"For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."
- 1 Corinthians 13:12
Suhulsnow - Personally I see them more like the Covenant but far more decentralized and far more diverse seeing as different nations have completely different combat doctrine, they don't have a united head only a united faith, they vary in technological approach as well and etc.
Sledovatel - I decided to have first contact with Drell but it's very brief. The Drell have their ecological disaster since 1380s, so humanity will always have found them as the billions populated planet of warring tribes.
Westfromashes - I decided to have the Drell be contacted by an accident while trying to preserve an uncontrived storyline. I hope the contact is reasonable enough.
For technology, personally I'm just extending 2022 research papers on things like wormholes, materials science, lasers, tractor beams, superconductors and etc so although entirely novel it's actually just a futuristic extension of things we already have with some element zero icing. I also have some typical applications of element zero but a key difference of humanity's tech is that it almost never builds static charge and even when it does, it's very small. Much like the Reapers in this sense.
[Comment if you think humanity should find a non-relay race either to uplift or ally]
Not a timeline chapter this time, but something similar that captures the development. A set of short stories that move in time, revealing man's development before a first contact with the Drell. Hopefully the story isn't shoehorned. Again, thanks for reading!
Istoria I: Analogs and Wormholes
Not long after the Council's canons were in place and binding to all, scientists and engineers have become very busy in their own states. So much work to do, so much things to analyze!
The Prothean archives were rich in advanced technology, but even still, nobody was comfortable with simply copying them. Many examples existed in the past, those who copied the people they conquered end up becoming those very people they conquered. No human is going to Protheanize themselves, especially considering what kind of people the Protheans were.
Barbarians, he thought. Advanced barbarians unfortunately. Nikephoros resisted the urge to scratch his head as he slaved away inside his underground lab, working on an alternative form of FTL travel.
Element zero was nice and all but using an alien artifact and relying it for mass travel does not seem wise at all. Who knows what kinds of hidden functions it may have, for all I know that barbarian mass relay leads straight to a sun as a joke to us "primitives" as they called it, Nikephoros reminds himself.
He tiredly scrolled down on his tablet as he reviewed the research papers made by his colleagues in Magnaura. After the analog wormhole worked, the Romans were thinking of using wormholes to set up interstellar highways analogous to the worldwide trade routes. Rather than rely on mass reducing drives all the time, the Romans thought it more effective to simply build interstellar roads.
Element zero here plays an interesting role. The element zero seems to simply defy physics as we know it, using electromagnetism to manipulate mass. Physicists were excited at what this means, since it has demonstrated the full union of the four fundamental forces of nature in a much more attainable form. Hadron collider tests are being run and the physicists there promise groundbreaking results in about four years.
If only it could be much sooner. Nikephoros slowly stood up from his chair and walked towards a nearby holographic display, writing a list of equations as he spoke to thin air a set of commands to be executed. Screens appeared from thin air and 3D representations followed suit.
"Lower dimensional projection... Hmmm, perhaps using element zero." Images of a circle's area being projected into a sphere is shown, with complex formulas surrounding it. Charts and graphs emerge as Nikephoros continues on, using his colleagues' research on the analogue wormholes to create one in reality.
Nikephoros' expressions changed like the direction of wind as ideas flew into his mind. He issued more vocal commands as machines in the room began to activate and arrange themselves accordingly. Then, he walked onto a table and began welding himself a machine, commanding the AI in the room to order some parts.
Days pass as Nikephoros attends to his machine. His colleagues come in, as sleep deprived as their oddly energetic colleague. He called them via hologram one by one, telling them that he found the answer and that he needed some help assembling the wormhole machine. Some persuasion was necessary and now Nikephoros owes them stacks of Pizza.
"Epiphania, hand me over the element zero." Said Nikephoros, wearing gloves and a face-shield.
Epiphania was covered head to toe in the Roman hazmat suit, holding a vacuumed metal box containing element zero which she carefully handed over to Nikephoros. "Are you sure it's safe to be working on element zero? Let alone handling it with only gloves and a face shield."
The vacuum box opened with a hiss and Nikephoros nonchalantly replied, "Probably, I'm too tired to think of safety concerns at this point." He takes out the element zero as his colleagues step back, letting their loose colleague place the element zero into a chamber in the machine.
"Lord have mercy on idiots like you." Commented Epiphania as Nikephoros sets the machine and activates it with a switch. The machine begins vibrating, leading to another step back by everyone in the room. The shaking intensifies as light began distorting in a radius around the machine, refracting or changing into different colors.
