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deitarionSSokolow: Thanks for your in depth review. I do think I get sucked into calling things such as 'Halo' the wrong thing simply due to other universes such as Halo, and wanting to give a nod of my head in that direction. It is wrong of me, however, I think I for this purpose no one will really care unless I ask you fine lot to throw money at me for this, which is never happening. The droids drone bit was never meant as a reference to star wars, but more a pink floyd thing if I was honest, IIRC another brick in the wall was featured a fair few times in my playlist in December. Probably right for me to change it though. Also, thanks for the 'author speak' bit, that bit is the hardest bit to get rid of when I proof read this. Everyone marks work to their own inner head, so to reread it all and correct it myself, often I correct to my own version of 'author speak'. Thanks again for taking the time to write out your review and corrections, it is appreciated!
The Jedi Potatoe: Thanks! I'll go back and correct it when I get a chance in the next few days.
Valkrus, Ultron is a little based on Battle Star Galactica (Ship design only), with Ultrons name from Marvel. The whole concept of Ultron with Stealth tech is just from my own observations in military advancement and progression, everything I've seen is progressing towards unmanned, stealth technology with some autonomous decision making. This is also why in this story I have the armed forces being so small, many nations no longer throw millions of barely trained and equipped troops at the problem, but fewer troops who have far more training and more powerful equipment.
Prime808: Yup, still here still updating.
Glrasshopper: Even in the original trilogy, they had the archives but didn't know about the Reapers. In this arc, they only have a very defined Prothean dictionary.
Oxyd2013: This story (as described in the description) is my take on how a first contact situation could go down with a heavy focus on first contact. If you ignore the advancements of many technologies, I would like to think many things that are happening are somewhat realistic while playing around with ME background and universe. If you want to tell me what you think would happen, let me know, as researching how people predict stocks etc would react is a bit boring.
/.../
A Salarian named Gorot II Heranon Mal Dinest Got Inoste Ledra, or Ledra for short, sighs as he plays around with a joystick, manipulating an optical camera. Usually, his job would be analysing data gradients to find ships that do not want to be found, but as this work has proved fruitless for the newcomers, he has been forced to resort to other less sophisticated methods that make him feel somewhat degraded. Amazingly, someone actually managed to find one of the Human stealth ships using this method; however, the discovery was entirely by luck. The Human Praetorian vessel had sent out a focussed laser burst to a seemingly empty point in space. Following that laser led the Salarians to a Geth vessel; which to the great concern of Ledra is another ship his data analysis ultimately failed to detect.
The initial camera operator that found the stealth ship will not deny that they were tremendously lucky when something pitch black in colour passed in front of the optical sensors allowing them to discover the Human vessel. Now, it is Ledra's job to make sure the camera stays on the mysterious black vessel; however, that job is not as easy as it sounds, the vessel's black nature is almost indistinguishable from the darkness of the surrounding space so tracking it requires constant focus. Making the situation worse for Ledra is that with the distances involved, it only takes minute changes to the camera angle and focus for the camera to lose the stealth ship, with even the natural vibrations of the Salarian ship causing issues for tracking.
At first, the stealth vessel's location caused some concerns, surely it should be in the exclusive Human bubble around the Relay as agreed? Upon tight scrutinisation of the cease-fire documents, it was only agreed that no Council vessel would enter the Human exclusion zone. While it could be strongly argued that the Humans are not playing by the spirit of the cease-fire, they have technically not broken it. Just as Ledra makes yet another tiny change to the camera, someone speaks aloud, mentioning how he has calculated the ship's trajectory. The ships heading would take it towards a rendezvous the Praetorian in less than 56 hours.
30 minutes later, Nassana of the Asari negotiation team removes a hand that is covering her eyes before sighing and saying, "Doing nothing is doing something." When it was discovered what was happening with the Geth, an emergency meeting was called on the Ascension, requiring the attendance of the Citadel lead negotiators, experts from the contact teams, and the Fleet Commander. Many are understandably not happy with the current state of affairs. After a slight pause, Nassana goes on to say, "We did not tell the Humans that we share hostilities, only that we do not speak for them, nor did the cease-fire prevent them from entering Batarian space."
"We should at least call them, let them know." Someone offers.
There is a small silence till Nasanna rejects this idea, "Know what? That they are dealing with an AI? We are already near-certain they utilise AI en masse, so that won't concern them." The first contact teams have been busy on the Party Boat, asking many subtle yet pointed questions, and they have been able to obtain a considerable amount of information about the Humans from a slip of their tongue. No doubt the Humans have also been able to find a substantial amount from her own people. "And if we call them, telling them not to speak with them, then we begin forcing them into decision making which could go against us. People do not like being told what to do, especially from an authority they have no reason to follow and a one they do not know."
