Aboard the Galactica

The Battlestar's systems blared warnings across the hull, alarms ringing and wailing like bats outta hell as the crews slowly woke up from their strange jump-induced unconsciousness. On the hangar deck, Lee and Starbuck were barely waking up alongside the rest of their pilots, with Lee murmuring, "Frak me, we should've ditched that damn artifact..." before looking over at Kara. He watched her hunch over the side of the aircraft and spew her breakfast and lunch onto the deck.

Chief Engineer Tyrol had been fairly quick to get back to his feet, it seemed. Him and the rest of the deck crew. He looked up at Starbuck and motioned to the puddle of vomit on the floor, to which Kara simply showed him a familiar, obscene and ancient gesture so-long-reviled by most Humans before hunching over and climbing out when the ladder was installed. Galen Tyrol, a bulky, well-built man in orange and yellow overalls, looked at Apollo and threw his hands up, to which Lee snorted, then swore to himself, damn near doing the same as Starbuck as he felt acrid bile rise in his throat.

He pushed himself out of the cockpit of his viper and jumped out, then stumbled and rubbed his face, finally noting all the flickering lights on their mothership because they gave him a headache. Power seemed to slowly be restoring itself as Chief Tyrol approached him. Tyrol spoke, "Got into contact with the crew near by the FTL Drive. Random connection lead to us doing a blind jump into the middle of nowhere."

"Artifact started glowing, too!" A younger technician by the name of Callie added, her voice rough from throwing her guts up. She wiped her mouth, pallid, then told the Captain and Chief, "Same time we started jumping. By that I mean the whole fleet. I think it synched us, made our ships' jumps weird and sent us gods-know where," as she walked up to them.

"Explains why I saw the Colonial One glow godsdamned blue when she jumped. I gotta tell the commander when I get to him to give a call to the President and the wider fleet," Lee shot back, then swallowed emptily. He coughed, asked, "What about shipwide coms? Can we get a link to CIC?" and looked over to the rest of the staff finally scrambling to their work, dizzy, confused, but alive. Their pilots were evacced from the aircraft and the worst off were thankfully throwing up now.

Callie nodded, "Ship's rebooting as we speak. Give it a minute," then she cleared her throat, quickly apologized to the Chief and had to spit off to the side in a paper towel. Her voice cleared up a bit as she added, "Artificial Gravity and life support remained online, thankfully. And I can hear the engine reverb through the hull, meaning nav and engine systems remained online when we jumped."

"Artifact must've scrambled our jump solution," Tyrol added upon that, "Here's to hoping it did link all our ships together, or I think we're gonna be scraping the fleet up from across the Galaxy as we go," then he breathed a deep sigh. A distant hum filled their ears, then reverbed through the ship again and the lights stabilized, their incessant neon buzzing filling their ears. He pointed up at it with a smile, then sighed and said, "There they are..."

"I'll get to the CIC with Starbuck. Kara, c'mon!" Lee added, seemingly recovering better than most.

"Yeah, yeah," Kara sighed deeply as she stumbled away from her fighter. The two dashed off at a running pace toward the ship's center, while Chief Tyrol and Callie exchanged one quick glance. They sighed and immediately rallied the rest of the Crews back to their positions, getting the Vipers and Raptors into place and ensuring they worked fine. In case they needed to scramble again.

Dashing down the corridors, past crew barely standing due to the misjump, Kara said, "Why the frak did we even pick up that artifact anyway!?" and she led the turn to the left as they moved toward the bridge of the ship. The Combat Information Center was probably rebooting every single defensive system they had available and trying to clear out the confusion. Part of Starbuck prayed they had the common decency to get DRADIS up first so they weren't blind.

"Doc Baltar seems to think it had some sort of significance to our search for Earth!" Lee replied, spring in his step as they surged through the deck, "That, or an ancient and very powerful weapon."