Just as the machine seemed to explode and send these scientists straight to paradise, the vibration ended as what seems to be a strange black hole appeared in front of the machine. It was not black colored but rather acted as if it was redshifting and refracting the surrounding light and its center revealed its destination: a hallway full of pandidakterion students looking back.
Nikephoros could only smile and wave nervously as students recorded with their glass-like phones.
Istoria II: Made in China
Underground, a huge chamber of concrete found itself abuzz with activity. Under headlights on the roof, scientists in light blue hanfu robes monitor the giant metal sphere in front of them as wasp-shaped steel drones flew around, analyzing its surface for defects. Strong metal pipes connected the sphere to the walls of the chamber, chinese characters in green painted upon it.
On an observatory facing the sphere, a group of four scientists attend to two men of importance. The first man stood tall and imposing, his armor glinting in the light, reflecting the intricate engravings that adorned its surface. The large gun slung on his back seemed like an extension of his body, an ever-present reminder of his authority. The scientists around him moved with a sense of caution, their gazes darting towards him occasionally to avoid offending him.
Beside him stood an older man, his movements slow and measured. The embroidery on his hanfu was exquisite, the blue and gold thread shimmering in the light. The dragon on his hat seemed to come to life with every slight movement of his head, as if it was alive and watching. The scientists around him seemed to take their cue from him, their movements becoming more relaxed in his presence. He exuded a sense of calm and authority, not through the display of power, but through a quiet confidence.
The scientists bowed, gesturing towards the holograms they had set up for the demonstration. The holograms flickered to life, displaying detailed images of the reactor, its inner workings and various measurements. The scientists' fingers danced over the holographic controls, adjusting the images to provide a more in-depth view for their esteemed guests.
The armored man leaned in closer, his gaze focused on the holograms with a sense of intensity, perhaps out of reflex. The older man, on the other hand, took in the demonstration with a more relaxed demeanor. He seemed to be observing not just the holograms but also the scientists themselves, taking note of their behavior.
His eyes would flicker to the holograms occasionally, but mostly he seemed to be studying the scientists' setup, stroking his gray beard.
"Venerable minister, I assure you that today, the Middle Kingdom will gain another edge against Daqin (Rome) and Bosi (Persia)." Said the presenting scientist. He gestured for his colleague to change the hologram, depicting a supernova and the resulting formation of eezo from the extreme and fast event.
"Element zero is a remarkable mineral with the ability to alter the mass of its surroundings when subject to an electrical current. It is formed in the aftermath of supernovas and on the surface of asteroids orbitting neutron stars and pulsars. Undisputed results from a year-long test have given us the exact conditions in which element zero forms from baryonic matter."
The hologram shifts to depict the exact process. Element zero in small amounts will be doped with known high-pressure superconductors to generate immense electric currents that will cause surrounding matter to element zero to gain significant amounts of weight. A layer of iron will be placed around the element zero core while the outermost layer will be fusion fuel.
Using both inertial and magnetic confinement, lasers will ignite the fuel and cause nuclear fusion to occur, pressuring the lower layers into conditions akin to experiencing a supernova. The electric fields will ensure that nanoseconds after impact and nuclear reaction, the element zero core will cause the seed to crumple inwards as its larger mass coupled with the magnetic field would prevent it from escaping. The conditions would force the seed to transform into element zero in a chain reaction.
Some checks are in place so that it would not collapse into a black hole as the conditions are extreme but not that extreme. The calculations enter into display, demonstrating how if successful, element zero can be made as cheaply as $6,200 per kg through this method. The Prothean Archives will essentially be useless for any element zero extraction and the material itself would be a commodity worth nine times its weight in silver.
Its exact details are quite simple. A supernova would cause the formation of element zero on planets hit by its impact. The energy of a supernova is typically 1044 Joules and based on prothean data, planets as far away as Charon have demonstrated eezo formation during a supernova. This is equivalent to having the surface of a planet being impacted with 2.286 1017 J or approximately 50 Megatons of TnT for every meters square of area.
As the cause has been determined to be the radiation pulse, gamma photon emitting fuel has been selected to maximize the process as only 0.01% of a supernova's energy is its radiation pulse while the rest is made up of 1% kinetic energy and 99% neutrino bursts. A standard fission bomb releases 5% of its energy as gamma radiation. One could easily see that a fission bomb only needs to replicate 0.2% of a Supernova's energy condition to reach the desired effect let alone reactions tailored to generate 20% or perhaps 40% radiation.