"Could we try to intimidate the Geth to flee?" Unusually, it is not a Turian, but a Salarian who suggests this method. "We have a full Quarian cyber library at our disposal." How the Salarians have the Quarian library is a question for another day.
Quirinus raises his mandibles before speaking, "We do not have an easy, subtle means of communicating with the Geth. The Humans would spot it from a parsec off. Any intimidation has to come from less... subtle means of communication, and any intimidation outside of this system will take too long."
"And that will make the Geth the victims in the eyes of the Humans. I hate to consider it, but Nassana is right," Tevos voices, "Anything we do to try and influence the Humans will have a negative consequence on ourselves."
There is a small silence till the Turian negotiator begins to speak, "If we look at the left of ark and the right of ark," 'Left of ark and right of ark' is a Turian military slang, meaning the best and worst possible outcome. Most Turians raised in Turian space are fluent in military slang due to the Hierarchy's conscription edicts, "Then, it may help us decide. Left of ark, the Humans and Geth chat, before the Geth leave. Right of ark, they strike some sort of alliance. If Humans have AI, then they could be communicating far faster than we can. For all we know, they could be heading to Human space because they have already established an alliance."
"They are currently agreeable." Nassana sighs, "We should wait, and let them see reason."
"It is a bad idea," The Turian negotiator says with evident lack of enthusiasm at the concept, "You are all familiar with the idea of controlling the narrative yes? The first person to break the news often controls said news?" The various people around the room show signs of understanding, they are all well aware of said idea. "Then I wonder how the Geth will tell them of the Rachni extinction, Krogan Genophage, or the general treatment of the Quarians. What about the vassal states of my Hierarchy and the fact 3 species rule the roost? How do you think the Humans will look at us then? Doing nothing is doing something to our detriment."
"Could we...," A Salarian begins to say at a slightly slower pace than usual, showing he is thinking as he is speaking, "Open the entertainment level on the Ascension for the Humans, where we have just so happened to have located a library of our history? If the Geth do then try and control the narrative, then at least we can give a glimpse into another perspective and make them pause for thought."
"I could sign off on that," Nassana admits, "But it will need work to make it not feel forced."
"I won't." Quirinus says, putting his military foot down, "The Ascension is one of my heavy hitters. I'm not having a few hundred Humans crawling around inside her. It is bad enough you are about to invite a few dozen of them."
"That is not your call to make," Tevos informs and reminding Quirinus that the Ascension is, and always will be Asari.
Quirinus flares his mandibles slightly before saying, "With all respect, I am under orders from the Primarch's Chosen, who has entrusted me with the security of this fleet. He is under mandates from the Council, not just the Asari Councillor. When it comes to politics, your word goes, but my word is final when it comes to this fleets security."
Tevos knows that in this sector of space, Qurinus is the law, jury and the executioner, yes, she is the Asari Councillor. Still, he is entrusted by the PC who right now has the ultimate authority of the Council. With a frustrated sigh, Tevos backs down, knowing that she is fighting an uphill battle without another Councillor's authority. The problem with space is that it is big, unfathomably big, and things take time, so getting another Councillor to agree with her this far out in the middle of nowhere is not a feasible course of action.
The eventual results of these talks are final. The Citadel forces are to await a 'party boat' of their own which details the citadel history, to act in any other way was calculated to be detrimental to their current plans.
/.../
Shepard gives a small sigh of relief as she sits down in a chair, in the last two days, she barely feels like she has had a moment to sit down and just breathe. First of all, with news of her going away, the UNSC physicians and medics wanted to take dozens of bio-samples to check for fitness, and who knows what else, then she had to try and return her issued military equipment, but the ships QM didn't want to touch her armour with it being unique to her and none serialised kit. When she thought that problem was solved by getting permission to take the armour with her, then the aliens wanted a piece of her, so she had to give all the same medical samples to the aliens, and more. On return to the Praetorian, Shepard then had to tell the Human physicians what the Aliens did so that the Praetorians physicians could take the same samples of whatever they forgot. It was apparent to Shepard that the Human physicians are just 'winging' it, never before have they had to test a different alien world with life to see if it would be safe for Human biology. All other planets in Sol had nothing that could survive in an oxygen-rich environment.
