Chapter 1 - The Outreach Project
Maia Nir, Asari Colony
The opulent university auditorium was filled to the brim with members of various different races of the known galaxy. The clear majority being Asari, followed by Salarians, Turians, Elcor, Volus, Hanar, and even a few Quarians and Batarians. The only species that was absent were, for obvious reasons, the Krogans. The guests were all a mixed bunch with very little in common: corporate moguls, politicians, researchers, eager start-ups, even a few military officers—all of them were brought together by the subject of the day, the culmination of his short, yet dilligent life: the Outreach Project.
Sastin was anxious; his project was already in hot waters, as following the Rachni War; the Citadel Council, and by extension, all of its member races, had adopted a near isolationist policy towards the greater unexplored galaxy. Strickly speaking, exploring into unknown space, whether by opening up new relays or traditional exploration, was a big no-no. Indeed, Sastin thought that it was a miracle that his outreach project had come this far without being shut down by some overzealous politician or, worse, investigated by a Spectre.
While the majority of those in attendance tonight supported his idea in general, some did not; in fact, they were there to find an excuse to shut it down in the event that he made a mistake. Sastin would not allow this.
He was brought out of his thoughts by the appearance of the slender figure of a young Asari maiden approaching him nervously.
"Professor Sastin, they're ready for you," she said.
"Yes, thank you, Shiala."
It's time, he thought. No more hesitation, only action. As he followed her to the stage, the crowd's murmurs and chitchat were silenced, and he soon became the center of their attention. He felt knots develop in his stomach.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Please welcome, Professor Sastin Ganis!"
Sastin waited for the raucous clapping to subside before launching into his speech. It was odd; he had rehearsed it at least a hundred times, learning every word by heart; he was error-free even before he stood in front of the podium. But now that he was in front of the audience, he was filled with panic and felt as though the memories of his speech, which he had worked through with multiple lawyers and specialists as to avoid any controversy and faux pas, was almost completely gone.
The knots in his stomach tightened; his mind had failed him, he deduced, so he would have to rely on his heart for this speech. And so he spoke.
"Honored guests! Welcome to the Maia Nir Central University! Before I begin my speech, I would like to extend my thanks to some people for their assistance to me. First off, I'd like to thank my generous patron, the illustrious Asari matriarch, Benezia T'soni, who has always believed in and supported my vision without fail. Secondly, I'd like to thank my colleagues here at Maia Nir, who have all worked tiredlessly to make this project of ours possible. And thirdly, I'd like to thank whatever cosmic force that exists in the universe for sparing this project from being shut down."
Some in the crowd laughed at his last statement, which worked to somewhat ease Sastin's anxiety.
"Now, for those of you who are new to this project, let me explain what the outreach project entails. In the simplest of terms, the outreach project's aim is to find and establish contact with alien races that do not have access to mass relays or even element-zero-based technology."
Some in the crowd began to furiously mutter to each other, their expressions ranging from suprised to outraged, and Sastin could not blame them. It was a well-established fact that effective interstellar travel was impossible without access to element zero. Sastin and his supporters all felt that this line of thinking was silly, arrogant, and dangerous. Life finds a way. That had been what he had told Benezia when the matriarch, with that simple frase, had sold the idea to the Asari.
Indeed, while they had followed the pre-determined path left behind by the Protheans, who's to say another species had not found a different way? Perhaps, even a better way?
"Indeed, there may even be some races that are stuck in their solar systems due simply to their bad luck in geography, so I ask you all, is it not our responsibility as the center of galactic civilization to help those who are worse off than us?"
The reaction was mixed, some of them nodded along vigoursly and even voiced their support while others shook their heads and muttered their disagreements, just as Sastin had predicted they would.
"Of course this would not be a purely altruistic mission; after all, we are talking about breaking and changing centuries of tradition and law. Of course, we cannot just risk our necks for the sake of the greater good. No, indeed, this project is not born of alturism alone but also of necessity."
"For those of us within the scientific community, it is no secret that there has been a stagnation in technological breakthroughs—mind you, not a complete one—there are still smaller breakthroughs in the civilian sector, improvements in our current technologies, yet no new technologies. Many scientists and scholars like myself feel like we are reaching the limits of what can be accomplished with element-zero-based technologies, yet most dare not speak of this for fear of being ostresised and driven out of the mainstream scientific community."
"However, there are clear examples of when major scientific breakthroughs occur; the first and most obvious example is during times of war; the Krogan rebellions and the Rachni war were some of the darkest chapters in the history of our galaxy, yet they were also ages of great inovation. Of course, I am not suggesting that we go to war; it would hardly be worth it. However, another example would be the introduction of new races into the galactic community. Whenever a new race joined the galactic community, it would always be followed by a period of great innovation. As both the new species and the rest of the galactic community would exchange technologies and ideas."
"So I propose that by using our long-ranged systems, we begin transmitting signals into uncharted space, prioritizing areas with suspected inactive mass relays in the hopes of these signals reaching new alien races who will in turn send signals back towards us, making contact."
"There will be dangers, of course. Already, I can hear the question: What if we find a hostile race? It will be another Rachni war. And I cannot deny it; there may be dangerous races out there, but that is the risk with science and with progress. When my people first began to experiment with mass effect fields, there was a genuine fear that it would be the end of our race, that we'd accidentally create a black hole, break our solar system, and many other doomsday scenarios. And back then, we thought they were valid concerns, yet we pushed onwards despite these possibilities, for we knew deep down in our hearts that death was preferable to dying in a cage. Yes, we needed to do these things to escape our solar system, and just as before, we need to do this in order to escape our stagnation; if not for ourselves, we must do it for our children."
