Guest: I hope you like my rendition of a turian first contact that doesn't dip too much into the HFY edge of things, kekw

Cooldude: Yeah, Clones and Commandoes are more humanoid Abyssal units compared to the other, more mundane ones. And while…yeah, sure, close to the speed of light MAC velocities are pretty…over the top, to say the least (canon has dreadnoughts crapping out a measly 32 kilotons per round fired kek)…blame my love of biggatons for this. I just like these kinds of numbers for some reason

Also Abyssals can glass planets, and some fellows on SB crunched the numbers to clock such a feat as being within the petaton range (?). Given how these guns reload within ~10-20 seconds on average, I think the current numbers might be legit.

But hey, I like biggatons. Dropkick me :3

First Contact: Voyage Unto Infinity

Eight cruisers and sixteen frigates made up the turian detachment around Relay 314 as Superior Captain Desolas Arterius watched a holographic 3d model of said relay on the main display, a few other officers close around him, gathered around the holotable, as they watched the relay, usually dormant, now active, it's rings spinning around this way and that around a static ball of glowing element zero.

"…as far as we know, there has been no contact since," Pallin Sidonis, Captain, said as he finished his report, his talons highlighting the small object that had transited Relay 314 a few hours ago and had then, after what seemed to be a few curious, exploratory sweeps around the local vicinity, had then withdrew back through the way it had come. "The probe came, took a glimpse at it's surroundings, and then left. I presume that the probe has also sighted us as well. But otherwise, there has been nothing else of note to consider; nothing else has happened since the activation of the relay eight and a half standard hours ago."

Desolas nodded. This was good, all things considered, if not a little confusing. As the senior officer in the system, he was, understandably, a bit on edge. After all, there were not that many reasons to activate an inert mass relay, and all of them tended to involve the arrival of new people into a star system. The fact that whoever had arrived hadn't yet tried to communicate with the local inhabitants (turians in this case) was not a good sign.

Superior Captain Nyx Bartus, attending via commlink from somewhere else, seemed to disagree. "Activating a relay is against Citadel law," he said, his voice tinny and distorted. "They are to remain dormant, and for good reason."

Desolas resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He and Nyx did not get along particularly well. The other man was too much a stickler for the rules, in Desolas's opinion, and a poor tactician. Still, he had to admit that the man was right: activating an uncharted relay was definitely a violation of Citadel law.

"To be fair," Sidonis counteracted, "While smugglers and pirates activating relays is grounds for immediate neutralizing, so far, the only contact we have observed is a single probe coming in from the other end, and that was it. The theory of another species activating the relay on their end is a much more plausible one. We have not observed any ships or vessels of any kind. Any pirate or smuggler group would've sent something through by now."

"They could have been lying low until we slip up, and then make their run. This is not the first time smugglers have done so."

"Fair point, but the probe was of a model no one has seen before, searches of the few images captured of it shows no matches on any database, even when my staff let the VIs run deep searches across the extranet. In further addition, we have detected no traces of element zero on that thing, as well. Nobody builds probes without eezo, unless they've figured out an alternative to it. And nobody has, at least, within Council space."

"That is impossible. Interstellar travel requires element zero; it's the only way. Unless you are saying that the creators of the probe are using some unknown, previously unseen drive technology."

Sidonis shook his head. "I am not. That is a possibility, but the probability is low. My engineers say that, whatever they used to power that probe, it's not conventional engine tech. We'll have to capture the probe, and examine it ourselves, to confirm or deny it. Until then, we should treat this as a non-hostile contact, and try to establish communications with them."

"What's the plan, sir?" Captain Solus asked, her question cutting off whatever it was Nyx was about to say.

Desolas stared at the hologram.

"We wait," he murmured. "The probe is the first thing, and the only thing that has come through. They have not made any attempts to contact us. That suggests they are either waiting to see what our reaction is, or they are waiting for reinforcements. Either way, we need to stay on our guard."

He looked over at Solus.

"Get a squadron of fighters ready, just in case. We'll keep the fleet out here, ready for an engagement if one occurs. In the meantime...yeah. We shouldn't try to transit the relay just yet, lest we risk startling the ones on the other end, and triggering an unforeseen chain of events with potentially catastrophic consequences. We wait for them to make the first move. We have time, so there's no point in rushing. We should use it as an opportunity to study them."

