Alright…First things first, excuses why I didn't update this story: Firstly, it was out of pure laziness and 360, and before I knew it school started again and now I find myself in college diploma of engineering as an alternate pathway into Uni engineering, if my score is high enough, and hopefully if I get enough marks, I would find myself in science/Engineering double degree next year, hence a lot of work, even if school just began. So that is my excuse of why I didn't update.
Also secondly, I must forewarn that I have no clue of when the next update is going to be as this is just going to get more and more hectic as I need to finish homework and study to get a score of 78 precent or higher on my diploma to achieve my goal.
-o(~~~!READ THIS!IMPORTANT!~~~)o-
To some of the readers that wanted the NC to not immediately/ever associate with quarians on any type of good terms, I kind of wrote this part before certain reviews came my attention...I will change it that they won't be best friends, but they won't be despised or hated. Kind of like mutual respect when you meet a stranger on the streets, despite seemingly good terms now.)
Finally, answer certain reviews in no particular order:
ObsidianUnknown66+many others with similar views:
The status of reclaimer to my belief is not of their 'history' and what they have done in the past, but keyed into their DNA. So in all technicalities all humans, even medieval humanity from our world could activate and unlock forerunner tech if they found any and if it actually existed. I will not change this as it will be a waste of resources for the forerunners and allies to go around changing the DNA keys and programming on their stuff since it is no longer connected to the 'Domain'. Might as well just go and retrieve it for the UNSC and be done with it…
But who said the citadel would find any? Remember how the Reapers placed Mass Relays away from any 'obvious' forerunner installation they couldn't capture or destroy? Also remember how the portal to the Ark remained unknown to the UNSC underneath Africa near Voi till H3?
Guest that reviewed 2/10/13 on chapter 1:
High Charity was covenant built, or more specifically San Shyuum built by ripping of a huge chunk of their home world's crust. It was powered by a forerunner Key ship that was 11 km 'high' or so. Forerunner didn't have dreadnaughts thousands of km long. I did my research…The biggest ship they had at the time of the flood war was a hundred km long, and that is their fortress classes, despite the ability to build planets sized installation and solar systems.
Guest that reviewed 3/18/13 on chapter 4:
Firstly. No offense, but can you place future reviews with some paragraphs, that was a bit hard to read. But onto your review. Initially, yes, I was going to integrate the quarians into the NC under the reason they wanted an advantage over the citadel and learn more about Mass Effect, but after thinking it over with some more discussing the idea, it changed significantly. Quarians relations with the rest of the galaxy would 'relatively good', while their status with the citadel will be the same
Issue that readers have with tech.
Yes, you might not see it on ships -(!) YET (!)-, but NC does have infantry hardlight equipment, they may also have hardlight weapons for vehicles. Yes, I MIGHT go back and up the 'speed' for NC slip space drives if enough people wants it to change and give an actual good reason for it to be.
Now with that done, let the story begin!
"I still find it hard to believe what they did to and some of your best during the human-flood wars…I still can't believe I agreed to such a process…"
"Is it, Delta? They only did the process to twenty of us Dark Templars, and that was after very thorough assessment, but still half of us…failed…and we had many other faults as well, like our unending hunger and almost insatiable urge to consume all…Despite all the faults and problems being fixed now…Be glad that you never had to feel such a thing, nor did you experience the pain of going through the augmentation when it was…incomplete…"
"Incomplete?"
"Yes…Twenty of my brothers and sister went through the same process along with me…when at best as an experimental procedure with much inefficiency and…'bugs'…It was desperate times…We were the desperate measures…"
"What do you think will happen if the people find out though…Would they shun us? Would the rest of HIGHCOM order our assassinations?"
"Personally I couldn't care less if everyone in the universe hates me…I do what is necessary to complete my objective and defend my people…Would they shun us? Perhaps…wouldn't be surprised if they did…Would the brass order us dead? No…definitely not…We are too valuable to them…They might fake our deaths but that's about it…Besides…Some of them might be cold and callous, but they are not evil and corrupt…But I wish to ask you, knowing that I us for what we are now, do you look at us and see not just mine, but your brothers and sisters in arms who have agreed, as abominations needed to be purged? Do you see yourself as one of them, despite having similar…abilities now?"
"…No…"
"Good…Now stop being emotional about it and become the soldier I have fought and came to respect ten thousand years ago during the human-forerunner war…Now time to begin our lesson…"
-Recorded conversation between High Supreme Commanders Crepusculum and First Light of a New Dawn an hour after conclusion of PROJECT:DENIQUE EVOLUTION.
Chapter 3: Homecoming of the gods.
Year: 2164 CE/3000 AD
Citadel: Council chambers.
After the discovery of not just another race behind the mass relay but two separate civilization, both of which from the reports that the citadel council read when the flotilla under the command of captain Vandus returned to the citadel. They were especially shock to read the part that it was the quarians that opened the mass relays in the first place to escape pursuing pirates and that there were another two groups of humans that were separate to the System Alliance and had ships bigger than the Asari's three and a half km long dreadnaught, Destiny Ascension, and possibly more powerful too, in turn implies to them that they might no longer be the most powerful and advanced super power in the galaxy.
This assumption was further strengthened as they continued reading and they became more distressed when they read the part where a race called the 'forerunners' and their allies, which were a second group of human not part of the System Alliance and this Neo-covenant, and the 'first' human civilization to achieve space flight and an alien race they had never heard of going by the name of the San Shyuums, were all capable of building planet sized structures and creating entire solar systems, as evidence the attached images showing hundreds of ships of different designs and size floating around like ants in comparison to the giant ring world with the surface matching that of a garden world, signifying that it was fully habitable, due to scaling of the image and size of the ring, the councillors could not tell the sizes of the ships the two civilization used.
As the council finished reading they could only silently stare at the codex with evident shock on their faces. A moment later the Asari councillor broke the silence, "Well…this is…Unexpected…"
The turian councillor snorted lightly, "That's the understatement of the century, Tevos…"
The Salarian councillor then added his two cents in, "Agreed, but what do we do about the quarians for breaking our laws and these two unknown civilizations now?"
"I suggest we send a larger fleet through to secure the other side of the relay to make sure these new civilizations don't attack us, as well as keep an eye on the System Alliance to make sure they don't try anything…"
Tevos just sighed, "Sparatus, we should be sending envoys and diplomats across to them, not provoke them into starting a war or showing off our military might! Though I do agree that the System Alliance needs to be watched for the time being…Perhaps a group of STG operatives or a few spectres, Valern what do you think?"
The Salarian councillor identified as Valern was silent for a few seconds as he thought to himself, "I will dispatch a few groups of STGs to keep an eye on System Alliance as well as the quarians to make sure they don't try anything. And about the two civilizations, I agree we should be sending diplomats into negotiating peace with them and perhaps invite them into joining the citadel; after all there is a lot we can learn from their technology. I also agree that the other side of the relay has to be secured…But I do not believe sending in an entire fleet is a good idea as it can be misinterpreted as an act of hostility…I propose that we send another small fleet over, perhaps thirty ships or so to reinforce the current ships stationed there, backed up with STGs to keep an eye on the new civilizations, while the majority of the fleet remains behind the relay in case they do prove hostile."
