Hey Guys, I'm back. It's been a few hectic weeks for me, and I was, and still am, dealing with some stuff that takes priority over writing. However, I found the time in between to finish this chapter, and promise to update a bit earlier for the next part, although it will take a few weeks again. Anyways, I really enjoyed your reactions on the previous chapter, and love to answer your questions. However, please PM me if you have any and don't have an account on the site, as answering them in the A/N is a bit of a hassle.

Anyways, let's continue the story:

Chapter 3: The duty of Mankind

Soon after the conversation between the Prime of the Oviallan and Captain Jonathan Walker was over, the Oviallan station, or rather ship, shifted its form slightly, revealing an opened hatch and docking port on the side facing the human explorer. The design of the ship, not even revealing the presence of such port without shifting, was ingenious to say the least, although one might argue that a human ship's complete stealth field was more effective. Mere seconds after the hatch appeared, a human shuttle decloaked near the station/ship, as the Into the Abyss was still not visible, and would remain so for quite a bit longer. It made its way to said docking port, its adaptive port easily adjusting to the foreign docking systems present on the Oviallan vessel.

The doors of the shuttle deployed a set of enviro-shields, and the corridor between the shuttle and the station was set up with decontamination procedures. The three Oviallan primes arrived at the docking bay soon after, and obtained their first sighting of human ship technology.

"Now that is a shuttle!" said one of the Primes enthusiastically.

The shuttle itself was arrow shaped, with a set of foldable wings usable for atmospheric flight that were folded upright at the moment and stored in a 'cavity' in the side of the shuttle, creating a once more aerodynamic shape while not denying the practical applications it was capable of. A set of three high-density plasma thrusters extruded slightly out from the back of the hull, their blue glow giving the craft a majestic appearance and engulfing the hangar bay with its presence. The top of the shuttle was rather flat, except for a few faint lines that could barely be made out, underneath which a set of quantum particle accelerator turrets were hidden, ready to tear through any opposing vessel. Along the back of the craft there were a few sets of emission ports that all gave off a soft blue hue as well. The 'cockpit' of the ship was situated in the front of the arrow-vessel, protected by several centimetres of humanities' densest materials and a few layers of specialised energy shielding. Whilst windows were completely unnecessary, for aesthetic purposes the cockpit looked like it had them, although they were completely hull integrated refractor windows that relayed visual information through the thick armour via quantum systems.

The three Primes entered the decontamination chamber, and waited for to be cleared for entry.

"Atmospheric compatibility established, welcome aboard," said Selene with a robotic voice, mimicking a V.I.

Prime Jin-Sulan took the lead as the three of them entered the human shuttle, which normally offered space for about 20 men or women. There was a set of seats ordered in neat rows of five, accompanied by a couple of refractor windows offering a nice view of the surroundings whilst maintaining maximum structural integrity.

"Welcome aboard," said the pilot of the shuttle, "We'll be inside the main hangar of the Into the Abyss within a few seconds, so you don't have to bother taking seats. Please, enjoy."

The shuttle then activated its gravity manipulating thrusters to position itself, and shot away from the station, powered by the plasma-engines. It literally reached the main ship within a few seconds, and touched down in its designated landing location, after having passed through the still invisible hangar energy field.

"Pressure and atmospheric match confirmed. Hatch opening," Selene droned, maintaining the same robotic tone.

A few servicemen and women were awaiting the Primes in the hangar, along with a small delegation including XO Everheart. When the three Oviallan primes exited the shuttle, and got their first view of the hangar, they stopped for a moment to gaze around and take in the sights. There were dozens of shuttles neatly docked at their respective stations with tiny little drones working on maintenance or performing systems checks. Along the back wall of the hangar there were a couple of larger land based vehicles using anti-gravity engines for hovering and propulsion. There were dark grey walkways above them, adorned with more of the bluish light and several 'beams' leading from the higher walkways to the lower ones, seemingly to transport cargo or people. The walkways, both lower and upper, led to a section along the back wall of the hangar that had the markings of a control centre overlooking the entire area.

"Primes of the Oviallan, please follow me," began XO Everheart, "The captain is awaiting you on one of our diplomatic decks, where we have a room ready for you."

The three Primes followed her silently, each one of them taking in the many facets of the human explorer class vessel. They were particularly amazed at the inter-ship transport system, muttering sentences and words of praise and admiration during the entirety of their one and a half minute walk to the diplomatic decks, where Walker was waiting.

