AN: This is a story originally posted on the Spacebattles CrW forum. I'm here posting a FFnet version of the story. Thoughts and criticisms are welcome, though expect that the first arc has already been written. Also I realize that this is the weakest chapter of the fic, so let me know ho to improve.

Tau 30 system

The only thing running in General Septimus Oraka's mind right now was that this was supposed to be a standard anti-pirate patrol into what was expected to be a generally quiet area. This system has been the suspected location of a pirate base that has been hitting shipping around the area, and as such, he and the Seventh Fleet arrived fully prepared and ready for a fight.

Instead what they have a situation that, to his knowledge, has never been encountered before in known Citadel space, for right in front of him lay a huge construct of unknown make. It seemed to have arms that stretched on for what looked like kilometers, all of which originated from a ring like superstructure.

"Lieutenant Praxis, what can you tell me about that… thing, in front of us."

Praxis was, despite his training visibly strained as he gave his report. " General, sir, what we are seeing before us is, based on what little we know, an entirely massive alien construct never before seen by anyone from the Citadel."

"So it's not Prothean?"

"No sir, despite the crude resemblance to the Citadel, it doesn't have any trace of eezo, or any of those mysterious alloys relays are made of in it at all. In fact, what we are looking at seems to be a device that while old and certainly mysterious, is not more than a few decades old. Despite the wear and tear on this massive construction, which I suspect is due to the nearby asteroid fields, this thing is generating enormous amounts of energy. Sir, the amounts being generated here are simply unprecedented. I'm no expert, but if we could harness this…"

"We could undergo a technological revolution like when we first harnessed eezo." Oraka replied, a little sternness in his voice." But what if this is a superweapon designed by some race then abandoned for some reason? We could end up triggering some devastating defence mechanism."

"I don't know sir, but if history was any indicator…"

"History also has the Rachni wars Lieutenant. Still you have a point. We will report this to the council, as per our duty, along with all our findings, and then establish a perimeter here to keep it safe and to make sure no one else approaches the device. "

By the Spirits, what he would give for a couple of academics from Thessia or Sur'kesh. They would have had a decent idea of what this is, and more importantly, an idea if it was safe or not.

Still, unless the artefact was to suddenly go active, all he could do right now is to continue scanning the artefact, and then report all their findings. The Council will undoubtedly want to investigate, hopefully with him far far away from it.

The Citadel

In the depths of the Citadel lays a lounge. In this place, three of the most influential people in Citadel Space meet to freely discuss any events away from prying eyes or any possible disturbances. It was also a place to discuss things without any need for formality. Here, they could be reasonably certain that they could talk without anything recording them.

It was here, that the Citadel Council convened in an informal manner to talk about the most pressing and important of events. Councilor Tevos, having had her customary single Thessian Blue before every meeting to help her loosen up, decided to start with the most immediate concern. The unknown artefact discovered by General Oraka.

"You have all received the reports on the Artefact?"

"Yes. It is quite fascinating," Valern excitedly replied. "No signs of any Element Zero based tech, yet seems to still be active. Suggests completely different technological base. Large power output suggests artefact was a station of sorts. A science station perhaps, with a focus on experiments that would require a high energy output. Perhaps a paired particle accelerator? I digress, artefact of great importance. If we can understand that energy source, we could potentially start a new wave of technological innovation."

"I'm more worried about who built it. Are they a hostile race? Are they still around and if they are, are we dealing with another Rachni event?" Sparatus countered. "We must be cautious, yes we have to investigate it, but I think we must do so very carefully, and with a very well escorted science team. Perhaps keeping the Seventh fleet there would be appropriate."

Tevos could only agree. "I agree with both of you, we shall begin assembling a science and security team along with an appropriate escort for the Science Vessel. Understanding this artefact could advance our technology forward by who knows how much."

Doctor Aela D'Avo was in the middle of a dig. Right now, in front of her lay what appeared to be the remains of a Prothean container of sorts. It was she imagined were it whole, elegant with the traditional egg like shape that Protheans seemed to favor, but more importantly, what interested her more were the inscriptions on the pot. If she was reading this correctly, she could make out symbols that have never been encountered before! The ones she did recognize were symbols that could correlate to warning or danger. Perhaps the pot once contained something rather flammable or explosive, and therefore required care? A quick capture of the artifact with her Omni-tool would ensure that she would be able to cross reference the symbols with the archives back at the university, to make sure she was onto something.

Xenoarchaeology was backbreaking work, especially in the extreme locations digs tended to be, like the desert that Aela found herself in, but she ultimately thought it was all worth it. If just one of her discoveries could help further contribute to the acquisition of knowledge, then she could die happy.

"Aela!" shouted one of her fellow archaeologists, Cerassa, "You have a call on the CEC! They say they need you at the Citadel, it's urgent!"

"But the excavation!" she exclaimed worriedly. "If we don't finish now, it would be years before we can return, and by then some looter will have pilfered these! I can't leave yet!"

"I know. Look, I tried asking what it was about, but they wouldn't answer any of my questions. Said it was classified."

"Fine," she replied resigned to the demands of the University. "Tell them I'll go as soon as we finish at least excavating these surface artefacts."

"I'm sorry, but they said they need you there immediately."

"What? But why? Why pull me out now in the middle of a possibly groundbreaking dig?"

"Like I said, I have no idea. They wouldn't answer my questions. But, hear me out. They said that the University recommended that you go on this expedition despite what we may lose here."

Aela frowned. She would hate to lose all her work out here in the field, but if the University was recommending that she go to the Citadel despite what may be lost...

Whatever they found must be big. Maybe a beacon was found? A new beacon could advance technology everywhere by centuries or maybe even more!

Still, it was only the prospect of a beacon that made her reluctantly walk to the CEC. Maybe the find would make up for what she would be unable to find here. A beacon would change the Galaxy's situation for... centuries.