The other two councillors nodded as they saw the logic behind the decision and Spartacus answered, "Then it's agreed…But what of the quarians, we cannot let this deed go unpunished! I propose that we fine them as well as have the ones who broke the law stand trial."
Valern quickly agreed, "Such actions cannot be ignored as the quarians reckless decision could have endangered us all if the civilization on the other side of the relay were like the Rachnis or Krogans. I second the motion."
Tevos nodded in agreement, "Very well, but what I suggest we send a small flotilla to speak with the quarians while a fleet stay a light-year or so away, ready to jump if they turn hostile. After all, we don't want to provoke them into attacking us the moment we arrive."
The other two nodded at that and Valern responded, "Off course, foolish to send a fleet straight in like that. Many things could go wrong and unnecessary lives could be lost. But what about these forerunners and their allies with the abilities to build entire worlds and systems along with humans as inheritors of everything they have supposedly left behind?"
Spartacus snorted at that, "Do you actually believe their claim to be able to build entire worlds? A civilization like that would have been encountered by us long before the citadel was even discovered. Besides, what proof do they have that they built the ring? It could have been built by the protheans and they simply inhabited it once they found it and the story could be to make themselves more powerful than what they truly are. And human presence in multiple locations of the galaxy could easily be explained that the protheans decided to move the humans to different worlds."
Tevos shook her head in disagreement, "Spartacus, you have read the report that Vandus wrote as well as the files containing their history."
"It could have been easily fabricated; I mean the files that they sent were so vague and general, there wasn't even any dates attached to it."
Valern nodded in agreement, "That is true, but it would be foolish to assume that it's false as if it's true without any solid proof. Beside this is first contact, we ourselves wouldn't give everything away to another race or civilization that we have just met. I mean it took us three years after we met the System Alliance before we even gave them the cyclonic barriers and thanix cannons and even than they weren't the most advanced models."
Spartacus just stared at the Salarian councillor in shock as he said that, "That may be true about first contact, but the amount of resources it took for the System Alliance to build Arcturus Station was enormous in the report they gave to us said. But to build a planet, let alone a solar system? The resources required for that would leave the every citadel race bankrupted for decades, if not centuries to come! Besides, Vandus reports also state that they don't use element zero, how advanced can their civilizations be?"
The other two secretly agreed with the last statement the turian councillor made but they kept that to themselves and Tevos spoke to the whole group, "If that is all, I suggest we continue tomorrow with a fresh mind as it's getting late."
The other two councillors nodded and the three went their separate ways.
Installation 08: Assault Carrier Divine Intervention.
Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr.
Voro stood and watched the holograms as the surviving Neo-covenant ships were being repaired by a gigantic refit and repair vessel that had jumped in as soon as that 'citadel' government left. He still remembered the surprise and awe he felt, saw and heard from his crew and himself as the three hundred kilometre ship jumped into the system. Many of the sangheilis made comparison about that ship and High Charity as it was one of two space stations that existed/exists that exceeds the ship.
Everyone on the bridge thought it was a warship or diplomatic ship of some sort until the forerunner admiral informed them that it was merely a Repair and Refit ship which doubled as a field hospital. This shocked everyone there including himself and the forerunner just chuckled stating that 'We have built the Halos and the Ark, the humans and San Shyuum can build entire solar systems from almost nothing. A ship like this is nothing compared to such achievements.'
The Fleetmaster could still see the logic behind that statement but still couldn't help but feel at awe in the presence of such a ship. Then the human admiral asked why their warships were so small in comparison to what they had seen and read. The forerunner than responded by telling them the ship he was currently on was classified merely as a medium-heavy cruiser and the actual flagship and his own ship for the this fleet was four hundred kilometre long heavy fortress class warship and the size of the fleet with any ships over fifty km long, which was at least half of the fleet was left behind as they didn't want to 'scare' anyone.
That was almost fifteen hours ago and in that time, the rest of the forerunner fleet jumped in revealing the 400km long flagship that was mentioned, along with many other ships dwarfing even the mentioned size of the new Super-Carrier joint project, only few constructions could even compare to that ship, and they were the human space elevators, High Charity and Unity.
The com pinged a few time showing a signal had originated from the four hundred Km long ship. Immediately the COM officer opened the channel and the forerunner Admiral appeared along with the commanding officers of the two other fleets.
"Have you decided on who is going to come with us to Harvest?"
The human Admiral nodded, "Command of Harvest has just been notified of your pending arrival, and The Divine Intervention and the remainder of her fleet will be accompanying you to Harvest. Fleetmaster I trust your men along with the Quarian are on board?"
"All of my men along with the Quarians are on board and ready to leave whenever the forerunners are ready."
"Very well I will send you the coordinates for your ships to dock with ours."
The sangheili just had a confused look on his face and the Flames of Hope answered before Voro could ask, "I know we did not discuss this as I thought it would be obvious that your slip space drives are still inferior to ours. So if you decide to jump at the same time as our ships jump, you will be left behind, also our ships engine easily outpaces yours, and if you decide to ride on the stream we generate it will take us more time to reach our destination. So to counteract that, we decided it would be easier to just have your ships board with ours as we jump instead of retrofitting all your ships with our drives or engines."
As soon as everyone got the new orders, a waypoint appeared on the Navigation Coms of the twenty ships that were 'escorting' the forerunner group to either the hangers of the four hundred kilometre long 'heavy' fortress or one the hundred kilometre 'light' fortress class ships. Immediately all the ships began to head to the respective hangers with everyone anxious and nervous about boarding such ships.
As soon as the twenty ships was docked, the five forerunner ships entered slip space heading for Harvest, the capital of the Neo-covenant, chosen because of her history.
Assault Carrier: Divine Intervention
Lia'Nara Vas Rayya.
Lia and her crew was on board the flagship of the fleet the first saw come to the ring before being attacked by the purple ships which they soon found out were 'loyalist' ships. The reason she and her crew were on board this ship heading to a neo-covenant controlled world was purely a last minute decision by the human admiral part to begin negotiations with her race, with her being a temporary diplomat. At first she was reluctant and nervous, but was soon persuaded by logic, namely that if they had wanted to do her and her race harm, they would have done it there and then, instead of just wasting time bringing them to one of their worlds.
Right now the crew that were injured were put into the medical ward, while the others that could walk were being given a general tour of the beautiful yet deadly ship in small groups to make things easier for the 'guides'. Afterwards all of them felt a small vibration run through the ship and shortly afterwards an announcement was made throughout the ship.
