Lidanya bit her lip as she surveyed her bridge crew. The Destiny Ascension boasted the top crew of all the Citadel Fleet, screened by several Matriarchs and ultimately selected by herself. The top of the top of the top. Most of the asari here had centuries of experience in their fields, all of the rare turian members had seen heavy fleet action in the Terminus-Batarian Incidents. The Destiny Ascenion's pilot, a matron by the name of Sasara, could and had flown the ship on patrols of Citadel defense space with her eyes closed, never missing a navigation beacon in the process. Her targeting crew regularly double checked the weapon computer's targeting solution in their heads. The engineering crew held the Diasan together long enough escape from the Battle of Niya. With such an illustrious crew and the Destiny Ascension's considerable technical specifications under her command, there was very little Lidanya worried about. First contact situations were historically quite peaceful. Of course, the Rachni proved to be the violent and costly exception to that rule, but as a whole there was no worry of hostilities breaking out. She could point to several xenosocial studies that have plotted the dangers of first contact situations that showed, quite conclusively, that the probabilities of hostilities between the Citadel species and newly discovered species dropped dramatically after a peaceful first contact situation. She had been assured that the visiting Gaians are peaceful. That didn't mean she wouldn't be cautious, her training overruled any misguided sense of optimism. If these friendly neighbors turned out to be not-so-friendly her crew would personally feed them asari-made kinetic slugs with a relativistic feeding fork.
And if things did go terrible for the Citadel Fleet, Lidanya was at least comforted by the fact that anything that could breach the Destiny Ascension's barriers would almost certainly instantly kill her. No pain, no fear.
No, what really scared her was politics.
Contrary to some of the opinions of her anti-military, galactic peace blue sisters, military careers did not turn her into a maiden-esque gun loving club-dancer airhead. And military personnel, even one as high on the ladder as she was, weren't out of the grasp of politicians who'd strip her rank faster than she could blink if she managed to offend their guests. So she'd read and reread the Council report on the Gaians so as to avoid any sort of cross-species etiquette blunder.
If today was to be her last day, she'd prefer it be due to combat instead of politics.
She glanced at a timer that had been set to the supposed meeting time and wondered how non-mass effect travel could be achieved. And how military strategy would have to adapt from here on out.
To her crew's credit the Destiny Ascension was already being reoriented by a few degrees to put the new alien ship square in its sights only moments after it appeared. Her eyes roamed over the image of the golden ship, her mind attempting to discern any form of offensive capabilities on the ship. Unfortunately there was nothing recognizable on the craft, expected given the Citadel report. While she pondered the ship's capabilities, her bridge staff wasted no time in opening a communication channel.
"Greetings Gaian ship Sampson, this is Matriarch Lidanya of Destiny Ascension, Commander of the Citadel Fleet."
-Matriarch Lidanya of the Destiny Ascension, this is Captain Ramiro Diaz Alvaro of the Sampson, we come in peace representing the people of Gaia.-
Her crew, which had already known about the peculiar communication method the Gaians employed didn't flinch when they received a response. Lidanya wondered if the extranet audience would suffer the headaches or if the VI moderators would add in their own subtitles for the alien voices. She was slightly disappointed that their ship couldn't relay any sort of visual images.
"Captain Ramiro Diaz Alvaro of the Sampson," Lidanya began, hoping her translation software would smooth out the alien name that she had no hope of pronouncing, "The Destiny Ascension and a special honor guard of the Citadel Fleet will now guide you to the Citadel. Once again, we welcome you and look forward to peace and fruitful relations with your people." Cutting off the communication channel, she ordered her bridge crew into action, several turian ships falling into position ahead and behind the golden saucer ship as they began their short trip to the Citadel station, the Destiny Ascension looming protectively over the entire procession.
"Matriarch," one of her officers announced, "All ships are on formation, reserve ships are covering all possible angles of escape. Possible attack vectors are also being considered."
"Wonderful," Lidanya replied as she schooled her voice. "Remind the ships that the capabilities of the Gaian ship are unknown, standard formations may not be enough. We must be ready to adapt."
"Yes Matriarch."
Lidanya continued, "Make sure we keep the press ships and all civilian traffic at a respectable distance. Keep a line open on C-Sec, I don't care if a petty smuggler chooses now to steal a ship or some anti-alien extremists show up in protest, nothing will breach our security field."
Wonderful. Lidanya stood up as straight as ever as the alien craft approached her ship and the Citadel, its security escort on pace and on all sides. Once they dock, they're C-Sec's problem.
And now they're our problem.
"SPECTRE Popiana."
Her omnitool's VI sees that she's about to respond, and answers Executor Pallin's call.
"Popiana here."