"Take that part out of its description if it fraks with FTL Drives," Kara joked, sidestepping a pair of Marines helping people to their feet. Lee let out a short laugh at that, dodging the Marines, too, and hearing a 'what's the hurry, sirs?' from a younger Crewman. He yelled back to that Crew, "Making sure we're all still alive, Ensign Connelly! Keep moving!"

When they arrived at the CIC, Gaeta and Dee were already working on restoring the two most important systems. Colonel Tigh, wobbly on his feet due to the jump and the nausea, looked to the pair and said, "Well, thank the Gods you two decided to show up. Least we know you're alive," before motioning to Dee and Gaeta and stating, "Shipwide Com and fleet com are still being restored. DRADIS is still frakking down..." then he looked up at the 'REBOOTING' notice and the loading tab, the line being halfway there.

"So, we're blind," Kara quipped.

"For now," Adama reassured them, retaining his usual calm, "Nothing shot at us yet."

Kara then mumbled, "Yeah, yet..." which got a glare from Tigh.

Lee nodded, then leaned over the table and rubbed his eyes, "Ugh, headache..." then said to his father, "Chief and Callie told me the Artifact had something to do. Might've synched our jump coordinates properly across the fleet before..." he took a moment, trying to think of the right words. The headache was screwing with his mind, so he said, "I don't know, scrambling them."

"We figured. The first section of the ship we got back into contact with was Engineering," Tigh nodded, arms crossed. He shook his head and mumbled, "I get the headache, kid. That jump screwed us something fierce..." before looking back up at the DRADIS screens, waiting for them to fix themselves. Gaeta was working overtime, the poor kid. Lee had noticed it rather quickly.

Dee quickly reported, "Sir, shipboard and fleetwide coms are back online. We're getting distress signals from everyone, including the Colonial One. Seems they restored some power ahead of us..." before she sat down, "They're odd, though. Callouts from ships like the Astral Queen and Cloud Nine are stating something about several other unknown ships..."

"... Set the Fleet to Condition One," Adama ordered calmly. He looked to their two pilots and nodded to them, before humming and watching as the DRADIS came back online. Indeed, Colonial Contacts surrounded them at first... Then, almost a hundred new signals flashed on-screen, including one distant, right at the ship's bow. Picking up the ocm, he barked, "Fleet, Condition One! Launch Alert Vipers!"

Duvalla, Dee, seemed to pause, however, as she stated, "Sir! We're receiving Wireless handshakes from the Fleet... Or Fleets, I should say," before she lifted up a transcript, "Calls from two Admirals denoting weapons ready status, but a desire to talk. They're on an open channel, sir, and they're already talking to each-other. They want us on the horn, too."

"Patch them through, but maintain Condition One," Adama nodded. He looked up at the variations of contacts. Large, medium and small. Warships bigger than the Galactica, supporting Cruisers, frigates and fighters swarming around them and the rest of the Colonial Fleet. He added, "When the President's awake, put her through, as well. I feel like she might want to hear this."

"Sir," She replied, "You're linked into the com, sir. It's at your console."

"Thank you, Dee..." Adama replied. He looked to Lee, then to Starbuck, then to Tigh and said to all of them, "Well, wanting to talk to us is a good enough start. Let's see what our friends have to say to us," before putting the large phone up to his ear and speaking, "This is Commander Adama, of the Battlestar Galactica, escort ship of the Colonial Fleet. To all unidentified ships in the Area of Operations, we mean no harm and will not fire unless fired upon. If you copy us, reply to this call."

It took a moment for the static to start, then slowly clear up. A strong, hardy male voice replied, "This is Admiral Thrawn of the Galactic Republic Navy, to Commander Adama. We copy you loud and clear. Is all well on board your fleet, Commander? Our sensors have detected power surges across all of the hundred or so civilian vessels in your care, probably courtesy of your jump vector."

"We're regaining contact with them now, Admiral. Thank you for your concern," Adama said, though even his stoicism couldn't hide that tiny amount of surprise in his voice. Someone who gave a frak about them seemed to surprise even Starbuck and Apollo, the two of them staring with wide eyes at the exchange. Tigh waited with baited breath as the DRADIS's whines filled their ears, marking the allied ships and the launched Vipers.

