"God is with us! Understand all ye nations, and submit yourselves, for God is with us!"
- Great Compline
SSJ-Jolt - Fair assessment but it easily misses some important plot points and a misunderstanding of Eastern Christianity which admittedly I haven't been too detailed about. I'll address them to clarify, starting with sainthood. So first, Marutha himself is not a Saint and personally rejects the title. The Church atm is in a perpetual limbo, neither canonizing him nor against his canonization, popular acclaim is present but Marutha's own wishes stops any attempts at formal veneration and icon-making.
Secondly, Eastern Christians do not think like Protestants. Saints can be wrong, or even horribly wrong even in things like theology. Eastern Christians either consider St Augustine as not a saint due to grave theological errors or simply not a theologian. The Apostolic Faith held by Eastern Christians exist only in the consensus of the Saints, not what one or two or even several has to say about something, anything not in consensus is theologoumena ("theological opinion"). That is a common and enforced understanding held both irl and in the fanfic.
An easy example is how orthodox christians don't agree on the details of what happens after death. Are tollhouses real? some saints say yes some say no others say I don't know. Things like this are put in the "The Church has no revelation about this so believe what you will on it." Because a key point in Eastern Christianity is: "Believed always by everyone, everywhere." If we don't have proof the apostles or their direct students or the holy fathers always had it, we don't make it official.
So Marutha's misunderstandings would easily be cleared up down the line especially since the Zoologion is not a work of theology but rather a treatise of natural philosophy. Add that by the fact that the book was analyzed not by only one school of traditional medicine but multiple, who would inevitably interpret it in different ways and eventually correct any mistakes based on their own findings. Add that by the fact that Marutha would gladly review what has proven him wrong since he's seemingly immortal and can simply be invited, even the most diehard followers would have to listen if he agrees with the findings himself.
Even with an american protestant mindset, the fact that St Augustine's doctrines of grace are universally accepted by them but his non-literalist interpretation of genesis is ignored or deliberately misunderstood gives a clue to how the problem is hardly as big as it may seem. So I think it's reasonable to say that the problem will simply solve itself with minimal confusion.
Theiscarian - I plan to have humanity handle the Yahg after Citadel contact. St. Izrael the Bulgar imo sets a precedent for harsh, warrior conversions when the race in question speaks no language but combat. Since the Yahg submit only to strength, the warriors of humanity would have no issue with defeating one in combat to establish dominance and convert them willingly.
Since the humans as a race are far more strong both mentally and physically compared to the modern culture (not to disparage pop culture), they have 0 qualms with beating the Yahg up if it's the best way to earn their respect. For the virtual aliens, I have no plans for them atm but that might change.
Zoltan-Atreyu - Thanks for reading! I hope I continue to make the story entertaining.
I have decided to let Thane be with the Drell, seeing as I think it would fit better. On a similar note, expect both the Normandy and its crew to be totally different people. I'll try keeping similarities but they'll be themes as best, since many nationalities and ethnicities that would have existed didn't. On that note:
[Nationalities and Ethnicities of these Characters (To be renamed according to divergences in history):
- Shepard
- Kaidan Alenko
- Jack
- Ashley
- Miranda
]
It's time for the inevitable contact with the Turians and Council shenanigans. But before that, an account of two minor races encountered and allied with humanity after the Drell. These races who would never have known of the reapers and their cycles, by virtue of being far from any mass relays.
Ecumene Entry: Hyrkanur
The Hyrkanur are a space-faring race of humanoid canines, significantly analogous to the Greek mythological creature known as werewolves. Humans encountered the Hyrkanur when both of their colony ships arrived almost at the same time in the same solar system. First Contact essentially occured like a staring contest, where neither party made sudden moves and merely exchanged signals to begin establishing a shared language for communications.
After that, information exchanges were done and both the Hyrkanur and Humans were introduced to each others' culture(s). The Hyrkanur had developed a global culture due to their evolutionary psychology, which made them far more cohesive pack hunters than humans ever were. Their animal roles before sapience continues to influence the tendencies found in their culture which are often described as meritocratic, collectivist, authoritarian, familial and oligarchic.
