On the Illusion of Might

by evevee

We thought ourselves powerful, able to conquer a galaxy with nothing but toys. When we overcame every challenge, breached the space between the galaxies themselves, what use were the words of a race ashamed of their own past? Yet we cannot deny that we were warned, for while a challenge to a human is laughable, a challenge to humanity is a death sentence.

5. Meet and Greet

Disclaimer: I own no franchise mentioned in this work. Halo belongs to 343, Mass Effect to Bioware.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

I have removed mention of the Dreadnought-class from earlier.

I have also lowered the SA population from three to one billion.

Reasoning for both at bottom.

This is a repost of the original chapter. I apologize for the confusion with updates, I meant to update/replace chapter, not delete.

END OF IMPORTANCE

This chapter brought to you by Insomnia: keeping evevee up and looking for something to do since her sophomore year of high school.

On the other hand, I did get this chapter done, so huzzah for that. Albeit, it was at 6 in the morning after having written a weird paper that crossed over from Technical Comms into Comp. Sci., tried to edit out the nonsense my addled mind came up with, but doubt I got it all. Enjoy!

Now for Review Responses! If you don't care, skip to the breakpoint below. For responses, later reviews will be listed first, because I'm lazy and can't be bothered to reverse-order them.

Thank you to all reviewers not explicitly mentioned here. Some I responded to in a PM, so I won't go back over it. If someone wants clarification on something mentioned in a review, feel free to ask. Attempting to shorten this response section.

Guest #1: A war is not won by what advantages are had at the beginning but by the people fighting in those battles. A society that does not want to fight shall not find victory. The UNSC has just come out of a 30-year war, don't exactly think that they'll be up for a fight unless explicitly attacked. They don't need advantages to win, they would need public support.

Fernix13: Glad you enjoyed it! Agreed on the CAS scene with Jerome, that was actually how a Spartan operates. As I said before, Covenant viewed CQC with Spartans as suicide.

Guest #2: I won't be increasing the Citadel just to be even with the Wardens. As you might see here, they will be powerful and numerous, but there is a reason why I'm not giving the Citadel new toys. While the UNSC came out with the UNSC Infinity and other advancements, the Citadel tech has stayed the same for around two millennia in ME canon. If they had some improvements, I could do that, but they haven't earned their stripes in my opinion. There are some options I'm exploring, however, for colonization and the such.

Prince Sheogorath: First of all, excellent name. CHEEESE! Second, There will be reasons why that particular strategy will not work. It's kind of complex and I don't want to spoil it, so if you'd like to hear, send over a PM and I can explain.

RedShirt047: Hrm, understood on the Galactica side. Star Trek overall is fairly good, especially some stuff on Data in TNG. I think that their output is somewhat odd looking, but limitations of the time. The newer Trek movies look better, albeit with many lense-flares. True on holographic screens, we even have them to the point that they can feel physical using speakers to emulate feeling in the finger tips. Indeed, Brian Reed seems to be gone! Don't know how much bullshit was him and how much was corporate jerking him around, guess we'll see if things get better.

Dragonnargus: Yes, the SA and UEG are currently both in existence, though unaware of each other's survival. The Banished/SoF interaction happened after the SoF met the SA group. It is the same ship.

To those who are asking for quicker updates, I'm sorry to say that I will be away from a computer for the next three weeks. The very earliest I could get another update out would be June 4th. After that I can try to do every two weeks, but to be honest if I can increase my output at all, it will be three.

---

8th Day of 10th Month, 2437 (May 13, 2566)

First Task Force of CEF 29

En-Route to Intergalactic Relay

Garrus couldn't help but shift his position as the clock counting down to their exit from FTL neared zero. He had just entered the bridge minutes earlier to relieve the night crew and prepare for their arrival to the main Council foothold in this galaxy. All systems were reporting as nominal and communications had already compiled the reports from the 29th's encounter to send over the comm-buoys.

With all necessary tasks ready to be carried out upon their arrival, Garrus and the rest of the bridge crew sat back and watched the stars fly by. As the clock hit zero, the flashing lights of FTL and vanished, replaced by the scene of the main Citadel Council beachhead in this galaxy.

The planet of Luestea was a barren rock, surrounded by ships and stations that had been erected to handle the logistics of the missions in this galaxy, missions similar or identical to that of the 29th CEF.

Various constructs were visible from points of light on the surface, all housing supplies and teams to protecting them from the vacuum that constituted the environment on the planet. Orbiting the planet was the Trans-Galactic Super Relay that connected the forces in this galaxy to the Citadel and civilization.

To the sides of the Covenant, the rest of the First Task Force dropped out of FTL, providing an escort for the flagship of the 29th. The rest of the fleet had returned to the base that they had set up to resupply and relax. The First would do the same here while Garrus' ship went ahead to the Citadel to report first contact in person, as was procedure. When the Covenant returned from their home galaxy, the First would load enough supplies to keep the rest of the 29th operating independently.

With all ships accounted for and in formation, the small group moved forward, moving into high orbit along the path given to them by system flight control. As they began to establish an approach trajectory, Garrus noticed the markers of the CEF 7th clustered tightly around a group of ships.

A couple adjustments on his control panel and the scene was enhanced as the cameras focused on the vessels. To his surprise, along with that of the bridge crew, the ships sitting in the center of the 7th were recognizable as part of the alien faction that the 29th had encountered.

Garrus sat back in surprise but quickly reacted, "Commander Eudolin, contact the leader of the 7th."

The second in command of the Covenant quickly turned to the communications console at her side and set up a link to the flagship of the 7th. Within seconds, a response came in as the CEF on the main screen was replaced with the leader of the same. Seeing the symbol of the SPECTRE's on the Turian's armor, Garrus saluted.

A second passed as the Spectre returned the salute before speaking, "I am Saren Arterius, Spectre of the Citadel Council and leader of the 7th Citadel Exploratory Fleet. Why have you contacted me?"

"This is Garrus Vakarian, Captain of the THV Covenant and 29th Citadel Exploratory Fleet. I noticed the ships in the center of your formation are, well, not Turian. We encountered some of the same ships out on the front edge of exploration. May we talk with them?" Garrus asked.

Saren shook his head once and replied, "No, I have been ordered by the Council to minimize contact. We will escort them to the Council, where introductions can begin. I was waiting for your ship to join us, Captain. You technically found them first, although you appear to have failed to make first contact."

"We will join with your Fleet right away," Garrus replied, trying to keep his annoyance at the Spectre's insinuation in check. Making a snarky response to a Citadel Spectre could either be amusing or career-ending.

"Excellent, we will leave immediately." With that, the communication cut out. Garrus let out a scoff at the typical Hierarchy efficiency.

Eudolin looked back from her position at a console and commented, "Pleasant sort, he is."

"He's a Spectre, they get the job done. He may be more pleasant when he doesn't have an alien fleet up his ass," Garrus responded.

His second in command let out a laugh and turned around. Lieutenant Acharian kept silent and piloted the Covenant to follow the rest of the 7th through the Super-Relay while the First continued on their route to Luestea. Garrus could see the broken reflection of a slight smile on her face from her console, however.