The auditorium once again exploded in thunderous applause, some even began to cheer, their cries lifting Sastin's spirits high, he wasn't even nervous anymore. Sure, not all of his guests were satisfied, some of them were even glaring at him murderously, but most of the crowd had been pleased and seemed eager for more, and Sastin would not keep them waiting.
"I've told you why we must do this, now I will tell you how."
At his words, a giant holographic screen appeared behind him. Displayed on the screen was a cylinder-shaped satelite with gyroscopic rings at its center. These rings contain a massive, blue-glowing core of element zero, not unlike those found on mass relays.
"Allow me to present the mass transmitter. Using element zero, the transmitter flings signals and transmissions across space and time at incredible speeds, very much like mass relays; however, unlike mass relays, the transmitter can send these signals anywhere, independent of the receiver. I know what you're all thinking: Why can't this be used for ships or weapons? Well, let's just say that the transmitter's accuracy leaves much to be desired. It's an unacceptable risk for ships and personnel, but an inconsequential one for signals and the like. Initially, this device was meant to be used to quicken communications between planets and systems; however, it was quickly dismissed due to its poor accuracy. So now we have repurposed it for our own use; after all, accuracy hardly matters if you're aiming blind anyway."
"Now... I'll take any questions you have."
Several hands were raised in response; most of them were from the newcomers and the ones who seemed to have reacted negatively towards his presentation. Sastin decided to get the tough questions over with first as he pointed towards a frowning Turian clad in military fatigues.
"Professor Sastin, you say that this project of yours might lead to war, and you claim that the risk is well worth it, yet you will not be the one who's fighting on the front lines. So I must ask, How can you justify this to the people who will have to fight and die in the name of your progress?" He asked, not even bothering to hide his disgust. How typically Turian of him.
"Yes, there is a risk of war and yes, I will most likely not be the one fighting said war. However I can assure you that the alternative is far worse, this is but the lesser of two evils."
He then pointed towards a Salarian, a fellow researcher if he had to guess.
"Professor Sastin, you claim that we have entered an era of stagnation, yet you come before us with a potential mass relay that could send objects anywhere in our galaxy. I cannot help but think that you might be overexaggerating."
"Yes, I do firmly believe that we have entered stagnation; however, I did also add that we still have some new developments but nothing new and groundbreaking. Take the mass transmitter, for example. While it may appear new and groundbreaking, it is anything but that. All of its components and functions are nothing new and are in fact centuries old, and that is what I mean by stagnation; we are not making any new technologies or discoveries; we are merely playing catch-up with the Protheons."
He pointed towards another Turian, this one a politician or some CEO, judging by his attire.
"When will you start broadcasting the signal? Is the device ready?"
"The transmitter stands ready and operational; we are merely waiting for permission from the Council."
Serpent Nebula, The Citadel
"You cannot be serious!" barked the Turian councillor, Sparatus. "You cannot just go about contacting unknown aliens!"
"We are just sending signals towards dark space, Sparatus. I assure you, no laws are being broken." Benezia dismissed tiredly. She had argued with the council for hours by now, and it always came back to the same issue: laws.
"Matriarch, you must understand our position. We cannot, in good conscience, agree to your proposal; the public outcry would simply be too much." said the Salarian, Valern, in a placating tone. He had always tried to play around the middle ground between the two extremes, Sparatus' militarism and Tevos' pacifism, yet he failed every time.
"The public outcry now will be nothing compared to the one in the future if you three do not act on this opportunity I am presenting you."
"What do you mean?" asked Tevos, ever the cautious one.
"To put it bluntly, we are dying, and our isolationism is what's killing us."
The reaction was instantaneous, from Valern's inquisitive and curios gaze to Tevos' frown and Sparatus' outrage.
"Are we arguing on the basis of some sort of pseudo-philosophy?" He snarled, "In that case, what will it help by diving down the abyss?"
"What do you mean by 'We are dying'?" asked Valern, seemingly the only one of them able to keep a cool head. "And how is our supposed isolation responsible for this?"
"Have you looked at the state of the galaxy recently? Have you even bothered to look outside of your precious presidium?"
The trio gave her equally dumbfounded looks. Useless fools.
"We are all dependent on a single resource, a resource that governs our economy and our very way of life. Element zero, but resources are finite, and the truth is that our way of life, the illusion that we have lived in, is nearing its end. Already, corporations are waging silent wars over eezo, actual governments are waging hot wars in the Terminus systems and the veil, and what have we done about it? The same thing we have always done, we pretend that it doesn't exist or we make up some excuse about the Terminus nations or the Batarians, but that solution is no longer possible! The only logical solution to solve this issue would be to explore beyond our borders, which is hampered by your idiotic law against opening new relays."
"That law is there for a reason, matriarch!" Sparatus spat angrily.
"You must understand, Benezia. We cannot risk encountering another hostile race, like the Rachni. This law shields us from such calamities." Tevos spoke gently, giving off the look of a soothing mother. It would've worked if it weren't for the fact that Benezia wasn't at least two centuries older than her. Benezia felt the need to scold this matron playing as a matriarch, but cooled her rage, fighting would be pointless.
"If we manage to contact new races, we will at worst end up at war with an unknown force, a common enemy. But if we do nothing, then I promise you councilors, in a century or two we will all be eating each other!"
The trio looked at each other in contemplation before they made their decision. Both Valern and Tevos nodded at each other before turning towards Sparatus, who sighed, nodding as well. She was surprised; perhaps it was her status amongst her people? Whatever it was, she thanked the goddess for it, and she could now see hope for them all.
"How would you go about this? Where would you send these signals, and from where?" asked Valern.
She smiled, and then she spoke.
A.N: Guess I am alive again :P