Chapter 1: Contact

ItchyAedeagus

"Admiral, you need to see this."

A red turian spoke to thin air, acting almost as if the admiral stood right behind him and looked over his shoulder. He turned his head around to see no such thing; emptiness filled the void. That didn't deter his eagerness to report this new find. Realizing he didn't activate the ship's intercom system, he tapped a button on the side of his headset.

A dark brown turian flicked through his datapad, sorting through an abundance of information that seemed to flood out from his entire screen. The device had a mirror-like surface that reflected the turian's plated face. He saw his rugged clan markings on his cheeks and mandibles, white turned beige from age. The turian saw the glint of his eyes, darting left and right across his datapad. He sat alone in his dimly lit quarters with nothing but the dim white glow of his lamp.

"Admiral, I require your attention at the bridge." The intercom interrupted his quite reading.

The Admiral's head turned away from the screen. He stood from his seat and readjusted his dark blue uniform, re-imagining his time as a cadet when his old drill Sergent used to yell and bark behind his neck. As he stood, the lights above reactivated and illuminated the room with sudden brightness. It felt unreasonably uncomfortable when his iris contracted from the sudden light. The turian shielded his eyes until they automatically readjusted themselves. Built adjacent to his quarters was an elevator. With a monotone beep, he slowly descended down to the level of the bridge.

"Admiral, your presence is needed at the bridge." The voice bounced around the small room.

His mandibles twitched in minor annoyance, hoping the pilot would be a bit more patient. The elevator slowed its decent upon nearing the bridge. Once the elevator door opened, the admiral stepped out and into a busy center. Dozens upon dozens of turians sat along orderly rows facing the wall, completely immersed with their terminals, their fingers constantly tapping on their holographic keyboards. Several turian soldiers patrolled the pathway, occasionally peaking over the crew's shoulders out of curiosity. Predictably, several crewmembers shooed them off for distracting their work. One patrol stumbled upon the admiral; out of discipline and respect, they stood there like a stiff board and saluted. He gave the same to them.

"As you were."

They continued their patrol as the admiral strolled along the bridge. Ahead of him stood the pilot's seat, with its massive holographic terminal hovering over it.

"You called for me, Kyrus?" He asked, holding his hands behind his back. He glanced at the orange hologram laid out in front of him.

"You may want to take a look at this, admiral," Kyrus tapped against several buttons on his holographic interface, "Our sensors have detected heavy element zero activities here in this system." Kyrus continuously tapped on his terminal, enlarging the galactic map for the admiral to examine closer, "Their energy readings were dated to be several days ago. Only a mass relay could put out such power." A single pulsing bright dot caught the admiral's attention. It hovered at the rim of the galactic arm, unfortunately residing in the notorious Terminus Systems. The closest known system to it was the shrike abyssal and even then it was still quite distant, "What else could it be?"

The brown turian narrowed his eyes, "I thought humans knew better than to start another First Contact war," he shook his head, trying to repress his memories away.

"This Mass Relay is far too distant for the Alliance to do anything with it. I don't think they even know this mass relay existed," Kyrus zoomed in on the location. The star system was completely unmapped save for an obvious glowing Mass Relay icon, "I suspect the geth or those suit rats are behind this. Maybe the former is trying to reactivate a Mass Relay for their nefarious purposes."

"Don't be ridiculous," the admiral let out a light chuckle, "Geth space is in the far other end of the system. They rarely if not never leave their territory at all." Sivyndas reminded the pilot.

"That's what they want you to think." He responded.

Sivyndas blew out of his nostrils in frustration, clearly unsure of what to do in a situation like this. Their disastrous and costly incident from their past clearly made a hideous blemish on the Hierarchy's history.

"Are we sure it's not a new undiscovered species?" The admiral pointed at the screen, as if he expected a crisp image of the system to show up.

"If they were space faring, we would have known by now." Kyrus replied.

"And yet less than a century ago, no one knew humans existed. They were practically on the Council's doorstep the whole time." Sivyndas countered, pointing at the holographic map where Council space resides.

"Your orders then, admiral?" Kyrus said, unable to respond to Sivyndus's previous statement.

The admiral was lost in deep thought, pondering his appropriate actions for response. Remembering the mistakes of First Contact War, he was hesitating to blast away whoever was reactivating the mass relay. However, there still might be a chance of a new species yet to be discovered.