---

16th Day of 10th Month, 2437 (May 23, 2566)

7th Citadel Exploratory Fleet, THV Covenant

En-Route to Citadel

The flashing light of relay travel faded away as the THV Covenant and the 7th exited the Mass Effect corridor of the Relay. Garrus glanced out the side of the cockpit to see the Relay floating next to them in the void, the elongated tips pointing back the way they came. His attention was drawn away from that view as the human ships appeared next to the Turian vessels, their crude designs contrasting greatly to the Citadel vessels.

Lieutenant Acharian was already at work, directing the ship to fall back into formation after the drift from the relay travel. Before them, specks of light could be seen moving against the purple nebula that encompassed the massive Citadel. Endless line of ships supplied, transported, and otherwise sustained the population on the isolated seat of government, all under the watchful eye of the Defense Fleet.

As the CEF 7th and guests made their way from the relay, the great monument to galactic civilization that was the Citadel slowly began to appear. Around it, the hundreds of ships of the Citadel Defense Fleet formed a veritable wall of ships, barring any would-be enemies from directly attacking the center of the now-intergalactic government.

The Defense Fleet was actually several fleets put together, albeit with most of the firepower coming from the Turians, as usual. The Asari had their First and Third Fleets present, along with the massive Destiny Ascension. With these forces present, Asari fleet numbers sat at around 300 ships devoted to the Citadel, with six dreadnoughts when not including the Ascension, 100 cruisers, and 200 frigates.

Remaining Asari fleets were stationed around the galaxy and at Asari worlds, with the Second and Fourth fleets providing protection for colonies, the Fifth and Seventh helping in relay patrols, and the dreaded Sixth protected Thessia itself. Nine other Asari fleets drifted between worlds and performed various policing activities as needed in their territory. As the second largest power in the galaxy next to the Turians, sixteen fleets provided plenty of firepower to back up Asari claims.

Salarians only had a single fleet present, but instead of joining the main body, the 100-strong group of stealth-capable cruisers and frigates were positioned around the system for an early warning and flanking force if an attack occurred. Hard-hitting but unable to engage in extended combat, the duty of the Salarian Second Stealth fleet was directed force in combat to push at enemy weak points and tilt a battle in favor of the CDF.

The Salarians only had two fleets of direct combat vessels, both of which were positioned above their homeworld. These two groups contained the seven existing Salarian dreadnoughts, as stealth-capable dreadnoughts were seen as ineffective considering their intimidation factor in a fight. Although it wouldn't surprise Garrus if the STG had indeed created and built several stealth dreadnoughts, if only to prove that they could.

Eight other stealth fleets patrolled the galaxy, providing the STG with the unmatched intelligence gathering capabilities they were known for. Even with only eleven fleets, nine of which were mostly burst-damage or intelligence in a fight, the Salarians still easily held the third most powerful military by numbers.

Contributions by the Turians made up the main bulk of the mass of ships. Whereas the Asari and Salarians could patrol their own space but tended to hesitate in devoting forces outside of that area, the Turians had plenty of power to spare in picking up the slack. At the Citadel were a full eight Turian fleets, a full fourth of their navy and slightly more than that in actual numbers. This assignment brought the Turian numbers to well over 1600 vessels in the region, with around 200 ships per fleet.

Instead of devoting multiple dreadnoughts to their fleets like the Asari and Salarians, the Turians had only sent one massive ship to lead each fleet, relying on the number of fleets to bolster heavy-hitters. Each fleet used a proportion of one-third of the fleet being cruisers and the remaining two-thirds made of frigate packs.

The remaining 24 Turian fleets were divided across the galaxy, with eight left to Turian space, six to patrol the edges of the Terminus, two to patrol Citadel space, and the last eight to remain on guard against a possible Geth attack. While they had not heard or seen anything from the Geth in the 42 years since the Geth War and the Quarian flight to Citadel space, all races were still concerned with the potential threat that the AI collective presented.

As Garrus thought about it, he mentally admitted that he would also not be surprised if the STG had deployed several of their fleets for intel collection near or even inside of the Perseus Veil. With the threat of the Geth and many new ships being devoted to the Citadel Exploratory Fleets, intelligence gathering for advance warning of an attack would be crucial.

Within minutes, such thoughts were far from Garrus' mind as the glorious Defense Fleet passed by the windows of the Covenant, letting the relatively small CEF by. If the new species hadn't been impressed yet, then this would certainly encourage them to join the Council, and in the process allow the CEFs into their territory. It would provide an excellent opportunity for the 29th to accelerate their exploration and create a safe area to retreat to in case of a hostile alien force.

Of course, that was assuming that these unknowns were open to allowing Citadel forces in their territory. Hopefully they wouldn't pitch a fit about a few fleets like the Batarians.

With the Defense Fleet behind them and the massive Citadel in front, Garrus let his focus drift to the wards extending from the ring holding them together 90 Citadel kilometers away. The massive leafs flashed by as the 7th CEF received a flight path to join the ships that held position around the station as their crews took shuttles to hangars on the Citadel.

Instead of joining them, the Covenant, Saren's current ship, and the leading alien vessel continued towards the larger hangars of the Presidium. Large enough to hold frigates, these hangars were typically used when greeting new races, so as to give them a favorable and formidable view of Council might and beauty.

The group quickly reached their destination as the arm beside them curved in to connect with the Presidium ring. While the Covenant and Saren's vessel executed a quick turn with their powerful antiproton engines, the alien ship struggled to follow suite as their inefficient fusion engines drew heavily on their core.

Eventually the alien ship managed to align itself with the flight path provided and fell in behind the two CEF flagships. With their formation in order for the cameras, the trio flew forwards into the spacious hangar they had been directed to.

Unlike the regular hangars of the Citadel, where the parked vessel would be held in clamps and an airlock used for access to pressurized sections, the diplomatic hangar was merely a massive cavern with a flat floor. Frigates and smaller craft could land to allow passengers off to greet the press in an open space instead of the cramped hallways of an airlock.

A small jolt rocked the Covenant slightly as the frigate set down on the floor alongside Saren's ship. The alien craft once more lagged behind as it set down between and slightly behind the two Turian ships.

Garrus rose from his seat as the large hangar doors closed behind the trio of ships, sealing the space and allowing it to be pressurized. As he left, he called behind him, "XO has the bridge."

"XO has the bridge," Commander Eudolin replied, moving from her station to take a seat in the captain's chair.

As the door to the bridge closed behind him, Garrus activated his communications link, "Security team to port airlock, full kit. Mordin Solus to port airlock, bring metal samples and full kit." With that done, Garrus made his way to the armory to pick up his own weapon.

Now armed, he quickly made his way to the spot designated, an Armax Crossfire Assault Rifle slung across his back. Mordin and the usual security team were already assembled at the exit, each armed and armored.

Garrus returned their greetings and hit the panel to cycle the airlock door. According to the interface, the atmosphere outside had stabilized to an acceptable level, but all members of the team kept their suits sealed in case of pathogens from the aliens.

The door behind them closed, sealing the six turians and one salarian inside for a short few seconds before the outer hatch on the hull open to allow them to step down onto the hangar floor. Across from them, turians from Saren's crew were doing the same, with the Spectre himself leading them. Garrus nodded slightly when the Council agent looked over at him, letting the much more experienced operative take the lead.

Saren examined him for a short second before tilting his head slightly towards the alien ship, which had settled directly onto the floor of the hangar, revealing a distinct lack of landing gear. As the Spectre made his way to the starboard side of the craft, Garrus led his team to join him, forming a welcoming party for the unknowns.