"Good to see our third friend has finally awoken. This is Doctor Catherine Elisabeth Halsey, of the United Nations Space Command to Commander Adama and Admiral Thrawn," A female voice, elderly, but strong, replied over the com next, "We are an exploration fleet with an armed escort and aren't actively looking for a fight, either, as we've told the Admiral."

"Roger that," Adama breathed a sigh of relief for the collective safety of the Fleet, one that the entire crew almost instinctively shared in. He looked to Dee, put his hand against the microphone and said, "Bring us down to Condition Two. Keep our Alert Vipers out there, just in case," before putting the phone up to his ear again and speaking, "I'm glad to see we're all on speaking terms, then."

"Indeed," Both the Admiral and the Doctor said almost synchronously, which got a short chuckle out of Starbuck. Thrawn spoke next, calm and collected, "We've never heard of either your Colonial Fleet or the United Nations Space Command, Commander and Doctor. I wish to inquire about your business within this sector of space," all while voices of the crew became audible over the com.

"The feeling's mutual, Admiral," Adama replied, "Your factions are unknown to us, though I'm sure you've noticed we also have a fourth unknown present," and he stared at the last vessel that the DRADIS had marked. He looked to Dee, who nodded, "Before we get into any long-term discussions, I'd like to contact them, as well. Ensure they aren't hostile to us."

"Of course," Thrawn replied.

"Certainly." Halsey added.

Dee said, "Com channel open, sir. They accepted the call," before she patched it through so the other two officers of the trio of Fleets might hear it. Adama noticed they weren't moving, thus meaning they were probably hoping they hadn't been spotted. Going by reports he could read and hear over back channels, the Fleet had appeared next to a gas giant. Regardless.

He spoke, "This is Commander Adama to fourth unidentified contact. We mean no harm, but will fire if fired upon..." then simply waited...

"We hear you. This is Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy," He could hear the relief in the woman's voice as she spoke. She let out a short laugh, "Hell, we heard the entire com conversation between you, the Admiral and Doctor. We're not hostile either, we're just stunned. You folks basically appeared in front of us and... Well, spotted us," That seemed to be the part that affected her.

Adama replied, "Of course, we did. Your Frigate may have a small DRADIS Cross-Section, but she's not undetectable," then he leaned forward, "We didn't mean to appear on your patrol vector, however. Our fleet was attempting to escape pursuing enemy vessels," and he watched as Fighter DRADIS marks danced around their motherships like buzzing flies.

"I presume you were not followed," Thrawn decided to interject, then said, "Greetings to you, as well, Commander Shepard," all with the same calm demeanor and voice. IT was almost chilling to hear this commander of the Republic speak, thought several people aboard all warships, but he seemed kind enough. Adama was quick to give confirmation that they were, in fact, not followed by the enemy.

Halsey told them, "It seems that we are safe for now, then, gentlemen. I would like to request a meeting of our command structures aboard one of our vessels. Exchanges over Com are dreadfully boring, even with active holographic communication," which got a short hum of agreement from Thrawn and a quiet one from Adama. Tigh and the others on board the warship seemed to tense.

"This is gonna be fun," Kara murmured sarcastically.

Lee snorted, "Pessimistic much?"

"Look, I'm just saying..." She shrugged. Tigh made a sideways cutting motion with his left and which shut the two pilots up, then looked at Adama again, crossing his arms to his chest. So a doctor, a civvie in charge of a naval force meant for 'exploration' and apparently housing about a dozen ships, plus whatever she was on, wanted to meet the military staff.

The Admiral of the Republic spoke over com, "If we had any ships that could act as neutral ground, though," more throwing the hint toward Commander Shepard, who let out an awkward laugh. Adama appreciated the semi-straightforward request of the man, similar to how clear-cut Halsey seemed to be. He nodded to everyone, then breathed a deep, long sigh.

"Get the President on the next shuttle over," Adama told them, "If discussions are to happen, we're going together. Get a detachment of Marines as escort."