"Status update."
The Executor is well known for his disdain of SPECTREs and it has showed in all of their conversations. She's had a status update every five minutes for the past half hour, and despite the fact that she is not under any obligation to answer to the Executor, she's always seen the value in working with C-Sec than against them.
"Sir," she begins, beginning to pace from her command post overlooking the docking bay, the golden alien ship coming to a halt near the docking clamps, chatter between the craft and C-Sec Port Authority informing her that some technicalities were being worked out in securing the craft. "The alien ship is docking now; I expect the foreign dignitaries will disembark when their preparations are complete. Along with their security detail."
"Good," the Executor's voice acknowledged in her ear. "Perimeter secure?"
Popiana continued among her impromptu command center, several of her officers hand signaling the status of their officers. She double checked their reports with a quick scan through her helmet's magnification scope. "All secure sir, the hanar that was causing a stir has calmed down thanks to his friend. He won't be a problem." She spied that particular hanar amidst the crowd, who was seemingly having a calm conversation with his turian friend. "The krogans were removed after one of them was found to have a report with us."
"Charge?" Pallin inquired.
"Unpaid parking tickets."
"Good."
A murmur began to rise up out of the crowd of civilians, press and Citadel officials as the craft began to open up.
"Activity at the craft, Executor." Popiana began to signal to her command staff, who began to relay orders to the C-Sec security teams stationed all over the docking bays. From her vantage point she saw SPECTRE Vakarian and his team taking ready positions around the Citadel delegation. Of course, no one was going to be pointing guns at the alien visitors, several days of deliberation had already established a certain amount of trust between them and the Citadel. Security was simply here to make sure both delegates from either government were safe and sound. She certainly was under no orders to terminate the alien delegates if they did become hostile. There were no SPECTRES strike teams waiting in the shadows if such an order was needed.
The crowd fell silent as the first of the aliens, the Gaians, marched down the disk's opening ramp. Batarian build, though she could not discern any actual features beneath the uniform they were wearing, black with gold trim and hexagonal patterns that shimmered between visible and not, and a gold mask which she assumed was molded to the features of their race. Going off of that mask, she guessed that they looked like male quarians. More importantly her eyes roamed over the weapons the Gaian guards were carrying, a form of rifle cradled in their hands and what looked like sheathed swords on their hips. Ceremonial? She wondered. Next to these soldiers were others, though they appeared unarmed. They each held what appeared to be some form of datapad in one hand, while their free hands hovered over collections of trinkets strapped to their belts. Officers? Do they wear medals on their belts? They carried themselves in the same way as the armed guards, perhaps they were political officers or some sort of religious official similar to a krogan battlesinger or the turian standard bearer from old. Popiana did a quick count, four unarmed and sixteen armed soldiers. "Thoughts?" she whispered into her comm's special channel.
"Unarmed officers? If so, five man squads." A salarian SPECTREs' voice offered.
"Could be medics of some kind." Another SPECTRE chimed in. "Or religious leaders."
"Could be drone controllers," the voice of the sole krogan SPECTRE came in like gravel, "Datapad could be controlling those soldiers, might be little robot men. That's a big one."
Popiana looked back to the craft's ramp, something that looked like a giant volus on steroids stomping down the ramp. Unlike the previous guards this one was armored in some sort of heavy powered-armor, visible gears spinning in some sections and small puffs of steam belching out of pipes on its back. A single blue eye sat dead center on its' small head. It simply walked down to the bottom of the ramp and stood, turning its torso left and right as it surveyed the area. The guards all snapped to attention. Twenty guards, plus one giant… something. One officer and twenty soldiers, or four officers in command of a five man squad, four squads in total. Or two dual officers per eight soldiers for two ten man squads. Or maybe their command officers were all safely aboard the craft. Popiana hoped they'd do something to give away their command structure; you couldn't decapitate fighting forces if you don't know who the leaders are.
More aliens walked down the ramps, these seemed to be the Gaian delegates themselves if their more relaxed uniforms were any indication.
"Quarians." The salarian SPECTRE's interrupted. "Amazing similarities to quarians."
"Asari, you mean." Another SPECTRE. "Their females look asari."
"Asari don't have hair," the quick talking SPECTRE rebutted, "Quarians do. Admittedly, body structure similar to asari in the females, but facially they share more similarities with quarians: eyebrows, ear structure, and prevalence of hair on the tops of the head. Simi-"
"This is not the time to discuss this. Get your fucking game faces on." Popiana threatened into the channel. "Vrel, I want you to get some heavy weapons trained on that big guy. Watch for any sudden moves; be ready to initiate a strike on them if hostilities break out. Nyiyme, be ready with biotics to put some space between us and them."