"And if the other party attacks first, sir?"

"Then we take them down. But only then. For now, we will wait."

He nodded to himself, satisfied with the plan.

"You're all dismissed," he said, before turning around and exiting the briefing room, walking into the corridors.

He would need a nap, he decided. He was tired.

Tevos Callis, Matriarch, and Councilor of the Asari Republics, sipped away at the tea inside her cup as she listened intently to the priority report that had been forwarded to her office. She had been informed earlier today, when her office had been notified that the turian fleets near the Relay 314 nebula had picked up signs of a new contact, that the situation might turn for the worst.

And, so far, it was proving itself to be true.

Her eyes flickered over to the two other Councilors: Saphyria Rallen, Councilor of the Salarian Union, and Corinthius Oraka, Councilor of the Turian Hierarchy. Both of whom were also assembled inside the Council chambers for this particular private meeting, having been told about the news as well.

The report had been sent directly from Macen Arterius, Admiral, and commanding officer of the Third Patrol Fleet. The message had been short and succinct: Relay 314 was online. A small probe had come through the relay, and had then left after a few moments, as if taking stock of the situation, before withdrawing. The turians had detected no signs of hostile activity on the other side, no signs of ships or vessels, and no attempts at communication from the other side. The situation, at the moment, was at a standstill.

But, that did not mean that the turians were content to sit around and do nothing.

The report had then detailed that the local commanding officer, a certain Superior Captain Desolas Arterius, had ordered for a squadron of fighters, just in case, to be deployed, and that a fleet of sixteen frigates and eight cruisers was holding position near the relay, waiting for an engagement. The turian forces were still being reinforced, as the Second, Seventh, and Sixteenth fleets were inbound, with the rest of the patrol fleets moving into position, but the situation was stable at the moment, and no immediate threat was posed.

Macen had closed off his report by saying that, while the situation was, for the most part, calm, and the possibility of an attack by the unknown was low, the situation could rapidly escalate and become volatile, and the Council should begin preparations to deploy their own forces, if needed.

The meeting, so far, had been going for a few minutes, with no concrete decisions made.

Tevos sipped her tea again, savoring the flavor as it went down her throat. It was a very expensive tea, imported from Thessia.

"Any suggestions, Councilors?" she asked, her voice echoing throughout the chambers.

Rallen was the first to answer. "STG has went over the data. Nothing concrete as of yet. Minor speculation as to new race having a lack of knowledge on element zero, but nothing else. No evidence, no conjecture. All that can be said is that we have a new contact."

Corinthius snorted, and Tevos hid a smile. Corinthius had never liked the salarians much.

"I think, for now, the best course of action would be to send an envoy," he said, his voice gravelly and low. "I am not advocating a full military operation, or anything of the sort, but we need to show them that we are here. If we are lucky, we can negotiate an alliance, perhaps, and find out more about this race. Who knows? Perhaps they are like us, or like the volus, or the elcor, or the hanar. I am sure the hanar would be glad to have more friends in the galaxy."

Tevos watched her turian counterpart intently as he paused for a few brief moments.

"If we are lucky, yes," he continued. "But, if we are not, and if, in the worst-case scenario, the other party is not amenable to negotiations, then we must be prepared to fight."

Rallen blinked. "You turians always seem to be the ones thinking about fighting every single time. Tell me how well did the Batarian Incident go?"

"They activated a relay against Council law, and were promptly dealt with, I would say."

"Also known as: you saw a bunch of batarian explorers activating a relay in violation of a law they had absolutely no idea of, and then promptly, in turn, destroyed their scouting force, refused their attempts to defuse the situation, engaged them in open battle, and as if to top it all off, doing it all, whilst thinking that they were illegal smugglers, and not even bothering to think, 'hey, maybe they're not smugglers, maybe they are explorers who didn't know the relay was inactive, and just found it.' So, please, tell me how well did the Batarian Incident go, Councilor?"

Corinthius glared at Rallen. "They were in violation of Citadel Law, and, in addition, we did not destroy them all. We gave them the opportunity to surrender, and they refused. As for the matter of the scouts, we had no way of knowing. As I said, there was no evidence, no conjecture, no reason to think otherwise."

