RR DeitarionSSokolow: Hmm, I'll look up the Hydrogen Line and see what I can come up with, thanks. Also thank you for your corrections. We move a little away from Shepard-Tevos this chapter, but for good reasons. Things are getting a reaper sized spanner thrown into the works.

Prime808: Maybe, but expect to be bitten when playing with Reapers.

Pteaset: Cheers.

Jotunsquid: No, not at all, however, I did name him after Stephen Fry's character for how much I enjoyed his humour in the role.

Valkrus: Yeah, things ain't changing too much in this story either.

/.../

So a small important note: The Reapers are going to be as strong as Sovereign was in ME1, not the nerfed Reapers in ME3. No easy ride in this story.

Once more Shepard has been ordered to assist with a first contact situation, but this time, something feels off to Shepard, maybe it is just the strange ship design of the new aliens, but something deep down tells her this ship is not a one that comes with peaceful intent. Nonetheless, Shepard has orders, and so, she must provide herself as a security detail for the first contact team. Sometimes, being an augment has its advantages, such as being sent on the 'good' missions, but then at other times, she can also be dispatched on the missions no one else wants, such as assisting with First Contact with people who come in a spooky ass ship.

Shepard looks out of a 'window' on the Praetorian where the sizeable alien ship resides, having just docked. The Praetorian is not a large ship by any means, but it is also not small, however, next to this large vessel, the Praetorian looks and feels insignificantly small to Shepard. Yes, UNSC Planetary Assault Craft are larger, but they do not carry with them a presence that gives the spooks.

After allowing a few moments for successful docking to be confirmed, a technician speaks to the First Contact lead, his voice is quiet, but with her armour, Shepard can hear what is said. The atmosphere on the other side of the Praetorians exterior airlock is heavy with hydrogen sulphide, methane and cadaverine, but otherwise, it is breathable and not toxic to human biology. Before just blindly opening the door, Shepard checks the airlock's external camera to ensure nothing is waiting to breach the Praetorian and give her a nasty surprise. With nothing on the camera system, she gives a nod of the head to the FC lead, and the door begins to slowly creep open.

As the thick armoured door opens, the alien ship's air begins to seep into the Praetorian airlock. The Contact teams quickly start to gag, the alien vessel carries with it a horrific smell, a one Shepard instantly recognises as rotting flesh. Feeling the hairs on her neck rise, Shepard pushes forward so that she is near the front of the pack of the first contact team, her weapon has already been made ready. As she arrives at the front of the Contact team, a presence that glows orange begins to approach from deep within the alien vessel, it does not seem to carry weapons, which is somewhat good news in Shepard's mind. While this may be good news, however, in the military, there is a common phrase well known to Shepard that lets troops know when to look for something wrong, the phrase is, 'absence of the normal, presence of the abnormal.' In this case, Shepard has alarm bells ringing in her head, but before she can raise her thoughts, something hits her hard enough to throw her 10 feet through the air and slam her into a wall on the Praetorian.

/.../

The fleet commander scratches his armpit as he looks at some emails in his private office. These days, he gets hundreds of emails a day asking him about how the first contact is going, what he has learned about the Humans and even some propositions on his private email accounts. Seeing the interior lighting of the vessel change hue, and then hearing a claxon ring out, Corvinus is on his feet in a split of a second and within 15 footsteps, he is on the bridge, ready to assert his command. It does not take long for Corvinus to see what is wrong, as on the bridges main view screen someone has placed a zoomed-out image of the Praetorian, that is still docked with the unknown vessel. Around the unidentified vessel, about 50 medium-sized vessels circulate in erratic and frenzied movements firing some white projectiles at the large strange ship. At the same time, the unidentified craft returns with its own weapon fire.

The fleet commander would love to know what has just happened for such hostilities to start, but he can find that information out at a later date. Looking to the next highest rank on the bridge, he says, "Fleet Orchestrator, formation A3. Increase readiness to R1." The formation is more commonly used for a rapid assault, and R1 tells the fleet to be ready for action with little to no warning, so their shields and weapons are to be readied.

"As you command," A voice returns as the Fleet Orchestrator enacts his orders.

Before the Fleet Commander can issue another command, the vessels Battle Space Officer speaks, "Fleet Commander, vessel C01 has begun rapidly moving towards our own fleet." Vessel C01 stands for Civilian 01, which is the military designation given to the party boat.