"Attention all personnel, our ship have successfully docked with the forerunner flagship. They have also given us permission us to board their ship, given that you don't steal or vandalize anything… Teleportation devices have just been installed in our hanger."
Lia eyes widened in shock as she process the information. The assault carrier she was on at the moment was roughly seven kilometre in length, than whatever ship they had just docked with must have been extremely large, after all she and her crew didn't see the other part of the forerunner fleet jump in being underground and teleported directly into the assault carrier at the time. So pulling the memory from her tour of the ship she immediately headed to the hanger along with all the other quarians in the mess hall. A while later everyone made it to the hanger to see a huge crowd waiting to use the teleporter which led into the ship, but it will be a while as the giant hanger that could fit three turian cruisers and still have room for a squadron of fighters was filled the brim with excited Humans, Sangheili, Kig-Yars, Unggoys and even Mgalekgolos and none of them could exactly get through the crowd. Slowly as the crowd thinned out as they went through the portal entering the forerunner ship and thirty minutes later she was the last one on the hanger and she anxiously steps through.
A moment later she appeared on the other side dizzy and weak kneed, but once she regained her bearing her eyes went wide and jaws dropped open almost immediately as she noticed the size of the hanger she was on as the crowd around her had similar reactions as well. Turning around she managed to get a good look at the assault carrier not too far away, but compared to the size of this hanger, if it can be called that, the ship, along with six others easily fitted in the hanger, and even than it had more than enough room to store all the other vehicles and equipment that this civilizations utilized.
"Keelah…How big is this ship…if it can be called a ship…"
"Apparently 400 kilometres long."
"Are you serious?!" Lia spun around so fast that she nearly fell over as she heard it and she saw an ODST in full armour behind her.
"Yeah, I saw the ship itself from the ring and one of them told me when I asked him."
Lia nodded as part of her mind processed the information of how her race could benefit by having an alliance with such a civilization while another part pondered on the voice that she felt she heard somewhere before.
"Are you that human Captain Scott that led us to the armoury?"
At first the ODST showed no visible reaction being in full body armour and began to speak up slowly, "Are you…Lia? The leader of the stranded group?"
The quarian nodded in affirmative, "It's good to see you are still alive, Captain."
"Thanks, it's good to see you alive too…Though can't say the same about the other few tens of thousands that died on or above the ring…"
The quarian nodded her head solemnly in agreement, "What about the rest of your men, did they make it out alive?"
"Unfortunately a few were KIA and many were wounded…Out of the thirty I had, only six, including myself made it out unscathed…So what are you doing here? I thought you would have remained on the Intervention to make sure your people were alright."
The quarian shrugged, "I would have, but all of the wounded have pretty much been stabilised. So might as well see what these forerunner-human-San Shyuum ships are like…"
"And what do you think of this ship so far?"
"Very impressive…I mean this hanger here looks like it could fit an entire fleet of dreadnoughts in here all at once, where I come from this ship would dwarf everything we have. How about you? How does this ship compare to the ones you have?"
The ODST shrugged as they wandered aimlessly with a small group of NC troops down the hanger towards what seemed like a door, "We have seen bigger…But still hell bigger than nearly all ships we have…"
The quarian looked puzzled, "What do you mean you have seen bigger? And don't tell me you actually have ships bigger than four hundred km in length…"
"Well…You know the ring you landed on? We have found others rings just like it, albeit smaller, but still just as large as a planet. And during the Human-Covenant war just under five hundred years ago, the covenant had a ship 450 km or so in length called High Charity, it served as the capital of the covenant at the time and was destroyed towards the end of that war."
The quarian nodded as she took the information, slightly in shock at this behemoth of a ship named High Charity, and someone had the firepower to destroy such a ship and many more questions came into mind concerning the history of this Neo-covenant, "When did you join
this covenant anyway? And how long did that war last?"
Scott just sighed as his shoulders visibly slumped, before he recomposed himself, "The UNSC and by extension the UEG joined the Neo-covenant around a hundred and fifty years ago and only because it would benefit humanity to have allies in case something similar to that war was to ever occur again. And the war itself lasted around thirty years and that was a little under five hundred years ago, but even than not all the animosity is gone."
"What caused the war and was it like from your perspective?"
"This is beginning to sound more and more like an interview…Well, religion caused the war, if you could believe that…Humanity was considered an affront to their gods at the time, and many considered and still consider it humanities darkest hour…But with the discovery of ancient humans and this System Alliance…Well…It can't really be considered humanities darkest hour anymore now can it? At least not till we find out more about their history…But still I have confidence even if it isn't, it will be considered one of them that is easily in the top five war of my in general in which my species has ever fought in…Not that it should be something we should be proud off, but none the less it is something that my people doesn't like to talk about too much."
The quarian nods and decides to stop with the questions for now and both fell into comfortable silence as they made their way down a nearly empty hall of the ship.
3000AD 23rd August, 19:11:07; Epsilon Indi system
Neo-covenant Capital: Harvest:
Sensor station in orbit of Harvest.
Ensign Maxwell sighed dully for the thousandth time of the day as he sat in front of his post as he flipped a coin that was used during 21st century up and down. A moment later alarms blared loudly as he was about to fling the coin upwards. Recomposing himself and pocketing his coin he immediately went to work and found 5 VERY large objects heading their way in slip space. Immediately he opened a COM to every military and civilian ship and orbital installation in the system, "Slip-space ruptures have been detected! Five unknown ships at the very least of a hundred km long each has been detected entering the system and heading towards Harvest!"
The fleet of nine hundred fifty ships, with Ten being either 'CSE' or 'firestorm' class super-carriers, stationed at the planet began to move to protect the planet and the thirty Mk VI super MACs in a defensive position as civilian crafts swarmed behind the protective line, while a few carriers moved into orbit, ready to evacuate civilians and ground forces if needed and military garrisons were being set on alert.
Not even ten seconds passed as five ships began to exit, Maxwell mouth slowly fell open as four of the ships were easily a hundred km in length each, while the obvious flagship of the group was easily four times larger and dwarfing everything in the system…even he doubted the Super MACs could hold them at bay for long if they were to engage an actual fleet consisting of hundreds of ships like that. Before anyone could do anything, the Fleet Admiral voice sounded over the COMs. "All units stand down. They have been expected…"
What puzzled him was the twenty ships which resembled the designs of the neo-covenant and UNSC were dropped out from the larger ships. He was snapped out of his thoughts as he noticed a request for communication from the leading 400km ship…
Destination: Harvest; Five hours in Slip Space.
Assault Carrier:
Divine Intervention
Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr.
It had been just over five hours in slip space and just over fifteen minute before everyone returned to their respective ships, many still avidly discussing about the 400km long ship they had just been allowed to explore, and just less than twenty seconds ago when the ships exited slip space, his ship was deployed. From his bridge he could see the defence fleet formed up in front of Harvest forming a barrier between the forerunner ships and the planet while still holding fire.
