Hey guys, it's a bit late, I know. But I am still rather busy, and had a little thing called exams coming up, still do by the way.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the reactions I got for the last chapter, and now we're really getting into the bulk of the story. As always, I hope you enjoy it, and please review, I enjoy constructive criticism.
Chapter 5: Revelations of a different kind
"Systems check complete, ready for relay jump," a blue synthetic entity named Athena spoke within the bridge of the TCSS Dawn of Ages.
"Take us through," said Rear Admiral Jon Grissom.
The Mass Relay flared to life, its disks spinning like crazy and producing the characteristic hue associated with Mass Relay travel. The Dawn was a new ship created in the dockyards at Arcturus Prime, made especially for small scale naval warfare. The ship was about 2 kilometres long and about 700 meters wide at its widest point. The ship itself was arrow shaped, without any obvious bridge in sight, although the main body of the ship did rise up about 100 meters at its tallest point. The Dawn was one of the new Loki-class destroyers, armed to the teeth with Humanity's strongest weapons, and armoured with meters of self-replicating/repairing Quantum-Alloyed armour. However, what made the Loki class a true powerhouse was the fact that it could blend in seamlessly with the citadel ships, as it boasted a mass-effect core. The ship was able to use the relays and would appear has humanity's version of a dreadnaught to the council races.
As the Dawn passed through the relay and appeared in Parthena orbit at the other side, all scanners started working on penetrating the Salarian ship's systems. Within nanoseconds, the necessary bug for Parthena Relay operation was in place and all procedures returned to normal.
"Send a welcome message to the Salarians," Grissom said, wondering why on Earth these aliens would still use their outdated form of communication having been spacefaring for over two thousand years. Although, in all honesty, humanity hadn't figured out interdimensional travel and communications for millennia, so perhaps it wasn't that much of a surprise.
"Done, sir," Athena replied, "Now we wait…"
(UWS Solaria, Parthena Orbit)
"Commander, receiving a signal from the new ship, a message of some sort. Patching through now."
A video appeared in the middle of the command centre, showing a view of the bridge of an alien ship. It was interesting to see the way they conducted their command, with a captain obviously sitting in the middle at the head station or console. Next to him was a flight officer sitting in a similar seat behind a console, with several screens providing her with all kinds of information. The aliens looked remarkably similar to the Asari, although they seemed to air wisdom and confidence a lot more than their blue skinned look-alikes.
"Greetings," the captain said in fluent Salarian, "In the name of Humanity and the Terran Confederation, I welcome you to Parthena."
A mutter went through the ship, with all of the crewmen wondering how the aliens had learned their language this quickly. It excited them, but also scared them.
"You might be wondering why we are able to communicate with you so easily, but I assure you, our intentions are not hostile. All will be explained in due time. For now, let me show you who we are."
The bridge of the Salarian vessel was still quiet in awe of the aliens and their way of conduct.
"Let me start with this," the captain said with a smirk, "My name is Rear Admiral Jon Grissom, commanding officer of the Terran Confederation Space Ship Dawn of Ages. And this," he said as a 3d image of earth showed up next to him, "is Terra, our home."
The salarians looked at the beautiful blue-green planet, comparing it to Sur'Kesh.
"Currently, we are in orbit over one of our Colonies, Parthena. I assume you have already spotted its capital city, Vigilo. I would offer we move there to meet in person, its accommodations are, I'd daresay, far more pleasant than my own ship. Please go ahead and contact my ship so we may converse in a proper fashion."
Commander Jadum Bom stared at the Confederation Admiral, signalling his communications officer to set up the two-way link.
When the link was established he spoke up, "Greeting returned, Admiral. Commander Jadum Bom, of the UWS Solaria. It is an honour to meet you and your species."
The human admiral chuckled as Bom continued, "It is, however, worrying how quickly your kind have learned our form of communication. Your sharing of the way of procuring the knowledge would be very much appreciated."