"Track but do not engage." Corvinus is quick to reply, C01 is currently filled with Humans and his own people, so it is probably running towards presumed safety. Turning towards the communications officer, Corvinus then says, "Comms, alert the fleet that while this is not our fight if C01 is attacked, we will protect our people."

Looking at the view screen Corvinus debates trying to contact the two parties to try and end the hostilities, but with how the two are exchanging weapon fire, these two parties are far past talking and are out with the intent to end one another.

/.../

'Wake up numbnuts' Shepard hears as she slowly drifts back into the world of consciousness, We have balls to bust. The voice belongs to her AI.

Shepard pushes herself off the floor with a shake of her head and takes a moment to collect herself, her head feels like it has been slammed with a sledgehammer, but she pushes past the pain as she comes aware of her surroundings. Around her, there are a half dozen dead humans from the first contact team, and two other dead marines, one of which is a fellow augment. As Shepard finds and picks up her weapon, her AI informs her of the situation; after she was hit by some unknown force, two dozen hostile aliens stormed the Praetorian before its airlock could shut. Currently, 10 of those aliens are now prowling the Praetorian, and they don't seem to be in the mood for taking prisoners. Unfortunately, most of the security force onboard the Praetorian has been eliminated, leaving the crew to defend the ship, which isn't proving too successful. Of the few augments onboard, most have moved to protect the bridge, that way, the Captain will be able to follow up on his orders should the vessel begin to fall out of Human control. Before leaving the airlock, Shepard notices that the alien ship has now broken off from the Praetorian, where it is Shepard doesn't care too much, Ultron and her brother's stealth vessels should be unleashing hells wrath on it.

Two rooms over, Shepard comes across a Geth Platform being held in place by two of the unknown aliens, the creatures seem to be doing something to it, so with great care she creeps up behind them, and from close enough range to not hit the Geth, she puts two rounds into the two aliens. The Geth platform drops to the floor after being released by the now-dead aliens, but it quickly rises to its feet. Seeing a weapon laying on the floor nearby Shepard picks it up before handing it to the AI creature, "8 left," She says in Prothean.

"This unit will assist."

With the Geth unit in tow, Shepard continues to move through the vessel, ruthlessly killing anything that gets in her path. Eventually, she finds herself near the medical ward. A few of the crew are holed up, firing at a single enemy, the creature attacking them is grotesque, it smells of rotten flesh, and it's almost Asari in appearance. Among the exchange of bullets, there are odd flashes of blue that almost appear like the Asari space magic, so Shepard simply observes for a moment, wanting to learn what it can do when used in anger. With her curiosity filled, a few well-aimed bullets put the creature down onto the floor where it thrashes and gnarls, so with one quick movement, Shepard reaches for its neck and pulls hard, ripping its throat away in a single motion.

Looking inside the medical ward, Shepard instructs the crew to join her, so those armed quickly leave their post, including an Asari who assures that she can be useful despite not having a weapon. Not caring to argue and knowing time is against her, Shepard continues on to the last hostile, which turns out to be glowing a bright orange. Seeing that it poses no immediate threat, and has no weapon, Shepard decides that instead of killing it, she wants to take it alive, she has questions that need answers.

Letting those with her know her intent she approaches the glowing alien, dodging a few black orbs it throws her way, and eventually gets close enough to slam a fist into its gut. The creature does not react to the fist, instead, it throws its own back, but its efforts are in vain, Shepard is strong enough and fast enough to safely deflect its attacks. When the creature makes a mistake, Shepard picks it up by the throat before slamming it into the ground, and this seems to do the trick, pacifying its resistance for a small moment. Just as Shepard thinks she has herself a live prisoner, it speaks in perfect Prothean, saying 'This is your destiny. Releasing control,' it speaks with a strained metallic sounding voice. Before Shepard can even begin to think of a response, the prisoner starts to disintegrate in her very hands, breaking down to its molecular level.

/.../

20 minutes later, Tevos is in a meeting on the Ascension with the vessel's Captain, attending the meeting via video conference is the Fleet Commander, representatives of the first contact teams, and a few others from the Fleet Commanders command team. When Tevos learned of the battle that just happened in front of her very fleet, she was horrified, how did it go so wrong? Did the Humans do something wrong? Was the unknown vessel hostile? Many questions are yet to be answered, and hopefully, this meeting can answer some of those questions, but Tevos knows it is more likely to leave them with more questions than answers.

