First things first, thought Captain Evarian.
"Helm, are we safe?" he snapped.
"Aye sir, we're far enough from the black hole to maintain a stable orbit. It's a small one, maybe 5 solar masses. Wouldn't want to get too much closer though."
Evarian sighed and flexed his mandibles for a few moments, working out the stress he was feeling. They were safe, they were here. He turned to the human.
"This is your home system? A black-hole for a star? How did your people survive?"
The human's response was unintelligible, a long string of hoots, hums, grunts and clicks. After a moment, it spoke in turian.
"Black-hole? Turian word strange. No, Eater-of-Spirits new. It came. Sun died. We did not."
"Sir, I'm picking up four planets in this system, all with erratic orbits. The second one out from the black-hole is technically habitable, if you were a krogan or a vorcha."
The human spat gibberish again, before saying "Yes, human home second world. Star-home is third."
"Star-home?" Evarian asked.
"Turian will see. Go to human home now, yes?" said the human, after another burst of nonsense.
Evarian nodded. There were so many questions to ask, so many answers he needed. Hopefully, the human homeworld would provide them.
The human started muttering quietly. Evarian suddenly realised it was talking to the omnitool, building up language for it to process. He shook his head. The human's continual use of broken Turian had given a false impression of a simple, primitive mind.
"Helm, take us to the second planet," he ordered. "And see if you can get some scans of the third one on our way in."
X
"We've got a message from Mars. The Relay activated."
Arquin raised his head from the small mountain range of paperwork that covered his scavenged desk. The light from outside lit his office well enough, though it cast strange, long shadows. A messenger stood before him, hints of frost clinging to the edges of her light-weight armour. He chided himself for not hearing her enter. He placed a report on a nearby pile and shifted in his wooden chair.
"A ship has returned?" he asked, hopeful.
"No sir," replied the messenger, "Mars says multiple contacts, all bigger than anything we sent through."
Arquin looked at the young messenger over his old worn glasses for a moment. Then he laughed. His laugh was deep, and booming, and went on for a while. The messenger shifted uncomfortably.
"Sir? I don't see what's funny."
Arquin quietened, still chuckling slightly. "Ah, forgive me young one. When you get older, you'll realise that a robust sense of humour is essential for survival."
Arquin sighed and wiped his eyes. "Three hundred years, and Nemesis knows how many before that until the Protheans. All that time, and it is now that we meet alien life."
"But sir, what if they're here to attack?" asked the messenger worriedly.
"That is what is so funny. After all we've been through, after all we have suffered and survived, we get an alien invasion placed atop it all. Almost makes you believe in a god, just to have someone to blame," said Arquin.
He stood. He was old now, almost fifty, but his body was still strong. He stood almost a full foot taller than the young, fast messenger, and the corded muscles of his arms stood out under dark grey skin as he stretched.
"Has Mars made contact with the alien fleet yet?" he asked.
"No sir. I think they've gone dark, trying to avoid detection. The only other thing they said was that the alien fleet contains large amounts of Element Zero."
Arquin raised an eyebrow. "Only Element Zero? They mentioned nothing else?"
"They checked, sir. No trace. Not even a whiff."
Arquin smiled. "Well, that's certainly interesting. I believe we have a few preparations to do. These might be friendly aliens, after all."
Arquin grabbed his thick long-coat from its peg near the door and swept it on.
"Head to the transmitter tower, get any messages the other enclaves have sent, then tell them to contact all settlements. Let everyone know what's happening. Then gather the militia, and meet me at the docks. Tell them to bring their families."
The messenger nodded once, and followed Arquin out through the series of thick doors. Outside, the pale green light cast vast, dark shadows like viridian moonlight. Her breath frosting in the cool air, the messenger nodded once, then vanished in a green-wreathed blur. Arquin watched the slim youngster's glow disappear around a far corner and sighed. He'd never got the hang of continuous Charging, although he could do short bursts of staggering power.
At least the docks aren't far, he thought as he began to walk downhill, a bright light shining in the pure black sky above him.
X
"Entering orbit around the second planet now, sir," said Helm.
"What...are those?" Evarian asked. He thought humanity must run out of surprises soon. Either that, or the spirits had decided to use up an entire galaxy's worth of strangeness in a single system.
"Stars." said the human, or more precisely, its omnitool. In the last hour, the omnitool had began translating for the human, albeit at not much better quality that its own broken turian. Still, it got better with every word.