Like earthly wolves, the Hyrkanur packs were headed by a reproducing couple whose children would make up most if not the entire pack. These breeding couples are the leaders of the pack by virtue of being the parents, progenitor of the pack. This is reflected in many significant things: the fact that the Hyrkanur word for king is identical to the word ancestor or ethnarch or senior or elder, the fact that filial piety is a universal cultural norm, the fact that packs continue in the form of Hyrkanur Clans and etc.
Politically, the Hyrkanur are ruled by an Autocratic Diarchy know as the "Supreme Ancestors" who by merit and popular acclaim by lesser diarchies known as Clans and their constituent diarchies become the leading hierarchs of the species. Every familial unit of the Hyrkanur are diarchies, where the most prominent diarchy takes charge of others to form Clans based on a common traceable lineage. The importance of Clans mean that every Hyrkanur is aware of much of their ancestry and so are very culturally conservative with a tendency to take the words of their elders and seniors to heart.
This society is as meritocratic as it is familial in nature, as the place of parents as superiors are through the merits of reproduction. Those who show great merit can easily climb the ranks of society as it is fundamentally ingrained in their biology the importance of merit as the ultimate determiner of one's social standing. Thus, merit is the source of all loyalty within society and it does not regard whether or not one is Hyrkanur, Human, Droyllto or Kli'tigt.
The Hyrkanur languages are unique in that they are physically incapable of pronouncing the letters p, b, m and w, alongside sounds like ü or anything involving lips. As such, Hyrkanur fundamentally cannot speak any human language without a noticeable accent on any word that contain those letters and sounds above. To remedy that, translators on both sides are generally used in formal settings.
The concept of Merit played strongly into the religious life of the Hyrkanur, whose religions universally have a consistent theme of a universal progenitor possessing the ultimate merit for creating the Hyrkanur and the world itself. Christianity takes this further as the teachings of Essence-Energy distinction clarified that the world has not only been created by God but also constantly sustained. Therefore, the divine merit is in a continuous, everlasting increase.
The ingrained sense of merit made the Hyrkanur christians to be very militant and full of energy. The moment they are convinced of Christ and His Church, they prove themselves to be not only incredibly loyal but also incredibly enthusiastic. So much so that the Hyrkanur christians expanded rapidly and made not any hesitations in requesting for as many of the ordained to be sent to their rapidly growing church.
It also helped that humanity's technological diffusions, presents of goodwill as their contacts had all been quite friendly so far, trade agreements and opened diplomatic relations translated to enough merit for the words of missionaries to carry some weight in Hyrkanur culture. As Human-Hyrkanur partnerships increased as both sides reciprocated, missionaries and native Christians gained more ground.
As a result, in contemporary times, Hyrkanur living among humans whether as citizens, expats, students or in colonies adjacent to human star systems or in or adjacent to significant interspecies trading areas are all Christians in good standing with the Church with native missions moving quite significantly with every generation that passes. But it's not all peaceful and happy as their zealotry and passion led to conflict between the different rites and patriarchates among Hyrkanur laity, which only ended when a Hyrkanur Patriarchate and a Hyrkanur-Rite is established. On a technological side, Hyrkanur technology was influenced but ultimately remained noticeably distinct from any human state.
Politically, the Hyrkanur Ethnarchy is a close ally of humanity rather than a client state or mandala of any kind with favorable relations. They do not particularly side with any human state, acting entirely neutral to their conflicts and often as a buffer or mediating nation against powers in conflict. The main human cultural influences are the prevalence of head coverings and a recent cultural development of using full prostrations to show ultimate respect and submission.
Ecumene Entry: Kli'tigt
The Kli'tigt are a race of large aquatic crustaceans resembling a more larger, dextrous, colorful and streamlined coconut crab. They originate from an ocean-dominated and archipelagic world with a much higher oxygen content, around 32% which led to a world dominated by megafauna. As individual lands never get any larger than the island of Japan, ocean life makes up the majority of the planet's biomatter.
Evolving in the reefs, they developed a niche as ambush predators similar to the octopus. Unlike the Octopus, they rely on their hard shells and coral-like appearance to hunt, communicating using clicks that can imitate the sound of swimming fish. Using these clicks, the Kli'tigt bait larger fish and kill them with a powerful snap.