"All in due time, Commander," said Grissom, "I assume you and your crew accept our invitation to Parthena?"
"We do," replied the Salarian Commander.
"Excellent, please proceed to the following coordinates then. They lead to one of our orbital stations, from where we will go to the planet by shuttle if agreeable."
"Very well," Bom said as he sent the command to his pilot.
They all watched as the human dreadnaught, or at least that was what they thought it was, made its way to the planet with staggering speed. A collective gasp could be heard as the vessel disappeared into the distance, seemingly entering the planet's atmosphere. But that was impossible for larger ships… right? Only corvettes and Frigates had the relative mass effect cores to pull that off…
"Follow the coordinates given," Bom said to his pilot when the Human ship had completely disappeared from view. They would no doubt see more of it once the diplomatic team was down on the planet.
The coordinates that had been supplied by Grissom led to a station named Portus Parthenae, and was the premier gateway station down to Parthena. Although every human ship was capable of atmospheric flight, most captains preferred docking their ships in large orbital ports, using a shuttle service or an archspace train to reach a planet's surface. Parthena's port used shuttles to keep up the illusion of a less advanced culture, so a stream of shuttles heading to and from the station could be observed from afar.
"Commander, receiving a hail from the station."
"Good, strict protocols. Patch it through."
"Portus Parthenae approach to Salarian vessel Solaria. Please proceed to hangar E-408."
"Acknowledged, proceeding to given coordinates," the pilot replied.
Meanwhile, a few control operations personnel were sniggering at the archaic way of regulating space traffic, but it was to be expected around Parthena. It wasn't called a classical world for no reason.
The hangar the Salarians were led to had been prepared especially for their arrival, and could fit a ship as large as a dreadnaught. Truly, the spaceport was the first structure that gave the Salarians an indication of the scale that humanity was capable of constructing, as the structure was about a quarter of the size of the citadel, nearly 15 kilometres in diameter and consisting of multiple interconnected levels boasting dozens of hangars of all shapes and sizes, whilst the top level was used for docking larger ships that didn't fit into the hangars.
"Commander, this station… It is quite the construct. The humans seem a very capable species in terms of construction," Solus said, having joined Bom on the bridge.
"They do, I have noticed the same, doctor. We should exercise caution; they may be capable in a lot more ways than simply constructing buildings, ships and stations."
After the Salarians had docked their ships in the hangar with relative ease, they prepared the crew to go planetside, which would consist of the Commander himself, Doctor Solus, a small diplomatic team, a few scientists and an armed escort, totalling at around thirty Salarians. Command of the ship was relinquished soon after, and the Salarian envoys left their ships and entered the station itself after having checked the atmospheric composition, where a small detachment of humans was awaiting them already.
"Welcome to Portus Parthenae," a small dark man wearing a dark grey uniform said, "My name is Garett Enoa, and I will guide you to a shuttle bay that has been prepared for you. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have."
Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Solus hammered away immediately.
"A large station, quarter size of the citadel, possibly even larger. How many stations like this one exist?"
The human, still smiling at them eagerly, replied, "Oh, quite a few, but I don't have any specifics."
"Do all of your worlds have them? What other stations do you have? Is your home world close?"
"I'm sorry, but I'm not at liberty to answer all of your questions completely," Garett said as he lead the group of Salarians to a large tram station near the hangar, "Although I am allowed to say that all will be answered in due time."
Again with the same 'in due time' statement. These humans, they are hiding information. Intentional vagueness… valuable information. Possibly dangerous, certainly capable of giving the required edge…
"Understandable," Bom said as Solus started thinking of more questions to throw at the human guide.
"How many of you live on Parthena?" he finally asked.
"Approximately forty million, but forgive me, I do not have the exact numbers. This way please," he said as he entered an arriving tram.
40 million, quite a large colony then. Possibly one of their first, but perhaps not. Need to know more to be sure.