"Stars?" said Evarian. Below him was what would have been called the nightside of the planet, if there was still a sun. He could see almost a dozen green points of light, each strong enough that it illuminated hundreds, if not thousands, of square kilometres of land. Marking the border between light and dark were vast storm systems
"Yes, stars. Our sun die, eaten. We make new ones," answered the human.
"You made new suns? How?" asked a shocked Evarian.
The human's omnitool hissed and refused to translate the answer. In turian the human spoke, "Device not like words. Big words. Hard words. Tell turian when device smarter, yes?"
"Very well. Is there anywhere we should contact?" he asked. He wanted as few surprises as possible from here on in. He knew he would be disappointed, but he still hoped.
"I have codes. Show how to set frequency?"
Evarian nodded, and the human spoke briefly with the Ensign, who looked slightly nervous about working with the being who had given him a concussion.
After a few minutes work, the human straightened and smiled. "We have connection. Let me do introductions."
X
Arquin turned from his conversation with the Trader Captain as the sound of a terminating Charge boomed in the cold air. The young messenger from before was glistening with sweat, but still standing straight. She swung a telecom pack from her shoulders, and passed the receiver to him.
"There's been contact. One of the ships we sent out met the fleet above us. Apparently, they're here to help," said the messenger.
Arquin looked at the messenger's faintly trembling hand for a moment before taking the receiver. "You ran across half the enclave with this on your back, didn't you?"
"Yes sir. Tower's too far out of town, it was quicker this way. They said they'd call once they'd patched you in," she responded.
"Good thinking. Now, go get something to eat, and take a break. No need to kill yourself. Be back here once you've caught your breath," he said.
She nodded, and took off again.
"So, will you still be needing us?" asked the Trader Captain.
"Yes, I think so. Better to err on the side of caution. You have the room?" Arquin asked, turning back to face him.
The Trader nodded, and scratched idly at his thick grey beard. "We just finished offloading. Was still arguing with your dock-master about the exchange rate of a few things."
"I can see that you get a discount for doing this," said Arquin.
"No," said the Captain, shaking his head, "This is service. What kind of person would I be if I bargained for the offer of aid. Buy me and my crew drinks when all is said and done; that will suffice."
Arquin smiled. "You're a good man, Captain."
A series of buzzing hums and thunder-cracks sounded as groups of people began to arrive on the old stone and wood docks.
"Arquin! What's happening?" yelled an older lady as she strode up to him.
"We have an alien fleet in orbit, Tabin." he responded.
She raised an eyebrow as the group began to mutter. "Alien fleet? Really Arquin?"
"We have confirmation from Mars. The Relay is active, and more ships than we sent are coming through it. However," he said, hefting the telecom pack, "one of our crews are aboard, and they say the aliens are friendly. I'm expecting a call any minute."
"Friendly?" Tabin asked, eyebrow still raised menacingly.
"So they say. Still, the Captain here as offered to take everyone he can and head for deep water. Children first, of course."
"Of course. Well," she yelled, spinning to face to group, "You heard Arquin. Kids to the front, then parents, plus a volunteer group for protection."
The children and several parents moved forwards, some hugging their mothers or fathers goodbye as they stayed behind. No one else moved.
Tabin sighed. "It's not running, and it ain't cowardice. We need at least five volunteers to guard the children," she snapped, "or are you more concerned with valour than our future?"
Several moments of shifting and muttering passed before several people stepped forwards and joined the children's group.
"Good. Now kids, who here has seen a Trader before?" she asked.
Some of the children raised their hands.
"Who has ever been inside one?" she asked.
All the hands went down.
"Well, today you get to go for a ride in one, until we can be sure that our visitors are nice. It's like a bunker drill, but not underground."
The chattering of the children indicated that that sounded like a lot of fun.
"OK, Captain, if you would take it from here?" she said.
"Sure. Alright everyone, all aboard this boat here."
The children looked disappointedly at one of the enclave's old boats.
"No," he chuckled, "this isn't my ship. My ship's too big to come in this close to land. Your dock-master is going to take us out, then we'll get to see my ship."
Slightly buoyed by this promise, the children and attendant adults trooped aboard.
Tabin sighed as she watched them go.
"You could go with them," said Arquin.
She turned to glare at him. "I may have been a teacher for the last fifteen years, but I was a scout and a scrapper for thirty before that. They have guards. Now I'll do my part to ensure they have a school to come back to."