Asteroid remnants of planets orbitting neutron stars and dying stars are rich in eezo, which means we can say that around 1% of its composition is eezo for it to be visually obvious. The gamma ray intensity of a supernova at the distance of a Charon object would be around 2.286 1011 W per square meter. This kind of laser intensity is very much within both the capacity of an inertial confinement laser and that of the fusion reaction.
In fact, it would be much more intense and it is predicted that a much larger intensity would improve the absorption of energy. The minister simply clapped and laughed happily at this development.
Other nations think of mining this element zero, but Great Jing will simply make its own. He nodded and said, "Good, begin the demonstration. Aluohe willing it is successful and if it is, I must reward you all personally and recommend you to the Emperor himself."
The scientists could not hold their elation and gratitude, immediately falling into their knees and bowing, and in unison proclaiming, "Thank you generous minister."
Soon, the demonstration began as the reactor vibrated slightly. The minister was assured of its safety as visual monitors inform that this is within expected parameters. Temperatures within the reactor rise to billions of degrees, maintained through the element zero compression.
The shaking gradually vanished, stabilizing as the contents of the reactor began to change. Again, the shaking returned, must more vigorous than before. The deep sound of creaking of metal informs the scientists that the mass effect fields are beginning to bend the structure.
As the countdown for the reactor's power down reached zero, the facility's engineers, workers and scientists quickly sprang into action. They made their way to the reactor's core, where the newly created element zero sphere was located. The sphere, about twice the size of a soccerball, was carefully extracted from the reactor and brought up to the viewing platform. The scientists and engineers beamed with pride as they presented it to the minister of works.
The minister was impressed as he looked at the sphere, its blue glow was a good omen of things to come. He traced its surface with his finger, a smile spreading across his face. "Wujixing (element zero), our latest present to the Emperor." he said. The scientists and engineers exchanged pleased glances, their hard work had paid off.
The workers quickly began arranging for the transport of the element zero sphere to factories and labs all throughout China. The Emperor had decreed that a hefty sum was to be digitally transferred to the covert facility to generate for China its own limitless supply of element zero.
The minister, pleased with the results, gave the order for the transport to proceed and for the facility to continue its research, as he looked at the sphere, he knew it was a key element for the country's technological advancements.
Istoria III: Sumeru Station
Daiva opens his eyes to the ceiling, seeing a blue screen that called for his awakening. Displaying the time, he rubbed his eyes and yawned loudly, stretching his arms as he pushed away his blue bedsheets and walked out of bed. He walked upon the soft carpet of his home, stretching his limbs as he slowly made his way to the toilet.
The bright lights of the pristine room activated, making Daiva blink once to adjust. He looked at the young man in the mirror with his dark brown eyes, messy black hair and sharp features, rubbing his eyes and washing his face. A flying drone presented him with his dental instruments and Daiva brushed his teeth, assisted by the mechanical toothbrush.
The scent of warm water filled the room, right on time as Daiva gargled and spat on the sink. A bathtub full of warm water had been prepared and Daiva simply entered in, letting the constructs do their work. Clouds of soap and shampoo were puffed into the water, and water snaked on the ceiling in transparent tubes that soon fell as a mild shower upon his face, moving according to his own movements.
After a thorough bath, Daiva rose and dried himself with a towel. Upon exiting the bathroom, cleaned and folded clothes were placed in front of him and put it on, while being assisted by drones to incorporate the more robotic parts of his uniform. He then left his home, one metal door in a spacious hallway of many, carrying a toolbox and accompanied by a drone.
Opening a metal door labelled '381' with his fingerprints, Daiva entered a symmetric hall with a transparent ceiling overlooking the earth below, 11 other labelled doors and a set of twelve large elevators at the center. He enters the elevator with a small crowd of others, passing through one floor before reaching a crowded lobby with drones flying around, booths and levitating holographic displays.
He entered into one of the booths, using his fingerprints to activate a specific profile. A headset was presented to him and he put it on, augmented reality activating as shapes and screens manifested in his field of vision. Directions were given and a task not too different in style to an in-game mission, appeared on his top left corner.
Following its instructions, Daiva walked according to the AR's instructions, taking hallways, lifts and stairs to his destination. His current mission is to check on Space Elevator 8 and perform maintenance if necessary.
On his way, he passes through one of the station's titanic and bustling lobbies. As he navigates through the space station, the first thing he encounters is one of the station's enormous and bustling lobbies. The lobby is a mall in its own right, with stores, elevators, and walkways located throughout the area. The mostly empty spaces between these structures are filled with levitating vehicle routes, adding to the hustle and bustle of the environment.
