(A/N- start)

Hey guys- sorry this update is so short and took so long. In the last few I had two mid-terms, a final, and had to deal with internet problems.

Damn bandwidth limits.

This chapter is an introduction to the other elements that I intended to bring in to play later in the story. You'll see how they link later.

I don't own Mass Effect, Planetary Annihilation, or any other video games or books. Yet. The Deep Ones, Clickers, Hairy Ones, and Leviathan (not the ones with space magic) are my original creations, and if you want to play with them, ask me.

Enjoy!

(A/N-end)

Chapter 4: Contact

The drone scurried over the surface of Mercury, it's simplistic programming buzzing as it relayed survey data from each of it's eight legs, and various other sensors. It was a spider-like entity, a design that was built on the original suicide spider (also known as the 'Boom'), but in place of an abdomen stuffed with high explosives there were dozens of sensors, and a cooling system that shunted the heat to a deep-space Thermoelectric generator via a minuscule, permanently-open portal within the casing on it's abdomen.

It looked bloated.

Still, the drone continued scurrying, sending information to collected back to Eve. It didn't think about what it was doing- it didn't have the capacity to have truly rational thought or reason, but it was very efficient in the few areas it had to specialize in.

The ground below it began to slope upwards as the drone began to enter the twilight area of the planet. Skittering along, at around 200 kilometers an hour, the machine began a slow turn, cresting over one of the shockwave-hills that the newest crater had forced to form, getting significant air-time (even though there was no air to have time in), rotating slowly, balanced by internal giros, before it landed, sideways, and, curling it's legs, rolled a few times before self-righting and accelerating towards the middle of the crater.

This crater had been formed by the impact of almost 2 tons of liquified tungsten, wrapped in a braid of incredibly-strong magnetic fields, and, in the center of the crater, a fairly small hole had been punched- which, at the moment, was currently exuding lava like a geyser.

This was nothing compared to what had happened on the other side of the planet. Due to the fact that Mercury had a metal core core, it had the capacity for an electromagnetic field- it hadn't had much of one before the shot landed. The small core was mostly solid, and the field had been ~1.1% the strength of Earth's.

The shot had been slightly angled when it had landed, causing the impact mark to be oval, rather than circular, and had both liquified the core of the planet while jump-starting it's spin.

The concussive effect was more visible on the other side of the planet, causing US-state sized wrinkles to rip open violently, while plumes of lava drifted up in the lower gravity.

Various detectors on the drone whirred and clicked, sending data back that indicated, without much of a doubt, that Mercury had a magnetic field now.

The visible solar wind bow-shock was very pretty.

The Quarians didn't disappoint. Their reaction to the now-crowded and renamed Fortress System was as amusing as hoped, as they immediately thought they had been lured into a trap- until nothing fired upon them.

They tried to escape, but, well, due to the fact that the Terrans wouldn't allow them to leave (at least until their non-combatant population was secure), the Quarians began to set down roots.

It was a week after the Migrant Fleet arrived in-system, and the transference of people was ongoing. Several million people, constrained to a fleet of ships where the biggest were not built to establish planetfall, well, the smaller vessels were running a taxi service.

The few vessels with asteroid-mining equipment put their equipment to good use, mining miles-wide asteroids that the Terrans brought into near-Mars orbit and sending manufactured materials down to dedicated landing spots on the surface. There, other Quarians would retrieve the refined metals, and transport them to the Domes for later utilization.

Uncrewed vessels were often also brought down, their innards stripped of anything that might be of use to the growing community in the Domes (such as Eezo-rich components, generators, and weapon systems). The empty husks, just structural support remaining (the hull plating was great radiation shielding) lay across the empty kilometers that surrounded the massive Domes.

The LiveShips were more like economic assets then vessels, each holding thousands of occupants and the more important components of Quarian Survival. Nutrient vats were the main resource, taking the sewage drain from the vessels around them, heating the refuse to the point where any major proteins broke apart, whereupon several dozen different bacteria were added to the mix, in specific time intervals. After a few days, a vat would go from raw sewage to an edible mixture of various bacteria, which were harvested and processed into a bland, but nutritious and high-calorie paste.