Arquin shook his head and smiled. "We'll be glad to have you Tabin. Feel like running a pack?"
Tabin smiled. "I see some old students who always used to sneak off to 'train'. Let's see how much they actually learned."
She turned to group and yelled "Alber! Geor! Tasha! Vince! With me! We've got armour to fetch and defences to staff! Come on!"
Grey-haired and silver-skinned, Tabin vanished in a green blur, quickly followed by four more.
Arquin smiled as he watched her go. Tabin was the oldest member of their enclave, pushing 60. In fact, she was the oldest person he knew.
The receiver chirped loudly in his hand.
X
"This is Arquin, administrator of Enclave Seven. To whom am I speaking?"
The voice startled Evarian. After the human had made contact with its people below, there had been an interminable wait as preparations were made and authorities contacted. At least, that's what he assumed 'getting the big man' meant. The human had used that break to improve the translator's vocabulary, which was expanding rapidly.
"This Captain Evarian, of the 23rd Turian Patrol Fleet. We encountered one of your ships, and its crew requested aid. We are here to evaluate the situation, and take a diplomatic envoy to the Citadel Council," he said.
"Thank you for your offer, Captain. It is quite surprising to meet another race so soon in our explorations, but heartening to hear of your nobility," replied the voice of Arquin.
Evarian smirked internally. A politician. Of course.
"While it is truly a wonderful thing to talk to a member of another race, might I speak with Riahs?"
Evarian's moment of confusion was brief. The human stepped forwards and spoke.
"Hello Arquin. Don't worry too much, these guys have some fancy tech and big guns, but they're honourable," said the human, whose name apparently was Riahs.
"You can guarantee that?" asked Arquin.
"Due to...circumstances, I did a partial bond with Captain Evarian. We know enough of each other to at least be willing to see how things are. I trust him, and he trusts his people. Best I can offer."
Evarian was caught slightly off-guard by Riahs's display of trust in him. Did he trust Riahs? After a moment's thought, he realised that he had invited an unknown alien aboard his ship, then agreed to go visit its homeworld. He supposed he must trust him. He pondered for a moment whether he'd been influenced, but concluded that he simply had a feeling about Riahs, an understanding of the male's character.
"Thank you, Riahs. Captain Evarian, this is a very awkward way to conduct a first contact meeting, although I suppose this is technically second contact," said Arquin.
Evarian recalled the medical report on the first team of Turian marines to contact the human crew, and hoped that this would go smoother.
"Yes, it would perhaps be best to meet face-to-face. Can you designate a landing site near your location?" Evarian asked.
"There's an old airfield nearby. Riahs should be able to pick it out for you. We would prefer it if only a small group came down. People are worried enough as it is, I'm sure you understand."
Evarian understood. He was about to land on planet whose sun had been swallowed by a black-hole, to meet a race of amped-up biotics in a town whose primary source of heat and light was an unshielded artificial star. Yes, people were worried. He was people.
"Of course. We will send a shuttle down shortly," he responded.
"Thank you, Captain. I hope the futures of our two peoples is a warm one."
X
Arquin replaced the receiver in the telecom pack's side, and sighed. He looked over his shoulder at the cold, black ocean, and watched the as the last of the children boarded the Trader ship. The metal monstrosity began to head slowly towards the distant ice pack.
The young messenger stood at his side. The rest of the militia had gone by now, split off into hunting packs. He turned to her, and said, "I need you to find Tabin. Tell her that the aliens will be landing at the old airfield, and that we don't want them dead. Too many ships up above. If diplomacy fails, aim for capture."
"Yes sir. Anything else?"
"No. If you need to find me, I'll be visiting the Dockside beam station before heading to the airfield."
The messenger froze for a moment. Arquin smiled sadly. This was a smart one. She knew what that meant.
"Will that really be necessary?" she asked.
"I hope not, but what did Nemesis teach us about hope?" he said ruefully. "Now go."
She nodded and vanished.
It was much further to the airfield than it was to his office, so Arquin borrowed a car. The ancient things, repaired and rebuilt a dozen times over, were quite valuable. Arquin figure this was a special occasion however, and squeezed himself into the driver's seat, slotting the telecom pack into the passenger seat beside him. At least this one had a windshield, and some parts of the bodywork hadn't been re-purposed as scrap. Checking that the battery was charged, he drove off towards his first destination.
