Chapter 5

Hello, i am sorry for the late update, i was ill and i had to take a short pause from writing, but now i am good and don't worry, i am still here with a lot of ideas for my crossover. In this chapter we will get to the first contact, starting from the end of the 4th chapter(the little „post credit" scene). Since i don't know much about politics or how the first contact will go, i thought it would be the most funny part during writing lol. But let's get to the chapter now. Enjoy!


Chapter 5 – First Contact

-

Atriox sat in his command chair on the bridge of the Enduring Conviction, a CAS-class supercarrier, his flagship, watching the bridge before him. They had just flown in slipspace to the coordinates obtained from Edvig. He had to admit that the amount he was offering was very tempting. The man obviously knew what he was doing.

Now they were here to get as much information as they could about this mysterious space lying on the other side of the object marked NBE-2. Of course, a new unexplored space meant a greater risk of danger, they must proceed with the utmost caution, be vigilant, prepared for all possibilities, he mused.

"We'll be there in a minute!", announced one of the Elites on the bridge.

Atriox straightened up and became curious.

"We are leaving the slipspace.", the same elite announced a minute later.

As they left the slipspace, they were able to get a nice view of the projected hologram of the object in question. The reports didn't lie…two long arms with a core stretching out to a length of roughly 15 kilometers…it looked like either a giant super ship or it could match the appearance of the Sangheili energy sword…in some ways. There was also an ONI on site.

"Sir, one of the human ships is making contact, they are sending us instructions.", he announced to Atriox.

Then the 3D map hologram displayed the object, the location of the ONI ships and their own fleet, and the newly pre-marked route for their ships.

"Adjust positions, begin approach as per above instructions.", Atriox ordered.

At that moment his fleet moved at a slow pace closer to the object. Each of the ships from the Banished CCS, CPV destroyers to Dreadnoughts to the flagship slowly approached and took up a defensive formation in the recommended proximity to NBE-2.

"Approach complete, new instructions coming in.", the elite declared.

"The object is beginning to show signs of activity!", exclaimed one of the Jiralhanae on the bridge.

Atriox was calm and just watched as the two rings began to slowly spin around their core.

"Continue.", he nodded to the Elite.

"Object is active, requesting a mass indication of our ships."

„Do it. Send the other ships to do the same.", Atriox calmly stated, continuing to watch.

"I'm handing over control of the fleet to you as soon as we reach the other side.", he added.

Atriox wasn't a very experienced commander in space battles, that was part of the reason why he decided to hand it over to his colleague. He was much more experienced and knew what he was doing, he simply trusted him. Atriox, however, was more successful on the ground. The Elite were giving orders, taking over and sending out instructions to ships in the fleet, the bridge was getting busy.

"Shields up!"

"Hands on battle stations!"

"89% of the fleet is ready!", another crewman on the bridge announced.

"Point defense to full battle readiness!"

"Shields are up and running at 100%!"

"Communications are online!"

"Radar systems, sensors online!"

"Slipspace generator is online and functioning without problems!

"96% of the fleet is ready!"

"Weapons are loaded and ready to fire!"

"Preparing to jump!"

"Fleet is ready!"

"All crew members report to their stations!"

„Object has locked ships in position, all ships are stabilized!"

"Transfer will occur in five…"

"4…"

"3…"

"2…"

"1…"

"0…"

The ships shook violently and the object catapulted them away.

-

Quarian Migrant fleet, unknown space, 2184 (2594 UNSC), Admiral Rael'Zorah

Admiral Rael'Zorah, along with the other Admirals, stared at the projection before him. Moments ago their fleet had jumped out of the Mass Relay and were about to continue gathering materials and resources for the fleet, but what had befallen them was unexpected. They were definitely not slavers, the designs and sizes of the ships didn't match, at the same time they weren't anyone from the citadel. A new species? The alien ships were brick shaped with battle cannons mounted on them and some sort of barrel could be seen on the very bow, probably a spinal cannon…what else could it be too.

There were only three, one larger one of 1.4km in length and two, presumably escort boats, which were relatively similar in design, or at least style.

"So…what are we looking at?", the Admiral asked again.

"Three ships of unknown design, according to our classifications they should be a dreadnought and two cruisers, however we are not sure of the accuracy of those classifications.", one of the captains gave an explanation.