"Sir?"

Sivyndas snapped back into reality.

"Send a report in to the Council. They'll need to know about it immediately," the turian admiral ordered, looking at the screen, "We won't be repeating our history again."

The Hairpin's core spun around like a slow waltz. On the bridge of Discovery-10, dozens of Terran personnel tapped away at their computers, monitoring the vanu construct's overall status. The triangular symbols of the Terran Republic were emitted on both walls of the bridge, watching over the people as it has done since the first formation of the Republic. The red triangle with its black sword piercing downward was a familiar sight to all.

Behind the windows, separating the empty void of space from the pressurized hull of the ship stood two figures, their eyes locked in a trance at the rotating Hairpin's rings. One observer wore a trench coat, its red and grey designs gleam in absolute splendor. Golden epaulets draped over his shoulder and a gold trimmed peaked cap with the Terran Republic insignia sat on his head.

"These vanu aliens sure knows how to build their stuff," he said with his hands resting behind his back, admiring the alien technology set before him, "It's a pity they're not around anymore to show us the ropes."

"Huh, I didn't know you had an attachment to them, Herald." His companion joked. He wore a similar attire to the Admiral, but lacked the peaked cap, "Curious to lay your eyes on some alien women are ya?" He nudged Herald with his elbow.

"Oh save your breath, Klen," Herald smirked, "Or maybe I should leave your fat ass behind with that magrider, eh?"

Klen felt mildly offended, "Those cultists shot my foot," he gestured with his lower torso, "I couldn't move fast enough with an injury like that."

"Oh, your foot got shot you say?" Herald asked, feigning curiously, "Then how could you explain a rock the size of your head rolling down the hill?" He made a tumbleweed motion with his hands.

Klen huffed, "This conversation is over."

Herald chuckled lightly seeing his friend turning all red.

He then turned his attention to a much more serious issue at hand. He flipped on his radio on his terminal. Clearing his throat, he spoke through the microphone.

"Lieutenant Miner of Voyager-18, report your status."

He waited for a few moments before a reply came back.

"This is Lieutenant Curtis Miner reporting in," there was minor static, likely interference from the Hairpin's energy output, "Our science teams are working hard to keep the vanu construct's power in check."

"Have you encountered any problems?"

There was a period of silence, but the operator's radio was still on. Herald keenly leaned closer to the speaker, and heard the faint sounds of Miner's voice conversing with someone else, possibly another scientist. He then heard footsteps growling louder until a voice broke through.

"None as of now, Admiral Cooper."

Admiral Herald Cooper maintained his gruff voice.

"Have the scientists discovered the purpose of the Vanu contruct?"

"They are suggesting that it's some kind of rail."

"A massive rail gun out in deep space?" The Admiral raised his eyebrow.

"It's not a weapon. It's a transportation system of some sort."

"You mean... we have the possibility to travel back to Earth?"

Cooper heard the Lieutenant shuffling back to speak to the same person again, before return to the microphone.

"The scientists have yet to determine the direction of where this construct may lead us to, Admiral."

Cooper frowned at his own naïve question, previously hoping with childlike anticipation that he would say 'yes, we definitely can'. Sighing, he answered back to Miner.

"Very well. I will be in contact for further reports. Out."

Switching off the radio, Herald Cooper stretched his aching back for standing too long. Feeling like he's been restored by a medical applicator, he leaned over the railing, shifting his weight on his elbows, "If homeworld knows of our situation here on Auraxis, those terrorists and cultists can kiss their asses goodbye." He continued to hypnotically stare at the Hairpin, "The war's been going on for far too long."

"I believe several generations born to see their planet at war far exceeds 'long'."

Cooper didn't laugh, only giving Klen a cold stare. He promptly shut his mouth shut.

"It's like the Great War all over again, like the historical records said," Cooper sighed, staring at the core of the Hairpin. He never saw what earth truly looked like. The pictures and computer archives never did it justice. What he would do to see humanity's birthplace with his own eyes. The Hairpin activation kept him awake during his scheduled sleep. Now with newfound discovery of it possibly being a highly advanced transit device boggles the mind, unable to conceptualize the full extent of such technology. Tired, the simple thought of sleep provoked him to yawn wide. He needed some caffeine or he'll fall quickly into disarray. He refused to have his crewmembers staring at his disheveled appearance. It reeks of incompetence and unprofessionalism.