When all of the Salarians had entered the tram they started moving to a lower level from where all the shuttles to the planet departed. Once again, a hangar had been prepared in anticipation of the Salarians' arrival, with a large 100 passenger shuttle waiting for them. The shuttle itself was shaped like most other human ships, sleek, aerodynamic and possessing a hint of artistic beauty.
"If you would proceed to enter the shuttle, please," the Human guide said to the following Salarians, "I will join you shortly."
Most of the Salarians entered without raising questions, eagerly observing all aspects of human technology they could get their large amphibian eyes on. However, Bom and Solus remained grounded, watching the guide, Garett Enoa, closely.
"Is there something I can do for you before departure, gentlemen," he said with polite tone.
"Yes, I would like to know a little about the planet we are headed to before actually setting foot on its soil. Is it a safe planet for us Salarians, biologically speaking?"
"Oh but of course. Parthena is… a special planet. I can guarantee that no harm would ever come to you or your crew on its surface. As for specifics, I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say."
Still vague, cryptic even… These humans, they are guarded. Secrets that need to be uncovered. Will do so… eventually.
Realising that they weren't going to get anything useful out of the guide, Bom and Solus entered the shuttle as well, were the rest of the salarian envoys awaited them.
"Quite remarkable, is it not? These humans, they are very… cryptic," Bom said once they were aboard.
"Indeed, very… careful with each word they utter. I assume they know a lot about us. We should tread carefully," Solus replied.
The shuttle flight down to the planet was quick and calm, with none of the 'guests' really raising any questions. Most of them were too caught up in the beauty that was observable as the shuttle descended into the Parthenan atmosphere, creating faint green hues swirling around the craft, some of them shooting away into the horizon. All of this was, of course, caused by the unique EM field emitted by the shuttle, creating its own version of what was known as the Aurora Borealis on Earth.
The Spaceport of Vigilo was very similar to the ports in the Sol system, a high tower, miles above the terminals or wings as they were often called, keeping careful watch on all the proceedings. The only big difference was the scale. Where the towers in the Sol system reach far up into the upper atmosphere, being almost thirty kilometres high, the Parthenan control tower was only three kilometres high to give the illusion of a less advanced race. Nonetheless, the entire complex still looked rather impressive to the visiting Salarians as they touched down and docked at one of the wings.
From the shuttle gate, the group was escorted to one of the Archrail stations that ran underneath the spaceport, connecting to the various cities on Parthena, Vigilo in particular. A special train had been prepared for the Salarians, complete with guides and introductory videos to all things human. Most the Salarian scientists relished this chance to get some more in depth knowledge of the human race, studying the biology, culture and art footage that was offered.
When they emerged from the Archtrain a few minutes after, they were awaited by a large group of humans, led by the Representative of Parthena.
Bom and Solus watched the approaching mass intently as they walked out of the "train" station, as the humans had called it. At the head of the procession was a majestic figure clad in long white robes flowing naturally along its curvy body. Most of the humans they had met up to now had short shaved fur on their head, but this one possessed almost serenely beautiful fur curving along its face, the raven colour accentuating its pale face nicely. Behind the figure, most of the humans were clad in similar attire, wearing either long robes comparable to asari gowns or long coats with a set of darker pants covering their legs. The one thing they all had in common though was their completely calm demeanour, with all of them bearing the same faint smile on their face.
"Let me introduce Representative Laserre, of Parthena," the guide said as they reached the head of the column of humans waiting on them.
The representative gave the guide a faint nod before speaking up with a voice that differed quite a lot from most of the other humans they had spoken to up to now. It was higher pitched, and possessed an angelic beauty that wasn't often heard, not even in Asari.
"Welcome, honoured guests, to Parthena. From all the communications between yourselves and my fellows, I understand that you must be feeling a little overwhelmed, and perhaps…" the representative pursed her lips, "a little tired from your long voyage, no?"
Solus nodded, "Indeed, Representative. Accomodations would be much appreciated."
"Of course, we will see to it," Laserre replied with a smile, "Now, if the delegation would follow me, I will show you the way to our diplomatic quarters."
