TLDR: My own vision of future humanity first contact. With unique but not overpowered technology, alliance with our favourite friends, and actually realistic crew and ship counts for once.
Third try at a first contact FF. First one was too naïve and made me cringe reading it. Second tried to do too much. So on this one, I'm keeping it simple. Minimal alternate history, just a realistic and somewhat idealistic humanity reaching for the stars.
Also I made a fucking spreadsheet for this. Yah. Thing that annoyed me about sci fi is how inconsistent the ship crew numbers are. Take the typical Alliance cruiser. 400 – 500 meters long and has a crew of…. What? Most of the concensus says about the same. 500 crew. Sounds reasonable. But it seems like far too little.
So I took inspiration from the expanse. The Donnager is about the same length and has a crew of 2000! 2000! And crew numbers are based on volume, not length. So all these fucking idiotic sci fi with their multi-kilometer long ships that are run by like a few thousand people are bullshitting. My first estimations for the Destiny Ascension came up to hundreds of thousands of-
Wait I'm ranting aren't I. Fuck it never mind. Enjoy this courtesy of my sleep deprived brain and let me know if you want mo- Who am I kidding you're mass effect fans. If there's one thing mass effect fans can't get enough it's political porn of the Quarians and Systems Alliance, so why don't I add to that!
SSV Budapest, Rear Admiral Hannah Shepard
Space! The not-quite-final frontier. Depending on who you asked the actual final frontier was elsewhere. To an engineer the answer would be 'Intergalactic Space'. To a philosopher, the answer would be 'Our own minds'. To a biologist they might answer 'The Discovery of Alien Life', and to a physicist, they might either answer 'Extra-dimensional Space' or 'The String Realm'. For Captain Hannah Shepard, the captain of the Systems Space Vessel Belgrade, the final frontier was the coffee machine that produced arguably the most important chemical of the human race as she filled up her mug. The room was still blurry from her completion of her sleep shift, and she desperately needed her liquid antimatter equivalent for her shift in…. 2 minutes. Scrambling to fill her cup with milk and 2 cubes of sugar, she hastened to the command deck, nodding at the various crewmen as she passed them.
The Belgrade was her home. A sleek and elegant ship, with not a scratch on the paint nor a buff in her armour, and barely a year off of the production line. She was the leader for CSG-75. Or 'Star Cruiser Group Number: 75'. The CSG was a common tool of the Systems Alliance for extra-solar exploration. They were long-ranged, possessing a considerable amount of firepower, and very versatile. CSG-75 herself consisted of the Budapest class Cruiser she commanded herself, the 2 frigates of Freyja and Mercury.The newly produced destroyer Khalkhin Ghol ,and the 2 corvettes Eamon de Valera, andThomas Paine.
Her small flotilla was home, just under 3000 people served it, with over 2 thirds of the crew hailing from the Belgrade. Truth was, that crew numbers grew exponentially with size. Even with extensive automation, a corvette had a typical crew of about 20 – 40. A frigate might have double that. But a cruiser like the Belgrade may have been three times the length, but it was almost 15 times the volume of machinery. 15 times more equipment required, and 15 times more marines to guard the crew. Lead up to a crew of 2200 for a small ship like the Budapest. The much larger ships, like the Heavy Cruisers and Battleships could have crews of tens of thousands.
Her mind quickly scrambled back to the present, before she began daydreaming about commanding one of the larger fleets again, and was instead drawn to her Second Captain. Ships larger than frigates required 2 captains to be available, with 1 or the other always on call. And for larger ships, 4 captains where needed. Smaller ships could be ran by either non-commissioned flag officers, or younger officers, even-still commanding a fairly powerful cruiser at her age of 29 was an impressive post, and as leader of a CSG she would be expected to carry out First Contact if it ever happened.
Her other Captain in this case was Captain John Grissom, a steely eyed Canadian from the colony of New Montreal. His gruff no-nonsense attitude was opposed to a kind and fairly well liked captain. He nodded to her as she came on duty, before rising up from his position. "Rear Admiral Shepard!".
He saluted, and she did the same. "Captain Grissom. You are relieved of Command until 21:00 Hours Shanxi Time this evening".
