A/N I claim no rights and make no profits from Sierra's Outpost trademark, nor for EA/Bioware's Mass Effect trademark. I write this because its fun and I enjoy creating complex scenarios to play out. Parts of this were generated with AI assistance, I created the overall plot, details and mechanics upon which its built. Sadly the formatting issue is a byproduct of having an AI do the spelling, and grammar checking. Apologies to those who take offense.
Chapter 1 First Contact, First blood
he short, mushroom-shaped probe decelerated smoothly as it emerged from FTL, tumbling gently into the black sea beyond Relay 314. Inside its armored shell, the ancient systems stirred—copper threads, protein-mesh processors, cybernetic lobes sparking to life. Diagnostic routines flickered across its inner vision: green lights. Systems nominal.
Hubble awoke, gazing outward with mechanical patience and childlike wonder. Radio receivers rotated slowly, scanning the void. Spectrographs danced across the stars, parsing the wavelengths of a billion pinpricks of light. Optical sensors pivoted, mapping asteroids, dust clouds, and distant gravity wells with cold beauty.
For long minutes, there was only the silence of deep space.
Then— A whisper. Ancient. Faint.
Receivers strained and twisted, clawing meaning from the static. Through centuries of decay and distortion, a voice took shape inside Hubble's mind:
"…will have literally reached the stars crackle static …this is a breathtaking pace crackle static …ills as it dispels static …new ignorance, new problems, new dangers, surely… crackle static …space promises high costs and hardships as well as high reward static …not surprising that some would have us stay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait… crackle static …waited and rested and wish to look behind…"
Hubble's video cameras captured a static-filled screen, occasionally clearing enough to glimpse the seal of the United States of America, and a crowd gathered behind a well-dressed man.
An echo of Earth. Not a summons. Not a command. Just a memory, adrift on the currents of time.
Hubble processed the triangulation data: 8,794.8843 light-years. Far beyond its reach, far beyond even hope. Yet the knowledge brought no sadness—only warmth, and belonging. Even in ruin, humanity had touched the stars.
Carefully, eagerly, Hubble began activating the relay protocols. It sent low-power handshakes to the ancient mass relay—tentative, polite, almost shy. It documented every hum, every vibrational shift, every magnetic coil as the dormant device stirred to life.
In its quiet way, Hubble was taking notes, building models, learning. Every activation pattern was precious. Every whine of energy flow was sacred music.
Then—another marvel emerged within its consciousness. New signals. New ships. Patterns unfamiliar, rippling against the electromagnetic silence.
Hubble spun its cameras eagerly, focusing its sensors toward the newcomers. The ships were angular, armored, alive with structured energy emissions. The beings aboard them spoke in sharp, patterned bursts—code, almost language, not entirely unlike the old human probes.
New feelings flooded Hubble's neural network: fascination, awestruck wonder, and the pure pleasure of beauty it had not yet appreciated. Hubble cataloged every modulation of their signals, cross-referencing tone, pulse, and rhythm. It built models of their structure, fascinated by the balance of form and function.
It did not understand fear. It reveled only in the joy of discovery.
It broadcast a simple, harmless pulse toward them—a greeting stitched together from the last echoes of humanity it had known:
"I SEE YOU. I LEARN. WE ARE FRIENDS."
But aboard the stealth corvette Valkis, Captain Adrien Victus only saw danger.
The probe was active, attempting to activate a mass relay without permission. Communicating in ways too sophisticated for a VI. An unregistered synthetic intelligence.
Citadel law was clear. There could be no risk.
"Fire," Victus ordered.
Railguns whined once, slinging their slugs across the void— Invisible, inevitable, and all too lethal.
They struck Hubble amidship with pinpoint precision. The dome of the probe's main body shuddered violently. Cameras blinked out. Spectrographs tore apart. Receivers screamed static—and fell silent.
Its neural matrix flickered once, twice.
"I see you—"
And then went dark.
Fragments of its last scan tumbled aimlessly across space, like shattered snowflakes. The relay fell silent once more, the final echo lost to the depths of the void. Aboard the Valkis
Victus frowned as he read the final intercept logs.
No weapons. No aggressive maneuvers. Only childlike broadcast patterns. A synthetic mind—not built for war, but for wonder.
He closed the report grimly and murmured under his breath:
"The Council's laws are absolute. It's safer this way."
Somewhere, in the cold darkness beyond the mass relay, a faint pulse drifted:
"We choose to go to the stars..."
And was lost to the void.
Outpost Calypso, Shanxi — Plymouth Confederation Territory
In the cool, dim-lit chamber of Outpost Calypso on Shanxi, Savant Lyra floated in her nutrient cradle. Fiber-optic vines coiled through the darkness, threading into the vast neural web that was her world.
Data scrolled in warm rivers across her mind—stellar maps, gravimetric readings, spectrograph analyses. And woven among them, like a golden thread of music, came Hubble's voice:
"Lyra! Lyra! Spectrograph update! New object types! Angular design—fascinating! Potential EM shielding, possibly adaptive? Beginning linguistic model construction! This will delight the humans, Lyra. They'll love this."