"Sir," Dee replied with a quick salute. They were gonna need the backup to chat and if the Commander agreed, it was best to have their own security. They didn't know each-other, nor the Normandy's crew, so safety was paramount. He sighed and looked over the starmap findings and the Gas Giant location, plus the DRADIS sweep that had detected the Alien artifact their own was interacting with...

"Sir, the... Commander gave the go-ahead," Dee smiled awkwardly. Huh, that solved the meeting point.

He wondered what Thrawn and Halsey would bring.


Aboard the Normandy

Shepard tugged on the collar of her old Alliance uniform, a piece of clothing she was surprised she still had around with her. Normally, she wouldn't have worn it if she wasn't gonna go to her own funeral, but she figured she'd need a better piece of clothing than the standard short-sleeved shirt and cargo pants of Cerberus make. Tugging at and then straightening out her collar, she nodded, then paused at pinning the rank pins.

She swallowed, then sighed deeply. To the Alliance, as far as she knew, she was basically dead. They weren't gonna care if she wore it, right? So why did it feel so wrong to don this uniform now? Perhaps, because she was working for an organization once known as terrorists, she thought. Perhaps because she wasn't alive anymore in the Alliance's eyes specifically. Perhaps-

She heard the doorbell ring, twitching and almost dropping the pins. Breathing in, then out, she called out, "Come in!" as she decided to put them on. Best to look properly presentable. When the holographic lock disappeared and the door slid apart, she saw the familiar, avian figure of Garrus Vakarian appear. Half his face was scarred by a nasty hit from an enemy Gunship on Omega, but he still looked as handsome as ever.

Well, as handsome as a Turian would.

She smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck and asked, "How do I look?"

"Like you didn't die two years ago," Joked the man, also clad in a dress uniform of some sort. She chuckled at that, to which Garrus nodded. He sighed, rubbed his eyes, then said, "Look, Shepard, I'll get straight to the point. Do you really think it's a good idea to have a Cerberus ship be the meeting point for these three weird groups? We're not exactly an Alliance diplomatic vessel."

Shepard nodded, "Which is why I figure it's fine. A private enterprise ship's the 'safest' place to meet as neutral ground. Plus, it'll let me figure these people out and send some information over to Admiral Hackett about them for later meetings..." and she sighed, looking at herself in the mirror again. She patted down the uniform, looked up at the two fish tanks and walked up, tapping a couple of buttons on the holographic screen between them to drop pellets for the various exotic fish to eat.

Garrus hummed, then shrugged, "Alright. Wonder if Hackett's gonna be pissed. I know the moment we report it to the Citadel, it's gonna get their panties in a pretty big twist," and he and Shepard walked toward the elevator. When the Commander hit the button, Garrus quipped, "Miranda's also fuming. She wasn't told ahead of time and now she's the one who has to keep Jack in tow."

Shepard snorted, "Of course. What about Jacob?"

"He's staying in his corner of the ship per his own words. Mordin, meanwhile..." Garrus seemed to wince, or perform an action similar to wincing by pulling his shoulders back a little and opening his mandibles to signify concern. He then switched the subject quickly, "EDI's also fine with staying put, Jack's being Jack and Zaeed's in his little hole in the ship, just staying nice and cozy."

"So it's just you and me... Again..." Snorted Shepard. Garrus nodded approvingly, to which she said, "Honestly, good. Place is getting crowded as it is. A little breathing room while we meet these three new groups of supposed Humans is gonna help," before the elevator stopped and its door hissed open as they arrived on the CIC deck. The crew, all clad in freshly-ironed uniforms now, stood at their posts as usual.

Approaching the Airlock on the left side of the ship's long neck, the pair soon found the first arrival by the noise of the docking clamps and the equalization of pressure. The shuttle didn't really look the part of a shuttle, more of a Stealth Ship like their own. Large and armored and with photoreactive panels meant to provide active camouflage, the UNSC's black ship attached to the Normandy. The Airlock cycled...