The rest of the SPECTRES acknowledged her orders as the C-Sec officers coordinated with their own department around her. Popiana focused on the delegation as they met in the center of the docs, cameras in the distance flashing as the press recorded another history formal first contact. There was enough security here to prevent any sort of nonsense anyone could try to pull. And Vrel was currently aiming more ordinance at that big guy than an IFV could handle. But she was still uneasy. The security detail was working off of so many assumptions, none of which had to be true. And she'd talked to Vakarian when he'd returned from his secret mission, hidden even from other SPECTREs, and he was spooked.
And if the Hero of the Citadel was spooked, then she was too.
Garrus idly wondered how everyone would react if they knew these Gaians had literally vanished a star only a few days ago. He had of course protested when the Council had decided to keep that information secret even from his own fellow SPECTREs. They thought the SPECTREs had enough on their minds organizing this security detail without also being burdened with the knowledge of their capabilities and actions at Dholen. He disagreed and secretly let fly a few details to Popiana, though if she was just as nervous as he was then she wasn't showing it. Or STG had intercepted his message and she was as blissfully ignorant as everyone else. He hated cover-ups… though he admitted that they were sometimes useful. The Reaper cover-up came to mind, the increased militarization in preparation for those damned machines was being carried out in an orderly, timely fashion. Perhaps this operation was being carried out flawlessly because of that withheld information.
He still didn't like it.
It didn't help that these Gaians seemed to be bringing the news of another cosmic horror from beyond, one that they had been completely ignorant of until now, though at the very least they had claimed that they would be open to working with the Citadel on containing this new threat, this Filth. He had to admit, that the Gaians seemed normal, no more different than any other race he'd encountered. The visual similarities to asari and quarians perhaps made interactions with them go smoother. Everyone seemed to have noticed this, including the Gaians themselves, and would no doubt be a topic of conversation once some of the salarian delegates got to talking.
"This one finds your physical appearance interesting," one of the hanar delegates began, slowly moving along with the group, "This one suggests it is only another facet of the grand plan of the Enkindlers."
Garrus fought to keep his face schooled, the last thing anyone wanted now was some sort of diplomatic incident caused over religious differences.
"The Enkindlers?" one of the Gaians asked, a female of darker skin coloration than the others. "Are they your deities?"
Garrus and Tevos ahead of him, seemed to relax, the Gaian's tone sounding genuinely inquisitive rather than offended. Garrus wondered how much they had managed to learn about Citadel culture before Dholen. It seemed like they had only gathered very basic knowledge, the general names of each species, the name of the government, some basic translation software. He wasn't much for talking, but he was glad to know that their diplomats wouldn't be holding all the cards in these talks, both sides would be learning about each other.
"The Enkindlers raised this one's kind from a mindless, animal existence. They gave this one's kind the gift of language and thought. This one is of the belief that the Enkindler's have had similar hands in the development of all kinds. From the creation of the mass relays and the Citadel, even the appearance of the quarians and asari. This one sees their hand in your appearance."Amusing conjecture.
Alright, now the hanar was getting dangerously preachy.
"Ah, a theologian at heart." The dark Gaian smirked, the similarities to quarians and asari more evident in their facial language. "I'm sure our religious figures will have… interesting conversations with yours." The Gaian looked up, admiring the artificial sky of the Presidium. "These Enkindler's built this station? Where have they gone?"
"The Prothean disappearance is a great mystery to our historians," Councilor Tevos jumped in, hoping to steer the conversation into a less religiously charged direction, "No one conclusively knows what caused their disappearance 50,000 years ago," Sparatus and Garrus shared a quick glance, "But of course we have many theories. But our hanar colleague is quite right; all mass effect technology is derived from Prothean technology, this very station is of Prothean construction. Without the Protheans galactic civilization would not be possible."
Garrus caught two of the Gaians lean into each other and whisper.
"Third Age."
One of the Gaian delegates, who seemed to be blind yet moved as if he was not, had a confused look on his face.
"Excuse me Councilor… Tevos?" the Gaian asked, stumbling over the asari's rather common name. "But could you have not simply developed an analogue to the -Spirit- Drive?"
Garrus and the rest of the Citadel delegation looked oddly at the Gaian, though of course he could not see their looks.
"I'm sorry Ambassador Suhiro, I didn't quite catch that. A -Goddess- Drive?"
"Councilor, he said -Spirit- Drive," a turian delegate mentioned.
"This one heard -Enkindler's Dream- Drive." The hanar glowed with pride.
