If you recognise it, I probably don't own it. Mass effect belongs to BioWare and Microsoft.
here are some important stuff.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
~"AI"~
*Sound Effects*
POV/Location/Time Change.
.°
Chapter 4: First Contact
I
June 10, ES
Deep Exploration Fleet,1274 LY from Sol
Dr Kayla Paige, Chief of the 13th exploration fleet, was staring out of the command deck of her ship, The Valiant Royale watching as the research ships completed the scans of the mass relay.
"Thats only the third one we have found so far. They seem to be rarer than we thought." She says aloud.
"Yes ma'am, we had assumed the network would be far more expansive considering the Protheans claimed to have a galactic empire. But with these new numbers the Relays would connect just over 2% of the star systems." Captain Cedar, the CO of the ship says.
Suddenly a holo communication pops up on the control panel from one of the ships working on the Relay. The face is of a young man, probably in his late twenties.
"Ma'am, Sir, our sensors are detecting relay activation from the other side!"
"Pull back your ships to a safe distance, we are probably dealing with a first contact." Captain Cedar orders.
With multiple confirmations, the dozen or so ships pull back behind the more numerous military ships. As everyone waited with bated breath for what would certainly be a landmark moment in human history.
Suddenly a ship with beautiful curves emerges from the relay, immediately followed by two Avian looking ships. As soon as the Avian looking ships emerge they begin firing on the first ship.
Rael Zorah stared out of his command deck, at the purple and white behemoth of a ship in front of him as soon as they emerged from the relay. "By the ancestors… Wh-What- How big is that ship in front?"
"Si-Six Kilometres sir…and it doesn't match any known designs! It's First Contact!" the aide from before replies.
"Six Kilometres!" Captain Zorah exclaims then quickly orders "Hail that ship! Now!"
"But Sir they won't understand our…"
"I said hail them!" Suddenly the ship is rocked by impacts as the Batarian ships exit the relay and begin firing on them.
"Send first contact packages to all of the new ships" Dr Kayla orders.
~"First Contact Package Sent Ma'am"~ L3N4 or 'Lena' the resident AI of the Valiant Royale replies.
"Excellent. Now let's wait."
"Captain! We've just recieved a first contact package from the largest ship!" the aide says to captain Zorah.
"Sir it looks like the unknown ships have sent a first contact package." the batarian comms officer says to his captain.
"Primitives then? What a lucky day, we can get our hands on not only suit rats but also a new species! New species go for quite high prices on the market…." The Batarian captain proclaims. "Hail them. Let's see if we can keep them busy till the commander arrives."
~"Sir, Ma'am, we are recieving hails from the first ship and the larger Avian ship."~ Lena says.
"Scan for digital attacks and then connect on a isolated system." Captain Cedar orders.
Soon two images pop up on the screens. One is of a humanoid male wearing a purple-grey suit of some kind and a sealed helmet with a near opaque glass visor which only shows the eyes. The other is also a humanoid male but this one has four eyes, yellow skin and… tentacles? on his face.
"Evitimirp won rednerrus! Lufniap ssel eb lliw ti!" The yellow one says as if ordering, then he cuts off the feed. Then after a few moments, the Avian looking ships leave through the relay.
"Pleh su! Eseht setarip tnaw evalsne su dna uoy oot!" The one in the purple suit says in a tone that sounds like he's pleading.
~"Sir, we've received a first contact package from the purple aliens. Working on building a translation matrix"~ Lena says to Captain Cedar.
Rael Zorah, is in a quandry, on one hand, the Batarians have stopped shooting at his ship in order to talk with the unknown Aliens, on the other hand the Batarians had stopped shooting at his ship to talk to the unknown Aliens. Could they then be working together? Or did the Batarians have some other plans? As he was contemplating this, the behemoth of a ship answered his hail. The holoscreen was occupied by the visage of an Asari like alien, probably male, with dull bronze skin, a scar on his left cheek, and eyes that showed his experience.
Seeing He quickly orders a first contact package to be sent in return.
Captain Cedar watches as the yellow aliens with their Avian ships leave through the relay, then focuses on the purple aliens, who seem to have sent over a first contact package.
"Lena, can you use the package to make the translation matrix faster?"
~"Yes Sir, the Language Samples Provided in the Package are Sufficient to Develop a Rudimentary Translation Matrix."~
~"Matrix Complete. You Can Now Converse with these 'Quarians' in Basic 'Khelish'."~
Captain Cedar nods and faces the communication screen.
"Quarian Captain, this is Captain Cedar of the SSV Valiant Royale research ship of the Sol Confederation, do you read me?"
"Ye-Yes, this is Captain Rael Zorah of the Quarian Migrant fleet." 'Six kilometers! For a research ship?!' he thinks to himself.
"If you're amiable to meet face to face, perhaps you could send a shuttle to our ship?"