As the group reached the designated conference room, Catherine gave a quick neural command to open the door, guiding the three Primes in. The conference room itself was very lightly furnished, with only a large oval Holotable surrounded by 12 dark, metallic seats that seemed to be dotted with an array of small bluish lights along the spine.

"Please, have a seat," said Walker as the group entered the room, "the seats will automatically adjust to your physiology, so no worries there." When they had all done so, the Primes' seats having transformed into one of their classic seats much to their amazement, Walker activated the subspace link to Terran High Command and the Terran High Council far away in the Sol system.

Soon after the link was established and stabilised, 7 holographic avatars appeared, seated in the still empty chairs, two of them bearing the marks of admiralty, the others having the characteristic look of Terran politicians. A thing they all had in common was to the stoic look upon their faces as their eyes scanned the Oviallans.

"Greetings, Primes of the Oviallan," began one of the politicians, "My name is Councillor Serentsov, Councillor of Terra and member of the Terran High Council. To my right are Councillor Nahakamura, Councillor of Luna, and Councillor Ahmerabad, Councillor of Juno. On my left, we have Councillor Avery of Mars and Councillor Osten, of Avalon."

"We would greet you in the name of Humanity and its Terran Confederation. Your short discussion with Captain Walker here has already been analysed and discussed within the Lower Chambers, and as such we believe we will be able to conclude today's meeting with a satisfying result, for both parties. But for now, let me introduce you to Fleet Admiral Stohl, High Commander of the Confederation Navy, and Rear Admiral Grissom, Commander of 10th Exploration Flotilla."

Both of the military men gave a short salute at their introduction in typical human fashion.

"We are honoured to meet you, Councillors. I am Prime Awei-Jin of the Oviallan Triumvirate, to my left is Prime Jin-Sulan and to my right Prime An-abin."

"Let us discuss the matter at hand then," said Councillor Avery, "In your short discussion with Captain Walker, it was mentioned that your species is in dire need of a planet, and transportation to said planet, am I correct?"

"Yes, Councillor. The Ark we have built can endure for many more millennia, but we are, so to say, grounded. However, before we start any true negotiations, I would like to continue the story of our Exodus, as I left out two vital facts in my telling to your Captain here."

The councillors all gave each other a knowing look, and Walker narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Primes.

"I have told you all about our dying star, and our flight onto two large spacecraft known to us as Arks. However, that is not where the story ends, as the Ark currently next to your ship is vastly different from the one we left our planet with."

"In the years after our exodus from our home system, we came across a suitable planet for the restoration of our people, and we re-established our race there. One of the two Arks was used for raw materials and tech, whilst the other was kept intact in the case of another possible exodus."

"It took decades to rebuild pieces of our society, but we were able to achieve some resemblance to the Oviallan of old, even re-established our space-program. We started creating new, small spaceships capable of travelling the stars using Mass-Effect fields, and we turned the remaining ark into our main station-hub. The system we currently reside in was found not long after, and the natural radiation and high luminosity of the star made this place an ideal hiding place. A safe haven, so to speak."

"Our society prospered once more with our population reaching the 1 million mark after about a century, during which we continued advancing our technology, most noteworthy of them our stellar shielding plate which can be admired on the Ark here."

Walker looked at Awei-Jin, and cleared his throat, "Why didn't you consider using energy shielding? The shielding method you applied to ark seems… very expensive, no?"

"Barriers do not block heat and energy, surely you know this?" Awei-Jin said, slightly taken aback.

Walker was about to speak up when he was silenced by Grissom, "They do not, no. Please continue, Prime."

"Yes, of course," said Awei-Jin whilst Grissom gave Walker a strict look to ensure he knew that he had been interrupted for a reason.

"About two decades after our society had reached the 1 million again, we found an object in space we called a Mass Relay, which soon led to contact with other species, but they were not friendly. The race we encountered had millions of warships half the size of our Arks, with long arms making them look almost organic! And they fired on us without prejudice after following us back to our new home system."

"We tried to fight them, but it was hopeless, and our Ark barely made it out of the system. We entered this system for protection, and activated our cryostasis, entering the deep slumber until we would be found, as we had used up all our available fuel sources, and had no viable way of ascertaining if our new enemies were gone."