The decor of the lobby is full of the contrasting colors of batik patterns. Brown, black, white and gold depict the old myths and legends of the past alongside new tales, with inculturalized depictions of saints, the Mother of God and Christ. As he makes his way through the ground floor, he is surrounded by rivers of people from many different nations.
Some are touring the area, taking in the sights and sounds of the technologically advanced space station and the cultural influences it incorporates. Others are busy purchasing goods, stocking up on supplies before their interplanetary flights. The atmosphere is electric, with the constant movement and chatter of the diverse crowd adding to the already impressive setting.
As Daiva walked through the interplanetary airport, the sound of a ding caught his attention. Suddenly, a blue holographic screen expanded, quickly dwarfing all other floating screens around it. The announcement came through loud and clear, "Aegean Starlines Flight ARC-1055 heading towards Narzamin Station, Venus, has begun boarding. All passengers of the Flight please report to Terminal 4, Gate 33. I repeat, Terminal 4, Gate 33, Aegean Starlines Flight ARC-1055 to Narzamin Station, Venus."
The holographic words and images seemed to jump out of the screen, creating a three-dimensional effect that was both mesmerizing and informative. As the screen faded away, Daiva made his way towards the service elevator to take him to the space elevators. The station bustled with activity and he could feel the energy of the passengers as they made their way to the hallways that led to the various starship terminals of the enormous station.
The sound of footfalls and the occasional beep of a scanner echoed through the hallway as he made his way to the elevator. The smell of freshly brewed qahwa and the sound of excited chatter filled the air as he entered the elevator. The elevator doors closed behind him with a whoosh and he descended into the space elevator.
Down there, his drone scanned the mansion sized elevator's frame with invisible light, revealing the current status of the elevator.
"Structural integrity pass, 137 minor dents and kinks identified. Catalyzed welding only." Announced the Drone. 137 laser pointers appear, each of a different size, intensity and shape. He took out a torch shaped tool, inserted a cylindrical capsule of black powder and began welding.
His boots hiss as he leaped and began floating. The helmet informed him of the status of the eezo boosters in his suit as he welded the kinks and made the laser pointers disappear one by one. Once they did, he performed checks on the elevator's terminal, ensuring that no digital defects are present.
After reviewing for thirty minutes, Daiva reported the Space Elevator's status as 'available', packed his things and left with today's job complete. With nothing better to do, Daiva walked around the station and took a breath of fresh air, as fresh as space station air can get.
The windows of the station show the blue atmosphere of the planet far below, a thin, pale blanket surrounding the surface. The Aurora Borealis of the north can be seen from afar, green and red lights snaking across the northern sky. Luckily the station had its own magnetic field, else solar radiation would damage it when a solar flare occured.
Daiva made his way through the winding corridors of Sumeru Station, the hum of machinery and the occasional beep of a scanner filling the air as he took a rather unorthodox route to the zoo. The space station was a labyrinth of corridors and facilities, but Daiva knew it like the back of his hand. As he reached his destination, he finally came across the artificial zoo.
The zoo was a unique feature of the station, housing a variety of different extinct but revived species, each one more fascinating than the last. The exhibits were designed to mimic the natural habitats of the animals, with intricate details and advanced technology that created an immersive experience for visitors like him. The animals, who were a result of advanced cloning technology, were a sight to behold, and Daiva could safely observe them through real-time positioning cameras, spending a few hours looking at the Megalania, Stegodon and Megaladapis.
After his visit to the zoo and a short lunch, Daiva made his way to the shipbuilding hangar. The hangar was massive, filled with various ships in various stages of construction. The ships were designed to withstand the rigors of interstellar travel, with advanced propulsion systems and reinforced hulls. The hangar was a hive of activity, with engineers and technicians working tirelessly on the ships, from the initial design to final assembly. Daiva's trained eye picked out various details and specifications of the ships, acknowledging the intricacies and genius in the design.
But the ship that caught most of his attention is the under-construction Garuda-Class Battlecruiser, a new breed of craft for the Majapahit Empire's recent space fleet. With the Four Hegemons already beginning to colonize other worlds, the Maharaja thought it prudent to not lag far behind. Taking the threat of Protheans seriously, he decides to construct a fleet first before colonizing the Arcturus system as an expansion of the Majapahit mandala.