"Stop," Tevos raised her hand to stop the two bickering Councilors before things could get worse. "We are here to discuss the Relay 314 situation, not to argue. There is a difference between debating, and arguing."

Corinthius snorted, but Tevos could tell that, even though he had a lot more to say, he kept his mouth shut.

"Now back to the main thing at hand here," she began, placing down her now-empty cup on the table. "I am inclined to agree with Corinthius's proposal to deal with the matter; to send an envoy on standby into the system, and keep waiting for any further development. We should not go through the relay, there are too many uncertainties to consider if we do that. We're on the passive right now, not the active. Let's keep it that way, for now."

She glanced over at her other co-Councilors. "Do you have any objections?"

Rallen's face was completely unreadable. "No, none."

Tevos smiled. "Then I believe the vote is settled. I'll forward the news to the appropriate parties, and make the necessary arrangements."

She leaned back on her chair, sighing.

"Let's hope things go smoothly from now on."

The Prime Minister of the Systems Alliance, Walter Fitzroy, looked blandly at the sights of people going about their daily lives below, the setting sun casting everyone and everything in an orange glow that made for a scene that seemed almost...surreal. Vienna, Austria, the capital of the Systems Alliance, was a beautiful city, even after the centuries, the people, the culture, the architecture, everything, had been preserved, and rebuilt, over and over again.

"What do we know about the situation, Admiral?"

Karl Lütjens, Fleet Admiral, and Chief of Naval Operations, was the first to respond.

"The structure, designated the 'Tuning Fork' for now, sir. A probe sent through it confirmed the theory of it being a variation on the phasegate concept, as well as spotting a single vessel of alien origin and design on the other side. There is too little data to speculate, but I'm guessing it was a scout or a patrol. As the probe swept the skies around the second phasegate-analogue, the unknown vessel made no attempt at communication, although it seemed to be caught unawares by our arrival. We're still monitoring the situation, sir."

Fitzroy nodded. "And what's the plan for dealing with the situation, if and when an engagement occurs?"

Lütjens paused. "Battle Group Kirishima has diverted from their normal training maneuvers to converge at the Shanxi system as reinforcements should things go south. That's four battleships and four light carriers, alongside their respective strike groups, making for a total of 1,600 ships in the system, not counting Patrol 413. More than enough to put a nasty gash into an Abyssal flotila, I daresay."

"Don't be too optimistic, we fought off the Abyssals three-to-one last time and survived by the skin of our teeth. Don't underestimate them."

"Hmm."

The three men lapsed into silence, watching the sun go down, until only a faint orange glow remained.

"So, gentlemen," Fitzroy said, standing up. "I think we have a decision to make, don't we?"

Lütjens stood as well, along with Hachiro.

"I believe we do."

SSV Hatsuse cautiously approached the construct known to humanity as the 'Tuning Fork' alongside with an escort of three destroyers and five frigates, each ship bristling with weapon systems. The nine ships slowly moved through the dark, their engines emitting a soft hum, and their spotlights piercing through the murky darkness like the eyes of a nocturnal predator.

Sakurajima, Executive Officer, watched the scenery beyond the bridge viewports as the engine telegraphs were dialed to Ahead Standard, thrusting the cruiser along at standard velocity. The CIC was the more preferred choice to command the ship when it came to being in a fight, but the bridge? There was plenty of moments where fine maneuvering control, under the guidance of not just sensors but the human Mk. 1 Eyeball was also needed, as well, such as docking with something else or landing. And obviously, when not in combat, there was pretty much no reason not to use the bridge, especially when it's viewports allowed one an unobstructed view of the stars beyond.

"Approaching to transit range," the helmsman reported.

"Understood. Sensors?" Sakurajima inquired.

"Pretty much the usual. Comms sent the construct the mass-transferal request just now, it has confirmed the signal and is waiting for the rest of the ships to form up before sending us all across the void. No other activity detected, aside from the usual."

Sakurajima nodded and relaxed a bit, but only a bit. There was a very real possibility of being jumped by something or someone hostile as soon as they emerged from the transit, and she had no desire to be caught with her pants down. "Alright. Maintain current heading and speed. We should be yeeted cross the galaxy quite soon, I hope."