Suddenly a few holograms from what he recognized as officials of various races from Harvest, both military and civilians, appeared in front of him.
"Fleetmaster, we have been expecting you…I trust there have been no complications when you initially met them?"
"Not at all Admiral…They have even assisted us in dealing with the loyalist fleet when it was almost certain that we would have lost."
The Admiral nodded having received a short report of what transpired in the system prior to their arrival, "Indeed, anyway, we are not ready to begin the negotiation yet due to the short notice of things, and it would be at least another hour or two to get everything prepared…"
"Rear Admiral Flames of Hope. Our own diplomats won't be in the system for at least half a day, so you will have time to prepare."
One of the officials on the civilian side of the government nodded, "Until your diplomats arrive, we would like to extend an invitation to you and your people for a stay at the capital of Harvest, Utgard."
"We graciously accept the offer."
With that, the forerunner admiral disconnected the COMs along with some of Harvest's officials while the Harvest fleet parted way to allow the newcomers to past, though they still have their weapons trained on them in case they proved to be hostile, and the forerunner battle group moved into high orbit of the planet before deploying a few drop ships towards the landing pads of Utgard.
Voro than turned to the officials who were still connected to the channel, "There is still some matter that I wish to discuss before I leave."
The Fleet Admiral nodded, "During our trip, we not only encountered the ancients, but another government similar to ours that goes by the name of the 'citadel'."
"Do they pose a threat to us?"
"Currently no. Even if we were to go to war, our ships would greatly outmatch theirs, or at least those that were present. We do not know their true strengths, but we do know that they rely on something called 'Element Zero' for FTL travel, weapons operation and just about everything to do with their space flight at least…"
"I see…Is there anything else we should know about before I send a report to the high council and JOCOM (Joint Command)?"
"Two more things. There was a group of aliens that crash-landed on the installation we discovered that went by the names of the quarians. When the brutes attacked, they assisted our forces in holding them off while suffering many casualties. Currently the quarians are on board my ship as we speak, and no they are not part of the citadel, and even holds a grudge against them…They could be helpful allies in the long term against this 'citadel' in my opinion, despite their paranoia against our AIs."
"And the second thing?"
"There was a splinter group of humans that were not allies with the forerunners or part of the UNSC, but as part of the this citadel alliance. They go by the name of the System Alliance and their ships are similar if not slightly inferior to the other races of the citadel. If they do prove hostile, we can easily destroy the System Alliance before annexing them into the Neo-covenant."
If the Fleet Admiral was surprised he didn't show it, while others clearly showed theirs, "Do you know their origins?"
"We do know that the forerunners didn't separate humanity and placed them on different planets, so that means they must have originated from the UNSC and so far there have been two theories formed. First one is that, they are insurrectionist descendants, or secondly, they are lost colonist from the early years of the UNSC when the UNSC still has little understanding of the slip space itself…I believe it will be easier to send you the records on the events that took place than actually explain it."
The fleet Admiral nodded as he received the report and skimmed over it, "Thank you Fleetmaster, this will make my life that much easier when I send the report…"
"Off course, if you don't mind, most of my warriors wish to rest on Harvest before returning to duty…After all, they deserved it from what transpired less than a day ago."
"Off course, just keep an eye on the quarians if they want to explore Utgard."
"Very well…" With that the COMs disconnected and the remainder of the 20th slowly moved towards the planet and some into its atmosphere before launching their own drop ships, while others docked with stations in orbit around Harvest.
99,975NE: Fourteen hours and fifty minute in slip space.
En-route: Epsilon Indi system Neo-covenant Capital; Harvest.
Sigma POV.
In the diplomatic ship escorted by two first model fortress class ships and 6 heavy cruisers, Sigma stood alone in the empty hallway of the fifteen kilometre long diplomatic ship staring into the void of slip-space. His wife had been sent ahead with the advanced 'recon' fleet to establish peaceful contact with the Neo-covenant before the diplomats came, while he himself was tasked with the protection of said diplomats and was given temporary command of all military units currently with them until they met up with the ships that was sent ahead, which than command would be given to Admiral Flames of Hope.
"Sigma, we have nine minutes till we arrive at system C2L1EZ8, dubbed 'Epsilon Indi' by the UNSC."
"Thank you, Spes."
With that Sigma began walking down towards the Hanger where he would be escorting the diplomats to the surface. But despite his calm and slightly cold demeanour, honed and perfected from having one hundred and ten thousand years of life with a total of more than a tenth of that preparing to or actually fighting one thing or another, but in his mind he was both anxious and nervous about the situation at hand. Send him into a flood infected planet with his armour and a weapon and tell him to kill every flood on the planet. He would burn the parasite off the planet without batting an eyelid. Send him into a meeting room filled with diplomats and politicians asking questions with double meanings while finding ways to turn your words against you and demanding this and that…Well he would rather be just about anywhere…But that was just part of it, the rest was due to the fact that he was going to see how his race's descendants had turn out after he and many others had gave just about everything for their survival, while even more was forced into a fate worse than death itself before finally being allowed to rest…
Sigma noticed he had reached the hanger as he saw many people milling around as drones floated overhead. He saw the diplomatic team enter the drop ship along with the rest of the security detail and he sighed lightly before banishing his train of thought from his mind before boarding the dropship himself.
"Exiting Slip space in ten seconds."
"Thank you, Spes."
3000AD 23rd August, 19:11:07; Epsilon Indi system
Neo-covenant Capital: Harvest.
"Slip-space ruptures detected! IFF matches that of the forerunners!"
A few seconds after the sensors on one of the ODPs slip space officer said that, nine ships exited in simultaneously and in perfect formation, the two largest being fifty kilometres long each at the head, the other six were just over twenty km long behind them, and all of them surrounded a fifteen kilometre ship in the middle.
"Sir we are being hailed by the ship in the middle of that formation!"
"Patch it through."
With a nod and figure in full body armour appeared on screen, "Greetings, I am the Captain of the Diplomatic ship, Tranquil Conciliations. Requesting permission to dock and begin negotiations with your officials."
"Permission granted Tranquil Conciliations. You may send your diplomats and escorts to Utgard station."
"Confirmed, sending drop ship to coordinates. Tranquil Conciliations out."
The fifteen kilometres long ship dropped a shuttle escorted by two fighters and headed towards the two and a half kilometres long station that also functioned as an ODP.
As the shuttle entered the station, the two fighters broke off flew off back towards the conciliations and as the door of the shuttle opened, everyone from the neo-covenant was watched in awe as eight figures with heavy armour and heavy weapons with a height of four metres exited, closely followed by another figure three and a half metres tall in slightly lighter armour and weapons, but unlike the initial eight, this one held an air of unnatural calmness, giving nothing away, but also held an air of authority and respect usually seen with high ranking officers and veterans. The ninth person looked around the station, analysing everyone and everything before nodding to himself once he was satisfied with the results. A moment later, three significantly smaller figures exited, each one also encased in armour, albeit significantly lighter and was unarmed. The lead humanoid figure than walked over to the four figures of the neo-covenant which they assumed were their own diplomats as they were better dressed than everyone else. Once the three reached the diplomat team, it showed that the lead figure was almost as tall as the sangheili ambassador himself.