Istoria IV: Mars Ascendant
After six decades of martian bombardment, the last celestial body to be crashed onto the martian surface is towed. A fleet of ships from all major nations, each a quarter of its volume made up of only its element zero cores projected a titanic eezo field to reduce the mass of the moon Ganymede and crash it on to the still boiling martian surface. Decades ago, the martian surface was fully analyzed through an array of millions of satellites and its important sites were either shielded with nanomaterial shells or evacuated outright.
By now, these celestial objects have been crashed and incorporated into Mars: Callisto, Triton, Eris and the Largest bodies of the Asteroid belt. In total, Mars has increased its mass to 10.69 Moons, a 22.8% increase and regular, stable mantle activity has been detected ever since the bombardment increased its mass. Ganymede's arrival will increase the mass of Mars to 12.71 Moons, a total of 46% mass increase.
Large but economic amounts of eezo dust were sprinkled all around the Martian surface before every impact, mainly to accelerate the process of smoothing Mars' surface after an impact alongside stimulating small amounts of underground density increase to pull down on the crust in some areas and hopefully stimulate magma convection currents once the dust layer reaches the topmost layer of the mantle.
An ethereal blue glow approached the planet Mars as a body comparable in size approached from the depths of the void. The red planet barely reacted, the mass effect fields keeping Ganymede's mass small enough that no significant orbital deviation would occur. As days pass, the ships began to disperse, moving away from the direction of impact, its crew working tirelessly 24/7 to tow the former Jovian moon to the red planet.
Once collision will occur in several minutes, the ships turned off their mass effect fields and departed rapidly, their engines at maximum power. The icy surface of Ganymede began to crack as mountain sized sheets of ice levitated off and rained down upon the burning world. Ice evaporated suddenly, sending shockwaves and explosions in pressure that cracked and hurled more sheets onto the Martian surface.
Impact and a deep boom resounded throughout the martian surface, sending waves of wind never seen before sweeping across the martian surface. The rocky shell of the former moon opened as an immeasurably huge tsunami of saltwater descended and evaporated all at once, followed by the rest of Ganymede itself. The collision completed itself within a day, the molten surface of Mars re-arranging itself.
The Martian atmosphere began to form slowly weeks after the impact, its increased gravity and new magnetic field preserving the barely perceptible bluish tint. The element zero ships remain in orbit for years, supplies delivered from Earth and the terraformed Venus. The fleet remains to ensure no significant alteration to Mars' orbit has occured, using the mass effect fields and small scale artificial impacts to keep and monitor planet in place for decades.
After four decades, the Martian orbit has been declared stable and its temperatures have dropped to much milder, habitable levels. Newly formed terrain reflected the impact from decades earlier, rings of mountains and a deep ocean marking the sites of major impact. As equilibrium is gradually reached, nations begin dividing up the territory of Mars according to their merits in the operation.
Rome will take the area formerly where the mountain of Olympus Mons was. Aksum will take the area formerly where the Prothean archives were located before it was hoisted up into orbit. The Frankish Republic takes the northern pole alongside other nations interested in studying the forming climate of the now not so red, more of pink world. China takes a portion of the ocean, some of the impact mountains and some of the areas where the moons Eris and Triton impacted more than a century earlier.
Early waves of colonists arrived, mostly terraformers to begin culturing organisms fit to live on the new Mars. The Human Biospheric Assembly, an international organization composed of all kinds of biologists, biophysicists, climatologists, ecologists, biochemists and geologists, proposed a multi-stage ecological system that will have each phase be introduced every half a century modelled after the evolution of the Earth.
Artificial selection and genetic engineering will accelerate any necessary adaptations should a stage proceed not as planned. The entire ecosystem has been planned, general and most intuitive niches have been brought to attention and assigned four organisms each to compete and accelerate differentiation. Exactly 12 cradles of life have been planned, the location of twelve deployments for each generation, two of which are underwater.
The first phase is the Archaean phase, where chemotrophs, extremophiles and soil bacteria of all kinds are released to begin the nitrogen cycle and fine tune the atmosphere to be as Earth-like as possible. Following this phase, the Microplant phase, phytoplankton, cyanobacteria, moss and all forms of unicellular photosynthetic life is introduced to make the air more breathable and carbon dioxide levels sustainable. As Mars receives less sunlight than Earth, the planet can possess much higher natural carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Conducive for a much more rapid growth of plants, plans for parts of the planet to be an agricultural paradise have been proposed as double yields have been calculated. This uncontroversial data is also why the Biospheric Assembly is sure that life will propagate much faster due to the abundance of matter present.
