Chapter 2
The trio didn't know what to expect, in fact their expectations were a bit low. When they arrived they saw that Konoha wasn't a normal village, in fact it was more like a city. The tallest buildings were connected by various walkways, though there were only six such buildings. One thing that stood out most was the massive tree in the middle of the village. Something about it was strange, but asking wasn't exactly an option.
Not when their guide was leading them to his leader. The civilians were curious with some being cautious, and a bit scared. As expected. The ones in uniform however, were watching them like hawks. The village's military, Shinobi, were called, and they were ready to fight. They didn't have guns, but swords, kunai, shuriken, and some even had sickles on chains. They were on the rooftops and had the home field advantage; starting a fight was subtly advised against.
"Don't worry, as long as you stay on your best behavior and stick by me, nothing bad will happen." Naruto said.
"Don't worry, we want this to go more smoothly than you do." Shepard said.
"Good."
They finally reached their destination. A tall building with a strange symbol on it.
"This is where your leader is?" Liara asked.
"Yep, and by now I'm sure he's ready for you all."
Naruto led them inside, and up the stairs. There was no elevator so this was their only choice. It did give Shepard some time to think about what she would say. There was a procedure when it came to first contact, and she didn't want to screw it up. The counselors would give her shit about this no matter what. Even so there was no way she was going to let them say that she messed this up.
'Who am I kidding, they're going to rag on me anyway.'
Shepard wanted to punch each and every one of them; hard. Sadly that would be considered a crime so she couldn't give into her desire for violence. She made decisions as best she could with the information given, but for every solution there was another problem. It was an endless cycle.
They arrived at the door, and Naruto unceremoniously opened it without any warning. Either he was a special exception who could do this without consequence or he decided to be spontaneous for the first time. Either way it was a ballsy thing to do.
Sitting at the desk was a silver haired man with a mask that covered the lower half of his face and a scar over his left eye. He wore a white robe, and a strange hat with a red symbol on it.
"Everyone this is my former sensei, and the current Hokage, Kakashi Hatake!" Naruto said, giving the man a rather enthusiastic introduction.
"It's nice to meet you all." Kakashi greeted them with a smile that they couldn't see. 'He isn't fully on guard, meaning that he's ready to strike at any moment.'
"It's an honor to meet you, I am Commander Jane Shepard." She said. "I'm a human with the Alliance Military, and these are my crew members; Liara T'Soni and Garrus Vakarian."
"It's nice to meet you." Liara said.
"I'm, uh, happy to meet you as well." Garrus said. "Sorry, I'm new to this."
"It's fine." Kakashi said. "This is my first time meeting an alien so I'm a little nervous too."
This seemed to calm the turian down. A bit of honesty went a long way after all.
"Now then, are you both humans as well or maybe types of humans?"
"No, we're a different species, I am an asari while Garrus is a turian." Liara stated.
"Interesting." Kakashi said. "Now, perhaps you can give me a good reason as to why you're here."
Shepard nodded and proceeded to explain her mission. Of course she had Liara explain what Mass Relays were, and their importance. Liara was able to describe their appearance as well. This got a reaction from Naruto. A look of surprise and realization.
"So that's what that is!" Naruto exclaimed in realization.
"Yes." Kakashi sighed. "Judging from your description of a mass relay, it seems that the broken thing we found is one." – "We powered it up, but only got certain systems working."
"Yeah, most of it was torn up years ago, thousands of years before our time." The blonde said. "Can't find the rest of it though."
The three were silent. There was no way they were just told that this species found a destroyed mass relay. The damn things were supposed to be indestructible. But apparently these people found one, a broken one at that. Somehow things had just gotten even more complicated. Shepard could already feel a migraine coming on.
"That explains everything." She said. "The signal is from a mass relay, but the damage must've done something to the tech inside."
"That or us messing with it."
"Yes, that's the most likely reason." Liara said. "How long have your people been studying it, if you don't mind me asking."
"For 133 years give or take, we didn't really get any technological advancement from it though, just information and records we haven't been able to decipher yet."
Liara perked up upon hearing this. They hadn't been able to decipher the information, and there were records apparently? The young asari was smiling like a kid at the candy store.
"Perhaps we can save that for later?" Shepard said. "I'd like to discuss where we should go from here." – "I have to report back, and leaving your existence out isn't exactly possible."
This was understandable. The woman was here on a mission, and she was bound by duty to report her findings. In her position they would do the same.
"That said, I'd like to explain the galactic community." She said. "May I?"
Naruto was the one who nodded rapidly, how he didn't hurt his neck was beyond her. Kakashi simply shook his head once. Shepard took a moment to compose herself before speaking.
"The galactic community is currently made up of nine races recognized by the Citadel Council; they make up the ultimate authority in Citadel Space." She explained. "The executive committee is composed of one representative each from the member species, asari, turian, and salarian." – "They have no official power over the independent governments of other species, but their decisions carry great weight."
"Great weight is an understatement." Garrus muttered.