Undoubtedly the Citadel Council would be waiting at the Citadel Tower in the middle of the Presidium ring. C-Sec was probably holding the press and citizens out of the hangar, along with clearing a path to the Tower.

Instead of sending a greeting party of unfamiliar faces to the aliens, the personnel that had made First Contact would meet the unknowns in person, so as to give a feeling of familiarity. The only reason the Covenant was allowed to attend this was due to its contact with one of their groups out in the unexplored regions of the new galaxy.

With a pneumatic hiss, the hatch to the inside of the alien craft slid away when the group of turians approached. Several heavily armored aliens dropped out, weapons in hand but barrels lowered. While the firearms looked like Mass Effect weaponry, they were far more bulky than Garrus was used to seeing. Of course, seeing as how this race seemed to have only recently come into contact with Eezo, that was unsurprising.

Each soldier wore identical armor, colored blue and white with their arrowhead symbol positioned proudly on their chests. Saren ignored the common soldiers and looked to a different figure dropping down behind them. Considering the extra pins on the alien's chest and how the Spectre's attention was already on it, Garrus deduced that this must be someone of importance on the alien vessel.

The being quickly made his way to the front of his team, glancing at Garrus before concentrating on Saren. As he spoke, his words were translated into Turian, "Greetings, Spectre Arterius. Thank you for allowing us into your territory and for the opportunity for peaceful contact." Garrus labeled it a he, as its voice sounded male.

Saren lifted his chin and replied, "Welcome to the Citadel, Captain Iman. This is the center of the intergalactic alliance of the Citadel Council. Please follow."

"One second. Udina, we're clear!" the alien shouted behind him. Another being appeared at the door to the shuttle, awkwardly jumping down. It was obvious that this one was either not accustomed to its armor or it was a civilian. Now at the head of his group of nine, the captain turned back to Saren and nodded.

The Council Spectre took a second to eye the new arrival before leading the group towards the hangar exit. The door to the Presidium opened to the shouts of civilian news reporters. All were competing to get a spot on the frontlines, with each spouting off questions.

These attempts were dutifully ignored by both parties as they made their way along the path cleared by C-Sec. After they had cleared that throng, the standard walk out to the Citadel Tower followed. Quiet reigned over the group as they made their way to the Council along the route given to them by the station VI.

While the route to the Tower was usually filled with people, C-Sec had blocked off the entrance and only allowed their group on. The aliens hadn't complained, but they were being oddly quiet while looking around the area.

As they reached the base of the massive structure that housed the Council chambers, the aliens looked up to the top of the Tower. Bypassing the outer lift that was meant for smaller groups, Saren led them to a larger elevator specifically for diplomatic trips such as this, where more room would possibly be needed.

The slow ride up was slightly awkward as the aliens maintained their silence. Eventually, the platform stopped and the doors opened to the spacious Council Chambers that sat atop the Tower. The group made their way down the corridor, the walls of the chamber rising up on either side before splitting off to reveal the massive hall.

As they climbed the steps up to the guest podium, the three Councillors became visible. A flock of news drones hovered off to the sides, providing live feeds for the news stations to use. The turian security teams stayed off the main strip of the platform, instead taking position at the end. C-Sec officers lined the walls of the chamber, providing overwatch in case of an issue with the new arrivals. While unlikely, caution was warranted when unknowns were meeting the three most powerful people in the galaxy.

Garrus, Mordin, and Saren fell back from the lead, letting the two aliens pass them by. The one that went by the name Udina was obviously in his element with the upcoming political discussions. With a confident stride, he made his way to the podium to address the Council.

Captain Iman seemed fine with that arrangement, as he fell into step behind his fellow being but in front of Saren. The rest of the aliens stayed with them, each looking around at the scenery. It was impossible to tell what their reactions were beneath their helmets, not like it would matter as their expressions would be alien anyways.

The walkway ended about ten meters from the Councillors. Separating the two was a glass floor with curved supports holding the panes in place. Trees could be seen growing below, species from different worlds living together on the Citadel, just as the species that found them did.

As Udina stopped in front of the Council, the Asari Councillor spoke, "Welcome to the Citadel. My name is Tevos, Asari Councillor and representative of the Asari Republics on the Citadel Council."

"Councillor Valern, Salarian, of the Salarian Union," the rightmost being stated quickly.

The Turian representative glanced to his left at his comrade's quick speech before turning his attention back to the aliens. "Councillor Sparatus, Turian Hierarchy," he said in the typical military fashion of the turians. Each councillor had spoken in Turian, as that was the only language that the aliens seemed to have translated.

"Thank you for your welcome, Councillors. I am Donnel Udina, representative of the Systems Alliance to the Citadel Council. Our species is known as Humanity. We hope that peaceable relations may grow between us and for all of our species to prosper from this momentous event."

Tevos took the lead as she responded, "Well said. May we speak without the barrier of helmets and masks? I assure you, the Citadel is perfectly clean, and any possible diseases will be dealt with by the Keepers."

The human didn't hesitate, his diplomatic skills overcoming the doubt that must have been present. With a deft motion, the helmet seals were broken, although no hiss of air was heard due to the atmosphere of the Citadel being close to that of the human's suits.

As the headpiece was pulled up and away, Garrus noticed the looks of surprise on the Council's faces. Looking to the side at the human Captain, Garrus found an odd asari staring back at him, helmet under its arm. The usual effeminate features of the asari were lacking, but the general facial structure and body shape fit.

Garrus caught Saren looking back at the other humans, who still had their helmets on. As the Spectre turned back around, he caught Garrus' eye and quietly cursed, "Spirits." Garrus subtly nodded in agreement.

Their attention was drawn back to the proceedings as Udina spoke, "As you can see, we may have a lot more in common that you'd think. A surprise to my people as much as it seems to be a surprise to you."

"Very interesting. The odds of such similarities are small. Very small," Valern stated as he glanced between Tevos and Udina.

Tevos ignored the mutterings of her fellow and replied, "So it would seem. Few species are so willing to expose themselves to the unknown as your's has. Would our similarities be part of that?"

"It does help, but our species has a handle on medical technologies. Even if a virus were to somehow be compatible between our species, cures can be found," Udina explained.

"Cures may be shared as well, if our common appearances stretch further. It would be very interesting for our people to look deeper into our semblance. It is standard for negotiations for joining the Citadel to begin with a sharing of history, to find what may bind us together and what lessons may be learned."

The political maneuvering had Garrus trying not to react. Neither side wanted to be the first to ask the other to join, as it would convey a weakness to exploit. He had to give it to the human, though, for a new race on the galactic stage they played the games of the Citadel well. Hopefully that was just their politicians, as Garrus had taken command of the CEF 29 to get away from the political nonsense.

"That sounds like an excellent proposition, Councillor. The Systems Alliance is the interstellar body that represents Terra and her colonies. All members of the Alliance are autonomous bodies, nationstates that rule the ground while the Alliance guards the skies. General governing of the Alliance is undertaken by the Parliament, a group of individuals sent by the nationstates of each planet to represent their interests," Udina started as Captain Iman took his fellow's helmet.

The human leaned on the edge of the podium as he continued, "Our state was established on Terra twelve years ago, in 2145, which corresponds to 2425 by your calendar. We were fleeing persecution and an authoritarian government that was on the verge of annihilation."

