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.

17. Out on the Town

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

Had an oddly hard time writing this. Considering the content, I didn't think that would be the case. Sorry that it was late, but avoided going on hiatus at least.

Please remember that the Ark Portal is 117 kilometers across in canon. The visual in Halo 3 doesn't give a structure of that size justice. Going by that diameter, the plates that rise into the air would all be taller than Mount Everest. The slipspace portal generated would cover the entire horizon. It would be glorious and terrifying.

Apologies for no Review Responses, had a hard time getting this out as it is. Thank you to all for the reviews!

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16th Day of 4th Month, 2459/May 16, 2589/May 16, 2180

New Mombasa

Earth

With all the excitement from finally arriving at Earth, it was no surprise to Shepard to see many beings from the Citadel delegation already present at the dining area the next morning. Many of them had gotten more rest that usual on the flight to the planet anyways, something that the UEG had to know if they were actually keeping tabs on the foreign dignitaries. Going off of that, the only conclusion that Jane could come to was that the extra time to relax last night was to allow the shock to wear off.

For herself and Liara, it was certainly appreciated.

While Shepard had had little issue getting to sleep, she knew that Liara had stayed up quite a bit later writing down her observations, ideas, and thoughts. Considering the amazing view of the Portal that was visible from their room, it wasn't hard for Shepard to deduce that it would be a while before the Asari pulled herself away to eat.

After taking a second to grab something she recognized from the prepared items, Jane took an empty seat at a table that was occupied by three Turians. From the security briefings aboard the transport earlier it was easy for her to recognize Captain Vidinos, the leader of the security for the Citadel Delegation. The other two, while familiar to Shepard, were still nameless.

That was quickly changed as Vidinos turned his attention to her and greeted, "Commander. Something you wish to discuss?"

"No, just figured to meet some of the team," Shepard replied.

"The infamous Butcher of Torfan finally graces us with her presence. Spectre Garrus Vakarian," one of the Turians said.

His partner glanced over at the sarcastic comment but seemed to dismiss it easily as he picked up, "Spectre Saren Arterius."

Shepard raised an eyebrow and commented, "Two Spectres on a diplomatic mission. Interesting."

"Better us than some idiot that doesn't know what they're dealing with," Garrus grumbled.

"And you do?" Jane asked.

Saren huffed at that in what Shepard decided to interpret as a laugh before the Turian explained, "Maybe not, but we can at least assume more than most. Making First Contact seems to be a good mark on the record."

"That's where I recognized you two from," the Commander said, vaguely remembering them from the meeting with the Warden party on the Citadel. "You sure didn't stick around for long."

A shrug was the only response from Garrus as he let Saren reply, "Our place is out in the field, not playing political games."

"Going to be a long trip then," Jane pointed out.

"Yeah," Garrus answered, "Got some stuff to do though. Check out the big circle, maybe try to get a look at some military hardware. Luckily the diplomats will mostly be staying here since they don't have any meetings, so don't have to babysit."

Vidinos sighed, though Shepard couldn't tell if it was exasperation or agreement from the turian. When it became clear that the Captain wouldn't be saying anything, Jane turned her attention back to Garrus and asked, "How long have you been in service?"

"Started when I was fifteen," Garrus responded. "Was on the first ship out here through the Relay, ready to explore and eager to please. That was thirty years ago, and I'd been in for about eight years at that point. Was still excited about the adventure without the experience to back it up."

At the curious look from Shepard, he explained, "Got command of a ship due to my father's pull with the Primarch. Shouldn't have had it, and I prefer the ground anyways, but that was the way it went. Ended up making contact with a vessel by the name of Spirit of Fire and attended the First Contact between the Council and Alliance. During my Spectre evaluation we found the Unggoy and have been playing Council's advocate to them ever since."

"That's...actually quite impressive," Jane complimented. "Something like this seems like it'd be the perfect assignment."

"Could be," Saren said, drawing the attention of the table as he continued, "Whether the Council listens to what we report is another matter. Does beat wandering around with no idea about what we'd encounter, though."

Shepard took a moment to consider that before asking, "Why wouldn't they? It's not like they can just ignore a report from a Spectre. What's the point if they just dismiss the evaluations of their own agents?"

Garrus laughed and replied, "That's exactly what I thought. Praise the Council, they will listen. Maybe the Alliance is different, but any warning either of us has given the Council has gone unheeded."

"Warnings?"

Saren idly pointed upwards as he explained, "You saw the shipyard we passed over as we came in. You saw the ship that the Wardens arrived in for First Contact. The Council thinks that those ships are the largest the Wardens have, even with how little intelligence we actually have. Garrus and I both think otherwise, or at least consider it a possibility. Our ideas have gone unheeded."

"That doesn't make any sense," Shepard muttered, though it was loud enough for the others to hear.

Garrus nodded in agreement, "Considering the possibility of inferiority is not something the Council likes to do. Any suggestion that ships without Mass Effect could pose a threat is quickly dismissed due to lack of proof. If things keep going forward, though, then the Council will get their proof. Can't say more than that."

Jane understood the implied confidentiality, leading her to change the subject and ask, "Any interest in the joint forces idea that has been making the round on the rumor mill? Seems like a Spectre would jump at the opportunity, especially if the Council is desperate for information."

"With our assignment to this mission, it seems likely that at least one of us will be joining the crew. As for the Fleets, can't say. Council's been pretty silent on the whole thing, but the leading theory is that the Exploration fleets are going to be repurposed for that duty," Garrus responded.