The three Primes looked at all the humans around the table with sad gaze, and Awei-Jin continued, "So here we stand, hopelessly beaten, not once, but twice, asking for another chance for our society. The Ark itself could bring us to a new planet, but it needs fuel we don't have…"

The councillors looked at each other, communicating with their neural links and agreeing on the proper way to proceed, before Osten spoke up, "Fuel could be delivered to you, but we can offer you something safer. As your Ark is a very old construct, we would not wish it upon you to have to rely on its systems to get around. To remedy that, we can send in an Erebus-class Construction ship that has a large enough docking bay to connect to your ship and bring it somewhere new."

The Primes widened their almost completely black eyes in surprise, "You have ships capable of tugging an Ark?" asked Jin-Sulan bewildered.

"We do," said Osten, "And we can have one in system within a day, if this is acceptable to you."

"It would be… very welcome, but without a destination we're still only halfway there…"

The human councillors shared another neural discussion, after which Serentsov spoke up again, "Yes, let's talk about your destination."

"Let me start by stating a few facts about Humanity and the Terran Confederation," he began.

"Humanity has had a rather tumultuous past, having fought wars against our own for millennia. All this occurred on our homeworld, known to us as Earth, or Terra using the proper terminology. However, everything changed when we discovered alien ruins on a planet in our home system, known as Mars, where we found evidence of an empire being struck down by the very race you described attacking you."

"This… changed our perspective, and induced radical changes into our society, most notable among them being the formation of the Confederation. We closed off our home system and started building our own proper infrastructure, defences and most of all; we started funding abnormally high amounts of research."

"We did this for a very long time, and have only just emerged from our self-imposed isolation. If you would like, we would show you just how much we have accomplished, and what we can offer you."

The Primes all nodded in acknowledgement, glad that humanity seemed more than willing to help the Oviallan. A condensed representation of the Solar system appeared above the holo-table, albeit the version before LEAP.

"This was our home system before we ventured out into space, with our home planet, Earth, or Terra, being the only garden world in the system. She had a capability to sustain about 20 billion of our kind back then, but nothing more, and overpopulation became one of our most pressing issues," Serentsov said as the holotable zoomed in on pre-Chronosphere Earth.

"To solve this, humanity turned her attention to Mars, a sister planet to Terra, and one with great terraforming potential."

The primes looked at the human councillors with a questioning look, "Your kind actively terraforms planets? Isn't that draining your economy from any resources you have, crippling you financially?"

"Mars certainly was expensive, yes, but very much worth it. Terraforming simply was the next step in the colonization of our solar system, even though it took over a century to do so."

"A century?" one of the Primes mumbled, "Your kind certainly does not live on haste then…"

"On the contrary, honourable Prime, Humans used to tend to rush into things back then. A century of terraforming was considered a rushed effort in those years. But let me continue," Serentsov said.

The representation of the solar system continued on, showing Mars slowly transforming into the vibrant planet it is today.

"After the terraforming of Mars we turned our gaze on Venus, another world with a high terraforming potential. It took us longer to change this planet, but after another 200 years we had made Venus our home as well, and we were venturing out into the asteroid belts."

"Next, we terraformed our Moon, Luna, and most of the other Moons of major planets within our system to some degree, and humanity was living everywhere in our system. But during the 27th and 28th centuries we accomplished something bigger, something grander than we could've ever imagined back then."

Jin-Sulan spoke up, "How long ago was this 27th century?"

"About 9 millennia ago," answered Councillor Avery.

"9 millennia…?" Jin-Sulan muttered, flabbergasted.

"Yes, but let's go on," Serentsov said, "It was during these two centuries that we built our first Megastructure, the artificial Ringworld around Earth. Where Earth is scientifically known as Terra, this ring is known as Alta Terra, usually dubbed Alterra."

The holo-table now displayed the ring-world, including the tethers that led back to some of Terra's major population centres.

The three Oviallan Primes seemed awestruck, not even trying to utter words of amazement.

"Over the next few millennia we continued developing all the various branches of technology. We created Starmines capable of lifting raw matter from stars itself, converting it to any substance we require using quantum nano-technology. One of the Gas giants in our home system was changed into a small artificial star that now provides life to billions of organisms. And lastly, we started creating our own planets, Juno, Apollo, Minerva and Avalon."

"Just before our emergence, our home system of Sol contained 16 Garden Worlds, all of them as beautiful as the next."

"In the few months since our emergence, we have established a small sector in this galaxy as our own, and we have started caring for its worlds. It is in this sector that we can offer you a home, in a system known to us as Celestia. One of the planets there has already been terraformed into a full garden-world, but it is still uninhabited. We would offer you a home on this planet, where your species would enjoy our protection, and, when your species has fully established itself once more, full membership of our confederation."