Sparatus held up a hand to ask, "You are not a unified race? There may be other factions that we encounter?"

"We were not unified, Councillor. There was an ongoing conflict that was catastrophic for multiple worlds. Fighting was not an option with the large number of civilians that joined us to flee the area," Udina explained carefully.

"This would imply that Terra is not your homeworld," Valern said, connecting the two points in the conversation.

Udina nodded, "That is correct. Our homeworld was lost to the enemy, so we fled to our current home in the Perseus arm of our galaxy."

"Where was your homeworld?" the Salarian Councillor asked bluntly.

"In the Orion arm, approximately 11,000 light-years from Terra."

Valern looked surprised before responding, "That would take years, even at constant FTL."

The human lowered his eyes, lost in thought as he responded, "It was a hard journey. Most went into cryo, but a few were still awake. The journey took almost 11 years. Hundreds of thousands died from malfunctions."

"That many?" Tevos asked, obviously aghast at the news. Garrus and the other Councillors shared her surprise at the statistic.

"350 million survived, but the losses were still terrible. As we have established our home, more have followed us."

"Impressive. What is your current population?" Tevos inquired.

"At this time, we are nearing one billion people, but new arrivals from our old areas have ceased, so our growth rate is down from nine to about four percent."

Valern spoke once more, "The number of ships required to transfer the beings required for that growth would be quite large."

"Many were transported on colony ships, massive vessels that were devoted to getting as much to a location as possible," Udina explained.

Garrus narrowed his eyes in thought before stepping forward, drawing the Council's attention as he requested, "Permission to speak?"

"Granted," Tevos replied.

"I believe we encountered one of these colony ships making its way through the void. We tried to contact the crew and got no response, and when your vessels arrived they also ignored our hails," Garrus stated to the human.

Udina looked back to the human captain, prompting him to step forward and explain, "Captain Saeed Iman, SSV Cobra. What you encountered was a Phoenix-class colony ship that had lost its FTL drive. We knew the ship was present, but did not attempt to reclaim it until your vessels were detected approaching."

"Why not?"

"The ship was heading back towards the old homeland. We couldn't risk jumping in and being detected, but we had to when you were detected to prevent the crew from falling into possibly hostile hands. When you proved to be at least willing to be friendly, we made contact with your 7th fleet," the human said.

"What were those holes that your ships entered and exited with? Some used that method while others were using conventional Eezo FTL drives."

"That is known as a slipspace portal. It was our main method of transportation until we found Mass Effect technology," Iman explained.

Ever curious, Valern once more asked, "Why did you leave it behind for Mass Effect?"

"Slipspace travel takes far more energy and is far slower. We also did not carry the technology or knowledge to create more slipspace drives. Where our Eezo FTL allows us speeds of around nine light-years per day, slipspace only allowed us about two and a half light-years per day," the captain explained.

"You still keep your vessels with this technology?" the salarian asked, obviously interested in acquiring it.

Udina nodded his fellow human and stepped up to take his place, "We have eliminated all technology relating to slipspace, Councillors. The portals you saw were some of our last drives in action, but the ships they were on did have Eezo cores as well. Slipspace entries and exits give off a whisper that can be detected for light-years. The danger of enemies was too high to continue to keep the technology for the few benefits it had. Slipspace drives are also almost impossible to maintain once active."

Valern leaned back at this news to think for a second before replying, "Indeed, would make stealth-craft unviable. Very slow, but no static discharge necessary. Danger to personnel unacceptable, failure in mid-flight also unacceptable."

"Took samples from ship. Apologies for holes, area was depressurized. Needed to assess status of crew by boarding," Mordin mentioned in his clipped speech. As he spoke, he took out the chunk of metal that had been cut from the blast door on board the human colony ship.

Iman held out his hand for the metal and examined it when Mordin handed it over. He eventually handed it back to the salarian scientist and explained, "Titanium-A, molecularly reinforced, commonly used for ship hulls in the days before our exodus."

"Why move away? Very strong, easy to produce," Mordin countered.

"Typical ship armor would be around a meter of plating, adding huge mass to a ship. With Kinetic Barriers, we could use lighter armor with less mass. Titanium-A is better in thick plate and not the thin ablative armor of our current vessels. We still have several ships using titanium hulls, but they are being phased out."

Mordin considered this before responding, "Understood. Council armor also thin, ablative to allow heat dispersion."

Sparatus waited until the salarian was done before asking, "How did you find Mass Effect? Our exploration fleets have found no signs of any deposits."

"To continue with our history and answer your question, Councillor, I must first explain how we chose Terra as our new home," Udina stated.

"When we were first setting off for the journey, we gathered our fleet of craft around a planet and scanned space for some indication of where we should go. Even with each colony ship filled with 25,000, there were still several million that had fled in evacuation transports, cargo vessels, or private craft. Ultimately, the assembled fleet consisted of almost 15,000 vessels."

At the looks of shock on the Councillors faces, Udina reassured them, "You must remember that most of these were transports designed for massive population displacement. Without the limitations of Eezo cores, our ships were large enough to evacuate tens of thousands on each ship."

"This fleet of vessels along with continuing arrivals would indicate that you are a society that has great experience with spaceflight," Valern pointed out.

"Less so than you would think, Councillor. We had so many ships because we were unable to leave our home system for so long," Udina explained.

As the Council thought about his argument, he continued, "Such a fleet had never been seen before by our species. With this number of ships all searching for a sign of guidance, we found something. A signal, tens of thousands of years old, leading us to Terra."

"When we arrived, we found a verdant world, seemingly untouched. As our new home grew around us from the bodies of the ships we had traveled in, a team investigated the origin of our guide. We found a massive cache of Eezo, apparently stored there by a species that called themselves 'Prothean'."

The reactions of surprise from the Council were instant. Udina appeared unsure if that was good or bad as he stood there, waiting for the inevitable questions. Tevos was the first to speak, having kept her composure, "The Protheans are an ancient race that built the Citadel and Mass Relay network. They were thought to be extinct, although the exact means as to how this happened remain a mystery. Was there any information at this site?"

"Data in the ruins was stored inside some form of block. According to those who touched it, images were transferred into their minds of the Protheans downfall to something that they called the Reapers. Apparently this small group of Prothean Eezo transports had been fleeing the Reapers when they found what you call the Super-Relay. With no choice, they activated it and went through," Udina explained.

Valern questioned, "If these Reapers were able to destroy a civilization such as the Protheans, why wouldn't they use the Intergalactic Relay to conquer your galaxy as well?"

Udina shrugged and replied, "That is something that the Protheans did not know, or if they did, record. All we know is that they made it through the Super-Relay, only to find that the other side was not active. They figured that the Reapers had shut down the Relay, but no attempts were made to reactivate it seeing as their inevitable death waited on the other side."

"The Protheans made their way to Terra, built a base there, and stayed in cryo for several hundred years. The last images indicate that the Protheans had awoken and were heading back through the Relay to stop the Reapers, with flashing images of this station appearing. Seeing as you have never met a Prothean, I assume that they failed."

Sparatus scoffed slightly as Udina finished, "We have seen no sign of these Reapers, only Prothean Beacons which usually contain segmented and distorted images. You want us to believe that some random Beacon happens to not only be fully functioning, but also holds the answer to how the Protheans disappeared? I understand that Humanity is at least passably experienced in interstellar flight, but if this story were true, wouldn't the Reapers still exist?"

