Author's Note: So like I said, these historical chapters are shorter and so I should be able to put them out a bit quicker than the main chapters. I'm already working on the second one, and laying out the first two main chapters after this section is done.

I don't own Mass Effect (or any of the organizations mentioned here).

November 3rd, 2014
New York, NY

"From NBC News World Headquarters in New York, this is NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams."

"Good evening. Our top story tonight: two weeks after comet Siding Spring impacted Mars, revealing the existence of alien ruins near Deseado Crater, Space-X has announced that the inventor of electro-gravitic technology displayed just a few short months ago has rescinded his request that it not be shared for military purposes."

Side image shows a flare of green over the red surface of Mars some distance from the cometary impact site.

"The stunning announcement, just months after the still anonymous inventor announced that he would oppose the use of the technology for such purposes comes after weeks of political and economic upheaval. The stock market saw a slight uptick for the first time in the past two weeks following the announcement by Elon Musk in Hawthorne, California."

The view shifts to video footage of the announcement.

"I conversed with electro-grravitic's inventor immediately following the impact event, and given the overwhelming similarities with a certain science-fiction franchise which you all know about by now, he and I agreed that some sort of action should be taken. As such, for the past two weeks we have worked closely with the Department of Defense to devise some sort of plan for the beginning stages of defending our planet."

"One of the conditions that both of us are in agreement on is that any effort to colonize space must be multi-national. As such we have called for, and the administration has agreed to, a conference by the G-20 nations to form the basis for creating a multi-national organization to govern any colonies formed. This conference will be occurring early next year."

The view shifts back to Bryan Williams at his desk.

"We've been able to confirm that DARPA and Space-X have begun preliminary designs of humankind's first space-capable military vessels, but little else at this time. We will keep you informed if we learn anything."

"However, this isn't the only news to come out of the space community today. Space-X, Virgin Galactic, and NASA have agreed to a joint mission to Mars aboard the first hyperspace capable vessel, Prometheus."

Image shifts to a scene from Space-X factory floor where parts of the vessel are being assembled.

"The mission to the Martian Ruins will occur in 2016, with the express purpose of recovering materials for study back here on Earth. In the meantime, the first Hydra space-probe will be sent to Pluto to examine Charon to determine whether there is in fact an alien device buried under the ice. As the Hydra is not hyperspace capable, it will take two weeks for the probe to reach Charon from Mars orbit where it is currently."

"Right now however, things are still chaotic here on Earth. The Dow Jones climbed twenty points today, but after a two-thousand point fall over the past two weeks, that is a small comfort. In many ways, the boost to investor confidence comes from someone finally taking lead in forging a path for the days ahead."

"Washington and other capitals across the globe are still scrambling to come to grips with the reveal that not only are we not alone, but we may be battling for our survival as a species in the next century. For more on that, we turn to our senior political-correspondent Chuck Todd."

"Chuck, what was the attitude today in DC?"

The camera shifts to Chuck Todd in front of the White House.

"Well Bryan, it was a mixed bag here. While the White House has endorsed the plan put forward by the assorted private industries supported by "Ironman" as we've taken to calling him, on Capitol Hill things are different."

"Senator Cruz has of course loudly decried the announcement given his feud with the anonymous inventor, saying that it would unnecessarily restrict the United States' power and open the door to foreign meddling in America. Many in the Tea Party have followed his lead on the matter, however the Republican party as a whole has shown a more divided reaction with some admonishing their colleagues for their shortsightedness on the matter."

"Democrats are less divided, but appear to be falling in line with the President on this one. Though with the election being held tomorrow, most are staying quiet. It's almost impossible to tell how this will all play out at the ballot-box tomorrow however as things are still up in the air."

"And Chuck, what about other leaders around the globe. What are we hearing from them?"

"Well Bryan, most of the Western Powers have arrayed themselves behind the US on this matter. Some, such as Angela Merkel have called for Russia to be left out of this conference due to the continuing Ukrainian war. President Putin did not issue a statement, but senior aides let slip that he would be willing to talk about the matter. The Chinese government hasn't issued a statement yet, the initial press conference was late at night for them, but there have been no indications that they will reject it out of hand at this time."

"Thanks Chuck. When we come back, another threat to mankind, this one of our own making: climate change, and a new study on why there has been a hiatus in rising temperatures over the past decade."

Author's Note: NBC, I love ya. You're an actual news agency unlike your brother MSNBC. Please don't sue me. (Really, there aren't any good news channels around, but the big 3 are decent enough. I chose NBC because I prefer Brian Williams. And Chuck Todd is decent enough, he's no Tim Russert but that's a big whiteboard to fill.)

Yes, this chapter is pretty American focused, but the general situation is the same across the world: Oh crap, oh crap, what are we going to do. And I don't quite like this chapter. I feel there could be some other things put in, but that might make it more cluttered than I want

Basically this chapter sets up how the Alliance got started, and where the cracks between "loyalist" and "confederate" factions began. Having an actual supervillian like Putin actually exist really helps things out (Seriously, this Ukrainian situation is screwy beyond belief. No idea how it will play out given European and American disinterest in getting in a shooting war right now, it really is in Putin's court. He's smart, no doubt about that, but this is already blowing up in his face so it's hard to see a way out for everyone involved).

Couple of things: Mojita. The colonization isn't being run by every single human being. That's just dumb. It's a committee setup that plans out the location and resources directed to Alliance sponsored colonies. They screwed up, but there are reasons behind it that will be revealed. It's less incompetence and more the speed with which the Alteran expedition occurred.

Gambling: the thought hadn't occurred to me, but that is a pretty funny scenario. "Today class we'll be covering Kai Leng. And Kai, don't get any funny ideas." It's not covered systematically like that, but there are a lot of inside jokes humans have.

Indecisive: Humanity basically pulled the VI from the Thessian beacon (Vendetta? I think it was Vendetta) and had it talk for a little bit. Plus there is some physical and conjectural evidence. It helps that the story helps explain why humanity knows certain things and reacts a bit oddly in certain situations. As for Shepard... we'll see. And humanity is only working off the generalities. Reapers are coming, but we've already messed things up so beyond that, be prepared.

Archon: The Crucible is plan B. Having a ginormous fleet is plan A. The asari and salarians focused in on it because it's a relatively (minus the destroying the relays and Citadel) precise method, that won't cost a lot. Building a fleet and focusing your species on a different track than they would like makes it a very tempting option. Humanity and the turians however are thinking longer term and seeing an opportunity.

And there are contingency plans in place. The colony ships fleeing the galaxy are part of that, but there are other options. They're just in the background for now, as they aren't germane to the preparations being laid down now.

So once more, any suggestions for historical events are welcome. 1-3, might not be used, yatta yatta.