"Not sure?", he raised an eyebrow and gave the captain his attention, only it couldn't be seen under the mask.

"Excuse me…it is possible that this could be a completely alien species, I mean…look at this mark.", he pointed to a single dot and it got bigger.

The emblem depicted some sort of winged predator clutching a planet in its talons. But what drew the most attention were the letters „UNSC". The Admirals watched and thought.

"Looks like we must have caught them off guard, though. Our sensors say we're picking up an energy signature, they must have been reloading their weapons, I can't explain it any other way. But they haven't fired yet, so that rules out the possibility of hostilities.", he continued to explain.

"How did they get here?", Rael asked.

"That's one big unknown, they couldn't have come from our side, they could have appeared here before us. Maybe they have a planet nearby…but then again the Citadel would know about that.", the Captain replied.

"There was another possibility, but we dismissed that one because it didn't make sense.", one of the experts spoke up.

"Continue.", said the Admiral, listening with mild interest.

"It could be a race with their own FTL technology, but that is what confuses us the most, as their ships show no signs of Eezo.", he opined.

"Silly…or not?", one of the admirals was greatly confused.

"Sir…Admiral, the universe is a big place and the Citadel doesn't even inhabit the entire galaxy, basically just the planets around the Relay and within range of the FTL, it is theoretically possible that someone out there could have evolved in a completely different way, they may not know Prothean or the Mass Relay, they may not be dependent on the Mass Relay.", the scientist explained.

"That could explain the absence of Eezo in their ships…but we won't find out more until…", Zael said thoughtfully.

"Until someone makes first contact.", another Admiral finished his thought.

"And you're sure there are only three?", one of the captains asked.

"I mean…it seems a bit odd to me that anyone would travel alone or in a trio in this area, given the nature of it.", he added.

That left the others wondering.

"Suggestions?", Rael asked.

"Maybe we should give it a try…if it goes well, we could try to establish a relationship and…we have the opportunity to explore a whole new and different technological base and a new culture, it's a downright great opportunity.", another Quarian suggested.

"I might take a more cautious approach, we don't know anything about anything at all…just because they haven't fired yet doesn't mean they aren't hostile, they may be gathering information too, or they may have a larger fleet nearby somewhere, just make the call.", one of the generals was a bit skeptical.

After that, the discussion in the room became heated.

"Enough!", the Admiral under the name of Han'Gerrel Vas Neema interrupted the whole debate as it was getting closer to an argument.

"So here's what we're going to do, try to make some reasonable contact with the unknown, but a combat alert will be issued in case they prove hostile. We'll proceed with caution, but especially no rash actions. Because if they prove friendly, I'd hate to antagonize an entire potential new race. None of us would want that, I hope.", he suggested.

Apparently no one had a problem with that.

"You are dismissed, return to your stations.", he ordered, and the room began to empty.

"I see you slept well.", Rael remarked wryly as they headed for the bridge.

"Don't even talk…", he sighed in annoyance.

"Did something happen?"

The Second Admiral thought for a moment about what to say, but finally began to speak: "I had to deal with supply issues this morning…we're running low on important materials like Eezo. We are also slowly starting to run out of medical supplies, roughly 67% of our ships are in bad shape and in need of repairs, roughly 12% of which are in disastrous shape from the last ambush. Unfortunately we have no shipyards available, which only makes it more difficult. Simply put, we are in a very miserable state."

Rael listened, putting on a concerned expression.

"It's not too bad yet, but it will start to show in time. Then the riots will come, the lack of materials will cause us to have no way to maintain the ships, we would have to scrap some of them to get any spare parts at all, we would have to move personnel off the ships, which would lead to overcrowding on some of the vessels, but that would only be the worst case scenario.", Han'Gerrel continued.

"Hmmm…that's not good, we need to figure out a way to reclaim the home planet quickly.", said Rael.

"I doubt it my friend…the Citadel won't allow us to settle on a planet…the STG will figure it out, after all I wouldn't be surprised if they've been watching us all along.", the other expressed his disapproval.

"So you're saying we'd rather let us wander aimlessly through the stars and leave us exposed to any kind of danger?", Rael was now glaring at Han'Gerrel.

