The year is 460 of the Freeport Calendar.
Rising from the foundations built by the Frontier Militia, the modern-day Systems Alliance represents relative peace, prosperity and harmonious relations between human and binary alike.
Now, they must face First Contact, and the trials that come with it.
Jane Shepard and KN-6D1687, freshly graduated from Pilot-Titan School, are not ready.
Nobody is.
URGENT URGENT URGENT URGENT
FUNCTION READ ERROR UCD-061 DELIVER MSG TO MPSD MAILROOM||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||FUNCTION READ ERROR UCD-061 DELIVER MSG TO MPSD MAILROOM
URGENT URGENT URGENT URGENT
The year is 2378 of the Galactic Standard Calendar.
Rocked by the sudden, catastrophic collapse of the Batarian Hegemony, the once-stable peace of Citadel Space has begun to fray.
With tensions rising and unease spreading, First Contact and the trials that come with it are an unwelcome surprise.
Nihlus Kryik and his loyal crew of the Lightspear, the newest Spectre Team to enter the galactic stage, are not ready.
Nobody is.
Welcome to Parallel Instances, a rewrite of the story Parallel Processing.
Q: Why a re-write?
A: Recently, I did a full re-read of Parallel Processing and was horrified to find that a) much of the story was incredibly inconsistent in terms of details, terminology, tone, narrative flow and general worldbuilding. This can mainly attributed to "early installment weirdness," and more egregiously a serious lack of planning on my part regarding certain details which would become central to the plot and the characters. There was also not nearly enough planning done in terms of character development - I challenge any of the readers of Parallel Processing, as an example, to describe characters who were supposed to be important, like, Jane and KN, as "developed" or "fleshed out." A lot of narrative details and character development have been re-written for Parallel Instances with the intention of making a more consistent story which flows better - and one which, ultimately, is just more enjoyable to read in the long run.
Q: Do I need to read Parallel Processing to understand Parallel Instances?
A: Not at all! Certain narrative elements have been kept from Parallel Processing - and savvy readers of the previous work are sure to notice certain nods and details that have been put there for them - but, in many ways, it's probably best to go into this story blind as to avoid colouring your views of certain characters and events which have been changed for the re-write.
Q: What is the "Galactic Standard" timeline mentioned above?
A: Galactic Standard is an alternative dating system that's being used in Parallel Instances. If you look at the Mass Effect Wiki's Timeline page, all dates there are given in "Council Era" notation. To get the "Galactic Standard" date, just add 500 years to the CE date. Yes, this means that Parallel Instances does indeed take place before the Geth Rebelions.