However, there were other resources too. Low-G gardens on the outer layers of the massive vessel (it's floors were reminiscent of an onion, as it was easier to generate a gravitational point-source in the middle of the massive sphere than for every single level individually) held masses of sterilized ash from various garden worlds. Quarians had dextro-facing protein structures, unlike most of the Galaxy (which, astonishingly enough were mostly carbon-based, levo-protein beings), and in order to consume the levo proteins had to reduce said proteins down to the size where the fragments could be absorbed by engineered fungi and molds, which, in turn, were harvested and dumped into the Nutrient vats when they reached the top of the garden levels.

The problem was that such a process was very complicated, and every other batch had to be thrown out due to potential contamination. There were eleven Vat-structures on the assorted LiveShips, and while each vat could provide a quarter of the fleet sustenance, the fleet was almost always on the verge of starvation. The reason- nothing could work to maximum production in the spacecraft. The vats needed more energy than the vessel they were on could pump out to run all the conversion chambers, so, well, every vat worked at 80% efficiency or below.

Currently, a swarm of Quarian vessels were slowly pulling the vats and farms out of the LiveShips, covering the complex machinery in layers of ablative armor in order to bring the machine down to the surface. The fleet only had enough spare rations to move one vat and supporting structures at a time- and even then, the time limit pressed upon them like a glacier bearing down on a mountain.

The relatively small drone that was observing all of this turned around, and accelerated towards the Mars Orbital Gate, which flickered for a second in activation before going still again.

Destination: Earth.

In the skies above, a purple flicker appeared for a tiny fraction of a second. Gdrrz, Guard of Tidepool Village, turned one of his eyes back to the ambassador parties- he was supposed to be guarding them after all. Carefully, he used several tentacles to move his spear to another, more comfortable position.

On one side, the Hairy Ones stood, their muzzles twitching as they spoke to each other, tentacles along their 'shoulders' moving as they brought up different points. Gdrrz didn't understand their noise-based language, and was feeling uncomfortable above the waves- but it was his job to guard them, and so he did.

On the other were Gdrrz's people- the Deep Ones. Their skin shifted colors rapidly as they spoke- and from Gdrrz saw, they were evaluating the average number of fish that they could safely trade to the Hairy Ones.

Gdrrz let a chuckle ripple across his skin as he thought about the current arrangement. Right now, the Hairy Ones traded flint blades to his people, and in exchange the Deep Ones would provide various shellfish on a regular basis. It was a simple arrangement, but neither could survive without the other for long. The Hairy ones needed the shellfish's shells for medicine, and the Deep Ones needed the flint to do, well, a lot under water.

They had met eight summers ago, when a Hairy One tried to dive for shellfish, and ran into one of the Deep One's flint retrieval parties. Thankfully, neither group wanted to fight at the time, and the first contact between both groups was fairly congenial.

Once the two species figured out how to talk to each other -an activity that took three summers- they started asking why the other group was invading each other's territory.

Both learned a lot over the ensuing negotiations, and came to an agreement. Every full moon, the two groups would send people to the shore, where the Deep Ones could go back into the water if they needed an extra breath and where the Hairy Ones could stand, whereupon both groups would trade however much they were able to haggle for.

Gdrrz felt something move above him, and looked up. He didn't know what he was searching for, but he'd know it when he knew it.

Then he saw it- as did everyone else.

A light snapped on, illuminating the beach like a sun, as a shiny flying creature floated above them on seemingly nothing, rigid wings twitching as a muted hum made itself known.

A mouth opened on the bottom of the creature, and a swarm of tiny glowing-green creatures appeared, lights flickering from their tiny bodies.

What is that thing? Asked one of the delegates.

The Hairy Ones were carrying bows- a weapon development that were not as well used by the Deep Ones, as their physical structure didn't have the internal structure to leverage against it. Their guards aimed at the glowing swarm, and readied a volley.

The swarm moved between the two delegations, prompting Gdrrz and the other guards to grab the members of their delegation, pulling them out of the way.

Stay down Ma'am. Gdrrz flashed, covering one of the delegates with his own body, which hardened in potential defense of any stray arrows.

The swarm moved again, this time moving to a position slightly south down the beach, and blurred into activity. In a few seconds, the swarm had assembled a large dark structure, and then returned to the open mouth of the flying thing.