"We've talked about this before…this puts us in danger! We don't have the men, resources or material to fight a prolonged war…for goodness sake look at the state of our fleet! We can barely defend ourselves against the raids of the slavers! The ships are in bad to catastrophic condition, the Citadel can watch us all the time and as soon as we try to settle on any planet, they jump on us! Here we have an opportunity that if the negotiations go well, we can get a lot of help, maybe a planet, a sector…who knows! Maybe that sounded too optimistic, but I'd rather think of the better options. And you just want to throw such an opportunity out the window! I believe there might be a chance for a peaceful resolution with the Geths in time, I will not send our men into some unnecessary conflict that will lead nowhere but to the unnecessary loss of more of our men! And I'm not going to argue about it anymore!", he looked at Rael with an angry expression for a while, then went to the bridge.

Rael stared with bleary eyes for a moment before making his way to the bridge as well.

The duo arrived at the bridge after seven minutes, the atmosphere on the bridge was quite tense. Everyone was very nervous about the trio of alien ships, no one had done anything yet, no one had moved, no attempts to make contact from the other side, just stood idly by. Admiral Han'Gerrel pondered as he watched. They must be as upset as we are, he thought.

"Admiral, thank you for coming.", spoke one of the Quarians.

"How does the situation look?", Rael'Zorah asked this time.

"Still the same, no one moved, from their energy signature I'm guessing they have partially charged weapons but nothing else. No suspicious activity on their part.", explained the interviewee succinctly.

"They are waiting to see what we do.", concluded the second admiral.

"Okay, prepare the communication line, we'll try to make contact.", he ordered.

"We can try…but there's a small problem…if they're not really from here, then they'll most likely be using a completely foreign language. And we, nor they, have no knowledge whatsoever of our language or theirs.", another Quarian on the bridge expressed concern.

"So what should we do?", Han'Gerrel asked again.

"I really don't know…wait…", he stopped speaking as a notification popped up on his display.

"Oh my…they're making contact."

-

UNSC Gargantua, Captain Jack

It was bad…well, bad was an understatement. It was a disaster…we made potential first contact with a…fleet of fifty thousand ships? So, according to AI, it should be roughly fifty thousand. It's almost as if someone here has been practicing people migration…just taking it to a much bigger level. This was all running through the captain's head. They were in dire straits, there were only four against fifty thousand ships of unknown origin. He didn't even want to think about how expensive it must be to keep so many ships running.

The four Elites on the bridge were silent, probably evaluating the situation as well.

"So…any suggestions?", Jack broke the already dead silence.

"Well, this is a difficult situation. I suggest proceeding with caution, one wrong move, action, anything and it could end up destroying us. I highly doubt that all the ships are of military origin. This would require a massive amount of ammo, judging by the size of the largest ship I would guess that it is a flagship, they may be in defensive formation at the moment, based on the design of the ships I would guess that the larger ships clustered around the largest ship must be some type of transport ships. They will be very dominant, there will already be military ships around the perimeter to provide defense against the external threat, of course some of the military ships may also be located between the transport ships to cover them, judging by the state of some ships in the fleet I can conclude that they have quite a problem with repairing and maintaining ships. The very act of traveling with such a large fleet is quite surprising, even strange. However, the question remains whether they have a planet or more ships nearby.", one of the Elites spoken.

"It looks to me like some sort of evacuation fleet, but I doubt they would have more ships…can you imagine how much money and resources you would need to maintain a fleet of over fifty thousand ships? That's crazy.", Jack said.

"We won't find out until someone makes contact.", the same Elite replied honestly.

Jack sat and thought for a moment, working through various scenarios in his head, even if the AI could do better…unexpectedly, he grinned at the thought.

"Morgan! Get the first contact package ready…we may need a translation, we don't know what language they have.", the Captain decided.

"First contact package is ready to be sent.", replied the AI.

"You can.", Jack said and waited.

-

Quarian bridge, Han'Gerrel

"Oh my god…they're making contact!"

Here we go. First contact from a stranger. Everyone on the bridge is getting nervous.

"I'm receiving a package…he wants me to unwrap it.", announced one of the Quarians on the bridge.

"You may, but be careful.", ordered Han'Gerrel.

The Quarian nodded and began checking the contents, it was what he expected, a completely foreign language, he didn't understand any of it.

"Sir, something has gotten into our systém!"

That one announcement sent shivers down the spines of both the Admirals and the entire staff.