And in came the first person. Frail, with greying hair, small and old, Doctor Halsey pushed her glasses onto the bridge of her nose. She was flanked by two seven-foot-tall soldiers clad in bulky-looking, but agile armor sets. One wore a dark green and had the number '117' marked on his chest in white, while the other wore a silver armor with a much larger visor helmet and had the number '087'.

Halsey noticed the Commander first, the woman in the Dress Uniform smiling awkwardly at the scientist with a steel gaze. Then, she saw the alien. At around the same time, both soldiers with her also did, seemingly tensing. Garrus, awkward as could be, simply gave a wave with his three-fingered hand. The Doctor spoke to Shepard, "I would presume this is one of your crew?"

"Yeah, this is Garrus. He's an old friend from back in the day," Shepard offered, smiling awkwardly.

Halsey nodded at that, convinced enough, then said, "A pleasure to meet you both, then, Commander. Mister Garrus," and extended her hand. The soldiers behind her seemed to calm down a little. To heavily emphasize LITTLE. They still looked ready to rip and tear through the ship like living blenders. Shepard awkwardly laughed and shook the woman's hand, while Garrus simply remained quiet.

"Good to meet you, too, doctor," Garrus replied for both himself and the Commander. He motioned to the left and said, "I'll take you and your guys to the meeting room in the back of the ship," before he started leading the way. Halsey nodded in thanks and showed her troops to follow with a small wave of her hand. She and the pair of supersoldiers stepped off with Garrus.

Shepard mumbled, "Don't do anything stupid, Vakarian. I need my shooter... And my drinking buddy," and smiled. Despite hearing the fading clangs of the heavily-armored soldiers' footsteps, she still felt at ease enough aboard her own ship. In the meanwhile, though, she had to wait as she heard the strange UNSC ship decouple. It veered to within sight of the windows and then flew off. It disappeared next as its active camo kicked in, to which Shepard whispered, "That's how their Stealth works, huh...?"

"I want one of those!" Joker yelled as he looked back at Shepard.

"Talks go well, maybe we can get one, Joker," She replied, putting her hands behind her back and interlacing her fingers. The second shuttle soon announced its arrival, its engines gently puffing with the aid of RCS thrusters to ensure a proper docking procedure. When the airlock cycled again and the door opened, Commander Shepard was face-to-face with Commander Adama, the elderly man in charge of the Galactica. Not only that, but beside him was a brown-haired woman with glasses and a suit, an aide of hers who looked young and a bunch of black-clad Marines with strange rifles bringing up the rear.

The Commanders saluted each-other, with Adama stating, "Commander Shepard. Thank you for having this meeting aboard your ship," before motioning to the woman on his left and stating, "This is the acting President of the Colonies, Laura Roslin," to which Shepard's eyes widened. She snapped a salute toward Roslin as well. The woman smiled kindly at Shepard, like a mother staring at her daughter, then simply extended her hand.

Shepard, surprised, shook it. Roslin told her, "You have our thanks from the whole of the Colonial Fleet. Both I and the Commander agree that it is imperative we don't start another shooting war on top of the one we have right now..." as she turned to their escorting Marines and made sure their weapons were on 'Safe' by eyeballing them. Once satisfied, she turned to face Shepard again.

"Bad news, ma'am?" Shepard asked.

Roslin nodded, "Fairly. Mind taking us to the meeting room?"

"Sure, but we should probably wait for Admiral Thrawn to make it here. We've only got me and another of my command staff here to take people to the meeting room, so," She told them. Both seemed understanding enough, simply stepping out of the way of the Airlock. Adama gave a signal to the crews on the other side and the ships began decoupling procedures. Shepard activated her Omni-Tool, surprising both of them, before turning to see their faces. She blinked, said, "OH, right... This is an Omni-Tool. Handheld supercomputer, 3D Printer and a lot of other stuff. I was just checking my watch."