"They want a Spectre with some experience and knowledge of the UEG?" Shepard idly inquired.

Saren gave the Commander an odd look and explained, "No, we'll be meeting our counterparts at some point this trip. At least the ones from the 'UNSC' military, I don't know about the other Warden species."

"What?" Jane exclaimed. "Where did you learn that?"

"The Council said that it was offered by the Wardens. What's it to you?" Garrus retorted.

Ignoring her unfinished breakfast for the moment, Shepard turned all her attention to the Spectre and answered, "I'm leading the Alliance component of the crew. Command hadn't heard anything about this meeting so they didn't anyone else. Is there some sort of authorization that's needed that would prevent others from attending?"

"Not that I know of. From what we were told, it's supposed to be rather informal," Saren replied.

The Commander nodded before pulling up her omnitool and requesting, "Could you send me the details on that? Provided that they aren't classified, in which case I'd just ask the coordinator."

"We weren't told to not share it," Garrus said, making no effort to hide his amusement. "I don't know why the Council kept it quiet, but feel free to spread it around. If our hosts don't want someone there, then that's their problem."

Shepard glanced at Vidinos, leading the Turian to state, "It's no more of a security concern than it was before. Obviously the whole team won't be able to go, but it sounds like this is just for this joint crew thing anyways."

"Speaking of that, what is the plan for today?" Garrus asked.

"In regards to securing the delegation?" Vidinos questioned in return as he tried to follow the sudden change in topic. At the nod of confirmation from the Spectre, the Captain continued, "Not much. Communications have been established with the local police force which makes it easy to avoid troublesome areas, but after looking around a bit last night, there isn't much to be worried about."

At the surprised looks from the others, Vidinos explained, "The level of automation is amazing. There's some computers that we can use that have access to the local Extranet. Apparently the whole city is one big grid, all connected to various networks that allow communication between devices. Just using the public access feature I could see the weather, traffic conditions, and just about anything else I wanted."

"Managing something like that would be a nightmare without the right systems. Even a VI wouldn't be able to monitor an entire city," Shepard replied, her tone making the implication in her statement obvious.

Saren seemed slightly exasperated as he responded, "If they do have an AI managing their city, then what are we supposed to do about it? It's their problem if there is a problem."

"Seems like allowing us that much information is exactly the opposite of their previous strategy," Garrus pointed out.

"It's about control," Jane retorted. At the curious looks from the turians, she explained, "We don't have the capability to grab every single thing off their Extranet. It's the perfect defense, really. Allow us access to so much information that we can't go through it all and, even more importantly, we can't know what we don't have access to."

After considering that for a second, Saren argued, "If their security really consists of that then there is little to be concerned about. Sure, we might not find everything we're looking for, but we also don't have to. The schedule for events for the trip give us ample time to explore and, even better, visit academic institutions where our questions about various topics can be answered directly."

"I think you underestimate the amount of knowledge that has been presented," Vidinos countered calmly.

Saren glanced at the Turian Guard Captain and responded, "I've seen the Alliance Extranet. It's broad, especially for the situation they were put in, but it isn't on the scale of the Citadel network. I also do not think that the Wardens would seriously consider volume as a primary defense. Assuming the worst, there is little hope to obtain truly useful information. As good as a Salarian might be at breaking into things, even they are outclassed by AI."

Shepard interjected, "The Alliance brought what it could, but a lot was lost due to the Cole Protocol as well as compression. If it wasn't needed, then we cut it out for something that was."

"Perhaps that might account for some difference in size, but not all. If I were to search for orbital elevators on the Citadel Extranet, how many results would I get?" Vidinos questioned.

Garrus considered the query for a second before answering, "Tens of thousands locally, less than a hundred thousands though. Mostly scientific research, mathematical papers, or fiction pieces, along with a few other things. If you sent the request out to the comm buoy network, significantly more depending on how far your search went."

"Which takes time. As fast as they are, the comm buoy network has too much traffic already. Even if they were open, though, instantaneous communication isn't possible with them."

"Your point?" Saren asked rhetorically, already knowing where Vidinos was going with this.

The Guard Captain replied, "When I looked up that term here, I got several billion results almost instantly. Codex pages from multiple places, tourist information, news events, design proposals. That was just one term, yet already the data presented surpasses our ability to process. What I noted, however, is that the origin of each source was noted. My simple search reached out to different systems, even though my question could have been answered with only a few results."

"So you've proved the volume of information problem exists," Garrus stated with feigned boredom.

Shepard exhaled in amusement at that before responding, "It also proves that the Wardens have near-instantaneous communications. We now know that not only are their connections fast but also reliable. Part of that may be that we are here and thus they've given traffic from this location priority, but I'd err on the side of caution with that assumption."

"Always a good choice, especially with intelligence like this. Why would they allow us to see the names of so many colonies though? All we need to do is count and we'd know how many worlds they have, or at least get a rough idea," Saren pointed out.

"Their method of communication probably requires significantly more resources. It isn't like the Citadel with the Mass Relays, where a single comm buoy on each end basically ensures a reliable connection. More isolated worlds may not have a connection," Jane countered.

Saren thought about that before arguing, "Even their ships seem to have prodigious communication and detection abilities, however much the Council may not like it. Something doesn't add up in that if the Wardens can't even establish contact with remote colonies."

"Leave that to the experts then, still nothing we can do," Garrus said after a short pause. "Anything you're doing today that's interesting?"