"Greetings, I assume you are the representatives for each of your respective races in the Neo-covenant?"
A human wearing a black suit responded "That we are, I am Niel Samson, and my companions are Bero Taham."
The sangheili in ceremonial armour nodded, "The other is Yar Cham."
The Kig-Yar in an exotic robe with her feathers fancily done up nodded, "And finally we have Wiwip Lisu."
The Unggoy in a formal dark colour vest with a tank of methane and rebreather over his face nodded.
"Since you know who we are, may we know who we are talking to?"
The three introduced themselves, with the lead one identifying herself as human, while the other two identified as forerunner and San Shyuum respectively.
After the introductions were finished, the group followed by a small escort from both parties headed deeper into the station and into a conference room set up prior and contained the holograms of the governing body of each race along with that of the neo-covenant. Shortly after their introduction, the negotiations began with both parties trying not to offend or anger the other one.
3000AD 24th August, 03:25:07; Epsilon Indi system
Neo-covenant Capital: Harvest.
Hanger of Utgard station.
Eight hours later the meeting came to a conclusion with both sides relatively happy with the agreement that was made.
"I take it that you are now going to meet with the citadel council next?"
The Arbiter, Thel Vadam answered the question, "No we are not. We plan to meet with the quarians first in hopes of learning a bit more about the citadel before we meet with them."
"Very well, Arbiter. We will remain here until you are ready to meet the citadel."
The Arbiter just nodded, "It will be an honour to have you stay with us on the capital of the neo-covenant."
"The honour will be ours. If that is all, I bid you all a good and safe day."
The holograms disappeared simultaneously and the diplomats left the room heading for their shuttle.
3000AD 27th August, 03:31:00; Heading towards Quarian fleet in unknown system.
Assault Carrier Divine Intervention; Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr.
Shortly after the meeting with the ancients, Fleetmaster Wattinr found himself leading a fleet of forty ships from the both his remaining fleet and parts of Harvest joint defence fleet to meet with the quarians.
"Fleetmaster, fifteen minutes away from the location of where quarian fleet is supposedly located at."
Also in that that time in orbit of Harvest, the remaining ships of his old fleet had been refitted with AIs units, "Very well, Fate. Tell the Quarian captain to come to the bridge, raise shields, prepare crew for possible hostile actions and prepare the envoys."
The AI identified as Fate nodded her head, as her human body was covered in a cloud of mist hiding her body from view. Meanwhile the Fleetmasters just reminisce at the meeting that took place with the quarian captain…
Flashback.
3000AD 26th August; 21:26:20; Utgard briefing rooms.
Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr
The Fleetmaster, along with a few of the senior officer stationed over Harvest was having a small meeting about the quarian race, fortunately, without the interference if politicians' and the media, as they all directed their attention to the forerunners, the 'ancient' San Shyuums and their ancestors.
So when the quarian captain along with a few others finally arrived, they were, fortunately not hounded by camera drones, reporters and other what not which would not make a good impression for the NC.
"I trust you have no problems getting here, Captain." Said the Fleetmaster, as they have agreed that he will do most of the talking.
"I'm quite surprised that we were not hounded by the media, which is what happens to all new races that arrive on the citadel."
"Indeed, and you would have been if it hadn't been for the arrival of the Concordia Imperium…"
"Sorry?"
"The forerunners and their allies that is what they call themselves."
The quarian nodded nervously, "Right…But why have you called me here?"
"Simply put it, how are you going to get home?"
The quarian just stared at the Fleetmaster with a confused expression behind her helmet before smartly answering, "Huh?"
"Indeed…You do not have a ship with you firstly, and even if you do, there are no-" quickly glancing at the screen before him continued, "-'mass relays' for you to use. We are also not willing to part with any of our technology at the moment due to the fact your race is largely unknown to us and finally, I doubt you would want to live out the rest of your days here."
The quarian shifted uncomfortably as realization struck her and the Fleetmaster just sighed answering one of the un-asked options, being honest with the quarian "And before you ask, no, you will not be able to communicate with them without us knowing their general location, and from there it will only be a matter of time before we find them."
"Why are you telling me this?"
The Fleetmaster shrugged lightly, "There is no reason for us to deceive you. For you are not deemed an enemy of the Neo-covenant, and though not exactly an ally either, you and your people are on the good side of some of the more influential people within out government and High Command for your assistance against the Loyalists, even if it was only for your own survival."
The quarian sighed lightly before muttering something in her native tongue and sighing, "Let me talk it over with some of my officers, I will be back in a few hours."
"Very well, my fleet is ready whenever you are, captain."
FLASHBACK END.
Exactly fifteen minutes later forty ships exited above the quarian fleet, immediately the Fleetmaster ordered a scan of the system and a second later he discovered two separate parties in the area as well another fleet of ships approximately a few light years away.
"Open COMs to all channels."
The sangheili operator made a slight motion with his hand a second later indicating that it was on, "This is Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr of the Assault Carrier Divine Intervention of the Neo-covenant. The quarians are now under our temporary protection, any and all hostile actions against them, whether physical or verbal, will be dealt with accordingly."
2164 CE; Migrant fleet/Citadel negotiation team: Inside Quarian's Liveship Rayya;
Negotiation room.
As the meeting between the citadel diplomats and the conclave and the Admiralty board of the quarians, they were soon interrupted as a panic voice interrupted them. "Sensors showing forty unknown ships appeared out of nowhere! Keelah…That one is at least a quarter the size of the citadel itself…"
Despite the welcome interruption on the quarian part as the 'negotiations' were not going in their favour, the last comment made set everyone on edge.
Han'Gerrel vas Neema took the initiative as he was the first to regain his bearing, "Bridge! What is the situation?"
"They are holding position and have sent a fleet-wide message…Should I play it?"
"Play it…"
A moment later a low and calm voice came over the COMs to everyone present, including the citadel diplomats, "This is Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr of the Assault Carrier: Divine Intervention, of the Neo-covenant. The quarians are now under our temporary protection, any and all hostile actions against them, whether physical or verbal, will be dealt with accordingly."
Everyone was shocked as the message played, not so much that these aliens were going to help the quarians, but more so that they knew their language. Which in turn made them think how much more do they actually know?
"Maybe it's best right now that we return to our ships and see how things go from there."
The turian diplomat agreed with his Asari counterpart, "Very well. But do not think this is over yet quarians, I don't know who or what they are, but know that we will be back."
As the diplomats was escorted to the hanger but a small team of marines, and despite the fact that all of them had their disagreements and a few had a severe dislike for one another, they had to all agree that it was good to see the citadel diplomats leave their ship.
"Now what?"