"Perhaps we are experiencing some translator troubles," Valern interjected, several of the more technically savvy delegates nodding along, one of them opening their omnitools and fiddling with their translation software. "But are you referring to your particular method of faster than light travel? If so, we admit that we are quite interested in your method. Our own research into alternate FTL has yielded no results, mass effect is, until we saw your vessel, the only method we've known."
"Fascinating," the blind Gaian said, a smile on his old face. "So many new things to learn. So much to take into account."
The procession stopped at the Citadel's conference building, a great building dwarfed in galactic importance only by the Citadel Tower, one where all the Council races could be heard equally. Garrus smirked, he always appreciated the conference building much more than the Tower which gave the impression of groveling to the big three races. This is probably why the Council seemed to dislike it so much. It was much more faux democratic than the Tower could ever hope to be.
It was time to go in, and time to get some answers.
Garrus' omnitool auto-updated his translation software, adding in several new words picked up during the conversation.
"Gaia-clan," the volus ambassador Boda wheezed, "your species is not called Gaians?"
"That is correct," again it was the blind Suhiro who spoke, Garrus seemed to think he held some informal respect among his kind. "Our species is referred to as human. We use the term Gaians for two reasons, solidarity to our fellow allies back on Gaia and out of respect for Gaia Herself."
"Mentioned multiple species on Gaia," one of the salarian scientists mentioned, his eyes scanning over his notes, "You've mentioned satyrs, ghouls, spirits, faeries, an-excuse me, I'm having trouble with these pronunciations. But there are multiple intelligent species here, all with their own cultures and societies, several of which predate humans?"
"Yes ambassador," another Gaian-human replied, the dark color female from earlier. "However, the Sampson is mostly crewed by humans and our sole satyr crewmember refused to step outside. He claimed the atmosphere was hostile to him."
"Interesting," the scientist went on, Garrus agreeing with him. Garrus hadn't heard of several intelligent species evolving on a single world. They were a Citadel all in their own right.
"What do you think?"
Garrus turned, Popiana next to him in her black armor.
"They are… interesting. Friendly enough so far."
"But?" she proded.
"But I get the feeling that we're about to get a lot of headaches." Of course Popiana knew nothing about Dholen, about the Filth.
"Really?" Popiana leaned on the railing, "These critters don't seem the type. Even the big guy outside their ship seems harmless. You should see the extranet news, Haliana from NNN has been trying to get an interview with it for the past few minutes." She smirked, "The guards don't seem well armored either. We could take 'em."
"Maybe." Garrus halfheartedly agreed.
"Politics are so stressful," Popiana purred, her tone catching Garrus' attention. "Maybe we can have another sparring match later to… de-stress. I wonder if you still have reach."
Garrus' acceptance was cut off when the Gaian delegation whispered among themselves after Councilor Tevos asked a particular question.
"I think we've hit another cross-cultural snag Councilors," Suhiro smiled, "While Miss Gambaryan is right in that Gaia is the central figure in a few of our religions, Gaia herself is very real. As real as you or me."
Oh, a religious conversation. Garrus blithely thought.
The Councilors looked unconvinced.
"She goes by many names, the BioTech Computer, the Mother Goddess, the Immaculate Machine," Garrus' head snapped to the speaker, the word machine triggering something in his mind. "It was Gaia Herself that gave us -Spirits-, that gave us the -Spirit- Drive, Her actions that turned the tide in the Purge and Gaia Herself that caused our meeting. Like the Enkindlers for the esteemed hanar ambassador, Gaia is a known fact that all Gaians embrace." The conference chamber was silent, the Citadel officials unaware how to respond to the human's impassioned religious preaching. The old Suhiro seemed to hesitate for a moment and shared a look among his own kind. "There may be many assumptions we are coming from that we may have to re-examine." His group murmured in agreement. "Perhaps, we should explain ourselves more clearly." Garrus leaned forward in anticipation, as did all the Citadel officials. "I will begin anew," Suhiro cleared his throat, "And tell our whole story."
And then he told them everything. And their minds shuddered under the scorching truth.
Lore:The Citadel Species 2
The Rising Sun has sunk beneath the boiling oceans. Strike all but five stars from the Flag. The Dark Continent is under perpetual chemotherapy, it glows golden radiation. Time knits itself back together, the mollusk stream ate through the fabric. On beautiful mornings you look up into the sky, burned images of tentacled stratospheres and wailing faces look back at you.
Blind the Eye, slay the Dragon, erase the Purple. The Iron Cross clings to desperate life.
Strike 6 billion Sweetlings.
Lore:The Fifth Age 2
Sweetling, you see new skull-flesh on old strangers. The blue succubi wear the same colors. The avian warriors bear the heavy cross. The calculating reptiles find the order in chaos. Has nothing changed?
Sweetling, do not fret. They lack what you do.