The representative turned around, and started walking across the plaza the station was facing, the rest of the humans in her group mixing in with the salarians and striking up conversations about their species, customs and cultures.
Meanwhile, Bom and Solus walked up to the Representative herself, full of questions they wished to ask her.
"So, gentlemen, what can I do for you? Or shall I say, what question would you wish me to answer, mister Solus?" she said with a small grin.
"You already possess our names, I see. Good, saves time, efficient," Bom said with the typical fast way of speaking that came naturally to Salarians.
"Naturally, gentlemen. Us humans, we share our information."
"You were introduced as representative. Governor of this planet, I assume?" Solus asked.
"No, not exactly. Representatives are nothing more than the planet's voice in the councils. We are, simply said, a relay and a face."
"No actual governing then; must be done in some way. How does your species govern itself, representative?" Solus asked, intrigued.
"We simply share our opinions, and form a planetary course of action from the collection of opinions. We call it, the Directive."
"Yes, but how do you share these opinions?" Solus asked, still not getting the answers he was seeking.
"We simply share them, we think them, and the Directive… collects them."
Again with all the vagueness. Definitely hiding something, possibly neural network… No too advanced, impossible for a young species. Digitally then…
"I see," Bom replied in Solus' stead, seeing that the good doctor was mulling things over without keeping up the conversation, "If it's not too much to ask, representative, how far are we from your space, or territory?"
"Why would you assume you are not already within it?" Laserre asked with a sincere tone.
"Lack of signals except the current planet, the logical conclusion would be that this planet does not have many neighbouring colonies."
"I see your reputation for inquisitive questioning and intelligence is well earned, Commander. You are, of course, completely correct in your assumption, but I am not at liberty to say where exactly humanity has most of her colonies. What I can tell you, though, is that we are both very close and very far away. Interpret that however you see fit," Laserre said as they reached the large city hall opposite of the station.
She guided a small detachment of the Salarian envoys to a room off the main hall, which proved to be an authentic boardroom. The whole planet of Parthena breathed the 'classical' air. Buildings looked like the rich architectural wonders of before the ages of technology, and interiors were very much the same. Of course, all the technology was present, just hidden away masterfully. The boardroom itself boasted a large oval mahogany table with a small opening in the middle of the table where the holographic projector was hidden. Along the table stood a collection of classic chairs, deep brown wood shining in the artificial light, the seats covered with dark black leather. The walls themselves were a creamy white, with dark wooden trims along some of the interior columns that could be found in the wall. All in all, the room wouldn't have looked misplaced in an 1800's mansion.
"Please, take a seat," Representative Laserre said as she sat down at the head of the table, joined by two other humans clad in the same white robes that was characteristic of the humans on this world.
The salarians did as they were told, their eyes scanning every spot of their surroundings, wary for traps or other unwanted pieces of technology. When they realized there were none, the air in the room grew noticeably calmer.
"Good, now that you are all here, let me welcome you once more, to Parthena. I am sure some of you may have wondered why this planet seems to be so radically different from the ships you may have seen in orbit, or even our orbital stations. To save you a question, let me simply say that Parthena is a rather… special planet. It is our artistic and cultural hub, a place where we delve back into our own long history to relive the glory of the old days. But not just that, Parthena was built like this to give it a certain… calm atmosphere. After all, that is something that can help immensely in diplomatic situations."
Bom and Solus shared a quizzical look before speaking up, "A question, Representative. You sound almost as if any and all diplomatic contact would take place on Parthena… Surely you have more planets where… other species could and will show up?"
"Perhaps, we do, Doctor. But we guide them to Parthena nonetheless. It is where we planned to meet you, after all."
"Planned, as in the signal we received was deliberately sent?" Bom asked alarmed.
"Of course, Commander. Why, did you think otherwise?" Laserre replied with a smirk.
"A change of parameters then, no matter. To answer, yes, we assumed it was simply a signal sent by a younger race."