With the dozens of samples taken, she was then put in front of some high ranking spooks and intelligence officers via video communication in a secured room who give her a high-level brief on what they wanted her to find out military speaking on the aliens. This brief covered everything from the aliens past engagements to their war crimes and rules of conflict, anything that could tell the Generals and Admirals in charge of Sol's defence on what and who they are facing. Just as that video conference finished, she received a phone call from some supposed hotshot actress, and suspecting it was a scam phone call, Shepard unleashed a barrage of insults. Due to Shepards extended time in the military, she could go for hours without repeating the same taunt twice, so the 'actress' got an earful. After putting the call down, she just managed to sit down on a toilet when she got notified from up high that the phone call was legitimate, and she got a dress down for her conduct on the phone - while sat on the throne.
Shortly after her dress down, she was ordered to attend another video conference with a bunch of movie producers, so she could tell her side of the First Contact story; and the directors wanted to know everything, from her thoughts to what she believed happened. Apparently, the President has commissioned a movie to be made, which tells how First Contact went down, no doubt in Shepard's mind to influence people's opinions on the event and boost recruitment; the President has been pushing hard to build up the UNSC Navy. As it turns out, the actress on the phone that Shepard hurled none stop abuse at earlier has been chosen to play herself, so in Shepard's mind, it was a fitting introduction.
With the directors taken care of, Shepard went to sit down in the Praetorians mess hall, but before she could get any grub, she is dragged into a meeting with two dozen others about how to act and behave around the aliens, the lecture is delivered by some sort of psychologist. At first, Shepard didn't pay too much attention to the brief, in her opinion, she is the most experienced with the aliens out of those in the room, but she was quickly surprised in a good way by the brief. It focussed not on her own behaviour, but on reading subtle alien traits that the egg heads have been able to figure out, from the clenching of Asari hands to the Turian mandible movements. The scientists had figured out physical give way signs for all 3 of the major species they have come across, and the brief was given to help those who are planned for alien space to read the aliens. The brief took a few hours, for what Shepard thinks should have been a half-hour lecture at most.
The next day, Shepard was required to help unload equipment from a supply ship before she and two dozen others were ordered onto the large alien vessel that the negotiations took place on. Here she finds herself subject to yet another brief, this time by the aliens, and the brief is entirely delivered in Prothean which requires constant clarification. Before the brief began, each Human in the room was given a folder that has been filled with information relating to their assigned tasks, meaning no two folders are the same. The scientists got folders that showed they would be heading to some Salarian worlds, the lawmakers got folders for various homeworlds, the economic and trade lot got folders for the Citadel and Volus stations, and the medical scientists got Asari worlds. In Shepard's folder, she found she would be going to the Citadel with two others from the cultural integration wing.
Before Shepard could dig too deep into the folder and start digesting its contents, the Aliens started their briefs, which for the most part, was about basic decency and behaviour. Here, it is revealed that certain things are not deemed acceptable in various cultures, and a few other previously unknown species are discussed, such as the Hanar and Vorcha. The briefs also touch on galactic law, with the most basic yet essential laws expanded on, such as what is defined as self-defence, and what laws and rules could get you into a severe pickle if broken. At the end of this brief, it is revealed that the Human explorers will get a limited amount of diplomatic immunity, that will cover some things such as unwittingly causing offence or public disturbance, but not protect from the essential laws defined earlier in the brief. They are also told that if relations break down between the Council and Humanity, they would be returned to Human space on the condition that the Citadel's own explorers are returned unharmed.
On return to the Praetorian, and before Shepard could dig any more into her folder, she and the intrepid explorers were given yet another brief by the medical team. They would each be receiving some essential medical equipment so that if they got a catastrophic bleed, a broken bone, poisoned, an allergic reaction or a nasty infection, they could deal with it in situ. While not ideal, the approach is so that they do not require emergency transport back to Sol, where the transport time could be deadly. Most of the provided equipment Shepard is intimately familiar with as she has used all of the equipment in the past due to her job as a marine. The explorers are then provided with some equipment she is not familiar with; the equipment allows them to take a dozen different biological samples from their body. Shepard is told that the equipment is to help diagnose medical problems and help the scientists back in Sol identify issues for humans living on the different alien worlds. During their stay on alien worlds, each explorer is told they are to take two samples with the machine each day, or more if they feel unwell.
