved into the cargo bay, Marcus saw Uolon and Spectre Odoln put on helmets. Velictus just tapped something on his collar and a thin helmet unfurled over his head, contouring to the strange shape in a way that caught Marcus' attention.
Then he noticed that Benezia was doing no such thing and seemed to be comfortable in her well-fitted dress.
"Matriarch, do you need a suit? I don't really have a way to pressurize the cargo bay."
A playful smirk pulled at the corners of her mouth, "I will be fine Commander Marcus. I have a means to maintain myself in vacuum briefly."
He tilted his head to the side with a questioning look on his face which elicited a short chuckle from the Matriarch.
Marcus didn't know what to make of that and just looked at her a moment longer before shrugging and looking back out the viewport.
Lucy was looming ahead as Velictus maneuvered the shuttle into the dark cargo bay, hitting the lights to show the bare scaffolding inside. With a gentle shudder, the shuttle seemed to mag lock to the surface it had touched down on. Suddenly they all felt a lurch of movement before the shuttle's inertial dampeners kicked in. Velictus' hands...talon, things began flying across the board as a few read outs popped up. Marcus connected with the ship and cancelled the automatic cargo sorting just as the movement stopped and he heard the manufacturing machinery kick on.
Normally, anything gathered would be shifted to the correct spot for weight distribution and then packaged in a cargo container that was manufactured as needed. The large container in front of where the bay had moved the shuttle was evidence of that.
"Sorry, automatic process when cargo is scooped. It secures the cargo and puts it center of gravity. Never know what you'll pick up out here in the black but it's almost all automated."
Uolon moved to stand next to Marcus to look out the viewport. Benezia noted that while Marcus glanced at Uolon, he did not step away or try to keep his distance like Marcus had with Asari. A younger part of her felt a small twinge of regret at that. She would have like to have melded with the human. It would have made the language barrier non-existent even more but also afforded her a glimpse into the mindset of his species.
"How intelligent are the automated systems in this ship to let a single crew member control it all?"
Marcus laughed a little at that, "Well, each hull has fairly similar components and each of them have been refined to the point that they generally just work."
Velictus tapped a final few commands and many of the controls he had been working flickered and blinked off as his chair swiveled around.
"As engrossing of a conversation that would be, I believe we have arrived and are ready to disembark. Is everyone airtight?"
Marcus was about to respond when Matriarch Benezia suddenly flared a wispy blue light that seemed to wreath her skin like ethereal blue smoke. Marcus would later vehemently deny that he made a very undignified screech and attempted to jump backwards through the hull.
Among his reaction however was the responses from the others in the affirmative as they all looked over at him expectantly, Benezia with an unmistakable and very smug smirk on her face.
"Alright, I'll take it from all of your reactions that...that." he gestured to Benezia, "Is normal?"
They all nodded.
"Alright, well then." He ran his hands down his arms as if to straighten his suit, "Let's go then."
Velictus hit a control next to the door and a hissing could be heard as it got quieter as the atmosphere in the shuttle thinned out to vacuum. After a few moments Marcus saw Velictus nod and the door opened.
Marcus keyed the command for his suit to magnetize his boots upon contact and stepped off the shuttle. Standing outside the shuttle the lights leading to the airlock leading to the rest of the ship lit up and Marcus waved the others forward. Spectre Odoln moved forward and stepped out first.
Only to promptly bounce off the floor as he stepped out and flailed in surprise for a moment as he floated around.
Marcus almost kept his laughter in, almost. He did manage to reach up before the Spectre got too far away and pulled him down.
The Salarian Spectre looked very annoyed as he keyed his Omni-tool to activate the magnets in is own suit, adhering him to the floor like Marcus.
Marcus managed to stifle his laughter as the Spectre glared at him before looking up at Benezia to see her looking amused, surrounded by the blue glow.
With that in mind he lifted one boot and tapped it and then stepped down and made a show of trying to step up with the magnet on. The other nodded and Marcus turned and began walking to the airlock. When he turned back he was repaid for the surprising the Spectre, Benezia was just floating serenely after them, the blue glow intensifying briefly as she moved.
Shaking his head he made the rest of the way to the airlock and they all passed through. As atmosphere returned he led by taking off his helmet.