The next phase is the Heterotrophic phase, all unicellular and microscopic multicellular predators of photosynthetic life are introduced. In an exception, deep sea vent ecosystems will be imported in this phase, to have life capitalize on the much more volcanic depths of the Martian seas. A deep sea observatory is constructed in this phase, to fine tune the deep sea ecosystem.
The fourth phase is the Multicelullar Autotroph phase, introducing plants like seaweed, grass, trees, bamboos and also saprophytic fungi in the later years of the phase. This phase will also see the deployment of commercial organisms, bio-engineered creatures who detect and collect Boron and Hydrogen through their metabolism as a way to acquire the location of these nuclear fuels. The creatures are either chemotrophs or autotrophs, plants or fungi, who create fruits of these elements in a similar way to sweating for humans or drones to collect.
Since commercial organisms also play a part in the ecosystem for sustainability, this function of theirs in no way hampers or limits their survivability. After all, they must be able to independently function as another creature in the garden.
The fifth phase introduces herbivores of all kinds. The sixth introduces direct carnivores and omnivores. The seventh and last introduces apex predators and predators of predators. It is during the sixth phase did mankind encounter Rakhana and its desperate Drell.
First Contact: Rakhana
The empires of man have expanded across the nearby stars, establishing wormhole lanes, colonies and terraformation efforts. The mass relay at Charon had been activated, discovering that it led to one of the mass relays at Arcturus. To cut off the lines between Arcturus and Earth, the Charon Relay's element zero core is drained completely and the relay itself completely disassembled for study.
The Arcturus relay itself is explored after the system had been fully colonized and fortified with mankind's most lethal and creative weapons. Another wave of expansion occurs after none of Marutha's aliens were discovered, pushing mankind to yet another solar system. A year after the colonization efforts began on Arcturus, a wormhole incident took place that set man to meet an unexpected friend in need.
A Kurušid colonisation fleet, four colony ships and one military cruiser were heading to a previously analyzed system that revealed two habitable, albeit mostly mountainous desert worlds. As the Persians were the most suited and held the most sway, they were the ones to send their colonists. Assyrians, Armenians, Kurds and other Arameans were the ones to volunteer first, seeing as this was a wonderful opportunity to grow their numbers.
And so the four colony ships departed with tens of thousands of each, mostly young families and young adults looking for a new life outside of Earth. Two bishops were sent by the Church, one for each planet under the omophorion of the Catholicos-Patriarch of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.
A miscalculation on the wormhole's parameters transported the five colony vessels to a solar system 5,000 light years away, far off their course. The ships soon enter the orbit of a desert planet with a network of dim lights below. Sandstorms blow upon the planet's surface and life, complex life, seemed to be there.
On the Persian Cruiser's bridge, the scan data fed into the holographic displays. The shahrab, an aged, bearded man in colorful robes, stood in confusion as the surface data revealed sandstorms, beasts and most bewildering of all, less advanced, reptillian, humanoid aliens.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Said the shahrab. As he looked around, the similarly confused expressions of all the other officials in the ship's bridge made the shahrab calm himself down and put the pieces together. "Operants, where are we?" Commanded the Shahrab.
One of the operants quickly tapped her fingers of the glass display, stood and reported, "Your Highness, we are approximately 5,000 light years from Earth according to preliminary starlight data." The shahrab seemed to take offense at that very answer, repeating incredulously, "5,000? How did we miss by thousands of light years?!"
The operants continued to work for answers, interpreting the terabytes of collected data and also coordinating with the ship's construct. The shahrab can only sit and ponder on the situation as he silently watched the monitors, thinking of what he will have to report about to the Shahanshah and by extension, the other heads of state with alien discovery.
The quantum entanglement communications went straight to the Shahanshah, who picked up and went straight to business. The shahrab prostrated and gave the customary greeting of "many years, Shahanshah [Insert name] by the grace of Alaha and his Mshiha." before detailing the exact predicament the colony fleet found itself into.
The element zero wormhole drives have entered forced shutdown after the unexpectedly long wormhole lane is opened. By early calculations based on scanner data and energy expenses, only one of the vessels present can return through the wormhole before it collapses and returns space to its prior structure. Travel by conventional mass effect fields will take 115 days. Using the colony's nuclear fuel supplies can allow a return to be made and the wormhole to be maintained for smaller craft to go back and forth but the shahrab didn't dare to use it unless he had explicit permission.
In line with the international treaty, the Shahanshah informed all the other heads of state of these developments and commanded the shahrab to await further orders. Avoid contact with the natives unless contacted first, simply observe and react accordingly. With the orders given, the shahrab awaited, gathering data on the planet itself.