The Kli'tigt developed on radically different grounds than humans, owing to their aquatic origins. Though arising to the islands from time to time, even after their sapience is attained, their mostly aquatic lifestyles and the lack of necessity to have a significant land presence meant that fire was a very late discovery that was viewed as not much of a milestone at all, a fact that interested Human and Droyllto, the evolved name for humanized Drell, anthropologists enough that some chose to live among them for study and for the monks among them, as an ascetic feat synonymous to the frankish ascetics living among the native americans.
Their technological progress relied largely on artificial selection, using and farming organisms for their needs. Though inanimate tools exist, most tools of the Kli'tigt are biological in nature. It is notable that a great amount of biodiversity in their homeworld is a direct and indirect result of their animal husbandry that drives organisms to take new and artificial niches. In fact, the rate of artificial selection in their aquatic world is fast enough that their timeline did not progress too differently.
For example, 3 generations of selectively breeding rainbow trouts can result in 30% growth gains. These trouts only live 3 to 4 years, and yet the generational changes are significant. The need to customize their domesticated animals also gave rise to unique agricultural systems that are mainly used to feed their livestock, which further justified a sedentary lifestyle as reef states formed.
Trade between reef states also meant sharing new breeds and traits, taking the Kli'tigt on a path where ecology, zoology, biology and engineering are the exact same discipline. In fact, they don't have separate words for ecology and zoology, placing them all as just biology. Their society finds it foreign the idea of pollution as their very expertise is molding the environment itself to adapt to their needs.
Humanity encountered the Kli'tigt when a colonization fleet arrived into their system. The Kli'tigt were in their equivalent of the Atomic Age, marked not by the discovery of the nuclear bomb but rather by the beginning of genetic engineering as an augmentation to their artificial selection. First contact was officially made after months of exchanging symbols and analyzing the sounds they make.
Official diplomatic relations began years later, once a fully functional Kli'tigt-Human translation program was established for humans in mechanical suits to enter their underwater cities. After that, interaction and technological diffusion rapidly grew. The limitations that came with being aquatic were quickly removed as humans came to provide them knowledge from land-dwelling species.
As majority of human technology required an atmospheric rather than aquatic environment to manufacture and sometimes to function, the Kli'tigt were forced to develop their own versions, leading to a situation much like teaching a student to make their own applications of the lesson as opposed to giving cavemen a gun and telling the cavemen how to use it. In fact, the event blurs the line between uplifting and diffusion, it is fast enough to seem to be uplifting but the results are entirely novel enough to be diffusion. This debate of uplifting vs diffusion would continue for centuries, among more uniate Kli'tigt against more independent Kli'tigt.
Human genetic engineering, ecology and other biological subjects accelerated and expanded the already coming Golden Age of Genetics among the Kli'tigt. In fact, the rapid technological development allowed the Kli'tigt to eventually outpace and surpass the humans in the topic of biology, ecology, zoology, biomimetics, biophysics, biochemistry and bio-engineering. In contemporary times, despite their significantly lesser population, half of one's biology-related professors in the pandidakterion would be Kli'tigt.
The Kli'tigt are not culturally globalistic as well, due to the regional variations in environment restricting states and their conquests largely to climactic zones. Much fewer global empires have appeared as a result, but when they do their organisms would prove to be undefeatable until their collapse. Kli'tigt ethnicities are strong and noticeable even to aliens due to the climactic regions: the colorations of their shells, their relative sizes and size of pincers give away their origin.
As such, the human states were able to communicate and establish relations with different Kli'tigt states. Kli'tigt politics didn't change too much, beyond the global non-aggression pacts and unconditional apliance in regard to alien interaction, much like the humans. Like the Drell, humans desire to make the Kli'tigt into client states in a mandala-like arrangement, especially later after witnessing their incredible aptitude in biotechnology.
Like the Drell, humans begin integrating the Kli'tigt albeit more slowly and with far less cultural concessions. Missionary efforts were done and aquatic rites of Christianity were made from various Kli'tigt cultures once the Apostolic faith grew large among the Kli'tigt. As the Kli'tigt were not assimilated like the Drell, a siginificant minority of Kli'tigt retain their traditional faith. However, the traditional faith's similarity to Christianity in the same sense as Taoism made pure Kli'tigt religion practically extinct in contemporary times.