After a half-hour demonstration of the sampling equipment, the doctors begin to pile a stash of drugs in front of each person due for Council space, with instructions on how to use each drug in a safe manner. The drugs range from prescriptions for living in low g environments, to overly high and toxic oxygen climates. In truth, Shepard started to think the doctors were going overboard, but then, how does she know where in the galaxy she is about to end off?
Just when Shepard begins to think the brief can't go on for any longer, each explorer is pulled to a side where a suspicious grey goo concoction is injected into them before they could contest it. When pushed for details, it is revealed that the injection is full of nano-bots to boost their immune systems. The manner in which the 'nano-bots' were injected into her makes Shepard think there is more to it, but she bites her tongue for now; her AI can investigate it later.
The medical brief eventually ended, which leads to the present, where Shepard is sat in the mess hall with a hot drink, just enjoying the act of doing nothing. In a few minutes, she plans to start digging into the alien's folder, but before she can even take a sip of her drink, a short woman plonks herself down opposite her, without an invitation to do so. Before Shepard can speak the woman beats her to it, introducing her self as an operative for Cerberus, and from how the agent acts, and some surgical marks on her forearms, Shepard reckons she is or has been a Phantom. The Phantom places a small olive green textile backpack on the table between herself and Shepard before telling the Augment to take a look.
After checking what is in the bag, Shepard looks back up to the small woman, "This is some advance stuff." She says.
"Developed for deep espionage." The Phantom reveals as she starts to pull things out of the bag and place them on to the table, the first item is a rather large needle, "This I'm sure you are familiar with, it will let us know your location no matter where they take you." The Phantom doesn't give Shepard a chance to respond as she jabs the needle into her arm, inserting a chip deep under her skin. "And now there is no hiding your movements." The next item out of the bag is something Shepard has never seen before, but from the looks of it, it is a device to be swallowed. "If you are taken captive," The Phantom begins, "This will resolve matters, your AI will be able to activate it." Shepard does not accept the pill when the Phantom moves to hand it to her.
"I'm not swallowing that." Shepard informs with a shake of her head. She knows that the pill is likely to also have a connection to someone in Cerberus HQ where they could pull the trigger at their own will.
The Phantom responds with a question, asking, "Have you ever been tortured?"
"I was an honoured guest in the Deep for 8 months before rescue." Shepard reveals coldly, "How long did you last during training?"
The Phantom does not reply. Instead, she puts the pill back in the bag before revealing the next item, which is a tactical watch, and Shepard smirks a bit, an idea hitting her.
"The watch is for your AI, it has enough storage space so you can record what you see and hear continuously for 3 years and not run out. We will download whatever your AI uploads, so, unless you want to give whoever goes over it a show, be careful with what you upload."
"Does it do anything else?" Shepard asks.
"Tell the time." The Phantom replies without much humour; most phantoms Shepard has come across have lacked a funny bone in their entire body, maybe Cerberus remove it during their augmentation process. Next, is a small black box about the size of an icecream tub, "This, when connected to your AI, will allow your AI to boost its processing power to beyond what is legal in Human space. I'm sure between the two of you, you can think of ways to use it." Most AI are limited in their processing power to some arbitrary number that some boffins conjured in a lab. Why the number was settled on is a mystery unless you want to delve deep into the mathematics.
The following item that comes out of the bag is a modern smartphone, which is numerous years younger than Shepards current device. "This is pretty much a standard phone, but you can use it to call your caretakers back here. It only differs in that it has additional security built-in."
The final device is a yellow and grey tube 30cm long, by 4cm in diameter, "This will keep your cybernetics and devices charged for up to 5 years. The energy density of this thing is four times what is available on the civi market. The only rule is don't let it get above 315 Kelvin, any hotter than that then it will start to have thermal run away and make a nasty mess of things. It does have fail-safe features, but it is still experimental." While Shepards cybernetics and augments bring her many advantages on the battlefield, the downside is that she requires a source of power. The devices consume a lot of energy that can not be generated through body heat or food consumption alone.
Just when Shepard thinks the Phantom is going to stand up and leave her alone, the woman then says, "Your AI will also be receiving an update prompt, it will allow it to rewrite some of its core code, so you should be able to record without giving the fact away."
Eventually, the Phantom leaves Shepard, allowing the Augment to go back to her coffee with added whiskey, which is now cold, so she stands to replenish her drink with a frustrated sigh. Just as Shepard gets to a hot water faucet she is called to the ship's armoury; apparently, she has yet another first contact event to attend, and the worst part is, she will have to sign out a large portion of the equipment she handed back into the QM. After a defeated sigh, Shepard necks her cold coffee and turns to attend yet another tasking.