Jane shrugged slightly but accepted the change in topic and replied, "Going to watch this portal thing. I really have no idea what to expect, but Liara wouldn't let me miss it anyways. Maybe drop by the orbital tether and see if there's any information on it. Mostly interested in how to defend such a structure."

"Should have a pretty good view from close by. Did a walk of the perimeter last night and this building is actually quite close to the structure," Vidinos told her.

An orange flash heralded Saren's omnitool appearing as he quickly checked something before adding, "That should be happening soon, actually. Care if we join you?"

"Feel free, we'll meet you outside," Shepard replied before standing and making her way out of the room.

As promised, it didn't take long at at for the human Commander to appear once again, this time accompanied by a young Asari. Aside from some quick greetings, no words were exchanged as they followed one of the trip guides through the streets. The streets weren't particularly crowded as there didn't seem to be many people out, though the few that they saw seemed quite interested in the small party of Citadel species, to no one's surprise.

Arriving at the edge of the massive structure, Garrus noted that several other groups were presented, at least two of which were made up of beings from the Citadel delegation. Turning his attention to the Portal itself, a distinct sense of unease took root in the Turian's mind.

In front and to both sides of the group was a simply massive slab of flat metal that extended out to the horizon. Even seeing it from the diplomatic residence they had rested in didn't give a proper sense of size. The far side of the object wasn't even visible due to the distance, something that had been easy to attribute to the darkness last night.

While they waited for whatever was going to happen, more humans began gathering around the walkway that seemed to mark the point where the city ended and the portal began. Obviously the area was a large tourist attraction for humans as well, though the groups of Citadel species drew significant attention away from the usual view. From a quick scan of the crowd, however, Garrus noted that the citizens were keeping their distance and thus were not an immediate threat to worry about.

Any other distractions were summarily dismissed as a thundering clang echoed above the surface of the Portal. It took no effort to identify the cause as the middle of the massive structure began to sink beneath the surface.

Ringing the newly created pit, however, were at least four sections of metal that stayed completely flat. At first, these were only visible due to the contrast against the horizon, but that was quickly solved as they began to rise high into the air.

Garrus turned his attention away from the closest of these and looked out into the distance. Even with the enormous gap, he could make out more of the metal slabs being elevated into the atmosphere from across the Portal.

Within seconds it became apparent that there were twelve arms each multiple kilometers in length, though it was also obvious that they were significantly shorter than the Wards of the Citadel. Even so, seeing such large masses moved with so little effort was telling, especially when the sinking of the central piece was taken into consideration.

As interesting as it was to watch the separate sections continue their ascent, everyone's attention was quickly drawn back towards the center of the Portal as a bright light began to shine form below, illuminating the surrounding area. While the source was invisible at first due to the lowered platform, this was fixed almost instantly as a beam of bluish light shot up into the sky.

The thin strand quickly disappeared into the upper reaches of the atmosphere, much like the Orbital Tether that it was parallel to. Unlike the elevator, however, the beam of light began to quickly grow. It only took seconds before the spectacle was too bright to look at directly.

For a second, Garrus considered the idea that the intense light might be harmful to the Citadel Delegation. That was quickly dismissed when he factored in the fact that this thing was beside a large human settlement. From the multitude of humans also averting their eyes, it was easy to tell that the UEG wasn't concerned about their own citizens being harmed while in close proximity to the event either.

It was only a few more seconds before a flash emanated from the center of the Portal, though it was only possible to tell that due to the shadows cast by the event. Almost immediately after this a strong gust of air struck the edge of the platform before continuing out into the city.

While not nearly strong enough to injure anyone, it was still surprising enough that Garrus took a step back to steady himself. In doing so, he instinctively looked up as the brilliant light faded away.

The view that greeted him was both unexpected and unwelcome.

Quite simply, there was no longer a sky. Where before clouds had drifted high above and small patches of blue had been visible, there was only darkness. Not the dark of night, nor that of space, but rather a simple lack of anything.

After staring for a few seconds, the Spectre finally understood what he was looking at.

Floating high above them was a slipspace portal. Unlike the others that Garrus had seen, however, this specific opening was not some small occurence to allow a ship into the other-worldly existence.

Instead, the portal created by the massive structure stretched across the entire horizon, casting a shadow across the city and out onto the ocean. There was no light in its depths, nor any other indication that anything but the void existed inside. Or didn't exist, depending on how he thought about it. Directly above them was the edge, with the bright daytime sky providing sharp contrast to the outline of the portal.

It was only when a human ship interrupted the uniform blackness that Garrus could gauge how far away the opening was. Even then, he was only capable of deducing that the portal had to be in the middle to upper portion of the atmosphere.

From there the sky began to quickly fill with vessels on a course to enter the portal. Cargo ships and other such civilian craft seemed to be more common than anything else, something that was surprising to Garrus. While he didn't know where the portal led to, the fact that the UEG would allow citizens access to it so easily was interesting.

Eventually the stream of civilian vessels stopped, leaving a clear view of a large thing slowly making its way towards the portal. Escorting what Garrus could only describe as a misshapen lump of metal were several UNSC ships. Considering the weaponry visible even from their position on the group, it wasn't hard to deduce that they were warships, though that begged the question of why they were needed.

The only thing Garrus could equate the largest ship to was an orbital station, yet the fact that it was moving under its own power gave away its status as a mobile platform. As he dealt with the visual of the large object approaching the slipspace portal above, the Turian Spectre suddenly saw the true display taking place.