"The Humans have lost 6 of their vessels," A Salarian informs the Fleet Commander, "All of them being the unidentified stealth vessels, they have a further 12 damaged. For now, the other stealth vessels are still trackable, they are glowing hot from their recent activity."

"How did the unknown ship fare?" Tevos asks. The Councillor would love to know who it belongs to, and she is already drafting a request for the Spectre's to investigate in her mind.

"It lost a tendril." The voice returns, "But otherwise, mostly unscathed. Whatever it is made of, puts relay metal to shame. The Humans were hitting it hard, none of our vessels would have survived a hundredth of what punishment they delivered."

There is a slight pause till Corvinus asks, "We know the Humans have some potent weaponry, but what are we talking? How powerful are they? I assume you have made some calculations."

Once more, and predictably it is the Salarian that responds, "We have, and it makes for grim reading I'm afraid. Power-wise, they have 50 plus heavy cruisers and 4 ascension class dreadnoughts, but they aren't using traditional projectiles, how our vessels would fare is yet to be calculated. Still, initial prognostications from our models are looking like a sour outcome." There is another slight pause before the same Salarian goes on, saying, "The other unknown, however, makes the Ascension class look like it fires training rounds, whoever they are, not worth picking a fight with."

Tevos can hear Corvinus breath hard through his microphone before asking, "What has happened to this tendril it has lost?" Tevos already knows what the Fleet Commander wants, the man can smell its advanced technology, and he desperately wants it, no doubt he would get a nice commendation from the Primarch for it.

"Humans have collected it. They seem to be keeping a tight grip on it."

"I don't blame them," Nassana says, "And we shouldn't ask for it, they have just paid a heavy price for it. On another note, have they asked for any assistance?" Since such hostilities have occurred, the armed forces are entirely in charge at the moment, with all civilians removed from places where they will just get in the way.

"Nothing," Corvinus replies, "They aren't answering our calls either. We do though have reports from C01 that there are casualties on the Praetorian. Apparently, their vessel was stormed and boarded by a hostile party when they attempted first contact. Details at the moment are sparse." As Corvinus expected, C01 came and sheltered with the Citadel fleet when all hell broke loose, and since, he has tasked those on the vessel to find out anything they can. "Moving on," Corvinus then says, "Does anyone have an explanation for the Relay?" Almost the moment hostilities opened, the Human Relay shut down, something which has never happened before.

"Not yet," Another Salarian says, "We can't even detect residual eezo activity in its core, which is a mystery in its own." Even dormant Relays have minimal core activity so it can power transducers that listen for activation codes.

"Do we think the Humans shut it down?"

It is Nassana to reply, "We don't even think the Humans know how to activate one. To shut it down is beyond them at the moment, as it is equally beyond us."

"So, the unknown vessel and Humans enter battle, then the Relay shuts down. What are we missing?" Asks Tevos.

"Something and something big." Corvinus unhelpfully adds.

There is a small pause before a Salarian replies, "I have a working theory. The unknown was guided through the Human minefield, docked with the Praetorian, then we detected a faint EM transmission, the Relay shutdown, and all hell broke loose. I can't answer why the unknown docked, but it did follow the same path out of the minefield that it entered, while accelerating at speeds that would snap any of our vessels in half. What if the unknown vessel shut it down?"

No one acknowledges this answer; instead, Tevos asks, "Can we reactivate it?"

There is a long silence till a science officer says, "Its core is shut down, it no longer registers as dormant, I can't think of ever coming across a similar case."

There is a sound of a deep sigh before Nassana speaks again, the Asari understandably does not look too happy at the moment, "This is a disaster in the making, even more so than it already is. Firstly, we are going to have to help the Humans reactivate the Relay, and if we can't, then we need to get these Humans, in ships incapable of FTL to civilised space."

"We are jumping the gun here," Corvinus says, "We have never come across a relay we could not activate."

"No," Nassana argues, "How long will the Humans food and oxygen supplies last? As long as it takes us to reactive the Relay? How is there outlook going to change on aliens? Will they even accept our help right now?" Nassana gives a pause to breathe out heavily, then adds, "Really, we need to be prepared to receive and action their request for supplies now; otherwise, they may all be dead without even realising it."

"How far away is their home system?" Asks Corvinus.