The integration arrangements were joint citizenships, joint ocean world colonies and ease of immigrations. The human states were entirely alright about having the Kli'tigt colonize their ocean worlds together, seeing that human settlements and operations are fairly limited in the first place. These ocean worlds eventually gained prominence with the Kli'tigt's presence and become popular tourism or industrial sites due to their unique organisms developed by the Kli'tigt.
In contemporary times, the Kli'tigt act as humanity's client state albeit its tribute being more indirect in nature: joint citizenships, Kli'tigt migrant workers, joint defence, joint colonization, etc. Its fleet of biological warships have recently become a common sight, defending the Earth and its colonies alongside a colorful fleet of mechanical warships.
Taghbatı, Yiraqyugur / 430 Ly from Earth / 4th April 2157 AD
Taghbatı is a frontier colony of Great Jing. With its arid mountains, mesas and canyons, Taghbatı is an arid world. The planet's surface is marked by towering peaks and deep canyons, covered in rocky outcroppings and little vegetation introduced by the colonists. These arid mountains are home to a select few hardy creatures that have been adapted to survive in these inhospitable environments.
The peaks and mesas provide a panoramic view of the planet's rugged landscape, but also pose a danger to any explorer who ventures too close to the edge of the steep cliffs. The canyons, on the other hand, are characterized by their deep and narrow valleys, that cut through the planet's surface. These canyons are home to a number of rivers and streams that flow through the landscape, providing a source of water for the planet's limited flora and fauna.
Overall, the planet's similarity to East Turkestan meant that the Jing Emperor alloted this colony for the uyghur clans. The colonists struck gold when the planet was found to be rich in palladium, attracting trade companies and more colonists who can survive the mountainous deserts. The scarcity of farmable land and of favorable weather except for isolated patches here and there meant that the colonists lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle, hunting, gathering, mining and moving between the farmable lands after gathering supplies from the agricultural machines.
The planet's resemblance to Rakhana also attracted the yugdrull, the tenth clan of uyghur made exclusively of the Droyllto who had assimilated into uyghur culture. Their eidetic memory proved useful to act as guides and trackers, their services often employed by travelers. There's even a common saying, "With a Drell and an Aksumite, you can travel anywhere in the galaxy."
After the planet has attracted millions of settlers and appropriate defences, the relay is activated and the probes are sent through. The system's defense fleets flank the mass relay from the system's side, planning to ambush anything that comes out of the relay itself. Should the probes reveal an empty system, the fleet will move in and investigate themselves before declaring it clear for colonization.
The relay activation is a widely broadcasted event. After all, each relay was either just another boring system or a hostile fleet of protheans or their student races where humanity will either find them reformed or make them submit by sheer military might. Xenophobia among humans was almost exclusively on protheans and their supporters, with even some of the Droyllto joining in on it which includes even the more conservative, I-miss-Rakhana type Drell. The drones enter the relay, transmitting themselves across the newly activated Relay 314.
On the other side, the activation of a dormant relay sends a turian fleet to approach the relay, wary of what may come out.
Turian Side
A fleet of twenty eight ships drift in the void, their bright blue thrusters roaring silently as they approach the relay of the system. The angular, grey ships were shaped like birds of prey, revealing a clue to the nature of its pilots. Four ships stood out among the rest, being more than one and a half times larger then the rest with slightly darker paint.
General Desolas Arterius was on patrol, watching the dormant primary relay as it activated. The large, almost ten mile tuning fork came to life, unveiling it's element zero core and aligning its shape to accomodate for the newcomers.
The Turian general stood up from his gray throne, walking towards the bridge's bulletproof glass window that overlooked the darkness and the mass relay that floated in the middle of it. As the relay reached its final shape, the general barked his command, "I want every weapon ready and aimed at the relay! Fire upon hostile intent."
A boring patrol had just become a much more serious affair. A dormant primary relay's activation is either the act of a foolish race or the birth of a new Rachni wars. Either way, General Desolas Arterius will see this handled by force. A strong lesson should a foolish one venture forth or a valiant stand against the successors of the Rachni.
The ships had fully aligned themselves into their positions, aimed at being beyond immediate notice as their weapons are only one click away. Should they try to return after noticing, they will be shot down to prevent them from notifying the fleets of the other side. For now, we wait.