"I'll hope more on the aliens on the other side not being hostile towards us. I'd hate to have my first real mission in the Alliance Navy be an armed conflict."

"That's always the case with the military, XO. It's not all fun and games. You'd think someone of your age would've realized that by now."

"It's the same everywhere, isn't it? War's never fun, but war's what the military does best."

"...yeah, it still sucks all the same. Last time, we went it up against the Abbies three-to-one and barely survived by the skin of our teeth. I'm not eager to plunge us all into a second one."

"Relay's coming to life," Comms reported from his post down in the CIC. "We're going in five, four, three, two, one..."

A shudder went through the Hatsuse as the structure's gravity fields grabbed her and propelled the cruiser across the void. The jolt wasn't deadly, nor was it unexpected, humanity wasn't idiots when it came to this, they made sure first, from the data recorded on the probe they sent before, that it was safe, and well within tolerances, before they actually sent anything manned through it. Still, the sensation of being yanked through the stars at hundreds of kilometers a second was a strange and unusual one. Sakurajima's grip tightened on her armrests. She didn't want to get launched from her seat, no matter how much the inertial dampeners reduced the g-forces involved...

A second shudder came, indicating the Hatsuse's safe return to normal space from the transit, escorts trailing right behind her. But even as the sensors began to clear up from the incurred static and start working normally again, an alarm suddenly started blaring all across the bridge, causing many to look around in confusion at first. It wasn't an alarm commonly heard, in fact, it was something rarely heard enough that it took quite a few moments for anyone to realize that it was the collision alarm.

"HELM YOU BLITHERING IDIOT!" Sensors practically screamed as the Hatsuse shuddered again, and this time, not from a mere jolt of relay transit, but instead, something much, much more sinister...

Desolas was on the bridge in an instant as other officers filed inside close afterwards, the battle stations alarm wailing in the background giving the place an ambient atmosphere of dread as he did so. "Report!"

"Activity from the relay Superior Captain, multiple ships came through and destroyed the frigate monitoring it. PFS Harikota has been confirmed lost with all hands, unknowns deploying nine ships, a varrenpack of five cruisers length 5-5-0, a detachment of large cruisers length 7-0-0, and a dreadnought, length 1-7-0-0!"

Desolas cast the display a blank look before analyzing the ships that had just come through the relay. Cruisers, the larger ones...

"Something's off, Superior Captain, I'm not detecting any weapons fire," Sensors reported amidst the chaos. "The other three ships are unharmed. Unknowns holding course and reforming formation. It's as if they didn't notice the Harikota's varrenpack."

"But they destroyed the Harikota?"

"Yes, Superior Captain. Telemetry shows that the two ships are very close to each other before loss of signal."

"It could be a short-range weapon that we couldn't detect firing, or something we don't know what to look for. Keep your eyes peeled. Keep me posted on their activities."

"Understood. All ships, form up and prepare to engage them, however, do not fire unless fired upon, I repeat, do not fire unless fired upon. We're not shooting first unless we have a damn good reason."

"How was I supposed to know they were there!?" the helmsman shouted amidst the chaos that engulfed the bridge of the Alliance cruiser. "We went through the Fork like usual, and then suddenly, this alarm is blaring in our faces like we just fucked up six ways to Sunday! How in God's name am I supposed to know that there's that alien ship parked all nice and neatly directly, miraculously, straight in our pathway and on a collision course, when the sensors were still blinded from the Fork shooting us across the void!?"

Alarms blared across the bridge as the Hatsuse swerved sharply to starboard, knocking everyone off their feet for a few brief moments, before steadying again. "They're moving to intercept, and they're not being friendly about it either, they're not returning hails!"

"Can you blame them?" someone else shouted, trying their best to not fall over and land face-first on the floor.

"No, but, can you at least give a guy some time to breathe?"

"Sensors, Helm, Navigation, you three, shut up!" Sakurajima shouted. "It is what it is. Sitrep! We just crashed into one of their ships, did we destroy it?"