"We don't claim to know that, Councillor. We only know what is on the object, or Beacon as you call it," Udina retorted.

Tevos glanced at the Turian Councillor in what looked to Garrus to be annoyance before addressing the human once more, "Thank you for telling us this, Representative. While interesting, the lack of evidence of these Reapers casts great doubt onto your story."

"I understand, Councillor, and hope that our meeting may help both of us determine the veracity of these claims," Udina said. He tried to continue, but was cut off by Sparatus.

"What of access to these ruins, and the stores of Eezo contained within? Citadel law states that all Prothean discoveries are to be shared, so that all may prosper."

Garrus bit back a remark about how humanity wasn't part of the Citadel Council and therefore was not subject to their laws. Tevos appeared to be thinking the same thing, as she closed her eyes for a few seconds in frustration, although Garrus had to commend her discipline in keeping her expression straight.

Udina frowned at the blunt statement but respectfully responded, "We are not a member of the Citadel community and therefore not beholden to your rules, Councillor. You are welcome to come study the ruins and Beacon to see for yourself what we have discovered. As for the Mass Effect discovered in the ruins, it is the only known Mass Effect in our galaxy. How it is created and why it only appears in this galaxy is unknown. It may have something to do with the Reapers, or not. Either way, humanity will not, cannot, share its one source of Mass Effect."

Before any of the Councillors could interrupt him, Udina continued, "Mass Effect has impacted almost every part of human culture and technology. We have replaced old nuclear reactors with Eezo cores, our weapons utilize it, and our infrastructure relies on it. If humanity is to join the galactic community, we must be able to have access to Element Zero."

So the meat of the discussions was brought up. Garrus thought it odd that the human played so hard to get when it came to weaknesses, but then brought up a situation that screamed that they had to join the Citadel to get access to Mass Effect.

"With our current amount, we have expanded greatly, building new colonies and fleets. While we have yet to get close to running out of Mass Effect, the preparations to save your galaxy from the Reapers must continue if you are to stand a chance against them. Presenting a unified front between our species would protect the Council all the better," Udina stated before any of the Councillors could speak.

Garrus upped his respect for the human with how he had played that. First admit a massive weakness, then claim that the Council needed protection from a threat in front of the watching galaxy. If the Council ignored the idea, it would be an insult to the humans and possibly compromise their standing with their one source of information in the Andromeda galaxy.

To agree with the humans, however, meant conceding that the Reapers were real and allowing humanity to expand their naval capabilities. The way in which the human had presented the idea of a unified fighting force also seemed to imply that the humans thought themselves equal to the Council.

Tevos smiled and responded, "I am glad to hear that a new species is so eager to join the intergalactic community! Before we begin, however, the history of the Citadel Council should be presented."

While the Asari Councillor's face showed no sign of irritation, Sparatus did not hold back his frown of disdain at the comment. Garrus glanced over to Saren and was surprised to see a look of contemplation instead of annoyance on the Spectre.

"I look forward to hearing it," Udina responded politely, drawing Garrus' attention back to the proceedings.

"The Citadel was found in -80 Galactic Standard by the Asari. The Salarians joined us and formed the Citadel Council in 0 GS. Many of the species of the Citadel were found in the next 500 years, many of which are still with us today," Tevos began.

Sparatus took up the narrative, "A species called the Rachni was encountered soon after, which led to war. With Council forces stressed to keep the ground forces at bay, the Krogan were uplifted in 580, allowing us to push back their forces and eventually eliminate the threat by year 800."

Udina appeared surprised by this and asked, "You were engaged in a war that lasted 300 years? The casualties must have been horrendous."

"The Council had the upper hand in space warfare, but eventually numbers were able to drive our forces back. At the time, the only planets close to the battles were colonies which were easily evacuated. Including krogan deaths, total deaths from the war were estimated to be around one billion soldiers and several hundred thousand civilians," Sparatus answered.

Udina bowed his head for a second before looking up as the turian continued, "After the extermination of the Rachni, there was peace for four centuries. This period saw the great expansion of the Krogan, but that ended in 1200 when the Krogan Rebellions began as they invaded the planets of other Council races."

"The Turians were found shortly after the Rebellions began, and we drove back the Krogan menace so that they could never again threaten the galaxy. By 1210, the population of the Krogan was in decline, and by 1300 the Rebellions were over. The Krogan destroyed three entire Turian worlds and invaded many other worlds of the Council, resulting in three billion Krogan and Citadel deaths."

Valern finished the narrative, "Once more there was peace, until in 2395 the Quarians unleashed the Geth upon themselves. While we have waited for any expansion from the hostile AIs, there have not been any signs of further attacks. The Geth War lasted less than a year, and resulted in the defeat of the Quarians and the slaughter of millions of their race. Having seen the dangers of AI, the Council requires that all ongoing research into AI be stopped and banned."

"We have several projects looking into AI, Councillor. You would require us to throw all that away?" the human asked.

Sparatus responded, "AI is too dangerous to develop. Having one rouge race of them is enough."

"What does that ban entail? Just the development of AI, or the hardware to run them?"

"All development must be halted and quantum boxes discarded," Valern explained.

"This is one of several important agreements that must be adhered to if you are to join the Citadel community," Tevos said.

Udina narrowed his eyes and asked, "As for the other limitations?"

"The Treaty of Farixen limits the number of dreadnoughts that any race may possess. The Turians currently operate 37 such ships, which means that humanity may construct no more than seven," Sparatus answered.

Valern gave his input, "Opening Mass Relays without Council permission is also forbidden."

"Humanity plans to expand in our galaxy, with only a few colonies for Mass Effect over here. Mass Relay openings will not be an issue from the Systems Alliance. What is defined as a dreadnought?" Udina asked.

"Any ship that is over two Citadel kilometers long and has a main mass accelerator that runs eighty percent or more of this length," the Turian Councillor replied.

Udina paused before asking, "What do you define as a kilometer?"

Valern perked up at this question, "1000 meters."

"Base 10, good. How long is one meter?" came the inevitable query.

"Since seconds were established first, the distance is measured though one second divided by the distance that light travels in one second," Valern responded, humor tinging his voice.

"How long is one second?" Udina asked, amusement obvious at the rabbit hole they were going into.

Saren spoke up to answer, "One of your seconds is two of ours."

"Two of our kilometers is one human kilometer, then," Valern declared victoriously.

"Indeed. So any ship greater than one human kilometer, or two Citadel kilometers. That works out quite nicely, doesn't it?" Udina asked, slightly suspicious at the coincidence. Garrus agreed with him, as the likelihood of it being such a nice number seemed extremely low. There was a reason that Galactic Standards were adopted, as converting between turian, salarian, asari, and other measuring systems would be needlessly complicated.

"Lengths not suspicious. Light is commonly used for distance measurement. Base 10 is also quite common. Correlation between time is strange, however," Councillor Valern stated.

Sparatus interrupted the considerations on this as he asked, "Are these terms acceptable to you?"

"I cannot say one way or the other whether we will accept. Such decisions will be sent to the Systems Alliance Parliament, where they will be debated and decided upon."

"Joining the Citadel will allow you to share technology with all other member species. This should make up for any advancements compromised by these limits," Tevos informed the humans.

Udina considered this for a time before replying, "Systems Alliance processing is all based in quantum mechanics."