"Huh," Both elderly people let out while the Marines exchanged looks. She shrugged and turned it off, then sighed and straightened her posture again, waiting for their last Guest of Honor to arrive. The last shuttle arrived next, a tri-wing design with a large maw. It looked slightly threatening, but it, too, utilized its thrusters and antigrav properties to dock with the vessel, a cordon seemingly extending from the mouth and linking with the mouth. The vessel attached itself to the ship's airlock, it cycled...

And then the door opened a certain chill filled the room, like the temperature had just suddenly dropped to subzero temperatures. It wasn't the imposing height of the man at six feet tall. It wasn't the grey uniform and the rank pins on his chest, nor the dark blue skin and burning red eyes matched with a hair so black, it seemed to almost be swallowing the night. It wasn't even the four or so soldiers clad in white armor, their faces obscured and black weapons held at parade rest, that stood behind him.

Admiral Thrawn's mere presence seemed to instill a sense of respect for anyone watching. He was purely professional, not even a speck of dust on his uniform or the battle gear of his soldiers. Shepard and Adama both stared at the imposing, alien-yet-human-looking man as his burning red eyes examined both of them and President Roslin. He was, by all accounts, first to salute the pair, his imposing voice sounding a little more menacing, yet strangely and disparately warm, as he greeted, "Commander Shepard. Commander Adama."

Both officers saluted, with Shepard swallowing her fears and feeling her heart thump in her chest. She said, "Welcome aboard the Normandy, Admiral. These are Commander Adama and President Roslin, of the Colonial Fleet," and both of them stepped forward as Thrawn extended his hand. The Marines and the man's soldiers exchanged quick looks as tension filled the air.

"Admiral," The Commander shook the man's hand.

"A pleasure," Roslin spoke, smiling despite the chill in her spine.

Thrawn replied, "The pleasure is all mine, ladies, Commander Adama," with a soothing voice. He seemed to be sizing them all up.

Roslin looked to Shepard and asked, "Commander, mind leading us to the meeting room?"

Shepard, well aware of the woman trying to avoid the awkwardness, nodded and showed them to follow. The group with their escorting marines marched through the wide CIC, with Shepard giving a quick nod to Kelly Chambers, her yeoman, to get something ready. Walking into the cramped rear areas, the group then marched into the wider room at the rear through a set of hallways, finding themselves in an enclosed area with a center ovoid table with the top and bottom smoothed out into two parallel, straight lines.

Already present on the deck was Doctor Halsey, whose eyes only slightly widened as she saw Thrawn. The two figures locked eyes and the room seemed to further chill as Adama and Roslin took their positions at the left side of the table, their Marines lined up behind them like Halsey's own two soldiers were behind her. It was then that Shepard and the others noticed that Halsey herself seemed a bit different than your average doctor. Something about her felt dangerous.

Shepard joined Garrus at the opposite end of the table to Halsey and the alien whispered to her, "You know, it's not usual I feel ghost feathers standing on end on my neck, but this meeting feels like we're sitting on a landmine waiting to go off," to which Shepard hummed in agreement. Thrawn greeted everyone with a nod and walked up to the side of the table opposite Adama and Roslin.

As the room went silent, Shepard stepped up to the table and said, "Seeing as we're all here, finally, all I can say to you, ladies and gentlemen is welcome aboard the SSV Normandy. Normally, I would say this ship serves as part of the Alliance Navy, however..." She sighed deeply, "There are a lot of long stories to be told today and I won't be the one to start with mine, because it'd be almost unbelievable, sans the fact I'm standing here. Let's start with the beginning, though."

"Indeed," Thrawn nodded, "We've already had our introductions over the com, so we may skip the pleasantries."

"Agreed," Adama replied with a nod. He told the group, "A question, if I might? How did the rest of you arrive here?" which caused the room to go quiet for the moment. He told them, "We arrived here by being in the possession of a strange alien Artifact we discovered just before we were attacked and had to make an emergency jump. I figure it best to get this out of the way first."

Halsey replied, "Of course. We arrived here through an alien artifact as well, one resembling the very item hanging in orbit above the Gas Giant we are currently next to," and she leaned forward. She seemed to be examining everyone, much like Thrawn. Thrawn himself, meanwhile, seemed to find some form of equal within her by the way he stared:like he was looking at a problem he was trying to solve.