"Well, do you need some coffee?" Cooper asked Klen, shoving his hands into his pockets. A change in mood would level some stress away.

He shrugged, "Nah, I'm fine. You go on ahead."

"Suit yourself."

Sivyndas returned to his private quarters. He watched the endless void of space, filled to the brim of potential planets, stars, and galaxies. He always wondered what else could be out there in the deep realms of the universe.

"The council has requested your presence." Kyrus' voice interrupted his thoughts.

Turning away, the admiral headed towards the debriefing room. He pressed the elevator button and waited patiently for its arrival. With an electronic tone, the doors slid open and Sivyndas entered in. Before the elevator descended, the turian readjusted his uniform proper for his presentation. For several seconds, his body felt light as the tiny room lowered itself below the bridge. The elevator slowly stopped upon reaching the level and opened its doors for the Admiral. Walking forward, a dimly lit room greeted his eyes. On cue, three holographic figures appeared in front of the admiral; the councilors stood before him. Sivyndas was the first to speak.

"Thank you for acknowledging my request." He remained his composure.

Tevos gently smiled, "I'm glad to see the Hierarchy has come to recognize their pass mistakes."

Sparatus looked as if he was about to rant, but he held his tongue.

The adjacent salarian spoke up.

"This is alarming news. We cannot have another mass relay activated, lest another disastrous contact with the Rachni will resume."

"Do you know where this relay is located?" Sparatus demanded.

"It was discovered at the very edge of the galaxy, neighboring the Terminus Systems." Sivyndas answered, before activating his omnitool, "Kyrus, display the relay's location to the council."

"At once, Admiral."

A massive hologram of the galaxy appeared above the councilors' figures. It dwarfed them by size. The location of the relay was clearly marked with a bright dot, located over the edge of the galaxy.

"Hmm, the Relay is near the local cluster of Shrike Abyssal," Sparatus scratched his plated chin, "A Mass Relay, this far out in the galaxy." He wondered.

The ship's intercom system interrupted before he could continue speaking.

"Admiral, we have received recent reports about an asteroid inexplicitly cracking at a rapid pace in the system of Thal. Massive amounts of element zero were traced from its core."

"Thal?" Sivyndas asked, vaguely remember the name but couldn't seem to grasp it.

"Thal," Sparatus answered for him, "is one of our own space colonies, Altakiril I believe. The explosion was probably some kind of target practice. Military instillations on the moons of Xerceo are quite plentiful."

"Even as an Admiral, I'm still ignorant of our own colonies around the galaxy." Sivyndas chucked at his own mockery.

"Don't be ashamed of your memory. You're an admiral for a reason," he gestured, as if to slide invisible objects off an imaginary table with one hand, "Sometimes we forget unimportant things, minute and dismissible; instead we focus more heavily on the task at hand."

"Though dismissing something you may think as minute might become an even larger threat in the near future."

Sparatus nodded in approval before turning back on the topic, "So, this asteroid. What does this have to do with the recent Mass Relay activation?"

Kyrus wait, "I apologize for my poor wording. The asteroid did not explode per se; rather, it shed and launched away its entire rocky surface all at once. However, what was left behind the chaos had surprised the local Altakirilian government even more. Another Mass Relay."

The room was silent for a few moments.

"A hidden Mass Relay in Thal? Inside an asteroid?" questioned Sparatus, staring at the screen of the Milky Way, "How could we have not known that until now?"

Tevos answered calmly, despite the news, "Such a find shouldn't be that all shocking. After all, the humans did find one imbedded in a dwarf planet's moon, Charon. Protheans were quite adept at hiding their technology in areas we may not even think to look at."

"Were there any casualties?" The Thal system was governed by the local turian government. As the turian councilor, he had every right to be concerned.

"No ships were destroyed by any pieces resulting from the… explosion, for a lack of a better term." Kyrus answered.

"My anxiety has been partially lifted off my shoulders. Contact the government on Altakiril immediately," Sparatus ordered before muttering under his breath and shaking his head, "I can't believe one of our own defied Citadel laws."

The Salarian Councilor, having stood silent and listened closely for the past few minutes, corrected the turian's hastily conclusion.