"Of course Rear Admiral! Here are the reports from the shift. Nothing major to report, only that the Eamon de Valera had conducted planet fall on System-body GT-535 due to metallurgic anomalies and was conducting sampling efforts. If you would-".
She waved over her datalink, transferring pages of reports, before signing off on his own datalink. The XO then did the same, confirming that he had witnessed the change of command. Nothing skipped, nothing sped up, all required to ensure the functions of a starship. "Very well Captain Grissom, I will see you in 12 hours". She took the seat, raising it up slightly, before beginning on the reports, largely unconcerned with the situation around her. The bridge of the Belgrade was quite compact, little more than a command deck a few meters in length and width, and 2 meters in height. Screens and datamaps covered the edges, and along the centre, a holomap of the ship lay.
The lights where a tame aqua blue, and the sensors officer yawned as he carried out his duties. As an exploratory CSG, the group also included 2 civilian vessels, a mining ship and a refinery ship. The mining ship was pretty damn basic. Three flat discs a few dozen meters in width and 6 meters in depth connected to a bridge. Six landing legs below and a pair of utilitarian engine pods, as well as shuttle pads. The refinery ship was little more than a converted freight hauler, with tubing, machinery and funnels that produced a design that could produce basic materials like patch kits. The fleet could in theory sustain itself for 12 years without any contact from home, after which antimatter would begin to run out.
"Conn… Sensors".
"Sensors. Go".
"Conn, getting some strange gravitational readings from Golf-Tango-535".
"Conn… Communications"
"Communications. Go".
"Message from the EDV."
"Read it".
The blonde haired British officer pressed several buttons, before reciting the message in full. "Message Begins. Eamon de Valera to Belgrade. Something within the planetoid is messing with gravitational readings. Our scientist says that the planetoid is giving off radiation consistent with dark matter interaction, and that fluctuating mass is causing gravitational ripples. We are gathering equipment and preparing to leave drones. Message Ends". The brit sighed, before altering one of the switches.
"Communications, send back following. Message Begins. Evacuation confirmed, EDV Actual to keep flagship informed of situ, and is to put together full report by midday. Message ends".
Well now, looks like something interesting would be happening. Dark matter was still the boogeyman of the Alliance, very little was known about the mysterious force that held galaxies together, and yet it was supposedly everywhere. The fact that some sort of energy associated with Dark Matter was messing with gravitational forces consistent with a small icy planetoid, meant that there was something foul afoot.
"Message away Conn. Light delay is 1 minute".
"Communications, put me on broadbeam to the flotilla".
"Broadbeam go".
"Star Cruiser Group 75, this is Belgrade actual. Please prepare for FTL jump to geosynchronous orbit around body GT-535. Standard deployment".
She paused for a moment, turning her head to a fiery haired woman at another station. "FTL, prepare course change to bring as fast as possible to body. ETA for processing".
"Jump was pre-stored in our systems admiral, it will take 2 minutes for FTL spooling".
"Begin jump spooling. Inform fleet to do the same".
"Yes sir".
Jumping was dangerous work. The basic principle of the sole method of FTL was to use an antimatter catalysed reaction to flash generate a wormhole. The wormhole would travel the length of the ship and flash transport it to the 5th dimension, before flash appearing and transporting the ship back to realspace, but to a different point in realspace. The process was instantaneous to an outside observer. All they'd see is a flash of energy move along the ship in a fraction of a second, before a pulse of high energy gravitational waves disrupted the space, bending light to form a quick hotspot, before the same in the arrival location. The problem for the Alliance was doing it quickly. To do the necessary calculations took time, and that time was dependant on the distance of the jump, and the complexity of the computer. The Belgrade for example made use of an Internal Spinner Arrangement Jump Drive.
The drive was primarily internal, meaning that the calculations where more complex to take into account the exact size and mass of the ship. Then the distance was about 18 Million kilometres. Typically taking days to complete at orbital speed. Since the cruiser had a standard issue jump computer, it would take those about 24 Minutes to actually do the calculations to jump from their current position to the new position. However…. They had the benefit of a fleet, and each individual ship needed a jump vector calculated, but as the equations are typically non-linear trial-and-error, networked fleet computers can benefit from more advanced systems. For example, despite much of the fleet having basic jump computers, the destroyer Khalkin Ghol was brand-spanking new, and featured a new quantum computing system, 3 times quicker than the other vessels computers in relation to its weight. Which meant that her entire fleet could do the calculations for the jump in just 18 and a half minutes, give or take.