"This is nonnegotiable. We nearly had an incident with the Geth. If you develop AI, we will be forced to defend ourselves and our galaxy from the threat t they represent," the salarian Councillor argued.

"I am merely a contact between this Council and my government. Authorization for these decisions must come from the Systems Alliance and the states it represents," Udina repeated.

Tevos replied, "Understood. I ask that you communicate the necessity of an AI ban as well as the Farizen treaty to your government, as they need to be adhered to for all Citadel races."

"Understood. Now, the Systems Alliance prepared some requests prior to this meeting for me to present to you for consideration during negotiations. We wish to have reliable access to Eezo, and by extension the means to transport it, including the use of your Super-Relay."

"Mass Effect is a product in high demand at all times. We cannot offer you free access without economic disturbances," Tevos responded.

"Perhaps a proposal, then, Councillors. In exchange for every Element Zero mining colony, the Systems Alliance will assist the Council in finding a habitable world near our territory."

"The Citadel will also be granted permission to set up a Forward Operating Base on Terra, along with an embassy. A Systems Alliance embassy will be granted on the Citadel as well," Sparatus countered.

Udina considered this for a second, "The Systems Alliance will choose where you establish this base."

"It must be near a major city," Sparatus insisted.

"Absolutely not. The public would never accept having warships hovering over major metropolitan areas," Udina stated.

Tevos interjected, "Perhaps if you could guarantee that this base won't be located somewhere inhospitable, such as at the poles or in the middle of a desert."

"I can assure you that you would not be isolated from civilization. This revision will need to be cleared along with all other agreements and documents. If this rough draft is acceptable to you, I will write it up and send it with the other material" Udina conceded.

"I accept your proposal with those assurances," Sparatus said, nodding to Udina.

Valern continued, "As do I."

"This is an acceptable arrangement," Tevos finished.

Udina nodded and went on, "For exploration, the Systems Alliance will not help push towards the territory that we fled."

"The Council could help you regain your homeworld," Sparatus said. Garrus thought that the Councillor could do with a little more tact, as it was obvious that the turian wanted humanity to feel obligated to the Citadel for such a service.

"You called us an experienced species, Councillors. Let us use that experience instead of squandering lives and ships on a fruitless endeavor. Do not go into our previous homeland" Udina stated forcefully as he tried to balance caution with fear.

Sparatus shrugged and replied, "If you have no wish to reclaim the area, then we will not waste time doing so."

"We will take your warning into consideration for our exploration fleets," Tevos said.

"I hope so. Now, what planets would your species be looking for?" Udina asked, eager to change the subject.

---

5th Day of 11th Month, 2437 (May 31, 2566)

Citadel

Citadel Council Chamber

Eight days of politicking later and Garrus was finally getting sent back out into the field while the Council dealt with the humans. The Covenant was ready to go with supplies loaded and crew recalled from shore leave. All they were waiting on was their Captain.

Saren stood beside him, fully armored and at attention. Before them was the Citadel Council, ready to assign Garrus and the Spectre to new missions now that communications were established with the humans. The rest of the room was empty, leaving the five beings in complete privacy.

Sparatus took the lead and began, "The actions undertaken by the members and leaders of the CEF 29th and 7th are commendable, and will be justly rewarded. Current exploration fleets in Andromeda are following the directions of the humans and are staying away from their former territory. As such, this Council wants you to continue your explorations towards the homeworld of humanity."

"Your fleets are to maintain communication silence so as to avoid detection by the humans. Once past the humans, establish a shared operating base and split your forces to scan the area. A Quantum Entanglement Communication unit with a direct connection with this Council will be assigned to your fleet to allow further orders if contact is made. Your current objective is to attempt to make contact with any remnants of their previous civilization and encourage them to join the Citadel," Valern continued.

Tevos finished the briefing, "If hostile contact is made, eliminate the threat and attempt to gather intelligence. The humans don't want us finding something in the area, so it is your duty to find what that is. Garrus Vakarian, this will be your examination mission for Spectre status. Saren Arterius will observe and evaluate your performance. This evaluation will last until you have finished investigating the area or make contact with a species."

Garrus was surprised at this. The number of individuals picked for Spectre candidacy was very, very low. Considering his father's views on the matter, Garrus would've thought any attempt to evaluate him for Spectre-status would be blocked. It was a far greater reward than he was expecting for exploring a ship.

"Thank you, Councillors. I will not disappoint," Garrus said as confidently as he could.

"See that you don't," Sparatus warned. "Your status as a Spectre is being offered because we need more agents in this galaxy now that a new race has been discovered. Your composure when dealing with the humans, your combat record, and your initiative when investigating their colony ship shows promise for a position in the Spectres."

"You are dismissed," Tevos declared before turning with her fellow Councillors and making their way to discuss whatever it was they did behind closed doors.

Garrus turned to follow Saren to the elevator usually used for access to the chamber, instead of the large one that the diplomatic and security party had come up in.

As they started the slow descent down to the Presidium level, Saren spoke up, "Congratulations."

"Thanks."

"I'm going to skip the nonsense here. I think that this mission is a mistake," Saren said bluntly.

Garrus glanced at the Spectre and replied, "Splitting up out in the unknown is unwise."

"Agreed. I propose we ignore the Council's plan and combine our fleets. We may scan less area, but we have a higher chance of surviving whatever is out there."

"According to the humans, it's just the remnants of their old civilization. From the way the warned the Council, though, I doubt it's that simple," Garrus responded.

Saren tilted his head in agreement, "You noticed it too. Good, keeps your senses sharp. What were the tells?"

"They mentioned that they were running from their government, but mentioned no battle to escape from that body. A fleet of that sized assembling undetected would require dozens of planets and be impossible to hide with that many craft disappearing, unless if they were expected to. Assuming that their government did not find them, it follows that the state could not track them," Garrus contemplated.

Saren nodded at the logic so far, prompting him to continue, "An authoritarian state would never let that many resources go unless if they did not matter or were unable to stop it. Both have alarming implications. It is unlikely to be that the state did not care, as losing hundreds of millions of citizens at once would affect any society. If they were unable to stop it, however, then something else must have been taking up their attention."

"So, given that they were not tracked by their government but are still afraid of these whispers giving away their position to what they called the Enemy, and the government was so busy that it did not notice the disappearance of millions of its citizens, then something else was attacking them. To have accrued such a large fleet and continue to fight, they must have held hundreds of planets. Whatever attacking them was therefore powerful enough to completely annihilate a civilization of tens of billions spread across a vast expanse," Garrus finished.

Saren sighed and stared down at the floor with his arms crossed, "That was the same conclusion I reached. They never explicitly stated that the enemy was their government, only that they were running from a state on the edge of annihilation."

"If we head out there and find whatever attacked them, would the Citadel be able to stand against them?" Garrus questioned, considering the implications.

"Doubtfully. The military strength required to eradicate a race of billions would be colossal. Not even the Rachni or Krogan came close to succeeding with such an endeavor. The Krogan came close to defeating the Citadel through numbers, but not killing off entire races. These unknowns obviously failed to properly police the escaped ships, but to only allow 350 million out of billions to live still shows a very high success rate in evacuation prevention," the Spectre stated.

"The Council has given us the mission. We can ignore their plan, but there's no way to avoid completing the mission. There's also almost no chance that we do not encounter the hostiles if we properly explore the area. I only see one plan that would work to survive," Garrus said.