"The Mass Relay activated on its own. The prothean device in itself is useless unless it has a designated point to link with. Supposedly, the Mass Relay connected to, as previously said, the Charon Relay, activated simultaneously with it. Though unfortunately, we lack documentation of such event. Nevertheless, it is highly likely that the Mass Relay discovered in Thal would lead to this other Relay in the unknown system, being as it is in close proximity with the Shrike Abyssal cluster."

"Can we form any conclusion about the culprits behind the activation?" Demanded Sparatus.

"I initially suspected some bands of humans, but I believe my prejudices against them temporarily lingered in my thoughts," Sivyndas answered for him before he paused for breath, "This brings me to my second request. We should send in an emergency diplomatic fleet, if we did perhaps discover yet another unknown species."

The turian councilor scoffed.

"Don't be ridiculous," Sparatus waved in dismissal, "If they were another species, they would have been discovered easily by now."

"How could somebody activate a Mass Relay in an unknown system without any means to travel there?," Tevos wondered out loud; the room went silent as they pondered over her statement, "Just now, this recently discovered Relay in Thal allows us to travel there, but how did they?"

Sparatus opened his mouth to say something, but hung there in thought. Sivyndas turned to scan the galaxy map in search for clues. The asari councilor, not expecting an answer from either turians, turned to the salarian.

"Valern, does your intelligence know of any recently discovered species surrounding the Terminus Systems?"

"From the data they collected, none; but one can never be too sure in the Terminus Systems."

Tevos sighed, clearly unsatisfied with the answer given, "One diplomatic ship will be set to your fleet's location. Admiral, please keep them safe."

"They will be my fleet's uppermost priority."

Sparatus spoke up, "I will dispatch a small armed fleet to follow you should said 'contact'," he gestured with his fingers, "quickly gets out of hand."

"Of course." Sivyndas nodded in approval.

Tevos gave her sincere farewell.

"Good luck, Admiral."

And with that, the holograms disappeared into thin air. The debriefing room went quiet once more.

The core of the Hairpin spun like a graceful ballet. The radio went alive with various voices.

"What's the status on the Hairpin?"

*static*

"All systems are nominal. Energy readings are stable."

"Nothing out of the ordinary, sir."

*static*

"Remember, the Republic does not tolerate failure."

"Yes, Admiral Cooper." Multiple voices shouted in unison.

*static*

"Glory to the Terran Republic."

Ten frigates orbited around the massive gas planet. Nine were of turian origin, with their elongated hulls and its feather like design, while the remaining ship came from the planet of Illium, purple in hue and its cross design with a propulsion system with an empty middle. Sivyndas stood right beside the window and stared at the massive rings of Xerceo. Glancing up, the planet's orange and brown clouds gave him some kind of ominous feel to it. He saw not a gas planet, but a planet shrouded in ash and smoke. His omnitool vibrated, startling him from his thoughts. Clearing his mind, he lifted his left arm to see who was contacting him. The asari diplomat's name was bolded and enlarged.

"May I help you Issaria?"

"I do hope you know what you're doing." She stated, concerned about her situation in all this. She had the right to be worried. Diplomats are no soldiers.

"Don't worry. Your ship will be safe." He spoke with an assuring tone.

The asari diplomat didn't seem moved at all.

"Don't you think that a small fleet of heavily armored frigate is a little too excessive of a first contact scenario?" Issaria asked.

"It's a willing precaution that we need to accept if we're dealing with the unknown… or known species."

"I have a hard time believing guns pointed at people's faces conveys a message of peace and love."

"That's why you're with us. The last thing I want is bloodshed." Sivyndas looked down, "I had enough of war, yet war is all I know."

"We all hate senseless killings. I just hope the people we're contacting feels the same way."

"Believe me, Issaria. I've been thinking about this as well."

Before she could reply, the admiral's omnitool alerted him yet again. Looking out the window once more, he saw forty frigates arriving at their location.

These must be my reinforcements Sparatus sent me. Sivyndas arched his plated eyebrows. He waved his hand across the orange hologram only to hear a voice strangely familiar to him. His heart sank deep when he recognized it.

"Well, well, Admiral Sivyndas. It's nice to see your old face again."

"General Tildven," he said in disgust, "What are you doing here?"

Tildven kept stoic and calm despite his voice revealing his unflattering characteristics.