It was a well-known fact that vessels powered by Mass Effect had issues in atmospheric flight. Smaller craft like shuttles or even frigates could deal with the gravitational pull of a planet, but Cruisers and Dreadnoughts simply did not have enough thrust or strong enough Mass Effect fields to do the same.

That humans could so easily maneuver such a large object through not only a gravity well but also a moderately dense atmosphere showed a glaring disparity. Whether it was unintentional or not, the UNSC had just shown the Citadel Delegation that they had the capability to dominate entire battlefields if orbital supremacy was obtained. If the massive ship that the Wardens used at First Contact had the same ability, then there would be no choice but to abandon the ground fight if orbit was lost. Even if bombardment was discarded, the reinforcements available to an enemy with dreadnoughts in atmosphere would be overwhelming.

Garrus discarded such disparaging thoughts as he turned to the guide that had joined them. Apparently the human was amazed at the sight as well as he looked up into the sky, though the Turian also noted that he appeared completely unfazed by the gaping abyss of the slipspace portal.

Before the Spectre could ask anything, his attention was drawn upward by the receding cloud cover. More specifically, he was focused on the cityscape that became visible as buildings emerged from the mist.

Obviously he had seen the base of each as they made their way here, and it wasn't hard to know that each structure was quite tall considering the fact that many disappeared into the clouds before ending. It was rather strange to see, as the only buildings of that height that he had ever seen before had been on the Citadel itself. Cities on planets tended to spread out rather than up, though there were a couple exceptions.

As with so many other things that humans did, it seemed like they did not conform to that standard either. Maybe it was due to this being their homeworld or it might have just been the species, but the view that Garrus was presented certainly supported some such conclusion.

In front of him was the city, with the Orbital Tether rising into the thinning clouds behind it all. Yet even that was barely visible through the canyon created by the walls of glass and metal that stretched far above them. Strangely, it seemed like the towers were divided into sections, at least judging by the gaps between each group of structures.

Ignoring that particular oddity, the Spectre got the human's attention as he asked, "How deep is the center of this thing?"

Everyone else in the group looked over in interest as they overheard the question. This allowed Garrus to note the concerned frown that Saren wore, leaving little doubt that the elder Spectre's thoughts had been the same as Garrus' own. Shepard hid her emotions too well for the Turian to be able to read her, but the expression of unadulterated curiosity on Liara's face gave away her opinion of the events.

After glancing around at the sudden attention, the guide gathered himself and answered, "About twenty kilometers, well into the continental crust."

"How is all of this powered?" Liara questioned, seeing the opportunity for easy information.

"Forerunner technology uses Vacuum Energy as a power source. Since it's such a massive source of energy, the UEG siphons excess into the grid to reduce the load while the Portal isn't active."

Even Liara seemed confused by that as she inquired, "Vacuum Energy?"

The guide shrugged and countered, "Something really powerful that we don't really understand. I'm sure there are experts who know more, but from what I've seen on Waypoint it is really hard to examine the technology safely. Kind of like working near slipspace drives."

"I heard about that on our trip here. Your drives cause temporal anomalies. The same is true of the devices of a much older and more advanced civilization?" Liara asked skeptically.

"Well, no, not when they're working. Human drives have gotten much better after the War since we have examples to build off of. Doing maintenance on any drive is really dangerous though, to the point that it's preferred to dispose of it rather than risk a disaster. That's true of any slipspace drive, Forerunners included. Though they don't really need maintenance generally," the human responded.

Before Liara could continue the questions, Shepard interjected, "Would it be possible to talk to someone who would know more about that?"

A nod gave away the reply, "Of course. There's also the Museum of Humanity here in New Mombasa if you wanted to look at some of the historical development of interstellar travel."

"Oh great," mumbled Shepard, getting a look of amusement from Saren in return.

"Absolutely," Liara replied, easily ignoring the comment from her partner. "By the name I assume that it covers more than just travel."

The guide responded, "Some sections are still under construction, but it is designed to show the comprehensive history of the human species. We can head there now if you would like. Not going to see much more from the Portal, just ships entering to travel to the Ark until it closes in the afternoon."

Liara looked back at Shepard, who simply stated, "It does sound interesting, but we won't be able to look at everything and still make it back in time to leave."

"At least we'll get a glimpse," Garrus commented as they began to follow the guide away from the massive structure.

There wasn't much talking from that point as one of the human vehicles arrived to take them to their destination. As they went further into the city, it was easy to see the increase in activity around them. On every side of the street were humans, some standing around and others hurrying to an unknown destination. Even with the crowds, traffic went on without interruption, always moving forward.

Walkways above the street allowed this, though Garrus also observed groups descending below the surface into what had to be some form of underground tunnel network. It was completely unlike anything else he had seen before, as almost all vehicle traffic for Council species was airborne, leaving pedestrians to wander unhindered.

It seemed like humans had it figured out, however, as their vehicle once again pulled onto the large road leading away from the Orbital Tether. Rather than the scarce motorists that had been present last night when they arrived, the road was now filled with a large variety of different designs. Everything had its own defining features as Garrus struggled to find any two identical models.

Eventually he sat back, defeated but able to think about his observations. It was a small thing, yet it showed an important difference in human production. Unlike the Citadel and worlds under it, where basically every skycar looked the same, the UEG equivalents were diverse in role as well as construction. This implied a large industry with competing elements rather than the monopolized X3M models produced by Citadel species.

