Chapter 1: A New Foe?

Boltzmann System

The door to the Normandy SR-2's communication room opens up to let Commander Jessica Shepard, a fairly attractive woman with shoulder length blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes, enter as the conference table lowers into the floor. The recently resurrected woman looks at the quantum entanglement communicator on the floor and sighs in both annoyance and disgust at the idea of having to talk with the Illusive Man, and this had to be right after her mission on Bekenstein.

Stepping onto the QEC, Jessica finds herself looking at the Illusive Man and his unnaturally creepy looking eyes. "What do you want?"

The Illusive Man simply blows out a small cloud of smoke from the cigarette, "Yes, I've received reports from several of my operatives that they've identified a heavily damaged Collector ship coming out of a previously dormant mass relay. I need you to go and find out what's on the other side of the relay. If there's an unknown on the other side is powerful enough to send a Collector ship fleeing, we need to know if it's a threat to the rest of us. We don't need another Rachni War because of the Collectors."

"So you're sending me to deal with an angry unknown faction and try to keep them from attacking the rest of the galaxy?"

"Correct Shepard, I know that you're attempting to protect humanity from the Collectors, but this time the entire galaxy is at stake. I'm uploading the coordinates to the relay, good luck Shepard."

As their conversation ended, Jessica groans in disgust; it was bad enough that she was talking to the man who arranged for her entire squad eaten by Thresher Maws, it was even worse that she was taking orders from him.

"Joker, set a course for those coordinates."

"Aye Commander."

"Stealth systems engaged, going through the relay now."

The relay jump was the same as any other mass relay jump, the only surprise that Jessica saw was on the other side. As they flew through the system, the commander was able to spot the destroyed remains of two Collector ships.

"What could be in this system that it requires three Collector ships?"

"Your guess is as good as mine Commander, but by the looks of those ships, it's gotta be a new species that they want to study."

Looking out of the cockpit, Jessica had to agree. The ships near the shattered remains of the Collector ships, were long, rivaling the size of the Collector ships, and black with a narrow red stripe on both sides running from stern to bow, where it ends with a massive drill. Why a starship would need a drill, Jessica doesn't know, although she can probably guess it was made for ramming. On top of the ship, near the stern, was a raised section, possibly a bridge while below the main body looked like the engines, so those may be weaknesses in case this race proved hostile; however, given the assorted cannons that she can see dotted on its hull through the close-up view of the ships, they look like that they could go toe-to-toe with Sovereign and maybe even win.

The silence in the air is interrupted the instant one of the holographic screens starts beeping, signifying that they were being hailed; Joker of course was in complete disbelief, "The hell? They're hailing us, how can they find us with the stealth up?"

"Never mind that Joker, play the message."

The pilot nods as he opens the channel; of course, since they were dealing with an entirely new race, they weren't able to even understand what the other side was saying, just a bunch of growling. Knowing that Joker was probably going to make some remark about their language, Jessica decided to speak first, hoping that she wouldn't have to regret it later in this first contact situation.

"This is Commander Shepard of the human frigate Normandy SR-2; we are not here to attack you, we come in peace."

The commander couldn't help but feel extremely worried about the silent response, as Jessica had no idea what was going on at the other side. Jessica only hopes that they weren't going to attack them. Joker turns to look at the Commander, the worry evident on his face.

"So, should we run or we just going to stay and be blown up ag-"

Joker was interrupted by the unknown ships, which to their surprise was translated into English.

"Humans this is the Gotengo-class cruiser Gyozen, you are trespassing onto Ogasawara space; you are under orders to dock at these designated coordinates under fighter escort or you will be shot down immediately."

Jessica managed to hold back her surprise long enough to make a response, "Copy that Gyozen, heading there now."

As the communication channel ended, Jessica let out a sigh of relief, they managed to avoid a disaster at the moment; but onto more surprising matters as Joker piloted the Normandy towards the coordinates, "How were they able to translate their language into English so quickly?"

"Actually Shepard, it's much more surprising than that."

"And what can be more surprising than a new race translating their language to English within the span of a few minutes?"

Giving Jessica a quick glance, the look on his face said it all, "Try the fact that they were speaking Japanese when they were speaking to us. How the hell is that possible?"

Jessica looked out the cockpit window to see several fighter craft flying alongside them, "I don't know Joker, looks like we're going to have to find out."

I know what you're thinking, an alien race that somehow knows perfect Japanese within the span of a few moments? Don't worry, I'll explain everything by the next chapter, but…well let's just say that Toho got a little "inspiration" with their movies.

Anyway, hope that you people like it. Read and review please.