"I believe the council sent one of the best to aid in your 'contact' fleet, did they not?" He placed a certain amount of sarcastic emphasis on the word 'contact'.

Of all turians, what did the council pick him?

"Issaria, please excuse us. The General and I must converse in private."

"Very well Admiral." Her line disconnected a second later.

"An asari diplomat? Here with this heavily armed fleet? How very particular."

"They're here for the possibility of first contact at the end of our destination."

"First contact?" Tildven couldn't help but laugh vigorously. Wiping a tear from his eye, he spoke again, "Oh, that never gets old. Yes, I have been debriefed about the situation at hand. I admit that you have a point though. The Citadel races and others are many, scattered around the galaxy like seeds to a garden, but there might be a chance that we may come across an entirely different species, one we've never seen before, tucked away behind the opaque veil of space."

"And so, despite agreeing with the possibility of another undiscovered species, I can accurately predict that the ones we will encounter will be known to us. Human, in all probable outcomes."

Sivyndas shook his head, "Don't be utterly ridiculous, Tildven. The humans learned their mistake, we all learned our mistakes, and they'll be stupid to ignite another war."

"Humans? You and I know they're crazy enough to do it. No other species has the guts to."

"Then how can you explain humans reaching an unknown system without the use of a Mass Relay?"

"I always assumed they used some sort of cryo technology to send their people there. The distance between Thal and the other system is only fifty light years apart."

"Such primitive methods will take more than a hundred thousand years to reach there." Sivyndas resisted the urge to cover his face with his palm.

"Perhaps the Alliance developed some kind of faster-than-light device behind the Councils' backs." Joked Tildven, now trying to avoid giving a straight answer.

"Your prejudice is becoming increasingly subtle." The Admiral remarked.

"Well then, neither of us have the answers to this mystery. When we make contact, we'll ask them how they get there, won't we?"

"Make sure you do well to remember that you are now under my command, Tildven." Sivyndas sneared, "Do you understand?"

"As you wish." He said before abruptly disconnecting.

His attitude said otherwise. I make no promises.

Fifty one frigates left the orbit of Xerceo, leaving behind a beautiful sight of its massive rings. With the Mass Relay now uncovered and now glowing brightly, it was not difficult to find it among the field of minerals and rocks. They drew near the Relay before gliding across the relay; captured by the mass effect field. The blue aura flung the fleet faster than the speed of light, deflecting small rocks and pebbles from damaging their ships. At that speeds, even a grain of sand can do unbelievable surmounts of damage akin to a cannon blast, ripping apart a simple frigate like paper. The fleet zipped across the arms of the galaxy towards the Shrike Abyssal, a small system tucked away in the outer regions of space.

Since the recent Mass Relay activation, the media back on the Citadel took full advantage of it and went wild with information and word play. Fear and anger spread like wildfire across the Citadel and the galaxy. As they always do, some reporters manipulated the words to sound more menacing than it really is. They ranged from unknown aliens to brokering a peace treaty with baby eating monstrosities. Sivyndas shook his head in disbelief as he switched of his terminal; sensationalized news does nothing to ease his increasing stress. Sivyndas walked up to the bridge, his hands folded behind his back. Looking out the window, everything was a big blue blur. The mass relay's blue energy enveloped the ship as it traveled quicker than what he could see. On the bridge, Kyrus monitored his terminal to check in with the other fleet and the following diplomatic ship.

"When will we reach our destination?" Sivyndas asked the pilot with a nearby microphone, never taking his eyes away from the windows.

"Estimated time of arrival, thirty minutes." Kyrus confirmed over the intercom.

Thirty minutes until contact. The Admiral thought nervously to himself.

Cooper's radio blared alive.

"Admiral Cooper, this is Lieutenant Miner. We have detected unknown signatures heading towards our position."

The bridge, previously silent, now went alive with activity. Did classified information leaked from the state? Neither the New Conglomerate nor the Vanu Sovereignty knew of the Hairpin existence. If they did, they lack the transport to travel there. No other faction besides the Terran Republic manufactured interplanetary ships. They had orbiting spacecrafts to be sure, armed and served as a spawn point for their orbital troops, but none had any real engines to travel outward. Who else could they be, his far out in the solar system?

"Are you sure they're part of the Republic?" Cooper spoke on the microphone.

"Negative, Admiral. These signatures were detected outside the influence of the solar system, and they're heading here with ungodly speed."