Determined to not be distracted by such random thoughts, Garrus watched as the canyon of glass gave way to much shorter and significantly smaller buildings. While he couldn't identify the use of all of them, many were obviously residential or commercial in nature.

By the time the vehicle had reached their destination, there was little to look at but grassland and the Portal that still hung over the horizon. Considering the importance that seemed to be given to this Museum of Humanity that they were visiting, it was odd for it to be so far removed from civilization. The only explanations that Garrus could think of to explain the location were for the purpose of security or to allow the Museum to expand further than it would be able to in a city.

The only other thing near them was a simple building, with an elegant yet simple design. As their guide led them towards this structure, Garrus concluded that the actual museum must be hidden below the surface.

That assumption proved correct as the small group was led inside and almost immediately onto an elevator much like the one that had carried them down the orbital tether. There were no windows on the platform and the artificial gravity made it difficult to tell that they were moving, let alone how fast.

After descending for several minutes, there was a slight change in the feel of the platform. From his prior experience aboard ships, Garrus thought it likely that they were now traveling sideways rather than down. Assuming that they were still facing the same direction as when they entered, the Spectre concluded that they would be headed towards the Portal, or rather under it at this point.

It was only a short time later that the doors of the elevator opened to reveal a spacious atrium. Soft lights were inset into the ceiling, giving the entire area a somber glow that was enough to see by but could not be considered well lit.

A human looked up at them for barely a second, scanning the new aliens before noting the guide leading them. Apparently they were expected as the man simply returned to whatever he was doing before, ignoring the group as they passed him by.

From there, the group emerged into the Museum proper. Lining the walls were various exhibits, much like such displays in Citadel space. In keeping with the atmosphere presented at the front, the area was sparsely lit, with the most light being directed at the pedestals to highlight their importance.

Directly to their right was the first exhibit. Instead of the expected description of prehistoric humans or something like that, there was only a group of symbols and a small placard. Seeing as translators were restricted to audio and not visual interpretation, neither Garrus nor Saren had any chance of reading the text.

The guide seemed to understand this as he began to explain, "This is a representation of the unknown, specifically directed at the questions that humans have about our origins. As more is discovered, the Museum will be rearranged, but this specific piece will always remain. The plate is constantly updated with the latest information about discoveries of the past. It currently talks about investigations into interactions between Humanity and the Forerunners, as that is one of the fastest growing fields in historical research."

"What about the symbols?" Liara asked curiously.

"Every one of these is used in some human language to denote a question. Some look similar, others completely different from the rest, but every one has the same meaning," the guide answered.

That response was accepted as the group began to make their way through the space. From the number of empty spots, it was obvious that the Museum was still setting up exhibits, but even then it was possible to get a decent idea of human history.

As Liara made her way through the area, she mentally compared what she was seeing to the historical account given to the Council at First Contact. Included in her observations were the differences between how humans and Citadel species presented their history.

Just from the few displays she had seen already, however, it was obvious to the Asari xenoarchaeologist that most of the information in this section was speculative. This matched the speech given by the UEG representative on the Citadel, yet it was also clear just why attention had been directed at human advancements.

Unlike the majority of Citadel species, humans seemed to be absolutely enthralled with their history. Most beings in Citadel space didn't consider any ancient history beyond Protheans to be important, a fallacy that Liara had fallen into as well. Almost all historical records for those under the Council focused on the discovery of Prothean technology and space exploration. Little consideration was given to ancient history, such as how civilization developed or why Protheans seemed to have visited every space faring species.

If the Systems Alliance warnings were to be believed, then this was due to the influence of the Reapers. Even though she had grown up on the Alliance homeworld, it had been difficult to think that such a thing would be possible. This influenced Liara to research the subject for her doctorate's, allowing her to examine a multitude of archeological digs undertaken by the Alliance in the Citadel galaxy as well as gain access to the Prothean beacon itself.

In Citadel circles, her resulting dissertation had been laughed off, disregarded as ludicrous. For the University, however, it had just been quietly added to the growing library of documents supporting the case.

As Liara came up to a model of the Portal on the surface above, she was distracted from those memories by the opportunity to learn more about the massive alien artifact. Having lived on a human planet for years, she had no issues reading the board next to the model. From that, she gathered that the UEG was still investigating why the structure existed as well as another mention that the destination was the mysterious Ark that the guide had talked about earlier.

Choosing to focus on the fact that humans seemed to actually question why an alien species had been interested in their world rather than whatever the Ark was, Liara continued deeper into the Museum. At a certain point she noticed that Jane was keeping her in sight, though she seemed much more interested in the history of her own species than in worrying about security in the seemingly deserted hallways.

The sections about early human history went by fairly quickly, giving way to much more detailed accounts of the events shown in each exhibit. Liara recognized this as the shift that the representative had described when talking about the discovery of written language.

After a while of wandering through the passage, looking at each display and noting anything interesting, Liara came up to a series of photos embedded into the wall. What caught her attention, however, was the title declaring that the pictures and other artifacts nearby were from 'World War I'.

Ignoring the implication that such a large-scale conflict would be held multiple times, Liara focused on the images themselves. Rather than the glorification of heroes or specific battles, the pictures were obviously taken at the spur of the moment, sometimes in the middle of battle.