"Much the same as us, then," Thrawn added. He looked over to Shepard and asked, "Commander?"

"W-We jumped here utilizing our own FTL... No artifact, no nothing, just standard Eezoo-based Faster-Than-Light Travel through a Mass Relay..." Shepard replied, stunned and taking a moment to process all of this information. It took her a second, but when she parsed through all that was said, she cocked her head to Adama and Roslin and asked, "Wait, attacked-?!"

Halsey hummed, "So. Native to this Galaxy, then?" And that seemed to turn the entire meeting on its head, all members looking at her with surprise, Garrus himself clearing his throat. She looked around at everyone, then said, "Yes? Are you surprised to hear this? The item we've all certainly run into here, sans Commander Shepard and her ship, was an alien device, ancient, perhaps ten million years old. A Star Road, as it is referred to by the records in the control console, which is-"

"Approximately ten times newer," Thrawn completed, surprising the room again, Halsey included. He recounted, "Barely a hundred thousand years old, give or take maybe twenty thousand," and he leaned against the table. He added, "A device named as such probably infers travel between two different locations, if not more..." and his volume dropped to that of a whisper as it all sank in, "Said locations potentially being entire new Galaxies..."

Adama breathed, "This is incredible," seeming completely stunned. Shepard understood that very well, considering what she was hearing sounded nothing short of a Science-Fiction affair. He told them, "And you think the artifact we have aboard our ship did this to us? Brought us here?" And he also asked the upcoming and most pressing matter for the Colonials. That being, "Can it be reversed?"

"It should be possible," Halsey offered, which seemed to calm down the two Colonial Officials, "These Star Roads seem to have two lanes, one for each way, so to speak," then she looked to Thrawn, "And they are powered by artificial event horizons, meaning a seemingly infinite amount of energy to keep them active, with the added caveat of maintaining the Black Hole's stability."

Thrawn hummed, then agreed, "Indeed."

Shepard whispered, "I want Mordin in here. The Eggheads seem to be enjoying the chatter and I wanna understand it," to Garrus, who let out a short laugh, then held onto his mandible. Sighing, she cleared her throat and asked, "Pardon me, ladies and gentlemen. If I may cut off the science babble for a bit," and she eyed the Colonials, asking, "Attacked?"

Adama looked to his President, who nodded. He turned to face the Commander and replied, "Yes, attacked. The enemy that drove us from our homes was pursuing us when we made the jump," then he leaned on the table, too, using both hands for support. Seeing a little confusion amidst the people, he told them, "A race of machines we created to serve us, the Cylon, rebelled almost 40 years ago and decided it'd be fun to start a genocidal war against us. We won the First war... Second one has turned a little sour, as can be seen by the convoy of ships behind us."

"We're the last of our people," added Roslin, "Almost fifty-thousand souls."

"Out of how many?" Halsey asked rather harshly, suddenly interested., eyes locking onto the pair.

Adama sighed, "I don't recall the exact number on the last Census the 12 Colonies Government took, but we were reaching tens of billions on each of our worlds," then he told them, "The bastards hit us hard and fast. Nuked all twelve colonies. Fifty megaton warheads on each major city and military installation as far as we know," and he saw Halsey's eyes seemingly light ablaze, despite her calm demeanor. Her two escorting armored figures tensed again, looking to one-another and simply exchanging small-talk.

"Christ," Shepard whispered, a little mortified. She looked to Garrus and said, "They're almost like the Quarians..."

Garrus nodded, "Tali's gonna like them," before watching Doctor Halsey process the situation. Thrawn didn't dare say another word and his own troopers didn't seem to flinch at the thought, though Shepard could faintly hear the grips on their rifles tighten, the undersuit gloves crinkling up and squeaking a little against the hard metal of their strange weaponry.