Cooper tightened his grip.

"How many ships were detected?"

"With such a large signature, approximate guess would be thirty to sixty spacecrafts."

Admiral Cooper rested his head on his left hand while wiping sweat from his forehead with his right.

Christ. What a situation we've dug ourselves into. He thought grimly.

Klen spoke up; gone was his usual laid back and joking attitude.

"My concern is the fact that we don't know their true intentions. If they're friendly, wonderful. If not….," Klen frowned has he dwelled about devastating outcomes, "All our ships are lightly armed, but I highly doubt their effectiveness on incredibly advanced alien starships."

"We must hope for the best," Cooper said confidently, before dropping his tone, "but if they prove hostile, then we must plan for…"

"A retreat." Klen finished the sentence for him, "We must face the facts. They have millennia's worth of technological development and we're stuck with gunpowder weapons."

"For thousands of years, we have boasted our reliance on our arsenal," Cooper sighed, "This is where I fear our arrogance may come to an end."

If sound could travel through the vacuums of space, one can hear a multitude of heavy pops as the turian fleet and one asari ship entered the system. The Mass Relay's blue glow illuminated the fleet, gleaming brightly against dark space. They slowly drifted along the prothean device until they came face-to-face to what they were searching for. The closer they came, the more detail they can make out. As expected, the Sivyndas saw several small but numerous grey ships hovering near the Relay. He spotted a few of them connected to the Relay itself, far enough from the blue core to prevent their ships from being flung across space.

Their red triangular insignia were blazoned on the side on every single one of their hulls. The admiral narrowed his eyes in curiosity, wondering if the crew who operated them was any of the known races. The aesthetics of their ships were extremely utilitarian and nothing but. It lacks in any sort of lead design compared to other races of the galaxy. They could be self-manufactured ships; though ships like that were extremely rare due to difficult complications with money and logistics. The Admiral found it strange to see so much of them grouped up together.

The culprits behind the activation sat silent; none of their ships even thought to raise the barrel of their guns on the turian fleet. That struck Sivyndas as odd, as any known race with even an ounce of understanding of Citadel laws, would open fire at their direction immediately.

A multiple objects came through the Hairpin. They zipped towards them far faster than a speeding bullet before inexplicably slowing down to a crawl. Ship after ship continued to appear in front of the Hairpin, acting as if to fiercely guard the massive contruct from intruders. When the last of them came through, the Terran fleet stood before more than forty alien spacecrafts. True to Miner's word, those ships were never a part of the Republic in the first place. Everything about them it screamed alien in every conceivable way. Their designs seemed somewhat elegant compared to the Republic's relatively utilitarian and blocky aesthetics. The majority of their ships had overlapping layers that slightly resemble feathers, like the birds from Earth he saw on his computer. One ship, however, caught Cooper's eye sight. Unlike the rest of the feathered-like ships, this one was shaped similar to the letter T, purple in hue with a gaping hole in the middle. Is that where they house their leader? It certainly seemed elaborate enough for one. He struck with realization, that these aliens might possibly be the vanu aliens themselves. The ones the cultists back on Auraxis worshipped so passionately about. Perhaps they came to ward of trespassers from tampering with their construct. What worried Cooper now were the consequences for such actions.

"What do we do now Admiral?" Klen asked without ever taking eyes off of the spectacle before him.

Cooper sighed through his nostrils and swallowed heavily.

"Now we wait."

"Kyrus, establish contact with that ship." Sivyndas pointed at the spacecraft he stared at before.

"Yes sir." He complied, tapping away the holographic terminal.

Sivyndas waited patiently for their link to be sent. All the known races of the galaxy have universal translators installed into their ears. It made communications between species far easier to be understood instead of having to learn an entirely different language from scratch, not counting the many different dialects spoken in each colonized system. If they were completely alien; however, what will come out of his mouth will be nothing but complete gibberish to them. Sivyndas pondered over the choice of words he would use. A simple 'we come in peace' or the standard protocol regarding Citadel laws being broken. He opted to use the standard approach, as one without a universal translator would be unable to interpret his words exactly. If by chance these culprits were pirates from the Terminus Systems, they will know the consequences of their actions.

"Communications established."

Nodding, the admiral took a deep breath and spoke on his omnitool.

"Attention, you have breached the law of the Council. Identify yourselves immediately."