Descriptions of each scenario were provided beside the images, which truly helped the Asari figure out what she was seeing. One picture only contained dirt and half a wall, yet apparently an entire town had once stood in the same place. A forest was wiped out to the point that only sticks and a few barren trunks were still present. What looked like smoke from a grass fire was in fact a chemical attack that resulted in the deaths of thousands. An aerial photograph allowed her to see the scale of battle construction, with trenches that stretched from coast to coast. Fields full of bodies from a number of different battles, along with casualty statistics.

Liara had studied the history of all known species in Citadel space, as was to be expected from someone in her profession. Out of all of those species, the only two that had a conflict of this scale while still isolated to their homeworld were the Krogan and Drell. The Turians had had their Unification War and the Morning War for the Quarians, yet both of those were after those species had discovered Mass Effect and FTL travel.

Out of the two known species that had had a World War while still a single-world species, both had nearly annihilated themselves.

As she made her way to the next section of the Museum, Liara thought back to First Contact. More specifically, she remembered how the UEG representative told the Council that humanity had waged two World Wars within a century of each other.

Instead of a section about the peace between these conflicts, however, the Asari was almost immediately looking at more relics of battles long past. Much like the previous room, this exhibit contained photography as well as physical relics from the era. Unwilling to look at yet more images that brought up her own experience as a soldier in the Alliance, Liara started to turn away.

Before she could leave, a specific snapshot caught her attention. It wasn't due to the lack of color or absence of anything living, but rather the exact opposite. Corpses, simply piled together, not in the orderly manner of a battlefield cleanup or sprawled in the chaos of battle but as if they were mere rocks.

Liara had seen many things during her career. Working on the isolated planets of the Alliance, that was to be expected. She had seen the aftermath of battle, helped clear the bodies and debris on Elysium after the Blitz. She wouldn't claim to be nearly as experienced as Jane at creating the carnage, but she was by no means any stranger to it.

What she was looking at right now wasn't anything like that.

There was no way in which the gaunt forms could have fought against their fate. It wasn't battle or famine that killed them as the wire fence of a prison camp could be seen in the background. As far as Liara could tell, the image depicted a systematic slaughter of civilians or prisoners without coherent reason.

She didn't even bother turning to face the group as they entered, instead merely asking, "What happened here?"

The guide had no issue in understanding what she was asking about as he answered, "Crimes against Humanity, specifically the genocide of a number of ethnic groups in the Holocaust. It is one of the most horrific events in human history, with between six to seventeen million people killed, depending on the groups included. Ultimately, the war claimed fifty to over eighty million, once again dependent on which deaths are included."

"Yet it is memorialized here?" Liara questioned critically.

"To deny that it happened and strike it from history would be a crime itself. As much as we don't like it, we must face our past or be doomed to repeat it. The Museum of Humanity wasn't built to pander to any one nation or coddle to what looks good. It is the story of Humanity, from the earliest known records to modern events, preserved with as little censoring as possible. A lot of events are omitted due to current space limitations, but the end goal is to commemorate our species in a manner that can be understood by our descendants." As he finished that statement, the guide came to a stop next to Liara, joining her in looking at the grotesque imagery.

He continued, "This isn't supposed to be pleasant to look at. It was the most deadly conflict in known history at that point, and the Long Peace that followed lasted until the Jovian Moons campaign in 2160. For 200 years, there was peace between the major human powers. Sure, smaller conflicts happened, but nothing on this scale nor that of the following Interplanetary Wars. Your delegation is allowed to view the Museum before it's opened so that you can understand why we want to avoid a conflict with your Council."

"They put that much trust in us? This place contains priceless artifacts from your history and you let us walk around unguarded? That does not seem to fit the policy of isolation that your government seems to have adopted," Saren commented in return.

Their guide acknowledged that as he replied, "Most of the collection is kept in a secured location. After Earth was hit at the end of the War, the risk of extinction was recognized as a legitimate threat. Thus, to ensure the preservation of our legacy in the case of such an event, the Museum was founded. Almost all remaining relics have been moved to ensure their survival, even if the surface is glassed."

"Wouldn't this place lose power in that case, endangering the protective measures?" Garrus pointed out.

"The vault is powered by the Portal, which has been active for over 100,000 years as it is. To destroy the vault, you'd need to destroy the Portal, and it's predicted that that would lead to the destruction of the planet as well," the guide responded.

Shepard was the first to speak after that as she said, "And you're fine with having something that could destroy your world on the surface?"

"Not even that, but to use it as well?" Liara added.

A look of confusion crossed the guide's face as he argued, "It's a slipspace portal. Sure, it's a rather large one, but the return portal from the Ark is even larger. The Forerunners knew how to build their stuff, and even if it was broken it wouldn't spontaneously explode. There might be a few issues with repairing the thing, but we still did so after it was damaged in the Battle for Earth."

"How large is this Ark?" Liara asked hesitantly after several seconds of silence followed the guide's statement. In the Asari's mind, the Ark was some station out Goddess knows where. She knew it would be large, but from what the human had just said, it almost seemed more like a planet than an artificial structure. Perhaps an exaggeration, but Liara wasn't willing to discount it before disproving the theory.

"I don't know, never been there myself, but I've heard that it's larger than Earth at least."

Though she wasn't happy with that answer, Liara accepted it as the best she would get. When it became clear that she wouldn't speak up, Garrus inquired, "You mentioned glassing before. What is that?"

Before the guide could reply, Shepard interjected, "Bombardment by plasma, turning everything to a glass-like material with some sciency name. Covenant liked to use it during the War."