The human probes descended from FTL, suddenly thrust into reality as small booms of cherenkov radiation erupted from them like short lived halos. Yet, these probes were near invisible, almost as black as the background itself. The only thing that informed of their existence was the burst of energy that came with the relay, even cameras and active sensors could not detect these ships.
Spirits, what is the meaning of this?
The general furrowed his "eyebrows" at the invisible ships. This was to him at least Salarian level of stealth. A suspicion arose in his head, but was quickly put aside for he thought of it as outright conspiracy.
Crafty as they may, they are not bold like this. The general sat down on the bridge's throne, thinking of his next move as the ship's officers tried to find something, anything that could detect these probes reliably. Clicks and pings echoed lightly in the bridge, quickly becoming an ambience that dominated the Turian cruiser for hours to come.
The general decided to simply wait in silence until the probes made their next move. As detection proved impossible, attacking was out of the question. The probes returned to the mass relay after a few hours, entering FTL and departing.
Whether or not the probes had noticed the patrol fleet in their positions was an open question and one that determined what was to happen next. Without any information and the window of stealth closing as the frequency of booms reduced, the general commanded full course towards the relay upon the last boom. A pre-emptive strike seemed like a reasonable choice, a surprise should stun the enemy or make them cower under Turian might.
They will either teach primitives a lesson or lay a critical early strike upon a future enemy. It was good either way for the general. The Turian ships jumped into FTL and began the first interaction between the human empires and the Citadel Council.
As the probes were collected by the ships camped near the relay, humanity breathed a sigh of relief as their preliminary scans revealed no spacefaring civilization. It almost seems as if the disappearance of the Protheans meant that everyone else vanished as well. Oh how wrong they were...
As the human ships began to depart the relay, twenty eight ships erupted beside the relay and began firing blue projectiles of steel everywhere. Without warning, hulls were dented and given holes, smaller ships being sent slowly spinning from the impact of the projectiles. The officers of the human ships took a full minute to recover, enough time for twelve rounds to have descended upon them.
The event was broadcasted and so the navies of man were mobilized. Every head of state was immediately informed and rushed to their respective courts and cabinets. All fleets of quick response were deployed with various orders no longer than three words, shipmasters demanding for full speed.
The defenses of Yiraqyugur were hastily activated and all the citizens of the known world (human and allied space) were glued to their screens as the events unfolded. No fleets expected themselves to arrive in time for any intervention, rather, all expect their arrival to be a form of retaliation. A few Hyrkanur and Kli'tigt warships joined the retaliation fleets as well, and the various governments of both are considering mobilizing more.
The general kept a face of stone as his fleet began to destroy the weaker ships, invisible escape pods launched whose presence was only revealed shortly by sensors during their launch. Fighter craft did not pursue them, dead men tell no tales and there were bigger fish to fry. Seeing as the ships began to recover, the general issued commands to alter their formation strictly according to protocol.
The general had calculated the entire battle on his head, he would lose a cruiser and its wolfpack at worst while the enemy would be decimated completely. He sat down and closely monitored the battle, relaxed but alert should the unexpected arise. And it did, as without warning, two cruisers were cleaved in half by invisible forces and exploded, sending small turbulent forces as their element zero was scattered around.
What?! The general leaped up and barked his next order, "All ships concentrate fire at the enemy cruiser! All fighters as well!" Swarms of turian fighter craft descended upon the cruiser-sized human vessel, firing their weapons while they expertly maneuvered around to seek weaknesses. Whatever looked like a weapon was targeted by the Turians, who faced this unprecedented new weapon.
It was effective in stopping the invisible strikes and for a moment it seemed the attacks were naught but moments of short lived triumph. But, a critical mistake had passed and the general paid his price. The smaller ships began to flee but now, many invisible forces struck upon the frigates and obliterated them.
Whatever fighters were not focused on the human cruiser were quickly dispatched, silently erupting into clouds of hot matter in deep space. Before he could voice even more surprise at this turn of events, the human cruiser struck and tore a molten hole on the only cruiser left beside his, annihilating many fighters in the meantime. The general saw his defeat and so commanded a full retreat, deploying their last attacks and any torpedoes they had in stock before they made their way to the relay and disappeared into bursts of light.