Dari'Tena nar Neema could only stare at what lay before her. There, right in front of her lay perhaps the greatest possible gift she could bring back on her Pilgrimage, some technology so alien, so new that it could potentially win back the homeworld from the Geth. On her omni-tool, pictures of an artefact so large, yet contained no trace of element zero downright fascinated her. This, along with the fact that the energy output the thing generated was Huge. If she could somehow get data from this technology back to the fleet... Keelah. This could maybe end their dependency on Element Zero! Soon, she would be at the station and, Ancestors willing, maybe she will find something that could change the fates of the Quarians...

Leeds System
HMS Stirling in orbit at Planet Leeds.

Commander James Perkins was your typical Bretonian Armed Forces (BAF) pilot. He had graduated from the Bretonian Naval Academy on New London, roughly in the middle of his class, and soon after, found himself doing patrols out over New London, effectively becoming a slightly better armed Bobbie. The outbreak of the Dublin revolution and the Mollies though, changed everything. He was reassigned to the HMS Essex to immediately deal with the rebels, and had managed to distinguish himself as an excellent flight leader, managing to become an ace during his tour there thanks to his seemingly instinctive ability to fight in the asteroid fields of the Dublin system.

Now though, he was being reassigned. He was to now assist the HMS Sterling and her battle group's hunt for the Mollies out in the new system that BMM had opened. All in all, he was feeling pretty good about this mission as he prepared to brief his flight.

"Alright ladies and gents! Listen up! Today should be an easy enough run for us. It's a simple patrol towards that new Tau 30 system. High command hopes that with us there, we may be able to find out how the Mollies seem to be able to strike into the LD-14 station. Well if we see those Mollies, we'll give them blighters a right thrashing for what they did to the Hood eh boys? Right. I want you all to suit up! We leave in ten for Stokes where we'll meet up with some boffins with BMM, then we head for the gate. Any questions?"

"No suh!" replied the flight.

"Excellent. Dismissed."

His men proceeded to their Crusaders, a decent heavy fighter in his opinion, just a tad too much liberty with the aesthetics though. The distinct fish like shape provided a large target for enemy pilots, and while she had the firepower and shields to take the hits, he had seen far too many men die to a lot of well placed hits. Say what you will about the Mollies, they were good pilots, and often good shots. The ex-miners had to be to deal with the hazards of the asteroid fields of Dublin.

As he entered the cockpit of his fighter, he proceeded to do last minute checks on everything. It wouldn't do to take off and not have enough nanobots or batteries to deal with any damage the fighter might take. He didn't have to worry about ammunition, aside from his minelayer, he preferred to make generous use of Skyrails and Rippers to take apart his targets. Range often didn't matter in the haze of the asteroid fields, and he imagined it wouldn't be much different in the Tau 30 system.

Satisfied with all his pre-takeoff checks, he proceeded to alert Flight Control. " This is BAF Sigma 01, requesting permission to take off"

"This is control, we are reading launch area clear. You may proceed with take off."

"Roger control. Any Molly activity in the system?"

"None so far Commander. Leeds has been pretty quiet the last few days. Command expects the Mollies are planning something big."

"Roger control. All right flight, form up on me. We'll take the trade lane to Stokes, then to the Tau 30 Jump Gate as planned. " A hail of rogers proceeded to respond, and now Perkins directed his fighter towards the Trade Lane.

"Everything is check, proceeding to perform docking procedures. " Once he had sent in the proper codes to the Trade lane, his ship proceeded to go at speeds it could never perform, even in cruise drive mode. Several million kilometers between Leeds and the asteroid fields were covered in mere minutes. Perkins personally never got tired of the strange ethereal tube the trade lanes seemed to form. It was beautiful in a way.

All good things must come to an end however, and soon, Perkins and his flight reached Stokes Mining Station.

"This is Stokes Mining Station, identify yourselves." Perkins heard from the comms. The controller sounded rather tired and haggard. All things considered, it could've been worse.

"This is BAF Sigma 01, here to meet up with the BMM group towards our flight towards the Tau 30 system. How are you holding up here?"

"Acknowledged Sigma 01. The BMM group is on-board and were about to take off in fact. Everything is fine so far, but most of us are pulling triple shifts to make up for the lack of workers. If the Mollies were to attack us now, I don't know how the Security forces will deal with them. They are well equipped, but I don't know how long they would last without any support from either the Police or you guys."

"Don't worry Stokes, that's why we are here."

"Roger. The BMM group just took off. Everything is clear on our end. Good luck."

Soon another voice entered the Comms. "Hello Sigma Lead, this is Dr. Edward Brent with BMM. My crew aboard my Transport will join you towards Tau 30. From there, we'll begin scouting for a suitable location for a mining station. I trust you'll escort us all the way while we properly survey the system? We may be heavily armored for a transport, but our pilot can't get this giant scarab moving as nimbly as your Crusaders, and our turrets won't do much damage. We'd be sitting ducks for any for any Mollies."

"No worries Doctor. My flight we'll form up on you and make sure nothing untoward happens to you. It's unlikely we'll find anything special in the first day of our survey anyways right?"

"Quite likely. Still, I've several colleagues from different fields to properly survey the system. Who knows what else aside from Gold can be found there? And since the system is connected only to Bretonian space, we may have a good enough claim to keep it in the long run. We shall see what the future awaits us Commander. Let us proceed."

"Right. Sigma flight, form up on the Doctor. We'll escort him and make sure nothing unusual happens today eh?" Perkins jokingly ordered his flight. The Doctor did have a good point. It was highly unlikely they would find the, if any, jumphole on the first day. This initial survey would just help map out the major landmarks of the system. What could they possibly encounter in that time that they couldn't handle?