Alien sounding gibberish filled the bridge, startling everyone in the bridge. Cooper almost jumped in surprise, unsure to make of this situation. Klen besides him gave him a worrying nod. All too quickly, panic began to sprout from a few jumpy personnel. The remaining others stared hypnotically at the alien ships, with their elaborate avian and extraterrestrial designs. Security guards were quick to take hold of the situation, yelling orders, using batons if necessary to a few panicked individuals. All space faring personnel were lightly trained in a first contact scenario with extraterrestrials, but none really took it all that seriously and was forgotten soon after, as the war on Auraxis went on for several hundred years without any outside intervention. With real aliens at their doorsteps, many people aboard the ships were gripped with fear, unsure of what to do. Cooper found his knees shaking uncontrollably no matter how hard he tried to stop it. He was a leader damn it, not a grown spineless pansy. His heart pounded rapidly in his chest and his palms began to sweat.

"Do we have direct contact with the alien vessel?" Cooper addressed to no one but the empty space of the bridge. Klen eyed his screen.

"We have connection." He acknowledged to the Admiral.

Everyone on the bridge now suddenly looked up at Cooper, standing at the metal balcony. The Admiral felt as if lives of the entire Terran Expedition sat upon his shoulders. A minor mistake from anybody, including himself, could lead to disaster, not just the ships here but colonies back on the surface of Auraxis. Or perhaps maybe he didn't make any mistakes and these vanu aliens just stopped by to occasionally revisit their planet, a planet now overrun with war. Cooper shuddered at the thought; large ominous alien ships blasting craters left and right, civilians left helpless as they fall prey to their invaders. All three factions will be unable stop the alien threat from complete annihilation. Halting his train of thought, the Terran admiral swallowed once before speaking on his microphone, deciding that these vanu aliens may not be so patient as to wait for an answer.

"This is Admiral Herald of Discovery-10. We come in peace."

Sivyndas' omnitool worked on their signal and made out distinct sounds from their language. English, one of the human's many languages. No first contact scenario, no unknown aliens, and no unknown civilizations, just a band of humans trying to illegally activate a Relay. His heart strangely felt backstabbed in betrayal, when no humans he knew personally deceived him. Before he could decide the fate of these humans pirates, the comms rang out.

"All batteries fire!"

Rage began to boil in his veins.

Tildven. You were supposed to wait for my orders, you egotistical fool.

"Cease fire! Cease fire!" Sivyndas yelled over his omnitool, "Hold your damned fire!"

Several ships halted their barrage while others fired away; the remainders were hesitant of which orders to follow.

The turian general did not let up.

"Belay that order! Continue firing!"

Cooper's blood ran cold as his worst fears came true. Several of those alien gun turrets swiveled towards his ship. Their gun spat projectiles, sending salvos rocketing through space and devastated the ships that were unfortunate to be nearby them. They all watched in horror as more than a dozen of their own vaporized under the guns of these aliens. The only ships armed tried to fire back, but their weapons little to stop them; the aliens' outer shields easily absorbed their impact. They were built to combat orbital spawn platforms, not alien invaders. With the remainder of Cooper, Klen, and the rest of the Discovery-10's crew members went wide-eyed as they saw a salvo of rounds heading towards their direction. Everybody instinctively flew into a prone position, locking their hands behind their heads as the impact nearly shook their ship apart. Cooper's coffee mug flew off the table from sudden momentum and shattered beneath his feet, spilling freshly brewed coffee all over the metal floor.

"Warning. Structural integrity failure imminent." A synthetic female voice spoke, reverberating around the walls of the bridge, electronics now sparking from damage. More explosions outside sent the ship rocking back and forth.

"Residence bay compromised." Herald's heart sank when he heard the phrase. He struggled to think what would happen to a person exposed to space vacuum, now littered with shrapnel and metal debris. Looking up, he saw the holographic flag of the Terran Republic fizzle in static before disappearing altogether. Everybody in the bridge abandoned their stations and ran off in swarms. Herald did his best to control the growing panic.

"Everybody get to the life pods! Go! Go! Go!" He shouted, "Klen, get everybody to safety!"

The ship shook again. The monitors on the bridge went out. Several security guards stood by and ushered the crowd to the exit. They didn't fire their repeaters, but it served as a great tool for directing the crowd to the appropriate destination. More explosions made Cooper unbalanced and fell over with a thump.