/.../
Party Boat.
"As a species, we have not known one another for very long," A voice begins to say in broken Prothean, "But I believe you have seen better days."
Shepard looks up from the table she is sat at and to the Asari, on her table is the folder she was given earlier, and a notepad of her own that has a good amount of scribbles adorning its pages. "I've seen better days." She admits. "I've had about as much sleep in the last few days as a shell shock."
"We have seen you have been busy," Tevos admits as she takes a seat. "Does the word Geth ring any bells?"
"Da." Shepard responds in Russian as she leans back in her chair, "And what a pain they have caused me." She reveals, "Absolute space kids."
"Space kids?" Tevos repeats, an obvious question with her tone.
"Yeah, would stick their 'fingers'? In a power socket if they could get to one just out of damn curiosity. Need to get them a kiddy leash or something."
Tevos wants to laugh at the idea of a Geth being compared to a kid; however, she also knows what they did to the Quarians and the fact that they are cold killers. "Do not be fooled, they are more than capable of genocide."
"Yeah," Shepard sighs, "What species doesn't have blood on their hands. Intelligence's far greater than me are saying they are safe, so till they prove otherwise, I got to treat them as safe." Tevos is unsure if this is a dig at her own Council, the Humans, or something else, but either way, it is not a good sign; before Tevos can address the comment, Shepard goes on to say, "Anyway, I think we need to talk." As Shepard say 'talk', she taps the folder on the table.
"Yes." Tevos answers, "I would suspect you have questions." It turns out the word 'suspect' does not translate at all, and the word 'expect' is eventually used.
"Why your estate." Shepard eventually asks after a moment, "What do you get out of it." In the folder, it is made clear to Shepard that she would be accommodated on the Councillors estate.
"I was not expecting the inquisition," Tevos jokes before answering, "But it makes sense. When you come to the Citadel, you will, unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, be a local celebrity that comes with its own security risks. The first Human to make contact, and one of only 4 Humans on the Citadel, you will have a lot of attention. So when it comes down to it, you need security, my estate offers that, on the Citadel, it is the most secure estates with the added bonus of a Council dedicated security force in place. What do I get out of it is simple, you are a Human, I need to learn about your species to excel in my job, and what better way to do that than to have you living in my estate."
Shepard is suspicious, "Then why not have one of the others going to the Citadel join your estate instead? I'm a crayon eating, window licking soldier, not some culture expert."
"Because unlike your, their face hasn't been plastered all over Council space as a figurehead for their species. Yours has. You will be the bigger security risk. My estate can handle that."
"Right," Shepard nods, half accepting the statement as a truth, but also feeling like there is more to it, "So if I'm to live on this estate with the better part of 200 others, do I have my own room? Own free space?" This sentence needs to be clarified before an answer is given.
Over the next half an hour, Shepard asks as many questions as possible, ranging from what cooking facilities she has, her role in the estate, and the exercise kit available. There is even the question of what she calls the Councillor, is it 'Councillor', her first name, surname, something else entirely? Turns out that due to Shepard's own age almost putting her into the brackets that most Asari would consider a Matriarch, then to her it is simply Tevos. Due to this simple conversation that drifted into age and simply how to show respect, Shepard realises that she has more than a fair share of new rules to learn based on an alien culture.
Tevos takes this moment to also introduce herself in whole, as Tevos Chalíki, prime representative of the Asari republics, business magnate, estate head and Citadel Councillor. This title's real impact is lost to Shepard, through ignorance no fault of her own; she does not know how big the Council is, how many people it encompasses, or the military, economic and industrial might of the collective. In return, Shepard reveals that she is Stasya Shepard, UNSC marine and augment, in retrospect, Shepard almost felt like she was an ant introducing herself to an elephant. An insignificantly small creature part of a large machine with no real free will introducing itself to a being with absolute power over numerous nations many times her own people's power.
Shepard spends this time asking Tevos as many questions as she could come up with, which would help her get ready to transition to an Asari estate. An estate that seems far more social than any Human residence. By the end, Shepard has to excuse herself, she could drink as many coffee's as she wants, jager bombs and Buckfast, but without some serious stimulants, her body needs rest, the type that only sleep can provide.
/.../
Meanwhile,
Captain Melchett looks up as Ultron says, "Captain Melchett, I have a request for a meeting from 'the space cuttlefish'.
Melchett brushes his moustache before saying, "Well?"
"It requests we send a diplomatic party to discuss."
/.../
Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition... I mean.. err Thanks all.