"This exhibit is personal. You get to see the faces of those who died. When we get to the section on the Covenant War, there will be a few like that, of the aftermath of what few victories were achieved. Mostly, though, it's what we call the Hall of Worlds. A memorial of every world hit by the Covenant and the damage caused," the guide told them.

"What does a glassed world look like?" Garrus questioned out of curiosity as they began to move down the displays once more.

A shake of his head was the guide's only reply for a second as he paused in thought. Eventually, he gathered himself and responded, "I saw a few during the War. Imagine a planet, with cities and oceans and green across the land. Now boil away the water, cover the atmosphere in clouds of toxic fumes, and leave the cities as black scars on the land from where the glassing beams hit. Even the Covenant couldn't glass an entire planet without hundreds of ships, but it would still be like nothing you've ever seen before."

"I think I have, actually," Garrus stated hesitantly. The rest of the group looked at him in confusion, ignoring the exhibits on the human's Jovian Moons campaign as the Spectre explained, "When I was with my Exploration Fleet out on the frontier, we encountered a number of dead worlds. They were only notable because they weren't the usual space rocks that were easy to find out there. On all of them, the surface looked like it had been melted, but it was the entire surface, not localized as you described it."

"That certainly sounds like glassing, and the Covenant could glass entire planets if they pushed enough resources into it," the guide admitted. "What doesn't make sense is that the only worlds that the Covenant glassed are in Warden territory. As far as I know, none of your exploration fleets have penetrated past Mupmup, let alone far enough to find the glasslands. The only species out where you were exploring were the Forerunners 100,000 years ago."

Saren interjected, "Were they capable of glassing planets?"

"Absolutely," came the reply. "For them, it would be primitive though. Even more important, their Mantle of Responsibility wouldn't permit the extermination of life that glassing causes."

A short period of silence overtook the group as they continued walking. Liara had stopped several times to look at exhibits, but she didn't stay behind since the displays were all rather sparse. It was easy for the the group to tell that this area hadn't yet been completed, hence why the Museum was still closed to public visitation.

As they were approaching the end of the exhibit hall, the guide spoke up once more, "There will be several UNSC personnel present when your delegation meets with UEG officials. Please talk to them about this planet you came across, including all the details you can. If you have its location, that would be excellent."

"I read several reports about these worlds from the various CEFs that were deployed. Some noted the coordinates, but most groups ignored these planets since they simply looked like oddities without any hope of colonization. How will knowing their position help you?" Saren questioned.

"Something attacked those world, and it wasn't the Forerunners or the Covenant as the first wouldn't do that and the second didn't exist back then. If whatever did that is still out there, then we need to know about it," the guide explained.

The group arrived back at the front desk after that, quickly boarding the elevator as the human they had seen before continued working and diligently ignoring them. Liara took the chance to ask several questions about the history she had seen on the way back to the city, though the Asari notably avoided any queries about human conflicts.

When they arrived, the guide led them to the door of the building before stating, "Your journey to meet with UEG officials will begin soon. The group coordinator can provide any details that you may need. I hope you enjoyed your short time here in New Mombasa and that you continue to find the answers to your questions." With that, he was gone, leaving Shepard, Liara, and the two Council Spectres to make their way inside.

After exchanging goodbyes, the Turians broke off as each went to prepare for the short trip ahead. Shepard and Liara took the chance to spend some downtime together, both knowing that the next few days would be full of diplomatic tripe as the politicians mingled.

While in their room, they had the chance to watch as the Portal outside was shut down, leaving nothing to show that it had ever existed. By the time the light was fading from the sky, all members of the Citadel delegation had been notified that they would be leaving shortly.

As part of the security force, Shepard was tasked with accompanying the Alliance diplomat while travelling. While mildly bothersome due to the situation, the guy himself was actually fairly decent in cooperating with security procedures, making Shepard's job much easier. Usually she didn't socialize with the politicians due to their countenance, but if this one proved to be decent then Jane might actually learn his name. She had heard it in passing at one point but didn't remember it since it wasn't pertinent to her job.

Consigned to the boring position of silent sentinel for the duration of the trip, Jane idly scanned the horizon as they moved through traffic. Even though the road was full of vehicles, there was no stopping. It seemed like every driver knew exactly where they were going and had no issue with being in the correct lane. It was odd to see as it was so different from what Jane had seen growing up. Back on the Alliance homeworld, there seemed to always be some moron going slow in passing lanes or swerving across traffic to get to their exit. Here on Earth, it all looked coordinated to the point that it wasn't even individuals driving.

Shepard chose to ignore that in favor of looking at the crowds outside as the vehicle pulled off the main road and up to a large structure. From the look of it, Jane guessed that the location served as a station for a fixed transport system.

This was proven correct as she noticed the signs advertising departure and arrival times for a variety of destinations. As the convoy came to a stop, the various groups that made up the Citadel delegation followed the coordinator that had greeted them on their arrival last night. Upon entering, everyone's attention immediately turned to the large pit before them.

From their vantage point at the edge, it was possible to look all the way down to the bottom where yet another crowd of humans was gathered. Levels above that varied greatly, with some empty and others densely packed as transports were loaded and unloaded.

With all the activity around them, and thus threats to look out for on the part of the security team, it seemed like only a short time later that they were on one of the lower platforms. Across the pit, Shepard could see another set of doors for boarding.