3 Days later...
General Desolas spared no time in assembling the bulk of his fleet, including his dreadnought, for a full assault onto the alien world. The primitives held too much power he thought, possessing invisible weapons that could annihilate cruisers with ease. How dangerous would that power be should it be turned against the Citadel and how powerful would it be should the Hierarchy possess it?
The general's patrol was but a ruse to recover an artifact of old, presumably prothean, on the alien colony. But now, with evidence of such advanced technology in the other side, the general could not help but smile at the opportunity it brings. Nevermind he lost twenty ships, these invisible weapons would be no different than winning a lottery.
Nearly five hundred ships gathered at relay 314, led by the fearsome kilometer long Dreadnought 'THS Digeris'. Like other dreadnoughts, its spinal mounted cannon was sufficient to dwarf the bomb dropped at Nagasaki in one blow. Even more, such a weapon could continuously fire once every 5 seconds, decimating a portion of a city with each impact.
An invisible cruiser killer may be impressive but the general is confident that his dreadnought's, a turian dreadnought, main weapon remains superior. His superiors knew of his movements and of his battles, which he reported with uncharacteristic enthusiasm to gain as much support as possible to pacify this race. The invisible weapon bought him the full support of most if not all of his superiors, who assured him that they would keep the rest of the galaxy in the dark until the pacification is complete.
In high spirits and awaiting promised reinforcements from his superiors, the general erupted into a rousing speech to boost morale before they enter the relay and subjugate their enemy.
Human Side
As it occured within the bounds of his empire, the Tianjiao Emperor led the military and diplomatic response to these hostile foreigners. The ecumene was flooded with many proclaiming the fulfillment of Marutha's warnings and tags supporting the defense and retaliation of humanity trended everywhere. Those who lived within the vicinity of Yiraqyugur's star system posted images and short videos of them holding and using their weapons, with captions such as, "Barbarians Begone!" or "Defend the World!" or "Protheans go back to Prothyfart!"
All in all war enthusiasm was pretty high. Propaganda was entirely unecessary when entire populations do not take kindly to hostile aliens and war was a reality that everyone was prepared for. Even some Hyrkanur and Kli'tigt joined in the trends, while the various Drell were almost identical in the comments sections as the humans voicing their aggresive support.
The entirety of the Han fleet had gathered in the Taghbatı system, 2,925 ships with a total crew of 234,000 people were present. Other fleets and sub-fleets remain to defend the system, while the Tianjiao Emperor's Han fleet will soon perform an offensive and retaliate swiftly. As the time drew near, the Han fleet entered the relay and prepared for a retaliatory invasion.
On the other side, the Turian general entered the relay as well and prepared to claim his prize. Minutes later, both armies drop out of FTL to widely different circumstances.
The Turians, expecting more resistance, thought it reasonable for their enemies to prepare ambush attacks and use their invisible weaponry to slice them apart. They did not expect to find hundreds of similarly sized ships waiting for them in plain view. Before general Desolas Arterius could say open fire, his fleet began spontaneously erupting into flames.
Weapon systems were quickly turned offline as the invisible strikes dismantled the dreadnought's main gun. Engines were blown apart and frigates were simply outright destroyed with no mercy. The Turian fleet could not even retaliate with more than a dozen bullets as their enemies rained down unseen death.
In no longer than a minute, the Turian fleet had become nothing more than a floating junkyard of death and charred metal. Most cruisers and the dreadnought were spared, but dead in the water. Non-lethal but horrifying holes littered the hull of the remaining ships, whose crew were forced to isolate entire decks rapidly.
The turian officers and crew were simply outright shocked at the destruction they had watched. Many who had doubts of the general's words, unvoiced ones, had doubt no longer. Ship officers were barely controlling their panic, even the disciplined Turians had a hard time with this magnitude of fear that struck them as hard as its origin had struck the bulk of their fleet.
The general was in denial, he was proven more right at the danger and opportunity of these weapons but also lost his entire fleet in less than a minute of conflict. Fear was swallowed by discipline once the initial shock wore off and the Turian officers began rapidly mobilizing defenses with an adrenaline rush. The ships prepared for boarding troops but found none as they waited, rather, the ship was being pulled by some invisible force towards the planet.