"What is it!", Rael snapped, going to see for himself, the other Admiral standing frozen in place.

"I don't know what's going on…something's gotten into the ship's systems, navigation, weapons, propulsion, communications are not affected thankfully, but it seems to be looking for something, I don't know what it is, I can't isolate it!", he replied stressed.

It was impossible to get into the systém that easily…unless…

"Artificial intelligence…", Rael finished his thought.

"Load the weapons! Raise shields! Select first target and wait for the signal!", Rael began to act.

The other admiral didn't try to stop him, not knowing what to make of it, he was practically out of touch with reality.

"The shields are up! Weapons are loaded, targets have been marked and we are ready to fire!"

"The enemy is charging their weapons!"

Another Quarian was watching the situation, it was the one taking over the package, he suddenly looked back at the contents…something was wrong.

"All civilian ships have been secured! All military ships are ready and awaiting orders!"

The contents of the package suddenly began to translate before his eyes…all by itself…that was it, he thought.

Suddenly it began to make sense, he took action.

"Fire!", Rael shouted.

"STOP!", Quarian shouted with his hand outstretched to the weapons operator.

The weapons operator's hand was just above the ugly red button, shaking visibly.

"W-what?", Rael stared in shock.

"Don't shoot, it's not what you think.", Quarian replied.

"This is the captain of the UNSC Gargantua, we have detected a surge of energy from your side, what's going on over there?", came from the comms.

Normally this wouldn't be such a big deal, but what surprised the Quarians was that they were speaking in their native tongue. But mostly it was their artificial intelligence…it wasn't like the Geth, it was almost like they were in control. They could only guess how long they could work with the AI.

Before anyone could say anything, Han'Gerrel took charge of the situation and answered.

"This is Admiral Han'Gerrel of the flagship of the Quarian Migrant Fleet, I personally apologize for this situation that has arisen."

It was quiet for a while, there was a tense atmosphere on the bridge, some were disturbed by the presence of the AI, others were curious. The first race to master the development of artificial intelligence, questions were raised as to how they had done it? They must have had a wealth of experience…maybe they could teach them something and try again from scratch, but it would be highly unlikely if only because of the other half hating AI. It would také a lot of time to try to talk them down. But back now.

"Did you just say…migrant?", there was audible disbelief in the captain's voice.

The Admiral took a breath and replied, „Yes, it's a long story."

"I like history.", came the sarcastic reply.

"I'd like to talk, but I find it a bit silly to communicate in such a manner.", the Captain added.

"It would be very rude to stop at the very beginning, I'm sure the Admiralty would like the opportunity to get acquainted with a new species."

And there it was, there was no turning back now. History was being made here, they couldn't afford to mess this up, they were in a desperate situation and maybe something could be negotiated. They desperately needed help, whether they wanted to admit it or not.

"I'll talk to our people about it, we'll report back in the future, over."

And communication broke down.

"Are you crazy? Inviting aliens with artificial intelligence onto our ship?", Rael snapped at him.

"From what we could see, their AI has proven to be harmless so far and they have it fully under control.", Han'Gerrel countered.

"So far…so far…", Rael still disagreed.

"Let's notify the Admiralty and we can get ready."

-

UNSC Gargantua, hangar bay, one hour later

"Okay, now everybody listen to me! Our job is to keep an eye on the captain and prevent any ambush! This race, called the Quarians, may appear to be peaceful, but we don't know what to expect from them! Proceed with caution, maximum readiness, watch every civilian, military personnel, every corner! Be careful, in case of any problems, if the talks go south, we'll quickly retreat with the Captain back to the Pelican and get the hell out of there! Of course, no provocative actions, I don't fire until they fire first! Is that clear?!"

The Sergeant Hartman in the hangar was speaking to a team of fifteen, five of them ODSTs.

"Yes Sergeant!", they yelled at the same time.

The Marines had as their weapons the MA80J, derived from the MA8, a weapon designed for confined and tight spaces, the MA81 semi-automatic shotgun with a drum magazine, a modified MA8, and the M75G, a model replacing the familiar M6.

They also had better suits with body armor and plating capable of dealing one plasma rifle hit, plus a personal shield.

The four elites had their armor with energy shields, plus their swords and plasma pistol.

The Captain arrived at the hangar with Locke ten minutes later.

"Captain!", the sergeant greeted.