"Bay area five compromised."

Hundred of pounding footsteps flooded escape the bridge. Getting up, Cooper's heart pounded even faster, but he stood in place, not in fear but boosting the morale of his crew, scared out of their wits. He saw Klen standing behind the crowd. His friend directed the flow of people to the right direction.

"Get out of here! Go! Get to the escape pods!"

Another salvo rocked the ship. Cooper stumbled, trying to regain his balance. Almost everybody was evacuated from the bridge.

"Bay area two compromised."

Cooper cursed to himself. He looked up to see the bridge clear of his crew. He heard the ship itself groan and shake under the amount of abuse it has endured. A large explosion knocked the ship spinning, the stars through the window swirling around like a whirlpool. Cooper felt his stomach churn as he saw the stars outside spinning around like a disk. Chairs and desks tumbled and rolled around the hull of the ship.

"Bridge area compromised."

Cooper didn't have time to grieve for those who were still left behind.

"Admiral Cooper! Get in! Quickly!" Klen ordered his friend from the escape pod hatch.

The broken husk of a ship continued to spin on a horizontal axis. This made it difficult for the escape pod to aim properly. One by one, each popped out of the ship with correct timing oof momentum. Soon, over fifty small pods ejected from the hull, their small rockets propelling them back to the planet of Auraxis. If they stood on the planet's surface, one wouldn't fear the coming of death as nanite technology can simply rebuild them again. They die here in space; they die for good. Herald stood on the floor of the pod, staring at his weary friend and thirty scared crewmen. Some were on the verge of tears while others just wept in place.

Sivyndas felt like he was shooting ships of human civilians. The pit in his stomach grew heavier as he watched more of them fall victim to his cannons. He saw several of them fire back, but their hull mounted turrets were hopelessly underpowered. His orders of ceasefire were lost upon the multitude of cheering turians and Tildven's resounding barks.

"This is nothing but slaughter." Sivyndas muttered to himself.

"Is this not a glorious victory for the Hierarchy?" Tildven boasted through his omnitool, obviously intended for the Admiral himself, "Sivyndas, be glad for our triumph over these human lawbreakers."

Sivyndas said nothing; only listening to Tildven glee through his speaker.

"Have you learned nothing from the Incident of Relay 314?"

"Tildven," the Admiral finally answered, "What. Have I. Told you before?"

"They knew the consequences. You know better than that."

"I will have you court martialed immediately."

"For what?" Tildven quickly interjected, "Firing upon a human fleet reactivating a dormant mass relay? You were hesitant. You were weak. If we just stood there and let these criminals escape, whose fault will that be? They aren't the mysterious unknown aliens you built them up to be, just another group of scum from the Terminus System."

Sivyndas felt the need to strangle his throat with his bare hands, imagining himself besides the accursed general ripping his throat out. His bottled up hatred for that turian reached its absolute limit when he knew deep down, that Tildven was right all along.

As the turian fleet waded through the field of scorched scrap metal, they saw some surviving human ships slowly making a retreat away from the Relay and their presence. The fleet gave a quick chase; it wasn't long before they caught up to them.

A turian with red clan markings stood on the balcony of the bay area.

"Soldiers of the Hierarchy, prepare to board."

The years following the ultimate end of the Great War, citizens under the watchful eye of the Terran Republic enjoyed their lives in serenity and happiness. The New Conglomerate provided materials and technology to the world. It seems peace will prevail, but the universe, however, had a different course of plan for them. On the year of 2542, another wormhole appeared, as it has one hundred years ago. The imminent threat the Terran Republic expected never came, thus the fear of an alien invasion disappeared, along with the fear of traveling beyond the reaches of the planet's surface. Within eighty years, the Human race has established a presence on every celestial body of the solar system. The year of 2640 marked a new age for discovery. Another wormhole opened its doors yet again, and the Terran Republic, seizing the opportunity, mounted an expedition through its gates. One hundred and twenty eight ships entered, but the portal quickly destabilized. When the whirlpool abruptly closed, ships near it were immediately vaporized. Only ninety two ships survived the ordeal, and with terrible realization that they were stranded in dark space, unable to return home.

Edits: I wrote five light years instead of fifty. Aliens are to be blamed for my incompetence.