"It's...gone," Sensors reported. "The bow is completely shattered, the ship seems completely trashed as far as I can tell. I don't think that ship is going anywhere any time soon, or even coming back. Sorry, but the aliens aren't going to be happy with us after this. We're looking at the situation from a different perspective, but from their point of view, we're the bad guys, we just crashed into their ship and killed hundreds, if not thousands, of their people. They're probably pissed."

"Noted. Any other contacts in the area?"

"We've got a dozen or so ships on our scopes. They're closing fast, looks like they're coming in for an intercept."

"Well, I'm guessing we're not going to be able to talk our way out of this one. We're in no shape to fight. Comms, tell the destroyers to scatter. They should be small and nimble enough to avoid being shot down. Start going evasive, try to keep those guys off until we can figure something out. And DAMCON, get me a damage report. What's trashed now?"

"Shields down to 55% capacity and rebuilding, the crash wasn't enough to quite pop it," the response came. "A few busted power boxes here and there, nothing we can't handle. All systems should work at optimum levels. Hull and armor integrity is fine, the ship's fine. No major damage to speak of."

"Good. And someone tell the frigates to scatter first and make a run for the relay, we're playing rearguard once they and the destroyers are back through!"

"They...what?" Tevos half-asked, half-demmanded, as the aide walked into the Councilor's private chambers with an emergency data packet on his omni-tool, looking a bit flustered and panicked.

"It is what it is," the aide responded. "We're in a bit of a...predicament, right now."

Tevos sighed and put a hand on her head.

The turian Councilor was the first to break the ensuing silence. "So, the unknown party opened fire first."

"We still do not know what has happened exactly, but that is the general gist of things," the aide answered. "As of sixteen minutes ago, a force of five cruisers, three larger cruisers, and a dreadnought, presumably belonging to the unknown race on the other side of Relay 314, have transitioned the relay, and have engaged elements of the Third Patrol Fleet. Upon emergence from the relay they destroyed one frigate, the Harikota, but they left the other ships in the Harikota's varrenpack untouched. Why, we do not know.

The unknown race's detachment scattered shortly afterwards after being intercepted by the local ships in the vicinity. In the ensuring chaos, multiple warning shots were fired, which were responded with in kind by the unknown race's ships as they withdrew. There were no further casualties apart from the Harikota, no further ships have been reported as being destroyed, nor have the unknown's forces attempted to make further contact. However, we have received reports that a small fleet has formed up near the relay and are waiting for orders. Presumably, they intend to pursue the unknown forces. At the moment, the Third Patrol Fleet is on alert, and are standing ready. They are awaiting further orders."

Corinthius snorted. "Then it's obvious what the plan is. Send the Fleet through, and make them know the consequences of messing around with the Hierarchy. A show of strength is the only way we can make them stand down, and, if we're lucky, negotiate with them, or at the very least, get a better understanding of who we're dealing with."

"No," Rallen interjected. "A show of strength is what will drive them away. We cannot send the fleet, we must not. There's no telling what will happen if we do, especially if they have the upper hand. We do not know what their capabilities are. It's not worth the risk. We need to be cautious."

"And let them off the hook for what they did?"

"We don't know why they did it, and we don't know how they did it. It is a mystery, and we need answers, not bodies."

"Then what do you propose?"

Rallen glanced over at Tevos. "We send the envoy. We will send the envoy. It's not a good time, but we cannot afford to let the situation devolve any further than it already has. We have no other choice."

Tevos nodded.

"I concur."

"You mean to tell me our ships, out of all things God could have them do, literally crashed into the alien ones on the other side?" Lütjens asked, looking incredulous.

"Apparently," Katraine Drescher, Battle Group Kirishima's commanding officer, said, "TF Alpha detachment was blinded by transiting the Fork, and happened to be caught unawares by the alien patrol that was guarding the other side. The alien ship, a corvette, was destroyed, but the rest were left unharmed. The alien ships patrolling then began to scatter, and the other ones began to open fire. We traded some warning shots before my ships pulled back the way we came. And here we are. No more contact, the aliens didn't try anything. They seem to have stopped for the time being."

Lütjens sighed and massaged his forehead. "This is a mess, I'll have you know. The aliens are probably furious on the other side of the Fork. God Damn, Lord Jesus Christ..."