They'd then need to spool up the FTL drives in order to generate a wormhole, however this depended entirely on the ships mass and type of FTL. The slowest ship in the fleet was of course the Belgrade herself, taking between 4 – 10 minutes to spin up. Thankfully. Since they already had anticipated that one of her 2 corvettes might need assistance, the computers had pre-done calculations, allowing them to spool up, and immediately jump. The experience was disorienting, but took mere seconds to recover from, and the shape of the planetoid loomed. It was an icy blue ball a few hundred kilometres across, and the whole planet took on a blue hue.
"Conn, communications".
"Communications, go".
"Incoming tightbeam message from EDV".
"Play it".
"Belgrade Actual this is EDV Actual. I'm so glad you've shown up, our instruments are going haywire on the surface".
"Can you elaborate Captain?"
"Surface mounted gravitational sensors say the mass of the body is changing back and forth, and our seismic sensors are picking up the precursor to what could be a major planetary quake. I've evacuated all crew and left drones, are we clear to rejoin the fleet".
"Do as you see fit Captain, get up her and rejoin the fleet. I'm preparing a picket in case any volcanoes start appearing. Did you detect any underground magma deposits?"
"That's the strange thing Rear Admiral, our scientists say this quake is impossible. The planet is made 99.9% of ice, meaning it shouldn't have any sort of activity in it's core, but our estimates say a core in excess of at least 6,000 degrees judging by our energy readings".
Shepard paused, considering it for a moment. "Sensors, can you confirm".
"I can confirm at least remotely. I'm getting some very odd energy and thermal readings and…. WOAH!".
Before their very eyes, enormous cracks began to appear in the planetoid as it started shaking violently. The blue hue had now become a distant light, and the planet was cracking and losing integrity quickly. Abruptly. It gave out, and the planetoid cracked into several thousand pieces that begun to float away. The fleet quickly reformed, frigates taking the lead and blasting at the incoming pieces with their point defense weapons that vaporized them quickly. The Eamon de Valera weaved and dodged through the increasingly thickening field before escaping to form up with the flotilla.
"Communications warn the Thomas Paine of our situation, send a report and have them come meet us."
"Yes sir. Message away. Light delay is 3 hours".
Three hours…. I could jump over there quicker than that. But I don't want to risk using too much of the antimatter. FTL Communication was a complex topic, and generally it was done using Quantum Entanglement relays. However these where immensely expensive, and hardly practical for smaller ships. They were more practical for large stations, with all the colonies possessing a central command centre, feeding to a communications buoy in orbit that connected to a regional control centre then the central control centre on Arcturus Station. For short range communications, the ships could rely on a number of communications drones, small ships with micro-ftl drives and enough antimatter to make a one-way jump, but these where usually reserved for dire circumstances.
For now it didn't look like she needed the Paine here, it was busy charting the large Cthonian planet that might soon become the economic centre of System-314. By now, the debris field had begun to dissipate, and at the centre of it all was a blue glow, a star of some sort.
But it wasn't until they got closer, carefully avoiding some of the larger pieces, that she realized her mistake.That's no star….
"Conn! Radar, new contact bearing 013 at carom 078. Designation Romeo 1!".
Relay 310
The races of the galaxy generally each had a speciality. It was just inherent. Obviously there was individuality between the races, a sense of uniqueness that all indivualized societies craved to give false premise to their claims of freedom, however for the races of the galaxy, one might be prejudged by their race depending on their preferences. Turians tended be naturally more martial and open to following orders. Asari tended to be socially confident and collected. Salarians had a reputation for scheming and intelligence, Hanar where religious, drell where stealthy, blah blah blah. The stereotypes varied from race to race, but generally there was enough consensus that if one where to ask the average citizen 'who might be listening to them?'. They would instantly answer 'Salarian'.