Awei-Jin looked taken aback, "Full membership of your confederation?"

Serentsov continued, "Yes, eventually. We understand that all of this might be a little much to take in all at once, but we found that this option would produce the most pleasing results. Both of our people view science as the true path to ascendance, so the two of our people helping each other would be a natural course of action. With full membership we would start educating you in our ways, giving you access to our basic technology and research. It would mean that our people would be united under the same banner, although it might take many years before you are ready to join."

"This seems… very generous of you. It isn't something I would normally expect from someone I have just met. Would you mind if I take a short recess from the talks with my fellow Primes? I am sure we would like to discuss our options before giving you an answer."

"Not at all, the opposing room has been opened for you if you need to discuss in private," Serentsov said.

The three Oviallan Primes got up from their seat and made their way to the smaller conference room. They crossed the corridor and entered, after which all three of the Primes started showing a look of surprise and concern.

"Why would they want us to join them?" Jin-Sulan whispered.

"They don't need us, but we need them. If us joining their society in the future is what it takes then I am all for it," said An-abin.

"I agree, we need to accept the offer, but I am concerned about this future. We don't know anything about their society apart from the fact that they are seemingly very advanced. We don't know if they have an empire that subjugates other species or if they truly are as isolationistic as they have claimed to be."

"Yes, it seems as if the councillors don't show an ounce of emotion. The Captain seemed to be at least capable of showing his intent, but these councillors…" said Awei-Jin

"We simply don't know what they really want unless they tell us themselves. Personally, I believe it is worth the risk. The next species to find us might not be able to or inclined to offer us this much." An-abin said, trying to convince the other once more.

"Yes, we should accept the offer, Jin-Sulan," said Awei-Jin, "A chance like this might never come again."

"It still feels… off. But I agree with your statement Awei-Jin," said Jin-Sulan, "This is a singular opportunity, and one we should not squander."

The three Primes returned to the conference room soon after, where the humans were eagerly awaiting their return.

Serentsov waited until the final Prime had once more taken his seat before resuming the diplomatic talks.

"Welcome back," he said stoically, "have you been able to reach consensus?"

The three primes took a quick look at each other before answering, "Yes, we have. But before we accept your proposal, we wish to know why you would offer us so much?"

Serentsov took a look at some of his colleagues, wondering what he should tell these three. A quick discussion on the neural net confirmed his idea.

"Primes, have you ever heard of the concept of religion?" he said, after having checked the idea to educate the Primes on humanities' motives while not providing full disclosure of the actuality with the others.

"We have, but it's a concept our society has dismissed long ago, centuries before our fall."

"Good, so you understand all about a united people following a certain doctrine or belief. Whilst it is too soon to reveal this doctrine to you, I can assure you that everything we do adheres to it. It is a vision that guides us, one we call the duty of Mankind."

"Let me add a bit to that," said the Terran Fleet Admiral, Stohl, "Humanity has had a rich history, filled with conflict between brothers, cities, nations and cultures. It has taken us ages to get to a point where such conflict has been made moot, as has been the case for millennia now. One of the biggest reasons for this is said doctrine. Use it to reassure yourself that whatever it is that we do not wish to share with you, has only benevolent reasons."

The three primes gazed at each other for a bit, wondering how to respond when finally Awei-Jin spoke up: "Very well then. Let it be noted that we accept your proposal and all that it entails."

After the talks onboard the Abyss the future suddenly turned bright once more for the people of Ovialla. Their new allies were true to their word, as one of the Erebus-class ships appeared close to the ark within a single day, and brought them to the planet assigned to them during the talks, Celestia. The planet in question was more beautiful than they could have ever imagined, with rosy clouds drifting in its purplish sky and deep blue-purple seas that seemed to be endlessly deep.

For months, the Oviallan people worked on their new Capitol along the coast of one the continents. Helped by their human allies, the new city was completed within days, providing each and every one of the newly awakened Oviallan with a home and comfort. Many of them returned to their former duty, research, a path that was subtly encouraged by humanity, as they had stated that the Oviallan would have years to get comfortable with the dozens of new theorems provided by humanity.

The exchange of research was done on a level that would make it so that the Oviallan researchers could actually understand the laws that drove the theorems. The Oviallan had expressed a wish to come up with their own solutions to many of the problems provided by the new theorems, in order to maintain their own identity. It was something that impressed a lot of humans; that they would willingly turn down rapid advancement in favour of slowly advancing themselves with a little help. Many of them saw that as a sign that their two peoples were very much alike, in the sense that their own identity and culture was sacred to them and should only be subjected to gradual change.