A glance from Saren encouraged him to continue, "If we find anything larger than a dreadnought, run like hell and hope that they can't follow."

"Sometimes, the best strategy is staying alive to make another," Saren agreed with a laugh.

---

15th Day of 19th Month, 2437 (November 17, 2566)

CEF 29, CEF 7

Exploring 'Orion' arm

They were now in unknown territory, well past human space and entering the galactic arm that apparently was strewn with ruins. So far, that had not been the case, but the combined exploration fleets were still on the edge of the main clusters of stars.

After making their way back to the Andromeda galaxy, the CEF 7th and First Task Force from the CEF 29th had returned to the operating base set up by the 29th. Since the operating base was designed to be quick to set up and move, there was little issue in packing up the place. With all materials packed and personnel accounted for, the mass of ships had begun their silent journey into the unknown.

Having exploring the outer edges of the area, the combined fleets had pushed inwards for three months, covering hundreds of light-years and dozens of systems. While several locations for a headquarters were promising, Saren and Garrus had agreed that keeping their forces mobile would be the key to survival against a superior foe.

Garrus withdrew from his thoughts as his XO called out, "Captain, one of the task forces is picking up a human signal."

"Classification?"

"Distress signal, though it doesn't follow the previous format of such calls," Eudolin replied.

Garrus nodded to her and the call played over the audio system, "This is the Mimic. We need assistance." With the translation between Citadel languages and the human's language, Garrus could actually understand the message.

"Can we locate it?" he asked.

Eudolin was silent for a few seconds and she poked at her console before responded, "Yes, coordinates are included in the message. About three systems over, or around a day of travel."

"Contact Saren and send him the message and coordinates. Lieutenant, get the fleet FTL vectors for the flight," Garrus ordered.

Both officers went to work as the rest of the bridge crew continued their routines. Before he could think, his XO reported, "Communication from the Spectre." Knowing the usual workings of contact between the two leaders, the commander directed the call to the main screen and continued her work.

"Saren," Garrus greeted.

"Garrus. Interesting find. Thoughts?"

Sitting back, Garrus took a moment to formulate a response, "It sounds vague. Humans like to include their labels, like UNSC and SSV. It could be a civilian vessel unaffiliated with any entity, or perhaps a trap. Either way, approaching with weapons ready is prudent."

"I agree that is sounds odd, but I do not think that we should have weapons at the ready. It could be a civilian craft, or even just a beacon left behind. I think it's a trap. What is your approach?" Saren asked.

"Appeared well outside the location of the beacon. Perhaps a light-hour away. If the enemy has picket ships, however, they could alert the ambush. Have a frigate jump near the location, obtain sensor readings, then jump away to report back to our fleet. Go from there" Garrus replied, rejecting his plan midway through to think of another.

"You are assuming that the crew will be able to escape a possibly unknown enemy," Saren reminded him.

Garrus nodded, "It is a risk I and those in the 29th are willing to take. Such is the burden of command."

Saren gave Garrus a long look before replying softly, "I know that well, Captain." Shaking his head to clear the past, he steeled his voice and continued, "Your plan sounds viable. If we jump to the edge of the system, we should be able to avoid a cursory detection system, and if not have time to escape."

"Sounds good, I will select a ship to scout the call once we arrive."

---

16th Day of 19th Month, 2437 (November 18, 2566)

THV Verum

Responding to Distress Call

Garrus had asked for volunteers. They had been the first out of all to respond and therefore got the duty of obtaining a scan of the area. Having left the rest of the CEF 7/29th, as it was now called by most in both fleets, on the edge of the system, the Verum had continued in FTL to the the location of the distress call.

By now they were reaching their destination, as indicated with the appearance of stars once more outside the windows. This was both good, as it meant that they weren't dead already, and bad because there was no ship in sight.

Scans were instantly started, having been prepped for initiation by the ship VI when they exited FTL. Several seconds passed before they received a response. The pilot typed on the controls and the frigate turned to bring a massive vessel into view. As the sensors returned more information, statistics appeared beside the craft from the data analyzed and assembled by the VI.

The massive ship was almost dreadnought-length, hitting 1930 Citadel meters, or 956 human meters, on the long axis. Its purple hull curved away from the main body about a third of the way down its length to form a semicircle before curving back into the previous flow another third of the way down. Between the split lengths of hull was another structure that housed what looked to be a hangar.

Before more could be observed, a flash of light heralded the appearance of a blue ball of what looked like plasma, headed straight for the Verum. Knowing that the image on-screen was limited by the speed of light, and therefore delayed several seconds from reality, the Verum immediately did an about-face and jumped back to FTL and the CEF 7/29th.

---

16th Day of 19th Month, 2437 (November 18, 2566)

CEF 7/29th

Assaulting Unknown Vessel

The bravery and diligence of the THV Verum had revealed four things that let Saren and Garrus decide to attack instead of retreat. First, the vessel was hostile and had fired without warning seconds after the scout frigate had dropped out of FTL. Next, there was only one vessel, and while their weapons looked to be devastating, if not deadly, they were slow. Third, their sensors had to be operating at above light-speed for the time it took them to fire. Lastly, this was confirmed to be First Contact, and since the species was hostile, Council protocol allowed for the use of whatever force was necessary to remove the threat.

With the combined firepower of 73 ships, the CEF 7/29th would either prove the futility of fighting these unknowns or allow a match-up, depending if they could break the ship's shields. That was the plan that Saren and himself had come up with, and while easy, it could quickly go wrong if this almost-dreadnought was armed with plasma weapons. To counter that, several frigates had volunteered to intercept the enemy fire if necessary.

Whichever way the battle was decided, however, would be revealed in the next few minutes. Knowing this, both fleet commanders had all ships prepare weapons to fire. The basic plan was to find the enemy, point their main guns towards them, and put as many rounds down-range as possible.

As the fleet drew close to the exit point, well behind where the enemy ship had been located, Garrus opened up a communication to all ships in both fleets, "All hands, brace for combat."

The fleet burst into realspace seconds later, ready for a fight. They were not disappointed. While the enemy vessel had moved further back from the location of its trap, the commander was apparently ill trained, as the ship had not moved to a different location entirely, thereby not requiring it to be found again. As planned, the 7/29th had emerged behind and above the enemy vessel, providing them enfilade fire for the moment.

In the several second delay that had followed their exit to the sensors providing them this information, the enemy had fired three plasma rounds from each side of their ship that curved back towards the turian ships.

Six frigates moved towards the rounds, ready to lay down their lives to save the fleet. So as to not get hit by friendly fire, the frigates that were intercepting the plasma rounds pulled off to the sides, ready to fall back in once the friendly rounds were past.

A response was given by the fleet as mass accelerator rounds streaked from cannons, providing a combined firepower of almost 350 kilotons. Much faster than the enemy plasma rounds, they blasted towards the enemy ship at several thousand kilometers a second. Shots fired from the eight cruisers in the 7/29 quickly outpaced those from the frigates. This was part of the plan.

What was not part of the plan was the plasma rounds curving to follow the frigates. Noticing this behavior, the turian craft made their way further out, still being followed by the shots drawing ever closer across the void of space.

Garrus made note of this, curious as to how it worked and why the enemy would not fire more shots to corner the vessels, but ultimately discarded the considerations for later. His attention was fully focused on the enemy vessels as the cruiser rounds began impacting across its length.