Few considered the quarian people to have the second most effective intelligence network in the galaxy, and even fewer would have considered that their level of access would give the Salarians a run for their money. When the Turians had discovered an element zero asteroid on the outer fringe in System 311. Jar'Transen nar Rayya finished his shift as an indentured servant janitor in the National Eezo Corporation. When the Asari confirmed Turian rights to mine said asteroid and claim the system, and where discussing the richness of the asteroid, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya was fixing the broken network cable, and had her omnitool connected to the room's local area network. When the Turians sent the exact location of the asteroid through the comm buoys to the NEC headquarters on Palevan, Lia'Vael nar Ulnay finished her work on the Palevan Communications dish and called her family back home.
The Quarians had sent a small mining flotilla to quickly stripmine the asteroid, with the intention on gathering 18 months' worth of element zero before the Turians mining fleet was forming in the next system. It had turned out the Batarians had also been listening, and arrived just 2 hours later, startling the 5500 strong fleet under Admiral Raan. She had formed a defensive perimeter with her light cruisers, and the Batarians forced their way to the surface to gain a share of the resources, provided they wouldn't tell the Turians. As it turns out 1200 male batarians crammed onto the same fleet for mining had needs, and when they…. Appropriated ways of dealing with those needs, a strike force of 500 Quarian marines slaughtered the entire ship on the surface to rescue the workers, before the fleet was warned off. The batarians protested vigourously, and in the chaos…. Someone shot first.
The batarians stood no match, as Admiral Gerrels reinforcements of 2 heavy cruisers and 300 warships slaughtered the heavily outnumbered Batarians who fled to the Turian fleet. By this point the rest of the Migrant fleet had arrived, and the Asteroid was quickly being stripped of anything of value. Patrol fleets mobilized and arrived 12 hours ahead of normal, and on seeing the Quarians steeling apparently Turian resources, they moved in, demanding the Quarians abandon all element zero to them.
Obviously, the Quarians rejected this, and within an hour, 12,000 where dead and a Heirarchy patrol fleet was in pieces, as where the Quarians who lost 9000 in the attack. The information was relayed to Palevan command, and the Primarchs voted 249 – 248 to demand recompensation and send a main battle fleet in to quarantine the Quarians to the system.
When they arrived. They found only dust…. And the de-activated form of Relay 310…
Budapest class Cruiser
"Take her to sea Admiral. All speed ahead and fire up the engines. Poyekhali!" –Captain Yuri Andropov omboard SSV Budapest
Number in Service: 168
Length: 520 meters
Crew: 2100
Electrostatic Decomposition Barriers: Cyclonic Cruiser Grade Electrostatic Barriers
Engines: 4 Rolls Royce CE-109 Anti-Proton thruster
Powerplant: 4 Mk IV Aerospatiale Antimatter Reactors
FTL: Internal Spinner Alignment, Standard Jump Drive
Weapons:
- 38 Point Defense Plasma Shotguns
- 6 Arm-Winch launchers
- 12 Vertical Launching Missile Tubes
- 1 Spinal Heavy Plasma Lance
- 2 Spinal Rapid-Fire Heavy Coilgun
- 4 Turreted Light Plasma Lances
Utilities:
- Basic Barracks and Troop centre
- Small internal hangar bay
- Internal Hydroponics and resupply bays
Lore: The standard cruiser of the Alliance strike fleet and an excellent choice for aspiring captains. Featuring a long and narrow central battery (being the heavy lance) and then two long sloping crew compartments carrying the spinal coilguns, the vessel is versatile, effective, and well-armed. It can deploy 4 squadrons of strike craft from internal hangar bays, and truly subscribes to the phrase: "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one". The cruisers can operate independent of a fleet group, but typically lead strike flotillas, a popular stationing being the 'Star Cruiser Group'. Generally a few smaller warships (typically 2 destroyers, 4 frigates, and 3 corvettes) will operate with a cruiser flagship, to form a versatile and powerful strike group that can be on extended journeys. The Budapest class is larger than the Geneva class, but far more modern and powerful. Though it is comparatively sluggish at sublight manoeuvring, and its power systems cannot sustain continued use of all weapons systems.