The flying thing closed it's mouth, and, with the sound of whispering branches, ascended into the air and vanished into the night when it's light turned off.

The guards of both sides prevented the delegates from approaching the artifact, but nothing else initially, and the trade continued as scheduled. Both delegation parties agreed to report to the leaders of their respective villages to put together parties of their wisest elders, who would be brought to the artifact to study it.

After the delegation had returned to Tidepool village and the guards gave their report of what happened to Depth-Leader, Gdrrz and his fellow guards were dismissed for the day.

After putting away his spear in the armory, Gdrrz compressed himself, becoming, in appearance, a smaller (not yet fully grown) female, as did several of the other guards. All of them had one thing in common- they all had mates.

As Gdrrz swam through the complex network of stacked stones that formed Tidepool Village, he looked forward to seeing his Mate as see on as he could- and that anticipation encouraged him. With a few jet-pulses from his siphon, Gdrrz left most of the village behind him, and approached a coral outcropping near the dropoff.

Tidepool Village was an interesting structure. As the Deep Ones couldn't really make any kind of mortar or adhesive compound that lasted for any significant length of time in their saltwater home, their building methods had to take such things into account. Stones, fitted together so tightly that a tentacle couldn't find a crack, were stacked on each other in intricate patterns, making sure to leave room for window-doors all over the place without weakening the overall structure- which had to be strong enough to survive being buffited by tides. And being attacked by sharks, which were an occasional problem. And being attacked by the Clickers- another intelligent species that, for some reason, loved to eat the Deep Ones, and would not parley.

Gdrrz found the specific coral outcropping he was looking for- it was gnarled like all coral, but swept in two directions rather than one, forming a sort of helix-like fan that curved away from the cliff-edge. With a barely noticeable amount of effort, Gdrrz compressed his body into a thin tube, and slithered into the hidden hollow beneath the coral.

It had taken many moons to carve, and he had to catch rock-eater worms many, many times to carve it out. Their secretions burned him, but dissolved the rock-like coral buildup that had been the work of centuries. It was a perfect nest for himself and his mate.

Once within, he relaxed, allowing his flesh to expand back into his original shape. Hssrth? He flashed, lighting up the subterranean cave. Are you here?

Here! She darted out of an aperture in one of the walls, and wrapped her tentacles around his in a hug. What happened on the surface? Hssrth asked. I saw the rumors, but-

Just a normal transfer. Chuckled Gdrrz. Until a flying monster-item-thing descended from the sky, lit up the beach, and left an artifact on the shore.

Hssrth blinked incredulously. That... What?

Gdrrz gently extracted himself from his mate. It looked like this. He pulled in some parts his body, changed the color of others, and, in a second or so, became a near-perfect duplicate of the thing he had seen.

Hssrth poked at him with a tentacle a few times, before nodding. And the artifact?

Gdrrz relaxed, then forced himself into the decidedly made-looking angular shape. It was just a rectangular prism, but it'a surface was a black that Gdrrz hadn't seen anywhere except the deepest depths, where even sunlight feared to tread.

Hssrth gently turned him around a few times. I will go speak with Depth-Leader. I think I have seen this sort of thing before...

Gdrrz returned to his regular shape. If you wish. How are the children?

Hssrth grabbed him by a tentacle and pulled him into an alcove, where Six eggs, connected by a string, hung from the ceiling. One of them twitched slightly as they watched, and Hssrth cuddled against the tentacle she was holding. All doing fine, especially now their father is here.

Reaching out delicately, Gdrrz stroked the eggs, flashing several reassuring colors as he did so. They were his pride and joy- their pride and joy, he amended, and he would stay here every day if he could.

But he had a job to do, and with that job in mind, turned back to Hssrth. Can we let them be for a day? He asked, colors tinged with concern. We shouldn't take risks with them.

His mate waved a tentacle unconcernedly. Elder-Kzark wanted to spend time with them anyway- We can ask before you bring me to Depth-Leader.

Then her pupils dilated at him slowly.

Still... We don't have much time to ourselves often these days. She flashed several colors underneath her words (A/N- think muttering mixed with body language), all of them filled with desire, affection, and loneliness. We have time before tomorrow.

Gdrrz didn't resist as she dragged him to another, separate outcropping. He was her mate after all, and he could spare the tentacle.