After a week and many international conferences, more developments have been made. On Rakhana, audiovisual observation revealed the name of the alien race, the name of the world itself, the amount and names of different factions on the planet alongside a strong clue to what their predicament seems to be. On Earth, the heads of state come to a consensus that contact will be made and altruism to be dispensed.
On the Drell's perspective of the events, the Drell homeworld of Rakhana was in a state of perpetual chaos. The planet was experiencing an ecological disaster, and the Drell, who were fragmented into hundreds of warring nations, were fighting fiercely for the remaining resources. They had forgotten the very notion of aliens, focusing solely on their own survival, and so the sudden appearance of five highly advanced spaceships in orbit of their planet caught them completely off guard.
As the ships remained in orbit for an entire week, the Drell, who had never encountered any other intelligent life forms in the galaxy, were in a state of shock and confusion. The warring nations temporarily put aside their differences to focus on this new and unknown threat, albeit skirmishes remain in effect here and there. Some of the more desperate and war weary saw this as a possible salvation, hoping that these aliens had come to help them solve the ecological disaster that plagued their planet.
But most saw it as an ominous sign, wondering why the ships did not land, and what was the reason for them just hanging beyond the sky for a whole week. The Drell Governments and militaries were on high alert, trying to communicate with the ships and understanding the purpose of their presence but to no avail as it seemed that either the aliens do not understand or do not wish to respond. The Drell were left in a state of uncertainty, speculating about the unknown and potential danger that could come from these mysterious ships.
After the commands were teleported from Earth and the shahrab informed of the next step, the old man began sending binary code through the known wavelengths the Drell have been trying to contact them with. The first step to contact is to establish a consistent mathematical equivalence, so that symbols can be carried through it. Over the course of another week, binary codes were exchanged with those Drell who were interested in communication or were capable of defending themselves against raids to do so.
Even with the binary code exchanges performed and mathematical equivalence established, the Drell were very careful to divulge only the bare minimum of information. They were also very straight to the point, asking what the purpose of the ships here are the moment the binary code can be used to create an equivalent statement. The humans straightforwardly replied that it was an accident that they arrived here, something the Drell seemed to be suspicious about considering that only few seemed to respond back after that answer.
A binary message telling them to leave was sent before missiles were fired by a large number of Drell nations. These missiles were promptly eliminated by the laser turrets, sending the Drell who pre-emptively attacked into a frenzy of panic. Seeing the political and social situation deteriorate further, the shahrab decided to send surface representatives into the nations that continue to send binary code while firing orbital laser cannons to destroy any missile silos belonging to the aggressors to de-arm them from further hostilities.
Though a move that can be interpreted as an act of war, the shahrab has received orders to ignore hostiles and simply disable them from launching attacks. Rakhana has no practical value and is too far for terraformation to be worth anything, the overpopulated Drell homeworld is also dying and so unproductive interactions like war and conquest are to be avoided. Friendly Drell on the other hand are to be corresponded with and diplomatic contact established.
After a few months of the situation, the Drell ambassadors who remained in communication petitioned for the humans to evacuate them from their homeworld. Sentiments of evacuation existed but remained largely the dream of few who no longer wished for perpetual war and hindered by the impracticality of developing spaceflight in such an unstable society. With seemingly friendly aliens opening a possibility for survival beyond Rakhana, the desperate pleas suppressed for centuries released itself in the form of binary code.
The offer was sent to Earth and considered. If accepted, a response will be given in three months alongside a set of ships to ferry the Drell who wish to embark beyond the stars. But before the escaping Drell could rejoice, they are warned that escape comes with a small price. On one end it is unrealistic to assume aliens would simply help without some form of return but on the other hand, the Drell offered a chance could not help but regret that it does have a price. A tug of war between an honest ally and the fact that salvation comes with a price.
After the three months, a response came and detailed the price. In trade of uplifting, relocation and co-colonization, the saved Drell must swear to perform these actions:
• Cultural Integration
The Drell will live among the Bedouins, the Arameans, the Assyrians and the Kurds. They must adopt the culture of one or multiple of these, living amongst them and be subject to their customs. They may preserve the traditions of their world or even create their own culture but for the first three generations of Drell, they must accept learning the ways of humans
• Abandon the Old Gods
The children of the saved Drell, not existing children but future children shall be taught the Apostolic Faith. Personal and household worship of the Old Gods are allowed, but no temples shall ever be erected.
Six months are given for them to give their answer while ships have begun deployment to the wormhole to carry the few who would inevitably choose survival.