"I say we open communications to them."
"This could be a Geth trick for all we know!"
"If the Geths had a ship that was a quarter the size of the citadel I do think we would have all been dead already."
Than an argument, which in turn quickly degraded into a shouting match, between nearly all the officials in the room about whether or not to respond or just attempt to destroy them.
The only quarian who was not in the argument and patiently waiting for order to resume was Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib. But everyone patience has limits, and his was burnt up when six minutes later, when the shouting match only proved to intensify. Slowly inhaling, he than yelled at the top of his lungs in an authoritative voice, "ORDER!"
The effect was immediate as everyone quieted down and turned their attention to the admiral, while those who knew him the admiral to some degree was slightly surprised to what he just did, but none the less quieted down, "I have heard both sides of the argument…I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of the ship heard it to some degree as well…"
Some ignored the jib, while others had the decency to look sheepish, "I suggest we find out more about this Neo-covenant before we jump to any conclusions, especially when their intentions towards us are seemingly peaceful for the time being. Besides, we can't afford to lose any ships if unnecessary and they could be powerful allies to have."
Everyone agreed with the admiral's statement, so all the admirals headed towards the bridge to make contact with the newcomers.
As soon as they entered the bridge, they found the captain of the Rayya talking to the hologram of an alien and surprisingly a quarian as well.
"Greeting admirals, I am Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr and I have been sent by the leaders of the neo-covenant to make peace and open negotiations with you and your race."
The admirals nodded, "And why have you decided to make peace with us? I mean you know nothing of us and we know nothing of you."
"Simple, your captain and her warriors assisted us in defending a location from enemies. Even if we hadn't have met than, we would of eventually found you and would have still taken a similar course of action."
"I see…Captain, may you please identify yourself?"
"Lia'Nara Vas Orib, sir."
"The same one commanding the scout ship that reported to being pursued pirates?"
"Yes sir…I was the one that ordered opening of a dormant relay on the edge of Alliance space to escape the pirates and probably the reason why the citadel is here at the moment…"
Before the admiral could respond the Fleetmaster interrupted him, "Citadel officials have requested communication and I have allowed them to join for the time being."
A second later the same turian and Asari diplomats from earlier appeared on the quarian's screen and the Fleetmaster addressed them directly, "What is it do you want citadel?"
The officials were shocked, "How do you know about us?"
"I'm sure if you speak with your superiors you would know, but back to the reason why we are here. We request that you allow our diplomats to board one of your ships, or if you wish, you may board my ship to begin peace negotiations."
The citadel diplomats looked in shocked at the alien as the turian opened his mouth,
"WHAT! Did you know what sort of plague the quarians released upon this galaxy?!"
"Yes, the covenant knows about the Geth and their rebellion along with how the citadel abandoned them and left them for dead along with many other things about you and your respective races..."
"Impossible! How can you obtain said information if we have never even seen you before?! Our ships have the most advanced , firewalls and anti-hacking software in the known galaxy!"
"We have our ways..." said the Fleetmaster cryptically.
The turian growled lowly at the lack of information gained, "And after you know all that, than why do you still want to help them?"
"The collective races of the covenant have been through some very harsh and trying times and we have analysed all the information we have gathered on the quarians in great detail before making our decision. Despite the Geth turning on their creators, they had their reasons to do so."
Both Quarian admiralty and Citadel diplomats were shocked as the Fleetmaster said that,
"What do you mean the Geth had their 'reasons' to attack us? They were already planning to rebel as it's, we just took the initiative and attacked first!"
"And what evidence did you have that showed the Geth were planning to rebel?"
"They began to question their existence and why they served us and as a result they would have eventually rebelled against us!"
"That only showed that the Geth was beginning to or already has gain sentience and the question they asked could easily be related to the same ones that a child ask their parents or guardians."
"Even if that is true, the Geth is still a threat to the galaxy as a whole as synthetics have no need for us organics to function and wouldn't care if they were to wipe every single organic being off of this galaxy if failing to subdue us under their control!"
The Fleetmaster sighed tiredly; it would have been easier if JOCOM and the council hadn't added AIs to their long list of 'things not to mention before some sort of agreement was made', but none the less he persisted, "And what reason would they have to do that? Let me ask you a question. If I had arrived in this system with the intention of war and committing genocide against your fellow races, what would you have done? You obviously would have retaliated for the continual existence of your race so that you, the things you hold dear and your children could live to see a future, even if it meant sacrificing everything to do so. This is the same for any sentience being, including the Geth. I will admit that I do not know what your war against the Geth was like, but from my home, we know what being on the receiving end of genocide is like, and this is a reason why I am here in the first place. Like I have said before, we have read of the quarian plight, and despite the considering the start of the Quarian-Geth war as the result of the quarian fault as they have engaged the Geth in opened hostilities first with only rumours of rebellions at best. But we are not here to discuss who is at fault for the war. We are here to negotiate peace with the quarians and nothing more. Also know that you would hear from us in the near future, citadel."
"Very well, but know that you are making a huge mistake and that we, the citadel races, would not stand for you helping the quarians out of their punishment." Stated the turian with an air of finality as he knew he couldn't convince the alien otherwise.
The Fleetmaster wanted to retort, but controlled himself as he didn't wish to waste any more time than he already had, while the quarian admirals had similar thoughts as the citadel diplomats disconnected from the channels as their ships entered FTL.
"Now, since their gone, I will ask again, where would you like the negotiations to take place?"
The admirals glanced at each other from behind their helmets, "You may come aboard the Rayya as we already have a negotiation room set up from earlier."
"Very well, we will be arriving in ten minutes with the diplomats and their escorts along with the rest of the quarians with us. Is that acceptable?"
"That is acceptable Fleetmaster. Till then."
"Till than"
With that the connection cut from both ships.
Eight minutes later. Hanger of quarian Liveship 'Rayya'.
As the olive green coloured dropships of sangheili design entered the hanger followed by ten others of similar design. They floated above the hanger and a blue beam emitted from the underside of it and quarians glided down one by one, making the quarians in the hanger whisper to one another about the technology these aliens possessed and as the dropships finished unloading the quarians they headed back towards the assault carrier, while the last ship landed on the floor as the side hatches opened up and unloaded six humanoid clad in black armour and armed with what resembled assault rifles, closely followed by two figures in extremely fancy armour wielding what seemed like spears that appeared to be the same race as the Fleetmaster.
"Those in aliens in black armour resemble humans or Asaris…" whispered a quarian to another who stood near the admirals.
"Because they are human, if you can believe that…"
Everyone turned to Lia and Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh spoke to her, "Can you tell us more about them?"
Before Lia could answer the same diplomat that negotiated with the forerunners, along with the rest of the diplomats and escorts in tow interrupted them, "Greetings I am the representative for the UEG in the Neo-covenant, while those who are with me are representing their respective races." He stuck his hand out, and the admirals who were vaguely familiar with the customs and mannerisms of the humans from the System Alliance shook it as they introduced themselves.