(A/N- I am not describing tentacle sex, so don't ask.)

Depth-Leader was old. As the oldest of the current population of Deep Ones, she was entitled to a significant amount of respect- for both living to the great age of Thirty-Six Summers, and being able to speak Four languages. She could and did speak with the Hairy Ones, the Clickers, and could just speak with the Leviathans (on top of being able to speak Deep-Strata, the language of her own kind).

Currently, she was finishing up a discussion with a Leviathan, and, as always, felt on-edge. It wasn't that they were particularly aggressive, it was just that any single leviathan was a village unto itself, and when she spoke to one, she spoke to many.

Well, technically she spoke to one, but the main bulk of the creature was above the village, a mass of large bubble-like structures with odder creatures crawling around and within them. Sail-like flaps on the top layer of it's body caught the wind, and on the surface, mats of algae grew as a green mat.

Right now, she was talking to a creature that had four color changing tentacle limbs, a long tail, and a lamprey-like mouth surrounded by a great deal of eyes. It was attached to the main mass by a series of similar creatures, each of which was attacked to the tail of another one. These beings formed the main 'limbs' of the Leviathan, and could detach and run tasks for the conglomerate creature. Occasionally, scouts would see other creatures leaving or returning from a grazing Leviathan, but mostly just these psudo-limbs- occasionally, attached to the main body by an odd umbilical.

She didn't know how they all thought as one, but she suspected it had to do with the umbilicals.

It fluttered it's tentacles at her. And finally, we request permission to graze on the kelp bed to the down-cold-current of your village for the next moon.

She replied with a similar fluttering movement. In trade?

/our-eights-and-three hardened stalks of two-your-arms lengths. Replied the limb. To be delivered half now and half after grazing is complete.

Depth-Leader fluttered an agreement. It was a good deal- and the easiest way to get sticks. The Leviathans grew them within it's body, mainly for structural support, and in the days-long-past, clans of the Deep Ones would hunt them for their 'hardened stalks'. Now they just traded. I request, as a favor, in exchange for many months of communion with the Red-Streak conglomerate, that you be on the lookout for Clickers. They have attacked Edgemount and the Floating Colony, and we don't want to lose anyone.

We heard this on the wind. Fluttered the Limb. And we, the Red-Streak conglomerate, agree- under the condition that we may place an egg in your safekeeping while we are grazing.

Depth-Leader was surprised. The Leviathans had never asked this before. And if you should fall? (A leviathan-specific term, refers to being punctured and sunk. Equivilent to being killed.)

Bury the egg in a kelp bed far from your village. They will hatch a moon later, so try to time the hatching so that another one of us can teach them. The Limb moved slightly as another line of the limbs dropped down, holding a cluster of stalks. Half Payment, as agreed.

It has been pleasurable speaking with the Red-Streak conglomerate. Replied Depth-Leader. Then she flashed orders to several of her roof guards. Keep an eye on the Leviathan and guard the egg. It won't hurt anyone, but we have to keep it safe for the next moon.

One of the guards began to flash a question, but stopped a Limb descended, holding a structure bigger than Depth-Leader. It was the egg- although that word was misleading. It looked squishy, and resembled multiple eggs connected together with blood vessels and a number of black-green tendrils that connected all of them together.

The Limb retracted with startling speed, and everyone on the roof of the tower-like construct heard-felt the jet-like protrusions of multiple massive siphons on the skin of the Leviathan begin to expel water, pushing it towards the kelp bed.

Depth-Leader watched the massive creature slowly move, and, with a delicate pulse of her siphon, began her descent into the tower. Within, luminous algaes had been cultivated into glowing light sources- without, the inside of the tower would be completely dark.

A cheerful series of flashes on the lowest level grabbed her attention as she swam along.

Hey Mother!

Depth-Leader sighed. She never was able to get Hssrth to be anything but rambunctious.

End Chapter 4

I wish this chapter hadn't taken so long for so little, but life does take priority. That, and that damn Naruto Muse tries to monopolize my writing runtime.

Please review- it helps me get over writers block.

Oh, and before I forget: The first chapter of Midnight Fox WILL be posted fairly soon, so when it comes up check it out. Naruto seems easier to write about than the ME universe or permutations thereof.