Upon being presented with the option of changing their culture and having their future children be passively converted to an alien religion, the Drell felt a sense of unease and confusion. They struggle to fully understand the reasoning behind such a proposal and the implications it would have on their society and future generations. The Drell are concerned about the potential loss of their own cultural heritage.
Conversations on whether the benefits of survival would outweigh the cost of losing their cultural identity were being held in those who had the privilige to do so. Others simply accepted their fate, holding out against external threats in the six months and helping their populations pack for an exodus. Those with early decisions were quickly asked to provide names and basic data of each individual, mainly to organize their relocation. Orphans were evacuated first and adopted legally by the Church for both moral and practical reasons.
Once the six months are up, the Drell began evacuations, most of them resigned to the price of salvation. Stowaways from other nations also arrived, accepted by the shahrab trusting that the combat constructs could restrain any. The shahrab's colonization fleet strengthened the wormhole, enough for the entire evacuation process.
Transport ships arrived one by one, carrying away a hundred Drell on each transport ship. The ships left at 12 noon and 6 pm, and five hundred ships meant that the Drell were transported at a rate of a hundred thousand each day. The ships led to a refugee camp in the Iranian deserts which will select Drell for colonization to Persian worlds. The Arab states were also given a fair share of the Drell, owing to their arid environment and very small amounts were also given to the Chinese, Romans and colonizing native american states.
Drell leaders remained in equivalent positions and granted new titles like Ethnarch, Yekshahrab and etc, reflecting their official placement as the Drell administrative wing of relevant human governments. The evacuation ended after a year as 36.5 million refugees were evacuated and sent to recolonize. To prevent riots and reverse culturalization, the Drell are sent in Colony ships always as significant minorities composing of 25%. Large enough so that the majority would not simply exclude them and not assimilate them, small enough to be crushed if an uprising occured.
Soon, Drell were relocated and their integration began as the Ethnarchs were given tasks to autonomously manage the Drell and fulfill the price the humans demanded. Beyond that humans only required tribute in the form of military support and taxes, the Ethnarchs were left to organize the Drell as they wish to be ruled. So long as the position remained, how that position is selected does not matter.
A generation later, missionaries began to enter the Drell and promise them Immortality through Christ. The missionaries remained truthful and proud of their beliefs, every detail translated into the fullness of the Drell language. Those who kept the Old gods and turned away the missionaries were simply ignored, as religious violence against the Drell is entirely illegal due to a strict religious policy of 'persuasion, not intimidation'.
As the children were raised in both the old way and the new way, they gave rise to compatible synthesis among those who sided with one or the other more dualistically. The aggressive but ultimately voluntary cultural influence from the human empires began to take its root on the new generation of Drell, whose attire began reflecting that of the local ethnicity they are slowly being assimilated into. Those who kept the old way were slowly vanishing as the synthesis attracted the moderates while conservatives kept the bare minimum of change, many even being baptized nominally simply to avoid missionary efforts without social repercussions.
By 85 years since their evacuation, the Drell had completely became of the new way and mankind had become very much used to them. The Drell differentiated into regional names, according to the assimilation. The most common name they go with is Drayllto, as a consequence of being largely settled alongside Arameans and Assyrian colonists.
The Drell script evolved to be more similar to the syriac script, letters and spellings changed, and loanwords entered in large amounts. Their clothing almost mirrored that of the humans who lived nearby but more unique things like architecture, cuisine and dance remained largely unchanged.Their population had by now doubled to 73 million across dozens of solar systems, marginally faster than the humans settled in the same place. Adventurous Drell have become a common sight, seeking to travel the world and participate in human culture.
By the next generation, the Drell had become an integral part of human society. Though not human, Drell or as they are now called: Drayllto have enjoyed and continue to enjoy the same rights guaranteed by the decree of every head of state. The position of Ethnarch began its decline to oblivion as the Drayllto were integrated enough to no longer need autonomous districts or parallel governments.
On Rakhana, the mass evacuation was simply forgotten as generations passed and sandstorms blew away whatever remained of the evacuated. Tales among the Drell carry it on as vivid oral history but endless warfare, depleting resources and raids obliterated this anecdote of history into nothing more than a legendary tale. By the time the hanar discovers them, they would have no living witness in generations to remind them of what had once passed.
Aight, that's it for this chapter, thank you for reading! Since humanity evacuated millions of drell, should Thane Krios be from humanity or the hanar? He'll be an assassin either way, just for entirely different reasons. I hope the reasoning I gave for the evacuation makes sense.