"Now, Admirals, let get this show on the road shall we?" said the human diplomat with a smile.
Said quarian admirals just looked confused at the expression before the sangheili diplomat sighed, "He meant that we should begin the negotiations'."
The quarian admirals nodded, still slightly confused about the saying, but still headed to the negotiation rooms.
Six hours later in negotiation room of the Rayya.
The peace negotiations with the quarians were going well until they mentioned that the UEG, and by extension, the Neo-covenant as a whole had been using AIs for close to a millennia. There were obviously mixed responses, from outright hostility to curiosity of how they have stopped their AIs from turning against their makers. The Neo-covenant just responded by saying: 'That despite having internal counter measures already programmed into them, the neo-covenant recognize that all AIs are sentient and are given the rights that all sentient should have, not just reserved for 'organics'.'
The entire quarian leadership was shocked at this revelation, but couldn't argue back as they have nothing to argue against with them, except for the Geth that they already knew about.
By the end of the meeting, a peace treaty was achieved, the covenant gained significantly more information about the citadel and the quarians was offered an alliance with the covenant to which the quarians responded to which they need to discuss in further details among themselves.
"So we will be expecting an answer from the quarians in about a week or two time."
"That is correct ambassador."
"Alright than, I guess our job here is done, I bid you all a good day."
With that the diplomats of the covenant left the room and were led back to the hanger while the meeting room was in silence as everyone contemplating of what just happened.
3000AD 27th August, 09:52:25;
Assault Carrier: Divine Intervention.
Fleetmaster Voro Wattinr
Voro was happy as he read how well the meeting went, despite the slight hiccup with the AIs issue, but non-the less, it went better than most would expect and the covenant stands to gain another race that could provide them a huge insight and understanding into citadel technology that could be used against them if they ever turned hostile. Right now he had left a five of their larger ships with the quarian fleet to provide a deterrent to the citadel if they tried anything, while the rest of the fleet headed back to Harvest to prepare to meet with the citadel.
2164 CE; Migrant fleet, one day after the meeting with the covenant.
Captain Lia'Nara Vas Orib.
"Captain, do you know why you have been called here?"
Lia just shook her head though she figured that it was because of something about opening a mass relay, "I assume because of the fact that I opened a dormant relay?"
"We have already discussed that earlier and your punishment will forty-eight hours labour in Rayya engineering deck, but no, that not the reason why you are here. The main reason why you are here is to provide us with what you know about the Neo-covenant."
Lia was mildly surprised at the punishment as she expected a much harsher one, but who was she to disregard such a light punishment to what could have been unleashed upon the migrant fleet by the citadel.
"What would you like to know? But I do not know much about them in terms of details, just the very basics of what I saw and what they told me."
The admiralty board nodded and began firing question after questions about everything from their society and culture to their weapons and AIs, particularly about their AIs.
Some were answered in great detail, mainly about her and her crew's treatment by the covenant and cultures, while others were just the very basics, such as that of weapons and ship classes and most were just best guesses at best, such as AI, technology and military capabilities.
The admirals than began to talk quietly among themselves for a short while before turning back to the captain, "You may now leave if you wish."
"Yes Admirals."
As she walked out the room and headed to no particular direction, she couldn't help but feel a huge change was coming, but that is to be expected when encountering to civilizations that makes the citadel races look like mere infants in terms of technology.
Year: 2164 CE
Citadel: Council chambers. Two days after the citadel diplomats were 'forced' to leave the migrant fleet.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE COVENANT FORCED YOU TO LEAVE!?"
"Councillor, please, they came with a fleet of forty warships, with every single one of their ships being the size of a cruiser, a dreadnaught or larger and with the intention of 'protecting' the quarians from us. If we had called the fleet in it would have been seen as a hostile move by us and most likely would have started a war if we engaged." Stated the turian to the councillor in half-truth, also playing along was the Asari diplomat who said nothing to contradict it.
Sparatus kept quiet as he had already read the reports from earlier, but he couldn't help but fume in rage at how these upstarts had the galls to protect the vagrants, even after they told them what the quarians did.
Tevos just merely nodded as thoughts and plans filled her head before addressing the two diplomats that met with the quarians, "Thank you for the reports, you may now leave."
They bowed slightly as they left the council chambers.
The council room was quiet for a few minutes as they each contemplated on what would happen to them if there was another galactic power out there capable of challenging them and each had a different reaction, Valern was slightly afraid and Tevos was slightly worried of how this might upset the balance of power while Sparatus was angry.
"I propose that we send diplomats to the covenant and invite them to join the citadel, al see if they are willing to make some sort of treaty before slowly annexing them in."
Sparatus just looked at the Asari councillor with disagreement, "They humiliated us, Tevos! We should show them who they are dealing with! Show them our might so that they will at least think twice before attacking! And look at their ships and how they battle!"
Sparatus than pulled up the image of the ring world with large explosions dotting the distance, "Anyone who builds ships like that is surely an incredibly aggressive species like the Krogans or Rachnis."
"Exactly Sparatus! Look at their ships! They make ours look like toys in comparison!"
"And they don't use element zero, so all in all, we should easily be able to overwhelm their fleets with pure numbers alone! Surely their fleets are small in comparison." Shouted Sparatus, his judgement still a bit clouded from his anger and pride.
Valern then spoke up, "But what if they are larger than what we believe?"
"Sorry?"
"Everything we are talking about right now is mainly based on assumptions and most of which, have little to no evidence to back up. Sorry Sparatus, even though if I would prefer to pacify such species, we simply do not know enough about them, and to wage or even suggest waging war with little to no information about the enemy is very foolish thing to do. So I have to second Tevos motion on sending diplomats in for the time being."
Tevos was glad that blood won't be spilt unnecessarily, while Sparatus brooded slightly, "Fine, but you will regret not pacifying them first."
Before anyone of the councillors could respond to Spartacus, the COM loudly blared over the room, "LARGE UNKNOWN SHIPS HAVE APPEARED OUT OF NOWHERE AND HEADING TOWARDS THE CITADEL!"
"Put it on screen operator!"
Instantly an image of a mix of eight green and grey coloured ships appeared on their screens as they recognized them as covenant ships, surrounding a ship in the centre of the formation, but what mainly caught their attention was the sleek and angular ships of what they recognized as 'forerunner' ships from the reports given to them by Vandus, with the largest two equalling the citadel in terms of length while the smallest was a tenth of its size.
"By the goddess…Those two forerunner ships are just as large as the citadel…" stated Tevos as she read the information from the screen in front of her.
"And most of their ships exceed the size of Destiny Ascension…Don't tell me they already made an alliance with each other…"
"I don't think so Valern…No one should be able to come to an agreement that quickly…"
"Then why did they come together than?"