The Spectre's annoyance was gone, now replaced with a more neutral, curious expression.
"I hope this section of the ship simply does not have artificial gravity. I can appreciate a joke but I would have preferred not floating around an alien cargo bay."
"No, no gravity on this part of the ship. Or any part really. We've not figured that out."
The four Citadel members exchanged looks before Benezia spoke up.
"You are capable of extended FTL travel but are not able to generate artificial gravity? I didn't know it was possible to manipulate mass effect fields without that understanding."
Marcus shrugged as he hit the button to open the inner airlock door and looked back at them.
"I feel like I should be surprised when you mention 'mass effect fields'. The implications of those words….but we've not figured that out either. We don't manipulate mass at all. In fact, I think our technologies aren't really much alike at all."
"But there's no other way to travel faster than light. You use element zero to produce a field around your ship with a net mass in the negatives. Then you travel faster than light with regular thrust. We've been a spacefaring species for two thousand years and that is the only way we've found."
Marcus looked at Uolon and frowned before shaking his head before using the hand holds throughout the hallways to make their way to the bridge.
"Look if we keep getting side tracked like this we'll never get to Human space. Once we're under way I'll go into that a bit but I feel like the more we talk about the more someone back home is going to want to throw me in a dark hole for mentioning this stuff."
Spectre Odoln just nodded his understanding, "Operational security. You don't know if we're going to be friends or enemies."
Marcus stopped himself and looked back at the Spectre, "I suppose you can see it that way." He looked past to Benezia, the dim blue glow as she moved through the hallway.
"I'd rather we didn't have more enemies though." He kicked off and continued to the bridge.
Shiala sat across from a very stern looking Turian Admiral and did her best to keep her composure. This was the third time telling them what happened and it was the same each time.
"Very well Shiala, we will take you back to the Citadel once we are done with the system scan. The Council has requested you debrief them in person while Matriarch Benezia is on the diplomatic mission."
Shiala nodded and made to get up to go back to her quarters when the Admiral's aide burst in and handed the Admiral a datapad.
His features grew more grim looking at it before he made a motion and the reports from the system sprung up between them.
"It seems the newcomer, the Human, has some interesting weapons. This wreckage was found a third the way between the freighter site and the relay."
The images showed a Batarian privateer ship, Shiala's lip curled in a small sneer a that thought, the wreckage of one in any case. The small video clip played as the camera panned around the derelict hull. Angry melted lines of metal crossed the hull, the engines looked like they had been made of wax and pock marks of metal where the guardian arrays had been were evident.
The camera view finally panned over as the ship tumbled slowly and she gasped as she saw the gaping hole in the ship. She could see what was left of the bridge of the ship. It still, even hours later, glowed an even orange color at the bottom of a melted hole. It looked as if someone had use lasers to carve to the center of the pirate cruiser only to slag the bridge in a very deliberate and belligerent manner.
Her mind worked as she remembered Marcus mentioning that he had taken care of the larger ship that had ran and as she tore her eyes away from the images and looked at the Admiral she could see a thoughtful look on his face.
"I think we figured out what he did to the larger ship that tried to run.'
He made a motion to dismiss all but one of the images, this one was a chart of the system with the freighter site and the relay highlighted. A third marker highlighted a spot between the two and the Admiral pointed at it.
"What I want to know is why there."
She frowned at it as no answer was forthcoming and a sense of dread welled up in her.
"Ok, so these seats will contour to your body as best they can and help mitigate some of the acceleration while not in supercruise. Just keep the harness on, I'll not be doing any crazy flying during all of this but it's best to keep seated until we're on our way."
The other four were strapped in around the bridge. They had been mildly impressed with the size of it given that the ship only needed one person to fly it. Given the purpose of the trip, Matriarch Benezia was seated in the chair next to him and the others in the positions behind them.
With a quick thought, Marcus blinked through a quick check of the systems and fuel. He went through the navigation window and was about to open the galaxy map when he was interrupted.
"Commander Marcus, what are you doing? You sat down and looked around like you're lost. I don't know how your ships work but I feel like you should be doing something."
Marcus turned the chair around to face Velictus and looked at him and then back at the menus and HUD before it dawned on him.
"OH! You can't see any of this, right!" Having taken another opportunity to make himself feel foolish, he opened the menu for the display and toggled it.