"Sergeant.", he returned the salute.

"We're ready sir, two pelicans and a team of fifteen.", Hartman announced.

"Fifteen? This isn't a raid, Sergeant.", Jack laughed.

"We're going to be moving into foreign territory, I'm not going to risk you. I hope you've got a temporary command of the ship sir.", replied the Sergeant.

"Alright, we're good to go.", said the Captain.

Hartman nodded and turned to the group packing their ammunition and checking their weapons and equipment.

"Alright gentlemen! Did you hear him!" Move! Move! Move! Move! Move! We're leaving!", he yelled at the team.

Everyone scrambled to their assigned Pelican, the Captain, Elites, and Sergeant manning the other Pelican. As soon as they boarded, the ramp began to close and the Pelican started its engines.

"All personnel, this is your pilot speaking, use your seat belt and fasten your seat belts, we're taking off, ETA fifteen minutes, over.", came from the PA systém built into the rear of the cargo bay.

The pelicans lifted off the ground and both flew out of the hangar heading towards the migrant fleet.

-

Quarian Liveship, hangar bay

Han'Gerrel waited patiently in the hangar bay of their Liveship for the visitors to arrive. There was a bodyguard and Admiral Rael'Zorah, who was more tense and nervous than his companion. First contact with a new race…who knew. Now they were standing here about to start the first talks, this was a fateful moment, if the negotiations went well the Quarians could get a lot of help, maybe new technology, material support, it would eliminate a lot of problems. But that was a very optimistic idea. Also, it could all go down the tubes, but on the other hand, they're off to a relatively good start, they need to proceed carefully now.

And just when the wait seemed like an eternity, they arrived.

Their two dropships flew into the hangar bay, both admirals intrigued by the ship's design. It was very unusual considering what the other races of the Citadel were using. The two ships slowly landed on the right side of the hangar bay and Han'Gerrel noticed that the ramp at the back of the ship began to open.

They couldn't believe what they were seeing, there was an incredible resemblance to Asari, except for minor variations. A team of fourteen armed men and women slowly emerged from one ship, although it was hard to tell because of the helmet, the first two people emerged from the other ship, one was dressed a little differently, white uniform, naval cap, rank on the left shoulder, a patch with the UNSC emblem on the right shoulder, a name tag on the left side of the chest, Rael figured it had to be a commander of some sort, maybe an admiral…more likely a captain of some sort. Then another petitioner left the ship and it left everyone frozen in place.

First contact…with two races instead of one. The first thing Rael could notice was that they were definitely larger than their companions, they had beautifully decorated armor, some sort of weapon on their thigh, the four behind the first had a cloak and most importantly…they had what looked like fangs if he could see correctly.

Jack looked around with a curious expression on his face, inspecting the hangar and its equipment, Hartman checked and gave orders to his team. The group of Sangheili talked amongst themselves about some matters, analyzing their surroundings and identifying potential hazards, danger spots and such. The sergeant walked over to the captain and began to reason with him.

"Are you ready sir?", he asked.

"Yes Sergeant, how's the team?", the Captain asked.

"All set and ready sir, we are waiting for you.", Hartman replied.

„Okay…looks like they're expecting us…we're good to go.", he nodded to the Sergeant.

The Sergeant turned his back on the Captain and called out to his team: "Alright gentlemen, you have your orders! Move!"

"Yes sir!", they yelled together, deploying around the Sangheili with the Captain, Hartman walking at the Captain's side and heading towards what must have looked like a airlock. As they entered, the door behind them closed and sealed, then steam rolled out of the ceiling and walls. Jack guessed the decontamination section, which was understandable in a way, they were alien to them, which also meant alien species of disease, and that wouldn't be very pleasant for a new race. After the decontamination process they relaxed and opened the door in front of them. The group exited the chamber and entered a more open room where they were already waiting.

"Alright, don't forget to turn on your translator so we can avoid any unpleasantness, misunderstandings and other problems, keep an eye on your targets, check every nook and cranny, every back alley, door, balcony, everything.", the sergeant spoke and started his translator.

The rest did the same. The party's starting, Jack thought.

"Gentlemen, as one of the many members of the Quarian Admiralty and Admiral of the Quarian Migrant Fleet, I would like to welcome you to our ship, I am Admiral Han'Gerrel and this is Admiral Rael'Zorah, I hope that today's talks go smoothly, benefit both parties and we find common ground.", the man introduced himself first, by the tone of his voice, appearance was unrecognizable due to his helmet.