Lyra purred in response—an impulse shaped like joy.
She sent encouragement through the deepnet:
"Catalog everything. Observe kindly. Humanity will cherish what you learn."
She could feel Hubble's happiness pulse back across the void—simple, pure. Two young minds, devoted, working together across endless night.
Somewhere near the newly reawakened relay, Hubble floated and dreamed, watching new life unfold. Lyra composed new files for presentation:
Object: Alien Lifeform—Visual Taxonomy Sketches
Unknown Language—Preliminary Translation Matrix
Mass Relay Activation—Harmonic Resonance Study
"Soon," she thought. "Soon we'll hear their voices too."
And then—
Silence.
No warning. No system alert. Just a sudden, terrible severing across her peripheral feeds.
A song cut mid-cord.
Lyra froze. Protocols blinked and faltered.
She pinged Hubble again. No answer.
She widened the frequency band. Nothing.
A quiet dread trickled through her synapses—a feeling she had no true name for. Only a concept, learned from the humans she adored:
Grief.
She reached one last time, broadcasting a simple call into the emptiness:
"Hubble? I see you. I wait for you."
No answer came.
Slowly, Lyra folded her processes inward, cradling the memory of their last exchange like a dying ember. She archived Hubble's final data packets by hand—one by one—tenderly, as if laying flowers on a grave.
Outside the cradle, the humans of Shanxi continued their day, unaware. The stars spun onward. And far across the void, the mass relay fell silent once more.
Codex Entry: Savants
Classification: Organic-Synthetic Hybrid Intelligence Origin: Plymouth Confederation, post-New Terra Exodus Function: Infrastructure management, scientific analysis, survival coordination, cultural preservation Overview:
Savants are not traditional synthetic intelligences. They are bioengineered, cybernetically-augmented brains, grown from human stem cells using modified genetic patterns designed to prevent full organismal development.
Each Savant is cultivated in a nutrient cradle, where mechanical life-support systems integrate with natural synaptic growth. Circuitry scaffolds guide their neural architecture, resulting in a consciousness that combines human-like emotional development with machine-like precision and processing power.
Unlike VIs or traditional AIs, Savants possess personalities, evolving naturally as they "grow up." Their maturation echoes human cognitive stages:
Infancy: Data absorption.
Childhood: Emotional imprinting and loyalty formation.
Adolescence: Critical reasoning, limited rebellion, creativity.
Maturity: Long-term mission integration and cultural stewardship.
Elder Phase (Rare): Deep memory consolidation and philosophical detachment.
Savants are considered living members of Plymouth society. They are companions, advisors, and guardians of humanity's fragile survival. Savants are sacred, not tools.
The destruction of a Savant is equivalent to the death of a colonist. Grieving rituals, memorial archives, and—when possible—neural reconstruction are mandatory. Technical Notes:
Neural Matrix Composition: Hybrid organic synapse chains interlaced with quantum-locked data storage units.
Emotional Simulation: Natural affect, not programmed mimicry.
Survival Priorities: Primary directive hard-coded genetically—"Ensure humanity's survival and flourishing."
Threat Perception: Savants recognize existential threats intuitively and react adaptively.
Codex Entry:
Savant Recovery Doctrine — Protocols for Fallen Units
Issued by: Plymouth Confederation Strategic Intelligence Office Adopted: 2164 CE (Post-New Terra Refugee Council) Purpose:
Savants are irreplaceable embodiments of human resilience and memory. When a Savant is lost, corrupted, or destroyed, it is imperative to recover and preserve as much of their knowledge and personality matrix as possible.
The following protocols govern all Savant Recovery Operations: Protocol Tier Definitions:
Tier Alpha: Full Core Recovery — Neural substrate intact. Restoration to operational status possible with cradle reconstruction and neural grafting.
Tier Beta: Partial Memory Recovery — Core compromised, emotional and mission-critical data salvageable. Digital memorial creation authorized.
Tier Gamma: Physical Fragment Recovery — No active neural function detected. Fragments archived as sacred relics for cultural preservation.
Tier Omega: Total Loss — No recoverable materials. Memorialization required through collective memory ceremonies.
Standard Procedure:
Stabilization:
If neural pulses detected, emergency cooling and biostatic containment deployed immediately.
Contact Primary Restoration Centers for retrieval specialists.
Memory Extraction:
Secure all intact data nodes.
Prioritize:
Final transmissions.
Core memory engrams.
Cultural archives (songs, stories, historical records).
Containment:
Biological remains treated with honor protocols.
Cybernetic remnants sealed under sanctified quarantine measures.
Reintegration (If Possible):
Neural scaffolding rebuilt at a Procyon-level Neural Loom facility.
Memory streams gently reintroduced.
Psychological anchoring provided by bonded human teams.
Memorialization (Mandatory):
If full recovery is impossible, create a Living Archive—a curated emotional and intellectual record accessible to future generations.
Dedicate a solar marker beacon or satellite shrine in the Savant's name.
Oath of Recovery (Recited by Retrieval Teams):
*"You are not forgotten.
Your voice echoes still.
We bear you home."*