~~~~~~~xxxxx~~~~~~~~~xxxxxx~~~~~~~~
16:00 hours, June 11, 2300 Earth Standard.
Sector S8, Shanxi Theta System.
The Asari Exploration Vessel comes out of the Relay, the first thing Matriarch Polinia sees is almost a dozen massive black, blocky ships arrayed in front of the relay, surrounded by numerous more smaller ships of various sizes. Leading the formation is a behemoth of a ship that Dwarfs any ship she had ever seen. Before she could ask, one of her assistants speaks up.
"There are atleast 140 ships in front of us… 60 of which are dreadnoughts!… the largest one is… By the Godess! 10 Kilometres!"
"More than double-even triple the size of the Destiny Ascension!" Mattriarch Polinia gasps
"Ma'am, we're getting a hail from the Largest ship! They're sending over a first contact package!" The assistant from before announces.
"Send ours in return. Whoever these people are… they could be a powerful ally… or the greatest threat to the Citadel…." 'And to Asari supremacy' goes unspoken.
'no there's still hope! with our lifespan we could subvert and assimilate their technology. Then asari dominance will be all but guaranteed for centuries to come!' Matriarch Polinia thinks to herself.
"Anything in reply? Raiqa" She says to her assistant.
"No ma'am… *beep* recieving transmission ma'am… it looks like it's in Prothean. Translating now…." Raiqa replies. "It seems they're asking us to send over a shuttle to carry out diplomatic talks it seems… they have also forwarded a flight path…. And they're allowing you six guards."
"okay… I'm going personally, Raiqa follow me." Matriarch Polinia says.
Soon the shuttle is cruising through the void of space through the fleet, following the flight path.
"Look at those broadside guns… they don't look anything like our mass accelerators! They almost look like larger GARDIAN Lazers!" One of the Asari commandos wonders aloud.
"Perhaps they use a different design aesthetics, we all know energy weapons are impossible. This is just standard military posturing in order to awe us. " Matriarch Polinia chides.
Soon they reach the massive hangar of the ship. The ships passes through some sort of shield that holds in the air. The interior of the hangar is massive, and numerous fightercraft and smaller ships are arrayed on the sides. In the middle is some sort of a military formation, made up of asari like soldiers in Jet black Armour. In Front of it are two figures, one in a Black uniform and the other in Blue.
The shuttle lands and the airlocks open. Matriarch Polinia steps out followed by Raiqa and her commandos.
The figures in front of her are very asari like, the one in white is exact like an Asari but with a light brownish almost white-pink skin and brown hair on her head that comes down to her shoulders. By the looks of things probably a female.
The one in Blue, looks similar to what a hypothetical male asari would look like. He is a bit larger, with wider shoulders, with a slightly darker brown skin, and very short brown hair on his head.
Before she can say anything the female in white speaks up.
"Greetings, I am Admiral Kastine Drescher, incharge of this fleet and Captain of this magnificent Vessel, The Cosmocrator. I greet you on behalf of the Human Sol Confederation. Accompanying me is General Williams, Commander of the Marine complement of the fleet."
"Greetings." General Williams speaks curtly.
"I am Matriarch Polinia of the Asari Republics representative of the Citade…"
As Matriarch Polinia replues, it hits her, 'both of them spoke in…' Before she can finish her line of thought, Raiqa speaks up, rather loudly. "How are you speaking so fluently in High Thessian?"
Matriarch Polinia elbows Raiqa and says "Forgive my assistant's brashness, but yes we would like to know, how you know our language."
"From your first contact package. There were enough speech samples for our AI to make up a language codex."
"AI! Geth!" One asari commando shouts and then all of them point their guns at the humans. The human commandos also do the same.
"Calm down! What happened? Did we say something wrong?" Admiral Drescher orders and then asks the Asari.
"Yo-You said you use AI!" Matriarch Polinia exclaims.
"Guns down! Let them explain!" Matriarch Polinia says after composing herself a bit.
"So? We have been using AI for more than 3 centuries, and even they are not sentient yet, I don't see what is the problem?"
"N-Not Sentient? But how is it AI if it's not sentient?" Raiqa asks before Matriarch Polinia could answer.
"If it were sentient it would be an AGI." Admiral Drescher explains.
"Oh, so you call VIs AI." Mattriarch Polinia says releasing a breath she did not realise she was holding.
"I apologise for the panic. We have had some bad experiences with sentient Ai, and my soldiers are a bit on edge." Matriarch Polinia says, while giving an angry look at her commandos.
"It's no problem. Thankfully the misunderstanding was cleared." General Williams says, trying to diffuse the situation.
"Perhaps it would be better if we switch locations to somewhere more comfortable? Our diplomats will be arriving in an hour or so." Admiral Drescher says.
"Yes, perhaps that would be better." Matriarch Polinia agrees.
"If you would follow me." General Williams says.