Suddenly, for the other four, the bridge seemed to come alive. The lights brightened and the area in front of Commander Marcus lit up. Most surprisingly however was what they had taken for a slanted wall suddenly seemeed to dissolve into transparency. Now they could all see the vista of stars and small pieces of debris floating outside the ship as if there was nothing there.
"Usually this is all just piped into the visual centers of my brain via mindcom. I don't have visitors on the bridge ever so I never thought to turn on the actual displays."
All four of the Citadel members were looking around trying to take it all in as Marcus looked down and navigated to the Galaxy Map and turned all of their chairs to face it in the center of the bridge.
'Alright, now to get back at Benezia for that glowing blue flying thing.'
The lights on the bridge dimmed as a small 3D icon floated in the center before suddenly exploding outwards into a render of the galaxy. The faces on the four aliens made it worth it as the galaxy slowly spun between them all.
Now, Marcus decided to play it cool, feeling confident now that they were on his ship.
"So this is the galaxy map. When I want to plot a course anywhere outside the system I'm in and that's not directly adjacent I use this." He zoomed in on the system they were in.
"Now, I know all this writing is gibberish right now for all of you and we'll get there but first. Here's where we are right now."
Switching a few options he opened the bookmarks and selected Professor Palin's base. The galaxy map zoomed out so it could render a few hundred stars at a time as it moved to the Professor's system.
"And this is where we're going. I'll just do this…" he made a motion for the benefit of his audience and the system map loaded, he slid the view to the base and selected the set route option and the icon began spinning.
He exited the system map and zoomed out to see the entire distance between where they were and where they were going, watching as the route planner went though the process of sifting through star types, distances, and FSD calculations. An orange line reached out slowly across the distance, the endpoint flickering between stars until it all suddenly snapped into place and the small notification sound played.
"Alright, looks like we have a few Neutron jumps too. We've got 186 jumps to make before we make it to our destination."
Silence met him as the four of them just stared at the map. So he decided to pile it on a bit, consequences be damned.
"Should take us a few days but we'll make the whole 7,500 light years easy enough."
He exited the galaxy map and the chairs faced back towards the front.
"Well, if that's all, can you let your people know we're ready to go? Just as a courtesy."
As Uolon keyed his Omni-tool, Benezia just looked over to him with a neutral look on her face,
"Your people haven't figured out artificial gravity or even know of element zero or mass effect fields but you can cross these distances so casually."
Marcus heard Uolon finish letting the Asari cruiser know they were leaving and started moving away, the acceleration pushing them all into their seats gently as he slowly increased the speed as he turned, the broken circle reticle for the first destination star system coming into view.
"I'm going to guess it's just a matter of different technology bases. Sure, we can do this but we had to spend centuries on genetic engineering to get rid of our species physiological issues with being in zero-g."
He felt light again as he hit the top speed for the ship in the current frame of reference and hit the button for the high-wake FSD.
"Frame Shift Drive Activated" {Frame Shift Drive Activated}
The four of them sat back further into their chairs as the progress bar loaded and the thrum of the FSD built.
Benezia for the first time seemed concerned as he parroted the ship's English notification into Thessian.
"I hadn't expected to experience a new method of faster than light travel-"
"You'll love it, you never forget your first jump. Supercruise? It's fun but this..."
The FSD was charged and the ship shook with barely restrained power as the FSD began it's work puncturing a hole into hyperspace. The ring of distorted light around the target together with the sound thrumming and crackling through the ship seemed to punctuate what he was saying.
"Five" {Five}
He heard her whisper something about Athame under her breath and it was his turn to smirk.
"Four" {Four}
The shaking became more intense and he heard some rapid-fire Salarian croaking and squeaking.
"Three" {Three}
"Nothingtoworryabout!"
"Two" {Two}
"Trust me!" His smirk grew into a full-blown, nearly depraved grin as he did his best to really ham it up.
"One" {One}
"I'm a Pilot!"
The ship broke through into hyper-space accompanied by four screams and led by a human howling with laughter.
Ok, I know I said I wasn't sure about this chapter but everything after they got onto Lucy I felt good about. I've got a good segway into the next chapter and I know what I'm going to be doing with the next four chapters at least based on this. Anywho, hope it's keeping you entertained!