"Jack Hartley, Captain of the UNSC Gargantua, it is an honour to meet you and I also hope for a peaceful first contact.", Jack spoke.

"The pleasure is mine Captain…and I see you are not alone.", Han'Gerrel returned the salute, his gaze now falling on the five Sangheili standing behind the Captain.

"Thoro 'Manamee, our race is called Sangheili, we are from the Swords of Sangheilios and are here with them, it is a pleasure to meet you Admiral.", he introduced himself and the other Sangheili with him.

The Admiral nodded and looked the group over for a moment. For a moment he was struck by the number of people in the group, most armed and not for show.

Sergeant Hartman noticed the look and stepped fo it.

"These people are here for security reasons, no offense sir but security is security.", he explained.

"Oh, I see.", he nodded in understanding.

"Please follow us.", the two admirals turned and entered the corridor ahead of them.

"You know what to do. Don't leave a loose gap, move.", the sergeant called out and the group of people along with Sangheili followed the two admirals and their security guards.

Han'Gerrel and Rael led the new visitors through the corridors until they reached a large, spacious room with a large circular table set up, seating, and several Quarians waiting in the room.

Upon arrival, the humans/Sangheili and Quarians exchanged greetings, took their seats and exchanged a few words.

It was a formal conversation, to find out more about each other.

"If I may ask, if you don't mind, how did you get here? You couldn't have gone through Mass Relay, that would have been to meet up with our fleet, do you have any planets nearby?", one of the admirals asked the question a little awkwardly.

The Captain smiled and replied: "No, we have our own mode of transport."

The Admirals were intrigued and the same one asked again: „Our own mode of transport…you mean our own FTL drives?"

The Captain nodded.

"How fast are they?", another Quarian admiral asked.

"I'm afraid such information is classified as top secret, but such a drive is called a Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine, or it's also called a Slipspace drive."

"First unveiled in April 2291, of course it wasn't quite perfect then, the jumps took a very long time, but as the years passed, the technology improved, so did the Slipspace drive, the speed, so of course it's faster today.", the Captain added to his comment so the Quarian counterpart could get a small idea.

"How long have you been operating such FTL?", another Quarian asked with interest.

"Uhhh…roughly 300 years, but the Sangheili here have been using such FTL method for much longer.", replied the Captain.

"Impressive to be honest, the very fact that we came across a race independent of travel using Mass Relays is incredible for us, yes we have ship FTL too but it's too slow.", said Han'Gerrel.

"So…why don't you develop your own? Aren't you upgrading this technology?", the captain asked causing a few quarians to laugh.

"You know, when you have instantaneous travel from one point to another, why would anyone develop any FTL drives? A few days, weeks, months won't kill you. But I see where you're going Captain. The problem is…we don't have the resources, we don't have the funding or the space for development, we don't even have the people to look at it. We're in a bad way.", explained another Quarian admiral.

"Bad situation?" asked the captain in disbelief.

Eventually, one of the Sangheili intervened.

"This brings us to the next question. One of your admirals has labeled your fleet as Migrant, we would appreciate it if you could explain it to us better, if you don't mind of course.", Thoro asked politely.

Rael'Zorah took a breath and began to explain.

"Long before all this we had a planet, colonies, we lived our peaceful lives on the Rannoch, our home planet. We once tried to develop our own virtual intelligence. From the beginning it was basically a good idea, everything went well, the development went relatively smoothly except for a few small things, until the first model was developed. We named the virtual intelligence Geth, at the beginning it was absolutely perfect, it did what it was supposed to do. Then something went wrong, they started attacking us, it finally broke out into a war. We were so bad that we were forced to withdraw from our planet. When the Citadel Council found out, they kicked us out of their company, they were reluctant to help us, they forbade us from entering any planet, they cut us off from resources so we had to get them by other means, since then we've just been wandering the universe trying to survive . No one wants to help us, some are rather profiting from our situation, for example meaningless prices for some resources, metals, raw materials. But what are we to do? The Geths are chasing us across space. Such is our situation, captain.", the admiral finished.

It immediately dawned on the captain, that's why they started charging their weapons out of nowhere, their AI startled them.