The first feeling he felt was surprise. This species didn't even have Barriers. To build such a large vessel without shielding from radiation, space debris, or weapons fire would be suicide for any Council ship. He reminded himself that this was not a Council ship, and that they did not have access to Mass Effect to utilize Kinetic Barriers.

Apparently no Eezo, however, also meant no consideration for mass consolidation, as was said by the humans. Impacts appeared in the armor of the vessel, with five round impacting the hangar area and another three hitting near the engine block. The effects of this, while less dramatic than such a strike against a normal Eezo vessel, were still pleasing. Visible damage could be seen from each fifteen kiloton shot, especially in the hangar, which appeared to have collapsed. Garrus had to commend this race, they knew their armor. Any normal, unguarded dreadnought would have been disabled, if not destroyed, by such a strike.

Instead, this ship just trudged on, slowly turning away from the fleet and beginning to try and move out of the line of fire. They were too late, however, as the frigate rounds began raining down on top of the craft. Some of the 3.5 kiloton shots missed due to the movement of the ship, but the majority of the 65 fired impacted along the length of the craft.

While the cruiser fire had severely damaged the hangar area and put large dents around the engines, the shots from the frigates did much less damage per round, but the volume of rounds made up for this.

A blue explosion erupted along one of the arms of the vessel, proving that they could hurt this species. With that, the battle was decided. The next shots from the CEF, which had already been fired and were on their way, would disable this hostile.

Or at least that was what was supposed to happen. As happened so often, the assault plan went sideways as the one-sided battle came to an end. Rounds impacting the engine section managed to punch through the buckling armor, doing damage to internal components.

The plasma engines that the vessel used were either ill-protected or ill-maintained, as within seconds explosions were ripping throughout the vessels. One massive burst vaporized the entire aft section, leaving a few hundred meters of disintegrating metal floating towards wherever they had been fleeing to.

Garrus watched as the vessel, and their lead as to who the species had been, was destroyed by the plasma flowing from its wounds. A quick glance at the frigates that had been playing chase with the enemy plasma rounds showed that the shots were no longer following the frigates and were now slowly dissipating as they made their way into the void.

He turned to Acharian and ordered, "Plot that vessel's path and predict its destinations. Recall all vessels into formation."

That done, he typed in several commands to open a channel to Saren, "Good fight. We are tracing the path that the ship was taking to escape to try and figure out its destination."

"Understood. One of my ships has reported hearing a radio signal from the enemy before it went down," Saren informed him.

Garrus nodded and listened as the translated audio was played across the comm link, "The Kig-Yar will make you pay for this! The queens will eat you all!"

"Pleasant bunch. I assume that Kig-Yar is the name of their species or faction, based on context," Garrus commented.

"I would assume so. What do you think of continuing onwards?"

A second passed before Garrus answered, "I think that we can find out more if our frigates can provide that chafe effect."

"Agreed. It is nice to fight an enemy that does not have barriers. Trying to break dreadnought-class barriers while having our ships leading around plasma doesn't sound fun," Saren stated.

"We need to report to the Council. It's possible that they'd sent an actual combat fleet to assist."

Saren snorted, "More like send us to our deaths, ask why we didn't communicate with them, and question why we were in the same search zone. Contact has been made though, and we were expressly ordered to report if it was so. I will be right over." With that, the communication cut, leaving Garrus to stare at the floating remnants of the alien ship.

Huffing in frustration at the development, Garrus stood to make his way to the QEC that had been placed in the Covenant's cargo hold. Saren would arrive soon on a shuttle and they could contact the Council. As if that was going to bring anything but frustration.

---

Since there seems to be a great deal of confusion regarding how a meter is actually measured, I am providing some clarification. A meter is the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299792458 of a second. It is that odd fraction because that leads to the speed of light being 299,792,458 meters per second, with a second being measured as a unit of the transition between two hyperfine levels of the groundstate of a Caesium-133 atom. Since a Citadel second is one half of a human second, the distance would be half as much, only 50 human centimeters.

To make this simple, TWO Citadel kilometers = ONE human kilometer. Please stop telling me to learn physics or the such. The math used here is based in the canon of the Halo/ME verses and in how 21st humans measure kilometers. All measurements will be in Human meters unless explicitly stated to be in the Citadel system.

On the Illusion of Might: Images:

Tinyurl dot com /OntheIllusionofMight

Which leads to: docs . google dot com /document/d/1qrkvx_aT7FNqIBrQ3gS_8vjl5Ydb-ux9mGhhgVFhFDA/edit

I am providing maps and other such things at the URL above, which leads to a google doc that anyone can view with that link. This currently contains maps of the Canis Major Overdensity with Citadel Council Territory, the Milky Way with current CEF exploration routes, the Milky Way with Warden territories, and the Orion-Cygnus Arm of the Milky Way with Warden territories. If you don't care and already have a map drawn in your head or such, don't bother with this. :)

Oh, also, you can tell what I drew by hand because it looks like a 3-year-old's crayon scribblings. I'm an artist of words, not pictures. Someone asked for this, so that's why I bothered with it.

I removed the ship class because I looked back and realized how stupid it sounded. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then just take my word that I was a moron and ignore this.

For the SA population, transporting three billion people, all on colony ships like the Spirit that hold 15,000, in the 23 years I have given them, would require about 200,000 ships. All Phoenix-class colony ships. Which is absurd. If I used population growth, it'd be a growth rate of about 20%. Which is also absurd. Current growth rate of SA does exist here in the 21st century in Lebanon according to CIA WFB 2014 and Oman is also close according to UN 2010-2015. However, the maximum hypothetical human growth rate is around 4%. So 5% of the SA's growth is incoming refugees from the Great War.

Science note: Lasers (like a GARDIAN) do not possess heat, they are measured by energy. Technically, to defend against a GARDIAN attack, all you need is reflective armor. A ship covered in mirrors would be functionally immune to GARDIAN attacks. Lasers heat up the material they hit when photons pass through the material. Mirrors DO allow some particles to pass through, so it's not perfect, but the concept is the point. A reflective material like Titanium would be ridiculously hard to cut through, especially considering that the UNSC laces it with Tungsten, which provides an extremely high melting point.

For Captain Saeed Iman, I was attempting to get a Middle Eastern name. Whether that happened or not, I don't know. If there's some naming convention for that area that is used and I messed up, please shoot over a PM and let me know.

I have no idea what the casualties from the Rachni Was or Krogan Rebellions were, if someone does know those, please let me know.

Apologies for messing with Council measurements for kilometers, but really, no way do they have the same system when our meter is measure by distance traveled by light in a vacuum over the course of a second while Citadel seconds are half of human seconds. That's canon, not me pulling numbers of my arse. Though I do think that those numbers do have some indications of being pull from where the sun don't shine.

I honestly did not intend for Saren to take up such a large role in Garrus' development. It just kind of happened. Also, Saren isn't such an ass to humanity since they have some distance between them.

The ship that is encountered is an SDV-class Corvette, like the one boarded in Halo: Reach on the mission Long Night of Solace. They are the only Covenant ship that I know of that doesn't have shields. They are also a common Kig-Yar pirate ship because they're easier to hijack without said shields.

As I was writing the section on AI negotiation, I realized that I forgot a Halo faction for the Wardens. Stupid mistake.