'Agreed.' Shepard silently said. "In terms of roles, the asari are mostly diplomats, the salarians gather info and tech, and turians make up the bulk of the military and peacekeeping forces."
"Peacekeeping, you mean police?" Naruto asked. "They enforce the laws, and certain interests of the council, right?"
"Yes." She said. "Species can gain embassies in the Citadel, but that requires a significant contribution to Citadel Space." – "Of course that species would have to sign the Treaty of Farixen first, this limits the number of dreadnoughts that species can have in their fleet."
A safety precaution, but a good enough reason to not sign the treaty. Limiting an entire species military force was invasive, and endangered said species.
"What are the pros and cons?"
"It's mixed since joining means accepting their laws, rules so you'll be bound by those." She said. "However you will have unlimited access to alien markets, military and tech support when needed, and no import taxes." – "As I said it's mixed."
"We haven't been given an invitation, but this is useful information to have." Kakashi said. "I'll have messages sent to the other kage about the situation."
Three other leaders. This was expected, and this was where Anderson would likely take over. This mission was now immensely complex, and very delicate. Not something she could handle alone. Now, she needed to get back to the Normandy to report to Anderson.
15 Minutes Later – Normandy
"Here, I'll open a wormhole for you."
Shepard hadn't had a chance to react until Naruto opened the swirling cosmic phenomenon. He'd ushered them inside, but bit before giving them a comm device. The trio had thrown up after coming out, and after cleaning her mouth off she called Admiral Anderson. His reaction to her report was understandable.
"Shepard, I'm not a fan of pranks." Anderson said.
"This is no prank sir." She said. "You received the footage of our landing, you saw the village right?"
"I did and now you're telling me that there's a human like civilization on that planet, and that they are in possession of a damaged mass relay." Anderson took a deep breath and exhaled. "Shepard you discovered an unknown cluster containing intelligent life, do you know what that means?"
"Yelling, misunderstandings, and cursing?"
"That's right, but it also implies that humanity might've been hiding this, god only knows how the council will react." – "Hell, there's no telling how humanity will react."
"It's probably not my place, but can I suggest we not explore this cluster?"
"Not explore it?" Anderson asked in confusion. "Explain."
"They don't know that humanity claimed this part of Dark Space as a ridiculous power move." She said. "As a show of good will, could we possibly give it to them since they're the natives?"
"That's an interesting idea, I'll send it to the higher-ups on Earth."
Technically they could opress the alteans due to humanities territorial claim, but this was a bad idea. It was something the batarians would do, and humanity had no plans to be like them. A species who sees slavery as a good thing was a terrible example to follow. Humanity had to be better than that.
"Sad to say Saren will had to wait for a while, I know it's no ideal for you, but we need you on this." Anderson said. "We'll keep an eye out for Saren though, but for now just stay there."
"Yes sir."
Shepard wasn't happy about this, but she understood Andersons reasoning. With that she hung up, and walked away. A part of her wanted to punch something, but she held back. Letting her emotions get the better of her was a bad idea, especially now.
Shepard took a few minutes to calm her nerves. It wasn't enough. Everything was weighing on her shoulders, and people weren't making it easier. It wasn't her crew's fault, and it wasn't the alteans fault. It was Saren, and this reaper threat that the prothean beacon showed her. Even though they were mostly flashes, the visions instilled fear in her heart.
Facing down geth and homicidal aliens was just another day for her, but this was different. This was beyond her capabilities, and despite being scared she was trying her best with what she had. Which really wasn't much. Chasing down this madman was taking a lot out of her mentally, but she wouldn't show it. She couldn't show it, not in front of her crew.
'I might've just doomed an entire species.' she silently said. 'Damn, just damn.'
An hour later she would call for a meeting, she needed everyone to know just what happened, and what was going to happen. They were going to be here for a while. Thankfully everyone was quick to arrive, except Joker who was listening in via omni tool.
"Alright everyone, I have an announcement."
It took her twenty minutes to explain what happened, their current situation, and what would probably happen. Of course everyone had questions.
"Here's the deal, once this goes public the alteans will become a target." She said. "Slavers, shady business people, corporations, radical groups, and politicians." – "They're going to gun for these people without remorse, all because we discovered them."
"There's also the issue of them being ignorant about everything you just said, and how intense it's going to be." Tali said.
"The Alliance gonna uplift these people like the salarians did mine?" Wrex asked.
Shepard was silent. This was a question she didn't have an answer to, not a definitive one at least.
"I don't know, but I'd like to think that the salarians made it clear what not to do." Shepard said. "The alteans don't seem like an…overly aggressive race." – "That's me putting it as nicely as I can."
Wrex nodded in agreement. He wasn't offended, in fact he agreed with her. His race was basically commiting suicide on a galactic scale.
"I don't know, in fact the only thing I can do is act accordingly and adapt to the situation I'm put in." She said. "That's all any of us can do."
Shepard wasn't sure about the future, but she hoped that it didn't involve a war. She also hoped that the alteans didn't have any extreme secrets that could jeopardize the galaxy. With their technology they couldn't. Right?
Chapter 2 End