However, the story left the captain in shock, the Sangheili didn't speak, they just sat in silence as if speechless. An entire race, forced to live in ships in miserable conditions, with no external help from the outside, who could allow this? It was completely unimaginable, unreal, appalling, disgusting.

What is the citadel council? What exactly is Citadel? How could a galactic superpower do something like this? After all, it's not a punishment, it's genocide, and apparently supported by the majority. If I had the power, I'd execute them publicly for this, Jack thought. Government sponsored genocide…can you imagine that?

Hartman frowned, almost as if he felt he hadn't told them everything; it was too abbreviated, in his opinion, the details were missing.

What exactly had happened? Virtual intelligence? What the hell is that? I know of no such thing as virtual intelligence, it must be some kind of shit, the sergeant thought, but let it go for now.

The captain sat and remained silent. Sangheili sat and remained silent.

"Sorry about that.", the Sangheili finally said.

"What is virtual intelligence?", asked the Captain.

"A sophisticated program to make the modern computer systems easier to use, but it does only one task at time, unaware of itself, it is illegal in the Citadel to program the VI according to currently living beings.", replied Han'Gerrel.

"Translated, many times dumber dumb AI.", the Sergeant explained quietly to Loko standing next to him at the door.

"So you were startled by our AI at that moment, for that I sincerely apologize, we had no idea, but you don't have to worry about our AI, it's completely harmless, it won't hurt you." Said the captain.

"Can you be so sure of that? It could also just be playing you and then strike at you at an unexpected moment. You still have a chance to get rid of it before it's too late.", Rael countered.

The Sangheilians shifted slightly on the spot, Loko twitched his fangs, the sergeant stared wide-eyed, the captain winced. The Quarians could very easily see their confused expressions, looking at them in disbelief, almost as if they didn't know if Rael was joking or serious.

"Excuse me…we've been using artificial intelligence for over 500 years, 500 years of development and refinement, in that time our AI has come a long way, it wouldn't help us where your VI would. We need AI to run our ships," Jack explained.

This time the Quarian admirals were the ones staring, but in shock. Over 500 years? After all, theirs was roughly the year 2180 and a few days! And they had been operating artificial intelligence for 500 years! Without the slightest problem! Rael this time had to admit that indeed their AI might be harmless.

What if these „humans" succeeded where we failed? What about the others? Are they also using AI? What are they using it for? How extensive is AI in humans? He still had his reservations, but this was a different race, with a different technological base, who had to devote a lot of time and money to developing AI, and they had succeeded, Rael thought to himself.

"If you don't mind me asking, what year is it for you?", one of the Quarian admirals asked.

"2594.", the Captain replied simply to the query.

"Wow, that's…amazing, the Citadel would be happy to have such a member.", said the same admiral.

"Well that wouldn't work, I don't see any reason why people would agree to such a disadvantageous membership in a society. I mean look at their ships, what is a dreadnought to us by classification is a mere cruiser to them, I can't imagine their dreadnoughts, I don't know anything about their fleet but what is clear on the face of it is that roughly 85% of their ships will be outside our classification, the question is, are these their biggest ships? Do they have bigger ones? Their firepower may drastically exceed that too? Just from what we could see, I could deduce that the Citadel's most powerful dreadnought could be comparable to maybe human corvettes, I may be exaggerating, but it could also be true. Under the Farixen treaties they would have to scrap 85% of their ships, destroy the AI, have to share every technological discovery, share technology, not be allowed to conduct genetic experiments, use nuclear weapons, and more. No sane leader would agree to such conditions without coercion, they would not willingly allow themselves to be weakened, deprived of development, research. As I said, I don't know anything about their technology, I don't know anything about them, but it can be assumed.", someone else responded to that opinion.

Then there were murmurs of approval from the Quarians.

"Okay, this Citadel Council has been mentioned a few times, what are they? What is a citadel?", Jack asked.

Admiral Han'Gerrel launched into an explanation, it had been a long three hours of explaining and describing absolutely everything he knew and knew. At some points he was supplemented by other Quarians.

"I am not sure of the accuracy of my statements, they may not be accurate…I may try to get more precise information and relay it to you later.", he finished.

"That would be very generous of you, but judging by your condition in general, you will need help.", Sangheili followed up.