Laserre's smile grew wider at that statement, "Younger, you say? Would you inform us as to how long your own species has traversed the eternal black sea that is space?"
One of the Salarian doctors at the table grinned in a typical Salarian grin, "Almost two and a half thousand years, representative. Surely you have been among the stars for a far shorter time."
At that, one of the other humans in the room grinned and gave a questioning look at Laserre, who gave her a curt nod.
"Two and a half thousand years ago… a long period for most, wouldn't you say, Madam."
Laserre nodded, and urged the diplomat to continue.
"But… not for us. My dear guests, let this be the first hint of our history you receive today. When your kind ascended, we had already been travelling the void for millennia. Seven and a half to be exact."
Technically true, but also false… Time is such a weird phenomenon, Laserre thought as she watched the shock appear on her guests' faces.
"You're saying that your kind have been traversing the stars for more than ten thousand years?" one of the Salarian doctors asked with an unbelieving tone, "How come we've never met before?"
"We did not wish to be found."
The salarians remained dumbstruck for a while at that remark, the notion that a species would isolate itself being almost unbelievable.
"Why did you want to remain hidden?" Bom asked.
"We had and still have our reasons. Let me simply say that this meeting with you and yours is the first we have planned in a sequence. We will meet with the rest of your Citadel sooner rather than later, but your species was chosen as the first. You see, our views on the galaxy are very similar."
"Your species prizes science and intelligence above all else then?"
"Not above all else, but yes. All scientific endeavours are greatly encouraged in our society, but so are cultural and artistic endeavours. It is the natural way of a species to develop, given that we no longer have need for simple labour."
Bom and Solus looked at each other whilst a few of the other Salarian diplomats and scientists started muttering amongst each other.
"What do you mean? How can you have no need for simple labour?"
Laserre and the other humans shared a knowing look, each of them wondering how much they should tell the Salarians. Of course, the Directive would know exactly what they had stated and had given suggestions as well. This was a rather important historic moment after all. After a few seconds of internal debating the Directive gave the Representative a prompt, letting her know that it was acceptable for the Salarians to know about any tech that didn't involve artificial intelligence. Things such as matter reassembly, "robotic" labour and the sorts were allowed to be shared.
"Please, my honoured guests, let me show you what I mean," Laserre said as she opened a holographic projection of Vigilo.
Look at that! It seems this species, these humans, have some really advanced Haptic Technology. Perhaps something we might gain…
"What you are looking at here is an image of this city, 6 months ago. I presume all of you have noticed the distinct lack of high-rise architecture in the city. The reason for this is very simple: the neighbourhood where we built the city's high rise wasn't established yet."
The image now changed a bit, with a few foundations for larger towers becoming visible.
"Now, watch as the towers get established," Laserre said as the image started displaying an unbelievably quick construction of the towers.
"What you just saw was accomplished within minutes. Our construction technology allows us to establish a blueprint that serves as a foundation for matter assemblers. These 'assemblers' then proceed to create anything we want, within minutes. So, as I said, technologies such as these have removed the need for simple labour in our society. It is for this very reason that every one of our kind you'd meet would have an amazing repertoire of skills and knowledge."
The salarian delegation was flabbergasted, to say the least. Never in their wildest dreams had they expected to witness a piece of technology so much more advanced than their own. Bom however, was already worrying about the possible implications the tech might have on the human's ship producing capabilities. Luckily, mass effect cores still made sure that ships couldn't get too big in size, so it was a numbers question than anything else.
"Representative, I assume your kind uses the same technology to create ships?"
Laserre gave a stoic nod, "Naturally, commander. And whilst I know you are dying to know the ins and outs of our fleets, I have to disappoint you there, as I am not at liberty to share any information on our military and naval capabilities."
"Understandable," Bom said with a solemn voice.
"Good, now that we have established a technological understanding, I think it is time for the two of us to share a bit of our own histories."
The Salarians all gave a quick glance to one another, most of them mentally agreeing to leave out any information concerning the Genophage.