During these same months, humanity was fortifying its own 100 light-year territorial sphere, constructing planets and stations where needed. As the total population of humans was reaching the 15 trillion mark, planets were filled with millions within days, developing into major hubs within a week. As the human economy was based on a virtual environment, there was no problem in linking the new worlds to their economic system, providing instant access to everything human society had to offer.

It was during these months, that two humongous construction projects were announced. Firstly, a star within the Sphere had been selected as the centre of a Dyson sphere that was to serve as an impregnable fortress for all of humanity if an extinction level invasion/event should ever occur. The sphere would be constructed within the first solar-scale human-developed time field, and was expected to be finished within a few weeks outside of the time field. Total construction time within the field was expected to be about five decades.

The other project undertaken by human engineers was the construction of a massive interplanetary transport system that provided safe and shielded corridors of space to travel between planets. As a result, each planet received a shield-link station that could connect to every other planet with the 100 light-year sphere, and provide a properly shielded path to said planet. The corridors adjusted to accommodate every travelling ship, providing humanity with virtually completely safe travel through space.

A few months after the introduction of the Oviallan to human society, the inter-galactic monitoring system constructed by the exploration fleets was completed, providing humanity with detailed information about other galactic societies in their home galaxy. The Citadel Council and their respective races were certainly ready for contact with humanity, but a lot of humans believed that their contact could possibly turn into violent conflict if humanity suddenly appeared in the heart of the Citadel. Therefore, it was decided to create a planet about 2000 light-years from the human-space bubble, and construct one of the most beautiful pieces of culture ever imagined on it. The planet would serve as the diplomatic centre for contact with other empires, boasting towers and cities that were works of art, gracing the skies and soils with their presence. It was from this planet that a signal was sent to the homeworld of one of the council races. The signal in question was transmitted by a quantum nanites swarm, and it was programmed to take at least a year before arriving at its destination planet, Sur-Kesh.

During this year, Humanity and the Oviallans enjoyed a time of golden peace where science and trade flourished like never before due to the influx of new ideas from Celestia. The Oviallan civilization was restoring itself relatively quickly, although their reproductive cycle took about as long as humanities'. By the end of the year, the total Oviallan population was at about 70.000 and growing quickly, although humanity still estimated it would take decades for them to completely restore their legacy and join humanity in the confederation.

(STG-Listening Post, Sur-Kesh, One year after the signal has been sent)

A few Salarian operatives were watching the ambient noise picked up from space when suddenly one of their terminals started emitting a high pitched warning noise. This particular terminal was scanning a section near Turian and Salarian space, inside a galactic sub-arm.

"This… this is exciting!" said one of the operators as he checked the terminal for the source of the warning sound. Apparently they had detected a signal coming from one of the planets in the sector, although the VI's where still running tracking algorithms to locate its precise position.

"What is it?" asked one of the other operators while simultaneously notifying their superior of the developments.

"I think we found a planet with sapient life, Listener," replied the first operator. His eyes were darting over all the information coming from the screen, his excitement flaring with each data sequence he analysed.

"Amazing," said the listener with grin, "and we'll make first contact this time!"

"I guess we will," said another voice, coming from a slightly older Salarian who had just entered the room. "Send word to STG-command."

"Already done, sir."

"Good, we'll be heading there before this day is over. Good work," the commander said, smiling and throwing around his ideas about the new species…

And that's it for this chapter. I know it's a bit shorter than it could have been, but I have some major plotlines coming up, including first contact with the salarians, and the council afterwards. Perhaps some of you wonder why I didn't go into much details concerning the developments of the Oviallan on Celestia. It was done for the simple fact that the Oviallans will play a symbolic role in this story, mainly to show humanities' adherence to their "duty" and not necessarily an active role, although there will be one or two more important Oviallans in the rest of the story.

As for what to expect, here's a quick overview of what's coming:

Next 2/3 chapters: Salarian contact

2/3 chapters: Citadel contact

2/3 chapters: Conflict (Prelude to reaper invasion)

4/5 chapters: Reaper invasion

4/5 chapters: True enemies (Not going to give too much away on this one, but you'll see when we get there.)

I'll try to post the next part as soon as possible, but it will probably take me some time. Check my author's bio for recent status updates.

And thanks for all the Follows, Favs and reviews, I love the popularity of this story.