Soon they are walking through the halls of the ship. The halls are quite large and smooth but have no noticeable decorations. They have white curved walls and a black floor with light strips running along the edges.
Soon they enter a large room. This one is quite well decorated, with beautiful paintings, wooden furniture and floors, carpets, small statues and even some potted plants. In the centre is a long wooden table surrounded by chairs.
"Please take a seat." General Williams says.
"Thank you. The table is quite nice." Matriarch Polinia says as she and Raiqa sit in the chairs while the asari commandos stand behind her.
"It's authentic 200 year old Mahogany from earth, and quite expensive." General Williams says and then leaves them.
"These humans can decorate quite well when they want to. I almost thought they would be like the turians with all their military posturing and such." Polinia says.
"And they look so much like us Asari! And that male, General Williams looked so handsome!" Raiqa says.
"For once Raiqa, stop acting like a hormonal maiden! Were on a diplomatic mission not to gawk at them!" Matriarch Polinia chides through gritted teeth.
"Yes ma'am, sorry ma'am." Raiqa says.
Thery spend some time looking at and appraising the examples of human culture. After a while the doors open and a woman walks in. She has light brown skin and long straight black hair tied in a ponytail. She is wearing a long white flowing dress gown, with assymetrical sleeves. Her right sleeve ends at the shoulder while the left sleeve goes upto her wrist and ends in a frayed petal like design. The gown has designs and embroidery in gold, forming some dort of bird creature (a crane) and there are blue gemstones embedded in the eyes. She is wearing high heels and gold jewellery in the form of a diamond necklace and bangles. There's a slit on the left side of the skirt of the gown, showing a bit of her leg.
"Greetings, I am Anita Goyle, Diplomat and representative of the Sol Confederation." The woman says with a gesture where she brings both her hands together up in front of her and bows slightly (namaste gesture).
Anita takes a seat on the other end of the table and continues "Shall we begin with the talks then?"
"Yes, Let's." Matriarch Polinia says.
"Then let us begin by you telling your Turian friends to stop shooting at our ships? It's not doing any damage but it's getting annoying."
"Wha-What!?" Matriarch Polinia Exclaims.
XXXXXX~~~~~~XXXXXXXX~~~~~~XXXXXX
Lore Time!
Deep Exploration Fleets: Since the 2150s multiple fleets have been dispatched by SoCon in order to explore the galaxy at large. These fleets have 30 to sometimes even 80 ships capable of long term self sustenance. They are a mix of military and science ships, and mission lengths can sometimes even range into multiple years.
Sizes: I decided on a dice roll that 1 human kilometre is 2 Citadel Kilometres.
The Valiant Royale: The Valiant Royale is the First and Last of the Valiant line of ships. It was a foray into reducing the size of Plasma weapon systems to be fitted on smaller ships. While the Plasma weapons didn't work as intended, the advanced sensors and targetting systems allowed for it to be converted into a brilliant research ship. It's equipped with the best sesor suites in SoCon and can scan through the insides of planets and ships. At about 3 km long, 700m wide and 1.2 km deep it's shaped like water based ships of old. It features a purple and white outer design, and a very luxurious interior with wooden floors and carpets and such.
The Cosmocrator: It is a standard Supercarrier design, imagine the UNSC infinity but with two massive external thrusters at the back.
Designer Room: Every ship under SoCon has one or multiple well decorated recreation and relaxation rooms. These are often extravagant and luxurious. Entry is allowed by turns and usually it takes 1-2 weeks for the same individual to get a turn.
Any bits you need explanation on, write in the review section!
A/N
Echoside Your points have been noted. And there are a few reasons things are the way they are.
1. They can harvest eezo from the relays because if most of it is exposed in that glowing blue vote thingy and even then it takes them a couple of years.
2. Swarm completion really only depends on the needs of the civilization building it. If you only need a certain fraction of the energy why bother building the rest of it? Also, they didn't want to completely crash the lunar economy. Plus lobbying and politics and stuff.
3. Programmable matter….well that's spoiler territory. There's inlore reasons, to be revealed later. Also it's too OP early game.
4. And as for the age thing, I know they could be virtually immortal with nanites and genetic engineering, and they mostly are in lore too. The number 2000 is just one I picked randomly, because it just happens to be double the max age of the Asari. Oh and also, it's just been 300 years since ascension and the government doesn't want to tell everyone they're immortal because of cultural and mental health reasons.
Everyone else, thank you for the reviews. Except that one person that wrote, they're disappointed. Your disappointment or lack there of doesn't matter. If you have constructive criticism, then I will make sure to take it into consideration. I write because I feel like writing, and I will continue till I want to irrespective of opinion.
I might not individually reply to every review, but I do read all of them. So write as many reviews as you want, I will read them all. Just don't write stuff like "I'm disappointed" without adding what you find wrong after it. Hell even the guy who wrote "please use grammarly" shared more useful criticism.