Laserre then proceeded to share information about humanity's development, from the colonies established on Mars and Venus in Humanity's early spacefaring years.
"So… your species can actually terraform worlds?" Solus asked with a hint of jealousy to his voice, as he had been researching quick terraforming technologies in his past, but had never found a way to do it properly within a manageable number of years.
"We can, doctor. But please understand that during the years we established these colonies, it took us decades to accomplish what we can now do rather quickly. It took more than a century for Mars to obtain a breathable atmosphere and start resembling our own earth. The same goes for a lot of the other planets in our home system…"
Bom looked at Solus with a confused look, "I'm sorry, Representative, but from what I understood of your history you have three garden worlds in your home system, Earth, Mars and Venus. You almost sound as if there are more…"
One of the human scientists answered, "On the contrary, commander, there are currently sixteen bodies that would be classified as garden worlds in your own classification system in orbit around our sun."
"Sixteen garden worlds… in one system…" Solus muttered, astonished, "remarkable!"
"As you can see doctor, we have much to offer those worthy enough. Let me save the rest of our history for a while, as I am most eager to hear of your own."
Bom and Solus gave a nod to one of the Salarian scientists sitting at the table, signalling him to start telling their well-rehearsed story.
"Almost 2500 years ago, we of the Salarian Union ascended to the stars, our technological progress having been accelerated due to ruins we found on our planet's moon. They belonged to a species we now call Protheans. In our home system we also found a mass relay, in a higher orbit than the outermost planet of the system, which is the Gas giant named Halegeuse, now one of our foremost Fuel sources. In our early exploration years we found the Citadel and encountered the Asari, who were already busy setting up the Citadel as a permanent base back then. After an interesting first meeting, it was quickly decided that our two races would form a council to govern space, practically joining our two races together."
"From there, we expanded and flourished, encountering a few new races along the way, including the Volus, who revolutionized the galactic market, the Elcor, the Batarians, the Hanar and the Quarians. All of them joined the Citadel as member species, and we flourished."
"Then the Rachni Wars were upon us. The times of our peaceful first contacts ended abruptly with the accidental discovery of the Rachni. They were a hive-minded insectoid race that reacted to our presence with extreme hostility. We had never encountered a being that couldn't be reasoned with, and we had to defend ourselves. The war was terrible, and we lost countless worlds to their venomous ferocity. Negotiations were impossible, as we couldn't get into contact with their queens that lived deep underground."
"A turning point in the war came when we made first contact with the krogan about 80 years later. They are a reptilian species, who had been living in the post-apocalyptic ruins of their homeworld Tuchanka for nearly two thousand years. We uplifted them and asked them to help us with our war. They succeeded where we could not, as they were able to go where we could not. Able to survive on the harsh rachni worlds, the krogan stormed rachni nests and exterminated the queens one by one. After centuries of fighting, the Rachni were declared extinct, and we had won our war, but at great cost…"
Laserre and the other humans nodded, one of them asking the question that would show them how truthful the Salarians were being, "What happened to the Krogan?"
"We gave them a new, pristine, homeworld, and they flourished. They grew and grew, and they started to become more aggressive, colonizing planet after planet. We met the Turians during these troublesome years, but then, somehow, the Krogan advance declined, their population dwindling again. The Turians were rewarded with a council seat, and peace was once more upon us."
"Should we ask?" one of the scientists asked Laserre through their neural network.
"Yes, I believe we should."
"Somehow the Krogan advance declined? Sounds like you left something out. Dr. Solus, what can you tell me about the Genophage?"
"The… the genophage?" Solus stuttered.
And that's it. I know, a cliffy. I like cliffhangers. They add suspense.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter, next one will be coming asap, but don't expect it to be up too soon, I've still got two weeks of exans ahead of me and even though I may write a bit to get my mind of studying, I don't think I'll finish the chapter that soon. So expect it to be up late April or early May.
Cheers!