Halsey breathed a sigh and took off her glasses, "An all-too-familiar thing for us. We've had a similar genocidal war, though in our case, it was not against our own creations," and she started cleaning them with the handkerchief in her left breast pocket, "Instead, we found ourselves facing a theocratic alien hegemony. To make a long story short, our victory was more akin to winning our right to live. Thirty-three billion dead across hundreds of colonies in twenty-seven years... How long did it take these 'Cylon' to do what they did to you?"

"Hours," Roslin replied, then narrowed her lips and swallowed, trying to stifle her tears. She soon saw Thrawn's face, a stone mask, colored blue, but very human. His burning red eyes, however, did not hide the fury like the poker face he was trying to put on. It was, however, not just fury. IT was him trying to understand why supposedly sentient creatures would do something like this so easily.

Thrawn had always been someone to care about the intricacies of Conflict. Studying and learning about his enemies had always been a passion, one he took from the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force all the way to his Service as a member of the Republic Admiralty. He wanted to meet these automatons, these 'Cylon', learn what made them tick, understand them... And perhaps destroy them before they posed a threat to much grander plans. He noticed all eyes were on him, cleared his throat and spoke, "Apologies... That is truly a horrific crime. Especially for automata you made to help you. Any ideas why they rebelled?"

"None," Adama shook his head, "If there was a reason written down, it's been lost in the fires that burned Caprica, Picon, Tauron and all of our other Colonies," before he straightened out, "What about you, then, sir? It isn't usual for an Admiral to come by with a fully armed Fleet for an exploration or science job without there being a War on. Or the Department of Defense of your Republic asked you to..."

"Indeed," The man replied with a nod, "Astute, Commander. The Republic itself is in its fifth year of a War against a group of secessionists. Well-armed and well-equipped. It's been a long conflict and it was also one of the reasons I was sent to the location of the 'Star Road' in our Galaxy. The Republic wanted some form of weapon or tool to turn the tide and our Galaxy is surprisingly filled with Ancient items from long-dead empires."

"Sounds like we all have our own problems, though our War is thankfully over," Halsey replied. She looked at Shepard and asked, "What about you, Commander?"

"It's a genuinely long story, ma'am, but I can boil it down to the following:We're on the trail of people kidnapping human colonists from the place you wound up in. All we know is they may be working with another problem we face in this Galaxy..." Shepard told them, "Another extra-galactic affair. A dirty one that may come bite us in the ass sooner than any of us expect. I think we'll need the information."

"I see," Halsey hummed, "I would suggest we bring this discussion to an end and prepare to bring on ambassadors and envoys, but I'm sure we can all agree that the matters at hand can only truly serve to bring the participants of this little meeting together," and she looked around. The three other military officers nodded, to which she replied, "Very good. Madam President Roslin, we'll send people of our own to talk to you."

"As will we," Thrawn nodded, then looked to Shepard, "And you, Commander?"

"I'll contact some friends in the Alliance. Get envoys here as well," Shepard replied with a nod, "They'll all sure as hell wanna know about all this," then she crossed her arms to her chest. She almost wanted to scream from the flurry of new information and the god-damn briefing she was gonna have to give everyone about the situation, all while having to talk to The Illusive Man and juggle all this other Collector Business.

As the meeting adjourned, Halsey decided to speak, "One more thing. A suggestion to start this cooperation out right and one that can be hashed out by the civilian and military sides alike," to which everyone looked at her. She stated, "A Waystation, built around the Star Road Terminus here, so we may organize coming and going vessels from all three Galaxies and prepare to make First Contact with the rest of this place."

"A good idea," Roslin nodded, "Perhaps even an added defense fleet to deal with hostile incursions from all sides."

Nods of approval and hums of agreement echoed from all those in the meeting. It wasn't long before that, then, that Commander Shepard had decided to escort everyone out with Garrus's help and lead them to the Hangar, where their shuttles could potentially land to pick them up. Her head was swimming in information, in numbers, in the sheer scale of the crap around her and in the fact that two separate factions of the three they'd just met went through hell.

Christ, she needed a drink right now.