Chapter 2: Contact.
Space. Since the moment Earth was covered in cloudiness, humanity had wanted to see it again. Now Captain Fred Jimenez was bored of seeing the same shit every day, the only thing that space remind him is the earth and the crime they committed against her. "Crap" he muttered angrily, "if I had known that the only thing I was going to see here is this, I would have stayed on the earth."
Fred Jimenez was the captain of the SSV Sneaky Bastard,one of the numerous frigates in the Second Joint Patrol Fleet, The fleet was doing a patrol of the relays that led to human-saryn space, they were now doing the last scan at Relay XV-312; one of the most protected relays as this one was considered the "backdoor" relay that led directly to the Sol System. Then someone called him, distracting him from his line of thought.
"Sir."
"Yes?" he asked.
"Sir, we may have a problem," the AI of the ship said.
He sighed. "What kind of problem?"
"A lot of ships have just dropped out of FTL and are coming in this direction."
He started to get anxious. "And?"
"They have signatures that aren't human or saryn."
"That means—" started Fred when the AI cut him off.
"We have a First Contact scenario."
He immediately got up and was on his way to the CIC when he received a call.
"Fred, please tell me that you too have this readings," said the voice on the other line.
"Yes, Zed we have them too," replied Fred, Zed was the captain of the Blue Rose, a saryn frigate.
"Fuck" Fred heard Zed whisper. "And what do we do now?"
"Call high command," he sighed. "We have to initiate Alpha protocol… and please follow the First Contact manual and deactivate your weapons."
"Alright," said Zed, his voice was trembling. "Good luck."
"Good luck," he repeated and ended the call.
Admiral Ik'er vas Decar was in his seat in the CIC, absorbed in his omni-tool when someone called him.
"Sir, we have a problem."
"What's the problem?" he asked as he turned off his omni-tool.
"The long range scanners have detected nearly 350 ships… all frigate size." The navigator paused. "This is impossible."
"What?"
"They don't have any familiar signature," replied the navigator and he could hear the hint of fear in her voice.
"Where they are?" he asked as he began mentally setting up possible battle tactics.
"They're next to a dormant mass relay, most possib…" the rest of the sentence died in her throat.
"What?"
"We've just received a transmission from the ship."
"A transmission?" asked Ik'er, very puzzled. "What does it contain?"
"I don't know… a lot of symbols and words, perhaps?"
The admiral then understood. "This is a translator… they've given us a translator for their language."
"But, sir? There are two languages in here."
'What?' he thought. "Perform another scan, make sure it is thorough."
"I already did, sir, the scanners don't lie; 350 ships, all with the same signature."
'So why did they send us two languages?' the admiral wondered
"Sir, they're hailing us."
He stood up. "Accept it."
The vid-screen appeared, the fuzzy image becoming clear enough to reveal a creature like an asari but with fur, perhaps? The fur was covering the alien's body completely.
"Unknown ship, identify yourself," the alien said in a voice serious voice.
"Alien ship, I'm Admiral Ik'er vas Decar of the quarian Migrant Fleet, we don't want any problems," he replied and the alien visibly sighed.
"That's good," said the alien calmly. "We don't want a war… so skipping the formalities I'm Zed, Captain of the Blue Rose. Happy to meet you."
"Excuse me, Captain but why you send us two languages in your translator?"
"Eh… give me a second," said Zed and the call ended and was reactivated again less than two minutes later. "Wait for the arrival of our ambassadors and we can talk in person on the planet below us."
Ik'er was now scared, in the next minutes either a diplomatic or a combat fleet would be arriving. Even if these aliens claimed they were coming in peace, they could still lie and send soldier in to kill them where they stood.
"Good," replied Ik'er as he cut the vid-call, then he heard a hysteric laugh.
"This is a joke, right?" asked the navigator between bouts of laughter. "This is just a sick joke right… right?" When no one answered, the navigator held his head in his hands. "Oh keelah… keelah."
In a barely illuminated apartment on Mars the only sound to be heard was the faint snoring, until the quiet of the night was disturbed by someone knocking on the door. Captain Alexander O'Connor tried to ignore the sound but it was relentless so he made a move to answer it when a hand covered in soft fur stopped him.
"Don't go," a soft voice said at his side, he turned his head to see his girlfriend Nadia's bright eyes shining in the dark.
"Nadia, I have to go, it could be important," he said softly in return.
"But I'm comfortable," she whined, moving closer to him.
"I have to go Nadia," he said a little firmer.
"Ok, ok… but at least kiss me."
He sighed. "Alright." He leaned over and kissed her gently. "May I leave now?"
She released her hold on him and then proceeded to turn on her side, back facing him. "Yes, you're free."
Smiling down at her, he got up and went to the door, when he opened it there were two people wearing power armor standing outside his door.
"Alexander O'Connor?" one synthesized voice asked.
"Yes?" he answered, very confused.
"You are to come with us, sir."
"Why…what's happened?"
"We've made contact with another race. We need you to go to Arcturus Station."
"Another one? Alright, I'm going… just give me five minutes."
"Yes, sir."
Meanwhile the two fleets kept staring each other, waiting for the arrival of the saryn and human ambassadors (the quarians didn't know about the second one). Then they finally arrived.
Jason White was incredibly nervous, it was not everyday that they made contact with a new race; he was especially afraid that if he screwed this up, then a war would start, and he didn't want that.