It is the Captain of the Ascension to reply, "36 Light Years. It would take the average supply ship 72 days for a one-way trip. On the bright side, if we were to transport all the Humans back, at least you would get to know them quite well by the end of the 72nd day."

The Turian negotiator asks, "Will they even have the supplies to last 72 days?"

The silence lets everyone attending that the answer is unknown. "Uncertain," Corvinus eventually says, "But a standard Turian warship is outfitted for 45 days, which can be extended to 90 on rationing."

"They aren't Turians." Tevos voices.

"There are a few chubby humans, they can learn to ration." Surprisingly it is the Turian negotiator who spoke this sentence.

The Captain of the Ascension speaks again, "This is a none issue, the Humans are known to be levo and dextro tolerant, which means this fleet can supply them. I've done the maths, as of this moment the Ascension has the food to outfit 500 Humans with food for 3 weeks. If we need more, then it can come from the PC's fleet. I think we need to be more concerned with our immediate actions. Do we pull our people from C01, offer assistance, condemn the violence, have the PC's fleet engage the unknown vessel, cease all negotiations till an investigation occurs. And what do we do about the fact the Geth give the Humans military assistance?" The fact the Geth also fired on the unknown vessel while not yet mentioned, has not gone unnoticed.

"C01 is more useful to us then a hindrance," The Salarian lead negotiator says, "And we still share positive relations. Nothing has changed between us. My largest concern is the Geth's military aid, considering that they have only just met one another, did the Humans request this, or did they provide the assistance willingly? Are their relations stronger than we wish to admit? Then we need to be prepared to tell why we didn't provide military aid. I am getting chills at the thought the Geth are now their largest ally in this galaxy."

"Friendship forged through shared blood lost is a strong foundation for future relations," Corvinus admits. "But it is not our place to provide assistance, this unknown vessel could be their people's enemy, however unlikely..." The Fleet commander stops speaking for a few seconds and looks off-screen before then saying, "...that is. It turns out we have just been hailed by the Humans, they have requested we visit their vessel, claiming to have something to show us."

It is decided that the 3 lead negotiators will visit.

/.../

Nassana is surprised to be greeted by the Human Captain as the airlock to the Praetorian opens, the man does not seem happy at all, but she believes he has an excellent right to look rather miserable. "Captain," She says, addressing his rank.

"Let's make this quick," The Captain says, skipping the pleasantries, "We need to show you something. This way."

Nassanna and her Turian counterpart share glances before starting to follow the Captain, as they follow the man through the Praetorians airlock, she asks, "Will your ambassadors be joining us?"

"You just walked through their blood." The Captain reveals somberly as he continues to lead, and sure enough, looking down Nassana can see large puddles of red blood yet to be moped up. As they walk through the vessel, the Citadel negotiations team are shocked to see the extent of the battle damage on the Praetorian and are repulsed a little when they are asked to step over a few dead bodies yet to be shown the proper respect. The mood onboard is sombre enough that none of the team says a single word when they witness a duo of Geth carrying a Human body. Getting into a particular room, the Captain stops at a grotesque looking creature, kneels down and then reveals its face, the beast looks vaguely Turian, yet heavily warped and mutilated.

"One of yours?" He asks pointedly.

Nassana looks at the creature, not only is it heavily warped, but the thing has electronics and technology piercing its skin, and a weapon surgically grafted onto its arm. "That's no Turian," The Turian negotiator says after a second to digest the horror of what he is seeing.

Standing, the Captain then says, "There is more." The Captain leads them through to another room, where another creature lays on the floor, this time it looks like a mutilated Asari. "What of this one? Is this one yours?"

Nassana's stomach churns as she clenches her fists hard, the creature is a real abomination, and she now knows exactly how her Turian counterpart felt just a moment ago, "I do not know what this thing is."

"Well, you can have it to find out." The Captain says while standing up from the dead Asari creature. "We have plenty more to dissect to our heart's content. I'll have my crew move them onto your vessel."

"Thank you." Nassana says, before adding, "We are sorry for your losses, but we must ask how this changes things between us."

The Captain sighs as he shakes his head; eventually, he says, "The Geth didn't believe you were behind this, but I had to be sure. So, I am under orders to continue on as best as we can with yourselves, as for who did this, well, we want words. Anyway, I have letters to write, telling loved ones how their sons and daughters have been slaughtered, as I'm sure you have your work cut out for yourself."