The Dockside beam station was one of three such devices, located equidistant from the centre of the enclave. It was Mars tech, and Arquin only understood enough to help keep it running. From what he heard, even the Martians didn't know how some of it functioned.
Arquin parked his car on the small hill occupied by the station. The beam station was a short, squat lighthouse, with a beam of pale green flaring from its peak into the star that hovered above. The station's outer wall was scrap metal and stone; whatever could be found to reinforce it. Arquin approached the door, and entered a long code into the lock. The thick metal clicked open, and he entered.
Inside, smooth metal and stranger materials formed the beam device itself. Meticulously crafted, beam devices were the current pinnacle of human engineering. Even the stars themselves were merely trinkets without the beams to feed and stabilise them.
Arquin did not pause as he approached a control panel. Remembering the sequence to activate, he adjusted the station's settings and connected the control panel to the telecom pack. He selected a key-code, and waited as the devices synced. After a small beep sounded, he removed the pack, and left the station.
As he re-entered the car, he allowed himself a short moment to consider the magnitude of what he had just done, and may yet have to do.
The moment passed, and he drove off towards the airfield.
X
The shuttle bucked sharply, slamming Evarian against the hull.
"Sorry!" said Riahs cheerfully. "The storms can be a bit rough."
Surrounding every "enclave", as the humans named their settlements, was a storm. It was a storm Evarian had never seen the like of, and neither had anyone else. Formed by the collision between the almost literally frozen air of the wastes and the air heated by the stars, the storm was a circular, steadily rotating mass. Too small and slow to be considered a cyclone, it was still a towering wall of powerful winds and some truly terrifying lightning.
When Evarian had told the shuttle pilot where they were heading, he'd been politely informed that if they cut too close to the storm, they'd be hitting the ground in pieces.
Evarian had responded that the other option was to fly nearer to the star.
The pilot had given a crisp Turian salute and a "Yes sir!" that had just screamed "We're all going to die".
The shuttle dropped sharply, and Evarian found himself weightless for a moment, before it jerked up again, slamming everyone downwards.
Modern shuttles were designed with integrated mass effect fields that could be precisely adjusted to suit a number of conditions. However, the shuttle's VI was struggling to cope with the turbulent winds.
Suddenly, blissfully, everything went calm.
"We've made past the outer layers, sir." called the relieved shuttle pilot. "It's still pretty rough, but we can handle it."
"Do you have a clear line of approach to the landing field?" Evarian asked.
"Yes sir. Should be there in a few minutes," came the reply.
Evarian nodded, and thought. This was a far from optimal situation, and so much was still unknown. The scans of the third planet in this system, called "Mars" according to Riahs, had turned up nothing. Riahs had promised answers once they had landed.
A count of all visible 'stars' had totalled 37, each supporting a small enclave of anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 humans. Other smaller heat signatures had hinted at underground or underwater outposts, but were too small to be anything self-supporting. At first count, it appeared that the human race's total population was somewhere between 1 and 4 million.
Evarian's home city had a larger population.
Of most concern to him were the readings from the humans, their ship, and their stars. They were identical. The emissions looked similar to those produced by active Element Zero, but didn't match. At their first encounter with the human ship, they'd assumed a primitive and inefficient eezo core was to blame. If that was the case, however, why did their biotics emit the same corrupted wavelengths? Perhaps most concerning was the fact that these altered mass effect emissions seemed much more volatile. Scans and comparisons of the humans and their ship had led to simulations, which had led to the conclusion that eezo couldn't produce the effects they were witnessing. They still had no idea what could.
"Touching down in one minute, sir." said the pilot.
Evarian straightened, and quickly checked his armour. He'd been worried for a moment that the humans might insist on clothing for a diplomatic meeting, but Riahs had asked if Evarian enjoyed temperatures barely above freezing, and indicated that armour would probably be appreciated as a show of strength and technology.
He glanced up and saw Riahs finish adjusting his own armour. Riahs raised his head and grinned.
"Time to make history, right Evarian?" he said, using Evarian's name for the first time.
The shuttle touched down remarkably smoothly for all the turbulence of the storm.
Evarian took a breath and relaxed his stiffened mandibles. Riahs was right. He could feel history sitting on his shoulder. Humans were going to change the galaxy, and every Citadel race would look to what he did next.
The door hissed open and bitingly cold air flowed in.
Evarian looked to Riahs, and nodded once.
"Time to make history, Riahs." he echoed, and stepped out of the shuttle.