"So Xen, how are you?" he asked the saryn ambassador.
"Nervous. And you?"
"Same… but more afraid that I'll inadvertently start a war."
The ambassador nodded. "Yes, that coul—"
"We've arrived at the Blue Rose," announced the pilot.
White put on his helmet and nodded. The airlock opened after the decontamination cycle and moments later, the Captain of the Blue Rose received them.
"Captain," Xen and White said in unison.
"Ambassadors," the Captain answered with a nod.
"What is the situation?" Xen asked.
The ship's AI answered. "One hour ago we were making the last scan of the relay, when the scanners from two parts of the fleet detected ships exiting FTL and headed in this direction. They came upon us and we followed the First Contact manual, and sent them the basic instructions to make a translator, then followed up with a short conversation between our captain and the captain of the alien ship. One observation was that they can't detect humans ships; we've concluded that their scanners are only able to detect ships with mass effect technology." The AI then faded away in order to continue with her tasks.
"Interesting," said White. "Something to say, Captain?"
"Yes, the captain of the alien ship has agreed to meet with us on the planet below. That's why the two of you were called in, obviously."
"Good, call him back and say that the meeting will be in five minutes. He can bring five soldiers with him, anymore and we are at war. Understood?"
"Yes, sir," replied the Captain as he moved back to the CIC in order to speak with Ik'er while the ambassadors turned back around to return to their ship.
"So… how many soldiers are we going to take?" asked Xen.
"We're going to bring two pilots," White answered calmly.
"Pilots?!" Xen exclaimed. "Why pilots?"
"Because the pilots are perfect for this," replied White reasonably. "If these aliens were to try something, the pilots would ensure that they were shot or knocked out before they could complete their attack against us."
"Fine, good point," conceded Xen as the doors closed behind them.
The ship then departed, on course for the planet below.
Ik'er was nervous. His word would either win an ally for the quarian people or create yet another enemy. He knew if these aliens decided to fight against them, it would mean the death of his people. But he had to put those thoughts aside if he was going to be prepared mentally for this metting.
"Sir, ETA one minute."
He looked at the Marines who were accompanying him, the best of the best, and he stood up to address them, ten pairs of eyes now locked on him.
"Marines, remember you are the best the fleet has to offer. Today you're going to personally witness the most important moment for the fleet; today we're going to win an ally for the fleet, today we're going to become legends among the fleet!"
The Marines erupted in cheers; all of them ready for this moment.
"We're landing, sir, it appears that the aliens have already arrived."
When the doors of the shuttle opened, everybody was shocked at seeing three masked aliens and one unmasked. When the admiral regained his composure, he signalled to the Marines to follow him as he approached the aliens.
"Human," said one of the masked aliens as he pointed to himself and the other two aliens.
"What?" Ik'er asked, confused.
"Hu-man," repeated the alien a little more slowly, Ik'er then understood what he was saying.
"Quarian," Ik'er said, pointing to himself and the other Marines. "Quar-ian."
He saw the human nod and then point at the other alien, similar to the one he had been talking to earlier.
"Saryn," said the human and Ik'er nodded. "Alright, now that we've covered the basics, my name is Jason White." White extended his hand; Ik'er looked at the hand and did not make a move to take it. "Oh, this is a handshake, you have to join your hand with mine and we shake them. It's a sign of peace and respect among my people."
Ik'er followed White's instructions, although a little hesitantly.
"So, three fingers, huh?" asked White, grasping for an icebreaker.
"Yes," said Ik'er and he saw when he released White's hand it had five fingers, the same as the other alien. He saw the other alien approach, extending his hand.
"And my name is Darl Xen, but call me Xen," said Xen as they shook hands.
"Very well, Xen," said Ik'er pleasantly. He stared at the humans again, happy to see that they weren't the only ones with covered faces. "Jason'White, I must ask, why are you using a helmet?"
"Oh, this thing?" he asked as he pointed to his helmet. "It's because of our eyes."
The admiral tilted his head. "Your…eyes?"
White sighed. "Do you want the long or the short story?"
Suddenly there was a chime and then White's personal AI, Jinn, emerged without his bidding. "Sir if you prefer, I could explain to your guest why the human race needs to use the helmets."
"GETH!" one of the quarian Marines shouted, and what happened next could not be believed right away by anyone present.
CODEX
Warp Drive Core: Given that the warp drive core doesn't produce heat signatures, radars in Citadel space cannot detect human ships (except for the saryns). A warp drive core works with antimatter, and the drive core needs to make an immense amount of power which are turned into micro singularity projectors, creating a "bubble" around the ship. Within the bubble, known physics laws don't exist, the ship loses all of its mass allowing it to travel twice the speed of light.
Humanity's Eyes: Given the condition of the home world, humanity evolved to see in total darkness, making their eyes extremely sensitive to the light. On a normal, sunny day a human could be rendered completely blind by the sun. In the process of evolution humanity almost lost complete colour in their irises; only leaving the barest trace and can only be seen when concentrated on, and those are either white or grey. When humanity colonized Mars, the next generation could tolerate slightly better with light; allowing human/saryn couples to live together. In a house where a human/saryn couple reside, the light inside the house is at the correct level so the saryn can see easily without burning the eyes of the human.