Since they were waiting for their transportation to arrive, Jane took the chance to glance through the doors into the space beyond. Unsurprisingly, a tunnel stretched out of sight to both sides. What was odd were the rails set into concrete anchors on the floor of the passage, making it clear that this was an underground railway. If they were taking it to a different continent, however, then it was much larger than the Alliance equivalent which merely connected the larger cities with surface rails. Of course, it was possible that this was simply underneath the city and hit the surface when possible.

When the trip coordinator wandered close, Jane took the chance to ask, "Why did you build your rail stations underground? Seems like a lot of work for something that could go on the surface and get a much better view."

"It was decided during the Reconstruction following the War," she began. "When the Covenant attacked Earth, the UNSC lost its ability to evacuate civilians and transport troops due to the fighting in orbit. Unluckily, all the ground routes were heavily damaged as well, making it difficult to enter or leave areas. To fix that, this subway system was built to allow a protected route for people to evacuate in case of emergencies. Since there are multiple routes, a single strike can't take down the entire system, and it provides a lot more protection than trying to fly out through anti-aircraft fire," the coordinator told them.

Shepard accepted the information with a quick thanks as she let the woman get back to checking in with the various groups. As she scanned the area again, Jane caught the eye of Garrus, getting a nod of acknowledgment from the Turian Spectre. She returned the silent motion, unable to talk due to the distance between them.

It wasn't a long wait before a train went whipping by in the tube. After a couple seconds, it began to slow, eventually stopping with a set of doors aligned to those on the platform. Boarding was quick and easy, and unlike the ground cars from before, multiple species could easily fit into a carriage.

A few minutes passed after everyone was on board before they began to move. Almost immediately it was clear that human trains were far faster than their cars as the train began to accelerate. Within seconds the walls of the underground passage were merely a blur, flashing by faster than the eye could follow.

Unwilling to give herself a headache watching the spectacle, Shepard waited until she was relieved from her duties by Vidinos before beginning to explore the train further. Aside from the cars that the delegation had originally boarded, it seemed like this specific train was for comfortable transport. Beds, a dining area, and other such amenities were all present, enough for someone to live comfortably even when travelling.

After asking a guide about their travel time and learning that they had about eight hours before arriving, Jane took the chance to slip onto one of the beds for the night. Over the next several hours she woke up multiple times as people came and went into the room, allowing her to notice others who had followed her plan and were resting.

By the time they were drawing close to finally meeting with the UEG diplomats, the Commander was once again standing beside the Alliance diplomat as he prepared for the day ahead. Most of that simply consisted of talking to the other political representatives of the Citadel, leaving Shepard to her boredom.

The deceleration was apparent to Shepard since she was standing still, though it didn't seem like the members of the delegation noticed since they were busy talking. What eventually caught their attention were the flashes of light as the train passed through a few terminals without stopping. When the transport did come to a stop, the delegation was already prepared to exit.

From there it was another trek through the station out to more waiting vehicles. Unluckily, the roof that covered the entrance prevented any of the party from being able to see the city around them. Shepard tried to get a view out of the car, but was unable to do so subtly, leaving her only view that of the bases of the large human buildings.

It was only when they arrived at their final destination that any of the delegation could get a good view of the city. Immediately apparent was that it was much larger than their previous city they had been in, both in size and height. In a simple glance Shepard could see that they were in some type of government sector, at least judging by the number of closely grouped structures with ornamental features. Beyond that, she didn't know as there was too little time to view it before they were moving once again.

From there, the Citadel delegation followed the coordinator into the nearest building. Several corridors later and they were presented with a seemingly innocuous door. Recognizing their roles, the Citadel representatives fell in behind Ambassador Benezia, with the guards at the back and out of the way. Much to Shepard's surprise, it didn't look like the escort was going to be left outside, though whether that was good or not remained to be seen.

A few seconds passed before the doors opened, allowing the Citadel visitors to enter into the chamber beyond.

---

Searching "Orbital Elevator" in Google yielded 26,900,000 results, and that's with the Internet being less than 30 years old. Give it 500 years, along with the increased connectivity and population of Halo, and billions of results isn't unthinkable.

I know that the Portal opening in Halo 3 was quite violent considering that it threw back the Chief and shifted the trajectory of several Paris-class frigates. I am guessing that that was due to Truth and the Covenant's ignorance on Forerunner technology, as the UNSC opened the Portal themselves in 2555 in the book Hunters in the Dark.

May have mentioned this in an earlier chapter, don't remember, but the Forerunners powered their junk with 'Vacuum Energy'. That deals with Quantum Physics, which while really interesting, isn't a very well-researched field. I'm not even going to try to figure out how this would work, rather I'll blindly follow canon.

The the wiki says that the Museum of Humanity began construction in 2607. After watching the 'Believe' ads myself, I noted that they say that the Monument to S-117 was begun in 2607 and finished in 2610 but they do NOT say when the Museum itself began construction. Thus, I have set the construction to have already taken place, as you all obviously just read. Also, the exact location of the Museum is unknown as far as I could tell, so just went with what seemed cool given its purpose.

Current High-Speed Rail record is 574 km/h. To travel from New Mombasa to Sydney by the route I was looking at, it's about 20,000 kilometers. With an eight hour trip as I stated, that's about 2,500 km/h. China currently has a prototype with a high theoretical limit of 1,800 km/h right now. Considering that the UEG seems to have a solid grasp on magnetic technologies, to the point that ODP's fire a 3,000 metric ton slug at 12,000 km/s, I can take 2,500 as an acceptably feasible number.

Apologies once again for the lateness.

-evevee