Fatigue built up as the adrenaline rush wore off hours later. The turian ships were docked in a station of sorts, easily twice the size of their dreadnought. Though weakened, the Turians maintained their posture as the humans entered their hulls.
Unexpectedly, a mental scream of sorts sent the Turians guarding the entrances into a shock with some entering epileptic seizures. It did not take long for a strange mist to billow in and incapacitate them even further as hidden figures struck them and wrapped them in chains of sorts. Cameras were distorted when the scream occured, leading to a sense of apprehension as corridors and chambers began to rapidly go dark and muffled yelps were the last sounds they made.
Hours pass and the mist finally entered the bridge of each ship. Some panicked turians ran out from the mist, almost shot by their surprised comrades. As the last turian escaped, white, bone-like chains of sorts shot out and struck the turians guarding, dragging them one by one into the mist.
Retaliatory gunfire hit nothing but ghosts as the mist remained as silent as ever. The turians could do nothing as their defenses were plucked out one by one. By the time all that is left is light resistance from pistols, the mist had blown into the bridge, sending them all to unconsciousness as the white bones dragged them into the darkness.
Relays 313 - 321
While humanity took in these prisoners of war, the Han fleet opened more relays. The humans were not exactly clear on what relays were dormant and what relays weren't. So the fleet spent hours traversing and opening more dormant relays, searching for any Turian resistance. They found the correct relay soon enough, after inadvertently breaching Council law and opening 6 other primary dormant relays.
Upon finding the correct relay, the Han fleet began their rampage through Turian space. The first colony they found were struck by EMPs from orbit after their naval defenses were struck down by invisible lances. Word failed to go out about these colonies under attack but the Hierarchs at Palaven are aware that the expedition was quickly a failure if the last transmissions of the general's QEC were any clue to the events that had transpired.
Word of the rampage only came out a few days later as a trickle of lucky refugees spoke of ships that silently struck down the entirety of their orbital defenses. Palaven was fully made aware of what had transpired once the second fleet fought against the Han fleet and were quickly annihilated. The rampage only stopped once the Han fleet had encountered a system full of other, radically different design of ships, whereby they retreat with no pillaged loot except for the destruction of entire colonies' worth of infrastructure and two turian dreadnoughts.
Extranet
News of the 'First Contact War' spread rapidly after the annihilation of the Turian 2nd Fleet and the appearance then disappearance of 2,925 ships to a joint Council colony system. The Extranet was filled with wild rumors over the testimony of those who witnessed the battles. Some military experts, especially Salarian and Turian ones, even outright deny the videos of the battle seen on the media saying that the invisible weapons were simply edited out or that it was at a bad angle.
Seeing the Turians lose miserably, Krogans catching up with the news were both excited and merry. Many Krogan internet trolls online spammed the Extranet message boards with "LOL TURIAN GETS CLAPPED" or some variety of that. It serves to remind the galactic community of the bad blood between the Krogans and the Turians. Other governments like the Asari, the Volus and the Hanar were more interested in diplomatic ventures rather than letting this war get out of hand.
The Turians were talked out of any retaliation attempts by the Council, citing that it will only get worse. Asari diplomatic vessels were arranged to travel to Relay 314, intervening on the Turian's behalf. The human fleets on guard did not open fire as the alien design and the lack of attack made the heads of state convene and prepare for a friendly first contact scenario.
Next Chapter: Goddess, why?!
And that's it for the chapter! What do you think the Council would do next? Do the Turians swallow their pride? Does the Council attempt to show dominance? What do you think the Galactic Community would react to a mysterious race of humanoids and their equally mysterious friends. Find out in the next chapter of Trisagion
I hope you like it and thanks for reading!
Fun Glorious Fact: 1 Credit in mass effect would probably be around $0.1568. Considering the Normandy Drive Core was 120 billion Credits in ME1 and assuming that it was worth 3050 liters of pure eezo, each liter would cost $6.169 million. Human produced eezo costs at least 9 times its weight in silver, a kg of silver costs only $757 and a kg of eezo is thus $6,813.
We established the cheaper eezo is $6,200 per kg. Assuming that eezo is as dense as silver, eezo would cost at least $65,038 per liter. As you can see, human produced eezo is almost 100 times cheaper. Guess the consequences once people find out about that.