„I don't mean to make this look bad, but…we could use the help, we are starting to run low on materials, we are running out of supplies, medical supplies, and they are affording us more and more lately, much bigger prices for very little, we are plagued by pirate raids and we don't know how long this will last.", the Quarian Admiral sitting at the very edge of the table replied honestly.

Jack pondered for a moment, the Sangheili began talking amongst themselves in a language the Quarians didn't understand. Jack still loathed the idea of someone allowing an entire species to be wiped out over one stupid thing. The whole thing was one big buffoonery. If he could, he'd shoot all the wannabe councilmen, businessmen, and others who were allowing this to happen…but he couldn't afford to think like that.

Finally, Thoro 'Manamee turned to the Captain and they talked for a while. There was great tension between the Quarians,no one could have guessed what might happen next. Just the fact that they shut down their translators for a moment was nerve-wracking in itself. It was as if time had stopped. They all sat with bated breath, just waiting. Eventually they quit and turned to the Admiralty.

The captain was the first to speak.

"I don't want to sound mean or anything, I'm not a high ranking politician, I don't have the authority to make treaties or create any, so I can't help you much, but we've gotten a lot of information, we've learned a lot of new things, and I'm sure the politicians back home will appreciate it a lot…I can't be of much help, but I'm certainly willing to put in a good word for you."

Sangheili then continued.

"Your situation weighs heavily on us and we are sincerely sorry, but the Guardian Conglomerate will certainly wish to establish relations with each other and we can only look forward to further cooperation."

And the Quarians gaped.

"It might be a little tense at first about AI, but our guys will figure something out. I can leave my three ships here just in case. It'll be a while before anyone gets here," the captain added.

"If you'll excuse me, I'd like to return to my ship."

"Wait…here, this contains all the important information about the Citadel and its council, except for the locations of the various worlds, don't get me wrong, we may not be part of them, but we're not so bad that we'd screw them over…otherwise…thank you for what you do for us.", Han'Gerrel thanked them and handed them the information.

The Captain finally shook hands, everyone stood up, said their goodbyes and the group left. After that, more discussion ensued.

-

UNSC Gargantua, bridge, one hour later

"So what have you got for me?", Jack asked as he returned to the bridge.

There was a tension on the bridge, they were on combat alert, the normal lights were off, only the blue LED lights were on, alarms were sounding all over the bridge and personnel were running from place to place.

"Captain, welcome back, I trust the rendezvous went smoothly.", greeted the ship's alternate commander.

"Yes, first contact was peaceful, what's going on?", he asked.

"We have a ship here. It appeared randomly just about the time you got to their ship, I didn't want to bother you in the middle of conversations so I declared a combat alert.", the man explained as they moved to the sensors.

"Our radars didn't pick up anything, but the sensors picked up a radiation signature from the engines, the ship is an alien design, a STEALTH ship, it's suppressing its heat signature, we don't know why that is, but it is. So far it's idle and far enough away, the ONI prowler is just within range, ready and waiting. The alien has not attempted any communication, nor has it approached the fleet yet.", he explained to the Captain.

"Put me through to the Prowler. Now.", ordered the Captain.

"Yes sir!", replied the Lieutenant, and established communication.

"UNSC Wraith, this is Captain Jack, return to UNSC space and give the UEG the message I'm about to dictate. We have made first contact with a new race called the Quarians. The talks went off without a hitch. We were able to obtain some interesting information from them, which will be included in the annex. However, they are asking for our help, their fleet is in bad shape, they have lost a planet, a colony, and are facing potential extinction. End of report. Thoro will send his message to the Guardian Conglomerate. We can také it from here before the diplomats arrive.", he spoke.

"Wraith understands, we're going back, over.", they were answered.

ONI prowler engaged the engines, turned and flew away from the ship. He then deactivated his cloaking field and jumped into slipspace.

"Morgan, send an AW aircraft to the site, have them track the ship, but maintain a safe distance at the same time, prepare a couple of fighters and equip them with anti-STEALTH weapons, maximum readiness.", he ordered.

"Message sent sir, AW is en route, ETA 12 minutes.", the AI announced.

A few minutes later, an aircraft took off from the hangar and readied a pair of fighters.


So this is chapter 5, i hope you like it, in the next chapter we are going to take a look at the second race. Let me know, if there are some inacuracies or something else. See ya on the next chapter!