The Asari councillor kept quiet as she didn't have an answer for that, while Sparatus calmly spoke up, "Operator, ready the citadel fleet for combat...But do not fire unless they fire first…" The last part of the order wounded the turian pride of his species having the biggest military in the entire citadel space slightly bending to the will of these new aliens because of the size of their ships, after all, despite his many flaws, the councillor wasn't stupid, or at the very least, wasn't stupid when not angry, and taking on ships the size of theirs will yield unacceptable casualties, add to the fact that they haven't opened fired yet and stopped a fair distance away.
Suddenly the console in front of them beeped as the citadel control centre contacted the councillors, "Councillors, I apologize for interrupting, but they have requested communications with us, should I grant them permission?"
Before the Turian and the Salarian could respond, Tevos beat them to it, "Yes, patch them through straight to us, but keep cyber warfare security at high alert."
"Yes councillor."
A moment later two holograms appeared in front of them, one that resembled a human and Asari encased in full body armour, helmet included, and the other also in armour of some sort but seemed lighter than the other one and had four mandibles with an open jaw, four fingers and double jointed legs.
"Are you the leaders of the citadel?"
"That we are. What is your reason for bringing such ships into citadel space?"
"They are merely escorts for our respective diplomats and I request, on behalf of the Neo-covenant to allow our diplomats and their escorts to board your station and begin preliminary peace negotiations."
"And I for the Imperium…"
The councillors glanced at each other and Tevos spoke up a second later, "Very well, you may bring an escort of four soldiers per diplomat."
The two silently nodded as they disconnected from the citadel networks and everyone was relatively happy that nothing majored occurred while Sparatus stared in jealousy and anger at their ships, anger for his species wounded pride. But none the less, they would join the citadel like the many others species before them and the power balance would return back to normal, this made the councillors happy as they didn't have to worry about another galactic government disrupting the peace, especially Sparatus, where he would immediately place a limit of the size of their military before taking their technology for the Turians and improving their own military to the point where they would go unchallenged. But unfortunately for the citadel council, they had another thing coming and Sparatus was going to learn a new lesson. Never anger a civilization that can wipe your one out in less than a month if they tried.
"What is bigger one army or three different armies? Don't know? One army is bigger…Surprised? I'm not, after all, one army, united as one, fighting as one, and for one purpose is a fair fight for a thousand smaller armies fighting for their individual gain…
I can still see that you all want proof…Very well than, take a look at the flood wars, when the first flood war broke out, there were essentially three different powers, the forerunner Ecumene at the top, not far behind was the Human Ascendency and finally their allies the San Shyuum empire…When the flood came, the humans was the first to fight it along with the San Shyuums…They were allies, but their goals differ, with humanity fighting for the mantle of responsibility and the San Shyuum wanting to save themselves, their allies and charges. This in turn led to a…rift…if you will when fighting, rendering engagement with the enemy less efficient and effective with two differing views, which ultimately led the humans into forerunner territory and the forerunner-human war began, which would not have happened if relation between the two powers were on better terms and not on a cold war, which in turn would lead the forerunners themselves into the war and more effectively combating the parasite, perhaps even saving the galaxy from a fate which it now find itself...
Next is the forerunner-flood war. Despite initially losing the war on all fronts and being hopelessly outnumbered. When the humans and the San Shyuums joined the war with purpose and intent the same as the forerunners, pledging their number, resources and knowledge to the cause as well as their…specialities, with the San Shyuum mastery in logistics and support due to their bodies 'fragility' and the humans mastery in unconventional warfare, brought over when the forerunners were still enemies to the humans and created to effectively combat the forerunners larger and equally skilled armies. When combined with the forerunners tactics, it all…just clicked together, if you will, into one well-oiled war-machine that managed to combat the parasite into a standstill from what should be a crushing defeat…"
-Lecture at 'Dusk' Imperium Military Academy of Science and War on 'Legacy'.
Interfacing with Terminal…
Initiating handshake protocols…
…User Confirmed…
Granted access to requested data…
Initializing…
…
Displaying…
The Concordia Imperium history.
Section 1.01: The formation of the Imperium.
The Concordia Imperium was created during the Race Supremacy War, which fractured all three powers into many smaller factions (See Race Supremacy War for more details), initiated a century after the ending of the forerunner-flood war by those who still held a grudge on the other race/s. Initially the Imperium was initially created as a safe-haven for those caught in the crossfire and did not wish to fight, nor wished to support one of the three warring factions.
It wasn't long before the Imperium found itself a target due to the high amount of refugees fleeing as well as defectors, unfortunately at the time, the Imperium lacked suitable ground forces, despite having a significantly powerful navy, due to the fact that fighting the parasite on the ground is neigh on suicide, hence more are spent on the Navy, with funding that was meant for the army reduced to keeping garrisons on planet near large population centres to delay flood advances while non-combatants fled, as well as only elite infantries and operatives. This proved to be problematic issue as orbital bombardment tactics usually employed during the forerunner-human wars and flood wars caused unnecessary collateral damage to non-combatants and prisoners, while any naval engagement proved risky due to enemy boarding parties and the almost insufficient force defending smaller ships.
In response, Imperium High Supreme Commanders Crepusculum, First Light of a New Dawn and Lord of Admirals Venator created 'the Conclave', a military sub-division under the Navy, Army and Air force, recruiting experienced Veterans from each of the three branches before putting them through harsher training, allowing operatives to learn from all three main branches, before being further augmented to fit their new line of duty better; intelligence gathering, counter offensive operations and unconventional warfare.
The Conclave initial operations were a huge success, buying much time for the Imperium to somewhat recover from countless raids and strengthen their defences as well as train an Army.
Two decades after the creation of the Conclave, the Imperium was able to build up their forces to the point that it matched their enemies in numbers, organization and training. From this point, the Imperium would begin their own offensives to put down 'rebels', but proved much harder to put down after having a significant amount of time to organize and entrenched on every location they control.
Eventually, five centuries later and with the total casualties within the low billions, did the war finally end when the last 'rebel' base was finally found in an asteroid and destroyed, killing their last 'official' leader. By now, the Imperium was already rebuilding, and with the war ended, a new civilization began on the foundations of an old one, and officially, hence the Concordia Imperium was created.
To this day, the Imperium have been building, advancing and growing more powerful, and long surpassed the individual empires that were created by the three races, and have vowed never to end up in the very same situation that they each found themselves at when facing the parasite.
R&R.
Well, here is the end of this chapter after a few month of waiting, personally I dread writing the next one as I kind of dislike writing first contact as it can only go three ways, incredibly badly, ass kissingly good or that boring neutral..Though I will have the next chapter up...Don't know when though.
I must really impress the fact that I really DO NOT KNOW when the next update will be after this as there are things in life than writing fanfic (though personally I wouldn't mind if I could make a living out of writing fics as an 'amateur' writer.). So this will be my last update for a while, though I am not abandoning this story and might go back and change certain things within previous chapters if I have time such as grammar and tech specifics.