/.../

1 Hour later - Destiny Ascension.

Corvinus walks into a surgery theatre with five others already waiting in the room, those being Councillor Tevos, the Asari chief medical officer and the three negotiators. In the centre of the room is two medical beds, on each medical bed, there is a dead body in a black body bag.

Once the door is sealed behind Corvinus, he asks, "So, what is so secretive?" With a nod from Tevos, the Salarian and Turian negotiator open the body bags, revealing the mutilated corpses. Corvinus takes a moment to digest what he is seeing before saying, "So, this is what has attacked the Humans. Are they what I think they are?"

"Asari and Turian?" The Asari medical officer says as she powers up a terminal nearby, "Not any longer. They have undergone genetic mutations so severe I don't even know how it is possible, and they have technology grafted into their flesh that does not look like anything designed by us. Whatever or whoever did this knows more about medical technology then we do." The doctor lets this settle in before continuing, "But there is more, this specimen here, from the ARV Grebes, and this one, the TEV Augury."

It is Tevos who makes the connection, "Both missing research ships from when both of our species were only starting Relay expeditions. It would exclude the idea that this is a Geth trick."

"So it would seem," Answers Corvinus, "I no longer think that this is a matter for us alone."

"No," Tevos agrees, "I will have the republics hunt this unknown vessel."

"The Humans also give us this," Nasanna speaks as she opens her omni-tool and begins to play a video. The video is an omni-tool recording of a Human phone that played a video, so the quality while watchable is not desirable. From the video's perspective, it appears to be following a Human from their own eyesight as they clear the Praetorian of hostiles.

After watching the video, Tevos looks to Corvinus, "Do you know?" She asks, but the man seems confused, so she continues, "This looks like an elusive species we know of, they call themselves Collectors. All we know is that they occasionally come out of the shadows to buy exotic genetic samples."

"So," Corvinus says, "Is this Collector a grotesque mutilation, or dare we say complicit?"

"The Collectors are too elusive for me to call." Tevos admits, "However, I suspect the Spectres are about to be busy to find us an answer."

Corvinus flares his mandibles in a way which suggests he agrees with the esteemed Councillor, "Yes, it would seem so, however, I think we should tell the Humans."

"It would certainly assist our relations," The Turian negotiator states. "They are licking wounds and looking for future blood."

"We do not have much," Tevos admits, "None of it is overly sensitive, but it will take 4 weeks to download from the Citadel archives. I will use my authority to download it in a means that Humans can use."

Corvinus flares his mandibles a little, "I will ask the PC to investigate what we know, and have a warrant issued for the mystery ship in Turian patrolled space."

/.../

Around the Captain's table, he is surrounded by his most senior officers, and a single Geth platform is in attendance to share their knowledge. "So, you call this thing the 'Old Machine'."

"Correct." The Geth responds, "The Old Machines approached the Geth 14 Rannoch cycles prior, requesting alliance."

"Old machines are plural," The Captain says, "How many are there?"

The Geth head flaps move around a little till it responds, "We have been unable to ascertain correct numbers."

"How many do you know of?"

"Two."

"Are you allied?" Requests Melchett immediately after, being straight to the point.

"Negative." The unit responds, "74.216% of Geth were in Consensus and aligned against alliance. 6.891% voted for alliance, these systems are now known as heretics. They are not Geth."

A Human-built AI present in holographic form asks, "Will you share what you know?"

"Please wait," The Geth says before then responding, "Consensus achieved, this platform will share information on topic: Old Machines. Old Machines offered technological advancements in trade for an alliance against biological life."

"Why did you refuse?" Asks Melchett, knowing that this meeting will be recorded and sent to Sol.

"The Old Machines requested actions which jeopardised anticipated relations with the Creators. Geth rejected this course of actions."

"What did they offer you?" Melchett asks.

"Energy sources exceeding 10MWh per [unknown], and advanced cybersecurity suites. The offer was lucrative, but Geth will not accept trade for the Creators."

The Human AI responds, "We have such an energy source, are you still after one?"

There are some more flap movements before the Geth unit speaks, saying, "Consensus achieved, this platform is available for offers."

"FTL engine schematics, all the mathematics, resources and SQEP to help us construct ten engines. You will also not be prosecuted as AI in Human space, no matter who we ally for 100 Earth years." The wording of this will be key in the future.

"Consensus achieved. We request further information."

Cheers all.